The Content Reader

Another month and another chain. I am joining Books Are My Favourite And Best for another six degrees. This month the chain starts with Wild Swans by Jung Chang. I read it many years ago, and loved it. It is a family saga that spans three female generations in China. I love family sagas so I go from here to The Empress of South America by Nigel Cawthorne. It is the story of a middle class Irish girl who went to Paris and ended up the wife of the emperor of Paraguay. It is a true story of how two, evil people made a whole country their private family business. Quite intriguing and chocking. From royalty to royalty I go to Mrs Jordan's Profession , by Claire Tomalin. It is a biography about the Anglo-Irish actress, courtesan and mistress of the future King William IV of UK. They had ten illegitimate children together. Fascinating story about a fascinating woman far ahead of her time.

Opening this book was like opening Pandora's box. All the evils came out, not to be spread through the world, but over Paraguay. The title of this book tickled my curiosity when I was offered a review copy from Endeavour press . The Empress of South America? Who could that be? It sounded impressive, but I had never heard about such a title or empress. It all started with Elisa Alicia Lynch, born in Ireland in 1833. Ten years later the family emigrated to Paris due to the Great Famine in Ireland. That was the beginning of a life that was to be anything but normal. She married at seventeen, separated from her husband three years later, and entered into the world of the courtesans. Through connections she managed to move into the highest circle; the one surrounding Princess Mathilde Bonaparte. It was in this circle that she met her fate; the Paraguayan general Francisco Solano Lopez. But, let's start where the book starts. In Paris, one night in May 1961, when a Paraguayan...

Better late than never! Here is my contribution for last Friday! Rose City Reader , is hosting  Book beginnings on Friday . She says: Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name. Freda’s voice  is hosting  Friday 56  and the rules are: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)  *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) *Post it. *Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. *It's that simple. My book this week is: I had never heard of this gruesome couple from the 19th century Paraguay. She is Eliza Lynch of Irish origin and he is Francisco Solano López, Paraguayan. Together they managed to kill almost a whole...