The Clockmaker's Daughter

 The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton    496 pages

I love Kate Morton novels. They are nice and thick with a mystery that spans generations.  I love to snuggle down in my favorite reading chair. I waited until October to read her latest, mainly because of the opening sentence: “We came to Birchwood Manor because Edward said it was haunted.”  What a perfect line for late fall with Halloween just weeks away! And one sentence in the dustjacket blurb (“Tensions simmer, and one hot afternoon a gunshot rings out.”). I was ready to stay up all night, expecting to be so engrossed I couldn’t stop reading. 

As I read further into Chapter 1, I was thrilled to discover that one of the narrators was a ghost.  How cool was that!? The ghost was not identified nor was its paragraphs, but those were easily discernible.

The first part of the book took place in 2017, when archivist Elodie Winslow discovered a satchel and sketch pad belonging to 19^th century artist Edward Radcliff. Part One was wonderful.

But then I reached Part 2. The ghost was still there, but new characters appeared. I had no idea what was going on. Yet I read, and read, and read. But to my disappointment, it didn’t make sense. It was like a different story set in the same place.

It took me another week to finish this novel.  It did comeback around, but by then I was so confused about Morton’s plotlines, that I turned the last page in utter disappointment. Well, all writers have one book that is a dud, and this is it for Morton.  Fingers crossed that her next one will live up to her talent.

 “The Clockmaker’s Daughter” receives 2 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

Haunting Paris

Haunting Paris by Mamta Chaudhry    288 pages

I was drawn to this novel because of the evocative cover. The photo begs readers to pick it up.  At first I thought it would be about World War II, and in some ways it is, as part of it takes place in 1942. But that part of the story is minor. The major part of the story takes place in 1989.

There are two main characters. First is Sylvie. She is mourning the death of her 30-plus year partner, Julien. As his desk is being moved, a letter falls out that sends Sylvie on a journey to discover what happened to his sister and one of her children who died at Auschwitz. They were caught up in the roundup of Paris's Jews who were then imprisoned in the Vel d'hiver in 1942. But the letter is rarely mentioned in the first half of the book. Instead readers are confronted with a long-drawn out background of Julien and Sylvie’s life together, the American couple who rent half of the apartment, others who live in the building and a rather stranger relationship with Julien’s wife and their children.

The second character is Julien’s ghost. He wanders the Paris streets, never really far from Sylvie. He can see and hear everything that is going on, but he is unable to intercede. I found his sections also too long and drawn out.

It would be different if the tension rose as readers watch Sylvie navigate the world of grief, but it plods along at roo slow a pace.  And that’s why “Haunting Paris” received 2 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

The Archived

The Archived by Victoria Schwab, 321 pages

“Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books. Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive. Mackenzie Bishop is a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Now someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.” This was an amazing book.  Any teen who likes fantasy should read it.

The Steep And Thorny Way

The Steep And Thorny Way by Cat Winters, 335 pages

“A thrilling reimagining of Shakespeare's Hamlet, The Steep and Thorny Way tells the story of a murder most foul and the mighty power of love and acceptance in a state gone terribly rotten. 1920s Oregon is not a welcoming place for Hanalee Denney, the daughter of a white woman and an African-American man. She has almost no rights by law, and the Ku Klux Klan breeds fear and hatred in even Hanalee's oldest friendships. Plus, her father, Hank Denney, died a year ago, hit by a drunk-driving teenager. Now her father's killer is out of jail and back in town, and he claims that Hanalee's father wasn't killed by the accident at all but, instead, was poisoned by the doctor who looked after him--who happens to be Hanalee's new stepfather.The only way for Hanalee to get the answers she needs is to ask Hank himself, a "haint" wandering the roads at night.” This book was a little hard to read because of the subject matter but it was very well done.  Teens who like historical fiction need to read this book.