Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village

Title: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From A Medieval Village

Author: Laura Amy Schlitz

Illustrator: Robert Byrd

Genre: Juvenile Drama

Pages: 85

Date Finished: 17 March 2008

My Rating: A +

Newbery Medal Winner 2008

Review by Jeanette from A Comfy Chair and a Good Book

In the forward to this wonderful collection of one-person plays, Laura Amy Schlitz said that these plays were written for the students at park School, where she works as a librarian. "They were studying the Middle Ages, and they were going at it hammer and tongs. They were experimenting with catapults and building miniature castles, baking bread and tending herbs, composing music and illuminating manuscripts. I wanted them to have something to perform."

Something to perform is exactly what she gave them! These monologues are absolutely fascinating and delightful.One of my favorites was Thomas, the Doctor's Son."

After the prayer, let the patient rest,

And tell his family, 'I will do my best

To fight this sickness, but I fear his fate-

It may be that you called me in too late'

Then shake your head, look serious and wise-

This sort of talk protects you if he dies.

If he recovers, it was all your skill

That brought him back to life. And that's better still."

Another was Barbary, the Mud Slinger."It made me think

how all women are the same-

silk or sackcloth, all the same.

There's always babies to be born

and suckled and wiped,and worried over.

Isobel, the lord's daughter,

will have to be married,

and squat in the straw,

and scream with the pain

and pray for her life

same as me.

And thinking of that,

I added one more prayer-

sweet Jesus, come Christmas,

don't let it be twins."

I also really enjoyed Mogg, the villein's daughter, Piers, the glassblower's apprentice and Mariot and Maud, the glassblower's daughters.

This little volume is storytelling at its best. Not only do you get a wonderful, captivating story (or 22 of them in this case,) but you are also learning about the life of children in the Middle Ages. Through these monologues we learn about farming, pilgrimages, marriage, religion, freedom, hygiene and the crusades of the Middle Ages. And Schlitz definitely did not pretty-up the Middle Ages for her young audience. There are fleas, dung, polluted rivers and religious intolerance.

I can only imagine how fun it must be for school children to perform these little plays.

I can not forget to mention the wonderful illustrations by Robert Byrd.

They are beautiful and fit the piece perfectly.

Brief interview with Laura Amy Schlitz on the Today Show

The Jane Austen Handbook by Margaret C. Sullivan

Title: The Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World

Author: Margaret C. Sullivan

Review by Jeanette at a Comfy Chair and a Good Book

Genre: Non-fiction, Jane Austen
Pages: 224
Date Finished: 29 Feb 2008
My Rating: A

This is a delightful, charming, humorous and informative book, packed with information on Regency England. As the publisher said, this book is "for all those readers who dream about living in Regency England, The Jane Austen Handbook offers step-by-step instructions for proper comportment in the early nineteenth century. You'll discover:
How to Become an Accomplished Lady
How to Run a Great House
How to Indicate Interest in a Gentleman Without Seeming Forward
How to Throw a Dinner Party
How to Choose and Buy Clothing

Full of practical directions for navigating the travails of Regency life, this charming illustrated book also serves as a companion for present-day readers, explaining the English class system, currency, dress, and the nuances of graceful living."
You'll also learn just how rich Darcy really was and how much he would be worth today. I thought Sullivan explained entail better than anything else I have ever read about the subject. I feel like I finally understand entail and the hows and whys of its use.
All of the little day to day things that made up the life of the landed gentry during Austen's life time are covered. The writing is light and easy, less scholarly and more fun but just as informative and accurate as a more scholarly book.
I loved the tongue-in-cheek references to the novels that are found throughout the book. I found this approach humorous and enjoyable and almost felt like I was sharing an inside joke between myself, Margaret Sullivan and Jane Austen. For example, when writing about child rearing, Sullivan wrote that "if all else fails, liberal slices of cake solve many child-rearing problems." Could she be referring to Mrs. Musgroves approach to her grandsons that is found in Persuasion? This is just one example of such humorous little tidbits found throughout the book.
The illustrations by Kathryn Rathke make the book even more delightful and the wonderful appendices complete the book. There you find a short bio of Jane Austen, a glossary of Regency terms, synopses of each novel, a listing of film adaptations, a bibliography and a list of web site and discussion groups.
I checked this wonderful book out from the library but will be adding it to my Jane Austen book collection soon.

The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James

Title: The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen

Author: Syrie James

Genre: Fiction, Jane Austen

Pages: 303

Date Finished: 27 Feb 2008

Review by Jeanette

My Rating: A"Do you mean to say, that if I believe in your story as you have told it, then it is as good as if it were true?" (303) So asks Jane Austen's nephew in this fictional account of her life and so sums up my feelings for this book. While I know the story is fiction, it was written in such a true and believable fashion that I had to remind myself that it wasn't actually a recently discovered memoir of Jane Austen.

What fan of Jane Austen has not, at some point, lamented the fact that Cassandra Austen destroyed so many of her sister's letters? Who amongst us has not harbored a wish that maybe Cassandra had not destroyed them but just hidden them away really, really well and someday they will be unearthed? Or that some other forgotten and lost work by Jane Austen would be discovered?

That is the premise of The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James. Workmen, repairing the roof at Chawton Manor house, find an old trunk bricked up in the wall of the attic. Inside the trunk they find several old manuscripts and a ring. The manuscripts turn out to be the long lost memoirs of Jane Austen.

The story takes place during a period of time when none of Jane Austen's letters remain for modern audiences to read. This gap in time has left many today wondering what was happening in Jane's life during those silent years. Syrie James gives us a beautiful tale of what could have happened during those years. "Jane Austen has given up her writing when, on a fateful trip to Lyme, she meets the well-read and charming Mr. Ashford, a man who is her equal in in intellect and temperament. Inspired by the people and places around her, and encouraged by his faith in her, Jane begins revising Sense and Sensibility, a book she began years earlier, hoping to be published at last."

I'll admit I was skeptical at first, but this is a love story befitting of Jane Austen. I felt James captured Austen's essence and style. James gave us a mature woman, secretly in love but still grounded in the reality of her time. There have been many who have attempted to write about Jane Austen or her characters but few, if any, have done such a wonderful job. James clearly knew her subject matter and blended the fact and fiction masterfully to give us a most enjoyable, romantic story.

I did have a few complaints. I felt that James took too much of this story directly from Austen's own novels and it read more like a novel than a memoir or journal. How many people writing about events that happened years earlier can remember such long chunks of dialogue?Withstanding these two things, the novel was wonderful and I highly recommend it to anyone, whether or not they are a fan of Jane Austen.