Difference between revisions of "Newest Historical Fiction Reviews"

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[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
 
[[Category:Historical Fiction|*]]
 
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[[Category:New Reviews|Historical Fiction]]__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->
{{newreview
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  <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->
|author= Emily Holleman
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{{Frontpage
|title= Cleopatra's Shadows
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|author=Tananarive Due
|rating= 4.5
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|title=The Reformatory
|genre= Historical Fiction
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|rating=5
|summary= Egypt. 58 BC. Arsinoe has been abandoned by her father, Ptolemy XII, who has fled Alexandria and taken her beloved sister Cleopatra with him. It is now Arsinoe's half-sister Berenice who has seized the throne, leaving the young princess to fight for survival in the bloodthirsty and treacherous royal court. Berenice too has her own demons to face – having taken the throne from her weak-willed father she now has to prove herself worthy of being queen, as the possibility of her father and Cleopatra's return forever threaten to crush her new found power.
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|genre=Historical Fiction
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751560170</amazonuk>
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|summary= Gracetown, Florida. June 1950. After a scuffle with a white boy, twelve year-old Robbie Stephens Jr is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, otherwise known as the Reformatory. It's a place with a brutal and dark reputation. But the segregated reformatory is a chamber of horrors, haunted by the boys that have died there. In order to survive the school governor and his Funhouse, Robert must enlist the help of the school's ghosts – only they have their own motivations...
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|isbn=1803366532
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}}
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{{Frontpage
 +
|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
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Elizabeth Massie
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|author=Sarah Marsh
|title= Versailles
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|title=A Sign of Her Own
|rating= 4.5
+
|rating=3.5
|genre= Historical Fiction
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|genre=General Fiction
|summary=1667 – The civil wars are over. King Louis XIV crushed the nobility's rebellion against his father, leaving the throne his. But the aristocracy hounds his every step – and realises that if they will not be loyal, they will at least obey. So the King plants a trap to ensnare them – building Versailles, a prison of opulence where his power is absolute. Trapped by the palace, they have no choice but to play the King's game and to obey his rule. And so the court becomes a place of tactical liaisons and salacious passions. The Queen fights to keep the King's attention from his mistress, and the King's brother struggles to keep his relationship alive. Versailes is not the paradise it appears to be; instead, it is a labyrinth of treason and hushed secrets, of political schemes and deadly conspiracies. It is a place of passion and death, love and vengeance. The King will take what is rightfully his.
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|summary=After a bout of scarlet fever as a child, Ellen Lark loses her hearing. Suddenly plunged into a world of silence, everything about her life changes. Living in a time when the use of sign language was seen as something only savages do, Ellen is sent to a school where she is taught to lip read, but physically restrained from signing. From here, she ends up in another school studying under Alexander Graham Bell who has been teaching the deaf and using a system called Visible Speech. At the same time, Bell is working on other inventions and ideas, and Ellen finds herself unwittingly caught up in a complicated tangle of espionage.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782399984</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1035401614
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Angus Donald
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|author=Claire North
|title= The King's Assassin
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|title=House of Odysseus
|rating= 4
 
|genre= Historical Fiction
 
|summary=AD 1215: The year of Magna Carta - and Robin Hood's greatest battle. King John is scheming to reclaim his ancestral lands in Europe, raising the money for new armies by bleeding dry peasants and nobles alike, not least the Earl of Locksley - the former outlaw Robin Hood - and his loyal man Sir Alan Dale. As rebellion brews across the country and Robin Hood and his men are dragged into the war against the French in Flanders, a plan is hatched that will bring the former outlaws and their families to the brink of catastrophe - a plan to kill the King. England explodes into bloody civil war and Alan and Robin must decide who to trust - and who to slaughter. And while Magna Carta might be the answer to their prayers for peace, first they will have to force the King to submit to the will of his people.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751551988</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Conn Iggulden
 
|title=Ravenspur: Rise of the Tudors (The Wars of the Roses)
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
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|genre= Literary Fiction  
|summary=Edward IV and his brother Richard of Gloucester aren't exactly accepting of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick deserting them to stand with the ailing Henry VI again. The sons of York are gathering support in Burgundy while Edward's wife Elizabeth (nee Woodville) gives birth to his son in the sanctuary of Westminster Abbey. Meanwhile Henry's wife Margaret of Anjou is also in France, drumming up resources for the return of their son, Edward, Prince of Wales.  Elsewhere a 14 year old Henry Tudor is waiting at one of history's most important cross roads.
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|summary= ''What could matter more than love?''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0718181425</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
The follow-up to the excellent ''Ithaca'' picks up a few months after where we left off. In the palace of Odysseus, with delicate care Queen Penelope continues to rule without her husband, who sailed to war at Troy and then by divine intervention never returned home. As ever she remains surrounded by suitors vying for the throne of the Western Isles. Having survived – politically and physical – the chaotic storm that Clytemnestra brought to Ithaca's shores, Queen Penelope is on the brink of a fragile peace. One that shatters however with the return of Orestes, King of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra, seeking refuge.
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|isbn=0356516075
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=CC Humphreys
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|isbn=B0C7J9D21B
|title=Fire
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|title=A Captive in Algiers (Muhammed Amalfi Mysteries)
 +
|author=A J Lewis
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
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|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Puritan/former Roundhead Pitman and former highwayman/Cavalier Captain William Coke have formed a deep respect for each otherTheir first mission was to track down the Fifth Monarchists, an organisation out to avenge those who were found guilty and hanged for signing Charles I's death warrant.  That was then, during the Great PlagueA mere year later, the Plague has lessened but the Fifth Monarchists are back, taking Pitman's and Coke's interventions personallyWe therefore find our heroes defending themselves, their families, the monarch, and, on top of that, a new disaster is about to hit the capital.   
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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 boatsEttore was nothing if not resourceful - and determined - and it was not long before he had a successful business as a guide for visitorsHe was even saving some money.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780891458</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Winston Graham
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|author=Essie Fox
|title=The Grove of Eagles: A novel of Elizabethan England
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|title=The Fascination
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Maugan Killigrew grows up in material comfort as the acknowledged illegitimate son of Sir John, the Governor of Cornwall's Pendennis Castle.  Yet, despite the comparative comfort and because of other's austere attitudes, Maugan never feels quite as accepted as his many half-brothers and sisters but there's little time to consider that.  Times are changing. Queen Elizabeth I is getting older and the English are still at war with the Spanish, a nation that will have quite an effect on Maugan's life. Romance, conflict and imprisonment, Maugan will experience it all and, hopefully survive it all but we shall see..
+
|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>1509818618</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1914585526
|amazonus=<amazonus>1509818618</amazonus>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Suzanne Rindell
+
|author=Nicole Jarvis
|title=Three-Martini Lunch
+
|title=A Portrait in Shadow
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=In 2013 we loved [[The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell|The Other Typist]] for its gripping plot, terrific characters and effortless recreation of the Jazz Age. Well, Rindell has done it again, though this time her chosen time period is the late 1950s. She brings the bustling, cutthroat New York City publishing world to life through the connections between three main characters whose first-person voices fit together like a dream: Cliff Nelson, a Columbia dropout who plans to be the next Hemingway and also happens to be the son of a premier editor at Bonwright; Eden Katz, who moved from Indiana to be a secretary at a publishing house but has ambitions of becoming an editor; and Miles Tillman, a black man who works as a bicycle messenger for Eden's publisher but has literary hopes of his own.
+
|summary=''I want all of Florence to know my name''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749020822</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
Cast out from Rome, Artemisia Gentileschi arrives in Florence seeking an oasis in which her art can find a home and where her future can thrive rather than stagnate. But as some as she enters Florentine society she faces great opposition from the powerful Accademia, the self-proclaimed guardians of the healing magics that through paintings have the power to protect the city and its citizens from plagues and curses. The all-male Accademia has hoarded power over art and architecture for centuries and guard it above all else. To them, Artemisia – an ambitious young woman who promises trouble and change – has no place amongst them and their society.
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|isbn=1803362340
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Jennifer Donnelly
+
|author=Thomas D Lee
|title=These Shallow Graves
+
|title=Perilous Times
|rating=3.5
+
|rating=3
|genre=Crime (Historical)
+
|genre= Fantasy
|summary=Jennifer Donnelly wrote one of my all-time favourite books, ''A Gathering Light'', so I was very excited to read her latest novel and see how it compared. Like ''A Gathering Light'', ''These Shallow Graves'' is a historical novel with a murder mystery at its heart and a feisty heroine who challenges the standards of the day.
+
|summary= ''Hate is the path of least resistance''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471405176</amazonuk>
+
 
}}
+
Set in the near-distant future, in a world on the verge of climate collapse, Britain is in great peril. The British Isles desperately needs a hero (or several) to save the day and rescue what little remains. What no-one expected was that one of the Knights of the Round Table would answer the call.
{{newreview
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|isbn=0356518523
|author= Victoria Whitworth
 
|title= Daughter of the Wolf
 
|rating= 4
 
|genre= Historical Fiction
 
|summary= We're in the Dark Ages in an England ruled by rival Kings served by Lords. One of the lords is Radmer of Donmouth, the King's Wolf, guardian of the estuary gateway to Northumbria. When the king sends Radmer on a mission to Rome, Donmouth is left in the safekeeping of his only daughter, Elfrun, whose formidable grandmother wants her to take the veil, while treacherous Tilmon of Illingham covets her for his son. This is the story of daughters in a man's world: Wynn, determined to take over from her father, the smith, Saethryth, wilful daughter of the village steward, whose longing for passion will set off a tragic sequence of events and Auli, whose merchant venturer father plies his trade up and down the coast, spying for the Danes. Above all, it is the story of Elfrun of Donmouth, uncertain of her father's fate and not knowing whom she can trust, or love…
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784975737</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Alison Weir
+
|author=G K Holloway
|title=Six Tudor Queens: Katherine of Aragon, The True Queen: Six Tudor Queens 1
+
|title=In the Shadows of Castles
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=1501: A ship comes into port on the English coast with an important passenger.  The Spanish Infanta Catalina steps ashore to become the wife of King Henry VII's heir, Prince Arthur and produce future heirs for the English crown. That's the plan but that's not how the story actually goes, on any level.  For Catalina will be more famous as Katherine of Aragon, wife of Arthur's brother, Henry VIII. As for producing heirs…
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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>1472227476</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1800422466
|amazonus=<amazonus>1472227476</amazonus>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Lloyd Shepherd
+
|isbn=3949666079
|title=The Detective and the Devil (Charles Horton 4)
+
|title=Noema
|rating=5
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|author=Dael Akkerman
|genre=Crime (Historical)
+
|rating=4.5
|summary=1855: Only a few years after the notorious Highways Murderer left his mark on London's docks, Constable Charles Horton is called back to the area. The disturbing murder of a clerk and his family bears the trademark of the serial killer but Horton's sure he's already dead; Horton saw him die.  At this point the hunt for a devil incarnate begins, taking Horton and his wife Abigail to the other side of the world and the darker side of an untouchable Victorian institution: The East India Company.
+
|genre=General Fiction
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471136124</amazonuk>
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|summary=''This is a story about some things that happened to me about twelve thousand years ago.''
|amazonus=<amazonus>1471136124</amazonus>
+
 
 +
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= Aliya Whiteley
+
|isbn=1529125898
|title= The Arrival of Missives
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|title=Godmersham Park
|rating= 4.5
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|author=Gill Hornby
|genre= Literary Fiction
 
|summary=In the aftermath of the Great War, Shirley Fearn dreams of challenging the conventions of rural England, where life is as unchanging as the seasons. The scarred veteran Mr Tiller, left disfigured by an impossible accident on the battlefields of France, brings with him a message: part prophecy, part warning. As Shirley's village prepares for the annual May Day celebrations, where a new queen will be crowned and the future reborn, she must choose between change and renewal – will the missives Mr Tiller brings prevent her mastering her identity?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907389377</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Diney Costeloe
 
|title=The Lost Soldier
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=Rachel is a journalist covering a local conflict between a land developer and the small village community of Charlton Ambrose.  The developer wants to level Ashgrove, a group of nine trees planted to commemorate those in the village who died serving in World War I.  As she investigates, Rachel realises that only eight of the trees have corresponding names of the fallen.  The ninth is for a mysterious unknown soldier.  Why unknown?  Rachel is determined to discover his story and, in so doing, she also discovers part of her own.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784972576</amazonuk>
 
|amazonus=<amazonus>1784972576</amazonus>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=David Churchill
 
|title=The Leopards of Normandy: Duke: Leopards of Normandy 2
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Normandy 1037: Duke William at 9 years old is surrounded by guardians and advisors but not all of them have his interests at heart.  In fact whether he lives or dies will have more to do with William's resilience than the custodial duty of those around him.  Meanwhile the fight for the English throne across the channel seems remote and none of his business as the sons of Queen Emma jostle for Canute's old crown. It's getting closer though; one day William Duke of Normandy will be William the Conqueror.
+
|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>1472219228</amazonuk>
 
|amazonus=<amazonus>1472219228</amazonus>
 
}}
 
  
{{newreview
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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.
|author= Diney Costeloe
 
|title= The Girl With No Name
 
|rating= 4
 
|genre= General Fiction
 
|summary= Thirteen year old Lisa escapes from Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport and arrives in England in August 1939. She can't speak a word of English and her only belongings are crammed into a small suitcase. Among them is one precious photograph of the family she has left behind in Germany. Lonely and homesick, not knowing if she will ever see her family again, Lisa is adopted by a childless couple, and then bullied at school for being German. But worse is to come when the Blitz blows her new home apart, and she wakes up in hospital with no memory of who she is, or where she came from. The authorities give her a new name and despatch her to a children's home. With the war in full swing, what will become of Lisa now?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784970050</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author= Chris Cleave
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|author=Melissa Fu
|title= Everyone Brave Is Forgiven
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|title=Peach Blossom Spring
|rating= 4.5
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|rating=3.5
|genre= Historical Fiction
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|genre=Historical Fiction  
|summary= War was declared at 11:15. Mary North signed up at noon. When war is declared, Mary North leaves her finishing school, travels back to London, and immediately signs up. Expecting to be given a position of high importance or excitement, she is instead placed as a school teacher. Tom Shaw decides to give war a miss – happy in his role organising education. It's only when his flatmate Alistair enlists, that Tom and Mary are drawn into the war in ways they never could have imagined. As Mary grows to protect and defend her small band of pupils, Tom struggles to decide whether he should join the war effort. And Alistair? Many, many miles away, Alistair battles both the enemy, and his own feelings for one out of his reach.
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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>147361869X</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1472277538
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=David Dyer
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|isbn=1916072038
|title=The Midnight Watch
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|title=The House in the Hollow (The Talbot Saga)
|rating=5
+
|author=Allie Cresswell
 +
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=In the early hours of April 15th 1912, the RMS Titanic sank causing the death of over 1,500 peopleThe Californian, commanded by Captain Stanley Lord was the nearest ship to it, near enough for anyone on deck that night to see the Titanic's distress rockets.  This means it was near enough to go to its aid but it remained inactive while witnessing the unfolding eventsWhy? Within a day or two of the disaster American journalist John Steadman is sent to cover the Titanic's sinking but the story of the Californian's inaction intrigues him even more.
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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>1782397795</amazonuk>
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|amazonus=<amazonus>1782397795</amazonus>
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''She is practiced at subterfuge, at concealing, beneath a facade of respectability, the deplorable truth''.
 +
 
 +
Hester is furious about Jocelyn's refusal to do as she was asked, which has precipitated ''this violent and unexpected removal''.
 +
 
 +
Then we are told of the birth of a child and, soon after, Hester Talbot departs, leaving Jocelyn in shame and isolation in Yorkshire.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=David Sanger
+
|author=Annabel Abbs
|title=All Their Minds In Tandem
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|title=The Language of Food
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=October 1879: A stranger walks into New Georgetown, West Virginia to keep an appointment. He calls himself 'The Maker' and has a gift that gives him access to people's minds.  Gradually he'll become deeply acquainted with the townsfolk but it mustn't sway him from what he's here to accomplish.  One man, one mission and no guarantee how it will end.
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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>1784293954</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1398502227
|amazonus=<amazonus>1784293954</amazonus>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author= Yves Jego, Denis Lepee, and Sue Dyson (translator)
 
|title= The Sun King Conspiracy
 
|rating= 3
 
|genre= Historical Fiction
 
|summary=''Who can I trust in this nest of vipers?'' The year is 1661 and Cardinal Mazarin, the Chief Minister to King Louis XIV of France, lies dying. As the health of the man who once governed France deteriorates, the ambitions of those beneath him strive for power in order to succeed him. Secret papers have been stolen from the Cardinal, papers that could change the course of France forever, and have fallen in to the hands of Gabriel de Pontibrand, a young actor who has become unwillingly involved in this strange conspiracy. Surrounded by scheming politicians and a secret brotherhood, the contents of these coded papers will change Gabriel's life and have the power to change the future of France.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910477354</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Elaine Everest
+
|author=Freya Marske
|title=The Woolworths Girls
+
|title=A Marvellous Light
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=It is Christmas, 1938, and three young ladies are excited about starting their new jobs at Woolworths in Erith. For each one of them, the job is a means of escape: Sarah wants to escape her snobbish and controlling mother; newlywed Maisie can't abide her bullying mother in law; and shy Freda is running away from her abusive stepfather and searching for her brother, who has escaped from prison. The ''Woolworths Girls'' soon become close friends, but with the threat of war looming large, and tragedy just around the corner, they are going to need to rely on each other more than ever before.
+
|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>144729548X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Philip Dent
+
|isbn= B09F4CTKJR
|title=Mutable Passions: Charlotte Bronte: A Disquieting Affair
+
|title= Flights for Freedom
|rating=3
+
|author= Steven Burgauer
|genre=Historical Fiction  
+
|rating=4.5
|summary=As the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë's birth approaches, it is a perfect time for reading about her. Philip Dent's second novel chooses a lesser known period of her life to dramatize. All her siblings are now dead; during a hard winter when she is unable to visit her best friend, Ellen Nussey, Charlotte spends her time finishing ''Villette'', her final novel. The family servant, Tabby, ribs Charlotte about her romantic prospects – including Patrick Brontë's curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls. Charlotte responds with indignation: 'I could no more kiss the lips of a man with a beard as big as rooks' nests than I could yours, Tabby.'
+
|genre=Historical Fiction
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178589093X</amazonuk>
+
|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.
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Helen Simonson
+
|author= Christophe Medler
|title=The Summer Before the War
+
|title=Madrigal: A Closely Guarded Secret
|rating=5
+
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Summer 1914: Beatrice Nash arrives in Rye following the death of her father, hoping to earn a living as a Latin tutor.  Despite being the sort of woman with ideas of her own, she has allies in the family of local pillar of the community Lady Agatha.  Agatha may not have realised just how modern Beatrice is but she'll stand by her after having been her sponsor for the post initially.  Meanwhile Agatha's nephew, medical student Hugh soon warms to Beatrice but his heart belongs to Lucy, his surgeon professor's daughter.  Soon, though, the events of a small town summer will fade in importance; the Balkans will explode and Europe is thrown into a war that's far from the swift, romantic, consequence-free conflict of which summer daydreams are made.
+
|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>1408837641</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=B095HY8SXQ
|amazonus=<amazonus>1408837641</amazonus>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Kevin Smith
+
|isbn=1471187179
|title=The Voyage of the Dolphin
+
|title=A Beautiful Spy
|rating=5
+
|author=Rachel Hore
 +
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Dublin 1916: Among the unrest and anti-British feeling worsened by the threat of conscription into a war seen as nothing to do with the Irish, Trinity College faculty has other distractions.  They'd like a trophy; the skeleton of an Irish 'giant' to be precise.  The only glitch is that the main trophy contender, Bernard MacNeill's skeleton, is somewhere difficult to access and all seasoned explorers are otherwise engaged.  There may be hope though.  They turn to Fitzmaurice, a student not good enough for anything elseFitzmaurice agrees, picking his friends Crozier and Rafferty to go with himSo… ''Gentlemen, lace up your strongest boots and pack your warmest underwear – we're all off to the bloody Arctic!'' Whether battle cry or epitaph, three men and a dog… and an iguana… are going anyway.
+
|summary=Minnie is an 'ordinary' girl living an unexciting life in a leafy provincial suburb.  The book is set in the 1930s and Minnie is expected to live up to her mother's expectations and find a nice young man to marry, produce children and spend the rest of her days looking after her husband and their homeUnfortunately, this isn't what she wants to do at all and neither does she want to continue working as a secretaryAs a result of a chance meeting, she finds herself drawn into espionage, working for the secret service and effectively living a double life - attempting to infiltrate the Communist Party of Great 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>1910124826</amazonuk>
 
|amazonus=<amazonus>1910124826</amazonus>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|author=Janet Todd
+
|author=Afonso Cruz and Rahul Bery (translator)
|title=A Man of Genius
+
|title=Kokoschka's Doll
|rating=4.5
+
|rating=2.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
+
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Ann St Clair is determined not to follow the ways of her Georgian contemporaries into marriageShe earns enough as a writer of Gothic romances to keep the wolf from the door and believes that's how it will always be.  Then she meets Robert James, writer, self-acclaimed genius and popular raconteur, becoming totally besottedHowever Ann still thinks she can retain her independence, even when she goes to Venice with Robert to escape the boredom of English lifeHowever there's a darker side to this man, the unforeseen consequences of which will unlock the mysteries of Ann's own childhood.
+
|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>1908524596</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1529402697
|amazonus=<amazonus>1908524596</amazonus>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|title=Eliza Rose
+
|author=Christina Hammonds Reed
|author=Lucy Worsley
+
|title=The Black Kids
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Teens
+
|genre=Teens  
|summary=Eliza's family isn't as wealthy as it once was. And she is well aware that her duty is to marry well in order to repair the Camperdowne fortunes. To this end, Eliza is sent from her family home at Stoneton Castle to Trumpton Hall, to be educated in the ways of noble ladies. Here, she meets the infamous Katherine Howard while she too is still a young girl. And from there, it's on to the Tudor court of Henry VIII, who is currently married to Anne of Cleves.
+
|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>1408869438</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1471188191
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Ben Kane
 
|title=Hunting the Eagles
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Historical Fiction
 
|summary=They say never poke a sleeping bear as they are likely to wake up and slam you with a paw.  The said can be said of the Roman Empire, they were best left alone.  Back in AD 09 the Germans managed to get one up on the Romans by ambushing them deep in the forest and wiping out around 15000 men, but it is now AD 14 and the Romans not only want revenge; they also want their Eagles back.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184809406X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
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

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Review of

Flights for Freedom by Steven Burgauer

4.5star.jpg Historical Fiction

It's the later stages of World War I and the United States has just entered the conflict. Petrol Petronus is a young American who has signed up and joined the 17 Aero Squadron. This company was the first US Aero Squadron to be trained in Canada, the first to be attached to the RAF and the first to be sent into the skies to fight the Germans in active combat. But before that can happen, Petrol has to master flying the notoriously difficult but majestic Sopwith Camel. Full Review

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