Hester's Story - Adele Geras

Hester's Story is the third book by Adele Geras that I've read and, similarly to the other two, it's a "saga" type novel (I hate that phrase!) that centres around a strong female character looking back over her life.

From the blurb: "Hester Fielding was once the leading ballerina of her day. Her life is the stuff of drama: a bleak Yorkshire childhood transformed by the discovery of her amazing gifts as a dancer; a dangerous love affair that can only lead to heartbreak; and a secret that would topple her from her pinnacle of fame if it ever came out.

Now Hester has returned to Yorkshire, to Wychwood where, each year at Christmas, a ballet is performed on Twelfth Night in the little theatre there. Just before the company arrives at Wychwood, Hester receives a phone call that brings back haunting memories. As the dancers prepare for the opening night of Sarabande, and loyalties shift and tempers flare, the past comes crashing into the present in ways that Hester could never have predicted. "

Like Facing the Light (which was my pick of the month last Febuary), the characters in this book are very focused on the arts and I feel that I now know a lot more about the underbelly of ballet than I did before! Geras charts the highs and lows of dancing with great compassion and I found that I could understand and even empathise with the sacrifices that characters made in order to excel.

Reading this book really took me back to when I was very young and read Noel Streatfeil's Ballet Shoes. The passion for dancing within the story was so strong that I found myself wistfully regretting that I didn't learn to dance as a child. Whilst secretly acknowledging to myself that there was a very good reason for the lack of ballet in my life and that it's strongly connected to my utter lack of co-ordination or even intermediate balancing skills...

A Hidden Life - Adèle Geras

The lovely Adèle Geras was kind enough to send me a copy of A Hidden Life after reading on here how much I enjoyed Facing the Light earlier this year.

From the blurb - "When Constance Barrington dies, she leaves behind a wealthy estate and a complex family network. But when the whole family gathers to hear her last will and testament, they are in for a terrible shock. Constance - possessed of a long memory and a spiteful disposition - altered her will shortly before her death. The new provisions are far from fair; some benefit hugely and others hardly at all. Constance's granddaughter, Louise, is bequeathed the copyright for her late grandfather's novels.

Soon, old family feuds and long-hidden resentments come to the surface, and with them, secrets start to emerge. But it is through Louise's inheritance - those dusty, long-forgotten books - that the most explosive secret of all will come to light, bringing with it a very different future for her and the rest of the family."

This is a family saga in the best of the tradition - plenty of internal politics with shifting alliances, shifting point of view narrative, greedy battles over money with a mystery at its heart. The main thread, or maybe that's just me, was Lou's re-reading and exploration of one of her grandfather's books, Blind Moon, and the untangling of fact from fiction as we learned more about his life.

It's a book that once started was almost impossible to put down... so I didn't and greedily devoured it in one day. Definitely a book for reading in the sunshine whilst we attempt to enjoy the English "summer".

Today I feel warm and funny inside...

...and in honour of that nice feeling, I have added two new authors to the bookling blog roll. The lovely Angela Young and the equally lovely Adele Geras have been added because they both emailed me today and that was nice. Actually, I meant to add both of them ages ago and am relieved to see that I was nice about them. That could have been awful!

I did tell them (and it's absolutely true) that they both feature on my incredibly subtle "these are the books I want you to buy and wrap up for me please" birthday list that I issued to Mr B last week. I should add that my birthday's not for ages but I like to ensure he has plenty of time to scout down copies. You see, due to a complex domestic agreement, I am not allowed to purchase new books myself until the TBR fits back onto one shelf of the bookcase. I did count the TBRs today and it's just under 70 so progress is being made. I wonder if buying lots of new bookshelves would help me to disguise the pile size. Hrmmmm.....