Difference between revisions of "Newest Historical Fiction Reviews"

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[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
 
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[[Category:New Reviews|Historical Fiction]]__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->
{{newreview
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  <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->
|author=Lesley J Nickell
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{{Frontpage
|title=The White Queen of Middleham: Sprigs of Broom 1
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|author=Tananarive Due
|rating=4
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|title=The Reformatory
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary= Anne Neville, as youngest daughter of 'Kingmaker' Richard Earl of Warwick, grows up with all the advantages of 15th century aristocracy.  Unfortunately Anne is also female so her life is used to expedite her father's plans.  The dreams and innocent affections of the delicate child are dashed as she faces exile and a loveless marriage to the son of domineering Margaret of Anjou. It doesn't get better straight after that either as virtual imprisonment and then slavery follow his death. While England is tossed and turned by the houses of York and Lancaster, all Anne wants is the peaceful solitude of holy orders. That may be what she wants, but her God still has other ideas…
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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>1861512082</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803366532
}}
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}}  
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Katherine Howe
|author=David Churchill
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|title=A True Account
|title=The Leopards of Normandy: Devil: Leopards of Normandy 1
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Robert, the youngest son of the 4th Duke of Normandy, follows his father's bequest to the letter rather than the spirit and claims the castle at Falaise which should have gone to Richard, his elder brotherThis will be a decision that will shape the rest of his life but the legacy that he and his low-born lover Herleva will be remembered for is their son, William the BastardAn unfamiliar name perhaps until we realise that history will call him William the Conqueror.
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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 boyShe 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>1472219171</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0861547438
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Toby Clements
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|author=Sarah Marsh
|title=Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims (Kingmaker 1)
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|title=A Sign of Her Own
|rating=4
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|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=February 1460: Canon Thomas and Sister Katherine have always equated their priory with values like piety and safetyHowever when soldiers on horseback arrive this is proven to be a misconception and the two flee for their livesThis is the first time they've been in the outside world since childhood but soon realise there's more to it than they bargained forIt's naturally a dangerous place at any time but this is 15th century England - the War of the Roses is about to begin.  Survival depends on worldly wisdom, something they don’t actually teach nuns or monks.
+
|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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099585871</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1035401614
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=David Gilman
+
|author=Claire North
|title=Master of War: Defiant Unto Death
+
|title=House of Odysseus
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre= Literary Fiction  
|summary= Spoilers straight ahead for the first book, [[Master of War by David Gilman|Master of War]] so go read that first…
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|summary= ''What could matter more than love?''
Ready?
 
Ok…
 
It's been 10 years since the young Thomas Blackstone chose military service over hanging and faced the French at Crecy, coming away from the battle knighted.  Time's passing now finds him and his wife Christiana living with their two children in Normandy castle.  Meanwhile in French held France, the current king, John II, is proving unpopular, starving the country with taxes and spreading fear with his cruel capricious nature.  He sees betrayal everywhere and will execute those he perceives to be against him.  However, now he's right and there is a plot brewing and French royalist Simon Bucy has a plan to put it down: remove its cornerstone.  His perceived cornerstone is none other than Sir Thomas Blackstone.  This isn't going to be a clean fight; bring on the Savage Priest!
 
  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781851905</amazonuk>
+
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.
 +
|isbn=0356516075
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=William Nicholson
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|title=The Lovers of Amherst
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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=2013: Alice Dickinson has decided to write a screenplay about the 19th century affair between Mabel Todd and Austin Dickinson (no relation)1881: Austin, brother of reclusive poet Emily Dickinson, has an unhappy marriage but isn't looking for happiness outside it till he meets MabelThe very liberated Mabel may be married too, but her husband believes in freedom within wedlock. There follows one of the most scandalous relationships to face small town New England; a relationship that Alice wants to research on-siteWhile there, Alice discovers that inappropriate romance still exists but this is the 21st century so she feels ready for the consequences.
+
|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 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 boats.  Ettore was nothing if not resourceful - and determined - and it was not long before he had a successful business as a guide for visitorsHe was even saving some money.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848666470</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Hazel Gaynor
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|author=Essie Fox
|title=A Memory of Violets: A Novel of London's Flower Sellers
+
|title=The Fascination
|rating=4.5
+
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=The year is 1876 and two little orphaned flower girls wander barefoot through the crowded London streets selling posies of violets to the people passing by. The older sister, Florrie, walks with a stick for support, but keeps a tight grip on her little sister's hand at all times. Rosie, 'little sister', is blind and views eight-year-old Florrie as her 'little mother' The two are inseparable and share a deep bond that carries them through the hardships they face on a daily basis. Everything changes one fateful day when Florrie has her stick knocked from beneath her and little Rosie is snatched by one of the 'bad men'. Florrie searches frantically for Rosie, but she seems to have vanished. As the years pass, Florrie never gives up her search, eventually dying of a broken heart.
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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>0062316893</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1914585526
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Alison Love
+
|author=Nicole Jarvis
|title=The Girl from the Paradise Ballroom
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|title=A Portrait in Shadow
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=In Soho in 1937, Italian singer Antonio has found himself a wealthy patron. His patron’s wife, Olivia, is known to Antonio from a chance encounter at the Paradise Ballroom - and the spark they felt on that meeting starts to deepen as war begins to creep up on them. In an uncertain world, everything about their lives is under threat the government perceives foreigners as threats and the war wreaks havoc with nerves and relationships.
+
|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704373785</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
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.
 +
|isbn=1803362340
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Laura Andersen
+
|author=Thomas D Lee
|title=The Boleyn Deceit (Anne Boleyn Trilogy Book 2)  
+
|title=Perilous Times
 +
|rating=3
 +
|genre= Fantasy
 +
|summary= ''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.
 +
|isbn=0356518523
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|author=G K Holloway
 +
|title=In the Shadows of Castles
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Even after her death, George Boleyn continues to fashion his sister Anne's son into a king in George's image. However, now 18, matters of state aren’t the only concerns of Henry IX. He has to decide between the French Princess Elizabeth and commoner, childhood friend Minuette although Minuette is secretly betrothed to Henry's advisor Dominic.  Minuette also has another quest: to find out who killed her friend Alyce but sleuthing is becoming more dangerous.  Meanwhile Henry's Catholic sister Mary and very intelligent sister Elizabeth are not going to be happy remaining merely decorative for long.
+
|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>0091956498</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1800422466
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Kate Riordan
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|isbn=3949666079
|title=The Girl in the Photograph
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|title=Noema
 +
|author=Dael Akkerman
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Alice Eveleigh is sent to Fiercombe Manor in 1933 as the result of a scandal. Back in the 1890s the Manor had been home to Elizabeth and Charles Stanton and their little girl Isabel but it doesn't feel like a house that's seen much happiness.  The stones are drenched in tragedy and secrets that have remained locked away since then. What sort of secrets? Will Alice be too nosey for her own good or will the secrets remain just that, with the added threat of history repeating itself?
+
|summary=''This is a story about some things that happened to me about twelve thousand years ago.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405917423</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
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?  
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Robert Bausch
+
|isbn=1529125898
|title=Far As the Eye Can See
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|title=Godmersham Park
 +
|author=Gill Hornby
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=''It was a bit slow'' was probably my Mam's worst condemnation of film… but I'm going to forgive her for not appreciating slowness, because it was she that got me into appreciating westernsOf course she preferred the all-action kind, but through watching those with her, I started to watch and enjoy the long, slow, ones and to appreciate the back-drop to all of that action… and then somewhere along the line I got interested in what might really have happened: not just in the West but the whole of what became the U.S. in the early days of settlement.
+
|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>1408844303</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
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 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 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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Mary Gibson
+
|author=Melissa Fu
|title=Jam and Roses: The Lives and Loves of 1920s Factory Girls
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|title=Peach Blossom Spring
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
 +
|genre=Historical Fiction
 +
|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. 
 +
|isbn=1472277538
 +
}}
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{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1916072038
 +
|title=The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)
 +
|author=Allie Cresswell
 +
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=The year is 1923 and 'jam-girl' Millie Colman is eagerly awaiting the arrival of a letter inviting her family to go 'hopping' in Kent. The annual trip provides desperately needed respite from the oppressive atmosphere at home, as well as a much-needed dose of fresh air and open space. For Millie, the invitation symbolises escape; albeit for only a few precious weeks of the year. Life in the Colman household is uncomfortable, to say the least. Millie and her two sisters bicker constantly and the whole family live under the shadow of a drunken father who is prone to violent rages. Unfortunately for Millie, this year's hopping trip is anything but an escape, when she makes a foolish decision which will have dire repercussions for the whole family.
+
|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>1781855927</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
''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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Ian Ross
+
|author=Annabel Abbs
|title=The War at the Edge of the World: Twilight of Empire: Book One (Rome Reborn)
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|title=The Language of Food
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Centurion Aurelius Castus has risen through the ranks from the crack legions of the Danube but now finds himself in a Roman army on the very edge of the world – 4th century Britain, near Eboracum.  Although his men are kept at battle fitness, his latest mission is one of peace.  He must take a cohort to escort an envoy on a visit to the barbarian Picts. The local tribes are in the process of picking a new leader and, as the area's future is resting on it, the Romans want to influence the choice with diplomacy.  However not everyone has been honest with Castus; people as well as situations are not all they seem.  Castus must depend on his own initiative and ability to survive as he soon realises he can trust no one.
+
|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>1784081124</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398502227
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Erin Knightley
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|author=Freya Marske
|title=The Earl I Adore
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|title=A Marvellous Light
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Poor Sophie Wembley has been placed in a desperate situation thanks to her sister Penelope, who has eloped with the 'hired help'. Once news of the scandal reaches the gossip-mongers of the 'ton', Sophie and her family will be ousted from polite society and her hopes of finding an eligible husband will be ruined. It is therefore up to Sophie's scheming mother to persuade her to snare herself a man before the gossip becomes public knowledge. Time is clearly of the essence and when it comes to suitable husbands, Sophie knows only one man will do: the handsome Earl of Evansleigh, for whom she has been harbouring a 'tendre' for the past year.
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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>0349405441</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Tracey Warr
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|isbn= B09F4CTKJR
|title=The Viking Hostage
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|title= Flights for Freedom
|rating=4
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|author= Steven Burgauer
 +
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical 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 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 of the Viscount of Limoges is about to become a marriage pawn in a power struggle.  Although she loves her family, she disagrees with their choice and has another in mind – one of her father's prisoners. This is a tough world where love takes second place to survival and having it all is generally not an option compatible with staying alive.
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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>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 series, adapted from the award-winning steampunk-style webcomic. Following the dramatic events of the previous two books, this volume sees Agatha returning to her family home in Mechanicsburg in order to claim her place as 'The Heterodyne'. She also needs to restore her war-damaged ancestral castle, which is in poor condition following a devastating attack by “The Other.” Of course, in the world of Girl Genius, nothing is straightforward and Agatha's mission is complicated by several things: the castle is 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
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{{Frontpage
|author=Antonin Varenne and Frank Wynne (translator)
+
|author= Christophe Medler
|title=Loser's Corner
+
|title=Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret
 
|rating=4
 
|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 is made two offers – one from a clearly corrupt man behind the scenes in the sport, who seems to offer a few thrown fights for Georges, then some kind of status as assistant – training, guiding, profiteering; the other comes 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 fists.  Georges doesn't take too long to choose the latter.  In alternating chapters, however, we're in the 1950s, and a rookie to the forces, Pascal Verini, is being shipped out to Algeria to work on the civil war causing the republic to break away and become independent from France.  Like Georges, he finds his situation one which also causes what may be misguided violence, even if he has a very different attitude to it.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857052276</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Daisy Waugh
 
|title=Honeyville
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=The story is told by Dora Whitworth, a call girl in one of the most exclusive brothels in Trinidad, Colorado. At the time, the town was the only place in the West where prostitution was legal and it was infamous for its red-light district. Dora’s voice rings true and her life is convincingly described. The sumptuous brothel in Plum Street, with its smells of perfume and disinfectant, is as claustrophobic as a prison and Phoebe, the madam, particularly chilling.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007431775</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Joanna Hickson
 
|title=Red Rose, White Rose
 
|rating=4.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Cecily Neville, daughter of Ralph, Earl of Westmorland and Joan Beaufort, puts her obligations above all else which is why she marries Richard Plantagenet, third Duke of York and her father's ward. Together they will start a royal line that will go down the centuries but not without pain, conflict and, of course, the Wars of the Roses.
+
|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>0007447019</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B095HY8SXQ
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=The Man Who Loved Dogs
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|isbn=1471187179
|author=Leonardo Padura
+
|title=A Beautiful Spy
 +
|author=Rachel Hore
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=In Cuba, a mysterious man walks on the beach, always with two Russian wolfhounds. Watched by a writer, he soon comes to share his story, and it becomes clear that he is Ramon Mercader - the man who killed Trotsky.
+
|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>1908524448</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Chris Priestley
+
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
|title=The Last of the Spirits
+
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
|rating=5
+
|rating=2.5
|genre=Confident Readers
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Teenage Sam and his little sister Lizzie are starving on the streets of London, which is gripped by terrible cold. Asking an old businessman for money, a man who looks at them with such sheer contempt that Sam's heart fills with hate. He swears that he will seek vengeance and rob the old man, not caring whether his victim will live or die. But before he can do so, 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 the temptation to gain revenge? Several more spirits show him the possible consequences of his action, as we see Dickens's classic A Christmas Carol from a new viewpoint.
+
|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>1408854139</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1529402697
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Robert Edric
+
|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
|title=Sanctuary
+
|title=The Black Kids
|rating=3
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|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 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 of his sisters). Again like his sisters, however, he was destined to die young.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857522876</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Krishna Bhatt
 
|title=The Royal Enigma
 
|rating=2
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=There is absolutely nothing wrong with books that cross genres.  The best historical novels are as much history as fiction.  However, it is a golden rule that a book must know who and what it is.  One of the problems with The Royal Enigma is that it suffers from a serious identity crisis.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B005Q8QCTY</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Erin Knightley
 
|title=The Baron Next Door
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Charity is hoping to enjoy a relaxing break in Bath, attending the music festival with her beloved grandmother, Lady Effington. Charity doesn't just love music, she ''lives'' music; it is an intrinsic part of her very being and she is never happier than when playing her latest compositions on her pianoforte. She cannot understand why anyone would hate music, so when her new neighbour Baron Cadgwith turns up on her doorstep, demanding that she keep the ''infernal racket to a minimum'', she declares war on the insufferably rude Baron next door. The result is a light-hearted and sweet Regency romance that sees the most unlikely pair begin to bond, despite their differences.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349405417</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Susan Hill
 
|title=Black Sheep
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
+
|genre=Teens
|summary=Mount of Zeal is a mining village, and no mistake.  Three concentric semi-circular streets align across the side of a hill, like the rows of seats 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 the village's core.  The Howker family (and how evocative that name is, so akin to the noise of hawking coal dust from one's lungs), and Ted and Rose, the youngest of the clan, in particular, will face the destiny the environment they grow up in gives them – with only the merest glimmers of hope and the faintest of sparks to latch on to as regards a likeable future.  But if that is a faint spark, then how safe is it so close to the tinderbox of a coal mine?
+
|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>009953956X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1471188191
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Katherine Webb
 
|title=The Night Falling
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=In the summer of 1921, Leandro returns to his birthplace in Italy. He has made his fortune, and his aim is to transform a crumbling palazzo into an opulent mansion. 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 - a murky, dirty world full of religious strife and violent, short lives. Queen Elizabeth sits on the throne, but her seat is by no means safe - her first cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, is locked up in Sheffield Castle. Unable to leave, but by no means unable to plot and scheme with her supporters, Mary wishes to reclaim what she believes is rightfully hers - the throne. But even she cannot be prepared for the dark twists and new plots that arise.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848548486</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Barbara Ewing
 
|title=The Petticoat Men
 
|rating=4
 
|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 the way to the top.  Their crime?  They dressed as women, which hinted at homosexuality, then a crime that carried a heinous prison tariff.  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 the higher echelons and so if these performers should fall, who would go down with them?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781859965</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
Move on to [[Newest History Reviews]]

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

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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