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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[[Category:New Reviews|Historical Fiction]]__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->
==Historical fiction==
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Tananarive Due
|author=Emma Donoghue
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|title=The Reformatory
|title=The Sealed Letter
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|rating=5
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=If you are in the mood for a deliciously scandalous Victorian page-turner, look no further than Emma Donoghue's ''The Sealed Letter''. Set in 1864, it's based on the real life story of secrets and scandal surrounding Helen Codrington's divorce from her older husband, the rather dull Vice Admiral Codrington. There's added spice and intrigue provided by the unwitting involvement in events of Emily 'Fido' Faithfull, an early mover in the rights of women movement and that good old standard, the Victorian spinster.
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|summary= Gracetown, Florida. June 1950. After a scuffle with a white boy, twelve year-old Robbie Stephens Jr is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, otherwise known as the Reformatory. It's a place with a brutal and dark reputation. But the segregated reformatory is a chamber of horrors, haunted by the boys that have died there. In order to survive the school governor and his Funhouse, Robert must enlist the help of the school's ghosts – only they have their own motivations...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447205987</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803366532
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}}  
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Katherine Howe
|author=Jennifer McVeigh
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|title=A True Account
|title=The Fever Tree
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Frances Irvine enjoys a privileged lifestyle in Victorian England: a beautiful house, servants, rich gowns and all the trappings her position as the daughter of an industrialist demandsHowever, Frances' lifestyle proves to be a precarious house of cards balanced on her father's investment in the Northern Pacific Railroad in North AmericaWhen the Canadian terrain proves too much for the railroad construction to continue, her father's shares are rendered worthlessAs this occurs just before his sudden death, Frances is forced to make a choice as her finery and home are auctioned offDoes she throw herself on the mercy of her lower class relatives or commit herself to a loveless marriage to distant cousin Dr Edwin Matthews?
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|summary=Hannah Masury is living in Boston, having been sent to live with a family who run an inn, and being made to work there from a young ageWhen she hears there is to be a hanging of some pirates in the town, she decides to go and watchEnthralled and horrified in equal measure, Hannah finds herself embroiled in a young boy's death at the hands of two vicious piratesShe 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 boyShe 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>0670920894</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0861547438
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Sarah Marsh
|author=Sax Rohmer
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|title=A Sign of Her Own
|title=Fu Manchu - The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=A couple of years after their encounter with the villainous Dr Fu Manchu, Dr Petrie and Nayland Smith are reunited once more to take on the returning evil genius. When the Rev JD Eltham vanishes after conversing with Petrie, the two realise that Fu Manchu has returned and must risk life and limb to save their friend.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857686046</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Margaret Dickinson
 
|title=Jenny's War
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=General 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.
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|summary=After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearing.  Suddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her life changes.  Living in a time when the use of sign language was seen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a school where she is taught to lip read, but physically restrained from signing. From here, she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and using a system called Visible Speech. At the same time, Bell is working on other inventions and ideas, and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of espionage.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330544306</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1035401614
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Claire North
 +
|title=House of Odysseus
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|rating=5
 +
|genre= Literary Fiction
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|summary= ''What could matter more than love?''
  
{{newreview
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The follow-up to the excellent ''Ithaca'' picks up a few months after where we left off. In the palace of Odysseus, with delicate care Queen Penelope continues to rule without her husband, who sailed to war at Troy and then by divine intervention never returned home. As ever she remains surrounded by suitors vying for the throne of the Western Isles. Having survived – politically and physical – the chaotic storm that Clytemnestra brought to Ithaca's shores, Queen Penelope is on the brink of a fragile peace. One that shatters however with the return of Orestes, King of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra, seeking refuge.
|author=Tan Twan Eng
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|isbn=0356516075
|title=The Garden of Evening Mists
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Malay Chinese Teoh Yun Ling travels to the Cameron Highlands of Malaya to meet the legendary Japanese garden designer and expert, Nakamura Aritomo. As the sole survivor of a World War II Japanese slave labour camp, Yun Ling has many reasons to hate the Japanese but some things are stronger than hatred. For, whilst in the camp, she promised her sister a Japanese garden.  When life became difficult during interment, the sisters discussed and visualised the finished result to keep them hanging on.  Ling's sister perished but the dream of a memorial garden drives her on. Nothing is that straightforward, though.  The designer refuses the commission.  Instead he suggests that she stays, as his apprentice, learning the art in order to become her own designer.  Yun Ling agrees and discovers more than horticultural finesse.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905802625</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|author=Meg Clothier
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|title=A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)
|title=The Girl King
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|author=A J Lewis
|rating=4
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=King Giorgi, King of Georgia, is without an heir so he does the unthinkableHe names his eldest daughter, Tamar, as 'King' on his deathTamar is strong, feisty and a total tomboy but, the fact remains, she's female. Therefore when Giorgi passes away the kingdom he's held together starts to crack as the opportunists equate the fairer sex with weakness and possibilitiesIf Tamar is to gain united lands, she must lose something in returnIs this a sacrifice too far?
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|summary=When we first meet our hero, his name is Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful SwallowsIdyllic as this might sound, it's a bordello and Ettore's mother died when he was bornHe's not been short of mothers, though - but for someone of his background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, it's difficult to obtain decent employment. The stint working with the preparation of anchovies didn't work out and bastards are considered bad luck on fishing boatsEttore was nothing if not resourceful - and determined - and it was not long before he had a successful business as a guide for visitorsHe was even saving some money.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099553139</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Essie Fox
|author=Ella March Chase
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|title=The Fascination
|title=The Virgin Queen's Daughter
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Elinor de Lacey (Nell) has an eager, quick mind that's been trained by her scholarly father, against her mother's wishes.  Nell would rather be discussing Copernicus' latest theories than learn how to keep a wet larder or how to be a dutiful wife. It's Nell's greatest wish, in fact, to attend the court of Queen Elizabeth I so that she can discuss and argue with the finest scientific and philosophical minds of 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 back.
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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>0091947162</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1914585526
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Nicole Jarvis
|author=Victoria Lamb
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|title=A Portrait in Shadow
|title=The Queen's Secret
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|rating=4.5
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=It was July 1575 and the court had left the unpleasant atmosphere of London for its annual progress round the homes of the more prominent nobles.  It was to stay at Kenilworth Castle, home of the Earl of Leicester (better known as Robert Dudley, the queen's favourite) for some three weeks.  The expenditure on the stay was enormous, but Leicester was determined to persuade Queen Elizabeth to marry him.  The fact that he was also having an affair with Lettice Knollys, wife of the Earl of Essex, was beside the point.  Lucy Morgan, a black entertainer of Moorish descent, was drawn into the midst of this intrigue and found herself on the edge of a plot to assassinate the queen.
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|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0593067991</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=Dasa Drndic and Ellen Elias-Bursac (translator)
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|isbn=1803362340
|title=Trieste
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical 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 ''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>
 
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Thomas D Lee
 +
|title=Perilous Times
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|rating=3
 +
|genre= Fantasy
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|summary= ''Hate is the path of least resistance''
  
{{newreview
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Set in the near-distant future, in a world on the verge of climate collapse, Britain is in great peril. The British Isles desperately needs a hero (or several) to save the day and rescue what little remains. What no-one expected was that one of the Knights of the Round Table would answer the call.
|author=Elaine di Rollo
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|isbn=0356518523
|title=Bleakly Hall
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Nurse Montgomery (Monty to her friends) and daring ambulance driver, Ada, met in Belgium during World War I. They worked as a team collecting the injured from the front line, dodging snipers and shells and ignoring social standards that accompanied the class system of the day.  Monty may have been Ada's social 'superior' but such things were irrelevant whilst they faced death on an hourly basis.  After the war Monty comes to work at Bleakly Hall, a hydropathic or country house hotel specialising in hydro therapies for the rich and ailing and is reunited with Ada, working as a mechanic and all-round assistant.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099513471</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=G K Holloway
|author=Helen Dunmore
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|title=In the Shadows of Castles
|title=The Greatcoat
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|rating=4.5
|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
 
|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.
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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>0091944023</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1800422466
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=3949666079
|author=Karen Harper
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|title=Noema
|title=Shakespeare's Mistress
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|author=Dael Akkerman
|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>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Robin Wasserman
 
|title=The Book of Blood and Shadow
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
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|genre=General Fiction
|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 in a research project on the Voynich Manuscript by Edward Kelley (This manuscript actually exists, and has taxed the abilities of some of the greatest code-breakers in the world in the last hundred years.). 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.
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|summary=''This is a story about some things that happened to me about twelve thousand years ago.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907411445</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=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>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529125898
|author=Robert Lyndon
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|title=Godmersham Park
|title=Hawk Quest
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|author=Gill Hornby
|rating=4.5
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=''Hawk Quest'' is an epic of a historic novel set in the 11th century.  A 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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|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>1847444970</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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Anne Sharpe was thirty-one years old when she arrived at Godmersham Park to take up the position of governess to twelve-year-old Fanny Austen.  She had no experience of teaching but this was a case of necessityUntil the death of her mother, Anne had a comfortable life and was loved by both parents although her father was frequently absent from the 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.
|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 sisterTwo 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 warAnd 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>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Melissa Fu
|author=Kate Williams
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|title=Peach Blossom Spring
|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
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|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.
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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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905490801</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1472277538
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1916072038
|author=Eric Orsenna
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|title=The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)
|title=The Indies Enterprise
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|author=Allie Cresswell
 
|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=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:
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906598932</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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''She is practiced at subterfuge, at concealing, beneath a facade of respectability, the deplorable truth''.
|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 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
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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=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 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.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>070118194X</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=Jean Marsh
 
|title=The House of Eliott
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Women's 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.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144720008X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Annabel Abbs
|author=Lesley Pearse
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|title=The Language of Food
|title=The Promise
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|rating=5
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|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.  
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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>0718157044</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398502227
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Freya Marske
|author=Tracey Warr
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|title=A Marvellous Light
|title=Almodis the Peaceweaver
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|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.
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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>1907605053</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn= B09F4CTKJR
|author=Conny Braam
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|title= Flights for Freedom
|title=The Cocaine Salesman
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|author= Steven Burgauer
 
|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.
+
|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>1907822054</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author= Christophe Medler
|author=Mark Mustian
+
|title=Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret
|title=The Gendarme
+
|rating=4
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical 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.
+
|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>1851688390</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B095HY8SXQ
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1471187179
|author=Simon Scarrow
+
|title=A Beautiful Spy
|title=Praetorian (Roman Legion II)
+
|author=Rachel Hore
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|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?
+
|summary=Minnie is an 'ordinary' girl living an unexciting life in a leafy provincial suburb.  The book is set in the 1930s and Minnie is expected to live up to her mother's expectations and find a nice young man to marry, produce children and spend the rest of her days looking after her husband and their home. Unfortunately, this isn't what she wants to do at all and neither does she want to continue working as a secretary. As a result of a chance meeting, she finds herself drawn into espionage, working for the secret service and effectively living a double life - attempting to infiltrate the Communist Party of Great Britain. Minnie finds herself torn between what she perceives as her duty and the friends she has made - and likes - whilst working for the Communist Party.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755353773</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
|author=Alice Hoffman
+
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
|title=The Dovekeepers
+
|rating=2.5
|rating=5
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|summary=Well, this looked very much like a book I could love from the get-go, which is why I picked my review copy up and flipped pages over several times before actually reading any of it.  I found things to potentially delight me each time – a weird section in the middle on darker stock paper, a chapter whose number was in the 20,000s, letters used as narrative form, and so 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?
|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 magic.  All 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.
+
|isbn=1529402697
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857205420</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
|author=Pam Jenoff
+
|title=The Black Kids
|title=The Things We Cherished
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Teens
|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, however. The 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 case.  Although 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.
+
|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>0751547298</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1471188191
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|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
+
Move on to [[Newest History Reviews]]
|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>
 
}}
 

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

0356516075.jpg

Review of

House of Odysseus by Claire North

5star.jpg Literary Fiction

What could matter more than love?

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

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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