Taking risks!
Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen
Isabella Waverley takes a chance and like her 'not so dear' old papa used to say 'Carpe Diem'. Under false pretenses she and enters service as Helen Barton an apprentice cook for Queen Victoria. Of course nothing is smooth. Given the times, there are challenges for a woman in a man's world. Identity theft results in blackmail. What amounts to sexual harassment by a member of the upper class, and the divide of class distinctions.
A peeve for me was how Isabella kept (in her head) harping back to being educated and from an upper class background. It seemed to me she was repeating somewhat her father's mantra, albeit in a different way. That feeling of deserving more may have given her the courage to take risks. Her checkered upbringing, and having to make do to survive, meant she did have the ability to move seamlessly between the various groups of people she encountered.
What I did like about the story was the glimpse into palace life, the menu preparation and cooking skills involved. The presentation of Queen Victoria at home and her various starts that has her going from being a complete dictatorial autocrat, to childlike in her enjoyments, and singular in her demands, her fixations, and her moments of being just a woman. However which one people would meet was never assured.
I couldn't help but be drawn back to the PBS series Victoria and the happenings below stairs in the palace, and comparing that view to this novel.
The journey to Nice and the Riviera, the Hotel Regina Excelsior, the kitchen staffs and chefs of both the hotel and palace having to work alongside each other, and of course the dishy French Chef for the hotel, Jean-Paul Lepin. Isabella's forays into the Nice food market were well painted. I could imagine being there.
When a royal death happens and Isabella is being blamed she does some rather clever thinking and fancy footwork to have herself taken out of the firing line.
Disappointingly, I felt the end resolution of Isabella's future direction was reached far too hurriedly in terms of the storyline.
Despite all the interesting combinations of events, I didn't quite connect with the Isabella /Helen character. I have read other Bowen stories that I found more engaging.
Still, an entertaining cosy historical mystery with a somewhat different backdrop, if this is your cup of tea.
A Lake Union Publishing ARC via NetGalley
***
A peeve for me was how Isabella kept (in her head) harping back to being educated and from an upper class background. It seemed to me she was repeating somewhat her father's mantra, albeit in a different way. That feeling of deserving more may have given her the courage to take risks. Her checkered upbringing, and having to make do to survive, meant she did have the ability to move seamlessly between the various groups of people she encountered.
What I did like about the story was the glimpse into palace life, the menu preparation and cooking skills involved. The presentation of Queen Victoria at home and her various starts that has her going from being a complete dictatorial autocrat, to childlike in her enjoyments, and singular in her demands, her fixations, and her moments of being just a woman. However which one people would meet was never assured.
I couldn't help but be drawn back to the PBS series Victoria and the happenings below stairs in the palace, and comparing that view to this novel.
The journey to Nice and the Riviera, the Hotel Regina Excelsior, the kitchen staffs and chefs of both the hotel and palace having to work alongside each other, and of course the dishy French Chef for the hotel, Jean-Paul Lepin. Isabella's forays into the Nice food market were well painted. I could imagine being there.
When a royal death happens and Isabella is being blamed she does some rather clever thinking and fancy footwork to have herself taken out of the firing line.
Disappointingly, I felt the end resolution of Isabella's future direction was reached far too hurriedly in terms of the storyline.
Despite all the interesting combinations of events, I didn't quite connect with the Isabella /Helen character. I have read other Bowen stories that I found more engaging.
Still, an entertaining cosy historical mystery with a somewhat different backdrop, if this is your cup of tea.
A Lake Union Publishing ARC via NetGalley
***
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