The Hidden Hand

Always on the lookout for something new to read, I naturally accepted when a friend of mine offered to lend me a book of theirs, saying that they felt sure I would enjoy it.

Did I ever! The first comment I have to make is that I've found when the book has an interesting Preface to it, the book is bound to be really interesting! It's not often that you are hooked on the story by reading the preface, but I confess that I was! Mark Hamby - apparently the Chief Editor for the Rare Collector's Series - captured my interest by describing about how he kept going back and forth about reprinting this book in the series. How he'd read something that would make him decide he couldn't possibly include it and then a while later on read something that impressed upon him that he couldn't possibly not include it. Needless to say, by the end of the one page Preface, I was curious to discover what about this book made him change his mind so many times!

The book opens on a dark, stormy and wild winter night with an equally stormy, wild, and wintery old man nicknamed - appropriatly enough - "Old Hurricane". Despite his thornyness I took to him and enjoyed reading the descriptions of his (many) outbursts of temper. Old Hurricane is called,er dragged away as he would have put it, on this dark night by the preacher to a dying old woman's bedside. ("There - I knew it! i was just aying there might be an old woman dying!") As Justice of the Peace however, he has to go and does so. The woman turns out to be a midwife whom had disappeared some 13 years ago.

She relates the story to a now avidly interested Old Hurricane and proceeds to die soon afterwards. The startling nature of the tale sends Old Hurricane off to New York in search of the midwife's charge. He insists upon going alone, much to the comical dismay of his servants who are convinced the old man has taken it into his head to find himself a young lady to marry.

Old Hurricane arrives safe and sound in New York and soon finds the object of his search. Enter Capitola, a delightfully black haired, mischevous, heroic heroine as you could ever hope to find. Just as to why Old Hurricane resolved upon finding the young girl and bringing her back to Virgina with him is something you shall have to read the book for in order to find out. Rest assured however, Capitola does not marry Old Hurricane.

The rest of the book follows in an interesting, exciting, and occaisonally somewhat complex manner. Up until chapter 24 I admit I was terribly confused as to who everyone was and how they were connected, but my younger sister (who also read it) informs me that she was not confused in the least and my confusion must have due to the fact that I stayed up until 10:30 with a headache reading. Perhaps some truth in that...

The Hidden Hand, by E.D.E.N. (Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte) Southworth is my latest reading recomendation to those who don't have anything to read and especially for those who do. I'd say it's suitable for 12 on up to 120. (Most people don't live past then, which is why I stop there.) It is available from Barnes & Noble as well as from Amazon, as well as being available to read online here. How more convienent could reading a good book get?

Watership Down

One night, a strange board appears near the Sandleford Warren and the lives of the rabbits who live there will never be the same. A small, young rabbit named Fiver feels a sense of coming danger for the warren and he along with his older brother Hazel attempt to warn the Chief Rabbit. When the warning falls on deaf ears, the two decide they must set out on their own, along with any who come with.

The night after they found the board, Hazel and Fiver set out along with nine others. Bigwig, a fierce fighter and his friend Silver; Blackberry, who shows ingenuity; Dandelion, who's abilities as a story teller come in handy more then once; Buckthorn, Hawkbit, Pipkin, Speedwell and Acorn. Their goal is to get far away and start a new life.

The way is fraught with dangers but they are lead ever onward by Hazel, whom the other's soon begin to look up to as one with a great capacity for leadership. Hazel himself is inspired to keep going by Fiver's visions of a tall hill, somewhere, that would be their new home.

Finally, they find it. It is a tall hill, just as Fiver saw, affording a look out for mile around. Any elil - enemies of the rabbits - would be spotted before they reached the warren. Now, the facts are that bucks - male rabbits - don't dig warrens. But when they find abandoned holes the rest are soon persuaded into excavating them further and turning them into burrows.

Once finished, the rabbits have a bit of time to relax and Hazel brings forward a problem that had been on his mind. There are no does, no female rabbits. Without them, due to the dangerous life of a rabbit, the newly built warrens will be empty within a few years. Here begins the major conflict of the story.

The rabbits befriend an injured gull named Kehaar. Once recovered, he scouts out the land for the rabbits. He reports that a farm down near the bottom of the Down has rabbit hutches there and two days away is another large warren. By now, the original eleven have been joined by three more. Hazel sends four of them out to find the warren and bring back any does that are willing, while the remaining ten stay behind.

The mission won't be as easy as they thought. What these rabbits don't know is that the other warren is the Efrafa. The Efrafa are a large warren of rabbits, ruled over by the General Woundwort. The rules there are exceedingly strict and any rabbit who attempts to leave is punished severely, even with their lives.

The four are taken into Efrafa, where they talk to some of the does and discover just what they are dealing with. Realizing that any mass escape would be fruitless, the four barely escape back to Watership Downs to report their findings.

The rabbits mull over this new information and debate about what to do. Hazel proposes another attempt, which is received... not very well by the rabbits who have seen what the Efrafa can do. Backed by Fiver's certainty that there is no impending danger, Hazel's authority wins out, and by his direction, Blackberry formulates a plan which is known only to Hazel, Bigwig and himself. Eleven rabbits set out to accomplish what seems those staying behind, a nearly impossible task.

How they fulfill their mission, return the the warren and defeat the Efrafa once and for all is an intense and exciting adventure that will keep you hooked until the last climactic battle.

One thing I particularly enjoyed where the little facts about rabbits scattered here and there, as well as the realism of it. These rabbits act like rabbits. They eat grass, with an occasional treat of lettuce and carrot here and there. They need the does to continue the life of the warren, not because they are "in love". And these are not some brave, bold rabbits who fear nothing, they are very real rabbits who's first instinct is to fly in fear from any danger, and they do rather frequently. Only in a few instances and with extreme difficulty are they able to remain in one spot in the face of danger (from non-rabbits, that is). Those rabbits they encounter who are not afraid of anything are different, do not lead normal lives nor do they lead happy ones. They are feared rather than trusted.

Also of great enjoyment are the 'folk-tales' interspersed amongst the main plot. They are about El-ahrairah, a hero figure for the rabbits and are amusingly reminiscent of the Brer Rabbit stories.

Watership Down was rather good, easy to understand and exciting to read. I wouldn't recommend this for younger readers though due to it's approximately 500 page length. But for older readers who can handle longer books, this classic is a must read.

Why live in the light, when the night seems so irresistible?

Love comes softly. That is how I describe my reaction after reading The Midnight Dancers, the lastest in the Fairy Tale Novel series by Regina Doman. After reading it through one - very quickly, as I usually read - I admit I was not as impressed and enthralled as I had been after reading Regina's other books The Shadow of the Bear, Black as Night and Waking Rose. I liked it very much, I just was not sure how much. A few hours later, I picked it up and started it again - somthing I only do with the Fairy Tale Novels. By the time I finished it again, I was in love.

Why did love come softly this time? I think prehaps because it is a very different kind of book from its predecessors. The most obvious difference, is that it is not about Bear, Blanche, Fish and Rose, the heros of the former books. This story focuses on Paul Fester, a student from Waking Rose, and a 'new girl', Rachel Durham.

Second difference, this novel centers around a philisophical idea -as I believe it was refered to - something the former books didn't do. Hence, this is not a book you can read through quickly (like I did). If you do, chances are you won't take in and grasp that idea, and if you don't, chances are you won't enjoy the book as much. Reading the quote by Dietrich von Hildebrand - it can be found in the "A Little Bit About This Book" at the end - helps to understand what the 'philisophical idea' is. I refrain from quoting it here. If you wish to know what it is, buy the book on June 1st and read it.

Rachel Durham hereself is a different type of girl from Blanche and Rose. I won't get into details, but I shall say that, in most respects, the Brier girls and Rachel are like... day and night. ;-)

So was it a good book? Absolutly! Regina once again captures your interest from the begining, building up to an intensely wonderful climax. Again, she leaves you with a satisfying, beautiful, and romantic ending.

Sometimes love comes softly, but it does come.