In Sanghui’s first chapter, four years after Hae-on’s murder, she recalls the agitation of the days following the discovery of Hae-on’s body. Her fellow students obsessed over the case, using class hours to plot out timelines and argue over the facts of the police report (what exactly does “cranial injury” mean?) while their teachers were either unable or unmoved to divert their attention. As the investigation peters out, Sanghui describes a collective guilt spreading throughout the class. Over what? Their inability to solve the murder, their enjoyment in their attempts? The fact of their existence, their ability to move on? Likely all of it: Finalmente la espantosa sesión llegó a su fin. "Maravilloso.", dije con un suspiro, "¿No conocen otras tonadas?". Eduardo y Manuel me analizaron frunciendo el ceño. "De acuerdo, vamos a tocar otra". Me estaba bien empleado. Charming, beguiling, and unique. At the heart of this 'mystery' is a poetic meditation on grief, guilt, and the meaning of life. In the end, Lemon, like a great painting, makes you see the world differently

I'll admit that I came to this book for perhaps strange reasons - I'd heard that it was originally published as 'Mrs Pankhurst's Purple Feather: Fashion, Fury and Feminism' and that sounded right up my street. I didn't know who Etta Lemon was, but I settled in for a good read about suffragettes and their fancy outfits. I love these types of novels, so I am not put off but desire to see how he changes things. I remember reading books like it: God and Mr. Gomez, A Place Called Sweetapple, Under the Tuscan Sun, and The Caliph’s’ House, to mention a few. Well, wasn’t Stones for Ibarra one also? Whether or not, this kind of book is always charming to me since my husband and I liked fixing up houses, and my friend Julie did as well, and I got to see the results of those labors. Jolts with its brilliance and tartness. It's simply electric' Kyung-sook Shin, author of Please Look After Mother Publishing and prize-winning since 1996, Kwon is deftly translated by award-winning Korean Canadian Hong…A powerhouse thriller told in elliptical interlinked stories, Kwon's provoking narrative requires careful parsing and connecting. Her hints (and rewards) are many, well hidden on first read but deserving another visit…A deservedly successful Stateside debut that should assure future imports." - Booklist (starred review)

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The narrative is nicely enigmatic as we keep being directed down well-established lines, only to find those expectations subverted expertly. I like the way this poses challenges to the reader (listener in my case) by not spoon-feeding us information (the strange phone calls to a psychiatrist) or telling us what to make of the narrative and the characters it contains. So, Stewart, I do thank you for the one spark of inspiration in the whole of the book. However, even with that, I just can't lay my recommendation to it. This is an area of social history which would benefit from further study and research. Boase’s narrative occasionally lapses into the first person when she explains some instances of her own research. At times she does not completely succeed in meshing the histories of the radical suffragettes and the conservative conservationists. Nevertheless, this was an enlightening read complete with fashion photographs that some readers may find quite horrifying to modern sensibilities. When we cringe in horror we should chasten ourselves with the memory of fur coats, worn not so long ago. Kwon Yeo-sun's Lemon is a gripping mystery with an eccentric and thought-provoking edge. It's quite the unputdownable read!

Then they bought sheep, and their dog chased them up the mountain, and Chris could not get them to come down. The sheep just kept going, heading for the next county or whtever it would be called in Spain. He has no sheep dogs that know how to herd, and he is afraid that they will fall off the mountain. Maybe they should have bought mountain goats instead. What else happened? Try selling their offspring at a good price. That was another fiasco. something that’s learned as they grow up? It can be both? It can be caused by a combination of factors?”The book is extremely clever in that it places Etta against Emmeline Pankhurst who is someone we all know and love. What they were campaigning for at the same time and the disdain they no doubt held for each other. Life has no special meaning. Not his, not my sister's, not even mine. Even if you try desperately to find it, to contrive some kind of meaning, what's not there isn't there. Life begins without reason and ends without reason."

Ha-on's mother also has an troubling reaction. She had originally intended to name her first child Hye-eun (혜은), but her husband's regional accent mangled the name to Ha-on. After her death she attempts to retrospectively change the name, and then Da-on comes up with a disturbing solution of her own: Strangely absorbing... Where Lemon really shines is in its portrayal of grief and guilt, which feels so raw and complicated – as it is in real life. It doesn't offer up any real closure or resolution either, but perhaps that's just like life too' Por mucho que me hubiera gustado describir cómo los dedos encallecidos por el trabajo del viejo Eduardo punteaban las cuerdas de guitarra como ni siquiera el mismo Orfeo hubiera podido hacer jamás, y cómo me había quedado embelesado por el dominio que los campechanos músicos tenían de sus instrumentos y por la sencilla belleza de la canción, no puedo negar la verdad: la múisca era un horroroso canto fúnebre, estropeado por los juramentos ponzoñosos de Eduardo cada vez que, invariablemente, Manuel perdía el compás. Padre e hijo se pasaron toda la actuación mirándose con el ceño fruncido, consumidos de cólera por la incompetencia del otro. Many/most of us, even outside of the UK, will have at least heard of Mrs. (Emmeline) Pankhurst, who fought for -- and won -- the right for women to vote in Britain, 100+ years ago. But who was Etta Lemon? And which book title is more correct? Is the book about Etta Lemon, or Emmeline Pankhurst?The focus of the novel is the murder in 2002 of Kim Hae-on and is known as the High School Beauty Murder. Hae-on wears a lemon coloured dress the day she is last seen alive, hence the book title. This novella is made up of short chapters over 19 years and examines the impact of Hae-on’s death especially on her sister Da-on, on suspect Han Manu who is treated very badly by the investigating detective, Yun Taerim a witness and we get an outsiders view from Sangui Eonni who views the effects on those involved. to listen carefully. He needed him think carefully before answering and if not things would not go well for him. Stewart's publisher, Sort of Books, announced plans to release yet another Stewart memoir in 2009, this one focused on sailing, entitled Three Ways to Capsize a Boat: An Optimist Afloat. What was really interesting was the idea of women's legacies - the Pankhurst name has become legendary, while Etta Lemon is pretty much forgotten. I liked that this book shed some light on some powerful women of the past (as both the RSPB and suffragette contingents were mainly female). Even if they often totally disagreed...

Lemon also refers to the colour of the dress worn by Ha-on when she was murdered, and as part of her psychological reaction to the murder of her sister, Da-on undertakes plastic surgery to look more like her sister, and takes to wearing a similar dress. History was pretty cruel in so many ways. Definitely worth reading. I'm glad that this bit of history was captured with Etta Lemon: The Woman Who Saved the Birds. A high School Beauty, Kim Hae, is found dead….sitting in a passenger seat of Shin Jeongjun’s car….. The book’s initial focus is upon a singular woman, Alice Battershall - an exploited slum worker engaged in the preparation of feathers for the ‘Murderous Millinery’ trade- whose occupation provided fashionable headwear for the upper classes. Then Emmeline Pankhurst steps up to demand rights and the vote for women, including those like Alice. These suffragettes (unlike the earlier, peace abiding suffragists) were militant but glamorous feminists, who wore the plumage of the ostrich, osprey and various other species that were hunted to the brink of extinction. Such women used their feminine appearance to strengthen their fight by showing that they hailed from the upper echelons of society but also as a surprise tactic. Who expected a ‘lady’ to wreak havoc and break shop windows, even of those milliners who provided their hats! Discovering whodunnit isn't really the point here; Lemon is a subtle, often intense meditation on the after-effects of violence' GuardianHow many lives do we touch? What impact do we have on others, and what do we leave behind? Set in the aftermath of the murder of the most beautiful girl in school, Lemon, written by Yeo-sun Kwon and translated by Janet Hong, seeks to explore the terrain of the emptiness of death’s eventuality. While an unsolved murder lies at the novel’s heart, the book is more wake than crime caper. It’s a slow burn through the characters most impacted by the killing, tracing their various trajectories in the years that follow. A lot is touched on here, from class politics to the criminal justice system, but it’s the feminist lens with which Kwon regards the tragedy, and the sensitivity and subtlety she brings to her characters that propels the novel. I don't think the blurb does the book much justice, far from a murder mystery Kwon Yeo-Sun gives us chapters from the viewpoint of various characters responding to the high school murder of Ha-on.