The Magdalen Girls

By: V.S. Alexander

Genre: Historical Fiction

Rating: 3 Stars

Summary: Dublin, 1962. Within the gated grounds of the convent of The Sisters of the Holy Redemption lies one of the city’s Magdalen Laundries. Once places of refuge, the laundries have evolved into grim workhouses. Some inmates are “fallen” women—unwed mothers, prostitutes, or petty criminals. Most are ordinary girls whose only sin lies in being too pretty, too independent, or tempting the wrong man. Among them is sixteen-year-old Teagan Tiernan, sent by her family when her beauty provokes a lustful revelation from a young priest.

Teagan soon befriends Nora Craven, a new arrival who thought nothing could be worse than living in a squalid tenement flat. Stripped of their freedom and dignity, the girls are given new names and denied contact with the outside world. The Mother Superior, Sister Anne, who has secrets of her own, inflicts cruel, dehumanizing punishments—but always in the name of love. Finally, Nora and Teagan find an ally in the reclusive Lea, who helps them endure—and plot an escape. But as they will discover, the outside world has dangers too, especially for young women with soiled reputations.

My Thoughts:

Wow - well first off, I didn't know what I was getting into when I picked this up. It was definitely judging a book by it's cover - because I really love it. But the subject matter was hard for me to read. It was a part of history that I didn't know existed - at least in this fashion. I knew about women being locked in insane asylums when they didn't fall in line with the societal norms but I didn't know the religious side of it. 

Alexander did a good job at trying to not demonize the Catholic church while still showing the indignities that occurred. 

It was a book that left me angry and frustrated for the characters - for the fact that there was no way for their voice to be heard - for the lack of justice and mercy. It went against the grain of innocent until proven guilty and just left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I think Teagan was the one who gave me the most grief. She was put in simply because a priest (who really had no business joining the clergy) was having "impure thoughts" about her. And just like that her parents signed her over to the custody of the nuns with no sign of ever taking her back. So many times she tried to tell the truth, explain what happened and no one would listen to her simply because she was fallen. 

Being a Christian myself the whole scenario left me feeling terrible. In no way did the actions reflect the teachings of Christ - but as I earlier stated, Alexander wrote this in such a way that while the local leaders we dealt with drove me crazy she didn't condemn the Church as a whole.

Overall, if you want to find out more about a little known bit of history go for it.

I was given a galley copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a Disappointment...

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

By: John Tiffany and Jack Thorne.
Genre: Drama (It's a script after all)
Rating: Goodness, like 2 stars.


Here it is, the big one, the one we've all been waiting for...Harry Potter and the Cursed Child!

And what a load of rubbish it was. Let's make one thing very clear - ROWLING DID NOT WRITE THIS. Her's might be the biggest name on the cover but she didn't write this book. I am very disappointed with the results Jo. And so is Minerva.


While perhaps the story might have come from her, the words most certainly did not. I was not at all reading the same characters in this script which I grew up reading and listening to almost daily at some points. (It helped me go to sleep as a child, it's almost impossible for me to read the books without Jim Dale narrating for me.)

The story was good and when I get to go and see the play I know that it is going to be phenomenal. The magic that those stage hands are going to have to do, the technical work that will have to be done. Goodness it is going to be amazing. 
But this was not Rowling's characterization, these were not her words. It got frustrating at times to read because all I could think of is THIS. IS. NOT. RIGHT.  
The part that was the worst was the fact that in the alternate universe they freely used the Dark Lord's name. Voldemort was said all over the place. That is in direct conflict to what Voldemort stood for - the fear, mystery and intimidation which surrounds him. We remember that "fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself." Even in the 7th book when the ministry had fallen and the dark powers were in charge he made it taboo. That part of his mentality was never going to change.
Nor was he capable of having a child. Nope, nope, nope. His lust was for power, his drive was all funneled toward his ambitions, his release from death and torture. To imagine that he had a child with Bellatrix? Esp. when we clearly saw a not at all pregnant version of her when escaping from Malfoy Mannor.


Read on if you dare, there are spoilers in the rants.

And then there is the relationship between Scorpius and Albus which while reading makes me wonder if Scorpi's obsession with Rose is merely a cover up. 

This is NOT the 8th installment of the series. This is just bad fan fiction - granted it did better by the Harry Potter series than 50 Shades did to Twilight. But goodness, not worth the hype, time or money. (But I am still excited for the play, just because the stage directions promise that this will be great.)

Friday Reads - Save Me

Save Me

By: Kristyn Kusek Lewis

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Rating: 4 stars

Summary:

Daphne Mitchell has always believed in cause and effect, right and wrong, good and bad. The good: her dream job as a doctor; Owen, her childhood sweetheart and now husband; the beautiful farmhouse they're restoring together. In fact, most of her life has been good--until the day Owen comes home early from work to tell her he's fallen head over heels for someone else.

Unable to hate him, but also equally incapable of moving forward, Daphne's life hangs in limbo until the day Owen's new girlfriend sustains near-fatal injuries in a car accident. As Daphne becomes a pillar of support for the devastated Owen, and realizes that reconciliation may lie within her grasp, she has to find out whether forgiveness is possible and decide which path is the right one for her.

My Thoughts:

"You can never know the truth about anyone's marriage, including your own" -Nora Ephron

That was a great quote to set the book rolling. Daphne is coming home from a business trip - something routine, she plans for her husbands birthday dinner, only to come home to the announcement that he has fallen in love with someone else. 

This was enough of a draw to get me involved. Not because of the physical messiness that was potential here. But because Lewis did her best to go through all of the various shades of emotional turmoil that this kind of event - which sadly is all too common - could cause.  Owen easily could be written off as the bad guy and this turn into another one of those books of woman independence, finding yourself outside of your relationships, and whatnot which are very prevalent in today's culture. But Lewis did far more than that.

She explored where relationships come from, what they need to thrive and how and when is the time to draw the line. Owen was far from the bad guy. He wasn't excused for his actions. But it seemed to be a case of life rather than something where you can suddenly point fingers and everything is black and white.

I was surprised by it's ending. And am still not quite sure how I feel about it. But it was definitely one that left me thinking. 

This novel explores fidelity, love and what is needed to keep a marriage going and I recommend it.