Tag: Victorian Era

Books, Fiction

A Christmas Revelation by Anne Perry

RaeAnna

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A Christmas Revelation | Sweater (so soft and cozy) | Shoes (so sparkly) | Jeans

Read Yes
Length 160
Quick Review Set in Victorian London, this mild mystery is a sweet story about the meaning of Christmas spirit and never giving up.

Victorian London is an iconic Christmas setting perfect for any holiday mystery. Anne Perry sets A Christmas Revelation in the middle of not-so-respectable London. It’s a short novel perfect for a busy reader this holiday season.

Worm is a nine year old orphan wandering the streets of London, when he sees a beautiful young woman abducted. He lives at a medical clinic with Squeaky, a brothel owner turned bookkeeper, and an assortment of other characters. Worm goes home with the woman on his mind. He confides in Squeaky, who tries to distract him with the Christmas story. Squeaky is an old grump with no holiday spirit, but as he describes the traditions and history to Worm, who’s never had a true Christmas, he begins to melt a little. What ensues is a scramble for decorations and to find the woman because no matter how much Squeaky tries, Worm can’t forget about the woman he saw.

Perry does a very good job of showing the situations of the characters in A Christmas Revelation. In short books, it is easier to tell rather than show the reader. Perry does not succumb even in the earliest pages, “He walked quite quietly, since his boots were very thin…” She writes in the third person narrative, which allows the reader to see the thought process of both Squeaky and Worm. They are on opposite sides of the age spectrum of age, but they bond over a common goal. Perry does a decent job describing the thought process of Worm, but does a better job of getting in Squeaky’s mind. She easily narrates the ways an adult simplifies and side-steps complicated issues for children.

A Christmas Revelation is a sweet Christmas novel under 200 pages. It is small and easy to read. If you’re looking for something light with a super sweet ending, this is a good one. Anyone can easily finish it by Christmas. I read it in two hours.

Buy on Amazon || Buy on Book Depository

Memorable Quotes
“It was a deep sin to ignite dreams in a child that you could not live up to.”

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Title: A Christmas Revelation
Author: Anne Perry
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9780399179945

Books

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

RaeAnna

Read Sure
Length 352
Quick Review Through the Victorian language of flowers, a newly emancipated foster girl finds acceptance and forgiveness.

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I love my flowers from Amanda Bee’s Florals!

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh was loaned to me by my friend, Amanda of Amanda Bee’s Florals. It’s a great easy read combining a few things I love: language, flowers, and books. I needed something light to interrupt the maelstrom of books I’m reading to catch up after vacation.

Victoria Jones is newly emancipated from the foster system. She had always been a problem child and felt no reason to change. Homeless, she found a job in the one place she could: a flower shop. Her only good foster home taught her about the Victorian meanings for flowers. Her years of challenging everyone and everything combined with the foster system and constant changes, she lacked social skills. Flowers were her only means of feeling whole and communicating with the world.

Diffenbaugh demonstrates a deep understanding for the struggles foster kids endure in the system. She and her husband adopted a son out of the foster system, and the co-founder of the Camellia Network. It is an endemic close to her heart. The Language of Flowers is deeply touching and heartbreaking. Victoria yearns for the universal human desires of connection, acceptance, forgiveness, and love. Flowers help her find everything she is looking for from within and the outside world.

The meanings of flowers have always intrigued me, so this was fun to read. At the end of the novel, there is a short dictionary of flowers and their meanings. The writing is well-done and compelling. The plot is well thought out and supports the underlying theme that the foster system repeatedly and continually lets children down every step of the way. It wraps all the loose ends up nicely into a happy ending. The foreshadowing throughout the book is subtle, but still obvious enough the plot lays itself out in the first 87 pages.

I enjoyed reading The Language of Flowers in an afternoon. It was a pleasant surprise from what I thought it would be: a sappy love story. It has much deeper themes with an underlying call to action.

Memorable Quotes
“Mothers must all secretly despise their children for the inexcusable pain of childbirth.”

Title: The Language of Flowers
Author: Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 9780345525550