Page 71 - Phonebox Magazine March 2012

Book Review
By Oxfam Bookshop, Olney
The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards
After working abroad for several years Lucy Jarrett returns home to The Lake of Dreams, a small town in Northern New York State, to visit her mother who is recovering from a car accident. After being away for so long, Lucy notices several changes, one being the fact that, after the death of Lucy’s father, her mother has closed off the second storey of the house, preferring to remain on the ground floor. Lucy insists on using her old bedroom, and on opening up the other rooms which have become neglected. While doing this, she notices an old locked chest and, a locksmith’s daughter, opens it. What she finds inside leads her on a journey of discovery during which she learns about family secrets, including a great-great aunt she never knew existed.
Her own recent past comes back, too, as she meets again her teenage boyfriend, now a well- respected glassblower and restorer – and a father. Through him she discovers stained-glass windows which have been boarded up in a
disused chapel, and is overwhelmed by their vibrant colour and the Biblical scenes depicted, all of which include women. The land the chapel stands on was once used as a military base, abandoned for several years, and is now for sale. Conservationists are opposing the building of houses on what is not only a haven for wild life, but also a former Native American burial ground.
The author cleverly interweaves the family history with Lucy’s own, introducing the themes of inclusiveness, conservation – and greed. There is a lyrical quality to her descriptions of people, places and, above all, stained glass, which puts this novel in a category of its own. She brings her intricate and thought-provoking plot to an unexpected conclusion, while leaving the reader longing for more.
This is Kim Edwards’ second novel. Her first, ‘The Memory Keeper’s Daughter’ was a bestseller; I am sure ‘The Lake of Dreams’ will be equally successful.
Review by Thelma Shacklady
A Year in the World: journeys of a passionate traveller by Frances Mayes
Review by Sandra Metcalf
Frances Mayes and her husband resigned their university posts to travel to Spain, Portugal, France, the British Isles, Turkey, Greece, the south of Italy, and North Africa. “I’m going to places where I have dreamed of living and will try to settle down in each, read the literature, look at the gardens, shop for what’s in season, try to feel at home.” They rent houses, shop locally and wanders the back streets finding unexpected pleasures in unlikely places.
So although this is a celebration of the allure of travel it is not a conventional travel book but a sharing of personal travel diaries
about the places he visits – although there is plenty of information about those too. Peter Mayle was in advertising before he moved to Provence and in many ways his books about living there are an extended ‘sell’ of the delights of the region. Eric Newby is entertaining in a ‘Boys Own’ adventure story sort of way that tells you as much about the times in which he lived as the places he visited. Bruce Chatwin is all over the place – mentally as well as geographically - while Jan Morris is unsurpassed at seamlessly connecting a description of what is in front of the traveller’s eyes with the history and politics of a place and then adding the sort of insightful, personal comments which challenge the readers assumptions and provoke thought long after the page is turned.
Frances Mayes’ writing is focussed on her own thoughts and feelings about the places she visits and the memories and associations they provoke. Her responses to new places are intensely personal – what emotions they evoke in her, how they appeal to her senses, how they relate to her interest in art, in architecture, in food and cooking and how they compare to what she has read about them in works of literature: D H Lawrence, Freya Stark, Lorca, Durrell - “the writers whose works enriched my travels and stretched my world view.”
As an American academic with adequate funds she is not perhaps someone it is easy to identify with for many of us and if you don’t share her interests you may not like her book. But, if you bear in mind that we can read to reinforce what we already believe; or we can read to learn something new or to see something in a new way - you may find this an interesting reading experience anyway.
– often turned into narrative and description but also subjectively coloured by expectations and sometimes simply quoting lists of words or images which are evocative of time and place and personal memories.
How much you enjoy this approach, I think, depends on what you enjoy about travel writing and how you feel about being a particular writer’s travel companion. Charlie Connelly’s travels are ‘projects’ he has dreamed up for himself and his books are as much about the success (or otherwise) of his experiences as
Phonebox Magazine 71
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The books reviewed above are from Oxfam Books and Music, Olney, which sells donated books, records, CDs, tapes and music to raise money for Oxfam’s work in combating poverty around the world.