Page 52 - Phonebox Magazine January 2007

Reviews brought to you by Oxfam Books & Music Stanley Court, Olney
Tel: 01234 714592
Opening hours: Mon & Wed: 10am – 6pm Tues, Thurs, Fri & Sat: 10am – 4.30pm First Sun of each month: 10am – 2pm
Book Review
By Oxfam Bookshop, Olney
Review by Kim Locke
Review by Thelma Shacklady
COME AND SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL OXFAM BOOKSHOP
If you venture down from the Co-op towards the High Street you will find a welcoming and thriving OXFAM BOOKSHOP. Come and visit us.
We need your support to supply us with donations of books, to browse amongst the shelves and to find and buy the hidden treasures, or to become part of the friendly and dedicated team of volunteers.
We stock most categories of books - fiction, children's, travel books, reference, gardening, cookery and poetry books. We have biographies, classics and humorous books, which are all well organised and attractively presented. Whatever type of book you prefer to read, I am sure you will find an example on our shelves. The stock is constantly changing, so keep hunting, happy in the knowledge that when you buy or donate a book you are supporting a worth-while cause.
Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow by Peter Høeg
Translated from Danish, this is an unusual novel that steps well beyond the boundaries of a traditional thriller, ending up on the doorstep of fantasy. A young boy falls from a rooftop. The police call it an accident, but his neighbour, Smilla Jaspersen, feels otherwise. Part Greenlander, Smilla can read snow and the marks left by Isaiah’s feet on the rooftop whisper to her that his death was no chance. She undertakes to uncover the real reason.
The character of Smilla Jaspersen is one of the strengths of this novel. Having spent her early childhood in the inhospitable environs of Greenland, Smilla displays the indomitable spirit so essential for survival in such climes. Yet this tough and prickly exterior closets a sensitive and intuitive central core. In Smilla, Høeg has created a fully three-dimensional character that is just slightly unpredictable.
Høeg pays keen attention to detail throughout the novel, his descriptions being meticulous in their visual specifications. He does, however, have a tendency to overdo the detail at times, leaving the reader groping for the thread of the story midst a forest of facts.
I also found myself confused at times as the story leapt from one perspective to another. The hard to pronounce Danish names may have exacerbated my state of confusion, but there were definitely moments when I had to take a leap of faith to remain with the story.
An extremely well researched novel from a writer with a wealth of interests, this is a book that requires attentive reading. d
Arbella: England’s Lost Queen by Sarah Gristwood
The biography of Arbella Stuart is an interesting read. Arbella, niece of Mary, Queen of Scots could have succeeded to the throne of England instead of her cousin, James I and our English history would have taken quite a different direction. Indeed, as a child, it seemed that her future was rosy; gifts that she embroidered for Queen Elizabeth were received graciously, and Elizabeth went so far as to comment to the French ambassador’s wife:
Look to her well: she will one day be even as I am and a lady mistress.
But that early promise came to nothing. Instead, she was subsequently viewed as a possible threat by the ageing Elizabeth and kept in seclusion at Hardwick Hall (more glass than wall’ as the cynical rhyme went) under the close supervision of her grandmother, the redoubtable and formidable Bess of Hardwick.
The portrait of Arbella as a toddler, reproduced in the biography, still hangs at Hardwick today, and a later one of a mature Arbella hangs above the great staircase at Longleat, fascinating glimpses of the woman whose life was blighted by her royal blood.
After Elizabeth’s death, and the accession of James I, Arbella’s life appeared to take an upward turn. She was allowed to return to court and to be lady in waiting to the Queen. By now 27 years
old, she was long past the average age for marriage. The problem was, she was too
close to the throne to marry a mere commoner, but an alliance to foreign royalty or to an
Englishman of royal descent would bring with it a threat to the throne of England, by no means as secure as it might be. This situation did not change with a new king on the throne, and Arbella remained unmarried. Soon after James’ succession, two conspiracies against him were uncovered by the ever-vigilant Cecil, the first which aimed to kidnap James in order to force him to extend a promise of greater religious toleration, the second, more serious, allegedly planned to kill James and his son Henry and, with Spanish assistance, to place Arbella on the throne.
Arbella managed to extricate herself from all links with the conspirators, but this episode made her aware of her rather precarious hold on the king’s friendship. However, seven years later, she destroyed any chance she might have had by secretly becoming betrothed to William Seymour, grandson of the Earl of Hertford and subsequently marrying him. The king was incensed, and imprisoned them both, William in the Tower and Arbella at Lambeth. What happened to the unfortunate pair will keep the reader engrossed! d
The Oxfam Bookshop in Olney has a large biography section, where it is possible to find accounts of the lives of famous people, past and present, as well as of those who are less well-known. If you enjoy reading about real people, come and browse through our selection. You will not be disappointed!
52 Phonebox Magazine