Review: The Household by Stacey Halls

The Household by Stacey Halls is set in London in 1847 and centres around the real life opening of Urania Cottage in Shepherd's Bush. British philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts was one of the wealthiest women in England and a rich benefactor of the project along with Charles Dickens (yes, THE Charles Dickens). Set up in secret to offer fallen young women a new start in life, young girls - including prostitutes, thieves, orphans and model prisoners released from gaol - were offered the opportunity to live in the cottage, learn all of the skills necessary to enter into service and ultimately move to the colonies.

Inspired by history, The Household is told my multiple narrators, including the benefactor Burdett-Coutts, the housekeeper and several residents living at the cottage. This makes for plenty of drama playing out in the richly appointed cottage.

The young girls come from all backgrounds, but I was really moved when one of the characters described the conditions of the female prisoners picking oakum (unravelling rope) at the Tothill Fields, Westminster House of Correction. For those interested in learning more about picking oakum, I can recommend checking out this short segment from The Worst Jobs in History by Tony Robinson.

"The new girls often cry when their necks hurt and their eyes sting. Most are there a week or two, then vanish; some are on their sixth, seventh, eighth term, as though Tothill Fields is a hotel they return to at leisure. Above the platform, a painted sign declares PRISONERS ARE NOT TO SPEAK TO EACH OTHER. The room is quiet but never silent, punctuated every few seconds with a sigh, a sneeze, a cough. Now it is November, the infirmary is full, and the morgue waits below like a baby bird with its beak open." Page 32

Well written and expertly researched, I thoroughly enjoyed everything about the project, the daily structure and routines at Urania Cottage and of course the challenges faced by the residents.

Thankfully Charles Dickens is a background character in this tale, regularly interviewing the girls about their history and downfall in an effort to prove they can be reformed and return to society. Here Martha reflects on everything that led her to Urania Cottage:

"But a fall is swift, sudden, when really it isn't like that at all. They imagine it to be a seduction or a moment of weakness, as if we carry this precious thing in a little box on our person. But it isn't a single thing, a single moment. It's more like a series of little deaths." Page 105

Along with Burdett-Coutts and the matron of Urania Cottage, the reader comes to care for the characters, although sadly not all want to be saved. Finally, one of the girls (Martha) reflects on her changing fortunes:

"She looks back upon their meeting now with the distance of time, thinking how wondrous life is. Not long ago she was paying a penny to sleep over a rope in a boarding-house; now she is the wife of a clergyman." Page 254

The Household by Stacey Halls is my fourth book by the author and each of them have been 5 star reads. They have all been stand alone historical fiction novels and I can't wait to see what the author writes next. Highly recommended!

For more, check out my reviews of:
The Familiars
The Foundling
Mrs England

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Historical Fiction Challenge Completed 2024

At the beginning of the year I signed up for the Medieval Reader level of the 2024 Historical Fiction Challenge hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader. I was required to read 15 historical fiction novels and I managed to read a total of 19 to successfully complete the challenge.

Here's what I read throughout the year 2024:

1. The Bee and the Orange Tree by Melissa Ashley
2. The Beauties by Lauren Chater
3. The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenjé
4. The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
5. Black Silk & Sympathy by Deborah Challinor
6. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
7. Weyward by Emilia Hart
8. A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke
9. The End and Everything Before It by Finegan Kruckemeyer
10. The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain
11. Hex by Jenni Fagan
12. The Attic Child by Lola Jaye
13. Cuddy by Benjamin Myers
14. The Hatmakers by Tamzin Merchant
15. The Silence Of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski
16. Psykhe by Kate Forsyth
17. Rapture by Emily Maguire
18. Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase
19. The Household by Stacey Halls (reviewing soon)

Have you read any of the books on the list? I'm currently reading and enjoying Dark Serpent by Paul Doherty at the moment and I'm hoping to finish it by the end of the year, bringing my total to 20 books.

Did you read any stand out historical fiction this year or have any recommendations?

Carpe Librum!

Non Fiction Reader Challenge 2024 Completed

I love participating in the Non Fiction Reader Challenge hosted by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out each year and in January I signed up for the highest level of the challenge. I needed to read and review at least one book in each of the 12 categories listed below in order to complete the Nosher level.

Here's what I read:

1. History
- The Madman's Library by Edward Brooke-Hitching
- Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close by Hannah Carlson
- Bizarre London: Discover the Capital's Secrets & Surprises by David Long
- The Book Lovers' Miscellany by Claire Cock-Starkey
- Mortal Monarchs - 1,000 Years of Royal Deaths by Suzie Edge

2. Biography / Memoir

- The Pulling by Adele Dumont
- Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
- Bibliomaniac by Robin Ince
- Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris
- Theft by Finding by David Sedaris
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- Fierce Appetites by Elizabeth Boyle

3. Science
- Hello Sleep: The Science and Art of Overcoming Insomnia Without Medications by Jade Wu
- Extraordinary Insects by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson
- The Golden Mole by Katherine Rundell
- The Life of Birds by David Attenborough
- When Brains Dream by Antonio Zadra & Robert Stickgold

4. Food
- Butter: A Rich History by Elaine Khosrova
- The Secret History of Food by Matt Siegel

5. Health
- Vital Organs by Suzie Edge
- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
- My Secret Garden by Nancy Friday

6. True Crime
- Joe Cinque's Consolation by Helen Garner
- Australian Ghost Stories by James Phelps

7. Culture
- Magic Words by Jonah Berger
- Butts: A Backstory by Heather Radke
- Abominations: Selected Essays from a Career of Courting Self-Destruction by Lionel Shriver
- This is My World by Lonely Planet
- Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players by Stefan Fatsis

8. Transportation

9. The Future
- 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson

10. Pets

11. Architecture
- Melbourne Ghost Signs by Sean Reynolds

12. Published in 2024
- History Stinks! Poo Through the Ages by Suzie Edge
- Sociopath by Patric Gagne

While I read 33 non fiction books for the challenge throughout the year, I didn't read any for the Transportation or Pets categories. I'm currently reading An Immense World by Ed Yong which - at a stretch - could be categorised under pets, as many animals that are kept as pets are included but I still don't have anything for Transportation so it's much of a muchness. I'm not the type of reader to suffer through a book on a topic that doesn't interest me so I don't mind missing out on achieving the Nosher level of the challenge this year.

My favourite non fiction book by far was 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson. Did you participate in the challenge? What non fiction books did you enjoy this year?

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Turning by Tim Winton

The Turning by Tim Winton is a collection of short stories and I picked up a hard cover edition with deckled edges from a second hand bookshop back in 2017. At the time I'd been contacted by the BBC World Book Club about my 2013 review of Cloudstreet by Tim Winton, and while they acknowledged I'd read the book some years ago, they asked if I'd be interested in submitting a recorded question for their upcoming interview with the author. Naturally I said 'YES' and then picked up this little gem the next day.

I didn't get around to reading The Turning before the interview aired and it wasn't relevant to the question I decided to submit anyway, so the purchase then languished on my shelves for the next 7 years! Do you have books like that?

Set in and around a fictional town called Angelus on the coast of Western Australia, Winton returns to some of his favourite themes of adolescent boys, coming of age stories, working classes, domestic disharmony, beaches and surfing.

Early on, the main character in Big World enjoys camping and hiking with his mate Biggie and describes him as 'not a very introspective bloke':

"Biggie loves all the practical stuff, reading maps, trying survival techniques, learning bushcraft. I'm more into the birds and plants and stars and things... Biggie truly is a funny bugger.... He can fart whole sentences, a skill St Augustine admired in others. He's not much for hygiene. His hair's always greasy and that navel smells like toejam. He doesn't swim. He couldn't carry a tune in a bucket but he can find true north by instinct." Page 9

This relationship between two mates leaving school was a solid start to the collection and I found the deep insight provided into their bond of mateship eye opening.

Later in Aquifer, our narrator reflects on the time a red telephone box was installed near to where he lived, and those of us of a certain age will surely be able to relate:

"I suppose I was five or six when I learned to go in and stand on tiptoe to reach up and dial 1194 to hear a man with a BBC voice announce the exact time. I did that for years, alone and in company, listening to the authority in the man 's voice. He sounded like he knew what he was on about, that at the stroke it would indeed be the time he said it was. It was a delicious thing to know, that at any moment of the day, when adults weren't about, you could dial yourself something worth knowing, something irrefutable, and not need to pay." Page 40

Cloudstreet by Tim Winton remains one of my favourite books and I've been hesitant to pick up another by this much beloved Australian author out of fear it wouldn't be anywhere near as good. Regular Carpe Librum readers will know I hate it when authors don't include punctuation for dialogue in their novels, and while it curiously didn't bother me in Cloudstreet I found it irritating here; often interrupting my reading flow to determine who was speaking.

The settings, character arcs and dialogue are all very Australian, and I could definitely relate to this:

"Erin and I walked everywhere. Outside of school there was nothing else to do but traipse to the wharf or the beach or down the drab strip of shops where the unchanging window displays and familiar faces made me feel desperate." Page 255

Some of the short stories seemed to have a natural end point while others left me wanting more. I was hoping the author would bring all of the characters together in the end and while there was certainly some overlap of characters in the present and the past, the lack of resolution or overarching conclusion made for a 3 star reading experience overall.

Published in 2004, I've since learned The Turning was adapted into a film in 2013 starring Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Miranda Otto. The Turning by Tim Winton is recommended for those who enjoy short stories and Australian fiction.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase

Beginning in 1969, Amber Alton is 14 years old and staying with her family at their summer house Pencraw Hall in Cornwall. Affectionately known as Black Rabbit Hall, Amber lives with her parents, twin brother Toby, and siblings Kitty and Barney and loves spending summers running wild in the gardens, woods and beach nearby.

I love a novel where the estate or family home is essentially its own character and in Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase, that has certainly been created here. Although the image of the property on this enticing gothic looking cover is a little too manicured and not how I imagined Black Rabbit Hall at all.

Here's a better description by Amber:

"Nothing changes that much. Time goes syrupy slow. The family joke is that a Black Rabbit hour lasts twice as long as a London one, but you don't get a quarter of the things done. The other thing about Black Rabbit Hall is that when you're here it feels like you've been here for centuries but when you leave it feels like the entire holiday happened in one afternoon. Maybe that's why nobody cares that the clocks are all set wrong. Not much ever happens." Page 25

This is a split narrative novel and in the present, Lorna is looking for a venue to hold her wedding. Both points of view are told in the first person, but I found myself eager to return to the 1960s and the action taking place there as observed by Amber.

"I think that adults must get sort of worn away over time, like rocks out at sea, but remain who they are, just slower and greyer with those funny vertical wrinkles in front of their ears. But the young are a different shape from one week to the next. To know us is to run alongside us, like someone trying to shout through the window of a moving train." Page 306

Eventually the two timelines come together in a sense and I enjoyed the tension driven by the tragedy and discovering the deeply held family secrets along the way.

This is my first novel by Eve Chase, but certainly won't be my last and I'm looking forward to reading The Birdcage next. Black Rabbit Hall is highly recommended for fans of historical fiction and with an endorsement from Kate Morton, who could resist?

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: The Secret History of Food by Matt Siegel

The Secret History of Food - Strange But True Stories About the Origins of Everything We Eat by Matt Siegel is a book to tantalise the taste buds. Full of spiced and biting humour, it was an interesting read but certainly doesn't cover the origins of 'everything' we eat.

I was able to appreciate the author's punny sense of humour from the Table of Contents where I read Chapter 9 is entitled Forbidden Berries or Appetite for Distraction; a play on Appetite for Destruction, the title of an 1980s album by my favourite band Guns N' Roses.

Most illuminating was the section on corn, taking us through just how many products contain corn or corn products and how much of it is fed to livestock, making corn the most produced crop in the world.

A little more quote-worthy was the section about vanilla:

"Vanilla is second in price only to saffron, a kilo of which can sell for as much as $30,000 because harvesting it requires handpicking the stigmas of 150,000 to 200,000 flowers (at three stigmas per flower)." Page 93

Pollinated by hand, vanilla plants can take months to pollinate and then another six to nine months before the fruits are ready to harvest by hand.

"But at that point they don't have any flavour, so they need to be cured and conditioned through a process that involves hand massaging them, laying them in the sun to dry each morning, and wrapping them in blankets and tucking them in at night to sweat, which can take another nine months." Page 95

The author goes on to explain vanilla can be worth more than the price of silver, but that's with shrinkage and assuming you don't lose any of the crop from fungus, pests, disease or theft!

In medieval times, bread was baked once a week due to the labour required to mill the grain, make fire, wait for the dough to rise and the efficiency of baking larger loaves less frequently.

"And remember this was before modern preservatives, so six-day-old bread back then would have been much harder and staler (on average) than six-day-old bread today. In fact, there are accounts of peasant breads in France so hard that they had to be chopped with axes to slice them." Page 129

Sure makes me glad for the bread we enjoy today.

The chapter on feasting was full of fun historical facts. A helmeted cock involved crowning a roasted cock or hen with a helmet, tucking a silver or gold leaf lance under its wing and posing it on top of a roasted piglet so it looked like the bird was riding the pig into battle. In the same vein, a redressed swan was roasted and redressed in its skin and held upright with skewers as if it were still alive. Gross! The same thing was done with peacocks, however the finishing touch involved a ball of cloth soaked with alcohol in the peacock's mouth that was lit just before serving to make it look as though the peacock was breathing fire. Kind of makes the Bombay Alaska look a little tame doesn't it?

Loved the section on chilli:

"So eating a pepper isn't unlike, say, being stung by a bee, licking a nine-volt battery, or burning your tongue on scalding hot coffee - all sensations intended to warn the body of exposure to harm and if necessary trigger a series of protective reflexes to mitigate the effects and prevent further exposure." Page 165

Siegel outlines the body's physical reactions to spicy foods and what they're in aid of. The body sweats to flush your system, your nose runs to protect your nasal passages, your eyes water to protect your corneas, you salivate to purge your mouth and coughing and sneezing protects your airways.

I always wondered why cultures who live in hot and humid climates love hot and spicy food, but the author gives us the answer:

"...as chilies also happen to kill bacteria and mask the taste and odor of foods that aren't the freshest. This would explain why spicy foods tend to be more prevalent in hotter climates, where higher temperatures make food preservation more challenging, places like Central America, southern Asia, and Indonesia." Page 170

Siegel explains that chilies may have helped preserve food before the age of refrigeration, and the sweating that takes place when eating spicy foods has a cooling effect that helps regulate body temperature. Yeah, that doesn't work for me personally, but wow, I didn't know that.

While tidbits like this were interesting and informative, I wouldn't have said Siegel discloses many 'secrets' of food but the title is certainly more appetising than 'facts and history about some foods that you might not know'.

The Secret History of Food - Strange But True Stories About the Origins of Everything We Eat doesn't live up to title by containing the origins of everything we eat, but it does cover a lot of things we eat and was an informative read. It certainly made me hungry, although that's not hard!

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Humidity Giveaway Winner Announced

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway last week to win 1 of 2 copies of Humidity by Dan Kaufman complete with a personal inscription by the author. Entrants correctly identified Ben as the main character in this Aussie crime novel and entries closed at midnight last night.

I drew the two lucky winners today and congratulations go out to (drum roll):

Veronica & Mrs Riskgiggle!

Congratulations to you both!! You've won a signed print copy of Humidity by Dan Kaufman valued at $21.76AUD thanks to the author. You'll each receive an email from me shortly and will have 5 days to provide your AUS postal address. The author will then complete your personalised inscription and send your prize out to you directly. Cheers and Merry Christmas!

Review: When Brains Dream by Antonio Zadra & Robert Stickgold

Published in 2022, When Brains Dream - Exploring the Science and Mystery of Sleep by Antonio Zadra & Robert Stickgold was my latest choice in books about sleep and dreaming. Largely academic in nature, the book mentions many scientific sleep studies and may be a dry read for some.

According to the authors, we dream in all phases of sleep and most people dream for at least two-thirds of the night. Some researchers believe we dream all night but if you don't believe you dream at all, you do, you just don't remember your dreams on waking. Often something can happen later in the day to trigger the memory of a dream and I can still conjure the memory of dreams from days, weeks and months ago.

I'll admit I was excited early on in this book when I read:

"... we can think of dreams as either real life; portals into equally real or alternate worlds; messages and prophecies from the gods; unfulfilled wishes; random brain noise; nocturnal entertainment; communications from the future, the dead, or other minds; sources of personal insights, problem solving, and creativity; or a window into memory processing." Page 9

Hopes the authors were going to expound on each of these topics were soon dashed as I realised I was in for a scientific and academic look into dreams and dreaming. Having said that, I'd love to share my key takeaways.

It was reaffirming to read about the process proving stimuli received during sleep like smells and sounds can actively influence the dream you're having. I'm pretty sure we've all experienced the phenomenon where the sound of your alarm begins as something else in your dream before you wake up and realise it's actually your alarm going off. In one study, the smell of a burnt match or drop of water on a participant's forehead had a direct impact on the content of the dream they were having. Interesting, right? Although I did find myself chuckling at the thought of the participant waking up to a researcher with a lit match near their head.

Also reaffirming previous learned information was the correlation between the use of smart phones and insomnia. You can't fail to notice that most people turn to their phones in moments that were once spent zoning out or gazing into the distance while waiting for something or someone. Now, any moment of spare or dead time has users reaching for their device, however this leaves no time for the brain to process thoughts during the day.

Later, when the lights go out and the phones and tablets are silent and on charge, our mind is flooded with all sorts of thoughts from the day. This makes sense as pre-sleep is the brain's opportunity to sort through the day and tag any concerns for later processing during sleep. With that in mind, we should allow ourselves to zone out and be with our thoughts more often. This doesn't mean we need to meditate but you don't need to kill time or multitask all the time, just be with your thoughts.

"Our dreams rarely come to neat endings. The most common end for a dream report is, 'And then I woke up.' the dreaming brain doesn't plot out whole stories." Page 142

When we dream the mind wanders from topic to topic in a haphazard manner in the same way our daytime thoughts have no logical structure during waking hours. Another interesting tidbit in When Brains Dream was the fact that those who were born before the introduction of colour TV actually dreamed in black and white about 40 per cent of the time.

On the content of dreams:

"At a more global level, the dreamer is usually faced with some kind of problem. These can range from relatively minor difficulties - planning a course of action, trying to make sense of a situation, or finding a lost object - to serious physical or psychological dangers such as being lost, falling ill, facing interpersonal conflicts, dealing with environmental hazards, or fleeing from physical perils." Page 157

Typical dreams include dreaming of falling, being late for something, being chased, and school and study related dreams. Do you have a recurrent dream? I'd love to know!

I'm a lucid dreamer but researchers have now been able to communicate with advanced lucid dreamers in a lab with a set of pre-arranged signals. When the participant enters a dream state they communicate with researchers via a series of eye movements at the beginning of a pre-set task and when they complete it. Now that's wild!

I enjoyed seeing the list of reality checks to perform while dreaming to determine if you're awake or dreaming, they include:

"These can take many forms, including trying to read, staring at yourself in a mirror, turning on a light in a dark room, or trying to push your fingers through your palm. In most dreams, you will experience difficulties reading, mirror reflections quickly become unstable, light switches fail to work properly, and your fingers may pass through your palm or give rise to other unusual sensations." Page 238

According to the authors, carrying out these reality checks can help you realise if you're dreaming or not.

It's widely accepted that most people can't read in their dreams, but after reading this book I focussed on my lucid dreaming ability and was actually able to read in a dream I was having! I was on a plane and was able to read the title of the book the person across the aisle from me was reading. I could also read the text on a computer screen that showed an email sent by the previous passenger. Apparently this is a rare feat so I'm pretty proud to have taken my love of reading into my dreams.

When Brains Dream - Exploring the Science and Mystery of Sleep by Antonio Zadra & Robert Stickgold is recommended for the dedicated non fiction reader familiar with the basics of sleep who wants to delve into the latest scientific developments.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: Melbourne Ghost Signs by Sean Reynolds

* Signed copy courtesy of Scribe Publications *

For those that don't know, a ghost sign is a hand painted advertisement on a building from the past that can still be seen today. Sometimes they're rediscovered during renovations or the demolition of an adjacent building. Appearing like a ghost from the past, they're often covered again when a new development is erected, giving us a short lived glimpse into our social history. Other ghost signs have been preserved and have managed to survive decades in the harsh Australian climate.

Hailing from Illinois, Sean Reynolds moved to Melbourne in 2015 and works for the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. During lockdown, Reynolds started to become interested in ghost signs on his daily walks with his daughter and Melbourne Ghost Signs contains the photographs he took all over Melbourne. Helpfully broken down into chapters entitled: Central Business District, West, South, East and North, the reader can jump straight to their part of town or read the book cover to cover.

The hardback is equal parts photography and history lesson, as the author does a deep dive on the property photographed, the business or product being advertised and often the business owners. Deploying a light sense of humour and an abundance of puns, Reynolds is able to conjure a sense of nostalgia as he delves into the history. Here's an example from a property in Victoria Street Footscray, where a 70 year old ad for Cinzano can still be seen.

"But wait, there's more! The building's three younger siblings, each with its own enchanting tale, add to the corner's allure: one, a former abode of Wesdan Electrical; another, a once-upon-a-time children's library turned milk bar; while the third, now emblazoned with 'D.P. Automotive Services', has donned many hats - from tailoring to boot repairs, before revving up as an automotive service shop." Page 50

During my time as Secretary for the Southbank Residents Association, The Tea House in Southbank was a hotly contested site for development. Reynolds tells us it was the heart of the Robur tea empire and opened for business in 1905. Outdoor painted advertisements for Robur Tea soon popped up everywhere, however Robur Tea was purchased by Tetley in 1974. The author points out many faded Robur signs throughout this book, and his love for the brand runs so deep he has a Robur teapot tattoo on his bicep!

Despite the relative seriousness of vanishing and reemerging heritage, facadism, ghost signs and history, the author uses clever puns throughout and has a relatable sense of humour. I smiled to myself seeing his reflection in a few of the photos and wish I could help him fulfil his unquenchable desire to taste a Tarax soft drink.

This location in West Melbourne was full of mouth watering puns to die for, here's a taste:

"The biscuit empire of T.B. Guest & Co. sprawled like a sugary Roman Empire, conquering palates and crushing competitors with the might of a thousand ovens." Page 47

Jokes aside, I would have liked for each photograph to have a date credited, as some of the ghost signs have since been covered up. And while each location has a street name and suburb attributed, I also wished the street number was included. This would have enhanced the reading experience and enabled the motivated reader to visit the site via Google Maps street view or do a drive by.

Melbourne Ghost Signs by Sean Reynolds is a terrific trip down memory lane and will appeal to readers who enjoyed Old Vintage Melbourne and Old Vintage Melbourne 1960 - 1990 by Chris Macheras (also published by Scribe Publications) or Adrift in Melbourne and Corners of Melbourne by Robyn Annear. You can also check out some of the author's photographs on Instagram.

Since finishing Melbourne Ghost Signs, I've noticed a lot more ghost signs around the city and I hope to track some down from the book over the summer. Carpe Librum!

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★