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Our Passing Bells Read Along Continues with Today's Discussion of Circles of Time

Our Passing Bells Read Along continues with a discussion of the next book in Phillip Rock's trilogy, Circles of Time. It's been wonderful to hear from so many of you as you were reading Circles of Time. I read mine on the way to and from last weekend's mid-winter American Library Association conference and it made for such fun plane reading. And I will admit that I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it, because, when I finished The Passing Bells, I felt so satisfied, that I wasn't sure what could, or should follow it. I was very glad to have been proven wrong however, and think that I liked this second book even better.

Circles of Time

A generation has been lost on the Western Front. The dead have been buried, a harsh peace forged, and the howl of shells replaced by the wail of saxophones as the Jazz Age begins. But ghosts linger—that long-ago golden summer of 1914 tugging at the memory of Martin Rilke and his British cousins, the Grevilles.

From the countess to the chauffeur, the inhabitants of Abingdon Pryory seek to forget the past and adjust their lives to a new era in which old values, social codes, and sexual mores have been irretrievably swept away. Martin Rilke throws himself into reporting, discovering unsettling political currents, as Fenton Wood-Lacy faces exile in faraway army outposts. Back at Abingdon, Charles Greville shows signs of recovery from shell shock and Alexandra is caught up in an unlikely romance. Circles of Time captures the age as these strongly drawn characters experience it, unfolding against England's most gracious manor house, the steamy nightclubs of London's Soho, and the despair of Germany caught in the nightmare of anarchy and inflation. Lives are renewed, new loves found, and a future of peace and happiness is glimpsed—for the moment.

Questions for discussion -  post your answers in the comments section - if you're a blogger and you've posted a review, include that link with your answers.

1.As with the first book, we see the world first through American Martin Rilke's eyes, as he struggles to get over Ivy and find his footing and purpose. Why do you think he chose to stay in Europe after her death and the war?

2. What did you think of Charles' recovery, and his family's involvement in it?

3. Thomas Hardy's poem "The Souls of the Slain" is reprinted in the PS section in the back of the book. Why do you think this poem in particular stuck with Charles throughout his shell shock?

4. Lord Stanmore (much like Lord Grantham in Downton Abbey) has trouble with the changes that the war and time have brought to the world but at times (such as when he brings Charles home), he does admit to being wrong and is capable of change. In what other ways do his viewpoints and attitudes evolve througout the novel?

5. I found myself increasingly frustrated with Fenton's obstinate refusal to quit the military, when they repeatedly gave him the worst assignments. What do you think drove him to keep allegiance to an institution that valued him so little?

6. I loved learning more about Jamie Ross in this book, and his success in America. What did you think of his return to England, his decision to stay and his relationship with Alexandra?

7. Throughout the novel we see the characters seeking to forget the pain of WWI in drink and frivolity. What are they each working to forget and what do they choose to remember?

8. Given the growing climate of hate in Germany, do you think that Lord and Lady Stanmore and all of the family will begin to distance themselves from their German relations?

I can't wait to hear all of your thoughts, and please add any thoughts or observations I may not have covered here.

Join us for our discussion of the final book in the trilogy, A Future Arrived (which goes on sale this week) on Monday, March 4th. The first 5 people to comment on this post will win a free copy of that book to read for the discussion!

Guest Blogger: Charles Todd on the Drinks of Downton Abbey

Please join us in welcoming Charles Todd to Book Club Girl! Charles Todd is the New York Times bestselling author of two mystery series set around World War I (a.k.a. the era of “Downton Abbey”). Here, Todd writes about how a trip to Madeira, Portugal, and a little historical research, inspired some of the details and setting for Proof of Guilt, the most recent novel in their series of books featuring Inspector Ian Rutledge.

One of the most exciting things about writing is how a book comes together.  Take PROOF OF GUILT, for instance.  It began on a warm day in Funchal, Madeira, that sunny, volcanic Portuguese island out in the Atlantic.  We’d gone to the local museum—air-conditioned!—and there on the floor was a medallion about a German sub’s attack on the island in 1916, the middle of the Great War.  Here was the germ of a great idea. But how do we get Rutledge to Madeira?  That evening we did a tour of a firm where Madeira, a fortified wine, was produced. Madeira wine was imported to London and was very popular with the English, in fact was a lucrative business. There was our connection! And it’s a cousin of Port (another Portuguese fortified wine) which is what the Crawley men at Downton Abbey drink around the dinner table after the ladies have withdrawn to the drawing room.  They smoke and talk politics and other subjects considered more masculine that general dinner conversation. 

It’s sherry that the Dowager prefers in place of new-fangled cocktails.  It was considered a proper drink for ladies.  That comes from Spain.  Women in that era were not heavy drinkers—wine with meals in the upper class households like Downton Abby and whisky only if they had had a serious shock or were recovering from a faint.  What’s interesting is that each course at dinner had a different wine, which poor Mr. Mosley discovers to his embarrassment.  And each of the wines must have a different glass.  The butler had not only the silver to polish but the pudding glasses to bring up.  What’s the difference in a pudding wine and the wine for the main course?  It was usually sweeter.

All this is part of Rutledge’s time. The third season of “Downton Abbey” opens in 1920, with the marriage of Lady Mary Crawley and the handsome Matthew.  The French family, importers of Portuguese and Spanish wines, would have supplied tables like the Crawleys.  And Proof of Guilt, out at the end of January, is set in 1920.  Odd to think of murder occurring in London while Lady Edith is being left at the altar. But then Bates is in prison for murder.  It happened in houses like the Crawleys, and like the house of the French family.  It’s fun to watch “Downton” and see it as a backdrop for Inspector Ian Rutledge’s latest inquiry. But did he drink Madeira?  Or Port? Oh, yes, he was a man of his times.  Since Madeira is aged, he’ll be drinking it after dinner parties for a very long time to come.

Learn more, and buy the book 

Like Charles Todd on Facebook 

More on the Inspector Ian Rutledge series 

More on the Nurse Bess Crawford series 

Downton Abbey Fans: Sadie Jones’ The Uninvited Guests is Now in Paperback!

Just out in paperback, Sadie Jones’ The Uninvited Guests was praised when it came out in hardcover last year, earning many comparisons to Downton Abbey for its humorous and slightly sinister portrayal of life in a 1912 English manor house. Praised by book club favorites Ann Patchett, who called it a “shimmering comedy of manners” and Sarah Blake, bestselling author of The Postmistress, who called it “delicious…like something written by a wicked Jane Austen,” The Uninvited Guests is a perfect book for Downton fans who are looking to whet their appetites between Sunday night viewings.

Read on for more information about the book and for a Q&A with Sadie Jones. And make sure to look for the paperback of The Uninvited Guests wherever books are sold!

One late spring evening in 1912, in the kitchens at Sterne, preparations begin for an elegant supper party in honor of Emerald Torrington's twentieth birthday. But only a few miles away, a dreadful accident propels a crowd of mysterious and not altogether savory survivors to seek shelter at the ramshackle manor—and the household is thrown into confusion and mischief.

Evening turns to stormy night, and a most unpleasant parlor game threatens to blow respectability to smithereens: Smudge Torrington, the wayward youngest daughter of the house, decides that this is the perfect moment for her Great Undertaking.

The Uninvited Guests is the bewitching new novel from the critically acclaimed Sadie Jones. The prizewinning author triumphs in this frightening yet delicious drama of dark surprises—where social codes are uprooted and desire daringly trumps propriety—and all is alight with Edwardian wit and opulence.

Would you align this novel more with drawing-room comedies, or with supernatural ghost tales? Or do such distinctions matter?

In writing The Uninvited Guests I wanted to play with both of those, as well as nineteenth-century morality tales, the Love Comedy—but break the rules and confound expectation. It is a subversive book in many ways. The laws of nature are broken in the story, and so it felt appropriate to mess about with the laws of fiction, too.

Why do you suppose fantastic tales, or “ghost stories,” have such enduring appeal in human storytelling?

I think because they are both comforting and dangerous; we are safe within the conventions of fiction to enter a risky and unpredictable universe.

The characters in this book are all very distinctly rendered, each with his or her own foibles. Which was the most fun for you to write about?

I loved all of them, but perhaps Charlotte Torrington, the self-serving matriarch, the most. She is the most complex character, a monstrous narcissist and quite badly behaved. She was great fun to write—less fun to have as a mother, though, I should think, for poor Emerald.

How did you conduct the research for this book? Did you spend any time in grand old estates?

The house, Sterne, came from a dream and was very precise in my imagination. The landscape is perhaps more inspired by surrealist or naive art, or even seventeenth-century landscape painting, than reality; the perspectives are skewed, and we have as readers an odd, aerial view of it. I think, too, that we have in our collective consciousness a deep sense of recognition for grand old country houses, having read about them, seen, heard of, and visited them in fiction, film, and life so often that we can’t really separate the fact of them from fiction—I can’t, anyway. To gain a sense of the Edwardian period as current, and not historical, I read books written at the time, and a friend of mine lent me a copy of Mrs Beeton that was printed around 1920—a little late for my Torringtons, but I made do. The recipes were inspirational—an obsession with offal, gelatine, stitching things up, and various cures for common ailments thrown in, too.

All three of your three novels to date have been works of historical fiction. What attracts you to writing about times past?

I don’t think of any of them as “historical” novels. Time and landscape—the where and the when—are essential in building the world of the story, and so far I haven’t had a book that could be told best by being contemporary. I do hope to, though.

What do you hope readers will take from this book?

I want people to find pleasure in it—to enjoy the language and revel in the world. I had to work myself into a slightly heightened state to write Sterne; I imagined heaps of velvet, chocolate, dream-state flights about the house—I should like to give the reader something of that delight. I hope that I have.

You have worked as a screenwriter. How does the experience of writing for the printed page compare to writing for cinema?

I am so far an essentially unsuccessful screenwriter, so the experience of being on my own, creating a world and hoping others will be able to take it from the page, is essentially the same. Perhaps I believed I was only a screenwriter because I thought the big screen was the closest I would be able to get to an external physical representation of my imagination. As it turned out, the printed page of the novel was closer and far bigger.

How did you devise the outlandish dinner menu? Were you forced to taste Calf’s Head Soup in the research process?

Ah—that was Mrs Beeton. I do love the idea of boiling up a calf ’s head, but not enough to do it in life. I do like tongue, though.

You may whet the appetite of your readers for more works of supernatural fiction. Are there any titles you’d recommend?

Perhaps ironically, I’m not much of a fan of either supernatural fiction or magic realism—another area the oddness of Sterne approaches. If I were, I might not have been able to write the book; as it is, I am not so familiar with the territory that I couldn’t make it my own. The Turn of the Screw was a favorite of mine growing up; the gray area between hysteria and the supernatural—also told in Charlotte Brontë’s Agnes Grey—is fascinating to me. But those are very serious and profound books and seem to condemn the female protagonists to delusion. Mine is altogether more playful, although admittedly the games get a little nasty.

What are you working on now?

I’m building up to writing a love story—that’s all I can say about it at the moment. It’s at the stage where it’s perfect because there are no words on the page yet and anything is possible.

 

Read an excerpt of The Uninvited Guests and connect with Sadie on Facebook.

 

The Passing Bells Trilogy Read Along Beings with the Discussion of The Passing Bells!

Our Passing Bells Read Along discussions officially begin today! And it's about time as I'm fresh off tonight's Downton Abbey premiere and need something else to discuss until next Sunday night! It's been great to see some of your excitement on Twitter (#passingbells) already. I hope that everyone enjoyed reading the first book in the series as much as I did - now I just wish there was a theatrical adaptation of it in the works. For those arriving here for the first time who've yet to read The Passing Bells, let this officially stand as a spoiler alert - don't read beyond the italicized type if you don't want to learn essential plot points. Ok, let's begin!

The Passing Bells

The guns of August are rumbling throughout Europe in the summer of 1914, but war has not yet touched Abingdon Pryory. Here, at the grand home of the Greville family, the parties, dances, and romances play on. Alexandra Greville embarks on her debutante season while brother Charles remains hopelessly in love with the beautiful, untitled Lydia Foxe, knowing that his father, the Earl of Stanmore, will never approve of the match. Downstairs the new servant, Ivy, struggles to adjust to the routines of the well-oiled household staff, as the arrival of American cousin Martin Rilke, a Chicago newspaperman, causes a stir.

But, ultimately, the Great War will not be denied, as what begins for the high-bred Grevilles as a glorious adventure soon takes its toll—shattering the household's tranquillity, crumbling class barriers, and bringing its myriad horrors home.

Indeed, as Nancy Pearl posted on her Facebook page during the holidays: "Jonesing for Downton Abbey? Meet the Grevilles of Abingon Pryory in Philip Rock's Passing Bells, 1st of a trilogy. Check it out."

Questions for discussion -  post your answers in the comments section - if you're a blogger and you've posted a review, include that link with your answers.

1. I know that many of us have read the Maisie Dobbs and Bess Crawford series, which are also set during WWI. What I really liked about The Passing Bells was that we get more of what's going on in the war itself - I learned a lot that I didn't know about the politics and the battles and felt I got a fuller picture than before. If you've read either of those series, or just from watching Downton Abbey or reading other books set in this time period, how did The Passing Bells compare for you? (I loved seeing things I'd learned in other books - the white feathers from Birds of a Feather and the scene where war is declared echoed a similar scene in Betsy and the Great World).

2. I was struck again at how the war changes the social order in Britain - in that it allows people like Ivy Thaxton and her father, Jamie Ross and even Alexandra Greville to do things they would never have been allowed to do in the places they held prior to the war. Ivy is ushered into a world she would only have been able to look at from the outside and her father's business thrives; Ross is in a position to tell his former master's son what to do; and Alexandra finds a life that is certainly full of more purpose (if also more pain) than the one she's planning at the beginning of the novel. What did you think of all these role reversals and changes?

3. Martin Rilke's diary entries are embedded throughout the novel - much as he is embedded as our "American eye" into the story - first he's embedded into the British aristocracy, then the world of journalism and finally the the war itself. Why do you think Phillip Rock chose to include his diaries in this way?

4. The novel is full of literary allusions, to such an extent that the poet Rupert Brooke is included as a character himself. Why do you think Rock chose to include these allusions and Brooke?

5. What did you think of Lydia Foxe and Alexandra Greville at the beginning of the novel and how did your feelings toward them change by the end?

6. Which leads me to my next question - my feelings about many characters changed throughout the novel: Charles, Fenton, Jacob, Lydia, Alexandra. Where there any characters about whom you felt the same at the end as you did at the beginning?

7. In the biography in the PS section at the back of the book, Rock's inspiration for the book is discussed - from his youth spent in England up until the Blitz and standing still with his father on Armistice Day. The Passing Bells was published in 1978 while Rock was living in the States and the Vietnam War had just ended three years prior - probably during the time he was writing the book. Do you think that the effects of that war - and what we as a country learned about what happens to men in battle, could have influenced the novel, specifically how Charles and Jacob are affected and change?

8. When we read the Maisie Dobbs and Bess Crawford series together I asked if there was a new word or phrase that you learned in each book. There were many words that were new to me here. I knew that "Blighty" was a term for England, but not that it could also refer to a self-inflicted wound that would, in turn, send a soldier back to Blighty. What word or phrase was new to you?

I can't wait to read all of your answers, and please add any thoughts or observations I may not have covered here.

Join us for our discussion of the next book in the trilogy, Circles of Time, on Monday, February 4th. Also - the first 5 people to comment on this post will win a free copy of that book to read for the discussion!

 

Join The Passing Bells Trilogy Read-Along!

Are you, like me, counting the days until Sunday, January 6^th, when season 3 of Downton Abbey will FINALLY air here in the States? Well, if you just can’t wait for some sweeping historical fiction set in World War I, consider joining The Passing Bells Trilogy Read-Along! The Passing Bells by Phillip Rock is the first book in a breathtaking family saga with very Downton-like themes. Originally published in 1970s and 80s, the series was mentioned repeatedly in articles and blog posts last winter as a great read for fans of the popular Masterpiece series. Now the 3-book series is being reissued in paperback and on e-book beginning with The Passing Bells which will be on sale on 12/4, followed by Circles of Time on 1/2/13 and A Future Arrived on 2/5/13.

The Passing Bells was a New York Times bestseller when it was first published in 1978 and the New York Times Book Review praised its “A capacity to shock, to astonish, and to engage . . . written throughout with economy and wit.”

While I realize this is not necessarily the ideal time for a read-along (what with the holidays and all), I hope the schedule below isn't too taxing for anyone, and that we'll all be excited to be reading along as we're watching Downton Abbey in January and February.

If you'd like to join in, enter your name at the Mister Linky below, and write up a post that you're joining us, using the read along tile ad and post a link to your post in the comments.

The first 10 people to sign up will receive a free copy of The Passing Bells to start reading right away!

Follow the Read Along here, on my Facebook page and on Twitter using the hashtag #passingbells

The Passing Bells - on sale 12/4 - we'll discuss it on Monday, January 7th
Before Downton Abbey, there was Abingdon Pryory, the elegant country home of the Grevilles—a titled English family who, along with their servants, see their world turned upside down when England goes to war. Once their well-kept lawns and whirling social seasons give way to the horrors of World War I, no one, upstairs or downstairs, is left untouched.

Circles of Time - on sale 1/2 - we'll discuss it on Monday, February 4th
A generation has been lost on the Western Front. The dead have been buried, a harsh peace forged, and the howl of shells replaced by the wail of saxophones as the Jazz Age begins. But ghosts linger—that long-ago golden summer of 1914 tugging at the memory of Martin Rilke and his British cousins, the Grevilles.

 A Future Arrived - on sale 2/5 - we'll discuss it on Monday, March 4th
The final installment of the saga of the Grevilles of Abingdon begins in the early 1930s, as the dizzy gaiety of the Jazz Age comes to a shattering end. What follows is a decade of change and uncertainty, as the younger generation, born during or just after “the war to end all wars,” comes of age.

 

 

 

 

 

Fans of Bess Crawford, Ian Rutledge and Downton Abbey! Charles Todd's New Holiday Book Revealed!

While those of us in the US mourn the ocean that separates us from this month's premiere of Season 3 of Downton Abbey over in the UK (we have to wait until January 5th here in the States), there is good news for fans of the era. The Charles Todd writing team, which has brought us the acclaimed and bestselling Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford series (the latter of which we enjoyed reading together here earlier this year), has written a holiday tale that goes on sale this fall and sounds just perfect for Downton fans. The Walnut Tree: A Holiday Tale (on sale 10/30) tells the "unforgettable story of a woman who puts herself in the line of fire for the sake of wounded soldiers and falls deeply in love with a man who may be forbidden to her." And while it is a standalone novel, fans of Bess will be glad to hear that Nurse Crawford does make an appearance!

Today the Todds share how they came to title this new novel, The Walnut Tree - read on and then be sure to visit their Facebook page to start reading an exclusive excerpt now!

WHAT’S IN A NAME—OR NAMING A NOVEL

Most of the time—at least for us—a novel’s name comes out of the story itself. After all, these are mysteries, suspense novels, and the title reflects what’s in the book.  THE CONFESSION, the 2012 Rutledge, actually starts out with a confession, although from the beginning it’s suspect.  The question then becomes why was it suspect, what did the man who walked into Rutledge’s office at the Yard have to gain from admitting to murder?  So, it’s the catalyst, if you want to think about it that way.  The 2012 Bess Crawford, AN UNMARKED GRAVE, begins with a death that there is no time to investigate—and the victim disappears into an unmarked grave, making it all the more difficult for Bess to prove what she’d seen in the shed filled with the dead from the trenches and the flu epidemic.  And so she is forced to put her own life at risk in order to find an elusive murderer with all the cards in his or her hands now.

When it came to THE WALNUT TREE, we had to give our editor a title before the manuscript was even written, because we were aiming for a holiday pub date and production had to begin straightaway. Very unusual circumstances to say the least! So what does an author do then?

We knew several things about the novella.  It wouldn’t be a Rutledge or a Bess Crawford.  It would be a bittersweet love story as well as a mystery. It would be set in France and England and Scotland. And finally, there was a tiny village we hoped would have a strong impact on the love story.  Hardly enough material to help us pick a book’s title.  We were in Kent at the time our editor’s request arrived, and we asked our English friends, Pauline and Brian, for suggestions. Nothing seemed to click.

Driving around England researching the next Bess and the next Rutledge, we noticed a very attractive house along the road. The sign on the gate posts was Walnut Tree Cottage.  And then in a small town we spotted The Walnut Tree Pub. Not too many days after that, we passed by The Walnut Tree Hotel.  When we went to have lunch with our other English friends, Sally and David, what was in their front garden?  A young walnut tree they took pride in.  Was all this trying to tell us something? Our friends thought it just might be, and so we ran THE WALNUT TREE by our editor in New York.  She liked the idea very much.  What’s more, when we came to write the novella, the inspiration of the title led not only to an exciting jacket but to a moment in the love story that was so tender and touching we knew we’d chosen well.

Sometimes happenstance works just fine.
Charles and Caroline Todd

Charles Todd Joins Book Club Girl on Air on Thursday, June 28th at 7pm ET!

The Book Time with Bess Read Along is rolling along - check out the discussion of A Bitter Truth from last Monday. Next up is the newest and fourth book in the series, An Unmarked Grave, which goes on sale on Tuesday, June 5th. We'll discuss An Unmarked Grave on here the blog on June 25th and we'll discuss it and the entire Bess Crawford series with the Charles Todd writing team live on Book Club Girl on Air on Thursday, June 28th at 7pm ET!

World War I nurse and amateur sleuth Bess Crawford matches wits with a devious killer in this exciting and suspenseful adventure from New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd

In the spring of 1918, the Spanish flu epidemic spreads, killing millions of soldiers and civilians across the globe. Overwhelmed by the constant flow of wounded soldiers coming from the French front, battlefield nurse Bess Crawford must now contend with hundreds of influenza patients as well.

However, war and disease are not the only killers to strike. Bess discovers, concealed among the dead waiting for burial, the body of an officer who has been murdered. Though she is devoted to all her patients, this soldier's death touches her deeply. Not only did the man serve in her father's former regiment, he was also a family friend.

Before she can report the terrible news, Bess falls ill, the latest victim of the flu. By the time she recovers, the murdered officer has been buried, and the only other person who saw the body has hanged himself. Or did he?

Working her father's connections in the military, Bess begins to piece together what little evidence she can find to unmask the elusive killer and see justice served. But she must be as vigilant as she is tenacious. With a determined killer on her heels, each move Bess makes could be her last.

“Readers who can’t get enough of Jacqueline Winspear’s novels, or Hester Latterly, who saw action in the Crimean War in a series of novels by Anne Perry, are bound to be caught up in the adventures of Bess Crawford.”
—New York Times Book Review

Don't worry if you haven't read the first books in the series - you can jump in at any moment - so if you're looking for a cure to your WWI era Downton Abbey-less blues, sign up for this discussion!

Browse inside An Unmarked Grave now. I have 10 copies of the book to give away to the first 10 people who comment that they can participate in the show on June 28th. And set your reminder for the show here.

Book Time with Bess - The Bess Crawford Read Along Begins with A Duty to the Dead!

Our Book Time with Bess Bess Crawford Read Along begins! Today we'll discuss the first book in Charles Todd's Bess Crawford series, A Duty to the Dead. Answer the questions below in the comments section and link to your posts with your own thoughts about A Duty to the Dead there as well. For those who are also posting their thoughts to Twitter, please use the hashtag #besscrawford.

A Duty to the Dead
Dedicated to helping the many wounded during the Great War, Bess Crawford receives a desperate request from a dying lieutenant while serving as a nurse aboard a hospital ship. "Tell my brother Jonathan that I lied," the young man says. "I did it for Mother's sake. But it has to be set right."

Back home in England, Bess receives an unexpected response from the dead soldier's family, for neither Jonathan Graham‚ his mother‚ nor his younger brother admit to understanding what the message means.

But the Grahams are harboring a grim secret, and Bess must, somehow, get to the bottom of it. It is her sacred duty to the dead, no matter how painful, or dangerous, that obligation might be.

Questions for Discussion:

1) Was this the first book that you read by Charles Todd, or, the first book set in this time period? I first encountered WWI-era-England with Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series, and then, of course with the tv sensation Downton Abbey. If you have read more in this time period, what other books do you recommend?

2) What was your first impression of Bess Crawford? Were you surprised by the independence she enjoyed as a woman in this time, and that her parents afforded her so much freedom? Did your opinion of Bess change throughout the novel?

3) Bess has an interesting back story, growing up as she did in India. How did the authors use that part of her life to help define her character, and that of her parents and their relationship?

4) Did you know that large ocean liners, such as the Brittanic, which was a sister ship to both the Titanic and the Olympic, were called into service as hospital ships during the war? Brittanic was indeed sunk as well, just as the Todds write it in the book. Did you know that so many of the men who died on the hospital ships were buried at sea? Of course it makes sense, but I hadn't realized the number and that those men's families were left with no grave at home to visit, as Bess reflects, "In the sea there were no markers for the dead. No place in the deep to mourn, no place to leave flowers."

4) What did you think of Arthur's message? Do you think it was fair of him to ask Bess to deliver it? Why do you think she was so committed to not only delivering it, but to making sure it was followed by the Graham family?

5) What did you think of Mrs. Graham and her sons? I was struck by how much Bess was at their mercy and whim while staying in their house. Do you think they abused her kind nature in asking her to care for Peregrine?

6) Did you guess who the real killer was before he was revealed? I confess I went back and forth a few times, wondering.

7) What new word did you learn in A Duty to the Dead? For me it was "ratings," which refers to "a classification according to grade; specifically: a military or naval specialist classification, or more precisely: "chiefly British: a naval enlisted man." (Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition).

I can't wait to hear what everyone else thought. I loved meeting Bess and learning more about this time and the mystery kept me turning pages rapidly until the wee hours of the night.

Join us next month as we discuss the next book in the series, An Impartial Witness, which we'll talk about on Monday, April 30th. And, the first 5 people to comment here with answers to the discussion will win a copy of An Impartial Witness!

The Book Time with Bess Read Along runs through the publication of the newest book in the series, An Unmarked Grave in June 2012. See the complete schedule for discussing the 4 books in the series below. Feel free to join at any time!

April 30^th - An Impartial Witness discussion
May 1st – A Bitter Truth paperback goes on sale
May 29^th – A Bitter Truth discussion (May 28^th is Memorial Day)
June 5^th - An Unmarked Grave – the new hardcover goes on sale
June 25^th – An Unmarked Grave discussion
June 28^th – Book Club Girl on Air Show with Charles Todd to Discuss the Entire Series

Look for updates along the way here, on Twitter (#besscrawford), and on the Book Club Girl and Charles Todd Facebook pages.

Book Time with Bess! Join the Bess Crawford Read Along!

If you, like me, are feeling a Downton Abbey let-down after the airing of the last episode in the second season, I might just have the cure that ails you (it might even cure the Spanish flu).

Further immerse yourself in WWI-era England with the Bess Crawford mysteries by Charles Todd by joining our “Book Time with Bess” Read Along!

The “Book Time with Bess Read Along” kicks off now and runs through the publication of the newest book in the series, An Unmarked Grave in June 2012.

About Bess Crawford, and A Duty to the Dead, the first book in the series:
So who is Bess Crawford? The creation of the mother and son writing team of Charles Todd – the team that brought us the acclaimed and bestselling Ian Rutledge series – Bess Crawford is a singular woman living in a time of great change in England. Independent-minded Bess Crawford’s upbringing was far different from that of the usual upper-middle-class British gentlewoman. Growing up in India, she learned the importance of responsibility, honor, and duty from her officer father. At the outbreak of World War I, she followed in his footsteps and volunteered for the nursing corps, serving from the battlefields of France to the doomed hospital ship Britannic.

On one voyage, Bess grows fond of the young, gravely wounded Lieutenant Arthur Graham. Something rests heavily on his conscience, and to give him a little peace as he dies, she promises to deliver a message to his brother. It is some months before she can carry out this duty, and when she’s next in England, she herself is recovering from a wound. When Bess arrives at the Graham house in Kent, Jonathan Graham listens to his brother’s last wishes with surprising indifference. Neither his mother nor his brother Timothy seems to think it has any significance. Unsettled by this, Bess is about to take her leave when sudden tragedy envelops her. She quickly discovers that fulfilling this duty to the dead has thrust her into a maelstrom of intrigue and murder that will endanger her own life and test her courage as not even war has.

As an added bonus to get you started, the e-book of A Duty to the Dead is just $1.99 for a limited time, so order up today and get reading!

The read-along officially kicks off today (but don’t worry, our first discussion won’t take place until March 26th) and it runs through the publication of the paperback of the most recent Bess Crawford novel, A Bitter Truth (on sale 5/1), as well as the new Bess Crawford hardcover, An Unmarked Grave (on sale 6/5). We'll end the read-along in June with a Book Club Girl on Air Show with the Charles Todd writing team to discuss all the books in the series.

Here's the schedule of when I'll post questions about each book for us to discuss:

March 26th - A Duty to the Dead discussion
April 30^th - An Impartial Witness discussion
May 1st – A Bitter Truth paperback goes on sale
May 29^th – A Bitter Truth discussion (May 28^th is Memorial Day)
June 5^th - An Unmarked Grave – the new hardcover goes on sale
June 25^th – An Unmarked Grave discussion
June 28^th – Book Club Girl on Air Show with Charles Todd to Discuss the Entire Series

Look for updates along the way here, on Twitter (#besscrawford), and on the Book Club Girl and Charles Todd Facebook pages.

The first 10 people to sign up will receive a free copy of the paperback of A Duty to the Dead (if you're taking advantage of the $1.99 ebook instead, let me know that and we can send you An Impartial Witness).

Write a post saying you're signing up and link back here, grab the tile ad above and then link to your post using the Mr. Linky below. (If you don't have a blog, announce it on your Facebook and link to your status update). Then tweet about your reading using the hashtag #besscrawford.
(email me if you are having trouble with the tile ad at bookclubgirl AT gmail DOT com).

Happy Reading!

What Would Agatha Christie Have Thought of Downton Abbey?

We can never know for sure of course, but given her extensive writings about the insides of British minds and the ins and outs of their households and morays, we can be sure that Agatha Christie would have had an opinion of the phenomenally successful period drama. We trolled her voluminous library of work and came up with the following list of her mysteries that have Downton-like settings – 8 novels that will put you inside a grand English house (perhaps not quite the size of Downton, but similar in manner) and with a mystery that's sure to entertain. As we get closer to Sunday's final episode of season 2, this list hopefully comes just in time. Read on - and let's hope that Julian Fellowes has time between seasons to work on his adaptation of Crooked House.

Lord Edgware Dies
When Lord Edgware is found murdered the police are baffled. His estranged actress wife was seen visiting him just before his death and Hercule Poirot himself heard her brag of her plan to “get rid” of him. But how could she have stabbed Lord Edgware in his library at exactly the same time she was seen dining with friends? It’s a case that almost proves to be too much for the great Poirot.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles
The heiress of Styles has been murdered, dying in agony from strychnine slipped into her coffee. And there are plenty who would gain from her death: the financially strapped stepson, the gold digging younger husband, and an embittered daughter-in-law. Agatha Christie's eccentric and hugely popular detective, Hercule Poirot, was introduced to the world in this book, which launched her career as the most famous and best loved of all mystery writers.

The Secret of Chimneys
Little did Anthony Cade suspect that an errand for a friend would place him at the center of a deadly conspiracy. Drawn into a web of intrigue, he begins to realize that the simple favor has placed him in serious danger. As events unfold, the combined forces of Scotland Yard and the French Sûreté gradually converge on Chimneys, the great country estate that hides an amazing secret. . . .

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas
Christmas Eve, and the Lee family’s reunion is shattered by a deafening crash of furniture and a high-pitched wailing scream. Upstairs, the tyrannical Simeon Lee lies dead in a pool of blood, his throat slashed. When Hercule Poirot offers to assist, he finds an atmosphere not of mourning but of mutual suspicion. It seems everyone had their own reason to hate the old man. . . .

The Hollow
A far-from-warm welcome greets Hercule Poirot as he arrives for lunch at Lucy Angkatell’s country house. A man lies dying by the swimming pool, his blood dripping into the water. His wife stands over him, holding a revolver. As Poirot investigates, he begins to realize that beneath the respectable surface lies a tangle of family secrets and everyone becomes a suspect.

Crooked House
The Leonides are one big happy family living in a sprawling, ramshackle mansion. That is until the head of the household, Aristide, is murdered with a fatal barbiturate injection. Suspicion naturally falls on the old man’s young widow, fifty years his junior. But the murderer has reckoned without the tenacity of Charles Hayward, fiancé of the late millionaire’s granddaughter.

They Do It With Mirrors
Miss Marple senses danger when she visits a friend living in Stoneygates, a rehabilitation center for delinquents. Her fears are confirmed when someone shoots at the administrator. Although he is not injured, a mysterious visitor is less fortunate—shot dead simultaneously in another part of the building. Pure coincidence? Miss Marple thinks not, and must use all her cunning to solve the riddle of the stranger’s visit … and his murder.

The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side
The quaint village of St Mary Mead has been glamourized by the presence of screen queen Marina Gregg, who has taken up residence in preparation for her comeback. But when a local fan is poisoned, Marina finds herself starring in a real-life mystery—supported with scene-stealing aplomb by Jane Marple, who suspects that the lethal cocktail was intended for someone else. But who? If it was meant for Marina, then why? And before the final fade-out, who else from St Mary Mead's cast of seemingly innocent characters is going to be eliminated?

 

Charles Todd Has Downton Abbey Fever Too!

If you've read any of the articles that have come out recently about books that Downton Abbey fans should check out, you've no doubt heard about Charles Todd, and the writing team's Inspector Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford series which are also set during WWI and its aftermath. Today the Todds celebrate the joy of Downton that has swept the UK and now the US. Read on Downton fans!

We’ve been enjoying Downton Abbey along with the rest of the universe. A great reason to support one’s local PBS station, to ensure another season.  

For someone who writes about WW1, it’s great to see the war scenes come to life in the story. We see them in our heads while writing the Rutledge books or the Bess series, and they look just the same, although it isn’t Rutledge coming toward us through the smoke and the rattle of gun fire and the shells landing at the edge of the trenches, it’s the heir to Downton Abbey.  And a handsome officer he made.  He even had the proper stride for an officer.  He would have reminded us more of Rutledge if he were dark, but he’s fair with blue eyes.  Little wonder that Lady Mary is in love with him.   The use of the small local hospital for returning wounded was very well done, and we can picture Bess there or tending to the patients at the Abbey (that reminded us of Longleigh House in the next Bess) as they convalesce, although her work takes her to France much of the time.   She’s a nursing Sister, she’s done the full course, where Lady Sybil has done the shorter one. But more power to Lady Sybil. Whether serving in France or caring for the wounded at home, it’s a heart-wrenching task.  And Bess has often been in charge of convoys of wounded coming home, trying to keep them alive to get there.  A fact—the British Army used to send doctors into combat before they realized that they were more useful caring for the wounded. No one expected the horrendous number of casualties that trench warfare would produce.  And then there’s the home front, epitomized by the Earl and Countess, seeing the world they knew and loved falling apart before them. Even their home invaded by dozens of strangers. But Carson the butler put it best, as did one of our own characters a few books ago—war is no excuse to let one’s standards slip.  We’ve grown really fond of the Earl—he is played very well.

Well, now the war is over, although the tragedy of war isn’t.  There’s Matthew in his wheelchair, alive but no longer whole.  And Patrick with his terrible scars in a period when there was little in the way of plastic surgery to make them at least presentable.  Rutledge was at the bloody battle of the Somme and spent months in hospital until his sister rescued him and took him to a clinic that specialized in shell shock. There was no cure, but Dr. Fleming helped him return to Scotland Yard and the demands of working there again, saving what was left of his sanity.  While Bates was away, the Earl’s valet suffered from shell shock, had had to be sent away.  You couldn’t help but feel for him.

What will happen now to the footman Thomas, who enjoyed his moment of power, running the convalescent home for the Army?  He had shot himself in the hand in France, to get out of the  trenches and come home again.  Bess herself has to deal with a deserter in An Unmarked Grave, (June 2012)  But most men stayed the course.  It was so sad to lose William, but the new powerful gunpowder developed by Mr. Nobel crushed ear drums and lungs and bodies even when the wounded man appeared to be whole.  The scene where Daisy married him was very touching.  But she seems distressed about it.  Is she still infatuated with Thomas?

Will Lady Sibyl go against her class and marry the chauffeur?  Can he make her happy, or will his politics make their lives wretched?  It will be a big step.  We can’t help but wonder—why did Lady Edith believe the man who claimed to be Patrick? Was she really sure? Or did she have other reasons for wanting to him to be the lost heir.   We aren’t sure what will become of the maid and her illegitimate child—tragically such things happened.  You can’t help but wonder what will become of her. But the new maid who is a widow is casting eyes at the Earl.  Hmmmm.   And the nasty Mrs. Bates is dead.  Murder? Or Suicide when her plot failed?   Sir Richard has certainly shown himself to be a nasty piece of work.  And he brought Lavinia back to complicate Matthew’s renewed friendship with Mary.   We aren’t quite sure what to think about this new crop of characters and story lines.  Will they be as riveting as the ones in the first four episodes?  Only time will tell. 

At least the Dowager is still is great form.  She’s a marvelous character, and Maggie Smith plays her to the hilt.   One thing that is interesting to us as students of the war years and the early days of peace is that so far the horrific influenza epidemic hasn’t touched Downton Abbey.  We’ve just dealt with it ourselves in An Unmarked Grave, and we were waiting to see which of the household fell victim to it.  Will they be lucky enough not to have to deal with it at all? 

All the same, it’s hurray for Downton Abbey.  It keeps you pinned to your TV every Sunday evening (in our neck of the woods) and it gives us much to speculate about during the week while waiting for the next episode.  Is something going to happen to Cora?  And who will step into her shoes?  Will Carson really leave the Abbey? Will Mary risk exposure to rid herself of Sir Richard?  And will Bates be blamed for his wife’s death and go to prison—or the gallows?  For the Todds, it has been a great deal of fun, and it has whetted our appetite to see Rutledge or Bess developed for Masterpiece Theatre one day.   As one of our fans said to us when we were in Dallas recently, why not?  

The newest Ian Rutledge mystery by Charles Todd is The Confession. The fourth book in the Bess Crawford series, An Unmarked Grave, comes out in June. The first book in each series is Test of Wills (Rutledge) and A Duty to the Dead (Bess Crawford). You can friend Charles Todd on Facebook and watch this space to sign up for our Bess Crawford read along which will kick off on Monday, February 20th!

War Horse - A Book, A Play and Now a Film - Guest Post from Charles Todd - Plus a Giveaway of The Confession and the War Horse Film Tie-In Book!

I'm so pleased to have this guest post from Charles Todd, author of two mystery series set in and after World War I in England - the Inspector Ian Rutledge series - the newest of which, The Confession, is just out in bookstores as well as the Bess Crawford series. It seems especially timely to post it tonight, having just finished watching the first episode of season 2 of Downton Abbey, with WWI very fresh in my mind. Here, the mother-daughter writing team of Charles Todd reflect on another fictionalization of that war: War Horse and why this time period is so rich for storytelling.

If you’ve seen the previews of War Horse, the movie, or been fortunate enough to see the splendid stage version in New York or London, or read the book from which both were taken, you have glimpsed the world that Bess Crawford and Ian Rutledge knew intimately.  A Pale Horse, one of the Rutledge series, touched briefly on the plight of horses during the war, but we’ve never really gone into the issue of taking horses from English families to pull the caissons and wagons, and to be ridden in cavalry charges, and be gassed with the soldiers at the Front.   For one thing, it was covered so well in the book by Michael Morpurgo that we felt it would be redundant to tell the story again.  And for another, we were focused on people, on Rutledge—a survivor of four years in the trenches, scarred by what he had to do and had to witness, trying to resume a career interrupted by the fighting even as he struggles with his memories—and Bess, who tends the wounded men brought to aid stations and hospitals and sometimes convoying them to England for further care, is never far from death either in France or in London.  It’s an interesting period in history, and there are so many stories yet to be told about it.  It has been a fascinating time in which to set murder mysteries, exciting and remarkable in its own way.  The courage Bess shows dealing with horribly wounded men carries over into finding a murderer.  She doesn’t look for cases to solve—they come to her as she goes about her duties.  And Rutledge, at Scotland Yard, must face his own demons while bringing all his intuition and skill to bear on bringing in a killer.  Compassionate, vulnerable, intelligent and intriguing, he’s been a wonderful character to work with.  If you haven’t come across him before, you’re sure to enjoy his latest—The Confession—and if you’re already a fan, you’ll find this Rutledge one of the best yet.  Hardcover or e-book, Rutledge fills the page with suspense.

I think what we’ve learned writing these two series is that “our war”, 1914-1918, isn’t all that much different from what soldiers are facing today.  Yes, the enemy is wears a different uniform and the weapons of war have made enormous progress from the rifles and the canvas covered planes of WWI, but the fear and the courage and the grief is unchanged.  The wounded are still struggling to recover, those in combat too long are still experiencing PTSD, and those waiting at home are still waiting for dreadful news.  People still suffer.  And yet as a time to set murder mysteries, it has all the drama and excitement and color one could wish as an author—or as a reader.

Read an excerpt from the latest Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery, The Confession. I have a copy of The Confession as well as the pictorial tie-in book to War Horse, the film, to give away. I'll pick one random commenter from all those received by midnight Wednesday, January 11th to receive both books. And keep an eye out for our upcoming readalong of Charles Todd's Bess Crawford mysteries, that starts with the first book in that series, A Duty to the Dead, this March!