I don’t know what’s happening to me, I’m in a total slump. Don’t you hate it when it happens? I know I have so many things to do and still I can’t do anything. I’m so mad with myself!
Know what I’m going to to? I’m going to set a nice schedule with deadlines for me and see whether this will shake me and give me a purpose. I need to do somethign about it!

In the meantime, I can at lest share a few links with you for the montly roundup. You can do this, Sarah, don’t you? Come on!

Vino Sano Grape Bricks

It has to be acknowledged, during Prohibition there was no limit to the creativity of people to devise ways to get their own alcohol without breaking the law, or at least appearing as not breaking the law.

Vino Sano is probably one of the most creative. It was a brick of solid grape juice and when it was sold, the label explained clearly what you were not supposed to do if you really didn’t want your grape juice to turn into wine.

Marketing was born in the 1920s, you know.

Swimwear

In the matter of swimwear, the 1920s were that awkward place where garments had changed dramatically from the previous decades, but were still weirdly different from what we are accustomed to now, even if they were fast approaching our way to think about it.

Sharilyn Decter presents us a wonderful article that covers everything seaside, from fashion to accepted beaviours. Some of these information is quite surprising.

Ireland’s Holocaust heroine

It’s always a good time to hear an inspiring story and Many Elmes’s sure is.

Put plainly, Mary Elmes was a humanitarian par excellence, who was locked up in a Gestapo prison for doing good work… work that has until recently been forgotten – work which, in 2014, earned her the Jewish accolade of Righteous Among Nations… the only Irish person to be so honoured.

David Lawlor grabs the occasion of the publishing of Clodagh Finn’s book  A Time to Risk All to tell us about this remarkable woman who deserves to be remembered.

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And since we’re heading toward a season where we normally have more time for reading, let me make a few reading suggestions.

On a Cold Dark Sea by Elizabeth Blackwell

On April 15, 1912, three women climbed into Lifeboat 21 and watched in horror as the Titanic sank into the icy depths. They were strangers then…

Con artist Charlotte Digby lied her way through London and onto the Titanic. The disaster could be her chance at a new life—if she hides the truth about her past. Esme Harper, a wealthy American, mourns the end of a passionate affair and fears that everything beautiful is slipping from her grasp. And Anna Halversson, a Swedish farm girl in search of a fresh start in America, is tormented by the screams that ring out from the water. Is one of them calling her name?

Twenty years later, a sudden death brings the three women back together, forcing them to face the impossible choices they made, the inconceivable loss, and the secrets they have kept for far too long.

Death of a Novice by Cora Harrison

The Reverend Mother is delighted with her new entrant to the convent. Young Sister Gertrude is well-educated, has worked for an accountant and has an appealing sense of humour. But one autumn morning, Sister Gertrude is found dead inside a small wooden shed, just beside the river. Surely a young nun could not die from alcohol poisoning?

But when the Reverend Mother delves more deeply into Sister Gertrude’s b

ackground, she finds some puzzling anomalies. Why did the young nun not delay her entry to the convent until after her sister’s wedding? Is it a coincidence that her father died of a similar illness not long before? And could there be a link between Sister Gertrude’s death and the gunpowder explosion on Spike Island? The Reverend Mother must find the answers to these questions if she is to safeguard her community from suspicions of murder.

Where the Fire Falls by Karen Barnett

Watercolorist Olivia Rutherford has shed her humble beginnings to fashion her image as an avant-garde artist to appeal to the region’s wealthy art-collectors. When she lands a lucrative contract painting illustrations of Yosemite National Park for a travel magazine, including its nightly one-of-a-kind Firefall event, she hopes the money will lift Olivia and her sisters out of poverty. 

After false accusations cost him everything, former minister Clark Johnson has found purpose as a backcountry guide in this natural cathedral of granite and trees. Now he’s faced with the opportunity to become a National Parks Ranger, but is it his true calling? 

As Clark opens Olivia’s eyes to the wonders of Yosemite, she discovers the people are as vital to the park’s story as its vistas–a revelation that may bring her charade to an end.

1929 by M.L. Gardner 

As Black Thursday triggers financial despondency, three young couples in New York City must trade their lives of luxury for poverty, tragedy, and setbacks.

When Jonathan Garrett’s brokerage firm collapses on the day of the Stock Market Crash, he unites with his closest friends (and former business partners), Aryl and Caleb, to relocate, track down a low-paying job, and cultivate a new life.

As the three men toil in their laborious jobs, their wives, Ava, Arianna, and Claire, slowly adapt to life in a shabby, rundown apartment, learning to sew, cook, and clean. With the help of their former, outspoken, Irish maid, Maura, and a new, equally Irish friend, Shannon, the wives become even closer than before.

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