Difference between revisions of "Newest Historical Fiction Reviews"

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[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
 
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|title=Lucy
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{{Frontpage
|author=Alan Kennedy
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|author=Tananarive Due
|rating=4
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|title=The Reformatory
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|rating=5
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|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
 +
|title=A True Account
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=
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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.
Lucy is a painter. Hiding away in Dundee on VE Day, she returns from a disaster of an exhibition to a letter from a figure from her past. Uncle Albert, still in France, wants to sort out his affairs - who will get what after he's dead. The letter sends Lucy on a voyage of discovery - about a past full of art, lost love, found love, grief, war and about what could possibly come next. Set in pre-war London, pre-war and wartime France and windy, rainy Dundee, Lucy is a love story, but it's also a kind of coming-home. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956469663</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0861547438
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Sarah Marsh
|author=Anne O'Brien
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|title=A Sign of Her Own
|title=The King's Sister
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|rating=3.5
|rating=4
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|genre=General Fiction
|genre=Women's Fiction
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|summary=After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearing.  Suddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her life 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 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.
|summary=It's England in 1380 and 17 year old Elizabeth of Lancaster has always dreamt of her betrothal and the sort of love of which balladeers singSo when she meets the person her father has lined up, her face drops to say the leastThe Earl of Pembroke is eight years old so she's not pleasedHowever one day love will find her and cruelly cause her to choose between the love of her life and family with fatal consequences.
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|isbn=1035401614
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848453469</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Claire North
 +
|title=House of Odysseus
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|rating=5
 +
|genre= Literary Fiction
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|summary= ''What could matter more than love?''
  
{{newreview
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The follow-up to the excellent ''Ithaca'' picks up a few months after where we left off. In the palace of Odysseus, with delicate care Queen Penelope continues to rule without her husband, who sailed to war at Troy and then by divine intervention never returned home. As ever she remains surrounded by suitors vying for the throne of the Western Isles. Having survived – politically and physical – the chaotic storm that Clytemnestra brought to Ithaca's shores, Queen Penelope is on the brink of a fragile peace. One that shatters however with the return of Orestes, King of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra, seeking refuge.
|title=The Lives of Stella Bain
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|isbn=0356516075
|author=Anita Shreve
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=The opening of this book is a brilliant one, being thrust into the midst of Stella’s confusion as she wakes with no memory in a first aid station near the front line. She knows nothing other than the fact that she can drive an ambulance, and the reader knows nothing more than her.  She soon discovers that she can draw, too, and this is a really nice angle to help learn about her and her past without having to unveil everything all at once. I think the use of present tense within this novel works incredibly well in order to keep the reader at the same speed as the character, and it’s also a writing style I enjoy as a whole because it’s a little bit unusual and brings a different pace to the text.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349123578</amazonuk>
 
 
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}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|title=The English Girl
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|title=A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)
|author=Margaret Leroy
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|author=A J Lewis
|rating=5
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Stella Whittaker moves from a quiet English town to Vienna in 1937 to improve her music skills. Staying with old family friends, the Krauses, she feels less comfortable than she expects as a sense of mysterious menace hangs over the householdNevertheless, Stella enjoys her new life and the sophistication of the city. More than anything, she enjoys falling in love with Harri, a young Jewish doctor. And despite many warning signs, Stella’s love for him blinds her to the possibility of trouble when it seems inevitable to others.
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|summary=When we first meet our hero, his name is Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful SwallowsIdyllic 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>0751551775</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Essie Fox
|author=Christopher Bland
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|title=The Fascination
|title=Ashes In The Wind
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
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|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=John Burke and Tomas Sullivan may go to the same primary school in Kerry but even in 1908 they're on two sides of a great divide.  John is Anglo Irish protestant and comfortably off, being the heir to Derriquin Castle whereas Tomas is Irish Catholic, living in poverty and raised to feel the resentment of the oppressed. The fact that John has been brought up to believe in Home Rule tragically makes no difference as John, Tomas and their future generations live with the consequences of a centuries old struggle.
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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.
 
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|isbn=1914585526
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781859337</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Nicole Jarvis
|author=Laura Andersen
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|title=A Portrait in Shadow
|title=The Boleyn King (Anne Boleyn Trilogy 1)
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|rating=4.5
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=In this alternative history, Anne Boleyn's son William has become the king known as Henry IX.  As he nears the age of majority (18), he also approaches the age at which he will rule solo rather than through his regent and uncle, George Boleyn.  However, he's inherited a troubled kingdom.  Not only are England's enemies knocking at the door, there are enemies within Will's own household.  It begins with the sudden death of one of the court's young ladies in waiting.  Where will it end?
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|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009195648X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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Cast out from Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi arrives in Florence seeking an oasis in which her art can find a home and where her future can thrive rather than stagnate. But as some as she enters Florentine society she faces great opposition from the powerful Accademia, the self-proclaimed guardians of the healing magics that through paintings have the power to protect the city and its citizens from plagues and curses. The all-male Accademia has hoarded power over art and architecture for centuries and guard it above all else. To them, Artemisia – an ambitious young woman who promises trouble and change – has no place amongst them and their society.
|author=Valerie Fitzgerald
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|isbn=1803362340
|title=Zemindar
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=1850s India: Laura Hewitt accompanies her newly married cousin Emily Flood and Emily's husband Charles to the exotic sub-continent for a visit to Charles' half-brother Oliver Erskine.  Although none of the travellers have ever met Oliver, many of the people they encounter have heard of him and the way he rules his small fiefdom as its Zemindar.  These stories tantalise Laura as the information conflicts and she's unable to develop a mental picture of the man. That's not all that's conflicting: there's an increasing feeling of unrest in this furthest outpost of Queen Victoria's empire which will eventually lead to one of the bloodiest episodes in Indo-British history. Laura, Emily and Charles are naïve, but that won't save them from what's to come – something beyond their worst nightmares.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178185954X</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Thomas D Lee
|author=Ken Follett
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|title=Perilous Times
|title=Edge of Eternity (The Century Trilogy)
 
 
|rating=3
 
|rating=3
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre= Fantasy
|summary=The story baton is passed to the next generation as the swinging 60s arrive for people like Dave Williams.  For others such as Rebecca Hoffmann and Walli Franck, living in East Germany means other priorities and, indeed, worries.  What the Hoffmann-Francks don't realise is that things are about to get a lot worse, partially due to the treacherous influence of someone they all once trusted.  Meanwhile in America George Jakes has ideals and strong convictions that will take him past the metaphorical draw bridge into the echelons of a modern day Camelot.  What of the Dvorkin twins in Russia?  Tania and Dimka may have differing ideas on how to effect change but storm clouds are hanging over them - and the rest of the world - as an island off the coast of America gathers prominence.
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|summary= ''Hate is the path of least resistance''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230710166</amazonuk>
 
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{{newreview
 
|author=Conn Iggulden
 
|title=Wars of the Roses: Trinity (Wars of the Roses 2)
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=A bewildered Henry VI has awoken from the catatonic state that took him away from the business of ruling – and living – for over a year.  His job is now to regain the reins of his kingdom that was a little too ably ruled by Richard Neville, Duke of York in his absence.  Henry's wife, Margaret of Anjou, thinks Richard enjoyed the regency so much he's plotting a permanent takeover.  The bigger problem is communicating it to Henry as she's increasingly side-lined.  The approaching storm is gathering momentum threatening the House of Lancaster and a convalescing king whose recovery may only be temporary, even if he lives that long.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718159853</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{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.
|title=The Far Side of the Sun
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|isbn=0356518523
|author=Kate Furnivall
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=The Bahamas is a tropical paradise, left almost untouched by the war that’s raging on around it but the peace is disturbed one night, when a young waitress helps a man that’s been stabbed and left for dead. Mr Morrell insists that he can’t be taken to the hospital, his attackers will be waiting there, so Dodie Wyatt takes him back to her modest home and tries to save his life. Before he dies, Mr Morrell leaves Dodie with two gold coins, a name and a lot of trouble.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751550744</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=G K Holloway
|author=Diane Pearson
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|title=In the Shadows of Castles
|title=Csardas
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Hungarian Jewish banker Zsigmond Ferenc rules his family with an iron fist.  As a proud Hungarian he feels that he needs to maintain standards.  His wife, Marta secretly gambles behind his back, his sparkling younger daughter Eva takes the heart of every man she meets (including his own) and his two sons need leadership and guidance. Then there's his eldest child, Amale who fears she will never fall in love which may be a disadvantage as he looks around for a fitting match. Although whatever their preoccupations may be at the moment everything in Hungary (and indeed Europe) is about to change; history's timings can be cruel and the advent of World War I is perhaps one of its cruellest.  To say the Austro-Hungarian Empire won't be the same again is an understatement.
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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>1781857512</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
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|summary=''This is a story about some things that happened to me about twelve thousand years ago.''
  
{{newreview
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Maya is a young girl living in a hunter gatherer village during the Mesolithic era. Climate change is occurring, the Sea of Grass encroaches further and further into Maya's forest home, and food is becoming more and more scarce. What to do? Can the law givers in the federation of villages muster peaceful ways to cope? Can the Traveller, a spiritual figure who interprets the wisdom of All Life, provide solutions?
|author=Martin Davies
 
|title=Havana Sleeping
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Hector, a night watchman is murdered at work.  There's nothing unusual about that – it happens all the time. The reason being that this is Havana halfway through the 19th century; a place of intrigue, political posturing (and worse) as pro- and anti-slavery conflicts cause bubbles under the surface of society.  It's a place where an apparently lowly British civil servant like George Backhouse can be posted to influential positions.  It's a place where the Americans don't trust the British, the British don't trust the Americans and everyone fears what the Spanish may do.  Meanwhile a courtesan named Leonarda just wants to find out why the man she loved died.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340980451</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1529125898
|author=Robert Merle and T Jefferson Kline (translator)
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|title=Godmersham Park
|title=The Brethren (Fortunes of France)
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|author=Gill Hornby
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=After fighting for France for most of their adulthoods, the two Jeans, de Siorac and de Saveterre (nicknamed 'The Brethren') take over the chateau and settlement at Mespech in the Perigore region of France.  There the newly founded community flourishes as people like Jonas the stone-cutter move in, signalling growth.  De Siorac does his bit by producing a family.  However this is the 16th century and conflict is never far away.  Nationally France is threatened by Spain and England but it's also a threat to itself as brother fights brother – Catholic versus Huguenot. Indeed, the Brethren live in fear of the consequences of their own Huguenot faith although de Siorac doesn't make life easy for himself – his wife Isabelle is Catholic.  His personal battles reflect those of the country and have effects that, for him, are just as critical.
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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>1782270442</amazonuk>
 
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{{newreview
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Anne Sharpe was thirty-one years old when she arrived at Godmersham Park to take up the position of governess to twelve-year-old Fanny AustenShe had no experience of teaching but this was a case of necessityUntil the death of her mother, Anne had a comfortable life and was loved by both parents although her father was frequently absent from the householdWhen her mother died, her father cast her off and would have nothing more to do with her.  No explanation was offered but she would receive an annuity of £35 a yearHer maid, Agnes, would receive nothing but was fortunately taken in by some neighbours.
|author=Kate Mosse
 
|title=The Taxidermist's Daughter
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Connie is the daughter of once renowned taxidermist Crowley GiffordTimes have changed thoughCrowley may once have been famous with his own museum proudly exhibiting intricately prepared bird and animal tableaux but he's now addled by alcohol and deep melancholy, leaving Connie to continue the art in much reduced circumstancesA decade before Connie (then aged 10) had an accident that robbed her of her memoryThe past refuses to stay hidden though, returning with a vengeance and explaining the shell that Crowley has become'A vengeance' isn't a throwaway choice of words either – its return will upturn all that Connie has believed and even threaten her life and the lives of all those whom she holds dear.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409153754</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Melissa Fu
|title=The Soldier's Daughter
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|title=Peach Blossom Spring
|author=Rosie Goodwin
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
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|genre=Historical Fiction
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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
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1916072038
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|title=The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)
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|author=Allie Cresswell
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Briony Valentine lives a contented life with her mum, dad and younger siblings in a close-knit community in Nuneaton. She doesn't have much to worry about, other than the fact that she and her best friend both have a crush on the same boy, Ernie. However, the clouds of war are gathering and threaten to turn Briony's peaceful world upside down. Dad and Ernie enlist in the army and Briony has her own war to fight when she and her siblings are evacuated to Cornwall to stay with their stern Grandmother. The black sheep of the family, the unsavoury uncle Seb, clearly wants Briony out of his way, but how far will he go to make sure that she does not interfere with his sinister plans?
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|summary=We meet part of the Talbot family in Yorkshire in November 1811. Twenty-seven-year-old Jocelyn Talbot and her mother have travelled in some discomfort from their home at Ecklington, to the house in the hollow. The two women are angry with each other and Jocelyn is well aware of her mother's strengths and weaknesses:
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472101723</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''.
|title=The King and the Slave
 
|author=Tim Leach
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=The scene is set: a group of the king's closest acquaintances sit feasting around a table in almost total darkness. Wine flows freely. This is a place for political games, a place where the tension in the air is palpable. Wise men learn to play the rules; to be 'shadow men' under the ever-watchful gaze of a suspicious king who sees treachery in every smile. Invisibility is key to survival.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857899228</amazonuk>
 
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{{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=The New World
 
|author=Andrew Motion
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Following the success of his sequel to Treasure Island, [[Silver: Return to Treasure Island by Andrew Motion|Silver: Return to Treasure Island]], poet Andrew Motion continues the adventures of young Jim (the son of the original Jim Hawkins) and Natty (daughter of Long John Silver) following a shipwreck which leaves them washed up on the shores of the New World. The good news is that the bar silver recovered from the island has survived the journey. The bad news is that the natives have spotted it too...
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224097946</amazonuk>
 
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{{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=Elizabeth Buchan
 
|title=I Can't Begin to Tell You
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=War came to Denmark in 1940 and people found that they had to take sides.  British-born Kay Eberstern wasn't completely involved to begin with.  She had obvious sympathies with the British but her husband had German ancestry and she could see Bror's point of view.  But Bror went a little further than she thought necessary and openly sided with the occupying force because he felt the need to protect the family estate and the people who worked there.  Gradually Kay came to realise that she could not - ''would not'' - accept this and she became increasingly involved with the Resistance movement.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718178912</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Annabel Abbs
|title=The Fair Fight
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|title=The Language of Food
|author=Anna Freeman
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Set in the grimy streets of Bristol, we follow the journey of Ruth – born to a Madame in a brothel, and constantly outshone by her prettier sister Dora, Ruth learns to stand on two feet and to defend herself – something which is picked up on by a regular client of Dora’s, Mr Dryer. Plunged headfirst into the world of fighting, Ruth soon meets Grenville Dryer’s wife, Charlotte, a woman scarred by smallpox and trapped in a loveless relationship with her husband, and a toxic one with her brother.
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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>0297871951</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398502227
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|title=The Wake
 
|author=Paul Kingsnorth
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Paul Kingsnorth refers to his Booker-longlisted fiction debut, ''The Wake'', as 'a post-apocalyptic novel set 1000 years in the past'. This ambitious story traces the three-year Ely resistance movement that followed the Norman Conquest. The guerrilla fighters were led by a figure named Hereward the Wake – thus the title. The first thing any review must note is the language: set in 1066-8, this historical novel is written in what Kingsnorth calls a 'shadow tongue' or 'pseudo-language', not quite the Old English you encountered reading Chaucer or ''Beowulf'' at school, but similar. I would strongly recommend that any diligent reader start by perusing the partial glossary and 'A Note on Language', both appended at the end of the text.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908717866</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Freya Marske
|title=The Leopard of Dramoor
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|title=A Marvellous Light
|author=P De V Hencher
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Stephen, Earl of Northumbria, known to popular legend as the Leopard of Dramoor, is past his best fighting days. But warfare is never far away in medieval England, particularly in the border country. And it's not far away now. A combined force of Scottish and French troops are massing and intend to attack one of Stephen's castles. Stephen's son David is captain of the castle but he's spoiled and lazy and his father knows he won't defend it successfully without help. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1493588192</amazonuk>
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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
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn= B09F4CTKJR
|author=Karen Maitland
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|title= Flights for Freedom
|title=The Vanishing Witch
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|author= Steven Burgauer
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=More and higher taxes are being levied on the English by teenage King Richard II and his uncle/advisor John of Gaunt to pay for the wars against France. They may cause annoyance to the rich but they're breaking the poor, people like Lincolnshire river boat man Gunter and his family.  Meanwhile some of the better off are facing problems from other quarters.  Cloth merchant Robert of Bassingham is losing his stock before it arrives due to theft and unrest among the weavers in Flanders. It's not a good time to be English and eventually something will snap; we're heading towards 1831 and the peasants will be revolting.
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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>147221501X</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author= Christophe Medler
|author=Steven Galloway
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|title=Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret
|title=The Confabulist
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Martin Strauss has an unusual affliction that causes him to reinvent his life from false memories, convincing even himself. As a confabulist he's unsure of his past and whether he actually had a happy relationship with the woman he loved.  But there is one thing of which he's convinced: he killed the famous Ehrich Weiss twice.  You've not heard of Ehrich Weiss?  Oh but you have for Ehrich was Harry Houdini, the best escapologist (among other things) that the world has ever known.
+
|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>1782393994</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B095HY8SXQ
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1471187179
|title=The Shadow of War
+
|title=A Beautiful Spy
|author=Stewart Binns
+
|author=Rachel Hore
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary='The Shadow of War' is the first book in a sprawling series with a new book being released once a year for each year of the First World War. Binns writes about five British communities, all very different – an aristocratic Scottish family, a family of working class Welshfolk, a group of friends in a Lancashire factory town, a pair of Cockney soldiers, and Winston Churchill, alongside his wife Clemmie and various government figures. The groups interact at various points in the book, which leads to some very genuine and touching relationships forming, in particular the one between Margaret, a nurse, and Bronwyn, youngest daughter of the Welsh community.
+
|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>0718179978</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
|author=CC Humphreys
+
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
|title=Plague
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=Highwayman Captain William Coke stops a carriage in the line of his chosen career and soon discovers he's not the first to have assailed it.  The driver is dead and all those within have been brutally skewered.  He flees the scene but unfortunately leaves a pistol behind.  This is all thief-taker Pitman needs to arouse his interest and attempt to track the Captain down with a noose in mind.  Meanwhile nature has an equally random mode of death that's soon to be let loose on London.  This is 1665 and the Great Plague is about to begin.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780891423</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|title=The Windsor Faction
 
|author=D J Taylor
 
 
|rating=2.5
 
|rating=2.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=I jumped at the chance to review this novel. I enjoy reading books based within this period and was fascinated by the premise of ''what if?'' proposed on the back cover. The prologue was beautifully written and I hoped that was an indicator for the rest of the book.
+
|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 itI 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 onIt 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 themSo what happened?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099578891</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1529402697
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jacqueline Winspear
 
|title=The Care and Management of Lies
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=The long hot July of 1914 is a good one for friends Kezia and TheaKezia marries Thea's brother, Tom, bringing them even closer as life-long friends.  Kezia then learns how to be a farmer's wife, translating her love into imaginative meals – sometimes overly so.  Out of the two friends, Thea is the passionate one, fighting for women's universal suffrage and, as war approaches, pacifismHowever, when war starts, Thea goes to the front as well as Tom, leaving Kezia at home to be more than the farmer's wife; necessity dictates she's now the farmer.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749016833</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Robert Wilton
 
|title=The Spider of Sarajevo
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Four enterprising free thinking people are invited to speak to the military in London: James Cade (fiercely independent business man), David Duval (ladies' man and occasional cad), Fiona Hathaway (a young woman too intelligent to squander in marriage) and Ronald Ballentyne (anthropologist and Balkans expert)It's spring 1914 and their military hosts are actually recruiting spies on behalf of the Comptroller General for Scrutiny and Survey.  The four think that they're serving their country and they are, but not in the way they think: they're bait.  They are the flies that the high-ups hope will lead British intelligence to the anonymous phantom figure that is the Spider of Sarajevo.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782391916</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Livi Michael
 
|title=Succession
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=15 year old Margaret of Anjou is brought to England to marry King Henry VI, little realising she'll rule in his stead in all but name.  Then little 3-year-old Margaret Beaufort marries John de la Pole, son of the Duke of Suffolk.  This is the first of three marriages she'll embark on by the time she's 14, one of which will produce a king and all will produce sufferingThe War of the Roses and the Tudor dynasty are both waiting in the wings; these are the women who will raise the curtain.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241146240</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
|author=Shirley McKay
+
|title=The Black Kids
|title=Friend and Foe (A Hew Cullan Mystery)
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
+
|genre=Teens
|summary=1583 and King James VI of Scotland is paranoid and, after the events of the Ruthven raid the year before, who can blame him?  Surely this won't affect humble academic lawyer Hew Cullen?  Oh but it will, eventually causing more turmoil than even he is used to. Back at the beginning though, while Hew continues, unaware of what's to come, he has more pressing domestic worries that, for once, don't affect his herbalist sister Meg or his doctor brother-in-law Giles.  Indeed, this time the concern is the love of Hew's own heart.
+
|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846972175</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1471188191
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest History Reviews]]
|title=I, Hogarth
 
|author=Michael Dean
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=How similar in many ways was Hogarth’s London in the middle of the Eighteenth Century to the London of today. A city where it was easy enough to end up in debtor’s prison, as indeed did Hogarth’s beloved and unworldly father, having been condemned to the Fleet; a sad fate for a brilliant Latin scholar and writer of erudite texts. He opened a Latin speaking coffee house in St John’s Gate. Here the governor and authorities were open to high levels of corruption, as later in Dickens time and very reminiscent of the scandals of G4S today.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715647512</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