I mentioned on Friday that my next book would be a historical fiction book based in the 1600s by Philippa Gregory. I picked this book because I wrongly (Spoiler Alert) assumed that reading about old time problems would make me feel better about the right now problems.
I am only a quarter of the way through Dark Tides and I can tell you: NOTHING HAS CHANGED! WE HAVE ALL THE SAME PROBLEMS! WE JUST HAVE DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGY!
It is disturbing, truly.
And very funny, actually. I mean who knew I'd have so much in common with a middle aged lady from 1620 who is running a shipping and receiving business from a wharf in England with a body hanging on a noose nearby. Apparently the bones, clang in the wind, as a warning to pirates. I might try the same tactic against the Squirrels and the Spotted Lantern Flies.
ANYWAY, here are 6 ways today 2021 is just like 1620:
1. Women are still managing everything and making less money. The heroine, who has her import and export thing going on, has to handle everything. She works endlessly. The men seem to do just fine whistling and like whatevering. I bet she makes 30-percent less because of her petticoat. Oh and she lives with her mother, who is not totally senile and not like awful, but still a real pain in the fanny. (Parallel lives!).
2. Children are always surprised when they have to do work. The kids in the book are 21 years old and it seems their mother has to constantly remind them to complete their work at their respective jobs. And she is constantly reminding them to have some ambition, because, well, she doesn't want them to have to live on her horse hair bed one moment longer!
3. There are lots of conspiracy theories. The mother in the book, well, she is recovering from a failed with drowning episode that happened in the prior book. They thought she was a witch because the crops grew or someone's cow broke a leg (I cannot remember exactly.) Everyone is suspicious and then, in turn, they just yell WITCH (i.e. 2021's ANTIFA!) and then shove some poor woman in a cage and drown her. If she survives, well, then she is left to navigate the healthcare system.
4. Healthcare is very confusing. The suspected witch, well, she cannot seem to get the water out of her lungs from 21 years prior. She sees doctor's all the time and no one really has any idea what to do and no one is really in charge of her care, so she mixes up herbs and rambles on about having a "touch of drowning." (It reminds me of my own mother who once told me she had a "touch of pneumonia" for a month.)
5.The original KAREN may have been from 1620 colonial America. There is no Facebook, but there are posts all over town. Think your neighbor is fraternizing with the Natives too much? Well, write a judgmental letter and nail it to a tree! Someone stole your fish net from the river, write a passive aggressive letter on your finest parchment and nail it to the church door. Seriously. . .
6. There is the plague. I don't really need to explain this one, do I?
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