|
Reviews
The Book Chick - Jonita Fex
The Summer Before the Storm is a richly detailed,
complex novel - one that will stay with you long after you've turned the last
page. The details have been painstakingly researched, and when Gabriele Wills
described a scene or a home, I felt as if I was actually right there along the
characters. There are a multitude of colourful characters who appear in this
book, and although it may take a little before you can recognize all of them,
there is a really helpful "cast of characters" section in the beginning of the
book that you can use until they are all familiar. Wills also has the talent of
turning characters that I thought I would dislike into characters that I both
liked and admired by the end of the book. She makes her characters
multi-layered, revealing only small parts of their personality at a time. This
is a large book, which took me almost a week to read (this from the woman who
reads a book in a day or two!), but you'll be glad that you picked it up.
The Summer Before the Storm offers a realistic reflection on the war
from a uniquely Canadian perspective, and incorporates romance, betrayal,
family dynamics, and loyalty within its pages.
Muskoka by the Book - by Patrick
Boyer - reprinted, with permission, from the August 2010 issue of
Muskoka
Magazine
Self-published author Gabriele Wills is as enterprising in
the book world as she is adept in story-telling. A tribute to both these
qualities is the fact that this June, Muskoka Chautauqua selected The
Summer Before the Storm, her first in a series of Muskoka novels, for
its esteemed 2010 Reading Circle List.
German-born Gabriele, with degrees in social science and
education, has been an educator, literacy co-ordinator, website designer, and
activist in heritage preservation, but writing fiction has been her passion for
years. Back in the 1960s, as a teen, Gabriele spent weeks each summer at a
Muskoka cottage, hearing tales about early days in the district, and resolving
“that one day I would write about that genteel time in legendary
Muskoka.”
The Summer Before the Storm, a work of
historical fiction, is the result. Her 525-page novel blends real personalities
Woodrow Wilson, Timothy Eaton, Robert Borden, Pauline Johnson and others with
characters sprung entirely from Wills’ inventive mind. Together they
populate this 1914 Muskoka saga, set against a genteel and idealized
background. It is a romantic Muskoka of islands and lakes and cruises where the
privileged lives of wealthy and artistic folk careen from parties and plottings
even as the war clouds over Europe burst open, changing the world forever.
Favourite Books: The Muskoka Novels by
Gabriele Wills
Highly recommended... The Summer Before The
Storm
by Gisela Kretzschmar, "Focus on Books"
I very much enjoyed the Muskoka-tale, describing a world
I've never known and could not even have imagined before, and here it came
alive in a way that made me almost feel part of it. And I was fascinated by all
those different characters, whom I soon felt very close to, following their
trials and adventures, hopes and despairs.
Having finished the first novel I couldn't wait to find
out, how Victoria, Chas, Jack, Ellie, Blake and all the others would be doing
in the completely different world of wartime Europe. So I was really glad to
have the second part handy and be able to continue with Elusive
Dawn.
Gabriele Wills: Die
Muskoka-Romane
by Gisela Kretzschmar, "Bücher im Blickpunkt"
Diese Bücher - die ersten zwei Bände einer
Reihe, aus der eine wunderbare Familiensaga werden könnte - gehören
für mich ganz eindeutig in die Kategorie "unbedingt übersetzenswert"!
Die Autorin - in Deutschland geboren - lebt seit ihrer frühen Kindheit in
Kanada und hat auf bewunderswerte Weise kanadische und europäische
Geschichte vor dem Hintergrund des Ersten Weltkriegs miteinander verwoben.
Der erste Band spielt überwiegend in Kanada, wo man
eintaucht in die Welt der Reichen und Superreichen, die ihren Sommer wie
gewohnt am idyllischen Muskoka-See genießen, während sich in Europa
schon die dunklen Wolken des drohenden Kriegs zusammenbrauen. Es ist eine Welt,
die den meisten LeserInnen eher fremd sein wird, und doch gelingt es der
Autorin mühelos, sie einem so nahe zu bringen, dass man sich bald als Teil
davon fühlt.
Man lernt das (noch) sorglose Leben einer jungen,
privilegierten Generation kennen, die schon bald hineingezogen wird in die
Wirren eines Krieges, der eigentlich gar nicht ihrer ist, den sie aber zu ihrem
machen, teils aus Abenteuerlust, teils aus Pflichtgefühl, denn Kanada war
damals noch britische Kronkolonie und die Kanadier loyale "Untertanen" des
Königreichs. Welch hohen Preis sie für ihre Loyalität bezahlen,
wird im zweiten Band deutlich.
"The Summer Before The Storm a very
good read
Saga set in early 1900s gives insight as to how the
rich and famous lived and played in Muskoka
BY GILLIAN BRUNETTE
HUNTSVILLE FORESTER - Wednesday Mar. 19, 2008
It was by chance that Gabriele Wills' novel The Summer
Before the Storm fell into my lap. It had been forwarded to the Forester
for review and it was the cover that caught my eye.
One shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but the glossy
photograph of the prow of an antique boat and the line "The First of the
Muskoka Novels" invited me in.
Further perusal showed the photograph was that of a
Disappearing Propeller boat, commonly known as a Dippy, and was the work of the
author's daughter Melanie.
I began to read and was immediately drawn toward the
saga's rich cast of fictitious characters - the aristocratic Wyndhams and their
social circle of friends, who while away their summers amid the pristine
island-dotted lakes, the granite cliffs and pine-scented forests of Muskoka in
1914.
Charming, ambitious and destitute Jack Wyndham is the son
of disowned Alex Wyndham. When his father dies, Jack seeks a better life and
ingratiates himself with the family matriarch, Augusta Wyndham.
He is invited to spend a few weeks at the Wyndhams' summer
home on Wyndwood Island, where he meets his beautiful, headstrong, and
audacious cousin, Victoria.
With three sisters and a mother living in virtual poverty,
Jack schemes toward ensuring a financially secure future for himself and his
family.
Throughout the long hot summer the privileged amuse
themselves with glittering balls, lavish picnics and friendly competitions,
unaware that the dark clouds forming over Europe are about to end their idyllic
Muskoka summer, and charmed lives will unravel with the onset of the Great
War.
It is impossible not to be drawn into the lives and
emotions of the eminently believable characters as they journey from romantic
moonlight cruises to the horrific sinking of the Lusitania, genteel Muskoka to
wartime Britain, regattas on the water to combat in the skies over France,
extravagant mansions to deadly trenches.
Wills melds historical fact and fiction with aplomb,
giving the reader insight into Muskoka's gracious bygone era and the horrors
that faced so many young Canadian men and women in World War I.
Born in Germany, Wills emigrated to Canada as a young
child. She says her fascination with Muskoka began in the 1960s when, as a
teenager, she stayed for weeks every summer at a friend's cottage on Mazengah
Island on Lake Rosseau. The cottage had been built by her friend's
great-grandfather.
"Hearing wonderful tales of the old days, I knew that one
day I would write about that genteel time in legendary Muskoka," Wills says in
the forward of her book.
An independent author, Wills has written two other books,
Moon Hall and A Place to Call Home, and a short story, Mrs.
Beresford's Disgrace, which won an honourable mention in the Canadian Authors
Association short story contest.
Wills is currently hard at work researching and writing
the much-anticipated second book in the Muskoka Novels series.
"I am, in fact, going to France in April to complete some
research as my characters spend a large part of Book 2 still in the war. I'm
hoping to have the book in print by the fall, if not sooner," she said.
The Summer Before the Storm is published by
Mindshadows.com and is available at select stores and online at
mindshadows.com. "
|
