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<!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Erin KnightleyTananarive Due|title=The Earl I AdoreReformatory|rating=45

|summary=Poor Sophie Wembley has been placed in Gracetown, Florida. June 1950. After a scuffle with a desperate situation thanks white boy, twelve year-old Robbie Stephens Jr is sentenced to her sister Penelopesix months at the Gracetown School for Boys, who has eloped with otherwise known as the Reformatory. It'hired help's a place with a brutal and dark reputation. Once news But the segregated reformatory is a chamber of horrors, haunted by the scandal reaches boys that have died there. In order to survive the gossip-mongers school governor and his Funhouse, Robert must enlist the help of the school'ton's ghosts – only they have their own motivations...|isbn=1803366532}} {{Frontpage|author=Katherine Howe|title=A True Account|rating=4.5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Hannah Masury is living in Boston, having been sent to live with a family who run an inn, Sophie and her family will be ousted being made to work there from polite society and her hopes of finding an eligible husband will be ruineda young age. It When she hears there is therefore up to Sophiebe 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 scheming mother death at the hands of two vicious pirates. She hides away, so that they don't find and kill her too, and then to persuade her escape them completely she runs away to snare herself sea, dressing as a man before boy and joining the gossip becomes public knowledgenotorious Ned Low's pirate ship as a cabin boy. Time is clearly She soon finds herself in the thick of the essence and things when it comes to suitable husbandsthere is a mutiny on board, Sophie knows only one man will do: the handsome Earl and from there we are caught up in her rip roaring tale of Evansleigh, for whom she has been harbouring a 'tendre' for life on the past yearocean waves.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0349405441</amazonuk>0861547438

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Tracey WarrSarah Marsh|title=The Viking HostageA Sign of Her Own|rating=43.5|genre=Historical General Fiction|summary=Sigrid and her brothers are taken from their native Norseland and sold as slaves separately. Sigrid then begins her life alone as maid to Aina, daughter of Ademar, Viscount of Segur in Limoges. Her life could be After a lot worse. Sigrid's pagan beliefs could condemn her to a tough time in Christian France but she's fallen on her feet, forming a close friendship with Aina, albeit a servile one. Meanwhile elsewhere in the region, Adalmode, daughter bout of the Viscount of Limoges is about to become a marriage pawn in scarlet fever as a power struggle. Although she loves her familychild, she disagrees with their choice and has another in mind – one of Ellen Lark loses her father's prisonershearing. This is Suddenly plunged into a tough world where love takes second place to survival and having it all is generally not an option compatible with staying alive.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907605592</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio|title=Girl Genius: Agatha H and the Voice of the Castle|rating=4|genre=Science Fiction|summary=''Agatha H and the Voice of the Castle'' is the third novel in the Girl Genius seriessilence, adapted from the award-winning steampunk-style webcomic. Following the dramatic events of the previous two books, this volume sees Agatha returning to everything about her family home in Mechanicsburg in order to claim her place as 'The Heterodyne'life changes. She also needs to restore her war-damaged ancestral castle, which is Living in poor condition following a devastating attack by “The Other.” Of course, in time when the world use of Girl Geniussign language was seen as something only savages do, nothing is straightforward and Agatha's mission is complicated by several things: the castle Ellen is sent to a sadistic sentient being with a fractured personality; Agatha has a copy of her evil mother locked away inside her brain that could reappear at any moment AND a huge pink airship has just appeared in Mechanicsburg heralding the arrival of a fake Heterodyne heiress.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178116651X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Antonin Varenne and Frank Wynne (translator)|title=Loser's Corner|rating=4|genre=Thrillers|summary=Meet Georges Crozat. He's a policeman in Paris, who boxes on the side. After a bout that leads to an almost embarrassing victory, he school where she is made two offers – one from a clearly corrupt man behind the scenes in the sport, who seems taught to offer a few thrown fights for Georgeslip read, then some kind of status as assistant – training, guiding, profiteering; the other comes but physically restrained from a man known always as ''the Pakistani'' (or an unkind abbreviation of that), who has a friend of a friend who wants someone to do an enemy a mischief with their fistssigning. Georges doesn't take too long to choose the latter. In alternating chaptersFrom here, however, we're she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the 1950s, deaf and using a rookie to system called Visible Speech. At the forces, Pascal Verinisame time, Bell is being shipped out to Algeria to work working on the civil war causing the republic to break away other inventions and become independent from France. Like Georgesideas, he and Ellen finds his situation one which also causes what may be misguided violence, even if he has herself unwittingly caught up in a very different attitude to itcomplicated tangle of espionage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0857052276</amazonuk>1035401614

{{newreview|author=Daisy Waugh|title=Honeyville|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=The story is told by Dora Whitworth, follow-up to the excellent ''Ithaca'' picks up a call girl in one few months after where we left off. In the palace of the most exclusive brothels in TrinidadOdysseus, with delicate care Queen Penelope continues to rule without her husband, Coloradowho sailed to war at Troy and then by divine intervention never returned home. At As ever she remains surrounded by suitors vying for the time, the town was the only place in throne of the West where prostitution was legal and it was infamous for its red-light districtWestern Isles. Dora’s voice rings true Having survived – politically and her life physical – the chaotic storm that Clytemnestra brought to Ithaca's shores, Queen Penelope is convincingly describedon the brink of a fragile peace. The sumptuous brothel in Plum StreetOne that shatters however with the return of Orestes, with its smells King of perfume and disinfectantMycenae, is as claustrophobic as a prison and Phoebe, the madamhis sister Elektra, particularly chillingseeking refuge.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0007431775</amazonuk>0356516075

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Joanna HicksonB0C7J9D21B|title=Red Rose, White RoseA Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)|author=A J Lewis

|summary=Cecily NevilleWhen we first meet our hero, daughter his name is Ettore and he lives at The House of RalphBeautiful Swallows. Idyllic as this might sound, Earl of Westmorland it's a bordello and Joan Beaufort, puts her obligations above all else which is why she marries Richard Plantagenet, third Duke of York and her fatherEttore's wardmother died when he was born. Together they will start a royal line that will go down the centuries but He's not without pain, conflict andbeen short of mothers, though - but for someone of coursehis background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, it's difficult to obtain decent employment. The stint working with the Wars preparation of the Rosesanchovies 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. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007447019</amazonuk>He was even saving some money.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=The Man Who Loved DogsEssie Fox|authortitle=Leonardo PaduraThe Fascination

|summary=In CubaThe 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 mysterious man walks on 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 beachpoint of being cliched, always with two Russian wolfhoundshackneyed even. Watched by a writer, he soon comes All this is simply to illustrate that it would be an easy thing to share his storydo poorly. But despite that, something about it still grabs me – and it becomes clear that he is Ramon Mercader - the man who killed Trotskysomething about this book's description did as well.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1908524448</amazonuk>1914585526

{{newreview|author=Chris Priestley|title=The Last of the Spirits|rating=5|genre=Confident Readers|summary=Teenage Sam and his little sister Lizzie are starving on the streets of LondonCast out from Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi arrives in Florence seeking an oasis in which is gripped by terrible cold. Asking an old businessman for money, her art can find a man who looks at them with such sheer contempt that Sam's heart fills with hate. He swears that he will seek vengeance home and rob the old man, not caring whether his victim will live or diewhere her future can thrive rather than stagnate. But before he can do soas some as she enters Florentine society she faces great opposition from the powerful Accademia, a strange spirit appears to him, and warns him about the terrible path he will put himself on with this violent act. Can Sam resist self-proclaimed guardians of the healing magics that through paintings have the temptation power to gain revenge? Several more spirits show him protect the possible consequences of his actioncity 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, as we see Dickens's classic A Christmas Carol from a new viewpointArtemisia – an ambitious young woman who promises trouble and change – has no place amongst them and their society.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1408854139</amazonuk>1803362340

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Robert EdricThomas D Lee|title=SanctuaryPerilous Times

|genre=Historical FictionFantasy|summary=Everyone knows Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Not many know that this famous trio of literary sisters also had a brother, Patrick Branwell Brontë, born ''Hate is the year after Charlotte and a year before Emily. Like his sisters, he had literary ambitions: he wrote juvenile stories, poems and translations from the Greek; he also trained as a painter (you have most likely seen his famous painting path of his sisters). Again like his sisters, however, he was destined to die young.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857522876</amazonuk>}}least resistance''

{{newreview|author=Krishna Bhatt|title=The Royal Enigma|rating=2|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=There Set in the near-distant future, in a world on the verge of climate collapse, Britain is absolutely nothing wrong with books that cross genresin great peril. The best historical novels are as much history as fiction. However, it is British Isles desperately needs a golden rule that a book must know who hero (or several) to save the day and rescue what it islittle remains. One What no-one expected was that one of the problems with The Royal Enigma is that it suffers from a serious identity crisisKnights of the Round Table would answer the call.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>B005Q8QCTY</amazonuk>0356518523

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Erin KnightleyG K Holloway|title=The Baron Next DoorIn the Shadows of Castles|rating=34.5

|summary=Charity is hoping to enjoy a relaxing break We begin after the momentous battle in Bath, attending 1066 and on the music festival with her beloved grandmother, Lady Effingtonday of William of Normandy's coronation as King of England. Charity doesnWilliam't just love music, she ''lives'' music; it s position is an intrinsic part of her very being not secure and she the new king has many challenges. Imposing authority through a coronation is never happier than when playing her latest compositions on her pianoforteimportant. And William is right to worry. She cannot understand why anyone would hate musicWhile the previous king, so when her new neighbour Baron Cadgwith turns up on her doorstepHarold, demanding that she keep is dead and the ''infernal racket to a minimum''likelihood of more pitched battles is over, she declares war on the insufferably rude Baron next door. The result is a light-hearted rebels are stirring and sweet Regency romance that sees much of the most unlikely pair begin country does not wish to bond, despite their differencesrecognise a new overlord.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0349405417</amazonuk>1800422466

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Susan Hill3949666079|title=Black SheepNoema|author=Dael Akkerman

|summary=Mount of Zeal ''This is a mining village, and no mistakestory about some things that happened to me about twelve thousand years ago. Three concentric semi-circular streets align across the side of '' Maya is a hill, like the rows of seats young girl living in an amphitheatre, with little thought at all allowed for the life above the crest of the hill, and a lot of effort and dreams focused on the coal mine at hunter gatherer village during the village's coreMesolithic era. The Howker family (and how evocative that name Climate change isoccurring, so akin to the noise Sea of hawking coal dust from oneGrass encroaches further and further into Maya's lungs)forest home, and Ted food is becoming more and Rose, the youngest of the clan, in particular, will face the destiny more scarce. What to do? Can the environment they grow up law givers in gives them – with only the merest glimmers federation of hope and villages muster peaceful ways to cope? Can the faintest of sparks to latch on to as regards a likeable future. But if that is Traveller, a faint spark, then how safe is it so close to spiritual figure who interprets the tinderbox wisdom of a coal mineAll Life, provide solutions?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009953956X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Katherine Webb1529125898|title=The Night FallingGodmersham Park|author=Gill Hornby|rating=4.5

|summary=In ''If it were not for the summer casual dereliction of 1921, Leandro returns to his birthplace in Italy. He has made his fortunethe odd gentleman's duty, and his aim is there would no women to transform a crumbling palazzo into an opulent mansionteach well-bred daughters at all. But the outside world is still reeling from the Great War, and Leandro’s nephew, Ettore, is one of those most in need of help. Reluctantly, Ettore asks his uncle for assistance. But Ettero could not have foreseen what was to come from that request…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409131491</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|author=Rory Clements|title=The Queen's Man|rating=4|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=Elizabethan England 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 murky, dirty world full case of religious strife and violent, short livesnecessity. Queen Elizabeth sits on Until the thronedeath of her mother, but her seat is Anne had a comfortable life and was loved by no means safe - both parents although her first cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, is locked up in Sheffield Castlefather was frequently absent from the household. Unable to leave When her mother died, but by no means unable her father cast her off and would have nothing more to plot and scheme do with her supporters, Mary wishes to reclaim what . No explanation was offered but she believes is rightfully hers - the thronewould receive an annuity of £35 a year. But even she cannot be prepared for the dark twists and new plots that arise Her maid, Agnes, would receive nothing but was fortunately taken in by some neighbours.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848548486</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Barbara EwingMelissa Fu |title=The Petticoat MenPeach Blossom Spring |rating=43.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=In 1871 Ernest Boulton (aged 22) and Frederick Park (aged 23) were arrested in London; an arrest that shook society all I loved the way prelude to the top. Their crime? They dressed as women, which hinted at homosexualityPeach Blossom Spring, then a crime that carried a heinous prison tariffshort chapter entitled ''Origins''. Their infamous trial was watched closely by society because Stella and Fanny (as they were known when frocked) performed regularly at house parties and soirees attended by Unfortunately it is the higher echelons and so if these performers should fall, who would go down with them?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781859965</amazonuk>}}  {{newreview|author=Emily Purdy|title=The Boleyn Bride|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Elizabeth Howard wants only truly poetic part of a noble marriage but at 16 she's married off book that I expected more from. Covering Chinese history from 1938 to Thomas Boleyn, a jumped up nouveau riche who tries to hide his humble roots any way he can. It2005 as viewed through one family's not a love match on either sideperspective. So to compensate for her husband's shortcomingsWhen their home city is set ablaze during the war with Japan, Elizabeth throws herself into a collection of lovers young mother (Meilin) and the lives of two of her three childrenfour-year-old son (Renshu) are among those who flee. YesThe story follows them on their journey across China, she dreams of rosy futures for Mary and George, but for the third child Anne, born as ugly as a monkey, Elizabeth canin Renshu't envisage any future so wastes neither dreams nor love on her. However when Henry VII dies and his second son s case eventually takes the throne, Elizabeth realises she may not be rightto America. Having Henry VIII as a son-in-law may do both Anne and the family a lot of good.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0349405956</amazonuk>1472277538

  {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=L C Tyler1916072038|title=A Cruel Necessity The House in the Hollow (A John Grey Historical MysteryThe Talbot Saga)|author=Allie Cresswell

|summary=Once home from her role as a photo-journalist We meet part of the Talbot family in Yorkshire in Afghanistan, Jo decides to move into the Brighton flat that her great aunt Elizabeth has bequeathed herNovember 1811. While searching through the belongings that go with the Twenty-seven-year-old Jocelyn Talbot and her mother have travelled in some discomfort from their homeat Ecklington, she finds Elizabeth's WWI diaries from to the time that she nursed wounded servicemen from the Indian Corps at house in the Brighton Pavilionhollow. These entries cause her to reflect on her time recording the more current war The two women are angry with each other and enables her to open up to her ex-lover Susie in a series Jocelyn is well aware of letters, telling her how it was, the lives of those she met out there, what it did to them mother's strengths and, indeed, to her.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846883342</amazonuk>}}weaknesses:

{{newreview|title=Lucy|author=Alan Kennedy|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=Lucy ''She is a painter. Hiding away in Dundee on VE Daypracticed at subterfuge, at concealing, she returns from beneath a disaster facade of an exhibition to a letter from a figure from her past. Uncle Albert, still in Francerespectability, wants to sort out his affairs - who will get what after hethe deplorable truth'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>}}

{{newreview|author=Anne O'Brien|title=The KingHester is furious about Jocelyn's Sister|rating=4|genre=Womenrefusal to do as she was asked, which has precipitated 's Fiction|summary=It's England in 1380 this violent and 17 year old Elizabeth of Lancaster has always dreamt of her betrothal and the sort of love of which balladeers sing. So when she meets the person her father has lined up, her face drops to say the least. The Earl of Pembroke is eight years old so sheunexpected removal''s not pleased. However one day love will find her and cruelly cause her to choose between the love of her life and family with fatal consequences.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848453469</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|title=The Lives Then we are told of Stella Bain|author=Anita Shreve|rating=4|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=The opening of this book is a brilliant one, being thrust into the midst birth 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 ambulancechild and, and the reader knows nothing more than her. She soon discovers that she can drawafter, tooHester Talbot departs, leaving Jocelyn in shame 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 isolation 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 textYorkshire.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349123578</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=The English GirlAnnabel Abbs|authortitle=Margaret LeroyThe Language of Food

|summary=Stella Whittaker moves from Eliza Acton is a quiet English town poet who has never had the slightest inclination to Vienna in 1937 to improve her music skillsboil an egg. Staying When tasked with old family friendswriting a cookery book, the Krausesshe recruits Ann Kirby, she feels less comfortable than she expects as a sense of mysterious menace hangs over the household. Nevertheless, Stella enjoys her new life and the sophistication of the city. More than anything, she enjoys falling in love local woman with Harri, a young Jewish doctortroubled home life. And despite many warning signsTogether, Stella’s love for him blinds her to the possibility of trouble when it seems inevitable to others.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751551775</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Christopher Bland|title=Ashes In The Wind|rating=4|genre=General 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 offtest, being the heir to Derriquin Castle whereas Tomas is Irish Catholiccraft, living in poverty refine and raised to feel reshape the resentment world of domestic cookery, reinventing the oppressed. The fact that John has been brought up to believe in Home Rule tragically makes no difference as John, Tomas recipe book and their future generations live with changing the consequences face of a centuries old strugglecookery writing forever. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781859337</amazonuk>1398502227

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Laura AndersenFreya Marske|title=The Boleyn King (Anne Boleyn Trilogy 1)A Marvellous Light

|summary=In this alternative historyRobin Blyth is nudged into a job in the Civil Service, Anne Boleyn's son William has become the king known as Henry IXmuch to his chagrin. As There he nears meets Edwin Courcey and learns that the age streets of majority (18)London are threaded with magic. Desperate to remove a curse that threatens to swallow him, Robin follows Edwin to the countryside, he also approaches where the age at which he will rule solo rather than through his regent hedgegrows bristle with incantations and uncle, George Boleynthe people shimmer with power. However, he's inherited There they uncover a troubled kingdom. Not only are England's enemies knocking at sinister plot that threatens the door, there are enemies within Will's own household. It begins with the sudden death of one lives of all magicians in the court's young ladies in waitingBritish Isles. Where will it end?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>009195648X</amazonuk>1529080886

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Valerie FitzgeraldB09F4CTKJR|title=ZemindarFlights for Freedom|author= Steven Burgauer|rating=4.5

|summary=1850s India: Laura Hewitt accompanies her newly married cousin Emily Flood and EmilyIt's husband Charles to the exotic sub-continent for a visit to Charles' half-brother Oliver Erskine. Although none later stages of World War I and the travellers have ever met Oliver, many of United States has just entered the people they encounter have heard of him conflict. Petrol Petronus is a young American who has signed up and joined the way he rules his small fiefdom as its Zemindar17 Aero Squadron. These stories tantalise Laura as This company was the first US Aero Squadron to be trained in Canada, the first to be attached to the information conflicts RAF and she's unable the first to develop a mental picture of be sent into 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 skies to one of fight the bloodiest episodes Germans in Indo-British historyactive combat. Laura, Emily and Charles are naïveBut before that can happen, Petrol has to master flying the notoriously difficult but that won't save them from what's to come – something beyond their worst nightmaresmajestic Sopwith Camel. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>178185954X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ken FollettChristophe Medler|title=Edge of Eternity (The Century Trilogy)Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret|rating=34

|summary=The story baton is passed to Set against the next generation as backdrop of the swinging 60s arrive for people like Dave Williams. For others such as Rebecca Hoffmann and Walli FranckEnglish Civil War, living in East Germany means other priorities and, indeed, worries. What the Hoffmanna secret plan (code-Francks don't realise named Madrigal) is that things are about to get a lot worse, partially due to discovered by Sir Robert Douse in the treacherous influence summer of someone they all once trusted1642. Meanwhile in America George Jakes has ideals As a loyal servant of the King, and strong convictions that will take him past Head of the metaphorical draw bridge into Secret Service, it is Robert's duty to uncover the echelons of a modern day Camelot. What details of the Dvorkin twins in Russia? Tania plan and Dimka may have differing ideas on how follow the clues to effect change but storm clouds are hanging over them - and uncover one of the rest of most guarded secrets in history—especially since the world - as an island off plot could affect the coast of America gathers prominenceKing.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0230710166</amazonuk>B095HY8SXQ

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Conn Iggulden1471187179|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|title=The Far Side of the SunBeautiful Spy|author=Kate FurnivallRachel Hore|rating=34

|summary=Minnie is an 'ordinary' girl living an unexciting life in a leafy provincial suburb. The Bahamas book is a tropical paradise, left almost untouched by set in the war that’s raging on around it but the peace 1930s and Minnie is disturbed one night, when expected to live up to her mother's expectations and find a nice young waitress helps a man that’s been stabbed to marry, produce children and left for deadspend the rest of her days looking after her husband and their home. Mr Morrell insists that he can’t be taken to the hospital, his attackers will be waiting there Unfortunately, so Dodie Wyatt takes him back this isn't what she wants to her modest home do at all and tries neither does she want to save his lifecontinue working as a secretary. Before he dies As a result of a chance meeting, Mr Morrell leaves Dodie with two gold coinsshe finds herself drawn into espionage, a name working for the secret service and effectively living a lot double life - attempting to infiltrate the Communist Party of troubleGreat 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>0751550744</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Diane PearsonAfonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)|title=CsardasKokoschka's Doll|rating=42.5|genre=Historical Literary Fiction|summary=Hungarian Jewish banker Zsigmond Ferenc rules his family with an iron fist. As Well, this looked very much like a proud Hungarian he feels that he needs to maintain standards. His wifebook I could love from the get-go, Marta secretly gambles behind his back, his sparkling younger daughter Eva takes the heart which is why I picked my review copy up and flipped pages over several times before actually reading any of every man she meets (including his own) and his two sons need leadership and guidanceit. Then there's his eldest childI found things to potentially delight me each time – a weird section in the middle on darker stock paper, Amale who fears she will never fall a chapter whose number was in love which may be a disadvantage the 20,000s, letters used as he looks around for a fitting matchnarrative form, and so on. Although whatever their preoccupations may be at It intrigued with the moment everything subterranean voice a man hears in Hungary (and indeed Europe) is about to change; history's timings can be cruel and the advent of World War wartorn Dresden that what little I is perhaps one knew of its cruellestit mentioned, too. To say the Austro-Hungarian Empire wonBut you't be ve seen the same again is an understatementstar 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?|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781857512</amazonuk>1529402697

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Martin DaviesChristina Hammonds Reed|title=Havana SleepingThe Black Kids

|genre=Historical FictionTeens |summary=Hector, a night watchman is murdered at work. ThereChristina Hammonds Reed's nothing unusual about that – it happens all the time. The reason being that this debut novel is Havana halfway through set against the 19th century; a place backdrop of intriguethe 1992 Los Angeles riots, political posturing (and worse) as pro- and anti-slavery conflicts cause bubbles under a reaction to the surface absolution of society. It's four police officers for beating a place where an apparently lowly British civil servant like George Backhouse can be posted black man, Rodney King, nearly to influential positionsdeath. It's a place where Told from the Americans don't trust the Britishperspective of Ashley Bennett, the British don't trust the Americans and everyone fears what the Spanish may do. Meanwhile novel follows her evolution from a courtesan named Leonarda just wants silent bystander when confronted with matters of race, to find out why the man she loved dieda woman finding her voice and embracing her heritage.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0340980451</amazonuk>1471188191

{{newreview|author=Robert Merle and T Jefferson Kline (translator)|title=The Brethren (Fortunes of France)|rating=5|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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782270442</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Kate Mosse|title=The Taxidermist's Daughter|rating=5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Connie is the daughter of once renowned taxidermist Crowley Gifford. Times have changed though. Crowley 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 circumstances. A decade before Connie (then aged 10) had an accident that robbed her of her memory. The 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>}} {{newreview|title=The Soldier's Daughter|author=Rosie Goodwin|rating=3.5|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 Move 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?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472101723</amazonuk>}}[[Newest History Reviews]]