ONE-HIT WONDER by LISA JEWELL

 ONE-HIT WONDER

BY LISA JEWELL

THE BLURB:-

Bee Bearhorn had a number-one-hit single in 1985- and was never heard of again. Fifteen years later she is found dead- and nobody seems to care.

Ana Wills has always dreamed about the exotic half-sister she hasn't seen for years. When she comes to London to clear her flat, Ana begins to unravel Bee's life: her missing cat, her secret country cottage and her mysterious weekends away.

So, instead of going back to Devon, Ana tracks down Bee's closest friends, mad Lol and strong, silent Flint, and together they set out to discover exactly what happened to Bee Bearhorn, the one-hit-wonder...

THE REALITY:-

A very pleasant, speedy read, I have to say! I felt I was right in there with the moment, as I remember the music scene of 1985/86 that Bee inhabits, and also the London and UK social culture of 2000, which Ana inhabits. This book was very easy to relate to and had some wonderful, well-rounded, oh-so-real characters, whose flaws came alive on the page like a punch in the face.

I love the way the author uses fashion to define characters; obvious with the likes of Bee and Lol (her nickname suits her- I adored this character, and found her laugh-out-loud funny!) but also subtly nuanced with Ana, the pretty girl with the perfect catwalk model's figure who thinks she's unattractive. Ana was, in fact, very easy to relate to, and I like that this is a novel that examines dysfunctional mother/ daughter relationships (something I can certainly relate to). It makes for a much more refreshing read than a novel where everything in that department is all sweetness and light and tickety-boo. This novel certainly had equal measures of light (in the form of humour) and dark, although it tended to veer towards the latter.

I did work out very early on that (spoiler alert!) Bee was the person responsible for Zander's paralysis, although I thought the author would have her injure him whilst on her motorbike in an inebriated state, which wasn't the case. I really, really feel for poor Bee, and I'm happy that this self-destructive woman was explained so carefully, and that she ended up with a good post-life celebration and a modicum of understanding from all who knew her. It's a happy ending kind of book (I suppose), but also sad as it's such a shame that Bee never found peace of mind. But then, was she meant to? This book certainly questions whether people's lives are preordained from birth.

I did like some of the add-on characters, such as Amy and even John, the cat, who acted as a kind of symbolism for loss in Bee's sad, unfulfilled life. Gregor worked as a real catalyst in the story and Hugh (I privately nicknamed him Gruesome Hughsome!) is someone I can personally relate to- I think we've all known men who think they're gorgeous and too good for you, when in reality they are not, and are pig ugly.

My favourite bit did have to be where Ana- who desperately needed to find herself- tried on some of Bee's fantastic wardrobe, as Bee sounds like she wore the same kind of quirky fashion that I do, and Ana- well, let's just say I hope this lovely character goes on to become a singer and model. An interesting study of relationships of the sisterly variety (and the family we create for ourselves- that of our friendships), I'd certainly recommend this book.

ROYAL BRIDES 1840-1981: A MAJESTY SPECIAL

 ROYAL BRIDES

1840-1981: A MAJESTY SPECIAL

THE BLURB

There was none.

THE REALITY

I first owned this book as a ten-year-old.  Fascinated by all things royal wedding in 1981 when Lady Diana Spencer married Prince Charles, my mum bought it for me as a present that year.

Featuring beautifully executed and elegant sketches of the wedding dresses of Queen Victoria, Princess Alexandra (later Queen Alexandra), Princess May (later Queen Mary), Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother), Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth) and Lady Diana Spencer (later the Princess of Wales and really, does she even need an introduction?) this is a joy not just for royalists, but also for fashionistas.  I've seen every single one of these dresses in exhibitions at Kensington Palace, and they don't disappoint in the flesh.

This dreamy crinoline really grabbed my attention as a little girl- it's Princess Alexandra, who married in 1863.

She had this dress altered so that she could wear it again, and here's my photo taken in Bath's Fashion Museum, where it was on temporary display in 2019.

As a kid I copied the drawings of all the dresses, starting with Lady Diana.

Here's the real thing, in Kensington Palace's exhibition in 2021.

One thing I will say is that this book- at just 14 pages long- only included the royal brides who went on to become Queen (yes, I know that doesn't apply to Diana) and it would have been nice to see sketches of the dresses of Princess Margaret and Princess Anne; amongst others.

And my favourite royal wedding dress?  It was Fergie's, which post-dated this book as her wedding happened in 1986.  I've blogged about my favourite royal wedding dresses before, and the link is here:-

http://elainerockett.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-best-royal-wedding-dresses-and.html

Editorially, this book is lacking.  I picked up on a typo straight away, a missing word further in and some very bad English.  It also looks like the person offering the descriptions seems to have sight problems.  The Queen Mother's dress did not have long sleeves.  And Princess Diana's dress did not feature a "gently curved neckline-" it was v-shaped.  More care could have been taken over this aspect of the book.  Also, dresses have backs as well as fronts, so that view (even if just a thumbnail sketch) would have been great.

A few years later I mentioned that I hadn't seen my Royal Brides book for a while and my mum kindly informed me she'd given it to a jumble sale some time previously.  I went ballistic!  Yes, by this time I might have been a fourteen-year-old punk, busy designing dresses made of rubber and mesh, but this was MY book and she had no right to do that- as I VERY clearly expressed to her.

So, forty years on, it was a delight to find my cherished book once again!

💗

THE MUSEUM OF BROKEN PROMISES by ELIZABETH BUCHAN

THE MUSEUM OF BROKEN PROMISES

BY

ELIZABETH BUCHAN

THE BLURB:-

Welcome to the Museum of Broken Promises, a place of wonder, sadness and... hope.

Inside lies a treasure trove of objects- a baby's shoe, a wedding veil, a railway ticket- all revealing moments of loss and betrayal. It's a place where people come to speak to ghosts of the past. The owner, Laure, is one of those people.

As a young woman in the 1980s Laure fled to Prague, where her life changed forever. Now, years later, she must confront the origins of her heart-breaking exhibition: a love affair with a dissident musician, a secret life behind the Iron Curtain, and a broken promise that she will never forget.

THE REALITY:-

It took me months, rather than weeks to get into this book. It was partially to do with what I had going on in my life- I tried to pick this up when I was living in a hotel room, due to severe damage having happened to my flat. It was such a stressful time as every single day I had something significant to deal with; so much so that I didn't seem able to concentrate at the end of a day, so could indulge in a bit of television but nothing too taxing. Then, when I returned home I had the big clean up to do. Then, other stresses happened, and I devoted my time to writing (with some success- I'm now five short stories down, and a previous one's been published!)

But... I couldn't get into this book until I was 150 pages in, which is too long. I didn't think the present day part of the novel characterisation was that strong, and didn't like the way the book jumped from past to present (although these were clearly labelled). I nearly put it down and discarded it. Which would have been a shame. As this book got very interesting as we moved on, and even brought me to tears at the end.

This was a great study of what life was like under the communist regime that governed Eastern Europe until the late 1980s. You pick up the inequality and the lies (although really, don't they exist with all governments? It's just with this particular set-up they seem glaringly obvious) and the Big-Brother-Is-Watching-You nature of life, what with goons following people and reporting on them. This should serve as a warning to those who oppose free speech (which I don't) as I've seen inklings of this existing in the UK. I like how the author has dug deeper into peoples hearts and put the characters into context. For instance, there's an older lady who doesn't oppose the hard left regime. Why? Because she remembers the hard right Nazi regime and has no wish to go back to those horrors.

This was certainly a book which made you think, and address how circumstances and surrounding people, and the subtle manipulation by others can cause you to behave in a way you though you never would. Here, we have the central figure Laure who (spoiler alert!) momentarily believes the untruths she's fed, and doesn't trust in her love, the guilt eating her up for most of her life. Which is why this book is soooo sad.

Kočka the cat- there are male and female versions in the different time frames acts as sweet symbolism for love and unhappiness, and the book made me want to visit the Museum of Communism in Prague! I also found the puppets and their messages heartfelt, and the way they served as symbolism for the fact that we are all puppets at some time or another, in one way or another. We just have to be aware of who's pulling the strings, and discard them if necessary.

But, most hauntingly of all are the final lines in the book, which represent a life ruined; a life without her true love, who she betrayed:-

Clack, I loved him.

Clack, he loved me.

I will keep this in my bookcase for a while (and will overlook the proofreading errors- I picked up on three; words added/ words missed out/ a good old-fashioned cock-up.)  

The Museum of Broken Promises. And broken hearts.