Since I just said that I wanted to read some lighter books after The Grapes of Wrath, Maisie Dobbs was a good choice. Maisie is a kind of Sherlock Holmes character, who solves mysteries as people bring them to her, in the years after WWI. She was a nurse in France during WWI and the war has a huge impact on everything that happens in her life, and even the mystery she's investigating is somewhat caused by the war. She doesn't make any astonishing leaps like Sherlock, but that makes the mystery seem a lot more realistic, I think. This book is the first in a series (of 9 or 10, I think) and I plan to start reading the rest.
One of the major things I noticed about this book is how much WWI affected everything in Europe after the war (like I said above). WWI is the lost and forgotten war in my mind, which is awful, particularly when you read about how affected everyone was by how horrible the war was. Particularly since this book is set in England, every man is a veteran and everyone has lost family members to injury, illness, and combat. But I liked how Winspear intertwined the war into the storyline, and I like Maisie a lot as a character. She's smart and independent but not brash or harsh like Sherlock Holmes. So I do intend to continue reading the next ones--as soon as I get them from the library and work my way through the other stack of books I've got on my bedside stand.
No comments:
Post a Comment