Dies the Fire

In the wake of a violent electrical storm over the island of Nantucket, all the lights go out. In the wake of the event, which would come to be known as "The Change", the survivors travel across the country, forming groups for survival, eventually forming communities, some of which are formed for protection, and to insure mutual survival; while others begin with only power and wealth in mind. 

Add to that the nightmare that cities become as the food runs out, their former citizens fleeing into the countryside either to die, from disease and starvation, or to turn on their former countrymen, becoming cannibals, succumbing eventually to madness, and often to the diseases carried by their food source.

Three main groups are dominant in this tale of survival. The Portland Protective Association, formed by Norman Arminger and his wife Sandra, determined that in the aftermath of the Change, they will be the ones to come out on top, using people (among them former gang members and other thugs) and tactics that cow the citizens of Portland and it's environs into submission.  The Bearkillers, led by Mike Havel, a former Marine and pilot, who leads the family he had been flying to their holiday home to safety after their plane crashes when it's engines cut out. The third, the clan Mackenzie, is led by Juniper Mackenzie, Witch and Bard, who along with her daughter Eilir, and several friends, travel to the home that Juniper was left by her great uncle.

Juniper, who having been a teenage mother raising a deaf daughter, knows how to make meager resources go far enough to feed everyone.  Along with her friends, and others collected along the way, she forms a tightly knit community, and having cajoled everyone to go along, saying that they'll all have to live 'as a clan' finds herself shoe horned into the role of Clan Chief, mostly by her good friend Chuck who, initially as a joke, but later in earnest, plots to have the group style themselves as "The Clan Mackenzie", with Juniper herself as "The Mackenzie". 

Juniper is uncomfortable with this, and continues to remain so, but soon comes to the realisation that it is what her people need of her.  A chance meeting with Mike Havel, of the Bearkillers, on a mission to collect vital resources, finds Juniper pregnant with his son.  Despite the fact that she likes Mike, Juniper understands that their lives have only intersected briefly, and that her duty to the clan is more important than anything else. 

During the first year of the Change, the Mackenzies struggle mightily with the land Juniper has brought them to, readying it for planting, trying desperately to plant enough grain and other food crops to see them through their first winter. It is a close call, with everyone having to tighten their belts, and make do with what they can scavenge to supplement that first harvest.

Juniper is an unlikely heroine, having only stuck up for herself when it came to keeping her daughter, and her status as clan chief is one that is thrust upon her. But she really is the best person for the job, being the kind of woman that makes a great mother, giving love and comfort, along with guidance and discpline in equal measure.

It is her position as High Priestess of her Wiccan coven that gives the clan its spiritual heart, and as the clan grows, so does the faith spread from the members of the original coven, eventually shaping the spiritual life of all members of the clan.  But make no mistake, Juniper is no New Age flake, she is a woman of power, and her gods speak through her, using her voice and her strong right arm to guide and defend the clan. For this is no longer a world of technology, it has become a world of swords, and Juniper is ready to fight, as she is ready to lead her people.


Publishing details

• Mass Market Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Roc (September 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451460413
• ISBN-13: 978-0451460417
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches 

Search Tags

100    Stirling, S. M.
245    Dies the fire / |c S.M. Stirling.
260    New York : |b New American Library, |c c2004.
300    483 p. ; |c 24 cm.
500    "A ROC book."
650    Regression (Civilization) |v Fiction.
650    Electric power failures |v Fiction.
650    Community life |v Fiction.
650    Farm life |v Fiction.
651    Oregon |v Fiction.
651    Idaho |v Fiction.
650    Science fiction.

Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dies_the_fire

The Colour Purple

Narrated by Celie, a young girl from Georgia in Americas Southland, who writes letters to God. Celie is being beaten and raped by Alphonso, the man she believes is her biological father.  Celie gives birth to two children by Alphonso, both of whom are taken away and, she believes, killed by him.

Celie, and her sister Nettie discover that a man called Mr. wants to marry Nettie, but Alphonso vetoes the plan, instead giving Celie - whom he considers the ugly woman - to Mr.  The marriage is difficult, and Celie continues to be unhappy, especially after Nettie, having run away from Alphonso, takes refuge in their home, and Mr. attempts to rape Nettie, causing her to flee. Hearing nothing from Nettie after her flight, Celie believes that her sister is dead.

Mr. has a mistress, a lounge singer named Shug, and Celie becomes fascinated by a photograph of her.  His sister Kate, tries to convince Celie that she should defend herself, rather than submitting to the abuse.  When Mr.s adult son Harpo becomes involved with a woman called Sofia, Celie is amazed at Sofia's insistence on being treated as an equal, despite Harpo's failed attempt to beat her into submission.  Sofia eventually gives up on Harpo, leaving and taking her children with her

When Shug falls ill, she comes to live with the complicated family, and Celie, initially treated poorly by the woman, eventually befriends her, after taking charge of her care. She becomes entranced, experiencing sexual attraction to Shug.

Shug takes up permanent residence when she finds out that Mr beats Celie when she is not there.  The two women begin an intimate relationship.

Sofia returns and gets into an altercation with the mayor, having rejected his wife's request that she come to work for them as a maid. Sofia is charged and sentenced to work as the mayors maid for 12 years.

By this point Shug and Celie are sexually involved, and helps Celie to discover that Mr. had been keeping letters from Nettie from her for years.  Celie reads the letters.

Nettie had befriended a missionary couple, Samuel and Corrine, who have two adopted children. The family works in a mission in Africa, where Nettie eventually becomes disillusioned with the experience. Combined with the fact that Corrine, noting her childrens resemblance to Nettie, begins to believe that Samuel and Nettie have had a past relationship, and are the childrens biological parents.  Confronting Samuel, Nettie discovers that the children are in fact her niece and nephew, Celie's children that Alphonso has taken away from her.

She confesses this to the couple, and is reconciled with Corrine, who has fallen ill, eventually dying.  Nettie and Samuel marry, and eventually return to the US.  When Celie discovers the fact of her childrens survival, she confronts Alphonso, and he admits the truth, and that he is Celie and Nettie's stepfather, and not their biological father as they had believed.

Having left Mr., Celie lives and works for a time in Tennessee, eventually returning to Georgia after learning that Mr is up to his old tricks, and that Alphonso has died.

Celie and Mr are reconciled, and come to terms with each other, each finally finding pleasure in the other. Upon Netties return to the US, Celie enjoys an emotional reunion with her sister, and her long lost children.

This book is an incredibly powerful tale, telling the story that was repeated so many times in the southern states of the US, where racism and sexism led to many black women being treated as property, beaten and raped, and frequently the victims of incest. It speaks to an experience that many women today cannot fathom tolerating, that of being subjugated to a mans basest animal desires, and punished when she does not submit.

The title, and its importance within the story, are key to this experience. When Celie is beaten, the bruises make her face the colour of "eggplant", and her experience of her own sexual organs, also the titular colour, is one of suffering and shame.  It is Shug that teaches Celie to see the beauty in everything, even "the colour purple".



Publishing Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 edition (November 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156031825
• ISBN-13: 978-0156031820
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches 

Search Tags

100     Walker, Alice,|d1944-
245     The color purple /|cAlice Walker.
650     African American women|vFiction.
650     Adult child sexual abuse victims|vFiction.
650     Abused wives|vFiction.
650     Sisters|vFiction.
651     Southern States|vFiction.
655     Epistolary fiction.
655     Domestic fiction.
830     Pulitzer Prize in letters.|pFiction.|f1983.


Links

 Wikipedia - The Color Purple

A Woman Of Substance

The story of Emma Harte, told in flashback style, telling of her origins as a servant at Fairley Hall, from where she is forced to leave after falling pregnant to the youngest scion of the family. She heads to Leeds, and from there she meets and befriends several people, at one point working in a clothing workshop, and later, as the birth of her baby arrives, she is introduced to Laura Spencer, who she moves in with. Forced by circumstance to leave her baby with a cousin, she works two jobs, eventually earning enough to open a shop.

Due to hard work, she makes a success of her business, expanding into several stores. After an unexpected visit from one of her former lovers brothers, which erupts into violence, she accepts that she needs protection, and marries her landlord. They soon have a child, but her husband is killed during the war that engulfs Europe.  Emmas friend Laura dies in childbirth, leaving Emma to look after the child, as well as her own son.

The years pass and Emma is involved with other men, marrying and having more children, who in turn give her grandchildren. She becomes an incredibly successful business woman, creating a vast business empire, which she bequeaths to her children.

We eventually return to the present, where Emma is preparing to do battle with those children, having learned of their plans to break up and sell off her empire.  Dismayed, she changes her will, leaving each of her children one million pounds, while the remainder she divides between her grandchildren, who promise to look after her legacy.

This book is a great choice for fans of historical novels, and while it has elements of romance, at heart it is the story of a womans determination to not let her fate be decided by others, even her own children. Emma is the kind of woman that shows the depth of character required to survive trials and tragedies, becoming greater than anyone would have given her credit for.

Set in the years between the turn of the century, and the late sixties, it shows an historical overview of the place of women in society, and how it evolved, from a time when women were not even able to take part in the political life of their country, to one where the birth of the women's movement saw the advent of remarkable changes in society.


Publishing Details

• Paperback: 944 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 13 Anv edition (October 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312588887
• ISBN-13: 978-0312588885
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.6 inches 

Search Tags

100 Bradford, Barbara Taylor, | d1933-
245 A Woman Of Substance /| cBarbara Taylor Bradford.
650 Businesswomen | zGreat Britain | vFiction.
650 Family owned enterprises | zGreat Britain | vFiction.
651 Yorkshire (England) | vFiction.
800 Bradford, Barbara Taylor, |d1933-| tEmma Harte saga ; |v1.


Links

Wikipedia - A Woman Of Substance