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=Andrea Chapin
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{{Frontpage
|title=The Tutor
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|author=Tananarive Due
|rating=3.5
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|title=The Reformatory
|genre=Women's Fiction
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|rating=5
|summary=Katherine de L'Isle comes to live with her uncle Sir Edward's family at Lufanwal Hall when she's widowed after only a year of marriage.  A fine home and the bosom of the family should be a place of safety but not in this case. This is 1590 in Queen Elizabeth's protestant England and Katherine's family are Roman Catholics; something they thought was a secret till their priest is found murdered on their land. Life must go on though.  The children of the household are raised and educated almost on the periphery of Katherine's vision until she meets their tutor, a certain Midlands' glove maker's son called William Shakespeare.
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|genre=Historical Fiction
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>024196816X</amazonuk>
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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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}}  
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Fannie Flagg
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|author=Katherine Howe
|title=The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion
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|title=A True Account
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Women's Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=2005 Alabama: Sookie Earle awakes one morning a 59 year old happily married female Methodist with American roots that go way back in history and a wonderfully steadfast dentist husbandHowever before she goes to bed that night all that (apart from the married and female bits) will change.
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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 ageWhen 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 piratesShe 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.
 
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|isbn=0861547438
1940s Wisconsin: a Polish immigrant family lose their men to wartime conscription and so have to make a go of their family gas station aloneFritzi and her sisters rise to the challenge and then take on another more dangerous adventure, taking to the skies for the war effort.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099593149</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Kate Williams
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|author=Sarah Marsh
|title=The Storms of War
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|title=A Sign of Her Own
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=England - 1914. The de Witt family live in Stoneythorpe Hall, an English manor that allows them to lead lives of relative luxury. Behind the ornate doors and heavy drapes of the house though, things are less than ideal - the approaching shadow of war makes things increasingly difficult for German born Rudolf, and Verena struggles to find her role in both the home and society. With their sons studying, one daughter marrying and one fast growing up, war will change all that these people know, and force them to either adapt, or suffer untold consequences.
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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 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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409144887</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1035401614
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=A Place Called Winter
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|author=Claire North
|author=Patrick Gale
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|title=House of Odysseus
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre= Literary Fiction  
|summary=''A Place called Winter'' is the story of Harry Cane, a young man in Edwardian England. Left with a sizeable inheritance, Harry follows tradition, marrying and raising a young child. A passionate affair, however, forces Harry into exile, separated from all that he knows, and forced to try his hand as a farmer in the plains of Canada.
+
|summary= ''What could matter more than love?''
  
In Canada he finds love and acceptance, although the fragile happiness is soon threatened by the return of an old enemy, war, and madness.
+
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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472205294</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0356516075
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Karen Maitland
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|title=The Raven's Head
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|title=A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)
|rating=5
+
|author=A J Lewis
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=In 13th century England, Gisa, niece and ward of an apothecary attracts the attention of one of his more sinister clients.  Elsewhere Wilky, a small child, is taken from his parents in lieu of a debt and then taken to a monastery which is a cover for something less than Christian.  Meanwhile in France, Vincent, a scribe's apprentice, is framed for a theft and has to run for his life.  The three will meet but under circumstances that turn out to be the stuff of dark, bloody nightmares.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472215060</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Berlie Doherty
 
|title=Far From Home
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Lizzie and Emily Jarvis can no longer be in the care of their mother as she has become severely ill. She leaves them in the care of her best friend, a cook, but when things go wrong, the girls are sent to the Victorian mills where they are worked each day till they are beyond exhausted and the only thing that keeps them going is counting down the days till they are able to leave.
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|summary=When we first meet our hero, his name is Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful Swallows.  Idyllic as this might sound, it's a bordello and Ettore's mother died when he was 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>0007578822</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Emily Bullock
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|author=Essie Fox
|title=The Longest Fight
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|title=The Fascination
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Jack Munday is a retired boxer who, even in his prime, wasn’t quite good enough, so now older and wiser Jack hopes to hit the big time as a manager and believes that in Frank he has found a fighter who could get him there. Frank is young, naïve, eager to learn with a lot of talent and Jack discovers him just in time to take him under his wing before any other more established managers could sign him up. The pair make a pretty good team and Frank starts to build up an impressive boxing record and fan base and Jack sees his dreams and hard graft about to reach fruition but things are rarely simple and life, love and shady characters get in the way.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908434538</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=DK Wilson
 
|title=The Traitor's Mark
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=1543 - Hans Holbein - famed artist of both that time and today, has disappeared. When Thomas Treviot is left awaiting a design from Holbein, he goes to track him down - only to end up drawn into a conspiracy which threatens to destroy those he loves, and all he holds dear...
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751550388</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jessica Blair
 
|title=Just One More Day
 
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=When war is declared and her brother joins the RAF, young Carolyn Maddison makes it clear that she plans to follow in his footsteps and join the WAAF as soon as she turns eighteen. Despite her parents' objections, she stays true to her word and soon receives an invitation to report to the Air Ministry for training. In her first weeks with the WAAF, Carolyn experiences heartbreaking loss and witnesses an horrific accident that causes her to make a rash vow: never to get emotionally involved with a pilot. However, as a pretty young girl stationed at a base full of dashing young airmen, she finds it increasingly difficult to keep her resolve, especially when fun-loving Vera arrives at the base and starts flirting with Rick, the man that she just turned down.
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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>0349402698</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1914585526
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Hermione Eyre
+
|author=Nicole Jarvis
|title=Viper Wine
+
|title=A Portrait in Shadow
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Venetia Stanley lives in Seventeeth century London. A celebrated beauty, she has had poems written in honour of her, and portraits painted by one of the leading artists of the time. Married to a handsome, kind and adventurous man, Venetia is kept in a life of luxury, and, at first glance - has everything she could ever have dreamed of. Except Venetia is not happy. A woman who has made her name and fortune because of her beauty, she is convinced that her allure is quickly slipping through her fingers. Signing a pact with an apothecary for his famed restorative 'Viper Wine', Venetia is set on a dangerous path.
+
|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099581663</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=Lesley J Nickell
+
|author=Thomas D Lee
|title=The White Queen of Middleham: Sprigs of Broom 1
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|title=Perilous Times
|rating=4
+
|rating=3
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre= Fantasy
|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= ''Hate is the path of least resistance''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1861512082</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
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
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=David Churchill
+
|author=G K Holloway
|title=The Leopards of Normandy: Devil: Leopards of Normandy 1
+
|title=In the Shadows of Castles
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical 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 brother.  This 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 Bastard.  An unfamiliar name perhaps until we realise that history will call him William the Conqueror.
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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>1472219171</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1800422466
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Toby Clements
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|isbn=3949666079
|title=Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims (Kingmaker 1)
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|title=Noema
|rating=4
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|author=Dael Akkerman
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|rating=4.5
|summary=February 1460: Canon Thomas and Sister Katherine have always equated their priory with values like piety and safety. However when soldiers on horseback arrive this is proven to be a misconception and the two flee for their lives. This is the first time they've been in the outside world since childhood but soon realise there's more to it than they bargained for.  It'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.
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|genre=General Fiction
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099585871</amazonuk>
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|summary=''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?
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=David Gilman
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|isbn=1529125898
|title=Master of War: Defiant Unto Death
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|title=Godmersham Park
 +
|author=Gill Hornby
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical 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=''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.''
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>
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Anne Sharpe was thirty-one years old when she arrived at Godmersham Park to take up the position of governess to twelve-year-old Fanny Austen.  She had no experience of teaching but this was a case of necessity.  Until the death of her mother, Anne had a comfortable life and was loved by both parents although her father was frequently absent from the 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.
 
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}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=William Nicholson
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|author=Melissa Fu
|title=The Lovers of Amherst
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|title=Peach Blossom Spring
|rating=4.5
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|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|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 Mabel. The 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.
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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.   
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848666470</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1472277538
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Hazel Gaynor
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|isbn=1916072038
|title=A Memory of Violets: A Novel of London's Flower Sellers
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|title=The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)
 +
|author=Allie Cresswell
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|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=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>0062316893</amazonuk>
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 +
''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=Alison Love
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|author=Annabel Abbs
|title=The Girl from the Paradise Ballroom
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|title=The Language of Food
|rating=4.5
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|rating=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.
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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>0704373785</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398502227
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Laura Andersen
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|author=Freya Marske
|title=The Boleyn Deceit (Anne Boleyn Trilogy Book 2)
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|title=A Marvellous Light
|rating=4.5
+
|rating=4
 
|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.
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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>0091956498</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Kate Riordan
+
|isbn= B09F4CTKJR
|title=The Girl in the Photograph
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|title= Flights for Freedom
 +
|author= Steven Burgauer
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical 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=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>1405917423</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Robert Bausch
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|author= Christophe Medler
|title=Far As the Eye Can See
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|title=Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret
|rating=5
 
|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 westerns.  Of 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.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408844303</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Mary Gibson
 
|title=Jam and Roses: The Lives and Loves of 1920s Factory Girls
 
|rating=3.5
 
|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.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781855927</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Ian Ross
 
|title=The War at the Edge of the World: Twilight of Empire: Book One (Rome Reborn)
 
|rating=5
 
|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. 
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784081124</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Erin Knightley
 
|title=The Earl I Adore
 
 
|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.
+
|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>0349405441</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B095HY8SXQ
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Tracey Warr
+
|isbn=1471187179
|title=The Viking Hostage
+
|title=A Beautiful Spy
 +
|author=Rachel Hore
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|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 LimogesHer 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 oneMeanwhile elsewhere in the region, Adalmode, daughter of the Viscount of Limoges is about to become a marriage pawn in a power struggleAlthough 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.
+
|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 homeUnfortunately, this isn't what she wants to do at all and neither does she want to continue working as a secretaryAs 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 BritainMinnie 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>1907605592</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio
+
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
|title=Girl Genius: Agatha H and the Voice of the Castle
+
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
|rating=4
+
|rating=2.5
|genre=Science Fiction
+
|genre=Literary 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.
+
|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>178116651X</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1529402697
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Antonin Varenne and Frank Wynne (translator)
+
|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
|title=Loser's Corner
+
|title=The Black Kids
|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
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Teens
|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=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>0007447019</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1471188191
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
Move on to [[Newest History Reviews]]

Latest revision as of 10:53, 20 November 2023

1803366532.jpg

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

1529080886.jpg

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

B09F4CTKJR.jpg

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