On New Year's Eve 1913 in Bombay, Madeline (Maddy) Bright, an English newcomer to India falls in love across the proverbial crowded room with the dashing Luke Devereaux.  But naturally the course of true love can't run smoothly: Maddy's mother Alice (who has her own chequered romantic past) believes the older doctor, Guy Bowen, is the right man for her daughter. But soon everyone's lives are destined to be torn apart by the commencement of World War I. 

As the young men are called up to serve in Europe, the women can only remain behind and pray and hope for their survival. Luke suffers a head wound and ends up in a repatriation hospital with no idea who he is or what his past has been (he is only known as Officer Jones). In spite of receiving news of his death, Maddy is convinced he is still alive although everyone else feels she is delusional and tries to encourage her to move on.

For the most part, this is an enjoyable romantic tale that requires a fair bit of tissue-clutching. Bombay's colourful backdrop is just that, and it is not a story of India itself, but rather that of a group of English people who are there in service of the Raj and the basic plot could be played out anywhere. The leading characters all tend to be "nice" and this can make them seem dull and unrealistic. The only one with depth and contradictions is Maddy's mother, Alice, who hides important knowledge from her daughter. 

The last few chapters contain much improbability and overwrought dialogue and some readers might have preferred a more clinical or practical conclusion. Otherwise, a good read for the holidays.

Three stars

(I read the American edition, which may differ slightly from the English or Australian original. The cover images are also different in each country.)


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​This is another novel in the mould of Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited". Trelawney is a ruinous Cornish mansion that has been inhabited for 800 years by the same line of dysfunctional and eccentric aristocrats and served by an ever-diminishing coterie of obsequious servants.
 
Set at the time of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, the House is on its last legs after the 24th Earl frittered away the last of the family’s coffers. Jane is married to Kitto, the heir, but does most of the housework. Kitto heads up a small bank and experiments with dodgy investments, while his parents soldier on in some remote Edwardian era, either blissfully unaware or, more like, in total denial that there is no longer a butler, footmen, maids, etc. to attend to their needs. The other main thread of the story involves the dynamic Blaze, Kitto’s sister, who works in high finance in London. And then there is the mysterious and exotic Ayesha, whose arrival from India sets in motion a series of changes for everyone.
 
Much of the writing is a delight in its descriptions of the decrepitude of both house and its elderly residents, plus various connected characters. Countess Clarissa is a hoot, especially when she comes into her own in the later chapters. Aunt Tuffy, who studies fleas, is likewise another charming oddball. But you do feel for the long-suffering Jane, a frustrated artist, who was married for her money that is now all gone. Blaze is cool, insular, sharp-edged. She has warned her peers about the impending financial crash but when it finally arrives, any feelings of vindication are muted when she is ambushed romantically by a fellow high-flyer.
 
The dialogue in the chapters on the GFC slow down the narrative, especially if one has forgotten all that sub-prime mortgages and Lehman Brothers business or is not au fait with City banking jargon. (The author’s surname might provide a clue to this expertise, although she states in her notes that any resemblance to her family is purely coincidental.) Otherwise, this is an often funny and entertaining read.
 
Three-and-a-half Stars.


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Are most children of the super-famous doomed? This memoir by the late, sad, Lisa Marie Presley and completed by her daughter Riley Keough, seems to confirm it.
 
There isn’t much about Elvis himself in this, but what there is isn’t particularly endearing. Priscilla gets a bad rap too. Also, it might be much better as an audio book featuring Lisa Marie’s own voice with Julia Roberts reading her daughter’s narrative, as it is a pretty disjointed print read otherwise. (Changing to my preferred font on my e-reader resulted in both narratives looking identical, so I was often confused as to who was who!)
 
There are thousands of five-star reviews for this book out there but also a few brave souls who have given it lower ratings.
 
If you’re sympathetic to the pathetic lives of poor little rich girls who can’t help their addictions and weaknesses and blame their genetics, husbands, lovers, or the world in general for their disastrous decisions in life, then you will love it. If you have little sympathy for the public handwringing and whingeing by privileged celebrities who could have used their positions in a more positive way to do something useful, then you’ll hate it.
 
For me, the best things about this book are the title and that it is thankfully short.
 
One-and-a-half stars.

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Going back to my childhood when I loved the antics of Doris Day as “Calamity Jane”, crazy gals from the pioneering days in the Wild West have continued to fascinate me. Hence, my interest in this latest biography of Belle Starr. She was likewise featured in movies in 1941 and in 1980, plus numerous other TV shows, novels and biographies.
 
Hollywood’s spin on gun-toting women like Calamity Jane, Annie Oakley and Big Nose Kate, has tended to sanitise, romanticise, fantasise or otherwise obscure their real stories. But finding the truth about these women is another matter. None of them looked like movie stars yet each had her own form of magnetism.
 
Perhaps Belle was the most alluring of all, having had several husbands and lovers. Born in 1848 in Carthage, Missouri, as Myra Maybelle Shirley, she had a conventional upbringing and even went to a prestigious ladies’ school.

It would be difficult, as the author states: “… to pinpoint any one moment or event that signaled [her] transformation from an educated, well-bred young lady from a respectable family into a gunslinging, horse-thieving, bandit-carousing outlaw.” However, it may have been the death of an older brother that was the initial trigger. The traumatic effects of the Civil War and the family’s subsequent move West also contributed. “And while she may not have realized it … encounters with guerrilla-trained outlaws and Cherokee war parties …” would also reshape her destiny and make her determined to establish her own financial security and not be dependent on men, even if it involved criminality and murder.
 
There is much to admire in this biography with its meticulous research into the background of Belle as well as the political, social and cultural history of the West with its focus on historical events that may not be well-known, such as the chaos caused by the irregulars among the Confederates and the changing status of the Comanche, Cherokee, Osage and other Native American tribes during this era. Belle’s involvement with the Cherokee is particularly interesting. The latter chapters of the book present various scenarios as to who ultimately gunned her down in 1889, and why.
 
Although we discover much about Belle’s character and reasons as to why she chose the lawless and ruthless path she did, the facts repeatedly clash with the legend and it is difficult to establish her true essence solely through academic findings. Ironically, Belle’s life was so outrageous and full of mysteries that a good novelist might tell her tale just as honestly, and perhaps reach a wider audience than non-fiction. 

Three-and-a-half stars

​With thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC.  The book is due for publication in May, 2025.

Note: The ARC that I have reviewed has no images of Belle and other individuals, or relevant places, but it is hoped that the final publication will have these or other illustrations and maps in order to enhance the reading experience.


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