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[[Category:New Reviews|Historical Fiction]]==Historical fiction==__NOTOC__{{newreview|author=Margaret Dickinson|title=Jenny's War|rating=3.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Jenny's home life in the East End is an uncomfortable one. Her mother Dot cares little for her and thinks nothing of giving her a slap to make sure she knows her place. Dot's boyfriend, Arthur, tries to show Jenny some kindness but has issues of his own.|amazonuk=<amazonuk!-- Remove -->0330544306 </amazonuk!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Tan Twan EngTananarive Due|title=The Garden of Evening MistsReformatory

|summary=Malay Chinese Teoh Yun Ling travels to the Cameron Highlands of Malaya to meet the legendary Japanese garden designer and expertGracetown, Nakamura AritomoFlorida. June 1950. As the sole survivor of After a scuffle with a World War II Japanese slave labour campwhite boy, Yun Ling has many reasons twelve year-old Robbie Stephens Jr is sentenced to hate six months at the Japanese but some things are stronger than hatred. ForGracetown School for Boys, whilst in otherwise known as the camp, she promised her sister a Japanese gardenReformatory. When life became difficult during interment, the sisters discussed and visualised the finished result to keep them hanging on. LingIt's sister perished but the dream of a memorial garden drives her onplace with a brutal and dark reputation. Nothing But the segregated reformatory is a chamber of horrors, haunted by the boys that straightforward, thoughhave died there. The designer refuses In order to survive the commission. Instead he suggests that she stays, as school governor and his apprenticeFunhouse, learning Robert must enlist the help of the art in order to become her school's ghosts – only they have their own designermotivations.. Yun Ling agrees and discovers more than horticultural finesse. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1905802625</amazonuk>1803366532}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Meg ClothierKatherine Howe|title=The Girl KingA True Account|rating=4.5|genre=Historical General Fiction|summary=King GiorgiHannah Masury is living in Boston, King of Georgia, is without having been sent to live with a family who run an heir so he does the unthinkable. He names his eldest daughterinn, Tamar, as 'King' on his deathand being made to work there from a young age. Tamar When she hears there is strong, feisty and to be a total tomboy but, hanging of some pirates in the fact remainstown, she's female. Therefore when Giorgi passes away the kingdom he's held together starts decides to crack as the opportunists equate the fairer sex with weakness go and possibilitieswatch. If Tamar is to gain united landsEnthralled and horrified in equal measure, she must lose something Hannah finds herself embroiled in return. Is this a sacrifice too far?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099553139</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Ella March Chase|title=The Virgin Queenyoung boy's Daughter|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Elinor de Lacey (Nell) has an eagerdeath at the hands of two vicious pirates. She hides away, quick mind so thatthey don's been trained by t find and kill her scholarly fathertoo, against her motherand then to escape them completely she runs away to sea, dressing as a boy and joining the notorious Ned Low's wishes. Nell would rather be discussing Copernicus' latest theories than learn how to keep a wet larder or how to be pirate ship as a dutiful wifecabin boy. It's Nell's greatest wish, She soon finds herself in fact, to attend the court thick of Queen Elizabeth I so that she can discuss things when there is a mutiny on board, and argue with the finest scientific and philosophical minds from there we are caught up in her rip roaring tale of life on the day, but her mother is ardently against it. Nell doesn't understand why. Not, that is, until her dream becomes a reality but by then it's too late to go backocean waves.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0091947162</amazonuk>0861547438

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Victoria LambSarah Marsh|title=The Queen's SecretA Sign of Her Own

|genre=Historical General Fiction|summary=It was July 1575 and the court had left the unpleasant atmosphere After a bout of London for its annual progress round the homes of the more prominent noblesscarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearing. It was to stay at Kenilworth Castle, home Suddenly plunged into a world of the Earl of Leicester (better known as Robert Dudleysilence, the queen's favourite) for some three weekseverything about her life changes. The expenditure on Living in a time when the stay use of sign language was enormousseen as something only savages do, but Leicester was determined Ellen is sent to persuade Queen Elizabeth a school where she is taught to marry himlip read, but physically restrained from signing. The fact that he was also having an affair with Lettice KnollysFrom here, wife of she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the Earl of Essex, was beside the pointdeaf and using a system called Visible Speech. Lucy MorganAt the same time, a black entertainer of Moorish descentBell is working on other inventions and ideas, was drawn into the midst of this intrigue and found Ellen finds herself on the edge unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of a plot to assassinate the queenespionage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0593067991</amazonuk>1035401614

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Dasa Drndic and Ellen Elias-Bursac (translator)Claire North|title=TriesteHouse of Odysseus

|genre=Historical Literary Fiction|summary=Haya Tedeschi, an 82 year old woman, sits alone in Italy, waiting. She waits for the adult son she hasn't seen since he was a baby. As Haya waits, she goes through her red basket of photographs and memorabilia, hanging 'What could matter more than love?'out her life on an imaginary washing line''. She then takes the reader back in time, back to her life as a Catholicised Jew, before, during and after World War II in an area called Trieste.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857050222</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Elaine di Rollo|title=Bleakly Hall|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Nurse Montgomery (Monty The follow-up to her friends) and daring ambulance driver, Ada, met in Belgium during World War Ithe excellent ''Ithaca'' picks up a few months after where we left off. They worked as a team collecting In the injured from the front linepalace of Odysseus, with delicate care Queen Penelope continues to rule without her husband, dodging snipers who sailed to war at Troy and shells and ignoring social standards that accompanied then by divine intervention never returned home. As ever she remains surrounded by suitors vying for the class system throne of the dayWestern Isles. Monty may have been AdaHaving survived – politically and physical – the chaotic storm that Clytemnestra brought to Ithaca's social 'superior' but such things were irrelevant whilst they faced death shores, Queen Penelope is on an hourly basisthe brink of a fragile peace. After One that shatters however with the war Monty comes to work at Bleakly Hallreturn of Orestes, King of Mycenae, a hydropathic or country house hotel specialising in hydro therapies for the rich and ailing and is reunited with Adahis sister Elektra, working as a mechanic and all-round assistantseeking refuge.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099513471</amazonuk>0356516075

 {{newreview|author=Helen Dunmore|title=The Greatcoat|rating=4|genre=Horror|summary=Set in 1952 in Yorkshire, a young couple move into a rented flat. Philip is the new, young doctor while his new wife Isabel struggles with the isolated life with no friends or family and Philip's frequent absence due to the demands of his job. Things take a turn to the spooky when, waking from under the warmth of the old greatcoat Isabel finds in the flat, she hears a tapping at the window and finds there an RAF pilot, Alec, who appears to know Isabel intimately.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099564939</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Marina Endicott|title=The Little Shadows|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Flora Avery's schoolmaster husband dies suddenly, leaving her three daughters and a dilemma: how does she find the money to raise them? Her answer is to return to her pre-marital profession, the one of which her husband disapproved so vocally. Flora decides to put her family on the stage as a vaudeville act. So begins a new life as they tour the backwater theatres of America and their native Canada, dreaming of a big future whilst weathering the present. Set prior to and during World War I, it wasn't just the Averys who faced changes and uncertainty.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091944023</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Karen Harper|title=Shakespeare's Mistress|rating=2|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=The conceit of ''Shakespeare's Mistress'' is that Shakespeare was married to Anne Whateley the day before he was married to Anne Hathaway, and Anne W remained the love of his life, with an affair (if you can have an affair with your 'wife') continued in London where the same Anne was also the famed ''dark lady'' of his sonnets. There is some basis for this theory in that the parish records do show a mysterious entry into the register for just such a contract the day before the Hathaway marriage but although the author claims this is 'faction', it's very much at the fiction end of that scale and is really a 'what if?' piece.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091940427</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Robin WassermanB0C7J9D21B|title=The Book of Blood and Shadow|rating=4.5|genre=Teens|summary=Nora is an unusual heroine. She is sharp, snarky and funny, and her wry tone and contemporary references will resonate with her readers. But she is also uncompromisingly geeky, and she opts to complete her independent study assignment by joining her three friends at the local university A Captive in a research project on the Voynich Manuscript by Edward Kelley Algiers (This manuscript actually exists, and has taxed the abilities of some of the greatest code-breakers in the world in the last hundred years.Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries). However Professor Hoffpauer does not consider Nora mature enough to work on the manuscript itself, despite the fact that her linguistic ability is far superior to that of the others, and instead he gives her the lesser task of translating the letters of Kelley's step-daughter Elizabeth Weston. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907411445</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt|title=Noah's Child|rating=4.5|genre=Literary 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 Two. He 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848874189</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Robert Lyndon|title=Hawk QuestA J Lewis

|summary=''Hawk Quest'' When we first meet our hero, his name is an epic Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful Swallows. Idyllic as this might sound, it's a historic novel set in the 11th centurybordello and Ettore's mother died when he was born. A band He's not been short of companions led by Vallonmothers, the mysterious Frankish warriorthough - but for someone of his background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, travel from England it's difficult to Scandinavia obtain decent employment. The stint working with the preparation of anchovies didn't work out and bastards are considered bad luck on to Anatolia in order to capture fishing boats. Ettore was nothing if not resourceful - and determined - and deliver four rare pure white falcons it was not long before he had a successful business as a ransom guide for Sir Walter, the son of a Norman nobleman held by the Seljuk Turksvisitors. He was even saving some money.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847444970</amazonuk>

 {{newreview|author=Chris Womersley|title=Bereft|rating=5|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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857386549</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kate WilliamsEssie Fox|title=The Pleasures of MenFascination

|summary=The Whores’ AsylumVictorian 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 debut novel, is few writers mishandling it. There's such a tale glut of friendship, love, sin and criminality media set in late 19th century Cambridge and Oxford. The comparison the era that the hallmarks we've come to associate with it are familiar to one the point of my favourite historical novelistsbeing cliched, Sarah Waters, also caught my attentionhackneyed even. All this is simply to illustrate that it would be an easy thing to do poorly. SadlyBut despite that, I was a little bit disappointedsomething about it still grabs me – and something about this book's description did as well.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1905490801</amazonuk>1914585526

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Eric OrsennaNicole Jarvis|title=The Indies EnterpriseA Portrait in Shadow

|summary=As soon as you pick up a novel about Columbus's discovery 'I want all of the Americas, certain expectations come Florence 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906598932</amazonuk>}}know my name''

{{newreview|author=Louisa Young|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 apparentCast out from Rome, but when it does, it Artemisia Gentileschi arrives in Florence seeking an oasis in which her art can hardly fail to move you. Set just before and during World War One, it's find a story of love home and human spirit against the oddswhere her future can thrive rather than stagnate. 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 But as some of as she enters Florentine society she faces great opposition from the descriptions of surgical procedurespowerful Accademia, which have clearly been meticulously researched by Young. The title itself it taken from the opening words self-proclaimed guardians of the standard letters healing magics that through paintings have the wounded were given power to send to loved ones back homeprotect the city and its citizens from plagues and curses. The wounded were required to fill in the blanksall-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.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0007361432</amazonuk>1803362340

{{newreview|author=Janette Jenkins|title=Little Bones|rating=4|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 Set in the last years of Victoria's reignnear-distant future, in a world on the depths verge of her darkest London. Fate - and being abandoned byclimate collapse, Britain is in turn, her mother and older sister - leaves Jane Stretch living with and working for a doctor and his lumpen, housebound wifegreat peril. Jane is alternatively called an 'unfortunate' and The British Isles desperately needs a 'cripple' for her disabilities and distorted frame, but she has enough bookish intelligence to pass herself off as an assistant hero (or several) to save the doctor, who only ever does day and rescue what little remains. What no-one expected was that one operation - abortions, for music hall artistes. The plot is evidently gearing up to reveal how dangerous such a criminal business might be, for of the both Knights of themthe Round Table would answer the call.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>070118194X</amazonuk>0356518523

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jean MarshG K Holloway|title=The House In the Shadows of EliottCastles

|summary=Belle has a lovely London life, a good career We begin after the momentous battle in 1066 and a happy marriageon the day of William of Normandy's coronation as King of England. But she William's position is not secure and the new king has many challenges. Imposing authority through a murky past, and although it’s shaped her kind heart and character, it isn’t something she wants coronation is important. And William is right to come face to face with againworry. But some people are not able to forget While the pastprevious king, for reasons good Harold, is dead and badthe likelihood of more pitched battles is over, the rebels are stirring and against the dramatic backdrop much of the Great War, Belle is about country does not wish to come face to face with all sorts of things she thought she had forgottenrecognise a new overlord. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0718157044</amazonuk>1800422466

{{newreview|author=Tracey Warr|title=Almodis Maya is a young girl living in a hunter gatherer village during the Peaceweaver|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=At Mesolithic era. Climate change is occurring, the age Sea of five Almodis de la Marche was taken as a hostage - a guarantee of her familyGrass encroaches further and further into Maya's good behaviour - forest home, 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 - food is becoming more and never wouldmore scarce. Her first marriage was to Hugh of Lusignan and Almodis felt something akin What to love for this gentle man, but do? Can the sexual relationship between law givers in the two was tenuous federation of villages muster peaceful ways to say cope? Can the least and Almodis was determined that she would create her own dynasty. At Traveller, a time when marriages were put aside if they were not producing spiritual figure who interprets the required heirswisdom of All Life, 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>provide solutions?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Conny Braam1529125898|title=The Cocaine SalesmanGodmersham Park|author=Gill Hornby|rating=4.5

|summary=Picture a world ''If it were not for the casual dereliction of hellish exclusion, nightmarish noise and imagesthe odd gentleman's duty, and horrid violence. Picture one person trying there would no women to live through the sleepless nights, the isolation among his peers, the permanent sense of dreadful threatteach well-bred daughters at all. 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907822054</amazonuk>}}'

{{newreview|author=Mark Mustian|title=The Gendarme|rating=4.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=There are times Anne Sharpe was thirty-one years old when you will want she arrived at Godmersham Park to shut 'The Gendarme' and just walk away from take up the despair and disgust that position of governess to twelve-year-old Fanny Austen. She had no experience of teaching but this account was a case of genocide engendersnecessity. Don't. Ultimately this tale Until the death of an old Turk revisiting his terrible past is her mother, Anne had a comfortable life and was loved by both touching parents although her father was frequently absent from the household. When her mother died, her father cast her off and important - would have nothing more to do with her. No explanation was offered but she would receive an exploration annuity of memory and forgiveness that shouldn't be missed£35 a year. Her maid, Agnes, would receive nothing but was fortunately taken in by some neighbours.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1851688390</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Simon ScarrowMelissa Fu |title=Praetorian (Roman Legion II)Peach Blossom Spring

|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Still in hock I loved the prelude to the imperial secretary NarcissusPeach Blossom Spring, Praetorian opens with our heroes Cato and Macro kicking their heels at a short chapter entitled ''Origins''. Unfortunately it is the port only truly poetic part of Ostiaa book that I expected more from. They're about Covering Chinese history from 1938 to embark on 2005 as viewed through one of family's perspective. When their most challenging adventures yet - as undercover spies in home city is set ablaze during the Praetorian Guard. Rome in AD50 is full of perils. Imperial authority is now absolute war with Japan, a young mother (Meilin) and the Senate really only exists as an her four-year-old boys clubson (Renshu) are among those who flee. The real power comes from being an adviser to the Emperor and, as these advisors jostle for influencestory follows them on their journey across China, plots and conspiracies aboundin Renshu's case eventually to America. 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? |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0755353773</amazonuk>1472277538

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alice Hoffman1916072038|title=The DovekeepersHouse in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)|author=Allie Cresswell|rating=4.5

|summary=Set in the last desperate days before the Roman siege on Masada (70CE), the lives We meet part 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 Talbot family in Alexandria to a mother well versed Yorkshire in ancient magicNovember 1811. All four Twenty-seven-year-old Jocelyn Talbot and her mother have crossed the heartless desert on separate journeys travelled in some discomfort from their home at Ecklington, to arrive at the last outpost against house in the Roman Legion, where 900 Jews held out for many, many monthshollow. Here they have little power and less hope, but each refuses to be a victim. All The two women 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 angry with 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 Jocelyn is well aware of memories.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857205420</amazonuk>}}her mother's strengths and weaknesses:

{{newreview|author=Pam Jenoff|title=The Things We Cherished|rating=4.5|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''She is practiced at subterfuge, however. The story opens - at the endconcealing, if you get my drift and we're in America in 2009. An elderly man called Roger is in prisonbeneath a facade of respectability, awaiting trial for (alleged) war crimes. Charlotte has been assigned to the case. Although shedeplorable truth'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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751547298</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Gabrielle Kimm|title=The CourtesanHester is furious about Jocelyn'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 refusal to be precise and the scene is set for the entrance of the main character, courtesan Francesca. And what an exotic creature do as she is. But also charmingwas asked, thoughtful which has precipitated ''this violent and intelligentunexpected removal''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751544558</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Christina Courtenay|title=Highland Storms|rating=4|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=The publisher, Choc Lit Limited, gives a fair idea Then we are told of what kind the birth 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 Scotlandchild and, soon after, I wonder. It all conjures up a deeply romantic setting for manyHester Talbot departs, myself included. Add leaving Jocelyn in the odd fairy-tale castle or two shame and it's even betterisolation in Yorkshire.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906931712</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jean MarshAnnabel Abbs|title=Fiennders AbbeyThe Language of Food|rating=3.5

|summary=In was the end of the nineteenth century and the family at Fiennders Abbey might lead much more leisurely lives than the staff Eliza Acton is a poet who kept has never had the house running as it shouldslightest inclination to boil an egg. When tasked with writing a cookery book, 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 gamekeeperrecruits Ann Kirby, a local woman with a troubled home life. She was also intelligentTogether, ambitious and very attractive with her straightthey test, milk-blonde hair. As a child she'd always been very friendly with Richardcraft, refine and reshape the son world of domestic cookery, reinventing the recipe book and changing the house, but it's not a friendship which either face of their mothers wishes to fostercookery writing forever.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1447200071</amazonuk>1398502227

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Titania HardieFreya Marske|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>}} {{newreview|author=Jane Sanderson|title=NetherwoodMarvellous Light

|summary=The cover of Netherwood features Robin Blyth is nudged into a bold promise - 'Perfect for fans job in the Civil Service, much to his chagrin. There he meets Edwin Courcey and learns that the streets of Downton Abbey'London are threaded with magic. The basic features of Desperate to remove a reliable 'upstairs/downstairs' saga are all present; curse that threatens to swallow him, Robin follows Edwin to the landed gentry enjoying their estatecountryside, where the staff servicing it hedgegrows bristle with incantations and the locals, people shimmer with power. There they uncover a sinister plot that threatens the lives of all relying on magicians in the fortunate family for their own incomeBritish Isles.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0751547638</amazonuk>1529080886

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Colin FalconerB09F4CTKJR|title=Silk RoadFlights for Freedom|author= Steven Burgauer

|summary=Falconer presents his readers with a handy map It's the later stages of World War I and the famous (or perhaps that should be infamous) ''Silk Road'' which stretches from Europe all United States has just entered the way to Chinaconflict. The story opens with Petrol Petronus is a charismatic young princess American who lives with her extended family in an area of Mongoliahas signed up and joined the 17 Aero Squadron. She is clearly This company was the apple of her father's eye. So much sofirst US Aero Squadron to be trained in Canada, that he will often take advice from her, rather than from his two older sons. She would the first to be a prize catch indeed as a wife for any man, but attached to the feisty Khutelun has other plans. She wants plenty of adventure RAF and glory the first to be sent into the skies to fight the Germans in her lifeactive combat. She doesn't want to be a baby machine and besidesBut before that can happen, no man Petrol has caught her eye. Yetto master flying the notoriously difficult but majestic Sopwith Camel.|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>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=John BuchanChristophe Medler|title=The Thirty-nine StepsMadrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret

|summary=I must admit that I think Set against the title a little cheekybackdrop of the English Civil War, a little too near secret plan (code-named Madrigal) is discovered by Sir Robert Douse in the bone as far as summer of 1642. As a loyal servant of the iconic Baker Street King, and equally iconic Sherlock Holmes Head of the Secret Service, it is concerned. The sepia front cover suggests a rather sugary, romantic read so I wasnRobert't off s duty to uncover the best details of startsthe plan and follow the clues to uncover one of the most guarded secrets in history—especially since the plot could affect the King.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1780920121</amazonuk>B095HY8SXQ

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Buchan1471187179|title=A Lost Lady of Old Years|rating=5|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>}} {{newreviewBeautiful Spy|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 QueenRachel Hore|rating=4.5

|summary=We sweep back Minnie is an 'ordinary' girl living an unexciting life in time to a young Henriettaleafy provincial suburb. Living The book is set in the spoilt 1930s and pampered life of Minnie is expected to live up to her mother's expectations and find a prettynice young man to marry, little princess whom everyone (even produce children and spend the rest of her dog) loves and adores. She spends delightfully carefree days singing looking after her husband and dancing and playing with her little dogtheir home. But the subject of marriage is on the horizon. SheUnfortunately, this isn's fourteen after t what she wants to do at all. Time and neither does she want 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 continue working as a little handsome and be gentle with hersecretary. It's not only As a marriage result of two individuals (that's almost inconsequential) it's a marriage of two nations - with strategy chance meeting, she finds herself drawn into espionage, working for the secret service and longeffectively living a double life -term thinking in mindattempting to infiltrate the Communist Party of Great Britain. In short, Minnie finds herself torn between what she perceives as her duty and the French Royal Family want to do everything to appease other countries friends she has made - and hopefully keep war at baylikes - whilst working for the Communist Party.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848091672</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Barry UnsworthAfonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)|title=The Quality of MercyKokoschka's Doll|rating=42.5

|summary='The Quality of Mercy' picks up the story of Well, this looked very much like a book I could love from the author's Booker Prizeget-winning 'Sacred Hunger' although if you haven't read the first bookgo, you won't be greatly disadvantaged as the relevant story lines are explained. What you might miss out on which is some why I picked my review copy up and flipped pages over several times before actually reading any of the feeling for it. I found things to potentially delight me each time – a few of weird section in the main charactersmiddle on darker stock paper, most notably a chapter whose number was in the Irish fiddler20, Sullivan who000s, when this book picks up in spring 1767letters used as narrative form, has just escaped from prison where and so on. It intrigued with the remaining shipmates subterranean voice a man hears in wartorn Dresden that what little I knew of the slave shipit mentioned, the too. But you'Liverpool Merchant' await their trial of piracy. Slavery and abolition thereof remains a central theme of this sequel, but ve seen the book draws some poignant similarities star rating that comes with those in bondage due to povertythis review, and particularly those working in the coal mines of County Durhamcan tell that if love was on these pages, it was not actually caused by them. So what happened?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0091937124</amazonuk>1529402697

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=James AitchesonChristina Hammonds Reed|title=Sworn SwordThe Black Kids

|genre=Historical FictionTeens |summary=The Christina Hammonds Reed's debut novel is set in against the turbulent years following the Battle backdrop of Hastings. We follow the Normans as they set out 1992 Los Angeles riots, a reaction to quell the restless and rebellious factions in absolution of four police officers for beating a black man, Rodney King, nearly to death. Told from the North perspective of England. An ambush in Durham sees Ashley Bennett, the Normans decimated novel follows her evolution from a silent bystander when confronted with matters of race, to a woman finding her voice and determined on revenge - this precipitates the events which followembracing her heritage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848093241</amazonuk>1471188191

{{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 Move on 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>}}[[Newest History Reviews]]