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{{newreview|title=Keane's Company|author=Iain Gale|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=There is one fictionalised character that straddles recent historic fiction set during the Napoleonic Wars like a Colossus and that man is Bernard Cornwell’s Richard Sharpe. To take on this level of success is no easy task, but with Sharpe books no longer being released, there is room for a new man. Is that man James Keane, star of Iain Gale’s ‘Keane’s Company’? This is a book that forgoes some of the deeper literary elements in favour of action and thrills.|amazonuk= <amazonuk>1782064524</amazonuk!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=James McBrideTananarive Due|title=The Good Lord Bird|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Henry 'The Onion' Shackleford lives as Henrietta (or just plain Onion) until he's 17 due to a misunderstanding that may prove too dangerous for him to correct. The reason is that the person under this misapprehension is the fiercely well-meaning slavery abolitionist (with the emphasis on the 'fiercely') John Brown. As Onion accompanies him on his quest to free every slave they encounter, he discovers that Brown's philanthropy only stretches so far. Meanwhile it's that time of the 19th century when a shadow spreads over America, one that will cause a historic scar almost as great as that of slavery but Brown is oblivious to this. He doesn't; want to start a civil war, just an armed slave revolt.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594486344</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts|author=Mary GibsonReformatory

|summary=In the tinderGracetown, Florida. June 1950. After a scuffle with a white boy, twelve year-dry summer of 1911 the factory workers of Bermondsey are about old Robbie Stephens Jr is sentenced to ignite six months at the flame of changeGracetown School for Boys, leading to otherwise known as the great ''Summer of Unrest'Reformatory. It's a place with a brutal and dark reputation. Inspired by But the dock workers’ strikesegregated reformatory is a chamber of horrors, scores of dissatisfied female workers take to haunted by the streets in protest, demanding better working conditions and equal payboys that have died there. Nellie Clark, who works in Duff’s custard factory, is entranced by In order to survive the charismatic revolutionary Ted Bosher school governor and is swept along in the fervourhis Funhouse, enthusiastically joining her workmates in the protest. When Robert must enlist the heat help of the day dies down, however, she is reminded of the stark reality that her wages are needed to feed her starving siblingsschool's ghosts – only they have their own motivations... How will her drunken, violent father react when he finds out what she has done?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781855773</amazonuk>1803366532}} {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sue Monk KiddKatherine Howe|title=The Invention of WingsA True Account|rating=4.5|genre=Historical General Fiction|summary=On her 11th birthday Sarah Grimké Hannah Masury is given living in Boston, having been sent to live with a special presentfamily who run an inn, and being made to work there from a young age. It walks towards her decorated with When she hears there is to be a purple ribbon for 'it' is Hettyhanging of some pirates in the town, she decides to go and watch. Enthralled and horrified in equal measure, SarahHannah finds herself embroiled in a young boy's new personal slavedeath at the hands of two vicious pirates. They grow up together on 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 Grimkésnotorious Ned Low' Charleston plantation separated by conventions thought to be set in stones pirate ship as a cabin boy. However each She soon finds herself in their own way will rebel; Hetty empowered by her seamstress mother's ancient African tales the thick of resistance things when there is a mutiny on board, and Sarah (alongside from there we are caught up in her sister Angelina) empowered by defiant dreamsrip roaring tale of life on the ocean waves.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1472212754</amazonuk>0861547438

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Linda MitchelmoreSarah Marsh|title=EmmaA Sign of Her Own

|genre=Women's General Fiction|summary=Emma Le Goff was determined that she and After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her childhood sweetheart, Seth Jago, would get married but the vicar seemed strangely reluctant to obligehearing. Their pasts were against themSuddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her life changes. Seth’s brother had been hung and his father and brother were Living in prison. No one could - or would - quite believe that Seth had kept himself above a time when the criminalityuse 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. Then there were From here, she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaths of Emma’s mother deaf and brother, which might not have been an accidentusing a system called Visible Speech. To top it all Emma had lived with Matthew Caunter - At the vicar wasn’t prepared to accept that she was simply his housekeeper. No - there was no question of his marrying themsame time, Bell is working on other inventions and ideas, but Emma came and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up with in a novel solution to the problemcomplicated tangle of espionage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781890935</amazonuk>1035401614

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Rebecca MascullClaire North|title=The VisitorsHouse of Odysseus

|genre=Historical Literary Fiction|summary=Adeliza Golding is comfortably off by Victorian standards. She lives in a not insignificant house, her parents can afford servants, Liza's father owns and runs a hop farm, but... The but is considerable as Liza is different from most: she's deaf/blind and isolated from the world with only What could matter more than love?'the visitors' for company and communication in her mind. Almost in desperation when Liza is six, her father calls on Charlotte Crowe for help. Lottie penetrates Liza's lonely world by teaching her finger writing. However, in doing so she unlocks revelations that Lottie would rather be kept secret. For not everything changes; the visitors remain, whoever they are and whatever they want.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444765205</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|title=The Pursuit of Mary Bennet: A Pride and Prejudice Novel|author=Pamela Mingle|rating=3|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Mary Bennet seems follow-up to have a serious case of the excellent ''Ithaca'middle child syndrome'picks up a few months after where we left off. The third In the palace of five sistersOdysseus, she has always been isolatedwith delicate care Queen Penelope continues to rule without her husband, lacking the close bonds formed between her older who sailed to war at Troy and younger siblingsthen 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 resultfragile peace. One that shatters however with the return of Orestes, Mary has become bookishKing of Mycenae, withdrawn and socially awkwardhis sister Elektra, seeking refuge.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0062274244</amazonuk>0356516075

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Robert LyndonB0C7J9D21B|title=Imperial FireA Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)|author=A J Lewis|rating=4.5

|summary=Nine years after When we first meet our hero, his return from the perilous trek to the Middle Eastname is Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful Swallows. Idyllic as this might sound, Frankish mercenary Vallon is now it's a general in the Byzantine armybordello and Ettore's mother died when he was born. He leads the 'Outlanders', a Babel s not been short of a mercenary force from every corner of the known world fighting those threatening the Empire. Howevermothers, The Emperor has plans though - but for them. On hearing about the [[Hawk Quest by Robert Lyndon|Hawk Quest]] expeditionsomeone of his background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, the Emperor wants it's difficult to send Vallon and his men on a more challenging trip: to bring a new wonder weapon back from far off Chinaobtain decent employment. The good news is that this stint working with the preparation of anchovies didn'fire drug' is more destructive than anything they already havet work out and bastards are considered bad luck on fishing boats. The bad news is that they could be away for at least 3 years Ettore was nothing if not resourceful - and determined - and that Lucas, it was not long before he had a young stranger accompanying them, has successful business as a secret that could prove as dangerous as the journeyguide for visitors. He was even saving some money.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847444997</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Meg ClothierEssie Fox|title=The EmpressFascination|rating=54

|summary=It's 1179 and Agnes, daughter of King Louis VII The Victorian era is sent to Byzantium to marry the young son and heir of the Emperor. However the chap in questionincredibly over-romanticised as a setting for historical fiction (matched only, young Alexiosperhaps, is by the Second World War) which has often led to more a drip than a chip off his fatherfew writers mishandling it. There's block. This leaves Agnes such a glut of media set in the era that the hallmarks we've come to associate with it are familiar to work on her own strategy for survivalthe point of being cliched, hackneyed even. For All this is a world where everyone is paranoidsimply to illustrate that it would be an easy thing to do poorly. But despite that, something about it still grabs me – and with good reason as everyone is a target and Agnes isn't just a woman, shesomething about this book's a stepping stone to powerdescription did as well.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099553147</amazonuk>1914585526

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=The Web and the WingNicole Jarvis|authortitle=Teresa RafteryA Portrait in Shadow|rating=34.5

|summary=I love a good family saga, don't you? ''The Web and the Wing'' begins at the end of World War I. Claire returns to her pre-war job as a maid at Ardleagh Hall, home of the Earl want all of Eglinton. But Claire wants more than a life in service. She wants education and independence. And she wants away from Ardleagh for another reason too - rigid social rules mean that she can never declare her love for James, heir Florence to the Eglinton title. James feels the same about Claire but he too has personal reasons for wanting to escape - his father will not countenance his musical ambitions. After the disastrous minersknow my name'' strike of 1926, James leaves for Berlin to become a concert pianist. From here, he observes the rise of Hitler with mounting concern.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178088561X</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|title=Colossus|author=Alexander Cole|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=I would not want to be 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 front line of any armypowerful Accademia, but one that is facing a row the self-proclaimed guardians of battle worn elephants must be the worst These huge beasts, healing magics that don’t smell particularly nice, are charging towards you, their tusks tipped in armourthrough paintings have the power to protect the city and its citizens from plagues and curses. You’ll find me cowering somewhere near the baggage trainThe all-male Accademia has hoarded power over art and architecture for centuries and guard it above all else. Not GajendraTo them, he is Artemisia – an ambitious young man in Alexander’s all conquering army. He woman who promises trouble and change – has a special relationship with the largest elephant in Alex’s army, Colossus. This close relationship between man no place amongst them and beast will lead Gajendra to a higher level than he could ever have imagined for a poor boy from Indiatheir society.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857891154</amazonuk>1803362340

{{newreview|title=The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls|author= Anton DiSclafani|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Theodora Atwell is torn away from her muchSet in the near-loved brother at distant future, in a world on the age verge of 15climate collapse, to be sent far from her home Britain is in Florida great peril. The British Isles desperately needs a hero (or several) to Yonahlossee, where she's to have a fresh start after a mysterious event she blames herself forsave the day and rescue what little remains. Set in What no-one expected was that one of the 1930s to the backdrop Knights of the Depression, we follow Thea as she tries to navigate her new surroundings and come to terms with Round Table would answer the damage she's caused to her familycall.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0755395190</amazonuk>0356518523

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=LionheartG K Holloway|authortitle=Stewart BinnsIn the Shadows of Castles|rating=34.5

|summary=Richard We begin after the First. Richard momentous battle in 1066 and on the Lionheart. Even those day of William of us who didnNormandy't pay attention much in history lessons, those of us who are pretty dodgy on which s coronation as King came when, will be familiar with some of them England. William's position is not secure and be able the new king has many challenges. Imposing authority through a coronation is important. And William is right to put them more or less in their time contextworry. We know William While the previous king, Harold, is dead and the Conquerorlikelihood of more pitched battles is over, we know Henry the Eighth… … rebels are stirring and, up much of the country does not wish to recognise a point, we know about the Lionheartnew overlord.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1405913606</amazonuk>1800422466

{{newreview|title=Black Venus|author=James MacManus|rating=2.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Anyone familiar with the numerous biographies of Charles Baudelaire will know there Maya is an absence a young girl living in a hunter gatherer village during the middle of his life: Jeanne DuvalMesolithic era. The facts about this mysterious woman are rather sparseClimate change is occurring, although it is commonly agreed that she was a Haitian cabaret singer - the Sea of Grass encroaches further and Baudelairefurther into Maya's perennial muse. And it forest home, and food is Baudelaire's fascination with Duval that continues to haunt the books published by his critics becoming more and admirers alike: just what, they ask themselves, was the great man's obsession with the woman he dubbed his Black Venus? But if there's little more scarce. What to say on do? Can the biographical front, what about law givers in the realms federation of fictionvillages muster peaceful ways to cope? What about using Can the scattered facts to build a three-dimensional DuvalTraveller, one with a backstory, hopesspiritual figure who interprets the wisdom of All Life, and feelingsprovide solutions? If you think this is a bad idea, then you're too late, because this is the 'eureka!' moment that spawned James MacManus's exasperating new novel, ''Black Venus''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715647423</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sebastian Faulks1529125898|title=Jeeves and the Wedding BellsGodmersham Park|author=Gill Hornby|rating=45

|summary=Bertie Wooster had a glorious time in Cannes, ''If it were not least because for the casual dereliction of the presence of Georgiana Meadowes. He wondered if she should be allowed out at all, 'such a hazard did she pose to male shipping' - and that was before he'd experienced her driving. But, being a odd gentleman, Wooster's hands were tied: Georgiana is soon to become engaged to another. The two duty, there would meet again before too long as Wooster, along with his gentleman's gentleman, were invited no women to stay teach well-bred daughters at the home of Georgiana's uncle - but, for reasons which you'll need to read for yourself, all.''Jeeves'' was there as a member of the aristocracy and Wooster was his gentleman's gentleman. Confused? Oh, excellent!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091954045</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Linda Spalding|title=The Purchase|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=1798: Daniel Dickinson moves his five children and 15Anne Sharpe was thirty-one years old when she arrived at Godmersham Park to take up the position of governess to twelve-year-old second wife away from the Pennsylvanian Quaker community he used to call home, towards VirginiaFanny Austen. While on an equipment-buying trip he comes across She had no experience of teaching but this was a slave auction and decides to be true to his abolitionist beliefs in an unusual waycase of necessity. He buys OnesimusUntil the death of her mother, Anne had a young slave boy, in order to change comfortable life and was loved by both parents although her father was frequently absent from the lad's lifehousehold. When her mother died, intending her father cast her off and would have nothing more to offer him do with her. No explanation was offered but she would receive an annuity of £35 a home and fairness in place of captivityyear. HoweverHer maid, reality is more difficult and the Dickinsons find that their new servant will actually change their lives insteadAgnes, would receive nothing but was fortunately taken in by some neighbours.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908737514</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kent WascomMelissa Fu |title=The Blood of HeavenPeach Blossom Spring

|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=1799 in America and Angel Woolsack is I loved the son of an itinerant preacherprelude to Peach Blossom Spring, travelling around Louisianaa short chapter entitled ''Origins''. Life isn't easy as Angel Unfortunately it is torn between the puritanical fire and brimstone upbringing only truly poetic part of Preacher-Father and his desire to be a normal young man within the confines of a religious communitybook that I expected more from. Eventually AngelCovering Chinese history from 1938 to 2005 as viewed through one family's desire to express himself leads to tragedy and, perspective. When their home city is set ablaze during the war with his only friend Samuel Kemper for companyJapan, he is cast out by a young mother (Meilin) and her four-year-old son (Renshu) are among those he loveswho flee. Angel The story follows them on their journey across China, and Samuel decide to search for Samuelin Renshu's elder brother, Reuben, and thus begins the adventure that will take them case eventually to Florida, bring Angel a feisty bride and provide a place in the history books for the Kemper brothers as they grapple for land against the SpanishAmerica. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1611855713</amazonuk>1472277538

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleisbn=The Ice-Cold Heaven1916072038|authortitle=Mirko Bonne|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=They say that if you fall off a horse you should get back on one right away, but even so… I don't think many people who had only just left their first love – a shopgirl The House in their village – for their second – exploring the world on sailing cargo ships – would leap to a further voyage having been wrecked and stranded off the coast of South America for well over a week. But Merce here does – he wants to follow his best friend on to a ship called ''The Endurance'' and head with Shackleton to the Antarctic. But Merce is only seventeen, and is rejected – causing him to stow away onto one of the world's worst ever journeys.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715645846</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=Hollow (The Reluctant BrideTalbot Saga)|author=Beverly EikliAllie Cresswell

|summary=Scarred soldier Major Angus McCartney cuts a lonely figure as he rides toward Micklen House bearing tragic newsWe meet part of the Talbot family in Yorkshire in November 1811. He knows that his presence will be unwelcome Twenty-seven-year-old Jocelyn Talbot and that the report he must deliver will devastate the entire householdher mother have travelled in some discomfort from their home at Ecklington, especially to the beautiful, unobtainable daughter of house in the family whom he has secretly been in love with for many yearshollow. Surely she will forever associate him The two women are angry with the bombshell that brought each other and Jocelyn is well aware of her world crashing down. There seems no way that she could ever love him the way that he loves her.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781890862</amazonuk>}}mother's strengths and weaknesses:

{{newreview|author=Conn Iggulden|title=Wars of the Roses: Stormbird (Wars of the Roses 1)|rating=4.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=England in 1437: Henry VI is now old enough to take the throne after the untimely death of his father 15 years earlier. However 'The Lamb' (as young Henry She is known) doesn't take after his robustpracticed at subterfuge, dominant father as enemies and allies alike are wont to mention. Religiously devoutat concealing, peace-loving and often ill, Henry VI relies on his right-hand men to take the load. While beneath a privileged role for people like William de la Pole (Duke facade of Suffolk) and spymaster Derry Brewsterrespectability, it's also very dangerous. Theythe deplorable truth're the final line of defence before the King can be toppled and not all the malevolent powers are beyond the English Channel. A lot of hope is pinned on Henry's marriage to Margaret of Anjou healing the rifts but unfortunately there are unforeseen effects.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718159837</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Elaine Neil Orr|title=A Different Sun: A Novel of Africa|rating=4.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Emma Davis, daughter of a Georgian plantation owner has never been happy about the slave system. People just shouldn't be owned like merchandise. Whenever possible she slinks away to hear African stories from elderly slave Uncle Eli, sparking her imagination and love for a far off continent Hester is furious about which sheJocelyn's determined refusal to do more than dream. Emma is going to theological college and as she was asked, which has precipitated ''willthis violent and unexpected removal'' be a missionary out there. Her resolve pays off when she meets and marries Henry, clergyman and missionary to Yoruba. Once there Emma discovers a local culture richer and more rewarding than she imagined, but, then again, so is the cost.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0425261301</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|title=Close to Then we are told of the Wind|author=Zana Bell|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Georgiana da Silva seems to have everything to look forward to; an engagement to her dashing cousin Jasper will finally allow her to escape the clutches birth of her oppressive aunt a child and open up the opportunity for her to travel the world, broadening her horizons considerably. Unfortunatelysoon after, when she overhears a conversation between Jasper and the duplicitous Lord WalsinghamHester Talbot departs, she realises that her engagement is a sham leaving Jocelyn in shame and that her brother’s life is isolation in danger from a ruthless assassin. Can she reach her brother in New Zealand before the assassin has time to strike? The scene is set for an exciting cross-continental race against time which will pitch Georgiana headlong into a world of deceit, intrigue and adventureYorkshire.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781890269</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Bernard CornwellAnnabel Abbs|title=The Pagan Lord (Warrior Chronicles 7)Language of Food

|summary=Lord Uhtred Eliza Acton is outlawed and evicted from his land as he continues a poet who has never had the slightest inclination to niggle the Saxon clergy. However this time it's in a big way: he murders boil an abbot while trying to reclaim his eldest sonegg. As When tasked with writing a punishment he's evicted from his land so Uhtred does the only thing he can: he follows his destiny and travels north to reclaim Bebbanburg (Bamburgh) from his usurping unclecookery book, she recruits Ann Kirby, Aelfrica local woman with a troubled home life. There's a chasm between his dream Together, they test, craft, refine and realityreshape the world of domestic cookery, but Uhtred is determined. Perhaps it's just as well because his choice reinventing the recipe book and changing the face of strategy will shape a nationcookery writing forever.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0007331908</amazonuk>1398502227

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=The Night FlowerFreya Marske|authortitle=Sarah StovellA Marvellous Light

|summary=Fourteen-year-old Miriam Booth Robin Blyth is nudged into a Romany gypsy from job in the Newcastle slums whoCivil Service, like much to his chagrin. There he meets Edwin Courcey and learns that the titular waif in [[:Category:Charles Dickens|Charles Dickens]]'s ''Oliver Twist'', is an orphan who lives by her wits but becomes drawn into a ring streets of house-breaking crimeLondon are threaded with magic. In 1842 she is caught and sentenced Desperate to remove a curse that threatens to seven years' transportation swallow him, Robin follows Edwin to the countryside, where the hedgegrows bristle with incantations and the people shimmer with power. There they uncover a convict colony sinister plot that threatens the lives of all magicians in Australiathe British Isles.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1906994218</amazonuk>1529080886

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Colum McCannB09F4CTKJR|title=TransAtlanticFlights for Freedom|author= Steven Burgauer

|summary=In 1845 ex-slave, black It's the later stages of World War I and the United States has just entered the conflict. Petrol Petronus is a young American Frederick Douglass visits Ireland for a lecture tour about freedom who has signed up and emancipation only joined the 17 Aero Squadron. This company was the first US Aero Squadron to be trained in Canada, the first to discover he's not preaching be attached to the converted after all. In 1919 Alcock RAF and Brown climb the first to be sent into a rickety aircraft the skies to fly fight the Atlantic and land Germans in Limerickactive combat. In 1994 Senator George Mitchell also travels to Ireland watched by a world But before that's about can happen, Petrol has to see a miracle of negotiation. Meanwhile through it all Lily and her descendants are also there, not only watching history master flying the notoriously difficult but living it on both sides of the Atlanticmajestic Sopwith Camel.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408829371</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Sisters of the East EndChristophe Medler|authortitle=Helen BattenMadrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret|rating=3.54

|summary=Katie Crisp had never intended to become Set against the backdrop of the English Civil War, a nunsecret plan (code-named Madrigal) is discovered by Sir Robert Douse in the summer of 1642. Raised by non-religious parentsAs a loyal servant of the King, her family frowned upon organised religion and when Katie started secretly going to churchHead of the Secret Service, they strongly disapproved. When Katie ran it is Robert's duty to uncover the aid details of a stroke victim, she had a vision that changed her life. She saw herself dressed as a nun with a large silver cross hanging from her neck. She decided to the plan and follow her calling and join the community clues to uncover one of St John the Divine, a group of Anglican nuns dedicated to nursing and midwifery. She thus shed her old identity and became known as Sister Catherine Marymost guarded secrets in history—especially since the plot could affect the King.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0091951771</amazonuk>B095HY8SXQ

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1471187179|title=The LuminariesA Beautiful Spy|author=Eleanor CattonRachel Hore|rating=54|genre=Literary Historical Fiction|summary=Eleanor Catton's Minnie is an 'ordinary'girl living an unexciting life in a leafy provincial suburb. The Luminaries'' book is set in the New Zealand gold rush of the late 1860s. It1930s and Minnie is expected to live up to her mother's expectations and find a story about greed, power, goldnice young man to marry, dreams, opium, secrets, betrayal produce children and identity, but most spend the rest of allher days looking after her husband and their home. Unfortunately, itthis isn's t what she wants to do at all and neither does she want to continue working as a secretary. As a celebration result of a chance meeting, she finds herself drawn into espionage, working for the art of story telling, both in terms of Catton's book secret service and effectively living a double life - attempting to infiltrate the stories Communist Party of Great Britain. Minnie finds herself torn between what she perceives as her characters have to tell. It's duty and the kind of book that is perfect escapism friends she has made - and which wraps you up in its world. If you like big, chunky books that you can get lost in likes - whilst working for hours, then this is one for youthe Communist Party.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847084311</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Alison MacLeodAfonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)|title=UnexplodedKokoschka's Doll|rating=2.5

|summary=It's 1940 and Britain lives in fear of Well, this looked very much like a Nazi invasion that book I could happen love from the get-go, which is why I picked my review copy up and flipped pages over several times before actually reading any dayof it. In case I found things to potentially delight me each time – a weird section in the worst happensmiddle on darker stock paper, Evelyn's husband Geoffrey has buried a little something for her and their young son Philip chapter whose number was in the garden20,000s, letters used as narrative form, and so on. He tells her It intrigued with the tin contains subterranean voice a bit of money and his favourite photo man hears in wartorn Dresden that what little I knew of them. As she digs it up from impulse rather than necessitymentioned, she discovers that there's no photo but what there is instead makes Evelyn doubt that she knows the man she marriedtoo. The events that follow make Evelyn realise that indeed she doesnBut you't. Meanwhile ve seen the war continues star rating that comes with this review, and a German does invade their livescan tell that if love was on these pages, but it was not in the way that either of actually caused by them could envisage. So what happened?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0241142636</amazonuk>1529402697

 {{newreview|title=The Last RunawayFrontpage|author=Tracy Chevalier|rating=3|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Quaker girl Honor Bright is seeking escape from a failed relationship. Leaving quiet Dorset for America, a developing country about which she knows little, she hopes that accompanying her sister to the US will mean a new start within the American Quaker community. But Honor soon discovers the differences between America and England – not just in terms of weather and landscape, but also in the American culture of slave keeping.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>000735035X</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewChristina Hammonds Reed|title=A World Elsewhere|author=Wayne JohnstonThe Black Kids|rating=34.5|genre=Historical FictionTeens |summary=Landish Druken Christina Hammonds Reed's debut novel is set against the backdrop of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, a great hulk reaction to the absolution of four police officers for beating a black man who lumbers through his hometown of St John's, Newfoundland. Although he thinks of himself as a writerRodney King, he has never written a word he didn't feel compelled nearly to burn, and everyone knows him as death. Told from the wayward son perspective of accomplished sealing captain Abram Druken. Landish escaped to study literature at Princeton, where he met best friend Padgett 'Van' VanderluydenAshley Bennett, the 'dud' son novel follows her evolution from a silent bystander when confronted with matters of an industrial tycoon and a rumoured homosexualrace, but he broke his promise to join his father's sealing empire on his return in 1893, a woman finding her voice and now lives in poverty and disgraceembracing her heritage. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099572036</amazonuk>1471188191

{{newreview|title=Stay Where You Are And Then Leave|author=John Boyne|rating=4.5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Alfie is just five years old when the Great War breaks out in 1914. His father joins up straightaway. Cheerful letters come from Georgie for a while and Alfie's mother reads them to him. But then the letters grow miserable and frightening. Alfie's mother stops reading them aloud and hides them away - but Alfie finds them anyway. And then the letters stop altogether. Alfie is told that his father is Move on a secret mission and can't write, but he sees through the lie immediately. And then, one day, a chance meeting tells Alfie exactly what has happened to his father. He's home from the front but he's in hospital, suffering from a condition nobody understood at the time: shell shock. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857532936</amazonuk>}}[[Newest History Reviews]]