Book Love: The Nix:

Not my regular genre, but I absolutely loved The Nix: A novel by Nathan Hill.  I stumbled on it after seeing a tweet from author Stephen King saying how funny he had found the first fifty pages.  Given his background as a teacher I assume that he could definitely relate to Samuel Andresen-Anderson's opening predicament.

Meet Samuel Andresen-Anderson - stalled writer, bored teacher at a local college, obsessive player of online video games. He hasn't seen his mother, Faye, in decades, not since she abandoned her family when he was a boy. Now she has suddenly reappeared, having committed an absurd politically-motivated crime that electrifies the nightly news, beguiles the Internet, and inflames a divided country. The media paints Faye as a radical hippie with a sordid past, but as far as Samuel knows, his mother was an ordinary girl who married her high school sweetheart. Which version of his mother is true? Two facts are certain - she's facing some serious charges, and she needs Samuel's help.

As Samuel begins to excavate his mother's - and his country's - history, the story moves from the rural Midwest of the 1960s, to New York City during the Great Recession and the Occupy Wall Street movement, and back to the infamous riots at the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention. Finally, the trail leads him to wartime Norway, home of the mysterious Nix that his mother told him about as a child, a spirit that can take the shape of a white horse, luring children to their deaths. And in these places, Samuel will unexpectedly find that he has to rethink everything he ever knew about his mother - a woman with an epic story of her own, a story she has kept hidden from the world.

Well-drawn characters; I was rooting for some and really hoping others would get their just deserts.  Loved the insights, including the guys that play a fictional MMO called Elfscape.  The team leader spends five hours a day just in preparation for "having fun" later in the evening with his crew.  A cautionary tale for sure.

The plot kept me guessing and I ended up binge-reading to get to the conclusion.

Highly recommended!



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Book Love: The Nix by Tatiana Dokuchic on 2016-11-07 Not my regular genre, but I absolutely loved The Nix!

The Potager or Ornamental Kitchen Garden

A Potager at Château de Villandry, France

Designed to feed both body and soul, the potager or ornamental kitchen garden is the ultimate combination of parterre and vegetable patch.

Fruits & vegetables, flowers & herbs, are artfully arranged in symmetrical garden beds that are surrounded by low clipped box hedges.  These individual plots, separated by sand or gravel paths,  are precisely placed to form striking geometric patterns.

Wallis & Elizabeth

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon & Wallis Simpson

 Anyone who has seen Madonna's movie W.E. has caught a glimpse into the life & romance of Wallis Simpson & Edward VIII.  They know that this was a relationship that altered history and they know that "W.E." was the cypher used to symbolise that relationship.  They may also remember a few of the movie's "bit players" including Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, first seen as the Duchess of York and played by Natalie Dormer (who in a lovely little twist also played Anne Boleyn in The Tudors).

Elizabeth pops up again in The King's Speech where she is portrayed as charming & rather quirky by Helena Bonham Carter (who, as luck would have it, also played Anne Boleyn in the ITV mini-series Henry VIII). She goes about her business, dutifully supporting her husband as he makes his reluctant transition from Duke of York to King George VI.

This certainly was the image that I had of Elizabeth; always gracious (except when it came to Wallis of course), always smiling and always a bit boring.  Elizabeth appeared to be more like the "Bound to Obey and Serve" Jane Seymour while Wallis appeared more along the lines of the stylish, sophisticated and, some might say, shrewish Anne Boleyn.

Apparently I was off track with these stereotypes, way off track.  Having dug a bit deeper, it now appears to me that instead of being polar opposites Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon and Wallis Simpson were actually more like "sisters under the skin".  Who would have thought that theirs is the "W.E." relationship that is truly fascinating!

My interest in Elizabeth was first piqued when we recently discovered a photo of her in an old family album (see The King's Trip: George VI visits Oba, Ontario) but I took a rather roundabout means of learning more about her starting with That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor by Anne Sebba.  After that I tackled The Queen Mother: The Untold Story of Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, Who Became Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother by Lady Colin Campbell.  Both books have eye opening "revelations" and they were good to read in series noting the contradictions and collaborations, especially in some of the more controversial areas.

I certainly came away with a greater appreciation for the era in which they lived and I'm now happily indulging myself with Downton Abbey which, I imagine, reflects a bit of the lifestyle of Elizabeth's early years.  It's interesting to note that Elizabeth is just two years younger than the Downton character Lady Sybil Crawley and that her childhood home, Glamis Castle, was actually turned into a convalescent home for wounded soldiers, which Elizabeth helped to run.

As for my opinion of the two women, it does seem to me that they were very much alike although Elizabeth certainly represented the old ways while Wallis was forging ahead with the new.  I have more respect and sympathy for each of them and I'm going to try to keep an open mind as I discover more.

Gareth Russell's excellent post,  Beyond a stereotype  should help me with this.  As he relates "The six wives of Henry VIII hover in our collective imagination, fulfilling our need for female stereotypes or historical fantasies".  It's intriguing that this also seems to be the fate of Wallis & Elizabeth.

Wallis & Elizabeth at the funeral of the Duke of Windsor, 1972

Have you already discovered Wallis and Elizabeth?  What's your opinion of these two "warring wives of Windsor"?

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Related articles

• The King's Trip: George VI visits Oba, Ontario

The King's Trip: George VI visits Oba, Ontario

My family is rich in photo albums.  This wealth is the result of generations of avid, amateur photographers eagerly capturing the moments, preserving them and passing them down through various branches of the family.  Though we've begun the process of digitizing our treasures, the backlog is more than a bit daunting especially when it comes to identifying some of those smiling faces from times gone by.

A recent family gathering saw us clustered around one such family album dedicated to Oba, Ontario.  I've heard Oba described as being "in the heart of Canada’s vast wilderness" and these pictures from the 1930's & 40's certainly highlight this aspect with beautiful lakes, endless forests, little boys holding large fish and ... on the very last page ... a posh-looking couple posing in front of a train?

As it was late in the day and the photo rather small, I had to squint to make out the image.  Yes, it turns out it's a picture of George VI and Queen Elizabeth snapped by one of my grandparents during the 1939 royal tour of Canada.  The royal couple looks relaxed & happy and I can just imagine my grandmother asking them to please hold still while she adjusts her camera and takes the picture!

My father can remember the train stopping for water that day in Oba.  Of course almost the whole town, just over 100 people at that time, turned out to see it.  That the royal couple actually got out and wandered amongst the "crowd" seems astonishing to me but I guess it was a very different time.  The 1939 royal tour marked the first visit of a reigning monarch to Canada and these pictures show some of the first "walkabouts" ever performed by the royal family.

The very sight of the Queen gave pleasure, as did her manner. ... During the long journeys across the continent, she and the King took full advantage of halts, even short ones.  Day after day they would leave the royal train and, to the consternation of the security men, plunge into the crowds and talk. ... Queen Elizabeth gave instructions that the King and she must be told whenever the engineer observed a collection of people by the side of the line ahead, so that they could be seen waving back from a window. 'Slow down, so that we all get a good look', she said.

 Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother by  Godfrey Talbot

It seems more than fitting that these photos came back into our lives just as Elizabeth II is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee and I'm delighted to have discovered this little connection between the royals and our family.

I think that I will celebrate with a night spent watching The King's Speech.

Photos: Tatiana Dokuchic Family Album (1939)
Update: Find out more about Wallis & Elizabeth

Have you ever unearthed unexpected treasures in your family photo albums or scrapbooks?  I would love to hear the stories of your discoveries.
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Chanel in Versailles: Seriously Frivolous

Backstages by Benoit Peverelli (Versailles16may12)

Karl Lagerfeld described his latest collection for Chanel as "Seriously frivolous".  I don't know about you, but I could certainly use a heaping dose of fantasy & frivolity right about now!!

Though my day-to-day world seldom intersects with that of haute couture, my work in SecondLife® (see Tatiana's Tea Room) assures that I keep an eye out for anything concerning the Chateau de Versailles in France.  I was absolutely delighted to see that Chanel was presenting its 2013 Cruise Collection in the palace gardens among the fountains.

Look at the detailing on these pieces. It makes me happy just ogling it and I imagine Marie Antoinette would agree!

“The image of France has been a little sad: the gray uniform of Europe,” Mr. Lagerfeld said afterward, sipping Diet Coke but letting his audience eat foes gras and cake. The chandelier-filled ephemeral party place seemed like an upgrade on the French queen’s private retreat, the Petit Trianon.

“The Enlightenment was the best thing that happened to Europe, not debating in Brussels,” continued Mr. Lagerfeld, comparing the cultural period following the dark medieval years to the European Union era.

“I wanted to give France back some lightness,” he said.

Let Them Eat Cake: Lagerfeld Captures Versailles’s Heyday, The New York Times.

Thank you, Mr. Lagerfeld.  This student of Versailles loves seeing its gardens filled with such magical life. We can all do with a little more lightness!

Photos: British Vogue



June 4, 2012: For more delightful news of Versailles see Versailles: Transported
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Elizabeth Woodville: A Queen of the May

Elizabeth Woodville, artist unknown

On May 1, 1464 the beautiful Elizabeth Woodville secretly married the newly crowned Edward IV of England.  Contemporary rumour suggests that Elizabeth managed to bring this wedding about by her calculated refusal of the young king's amorous advances, the same tactic so famously used by Anne Boleyn sixty years later on Elizabeth's grandson, Henry VIII.  Talk about women who managed to change history.

Following her coronation on May 26, 1465, Elizabeth lived an extraordinary life at the centre of medieval England.  Ambitious and intelligent she saw the fall and rise of her family fortunes during the reigns of Richard III and Henry VII; her descendants rule over Great Britian to this day.  A powerful woman, she definitely evoked strong, conflicting feelings and was said to be both a witch and the inspiration for the Queen of Hearts playing card.

I have often come across brief, tantalizing glimpses of Elizabeth in tales of the Tudors and the Plantagenets so I was delighted to find Phillipa Gregory's new novel The White Queen which allowed me to spend a bit more time with this fascinating personage.

This novel manages to deliver a lot of historical fact wrapped up as pure entertainment with liberal doses of romance and mysticism thrown in for good measure.

After thoroughly enjoying Gregory's story, I dug up an old favourite to act as a scholarly companion,  Royal Blood: Richard III and the Mystery of the Princes by Bertram Fields.  Fields, a lawyer by trade, tackles the mystery of Elizabeth's two sons, Edward and Richard who were in line for the throne and disappeared under mysterious circumstances from the Tower of London. 

It's intriguing to get a feel for the political motives and propoganda that have shaped our perception of some major players in history.  Richard III certainly appears to be a much better man than was ever portrayed by Shakespeare, Henry VII and the Duke of Buckingham emerge as suspects and Elizabeth's actions are analyzed for clues.

After 500 years, we will probably never know the full truth of Elizabeth Woodville's life.  She remains an enchanting mystery but maybe that's exactly how it should be for a Queen of the May.

Update September 8, 2013: For more of my musings on Anne Boleyn see Anne Boleyn: The French Connection on Tatiana's Tea Room.




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The Queen of the May

Flore by Jan Massys (1559)

I've always considered May Day to be one of the most magical days of the year.

The thought of it certainly evokes a jumble of ideas and images in my head. Pagan rituals celebrating the growing season; the absolute relief of making it through another winter; Flora the goddess of flowers; the May Queen; the Maypole; Mayday (as in "help me" or "m'aider");
Anne Boleyn's world crashing down around her at a May Day Tournament;
Elizabeth Woodville's secret marriage to the newly crowned Edward VI of England.

Did they really put the Queen of the May to death after the celebrations were over?

Perhaps May Magic is so powerful because of both the dark and the light but at this time of year it is so easy to believe that the light is in ascendance!

The Tudors: The Final Seduction

Grab some popcorn, the final season of The Tudors starts tonight.

 Henry VIII only has two wives left to go!

Sit back, relax, forget about historical accuracy (note to self) and just enjoy!

Find out more at the Official Site.