Arcadia by Iain Pears

From library patron Norm:

Arcadia follows characters in three different worlds. The author is well known for running different narrative streams in his novels, whether it’s seeing the same events or small period of time from the point of view of several different characters or telling stories from different time periods centuries apart, so he knows how to move effectively from one place, time, and character to another, and he creates interesting characters and situations in each. One of them is as far as we know the world we are familiar with, its setting the Oxford of the 1950’s, and while one character finds a gate to a different world, another is charged with finding a mole in the British Secret Service. The second is apparently a highly technological and overcrowded world in the future run by scientists (not the enlightened rulers one would wish) where there is tension with green back-to-nature enclaves, and a brilliant scientist who warns that a scheme to travel to parallel universes will bring disaster vanishes with vital resources and becomes the subject of a manhunt. The third is the delightful rural world of the title, with scholars who interpret the sacred “story,” idyllic celebrations, romantic love, and wronged noblemen.

There are engaging characters in each world, and the plots play out well in all of them. It wouldn’t be any fun, though, if the characters from one world didn’t find their way to the others, and if we didn’t eventually realize that characters we meet in one world were originally from another. How all this happens and the mystery of how these three worlds are connected is a mystery, the solution to which makes an interesting if grim variation on the familiar science fiction parallel universes convention. As far as the characters we focus on are concerned the ending is happy, but how happy on the large scale it is would make a very interesting discussion.

In case I didn’t make it clear, I really enjoyed this book and recommend it highly. 

 - Norm

First Impressions by Charlie Lovett

First Impressions is another work of fiction that sucked me in through promises of Oxford and Jane Austen. It’s a literary mystery and perfectly readable but not great. (It is certainly no Possession, although it’s better than Pioneer Girl.)

One very annoying thing is that Sophie, the librarian/researcher/bibliophile main character, is a thief. Another one! (The main character of Pioneer Girl is also a researcher and thief.) You can’t solve a literary mystery without stealing? Without stealing from an Oxford library? I hope she loses her Oxford library card in perpetuity!

(The declaration new readers must agree to before being granted access to Oxford’s Bodleian Library, which I had to declare in 2005 when I took a continuing education course at Oxford, reads as follows: “I hereby undertake not to remove from the Library, nor to mark, deface, or injure in any way, any volume, document or other object belonging to it or in its custody; not to bring into the Library, or kindle therein, any fire or flame, and not to smoke in the Library; and I promise to obey all rules of the Library.”)

When the hot stud Wilson (who is after the same book Sophie is seeking) takes her to The Randolph (a fancy and expensive Oxford hotel), he admits she’s not the first women he’d brought there and “Somehow the fact that he had been here with other girls only made her want him more.” (p. 236). Ugh, really? Not a very good judge of character, our Sophie.

Also this happens, when Sophie hears some shocking news (p. 140):

“He rang off, but Sophie didn’t know it. She had fallen to the floor in a faint.”

Seriously? People do faint, I realize that, but how often do people really faint when they hear bad news, especially plucky and daring heroines like Sophie? I didn’t buy it.

The mystery is actually a fairly interesting one, and I enjoyed the made-up parts about Jane Austen as well as the factual information, but on the whole this was only an okay read for me because Sophie is not very likeable. Also, there is a romance (*SPOILER*) but the heroine spends way too little time with the good guy and too much time with the bad guy.

For die-heard Austen fans who also love literary mysteries and don’t mind heroines who need rescuing from their own foolish behavior. First Impressions can be found in the adult fiction section under the author's last name.

Suspicion by Alexandra Monir

Imogen Rockford is a normal American teenager with a secret – she is part of the British Rockford Dynasty. Her grandfather was the Duke of Wickersham, a title just below royalty. Although she never expected to inherit the title and the manor, as her father was the second son, she finds herself with both. Her grandfather is dead, his two sons and their wives are dead, and her cousin Lucia is dead. Imogen is all that remains of her family.

When Imogen leaves New York for England, she does so under a mysterious warning that came in an anonymous letter. She is filled with questions about how her cousin died, whether she is in danger, whether she herself is quite “normal” -- and how that cute boy she had a crush on as a child will react to her return.

The attempt at Gothic suspense is a bit over the top at times. (“Lucia’s hairbrush, perfume, and makeup are arranged in orderly fashion on her vanity, and it’s then that I recognize the jasmine scent that has been wafting in and out of my bedroom over the past weeks. The scent is her perfume.” (p. 157 in the ARC))

Suspicion is competently written and is sure to delight any teen who would enjoy a slightly spooky paranormal mystery with a likable heroine and a touch of romance (despite the completely unbelievable plot twist at the end). The book cover is breathtaking and it alone will convince many a teen to give this book a try.

Although not presented as such, Suspicion is surely meant to be the first book in a series, and I see more adventure (and much more romance) for Imogen in future books.

I read a digital advance reader copy from Netgalley. Suspicion by Alexendra Monir is scheduled to be released on December 9, 2014.