Book: White Truffles in Winter (a novel) by N. M. Kelby

This fictionalized biography of the great French chef, Auguste Escoffier– White Truffles in Winter  – is delicious, scandalous, lascivious, luscious…

The writing is lush. The author, N. M. Kelby,  paints the portrait of a man obsessed with luscious food and delicious women.  But not just any food–Escoffier prefers dishes prepared with special ingredients. And not just any women.  He marries and has children with a poet–Delphine Daffis, but they live apart for decades during which he carries on a love affair with actress Sarah Bernhardt. He sees her when she is not busy bedding various heads of state and other prominent citizens.  At the end, Auguste and Delphine come back together in Monte Carlo and that is where the book starts, as it tells the story of his life in flashbacks and contemplates his life. Underneath the romance and the food, White Truffles in Winter  explores living well,  aging, memory, and how to adequately show love.

Modern Monte Carlo

Auguste Escoffier himself narrates most of the novel and after hearing him enthuse about the poetry and sacredness of food, we begin to believe wholeheartedly in the power and the glory of a properly prepared meal. Today we credit Escoffier with inventing modern restaurant kitchen methods (dividing the work among specialized stations) and serving styles (as menus à la carte).

He wooed women with his cooking, he wrote cookbooks, and when he needed some luxurious extras, he ordered them on the hotel account and cooked the books. The details of this novel, set in Paris, London and Monte Carlo are not literally correct, but it reflects the basic outline of Escoffier’s life. As the author says, “The elegant savage found in these pages is who we all are when we address the plate.  The magician, the priest, the dreamer, the artist–it is our most hungry self.”

The “King of chefs and chef to kings”  moved from a Paris restaurant to the  Savoy in London and with his friend César Ritz, started the Carlton in London and Ritz Hotel in Paris, thus beginning the Ritz-Carlton tradition. Escoffier also headed the kitchen preparations for the Titanic and drew up the menus, but fortunately for him, let his crew sail without him.

Hotel Ritz, Paris, today

The delight of this novel lies in the dialogue and actions that are consistently believable no matter how remote the life of Mme. and M. Escoffier may be from our own reality.  Occasionally he touches down to earth–with memories of the horrible days of starvation during World War I, which the author intimates were the basis for his obsessions with food.  And with the recipe for Fried Chicken.  Don’t get me wrong, White Truffles is not a cookbook.  However Kelby describes many of Escoffier’s creations in such detail that you could recreate them in your kitchen (if only you had a few truffles on hand).

Auguste explains that fried chicken blends Scottish and African traditions. He learned to make it from Rufus Estes, a famous American black chef of the day who worked for Sarah Bernhardt .  Sarah calls Auguste’s  version, “Magic.” How different in spirit is his version from Paula Deen (who has her own problems these days.)( NOTE: I belatedly discovered that Kelby herself has something to say on the subject of Deen at her blog” At Escoffier’s Table)

Back to the fried chicken, Escoffier says:

Cut some boiled fowl into slices and marinate them in very good olive oil, the juice of a lemon and a handful of herbs fresh from the garden.  I enjoy tarragon, for a hint of licorice; lemon thyme, to bring forward the citrus note; and the slightest bit of lavender.  The fowl should marinate for at least three hours.  Flour. Fry. Garnish with fried parsley.

The cooking advice is not always so straightforward.  In explaining another poultry dish, Escoffier says, “…find a good-sized pullet.  You must be very careful with the size of the fatted chicen…You will know it when you see it.  Your heart will leap.”  This “good-sized pullet” is for a dish that “will require the maître d’hôtel, three waiters (at the very least) and a portable stovetop.”

The author has absorbed and reflects Escoffier’s fascination with everything about food.  ”Food is never as simple as one thinks it is.  It is much more dangerous–seducing completely,” he says. In the  novel’s description of settings–in this bygone era that only the super rich might come close to experiencing in the 21st century–the words are also electric.  When Escoffier goes to Belle Île to meet Sarah Bernhardt (ah, yes, the same wonderful island visited in  P.O. Box Love ) :

“…he could see what a painter en plein aire would see, what Monet had seen as he desperately held his canvas so that the insistent wind would not hurl his easel into the sea–the blue with shutters of green, all set in sharp relief against the bones of jagged steep cliffs, the gray-green sea and the coal smoke sky.  The colors were so intense he nearly wept.”

The publishers, W. W. Norton and Company, have equaled the lushness of N. M. Kelby’s writing with fine scrolling graphics at chapter heads, a sensuous cover picture and a jacket cover that feels as soft and smooth as skin.

One last food reference from White Truffles in Winter. As he feeds a “perfect scallop” to Delphine early in their marriage:

“Close your eyes,” he had said to her. “food demands complete submission.” “Do you taste the sea?”

Delphine did. Not just the salt of the sea but the very air of the moment that the shell was pulled from the sand. “A storm, perhaps. There is a dark edge to the sweetness of the meat.  What do you taste?”

“The hand of God”

Reading Escoffier:

Ma Cuisine A cookbook for people who already know how to cook, despite being titled for the housewife. No cooking temperatures and times, for example.

Auguste Escoffier: Memories of My Life This is his version of his life and it is the book he is writing during the novel, White Truffles in Winter.

Disclaimers: Links from book titles to Amazon are for your convenience, but they are affiliate links, which means that anything you buy while you are there earns a bit for A Traveler’s Library. Please do help us out that way! Thanks.  The photos here come from Flickr with Creative Commons license and you can learn more by clicking on each photo.

And what are your own feelings about food? Have you had experiences where food transported you–where it became much more than simple fuel for the body?

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The “Emissaries of Peace,” led by Ostenaco and Cherokee leaders Cunne Shote and Woyi, traveled to London and met with King George III in May 1762. They were accompanied by Junior Officer Ensign Henry Timberlake. The engraving is titled: “The Three Cherokees, came over the head of the River Savanna to London, 1762. / Their interpreter was poisoned.” (Photo courtesy of the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Okla.)

These  imposing gentlemen–with their fierce-looking tattoos and exotic costumes composed of a mixture of native American materials like deer skin pants and the latest borrowings from European civilization, like pajama tops– were an anti-war movement. Yes, although the mere sight of them might drive proper London ladies to pull out the smelling salts, they were emissaries of the Cherokee Nation of North America on a mission to seek peace with Great Britain.

The year was 1762  and the Cherokee Nation, still one of the two largest American Indian nations in the United States, will commemorate that historic journey with a group tour this coming summer, June 15-23. Do you like historic travel? Here’s something new for you. (tattoos optional)

The Cherokee Nation Tourism press release says: Long before the Revolutionary War, the Cherokee Nation was a valued trading partner and important political ally with Great Britain. That mutual bond was dissolved during the French and Indian War and led to a three-year conflict between the British and the Cherokees. In November 1761 the Treaty of Long Island resulted in peace between the two nations. That December, Junior Officer Ensign Henry Timberlake arrived in the Cherokee capital, present-day Monroe County, Tennessee, and spent several months with the Cherokee people. 

In May 1762, the “Emissaries of Peace” led by Ostenaco and including Cherokee leaders Cunne Shote and Woyi, persuaded Timberlake to escort them to London, where they met with King George III. At the meeting, Ostenaco declared his wish for peace and loyalty to the King.

Starting in Oklahoma, the home base of the largest sector of the Cherokee Nation (the Eastern Cherokees live in the southeast, which was their original homeland), will travel to London and stop off at Plymouth, Exeter Cathedral,Egremont House in Piccadilly Circus, Suffolk Street, the British Museum, Buckingham Palace, St. James Palace, Green Park, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and Houses of Parliament among other sites. Since the British 18th century version of paparazzi followed the Cherokee closely, every move is documented, and today’s historic travelers can follow closely in their footsteps.

There will be room for 40 people on the tour, and in the spirit of peace, non-Cherokees can sign up for this historic re-enactment as well as Cherokees.

An article on the National Endowment for the Humanities  site tells the story of the mission to see King George III, based on an exhibit at the Museum of the Cherokee in North Carolina. Although the article was written some time ago, the exhibit is still there.

“We’re trying to look at both cultures from the perspective of people who were experiencing them for the first time,” says Duane King, director of the Southwest Museum of the Cherokee Indian. (Note: the NEH site gives King’s background incorrectly. Among other things, he was director of the Southwest Museum in LA and of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in NC, and is now head of Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, OK) A Timberlake scholar, King is helping to develop the exhibition.

“The Cherokees did not speak English, and Timberlake spoke only minimal Cherokee,” King says. “According to the British press, they made their wishes known by hand signals.” 

(Revised)Book this tour by February 1 (FINAL Payment March 1). For additional information or booking for the “Emissaries of Peace” historic tour, please contact Heather Williams at (918) 384-7887 or heather.williams@cnent.com.

This tour came to my attention because I was the guest in late 2010 of the Cherokee Nation for a tour of Cherokee sites in Oklahoma.  The Cherokee have an active tourism program and I found their Oklahoma sites absolutely fascinating. What a great opportunity this is to re-enact a little-known incident in American history.

For additional information on the Cherokee Nation Cultural Tourism program, call (877) 779-6977or visit www.CherokeeTourismOK.com.
(The photo used above was supplied by the Cherokee Nation Cultural Tourism office.)

So tell me, do you like historical travel? Do you like following in historic footsteps?

Cherokee Principal Chief Chadwick Corntassel Smith

Today to go along with the historic Cherokee trip, I am going to part with an absolutely gorgeous book called Building One Fire: Art + World View in Cherokee Life. The book is even signed by one of its authors, Chadwick Corntassel Smith, who was principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation when I met him in 2010. Remember, there are four ways to win. Check the complete rules here–contest rules. (You must enter by 3:00 a.m., Thursday January 19 the be eligible for this prize, and all entries will be in the running for the two grand prizes.)

Disclaimers: The book was a gift from the Cherokee Tourism Office and the photo to the right is my property. I do not receive any compensation for telling you about the historic tour. I just thought you might be interested.

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Destination: London

Book: Comfort and Joy (NEW October 2011) by India Knight

Cheeky!  The little book Comfort and Joy just elbowed its way up in front of a stack of other books waiting to be reviewed.  I could not resist the cheerful red cover festooned with Christmas lights, so after reading a few more serious books, I picked it up, hoping for the best.

In moments, I was laughing out loud and within a few more moments, I knew I must share it with you in time for you to get copies for your own travel library and as gifts for all your female BFFs–before the Christmas rush sets in.  Because if there is one thing women need in the midst of holiday madness, it is some relief from the performance pressure.

London Christmas Shopping

Author India Knight‘s main character, Clara (whom Knight says closely resembles herself), think as she is doing her last-minute shopping,

It’s about love, and family, and, like I said, redemption.  If I didn’t want to run the risk of sounding like the king of the wankers, I’d say Christmas was about hope.  Yeah.  Hope.  And optimism.  It’s like the fairy tales in the window: for families, every Christmas is a new opportunity for Happy Ever After. [And then she adds, to herself,] “No pressure, then.”

Right. No pressure.  Clara, a 40-year-old writer and mum, shares three consecutive Christmases (or Christmi, as her sister says) with us.  She feels personally responsible for creating a magical holiday experience for her extended family–and, one suspects–frantic to live up to her own fantasy Christmas.  That 40-yr-old part bothers her when she sees an attractive man and realizes she is wearing tights (and flesh-colored Pants of Steel)–not see-through stockings.

The problem is, I wasn’t always a person of the flesh-colored pants variety.  There was a time, many centuries ago, when triceratopses frolicked playfully across the plains with diplodocuses, when I was acquainted with the woman in the stockings…..Happily for me I don’t find that many people attractive, plus my propensity for bad behavior has been napalmed into extinction by years and years of marriage, children, supermarkets, laundry, bills, school, work, all of that stuff.

So she gets back to searching for the perfect present and cooking and decorating herself into a tizzy for her children, her ex-husbands, in-laws, sisters and their families, a best friend and her mother–who is a dead ringer for Auntie Mame. Her daughters call her Kate–never Mum.

Part of the fun for an American reading this books is the introduction of a very English family and their Christmas culture–not terribly unlike our own, since we stole most of it once the Puritans loosened up.  On the one hand, the story is all familiar–the musings on relations between the sexes and the family dynamics.  On the other hand, there are those distinctly English bits like the class consciousness and a relentless cuteness in talking about bodily functions, and there are a few English usages that take some getting used to.  You need to learn the difference between liking someone and fancying someone, for instance.

Despite the fact that from time to time I felt left out by mentions of brands or store names I didn’t know and TV shows that have not made it to the U.S. via public TV–I totally got it.  Like, for instance, although we might not say “bits and bobs” when describing the last-minute gifts we are buying,

London Oxford Street

The book starts in this headlong rush in  crowded Oxford street on 23 December  2009, as Clara shops for the bits and bobs and ponders why pigeons walk beside her instead of flying.  The head long rush rarely lets up.

The book, of course, is not really about Christmas.  Christmas is just the setting.  It is about relationships.  Here’s Clara, describing her husband and contemplating how the hot blood of a romance cools with the arrival of children and duty.

He’s fit, in both senses.  He is extremely attractive. But you see, even with that–I lie in bed and watch him getting dressed and I think, “He’s extremely attractive,” but I think it like one might think, “He’s a sweet dog,” or, “I really like what the Browns have done to their spare room,”  It’s become objective.  I would prefer it if I had the thought and then felt compelled to remove his pants with my teeth.

Nothing of the 21st century life escapes skewering here–child rearing theories, trendy foods, conspicuous consumption, political correctness, Facebook, texting. (Clara loves “the attractive man” because he uses punctuation in a text message. As in, Happy Christmas, Clara.)

But if this is a sociological study, enroll me in sociology.  I haven’t had this much fun in years.

The publisher, Penguin Books, sent me a review copy, and while I appreciate the opportunity, they know that does not guarantee a good review. In this case, I REALLY hope that you will buy a few copies, and as usual, would be extra happy if you are shopping at Amazon, if you’d get there by clicking on a link from A Traveler’s Library. That way, although it costs you no more, I earn a few cents to keep the blog going. And thanks to the Flickr photographers who make their photos available through Creative Commons for these shots of London.

You can follow India Knight on Twitter @indiaknight

How do you get through the frictions and bits and bobs of Christmas? Are you the keeper of the flame in your family?

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Destination: England

Book: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (2003)

It’s a cozy, or is it?  A mystery novel that sidesteps blood and merciless beatings for a more measured and intellectual approach to solving crimes is called a cozy.  Maisie Dobbs, the first in a series of (so far) seven novels written by Jacqueline Winspear,  introduces us to the English woman whose business placard reads “psychologist and investigator.” Cozies generally feature women, but their content may not be quite as fraught with meaning as Maisie Dobbs.

Maisie tracks a criminal, but the leisurely pursuit occupies less than half of a fairly short book.  The rest provides us with most of Maisie’s unconventional life story. Winspear recreates the time preceding, during and after World War I and the effect that horrors of that war had on a whole generation.

End of World War I, 1918, London

The fledgling investigator sets up her office in 1929 London with the help of a wealthy woman she used to work for as a maid.   When a man asks Maisie to find out if his wife is cheating on him, she uncovers a scheme to take advantage of wounded veterans.  Working on discovering the truth draws her back through a lengthy flashback to her own growth from household servant to the grueling work as a battlefield nurse in France during the war. Winspear skillfully introduces the upstairs-downstairs world of Ladies and their servants and then the realities of World War I. In fact, all of her books are set in the period of the Great War, and in this first book, she acknowledges the stories of her Grandfather for setting her on that path.
With the exception of a bit of suspenseful action toward the end, the pace is slow and deliberate…fitting Maisie’s training by her mentor Maurice Blanc.  Some of his teachings–which always come to mind when she needs them, include meditation, although it is not called that. She also practices body mirroring to feel through another’s stance what they are feeling, and trusts her instincts along with logic.

The most unusual characteristic of Maisie in comparison to other sleuths you have known is her insistence that she has a duty to make people better–to help them heal.  Most fictional detectives have a deep understanding of human nature, but most are more focused on punishment and revenge than on healing.  And certainly the detectives we have talked about here at A Traveler’s Library view the world with a good deal more skepticism than Maisie. Take Phillip Marlowe and Spenser, for instance.

Sissinghurst in Kent, UK

So how does this mystery novel help the traveler?  Set in London and in the countryside of Sussex and Kent in the teens and twenties of the 20th century, it describes a bygone age.  And yet, please forgive me English friends, I tend to picture England and particularly London, in the early twentieth century anyhow.  This even though I’ve been there and know about the Millennium Bridge and the Eye and the bustles of the modern world. It is still the Mews and the Beefeaters and the venerable government buildings that come to mind. Furthermore, Winspear shows us a class system that is definitely altered by the advent of “The Great War,” but cannot be avoided even today in a country with a Queen and titled landowners.

Westminster Bridge over the Thames, London, early morning

Maisie likes to take walks, and as we follow her, we see London:

She entered Palace Road from Royal Street, and turned right to walk toward Westminster Bridge.  She loved to watch the Thames first thing in the morning.  Those Londoners who lived just South of the river always said they “were going over the water” when they crossed the Thames, never referring to the river by name unless they were speaking to a stranger.

And Winspear drops little tidbits that read like guidebook entries, like this about Mecklenburg Square which is very little changed since Maisie walked there in 1929, and Virginia Woolf lived there in 1939:

Named in honor of Charlotte of Mecklinburgh-Strelitz who became queen consort upon her marriage to George III of England, the gracious Georgian houses of the square were set around a garden protected by a wrought-iron fence secured with a locked gate.

As Maisie loves the countryside (out of the smoke, as her father says), we also are introduced to other areas of England.

In France, she had dreamed of Kent, of apple orchards in full blossom, primroses and bluebells carpeting the woodland, and the soft countryside stretching out before her.

Because of her skillful presentation of life as it was in the period of the war, and because the detailed descriptions allow the reader to see London and see the countryside, this is a fine book to add to the traveler’s Library.

Links to book titles provide you with a convenient way to purchase the book, and when you buy anything at Amazon after clicking on links from A Traveler’s Library, I earn a few cents to help pay the rent on the site. Thanks.

I would like to thank the photographers who share their pictures via Creative Commons License at Flickr for these amazingly appropriate pictures. You can thank them by clicking on the image to learn more. And a special thank you to regular readers Colleen Alley and Lorrie McCallum who both recommended that I read Winspear, and start with the first book, Maisie Dobbs.

Are you a reader of “cozies?”  Would you classify Maisie Dobbs as a cozy?

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Destination: 17th Century Paris and London

Book: Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution (NEW 3/2011), by Holly Tucker

Although I love to read about history, I do not think of myself as a fan of scientific history–and to say that a book is about blood transfusions is enough to make me go hide in a closet. Yuck! Blood! Needles!

But Holly Tucker won me over with the finely crafted  Blood Work. This unlikely travel library addition made me think of the Cara Black mystery I recently read, Murder in the Latin Quarter, where the plot centers around research labs in present day Paris, mixed with Sandra Gulland’s  Mistress to the Sun, set in 17th century France. Blood Work reads more like historical fiction than a professorish explication of medical history. In fact, it reveals a centuries-old mystery.

Tucker begins with the shocking revelation that George Washington death may well have been speeded along  by blood letting, and she quotes a medieval “scientist” on phlebotomy (blood drawing):

Phlebotomy clears the mind, strengthens the memory, cleanses the stomach, dries up the brain, warms the marrow, sharpens the hearing, stops tears, encourages discrimination, develops the senses…produces a musical voice…..(and on and on).

I wanted to know more about how she made this science history into dramatic story-telling, so I e-mailed four questions to Holly Tucker.

A Traveler’s Library: Your research goes far beyond medical matters.  I’m thinking of a section where you go into detail about printing, for instance,and another on coffee, as here:

But the greatest find from South America had to be coffee, which was served with much ceremony in delicate, hand-painted porcelain cups imported from China. And one thing was certain: At the equivalent of almost four thousand dollars a pound, there could not be a better sign of…wealth and largesse.

Did you plan to use this kind of detailed background originally, or did it just evolve?

Holly Tucker: It’s precisely these fascinating details about seventeenth-century London and Paris that helped me make the decision to place Blood Work with a larger trade press, rather a more specialized university press.  Academic writing, for better or worse, tends to leave out so many of the visceral details that… got me excited about history in the first place.  I wanted readers to be able to see, smell and hear what life on the dirty streets and in scientific laboratories were like.

ATL: You had an “agenda” for writing this book beyond just revealing the little-known mystery surrounding blood transfusion.  Talk a little about that, and how you think this book will help.

HT: My first agenda is to get folks interested in history. There are just so many fascinating, and sometimes troubling, stories of our past worth exploring.  But it’s true, Blood Work has another, underlying message.  And it’s an important one, I think.

When writing Blood Work, I was struck by the overlaps between the past and the present.  Just as the seventeenth century was struggling with how and whether science could create hybrid creatures as a result of transfusion, we too are wondering about the role science plays in redefining “humanness”  (what it is and when it begins).

There were real concerns that, by transfusing animal blood into humans, science could be toying with the boundaries of human life itself.  Controversies swirling around cloning, interspecies genetic research and human embryological stem cell research [today] are very similar.  Should society try to restrain scientific inquiry?  And if so, at what price?

I wanted to offer up the past as a space where we can have respectful discussions about these critical questions still of deep importance to us now.

ATL:Were you ever tempted to turn this into fiction and invent a legendary French detective?

HT: Not really.  Actually, sometimes I felt like the detective!  [The information] wasn’t always easy to find; in fact, the book took nearly five years of research and regular travel to archives in Paris, London and Rome for me to be sure that I had all of the facts straight.  But I just knew that if I stayed focused, it would all come together.

I’ve tried my hand at historical fiction once. It wasn’t pretty.  I guess that I’m just meant to be a nonfiction writer.  My editor agrees, I think! 

ATL: You did a lot of library research, but did you also do atmospheric research by traveling to Paris and London? If so, were there any particular insights from what you found?

HT: I guess that I learned that you can’t take anything for granted.  While the facades of many Parisian buildings are still standing, the grandeur that was once behind those facades has either faded or disappeared.  Atmospheric research is best when done in conjunction with library research, especially research with original documents.

Still, I was absolutely overcome with joy the day that I snuck into the Marais estate that had once been the home of Jean Habert de Montmor, the nobleman who financed the first transfusion experiments.  I’m sure that the concièrge, its superintendent, thought I was a bit nuts myself when he saw me standing in the grand courtyard–mouth agape.  It was exactly as I had imagined it. Here was the sundial that had been engraved high in building’s interior wall.  And there was the grand staircase that Jean-Baptiste Denis had climbed the night of he transfused the mentally-ill Antoine Mauroy.  Once Monsieur Charpentier understood what I was stammering about and why I had tears in my eyes, we spent a wonderful afternoon exploring together, each teaching the other about the estate’s rich history.

Holly Tucker, photo by John Breinig

Holly Tucker is a professor at Vanderbilt University, where she teaches the history of medicine and French. In addition to academic publications, her writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New Scientist, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Christian Science Monitor. She lives in Nashville with her husband, her daughter, two dogs, and two jail-breaking gerbils.

Disclaimer: Blood Work was supplied to me by the publisher for a review. I will give it away to someone chosen at random from commenters. (U.S. Resident, over 18, please).

Does learning about historic events that took place in the location you are traveling to help you enjoy the place? Do you like reading about the history of science? Holly is also the historian behind the intriguing blog devoted to history literature, Wonders and Marvels. Follow her on Twitter, @history_geek. See the following article for her favorite books for travelers.

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The Tower Bridge

Destination: London

Books: Loathsome London by Terry Deary from the Horrible Histories

Various Titles from the You Wouldn’t Want To Be… series for children

“Horrible” History Makes Traveling to Britain with Kids Fun

A GUEST POST by Mara Gorman

Grownups tend to think that castles, suits of armor, and ancient towers are automatically interesting to the younger set. The fact is, to most children one old building looks much like another, even if they both happen to be ancient castles. And without understanding what suits of armor and lances were used for, what fun are they to look at?

I knew that our trip to England in the summer of 2010 was going to be heavy on the history – we would be touring the Tower of London, the Globe Theatre, the Roman Baths in Bath, and Windsor Castle, not to mention any number of colleges in Oxford. My children are both in elementary school and have started studying American history, but their understanding of Britain was limited to knowing that they wore red coats when they came to fight us. How to make those buildings come alive for my children so that they seemed like more than a pile of stones?

If you guessed that reading some great books before we left was in order, you are correct. In particular I turned to two series for children, both of which use humor and comic-book style illustrations to great effect.

My older son, Tommy, who had just turned eight at the beginning of the summer, is an avid independent reader. I knew that if I could find an engaging history book to leave by his bed, he would soon be learning about Britain without any effort on my part. I chose from the Horrible Histories series, British books that use a humorous approach and a focus on the gross-out factors that history provides in spades. Loathsome London by Terry Deary offers chapters with titles such as “Terrible Tower” and “Terrible Tudor and Slimy Stuarts timeline”

Mara's boys at the Tower of London

The book opens with a cheerful disclaimer that it is exploring history in a one-sided and disgusting manner and then goes on to talk about things like your choice of execution types at the Tower of London – beheading, smothering, stabbing, drowning, or falling. Of course, woven into all of this are stories like that of such notables as Anne Boleyn, Edward V, and the Earl of Essex, so the reader gets a historical overview of the city and its rulers. We learn too about the Black Plague, the Great Fire, the Industrial Age, and the Blitz, not to mention any number of lesser known stories villainy, corruption, and “lousy jobs” such as tarring the heads that went on the spikes lining the bridges into London to, er, preserve them for posterity and public gawking.

Despite the gruesome topics, the tone of the book is light throughout. There are numerous illustrations, asides, lists, funny asides, and boxed facts designed to engage even reluctant readers.

(From the Stone Age through modern times, you can find Horrible Histories on any number of topics – explore the Horrible Histories website to find online games and even clips from TV shows based on the books).

Tommy at the Globe Theater

Since five-year-old Teddy wasn’t quite ready for the Horrible Histories, I also made sure we had some of the You Wouldn’t Want to Be… books lying around as well. You Wouldn’t Want to Be Mary Queen of Scots and You Wouldn’t Want to Be a Medieval Knight by Fiona MacDonald were our go-to texts, and on our visit to the Globe Theatre we also picked up You Wouldn’t Want to be a Tudor Actor in Shakespeare’s Theatre by Jacqueline Morley.

Written in the second person and designed to help children imagine themselves living as a queen, knight, or apprenticed actor long ago, these books are also humorous and full of colorful illustrations. “Handy hints” like “To try and ward off plague fumes, hold a pomander (a spice-scented ball) to your nose when you go out” provide additional information about what life was like. And contrary to the titles, not all of the information provided here is negative, just realistic and highlighting the contrast between life then and life now.

The consequence of arriving in London well prepared was that both boys were fascinated with British history. They spent hours looking at all of the kings’ armor in the new and impressive Tower of London exhibit. Tommy was especially thrilled to see the beautiful suit worn by Henry VIII, whom he knew like an old pal. When we arrived at the Houses of Parliament, he remembered that Guy Fawkes had planned to blow it up and relished the gory story shared with gusto by our guide from Fat Tire Bike tours.

In particular, both boys developed affection for Lord Nelson after hearing the story of his death at Trafalgar while standing at the base of his column. We had to visit his grave in Saint Paul’s Cathedral and examine his coat (complete with a hole from the bullet that killed him) in the Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Although they hadn’t read about Nelson in any of the books I gave them, I’m pretty sure that priming the pump with lots of history before our trip helped make them receptive to learning about the places we visited. And their reward for cheerfully tromping through all those castles and towers? A visit to Legoland, Windsor on our last day. Where in spite of the rides, their favorite thing to do was look at replicas of London’s famous buildings. Mission accomplished.

Mara's boys at Legoland

Mara Gorman

Mara Gorman’s blog The Mother of All Trips offers stories, tips, and inspiration for traveling parents. When she’s not on the road with Tommy (8) and Teddy (5), she can be found at home in Delaware.

What great book recommendations for boys and for the family travel library! I wish I had found books like this when my boys were small, but I’ll be laying in wait as soon as my grandsons are old enough. And what a smart mom you are, Mara. Thanks so much for sharing these good ideas and your wonderful family travel experiences. The photos belong to Mara, also (except for the first one which comes from a post by Julie, the Lady from London). Please don’t copy without  permission.

Here are some other books for traveling children:

Mara’s guest post on Monet’s Garden

guest post by Brette Sember on Maine

guest post by Christine Gross-Loh on helping children adjust to Japan

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Book: The Red Queen (NEW: August 2010) by Phillipa Gregory

Boy, for a small island, and a relatively brief history (after all we don’t know much about them before the Romans) the British sure have had a lot going on.  For all those who despair of ever figuring out all those branches of the royal family and the numerous (numbered) Henrys and Williams and whatever, historical novels come to the rescue.

The Red Queen, by Phillipa Gregory not only introduced me to a formidable British woman, but helped me sort out the lengthy, and sometimes seemingly pointless War of the Roses. And sorting out British history becomes essential if you want to enjoy the many castles and shires and Royal roads of England.

Tower of London

The new historical novel reminded me that the Big Red Bus took me to the Tower of London. Those who went to the Tower of London in olden days did not have the privilege of riding in a double-decker sightseeing bus. And their “ticket” did not include a river cruise on the Thames.

We arrived at Heathrow at 6:00 a.m., stowed our luggage at the airport and took a train in to town.  With only one day to get for our first visit to London, we chose the zippy way. We found the bus a block away and rode through the drizzle, half  listening to the recorded spiel while we gaped at all the history around us.

Jet lag soon began to win out over my usual excitement at seeing new things, and the Tower remains a bit blurry in my mind. I do recall that the gray walls looked even gloomier in the rain on the day we visited.

I also remember the low passageway leading to the river from within the walls.  Prisoners could be brought in quietly at night and dead bodies spirited away.  That setting plays a part in the book The Red Queen. Margaret Beaufort, our heroine, wears the red rose of Lancaster. The other Queen–the one who married a York–is tossed into the Tower.  (Gregory wrote about The White Queen in a previous book.)  A visitor reports back to Margaret that the York Queen communes with the River Spirits, beings still be be feared in the fifteenth century.

Margaret,  determined to become Queen, or a very least Queen Mother, gained later fame as the matron of the Tudor line (mother of Henry Tudor) and one of those rarities of the middle ages–a female scholar. As the rival armies of York and Lancaster go marching back and forth, Phillipa Gregory gives us quite the tour of England, which underlines why this makes a good addition to a traveler’s library.

Unlike some historical novels that get waterlogged in detail, The Red Queen skims through Margaret’s life and keeps the reader turning the pages to see when she and her house will finally triumph. The novel is a story told by Margaret, from her strong-willed point of view, in the present tense, which helps build suspense–even for those well versed in British history.

You may find The White Queen a more sympathetic character when you realize that it was her two little boys who were imprisoned by Richard III and then disappeared. Shakespeare talks about them in his drama, Richard III, and Gregory, true to historical fact, throws plenty of false clues around but does not give us a firm answer as to what happened to the unfortunate children.

Gregory has more than 25 novels to her credit, but is best known for her series on the Boleyn sisters, particularly after The Other Boleyn Girl became a movie. Her attractive web site includes a nice interview with CNN. She has a Facebook page, too, if you want to keep track of her on the Internet. Once you’ve read The Red Queen, you may want to go back and dip into more of her views of British history, particularly if you are traveling to England.

The Red Queen was provided by Simon and Schuster for review purposes. The gloomy picture of the Tower comes from Flickr with Creative Commons license. Click on the picture to learn more.

Our first choice of sights in London, was The Tower.  It might have been the British Museum, but I knew that I would be frustrated if I had only a few hours there.  I think I was influenced by Shakespeare’s dramas. Anybody who was anybody wound up in the Tower. What is the first thing you wanted to see–or want to see–in London?

Other reviews: The Book Bluff, a personal review Book Addict, another blog review.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Movie: Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey, Jr.

Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock Holmes

On Christmas day, the latest of many movie versions of the adventures of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes debuts. The new Sherlock Holmes stars Robert Downey Jr. as the brooding, sexy, young sleuth with a 21st century 3-day growth of facial hair.

Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes

In the preview, Holmes becomes an action figure– the Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwartenegger hero rather than the brainiac of old. The real mysterys: What would Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have thought of this new version? and will Robert Downey replace Basil Rathbone as our image of the tweedy detective that spawned a genre?

Visit Britain, the tourism agency, has cooked up an entire campaign to direct tourists to scope out the Britain of Sherlock. The map of locations in and outside of London and suggested itineraries to help you travel can be found on line. It seems that peripatetic Holmes visited as much of England as Bill Bryson.

Since 2010 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the very least you can do is visit 221B Baker Street Museum. (Ironically, the museum opens every day except Christmas, so on Christmas day you are free to go see the film.)

Visit Britain’s press release says,  “Sherlock Holmes was filmed on location in London, Liverpool and Manchester with scenes shot at St Paul’s Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament, Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, Manchester Town Hall, Liverpool Docks and at Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent.” Movies for A Traveler’s Library don’t get much better than that!

Let’s hope for a sequel to this movie when Sherlock travels to his final destination in Switzerland.

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Pickwick Papers Inn

Destination: Dicken’s London

Movie: Christmas Carol, Novel by Charles Dickens, Movie Disney Studios

As the new movie of a Disney version of Dickens Christmas Carol, kicked off the Holiday season this weekend, London offered Dickens deals.

When I saw the the title come up for the preview of Disney’s Christmas Carol, I must admit that I groaned, “Not another Christmas Carol.” I’m not sure whether more male actors have aspired to Hamlet or to Scrooge–not to mention Mickey Mouse’s Christmas Carol, starring Donald Duck. But the preview of this new effort did its job and I was fascinated by the sheer beauty of the presentation.

Second admission: I have not seen the movie yet. Took a little time off this past weekend, so I missed the opening, so I cannot tell you for sure that the movie does justice to Dickens, but despite widly disparate reviews, I am going to go see it and am actually looking forward to it.

The movie is directed by Director Robert Zemeckis, who also oversaw, Polar Express, and uses the same kind of motion-capture technique. In a novel move, the director uses star Jim Carey to play not only Scrooge, but also the Ghosts of Times Past, Present, and Yet to Come. That makes philosophical sense, as aren’t we always the bringers of truth to ourselves, and don’t we create our own dreams and nightmares?

Philosophy aside, I’m betting that you have seen a movie, play, or musical version of Christmas Carol or Scrooge since you last read Dickens’ own version, and I recommend that we all grab a Dickens’ book and read the Christmas Carol. It is one of the shortest of his works, and a good start for people who have not been introduced to one of my favorite authors.

Our own two short travel stopovers in London did not allow for as much poking around in the Old City of London  to seek out Dickens locales as we would have liked, but I recently read a about a hotel deal that I would grab if I were traveling to London over the holidays. Timed to coincide with the opening of the Disney film,  Threadneedles, a London boutique hotel,offers a Christmas Carol package with a free copy of the Dickens novel and a walking tour guide of local Dickensian landmarks. The hotel is located next door to the Counting House, one of the scenes for the Dickens novel and in the midst of the Old City of London, with plenty of Dickensian scenery around. (And by the way, if you are not staying at the hotel, don’t worry, there are many, many Dickens walking tours on offer–just Google.)

And for those who cringe at the Disneyfying of literature (I still am not quite over Christopher Robin and Pooh Bear), keep in mind that Dickens always had the bottom line in mind.  He wrote his novels in bite sized morsels that could be sold to the local newspapers before he made them into books.  Sorta like a blogger, huh?

Photograph: Okay, it is not Christmas Carol, and it is not London, but it IS Charles Dickens, and it is such a cool picture. For the whole story, click on the picture and go to the site of photographer Tim Norris.

Have you toured the Dickens sites in London? Have you seen the movie? Fill in what I left out in this post. We’re waiting to hear from you. And my subscription forms up there at the top of the blog are waiting for you, too. Sign up so you’ll never miss another book or movie.

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Destinations: Greece, Turkey, Egypt and the British Museum in London, Metropolitan Museum in NYC, the Louvre in Paris, and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles

Part of the Parthenon Freize in British Museum

Welcome to my traveler’s library.

Have you ever wondered how the lovely antiquities from some long-gone civilization arrived at a major museum? Looters have dug up treasures as long as people have been burying them. But when Napoleon set out to Egypt, he took an army of scholars with him and in recording and taking treasures, they started a trend.

Nineteenth century collectors took it for granted that the more advanced countries had a right to collect “because they alone know how to appreciate them,” as the author of an 1835 book, Voyage de Luxor said. Some people still argue that point of view. Others have become bothered by the lack of provenance on many objects in museums. Both factions will be enthralled by Sharon Waxman’s book, Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World

I got hooked on the debate over the morality of collecting antiquities when I first visited the Acropolis in Athens thirty years ago and saw the blank spaces where Lord Elgin relieved the Greeks of pieces of magnificent carving. He wanted them because at the end of the nineteenth century it was all the rage to decorate ones’ estate with statuary from Greece and Rome. Eventually, he wound up broke and sold his treasures to the British Museum.

In 2008 I traveled to London and visited the enthralling British Museum. Of course I toured its most popular space, the display of the Parthenon marbles. Forty-eight hours later, I was in Athens, visiting the Parthenon for the fifth time, on a scorching hot day. I also got a sneak-preview of the soaring spaces of the New Acropolis Museum and the space the Greek government has prepared for the return of the Parthenon marbles from England.

Opinionated as I am about the Parthenon marbles (which I will never call the Elgin marbles) Sharon Waxman made me question my stance on the rightful role of museums with her well-researched look at the needs of countries like Egypt, Turkey and Greece and the rationale of world class museums. Since the New Acropolis Museum has been completed, the argument has become more public. For a frequently updated overview of the looting of antiquities worldwide, see this blog .

While Loot certainly will not be found in the travel section of your bookstore, it nevertheless belongs on the travel library shelves. It helps readers understand the cultures of Egypt, Turkey and Greece and the long-gone civilizations that inhabited the land the modern countries now occupy. It also adds understanding of a culture the traveler may never have thought about—that of museums.

Where do you stand on the debate about ancient artifacts? Are their limits to what foreign countries should be able to keep from the source country?

The photos here were taken by VMB on a visit to London and Athens just one day apart.

NEW: Sign a petition to join my favorite cause, return the Parthenon Marbles taken to England by Lord Elgin.

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