Book Review: Searching for Pemberley
Searching for Pemberley
Mary Lydon Simonsen.
Sourcebooks, $14.99 paper (496p)
ISBN 978-1-4022-2439-3
Using a literary mystery rooted in Jane Austen’s inspiration for Pride and Prejudice, Simonsen’s debut novel brings resonance to the story of a love-torn American girl in post-WWII London. Young and eager for adventure, Maggie Joyce has left her jobless Pennsylvania coal-mining town for a typist position overseas. In London, she discovers two love interests as well as connections to the real-life Londoners rumored to have been the basis for Pride’s Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Learning to disregard her prim and proper instincts, Maggie becomes closer to her very own version of Darcy, as well as the families of the original Darcy and Bennet, from whom she receives old diary entries and letters. Simonsen is clever and evenhanded, maintaining an unhurried pace in both the Austen adventure and Maggie’s love life. Fans of historical fiction and Austen should savor this leisurely read.
Original post: Publishers Weekly Fiction Book Reviews: 10/26/2009
Tarantino “Spaghetti Western” Inglourious Basterds set for release
Quentin Taratino’s new film, Inglourious Basterds, tells the story of "Nazi hunters" during World War II, who are set on avenging the atrocities committed by the Nazis. Scheduled for release on August 21, 2009, Brad Pitt stars as the leader of one of these gangs of Jewish refugees and survivors as they go about their gruesome business. The film was inspired by, but is not a remake of, a 1978 Italian film entitled Inglorious Bastards.The film is intended to be a comedy (despite the subject matter), and director Quentin Tarantino characterizes it as his version of a spaghetti western set in Nazi occupied France. Even more intriguing is the fact that there really was a Jewish Brigade, as told in the books, The Epic Brigade by Howard Blum, and The Jewish Brigade by Morris Beckman. Robbie Collins gives a brief synopsis at his website of the true story of the Nazi hunters behind Tarantino’s thriller.
