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=Umberto Eco
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|title=The Reformatory
|title=The Prague Cemetery
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|rating=5
|rating=3
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=If the popular press is to be believed, then those of us who write book reviews do so to show off our own (non-existent) talents as writers whilst trying to condemn the abilities of far greater worth.
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|summary= Gracetown, Florida. June 1950. After a scuffle with a white boy, twelve year-old Robbie Stephens Jr is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, otherwise known as the Reformatory. It's a place with a brutal and dark reputation. But the segregated reformatory is a chamber of horrors, haunted by the boys that have died there. In order to survive the school governor and his Funhouse, Robert must enlist the help of the school's ghosts – only they have their own motivations...
 
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|isbn=1803366532
Well, not quite.  
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{{Frontpage
I would not pretend to have a tiny iota-fragment of the talent that Umberto Eco has. Nor would I seek to decry his latest opus.
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|author=Katherine Howe
 
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|title=A True Account
On the other hand, I am an ordinary reader – one moreover that enjoyed The Name of the Rose immensely – and I really struggled with ''The Prague Cemetery''.  I didn't struggle to get through it.  It is actually quite an easy read, if you just read the surface of it.  I did struggle to see the point of it. It may well just be me. I put my hands up.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099555972</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Matt Rees
 
|title=A Name in Blood
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Artist Michelangelo Merisi is best known by a location: Caravaggio, his home townHe grew up acquainted with the ugly side of life and death, having witnessed the plague-ridden deaths of his father and grandfather on the same dayHowever he was also born with the ability to create beauty in his art.  He's able to make a living adorning the churches and fine houses of Rome, but Caravaggio walks a fine lineOn one side is the wildness and carousing he needs to feel alive and on the other is the need to placate the powers that be.  When those powers happen to be a pope who's a Borgia and a patron who's a Borgia's nephew, then the line is very fine indeedAdd complications like a beautiful woman and a life-long commitment to preserving the well being of a headstrong noble, leading him to the knights of Malta, and a life of difficulty becomes one of impossibility.  Then something else happens... Caravaggio completely vanishes from history, taking the intrigue up to a whole new level.
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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>1848879199</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0861547438
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Sarah Marsh
|author=Austin Ratner
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|title=A Sign of Her Own
|title=The Jump Artist
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|rating=3.5
|rating=4
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|genre=General Fiction
|genre=Literary Fiction
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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.
|summary=Austin Ratner's debut novel, ''The Jump Artist'', first published in the US in 2009, is a fictionalised account of the extraordinary life of celebrated photographer, Philippe Halsman. Born a Latvian Jew, as a young man in 1928 he was walking in the Austrian mountains when he saw his father fall to his death. This would be traumatic for anyone, but the issues were compounded when he was accused of murder by the Austrian courts in what was probably anti-semitic and certainly xenophobic in explanation. Philippe's second trial, the first failing potentially because his mother had engaged a Jewish lawyer, details the fundamental lack of evidence and shoddy police work behind the accusation.
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|isbn=1035401614
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670921599</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Claire North
 +
|title=House of Odysseus
 +
|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=Theresa Breslin
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|isbn=0356516075
|title=Spy for the Queen of Scots
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Jenny is not only a lady-in-waiting to Mary, Queen of Scots; she's also one of her oldest and closest friends, brought up with her at the French court during Mary's long betrothal to the Dauphin. Jenny is fiercely loyal to Mary and so, when she overhears a whispered conversation about poison, she decides to turn spy for her queen. The French court is full of plotting and spying but, when Mary returns to Scotland after her young husband dies, Jenny discovers the warring clans of Scotland present her mistress with even more danger.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0385617054</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|author=Maria Duenas
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|title=A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)
|title=The Seamstress
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|author=A J Lewis
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Raised in Spain by her mother and unaware of her father's identity, Sira moves to Morocco following her true love, only to be left stranded and alone.  However, there's a kind-hearted, rough diamond of a local who, via unorthodox and downright dangerous means, pushes Sira towards reliance on the one thing she's brought from Spain: her gift with the sewing needle.  This propels her into a business serving the cream of Moroccan ex-pat society, and that includes Nazi officers' wives and mistresses; a clientele that has possibilities that certain powers seem very happy to utilise.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670920029</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=L R Fredericks
 
|title=Farundell
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=American Paul Asher is damaged by memories and dreams originating from World War I, or at least he thinks that's where they're from. Once the war is over and, as he's estranged from his father in the US, Paul decides to remain in the UK to find work. Work comes to him as he's asked to assist Lord Percy Damory at Farundell, the Damory ancestral home. Paul's job is straightforward: Sir Percy needs someone to whom he can dictate memoirs of a well-travelled life among distant tribes. However Paul's life at Farundell will be anything but straightforward thanks to the Damorys' apparent eccentricities, an ancestor from the 18th century who refuses to be labelled as a ghost and, of course, there's Sylvie.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184854328X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=L R Fredericks
 
|title=Fate
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=It's the 18th century and 11 year old Francis Damory is spoken to by great great grandfather, TobiasNothing odd except that Tobias is dead and speaks via a portrait in Farundell, the family's Oxfordshire home.  Hence begins the obsession that will take the adult Sir Francis across the world and through a lifetime of adventures to track Tobias down. The longer Francis looks, the more he realises that Great Great Grandfather isn't dead and that, therefore, Francis wants whatever he's on.
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|summary=When we first meet our hero, his name is Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful Swallows.  Idyllic as this might sound, it's a bordello and Ettore's mother died when he was 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 boats.  Ettore was nothing if not resourceful - and determined - and it was not long before he had a successful business as a guide for visitors.  He was even saving some money.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184854331X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Essie Fox
|author=Alissa Walser and Jamie Bulloch (translator)
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|title=The Fascination
|title=Mesmerized
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Celebrated scientist (at least in his own mind) Franz Anton Mesmer is called upon to cure the blindness of 18 year old piano virtuoso and courtier's daughter Marie Theresia Paradis.  Despite the unease of her parents, Mesmer installs Marie into his 'magnetic hospital' where, alongside his other patients, she settles in to a regime of treatment, including free access to Mesmer's beloved piano. Mesmer is the Paradis' last resort and so they're happy to pay for success but they come to realise that the final cost may not be entirely financial and he realises that the result may not be beneficial to all parties.
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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>0857051008</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1914585526
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Nicole Jarvis
|author=Mary Hoffman
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|title=A Portrait in Shadow
|title=City of Swords (Stravaganza)
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Teens
 
|summary=Laura's unhappiness is hidden away where no-one can see it. But she does have a release. She knows cutting herself is wrong, but the relief it provides is addictive. But Laura's secretive life is upturned by the discovery that she is a Stravagante - a person who can travel through time and space. Transported to sixteenth century Fortezza, she finds herself in the middle of a bitter battle for succession to the city's dukedom. The Stravaganti are supporting Princess Lucia but Laura also meets Ludo, the pretender, and is immediately drawn to him. And at home in Barnsbury, Laura's life is changing too, now she is a part of the time-travelling community.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408800500</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Hilary Mantel
 
|title=Bring up the Bodies
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Thomas Cromwell is now very far from his humble beginnings. He is Henry VIII's chief minister. Katherine of Aragorn is no longer Queen. The Princess Mary has been disinherited. Anne Boleyn wears the crown and has produced a daughter, Elizabeth. But there is no sign of a son and Henry is beginning to regret his secession from Rome. We pick up from Wolf Hall during the royal progress of 1535 and from there, we chart the destruction of the new Queen.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007315090</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Laurie Graham
 
|title=A Humble Companion
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=George III is unfortunately best-known for his mental instability which is a pity, because he was, in many ways, a forward thinker.  One of his more-enlightened acts with regard to his own children was to appoint 'a humble companion' for his twelfth child and fifth daughter, Princess Sophia, presumably so that her life should not be limited to the cloistered residences which the Royal Family inhabited.  'Humble' is, of course a relative term and Nellie Welche was actually the daughter of a high-ranking steward in the household of the Prince of Wales, but with only two years difference in age they became life-long friends.
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|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857387812</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=Alonso Cueto and Frank Wynne (translator)
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|isbn=1803362340
|title=The Blue Hour
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=Adrian Ormache, middle class Peruvian lawyer, has a beautiful wife, two daughters of the sort to make any parent proud and a comfortable lifestyle. His parents divorced when he was small so, as he lived with his mother, he has fragmented memories of a gruff, distant dad.  Despite his father's aloof, dictatorial manner, Adrian has always comforted himself with the fact he played a useful role as a land-bound naval officer, fighting Senderista terrorists for the good of Peru.  After the death of his mother everything changes.  Adrian finds documents that lead him away from his beliefs, towards a truth that will shatter more than his father's image.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434019410</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=Sax Rohmer
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|isbn=0356518523
|title=Fu-Manchu - The Hand of Fu-Manchu
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Nayland Smith has summoned the loyal Dr Petrie back from Egypt to the familiar setting of London. The streets of the capital have seen much terror in the early 20th century, but with Fu-Manchu dead, surely the worst is over? Not so… for the agency of the Si-Fan, the doctor's masters, still lurk. Can Smith and Petrie put an end to their terror once and for all?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857686054</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=G K Holloway
|author=Jude Morgan
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|title=In the Shadows of Castles
|title=The Secret Life of William Shakespeare
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Books about Shakespeare vary hugely both in terms of approach and quality. Some focus on historical fact, while others play rather more loosely with the romance of his life. Fortunately for readers, Jude Morgan's books are rather more reliably excellent. What's more, he has a track record of fiction that concerns great writers, having previously tackled the Brontës (''The Taste of Sorrow'') and the romantic poets (''Passion''). So my expectations were already quite high coming into his ''The Secret Life of William Shakespeare'' - expectations that he has again surpassed.
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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>0755358228</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1800422466
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=3949666079
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|title=Noema
 +
|author=Dael Akkerman
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=General Fiction
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|summary=''This is a story about some things that happened to me about twelve thousand years ago.''
  
{{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=Jane Johnson
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}}
|title=The Sultan's Wife
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{{Frontpage
|rating=4.5
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|isbn=1529125898
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|title=Godmersham Park
 +
|author=Gill Hornby
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Alys Swann is leaving her native Holland to accomplish the marriage her mother arranged for her in London.  Alys's parents are English but fled to Holland when her late father discovered he was on the wrong side during the English Civil War.  The trip turns out to be more adventurous than Alys would like as she's kidnapped by pirates and delivered to Moroccan potentate Sultan Moulay Ismail who's a little mentally unstable (and that's an understatement).  His plan for her is as a welcome addition to his globally sourced harem.  There she meets Nus-Nus, eunuch and the Sultan's scribe, who has problems of his own.  A local apothecary dies in a most unnatural way and Nus-Nus seems to be the only suspect.  The royal court has always been a dangerous place but, for Nus-Nus, and indeed Alys, staying alive has suddenly become more of a challenge than it seemed before... and that's saying something.
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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>0670918008</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 AustenShe 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 herNo explanation was offered but she would receive an annuity of £35 a yearHer maid, Agnes, would receive nothing but was fortunately taken in by some neighbours.
|author=Jane Sullivan
 
|title=Little People
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Unemployed governess Mary Ann rescues what seems to be a child from the currents of the Yarra River in AustraliaHowever, the 'child' turns out to be none other than Charles Stratton, aka General Tom Thumb, 'midget' and star of PT Barnum's touring 'Lilliputian' showAs a token of gratitude for her act of heroism the troupe's tour manager, Sylvester Bleeker, offers Mary Ann work and a solution to her dilemmaFor she is not only out of work and alone... and pregnant.  She's made to feel welcome and a sense of belonging at last although all isn't what it seemsShe may well be everything that Tom Thumb and his wife Lavinia have been looking for but that may not be a good thing.  Even the title itself isn't all it seems and has an additional meaning, not just a reference to the small of statureMary Ann gradually realises that, as a lone single parent, she would be destitute (and everything that meant at that time) without the troupe.  She too is a little person, but of no account rather than reduced height.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1742378854</amazonuk>
 
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Melissa Fu
|author=Marcello Fois
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|title=Peach Blossom Spring
|title=Memory of the Abyss
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
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|genre=Historical Fiction  
|summary=We are on Sardinia, over a hundred years agoIt is a land of legend, where storytellers can see a different nature to the moon each night and convey that in their earthly stories. It's a world of wonder, where sheep can fall from the skies for more than one reason.  It's a poor land, where lads are expected to be responsible shepherds by the time they are ten.  As a result people look after each other - except, while returning from a Christening Samuele and his father are refused basic hospitality. Later when the boy runs away one night the land falls away beneath him - yet he finds a girl to ground him to this earth.  Which is most relevant when he goes to war, and particularly when he comes back and finds himself a wronged man, and in need of vengeance...
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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>1906694001</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1472277538
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1916072038
|author=Youssef Ziedan and Jonathan Wright (translator)
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|title=The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)
|title=Azazeel
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|author=Allie Cresswell
|rating=5
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=An archaeologist in a time and place close to that of modern troubled Syria discovers thirty scrolls. These are the writings of a Coptic Christian monk born into Roman dominated Egypt in AD391. A door thus opens into an ancient world and the emerging vista stretches from the present into the distant past, as if eliciting an omnipresent dimension to reality. The fluent evocative prose flows like a meandering river or a ribbon connecting continuously the present moment with the ancient world. A panorama emerges dominated by Rome and Constantinople and extends to Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch.
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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>1848874278</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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''She is practiced at subterfuge, at concealing, beneath a facade of respectability, the deplorable truth''.
|author=Belinda Seaward
 
|title=The Beautiful Truth
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=There are two parallel story lines in Belinda Seaward's ''The Beautiful Truth'': one set in the present day and one in wartime Poland. Both involve love stories and personal struggles, and there are repeating themes such as horses and the stars that effectively provide links between the two in this clearly well-researched and engrossing narrative.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0719521114</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=Ginny Baily
 
|title=Africa Junction
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=Adele has made a mess of her life and she knows it. Working with the stresses of being a teacher as well as a single mother and having shrugged off a disastrous relationship, her life seems to be set on self-destruct. Part of the problem is that the past won't leave her alone. Adele is haunted by the memory of Ellena, a friend from her childhood in Senegal, Africa. With one unthinking, childish action, Adele inadvertently devastated Ellena's family so, in order to go forward, Adele must go back to the continent where it all began.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099552728</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=Julia Quinn, Eloisa James and Connie Brockway
 
|title=The Lady Most Likely
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Hugh, the Earl of Briarly, has acknowledged his mortality after a nasty accident, and has decided to take a wife. Not being a very sociable person - he likes horses better than people - he asks his married sister Carolyn to produce a list of eligible young ladies. She does so, and then invites them and various other friends to a house party.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>074995776X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Annabel Abbs
|author=Knud Romer and John Mason (translator)
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|title=The Language of Food
|title=Nothing But Fear
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
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|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=The Danish writer/actor Knud Romer has a gallery of fascinating relatives which collectively feature in ''Nothing But Fear''. This biographical novel is a collection of memories from his grandparents' era, moving forward, to that of his parents, including World War II and his own childhood in 1960s and 70s small town Denmark.  The vignettes aren't in chronological order but that's because memories normally aren't.  The stories are narrated almost as if they're fresh from the mind, ensuring a natural flow.  The interesting thing is that no matter how fascinating his other relatives are my mind's eye always seemed to return to one: his mother, Hildegard.
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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>1846687144</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398502227
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Freya Marske
|author=Evelyn Eaton
+
|title=A Marvellous Light
|title=Go Ask the River
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|rating=4
|rating=5
 
|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
 
|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!
+
|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
 
 
All the seeds of a great saga appear to be present - strong characters, an engaging setting in the form of Aurelia, the family farm, and an inciting incident early on. All this is backed up with some superb description in the early part of the novel, with the period and the handful of characters we meet at the start all being carefully drawn.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848450931</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn= B09F4CTKJR
|author=Charlotte Betts
+
|title= Flights for Freedom
|title=The Apothecary's Daughter
+
|author= Steven Burgauer
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Susannah is an intelligent young woman in her twenties who assists her father in his pharmacy. 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 kind. However, London is in the grip of the bubonic plague. So apothecaries must work overtime to produce nosegays - supposedly to ward off evil humours - as well as plague preventative medicine, herbs for poultices, and so on.
+
|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>0749954493</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author= Christophe Medler
|author=M L Stedman
+
|title=Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret
|title=The Light Between Oceans
+
|rating=4
|rating=5
+
|genre=Historical Fiction
|genre=Literary Fiction
+
|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.
|summary=Thomas Sherbourne returns to Australia after World War I. Internally scarred like many of his generation, he chooses the solitary life of a lighthouse keeper on remote Janus Rock to escape the world and its conflict. However, he soon learns that there is one part of the world he can't live without – the sassy, beautiful Izzy Graysmark, a local from the nearest port and country town of Partaguese. They have a happy marriage in all respects apart from one: they're haunted by their inability to have children. Therefore, one day, when a boat washes up onto Janus bearing a dead man and a crying baby, apparent salvation arrives too.
+
|isbn=B095HY8SXQ
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857521004</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1471187179
|author=Ros Barber
+
|title=A Beautiful Spy
|title=The Marlowe Papers
+
|author=Rachel Hore
|rating=4.5
+
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=''Stop. Pay attention. Hear a dead man speak''
 
 
 
These are the attention grabbing words that Ros Barber addresses to the reader at the start of this unique tale.  Marlowe was a playwright with a reputation not only for his plays but also for his lifestyle.  His gory death from a stab wound through the eye is one of the many contentious points in a brief but very lively life.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444737384</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Stella Tillyard
 
|title=Tides of War
 
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=When a scholarly historian turns a hand to fiction, complications can followSometimes the result is a dry work of proud, thinly disguised research, where all discerned information is hurled at the pageSometimes the demonstrated research levels are just right, but the characterisation is more reminiscent of cardboard cut outs than real peopleHowever, 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 of War'' is an engrossing, sweeping epic of a novel.
+
|summary=Minnie is an 'ordinary' girl living an unexciting life in a leafy provincial suburbThe book is set in the 1930s and Minnie is expected to live up to her mother's expectations and find a nice young man to marry, produce children and spend the rest of her days looking after her husband and their home.  Unfortunately, this isn't what she wants to do at all and neither does she want to continue working as a secretaryAs a result of a chance meeting, she finds herself drawn into espionage, working for the secret service and effectively living a double life - attempting to infiltrate the Communist Party of Great BritainMinnie finds herself torn between what she perceives as her duty and the friends she has made - and likes - whilst working for the Communist Party.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701183179</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
|author=Jane Harris
+
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
|title=Gillespie and I
+
|rating=2.5
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=
+
|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?
The 'I' in the title of Jane Harris'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.
+
|isbn=1529402697
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571238300</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
|author=Karin Altenberg
+
|title=The Black Kids
|title=Island of Wings
+
|rating=4.5
|rating=5
+
|genre=Teens
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|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.
|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.
+
|isbn=1471188191
|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
+
Move on to [[Newest History Reviews]]
|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>
 
}}
 

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

0861547438.jpg

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

1035401614.jpg

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

B0C7J9D21B.jpg

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

1914585526.jpg

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

0356518523.jpg

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

1800422466.jpg

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

3949666079.jpg

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

1472277538.jpg

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

1916072038.jpg

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

1529080886.jpg

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