Buttercup is an “impossibly lovely” milkmaid living on a farm in the fictional city of Florin. There is a farm boy named Westley who loves her, and says so with every utterance of his famous quote “As you wish.” He travels to America to obtain a fortune so he can marry her, but his ship…
Category: storytelling
The Swan’s Daughter Book Discussion and Lemon Blueberry Butter Cake Recipe
The Swan’s Daughter by Roshani Chokshi “Hush Manor was built upon clouds.” Demelza lives in this castle as the youngest daughter of both a powerful wizard and a veritas swan. “Veritas swans were breathtakingly beautiful women” who told the truth and could compel others to as well. But they also have a tragic weakness. Once…
“The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” Book Discussion and Orange Marmalade Roll Recipe
Lucy is the youngest of four children who have been sent to the English countryside to live in a large, old manor house with an elderly gentleman until the bombings of London in WWII have ended. While exploring indoors on a rainy day, she crawls into a deep wardrobe, and out into the land of…
“Once Upon a River” Book Discussion and Easy Apple Cinnamon Buns Recipe
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield At winter solstice in the Swan at Radcot, a weathered pub beside the Thames river, where stories are told and retold round the bar and a roaring fire, a man washes up, banged-up and nearly dead, with a very young girl, as lifeless as a mannequin. Until her…
“Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier Book Discussion and Blackberry Victoria Sponge Cupcakes
“Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again…” Rebecca is perhaps the greatest and most haunting Gothic novel, the one to which all others written since have been compared. (Image of “Manderley” created with ChatGPT) Set in the English countryside in the 1920’s, in a mansion by the sea, Maxim de Winter lives with…
“The Thirteenth Tale” Book Discussion and Orange Ginger Spiced Cupcakes Recipe
A bibliophile named Margaret works in her father’s antique bookshop, also writing small biographies about obscure people long gone. Content in her life, she shockingly receives a letter from one of the most brilliant writers of her time, Miss Vida Winter, notorious for tormenting readers (with her unpublished Thirteenth Tale in a volume of only…
“I Capture the Castle” Book Discussion and Cherry Hot Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith This story is unlike any other coming of age tale. Subtly humorous, set in a castle inhabited by a very poor family in the 1930s, I Capture the Castle is reminiscent of other Gothic novels in that there are two sisters living in an ancient castle in the…
“The Distant Hours” Book Discussion and Mini Pear Pound Cakes
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton From the first pages of The Distant Hours, imaginations are captured, like Edie’s, by the dark tale of the Mud Man, a haunting fictional book within this one: “Can you hear him? The trees can. They are the first to hear him coming…It is moonless when the Mud Man comes.”…