Lymond Chronicles: The Game of Kings

Constance at Staircase Wit reminded me that I really ought to read The Lymond Chronicles, by Dorothy Dunnett, as part of my Reading Scotland project. The Lymond Chronicles consists of six books that tell the adventures of Francis Crawford of Lymond, younger brother of the Earl of Culter. 

Book one is The Game of Kings, and the setting is the fluid border between England and Scotland in the 1540s (aka smack in the middle of the Tudor dynasty). Henry VIII wanted the Scots to betroth their infant Queen Mary to his son Edward as a way of conquering Scotland, and to this end he invaded Scotland and was rebuffed. After he died in 1547, the Lord Protector, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, who governed during the minority of his nephew, now Edward VI, continued the policy of "rough wooing"--that is, invading Scotland and trying to batter the Scots into betrothing the now 4-year-old Scottish queen to the now 9-year-old English king.

So what does all this have to do with Lymond (aka Francis to his family)? Plenty. 

Lymond has been branded a traitor to the Scots and a spy for the English, stemming from his capture at the Battle of Solway Moss in 1542. He has a price on his head and after escaping captivity where he worked as a galley slave, he has been leading a band of merry men (think Robin Hood) and running circles around the Scottish nobility who are hell-bent on capturing and punishing him for all manner of crimes that he allegedly continues to commit.

He is handsome, witty, sharp, charming--a veritable silver-tongued devil. His literary quotes and references range from Latin to French to German to Spanish. He is a classical scholar as well as an excellent swordsman and archer and rider. Women adore him, some men admire him, some loathe him, including his brother.

I absolutely loved this book. However, it did take a fair amount of work to read. I wasn't up on the history of this particular aspect of the Scottish/English conflict/relationship, and so I had a lot to learn from the outset. There are a lot of characters, many with titles that also serve as names. My book included a map and a cast of characters, and I kept on having to refresh myself on who was who. 

Lymond engages in a lot, and I mean a lot, of double talk. While the author sprinkles clues as to Lymond's real character and the truth behind his apparently nefarious actions, you don't really know what is going on, what to believe, until the very end when all is revealed. 

I ended up listening to the audiobook, which mercifully had the read/listen feature, so I could listen while I read. This helped enormously as the story was entering my brain via two supporting avenues. I also found this incredible website: Now You Have Dunnett: Introduction, which is "A blog devoted to a chapter-by-chapter discussion of the novels of Dorothy Dunnett." During the first half of the book, I read the discussion after each section. By the time I got to the second half of the novel, I didn't need the discussion so much, but they were still fun to read and helped explain nuances that I didn't pick up on.

In addition to the discussions, the blog post on each section includes questions about character and plot to consider, favorite quotes from the novel, and adjectives used to describe Lymond. The blog really enhanced the book for this first-time reader. It is a book that begs to be read again...and again.

Beyond the main character, Lymond, I absolutely loved Sybella, his mother, and Christian Stewart, a blind girl who helps him, and Will Scott, the exuberant young man who desperately wants to be both a hero and just like Lymond. I also really enjoyed Sir Wat Scott (father of Will Scott) and his wife Janet Beaton, as well as Molly, the owner of the Ostrich. And, of course, Johnnie Bullo and Turkey Mat as well as the dynamic English couple, Gideon Somerville and his wife Kate--I really hope we see more of them in future books. 

Despite its complexity, it was enthralling and I came to truly care about the characters. In other words, moved to tears. I loved traveling around the border lands between Scotland and England and visiting Stirling Castle, Inchmahome Priory, Edinburgh, and all the various castles in between.

There are so many wonderful passages in this book, but my favorite comes near the end when Lymond says that his knowledge of leading men in campaigns is based on his knowledge of both geography and chess:

The one shows you where to go, and the other what to do when you get there. 

Dorothy Dunnett was a truly exceptional writer and gifted storyteller. Her books are challenging, dense, and ultimately so rewarding.

Clocking in at 543 pages, this most definitely qualifies for the 2026 Big Book Summer Challenge.

Reading Scotland, Garden Notes, TV Notes

Happy June! Blogging has taken a backseat to removing all the furniture, etc from the living room for the hardwood floor installation, which happened last week. The animals are stressed, but who isn't when all your routines go flying out the window? I tell them it will all be worth it in just another week or so, but they don't listen.

At least I can read to calm myself down...here's what I've been reading.

Devil Water, by Anya Seton - recommended by Constance of Staircase Wit, I really enjoyed this 527-page book about the Earls of Derwentwater and their participation in the Scottish risings of 1715 and 1745. The main characters are Charles Radcliffe, youngest of three brothers, handsome, charismatic, initially hopelessly naive but ultimately idealistic and a steadfast Jacobite and Catholic, and his daughter Jenny, beautiful (of course!), loyal, but a steadfast Protestant who never truly embraces the Jacobite cause (which is to replace the Hanoverian George II with James VIII, the Pretender exiled to France and Italy). 

The title refers to the colloquial name of Derwentwater and the burn (small river) that flows through the estate.

For the most part, I really enjoyed the novel and characters and learning more about the history of the border region between Scotland and England and the divided loyalties, complicated politics, life in the turbulent 18th century, and the rugged, beautiful landscape. Jenny does emigrate to the Virigina colony (in the 1720s) and marries. She and her husband head to the wilderness where they acquire land and develop a farm that could become prosperous.

SPOILERS*****I had a real problem with how Seton ended the novel. Jenny's father Charles, who had been living in Europe after escaping from Newgate prison before being executed for his role in the 1715 Jacobite uprising, returns to England to join the 1745 Jacobite uprising and is captured and sentenced to death, again. Jenny learns of his fate and decides to return to England to see him again, and her husband Rob is so furious with her decision that he rapes her. Once in England, she discovers she is pregnant and is actually making it on her own, working as a barmaid and singing in the bar. Rob follows her to England, and after they witness Charles's execution, he convinces her to return to Viriginia with him, and she forgives him and goes back to the wilderness farm with this violent man!  For me, this was truly hard to swallow and I ended up giving it my usual four stars on GoodReads instead of the five that I had been planning to award it

A Game of Sorrows, by Shona (MG) Mclean - book 2 in the Alexander Seaton series, this story takes place mostly in Ireland as Alexander is summoned by his dead mother's family to help lift a curse that has been placed on the family. At first, I was disappointed to be leaving Scotland for Ireland, but the story helped me understand the relationship between the Scots and northern Ireland in particular. And the story itself was chock full of great stuff--bandits, castles, banquets, journeys, and the requisite conflicts over religion. Alexander is becoming a true hero and I am ready for his next adventure, this time back in Scotland.

The Coffin Trail, by Martin Edwards - technically not a Scottish novel, the first in the author's Lake District mystery series, it takes place in, you guessed it, the Lake District. I just finished this one last night and am still mulling it over. I gave it four stars, but I wasn't completely in love with the main characters, so not sure if I will continue with the series. Daniel Kind is an Oxford don who leaves his job and together with his new girlfriend buys a rundown cottage in the Lake District and throws himself into solving a decade-old murder. Despite living with his girlfriend, he becomes close to Lauren, his dead detective father's former partner, and together they solve the mystery. Actually, he does, but she scolds him for not including her more. It takes a real leap of faith to go along with a lot of the dynamics of the story, but I am assuming that Daniel and Lauren work out the weirdnesses of the premise and become solid partners.

I loved the setting and now want to take a walking vacation in the Lake District!

However, I have to say that the title is a real downer and the cover is atrocious. I would have preferred a nice watercolor rather than B&W photos.

Garden Notes

Our mama dove sat on her eggs until they hatched, then cared for her chicks until they fledged, and we now have use of our back door once again!

I have chives all over my garden--in the rose bed to ward off Japanese beetles, in the veg beds to add color in the spring, and deck planter for the same reason. At our local coffeehouse, a barista told me about a lovely chive vinegar that he makes, so I made some. Simply harvest chive blossoms, rinse them, and crush with mortar and pestle (about 1 cup), cut up 1/4 cup of chives, heat white wine vinegar to just ready to boil. and then pour over chive blossoms and diced chives in mason jar. Seal and put in dark cupboard for three days. Strain into pretty bottle and enjoy a nice chivey pink vinegar!

Fiona is guarding the evening primrose and penstemon.

Honeysuckle in profusion.

TV Notes

I've been getting the Outlander DVDs from the library and season 2 was checked out, so we watched Decameron on Netflix instead. I'm still not sure if I can say that I liked it. It was definitely a dark comedy, and wild and crazy. I felt a profound sense of relief when it was over, but it was a good distraction from the remodel. 

My favorite character by far was Misia, played by Saoirse-Monica Jackson of Derry Girls fame. Has anyone else watched this story of the plague in Italy in the 15th century?

We finished watching season 3 of Shrinking, which I thought was the best season and I am eagerly waiting for season 4. I really liked the way the characters are growing and developing and learning and bonding and coping. I thought it was absolutely brilliant casting to have Jeff Daniels play Jimmy's father. Also great to see Michael J. Fox and Candace Bergen, and then I had to laugh to see Cobi Smulders (Robin on How I Met Your Mother) as Jimmy's new love interest Sofi. Seems like the casting director is definitely raiding How I Met Your Mother :)

But, all that said, we were at loose ends as to what 30-minute comedy to watch after an hour of drama and landed on Ghosts, which thankfully my library has since I cannot stand the commercials on Paramount Plus.

I hadn't wanted to watch it before because it looked pretty silly, which it is, but it is also funny and sweet with pretty good writing that makes me laugh. 

I am always on the lookout for good 30-minute comedies, so let me know what you like! 

Reading Scotland: Clanlands and The Redemption of Alexander Seaton

Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other - written and read by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish, Charlotte Reather (co-writer)

Here's excerpts from the GoodReads blurb: 

As stars of Outlander, Sam and Graham eat, sleep and breathe the Highlands on this epic road trip around their homeland. . Armed with their trusty campervan and a sturdy friendship, these two Scotsmen are on the adventure of a lifetime to explore the majesty of Scotland. A wild ride by boat, kayak, bicycle and motorbike, they travel from coast to loch and peak to valley and delve into Scotland's history and culture, from timeless poetry to bloody warfare.

 Definitely a fun book to listen to, although the banter between Sam and Graham did wear thin after a while. I definitely enjoyed hearing about this history of the various places they visited, and their love of Scotland shines through so strongly. 

I also enjoyed their Outlander anecdotes. I only watched the first three seasons, but I am planning to rewatch them again this summer. And I also enjoyed hearing about their non-Outlander acting careers--always interesting to hear about life in the theater and on the set.

The Redemption of Alexander Seaton - by Shona (aka S.G.) MacLean - the first in a series by the author of The Bookseller of Inverness, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

Here's the Goodread blurb:

Is the young man merely drunk or does his tottering walk suggest something more sinister? When he collapses in front of two sisters on that dark, wet night, they guess rightly that he's been murdered by poisoning. So begins this tale set in the town of Banff, Scotland in the 1620s.

Alexander Seaton is not the young man mentioned in the blurb, but he is the one that said young man reaches out to, imploring his help, and Alexander, to his great shame, ignores the plea for help.  That is just part of what he needs to redeem. Alexander has made some mistakes and had some bad luck, and is now a very educated man who cannot do the work he has felt called to do all his life, namely be a Presbyterian minister. 

I truly enjoyed traveling back to 1620s Scotland, during a witch-hunting phase, when invasion from France was highly likely, given the religious and political turmoil. Who knew that map-making could have such ominous overtones? The who-dunit part of the story was excellent--and the unfolding of the mystery was detailed and super interesting. 

It is a very detail-rich, historically satisfying novel. You can tell the author is writing of her homeland--she knows the landscape, the flora and fauna, the fog patterns (it is Scotland, after all!), and all the landmarks, natural and manmade. I also loved visiting the university in Aberdeen, Alexander's alma mater, with him, and hearing about his haunts and habits as a student.

Alexander is a very likeable protagonist--flawed but earnest, with a solid gold heart, and brains to boot. I am looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

In searching for books about and set in Scotland, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark, was on virtually every list I encountered and since I had not yet read it, I did.

Set in Edinburgh in the 1930s and published in 1962, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie surprised me in how much I disliked it while I was reading it but came to like it later, while I was trying to figure out what to say about it. 

Synopsis: Jean Brodie is a forty-something attractive, single teacher at a girls school in Edinburgh. She teaches the middle grade girls--the 11–13-year-olds. She is unconventional in that she doesn't drill her class on the fundamentals but rather wants to instill in them an appreciation and understanding of what she considers high culture and art--classical music, poetry, classical literature, Renaissance art. She selects a set of girls from her class to become her favorites, "her set," and she takes them to concerts and other outings, including tea in her flat. 

The school administration disapproves of Miss Brodie's approach to teaching and the fact that she has a set of girls who are loyal to her even as they age out of her classes and move to the senior school. The head mistress tries for years to figure out how to get Miss Brodie to "retire early" and tries to get girls from her set to "betray" her by sharing secrets about her sex life. All the girls know that she is in love with a married man, the art teacher, but having an affair with a single man, the music teacher. The girls never bow to the headmistress's pressure to spill what they know. However, one girl does tell the headmistress that Miss Brodie admires the fascists who are gaining power in Italy and Germany, and that is all the headmistress needs to finally boot Miss Brodie from the school.

 I started this book assuming that I would like Jean Brodie and feel awful for the way she was treated. This was not the case. I disliked Miss Brodie intensely--she is arrogant, self-satisfied, selfish, vain, and manipulative. As a teacher, she cared not about actually helping her students but in having them do well in order to make her shine all the brighter. Her love for Mussolini and Hitler and her admiration for their Black Shirts and Brown Shirts was repulsive. She talks about being in her prime--that is, she is at the peak of her beauty, knowledge, intellectual prowess and she is gracing her students with her gifts while she is in her prime.

The writing was interesting in that the narrator never gets us inside Miss Brodie's head, but rather we see what she does and says, often second hand, not what she thinks.

The narrator pegs or labels each of the girls based on Miss Brodie's assessment, and they are stuck with those labels: Eunice was athletic, Jenny was theatrical, Mary was stupid, Monica was known for sex, Rose was beautiful, and Sandy had "little piggy eyes" and fantasized a lot, living out stories in her head.  And the narrator repeated these descriptions often, reminding me of the "wine-dark sea" of the Iliad and the Odyssey. These girls were reduced to the labels Miss Brodie attached to them, and in the novel they never have a life apart from the label, except for Sandy who becomes the "one who betrayed her."

When I finished the book, I gave it three stars. After thinking about it for a while, I've upped my rating to four stars. The book is not really about Miss Jean Brodie and the Scottish or Edinburgh school system. It is an allegory for how charismatic leaders can create loyal followers who will blindly support them even when they are shown to be less than perfect. 

Written thirty years after the rise of fascism in Europe and almost twenty years after WWII ended, it seems to be an attempt to demonstrate how easily a fascist leader like Mussolini or Hitler could convince seemingly reasonable and rational people to do heinous things.

It is a sobering tale, relevant now in the US like never before. Not a fun book to read, but a powerful message. Maybe it is a five-star book after all.

I've never seen the movie, starring Maggie Smith. I wonder how true to the book it is.

Beating the January Blahs

Getting through January always requires a stack of good books. Here are some winners that have been doing the trick for me.

The Wedding People

The Wedding People, by Alison Espach, was as good as all the hype around it. I saw it on so many blogs last year and was super excited when my turn in the library queue finally came. I went into the book not even knowing the premise, and I was a bit shocked when I found out what Phoebe's intentions were. For those of you living under a rock (as I was!), here's the GoodReads blurb:

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

 In very short order, I found myself rooting for Phoebe as she found herself first clinging to life and then embracing it. I loved how we learned about all the various wedding people through their conversations with Phoebe. In a way, she reminded me of Austen's Anne Eliot in Persuasion--the person everyonr feels comfortable in confiding in. And, I ended up liking all of the wedding people--including the poor Bridezilla and the horrible ex-husband--just proving my maxim that everybody has a story worth hearing. That said, I loved where Phoebe ended up and I hope that Espach follows up the success of this novel with a sequel. 

The Bookseller of Inverness

As part of my Reading Scotland project in anticipation of a planned trip there in September, I devoured The Bookseller of Inverness, by S.G. Maclean. I gave it a solid 5 stars on GoodReads for being a whopping good historical novel, thoroughly researched and chockful of interesting, believable characters, hair-raising adventures, and detailed descriptions of many places I plan to visit this fall. Again, here is the GoodReads blurb:

After Culloden, Iain MacGillivray was left for dead on Drumossie Moor [1745]. Wounded, his face brutally slashed, he survived only by pretending to be dead as the Redcoats patrolled the corpses of his Jacobite comrades.

Six years later, with the clan chiefs routed and the Highlands subsumed into the British state, Iain lives a quiet life, working as a bookseller in Inverness. One day, after helping several of his regular customers, he notices a stranger lurking in the upper gallery of his shop, poring over his collection. But the man refuses to say what he's searching for and only leaves when Iain closes for the night. The next morning Iain opens up shop and finds the stranger dead, his throat cut, and the murder weapon laid out in front of him - a sword with a white cockade on its hilt, the emblem of the Jacobites.

With no sign of the killer, Iain wonders whether the stranger discovered what he was looking for - and whether he paid for it with his life. He soon finds himself embroiled in a web of deceit and a series of old scores to be settled in the ashes of war.

 The notes at the end by the author provided me with a list of excellent books on the Jacobites. I know I don't have time to read them all, but such wonderful choices to have.

The author has dozens of books listed on GR, some appeal more than others, but the Alexander Seaton series, set in Scotland in the 1620s, looks promising. Has anyone read anything by this author that they can recommend?

Nightshade 

Nightshade (Catalina#1), by Michael Connelly, is the first in a new series, this time featuring a sheriff stationed on the island of Santa Catalina, off the coast of California and opposite LA. This is vintage Connelly--good characters, good mystery, good love-to-hate villains, good action, good side threads...but this time, fantastic setting. I spent half my time reading this book looking for places to stay on Catalina. I would seriously love to go there for a vacation. I think Connelly must have a connection to the island because I remember Mickey Haller (the Lincoln Lawyer) going there with one of his girlfriends after he and his wife divorced. 

Oh...you probably want to know what this one is about. Here's the GR blurb:

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell has been “exiled” to a low-key post policing rustic Catalina Island, after department politics drove him off a homicide desk on the mainland. But while following up the usual drunk-and-disorderlies and petty thefts that come with his new territory, Detective Stilwell gets a report of a body found weighed down at the bottom of the harbor—a Jane Doe identifiable at first only by a streak of purple dye in her hair. At the same time, a report of poaching on a protected reserve turns into a case fraught with violence and danger as Stilwell digs into the shady past of an island bigwig.

Crossing all lines of protocol and jurisdiction, Stilwell doggedly works both cases. Though hampered by an old beef with an ex-colleague determined to thwart him at every turn, he is convinced he is the only one who can bring justice to the woman known as “Nightshade.” Soon, his investigation uncovers closely guarded secrets and a dark heart to the serene island that was meant to be his escape from the evils of the big city.

Surviving the Winter

This winter has been mostly mild and dry and windy in Colorado, with just a bit of snow and a few frigid days. We need more or we'll be facing drought conditions this coming summer. 

Go Broncos! I just started watching football two seasons ago, but cheering on the Denver Broncos in the face of all the nay-sayers has been fun. I even bought myself a game-day tee-shirt! Those of you who have visited the Denver airport might recognize, Blucifer, the giant, blue, demon horse that most of us love and that epitomizes the Broncos for me!

Finally watching season five of Only Murders in the Building--we pulled our Hulu subscription after the Jimmy Kimmel kerfuffle but decided Disney had suffered enough and reinstated Hulu to watch Mabel, Charles, and Oliver solve the latest murder in the building. I am absolutely loving Selena Gomez's wardrobe this season. 

Listening to Austen's Mansfield Park in preparation for our region's February discussion of the novel. BTW, I found a free audio version on Audiobooks, courtesy of LibriVox. The reader, Karen Savage, is doing a fine job, although I don't care for her Mary Crawford voice. I plan to scan an annotated version before the meeting in order to find some interesting tidbits to share.

Went to the Denver Art Museum Pissarro exhibit and decided I want to live in most of the places he painted. Here are a couple of favorites:

Best wishes for a successful survival of January. Tell me how you beat the mid-winter blahs.