@lsfabre A Trip Back in (#British) Time: #Oxford, #Egland #MFRWorg

In recent years, thanks to my husband’s job, I had several opportunities to visit England. While he attended meetings and slaved away on projects, I wandered about, sightseeing and eating. The first stop on one trip was Oxford, a great way to step back in time as well as indulge my huge fan-crush for all things Harry Potter.

Oxford began as a river crossing for oxen, and later, a military encampment. In 1066, Oxford Castle was built and included a monastic community with a chapel and living quarters. While the exact date for the founding of the educational institution is unknown, evidence indicates the religious order included teaching as early as 1096. Attendance exploded in 1167 when King Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. 

Currently, the University is composed of 38 different colleges, of which 35 offer undergraduate studies. While almost all colleges provide the same courses of study, they were founded at different times and tend to attract different types of students, and as such, have different “flavors.” One of the most notable is Christ Church, founded in 1524 by Cardinal Woolsey and re-founded and renamed by King Henry VIII after Woolsey’s fall from power.

Go Set a #Watchman, A Book #Review @lsfabre #MFRWAuthor

After all the hype and speculation about this “sequel” to To Kill a Mockingbird, I decided not to read it neither a sequel nor prequel, but as a standalone novel by a debut author. This freed me from making comparisons or having any expectations confirmed or crushed by the work.

This book is very much a literary piece, taking place over only a few days into Jean Louise’s (Scout’s) annual two-week visit to her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama. Currently twenty-six years old, she lives in New York City and returns each summer for two weeks to visit her family. Her father, Atticus, is getting old and has severe arthritis. His sister Alexandra lives with him and keeps house. Calpurnia, the African-American woman who had been the housekeeper when Scout was growing up had long ago retired. Atticus’s eccentric brother, a physician, also lives in Maycomb and has spent so much time reading Victorian literature, he appears to have lost touch with reality and what century he lives in. She also has a love interest, Henry, her father’s young law partner, who seems to be waiting for her to return and marry him.

The first third of the book provides her reflections on her life growing up in the small Alabama town, her relationship with her father and others in her life, and her assessment of race relationships in the South. At the third-way mark, she is confronted with an event that shakes her belief system to her very core, and the rest of the book involves her coming to terms with this reality.