Book Review: The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World by Tilar J. Mazzeo

 

All aboard the Neptune's Car, where a young, pregnant sea captain's wife takes charge when he falls gravely ill, navigating their clipper around Cape Horn and on to San Francisco to the amazement of all. 

Mary Ann Brown was barely out of childhood when she married Captain Joshua Patten. Though sea captains' wives were often considered unlucky, the smart and quick-witted Mary devoured books in the ship's library and learned all she could about the maritime life as she traveled with her husband, including how to navigate.

At the age of 19, and pregnant with their first child, Mary finds herself fearing the worst for her husband, who has fallen ill while sailing from New York Harbor to San Francisco in 1856. With the first mate imprisoned for insubordination, followed by trying to get the crew to mutiny, it is up to Mary and her dedicated crew to see the ship safely to port.

The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World by Tilar J. Mazzeo is a detailed account of Mary Ann Patten, the first American woman to command a ship. Mazzeo provides background on the families of Joshua and Mary and the journeys the married couple embarked upon. While this is certainly a gripping account, the reader is over 100 pages into the book before Joshua's illness and Keeler's lack of respect develop, and Mary takes charge. I found myself skipping ahead to get to the heart of what I wanted to read about. Mary was a woman ahead of her time, who displayed courage in the face of challenging odds. Her story cannot be considered overall a happy one, but she left her mark in maritime history, which Mazzeo has captured for modern readers.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Press
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 9, 2025
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250352584
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250352583

I downloaded this book from NetGalley. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way. 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday - Apr 29

Welcome to It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday.   

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.   

Welcome to the last Monday of April! Hope you had a great week. I am posting early because I have a busy Monday morning. 

After a frustrating and crazy week, this weekend was filled with charity, home, and work. This Saturday was the annual Run for Rick's Place. Over 170 people signed up to walk or run in support of our organization. We had an amazing group of sponsors, volunteers, and staff coordinating the event. 

I walked in memory of my mother and my in-laws. 

The rest of Saturday was showing houses and catching up on laundry. I spent most of Sunday in my car, holding an open house and showing houses. After supper, I packed up the books I am donating to the Wilbraham Friends of the Library Book Sale that starts later this week. I will drop them off Monday morning. 

Despite the busyness of the week, I felt productive on the reading/blogging front. I've returned most of the books about historical homes to the library. I have two more to go. 

My review of this middle grade graphic novel appeared at The Children's and Teens' Book Connection. You can read it here.  

I posted my review of this Laura Ingalls Wilder biography here and at my Laura's Little Houses blog. 

Look for my review of this book coming this week.

This review is coming May 17th. 

I am enjoying this book for our Prairie Pages Book Club.

I am about halfway through my Audible version of this book.

I bought a Kindle copy of this one because I can't find the paperback anywhere in my house. This review is scheduled for May 31st. 

I need to start this historical mystery this week. Reading via PDF always takes me longer. 

I would really like to continue with this series after I catch up on review books, but I just added more books for review this week. I think it will be coming on vacation with me. 

New post at Christmas Year Round. Sharing Christmas News from Around the Country.

Upcoming virtual book tours:

• My Career Journal by CareerTuners - May 1 (Review) 
• Be Resilient in Your Career by Dr. Helen Ofosu - May 16 (Review)
• Mastering Your Scenes by J. A. Cox - May 17 (review)
• I Will Ruin You: The Twisted Truth Behind the Kit Martin Murder Trial by Emilio Corsetti III - May 31 (Review)
• Royally Arranged by Amber Malloy - June 4 (First Chapter Review)
• Rock, Crush, and Roll by Hunter Snow - June 12 (First Chapter Review)
• Is Truth Stranger Than Fiction? You Decide... by JB Miller - July 3 (Review)
• The Righteous Arrows by Brian J. Morra - July (Review)

 

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

This mailbox was filled with new e-books that I bought or received for review. 

Ellie is a local author. I had the pleasure of editing this novel. 

This was available on NetGalley.

This and the book below are for First Chapter Reviews in June. 

I will review this book in July. 

I think that is it this week. Looking forward to visiting your blogs. Hope you have a blessed week!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books with Names/Character Names In the Titles

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Welcome to February! Hope you are happy to be in month two of 2022. I know it will be a busy month for me. My first meeting starts at 8:30 this morning, so it will be afternoon time before I visit any blogs. 

Today's topic sounds like a lot of fun. I'm not sure I read many books with names/characters in the titles, but I guess we will see. Let's see if I can make it to 10. 

Top Ten Books with Names/Character Names In the Titles

So, as I went along, I discovered I own or have read more books with names/characters in the title than I realized. Guess there is always something to learn about your reading habits. 

Looking forward to visiting your blogs to see what books made your lists. 

Coming Soon: The Ladies’ Secret Society: History of the Courageous Women of Iran by Manda Zand Ervin

The Islamic Revolution of 1979 was an unmitigated disaster for the women of Iran. That fact is well known. What is less well-known and what Manda Zand Ervin brings to light in her remarkable book, is the long history of struggle against clerical domination in which the women of Iran have been engaged for centuries.

Rooted in the proud history of ancient Persia where once Mother-Gods were worshipped, the Ladies' Secret Society, founded in the early decades of the 20th Century, was at once the inheritor of this proud history and the progenitor of the women of today who are enduring 25-year prison sentences for the defiant, yet innocent, act of removing their hijabs in public.

Ervin tells the stories and records the accomplishments of generations of individual women activists who have risked everything to educate their daughters even when held in thrall to the harem system of the Qajar era.

These women refused to be victims. They fought like lionesses for every scrap of freedom gained from the time of the Arab conquest to the era of the Shah, only to see all their hard-won rights destroyed with the coming of Khomeini s Islamic Revolution.

Yet, despite the extreme cruelty of the clergy and the imminent danger they face, the women of Iran are undeterred. Ervin pays loving tribute to them all as she relates the stories of their remarkable achievements in the face of overwhelming oppression.

Thanks to Manda Zand Ervin and her extraordinary book, we know their names and we will not forget their courageous lives.


Paperback: 340 pages
Publisher: New English Review Press (January 27, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1943003335
ISBN-13: 978-1943003334

Pre-order here!

Manda Zand Ervin is the founder and president of the Alliance of Iranian Women, an organization that brings the voices of Iranian women living under the Khomeinist regime to the West.
Born in Iran, and educated in the United States, Ervin was the managing director of the department of statistics and international affairs at the Customs Administration of Iran prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In 1980, Zand Ervin came to the United States as a political refugee and became a US citizen three years later.

As a women’s rights activist and leading expert on Iranian affairs, she is frequently consulted by Members of Congress, and she has testified at Congressional briefings, the Helsinki Commission, and the United Nations.
In February 2008, Zand Ervin was appointed as the United States’ Delegate to the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women. She was also the featured speaker at the G8 Summit in Rome, on Violence Against Women in 2009. In 2012, she received the EMET Speaker of the Truth award.

Zand Ervin speaks on TV and radio programs, nationally and internationally, including CNN, FOX, BBC, Radio France, VOA, and cable television stations that broadcast into Iran from California. She also speaks at universities and conferences on the history of American/Iranian relations, European/Middle Eastern history, and human rights.

Like the book's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/theladiessecretsociety/

Vacation Time Reading 2019

It is that time of year again--vacation time. Whether vacation is hanging out at home and not running the daily work rat race or going somewhere special, we all need the time to get away. We are leaving for the Outer Banks on Saturday after dance recital, so the week is going to be hectic. Not sure what I will get done before I leave, but my books are already packed. I went through them today and took a few out to lighten the load and added a couple I had just bought.

Here is what is making the trip:

What are some books you're looking forward to taking on vacation?

Book Review: Madam President by William Hazelgrove

Long before there was 24 hours news and calls for transparency, a president's wife and his personal physician were able to cover up the fact that he was gravely ill and she had stepped in to run the country.

In Madam President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson, best-selling author William Hazelgrove creates an engaging account of a strong, independent-minded woman whose devotion to her husband ran so deep she would deceive an entire nation.

During Woodrow Wilson's second term in office, physical strain and ill health led to him suffering a devastating stroke that left him confined to bed for weeks and sequestered from everyone except his second wife, Edith, and his personal physician, Dr. Grayson. Knowing the importance of reducing her husband's stress, Edith--who had always been kept abreast of current affairs--began selecting what matters she would share with the president and delegated others to cabinet members. Hazelgrove's account sheds significant light on this period of time that Edith was secretly running the county. Though she had limited schooling, her close relationship with her husband and his acceptance of women playing a greater role than society found acceptable paved the way for her to step into his shoes.

Hazelgrove doesn't sugarcoat things, though. Edith had a darker side. She disliked certain people with as much passion as she loved her husband. She could hold grudges for a long time. Her contempt for  Wilson's vice-president, Thomas Marshall, was part of the reason she embarked upon what she called as her "stewardship" during her husband's illness. She also sought to replace people she felt were disloyal to him.

Madam President shares a great deal of personal and historical information, making this a love story that unfolds during one of the most tumultuous times in American history. Though I was fully aware of the history and of Wilson's incapacitation, I honestly didn't know much about Edith Wilson. She truly was a woman before her time. Madam President is a fascinating account of this complex, staunchly loyal woman.

File Size: 1459 KB
Print Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Regnery History (October 18, 2016)
Publication Date: October 18, 2016
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B01M02SSMP

I received a free digital copy of this book from the author. This review contains my honest opinion, which I have not been compensate for in any way.

"Waiting On" Wednesday: The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Though I am scared of flying, I have long been fascinated by the work of the Wright Brothers. When we visit the Outer Banks of North Carolina, we stay about a mile away from the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. It has been years since I've visited the memorial, but there have been visible changes since then. I look forward to our annual trip in July. I am hoping I can convince my family into checking out the WBNM, since my girls have never been there.

Two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize David McCullough tells the dramatic story-behind-the-story about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly: Wilbur and Orville Wright.

On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, two unknown brothers from Ohio changed history. But it would take the world some time to believe what had happened: the age of flight had begun, with the first heavier-than-air, powered machine carrying a pilot.

Who were these men and how was it that they achieved what they did?

David McCullough, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, tells the surprising, profoundly American story of Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Far more than a couple of unschooled Dayton bicycle mechanics who happened to hit on success, they were men of exceptional courage and determination, and of far-ranging intellectual interests and ceaseless curiosity, much of which they attributed to their upbringing. The house they lived in had no electricity or indoor plumbing, but there were books aplenty, supplied mainly by their preacher father, and they never stopped reading.

When they worked together, no problem seemed to be insurmountable. Wilbur was unquestionably a genius. Orville had such mechanical ingenuity as few had ever seen. That they had no more than a public high school education, little money and no contacts in high places, never stopped them in their “mission” to take to the air. Nothing did, not even the self-evident reality that every time they took off in one of their contrivances, they risked being killed.

In this thrilling book, master historian David McCullough draws on the immense riches of the Wright Papers, including private diaries, notebooks, scrapbooks, and more than a thousand letters from private family correspondence to tell the human side of the Wright Brothers’ story, including the little-known contributions of their sister, Katharine, without whom things might well have gone differently for them.

What are you "waiting on" this week?