Difference between revisions of "Newest Historical Fiction Reviews"

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[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Historical Fiction]]
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==Historical fiction==
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Tananarive Due
|author=Jean Marsh
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|title=The Reformatory
|title=Fiennders Abbey
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|rating=5
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=In was the end of the nineteenth century and the family at Fiennders Abbey might lead much more leisurely lives than the staff who kept the house running as it should, but their fortunes were inextricably linkedMary Bowden was the tweenie when we first met her – she did all the dirty jobs which were beneath those higher up the ladder – as well as being the daughter of the gamekeeper.  She was also intelligent, ambitious and very attractive with her straight, milk-blonde hair.  As a child she'd always been very friendly with Richard, the son of the house, but it's not a friendship which either of their mothers wishes to foster.
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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>1447200071</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803366532
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Katherine Howe
 +
|title=A True Account
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|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 ageWhen 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.
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|isbn=0861547438
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Sarah Marsh
|author=Titania Hardie
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|title=A Sign of Her Own
|title=The House of the Wind
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|rating=3.5
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=I loved the intriguing title of the book and was hoping that Hardie explains itShe does:  not only that but the wind element (no pun intended) is mentioned throughout at regular intervals.  A nice touch, I thought and not over-played eitherThe short Prologue describes a young girl on the eve of her 'terrible fate.' But fate seems to have changed its mind at the very last minuteAnd this strange/weird/scary event happens at the Casa al Vento - 'The House of the Wind.'
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|summary=After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearingSuddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her life changesLiving 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 signingFrom here, she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and using a system called Visible SpeechAt the same time, Bell is working on other inventions and ideas, and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of espionage.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755346297</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1035401614
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Claire North
 +
|title=House of Odysseus
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre= Literary Fiction
 +
|summary= ''What could matter more than love?''
  
{{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=Jane Sanderson
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|isbn=0356516075
|title=Netherwood
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=The cover of Netherwood features a bold promise  - 'Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey'. The basic features of a reliable 'upstairs/downstairs' saga are all present; the landed gentry enjoying their estate, the staff servicing it and the locals, all relying on the fortunate family for their own income.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751547638</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|author=Colin Falconer
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|title=A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)
|title=Silk Road
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|author=A J Lewis
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Falconer presents his readers with a handy map of the famous (or perhaps that should be infamous) ''Silk Road'' which stretches from Europe all the way to ChinaThe story opens with a charismatic young princess who lives with her extended family in an area of Mongolia.  She is clearly the apple of her father's eye.  So much so, that he will often take advice from her, rather than from his two older sonsShe would be a prize catch indeed as a wife for any man, but the feisty Khutelun has other plans.  She wants plenty of adventure and glory in her life.  She doesn't want to be a baby machine and besides, no man has caught her eye.  Yet.
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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 visitors. He was even saving some money.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857891081</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Charles Frazier
 
|title=Nightwoods
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=If you have read Charles Frazier's 'Cold Mountain', or indeed seen the film, then you'll have a fair idea what to expect from his latest offering - 'Nightwoods'. As with 'Cold Mountain', the landscape of the Appalachians is the dominant character, this time set in the 1950s. He even manages to get his requisite bear into the story although thankfully it fares rather better than the unfortunate beast in his first book. The dark, oppressing majesty and beauty of the mountains and woods pervades the whole story.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444731246</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Essie Fox
|author=John Buchan
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|title=The Fascination
|title=The Thirty-nine Steps
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=Ask anyone about 'The Thrity-nine Steps' and I guarantee they'll be able to tell you it's a spy story with Richard Hannay at its heart.  Most people will be able to tell you how it starts.  But when you ask, 'Yes, but what ARE the 39 Steps?'  most people will falter.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971985</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Charlotte Anne Walters
 
|title=Barefoot on Baker Street
 
|rating=3
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=I must admit that I think the title a little cheeky, a little too near the bone as far as the iconic Baker Street and equally iconic Sherlock Holmes is concerned. The sepia front cover suggests a rather sugary, romantic read so I wasn't off to the best of starts.
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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>1780920121</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1914585526
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Nicole Jarvis
|author=John Buchan
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|title=A Portrait in Shadow
|title=A Lost Lady of Old Years
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|rating=4.5
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=While I normally start with a plot description I'd better justify the summary first. (Translated, it reads - Warning - you must understand Scots dialect really well if you hope to like this book from the start. Well worth reading though, it's such a good story.)
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|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
  
Basically, this is a tale set during the Jacobite Rising of 1745-6 with authentic dialogue of that time; which is to say, rather hard to follow if you're anything like me. Most books, I can read in a couple of days maximum, this took me nearly a month and at some points I was reduced to asking my Scottish colleague to translate it for me.
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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>1846972035</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803362340
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Thomas D Lee
 +
|title=Perilous Times
 +
|rating=3
 +
|genre= Fantasy
 +
|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=Brian Ruckley
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|isbn=0356518523
|title=The Edinburgh Dead
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=The phrase 'jack of all trades and master of none' can apply to writers as well as anything else and I've always been suspicious of authors who switch genres, as they often prove less effective when they do so. Sometimes, however, it does work and having enjoyed Brian Ruckley's fantasy writings such as [[Fall of Thanes by Brian Ruckley|Fall of Thanes]], I found that he's equally as enjoyable when writing a crime thriller.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841498653</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=G K Holloway
|author=Fiona Mountain
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|title=In the Shadows of Castles
|title=Cavalier Queen
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=We sweep back in time to a young Henrietta.  Living the spoilt and pampered life of a pretty, little princess whom everyone (even her dog) loves and adores.  She spends delightfully carefree days singing and dancing and playing with her little dog.  But the subject of marriage is on the horizon.  She's fourteen after all. Time to put away those childish things.  Who has her family decided will be her future husband?  The young princess has no say in the matter but hopes he will be just a little handsome and be gentle with her. It's not only a marriage of two individuals (that's almost inconsequential) it's a marriage of two nations - with strategy and long-term thinking in mind.  In short, the French Royal Family want to do everything to appease other countries and hopefully keep war at bay.
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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>1848091672</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1800422466
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Barry Unsworth
 
|title=The Quality of Mercy
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary='The Quality of Mercy' picks up the story of the author's Booker Prize-winning 'Sacred Hunger' although if you haven't read the first book, you won't be greatly disadvantaged as the relevant story lines are explained. What you might miss out on is some of the feeling for a few of the main characters, most notably the Irish fiddler, Sullivan who, when this book picks up in spring 1767, has just escaped from prison where the remaining shipmates of the slave ship, the 'Liverpool Merchant' await their trial of piracy. Slavery and abolition thereof remains a central theme of this sequel, but the book draws some poignant similarities with those in bondage due to poverty, and particularly those working in the coal mines of County Durham.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091937124</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=3949666079
|author=James Aitcheson
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|title=Noema
|title=Sworn Sword
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|author=Dael Akkerman
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The novel is set in the turbulent years following the Battle of Hastings. We follow the Normans as they set out to quell the restless and rebellious factions in the North of England. An ambush in Durham sees the Normans decimated and determined on revenge - this precipitates the events which follow.
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|summary=''This is a story about some things that happened to me about twelve thousand years ago.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848093241</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Lisa See
 
|title=Dreams of Joy
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=It's the late 1950s, and America's teenagers (the very idea a brand new concept) are beginning to live the all-American dream.  For some of them however it isn't all 'Happy Days' diners and rock'n'roll.  For the second generation Chinese immigrants there's an alternative: back 'home' there's a brave new world being forged, a world where 'we'd work in the fields and sing songs. We'd do exercises in the park. We'd help clean the neighbourhood and share meals.  We wouldn't be poor and we wouldn't be rich.  We'd all be equal.'
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408822296</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=John Buchan
 
|title=Greenmantle
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=I'm told that Buchan is still widely read.  Really?  "John Buchan?  Oh yes, he wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps"… and that's as far as most of us get. Let's be honest most of us only know that one from the many film versions, just about all of which take huge liberties with the original plot.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971977</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Ellen Feldman
 
|title=Next to Love
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Babe, Grace and Millie are three American girls who have grown up together.  Now young women each marry their sweetheart just as America becomes involved in the Second World War.  But on a fateful day in 1944, sixteen telegrams arrive from the War Department bringing death to the locals, including Grace and Millie whose husbands have both been killed.  Babe seems to be the lucky one as her husband, Claude, returns from the War, but in truth he will never be the same man again.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330544500</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Fiona Mountain
 
|title=Isabella
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=The fate of mutineer, Fletcher Christian in the 18th century remains a mystery even today but Fiona Mountain has pieced together a dramatic and powerful story based on rumours and clues that Fletcher returned to England to be with his long-lost love, Isabella Curwen. Fletcher, the son of a bankrupt family and Isabella, the sole heiress of a huge fortune are prevented from marrying. Their relationship is manipulated by those around them and a young, naïve Isabella is forced to marry her cousin, John.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099562251</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Ben Kane
 
|title=Hannibal: Enemy of Rome
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Thanks to his [[The Forgotten Legion by Ben Kane|Forgotten Legion]] trilogy, Ben Kane has recently bought Roman times to life in me far more than history and Latin lessons at school ever did.  Having enjoyed this first trilogy, I've been eagerly awaiting his ''Hannibal'' trilogy, since he told Bookbag about it when we interviewed him.  Finally, the wait is over and ''Hannibal: Enemy of Rome'' is here.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184809227X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jose Saramago and Margaret Jull Costa
 
|title=The Elephant's Journey
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=This novel is inspired by a real event – the marriage gift of an elephant from Dom João III of Portugal to his cousin Maximilian, the Hapsburg Archduke of Austria.  When the gift was accepted, the elephant Solomon, his mahout Subhro and numerous soldiers, oxen and porters, walked from Lisbon to Vienna to deliver the present, arriving in 1552.  This is the story of that journey.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099546884</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Sara Stockbridge
 
|title=Cross My Palm
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Fortune teller Rose Lee lives on the edge of London society in 1860, making her living by entertaining (and sometimes deceiving) the rich by reading their palms.  She fears the fate she has read for herself in her own palm which is perhaps what makes her cautious of delivering the whole truth to the ladies that employ her.  On one particular night Rose is called to the house of Lady Quayle, a woman of high society, who delights in having her fortune read, taking everything Rose tells her as gospel.  One of the guests present is Emily, a young girl and friend of Lady Quayle's daughter Tabitha.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>070118504X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Alison Weir
 
|title=The Captive Queen
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Vaclav and Lena are both children of Russian immigrants, growing up in Brooklyn.  Vaclav dreams of becoming a fantastic magician, with his friend Lena as his assistant, and as children they practise their routine together, making lists of the things they'll need, the costumes they will wear and the tricks they will perform.  Vaclav is confident and happy, but Lena is quiet, withdrawn and struggles with speaking English.  Yet Vaclav believes, always, that they are destined to be together.  Even when Lena disappears one day and is gone from his life for many years still he hopes that, somehow, he will find her again.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434020443</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Helen Humphreys
 
|title=The Reinvention of Love
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary='The Reinvention of Love' is one of those stories that is so bizarre and strange that it could only be based on factual events. Essentially it is a good, old-fashioned love triangle set mostly in Paris in the period from the 1830s to the 1860s; a world where fighting duels is a commonplace event. The triangle features the great French literary writer Victor Hugo, his wife Adèle and the altogether strange critic Charles Saint-Beuve who narrates much of this story, with brief breaks for Adèle's side of events and some letters written by the Hugo's youngest daughter, also called Adèle (but let's call her, as she was known to her family, Dédé to avoid confusion).
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846687985</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{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=Karen Harper
 
|title=The Queen's Governess
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Kat Ashley isn't a name one usually associates with the Tudor era, but just like the more famous characters of the period, she has her own fascinating story to tell, a story which this book captures perfectly. As Thomas Cromwell's spy, Anne Boleyn's confidante and later Princess Elizabeth's governess, Kat Ashley certainly knew the Tudor court well and it is through her fictional diary entries that the reader is invited to know the dazzling, yet dangerous Tudor court too.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091940419</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529125898
|author=Roy Jacobsen, Don Bartlett (translator) and Don Shaw (translator)
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|title=Godmersham Park
|title=Child Wonder
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|author=Gill Hornby
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=1961 was a year of change, a time, as Jacobsen puts it, ''when men became boys and housewives women''.  At the outset Finn and his mother are leading a quiet, rather timorous life in a working class Oslo suburb.  Then change overwhelms them, not through world events, but in the form of a mysterious child who is Finn's half sister.  Linda is not like other children and Finn's attempt to deal with her impact on his family is the central thread in this quintessential story of growing up.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857050184</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Amor Towles
 
|title=Rules of Civility
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Katey Kontent works hard during the day as a typist at a big law firm in 1930s Manhattan, but at night she likes to sample the nightlife – jazz clubs in Greenwich Village. There on New Year's Eve 1937, she and her roommate Eve meet the charming Tinker Grey. This is the start of a year of many changes for Katey and her friends.
+
|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>1444708848</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 necessityUntil 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 herNo explanation was offered but she would receive an annuity of £35 a yearHer maid, Agnes, would receive nothing but was fortunately taken in by some neighbours.
|author=Meira Chand
 
|title=A Different Sky
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=We meet the first of the three main characters - Chinese Mei Lan on a trip with her devoted minder-nursemaid into townThe sights and smells intrigue the young girl as they are a far cry from her comfortable home and its surroundingsRather than appreciating all that space and the beautiful objects in the family home, Mei Lan feels lonely (she's an only child) and even hemmed inBut perhaps she'll change as she grows up.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099546248</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Melissa Fu
|author=Lian Hearn
+
|title=Peach Blossom Spring
|title=Blossoms and Shadows
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Historical Fiction  
|summary=I see from the front cover that Hearn is already a best-selling author with her ''Tales Of the Otori'' so I was looking forward to a good read. However, I did slump a little when I opened the book and was presented with several pages of the story's characters - sub-divided into fictional and historical.
+
|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>0857382977</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1472277538
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1916072038
|author=D J Taylor
+
|title=The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)
|title=Derby Day
+
|author=Allie Cresswell
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=I read (and reviewed) Taylor's [[Ask Alice by D J Taylor|Ask Alice]] and took to Taylor's style straight away.  Is this one going to be as good - or even better?  Time to find out ...  To set the tone we first meet a couple of no-gooders as they plot and scheme and it's all about horses and the DerbyAnd by degrees, Taylor introduces his main characters, chapter by chapter, to his readers.  As this novel runs to over 400 pages, there's plenty of time for flesh to be heaped upon the bones of many of these characters.  So, for example, we have a rather cold and calculating daughter living with her elderly father who appear right at the start of the novelI got the sense that things were about to happen - and they certainly did.  There's a strong sense of emotions just bubbling under the surface with this duo.
+
|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>0701183586</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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''She is practiced at subterfuge, at concealing, beneath a facade of respectability, the deplorable truth''.
|author=Suzannah Dunn
 
|title=The Confession of Katherine Howard
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Katherine Howard was Henry VIII's fifth wife. She was perhaps the most seductive of his wives and a considerable contrast to her predecessor, Anna of Cleves. She's been consigned to history as a silly girl, but careful reading gives the lie to this. Suzannah Dunn begins her story when Katherine was twelve years old and went to live in her step-grandmother's household. There she met Cathryn – generally known as Cat – Tilney, but the two girls were very different and didn't hit it off initially. Cat was quietly ambitious, aware that she needed to make a good marriage, whilst Katherine was image-conscious and very interested in the boys.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007258305</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''.
|title=Wall of Days
 
|author=Alastair Bruce
 
|rating=3.5
 
|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 world.  Is it the past, the present or even the future?  As the story developed I decided on the former.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846688000</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
+
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=Rory Clements
 
|title=John Shakespeare: Prince
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|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.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848544251</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Annabel Abbs
|author=Felix J Palma
+
|title=The Language of Food
|title=The Map of Time
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical 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.  
+
|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>0007344120</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1398502227
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Freya Marske
|author=Margaret James
+
|title=A Marvellous Light
|title=The Golden Chain
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|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.
+
|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>190693164X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn= B09F4CTKJR
|author=Adrienne McDonnell
+
|title= Flights for Freedom
|title=The Doctor and the Diva
+
|author= Steven Burgauer
|rating=4
+
|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 gathering. His reputation seems to precede him as one guest enthuses 'After nineteen years in a barren marriage ... thanks to you, they had twins.'  High praise indeed.  And 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.
+
|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>0751543608</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author= Christophe Medler
|author=Amitav Ghosh
+
|title=Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret
|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...
+
|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>0719568986</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B095HY8SXQ
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1471187179
|author=Anna Lawrence Pietroni
+
|title=A Beautiful Spy
|title=Ruby's Spoon
+
|author=Rachel Hore
 
|rating=4
 
|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”.
+
|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 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.
 
 
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.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099540053</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
|author=Richard Hughes
+
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
|title=The Fox in the Attic
+
|rating=2.5
|rating=4
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|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 onIt 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?
|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 styleFluid 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 pileDue 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.
+
|isbn=1529402697
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848879784</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
|author=Geraldine Brooks
+
|title=The Black Kids
|title=Caleb's Crossing
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Teens
|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.
+
|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>0007333536</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1471188191
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest History Reviews]]
|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>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Anne O'Brien
 
|title=Devil's Consort
 
|rating=5
 
|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…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0778304272</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Elizabeth Speller
 
|title=The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|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 - literally.  With its intriguing title which had me asking all sorts of questions before I'd even opened the book, it was a good start.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1844086313</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Carol Birch
 
|title=Jamrach's Menagerie
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=The novel is written in the first person by a young boy called Jaffy.  He 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.
 
|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>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|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
 
|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.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849014795</amazonuk>
 
}}
 

Latest revision as of 10:53, 20 November 2023

1803366532.jpg

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

0861547438.jpg

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

1035401614.jpg

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

0356516075.jpg

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

B0C7J9D21B.jpg

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

1914585526.jpg

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

1803362340.jpg

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

0356518523.jpg

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

1800422466.jpg

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

3949666079.jpg

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

1529125898.jpg

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

1472277538.jpg

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

1916072038.jpg

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

1398502227.jpg

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

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

B095HY8SXQ.jpg

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