2011 March 28

Book Review: The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear

Title: The Mapping of Love and Death
Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Publication Date: February 22, 2011
Paperback: 368 pages
ISBN: 978-0061727689
Genre: Fiction, Mystery

From the Publisher:

August 1914. Michael Clifton is mapping the land he has just purchased in California’s beautiful Santa Ynez Valley, certain that oil lies beneath its surface. But as the young cartographer prepares to return home to Boston, war is declared in Europe. Michael—the youngest son of an expatriate Englishman—puts duty first and sails for his father’s native country to serve in the British army. Three years later, he is listed among those missing in action.

April 1932. London psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs is retained by Michael’s parents, who have recently learned that their son’s remains have been unearthed in France. They want Maisie to find the unnamed nurse whose love letters were among Michael’s belongings—a quest that takes Maisie back to her own bittersweet wartime love. Her inquiries, and the stunning discovery that Michael Clifton was murdered in his trench, unleash a web of intrigue and violence that threatens to engulf the soldier’s family and even Maisie herself. Over the course of her investigation, Maisie must cope with the approaching loss of her mentor, Maurice Blanche, and her growing awareness that she is once again falling in love.

My Review:

The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear is the seventh Maisie Dobbs novel, and the third I have read. While the book can easily stand alone, it is my belief readers will want to know more about Maisie, I know I shall be back reading. In The Mapping of Love and Death, the book opens in 1914 where cartographer Michael Clifton is setting sights on places to drill for oil when war is declared in Britain. Even though Michael is born an American, he feels a strong duty to serve and travels to Britain and is assigned work as a cartographer in the Great War. By 1916 he is reported missing and in 1932 his body is recovered and Maisie Dobbs a London psychologist and investigator along with her assistant, Billy Beale, find themselves being hired by Edward and Martha Clifton to discover what happened to their son and to locate a woman known only by her love letters as “Your English Nurse”. Maisie soon learns the case is not at all as simple as it appears and finds herself in situations she could not have foreseen. Winspear takes the reader back to another time, just after the Great War and through detailed and vivid prose, the reader is taken on a several journeys, all the while Maisie tries to solve the murder. The Mapping of Love and Death reads quite similar to a cozy mystery, yet cannot be classified as such as all the characters are not known upfront, rather the reader uncovers the mystery with Maisie. I enjoyed following the clues, trying to get ahead of Maisie and I found it fascinating how Winspear was able to weave in Maisie’s past from the Great War into this story as she is confronted with constant reminders of the past and her quest to move forward with her life. The Mapping of Love and Death was a delightful mystery and one I would recommend to anyone who enjoys an intriguing mystery. The next Maisie Dobbs novel, A Lesson in Secrets, will be released in April.

About the Author:

Jacqueline Winspear was born and raised in the county of Kent, England. Following higher education at the University of London’s Institute of Education, Jacqueline worked in academic publishing, in higher education, and in marketing communications in the UK.

She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and while working in business and as a personal / professional coach, Jacqueline embarked upon a life-long dream to be a writer.

A regular contributor to journals covering international education, Jacqueline has published articles in women’s magazines and has also recorded her essays for KQED radio in San Francisco. She lives in California and is a regular visitor to the United Kingdom and Europe.

Jacqueline’s novels thus far—Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth, An Incomplete Revenge, and Among the Mad are set in the late 1920s and early 1930s, with the roots of each story set in the Great War, 1914–1918. Her work has been nominated for numerous awards.

To learn more about the author and her books, please visit her website.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

Book Review: Snowdrops by A.D. Miller

Title: Snowdrops
Author: A.D. Miller
Publisher: Doubleday
Publication Date: February 22, 2011
Hardcover: 272 pages
ISBN: 978-0385533447
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

An intense psychological drama that echoes sophisticated entertainments like Gorky Park and The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Nick Platt is a British lawyer working in Moscow in the early 2000s—a place where the cascade of oil money, the tightening grip of the government, the jostling of the oligarchs, and the loosening of Soviet social mores have led to a culture where corruption, decadence, violence, and betrayal define everyday life. Nick doesn’t ask too many questions about the shady deals he works on—he’s too busy enjoying the exotic, surreally sinful nightlife Moscow has to offer.

One day in the subway, he rescues two willowy sisters, Masha and Katya, from a would-be purse snatcher. Soon Nick, the seductive Masha, and long-limbed Katya are cruising the seamy glamour spots of the city. Nick begins to feel something for Masha that he is pleased to think is love. Then the sisters ask Nick to help their aged aunt, Tatiana, find a new apartment.

Of course, nothing is as it seems—including this extraordinary debut novel. The twists in the story take it far beyond its noirish frame—the sordid and vivid portrayal of Moscow serves as a backdrop for a book that examines the irresistible allure of sin, featuring characters whose hearts are as cold as the Russian winter.

My Review:

Some reviews are quite easy to write, almost as though they write themselves, while others are extremely difficult and this review falls into the latter category. Snowdrops by A.D. Miller has the potential to be a complex novel as it is filled with several story lines, exquisite detail, yet difficult to classify. According to the back of the book I should feel the decadence of the Russian society. This was one of my first problems, but I am getting ahead of myself. Snowdrops is about Nick Platt, a British Lawyer who in 2000 is living and working in Russia, everything is in flashback as the book is written as a letter to his fiancée in Britain, for he wants her to know everything about him, brave man or foolish fiancée, difficult call. Communism has recently fallen and Miller writes of the decadence, debauchery, and sins of Moscow. Greed and amorality rule the city, which I had an issue with, but again, this is a work of fiction so I kept reading. While Miller describes Russia beautifully, as he should for he has lived there, I found those descriptions of the real Moscow to be what I enjoyed about the book, not the seedy underbelly he is portraying in Snowdrops. The second problem I had was Miller’s sporadic use of Russian words or phrases. This threw off the rhythm, especially considering Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet and therefore any Russian used is a phonetic spelling, an example from page 13, “Da,” I said. “Eta pravda. (Yes, it’s true.)” This form of using the native language, periodically, made Snowdrops rather frustrating for me to read, it broke up the flow and keep in mind, Nick Platt is writing this as a missive for his fiancée in London. Next, enter Masha and Katya, gorgeous young women who speak excellent English and ask for his help, naturally he helps them, they are young and gorgeous and of course they are lying to him. I enjoyed Snowdrops immensely when Miller wrote in his atmospheric prose of the beauty of Russia. I found the plot to be lacking, maybe it was the form in which the author chose to tell the story or the thinly veiled plot, or the unlikeability of the protagonist or merely this was not the book for me, I still have not decided, but I do know it does not compare to Gorky Park. I personally was quite put off by the hedonistic manner of Miller’s version of Moscow in 2000, and while I realise the author has lived in the country, I wonder where he visited or it is quite possible his imagination is simply brilliant. There is no doubt Miller is a talented writer and while Snowdrops just did not work for me, I will indeed try another book written by A.D. Miller. I honestly do not know to whom I would recommend Snowdrops to as I felt it did not live up to an “intense psychological drama” as it is promoted.

About the Author:

A. D. MILLER studied literature at Cambridge and Princeton, and worked as a television producer before joining the Economist. He has served as the magazine’s Moscow correspondent and is currently an editor in its London office. Snowdrops is his first novel.

I received a complimentary copy of Snowdrops by A.D.Miller from Doubleday to offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.