World, Writing, Wealth discussion

Our fourth group read of 2017 is historical fiction.

Without further ado, join us in reading the debut novel of the business-savvy Marie Silk.

Davenport House is the first book in a family saga following the wealthy Davenports and their servants in 1915 America.

Mary Davenport is a 22-year-old idealist who worries that the world in the Progressive Era is leaving her behind. She lives isolated in the Pennsylvania countryside with her affluent and secretive family. When her father dies suddenly, Mary becomes pained with grief and increasingly suspicious of those around her.

A humble servant girl has the chance of a lifetime to become a lady's companion. Costly dresses, exquisite rooms, and fine dinners are pleasant distractions from what is really happening in the house.

Reading Schedule
Starting on 7 April, we can discuss the specified chapters without having to use spoiler tags. Conversely, you must use spoiler tags for any discussion about future chapters.

1 Apr = First impressions; please hide any spoilers.
7 Apr = Chapter 8 (~53%)
14 Apr = The entire book

Note: I've reserved the last two weeks of the month to a complete discussion of the book. I believe that doing so promotes more discussion. However, we should be flexible with the dates as best fits the participants.

Thank you so much :)

Davenport House is fast-paced with lots of characters to keep up with :). It was the first time I wrote in novel format (as opposed to screenplay format), so I think the story flows a little more like a script than a traditional novel. I will have some more words to say about the themes in the coming weeks. Thank you for choosing my book and I hope you enjoy!

I have my copy and hoping to join! As usual, I'm behind on group monthly reads, but looking forward to the discussion. :)

i got my copy too.

Aiming at constant improvement and basing on Kent's feedback re March BoM, we'll try something a little different this month.

We are glad to announce that Eldon Farrell, who nominated Davenport House, shall lead and moderate the discussion.
Many thanks to Eldon for his readiness to embrace this challenge -:)

Hope it'll be enjoyable to all the parties involved!

All right let's get this party started!!

Before fabulous author and great GR friend Marie Silk shares with us the themes of her debut novel I thought it would be fun to speculate on what we think the themes are.

Now I realize it's early days here and some of you may not have even started reading yet but hey...what are blurbs for right? :)

To start it off, I'm about 10% in and think that she's setting us up for a main theme of free will or independence. There's a lot of that going on in the first pages so we'll see if I'm on the right track or not.

Anyone else care to posit a guess?

No, but I am entering this to make sure I stay with the correspondence alerts.

Sorry, I'm a little late to the party. I'll start reading this tomorrow and "posit a guess".

The dominant theme for me is the coming of age of Mary. Events swirl around her, she has to mature quickly and make some serious decisions with real consequences.

Mary's backstory strikes me as sheltered, which leaves her naive and initially ill-equipped to handle life. Will the foundations of her character be enough to see her through, or will she succumb to the wily machinations of those who seek to profit from her youth?

Graeme Rodaughan wrote: "The dominant theme for me is the coming of age of Mary. Events swirl around her, she has to mature quickly and make some serious decisions with real consequences.

Mary's backstory strikes me as s..."

Excellent observations Graeme!! About 40% through myself and I think you might be on to something here; especially given the series that follows :)

Just wanted to let everyone know that we're at the halfway point in the book, so you don't need to use spoiler tags for any content up to and including chapter 8.

Sorry to hear about your younger brother, Marie...
As much as authors try to imagine and convey very strong and lasting emotions, I think very few succeed in doing it believably, if they never experienced them in real life.
Transforming your very deep and intimate feelings and experience into a fictional story is bound to result in something powerful...

Marie Silk wrote: "For me, a main theme is the different reactions to shock and grief that people experience...sometimes bringing out the worst, sometimes showing who your friends are, or bringing truth to light.
E..."

Great comment. You clearly poured your heart and soul into the story.

Just wanted to let everyone know that we can discuss the entire book w/o having to use spoiler tags.

(I'll be finishing the book after I finish my US income taxes in a couple of days. '_' )

So presumably we've all had a chance to read through Davenport House now, so with that in mind let's get some impressions of the book.

I'll start off by saying that I found the choice of murder weapon used on Mary's father an odd choice. Stabbed in the back, while a nod to a classic method, did kind of spoil some of the potential suspense in the read. There could be no doubt that he was murdered as opposed to say having him poisoned and then Mary could've speculated more on whether he was or wasn't murdered.

The knife in the back also gave away to the reader very early on that the doctor was in on it. He had to be either completely incompetent to miss the knife wound or complicit in the deed to report illness as cause of death.

Given all that I found it odd that Mary wasn't more adamant that he not be allowed on the grounds. She saw the knife and heard his finding of cause of death; she had to know he was in on it right?

Anyone else have any observations or thoughts?

This deserves hearty congratulations. Saw today that our very own Marie Silk was sitting at #1 for the entire free kindle store!!!

Way to go Marie :D

Thank you, Eldon!

Interesting observation on how the family did (or didn't) react with suspicion. I think I wanted to focus on Mary's reaction to losing a love one and trying to keep it together while all else seemed against her, rather than have her in a detective type role. There is one line in the story where she says that she isn't sure what she really saw anymore. I think that memory can really be messed with in times of heightened tension like this. A person on the outside looking in might be able to see the obvious, but being the one immersed in emotional upheaval certainly has potential to cloud judgment :).

Marie Silk wrote: "Thank you, Eldon!

Interesting observation on how the family did (or didn't) react with suspicion. I think I wanted to focus on Mary's reaction to losing a love one and trying to keep it together w..."

True enough Marie! True enough...

My initial impression was that I couldn't quite get whether this was a murder mystery or more of chronicle of life in WWI America. I kept waiting for the mystery to unfold, but then suddenly it was solved and the characters were moving on to something else.

After reading Marie's explanation, I now see why the book was the way it was. It was never meant to be a murder mystery. Murder was just one of the sources of grief.

Other impressions, in no particular order:

- The board game "Clue" immediately came to mind after Mr. Davenport was found dead. :)

- The scene/character changes were often abrupt. I think it would've been helpful to add an extra break in those situations.

- I liked the dialogue-heavy style. I'm familiar enough with the time period that I didn't need a lot of description.

- Maybe it's because I read too many thrillers, but I didn't trust any new character that showed up, especially William. The way he was introduced made me convinced that he was up to no good.

- The details of the historical period were captured well: influenza fears, introduction of the automobile, servants, language, and so on.

- The one thing that got to me after awhile was the crying. It seemed to be the default reaction to everything, grief or no grief. Was that something unique to the time period?


One question I have is about why you chose early-20th century America as your backdrop?

Overall, good job!

Thank you for the comment, Kent :). The last season of Downton Abbey had just ended when I started thinking about this story. Downton focuses on Britain during WWI and I found myself wanting to watch/read more about what was happening in America during that time. We have a lot of literature for the Civil War and WWII periods, but I thought the WWI fiction was lacking. :)

done.

Eldon wrote: "I'll start off by saying that I found the choice of murder weapon used on Mary's father an odd choice.
...
The knife in the back also gave away to the reader very early on that the doctor was in on it. He had to be either completely incompetent to miss the knife wound or complicit in the deed to report illness as cause of death."

i hadn't thought in that much detail, but at that point, yes, i knew that the doctor was complicit. however, there were signs before that.

otoh, the relationship b/w Mrs. Price and Mr. Davenport came out of the blue.

talking about relationships, what do you think of the innocent love triangle (Clara - Ethan - Abigail) and the ever-flirtatious Nellie? and isn't Ethan, the stable hand, a nod to the rugged, alpha male trope initiated by Lady Chatterly's Lover? but Ethan is a pretty sensitive guy with his poetic side, right? so, perhaps he's the ideal melding of the physical and intellectual?

now, contrast this bit of romantic innocence with the lust of the powerbroker parents who superficially subscribe to the victorian mores of the day (although 1915 is more correctly termed as the WWI era). throwing in a bit of authorial irony here now, aren't we? ^_-

thoughts?

Kent wrote: " I couldn't quite get whether this was a murder mystery or more of chronicle of life in WWI America. I kept waiting for the mystery to unfold, but then suddenly it was solved and the characters were moving on to something else."

it was a slow beginning for me. (then again, i'm not a historical fiction lover.) the book description promised a mystery and there was just that one hint at 5% when Mr. Davenport hinted at "changes", but then all of a sudden the deed is done at the 18% mark. however, after that, the pacing flowed quite well.

i also think that the audience who'd like this book is more at the YA/teen level.

thoughts?

Kent wrote: "My initial impression was that I couldn't quite get whether this was a murder mystery or more of chronicle of life in WWI America. I kept waiting for the mystery to unfold, but then suddenly it was..."

You know Kent I never noticed the crying on my first run through but now that you mention it...there was a fair bit of tears from many of the characters.

Was this a conscious decision Marie to reinforce the theme of grief or did it just sort of sneak into the narrative?

Alex G wrote: "otoh, the relationship b/w Mrs. Price and Mr. Davenport came out of the blue.

talking about relationships, what do you think of the innocent love triangle (Clara - Ethan - Abigail) and the ever-flirtatious Nellie? and isn't Ethan, the stable hand, a nod to the rugged, alpha male trope initiated by Lady Chatterly's Lover? but Ethan is a pretty sensitive guy with his poetic side, right? so, perhaps he's the ideal melding of the physical and intellectual?
"

To be honest Alex, I saw the relationship between Mrs. Price and Mr. Davenport from a mile off. I thought that was a clichéd part of the story. Maybe it's just me but to my mind...Mr. Davenport tells Mary that changes are coming and not everyone will like them, Mrs. Price is overly interested in the reading of the will, and really what else could it add up to?

Clara for me was a shallow and annoying character. Written well that way mind you; but the way she kept treating Ethan who she claimed to love just kept bothering me.

Alex G wrote: " throwing in a bit of authorial irony here now, aren't we? ^_-."

Thank you Alex! I'm glad you picked up on that because this irony is one of my favorite elements to weave into the story. I just get a kick out of that: *gasp* "I would never do such a thing at your age!" when they have in fact done worse :D. It's all about keeping up appearances. There is plenty more where that came from as the series goes on.


Thank you Eldon!

I would say it was a conscious decision because grief is meant to be a predominant theme here. I hesitate to classify the book as a murder mystery because that's not really what it was intended to be. It's more of a saga that follows a family through various trials and tribulations in a historical setting. There is some suspense, some mystery, some romance, some war...but the book doesn't really fit the mold for those specific genres.

Here are my two bits. As I indicated earlier, I was a late starter, so I have kept out of the discussion to avoid spoilers. My first comment is I thought as a matter of ordinary technique, scene changes that also change POV should involve a space. I use three lines, with three stars on the second line, but there are other ways. I think it is important not to have the reader stop and think, what? How did I get here? Marie indicated above that she had written film-type scripts before, and for me, I think it showed. Some of the early scenes have the film concept behind them, e.g. Mary preparing to go for a ride on Dolly, then suddenly the scene changes. For a novel, each scene should advance the plot a little - that one is too visual, in my opinion, for a novel

What Marie has written involves a time of great social change in the world. Probably not so much in the US, but for Europe all social structures were being torn down and could never revert. Marie has captured very well the life of the privileged, and their resistance to acknowledging what was going on elsewhere - they ignored it. I thought the atmosphere and the manners were done well. I thought Clara was done much better than some of the others seem to think; her problem was her mother, who refused to take control of Clara bearing in mind that Clara knew nothing and the mother just about everything. The relationship between Ethan and Clara was, in my opinion, reasonable, although the conversations got a little stilted at times. Understandable. Given John Smith's status in the social order, I felt that William was a little out of place.

I was disappointed with some of the other characters. They were certainly not the brightest of bulbs, in fact what came to mind was an invention I made in one of my SF novels - they were definitely dim glowers. (Challenge to others - what is the major use of a dim glower?)

To illustrate, Mary sees mother, brother and doctor standing around father with knife in back. So, either they did it, or they are accessories. So why does Mary then let the doctor anywhere near her, let alone take his pills? The police chief comes along and hears the two versions. So what does he do? What he should do is look at the body, immediately. You can't hide a knife wound, and he would have no interest in Mrs Davenport's plea to avoid gossip. If Mary's story is correct, she is at best an accessory to murder.

I also felt the book ended nicely. It obviously flags more to come, but it has a clear conclusion.

Ian wrote: "To illustrate, Mary sees mother, brother and doctor standing around father with knife in back. So, either they did it, or they are accessories. So why does Mary then let the doctor anywhere near her, let alone take his pills? The police chief comes along and hears the two versions. So what does he do? What he should do is look at the body, immediately. "

Excellent observations Ian :) I too spent some time wondering as to the police chief's ability. A knife wound in the back is pretty obvious murder. I also wondered how only Mary saw the blood that was everywhere?

But as Marie has pointed out, we can't view this book through the mystery or thriller lens. This is a family drama and as such holds up well for itself.

And I would say the major use of a dim glower is to adjust light lol

Eldon, wrong in the use of the dim glower. Try harder :-)

Yes, i wondered about the blood too. As far as I know, bleach was not widely available then, so it would have been rather difficult to clean up that. I realise it is not exactly a mystery or thriller, but it struck me as inadequate when the obvious is missed.

In an attempt to sum up our discussion I'd like to thank Marie for offering her insight on her debut novel and for dealing with whatever criticism came her way as a consummate professional.

Three cheers Marie!!

Thank you, Eldon!

Thank you everyone for reading my book! I appreciate the comments and hope to turn out better books in the future <3.

And many thanks to Eldon for seeing it through from nomination of Marie's book for BoM to moderating this discussion! Well done!

Thanks, Marie and Eldon!

I just wanted to take a moment to thank

Marie Silk
for allowing us the privilege of hosting her novel as our book of the month read.

For those of you who read her book, I encourage you to leave a review. I will be doing just that within the next few weeks.

Well said Alex. Seconded by me.

I have already left a review