Difference between revisions of "Newest Historical Fiction Reviews"

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[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
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==Historical fiction==
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{{Frontpage
 
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|author=Tananarive Due
{{newreview
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|title=The Reformatory
|title=Wall of Days
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|rating=5
|author=Alastair Bruce
 
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=The front cover of this debut novel caught my full and undivided attention with ''Alone, ten years on an island, until one day...'' I couldn't wait to start reading.  We meet the central character - we don't know his name just yet and in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter. He's living alone on an island, somewhere in the worldIs it the past, the present or even the future? As the story developed I decided on the former.
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|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...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846688000</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803366532
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Katherine Howe
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|title=A True Account
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=General Fiction
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|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 watchEnthralled 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.
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|isbn=0861547438
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Sarah Marsh
|author=Rory Clements
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|title=A Sign of Her Own
|title=John Shakespeare: Prince
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|rating=3.5
|rating=4
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|genre=General Fiction
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|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.
|summary=This is the third in the excellent Elizabethan murder mystery series, featuring John Shakespeare, brother of Will. An inexplicable murder is linked to a much deeper plot of political dimensions, leading Shakespeare into danger and tragedy. A series of bombings, which appear to be targeting the immigrant population causes huge unrest and fear, and leads to the uncovering of further political dimensions.
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|isbn=1035401614
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848544251</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Claire North
|author=Felix J Palma
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|title=House of Odysseus
|title=The Map of Time
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre= Literary Fiction  
|summary=Like a lot of readers I cannot resist a book with an immediate hook that draws you into the story quickly and in a seemingly effortless fashion.  From the very first page of 'The Map of Time' Felix Palma had me firmly in his grasp and continued to hold me there for the entirety of the novel.  Not once did I become bored or distracted as I relished every word, page and chapter of this remarkable book.
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|summary= ''What could matter more than love?''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007344120</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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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.
|author=Margaret James
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|isbn=0356516075
|title=The Golden Chain
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=It's 1931 and teenager Daisy Denham, along with her parents Alex and Rose, and two brothers have left their life in India and moved to Melbury House in Dorset, a place full of history for Alex and Rose. Daisy is not keen on her new life and surroundings and is desperate to escape, particularly when she discovers a long held family secret that casts a shadow across her past. She soon meets handsome Ewan Fraser, a young man forced to spend his holidays in Dorset thanks to his overbearing mother, and the two strike up an instant friendship that soon turns to love, spurred on by their joint interest in working on the stage. Ewan soon gives Daisy a golden chain and Daisy promises never to take it off.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>190693164X</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|author=Adrienne McDonnell
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|title=A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)
|title=The Doctor and the Diva
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|author=A J Lewis
|rating=4
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=We first meet one of the central characters, the successful, young obstetrician Dr Ravell as he mingles with the great and the good Bostonians at a high-level social gatheringHis reputation seems to precede him as one guest enthuses 'After nineteen years in a barren marriage ... thanks to you, they had twins.' High praise indeedAnd at this gathering he not only meets a future patient, Erika von Kessler, but he is also enraptured by her singing voice.  He tries to explain all this but finds it difficult so ends up by saying 'It was not an earthly voice; it was a shimmering.' I loved that line.
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|summary=When we first meet our hero, his name is Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful SwallowsIdyllic as this might sound, it's a bordello and Ettore's mother died when he was bornHe'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 visitorsHe was even saving some money.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751543608</amazonuk>
 
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Essie Fox
|author=Amitav Ghosh
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|title=The Fascination
|title=River of Smoke
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=At over 500 pages, this is a big book and it's also a big book in terms of the subject matters that it covers; the whole colonial situation regarding parts of the East as well as the properties and problems of the poppy's product - opium. Ghosh also crams in a wealth of very different and diverse characters so that the novel has the feel of an exotic and at times, enchanting pot-pourri of a read. I have to say at the outset that I find authors such as Rushdie wordy, very wordy.  I have Ghosh's ''The Glass Palace'' in my ever-growing 'to read' pile.  I wonder if the latter will be as wordy as the former.  Time to find out...
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|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>0719568986</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1914585526
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Nicole Jarvis
|author=Anna Lawrence Pietroni
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|title=A Portrait in Shadow
|title=Ruby's Spoon
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|rating=4.5
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=“This is the tale of three women – one witch, one mermaid and one missing – and how Ruby was caught up in between”.
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|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
  
Despite the opening, this novel is more gritty realism than fantasy – there is lots of mythical imagery but in truth, the setting for this novel is a small industrial town cut off from everywhere else by the surrounding canals. It is 1933 (the middle of the Great Depression), and a stranger arrives in town to turn Ruby’s life upside down, for better or worse.
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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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099540053</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803362340
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Thomas D Lee
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|title=Perilous Times
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|rating=3
 +
|genre= Fantasy
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|summary= ''Hate is the path of least resistance''
  
{{newreview
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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.
|author=Richard Hughes
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|isbn=0356518523
|title=The Fox in the Attic
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=The novel opens with a scene set to grab the reader's attention:  a young girl has been found dead somewhere on the Welsh coast.  And straight away I'm aware of Hughes' particular writing style. Fluid with proper sentences.  It all has a traditional feel which I liked.  Then we cut fairly briskly to the young Augustine who's rattling around in some pile. Due to the fallen in the First World War, many heirs did not return to England to take their rightful (I'm getting into the language, you'll notice) place in the family dynasty.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848879784</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=G K Holloway
|author=Geraldine Brooks
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|title=In the Shadows of Castles
|title=Caleb's Crossing
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Let's start, as Geraldine Brooks has, with a fact: in 1665 the first Native American, Caleb Cheeshateaumauk, graduated from Harvard College. Around this, Brooks has created a wholly fictional story (the known facts are so few that this is largely unavoidable). The stroke of genius here is to put the story into the words of the entirely fictitious Bethia Mayfield, the daughter of an English minister on what we now call Martha's Vinyard, where Caleb lived in the Wampanoag tribe. At various points in her life, Bethia sets down events concerning her early secret friendship with Caleb on the island, to accompanying him and her brother to Harvard and the subsequent events.
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|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>0007333536</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1800422466
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=3949666079
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|title=Noema
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|author=Dael Akkerman
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=General Fiction
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|summary=''This is a story about some things that happened to me about twelve thousand years ago.''
  
{{newreview
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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?
|author=Claire Holden Rothman
 
|title=The Heart Specialist
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=We first meet teenager Agnes at home - dissecting a recently-dead squirrel in secret. She knows full well that her family would not approve of this unseemly behaviour, especially from a girl.  She's expected to be a young lady and enjoying ladylike hobbies, like playing with dolls.  Fat chance.  Feisty Agnes is her father's daughter and she has an interest in medicine. It must be in the blood, in the genes.  If that's the case it's skipped younger sister Laure.  The two sisters are very different.  Laure is a gentle and pretty girl but her health is rather delicate.  Agnes is a bit of a tom-boy and a go-getter.  Their grandmother despairs of young Agnes - what's to become of her? The norm is marriage and a family, this medical nonsense must be stamped out.  It's out of the question.  This profession is strictly for the men.  Try telling that to Agnes.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1851687947</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529125898
|author=Anne O'Brien
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|title=Godmersham Park
|title=Devil's Consort
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|author=Gill Hornby
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=In the year 1137 fifteen year old Eleanor of Aquitaine is an orphan. Just before her father's death he asked King Louis VI of France to take care of her, and the unscrupulous Louis took advantage of this request to marry her to his pious son Louis VII. When her new father in law passes away, the young woman becomes Queen of France and is determined to safeguard her precious lands from all who want to take them – even if it leads to conflict with her weak-willed husband. Then she meets the Count of Anjou, Geoffrey Plantagenet, and his son Henry…
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|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>0778304272</amazonuk>
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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.
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Melissa Fu
|author=Elizabeth Speller
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|title=Peach Blossom Spring
|title=The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton
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|rating=3.5
|rating=4.5
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|genre=Historical Fiction  
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|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.   
|summary=I reviewed and thoroughly enjoyed Speller's [[The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller|The Return Of Captain John Emmett]] so I was really keen to get stuck into the follow-up. The main character, officer Laurence Bartram is also an important character in the previous book, but both are stand-alone novels in their own right. The front cover is evocative and is also as pretty as a picture - literallyWith its intriguing title which had me asking all sorts of questions before I'd even opened the book, it was a good start.
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|isbn=1472277538
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1844086313</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1916072038
|author=Carol Birch
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|title=The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)
|title=Jamrach's Menagerie
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|author=Allie Cresswell
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=The novel is written in the first person by a young boy called JaffyHe describes the poverty of his life at home which includes the delightful line 'We lived in the crow's nest of Mrs Reagan's house.' He also describes his struggling mother and his absent father.  But I got the sense that here was a bright and resilient boy.
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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>1847676561</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Karen Maitland
 
|title=The Gallow's Curse
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=This is the eagerly anticipated, and long awaited third novel by the immensely talented author Karen Maitland. It seems as if her ever expanding and permanently loyal fan base will not be disappointed in any way by her latest offering. It's rare (if ever), that I would be moved to give a 5 star rating to any novel - but this one richly deserves the highest of accolades.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718156358</amazonuk>
 
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{{newreview
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''She is practiced at subterfuge, at concealing, beneath a facade of respectability, the deplorable truth''.
|author=Stuart Clark
 
|title=The Sky's Dark Labyrinth
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=This book is heavily based on fact.  All of the characters are real people - apart from one.  Some of us may be familiar with the names of Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler (due to the importance of their respective work, both men are afforded healthy chunks in my Oxford English Dictionary).  Clark also has a rather impressive working CV including holding a Fellowship of the Royal Astronomical Society.  But what I personally really liked and appreciated was the line on the book's front cover which said 'Knowledge can be a dangerous thing.'
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971748</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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Hester is furious about Jocelyn's refusal to do as she was asked, which has precipitated ''this violent and unexpected removal''.
|author=M C Beaton
 
|title=The Travelling Matchmaker: Emily Goes to Exeter
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Emily Goes to Exeter is by way of 'Being the First Volume of the Travelling Matchmaker' as the subheading has it on the frontispiece: the beginning of a new series obviously.  
 
  
If like me you have come to Beaton by way of Hamish Macbeth this might seem like something of a diversion.  A little research shows you that in fact Marion Chesney, who writes under a number of pseudonyms (including Beaton) has a prolific work-rate.  Having produced upwards of 130 books since starting writing full time in the 1980s, focussing on crime and historical romance, there can be few avenues down which she has yet to wander.
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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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849014795</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Annabel Abbs
|author=Margaret Dickinson
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|title=The Language of Food
|title=Forgive and Forget
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|rating=5
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Straight away I got the sense of this book because of its language and style. Lots of adjectives such as Polly has a ' ... fiery personality' and 'Cold fear ran through the girl's slim body.'  This book is very easy to read, to get into as the tone is conversational.  There are lines like 'The young girl's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in a horrified gasp.  She clutched her throat as she uttered hoarsely, 'no, oh, no!' '  This book will appeal to those readers who like a rather uncomplicated yarn but also with a good dash of romance. True escapism.  Personally, the title is too slushy for me but I appreciate that it fits in nicely with the genre and also with Dickinson's style.  But, I have to say, there's an awful lot of 'hearts thumping' and 'eyes blazing' - too many for me, I'm afraid.
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|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>033051623X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398502227
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Sylvia Broady
 
|title=The Yearning Heart
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=It is 1941 so when an unmarried Frances Bewholme becomes pregnant she is shunned by her family and sent to an isolated farm to live and work. To add to her shame and disgrace Fran's unborn baby is not just any man's; it is her brother-in-law's. Victor Renton, home on leave from the war takes advantage of Fran one night when she comes home, upset and heartbroken.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709092113</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Freya Marske
|author=Maaza Mengiste
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|title=A Marvellous Light
|title=Beneath the Lion's Gaze
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Ethiopia 1974.  Emperor Haile Selassie is an old man barely clinging on to power. Still thought of, even by those rebelling against him, as a demi-god that they daren't disrespect let alone challenge he has held the country in thrall to his aristocratic government supported by the violence and repression of the army and the police.
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|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
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099539926</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn= B09F4CTKJR
|author=Alma Katsu
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|title= Flights for Freedom
|title=The Taker
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|author= Steven Burgauer
|rating=5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=When Dr Luke Findley begins his nightshift at Aroostook County Hospital in St Andrews, Maine, things are quiet until Lanny McIlvrae is brought in by the police.  Lanny is covered in blood and claims she has killed a man and left him in the woods.  Desperate to escape, Lanny quickly asks for Luke's help, but he is not sure at first, so Lanny decides to tell Luke her life story, a story that begins in the early Puritan settlement of St Andrews in 1809 and spans nearly two hundred years, taking Lanny from her home to Boston and beyond.  A story that is rich, imaginative and entirely authentic, filling the majority of the novel, and there wasn't a moment when I questioned her reliability as she tells Luke everything, chapter by chapter, as he helps her to escape, slowly drawing him and the reader into her world.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846058171</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Glenn Taylor
 
|title=The Marrowbone Marble Company
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Glenn Taylor tells a big story with a deft lightness of touch. Covering the period from the early 1940s to the late 1960s, The Marrowbone Marble Company (and it's marble in the form of the glass marble game for children rather than the stone variety) tells the story of Loyal Ledford, a hard working man in West Virginia who marries the daughter of the glass factory where he works. Returning from a traumatic World War two, he decides to start his own business manufacturing marbles. If that sounds dull, it's far from it.
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|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>0007359071</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author= Christophe Medler
|author=Ellen Bryson
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|title=Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret
|title=The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno: A Love Story
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Set in the days and months following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno is an inventive and highly entertaining story of the life of the ''curiosities'' performing in the great PT Barnum's great American Museum.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330533819</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jean Teule
 
|title=Monsieur Montespan
 
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=The Marquis de Montespan is totally in love with his new wife Athénaïs and she with him, so much so that when she becomes a lady in waiting at the palace of Versailles, she begs her husband to remove her in case she falls for the charms of the famous Sun King. The Marquis refuses because of the prestige and fortune her position brings them – but it's a decision he quickly regrets, as Louis XIV
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|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.
indeed manages to cuckold him. With all of France talking about the new woman in the king's life, Montespan is expected to take the rewards offered to him in exchange for his wife and leave the couple alone. But many years before the French Revolution, instead he takes the unprecedented step of standing up to the king, ignoring his offers and proclaiming his cuckoldry by adding horns to his coat of arms. Can the man who's become a figure of fun throughout the country win back his wife?
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|isbn=B095HY8SXQ
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906040303</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1471187179
|author=Paul R Spiring and Hugh Cooke
+
|title=A Beautiful Spy
|title=Wheels of Anarchy by Max Pemberton
+
|author=Rachel Hore
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=This mystery-adventure book was written and published around 100 years ago.  Will it stand the test of time?  The back cover blurb says confidently that this '' adventure story ... makes James Bond look like a stay at home ...'' Before you get into the story proper there's quite a lot of information in the introductory pagesSome of it I did find interesting (the page about Max Pemberton and Sherlock Holmes for instance) but some readers may feel a little bogged down before they've even started to read chapter one.  Both Pemberton and Holmes belonged to a small, elite criminology society in LondonI got the impression that the two co-compilers felt as if they had to justify themselves somehowI ploughed on ...
+
|summary=Minnie is an 'ordinary' girl living an unexciting life in a leafy provincial suburbThe 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 secretaryAs 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>1907685316</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
|author=Christina Courtenay
+
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
|title=The Scarlet Kimono
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=It's 1611 and young Hannah's life in Plymouth is anything but exciting.  She has a horrid elder sister to deal with, and is jealous of her brother Jacob's career aboard a merchant ship.  Realising the life her parents have mapped out for her as wife to a man she loathes is not for her, Hannah decides to take action and control of her own destiny.  Soon she runs away from home, disguising herself as a boy and stowing away on one of the ships under her brother's command.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906931291</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Sara Sheridan
 
|title=Secret of the Sands
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=It's the summer of the year 1883.  William Wilberforce, hero of the anti-slavery movement is enjoying a gentleman's life in London.  But, far away in Abyssinia, things are far from rosy for the local people.  The situation facing them is ugly and very dangerous - slavers (what a horrible word) are in the area and with the stark sentence 'It takes only seven minutes to capture almost everyone' we get the picture, loud and clear.  Sheridan wastes no time in giving her readers the heart-wrenching details:  the elderly are separated and treated with very little dignity (they're almost worthless, not worth the bother of transportation), the fit and healthy are singled out and lastly, the young are segregated.  They are 'prized' most of all.  And into this latter category falls a pretty 17 year old girl called Zena.  She is spirited.  She will not show any fear.  She thinks for a split second of running but is intelligent enough to know that she'd be beaten severely for her sheer insubordination and probably even killed on the spot.  But behind her expressive eyes she is thinking and plotting ...
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847561993</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Tim Murgatroyd
 
|title=Breaking Bamboo
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Summer 1266, Nancheng in Central China and Doctor Shih is struggling to cope with the monsoon season, when he gets a midnight summons to Peacock Hill: ancient palace complex and now home to the Pacification Commissioner, his wife, concubines and various officials and hangers on.  Wang Ting-bo's only son and heir is apparently dying and all the great and good of the medical guild are unable to save him.  They recommend the employment of magicians in the hope of driving out the evil spirits.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905802382</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Kieran McMullen
 
|title=Watson's Afghan Adventure
 
 
|rating=2.5
 
|rating=2.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=In truth, I could write this review in two words = (oh dear) and be done with it. But I'd better be fair and put some meat on those bonesWhere to start...  With its dark, almost apocalyptic front cover this book looks very much like a 'man's' bookThat's fine but is this what McMullen wants?  Is he happy to discard some or even perhaps most of the female reading population in one fell swoop?  It appears so.  Now I know that this is a historical yarn but even so, given the current situation in Afghanistan with British and American Troops, the word 'adventure' in the title doesn't sit easily with me.  If I saw this book on a bookstore shelf, I would feel a little uncomfortableNot a good start ... and it's generally downhill from here, I'm afraid.
+
|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 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, 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 themSo what happened?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907685936</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1529402697
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
|author=Bernhard Schlink and Carol Brown Janeway
+
|title=The Black Kids
|title=The Reader
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=It's West Germany, 1958. A 15-year-old schoolboy, Michael Berg, is suffering a long bout of hepatitis. When he recovers he returns to the flat of a tram conductor, 36-year-old Hanna Schmitz, to thank her for taking care of him the day he fell sick. The two of them begin a secret affair that becomes a routine for months: after school and work, Michael would read to her, and then they would make love and bathe each other. Both of them fall in love.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0753804700</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Berlie Doherty
 
|title=Treason
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Forced by his power-hungry aunt and uncle to leave the comfort of his modest family home, Will Montague finds himself utterly overwhelmed, as he works as a page to Prince Edward under the keen eye of the temperamental King Henry, just as prone to unexpected bursts of compassion as he is to brutal cruelty. Just as he begins to find his feet in this new position, Will finds himself suddenly on the run, desperately trying to clear the name of his father, convicted of treason for failing to revert to the Protestantism led by the King, and simultaneously gaining more awareness of the world he lives in and the plights of the working class.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849391211</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jan Jones
 
|title=The Kydd Inheritance
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Nell's Kydd's father died in a hunting accident and her brother, Kit was uncontactable, seemingly lost, on his way back from India.  This left her uncle, Jasper Kydd in charge of the family estate and he appeared to be doing all in his power to wreck Kydd Court and make Nell's life a misery.  Her mother coped with it all by retreating into her own world, where she couldn't be reached either.  When an unwelcome offer of marriage is forced upon her, Nell knows that she has to take action and that's when the very unsettling Captain Hugo Derringer arrives.  He's an old friend of Kitt's, but what exactly is he doing in the area and can Nell trust him?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0709091710</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Elizabeth Ashworth
 
|title=The de Lacy Inheritance
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Set in England in 1192, the novel is full of details of life in this period, and resists the temptation to get overtly bogged down in excessive political detail, which makes this a very accessible read to those (like myself) who are not too knowledgeable about this particular historical period. Returning from the Crusades, Richard is forced to leave his family and atone for the sins which he believes has lead to him being afflicted with leprosy. Undertaking a quest to his grandmother's nearby cousin (who is childless, so grandmother wants Richard to present her case for inheriting his lands), Richard finds refuge here. This point struck me as odd - almost jarring in it's unlikelihood. Not only does Richard find help/support/refuge here (whilst remaining unknown to all except the cousin and his wife), but he's virtually welcomed with open arms. Would an itinerant leper be treated in this way? It did add a note of discord to the narrative - as if the quest for inheritance was more important that his trials as a leper.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905802366</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Winifred Holtby
 
|title=South Riding
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Teens
|summary=The central character is a single woman in her middle years who relishes the chance to return to her roots in the tight-knit South Riding community.  She's ambitious and well-travelled and has tasted life and work in bustling, cosmopolitan London.  So it would appear that her pull back home is very strong indeed.  But, you have to ask yourself the question, who would choose to give up this stimulating life down south and return up north?  One Sarah Burton, schoolteacher with promotion in her mind, that's who. Everything depends on Sarah actually getting this job.  And straight away, Holtby gives us the low-down on the collective mentality of local government.  Yes, narrow-minded, parochial, dull - it's all of those things and more.  But not everyone is a political 'sheep'.  There's one or two who can see the bigger picture and can look beyond personal gain.
+
|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>1849902038</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1471188191
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest History Reviews]]
|author=C J Sansom
 
|title=Dark Fire
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=1540 was the hottest summer of the sixteenth century but Matthew Shardlake was doing his best to hold his legal practice together, which was made more difficult by the fact that he believed himself to be out of favour with Thomas Cromwell.  He tried to keep a low profile but when he defended the accused in a most unpopular case – that of a girl accused of brutally murdering her cousin – he found that the king's chief minister had a new assignment for him.  Unless he could solve Cromwell's problem his client was likely to die a slow and nasty death.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330450786</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Michael David Lukas
 
|title=The Oracle of Stamboul
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=The book is set in the Ottoman Empire and the reader is given a potted history of those times,.  Wars, troops, Rome and the Byzantines all get a passing mention ... and a baby called Eleonora is born.  Sadly, her mother does not make it and it's left to her father to bring her up.  He struggles and decides the best thing for himself, but more importantly, for his young daughter, is to enter into a marriage of convenience with a member of his extended family.  Domestic life rumbles along, but underneath the surface, things are brewing ...
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755377702</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Molly Carr
 
|title=A Study in Crimson
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=As soon as I read the blurb on the back cover I thought there's no doubting that this book is going to be one of those delightful romps, shall we say.  Carr takes the famous and much-loved and much-read detective Holmes along with his trusty, if rather dull and plodding side-kick Watson and decides to have a bit of fun.  But will it work?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907685405</amazonuk>
 
}}
 

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

1529080886.jpg

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

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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