#2 - Persuasion - Jane Austen

Title:  Persuasion

Author:  Jane Austen

Originally published:  1818

Publisher/Date:  Recorded Books, LLC – 2001

ISBN: 1-4193-1339-8

Performed by:  Flo Gibson

CDs/Hours:  7/9

Dates listened to:  1/4/17 – 1/22/17

Though this is the last complete novel written by author Jane Austen, the name of the book was decided by her brother Henry and published after her death.  A sweet love story about Anne Elliott and Captain Frederick Wentworth, their friends and relatives is set in early 19^th century England.  One needs a family tree for each of the main families and each of their friends.  And, indeed, if you actually read the book instead of listen to it you will find the genealogical chart attached.

Anne and Frederick were originally engaged to be married seven years prior to the start of the story.  Anne’s mother had died and the Lady Russell who lived next door and mentored Anne, persuaded her to not marry at the tender age of 19.  Anne agreed but never forgot her first love, nor he his.  At times I just wanted the pair to approach each other and declare their love – but then we wouldn’t have an engaging story nor the details of relationships among this delightful assemblage of characters.

#1 - The Children of Men - P. D. James

Title:  The Children of Men

Author:  P. D. James

Publisher/Date:  Recorded Books, LLC – 1993

IBSN:  1-4193-2343-1

Narrated by:  John Franklyn Robbins

CDs/Hours:  9/10.5

Dates listened to:  12/25/16 – 1/4/17

“PD James, best-selling author of the Adam Dalgliesh mystery series, has proven herself adept at writing novels that are suspenseful without being gratuitously violent, complex with being complicated.  Her characters are convincing and their plights believable, which makes The Children of Men all the more compelling.

“The human race faces extinction.  It is annihilation brought not by disease or nuclear war, not by crashing meteorites or colliding stars.  Men and women have ceased simply to procreate.  In 1994, sperm counts hit zero, pediatrics wards were rapidly and permanently depleted.  Overnight, it seemed, the human race had lost its power to breed.

“The last generation of children to offer mankind a chance was born in 1995 – the Omegas.  Coddled and overprotected, the Omega were the world’s last, great hope.  When they, too, reached sexual maturity unable to breed, everyone realized homo-sapiens had become a doomed commodity.

“Now 25 years later, a pervasive lethargy blankets the world.  Pornography has been legalized.  Massive numbers of people have fled back to the cities, fearful of encroaching nature.  Ritualistic suicides are sanctioned by the government as a means of ridding countries of their surplus elderly.  Anarchy reigns in the prisons, immigrants are enslaved, renegade Omegas terrorize the land.”

This book is set in 2021 Great Britain and we find Theo approached by Juliann to join a resistance group and approach the hierarchy of the land in an attempt to staunch the anarchy.  Children of Men is also a British movie made in 2006 and for which I’m on the waiting list at the public library and am 50^th in line!

#89 - Trixie Belden and the Mystery of the Uninvited Guest - Kathryn Kenny

#89

Title:  Trixie Belden and the Mystery of the Uninvited Guest

Author:  Kathryn Kenny

Genre:  Children

Category:  Fiction

Rating:  B

Published:  1977

Dates Read:  12/19/16 – 12/31/16

Number 17 in the series introduces us to Hallie Belden, cousin to the Belden kids.  At first you might wonder if she is the uninvited guest.  As the story progresses we discover that this is not the case.

Trixie and Hallie haven’t seen each other in a couple years and were not on the best of terms when they last parted.  “Trouble on two feet” is how Trixie describes her father’s niece.  She’s everything that Trixie is not – three inches taller, slim, eyes the color of ripe blackberries.  Over the course of the few weeks of summer that Hallie is with them, she helps solve the mystery of the mysterious Miss Ryks.  This person has invited herself to the wedding of Juliana Maasden and Hans Vorwald scheduled to take place on August 6^th.

In the flurry of getting ready for the big event, thefts occur in the neighborhood – from furnishings from the Lynch estate to mail from mailboxes along Glen Road.  It was fun to feature all of the Bob-Whites and to meet Hallie.