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Hello and welcome back to The Rose Field, the third and final installment in Philip Pullman's The Book of Dust series. The master schedule for this read is here.

You can find the marginalia, which will be shared between both His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust series, here. Beware of spoilers!

~~~~~~~~~~Summary~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 11

The gryphon prince Keshvad bears Malcolm and Pan eastward. On the way, Malcolm reveals the prophecy about Lyra, that she would commit a terrible betrayal, and Pan tells Malcolm about Will. They arrive at the gryphons’ palace on Mount Damavand, which seems to have been constructed by human hands. A human servant, Darius, is assigned to them and Malcolm asks him how he came to be here. Darius’s tongue has been cut out, so he can only answer yes or no; Malcolm can only ascertain that Darius is neither a slave nor wholly free.

Pan and Malcolm meet the queen of the gryphons, who asks about their mission. Pan describes imagination as the way that humans navigate between the inner and outer kingdoms. The queen says they must remain in the palace until they successfully fix an item from her treasury: an alethiometer.

Chapter 12

Malcolm uses the lodestone to exchange information with Godwin, who has obtained the list of windows into other worlds which Colonel Schreiber is destroying one by one. His list of possible but unconfirmed locations includes Lop Nor/Karamakan. Malcolm learns that the humans who serve the gryphons are indentured servants, temporarily imprisoned for the crime of trying to steal the gryphons’ gold. He obtains some tools from one of the craftsmen and begins work on the alethiometer, which Pan recognizes as Lyra’s and realizes is missing its needle.

Meanwhile, Delamare prepares for a conference at which Gottfried Brande will speak. Lyra and Ionides are ensconced on their luxury bus traveling through the desert. Ionides explains that he and Leila Pervani were lovers and colleagues at the University of Alexandria, both studying Dust and the Rusakov field. They got in trouble for their fringe research and were expelled from the university. Ionides continued his mathematical research while working odd jobs, while Pervani joined the men from the mountains to keep an eye on one of the groups trying to destroy Dust. 

Chapter 13

Mere moments into his speech at the Magisterium conference, Gottfried Brande suffers some kind of seizure and dies on the spot. His German shepherd daemon remains behind, causing a panic among the audience. The daemon is captured and Delamare tries to question her, but she responds with a single sentence in Persian before vanishing. Delamare deduces that she likely was not Brande’s own daemon. An Oakley Street spy in the Magisterium reports these events back to headquarters. 

Delamare and his daemon debate publishing Brande’s undelivered speech, which contains ideas that mesh with Delamare’s own. Ultimately, they decide to bide their time to see what happens with Lyra, about whose movements Delamare seems well-informed.

Chapter 14

Lyra and Asta discuss how the alethiometer and the Myriorama cards work, and Lyra shows Asta that notebook with the list of people who can separate from their daemons. One is an Englishman in Baku, where they're headed. Ionides comes in to warn them about a Magisterium agent on the bus, whom Ionides will monitor at the next stop.

The chapter ends with a message from Glenys Godwin to Malcolm with the news that she has been betrayed.

Chapter 15

Malcolm is making progress on the alethiometer and realizes there's no mechanism for the needle, which always appeared to move on its own. He and Pan watch a storm boil up around the mountain and are shocked to see a witch approaching. Gryphon guards try to stop her, but she lands in Malcolm’s room. It's the same which he met at a boy, Tilda Vasara, who has come seeking an alliance with the gryphons.

Malcolm obtains an audience with the queen, where Tilda Vasara describes a threat to all people of the air. The winds are becoming more unpredictable and freshness is leaving the world. A human advisor to the gryphons deduces this is linked with recent explosions, which Malcolm realizes are the Magisterium’s efforts to destroy the world windows. He urges the witches, gryphons, and concerned humans to make an alliance to fight back.

Chapter 16

At the station before Baku, Lyra watches anxiously as Ionides walks up and down the platform, looking for the Magisterium agent. Lyra spots a suspicious man in a cloth cap, who catches sight of her in the bus window before she can duck down. She meets Ionides on the platform in Baku and points out the man in the cloth cap, but Ionides says that isn’t the agent, whom he’d already taken care of by framing him for pickpocketing.

Having escaped from the CCD camp, Alice Lonsdale has hitched a ride back to Oxford. Her first instinct is to go to Jordan College, but she fears the other college servants might turn her in to the Magisterium. She heads for the Trout instead, only to find that it has been requisitioned to billet soldiers, and the field outside is to become a training ground. Malcolm’s parents, Brenda and Reg, give Alice a meal and some extra clothes. Reg will take her to the train station by boat, and from there, she’ll head to London to try and disappear into the crowd.

Welcome to our second discussion of London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe.  The Marginalia post is here. You can find the Schedule here. This week, we will discuss Part II: Coincidences (Chapters 7-13). A brief recap of this section is below, and questions are in the comments, but feel free to add any thoughts you like!

+++++++SUMMARY+++++++

In this section, we learn about Akbar Shamji’s family history. His father, Abdul, was a wealthy merchant in Uganda who was forced to flee when the dictator Idi Amin Dada expelled all South Asians from the country. Abdul Shamji resettled in London, where he created a business empire upon massive loans and nested shell companies. For a time, he mingled with the wealthy elite, including Margaret Thatcher, until he was arrested for perjury during a trial involving Johnson Matthey Bank, which collapsed after the Brinks-Mat gold heist. After that, Abdul kept a lower profile but continued his shady dealings and involving his son, Akbar, in the family business.

Akbar’s first job was to run a failing theater called The Mermaid, which his father had purchased. The first play flopped, and the Shamjis failed to pay their vendors or purchase supplies for the theater, including toilet paper. After a year, Akbar resigned as general manager of the theater and moved to Los Angeles, where he dabbled in film and music without much success. He spent more time doing cocaine than actually working. Eventually, Abdul pulled the plug on the record label, Soulife, and Akbar disappeared into rehab.

The Metropolitan Police question both Akbar and Verinder; of the two, Akbar is more forthcoming, but he leaves key details out of his statements. Reviewing the CCTV footage, the police can see that Akbar returned to Riverwalk on the exact minute of Zac’s plunge from the balcony. He couldn’t have caused Zac’s death, but his presence was still very suspicious: Akbar peered over the wall at the exact spot where Zac had gone into the Thames.

We also learn about Hugo Gryn, Zac’s maternal grandfather, who survived Auschwitz in part because he lied to the guards about his age and ability to work a trade. Hugo also lied in order to get passage to London in a social program for orphan refugees, telling authorities that his mother had died in the camps when in fact she was still alive and had returned to their hometown of Berehovo. Finally, Hugo lied about earning a degree from Cambridge, having studied at a technical college instead. Hugo died before Zac was born, but perhaps lying runs in the family.

From Zac’s friends, Rachelle learns her son lied all the time, even telling people that his mother was dead. Rachelle meets Zamira, a neighbor with two children, and asks if she and Zac had a physical relationship. Zamira, appalled, insists that she and Zac were just friends, that she viewed herself as his big sister because he was alone in the world and clearly lonely.

Meanwhile, Matthew digs into Verinder Sharma, the occupant of the Riverwalk apartment where Zac jumped. Verinder, who also goes by Indian Dave, has a formidable reputation in London’s underworld despite his small stature. He started out working security for nightclubs and extorting guests on the side. Verinder has been implicated in many violent episodes, including murders, but he has only done short stints in prison and often manages to leave the country before trial. He even went so far as to fake his death to evade capture. Matthew begins to suspect that Verinder had gotten impatient with Zac for not turning over any money. But then, in the middle of the investigation into Zac’s death, the police tell Matthew that Verinder has been found dead.

Hello readers, and welcome to the first discussion of our author profile on George Eliot! We’re starting with Chapters 1-3 of the biography George Eliot: The Last Victorian by Kathryn Hughes. Once we finish the biography, we’ll continue with George Eliot’s novel, The Mill on the Floss. Follow along with the Schedule, and jot your thoughts as you go in the Marginalia. A brief summary of this week’s chapters is below, and discussion questions are in the comments. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Chapter 1

George Eliot was born Mary Anne Evans on November 22, 1819 in Warwickshire, England. Her father, Robert Evans, was a highly respected land agent who managed a 7,000-acre estate for the wealthy Newdigate family. Her mother, Christiana, was both overbearing and rejecting, leaving Mary Anne thirsty for maternal love her entire life. Mary Anne grew up at Griff House, a spacious farmhouse situated on several acres with a dairy, gardens, and a pond. As a toddler, she followed her older brother, Isaac, on his adventures through the fields and quarries, developing a love for the outdoors and a keen understanding of rural life. When Mary Anne was five, her parents sent her to boarding school, where she felt abandoned. Thinking she had done something wrong to deserve being sent away, Mary Anne became obsessed with good behavior and retreated into books.

Chapter 2

Hungry for maternal love and approval, Mary Anne adopted the Evangelical Anglicanism of one of her schoolteachers, Maria Lewis. Her renunciation of worldly pleasures put her at odds with Isaac, who enjoyed hunting and drinking. Mary Anne left school to nurse her mother until she died in 1836 and then took over as her father’s housekeeper. She also dropped the ‘e’ from the end of her name, for reasons I don’t really understand. While Mary Ann excelled at managing a working farmhouse, she felt cramped by the limitations placed on women at the time. She began a program of intensive self-study, mainly religious, but was tormented by Ambition, which she termed her “besetting sin”. Her inner turmoil manifested as migraines and low moods, becoming so severe that she suffered an emotional breakdown at a party in 1840.

Chapter 3

Mary Ann and her father moved to Coventry in 1841 after Isaac married and took over management of Griff House. Gradually, Mary Ann expanded her reading to include works of physical science which were challenging literal interpretations of the Bible. Authors such as Charles Hennell wrote that there was no factual evidence that Jesus was divinely born or raised from the dead. Mary Ann met Hennell and his family and became so influenced by their free thinking that she announced to her father that she would no longer attend church with him. The resulting conflict revealed to Mary Ann the precarity of her situation, as she would have nowhere to live and no income if her father disowned her. Eventually, Isaac, his wife, and friends of the family intervened and Mary Ann reconciled with her father, though the episode left a lasting impression on her. However, Mary Ann never returned to her Evangelical beliefs, and her correspondence with Maria Lewis petered out, superseded by her closeness with Hennell’s in-laws, Cara And Charles Bray.

Welcome to our next discussion of The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman!  This week, we will discuss Chapters 24-28. You can find the Schedule here and the Marginalia is linked here.

References to the books we've read so far in His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust will not be considered spoilers.  Please use spoiler tags to hide references to other books/media or anything from later in this book such as chapters we haven't read yet. You can mark spoilers using the format > ! Spoiler text here ! < (without any spaces between the symbols themselves or between the symbols and the first and last words). 

Discussion questions for this week’s chapters are in the comments below. Feel free to add your own questions or thoughts as well! In case you need a refresher, here is a summary of this week’s chapters: 

Chapter 24

Malcolm arrives in Constantinople and realizes Bonneville is following him. He turns the tables on Bonneville, luring his pursuer into the mazelike bazaar where Malcolm captures him and drags him to a cafe to talk. After some verbal sparring, Bonneville agrees to tell Malcolm about his and Delamare’s activities in exchange for information about his father. Malcolm says Gerard Bonneville died in the great flood and that his brother, Matthew Polstead, found the body. Bonneville tells Malcolm that Delamare plans to use his new power to seize control of the rose supply. The oil allows people to see not only Dust, but also fields of interaction and intention between people and objects. Malcolm knows Bonneville will kill Lyra if he finds her; Malcolm and Asta resolve to find her first.

Chapter 25

Lyra arrives in Smyrna where she visits one of Kubíček’s contacts, Princess Rosamond Cantacuzino. The venerable lady asks about Lyra’s journey and shares the story of how she lost her daemon, a black cat named Phanourious who fell in love with another human woman. The princess lived together with them for a time, but finally could no longer bear it and separated from her daemon. She gives Lyra a list of people without daemons in Aleppo, the next stop on her journey to find the Blue Hotel. The princess says if Lyra sees her daemon there, to tell him she would like to see him again.

Chapter 26

Malcolm meets with an Oakley Street contact, Bryan Parker, who takes him to a meeting of rose growers and other community members calling for official action against the men from the mountains. Initially, the police are monitoring the event, but Malcolm notices them leave the hall, to be replaced by mysterious gunmen. The leader of the gunmen says his group is “the brotherhood of this holy purpose” and claims to know the will of God, which is to purge the world of scented oils and perfumes and the roses they come from. He shoots one of the farmers and the gunmen begin taking hostages; Malcolm volunteers and manages to kill the leader without being observed and escapes. Later, he meets with Parker who describes how a local politician defused the situation by convincing the crowd the gunman was killed by an angel in divine retribution for the farmer’s murder.

Chapter 27

After two hotels reject her, Lyra finally finds one which sells her a room. She sits on the little balcony watching the people and daemons in the street below and feels her anxiety start to ease.

Pantalaimon continues his journey, avoiding humans as much as he can. However, he meets a girl named Nur Huda who lost her daemon in a shipwreck and they agree to travel together.

The train to Aleppo doesn’t leave for a few days, so Lyra investigates the cafe that was mentioned in Dr. Hassall’s papers. A man there recognizes her and they swap the Oakley Street passwords: it’s Bud Shlesinger whom I think we met briefly in the last book. He warns Lyra that the Magisterium is looking for her and invites her back to his apartment where his wife Anita helps cut and color Lyra’s hair to disguise her. Bud also gives Lyra a letter from Malcolm. Lyra steps out to buy some supplies, but when she returns, the Schlessingers’ apartment building is on fire.

Chapter 28

In a panic, Lyra boards the first train out of Smyrna she can get. Onboard, she meets an old man who asks if she’s a witch, so Lyra gives him her cover story. The two are sharing a compartment with an exhausted mother and her ill young son; the man tells a story to lift their spirits, using a pack of cards with pictures on them. Lyra falls asleep during the story and wakes to find herself alone in the carriage. The man has left her the pack of cards. Feeling torn between a feeling of mechanical deadness and the desire to believe in the secret commonwealth, Lyra draws a series of cards that seem to depict her venturing onto the Silk Road with Malcolm coming to meet her. Eventually, the train pulls into a station that is filled with soldiers.

Welcome aboard the Rocinante for our third discussion of Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey, the 9th and final novel in The Expanse series! It’s getting harder and harder to put this book down, so I won’t blame you if you read ahead; just be sure to jot your thoughts in the Marginalia. The Schedule has all the info you need about future discussion dates. For now, let’s get into Chapters 18 through 24!

++++++++++SUMMARY+++++++++

Chapter 18: Jim → Trejo offers not to bomb Freehold if Naomi agrees to hand over Teresa. Teresa is willing to go, but Naomi decides she can’t trust Trejo. The Roci crew are about to enact a desperate plan to draw the Laconian ships away from the planet, only to find themselves locked in their quarters. Jillian has taken matters into her own hands and plans to negotiate with Trejo.

Chapter 19: Kit → Kit, Rohi, and baby Bakari are headed for their new home in the colonies. Kit records a message for Alex, telling him the doctor says Bakari is fine and will adapt to his new home’s gravity faster than his parents will. Just then, Rohi returns with the news that the entities beyond the ring space have killed an entire colony system’s worth of people.

Chapter 20: Elvi → Elvi deduces the aliens killed San Esteban system by altering the ionic bonds required for neurotransmission. They might not know their attack was successful, though, since ships are still transiting that ring gate. Fayez worries about the ethics of continuing to experiment on Xan and Cara, but Elvi says it will be worth it if they save humanity. Cara is still enthusiastic about communicating with the BFE, so that’s something.

Chapter 21: Tanaka → Tanaka goes on a rampage in Draper Station, refusing to negotiate with Jillian and declaring she will kill everyone except whoever brings Teresa Duarte to her.

Chapter 22: Jillian → Jillian lets the Roci crew out of their quarters and back to their ship. She boards the Storm and creates a diversion so the Roci can get away. The Laconians offer to let her surrender, but she refuses. She won’t make the mistake of trusting their so-called honor twice.

Chapter 23: Jim → The Roci crew watch the Laconians destroy the Storm. They’re weighing their next options when Amos has another seizure. He tells Jim it’s because Elvi is pushing harder to get answers from the BFE and he’s getting “spillover” from the attempts.

Chapter 24: The Lighthouse and the Keeper → The Roci makes it safely to Adro system, home of the BFE, despite heavy traffic in the ring space. Kit’s ship enters around the same time and nearly goes dutchman, but a mysterious voice says No, and prevents catastrophe. Still in the ring space searching for traces of the Roci, Tanaka sees dark shapes forming at the perimeter. And the Roci crew see the Adro gate emitting light and other radiation; Amos remarks that it looks like someone turned it on.