What an amazing book. Really, truly, amazing.
Cullin imagines Sherlock Holmes at 93: memory failing and facing the end of his life. What lessons and observations will that ingenious deciphering mind come up with when faced with love and loss, and at such a fleeting time that he’s likely not to remember it when he next wakes up or reaches into his pocket for the next snippet of memory placed there at some previous time.
The novel consists of three plot lines. The first is “present day” (1947) Sherlock—93 and just returning from a trip to Japan where he is in search of the elusive prickly ash plant. Here we see Sherlock interacting with his housekeeper, Mrs. Munro, and her son, Roger. Mrs. Munro’s husband was killed in combat in WWII. Sherlock attends his bees, harvesting the royal jelly for its health benefits.
The second plot line follows the trip to Japan where Sherlock meets up with a man whose real purpose for bringing Sherlock to Japan was to find answers about his long-lost father. Sherlock does find a prickly ash plant and cherishes the experience, much of the remainder of the trip is lost to “present day” Sherlock, but the reader gets beautifully written passages about post-war Japan and how WWII not only affected the landscape in Hiroshima but also the minds and souls of the Japanese people.
The third plot line is Sherlock’s own telling of one of his cases that wasn’t recorded by Dr. Watson. In this story, Mr. Keller, strives to find out what is troubling his wife. Sherlock find some sort of fascination or love for Mrs. Keller in his brief encounter with her in a garden, leading to his love of bees and tending of the apiary.
While the description of the separate plots sounds confusing or overwhelming the book is far from that. Very tightly written and organized, I found myself completely drawn into the story of a man whose memory—that thing that has defined him his entire life—is failing and he’s aware of it. The elusiveness of memory, of the bees, of love, of humanity permeates this beautifully written book. It will remain on my shelf.
Cullin imagines Sherlock Holmes at 93: memory failing and facing the end of his life. What lessons and observations will that ingenious deciphering mind come up with when faced with love and loss, and at such a fleeting time that he’s likely not to remember it when he next wakes up or reaches into his pocket for the next snippet of memory placed there at some previous time.
The novel consists of three plot lines. The first is “present day” (1947) Sherlock—93 and just returning from a trip to Japan where he is in search of the elusive prickly ash plant. Here we see Sherlock interacting with his housekeeper, Mrs. Munro, and her son, Roger. Mrs. Munro’s husband was killed in combat in WWII. Sherlock attends his bees, harvesting the royal jelly for its health benefits.
The second plot line follows the trip to Japan where Sherlock meets up with a man whose real purpose for bringing Sherlock to Japan was to find answers about his long-lost father. Sherlock does find a prickly ash plant and cherishes the experience, much of the remainder of the trip is lost to “present day” Sherlock, but the reader gets beautifully written passages about post-war Japan and how WWII not only affected the landscape in Hiroshima but also the minds and souls of the Japanese people.
The third plot line is Sherlock’s own telling of one of his cases that wasn’t recorded by Dr. Watson. In this story, Mr. Keller, strives to find out what is troubling his wife. Sherlock find some sort of fascination or love for Mrs. Keller in his brief encounter with her in a garden, leading to his love of bees and tending of the apiary.
While the description of the separate plots sounds confusing or overwhelming the book is far from that. Very tightly written and organized, I found myself completely drawn into the story of a man whose memory—that thing that has defined him his entire life—is failing and he’s aware of it. The elusiveness of memory, of the bees, of love, of humanity permeates this beautifully written book. It will remain on my shelf.
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