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[[Category:New Reviews|Historical Fiction]]__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->==Historical fiction==__NOTOC__ <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Charlotte BettsTananarive Due|title=The Apothecary's DaughterReformatory|rating=4.5

|summary=Susannah is an intelligent young woman in her twenties who assists her father in his pharmacyGracetown, Florida. But the date is 1665 so he's actually called an apothecary, creating herbal remedies from scratch; moreoever this is an era when women did not, generally, do work of this kindJune 1950. HoweverAfter a scuffle with a white boy, London twelve year-old Robbie Stephens Jr is in sentenced to six months at the grip of Gracetown School for Boys, otherwise known as the bubonic plagueReformatory. So apothecaries must work overtime to produce nosegays - supposedly to ward off evil humours - as well as plague preventative medicine, herbs for poultices, It's a place with a brutal and so ondark reputation.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749954493</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=M L Stedman|title=The Light Between Oceans|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Thomas Sherbourne returns to Australia after World War I. Internally scarred like many But the segregated reformatory is a chamber of his generationhorrors, he chooses haunted by the solitary life of a lighthouse keeper on remote Janus Rock boys that have died there. In order to escape survive the world school governor and its conflict. Howeverhis Funhouse, he soon learns that there is one part Robert must enlist the help of the world he canschool't live without s ghosts – the sassy, beautiful Izzy Graysmark, a local from the nearest port and country town of Partaguese. They only they have a happy marriage in all respects apart from one: they're haunted by their inability to have childrenown motivations.. Therefore, one day, when a boat washes up onto Janus bearing a dead man and a crying baby, apparent salvation arrives too.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857521004</amazonuk>1803366532}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ros BarberKatherine Howe|title=The Marlowe PapersA True Account

|genre=Literary General Fiction|summary=''StopHannah 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. Pay attention When she hears there is to be a hanging of some pirates in the town, she decides to go and watch. Hear Enthralled and horrified in equal measure, Hannah finds herself embroiled in a dead man speakyoung boy''  These are the attention grabbing words that Ros Barber addresses to the reader s death at the start hands of this unique taletwo vicious pirates. Marlowe was 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 playwright with boy and joining the notorious Ned Low's pirate ship as a reputation not only for his plays but also for his lifestylecabin boy. His gory death from a stab wound through She soon finds herself in the eye thick of things when there is one a mutiny on board, and from there we are caught up in her rip roaring tale of life on the many contentious points in a brief but very lively lifeocean waves.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444737384</amazonuk>0861547438

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Stella TillyardSarah Marsh|title=Tides A Sign of WarHer Own|rating=3.5|genre=Historical General Fiction|summary=When After a scholarly historian turns bout of scarlet fever as a hand to fictionchild, complications can followEllen Lark loses her hearing. Sometimes the result is Suddenly plunged into a dry work world of proudsilence, thinly disguised researcheverything 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 all discerned information she is hurled at the pagetaught to lip read, but physically restrained from signing. Sometimes the demonstrated research levels are just rightFrom here, but she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the characterisation is more reminiscent of cardboard cut outs than real peopledeaf and using a system called Visible Speech. HoweverAt the same time, if the historian Bell is [[Category:Stella Tillyard|Stella Tillyard]], cited as being phenomenally gifted by none working on other than Simon Schamainventions and ideas, there's no need for concern. ''Tides and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of War'' is an engrossing, sweeping epic of a novelespionage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0701183179</amazonuk>1035401614

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jane HarrisClaire North|title=Gillespie and IHouse of Odysseus

|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=The 'I' in the title of Jane HarrisWhat could matter more than love?'s ''Gillespie and I'' is Harriet Baxter. Now elderly and residing in London in 1933, she is finally telling her events of what happened in the early 1880s in Glasgow and her relationship with the Gillespie family. At the time, a spinster of independent means, she arrived in Glasgow to visit the International Exhibition and became a champion of and friend to a young Scottish painter, Ned Gillespie and his young family. We know from early on that tragedy struck the Gillespie family leading to Ned destroying his career, but Harriet wants to set the record straight with regard to her involvement in events. You may or may not believe her story.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571238300</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Karin Altenberg|title=Island of Wings|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Rev Neil MacKenzie has been assigned to the Hebridian island of St Kilda. His mission is to bring the locals back to the Victorian idea of God and propriety. He and his pregnant wife Lizzie not only have to fight the elements but also centuries of superstition that have trickled into the islanders' Christian faith. Life is made harder for Neil by a secret guilt emanating from the death of a friend years ago. However, the going becomes harder still for Lizzie, isolated by an inability to speak the local language and the burgeoning fear engendered by Neil's behaviour and attitudes.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857382322</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Georgina Harding|title=Painter of Silence|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=A young, anonymous, vagrant collapses on the steps of a hospital in Romania. He doesn't speak and remains a mystery to the staff that tries to treat his obvious symptoms but can't seem to reach the silent person beneath. However, Safta, a nurse, suggests that he may be deaf and produces drawing materials. Coincidentally, the man is able to draw beautifully, but this is no coincidence to Safta. There are reasons why she can't disclose it, but she knows this man. They grew up together in pre-war Romania, a whole world away when the country had a king, beautiful cities untouched by bombing and being able to read a foreign language wasn't punishable by imprisonment in work camps... or worse.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408821125</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Lindsey Davis|title=Master and God|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Imagine first century Rome as seen through The follow-up to the excellent ''Ithaca'' picks up a few months after where we left off. In the eyes palace of a wry Brummie Odysseus, with a fine sense of humour delicate care Queen Penelope continues to rule without her husband, who sailed to war at Troy and a real talent then by divine intervention never returned home. As ever she remains surrounded by suitors vying for introducing you to characters so real you could easily see yourself having a drink with them after a hard week at the officethrone of the Western Isles. That is Lindsey DavisHaving survived – politically and physical – the chaotic storm that Clytemnestra brought to Ithaca' gifts shores, and while this book Queen Penelope is on the brink of a departure from her usual Falco novelsfragile peace. One that shatters however with the return of Orestes, the trademark charmKing of Mycenae, piercing intelligence and ready wit are as abundant as everhis sister Elektra, seeking refuge.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1444707329</amazonuk>0356516075

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Emma DonoghueB0C7J9D21B|title=The Sealed LetterA Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)|author=A J Lewis

|summary=If you are in the mood for a deliciously scandalous Victorian page-turnerWhen we first meet our hero, look no further than Emma Donoghue's ''his name is Ettore and he lives at The Sealed Letter''House of Beautiful Swallows. Set in 1864 Idyllic as this might sound, it's based on the real life story of secrets a bordello and scandal surrounding Helen CodringtonEttore's divorce from her older husband, the rather dull Vice Admiral Codringtonmother died when he was born. There He's added spice and intrigue provided by the unwitting involvement in events not been short of Emily 'Fido' Faithfullmothers, an early mover though - but for someone of his background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, it's difficult to obtain decent employment. The stint working with the rights preparation of women movement anchovies didn't work out and bastards are considered bad luck on fishing boats. Ettore was nothing if not resourceful - and that good old standard, the Victorian spinsterdetermined - and it was not long before he had a successful business as a guide for visitors. He was even saving some money.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447205987</amazonuk>

 {{newreview|author=Jennifer McVeigh|title=The Fever Tree|rating=4.5|genre=Historical 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 demands. However, Frances' lifestyle proves to be a precarious house of cards balanced on her father's investment in the Northern Pacific Railroad in North America. When the Canadian terrain proves too much for the railroad construction to continue, her father's shares are rendered worthless. As this occurs just before his sudden death, Frances is forced to make a choice as her finery and home are auctioned off. Does she throw herself on the mercy of her lower class relatives or commit herself to a loveless marriage to distant cousin Dr Edwin Matthews? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670920894</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sax RohmerEssie Fox|title=Fu Manchu - The Return of Dr. Fu ManchuFascination

|summary=A couple 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 years after their encounter media set in the era that the hallmarks we've come to associate with it are familiar to the villainous Dr Fu Manchupoint of being cliched, Dr Petrie and Nayland Smith are reunited once more hackneyed even. All this is simply to illustrate that it would be an easy thing to take on the returning evil geniusdo poorly. When the Rev JD Eltham vanishes after conversing with PetrieBut despite that, the two realise that Fu Manchu has returned something about it still grabs me – and must risk life and limb to save their friendsomething about this book's description did as well.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857686046</amazonuk>1914585526

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Margaret DickinsonNicole Jarvis|title=Jenny's WarA Portrait in Shadow|rating=34.5

|summary=Jenny's home life in the East End is an uncomfortable one. Her mother Dot cares little for her and thinks nothing 'I want all of giving her a slap Florence to make sure she knows her place. Dotknow my name''s boyfriend, Arthur, tries to show Jenny some kindness but has issues of his own.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330544306</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Tan Twan Eng|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 expertCast out from Rome, Nakamura Aritomo. As the sole survivor of Artemisia Gentileschi arrives in Florence seeking an oasis in which her art can find a World War II Japanese slave labour camp, Yun Ling has many reasons to hate the Japanese but some things are stronger home and where her future can thrive rather than hatredstagnate. ForBut as some as she enters Florentine society she faces great opposition from the powerful Accademia, whilst in the camp, she promised her sister a Japanese garden. When life became difficult during interment, self-proclaimed guardians of the sisters discussed and visualised healing magics that through paintings have the finished result power to keep them hanging on. Ling's sister perished but protect the dream of a memorial garden drives her oncity and its citizens from plagues and curses. Nothing is that straightforward, though. The designer refuses the commissionall-male Accademia has hoarded power over art and architecture for centuries and guard it above all else. Instead he suggests that she staysTo them, as his apprentice, learning the art in order to become her own designer. Yun Ling agrees Artemisia – an ambitious young woman who promises trouble and change – has no place amongst them and discovers more than horticultural finessetheir society. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1905802625</amazonuk>1803362340

{{newreview|author=Meg Clothier|title=The Girl King|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=King GiorgiSet in the near-distant future, King in a world on the verge of Georgiaclimate collapse, Britain is without an heir so he does the unthinkablein great peril. He names his eldest daughter, Tamar, as 'King' on his death. Tamar is strong, feisty and The British Isles desperately needs a total tomboy but, hero (or several) to save the fact day and rescue what little remains, she's female. Therefore when Giorgi passes away What no-one expected was that one of the kingdom he's held together starts to crack as Knights of the opportunists equate Round Table would answer the fairer sex with weakness and possibilitiescall. If Tamar is to gain united lands, she must lose something in return. Is this a sacrifice too far?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099553139</amazonuk>0356518523

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ella March ChaseG K Holloway|title=The Virgin Queen's DaughterIn the Shadows of Castles|rating=4.5

|summary=Elinor de Lacey (Nell) has an eager, quick mind thatWe begin after the momentous battle in 1066 and on the day of William of Normandy's been trained by her scholarly father, against her mothercoronation as King of England. William's wishesposition is not secure and the new king has many challenges. Nell would rather be discussing Copernicus' latest theories than learn how to keep Imposing authority through a wet larder or how coronation is important. And William is right to be a dutiful wifeworry. It's Nell's greatest wishWhile the previous king, in factHarold, to attend is dead and the court likelihood of Queen Elizabeth I so that she can discuss and argue with more pitched battles is over, the finest scientific rebels are stirring and philosophical minds much of the day, but her mother is ardently against it. Nell doesn't understand why. Not, that is, until her dream becomes country does not wish to recognise a reality but by then it's too late to go backnew overlord.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0091947162</amazonuk>1800422466

{{newreview|author=Victoria Lamb|title=The Queen's Secret|rating=3.5|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 Maya is a young girl living in a hunter gatherer village during the more prominent noblesMesolithic era. It was to stay at Kenilworth CastleClimate change is occurring, home of the Earl Sea of Leicester (better known as Robert Dudley, the queenGrass encroaches further and further into Maya's favourite) for some three weeksforest home, and food is becoming more and more scarce. The expenditure on What to do? Can 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 law givers in the Earl federation of Essex, was beside villages muster peaceful ways to cope? Can the point. Lucy MorganTraveller, a black entertainer spiritual figure who interprets the wisdom of Moorish descentAll Life, was drawn into the midst of this intrigue and found herself on the edge of a plot to assassinate the queen.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0593067991</amazonuk>provide solutions?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dasa Drndic and Ellen Elias-Bursac (translator)1529125898|title=TriesteGodmersham Park|author=Gill Hornby

|summary=Haya Tedeschi, an 82 year old woman, sits alone in Italy, waiting. She waits ''If it were not for the adult son she hasn't seen since he was a baby. As Haya waits, she goes through her red basket casual dereliction of photographs and memorabilia, hanging the odd gentleman''out her life on an imaginary washing line''. She then takes the reader back in times duty, back there would no women to her life as a Catholicised Jew, before, during and after World War II in an area called Triesteteach well-bred daughters at all.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857050222</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|author=Elaine di Rollo|title=Bleakly Hall|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Nurse Montgomery (Monty Anne Sharpe was thirty-one years old when she arrived at Godmersham Park to her friends) and daring ambulance driver, Ada, met in Belgium during World War Itake up the position of governess to twelve-year-old Fanny Austen. They worked as She had no experience of teaching but this was a team collecting case of necessity. Until the injured death of her mother, Anne had a comfortable life and was loved by both parents although her father was frequently absent from the front linehousehold. When her mother died, dodging snipers her father cast her off and shells and ignoring social standards that accompanied the class system of the daywould have nothing more to do with her. Monty may have been Ada's social 'superior' No explanation was offered but such things were irrelevant whilst they faced death on she would receive an hourly basisannuity of £35 a year. After the war Monty comes to work at Bleakly HallHer maid, Agnes, a hydropathic or country house hotel specialising would receive nothing but was fortunately taken in hydro therapies for the rich and ailing and is reunited with Ada, working as a mechanic and all-round assistantby some neighbours.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099513471</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Helen DunmoreMelissa Fu |title=The GreatcoatPeach Blossom Spring |rating=43.5|genre=HorrorHistorical Fiction |summary=Set in 1952 in YorkshireI loved the prelude to Peach Blossom Spring, a young couple move into a rented flatshort chapter entitled ''Origins''. Philip Unfortunately it is the new, young doctor while his new wife Isabel struggles with the isolated life with no friends or only truly poetic part of a book that I expected more from. Covering Chinese history from 1938 to 2005 as viewed through one family and Philip's frequent absence due to the demands of his jobperspective. Things take a turn to When their home city is set ablaze during the spooky whenwar with Japan, waking from under the warmth of the a young mother (Meilin) and her four-year-old greatcoat Isabel finds in the flatson (Renshu) are among those who flee. The story follows them on their journey across China, she hears a tapping at the window and finds there an RAF pilot, Alec, who appears in Renshu's case eventually to know Isabel intimatelyAmerica. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099564939</amazonuk>1472277538

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Marina Endicott1916072038|title=The Little ShadowsHouse in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)|author=Allie Cresswell|rating=4.5

|summary=Flora Avery's schoolmaster husband dies suddenly, leaving her three daughters and a dilemma: how does she find We meet part of the money to raise them? Talbot family in Yorkshire in November 1811. Her answer is to return to Twenty-seven-year-old Jocelyn Talbot and her pre-marital professionmother have travelled in some discomfort from their home at Ecklington, to the one of which her husband disapproved so vocally. Flora decides to put her family on house in the stage as a vaudeville acthollow. So begins a new life as they tour the backwater theatres of America The two women are angry with each other and their native Canada, dreaming Jocelyn is well aware of a big future whilst weathering the present. Set prior to and during World War I, it wasnher mother't just the Averys who faced changes s strengths and uncertainty.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091944023</amazonuk>}}weaknesses:

{{newreview|author=Karen Harper|title=Shakespeare's Mistress|rating=2|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=The conceit of ''Shakespeare's Mistress'' She is that Shakespeare was married to Anne Whateley the day before he was married to Anne Hathawaypracticed at subterfuge, and Anne W remained the love of his lifeat concealing, 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'' beneath a facade 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'respectability, it's very much at the fiction end of that scale and is really a deplorable truth'what if?' piece.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091940427</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Robin Wasserman|title=The Book of Blood and Shadow|rating=4.5|genre=Teens|summary=Nora Hester 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 furious about Jocelyn's refusal to do as 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 existswas asked, and which 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, precipitated ''this violent and instead he gives her the lesser task of translating the letters of Kelleyunexpected removal''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 Then we are told of the treatment birth of Jews during World War Two. He is taken in by a village priestchild and, Father Ponssoon after, Hester Talbot departs, leaving Jocelyn in shame and given a new identity and a place isolation in Father Pons' school along with an assortment of other children, some of whom are genuine pupils and others who are, like Joseph, seeking sanctuaryYorkshire.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848874189</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Robert LyndonAnnabel Abbs|title=Hawk QuestThe Language of Food|rating=4.5

|summary=''Hawk Quest'' Eliza Acton is an epic of a historic novel set in poet who has never had the 11th centuryslightest inclination to boil an egg. A band of companions led by VallonWhen tasked with writing a cookery book, the mysterious Frankish warriorshe recruits Ann Kirby, 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 Walterlocal woman with a troubled home life. Together, they test, craft, refine and reshape the son world of a Norman nobleman held by domestic cookery, reinventing the recipe book and changing the Seljuk Turksface of cookery writing forever.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847444970</amazonuk>1398502227

 {{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 WilliamsFreya Marske|title=The Pleasures of MenA Marvellous Light

|summary=The Whores’ Asylum, a debut novel, Robin Blyth is nudged into a tale of friendshipjob in the Civil Service, love, sin much to his chagrin. There he meets Edwin Courcey and criminality set in late 19th century Cambridge and Oxfordlearns that the streets of London are threaded with magic. The comparison Desperate to one of my favourite historical novelistsremove a curse that threatens to swallow him, Sarah WatersRobin follows Edwin to the countryside, also caught my attentionwhere the hedgegrows bristle with incantations and the people shimmer with power. Sadly, I was There they uncover a little bit disappointedsinister plot that threatens the lives of all magicians in the British Isles.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1905490801</amazonuk>1529080886

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Eric OrsennaB09F4CTKJR|title=The Indies EnterpriseFlights for Freedom|author= Steven Burgauer

|summary=As soon as you pick up a novel about ColumbusIt's discovery the later stages of World War I and the United States has just entered the Americas, certain expectations come to mindconflict. Orsenna however Petrol Petronus is much more than your average writer a young American who has signed up and he manages to subvert almost all of these by delivering a quiet, scholarly account of what seems at first a diversion, joined the art of map making17 Aero Squadron. But this book is not about Columbus himself, but rather his brother Bartholomew, and how he is swept into This company was the excitement and ambition of his older sibling.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906598932</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Louisa Young|title=My Dear I Wanted first US Aero Squadron to Tell You|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=It takes a while for be trained in Canada, the full power of Louisa Young's remarkable ''My Dear I Wanted To Tell You'' first to become apparent, but when it does, it can hardly fail be attached to move you. Set just before the RAF 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 first to be sent into the characters, so I don't want skies to give too much away, but it's worth pointing out that it's not for fight the overly squeamish reader particularly Germans in some of the descriptions of surgical procedures, which have clearly been meticulously researched by Youngactive combat. The title itself it taken from the opening words of the standard letters But before that the wounded were given to send to loved ones back home. The wounded were required can happen, Petrol has to fill in master flying the blanksnotoriously difficult but majestic Sopwith Camel.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007361432</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Janette JenkinsChristophe Medler|title=Little BonesMadrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret

|summary=While this might sound like Set against the afterlife backdrop of a brilliant and unlikely cabaret mimicthe English Civil War, it's not. It's a rich, evocative and engaging novel set secret plan (code-named Madrigal) is discovered by Sir Robert Douse in the last years summer of 1642. As a loyal servant of Victoria's reign, in the depths of her darkest London. Fate - and being abandoned by, in turnKing, her mother and older sister - leaves Jane Stretch living with and working for a doctor and his lumpenHead of the Secret Service, housebound wife. Jane it is alternatively called an 'unfortunateRobert' s duty to uncover the details of the plan and a 'cripple' for her disabilities and distorted frame, but she has enough bookish intelligence to pass herself off as an assistant follow the clues to uncover one of the most guarded secrets in history—especially since 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 could affect the both of themKing.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>070118194X</amazonuk>B095HY8SXQ

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jean Marsh1471187179|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>}} {{newreviewA Beautiful Spy|author=Lesley Pearse|title=The PromiseRachel Hore

|summary=Belle has a lovely London Minnie is an 'ordinary' girl living an unexciting life, in a good career 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 happy marriage. But she has a murky pastnice young man to marry, produce children and although it’s shaped spend the rest of her kind heart days looking after her husband and charactertheir home. Unfortunately, it isn’t something this isn't what she wants to come face do at all and neither does she want to face with againcontinue working as a secretary. But some people are not able to forget the past As a result of a chance meeting, she finds herself drawn into espionage, working for reasons good the secret service and bad, and against effectively living a double life - attempting to infiltrate the dramatic backdrop Communist Party of the Great War, Belle is about to come face to face with all sorts of things Britain. Minnie finds herself torn between what she thought perceives as her duty and the friends she had forgottenhas made - and likes - whilst working for the Communist Party. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718157044</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Tracey WarrAfonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)|title=Almodis the PeaceweaverKokoschka's Doll|rating=42.5|genre=Historical Literary Fiction|summary=At Well, this looked very much like a book I could love from the age of five Almodis de la Marche was taken as a hostage - a guarantee of her family's good behaviour get- go, which is why I picked my review copy up and she remained there until she was flipped pages over several times before actually reading any of marriageable ageit. It was all I found things to potentially delight me each time – a weird section in 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 middle on well with her foster motherdarker stock paper, Agnes - and never would. Her first marriage a chapter whose number 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 in 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 heirs20, 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>}} {{newreview|author=Conny Braam|title=The Cocaine Salesman|rating=4.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Picture a world of hellish exclusion000s, nightmarish noise and imagesletters used as narrative form, and horrid violenceso on. Picture one person trying to live through It intrigued with the sleepless nightssubterranean voice a man hears in wartorn Dresden that what little I knew of it mentioned, the isolation among his peers, the permanent sense of dreadful threat. Picture him needing drugs. His best friend might even be called Charlietoo. But donyou't picture an inner city slum, 2012, but a man on ve seen the front in World War One.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907822054</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Mark Mustian|title=The Gendarme|star rating=4.5|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 comes with this account of genocide engenders. Don't. Ultimately this tale of an old Turk revisiting his terrible past is both touching review, and important - an exploration of memory and forgiveness can tell that shouldn't be missed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1851688390</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Simon Scarrow|title=Praetorian (Roman Legion II)|rating=3.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Still in hock to the imperial secretary Narcissus, Praetorian opens with our heroes Cato and Macro kicking their heels at the port of Ostia. They're about to embark if love was 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 influencepages, plots and conspiracies aboundit was not actually caused by them. 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 So what happened? |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0755353773</amazonuk>1529402697

 {{newreview|author=Alice Hoffman|title=The Dovekeepers|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Set in the last desperate days before the Roman siege on Masada (70CE), the lives of four women collide and merge. They are Yael, the daughter of a Sicarii assassin; Revka, the wife of a gentle baker who witnessed her daughters' rape and murder; Aziza, raised as a boy with the skills of a great warrior and Shirah, born in Alexandria to a mother well versed in ancient 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857205420</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Pam JenoffChristina Hammonds Reed|title=The Things We CherishedBlack Kids

|genre=Historical FictionTeens |summary=The rather sentimental title and Mills & Boon-ish front cover did not endear me Christina Hammonds Reed's debut novel is set against the backdrop of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, a reaction to this book initially. The blurb on the back cover made up absolution of four police officers for thisbeating a black man, howeverRodney King, nearly to death. The story opens - at Told from the end, if you get my drift and we're in America in 2009. An elderly man called Roger is in prisonperspective of Ashley Bennett, 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 novel follows her colleagues) so therefore she's evolution from a bit silent bystander when confronted with matters of race, to a rare breedwoman finding her voice and embracing her heritage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0751547298</amazonuk>1471188191

{{newreview|author=Gabrielle Kimm|title=The Courtesan's Lover|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=This is a big thumping book running Move on 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|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>}}[[Newest History Reviews]]