Historical Novels Review | Issue 14 (December 2000)

THEHISTORICALNOVELS Review

DUNN

THE

NOVELS OF

Georgette Heyer. Jean Plaidy, Dorothy Dunnett: Top ofthe Library Pops

HF M Prescott - neglected genius? Gotapublisher? The problemsdon'tstop there Tor/Forge -apublisherdedicatedto the historicalnovel Allthe latesthistoricalnovelsreviewed

Capricean

PUBLISHED BY THE HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY© 2000

Founder/Publisher: Richard Lee, Marine Cottage, The Strand, Starcross, Devon, EX6 8NY. UK. (histnovel@aol.com)

SOLANDER:

EDITOR: Sarah Cuthbertson, 7 Ticehurst Close, Worth, Crawley, W Sussex, RHl0 7GN. (ICuthberts@aol.com)

Contributions Policy: Please contact Sarah with ideas in the first instance Please note that the society does not usually pay for contributions, except for short stories. Letters to the Editor: Please, if you want a reply, enclose a stamped, addressed envelope.

FICTION EDITOR : Richard Lee, Marine Cottage, The Strand, Starcross, Devon, EX6 8NY . UK (histnovel@aol.com)

THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW:

CO-ORDINATING EDITOR (UK):

Sally Zigmond, 18 Waiwick Crescent, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG2 8JA. (sallyzigmond@hotmail.com)

CO-ORDINATING EDITOR (USA):

Sarah Nesbeitt, 30 Meadow Lane #12, Bridgewater. MA, 02324, USA. (snesbeitt@bridgew.edu)

REVIEWS EDITORS (UK):

Towse Harrison, 12 Ascott Road, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP20 lHX (towse@sunjester.freeserve.co.uk)

Dominique Nightingale, 39 Quilter Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk, !Pl 1 7JL (dominique.nightingale@btintemet.com)

Sarah Cuthbertson, 7 Ticehurst Close, Worth, Crawley, W . Sussex, RHlO 7GN.(ICuthberts@aoI.com)

Mary Moffiu, Sherbrooke, 32 Moffat Road, Dumfries, Scotland, DG1 lNY (sherbrooke@marysmoffat.ndo.co.uk)

REVIEWS EDITORS (USA): Trudi Jacobson, (tj662@csc albany.edu) Ilysa Magnus, (goodlaw2@aol.com)

THE IDSTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY ON THE INTERNET:

WEBSITE: www historicalnovelsociety.com

NEWSLETTER: Write to Lucienne Boyce (GGBoyce@aol.com) for our fortnightly email newsletter - it's free of charge LISTSERVE: Join in the discussions on the society's internet listserve - go to the society website and sign up.

CHAT ONLINE : At the society web-site From time to time we will invite authors along to field your questions.

MEMBERSHIP DETAILS:

Membership of The Historical Novel Society is by calendar year (January to December), and entitles members to all the year's publications: two issues of Solander, and four issues of The Historical Novels Review. Back issues of society magazines are also available. Write for current rates to: Marilyn Sherlock, 38 The Fairway, Newton Ferrers, Devon, PL8 IDP UK(ray sherlock@appleoneline net), or Tracey A Callison, 824 Heritage Drive, Addison, 1160101. USA (Callison@wwa.com) or Teresa Eckford, 434E Moodie Drive, Nepean, ON, K2H 8A6. CANADA (eckford@sympatico.ca) orPatrika Salmon, Box 193, Whangamata, NEW ZEALAND. (pdrlindsaysalmon@hotmail.com) It is also possible to join the society by credit card online at www historicalnovelsociety .com

OUT OF PRINT BOOKS:

The following are dealers in out of print historical novelsKaren Miller, 43 Trent St Retfurd, Nottingham. DN22 6NG. Tel: 01777 705706.Karen@Mil1erl964.freeserve.co.uk Forget-Me-Not Books, 11 Tamarisk Rise, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 lWG Tel: 0118 9781572 judith_ ridley@hotmail com

Rachel Hyde, 2 Meadow Close, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, EX9 6JN Tel 01395 446238 rachelahyde@ntlworld.com Rosanda Books, David Baldwin, 11 Whiteoaks Road, Oadby, Leicester LE2 5YL. Tel 0116 2713880 David Spenceley Books, 75 Harley Drive, Leeds, LS13 4QY. Tel: 0113 2570715 davidspenceley@email.com Legend Books - www.Legendbooks com

COPYRIGHT remains in all cases with the authors of the articles. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, without the written permission of the authors concerned.

No. 14 December 2000

It must be Christmas because there ' s a definite sparkle in the air. The Booker shortlist was widely discussed in the media because of its ' historical' content and many column inches were devoted to the popularity of the genre Of the six books , three have already been reviewed in previous issues and the eventual winner, Ihe Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood is reviewed on page 47 ~other Booker winning novelist , AS Byatt , has just published a book of essays , On Historie s and Stories , (Chatto & Windus) The first essay discusses the genre in a most scholarly but accessible wa y.

The HNS has launched an exciting new initiative From now on any book you see reviewed between these covers (or even those you don ' t) can be easily and quickl y ordered wherever in the world they ' re published And you don ' t need a computer ! So , don ' t ignore the US / Canadian section All books are readil y obtainable, wherever you live .

Those of you who are technology-minded , check out our brand new upgraded website. Don ' t forget either the fortnightly email newsletter. And if you like sharing your news, views , gossip and opinions with other readers and writers of historical novels then join up to the egroup . All details on the opposing page .

If all this flashy newness doesn't appeal , keep reading I've had a great time researching HF M Prescott. Thanks to several helpful members , I've discovered a little but not , alas , enough information about this sadly neglected and brilliant historical novelist.

The library survey turned up many interesting facts which are worth following up and members write of their experiences in getting into print.

Unfortunately , lack of space has meant postponing a couple of features I had planned for this issue Don't let that prevent you from sending me ideas , questions , criticisms and any items of expensive jewellery you have to spare

Until next year ..

Sally Zigmond

WANT TO BUY BOOKS REVIEWED HERE BUT DONT KNOW HOW?

If you have Internet access and a credit card , it's easy

Try www amazon co uk (mainly UK books but has a good stock of US books)

www amazon com www.bamesandnoble com (both mainly US books but good stocks of UK books)

www .bookworm com au (Australian books)

But what if you don't have Internet access (or you don't want to use it to make purchases)? That's easy too

In the UK you can order any US book in print (at no extra cost) from Borders Branches in :

Bournemouth: 4-21 Bourne Avenue (01202 589736)

Brighton : Churchill Sq (01273 731122)

Cheshire Oaks : 34 Coliseum Way , Ellesmere Port (01513 567786)

Glasgow : 96 Buchanan St (01412 277000)

Leeds : 94-96 Briggate (01132 424400)

London : 203-207 Oxford St (01712 921600)

London : 120 Charing Cross Rd (02073 796838)

York : 1-5 Davygate (01904 653300)

Opening soon in Oxford , Edinburgh and Dublin . Waterstone's is also worth a try, though they charge£ for $ to cover costs , so for a $20 book will cost you £20

NEW BOOK ORDERING SERVICE

UK Members

Contact Sarah C (01293 884898 ; Email : ICuthberts@aol.com) with details of the book(s) you want. I'll send you a quote from the cheapest Internet source (most online bookstores give 10-20% discount) , including shipping options You pay me(+ 50p admin per book) & I'll place your order and have it shipped directly to you.

Alternatively, US Reviews Editors Sarah Nesbeitt (snesbeitt@bridgew.edu), Trudi Jacobson (tj662 @csc.albany .edu OR readbks@localnet Home tel : + 01 518/439-3989) and Ilysa Magnus (good1aw2 @aol.com) have offered to buy books in the US and trade them for UK titles. If you don't have Email , I can contact them on your behalf with any requests Overseas Members

The following UK members are interested in trading books with overseas members , incl wishlists & 2nd hand : Sarah Cuthbertson (for contacts see above)

Rachel A Hyde : rachelahyde@ntlworld com 2 Meadow Close, Budleigh Salterton, Devon EX9 6JN +44 (0) 1395 446238 (Rachel also will trade Fantasy & SF). Wherever you live , you can order English-language books in print from THE GOOD BOOK GUIDE by catalogue order form (subscribers), by phone: +44 (0) 20 7490 9911 (24 hrs) or www thegoodbookguide .com

If you know of any more possibilities or would like to join the trading list, please let me know

Sarah Cuthbertson

Why not take advantage?

I hope British members take advantage of Sarah Cuthbertson ' s generous offer on the previous page to help you obtain some of the wonderful books, many of which (to everyone's detriment) have not found UK publishers . In addition, should you have a net connection , the majority of the books in the North American section are available direct from Amazon UK . This is convenient in that you won ' t have to wait long for your books, and you won ' t have to pay any outrageous overseas postage charges . When this is the case, their prices , in pounds sterling, are provided . The Internet Bookshop, run by WH Smith Online, also has a number of American books available via their web site at http ://wwwbookshop co uk

Also, for those of us in North America who would like to obtain books in the UK section, I'd recommend the following avenues

If you're on the net, again, you have a number of options UK online bookstores have gotten quite a bit of money from me over the past several years thanks to the Review, so I've used many of these online bookstores personally . Amazon UK (www amazon co uk) tends to be speedy, though they only ship via airmail , and the postage costs are high . The same goes for the Internet Bookshop I have begged both bookstores several times over the years to offer a surface mail option - personally, I'd rather spend my money on books than postage - but with no results thus far

I've also recently discovered The Good Book Guide (http://www.thegoodbookguide.com) which is the Internet counterpart to a UK book review magazine They ship surface mail to North America and are quite reliable . Try searching their book database for the keywords " historical fiction " -you'll be amazed at the number of titles that you'll find . My wish list is getting bigger by the day

North American readers can also try special-ordering UK titles from your local bookstore, though you ' ll have the best luck with major chains (Borders , Barnes & Noble, etc) and with books from major UK publishers The ISBNs provided in the Review will come in handy here . Finally, so as not to leave out our growing number of Canadian readers , book prices in Canadian dollars have been included when provided by the publishers .

Sarah JVesbeitt

The Forum

NEWS, VIEWS, YOUR LETTERS

From Muriel Smith, Berkshire

I notice in the August 2000 issue of The Review that Janet Wright Matthews once more makes the oft-repeated statement that before the Married Women ' Property Act a wife ' s goods all became her husband 's upon marriage This is simply not true . Ifa woman had any appreciable amount of property, and unless her parents or guardians were either grossly careless or had motives for cheating her , there would be a marriage settlement , a trust set up by will , or the like, to protect a bride ' s capital and ensure that it descended to her children . Or if she were of age, a spinster or a widow, she could herself execute a deed to trustees vesting in them all her states to her own use , though in such a case the new husband might bully her into revoking the deed

There is an abundance of Victorian novels whose plots tum on this sort of point. David Copperfield ' s parents married without a marriage settlement and Mr Murdstone was consequently able to steal David ' s inheritance; in The Moonstone, Godfrey Ablewhite is happy to have Rachel break off the engagement, since he would be unable to get hold of her capital and hopes to do better elsewhere ln Wuthering Heights, Edgar Linton , having stupidly left Cathy ' s fortune at her own disposal , fails to make the intended alteration to his will before he dies and so lets Heathcliff pocket the lot.

A CAUTIONARY TALE

Sally Thomson tells her publishing story

In 1993 , inspired by an excellent production of Oliver i at my daughter ' s school , I began writing a novel about Bill Sikes and Nancy in the years before Oliver Twist came on the scene It was sheer indulgence, a case of ' getting it off my chest'; [ never intended to go for publishing, so I never wrote with an audience in mind It was only when I needed some help on a particular aspect of the work and asked the valued advice of an old friend, well-versed in literature, that she urged me to try a publisher

At the time we had a local writer living in the village and she suggested I acquire an agent and gave me the name of her original agent in London

When the novel was as complete as I could make it, I approached the recommended agent and in due course sent her my synopsis and first three chapters . She liked what she saw and asked for the rest Over the next few weeks we edited and pulled the thing about until she was satisfied it was ready to ' go the round .'

After several attempts with various publishing houses my agent rang me late one Friday afternoon saying that

there were two or three smaller houses making offers for the novel, but that Harper Collins were offering a five-figure sum and would I like to think about it over the weekend . I didn ' t need to , but I let the weekend go and confirmed my acceptance of their offer on the Monday morning

Then followed many months of editing and gentle arguing At no time did Harper Collins ' editor bully me into or out of anything , although many bizarre suggestions were put forward . One was to change my proposed title This I refused to do on the grounds that it summed up the whole novel and had been there since the novel ' s inception. I was also asked to remove a couple of chapters ; one was indeed superfluou s when I came to look at it closely and I let it go without too much regret. But the other was integral to the story , conveying a particular atmosphere on which much of the third section of the book depended A number of people have remarked on the immediacy of this chapter and I was not prepared to give way . My editor, with whom by now I had a good working relationship , said that at the end of the day they wanted it to be a novel with which I, as well as the publisher, was happy. So the chapter was retained and all was welL until the galley copy came through . Such had been the cutting and chopping about that at one point it was obvious where a chunk of prose had been taken out and the subsequent narrative was no longer in sequence . When I brought this to the attention of the copy editor I was greeted with the news that any alteration would now cost me dearly as the pagination would have to be changed . ' Your problem , not mine ,' I told her , ' because it doesn't make sense as it stands .'

They changed it.

Meanwhile, Len Thurston had made some excellent sketches for the cover except that Bill sported a football scarf and Nancy looked like an eighteenth century courtesan At the editor ' s insistence Bull ' s Eye was included and the final picture was a masterpiece of Victorian atmosphere with the intimacy of the two main characters subtly hinted at on the front.

The novel took me just over a year to research and write but editing and publishing took another two Finally, on May 26th 1996 I held a launch party at my home for some sixty fiiends and acquaintances and our local bookshop did the honours with sales

Ah yes , sales! Thereby hangs the tale . Aftercare really does not exist in publishing I was originally told that WH Smith would take my book and give it a big plug locally It never happened. Smiths went through their ' crisis ' three months before publication and drastically reduced the number of new books they took in each month

Mine was not among those selected Articles about the novel appeared in three local papers but only because I knew the local journalist. A few lines also popped up in a Manchester local and in a

Northern Ireland newspaper! Ottakar ' s Bookshop in Salisbury offered me a signing day at which not one person would have turned up had I not contacted half a dozen people who had been at the launch party Two local radio stations, Wiltshire Sound and Spire FM ran interviews Waterstone ' s promised various promotional plugs but never fulfilled , despite my badgering them. And before many months had passed , I witnessed the sad spectacle of A Time Before Oliver creeping into the remainder shops Now it is even rare to find it on the shelves of local libraries

Perhaps one of the most disappointing aspects of the whole affair was the promises and hopes which were fed to me before publication : eleven US publishers all interested : possible use as a TV production : German house interested in a translation Not one of these came to fruition Once Harper Collins had published the book they no longer took any interest in promotion, with the consequence that we still haven ' t broken even Had I not asked for help from a journalist friend I wouldn ' t have even had a mention in the local press

This is not so much a complaint as a warning to other first-time writers . I was extremely lucky to be picked up by a big publisher offering big money and for that I am grateful. I saw my book in print and have cherished copies for posterity But no-one from the publishing world promoted it and no-one reviewed it. All this was what I really missed

Now it is nigh on possible to get a historical novel published unless one carries a famous name I have a second novel sitting in my attic , but every publisher , including Harper Collins , has turned it down on the grounds of ' wrong climate for historical novels.'

I will say no more , Your thoughts are , no doubt , the same as mine .

A Time Before Oliver by Sally Thomson is published by Harper Collins 1996, ISBN 0-00-6./9 7 1-1--I

HF M PRESCOTT

Several issues ago Kate Bunting asked for information on this author whose novel, The Man on a Donkey she much admired.

The brief biographical facts are as follows Hilda Frances Margaret Prescott was born in Latchford, Cheshire on 22 February 1896 , the daughter of Rev James Mulleneux Prescott and his wife , Margaret. She was educated at Wallasey High School, (where she was head girl) gained her BA and MA at Lady Margaret Hall , Oxford , and an MA from Manchester University She was a Jubilee Research Fellow at Royal Holloway College, University of London from 1958 to 1960 She was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial prize for non-fiction in 1941

and the Christopher Medal in I 953 . She was awarded an honorary Doctorate from Durham University in 1953. She never married and lived in Charlbury, Oxfordshire She died on 5 May 1972

She published the following historical novels :

1925 The Unhurrying Chase

1928 The Lost Fight 1956 Son of Dust 1952 . The Man on a Donkey

Other works :

1938 . Dead and Not Buried (novel)

1940 (revised ed 1953) Spanish Tudor The Life of Bloody Mary

1950 Friar Felix at Large A Fifteenth Century Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. (pub 1954 as Jerusalem Journey : Pilgrimage to the Holy Land)

1957 Once to Sinai : The Further Pilgrimage of Friar Felix Fabri

Such are the bare bones of what was clearly a full life . HNS member June Simpson was fortunate enough to meet her some time in the early 1960s She records that she was gentle in manner which contrasted quite markedly with the passion in her writing. She told June that her publishers were re-issuing her earlier novels and that she wished they would not as she felt that being early attempts they were not worthy!

Her academic achievements show that she was a formidable historian first and foremost. Alison Bates who herself attended Wallasey High School in the 1960s recalls that Prescott's biography of Mary Tudor was required reading for A level History It was this book that was awarded the James Tait Black prize. The historian, J E Neale calls it ' far and away the best of the biographies of Mary '

Her novels too received high praise Her skill lay in her adroit use of scholarly material, her concern with hardship , pain and self-denial and for her Christian outlook. Her first three historical novels are set in France. The Unhurrying Chase takes place in the late 12th century It traces the misfortunes of Yves de Rifaucon , dispossessed of his fief and bitterly resentful of his feudal overlords, in particular, the future Richard I. Like its two successors, The Lost Fight (set in Lorraine and Cyprus in the 13th century) and Son of Dust (11th century Normandy) it combines a swiftly paced narrative with meticulous detail. The feudal world she depicts is harsh and often brutal and there is nothing picturesque about it However , all these three novels are love stories written from an overtly Christian point of view and uphold the values of courtly love as celebrated by the Provencal troubadours. Both in their themes and resolutions they anticipate the early Catholic fiction of Graham Greene

Her masterpiece, however , must be The Man on a Donkey, probably one of the most ambitious and persuasive English historical novels of the twentieth century . The action covers the years from 1509 and 1539 and reaches its climax with the Pilgrimage of Grace , the rebellion of the North Country Catholics against the dissolution of the monasteries It is written as a chronicle which allows the author to shift her scene easily between Yorkshire and London and between her many characters . This does away with the constraints of a formal plot and builds up layers of detail to create a feeling of readership participation in the life of Tudor England

David Spenceley , who runs a second-hand book service tells me her books are readily obtainable and not too expensive He is happy to source copies for members Indeed he has already done so following the first flurry of interest in this author who is more than ready for reappraisal.

If you have any more information , I would be happy to have it. Did anyone meet her or was taught by her? I would love to know

Many thanks to Alison Bates, Graham Mackay, June Simpson, Sarah Nesbeitt and David Spenceley for taking the time and trouble to respond to my request for information. Without them I could not have written this article.

Other sources: Twentieth Century Romance and Historical Writers, edited by Lesley Henderson, St James Press , Chicago and London David Spenceley Books: Tel. ( +-1-1) (0) ll 3 2570 715 , email: david spenceleyr'?j, email.com. Please note. This is a mail-order company only. There is no showroom.

Before the Library Survey, here seems the right place to air Linda Proud's pertinent comments.

Historical Fiction A Genre of Dignity

In June 1998, I was invited to speak at the Wantage Arts Festival , along with another Oxford novelist. I shall withhold my companion's name since he is a very good friend , and nothing of what follows reflects on him at all, but on our respective publishers . He is 40 and writes in the 'literary' genre (which seems these days to be aimed at the 30-something male) , from which he makes a good living He was the one invited in the first place, but he had suggested to the festival organisers that I be included, since, from previous experience, we work together well with an audience. We were asked to get our publishers to send publicity material, which we did

On arrival I saw a big poster advertising my companion, and the library interior was drenched with his

publicity material, whereas my publisher had only found half a dozen book covers , and they were lost in the deluge . I psyched myself up for an evening as the supporting act.

Before the public was allowed in we had drinks and the librarians began to ask questions , both about my book , A Tabernacle of the Sun, and about historical fiction in general. To my astonishment, I realised that all of them had read my book, and they wanted more of the same They had a question: How do we find out about historical fiction , and which titles cover what periods? I told them about the HNS .

When we went out to face the chairs, we found them filled by the public Filled My companion and I gave some readings , and then invited questions . They all wanted to know about historical fiction. Most of them had read my book Before long I, the supporting act , began to worry if my companion was feeling left out. The same questions were coming from the readers as from the librarians : What has happened to historical fiction?

Where can we find more books like yours?

There were probably about 30 people there that evening Multiply that across all the branch libraries of the UK , and I would say that we have a strong market that is being overlooked An enterprising publisher would surely be on to a winner ? And perhaps if that market were to be properly supplied , historical novelists might start to earn some proper money . When there were dump bins in Oxford Central Library for the genres to celebrate National Reading Year, historical fiction was covered - I presume - by 'Historical Mystery and Adventure' . Its cardboard shelves were almost empty ( unlike the other genres , and I interpret this as the Historicals having been stripped bare by readers, rather than not having been filled up in the first place) I would have added mine to the display , but all available copies ofit were out on loan.

When I asked Elizabeth Lee at Library Support Services for Oxfordshire about the genre muddle, she said she thought the whodunits, etc are serving a public who want light entertainment , and that to give them 'proper' fiction would mean going back to Mary Renault and Mary Stewart (I think the Review will come as a shock to her) She says those books on her shelves look dated , but they are lovingly kept in the stacks if they are out of print, in an effort to preserve them , for they are still requested . What is the policy of the Historical Novel Society towards libraries? My librarians were as surprised to hear of you as l was surprised that they hadn't already This experience has encouraged and enlightened me, and I feel full of crusading zeal. Historical fiction needs to be reinvented as a genre of dignity. Call it something different: Literary Historical or something Well-researched , deeply thought out novels that actually challenge academic interpretation .

A Tabernacle of the Sun by Linda Proud is published by Allison and Busby, £7.99 , ISBN 07-19003650

PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND THE HISTORICAL NOVEL ARE WE BEING SERVED?

What follows cannot be described as definitive survey of British and North American libraries as there was only a limited response to my request for volunteers (And not a squeak from the gentlemen') So my heartfelt thanks go to those members who took the trouble. I wish to thank in particular US editor, Sarah Nesbeitt for her sterling work well beyond the call of duty. Thanks too to Claire Morris Bernard in Canada Over here, in no particular order , my thanks go to Jan Toms , June Pollard , Patricia Payne, Sarah Cuthbertson, Susan Hicks , Elizabeth Thomas, Margaret Powling, Gillian Kaye, Jay Dixon, Val Whitmarsh, Sylvia Broady, Greta Krypczyk- Oddy and Geraldine Perriam. IfI ' ve forgotten to name anyone I apologise

What I wanted to find out was how public lending libraries viewed the historical novel and how both staff and borrowers viewed it I also wanted to know whether libraries stocked a fair representation of the genre

The UK libraries surveyed ranged from the mobile variety to the large city library . Most of the country was covered , to a greater or lesser degree, apart from Wales and the West Midlands

Very few of the UK libraries surveyed have a separate section for historical fiction , although most stocked genres such as Crime, Romance and sometimes Science Fiction separately. Somerset County Libraries mark historical novels with a blue spot , Lincolnshire with purple, on the spine but stack them on the general fiction files Here too, the definition of a historical novel seems to depend on the publisher ' s blurb For instance Georgette Heyer is kept on the ' Romantic Fiction ' shelves and historical crime fiction is held on the Crime shelves (This pattern was repeated in all the UK libraries surveyed .) North Yorkshire Libraries are one of the few authorities with a dedicated historical novels section where novels by Jean Plaidy, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles , Iris Gower , Dorothy Dunnett , Georgette Heyer , Norah Lofts and Pamela Hill for example jostle for limited space with Barbara Cartland . In Harrogate library (North Yorkshire) there are no novels by male authors on these shelves Authors such as Patrick O'Brian and Nigel Tranter are stacked on the general fiction shelves . Here, the historical fiction shelves are hidden around the comer behind the enquiry desk and have a tired , old-fashioned feel to them. None of the books are new Again the classification seems arbitrary Dorothy Dunnett has a whole shelf to herself but her novels can also be found on the general shelves This was a repeated pattern with all libraries that have a separate historical fiction section In most libraries classification is rather ' hit and miss .' In one nameless library (not North Yorkshire) one Patrick

O ' Brian novel was on the 'Sea Stories ' shelves and another with the general fiction All historical novels not written by a recognised 'historical ' author never make it to the ' historical novels ' shelves, particularly those one might think of as ' literary '. Crime historicals are never put on the historical novel shelves

Pickering library (also North Yorkshire) has a Family ' section where historical sagas are stacked

West Sussex Libraries are another authority that has a separate section for historical fiction . Here works by Bernard Cornwell , Nigel Tranter and Allan Massie stood alongside Dorothy Dunnett, Phillippa Gregory and Cynthia Harrod Eagles West Sussex also has a separate section for Sagas . Again , as in North Yorkshire , some historical novelists had their books split between the main section and the dedicated section

For those authorities who had separate classification for historical novels , there were distinct differences in how the classification was made . As stated Somerset seemed publisher-based West Sussex took a scatter-gun approach North Yorkshire were very rigid Only the old stalwarts were there , with the emphasis firmly on the old

Those library authorities without a dedicated section however generally had a good selection of historical fiction on the main shelves. Many of the survey team were pleasantly surprised when they came to count them , just how many historical novels could be found.

The survey revealed that the most popular historical authors were Jean Plaidy, Cynthia-Harrod Eagles , Georgette Heyer , Dorothy Dunnett , Nigel Tranter , Patrick O ' Brian and Bernard Cornwell Elizabeth Chadwick, Barbara Erskine and Juliet Dymoke also featured widely. With those novelists who write series of novels , such as Dunnett and Harrod-Eagles , borrowers always asked for ' the next one ' without specifying the title.

Many of those who carried out the survey were full of praise for their local library , despite their obvious shortcomings (lack of money being the obvious one ) Regency novelist Gillian Kaye said she could not do without the assistance of the library for her research . Not only does it provide books for her , but it hold copies of the local newspaper, in invaluable historical resource

When she asked for information about how the 1918 Armistice was celebrated in a particular town in a completely different part of the country from where she lives , she received a whole batch of photocopies from the local newspaper and a splendid set of photographs

One result of the survey , whilst not confined to historical novels , was the obvious financial constraints most local libraries were having to operate under. In most cases it would appear there is plenty of cash for computers, careers advice, Internet access and shelves crammed with bright and shiny video tapes , CDs and even the new DVDs , most libraries were paupers when it comes to buying new books (All part of this

governments ' Dumbing Dome ' mentality, we must assume )

Some on the people who conducted the survey were able to talk to a library representative , although they came up against a certain amount of reticence These conversations revealed the varying methods by which libraries chose which books to buy for their shelves Some chose from catalogues compiled specifically for librarians Some libraries were less fortunate and had to take what a central buyer or buying team chose for them . One lucky authority could buy books on the basis of staff and borrower recommendations Another revealed that it would not be ordering any new fiction for the next financial year. One library had only been allocated five new fiction titles in the past six months!

Most library representatives did not consider historical fiction to be a separate genre as it cut across too many other genres. One librarian said ' it is not county library policy to categorise fiction .' It was disappointing to find one (male) district manager whose definition was 'families in the nineteenth century or earlier - long frocks and romance ,' and it was significant that this particular library had a predominance of these types of books . Some librarians seemed confused about the category and mentioned Catherine Cookson, Jane Austen and the Brontes in the same breath as historical novels , but could think of no other authors

Another library revealed that regency novels were extremely popular. Borrowers said they were tired of the ' sex ' element in novels

It was significant just how many members of library staff, whatever the authority they worked under were nervous about offering their opinions . Most asked for their names not to be quoted My own research revealed a general lack of morale due to the decline of book-buying compared with other commodities My local library now sells greeting cards and educational CD-roms but I haven ' t seen a new book for ages When a staff member said that she and her colleagues agreed with me that this was unacceptable she hastily added , ' don't quote me .'

One member sent me a mo st entertaining letter with her survey results. Although it doesn ' t concern historical fiction , it is worth quoting if only to set alarm bell s ringing at the decline in the local library system (I won ' t name names for reasons that will become clear. )

She writes : ' I have little faith in a system that lodges The Hi s tory of the Labour Party under Terrorism , the Courtes ans of Floren c e under Architecture and The C utting of the Ros e (a study offemale circumcision) under Dressmaking! ' I can't top that but I did find in my local library a copy of Anita Brookner ' s novel , Hot e l du Lac under Travel.

The results of the survey into North American public libraries lacked this depressing overtone. They revealed that the same authors were popular on both sides of the Atlantic with the addition of Edward Rutherford (This

British author wasn ' t mentioned in the UK survey ) However , the staff questioned seemed far more ' clued ' up than their British counterparts None of the American libraries surveyed had a separate historical novel section . In fact most librarians did not think a separate section a good idea at all . Firstly because it would remove too many books from the general fiction section and that it would be unhelpful Most borrowers asked for books based on a particular historical period (which, regency novels apart , wasn ' t the case in the UK ) All those librarians questioned were clear on the definition of the genre as a novel set in a time earlier than the one in which the author lives No confusion here

Some libraries did , like their British counterparts, put stickers on books to denote they were historical, one even differentiating between historical fiction and historical romance One librarian thought that historical fiction was not as popular is at was ten year ago Another bemoaned that most historical fiction was of the ' bodice ripper ' type rather than true history

The American survey revealed that pre-historical novels such as those written by Jean Auel were extremely popular with borrowers , as were the historical crime novels of Ellis Peters and Elizabeth Peters

Although the findings of the survey may seem inconclusive, positive things did come out of it. One UK member was asked to give a talk about the Society to the local readers group and quite a few libraries were keen to hear about the Society and display copies of the Review for the benefit of borrowers . An excellent idea

If you have any copies to spare, donate them to your local library .

If y ou are concerned about the decline of local librarie s in the UK contact The Library Campaign , at 22 Upper Woburn Place, London WC 1H OTB

SPOTLIGHT ON TOR/FORGE BOOKS

ILYSA MAGNUS CHECKS OUT THIS GROWING INFLUENCE IN HISTORICAL FICTION PUBLISHING

New York City, where I was born and raised , and where I live and work , is always a beehive buzzing with frenetic activity - cultural events, academic endeavors and creative energy . It is also indisputably the center of the publishing industry in the United States .

One building in Manhattan , 175 Fifth Avenue , houses Holtzbrinck Publishing Company The Holtzbrinck companies - St. Martins Press, Tom Doherty Associates , Farrar Straus & Giroux and Henry Holt and Companyare well-known players in the publishing industry in the U.S Each of these companies operates separately in editorial acquisitions and marketing One of those companies , in particular, Tom Doherty Associates , LLC ,

first established in 1980, publishes two imprints which have had an increasingly significant impact on historical fiction in the past several years : Tor and Forge . Tor , launched in April , 1981, is the imprint which was formed to publish science fiction and fantasy As most ofus realize , what is termed ' fantasy ' has evolved to include historical fantasy - works based on historical events but in which fantastical elements are interwoven into the plot and character. Some of Tor ' s most notable authors include Ann Chamberlin (The Merlin of St Gilles Well , Issue # 13 ) , Chelsea Quinn Yarbro , Jack Whyte and Fred Saberhagen

As Jennifer Marcus , Tor/Forge Director of Publicity and Claire Eddy , Senior Editor, told me , the Forge imprint was specifically developed to support a growing list of ' mainstream ' fiction titles - historical , western and suspense - which did not readily fit into the science fiction and fantasy genres of the Tor imprint Judith Tarr, for example, made the transition from Tor (which published her Lord of Two Lands in 1983) to Forge, which , since that date , publishes her historical novels . Among the other historical fiction writers who are published by Forge are Sharan Newman , Cecelia Holland , Roberta Gellis and David Nevin Clearly, this is a diverse group whose interests span centuries of history and thousands of miles

The development of the Forge imprint occurred as a consequence of the increased interest in historical fiction in the last few years and the resulting increased sales . The spin-off of Forge from Tom Doherty Associates/Tor in 1993 was a milestone ; the subsequent publication of such distinguished works as Morgan Llywelyn ' s 1916 , Cecelia Holland ' s Railroad Schemes and H N Turteltaub ' s Justinian guaranteed Forge ' s place in historical fiction publishing . In the year 2000 alone , Forge has published approximately thirty-five hardcover and trade paperback titles Both Ms Marcus and Ms Eddy attribute this growing interest to the surge of medieval Arthuriana a few years ago , and to an increased appetite for the works of Jane Austen and the Brontes This public interest in things historical is also evident in the success of such movies as Brave heart , Gladiator and Titanic Why , I asked , is the public so bewitched by historical novels and historical movies ? Both Ms Marcus and Ms . Eddy responded that it could be something ' just as simple as an urge for a simpler time , less complicated social relationships and a kind of introspection on the dawn of a new century .' Whatever the motivation , Tor/Forge is responsive to this heightened public awareness of historical events and personages and appears to be gearing more of its publications to historical and genre fiction

When a new book is acquired , editorial publishing schedules are mapped out well in advance , with both imprints scheduling hardcover publication first and paperback editions between ten and eighteen months later, depending on schedule availability. Tor/Forge finds

that , by publishing a book in hardcover first, it is allowed the best opportunity for trade and consumer reviews, and the all-important library sales. I was interested in learning how a house determines when to schedule paperback editions since my own experience of waiting for a paperback of that special book I'm dying to read - often for a year or more often results in my purchasing the hardcover out of sheer frustration . Although this may be a nifty , not-so-terribly subliminal marketing technique that works on me, I understood the question to be an economic one for both the publisher and the audience and inquired of Claire Eddy. She told me that the paperback editions are scheduled ' for the earliest time that will give that title the best sales opportunity ' based upon the anticipated release dates of other titles scheduled for that time Obviously, Tor/Forge is anticipating when the public ' s appetite is sufficiently whetted for a paperback release - a roll of the dice, perhaps, but the strategy seems to be working for this burgeoning influence in historical fiction publishing

Notwithstanding the very different publishing agendas of the two imprints, there is what Jennifer Marcus called ' a tremendous degree of cooperation between the Tor and Forge imprints in terms of marketing and promotion .' There is no competition between Tor and Forge since the reason for the development of the two separate imprints was the recognition that each imprint would have their own specific audience The imprints also share with other Holtzbrinck companies certain behind-the-scenes operations such as warehousing , printing, book sales and distribution.

Tor/Forge is one of the few houses which still accepts unsolicited manuscripts, so you historical novelists out there , note well! Overall , however, Tor and Forge acquires most of their authors from agented sources Since the publication schedules of both Tor and Forge are very heavy , according to Jennifer Marcus, Tor and Forge sign only one or two new authors a year. Ms. Marcus told me , though, that, if ' something wonderful' crosses her desk, she would fight for the book.

On the subject of e-publishing, there is growing interest and involvement at Tor/Forge in the electronic publishing industry and marketing efforts are underway However, there is no question that Tor and Forge will remain primarily focused on the print book industry and the house has taken the position that the market will sustain print books for the foreseeable future. With marketing and economic forces so often being the determining factors in the publishing industry, it is a wonder , indeed , that any author is able to write about what he or she loves or knows, especially when the dollar (or pound) is the ultimate arbiter. Ms Marcus and Ms Eddy explained that the philosophy at Tor/Forge is that writers should be encouraged to write about topics they love, the theory being that, if an author is ' captivated by the subject, then the reader will be as well .'

However, that having been said , Ms Eddy indicated that ' there is an economic push to have a writer work on novels that have some common threads so that we can build their audience .' Moving back and forth between genres , say, first writing a mystery, and then writing a romance or a fantasy , creates yet another ' first novel' scenario The author never quite finds his or her audience , and readership never quite gets hooked on a character or story line Once a writer builds an audience in one genre, though , it is easier for that writer to move to another genre, pulling his or her established audience with them to the new genre. Several Tor and Forge authors have managed this incredible feat , moving from one genre to another with ease Among these writers are Ann Chamberlin, who has moved from historical fiction to historical fantasy and Roberta Gellis , who has moved from historical romance to historical mystery

The market is also the determining factor in Tor/Forge ' s decision whether to reprint books of interest which have long ago gone out of print. For example, just this year, Forge reprinted Mackinlay Kantor ' s Long Remember , a Civil War novel which , some readers have told me , was the reason they became ' hooked ' on historical fiction Tor/Forge will also reprint books no longer in print if they have signed on a particular author and there is an opportunity to acquire their backlist.

Has anyone ever wondered why some books are published as mass market paperbacks while others are published in trade paperback format? I posed this question to Jennifer Marcus , who told me that Tor/Forge is still testing the trade paper format for certain titles instead of immediately publishing in mass market format. Tor/Forge is finding that this is a successful marketing strategy for some titles Personally, I would rather have a hardcover edition of a book, and if not a hardcover , a trade paperback , particularly of books that I want to retain in my own library and don ' t intend to recycle to the public library

With a growing audience for historical fiction , in all its many permutations , Tor and Forge should continue to be increasingly significant influences in U.S . publishing in the years to come.

Tor/Forge maintains home pages for many of the authors whose works they publish Links to those home pages are located at the Tor/Forge website , the address for which is listed below .

For more information about Tor Forge , including anticipated new releases and answers to frequently a sked que s tion s (FAQ 's), log onto http : www.tor com

The author wishes to acknowledge the input and cooperation of Jennifer Marcus, Director of Publicity and C laire Eddy , Senior Editor, both of Tor Forge, a s we ll as the never-ending support, advice and ass istance of my co-editor , Sarah L. Nesbeitt

UK

* For review. see US /Canada sect ion previous issue)

ANCIENT EGYPT

Jacq Christian, The Wise Woman FIRST CENTURY BC

Saylor Steven. Last seen in Massilia BIBLICAL

Frederik:kson Marianne According to Mary FIRST CENTURY AD

Vass George. Tiberius , Reluctant

Caesar

Wishart David. Old Bones

NINTH CENTURY

Coulter Catherine. Seasons of the Sun

MEDIEVAL (GENERAL)

Updike John. Gertrude and Claudius ELEVENTH CENTURY

Elphinstone Margaret. The Sea Road TWELFTH CENTURY

Clare Alys, Ashes of the Elements

Lindsey Johanna, Defy not the Heart

THIRTEENTH CENTURY

Wallace Margarel William WallaceChampion of Scotland

FOURTEENTH CENTURY

Towsend Warner. Syvia. The Comer that Held Them

Tran ter Nigel. Courting Favour

FIFTEENTH CENTURY

Hume Robert Ruling Ambition

Morrison Blake. The Justification of Johan Gutenberg

SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Baring-Gould Sabine. Guavas the Tinner

Plaidy Jean. The Si,dh Wife

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Cannam Helen. An Honourable Man

Morgan Fidelis. Unnatural Fire

Tobin Betsy. The Bone Hou se EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Barker Ann , The Grand Tour

Griffin Nicholas. The House of Sight and Shadow Liss David. A Conspiracy of Paper Haloche Laurence. Pleasures of the Flesh

McCullou g h Colleen. Morga n 's Run McGrath Patrick_ Martha Peake

Perry Anne. The One Thing More Wall Alan The Lightening Cage Woodman Robert The Guineaman

NINETEENTH CENTl'R\'

Brock Pope. Indiana Gothic

Gower Iri s. Daughte rs of Rebecca Hackman Gene/Lenihan Daniel. Wake of the Perdido Star

Hawk s ley Elizabeth. A Desperate Remed, ·

Haverty Anne The Far Side of a Ki ss Hopkins Harry The I 00 I Nights of Dmmmer Donald Macleod

Howard Audrey. Rivers of the Heart

Howard Richard. Bonaparte's Warri ors

Jacobs Anna. Lancashire Lass

McCutchan, Ogilvie Under Fire

*Na s lund Sena Jeter. Ahab 's Wife

Peters Elizabeth, The Mumm y Case Roberts Barrie. Sherlock Holme s and the Devil' s Grail

Smith Joan Winter Wedding

Thome Nicola. My Name is Martha Brown

TWENTIETH CENTl' RY

Antoni Robert. M y Grandmothers

Erotic Folktales

* Atwood Margaret. The Blind Assassin

TITLES REVIEWED IN TIDS ISSUE

Barraclough June, The Family Face

Blair Jessica, The Locket

Bryant Julia. Written on the Tide

Connor Alexander. An Angel Passing Over

Crackenthorpe David. Horseman Pass

By

Crane Teresa, The Wild Card

Dawson Jill, Fred and Edie

Dickinson Margaret, The Tulip Girl

Everett Peter, Bellocq·s Wome n

Furst Alan , Kingdom of Shadow s

Gold Alan. Berlin Song

Hopkins Billy. High Hopes

Johnson Pamela, Deep Blue Silence

Kadare Ismail. The General of the Dead Arrny

Kay Nora, Legacy of Shame

Kelly Chris. A suit of Lights

Laxness Halldor, The Fish Can Sing

Lightfoot Freda. Polly's War

McEldowney Eugene. The Faloorie

Man

Marsh Jean. Iri s

Miller Alex, Conditions of Faith

Newberry Sheila. The Family al Number Five

Page Lynda, ln for a Penny

Pearce Michael. A Cold Touch of Ice

Pewsey Elizabeth , Losing Larry

Ro ss Malcolm , Tamsin Harte

Salvadurai Shyam. Cinnamon Gardens

Simmons Paullina , The Bronze Horseman

Smith Sarah. The Knowledge of Water

Solzhenitsyn A, November 1916

Staples Mary Jane The Way Ahead

Stirling Jessica. The Strawberry Season

Waterfield Giles. The Long Afternoon

TIMESLIP

Adams Jane. The Angel Gateway

Crighton Micha el. Time Line

Erskine Barbara. Whispers in the Sand

MULTI-PERIOD

Crumey Andrew. Mr Mee

Magnan Pierre, The Murdered House

Vreeland Susan. Girl in Hyacinth Blue

NON-FICTION

Adkins Lesley & Roy. The Keys of Egypt

Foner Eric. The Story of American Freedom

Harvey Robert. Cochrane. The Life and Exploits of a Fighting Captain

Johnson Paul. The Renaissance

King Dean. Patrick O'Brian: A Life

Revealed

Man Jo hn Alpha Beta

Miller Lee. Roanoke

Milton Giles. Big Chief Elizabe th Modiano Patrick. The Search Warrant

Reese Peter. Wallace a Biography

Woolley Benjamin. The Bride of Science

Various The Major Works

Various. Wee Guides

CHILDREN'S

Jan so n Julia. A Test for the Time-Travelling Cat

Kerr Judith. Out of Hitler Time

Kerr Judith_ When Hitler Stile Pink

Rabbit

Kerr Judith , The Other Way Round

Kerr Judith. A Small Person Far Away

Lingard Joan, Natasha' s Will Oakden David. History Quick Reads Renshaw Corinne. High Water

Temperley Alan Murdo ·s War Turnball Ann. Pigeon Summer

US/CANADA

* = For review see UK section ( in this or a previous issue)

PRE-HISTORY

Holland Cecelia. Pillar of the Sky

• Cornwell Bernard. Stonehenge 2000

BC ANCIENT EGYPT

Gedge PauLine. The Oasis

Jacq Christian, The Stone of Light: Nefer the Silent

Mahfouz Naguib. Akhenaten : Dweller in Truth

FIRST CENTURY B.C.

Panella Vincent Cutter's Island : Caesar in Captivity

FIRST CENTURY

• Wangerin Walter, Paul: A Novel SECOND CENTURY

Bradshaw Gillian. Is land of Ghosts FIFTH CENTURY

Currier John W, Clovis, King of the Franks

Housman Clemence. The Life of Sir Aglovale de Galis

NINTH CENTURY

Holland Cecelia. The Angel and the Sword

MEDIEVAL (GENERAL)

Green berg Martin H and John Heifer s ( eds), Murder Most Medieval TIVELFTH CENTURY

Lawhead Stephen R. The Black Rood

Newman Sharan , To Wear the White Cloak

THIRTEENTH CENTURY

Chadwick Elizabeth. The Marsh

King's Daughter

Small Bertrice, A Memory of Love

FIFTEENTH CENTURY

Falconieri David. The Beggars Throne

Sabatini Rafael. Bellarion the Fortunate SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Chisholm P.F. , A Famine of Horses

Chisholm P.F. , A Season of Knives

Clayton Paul. Flight of the Crow

Clayton Paul. Calling Crow Nation

Elegant Robert Bianca

Jaffe Michele, The Water Nymph

Nye Robert, The Late Mr Shakespeare SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Furutani Dale, Kill the Shogun

Lapierre Alexandra, Artemisia

Rufin Jean-Christophe. The Abyssinian EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Donati Sara. Into the Wilderness

Fleming Thomas. Dream s of Glory

Judd Ca mero n The Border Men

• Lis s David A Conspiracy of Paper

• McGrath Patrick. Martha Peake NINETEENTH CENTURY

* Aiken Joan. Ladv Catherine's Necklace

Balogh Mary. More than a Mistre ss Barron Stephanie, Jane and the Stillroom Maid

Barry Desmond , The Chivalry of Crime

Bittner Rosanne, M ystic Visions

Blake James Carlos. Wildwood Boys

Byrd Max. Grant: A Novel

Campbell Meredith , Righteous Warrior s Casares Margery Harknes s , Song of Innocence

Dalla s Sandra, Alice ·s Tulips

Donnelly Shannon. A Compromising Situation

Fackler Elizabeth Texas Lily

Ferjutz Kelly (ed). A Regency Sampler

Harrington Alexis. Allies Moon

Humphreys Josephine , Nowhere Else on Earth

Jacobs Sherry-Anne. A Proper Match

Kantor MacK.inlay. Long Remember

Kimball Philip, Liars Moon

Lawrence Margaret, The lceweaver

Lindsey Johanna, The Heir

Lindsey Johanna, Home for the Holidays

Mallinson Allan. A Close Run Thing

Mallinson Allan , Honorable Company

McDonald Roger, Mr Darwin ' s

Shooter

Naslund Sena Jeter, Ahab 's Wife

Parry Owen, Faded Coat of Blue

Reid Van Mollie Peer

Rimbaud Patrick, The Battle

Ross Julia, My Dark Prince

St. Aubin de Teran Lisa, The Palace

Smith Diane. Letters from Yellowstone

South Sheri Cobb, Brighton

Honeymoon

South Sheri Cobb, Miss Darby's Duenna

TIVENTIETH CENTURY

Adam s Harold, Lead. So I Can Follow Altman John, A Gathering of Spies

Arends Marthe, The Lion's Shadow

Atwood Margaret. The Blind Assassin

Bailey Paul, Kitty and Virgil Baldacci David , Wish You Well

Berry Wendell, Jayber Crow

Brown Carrie, The Hatbox Baby

Chaban Michael, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Dillon Millicent, Harry Gold

• Doyle Roddy, A Star Called Henry

Due Tananarive. The Black Rose

Eddenden A.E.. Good Year for Murder

Gates John, Brigham ·s Day

Gilbert Anna. A Hint of Witchcraft

* Harri so n Kathryn. The Binding Chair

Hoopes Ro y, Our Man in Washington

ldilbi Ulfal Sabri ya: Damascus Bitter

Sweet

Japrisot Sebastien, Women in Evide nce

Johnston Wayne The Colony of Unrequited Dream s Lansdale Joe R The Bottoms

Marshall James Vance White Out McGraw Milena, After Dunkirk

Me sce Bill A. Jr. and Steven G. Szilagyi, The Advocate

Montero Mayra. The Mes se nger

Murra y Earl, South of Eden

• Peters Elizabeth , He Shall Thunder in the Sl-y

Petri Romana. An Umbrian War

• Roberts Karen. The Flower Boy

Rossi Agnes. The Houseguest

Schwarz Christina, Drowning Ruth Sguiglia Eduardo, Fordlandia

Shields Joa y. The Fig Eater

Todd Charles. Legacy of the Dead

Zelitch Simone, Louisa

MULTI-PERIOD

Delelis Philippe The Last Cantata

Soueif Ahda( The Map of Love

Thurston Carol, The Eye of Hom s

• Wallace Christopher. The Pied Piper's Poison

FANTASY

Isidore Sarah , The Daughters of Bast: Shrine of Light

King Robert J. Mad Merlin

Marley Louise , The Glass Harmonica

* Mitchison Naomi. To the Chapel

Perilous

Parker Mark_ X-Calibre

Roberts Dorothy James. Kinsmen of the Grail

NON-FICTION

Mitford Nancy, Voltaire [n Love

I

UK TITLES IIL___FIRS_T_CE_NTUR__Y_B_C~

LAST SEEN IN MASSJLIA, Steven Saylor.

Titles are classified by period and then alphabetically by author surname.

ANCIENT EGYPT

THE WISE WOMAN

Christian Jacq , Simon & Schuster, £IO , pb, 440pp, ISBN O684 866293

The Place of Truth is a place of secrets on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes and no outsider is allowed into the village of the Brotherhood: the craftsmen who construct and decorate the royal tombs for the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. Jacq's latest novel , and second in the Stone of Light series, begins as the 70 day mummification process following the death of Ramses the Great is nearing completion.

Nefer the Silent, Master of the Brotherhood, and his wife the Wise Woman Ubekhet , cannot conceal their anxiety as to whether Meneptah, now pharaoh., will continue to maintain the village and its workers in the face of new challenges to ancient traditions. Evil forces are at work in the guise of Mehy , Chief Treasurer and leader of the armed forces of Thebes , and his wife , Serketa, who want to learn the secret of the Stone of Light and with this knowledge gain control of all Egypt. The mystery remains as to how the tombs were lit and Jacq entices the reader into believing that he may know the answer.

However I find his writing disjointed and it is easy to spot where research joins the story There are chunks of the novel that are jejune. There have been changes in translators throughout his series of Ancient Egyptian novels which commenced with the Ramses series , and this may explain the lack of cohesion and literary content. The characters of the craftsmen and their families lack depth and clarity of observation . There is a traitor in the village working to bring about the downfall of Nefer the Silent; but over the ten year period of the story we are no nearer to discovering his identity. Christian Jacq is one of France's leading Egyptologists but in The Wise Woman he reaches into the realms of fantasy.

Gwen Sly

Constable and Robinson, £15.99, hb October 2000. ISBN 1-84119-166-3. 304pp. This novel is set during the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. The year is 49BC. The ageing Gordianus receives an anonvmous message stating that his adopted son •Meto, Caesar's double agent in the Pompeian camp. is dead. How accurate is the message? Gordianu, accompanied by his son-in-law and former slave, Davus, leaves Rome to find out the truth. His journey leads him to the Pompeian controlled seaport of Massilia which is besieged by Caesar's legions

Gordianus •s investigations draw him into the intrigues of exiled Romans and duplicitous Massilians. He is constantly frustrated in his efforts to find out what has actually happened to Meto. Is he really dead? The plot thickens when Gordianus

Steven Saylor demonstrates considerable imaginative story-telling ability combined with unobtrusive scholarship in presenting intricate historical detail. His enthusiasm is infectious. The twists and turns of the plot are unravelled in an easy-to-read manner. and intrigue, mystery and passion are very ably blended.

Dr Ken Cosgrove

BIBLICAL

ACCORDING TO MARY

Marianne Fredriksson , Orion, 2000. £9.99. trade pb , 222pp , ISBN O 75282 543 7 'Man creates God in his own image," says one of the characters in this novel which is set several years after the death of Jesus

Mary Magdalene is now married to a Greek Christian. One day. she meets her old friend , Simon Peter preaching in Antioch where she now lives. She also meets Paul. who is collecting stories about Jesus She soon realises he has no intention of recording anything she has to say about Jesus . Mary decides to record her version of events before it is forgotten.

Marianne Frederikkson is not the first writer to be fascinated by the elusive Mary Magdalene Her Mary is orphaned in a Roman massacre and ' adopted" by an elegant and refined brothel owner who makes sure Mary learns classical Latin and Greek but has no qualms in allowing her to ply the trade that goes on (very decorously, of course) on the premises. Somehow Mary blossoms into a sweet, beautiful, intelligent and learned woman, although she often talks like an

ingenue. Then on a trip to Judeah she meets Jesus and becomes his lover . Because I have so much enjoyed this author's previous novels, I was disappointed by the lack-lustre tone of this one. I can ·t tell whether to blame the author or translator. Either way the language is simplistic, almost child-like and repetitive. When Mary hears that a good friend worships a goddess, she thinks. A goddess. tha1 was truly terrible Most of the dialogue is at this simplistic level. There are many excellent explorations of Mary"s life and character, both fictional and non-fictional. This. alas , is not one of them

Sally Zigmond

FIRST CENTIJRY AD

TIBERIUS: RELUCTANT CAESAR George Vass. Minerva Press. 2000. £20.99 , pb, 6 I 2pp. ISBN 0- 75410-848-1

Tiberius. first rejected then designated successor to Augustus as Emperor of Rome. is often depicted as a depraved monster. but George Yass's portrayal is much more sympathetic. His Tiberius is loyal. conscientious , firm but not harsh, a first-rate general and an able administrator whose major faults were a lack of the common touch and of the manipulative political skills that would have prevented others exploiting him The proscriptions and executions he ordered were for the public good. He would have reinstated the Republic and restored the Senate's power but for the inadequacies of the ruling classwhere have we heard these excuses before? This book is essentially biographical faction rather than fictional drama. and less exciting than. say. Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series. It is easy to read and based on sound historical research which doesn't intrude unduly But Yass's Rome is somewhat sanitised, \\-ith the violence of war. conquest and gladiatorial contests underplayed And there are two major faults. probably the publisher's not the author's For a paperback. it's very expensive. and apart from a limited genealogy , there are no aids to assist readers unfamiliar with Roman history A map , 'dramatis personae' , and glossary of key terms and events would have made Tiberius's career much easier to trace.

Dr Ken Cosgrove

OLD BONES

David Wishart , Hodder & Stoughton, 2000, £16.99 , hb , 288pp, ISBN 0-340-76883-5

In the latest of David Wishart's Corvinus novels , our hero is on holiday with his wife Perilla and adopted daughter, Marilla. When Marilla finds and adopts a straying mule whom she names Corydon, Marcus' stepfather,

Priscus , is accused of murder , his fingerprints all over the weapon As the victim had more enemies than the proverbial hot dinners , it can be fairly ascertained that the holiday is not going to be a restful one. The tale twists and turns and throws up a myriad of red herrings before our hero , with not a little help from Perilla, finally comes up with the solution

This is a fun book. As devotees will know , Marcus Corvinus is to David Wishart as Marlowe is to Raymond Chandler and , as stated on the cover. is becoming a cult figure on the historical crime fiction scene.

Marily n Sherlock

NINTH CENTURY

SEASON OF THE SUN

Catherine Coulter. Severn House 2000. £ 17 99 384pp , hb , ISBN O 7278 5544 I Zarabeth is red-haired and Irish , living in York with her step-father Olav in the days when the Danes controlled this part of England and King Alfred held the south Trader Vikings are frequent visitors to York and one of them , Magnus Haraldsson determines to haYe her for his wife as soon as he lays eyes on her She warms to his commanding ways , much to the displeasure of Olav who also desires her , (along with every man who has ever seen her) Strong and intelligent, Zarabeth could deal easily enough with Olav , were it not for her beloved little sister Lotti , who is deaf. This is her only weakness. used against her time after time by men half-crazed by her rejection of their advances and women half-crazed with jealousy Falsely accused , she falls into disgrace and slavery In slavery she comes to Magnus · Norwegian farmstead. Numerous misunderstandings mar her relationship with Magnus but since fire. murder rape and kidnapping cannot distract them from their mutual obsession, the final outcome is never in doubt.

Ms Coulter writes fluentl y enough and the story moves quickly and easily though the numerous modem Americanisms undermine any sense of history The image of Zarabeth in soft shades of pink with a white leather belt is straight out of Dynasty.

Anne Malone y

I MEDIEVAL (GENERAL) I

GERTRUDE AND CLAUDIUS , John Updike, Hamish Hamilton , £16 .99. hb 2000 , ISBN 0-241-14097-8 212pp

Most people know the plot of Shakespeare's Hamlet: yo ung prince seeks revenge against his fratricidal uncle ln this novel Updike fills

in the events leading up to the action of the play

The narrative is divided into three parts . The first deals with Gertrude's marriage and motherhood. The second charts her growing infatuation with Claudius. The third outlines her remarriage and the return of Hamlet. Updike has based his plot , in part , on the ancient texts that detailed the original stories of Hamlet. In doing so he has produced a richly atmospheric novel, which in no way distorts the text of Shakespeare's play By using different character names in each section - Gerutha develops into Geruthe and ends as Gertrude - the author has cleverly underlined both the passage of time and the evolution of legends Whereas Shakespeare concentrated on Hamlet and only sketched in Gertrude and Claudius , Updike redresses the balance Thankfully Updike has arnided introducing overtly Shakespearean style language and dialogue , preferring to suggest a period flavour more subtly Gertrude and Claudius are strongly and sympathetically drawn Hamlet on the contrary is malicious and spoilt , making it especially poignant that the novel ends with Claudius thinking : 'He had gotten away with it. All would be well.' The reader can onl y wince at how wrong he is . Sara Wilson

ELEVENTH CENTURY

THE SEA ROAD

Margaret Elphinstone, Canongate 2000 , £9. 99, pb , 244pp, ISBN 1-84195-051-3 1n July 1051 a monk . Agnar Asleifsson , is commanded by Cardinal Hildebrand in Rome to meet with an elderly woman , Gudrid , and write her story Thus we learn of a life beginning in a far corner of the known world : Iceland. where the old Viking gods sit uncomfortably beside the new Christian faith and the ghosts of the ancestors still have power of the minds of men Gudrid's life has been full of adventure , during which she has travelled the sea road with her warrior kinsmen and discovered Vinland , North America She has met with savages and strange beasts , survived disease and disaster with stoicism and now she is ready to tell her tale But this is no simple retelling of history ; rather it is a true Icelandic saga complete with magic, heroism and violence.

So many historical novels are peopled with modern thinkers in period costume, but not The Sea Road All the characters are completely of their time and their era is absolutely convincing Their thoughts and actions have such a ring of truth that a keen sense of realism is maintained throughout.

It is a pleasure to read that rare and wonderful thing - a book that lets you step into the past.

Sara Wilson

!TWELFTH CENTURY!

ASHES OF THE ELEMENTS

Alys Clare, NEL , 2000 , £6 99 , pb , 404pp , ISBN 0-340- 73934-7

ln this second Hawkenlye mystery , Abbess Helewise of Hawkenlye teams up with the knight Josse d'Acquin to investigate a murder When a poacher is killed on the edge of the Wealden forest after felling an oak: , it seems an ancient superstition has been confirmed. It's a gripping tale , though the author contains the mystery between two 'bookends' for the purpose of expounding the historical background Within these , she introduces characters who have no relevance to the main story. The facts are interesting, but could with profit have been introduced in the main narrative . Although she uses modem, occasionally idiomatic English, she successfully sets the period by actions , thoughts and description Worthy of comparison with Ellis Peters's Cadfael books , this is a medieval mystery simply but effectively told

Monica Mapl e DEFY NOT THE HEART

Johanna Lindsey , Severn House , £17.99, hb , 41 lpp , ISBN 0727 5546 8

Reina ' s father dies before her marriage plans are finalised and she is left to make her own choice between three candidates. As the heiress to Claydon Castle, the sole criterion is who would be the best guardian of the estates 1n the event , she chooses a fourth man , Ranulph , a bastard knight who , being landless is likely to put the inheritance first. Thereafter the story evolves around their relationship Reina is ' feisty · and has written into the marriage contract that her husband shall not beat her. Ranulph is virile although unused to the finer feelings of women of breeding - and Reina campaigns to get more fun from the marriage bed

Set in 1192 , this story has a very strong sense of time and place This not being a period I know much about I believed in its authenticity , and the author gives us much detail. Perhaps overuse of contemporary language detracted a little from the events - as per the description of the couple ' s horses as a destrier and a palfrey That said , 1 read this book as bedtime reading and to its credit it stood the test of long gaps , including a two week holiday break A good , escapist read . Janet Mary Tomson

TIIlRTEENTH CENTURY

WILLIAM WALLACE - CHAMPION OF SCOTLAND

Margaret Wallace, Goblinshead, 1999 , £6.95 , pb , 236pp , ISBN 1-899874-19-4

In this brave retelling of the life of William Wallace , Scotland's hero of the Wars of Independence, Margaret Wallace has taken a very complex and largely undocumented period of history and made it very accessible. The story takes us from the death of King Alexander III to Wallace's _ execution at Smithfield, where he became that most difficult thing to defeat - a martyr hero. The style is one of dramatised fact, but I found the book very readable (except for the constricted print spacing) and strictly accurate An excellent introduction to this period, told in simple language

Mai read McKerracher

FOURTEENTH CENTURY

THECORNERTHATHELDTHEM

Sylvia Townsend Warner , Virago Modem Classics , 2000 (First published 1948) £7 99 , pb , 3 IOpp , ISBN 0-86068-878-X

The setting for this book is a small 14th century convent called Oby, located in a hidden comer of the fenlands of Norfolk. The narrative is simply an account of life in the convent from April 1349 to March 1382 , meandering and apparently purposeless as the Waxle Stream beside which the convent stands. It tells of the prioresses, nuns and novices who inhabit it over the years, their frustrations , triumphs and sorrows, their petty rivalries and jealousies, their sheer worldliness ; and of the nun's priest upon whom they rely for their spiritual health -a man with a secret he dare not disclose and which dies with him.

The book is worth reading for the pleasure of the writing itself and also for the truths it contains

This is not a book for those who desire a strong story with a happy ending - this ending simply peters out with nothing resolved. But for those interested in medieval history , excellent writing and the study of human nature , it is a must. The Sunday Times regarded it as 'spellbinding' I would not go quite so far as that, but I did find it fascinating and enjoyable .

Monica Maple

COURTING FAVOUR

Nigel Tranter, Hodder & Stoughton, 2000 , £16.99 , hb, 330pp , ISBN 0-340-73925-8

At 22, the younger son of the Earl of Dunbar and March is surprisingly given an earldom at his father's death. His mother sees potential in her son John and presents him with the earldom of Moray , hers to bestow. Beginning during the last years of David II's reign , this novel sees the young nobleman through the numerous errands he makes on behalf of King David and his successors : the wise yet ageing Robert II, whose daughter John marries , and his son, the weak and ineffectual Robert III Most notably, John must negotiate on Scotland's behalf with England's John of Gaunt in order to stop Scots/English border warfare.

John Earl of Moray is nowhere near as colourful or ambitious as other Tranter male protagonists , like the Master of Gray Reading Courting Favour , one gets the impression that our hero was pushed rather reluctantly into the political arena: he acts dutifully but without any particular enthusiasm .

As always , though , Tranter's impeccable research and love for his native land shine through. My one complaint is that the novel is rather long on narrative and short on dialogue. at least in comparison to his previous tales , but this didn't prevent me from thoroughly enjoying the story

Sarah L. Nesbeitt

FIFTEENTH CENTURY

RULING AMBITION

Robert Hume , Gee & Son , £7 99 , pb , 208pp ISBN O 7074 0336 7

This is the story of Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the English throne, following the events of Bosworth Field and the rise to power of Henry Tudor. Narrated by Warbeck himself, it tells of the struggle by the Yorkists to put one of their own back on the throne and the schooling he undertook to fit himself for the task of impersonating Richard, Duke of York , the younger of the Princes in the Tower. From being a Flemish clothmaker's apprentice, it follows the events which lead him from Burgundy to Scotland and marriage , to Ireland and finally into England and ends with his execution at the hands of Henry VII.

I found Robert Hume·s style of writing heavy going in places It tended to suffer from over-writing in places. But for all that the story , as told , was very plausible and was certainly a refreshing change from the usual novels of this period which support , uncompromisingly , either Richard or Henry

Marilyn Sherlock

THE JUSTIFICATION OF JOHAN GUTENBERG

Blake Morrison Chatto & Windus

HB 257pp ISBN O701 16965 6

£14.99

Very few concrete facts are available about Johann Gutenberg who in 1400 invented the method of printing with moveable metal type which remained in use until the American invention of the linotype machine in 1884 . The date of Gutenberg's birth is uncertain None of his printed works bear his name ; no portrait was ever made of him The little known about him has been deduced by scholars reading between the lines of a handful oflegal documents. For all that , after his death in 1468 the art of printing spread rapidly across Europe. By the end of the 15th century it is estimated that as many as 20 million books had been printed, more than all those produced by the scribes of Europe in the previous I 500 years

This story is dictated by Gutenberg as an old man looking back over his life. The exasperating, endearing Gutenberg was a driven man, unable to sustain relationships , ruthlessly charming, a con man ; possibly not above stealing other's ideas, but above all , a man of vision

Nobody knows ifhe suddenly had the idea to make 'artificial writing' or if it was a gradual realisation that it could be done. The second half of this superb book deals with his battles to build a printing press and to finance the proceedings while keeping the process a secret. Not everyone approved. Should the Word of God be wrested from the ink-y fingers of the Church and ordinary people be allowed to read the Bible? At home?

In the end Gutenberg was cheated by his business partner, Fust, who took the presses and opened the first ever printshop himself. There is justice in the world though , and once the 'secret' of artificial writing was out , nobody not even Fust. could monopolise it. High recommended

Val Whitmarsh

I SIXTEENTH CENTURY I

GUAVAS THE TINNER

Sabine Baring-Gould, Pra,xis Books , 2000 , £7 50 , pb 178 pp , ISBN 0952842068

Here is another long-overdue reprint of a Baring-Gould classic tale of Devon This time he has set it during the reign of Elizabeth I when the arcane and esoteric Stannary laws and customs of the Middle Ages were giving way to a more modem approach and there was more tin being found in Cornwall than Devon

To the fiercely local-minded bourne of the tinners comes one Eldad Guavas from Cornwall and he instantly makes himself

unpopular. When the book opens on the obligatory dark and stormy night Guavas has fallen foul of the law and has been semi-crucified - nailed by one hand to a post. He is rescued by the dark and smouldering lsolt who wants him for her O"-TI , but what about the fresh and pretty Lemonday, whose father found an even richer claim before he died?

A semi-tame wolf, pixy-haunted mines , immortal ravens , bizarre local customs and Stannaty history make up the rich tapestty of this fast-paced novella. Baring-Gould ' s novel influenced Conan Doyle to write the most famous Dartmoor story of all and his exhaustive store of West Count!)' lore makes for a fascinating glimpse into the past.

Available from : Praxis Books , Crossways Cottage, Walterstone , Herefordshire HR2 0DX

Rachel A Hyde

THE SIXTH WIFE

Jean Plaidy , Robert Hale , 2000 (previously published 1953), £16.99 , hb, 252pp, ISBN 0- 7090-6641-4

The King's conscience, alongside his sexual appetite , is renowned throughout the England of 1542 . When, following the execution of Catherine Howard, his sights become fixed on newly widowed Catherine Parr, no one gainsays him and so she finds herself married to Henry VIII whilst deeply in love with Thomas Seymour Her life from thenceforth lived in perpetual terror of the axe Henry has degenerated into a parody of his former self, suffering from dropsy and ulcerous legs that only Catherine is able to soothe. This ensures that in the first months of their marriage, Henry chooses to ignore those who warn him of the Queen's preoccupation with the new religious teachings. But when there is no sign of an heir to the throne , his feelings for her become jaded and Catherine's mental well-being is in the hands of an increasingly capricious despot.

As the Machiavellian activities of Thomas Wriothesley, Richard Rich and Bishop Gardiner oil their way across history's pages , the chance finding of a piece of paper ruins their plans regarding the Queen On Henry's death Catherine is free to marry Thomas Seymour - so why does she die six weeks after giving birth to a healthy baby daughter?

Jean Plaidy was a prolific historical novelist whose research continues to give the reader an informed perception of what life was like at the European courts and the very real power over life and death which these monarchs enjoyed.

Thelma Cox

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

AN HONOURABLE MAN

Helen Cannam, Severn House , 2000, £16 .99 , hb , 189pp , ISBN O 7278 5478 X

This is an historical romance, in the reign of James l , set in the shadow of the Tower and the scaffold. Philip Blount, charged with high treason , is imprisoned on suspicion of his involvement in Gunpowder Plot. His fiancee , Honoria Somervell , appeals for help to Sir Gavin Hamilton, a handsome courtier and the King's favourite. Sir Gavin ruthlessly demands ' You will come to my bed, tonight and every night , for as long as I require - until Master Blount is frcel' This is an early novel , now reprinted and is easily readable - perhaps too easily - for I felt that the problems were at times too quickly resolved and could have been built up to better effect by descriptions of the inside of the Tower and the horrifying executions that took place

The novel accurately portrays the dramatic events of the time and the terror of everyone who suffered religious persecution. It is without any doubt a page-turner.

Jane Hill

UNNATURAL FIRE

Fi.delis Morgan, Harper Collins , £9.99 pb

ISBN O 00 232695 7

This is a murder mystery set in the arcane world of alchemy at the tum of the seventeenth century and features the Countess Anastasia Ashby de la Zouche , Baroness Penge , Countess of Clapham Ashby , as she likes to be called, (better than Nasty) She is down on her luck these days, although she was once a mistress of King Charles II She seizes upon the idea of buying her way out of prison by writing scandal stories for broadsheet publication It could become a ' nice little earner· for the aged countess and her busty maid Alpiew but then they are offered a more tantalising prospect. An angry wife asks them to follow her adulterous husband, Beau Wilson. a trail which takes them all over London . Something very suspicious is going on and before long they find themselves investigating a murder. They must move fast to save the life of an innocent woman and only a deeper understanding of alchemy can bring them to the truth.

This is a fast moving story, well and economically told. The author, Fidelis Morgan, collaborated with Lynda la Plante on the TV series, Killer Net , so it is not surprising to find that this novel has a strong televisual quality. Amongst a wide range of lively and well realised characters, the comical countess and her resourceful friend

and maidservant Alpiew stand out. I can only hope we shall hear more of them.

Anne Maloney

THE BONE HOUSE

Betsy Tobin, Headline Review , 2000 , £10 , hb , 280pp , ISBN 0-7472-7225-5

The year is 1603, the setting an English village , the climate cold, the atmosphere one of superstition and fear of witchcraft . This is the story of two very different women Dora , the voluptuous and charismatic prostitute who came from across the sea and lived by her own rules , is dead when the novel opens The narrator is a young servant at the Great House and the illegitimate daughter of the village midwife Dora's strange death in an icy ravine affects the whole village Her absence haunts this book. Was her death an accident? Who robbed her grave and why? What does the portrait painter from Flanders , who is working at the Great House , know of her past? ln striving to answer the questions surrounding Dora's death , the narrator learns the truth about her own parenthood and uncovers a terrible secret.

The story is engrossing , the characters well drawn and the writing wonderful 'Bone house' is an Elizabethan term meaning 'the body', and Betsy Tobin says that her plot turns on the notion 'that in 1603 matters of the flesh (beauty, size , deformity , decrepitude) shaped not only who we were, but what would befall us.' Her use of language made me feel what it would have been like to live at that time and among the people of her novel.

Jeanne Fielder

EIGIITEENTH CENTURY

THE GRAND TOUR

Ann Barker, Robert Hale , 2000 , £17 99 , hb , 223 pp, ISBN 0- 7090-6652X

Flora Chayter, employed as governess to Lord Craythome's niece , is dismissed when Craythome discovers her in what he considers to be compromising circumstances Flora agrees to travel to Venice as companion to her friend But not until they land in France does she learn that Craythome is to be their escort across 18th-century Europe

This is a Regency-type novel. After the dramatic opening , there is an abundance of misunderstandings to keep the hero and heroine apart. The use of the Grand Tour as a background to their story is an interesting departure from the usual settings of this genre and I would have liked more description of it. An undemanding read.

Jeanne Fielder

THE HOUSE OF SIGHT AND SHADOW

Nicholas Griffm , Little BrO\m, £16 99 , hb. 343 pp ISBN 0 3 I 6 85444 I

It is London in the early 18th century and Joseph Bendix returns from Paris where he has been studying medicine Distracted by an ill fated love affair and burdened by debt , he becomes apprenticed to a wealthy but somewhat reclusive doctor who has made his fortune by radical and innovative surgery Bendix is desperate to learn all he can and sets aside his own theories to concentrate upon the doctor's established practices He soon fmds himself in the unsavoury world of thief takers , graverobbing and anatomical experimentation

This was a darn good read. Especially if you enjoy a descriptive realism in dirt , disease , murk--y characters who really existed and all the associated low life grime and crime that has always enriched our cities . I unashamedly do enjoy this kind of thing and was swept along with the story from page one . It kept going and rarely slowed down, although there was no obvious sense of haste There was romance and tenderness to counterbalance the gloom of Newgate and the stench of fermenting bodies But, I am pleased to say, in a moderate and not the least slushy or sentimental way (which would otherwise have ruined the grit and weakened the atmosphere) The ending was cleverly unexpected too , which is always a bonus. If you like a book with guts (in this case literally!) - you will certainly want to read this one

Bronwen Harrison

A CONSPIRACY OF PAPER

David Liss Abacus £10 .99 , pb , 504pp ISBN 0 349 11354 8

In this book we meet Benjamin Weaver in a brutal, crime infested early 18th century London Benjamin is a Jew, a retired pugilist, an outsider hired by London's gentry to travel through the criminal underworld in pursuit of debtors and thieves . He becomes involved with an investigation into the murder of his estranged father , a notorious stock-jobber. Finding himself sucked into the world of British fmance where an intricate web of deception awaits him , his detective work opens an unpleasant can of worms

This is a detective novel and a story about the roots of modem-day finance When I first started the book my initial impression was that it was going to be 'a bit Mickey Spillane'! However, I am happy to say this impression was entirely false and quickly dispelled

Reading the story I often wondered why Weaver could be engaged upon detective work when he was so obviously more comfortable thinking with his fists. Not that he seemed unintelligent but the world he was plunged into was too complex and alien. This gave rise

to a vague sense of buffoonery , too subtle to be described And his lack of sophistication and understanding was very appealing and human

The mystery of the story was very well played out with many a twist and turn of the plot. It certainly kept up the suspense throughout and it was not a book that let the attention wander. It also came across as well researched. particularly in the minor details It felt right. It was great to meet some familiar acquaintances too in Jonathan Wild , Thief Taker General and Wild's right-hand man, Abraham Mendes - (someone should write a book about him too - how about it Mr Liss?) _ Bronwen Harri s on

PLEASURES OF THE FLESH

Laurence Haloche. Translated from the French by Rory Mulholland Pan. 2000. £6 99 pb , 266pp , ISBN 0 330 35351 9 Life's a bitch for little Malvina Rayna!. Her mummy and daddy have been up to no good and are being hanged for their sins. So Malvina's got to make her own way in the world now. All she has left of her mother is a piece of blue cloth which she carries with her as a comforter. But always the black shadows of the past are closing in Can she really escape from her true self?

Time moves on. By 1777 she has grown into a beauty. Fate has taken her to Paris , a perverse city , dangerously seductive Here she learns of mortuary cuisine: 'The acolytes of the marquis de Sade helped Malvina discover food that excited the brain and heightened desire ... "Cannibalism always gives me such an erection!' said the comte de Pressac. Well, he would, wouldn't he? And there's more. Plenty of tongue action. Magic pastilles that cure every ailment. Altogether a deliciously disgusting read with touches of Moulin Rouge and France's answer to the Hellfire Club A disturbing Gothic novel , which didn't seduce me enough to make me want to go and take a bite out of my husband I think I'll stick to good old mint imperials ... and I don't want to spoil the ending for you but it's bleak , folks!

Sarah Crabtree

MORGAN'S RUN

Colleen McCullough , Century, 2000 , £17 99 , hb , ISBN 0 7126 8046 2 Morgan's Run is one of those incredible stories that prove that truth is stranger than fiction When Colleen McCullough married Ric Robinson on Norfolk Island in 1984 she little knew that Ric was descended not only from Richard Morgan , a transportee on the first ever penal fleet to Australia but also from Fletcher Christian of the infamous HMS Bounty - bloodlines that met in the mid-19th

century on a speck of an island in the Pacific There was a long-standing family tradition about Richard Morgan and tracking down his history and his fate became a compelling detective story

The novel , based extensively on extant records and letters , as well as oral tradition is equally compelling How on earth did a man of Richard Morgan's position and social standing , a Bristol man with rnting rights. come to be a convicted felon on the first transport to Botany Bay? How did he survive ? Come to that how did any of them survive?

McCullough's portrayal of the brutal and remorseless machine that was 18th century justice and the horror and corruption of a penal system hardly different from slavery is a dramatic and thought provoking read It is a story of endurance and survival. friendship and feud God forbid that I should ever find myself cast away on an alien shore - but if I did. I would like someone like Richard Morgan to be with me Highly recommended.

Towse Harrison

MARTHA PEAKE

Patrick McGrath, Viking , 2000 , £12 99, hb , 340pp , ISBN 0-670-89128-2

William Tree summons his nephew, Ambrose , lo Drogo Hall and there the old man gradually reveals to him the story of Martha Peake and her father. Harry.

Harry Peake is a hard drinking , wild living smuggler until an accident renders him crippled, in mind and body He takes his young daughter to London and there he becomes a poet , eking out a living in a Cripplegate pub Harry's excesses culminate in the rape of Martha , who escapes to America with the help of William Tree . There she marries , bears her father's child and is drawn into the American War of Independence . It is her destiny to become a great martyr and to be credited with saving a revolution

In Martha Peake the reader is asked to contemplate the nature of appearance and reality and forces the conclusion that people and events should not be judged on how they look alone It is a haunting tale of human suffering and salvation

From the opening pages the novel evokes the old fashioned feel of the classic ghost story , in which two men sit by the fireside one night and frighten each other with tales of horror, a plot device that is both reassuringly familiar and yet uncommon in a contemporary novel. It is a tribute to Patrick McGrath's talent that he has made this succeed for the modem reader . There is nothing old fashioned about his prose , which is a nicely judged mix of evocative description and historically flavoured dialogue Recommended.

Sora Wilson

THE ONE THING MORE

Anne Peny , Headline , 2000 , £17.99, hb , 278 pp, ISBN 0-7472-7597-l

Anne Peny, famous for Victorian whodunits that lift the lace curtain on the shocking secrets of those repressed times, has turned to the French Revolution.

ln January l 793 the Reign of Terror is in full flood. The leaders have voted to execute the King. Celie Laurent, daughter of ardent Girondins , resides with the mysterious Bemave, St Felix and Amandine. A plot is hatched to swap the King for a look-alike but before it can be brought to fruition Bemave is murdered and they are all suspects. Who was Bemave really and why did he seem to dislike his co-conspirator St Felix? Who is the man chosen to die in the King's stead? Celie and her friend Georges (on the run from the Revolutionaries) must investigate

Where I had anticipated a delightfully springy mattress , I was presented with a saggy bed. L!fe for ordinary people is very well realised - queuing for bread, risking execution, dodging the Communards - but the story itself is too thin The denouement seems farfetched and almost an afterthought. The middle has endless descriptions of background that has already been drawn in most skilfully and where it should be as unputdownable as her Victorian novels, it is drawn out. A disappointing departure from Peny's sparkling norm.

Rachel A. Hyde

THE LIGHTNING CAGE

Alan Wall , Vintage, 2000 , £6.99 , pb , 302pp

ISBN O 099 28953 9

Christopher Bayliss has failed to be a priest, has failed to finish his thesis , has failed in his career and has lost the girl he loves But an accident that leaves him in severe pain also rejuvenates his desire to complete his work on an obscure 18th century poet, Richard Pelham, and Christopher begins his research in earnest. As the two narratives combine, scenes from Pelham ' s troubled life interweave with Bayliss ' equally turbulent life and studies But Pelham ·s story cannot be fully told without access to an elderly bookseller ' s private stock and Starnford Tewk is not inclined to just give his secrets away without asking anything in return . ln a way The Lightning Cage is a study of the nature of madness. Pelham was treated as a lunatic in Bedlam and underwent some horrendous ·cures' and Bayliss in his obsessions comes dangerously close to insanity himself. The similarities in the men ' s lives are used to highlight the differences between the excesses of the modem world and those of the eighteenth century. So while Bayliss rejects religion, Pelham clings to it;

Bayliss indulges in dope and Pelham becomes addicted to gin and laudanum; both are financial incompetents and neither can keep a relationship Most poignantly Bayliss uses electricity in a TENs machine to mask his back pain and Pelham is subjected to the horrors of the Lightning Cage - using naturally generated electricity - in an attempt to cure his madness.

Alan Wall has written a compelling literary novel , which retains its readability despite its weighty subject matter - the exploration of the human mind . The reader ' s attention is captured from the first and never waivers until the final ghoulish climax - just what did happen to Richard Pelham?

Sara Wilson

THE GUINEAMAN

Richard Woodman, Severn House , 2000 , £17 99 , hb , 216 pp , ISBN 0727855301

Richard Woodman has given sea story fans the valiant Nathaniel Drinkwater and his exploits during the Napoleonic wars Now he turns to an earlier period of naval action, the Seven Years War and introduces us to a new hero, the resourceful William Kite .

The book opens in 1755 with William Kite on the run from a murder he didn ' t commit and having to leave his home in Cumbria and seek his fortune in Liverpool. A fracas in an inn leads to him being mistaken for a doctor and getting signed on board the Enterprize as a ship's surgeon. Bound for the coast of Guinea he soon discovers that the cargo they are to take on board is slaves but as there is no way he can escape the ship he has to make the best of it and help in any way he can He falls in love with one of the Africans , a beautiful girl he nan1es Puella and she accompanies him to Antigua and a new life as a clerk. But William is to have more adventures than this , and meet a cavalcade of characters ranging from the lusty Captain Makepeace , his mysterious employer Joseph Mulgrave , social climber Mr Wentworth and the lush Dorothea But will he ever get back to England so he can see his family and clear his name?

Woodrnan has once again given his readers an eminently readable tale that manages to cram into its comparatively few pages a wealth of descriptions and happenings. This isn't a story about excess cruelty to slaves or the adventures of a protagonist who airs a lot of 20th century political and moral ideas. Instead the characters are more what you would expect to find 250 years ago, not modem folk in period dress (a mistake made in far too many historical novels) and they behave accordingly. Perhaps Kite falls on his feet a little too often for real life but stranger things have happened

and it all makes a good story. As it isn't full of references to seafaring terminology or cannons firing broadsides at the enemy it will have wider appeal than the average sea story At heart it is basically a love story and one that will appeal to either sex and all those who like a good tale well told

Rachel A Hyde

NINETEENTH CENTURY

INDIANA GOTHIC

Pope Brock, Headl.ine Review, 2000, £6.99, pb, 372pp , ISBN 0-7472-6227-6

This is a novel that not only succeeds in recreating life in the American Midwest in the late 19th century, but also explores the personal family history of its author Pope Brock had no knowledge of the dramatic events that led to the shooting of his great grandfather in l 908 , until an old aunt told him the family secret on her deathbed. Brock decided that the story was so extraordinary it deserved to be written down , so he set about researching his ancestors and piecing together a true saga of adultery and murder.

Indiana Gothic tells the tale of Ham Dillon, an ambitious young farmer who , while successfully developing a career in politics , marries a beautiful and intelligent young woman called Maggie Thompson However, Ham is slowly drawn into a passionate and dangerous affair with Maggie's married sister Allie, leading to unforeseen consequences for all concerned.

This beautifully written novel is in large part based around a real-life courtroom drama that caused a sensation back in the early years of this century. However, it is also an evocative portrayal of rural life in Indiana and Kentud.-y at a time of great social, economic and political change While advances in medical science and the building of the railroad seem to signal the arrival of the modem world, the countryside still suffers from the violent attacks of fanatical religious vigilantes. Pope Brock manages the difficult task of writing a very personal story that also encompasses the wider spirit of the age in which it is set.

Christopher Lean

DAUGHTERS OF REBECCA

Iris Gower, Bantam Press, 2000 , £16 99 hb 332pp, ISBN 0-593-04011-2

When Shanni Price's mother dies giving birth in the backstreets of Swansea it looks like Shanni herself will suffer a lifetime of poverty But along comes a saviour in the form of

Llinos Mainwaring. a local pottery owner. who takes her in and educates her.

Llinos' marriage to Joe , a man of mixed English and Native American parentage, is failing after his affair with another woman and when Dafydd Buchan comes into her life Llinos is unable to resist his seduction and so begins a passionate aiTair.

This has disastrous consequences for the Mainwaring household because Shanni herself has fallen for Buchan's charms and she knows a secret about him that could ruin them both .

This is the fourth novel of the Firebird sequence and, as in most multiple volume sagas, suffers slightly from indigestible chunks of backstory and the repetition of key events and character histories rather holds up the narrative flow Characterisation is consistent and convmcmg throughout , although none of the main characters come across sympathetically and most seem intent on satisfying their own selfish needs at the expense of their friends and family

That said it is an enjoyable if lightweight tale centred on the struggle of the poor man against the ever-increasing charges at the toll gates.

Sara Wilson

WAKE OF THE PERDIDO ST AR

Gene Hackman & Daniel Lenihan, Piatkus, £5 .99 , pb, 337pp , ISBN O 7499 3 I 75 2

Written collaboratively by a film actor and an underwater archaeologist, this has the feel of an old-fashioned historical adventure in the tradition of such 19th century masters of the genre as R L Stevenson - and none the worse for that. The hero , Jackson O'Reilly, is 17 when the book opens in 1805 . He sails with his parents from New England to Cuba on the ' Perdido Star '. Their intention is to claim the land his mother has inherited and start a new life But his parents are brutally murdered and the land confiscated Jackson is forced to take ship as a crewman upon the Star.

What follows is three years of adventure in which the ship survives a perilous passage round Cape Hom and is wrecked on a Pacific island. I have to say that I felt that the pace flagged at times in the first half However it picks up again and the story moves to a splendid climax as Jackson and the crew return to Cuba ; Jackson obsessed by thoughts of vengeance on his parents' killer. But he is now a young man of 20 and has grown up not only in the physical sense As the tale draws to its conclusion Jackson comes of age. Certainly well worth a read.

Neville Firman

A DESPERATE REMEDY

Elizabeth Hawksley , Robert Hale 2000 £17 99 , hb , 224pp , ISBN 0-7090-6728-3 1836 . Decima Wells leaves the safety of her father's house to see four giraffes being walked through the streets of London The consequences of this folly are that she is coshed and robbed. saved by Alexander Peverell , but then disowned by her father. She and Alexander foil a gang of housebreakers. help solve a family problem. and fall in love

Elizabeth Hawksley has crafted a fun and feisty novel , sure to be a hit with fans and new readers alike She has created an impressive array of three-dimensional personalities. including a heroine and hero who are both likeable and sympathetic Historical touches are carefully sketched in without swamping the novel with over-the-top detailing . A fast moving plot , strong motivations and deft touches of humour make this a real old-fashioned page-turner.

Sara Wilson

THE FAR SIDE OF A KISS

Anne Haverty, Chatto & Windus , £12 99. hb. 24lpp , ISBN O 7011 6955 9

In 1823 William Hazlitt scandalised the literary world with his book. Liber Amoris, in which he described the great passion of his life , Sarah Walker, whose family ran the boarding house in London where he lived This is Sarah's version of events

From the day of ms arrival at the boarding house Hazlitt, a middle aged man , begins his long and gradual process of seducing a young and rather naive girl. Encouraged to 'be nice' Sarah finds herself not experienced enough to stop Hazlitt's advances . Hazlitt , hopelessly in love , goes off to Scotland to obtain a divorce . Sarah insists she has not agreed to marry him Hazlitt ruins Sarah's name with the scandal and her chances of a respectable marriage.

Sarah comes over as a rather silly girl , young for her years and not good at standing up for herself. She is , however , loveable and funny and the way she talks about Hazlitt, her family and the other boarders is most endearing She protests her innocence throughout , perhaps a little too much But she certainly doesn't deserve to become the object of shame that is her destiny Hazlitt, on the other hand, seems to be a deranged and dangerous obsessive whose passion selfishly destroys the one he is supposed to love He, of course, gets away with it.

The book is well written , with a light touch and effectively explores the social mores of early 19th century London

Amanda Statham

THE 1001 NIGHTS OF DRUMMER DONALD MACLEOD

Harry Hopkins , Canongate, 2000 , £9 99 , pb , 430pp , ISBN 0-86241-890-9

Donald Macleod was born on the Isle of SJ...-ye and grew up on the family croft. droving cattle to market at Falkirk with his brothers . From there he enlists in the army and fmds himself caught up in the Napoleonic wars in Egypt. Following a disastrous defeat , he is captured, enslaved and put to work as a doctor. Liberation comes and he converts from the Catholic faith of his family to Islam and goes on pilgrimage to Mecca The story also includes the opening of the Suez Canal and the P),Tarnid of Giza

The book is a mixture of fact and fiction . Donald Macleod was a Highlander and did go to Egypt and fight with the Ross-shire Buffs Little is known about him and this has enabled Harry Hopkins to use his imagination , fill in the gaps and produce a fascinating story of life in Egypt at the beginning of the 19th century

Of the Egyptian campaigns I knew very little and found myself, as a result , totally absorbed in the story The midnight oil was well and truly burned as I read on.

Marilyn Sherlock

RIVERS OF THE HEART

Audrey Howard, Hodder & Stoughton. 2000 , £5.99, pb, 407pp, ISBN 0-340-76965-3 Kitty , who should be an obnoxious heroine because she is outrageous , headstrong and selfish, nevertheless comes to life from page I. compelling our interest and sympathy. Heartbroken when the man she intends to marry chooses her more feminine sister, in a fit of pique Kitty marries wealthy Ben Maddox without loving him The marriage falters , Kitty goes her own way and causes a tragic accident which drives them further apart . In 1988 Audrey Howard won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award with The Juniper Bush , and has deservedly become a best-selling author with her Lancashire novels. This one, unlike most Liverpool sagas with their emphasis on struggles against poverty, shows the social life of both the industrial class and a section of the local gentry during the latter years of the nineteenth century Most enjoyable .

Marina Oliver

BONAPARTE'S WARRIORS

Richard Howard , Little Brown, £15.99 , hb , 314pp ISBN 0-316-85053-5

This is the fourth in this series following the adventures of Alain Lausard and his unit of dragoons in Napoleon's army. This story covers September 1803 to December 1805. This was a tumultuous period that included

Napoleon crowning himself Emperor of France, the abortive French attempt to invade Britain thwarted by Nelson's victory at Trafalgar and culminating in Napoleon's brilliant victory at the Battle of Austerlitz The reader follows these events from the parallel perspectives of Lausard, an aristocrat turned thief turned soldier, and Napoleon himself.

Personally I thought this a better book than the previous two in the series, Bonaparte 's Invaders and Bonaparte 's Conquerers , because he gives a greater depth to his two principle players.

The action , particularly the epic encounter at Austerlitz , is excellent. Combat is something Howard is very good at. He presents an exciting and realistic view of a brutal business His research 1s also exceptional. So I can forgive a minor error that should have been picked up in the editing process - the French Imperial Guard existing two months before Napoleon is crowned as Emperor. Overall a highly entertaining read. If you enjoy the likes of Sharpe, Hornblower and Bolitho then give Richard Howard a try.

Graham Harrison

LANCASHIRE LASS

Anna Jacobs, Hodder & Stoughton, 2000 , £17.99 , hb , 403pp , ISBN 0-340-74826-5

Raped by the brutish widower she refused to marry, spirited young Liza takes passage for Australia. On board ship , she meets Josiah and his wife Caroline, and when Liza finds herself pregnant, Caroline, who is dying , makes a decision that will crucially affect both Liza and Josiah. Despite the inevitable hardships , Liza is excited by what mid-19th century Australia has to offer, but her Lancashire past is waiting to catch up with her.

This is a well-told, well-paced story, but somewhat lacks the description and atmosphere that would have made the settings come alive.

Sarah Cuthbertson

OGILVIE UNDER FIRE

Philip McCutchan, Severn House , £17.99, hb , ISBN O 7278 5541 7

This is the fifth book in the series featuring Captain James Ogilvie of the 114th Queen's Own Royal Strathspeys The action takes place in Kalundabad in the time of the British Raj.

Philip McCutchan does an excellent job of breathing life into characters and situations

The descriptions of the disease-filled city , the undercurrents of mutiny in the rank and file, the personal animosity between officers, all add vivid colour to a story that grips the attention from start to finish.

Celia Ellis

AHAB'S WIFE or The Star Gazer

Sena Jeter Naslund, The Women ' s Press , 2000 , £12.99, hb, ISBN 0749003650

For review see US/Can section

THE MUMMY CASE

Elizabeth Peters , Robinson , US 1985 , UK 2000 , £6 99 , pb , 360pp ISBN 184119 215 5. The Mummy Case is the third in the series of the history of the redoubtable Amelia Peabody Once more, Amelia, wearing her belt hung with equipment to meet every need , has returned to Egypt with her beloved husband the renowned Professor Emerson This time, they are accompanied by their infant prodigy , Ramses. This child , whose age is never revealed , is every bit as precocious as one would expect from such parentage .

As in previous stories , Emerson has been somehow cheated of the best site in which to dig and we meet again some of his rival archaeologists - the worst, naturally , are foreigners! (How well Peters has observed the British character!) But these are not just tales about excavations among the pyramids; these are detective stories with a difference. So it is not long after their arrival in Egypt that Amelia becomes involved in a murder mystery which is to lead her and her family into various scrapes (literally) before she finally solves who is 'the master criminal'.

During the unfolding of the plot , we gain knowledge about Egyptology generally, and specifically we learn something of Coptic Christianity. As always, the sheer joy of these stories lies not in the unravelling of the mystery, but in the characters, especially Amelia, sublimely confident in herself at all times. The writing is witty, the humour 'tongue in cheek' , giving the reader a sense of superiority as well as enjo)'ment.

Great mystery story this is not, fun it is. A good book to curl up with on a cold winter's day and allow oneself to be transported to the warmth of the desert.

Sheila Hardy.

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE DEVIL'S GRAIL

Barrie Roberts, Allison & Busby, 2000, £6.99 , pb, 190pp , ISBN O 7490 0470 3 It is testimony to the continuing popularity of Sherlock Holmes that several modem authors have turned their hands to writing about ' recently discovered cases '. Barrie Roberts is one such and a fine job he has made of it too.

The Devil"s Grail relates a case previously alluded to by Dr Watson in his account of The Solitary Cyclist and concerns the Virginian Colonel John Harden and his family. Harden has invented a special camera and is hoping to use it to unearth mystical

inscriptions on historical buildings in England . But a series of threats are thwarting his attempts.

Holmes soon deduces that an old adversary is behind this persecution But of course no man is a match for Holmes.

Roberts has made a convincing job of echoing the Conan Doyle style His Holmes and Watson are fairly faithful to the originals and the language he uses is sufficiently flavoured with period detail to convince without reducing the whole to an outrageous pastiche Just a couple of niggles occur Firstly it appears that this Holmes cannot tell the difference between Old English and Middle English (they are quite different) and secondly the blurb on the back refers to Colonel Harman, instead of the Harden used in the main text. These annoyances aside it is a very creditable attempt and will surely please the legion of Holmesian fans out there

Sara Wilson

WINTER WEDDING

Joan Smith, Robert Hale, 2000 , £16 .99, hb, 192 pp, ISBN 0- 7090-6573-6

This is a run of the mill Regency romp, marred by the American author's many American anachronisms. Would any Regency Buck say : 'we could ride herd on her - she won't have a chance to sheer off?' This is pure Wild West! Her grasp of Regency language is patchy. She speaks of ' nabbing an earl; bouncing off a daughter; bunking in with someone ' As a writer of Regencies , these terms are all strange to me and I fear not truly English Regency language.

However, devotees of the genre, if they can ignore these lapses, will probably enjoy a story of love and elopements told with humour.

Monica Maple

MY NAME IS MARTHA BROWN

Nicola Thome, Harper Collins, 2000, £16 99 , hb , 312pp, ISBN O00 225949-4

In 1856 a woman was sentenced for death in Dorchester for the murder of her husband. Her subsequent public hanging was witnessed by the sixteen-year old Thomas Hardy and was to have a lasting impression on him Nicola Thorne was also fascinated when she read about this tragedy and she spent a great deal of time and effort researching who this woman was and why she ended up on the scaffold. From the very few facts she managed to unearth, she has created this novel which tells Martha ' s tragic life

Thome ' s Dorset, like Hardy ' s , is one where lush countryside and harsh poverty live side by side She describes the few choices facing women in nineteenth century England and the hardships suffered in an age when

measles kills children and a man ,..,hips his wife for not having the dinner on the table the moment he returns from the pub.

Yes rm afraid all the cliches are here and Martha emerges from this novel more like the heroine of a gritty saga than a real person

In attempting to stick closel y to the ' facts ·, the narrative becomes tedious in places

Hardy remembered the sight of beautiful Martha Brown turning slowly on the rope all of his long life Out of this awful memory he created one of English literature ' s greatest noYels. Tess of the D 'Urberville s. Perhaps it was a mistake for Nicola Thome to try and compete

Sally Zigmond

!TWENTIETH CENTURYj

MY GRANDMOTHER'S EROTIC FOLKTALES

Robert Antoni , Faber and Faber. 2000. £6 .99. pb , 20lpp , ISBN 0-571-200010-9

I did not find this book an accessible read as it is written in a Caribbean patois throughout. I could discern no real plot or characters who really stand out as 3-D people , not even the commentator, a very old woman who is , allegedl y, relating some tall stories to her grandson There is almost no mention to anything that happens during W.W.II other than the British leasing land on this specific island to the Americans. The fact that these are folktales and the fact that they are mildly erotic are not disputed but frankly I would not call this a true historical novel. I really had to plough through it and did not enjoy the experience very much

THE BLIND ASSASSIN

Jan Shaw

Atwood Margaret , Bloomsbury, 2000 £16 99 , hb , 52lpp , ISBN 0-7475-4937-0

* - for review see US/Canadian section

THE FAMILY FACE

June Barraclough, Robert Hale , 2000 , £17 99 , hb , 254pp , ISBN 0- 7090-6660-0

The voices of three generations of the Bairstow family speak in this novel set between 1899 and the present. This is a light novel with some charming, if predictable, moments That does not mean that all is bathed in a rosy glow The grim truth of trench warfare during the Great War is related with empathy, but it is an unvarnished account that leaves the reader in no doubt of its effect on the young Eddie. Juliet's relationship with her sister , Alison, is well portrayed, showing the tensions and the affection between the two women. There are some charming vignettes of

family life during the 20th century. particularly the early decades Eddie's unfulfilled yearnings to be a poet are well illustrated by examples of his poetry with clever , fin de s iec/e touches A good fireside book for the winter.

Geraldine Perriam

THE LOCKET

Jessica Blair Piatkus. 2000 , £5 99 pb

ISBN O 7499 3209 0

Hull 1860 Emily Thornton , very much a New Woman, prefers to help her attorney father to being a lady of leisure. She discovers a new will of the recently deceased Mrs Walton. one which largely disinherits her son James. in favour of Elizabeth Ainslie , widow of a murdered sea captain in whose death James has been implicated But Elizabeth has disappeared

When newly-arrived detective agent , Thomas Laycock , offers Emily the chance to help with his investigations into Elizabeth's whereabouts , the scene is set for an intriguing and dangerous mystery

Jessica Blair knows how to keep the reader's attention . There are several skilfully intertwined plots and the pace never drops The strength is in the ability to keep the action moving On the down side there were a number of small social inaccuracies and the characters were never quite three dimensional for me Nevertheless. I went through the book at a gallop and I'm sure that Ms Blair's legions of fans will love it.

Elizabeth Hawksle y

WRITTEN ON THE TIDE

Julia Bryant , Hodder and Stoughton, 2000 , £17 .99 , hb , 421pp , ISBN 0-340-75107-X

In 1921 Lily Forrest waves goodbye to her sweetheart, Michael , and must wait three years before his ship returns to Portsmouth. So Written on the Tide continues the saga of the Lemon Street families begun in Waiting for the Tide Life has changed for Lily , but by the time she is reunited with Michael. she has helped friends and family through bad times and has discovered a new maturity

Julia Bryant has clearly found her voice She writes with growing confidence and maintains rhythm and pace throughout. She has peopled her story with vibrant charactersdeveloping established ones and introducing interesting new ones The strength of this novel lies in its recreation of life in the early 20th century , when the modem world was beginning to set aside the old order

Sara Wilson

AN ANGEL PASSING OVER

Alexander Connor. Harper Collins , £5 99 , pb. ISBN O 00 551 35 I 4

This book is a big read. a saga covering the years 1910 to the late 1950s It's all about two tough. gritty , north country women , a mother and daughter Dora marries without love to escape slurnland poverty , but when her daughter is a teenager she runs off to have some life of her O\m This leaves Grace to fight on her own to find love. a career and a decent life

The book's a good read , if a little clunk-y sometimes in style The use of coincidences to move the plot along sometimes strained this reader's suspension of belief and the large number of very minor characters could be\\ilder in places . although that might be my failing memory! The author has taken the time to do her research and there are many delightful little details which set the time and social mores well. Readers old enough to remember the Second World War "ill enjoy her treatment of those years The change from the grim forties to the fifties is shown with nice touches as are those problems a single working mother faced then Indeed the book could be quite an eye opener for post-sixties readers

My one real complaint would be the wa y the characters seem a little cardboard at times as they are manipulated perhaps a bit too vigorously for the plot's sake.

I prefer character motives to be well established before the characters do anything outrageous . But 'An Angel Passing Over' is a pleasant read and saga lovers are bound to enjoy it.

PDRSalmon

HORSEMAN, PASS BY

David Crackanthorpe. Headline , 1999 £9 99. pb. 313pp . ISBN 0-7472-2250-9

Set in 1975 , can this be called a historical novel ? Probably . The story is driven by the Jewish deportations of World War Two : its characters are either bent on vengeance for past deeds . or intimately linked to those who are . Bernard is a wealthy Marseilles lawyer who possesses a list of works of art stolen from Jews during the war Marion is the spoiled, wilful daughter he dotes on to obsession. Luis is her lover, who assists Bernard in recovering paintings from men who might or might not have deported to Birkenau the woman he calls his sister. This woman , Ida. is the sole reason the disabled English general Soames stays in France

When the story opens , it is clear these characters have been connected to one another for some time And since the plot is difficult to penetrate, I began to ask myself what it was all

about. But as I followed Bernard, Luis and Soames , (into a brothel , a monastery , to Liverpool , and down a shaft leading to a below-sea cavern) , I applauded the author on his clever placement of facts and events The motivations of the characters are carefully revealed., as is the ultimate point of the story To say more would be unfair to prospective readers There should be many This novel may exercise the brain, but it is well worth the perseverance

Claire Morris Bernard

THE WILD CARD

Teresa Crane, Little Brown, £17.99 , hb , 345pp , ISBN O 316 84819 0

It is the summer of 1929 and the Barker and Clough families are on holiday in Ireland We follow their fortunes though the next 16 years to VE Day.

At times I wished there were fewer characters so they could be explored in greater depth The timescale meant that the narrative often merely skimmed the surface and also included potted summaries of the war which did not contribute to the plot. Prologues can be tricky , but this one was just right: short , no plot spoilers or welter of information , simply a violent death a few months before the end of the story As I read the novel I continually wondered who was going to kill whom. There were several possible victims and people with motives for killing them The truth emerged with an interesting twist.

The title I found confusing Not once is it referred to in the novel. Reading the dust jacket having finished the novel , I found I had identified a different character from the one the author intended. An undemanding read with lots of action and chatty dialogue, but I'm afraid it left me feeling dissatisfied

Janet Hancock

FRED AND EDIE

Jill Dawson , Sceptre, 2000 , £14 99 , hb , 276pp , ISBN 0-340-75166-5 In 1922 , Edith Thompson was tried for conspiring with her lover Frederick Bywaters to murder her husband , Percy. Both were hanged This latest version of the story includes sensational newspaper reports of the time , together with extracts from the damning love letters Edie wrote to Fred , a sailor some seven years younger than herself, in which she fantasised about how they might do away with her boring , older husband, and which led to her conviction, even though it was Fred who stabbed Percy.

Edie is in Holloway awaiting trial, quite unable to accept that she is in any danger ; only gradually , as hearing leads to trial does the realisation dawn. Was Edie a silly young woman, so bored and frustrated with her

marriage that she lived in a fantasy world ? Did she reall y put ground glass in Percy's porridge, and deliberately incite Fred to murder? She was certainly out of place in between-the-wars Ilford , working full-time when most suburban women stayed at home ; fashion-conscious , indifferent to Fred being her younger sister's boyfriend Was she pregnant when she was hanged? And did she miscarry at the moment her neck was broken ? The Home Office file remains sealed until 2022

This is an excellent read I' ve never been sure whether Edith Thompson was innocent , though I think she probably was There are some interesting interpretations of the evidence which were new to me , and the author really gets inside Edie's skin in a way which brought my own skin out in goosebumps

Val Whitmarsh

THE TULIP GIRL.

Margaret Dickinson

Pan Books , 2000 , £5 99. pb , 440pp

ISBN 0-330-37686-1

Maddie March is abandoned on the steps of the local orphanage as a baby and has no idea who her parents are . Unloved and unwanted she befriends Jenny, another of the orphans , and a lifelong friendship is formed When old enough to leave she is taken on as a hired help to the housekeeper at Few Farm and quickly learns the routines of a busy farm When tragedy strikes in the form of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease followed by a devastating winter something drastic has to be done to make ends meet and tulips appear to be the answer

This is a gentle , totally predictable tale , set in the immediate post war years (WWII) in the bulb growing area of Lincolnshire Life on the farm is vividly described and the relationships between the characters are well drawn . I enjoyed the story but read on, not with the anticipation of wanting to know 'what happens next' but more in the hope that something unexpected would happen Sadly it never did Good holiday reading on a long haul flight or lazy cruise

Marilyn Sherlock

BELLOCQ'S WOMEN

Peter Everett , Jonathan Cape , 2000 , £14 99 , hb , ISBN O 224 05988 2

E J Bellocq, product of a philandering, absent father and a guilt-ridden, over-pious mother , is a misfit. He is also a photographer and here we enter the realm of fact for , in 1912 , in Storyville, the notorious red-light district of New Orleans , he took a series of photographs of the women who worked in the brothels It is from this , and from some sketchy biographical details , that Peter Everett has reconstructed Bellocq's life

Storyville's brothels and seedy bars , together with Bellocq's life - part aimless , part a desperate search for meaning - are depicted in vividly surreal images It is a world where nothing quite fits and the reader, like Bellocq himself, can only clutch at half meanings A kaleidoscope of whores , jazz musicians and small-time crooks come and go We gradually become aware that Bellocq can only see truly through the camera lens ; it is both his hold on reality and his claim to posterity

This is a book of considerable technical achievement. It is not always an easy read , but I found it a moving and haunting book.

Elizab e th Hawks l ey

KINGDOM OF SHADOWS

Alan Furst, Gollancz, 2000 , £16 99 , hb , 274PP , ISBN O 57506 837 X American author Alan Furst has a steadily growing reputation as one of the very best spy novelists of his generation Kingdom of Shadows is the latest in his series of novels set in Europe during the 1930s and World War Two It is a complex, gripping and intelligent espionage thriller that follows the fortunes of Nicholas Morath, a former Hungarian Army officer who , after being wounded in action during the First World War, has settled into a bohemian lifestyle with his mistress in Paris

In 1938 , as Hitler threatens Eastern Europe, Morath is called upon by his uncle , Count Janos Polanyl , to help avoid Hungary slipping into an alliance with Nazi Germany The country can only survive by operating in clandestine politics. Morath is drawn into a dangerous world of conspiracy , as he tries to play all sides in the enveloping conflict off against each other, thereby protecting the balance of Hungarian interests Morath travels across Europe, encountering German intelligence, SS officers and British politicians , but needs all his ingenuity to survive the deadly undercover games

Alan Furst's novels are often compared to those of John Le Carre and even Graham Greene. Kingdom of Shadows is no exception Not only does it tell a rattling good spy story , it also brilliantly recreates the Parisian life of the late 1930s and captures the essence of the dangerous , murky politics of pre-war Europe in a way that few other writers have managed If you enjoy great spy thrillers , Alan Furst should be at the top of your reading list.

Christopher Lean

BERLIN SONG

Alan Gold , Harper Collins , 2000 £6.99 ,pb , 630pp, ISBN O 00 651272 0

This is the third in a series concerning the modern-day adventures of a savvy Jewish-American lawyer. This time round Sarah Kaplan is searching for the truth behind

an innocuous document that suggests her ancestry was not all she had imagined Every time some new clue is uncovered we ' flashback ' to another set of characters in the thirties and forties , so the two stories build each other up It's a clever technique

The present da y scenes do meander a little The scenes set in the past are better The portray al of central European Jewish life in the depression is particularl y excellent, the matter-of-fact descriptions augmenting the sinister nature of the events Mr Gold also doesn ' t fall into the trap of overstating his case His villains are repellent individuals rather than mere representatives of a villainous culture. For example: a Christian mob bums one of Kaplan ' s ancestors out of her house , but later she is taken in and shown enormous kindness by Christians Suspense is carefully maintained, and the ending is in doubt right to the end . Basically it's a very nicely crafted novel , although, for me , the plot unfolded a little too slowly This is probably me being a casualty of our low attention-span society, and I certainly have no hesitation in recommending this book.

Martin Bourne

HIGH HOPES

Billy Hopkins , Headline , 2000 , £17 99 , hb , 342pp , ISBN 0-7372-7238-7

Is this a work of fiction - or an amusing chronicle of events in the life of the author? Although not as immediately gripping as some sagas , this is an entertaining story of a young man determined to raise himself from his lowly background Billy takes up his chance to train as a teacher, despite the tragic death of his best friend When he is thrown into a class of hard-bitten youngsters back home in Manchester, his flair for teaching overcomes their resentment and turns them into model pupils Enter Laura , a fellow teacher, and the book suddenl y becomes infinitel y more interesting

Excellent period detail and a sense of fun saves this from becoming dull - but should the author trul y decide to write a novel , he would surely reach a wider audience by including more of the female interest from the beginning!

Linda Sole

DEEP BLUE SILENCE

Pamela Johnson, Sceptre, 2000 , £10 00 , pb , 3 l 3pp , ISBN 0-340- 71799-8

Maddie Armitage is an artist who may be pregnant by a married lover who cares deeply for her, but she's not sure that he should be allowed any say in any decision she may feel like making There is a secret in Maddie's past which lies suspended in a deep blue silence between her and Faith, Maddie's mother Faith

could explain but deflects her daughter's every attempt to satisfy the need in her to discover what happened in the lives of the two small girls in a photograph Maddie has How , why and where was the glass shattered that Madeline has saved and is so painstakingly constructing into a sequence of sculptures for her retrospecti ve exhibition ? It will represent repressed feelings and secretsshowing how each human being has a different coping mechanism for personal disasters

False memory may also play a part

This portrayal of a successful , creative artist battling to understand her past whilst struggling with the life-changing events of the here and now with heart-rending consequences for others beside herself must tug a painful chord for anyone with an unresolved family secret. This is an unusual and haunting novel.

Th elma

Cox

THE GENERAL OF THE DEAD ARMY

, Ismail Kadare , Harvill Press , 2000 , £10 99 , pb , 264pp , ISBN I 86046 644 3

Twenty years after WWII an Italian general , accompanied by a priest , is sent to Albania to recover his country's dead Once in Albania he meets a German general on the same sad mission The task takes months , during which the generals must contend with their Albanian labourers , the hostility of viIJagers and above all the land itself.

This is a grey book : suitable perhaps for a story about the dead The harsh landscape , the rain, snow and wind, the stark buildings of a Communist state provide the background for the general's search Neither he nor the priest nor an y of the dead men are named An elegy for all young men who have been sent overseas to die in war, the story also charts the slow defeat of the Italian by the Albanians he meets and does not understand The book was written in Albanian in the I 960s This is an English translation of a French translation of the original work , yet the talent of Ismail Kadare shines through. I found it utterly convincing and just as one would imagine Albania under the rule of Enver Hoxha Though this edition is slightly marred by a number of printing errors , the clever cover photograph sets the scene for a grim , unusual , beautifully written book

Diane Johnstone

LEGACY OF SHAME

Nora Kay, Hodder & Stoughton, 2000 , £17 99 , hb , 409pp , ISBN 0-340-75150-9

Sagas tend to come in three types - gritty and edge-of-your-seat, well researched and many-layered, or famil y. This belongs firmly in the third group

Kate McPherson is ten, post-WWI , when she discovers that her mother is the mistress of

the man she knew as Uncle Edwin . Although she has no idea what this means , she understands she isn't wanted Forced to leave home after her mother's death , she lives with her Aunt Sarah, who leaves her money when she dies Like other young girls , Kate discovers the real world through an unhapp y love affair , but Aunt Ruth is always around to lend a hand and eventuall y things work out as expected . Enjoyable but not compelling

Linda Sol e

A SUlT OF LIGHTS

Chris Kell y. Hodder & Stoughton 2000 , £17 99 , hb , 278pp , ISBN 0-340-68213-2

Hugh Severin , nearly 50 , is a travel writer : 23-year-old Siobhan Herbert works in a Cambridge art gallery Their lives are changed forever when he receives her heart in a domino transplant. They promise to keep in touch and eventually Hugh trusts her enough to tell her about the disturbing , progressive dream he's had since the transplant. However Siobhan has her own problem to contend with in the shape of a stalker , a solitary young man always dressed in a white shirt and black trousers

The title is taken from the distinctive traditional dress of the matador , and as Hugh researches the material for a series of articles he comes to understand that some men will make extraordinary sacrifices to pursue their destiny. Simultaneously, events in the distant past which are mirrored in his dream become entangled in the present with disturbing consequences for both himself and Siobhan. Chris Kell y's prose in this , his second novel , is both elegant and imaginative, written with an innate 'feel' for the subject matter. His psychological understanding of his characters fleshes them into real people , helping us to understand how circumstances are able to twist a vulnerable psyche with appalling results The plotting is also excellent and the author creams his skills as a food , wine and travel broadcaster to enhance his story with authoritative detail but never with a less than deft touch

Thelma Cox

THE FISH CAN SING

Halldor Laxness (Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature) , translated from the Icelandic by Magnus Magnusson The Harvill Press £10 99 USA $15 00. pb 2000 , 246pp ISBN I 86046 687 7

We're told Icelanders are indolent. That 'barbed wire became the most desirable luxury commodity in the land for a while, next only to alcohol and cement.' To cross a barbed wire fence meant a fine of ten kronur . To young Alfgrim , an abandoned infant, brought up in the cottage of the elderly fisherman , Bjorn of Brekk"Ukot, the barbed wire is too much of a

temptation So whilst the British and the Boers are battling it out thousands of miles away, the young Icelander is about to violate the sacred barb

There is much to learn here of the customs and superstitions of a land cut off from the warfare of the British Empire Dogs are curs , cows are blessed and flies should never be slaughtered by a visitor to the house The mid-loft of Bjorn's cottage becomes the sleepover for resident guests and those on their way to a new life in America Each has a saga to unfold We learn of the concrete connection from Runolfur Jonsson , the greatest admirer of good cesspools. Previously in Iceland , cesspools had lain open and many Icelanders drowned in them So these were replaced by concrete pits. When alcohol or The Drink called, guests were expected to go away for their binges - in Jonsson's case , four times a year and a few weeks at a time - and then return when sobered up. But perhaps his greatest claim to fame was being run over by Iceland's first motor car As for young Alfgrim, when he discovers his singing voice , a whole strange new world opens up before him

A wonderful intimate portrait of Icelandic life at the beginning of the 20th Century . Sarah Crabtree POLLY'S WAR

Freda Lightfoot , Hodder & Stoughton, £5 .99 , pb , 507pp, ISBN O 340 71535 9 This book is set in Manchester in the immediate post World War Two period and tells of families who are emerging into what they hope will be easier times , and the men who come home to them or who are still ' posted missing '. Polly Pride is the central character but most of the story is seen through the lives of her son and daughter.

The writer clearly knows her Manchester well , especially the canals , warehouses , factories and humble shops and dwellings of the poor. Her historical research has been painstaking and the sense of the period is very real with an easy to read prose style However , I found it difficult to maintain interest in the unremitting tragedy and gloom which occupied the book right up to the last few pages when right finally triumphs The difficulties of the early post-war years are well portrayed but a little of the relief and hope of those times would have been welcome

Nevertheless , readers who have enjoyed Freda Lightfoot' s previous books , will , rm sure, find this a worthy successor.

Marcia J Treece

THE FALOORIE MAN

Eugene McEldowney , Headline , 2000 , £6 .99 , pb , 288pp , ISBN 0-7472-6641-7

This is a simple, well-written tale , the charming, almost nostalgic story of Martin McBride , a young Catholic boy growing up in post-war Belfast. Eugene McEldowney writes so well that the book reads like an autobiography not as fiction The house , street and inhabitants are set before the reader in delightful detail. The characters are wonderfully vi vid, and it's easy to empathise with young Martin and his struggles

My only complaint is that the last two chapters squeeze several years into two short chapters However , this is a book which takes you to the places and really gives you a feeling of Martin's life there My compliments to a writer who has the skill to do that so well.

P DR Salmon

IRIS

Jean Marsh, Pan, 2000 , £5 99 , pb , 352pp

ISBN : 0-330-48029-4

Iris is 17 and lives with her parents in Kilburn . The flat is small and tacl,.-y and Iris wants better things She wants to make money, lots of it and live in comfortable surroundings. In the London of the 50s and 60s there is one way in which a girl can do this and Iris falls into some very dangerous company. Although Iris manages her life with a certain streetwise credibility she eventually finds that the seedy underbelly of fashionable society to be extremely dangerous and painful Although Iris survives , it is at a price

This book shows a side of 50s London that a great many people may not be familiar with. The story is told in a rather abrupt fashion and tends to dart around . It is a grim tale with no particular happy ending just a story of survival , and certainly plenty of the nastier side of human nature It is however very well written and If you like grim realism this is probably for you

Mary Tucker

CONDITIONS OF FAITH

Alex Miller, Sceptre, 2000 , £14 .99 , hb , 403pp , ISBN 0-340-76666-2

Restless after her university education, Emily Stanton meets and marries Georges , an engineer of Scots/French heritage. They leave 1920s Melbourne for Paris , where Georges is consumed by his passion for bridge building. On a visit to Chartres, Emily , her restlessness unassuaged , has a brief sexual encounter with a priest and her intellectual growth recommences on a Tunisian holiday when , now pregnant , she becomes fascinated with the Christian martyr Perpetua Returning to Chartres to find the priest and give birth, she

is diagnosed with pneumonia and at this point she decides on her future . This was an unsatisfactory novel in many ways Emily' s passion is never really convincing Her reactions seem tepid in most situations and her monumental self-pity becomes rather trying. The episode with the young priest is melodramatic and his presence in the novel puzzling

It is when dealing with Emily's quest for intellectual growth and fulfilment , that the author seems most sure Emily's researches and discoveries are fascinating and it is here that she appears full y dimensional Georges' passion for his bridge is also convincing and well-detailed The consequences of his obsession are clearly drawn, as is the excitement generated by the prospect of a new bridge across Sydney Harbour On the whole , however , the novel is patchy and, like its main character, lacking fulfilment.

Geraldine Perriam

THE FAMILY AT NUMBER FIVE

Sheila Newberry , Piatkus , £17 .99 , hb , 308pp ISBN l 85018 117 9

Number 5 Kitchener Avenue means a lot of Mirry and Fred Hope. In 1932 not many young couples of their class have the confidence to undertake a mortgage But Fred is in steady employment and Mirry an excellent housekeeper They can look forward to their first baby and they have the lively company ofMirry's younger sister , Bar. This is a 15 year story of small but deepl y felt joys and sadnesses told against a background of fragile peace and inevitable large scale disaster It is crowded with characters and incident and loaded with period detail. The strongest sections recount Bar's army experiences She is such an attractive character she merits a book to herself. Mirry is inclined to whinge and Fred's sensuality needed to be more subtly conveyed This was a clear reminder of my first 'grown up' reading ; my mother's magazine serials in Good Housekeeping and Woman ; proving that Sheila Newberry has achieved authenticity.

Nancy Hen shaw

IN FOR A PENNY

Lynda Page , Headline , 2000 , £17.99 , hb , 308pp, ISBN 0-7472-2304-l

Jenny , pretty , clever and remarkably unspoilt by her upbringing , lives with her mother May in a Leicester back street, struggling to survive in 1955 May is warm , fond of drink and men , but always falls for scroungers , one of whom loses Jenny her job Then she meets Bill Wadham, who employs her. Her new boyfriend, Alan , is special, and - but I won't spoil the surprise.

The intricate plot improves after the first long-winded , scene-setting chapters. Many conversations were repetitive, and the phonetic spelling, not always accurate or consistent , irritates. It is difficult for authors writing about fairly recent times , since mistakes will be noted. Authors (and editors) should not assume today's laws and expressions were current in the 1950s 'At this moment in time' and 'having a relationship' , are modem terms. And the outcome depends on marriage law , which is inaccurately represented here

Marina Oliver

A COLD TOUCH OF ICE

Michael Pearce , Harper Collins , 2000 , £16 99 , hb , 2 I 6pp , ISBN 0 00 232697 3

This is the thirteenth in the series of detective novels to feature the Marnir Zapt, Captain Gareth Owen, the Welsh Chief of Cairo ' s Secret Police Now the setting has moved on to 1912 The British are even more in control and its rule is even more resented by the ever-growing nationalist movement.

As with all the Marnir Zapt books , Michael Pearce untangles the twists and turns of a plot in an easy-to-read, light-hearted manner. He is a first-rate story-teller with a great gift for witty dialogue Humour and insight are combined with an able , unobtrusive grasp of historical detail and scene-setting . This book can be enjoyed without any knowledge of the previous books in the series although readers might well be stimulated to read these too. It is unreservedly recommended to all devotees of historical crime fiction Ken Cosgrove

LOSING LARRY

Elizabeth Pewsey , Hodder & Stoughton, 2000 , £16 99 , hb , ISBN 0-340-71862-5

Set in London and Hungary in 1959 , three years after the Rising, this is the story of Larry who has rejected his middle-class origins for a well-diluted Marxism He's a loser, a would-be poet working in a dull bookshop for little pay, envying his girlfriend her money and position When his friend has a book published, jealousy drives Larry to take a teaching job in Hungary Deluded that all is well with Marxism in Hungary , he becomes involved with murder and espionage in a tale that is both funny and serious The style is unpretentious , the characterisation is good, though I did not feel the excitement that swept young people in the late '50s. But Elizabeth Pewsey has caught the oflbeat humour of the Hungarians , their 'see how much you can get away with' attitude to authority and she pokes fun at all the stereotypes - moles, gymnasts , defecting ballet dancers Highly readable Mairead McKerracher

MY DARK-EYED GIRL

Wendy Robertson , Headline , 2000. £17.99. hb , 278pp , ISBN 0-7472-2170-7

In 1936 , Susan Cornford is working in Parl-.--view Mental Hospital in North-east England Her background is vague , and 'wrongdoings' are hinted at , which appear to have convinced Susan that she should neither marry nor be a mother. She makes a spur of the moment decision to go to Civil War Spain , and while working in a hospital she meets ChiChu, a miliciana a young woman injured in the fighting . A special relationship grows betv,een them and when Susan returns to England, she persuades ChiChu to come with her . As WWII gets under way , they move to a farm in Durham. The grey , bleak landscape is complicated by the deprivations of war and by a farmer who hates 'foreigners' in general and women in particular. Isolation behind language barriers and cultural differences add to the problems the two women face , and although their strong friendship is frequently tested, it proves to be their best armour

At times I found some dialogue in local dialect held up the flow and my understanding , and I consider the way in which characters made life-changing decisions in a couple of sentences less than credible But Wendy Robertson is an accomplished stol)teller who is inspired by history and her home region and this novel reflects this The way she ties together the many strands of the plot in the final chapter is skilful , to say the least.

Greta Krypczyk-Oddy

TAMSIN HARTE

Malcolm Ross , Piatl-.-us , £17 .99 , hb , 345pp

ISBN 0 7499 0524 7

Helping her mother run a guesthouse in Penzance is a stepping stone in Tamsin Harte's ambition to restore the famil y fortune by becoming the town's main hotelier The setting, dialect , nautical and smuggling details are evocative but I couldn't really take the book seriously, probably because I found the heroine so implausible for 1907 There's a fair bit of footstamping and exclamations of 'ohmigod' (in 1907 ?) but everyone is unfailingly jolly , picking themselves up and rushing on to the next thing Frequent changes of viewpoint are a further cause of irritation . However the Cornish based author has written 9 other Cornish novels for Piatl-.-us , so perhaps his readers will enjoy this one too.

Jan e t Hancock

CINNAMON GARDENS

Shyam Salvadurai , Anchor, 2000 , £6 99 , pb , ISBN l-862-30073-9 . 384pp

Shyam Selvadurai's Funny Boy won the WH Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award In this second novel set in Ceylon in the 1920s

the cream of Colombian society live in the claustrophobic atmosphere of Cinnamon Gardens Independence from British rule is the daily topic of conversation among the elite who ape the British way of life

Annalukshmi is twenty two years old and determined to follow a teaching career , stubbornl y defying her parents' insistence on an arranged marriage to a son of a •good family' Her uncle , Balendran is respectably married but unable to come to terms with his homosexuality Balendran's father . the Mudaliyar Navaratnam rules this famil y with a rod of iron

The story is told in a matter-of-fact way which is curiously refreshing. The author occasionally falls into the trap of telling rather than showing but the characters are real , they leap off the page The Ceylon of the I 920s , the conflicts between family , ethnic groups , the struggle for independence , all are vividly captured in this very readable novel.

Ann Oughton

THE BRONZE HORSEMAN

Paullina Simons, Flamingo, 2000. £10 99. pb , 600pp , ISBN 0 00 225897 8 600

The time is June 194 l The place , Leningrad , with the German armies poised on the borders of Russia waiting for the order lo invade. For seventeen year old Tatiana (Tania) Metanova however , the threat of war has not yet become a reality , and most of her attention is centred on Lieutenant Alexander Belov a soldier whom she meets while collecting rations for her famil y. She takes an innocent pleasure in their blossoming friendship , and is delighted lo find that her favourite poem , Pushkin's 'The Bronze Horseman' , is his favourite too'

Still half child. half woman , Tatiana does not question her feelings for the young lieutenant who brings food to help her starving family until , out of the blue, he becomes engaged to her elder sister , Dasha In tum Dasha is roused to bitter jealousy as she senses the growing attraction between Tatiana and Alexander, while Dmitri , a soldier under Alexander's command who also loves Tatiana is equally unhappy about the situation .

Inevitabl y, the tide of war engulfs and separates them all , and when at last Alexander does find Tania again , their brief and passionate happiness is threatened by a secret from his past which could destroy them both.

As an emigre from Leningrad, Paullina Simons has brilliantly portrayed the character of the people and the atmosphere of a country in turmoil. But although the action takes place some twenty four years later it is almost impossible not to make comparisons between her story and that of Dr Zhivago It has a similar group of four young people who find love only to lose it again in tragic

circumstances , and is permeated with the same sense of brooding disaster which ran through the works of Pasternak Even so , it holds the attention for most of its 600 pages , and can be recommended as good read to have on hand for those cold winter evenings around the fire

Margaret Beasley

THE KNOWLEDGE OF WATER

Sarah Smith Arrow £6 99 , pb , 464pp ISBN 9 780099 410836

It took me a few (short) chapters to get into this book There are several strands and a lot of characters , all of whom are introduced early in the tale. However, once I got the thread I was hooked It's a gripping story of the complexities of relationships, ethics , a society struggling to free itself from strict social rules , murder and love ; all set against the dramatic flood which caused tremendous damage in Paris in 1910

The story is set around the romance of the two main characters ; Alexander, an aristocrat scientist with a mysterious past, and Perdita, a young student American pianist. Perdita is tom between her career and her desire to become a good wife Although this may sound like the plot of a pot-boiler , this novel has a style and elegance which take it far from the ordinary run of romantic stories

Sub plots include the murder of a prostitute , the theft of the Mona Lisa and the tracking down of an artistic forger The book is alive with eccentric, loveable characters and great detail of the buildings , streets and life of Paris The way the author approaches some scenes in such minute detail make you feel as if you were a fly on the wall. And all the time the rain is pouring and the river is rising.

Each chapter is written from a different point of view with those of the murderer being in the present tense. This works well as a device and helps to keep the story rolling without confusion. As the pace hots up , the switch of point of view quickens , further emphasising the excitement. The author has left herself some space for another book, this being the second about the life of the male lead , the first being The Vanished Child which was published last year to great acclaim

Amanda Statham

No less than 14 pages are needed for the index of names at the end. It is hard to keep track of what is going on, and amazing to think it all takes place within a month So a table of contents to start with, is more than welcome : There are 75 chapters and the content of chapter 9 , for example , fills a page and a half This is no light reading !

The author clearly states his intention in an introductory note : 'The recent history of our country is so little known that I have felt compelled, for the sake of my younger compatriots to include more historical matter in this second Knot than might be expected in a work of literature ' This , I fear , is the problem with the book: The burden of 'historical matter' is so huge, it is in danger of crushing the 'work of literature'.

The novel opens beautifully on the battle scene where the young gunner Sanya finds his way through the woods It has a Tolstoyan feel to it , which in fact pervades all the more fictional parts of the novel. As the scene ends with a passionate discussion of Tolstoy's views between Sanya and a priest , it reads as Solzhenits)'n's tribute to his great predecessor. Then enter the first of several factual chapters that are excerpts from archives , correspondence or official records They are interleaved throughout the narrative , like so many history treatises printed in even smaller characters . These I found particularly difficult to digest.

NOVEMBER 1916

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Penguin, 2000 , £10 pb , l00Opp , ISBN 0 140 07123 7 This monument of a book - I 000 pages in tightly printed paperback edition- is the second of the trilogy entitled The Red Wheel , that chronicles the events surrounding the Russian revolution The first volume , Augu s t J914, has also been published by Penguin The sheer dimension of this painting of Russia on the eve of the Revolution is awe-inspiring

By the time the novel starts again, it has moved on to another soldier, Colonel Georgi Vorotyntsev , who is back on leave from the front line. He is a superb character, deep , humane , courageous , and his story dominates the rest of the book by its sheer power , but it has to vie for space with a multitude of historical faces and events There is here a beautiful, rich , intelligent novel , and there is too a complex, erudite history course But, unlike War and Peace, they remain two separate books pulling at the seam , and it is the imaginative part that suffers the most. Maybe this is written first and foremost for the young Russian reader who may have sufficient background knowledge not to be lost in this ocean of generals , soldiers , revolutionaries , politicians, aristocrats , and so many tales from the front line to the vast expanse of the Russian countryside to the cities of Europe For the scholar, it must be an invaluable source on the Russian revolution . For me , I felt swept across Russia with both fascination and a sense of chaos

Dominique Nightingale

THE WAY AHEAD

Mary Jane Staples , Corgi , 2000 , £5 .99 , pb , 383pp , ISBN 0-552-14785-0

The Way Ahead is the latest in a long line of novels featuring the wartime exploits of the Adams family This time around the year is 1944.

This saga features a large number of members of an extended London famil y and each chapter offers many snippets of different family lives. Susie and Sammy Adams are running a flourishing business whilst looking after their five children Felicity Adams is coping with husband Tim's long absences and her own blindness Polly Adams is missing husband Boots and is bringing up their twins in far away Dorset. Daniel Adams meets a bright American girl who might just tum out to be very special to him These and many others are drawn against the backdrop of the planned and long overdue invasion of France

Upbeat and consistently humorous , Th e Way Ahead makes a welcome change from the general doom and gloom found in many a World War Two saga . A jolly look at those coping well with adversity

Sara Wilson

THE STRAWBERRY SEASON

Jessica Stirling, Hodder & Stoughton, 2000 , £5 99 , pb , 468pp

This is the third book of a trilogy which started with The Island Wife and continued with The Wind from the Hills

In some cases any of three such books could be read as a single entity , but this was a little different. The cast of characters was huge and rather confusing for anyone who hadn t read the first two books. Much reference was made to events which happened earlier in the saga without a clear explanation so I did get rather lost on occasions

Even so , the reader becomes involved at once in this story of Fay Ludlow , a battered wife who leaves her home and husband in Derbyshire in 1908 too seek refuge on the west coast of the Isle of Mull. She becomes a symbol of all that is changing on the island and the author brings the place to life with a skill which will delight those readers who know the area

This trilogy will repay reading from the beginning

Margaret Cro s land

THE LONG AFTERNOON

Giles Waterfield, Headline Review, 2000 , £14 99 , hb , 224pp , ISBN 0-7472-7235-2

Although a novel based on the lives of the author's grandparents , this reads like biography - the writer is at a distance from his main characters and we 'see' everything through a telescope rather than directly Henry

and Helen amve in Mentone in 19 I 2 and make a little Eden for themselves which lasts until I 939 . I wasn't sure whether I was to admire the wonderful life Herny and Helen created in their paradise or to condemn them their self-indulgent lifestyle . I don't think the author was sure either Certainly the elder son , Charles , condemned his parents for their 'wasted' lives , but they did give him a wonderfully secure childhood.

As a period piece , the book gives the flavour of a wealthy , privileged Edwardian famil y's life and provides insights into the great generation gap which left parents entrenched in a pre-WW I mind set , whilst their children had to cope with the Depression and life after the world had changed forever The fact that the hvo main characters were somewhat remote gives the ending a little less of an impact than it might have done However it's still startling for all that.

P DR Salmon

TIMESLIP

THE ANGEL GATEWAY

Jane Adams , Macmillan , 2000 , £16 99, hb 373pp , ISBN : 0 333 90169 X

Six months after an horrific petrol bomb attack that left him severely burned , Detective Sergeant Ray Flowers moves to his late aunt's cottage to contemplate his future. Soon the past darkens his stay there - according to his aunt's diaries , the cottage is often frequented by a mysterious woman referred to only as 'Kitty' But this is no ordinary visitor. For, Ray learns , Katherine Hallam once lived in the cottage - and was tried as a witch in 1643

As he searches for an explanation for his own appalling mJunes , Ray becomes increasingly captivated by the ghostly young woman who, like him , bears terrible facial scars He slowly pieces together her tragic tale , played out against the menacing backdrop of the English Civil War What Ray cannot even begin to comprehend is the role he himself played in sealing Kitty's fate - more than three hundred years before he was born.

Although this sounds like a ghost story , it is actually more like a straightforward detective novel , with an historical element tacked on to it - Kitty's story strikes me as a rather self-conscious narrative ' hook ' to an average mystery yarn Having said that, I really enjoyed the book and finished reading it in a day The detective element is a bit run-of-the-mill - I worked out the plot very easily - but although the historical element is secondary , it is convincingly drawn in, and a palpable air of menace builds up around the doomed Kitty , culminating in her terrifying interrogation by a witchfmder - all the more

terrifying to the reader as it is not described but only alluded to once it is over - you are left to fill in the gaps yourself. The switches beh'l'een the time periods are intriguingl y dealt with , encouraging the notion that the past is always there , just out of sight , and sometimes past and present merge

This is the author's sixth book , although I believe that it is her first foray into historical writing I very much hope that for her next book she takes the plunge into a full y historical novel - 1, for one, would definitel y want to read it.

Shirley Skinner

TIME LINE

Michael Crighton, Century £16 99. hb , 444pp , ISBN 0712 678 255

My first thought on reading this new novel was 'How are they going to film this?' Swashbuckling historical drama interlaced with science fiction time travel is too good for the movie industry to miss

Timeline opens on the threshold of the 21st century , into a world of advances at the frontiers of technology where information moves instantly beh'l'een h'l'o points without visible means A high-tech corporation has secretly developed the means to transmit people into the past using quantum technology. The claimed intent is to use the knowledge thus gained to make totally accurate reconstructions of archaeological sites A group of archaeologists and historians are slipped into 14th century medieval France on an unexpected rescue mission where they immediately encounter the full horrors of instant death and the cheapness oflife

The travellers are disassembled and beamed to their destination in the manner of Star Trek voyagers , but not always reconstituted with the same accuracy It is this 'slippage' n which leads to the discovery of a disorientated man found wandering in the desert - a discovery that threatens to release the secrets of corporate greed to the unsuspecting world .

The double risks of such a journey, from both the inherent uncertainty of the time travel process and the complex dangers of actually living in a feudal past are imaginatively and convincingly portrayed It is a peculiarity, Crighton informs us , that there is not a single contemporary picture showing the interior of a 14th century castle - all illustrations and images being made in the 15th century However, not to be defeated by this , his attention to period detail reveals that he has studied his subject sufficiently to bring it powerfully to life

There is enough here to satisfy demanding readers in the fields of science, history, archaeology and suspense I was impressed

with Timeline It is a skilfully constructed magnificent adventure , with an ending that was surprisingly complete.

Gwen Sly

WHISPERS IN THE SAND

Barbara Erskine , Harper Collins , 2000 , £16 99 , hb , 40lpp. ISBN 0 - 00 - 225784 - X Following Anna's divorce , her Aunt Phyllis suggests that she has a holiday in Egypt - after all it fascinated Anna as a child Also Louisa Shelley, a relative who had been a renowned colourist in Victorian England had undertaken a cruise up the Nile where she'd been lost in wonder at the marvels she'd seen as well as falling in love

Phyllis gives Anna , Louisa's illustrated journal that she has recently discovered when having a piece of furniture restored and thus persuaded , Ann makes her own visit to Egypt. She takes both the diary and a small perfume bottle that Phyllis had given her when she was a child and no sooner does Anna arrive on the cruise boat than mysterious events that have their origins in Ancient Egypt coalesce with those experienced by Louisa leaving Anna to fear that they are destined to find their terrifying climax in the here and now whilst the phial and diary are in her possession But to whom can she turn for protection ? Serena with her limited command of Egyptian magic , Andy or Toby , both men showing more than an ordinary curiosity in the two objects , or perhaps Ibrahim with his occult 'knowing' can be trusted?

Barbara Erskine's new novel is rich in mystery , imagery and the supernatural and is a compulsive page-turner from the prologue onwards as the Egypt of three completely different eras lives and breathes on the page with every stroke of her pen The author is a consummate mistress of her genre so that one never doubts the veracity of what she's describing , be it natural or supernatural and this novel deserves to win the W.H. Smith ' Thumping Good Read· award

Thelma Cox

MULTI-PERIOD

MRMEE

Andrew Crumey, Picador, 2000 , £9 99 pb , 344pp , ISBN 0330 37680 2 The large bookstores are going to have fun finding the right shelf for this book! Should it go under Information Technology (Computers) ; Philosophy ; Pornography : Satire or Humour? Wherever it goes , I should be surprised to fmd it rubbing shoulders with the accepted forms of the historical novel. The blurb , on the back of a truly startling cover , describes it as 'a philosophical thriller of

breathtaking originality. The seamless collage of history, fantasy and intellectual caprice results in a witty narrative . '

I'm not sure that I agree entirely that the collage is seamless but certainly the wit is what makes this such an enjoyable read At the outset we are introduced to the octogenarian scholar for whom life outside the pages of the texts he studies has been virtually non-existent. Then, a random series of mundane events changes the even tenor of his life He discovers the computer - and with it all the delights that the Internet has to offer. In his letters to a friend , Mr Mee relates his discoveries with a delicious naivete which had me laughing out loud

The title of a lost book that appears on one of the Internet pictures , sparks off the parallel stories in the book, one of which takes us back in time to the French Revolution and the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Although there was again much wit in the handling of this part of the story , I have to confess that at first reading , some of the deeper philosophical ideas were hard to follow However, it says much for Andrew Crumey's skill that he is able to change his style to fit perfectly the voice of each of his narrators so that we become totally involved with them.

This is a book to read and savour. I shall re-read it in the knowledge that each time, I shall find something new and satisfying Highly recommended

Sheila Hardy

THE MURDERED HOUSE

Pierre Magnan , Harvill , £6 99 2000 , pb , 288pp , ISBN : 1 86046 740 7

One night in the winter of 1896 in a remote part of upper Provence a family is brutally murdered ., father , mother and grandfather The only survivor is surprisingly, a three week old baby boy. This child is taken away to be brought up in an orphanage Three men are arrested , tried and guilJotined for the crimes and that , one would suppose , would be the end of the matter. The story then shifts to 1920 The first world war has just ended and Seraphin Monge , the child who survived the massacre , returns from the front. He claims his house and then proceeds to tear it down brick by brick in an effort to find out the truth and avenge the murderer or murderers of his family As the house crumbles, the identity of the real killers begins to emerge But someone else seems to know the story Terror creeps round the village and it takes quite a time for all the layers of the story to be peeled away and the surprising truth to come out.

This book , though it began with a horrific murder proceeded at a slow pace , which only quickened in the latter part There are good

descriptions of country life in the earlier part of the century and of the people of the village . One gets the sense of a slower pace of living One also gets a sense of the panic which begins to grip ordinary people as the tenor of their life is disturbed and the threat of death hangs over then All in all an interesting and well written book though not one for those who like happy endings .

Mary Tucker

GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE

Susan Vreeland , Headline Review , 2000 , £10 .00 , hb , ISBN 0-7472-7026-0

Girl In Hyacinth Blue , a collection of eight short stories , is the title of an imaginary work of art by the Dutch painter, Vermeer, which portrays a girl whose wistful longing is almost tangible The history of the painting unfolds by the curious device of placing the first story in the present and moving back in time with each story It works beautifully, like peeling away layers of history , the stories linked by the aspirations and longings of those whose lives are touched by the painting. Written in a clear, crisp style, the author gives a fascinating glimpse of Dutch life at various social levels and periods , and each story has a different mood. The account of German-occupied Holland, seen through the eyes of a Jewish child , is deeply moving. The story of a French noblewoman at the time of Bonaparte's occupation is both poignant and humorous and perfectl y captures the mores of the time. Some stories have a darker , more sinister thread, but central to each are the painting and the 17th century girl whose mood was captured on canvas to touch the lives of others Her story comes at the end

Susan Vreeland is a master-storyteller - I came to believe in this painting Her short fiction is widely published in the US I hope we see more of it here. I defy anyone not to enjoy this book.

Celia Ellis

NON-FICTION

THE KEYS OF EGYPT

The Race to Read the Hieroglyphs

Lesley & Roy Adkins , Harper Collins , £16.99 , hb , 309pp , ISBN 0-00-257091-2

Born shortly before Napoleon ' s 1798 military expedition to Egypt , Jean-Frani;:ois Champollion, the son of an impoverished bookseller in rural France, was obsessed from childhood with unravelling the origins of mankind ; the most reliable evidence at this time was considered to be the Bible He began at a very early age to learn languages so that he could study the Old Testament texts in the original , but it was when he realised that it

might be possible to read equally Old Egyptian texts that his life ' s work began : the decipherment of hieroglyphs

This book is the exciting true story of the race to decipher the hieroglyphs and of the rediscovery of the Nile Valley after it had been virtually closed to Europeans for 1500 years Champollion s prodigious gift for languages , his extraordinary visual memory and his passion for listing , classifying , and analysing, eventually produced the results which others were striving for. His greatest rival for this place in history was also precociously talented , and , curiously reflecting the politics of the time , an EnglishmanThomas Young Champollion, a fluent Coptic scholar, took a holistic approach to decipherment ; Youn g relied heavily on rare bilingual and Demotic texts When Champollion began to publish his results after achieving his breakthrough in 1822 , Young claimed that his own ideas were not receiving due credit. The political intrigues and rivalries of Europe after the French Revolution prejudiced the historical record for decades , and this book sets out to provide a balanced view of their respective achievements

It is utterly absorbing , told in a fluent and authoritative style, combining interest for the historian, the linguist , and anyone who likes to read of a great mystery solved in the face of adversity . The Atkins say there is not a definiti ve biography of Champollion; this book goes a long way towards that end .

Gwen Sly

THE STORY OF AMERICAN FREEDOM

Eric Foner, Papermac, 2000 , £12.00 , pb . 395pp , ISBN 0-333-90081-2

In the words of the author, '... the meaning of freedom is as multifaceted, contentious and ever-changing as America itself.' America was the one place where universal freedom should prevail A land which offered asylum to the persecuted but it was a land where one man's freedom meant another's slavery Foner investigates the evolutionary phases of freedom through cause and effect.

Freedom aka economic power where rich , white middle-class native Americans enjoyed the luxuries of a society dedicated to mas s production. 'One tenth of one percent of the population in 1929 earned as much as the bottom 42 percent making it impossible for society to absorb the profusion of products rolling of the assembly lines .' Inevitably bust followed the artificial boom and the ensuing Great Depression deprived everyone of a freedom based on consumerism

A so called classless society that denied freedom to native born Negroes who fought for a country which refused them rights of citizenship was forced to change in the face of the Civil Rights movement of the fifties and sixties A society which heralded man as the breadwinner consigned women to menial , low paid work. During the years of the Cold War Russian women were more emancipated than the American housewife where job opportunities were concerned . The fear that white Americans could become a minority in their own country caused increased controls on immigration. The Dictionary of Races of Peoples defined the immigrant races in order of worthiness. Unsurprisingly , Anglo-Saxons topped the list with Southern Italians seen as the lowest of the low An American woman who married an Asian automatically forfeited her own right of citizenship . It is impossible here to do more than scratch the surface of this fascinating history Foner presents the facts clearly and objectively giving the reader a unique insight into the ironies and pa'8doxes of the Americans' most revered principal I cannot recommend it too highly.

Ann Oughton

COCHRANE , The Life and Exploits of a Fighting Captain Robert Harvey, Constable, 2000 , £16 99 , 32lpp, ISBN l-84119-162-0

Thomas Cochrane was born a child of privilege, the eldest son of the ninth Earl of Dundonald This biography tells how , from a gangling youth of seventeen boarding his first naval vessel as a midshipman , he developed into perhaps Britain's greatest sea-captain, not onl y taking on and harassing the might of Napoleon and hi s all ies but also Britain's often corrupt nav al establishment. By doing the first he became a public hero , but by opposing the Admiralty he suffered the effects of a trumped-up charge which irretrievably tarnished his reputation and condemned him to a period in prison His Naval career in ruins , he took up an offer from Chile to direct its navy against the Spanish. So he ended up a legendary hero for his exploits off the coasts of Chile, Peru , Brazil and Greece as an admiral of fortune

His well-documented exploits at sea and commando raids on land have been the foundation of the well-loved geme of naval fiction set during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars Captain Frederick Marryat , who founded the genre, actually served under Cochrane and based his hero Captain Savage upon him C S Forester uses incidents and locations from Cochrane's career and Patrick O'Brian acknowledged his debt to the

enterprising. fearless sea-captain upon whom his hero , Jack Aubrey was based. I would say that both Alexander Kent and Dudley Pope drew on Cochrane's adventurous career. his innovative tactics and use of deception

This real-life story of sailor , politician and inventor contains as much if not more action and conflict of all kinds than the fictions and although not written in quite so easy a style is eminently readable

Monica Maple

THE RENAISSANCE

Paul Johnson, Weidenfeld & Nicolson , 2000. £14 99 , hb , 164pp , ISBN O 297 64644 3

Although this is not fiction , it is a highly readable account of the Renaissance period which spanned the years from 1400 to 1560 and puts into perspective the flowering of art, architecture , literature and language etc which makes this period in history stand out even today It describes beautifully the influence the key figures exercised - Dante. Boticelli , Michelangelo, Rafael etc and also includes Chaucer and his influence in England. Starting with the general background Paul Johnson continues with sections on scholarship and literature , art and scripture , architecture and concludes with the decline of the period and the emergence of the Reformation I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned a great deal from it. It is not a text book and does not read like one The style of writing makes it eminently easy to read and absorbing Recommended to anyone who wishes to know more about the facts of this era

Marilyn Sherlock

PATRICK O'BRIAN : A Life Revealed

Dean King , Hodder & Stoughton, 2000 , £ 18.99 , hb , 428p p. ISBN 0 -340-7 92 55-8 1n October 1998, 15 months before Patrick O'Brian's death , a Da ily Te legraph article revealed that the novelist was not Irish By this time , Dean Kin g was well into research for this biography, seekin g the motives that led O'Brian to transform his life into fiction and eventually to fictionalise his life.

O'Brian was born Richard Russ in England , the grandson of a German furrier. His mother died when he was 4 ; his father was aloof. Richard retreated into a world of books and imagination ; discovery of the Gentleman's Magazine brought to mind the manners , wit and news of the 18th century - later used to effect in the Aubrey/Maturin novels

He published under his real name before the war stories and novels which he later refused to acknowledge After the war, having changed his name by deed poll , he published stories , novels , biographies and translations. However, it is for the Aubrey/Maturin series that he is best known These adventures , set against the background of Nelson and

Napoleon, are arguably the most profound literature of the 20th century on male friendship Yet O'Brian himself failed in the most basic male relationships - with his father and his only son. Perhaps through his own loss. he created Maturin's highest quality : When Maturin rescues two children, was O'Brian thinking of his own , whom he abandoned? When Maturin helps save his daughter from autism, was O'Brian thinking of his own daughter who died of spina bifida?

The book is well researched, clearly presented To both aficionados and newcomers I recommend this unveiling of a 20th-century enigma who was more at home in the 18th; an Englishman who insisted he was Irish , yet lived in France ; a brilliant author in a spumed geme, for only in the last 10 years has his work been fully appreciated

ALPHA BETA

Janet Hancock

John Man , Headline , 2000 , £14.99 , hb , 296pp , ISBN 0-7472-7136-4

It all began in Egypt 4000 years ago , but it was not until the 1990s that American archaeologists discovered what is now thought to be the earliest alphabetical inscription. John Man's absorbing Alpha Beta is the first accessible book to examine this fascinating subject, telling a thrilling tale of adventure and intrigue , tracking the alphabet from culture to culture . If you are not a linguist parts may seem rather technical , but as it is intended for the general reader, it wisely restricts these to the minimum.

It is an eclectic book, selecting fascinating historical anecdotes to illustrate phases in the de velopment of writing However. Man does dismiss as 'minor tinkering' the formation of lower case letters and joined-up handwriting. The suggestion is that alphabets evolve by a process of natural selection, and that the spread of literacy is driven by the necessiti es of ordinary people's li ve s rather than bequeathed by enlightened elites This book is a splendid communicator of that knowledge Gw en Sly

ROANOKE

Lee Miller , Jonathan Cape, 2000 , £18 99 , hb , 358pp , ISBN O224 06106 1n 1584 having obtained permission from Queen Elizabeth I to settle a colony in North American , Sir Walter Raleigh launched an exploratory expedition which located Roanoke Island (in what we now call North Carolina) 1n the middle of 1587 , a colony of I I 7 men, women and children , supposedly on their way to Chesapeake Bay, instead settled on Roanoke Within weeks disaster struck - there was a murder - something was very wrong The Governor returned to England for help ; his arrival coinciding with the Spanish

Armada. In I 590 when he finally returned there was no sign of the colony , or the colonists. The official story was that they had been murdered by Native Americans.

Lee Miller has uncovered a 400 year old mystery Murder. conspiracy , deception and betrayal. Raleigh, when asked why he did not write his memoirs answered, 'whosoever shall follow truth too near the heels , it may happily strike out his teeth .' This is the kind of story that a good novelist would love to get their teeth into It is the nitty gritty stuff that inspires research and works the creative imagination. It aches to be written about.

Towse Harrison

BIG CHIEF ELIZABETH

Giles Milton , Hodder & Stoughton, 2000, £14.99, hb , 416pp , ISBN 0-340-74881-8

This is the enthralling story of Raleigh ·s creation of the first English settlement in America , Roanoke's doomed colony deep in the forests of Virginia . A previous venture ended in cannibalistic disaster , which quite put people off until fifty years later when first Sir Humfrey Gilbert (called by the Queen a man of'not good hap') and then Sir Walter Raleigh decided to found a colony among the 'savages'

Giles Milton, author of the hugely successful Nathaniel's Nwmeg (reviewed in HNR 12) dives into this thrilling tale of adventures at sea and the struggles to make a colony run smoothly, pervaded all through "ith a sense of wonder at being in an entirely different country where anything might - and usually did - happen

It is also the story of the Native Americans , without whose co-operation nothing would haYe been possible Raleigh respected them but others regarded them as freaks to be either feared or eradicated But the local tribe in Virginia (named afier Elizabeth's supposed sexual abstinence) named her ·weroanza· ("Big Chief) Milton turns ideas on their heads and surprises the reader as the 'real' story of those early times comes out in the light of new research There are pictures , maps , and eyemtness accounts \\ith original spelling. And a stirring narrative style makes the book as exciting to read as a novel. mth the added dimension that it's factual.

Rachel A Hyde

photographs that can be dug out. Slowly the figure of Dora Bruder emerges - a rebellious teenager trapped in a collapsing world. But her mystery remains , even increases as the search goes on. She is a ghost that haunts the modem Paris streets, through her the writer is drawn further and further into the city's past , his own past. She becomes a fictional link with his dead father , she is a creature of his imagination.

Very simply written, this is another moving take on the horrors of WW2 It also interestingly charts the very first stages of creative writing , the brew of imagination and reality that begins to mix into something else. I liked the way Modiano let us have a glance here at a novel in the making , but stopped short of a novel.

Dominique Nightingale

WALLACE: A biography

Peter Reese , Canongate, I 996 (Reprint), £5 .99, pb , l 70pp, ISBN 0-86241-607-8

In 1305 , William Wallace died a martyr's death in the long struggle for Scottish independence from savage English domination The urge for freedom was to be the major preoccupation in Scotland for a very long time to come.

There is little factual evidence about his life Peter Reese soberly assesses the legend and the smattering of facts , which amount to little more than the bare sequence of events of Wallace's fourteen months as sole Guardian of Scotland As an ex-soldier, Reese is well able to describe the crucial battles of Stirling Bridge, where Wallace was brilliantly successful and Falkirk, where he was not. He speculates convincingly on strategies and tactics A good part of the book is devoted to Wallace's place \\ithin the long political struggle and why he continues to be so inspirational to the Scottish nation Remarkabl y, it seems that 'in the I 930s. Scottish communists on their marches against unemployment also carried placards of Wallace and Bruce alongside Marx to rall y support'

THE BRIDE OF SOENCE

Benjamin Woolley, Pan Books, 2000 , £7 99 , pb , 416pp , ISBN 0 33048449 4 . 416 pp In the comer of St James' Square, close to the London Library , a tall house bears a blue plaque proclaiming that Ada , Countess of Lovelace , once lived there She was the daughter of the arch-Romantic Lord Byron and the icy , clever , chaste Annabella Milbanke. A month after Ada's birth her parents parted and Ada was never to see her father again, never even to look on his likeness until , after her own marriage , on her 20th birthday , her mother sent her Byron's portrait. Her parents' brief, doomed marriage shaped Ada's future. Her mother was determined that all Byronic traits should be expunged from Ada's character; therefore art and poetry were ignored in favour of science and mathematics , at which Ada excelled. though later in her life she was occupied by the question of whether imagination could be allied to science to produce results which separately they could not. She was a good enough mathematician to understand and write a paper explaining the 'Analytical Engine' , invented by Charles Babbage, which could be said to be the forefather of the computer Ada , through the calculations she made in order to write her paper, has been called the world's first computer programmer : in 1980 the US Defence Department's programming language for its military systems was named ADA in honour of her achievement.

THE SEARCH WARRANT

Patrick Modiano , The Harvill Press , £7 .99, 2000 , pb , 128pp ISBN 1860 466125

This is a small book , very much on the borderline of fiction and non fiction

It tells of the author's search for a young Jemsh girl he has never met , fifty years after she disappeared in occupied Paris. So it is real history mth real names and addresses ,

Romantic Reece is not. He refers to Blind Harry's rhyming epic - the main source of the legend - only , one feels , because there is little alternative He leaves the tales of mid deeds and glamorous imagery to such as the film Braveheart and the current BBC history series , where Simon Schama describes the image on the Wallace Monument at Stirling as having 'weeping Jesus eyes and hamstrings from hell' He is also more objective about Scotland's greatest enemy the English King Edward I.

A sober and informative addition to the diverse Wallace bibliography

Anne Maloney

Ada was interested in many of the new ideas of the time - railways , electricity , mesmerism , phrenology , sexual freedom Her short life - she was born in 1815 and died in 1852 - spanned the years from Waterloo to the Great Exhibition. years as full of change and technological development as the second half of the 20th century has been Benjamm Woolley's biography of this offspring of Passion and Reason is a highly readable sto~. at times not unlike the Gothic novels so fashionable in Ada's lifetim e. He \Hiles intelligentl y and well, at times \\ith raC} humour, at others deepl y moving , and I was entranced Ada deserves such a memoir Diane Johnstone

JOHN DONNE: LORD BYRON: OSCAR WILDE: SAMUEL JOHNSON: SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE: WILLIAM WORDSWORTH: THE MAJOR WORKS

Oxford University Press -c £8/L0 - pp This collection of the major \~orks from a remarkable collection of classic writers has recently been published at a very reasonable price per book Each paperback contains around 1,000 pages and includes not only major texts but extracts from journals.

conversations , letters and notebooks There are detailed introductions , chronology, notes on the text , recommended reading lists and notes to enable a comprehensive understanding of their work. This kind of primary source material is often an excellent opportunity to get into the minds , lives and motivations of people in the past. It is also particularly useful as an insight into formal style, manners and structure of speech and dialogue A useful addition to a researcher's bookshelf.

Tows e Harrison

A WEE GUIDE TO MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS Joyce Miller, Goblinshead , 1999 reprint , £3 95 , pb , 88pp

ISBN 1-89987 4-03-8

A WEE GUIDE TO WILLIAM WALLA CE Duncan Jones , Goblinshead, 1999 reprint, £3.95, pb, 86pp

ISBN 1-899874-08-9

A WEE GUIDE TO ROBERT THE BRUCE Duncan Jones/Alison L Rae, Goblinshead, 1999 .rt;print, £3 95 , pb , 88pp

ISBN J...,89987-4-02-X

A WEE GmDE TO ROB ROY

Charles 'Smclair, Goblinshead, 2000 , £3 95 , pb . l18pp , ISBN 1-899874-32- I

- These Wee Guides are a great buy for anyone wanting an overview of a particular Scottish historical character, or for the tourist planning a sightseeing tour of historical Scotland Each volume begins with a calendar of major events in the subject's life and is followed by a map showing the relevant places of interest. The main body of text is a condensed biography. A final section deals with places to visit and helpfully includes opening times , facilities available and telephone numbers

Although these guides are brief, they are crammed with interesting details Some even include battle plans, and are sure to whet the appetite They will be especially appealing as a start off point for research , as they give clear and uncomplicated historical outlines

A WEE GUIDE TO SCOTTISH HISTORY

Martin Coventry , Goblinshead , 1999 reprint , £3.95, pb, 90pp , ISBN 1-899874-01-1

This differs from the previous guides in that it aims to give an overview of Scottish history from the first peoples to the late 17th century rather than dealing with single characters The format includes maps , photographs and places of interest to visit and, although aimed at the tourist market , it would be equally useful for the potential historical novelist hoping to use a Scottish setting

Sara Wilson

CHILDREN'S

A TEST FOR THE TIME-TRAVELLING CAT

Julia Jarman , Collins, 1999, £3.99, pb , 159pp ,. ISBN 0-00-6752

This seems to be the second story of Christopher Hope , known to his friends as Topher, and his remarkable cat Ka There are times when Ka disappears and her place is taken by an Egyptian statue of the Goddess Bast, which is the sign that Ka has gone through a Time-slip and is adventuring in some past time In this story there are many changes to Christopher's life His father , a widower, remarries and moves house and Christopher has to start at a new school. Topher's misery is complete when Ka disappears again and only the statue is left in her place After a few days Ka returns in a sad condition with injuries that need the attention of the vet , but she manages to tap out a message concerning her travels on the boy's computer. Topher discovers that Molly Carstairs has worked on animal experiments and when his father starts the new job and Topher moves to his next school it is easy for the local anti-vivisection society to persuade him to pass them details of the work in which she is engaged A few days after Topher starts the new term Ka vanishes again but the statue reappears. Ka is off into the time-slip. That is the start of bad times Molly receives anonymous letters threatening her life and ultimately her car is blown up by a car bomb . Topher sees what he thinks is Molly's body carried to an ambulance but at that moment he also has the chance to join Ka who is , he discovers , living at the home of Dr Dee, the astrologer and Elizabeth I's Intelligencer Topher has assumed the character of Dr Dee's son and, with his new father , has the chance to meet many of the dignitaries of the Elizabethan court They have several adventures before returning safely home to the 21st century where they discover that both Molly and Topher's father are alive and well almost , anyway. What is more, it seems that Topher has only been away for minutes . I can wholeheartedly recommend this book Not onl y is it a rattling good tale but it touches on several matters that concern today ' s young people and may give them reason for thought before they take silly and illegal actions .

Jan Sh aw

OUT OF THE HITLER TIME

Judith Kerr, Collins. 1995 , A£9.99, pb, 810pp , ISBN 0- 00-675077-X

This is a trilogy of stories told by Anna , a nine-year old German-Jewish girl who leaves Berlin in 1933 with her older brother, Max, and her parents when Hitler is beginning his rise to power. Her father is a popular writer , but being a Jew, is suspect by the new regime The trilogy was originally published as three separate stories, and is still available as such

WHEN HITLER STOLE PINK RABBIT

Judith Kerr , Collins Modem Classics. 1998 £5.99 Trade Paperback, 245 pages ISBN 0-00-6754007

This is the first of the three It was first published in 1971 . It follows the family's flight from Germany, first to Switzerland and then to Paris and finally London At each stop Anna has to learn a new language and a new way of life

THE OTHER WAY ROUND

Judith Kerr, Collins , 1998 , £3 .99, pb , 300pages , ISBN 0-0 0-671234-7

This is the second story It was first published in 1975 Anna is now in her teens , leaving school and finding a job in war tom London She also discovers a talent for art and joins an evening class Her life is portrayed against th e background of the Blitz, the bombs and the devastation .

A SMALL PERSON FAR AWAY

Judith Kerr, Collins , 1995 , £3 99, pb, 232 pages, ISBN 0-00-671704- 7

This book was first published in 1978 It brings the story to a conclusion By now Anna is married but has to return to Germany when her mother is taken ill and rushed into hospital in Berlin. Although fiction , the books are based on the author's own experiences The stories are simply told through the eyes of a child growing up in the 30s and 40s but at no time does she talk down to h er readers Descriptions of London during the War are accurate and vivid. The three stories can be bought singly or in one volume. The first would be enjoyed by the more proficient junior reader and would certainly complement any study of WWII. The other two are more for the teenager but I can see that any one reading Pink Rabbit would want to know 'what happened next' A very satisfying read, it has now found its way onto the official reading lists in secondary schools

Marily n Sherlock

And now a few words from some junior reviewers

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is about a girl called Anna , who had to leave Germany to escape the Nazis. Anna's family were Jews and because her dad was a famous German writer they left Germany three years before the war. They left Germany in March 1933 and stayed in Switzerland for six months but moved to France because the Nazis put a price on her father's head. That means they set a reward for anyone who found him. They lived in a house in France for two years and moved to England in 1935 because her father wrote a film script and an English company bought it. This book is called When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit because when Anna moved to Switzerland she was only allowed to take one soft toy with her and so she had to choose between her scruffy dog and her pink rabbit. She chose her dog and so she had to leave her rabbit behind. Judith Kerr was born in Berlin and left Germany to escape the Nazis Like Anna did Her novels are based on her own experiences. There are three books in the series and I liked the first one so much that I am now reading the second one Louise Knock 9 years.

This was one of the best books I've ever read As it was true it made it more interesting to read I liked the characters Anna and her Dad . Anna liked her Dad because he cracks good jokes even in serious situations The most exciting bit of the story was when Anna nearly ended back in Germany but they got off the train just in time. In some ways , the story helped me to learn a bit more about the Jews and how nasty Hitler was. I think the title When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is a brilliant title because it doesn't give away any of the story The fact of Hitler stealing Pink Rabbit doesn't even happen in the book, it's just that she has to leave her pink rabbit at home and she felt that Hitler has stolen it off her as she can't go back and get it. I think this book would be suitable for age 10 and over . Eleanor Wood 9 years

The Other Way Round is continued from When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit Anna has moved to London from France and is now a teenager and the bombing has started This book describes her life in London, going to school and then getting a job There are three books in this series and The Other Way Round is my favourite I would recommend this book to nine and ten year olds . Louise Knock IO years.

And now the opinion of a young man

When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit is about a girl called Anna who lives in Berlin during 1933 Anna and her family travel to Switzerland to

escape the Nazis Anna and her brother Max make friends with the children called Franz, Vreneli and Trudi Zwim They then travel to France and learn to speak French and in the summer holiday they visit the Zwims again. This was as far as I got because I got bored. I like more adventurous and exciting stories. This book is set for an age group of about 9-13 year olds I also didn't like it because I was bored with the storyline which concentrated on Anna It was mostly a girl's novel.

Simon Knock 12 years

NATASHA'S WILL

Joan Lingard, 2000 , Puffm, £4 99 , pb , 167 pages. ISBN 0-14-1 30892-3

The McKinnon family face losing their home. They had been looking after an old lady. She had always told them that she would leave them her house but when she died her will could not be found. Some relatives tum up and claim the house. The McKinnons do not have much money and Mr McKinnon is in a wheelchair so they are in real trouble. To make things worse Sonya, the McKinnon daughter, is knocked down and taken to hospital in a coma . She had always been very close to Natasha , the old lady and she had said that Natasha had told her she had hidden the will safely

Then Alex, Sonya's brother , discovers that Natasha has hidden clues in the books in the library One clue leads to another. For example one clue tells them to look in a book about 'a small abode in an open place ' That is easy :. Little House on the Prairie So Alex begins a frantic search to find the will so that Sonya will have a home to return to when she recovers Interspersed with the story of this search is the story of Natasha's early life. She was brought up in St Petersburg. She is twelve years old in 191 7 and we see the Russian Revolution as it affects her. We are given a few glimpses of what life would have been like for the Russian aristocracy before the Revolution

And then Natasha's life is turned upside down and she has to grow up all at once. Her grandfather is taken away and shot and her father - a Cossack - is killed fighting. The Red Guards fill their house with destitute families and they fear that their old servant is spying on them They know that they must escape from St Petersburg before they are sent to a prison camp They are joined by Natasha's Uncle Leo , a doctor, and his family Plans are made and they escape first by means of a barge on the River Neva , and then in a succession of carts. There is danger when they are stopped and searched by policemen There is hardship when they finally escape to Estonia and travel onto Latvia and tragedy when Uncle

Leo dies of typhoid Uncle Leo had planned that in the spring they should travel on to Paris and now it is thirteen-year-old Natasha who determines to make his dream come true despite the poverty of the family and the chaos of post war Natasha's Will personalises the Russian Revolution by showing how it affected one particular famil y. The background is both detailed and authentic and Natasha is a very resilient young lady. The modem section with the search for the will gives an extra dimension 11 to teenage . 49 2 words

Mary Moffat

HISTORY QUICK READS - No I (10661215) by David Oakden , 1993 , ISBN l-871173 -23-x STORIES OF THE SAXONS AND VIKINGS , No7 David Oakden, 1995 , Anglia Young Books , ISBN l-871173-43-4

These attractively designed books are specifically targeted at Special needs children for whom a novel would be too daunting a prospect. Each book contains three short stories in large sassoon primary typeset with wide spacing between paragraphs so that no page appears too densely strewn with text. ln addition judicious use of line drawings helps to alleviate the printed page No child should , therefore , be put off by the look of these books Such careful layout , plus short. single-plot stories which are suitable for readers of any age who want a quick read and would certainly suit the very young , infant child who is already a free reader.

Book no 7 offers a story about the Sutton Hoo ship burial , entitled 'The Last Journey (AD 625)' about King Redwald of East Anglia The night before the king is due to be buried in it , the young daughter of the ship's builder saves it from being destroyed by fire during a storm, when lightning sets a tree alight and high winds blow sparks onto th e wooden boat. Without her quick thinking and action, the burial ship would have been burnt. to cinders

The second story is called 'Eels for King Offa (AD 781)' and is set in Tamworth in Staffordshire The daughter of the miller exposes a scam that the King's cheatingsteward has set in hand I was much intrigued by the Anglo-Saxon love of eels as a gastronomic delicacy, which continued into my own childhood in 1950s London! For my working class , extended family there was no better treat than Jellied eels ,' the very sight of which was enough to make an eight-ye ar-old retch.

The final story , 'The Viking Boy (A D 99 l )' is about the Battle of Maldon , based on the Anglo-Saxon poem of the same name It pays tribute to the gentlemanly fair play of the

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is about a girl called Anna, who had to leave Germany to escape the Nazis. Anna's family were Jews and because her dad was a famous Gennan writer they left Gennany three years before the war. They left Germany in March 1933 and stayed in Switzerland for six months but moved to France because the Nazis put a price on her father's head. That means they set a reward for anyone who found him. They lived in a house in France for two years and moved to England in 1935 because her father wrote a film script and an English company bought it. This book is called When Hitler Stole Pink

escape the Nazis. Anna and her brother Max make friends with the children called Franz, Vreneli and Trudi Zwirn. They then travel to France and learn to speak French and in the summer holiday they visit the Zwirns again. This was as far as I got because I got bored. I like more adventurous and exciting stories. This book is set for an age group of about 9-13 year olds. I also didn't like it because I was bored with the storyline which concentrated on Anna. It was mostly a girl's novel.

Rabbit because when Anna moved to NATASHA'S WILL Switzerland she was only allowed to take one soft toy with her and so she had to choose between her scruffy dog and her pink rabbit. She chose her dog and so she had to leave her rabbit behind. Judith Kerr was born in Berlin and left Germany to escape the Nazis like Anna did. Her novels are based on her own experiences. There are three books in the series and I liked the first one so much that I am now reading the second one.

Louise Knock 9 years.

This was one of the best books I've ever read. As it was true it made it more interesting to read. I liked the characters Anna and her Dad. Anna liked her Dad because he cracks good jokes even in serious situations. The most exciting bit of the story was when Anna nearly ended back in Germany but they got off the train just in time. In some ways, the story helped me to learn a bit more about the Jews and how nasty Hitler was. I think the title When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is a brilliant title because it doesn't give away any of the story. The fact of Hitler stealing Pink Rabbit doesn't even happen in the book, it's just that she has to leave her pink rabbit at home and she felt that Hitler has stolen it off her as she can't go back and get it. I think this book would be suitable for age l O and over.

Eleanor Wood 9 years

The Other Way Round is continued from When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. Anna has moved to London from France and is now a teenager and the bombing has started. This book describes her life in London , going to school and then getting a job. There are three books in this series and The Other Way Round is my favourite. I would recommend this book to nine and ten year olds

Louise Knock JO years

And now the opinion of a young man

When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit is about a girl called Anna who lives in Berlin during 1933. Anna and her family travel to Switzerland to

Simon Knock 12 years

Joan Lingard, 2000 , Puffin, £4.99, pb, 167 pages. ISBN 0-14-1 30892-3

The McKinnon family face losing their home. They had been looking after an old lady. She had always told them that she would leave them her house but when she died her will could not be found. Some relatives tum up and claim the house. The McKinnons do not have much money and Mr McKinnon is in a wheelchair so they are in real trouble. To make things worse Sonya, the McKinnon daughter, is knocked down and taken to hospital in a coma. She had always been very close to Natasha, the old lady and she had said that Natasha had told her she had hidden the will safely.

Then Alex., Sonya's brother, discovers that Natasha has hidden clues in the books in the library. One clue leads to another. For example one clue tells them to look in a book about 'a small abode in an open place.' That is easy:. Little House on the Prairie So Alex begins a frantic search to find the will so that Sonya will have a home to return to when she recovers Interspersed with the story of this search is the story of Natasha's early life. She was brought up in St Petersburg. She is twelve years old in 191 7 and we see the Russian Revolution as it affects her. We are given a few glimpses of what life would have been like for the Russian aristocracy before the Revolution.

And then Natasha's life is turned upside down and she has to grow up all at once. Her grandfather is taken away and shot and her father -a Cossack - is killed fighting. The Red Guards fill their house with destitute families and they fear that their old servant is spying on them. They know that they must escape from St Petersburg before they are sent to a prison camp. They are joined by Natasha's Uncle Leo, a doctor, and his family. Plans are made and they escape first by means of a barge on the River Neva, and then in a succession of carts. There is danger when they are stopped and searched by policemen. There is hardship when they finally escape to Estonia and travel onto Latvia and tragedy when Uncle

Leo dies of typhoid. Uncle Leo had planned that in the spring they should travel on to Paris and now it is thirteen-year-old Natasha who determines to make his dream come true despite the poverty of the family and the chaos of post war. Natasha's Will personalises the Russian Revolution by showing how it affected one particular family The background is both detailed and authentic and Natasha is a very resilient young lady The modem section with the search for the will gives an extra dimension. 11 to teenage . 492 words

Mary Moffat

HISTORY QUICK READS - No I (10661215) by David Oakden, 1993 , ISBN 1-871173 -23-x STORIES OF THE SAXONS AND VIKINGS, No7 David Oakden, 1995, Anglia Young Books , ISBN 1-871173-43-4

These attractively designed books are specifically targeted at Special needs children for whom a novel would be too daunting a prospect. Each book contains three short stories in large sassoon primary typeset with wide spacing between paragraphs so that no page appears too densely strewn with text. In addition judicious use of line drawings helps to alleviate the printed page. No child should , therefore, be put off by the look of these books Such careful layout , plus short. single-plot stories which are suitable for readers of any age who want a quick read and would certainly suit the very young , infant child who is already a free reader.

Book no 7 offers a story about the Sutton Hoo ship burial , entitled 'The Last Journey (AD 625)' about King Redwald of East Anglia. The night before the king is due to be buried in it, the young daughter of the ship's builder saves it from being destroyed by fire during a storm, when lightning sets a tree alight and high winds blow sparks onto the wooden boat. Without her quick thinking and action, the burial ship would have been burnt _ to cinders.

The second story is called 'Eels for King Offa (AD 781)' and is set in Tamworth in Staffordshire. The daughter of the miller exposes a scam that the King's cheatingsteward has set in hand. I was much intrigued by the Anglo-Saxon love of eels as a gastronomic delicacy, which continued into my own childhood in 1950s London! For my working class, extended family there was no better treat than 'jellied eels,' the very sight of which was enough to make an eight-year-old retch.

The final story, 'The Viking Boy (AD 99 l )' is about the Battle of Maldon , based on the Anglo-Saxon poem of the same name It pays tribute to the gentlemanly fair play of the

English , which could otherwise be interpreted as foolhardiness , in a world where your opponents are not as fair-minded as you. It should appeal to boys and provoke much debate about tactics and comparison with the Battle of Hastings

In History Quick Reads no . I (1066-1215) there is an exciting story about the Battle of Hastings (seen unfortunately from the Norman point of view) and one that, set in Richard I's time , makes it plain how tightly constrained English people were by Norman feudalism , bein g required to work for the lord of the manor to have their bread baked by his baker and their com ground by h is miller. It was a capital offence to kill the deer in the forests , which by right belonged to the Norman king

The third story , 'The Ferryman' (1215) involving King John's signing of Magna Carta and the loss of his treasure in the Wash has an unnecessarily cynical tone to it in relation to the freedoms enshrined in Magna Carta Michael Wood's latest book In Search of England reveals how far the English peasants' sense of their own rights was enhanced by the barons' gains , so much so that in 1265 in Peatling Magna they took the King's bailiff t o court!

Each story very valuably includes a glossary and historical notes It seems to me that such books need not be reserved for special needs pupils I can see a useful place for them with mainstream pupils , providing a wider knowledge of each period and a satisfyingly rapid read for abler, older readers (For 6-11 years). Anglia Young Books also produce Literacy Packs for integrating history into the Literacy Hour Each pack contains a novel , a History Quick Read, workcards and teaching plans with writing frames based on the novel and short stories . There are packs covering Ancient Greece , the Romans , the Tudors , Victorian life and the Second World War Most cost no more than £15 and are real value for money All the teaching materials are photocopiable and have been designed by practising teachers Containing maps , photographs , recipes , games , songs and costume patterns , they offer a wide variety of simulating possibilities for engaging work.

Linda Hall

HIGHWATER

Corinne Renshaw, Pont Books , 1999 , £4 95 , pb 150pp ISBN - 1- 85902-737-7

The Folly is a strange old building , perched high on the Sea-Wall and will be the first house to be flooded if ever the sea should break through . Rosie's friend, Joel , lives in this eerie place but she has been forbidden to go anywhere near it although her father refuses to give her a reason The adults obviousl y hate each other because of

something that happened years before , but again , nobody will tell Rosie what it was But for her something much worse is about to happen She is to be sent to London to live with her Aunt Harriet and Uncle Edward to be brought up as a lady. She desperatel y wishes that something will happen to stop her from having to leave her home at High Water Farm Set on the Monmouthshire levels at the end of the nineteenth century the book poses many questions before alJ is resolved at the end but I found it rather flat. It was a potentially a good story and the writing was certainly very descriptive but I thought that there were several missed opportunities where the tension and suspense could have been built up considerably more , particularly when the inevitable flood does eventually happen Marilyn Sherlock

And now some words from our junior reviewers

I didn't finish this book because I found it a bit boring. It might be interesting for a young teenager but not for my age group. I didn't get into the story very fast and it tended to ramble on a bit. The only good thing about it was it had a few good descriptions lt could have been more interesting if the author had used less descriptions and more of the adventure because out of the parts I did read nothing really happened It just went on and on describing the scene and things like that so overall I thought this book would be suitable for 13-14 year olds and unsuitable for my age group

Eleanor Wood IO years

I read up to page 40 and then stopped reading it. I found it boring because there wasn't much action. I also didn't understand what was going on in the story More of an introduction would be nice because I didn't know who the characters were

Louise Knock 10 years

MURDO'SWAR

Alan Temperley , Canongate, 1994 (first published 1988) £3 99 , 264pp

ISBN 0-86241- 316-8

The story is set in Sutherland in February 1943 . Fourteen-year-old Murdo Mackay lives with old Hector, a crofter and fisherman. Hector agrees to take his boat over to an island and collect some machinery for an Englishman , Henry Smith Both Murdo and Hector are slightly suspicious of Henry Smith, but the pay is good and Hector agrees Murdo comes with h m in the boat. They brave the stormy, mountainous waves and icy waters of the treacherous Pentland Firth to bring the machinery and a group of Norwegians to the

mainland But Murdo is still curious and when he gets a chance he prises open one of the crates and finds , instead of machinery , German guns He is caught in the act and learns of a German plot , terrifying in its very simplicity. The Germans do not need an invasion force . It is in Britain already - in the form of the thousands of German prisoners of war, who are not kept locked up in camps but who work on the land German guns are being landed at quiet parts of the coast alJ over Britain and the German prisoners of war will be armed when the code word is given -es flutet , es flutet , es flutet -the tide is flooding . Murdo manages to escape He scales the cliffs and reaches Hector's car and drives off in it. But he is forced to abandon it and make his way across the moors and mountains on foot. Then follows a chase over some of Scotland's most rugged and desolate countryside in the midst of the driving snows and icy winds of a blizzard. But Murdo just has to elude his ruthless pursuers and bring word of the plot to the authorities Murdo is running , not only for his own life , but for the fate of his country He is battling, not onl y against his heartless pursuers but also against the relentless elements A thrilling and unusual war story For anyone who enjoys a really good story. 11 +

MaryMojfat

PIGEON SUMMER

Ann Turnbull , Walker. 1996 , (first published in 1992)£3 99 , 119pp

ISBN 0-7445-4789 -X

This is the first in a trilogy about the Dyer family. Mary Dyer likes helping her father with his racing pigeons but her mother disapproves . In the l 930's girls are not supposed to like pigeons Mary's father is an unemployed miner and he goes away to look for work, leaving bis pigeons in Mary's care He means that Mary should just look after them - feed them and exercise them - but Mary intends doing more She is determined to race them

There are problems. Weekends are the time for the pigeons' training flights but on Saturdays Mary has to help her mother and on Sundays there is church and the afternoon visit to Aunt Elsie . Even worse , the pigeon club meets in a back room at the local pub and Mary is forbidden to go there . But Mary finds an ally in her Uncle Charley and he enters the pigeons for her Even so relations between Mary and her mother deteriorate until matters come to a head when Mary comes home from school and finds that her mother has killed three of the pigeons and cooked them for tea After a tearful row Mary runs away As well as her problems with her mother Mary has another pigeon related problem The

best pigeon, Speedwell, has been sent to Bordeaux for a long distance race. Then there is a storm. The pigeons will be lost, disoriented, scattered by the weather. She will lose Speedwell What happens to Speedwell? Does Mary become reconciled with her mother?

This book gives a good picture of England in 1930. There is Mrs Dyer struggling to feed her family often there is just soup and potatoes and even half an orange is a treat. Mrs Dyer also has to find money for shoes for the children and for the rent but she does save some money by altering some of Aunt Elsie's old dresses for Mary. But despite everything Mrs Dyer finally has to go to the Assistance. Then there is Mary's older sister Phyllis going into service as a maid in a big house in the country and Mary herself being able to get a part time job once she is twelve. As well as the bigger issues there are also telling little touches like fetching water from a tap in the yard and cutting newspaper into squares for the toilet. Historical background apart , descriptions of the pigeons and their training will charm any animal lover. Pigeon Summer really evokes the spirit of 1930. It is also something of a treasure for animal lovers It was shortlisted for the WH Smith Mind Boggling Books Award and the Smarties Book Prize. 10+

Mary Moffat

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SEEPAGE ONE

US/CANADA TITLES

'US/Canada' here means that the following books not The are published, but necessarily set, in United States or Canada.

NOTE: Within this section, if books are available from Amazon UK, these prices are also listed (£). An asterisk next to this price indicates a separate UK edition. Canadian prices are also given, if available.

US/CANADA

PRE-IDSTORY

PILLAR OF THE SKY

Cecelia Holland, Forge , 2000 (cl985) , $14.95 (£9 14) , 560pp , pb, ISBN 0-3128- 6887-1

Cecelia Holland is a highly versatile writer whose novels have settings ranging from science fiction and the American West to the Middle Ages to this , her earliest-set novel , which tells of the building of Stonehenge It builds on earlier tales set in prehistoric times such as Jean M Auers Earth 's Children and William Golding ' s The Inheritors , while in itself surely influencing Bernard Cornwell·s recent novel Stonehenge Like Auel ' s prehistoric world , Holland shows us a time where people weren ' t sexist and everybody had a valid part to play in a society which has headwomen as well as headmen The People of Ladon ' s Village look not only towards the brutish male power of Ladon but also towards the mystic Karella who is closer to their deity , who ' was not a vessel for the mysterious power of the male '. Karella adopts Ladon ' s outcast relative Moloquin and encourages him to become a mighty shaman whose task it is to cause Stonehenge to be built.

As well as a tale of conflicts within the People , it is also a tale of the awesome task of building such an enduring monument and the driving forces behind it. Nobody knows what life was like in those days ; Holland ' s portrayal of it seems to owe quite a lot to feminist wishful thinking , but it is a well-realized

depiction and drew me in from the first page

This is a large subject, full of fascinatin g details and conjectures about the way peopl e lived, their religious convictions and how they viewed the unexplained wonders of their world It says much of Holland's storytelling power that although a lot of her ideas about prehistoric life made me shake my head in disbelief, the more I read the less I cared and was swept up in the maelstrom of the tale This is , after all , what a novel is about , so di ve in and enjoy. It ought also to appeal to fanta sy fans as it contains many of the features found in the best fantasies - world-building that defies disbelief.

Rachel A. Hyde

STONEHENGE: 2000 BC

Bernard Cornwell , Harper Collins, 2000, $26, 434pp, hb, ISBN 0060197005

For review, see Review 11 (February 2000).

US/CANADA _ ANOENT EGYPT

I

THEOASIS

_ Pauline Gedge , Soho, 2000 , $26 (£16.30) ,

544pp, hb , ISBN l56947219X

In this , Volume 2 of Pauline Gedge's Lords of Two Lands Trilogy, the struggle of Egypt's native nobility to overthrow the reigning Hyskos continues. Led by the diminished House of Tau , the shattered forces of the slain Prince Seqenenra are regathered to fight in the cause of his son, Kamose. This princely family had been persecuted and humiliated by the Hyskos Pharoah to the point where rebellion is the only option for survival Supported by his proud family and loyal fighting Medjays, Kamose heads north to try to surprise and conquer his enemies for his famil y's survival and Egypt's restored glory

Pauline Gedge, already famous for her wonderful novels set in ancient Egypt, focuses her interest on a less well-known time in Egypt's long history It is a period where the pharaohs are not of true Egyptian blood , but are descendants of the much-maligned conquering invaders known as the Hyskos In the eyes of usurped princes , the Hyskos kings are a travesty of Pharaonic splendor and an abomination to the Gods and Maat (Justice) Gedge concentrates on Prince Kamose who , fueled by hatred for the foreign rulers who have persecuted his famil y, killed his father and made a farce of Egypt's dignity , must now become the rebel leader in the name of survival. The horrors of civil war and the brutal choices young Kamose must make are more lethal to his well-being than any sword

thrust could be. However, Gedge paints an intricate picture of a warrior who overcomes the contentious in-fighting of his followers with the love and determination of his family , and who battles for the restoration of Egypt's glory and Maat.

Pauline Gedge's newest novel 1s a compelling new addition and is highly recommended

Suzanne Crane

THE STONE OF LIGHT: Nefer the Silent Christian Jacq , Pocket , 2000 , $ J6/C$23 (£8) , pb , 3 90pp , ISBN 0-7434-0346-0

Th e Ston e of Light is Volume One in the story of Nefer the Silent, a craftsman in ancient Egypt during the last part of the reign of Ramses II (about 1225 BC) Nefer is a resident of the Place of Truth, the village where the tomb-builders of the pharaohs lived on the western edge of Thebes His friend is Ardent, an obnoxious youth, unable to control his frequent fits of rage , who is scheming to become the leading artist of the Place of Truth The villain is Mehy, a charioteer captain who plots with murder and treachery to posses the magic stone of light kept within the village.

There ' s not much to recommend in this book: the disjointed writing style frequently becomes juvenile, badly sketched characters spout unbelievable dialogue and act inexplicably, and each major individual is either a saintly hero or cardboard villain The many women are all minor, stereotypical characters , most existing only to serve the men ' s sexual needs

The Stone of Light is clearly just the first part of the story of those who live in the Place of Truth . As Volume One ends , the village is threatened from within and without. Ramses II , the village ' s protector, has died, and Mehy' s plots to secure the magical stone are succeeding

Elizabeth Gamer

AKHENATEN: Dweller In Truth

Naguib Mahfouz , Anchor , 2000 , $12 (£7.52) , 168pp , pb , ISBN 0-385-49909-4

The story of the ' heretic· Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten and his fabulously beautiful wife , Nefertiti , continues to fascinate , as evidenced in this recent translation of the 1985 novel by acclaimed author Mahfouz In this version, the story is told through the character of a young man , Meriamum After he and his father view the ruined city of the dead pharaoh , Meriamum seeks to uncover the truth about the controversial pharaoh of Egypt and the tumultuous events of his reign over the Two Lands

Given letters of introduction by his father , Meriamum is granted interviews with people

who were close to Akhenaten, both friends and enemies: Councilor Ay , General Haremhab , Queen Tadukhipa of the royal harem, Princess Mutnedjmet, Commander Mae, and finall y Nefertiti herself. In his search for the true story , Meriamum learns details of Akhenaten ' s ' mad ' monotheistic ideas , his attempts to challenge his own culture ' s beliefs and how his monotheism ultimately led to his own rum

Beautifully written, with short chapters alternating between characters , Mahfouz seamlessly weaves their tales together , giving each character a distinct voice , and creating a cohesive whole Although at times repetitive , the author provides illuminating glimpses into an ancient Egypt during a troubled era about which much is still unknown For those new to the story of Akhenaten and Nefertiti , this is a pleasant introduction ; for a more in-depth treatment , Allen Drury ' s novels A God Against the Gods and Return to Thebes would be excellent follow-up choices

Michael I. Shoop

US/CANADA

FIRST CENTURY BC

CUTTER'S ISLAND: Caesar in Captivity Vincent Panella, Academy Chicago, 2000 , $23 (£18 99) , 192 pp , hb , ISBN 0-89733-484-1

This short novel retells a story found in Plutarch Young Julius Caesar was captured by pirates who plarmed to ransom him for 20 talents ; Caesar insisted that they should demand 50 talents , and vowed to return and crucify them Cutter, the most interesting character in the book, developed a hatred of Rome based on experiences ranging from fighting for rebels in Spain to combat as a gladiator before ending up as commander of a pirate fleet which he refers to as ' the navy of King Mithridates .' Caesar, with his patrician ancestry , literary skills , service as a priest and military honors , symbolized Rome of swaggering arrogance.

Like most writers of historical fiction , Panella idealizes Caesar, ignoring the epilepsy and dismissing rumors of homosexuality with old King Nicomedes While awaiting the ransom delivery , Caesar charms his captors with his poetry and his person, all the while threatening them with Rome's eventual revenge Caesar's virility and vigor are characterized by lines like, ' Unable to sleep , I stand outside with an erection and urinate into the wind .' Apparently we are to believe young Julius capable of much which is beyond the scope of mortal man

Panella's poetic prose includes similes like ' cursing like a petty god , · or ' clear as the eyes of a prescient bird .' Apparently his fictional Caesar has something in mind when he chooses those vehicles , but it is hard to reconcile this narrator with the chaste prose of the man who calmly divided Gaul into three parts

The worst historical distortion occurs in the first line when Caesar says he was born during the civil war between the Populars and the Optimates , impl ying that the violence between Marius and Sulla was already underway at his birth Aside from this , the work is based on the historical record , albeit an incident which smacks of legend from the start

US/CANADA

FIRST CENTURY

PAUL: A Novel Walter Wangerin., Zondervan, 2000 , $22 99. 512pp , hb , ISBN 0310218926

For review, see Review 13 (August 2000)

US/CANADA

SECOND CENTURY

ISLAND OF GHOSTS

Gillian Bradshaw, Tor, 1999 , $5.99 (£3 71) , 369pp , pb , ISBN 0-812-54514-1

This is the story of Ariantes , a Prince of Sarmatia, land of nomadic tribes beyond the Danube Newly conquered by Rome , their armies are exiled to Britain, an island beyond the world ' s edge The Roman Empire of Marcus Aurelius is on the cusp of disintegration : in Britain it has relinquished the north to the Picts and withdrawn behind the re-commissioned Hadrian·s Wall.

As auxiliaries , such barbarians comprised a large part of the Roman army at this time and the Sarmatians , likeable rogues who esteem loyalty and honor above all things are skilled riders and archers , but unskilled in the ways of Rome and native Britons.

The book is an enthralling read , and vividly descriptive ; the atmosphere of the period comes to life with conspiracies , battles , Druids , Christians , and of course , a love story There is sadness too, and humor : I particularly enjoyed ' northerners who dislike having to take advice from southerners in togas ' - just to show that , in Britain at least , nothing really changes.

Gwen Sly

James Hawking

US/CANADA FIFTH CENTURY

CLOVIS, KING OF THE FRANKS

John W Currier, Marquette Univ Press , 1997 , $20 , pb , 332 pp , ISBN 0-87462-052-X . (Order from : BookMasters , lnc ., 30 Amberwood Parkway , Ashland OH 44805 , USA , $23 50 postpaid)

In the year 486 , a Frankish chief named Clovis vanquishes the last Roman ruler in Gaul. Soon his name is synonymous with strength and victory The Church courts him. So eventually does the King of Ostrogothic Italy As the institutor of Salic Law , Clovis is considered the founder of present-day Franee

Based on fact and legend, Clovis, King of the Franks tells the interesting tale of this man ' s life The story moves well , with the exception of two chapters near the end, where the author has ' told' more than ' shown ' It is carefully researched. There are miniature maps at the beginning of each chapter, which help the reader localize the action There is also a glossary of characters. I only wish I could have referred to this less. Unfortunately I at times had trouble distinguishing between the numerous churchmen and lords.

With this novel , John W. Currier has competently illuminated a little-known epoch of history

Claire Morris Bernard

THE LIFE OF SIR AGLOV ALE DE GALIS

Clemence Housman, Green Knight (Pendragon) , 2000 , $14.95/C$20.95 , 320 pp , pb, ISBN 1928999085

Clemence Housman was the sister of Alfred and Laurence and in her lifetime best known as an illustrator. However , she also wrote three novels of which this is held to be the finest. Out of print for many years , it exerted a great influence on the work of Edith Pargeter (aka Ellis Peters) and the more I read, the more it became obvious where some of the ideas - and the intense , melancholy ambience - of her masterpiece the Heaven Tree trilogy came from.

The novel recounts the life of a minor character in the Cycle who was one of the children of King Pellinore Where most knights were striving to be preux., the hapless Aglovale (considered very second-best by his family although he was the eldest son) just couldn ' t help being bad Perhaps very unlud--y might be a better description. The Job-like sufferings and moral decline of Aglovale form the main part of this book, together with his redemption through suffering and his value of

truth above valor, something King Arthur did not approve of.

This is the seamy, darker side of the Round Table with Mordred plotting , Guenever and Launcelot having their doomed affair and the knights in general appearing all too human for a change Housman injects some gritty realism into the tale, and her characters are no mere ciphers doing brave or bad deeds as their nature dictates but more rounded folk with real problems - a psychological Arthurian novel in fact. Some readers might find the style of the writing offputting, as Housman has written it after that of Malory, although she managed this well and it is free of the ' gadzookery ' many other historical novels of the period (1905) abound in There is a lot of novel here, and even if you prefer the more realistic approach to the Dark Ages and not the standard quasi-mediaeval dreamworld then there is plenty to applaud here A richly layered and thought-provoking treat.

Rachel A Hyde

US/CANADA

NINTH CENTURY

THE ANGEL AND THE SWORD

Cecelia Holland , Forge, 2000 , $23 95 (£15 01) , 304pp , hb , ISBN 0-312-86890-1

The dark and bloody pathways and streets of ninth century France are the backdrop against which Holland retells the traditional French story of Roderick the Beardless So intent is Ragny, the daughter of the King of Spain, to escape her father s ravishment after the death of her mother that Ragny leaves everything she has known In the midst of Ragny •s escape , she convinces her father ' s steward, Seffrid, to join her.

Ragny becomes Roderick, a young prince , and only Seffrid knows her to be a woman. So quickly does Roderick learn to be a man, so empowered with a light from heaven and so filled with good, that Seffrid becomes her stalwart companion and teacher. When Roderick and Seffiid are set upon by robbers , Roderick seems to have the power of many men at once, his sword arm imbued with the power of the Almighty So Roderick·s legend grows

Finally, the band of travelers which Roderick and Seffrid have joined reaches Paris Besieged by Northmen, living in a virtual shanty-town from which the only egress is by escape or death , Parisians live in a constant state of fear. Their king , Charles the Bald, grandson of Charlemagne, is an ineffectual ruler trying desperately to preserve the last remnants of the empire Enter Roderick who masses the troops , builds

confidence and reaches a detente with the Northmen . But Roderick is not a man , but , indeed , Ragny , a young woman who has lost virtually all her femininity It is within the secondary plot - Ragny ·s fate as a woman - that Holland truly excels Although I have always found Holland , a remarkably versatile historical novelist , to be a fairly pedestrian writer , the depth of Ragny ' s solitude and pain is palpable In many ways , that solitude and pain is mirrored in the character of King Charles These two characters alone make the read worthwhile , although the prose is not adorned or embellished in any way .

There is much of historical interest here as well - the panic-driven Parisians and their fear of the Northmen, the beginnings of true adherence to the Faith, and the meaningful part the Church played in the lives of th e people and particularly, in Ragny , the sense of the mystical and inexplicable This is a book well worth the read

Ilys a Mag nu s

I US/CANADA I MEDIEVAL (GENERAL)

MURDER MOST MEDIEVAL : Noble Tales of Ignoble Demises

Martin H Greenberg and John Heifers , eds , Cumberland House , 2000 , $19.95/C$29 .95 (£12 .76) , 29lpp , hb , ISBN 1-58182-087-9

Murder Most Medieval is a pleasing collection of historical mystery stories For newcomers to this genre, there is an ampl e selection of crimes to test the sleuthing abilities of justice-seekers . The tales run the gamut from superstition and witchcraft , which Robin Hood and Marion face in Clayton Emery's tale, to the borders of Scotland, where Doug Allyn's minstrel , Tallifer, falls in with a blind girl with a vo ice of an angel and a hidden past. For dieh ard fans , Peter Tremayne's Brehon, Sister Fidelma, returns to give closure to a victim of jealous love, and we also have new stories from tried and true authors such as Edward Marston and Margaret Frazer.

Winding up the anthology is a posthumous treat from Ellis Peters , who sheds some light on the early days of her renowned and beloved Brother Cadfael , the warrior-turned-detective monk All in all , thirteen fine tales which prove that the aid of modern forensics is not needed to brin g murderers to justice when, equipped with intelligence and tenacity , seekers of truth will prevail.

Su z anne Cran e

US/CANADA lWELFTH CENTURY

THE BLACK ROOD The Celtic Crusades2

Stephen R Lawhead , Avon/EOS , 2000 , $25/ C$37 95 (£14 39*), 437pp , hb ,

ISBN 0-06-105034-2

A fantas y adventure set during the time of the Crusades , this entry follows the trials and tribulations of Duncan , son of Murdo Ranulfson of Scotland in his quest to find the Black Rood - a piece of the True Cross - and fulfill his destin y. He is accompanied by Brother Padraig , a local priest. Along the way , he meets several unusual characters , travels through foreign lands , has divine visions (including one very brutal , gruesome episode depicting the Crucifixion) , becomes involved in Middle Eastern politics and battles , and returns from his adventures older and wiser A nicel y written, fast-moving blend of historical fiction and fantasy that will entertain and intrigue its readers.

Michael I. Shoop

TO WEAR THE WHITE CLOAK

Sharan Newman, Forge, 2000 , $24 95/C$35 95 , 367 pp , ISBN 0-312-86965- 7

In this seventh Catherine LeVendeur mystery, Edgar, Catherine and their family have returned to Paris from Trier, Germany (see A Difficult Saint , Review 12) to discover a corpse in the counting room of the LeVendeur house The body is cloaked in white - an obvious indication that the deceased is a member of the Knights Templar who , against the backdrop of Paris in 1147 , is assumed to be setting forth imminently on crusade with King Louis and his wife , Eleanor Or is he? When suspicion falls on Edgar and Catherine, it is the spirited Catherine who must uncover the truth . If the murderer is not found, the results may result in the destruction of the entire LeVendeur family since Hubert , Catherine ' s father , has recently turned from the true faith " which he adopted and returned to his birth faith of Judaism For those whom Hubert has left behind, and with the palpable hysteria about Jews growing in twelfth century Western Europe , it is everything which Catherine can do to remain steadfast in her own faith and tolerant and accepting of her father ·s choice

The twists and turns of the plot are vintage Newman and the read is always fun Although Catherine is no longer the sprightly young scholar from the Paraclete, she still has charm

Ilysa Magnus

US/CANADA THIRTEENTH CENTURY

THE MARSH KING'S DAUGHTER

Elizabeth Chadwick, St. Martin ' s Press , 2000 , $25 95/C$39 95 (£4 79* pb) , 408pp , hb , ISBN 0-312-26491-7

The author ·s latest medieval-set novel takes the reader on a glorious journey of adventure and romance . Confmed to a nurmery by her family , Miriel hates the life of a novice and dreams of fmding a way out. Nicholas de Caen almost dies while hiding stolen items from King John's Treasury. Brought together by fate when she saves his life, the two make a pact when she escapes from the convent and joins him After Miriel breaks that pact and sets out on her own, Nicholas vows revenge. They meet again when Miriel is married to a controlling merchant , and their initial attraction grows until they give into their mutual passion. But Miriel's husband is not willing to let her go and hires someone to rid him of his rival

As with her previous novels , the author plunges her reader into the medieval world , expertly weaving historical detail into the narrative while keeping the plot moving along at a merry pace Her sympathetic and original characters engage the reader while her research shines through

Though one cliche element does slip in, it is resolved in an original marmer and does not detract from the story. Ms Chadwick's books are always a pleasure from beginning to end, especially in their power to transport the reader to the Middle Ages

Teresa Eckford

A MEMORY OF LOVE

Bertrice Small , Ballantine, 2000 , $14 (£8 67) , pb , 362 pp , ISBN 0-345-43434-X

Born out of wedlock , Rhonwyn is raised as a boy by her Welsh father ' s warriors Not until her impending marriage to an English prince does she learn to be a lady under the tutelage of her aunt , a prioress , and the other nuns at the abbey Edward de Beaulieu is both captivated and dismayed by his bride. Rhonwyn is beautiful , but she is also freespirited. With Prince Edward of England , they embark on a crusade to the Holy Land. Captured by the infidels , she becomes the captive of the Emir of Cinnebar, who teaches her about passion. She eventually escapes the harem and returns to England - where the battle for her heart and her freedom pit her against enemies she doesn ·1 even know exist.

An absorbing medieval tale , this romance will have readers turning the pages until they discover the identity of Rhonwyn ' s true love and how she rescues herself from the predicaments that threaten to destroy her Cindy Vallar

US/CANADA FIFTEENTH CENTURY

THE BEGGAR'S THRONE

David Falconieri , MacAdarn/Cage, 2000 , $24 (£16 5 I) , 39 !pp , hb , ISBN 0-9673701-0-8

Just when you thought there must be nothing new to write about the Wars of the Roses , along comes this well-researched, highly entertaining novel. It recounts events of this turbulent period from Wakefield up through after Tewkesbury , from the points of view of both royalty/nobility as well as the common folk Within one thread, the future Edward IV seeks to consolidate power for the House of York , despite changing loyalties even amongst his own followers. In another, intertwining tale , the fictional Miller brothers find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. Christopher, a family man, remains stubbornly loyal to the Lancastrians , while Samuel , the younger son, joins the Yorkists after witnessing the Earl of Rutland ' s cruel murder by a Lancastrian nobleman The plot is further enhanced by the presence of a young woman who seeks help from the Millers while trying to keep a secret letter of the Queen·s from falling into the wrong hands

The author brings a human touch to this well-known time in history , and there ' s hardly a character who ' s given short shrift. Henry VI is fascinatingly depicted as a sad yet somehow dignified figure who correctly prophesizes future events. Wandering ragged from one castle to another , seeking shelter , the former king becomes one of the ' 'beggars·· of the title Also of particular interest is the portrayal of Edward IV in his early years before the throne , a time period rarely explored by novelists . In all , the novel does an excellent job of illustrating the uncertainty of life and loyalties during these changing times The action is nonstop, and readers can 1 help but be pulled along for the ride Highly recommended to fans of medieval fiction

Sarah L. Nesbeitt

BELLARION THE FORTUNATE: A Romance

Rafael Sabatini , (commonreader.com or 2000 , $22.95 , pb , 552pp, ISBN 1-58579-002-8

Akadine Press I-800-832-7323) ,

Rafael Sabatini had earned quite a name for himself as a writer of both historical novels and biographies in the first part of the 20th century . Bellarion the Fortunate was first published in 1926 and was received favorably by reviewers and the public. Set in Italy during the turbulent fifteenth century , the story revolves around the lives of a soldier and the noblewoman whose cause he serves and whose heart he desires Bellarion grows in service to Princess Valeria from a sheltered, sensitive young man to a blooded, successful, and feared veteran combat leader and advisor. The settings are described by Sabatini in as complete a manner as one would hope to find in a period piece. The characters may appear a bit wooden at times and the evolving love between Bellarion and Valeria has the feel of a '" B movie" plot at points along the way A patient reader will be rewarded at novel's end when Valeria at long last comes to realize Bellarion is far more than a useful servant. The less patient among us may wish Sabatini's characters were not so one-dimensional and their actions not so predictable A 1926 reviewer wrote of Bellarion that it was "entertaining stuff, but the bold knights and their exploits are not always convincing." Well said.

John R Vallely

US/CANADA

SIXTEENTH CENTURY

A FAMINE OF HORSES

P.F Chisholm, Poisoned Pen Press , 1999 (cl 994), $14 95 (£3.99*), 400pp , pb, ISBN 1890208272

In 1592 , Sir Robert Carey, weary of court life , left London to take up his new post as Deputy Warden of the West March near Carlisle As stated in the Introduction, the Anglo-Scottish Borders were England ' s version of the American Wild West , replete with horse rustlers , cattle thieves , kidnappers and murderers Into this mix add a courteous and stylish gentleman from Queen Elizabeth·s court - and watch the locals snicker at the thought of his keeping law and order Sir Robert has arrived right before the funeral of the old Warden. Robert is convinced that the local outlaws will take advantage of the uncertainties to cause further upheaval. Add the discovery of a body of a young man , shot in the back. His family is volatile, and

vengeance will be swift unless Sir Robert can forestall them . Robert ' s philosophy is summed up in the book: ' Without law what you have is feud, tangling between themselves , and murder repaying murder down the generations.· Clearly, Robert Carey is a new kind of law in the wilds of the West March P.F Chisholm (Patricia Finney) admits that she has fallen ' hook, line and sinker' for the charming Sir Robert - and I must say that readers will fall for him too. The sense of place and the language is all marvelously real. And it's great fun , too!

Lorraine Gelly

A SEASON OF KNIVES

P F Chisholm, Poisoned Pen Press , 2000 (cl995), $14 95 (£6.39*), pb, ISBN 1-890208-32-9

Sir Robert Carey , a courtier to Queen Elizabeth I who has been historically documented, is brought to vivid fictional life in P. F. Chisholm ' s series of murder mysteries. A Season of Knives finds our dashing and nattily dressed hero still serving as Deputy Warden of the West March, as deeply in debt as ever, and still in love with the married Elizabeth Widdrington. After foiling a kidnap plot against Elizabeth, Carey returns to Carlisle to find his servant Bamabus jailed for a murder Carey himself is accused of ordering Though his alleged motive is dubious , the evidence against him appears damning. Working feverishly to find the perpetrator of the crime, he untangles a skein of love , greed and deception that serves as a sobering reminder of how carefully he must conceal his love for Elizabeth

Ms. Chisholm ' s narrative is brimming with period detail so artfully woven in that it's never intrusive A Season of Knives is a must-read for those who prefer their Elizabethan adventure served with a hearty helping of whodunit.

Kelly Cannon

FLIGHT OF THE CROW

Paul Clayton, Frontier Fiction 1996 (still in print) , $9 95 , 226pp, pb , ISBN 1575020599

This is the second book in a trilogy about Calling Crow , a Native American from the 16th century , and his conflicts with the Spanish. Sadly the first book, Calling Crow, is out of print (formerly published by Berkley) so if you want to read this fine trilogy in its entirety you will have to go to a second hand bookstore For this second part is no standalone but follows on from the first book and is well worth reading . Clayton is adept at describing the world from the Native American point of view and contrasting it with that of the Spanish, who appear to be demons when the Muskogee first see them with their

hairy faces and 'giant demon dogs ' (horses) . After escaping from slavery , Calling Crow is living with another tribe and has a new love in Green Bird Woman but still misses the Arawak woman Juana . However , he is soon to get his wish and more , as another of the ' floating houses · (as the People call ships) is coming full of Spanish settlers , Juana , and a kindly priest who wants the Native Americans to be treated fairly Now Calling Crow faces danger from members of his new tribe who want him gone and from the worst of the settlers who want the land for themselves

Paul Clayton packs a lot of story into a short novel, and this is another page-turner. If you enjoy reading about this period then I can recommend this book for its perceptions about Native Americans and an exciting story. (Ed. note: per the author , Calling Crow will appear soon as an electronic and print-on-demand book from www e-reads.com .)

Rachel A Hyde

CALLING CROW NATION

Paul Clayton, Berkley, 1997 , $5.99 (£3.75) , 309pp, pb , ISBN 0425156044

This is the third and final book in the Calling Crow trilogy , which if you have just read the review of Fight of the Crow can best be described as ' more of the same.· In this book Calling Crow meets up with some English merchant adventurers who, like the Coosas , want the Spanish gone - only for different reasons. The Coosas want to trade deer hides for the ' thunder sticks· (guns) of the whites so they can fight on equal terms with their enemies the Timucua To make sure the whole bargain is honoured , Calling Crow and another brave travel across the ocean to England where they soon find out that although Samuel Newman is an honorable man the others on his ship are not necessaril y the same Like the first two books , this is an exciting, action-packed tale that tells the story of the conquest of the Americas from the Native Americans· viewpoint: few of the whites appear to have many redeeming features

Two small anachronisms appear in this novel ; firstly when Samuel ' s child is singing Ring O ' Roses nearly ninety years before the plague, and secondly when a simple shepherd lad is gazing across the darkening fields and thinking about Tannhauser going down to Venusberg I don ' t think so! These gripes apart, I've enjoyed reading about Calling Crow and his people and seeing the 'discovery' of the Americas through the eyes of the native Americans.

Rachel A Hyde

BIANCA

Robert Elegant , St. Martin ·s Press , 2000 (c 1992) , $24 95 , 348 pp , hb , ISBN 0-312-26127-6

Elegant paints a colorful portrait of Renaissance Venice at the height of its glory in the mid to late 16th century Bianca, a young Venetian noblewoman, is determined to make her own destiny , and her willful evasion of an arranged marriage results in her exile from Venice to Florence, where she attracts the attention of the reigning duke , a member of the powerful de ' Medici famil y. Bianca ' s onl y ally in Venice is her cousin Marco , a Venetian senator , a commander in the Venetian fleet , and a leading member of the Venetian secret service Through the interactions of his characters, Elegant depicts a complex and sometimes brutal world of ever-shifting alliances, where trade , politics , warfare , intrigue, intelligence, beauty , and even love can be used to barter for power

The characters are never fully fleshed out and are occasionally inconsistent , leaving the reader somewhat detached from their fate. The title character in particular is overshadowed by her cousin Marco , whose multiple roles in the Venetian government and fleet help make his character a bit more developed and well-rounded The strongest character to emerge is that of the city of Venice itself: a city that prized its aristocracy, but elected its Doge ; a city that valued shrewd common sense and practicality, but annually reaffirmed its bond with the waters through a ceremonial marriage to the sea.

The author ' s greatest talent is his ability to interweave fact and fiction in a manner that is both informative and entertaining Elegant handles the historical aspects of the story with skill and ease , and has clearly done his research The action moves briskly between Venice , Florence, Istanbul , and the high seas, giving the reader an overview of the political intrigues of the day and various conflicts with the Turks (including the Battle of Lepanto) as well as a wealth of information about Venetian life and customs

Although the characters played second fiddle to the setting, this was an enjoyable read for its vivid portrayal of Venice , and I would recommend it to anyone interested in the Serene Republic or the period

Lisa Sweeney

printer, who may have been blackmailing him Crispin works as a secret agent for the Queen , but has fallen out of favor Accused of treason, he has fourteen days to exonerate himself or face execution

Sophie is an attractive , enterprising businesswoman. She and Crispin feel both magnetized and repelled when he finds her at the murder scene . The printer, who was instrumental in an extortion scheme to sell subscriptions to people with a secret in their past , has a bill of credit with her name on it clutched in his dead fingers

Written in floating omniscient, the prose is third person , past tense The author has an amusing turn of wit in the lovers ' repartee and uninhibited sex She introduces elements of bedroom farce in a misunderstanding , using metaphor and understatement in a ping-pong of double entendres Her other strength is in creating characters like Crispin ' s two aunts , who amuse with their starchy originality Sophie is a fresh image for her hidebound age

Marcia

K. Matthews

THE LATE MR SHAKESPEARE

Robert Nye , Penguin , 2000 (cl998) , $13 95/C$21.95 (£8 74) , 399pp, pb , ISBN 0- I 4-028952-6

In this fictional biography of The Bard we meet Picl<leherring, an aged actor writing about the life of his former employer and friend He recounts the many tales and myths about Shakespeare interspersed with his own recollections and brief glimpses of plague-and-fire-ravaged London of 1665-66 . This book is both a frustrating and fascinating read Nye's style did not appeal to me at first. In some places the writing seems disjointed, while in others it flows as the narrator recounts a particularly intriguing anecdote or event. It is written in the first person, and Pickleherring often addresses the reader directly. When he sticks to the topic of Shakespeare's life , all is well However I found myself annoyed by the subplot of Pickleherring's obsession with the young prostitute he spies on through the hole in his floor (he lives in the attic of a brothel) Those scenes border on pornography and struck me as repetitive and gratuitous

This book is not for everyone , but readers who enjoy a very literary style of historical fiction and are interested in the Elizabethan period may well want to pick it up I cannot say that I truly enjoyed the book, but neither do I regret having read it. Yet that special magic that compels me to finish a novel was not present in this one .

Te resa Ec/...ford

US/CANADA SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

KILL THE SHOGUN : A Samurai Mystery

Dale Furutani, Morrow, 2000 , $23 / C$34 95 (£14 42) , 240pp , hb , ISBN 0-688-15189-6

This is the third in the trilogy that began with Death at the Crossroads and Jade Palace Vendetta , all set in 17th century Japan If you haven ' t read the first two in the series (and I haven ' t) then I wouldn ' t recommend reading this book , as it is very much the final chapter of a series that must read like one continuous novel. Wandering samurai Matsuyama Kaze must continue with his quest to find the daughter of his former patrons who were killed during a political change in the wind Now Kaze has travelled to Edo where he soon gets into trouble , being mistaken for the assassin-to-be of the new Shogun He has also tracked down the missing daughter but has little chance of rescuing her unless he can first clear his name

Lots of thrilling derring-do and swordplay , samurai swashbuckling and devious palace intrigues make this busy tale hum. There is plenty of background information about life in Japan in those days too, and all in an admirably paced whole. I will certainly be looking for the first two parts and won ' t say any more about the plot, as to reveal much more would spoil it for anybody who has yet to read the earlier books . If you enjoy Laura Joh Rowland and anything in the tradition of Robert Van Gulik , then this ought to please Rachel A Hyde

ARTEMJSIA

THE WATER NYMPH

Michele Jaffe , Pocket, 2000 , $22 95 (£14.38) , 329 pp , hb , ISBN 0-671-02741-7

Set in Elizabethan London, The Water Nymph is a romantic romp full of espionage and intrigue Sophie Champion matches wits with Crispin Foscari , Earl of Sandal , to solve the murders of her godfather and the Queen ' s

What did capture my interest was the recounting of the myriad legends surrounding the life of Shakespeare, along with the author/narrator's ruminations on the possible identities of the Friend and Dark Lady from the Sonnets . Nye's characters are true to the period, varied and often intriguing, coming to life in Pickleherring's stories . The setting is exceptionally well depicted, especially the scenes during which the Great Fire ravages London.

Alexandra Lapierre , trans Liz Heron, Grove Press , 2000 , $27 (£14 39) , 427pp , hb , ISBN 0-8021-1672-8

This extraordinary novel is a must read for anyone remotely interested in Baroque Italy , art, or painter Artemisia Gentileschi I have very minimal knowledge about any of these topics , but the author immediately drew me in to share her fascination with this artist.

Born at a time when artists were the celebrities of their day , Artemisia was the

daughter of Orazio Gentileschi , a respected painter who noticed her talent at an early age and dedicated himself to teaching her. Passionate about his pursuit of artistic perfection, Orazio viewed Artemisia ' s talent as an extension of his own .

A willing disciple , Artemisia worked with Orazio peacefully in his studio until she became a young woman Her father cloistered Artemisia from the outside world, supposedly to safeguard her virtue. Ultimately, Artemisia was no longer content to live in her father's shadow, wanting to establish her own artistic identity, marry , and have children

Artemisia was raped at I 7 by Agostino Tassi , another painter and friend of her father Furious , Artemisia planned to denounce him, but Tassi offered to marry her , a promise he did not keep The rape trial which followed became the scandal of the day. Within hours after Tassi was sentenced, Artemisia married a Florentine painter and went to Florence, where she blossomed under her husband ' s loving care

The friendships and professional ties Artemisia established with members of the Florentine court, such as Buonarrotti the Younger (the great-nephew of Michelangelo) and Galileo , lasted a lifetime She painted her most famous work, Judith Slaying Holofernes , and earned the patronage of Grand Duke Cosimo II de ' Medici At 23 , Artemisia became the first female inducted into the Accademia de! Disegno, a prestigious association that brought together the elite among painters , sculptors , architects , and scholars

Throughout her life , Artemisia dreaded , but could not avoid comparison with, the works of her father. Who was the better painter? Her father , watching Artemisia ' s maturing talent , was haunted by the same question

This novel is the product of five years of research by Lapierre, who provides detailed notes on references for the events in each chapter, as well as a list of characters , maps , and several color pictures of Artemisia ' s paintings. I highly recommend this beautiful book.

Lisa Sweeney

neighboring Islamic countries He then fell under the influence of Jesuits who arrived after the fighting was done , and ordered the country to convert to Catholicism. However , the Jesuits wielded a pernicious influence that led to the collapse of the negus ' s authority and terrible civil wars The foreigners were murdered, and three generations of rulers have attempted to wipe out the legacy they wrought , while allowing no westerners into the country.

But time has passed and now competing religious orders see the country as ripe for conversion to Catholicism (the Eastern form of Christianity practiced there not being recognized as meaningful/acceptable), and the Sun King would like to send a delegation to emphasize the power and glory of his reign and to ' lure that country into the political and religious orbit of France .· We enter the story from Cairo, where the French consul is charged to organize the King ' s mission and to arrange for an Abyssinian embassy to travel to Versailles . The consul, of course, is loath to leave the comforts of Cairo behind. But Cairo does contain a talented young French apothecary/physician, and it is known that the negus of Abyssinia is hunting for a doctor to treat a serious malady afllicting him Poncet, the young healer, is willing to undertake the arduous journey, but for reasons entirely his own. He has fallen in love with the consul ' s daughter , but has no hope of getting permission to marry her without gaining acclaim from carrying out the King ' s wishes . This book immerses the reader in the political and religious intrigues of the time , but does so through a thoroughly engaging story with living and breathing characters. The author ' s skill at recreating a place grounds us in Cairo of 1699 , and the reader , along with the consul and Poncet and the other characters in the book, feels the mystery and the pull of Abyssinia. A sequel , The Siege of Isfahan , is due out early in 2001 I will rush to read it.

TnidiJacobson

US/CANADA EIGIITEENTH CENTURY

THE ABYSSINIAN

Jean-Christophe Rufin , WW Norton, 2000, $25 95/C$36.99 , 422 pp , hb , ISBN 0-393-04716-4

Abyssinia, cut off from westerners for generations , is an irresistible goal for a number of Western contingents at the start of the 18th century. A century earlier, the negus (ruler) of Abyssinia welcomed Portuguese assistance after the country was attacked by Turks , being unable to obtain help from

INTO THE WILDERNESS

Sara Donati, Bantam, 1999, $6 50 (£4.08), 876pp, pb , ISBN 0553578529

Elizabeth Middleton , an Englishwoman, arrives in upper New York State in December 1792 with the hopes of fulfilling a lifelong dream, to be a schoolteacher She joins her father at his holdings in Paradise and quickly discovers that plans have already been made for her. Her father needs cash, and in order to

get it he makes a bargain with Richard Todd , a wealthy doctor who wants the rights to one of her father's parcels of land In return for this land and Elizabeth as a wife , Todd will pay off all her father ' s debts . Elizabeth has no interest in Richard Todd as a husband She has also become entangled in the lives of the Bonners and the Mohawk Indians who reside on Hidden Wolf Mountain Nathaniel Bonner catches her interest in particular. Nathaniel is a white man that dresses like an Indian , a backwoodsman raised and trained in the Mohawk way. Although the Mohawks have caused no trouble in the area for some time , there are many, including Richard Todd, who would like to see the Indians run off Hidden Wolf Mountain. To save the Mountain and preserve the heritage of the Mohawks , Nathaniel and Elizabeth devise their own scheme to get control of the land. Elizabeth persuades the judge to sign over the deed of ownership , and instead of marrying Todd she slips away and marries Nathaniel. Elizabeth and Nathaniel are now on the run '• into the wilderness," and this is where the true romance begins I highly recommend this novel. Once I got into the story, I couldn ' t put it down ; every page brought a new adventure and character, another friend or foe to learn about. This is a long novel, but for those who persevere the rewards are great.

Deborah Sanford

DREAMS OF GLORY

Thomas Fleming, Forge, 2000 , $24 95/C$35 .95 (£15.63), hb , 336pp , ISBN 0312877439

Thomas Fleming has written a wonderfully spellbinding novel of suspense and intrigue set during the climax of the Revolutionary War . British and American secret agents clash as the war reaches a critical point in 1780 . The men in George Washington ' s rebel army are nearing a revolt. They are cold, hungry and are starting to resent fighting the war The British soldiers visit New York 's brothels and attempt to plot a maneu ver that will tum the war in their favor , thus ending the stalemate that could bankrupt the Empire . The story starts as the lives of a number of vastly different people collide on a path of espionage that started before the war began . Fleming uses flashbacks to draw the reader deeper into the minds of the main characters and their lives As each character ' s past is revealed, it is clearly easy to see how such outwardly different individuals all ended up on the same path of espionage

Hugh Stapleton is considered to be a family man and distinguished member of the Continental Congress when he is drawn into the web of the British spy Walter Beckford.

Caleb Chandler, a chaplain in the Revolutionary army, is also ensnared in Beckford's plots to bring down the American army, drawn into this web of deceit by a dalliance with the mysterious Flora Kuyper. Her secrets are the catalyst for the events that are about to change the lives of both men

As Hugh and Caleb traverse this rock-y road of treachery, both men encounter more then they bargained for as acts of love , possible treason , and their own convictions lead them down unexpected paths The plot twist and turns will keep readers captivated for hours. A great book to read on a long winter·s night.

Shannon M. Wally

THE BORDER MEN : Book 2 in The Tennessee Frontier Trilogy Cameron Judd , Cumberland House, 2000 , $16 95 (£10.62), 448pp, ISBN 1581821433

The Border Men continues the saga of the Colter family during the years of the American Revolution For Captain Joshua Colter, adopted son of aging frontiersman Alphus , the conflict brings with it the opportunity to exercise his abilities as a leader The Colters , including Joshua's brother Cooper Haverly , are members of the patriot Rangers , a civilian troop whose duty is to protect the settlements in the mountains of east Tennessee. Their war is fought mainly against pro-British Tories and their Native American allies, the Chickamaugas and Cherokees. Chief among the Tories in this story are the Brechts , brothers Elisha and Solomon, whse blood feud with the Colters predates the action in this installment. Sentiments run deep on all sides , making reconciliation seem impossible. Undeniably , Judd has a good command of the history of this period and place. His knowledge of the details of frontier living and the methods of mountain-style battle adds to the realism of the story. The squeamish reader, however, should be aware that there is plenty of blood and gore in The Border Men , as most attacks take place more or less face to face using knives, axes , fire and long rifle. Unfortunately, Judd is not a skillful writer . To his credit, enough background is given to make it easy for first time readers like myself to start with Book Two But this can't excuse words that are misused, overused or made up altogether. As for continuity , one character, Callum McSwain, leaves for the Cumberland Country in Chapter 3. Surprisingly, he turns up in Chapter 8 before leaving for the Cumberland Country again This reappearance is eventually explained, but easily could have been handled sooner and made less confusing. In summary, a good editor could turn this into a more readable book.

Alice Logsdon

A CONSPIRACY OF PAPER

David Liss, Random House , 2000 , $25 , 442pp , hb , ISBN 037550920

For review, see UK section

MARTHA PEAKE: A Novel of the Revolution

Patrick McGrath , $24 95/C$35 95 , 0-375-50081-2

Random House , 2000, 367pp, hb , ISBN

For review , see UK section

US/CANADA

NINETEENTH CENTURY

LADY CATHERINE'S NECKLACE

Joan Aiken, St. Martin's , 2000 , $21.95 , 176pp, hb,0312244061

For review , see Review 12 May 2000

MORE THAN A MISTRESS

Mary Balogh, Delacorte, 2000, $16 95/C$24 95 (£10 .62), hb, 343 pp, ISBN 0-385-33531-8

Mary Balogh has a reputation as being one of the very best Regency-era writers Until now, I'd read only one of her short stories, which hadn ' t overwhelmed me . However, after reading More than a Mistress , I realize that the acclaim is well deserved

Jane· Ingleby has run off to London after being accused of a crime in her native Cornwall. She manages to support herself for a short period by working for a milliner, but loses her job after arriving late one morning On her way to work through Hyde Park, she had come across a duel and had shouted out in order to stop the proceedings . The pause caused by her interruption allowed one of the combatants to shoot the other in the leg. The wounded Duke of Tresham blames Mary for his injury , while she blames him for the loss of her livelihood He hires her as his nurse , intending to make her life as miserable as his is while he is laid up Of course , things don ' t quite work that way.

Balogh has crafted a tale that is hard to put down, with well-rounded characters and a surprise or two . Highly recommended to those who enjoy the genre

Tmdi Jacobson

JANE AND THE STILLROOM MAID

Stephanie Barron, Bantam, 2000, $22 95/C$32 95 (£14.38), HB , 277pp , ISBN 0553107348

A stillroom, in early nineteenth century England, was the place where medicines were distilled, stored and dispensed. The maidservant whose often-atrocious remedies begin each chapter is found murdered in circumstances that point to freemasonry , an organization of the landed classes. This polite world of elegant mansions filled with English aristocrats existed concurrently with an uneducated , superstitious English working class

The action in this fifth volume of the Jane Austen mystery series explores these contrasting elements of society by using the heroine ' s role as a go-between and observer Jane Austen barely qualifies to associate with the upper classes, but her shabby genteel position in society actually allows her slightly more freedom of movement and protects her at the same time. Of course , our belief must be suspended that the famous novelist could possibly have sustained all these adventures, but it is done in a pleasant and disarming manner . The regard and interest of Lord Harold Trowbridge, the intelligent and open-minded ' Gentleman Rogue ,· enlivens the romantic landscape of Miss Austen ' s fictional life , which we know in reality was ultimately barren.

Mary K. Bird-Guilliams

THE CHIVALRY OF CRIME

Desmond Barry, Little , Brown, 2000, $24.95 (£15.63), hb, 473 pp , ISBN 0-3 I 6-12038-3 Jesse James is one of those characters from the American frontier past whose terrifying charisma exerts as powerful a hold on contemporary readers as it did on those of earlier generations A member of a hard-riding guerrilla band in the western part of the Confederate States in the US Civil War, James spent the postwar years as an unrepentant rebel and hunted outlaw Shot in the back by his friend Bob Ford, James has supplied novelists and screenwriters with countless plots for books and films ever since . Desmond Barry , a native of Wales long fascinated by the West, offers a portrait of Jesse James as a haunted , violent man tortured by inner demons and energized by killing and the need to kill again. The narrative is replete with countless examples of the bloodlust that characterized James and his comrades. The novel begins with young Joshua Benyon and his fixation on owning a gun and joining the world inhabited by the gunmen of the immediate post-Civil War era. Barry then introduces Bob Ford , an unattractive freebooter whom Benyon idolizes as a

gunfighter The Benyon-Ford tale abruptly becomes the saga of James and his experiences in the Civil War and later outlaw life The author follows Benyon, Ford, and James as their li ves unravel towards the inevitable climax.

The novel is not for the squeamish but it is rewarding for its view of the life and people of the time frame Recommended for readers interested in the American frontier

John R Vall ely

MYSTIC VISIONS

Rosanne Bittner, Forge , 2000 , $23 95 / C$34 95 (£15 01) , hb , 316 pp , ISBN 0-312-86512-0

Rosanne Bittner, author of nearly fifty historical romances , takes a step into the straight historical novel with Mystic Visions. Narrated primarily by Sioux women, this stand-alone middle book of a trilogy depicts the upheaval in the world of the Oglala Sioux during the 19th century

In 1836, the Oglala live their lives as they have for centuries , following the migration of the buffalo and fighting with Pawnee , Crow , and Shoshoni for the best hunting grounds . The white man is a distant threat to all but Buffalo Dreamer, a holy woman , troubled by dreams of blue-coated soldiers , and her husband Rising Eagle , whose visions foretell great battles By I 851 , the trickle of white men into the west becomes a torrent as easterners stream through Oglala land, destroying good grazing ground and thinning the buffalo herds Buffalo Dreamer ' s dreaded blue-coated soldiers follow in their wake , forcing Rising Eagle and the white men into violent confrontation

Bittner does an outstanding job stripping away the conventions of the genre to write in an unsentimental way about the lives of the SiotLx In this novel , bad things happen to good people, endings can be bittersweet and there are no apologies about the Sioux way of living or fighting or worshipping. I could quibble that the main characters waxed a mite too poetic about Mother Earth , but this nick in the gem is balanced by Bittner ' s even-handed depiction of both Sioux and Caucasian as humans of foible and folly The step from straight romance into straight historical fiction can be a shak--y one ; with Mystic Visions Rosanne Bittner leaps with confidence

Lisa Ann Verge

WILDWOOD BOYS

James Carlos Blake, Morrow , 2000 , $24 (£14 86), hb , 384pp , ISBN 0380977494 William (Bill) Anderson lived peacefully enough on his parents ' farm together with his brother and three sisters They were a musical family , fond of poetry , and both Bill and his

brother Jim were partial to a spot of horse stealing Their lives - and those of their friends - would probably have passed unremarkably enough , but the Ci vil War was to change all that. The Kansas -Missouri borderlands where they li ved were split between Kansas Unionist " redlegs " and Anderson ' s beloved Missouri Confederate " bushwackers ," the most notorious band of which was led by a man named Quantrill It was this desperate group that Anderson was himself to join, spreading terror (and inspiring a lot of adoration , depending on which side you were on) and earning him the name of ' Bloody Bill ' following great personal tragedy

James Carlos Blake wasn ' t actually alive in those da ys , but reading this novel I was almost convinced that he had been. It is by turns tender and heartwarming , then it plunges the reader into the hellish brutality and suffering that any war - but especially a civil war - engenders Although there are monstrous acts , this is not a tale of monsters but of ordinary people driven to their limits and losing part (although rarely all) of their humanity . So far it all sounds rather depressing , but it isn ' t. There are ample occasions for laughter , a lot of camaraderie and good times aplenty as the characters demonstrate that where there is life there is hope Acts of bravery are not just confined to the men, but above all what never fails to shock is the intense hatred one side had for another and how brother was turned against brother and friend against friend The characters live vibrantly and the whole tale hangs around in the memory long after the book has been closed . I've previously reviewed another of Blake ' s novels (The Pistoleer) about the West ' s most famous gunfighter , but this goes deeper than that yet still manages to tell a mesmerizing tale in an appropriate voice. Highly recommended Rach e l A Hy de

GRANT: A Novel

Max Byrd, Bantam, 2000 , $23 95 / C$35 95 (£15 01) , hb , 359 pp , ISBN 0-553-09633-8 Grant joins Ev Ehrlich's Grant Speaks and Richard Parry ' s That Fateful Lightning (see Review 13 ) as novels concerning the life and especially the last days of Ulysses S Grant. Byrd ' s novel opens with Grant soliciting a draft for a third term as President after having given up the office four years before It is a reminder that Presidential politics were once conducted on a smaller and more personal stage with party bosses and personal intrigue playing a greater role than media buys and consultants' plans . Other historical characters such as Mark Twain, William Sherman, and Henry and

Clo ver Adams force Grant o ff sta ge , all making appearances which fashion a portrai t of Washington society in the so-called Gilded Age . One subplot concerns the identi ty of th e anonymous Democracy, a roman a cle f about Washington politicians and thos e cl o se to them, showing that some things remain the same. Ubiquitous corruption coex.i st s wi th th e shadow of heroism cast by the Civil W ar , fought a generation before but rememb ered in dail y life

The missing arm of the princip al invented character, Nicholas Trist Jr. , brings the reali ty of the war into ev ery scene in which it figur es. Trist's service under Grant at Cold Harbor recalls the side of the general who caused hi s detractors to call him a butcher. Tri st' s dalliance with Senator Don Cameron's wi fe, which we are told is based on an affair she had with a real-life poet , provides the most detailed running motif Other plot threads such as Clover Adams' suicide and Mark Twain 's failing publishing business come from well-recorded historical events

Byrd has an ear for the dignified langua ge of the late nineteenth century , both in th e dialogue and the supporting prose. Perhaps the richest writing occurs in excerpts from the fictional " Secret Life of Ulysses S Grant ," supposedly written by the contemporary Sylvester Cadwallader. Sections from Trist' s journal carry the parts of the plot which concern the political milieu in which Grant operates , or more accurately is operated upon . Civil War buffs will have to content themselves with brief and impressionistic reconstructions of that aspect of Grant's career, and there is little about his presidency. However the novel reasonably represents its chosen period and tells its own story in a way likely to hold the modern reader's interest.

Jam es Ha wkin g

RIGHTEOUS WARRIORS

Meredith Campbell , Two Trails Publishing ( 1108 Appleton , Independence, MO , 640 53, USA or www cwbkladybookshoppe com ), 2000 , $13 95 , PB , 345 pp ISBN 1-929311-05-2

Ci vil wars always provide a novelist with perfect , ready-made historical settings for drama and passion set against backgrounds of large scale suffering and violence Missouri in 1861 is a state torn apart by pro- Union and pro-Confederate forces The situation is further complicated by the presence of thousands of German and Irish immigrant s. One Irish immigrant , Franny Moone , is caught up in the turmoil surroundin g Missouri 's decision to remain with the United States or to join with the new Confederate States Moderation and compromise take second place to mob violence and ambush Youn g

Franny makes the colossal error of marrying a Confederate sympathizer named Hy Wilcox who quickly finds himself consumed by the killing Franny"s world is now dominated by war , terror, and uncertainty

Into this chilling environment steps a United States cavalry officer named Josiah Scarborough. Captain Scarborough is a decent man who sees his duty clearly and has the moral integrity to stand apart from the crowd of gunmen and opportunists on both sides He and Franny find solace in one another , and their love story offers an uplifting reminder that these is another world available to those who seek it. As Missouri and the warring factions move towards the climactic (and now largel y forgotten) Battle of Wilson ' s Creek, Franny and Josiah move towards building a new and better world for themselves

An exciting and believable Civil War story The author has captured the true nature of the fighting and the powerful emotions of the human beings caught up in a crisis far beyond their understanding

John R Vallely

SONG OF INNOCENCE

Margery Harkness Casares , Avid Press , 1999 , $6 99 , pb , ISBN 1-929613-02-4

Set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars , this story follows the star-crossed, reasonably suspenseful although basically predictable story of lovers allied to the opposing sides Separated from her parents and guardians at a young age , Mignon San Marco is unaware that she is the daughter of an assassinated French nobleman One brief meeting at the age of 16 with the Austrian duke Charles Eugene von Klein being enough to convince her she has found the love of her life, she makes it her mission to make him realize this as well. Battles, political intrigue, and other inconveniences intervene, of course , before matters get resolved in a way that includes a somewhat implausible but satisfying coincidence

While the writing has a tendency to veer into florid metaphors ( ' He had tuned her emotions as he might have tuned a fine violin, with gentleness and a natural ability to recognize the perfect pitch of each sensation he produced in her He taught her a new and powerful melody , and she yearned to experience the finale ' ), the abundance of period detail is a plus for readers seeking a few hours of undemanding yet enjoyable escape reading

Maria G Parker

ALICE'S TULIPS

Sandra Dallas , St. Martin's Press , $22 95 (£14.38) , 256 pp , hb , ISBN 0-312-20359-4

' A yellow tulip is like sunshine , ' Alice tells her mother-in-law. ' Yellow is for joy and gladness and friendship. ' Mother Bullock has come to depend on Alice now that her son Charlie has gone to fight for the Union The epistolary form gives the novel a sense of disco very , of the chatty intimacy that is only possible between sisters . Written in first person , in tight focus , Alice's letters to sister Lizzie sparkle with personality. She is Iowa's answer to Scarlett O'Hara : lively, flirtatious and vain

Ali ce 's Tulips has a contemporary immediacy. Women's concerns - survival and love - haven't changed. The theme is war, country life and the human condition. The recurring motif of quilting serves as metaphor for the piecing together of Alice's life. She takes in those less fortunate , Annie and her daughter, Joybell , and is rewarded for her generous spirit. She befriends the suspected Southern sympathizer Nealie and her husband Frank She conflicts with Frank's brother, Sam, a Jayhawker who raids the farms for booty Alice serves as the mainstay of her extended family . Her main conflict is woman vs nature

Combined with the tale of endurance is the mystery of who killed Sam Alice had a motive ; so did others She shoulders the blame along with her other burdens As hard-headed Mother Bullock gets to know Alice, she grows to love her, and so does the reader, who didn't want this book to end.

Marcia K. Matthews

A COMPROMISING SITUATION

Shannon Donnelly, Zebra , 2000 , $4 99 (£3.12) , PB , 224 pp , ISBN 0-8217-6751-8 This is Donnelly' s first full-length Regency novel , and it was a delight to read Unlike many Regencies , it is not set in London, but in Yorkshire. Miss Maeve Midden has been sent by Mr Jessup of Hastings , Hastings , and Jessup Employment Agency , Pultney Bridge, Bath, to Lord Rothe ' s household. Maeve is hoping to find a position where she can feel welcome , settle in, and watch her charges grow up under her tutelage Three positions in under three years make her yearn for a long-term position. She is dismayed to find that she has been hired to serve as governess to sixteen year old Clarissa, who clearly feels she is too old for a governess , and is also of an age to leave home shortly for a season in London This is hardly the long-term position Maeve had hoped for , and she agrees to stay only as long as it takes her to find a new position

Lord Rothe has recently assumed the title upon the death of his elder brother. He was formerly colonel in His Majesty ' s Rifles , and feels much more comfortable as a military man than as a lord . Maeve finds that not only will she serve as governess to Clarissa, but that she has a pupil in Lord Rothe, who needs to learn the social graces Suddenly, leaving this household becomes harder than Maeve imagined

Donnelly has a gift for arresting images . Here she is describing Maeve ' s hair : " [I]ts colors told the history of her life , from the golden brown tips that marked its color as a girl to the dark cherrywood hues near her scalp that showed her more sober years as a governess. " I shall be looking for the author ' s next book, due out next June

Trndi Ja cobs on

TEXAS LILY

Elizabeth Fackler, Forge, 2000 , $14 95 (£9 37) , pb , 416 pp , ISBN : 0-312-87380-8

Spanning the years 1878 to the late 1890s , this saga of the American Southwest follows the life of Lily Cassidy Moss , who at age 15 , begins an almost unceasing chain of death, heartbreak and despair - to her famil y and many of those around her - seeking revenge for the loss of her father to an assassin's bullet.

Although she loves the outlaw Jasper Stone, Lily agrees to marry wealthy rancher Emmett Moss He needs a son ; she needs the death of the man who hired the gunslinger who killed her father.

Despair and sorrow are the key words here Lives built on lies are allowed very little leeway on the paths they follow . Like living through the plagues in Biblical times , life on Emmett Moss's ranch is filled with hardship , suicides , child killing , and more

This may be a sexist comment, but I do not believe a man could write a book describing the toils and travails of life on the frontier as brutally honest as this one The romantic image of the West which authors like Max Brand and Louis L'Amour envisioned are sheer fantasies compared to the tapestry of nightmares that Elizabeth Fackler weaves

The book is compulsively readable , something like watching a train wreck in progress. Only the ending is a little murkysome redemption may finally be in store - in all other matters , Fackler says exactly what she wants to say

One side note : The book is described on the back cover and by the Library of Congress data on the reverse of the title page as taking place during the Lincoln County Wars This is strange since Lincoln County is never mentioned ; what's more , that it takes place in New Mexico is deduced only by the process of

elimination. Neither Billy the Kid , Pat Garrett or any of the other players in that era in US history has any role in the book, nor are they even discussed The timeframe is correct , though, so all of the events in this novel must have been purely peripheral to what was going on in Lincoln County at that time Steve Lewis

A REGENCY SAMPLER

Kelly Ferjutz (ed) , Regency Press

$5 95 / C$7 95 , pb , 340 pp ISBN l-929085-00-l

There ·s a lot to like in these fifteen stories by various authors The bon ton of the Regency, the cant , the wit and grace are all here, as well as some darker strains Fresh, original voices guarantee an amusing read.

In Belvedere , Jo Manning veers into Gothic. In Neptune's Quizzing Glass , Sandra Heath dives into fantasy A Singular Woman by Nina Caron Davis features a heroine of color. The rest of the collection plays variations on the romantic themes Jane Austen explored Outstanding for its style and immediacy is An Unusual Correspondence by Susan McDuffe Lady Eveline Mytton writes to Angela Rothley , who has consented to wed the Earl of Denby Eveline is thrilled to address her friend as the Countess of Denby , but becomes concerned by hints in Angela's letters that all is not well The women ' s personalities and affection shine through

A Lady of Discretion by Janna Lewis is another light-hearted romp full of witty ripostes "" You have always had the damnedest luck with females , Adrian, but finding one in a tree- well , this has to top ' em all! ' says Gregory

Like a good syllabub , A Regen cy Sampler froths over with entertainment.

Mar c ia K. Matthew s

ALLIE'S MOON

Alexis Harrington, St. Martin ' s , 2000 , $5.99 (£3 75) , pb , 307pp , ISBN 0-312-97307-1

From age eight , Allie Ford has borne the guilt of causing her mother· s suicide and deprivin g her younger sister of a mother ' s love Three years have passed since her father's death in 1877 , and the Oregon farm is in desperate need of repairs. Unable to do the work herself, she hires Jefferson Hicks , the former sheriff and to'"n drunk Jeff '' died" soon after shooting a young boy , and he ' s just biding his time until death claims him Then he meets Allie , and his desire to live blossoms

Although the past imprisons both Jeff and Allie , their love offers them a chance to heal , but others have no intention of letting that happen

Although set in the American West , there is little history in this story. That said, though,

it is a good depiction of a small town where everyone knows everyone else ' s business , and where the slightest scandal results in ostracism and ridicule. It also shows the psychological torment caused when innocent people make mistakes.

An enduring read for historical or western romance fans in search of healing love and who don ' t mind if the history is of the social variety

Cindy Vallar

NOWHERE ELSE ON EARTH

Josephine Humphreys , Viking , 2000 , $24 .95/C$34 99 , hb , 341pp

ISBN: 0-670-89176-2

Set during the waning days of the Civil War along the banks of the Lumbee River in North Carolina, Scufiletown residents ' way of life, turpentining , has all but vanished On the one side are the wealthy Scottish farmers - the " macks ." Part of the feared Home Guard, they roam the countryside with deadly force conscripting boys for Confederate forts and salt works . On the other side , Union forces encroach

Caught in the middle , Scuflletown cares little about the war's outcome Its residents merely want to get on with life Here is where Rhoda Strong, part Scottish and part Lumbee Indian, watches her younger brothers disappear to join a gang that hides in the swamps Against her mother's warning, Rhoda falls in love with the gang's leader, charismatic Henry Berry Lowrie In order to survive , the gang turns to petty thieving , making Henry a wanted man Crimes escalate until the gang's force equals the macks '. Rhoda never wavers from her decision to stand by her man " cut from heroic cloth ."

No doubt some readers will relish the relaxed pace , but I found the first half of the book plodding What kept me reading were the rich layers of beautifully written prose. Ms . Humphreys chooses each word with care, and the layers unfold to paint a picture of a forgotten way of life , paying tribute to the mute voices overshadowed by battles and the so-called glory of war

Kim

Murph y

A PROPER MATCH

Sherry-Anne Jacobs , Avid Press , 2000 , $5 99 (£3 75) , pb , 259pp , ISBN 1-929613-50-4

The Dowager Lady Graceover feels that the end might be near , and is determined to see her orphaned granddaughter Eleanor and her dependent niece Beatrice, both of whom live with her, married before she dies . Being unable to face the rigors of a London season herself, she sends the reserved Beatrice to London to find a suitor of the proper pedigree for Eleanor. Her hope is that Beatrice will find

a match at the same time Beatrice, who would far rather be in the country than in London , is unenthusiastic about the social whirl she has found herself in ... until she meets the highly eligible and infuriating Justin Searle Might this be the man for Eleanor?

Eleanor, left behind with her grandmother, finds an interesting prospect of her own In the meantime , Lady Graceover has been up to her own machinations , and finds a potential suitor for Beatrice Soon the Dowager, Eleanor, Beatrice, and all three men are gathered at the country seat. Almost anything can , and does , happen with this volatile mix I thoroughly enjoyed this book (previously published as Persons of Rank)- the main characters were intelligent and perceptive, and the plot wasn ' t overrun by inane misunderstandings

Tnidi Jacobson

LONG REMEMBER

MacKinlay Kantor, Tor/Forge, 2000 , $14.95/C$21 (£9.37) , pb , 370 pp , ISBN 0-312-87520-7

Long Remember was first published in 1934 and earned critical acclaim from reviewers in both prestigious and popular journals The main character, Daniel Bale, has chosen to distance himself from both Union and Confederate allegiance in the American Ci vil War He is forced to rethink his neutral stance when he is called home to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in June 1863 Young Bane becomes reluctantly involved with the wife of a childhood friend and, as he struggles with this internal crisis , is then required to reconsider his attitude towards the war and killing when Union and Confederate armies collide in the titanic three day struggle in and around the town of Gettysburg in July.

MacKinlay Kantor was able to make the American Civil War li ve as few other writers could (or can) The social life and customs o f mid-19th century small town life are as well developed as his treatment of the historical figures and the battle itself. Bane's uncertain ty and inner turmoil in the face of a world gone mad give the work a " feel " few others have This is not the war of Lincoln and Lee , but rather the intensely personal strugg le of youn g soldiers and terrified civilians caught up in events far beyond their comprehension A fine novel in 19 34 ; an equally fine novel in 2000

J ohn R Vallely

LIAR'S MOON

Philip Kimball , Plume , 2000 , $1 2.9 5 (£7 .92), pb , 288pp , ISBN O452 28183 0 Philip Kimball takes the myth of the closing of the American frontier and turns it into gritty , yet poetic reality From 1852 , when a little white girl is captured by Indians , to the tragic

massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 , we follow a sharply-drawn cast of characters through an uncompromising country full of hope and treachery - Indians , cowboys , freed blacks , homesteaders and itinerant preachersall seeking to make a new life on the prairies, or to hold on to the one they have Central to the story are two children, one black, one white , raised by coyotes and eventually dragged back into the world of humans They seem to represent the pure yet unfulfilled potential of the West.

There is rugged actuality here , as well as lament and legend and not a few tall stories , the disparate elements held together by a lyrical narrative voice that is as exuberant and harsh as the landscape itself. A book to savor.

Sarah Cuthbertson

THE ICEWEA VER

Margaret Lawrence , Morrow , 2000 , $24 (£ 14 86) , hb , 403pp , ISBN 0-380-97621-8

A sequel of sorts to the historical mystery series starring midwife Hannah Trevor, this work of "straight" fiction brings her deaf daughter Jennet , now a woman of twenty-nine , to the forefront. The setting has moved from the previous novels' Maine to upstate New York , in winter of the year 1809 Marked as indigent after her mother's death, Jennetknown to townsfolk as the "wild girl" - is put up for auction . Winning the bid is John Frayne, a frontiersman recently returned from life out west in order to reclaim his son as well as his father's lands The pair form an alliance , uneasy at first because of their independent natures , but not surprisingly their mutual bond deepens.

This novel is essentially one of rescue and rediscovery , for both Jennet and Frayne have lived through horrific experiences , and each sees in the other the only way back to life Though a literary novel , with its present tense verbs and poetic turns of phrase , it's one without obscurity Some scenes are overly dramatic , including one in which Jennet uses her loom to weave pure ice (hence the title) The characters all come alive , however, with realistic dialogue (this novel could easily be the basis of a theatrical production) , and the setting's so authentic that you might be hard pressed to wrap yourself in a blanket against the icy winter winds while reading It's an unsentimental portrait of the harsh life in a newly formed country, but there's warmth here as well - though its discovery , like al1 worthwhile things , takes time .

Sarah L. Nesbeitt

THE HEIR

Johanna Lindsey, Morrow , 2000 , $24 (£15 04) , hb , 376 pp , ISBN 038097536X

Johanna Lindsey takes her 36th novel to the ballrooms and estates of Regency England While she has visited the era before , this is her first attempt to write a novel in the style of a traditional Regency.

Sadly, the attempt is not successful. When it works , the tone of a traditional Regency is light but captivating. The tone of the opening paragraphs crosses over into shallowness , almost a forced gaiety that makes it difficult to care much for the couple, Duncan and Sabrina, even after the narrative style settles down Jarring the reading further is the flawed premise upon which the main conflict betv,een the hero and heroine is based : Sabrina is doomed to not marry any noble because of family history , yet this history is made more of gossip than scandal. In fact , at times the story itself contradicts this assertion , showing that many know the true circumstances and know that it is not reason for her to stay unwed Add in secondary characters that outshine Duncan and Sabrina and an unneeded plot twist that truly comes out of the blue , and as a result The Heir doesn't add to the lega cy of wonderful novels Lindsey has written . Public libraries will want to carry a copy because Lindsey's readership is vast enough to demand access Individual readers may find it better to seek out those lending copies or to reread a Lindsey of old NinaC. Davis

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Johanna Lindsey, Morrow, 2000 , $18/C$27 50 (£11.28) , hb , 288pp

ISBN 0380978563

Vincent Everett , Baron of Windsmoor, is determined to take revenge on George Ascot , the man who supposedly destroyed his brother He wreaks havoc with their credit, spreads false rumors of financial difficulties , and buys the deed to their home Upon evicting the Ascot children, the Baron meets Larissa and decides to seduce her - thus further adding disgrace to the Ascot name Of course the Baron falls in love , learns of his feelings after losing the girl , and then must win her back.

I have read all of Lindsey ' s books and was sorely disappointed by this one The characters lack her usual intensity and the story falls flat. In addition, the Christmas connection is minimal and adds little to the story . If you have read the rest of Lindsey ' s books you 11 probably read this one as well ; just be prepared for a poor imitation of what you have come to expect from this author Deborah Sanford

A CLOSE RUN THING: A Novel of Wellington's Anny of 1815

Allan Mallinson , Bantam, 2000 , $13 .95/C$19 95 (£5 59*), pb , 306 pp

ISBN 0-553-38043-5

Debut author Mallinson brings to vivi d life the travails and triumphs of Matthew Hervey , comet in the (fictional) Sixth Light Dragoons cavalry regiment. "Jealousy, snobbery, intrigue, and patronage" rule the ambitious men serving under Wellington . Matthew is untainted but hardly immune to these considerations. Son of a country clergyman, he lacks funds to purchase a lieutenancy and must rise through the ranks on his own merit. In 1813 , while stationed in Toulouse, Matthew's progress is thwarted by a superior officer

The delivery of dispatches to London enables Matthew to visit his famil y in Wiltshire. There he encounters a schoolroom nemesis , all grown up : Henrietta Lindsay , ward of the local marquess . Her self-confidence and liveliness attract staid, responsible Matthew - brave in battle but tentative when crossing swords with his ladylove Hopes of winning her quelled by a rival's presence, he departs for Cork to rejoin the Sixth. In Ireland, his pity is stirred by the plight of the Catholic peasantry, whose eviction he supervises Soon after Henrietta appears on the scene, an act of conscience again imperils his future as a soldier - and Bonaparte escapes from Elba.

During the fateful confrontation between Wellington and the French, Matthew fights a very personal battle for the glory and survival of his regiment. Strongly recommended to fans of Jane Austen , Patrick O'Brian , and Napoleonic historical fiction

Margaret Barr

HONORABLE COMPANY: A Novel of India Before the Raj Allan Mallinson, Bantam, 2000 , $23 95 , 299pp , hb , ISBN 0-553-11134-5 (UK title : The Nizam's Daughters , £13 59 hb)

In August 1815 , Captain Matthew Hervey , aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington, is summoned by the Duke and given an important and secret mission: to sail to India , to assess the Nizam ofHaiderabad ' s army and to discover the Nizam ' s intentions toward the British As a cover story, Hervey will be studying the use of the lance by the Nizam ' s cavalry with an eye to its adoption as a weapon for British cavalry units

But Hervey soon discovers both these ostensible missions are only a cover for his true job Years before , Arthur Wellesley served as a general in India ; after the Maratha war, he was given title to several jagirs (estates) by the Rajah of Chintal. Now politics

make it expedient that Arthur, Duke of Wellington , should have have been involved with either Chintal or the estates the Rajah granted Hervey ' s true mission is to remove all trace of the Duke ' s ownership of the Chantal jagirs

Leaving behind his betrothed, the dutiful Hervey catches the first ship sailing for India Once there , he becomes embroiled in the affairs of Godaji Rao Sundur, Rajah of Chintalpore, and his sister Suneyla Chintal is threatened by the Pindarees, roaming bands of outlaws bullying the countryside, as well as by covert moves on it by the Nizam of Haiderabad Hervey finds himself drawn into the conflict...

Honorable Company 1s a rousmg adventure containing a most satisfactory number of cobras , noble horses , mysterious intrigues, lancers , steadfast true loves , and perfectly corking ambushes and battles Hervey acquits himself admirably , and is a likeable hero, if a bit stiff

I found this an enjoyable read - a nice , solid historical novel. Although Matthew Hervey isn t as charismatic as Richard Sharpe, fans of Bernard Cornwell and Patrick O ' Brian should give this series a chance

India Edghill

MR. DARWIN'S SHOOTER

Roger McDonald, Penguin, 2000 , $13 95 (£5.59*) , pb , 365pp , ISBN 0-14028-859-7 In 1832 , a ship named Beagle sailed, carrying Charles Darwin and his assistant Syms Covington Syms served as Darwin ' s shooter, collecting specimens for his work. The two made odd partners : Darwin a scientist seeking answers to the evolution of life forms , Syms a fundamentalist whose ideas and moral life were formed by an evangelical sailor who took him under his wing as an apprentice

During the Beagle ' s historic voyage , Darwin and Syms work together to gather the raw data that Darwin uses to produce his theo ry of evolution When he realizes the direction Darwin ' s researches are taking him, Syms embarks on a soul-searching debate between his faith and Darwin ' s science .

After the voyage ends , the two men correspond , so Syms (now living in Australia) knows that Darwin is planning a book on natural selection Twenty years after the Beagle , Syms receives a cop y of The Origin of Species , which intensifies his guilt over his own participation in Darwin ' s discoveries What role has the devout Syms really played in the scientific discovery that may bring down the theory of divine creation?

Mr Darwin ' s Shooter is a stunning intellectual achievement, illuminating an event that changed the way we see the world - an event barely known to most moderns The

book deserves all the praises heaped upon it , with the caveat that I found the book brilliant but a bit heavy-handed and rather cold, and the characters difficult to care about. But it certainly qualifies as a must-read for any historical novel fan

India Edghill

AHAB'S WIFE , or, The Star Gazer

Sena Jeter Naslund, October 1999, William Morrow & Co $28 , hb , 668pp

ISBN : 0688171877

HarperPerennial , 2000 , $15 ,pb, 668pp , ISBN 0688177859

We learn little about Una , Ahab ' s wife , in Herman Melville ' s masterpiece , Moby Dick. other than through the oflhand comments of a whaler captain. That ' oversight' is cured in the pages of Sena Jena Naslund ' s epic novel of 19th century American life , Ahab 's Wife

Seen entirely from the perspective of the woman who was, in Melville ' s work, not even a minor character, Ahab 's Wife starkly contrasts itself to the big , brooding , wholly male-oriented world of Melville ' s New England Indeed, after the first sentence, ' Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last' , we understand that Ahab ' s role in Una ' s life , albeit significant, was not the ' be-all and end-all ' of her existence.

Una, named after Spenser ' s Faerie Queene, has the same immaterial quality of her namesake , inventing and reinventing herself throughout the book, while creating her own, very feminist world view. She leaves her Kentucb."Y family home , driven away by her father's unrepetent puritan vision of human weakness , to find a freer , happier existence in New England first with her aunt, uncle and cousin at the lighthouse , and then in Nantucket , a place which, as the book develops , becomes palpably human Along the way, Una joins a whaling ship , pretending to be a young boy, and barely survives a disaster at sea which most of her comrades do not.

This book is not only peppered heavily with historical figures of the time - Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Hawthorne all of whom flavor the book with a distinctly feminist perspective and ground it firml y in the events and concerns of the time. But Naslund forces us to see Ahab , Starbuck, Ishmael and other Pequod crew members through the eyes of a liberated, indi vidualistic woman whose perception seems tainted only by her devotion to men who lose themselves in madness It is a long book, and I have to admit to running a bit out of steam in the last 100 pages Overall, though, this is a beautifully written, poetic at times , novel of the first order and well worth the read

Ilysa Magnus

FADED COAT OF BLUE

Owen Parry , Avon , 2000 , $6 99 (£4 38) , pb , 368pp , ISBN : 0380797399

In autumn 1861 a young man is found shot through the heart , his body lying near an encampment south of the Potomac . The murdered man is famous for his good looks , his standing in Philadelphia society and his abolitionist lectures Captain Abel Jones , formerly of the Queens army in India , is asked to investigate. An intensely moral man, Jones believes both in his country and in justice In the course of his investigation he comes across powerful men that believe both are for sale . This story paints a powerful portrait of our country during a tumultuous time The author manages to provide realistic details of daily life while keeping the story fast paced This book combines mystery with history , good narrative style with an interesting plot. Highly recommended for all readers

Robert Gold

MOLLIE PEER, or The Underground Adventures of the Moosepath League

Van Reid , Penguin, 2000 , $12 .95/C$18 .99 (£8 02) , pb , 336pp , ISBN : 0-14-029185-7

The first book in this series of adventures of the Moosepath League, Cordelia Underwood (see Review 13) , took place in the summer of 1896 This , the second, follows in the very same fall - and the colors and sharp , clear weather of an autumn in Maine were never lovelier

The story of what happened the next winter has already appeared in hardcover (Daniel Plainway), but you would be wise to read them in order There's an advantage to this serialized format - the reader is already familiar with the characters : Tobias Walton and his man Friday, Sundry Moss , plus the three inimitable (and charmingly in ept) charter members , Ephram, Eagleton and Thump - and is eager to get on with the tale

The disadvantage ? Part of the charm of the first book was the leisurely introduction to the people inhabiting it. In this one, the seriousness begins with page one and continues on with hardly a breather There is a mystery about the small boy, Bird, who was met briefly in the first installment. After a rescue and a long flight to safety , by book's end, although clues have been found , we still do not know precisely why the lad is so important.

Nor does the heroine in the titl e, society reporter Mollie Peer, appear enough to suit this reader. In fact while romantic ove rtures are made to several of the characters (renowned redheaded baseball player Wyckford O'Hearn, in Mollie's case) , none of them has enough follow-through to keep the mind of the reader from wandering off

A murky- affair , still capable of producing small yelps and shivers of delight from the very same reader, mind you, but the loose ends will have to be gathered together next time.

Steve Lewis

THEBAITLE

Patrick Rimbaud , Grove Press , 2000 , $25 00, hb , 294 pp , ISBN 0-8021-1662-0

Anyone interested in the Napoleonic era is blessed with a large and continually expanding list of books and journals , fiction and non-fiction Popular fiction as a whole tends to concentrate on Waterloo, the Russian Campaign, and the savage war in the Peninsula Few English language novels exist on the Franco-Austrian rivalry , a contest every bit as long and tenacious as that between Britain and Napoleonic France.

Patrick Rimbaud's award-winning novel wiJI hopefully correct this with his work on the two day Battle of Aspern-Essling . Set outside French-occupied Vienna in I 809 , Rimbaud narrates the drama surrounding the first European defeat for Napoleon and his Grande Arrnee. Largely forgotten by all save the most dedicated observers of the period, Aspem-Essling and Wagram were the first steps along a road that would culminate in French disaster at Waterloo Rimbaud's characters include a chilling and inhuman Napoleon, high-ranking battlefield commanders like the long-suffering Berthier, the flamboyant Massena , and the determined Lannes , as well as lesser characters who serve as models for the thousands of nameless soldiers and junior officers The battle is outlined in some detail and the suffering of the wounded and hungry combatants is both realistic and moving.

While the tactical analysis may confuse some readers , the pace of the novel provides the relief from battlefield minutiae The publisher believes this to b a novel " Balzac always wanted to write. " Rather , The Battle is a novel we should be grateful Rimbaud has written Highly recommended

John R Vallely

MY DARK PRINCE

Julia Ross , Jove , 2000, $6 99 (£4 38) , pb , 344 pp , ISBN 0-515-12883-X

I almost didn ' t make it beyond the first fifty pages of this book. Our introduction to the main characters-Nicholas , Sovereign Prince of Glarien (a fictitious small Alpine country) and Penny Lindsey, resident of an English village-comes through rather overblown prose that could easily have been cut by a third. (As an example, Nicholas feels that " if he relaxed his control for one moment , he would be howling with yearning, like a wolf shut out on the moor, a lion lost in the desert ,

a merman drowned in an ocean, howling his lost soul to the moon.'') Nicholas is just too stiff and unlikable a hero , and the hints as to why he is as he is just seemed a bit too melodramatic

However, about a third of the way into the book the plot grabbed me Nicholas needs to marry Sophia , crown princess of Alvia If he does not , more powerful nations will be tempted to carve up Alvia and Glarien , with their productive mines. And , according to an old treaty, Alvia will be absorbed by France if Sophia ' s father dies without a living male relative. Nicholas plans to marry Sophia in London, in front of the crowned heads of England and Russia But Sophia has been abducted by Nicholas's cruel cousin Carl. And this is where Penny comes into play. This novel, set in 1814 and 1815 , alludes to Napoleon and Waterloo and the Congress of Vienna , but is primarily character-driven. Don ·t read it to learn about the politics of the day, but for the engaging story that emerges once it settles down a bit.

Tnidi Jacobson

THE PALACE

Lisa St. Aubin de Teran, Ecco Press , 1999, $13 (£5.59*), trade pb , 263 pp ISBN 0060956534

At the beginning of The Palace, the narrator, a young soldier in Garibaldi's army , narrowly escapes execution by firing squad When he returns to prison after the mock-execution , his cellmate, a nobleman named lmolo Vitelli , instructs him in the life of a gentleman, and gives him a new name: Gabriele del Campo, the name of an officer who had been executed . After another brush with death, Gabriele and Vitelli are released from prison. Gabriele goes to Venice, hoping to make his fortune so that he will prove worthy of Donna Donatella , a wealthy landowner's daughter with whom Gabriele , as a stonecutter's apprentice , had fallen in love. In Venice , Gabriele wins a huge estate in a card game at a bizarre gambling den, and sets out to build a magnificent palace for Donna Donatella

St. Aubin de Teran writes beautifully, and the book is full of detailed descriptions: of Gabriele's life as an apprentice to a harsh master stonecutter, of the countryside where Gabriele grew up , of the fabulous palace itself, and , most importantly, of the city of Venice. The city comes alive in this novel ; the author describes the sights, sounds, and smells of 19th century Venice so well that you feel as if you are living there Her characters are just as vivid as her descriptions : Gabriele and his valet , Giovanni , a Venetian gondolier , are especially well drawn The narrative is not strictly chronological ; the book contains many flashbacks and flash-forwards But this is not

a problem. I certainly had no difficulty following the narrative

St. Aubin de Teran leaves several unanswered questions at the end. For example, has the palace itself become more important to Gabriele than his love for Donna Donatella? This , I believe, is deliberately left vague I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in Italy or who is looking for a beautifully written historical novel.

Vicki Kondelik

LETTERS FROM YELLOWSTONE

Diane Smith, Viking , 1999 , $24 .95/C$34 99 (£15 63), 226 pp , hb, ISBN 0-670-88631-9 A. E. Bartram, a medical student at Cornell University though a botanist at heart , writes to Professor H. G Merriam of Montana , asking to join his field study in Yellowstone National Park. A. E Bartram is ' ·young, single, and without any engagement' · at Cornell to keep from joining the expedition, which is to commence in May of 1898 Professor Merriam writes that he is delighted to have Bartram join the group , and asks about the last name-is there a relationship to the prestigious botanist family?

Professor Merriam is much less delighted when he finds that A E Bartram is Alexandria Bartram He confides his concern in letters to his mother, just as Alexandria writes about the lack of acceptance to a friend and to an instructor The title describes the book perfectly- it is indeed a collection of letters , from these two individuals as well as another member of the expedition and others more peripherally connected with it. Reading about the same events from radically different viewpoints was highly engaging.

Intermingled with news from the field study are glimpses of the growing pains of a young nation We learn of friction relating to Yellowstone Park : campaigns to allow the railroads access through the Park are countered by fear that this \\~II destroy the natural beauty and isolation of an area that should be protected for future generations We briefly observe equally divided views on Native Americans These extra-expedition topics serve to ground the story , otherwise rather removed from the country at large , solidly in time and place I can't recommend this book too highly-it is one of the best I've read all year.

Tnidi Jacobson

BRIGHTON HONEYMOON

Sheri Cobb South , Prinny World Press , 2000 , $12.95 (£8.12), pb , 240 pp ISBN 0-9668005-2-4

This delightful Regency is the sequel to The Weaver Takes a Wife ( 1999) While this book stands alone , having made the acquaintance of

several of the key characters from the earlier book enhanced my enjoyment of the new predicaments they find themselves in. Ethan Brundy , a very rich weaver, is astonished to find that a young woman caller is claiming to be his sister. He is quite sure he doesn ' t have a sister, particularly since this woman looks so young that she would have had to been born several years after his mother died (Brundy doesn ·t know who his father is) However, his new wife is not equally convinced, and accepts the young girl into their household Brundy engages the assistance of his friend Sir Aubrey Tabor to prove her an imposter. Brighton Honeymoon delivers lively writing , well-developed and likeable characters , historical ambience-a thoroughly satisfying read!

Trudi Jacobson

MISS DARBY'S DUENNA

Sheri Cobb South, Prinny World Press , 1999, $12 95 (£8 12), pb , 217pp

ISBN 0-9668005-1-6

Sheri Cobb South has written a delightful Regency about what happens when the groom-to-be in a marriage of convenience between the offspring of neighboring families realizes that he actually loves his fiancee. (She , of course , has loved him all along .) But by the time of this realization, Sir Harry Hawthorne has made quite a hash of things , and must regain Miss Olivia Darby ' s respect. Indeed, he has to try very hard, putting himself into the most unusual position . And to reveal more would spoil the surprise!

The characters are all convincingly drawn, and fun to spend time with This Regency is well worth searching out.

Trudi Jacob son

I

US/CANADA I TWENTIETH CENTURY

.

LEAD, SO I CAN FOLLOW

Harold Adams , Walker & Co , 2000 , $22.95 / C$34.50 (£14 21) , hb , 219pp

ISBN 0-8027-3336-0

At the end of the Great Depression, former cop Carl Wilcox and his new bride Hazel are camping while honeymooning in the wilds of northern Minnesota Awakened by a scream and a gunshot , they find a body on the railroad tracks just as a train ' s approaching Carl removes the body in time , and the couplewith the local sheriff's grudging permissionassist in solving the murder Clues lead to more clues, and by the time they ' re done , Carl and Hazel have made the rounds of most of the townspeople . They ' ve learned all about who ' s sleeping with whom , the relationships

between members of the local band (of which the victim was a member) , and what the town floozy's been up to lately - but they ' re no closer to solving the murder Or was it even murder in the first place?

Street-smart Wilcox has found his perfect match in Hazel, whose common-sense attitude and wry sense of humor allows her to interact on an equal basis with the locals . The mystery here takes second place to the characters, not that this should really be considered a defect. It's a quiet , understated sort of book that perfectly illustrates small-town life in the 30 ' s without overwhelming description. Despite being book 16 (!) in a series , this is as good a place to start as any.

Sarah L. Nesbeitt

A GATHERING OF SPIES

John Altman, Putnam, 2000, $24.95/C$34 99 (£15.44) , hb , 305pp, ISBN 0-399-14641-5 In 1933 , Katarina Heinrich murders a co-worker and assumes her identity and her job as a professor ' s housekeeper. By the time her employer is invited to work in Los Alamos , New Mexico , the pair have married. When Katarina obtains the top secret plans for the atomic bomb , she can finally return a hero to her homeland , Nazi Germany. Getting there poses problems , though

Ten years pass , and America has joined her allies in fighting Hitler. Meanwhile , in England, Andrew Taylor has recruited Harry Winterbotham to infiltrate the enemy as a double agent. With Katarina headed for England, Harry finds his impending mission put on hold He assists in searching for this most dangerous of spies , but does so with his own agenda. His mission is paramount, for he means to secure the release of his Jewish wife, a prisoner of the Nazis , no matter what. The intriguing twists and turns in this debut novel capture the reader·s attention offering no escape until the last page is turned While none of the characters is likeable, Katarina and Harry evoke respect for their ingenuity and determination to achieve their goals An excellent thriller

Ci ndy Vallar

THE LION'S SHADOW

Marthe Arends , Avid Press , 1999 , $6 99/C$8.99 (£4.38) , pb , 288 pp ISBN 1-929613-05-9

This story of a young woman s involvement in England ' s suffragette movement cannot decide if it is a romance or a mystery . It works more successfully as a romance.

Cassandra Whitney is no Gloria Steinem feminist: she spends as much time describing her wardrobe as she does her suffragette participation. Although she and explorer Griffm St. John have the obligatory sparring

matches , they admit their love for each other early on so there is no tiresome pretense of "will they or won't they. " Jailed after a protest , Cassandra and Griffm ' s sister go on a hunger strike and are force fed as so many suffragettes were Other than that nod to history , the suffragette plot seems to have been given short shrift, existing merely as an excuse for Cassandra and Griffin to quarrel. It is as if Arends was filming an independent movie and could not afford the licensing fees for real personages like the Pankhursts. The mystery portion, in which both Cassandra and Griffm are stalked and attacked, is less than compelling However, Cassandra and Griffm are enjoyable characters who will next appear in The Lion Sleeps, which I will read in hopes of fmding them in a plot worthy of their personalities

Ellen Keith

THE BLIND ASSASSIN

Margaret Atwood, Doubleday, 2000 , $26 , 52lpp , ISBN 0-385-4757201. Pub. in Canada by McClelland & Stewart, 2000 , $37.99 , 560pp , ISBN 0771008635

Any review of Margaret Atwood ' s The Blind Assassin as a historical novel must confront Atwood ' s received status as a major ' mainstream ' novelist. With such a reputation , we will be required to view her historical fiction seriously. Simply taken as a novel , this is a superbly complex and powerful work As a historical novel , it approaches an almost metaphysical view of humans in - reacting to - Time , described fictionally or otherwise The story presents the memories of Iris Chase Griffen , an octogenarian in the late 1990s , who writes in the possibl y vain hope that her only grandchild will read her words. Iris is the eldest of two daughters of a man who had , of course , wanted sons ; her sister Laura has immense amounts of character, spirit, and individuality but no ego- strength at all.

Laura ' s suicide begins the novel , but this is not just another dysfunctional famil y s aga Iris ' account takes her from the 1920s into the 1930s through the war years and after. Throughout the book, another inserted narrative strand shows us the obliquely erotic progress of an affair between a young woman (we can only guess at her identity) and a young man whose identity is only slightly clearer. The man, himself a writer, entertains his lover with an ongoing ' serial' , part fantas y and part space-opera The Blind As sassin of the title comes from this strange and sometimes silly tale , which will live on as a cult classic and make Laura ' s posthumous reputation In her main narrative line Atwood sets out for us her usual impressive take on many standard fictional types: the Virgin , the

Poor Little Rich Girl , the Social Climber, the Captain of Industry , and all their interlocked lives and times One has the strong impression that the author is laughing at us , and , occasionally, at herself

Atwood ' s historical period and ambience is nailed in place by interset passages purporting to be newspaper accounts , ' society· column extracts , and letters . Atv;ood's mordant delight is to create unpleasant or at least ambivalent human beings and then to make us know every repellent comer of their personalities Impressive characterization and brilliantly articulated plot aside , the truly original angle on the historical novel in The Blind Assassin is its nearly metaphysical flavor , expressed in stark passages where the hand-tinting of photographs produces ' ultra-real people" (p 193-94) or in Atwood ' s side-glance, made through Iris , on the ideal image we carry of ourselves . This is a spacious , intricately designed , merciless book , where the particularities of a lived history and the nature of fiction are extended together into a different dimension or vector - and where Time itself is , I suspect , the Blind Assassin Dean Miller

KITTY AND VIRGIL

Paul Bailey, Overlook Press , 2000 , $25 .95 (£5 59*) , 280 pp , ISBN 1-58567-010-3

Kitty & Virgil is a novel of great love , deep tragedy, conflicting emotions , and witty humor. Kitty , a mild tempered , open-minded book editor, meets Virgil , a dissent poet recently escaped from Ceaucescu's Romania , in a London park , where Virgil is employed as a trash collector. So begins a story that flashes back to Virgil's disturbing youth in a Communist-controlled country and to Kitty's ruffied and tousled childhood

Bailey takes two creatively different and distinctly opposite individuals and creates an unusual love affair filled with humor and sadness . The author's narrative is sometimes jarring, disrupting what should be a natural flow through the various passages of time Yet, the story of Kitty and Virgil manages to shine its light on both the reader and on the most complicated, droll and tragic characters ever written Kitty's twin sister Daisy , a remarkably sarcastic whirlpool of emotions , is the one who interjects the most deliciously evil remarks in the novel. She became a character I applauded and cheered on while wishing her appearances were not washed lo the sidelines

The unique difference between the two main characters symbolically highlights the contrasting reality of their background and the world they each choose to live in Kitty lives a life a peace and practicality while Virgil is embraced in darkness and brooding thoughts Bailey has created an odd blend of humor,

romance and despair , interspersed with history , politics, and passion His flare for storytelling and his knitting of bizarre characters is what makes reading Kitty & Virgil worthwhile

Wendy Zollo

WISH YOU WELL

David Baldacci, Warner, 2000 , $24 95 (£15 63) , hb , 402 pp , ISBN 0446527165

David Baldacci, famous for his thrillers , has written a completely different kind of story Wish You Well is a heartwarming coming-of-age novel. The lives of Louisa Mae Cardinal (known as Lou) and her IO-year-old brother Oz are completely changed when an accident leaves their father dead and their mother in a coma Concerned friends send the children and their mother to Virginia to live with their only known relative She is Lou ' s namesake and her father ' s grandmother , Louisa Mae Cardinal.

Baldacci writes with love and compassion about his native Virginia as he describes the experiences of these two city kids learning to live off the land His multidimensional characters are not without flaws ; however , most will be remembered fondly by the reader for their redeeming qualities , which outweigh all else Lou learns to look beyond appearances to see the good and understand the bad in everyone around her. Her great grandmother, Louisa , provides her with strength and stability as she learns to cope with her new life While this novel is peopled with interesting characters , there are plenty of adventures to be experienced as well. The land provides many of its own chaIJenges, as do the evil industrialists who seek to destroy it. There are a few places in the novel , especially during the courtroom scene , where the action becomes slightly melodramatic and predictable, but these are insignificant when compared to the depth of the very real characters Baldacci creates.

Baldacci explains in his author·s note that this novel is a labor of love He has always been interested in writing of the history of his native Virginia While seeking material for this novel , he was surprised to find " a lumberyard full " when interviewing his own family The result is in part the story of how his mother grew up . Baldacci says , " writing this novel was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life .•, Reading it is a rewarding experience as well This would be a great novel to share with children and young adults

Nan Curnutt

JAYBERC RO W

Wendell Berry, Counterpoint, 2000 , $25 (£15 29) , hb , 384pp , ISBN 1582430292

Wandering into a TV version of this , you might be tempted to switch straight over - that would be a pity. Jayber Crow ' s story is that of a time long gone Of simple Kentuck-y river folk , farmers and honest tradesmen who took pride in their toil As Jayber looks back on his memories , people are sometimes kind to each other , sometimes not, but an underlying thread of decency never quite snaps , though pushed to the limit. It is also a love story, but don ' t look for fireworks If, like Jayber, you ' re prepared to observe and admire , you might with patience, discover something beautiful. This rather weird and wonderful novel is for the discerning .

Linda Sole

THE HATBOX BABY

Carrie Brown, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill , 2000 , $22 95 (£14.38) , hb , 348 pp , ISBN 1-56512-299-2

Diane Arbus meets Fritz Lang in this World's Fair as metaphor for life Carnival freaks are human beings , and human beings are freaks , damaged like the vulnerable preemies whose incubators are a sideshow attraction in 1933 Chicago. Author Carrie Brown paints with wide strokes of black and white in the metropolis , and color in the countryside .

No one ex.'J)ects Dr Hoffman's charges to survive , but with modem technology and a loving staff, he accomplishes miracles . He knows he's not God and that fate will step in St. Louis identifies with the dispossessed As a dwarf, he evokes The Tin Drum , wherein a boy acts out the chaos of I 930's Germany Dialogue and characterization bring him and his cousin Caro , the fan dancer, to life

The theme of the World's Fair is Century of Progress Its organizers pitch a relentless modernity . ' People had to be made to believe . They had to feel their smallness , in a way , their ignorance , in order to desire the future .. .They had to want what the future offered--bigger and sleeker cars , freezers and refrigerators in every kitchen , airplane travel , superheterodyne radios , Technicolor movies , buildings taller than Chicago's Wrigley Tower or New York's Empire State Building They had to be wooed and won by the light and the razzle-dazzle , and they had to yearn to jump off blindly into the swift currents of the future , even if they didn't know where the river would lead them .'

This frenzy for technology resonates in our millennial time You are convinced that you must have cable TV , a cell phone , the Internet , and a third generation Personal Digital Assistant to hook your cell phone up to the Internet. Why not just implant each of us

with a pico chip and download our innermost thoughts? I can just hear Big Brother accusing , "Why did you tum off your 3G device?" Readers of historical fiction agree: simpler times were better.

In this modem world of industrial art, Dr Hoffman takes over "the unfinished work of so many women's wombs." St. Louis , Caro , and Dr. Hoffman are brought together by the baby in the hatbox and the murder of the young man who dropped him off The dwarf, the stripper and the doctor ally to save the child

Written in over-the-shoulder, shifting viewpoints of endearing characters , full of scientific and literary references, nostalgia and intelligent issues , this novel has much to say about the redeeming power of love

Marcia K. Matthews

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KA VALIER AND CLAY

Michael Chabon, Random House , 2000 , $26 95 (£9 60*) , hb , 639pp

ISBN: 0-679-45004-1

Everybody knows that jazz is America's greatest contribution to the arts - or is it?

Consider as a close contender: superhero comic books , the adventures of magically powered men and women doing great feats of valor and courage, usually costumed in outfits largely resembling long underwear, often with kid sidekicks Back in the late 30s through the 50s , one thin dime could get you up to 52 pages of colored adventures , unrivalled in scope anywhere else on earth

Escapist entertainment only? Perhaps , but in 1939 when teenager Joe Kavalier flees the Nazis of his native Czechoslovakia, he was not the only one who needed escape from the woes of the world And when he teams up with his Jewish cousin , Sammy Clay of Brooklyn, who dreams of escaping to sunnier climes (and a wealthier status in the world) , together they concoct that grand icon of freedom, rivalled by onl y Simon & Schuster's Superman himself, the hero of "Amazing Midget Radio Comics ," the ferocious scourge of Nazis everywhere : The Escapist.

Their publisher makes millions , the young pair (typically) only thousands A new life beckons , and new loves are found. Disasters also occur it is , after all , wartime When tragedy hits the hardest, Joe finds one way to escape , as part of an ever-evolving process of finding himself.

Historically accurate , this novel , like all good literature , is written on several levels , but escape, and sometimes deliverance , is an essential theme to all of them . To escape the humdrum life of a postwar suburban Levittown development, Sammy's wife begins to write for her husband's new line of romance

comics. And in the 1950s, Sammy himself eventually finds release from the constraints of a life he's lived as a lie, self-imposed, in the aftermath of a Wertham-instigated Congressional hearing into the evil of comic books

In spite of its long history of great creators , the stigma of comic books as a third-class art form still exists today , and I have the feeling that a number of readers will reject this saga of its roots outright, never stopping to consider its wider horizons This is nothing less than the story of America , retold from a point of view you may never have dreamed of, and my advice is simply this If you miss it, you'll regret it.

Steve Lewis

HARRY GOLD

Millicent Dillon, Overlook , 2000, $26.95 (£16 69) , hb , 280pp , ISBN 1-58567-012-X

Who was Harry Gold? An American chemist who committed the " crime of the (20th) century" by passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviets? Or the son of immigrant Russian Jews , who surmounted poverty and discrimination by doing his utmost to help those in need?

This absorbing novel convinces the reader that Harry was no criminal. His story is told sympathetically, from his first involvement with Soviet agents to his indictment in 1950. He is depicted as an ordinary man, who works tirelessly at his chemical experiments , cares nothing for money , and everything for the well-being of his parents and brother, American co-workers , and the struggling people of the Soviet Union The narrative is primarily from Harry ' s point of view , though after page 115 , events are also shown through the eyes of Klaus Fuchs , scientist at Los Alamos and Harry ' s contact.

My one criticism of this novel is that in places , point of view oscillates so rapidly between Harry and Klaus (sometimes within a single paragraph) that it becomes difficult to know which ' he ' is meant. There is also the odd place where first person is used , but this gi ves a not-unpleasant nineteenth-century flavor to otherwise thoroughly modem prose As an example : " That is another of those might-have-beens , those parallel worlds , which have to be ignored when one is telling the true story of a life." The owner of this voice ? To offer my theory may steal enjoyment from other readers of this book.

Praise on the dust jacket credits Millicent Dillon with bringing ' that whole strange era into human and sympathetic focus .' I have to agree.

Claire Morris Bernard

A ST AR CALLED HENRY

Roddy Doyle , Penguin, 2000, $14 (£5 59*) , pb, 382pp ISBN 0140296131

For review , see Review 10 (December 1999)

THE BLACK ROSE

Tananarive Due, Ballantine/OneWorld, 2000 , $25.95/C$39 95 (£16 26) hb , 352pp

ISBN 0-345-43960-0

Born to emancipated slaves in 1867 , Sarah Breedlove (later known as Madam C. J. Walker) struggled through poverty, racism and sexism to become America's first black female millionaire. Basing her novel on research done by the late Alex Haley (which included interviews, letters and research provided by A'Lelia Perry Bundles , Mme Walker's great-great-granddaughter) , Ms. Due has created a work that dramatically illustrates the life of one of America's most interesting (and unsung) women .

The first half of the novel explores Sarah's early years: the deaths of her parents , the subsequent move to Vicksburg with her older sister, her marriage at the age of fourteen , and her move to St. Louis with her young daughter. The catalyst for change comes with the 1904 World's Fair, when she hears both Booker T. Washington and his wife speak Energized and inspired, she conceives of the idea for a business , the production of a hair care product. Part of the legend of Mme Walker was her insistence that the formula for her product came to her in a dream Due handles this delicately , explaining how the story could have grown while still giving full credit to Sarah's own strength, determination and intelligence as the root causes for her success

The second half of the novel e,qilores her marriage to C. J. Walker, the phenomenal growth of her business , and the toll it take s on her famil y. It also shows her maturity as a political activist and her burning desire to make a difference in the lives of others les s fortunate

Due also takes the time to explore the historical setting, giving the flavors and sounds of early twentieth-century life from Vicksburg to New York while also introducin g us to some of Black America's most influential and respected figures. An inspirational story , about an inspirational woman (For more information about the life of Mme Walker, watch for the first comprehensive biography, On Her Own Ground by A'Lelia Bundles, due out in February 2001.)

Tra cey A . Calli son

A GOOD YEAR FOR MURDER

A E Ecidenden, Academy Chicago, 2000 , $12.00 (£9 99), pb , 178pp

ISBN 0-89733-476-0

The setting is Fort York , Ontario. It is 1940

The year is not providing to be a good one : WWII has started Closer to home and more importantly, a holiday prankster is at work. In February, Junior Alderman Gertrude Valentini receives a Valentine·s Day gift of a dead chicken with an arrow through its heart In March, Senior Alderman Emmett O'Dell's white toy poodles were dyed a brilliant paddy green. And so the months go. though the pranks tum more sinister.

Fort York is hardly blessed in its Chief of Police , Horace Zulp, or in its Mayor, Phinneas

Trutt. Two less effective leaders would be hard to imagine However, Fort York does have Albert V. Tretheway , Traffic Inspector

One wouldn't expect that a traffic inspector would play a major role as detective , but Tretheway has an inquiring and adept mind

And in addition, this is Fort York. Everything in Fort York seems to be a bit off kilter.

This mystery mostly kept me engaged, though the action lagged from time to time

However , the denouement was fascinating , and made up for earlier longueurs.

Tntdi Jacobson

BRIGHAM'S DAY

John Gates , Walker & Co , 2000, $23 95 (£14.82), 187pp , ISBN 0-8027-3344-1

The historical event upon which this present-day mystery is based takes up very few of the pages - a prologue, an epilogue , and six pages of unadulterated carnage midway toward the end - describing in some detail the slaying in Utah of a wagon train of settlers headed for California in 1857 , the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Back in today's world, an illiterate young defendant , a drifter , is accused of killing a long-time resident of Kanab , Utah At close to the last moment , Brig Bybee, a defense attorney precariously on the verge of permanent disbarment, is added to the case

The lead counsel , it seems , is making waves , talking conspiracy, crazy stuff, weird things , upsetting the elders of the Mormon church What's wanted, Brig is told , is a standard trial - just to let things run their course

And of course they don't. Complicating matters for Brig is the dead man's granddaughter , to whom he's immediately attracted This is a dark but still compulsively readable detective novel, with one of the most curiously unappealing scenes of lovemaking you're apt to come across in a lifetime of reading Nor does the Mormon church come out smelling like flowers , and quite intentionally so

A bigger problem is the way the events of the past - which of course are intimately connected to what's happening in the presentare so murkily developed There's no background leading up to the massacre Eventually we learn what happened, but not why. The inside flap of the dust jacket helps to put things into the proper context, but isn't that the job of the author?

Steve Lewis

A HINT OF WITCHCRAFT

Anna Gilbert, St. Martin's Press, 2000 , $23 .9 5, hb , 254 pp , ISBN 0-312-19984-8

Both the title of this novel and the book-jacket blurb suggest a tale of supernatural happenings. But A Hint of Witchcraft is a down-to-earth story , based on very human emotions and actions.

It is set in the 1920s , in the North-Country village of Ashlaw The protagonist is Margot , daughter of the agent to the local coal-mining company. Margot worships her school friend Linden ; soon her brother Alex does too Their elders frequently remark on Linden ' s poise But Katie, looked upon as the local simpleton, shies away from Linden. At first Margot cannot understand this , but when she learns Linden has been less than truthful , she wonders if Katie is more perceptive than she appears Then, when pearl beads go missing , precipitating a tragedy which begets more tragedy , Margot becomes convinced that Linden is evil.

This novel of skillfully drawn characters has a convoluted plot which kept me wondering until the penultimate page. The author shows how misunderstanding can demolish lives , and how small acts, seemingly insignificant, can trigger monumental ones.

Claire Morris Bernard

THE BINDING CHAIR

Kathryn Harrison, Random House, 2000, $24.95 , hb , 336pp, ISBN 0679450009

For review, see Review 13 (August 2000)

OUR MAN IN WASHINGTON

Roy Hoopes, Tor/Forge , 2000 , $24.95/C$35.95 (£15 63), 380pp, hb, ISBN 0-312-86849-9

Set in 1923 Washington DC. this novel uses historical figures as characters , though many of their actions have been fictionalized. Henry L. Mencken is a well-known and respected journalist and editor. James M. Cain, who narrates, is a rising journalist who hopes to write articles for Mencken Disgusted by the corruption in the Harding administration, the two set off undercover for Washington with a plan to remove whiskey from government storehouses In the process , they make contact

with Jesse Smith, an aide to Attorney General Harry Daugherty, who introduces the pair to Washington ' s most dangerous c1uzens

Throughout the book , Mencken and Cain stumble upon murder , blackmail, Presidential incompetence, and corruption on a grand scale.

I found Hoopes ' style to be a bit simplistic, although to be fair , the author tries hard to make readers feel as if they are listening to Cain tell the story. However, the details used to set the atmosphere for each scene were often repetitive

The author states in the Preface that many of the thoughts expressed by Mencken in the story are , in fact , based on Mencken's own writings I found these passages to be the hidden jewels in this book. Many of Mencken·s pontifications are hilarious and, strangely, quite applicable to modem politics

Hoopes has succeeded with this novel in a number of ways First , he invites readers to see that underhanded politics and corruption have always accompanied democracy and probably always will. Second. he brings to readers· attention the loss of excellent journalistic writing the world has suffered with the proliferation of real-time , sound bite news

And lastly , Hoopes reintroduces Henry L. Mencken , a witty journalist whose writings I am now determined to research more closely.

Mark F Johnson

SABRIY A: Damascus Bitter Sweet Ulfat Idilbi, trans Peter Clark, Interlink, $12.95/C$17 .95 (£9.02), pb , 185pp ISBN 1-56656-254-6

Middle-aged Sabriya hangs herself in her family's Damascus garden, leaving behind a book of memoirs for her young niece. This story-within-a-story takes us back to Syria of the 1920s where national sentiment is crushed by a superior western power (France) at the same time Sabriya ·s personal emancipation is crushed by the traditional values of her society.

During the rebellion, Sabriya •s bright , sympathetic and idealistic brother dies a martyr ' s death. Her brother ' s friend , Adil , with whom she has a budding romance , returns alive . Their hopes for a life together end , however, after Sabriya ' s first , timid foray into national politics : participation in a demonstration against submission to the occupying French. Although she does no more than ride on a car with other slogan-shouting women, all anonymously veiled in black and surrounded by a protective cordon of protesting young men, she comes home late Her jealous brother sees her with her careful escort Adil and assumes the worst. They are then parted permanently and in a most brutal fashion.

Sabriya then spends the rest of her spinster life nursing one parent after the other. With the death of her father , she has outlived her usefulness , and her remaining brothers conspire to sell the family home from under her, as easily as the former heroic ideals were forgotten

If this sounds pretty grim, well , it is Any positive message left behind to the young niece is understated and hard to find. Although a slender volume , it is weighted down in places by political discussions and a point of view which, in keeping with the status of our narrator, is stifling and passive at times , certainly for western tastes

Voices of Middle Eastern people , and women in particular, are so infrequently heard. I must recommend this book on these grounds alone, as well as for its historical reality so finely drawn by Syria ' s most celebrated living novelist.

Ann

Chamberlin

WOMEN IN EVIDENCE

Sebastien Japrisot (trans Ros Schwartz) , Plume , 2000, $13.95 (£8 53) , pb , 326pp, ISBN O452 28162 8. (Previously published in the US as The Passion of Women)

A man lies shot and dying on a beach. The events leading up to this moment are recounted by eight women, all bound together by the love of this man As each tells her story it becomes clear that not all arc interested in the complete truth, and the reader must piece together what is fact and what is fantasy and so come to understand the whole

Although the settings share the backdrop of WW2 , they range from a French brothel to a Burmese military hospital, from a luxury yacht to a desert island Yet the author does not rely on this device to distinguish between protagonists He achieves the remarkable and gives each of the eight women a voice entirely her own, and none can be mistaken for another. The final chapter untangles the web and gives the reader the satisfaction of understanding , yet leaving plenty to think about.

The only criticism lies in the early chapters , which are perhaps too confusing. Strangely the plot gets easier to follow the more convoluted it becomes, perhaps because the reader stops trying to sort it all out and simply lets the prose wash over them.

All credit to Ros Schwartz, for conveying a vibrancy of prose that could easily have been lost in a poor translation

Sara Wilson

THE COLONY OF UNREQUITED DREAMS

Wayne Johnston, Anchor, 2000 (cl998), $14/ C$19 95 (£5 59*) , pb , 563pp

ISBN 0-385-49543-9

This is a difficult book to review A fictionalized life of Joey Smallwood, the last Father of Confederation in Canada , it has much merit , but also some significant weaknesses

The story is told mostly in the first person, by either Smallwood (the main narrator) or by his friend and rival Sheilagh Fielding, in her journal entries It follows Joey's life from his boyhood in St. John's , Newfoundland, to the aftermath of Confederation in the 1950s and beyond .

The writing itself is very good. Johnston knows how to hook and involve the reader , and I admit to being pulled in from page one. His descriptions are wonderful. Though I've never been to St. Johns , I could taste the salt air and feel the damp chill of an Atlantic fog. Despite the use of the first person, I felt I knew the secondary characters as well , so skillfu!Iy were they depicted. Smallwood's father stands out in particular. The plot progresses nicely for the first half of the book then bogs down in the middle before building steam towards the end.

Smallwood is a fascinating character, but not an entirely likeable one. Also , some readers may find that while Fielding's journal entries , newspaper columns, and letters add depth to the story, they interrupt the pace of the main narrative

The ending is the biggest disappointment of all. Rather than tying up loose ends, it left me wondering if I was missing a chapter. An Author's Note explaining that Fielding was fictional would have been a good idea -I only learned this by cruising the Internet for background information.

Lest you think I either disliked this book or would not recommend it , this is untrue. Despite the structural problems and the less than stellar ending, it is well worth picking up. The 500-odd pages passed quickly for the most part and proved an enjoyable way to brush up on an oft-overlooked area of Canadian and Newfoundland history.

Teresa Eckford

THE BOTTOMS

Joe R. Lansdale , Mysterious Press , 2000 , $24.95 (£15.63), hb , 327pp, ISBN 0892967048

This novel of Depression-era East Texas is reminiscent of Harper Lee ' s To Kill a Mockingbird. Rich in description and period detail , it is narrated by elderly nursing home resident Harry Crane Harry relates the events surrounding the gruesome murders of several

women in and around his 1930 ' s east Texas hometown of Marvel Creek.

The " bottoms" are the swampy areas along the Sabine River where the foliage is dense, cottonmouths are common sights , and the atmosphere is foreboding. It is in the bottoms where Harry and his sister Tom find the first corpse , naked , horribly mutilated and tied to a tree with barbed wire

Harry and Tom report the horror to their dad, Jacob , who , besides being a farmer and the town barber , is also the local constable Jacob stands alone , though, among his white neighbors in desiring justice for the murder of this black woman Since he cannot persuade his hometown doctor to perform an autopsy, he takes the corpse to the " colored" community of Pearl Creek. There , Doctor Tinn determines that the rape/murder of the black prostitute was committed by a psychopath Other authorities in the white community believe that Jacob should drop the case , because black crime is not their (or his) business. But after another woman is found dead , and then another, a white woman, they realize there is a monstrous serial killer at work in the area

If this sounds like a horror story , it is A sense of terrible evil pervades the novel. Along with the element of horror there is also suspense and a domestic drama and coming of age story . Lansdale ' s major themes are race and the accompanymg injustices and indignities heaped upon the black residents of that place and time , and also Harry's loss of innocence. Suspense is maintained at fever pitch throughout the novel. Mystery fans who enjoy tracing plot details so that they add up to · make perfect sense may be disappointed, as the time line is difficult to follow Rich in folkiore , unforgettable characters , and atmosphere as seen through a child ' s eyes , The Bottoms is a fascinating , haunting and enjoyable read . Jean Langlai s

WHITEOUT

James Vance Marshall , Soho Press , 2000 , $22 (£13.79) , hb , 256pp , ISBN 1-56947-224-6

With its main action set in WWII , White Out explores the conflicts of man vs nature, man vs. man , and man vs. himself. Author James Vance Marshall excels in descriptions of nature's grandeur, the continent of Antarctica , the aurora australis; he compares the onset of a snowstorm to the advance of an invincible army

In Part I , a first person Royal Navy psychiatrist questions young Lieutenant James Lockwood, rescued as the sole survivor of a mission to Antarctica Lockwood professes amnesia , and appears so distraught the doctor

recommends he be posted to a theatre of war not terribly demanding .

In Part 2, Lockwood's experiences are detailed in the third person past tense. He believed it was sacrilege to bring the war to such a beautiful place. His unit was on a secret mission, ostensibly to build a weather station, but in actuality to fmd uranium, whose military application they didn't fully understand

A German sub destroys their base camp, leaving alive only Lockwood, petty officer Ramsden, and commanding officer Ede, who is critically wounded. The reader cares about the characters , noble in a quiet way as they trudge toward the coast.

In one astute observation, Marshall comments that Homo Erectus is a creature of the herd When Lochvood is left totally in isolation , he and the author face their greatest challenge: Locl-wood to fmd companionship , and the author to keep us interested in a long solo. Both meet the challenge

Throughout his ordeal , Locl-wood learns the territorial code of nature : no bloodshed, no killing When at last he is rescued , he no longer feels at home among Homo Sapiens.

Marcia K. Matthews

AFTER DUNKIRK

Milena McGraw , Mariner Books, 1999 (cl998) , $13 (£8 99), pb , 468pp ISBN 0-395-97780-0

I was intrigued by this novel. Written by a Czech-born American woman , it's set in England and tells the story of Wayne Luthie, a young Battle of Britain pilot. The tale is told in a series of random flashbacks , thoughts and letters , some only a few lines long. And here ·s where the problems start. I read the first 30 pages , wondering when the story was going to begin , then I realized - this WAS the story. If the author·s intention is to reflect the disorder of a mind stressed by war , it doesn't quite work, mainly because of the lack of a narrative framework. What began as interesting and original soon became merely irritating. A pity, because McGraw has captured period detail and speech perfectly and her themes - love and loss , can there be a just war? - are perennially fascinating. ' Christ,' Wayne says early on, ' this is not a memoir l am writing : it is a hodgepodge! ' Quite

THE ADVOCATE

Sarah Cuthbertson

Bill A Mesce Jr. and Steven G Szilagyi, Bantam, 2000, $23.95 (£15 01) , 320 pp, hb ,

ISBN 0-553-80 I 18-X

This is a military mystery set in WWII England : the mystery concerns the shooting down of an American Airforce fighter by two other American aircraft, who also strafe a pair of elderly English coast-watchers who are

unwitting witnesses The hero (or anti-hero) of the story is one Harry Voss, a tubby , balding and aging lawyer with the Judge Advocate General's office who is supposed to discover the deeps of the mystery. We also have a fairly predictable supporting cast , including a Fiery Radical (defense) lawyer, a Loud Eccentric Colonel , and a Bumbling Corporal. lt is not clear, at first , who the narrative Ego of this book is , but it turns out to be a one-legged British newspaperman

Mesce and Szilagyi have put together some good plot turns , and carry the whole project along with writing that defmitely improves as the book progresses , though they are at no time reluctant to throw in a good, resounding cliche . The period dialogue is well done, and reasonably convincing. If there is perhaps too much of it, we know that one can carry Period , or evade some of its stringencies, with lots of dialogue , and thus reduce the authors' chances of calling a British police vehicle of the period a "Wolsey," like the cardinal. This is a book that does no harm, and mainly provides a good if not great, rolling read, so there is an excuse for it.

Dean Miller

THE MESSENGER

Mayra Montero, HarperCollins Perennial, 1999 , $13 (£8), pb, 218 pp, ISBN 0-06-092961-8

In 1920 , Aida Cheng, the daughter of a Chinese man and Cuban woman, is propelled into a fantastic situation Before she dies , she reveals this adventure to her daughter. In her late twenties , Aida , a fabulously beautiful and poor woman, has her fortune told by her powerful santero godfather: she will be involved with a man who will bring danger into her life That man turns out to Enrico Caruso , who is performing at the Teatro Nacional in Havana. After a bomb attack, the dazed opera singer stumbles into a kitchen where Aida is visiting with a friend. Aida takes the terrified Caruso into hiding and they begin a passionate affair. Aware of her danger , Aida is sure that she can find a way to evade her fate and still be with her lover Meanwhile , her family, including her Chinese father and her godfather , work in both the real and spiritual realms to assure that Aida will not follow Caruso into death

Even in translation (done with great skill by Edith Grossman) , the effective language and powerful images which Montero employs to tell her tale are above average One is transported into the world of the poor in Cuba. It is culture in which an incredible mix of races has produced a rich "other world' . from that of the elite Cubans. The explosion which propels Caruso from the theater and into Aida ·s arms is only symbolic of the multiple

blasts which shattered souls and minds on that fateful Sunday

This book is highly recommended Kathleen Sullivan

SOUTH OF EDEN

Earl Murray , Forge, 2000 , $23 95 , hb , 320pp, ISBN 0312869231

Billed as an "ecological thriller" , this novel lives up (or perhaps down!) to its description Back in 1905, conservation of the grasslands was a new and mostly outrageous concept to Colorado cattlemen, and the arrival of a replacement ranger from the U S Forest Service starts the novel off in fme fashion. (The man he is replacing has disappeared without a trace )

Complicating matters is the crazed foreman of the rancher most dead set in opposition to Ellis Burke Sid Preston is a man who is obsessed with the slicing and dicing of the prostitutes he lures to his secret killing field hidden high up in the mountains.

We soon discover that the hero has his own flaws and so does the girl he falls in love with , the daughter of the very same rancher in the paragraph above - but this is nothing to compare with the ugly, tasteless scenes of the serial killer at work, in mind-numbing detail. There's a story lying deep inside this book, crying to be heard Why the author told this one instead, I couldn't begin to tell you Steve Lewis

HESHALLTHUNDERINTHESKY

Elizabeth Peters , Morrow , 2000 , $25/C$37 95 , hb , 400pp ISBN 0-380-97659-5

For review , see Review 13 (August 2000) UK title : Thunder in the Sky

AN UMBRIAN WAR

Romana Petri , trans. Sharon Wood , The Toby Press (www.tobypress com) , 2000 , $15.95 , pb. 253 pp, ISBN 1-902881-14-1

Romana Petri is a journalist for the Italian paper L' Unita , and an author of three published novels and one short story collection An Umbrian War won several awards including the 1998 Rapallo-Carige Prize and the Palrni Prize.

An Umbrian War is a World War II novel, but here you ' ll fmd no talk of troop movements or major battles or Holocaust. Romana Petri·s tale depicts the Umbrian landscape and the simple people living within it. The provincial politics and interpersonal relationships mirror the greater movements of the time Petri's crowning achievement lies in depicting fascism not so much as a political system imposed upon her world-but as an

eruption of violence and bigotry within her own hometown

The tale is a simple one . Alcina is a 29-year-old woman who is raising her brother after the death of their parents Outwardly, she is a free thinker, a communist among fascists and monarchists , politically active in a swiftly changing world . Emotionally she is a captive of grief and a deep fear of death She receives a large measure of both as the Germans invade Italy and she and her brother are forced to flee to the mountains to join the Risorgimento Brigade Only after adventure and tragedy can she return to her home to find a measure of peace

Writers of the best literary fiction must balance two needs : The need to express important ideas , and the need to do so within a compelling narrative Petri dances upon this tightrope with skill , due in large part to her earthy , honest voice. She uses the plain language of bakers and farmers to grapple with philosophical issues about the nature of life and death- and she does so in digestible morsels so that the issues do not overwhelm the narrative She loses her balance only once. Unfortunately, she does so in a pivotal scene that screams ' Magic Realism .' Ifs the one awkward joint in what is without question an engaging , masterfully written book.

An Umbrian War is a rare hybrid- Literary fiction with commercial and narrative appeal , and a fresh, engaging voice Highly recommended.

(Toby Press books , distributed in both England and the US , are only available by mail from the publisher; see the review of Voltaire in Love for details )

Lisa Ann Verge

THE FLOWER BOY

Karen Roberts , Random House, 2000, $24 .95 (£5 59*) ,hb , 322pp , ISBN 0-375-50316-1

For review , see Review l O (December 1999)

THE HOUSEGUEST

Agnes Rossi , Dutton, 2000 , $23 95, hb , 294pp , ISBN 052594365X. Also trade pb , Plume, $14 (£8 05) , ISBN 0452281970 It's a good feeling to open up a new book and know after reading the first words that I've ' discovered· a new author. The first chapter is intense, and the subject matter isn't light-hearted But once I read the first sentences , there was no way I could put the book down.

Edward Devlin is a man haunted by his past. His years as a freedom fighter during the Irish civil war have ended in disappointment. The love of his life , his wife Agnes , has just died a lingering death from tuberculosis ,

contracted while they were living in New York City Now back in Ireland , Edward is so absorbed in his own grief that he carmot bear any reminder of Agnes , including Maura , their six-year-old daughter.

Leaving Maura behind with his spinster sisters , Edward returns to America seeking a fresh start With help from a former acquaintance , John Fitzgibbons, he soon finds work. He also has a place to live after "Fitz" and his wife , Sylvia , invite him into their home Unhappy in her marriage , unfulfilled in her desire for children , Sylvia is attracted to Edward. Maura , meanwhile , has been shunted off to boarding school and bides her time , dreaming that her father will come back for her

Agnes Rossi is a gifted writer Her ability to project the both the raw edges and the subtle nuances of grief and loss is remarkable The action is well paced, and the author does a masterful job of uncovering truth that hides beneath the surface. For example, Edward's choice to leave his daughter appears reprehensible at first , but by slowly revealing his experience, she makes it impossible to judge him too harshly . Likewise, the warm welcome Fitz gives Edward, a man he barely knows , is curious until his motivation is later revealed. The Depression isn't the focus of the story, but it does serve as the proper historical backdrop , being a time of lost hopes and dreams for so many I definitely recommend this book.

Alice Logsdon

DROWNING RUTH

Christina Schwarz, Doubleday, 2000, $23 95/C$35 95 (£17.99*) , hb , 273pp ISBN 0-385-49971-X

Drowning Ruth is a mystery, a story of self-revelation, a look at the mores of a town and its residents in post-WWI Wisconsin It centers around drownings ; two actually happen Although only three at the time , Ruth remembers drowning, despite the continued insistence of her Aunt Amanda that it was only a dream.

What is true and what is a dream, a lie , or even a refusal to acknowledge the truth is part of the fabric of the novel. Told by three narrators, the truth appears to be at times as difficult to discover as a body in a deep lake Amanda Starkey, the principal narrator, is reluctant to admit the truth about her life Initially we see her as a nurse , exhausted by her work with wounded soldiers returning from the trenches

We soon learn that Amanda's exhaustion is not caused by nursing but by pregnancy, but the small town where she lives would not welcome an unwed mother Amanda plans , with her sister Mattie's help , to secretly have

her child , but their plan fails. The child is born , and within hours Mattie is dead, drowned in the not quite frozen lake ; Ruth believes she , too , has drowned, and Amanda is left with a human bite mark on her hand. Why would Mattie go onto the ice when it was not safe? Amanda ' s version of the story is suspect.

As a look at the history of the period between the wars , Drowning Ruth shows World War I's impact, in both the hospital scenes and in the many deaths caused by influenza , reflecting the pandemic of 1918- I 919 that killed more people than the entire war The economic situation and the difficulty of scratching a living from a farm also echo the harsh reality of that time

From a narrator who is not what she appears on the surface to a picture of a deceptively placid lake where people drown, the novel plumbs the depths as a mystery is finally solved , and the final gift of love between two sisters is revealed

Marcia

Dinne en

FORDLANDIA

Eduardo Sguiglia , St Martin ' s Press , 2000 , $22 .95 (£14 38) , hb , 272 pp ISBN 0312265921

There is nothing new about the idea of man pitting his wits against nature and failing 1n the right hands it makes for a compelling and thought-provoking fable , and Sguiglia ' s are those hands Evocative of Conrad and the film Mosquito Coast , this is the tale of Henry Ford ' s failed venture to produce his own rubber. Wishing to break the British monopoly on Brazilian rubber in 1929 , Ford invested millions of dollars in creating his own rubber plantation and a city to house the workers But the Enfer Vert of the Amazon works its own spell on people and is doomed to expensive failure

Sguiglia ' s Fordlandia is filled with characters, all escaping from and/or to something in this weird place Ford plays God and imposes his rigorous regime on the workers who eke out an existence in a place where , it is more and more evident , people aren "t supposed to exist in opposition to nature . The surreal atmosphere and cast of enigmatic folk weave in and out of each other ' s lives ; it is easy to identify with their hopes and dreams , discoveries and calamities and ultimately the green issue triumphs Politically correct? Yes , and it is easy to see what is coming from page one But this is an evergreen (pardon the pun) tale told with grace and economy of language which is more than just another political issue fable Unusual and recommended - even for those many readers who aren ·1 interested in 20th century history

Rachel A Hyde

eruption of violence and bigotry within her own hometown

The tale is a simple one Alcina is a 29-year-old woman who is raising her brother after the death of their parents Outwardly, she is a free thinker , a communist among fascists and monarchists , politically active in a swiftly changing world Emotionally she is a captive of grief and a deep fear of death . She receives a large measure of both as the Germans invade Italy and she and her brother are forced to flee to the mountains to join the Risorgimento Brigade Only after adventure and tragedy can she return to her home to find a measure of peace.

Writers of the best literary fiction must balance two needs : The need to express important ideas, and the need to do so within a compelling narrative. Petri dances upon this tightrope with skill , due in large part to her earthy , honest voice She uses the plain language of bakers and farmers to grapple with philosophical issues about the nature of life and death- and she does so in digestible morsels so that the issues do not overwhelm the narrative She loses her balance only once Unfortunately , she does so in a pivotal scene that screams ' Magic Realism .' It's the one awkward joint in what is without question an engaging, masterfully written book.

An Umbrian War is a rare hybrid-literary fiction with commercial and narrative appeal , and a fresh , engaging voice Highly recommended

(Toby Press books , distributed in both England and the US , are only available by mail from the publisher; see the review of Voltaire in Love for details.)

Lisa

Ann Verge

THE FLOWER BOY

Karen Roberts , Random House , 2000 , $24 95 (£5 59*) ,hb , 322pp , ISBN 0-375-503 I 6-1

For review , see Review IO (December I 999)

THE HOUSEGUEST

Agnes Rossi , Dutton, 2000 , $23 95 , hb , 294pp , ISBN 052594365X. Also trade pb , Plume, $14 (£8 05), ISBN 0452281970 It's a good feeling to open up a new book and know after reading the first words that I've ' discovered ' a new author. The first chapter is intense , and the subject matter isn't light-hearted But once I read the first sentences , there was no way I could put the book down . Edward Devlin is a man haunted by his past. His years as a freedom fighter during the Irish civil war have ended in disappointment. The love of his life , his wife Agnes, has just died a lingering death from tuberculosis ,

contracted while they were living in New York City Now back in Ireland , Edward is so absorbed in his own grief that he cannot bear any reminder of Agnes , including Maura , their six-year-old daughter.

Leaving Maura behind with his spinster sisters, Edward returns to America seeking a fresh start. With help from a former acquaintance , John Fitzgibbons , he soon finds work. He also has a place to live after "Fitz" and his wife , Sylvia, invite him into their home. Unhappy in her marriage, unfulfilled in her desire for children, Sylvia is attracted to Edward. Maura , meanwhile , has been shunted off to boarding school and bides her time , dreaming that her father will come back for her.

Agnes Rossi is a gifted writer. Her ability to project the both the raw edges and the subtle nuances of grief and loss is remarkable The action is well paced, and the author does a masterful job of uncovering truth that hides beneath the surface For example, Edward's choice to leave his daughter appears reprehensible at first , but by slowly revealing his experience , she makes it impossible to judge him too harshly. Likewise , the warm welcome Fitz gives Edward, a man he barely knows , is curious until his motivation is later revealed The Depression isn't the focus of the story , but it does serve as the proper historical backdrop , being a time of lost hopes and dreams for so many I definitely recommend this book.

Alice Logsdon

DROWNING RUTH

Christina Schwarz, Doubleday, 2000 , $23.95/C$35 95 (£17 99*) , hb , 273pp ISBN 0-385-49971-X

Drowning Ruth is a mystery , a story of self-revelation, a look at the mores of a town and its residents in post-WWI Wisconsin It centers around drownings ; two actually happen Although only three at the time , Ruth remembers drowning , despite the continued insistence of her Aunt Amanda that it was only a dream

What is true and what is a dream , a lie , or even a refusal to acknowledge the truth is part of the fabric of the novel. Told by three narrators , the truth appears to be at times as difficult to discover as a body in a deep lake Amanda Starkey, the principal narrator, is reluctant to admit the truth about her life . Initially we see her as a nurse , exhausted by her work with wounded soldiers returning from the trenches.

We soon learn that Amanda's exhaustion is not caused by nursing but by pregnancy , but the small town where she lives would not welcome an unwed mother . Amanda plans , with her sister Mattie's help , to secretly have

her child , but their plan fails The child is born , and within hours Mattie is dead, drowned in the not quite frozen lake ; Ruth believes she , too , has drowned, and Amanda is left with a human bite mark on her hand Why would Mattie go onto the ice when it was not safe? Amanda ' s version of the story is suspect.

As a look at the history of the period between the wars , Drowning Ruth shows World War I's impact, in both the hospital scenes and in the many deaths caused by influenza, reflecting the pandemic of I 9 I 8- I 9 I 9 that killed more people than the entire war The economic situation and the difficulty of scratching a living from a farm also echo the harsh reality of that time

From a narrator who is not what she appears on the surface to a picture of a deceptively placid lake where people drown, the novel plumbs the depths as a mystery is finally solved , and the final gift of love between two sisters is revealed . Marcia Dinn ee n

FORDLANDIA

Eduardo Sguiglia , St Martin ' s Press , 2000 , $22 95 (£14 38) , hb , 272 pp

ISBN 0312265921

There is nothing new about the idea of man pitting his wits against nature and failing In the right hands it makes for a compelling and thought-provoking fable, and Sguiglia ' s are those hands . Evocative of Conrad and the film Mosquito Coast , this is the tale of Henry Ford ' s failed venture to produce his own rubber. Wishing to break the British monopoly on Brazilian rubber in 1929 , Ford invested millions of dollars in creating his own rubber plantation and a city to house the workers . But the Enfer Vert of the Amazon works its own spell on people and is doomed to expensive failure.

Sguiglia •s Fordlandia is filled with characters , all escaping from and/or to something in this weird place Ford plays God and imposes his rigorous regime on the workers who eke out an existence in a place where , it is more and more evident , people aren ' t supposed to exist in opposition to nature The surreal atmosphere and cast of enigmatic folk weave in and out of each other ' s lives ; it is easy to identify with their hopes and dreams , discoveries and calamities and ultimately the green issue triumphs Politically correct? Yes, and it is easy to see what is coming from page one But this is an evergreen (pardon the pun) tale told with grace and economy of language which is more than just another political issue fable Unusual and recommended - even for those many readers who aren't interested in 20th century history. Rachel A. Hyde

THE FIG EATER

Jody Shields , Little , Brown, 2000 , $ 23.9 5/ C$32 .95 (£7.99*) , hb , 311 pp ,

ISBN 0-316- 78564-4

The Fig Eater is set in 1910 Vienna The protagonist is a police officer who very much adheres to modem scientific methods in his investigation of the murder of a young woman He is also very interested n the psychological study of crime, and places great faith in solving crimes through identifying the error in the situation

He is married to a woman who is something of an enigma to the reader. She is Hungarian, and is very much influenced by Hungarian and Gypsy folklore and customs

Hi s mystically-inclined wife becomes interested in the murder case, and decides to conduct her own investigation, without her husband's knowledge . She rifles through his pockets and papers in the middle of the night , reading his notebook and examining any evidence he happens to bring home At one point she actually impedes the real in vestigation. Her superstitions form a counterpoint to his scientific method, until he strangely starts slipping a bit into her mindset.

The book is very atmospheric- the reader gets a good sense of Vienna just after the turn of the century. One recurring situation set my mouth drooling-every few pages the wife meets her co-conspirator at a pastry shop/cafe and they invariably order a different variety of Viennese pastry along with their coffee!

Tn1di Jacobson

LEGACY OF THE DEAD

Charles Todd , Bantam, 2000 , $24 95 / C$37 95 (£15 44) , pb , 320pp, ISBN 0-553-80168-6

Suspenseful , intriguing , absorbing , compelling: all can be used to describe Legacy of th e Dead, the third in the series of Inspector Rutledge novels by Charles Todd.

Todd seduces his readers with Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge's quiet charm and probing mind, as he investigates the murder of a young woman in the glens of Scotland. An inquiry that will also delve into the despair of Rutledge's recent past.

Rutledge, on his first assignment following his return from the battlefields of France in the aftermath of World War One , is faced with confronting his own demons as well , when he discovers the accused is someone to whom he feels he owes a terrible debt.

This novel tells a forceful tale abounding with twists and disturbing characters The addition of Rutledge's 'ghostly' conscience is a delightful pivot on which the plot spins Todd keeps the reader entranced with a thoroughly developed conspiracy and splendidly defined

characters The suspense is tightly woven, keeping the reader speculating till the very last chapter. Here , Todd's coils of figures sharply come into focus when the truth is uncovered and personalities are shattered

Legacy of the Dead is a daunting mystery-thriller of the old school It never sputters or drags , but pushes forward in a most compellingly calculated manner. Todd has created a novel so finely wrought with suspense it's practically impossible to put down before reaching its disturbing , masterful conclusion.

Wendy Zollo

LOUISA

Simone Zelitch , Putnam, 2000 , $24.95 (15 .63) , hb , 377pb, ISBN 399146598

At the end of WWII , Nora Graz, a refugee in the newly formed State of Israel , reflects on her life in Budapest before and during the war . Nora is accompanied to Israel by her daughter-in-law Louisa , the German Christian widow of Nora ' s only son , Gabor. Louisa floats in and out of the story almost as a spectre

Nora is the epitome of non-confrontational restraint throughout the novel. In the beginning of her story , she writes to her cousin Bela, who has become a Zionist and hopes to emigrate to Palestine Nora keeps a box of letters she has never sent to Bela, the content of which reveal a deeper emotional attachment to her cousin than she cares to admit. Meanwhile , her son , Gabor, has become involved with Louisa , a Christian, but Nora remains silent about her unhappiness at her son ' s choice. Nora ' s husband, Janos , somewhat of a militant Communist. is largely absent for long periods of time

After the war ends , Nora decides to find Bela Louisa , rootless , follows Nora to the refugee camp in the new State of Israel. Initially, it seems that Bela has disappeared, has changed his name and has moved from the kibbutz he helped build Incredibly, it is Louisa, the almost formless character, who discovers Bela and changes the course of Nora ' s life

The interpersonal conflicts arising in this story make it fertile ground for great character and plot development. Unfortunately, I was disappointed that what could have been an unforgettable story is not. The characters have no self-awareness at all and are detached from reality. Indeed , there are times when I felt more for the characters than they did for themselves

William Nage

US/CANADA MULTI-PERIOD

THE LAST CANT AT A Philippe Delelis, Toby Press , 2000 , $15 95 , pb , 339pp , ISBN I 902881 31 I King Frederick Il of Prussia summons the elderly J. S Bach from Leipzig to Potsdam for a meeting . When Bach is ushered into the King ' s presence, Frederick is playing a theme of his own invention , the Thema Regiurn, which he then invites Bach to play . Bach extemporaneously develops the theme into a multi-part fugue and later incorporates it into his piece the Musical Offering, written for Frederick II . This theme is then passed on from composer to composer, from Bach to Mozart , and from Mozart to Beethoven , Wagner, Mahler , and Weber, each of whom uses the theme in one of his pieces

In present-day Paris , advanced students at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris who are taking the fugue and counterpoint exam find that they are to use the Thema Regium, written back.-wards , as the theme for their composition A friend of the exam winner decides to prove his theory that computers can compose music just as well as humans can , which leads to a violent death seemingly connected to the Thema Regiurn Yet why would something as innocuous as a musical theme lead to murder?

This imaginative and thoroughly engaging story , set alternately in present-day Paris and time periods connected with the composers mentioned above , deftly interweaves the history of the theme and the contemporary murder investigation The historical sections skip from time period to time period, but after an initial adjustment to the technique, this does not disturb the flow of the plot. The snapshots of the composers conform to popular notions for the most part , while the sections connected to the royal theme are detailed but not incomprehensible to a music novice The pieces all tie together neatly at the end, and I greatly appreciated the " Fact and Feasibility" epilogue which explains what is and isn ' t true , while leaving open a few areas where things might have been possible.

Toby Press books (www .tobypress com) , distributed in both England and the US , are only available by mail from the publisher. (800-810- 7191 within the US or Canada; +44 (0) 20 7637 8134 in the UK: +I 203 699 3666 elsewhere.)

TnidiJacobson

THE MAP OF LOVE

Ahdaf Soueif, Anchor, 2000, $14 (£5.59) , pb, 500pp , ISBN 0-385-7201 l-4

Set in the early 1900s and in the 1990s, The Map of Love tells of two intertwined, cross-cultural love stories. In 190 I Anna Winterbourne leaves England for Egypt, then an outpost of the empire roiling with nationalist sentiment. She finds herself falling in love with both Egypt and Sharif Pasha al-Baroudi. Nearly a century later, American journalist Isabel Parkman , a descendant of Anna and Sharif, falls for Omar , an Egyptian conductor. Filled with conflicting emotions, Isabel travels to Egypt to explore her heritage and meets Omar ' s sister Amal. The two women become fast friends , and together they unravel the beautiful story of how Anna and Sharif braved the disapproval of their people in order to make a life together.

At times the author seems to dwell overlong on political discussions , and in some instances the shift from one time period to the other is abrupt. The sensitive political issues of both periods , though , receive a straightforward, balanced treatment under Ms Soueif' s pen. This compassionately rendered story is peopled with characters with whom the American reader might be unfamiliar, but soon we begin to feel as if we inhabit their minds, experiencing the world as they do. Our mindset and understanding of the Arab world will benefit.

Kelly Cannon

THE EYE OF HORUS

Carol Thurston , Morrow, 2000 , $24/C$36.50 (£15.04), 384pp , hb , ISBN : 0-380-97696-X

The Eye of Hanis is set both in the late 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt and in present-day Colorado and Texas One half involves the efforts of a fictional physician , Senakhtenre, to protect a daughter of Nefertiti - the former Queen of Egypt - from her mother's murderous schemes The other half tells of a modem researcher, Kate, who investigates the mummy of a young woman who was buried with a male's head between her legs. (Such a mummy does exist , at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.) The two plotlines gradually come together, arcing across the intervening 3300 years.

Several plot twists are strained. For instance, it is unlikely that Nefertiti , after her marriage to King Akhenaten ended (assuming that she did survive him) , would have then married a priest of Amun, the very god Akhenaten sought to dethrone from a position of eminence in the Egyptian pantheon. Nor is it likely that Akhenaten ended up wandering in the Sinai for years and became the Biblical Moses.

The author does succeed admirably , though, in bringing to life ancient Egyptian settings. As the physician makes his evening house calls, the reader can easily imagine the scene , including the medicines the doctor mixes , the night sounds , and the fears of the parents of a sick child lying in a hut.

Elizabeth Garner

THE PIED PIPER'S POISON

Christopher Wallace, Overlook , 2000 , $25.95 (£6.39*), hb , 298pp , ISBN 1-58567-013-8

For review , see Review 8 (May 1998)

US/CANADA FANTASY

THE DAUGHTERS OF BAST: SHRINE OF LIGHT

Sarah Isidore , Avon/Eos, 2000, $6.50 (£4 02) , pb , 335pp , ISBN 0-380-80319-4

The Daughters of Bast are women who tend the shrines in Celtic Ireland , all of whom descend from a long line of worshippers of the ancient Egyptian cat-goddess Bast. Damona, a devout worshipper of Bast, is plunged into a cycle of violence and revenge by Bast's evil sister Sekhmet. Damona becomes Sekhmet ' s unwitting pawn when the lord of her land and his Christian cronies kill her husband and children Sekhmet seeks to make Damona her own, and to cause a rift between the Christians and the Druids so deep that only blood will fill it.

Unfortunately , this premise doesn ' t hold together. The author presents us with an incongruous mix of ancient Egyptian mythology , Druid worship, and early Christianity This might have worked had she not decided that the Egyptian goddesses are real and speak to their worshippers, while the Christian God is silent and impotent , and the Druids remain uninvolved . This leads to a great many inconsistencies in the actions of the characters. The final straw is the talking cat.

While most of the basic historical facts are accurate , that is all they are: basic facts. Don ' t read this looking for any deeper understanding of Celtic Ireland. This 1s basically empty-headed, fluffy fantasy Perhaps her first book in this series was better: I hope so.

Alexandra Ceely

believers because of the ascendancy of the Christian God and His followers. This former God of air has become little more than human, possessed of strong powers and lost in the mists of madness and chaos In this adaptation, the story of Arthur is literally one of old gods versus new , and the struggle is not only for the land but for the hearts and minds of the people whose belief keeps them alive . Arthur is fully human but possesses Excalibur, the spirit of Jehovah made manifest into the God-killing sword By his side rules Guinevere, a fey queen who wields the power of the land as long as she continues to be chaste. Together , they unite Britannia against the Saxon God Wotan and his followers , who would destroy all they behold. They also build Camelot, which is a sanctuary not only for men but the fey as well. Titanic clashes result as men, gods and the otherworldly battle for the future of a nation.

The focus is on Merlin, and the story ends with his withdrawal from the world of men , leaving the dark end of Arthur's reign foreshadowed but untold. It's a story that stands on its own as we follow him from the depths of his madness into the glory of his power reshaped This is a rollicking good story , chock full of wit , humor and excitement, not to mention a liberal sprinkling of 'pourquoi tales ' (ever wonder how Stonehenge really got where it was?) King's departure from the traditional narrative keeps suspense fully alive, and one turns the last page with a sigh of contentment and a burning desire for more .

Tracey Callison

THE GLASS HARMONICA

Louise Marley, Ace, 2000, $13.95/C$19.99 (£8.74), pb , 335pp, ISBN 0-441-00729-5

Eilish Earn is a young Irish orphan living on the streets of eighteenth century London Erin Rushton is a concert musician livin g in twenty-first century Seattle. Both are drawn together by the glass harmonica , a musical instrument based on water-filled wineglasses that was invented by Benjamin Franklin. Legend has it that the ethereal sound created by the harmonica drives the musician insane , and Ms Marley has based her story on that premise Erin and Eilish are drawn together by this unique instrument. Each sees the other in her own time , and each draws strength from the other.

MAD MERLIN

Robert J. King, Tor , 2000 , $24.95 (£15 63), hb ,478pp , ISBN 0-312-86963-0

In this dazzling addition to the ranks of Arthuriana (King's first non-game based novel) , Merlin is a fallen god bereft of

Eilish lives off the pennies she earns playing water-filled wine glasses on the street, until the day Ben Franklin takes her away to help him perfect his new instrument. Even though she lives in the lap of luxury , her life is a sad one. Erin Rushton is the daughter of a prominent physician, and her twin brother Charlie is a composer. She and her brother

travel the country doing concerts until Charlie finds a doctor who has a possible cure for the paralysis that has confined him to a wheelchair

This is a richly draMl. well-written story of artists striving and suffering for their art Ms Marley tells the two tales in alternating chapters , allowing readers to find the parallels and make their OMl comparisons. Eighteenth century London (and Ben Franklin in particular) comes alive under Ms Marley's pen The science fiction and fantasy elements of this tale are somewhat weak , leaving me instead to consider this an excellent work of historical fiction

Alexandra Ceely

TO THE CHAPEL PERILOUS

Naomi Mitchison, Green Knight. 1999 , $10 95 , 2l9pp , ISBN 1-928999-05-0

For review, see Review 12 (May 2000).

X-CALIBRE

Mark Parker , Carroll & Graf, 2000 , $11.95 (£5 59*) , 320pp , pb , ISBN 0-7867-0802-6

In this spoof of Arthurian legend , an inept and unapologetically self-interested wizard's apprentice named Cantiger steals spells from a powerful enchantress and decides to use his newfound skills to better his lot. He helps Orson , a na'ive young pillier (squire) , to pass a magical test to determine the rightful king of Loomis and sets himself up as Orson ·s chief advisor However. this course of action does not please Marina , a wicked enchantress who plots to assume the throne , or many of the more experienced 'Riders · (knights) , who object to following an untried boy instead of gaining the cushy sinecure he expects , Cantiger is stuck helping Orson subdue rebellious Riders while trying to avoid the vengeance of the eYil Marina

Humor is a very subjective thing Unfortunately , I found this book to be very disappointing and not the least bit funny The author·s caricatures of some Arthurian characters (particularly Marina , his version of Morgan le Fay) had some real potential , but his unceasing reliance on bad puns and scatological humor robbed the book of any amusement it mi ght have held for me . The dialogue was all over the place in terms of style (for example , a female character is referred to on various occasions as "damosel.' ' baby girl ,' and ' doll ·), and there was no firm sense of time or setting . To be fair , the best thing I could suggest would be to read a few pages before deciding whether to. buy or read this book.

Lisa Sweeney

KINSMEN OF THE GRAIL

Dorothy James Roberts , Green Knight (Pendragon). 2000 (cl963). $14 95/ C$20 95 (£914 ), pb , 320 pp , ISBN 1928999077

If you ·re a fan of the haunting , dream-laden world of Malory·s Arthurian Cycle you'll enjoy this novel. If you prefer a gritty Dark Ages version you probably won·t.

Weary Gawin ' s travels lead him into a benighted part of Wales where resides the Lady Iglais and her wild, innocent son Perceval. Gawin releases Perceval into the world where he is always a step ahead of Gawin as they pursue their obsessive quest for the Grail. Gawin must choose between following Perceval's lead and his duty to King Arthur

Camelot is not a glittering fairytale palace but the City of Legions , more converted Roman ruin than castle, so there is a mixture of fact and fantasy here which makes a fairly well-balanced whole My main criticism is that the story sags somewhat in the middle , but on the whole it is an enjoyable and quite undemanding read , halfway between the colorful fantasy of Tennyson and Vera Chapman and the modern trend for a realistic picture of Dark Age Britain

Rachel A Hyde

US/CANADA NON-FICTION

VOLTAIRE IN LOVE

Nancy Mitford A Common Reader Edition. The Akadine Press (commonreader.com) , 1998 , $15.95 , pb , 288 pp , ISBN 1-888173-47-5 After reading this book. I decided that American soap operas had nothing on the domestic intrigues of eighteenth-century France The title refers to Voltaire·s love affair with Emilie Madame du Chatelet. a scientist and translator of Newton She was , of course , married with two children and carried on other affairs while enjoying her status as Voltaire's mistress Voltaire himself was to fall in love with his niece during this time (today's reader is informed that this is not regarded as incestuous in a ' Latin country .' ) . As salacious as this sounds. Mitford records these liaisons in a dispassionate way . It was a fact of life that Frenchmen had affairs with (preferably married) Frenchwomen while their cuckolded husbands looked the other way. For much of their time together, Voltaire and Emilie lived at her husband ' s home , Cirey , in Champagne with M du Chatelet accepting this relationship and living there himself when he was not with his regiment.

While reading this book. I thought the title was a mistake , for the focus of the book is not the relationship but instead the details of Voltaire· s life : his quarrels with his rivals , his joy in his writing , and his campaigning for status Just when the reader decides that Voltaire and Emilie were insufferable to friends , enemies . and each other. Mitford offers up accounts of their generosity. genius and derntion to the other. As the book ends with Emilie·s death. and Voltaire was to live another twenty-nine years the underlying story really is Voltaire in love . I recommended this book for its fascinating glimpse into the life of Voltaire and his contemporaries

Ellen Keith