BLIGH
By Anne Salmond (University of California Press, 528 pages, $39.95)
The name Bligh immediately conjures a negative response. As the focus of a famous mutiny (no little thanks to Clark Gable's movie portrayal of Christian Fletcher), Capt. William Bligh became the "don't be that guy" poster child for leadership training seminars ever since. Yet in "Bligh," New Zealand anthropologist Anne Salmond presents a more complex picture, largely through a deep study of the Pacific Islanders with whom he negotiated for breadfruit, not only once, but again when he was awarded another voyage after the mutiny. Indeed, the continuation of Bligh's career comes as some surprise. And his reputation, while inevitably tainted, also must acknowledge his accomplishments regarding mapping and dealing with various South Seas tribes. Salmond's research is extensive -- so much so that you wonder if she ever met a detail she didn't like. In short, the narrative suffers at times. But for historians of the sea, and of the era of Pacific exploration, "Bligh" ultimately delivers a far more nuanced account than Hollywood's epic.
KIM ODE, Staff writer
THE DARK ROSE
By Erin Kelly (Penguin, 322 pages, $26.95)
"The Dark Rose" doesn't build suspense in typical page-turner fashion. There are no chases, little violence and few signs of police or even an investigation. That's because for more than 200 pages, readers aren't exactly certain what crime (if any) has been committed, although the burdens of the past weigh heavily on both main characters in Erin Kelly's enthralling second novel. Paul and Louisa are each trying to escape the past. Louisa has fled London and tried to forget the ruin of an early, consumptive love affair -- one that haunts her nights and occasionally leaves her drunk and trembling, bereft in a pile of scrapbooks, crushed velvet and whiskey. Paul, two decades her junior, is also running from the past, although his troubles are more recent -- a string of petty thefts that left his partner accused of murder, with Paul as the only witness. That their stories will eventually collide is inevitable. When Louisa and Paul do finally run into each other, literally, on the grounds of a historic Elizabethan estate, the tale, which until then had only simmered with tension, begins to bubble over.
COLLEEN KELLY, Mobile and social media editor
