The Magicians By Lev Grossman

This is the story of, still another, magical world. A bit like C. S. Lewis but more liken to J.K. Rowland. The novel details the adventures of precocious young people selected to attend “Brakebills College of Magical Pedagogy” an invisible (to the uninitiated) place where students spend some five years learning to be magicians. As compared to Harry Potters Hogwarts, Brakebills was a lot rougher; the training was very rigorous and the professors were very strict. For the final exams, the students were led to the roof of one of the buildings, removed their clothes and were transformed into geese whereupon they flew to the frigid South Pole area where they were told that now they would begin to really learn to do magic. Difficult and harsh times were ahead. I enjoyed the interplay between the students which was very adult and interesting. Overall, a good read.

The War At Troy/ Lindsay Clarke

A most intricate and detailed telling of the Trojan War. Mr Clarke sure knows his Homer and you will really get to know those fabled mortals and gods that masterminded and acted this drama.
The problem of that pesky Golden Apple* that Eris, sister of the war god Ares, sent to the wedding feast of Peleus and Thetis as a gift (*the inscription was "To The Fairest" and it caused no end of problems and arguments in Olympus) because she alone was not invited comes into play as Paris is asked to make judgement as to who is the fairest among Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. All three goddesses made promises to Paris to induce him to chose but it was Aphrodite who showed him the face of Helen of Troy - and so was beguiled by her. The Story of the war and of Odysseus’ Trojan Horse has been told many times but the detail and background of the characters is fascinating: Helen - when Zeus saw the wife of the king of Sparta, Leda, Zeus changed into a swan, seduced Leda and sired the beautiful Helen. Paris - also beautiful is the son of Priam and Hecuba and brother of Hector and the dire forecaster, Cassandra. Because of a message from the gods, Paris ,an infant, was left to die in the woods but was suckled by a she bear and lived to eventually claim his birth right. Achilles, Menelaus, they are all there and we have a lively story. It is interesting that Alessandro Baricco (author of "Silk") wrote "An Illiad" not too long ago.

Those Three Remain/ Pamela Aiden

I am posting this as a reference for a fellow Jane Austen admirer

Ms Aidan is a librarian and long time fan of Jane Austen. So much so that she wrote a trilogy
giving more color and depth and history to the characters of "Pride and Prejudice" and even made up a few more people. As usual, I found and read the last in her series subtitled "Fitzwilliam Darcy - Gentleman".

This novel picks up the story when Mr. Darcy makes his horribly stupid proposal to Elizabeth Bennet and he is, of course rejected. Darcy decides that he must change his attitude and ways and become a person that Ms Bennet could admire and, perhaps, love. The novel is fair and faithful to Jane Austin’s work and includes many of the original, poignant passages but it also creates some reasonable scenarios and details relating to what Darcy actually did to help the Bennet family (all for the love of Elizabeth) and gives plausible answers to questions one might have about what went through Darcy’s mind. I enjoyed it a lot probably because I liked the original novel so much. I will not, however, go back to the earlier novels of the trilogy.

One Thousand White Women/ Jim Fergus

In 1874, a Cheyenne Chief named Little Wolf and several other Chiefs met with President Grant and other officials and the Press to discuss a peace proposal. The Chief began by explaining that, among his tribe, it is tradition that every newborn baby belongs to the tribe of his mother. This is a good thing, he said, because the child will be brought up understanding the customs of the mother’s tribe but will be welcome in the tribe of his father. Little Wolf asked that the President give to the Cheyenne one thousand white women who would marry Cheyenne men and whose children would be brought up in the white man culture and thus creating an understanding and peace between the two peoples. The Cheyenne, in return, would pay one thousand horses for the women. The proposal which was an historical fact, was rejected and the press pandered to the outrage that Little Wolf’s proposal caused.

Our author, Jim Fergus, seized on the idea and created a fascinating historical, imaginative novel about what happened after the proposal was made:

When the public read about the outrageous proposal, the President started to receive thousands of letters from women from all walks of life stating that they would be willing to participate in the "Brides for Indians" program. So many, that President Grant finally decided that the program might just help the peace effort which was not going very well (the Cheyenne were attacking settlers going West) but the Government, in their wisdom(?), made it a secret project. There were many reasons that the women were willing to go and live with the Indians and the agency set out to interview the candidates. They were also willing to give the selected candidates release from jail and release from mental institutions (if the candidates were not too crazy).
The story is narrated through the journal of a woman named May Dodd who was wrongly placed in a mental institution by her parents because May left home to live with a man she loved and had two children out of wedlock causing her socialite parents much scandal. May was abandoned by her family, she lost her children and thought that she was destined to spend the rest of her life in asylum; she applied and was selected for the "BFI" program. The journal describes the very colorful collection of women that accompany her as the first group of brides and we learn the various reasons both sad and humorous as to why the women volunteered .

The journal begins with May’s release from the asylum and tells the story of the initial journey to an outpost in Kansas Territory and on to the Indian village where the women take up their lives in the Indian village as wives of Cheyenne braves.
Entertaining and funny descriptions of the women, their backgrounds, their strengths and their weaknesses, their hardships, intimate details of the lives they lead as wives in a communal lodge with their husbands’s other wives and the dishonesty and deception of the Government and the Army as they cheat the Indians out of their promised land and possessions in total disregard of their treaties. They even lie about the "BFI" program. The journal includes the hypocrisy of the clergy assigned to the project by the Government. While the clergy was supposed to support the women, they looked down upon the women and felt that their prime mission was to teach Christianity to the "heathen savages". They also had "special" and secret instructions from the Government.

The project, of course, was doomed to failure because the two races were too far apart; the situation in the Black Hills, the discovery of gold and the mad rush into Indian Territory resulted in a public outcry for the Army to protect the settlers and a massacre and rounding up of all Indians to a reservation resulted. The peaceful "BFI " village was invaded and devastated by a huge contingent of U.S. troops. May was fatally wounded while trying to escape but her journal is finally passed on to her children.

Stolen In The Night BY Patricia MacDonald

Rob and Dawn DeGraff and their three children Jake, Tess and Phoebe are on a camping trip. One night, the two girls were to share a tent with their older brother but the brother decided to sneak out to go to town. That night, a man cut a hole in the girl’s tent and terrorized Tess with a knife telling her that if she cries out, he will kill her sister. Phoebe is abducted. When Tess is, finally able to tell her parents about the incident, she said that she got a close look at the man. When she described the man the to the sheriff , the Sheriff immediately thought of a well known bad character who had a reputation of being a pervert. The man, Lazarus Abbott is arrested and they find Phoebe’s blood on his clothes. Phoebe is found dead; she had been abused. Tess testified at Lazarus’ trial and it was her testimony that caused the jury to convict. Lazarus got the death penalty and was executed.

Twenty years later, Tess receives news that Lazarus’ mother, after years of trying, finally convinced the Governor to run a DNA test on the old evidence and the results are to be made public within the week.

The test is somewhat ambiguous but it is enough to prove that Lazarus did not rape Phoebe and enough to reopen the case. Poor Tess is accused of sending an innocent man to jail and death. She is still convinced that she did not make a mistake in identifying Lazarus but every one begins to wonder; "she was only a frightened child, maybe she was mistaken". Tess begins her own investigation starting with old news accounts and pictures and talking to some of the people originally involved in the case. Tess postulates a theory and begins a dangerous and terrifying investigation where she learns that there could have been more than one man involved in the rape and killing. At the same time, the Sheriff, bowing to political pressure, is looking for a scape goat and he accuses Tess of lying and covering up the actions of her father or even her brother....... Tess' young son is then kidnaped; she begins to suspect the sheriff. There is a hunt for the boy: with accusations all around, Tess does not know who to trust.

Tense action, a few wrong turns, some surprises and a chilling and deadly climax makes this a satisfying thriller.