A Curious Statistical Anomaly

The second Mrs. Darcy of the title is Octavia Melbury Darcy, widow of Captain Christopher Darcy (a cousin of the Darcy of Pride & Prejudice). We open with Octavia entertaining a friend in Calcutta, Lady Brierley has stopped in to see if the rumors of Octavia being left with little to no money is true. Captain Darcy’s estate was entailed to a distant relative, George Warren, and Octavia is left with a very small income to live on. The upshot is that she’ll have to return to England and to the care of her half-sisters and half-brothers. We also quickly come to understand that these half-sisters/brothers care very little for Octavia since she’s from their father’s second marriage to a women they consider beneath them.  Therefore Octavia is nothing to them, but her name means that they must make some effort on her behalf or society will think less of them.

While wondering how she can afford to return to England, she is contacted by a gentleman working for the lawyers of a Mrs. Anne Worthington and told that Mrs. Worthington’s estate has been left to her.  Octavia is surprised to say the least and expects that this is all a mistake since, as far as Octavia knew, she had no relatives on her mother’s side of the family, or her Melbury relatives would have sent her off to them years ago. None the less, she is given money to travel to England and the name of the law firm to contact on her arrival.

We now have the set up for the story. Octavia must move in with her Melbury relatives who see her as someone to be ashamed of and married off again as soon as possible. She finds that the inheritance is indeed real and since her husband died before her great-aunt, there is no difficulty.  For if her husband had died after her great-aunt, the inheritance would have gone to him, and she’d be left again with nothing. So, until all the details are taken care of, Octavia must live with her half-sister and her husband and manage to avoid being married off.

Of course, being a novel of romance, action, and adventure, there will be plenty of twists and turns on the way to that “happily ever after” moment at that end of the book.

Elizabeth Aston has written several other books that follow on the Darcy family: Mr. Darcy’s Daughters, The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy, The True Darcy Spirit, The Darcy Connection, and Mr. Darcy’s Dream.

I’ve read and reviewed several of these books. Aston deals mainly with the next generation of characters. The children of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy, Jane and Charles Bingley, Charlotte and Mr. Collins (somehow it just doesn’t seem right for him to have a first name). In this case, Octavia was married to a distant Darcy cousin but, once back in England, she meets Camilla Darcy Wytton and her husband; Camilla is one of the five daughters of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy. George Warren, who inherits Christopher’s estate is the stepson of Caroline Bingley. Connections within connections.

Aston manages to tell a story that pulls in the various characters from the next generation that has peopled her previous novels. She also adds other new characters and within the confines of the period — its politics and social mores — gives us not only an entertaining and interesting story, but a window onto a the world as it once was.

I find Aston’s books fascinating not only for their connection with the Jane Austen canon but because by going for the next generation, she places her stories at the beginning of the modern era when women were just beginning to realize that they could have options to marriage. However money, as always, was the driving force and a woman without her own funds had few options unless she married — thus the bases for so many romances in this period. Marriage was more often than not a contractual agreement; women, while dreaming of marring for love, in fact often — as did Charlotte Lucas — marry in order to protect themselves and their futures to whoever asked and seemed least likely to abuse them.

There’s a dark background to many of these books, more present in their absence from the actual story line.  Our main character in this story is faced with the very real prospect of being force to marry in order to survive in her social circle, since at her level she can’t be seen to find employment. There were very few employment options for women of class other than governess or companion at that time. Octavia, without funds of her own, is totally at the mercy of her relatives, who don’t particularly care for her. Things were even worse for women of the lower classes, but those stories would be grittier and much less likely to have happy endings.

While each of these books stands alone, the characters from one often show up in the other stories, so reading them in publication order would give the reader a better grounding in this new generation. Personally, I’ve been reading them as I find them — out of order — I haven’t had any problem following the main plot lines. I may miss out on the intricacies of the various relationships, but it doesn’t take away from the enjoyment.

Today just flew by. Medical Appointments. Post Office visit. Drop off the recycling at the center. Return books to the library and get some more out (why do I do that? I review books for heaven sakes, why do I need even more? My life makes no sense.) Stop for coffee. Stop at Home Depot for hummingbird feeder (they are coming soon) and check for oil for the lawn mower and other yard equipment. Finally, home again, home again…jiggety jig.

Busy day and nothing to show for it, except achy muscles and a lot of To Do items off my list.

I’m beginning to think most of my life is work — 24/7. Good thing it’s fun. Today, I entered books into the database. Packed stuff for reviewers to be mailed out later. Then answered email. Forwarded nice comments to some of the reviewers. Did the Wii for 33 minutes and read.

I finished 39 Clues: Book 3 by Peter Lerangis for a May review in SFRevu. Also finished The Haunting of Derek Stone: Bayou Dogs by Tony Abbott (May review in SFRevu) and The Trail of the Wild Rose: An English Garden Mystery by Anthony Eglin (May review-Gumshoe Review). Just started The Language of Bees by Laurie King (May review in Gumshoe Review).

I cleaned up the house a bit (I hate house cleaning and want a wife to do it for me). I made a small dent in the paper blizzard on my office table (I’m currently working in the dining room).

For fun and because it has to be done, I went out and raked the yard. I managed to rake up three enormous piles. When hubby got home he moved the piles onto a tarp and took them out into the woods and dumped the leaves to compost. The problem is it still looks like I didn’t do anything much at all. However, we’re gaining on it. I’ve still got a lot of clearing to do before planting time comes around.

Today, I feel like I’m gaining on it a bit.

I was surprised to see an article on caffeine withdrawal the other day, “Beware the perils of caffeine withdrawal” on CNN.Health. I mean, I thought everyone already knew that coffee, or rather caffeine was addicting. But then I remembered that in this Just Say No society many people won’t admit they have a problem with drugs.

Yes, caffeine is a drug. And, yes, many people are addicted, including children. Caffeine is in many of the products that you ingest each day: coffee, tea, chocolate, some sodas/soft drinks, and many other food items. When you cut out all caffeine it can cause your body to react and fight to get its next fix. Not as bad a withdrawal from some of the hardcore drugs or cigarettes but painful nonetheless.

Personally, I love coffee. Those of you who read my blog know that I have often sung the praises of coffee; one of my favorite beverages. But, alas, I keep the intake down to one large mug a day and when I can (usually in summer when I prefer iced tea (decaf)) to one every other day.

We all have reason why we cut down on caffeine. Some people can’t have it because of health reasons. Me, I cut down because I have migraines. I find that if I keep my daily caffeine intact at a low level then when I have a real big whopper of a migraine upping the caffeine along with a smaller dose of pain meds, I can survive it without resorting to sitting in the dark closet with a pillow wrapped round my head, crying myself to sleep.

I picked up the caffeine trick when pain meds for migraines became difficult to get because, as I’ve been told so often by my health insurance, “It’s only a headache — take aspirin.” (I’m hoping all health insurance workers develop killer migraines and have to resort to aspirin for the pain.) Most of the heavy duty pills for migraines have caffeine in them so I thought why not experiment and see if I can find a balance that will work for me (other migraine sufferers will probably have their own strategies — but if I hear “go to your happy place” one more time, I may do damage…).

Anyway, I thought that just in case you found yourself shaky and unable to concentrate, maybe achy and tired — you might want to think about what you’ve cut out of your diet lately. It could be you’ve cut down on caffeine too quickly and need to rethink just how quickly you cut it out of your life. Slowly reducing intake is the best way to avoid the withdrawal symptoms. Check your food labels because you may have cut out caffeine you didn’t know you were getting.

Me. I’ll stick to my one cup a day or less until I really, really need this drug of choice. What about you?

Right up front, I’ll admit that I’m a Jane Austen fan and I love searching for those books that continue the saga of the people from Austen’s novels.

The Darcys & the Bingleys continues the story begun in Pride and Prejudice. The book opens with the two couples engaged and deep in planning for their weddings, then we have the weddings, honeymoons, and the two couples settle into their married lives. Altman, knowing that this material would be a bit thin on the ground for a full novel, is actually telling us the tale of Caroline Bingley.

As those who are familiar with Pride and Prejudice are aware, Caroline Bingley has been pursuing Mr. Darcy in the hope of being Mrs. Darcy. She hoped that with her brother being Darcy’s close friend and that her being with them would make his heart grow fonder of her and offer marriage. That didn’t happen, instead Charles Bingley married Jane Bennett and Darcy married Elizabeth Bennett. Now Caroline is nearing thirty, which at that time meant she was unlikely to get a good offer of marriage, and her age was against her. She was desperate and, returning to London after the weddings, she threw herself into the social scene hoping to find a good match.

Luckily for Caroline, she does find someone who offers for her hand. Charles is called to London to meet her suitor and to give his consent. It’s at this point that the book really takes off (not that the preceding scenes of the happy couples settling into their new lives wasn’t interesting). Needless to say, Bingley and Darcy find it necessary to vet Caroline’s suitor. In the process they learn more information about the suitor, about Caroline’s life, and the Bingley children’s childhood.

Altman writes with true sensitivity to the characters as developed by Jane Austen. Never does she violate the moral code or core characterizations of any of the characters. However, Altman does allow them to grow and change with the changing relationships that result as daughters marry, women become mothers, and men become husbands and fathers, and as the new relationships by marriage settle in place. I never felt that she twisted the characters core values and attributes, but she did give them strength and growth. Jane gains a spine. Darcy and Bingley become more like brothers than close friends. Jane and Elizabeth gain confidence and find that their sisterhood becomes even more precious to them. Many things change, but at heart it all grows out of Austen’s original story.

I must mention that Altman manages to tell a taut tale while following the template laid down in the original story, being true to the times while striking out into her own territory. That she manages to do this while also injecting a bit of humor, lively wit, crisp dialogue, and outstanding adventure with a few twists and turns makes the book even more exciting.

I’ve read a number of continuation tales where the authors chose to make the plot move by having the main characters complete change their character, morals, and values. So authors who manage to continue the story while maintaining what we readers loved so much about the original characters, while telling new stories, are to be commended and recommended. Give Altman’s The Darcys and the Bingleys a try, especially if you’ve been disappointed by other continuations — I believe you’ll agree this is an excellent addition to the continuation tales.

After complaining about all the rain and the damp, we’ve had several dry days. Today was beautiful and in the 70’s. So, after catching up on some email, pulling all the old review copies that are at least four months past publication and/or the date we received the book (in the case of books that are older), I finally had organized shelves of review copies. Then there was the wash and the dishes and so on and so on.

Finally, walked down to get the Sunday paper at the mailboxes with my hubby and when we got back we decided to put in some garden time. First up was the porch — I swept and cleaned out the gardening pots. We’ve got three blueberry bushes on the deck — the only place to put them so we actually get blueberries to eat (or at least we get more than the critters do). Then we have a pot of summer savory — a perennial that is still doing well. Then two pots that will eventual hold a tomato and the other a cucumber plant (easier to just get for a salad that way).

Then we cleared and cleaned up the table in front of the sliding glass doors. It will eventually hold a geranium and brighten up my view from the living room. We also cleaned/cleared up the barbecue so we’re ready to go for the summer.

Next we moved down to ground level. We cleared the leaves off the mulch around the peonies and found the lovely tips of the plants coming up out of the ground. All four of the peonies are returning and the two peony trees already have buds. We learned we need to buy some more bricks to finish the outline of this area and we need to add more mulch.

Then we clipped back some of the raspberry plants, tied them up and pulled those that had dipped over and started to make a break for it into areas not authorized by us for their new homes. Looks like the raspberries will do well again this year. Of course whether we get them or the crows and birds do is up for debate at this point. We then moved down to the orchard area to check out a run of daffodils and tulips that line a path through the woods. I’m going to have to separate some of the plants this year and spread them out.

Then as things go, we started to pull up some of the brush, then the kudzo and one bunch led to another and another and an hour later we’d cleared about ten square feet of underbrush and kudzo. Only 4+ acres to go…. and we didn’t even do the herb circle.

Now I can barely move and I know I’ll regret all this work tomorrow or at least my body will. But, then it’s supposed to rain tomorrow so I’m glad we got this done today. I’m getting real excited about gardening this summer.

April started with rain here but we’ve been having rain off and on for days now. Most of the woods are sodden and spongy with wet.

Before April got here with its dampness and rain, March was grey and overcast, and I, I was on the look-out for an April Coffee Cup. I saw many cups that seemed to speak of Spring and sunnier days. There were even lots of cups that seemed to capitalize on Easter with flowers and cute rabbits or carrots or eggs. However, when I finally spied this cup it was over, searching done, this was the bright bit of cheer that would get me through the rain and grey overcasts. So, today is April 3rd and it’s been raining for three days now off and on — this was definitely a good choice. When I bought it I worried about the bobbles on the rim and thought I’d probably dribble all over myself — I do that on a regular bases anyway so not a big problem for me especially since I work at home and can change. But, it’s not a problem, the bobbles don’t leak and I don’t dribble — at least not any more than I usually do when I get engrossed in reading or whatever and somehow miss my mouth.

I’m getting desperate to spend some time in the garden getting it cleaned up and ready. All the rain and the cold/flu I had have put me way behind on getting things set up. Here’s what we’re dealing with:

I’m standing by the tomato buckets which fill one quarter of the herb garden. Behind are the raspberry bushes and the orchard. We managed to get all the old tomato plants pulled up and get the buckets ready for the new plants.

We have been gardening for a couple of years now and have learned a few tricks. We had to move the garden to our tiny bit of lawn because, surrounded by trees, it was the only area with enough sunlight to grow anything. Last year we grew all out tomatoes in buckets. They’re big painting buckets from Lowe’s and Home Depot that we drilled holes in for drainage and pained a deep blue. The reason is that there are lots of critters here abouts and the previous year we planted all the tomatoes in the ground and then had two in buckets and the next day we only had two tomato plants — the ones in the buckets. Last year we planted them all in buckets and managed to keep them all season and had a pretty good harvest too.

In this photo you can see that we started to get the leaves up off the lawn/garden area. We sort of gave up around December and lately, whenever we have the time, it rains. When we’re committed to some appointment and won’t be home, it’s sunny. But to rake we need a couple of dry days and then a dry day to rake. Hopefully this week will see more sunshine but then the saying goes April Showers Bring May Flowers so I have little hope of getting it all done within the next week or two. As long as we get the garden prepared and the vegetable area cleared and turned, I’ll be happy.

Mark Genevich is a private investigator in South Boston. He’s just gotten another case, or he thinks he has a case…he’s not sure actually. You see, Genevich is a narcoleptic as a result of the car accident that killed his best friend and rearranged his face. As far as he can remember, Jennifer Times walked into his office — refused to take no for an answer — and hired him to find her fingers. The problem is that while she was there Genevich had actually fallen into a hypnogogic state and when he awoke he was alone, there was no check, but there were some cryptic notes on his pad and a manila envelope with two black and white photos of a young girl that looked a lot like Jennifer.

Genevich tends not to take jobs that require him to leave his office. He never knows when he’ll drop into sleep or worse, cataplexy, when he’s awake and aware but can’t move. The little sleeps or hypnogogic states are similar to what happens to most of us with a high fever and tiredness. We fall asleep on the couch with the DVD player or TV on and whatever is playing gets incorporated into our dreams along with whatever our brain’s unconscious serves up. Awoken we don’t know at first what was dream and what reality. For Mark Genevich most of his life is like that. Part of any investigation he does involves figuring out what exactly is the job and what he’s supposed to do, which is why he prefers email, written instructions, and internet searches.

His first step is to figure out what the real job is since he couldn’t have possibly been hired to search for her fingers. It must have something to do with the pictures. However, contacting Jennifer reveals that she doesn’t know who he is or what he’s talking about. So, now it’s necessary to step back and figure out who hired him and why?

The entire story is told from Mark Genevich’s point of view, which means most of the information is disjointed and we, as readers, don’t know anymore than he does. Some authors hide information in mysteries by keeping us out of the detectives head but Tremblay lets us into Genevich’s head because it doesn’t matter what he knows because we don’t know if what he knows is real or dream or a combination of the two.

A gritty, noir mystery with a very different private investigator, Tremblay manages to tell a story that keeps the reader engaged from the first page. It’s not just can you figure it out before the sleuth, but will he figure it out because you both have the same confusing information and little to guide you.

I haven’t read anything this different in a while and it was not only interesting as a mystery, but contained a lot of information about a neurological problem that doesn’t get dealt with much in any fiction. Tremblay does a great job bringing Mark Genevich to life. He may not be someone you like very much, but you will respect his determination.

Since the entire novel is told form Mark Genevich’s point of view, the reader is left as much in the dark as Mark, we can’t know more than he does about anything. The reader and Genevich must decide what memories are are of real events and which are a result of hypnogogic hallucinations. Kept off balance throughout, Genevich is fighting a battle to control his neurological symptoms, retain his memories as well as shift through them to figure out which are real and which are a result of his little sleeps, and solve a crime.

Gritty, noir at its best, The Little Sleep manages to allow the reader to be an active participant in the case as there’s little chance the reader will spot clues before the PI since the reader also has to figure out what to believe. Imaginative and entertaining, it’s a story you just can’t put down.