Remember, Remember [Paperback]

Sheldon Goldfarb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2005

Fourteen-year-old Aleister Lister Smith is sailing through a peaceful existence at a respectable public school in Shropshire. Perhaps too peaceful, even a bit boring at times. The only adventures in his life are the ones he reads about in books like The Count of Monte Cristo.

But all that changes one day when the mysterious brother-in-law of his schoolmaster shows up. What are these troubles that the brother-in-law is undergoing, and why does he want Aleister to help him with them?

Before he knows what’s happening Aleister finds himself on the way to Manchester, ostensibly to work as a clerk in an insurance office, but really to try to find out the identity of a blackmailer.

Complicating his life once he gets there is a young girl named Kate who quotes Paradise Lost and seems alarmingly lively. Then there is Jack, his co-worker, who sneaks out during work to smoke. It all seems quite a different world from peaceful Shropshire.

And then on Guy Fawkes Night, there’s a murder.

Editorial Reviews

Review

... an intriguingly entertaining mix of blackmail, murder, and youthful romance, shot through with large dollops of tension and suspense. -- Books in Canada, October 2005

Goldfarb is a good writer ... -- Montreal Gazette, August 27, 2005

It's a good read, full of Dickensian characters, red herrings and a hint of a love interest. -- Diane Dakers, Victoria Times Colonist, June 19, 2005

Should you want something to tempt your 11-year-old, try Remember, Remember. -- Grumpy Old Bookman, September 13, 2005

About the Author

Sheldon Goldfarb has a Ph.D. in Victorian literature and has always enjoyed a good mystery. He grew up in Montreal (Canada) and spent a year in Manchester, where Remember, Remember is set. He now lives in Vancouver, where he works at the University of British Columbia and spends as much of his time as he can writing.

He has written everything from screenplays to book reviews to scholarly books on William Makepeace Thackeray to light-hearted spoofs and literary parodies. He once got mentioned in People magazine for writing a letter to the Times Literary Supplement. Altogether he has four degrees, dozens of publications, and one cat.

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Uka Press; First edition (April 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904781438
• ISBN-13: 978-1904781431
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,497,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A very charming Victorian mystery, April 25, 2006

By 

Debra Hamel (North Haven, CT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Remember, Remember (Paperback)

Sheldon Goldfarb's YA novel Remember, Remember opens with a charming scene: a class of Victorian-era school boys, one of them stumbling over a Latin conjugation, and their usually bearish teacher, Mr. Rawlins, so unwontedly distracted as not to have noticed that his pupil's recitation has trailed off before hitting the first person plural. Among the boys in the class squirming in discomfort is fourteen-year-old Aleister Lister Smith, a top student in the fourth form at Shrewsbury School. The reason for Mr. Rawlins's strange behavior soon becomes clear to Aleister when he overhears a conversation outside of his teacher's rooms: Rawlins's "impecunious brother-in-law," a Mr. Talbot, has shown up at the school with a crisis that threatens to bring scandal to the family. Meeting with no help from the imposing Rawlins, Talbot compounds his earlier transgressions--what landed him in trouble in the first place--by dragging Aleister back with him to Manchester on the off chance that the boy can be of some service. Thus Aleister's sheltered life is upended, and he becomes embroiled in an adventure that comes to involve spying, false arrest, private investigative work, and murder. Goldfarb's title is a reference to the children's rhyme about the would-be regicide Guy Fawkes--"Remember, remember the fifth of November..."--as actions central to the book's plot take place on that date.

Remember, Remember is a nicely written, quick read. It packs a compelling mystery and a pair of likeable teenaged protagonists: Talbot's daughter Kate flouts Victorian conventions by teaming up with Aleister to investigate the Guy Fawkes' Night murder; and Aleister himself, apt not to assert himself at the book's outset--indeed, arguably passive to a fault--is seen to grow in confidence as a result of the extraordinary events of his weeks in Manchester.

Any complaints I have about the book are minor: Aleister's dream sequences don't add anything, in my view, and he is too frequently described as tired: one begins to worry about his health. But these are minor quibbles. Goldfarb's target audience should certainly enjoy the book, but adults should consider it as well. It's a good read. I don't know whether the author intends to write a sequel to the story, but I for one would like to see a series of mysteries featuring Aleister as amateur sleuth. Surely the stately halls of Shrewsbury School are rife with crimes that need investigating?

Debra Hamel -- author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in ancient Greece (Yale University Press, 2003)

4.0 out of 5 stars A History Mystery, May 1, 2005

By 

D. Meriwether "Aunt Dottie" (Lafayette, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Remember, Remember (Paperback)

As the long summer vacation looms ahead, parents looking for good reading for their teenagers should consider Sheldon Goldfarb's new novel, "Remember, Remember." Set in Victorian England, readers will meet an engaging group of characters who inadvertently get caught up in the traditional antics of a Guy Fawkes Day celebration that lead to a challenging mystery. Apart from good entertainment for adolescents, they will painlessly learn something of English culture in the 19th century as well as find their curiosity piqued by references to the 17th century plot to destroy the houses of Parliament. They may go to the library or the nearest encyclopedia to learn more about Guy Fawkes! Good things to read is the perfect antidote for youngsters cut adrift from their school structure.