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=Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
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|title=The Reformatory
|title=Noah's Child
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|rating=5
 +
|genre=Historical Fiction
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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...
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|isbn=1803366532
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Katherine Howe
 +
|title=A True Account
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Joseph, a young Belgian Jew, is sent away by his parents when they grow nervous about the treatment of Jews during World War TwoHe is taken in by a village priest, Father Pons, and given a new identity and a place in Father Pons' school along with an assortment of other children, some of whom are genuine pupils and others who are, like Joseph, seeking sanctuary.
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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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848874189</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0861547438
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Sarah Marsh
|author=Robert Lyndon
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|title=A Sign of Her Own
|title=Hawk Quest
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|rating=3.5
|rating=4.5
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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 hearingSuddenly 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=''Hawk Quest'' is an epic of a historic novel set in the 11th centuryA band of companions led by Vallon, the mysterious Frankish warrior, travel from England to Scandinavia and on to Anatolia in order to capture and deliver four rare pure white falcons as a ransom for Sir Walter, the son of a Norman nobleman held by the Seljuk Turks.
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|isbn=1035401614
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847444970</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Claire North
|author=Chris Womersley
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|title=House of Odysseus
|title=Bereft
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
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|genre= Literary Fiction  
|summary=Quinn Walker, a young Australian man fresh from fighting on the European front in World War One, returns to the very town he was drummed out of ten years before, after being accused of raping and killing his own younger sister.  Two things have beaten him to the small settlement - one, the global flu pandemic; two a telegram saying he died bravely in action earlier in the war.  And the less you know of what he meets and does back in Flint the better, the more to keep this fresh and brilliant book's many intrigues as secret as they were for me.
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|summary= ''What could matter more than love?''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857386549</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=Kate Williams
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|isbn=0356516075
|title=The Pleasures of Men
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=Catherine Sorgeiul is a woman with burdens. Living with her uncle in London’s East End during the reign of Queen Victoria, hers is a life that seems empty – yet in fact is full of things she is trying to push away. 
 
 
 
Filling her days has become a problem, so when a series of grisly murders begins, Catherine is drawn to the mystery of the Man of Crows in a way that seems bound to change her life.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241951399</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Katy Darby
 
|title=The Whores' Asylum
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=The Whores’ Asylum, a debut novel, is a tale of friendship, love, sin and criminality set in late 19th century Cambridge and Oxford. The comparison to one of my favourite historical novelists, Sarah Waters, also caught my attention. Sadly, I was a little bit disappointed.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905490801</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|author=Eric Orsenna
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|title=A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)
|title=The Indies Enterprise
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|author=A J Lewis
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=As soon as you pick up a novel about Columbus's discovery of the Americas, certain expectations come to mind. Orsenna however is much more than your average writer and he manages to subvert almost all of these by delivering a quiet, scholarly account of what seems at first a diversion, the art of map making. But this book is not about Columbus himself, but rather his brother Bartholomew, and how he is swept into the excitement and ambition of his older sibling.
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|summary=When we first meet our hero, his name is Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful Swallows.  Idyllic as this might sound, it's a bordello and Ettore's mother died when he was born. He's not been short of mothers, though - but for someone of his background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, it's difficult to obtain decent employment. The stint working with the preparation of anchovies didn't work out and bastards are considered bad luck on fishing boats. Ettore was nothing if not resourceful - and determined - and it was not long before he had a successful business as a guide for visitors.  He was even saving some money.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906598932</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Essie Fox
|author=Louisa Young
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|title=The Fascination
|title=My Dear I Wanted to Tell You
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=It takes a while for the full power of Louisa Young's remarkable ''My Dear I Wanted To Tell You'' to become apparent, but when it does, it can hardly fail to move you. Set just before and during World War One, it's a story of love and human spirit against the odds. The impact of the book is in what happens to the characters, so I don't want to give too much away, but it's worth pointing out that it's not for the overly squeamish reader particularly in some of the descriptions of surgical procedures, which have clearly been meticulously researched by Young. The title itself it taken from the opening words of the standard letters that the wounded were given to send to loved ones back home. The wounded were required to fill in the blanks.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007361432</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Janette Jenkins
 
|title=Little Bones
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=While this might sound like the afterlife of a brilliant and unlikely cabaret mimic, it's not. It's a rich, evocative and engaging novel set in the last years of Victoria's reign, in the depths of her darkest London.  Fate - and being abandoned by, in turn, her mother and older sister - leaves Jane Stretch living with and working for a doctor and his lumpen, housebound wife. Jane is alternatively called an 'unfortunate' and a 'cripple' for her disabilities and distorted frame, but she has enough bookish intelligence to pass herself off as an assistant to the doctor, who only ever does one operation - abortions, for music hall artistes. The plot is evidently gearing up to reveal how dangerous such a criminal business might be, for the both of them.
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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>070118194X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1914585526
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Nicole Jarvis
|author=Jean Marsh
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|title=A Portrait in Shadow
|title=The House of Eliott
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Women's Fiction
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|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=When Evangeline and Beatrice's father dies, the two sisters discover that he has left them with very little money and without any qualifications with which to support themselves.  They struggle to find suitable employment before accidentally discovering their talents as seamstresses and fashion designers.  The book follows their journey of independence after their father's death, and the new relationships they begin to build without him dominating their lives.
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|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144720008X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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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.
|author=Lesley Pearse
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|isbn=1803362340
|title=The Promise
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Belle has a lovely London life, a good career and a happy marriage. But she has a murky past, and although it’s shaped her kind heart and character, it isn’t something she wants to come face to face with again. But some people are not able to forget the past, for reasons good and bad, and against the dramatic backdrop of the Great War, Belle is about to come face to face with all sorts of things she thought she had forgotten.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718157044</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
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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=Tracey Warr
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|isbn=0356518523
|title=Almodis the Peaceweaver
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=At the age of five Almodis de la Marche was taken as a hostage - a guarantee of her family's good behaviour - and she remained there until she was of marriageable age. It was all the harder for Almodis as it meant that she was separated from her identical twin. The situation was not hostile although she didn't get on well with her foster mother, Agnes - and never would.  Her first marriage was to Hugh of Lusignan and Almodis felt something akin to love for this gentle man, but the sexual relationship between the two was tenuous to say the least and Almodis was determined that she would create her own dynasty.  At a time when marriages were put aside if they were not producing the required heirs, Almodis decided that she had to move on.  Her next marriage - to Pons of Toulouse - would be more productive but far from happy.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907605053</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=G K Holloway
|author=Conny Braam
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|title=In the Shadows of Castles
|title=The Cocaine Salesman
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Picture a world of hellish exclusion, nightmarish noise and images, and horrid violence. Picture one person trying to live through the sleepless nights, the isolation among his peers, the permanent sense of dreadful threat.  Picture him needing drugs.  His best friend might even be called Charlie.  But don't picture an inner city slum, 2012, but a man on the front in World War One.
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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>1907822054</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1800422466
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=3949666079
|author=Mark Mustian
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|title=Noema
|title=The Gendarme
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|author=Dael Akkerman
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=There are times when you will want to shut 'The Gendarme' and just walk away from the despair and disgust that this account of genocide engenders. Don't. Ultimately this tale of an old Turk revisiting his terrible past is both touching and important - an exploration of memory and forgiveness that shouldn't be missed.
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|summary=''This is a story about some things that happened to me about twelve thousand years ago.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1851688390</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=Simon Scarrow
 
|title=Praetorian (Roman Legion II)
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Still in hock to the imperial secretary Narcissus, Praetorian opens with our heroes Cato and Macro kicking their heels at the port of Ostia. They're about to embark on one of their most challenging adventures yet - as undercover spies in the Praetorian Guard. Rome in AD50 is full of perils. Imperial authority is now absolute and the Senate really only exists as an old boys club. The real power comes from being an adviser to the Emperor and, as these advisors jostle for influence, plots and conspiracies abound. Claudius, never in the best of health, looks precarious - but which of his heirs will succeed him? Nero? Or Britannicus? And can he hold on for long enough that the choice is clear?  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755353773</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529125898
|author=Alice Hoffman
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|title=Godmersham Park
|title=The Dovekeepers
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|author=Gill Hornby
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Set in the last desperate days before the Roman siege on Masada (70CE), the lives of four women collide and merge. They are Yael, the daughter of a Sicarii assassin; Revka, the wife of a gentle baker who witnessed her daughters' rape and murder; Aziza, raised as a boy with the skills of a great warrior and Shirah, born in Alexandria to a mother well versed in ancient magicAll four have crossed the heartless desert on separate journeys to arrive at the last outpost against the Roman Legion, where 900 Jews held out for many, many months. Here they have little power and less hope, but each refuses to be a victim. All are harbouring deep secrets about their pasts, as they become the Masada's dovekeepers. With supplies dwindling and certain death drawing near, their uneasy bonds to each other strengthen as their truths are unveiled. They find an uneasy comfort that becomes true loyalty and empowerment. While few in their company survive to recount the tale, their story has lived on to haunt the deepest of memories.
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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>0857205420</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 householdWhen 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
{{newreview
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|author=Melissa Fu
|author=Pam Jenoff
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|title=Peach Blossom Spring
|title=The Things We Cherished
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|rating=3.5
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|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. 
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|isbn=1472277538
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1916072038
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|title=The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)
 +
|author=Allie Cresswell
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=The rather sentimental title and Mills & Boon-ish front cover did not endear me to this book initially.  The blurb on the back cover made up for this, howeverThe story opens - at the end, if you get my drift and we're in America in 2009.  An elderly man called Roger is in prison, awaiting trial for (alleged) war crimes.  Charlotte has been assigned to the caseAlthough she's a hot-shot lawyer she also has a conscience (unlike many of her colleagues) so therefore she's a bit of a rare breed.
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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>0751547298</amazonuk>
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}}
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''She is practiced at subterfuge, at concealing, beneath a facade of respectability, the deplorable truth''.
  
{{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=Gabrielle Kimm
 
|title=The Courtesan's Lover
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=This is a big thumping book running to almost 500 pages.  We're in sixteenth century Italy, Naples to be precise and the scene is set for the entrance of the main character, courtesan Francesca.  And what an exotic creature she is.  But also charming, thoughtful and intelligent.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751544558</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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Then we are told of the birth of a child and, soon after, Hester Talbot departs, leaving Jocelyn in shame and isolation in Yorkshire.
|author=Christina Courtenay
 
|title=Highland Storms
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=The publisher, Choc Lit Limited, gives a fair idea of what kind of read this book is.  Romance with a capital R.  Courtenay decides to go back in time to a Scotland rather weary of battles but strong in image especially in terms of the countryside.  Is the book's purple hue suggestive of the purple heather to be found all over this area of Scotland, I wonder.  It all conjures up a deeply romantic setting for many, myself included.  Add in the odd fairy-tale castle or two and it's even better.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906931712</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Annabel Abbs
|author=Jean Marsh
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|title=The Language of Food
|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 linked.  Mary 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=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>1447200071</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398502227
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Titania Hardie
 
|title=The House of the Wind
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=I loved the intriguing title of the book and was hoping that Hardie explains it.  She 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 either.  The 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 minute.  And this strange/weird/scary event happens at the Casa al Vento - 'The House of the Wind.'
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755346297</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Freya Marske
|author=Jane Sanderson
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|title=A Marvellous Light
|title=Netherwood
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|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.
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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>0751547638</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn= B09F4CTKJR
|author=Colin Falconer
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|title= Flights for Freedom
|title=Silk Road
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|author= Steven Burgauer
 
|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 China. The 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 sons.  She 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=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>0857891081</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author= Christophe Medler
|author=Charles Frazier
+
|title=Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret
|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>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=John Buchan
 
|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.
+
|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>1780920121</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B095HY8SXQ
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1471187179
|author=John Buchan
+
|title=A Beautiful Spy
|title=A Lost Lady of Old Years
+
|author=Rachel Hore
|rating=5
+
|rating=4
|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.)
 
 
 
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.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846972035</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Brian Ruckley
 
|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>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Fiona Mountain
 
|title=Cavalier Queen
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=We sweep back in time to a young HenriettaLiving 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 dogBut 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 herIt'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 mindIn short, the French Royal Family want to do everything to appease other countries and hopefully keep war at bay.
+
|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>1848091672</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
|author=Barry Unsworth
+
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
|title=The Quality of Mercy
+
|rating=2.5
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|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.
+
|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, 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?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091937124</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1529402697
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
|author=James Aitcheson
+
|title=The Black Kids
|title=Sworn Sword
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Teens
|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.
+
|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>1848093241</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1471188191
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest History Reviews]]
|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>
 
}}
 

Latest revision as of 10:53, 20 November 2023

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Review of

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

5star.jpg Historical Fiction

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

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Review of

A True Account by Katherine Howe

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

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

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Review of

A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh

3.5star.jpg General Fiction

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

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Review of

House of Odysseus by Claire North

5star.jpg Literary Fiction

What could matter more than love?

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

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Review of

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

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

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

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Review of

The Fascination by Essie Fox

4star.jpg Historical Fiction

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

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Review of

A Portrait in Shadow by Nicole Jarvis

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

I want all of Florence to know my name

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

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Review of

Perilous Times by Thomas D Lee

3star.jpg Fantasy

Hate is the path of least resistance

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

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Review of

In the Shadows of Castles by G K Holloway

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

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

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Review of

Noema by Dael Akkerman

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

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

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

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Review of

Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby

5star.jpg Historical Fiction

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

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

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Review of

Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu

3.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

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

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Review of

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

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

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

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

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

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

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Review of

The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs

5star.jpg Historical Fiction

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

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Review of

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

4star.jpg Historical Fiction

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

B09F4CTKJR.jpg

Review of

Flights for Freedom by Steven Burgauer

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

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

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