Ms. Hen reviews The First Bright Thing

 

The First Bright Thing

J. R. Dawson

2023

Tor 

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she saw the author at the Arisia Sci-Fi Con in January, and she was impressed with her presentation. The author did not read from this novel, but she read from an upcoming one, and she was on a panel called Writing Hope, which Ms. Hen thought was a fascinating discussion.

This novel is about a magical circus in the 1920s. The lead character is the Ringmaster, or Rin, and she is in charge of a circus of Sparks, or people with a type of magical power. During the Great War (or the First World War) sparks appeared in people, and they developed a particular power. Ruth's power was that she could jump to anywhere in the world. She jumps to the trenches, to save a young British man, Edward, from being killed.

Rin is married to Oddette, a trapeze artist, and Mauve is the other person who runs the circus with them. They are a family, but Rin is running from The Circus King, who is an evil man. In Rin's circus there is music, and they help people in the audience have better lives. A pair of young twins arrive at the circus, and Jo has the power to conjure images, that can be positive or negative, and they bring out emotions in people.

A lot takes place in this novel. Time travel occurs, and romance, and the fear of the future, when Rin and her friends discover the atomic bomb and the next war, which they do not want to happen. They also fear the Circus King, who will not stop to get what he wants.

Ms. Hen has read other novels about circuses before, and this one reminds her slightly of Geek Love, which is one of Ms. Hen's favorite books. The First Bright Thing is not as dark as Geek Love, it's warmer and more positive, and is a feel-good story, whereas the other is gruesome, and dreary, but they're both about magical circuses.

Ms. Hen thinks this novel has wonderful worldbuilding, and she was swept right in to the alternate history, and the world of magic. The 1920s were a fascinating time, a time of upheaval and change, even though it was one hundred years ago, things happened then which transformed the world today.

Ms. Hen found out that the circus is in her town right now, but she doesn't know if she'll get to go. She thinks this novel is a marvelous escape from the world we live in, to think of problems these characters have, and to imagine possibilities that are endless and hopeful and magical all rolled into one.

Ms. Hen reviews Hereafter The Telling Life of Ellen O'Hara

 

Hereafter: The Telling Life of Ellen O'Hara

Vona Groarke

New York University Press

2022

Ms. Hen learned about this book, and decided to read it because it's about an Irish immigrant that came to the United States in the 1880s, and that's around the time that Ms. Hen's great-grandparents came to America. It's a woman's story, and it's about a woman who was ordinary, not someone famous or rich, simply someone who did the best she could to get by.

This is a nonfiction book written by Ellen O'Hara's great-granddaughter. She investigates her great-grandmother's life by finding records in New York of when she arrived, when she got married, and her transit records going back and forth to Ireland. The author includes quotes from people about this time period, and the documents where she found evidence of her great-grandmother's life.

Ellen O'Hara arrived in New York, and worked as a servant, one of the only occupations available to Irish women at that time. She saved money, and sent it home to her family. She got married to John Grady, and she had two children, but he disappeared. He left, but she fabricated a story was that he died in a subway accident, which was what Ellen told her family so she would not have the shame of a husband who left her.

She takes her children back to Ireland to live with her parents, because she had no one to help her in New York, and she had to work. She works, and saves every penny, and eventually opens a boarding house for Irish men. She brings her children back to New York twelve years later. She is proud of her boarding house, and she takes care of the young men who stay with her.

This is not the typical book that Ms. Hen reads. It's told through scenes that the author imagines that her great-grandmother experiences, and some poetry, and records and advertisements. Ms. Hen thinks this is a lovely way to write a book, and to try to imagine how these people lived over one hundred years ago.

A lot of prejudice existed against Irish people back then, the English thought they were dirty, and uneducated, but the young women sent money home to their families, and raised Ireland up, and the author proposed that this is what helped Ireland survive, and flourish. Things have changed, and nobody is prejudiced against Irish people now in this country, and everyone seems to have forgotten how things used to be.

Today is Saint Patrick's Day, and Ms. Hen is celebrating quietly, thinking about how much the world has changed, and how it still has a long way to go, and she's grateful that her ancestors came here, and she has had opportunities that America has given her, and she has given herself.

Ms. Hen reviews Yours for the Taking

 

Yours for the Taking

Gabrielle Korn

St. Martin's Press

2023

Ms. Hen does not remember why she chose to read this book, but she had it on hold at the library for a long time. A lot of people wanted to read this novel ahead of her, and she understands why. It's fantastic.

Yours for the Taking is about the environment, and where the world is heading. Everyone knows that the Earth is getting warmer, and we are heading towards major crises, and this novel addresses this in a most interesting way.

This novel is about a woman, Jacqueline Millender, who invests in a place called Inside that will house people in New York City to protect them from the environment. She secretly plans to only let young, educated women into Inside, and nobody knows this except the people working for her. The women who are accepted don't even know, until they get there.

The narrative centers around different characters who are involved in the Inside project. Shelby, Jacqueline's assistant, lives on the space shuttle with her, and leaves her family behind. Ava separates from her girlfriend, Orchid, and moves to Inside, and makes a life there. Olympia is the medical director of Inside, and works as Jacqueline's person in charge of the operation.

Ms. Hen loved this book because it asks so many questions, such as: Where are we headed with environmental issues? What would an all women society look like? Do women need men to survive? Would people be comfortable being trapped inside a place if they knew that would be the only way to survive? What is it like for a child to grow up, and never breathe the air outside or see the sun?

Ms. Hen thinks this is an important novel, and one that should be read and evaluated by the type of people that care about the way the world is headed.

Another aspect of this novel that Ms. Hen adored is the ending - it is not an explosive Hollywood ending, but the type of finale that forces the reader to take a breath after finishing the last sentence. The story will go on, but we don't need to know the end, and it is not wrapped up in a bow. This reminds Ms. Hen of the endings of the stories of Katherine Anne Porter, the type that leaves the imagination running, after the last word. 

Ms. Hen recommends this novel to anyone who is a fan of dystopian fiction, feminism, and imagination. And also hope.

Ms. Hen reviews We Are the Crisis

 

We Are the Crisis

Cadwell Turnbull

Blackstone Publishing

2023

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel, because she had read the other one in this series, and she remembers loving it. She understands that these two books are the beginning of the Convergence Saga.

It had been a while since Ms. Hen had read No Gods, No Monsters, so she had a difficult time remembering which characters were which, and what happened in the other novel.

This novel is about different groups of characters, one of which is Ridley and his pack of werewolves. Ridley owns a bookstore. Also, there is Dragon, a child dragon, who was kept in a dungeon for many years. Another character is Alex, whose mother was a vampire, and whose mentor trained her to be a spy.

The characters work to rid the world of prejudice of monsters. Monsters are everywhere in this world, and all types exist, werewolves, witches, vampires, and woo-woos. Some of the novel takes place in the Virgin Islands, and the characters try to make the area better for each other, but they do not always succeed.

Ms. Hen thinks this is an important novel, because it's about prejudice and racism of all types of creatures, some of which whose abnormalities are not visible right away. The monsters have to be in hiding, and they do not have a community, but they try to find others to help each other from the oppressors, and create better lives for themselves.

This novel ended like the previous one, with a violent climax. Ms. Hen thinks this is inspired by cinema, and not necessarily novels. Ms. Hen doesn't think there's anything wrong with a fight at the end, but she thinks that sometimes books should be more derived from literature than movies and TV.

Some of this novel takes place in the Boston area, and Ms. Hen thought it was charming that Dragon went shopping at BJ's in Medford, which is right near where she lives. A great sense of place runs through the entire novel, whether it's in Boston, or the Virgin Islands, or North Carolina. 

Ms. Hen adored this book, and she can't wait to read the next one. Monsters can be all around us, they could be our neighbors and coworkers, but we might never know, and if we do become aware, we should not be afraid of them, but accept them as they are, and let them live their lives.