Happy Chicken Soup for the Soul Day! I am sure all of us can remember that book series. I think there was a Chicken Soup book for every person. According to Chicken Soup for the Soul it is a day to celebrate who you are, where you have been, where you are going, and who you will be thankful to when you get there. Enjoy the day with some wonderful chicken soup (it is hard to find really good chicken noodle soup)!
I just finished the novel A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley.
Sara Thomas is between jobs (she just quit another one). She is a computer programmer who prefers to
work alone (and programmers rarely work alone).
Sara has Asperger’s syndrome which she has learned to handle over the
years. Her cousin, Jacqui (who is very
protective of Sara) has a great job opportunity for Sara where she will able to
work by herself. Alistair Scott is an
historical writer who needs the diary of Mary Dundas translated. It is written in a cipher. Alistair needs someone to figure out the
cipher and then translate the diary. Sara
is good with puzzles and ciphers (she was also able to pass Alistair’s test). Sara agrees to take the job (she is looking
forward to the challenge). Sara will be
staying in France with the owner of the diary while she works on it.
Mary Dundas is a Scotswoman (who
comes from a family of Jacobite’s) who has been raised in France with
relatives. Her older brother, Nicolas
has finally requested that she come live with him. It turns out that Nicolas actually wants Mary
to help hide a Jacobite on the run. Mary
will pose as his sister to help keep him in hiding (and from getting captured).
Mary is in for the journey of a
lifetime.
A Desperate Fortune goes back and
forth between Sara and Mary. We get to
see how Sara works to solve the cipher, translate the diary, and enjoys life in
France. Mary is in for a journey she
never thought she would experience, but she also worries what will happen to her
at the end of this adventure. I enjoyed
reading A Desperate Fortune. It is a
well written novel. I enjoyed the setting
of France, the characters, the interesting information on ciphers (I also enjoy
puzzles) and the Jacobite’s. There is
some romance (it seems to be prevalent in all books), but, thankfully, it is
not the dominant part of the story. The
story does get a little tedious (slow going) at times from the history in the
novel (it can be hard to keep it all straight and I love history). We also get information on Asperger’s
syndrome, how it affects an individual, and the mechanisms they can use to cope. I give A Desperate Fortune 4 out of 5 stars
(which means I liked it). I will be
reading more works from Susanna Kearsley. If you enjoy Outlander (which deals with the Jacobites), you will enjoy A Desperate Fortune.
A Desperate Fortune is in the Goodreads Semi-final rounds of the Best Books of the Year (which was why I was given a copy). I received a complimentary copy
of A Desperate Fortune from NetGalley (and the publisher) in exchange for an honest review.
I am currently reading A Pain in the Tuchis by Mark Reutlinger. It is supposed to be a humorous cozy mystery (so far not very humorous). I am off to do some cleaning (it is never ending when you have pets). Have a great day and Happy Reading!
Kris
The Avid Reader
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