Book Review: The Secret Wife by Gill Paul

How many times have we heard that Anastasia Romanov, the youngest daughter of Russia's last Czar survived the execution of her family during the Great War?

In The Secret Wife it was Tatiana who escaped execution by the Red Army. She was secreted from their home/prison so she could meet with her lover, a young cavalry officer, to plan the escape of her entire family. Everything went wrong.

In 2016, an English journalist escapes to her mysterious grandfather's cabin in America after a difficult break up. While renovating the cabin, she finds a spectacular jeweled pendant. This prompts her search for the story of her ancestors.

We read this book in our local book club and it received mixed reviews. My biggest concern was that the writing wasn't particularly . . . mature . . . elegant . . . I'm sure there is a better descriptor but it eludes me at the moment.

On the other hand, the story itself was very good. I had no trouble reading it to the end.

Try it for yourself and let me know what you think.

Comments

A Taste of Canada ~ Fiddleheads

I do enjoy fiddleheads. They have a green bean-y, asparagus-like, pea-ish taste and they are just fun to look at. From Chateline Magazine: HOW-TO It’s Almost Fiddlehead Season! Here’s How To Cook This Springtime Veggie Properly Fiddleheads are a Canadian delicacy, but undercooking them can lead to food poisoning by Amy Grief Updated Apr 9, 2019 Fiddlehead season is short, so when you see the adorable green curlicues at your grocery store or farmers’ market, buy them while you can. Before chowing down on these little springtime delicacies, there’s a few things you should know first since fiddleheads can cause food poisoning if they’re not cooked properly. What are fiddleheads? These tightly curled coils are ostrich fern fronds. They start appearing in late April and early May in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and are usually found in forests, marshes and by rivers and streams. Taste-wise, fiddleheads, which are popular amongst food foragers, are...

Week #2 Challenge: Paper . . . and I mean ALL of your paper.

Annual Organization Challenge Week #2 How did you make out with last week's challenge? Did you find your work table? Here's this week's challenge: Your challenge this week is to S.P.A.C.E. your paper - - and I mean ALL of your paper: cardstock, patterned paper, specialty papers, and all those SCRAPS! SORT: Bring all of your paper to one area. Sort it all into piles: KEEP, SELL, DONATE, TRASH PURGE: bag up, and assign a price to paper bundles that you want to SELL at a garage sale or online, and put the bags in the garage sale box. Throw out the TRASH pile. Bag up the DONATE pile and immediately make arrangements for drop-off/pick-up or put in your vehicle. ASSIGN: separate your paper into categories that make sense to you. For example, you may want to divide it simply into cardstock and patterned paper. If you have a huge stash of paper, you may want to divide it by colour, theme, or manufacturer. **Another way to...

Journal Prompt ~ One Thing You Do Really Well

Name one thing you do really well . . . One thing I do really well is solve crossword puzzles.

In My World

Search This Blog