Review: Clara and Mr. Tiffany

This novel is a fictionalization of the life of Clara Driscoll, the head of the women's division at Tiffany Studios. The novel looks at a broad swath of Clara's life, from the point at which she develops the design for the iconic Tiffany lamp, through her career with the company. Much of the book is about Clara's relationship to her artwork. Glass is her life, many will tell her to a fault. So much work means little time for relationships, and Clara always seems to put work ahead of love. Tiffany Studios had a policy excluding married women, and after a brief and devastating marriage Clara finds it hard to trust another relationship. Gender issues also shape Clara's work life, as the men's department at Tiffany is constantly trying to exert its superiority over the women, and desperately wants to see the women's division closed.

There were definitely things I enjoyed about this book. I loved reading about how Tiffany glass is made, and I had no idea that women were so involved in its production. It was also interesting to get a glimpse of New York City at the turn of the century.

That said, there were also problems. I began to tire of Clara's constant discussion of the meaning of art in her life. It becomes tiresomely repetitive. I also found the book's format distracting. The book is divided into a number of sections that jump across the decades, each section consisting of only a few chapters. I felt like I was always reorienting myself to a different point in Clara's life.

Susan Vreeland, Clara and Mr. Tiffany (Random House, 2011) ISBN: 1400068169 

Review: Death at Bishop's Keep

This book introduces Kathryn Ardleigh, a nineteenth-century New Yorker who writes mysteries under a pseudonym. Just as she is looking for her next commission, Ardleigh finds herself summoned to England by a previously unknown aunt to serve as secretary for a mystical society, the Order of the Golden Dawn. When Kate arrives at her aunt's estate, Bishop's Keep, she finds a second aunt who spends her days terrorizing the servants. She also discovers ample material for her next murder mystery. An unidentified dead body suggest possible connections to the Order of the Golden Dawn. Throughout the story Kate must balance her interest in crime with all of the Victorian proscriptions on ladies engaging in unsavory activities. This book was certainly an entertaining read. This is the book that has to send Ardleigh to England to perpetuate the series. I found Kate to be more charming than usual in this book. Her friend Charles Sheridan, on the other hand, was more simpering and pathetic than usual. I did manage to figure out who the murderer was, but there were enough twists and turns to make me doubt myself. All in all, a satisfying and entertaining mystery. 

Robin Paige, Death at Bishop's Keep (Berkley, 1998) ISBN:  0425164357

Reading Challenge: Victorian Challenge

I've completed several Victorian reading challenges in the past, and am going to sign up for this one in 2012.  When I do Victorian reading challenge I usually read books actually written during the period.  I suspect I'll read some Dickens and some Sherlock Holmes, and probably a few female authors too.  I'm hoping to get through approximately 5-6 books, but the minimum requirement is only two, and I think I can definitely manage that.

Interested in signing up?  Click on the image!