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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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Tananarive Due
|title=The Sorrow of Angels
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|title=The Reformatory
|author=Jon Kalman Stefansson
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|rating=5
 +
|genre=Historical Fiction
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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
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Katherine Howe
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|title=A True Account
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=General Fiction
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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 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.
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|isbn=0861547438
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Sarah Marsh
 +
|title=A Sign of Her Own
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Our decidedly unheroic main character has been at the café for three weeks now, so we are following on very closely from [[Heaven and Hell by Jon Kalman Stefansson|Heaven and Hell]]After the tragedy and soul-searching of that first book, he seems settled in the ridiculous family that has formed around him there, finding employment, enjoying the literature, yet being  very intrigued by the female bodyThe man who is still young enough to be known only as ''the boy'' might have latched on to stability for once, and replaced the family and best friend he had lostBut everything is restless in this environment, and once again he might just be tempted to go on a journey, with another male companion, despite the harshness of the surrounds.
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|summary=After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearingSuddenly 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 signingFrom here, she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and using a system called Visible SpeechAt the same time, Bell is working on other inventions and ideas, and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of espionage.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857051652</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1035401614
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Claire North
 +
|title=House of Odysseus
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|rating=5
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|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.
|title=Heaven and Hell
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|isbn=0356516075
|author=Jon Kalman Stefansson
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=Iceland, a hundred years ago. From a place that is the very definition of rural and remote, a small fishing boat leaves for four hours' hard row to a profitable bank. It carries six men on the way out, and five on the way back. The deceased is the best friend or perhaps only friend of the main character, who is still young enough to merely be known as ''boy''. When he returns to port he enters an almost Camus-like semi-existence, wondering just how much life is an answer, and for what, after the tragedy he has witnessed.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849164061</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=She Rises
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|author=Kate Worsley
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|title=A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)
|rating=3
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|author=A J Lewis
 +
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Imagine, if you can, a lifelike eighteenth-century seafaring epic (something along the lines of Carsten Jensen's [[We, the Drowned by Carsten Jensen|We, the Drowned]] or Carol Birch's [[Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch|Jamrach's Menagerie]]) crossed with Sarah Waters's ''Fingersmith''. If you then added in touches of Charles Dickens's ''Bleak House'', plus shades of the rest of the homoerotic Waters oeuvre (especially ''Night Watch'' and ''Tipping the Velvet''), you would just about have Kate Worsley's debut novel, ''She Rises'', in a nutshell.
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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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408835894</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Essie Fox
|title=Mistress of the Sea
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|title=The Fascination
|author=Jenny Barden
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=''Mistress of the Sea'' is an epic adventure involving pirates, star-crossed lovers and a lust for gold and vengeance. The novel, set in Tudor times, is based on the real-life events in the life of Francis Drake, notably the raid at Nombre de Dios and the rout of the English fleet at San Juan de Ulua. Barden weaves an exciting adventure/romance story against this backdrop, which results in an immersive narrative that excites the mind and senses.
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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>009194922X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1914585526
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Nicole Jarvis
|author=Graham Thomas
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|title=A Portrait in Shadow
|title=Hats Off To Brandenburg (The Roxy Compendium)
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|rating=4.5
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=It was London, 1815.  George III was on the throne although it was his son who was Regent, but it would be quite a while before those facts bothered the Roxy Playhouse Irregulars, who lived, loved  and had their being in the old Roxy Playhouse.  Money had always been in short supply as it tends to be when life is lived as a celebration, but they were in debt to Richard Sheridan and eventually forced to strike a bargain with him: pay their debts within one month or he would take the Roxy Playhouse.  The Irregulars took the challenge and put on a performance, only this was no three-act play on a stage.  Their performance was a tightly choreographed heist which would relieve members of the ton of some of their more valuable trinkets.  If you're thinking of Robin Hood then forget it - this was going to be far more complex and bloody and it was obvious that there was more at stake than a decrepit playhouse.
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|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956742238</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.
|title=Burnt Norton
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|isbn=1803362340
|author=Caroline Sandon
 
|rating=2.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=After the death of his youngest son in a terrible accident, Sir William Keyt starts to lose interest in life. It takes meeting young Molly Johnson, a bright and beautiful daughter of a local landlord, to rekindle a spark for him. He brings her into Norton House as a maidservant, where she quickly catches the eye of his bookish eldest son, Thomas. But Sir William wants Molly to be more than a maid to him, and as a rich man and an MP is used to having his own way.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781850674</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=Bruce Macbain
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|isbn=0356518523
|title=The Bull Slayer
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Years after we left him in [[Roman Games (Plinius Secundus) by Bruce Macbain|Roman Games]], Pliny the Younger has become Roman Governor of Bithynia.  Not the most hospitable of regions, its Greek residents regard the Romans with hatred; an emotion that, in many cases, is reciprocated by the Romans. No matter how bad this is though, it gets worse when a high ranking official dies mysteriously. Could it have anything to do with the religious sect of Mithras?  Possibly but it's not Pliny's only dilemma; at home his beloved young wife Calpurnia is acting somewhat oddly.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781850798</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=G K Holloway
|author=James Heneage
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|title=In the Shadows of Castles
|title=The Walls of Byzantium (The Mistra Chronicles)
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|rating=4.5
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Luke Magoris is heading for disgrace which means a lot since he's the son of a Varangian, the Viking-originated elite guard of the Byzantine Emperor. Anna Lasaris daughter to a Byzantine court official and, feisty but kind, is the opposite of the Archon's daughter Zoe.  As politically adept as her brother is inept, Zoe will do anything for status and money… anything.  As the 14th century Byzantine Empire starts to crumble due to the relentless struggle with the Islamic Turks and Mistra becomes the only province left for the Turks to conquer, their paths will cross.  They're all young but they'll soon discover that treachery can emanate from friendship as much as it can from war.  
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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>1782061118</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1800422466
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=3949666079
|title=Beautiful Lies
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|title=Noema
|author=Claire Clark
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|author=Dael Akkerman
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Clare Clark's ''Beautiful Lies'' takes in Royal jubilees, London riots, newspaper editors overstepping the bounds on personal vendettas and political sex scandals - all set in the late 1880s showing how little has changed. There are even early instances and questions over photographic manipulation. Maribel, apparently a Chilean heiress and wife of radical, socialist politician Edward Campbell Lowe, has a past which she has tries to keep buried. If it were to be revealed, both her and her husband would be ruined by the scandal. Making enemies of an unscrupulous and hypocritical newspaper editor might not be the best move then.
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|summary=''This is a story about some things that happened to me about twelve thousand years ago.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099570467</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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Maya is a young girl living in a hunter gatherer village during the Mesolithic era. Climate change is occurring, the Sea of Grass encroaches further and further into Maya's forest home, and food is becoming more and more scarce. What to do? Can the law givers in the federation of villages muster peaceful ways to cope? Can the Traveller, a spiritual figure who interprets the wisdom of All Life, provide solutions?
|title=All Woman and Springtime
 
|author=B W Jones
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Gyong-Ho is a seamstress. That's not a euphemism. She works at a machine in a garment factory, with a bullying supervisor, invalided out of the glorious Chochun army, limping around and terrifying the girls only slightly more than the picture of Kim Jong-il on the walls.  Gi, a nickname she'll acquire because of her stammering attempts to get her own name out (Gi-Gi-Gyong) strives truly hard to be worthy of the Dear Leader.  She has learned the hard way, what happens if someone somewhere for some obscure reason decides that you're not.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780222912</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529125898
|title=The Asylum
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|title=Godmersham Park
|author=John Harwood
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|author=Gill Hornby
|rating=3.5
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|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=A woman wakes up in an unfamiliar room. She doesn’t know where she is, or how she got there, but at least she knows who she is: her name is Georgina Ferrars and she lives with her uncle in Gresham’s Yard, London.
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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>0224097415</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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Anne Sharpe was thirty-one years old when she arrived at Godmersham Park to take up the position of governess to twelve-year-old Fanny Austen.  She had no experience of teaching but this was a case of 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.
|author=Edward Rutherfurd
 
|title=Paris
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Taking four families, from different social positions, Edward Rutherfurd weaves these family histories into the history of Paris and France. We encounter the noble de Cygnes, the bourgeois Blanchards, the lower class Gascons and the revolutionary Le Sourds. Their lives cross paths through the years in often unexpected ways and while ''Paris'' is an historical fiction novel, this is as much an epic story of families as it is about the history.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444736795</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Melissa Fu
|author=Emma Straub
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|title=Peach Blossom Spring
|title=Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=Historical Fiction  
|summary=Small town girl Ella Emerson loves acting - her father runs the Cherry County Playhouse, and she's always been captivated by the stage. She loves watching the actors perform, and getting involved in shows where she can. Following a family tragedy, though, she moves to Hollywood to marry an actor and reinvents herself as Laura Lamont. Quickly, she outshines her new husband. Can her success, and their relationship, last?
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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>1447203208</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1472277538
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1916072038
|author=Nick Rennison
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|title=The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)
|title=Carver's Quest
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|author=Allie Cresswell
|rating=3
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=The year is 1870 and Adam Carver is at home in his lodgings in London’s Doughty Street when he is interrupted by an unexpected caller. This distraught and enigmatic young woman, Miss Emily Maitland, requests Carver’s help but disappears mysteriously before he can ascertain the details of her predicament. The days and weeks that follow her visit prove to be most eventful, pitching Carver and his assistant Quint into an investigation involving murder, a missing manuscript and a hidden treasure.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848871791</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Michael Ridpath
 
|title=Traitor's Gate
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary= Oxford-educated Englishman Conrad de Lancey is haunted by the brutality of the Spanish Civil War, his ideals laying in the dust along with the cause for which he foughtTherefore, on a visit to his mother's German homeland, Conrad shies away from involvement in any resistance to the rise of the National Socialist PartyHowever, he will soon have little choice as tragic events drag him into a world of espionage, brutality and fear, culminating in a conspiracy to kill Hitler himself.
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|summary=We meet part of the Talbot family in Yorkshire in November 1811Twenty-seven-year-old Jocelyn Talbot and her mother have travelled in some discomfort from their home at Ecklington, to the house in the hollowThe two women are angry with each other and Jocelyn is well aware of her mother's strengths and weaknesses:
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781851808</amazonuk>
 
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{{newreview
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''She is practiced at subterfuge, at concealing, beneath a facade of respectability, the deplorable truth''.
|author=A L Berridge
 
|title=Into The Valley of Death
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Master Harry-sahib saunters up the path of the family bungalow in some unnamed Indian 'British town', puzzled to see the pathway choked with weeds, surprised by the absence of servants and disgusted by the swarming ants.  There is worse inside.  His father, the colonel, is dead on the floor.  'The money was gone, obviously, but it would take more than that to make a devoted soldier to blow his brains out. What had it done to him, this army he'd given his whole life to?'
 
  
What indeed?  'Into the Valley of Death' isn't the novel that will tell us.
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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''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>024195410X</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=Tim Willocks
 
|title=The Religion
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=To the Maltese and Sicilians, Mattias Tannhauser is a successfully blooded infantry captain.  To Ottoman Turks he's Ibrahim the Red, having been kidnapped from Hungary and raised as a Muslim.  Dual nationality comes in handy once he's met the beautiful Contessa Carla de la Penantier and is commissioned to find and return her 12 year old bastard son.  As always with these missions there's a catch.  The boy (whom Carla hasn't seen since the day of his birth) is rumoured to be on Malta, an island currently being threatened by 30,000 Turks and defended by a tenth of that number, even if you count the Knights Hospitaller.  The Turks call themselves the Hounds of Hell, the Knights are known as the Religion, but it's immaterial to Mattias.  He just needs to find the lad and get out alive.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099581299</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Annabel Abbs
|author=Elizabeth Fremantle
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|title=The Language of Food
|title=The Queen's Gambit
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary= The recently widowed Lady Katherine Latymer falls in love with aristocratic Thomas Seymour, a man more a stranger to fidelity than to a lady's bed. It's not a good idea, especially when Henry VIII announces he'd like to make use of her renowned nursing skills by marrying her.  As Katherine navigates the seas of palace survival there's a lot that can sink her: Katherine's wish for Henry to return to the original protestant faith as he perceived it, her desire to bring the King's children together under one roof and the plotting of those who would like to see her head disconnected at the neck to name but three.  Meanwhile the shadow of Snape Castle hangs over Katherine's step-daughter Meg, haunting her hopes, her dreams and her everyday life to a degree that only the maid Dot understands.
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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>0718177061</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398502227
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Freya Marske
|author=Amy Brill
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|title=A Marvellous Light
|title=The Movement of Stars
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|rating=4
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary= Hannah Gardner Price lives in Nantucket, a small New England island with fortunes based on the whaling trade.  As it's 1845, Hannah's life is based on what her father feels is best for her. This is unfortunately reinforced by the fact that Nantucket is not just an island geographically but also insular in outlook and expectations as the claustrophobic, small community revolves around the weekly Friends' Meeting of its Quaker faith. Why unfortunately?  Hannah is highly intelligent, in her mid-20s, unmarried, practically runs her family's navigational instrument business since her twin brother dashed off to sea and has a scientific passion for astronomy, all of which are at odds with societal normality.  However, this is just the beginning. When Isaac Martin, a ship's black second mate, brings Hannah a chronometer to repair he becomes a presence that will shake her community as it shakes her world.
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|summary=Robin Blyth is nudged into a job in the Civil Service, much to his chagrin. There he meets Edwin Courcey and learns that the streets of London are threaded with magic. Desperate to remove a curse that threatens to swallow him, Robin follows Edwin to the countryside, where the hedgegrows bristle with incantations and the people shimmer with power. There they uncover a sinister plot that threatens the lives of all magicians in the British Isles. |isbn=1529080886
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718159926</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn= B09F4CTKJR
|author=Rhidian Brook
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|title= Flights for Freedom
|title=The Aftermath
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|author= Steven Burgauer
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=''The Aftermath'' is set amongst the devastated ruins in the fire-bombed city of Hamburg in 1946. The British have occupied the ruined city and Colonel Lewis Morgan, an officer and a gentleman, is charged with overseeing the restoration of order. However, Colonel Morgan must first deal with the human cost of the bombing including remnants of fanatic Nazis, the ''trummerkind'' - children of the rubble, and the starving civil populace. He also, in 1943, lost a child due to a Luftwaffe bomb and he must support his deeply grieving wife, Rachel, when she arrives after months of separation with their surviving twelve year old boy, the impressionable Edmund.
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|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>0670921122</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author= Christophe Medler
|author=Diana Souhami
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|title=Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret
|title=Coconut Chaos
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Our anonymous narrator has a chaos-theory-theory about the mutiny on the Bounty.  It can all be traced back to Fletcher Christian stealing a coconut.  Armed with this thought and the intrepid spirit of many Britons before her, she sets off for Pitcairn Island, the isolated home of Christian and his band of dissenters 3,000 miles from New Zealand.  She leaves behind a beloved but delusional mother, her partner and all the comforts of civilisation as she travels with hope and the inimitable Lady Myre.  Meanwhile we listen to true stories about the mutiny, the aftermath and the fact that there weren't really many heroes, just a group of flawed individuals fighting for survival.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780878745</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Robert Wilton
 
|title=Traitor's Field
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=It's 1648 and the embers of Charles I's reign start to fade as Britain slowly turns the monotone colour of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth.  However, Royalist passion still exists and it's up to Sir Mortimer Shay, the Comptrollerate-General for Scrutiny and Survey, to gather the intelligence, maintain his spy network and fan the embers towards the Royalist victory for which he longs.  He's a wily veteran so not easily stopped but among the confusion and brutality that tears Britain in half, former lawyer Cromwell's spymaster John Thurloe is the man charged with the task.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848878192</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Paul Lynch
 
|title=Red Sky In Morning
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=It’s 1832 and Coll Coyle and his humble family are to be turfed out of their home in Donegal and Coll is just angry enough to confront the landowner’s son who is responsible. The repercussions of Coll’s actions are huge and Coll is forced to go on the run. He attempts to escape across the unforgiving and desolate landscape of North West Ireland, the brutal Atlantic Ocean and the plains of North America, all the while stalked by the incredibly dangerous and violent John Faller. Red Sky in Morning is Paul Lynch’s debut novel and it is a real hit.
+
|summary= Set against the backdrop of the English Civil War, a secret plan (code-named Madrigal) is discovered by Sir Robert Douse in the summer of 1642. As a loyal servant of the King, and Head of the Secret Service, it is Robert's duty to uncover the details of the plan and follow the clues to uncover one of the most guarded secrets in history—especially since the plot could affect the King.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780879164</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B095HY8SXQ
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1471187179
|author=Patricia Watkins
+
|title=A Beautiful Spy
|title=Trick of Fate: Connell O'Keeffe and The Pen Caer Legacy
+
|author=Rachel Hore
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Connell O'Keeffe was a gentleman actor and on 23 February 1797 he was on his way from Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire to catch the ferry home to IrelandUnable to speak Welsh he was unaware that the French had invaded Pen Caer and rode into a situation which would change his life foreverThe man who had set off to make his leisurely way home, taking in some of the local landmarks suffered a life-threatening injury, was unjustly accused of a foul murder and became a fugitiveIt was difficult to see that he could survive his current situation - fitter men than he were dying - and if he did, what was the point?  What was there that he could do when his chosen profession would no longer be open to him?
+
|summary=Minnie is an 'ordinary' girl living an unexciting life in a leafy provincial suburb.  The book is set in the 1930s and Minnie is expected to live up to her mother's expectations and find a nice young man to marry, produce children and spend the rest of her days looking after her husband and their home.  Unfortunately, this isn't what she wants to do at all and neither does she want to continue working as a 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>0957210450</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
|author=Michael Ennis
+
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
|title=The Malice of Fortune
+
|rating=2.5
|rating=3
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|summary=Well, this looked very much like a book I could love from the get-go, which is why I picked my review copy up and flipped pages over several times before actually reading any of it. I found things to potentially delight me each time – a weird section in the middle on darker stock paper, a chapter whose number was in the 20,000s, letters used as narrative form, and so on. It intrigued with the subterranean voice a man hears in wartorn Dresden that what little I knew of it mentioned, too. But you've seen the star rating that comes with this review, and can tell that if love was on these pages, it was not actually caused by them. So what happened?
|summary=Michael Ennis sets his ''The Malice of Fortune'' in Italy in the early part of the 1500s. Ennis is a history lecturer so unsurprisingly, his book is full of evidence of detailed research and understanding of the times. And what fascinating times they were. With the Borgia family dominating both the papacy and several political regions, fighting for power and land, a number of family led mercenary armies, and several great figures who would leave a lasting legacy, notably Leonardo Da Vinci and Niccolò Machiavelli, the latter of whom narrates a very large part of this novel. The real life political wrangling of the times would stretch the imagination of most novelists and Ennis bases his tale on a huge number of real, documented happenings. What he seeks to add to the party is an insight into why and how these events occurred and certainly there are some unexplained gaps in the relationships of the key players. The core story is an attempt to discover the identity of the murderer of the pope's son, Juan Borgia, Duke of Gandia. Candidates range from his brother, Cesare Borgia, Juan's courtesan, Damiata to the heads of various powerful, mercenary families. It's historical fiction meets crime fiction.
+
|isbn=1529402697
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780890974</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
|author=Tim Leach
+
|title=The Black Kids
|title=The Last King of Lydia
+
|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=Ancient mythology seems to be enjoying a surge in popularity of late, with a plethora of books, movies and games based on these ancient legends and fabled heroes. There is something in the collective consciousness that enables these stories to resonate with each subsequent generation, allowing ancient wisdom to put out new roots in fresh soil.
+
|isbn=1471188191
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857899171</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=James Benmore
 
|title=Dodger
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=That loveable rogue, the Artful Dodger, is one of the most memorable and amusing characters in all of English literature. ''Oliver Twist'' ended with Dodger Jack Dawkins arrested for the theft of a silver snuff box and transported to Australia. But what happened next? James Benmore explores that idea in ''Dodger'', which takes up the story six years after the events of ''Oliver Twist''.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780874650</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Elizabeth Gill
 
|title=Miss Appleby's Academy
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=After forsaking her own chance of happiness to care for her aging father, Emma Appleby’s life is thrown into turmoil when he dies suddenly, leaving her fate entirely in the hands of her callous brother Laurence. Laurence and his wife view the middle-aged spinster as a burden and are keen to marry her off to an elderly neighbour to free themselves of responsibility. With seemingly nowhere to turn, Emma flees America to make a new life for herself in her childhood home of County Durham.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780878478</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest History Reviews]]
|author=Jenny Mandeville
 
|title=A Crown of Despair
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=By the age of 31 Katherine, Lady Latimer, had been married and widowed twice.  Her first match to an elderly, sickening baron ended at the age of 16, as miserably as it had started two years earlier.  Her second marriage to John Neville, Lord Latimer, had been more comfortable.  On his death she found love for the first time in her life, but to no avail.  The monarch had seen Katherine and would claim her for himself no matter what her wishes may be.  This forced marriage would make her famous, for down the centuries history would recount the story of Lady Latimer using her other name: Katherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>071980857X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 

Latest revision as of 10:53, 20 November 2023

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Review of

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

5star.jpg Historical Fiction

Gracetown, Florida. June 1950. After a scuffle with a white boy, twelve year-old Robbie Stephens Jr is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, otherwise known as the Reformatory. It's a place with a brutal and dark reputation. But the segregated reformatory is a chamber of horrors, haunted by the boys that have died there. In order to survive the school governor and his Funhouse, Robert must enlist the help of the school's ghosts – only they have their own motivations... Full Review

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Review of

A True Account by Katherine Howe

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

Hannah Masury is living in Boston, having been sent to live with a family who run an inn, and being made to work there from a young age. When she hears there is to be a hanging of some pirates in the town, she decides to go and watch. Enthralled and horrified in equal measure, Hannah finds herself embroiled in a young boy's death at the hands of two vicious pirates. She hides away, so that they don't find and kill her too, and then to escape them completely she runs away to sea, dressing as a boy and joining the notorious Ned Low's pirate ship as a cabin boy. She soon finds herself in the thick of things when there is a mutiny on board, and from there we are caught up in her rip roaring tale of life on the ocean waves. Full Review

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Review of

A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh

3.5star.jpg General Fiction

After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearing. Suddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her life changes. Living in a time when the use of sign language was seen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a school where she is taught to lip read, but physically restrained from signing. From here, she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and using a system called Visible Speech. At the same time, Bell is working on other inventions and ideas, and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of espionage. Full Review

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Review of

House of Odysseus by Claire North

5star.jpg Literary Fiction

What could matter more than love?

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

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Review of

A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries) by A J Lewis

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

When we first meet our hero, his name is Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful Swallows. Idyllic as this might sound, it's a bordello and Ettore's mother died when he was born. He's not been short of mothers, though - but for someone of his background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, it's difficult to obtain decent employment. The stint working with the preparation of anchovies didn't work out and bastards are considered bad luck on fishing boats. Ettore was nothing if not resourceful - and determined - and it was not long before he had a successful business as a guide for visitors. He was even saving some money. Full Review

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Review of

The Fascination by Essie Fox

4star.jpg Historical Fiction

The Victorian era is incredibly over-romanticised as a setting for historical fiction (matched only, perhaps, by the Second World War) which has often led to more than a few writers mishandling it. There's such a glut of media set in the era that the hallmarks we've come to associate with it are familiar to the point of being cliched, hackneyed even. All this is simply to illustrate that it would be an easy thing to do poorly. But despite that, something about it still grabs me – and something about this book's description did as well. Full Review

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Review of

A Portrait in Shadow by Nicole Jarvis

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

I want all of Florence to know my name

Cast out from Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi arrives in Florence seeking an oasis in which her art can find a home and where her future can thrive rather than stagnate. But as some as she enters Florentine society she faces great opposition from the powerful Accademia, the self-proclaimed guardians of the healing magics that through paintings have the power to protect the city and its citizens from plagues and curses. The all-male Accademia has hoarded power over art and architecture for centuries and guard it above all else. To them, Artemisia – an ambitious young woman who promises trouble and change – has no place amongst them and their society. Full Review

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Review of

Perilous Times by Thomas D Lee

3star.jpg Fantasy

Hate is the path of least resistance

Set in the near-distant future, in a world on the verge of climate collapse, Britain is in great peril. The British Isles desperately needs a hero (or several) to save the day and rescue what little remains. What no-one expected was that one of the Knights of the Round Table would answer the call. Full Review

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Review of

In the Shadows of Castles by G K Holloway

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

We begin after the momentous battle in 1066 and on the day of William of Normandy's coronation as King of England. William's position is not secure and the new king has many challenges. Imposing authority through a coronation is important. And William is right to worry. While the previous king, Harold, is dead and the likelihood of more pitched battles is over, the rebels are stirring and much of the country does not wish to recognise a new overlord. Full Review

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Review of

Noema by Dael Akkerman

4.5star.jpg General Fiction

This is a story about some things that happened to me about twelve thousand years ago.

Maya is a young girl living in a hunter gatherer village during the Mesolithic era. Climate change is occurring, the Sea of Grass encroaches further and further into Maya's forest home, and food is becoming more and more scarce. What to do? Can the law givers in the federation of villages muster peaceful ways to cope? Can the Traveller, a spiritual figure who interprets the wisdom of All Life, provide solutions? Full Review

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Review of

Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby

5star.jpg Historical Fiction

If it were not for the casual dereliction of the odd gentleman's duty, there would no women to teach well-bred daughters at all.

Anne Sharpe was thirty-one years old when she arrived at Godmersham Park to take up the position of governess to twelve-year-old Fanny Austen. She had no experience of teaching but this was a case of necessity. Until the death of her mother, Anne had a comfortable life and was loved by both parents although her father was frequently absent from the household. When her mother died, her father cast her off and would have nothing more to do with her. No explanation was offered but she would receive an annuity of £35 a year. Her maid, Agnes, would receive nothing but was fortunately taken in by some neighbours. Full Review

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Review of

Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu

3.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

I loved the prelude to Peach Blossom Spring, a short chapter entitled Origins. Unfortunately it is the only truly poetic part of a book that I expected more from. Covering Chinese history from 1938 to 2005 as viewed through one family's perspective. When their home city is set ablaze during the war with Japan, a young mother (Meilin) and her four-year-old son (Renshu) are among those who flee. The story follows them on their journey across China, and in Renshu's case eventually to America. Full Review

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Review of

The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga) by Allie Cresswell

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

We meet part of the Talbot family in Yorkshire in November 1811. Twenty-seven-year-old Jocelyn Talbot and her mother have travelled in some discomfort from their home at Ecklington, to the house in the hollow. The two women are angry with each other and Jocelyn is well aware of her mother's strengths and weaknesses:

She is practiced at subterfuge, at concealing, beneath a facade of respectability, the deplorable truth.

Hester is furious about Jocelyn's refusal to do as she was asked, which has precipitated this violent and unexpected removal.

Then we are told of the birth of a child and, soon after, Hester Talbot departs, leaving Jocelyn in shame and isolation in Yorkshire. Full Review

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Review of

The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs

5star.jpg Historical Fiction

Eliza Acton is a poet who has never had the slightest inclination to boil an egg. When tasked with writing a cookery book, she recruits Ann Kirby, a local woman with a troubled home life. Together, they test, craft, refine and reshape the world of domestic cookery, reinventing the recipe book and changing the face of cookery writing forever. Full Review

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Review of

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

4star.jpg Historical Fiction

Robin Blyth is nudged into a job in the Civil Service, much to his chagrin. There he meets Edwin Courcey and learns that the streets of London are threaded with magic. Desperate to remove a curse that threatens to swallow him, Robin follows Edwin to the countryside, where the hedgegrows bristle with incantations and the people shimmer with power. There they uncover a sinister plot that threatens the lives of all magicians in the British Isles. Full Review

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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