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=Ernst Haffner and Michael Hofmann (translator)
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{{Frontpage
|title=Blood Brothers
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|author=Tananarive Due
|rating=4
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|title=The Reformatory
|genre=Literary Fiction
 
|summary=It's Berlin, and the Nazis are on their way to power, even if they will never cross these pages themselves.  The city – huge, glamorous, bustling, vicious in the way it can swallow people – is home to a countless hoard of teenagers, but we focus on just a few, most of whom have been in some corrective institution or other before now.  They call themselves the Blood Brothers, even if all they share is the most unglamorous drudgery of going from one doss-house to another, balancing the cost of a few cigarettes with that of a warm room for a few hours or some stale rolls to eat.  But en route to them is another 'Borstal' escapee, Willi.  Surely his fate is going to be nothing if not more of the same?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099594048</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Marina Fiorato
 
|title= The Double Life of Mistress Kit Kavanagh
 
|rating= 4.5
 
|genre= Historical Fiction
 
|summary= In early eighteenth century Ireland, young Irish beauty Kit Kavanagh lives a quiet, settled life in a Dublin alehouse with her husband, Richard. When Richard is suddenly whisked away to join the British army, Kit disguises herself as a man and enlists as a soldier, determined to follow and find her husband across war-torn Europe.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473610494</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=David Gilman
 
|title=Gate of the Dead (Master of War)
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary= Tuscany 1358: A dying man brings an enigmatic message to Thomas Blackstone, the exiled English archer and current mercenary leaderIt appears to be a royal command to return home but is it an invitation to his own death? Thomas can't take the risk of ignoring it, especially since his life is in just as much danger where he is.  It seems that he's more valuable dead than alive in many countries; it's just a case of deducing the paymaster – or paymasters - behind the assassination attempts before he runs out of time.
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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>1781852901</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1803366532
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}}
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{{Frontpage
 +
|author=Katherine Howe
 +
|title=A True Account
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=General Fiction
 +
|summary=Hannah Masury is living in Boston, having been sent to live with a family who run an inn, 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 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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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Sarah Marsh
 +
|title=A Sign of Her Own
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|rating=3.5
 +
|genre=General Fiction
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|summary=After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearing.  Suddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her life 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 signingFrom here, she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and using a system called Visible 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.
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|isbn=1035401614
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Robert Merle and T Jefferson Kline (translator)
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|author=Claire North
|title=Fortunes of France 3: Heretic Dawn
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|title=House of Odysseus
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre= Literary Fiction  
|summary=France 1568: Having persuaded his father Jean that it's safe for him to return to his studies, Pierre de Siorac goes back to Montpellier.  He doesn’t stay there long though as Jean has a mission for him that will take him into the royal court in Paris.  The fighting between the Medici-led Catholics and the Huguenots has quietened down but, despite sending his son into the vipers' nest, he's reluctant to consider the Peace of St Germain as being the end of the conflict.  History will prove his suspicions correct as we approach the St Bartholomew Massacre of the Huguenots which occurs… in Paris.
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|summary= ''What could matter more than love?''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782271937</amazonuk>
 
|amazonus=<amazonus>1782271937</amazonus>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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The follow-up to the excellent ''Ithaca'' picks up a few months after where we left off. In the palace of Odysseus, with delicate care Queen Penelope continues to rule without her husband, who sailed to war at Troy and then by divine intervention never returned home. As ever she remains surrounded by suitors vying for the throne of the Western Isles. Having survived – politically and physical – the chaotic storm that Clytemnestra brought to Ithaca's shores, Queen Penelope is on the brink of a fragile peace. One that shatters however with the return of Orestes, King of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra, seeking refuge.
|author=Adriana Trigiani
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|isbn=0356516075
|title=All The Stars In The Heavens
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=General Fiction
 
|summary=It was 1935 and Loretta Young wanted fame and success in Hollywood. Part of it was being young (just twenty one) and beautiful but she was also conscious that the money she brought in mattered to her family.  She was hungry for love too: her father had left when she was young.  Her step-father had done little better and there was a ''need'' for a man she could love and look up to. She developed a reputation for falling in love with her leading men: first it was Spencer Tracy but on the set of ''The Call of the Wild'' she fell for Clark Gable - and he for her.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471136345</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Leo Tolstoy
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|title=War and Peace
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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=1805: Napoleon Bonaparte is on the way to conquering Europe while what's left of Europe (including the Russian army led by Tsar Alexander) stands in his wayPrince Andrei Bolkonsky quickly gets a reputation as military hero although few know this is allied to his death wish.  Meanwhile back in Russia the remaining aristocracy have no doubt that their motherland will win and so they continue with daily lifePierre, the illegitimate son of Count Bezukhoff buries his life in wine, women, song and more wine but the death of his father takes him on a journey to find happiness, the long way round.  12-year-old Natasha Rostov dreams of love and happiness, searching with age-related exuberance and inexperience. The older generation are there to help and hinder as they take their places as pawns and puppeteers in the manipulation and social climbing that's become second nature… that is until the tide of war changes.
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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 bornHe's not been short of mothers, though - but for someone of his background in late-eighteenth-century Amalfi, it's difficult to obtain decent employment. The stint working with the preparation of anchovies didn't work out and bastards are considered bad luck on fishing boats. Ettore was nothing if not resourceful - and determined - and it was not long before he had a successful business as a guide for visitors.  He was even saving some money.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184990846X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Michael Grant
 
|title= Front Lines
 
|rating= 5
 
|genre= Teens
 
|summary=1942: Hitler is pushing his way ever further, the USA adds its strength to the Alliance and women are allowed to fight in the military for the first time. Rio Richlin’s sister has already died in the war, Frangie Marr is desperate for a way to keep her family’s heads above water and Rainy Schulterman wants to kill the man who is murdering Jews.  All three go to war and all three are changed. Although they do they do not start together, their paths intersect as they all take on roles that leave more scars than expected.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405273828</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Jessica Blair
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|author=Essie Fox
|title=Tread Softly, Alice
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|title=The Fascination
|rating=2.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Alice Ware is finally returning home to Yorkshire, after an extended stay with friends in France. Much has changed since she left, but the most exciting development has been the arrival of an elegant new neighbour, Emma Cheevey, who has inherited the estate next to their home. Alice is particularly thrilled by the arrival of Emma's handsome soldier sons: the serious but self confident Steven and his gentle, easygoing younger brother Matthew. Both men are keen to win her heart, but which one holds the key to her future?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349407320</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Anne O'Brien
 
|title=The Queen's Choice
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Joanna of Navarre may be married to John IVth Duke of Britany but she has views of her own and isn't afraid to voice them, even to Charles the French King. When she defends exiled English noble Henry Bolingbroke at the French court she does so as a friend not realising what the future holds.  For Bolingbroke is the future Henry IV and fate will decree that Joanna will become his queen, roles that will take their toll on both of them as a couple and individuals.
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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>1848454074</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1914585526
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Ian Ross
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|author=Nicole Jarvis
|title=Battle For Rome (Twilight of Empire)
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|title=A Portrait in Shadow
|rating=5
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=''Be warned - spoilers ahead for the first two books…''
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|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
Aurelius Castus, tribune in Emperor Constantine's army is preparing for the battle everyone (including us) has been waiting for: the fight against Maxentius, Tyrant of Rome. Meanwhile Castus' marriage to the aristocratic Sabina has borne him a beloved son but coldness lurks between man and wife where there was hot passion.  Castus' suspicions are further fed by his wife's name being on the lips of a dying officer; truth or pre-death ramblings? Meanwhile Sabina has bought a new slave and Castus swears he's seen her somewhere before…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784081205</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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Cast out from Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi arrives in Florence seeking an oasis in which her art can find a home and where her future can thrive rather than stagnate. But as some as she enters Florentine society she faces great opposition from the powerful Accademia, the self-proclaimed guardians of the healing magics that through paintings have the power to protect the city and its citizens from plagues and curses. The all-male Accademia has hoarded power over art and architecture for centuries and guard it above all else. To them, Artemisia – an ambitious young woman who promises trouble and change – has no place amongst them and their society.
|author=Guinevere Glasfurd
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|isbn=1803362340
|title=The Words In My Hand
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=17th century life circumstances dictate that Helena Jans has to go into service and is employed by Mr Sergeant, an English bookseller living in Amsterdam. There's much excitement when Mr Sergeant welcomes his new lodger, philosopher and scientist, Rene Descartes. However the thrill becomes somewhat muted when Helena's employer realises what the stay entails. Helena on the other hand, is totally enthralled by their guest: an enthrallment that will totally change her life.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473617855</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
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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=L C Tyler
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|isbn=0356518523
|title=A Masterpiece of Corruption (A John Grey Historical Mystery)
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=1657: John Grey, law student at Lincolns Inn, receives a meeting invitation that doesn't seem to be meant for him.  Unfortunately he still goes to the meeting and ends up accepting a mission to kill Oliver Cromwell.  He has two problems with this: first he likes a quiet life and secondly he likes Oliver Cromwell.  In fact he already works for Oliver's spymaster, Thurloe. The life expectancy of a double agent isn't that long and that's without reckoning on the intervention of Aminta!
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472114965</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=G K Holloway
|author=Mary Gibson
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|title=In the Shadows of Castles
|title=Gunner Girls and Fighter Boys
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=''Gunner Girls and Fighter Boys'' is the latest book in Mary Gibson's Bermondsey series. This time, the Lloyd family take centre stage: Mum, Dad, son Jack and daughters May and Peggy. War is raging in Europe and Bermondsey is not immune from daily onslaught of bombs. A tragic event one night changes everything and home-bird May decides to fly the nest in order to participate in the war effort. The war will leave no-one unscathed; the strongest hearts can be paralysed by fear and the unlikeliest of people can emerge as heroes.
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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>178185596X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1800422466
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Frances Brody
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|isbn=3949666079
|title=Sisters on Bread Street
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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=Julia and Margaret are the Wood sisters, struggling to hoist themselves out of a life of poverty in Leeds just before the outbreak of the first world war. Well, Julia is struggling.  Margaret sees her way out as being through marriage to a rich suffragette's son, Thomas.  She's an apprentice milliner and beautiful, but both sisters have a disadvantage and it's one which grows bigger as war approaches: their father is German.
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|genre=General Fiction
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0349410704</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=Antonia Senior
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|isbn=1529125898
|title=The Winter Isles
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|title=Godmersham Park
 +
|author=Gill Hornby
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Scotland 1122: A son is born to a warlord on the Scottish IslandsThe warlord GilleBride, is a man who doesn't realise his glory is recedingOne day the realisation does hit him, along with a Viking raidIn the heat of invasion his son, although only 15, must take overCan a lad actually lead a people? History will tell and legend will embellish for that boy is Somerled and this is his story.
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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>1782396586</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 AustenShe had no experience of teaching but this was a case of necessityUntil the death of her mother, Anne had a comfortable life and was loved by both parents although her father was frequently absent from the householdWhen her mother died, her father cast her off and would have nothing more to do with herNo 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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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Melissa Fu
|author=Simon Marshall
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|title=Peach Blossom Spring
|title=The Long Drawn Aisle
 
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre=Historical Fiction  
|summary=Edward and Richard Wilson are born into a comfortable and, indeed, powerful familyTheir father is the MP Jack Wilson who is everything a Victorian father should be: severe, distant and occupied with his career. As the 20th century arrives and advances all three will feel the labour pains of conflict, the sons while living in Austria and the Balkans and their father through the lens of Britain's Parliament. It will be a bloody birth and its effects far reaching as two great empires prepare to fight, drawing in the rest of Europe.
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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>1899804218</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1472277538
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Conn Iggulden
 
|title=Wars of the Roses: Bloodline: Book 3 (The Wars of the Roses)
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=The Wars of the Roses continue.  Margaret of Anjou becomes a catalyst for what lays ahead and then rescues her husband, the debilitated Henry VI, from the forces of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and the recently executed Richard of York.  However York's last words weren't empty rhetoric: by killing the father Margaret has indeed unleashed the sonsEdward of March for one is out for revenge; a fact that throws the English throne and the safety of Queen's spymaster Derry Brewer into grave doubt.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>071815987X</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Jennifer Wallace
 
|title= Digging Up Milton
 
|rating= 3.5
 
|genre= Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Digging Up Milton appealed to me because from the description it sounded like something a little bit different. I like that it is dark but yet not entirely serious, and I always appreciate it when an author tries to write in a different way, or give a book an individual voice.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909776106</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Lesley J Nickell
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|isbn=1916072038
|title=Sons of York: Volume 2 (The Sprigs of Broom)
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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=15th Century London: Through a quirk of fate young widow Janet Evershed finds herself running her late husband's cloth business, far from her York home.  It's in this very shop that she meets Richard Neville, Duke of Warwick and his ward Edward, Earl of March.  They may be much higher than commoner Janet but she has caught Edward's eye and what Edward wants, he gets, be it a woman or, indeed, the crown of England.
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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 hollowThe two women are angry with each other and Jocelyn is well aware of her mother's strengths and weaknesses:
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1861514603</amazonuk>
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}}
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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''.
  
{{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=Jolien Janzing
 
|title=Charlotte Bronte's Secret Love
 
|rating=3.5
 
|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.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>9462380597</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Julia Franck and Anthea Bell (translator)
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|author=Annabel Abbs
|title=West
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|title=The Language of Food
|rating=3.5
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|rating=5
|genre=Literary 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 job.  What 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 case.  Once 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.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099554321</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Gregory Dowling
 
|title=Ascension
 
|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 Venice. Everything 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 crowd. Showing people around a typical Venice is becoming increasingly hard for Alvise – Venice is not behaving typically!
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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>1846973139</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1398502227
 
}}
 
}}
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Freya Marske
|author=Lisa Hilton
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|title=A Marvellous Light
|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=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>1848874693</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Anthony Quinn
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|isbn= B09F4CTKJR
|title=Blind Arrows
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|title= Flights for Freedom
 +
|author= Steven Burgauer
 
|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...
+
|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>1843445352</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author= Christophe Medler
|author=Sven Hassel and Jordy Diago
+
|title=Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret
|title=Wheels of Terror: The Graphic Novel
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Graphic Novels
+
|genre=Historical Fiction
|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.
+
|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>0297609769</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B095HY8SXQ
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Shirley McKay
+
|isbn=1471187179
|title=Queen & Country: A Hew Cullan Mystery (Hew Cullan Mystery 5)
+
|title=A Beautiful Spy
|rating=5
+
|author=Rachel Hore
 +
|rating=4
 
|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, WalsinghamHis 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 nephewIf he could but go home he'd have a surprise for themWhen he gets there, there's a surprise for him in the form of a death prophesy picture, followed by a murder.
+
|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 Britain.  Minnie finds herself torn between what she perceives as her duty and the friends she has made - and likes - whilst working for the Communist Party.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846973120</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=John Righten
+
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
|title=Churchill's Rogue: Volume 1 (Rogues Trilogy)
+
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
|rating=5
+
|rating=2.5
|genre=Thrillers
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Sean Ryan grew up in Ireland during the 20th century's first quarter and so understands death and lossHe 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 aloneThere are more like him across Europe; those with pasts that forged them into violent defenders of the vulnerable in an increasingly dangerous worldThese are the Rogues and, this time, Ryan needs their help.
+
|summary=Well, this looked very much like a book I could love from the get-go, which is why I picked my review copy up and flipped pages over several times before actually reading any of itI found things to potentially delight me each time a weird section in the middle on darker stock paper, a chapter whose number was in the 20,000s, letters used as narrative form, and so onIt intrigued with the subterranean voice a man hears in wartorn Dresden that what little I knew of it mentioned, 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>1492320242</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1529402697
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Erin Knightley
+
|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
|title=The Duke Can Go to the Devil
+
|title=The Black Kids
|rating=5
+
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Teens
|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.
+
|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>0349410674</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

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Review of

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

4star.jpg Historical Fiction

Robin Blyth is nudged into a job in the Civil Service, much to his chagrin. There he meets Edwin Courcey and learns that the streets of London are threaded with magic. Desperate to remove a curse that threatens to swallow him, Robin follows Edwin to the countryside, where the hedgegrows bristle with incantations and the people shimmer with power. There they uncover a sinister plot that threatens the lives of all magicians in the British Isles. Full Review

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