A review by melindamoor
Sidney Chambers and the Persistence of Love by James Runcie
4.0
"Life has limits, but love has no bounds. / Dem Leben sind Grenzen gesetzt, die Liebe ist grenzenlos."
I received the arc from the Publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Recommended: to those who like their cozy mysteries with substance that matters. :)
Although I heard about the "Grantchester Myteries" before and I know that there is also a related TV series, which I mean to check out soon, I haven't read any of the previous books.
I expected the "usual" cozy mystery with a busybody, self-designated sleuth who gets in the way of police investigation more often than not. However, this book was anything, BUT usual.
It is not a single story to begin with, but rather a collection of 6 novellas loosley chained, covering a period of five years from 1971 to 1976.
The novellas are as different from one another as this book is from others in the genre. Not all of them are crime oriented. There is an appealing and gentle humour throughout them, but some are funny and intriguing while others are deeply sad and touching. I would consider some of them as strictly crime novellas, as they are much too grim and realistic (without being violent), with nothing cozy about them at all. Having said this, I don't mean to imply that they are not interesting to read, because they are, but they do make you think about all the unfairness there is in the world.
James Runcie's writing has a clear and engaging tone and he makes his characters come to life. They are all credible, flesh and blood people with virtues and flaws, likeable or irritating, adding their colour to the wide palette.
The themes / ideas JR raises in the novellas via his characters also make you deliberate on what I would call the facts of life (love, hate, life, death, gain and loss). The philosophy behind is nothing complicated, but it is all about what makes us human & it is expressed concisely and makes you stop and think and make you own stand/draw your own conclusions.
The list of novellas in in the book:
1. The Bluebell Woods: during a walk in the woods Sidney and her daughter discover a dead body with a basket of poisonous plants next to it. Sidney and Inspector Geordie Keating investigate.
2. Authenticity: Sidney ponders the question if man can ever get to the roots of his true self & celebrates his 10th wedding anniversary. A new, overzealous, assistant is assigned to the chapter to sort out ecclesiastical finance and find a culprit who has been embezzling donation money. She also has the not-so-hidden agenda of becoming one of the first woman priests. - The Vicar of Dibley comes to mind, which is a welcome connotation, though the character of Vanessa Morgan is very different from Geraldine Granger. :)
3. Insufficient Evidence: a case of rape where the victim is Sidney's friend. We are in the 1970s, the case is handled by policemen, male barristers/judges/jury entertaining the disgusting, but overwhelming conviction that the "victim is to blame". :(
4. Ex Libris: The priceless Gospel Book of St. Augustine gets stolen from Sidney's former College, Corpus Christi in Cambridge. It happens to be the same religious text upon which the new Archbishop of Canterbury should take his oaths of office...
5. The Long Hot Summer: Sidney's nephew, a 16-year-old with radical ideas goes missing.
6. The Persistence of Love: Sidney's faith is put to the test in the heaviest crisis of his life & it is for the first time he truly realises the difficulty of practicing what we preach.
Now I am going the other way round, but I will definitely read the previous books in the series.
I received the arc from the Publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Recommended: to those who like their cozy mysteries with substance that matters. :)
Although I heard about the "Grantchester Myteries" before and I know that there is also a related TV series, which I mean to check out soon, I haven't read any of the previous books.
I expected the "usual" cozy mystery with a busybody, self-designated sleuth who gets in the way of police investigation more often than not. However, this book was anything, BUT usual.
It is not a single story to begin with, but rather a collection of 6 novellas loosley chained, covering a period of five years from 1971 to 1976.
The novellas are as different from one another as this book is from others in the genre. Not all of them are crime oriented. There is an appealing and gentle humour throughout them, but some are funny and intriguing while others are deeply sad and touching. I would consider some of them as strictly crime novellas, as they are much too grim and realistic (without being violent), with nothing cozy about them at all. Having said this, I don't mean to imply that they are not interesting to read, because they are, but they do make you think about all the unfairness there is in the world.
James Runcie's writing has a clear and engaging tone and he makes his characters come to life. They are all credible, flesh and blood people with virtues and flaws, likeable or irritating, adding their colour to the wide palette.
The themes / ideas JR raises in the novellas via his characters also make you deliberate on what I would call the facts of life (love, hate, life, death, gain and loss). The philosophy behind is nothing complicated, but it is all about what makes us human & it is expressed concisely and makes you stop and think and make you own stand/draw your own conclusions.
The list of novellas in in the book:
1. The Bluebell Woods: during a walk in the woods Sidney and her daughter discover a dead body with a basket of poisonous plants next to it. Sidney and Inspector Geordie Keating investigate.
2. Authenticity: Sidney ponders the question if man can ever get to the roots of his true self & celebrates his 10th wedding anniversary. A new, overzealous, assistant is assigned to the chapter to sort out ecclesiastical finance and find a culprit who has been embezzling donation money. She also has the not-so-hidden agenda of becoming one of the first woman priests. - The Vicar of Dibley comes to mind, which is a welcome connotation, though the character of Vanessa Morgan is very different from Geraldine Granger. :)
3. Insufficient Evidence: a case of rape where the victim is Sidney's friend. We are in the 1970s, the case is handled by policemen, male barristers/judges/jury entertaining the disgusting, but overwhelming conviction that the "victim is to blame". :(
4. Ex Libris: The priceless Gospel Book of St. Augustine gets stolen from Sidney's former College, Corpus Christi in Cambridge. It happens to be the same religious text upon which the new Archbishop of Canterbury should take his oaths of office...
5. The Long Hot Summer: Sidney's nephew, a 16-year-old with radical ideas goes missing.
6. The Persistence of Love: Sidney's faith is put to the test in the heaviest crisis of his life & it is for the first time he truly realises the difficulty of practicing what we preach.
Now I am going the other way round, but I will definitely read the previous books in the series.