Changes

{{newreview|author=Elaine Everest|title= Christmas at Woolworths|rating= 3.5|genre= Historical Fiction|summary=''Christmas at Woolworths'' is the sequel to wartime saga ''The Woolworths Girls,'' and continues the story where the first book left off. Members of the closeclass-knit community in Erith are doing their best to pull together and keep morale high, even though the future is uncertain. At the heart of the neighbourhood, the home of kindly matriarch Ruby is a beacon where family and friends can gather for good food and conversation: a way to forget the troubles outside. Spirits remain high; even when the bombs are falling so close to home. We catch up with the three friends from the first book: Sarah yearns for peace and an end to the war, Maisie is desperate for a child and Freda would love to find romance. Will they all get their wishes this Christmas?|amazonuk"wikitable" cellpadding="15" <amazonuk!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->1509843655</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Minette Walters|title=The Last Hours|rating=4.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=In June 1348 the Black Death came into the country through the port of Melcombe in Dorset. Ignorant of many rules of hygiene which we'd find basic nearly seven hundred years later, the disease rages through the country. On the estate of Develish, Lady Anne Develish took control of the future of the people who lived in the demesne after her husband had ridden off to try and secure a marriage for his daughter. Two hundred bonded serfs lived on the estate and when Lady Anne realised the virulence of the plague she ordered that the estate refuse entry to anyone, including her husband and his entourage, for fear that they would bring the disease to her people.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1760632139</amazonuk!-- Lock -->}}{{newreview|author=Lars Mytting and Paul Russell Grant (Translator)-|titlestyle=The Sixteen Trees of the Somme|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=While his grandfather lived the past was an area of certainty for Edvard. At aged 4 he'd been taken to live with his grandparents, having survived the accident that killed his parents. Now his grandfather has died revelations are coming to light showing Edvard his family history is different from what he'd believed… his mother's birthplace, his mother's name, the whereabouts of late Great"width: 10%; vertical-Uncle Einar… and that's without looking more deeply into the fatal accident itself. Edvard is determined to solve the puzzle, a determination that will take him away from his native Norway to an area of France synonymous with devastation and a remote Scottish island loaded with secrets.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857056069</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Toby Clements|title=Kingmakeralign: Kingdom Cometop; text-align: (Book 4)center;"|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=1470 dawns and the next chapters of the War of the Roses are ready to play out[[image:1787198243. King Edward thinks that the future has been settled but treachery is still lurking. Meanwhile Katherine and Thomas also have their world turned upside down when that ledger and a chance comment threaten all they have, including their lives.jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>178089466X<http:/amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=P F Chisholm|title=Guns in the North (The Sir Robert Carey Mysteries Omnibus)|rating=4.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=1592: Sir Robert Carey flees the strictures of Elizabethan court – and his creditors – in order to become Deputy Warden of the West March in Carlisle. The Scottish/English borders and those who inhabit them are different from the world he's left behind but it will have to become his worldwww. It's now his job to bring law to the lawlessamazon. This isn't easy when every local he comes across has an affinity and a heritage of crime to some degreeco. For Robert the best thing about the job is its proximity to the woman he loves but he doesn't know what he'll do about that yet either. Meanwhile he soon realises that those who are supposed to be on his side are plotting against him but they don't realise what they're up against. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786694719<uk/dp/1787198243/amazonuk>}}{{newreview|authorref=Zanna Sloniowska and Antonia Lloyd-Jones (translator)|title=The House with the Stained-Glass Window|ratingnosim?tag=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary= Marianna, an opera singer in the soonthebookbag-to-be Ukrainian city of Lviv, is mistakenly shot dead at a political rally in the dying days of the Soviet Union. This novel begins with both anger and hope, as Marianna's coffin is covered in the illegal blue and yellow flag, and her death seems to herald the birth of a new nation. But the day of her funeral is also the day of her daughter's first period – a girl who must learn how to be a woman in this time of drastic change, with no mother to guide her along the way.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857057138</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= K J Whittaker|title= False Lights|rating= 4.5|genre= Historical Fiction|summary=Cornwall, 1817.21]]

{{newreview|author=Hawa L Crickmore|title=Across the Ocean|rating=4|genrestyle=General Fiction|summary=A young cage fighter, Martin Grandson, was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder which required a bone"vertical-marrow transplant, preferably from a sibling. Only recently he'd been a fit young man, in the prime of life, but now he was suffering from a rare type of bone canceralign: without the transplant he would be paralysed for life and might be dead within the next twelve weeks if he didn't receive the transplant within the next fourteen days. Unfortunately Martin's parents had died in a car crash and there were no siblings or other close relatives. His girlfriend, Celia, was not a match.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524666971</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= M J Tjia|title= She Be Damned|rating= 4|genre= Crime (Historical) |summary= London, 1863top; text-align: prostitutes in the Waterloo area are turning up dead, their sexual organs mutilated and removed. When another girl goes missing, fears grow that the killer may have claimed their latest victim. The police are at a loss and so it falls to courtesan and professional detective, Heloise Chancey, to investigate. With the assistance of her trusty Chinese maid, Amah Li Leen, Heloise inches closer to the truth. But when Amah is implicated in the brutal plot, Heloise must reconsider whom she can trust, before the killer strikes again.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178507931X</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Sarah Franklinleft;"|title= Shelter|rating= 5|genre= Historical Fiction|summary=Connie Granger has escaped her bombed-out city home, finding refuge in the Women's Timber Corps. For her, this remote community must now serve a secret purpose.<br>Seppe, an Italian prisoner of war, is haunted [[Murmuration by his memories. In the forest camp, he finds a strange kind of freedom.Their meeting signals new beginnings. But as they are drawn together, the world outside their forest haven is being torn apart. Old certainties are crumbling, and both must now make a life-defining choice.<br>What price will they pay for freedom? What will they fight to protect?|amazonukRobert Lock]]=<amazonuk>1785762990</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Jane Johnson|title= Court of Lions|rating= 5|genre= Historical Fiction |summary= Kate Fordham arrived in the sunlit city of Granada a year ago. In the shadow of the Alhambra, one of the most beautiful places on earth, she works as a waitress serving tourists in a busy bar. She pretends she's happy with her new life – but how could she be? Kate's alone, afraid and hiding under a false name. And fate is about to bring her face-to-face with her greatest fear. Five centuries ago, a message, in a hand few could read, was inscribed in blood on a stolen scrap of paper. The paper was folded and pressed into one of the Alhambra's walls. There it has lain, undisturbed by the tides of history – the Fall of Granada, the expulsion of its last Sultan – until Kate discovers it. Born of love, in a time of danger and desperation, the fragment will be the catalyst that changes Kate's life forever. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786694336</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Angus Watson|title= You Die When You Die|rating= 4|genre= Historical Fiction|summary= Finnbogi the Boggy and his tribe of mushroom men (Vikings) must take a road trip through hostile territory whilst being hunted by the greatest fighting force ever seen (Amazonian Native Americans). Vikings meet Native Americans in a clash of cultures and potentially the end of the world. When the Queen of the known world says your tribe has to be exterminated then your immediate future may not be so rosy.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0356507564</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Alison Weir|title=Six Tudor Queens: Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession: Six Tudor Queens 2|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Thomas Boleyn sends his daughters abroad to be trained at the courts of European royalty. Not only does this give them an education in the ways of the elite, it could also ensure a good marriage. Unfortunately he hasn't reckoned on the ideas that one of them, Anne, picks up and as for marriage… Anne is determined to marry for love not through some paternal arrangement. Yet the reality turns out to be different, driving a wedge through her family on a road leading to dark tragedy.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147222762X</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Martha Conway|title= The Floating Theatre|rating= 5|genre= Historical Fiction|summary=When young seamstress May Bedloe is left alone and penniless on the shore of the Ohio, she finds work on the famous floating theatre that plies its trade along the river. Her creativity and needlework skills quickly become invaluable and she settles into life among the colourful troupe of actors. She finds friends, and possibly the promise of more. But cruising the border between the Confederate South and the 'free' North is fraught with danger. For the sake of a debt that must be repaid, May is compelled to transport secret passengers, under cover of darkness, across the river and on, along the underground railroad. But as May's secrets become harder to keep, she learns she must endanger those now dear to her.

And to save the lives of others, she must risk her own..[[image:3star. jpg|amazonuklink=<amazonuk>1785762907</amazonuk>}}Category:{{{newreview|author= Jenny Ashcroft|title= Beneath a Burning Sky|rating= 4}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|genre= Historical General Fiction|summary=Young bride Olivia Sheldon finds returning to her childhood home in Egypt a bitter-sweet experience. On the one hand]], she has been reunited with her estranged sister Clara, and the pair have formed a deep and loving bond. On the other, she has an unhappy marriage to her domineering husband Alistair, who only married her to spite Clara, who had refused him previously. Life with the sadistic Alistair is unbearable, with Olivia subjected to horrific abuse at his hands, daily. As a lady with no means of supporting herself, Olivia seems trapped without any means of escape, only finding solace in the company of her sister and friends. But when her dear sister goes mysteriously missing in the bustling streets of Alexandria, it is up to Olivia to try and solve the mystery of her disappearance before it is too late.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751565032</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Conn Iggulden|title=Dunstan[[:Category: One Man Will Change the Fate of England|rating=4.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=The young Dunstan shows no sign of the sainthood he'll later attain. Son of a Wessex thane and sent to a monastery for education, this isn't a lad who responds to discipline. However an enquiring, intelligent mind begins to emerge and then comes the big break. Lady Elflaed calls to put a proposal to him after hearing about what she considers to be a miracle and the monks consider another in a long line of excuses. Yet Dunstan will outshine all his teachers as well as knowing seven kings and holding responsible positions in their courts, as the book's title suggests. Whether we believe in the miracles or not, Dunstan certainly had quite a life!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718181441</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Simon Edge|title= The Hopkins Conundrum|rating= 5|genre= General Historical Fiction |summary= Tim Cleverley inherits a failing pub in Wales, which he plans to rescue by enlisting an American pulp novelist to concoct an entirely fabricated mystery about Gerard Manley Hopkins, who composed ''The Wreck of the Deutschland'' nearby.]]

In Victorian England, Gerard Manley Hopkins ''Murmuration'' follows the lives of a life full host of confusion and contradiction, but discovers characters from 1863 to the present day. From a calling for poetry that threatens risqué comic to overrule his calling to God. Anda fortune teller, speaking we see the birth of God, Five nuns leave persecution to travel to Blackpool and its steadily fading glamour. There is a new world – only hint of mysticism to find themselves in more trouble that they could ever have imagined… the tale, with the mesmerising dance of starlings over the pier acting as an anchor throughout the distinct narratives here, drawing together disparate stories of lives captivated by the sea. [[Murmuration by Robert Lock|amazonuk=Full Review]] <amazonuk!-- Winthrop -->1785630334</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Anne O'Brien-|titlestyle=The Shadow Queen"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Winthrop_Mercy.jpg|left|ratinglink=4https://www.amazon.co.5|genreuk/gp/product/147367249X?ie=Historical Fiction|summaryUTF8&tag=Born in 1328, Joan of Kent may be of royal blood but she's from a family tainted by treacherythebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=147367249X]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Mercy Seat by Elizabeth H Winthrop]]=== [[image:4. Her father Edmund Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, was executed for his part in the infamous Montague plot5star. However Joan has grown up under jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] In an isolated Louisiana town, a young black prisoner sits in his dingy cell, staring at the protection shadow of her cousinthe window bars cast onto the concrete wall by the evening's dying sun rays. At midnight, King Edward III with all he will be dead; strapped to a chair and electrocuted for the advantages and attributes rape of a princesswhite girl, who later committed suicide. Yet, much He is resigned to her mother's chagrinhis fate; it is futile to protest his innocence or to expect anyone to believe what really happened; after all, obedience isn't one of these attributes. Joan's head strong feist takes her on love between a black man and a varied journey in life. Having said that, three husbands, five marriages (technically) and white woman was never going to have a son destined for the English throne means that it's also been one heck of happy ending in a life!small town filled with small-minded people. [[The Mercy Seat by Elizabeth H Winthrop|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848455070</amazonuk!-- Maitland -->}}{{newreview|author=Patricia Falvey-|titlestyle=The Girls of Ennismore"width: A Heart10%; vertical-Rending Irish Sagaalign: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1472235878.jpg|ratinglink=4http://www.amazon.co.5uk/dp/1472235878/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] |genre=Historical Fiction|summarystyle=Ireland 1900"vertical-align: Ennismore House's young heiress Victoria had hoped that she and Rosie Killeen would be friends forevertop; text-align: left;"|===[[A Gathering of Ghosts by Karen Maitland]]=== [[image:5star. Rosie soon comes to know better as there's a social chasm between those who live in the House and thosejpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]], like Rosie's family[[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], who have been brought up merely [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Witchcraft, the supernatural and the will to serve themsurvive at all costs collide in a story that never shies away from the darker side of human nature. The days land is unhappy, the old spirits want revenge and famine is kindling a resurgence of innocence are coming to an end in many waysthe old faith. SoonAs fear rises, as the cry it is increasingly difficult for Irish Home Rule becomes louderPrioress Johanne to ignore that something rotten has taken root. The sacred well is tainted, there'll be more than steps its healing waters run red with blood and strangers are blowing in on society's ladder between them as each must discover their own way in a nation that will never be the same againwind of change.[[A Gathering of Ghosts by Karen Maitland|amazonuk=Full Review]] <amazonuk>1786490625</amazonuk!-- Syson -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Elaine Everest"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title= The Butlins Girls[[image:Syson_Peacock.jpg|left|ratinglink=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785761862/ref=nosim?tag= 4thebookbag-21]] |genre= Historical Fiction|summarystyle=Fresh"vertical-faced Molly Missons has just arrived in Skegness to start her new job as a Butlins auntiealign: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Mr Peacock's Possessions by Lydia Syson]]=== [[image:4star. Behind the smiles and confident appearance, she hides a secret; she has taken the job to escape escalating problems at home. She soon finds good friends in her chalet-mates Bunty and Plumjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category: Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]], and it turns out that they each have their own reasons for wanting [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] On a fresh start. Meanwhileremote volcanic island off the coast of New Zealand, Molly is shocked a family of settlers struggle to discover that her movie-star crush Johnny Johnson is working as make such an entertainment adviser at the campunforgiving place a home. Is he really as suave as his on-screen persona? And why is he working at the camp anyway? As hidden secrets become discoveredWhen a ship appears, Molly and her new friends face new threats they feel that their wishes have been granted and dangers that may threaten their new-found freedomcommunity reinvigorated – but high hopes are swiftly dashed when a vulnerable boy disappears.As both settlers and newcomers come together in the search for the child, they uncover far, far more than they were looking for – discovering dark secrets about both the island and those who inhabit it. [[Mr Peacock's Possessions by Lydia Syson|Full Review]]|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447295536</amazonuk>}}{{newreview<!-- Mazolla -->|author= Geraint Jones-|titlestyle= Blood Forest"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|rating= 5[[image:1472234782.jpg|genrelink= Historical Fiction|summary= Felixhttp://www.amazon. The lucky oneco. He doesn't feel especially lucky when he staggers out into the grove and finds twelve of his comrades butchered and mutilated in the worst possible waysuk/dp/1472234782/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Story Keeper by Anna Mazzola]]=== [[image:5star. He felt even less lucky when the soldiers arrivedjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], Roman cavalry. He might have run[[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Audrey, a complex mix of flights of fancy and seriousness, wanting, needing, but he knew he'd never make it. He stepped out to face whatever came nextbe more than what everyone expects of her, escapes from the straightjacket of her home.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718184815</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Dominic Smith|title= Where every action, every thought, every yearning is controlled by her father, who only once in his life threw caution to the wind and married way beneath him for love. Now a widower and remarried, he has rigorously returned to upholding what is right, what is proper, the bastion of doing what is expected. [[The Last Painting of Sara de VosStory Keeper by Anna Mazzola|rating= 5Full Review]]|genre= Historical Fiction|summary<!-- Glendinning -->|-| style= If you find the techniques used by Rembrandt and Vermeer fascinating, ''The Last Painting of Sara de Vos'' provides a masterclass in how to work up a canvas in stages"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0715652915.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co. Framing the novel as the story of a seventeenth century Dutch painting, Dominic Smith vividly sketches out the main contours of his characters and the three time periods they inhabit before we are even one fifth of the way throughuk/dp/0715652915/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Butcher's Daughter by Victoria Glendinning]]=== [[image:5star. Sara is one of the few women artists jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] The Tudor era is often chosen for historical fiction because it has such a wealth of the period intrigue, plots and her painting is machinations. The regular cast of children skating on a frozen canal, her now dead daughter its central figure. The painting has been in Marty de Groot's family since before Isaac Newton was born courtly characters are usually rich and he is powerful, with so many to choose from that the patent lawyer from whom it is stolen in 1950s Manhattan. Ellie Shipley forged a copy of well never seems to run dry and the painting in her postgraduate student years and characters are often those high up in 2000 finds herself at the centre circles of a gathering storm which threatens power, or those prepared to do anything to destroy her reputation as one of Sydney's foremost fine art academicsget there. This book, however, is totally different. Satisfying though those first descriptions are, Set in the mid–to–late 1500s we then understand these are merely see the author's equivalent of world through the delicate chalk lines used by painters eyes of the Dutch Golden Age to mark out the composition which will followAgnes Peppin, a young, poor woman. As a woman she can either marry, or join a convent. Since Agnes has disgraced herself then she has no choice at all, and she is sent to join the nuns of Shaftesbury Abbey. [[The Butcher's Daughter by Victoria Glendinning|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>192526680X</amazonuk!-- Longridge -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Caro Fraser"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1788034503.jpg|titlelink= The Summer House Partyhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788034503/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |ratingstyle= 4.5"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"||genre= General Fiction |summary= In =[[Silence in the gloriously hot summer of 1936, a group of people meet at a country house partyDesert by David Longridge]]=== [[image:3.5star. Within three years, England will be at warjpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]], but for now[[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] As the shadow of the Second World War descends upon the planet, time stands still. Dan Ranscombe is clever four people are explored in a tale of love and good-lookingfriendship. Henri, but he resents fulfilling a family tradition in joining the wealth and easy savoir-faire of fellow guestForeign Legion, Bill, arriving at Cambridge on an RAF scholarship, Paul Latimer. Surely a shrewd girl like Meg Slater would see through thatLeo, wouldn't she? And what about Dianastruggling to align his beliefs with those of his upbringing, Paul's beautiful sister, Charles Asherand Elisabeth, crossing continents and changing names are all brought together by strife and turmoil. As the Jewish outsiderwar rages, Madeleinethese men are tested like never before, restless and dissatisfied with her role as children's nanny? And artist Henry Haddontrust, loyalty and love leading to decisions that affect both their host, no longer young, but secure lives and those all around them. [[Silence in his power as a practised seducer. As these guests gather, none has any inkling the choices they make will have fateful consequences, lasting through the war and beyond. Or that the first unforeseen event will be a shocking death… the Desert by David Longridge|Full Review]] |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786691485</amazonuk!-- Weir -->}}{{newreview|-|authorstyle= Matthew Harffy"width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|title= The Serpent Sword|rating= 4[[image:1472227670.5jpg|genrelink= Historical Fictionhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472227670/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  |summarystyle= It's AD 633 and Albion is a divided island made up of petty warlords who want to be treated like honourable royalty but act like gangsters"vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Six Tudor Queens: Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir]]=== [[image:4star. Romans are a memory that have entered into myth and jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] When it comes to Jane Seymour, the souls third wife of Albion are torn between the old Gods and Henry VIII, popular opinion is divided. Some see her as a scheming marriage-wrecker from an ambitious family who would stop at nothing to gain favour in the new Christking's eyes. It is in this world that we follow Others view her as a pious and God-fearing woman who brought calm and stability into Henry's life following his turbulent marriage to Anne Boleyn. Perhaps both sides are true, to an extent. In ''The Haunted Queen,'' the third book in the adventures ''Six Tudor Queens'' series, author and historian Alison Weir puts flesh on the bones of a Queen haunted by the shadow of Beobrand as he undertakes the classic hero’s journey. Beobrand moves from wide-eyed teenager to hardened and honourable warrior through a brutal rite of passage as he hunts the killer of his brother and seeks to become a true warrior.a formidable predecessor. [[Six Tudor Queens: Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir|Full Review]] <!-- Dalrymple -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:140886553X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/140886553X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[In Gold's Name by Marcus Dalrymple]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] It was about 1509 when a series of mystical events foreshadowed the end of the Aztec Empire and the inhabitants were to some extent conditioned to accept the pale faces who arrived many years later with their deer-without-antlers. Some thought the Spaniards were gods. Antonio Vega was no god, but he was essentially a decent man, particularly by the standards of the time. He was the finest marksman with his harquebus on the force, but at the age of twenty three he believed that the expedition in October 1520 was to establish trade links and to convert the local inhabitants to Christianity from the local religions which required human sacrifices. He'd joined the army from a seminary and whilst you wouldn't call him naive, he'd failed to appreciate that 'establishing trade links' meant finding and removing the Aztec gold and that any conversion would not be by winning hearts and minds but by threats and torture. [[In Gold's Name by Marcus Dalrymple|Full Review]] <!-- Hall -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1785630806.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785630806/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Industry of Human Happiness by James Hall]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] ''The Industry of Human Happiness'' first and foremost is a novel about music. It is about human beings being able to find music and magic in the simplest of places. Max and his younger cousin have realised their dream of opening a gramophone company. However, their ambition and hubris soon puts them on a course towards London's underworld. They will ascend broken and their lives changed forever. [[The Industry of Human Happiness by James Hall|Full Review]] <!-- Varese -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0715653008.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0715653008/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Spirit Photographer by Jon Michael Varese]]=== [[image:3star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Jon Michael Varese's debut novel was inspired by the life story of the real-life father of spirit photography, William H. Mumler. His fictional stand-in here is Edward Moody, who was a battlefield photographer under Matthew Brady and now owns his own photography studio in Boston. Moody is dismissive of spiritualism, yet considers himself to be doing a service to the bereaved by fabricating family photographs in which the ghost of a departed loved one appears. This involves getting hold of an image of the loved one and superimposing it on the negative being developed, so that it seems to appear hazily in the background. Looking back from today's high-tech perspective, it's hard to see how anyone could have been fooled, but suffering people in desperate situations often want to believe; the same goes for séances. [[The Spirit Photographer by Jon Michael Varese|Full Review]]  <!-- de Lacey Davidson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1506905900.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1506905900/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"| ===[[Precept: A Novel by Matthew de Lacey Davidson]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] Nathan Whyte is tremendously excited about the arrival of Frederick Douglass in Ireland. And even more excited that his Quaker father, who is publishing the British edition of ''Narrative'', Douglass's memoir of his life as a slave, will be accompanying the famous black American abolitionist on his speaking tour. Nathan is deeply impressed by Douglass, who is a charismatic figure and a gifted orator. But Ireland will have as big an impact on Frederick Douglass as Frederick Douglass will have on it. We watch him through Nathan's eyes as he sees for himself the beginnings of the horrors of the potato famine and meets and befriends the famous Irish nationalist, Daniel O'Connell. [[Precept: A Novel by Matthew de Lacey Davidson|Full Review]] <!-- Daniel Peltz -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1912083779.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1912083779/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Indomitable Chiesa di Santa Maria by Daniel Peltz]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] When we first visit the Chiesa di Santa Maria we're in the company of Molly Cavendish who is a part-time guide at the Museo di Santa Maria, which is what the ruins of the Chiesa - a chapel - have now become. Crowds flock to see its centrepiece, a renaissance fresco with a history which grabs the attention of young and old. Molly uses the history to entertain the tourists, but there's more too it than she knows, particularly as the history of the building is also the history of the Vannini family, who helped in building the chapel some six hundred years ago and one of whose descendants is the director of the museum. [[The Indomitable Chiesa di Santa Maria by Daniel Peltz|Full Review]] <!-- Worsley -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Worsley_Mary.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/408869446/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Lady Mary by Lucy Worsley]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Teens|Teens]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] ''Lady Mary'' chronicles the famous story of Henry VIII's love affair with Anne Boleyn, his divorce from Katherine of Aragon, Anne's execution for adultery, and Henry's subsequent marriage to Jane Seymour, which finally produces the much longed for birth of a male heir. This time, the story is told through the eyes of an important but often neglected player - Henry's young daughter, Mary. Mary's hopes of her family staying together are crushed by the divorce and she is treated terribly by a father under the influence of the Boleyn faction. Lady Mary follows her through these awful years and you can't help but root for the little girl stuck in the middle of these tumultuous events. [[Lady Mary by Lucy Worsley|Full Review]] <!-- Curran -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:1683690133.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1683690133/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] You are a lass of twenty eight. Plucky, penniless and in Regency era London the race is on to find a suitable suitor - or else doom yourself to life as an eternal spinster. Along your journey you'll be accompanied by Lady Evangeline Youngblood - a fiesty noble eager to save you from a life alone, and fired by a rogueish sense for adventure. When it comes to suitors though, you'll have to make the ultimate decision between witty, pretty and wealthy Sir Benedict Granville, wholesome, rugged and caring Captain Angus MacTaggart, or the mad, bad and terrifyingly sexy Lord Garraway Craven. With orphans, werewolves, long lost lovers and ancient Egyptian artifcats along the way, it's clear this isn't going to be an easy decision... [[My Lady's Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris|Full Review]]<!-- Mayfield -->|-| style=''width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;''|[[image:1786072424.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786072424/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style=''vertical-align: top; text-align: left;''|===[[The Parentations by Kate Mayfield]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] In eighteenth century London, sisters Fitzgerald, Constance and Verity are changed forever when they become entwined with the Fowler family - and charged with protecting a mysterious child. Fast forward to the London of 2015, and the sisters are still waiting - with no way of knowing if the boy is alive or dead. Far away, a hidden pool grants those who sup from it eternal life, but also forces them to keep a secret for two hundred years. As those years pass by, those who were granted immortality find that it's far from a blessing - with true darkness emerging in the absence of death. [[The Parentations by Kate Mayfield|Full Review]] <!-- Laws -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Laws_Munich.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/178803788X/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Munich: The Man Who Said No! by David Laws]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]] I've played Neville Chamberlain in public, you know – a full one-line in a ''Beyond the Fringe'' sketch, where he says he has a piece of paper from Hitler. I then proceeded to prove it was a paper bag, in fact, by blowing it up and immediately bursting it. That is what that paper was to many – the indicator of a lot of hot air, and only leading to an unwelcome noise, when WW2 actually struck anyway. Certainly, not everyone was keen on his appeasement with the Nazis, and this book opens with the first-person reportage of one such man, keen on showing proof to Chamberlain that he should not sign the Sudetenland away. But he only got so far before his story was cut off entirely – leaving a grand-daughter, Emma, at Cambridge but under a cloud of ignominy, to pick the last, barest threads of the story up and see just what did happen to him. Oh, and her help has just come out of prison… [[Munich: The Man Who Said No! by David Laws|Full Review]] <!-- Kristjansson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Kristjansson_Kin.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786489937/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Kin by Snorri Kristjansson]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime (Historical)|Crime (Historical)]] Unnthor Reginsson is the uncrowned king of the valley; retired Viking farmer and rumoured owner of a large hoard of gold. He is gathering his clan, a grand reunion after ten years of absence. It is time for strengthening family bonds, feasting, telling tall tales and remembering shared history. [[Kin by Snorri Kristjansson|Full Review]] <!-- Chadwick -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:0751564974.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0751564974/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Templar Silks by Elizabeth Chadwick]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] ''Templar Silks'' is a great example of historical fiction done well. It's a fictitious account of William Marshal's time in Jerusalem during the late 1100s during a brief spell of calm before the death of King Baldwin to leprosy in 1185. Elizabeth Chadwick has written a previous book about William Marshal but glossed over this period in his life for lack of research. In this book she goes back to fill in the gaps having spent time studying this particular period of his life. Her main problem, as she acknowledges at the end of the book, is that virtually nothing is known of Marshal's time in Jerusalem. We know when and why he went, we know who the major power players were, we know when he came back and that is about it. So understandably, this book is probably more fiction than history but it is brilliantly written none the less. [[Templar Silks by Elizabeth Chadwick|Full Review]] <!-- Mitchell -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:MandM_Revenge.jpg|left|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1520973179/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Revenge by Mitchell & Mitchell]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]] ''Revenge'' opens with the news that Charles Stuart is to return to the throne as Charles II of England. A young woman, Ruth Courtney, is returning home to her family's farmhouse, excited at the prospect of a new King. She arrives home, however, to find her home ablaze and surrounded by renegade soldiers, supporters of Cromwell, her family nowhere to be found. [[Revenge by Mitchell & Mitchell|Full Review]] <!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786692406</amazonuk>}}