Changes

[[Category:New Reviews|Historical Fiction]]__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->==Historical fiction==__NOTOC__ <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Julia Quinn, Eloisa James and Connie BrockwayTananarive Due|title=The Lady Most LikelyReformatory|rating=35

|summary=HughGracetown, 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 Earl segregated reformatory is a chamber of Briarlyhorrors, has acknowledged haunted by the boys that have died there. In order to survive the school governor and his mortality after Funhouse, Robert must enlist the help of the school's ghosts – only they have their own motivations...|isbn=1803366532}} {{Frontpage|author=Katherine Howe|title=A True Account|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Hannah Masury is living in Boston, having been sent to live with a nasty accidentfamily who run an inn, and has decided being made to take work there from a wifeyoung age. Not being When she hears there is to be a very sociable person - he likes horses better than people - he asks his married sister Carolyn hanging of some pirates in the town, she decides to produce go and watch. Enthralled and horrified in equal measure, Hannah finds herself embroiled in a list young boy's death at the hands of eligible young ladiestwo vicious pirates. She does hides away, sothat they don't find and kill her too, and then invites to escape them completely she runs away to sea, dressing as a boy and various other friends to 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 house partymutiny on board, and from there we are caught up in her rip roaring tale of life on the ocean waves.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>074995776X</amazonuk>0861547438

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Knud Romer and John Mason (translator)Sarah Marsh|title=Nothing But FearA Sign of Her Own|rating=3.5|genre=Literary General Fiction|summary=The Danish writer/actor Knud Romer has After a gallery bout of fascinating relatives which collectively feature in ''Nothing But Fear''scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearing. This biographical novel is Suddenly plunged into a collection world of memories from his grandparents' erasilence, moving forwardeverything 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 that of his parentsa school where she is taught to lip read, including World War II and his own childhood in 1960s and 70s small town Denmarkbut physically restrained from signing. The vignettes aren't From here, she ends up in chronological order but that's because memories normally aren'tanother school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and using a system called Visible Speech. The stories are narrated almost as if they're fresh from At the mindsame time, ensuring a natural flow. The interesting thing Bell is that no matter how fascinating his working on other relatives are my mind's eye always seemed to return to one: his motherinventions and ideas, Hildegardand Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of espionage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846687144</amazonuk>1035401614

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Evelyn EatonClaire North|title=Go Ask the RiverHouse of Odysseus

|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=In ninth century China, Hung Tu was almost unique as a woman breaking into the restricted male preserve of education, particularly the fields of poetry and calligraphy, and becoming a highly respected and renowned writer. Eaton constructs a fascinating narrative around her poems, imagining Hung Tu’s idyllic childhood which turns to potential chaos as she is sold into prostitution, followed by her rise to Official Hostess for the Governor.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848190921</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Nelle Davy|title=The Legacy of Eden|rating=3.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Much as I hate to appear to be on the fence about this book – I’m on the fence about this book!''What could matter more than love?''

All The follow-up to the excellent ''Ithaca'' picks up a few months after where we left off. In the seeds palace of a great saga appear Odysseus, with delicate care Queen Penelope continues to be present - strong charactersrule without her husband, an engaging setting in who sailed to war at Troy and then by divine intervention never returned home. As ever she remains surrounded by suitors vying for the form throne of Aurelia, the family farmWestern Isles. Having survived – politically and physical – the chaotic storm that Clytemnestra brought to Ithaca's shores, and an inciting incident early Queen Penelope is onthe brink of a fragile peace. All this is backed up One that shatters however with some superb description in the early part return of the novelOrestes, King of Mycenae, with the period and the handful of characters we meet at the start all being carefully drawnhis sister Elektra, seeking refuge. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848450931</amazonuk>0356516075

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Charlotte BettsB0C7J9D21B|title=The Apothecary's DaughterA Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)|author=A J Lewis

|summary=Susannah is an intelligent young woman in her twenties who assists her father in When we first meet our hero, his pharmacy. But the date name is 1665 so Ettore and helives at The House of Beautiful Swallows. Idyllic as this might sound, it's actually called an apothecary, creating herbal remedies from scratch; moreoever this is an era a bordello and Ettore's mother died when women did he was born. He's notbeen short of mothers, generallythough - but for someone of his background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, do work of this kindit's difficult to obtain decent employment. However, London is in The stint working with the grip preparation of the bubonic plagueanchovies didn't work out and bastards are considered bad luck on fishing boats. So apothecaries must work overtime to produce nosegays Ettore was nothing if not resourceful - supposedly to ward off evil humours and determined - and it was not long before he had a successful business as well as plague preventative medicine, herbs a guide for poultices, and so onvisitors. He was even saving some money.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749954493</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=M L StedmanEssie Fox|title=The Light Between OceansFascination|rating=54|genre=Literary Historical Fiction|summary=Thomas Sherbourne returns to Australia after The Victorian era is incredibly over-romanticised as a setting for historical fiction (matched only, perhaps, by the Second World War I) which has often led to more than a few writers mishandling it. Internally scarred like many There's such a glut of his generation, he chooses the solitary life of a lighthouse keeper on remote Janus Rock to escape media set in the world and its conflict. However, he soon learns era that there is one part of the world he canhallmarks we't live without – ve come to associate with it are familiar to the sassypoint of being cliched, beautiful Izzy Graysmark, a local from the nearest port and country town of Partaguesehackneyed even. They have a happy marriage in all respects apart from one: they're haunted by their inability All this is simply to illustrate that it would be an easy thing to have childrendo poorly. ThereforeBut despite that, one day, when a boat washes up onto Janus bearing a dead man something about it still grabs me – and a crying baby, apparent salvation arrives toosomething about this book's description did as well.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857521004</amazonuk>1914585526

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ros BarberNicole Jarvis|title=The Marlowe PapersA Portrait in Shadow

|summary=When a scholarly historian turns a hand to fiction, complications can follow. Sometimes the result is a dry work of proud, thinly disguised research, where all discerned information is hurled at the page. Sometimes the demonstrated research levels are just right, but the characterisation is more reminiscent of cardboard cut outs than real people. However, if the historian is [[Category:Stella Tillyard|Stella Tillyard]], cited as being phenomenally gifted by none other than Simon Schama, there's no need for concern. ''Tides I want all of WarFlorence to know my name'' is an engrossing, sweeping epic of a novel.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701183179</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Jane Harris|title=Gillespie and I|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=The 'I' Cast out from Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi arrives in the title of Jane Harris's ''Gillespie and I'' is Harriet Baxter. Now elderly and residing in London Florence seeking an oasis in 1933, she is finally telling which her events of what happened in the early 1880s in Glasgow art can find a home and where her relationship with the Gillespie familyfuture can thrive rather than stagnate. At But as some as she enters Florentine society she faces great opposition from the timepowerful Accademia, a spinster the self-proclaimed guardians of independent means, she arrived in Glasgow the healing magics that through paintings have the power to visit protect the International Exhibition city and became a champion of its citizens from plagues and curses. The all-male Accademia has hoarded power over art and friend to a young Scottish painter, Ned Gillespie architecture for centuries and his young familyguard it above all else. We know from early on that tragedy struck the Gillespie family leading to Ned destroying his careerTo them, but Harriet wants to set the record straight with regard to her involvement in events. You may or may not believe her storyArtemisia – an ambitious young woman who promises trouble and change – has no place amongst them and their society.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0571238300</amazonuk>1803362340

{{newreview|author=Karin Altenberg|title=Island of Wings|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Rev Neil MacKenzie has been assigned to Set in the near-distant future, in a world on the Hebridian island verge of St Kildaclimate collapse, Britain is in great peril. His mission is to bring the locals back The British Isles desperately needs a hero (or several) to save the Victorian idea of God day and proprietyrescue what little remains. He and his pregnant wife Lizzie not only have to fight the elements but also centuries What no-one expected was that one of superstition that have trickled into the islanders' Christian faith. Life is made harder for Neil by a secret guilt emanating from the death Knights of a friend years ago. However, the going becomes harder still for Lizzie, isolated by an inability to speak Round Table would answer the local language and the burgeoning fear engendered by Neil's behaviour and attitudescall.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857382322</amazonuk>0356518523

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Georgina HardingG K Holloway|title=Painter of Silence|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=A young, anonymous, vagrant collapses on In the steps Shadows 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 eyes of a wry Brummie with a fine sense of humour and a real talent for introducing you to characters so real you could easily see yourself having a drink with them after a hard week at the office. That is Lindsey Davis' gift, and while this book is a departure from her usual Falco novels, the trademark charm, piercing intelligence and ready wit are as abundant as ever.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444707329</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Emma Donoghue|title=The Sealed LetterCastles

|summary=If you are We begin after the momentous battle in 1066 and on the mood for a deliciously scandalous Victorian page-turner, look no further than Emma Donoghueday of William of Normandy's ''The Sealed Letter''coronation as King of England. Set in 1864, itWilliam's based on the real life story of secrets position is not secure and scandal surrounding Helen Codrington's divorce from her older husband, the rather dull Vice Admiral Codringtonnew king has many challenges. Imposing authority through a coronation is important. And William is right to worry. There's added spice While the previous king, Harold, is dead and intrigue provided by the unwitting involvement in events likelihood of Emily 'Fido' Faithfullmore pitched battles is over, an early mover in the rights rebels are stirring and much of women movement and that good old standard, the Victorian spinstercountry does not wish to recognise a new overlord.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1447205987</amazonuk>1800422466

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jennifer McVeigh3949666079|title=The Fever TreeNoema|author=Dael Akkerman

|genre=Historical 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 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 This 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 story about some things that happened to distant cousin Dr Edwin Matthews? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670920894</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Sax Rohmer|title=Fu Manchu - The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=A couple of me about twelve thousand 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 geniusago. 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=3Maya is a young girl living in a hunter gatherer village during the Mesolithic era.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=JennyClimate change is occurring, the Sea of Grass encroaches further and further into Maya's forest home life , and food is becoming more and more scarce. What to do? Can the law givers in the East End is an uncomfortable one. Her mother Dot cares little for her and thinks nothing federation of giving her a slap villages muster peaceful ways to make sure she knows her place. Dot's boyfriendcope? Can the Traveller, Arthura spiritual figure who interprets the wisdom of All Life, tries to show Jenny some kindness but has issues of his own.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330544306</amazonuk>provide solutions?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tan Twan Eng1529125898|title=The Garden of Evening MistsGodmersham Park|author=Gill Hornby

|summary=Malay Chinese Teoh Yun Ling travels to ''If it were not for the Cameron Highlands casual dereliction 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. Lingodd gentleman'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 apprenticeduty, learning the art in order there would no women to become her own designer. Yun Ling agrees and discovers more than horticultural finesse. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905802625</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Meg Clothier|title=The Girl King|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=King Giorgi, King of Georgia, is without an heir so he does the unthinkableteach well-bred daughters at all. He names his eldest daughter, Tamar, as 'King' on his death. Tamar 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 possibilities. If Tamar is to gain united lands, she must lose something in return. Is this a sacrifice too far?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099553139</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Ella March Chase|title=The Virgin Queen's Daughter|rating=4|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 wishesAnne 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. Nell would rather be discussing Copernicus' latest theories than learn how to keep She had no experience of teaching but this was a wet larder or how to be a dutiful wifecase of necessity. It's Nell's greatest wish, in fact, to attend Until the court death of Queen Elizabeth I so that she can discuss her mother, Anne had a comfortable life and argue with was loved by both parents although her father was frequently absent from the finest scientific household. When her mother died, her father cast her off and philosophical minds of the day, but would have nothing more to do with her mother is ardently against it. Nell doesn't understand whyNo explanation was offered but she would receive an annuity of £35 a year. NotHer maid, that isAgnes, until her dream becomes a reality would receive nothing but was fortunately taken in by then it's too late to go backsome neighbours.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091947162</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Victoria LambMelissa Fu |title=The Queen's SecretPeach Blossom Spring

|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=It was July 1575 and I loved the court had left prelude to Peach Blossom Spring, a short chapter entitled ''Origins''. Unfortunately it is the unpleasant atmosphere only truly poetic part of London for its annual progress round the homes of the a book that I expected more prominent noblesfrom. It was Covering Chinese history from 1938 to stay at Kenilworth Castle, home of the Earl of Leicester (better known 2005 as Robert Dudley, the queenviewed through one family's favourite) for some three weeksperspective. The expenditure on When their home city is set ablaze during the stay was enormouswar with Japan, but Leicester was determined to persuade Queen Elizabeth to marry hima young mother (Meilin) and her four-year-old son (Renshu) are among those who flee. The fact that he was also having an affair with Lettice Knollys, wife of the Earl of Essexstory follows them on their journey across China, 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 in Renshu's case eventually to assassinate the queenAmerica. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0593067991</amazonuk>1472277538

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dasa Drndic and Ellen Elias-Bursac (translator)1916072038|title=Trieste|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Haya Tedeschi, an 82 year old woman, sits alone The House 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>}} {{newreviewHollow (The Talbot Saga)|author=Elaine di Rollo|title=Bleakly HallAllie Cresswell|rating=4.5

|summary=Nurse Montgomery (Monty to her friends) and daring ambulance driver, Ada, met We meet part of the Talbot family in Yorkshire in Belgium during World War INovember 1811. They worked as a team collecting the injured from the front line, dodging snipers Twenty-seven-year-old Jocelyn Talbot and shells and ignoring social standards that accompanied the class system of the day. Monty may her mother 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 travelled in some discomfort from their home at Bleakly HallEcklington, a hydropathic or country to the house hotel specialising in hydro therapies for the rich and ailing hollow. The two women are angry with each other and Jocelyn is reunited with Ada, working as a mechanic well aware of her mother's strengths and all-round assistant.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099513471</amazonuk>}}weaknesses:

{{newreview|author=Helen Dunmore|title=The Greatcoat|rating=4|genre=Horror|summary=Set in 1952 in Yorkshire''She is practiced at subterfuge, a young couple move into a rented flat. Philip is the newat concealing, 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 beneath a turn to the spooky when, waking from under the warmth facade of the old greatcoat Isabel finds in the flatrespectability, she hears a tapping at the window and finds there an RAF pilot, Alec, who appears to know Isabel intimatelydeplorable truth''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099564939</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Marina Endicott|title=The Little Shadows|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Flora AveryHester is furious about Jocelyn's schoolmaster husband dies suddenly, leaving her three daughters and a dilemma: how does refusal to do as she find the money to raise them? Her answer is to return to her pre-marital professionwas asked, 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 has precipitated ''this violent and their native Canada, dreaming of a big future whilst weathering the present. Set prior to and during World War I, it wasnunexpected removal''t just the Averys who faced changes and uncertainty.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091944023</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Karen Harper|title=Shakespeare's Mistress|rating=2|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=The conceit Then we are told of ''Shakespeare's Mistress'' is that Shakespeare was married to Anne Whateley the day before he was married to Anne Hathawaybirth of a child and, soon after, and Anne W remained the love of his lifeHester Talbot departs, with an affair (if you can have an affair with your 'wife') continued leaving Jocelyn in London where the same Anne was also the famed ''dark lady'' of his sonnets. There is some basis for this theory shame and isolation 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?' pieceYorkshire.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091940427</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Robin WassermanAnnabel Abbs|title=The Book of Blood and Shadow|rating=4.5|genre=Teens|summary=Nora is an unusual heroine. She is sharp, snarky and funny, and her wry tone and contemporary references will resonate with her readers. But she is also uncompromisingly geeky, and she opts to complete her independent study assignment by joining her three friends at the local university 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 Language of translating the letters of Kelley's step-daughter Elizabeth Weston. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907411445</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt|title=Noah's Child|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Joseph, a young Belgian Jew, is sent away by his parents when they grow nervous about the treatment of Jews during World War Two. He is taken in by a village priest, Father Pons, and given a new identity and a place in Father Pons' school along with an assortment of other children, some of whom are genuine pupils and others who are, like Joseph, seeking sanctuary.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848874189</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Robert Lyndon|title=Hawk QuestFood|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 Walter, the son of local woman with a Norman nobleman held by the Seljuk Turkstroubled home life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847444970</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Chris Womersley|title=Bereft|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Quinn WalkerTogether, a young Australian man fresh from fighting on the European front in World War Onethey test, returns to the very town he was drummed out of ten years beforecraft, after being accused of raping refine and killing his own younger sister. Two things have beaten him to reshape the small settlement - oneworld of domestic cookery, reinventing the global flu pandemic; two a telegram saying he died bravely in action earlier in the war. And recipe book and changing the less you know face 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 mecookery writing forever.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857386549</amazonuk>1398502227

 {{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 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 in 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 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 subterranean voice a man on the front hears in World War One.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907822054</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Mark Mustian|title=The Gendarme|rating=4.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=There are times when you will want to shut 'The Gendarme' and just walk away from the despair and disgust wartorn Dresden that this account what little I knew 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.|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 Narcissusit mentioned, Praetorian opens with our heroes Cato and Macro kicking their heels at the port of Ostiatoo. They But you're about to embark on one of their most challenging adventures yet - as undercover spies in ve seen 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 star rating that comes from being an adviser to the Emperor and, as these advisors jostle for influencewith this review, 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 tell that the choice is clear? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755353773</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Alice Hoffman|title=The Dovekeepers|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Set in the last desperate days before the Roman siege if love was on Masada (70CE)these pages, 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 magicit was not actually caused by them. 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.So what happened?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857205420</amazonuk>1529402697

 {{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 endperspective of Ashley Bennett, 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 novel follows her colleagues) so therefore she's evolution from a bit silent bystander when confronted with matters of a rare breed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751547298</amazonuk>}} {{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 Italyrace, Naples to be precise a woman finding her voice 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 intelligentembracing her heritage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0751544558</amazonuk>1471188191

{{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 Move on 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]]