Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont

Taylor, Elizabeth. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont. New York : New York Review Books 2021. Print.

First Sentences:

 

Mrs Palfrey first came to the Claremont Hotel on a Sunday afternoon in January. Rain had closed in over London, and her taxi sloshed along the almost deserted Cromwell Road, past one cavernous porch after another, the driver going slowly and poking his head out into the wet, for the hotel was not known to him. 

Description:

This book is a bit of a switch for me. Short, cosy, quiet, not much action. But Elizabeth Taylor's Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont got ahold of me with its characters and concise writing style and wouldn't let go until the very surprising end.

 

First published in 1971, Mrs Palfrey is the eleventh of twelve novels written by Elizabeth Taylor (not that Elizabeth Taylor), and  was short-listed for the Booker Prize. Taylor, once one of the most renowned of British women writers, seems to have fallen off the "To Be Read" list of modern readers. But with Mrs Palfrey, I stumbled onto her work and was immediately captivated.

 

Laura Palfrey, the main character, is a recently widowed mother to estranged daughter Elizabeth and equally distant grandson Desmond. She recently decided to move into a modest hotel to live out her days. The Claremont was located in London near the National History Museum and other attractions, favorable points in selecting that hotel although Mrs Palfrey and her other permanent residents in that hotel never have the energy or desire to visit these attractions.

 

While the Claremont is a regular hotel with temporary guests, there are several elderly women and one man who have made it their permanent home. Living sheltered lives of gossip, loneliness, and boredom, these residents exist on routines of checking the daily posted menu for each meal, eating, watching a TV serial, and knitting. The sole male, Mr. Osborne, spends his days writing complaint letters to The Times and buttonholing the hotel staff with dull stories and crude jokes. Mrs Burton, another resident, loves nothing more that obtaining drinks at the hotel bar, while the others content themselves with observing passersby on the street and gossiping about the lives of other people.

At the Claremont, days were lived separately. One sat at separate tables and went on separate walks. The afternoon outing to change library books was always taken alone. 

Highlights for each person is a visit from a relative, even though that is usually a matter of obligation for the visitor. Mrs Palfrey has only one grandson, Desmond, nearby who works in the British Museum and has little interest in visiting her. So Mrs Palfrey, alone in her days, by chance meets an impoverished young writer, Ludo, who becomes a friend and even visits her at the Claremont.

 

The trick: Ludo with Mrs Palfrey's insistence, pretends he is her grandson, Desmond, to show her fellow residents that she, too, has relatives who visit her. For Ludo, Mrs Palfrey gives him ideas for characterization of people in the novel he is slowly writing, so his intentions are not altogether altruistic. But for Mrs Palfrey, he is a godsend to her life and her relationship with the residents.

 

Taylor writes this novel as a series of scenes rather than a narrative. Mrs Palfrey is a keen observer of her world and its inhabitants, as well as the motivations and shortcomings of herself and others. While not much happens in the routine world of the Claremont, each page is full of quiet insights into the behavior of people, something I found fully absorbing. Taylor's writing style is compact, straightforward, yet loaded with insight, compassion, frustration, loneliness, and yes, some humor.

Sometimes when I was a young, married woman, I longed to be freed -- free of nursery chores and social obligations, one's duty, d'you know? And free of worries, too, about one's loved ones -- childish ailments and ageing parents, money troubles....But it's really not to be desired -- and I realise that that's the only way of being free -- to be not needed. 

In rereading this recommendation, I'm not sure my enthusiasm for Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont comes through. But let me assure you, if you are looking for a quiet, challenging, people-centered story of quirky, yet very human characters, you cannot go wrong with this novel. Give it a whirl and see for yourself.

  

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Willett, Jincy. Amy Falls Down

An elderly woman stumbles and falls in her backyard, only to awaken in a hospital as a celebrity due to something she recently wrote but now no longer remembers. Her quiet life is soon changed. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

Moby-Dick

Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick: or The Whale. Oak Park, IL : Top Five Books 2026. (originally published 1851). Print.

First Sentences:

Call me Ismael. Some years ago -- never mind how long precisely -- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear or every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off -- then, I account it high time to get to the sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball.

Description:

Please do not be afraid of taking on Herman Melville's Moby-Dick: or The Whale. I know, I know, there are many reasons to avoid this masterpiece of literature and history. 

• Too long (600+ pages with 135 (short) chapters); 
• Too much whale info (from species differences to killing to processing to the value/use of spermaciti); 
• Too difficult a language (in 1850s style, why use one adjective and a short sentence when ten adjectives in a 50-word sentence works even better?); 
• Too much symbolism (everything comes in three's, too religious, fate vs. free will, etc.); 
• Too tragic (obsessive, vengeful doomed captain vs. maniacal, equally vengeful whale); 
• I simply don't have the time and don't care about this book.

But you will be denying yourself one of the greatest work of historical fiction ever created. You would want to at least give such an immersive novel a chance, wouldn't you? I thought as much so keep reading. 

 

To warm you up, I have included several more opening sentences above, more than just the first words of this novel. After all, who doesn't know "Call me Ishmael," probably one of the familiar opening three words in literature? 

 

But you need to notice and absorb the rest of these enticingly rich, revealing opening sentences to get a sample of what lies ahead. What you are presented with immediately are the evocative, highly-personal musings of the narrator, Ishmael, as he contemplates his current lack of funds, boredom with life, thoughts of death, the growing dominance of his "hypos," along with a weakening "moral principal" which prevents him from "knocking people's hats off," and his growing attraction to "pistol and ball" to end his life. 

 

To address his musings, Ishmael turns to his usual remedy: he takes to sea and impulsively joins the crew of the Pequod whaling ship.

 

Thus Melville introduces the character whose role is to observe and relate his tale to any land-lubber readers unfamiliar with a seaman's life and whaling. From his first musings and descriptions of the world and people around him, Ismael reveals his serious eye for detail and contemplation, a masterful use of language, and even some humor. He becomes an ordinary man on board a whaling ship in the 1850s among a company of shipmates with distinctive personalities. In these first sentences, we are given a penetrating picture of this thoughtful character.

And his fellow Pequod crew members are all under the leadership of captain Ahab who, Ishmael soon discovers, only took on the captaincy of this whaling ship so he could pursue and take vengeance on Moby Dick, the white whale that chewed off Ahab's leg on a previous voyage. Collecting valuable spermaieti from whales, the PequodI's investing owners' goal, would be only a secondary task to Ahab and his crew.

 

Here are the main characters:

• Ishmael (narrator) - "A simple sailor";
• Quequeeg (harpooner) - A heavily tattooed Islander who could hit a spot of tar across the ship deck with his harpoon (which he shaves with), and a friend to Ishmael;
• Starbuck (First Mate) - Voice of reason who tries to convince Ahab to abandon his quest of vengeance;
• Stubb (Second Mate) - Happy-go-lucky, pipe-smoking officer who enjoys eating raw whale meat; 
• Flask (Third Mate) - "A short, stout, ruddy young fellow...who somehow seemed to think that the great leviathans had personally and hereditarily affronted him";
• Fedallah (Ahab's harpooner) - Parsee (fire-worshiper) and predictor of the future; 
• Ahab (Captain) - Glowering, facially scarred, peg-legged, tragically-driven, vengeful leader of the voyage and crew.

  

We all know the story of Moby Dick and its tragic ending, so I won't re-tell it here. But beyond the plot, what makes this book fantastic is the depth Melville explores in so many areas. Whether describing the thoughts and actions of Ishmael's crew mates, musing over the roles of Fate vs. Free Will in decision-making, sharing the workings of a real whaling ship and voyage (a significant industry to readers of 1851 when the book was published), and even the cataloging of the different species of whales and harpoons, Melville is the master of observation and encyclopedic knowledge. He intersperses references to Shakespeare and the Bible alongside the history of whaling tools and the men who created and used them. All these inclusions are to support Melville's broad survey of the importance and reality of whaling in the 1850s. 

 

Moby-Dick is not a page-turning thriller although there are many suspenseful situations. It also is not a straightforward story that moves from Point A to Point B clearly and succinctly. If you are looking for a quick distraction, this is not the book for you.

 

Rather, it's as if we, the readers, are placed at a table with a magnificent gourmet feast in front of us. But before we can sample the food, the chef enthusiastically explains the workings behind the meal: from the growing of special crops and meat and their preparation; the people who cultivated and cooked the ingredients; the kitchen layout and utensils employed; the table setting; and even the atmosphere of the room. 

 

While this may sound tedious and frustrating ... "Just let me get on to the food!" you might think ... these vital details reveal the complex world behind the meal, a necessity to fully enhance for the novice diner the gourmet experience and the food itself. Through this chef's concern about presenting these details, we diners come to understand and appreciate the totality of this feast far beyond just the mere consumption of the food. 

 

There are plenty of fast food or even sit-down eating experiences out there if you preger those. No judgment. But Moby-Dick is a "meal" to be contemplated, savored slowly, and appreciated on a variety of levels. If you want a quick bite, an action-based story with everyday characters, you'll not find these in Moby-Dick. 

 

But there is oh, so much more that turns this novel from a hunt for a whale into a higher level that contemplates the battle between predestination, tragic obsession, and commercial whaling. Melville's language is so rich that it cannot be skimmed over. A reader must deliberately slow him/herself down to savor the 19th century words, the layered phrasings, and the concepts possibly unfamiliar to us living 175 years after Melville wrote. 

 

In short, you need to commit yourself to 1850 and life in the whaling industry to fully appreciate and identify with the characters and action of this book just as you would slowly, appreciatively relish each bite of a gourmet dining experience, even if there are courses that are not to your initial liking. It is the entire experience that shines and will stay with you long after the meal is over or the final pages are read.

 

 

 

As an elementary school kid I had repeatedly poured over my Classics Illustrated comic book version of Moby-Dick. (Note: Familiarity with the plots and characters in these 169 graphic interpretations of great novels, e.g. Silas Marner, Pitcarn's Island, Kidnapped, etc., carried me through my English classes in high school, my college BA and Masters in English). Later I had a wonderful high school teacher who took one entire day on the opening sentence of this novel and taught me how to appreciate its enormity. 

 

This month, when I learned that there was a re-release of a 1930 edition of Moby-Dick illustrated by Rockwell Kent, one of my favorites artists (these are his illustrations), I decided it was time to give the novel another, more adult look. Not a glance, not something to be quickly skimmed, but something I really wanted to understand in-depth. And boy, what I ever satisfied.

 

Maybe the 600+ pages is daunting to many readers. Or the language too unfamiliar. Or the diversions in whales, whaling, and the world of 1850 is too tiring to pursue when we have the internet, social media, and the television to captivate us more quickly. 

But I stand here today to highly recommend Moby-Dick  to everyone willing to at least sample, even if only for 50 pages or so, what powerful writing, themes, and stories can be. It will be time well spent, and, if nothing else, something you can brag about to friends and family.

 

[P.S. Those who notice such things may wonder why there is a hyphen in the title, Moby-Dick, but only the unhyphenated name "Moby Dick" is used in the book. No one knows why this is, although the rumor is that Melville's brother changed the proof in the title at the last minute because he liked hyphens, but didn't have time to do so throughout the book. Melville himself used a hyphen in his sea-faring adventure novel, White-Jacket, but really who knows (or cares)?  It's still a fantastic book, with or without a hyphen.]

[P.P.S. Here is a beautiful graphic map to help you understand what happens where and when on the voyage]:   https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/moby-dick-map/

Of course, it gets my Highest Recommendation. Enjoy. And let ne know your thoughts if you do read it or decide to give it a pass. I'm interested.

 

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 DeFoe, Daniel. Robinson Caruso

One man is shipwrecked on a deserted island and make his way along, contemplating the world, his fortune, and his survival until jhe discovers a companion.

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

The Dentist

 Sullivan, Tim. The Dentist. New York : Atlantic Crime 2020. Print.

First Sentences:

The young woman standing in front of him was smiling. Cross was sure of this, as her mouth was turned up at both corners, which was a definite sign. He wasn't sure what it meant though, because he didn't know her. 

Description:

It's always a great pleasure to me to discover a new author, particularly one who has written numerous books in a genre I enjoy. In this case, my latest discovery is Tim Sullivan and his initial police procedural mystery, The Dentist. 

 

Detective Sargent George Cross, the main character in this novel, is a brilliant, yet irritating detective for the Major Crime Unit of the Avon and Somerset (England) police force. Cross, while having probably the best criminal conviction rate in the country, is extremely awkward to be around due to his Asperger's Syndrome which puts him on the Autism Spectrum.

 

This condition makes him extremely detail-oriented and relentless in his pursuit of the truth, both pluses for any criminal investigator. But he is also socially inept, unaware of the affect of his words and actions on others, definitely a minus for his department, suspects, and his long-suffering partner, Josie Ottey, and new officer Alice Mackenzie. He abruptly leaves meetings without a word to pursue some new idea, leaving others to wonder what he's up to. It never occurs to him to include them on what is going on in his head unless they specifically ask him.Truly a trying man to be around professionally and socially.

[Ottey] had become his apologist and translator with the rest of the world. She wasn't entirely happy about this....As frustrating as she found Cross and partnering him, it did have its upside. She wouldn't dream of telling anyone else, but she'd learnt a lot from this man. More than she'd care to admit. 

Cross doesn't drive.although he can. Instead,he sometimes opts to be driven (often reluctantly) by his colleagues so he can concentrate on his thoughts en route. He mostly prefers to use his bicycle for transportation when a driver is not available or he is in too much of a hurry to get somewhere.

[At the crime scene] He had arrived on a bicycle, fully kitted out in a dayglo green helmet with a flashing light and digital camera attached to the top, dayglo cycling windbreaker, dayglo bicycle clips round his ankles and a small backpack over his shoulder. He looked more like an eccentric, absent minded, fifty-year-old geography teacher who had lost his way en route to an orienteering field trip...  

In the opening pages of The Dentist, Cross and Ottey are faced with the dead body of an elderly homeless man. Uniformed officers on the scene had already dismissed this death as a "homeless on homeless" situation that likely involved an argument, an escalating fight, and then an intentional or accidental death. The police conclusion? Inconsequential people in a time-waster of a case. 

 

But to Cross the body represented an individual who needed to be understood in order for Cross to recreate at the situation that led to his death by an unknown person.

Cross studied the corpse's face. Who was this man? How did he end up here? Like this? What events in his life led him to this moment? What was his story?

So there you have it. An odd detective, his partner, a rookie staff person, and the rest of the police force working on a case. I can't give any more away. However, if you are looking for careening car chases, shoot-outs, and fist fights, this is not the book or characters for you. This is a police procedural, one where the action is looking for clues, intensively interviewing suspects, rejecting false leads, and sitting around in meetings and thinking. Maybe this sounds dull, but the conversations, interviews of suspects as well as the investigation procedures conductive by intense and sometimes confused (by Cross) colleagues are fascinating to see in "action."

 

Best of all, author Tim Sullivan has written eight (so far) DS George novels. Having read the first three (The Cyclist is the second in the series, then comes The Patient, both equally well-written and compelling), I have five more queued up on my "To Be Read" list. Nice to have a good novel to turn to when other items don't pan out. I'm going to read them in order as there is growth to the characters and their relationships to each other, even in the first two books. Can't wait to dive into the fourth book, The Politician, when I need a reliable story to fill my spare hours.

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Baldacci, Davie. Memory Man.

Amos Decker is a man has a memory that remembers every detail, conversation, picture, or situation ... forever. He can never forget the brutal murders of his wife and child, dropping out of the police department and becoming a derelict. But he is reluctantly pulled back into an investigation by a friend who had been on death row but was released after a last-minute confession by another person. Highly interesting and pulse-pounding. Decker is a fascinating character. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

A Marriage at Sea

Elmhirst, Sophie. A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck. New York : Riverhead 2025. Print.

First Sentences:

Maralyn looked out at emptiness. There was little to see except the water, shifting from black to blue as the sun rose. A clear sky, the ocean, and themselves: a small boat, sailing west. 

Description:

Survival stories are some of my favorite non-fiction books to read. Combine that setting with a relationship adventure between two free-spirited souls and you have my full attention. So you can see why I now recommend to you Sophie Elmhirst's true adventure account of Maurice and Maralyn [sic] Bailey's shipwreck tale in A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck.

 

Both Maralyn and Maurice were unique personalities. Maurice was a loner, a man who dreamed of a life where he could be his own boss with no meetings or schedules ... free from responsibility to anyone except himself. He was a stutterer, had a hunchback, and once suffered from childhood tuberculosis which caused him to miss quite a bit of school. He made up for these shortcomings through self study and proved himself to the world by becoming a rock climber, a handyman, a pilot, a sailor, and more. 

 

Maralyn was a strikingly pretty woman who lived a sheltered life with her parents. They were people who liked doing things the old ways and kept Maralyn protected from experiencing anything new or challenging. Despite these constraints, Maralyn had become a confident, intelligent woman who simply preferred to be alone, taking walks in the woods, wearing her sister's cast off clothes, and being completely uninterested in anything that others did or said in social situations.

 

Maurice and Maralyn met when Maurice subbed for a friend in a two-person car rally. Maralyn was the driver and Maurice the navigator. She gave Maurice confidence by being interested in his life and decisions, while he opened the world from his real life skills and experiences. They began dating and soon married.

 

But soon, restlessness set in for both of them. They decided to work and save for five years to afford a boat, quit their jobs, then live on the boat, sailing off into the sunset with no plans or destinations, and no bosses. They accomplished those goals, created the boat, and set off.

 

Things went smoothly for the first year at sea until a whale's tale punctured a hole in their boat. They had only a few minutes to gather several items and jump into their inflatable lifeboat.

 

No spoilers in this previous information as all these events happen in the first few pages. But here's where I stop retelling their background and force you to read Marriage at Sea for yourself about how they survived 117 days adrift. What they ate, how they recorded their days, how they reacted to each other, the sharks, the boobies (sea birds), and their failed plan to have giant turtles pull their raft are the stuff of this captivating memoir. They and their story survive, of course, and this book details their daily hopeless grind of survival and relationship.

Doubt grows in emptiness.

I won't detail their days at sea, but if you are like me and enjoy survival stories, this one is for you. One cannot help but marvel as they face and overcome multiple obstacles and maybe, like me, wonder if I would have been as resourceful and hopeful for as long as they did. (Spoiler: probably not very long for me!).

 

It's a gripping tale of adventure, survival, and hope between two very different people who happened to be committed to each other through thick and thin. Fully engrossing and able to keep readers in suspense from the first to the last get to know and understand these unique people in crisis and in their relationship. Hope you like it.  

"We had found self-knowledge, self-reliance and proved our emotional self-sufficiency" recalled Maurice. As if it were an achievement, to need no one else. 

____________________

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:] 

Martel, Yann. Life of Pi

One young boy from India survives a shipwreck, floating for weeks alone ... except for a giant tiger in the lifeboat with him. 

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

A City on Mars

Weinersmith, Kelly and Weinersmith, Zach. A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?. New York : Penguin 2023. Print.

First Sentences:

Wherever you are on this planet, you've recently given some thought to leaving it. Space is looking more promising every day. There's no political corruption on Mars, no war on the Moon, no juvenile jokes on Uranus. Surely space settlement presents the best chance since about 50,000 BC to try out something completely new and leave all the bad stuff behind.

Description:

I'm always interested in all things space-related. A new topic in this area has cropped up recently:  the possibility of flying humans to Mars and creating a permanent settlement there. 

Many exciting possibilities are envisioned in this scenario, including establishing a new environment for humans should the Earth prove unlivable; a chance to put new technology to work; possible mineral riches to be mined; and even the design of a new community free of political and social strife.

 

Husband and wife authors Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith examine every issue imaginable regarding the travel to Mars and a potential settlement there in their new book, A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?  

 

Here they probe into the dreams, reality, and potential obstacles to Mars travel and communities on both Mars and our Moon, including:

• Lack of data for extended time in space; 
• Health issues;
• Space sex, reproduction, and radiation;
• Solar panels, underground lava tubes, and launch sites on the Moon; 
• Martian landscape (-60C with no breathable air, dust storms, and toxic soil);
• Rotating space wheel environments;
• Outer space habitats;
• International space politics and treaties;
• The human factors involved in living in a transportation rocket for six months and then settling in a close-knit colony;
• Advantages and disadvantages of waiting some extended time before trying to colonize Mars;
• Alternative potential space habitation locations (planets, asteroids, other sun systems).  

Each of its six chapters examines a situation for colonizing Mars from a scientific and practical viewpoint. These topics include:

• How space affects human bodies?
• How to stop the effects of radiation?
• Can humans live in an environment with only 2/5 of Earth's gravity?
• What habitats and vehicles work in space?
• How to insure people won't die in space and Mars;
• Is a Mars settlement internationally legal?
• How do we update laws to better accommodate human settlement?
• How can we address the sociology, growth, and reproduction issues?
• Can we actually achieve a successful Mars settlement despite all these obstacles?

The authors outline the popular opinions currently held by many humans:

Space is supposed to: lessen the chance of war, improve politics, end scarcity, save us from climate change, reinvigorate a homogenized and rapidly wussifying Earth, and...make us all as wise as philosophers....The problem is that...these ideas are almost certainly wrong.

They interview scientists, astronauts, biologists, sociologists, and many other experts to try to understand the possibilities and difficulties faced  before each challenge can be addressed. The text is both extensively researched and dryly witty, making this book both highly informative and interesting as well a subtly humorous and casual in its imagery.

[On the Moon] you'd need to cook all the water out of six tons of lunar soil to get the three kilograms of water you need daily to survive, not including cleaning, showering, and the occasional water balloon fight. 

It is a deep probing into the potential and obstacles for space travel and settlements that I found fascinating. If you are into anything about space or simply want to discover what waits us beyond the confines of Earth's protective atmosphere and the possibility of settling on another world, then this is the book for you. Highly readable, informative, and quirky in its (ahem) down-to-Earth humor. Highly recommended. 

Space combines just about every bad environment on Earth, plus a few curve balls like ultra-extreme temperatures, poison-soaked soil, and endless horizons of charged jagged glass. Space settlement is not impossible, but it will be damn hard....

Even is our species never settles Mars, deciding how we might do it is a project that requires objectively awesome and bizarre research and development in almost every field of human endeavor, from artificial wombs to international law.  

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Roach, Mary. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

From issues of going to the bathroom, sex, zero gravity, isolation, radiation, transportation, buildings, and crash landings in space, the author interviews experts in the field and even tests equipment and situations about all aspects of space travel and life apart from Earth. Fascinating, easy to read, humorous, and highly informative. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

The Mailman

 Welsh-Huggins, Andrew. The Mailman. New York : Mysterious Press, 2025. Print.

 

First Sentences:

Rachel Stanfield paused, not sure she heard her husband correctly, but wanting as always to give him the benefit of the doubt. Grateful for the distraction of a sound outside, she peered through the kitchen window but saw nothing.  


Description:

But the sound Rachel Stanfield thought she heard in these opening sentences was not an animal nor any other natural cause. It was four thuggish men who break into her house, tie up her and her husband, and demand information from her, Unfortunately, she has no idea what the answers they want are. When one of the men pulls out some special tools to "help her remember," things look completely bleak.

 

Then her doorbell rings. 

 

Thus starts the new thriller by Andrew Welsh-Huggins, The Mailman. It is a whirlwind ride of twists and turns, threatening situations with narrow escapes, mysterious data which good guys and bad guys alike are seeking for differing reasons. And then there is an questionable sum of $20 million that seems to play a part in the adventure.

 

Welsh-Huggins introduces into this environment Mercury ("call me Merc") Carter, an independent delivery man with a packet he wants to deliver to the story's narrator, Rachel. He says he has never missed a delivery before to a client and, despite all obstacles, doggedly does not want Rachel's package to be his first failure. 

So after ringing Rachel's doorbell, he finds himself entering into the aforementioned delicate hostage situation. But Merc conducts himself unexpectedly well despite the dangers to everyone in the room, and the adventure begins.

 

I cannot reveal any more of the plot, but will say that it involves kidnapping, lottery payoffs, some very nasty people, mysteries galore, secret numbers, and some nifty MacGyver-like extractions of various people from some very tight situations. 

There is an overwhelming sense of urgency throughout the book, a foreboding threat of violence and crimes, and touched with a bit of ironic humor as well. But after all, it is a thriller, so if you are not into that kind of scenario, give this novel a pass.

 

But for those of us who enjoy tense encounters, good vs. evil face-offs, impending dire consequences, and impossible last-second escapes, this is definitely the book for you. A great read that will keep you flipping pages long into the night as it did me. It's now in my top 5 thrillers of all time, and that's saying a lot! 

 

Best of all, this is the first book in a new Mercury Carter series, with the next edition to come out later in 2026. Cannot wait to dive into that one as well. 

 

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Andrew Welsh-Huggins. Fourth Down and Out.

Former Ohio State University quarterback, now turned private investigator, needs to recover a friend's laptop and erase a file. Easy enough, but the trail leads him throughout Columbus, Ohio and eventually Ohio State itself where the people there still won't forget the huge mistake he made decades ago in an important football game.

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

Mona's Eyes

Schlesser, Thomas. Mona's Eyes. New York : Europa. 2024. Print.

 

First Sentences:

Everything went dark. As funeral garb. Then, here and there, some flashes, like those bright spots that appear when you vainly stare at the sun from behind eyelids that are as tightly clenched as fists fighting pain or emotion.

Description:

If you are someone not particularly interested in artists, art history, or analysis of art pieces, I'm going to save you time and suggest you read no further in this recommendation for Mona's Eyes by Thomas Schlesser.  While wrapped in a very interesting premise to its plot, Mona's Eyes fills most of its pages with wonderful descriptions of artworks, artists, and period history found in the Paris museums of the Louvre, Orsay, and Beaubourg (the Centre Pompidou).

 

One day, Mona. a ten-year-old Parisian girl, suddenly, inexplicable, goes blind. Her parents rush her to their family doctor who can find nothing wrong with her eyes. Fortunately, after one hour, her sight returns, but her family is left withl questions about why and how this happened, and if or when the blindness might recur. Despite multiple weekly medical tests, no answers emerge.

 

It is reasoned that there could be a psychological aftereffect on the girl from this brief condition, so Mona's parents decide she should see a psychologist. Hearing this, Mona's grandfather volunteers to take care of this need. The parents are relieved of the burden, thinking that he will find a qualified doctor for Mona.

 

But Henry, her grandfather, has other ideas apart from Mona's parents' expectations.

 

Every Wednesday, instead of sessions with a psychologist, Henry takes Mona to a museum to contemplate and discuss one art piece. Henry fears Mona, who has led a quiet, sheltered life, will not have any memories of beauty, color, people, artists, and the world should she ever go blind again. He wants to provide her with memories and images should the darkness descend on her unexpectedly.

 

The book consists of 52 short chapters, one for each Wednesday in a year, where Henry and Mona analyze an art piece. Mona is asked to stand alone in front of the piece and study it, then step back and discuss what impressions she has with her grandfather while he provides her with his in-depth information about the artists, the historical period of the piece, and an analysis of the work itself. 

 

Personally, I only knew a tiny bit about of few of these artists, such as da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Monet, Cezanne, Klimt, Van Gogh, and O'Keefe. Others were known but only vaguely to me, such as Goya, Gainsborough, Whistler, Kandinsky, Magritte, and Basquait. Most artists were unfamiliar (at least, to me), like Poussin, Friedrich, Cameron, Hoch, and Soulages. 

 

Although each piece is described, I looked up each unfamiliar image of the work ton the internet o better understand exactly what they were seeing. (Note: new copies of this book contain an insert folder with all the art pieces shown. My book was a library copy without the insert so I had to do an internet image search myself. Sigh)

 

There are several other background stories in Mona's Eyes revolving around her family, school, doctors, and friends. But predominately the novel focuses on the appreciation of one specific art piece in each chapter. Henry is a scholarly art historian who brings life to the subtleties of each artwork and its creator, and under his guidance Mona is soon able to provide her own insights.

 

I learned so much about art and the people who created pieces during their eras. Plus, I learned the value of carefully observing a museum piece, not just reading the labels attached nearby and moving on. Each art work contains a story, a symbol, a reflection of the artist's message, and even commentary of the issues of that age.

 

Thoroughly engrossing, hugely informative, and a wonderful introduction to famous art and their creators. 

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Cane, William and Gabrille, Anna. Every Picture Hides a Story.

Details the background and subliminal content to a huge number of famous paintings as well as the history of the artists. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

Over to You

Dahl, Roald. Over to You. London : Reynal & Hitchcock. 1946. Print.

First Sentences:

Oh, God, how I am frightened. Now that I am alone I don't have to hide it; I don't have to hide anything any longer. I can let my face go because no one can see me; because there's twenty-one thousand feet between me and them and because now that it's happening again I couldn't pretend any more even if I wanted to. 

Description:

Having recently read Roald Dahl's memoir, Going Solo about his World War II experiences flying for the RAF, I fell in love with his spare, honest writings about his thrilling adventures, and definitely wanted to read much more from him. Luckily among his numerous books for children, I found his Over to You, made up of ten more stories about the men who piloted Hurricane fighter planes in WWII in the desert.

 

These narrations were probably based on the people, locations, and situations from Dahl's own experiences. They certainly seemed, to me, to be realistic. But even if these tales were entirely fictionalized, each one rang true because they focused on the men themselves, not just the situations they faced, real and imagined. We lucky readers can see up close what these pilots were thinking. What were their plans? How did they to occupy their down time? What were their relationships with the local people near their air bases and with the enemy fighters?

 

Here's some examples of the captivating stories contained in Over to You: 

• A pilot, after four years of flying missions, is overcome with dread about having to fly again, a terror that seizes his every moment before and during his time in the air until he comes into combat at which time all his fear dissipates;

• Pilots save and adopt of very young girl whose family had been killed in enemy strafing of her tiny village;

• Pilots on an off-day decide to free several ordinary women who have been forced into prostitution;

• Crew and friends await the return from a mission of their fellow pilot. But when he eventually lands safely two days later, they find he has no memory of the time that has passed since he flew off;

•  A mother senses when her son is on a mission and feels she is in the cockpit with him.

• A pilot returns from a mission, quietly has a drink by himself in the airport bar, and only after much convincing by fellow pilots does he admit he had seen five enemy planes on his mission and shot them all down.

All these tales are narrated in Dahl's crisp prose. Each sentence conveys a picture of the feelings of the men, their situations, and their surroundings. Even their planes come to life under Dahl's words:

Our two Hurricanes were standing a few yards away, each with that patient, smug look which fighter planes have when the engine is not turning, and beyond them the thin black strip of the sloped down towards the beaches and towards the sea. 

 Dahl portrays the non-combatant civilians with the same intimacy:

It's always the same. As the bombers move south across the country at night, the people who hear them become strangely silent. For those women whose men are with the planes, the moment is not an easy on to bear.

There you have it. It's a quietly passionate book full of fully-rounded, interesting people with questions, observations, bravery, and fears about the War, their surroundings, other people, and their own position in all of it. Each story, to me, was a gem written in precise prose, detailed enough that I felt I knew and even understood every individual character. What more could any reader ask for in a book? Highly recommended.  

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:] 

Roald Dahl. Going Solo.

Memoir of Roald Dahl's flying experiences with the RAF during World War II. Superb writing and adventures in every chapter. (Previously reviewed here.)

Happy reading.

 

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the FA Cup

Carr, J.L. How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the FA Cup. New York : Penguin 1975. Print.

First Sentences:

After the big Share-Out there was a thousand pounds left for an Official History. A top Sports Personality put the idea into our Chairman's head. His letter read, 'This most illustrious feat in modern Sporting Annals should -- and must -- be enshrined for posterity, and it will be my proud honour, sir, to perform this service for you and your gallant band, when suitable terms are agreed ..."

Description:

The first sentence above refers to the events occurring in the final pages of this dry, witty novel, How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the FA Cup by J.L. Carr. It is the "history" of a small village in England, Steeple Sinderby, which in one year fielded a football (soccer) club from local players and went all the way to Wembley Stadium to win the prestigious FA Cup. (No spoiler here as this result is part of the novel's title.) The book's first sentence refers to how the winners' purse was to be divided, including leftover funds set aside to document this rise to fame. 

 

Enter the narrator and author of the book, Joe Gidner, a local greeting card writer. Gidner, accepts the position of the team's documentarian, carefully laying out the one-year run of the small-town Wanders' football team. He details the team's history that year based on newspaper articles, minutes from the team's governing committee, along with his own observations of the team, the townspeople of Steeple Sinderby, and the man who created the winning system, Dr. Kossuth.

 

Kossuth, the headmaster of the local school, had no previous interest or experience with football, However, he had developed a system for his school's students performance in educational tests which had dazzled the government examiners. He therefore was asked by the football Committee to develop a similarly unique system for their football team in achieve similar success. After attending only two games, Kossuth came up with seven Postulations to promote winning including:

• The only truly striking difference between the technical skills in amateur and professional players is the latter's control of a ball's movement when struck by his head.  Whenever possible, keep the ball close to the ground and select terrain disadvantageous to flighted passage of balls; 

• Every player except the centre-forward must defend his own goal, and every player except the goalkeeper must assault his opponents' goal;

• A Home team's only advantage is feeling at home. An away side should think itself at home, and then make the home side feel less at home.

These Postulations led the Wanders' Committee to create a home field in a marshy, uneven, rocky area where the team, through practices on it, could feel more comfortable than opponents. They implemented a game strategy where every single player attacked or defended on every play, creating mismatches based on overwhelming their opponents with numbers whether on offense or defense.

 

The rag-tag team which implemented these Postulations was made up of the local vicar, a milkman, a "wild man", and a faded football star who had given up the game for good as "pointless." Townspeople also contributed to the Postulations by cheering so loudly when the Wanders played in their opponents' territory that they drowned out any opponents' fan support. 

 

Implementing these ideas helped the Wanderers win their qualifying preliminary minor league games and move into the next level of competition where they faced more experienced players.

So the First Round Proper now was upon us and into the hat tumbled the survivors of the rough and tumble preliminary rounds of Free for All, battered and weary from too much football and staring wildly around like half drowned men cast up from the sea, amazed to find themselves still breathing though not likely to live.  

It's a serious-sounding book chock full of odd characters, unusual situations, and unexpected outcomes. The players' adventures implementing the Postulations and coming together as a team despite many unexpected setbacks are a wild ride from start to finish. The humor is very subtle, expressed in the narrator's quite serious language (all the more to hide the truly laugh-out-loud occurrences), presenting a highly-believable history of quirky characters and situations.

 

Recommended for lovers of wit, football/soccer competition and strategy, clever small stories and relationships, off-beat characters, and David vs. Goliath match-ups. I loved it.

I often wish that I could have known the end at the beginning, so that each detail could have been savoured as it happened. But then, life isn't a gramophone record one can play again and again till one feels one understands it. It is Now or Never for most of us, and we haven't the time. But we shall tomorrow ... 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Jerome, Jerome K. Three Men in a Boat.

Three men (and a dog) set off for a river excursion in a rented boat, although none has any previous boating experience. Probably the closest book I could think of with the very dry, serious British sense of humor. Delightfully witty, unexpected, and funny.

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]