Difference between revisions of "Newest Historical Fiction Reviews"

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[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
 
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|author=Rebecca Hunt
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{{Frontpage
|title=Everland
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|author=Tananarive Due
 +
|title=The Reformatory
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=There have been two expeditions to the Antarctic island of Everland a century apart.  The ill-fated 1913 trip of Dinners, Napps and Millet-Bass is primitive by today's standards.  The 2012 expedition is better equipped, better prepared and arrives at a better time of year so all bodes well for Decker, Brix and Jess.  But despite the differences both expeditions have things in common.  Both groups carry secrets, some become obvious but others ''remain behind waiting to become discovered''.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905490658</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Eva Stachniak
 
|title=Empress of the Night
 
|rating=3
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Russia, 1796 and the ruler is dying from a stroke.  As each new symptom hits and her life recedes a little further she remembers how she came this far.  Her recollections begin when she was Sophie, Princess of Anholt-Zerbst, sent to young Russian Grand Duke Peter as a marriage prospect. The wedding plans go through and her new life is accompanied by a name change: Princess Sophie becomes Catherine Alekseyevna but history will christen her Catherine the Great.
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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...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00J8KYE14</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803366532
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}}  
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Katherine Howe
|title=A Love Like Blood
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|title=A True Account
|author=Marcus Sedgwick
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Horror
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=One day towards the end of World War Two, Charles Jackson is dragged to a museum of antiquities just outside a newly liberated Paris by his commanding officer during their downtimeWhile the other looks at the unusual ancient artefacts, Jackson finds something much more horrific – a man in a wartime bunker in the grounds, squatting over a female figure, blood on his lips that could only have come from her neckline.  Years later, Jackson returns to Paris for reasons to do with his medical career, and finds the same man in the company of someone who, were he only aware of the fact, is to become the first and possibly only love of his life. But that's not the only time the paths of Jackson and the mysterious male are destined to cross – the prologue was set in the late 1960s…
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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 watchEnthralled 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>144475193X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0861547438
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Sarah Marsh
|author=Lesley Glaister
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|title=A Sign of Her Own
|title=Little Egypt
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|rating=3.5
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Twins Isis and Osiris are now in their 90s, living together in Little Egypt, the English manor house where they were born and brought upTheir names are a clue to their parents' near fetish for everything EgyptianIn fact this near fetish leads their parents to Egypt itself, in search of a big discovery back in the 1920s, demonstrating more enthusiasm than savvyHaving left the twins in the care of the housekeeper, they never return.  Isis and Osiris are now bound to the house, tied not by love or memories but dark secrets that won't let go.
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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 changesLiving 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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>190777372X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1035401614
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Claire North
 +
|title=House of Odysseus
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre= Literary Fiction
 +
|summary= ''What could matter more than love?''
  
{{newreview
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The follow-up to the excellent ''Ithaca'' picks up a few months after where we left off. In the palace of Odysseus, with delicate care Queen Penelope continues to rule without her husband, who sailed to war at Troy and then by divine intervention never returned home. As ever she remains surrounded by suitors vying for the throne of the Western Isles. Having survived – politically and physical – the chaotic storm that Clytemnestra brought to Ithaca's shores, Queen Penelope is on the brink of a fragile peace. One that shatters however with the return of Orestes, King of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra, seeking refuge.
|author=Anne O'Brien
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|isbn=0356516075
|title=The Scandalous Duchess
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
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|title=A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)
 +
|author=A J Lewis
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=1372: Lady Katherine de Swynford is widowed and in reduced circumstances as a resultShe remembers a more sumptuous life before her marriage; a life in the service of Queen Philippa, mother of John, Duke of Lancaster.  In the hope of reprising her past lifestyle she goes to the Savoy Palace to beg the Duke for a role in his household. He willingly employs her to help his new wife, Constanza, the Princess of Castille, with her imminent birth but this is a dangerous moveAs John and Katherine fall in love and Katherine becomes John's mistress they endanger more than their hearts; their attraction provides ammunition for their enemies, risking fatal results.
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|summary=When we first meet our hero, his name is Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful Swallows.  Idyllic as this might sound, it's a bordello and Ettore's mother died when he was bornHe's not been short of mothers, though - but for someone of his background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, it's difficult to obtain decent employment. The stint working with the preparation of anchovies didn't work out and bastards are considered bad luck on fishing boatsEttore 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>1848452985</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Essie Fox
|author=Juliet Greenwood
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|title=The Fascination
|title=We That Are Left
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Hugo and Elin are settling down to life at home in Hiram Hall now Hugo is back from the Boer War.  He refuses to speak about his experiences in Africa but carries the psychological effects. However, appearances count for a lot so they both continue to run the house, gardens and staff while Elin tries to ignore the deficiencies in their marriage.  She succeeds as well but then two things change her outlook: the arrival of daring adventurer Lady Margaret ('Mouse' to her friends) and the less welcome outbreak of World War I. Both will leave their indelible mark so that, for Hugo, Elin and many others around that time, there'll be no going back.
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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>190678499X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1914585526
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Nicole Jarvis
 +
|title=A Portrait in Shadow
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|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
  
{{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=Further Encounters of Sherlock Holmes
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|isbn=1803362340
|author=George Mann (Editor)
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Short Stories
 
|summary=Hot on the heels of [[Encounters of Sherlock Holmes by George Mann (Editor)|Encounters of Sherlock Holmes]] comes another collection of brand-new tales written by some of the brightest creative minds from the genres of science fiction and crime. In this anthology, Holmes and Watson are pitched headlong into twelve different mysterious scenarios and invited to unravel secrets and unmask villains as only they know how. During their adventures they come face to face with a mountain monster, take a murderous boat trip, meet Moriarty’s siblings and even indulge in a little space travel. The game is afoot!
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178116004X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Thomas D Lee
 +
|title=Perilous Times
 +
|rating=3
 +
|genre= Fantasy
 +
|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=Simon Sebag Montefiore
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|isbn=0356518523
|title=One Night in Winter
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=In June 1945 two school students are shot dead in Moscow.  These aren't just any school students; they attended Josef Stalin School 801, the academy that taught Stalin's own children and the current educational establishment of choice for the offspring of many government and army grandees. Why did they die?  Did the seemingly innocent Fatal Romantics Club have anything to do with it?  For the children the club is a way of living their love of Pushkin's literature but to others it seems a little different. Stalin himself is determined to have it investigated and what Stalin wants, Stalin gets no matter how wide the ultimate spider's web of suspicion is cast and no matter whom it catches.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099580330</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=G K Holloway
|author=Christopher Rush
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|title=In the Shadows of Castles
|title=Will
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=It's March 1616 and William Shakespeare, not having long to live, sends for his lawyer and old friend Francis Collins to draw up his will. While Francis works (at both the will and eating Shakespeare out of house and home) William's mind meanders, regaling Francis with stories and opinions from a life well-lived in a nation in turmoil.  After all, Mr S could never resist an audience.
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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>1846972787</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1800422466
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=3949666079
 +
|title=Noema
 +
|author=Dael Akkerman
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=General Fiction
 +
|summary=''This is a story about some things that happened to me about twelve thousand years ago.''
  
{{newreview
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Maya is a young girl living in a hunter gatherer village during the Mesolithic era. Climate change is occurring, the Sea of Grass encroaches further and further into Maya's forest home, and food is becoming more and more scarce. What to do? Can the law givers in the federation of villages muster peaceful ways to cope? Can the Traveller, a spiritual figure who interprets the wisdom of All Life, provide solutions?
|title=The Last Quarter of the Moon
 
|author=Chi Zijian
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=An old woman has been left alone in the mountain camp. Not totally alone, her grandson An'tsaur has stayed with her, to do the chores that she no longer has the physical strength to do.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099555654</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529125898
|author=Valerie Martin
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|title=Godmersham Park
|title=The Ghost of the Mary Celeste
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|author=Gill Hornby
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=On 5th December 1872 the merchant brig Mary Celeste was found devoid of human life (or death), floating aimlessly in the Atlantic.  Many, including Sherlock Holmes author [[:Category:Sir Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]], are intrigued by the mysterious absence of all crew and Captain Benjamin Briggs' family (keeping the Captain company for the trip).  Meanwhile investigative journalist Phoebe Grant wants to reveal the charlatans behind the popularity of spiritualist mediums and chooses Violet Petra as her study sample.  Does Violet have the powers she claims and why is she getting so upset about Conan Doyle's Mary Celeste story?  Phoebe is determined to find out and, in doing so, will be pulled into a maritime conundrum that may never be completely solved.
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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>0297870327</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 householdWhen her mother died, her father cast her off and would have nothing more to do with herNo explanation was offered but she would receive an annuity of £35 a year.  Her maid, Agnes, would receive nothing but was fortunately taken in by some neighbours.
|author=James Scott
 
|title=The Kept
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Elspeth and her 12 year old son Caleb have been beset by one of the worst types of tragedyAs a result, fuelled by Caleb's need for revenge and Elspeth's motherly love, they set out on a journey that brings them to the small Lake Erie town of WatersbridgeWith their new setting comes a greater understanding of their past which is a mixed blessing that must be met head on before they have to face their future.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091944503</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Melissa Fu
|title=The Three Musketeers
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|title=Peach Blossom Spring
|author=Alexandre Dumas and Will Hobson (translator)
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Leaving his home to try and join the famous musketeers in Paris, young Gascon d'Artagnan encounters troubles on the way but quickly falls in with title characters Athos, Aramis and Porthos. Soon, the quartet are caught up in a diabolical plot of the wicked Cardinal Richelieu and his accomplice Milady de Winter - can they save the Queen's honour?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849907498</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|title=Wake
 
|author=Anna Hope
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=Historical Fiction  
|summary=Wake:
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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.
 
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|isbn=1472277538
1 Emerge or cause to emerge from sleep<br>
 
2 Ritual for the dead<br>
 
3 Consequence or aftermath
 
 
 
We often hear the term ''Broken Britain'' in reference to modern society, but the Britain presented in ''Wake'' epitomises the term completely. This is a country reeling from the aftermath of the Great War. Unemployment is rife, food scarce and every family has been touched and scarred forever by the events of the preceding years.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857521942</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1916072038
|title=Keane's Company
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|title=The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)
|author=Iain Gale
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|author=Allie Cresswell
|rating=4
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|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 SharpeTo take on this level of success is no easy task, but with Sharpe books no longer being released, there is room for a new manIs 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.
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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>1782064524</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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''She is practiced at subterfuge, at concealing, beneath a facade of respectability, the deplorable truth''.
|author=James McBride
 
|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
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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''.
|title=Custard Tarts and Broken Hearts
 
|author=Mary Gibson
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=In the tinder-dry summer of 1911 the factory workers of Bermondsey are about to ignite the flame of change, leading to the great ''Summer of Unrest''. Inspired by the dock workers’ strike, scores of dissatisfied female workers take to the streets in protest, demanding better working conditions and equal pay. Nellie Clark, who works in Duff’s custard factory, is entranced by the charismatic revolutionary Ted Bosher and is swept along in the fervour, enthusiastically joining her workmates in the protest. When the heat of the day dies down, however, she is reminded of the stark reality that her wages are needed to feed her starving siblings. How will her drunken, violent father react when he finds out what she has done?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781855773</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=Sue Monk Kidd
 
|title=The Invention of Wings
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=On her 11th birthday Sarah Grimké is given a special present.  It walks towards her decorated with a purple ribbon for 'it' is Hetty, Sarah's new personal slave.  They grow up together on the Grimkés' Charleston plantation separated by conventions thought to be set in stone.  However each in their own way will rebel; Hetty empowered by her seamstress mother's ancient African tales of resistance and Sarah (alongside her sister Angelina) empowered by defiant dreams.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472212754</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Annabel Abbs
|author=Linda Mitchelmore
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|title=The Language of Food
|title=Emma
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Women's Fiction
 
|summary=Emma Le Goff was determined that she and her childhood sweetheart, Seth Jago, would get married but the vicar seemed strangely reluctant to oblige.  Their pasts were against them.  Seth’s brother had been hung and his father and brother were in prison.  No one could - or would - quite believe that Seth had kept himself above the criminality.  Then there were the deaths of Emma’s mother and brother, which might not have been an accident.  To top it all Emma had lived with Matthew Caunter - the vicar wasn’t prepared to accept that she was simply his housekeeper.  No - there was no question of his marrying them, but Emma came up with a novel solution to the problem.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781890935</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Rebecca Mascull
 
|title=The Visitors
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical 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 '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.
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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>1444765205</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398502227
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Freya Marske
|title=The Pursuit of Mary Bennet: A Pride and Prejudice Novel
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|title=A Marvellous Light
|author=Pamela Mingle
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|rating=4
|rating=3
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Mary Bennet seems to have a serious case of 'middle child syndrome'. The third of five sisters, she has always been isolated, lacking the close bonds formed between her older and younger siblings. As a result, Mary has become bookish, withdrawn and socially awkward.
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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>0062274244</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Robert Lyndon
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|isbn= B09F4CTKJR
|title=Imperial Fire
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|title= Flights for Freedom
|rating=5
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|author= Steven Burgauer
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|rating=4.5
|summary=Nine years after his return from the perilous trek to the Middle East, Frankish mercenary Vallon is now a general in the Byzantine army.  He leads the 'Outlanders', a Babel of a mercenary force from every corner of the known world fighting those threatening the Empire.  However, The Emperor has plans for them.  On hearing about the [[Hawk Quest by Robert Lyndon|Hawk Quest]] expedition, the Emperor wants to send Vallon and his men on a more challenging trip: to bring a new wonder weapon back from far off China.  The good news is that this 'fire drug' is more destructive than anything they already have.  The bad news is that they could be away for at least 3 years and that Lucas, a young stranger accompanying them, has a secret that could prove as dangerous as the journey.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847444997</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Meg Clothier
 
|title=The Empress
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=It's 1179 and Agnes, daughter of King Louis VII is sent to Byzantium to marry the young son and heir of the Emperor.  However the chap in question, young Alexios, is more a drip than a chip off his father's block.  This leaves Agnes to work on her own strategy for survival.  For this is a world where everyone is paranoid, and with good reason as everyone is a target and Agnes isn't just a woman, she's a stepping stone to power.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099553147</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|title=The Web and the Wing
 
|author=Teresa Raftery
 
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=
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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.
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 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 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 miners' 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>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author= Christophe Medler
|title=Colossus
+
|title=Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret
|author=Alexander Cole
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=I would not want to be in the front line of any army, but one that is facing a row of battle worn elephants must be the worst  These huge beasts, that don’t smell particularly nice, are charging towards you, their tusks tipped in armour.  You’ll find me cowering somewhere near the baggage train.  Not Gajendra, he is an ambitious young man in Alexander’s all conquering army.  He has a special relationship with the largest elephant in Alex’s army, Colossus.  This close relationship between man and beast will lead Gajendra to a higher level than he could ever have imagined for a poor boy from India.
+
|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>0857891154</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B095HY8SXQ
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1471187179
|title=The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls
+
|title=A Beautiful Spy
|author= Anton DiSclafani
+
|author=Rachel Hore
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Theodora Atwell is torn away from her much-loved brother at the age of 15, to be sent far from her home in Florida to Yonahlossee, where she's to have a fresh start after a mysterious event she blames herself for. Set in the 1930s to the backdrop of the Depression, we follow Thea as she tries to navigate her new surroundings and come to terms with the damage she's caused to her family.
+
|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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755395190</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
|title=Lionheart
+
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
|author=Stewart Binns
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Richard the First. Richard the Lionheart.
 
 
 
Even those of us who didn't pay attention much in history lessons, those of us who are pretty dodgy on which King came when, will be familiar with some of them and be able to put them more or less in their time context. We know William the Conqueror, we know Henry the Eighth…
 
 
 
… and, up to a point, we know about the Lionheart.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405913606</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|title=Black Venus
 
|author=James MacManus
 
 
|rating=2.5
 
|rating=2.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Anyone familiar with the numerous biographies of Charles Baudelaire will know there is an absence in the middle of his life: Jeanne Duval. The facts about this mysterious woman are rather sparse, although it is commonly agreed that she was a Haitian cabaret singer - and Baudelaire's perennial muse. And it is Baudelaire's fascination with Duval that continues to haunt the books published by his critics 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 to say on the biographical front, what about in the realms of fiction? What about using the scattered facts to build a three-dimensional Duval, one with a backstory, hopes, and feelings? 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''.
+
|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?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715647423</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1529402697
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
|author=Sebastian Faulks
+
|title=The Black Kids
|title=Jeeves and the Wedding Bells
+
|rating=4.5
|rating=4
+
|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=Bertie Wooster had a glorious time in Cannes, not least because 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 gentleman, Wooster's hands were tied: Georgiana is soon to become engaged to another. The two would meet again before too long as Wooster, along with his gentleman's gentleman, were invited to stay at the home of Georgiana's uncle - but, for reasons which you'll need to read for yourself, ''Jeeves'' was there as a member of the aristocracy and Wooster was his gentleman's gentleman.  Confused?  Oh, excellent!
+
|isbn=1471188191
|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 15-year-old second wife away from the Pennsylvanian Quaker community he used to call home, towards Virginia.  While on an equipment-buying trip he comes across a slave auction and decides to be true to his abolitionist beliefs in an unusual way.  He buys Onesimus, a young slave boy, in order to change the lad's life, intending to offer him a home and fairness in place of captivity.  However, reality is more difficult and the Dickinsons find that their new servant will actually change their lives instead.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908737514</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest History Reviews]]
|author=Kent Wascom
 
|title=The Blood of Heaven
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=1799 in America and Angel Woolsack is the son of an itinerant preacher, travelling around Louisiana.  Life isn't easy as Angel is torn between the puritanical fire and brimstone upbringing of Preacher-Father and his desire to be a normal young man within the confines of a religious community.  Eventually Angel's desire to express himself leads to tragedy and, with his only friend Samuel Kemper for company, he is cast out by those he loves.  Angel and Samuel decide to search for Samuel's elder brother, Reuben, and thus begins the adventure that will take them 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 Spanish.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1611855713</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