On
opening Catherine Czerkawska's historical novel, The Physic
Garden, I know immediately that I will have to plan ahead and
read it chapter by chapter because it is so beautifully written, with
each chapter encapsulating a thought, a question, a time. You want to
stop and think, relish what you've just read – also, life has to
revolve around work and shopping and cooking/consuming meals...there
will be no housework done until I have finished this book.
Half-way
through and I am still captivated by the interesting detail, the
characters and the hook – I want to know; what happened? I'm a city
girl and really interested in how the writer has stuffed every crack
in the floors with knowledge...things I want to know but have been
too lazy to find out for myself, so far. When I'm reading I'm
immediately immersed in these characters' lives, and it's so annoying
when real life interferes and I have to stop.
Oooh,
there's a fabulously disgusting passage 85% of the way through,
describing some of the poorest places in Glasgow:
'...I
found myself peering into rooms that never saw the light of day,
stinking bug-ridden rooms and passages...in a drab and deadly
succession, all leprous with damp, I thought that I had found myself
in some hellish labyrinth, an underground warren where only
troglodytes might live.'
...and,
several hours later, I have finished reading a wonderful tale. I
don't need to tell you what it's about – you can read that on the
book blurb. This is not a genre story; anyone, with particular likes
and dislikes would love it. It is set in the historical past but is
fiction, and such an imagination has conjured up a place and a time
that will leave you spellbound.
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