The Man in the Brown Suit and the meaning of the word 'Adventuress'

Anne Beddingfeld is an adventuress. After caring for her genius but hopelessly impractical father for many years at home in their sleepy English village, his untimely death means Anne is now free to experience life.

Managing to avoid the marriage proposals of some local and very respectable men, she runs off to London to look for an adventure and sees a man killed at the railway station which sets a train of events into place.

This is an enjoyable read - along the same lines as the Tommy and Tuppence series. I especially liked the travel in this story, setting off from England on a ship and then to South Africa. Agatha sets the scenes very well.

Anne finds a mystery in England that all starts with a man dying at the railway station, a phony doctor, a mysterious piece of paper that needs deciphering, and a murder. It's very light-hearted and a nice, cosy read with plenty of excitement. 

Agatha Christie originally titled this, 'Anna the Adventuress' but for whatever reason, her editors changed it.

I have heard the word 'adventuress' a few times recently on various media outlets and commentary and it peaks my interest in what that word means. I first heard it listening to the YouTube channel of Lady Colin Campbell, a royal commentator and member of the British aristocracy. She uses it to describe Meghan Markle, but I thought it an interesting word.

The definition according to Merriam-Webster is:

Anne Beddingfeld certainly fits this description, seeking excitement and change. Adventuress is an old fashioned word and an old-fashioned term, but does conjure up images of excitement and danger, a thrill seeker, a fortune hunter who throws caution to the wind and sees where their gamble at life lands them. 

It would be interesting to explore women in history who might have been adventuresses. Do any spring to your mind? I'd be interested to know.

For Anne, she has all her wishes granted for adventure, danger, friendship, experiences, new scenes and romance granted to her. Her gamble pays off - in the end.

I do recommend this book if you are in the mood for some light reading, an old-fashioned thriller that will keep you guessing to the end.

Book Club - Mudlarking

 This has to be one of my most favourite non-fiction books. I'm in love with it

Mudlarking - Lost and Found on the River Thames by Lara Maiklem.

I actually stumbled upon the activity of Mudlarking while idling watching YouTube history channels one lazy afternoon. I have always loved English history, not the least because some of my DNA hails from old Blighty, but also because the history is so ancient.

Mudlarking, it turns out, is an old London profession - the kind of thing you did if you were desperately trying to avoid the poorhouse or the debtors prison. People waded deep into the mud of the Thames river to find treasures that might hold value and could be sold. Things like copper plates from the bottom of ships or old coins. Nowadays, it is a hobby for some people. There are entire YouTube channels dedicated to the finds that Mudlarkers discover in the mud on the sides of the river Thames in London.

But this book is one of my favourite books because Lara Maiklem takes you on an intimate journey with the Thames, and I love her writing style. The Thames is a whole ecological sanctuary in the heart of one of the world's busiest cities, with diverse birdlife, riverboat activities and people whose lives intertwine with the rise and fall of the tide.

Lara not just introduces us to the river, but also to the people who mudlark - a diverse and interesting bunch, but also to the people of the city who lived here a hundred years ago, or five hundred years ago, or a thousand years ago and the fragments of their lives that were cast or lost in the river, only to resurface again years later. Lara brings their stories and their personalities alive.

I love this book. It's a treasure.

Listen to me read the first 5 minutes of the opening chapter.

Tinyordinarydays · Mudlarking

For an introduction to Mudlarking, watch Lara talk about it here. 

Book Club - The Rose Code

 I don't often read fiction anymore. When I'm in the middle of a busy semester of study, I don't have any time for recreational reading, but somehow, even though it has taken me ages to read because Linguistic and Criminal theory took precedence, I couldn't put this one down. Recommended to me by a work colleague, I was immediately interested in it because the author Kate Quinn draws from real people and real events to write her fiction and I really love that.

The Rose Code is set near the beginning of World War 2 in London and largely focuses on three young women who are trying to do their bit for the war effort. When they are recruited to Blethchley Park, the top secret, code-breaking country house, and though they come from very different backgrounds, their lives intertwine. When the war is over the three must reunite again to save the life of one of their friends and protect their country.

The book takes inspiration from the real Osla Benning, a Canadian debutante who was the goddaughter to Lord Mountbatten and while staying with him before the war, she met Prince Philip.

Main Characters: 

                            Osla Kendall - debutante, socialite and girlfriend of Prince Philip.

                            Mabel (Mab) Churt - working class and worldly wise

                            Beth Finch - genius but oppressed by her controlling and religious mother

To my delight I also found another little novella with Osla Kendall post-war meeting Agatha Christie. I found it on Audible.   It uses a character from Agatha Christie's N or M (one of my favourites of hers, and a war story featuring Tommy and Tuppence). It's a great, short listen!

I've been on a bit of a World War 2 research drive at the moment, especially Bletchley Park. It is truly remarkable what the British managed to do there and hugely crucial to winning the war. What amazes me though, is that for years anyone who worked there could not talk about what they had done during the war on threat of death for treason! So many of the men and women who had worked there went to their graves with the secrets of Bletchley Park until the 1970s when wartime information became declassified. Here is some further information about Blethchley and I found a wonderful tour on Youtube which shows and explains Alan Turing's battle with the incredible enigma machine.

                

Listen to me read 5 minutes from Chapter 18 of The Rose Code.

Tinyordinarydays · The Rose Code

Book Club - Light Rains Sometimes Fall

Because of my desire to be come more aware of my natural surroundings, much of my interest in nature also extends to literature.

Our lives are increasingly becoming more frantic and busier, juggling all kinds of responsibilities and it's actually extremely challenging to slow that down and take moments out of the day to notice the natural world and environment right outside my window. Challenging even more so if your life is in the suburbs or city.

For me I felt that getting to know the seasons better, the plant, bird and insect life around me should be part of my daily routines. Not to just get in my car and drive down the streets of my leafy, hedge-lined suburb and take for granted the micro worlds moving and changing around me.
Part of this personal revolution was joining The Nature Creative, the practice of journalling nature and in one of the monthly book suggestions, this book was recommended. It instantly appealed to me.

Light Rains Sometimes Fall written by Lev Parikian follows an ancient Japanese tradition  of micro seasons. Instead of the four main seasons that we know, Japan celebrates 72 micro seasons - watching for, and noticing the tiny micro changes in nature that lead us through the year. But Lev's book is set in England and it's a beautiful hard bound book with a dust cover. It's lovely to hold as well as read. 

Back Cover

Lev Parikian writes his observations through the covid pandemic when he is confined to home for some of the time and you get a lovely glimpse into English weather, plant and bird life and seasons.

The chapters are short and beautifully written and have delicious chapter titles such as:

Lavender Assumes Massive Proportions 

or

Swifts Arrive

I am transported by the chapter titles of Dragonflies Lay Eggs on Water and Evenings Draw In.

You can buy the book here and follow the author on Instagram or visit his website.

Listen to my reading 5 minutes from the first chapter.

Tinyordinarydays · Light Rains Excerpt

Reading Renaissance

I've sadly let my love of reading be tucked away on a dusty shelf over the last twenty years, even though my amazon and audible wish lists are full of hopefuls. In a busy life full of responsibilities and deadlines, leisure reading becomes a luxury I don't often set aside time to indulge in.

But that is changing. I've committed to buy one book per month - actual books I can hold in my hand and touch and smell and open and read. 

To assist me I would like to loosely follow the Duchess of Cornwall's Reading Room 'book club.' I like her taste in literature, and while I am not following it religiously, if I'm unable to find a book to suit me, she has plenty to choose from that I think I would like to read.