Difference between revisions of "Newest Historical Fiction Reviews"

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[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
 
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{{newreview
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  <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->
|author= James Benmore
+
{{Frontpage
|title= Dodger of the Revolution
+
|author=Tananarive Due
|rating= 5
+
|title=The Reformatory
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=
+
|summary= Gracetown, Florida. June 1950. After a scuffle with a white boy, twelve year-old Robbie Stephens Jr is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, otherwise known as the Reformatory. It's a place with a brutal and dark reputation. But the segregated reformatory is a chamber of horrors, haunted by the boys that have died there. In order to survive the school governor and his Funhouse, Robert must enlist the help of the school's ghosts – only they have their own motivations...
Once the undisputed 'Top Sawyer' and most artful of thieves, events have taken a sharp downturn for Dodger of late. His recent close brush with death has left him agitated and disturbed, seeking solace in the murky opium dens beneath the city. His dependence on the poppy has left him clumsy and shaky, no longer the light-fingered pickpocket he used to be. Even the local youths, who used to respect and emulate him, enjoy playing pranks on him and laughing behind his back. There is no doubt about it: Dodger is a mere shadow of his former self and at risk of becoming an opium fiend.
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|isbn=1803366532
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784292885</amazonuk>
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}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Katherine Howe
 +
|title=A True Account
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=General Fiction
 +
|summary=Hannah Masury is living in Boston, having been sent to live with a family who run an inn, and being made to work there from a young age.  When she hears there is to be a hanging of some pirates in the town, she decides to go and watch. Enthralled and horrified in equal measure, Hannah finds herself embroiled in a young boy's death at the hands of two vicious pirates. She hides away, so that they don't find and kill her too, and then to escape them completely she runs away to sea, dressing as a boy and joining the notorious Ned Low's pirate ship as a cabin boy. She soon finds herself in the thick of things when there is a mutiny on board, and from there we are caught up in her rip roaring tale of life on the ocean waves.
 +
|isbn=0861547438
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Antonia Hodgson
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|author=Sarah Marsh
|title=A Death at Fountains Abbey (Thomas Hawkins 3)
+
|title=A Sign of Her Own
 +
|rating=3.5
 +
|genre=General Fiction
 +
|summary=After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearing.  Suddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her life changes.  Living in a time when the use of sign language was seen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a school where she is taught to lip read, but physically restrained from signing.  From here, she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and using a system called Visible Speech.  At the same time, Bell is working on other inventions and ideas, and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of espionage.
 +
|isbn=1035401614
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Claire North
 +
|title=House of Odysseus
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
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|genre= Literary Fiction
|summary=John Aislabie thinks that Thomas Hawkins has arrived at Aislabie's country mansion to investigate murder threats.  That's part of it but Thomas' main reason is to carry out a command from Queen Caroline connected to the recent South Sea Bubble scandal. The command was phrased nicely enough, but the sinister intent was clear: Tom's failure or refusal means loss of Kitty, the person he loves most in the world. Those murder threats are a little concerning though…
+
|summary= ''What could matter more than love?''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473615097</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
The follow-up to the excellent ''Ithaca'' picks up a few months after where we left off. In the palace of Odysseus, with delicate care Queen Penelope continues to rule without her husband, who sailed to war at Troy and then by divine intervention never returned home. As ever she remains surrounded by suitors vying for the throne of the Western Isles. Having survived – politically and physical – the chaotic storm that Clytemnestra brought to Ithaca's shores, Queen Penelope is on the brink of a fragile peace. One that shatters however with the return of Orestes, King of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra, seeking refuge.
 +
|isbn=0356516075
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Natasha Farrant
+
|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|title= Lydia: The Wild Girl of Pride and Prejudice
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|title=A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)
|rating= 5
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|author=A J Lewis
|genre=Teens
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|rating=4.5
|summary=Lydia Bennet has just turned fifteen and has received, amongst other gifts, a diary from her bookish older sister Mary. She'd rather have received some ribbon or some lace; after all, writing in a diary every day seems such a tedious pastime. But when a handsome regiment of scarlet-coats arrives in Meryton, Lydia decides that there just might be something exciting to write about after all...
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|genre=Historical Fiction
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910002976</amazonuk>
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|summary=When we first meet our hero, his name is Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful Swallows.  Idyllic as this might sound, it's a bordello and Ettore's mother died when he was born. He's not been short of mothers, though - but for someone of his background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, it's difficult to obtain decent employment. The stint working with the preparation of anchovies didn't work out and bastards are considered bad luck on fishing boats.  Ettore was nothing if not resourceful - and determined - and it was not long before he had a successful business as a guide for visitors. He was even saving some money.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=A N Wilson
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|author=Essie Fox
|title=Resolution
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|title=The Fascination
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
+
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=In 1772 Reinhold Forster and his son George were hired as ship's naturalists for the ''Resolution'', the vessel Captain James Cook piloted to New Zealand and back on a three-year voyage of discovery. Once a Lutheran pastor near Danzig, Reinhold seemed unable to settle to one line of work and had a higher opinion of himself than was prudent. In Wilson's vision of life on the ''Resolution'', Reinhold seems fussy, argumentative and rather heartless, as when he offers George's dog up as fresh meat when the captain is desperately ill. George, just 18 when he joins the expedition, is a self-taught illustrator and botanist with a keen ear for languages. Though precociously intelligent, he is emotionally immature and cannot keep a handle on his masturbation habit or deal with their servant Nally's crush on him.
+
|summary= The Victorian era is incredibly over-romanticised as a setting for historical fiction (matched only, perhaps, by the Second World War) which has often led to more than a few writers mishandling it. There's such a glut of media set in the era that the hallmarks we've come to associate with it are familiar to the point of being cliched, hackneyed even. All this is simply to illustrate that it would be an easy thing to do poorly. But despite that, something about it still grabs me – and something about this book's description did as well.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782398279</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1914585526
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Michael Hughes
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|author=Nicole Jarvis
|title= The Countenance Divine
+
|title=A Portrait in Shadow
|rating= 4.5
+
|rating=4.5
|genre= Literary Fiction
+
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=In 1999, a programmer is trying to fix the millennium bug, but can't shake the sense he's been chosen for something.
+
|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
 
In 1888, five women are brutally murdered in the East End by a troubled young man in thrall to a mysterious master.
 
 
In 1777, an apprentice engraver called William Blake has a defining spiritual experience; thirteen years later this vision returns.
 
  
And in 1666, poet and revolutionary John Milton completes the epic for which he will be remembered centuries later.  
+
Cast out from Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi arrives in Florence seeking an oasis in which her art can find a home and where her future can thrive rather than stagnate. But as some as she enters Florentine society she faces great opposition from the powerful Accademia, the self-proclaimed guardians of the healing magics that through paintings have the power to protect the city and its citizens from plagues and curses. The all-male Accademia has hoarded power over art and architecture for centuries and guard it above all else. To them, Artemisia – an ambitious young woman who promises trouble and change – has no place amongst them and their society.
 +
|isbn=1803362340
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Thomas D Lee
 +
|title=Perilous Times
 +
|rating=3
 +
|genre= Fantasy
 +
|summary= ''Hate is the path of least resistance''
  
But where does the feeling come from that the world is about to end?
+
Set in the near-distant future, in a world on the verge of climate collapse, Britain is in great peril. The British Isles desperately needs a hero (or several) to save the day and rescue what little remains. What no-one expected was that one of the Knights of the Round Table would answer the call.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473636507</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=0356518523
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Adrien Bosc
 
|title= Constellation
 
|rating= 3.5
 
|genre= Historical Fiction
 
|summary= October 28, 1949. 02:51, following reports of good weather and visibility on, the pilot makes contact; the flight has reach 3,000 feet, he has the airport in sight, he is preparing to land. The estimated time of arrival came and went, the landing had not happened. A search is initiated, which eventually establishes that the carrier had crashed into a mountainside in the Azores, killing all 37 of its passengers and all 11 of its crew.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781255369</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Dulce Maria Cardoso
 
|title= The Return
 
|rating= 3.5
 
|genre= Historical Fiction
 
|summary= I often claim to know most of my history from reading story books (a.k.a. novels).  Sometimes, however, you need to know the history before you have a context in which to sit the story. Portugal is one of those countries about which I know quite literally nothing, and in 1975 I was about twelve years old – old enough to register that there was a war going on in somewhere called Angola, but back then, there were wars going on all over the place.  Western European empires around the world were in their death throes. Some went more peacefully than others, albeit none of them trailing much glory in their wake.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857054325</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=David Snell
+
|author=G K Holloway
|title=Sing to Silent Stones: Violet's War (Sing to Silent Stones 1)
+
|title=In the Shadows of Castles
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary= Although born to Victorian parents, Violet is a modern Edwardian young woman.  She believes in women's suffrage and the right to fall in love with whomever she chooses. Her choice is Frank Balfour, one of her father's employees which is not without its problems.  Encouragingly for some people around Violet, as war darkens the nation's mood, Frank goes to do his bit. This leaves Violet with more than memories of their fond farewell; Frank leaves her a son. What follows feels like the end of her life to Violet but it's just the beginning of adventures that will take her to war too; behind enemy lines to witness dark days and amazing bravery.
+
|summary= We begin after the momentous battle in 1066 and on the day of William of Normandy's coronation as King of England. William's position is not secure and the new king has many challenges. Imposing authority through a coronation is important. And William is right to worry. While the previous king, Harold, is dead and the likelihood of more pitched battles is over, the rebels are stirring and much of the country does not wish to recognise a new overlord.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0993435343</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1800422466
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Angus Donald
+
|isbn=3949666079
|title= The Death of Robin Hood
+
|title=Noema
|rating= 4.5
+
|author=Dael Akkerman
|genre= Historical Fiction
+
|rating=4.5
|summary=War rages across the land. In the wake of Magna Carta, King John's treachery is revealed and the barons rise against him once more. Fighting with them is the Earl of Locksley - the former outlaw Robin Hood, and his right hand man Sir Alan Dale. When the French enter the fray, Robin and Alan must decide where their loyalties lie - with the king or their land. Death may wait for us all, but can Robin Hood pull off his greatest ever trick and cheat the Grim Reaper one last time just as England needs him most?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751551996</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Eowyn Ivey
 
|title=To the Bright Edge of the World
 
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=If you're going to go pioneering across unexplored lands, at least be prepared to accept what you seek – namely, what you've never seen before. That lesson seems quite obvious, but back in the time of 1885 Allen Forrester is a little too naïve to heed it. A career soldier, he is tasked with scouring the potential of the Wolverine River that threads south to the shores of Alaska, even though the Russians (who of course used to own the Territory) have had all manner of lethal encounters with those already living there, and even though a major stretch of the river has to be traversed in winter when entirely frozen over, as the cliffs either side are too impenetrable.  Allen leaves a much younger, new bride behind – and right from the get-go his journals force him to pen words about strange happenings, strange encounters and things of legend coming to life.  Like I say, what he's never seen before…
+
|summary=''This is a story about some things that happened to me about twelve thousand years ago.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472208609</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
Maya is a young girl living in a hunter gatherer village during the Mesolithic era. Climate change is occurring, the Sea of Grass encroaches further and further into Maya's forest home, and food is becoming more and more scarce. What to do? Can the law givers in the federation of villages muster peaceful ways to cope? Can the Traveller, a spiritual figure who interprets the wisdom of All Life, provide solutions?
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Anna Mazzola
+
|isbn=1529125898
|title=The Unseeing
+
|title=Godmersham Park
 +
|author=Gill Hornby
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=1837: Sarah Gale is found guilty of aiding and abetting James Greenwood in the murder of Hannah, his fiancée.  It's particularly gruesome as the body was brutally dismembered and left in various locations around London.  Bound for the gallows and fearing for the future of her young son George, Sarah petitions for mercy from the Home Office and, as a result, the Home Secretary appoints barrister Edmund Fleetwood to re-investigate the case.  Edmund approaches it with an open mind but nothing prepares him for what he'll discover and not just in the professional realm.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472234731</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Robyn Young
 
|title= Sons of the Blood
 
|rating= 5
 
|genre= Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Bastard son, mercenary soldier, protector of the rightful king and seeker of a treacherous secret, Jack Wynter lives in dangerous times. In England, the Wars of the Roses ended a decade agao, with the victory of King Edward of York. But an uneasy peace is fast broken when the King dies, and feuds old and new are awoken. When Jack is sent from his life in Seville to gloomy and dangerous England, he must uncover the truth behind the secret that he has been guarding, and the reason for his Father's fall. As the new Prince Edward readies himself to be king, his uncle Richard makes a move for the throne - leading him and Jack on paths of intrigue, corruption, mystery and war. The old world is turning. A new world is rising.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444777718</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=David Dunham
 
|title=The Silent Land
 
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Rebecca's mother dies just as 1903 turns over to 1904, triggering a move and total change of life for Rebecca and her father.  They reluctantly (in Rebecca's case) leave village life behind them to enter the spotlight of London society.  This will influence the young lady as she becomes a woman, falls in love and marries.  However these changes are nothing compared to the conflict bubbling under the surface in Europe. The hot summer of 1914 is the prelude to loss in many lives, including Rebecca's.
+
|summary=''If it were not for the casual dereliction of the odd gentleman's duty, there would no women to teach well-bred daughters at all.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785892541</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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Anne Sharpe was thirty-one years old when she arrived at Godmersham Park to take up the position of governess to twelve-year-old Fanny Austen.  She had no experience of teaching but this was a case of necessity. Until the death of her mother, Anne had a comfortable life and was loved by both parents although her father was frequently absent from the household.  When her mother died, her father cast her off and would have nothing more to do with her.  No explanation was offered but she would receive an annuity of £35 a year.  Her maid, Agnes, would receive nothing but was fortunately taken in by some neighbours.
|author=Sue Gee
 
|title=Trio
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=In the winter of 1936, Steven Coulter's wife, Margaret, dies of tuberculosis, leaving their Northumberland cottage cold and empty. His work as a history teacher at Kirkhoughton Boys' School isn't enough to distract him from his grief; he spends his long evenings writing letters to Margaret. Gradually, though, as spring arrives he starts to take an interest in other things. His colleague Frank Embleton invites him to a performance by the Hepplewick Trio: Frank's sister Diana on cello; pianist Margot Heslop, whose mother died when she was young and who looks after her father, a coal mine manager, at Hepplewick Hall; and their friend George Liddell, the violinist and leader, who is a Royal College of Music graduate.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784630616</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= William Sutton
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|author=Melissa Fu
|title= Lawless and the Flowers of Sin
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|title=Peach Blossom Spring
|rating= 4
+
|rating=3.5
|genre= Crime (Historical)
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|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary= Much of this book centres on, as we are accustomed to in tales of Victorian London, dastardly deeds done on a foggy night. Indeed the fog runs thick through this novel, draping the seedy events in a soupy broth of vice. Our hero, Lawless, rather ironically, is that most rare of birds, an honest detective, although as we learn he, himself, is not without his vices. What becomes clear however is that he is something of a social crusader when his eyes are opened to the misery and degradation faced by 'fallen' women. At its heart, the Flowers of Sin is a detective story, with Lawless given an impossible task to complete alongside solving a seemingly impossible crime. Along the way he meets a rag tag bunch of misfits who help, hurt and hinder our hero. There is romance and intrigue along the way as well as a sensational public trial, murder and episodes of mayhem.  
+
|summary= I loved the prelude to Peach Blossom Spring, a short chapter entitled ''Origins''. Unfortunately it is the only truly poetic part of a book that I expected more from. Covering Chinese history from 1938 to 2005 as viewed through one family's perspective. When their home city is set ablaze during the war with Japan, a young mother (Meilin) and her four-year-old son (Renshu) are among those who flee. The story follows them on their journey across China, and in Renshu's case eventually to America.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1785650114</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1472277538
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Toby Clements
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|isbn=1916072038
|title=Kingmaker: Divided Souls
+
|title=The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)
 +
|author=Allie Cresswell
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Thomas and Katherine Everingham and their son Rufus are enjoying a time of contentment working on Sir John Fakenham's Marton Hall estate.  However, this peace is just the eye of the stormTragedy strikes the Fakenhams almost at the same time that the Plantagenet Wars of the Roses hots up againRichard Earl of Warwick is challenging King Edward IV, leaving the Everinghams with a serious dilemma… or two.
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|summary=We meet part of the Talbot family in Yorkshire in November 1811Twenty-seven-year-old Jocelyn Talbot and her mother have travelled in some discomfort from their home at Ecklington, to the house in the hollowThe two women are angry with each other and Jocelyn is well aware of her mother's strengths and weaknesses:
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780894651</amazonuk>
+
 
}}
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''She is practiced at subterfuge, at concealing, beneath a facade of respectability, the deplorable truth''.
 +
 
 +
Hester is furious about Jocelyn's refusal to do as she was asked, which has precipitated ''this violent and unexpected removal''.
  
{{newreview
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Then we are told of the birth of a child and, soon after, Hester Talbot departs, leaving Jocelyn in shame and isolation in Yorkshire.
|author= Nicola Pryce
 
|title= Pengelly's Daughter
 
|rating= 5
 
|genre= Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Rose Pengelly is only too aware that she is living in a man's world. Independent, strong and well-educated, she has dreams of running the family boatyard, but she knows that her dreams can never come true. A woman's job is to bear children and run the home; it is the way things have always been and the way that they always will be. Now, according to Rose's mother, it is particularly important that Rose secures a good marriage, as her father's poor business decisions have left the family bankrupt and on the verge of destitution. Wealthy timber merchant Mr Tregellas is only too happy to help the family out, in exchange for Rose's hand in marriage, but Rose despises him and suspects that he is responsible for the family's bad fortune. If only she can find evidence to implicate him, there may be a chance to escape from this seemingly hopeless situation.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782398775</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Rhona Martin
+
|author=Annabel Abbs
|title=Gallows Wedding: A dark novel of witchcraft and forbidden love set against the backdrop of religious upheaval in Henry VIII's times
+
|title=The Language of Food
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Hazel, an orphaned peasant during the 16th century has had a tough time to say the least. Therefore when she comes across Black John, an outlaw about to be hanged she sees her chance. By proposing to him she'll save his life and, marrying him, her own. At least that's Hazel's theory but the fates will make it a bit more of a struggle.
+
|summary=Eliza Acton is a poet who has never had the slightest inclination to boil an egg. When tasked with writing a cookery book, she recruits Ann Kirby, a local woman with a troubled home life. Together, they test, craft, refine and reshape the world of domestic cookery, reinventing the recipe book and changing the face of cookery writing forever.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1861515456</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398502227
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Freya Marske
 +
|title=A Marvellous Light
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Historical Fiction
 +
|summary=Robin Blyth is nudged into a job in the Civil Service, much to his chagrin. There he meets Edwin Courcey and learns that the streets of London are threaded with magic. Desperate to remove a curse that threatens to swallow him, Robin follows Edwin to the countryside, where the hedgegrows bristle with incantations and the people shimmer with power. There they uncover a sinister plot that threatens the lives of all magicians in the British Isles. |isbn=1529080886
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Valerie Anand
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|isbn= B09F4CTKJR
|title=King of the Wood
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|title= Flights for Freedom
 +
|author= Steven Burgauer
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=A young William Rufus is brought back to England from clergy training in France by his father William the Conqueror. England has changed and needs a soldier more than a priest or monk, especially as Rufus' brother Richard has died, leaving William to fill the void. Eventually King William I decides to split his inheritance between Rufus and eldest son Robert, something that doesn't go down well with an heir who expected to get it all.  The brothers were never friends but this brings a new dimension to their hatred and, when royal brothers fight, nations become involved.
+
|summary=It's the later stages of World War I and the United States has just entered the conflict. Petrol Petronus is a young American who has signed up and joined the 17 Aero Squadron. This company was the first US Aero Squadron to be trained in Canada, the first to be attached to the RAF and the first to be sent into the skies to fight the Germans in active combat. But before that can happen, Petrol has to master flying the notoriously difficult but majestic Sopwith Camel.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1861514573</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Emily Holleman
+
|author= Christophe Medler
|title= Cleopatra's Shadows
+
|title=Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret
|rating= 4.5
+
|rating=4
|genre= Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary= Egypt. 58 BC. Arsinoe has been abandoned by her father, Ptolemy XII, who has fled Alexandria and taken her beloved sister Cleopatra with him. It is now Arsinoe's half-sister Berenice who has seized the throne, leaving the young princess to fight for survival in the bloodthirsty and treacherous royal court. Berenice too has her own demons to face – having taken the throne from her weak-willed father she now has to prove herself worthy of being queen, as the possibility of her father and Cleopatra's return forever threaten to crush her new found power.
+
|summary= Set against the backdrop of the English Civil War, a secret plan (code-named Madrigal) is discovered by Sir Robert Douse in the summer of 1642. As a loyal servant of the King, and Head of the Secret Service, it is Robert's duty to uncover the details of the plan and follow the clues to uncover one of the most guarded secrets in history—especially since the plot could affect the King.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751560170</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B095HY8SXQ
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Elizabeth Massie
+
|isbn=1471187179
|title= Versailles
+
|title=A Beautiful Spy
|rating= 4.5
+
|author=Rachel Hore
|genre= Historical Fiction
+
|rating=4
|summary=1667 – The civil wars are over. King Louis XIV crushed the nobility's rebellion against his father, leaving the throne his. But the aristocracy hounds his every step – and realises that if they will not be loyal, they will at least obey. So the King plants a trap to ensnare them – building Versailles, a prison of opulence where his power is absolute. Trapped by the palace, they have no choice but to play the King's game and to obey his rule. And so the court becomes a place of tactical liaisons and salacious passions. The Queen fights to keep the King's attention from his mistress, and the King's brother struggles to keep his relationship alive. Versailes is not the paradise it appears to be; instead, it is a labyrinth of treason and hushed secrets, of political schemes and deadly conspiracies. It is a place of passion and death, love and vengeance. The King will take what is rightfully his.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782399984</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Angus Donald
 
|title= The King's Assassin
 
|rating= 4
 
|genre= Historical Fiction
 
|summary=AD 1215: The year of Magna Carta - and Robin Hood's greatest battle. King John is scheming to reclaim his ancestral lands in Europe, raising the money for new armies by bleeding dry peasants and nobles alike, not least the Earl of Locksley - the former outlaw Robin Hood - and his loyal man Sir Alan Dale. As rebellion brews across the country and Robin Hood and his men are dragged into the war against the French in Flanders, a plan is hatched that will bring the former outlaws and their families to the brink of catastrophe - a plan to kill the King. England explodes into bloody civil war and Alan and Robin must decide who to trust - and who to slaughter. And while Magna Carta might be the answer to their prayers for peace, first they will have to force the King to submit to the will of his people.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751551988</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Conn Iggulden
 
|title=Ravenspur: Rise of the Tudors (The Wars of the Roses)
 
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Edward IV and his brother Richard of Gloucester aren't exactly accepting of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick deserting them to stand with the ailing Henry VI again.  The sons of York are gathering support in Burgundy while Edward's wife Elizabeth (nee Woodville) gives birth to his son in the sanctuary of Westminster AbbeyMeanwhile Henry's wife Margaret of Anjou is also in France, drumming up resources for the return of their son, Edward, Prince of WalesElsewhere a 14 year old Henry Tudor is waiting at one of history's most important cross roads.
+
|summary=Minnie is an 'ordinary' girl living an unexciting life in a leafy provincial suburb.  The book is set in the 1930s and Minnie is expected to live up to her mother's expectations and find a nice young man to marry, produce children and spend the rest of her days looking after her husband and their homeUnfortunately, this isn't what she wants to do at all and neither does she want to continue working as a secretary.  As a result of a chance meeting, she finds herself drawn into espionage, working for the secret service and effectively living a double life - attempting to infiltrate the Communist Party of Great BritainMinnie finds herself torn between what she perceives as her duty and the friends she has made - and likes - whilst working for the Communist Party.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718181425</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=CC Humphreys
+
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
|title=Fire
+
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
|rating=4.5
+
|rating=2.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Puritan/former Roundhead Pitman and former highwayman/Cavalier Captain William Coke have formed a deep respect for each other.  Their first mission was to track down the Fifth Monarchists, an organisation out to avenge those who were found guilty and hanged for signing Charles I's death warrantThat was then, during the Great Plague.  A mere year later, the Plague has lessened but the Fifth Monarchists are back, taking Pitman's and Coke's interventions personally.  We therefore find our heroes defending themselves, their families, the monarch, and, on top of that, a new disaster is about to hit the capital.   
+
|summary=Well, this looked very much like a book I could love from the get-go, which is why I picked my review copy up and flipped pages over several times before actually reading any of itI found things to potentially delight me each time – a weird section in the middle on darker stock paper, a chapter whose number was in the 20,000s, letters used as narrative form, and so on.  It intrigued with the subterranean voice a man hears in wartorn Dresden that what little I knew of it mentioned, tooBut you've seen the star rating that comes with this review, and can tell that if love was on these pages, it was not actually caused by them. So what happened?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780891458</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1529402697
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Winston Graham
 
|title=The Grove of Eagles: A novel of Elizabethan England
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Maugan Killigrew grows up in material comfort as the acknowledged illegitimate son of Sir John, the Governor of Cornwall's Pendennis CastleYet, despite the comparative comfort and because of other's austere attitudes, Maugan never feels quite as accepted as his many half-brothers and sisters but there's little time to consider that.  Times are changing.  Queen Elizabeth I is getting older and the English are still at war with the Spanish, a nation that will have quite an effect on Maugan's life.  Romance, conflict and imprisonment, Maugan will experience it all and, hopefully survive it all but we shall see..
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1509818618</amazonuk>
 
|amazonus=<amazonus>1509818618</amazonus>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Suzanne Rindell
+
|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
|title=Three-Martini Lunch
+
|title=The Black Kids
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Teens
|summary=In 2013 we loved [[The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell|The Other Typist]] for its gripping plot, terrific characters and effortless recreation of the Jazz Age. Well, Rindell has done it again, though this time her chosen time period is the late 1950s. She brings the bustling, cutthroat New York City publishing world to life through the connections between three main characters whose first-person voices fit together like a dream: Cliff Nelson, a Columbia dropout who plans to be the next Hemingway and also happens to be the son of a premier editor at Bonwright; Eden Katz, who moved from Indiana to be a secretary at a publishing house but has ambitions of becoming an editor; and Miles Tillman, a black man who works as a bicycle messenger for Eden's publisher but has literary hopes of his own.
+
|summary=Christina Hammonds Reed's debut novel is set against the backdrop of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, a reaction to the absolution of four police officers for beating a black man, Rodney King, nearly to death. Told from the perspective of Ashley Bennett, the novel follows her evolution from a silent bystander when confronted with matters of race, to a woman finding her voice and embracing her heritage.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749020822</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1471188191
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
Move on to [[Newest History Reviews]]

Latest revision as of 10:53, 20 November 2023

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Review of

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

5star.jpg Historical Fiction

Gracetown, Florida. June 1950. After a scuffle with a white boy, twelve year-old Robbie Stephens Jr is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, otherwise known as the Reformatory. It's a place with a brutal and dark reputation. But the segregated reformatory is a chamber of horrors, haunted by the boys that have died there. In order to survive the school governor and his Funhouse, Robert must enlist the help of the school's ghosts – only they have their own motivations... Full Review

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Review of

A True Account by Katherine Howe

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

Hannah Masury is living in Boston, having been sent to live with a family who run an inn, and being made to work there from a young age. When she hears there is to be a hanging of some pirates in the town, she decides to go and watch. Enthralled and horrified in equal measure, Hannah finds herself embroiled in a young boy's death at the hands of two vicious pirates. She hides away, so that they don't find and kill her too, and then to escape them completely she runs away to sea, dressing as a boy and joining the notorious Ned Low's pirate ship as a cabin boy. She soon finds herself in the thick of things when there is a mutiny on board, and from there we are caught up in her rip roaring tale of life on the ocean waves. Full Review

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Review of

A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh

3.5star.jpg General Fiction

After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearing. Suddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her life changes. Living in a time when the use of sign language was seen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a school where she is taught to lip read, but physically restrained from signing. From here, she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and using a system called Visible Speech. At the same time, Bell is working on other inventions and ideas, and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of espionage. Full Review

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Review of

House of Odysseus by Claire North

5star.jpg Literary Fiction

What could matter more than love?

The follow-up to the excellent Ithaca picks up a few months after where we left off. In the palace of Odysseus, with delicate care Queen Penelope continues to rule without her husband, who sailed to war at Troy and then by divine intervention never returned home. As ever she remains surrounded by suitors vying for the throne of the Western Isles. Having survived – politically and physical – the chaotic storm that Clytemnestra brought to Ithaca's shores, Queen Penelope is on the brink of a fragile peace. One that shatters however with the return of Orestes, King of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra, seeking refuge. Full Review

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Review of

A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries) by A J Lewis

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

When we first meet our hero, his name is Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful Swallows. Idyllic as this might sound, it's a bordello and Ettore's mother died when he was born. He's not been short of mothers, though - but for someone of his background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, it's difficult to obtain decent employment. The stint working with the preparation of anchovies didn't work out and bastards are considered bad luck on fishing boats. Ettore was nothing if not resourceful - and determined - and it was not long before he had a successful business as a guide for visitors. He was even saving some money. Full Review

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Review of

The Fascination by Essie Fox

4star.jpg Historical Fiction

The Victorian era is incredibly over-romanticised as a setting for historical fiction (matched only, perhaps, by the Second World War) which has often led to more than a few writers mishandling it. There's such a glut of media set in the era that the hallmarks we've come to associate with it are familiar to the point of being cliched, hackneyed even. All this is simply to illustrate that it would be an easy thing to do poorly. But despite that, something about it still grabs me – and something about this book's description did as well. Full Review

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Review of

A Portrait in Shadow by Nicole Jarvis

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

I want all of Florence to know my name

Cast out from Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi arrives in Florence seeking an oasis in which her art can find a home and where her future can thrive rather than stagnate. But as some as she enters Florentine society she faces great opposition from the powerful Accademia, the self-proclaimed guardians of the healing magics that through paintings have the power to protect the city and its citizens from plagues and curses. The all-male Accademia has hoarded power over art and architecture for centuries and guard it above all else. To them, Artemisia – an ambitious young woman who promises trouble and change – has no place amongst them and their society. Full Review

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Review of

Perilous Times by Thomas D Lee

3star.jpg Fantasy

Hate is the path of least resistance

Set in the near-distant future, in a world on the verge of climate collapse, Britain is in great peril. The British Isles desperately needs a hero (or several) to save the day and rescue what little remains. What no-one expected was that one of the Knights of the Round Table would answer the call. Full Review

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Review of

In the Shadows of Castles by G K Holloway

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

We begin after the momentous battle in 1066 and on the day of William of Normandy's coronation as King of England. William's position is not secure and the new king has many challenges. Imposing authority through a coronation is important. And William is right to worry. While the previous king, Harold, is dead and the likelihood of more pitched battles is over, the rebels are stirring and much of the country does not wish to recognise a new overlord. Full Review

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Review of

Noema by Dael Akkerman

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

This is a story about some things that happened to me about twelve thousand years ago.

Maya is a young girl living in a hunter gatherer village during the Mesolithic era. Climate change is occurring, the Sea of Grass encroaches further and further into Maya's forest home, and food is becoming more and more scarce. What to do? Can the law givers in the federation of villages muster peaceful ways to cope? Can the Traveller, a spiritual figure who interprets the wisdom of All Life, provide solutions? Full Review

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Review of

Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby

5star.jpg Historical Fiction

If it were not for the casual dereliction of the odd gentleman's duty, there would no women to teach well-bred daughters at all.

Anne Sharpe was thirty-one years old when she arrived at Godmersham Park to take up the position of governess to twelve-year-old Fanny Austen. She had no experience of teaching but this was a case of necessity. Until the death of her mother, Anne had a comfortable life and was loved by both parents although her father was frequently absent from the household. When her mother died, her father cast her off and would have nothing more to do with her. No explanation was offered but she would receive an annuity of £35 a year. Her maid, Agnes, would receive nothing but was fortunately taken in by some neighbours. Full Review

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Review of

Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu

3.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

I loved the prelude to Peach Blossom Spring, a short chapter entitled Origins. Unfortunately it is the only truly poetic part of a book that I expected more from. Covering Chinese history from 1938 to 2005 as viewed through one family's perspective. When their home city is set ablaze during the war with Japan, a young mother (Meilin) and her four-year-old son (Renshu) are among those who flee. The story follows them on their journey across China, and in Renshu's case eventually to America. Full Review

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Review of

The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga) by Allie Cresswell

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

We meet part of the Talbot family in Yorkshire in November 1811. Twenty-seven-year-old Jocelyn Talbot and her mother have travelled in some discomfort from their home at Ecklington, to the house in the hollow. The two women are angry with each other and Jocelyn is well aware of her mother's strengths and weaknesses:

She is practiced at subterfuge, at concealing, beneath a facade of respectability, the deplorable truth.

Hester is furious about Jocelyn's refusal to do as she was asked, which has precipitated this violent and unexpected removal.

Then we are told of the birth of a child and, soon after, Hester Talbot departs, leaving Jocelyn in shame and isolation in Yorkshire. Full Review

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Review of

The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs

5star.jpg Historical Fiction

Eliza Acton is a poet who has never had the slightest inclination to boil an egg. When tasked with writing a cookery book, she recruits Ann Kirby, a local woman with a troubled home life. Together, they test, craft, refine and reshape the world of domestic cookery, reinventing the recipe book and changing the face of cookery writing forever. Full Review

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Review of

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

4star.jpg Historical Fiction

Robin Blyth is nudged into a job in the Civil Service, much to his chagrin. There he meets Edwin Courcey and learns that the streets of London are threaded with magic. Desperate to remove a curse that threatens to swallow him, Robin follows Edwin to the countryside, where the hedgegrows bristle with incantations and the people shimmer with power. There they uncover a sinister plot that threatens the lives of all magicians in the British Isles. Full Review

B09F4CTKJR.jpg

Review of

Flights for Freedom by Steven Burgauer

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

It's the later stages of World War I and the United States has just entered the conflict. Petrol Petronus is a young American who has signed up and joined the 17 Aero Squadron. This company was the first US Aero Squadron to be trained in Canada, the first to be attached to the RAF and the first to be sent into the skies to fight the Germans in active combat. But before that can happen, Petrol has to master flying the notoriously difficult but majestic Sopwith Camel. Full Review

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Review of

Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret by Christophe Medler

4star.jpg Historical Fiction

Set against the backdrop of the English Civil War, a secret plan (code-named Madrigal) is discovered by Sir Robert Douse in the summer of 1642. As a loyal servant of the King, and Head of the Secret Service, it is Robert's duty to uncover the details of the plan and follow the clues to uncover one of the most guarded secrets in history—especially since the plot could affect the King. Full Review

1471187179.jpg

Review of

A Beautiful Spy by Rachel Hore

4star.jpg Historical Fiction

Minnie is an 'ordinary' girl living an unexciting life in a leafy provincial suburb. The book is set in the 1930s and Minnie is expected to live up to her mother's expectations and find a nice young man to marry, produce children and spend the rest of her days looking after her husband and their home. Unfortunately, this isn't what she wants to do at all and neither does she want to continue working as a secretary. As a result of a chance meeting, she finds herself drawn into espionage, working for the secret service and effectively living a double life - attempting to infiltrate the Communist Party of Great Britain. Minnie finds herself torn between what she perceives as her duty and the friends she has made - and likes - whilst working for the Communist Party. Full Review

1529402697.jpg

Review of

Kokoschka's Doll by Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)

2.5star.jpg Literary Fiction

Well, this looked very much like a book I could love from the get-go, which is why I picked my review copy up and flipped pages over several times before actually reading any of it. I found things to potentially delight me each time – a weird section in the middle on darker stock paper, a chapter whose number was in the 20,000s, letters used as narrative form, and so on. It intrigued with the subterranean voice a man hears in wartorn Dresden that what little I knew of it mentioned, too. But you've seen the star rating that comes with this review, and can tell that if love was on these pages, it was not actually caused by them. So what happened? Full Review

1471188191.jpg

Review of

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

4.5star.jpg Teens

Christina Hammonds Reed's debut novel is set against the backdrop of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, a reaction to the absolution of four police officers for beating a black man, Rodney King, nearly to death. Told from the perspective of Ashley Bennett, the novel follows her evolution from a silent bystander when confronted with matters of race, to a woman finding her voice and embracing her heritage. Full Review

Move on to Newest History Reviews