Difference between revisions of "Newest Historical Fiction Reviews"

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[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
 
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{{newreview
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  <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->
|author=Jolien Janzing
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{{Frontpage
|title=Charlotte Bronte's Secret Love
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|author=Tananarive Due
|rating=3.5
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|title=The Reformatory
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=This is the second novel by Jolien Janzing, a Dutch author who lives in Belgium. Originally published in Dutch as ''The Master'' in 2013, it is already being made into a film. The flawlessly translated story zeroes in on two momentous years in Charlotte Brontë's life, 1842–3, when she was a pupil and then a teacher at the Pensionnat Heger in Brussels. I read this in tandem with Claire Harman's new biography of Charlotte Brontë; it was particularly fascinating to see that the two books open with the same climactic episode: lovesick Charlotte making a confession at a Catholic church, even though she was an Anglican parson's daughter.
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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>9462380597</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803366532
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Katherine Howe
 +
|title=A True Account
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=General Fiction
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|summary=Hannah Masury is living in Boston, having been sent to live with a family who run an inn, and being made to work there from a young age.  When she hears there is to be a hanging of some pirates in the town, she decides to go and watch. Enthralled and horrified in equal measure, Hannah finds herself embroiled in a young boy's death at the hands of two vicious pirates.  She hides away, so that they don't find and kill her too, and then to escape them completely she runs away to sea, dressing as a boy and joining the notorious Ned Low's pirate ship as a cabin boy. She soon finds herself in the thick of things when there is a mutiny on board, and from there we are caught up in her rip roaring tale of life on the ocean waves.
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|isbn=0861547438
 
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}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Julia Franck and Anthea Bell (translator)
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|author=Sarah Marsh
|title=West
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|title=A Sign of Her Own
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Put yourself in the shoes of a young mother to two children, who declares her intention to leave the Communist East Germany for West Berlin, and thus loses her scientist jobWhat would you expect on the other side – shops full of attainable products, pleasant neighbourhoods, nice neighbours, an active and busy new life, where things might feel alien but at least you speak the same language? Well, for Nelly Senff, this is hardly the caseOnce past the depressing Eastern exit procedures she is confronted with more desultory interrogations from those 'welcoming' her to the West, beyond which she and her children (their father, whom she never married, is long assumed dead by the authorities, if nobody else) are practically left in a shared accommodation in a transit camp. The shops are full of what is still unobtainable, the children hate their new school – and people still look down on them as being foreign, even if they have only moved across a city.
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|summary=After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearing.  Suddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her life changesLiving in a time when the use of sign language was seen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a school where she is taught to lip read, but physically restrained from 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 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>0099554321</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1035401614
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Claire North
 +
|title=House of Odysseus
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre= Literary Fiction
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|summary= ''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.
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|isbn=0356516075
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Gregory Dowling
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|title=Ascension
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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=Alvise Marangon is an artist 'resting' between commissions and so using his guile and enterprise as a tour guide to those taking the European Grand Tour in 18th century VeniceEverything has a business as usual feel to it for Alvise until he notices a fellow gondolier paying his friend not to take a couple of English tourists.  Then, as the new Doge is inaugurated a man's head is thrown into the crowdShowing people around a typical Venice is becoming increasingly hard for Alvise – Venice is not behaving typically!
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|summary=When we first meet our hero, his name is Ettore and he lives at The House of Beautiful SwallowsIdyllic as this might sound, it's a bordello and Ettore's mother died when he was born.  He's not been short of mothers, though - but for someone of his background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, it's difficult to obtain decent employment. The stint working with the preparation of anchovies didn't work out and bastards are considered bad luck on fishing boatsEttore was nothing if not resourceful - and determined - and it was not long before he had a successful business as a guide for visitors.  He was even saving some money.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846973139</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Essie Fox
|author=Lisa Hilton
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|title=The Fascination
|title=The Stolen Queen
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|rating=4
|rating=5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Nine-year-old Isabelle of Angouleme is betrothed to Hal, son of Hugh de Lusignan.  She doesn't like him much but she's learning to gently manipulate those around her so she feels life will be interesting and rewarding. Howeverwith England's King Richard the Lionheart all changes.  Isabelle will marry King John instead – a totally different prospect for all concerned.  This is a match that will not only be a challenge for the young girl but will show her the true heart of her mother and the true art of political manoeuvring. Isabelle may be the pawn in all this but it's not a role she takes to willingly, despite the nightmares of the horned man and the occurrences of a certain May night that will haunt the rest of her life.
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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>1848874693</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1914585526
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Anthony Quinn
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|author=Nicole Jarvis
|title=Blind Arrows
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|title=A Portrait in Shadow
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=1919: A cohort of British spies meet in the depths of Dublin Castle, the prison and British intelligence hub.  Their main focus is the infiltration of the IRA in a bid to neutralise their leader, Michael Collins.  However there is a distraction from their usual agenda: an increasing number of IRA women are escaping, only to be found murdered shortly afterwards.  Martin Kant, an English journalist in Ireland is charged with investigation and reporting back to the government powers as well as his newspaper editor.  Meanwhile Lilly Merrin, a Dublin Castle employee has also gone missing.  Her loyalty to the Crown seems beyond question in the eyes of her boss, but others would argue with that...
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|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843445352</amazonuk>
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 +
Cast out from Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi arrives in Florence seeking an oasis in which her art can find a home and where her future can thrive rather than stagnate. But as some as she enters Florentine society she faces great opposition from the powerful Accademia, the self-proclaimed guardians of the healing magics that through paintings have the power to protect the city and its citizens from plagues and curses. The all-male Accademia has hoarded power over art and architecture for centuries and guard it above all else. To them, Artemisia – an ambitious young woman who promises trouble and change – has no place amongst them and their society.
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|isbn=1803362340
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Thomas D Lee
 +
|title=Perilous Times
 +
|rating=3
 +
|genre= Fantasy
 +
|summary= ''Hate is the path of least resistance''
  
{{newreview
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Set in the near-distant future, in a world on the verge of climate collapse, Britain is in great peril. The British Isles desperately needs a hero (or several) to save the day and rescue what little remains. What no-one expected was that one of the Knights of the Round Table would answer the call.
|author=Sven Hassel and Jordy Diago
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|isbn=0356518523
|title=Wheels of Terror: The Graphic Novel
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Graphic Novels
 
|summary=War books and anti-war books, in my mind, have a lot in common and only a couple of easy things need be changed to turn one to the other.  This is dressed as an anti-war book, but here is the lead character surviving against all odds – the platoon whittled down several times while he and his few friends go strong; here he is overcoming all kinds of difficulty and adversity and still coming out the other end; here he is doing proper heroic deeds – or his colleagues saving the day at the last minute – and the war carries onwards towards its inevitable end. The difference perhaps is in the minutiae of what those difficulties and deeds need be, with the anti-war book having a simple honesty about them and their overall worth that the gung-ho, militaristic piece would patently lack.  And when you face the guts and gore of the kind of warfare on these pages, you don't really expect jingoism and 'hoo-rah!' attitudes.  No, even if the DNA is pretty much the same, the result here is definitely, grimly and firmly anti-war.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0297609769</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Shirley McKay
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|author=G K Holloway
|title=Queen & Country: A Hew Cullan Mystery (Hew Cullan Mystery 5)
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|title=In the Shadows of Castles
|rating=5
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=It has been three years since Hew was banished from Scotland and manoeuvred into working for Elizabeth I's spymaster, Walsingham.  His loyalties remain with the Scottish Queen Mary but he must hide them as well as he can lest he becomes a victim of the conspiracy fever cutting through England and keeping the hangman busy. There's also another fever cutting through Scotland – the plague, providing even more reason for Hew to worry about the wellbeing of his sister, brother in law and nephew.  If he could but go home he'd have a surprise for them.  When he gets there, there's a surprise for him in the form of a death prophesy picture, followed by a murder.
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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>1846973120</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1800422466
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=John Righten
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|isbn=3949666079
|title=Churchill's Rogue: Volume 1 (Rogues Trilogy)
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|title=Noema
|rating=5
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|author=Dael Akkerman
|genre=Thrillers
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|rating=4.5
|summary=Sean Ryan grew up in Ireland during the 20th century's first quarter and so understands death and loss. He learnt to defend what he felt right during his time as a bodyguard for Michael Collins.  Therefore when Winston Churchill called upon his services in 1937 to bring a mother and child out of Germany, Ryan doesn't say no. However Ryan soon discovers this is no easy escort duty.  The mother and child in question are for some reason being hunted by an elite German force led by Cerberus, a code name for a sadist incarnate.  On the plus side, Ryan soon discovers he's not alone. There are more like him across Europe; those with pasts that forged them into violent defenders of the vulnerable in an increasingly dangerous world.  These are the Rogues and, this time, Ryan needs their help.
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|genre=General Fiction
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1492320242</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?
 
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}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Erin Knightley
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|isbn=1529125898
|title=The Duke Can Go to the Devil
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|title=Godmersham Park
 +
|author=Gill Hornby
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=As Regency ladies go, Mei-li Bradford is anything but conventional. For most of her life, she has travelled the world with her sea-captain father and seen exotic sights and locations that others could only dream of. Her upbringing amongst sailors has clearly rubbed off on her, however. Mei-li, or May to her friends, can drink and curse like a man and has no respect for propriety and convention. She may look like a well-bred lady, but certainly does not act like one. Therefore, disaster surely beckons when an uptight Duke shows an interest in her. His stuffy ways and conventional habits are anathema to May's free-spirited nature.
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|summary=''If it were not for the casual dereliction of the odd gentleman's duty, there would no women to teach well-bred daughters at all.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349410674</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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Benjamin Johncock
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|author=Melissa Fu
|title=The Last Pilot
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|title=Peach Blossom Spring
|rating=4
 
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=You'd be forgiven for assuming that debut novelist Benjamin Johncock is American: ''The Last Pilot'' has the literary weight of a Great American Novel, with a limitless desert setting plus the prospect of soon dominating space, and the spare yet profound writing style of Ernest Hemingway or Cormac McCarthy. Johncock is British, but you can tell he's taken inspiration from stories about the dawn of the astronaut age, including Tom Wolfe's ''The Right Stuff'' and films like ''Apollo 13''. His protagonist, Jim Harrison, is a fictional Air Force test pilot who rubs shoulders with historical figures like Chuck Yeager and John Glenn in the quest to break the sound barrier and conquer space.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908434848</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Robert Merle and T Jefferson Kline (translator)
 
|title=Fortunes of France: City of Wisdom and Blood
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=Historical Fiction  
|summary=1566: Brothers Pierre and Samson de Siorac have been sent from their Perigore home to further their education at Montpellier.  During their time there they learn more than their ascribed logic, philosophy and medicineIndeed Pierre's focus is on his stomach and the affairs of the heart, as befitting a lusty 15 year old.  Not all of the adventures are learned, culinary or romantic though; some lessons are a lot more dangerous.
+
|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>1782271244</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1472277538
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Jemima Brigges
 
|title=Brothers at Arms
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Certain decisions are pivotal points in time; key moments that define everything that follows and create waves that ripple with repercussions for years to come. Kindly squire Tom Norberry could never have foreseen the impact that taking in two orphaned relatives would have on his future happiness. This single, altruistic act of kindness would set in motion a chain of events that would eventually cause a deep household rift and threaten to sully the good family name that he had worked to hard to uphold.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784624454</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Kevin Sands
 
|title= The Blackthorn Key
 
|rating= 5
 
|genre= Confident Readers
 
|summary= Seventeenth century England isn't always a comfortable place to live. Apart from the obvious differences from the modern day – no National Health Service, no laws to protect orphans like Christopher from cruelty and exploitation, and a constant foul smell from poor sanitation - fear and suspicion are a daily fact of life. In 1665 Charles II has been back on the throne for several years, but not everyone is happy about his extravagant and luxurious life-style, even among those who found the Puritan rules of Cromwell's time excessively strict. There are spies everywhere, and rumours of conspiracies fill the streets. It's a time to keep your head down and avoid attention from the authorities.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>014136064X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Alexander Cordell
 
|title=Rape of the Fair Country
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=When we meet Iestyn Motymer it's 1826 and he's just eight years old, but starting work at the Garndyrus furnaces near Blaenavon.  His father sees it as the right thing to do and his mother knows that the money will be needed as there's another child on the way, but Iestyn's older sister, Morfydd, is adamant that it's wrong for women and children to work in either the mines or the ironworks. She believes in the aims of the Chartist movement whilst her father, Hywel Mortymer, is loyal to the ironmasters, but events involving his own family will later force him to question this loyalty.  The Mortymers are better off than many in Blaenavon, but they're still at the mercy of the ironmaster and the agent: suspension or blacklisting (which can extend to relations) can leave any family penniless and starving.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00OTY1SVI</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Ian Ross
 
|title=Swords Around The Throne (Twilight of Empire)
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Centurion Aurelius Castus' time in Britain is over but not his propensity for being on the wrong side of danger. Due to an adventure on the journey he comes to the notice of Emperor Constantine, and is promoted to his elite bodyguard – the swords around the throne.  The multiple emperor model that has evolved to govern the Empire is shaky to say the least, riven by plots, conspiracies and worseTherefore Castus' new job is neither safe nor easy but it's not something he can refuse… unfortunately!
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784081167</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Robert Edric
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|isbn=1916072038
|title=Field Service
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|title=The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)
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|author=Allie Cresswell
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Morlancourt, France 1920: World War I may be over but a grisly job remainsThe soldiers killed and buried in battle are to be exhumed, identified and brought to War Commission designed cemeteries for reburialCaptain James Reid and his corps are responsible for receiving and burying in the embryonic burial grounds while Alexander Lucas' detachment go out to collect the corpses or check the veracity of claims that British and Commonwealth troops have been uncovered in various settings including farmers' fields. It's a job that may take its toll on any man and it does.
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|summary=We meet part of the Talbot family in Yorkshire in November 1811Twenty-seven-year-old Jocelyn Talbot and her mother have travelled in some discomfort from their home at Ecklington, to the house in the hollowThe two women are angry with each other and Jocelyn is well aware of her mother's strengths and weaknesses:
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857522892</amazonuk>
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}}
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''She is practiced at subterfuge, at concealing, beneath a facade of respectability, the deplorable truth''.
 +
 
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Hester is furious about Jocelyn's refusal to do as she was asked, which has precipitated ''this violent and unexpected removal''.
  
{{newreview
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Then we are told of the birth of a child and, soon after, Hester Talbot departs, leaving Jocelyn in shame and isolation in Yorkshire.
|author=Jonathan Crown and Jamie Searle Romanelli (translator)
 
|title=Sirius
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=Meet Levi.  He's a humble little dog living with a loving family.  They've spent so much time with him he has learnt some tricks – not only the usual ones, of begging, or playing dead, but walking on two legs, somersaulting on to his two other paws, and giving the Hitler salute.  If this was 2015 in the UK he would be shoe-in for Britain's Got Talent (although the Hitler salute might lose him a few votes, to be honest) but this is 1930s Berlin, and things are starting to get horrendously tough and nasty for Jewish families like his.  Querying the statute laws that demand a formalisation of Jewish names his owners rename Levi after Sirius, the Great Dog in the night skies. But nobody can foresee what happens when Jews are pushed harder and harder from their neighbourhoods, and nobody can see what a Great Dog star Sirius can become, in the most unlikely of milieux – Hollywood…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784081981</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Ursula Dubosarsky
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|author=Annabel Abbs
|title=The Red Shoe
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|title=The Language of Food
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
 
|summary=They may be quite far apart, but three houses in a row in the rural suburbs of 1950s Sydney contain some incredibly unusual people.  In one, a solitary old man of very few words, shuffling to the end of his days, but brandishing a Japanese sword he's purloined after WWII, and with a gun in the corner of his lounge.  In the middle, a family of five, with a father figure suffering from PTSD due to the same war, a mother feeling friendless and alone in the isolated time and location, and their three daughters – one of whom has given up on school after an alleged nervous breakdown, the middle one who barely speaks more than the neighbour, and Matilda, our key interest, who likes the idea of spies, and has an imaginary friend who came out of the radio.  The third house however might be where the most interesting people live – after all, it had been empty, but now the luxurious building is home to several shady men in suits, who turned up out of the blue in luxury cars, and with at least one gun of their own…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1406358746</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Sally Wragg
 
|title=The Gypsy's Tale
 
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=There's a new resident at Loxley. Bronwyn's niece, Lottie Colfax is tired of school, desperate to join up and 'do her bit', to the frustration of her family who hope that some time away from home will encourage her to see sense. But from her family's point of view there's a bad example at Loxley: Hettie, Duchess of Loxley has joined the WAAFS and is serving in London - usually driving people from place to place.  Her grandmother's not at all pleased about this: Katherine sees Hettie's duty as being at Loxley.  ''Nothing'' comes before Loxley in Katherine's view - even King and country must take second place.  Fortunately Katherine doesn't know that Hettie is going to be doing something far more dangerous.  In the meantime Lottie has discovered a secret in Loxley's cellars and met a young man who is also determined to join up, no matter what his mother says.
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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>B0123Q8KL4</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398502227
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=David Chadwick
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|author=Freya Marske
|title=Liberty Bazaar
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|title=A Marvellous Light
|rating=5
+
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary= Confederate General Jubal de Brooke is sent to Britain as an envoy to raise awareness and funds from the English aristocracy for his southern brothers in arms in the American Civil War. Meanwhile slave Trinity escapes to England and immediately becomes an icon for the liberal elite. However soon Trinity realises there's more to the English support than just talk. She uncovers a secret – and highly illegal – plot with far reaching effects for her homeland, not to mention dangerous consequences for her.
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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>1906582920</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Lloyd Shepherd
+
|isbn= B09F4CTKJR
|title=Savage Magic
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|title= Flights for Freedom
 +
|author= Steven Burgauer
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
 
|summary=London, 1842: Magistrate Aaron Graham is missing his wife.  She's left him, taking their daughter to live with her cousin in a very uncousinly way.  Yet her distance doesn't prevent her discussing the goings on at her new home with Graham; as these goings on resemble witchcraft and seem to be taking a toll on his daughter's health Aaron is rightly worried.  He calls upon Constable Horton to investigate… this is the Horton whose wife Graham encouraged to enter one of the more exclusive madhouses.  Under the circumstances it seemed the right thing to do but Horton still hasn't forgiven his superior for it.  However, as the investigation goes on and Graham is distracted by a murder case with a rising body count, these bubbling undercurrents of enmity reduce in importance.  The important thing for each of them has become survival.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471136086</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Dominic Luke
 
|title=Dreams That Veil
 
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=12-year-old Eliza Brannan is looking forward to a wonderful summer.  She and her older cousin Dorothea will be joined at home by Eliza's university student brother Roderick and the sun-drenched days will stretch out before them. Unfortunately the reality isn't the same as the dream; this is the summer when life changes.  Dorothea and Roderick will pursue futures that no one had predicted and a foreign house guest will open Eliza's eyes to the world outside her outgrown nursery. There again, this is 1914; a year heralding a change in life for more than just the Brannan household.
+
|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>191020823X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Laura Andersen
+
|author= Christophe Medler
|title=The Boleyn Reckoning (Anne Boleyn Trilogy)
+
|title=Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret
|rating=4.5
+
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 1 & 2 AHEAD:  Henry IX is still in love with his childhood sweetheart Minuette and is determined to marry her, despite being betrothed to Princess Elisabeth of France for political reasons. What he still doesn't realise is that Minuette is married to the third member of their childhood trio, his trusted advisor Dominic, Duke of Exeter.  Meanwhile there are some who feel that Henry's sister Princess Elizabeth would make a better ruler than he.  Then there's his half-sister, Lady Mary, who is starting to realise what she's given up for Henry's future.  The beginning of the end has started… but whose end/ends will it be?
+
|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>0091956501</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B095HY8SXQ
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author= Vaughn Entwhistle
+
|isbn=1471187179
|title= The Dead Assassin
+
|title=A Beautiful Spy
|rating= 4
+
|author=Rachel Hore
|genre= Crime (Historical)
+
|rating=4
|summary=London, 1895. Arthur Conan Doyle is summoned to the scene of a mysterious crime – a senior member of the Government lies murdered. Close by, the body of the attacker is found, riddled with bullets. The dead assassin is identified, however, as a man who was hanged several weeks previously. Mystified by the strange incident, Arthur Conan Doyle calls on a friend for advice – Oscar Wilde. Together, the two of them are swept up into a bizarre investigation – one that threatens their lives, their families, and the very establishment itself. It seems that someone is reanimating corpses, and programming them for murder…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783292687</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Dido Butterworth and Tim Flannery
 
|title=The Mystery of the Venus Island Fetish
 
|rating=3
 
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Meet Archie MeekHe's about to leave the Venus Islands, where he's lived for the last five years, and return to Sydney, where he'll take his office in the museum and fill it with all the cultural artefacts he's found and wildlife he's plucked or pickledThat's not to ignore the fact he'll count as something quite alien himself, with his filled-out frame, nearly all-over suntan and totemic tattoo, in amongst other changes to his bodyBut what's this?  When he gets back, he finds one of the main Venus Islands artefacts that caused him to go there in the first place, a huge, macabre ceremonial fetish mask, purloined as corporate artwork.  And some of the curators he wishes to work alongside have vanishedIs the weird society of the museum he's returning to, perchance, even weirder, stranger and more violent than the cannibalistic society he's waving farewell to?
+
|summary=Minnie is an 'ordinary' girl living an unexciting life in a leafy provincial suburbThe 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>1922079308</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Toby Clements
+
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
|title=Kingmaker: Broken Faith (Kingmaker 2)
+
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
|rating=5
+
|rating=2.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=This contains spoilers for Kingmaker 1, so that's probably best read first; you won't regret it!  Now where were we?  1462: The War of the Roses rages on.  Katherine is at Cornford Castle, posing as Lady Margaret Cornford, wife of the now blind Richard Fakenham.  Not even he realises her true identity but she feels it's only a matter of time.  The man who Katherine really loves and assumes dead, Thomas Everingham is suffering from a head injuryHe's just remembered enough to make his way to his childhood home but is unaware of his more recent past; he can remember how to fight though and just as well!  On a wider canvas, the war has denuded England, most of its food having gone to feed the armiesKing Henry VI has fled to the northeast and Warwick, the Kingmaker himself, is coming for himThe worst isn't over yet though, not for anyone.
+
|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 onIt intrigued with the subterranean voice a man hears in wartorn Dresden that what little I knew of it mentioned, tooBut 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>1780891709</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1529402697
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=G K Holloway
+
|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
|title=1066: What Fates Impose
+
|title=The Black Kids
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Perhaps England should realise it's in trouble when King Edward the Confessor takes one look at his naked bride and decides to remain chaste.  This signals a lack of royal offspring and a succession crisis that becomes so important the vultures flock to fight even before he's ill, let alone dead.  The jockeying for position as next in line to the throne or next in line's favourite has begun.  Indeed England is famous for its royal succession wars and this is one of the best; a story of a journey that will finish near Hastings as a deadly stand-off between King Harold Godwinson and Norman Duke William in that year that every British school child is taught: 1066.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783062207</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Natasha Pulley
 
|title=The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Fantasy
+
|genre=Teens
|summary=London 1883: Thaniel Steepleton, a telegraphist in a government office, finds himself  living and working in a city at siege during a Clan na Gael bombing campaign.  It's around this time that he also realises that his pocket watch seems to have some odd, previously unnoticed functions. Grace Carrow, a 'bluestocking' physics student also owns such a watch.  The two total strangers may think their watches odd, but 'odd' takes on a new meaning when they meet Mr Mori, the Japanese watchmaker.  His clockwork pet octopus is only a small measure of the oddity ahead.
+
|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>1408854287</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

0356516075.jpg

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

0356518523.jpg

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