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by Vicki Delany Vicki Delany has penned a wonderful book about the fictional Madison family of Canada in the war years. There is a great old house that has been in the family for a few generations that Miss Madison still lives in. There are secrets that are buried on the grounds and in the old guesthouse that almost go up in smoke before the papers can be sorted and all of those mundane letters that have been saved can be read. There was the other writer who died, and although everyone assumed it was an accident, it really shocked no one when the truth was revealed. Ralph had a mistress who was one of the staff; she was left to her own resources when she became pregnant by Ralph, because the family was too staunch and too high quality to have a servant bear a child by the favored son. Moira became a nurse during the war years and wants to have her journals and life put to paper for the family to pass on for future generations. Elaine Benson is the second writer to pursue this endeavor. Secrets abound and there are people who don't want them revealed. Things start happening, and eventually the truth becomes known, through an attempt at taking the life of the writer, Elaine. Burden of Memory is intriguing and intelligent. It will keep you guessing about the motives of the family members when they all show up for the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday feast and the world starts going awry. This family lives life in the higher end of the spectrum and nothing touches them, because of their status in the old town and the connections they have. Everyone assumes that the old lady, Moira, and Elaine will just get together on the written story, but no one thinks it is really worth the effort. Elaine becomes engrossed in the researching and the writing and soon becomes a whole person again. She was only half a shell after a bad divorce and needing to revive her career as a researcher and writer when she answered the call from Moira to write the memoirs of her long ago life. Well done, very colorful through the war years and very real about the kids of today and the lives they all so nonchalantly live. This is a very good book to cuddle up with when you want to lose yourself in some other place, some other time, and see life through the eyes of the privileged who really don't want to seem that way. Read Burden of Memory and you may remember things about your life you thought you had long forgotten. |
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Burden of Memory