REVIEWS FROM DEVORAH STONE
in CANADA
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HAUNTING BOMBAY
SHILPA AGARWAL
Soho Press April, 2009
A much wanted baby girl is born and then the baby is dead. A midwife's assistant, a girl herself, is banished for thirteen years.
Thirteen years later, thirteen-year-old Pinky goes to live in an old colonial bungalow with a loving widowed grandmother, Maji, her uncle, his disapproving wife, her three male cousins and servants. Pinky, who lost her mother during the partition, finds life in 1960's Bombay both fascinating and challenging. Her aunt-in-law doesn't want her around because she reminds her of her lost daughter. Her grandmother defends Pinky at every turn.
One day Pinky opens a locked room and discovers a ghost. Is it the long dead baby or the hapless banished midwife's assistant? At first only Pinky is haunted but as the monsoons weave their magic the rest of the household has to confront family secrets. The ghost infuriates her aunt and she takes it out on Pinky. Old conflicts and half forgotten desires surface. Pinky sets out to uncover the mystery of her dead baby cousin and in doing so reveals the family dynamics: an uncle driven to drink and his wife's great despair, a once powerful matriarch losing her grip on her family.
I loved the descriptions of Bombay life, the comfortable areas along with the slums and underbelly. Bombay (now known as Mumbai) with its millions of stories, outcasts, beggars, ruling families, ghosts, spirits, ancient traditions and ever present stench, along with beauty and vibrancy, is all here. Bombay is a formidable protagonist. It's all so deeply enchanting. I simply couldn't put the book down and read it all in one sitting. It's a supernatural ghost story, an old fashion gothic tale, and a mystery. At the center of it all is Pinky who bravely goes about trying to set it all right.
- Devorah Stone
DAYS OF ATONEMENT
MICHAEL GREGORIO
Minotaur Trade pb 3/09
Prussia was occupied by the French in the year 1807. Fear, hunger, and loathing stalk the land. The French promise a new era of equality but few believe it. Stiffeniis a magistrate and student of the great philosopher Immanuel Kant, with a French officer and sleuth, Colonel Lavedrine, is summoned to solve a gruesome murder. Three Prussian children were murdered in their house. Together, two enemies must solve this murder; already the populous is blaming the Jews. An outraged mob gathers in front of the locked off ghetto. Soon their displeasure would turn to the French for granting Jews rights. The children's father is an officer in the Prussian army stationed in a remote village, one of the last outposts of resistance against Napoleon. Stiffeniis is torn between wanting to solve the murder and avenging innocent children and not unmasking the last resistance to Napoleonic rule. His task is further complicated when he discovers the father of the children died under suspicious circumstances before the children were murdered and their mother is missing. Reluctantly he requests the help of his wife, Helena, because she could have insight into the mother's thoughts and life.
The authors capture the atmosphere of the time. It is bleak. The population braces itself for change and is fearful of what will come next. Tension and the willingness to scapegoat the Jews are just on the surface.
Stiffeniis and Lavedrine are two men of science and logic and yet this case confounds them. Logic alone cannot solve it. They forge an alliance against the rampant hatred and senselessness of the times.
The murder descriptions are gruesome, and they set the tone for the rest of the book. Stiffeniis and his wife stand for all that is good in a time of evil. I felt the coldness, the stark reality of their lives. I couldn't help but think about the conflicts that would come and how long it would take before the promise of a free and peaceful Europe would be fulfilled.
It is not an easy book to read but it is certainly worthwhile.
- Devorah Stone
