Little Bee by Chris Cleave

From the back of the book: We don't want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this: It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific. The story starts there, but the book doesn't. And it's what happens afterwards that is most important. Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens. The magic is in how it unfolds. - Random House, from the back of the book.

My synopsis of Little Bee: When Little Bee shows up at Sarah's door step the morning of her husband's funeral, Sarah was surprised to say the least. The last time they saw each, Little Bee was being lead away by some pretty frightening men on a beach in Africa. Sarah assumed she was dead. Even though Little Bee just met Sarah and her husband once, she seeks refuge with them now because she has nowhere else to go. It is both fortunate and unfortunate that Little Bee has found Sarah at such a terrible time. Sarah is so vulnerable and confused that she has little choice but to invite Little Bee to stay. Together they drift and together they find their way through the sometimes chaotic world.

I enjoyed this book, but it wasn't what I expected. The back of this uncorrected proof says that the book is "extremely funny". While there are some lighter moments that are amusing, I wouldn't call it hilarious. Then again, Cleave is British and I don't always get their humour or satire.

The story is told from alternating points of view/chapters, that of Sarah and Little Bee, with one exception. One of the characters was relating part of the story when all of a sudden the point of view switched to the other character. I had to read that part no less than three times to figure out what happened. I'm still not sure I got it. Besides alternating between characters, the story unfolds in a non-linear fashion. There were a few times I thought we were close to the end of the story, but I wasn't close to the end of the book. I loved getting the story in bits and pieces. In this case, this style worked really well. Despite being told from the different points of view and jumping around in time, the story was pretty easy to follow.

I liked both Little Bee and Sarah, but my favourite character was Sarah's son, who refused to take off his Batman costume. Being a child and doing childlike things amidst horrific circumstances seemed like the way to go to me. At many times in my life, I wanted to escape and pretend to be someone else rather than be a grown up and face reality.

These favourite quotes are from the uncorrected proof, so they may differ from the final published copy.

Death, of course, is a refuge. It's where you go when a new name, or a mask and cape, can no longer hide you from yourself. It's where you run to when none of the principalities of your conscience will grant you asylum. (page 22)

I planned how I would kill myself in the time of Churchill (stand under bombs), Victoria (throw myself under a horse), and Henry the Eighth (marry Henry the Eighth). (page 49)

New words:
vespertine (page 109): active in the evening
inchoate (page 119): unclear
cassava (page 138): edible root of a tropical plant
puerile (page 152): childish
derisory (page 166): ridiculous

Recommended.  I have another book by Cleave on my bookshelf that I'm looking forward to reading.

Want to read another review? Here's one by Man of la Book.

For more information about this book, please visit the Random House website.

For more information about the author and his other books, please visit Chris Cleaves' website.

This book was sent to me quite awhile ago as a win from a contest in a newsletter. Thanks Random House.

Little Bee: A Novel by Chris Cleave, Simon & Schuster, ©2008. ISBN 9780385665308(Uncorrected Proof), 266p.

A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear

In A Lesson in Secrets, Maisie Dobbs takes an assignment from the British Secret Service and goes undercover as a professor in at Cambridge. She's there to monitor the activities "not in the interests of His Majesty's government". When Greville Liddicote, the founder and principal, is found dead, Maisie investigates and follow leads even after MacFarlane and Stratton, her handlers, tell her to stick to her assignment. That's really hard for her to do since the death appears to be linked to everything else that's going on at the college.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I'm not a huge fan of war or espionage type stories. That stuff just doesn't usually interest me. However, I found this one really good. It helped that it was a quaint British mystery and featured a wonderful lead character, Maisie. This is the 8th book in the series, however, this is the first book I've read. It can definitely be read as a standalone book. However, I'm sure I'd know a lot about more Maisie and her life had I read the others. I'll be looking for the other books in the series.

The story takes place pre-WWII and some of the characters belong to the Nazi party in Britain. While Maisie is suspicious about it, their activities and Hitler himself, apparently others haven't quite caught on yet. It was very interesting reading about the situation as it was back then. It was also quite interesting to read about the pacifists, Liddicote's book and the sensation it caused.

I loved Maisie. She reminded me of both Mrs. Pollifax (featured in mysteries by Dorothy Gilman) and Miss Marple (Agatha Christie) albeit she was a lot younger. She had lots on her plate and was juggling teaching, spying, her friendships, as well as a love interest, James. She handled it all so well without appearing frazzled.

Even though I enjoyed the book, it didn't hold my attention the whole way through. My mind tended to wander while I was reading. I'm not sure why this was happening. I really like these types of books and found the subject matter fascinating. I'm sure I missed some parts of the story because of this.

New words:
comestibles (page 37): food
inculcating (page 41): impress on somebody's mind
counterpane (page 53): quilt
equanimity (page 123): calmness
conchie (page 128): UK - conscientious objector - somebody whose conscience forbids military service
costermonger (page 186): UK - fruit and vegetable seller
frippery (page 187): treat
cheongsam (page 205): Chinese dress
vociferous (page 213): loud
imperturbable (page 232): calm, cool, composed
cloche (page 262): woman's hat with a narrow brim

Highly recommended.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit the HarperCollins website.

For more information about the author and her other books, please visit Jacqueline Winspear's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at HarperCollins for this review copy.

A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear, HarperCollins, ©2011. ISBN 9780061727672(uncorrected proof), 321p.