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[[Category:New Reviews|Historical Fiction]]==Historical fiction==__NOTOC__{{newreview|author=A N Wilson|title=The Potter's Hand|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=The man of clay that A N Wilson throws onto his storytelling wheel in ''The Potter's Hand'' is the great Josiah Wedgwood, but this is much more than a historic telling of his life. Indeed, Josiah already has a thriving business at the start of the book. What Wilson does particularly impressively is to put Wedgwood's achievement and works into the context of the politics and social philosophy of the times, sandwiched between the two great revolutions in America and France. In order to do this, Wilson has to play slightly loose with artistic licence by altering dates and time lines a bit, but it works well. He also balances the real historic figures with several key figures of his own invention and where the historic figures don't quite fit with his narrative, he alters their ages and invents 'facts' to the benefit of the fictional narrative.|amazonuk=<amazonuk!-- Remove -->1848879512 </amazonuk!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ben KaneTananarive Due|title=Spartacus the GladiatorThe Reformatory

|summary=Given Ben Kane's tendency Gracetown, Florida. June 1950. After a scuffle with a white boy, twelve year-old Robbie Stephens Jr is sentenced to write strong characters who rebel against their Roman leaderssix months at the Gracetown School for Boys, itotherwise known as the Reformatory. It's perhaps slightly predictable a place with a brutal and dark reputation. But the segregated reformatory is a chamber of horrors, haunted by the boys that he should take on have died there. In order to survive the school governor and his Funhouse, Robert must enlist the story help of Spartacusthe 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 family who led run an inn, and being made to work there from a slavesyoung 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' rebellion against Romes death at the hands of two vicious pirates. This isShe hides away, so that they don't find and kill her too, perhapsand then to escape them completely she runs away to sea, dressing as a boy and joining the only thing you can say about Kanenotorious Ned Low's writing that pirate ship as a cabin boy. She soon finds herself in the thick of things when there is predictablea mutiny on board, and from there we are caught up in her rip roaring tale of life on the ocean waves.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099561921</amazonuk>0861547438

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Robin BinckesSarah Marsh|title=Canvas Under The SkyA Sign of Her Own|rating=3.5|genre=Historical General Fiction|summary=Rauch Beukes is After a bout of scarlet fever as a 17 year old Boer lad living with his family on the Eastern Cape frontier in Africachild, Ellen Lark loses her hearing. Sadly for themSuddenly plunged into a world of silence, the year is 1834: not everything about her life changes. Living in a good time as when the Boers live under the dictates use of the British and in fear of indigenous local tribes. This becomes all too real sign language was seen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a school where she is taught to Rauch whenlip read, returning but physically restrained from a trip with his fathersigning. From here, he discovers a smouldering heap where his home once stood and a row of graves bearing she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the remains of his mother deaf and sisters. Wanting a better life, a group of farmers decide to travel towards Africa's southern interior to establish using a self-determining Boer homeland and so Rauch, his father and brothers join them feeling they have nothing to losesystem called Visible Speech. The momentum grows and At the migration will become known as 'The Great Trek'same time, a toughBell is working on other inventions and ideas, dangerous period of South African history, challenging Rauch's strength, courage and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a fair bit complicated tangle of his libidoespionage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1920143637</amazonuk>1035401614

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Rose TremainClaire North|title=Merivel: A Man House of His TimeOdysseus

|genre=Historical Literary Fiction|summary=Rose Tremain has made fans of her 1989 book ''RestorationWhat could matter more than love?'' wait for a long time before picking up the story of Sir Robert Merivel. Almost as much time has passed in Merivel's world with the book opening in 1683. Leaving a follow up so long can be fraught with danger. For those, like me, who loved ''Restoration'' at the time, the memory of its central character has grown in fondness over time while some of the detail has been inevitably lost to memory. Thankfully, this is one of those rare things in literature; a very good follow up.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701185201</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Naomi Alderman|title=The Liarsfollow-up to the excellent ' Gospel|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=In 'Ithaca'The Liars' Gospel'', Naomi Alderman gives picks up a few months after where we left off. In the perspective palace of four people on the recent death of a Jewish man named YehoshuahOdysseus, with delicate care Queen Penelope continues to rule without her husband, who is more commonly known these days sailed to war at Troy and then by divine intervention never returned home. As ever she remains surrounded by suitors vying for the anglicized name throne of Jesusthe Western Isles. These perspectives include Miryam (Mary), Having survived – politically and physical – the teacherchaotic storm that Clytemnestra brought to Ithaca's mothershores, Iehuda Queen Penelope is on the brink of Qeriot (Judas Iscariot), a one time follower of fragile peace. One that shatters however with the man, Caiaphas, the High Priest return of the great Temple in Jerusalem and finally Bar-Avo, BarabbasOrestes, a rebel who is determined to bring down the occupying Roman presence. What makes this such a remarkable book is the sheer visceral nature King of the story telling. Each story is vividly toldMycenae, and Alderman evokes the time and place to such a level that you half expect to have developed a sun tan while reading the bookhis sister Elektra, seeking refuge.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>067091990X</amazonuk>0356516075

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jeanette WintersonB0C7J9D21B|title=The Daylight GateA Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)|author=A J Lewis

|genre=FantasyHistorical Fiction|summary=1610s LancashireWhen we first meet our hero, his name is Ettore and Alice Nutter is the best landowner you could wish forhe lives at The House of Beautiful Swallows. SingleIdyllic as this might sound, rich it's a bordello and connectedEttore's mother died when he was born. He's not been short of mothers, she takes no sides though - but for someone of his background in the religious schisms James I has inheritedlate-eighteenth-century Amalfi, and takes no bull from those trying it's difficult to oppress obtain decent employment. The stint working with the poor, putting them up preparation of anchovies didn't work out and feeding them when no-one else willbastards are considered bad luck on fishing boats. But those poor are seen as sinful by others Ettore was nothing if not resourceful - amoral, dirty in mind, body and spirit, and in league with the devil. And people are beginning to question Alice's attitudes, choice of company determined - and ageless beautyit was not long before he had a successful business as a guide for visitors. This, then, is the based-on-truth story of how Alice Nutter got to be one of the accused in the Pendle Witch trialsHe was even saving some money.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099561859</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Wendy WallaceEssie Fox|title=The Painted BridgeFascination|rating=3.54

|summary=Young bride Anna Palmer places her trust in all The Victorian era is incredibly over-romanticised as a setting for historical fiction (matched only, perhaps, by the wrong people. One choice that backfires spectacularly is her impulsive marriage Second World War) which has often led to the Reverend Vincent Palmermore than a few writers mishandling it. Less than There's such a year after their marriage he tells her glut of media set in the era that they the hallmarks we've come to associate with it are going familiar to visit some the point of his friends at a place called Lake Housebeing cliched, hackneyed even. But Lake House All this is a privately run asylum 'for genteel women of a delicate nature'simply to illustrate that it would be an easy thing to do poorly. Once there Anna discovers But despite that she is not allowed to leave without Vincent, something about it still grabs me – and something about this book's approvaldescription did as well.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857209272</amazonuk>1914585526

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Michael BoccacinoNicole Jarvis|title=Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling|rating=5|genre=Fantasy|summary=Widowed under tragic circumstances, Charlotte Markham needs an income and so she's employed by widower Henry Darrow as a governess for his sons James and Paul. Their home 'Everton' may seem a typical Victorian mansion but the town of Blackfield isn't your average English small town; the Darrow's Nanny Prum is found murdered in a particularly grisly manner. It's a mystery to the local police but Charlotte's friend Susannah has a clue if only they'd listen to her. Meanwhile the Darrow boys' nights are spent dreaming of a house in the woods where their mother still lives. Charlotte decides to treat this head on and takes them for a walk to show them there's no substance to it. However, A Portrait in doing so they discover the nightmare that is The House of Darkling.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781164460</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Deborah Harkness|title=Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy 2)|rating=4.5

|summary=''Shadow of Night'' moves on from where [[A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness|A Discovery of Witches]] finishes. Matthew Claremont (vampire, intellectual and, even after centuries of life, still looking a pretty decent 37 years old) and Diana Bishop (historian and witch with a pedigree stretching back to the Salem witch trials) are married and have time-walked to 1591 to look for Ashmole 782, the ancient book that Diana let slip through her fingers in 2010. They also need to find Diana a tutor to help her control the powers that she's chosen to ignore for a lifetime. There aren't just supernatural items on the agenda though; Diana thought she knew all there was to know about her new spouse but there are secrets to be discovered, his connection to the historic 'School of the Night' being one of the less dangerous. Oh, and another thing, they discover that the 16th century isn't, perhaps, the best time to visit if you're a witch, especially if you need to advertise for a tutor. (I think we could have told them that if they'd asked!)|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755384733</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Pauline Chandler|title=Dark Thread|rating=4|genre=Teens|summary=Kate is an artisan weaver, like her mother. But she is so full of grief and guilt that she can't even think about returning to her craft. Because Kate's mother died in a road accident and Kate thinks it was all her fault. And, want all of a sudden, everything gets too much - the kindly-meant but oppressive sympathy - and Kate collapses. She wakes, still at the mill, but in a long-past time. Here, Kate must learn Florence to weave the dark threads of her life into its overall picture. Until she does, she can't return home... |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907869565</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=David Rain|title=The Heat of the Sun|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=David Rain is far too young to be writing this exquisitely. Thatknow my name's all I'm going to say. Oh, you need me to justify that comment? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857892037</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Sarah Quigley|title=The Conductor|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Composer Dmitri Shostakovich can block anything Cast out whilst he's writing music: his wife Nina's voicefrom Rome, his children arguing, even the side effects of living Artemisia Gentileschi arrives in Florence seeking an oasis in Stalinist Leningradwhich her art can find a home and where her future can thrive rather than stagnate. However, life is about to become more than an annoying distraction from music But as Germany declares war on Russia and gradually initiates what history will come to know some as she enters Florentine society she faces great opposition from the Siege of Leningrad. Shostakovich then realisespowerful Accademia, just as gradually, that his music may serve a purpose to sustain his compatriots in the absence self-proclaimed guardians of sufficient food and hope. His Seventh Symphony becomes a protest against oppression, but he needs an orchestra to play it and the top musicians healing magics that through paintings have been evacuated to save the country's cultural heritage. He therefore turns power to Karl Eliasberg, protect the aspiring but third rate conductor of a cobbled together orchestracity and its citizens from plagues and curses. Music can create miracles but, The all-male Accademia has hoarded power over art and architecture for Eliasberg centuries and his musicians, being able to play guard it will be the biggest miracle of above allelse. To them, Artemisia – an ambitious young woman who promises trouble and change – has no place amongst them and their society.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>190880002X</amazonuk>1803362340

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Umberto EcoThomas D Lee|title=The Prague CemeteryPerilous Times

|genre=Historical FictionFantasy|summary=If the popular press ''Hate 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. Well, not quite. I would not pretend to have a tiny iota-fragment path of the talent that Umberto Eco has. Nor would I seek to decry his latest opus. least resistance''

On Set in the other handnear-distant future, I am an ordinary reader – one moreover that enjoyed in a world on the verge of climate collapse, Britain is in great peril. The Name of British Isles desperately needs a hero (or several) to save the Rose immensely – day and I really struggled with ''The Prague Cemetery''rescue what little remains. I didn't struggle to get through it. It is actually quite an easy read, if you just read What no-one expected was that one of the surface Knights of it. I did struggle to see the point of it. It may well just be me. I put my hands upRound Table would answer the call.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099555972</amazonuk>0356518523

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Matt ReesG K Holloway|title=A Name in BloodIn the Shadows of Castles

|summary=Artist Michelangelo Merisi is best known by a location: Caravaggio, his home town. He grew up acquainted with We begin after the ugly side of life momentous battle in 1066 and death, having witnessed the plague-ridden deaths of his father and grandfather on the same day. However he was also born with the ability to create beauty in his art. Heof William of Normandy's able to make a living adorning the churches and fine houses coronation as King of Rome, but Caravaggio walks a fine lineEngland. On one side William's position is the wildness not secure and carousing he needs to feel alive and on the other new king has many challenges. Imposing authority through a coronation is important. And William is the need right to placate worry. While the powers that be. When those powers happen to be a pope who's a Borgia and a patron who's a Borgia's nephewprevious king, Harold, then the line is very fine indeed. Add complications like a beautiful woman dead and a life-long commitment to preserving the well being likelihood of a headstrong noblemore pitched battles is over, leading him to the knights of Malta, rebels are stirring and a life of difficulty becomes one much of impossibility. Then something else happens... Caravaggio completely vanishes from history, taking the intrigue up country does not wish to recognise a whole new leveloverlord.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848879199</amazonuk>1800422466

{{newreview|author=Austin Ratner|title=The Jump Artist|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Austin Ratner's debut novel, ''The Jump Artist'', first published in the US in 2009, Maya 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 girl living in a hunter gatherer village during the Austrian mountains when he saw his father fall to his deathMesolithic era. This would be traumatic for anyoneClimate change is occurring, but the issues were compounded when he was accused Sea of murder by the Austrian courts in what was probably anti-semitic Grass encroaches further and certainly xenophobic in explanation. Philippefurther into Maya's second trialforest 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 first failing potentially because his mother had engaged Traveller, a Jewish lawyer, details spiritual figure who interprets the fundamental lack wisdom of evidence and shoddy police work behind the accusation.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670921599</amazonuk>All Life, provide solutions?

{{newreview|author=Theresa Breslin|title=Spy for Anne Sharpe was thirty-one years old when she arrived at Godmersham Park to take up the Queen position of Scots|rating=4|genre=Teens|summary=Jenny is not only a ladygoverness to twelve-inyear-waiting to Mary, Queen old Fanny Austen. She had no experience of teaching but this was a case of Scots; she's also one necessity. Until the death of her oldest mother, Anne had a comfortable life and closest friends, brought up with was loved by both parents although her at father was frequently absent from the French court during Mary's long betrothal to the Dauphinhousehold. Jenny is fiercely loyal to Mary When her mother died, her father cast her off and so, when she overhears a whispered conversation about poison, she decides would have nothing more to turn spy for do with her queen. The French court is full No explanation was offered but she would receive an annuity of plotting and spying but£35 a year. Her maid, when Mary returns to Scotland after her young husband diesAgnes, Jenny discovers the warring clans of Scotland present her mistress with even more dangerwould receive nothing but was fortunately taken in by some neighbours. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0385617054</amazonuk>

 {{newreview|author=Maria Duenas|title=The Seamstress|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>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=L R FredericksMelissa Fu |title=FarundellPeach Blossom Spring

|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=American Paul Asher is damaged by memories and dreams originating from World War Iloved the prelude to Peach Blossom Spring, or at least he thinks thata short chapter entitled ''Origins's where they're from. Once Unfortunately it is the war is over and, as he's estranged only truly poetic part of a book that I expected more from his father in the US, Paul decides to remain in the UK to find work. Work comes Covering Chinese history from 1938 to him 2005 as heviewed through one family's asked to assist Lord Percy Damory at Farundell, the Damory ancestral perspective. When their home. Paul's job city is straightforward: Sir Percy needs someone to whom he can dictate memoirs of set ablaze during the war with Japan, a wellyoung mother (Meilin) and her four-year-travelled life old son (Renshu) are among distant tribesthose who flee. However Paul's life at Farundell will be anything but straightforward thanks to the Damorys' apparent eccentricitiesThe story follows them on their journey across China, an ancestor from the 18th century who refuses to be labelled as a ghost and, of course, therein Renshu's Sylviecase eventually to America. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>184854328X</amazonuk>1472277538

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=L R Fredericks1916072038|title=FateThe House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)|author=Allie Cresswell

|summary=It's We meet part of the 18th century and 11 Talbot family in Yorkshire in November 1811. Twenty-seven-year -old Francis Damory is spoken Jocelyn Talbot and her mother have travelled in some discomfort from their home at Ecklington, to by great great grandfather, Tobiasthe house in the hollow. Nothing odd except that Tobias The two women are angry with each other and Jocelyn is dead and speaks via a portrait in Farundell, the familywell aware of her mother's Oxfordshire home. Hence begins the obsession that will take the adult Sir Francis across the world strengths and through weaknesses: ''She is practiced at subterfuge, at concealing, beneath a lifetime facade of adventures to track Tobias down. The longer Francis looksrespectability, the more he realises that Great Great Grandfather isndeplorable truth't dead and that, therefore, Francis wants whatever he's on.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184854331X</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Alissa Walser and Jamie Bulloch (translator)|title=Mesmerized|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Celebrated scientist (at least in his own mind) Franz Anton Mesmer Hester is called upon to cure the blindness of 18 year old piano virtuoso and courtierfurious about Jocelyn's daughter Marie Theresia Paradis. Despite the unease of her parents, Mesmer installs Marie into his 'magnetic hospital' where, alongside his other patients, refusal to do as she settles in to a regime of treatmentwas asked, including free access to Mesmerwhich has precipitated 's beloved piano. Mesmer is the Paradis' last resort this violent and so theyunexpected removal''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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857051008</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Mary Hoffman|title=City Then we are told 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 birth of a Stravagante - a person who can travel through time child 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 Ludosoon after, the pretenderHester Talbot departs, leaving Jocelyn in shame and is immediately drawn to him. And at home isolation in Barnsbury, Laura's life is changing too, now she is a part of the time-travelling communityYorkshire. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408800500</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Hilary MantelAnnabel Abbs|title=Bring up the BodiesThe Language of Food

|summary=Thomas Cromwell Eliza Acton 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 a poet who has been disinherited. Anne Boleyn wears never had the crown and has produced a daughter, Elizabeth. But there is no sign of a son and Henry is beginning slightest inclination to regret his secession from Romeboil an egg. 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|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=George III is unfortunately best-known for his mental instability which is When tasked with writing a pity, because he wascookery book, in many waysshe recruits Ann Kirby, a forward thinker. One of his more-enlightened acts local woman 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 troubled home 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 WalesTogether, but with only two years difference in age they became life-long friends.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857387812</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Alonso Cueto and Frank Wynne (translator)|title=The Blue Hour|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Adrian Ormachetest, middle class Peruvian lawyercraft, has a beautiful wife, two daughters of refine and reshape 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 world of a gruff, distant dad. Despite his father's aloof, dictatorial mannerdomestic cookery, Adrian has always comforted himself with reinventing the fact he played a useful role as a land-bound naval officer, fighting Senderista terrorists for the good of Peru. After recipe book and changing the death face 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 imagecookery writing forever.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0434019410</amazonuk>1398502227

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sax RohmerFreya Marske|title=Fu-Manchu - The Hand of Fu-ManchuA Marvellous Light

|summary=Nayland Smith has summoned Robin Blyth is nudged into a job in the loyal Dr Petrie back from Egypt Civil Service, much to his chagrin. There he meets Edwin Courcey and learns that the familiar setting streets of Londonare threaded with magic. The streets of Desperate to remove a curse that threatens to swallow him, Robin follows Edwin to the capital have seen much terror in countryside, where the early 20th century, but hedgegrows bristle with Fu-Manchu dead, surely incantations and the worst is over? Not so… for people shimmer with power. There they uncover a sinister plot that threatens the agency lives of all magicians in the Si-Fan, the doctor's masters, still lurkBritish Isles. Can Smith and Petrie put an end to their terror once and for all?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857686054</amazonuk>1529080886

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jude MorganB09F4CTKJR|title=The Secret Life of William ShakespeareFlights for Freedom|author= Steven Burgauer

|summary=Books about Shakespeare vary hugely both in terms It's the later stages of approach World War I and qualitythe United States has just entered the conflict. Some focus on historical fact, while others play rather more loosely with Petrol Petronus is a young American who has signed up and joined the romance of his life17 Aero Squadron. Fortunately for readersThis company was the first US Aero Squadron to be trained in Canada, 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'') first to be attached to the RAF and the romantic poets (''Passion'')first to be sent into the skies to fight the Germans in active combat. So my expectations were already quite high coming into his ''The Secret Life of William Shakespeare'' - expectations But before that he can happen, Petrol has again surpassedto master flying the notoriously difficult but majestic Sopwith Camel.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755358228</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jane JohnsonChristophe Medler|title=The Sultan's WifeMadrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret|rating=4.5

|summary=Alys Swann is leaving her native Holland to accomplish Set against 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 backdrop of 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 secret plan (and that's an understatementcode-named Madrigal). His plan for her is as a welcome addition to his globally sourced harem. There she meets Nus-Nus, eunuch and discovered by Sir Robert Douse in the Sultan's scribe, who has problems summer of his own1642. A local apothecary dies in As a most unnatural way and Nus-Nus seems to be loyal servant of the only suspect. The royal court has always been a dangerous place but, for Nus-NusKing, and indeed AlysHead of the Secret Service, staying alive has suddenly become more of a challenge than it seemed before... and thatis Robert's saying somethingduty 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.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0670918008</amazonuk>B095HY8SXQ

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jane Sullivan1471187179|title=Little PeopleA Beautiful Spy|author=Rachel Hore|rating=4.5

|summary=Unemployed governess Mary Ann rescues what seems to be Minnie is an 'ordinary' girl living an unexciting life in a child from the currents of the Yarra River in Australialeafy provincial suburb. However, The book is set in the 'child' turns out 1930s and Minnie is expected to live up to be none other than Charles Stratton, aka General Tom Thumb, 'midget' and star of PT Barnum's touring 'Lilliputian' show. As a token of gratitude for her act of heroism the troupemother's tour manager, Sylvester Bleeker, offers Mary Ann work expectations and find a solution nice young man to marry, produce children and spend the rest of her days looking after her dilemma. For she is not only out of work and alone... husband and pregnanttheir home. SheUnfortunately, this isn's made t what she wants to feel welcome and a sense of belonging do at last although all isn't what it seems. She may well be everything that Tom Thumb and his wife Lavinia have been looking for but that may not be neither does she want to continue working as a good thingsecretary. Even As a result of a chance meeting, she finds herself drawn into espionage, working for the title itself isn't all it seems secret service and has an additional meaning, not just effectively living a reference double life - attempting to infiltrate the small Communist Party of statureGreat Britain. Mary Ann gradually realises that, Minnie finds herself torn between what she perceives as a lone single parent, her duty and the friends she would be destitute (has made - and everything that meant at that time) without likes - whilst working for the troupe. She too is a little person, but of no account rather than reduced heightCommunist Party. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1742378854</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Marcello FoisAfonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)|title=Memory of the AbyssKokoschka's Doll|rating=32.5

|summary=We are on SardiniaWell, over this looked very much like a hundred years ago. It book I could love from the get-go, which is a land of legend, where storytellers can see a different nature to the moon each night why I picked my review copy up and convey that in their earthly stories. It's a world flipped pages over several times before actually reading any of wonder, where sheep can fall from the skies for more than one reasonit. It's a poor land, where lads are expected I found things to be responsible shepherds by the potentially delight me each time they are ten. As – a result people look after each other - exceptweird section in the middle on darker stock paper, while returning from a Christening Samuele chapter whose number was in the 20,000s, letters used as narrative form, and his father are refused basic hospitalityso on. Later when It intrigued with the boy runs away one night the land falls away beneath him - yet he finds subterranean voice 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 hears in need of vengeance...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906694001</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Youssef Ziedan and Jonathan Wright (translator)|title=Azazeel|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=An archaeologist in a time and place close to wartorn Dresden that what little I knew 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 pastit mentioned, as if eliciting an omnipresent dimension to realitytoo. The fluent evocative prose flows like a meandering river or a ribbon connecting continuously But you've seen the present moment star rating that comes with the ancient world. A panorama emerges dominated by Rome this review, and Constantinople and extends to Alexandriacan tell that if love was on these pages, Jerusalem and Antiochit was not actually caused by them. So what happened?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848874278</amazonuk>1529402697

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Belinda SeawardChristina Hammonds Reed|title=The Beautiful TruthBlack Kids

|genre=Literary FictionTeens |summary=There are two parallel story lines in Belinda SeawardChristina Hammonds Reed's ''The Beautiful Truth'': one debut novel is set in against the backdrop of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, a reaction to the present day and one in wartime Polandabsolution of four police officers for beating a black man, Rodney King, nearly to death. Both involve love stories and personal strugglesTold from the perspective of Ashley Bennett, and there are repeating themes such as horses and the stars that effectively provide links between the two in this clearly well-researched novel follows her evolution from a silent bystander when confronted with matters of race, to a woman finding her voice and engrossing narrativeembracing her heritage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0719521114</amazonuk>1471188191

{{newreview|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 Move 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|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>}} {{newreview|author=Knud Romer and John Mason (translator)|title=Nothing But Fear|rating=5|genre=Literary 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846687144</amazonuk>}}[[Newest History Reviews]]