Welcome to Litsy!

Lovely coincidence that as I finished this wonderful book, there was the author on portrait artist of the year. I was totally absorbed in the tale of 3 characters touched by a drop of water passing through history from the court of a mesopatamian King to a victorian child born in the slums rising to an archaeologist for B museum, a teenage hazidi mid the isis terror, + water scientist in 2018 living on a houseboat. Absolutely loved it.

A reread for me. I love it just as much as the first time I read it. 5⭐️

#FinishWhatYouStarted

Emmy Abendanon is an 11 yo Dutch girl living in Batavia in 1942 who is interned during the Japanese occupation. The story is loosely based on the author's grandmother's experiences.

I felt the story only came into its own once Emmy is taken to Tjideng. Since the book is meant for readers of around Emmy's age certain aspects are omitted and others played down but enough remains to make it a suspenseful and harrowing account. ⬇

We do not care that we are a day late for #wdncw because sometimes it happens that way.

We did not care that it took the entire trip around the lake to hear one story, because the tangents were delightful.

We especially enjoyed watching a squirrel run up a tree, taking stops for selfies and checking the birdsong app, and finding a giraffe teething ring hanging from a branch.

I'm finding this one difficult going because the main character has plainly been horrifically raped and is being blamed for it in a period-typical manner. I don't think I'd have chosen it for myself if I'd known about that part, honestly; I was interested in the fact that she's studying to be a doctor and ends up trying to discover the murderer of a body she receives to dissect.

Next for book club. #FirstSaturdayReaders

This author is an automatic go to for me. I read her first two books and grabbed this one as soon as I could. It is her best yet. Though the other two were so good too.
Living in this timeframe had to be so hard for women. The 1950s. It's before I was even born so I wonder how the women in my family dealt. The best they could I suppose.

A solid 5 stars

Absolutely loved this - almost “light Hilary Mantel” if that makes sense. More license taken with plot & characters,plus a whole lot of sarcasm & swearing! But it really puts you in a Tudor world, amongst the servants w their POV, or amongst the scheming nobles. Good writing, great understanding of the time, a little modern sensibility of the prejudices, and lots going on as a young boy falls into a plot against the new king.

My #winterwitchswap box went out today!! @BookwormAHN

Up next!

#bookspinbingo
#unreadbookshelf