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"The Secret Scripture"
I am still reading The Secret Scriptures which was the last book the Library found for me.
So far it is not what I expected but interesting nevertheless.
I have a theory about the real relationship between Roseanne and Dr. Grene (but also wonder if this is the author teasing us!), - I'll let you know when I have finished reading it....
By the way, one of the reasons I voted for this book was that in 1965-66 I worked (as a Cadet Nurse) in a large General Hospital. We sometimes had patients from a nearby Mental Hospital (as it was then called).
One of these ladies, now in her seventies had been incarcerated when she was fourteen. I was able to read what the family doctor had said about her at that time. Was shocked, dismayed and upset that at fourteen this young girl had answered back, slammed doors and stammped her feet!! Around sixty years later she was still "incarcerated.
In fact I didn't find anything in the report I read about her, that I hadn't done myself! A very difficult thing to take on board when you are only 16-17.
She is someone that I will never forget.
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I have now finished Secret Scriptures, as I suspected, Dr. Grene was Roseanne's son. It took me a lot long to work out who John Kean was though, the penny didn't drop even when John Lavell told Roseanne the name of his son and the request to look after her.
In some ways John Kean turned out to my hero of the story.
I'm not sure that "enjoy" is the correct verb to apply to this story, but I am pleased that I read it. Much food for thought and well written.
I would even read it again in the future, perhaps I would pick up on some of the nuances I missed first time round.
Will also look out for other books by this author.
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Review Past Imperfect by Julian Fellowes.
I found it difficult to get into this book but once I did it was worth it.
Damian Baxter is dying and he calls on an ex friend to carry out a last request. He has a lot of money to leave and is sure he has a child by one or other of his previous conquests. The story follows the ex friend, the narrator whose name we are not told, as he follows up all the ex girlfriends.
The story flashes back each time to when they were younger, the girls all being debutantes. It is a good piece of writing about social history, it tells of the ending of the Coming out balls when debs were presented to the monarch and how they carried on with their own form of coming out. It documents the differences between the classes and also how the 60s changed attitudes. It was quite a hard book to read, quite ‘wordy’ but I did enjoy it.
One particular sentence caught my eye as a question to think about. “At what point does optimism become delusion?”
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