<p>I’m late to the discussion. For some reason I always seem to be on the road for the CC book discussions. </p>
<p>Valerian root is still a popular mainstream sleep aid - you can buy valerian tablets at CVS. Celestial Seasonings herbal teas sell a “Sleepytime Extra” that contains valerian. I use it on occasion.</p>
<p>I found the discussion about belladonna interesting because its full scientific name is atropa belladonna. “Belladonna” is Italian for “beautiful lady.” More appropriate is “atropa:”
<p>Hi 12rmh18! (I’m on the road myself at the moment, having to hunt and peck in order to post – I miss my full keyboard.)</p>
<p>Great analogy between the Uzanne and belladonna. The wikipedia site goes on to say that belladonna berries are particularly dangerous because, although lethal, “they look attractive and have a somewhat sweet taste.” How appropriate!</p>
<p>Your comments about valerian sent me to the web, and I found this: </p>
<p>I wonder if the author was inspired by that bit of folklore when deciding to have Johanna experiment with her (fictional) powder on Old Cook’s poor cat.</p>
<p>With Turbantops, “the toxin affects the liver, central nervous system, and sometimes the kidneys. Symptoms of poisoning involve vomiting and diarrhea several hours after consumption, followed by dizziness, lethargy and headache. Severe cases may lead to delirium, coma and death after 5–7 days.” [Gyromitra</a> esculenta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyromitra_esculenta]Gyromitra”>Gyromitra esculenta - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>It is a popular delicacy in Scandinavia, but not always prepared properly, and “in Sweden poisoning is common.” I guess there are some modern Swedish chefs with the well-meaning na</p>
<p>Yikes – why would anyone eat turban tops? (Love the name, though)</p>
<p>And, I finished the book. It did pick up the pace as it went along. It was odd, though, that for all of the scheming by Uzanne and the attempts to stop her, in the end, it didn’t matter, because Gustav was shot. Wasn’t expecting that. </p>
<p>The Joanna character troubled me. She contributed to the deaths of two people, and a cat, and it didn’t seem to affect her much. Or wait – the boy died, didn’t he? Suddenly not remembering . . .</p>
<p>And the powder – I kept waiting for a breeze to come up, or something, and have it randomly kill someone.</p>
<p>And I didn’t like that Christian was killed. How weird.</p>
<p>In the end, I didn’t really get it – I was expecting the historical event to get more tangled up with the characters. It turned out, that for all their frantic worrying, they really didn’t change or affect anything? So, it was sort of a parallel to history story? About a world of made up characters sort of running along side the actual events?</p>
<p>I found the descriptions of the fans to be a little unbelievable and sometimes tedious. But at the same time, interesting to think that they seemed to be so important an accessory. Were there actually fans made that contained poison, or was that all created by the author?</p>
<p>Like others I just finished last night.Thanks to Ignatius? for suggesting this delightful book.
I’m excited to thoroughly read this discussion !</p>
<p>I’m blaming my summer guests who are here for two weeks for distracting me from this enjoyable book discussion. ( we are having too much fun, oh, and maybe too much wine)</p>
<p>Emil was such an endearing character, and the structure of the book added to the mysteries despite the flaws others have pointed out. I liked the book, an excellent summer read.</p>
<p>Maybe it was Gustav’s destiny to be shot, not poisoned by The Uzanne. Mrs. Sparrow, Emil, and friends do stop The Uzanne, so in that sense their Octavo works. At no point do their considerable efforts turn toward stopping anyone else. Perhaps if Gustav III had searched out his own Octavo he could have altered his destiny but he doesn’t.</p>
<p>SJCM: Thanks this time around go to BUandBC82. She threw in The Stockholm Octavo when Mary asked for suggestions at the end of last book club. (I did bring it up originally and it lingered on our list for a while never quite making it to final choice.)</p>
<p>mstee, I didn’t like it either that the supposedly “good” people in the story were responsible for murder, even if indirectly. </p>
<p>As for the inability to alter Gustav’s fate, Emil discovers by the end that although the Octavo has great power, its role is not to cause or prevent one single event. He has learned to take a more comprehensive view, telling Hinken:</p>
<p>“I think the Octavo exists in a dimension all its own: defining the here and now, reaching back into the past, and influencing the future–like some great edifice eternally rising. If you decide to enter you will indeed be reborn. The Octavo is the architecture of relationships that we build ourselves, and with which we build the world” (p. 409).</p>
<p>Yet in the end, Gustav is finally done in by the Uzanne. The shot is the first blow, but her visits finish him off. So the only thing that has really changed is that she uses a different fan and not Cassiopeia.</p>
<p>Regarding the “good” characters being responsible for murder, we see some more of Emil’s dark side when he tricks New Cook into poisoning the Uzanne. I had an “eek” moment as NC was about to take a taste from the container. </p>
<p>Carrying out ignatius’ thought a little further…maybe the Uzanne had her Octavo in place before Mrs. Sparrow and Jacob Johan Anckarstrom was one of her Eight. :)</p>
<p>^^^ In my book between the epilogue “Mrs. Sparrow’s Vision” and the acknowledgements lies The Stockholm Octavo. </p>
<p>The Uzanne’s octavo consists of these eight:</p>
<p>The Companion - Duke Karl
The Prisoner - Old/New Cook
The Teacher - Johanna Bloom
The Courier - Master Fredrik
The Trickster - Emil Larsson
The Magpie - C. & M. Norden
The Prize - Sophia Sparrow
The Key - King Gustav III</p>
<p>I looked at Johanna’s octavo:
The Companion - Old/New Cook
The Prisoner - Young Per
The Teacher - The Lion Apothicaire
The Courier - Auntie von Platen
The Trickster - Master Fredrik
The Magpie - Emil Larsson
The Prize - The Uzanne
The Key - Duke Karl</p>
<p>and so on … it’s quite intricate as it spreads out (and probably less and less accurate. ;))</p>
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<p>True … Emil and company do - and don’t - prevent The Uzanne. They manage to change the course of action that one night only. </p>
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<p>I like the quote about the Octavo, as it encapsulates Emil’s journey. (I want to reread parts of the book. I hurried through the last of it to finish on time.)</p>
<p>Mrs. Sparrow seems pleased at the end even though Gustav was not saved. She mentions that events can take time to unfold. In the interim, the Uzanne was stopped long enough for Johanna to escape (and for Emil to complete his octavo). </p>
<p>That mega-diagram of interconnecting octavos is over my head!</p>
<p>I thought the rapid transformation of Mrs Sparrow from a depressed individual with a neglected, run-down establishment to somebody fully functional and healthy with a revived business was rather implausible.</p>
<p>^^That quick transformation bothered me also. It seemed her lack of control over Gustav’s future sent her into depression, but it was surprising how quickly she got over it after he died. I don’t have the book in front of me right now, so I’m writing from memory. I’m pretty sure I have the time line correct. Is there something I missed that helped her recovery?</p>
<p>BUandBC82, I don’t think there was anything you missed about something that helped Mrs Sparrow’s recovery. I don’t believe there was anything there.</p>
<p>This is an example of how the characters in this book were not developed well enough. It made me feel frustrated and annoyed.</p>