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Dayle Gaetz

Autor von No Problem

17 Werke 247 Mitglieder 14 Rezensionen

Über den Autor

Beinhaltet den Namen: Dayle Campbell Gaetz

Werke von Dayle Gaetz

No Problem (2003) 50 Exemplare
Spoiled Rotten (2005) 48 Exemplare
Disappearing Act (2015) 30 Exemplare
Crossbow (2007) 30 Exemplare
Mystery from History (2001) 17 Exemplare
Living Freight (On Time's Wing) (1998) 12 Exemplare
Sea Dog (Orca Echoes) (2006) 11 Exemplare
The Golden Rose (1996) 9 Exemplare
Barkerville Gold (2004) 9 Exemplare
Alberta Alibi (2005) 8 Exemplare
Taking the Reins (2013) 5 Exemplare
A Sea Lion Called Salena (1994) 4 Exemplare

Getagged

Wissenswertes

Geschlecht
female
Nationalität
Canada

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Rezensionen

In this engaging piece of historical fiction for older children/younger teenagers, Gaetz tells the story of 13-year-old Emma Curtis. It is 1862, and the young girl and her seriously ill mother, Jenny, have been laid off from a Manchester spinning mill. With the American Civil War raging, there’s no cotton being shipped to England from the American South, and the factory has had to be temporarily shuttered. The mother and daughter are in dire straits. With no money coming in, they can barely manage to purchase the stale bread a kindly baker offers at a much-reduced price, never mind pay the rent for their squalid lodgings. Before she dies, Jenny makes Emma promise she will never go into a workhouse (a crucial key to survival) and that she will always make an effort to speak proper English (a route to upward mobility). Emma receives the ring her father gave her mother as well as some notes her mother recorded in cursive, which tell something of the family history. Unfortunately, Emma’s schooling has been very limited; she is essentially illiterate.

After wandering out of Manchester, the frightened, cold, and starving girl is taken in by a warm-hearted woman, a parson’s wife. Eventually the woman and her clergyman husband arrange for Emma to travel on a “bride ship” to one of the newest colonies: British Columbia. It’s all part of a charitable enterprise funded by the (real-life) Miss Angela Burdett-Coutts, an English woman who uses her considerable inheritance to keep impoverished young girls out of prostitution and provide them with other opportunities. The British colonies are in need of young women like Emma to become wives of the many adventuring men already living there. The women are expected to exert a peaceable, Christian influence on settlements.

After a three-month ocean journey, Emma arrives in Victoria, BC, and is lucky enough to be selected by Governor Douglas’s wife, Amelia, a woman of Cree ancestry, to work in the Douglas household as a servant. Now safe, Emma begins to have dreams about a life of adventure and freedom. However, a series of coincidences cause the girl to make some surprising discoveries about her mother’s and her own history. They will prove to be life-changing

Gaetz effectively interweaves a lot of 19th-century British Columbian history and some interesting real-life figures into Emma’s story. She provides more information about these people in an appendix. Gaetz also (less effectively) incorporates some Victorian vocabulary into her book and a glossary that can be consulted to understand the unfamiliar words. Frankly, I don’t know why she bothered including obscure language in a book intended for children. The words are, for the most part, no longer in use and therefore of little value to a middle-school student. They don’t even add much flavour. The annoyance of looking up the terms outweighs any added authenticity.

As an adult, I noticed echoes of Bronte’s Jane Eyre in the book; Emma can be as fierce and outspoken as Jane, whose story is, in fact, read aloud to her at one point in the story. There are also shades of Dickens. Yes, the book is slightly predictable, even a little formulaic, for an adult, and there are a few too many parsons in the pudding. However, I still think that certain girls I know would enjoy the story. It shines a light on a bit of BC history that I wasn’t familiar with.
… (mehr)
½
 
Gekennzeichnet
fountainoverflows | May 14, 2020 |
Diese Rezension wurde für LibraryThing Early Reviewers geschrieben.
Disappearing Act – A Leena O'Neil Mystery by Dayle Campbell Gaetz is a 2015 Rapid Reads publication. I was provided a copy of this book from the librarything early reviews program in exchange for an honest review.

Colleen- now calling herself Leena left home three years ago and never looked back. Now, out of the clear blue sky, her sister Gina, now calling herself Georgia, has contacted her. It would seem Georgia is in a bind and needs Leena's help.
Georgia explains she needs to lay low at Leena's for awhile because her husband, Mark, has been having an affair and she is sure he is trying to kill her. But, things are much more complicated than that. Leena soon learns Mark is dead and Georgia is a considered MIA.
So, the question is who killed Mark? Did Georgia kill him? What about his new girlfriend? Did he have enemies?
In her very first case as an “almost private detective”, Leena will put herself in danger to clear her sister's name, and uncover the truth of who killed Mark and why.

This is a super fast and easy read in which the author sets the stage for future mysteries featuring PI Leena O'Neil. I did like Leena, but at times the author tried too hard to affect a present day Kinsey Millhone style character. While the story is a little predictable, in the end, Leena manages to solve the case, to make a new friend, and heal some family issues as well. If you enjoy light, clean, mysteries this is one you might want to give this one a chance. 3 stars
… (mehr)
 
Gekennzeichnet
gpangel | 12 weitere Rezensionen | Jan 20, 2015 |
Diese Rezension wurde für LibraryThing Early Reviewers geschrieben.
Leena has abandoned her former life, where it appears she was overshadowed by her mother and sister, both lawyers. The story begins with a cryptic phone call from Leena's sister asking for help. Leena agrees to meet her sister at the ferry and shelter her for awhile until they can figure out why her sister's husband is trying to kill her. But, in the meantime, Leena learns that her sister's husband has been murdered and her sister is the main suspect. Leena then uses her recently learned private investigator skills to find the murderer.
This book is short (about 160 pages) and very simple. If you want an easy read and don't want a challenge, then it's fine. However, the identity of the murderer is pretty obvious from the start (given the parameters of the will) and the characters are not very well developed. We see some attempts at making connections between Leena and other people, but they usually are just to support the story line and not to add depth. I just don't see a lot of interest in this book. Sort of a "just the facts, ma'am" type of read.
… (mehr)
 
Gekennzeichnet
catlinp | 12 weitere Rezensionen | Jan 6, 2015 |
Diese Rezension wurde für LibraryThing Early Reviewers geschrieben.
Three years ago Colleen, now Leena, left home and deliberately disappeared to escape her lawyer mother and older perfect sister, Georgina. Her mother and sister have never contacted her so she is very surprised when her sister, now Georgia, phones and leaves a panicked message asking for help which Leena reluctantly agrees to give.
When her sister arrives, Leena discovers that her sister believes her husband, Mark, is trying to kill her on order to get her house and move into it with his girlfriend but when Mark is found beaten to death Georgia becomes the prime suspect.
Leena, who considers herself "an almost private investigator",finds her sister a safe hiding place before setting off to track down the real killer at very real risk to her own life.
This is the third book I have reviewed from the "Rapid Reads" series. "Disappearing Act" has a fast moving plot with well developed characters which are keymarks of this series designed for ESL and Literacy programmes.
This book is an excellent addition to the series.
… (mehr)
 
Gekennzeichnet
19anne44 | 12 weitere Rezensionen | Jan 1, 2015 |

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Statistikseite

Werke
17
Mitglieder
247
Beliebtheit
#92,310
Bewertung
3.1
Rezensionen
14
ISBNs
54
Sprachen
1

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