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 , RHI0 7GN , UK (sarah76cuthbert @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
NEWSLETTER: Write to Lucienne Boyce (lucboyce@blueyonder.co uk) for our fortnightly ernial newsletter - it ' s free of charge LISTSERVE : Join in the discussion on the society ' s internet listserve - go to the society website and sign up CHAT ONLINE: At the society website From time to time we will invite authors along to field your questions
MEMBERSHIPDETAILS:
Membership of the Historical Novel Society is by calndar year (January to December) and entitles members to all the year ' s publications : two isses 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 lDP , UK (ray .sherlock@appleonline.net) or Tracey A. Callison, 824 , Heritage Drive , Addison , II , 60101 , USA. (callison@wwa .com) , or Teresa Eckford , Windcrest Court, Kanata, ON CanadaK2T lBS (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 org
OUTOFPRINTBOOKS
The following are dealers in out of print historical novels :Forget-Me-Not Books, 11 Tamarisk Rise, Wokingham , Berkshire , RG40 JWG judith_ridley@hotmail.com Rachel Hyde , 2 Meadow Close, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, EX9 6JN rachelahyde@ntlworld.com
Rosanda Books, David Baldwin, 11 Whiteoaks Road , Oadby , Leicester LE2 SYL . dbaldwin@themutual.net David Spenceley Books, 75 Harley Drive , Leeds , LS 13 4QY. 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
PUBLISHERS & PRINTERS
www.factandfiction.co.uk
T : 01709 878091 F : 01709 879696
plays funny tricks of novelist, Gillian Kaye
Tremayne Writing the historical novel (4)
editorial
It was a pleasure indeed to meet so many of you at the New Cavendish Club in October and put faces to familiar names Judging by the rising decibels over lunch, it was a highly enjoyable affair. The only disappointment was that because of the tragic events of September 11th , there were fewer members from the USA than were expected . I hope they will be able to make it to the next one.
Those who were there will remember Richard ' s address in which he quoted Melvyn Bragg ' s words of 1997 , the year in which the Society was founded, that the historical novel was a genre that ' dared not speak its name .' Not now, Richard proclaimed. And only recently I attended a writers ' conference at which one of the speakers , Kirsty Fowkes , a commissioning editor with Orion Books , was adamant that - and I quote - 'the historical novel is back. ' Not only that but she is actively seeking historical novels that are ' gritty ' and feature ' ordinary people caught up in the maelstrom of tumultuous events. '
And finally, if any proof were needed of the present high profile of the genre , the UK Booker Prize winner of 2001 was Peter Carey ' s TheTrueHistoryoftheKellyGang.
TheForum NEWS,VIEWS,YOURLETTERS
No letters this issue! Remember I do welcome emails as well as pen and ink . My contact details are on the inside front page. Do share your opinions , news and information with other members.
Dominique Nightingale has decided , due to the pressure of other commitments to ' retire ' as a reviews editors. I thank her for all the hard work she has done for the Society . I'm delighted, however , that will continue to review for us. Stepping lightly into her shoes comes Ann Oughton I wish her well and am sure she will accomplish the work as capably as her predecessor. Her contact details are on the inside front page.
Please note our new website . It is historicalnovelsociety.org.
House of Stratus , the publishing company dedicated to re-issuing classic works has announced the closure of its London office.
We were all saddened to hear of the death of Dorothy Dunnett. By coincidence, this month ' s Solander has a feature about this well-loved and respected historical novelist. Do write in and share your memories of reading her novels. I know that for many members, Dorothy Dunnett was the writer who opened up the world of the historical novel to them. We shall miss her.
Writing in the Books of the Year Supplement of BBC History Magazine , Rose Tremain says : ' the best historical fiction draws upon extensive research but benefits from the imaginative leaps and piercing insights of the writer. That research has to be done - then all the data undergoes an alchemic change so that it becomes yours .' IS SUE 18 DEC 200 1
TilE HISTORIC AL NOVELS
MaryMoffathas discoveredsome
DISTIJRBINGlRENDS
IN
CHILDREN'SHISTORICAL HOlON
In the field of children's books several closely related and disturbing trends have been gradually emerging over the last few years The first concerns the chopping up of a book into several separate parts These parts are then claimed to be part of a series and sold as stand-alone books This may suit editors and accountants but the practice causes problems for readers I find this obvious and my theory has been reinforced by feedback from my reviewers
I like to farm out the separate books in a series to various reviewers, as it is interesting to see how people have different opinions. To give one example of this practice. Peter Dickinson's novel about children in prehistoric Africa, The Kin, has had quite a chequered printing history . It first saw the light of day as a hardback volume of 600 pages Then , probably because it was felt that it was too long for a ten-year-old , it was republished as four separate paperbacks Now it is going to be published as one book again this time in paperback. At least The Kin falls neatly into four parts. But the reviewer to whom I gave the last part has said that she has started it twice and cannot get into it. Privately I am sure this is because she is actually reading the last quarter of a book without having read the beginning and middle. In the first book the
author firmly established the characters and he was taking it for granted that his readers would have all read that first part before reading the middle and end. But editors had different ideas
But if a book is considered too long it cannot be shortened by just chopping it up Writing is more complicated than that. I recently read a book which had no beginning and no end just a middle The beginning was an earlier book and the ending has clearly yet to be written This was Tucket~<s Ride by Gary Paulsen . Yes . Gary Paulsen . Award winning Gary Paulsen , one of America's leading writers for young people . An author who knows all about beginning-middle-end and how to structure a plot. But even Gary Paulsen's reputation has not been enough to save his books from the editorial chopping block. The Tucket books have the making of one reall y good book about the American West, but unfortunately it has not been allowed to be just one book.
Of course we are all used to series fiction. Brother Cadfael , Biggies etc But , ifl may attempt a definition , a series consists of a number of books about the same characters. There is room for character development but and this is the important point every book in a series should stand alone and be capable of being read and understood without the reader having read the rest of the series . For example , The Hound of the Baskervilles can be read and enjoyed without one having read the first Sherlock Holmes story , A S tudy in Sc arle t
This trend has rather crept up on us . Philip Pullman's Sally L ockhart trilogy about Victorian London is not really a series. It is actually one long book split into three parts . One of my reviewers agreed with me here I gave her the second book and, after reading her review, I just had to give her the last book. On receiving it she revised her review of the second book and said that a synopsis of the first book should have been given
Now there has been a further development. Editors are now jumping on the historical
mystery bandwagon and commissioning series. But they are not like the series of the past which ran and ran. Oh no. They are carefully planned before the first word is written. There is one plot for every single book and another plot which runs right through the whole series. Then in the last book all the loose ends are neatly tied up. The series will run for a short time after this and then sudden euthanasia. No chance of a character getting out of control like Sherlock Holmes. Oh no. Characters , and authors, are to be kept under strict control. The separate plot running right through the series certainly adds extra interest and will make readers want to buy future books in the series. Fine if one starts with volume one. But it is a different matter if a reader starts with a later volume.
I have just had a reviewer of one of the Joslin de Lay medieval mystery series complain that she had trouble puzzling out the beginning. Books in a series are interrelated but they are also meant to be stand-alones It should be possible to read each book without having read the others in the series. If the books cannot be read independently then they are not part of a series. They are part of a serial. And the reading public deserves to be told that. In that case they should be treated like magazine serials and a detailed synopsis of the earlier books should be given at the front of all the later books. It would also be helpful if all the books were given the same title and then labelled Part 1, Part 2 etc
If I may end by mentioning two non-historical series which dealt with this problem very well. First the Lone Pine series by Malcolm Saville. At the beginning the author gives a couple of pages of character notes. I started with one of the books in the middle of the series and I had no trouble understanding it. My second example concerns The Three Investigators series. In each book there is a one-page introduction introducing the three boys and their detective agency. The Three Investigators may be considered lightweight but a reader can start with any
book in the series without any problems . I always remember that when getting feedback from a puzzled reviewer struggling with a modem series book.
At some stage in our childhood, someone, either ourselves or others, decides that we are old enough to read alone . Gradually or suddenly, being read to becomes a thing of the past, with the possible exception of a teacher, here and there. Anyone who has read to children knows ( with the exception of the odd 'wriggler') that particular look children have when they are listening to a story or poem. They sit, entranced, bouches beantes
Fortunately, we have audio books to perform that service for us when we are deemed to be beyond the read-to stage. For many listeners, audio books are boon companions in the car, van or lorry, to while away the tedium of road travel. In the US, long-haul lorry drivers can borrow audios at subscription libraries at various truck stops For others, audios replace an increasingly poor offering of television viewing. Audios can be a companionable form of input when performing tasks in isolation, be those tasks pleasurable (such as some form of craft) or tedious. I should never manage half the chores I do if it weren't for audios . They also allow me to digest much more fiction than I could possibly find time to read
The initial inspiration for audios was their value to the blind and those with impaired vision. 'Talking books' as they became known, meant that the latest publications, as well as old favourites were readily accessible to those
who were literate in Braille and those who were not. My mother, who is an avid reader, is 'saving' the audio experience for a time when reading may become difficult. I just hope there will be an adequate supply to satisfy her voracious appetite, should the need ever arise. I have yet to collect anecdotal evidence from other audio listeners but it is astonishing how the more unevenly-written parts of a novel can glare so obviously when a book is read aloud. I have had to re-evaluate my views on a few books after listening to them, rather than reading them. Perhaps all authors should read their work aloud before the final edit!
Abridged or not?
Libraries tend to stock more unabridged audios than the abridged kind. Abridged audios are, however, cheaper than unabridged versions and this can be an important consideration for those who buy, rather than borrow, audio books . One avid audio listener I spoke to maintained that with abridged audios, one is able to listen to condensed versions of books that may be tedious at full length. It is an interesting argument but I find it hard to imagine myself listening to anything I regard as tedious. That said, there is a place for both and audio publishers of either variety seem to be flourishing.
The CD versus the cassette
The audio publishers who responded to my survey indicated that CDs were on the way in, particularly with new cars having CD players as a built-in feature. Cassettes are still the form for the majority of their output. Looking through the catalogues, it seems that CDs are generally more expensive than cassettes.
Readers
Fanny Logan in Love in a Cold Climate finds Lord Montdore's reading aloud something of a penance: 'there was something about the way
he read that made me squirm with secret embarrassment'. Too much expression, perhaps. All audiophiles will have their favourite readers and their least favourite as well. I would listen to a bus timetable read aloud by Sam West, Alan Rickman, Simon Callow or Anna Massey and I do like series to be read by one reader (such as Stephen Thorne reading Ellis Peters' Cadfael series). It seems that not every actor is suitable as a reader, given that an actor's reading must cover a range of accents in many cases, as well as being able to change from female to male voices and vice versa.
The Survey
Audio publishers were sent a letter and a brief questionnaire about their historical audio fiction. Sadly, only two responded, despite further attempts to solicit a response. The two who responded, however, gave detailed answers to further questions and were more than willing to answer them. What follows is a summary of their responses to my questions and some details about the nature of their publications. These will be of interest to audio listeners and to authors, whose incomes can be augmented by their work being published in audio format. I am particularly grateful to Peter Johnson and Veronica Babington Smith from Isis and to Lucy Dixon and Rupert Lancaster of Hodder & Stoughton.***
Isis&Soundings
Isis and its sister company, Soundings, publish a wide range of audios and although they do not have an 'historical' category, they do publish an astonishing number of historicals, which are to be found under various headings, such as Romance/Saga, Thriller, Crime and General Fiction. Isis tends to publish the more literary offerings and Soundings the 'less cutting edge' fiction. Both offer romance, saga, crime and thrillers. Isis also has the category 'Reminiscence', non-fiction such as that by
ISSUE 18. DEC 2001
Fred Archer and his tales of life in the Cotswolds at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Peter Johnson, the Direct Sales Manager at Isis, points to the 'ubiquity of historical settings' as the reason for Isis and Soundings restricting their categories. I can see his point. There would be a lot of cross-referencing for those historicals that fall into more than one category. Peter felt that historicals were very much in demand and offered this insight into the writing of historical fiction:
'in order to tackle the "grand themes" of human experience [authors] opt to invoke times in which secular and religious beliefs contextualised and illuminated the inner life to degrees that our more materialistic interpretative systems cannot'.
With insights such as those, Peter may well receive requests to speak on historical fiction!
How do Isis and Soundings select for publication? For unabridged books, the 'prime market' is the Public Library sector, according to Veronica Babington Smith. The status of the author is also a consideration, as is the length of the book. With a few notable exceptions, such as Gone With the Wind, the maximum length for a book is 26 hours. Books are sourced mostly from agents and publishers but they can also be sourced via personal contact and 'advanced information catalogues'. Books in manuscript form are not used.
If the material to be recorded is still within copyright, a 'licence to record and sell' the book as an unabridged audio is required. Generally, an advance is paid against royalties. The licences have a fixed term and an extension may be sought if the book is still selling well at the end of the licensed period . After the licence is acquired, the book goes to the recording studios, where it is researched for its characteristics, such as setting, accents and content. A suitable reader is selected. Often, readers who specialise in radio or voice 11-IE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW s
over work are chosen, their expertise proving invaluable when it comes to flexibility and range. Stage and screen actors are also suitable but the demands of their work can often make time commitment a problem. Efforts are made to ensure the continuity of a reader for a series or an author and sometimes, authors express a particular view about the reader for their book. Veronica Babington Smith remarked that response to readers is 'highly subjective'
The difficult part for audio publishers is assessing the success of their unabridged books. 'High sales of a book may not necessarily indicate popularity with the listener,' says Veronica Babington Smith. Librarians by the score may purchase a new recording but it is only by having access to borrowing numbers that publishers can determine the popularity of a book. Of course, Isis and Soundings do have individual buyers as well (after a look at their extensive catalogues, I defy anyone not to earmark a few that will be of interest).
Both Isis and Soundings publish 16 new titles per month on cassette and 6 each on CD. CDs are limited to 65 minutes per CD and cassettes to 90 minutes each, after which the quality of the tape becomes variable .
Interest in audio books is on the increase but apparently 'it is still hard work to persuade the Editors of reviewing periodicals to give the space to the reviews' (Editor, take note! - I have and would willingly give the space ifI had it. SZ)
Isis and Soundings do not intentionally include historical fiction but their catalogues are nevertheless full of historical audios. Publishers do feel that identifying historicals can be uncertain. The following list of authors for Isis, which is just a selection, will convince most readers of historicals that Isis audios are not averse to selecting historical fiction: Lyndsey Davis, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, Julian Rathbone, Jean Plaidy, Bernard Cornwell, Susan Sallis, Josephine Cox. Veronica Babington Smith remarked that clogs and shawls may be giving way to 'cardigans',
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
'comfortable relatively undemanding, human tales without too much angst' but it is the reputation of individual authors, as well their development in various media, that influence sales. There is also a growing demand for historical fact.
So, what do audio publishers look for when searching for new authors and titles? A fresh voice, for one and a 'special quality of storytelling'. Veronica Babington Smith offered these observations on successful writers of historical fiction:
a) they know their period inside out and back to front.
b) their people are entirely credible as people.
c) the situations are also credible.
The use of dialogue that sounds credible without being unintelligible was also mentioned, as was the avoidance of the 21 st Century viewpoint when writing of the past.
Hodder&Stoughton
As both print and audio publishers, Hodder select their titles for abridged audios mostly from their print selection, which enables them to devote a reasonable amount of marketing to the title. Copyright and legal considerations do not vary considerably from the print version.
Hodder have a regular group of readers but they do look out for new readers, according to Rupert Lancaster When commencing Julian Stockwin's Kydd, they chose Jack Davenport, who they hope to use for the whole series. One problem can be when readers become too famous. Hollywood beckons, fees increase and time commitments can be a problem as well.
Hodder always abridge to twenty or thirty thousand words, twenty thousand being favoured for CDs Libraries buy Hodder audios but the main buyers of audio fiction are car drivers. Direct sales give some indication of the popularity of individual titles and
librarians are surveyed anecdotally for their views
About two new titles are published per month, with more coming out near Christmas CDs are proving popular and there seems to be a gradual shift towards CDs but this shift is dependent on the car-driving public who opt for audios. Audio books continue to be popular but the market has been 'flattish'. It is hoped that the new CD market will boost interest in audios.
According to Rupert Lancaster, historical fiction does not comprise a significant proportion of Hodder audios . The most common genres published by Hodder are clog and shawl and sea-faring historicals . In his view, the popularity of the historical is on the increase, Josephine Cox proving to be a particularly popular author with buyers of Hodder audio
Advice for aspiring authors is :
' look and see what's out there and try and do something that is as carefully crafted as the masters and mistresses of the genre but has some edge or difference either location or character. '
And a new author, to be particularly recommended? Julian Stockwin.
Reviews
At the time of going to press, I had not received the Hodder audios for review , nor the catalogue but I hope to include these if the Editor allows me space in a future issue.
THELASTENGLISHKING
Julian Rathbone, ISBN 0-7531-1005-9
Published by Isis Audio Books
Read by Michael Tudor Barnes
12 cassettes: 16 hrs 58 mins
£22.49 (£19.99 + £2 .50 p&p)
An excellent reading of an excellent book, the story of the last days of King Harold and the
early Norman era. If you don't already loathe William the Conqueror, you will when you've listened to this book! The story is told via the voice of one of Harold's house earls. The background, which encompasses the Middle East and other 'foreign parts', as well as England, is lyrical in its description and contrasts sharply with the violence of pre and post-Hastings England. This is not a story for the faint-hearted but given the current climate it's a reminder of how some of the more unfortunate aspects of the human condition remain unchanged. For one whose interests generally lie with the Plantagenets and after, I was enthralled.
Michael Tudor Barnes reads the book beautifully and moves effortlessly from character to character. He is as at home in Asia Minor as he is in England . The blurb on the back of the audio cover describes author Julian Rathbone as 'Britain's best kept literary secret'. Having read the notes of his talk at the HNS conference and having listened to The Last English King , I found myself wondering why he should be a secret at all.
ASMALLDEATHINLISBON
Robert Wilson, ISBN 0- 7531-0985-9
Read by Sean Barrett
14 cassettes: 17hours and 2 minutes
Price £21.99 (£24.49 p&p)
In the late twentieth century, a young girl is found murdered in Lisbon. Inspector Ze Coelho investigates . He finds a link between World War II, Nazi wheeling and dealing and the murdered girl. Sections of the book are set during wartime and the others in the present era.
This book is not for the faint-hearted, either. For those who like thrillers, the story is intriguing For those whose interest is wartime Europe, the setting is admirably evoked. Although I enjoyed the book, I can't say that I was gripped by the story from start to finish That said, the writing is very good and the characters are credible.
The book is read well by Sean Barrett, who portrays the laconic Inspector Coelho with all his world weariness . The production is excellent and the book won the Spoken Word Award for Unabridged Modem Fiction.
CDs
Two books by Beryl Bainbridge are now available on CD from Isis: The Dressmaker set in WWII Liverpool and The Birthday Boys, the story of Scott's expedition to the Antarctic.
A selection of audios from both Isis and Soundings is listed below. For further details or for a catalogue for Isis, Soundings and Hodder, contact addresses are at the end of this feature
Soundings
& Isis
The Paradise Parade by Anne Baker - SagaSoundings
Emily by Irene Carr - Victorian - Soundings
Polly's Angel by Katie Flynn- wartime Liverpool - Soundings CD
The Riddle of St Leonard's by Candace RobbMedieval whodunnit - Soundings
Mile End Road by Elizabeth Lord - East End saga - Isis
In this Quiet Earth by Nicola Thome - 1920s saga - Isis
Heart on Fire by Iris Gower - Regency - Isis Kingdom of Shadows by Alan Furst - Wartime thriller - Isis
Isis Publishing Ltd
7 Centremead
Osney Mead
Oxford OX2 0ES
Tel: 01865 250 333
www.isis-publishing co.uk sales@isis-publishing co uk
Hodder & Stoughton
Hodder Headline AudioBooks
3 3 8 Euston Road
London NWI 3BH
ISSUE 18 DEC 200 I
www madaboutbooks com Telephone : 020 7873 6000
*** For further details of the survey , including responses , please contact me on geraldine.perriam@strath.ac. uk
Would m embers like to see audio historicals revi ewed in the future ? Please address your rep/ ies to the editor.
LIFEPLAYSFUNNYTRICKSON GILLIANKAYE
It had always been my dream that my husband , Norman and I would retire to North Yorkshire and enjoy walking over the moors together. We did so , but I had a stroke , albeit a mild one All this led me to a housebound kind of life , which , of course , explains the writing . ' Sweet are the uses of adversity .'!
We holiday every year in beautiful Swaledale. It has a fascinating history and I decided it would make a good Victorian novel. I researched extensively. The dale had seen lead mining since Roman times but in the 1830s the lead veins began to run out and many of the miners emigrated to America . My novel began in Swaledale before my characters moved to lead-prosperous Iowa
The manuscript reached Orion. An editor said she liked the book but it had been a mistake to move my characters to America. Would I change it? Although this was historical fact, I did so, but clearly not well enough because it still came back!
I gave up then , shortened it from 120,000 to 40,000 words (I don't quite know how!) and sold it to My Weekly Story C ollection . So it was published, although in minuscule . At least my characters did go to America, so history was honoured .
G illian Kaye's latest Regency Romance, An Outrageous Masquerade is reviewed on page 13.
WRITING THE IDSTORICALNOVEL
KateTremayne
Part IV: PLOTTING
There are many different approaches to planning the story line of your novel. Some authors keep folders, or record cards of the sequence of events, some use rolls of wallpaper around their study walls as a visual aid . Others find a detailed synopsis is enough. Some writers simply jump in with the first scene and allow the story to progress , though it would take a very intrepid first time novelist to do this and achieve success .
FORWARDPLANNING
Forwarding planning gives a writer framework and structure. Many writers stumble at chapter four simply because they have not plotted the progress of the story beforehand . Know where to start . The opening paragraphs must intrigue the reader and lead into a scene of sufficient dramatic impact to draw a reader into the story . It is no good waiting until halfway through chapter two before the first interesting conflict happens as you lost your reader on page five. The first page must captivate your reader's attention and within the first chapter show the pace of drama , suspense and conflict to come
You should also know the resolution of the novel as this is the goal you are working towards. Throughout the story there must be high spots and a constant edge of suspense to keep the reader intrigued.
As my own Lov eday s eri es is set around three branches of the Loveday family I need to plot where each main character will appear in the novel and how each scene weaves ISSUE 18 DEC 200 1
effortlessly with the next. The diverse backgrounds of smuggling, shipbuilding, banking and life at sea enable me to easily vary the settings within the novel. This involves some juggling so that each scene ends with a cliffhanger, and when I switch to another character the story does not jar. Each fresh scene needs its own hook to keep the reader enthralled. Also I have to ensure that Adam Loveday's exploits during the French Revolution and later as a privateer when England is at war with France fit into the story at the correct point in history. Weaving real historical events into the lives of fictional characters needs forethought to ensure the character is at the right place at the right time
Weak plotting is one of the most common faults which stops a writer being published. Plotting is not only about knowing the beginning, the middle and the end; it is about pace , building suspense, and introducing new conflicts when one is resolved. You need to know what crisis your characters will face and how they will overcome them. Each scene should evolve naturally out of a previous scene .
DON'TDRIFTAIMLESSLY
A poorly plotted novel is often an implausible story where characters drift aimlessly from one scene to another. Then the author will suddenly remember that conflict is needed and contrive an incident which does not gel with the rest of the story and is unbelievable
Essential factors to remember to prevent a weak story line are:
• There must be some source of conflict or problem to overcome within each scene.
• Without suspense and building tension within each chapter the story will soon fall flat.
• There should be drama and emotional intensity within each scene.
These ingredients can come from the motivation of your characters, their emotional problems within relationships, career etc. Conflict can be addressed through dialogue, reactions to events, even from within the atmosphere you build around characters and settings.
Learn to judge your work honestly. Do not allow yourself to go off at tangents which digress from the main story. Every scene must actually forward the plot or it becomes padding If a scene is used to depict a certain aspect of a character then it must be exciting and pertinent to the plot in some way.
VARIETY
A variety of scenes within a novel is important. It is easy too fall into the trap of having too many scenes enacted within a house, a bar room or eating place. In an historical novel your readers want to experience the full world your characters inhabit. Ensure that as many settings which show life at the time are used as a backdrop to your characters. Atmospheric detail can enhance the situation in which your characters find themselves How your characters interact with people of different classes, within the family, at work, or at leisure are a part of their personality. Within each of these aspects of their lives conflicts and problems can be acted out.
Remember that your plot outline is not carved in stone. You need to be flexible to make your novel exciting and plausible There are times when you need to back track in your writing and inset fresh scenes. Every writer does this. But care must then be taken that anything said or brought to light in that scene is consistent with the scenes that follow, so some revision is often needed to later scenes.
If you have sent your novel off to an agent or publisher and it has been rejected it can be
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
appropriate to review the plot of the novel. Re-read it with a less passionate eye. Check that there is conflict, drama, emotional intensity and suspense within each scene. Are some scenes over long and need to be cut because they lack the drama and impetus to carry the story forward? Be ruthless cut any scene which a nagging voice within you says does not really work. Rewrite others in a tighter more dramatic way to instil more conflict and tension
TOOCOSY?
Have you allowed the story to become too cosy, the characters too nice so that the tension has died? Has the main character lost their motivation, or begun to act in a way which loses the reader's sympathy, or made the reader simply not care what happens to them?
Have you ensured that fresh problems keep arising and that new goals are set? Setbacks bring in new crisis and can reveal hidden facets of a characters personality. If your characters achieve their goals too easily, not only is drama and tension lost but the character becomes implausible.
As writers we owe it to our readers to present the story in the most dramatic way possible . This is also what makes an editor want to buy your novel.
LESSISMORE
It is good to remember that often less is more. Shoddy writing which rambles from one scene to the next, with long irrelevant passages and waffle, kill the flow of a story. Make every scene as memorable as possible and cut out inconsistencies when revising your work
A word of warning - do not get so caught up in plotting your novel that you produce forty or fifty pages of outline. Often a few pages are enough. If you plot every resolution to every problem, you may find that you feel you have written the story and lost the enthusiasm. I like to know the problems the main characters will
face, and that the personality of that character means they are capable of resolving that problem. I do not need to know how they will overcome these problems until the moment of actually writing the story - that is what keeps the writing fresh and exciting.
Adam Loveday and The Loveday For tunes are tpublished in paperback by Headline. The Loveday Trials is published in hardback by Head/ ine in December.
THE HNS BOOK ORDERING SERVICE
UK Members
Contact Sarah Cuthbertson (01293 884898; Email: sarah76cuthbert@aol.com (please note this new address) with details ofthe 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
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I I
UKTHEEAGLE'SCONQUEST
TITLES
Simon Scarrow, Headline, August 2001, •------------- £17 99, hb , 310pp, ISBN 0-7472-7283-2
William Napier , Headline , 2001, £17.99, hb, 297pp, ISBN 0-7472-3062-5 (also available in trade pb , £9 99 , 297pp , ISBN 0-7472-3853-7)
In March 1999 archaeologists in Spitalfields Market , London uncovered a limestone sarcophagus containing a lead coffm decorated with a rope pattern enclosing scallop shells. Inside were the remains of a wealthy young woman , her head on a pillow of fresh bay leaves She had lived in the 4th century AD , and certain facts about her life and death are known
Inspired by this tantalising discovery, William Napier has created a woman called Julia , and with characters taken from the pages of history, has woven a tale of love and war in the twilight years of the Roman Empire
The story begins with 9-year-old Julia living in Spain; the narrative is written in the style of a children's book, only growing into a novel as Julia herself matures
The author seems ill at ease in Roman Britain, and his decision to use modem placenames and 21st century connotations also hampers his sense of the period. The description of London suggests a medieval town and the Celts are more like 19th- century Native Americans than barbarians infiltrating the comers of Empire. He reaches for humour but the subtleties are found wanting.
There is prodigious research , however , and the book abounds in ancient Greek philosophy The battles against the Persians in the deserts of Mesopotamia are described with enough blood and gore to delight or disgust the sensibilities
Julia's story should absorb and persuade the reader that this was her life , but I found it lightweight, at times fanciful - an opportunity lost.
Gwen Sly
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
Britain AD 43: the Romans are fighting their way inland, trying to conquer the barbarous natives Centurion Macro and his Optio, Cato, are in the thick of the fighting , as well as being involved in treachery and intrigue surrounding the visit of the Emperor Claudius Young Cato is still very much the newcomer, but is learning his job rapidly, and becoming a brave and reliable officer. Macro , who by the end of the book acquires a rather notorious fem.ale acquaintance , is the cynical, seasoned old hand. The two men work well together, and on occasion make a fine comedy duo. Battle scenes are handled vividly, and the pace rarely lets up.
This is the second in the series (see review of Under the Eagle in Issue 13), and fulfils much of the promise shown in Scarrow's first. He's more assured now , and this book quickly becomes a page-turner. There are a few debatable historical points for pedants to jump on (which should keep them happy!) , and a couple of copy-editing errors , but nothing to spoil the story Very few wrong notes are struck; the book is a cracking good read
S. Garside-Neville
LASTRITES
David Wishart , Hodder & Stoughton 2001, £17.99, hb , 307pp , ISBN 340-76885-1
The Emperor Tiberius's pathological hatred of Rome keeps him on Capri while his favourites rule Rome To escape the bad atmosphere, Marcus Corvinus has been living in Greece but shortly after arriving home , he is summoned to the Chief of the Vestals, who are in charge of Rome's honour and wellbeing. Strictly virgins but not cloistered, they are Rome's most sacred objects
The Virgin Maxima is a loud-voiced, hard-drinking dragon whose power is almost equal to the emperor's One of her Vestals has been found dead and Maxima is anxious that it should prove to be murder, for suicide would leave scandal and an unquiet spirit. Corvinus must question the rich and powerful of Rome about things they would rather keep hidden and the closer he gets to the truth, the nastier the mess.
The story moves swiftly and humorously and the modernity of the language makes the novel accessible
Mai read McKerracher
I MEDIEVAL(GENERAL)
I
THEEVENINGOFTHEWORLD,A RomanceoftheDarkAges
Alan Massie, Widenfeld & Nicolson, 2001 , £12.99, hb, 286pp, ISBN 0297 816 97 7
After a sly introduction in which the narrator purportedly gets a transcript of an ancient manuscript from the hand of a descendant of the character who was Greenmantle in John Buchan' s novel , this unusual and distinctive work next presents a translation of that document , said to be from the medieval Latin of the magician and astrologer Michael Scott, with intercalations by later hands, seemingly a Templar and a Rosicrucian Scott recounts , for the edification of a princely pupil, the fortunes of Marcus, a Roman patrician youth, thought by some to be the son of an archangel and a mortal woman, who is accompanied by a few devoted comrades: they are subjected to kidnappings, piracy , imprisonment, assaults on their virtue (which they carmot always resist) , sorcery, war and fever. This episodic rendition of a sequence of marvellous encounters suggests , as it no doubt meant to , such classical romances as The Golden Ass of Apuleius ; Ovid ' s Metamorphoses ; and the Satyricon of Petronius Like those, there is a healthy and invigorating mingling of carnality and mysticism. But there is also a weakness here, in a certain remorseless over-determinism and single-threadedness about the plot: the author rather rushes Marcus through and past too many of the characters, scenes and beliefs of the period, as if in haste to encompass it all.
Nevertheless , the novel is highly impressive for its erudition, swiftly-drawn sensuality, pithy prose and lightly-worn worldliness and arcane wisdom Massie conjures up for us well a time when paganism and Christianity were still mingled, when old altars and gods were not quite yet deserted, when the new faith was taking on some of the legends and lore of the old. And he shows us a Europe where the line between the ' barbarian ' and the ' civilised ' is also not quite as demarcated as history suggests There is very little in historical fiction that is quite of the same order : an exception might be Baron Corvo ' s coruscating Renaissance romance Don Tarquinio. We are promised two more volumes from Alan Massie in this sequence, though each is complete in itself: the next takes us to the age of Arthur, and should be very interesting indeed . Mark Valentine
Noah Gordon, Warner Books, £6 99, pb, 506pp , ISBN 0-7515-3062-X
It is 1492 and Ferdinand and Isabella have ordered the expulsion of Jews from all parts of Spain . Many are killed before they can escape. In the panic and confusion a silver ciborium, containing a sacred relic , is stolen.
Thirteen year old Yonah Toledano's silversmith father is murdered by a mob directed by Fray Bonestruca, a member of the Inquisition, and his remaining relatives flee abroad Yonah decides to remain in Spain to recover the reliquary and avenge his father's death For many years Yonah hides his true religious identity and travels randomly through the country to avoid the long arms of the Inquisition He finds work variously as a prison cleaner, a farm labourer, a shepherd and an armourer's apprentice - until he finds his true vocation as a physician. But even then with his hard won respectability he cannot forget the past and only when he uncovers the truth behind his father's death will he be able to find peace.
Fear of discovery and the stench of the auto da fe pervade almost every page of The Last Jew making for an exciting and involving read Thankfully Noah Gordon never resorts to gore or gruesome detail for cheap thrills ; instead he uses a few light brushstrokes to create unforgettable images in the reader's mind.
Throughout the course of the novel there is a fair amount of information about the Jewish expulsion from Spain, and to a lesser extent, the activities of the Inquisition, but it is told through the experiences of the characters and so avoids the taint of the lecture theatre.
From the first chapter this book was a pleasure to read The plot is strong and sustaining, the characters memorable, the atmosphere frighteningly tense and the conclusion wholly satisfying. It is the type of book that the reader closes at its finish with regret.
Sara Wilson
THEOTHERBOLEYNGIRL
Philippa Gregory , Harper Collins, 2001 , £16 99, hb , 532 pp , ISBN 0-00-225984-2 Philippa Gregory needs no introduction to aociety members , having established herself as one of the finest historical novelists of our time . However, with the publication of this novel , I am convinced she will be seen in hindsight as the author who helped restore the high esteem the geme enjoyed in the days of Jean Plaidy
For here we have a ' Plaidyesque ' novel for the twenty first century Ms Gregory takes well-known historical figures, dusts them off and polishes them up to say something intriguing and new She also enjoys more freedom than her illustrious predecessor to explore the underlying sexuality of her characters, especially that of King Henry
We all know Anne Boleyn, whose life was cut short by a French swordsman What most people don ' t know, and I certainly didn ' t, was that Anne had a younger sister, Mary. who was the King ' s mistress before her and who bore him two children
There is little on historical record about Mary so that Philippa is free to create a likeable and believable girl , through whom the machinations of the unscrupulous Boleyns plus the treacherous atmosphere of Henry ' s Court can be vividly drawn It is no place for someone as straightfoward as Mary , but she is forced to play her part then, when the King tires of her, pass on her knowledge to her sister, who fails to learns the lesson well enough not to perish in the attempt.
It is remarkable that Philippa Gregory can tell this familiar story in such a fresh and compelling way For it is all here. The abandonment of Queen Catherine, the execution of Thomasd More, the fall of Wolsey, the rise of Cranmer and Henry ' s battle with the Pope And yet, I turned the pages avidly , wondering how it would all end. Such is the power of this author ' s narratiove skills. In Mary and Anne, she has created two complex characters, naive and fun-loving , affectionate and yet , especially in Anne ' s case, overly ambitious
This is a large book but a fast-paced , easy read That is not to say it is simplistic Far from it. This is historical fiction of the highest order.
Sally Zigmond
DAUGHTEROFSATAN
Jean Plaidy , Robert Hale, 2001 , £17 .99, hb, 256pp, ISBN 0- 7090-6980
Many of Jean Plaidy's readers claim to have learned more history from her books than ever they did al school. This isn't surprising Her output was prodigious and her research meticulous , though it's introduced into each story so skilfully that we get a real feeling for the period without being presented with masses of indigestible facts . Daughter of Satan is an excellent example of her work. In this story of fanaticism and persecution we're reminded forcibly that human nature hasn't changed much since the 17th century It's set first in Devon and then in New England, where the little band of exiles finds that ignorance and superstition have accompanied them to their new home . The atmosphere is chillingly created, though I had reservations about the heroine's judgment in dealing with her two suitors That, however , is an integral part of the story, so it can be forgiven in the context of such an absorbing read . Margaret Crosland
181H CENTURY
THEQUEEN'STIARA
C.J L. Almqvist, tr PB Austin, Arcadia , 2001 , £11.99, pb, 304pp, ISBN 1-900850-42-7
This is billed as a Swedish classic, written in the 1830s by that country's 'greatest literary genius' Its early 19th-century style makes it rather slow and wordy for a modern reader and it tends to jump around a lot.
The novel is based around the real-life assassination of King Carl Gustav III at an opera house in 1792 Much of it is written in the form of a play, and rest in the form of letters , which include a lot of vernacular The main protagonist is the androgynous Tintomara, lusted after by both men and women In every sense he's a twist on the theme of the innocent who is too good to live in this evil world Almqvist uses this as a device to show up the hypocrisy and pretension of, well, just about everyone and everything
So, this is an exercise in nay-sayingalbeit a clever one. If you enjoy reading, say, Dickens, and want to try something a little different , this might be for you. And let's be realistic , any kind of historical novel set in Scandinavia outside of the Viking age is definitely different.
TIIE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
Martin Bourne ISSUE 18 DEC
ACCORDINGTOQUEENEY
Beryl Bainbridge, Little Brown £16 .99 , hb , 242pp , ISBN 0-316-85867-6
I feel somewhat ashamed of myself for being unable to like this book. It has been hailed as a 'slim, packed masterpiece' (Sunday Times) , 'a small , wise book of prose miracles' (Daily Telegraph) ; even the novel that 'sets a standard by which all other historical novels must be judged' (TLS).
1 must have missed something in my reading! For me the novel lacked narrative drive It seemed composed of a series of scenes, set out one after the other, but v.-ith no sense of motion I never had a clear sense of where it was going What was the story? Was it about Johnson's love for Mrs Thrale? Mrs Thrale's love for music teacher , Piozzi? Queeney's relationship with her mother? All of these ? These topics were all laid out before me , but none of them seemed to vivify the narrative
In the same way that the narrative seemed episodic, the characters seemed to be composed of a number of characteristics or behaviours (often odd, grotesque or disgusting) that lacked any cohesion. It was particularly strange to me that I was not convinced by the portrayal of Dr Johnson , since I knew that many of the incidents in which he is involved actually took place, according to the sources that is The author's retelling of these tales did not illuminate them for me Why was Dr Johnson , with his appalling personal habits and bad manners , so respected? Why was there so much opposition to Mrs Thrale's passion for Piozzi? Why did Queeney think her mother cold-hearted? Why did Frances Burney quarrel with Mrs Thrale about her second marriage? I look to a novel (or indeed a biography) for an exploration of feelings and motives People's actions were here , but their hearts were absent.
Perhaps that is what lies at the crux of my disengagement. The book is well-researched, packed full of the kind of detail that a writer uses to create a sense of presence and immediacy for the reader - that evocation of 'sights, sounds and smells' so beloved of literary commentators . There are oddities in plenty, anecdotes in spades , unflinching descriptions of bodily functions But I found the book cold and unconvincing It's purely a personal response , and one that will evidently not be shared by many other readers
Lucienne Boyce
ANOUTRAGEOUSMASQUERADE
Gillian Kaye , Robert Hale , 2001 , £16 99 , hb , 205 pp , ISBN 0-7090-6847-6 Paris 1794 : Maxine de Rocheforte , seven , escapes disguised as a boy when her mother, father and brother are taken to the guillotine.
TI-IE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
She's rescued by her English cousin George who keeps her in boy's clothing as he's too mean to provide her with a chaperon . It gradually becomes clear to Maxine that unpleasant George wishes to marry her for her money, and to put off what she sees as an evil day , she becomes his steward She turns highwayman when George refuses to pay for his tenants' new thatch She has two successful forays but on her third she is caught by Sir Rupert Wooton Complications arise when her brother who , unknown to her, also escaped the guillotine , arrives in England
This is not the polished Georgette Heyer Regency - some situations are ridiculously unlikely and others too predictable - however it's a pleasant, gentle read .
Pamela Cleaver
ONLYYOUNG
Beryl Kingston , Pan Books , 2001, £5.99, pb , 524pp , ISBN 0-330-48913-5
Suki Brown is unmarried with a baby to care for Her lover , Captain Jack, has vanished and so Suki takes a job as wet nurse to William, son of Sir George Bradbury William dies and in a fit of panic Suki substitutes her own son for the dead baby. She spends the next year trying to find her lost love , keep her secret and help Sir George ' s daughter, Ariadne , avoid a loveless marriage .
Captain Jack , himself closely linked to the Bradbury family , has been forced to take a job as slave master on board a ship bound ultimately for the West Indies Initially he has no compassion for the slaves he has bought but as conditions worsen and illness breaks out he has to acknowledge their humanity He takes a stand against the the vicious treatment meted out by his fellow crewmen and finds himself accused of insanity
This is a lively and entertaining saga The dialogue 1s particularly effective The mid-eighteenth century was an era noted for its overstated clothes , hair and manners in Only Young all three are described and used with tremendous flair
The novel can be separated into two distinct parts Jack's story , which is the more gritty and dramatic and Suki ' s , which provides welcome light relief and comic interludes
Although it is a shame that the two plot lines are not blended more smoothly and the two main protagonists are kept apart until the concluding chapters .
Sara Wils on
DEATHINTHEWESTWIND
Deryn Lake , Allison & Busby £17.00, hb , 273pp, ISBN 0-74900-501-7
Apothecary John Rawlings is on honeymoon in Devon in 1759 when he sees a schooner being towed to land It is deserted , apart from
the badly beaten body of a young girl spread over the figurehead Her brother also goes missing The Apothecary investigates with the help of John Fielding's men, and soon they have other complications such as a ghostly coach drawn by a headless coachman, the Society of Angels which terrorises the citizens of Exeter and a sumptuous apartment in a deserted , partly ruined mansion .
This is a good read, with some fascinating historical detail, especially of herbal remedies
A varied, believable cast inhabit the pages , though I did feel that the bride was excessively uncomplaining. The tangled strands of the plot are convincingly unravelled
My one grumble is with the lack of copy-editing, a fault many publishers display these days There were words and letters omitted or wrongly inserted, a few hanging participles , and a dualogue where the alternating speeches skipped a character. It also seemed a shame that the author's acknowledgements came after five blank pages at the end of the book and could be easily missed .
Marina Oliver
CARNIVALE
MR Lovric , Virago , £12 .99 , hb , 634pp
ISBN 1-86049-865-5
Carnivale is a 'biography' of Cecilia Cornaro, a Venetian portrait painter whose claim to lasting fame is that she was the lover of both Casanova and Lord Byron The two affairs occurred in the spring and high summer of her life . When Casanova lures her from home and seduces her , she is thirteen When Byron storms into her life she is thirty-eight. Both men have a profound and lasting effect. The cover describes this weighty and attractively presented book as a 'sensuous novel of love and desire'. Sensuous is perhaps a more apt word than erotic and the writer has a gift for the poetic that captures the heightened state of Cecelia's emotions in both her encounters
The thought of a love affair between a fifty-eight year old womaniser and a thirteen year old girl might not sound attractive , but the author creates a highly charged and believable account of this erotic but deeply affectionate relationship I did however wonder what Cecelia's parents were up to when their daughter managed to stay out all night every night.
The affair with Lord Byron is altogether darker Geographically it takes place in Albania and, unlike the Venetian setting where the author is clearly very much at home , I had no sense of 18th century Albania The disturbed, sadistic Byron however is powerfully portrayed His effect upon Cecelia is damaging and after a brief encounter she convinces herself against all the evidence that
ISSUE 18 D EC 2001
their affair has an equal significance for both of them. She spends the rest of her life gleaning information wherever she can about his adventures .
It took me a long time to realise that this is in effect a clever, although perhaps rather contrived way of writing the biographies of the two male counterparts. Being 'faction' , it relies on well known facts about their lives as relayed to Cecelia during the times she is separated from them This does not detract however from its sense of authenticity or its entertainment value All in all it is a very readable , enjoyable book, although perhaps over long Surprisingly the account of the love affair with Lord Byron was for me the least gripping part of an otherwise accomplished romance
Janet Mary Tomson
THESTRANGE MADEMOISELLEP.
THEFOX & THEFORTUNE
Dan Parkinson, Severn House , 2001 , £17 99 , hb , ISBN 0- 7278-5628-6
Another lively , exciting sea adventure for Captain Patrick Dalton, the ' Irish Fox ', from the pen of Dan Parkinson.
Having in the previous volume recovered his honour and escaped with Fury, the ship he considers his own by capture but which had been placed in Crown custody , he is a fugitive once again.
But he cannot escape refugees, pirates or stormy seas and discovers a fortune aboard a drifting ship which he claims as salvage
This series is billed as the Fox quartet but although this is the fourth in the series it cannot be the last - Patrick Dalton still has enemies to fight and has not yet brought his pursuit of his feisty love Constance to a conclusion.
CASEOF
Brian O'Doherty, Arcadia , 2001 , £6 99, pb , 228 pp , ISBN 1-900850-67-2
According to the cover blurb , this 'is a book of music , psychology and history , a fictional account of Dr. Mesmer, celebrated for his discovery of animal magnetism, which proved effective in the cure of many illnesses .'
The story is told from three points of view - Mesmer, Mlle P. and her father, Josef von Paradies, an ambitious and manipulative imperial secretary at the court of Marie Theresa of Austria. Mlle P. has been blind since the age of three and no doctor has been able to cure her In desperation she is sent to Dr Mesmer, who succeeds in partially restoring her sight - by his method of stroking the 'magnetic fluids' in her body back into harmony - before the jealousy of other doctors , the suspicion and ill-will of her parents and the conclusions of a Commission force him to allow her to leave his clinic.
The three sides of her story are told mostly through the thoughts and emotions of each one and finally by the memories of Dr. Mesmer Here we meet with psychology, philosophy and eroticism. One conclusion the doctor comes to which I feel is relevant today concerns Commissions 'Each mind has its shadows , but we believe that together men who seek truth illuminate each other's darkness . But I believe - and I have reason to - that groups of men can support each other's delusions while confident that they are in the realm of truth and justice.'
While I found the book interesting and informative at first , at no time did it really grip my imagination and I could find no hint of the 'thriller-like narrative' of the blurb.
Monica Maple
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
An excellent, page-turning adventure told with a spice of humour which will be enjoyed by those who like this kind of book and do not object to American spelling
Monica Maple
THEMUSICOFTHESPHERES
Elizabeth Redfern , Century, £9 99 , pb , 422pp ISBN 0-7126-7491-8 (Also available in hardback at £15 .99, ISBN 0712684301 London : 1795 Britain and Franee are at war and Britain is secretly sending money to support a Royalist uprising in Brittany. London is full of emigres , some of whom may be spies, sending back coded information about British military plans. In Kensington a group of dissolute emigres are passionately involved with the astronomical challenge of the age - to find the 'lost' planet Selene, supposedly between Mars and Jupiter. They correspond with the astronomer Titius in Paris , a correspondence which may not be all it seems. And are they linked with the vicious murders of red-haired prostitutes by a man who gives them French gold and whispers the name of 'Selene'? Jonathan Absey , a Home Office clerk, whose job is to expose spy rings, tries to uncover the truth , not only for British security but because the fast victim was his daughter.
This is a novel of the very highest quality. The narrative is complex and intriguing , the scholarship impeccable and the pace never falters. Elizabeth Redfern manages an enormously difficult feat: to deal with several intertwining strands of great historical complexity without becoming pedantic ; to set them in a very recognisable late 18th century London ; and to give her characters thoughts and feelings that are entirely of the period.
Criticisms? In a book of this length , with so many fascinating but repellent characters, we need more emotional involvement with the
sympathetic Jonathan and his estranged brother -a hint that something at least has been gained by the end There are also important threads left unexplained, which left this reader feeling slightly conned That said, I recommend it most highly
Elizabeth Hawksle y
19TH CENlURY
CAT'SCRADLE
Maurice Baring, House of Stratus , 2001 , £8 99 , pb , 680pp, ISBN 0-7551-0090-5
This is a reissue of a sophisticated and intricate novel , based on true events , first published almost a century ago Set between 1880 and 1914 it's peppered with princes , politicians, priests and peers And beautiful women all of a flutter In a fascinating portrait of society, with subtle twists and turns the late Victorian nobility make hay and make love Blanche is engaged to Sydney, a soldier of lower rank Papa pulls strings and Sydney goes to India with a social and financial leg up But Blanche meets and marries an Italian Prince and settles in Rome After her daughter (pointless for the story?) dies , she dallies with others before Sydney returns with a fabulous inheritance Serve her right I say. After the malingering prince's demise, Blanche takes in her pretty young cousin, but is jealous of her looks Misunderstanding his motives , she accepts a proposal from wealthy Bernard From then on the book seems to be about women worried by their looks , jealous of younger women or who feel ill , are ill or just bored with months of huntin' and shootin' (60 brace a day) before party games in the country In Town, dinners are at nine and fancy dress balls start at midnight in Kensington palazzi Aristocrats come on the scene briefly to play their part , say a few lines and retreat into obscurity. Women are gracious , noble , pretty and unselfish, or proud, aloof and catty, remarking on dress , and 'smiling the superior smile of those who have never been to school.'
In these days of physical lovemaking in books , it is refreshing to read of deeply intense spiritual love , which hesitates even to speak its name, as lovers sit in the dark holding hands But profound, lengthy and heart-searching introspections, often pages long , make Cat 's Cradle at times tedious Its sense of period is immaculate Contemporary references abound - to Newman during Blanche's conversion to Rome , Jean de Reske , the opera singer, Alma Tadema , the painter, Bismarck, Gladstone, Morris wallpaper, The Geisha (1896) at Daly's, the Boer War, forgotten parlour games, Earl's Court funfair, Victoria's diamond jubilee, Edward's
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
coronation (but no mention of Victoria's funeral) , the coming war between Russia and Japan (1905) and Chaliapin in Boris Godounov (1913) at Drury Lane Despite complex and frequently changing viewpoints , there are brilliant touches of characterisation Landscape and location descriptions are outstanding Above all , this is a book about manners , confusion and love . Blanche's long drawn out illness ends the book abruptly With a touch of magic she fades away at the inconclusive finish as Archduke Franz Ferdinand is murdered What does it all mean , I ask myself?
Geoffrey Harfield
BORNEONTHETIDE
Julia Bryant , Hodder & Stoughton, 2001 , £17 .99, hb , 437pp , ISBN 0-340-75109-6 Set in Victorian Portsmouth, this is a real 'curl up on the sofa on a wet afternoon' book. The st01y of Beatrice, a foundling discovered by a doctor, is well told , the characters, including the doctor's pampered wife and his son , are rounded and convincing, and the plot sufficiently unexpected to keep the reader turning the page. These people have feet of clay and the smells and bodily functions are not ignored in a successful attempt to make the story true to life . The little I know of Portsmouth is convincingly portrayed Julia Bryant's writing is fresh and thoughtful and she has a feeling for her subject. The book is well-produced except for occasional lapses in editing where details were overlooked - such as the sex of the horse Dapple, which changed from male to female on consecutive pages , and the opening assumption that the corpse found with the baby was male.
Janet Mary Tomson
GALLOWSTHIEF
Bernard Cornwell , Harper Collins 2001 , £16.99, hb , 384pp, ISBN 0-00-712715-4 In his previous novels Bernard Cornwell has shown us his ability to vividly recreate the conditions of life in various times and the horror of battle - in his Sharpe and Starbuck series and his Arthurian Warlord chronicles etc In Gallows Thief he brings his talents to bear on the almost unbelievable conditions of life in N ewgate gaol in 181 7 and the horrific events surrounding the public execution of condemned prisoners - including the perverted enjoyment of most of the spectators who came to watch the death throes of those hanged in the shallow pit into which they were dropped Rider Sandman, tall , strong , an ex-officer with a natural air of authority and a temper he finds difficult to control , has fallen on hard times after fighting at Waterloo His father , disgraced and hugely in debt , has committed
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
suicide and Sandman sells his commission to purchase a house in which his mother and sister can live He had been engaged to Eleanor , the daughter of a rich man, but her mother has insisted that the engagement be called off So he is poor and hopelessly in love when he is offered £40 to investigate the case of a young man condemned to hang in a week ' s time for a murder he claims he did not do No one in authority wishes the trial verdict to be overthrown, but the Queen has shown an interest.
So Sandman undertakes the task thinking it easy money but soon finds that things are not so straightforward as he had been led to believe And his own life is threatened Which makes him cross
This is an unusual crime mystery , as one might expect from this author. The characters are interesting and well-drawn, there are many touches of humour and the promise of a happy ending. I think this is a one-off, not intended as a series , which is , perhaps , a pity Another well-researched , entertaining if sometimes gruesome tale from the gifted pen of Bernard Cornwell.
Monica Maple
GOODNIGHTSWEETPRINCE
David Dickinson , Constable 2002, £16.99 , hb 314pp, ISBN 0-841 I 9-422-0
A murder mystery/thriller set in England in 1892 introducing the intrepid Lord Francis Powerscourt , a supremely attractive and eligible widower The tale hinges on the death of the then Prince of Wales ' eldest son, Albert, known as Prince Eddy In January 1892 Eddy died from influenza but the author reveals that he was brutally murdered in his bed at Sandringham When Powerscourt investigates the murder he uncovers a tale of royal dissipation and immorality
Written in the style of an Edgar Wallace or William Le Queux thriller the tale races along moving from England into Italy. There are passages of uneven writing and in places the dialogue is not credible Certainly, the reader is asked to undertake a major suspension of disbelief. The plot is rooted firmly in the royal and aristocratic millieu of late Victorian Britain An engaging if u,ndemanding read . Doug Kemp
FRIENDSINDEED
Rose Doyle, Hodder & Stoughton, 200 I, £17.99 , hb , 472pp , ISBN 0-340-77132-l
Allie Buckley and Sarah Rooney represent the two faces of 19th-century Dublin Allie , child of the emerging avaricious middle classes, longs to escape the narrow confines of her life Sarah Rooney lives in poverty and finds a brief escape in the arms of her soldier lover. Against her family's opposition Allie remains
great friends with Sarah and when she falls pregnant , Allie joins her in her quest to track down the baby's father
The women travel to Kildare and make a temporary home with the Wrens of the Curragh - fallen women who live in shelters near the army camp These women endure crude conditions and the vilification of the locals , but nonetheless Allie and Sarah find friendship and solidarity amongst them. After tragedy strikes , Sarah and Allie leave for America Only one of them will reach their destination
On first impressions this could be the plot of a typical saga - nothing wrong in that - but it actually reads as a more mainstream historical novel. The difference probably sterns from Rose Doyle's approach ; she sets out to record the largely forgotten history of the Wrens and uses the fictional story of Sarah and Allie as a convenient framework to support the factual detail.
That's not to say that the fictional characters are two-dimensional , or unimportant - they are not. In fact it is difficult to tell just which characters are based on real stories and which are imaginative
Perhaps that's what makes it so fascinating
There's plenty of tragedy , as well as poverty , despair and some unexpected twists , but Rose Doyle's message is ultimately one of hope
Friends Indeed is well written and sensitively handled It's unfortunate that there's no bibliography, because this novel is sure to inspire the reader to find out more about the Wrens
Sara Wilson
LETTERSFROMANAGEOFREASON
Nora Hague , Simon & Schuster, £17 99 , hb , 648pp , ISBN 0-7432-0914-1
This is a big book in every sense of the word. You will need to do weight training if you intend to read it in the bath, and at 648 pages , be prepared for the long haul I promise you that you won't regret it. For once the publisher's blurb is actually true. 'An epic adventure , rich in vivacity and historical detail , with a moving love story at its heart , Letters From An Age Of Reason is an extraordinary, powerful, passionate and eloquent novel'
The story is told though the journals and letters of the protagonists. In 1860, 16 year old Arabella Leeds , daughter of a prominent New York family , moves to Victorian London where her rebellion against the moral hypocrisy of society plunges her into trouble Aubrey (Bree) Paxton, one eighth Negro , is a house servant of wealthy New Orleans slaveholders whose life is thrown into chaos by the American Civil War Arabella and Bree are destined to meet (perhaps coincidence
ISSUE 18 D EC 2001
plays slightly too great a part here) and fall in love. There are high prices to be paid for not conforming and the relationship is complicated by painful family secrets While thoroughly enjoying the adventure , the powerful storytelling, the romance , I felt tremendous sadness and indignation at the social injustices rife in a supposed 'age of reason'.
If I have a nit-pick it is that occasionally, despite the author's obvious research into the period, I had to press my suspend disbelief button rather harder than necessary - for example when Bree writes to his grandmother concerning his experiences in a brothelwould YOU regale YOUR granny with such details? Also , Arabella's voice is rather too old in my opinion to be that of a 16 year old girl. Nevertheless , a stunning debut. Go out and buy the book!
Susan Hicks
ABBYO'LEARY
Charlotte Hardy , Piatkus , £5 99 , pb , 538pp , ISBN 0-7449-3268-6
Ireland in the 1870s was the scene of conflicts between poor tenant farmers , struggling to pay high rents and their wealthy landlords The O'Leary's are about to lose their home and in desperation Abby appeals directly to the landlord's son, Randolph Pelham He uses promises of help to seduce her and then does nothing to prevent the eviction The family is destitute and Abby finally leaves for England in the hope of a better life She finds security as the beloved mistress of Nick Darke, a very wealthy man , and bears him a son Eventually family duty takes her lover and child abroad and Abby, although now rich beyond her needs , seeks consolation and money from other men Then circumstances conspire to bring Pelham back into her life and Abby decides that revenge is within her power Yet all the time she knows she will never love anyone but Nick.
Abby O'Leary is a lightweight, yet readable tale . There is plenty of action, lots of highs and lows and the satisfaction of a real rotter getting his comeuppance. If Abby's rapid transformation from Irish farm girl to refined society lady does strain belief, then at least the book's fast pace does much to disguise this weakness
The novel is billed as a historical romance , but in reality is more strongly resembles a saga - the romantic relationship between Abby and Nick takes a back seat for long stretches while the story line concentrates on other aspects of Abby's life Not that this is a criticism, since the plot actually hangs together very well when there is no love interest.
Sara Wilson
TIIB HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
FROSTFAIR
Elizabeth Hawksley, Robert Hale, 2001 , £17 .99 , hb , 22lpp, ISBN 0-7090-6854-9 Frost Fair has a delightful opening It is written by a supposed author of Gothic romances and purports to be the story of the author's own Gothic romance The style has a delightful jauntiness, and though we are encouraged to take the story at face value, there is always a suggestion of irony that deepens the pleasure of the read
The heroine elopes at 17 , but only comes into her inheritance at 25 Hardship and a growing self-knowledge mark the years between Unhappily , they also enable her caddish husband to nurture a fearsome debt. Add a truly sinister creditor as baddy and a touching love interest, and the story sharpens to a breathless conclusion on the Thames frost fair of 1814.
I read the first chapter when judging the Elizabeth Goudge award last year for the RNA. I enjoyed it so much that, as well as short-listing it , I actually asked to read the rest of the manuscript for my own pleasure It's lovely to see it published.
Elizabeth Hawksley writes with genuine charm and warmth She conveys early 19th-century London with zest and her heroine is likeable and fully realised. If I have a complaint, it's that the story machinery begins to clank after a while , rather in the way of old-style Gothic romances , and some of the characters brought in for the plot's sake were too crudely drawn. But this , I feel , is a fault of editing, or of the re-write ; perhaps of a too-swiftly completed manuscript. Elizabeth Hawksley is an author who could and should write a tremendous book soon
Richard Lee
BONAPARTE'SAVENGERS
Richard Howard, Little Brown, £15 .99, hb , 297pp, ISBN 0-316-8505 l-9
Fifth in a series featuring Alain Lausard, an aristocrat concealing his identity in the ranks of Napoleon's army, this instalment takes us up to the French Emperor's crushing victory over the Prussians at Jena in 1806 The narrative alternates between the uncertain, sordid and perilous existence led by Lausard and his comrades in the rank and file , and the grand sweep of history depicted from inside Napoleon's campaign headquarters
This is a straight-forward military thriller written in brisk language, with some of the standard features of its type - an over-ambitious officer who is more concerned with glory than his men's safety, a commander of magnificent stature who yet sees, notes and rewards valour by the individual soldier and a brief and uncomplicated romantic interlude. The narrative builds strongly towards the
climax of the battle, and the conflict itself is well handled , both from the eagle's eye view of the French general's command post and in the hand to hand tumult of the men on the ground. The book does not pretend to have the more reflective characterisation and brilliant colour of say, Patrick O'Brien's books Indeed it could frankly be about any military campaign in any age, with the necessary incidental details changed . But it is a competent and crisply told story and will be enjoyed by anyone who wants to follow the Napoleonic progress from within the very thick of the action
Mark Valentine
LANCASHIRELEGACY
Anna Jacobs , Hodder & Stoughton, 2001 , £17 99, hb , 437pp , ISBN 0-3407-4828-1
Australia 1876 : 18-year-old Cathie wants to escape the dull bush and see England , where her family came from. But she's unaware of her mother's legacy that will let her scheming uncle send her home only to get back at Cathie's mother. In Liverpool she finds that not all her mother's enemies live in Australia I don't enjoy sagas but Anna Jacobs is exceptional. Where the average saga is depressing , this is exciting - more akin to E.V .Thompson or Victoria Holt. Anna knows Lancashire and the Australian outback very well: it shows in vivid descriptions , use of language and everyday lives of the characters I was swept along by the sheer torrent of adventures, scheming relations and the sins of the fathers crashing down on the head of the innocent but lively Cathie and her hapless but much-married mother. Be sure to read Lancashire Lass (reviewed in Issue 14) first , as this is very much a sequel.
Rachel A Hyde
RELENTLESSPURSUIT
Alexander Kent , Heinemann £16.99 , hb , 323pp, ISBN 0-434-00884-2
This is the 25th adventure featuring the Bolitho family of Napoleonic times. We are in late 1815 and there is an uneasy truce between the continental powers : many ships are laid up and their officers without a mission. Adam Bolitho is fortunate to get orders which will mean action for his frigate 'Unrivalled' . First in anti-slavery patrols off Sierra Leone the , and more dauntingly , against the citadel of the despotic Bey of Algiers , who is holding European hostages . But Bolitho also has more personal concerns to brood over In particular, vengeance for the death of his uncle , Richard, and the affairs of his Cornish country estate . Kent's portrayal of Adam Bolitho is compelling; we are given plenty of insight into his inner life as well as his outward actions ; and we have the impression of a fully real
character. The narrative moves at a fair , though not improbable , pace, steered along by Kent's rather laconic prose style : short sentences and short paragraphs , often themselves only once sentence , are his preferred method Sometimes this can seem a bit too staccato and one could wish for passages of greater descriptiveness and reflection, but there is no denying the sense of urgency and direction this technique provides.
One bit of carping , such an old hand as Kent ought to know the difference between 'disinterested' and 'uninterested' . Their meanings might be merging in common usage today , but that was no so in Bolitho's day. That aside , enthusiasts of naval fiction will find this a satisfyingly full and assured addition to what must now be the longest running Napoleonic series
Mark Valentine
PRODIGIES
Francis King , Arcadia , 2001 , £11.99, pb , 357pp , ISBN 1-900850-44-3 Alexine Tinne is the girl 'who always gets what she wants' She lives in The Hague with her mother Harriet and Harriet's unmarried sister Addy , who once had an affair with Tsar Alexander II Alexine's father is a tycoon whose business interests extend from the West to the East Indies When he is murdered, Alexine inherits a fortune
As a child , she was curious about the exotic places her father visited When , as a headstrong young girl , she meets an explorer and listens to his stories of Africa , she resolves to go there herself. She takes with her Harriet , Addy , their butler, her nurse and five dogs In Cairo, Alexine learns Arabic and exchanges the whalebone petticoats of the 1860s for flowing djellabas Harriet , a gifted pianist, buys a grand piano. This they transport down the Nile by steamer, together with the Chippendale chairs and chaise-longue they brought from The Hague Then they trek to Khartoum in a caravan with 102 camels and from there they go to find the source of the Congo . This is a fascinating story with fascinating characters who owe their existence to Francis King's inventive mind and skills as a novelist. Jeanne Fielder
MURDERBYAPPOINTMENT
Alanna Knight , Black & White , 2000 , £5.99 , pb , 202pp, ISBN I 90326507X
A welcome reissue of a novel featuring Edinburgh detective Inspector Faro Returning home , he is knocked unconscious before he can save a woman from murder , and the next day a man's body is found Somebody is out to murder the brilliant pianist Lachlan Brown, who may or may not be the son of John Brown
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
- but why is Faro so dead set against his daughter's attraction to him? Embroiled in an investigation involving the Queen, John Brown and the Fenians, it seems Faro's past life is catching up with him in more ways than one
Fast-paced and exciting, this is Victorian crime at its predictable but highly entertaining best , with clattering hansom cabs , plots against the Queen, glimpses of high and low life and the added twist of an Edinburgh setting by a writer who knows the place well If you like Anne Perry and enjoyed BBC l's recent Conan Doyle senes , this is up your gaslit street!
Reportedly based on the life of Catherine Cookson's grandmother , this is a gritty tale of life in the slums of late I 9th-century Jarrow Rose witnesses a society wedding as a young girl, and dreams of a better life take root in her mind For a while , as she grows into an attractive young woman , it seems that she has escaped from her old life into a world that is at least respectable However , fate throws her back to the grinding poverty of her childhood and worse
This harsh, harrowing tale portrays vividly the evil poverty inflicts on its Yictims with a chilling reality This book is to be admired for its honesty and the skill of its author, but the unrelenting misery makes uneasy reading for a cold winter afternoon
Linda Sole
THEDEEDSOFTHEDISTURBER
Elizabeth Peters, Robinson 2001 £6.99. pb 512pp. ISBN 1-84119-313-5
Another tale of murder and mystery involving the irrepressible Emerson family , Radcliffe, Amelia and their son , Ramses. Their fascination for all things to do with Ancient Egypt leads them into some strange adventures Amelia narrates the story She is a redoubtable Victorian lady , of the type which struck fear into every comer of the old Empire A night watchman is found dead in the Mummy Room of the British Museum A look of horror is frozen on his face When the gutter press lead with the headline ' Can Fear Kill?' Amelia sets out to fmd the answer with her menfolk in hot pursuit. The mystery is compounded when a visit to an opium den involves a couple of dissolute aristocrats and a lady with a shady past who is somehow connected to the Emerson ·s past. The Emerson trio stir the pot and eventually solve the very deep mystery .
The tale, told with tongue firmly in cheek, is wonderfully amusing It is well written and faithful to the period Amelia, a Margaret Thatcher of the 19th century, is a wonderful character, totally sure of herself and completely unaware that she is supposed to be yielding and submissive I heartily recommend this book; pure escapism for a winter ' s night. Mary Tucker
SLIGHTLYSHADY
Amanda Quick, Robert Hale, 200 l , £1 7 99 , hb , 287pp , ISBN 0- 7090-6954-5
Lavinia Lake and her niece Emeline's antiquities shop in Rome is smashed up by private investigator Tobias March He claims it's for their own good, to make a desperate gang of international villains think they've been robbed and kidnapped Back in London the provoking Tobias dogs Lavinia as she herself becomes a private investigator to help finance Emeline's Season. Soon all are involved in a more than 'slightly shady' , most dangerous game
Fortunately, Quick has dropped the fictitious ancient civilisation angle. Although the authentic Regency atmosphere is still there, so is the old formula with people solving crimes and shouting 'bloody hell' like a mantra. A more plot-filled story , lots of humour, some more fleshed-out fantasy (which at least had the merit of being a startlingly original addition to a Regency) or meticulous description of London at the height of the Season, would produce a fine novel once agam
To many people in Hamburg in the 1870s Australia was a shiny new world where all people were equal and where there was a chance for dreams to come true . Lutheran priest Father Beitz's dream is to create his own utopia in a remote part of Queensland. He needs pioneers and this is the tale of how he settles his Eden with farmers , servants and those striving for a better life; what they find when they get there and how a serpent enters Paradise in the shape of Otto Haupt, actor , murderer and priest-impersonator
The story rattles merrily along like the well-oiled wheels of a bullock cart on an outback road Shaw's pioneers have their work cut out and their valiant struggles are enthralling. She paints a convincing picture of remote parts of early Australia, without being too sketchy or belabouring the point. There's the right number of characters to get to know most of them well and the villain adds sensational colour amid the rich atmosphere of
ISSUE 18 DEC 200 I
dreams colliding with realism . Here it seems people can really be themselves and this isn't always a good thing . Shaw's mixture of ebullient adventures mixed with grinding toil make for a memorable and engaging read.
Rachel
THEGREATCHRISTMASBALL
A Hyde
Joan Smith, Robert Hale , 2001, £16 99, hb , 204pp, ISBN 0-7090-6575-2
Joan Smith is a prolific writer of Regency novels Although a Canadian, she understands the period well
Cathy Lyman, a diplomat's daughter, lives quietly in London with her widowed mother, brother and uncle, doing translation work as money is tight. She is disappointed when her mother tells her they cannot afford tickets for the Great Christmas Ball. However, a chance translation request from Lord Costain leads her into a world of international intrigue where she cannot make out who is friend and who is foe And she does get to the Ball , but not as she expects Few surprises here, and the ending is predictable, but the book is well written and the characters believable, with good period flavour
Mai read McKerracher
201H CENTURY
PORTRAITINSEPIA
Isabel Allende, (trans from Spanish by M Sayers Peden) , Harper Collins , 2001 , £16 .99, hb , 304pp , ISBN 0-00-712157-1
Set in San Francisco and Chile at the end of the nineteenth century, this novel follows on from Daughter of Fortune (reviewed in issue 12) The story is narrated by Aurora de Valle , part Chilean, part Chinese grand-daughter of Lynn Sommers , the heroine of the previous book. The dust jacket describes it as Aurora ' s quest to discover the truth behind a traumatic childhood memory .
I fear this may be a desperate bid on the part of the publisher to impose a structure on this rambling novel which is almost a third of the way through before Aurora appears on the scene In the meantime we hear about Aurora ' s beautiful mother , her immoral father and her noble step-father, not to mention a long digression into the trick Aurora ' s other grandmother played on her husband involving a bed Along the way Allende takes in the wars between Chile and its neighbours and subsequent wars and massacres in all their gory detail , dwells a while amongst the Chinese criminal gangs of San Francisco plus the development of the Chilean wine industry - and more All this makes for a very baggy novel with no strong narrative drive to keep those pages turning. All the characters are
Tiffi HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
larger than life and the men (and women) enjoy excessively active sex lives . Because the story teems with characters , they tend towards stereotypes , having no space to develop, making them saints or monstrosities They have no warmth and compassion; any such feelings become merely sentimental. In the end I cared little for any of them, even the heroine . And when the mystery of her traumatic memory is finallyrevealed , it hardly seems any more awful than all the other things she has witnessed and adds nothing to the story
I have heard that Allende insists her novels are published ' as written ' If so, I wish she'd change her mind There is a strong novel struggling to fight its way out of all the padding. The style is both ponderous and cliched. This , of course , may be a fault of the translation. However, I am loth to re-read it in the original language to find out.
Had the author handed her book over to a skilled editor I believe this would have been an impressive novel. An opportunity missed
A story of courage in adversity set in Dublin and Liverpool in the early part of the 20th century After several acts of violence at her late father's shop , Katherine takes his remaining money and the young waif Ceppi and flees to Liverpool in search of a new life. Here she finds friends for the first time Katherine's search for security could perhaps have been a little harder, for although her friends suffer terrible tragedy nothing too dreadful happens to her personally . Her kindness to the women of Lonely Street has a faint whiff of 21st-century political correctness , but nevertheless it is a touching story. A well-written enjoyable book that legions of Saga fans will love.
Linda Sole
AGLIMPSEOFTHEMERSEY
Anne Baker, Headline , 2001 , £17 99 , hb , 282pp, ISBN 0-7472-6990-4
This comforting 'Cinderella' story could take place anywhere Family values are all-important and the heroine , Daisy, is rewarded for her longsuffering goodness
The plot revolves around inheritance . It works well enough, apart from one unconvincing complication. I struggled with the language - cliche piled on cliche, leavened with unconscious humour : 'Ellis whispered that he thought his mother was not taking as much care of her hair as she used to; that her bun was shrinking in size .' With dialogue like that, I'd whisper too But then people rarely
say things in this novel - they gasp , gulp , and smile them instead. Points are relentlessly hammered home, leaving nothing to the reader's imagination It will appeal if you like an undemanding read with an upbeat ending and aren't too fussed about style
This is the third part of the Transylvanian Trilogy , first published just before WWI and recently reissued to great acclaim (see issues 9 and 13 for my reviews of the other two books ) The political backdrop is the four years leading to the outbreak of WWI : the Balkan Wars , the isolation of Germany and Austria-Hungary, and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Much of this reads like a history textbook and has little to do with the characters because the poor didn't know and the rich - with the exception of compassionate, far-seeing Balint Abadywere self-absorbed and blind to anything beyond their district. Indeed , this has been the author's point throughout the trilogy : to show the course of self-destruction taken by the privileged in Hungarian society . Most of the characters we met in the earlier books and their stories are continued with humour, poignancy and a bittersweet nostalgia for a paradise lost through foll y. These parts of the book are fascinating : like biography - not one but several - showing ways of life , local customs unchanged for centuries , and evoking the misty forest ridges and valleys of Transylvania. A map of the area would have been useful, for even most of the names no longer exist as the area was ceded to Romania after WW I Reminiscent in places of Trollope or, in country scenes , of Hardy , this will appeal to anyone interested in Edwardian Mitteleuropa and who likes lots of history with their fiction .
Janet Hancock
REBECCA'STALE
Sally Beauman, Little Brown, £16 99 , hb , 512pp, ISBN 0-316-85812-9
This is a sumptuous read based on Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca There is much that was mysterious about the original Rebecca - who she was , where she came from, how she died , and whether she was a maligned and tragic heroine or a manipulating baggage The author has moved the story on to the early 1950s when an anonymous package containing two photographs and a diary with just a few words in it, is received by Colonel Julyan. He is now an old man in poor health, troubled by the persisting rumours that Maxim de Winter really had killed his wife, and he reluctantly
This isn't really an historical novel at all The only real evidence that it is set in the past comes in the heading ' Chapter One : New York 1909.' Otherwise, apart from the occasional reference to 'combination' underwear and carriages, there's no period detail or atmosphere The fact is that this is a romance and it could just as easily have been set in a hospital , any war zone , on a cruise liner; in short, anywhere a woman can meet a man You can tell that history has no place in this book by the announcement on the cover that the heroine is ' a woman ahead of her time '. Given this disclaimer there's no point wasting your time accusing the author of anachronism!
If I tell you that it has a happy ending I don't think I'm giving away very much After all , I expect that's what the readers of romances want, and no doubt Ms Deveraux (who has more than thirty million copies of her books in print) knows her audience It's an audience that is presumably comforted by universal truths such as the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and what a feminist really wants is the love of a good man.
I found only two things remarkable about this book, and neither of them has anything to do with the author. The first is the cover, which I found extraordinarily unappealing : a sly looking young woman leers out at you in the most unpleasant manner. The second is the language The book has been written for American readers and no attempt has been made to edit it for an English audience. This results is some strange episodes : a Scottish Laird talks of throwing someone 'out on their fanny ', we're told what a Cornish pasty is , and referring to the heroine's string of New York admirers , 'There always seemed to be a Willie in her life... ' (I would have liked to use this review in full but space won't allow But I think it is important as an example of all that has brought 'historical romance' into disrepute, certainly in the minds of UK readers.)
Lucienne Boyce
flame and seduced away Lizzie grows up on the river, working on her father ' s ship until war breaks out and she too is tempted into an unsuitable relationship
The three female characters are particularly strong and distinctive , if not always completely sympathetic, each with their own story to tell A powerful sense of community runs throughout the novel serving as a backbone to the main action. The river setting is colourful and attractively described. The build up to WWII could have been given more emphasis but the effects of war on the family are well handled
Sara Wilson
THEGIRLFROMSEAFORTHSANDS
Kate Flynn, Arrow, £5 99, pb, 445pp
ISBN 0-09-941654-9
Amy Logan, youngest child of fisherman Bill , hates the smell of the shrimps she has to shell and the taunts of neighbour Paddy Keagan. She is horrified when, after the death of her mother, Bill marries Paddy's feckless mother , Suzie, and longs to escape
This is one of the ever popular Liverpool sagas, the story of Amy and her family growing up in the years before the first World War, struggling to survive It had warmth, a good mix of characters , plenty of background bringing Liverpool to life and a very real heroine in Amy. The perils of the inshore fishing fleet, the struggle to survive, the neighbourly camaraderie and the occasional holidays when the children could relax on the sands, finding intense pleasure in simple activities , are all shown with clarity and feeling , as are the battles of the suffragettes
I wasn't convinced by all the dialogue, however, finding it often stilted, sometimes too adult for the children and even verging on speechifying rather than conversation. Nevertheless, the story held my interest and was satisfying.
Marina Oliver
NICHOLASEVERARD - MARINEROF ENGLAND:VOLUME1
Alexander Fullerton, Little Brown, £17 99 , hb , 692pp, ISBN 0-316-85883-8
CARTERBEATSTHEDEVIL
Glen David Gold, Hodder & Stoughton 2001 , £14.99 , hb , 544pp, ISBN 0-340-79497-6
See review in US/Canada section
THEFUTUREHOMEMAKERSOF AMERICA
Laurie Graham, Fourth Estate, £9 99, pb , ISBN 1-84115-312-5
The story begins in the early 1950s when Peggy and her four friends are US Airforce wives surviving the bleak terrain (and weather) of East Anglia One, Betty, is an avid 'royal watcher' and in February 1952 she organises a trip to watch the train carrying the coffm of George VI go past on its way from Sandringham to London. Here amongst the local people they meet Kath Pharoah and friendships are forged which continue for four decades
This is a lively, amusing and often moving story which incorporates major events of the second half of the 20th century All the characters are well drawn but at the start I was confused by the names of some of the American male characters , (Vern , Okey) However I soon realised that these were one of several ways in which cultural differences between Britain and America are brought out in this novel. Also a variety of illustrations of advertisements and newspaper headlines add an interesting reminder of changing times both through world evens as well as on the home front. The novel moves at a fast pace and incorporates issues as diverse as delinquent grandchildren, divorce and cancer to the horrors of the Vietnam war. An absorbing , witty novel which clearly shows the strengths and value which can be found in female friendships .
Greta Krypczyk-Oddy
ROSIE'SJOURNEY
Sara Hylton, Piatkus , £17 99 , hb , 37lpp , ISBN 0-7499-0576-X
THERIVERFOLK,
Margaret Dickinson, Pan Books 2001 , £5 99 , pb , 452pp
ISBN 0-330-37687-X
This is the story of three women Bessie is matriarch of the Ruddick family and a leading fiure in the community of Waterman ' s Yard. She has raised three boys and is happy to take in a young girl, Mary Ann Clark, when she is left an orphan. The adult May Ann fixes her sights on marrying Dan Ruddick and eventually gets her own way. Life goes smoothly for the couple and their daughter, Lizzie until Mary Ann is reunited with an old
TI-IE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
The first three of Fullerton's classic First World War naval series have been released in one volume. The Blooding of the Guns , Sixty Minutes for St George and Patrol to the Golden Horn are all here re-issued for the benefit of collectors or those new to the series. No doubt the rest of Everard's exploits will follow in the same format.
Towse Harrison
The journey of the title refers perhaps to Rosie's journey of self discover - or to the journey she makes to Kenya where her selfish mother has been living with her second husband for much of Rosie's childhood Meanwhile the girl has grown up with a maiden aunt , a widowed uncle and cousins in England This book is in part about a lonely childhood and in part about the colonial set, living for self gratification in pre-independent Kenya The date is not spelt out - perhaps between the 1940s and 1950s?
Rosie is a passive person , nursing in childhood an adoration for a man called Steven Coincidentally he arrives in Kenya, working as a doctor and not the sort of suitor that Rosie's mother approves of, being only moderately rich and decent. Meanwhile mother
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
is on her third marriage and Rosie has her own difficulties , not least with her amorous step-father
In spite of the abysmal cover and the less than inspiring title , I did enjoy this book , although I got little sense of the Africa outside the white men's clubs This probably reflects white attitudes at the time in which the story is set, when the locals do little more than clean house and smile with big white teeth. In spite of coming from this background, Rosie is kind and decent - and rich and pretty The story is well written and has that page tu.ming qualitya good novel to curl up with on a wet afternoon
Janet Mary Tomson
CASTALONGSHADOW
Elizabeth Jeffrey , Piatkus, £17 99 , hb , 342pp , ISBN 1-85018-119-5
Poppy, orphaned and penniless , discovers that she has two hitherto unknown aunts and they invite her to visit. They live in a huge but disintegrating house and both exhibit distinct signs of dottiness. Poppy has to hide from them the fact that she takes a job as a secretary with a local Sheffield firm, since the aunts appear to regard the owner with unrelenting hostility. As she gradually discovers the secrets of both her aunts and her employer, Poppy falls in love , which onl y complicates the situation further. Set during WW I , Poppy faces prejudice in her job from the manager and has to prove that she is as capable of doing the work as any man .
The opening of the book was slow with a lot of explanation and back history , but well worth persevering with. The plot was neatly contrived, believable, built up a lot of tension
The mi.nor characters , especially the uncomplaining servants at Dale House and the wives of the factory workers , were especially well-drawn Devotees of family sagas with something extra will enjoy this book
Marina Oliver
PLAYINGWITHFIRE
Mary Larkin , Little Brown, £15.99 , hb , 470pp
ISBN 0-316-85934-6
This story is set in Belfast and Darlington in the late 1950s and is about Susan, a Protestant, who falls in love with Tim , a Catholic A relationship - let alone marriageis out of the question and when Tim rejects her , the heartbroken Susan turns to her sister's boyfriend. Further disaster sends her running to her Aunt's in England There she meets Donald, who has his own problems. All through the book the reader is left guessing as to how this triangle will resolve itself but all is revealed in the final chapter.
The author has captured the feel of life in the late 1950s, describing the dance halls , the
TIIE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
coffee bars , the clothes, etc just how I remember them There seem to be anachronisms though The mention of a pregnancy kit , dishwasher , bottled water, shower, supermarket and container lorries? But maybe I've forgotten? I also seem to remember that a stroke on the left side doesn't usually affect speech Perhaps it might be worth checking?
Nonetheless the characters and incidents are believable and I particularly enjoyed Donald's infectious enthusiasm during his first visit to Ireland. The story shows how the prejudices of the time could completely alter happy and settled lives It is the first title by this author that I have read and I found it a thoroughly enjoyable read I shall be looking out for her other titles
Vivienne Bass
BRENDA'SPLACE
Elizabeth Lord, Piatkus , £17.99, hb , 378pp, ISBN 0-7499-0573-5
When Brenda marries Harry they have their whole lives to look forward to with joy and high expectations . Their world , however, is about to change as rumours of war abound Harry cannot bear the prospect of being thought of as 'less than a man' by having a working wife , because people might think he cannot support her, so Brenda gives up a promising career as a hairdresser But once Harry is at war Brenda has a baby and a flat to care for , and despite her strong character the fear and loneliness of the continuous bombardment of London brings its own temptations and regrets
This is the story of Brenda's evolution from a naive girl to an independent woman. By the end of the war she knows her own mind She does not wish to be a 'doormat' wife anymore Highlighting the hardships faced by women before and during the war years , this is a compassionate and understanding story of how the war forced people to accept change. Brenda's Place gives a clear social history of life in London's East End at the time and has a realistic and heart warming ending .
Val Loh
ATONEMENT
Ian McEwan, Jonathan Cape, £16.99 , hb , 372pp, ISBN 0-224-06252-2
Briony is thirteen, living a privileged life on a country estate just before the second world war Her father is seldom home due to his government work in London and her mother retreats from life's perpetual demands by way of serial migraine Briony spends much of her time alone with a romantic imagination which finds expression in writing On the hottest day of summer, she sees from a distance, her sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into
the fountain in the garden Standing by is their cleaning lady's son Robbie. Briony sees , judges and when further events unfold, acts upon what she has witnessed with the self righteous ignorance of her youth. It will change all of their lives forever
Although set at the time of WW2 , this is a story very much about people. I have admired the work of Ian McEwan, since the days of First Love , Last Rites His writing has always seemed illuminating in its darkness! Atonement was no disappointment.
Less dark than earlier work, the story nevertheless delves expertly into the W1Savoury realms of self-deception and personal justification for lies, vindictiveness and crime The unfolding set of events in the first part of the story took us right into the heart of a child's perception of the adult world and the resulting confusion The events of a simple day were allowed to unfold cleverly, intimately and often amusingly, revealing the weakness of self absorption The story progresses in a satisfying and unexpected way through the war years, following a personal quest for atonement. The investigation of characters thoughts and motivations are so compelling, I did not want to put the book down! A recommended read
Tim and Sue Marshal inherit a small farm, an orphaned niece and nephew and give a holiday home to the clever but shy son of glamorous Hollywood parents, who boards at a local school. This is the story of all these people, plus their own son and daughter, and others who come to regard Highmoor as home through the second half of the 20th century
It is asking a lot, even for such an experienced author, to cover so much ground in such a relatively short book. Much inevitably gets left out. It is probably because of this that the book seems unbalanced Sometimes developments were skimmed over with superficial haste , unsatisfying to me , as I would have liked to have seen more of the developing relationships . In contrast the details about Sylvia and Richard, barely mentioned at first, become over-important towards the end This could have been a separate book. Despite this , it was an interesting read, though I do wish the jacket artists paid more attention to the contents of the book! A Georgian three storey house with several bedrooms on a diary farm somehow becomes a small gabled cottage on a sheep farm on the jacket. Don't editors brief the artists or check the proposed covers?
Marina Oliver
ISSUE 18 DEC 200 I
GRANDAMBITION
Lisa Michaels ; Hodder & Stoughton, 2001 , £14.99, hb, 288pp, ISBN 0-340-81921-9
See review in US/Ca'lada section
THENARROWBOATGJRI.
Annie Murray, Pan Books 2001, £5.99, pb, 458pp ISBN 0-330-39628-5
Maryann Nelson's father survived the Great War only to die accidentally a few years later leaving the family impoverished. Maryann's mother, Flo, quickly ma.-ries local 1.mdertal<..er, Norman Griffin, in the hope of a secure future. Unfortunately for Maryann and her sister, Sal, Norman is a serial sexual abuser who finds his young stepdaughters easy prey.
Eventually, Maryann finds friendship with Joel Bartholemew and escapes from her Birmingham home to work on his narrowboat until a growing attraction between th.em scares her away. She spends the next few years in service before fin11lly deciding to face 11p to her past and find her lost love.
Thjs is a hard-hitting saga and a!! credit to Annie Murray for being unafraid to tackle the difficult s11bject of child abuse head on Part one is particularly gritty since it deals with Maryann's fight to survive her stepfather's mistreatment. The scenes describing the abuse are sensitively handled and the tension gradually builds up. Part two is concerned with the long term effects of sexual abuse on the victim and the need to settle unfinished h11siness
The backstreets of Birmingham are well drawn as are the lives a'ld working conditions of the people who operated the narrowboats. Maryann is a sympathetic, feisty heroine and by the end of the novel the reader is longing for her abuser to get hi" comeuppance.
Sara Wilson
ATSWIM,TWOBOYS
Jan,je O'Neil!, Scribner, £17.99, hb, 643pps, ISBN 0-7432-0712-2
His debut Irish novel hils already been compared with works by James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. The title is a pun on F!a'l!l O'Brien's At-Swim-Two-Birds. The two boys, aged 16, are Jim Mack - shy scholarship son of a socially aspirant shopkeeper outside Dublin - and Doyler Doyle, son of Mr M...ack's old army pal who has fallen on hard times and lives the wrong side of the trl!cks Doyler had also passed the scholarship but went to relatives in County Clare. Now he is back, pusher of the parish dung cart, his head full of soc.iali5m and revolution The novel is set in the months up to the Easter Rising of 1916.
The pivotal point is the boys' pact: Doy!er will teach Jim to swim and the following Easter, 1916, they will jump from the Forty Foot -a jut of rock where gentlemen bathe in
TIIE IDSTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
the nude - and swim the bay to the Muglins Rock ; there to raise the Irish flag The boys' developing relationship is influenced by their friendship with _l\nth..ony MacMmToug_'1, a Wildean figure recently released from prison after serving two years hard lahonr for homosexual offences.
The characters are we!! drawn.: Ji.m's fat!>..er especially is a gem of comic creation -a former sergeant with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, now passionate supporter of the British war effort, left isolated as those around him are drawn to Republicanism. There are be11utiful atmospheric descriptions of Dublin and the sea, and a whimsical mix of comedy an.d tragedy that so befits t'1e Lrish setting.
I did feel the novel was too long for the story it had to tell and the author assumes his readers' knowledge of Irish history. Nothing however should detract from !,js ac!ijevemen!, the result of ten years work on a laptop while a hospital night porter
This saga, set i.11 the dour ! 950s English Midlands, is a straightforward tale with minimal description It tells of two female friends and the havoc to their private lives caused hy th,- arriv"l nf" rh,.rmiflg hnt <:Plfi<:h cad who succeeds in driving the hitherto insep11rable chums 11part with his irresistible but destructive romantic assaults.
Sagas are not my staple reading, but ! was interested because this book is set in my hometown of Leicester Inexperience wi_th such fiction makes me hesitate to criticise what ot.liers might see as smmd a'ld entertaining writing within this genre. The dialog11e l11cks authenticity The c::hllrar.ters don't live and I didn't care about them either du..ri..ng or a~..er reading t'1e book. ! was also disappointed with the historical context: apart from a few clumsy topographical references and a handful of 'me ducks' and other Leicester phrases, t'1e book could have been. located anywhere in 1950s England.
T)rmg Kem,n
LORDOFTHESILENT
Elizabeth Peters, Robinson 2001, £6.99, pb 406pp ISBN J-R4 l I 9-2.'i4-6
This is the latest book in the Amelia Peabody series. Once again, set i.11 Egypt. !n 1915 WWI is taking its toll but is of no consequence for Amelia l!nd fomily as she sets out for Cairo with her husband, their son Ramses and his new wife, Nefret. On. board ship t'1ey are joined by Gargery, the Emerson's butler, refosing to be left llehind as there wonld
bound to be trouble without his being there to protect them
In Cairo, a hotbed of enemy agents plus a motley collection of tomb robbers, t.'1ings start to go wrong. Ramses is attacked, although not very convincingly, hnt Amelia is worried and arranges for him and Nefret to go to Luxor, supposedly to look a~.er Emerson's i.11terests. As usual mayhem breaks out with unexplained happenings Bodies are found in ancient tombs and flung off cliffs.
The deP..O!LP!!len! produces somet.hing that any Egyptologist could only dream of. The Amelia Peabody hooks are sheer 11nad11lterated fun. The characters are so well drawn they waLlc off t'1e page. Just perf..PCt to cur! up with on a long winter·s evening.
Marilyn Sherlock
FINDINGPHILIPPE
Elizabeth Pewsey, Hodder & Stoughton, 2001, £17 99 , hh , 246pp , ISBN 0-340-7lR64-l
An inheritance allows Vicky Hampden to !eave post-war Engla.'ld for Fra'l.Ce, where she begins searching for her lover, Philippe d.'lcere , s11pposedly killed d.11ring a secret wartime mission.
T~,ryPrTnllnc;:On1mmnfldi«.:c.:Pnt~ft_er Vick-y by her powerful , bullying father. On finding her, folius decides to join forces with Vick-y to discover the truth about Philippe, who appears to have bee!! both traitor and hero. The two enter a labyrinth of intrigue as they travel L11ng11edoc in se11rch of Philippe, accompanied by Vicky's runaway niece, Olivia, a bu.mm, adventurous schoo!gi..r!. Their search leads them into danger as they encounter thieves , kidn;ippers and romrnunists with plenty to hide. Coincidence plays a fairly J,.rg,. ml" hnt <:nm..e <:uspen<:inn nf heli,-f ;., " pre-requisite for most spy stories.
Vicky's character becomes more substantial as the plot develops and Julius is a'l endearing n,jxture of left-of-centre gen.tility and derring-do, with a dash of pukka sahib. Olivia is reminiscent of an Angela Brazil heroine, with the verve of the younger Radletts (Love in a Cold Climate) thrown i.11. They form an erratic trio and one can't help but enjoy them
The last few chapters seem to struggle to draw all tl>..e threads of tlie narrative toget.'1er. The last chapter in particular seems to be a hasty summary of the final events in the novel Such an enjoyable tale deserves a better finish. The contrasting settings of dreary post-war London and the warmer south of France and its epicurean delights (descrilled with relish) are well-defined without being intrusive.
Geraldine Perriam ISSUE 18. DEC 2001
HAPPYMOSCOW,
Andrey Platonov, Harvill 2001, £9.99, pb, l53pp. ISBN l-86046-646-X, translated from the Russian by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler.
This unfinished work cannot be classed as true historical fiction because the author was satirising the events of his own time. It can hardly be called a novel, there is no plot but a series of characters move through the pages , meet and part to follow their own lonely paths.
1930s Moscow is the consumate symbol of the Soviet dream, according to Stalin, ' life has become better, life has become merrier. ' For Moscow Chestnova, ( the name she was given in the orphanage) a daughter of the Revolution , life is far from merry She represents Everywoman, virgin and whore flitting from man to man
Platonov died in 195 l. Happy Moscow was not published in Russia until 199 l. He uses irony , pun and ridicule to attack what he saw as the corruption of the language and loss of humanity in Stalin ' s brave new world which ignored the poor living standards of its citizens. This book provides a unique insight for anyone interested in this period of Russian history.
Ann Oughton
THECORALSTRAND
Ravinder Randhawa, House of Stratus, 2001, £9.99, pb, 31 lpp, ISBN 0-7551-0344-0
The Coral Strand refers to a collection of fabulous Indian jewellery linking the past and present of a disparate crew of Indians and English. The novel moves between India in the 1940s and London in 1997.
30 year-old Sita, who does not know her mother, was raised by 'guardians': English Emily and Champa, a former Bombay prostitute. Treated as a servant, the teen-age Sita ran away , stealing Emily's valuable jewellery as revenge for Emily's cold disdain and years of drudgery. She has carved out an independent, solitary London life for herself but once each year she is drawn back to the 'Mausoleum' to spy unseen on Emily and Champa bickering in exotic luxury. In 1997, her pilgrimage sets off a chain of events that uncovers the mysteries of the last 50 years Randhawa sees clearly the complexities of living between two cultures, be it the unloved British in pre-Independence India or the modem Asian in Britain. As one might expect, she deals particularly sympathetically with her Indians trying to be hip Londoners while remaining Asian. That neither Sita nor, indeed, most of the characters appear to have ever had a normal family life adds to the feeling of displacement. How really 'Indian' is Sita if she has no parents, was born in England and whose only real contact with India is growing
Tiffi HISTORJCAL NOVELS REVIEW
up in a London house among Indian treasures owned by an English woman? On the other hand, Emily regards India as 'hers' and Independence as an outrage Set pieces such as the flight from burning Bombay are well done as is Champa's death-bed and Sita's reconciliation with her roots. A recurring problem, however, is that all the female characters are vivid but so disagreeable and bitter (with the exception of Champa) that although I was intrigued, I was not engaged until the end when Sita blossoms. That said, Emily's resolute nastiness eventually becomes rather fun. The male characters are a greater weakness, so sketchily drawn that the denouement, though logical, seems hollow
Those caveats aside , The Coral Strand is a strong novel whose flavour lingers long after the final page
Lynn Guest
PRINCEOFTHECLOUDS
Gianni Riotta , Flamingo , 2001 , £16.99 , hb , 287pp, ISBN 0-00-712000 Italy in the I 940s: Colonel Carlo Terzobrilliant alumnus then teacher at the Officers ' Training School - is a strategist who has never seen action; even during WW2 he was obliged by the Foreign Minister to compile the Official Encyclopaedia of Battles Farniliar with details of every battle from earliest times to his own era , his great passion, his justification of a lifetime·s accumulation of knowledge, has been to write the Manual for Strategic Living. This ponders the way the great strategists of the past pondered their campaigns and shows how , in everyday situations , people in despair can find a hidden way of escape. When he becomes involved in a peasant insurrection against landowners after the war, Terzo at last sees military action. Here are Crecy and Gettysburg all over again, but will the theories from his Manual help those dearest to him?
This is an unusual book, a plot that romps along and a gallery of lightly sketched-in characters, sandwiched between lengthy , detailed descriptions of great battles. Terzo I found rather odd, although by the end I was feeling sorry for him. Think Umberto Eco, Indiana Jones , and if you want something different, yet easy to read, this may be worth a try.
Janee Hancock
BONESOFTHEBURIED
David Roberts, Constable 2001 , £16.99 , hb. 342pp, ISBN 1-84119-385-2
This is the second in the series of murder mysteries set in the 1930s with Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne as the privileged amateur detectives. The book attempts to recreate the Golden Age atmosphere and the
two main protagonists bear more than a passing resemblance to Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane.
It is a competently narrated tale involving murders in Spain and London. As with most good detective stories the author allows the reader to think that they have a good idea of what might be going on but he keeps a card or two up his sleeve. The essence of the story is the relationship between the aristocratic Corinth, brother to the Duke of Mersham and Verity, a feisty , combative member of the Communist Party , though, naturally from the ' right' sort offamily.
Although these key characters are strongly defined they can appear inconsistent and lacking credibility. Corinth, for example is at times a highly capable and intelligent man of action that can be found in the John Buchan novels of the period, while at other times he slips into silly-ass mode. Verity can be just plain irritating.
The overall quality of the writing is not as good as the type of books it imitates (though there are some very well-written passages) neither is the plot so well structured Nevertheless it 1s an enjoyable read by a capable author.
Doug Kemp
ROSEOFNANCEMELLIN
Malcolm Ross, Piatkus, £17 99, hb, 546pp, ISBN 0-7499-0575-l
It is 1910. Rose Tremayne , an ambitious lady's maid with a talent for mimicry, falls in love with handsome, wealthy Louis Redmile-Smith , while masquerading as a 'lady' • in her mistress's clothes. Sacked by her outraged employer, she finds work in a touring theatre company and discovers her real talent, acting. Louis becomes bankrupt and goes to America to recoup his fortune , which allows Rose to enjoy some picaresque adventures of her own. She meets plenty of men willing to foster her acting talents as well as offer some more intimate favours
One can always rely on Malcolm Ross for a splendid read and I particularly enjoyed the early 20th century theatre scenes, which were lovingly and accurately recreated. However, I thought Rose's sexual experiences said more about male fantasies than female psychological reality. We are asked to believe that Rose, passionately in love with Louis , nevertheless allows herself to be nearly seduced by Rupert, a man she scarcely knows, and then casually deflowered by yet another man. In 1910 to boot! However Malcolm Ross is a popular author and I'm sure his many fans will enjoy the book.
Kate Jamison is a teenager from a wealthy American family . Joe Albright is older, a record breaking pilot. When they meet at a glittering society party they are attracted to , but wary of each other. This underlines the whole of their long lasting relationship
Joe disappears during the war and is presumed dead for two years. Kate refuses to give up on him and is vindicated by his eventual return. Their life together is tempestuous to say the least and the pair separate several times but chance meetings always draw them back together again. Even Kate's marriage to another man and motherhood cannot end their love Only death can do that.
The strength or weakness of this type of novel hangs on the qualities of the main characters Although Kate is strongly and sympathetically drawn Joe appears weak, indecisive and unlikeable. His motivation sems inconsistent too since his horrific wartime experiences leave him mentally unscathed and yet his childhood traumas have caused him deep scars
Daneille Steel ' s scores of fans will enjoy this book. Although it delivers pacey easy reading it is a light snack rather than a filling main meal
Sara Wilson
CLOVER
Michael Taylor, Hodder & Stoughton, 2001 , £17.99, hb , 473 pp , ISBN 0-340-75133-9 19-year-old Clover Beckitt works in a foundry to supplement the income her widowed mother gleans from running a pub called the Jolly Collier. When her mother remarries , Clover receives a chance for genteel employment, and greater personal freedom She also finds a photographer boyfriend. During the novel's first half, it seems she will live happily ever after But then her step-uncle moves into the Jolly Collier, and her step-sister embarks on an incestuous affair that tears apart the family , and threatens Clover's happiness
Set in Edwardian Dudley, this sex-filled saga contains interesting details of early flying machines and photography Although the writing is sloppy in places , and the characters at times act unconvincingly, the author's use of period minutiae and dialogue brings the story alive He also employs speech patterns as an effective characterisation tool. Clover provides a diverting, escapist read
Claire Morris Bernard
ALLYOUNEEDISLOVE
Margaret Thornton, Headline, 2001 , £ 17 99 , hb, 344pp , ISBN 0-7472-7175-5
Recently-widowed Abbie Horsfall moves with her children to Blackpool, her childhood home Things don't go quite as she imagined though She falls out with an old friend, a relationship with one of her teacher-training lecturers goes sour, and her daughter, Sandie, falls in with a bad crowd at school.
Then Abbie falls in love with Sandie's piano teacher and they decide to marry , but when Sandie is involved in a car crash which kills her boyfriend it looks like all their lives will never be the same again
Whether the 1960s can be classed as history, this is an involving and enjoyable novel, best classified as a quiet read - rows never become slanging matches and the nominal 'baddies' are curiously gentle Abbie herself is nicely drawn , even if her naivety occasionally verges on the irritating There are some lovely nostalgic touches too : Tupperware parties , Babycham and Ford Anglias all make appearances
Sara Wilson
THESCHOOLOFNIGHT
Alan Wall , Vintage , £6 99 , pb , 293pp ISBN 0-099-28586-X
Set entirely in the 20th century this is not an historical novel - and yet unless the reader knows something about 'The School of Night' , a shadowy group of Elizabethans , including Shakespeare and Marlowe , who clustered around Walter Ralegh, they will entirely lose the plot and miss the point. The narrator, Sean Tallow, is obsessed by two things , the lifestyle of his friend Daniel Pagett and 'The School of Night' He is an historian, an academic , a nobody, an invisible man who lives his life in the shadows of other people's lives But everything and everyone 1s somehow connected in this intriguing and compelling novel , described as metaphysical by the Independent. I wish I was skilled enough to have written it and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Towse Harrison
FORGIVEANDFORGET
Dee Williams , Headline , 2001 , £5 99 , pb , 407pp , ISBN 0-7472-6450-3
Ruth Bentley's husband is away fighting in WW2 and her daughters have been evacuated to Wales Life is difficult and frightening in London, with bombs falling most nights Ruth thrives on the action and, although she endures the pain of loss and the unceasing worry about her absent family, she also knows the close bonds of friendship through adversity. Once the war ends , adapting to normal life is difficult for all the Bentleys and more
tragedy and trauma have to be faced before Ruth can look forward to the future
Dee Williams knows her London setting thoroughly and recreates it convincingly in a few deft words. Although this novel offers little new in terms of wartime sagas , it's written with flair and assurance The chapters dealing with the immediate postwar years are particularly effective and the strained relationships within a family too long separated are well handled
Sara Wilson
SOMETHINGSTHATSTAY
Sarah Willis , Piatkus , £6 .99 , pb , 275pp
ISBN 0-7499-3257-0
It is Spring 1954 in America and the Anderson family are embarking on their annual move so that self-absorbed landscape artist, Mr Anderson, can seek new inspiration Fifteen-year-old Tamara, however, is fed up Moving , for her and her younger siblings , means a new school , no real friends and constant upheaval. But this time things are different. The girl-next-door, Helen, tries to convert the children to Christianity, whilst Helen's brother, Rusty , wants to introduce Tamara to sex. Then Mrs Anderson is diagnosed with tuberculosis and the whole family dynamic comes under threat. This accomplished novel, written in the first person , could be described as Catcher in the Rye meets Little Women. Like Holden Caulfield, Tamara is a clear-eyed, rebellious adolescent , who tells unpalatable truths Her parents , like Mr and Mrs March, are un-nervingly high-minded - Mrs Anderson is a militant atheist and Mr Anderson leaves the family for long stretches to pursue his artand Tamara's comments are both funny and devastatingly accurate. I was thoroughly absorbed and intrigued. The novel won the Stephen Crane Award for first fiction - and quite right too
Elizabeth Hawksley
MULTI-PERIOD
THEMAMMOTHBOOKOF HISTORICALWHODUNNITS
Mike Ashley (ed) Robinson 2001 , £6 99 , pb 512pp ISBN 1-84119-373-9
A mammoth book indeed, containing 22 short stories by such notables of the historical crime genre as Steven Saylor, Peter Tremayne, Susanna Gregory and Marilyn Todd providing an excellent opportunity to catch up with old favourites or to discover new authors
All bar one of the stories was specially commissioned for the book. The one exception is a new crime to solve for Gordianus the Finder : it has not been published in the UK
ISSUE 18. DEC 2001
THE 1-IlSTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
before The periods covered range from the late Roman Republic of Gordianus to the Elizabethan and early Jacobean eras. The stories appear in chronological order
Some of the authors have taken the opportunity to introduce new characters with varying levels of success I love Marilyn Todd ' s series of mysteries featuring the acerbic Claudia , but her attempt at evoking early Jacobean England falls flat. I would be interested to read more about Sir Geoffrey Mappenstone , the character introduced by Susanna Gregory . Philip Gooden ' s story, King Hereafter , although pinching the title from a Dorothy Dunnett novel about basically the same subject, was excellent, presenting the death of King Duncan from an intriguing angle
A very enjoyable book. I now have a list of new authors to investigate
Shirley Skinner
THEMAMMOTHBOOKOFHEARTS OFOAK
Mike Ashley (ed), Robinson 2001 , £6 99 pb 492pp ISBN l-84119-279-l
This is a collection of short stories with a nautical theme from the age of sail. Most are original but six classical stories have been included, such as Hornblower and Hi s Majesty by CS Forrester, first published in 1940 and Goodbye to Hi s Majesty by Conan Doyle, first published in Strand Magazine in 1903. Of the new stories are Special Duties by Derek Wilson, set in the time of the French Revolution , The Night Attack by Richard Woodman, a Nathaniel Drinkwater story set in 1801. Peter Tremayne contributes a story from the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807. The Americans are not forgotten as J acland Mas mus tells of the Battle of Hawaii , 1813. Peter T. Gassatti ' s The Burning Deck from the Battle of the Nile is also there complete with the poem, The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck.
This is a book to dip into The stories are all well written , full of history and the naval terminology is so naturally put that even a landlubber like me can understand it.
Marilyn Sherlock
DISTANTMUSIC
Lee Langley , Chatto & Windus , £14 99 , hb , 354pp, ISBN 0-0701-16836-6
The story begins in Madeira in 1429 , an island which has been consumed by blazing fires for seven years . A peasant girl , Esperanca , is eager for knowledge so she asks the priest for reading lessons , but her request horrifies him as he considers that it would be heresy for her to even look in the holy books. She meets Emmanuel , a Jewish sailor and considered an outsider, who opens her minds to books , maps
TI-IE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
and other worlds beyond the seas ; but he has to leave when his ship sails In 1489 another Esperanca, this time in Faro , meets a mapmaker called Emmanuel , but because he is Jewish he is shunned by her aristocratic Catholic family . Their relationship is doomed when the King decides to expel all Jews from Portugal and their attempt to leave ends is disaster In 19th century Lisbon, a city ravaged by earthquake, Esperanca , a clever middle-class spinster who spends the majority of her time reading , meets a bookseller, Emmanuel , but he also is struggling against religious persecution and accusations that he is a murderer. She risks her life to clear his name Esperanca finally appears in London in the year 2000 where she meets twin brothers, one the true Emmanuel , the other merely a shadow.
Lee Langley has a unique voice and the way in which she blends historical detail with fiction and links the four different worlds is masterful. Religious intolerance as well as the place in society which women are expected to fill (even in 2000) are all woven into this fascinating , exciting and often surprisingly humorous novel. It held my attention from start to finish : a gem.
Greta
Krypczyk-Oddy
TIMESLIP
HENDERSON'SSPEAR
Ronald Wright , Doubleday 2001 , £15 99 , hb , 349pp. ISBN 0-385-60269-3
One of the joys of book reviewing is discovering new authors. Ronald Write was previously unknown to me but after reading Henderson 's Spear I shall eagerly seek out his other fiction. This novel is an engrossing tale of passion and intrigue spanning a century It begins in the present with Lyv Wyvem in a Tahitian jail writing an account of her troubled past for the unknown daughter she gave up at birth She has been imprisoned on a murder charge whilst in the South Seas searching for her father , an airman missing since the Korean War.
The spur to her search was her mother ' s death and the discoveries she made whilst packing up the family house including the hidden diaries of her ancestor, Frank Henderson, written in the 1890s
The journals tell of a terrifying adventure in Africa and an extraordinary three year voyage to Polynesia with Queen Victoria ·s grandsons , Prince George and his disturbed brother , Prince Eddy The story alternates its narrative voices between Liv and Henderson in such a clever way that eventually all the loose ends are tied up and the central mystery of Henderson ' s spear is revealed
The incidents that Henderson narrates have a ring about them of Kipling or the Flashman Chronicles of Macdonald Fraser without the sardonic humour Nevertheless, the book weaves its spell as more information is gleaned. Wright's deft touch with a powerful theme is utterly compelling
Ray Taylor
I HISTORICALFANTASY I
THEILL-MADEMUTE
Celia Dart-Thornton, Macmillan 2001 , £17 99 hb 432pp , ISBN 0-333-90753- l
This is book one of the Bitlerbynde Trilogy and is set in the mythical world of Erith, a land comprising seven islands, in an age equivalent to the dark ages , although it is not historical in the accepted sense
The islands are inhabited by fantastical creatures who live on and under ground and water These malevolent forces are amassing to wreak havoc on the tower dwelling, air breathing humans Any excursion into the outside world other than through the sky is beset by danger
The ill-made mute enters this world as a despised foundling without speech or understanding and a terrible disfigurement. Over time , by listening in the shadows , the mute discoves that there might be a cure for this scarring of mind and body and sets out on a journey in search of a wise woman whose skills may accomplish it. There are trials and adventures in a wilderness of endless danger but, along the way, the mute encounters people who are not repelled by appearance and learns to receive and give love , help and companionship
The author weaves her tale well and uses Celtic words to good effect including a glossary and pronunciation guide . Much research has gone into portraying as accurately as possible the elves , goblins , gilfs , unseenlies and (my particular favourite) the wightish miners Taken from traditional Celtic folklore , they are recreated here and set in a world of superstition, wizardry, wonders and absolute terror
This is Cecilia Dart-Thornton ' s debut novel and if she continues to tell her story with the same masterful skills shown here books 2 and 3 will be worth waiting for.
Gwen Sly
BLOOD & GOLDTheVampireMarius
Anne Rice , Chatto & Windus , £16 .99 hb , 47lpp , ISBN 0-701-16719-X
For those entranced by The Vampire Chronicles, Rice's latest 'autobiography' deals with Marius , a son of Imperial Rome under Augustus and one of the oldest surviving
ISSUE 18 D EC 2001
vampires Pandora and Armand also appear, as do a host of other familiar and unfamiliar characters. Big on plot but short on history , Rice's past is often anachronistic. But as her homo-erotic , decadent and amoral characters are entirely outside of history this should not be a problem for those avidly following the continuing stories .
Towse Harrison
NON-FICTION
THEAUDITOFWAR, PanMacmillan, £7 99, pb, 369pp ISBN 0-330-34790-X
THELOSTVICTORY, PanMacmillan, £7 99 , pb, 514pp ISBN 0-330-34639-3
THEVERDICTOFPEACE, Macmillan, £20.00 , hb 712pp ISBN 0-333-6798-2
These are the last three volumes of Corelli Barnett ' s acclaimed PRIDE & FALL quartet in which he charts Britain ' s decline from before WWII to Suez in 1956 and examines the reasons for it.
The books are exhaustively researched, full of fascinating facts and figures as well as a cracking good read Most interestingly, they provide a background relevant to what is happening in Britain today Without this background it is impossible to understand why the railways still don ' t work (and why they work in France) , why the problems of the NHS are so intractable and why they still haven ' t got education right. The books also hint at why Britain has such good armed forces and why internationally we still punch above our weight.
Barnett ' s main theme is that during the twenty years covered by his quartet Britain obdurately took the wrong decisions in practically every field except the strictly military . Because of appalling labour relations , a largely untrained workforce and complacent, untrained management and because ministers and mandarins, (nearly all Oxbridge and Humanities men) could not or would not cope. Industry, the engine of the nation, never received the investment it desperately needed Instead money went to housing and the NHS , to rearmament and prestige spending overseas. Britain was obsessed with her world status, overseas obligations and her supposed top table partnership with America . Barnett ' s recipe for post-war success would have resulted in dumping our overseas military presence, the sterling area, the colonies and much else which he sees as liablities rather than assets. He advocated sacrificing all for concentrating on making industry competetive, whether or not such a programme was possible given the entrenched conservatism of our institutions and the importance attached to
THE IBSTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
our overseas role One might question whether Britain in the post-war years was defendable if we had cut out all commitments except for those in Europe There was a substantial moral element to our foreign policies then, as there is now , and we valued that. Given the same cicumstances , I think the same decisions would probably be made , at least until Suez. Barnett ' s contention is that we chose social spending and prestige abroad instead of investing in industry These issues were persued to Barnett ' s disgust, larded with sarcasm, especially in The Verdict of Peace , which I found distasteful.
Britain has the strongest economy of the leading industrial nations whilst our armed forces and Britain's role in the new war are the envy of our European neighbours
Corelli Barnett ' s powerful and authoritative analysis is a must for anyone interested in what makes Britain tick in 200 I as much as in the years he covers
Diane Johnstone
THEARCADIANCYPHER
Peter Blake & Paul S Blezard, PanMacrnillan 2001 , pb , £7 .99 . 270pp ISBN 0-330-39119-4
During his work as a fine art restorer Peter Blake noticed that certain paintings by Nicolas Poussin seemed to contain a symbolic reference to a hidden code If his theory was correct he believed it would lead him to the discovery of •the greatest secret of Christianity. '
Blake ' s quest led him to the Languedoc region of France where he claims to have discovered the secret hidden in the paintings The tombs of two of the most significant figures in the Bible.
It is a convoluted tale incorporating Judaism, the Knights Templar and finally , a priest who took a vital secret to his grave Whether or not his theories are correct Blake proposes some interesting explanations to some ancient mysteries
Ann Oughton
NEWTON'SGIFT
David Berlinski, Duckworth, £16.99 , hb, 217pp, ISBN 0-7156-3061-X
This book should perhaps come with a health warning for all those without a grounding in higher mathematics or physics and I would guess that includes most members of the HNS In assessing Newton's achievement Berlinski thinks it necessary to discuss the concepts involved in very great detail and large sections of the book are littered , (I hope that doesn't sound too pejorative), with mathematical formulae and diagrams
However, for readers prepared to pick their way through these dense thickets , some sense of Newton's achievement in laying the
foundations if modem science does emerge , and also some sense of the man and his world Newton was indeed a bailing and contradictory figure For as well as looking forward to the modem , 'scientific' understanding of the natural world , he also looked back-ward to an understanding of the world in terms of magic and supernatural forces Much of his time indeed was devoted to a study of alchemy and biblical prophecy and it is a moot point whether or not he considered these his most important studies This aspect of Newton is touched on only briefly by Berlinski who is concerned mainly with his relevance to the future development of scientific thought. But it has been discussed by the 17th century historian , Christopher Hill and, I discovered from a visit to my local library, has been dealt with at length in Michael White's Isaac Newton : The Last Sorcerer , Fourth Estate 1997 To those interested in understanding Newton in the context of his time , these might also be well worth a read
Neville Firman
JULIUSCAESAR
John Buchan, House of Stratus , 2001 , £8 99 pb 94pp , ISBN l - 84232 - 776 - 3 ' The noblest man that ever lived in the tide of times .'
As John Buchan revealed in this romantic reprinted biography , in Roman eyes , this soldier , law-reformer and statesman had conquered the world and made it Roman Born in I 02BC , of a patrician family and tracing his descent from Aeneas , he was taught , by a Cisalpine Gaul, significantly enough, to love Hellenic culture But though he was described as urbane and kindly, he knew that , in the chaotic state of the Roman world - Crassus had just crushed the Slave Revolt, the redoubtable Mithridates had been checked and Pompey was victorious in Spain' the decisive word would lie with the man who had an army at his back '. Caesar set to work methodically to become a popular favourite . The expedition to Gaul in 58BC probably sprang from his liking for the Cisalpine Gauls and, as Buchan put it , ' he had long been an earnest advocate of the claim of the district north of the Po to the Roman citizenship .' The Aedui , under Rome ' s protection, were now threatened by the Helvetii, in the Swiss lowlands, which gave Caesar the impetus and cause to cross the Alps and begin his nine year campaign. Crossing the Channel in 55BC ' was the kind of feat that fired the imagination of Rome and gave to its performer a mystic aura of invincibility,' but was little more than a footnote in Caesar ' s career Gaul was of much greater import. After the revolt there in 54BC ,
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
the area was reconquered and final victory coincided with the death in Rome of Vercingetorix, ' the greatest soldier - greater than Pompey - that Caesar ever faced in the field. '
It was , indeed, the quality of these people , Buchan believed, which inspired him to bring them into his empire Proof of this wish and ability to benefit from the acquisition of new blood are those illustrious Romans sprung from the provinces - men such as Virgil , Seneca, Hadrian and Trajan
In the Introduction , Buchan hinted at the lasting , enigmatic legacy of this remarkable man Considered in mediaeval times a Father of the Church, Buchan stated that Caesar made ' the world possible for the Christian faith ', and whilst there is ample documentation of his achievements , we have little understanding of why he made them
This book, unannotated, but with a short bibliography, will appeal to amateur historians who find hard facts congenial and are not deterred by Latin quotations untranslated. Buchan was not blinded by his admiration for this interesting man to fail to see that Caesar, though capable of kindness and not gratuitously cruel , was a true child of his time and had no sense of chivalry : his shabby treatment of the noble Vercingetorix attests to this
Marian Hussenbux
COLDITZ:TheDefinitiveHistory
Henry Chancellor, Hodder & Stoughton, 2001 , £20 00 , hb , 39lpp , ISBN 0-340-79494-1
During the Second World War a medieval castle, Colditz, was the high security camp in eastern Germany to which every POW troublemaker, valuable hostage, and persistent escaper was sent. The Allied officers , all labelled 'anti-German', set out to prove that Colditz was not as escape-proof as it was claimed to be, making the name Colditz synonymous with escape. Altogether over 300 prisoners made the attempt and an amazing 32 achieved a 'home run'
Henry Chancellor, with his Definitive History based on the acclaimed Channel 4 series , has written an enthralling book, rich in detail of daring and breathtaking ingenuity.
Based on over 70 interviews with officers and their guards , some of whom have never spoken before, the book weaves together the day-to-day life of captives and captors ; of young men pitting their wits against the organised might of the German Army ; and of how a great deal of tolerance and mutual respect was shown by both sides
Many of the captives were in Colditz from 1940- I 94 5 and their ability to make something out of almost nothing was
Tiffi HISTORICAL
masterful How was it possible to dig a tunnel 200 feet long with cutlery and nails? To use jelly as a mould to make maps and eat it afterwards as nothing could be wasted? And would the glider have flown if there had been time before the Americans arrived ? - of course
There are sad stories here too : how incarceration fed on the minds of some , bringing tragic results But humour prevails, as does the positive attitude within the camp that Britain will win the war as she always does
This is splendid stuff, immensely readable, told with skill and balance; a book for everyone, not just military buffs.
Gwen Sly
THELADIESOFTHEGRANDTOUR
Brian Dolan, HarperCollins , 2001 , £19 .99, hb , ISBN O 00 710532 0
What a refreshing change! A work of non-fiction that reads like a novel. It is the kind of book that gives you a headache , only because you are enjoying so much that you can ' t put it down Brian Dolan has managed to present a new dimension to the Grand Tour in the 18th century He has blended research based on primary and secondary sources to demonstrate the ' intellectual and romantic rite of passage ' that resulted for both the women who crossed the Channel , and also for those who read their letters , political tracts etc
The ' Dramatis Personae ' at the back provides fascinating , factual sketches of their lives to guide you through the chapters The reader is introduced to the hitherto uncharted lives of some remarkable women for example : Hester Piozzi (mother of twelve) , and Charlotte Smith who used her ' tour ' to escape a philandering husband Alongside these ' ladies ' are the more well documented ones such as Mary Wollstonecroft known for her political writings about the French Revolution and women ' s rights
Each chapter focuses on a theme e g ' Intellect, Ideas and Revolution ', ' Health and Sea Breezes ' that cover the motivation and consequences of the ladies travels Their adventures , moral lapses and preoccupation with fashionable clothes are a revelation I was amused by Lady Anna Miller who in her letters from Italy (1776-1777) described all the main attractions ' en route ', but also wrote about ' stiff necks ' and ' uncomfy ' beds Her letters were to become the prototype for future guides to the art galleries of Italy and to signpost the way forward for 19th century women travel writers
How can you sum up such an excellent book ? It is a marvelous read and a box of treasures for the writer of historical fiction who is searching for ' authentic detail ' to add
' feminine' touches to their work. What is even more remarkable is to discover how the Ladies of the Grand Tour underwent a ' mind, body and spirit' change as soon as they reached the Continent. Definitely a book to save your book tokens up for!
Myfanwy Cook
THEDREADFULJUDGEMENT,The
TrueStoryoftheGreatFireofLondon
Neil Hanson, Doubleday 2001 , hb , £16 99 378pp , £16 99 ISBN 0-385-60134-4
The author has written over thirty books including The Custom of the Sea.
The Great Plague of 1665 , known as the Poor ' s Plague because the impoverished, unable to leave the city for the open country , died in their thousands How the Plague manifest itself is described in painstaking detail. Sometimes death came quickly and suddenly , sometimes it caused madness , for some every organ became putrified and, after great suffering , death came as a blessed release
Before the Plague devasted London its population had reached 300,000 . ' The next five largest towns - Norwich, Bristol , Newcaastle , Exeter and York - could muster only 80 ,000 between them .' London was the jewel in the crown, yet , by 6 September 1666 , having burned for four days , medieval London was changed forever , many of its citizens never returned
Neil Hanson ' s book reads like a famil y tragedy. Thomas Farriner, the owner of the ill-fated bakery in Pudding Lane, is forced to flee with his sickly daughter and subsequently live with guilt and doubt rooted in his heart Then the author plays detective as he analyses how the fire could have spread so rapidly and caused such devastation As in all the best detective stories there are many red herrings Throughout its history London was the scene of numerous fires Britain was at war with the Dutch and French Could there have been foul play by the papists? One of the saddest cameos is that of Hubert, the crippled Frenchman, who becomes the scapegoat of the mob , blamed for the destruction of their glorious city.
This book may shock as it spares no detail either of the suffering felt by man or that inflicted upon fellow man However much a great city is battered, it will rise from the ashes to become even greater.
Sarah Crabtre e
THEHOUSEONTHEHILL,The
SamfordHouseoflndustry,1746-1930
Sheila Hardy, pb, 224pp
ISBN 0-9533506-l-4
Using Minute Books , Account Ledgers and Letter Books Sheila Hardy recounts the history of the Workhouse at Tattingstone in Suffolk It catered for the 28 parishes which made up the old Samford Hundred for almost two hundred years She tells the story of the people who passed through its doors , how they fared , what they wore , what they ate and how much it all cost. Poverty was no respecter of persons A report in the Ipswich Journal 1804 stated that Mr William Manley was for many years a solicitor with a lucrative practice and yet be died in the Parish Workhouse
Today the word , ' Workhouse ' conjures images of Oliver Twist and starving orphans In reality such places were mostly run by conscientious people struggling to manage inadequate funds Children were given a basic education and found employment. Everyone enjoyed three meals a day and medical treatment when sick. For the poor there was no alternative to the Workhouse
There is a wealth of information in this well researched slice of social history. It will be an invaluable reference tool for anyone interested in or writing about the subject. There is a comprehensive list of sources , a subject index as well as an index of famil y names. Available only from Sheila Hardy . £10 .00 inc p&p Casterbridge, 8 The Close, Tattingstone, Ipswich IP9 2PD, hardys @ta1k2 l .com
I enjoyed this book in a ' cor! ' sort of a way Cor! - the priceless jewels! Cor! - the extravagant entertainments I Cor! - the coaches and castles and costume balls! Sometimes it reads , entertainingly, comme un ' Mills et Boon '. Women are captivated by ' virile beauty ' and ' male seductiveness '. Much of Marie Antoinette's behaviour is put down to lurv - lack of it from her cold and sexually inept husband, lots of it from her lover, the Swedish Count Axel Fersen
It's high on readability , but fairly low on historical context. The daily life of the courtmeals , entertainment, etiquette - is described in detail , but there's no place for politics Nothing seems to go on outside the palace walls : it's all palace intrigues and scandals over diamond necklaces Like her subject, the author concentrates on private, not public , affairs. Self absorbed and insular, the Queen didn't see the Revolution coming. She
Tiffi HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
evidently thought that what Lever calls the ' common people ' existed only to cheer and adore her, and this is the principal role they play in the biography, except when they are turned into ' madmen ' and ' crazed individuals ' lunging at the Queen
Although Lever's sympathy for Marie Antoinette is worn like a ribbon in the hat, she does not neglect to mention her failings - her frivolity , the way she alienated many people at court, her extravagance - but there's no analysis of how these traits interplayed with political events to bring about the downfall of the monarchy. Lever points out that it was not Marie Antoinette's spending which emptied the state's coffers , and no doubt this is true But this is not how people perceived it. It's all very well being able to blend ' refined luxury ' with ' innocent purity ' at Trianon, but when there's a hungry mob at your gates it's hardly likely to win their hearts The pity is that Marie Antoinette was too wrapped up in herself to realise it
It's this emphasis on the personal that makes the first half of the book, describing the period when the Queen was called upon to do nothing but dress well and spend money, the most successful. The approach is not adequate to present the complexities of the revolution , but it does come into its own again when describing her trial and death. In fairness , the book does not purport to be a history of the revolution What it does give is a sense of the subject's personality - not , in my opinion , a very attractive personality, but a fascinating and, in the end, a tragic one
In her final sentence, Lever sums up Marie Antoinette as a ' sentimental and frivolous princess ' who ' knew better than any other sovereign how to bring to perfection the aristocratic art of living of pre-Revolutionary France '. It is this art that the author celebrates Whether or not you believe this is something worthy of celebration depends on your political views . Nevertheless , it's any enjoyable book. The things those French aristos got up to!
Lucienne Boyce
THEMAMMOTHBOOKOFHOWIT HAPPENEDINBRITAIN
Jon E. Lewis,(ed) Robinson 2001 , £7 99 , pb 638pp , ISBN 1-884119-132-9
This is a collection of eye-witness accounts of events between 55BC and AD2000 and , while many were fascinating, I didn ' t think the book lived up to the title and cover claim completely Many of the events described , such as major battles, while having an effect on Britain, took place elsewhere Not all of them , such as accounts of life in service, were ' great historical moments .'
In any such compilation choices have to be made of what to leave out , but I was surprised to find no mention of for instance, Simon de Montfort or Llewellen, nothing about the Restoration Theatre , great artists or architecture, 1640s witch hunts , canals and steam ships No record of the Highland Clearances , the suffrage movement, the poor law and changes in local government or the first woman Prime Minister Shakespeare was mentioned onl y in passing and is surely more important than the cremation of Shelley, the publication of Ulysses or the first performance of the Sex Pistols
Space was obviously a consideration and I think too much was attempted For me it would have been better to have one book for major political events and another for social , technical , artistic and literary trends
Marina Oliver
PRINCEOFPRINCESTheLifeof Potemkin
Simon Sebag Montefiore , Phoenix Press , 2000 , £9 99 , pb , 656pp , ISBN I 84212 438 2 I knew next to nothing about Potemkin when I picked up this book and grew steadily more interested in him the more I read Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin is an enormous subject; the man was a physical and mental giant, and the author has brought him brilliantly to life. Nowadays he is mainly remembered as a lover of Catherine the Great but he was a great deal more than that both to Catherine and to Russia
Catherine and Potemkin enjoyed a love affair together, even making a secret marriage Later when the affair cooled, they pulled off the trick of creating a friendship that endured for the rest of their lives As a result of this unique advantage in the affairs of the Russian state, Potemkin was able to rule as Catherine ' s unofficial co-Tsar He was responsible for the annexing of vast areas of land and the subsequent building of many towns ; Sebastopol and Odessa being the most well known of these Potemkin towns. He was in charge of the Russian Army and never lost a battle. He was a humane general for the times ; ordering extra food , clothing and medical supplies He had a ferocious intelligence and lived on a breathtaking scale of magnificence Women adored him and foreign diplomats feared him.
Today we might question bis imperialistic outlook but it is impossible not to admire bis political acumen. His motto was ' improve events as they arrive ' and he most certainly did .. This beautifully written book restores the reputation of an astonishing man Lalage Clay
ARTHURTHEDRAGONKING
Howard Reid , Headline, 2001 , hb , 244pp, ISBN 0-7472-7557-2
Rather than having Celtic or Roman roots , does the legend of King Arthur actually originate amongst the warrior cultures of the Scythians , Samartians and Alans who came from central Asia? Drawn into the Roman Empire by the late 2nd century, some of these warriors were settled in Britain, and others in Gaul - where the legends now have their strongest power.
Reid sets out his methodology , and acknowledges his debt to Littleton and Malcor's work (From Scythia to Camelot, 1994) It's a huge debt , to the extent that his book might serve as a primer for Littleton and Malcor's work. Unfortunately, any academic weight that Reid's book might have had is undermined by an informal approach entailing no citations or footnotes to other works. There is , however, a bibliography and the well-clued-up Arthurian reader will be able to trace many ideas to the works listed.
With sweeping statements about Roman Britain and flaws in his argument due to ignoring some of the evidence , Reid is mainly unconvincing He veers around the problems and themes of mythology, and appears to present his interpretation of the legends as history The book can serve as a gentle introduction to this intriguing aspect of Arthurian studies , but the reader will find the rigour and depth required to explore the subject presented more thoroughly in Littleton and Malcor's own work.
This is the book of the BBC TV series exploring the myths and realities behind the Viking invasions of the British Isles and Ireland From the terrifying raids at the end of the 8th century, to the last incursions in the I Ith century, the story of the Vikings is mapped out. Archaeology, history, linguistics and DNA analysis are all taken into careful consideration
Richards scrupulously weighs up the written evidence, constantly pointing out that the Vikings get a bad press from many of the sources due to bias . This sometimes gets wearing, as the Vikings undeniably struck terror into the local populace by slaughtering those who opposed them, carrying others into slavery and generally making themselves a nuisance . But Richards carefully charts the Viking raids, which eventually changed in nature to encompass settlement and partial integration with the residents of the British Isles
TI-IE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
In particular, it's good to see results from more recent archaeological work - such as Kaupang , Karmoy (both in Norway) , Tarbat (Scotland) - as well as the better known ones such as Coppergate (York) Scholars may well take Richards to task for some of his sweeping generalisations 'Northumbria was a backwater' and 'York was a wasteland after 400 AD until the 7th century' , for example But Richards does confess that he's a prehistorian, so perhaps should be forgiven, particularly as he was undoubtedly able to approach the subject of the Vikings with a fresh eye. The book is written in a very personal tone, instantly recognisable from Richards' on-screen presence .
The results of the DNA analyses were not complete when Richards finished this book, so hopefully the TV series incorporates this aspect of his exploration But in all, it's a useful book, as a general introduction to the subject that brings together a variety of evidence and integrates it well
Mary was proclaimed Queen of England on 20 July 1553 As an essential part of what she saw as her God given mission to restore Catholicism and papal supremacy in England she set about burning at the stake Protestant heretics with a ruthlessness which earned her the nickname , ' Bloody Mary '. During her short reign - she died in 1558 - almost 300 Protestants were burnt. They chose to suffer an agonising death rather than recant and embrace the Catholic faith
Jasper Ridley captures the fierce brutality of Tudor times and grips the reader with his narrative of Mary ' s reign of terror. Or , rather, he doesn ' t. This is a slipshod and casual piece of work. The author ' s treatment of an emotive subject is bland and predictable Facts are presented carelessly and- unforgiveable in a supposedly scholarly work - hardly any sources are given for the information presented Some chapters have merely a single source note . Far too much reliance is placed on Foxe ' s The Book of the Martyrs Whole chunks of text appear to have been paraphrased without any attempt at analysis or reinterpretation of the material in the light of subsequent knowledge There is an obvious anti Catholic/Mary bias which makes for uncomfortable reading Surprisingly, the only Catholic to emerge with any approval is Philip of Spain, whom Ridley credits with trying to stop the burnings
Bloody Mary 's Martyrs can be seen as an attempt to demonstrate man ' s inhumanity to man A salutory reminder that Islam doesn ' t
hold a monopoly when it comes to extremism I ought to have been transfixed with horror , especially as the book is scattered with gruesome prints from The Book of the Martyrs Instead, I was bored By the end, the parade of victims had blended into one and I had become desensitised to their suffering
A wasted oportunity
DEATHATTHEPRIORY
Shirley Skinner
James Ruddick, Atlantic Books, 2001 , £14 99 , hb , 209pp, ISBN 1-903809-04-5
The murder of Charles Bravo in 1875 was a cause celebre in its time and still fascinates today
. One night , newly-married Charles Bravo is taken violently ill. He lingers for several days dying slowly and agonisingly from antimony poisoning Clearly someone has poisoned him. Was it his wife , Florence, previously married and also with a scandalous past or her companion, a woman who he had wanted to dismiss? Or was it a disgruntled servant ? No-one was ever brought to justice so the question remains Whodunit?
I use the last word purposel y, because, although Charles Bravo ' s murder was all too real , the situation and circumstances of the murder and the list of suspects could ha ve come from a fictional murder mystery Every body had a motive Everybody had the opportunity It happened behind closed doors , after dark in a respectable middle-class home in a quiet street. The scene is set as they say for a string of scandalous revelations .
However, the author writes of the circumstances leading up to and beyond the murder without sensationalism and his research has been impeccable He analyses the evidence with a clear eye But the book isn ' t dry It is as compulsive as a novel.
The main strength of the book is that Ruddick has come up with a solution, one I find entirely plausible Not only is there reader satisfaction in the solving at last of this long enduring mystery , this book also provides a compelling insight into middle-class life of mid-19th century England. Florence Bravo emerges as a fascinating character, a victim, as tragic as any in Victorian fiction But this is a novel that never could have been written at the time due to the sensational aspects of the story . However, poor Florence 's' eventual decline and death which Ruddick narrates so movingly would have completely satisfied the morals of the day.
This is an authoritative and informative account of an event that was stranger than fiction I found it fascinating and like the best fiction I burned much midnight oil because I just couldn ' t put it down
Sally Zigmond
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
QUEENOFSCIENCE
Mary Somerville, Canongate Classics , this edition 2001, £8 99, pb , 434pp, ISBN l-84195-136-6
Mary Somerville was an extremely talented 19th-century mathematician and scientistSomerville College, Oxford was named after her Her memoirs , first published in 1873 , are now republished in this unexpurgated edition, and fascinating reading they make.
Like so many other women of her generation, Mary Somerville had only a rudimentary formal education, but this didn't stop a programme of self-education that continued throughout her life She secretly taught herself algebra at an early age and, in the teeth of her first husband's objections , she employed tutors to teach her geology , Italian and French With her second husband's help, Mary became a renowned authority on celestial mechanics.
These chronicles are entertaining in their own right - Mary relates meetings with famous people, including Sir Walter Scott, Pope Pius VII , James Fenimore Cooper and Charles Babbage She describes her European tour, which included a close-up view of the recently erupted Mount Vesuvius.
The memoirs are also valuable for the wealth of social history they contain Mary often describes clothes, hairstyles, table manners , traditions , pastimes and noteworthy events of her day, including a lovely vignette of Count Rumford's 'steam kitchen' , which unfortunately blew up and killed Naldi , the opera singer
Mary Somerville's personal recollections were written in the hope of motivating other women to educate themselves and are an admirable testimony to the success of such undertakings. What was a valuable lesson in the 19th century is still valid in the 21st, and not just for women. It's inspiring stuff
Sara Wilson
MASKERADO
Tivadar Soros, Canongate, 2000 (originally published in Esperanto in 1965) £7 99, hb, 275pp, ISBN l-84195-180-3
Tivadar Soros was a Jewish Hungarian lawyer This is his own absorbing account of how he protected his family , himself and other Jews from the Nazi-inspired terror in Budapest towards the end of WW2 It may seem to be yet another in the recent trend of published Holocaust experiences , but Maskerado was originally published in Esperanto in 1965 and only recently translated into English Soros was a highly resourceful , efficient and by all accounts , charismatic figure and a prominent member of the Budapest Jewish community One of his sons is George Soros , the US financier. The
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
narrat.Ive is plain and generally descriptive It is not meant as a book of enduring literary merit, but its value stands by itself. Although , in comparative terms, Budapest escaped some of the worst horrors perpetrated against its Jewish population, there were still numerous stories of atrocity and evil. Soros does not dwell on these
There are good notes supplied by the translator and a basic bibliography, but no references in the text to the notes , which are at the end of the book. It would be more helpful to the reader if they were either footnoted or highlighted in the text.
Doug Kemp
CIDLDREN'S
THESHAKESPEARESTEALER
Gary Blackwood, The O'Brien Press , 1999 , £4 .99 , pb , 216pp , ISBN 0-86278-634-7
At the age of seven Widge is taken from the orphanage and apprenticed to a rector, Dr Bright. Dr Bright is a medical doctor as well as a rector and Widge is taught how to help him prepare his medicines and potions. But Widge also learns something else from Dr Bright. A form of shorthand which the doctor has worked out himself and which he calls charactery. After he has mastered it Widge finds out why he had to learn it. The doctor cannot be bothered writing his own sermons so he sends Widge round all the local churches and makes him write down the sermons This state of affairs continues until Widge is fourteen when a mysterious stranger comes to Dr Bright and buys Widge's apprenticeship from him He is taken south to Leicester where he meets his new master , a Simon Bass , who tells him that he is to be taken to London. There he will be taken to the theatre where he will copy down in Dr Bright's charactery all the words of Hamlet.
In due course Widge sets out for London in the company of the terrifying Falconer All goes according to plan. They reach London and Widge is taken to the theatre . He transcribes the text of Hamlet. And then he loses his notes. Too frightened to go back to Falconer without the notes he goes back to the theatre to look for them. When discovered by the players he tells them he wants to become an actor They accept this explanation and Widge who now becomes an apprentice. He intends to search for his notes , and, if he does not find them, steal the play-book and slip away back to Falconer. But things do not work out like that. Widge begins to make friends , and he has never had friends before More than that, Widge, a boy without even a proper name , begins to feel for the first time in his life, that he is now a member of a family But,
at the same time, he is afraid that if he does not give a copy of Hamlet to Falconer, then Falconer will seek him out and kill him It is a case of friendship and loyalty versus survival and betrayal. What choice does Widge make?
This is an exciting stmy written around Shakespeare and it contains much detailed background information about the Elizabethan theatre. This story of Shakespeare's time has a curious relevance to our own The protection of copyright is once again a burning question with the advent of the internet and electronic publications A fascinating and unusual book. Exciting and thought-provoking
MaryMoffat
MANA'SSTORY
Peter Dickinson, Macmillan, 1999 , £3 99, pb , 176 pp, ISBN 0-330-37313-7
This is the last of the four stories which make up The Kin a story about children in Prehistoric Africa The Kin was first published, in 1998 , as a hardback book of 600 pages Then, presumably because it was thought that a length of 600 pages was rather daunting for a ten-year-old, it was split up into four separate books It is now going to be published as a single book again, this time in paperback.
The children are all members of the Moonhawk Kin, or tribe In the earlier stories we heard how the tribe was attacked by murderous strangers and how they set out to find new Good Places In the third book they spent some time with a tribe which lived on islands on a marsh In this book we learn what happened to the Kin when they cross the marsh They settle down and then they find out what the people of the marsh were afraid of and why they have taken refuge on the islands They are hiding from a tribe of killers The Kin plan how to defeat the killers and then travel into their country to find new Good Places. The warriors are all killed but one of the women has a baby by one of the Kin Mana wonders about the tribe of killers Why did they kill? Was it because in their own Good Place the hunting was too easy and they had to prove that they were men?
The children really come to life There is Suth, young but already a natural leader, Noli to whom Moonhawk comes in dreams and warns her of danger to the kin, Ko who is desperate to prove himself and win the respect of the others, Tinu who is very self conscious of her twisted mouth and slurred speech but who is very clever and whose ideas time and time again save the kin , and Mana the sensitive one
I quite enjoyed this book but then I read the original single book. Anyone reading this book is, in effect, reading the last quarter of a book. It is rather like going into a cinema
when the film is halfway through I gave this to another reviewer but she was unable to get into it. I am sure that was because she had not read the beginning. A point to ponder. The original publication of The Kin was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal In its original format The Kin is a book for teenagers but the four short separate books could be read by children of the 10+ age group
Mary Moffat
TIIlNKMEBACK
Catherine Forde, House of Lochar, 2001 , £5.99 , pb , 160pp, ISBN 1-899863-78-8
Think Me Back is described as a supernatural mystery based on the Clydebank Blitz Set in Clydebank in March 2001 , sixty years after the blitz, Peter Smeaton, know as Pete-Smeet, moves there from London with his family when his father gets a job as an architect with Milligan Construction heir new home, once a semi-detached house , still shows the rubble and props of the other half which was bombed in 1941. Pete hears sounds through his bedroom wall and meets Beth Winters , a girl of his own age , who once lived next door and is searching for a box that her mother packed for her on the night before she was sent to live with an Aunt , well away from the dangerous area of Clydebank He meets Dunny , the boy whose house borders the Smeaton's new garden and who uses the old air-raid shelter as a den and comes into contact with a mysterious woman who disappears as quickly as she came What is it all about?
I had some difficulty in relating the action which came thick and fast, to one single day'Pete , you're some lad,' said Mr Milligan, 'only here one day and ' but this was a good story and well told ; a cross between a ghost story and a time-slip and the small amounts of local dialect helped to give it colour and authenticity
Marilyn Sherlock
ANGEL'SSNARE
Dennis Hamley , Scholastic, 2001 , £3.99 , pb , 254pp, ISBN 0-439-01371
This is the fifth and penultimate book in the Joslin de Lay medieval murder series aimed at young teenagers The action takes in and around Hereford in 1325, at the time of the completion of the cathedral Crispin Thurn and Joslin de Lay , two young minstrels , have returned from their adventures abroad Crispin wants to claim his share of the small estate which has been seized by his brother Luke. However , when they visit they find the house has been heavily fortified. Equally mysterious , it is deserted and there is no trace of either Luke or Crispin's two sisters , Madge and Christina The local serfs are frightened and uncooperative and there strange rumours of
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
hidden tunnels , and lights seen in the deserted tower Meanwhile there is murder in the cathedral. A young nun is discovered to have fallen off the cathedral tower. Then a mangled stranger's body is found in a tree
I found this book difficult to get into , mainly because I hadn't read the previous books and such explanations as there were only served to add to the confusion However, once I got into it, it zipped along with enough twists and turns to keep the average ghoulish eleven to thirteen year-old happy Having said that , I found the characterisation wooden, the dialogue stilted and there was little attempt to see things through medieval eyes It read very much as if twenty-first century characters were play-acting in fancy dress For example, peasants called their owner 'Crispin' when, surely, it should be 'Master' or 'Sir'? The prioress , who was referred throughout as 'Agatha', was addressed as Sister Agatha instead of Lady Prioress or Dame, and so on The immense importance of rank to the medieval mind seems to be unknown to the author. And no nun would be called Freya, the name of the Norse fertility goddess! Furthermore, it was illegal for anyone to fortify a building without a License to Crenellate, so it was unlikely that the villainous Luke would have done so Nor would Sir Redvers (name is another anachronism) be likely to give Crispin's father half his estate. A knight had to have an annual income of between £20 - £40 - in comparison a ploughman earned thirty-five shillings a year, under 9% of £20 To give away land worth , at the lowest estimate, £10 a year, would be giving away a fortune Nor would a nun be able to leave the nunnery at will , as Sister Christina does Frankly, as history I found the book unconvmcmg and I cannot honestly recommend it except as a pass-the-time-of-day book.
Elizabeth Hawksley
SORCERYANDGOLD
Rosalind Kerven, Cambridge University Press , 1998, £5 .25 , 140 pp , ISBN 0-521-46878-7
This book forms part of the Cambridge Reading Scheme for Key Stage Two. The story , set amid the rich farmlands , snowy mountains and glaciers , and lava plains of Viking Iceland, is written around the theme of mistaken identity An old man, a gentle Irishman, is mistaken for an evil sorcerer who has been casting spells and causing sheep and babies to die When Ruadh, the Irishman , is driven from the house of Ingrid's foster parents, Ingrid feels sorry for him She wants to help him and she rides after him but she comes across the real sorcerer instead He lets her go and she returns to the farm Ingrid is
not the only one who wants to help the old Irishman The slave boy Kjartan knows where he is hiding and takes food to him. Kjartan is a very unusual slave. He considers that he should not be a slave and is very insolent.
Soon, despite her better judgement, Ingrid finds herself helping him although she knows that if she is found helping a man believed to be the sorcerer she could be put to death Finally a daring plan is formed to try and get Ruadh out of Iceland and on a ship to Ireland.
The story moves at a fast pace and races to the final scene where Ruadh and the real sorcerer fmally confront each other on a cliff top above a deep fiord. Will the Christian Ruadh defeat the forces of evil? And what is the real identity ofKjartan?
Sorcery and Gold paints a comprehensive picture of early Viking Iceland. The superstition of the Vikings ; their religion ; Viking raiding ; the Assembly or Althing ; Viking feuds ; all are brought into the story . There is also a useful historical note Told in the first person by Ingrid who really comes alive . She is a very caring person with a lot of courage She does not set out to be a heroine but when she finds she is inadvertently faced with danger she does not flinch from it. A first rate story with a sound historical background 9+
This is the first of six Roman mysteries set in the first century AD and is aimed at nine to eleven year olds , with the National Curriculum and the resurgence in the demand for Latin in mind The heroine Flavia, the daughter of a sea-captain, lives in Ostia, the port of Ancient Rome Next door is Jonathan, a Jewish boy whose family is secretly Christian They are joined by Nubia, an African slave girl , who is bought by Flavia's father from the evil slave dealer Venalicius , and Lupus , a mute beggar boy The four children set out to discover who is beheading the watch dogs of Ostia Their suspicions at first fall on Avitus , a reclusive man with a hatred of dogs
They meet other people during their search for the truth, for example the handsome Libertus , who offers the children several important clues . During their quest , they learn not only to use their heads there is plenty of danger but also to look beneath the surface and realize that appearances can sometimes be deceptive
The author Caroline Lawrence is impressively qualified She studied Classical Archaeology at Oxford and currently teaches Greek , Latin and Hebrew and her erudition shows The book has maps of Jonathan and
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
Flavia's houses and of ancient Ostia, all drawn with admirable clarity so that one can follow the children's adventures around the town There is a lively glossary at the back to explain unfamiliar terms and give pronunciations (She must have tested the latter out on children ; it's impossible to get wrong!)
The story itself is enjoyable, unobtrusively informative , and exciting, and the four very different children give the reader varied characters with whom to identify. The book also has a moral dimension. Ostia was a multi-cultural city and the story reflects that. The glimpses we have into Jonathan's home life , for example, with his Judeo-Cbristian background, are very different from what we learn about the wretched life of Lupus , the mute beggar boy The four children must learn to understand and respect each other My one criticism is that the characterization is too simplistic. The success of the Harry Potter books has shown that children can cope with complex emotions I hope the characters of Flavia and her friends will deepen in the subsequent books Children from nine to twelve , who are good readers , should enjoy this book. The history is accurate and the writing is of a high standard. Schools would find it a popular addition to their libraries
Elizabeth Hawksley
I enjoyed reading THE THIVES OF OSTIA. It is set in ancient Rome I loved all the mystery parts . It was a good idea to have a section at the back where you could look up Roman words . I found the book a bit hard to get into but at the end it was easier. I give it eight out of ten
Lucy Beggs , aged nine and three quarters
THEROPESCHOOL,
Sam Llewellyn, Walker Books , £4 99, pb , 133 pp , ISBN O 7445 2102 5
It is set in 1813 when England is at war against France and America. Entirely by accident, 11 year-old Kate Griffith finds herself disguised as a boy on one of the King's ships She learns quite a few new skills like tying knots , how to put up sails and what ship-board life is really like But that is nothing compared to the adventure that awaits her on the rough seas
This book was not as good as I thought it would be since I found myself losing interest after every paragraph or so , probably because the book is more suitable for children of 7-11. Unless you are interested in stories about the sea you would not enjoy this book except that Kate's adventures are very exciting and thrilling
Sophie-Ann Leyland (aged 13)
NUMBERTHESTARS
Lois Lowry. Collins. pb 137pp First published in US by Houghton Mifflin Co 1989 and in Britain by Collins 1990 £3.99. ISBN 0-00-673677- 7
Number the Stars tell the story of two Danish girls , ten year old Annemarie and her best friend , Ellen, living in Copenhagen at the outbreak of WWII. But Ellen is a Jewess Until the German occupation this had not mattered and still didn't to the two friends but now the political situation has changed radically and with it all other aspects of life Underground movements spring up and an escape route is organised to get the Jews out of Denmark and into neutral Sweden. This book follows the lives of the two girls and paints a graphic picture It has pace, excitement, tension and humanity . Set in Denmark in 1943 and based on a real and very successful escape route set up by the Danes for the Jews , it gives yet another dimension to the struggle with Nazi Germany Winner of the Newberry Award, it will take its place on the bookshelves along with countless others depicting life across Europe in the dark days of the 1940s and will certainly enhance primary school studies of WWII
Marilyn Sherlock
NUMBER THE STARS is set in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1943 . The Nazi soldiers have invaded and are trying to round up the Jews. Annemarie is a 10 year old girl and her best friend , Ellen, is a Jew After her older sister, Lise , is killed by Nazi soldiers she is determined to save Ellen and her family. Annemarie is getting more and more desperate until at last she is informed about a dangerous rescue plan. This is one of the best books I have ever read and I would recommend it to anybody from 9 years upwards.
Louise Knock. 11 years.
HOLDMYHANDANDRUN
Margaret McAllister, Oxford University Press , 2000 , £5 99, Trade Paperback. 127 pages ISBN 0-19-271769-3 This book was first published in 1999 It is set in the north-east of England in the sixteenth century. When Canon Clare's second wife dies his sister comes to look after him and his two daughters But Aunt Latimer turns out to be not only sadistic but also mentally unbalanced and the girls are subjected to savage beatings. Thirteen-year-old Kezia takes her little half-sister, Beth, and runs away They face hunger , hardship and betrayal before Kezia finds a kind of a home for them when she gets a job looking after a confused, demented old woman . But this is more than just a story about a flight from child abuse. It is also about guilt
and evading responsibilities. Kezia has been told to go to Collywell Cross. This is a caring community run by Hugh Fairlamb and his wife Mary. Kezia will be cared for but she puts off asking where it is because she knows it is the place where she will have to face the truth Kezia thinks of all the mistakes she has made and the lies she has told. She set out to try to help Beth, but has she really cared for her? She nearly let her drink bad water. She was nearly arrested for witchcraft. Beth fell ill while in her care and was also trapped in a house fire. Kezia also knows she has hurt her father deeply She will have to face all this at Collywell Cross and she is not ready for that yet. But Kezia and Beth eventually find their way to Collywell Cross where they find a place of healing and caring, a place of learning and also of fun , a place above all of love, and where Mary Fairlarnb manages to help Kezia And her father when he , too, is brought to Collywell Cross
This book is set in the north-east of England in the sixteenth century and has been very carefuJJy researched It is about real places but they have been fictionalised . For example Canon Clare is attached to Cutherham Cathedral - which is probably Durham I would have preferred the places to have kept their real names.
This is an exciting story with an authentic historical background and some very deep undertones A book to make the reader think Teenage
Mary Moffat
THEHAGSTONE
David Oakden, Anglia Young Books , 2001, £4 25 , 50 pp , ISBN I-871173-61-2
This story is set during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in 1575 . At that time people believed in lucky charms to protect them from harm One such charm was known as the hagstone It was just a stone with a hole through the middle. The hole could be either natural or man-made Some hagstones were so large that people could crawl through them. Others were so small that they could be worn round the neck. This is the story of one hagstone which really did protect its wearer.
Tom Kett is the son of a rich wool merchant. It is his tenth birthday and he begs his mother to let him go to the Fair. Reluctantly she agrees and he leaves in the company of two of the servants Before he goes he hangs the house hagstone round his neck. While at the Fair Tom gets separated from the servants. He is attacked and his clothes stolen. Then he is tied up and thrown on a cart . He is taken to the cottage of a poor shepherd and left there. The poor family are told he is mad but the shepherd eventually believes Tom's story He tells his daughter to
TIIB illSTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
lead Tom to the outskirts of the town All goes well until they are caught by the thieves again. But Tom's father has raised the hue-and-cry and is racing to the rescue. And Tom is about to discover for himself the power of the hags tone .
This little book is only about l 0,000 words long but what a lot it manages to pack into its 50 pages For a start it is a rattling good story which moves at a furious pace And it still manages to include much detail about Elizabethan England There is the annual Fair with its traders, singers, entertainers - and tricksters . There is the contrast between the fine town house of the rich merchant and the little cottage of the poor shepherd. There is even an explanation of the effects of the enclosures And much more There is even a slight hint of rite of passage And all enhanced with a series of black and white illustrations. Comes complete with a historical note. Truly good things come in small packages . 7-11
Mary Moffat
ALONGWAYHOME
Ann Turnbull , Walker, 1997, £3 .99, 128pp, ISBN 0-7445-5496-9
I really enjoyed A Long Way Home It was easy to understand. The book is about a girl called Helen Where Helen is living , they decide that they have to send her to an orphanage , as there is no longer room for her because her mother has died from the flu and her mother was a cook in the house Helen doesn't want to go to the orphanage so she runs away from her home. She decides that she will become a servant to someone but this proves difficult as most of the servant jobs need written applications and references and Helen has none of these. However, she finds a job with the Grice family. Mr Grice isn't too bad but Mrs Grice is horrible and works Helen like a slave Then Helen finds the Petty ' s who are a much nicer couple and have two children called Irene and Dennis From there , Helen tries to find her Father and his family. I would recommend this book to children aged 8-1 l years old.
Charlotte Kemp aged 11
The book is set in Birmingham and Shropshire in 1930 It is a very moving tale, written clearly and with excellent observation, imbued with the atmosphere , the greys and browns of provincial England between the Wars
Doug Kemp
US/CANADA
TITLES
'US/Canada'heremeans thatthefollowingbooks not The are published, but necessarilyset,in UnitedStatesorCanada.
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: BIBLICAL
UNSPOKEN
Francine Rivers , $ 12 .99 (£8.09), 0842335986
Tyndale House, 2001, l 75pp , hb , ISBN
King David of Israel has it all : wealth, power, women, and the love of God. But when he spies a beautiful woman bathing on her rooftop , David risks everything when he takes her as a lover. For Bathsheba is a married woman, and when she becomes pregnant by David, not only her life but the very kingdom is threatened So David concocts a plan to fob the child off as Bathsheba ' s husband's but Uriah is no simple dupe , and God ' s plan for David and Bathsheba sets them on a difficult path to redemption
The author does a competent job of retelling the biblical story of David and Bathsheba, and her portrayal of the doomed Uriah is both vivid and poignant. But unlike Rahab (Unashamed) and Tamar (Unveiled) , both of whom are strong , active heroines, Bathsheba appears as a rather passive victim. This , combined with the fact that the David and Bathsheba story suffers from the novella-length format , makes Unspoken far less compelling than either Unashamed or Unveiled. (Again, please note this book, like the others in the Lineage of Grace series , is written with an evangelical Christian point of view.)
Karen Essex has written a well researched , engrossing account of Kleopatra VIl, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt. Like most stories of this queen, it begins with the death of her mother when Kleopatra was less than six years old. The present book (a sequel is to be published in August of 2002) concentrates on her childhood - fully half the story takes place before she is thirteen. Kleopatra tells how the child grew up motherless and learned to deal with a pathetic fool of a father , two usurping, murderous sisters , a petulant younger brother who demanded that she be his queen and wife , and numerous scheming court eunuchs , Roman politicians, and Greek scholars She learned to speak several languages (and became the first Ptolemy in 300 years who could converse in Egyptian) , developed a first-class mind , and survived an amazing number of attempts on her life This book ends just as Kleopatra is to meet the great Julius Caesar for the first time , in the well-known scene where she is smuggled into her own palace wrapped in a rug Kleopatra and its subject are fascinating , and I only wish I could immediately pick up the second volume
Elizabeth Gamer
SPQRI:TheKing'sGambit
SPQRII:TheCatilineConspiracy
John Maddox Roberts, St. Martin ' s Minotaur, 2001 , $13 95/C$19 95 each , 274 pp/278pp , tpb , ISBN 0-312-27705-9 (I) and ISBN : o-312-21106-1 <m-
How glorious! Finally, the reissue of this fabulous mystery series! American readers are well aware of how impossible it has been to find copies of these novels , but here they are , and well worth the wait.
Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger, highborn and connected to the most powerful in the last century of the Roman Republic , is just starting out in public life As the commander of the local vigiles in the Subura district in SPQR I , Decius is determined to make a name for himself, and that he does In a Rome filled with violence and evil , Decius has his hands full. He gets no help from officials ; he is bribed and threatened Although Decius comes close to losing his life, he is determined to bring the evildoers to
justice, despite the will of many in the corrupt government.
SPQR II finds Decius now a junior senator and investigator. The Roman legions have just vanquished their foreign enemies. Although the Roman Republic should be celebrating its glorious military triumphs , there is no peace on Rome·s streets. There is murder. There are rumors of worse to come. Does a conspiracy to overthrow the government exist within Rome· s own government? Decius puts himself on the line to discover the sinister truth.
Decius is a joy Funny , insightful , self-deprecating all at the same time , Decius is also painfully aware of the shortcomings of the powerful and the corruption of power Yet he has aspirations to prove himself worthy of that power. The characters - mostly historical - are delightful and superbly drawn The map of 70 B.C. Rome and the glossary are invaluable Roberts teaches us history and geography , politics and fashion, weaponry and medicine , all while we·re enjoying ourselves greatly. Although the market is glutted by Roman mysteries , I was truly impressed by Roberts ' research and his seamless ability to convert histmy into mystery . These books are must reads for historical mystery fans
Ilysa
Magnus
DRINKEROFBLOOD
Lynda S Robinson, Mysterious Press, 200 l , $12 .95/C$l8 95 (£8 07) , 290 pp , tpb , ISBN 0-446-67751-5
In Robinson·s fifth Lord Meren mystery, Meren continues his surreptitious efforts to find the killer of his friend and queen, the beloved Nefertiti , wife of Akhenaten Hated throughout Egypt , Akhenaten was challenged by the seemingly compliant Nefertiti for many years over his routing of the traditional gods in favor of the Aten. Many welcomed Akhenaten ' s death, but what of Nefertiti?
Meren, the Eyes and Ears of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, runs foul of the Living God in his efforts to find Nefertiti ' s killer. While Meren is hunted after an assassination plot against Tut fails, he continues to seek the villain , the Drinker of Blood Moving back and forth between the past and present, the suspense builds beautifully while the reader is left to wonder who has set Meren up for a fall.
This is a marvelous series Those who haven ' t read Robinson in the past should probably start at the beginning, but it isn ' t really a necessity. Although Meren is obviously moving closer to discover who killed Nefertiti, it gives Robinson lots of opportunities to use historical details, plot with tension , and fully develop her fascinating characters
Ilysa Magnus
ATHOUSANDSHIPS:AGEOF BRONZE,v.1
Eric Shanower, Image Comics , 2001 , $29 95 (£12.43) , 223pp , hb , ISBN l 582402213
Originally serialized in the comic book series Age of Bronze , issues 1-9
An accursed family ; a deadly oath; a fiery prophecy ; a beautiful woman ; a bitter conflict leading both sides to utter disaster : these are the elements of the Trojan War, one of the world's great epics. The story of the abduction of Helen and the ultimate fall of Troy after a ten-year-long war has been told and retold many , many times , but rarely with the panache and verve of Eric Shanower's epic comic book version This is no mere retelling of the Iliad , for Shanower goes back to the very beginning of the ancient tale and faithfully retells it in beautiful black-and-white drawings that bring the Bronze Age Aegean vividly to life
In addition to the story itself, Age of Bronze includes information on the Trojan War , as well as an extensive bibliography A work in progress , this volume takes us only as far as the launching of the thousand ships the complete story will take many issues to complete I can hardly wait for the rest of the story, and can't recommend this work highly enough Age of Bronze is brilliantly done, and a "must read" for any fan of history , historical novels , or graphic novels
India Edghill
WARLOCK
Wilbur Smith , St. Martin·s, 2001, 549 pp , $27 95 , hb. ISBN 0-312-27823-3
Pharaoh Tamose is killed in the desert during a military campaign against the Hyksos His son , Prince Nefer , is too young to take over the reins of power, and a regent, Naja , is appointed- by the point of a sword So begins Wilbur Smith ' s new adventure of ancient Egypt.
Taita , wise in the ways of the supernatural and adept in magic, has been in the desert wandering for many years since the death of his beloved Queen Lostris , Tamose •s mother. Recognizing by signs given to him that forces of evil are threatening the throne and the land of Egypt , Taita returns to prepare the young Nefer to take his rightful place as Egypfs Pharaoh But those same forces of evil , personified in Naja and his cohorts , are not easily destroyed.
In a novel full of political intrigue, in a landscape that is at the same time barren and complex , the characters expand and grow by Smith ' s talented hand Even though we recognize it is a foregone conclusion that Nefer will rule , it is the getting there that is all the fun.
In her first novel , Reisert has created a mesmerizing re-imagining of the tale of Shakespeare ' s Macbeth As seen through the eyes of Gilly , a mysterious young woman on a dangerous quest for vengeance , the story unfolds dramatically towards an inevitable end.
Having been rescued by two hut-dwelling wise-women , Gilly has spent seven years struggling to come to grips with memories of a happy childhood tragically cut short Her mission takes her from a small hut in the wilds of Birnam Wood to the house of Lord and Lady Macbeth. Later, she finds herself working in Macbeth·s household while searching for a way to exact her revenge on them both Through Gilly's eyes , we see all the major elements of Shakespeare ·s play, including the three witches , the murder of King Duncan, and Lady Macbeth ·s descent into madness Such an imaginative recasting of this classic tale makes for addictive , page-turning reading Overall, Rebecca Reisert ·s poignant retelling of Shakespeare s tragic Macbeth is not to be missed by anyone in search of a well-written story Even those who run from anything remotely related to Shakespeare may find it hard to put down!
Dana Cohlmeyer
US/CANADA:13th CENTURY
THEJOYFULBEGGAR
Louis de Wohl, Ignatius , 2001 (cl958) , $14 .95 (£9.32) , 325pp , tpb, ISBN 0-89870-814- l
The story of Giovanni Francis Bemardone begins with the tale of Roger de V andria , who is seeking money to press his claim in restoring the Sicilian castle lost to his family He agrees to join the army of Assisi against their enemy in Perguia and meets Francis, son of a wealthy merchant, who has dreams of achieving military glory. Thus begins the intertwining of the lives of the two young men After recovering from a great sickness, Francis receives his call from God to repair His church. Francis takes this literally and restores three churches that had been falling into ruin . He gradually distances himself from his pleasure-loving friends and his former way
Tiffi HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
of life, instead joyfully taking 'My Lady Poverty' as his bride and establishing the order of the Friar Minor.
Louis de Wohl brings Francis' many victories and agonies into brilliant, living detail. I highly recommend any and all of de Wohl's powerful books about the saints, many of which are available through Ignatius Press (http://www ignatius .com) Anne Marie Gazzolo
This first book of a new mystery series by veteran author Robb (of the Owen Archer series set in fourteenth century England) introduces Dame Margaret Kerr of thirteenth century Scotland Dame Kerr has not heard from her merchant husband, Roger, since he left Edinburgh on undisclosed business months before Roger ' s friend and cousin, Jack, goes looking for Roger but is brutally murdered. Margaret, strong-willed and stubborn, takes it upon herself to find Jack ' s murderer.
When Margaret arrives in Edinburgh, she confronts a city occupied by the English enemy. The flavor of the people, the language, and the source of the tensions between the English and Scots are palpable . Robb is superbly skilled at communicating the devastation that the war between the two neighbors has brought to Scotland . In the character of Dame Margaret, Robb has found the perfect vehicle for conveying the Scottish beliefs in love , faith and loyalty while having some fun unraveling a murder
One caveat: readers unfamiliar with Scottish vernacular may find themselves a bit overwhelmed at first. However, Robb provides a glossary to help us out. Robb ' s writing is so rich and historically true that this is a must for all lovers of historical mysteries
Mirabili s tells a convincing story of how a flawed and downtrodden woman transformed herself into a saint. In late 14th century France, Bonne surnamed variously Tardieu (God ' s Bastard) , LaMere, and Mirabilis struggles to survive Born to a woman who was miraculously elevated above the
lliE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
congregation during mass , Bonne lives amongst townsfolk who seem uncertain whether to hate or revere her Reverence eventually beats out hate , largely because of Bonne ' s own actions Engaged as a wet nurse by the wealthy and mysterious widow Radegonde, Bonne expands her clientele when the English besiege her town. She suckles many hungry townsfolk and, when a statue resembling her appears in the church on the night the English withdraw, she becomes a woman of influence
This unusual tale swings between the earthy and the touching It incorporates magic and mysticism, religious fervor and superstition. In the latter half of the book, I felt these elements submerged the storyline and the moti vations of the characters. The personalities of Bonne ' s friends remain beneath the surface, but the author succeeds in creating a lifelike protagonist. She also excels in her depiction of medieval times Her details illuminate how precarious life must have been for penurious , besieged people in this era
Claire Morris Bernard
MYLADYBELOVED
Lael St. James , Sonnet, 2001 , $6 99/ C$9 99 (£4 .2 7), 358 pp , pb , ISBN 0-671-53787- 3 Gabriella Redclift has spent most of her childhood in a convent. When her betrothed sends for her, she bravely sets forth only to be kidnapped by a young man in search of revenge Morgan Chalstrey soon finds himself caring for his captive, when he should be concentrating on avenging his childhood sweetheart
Set in England in 1369, this book begins and ends well , but the middle leaves much to be desired The heroine repeatedly does stupid things , the hero and heroine don ' t communicate, and the entire book is rife with anachronisms However, the writing is good, and the hero far more appealing than his true love . Morgan is not a stereotype and learns a lot as a result of his conflict with the villain Fans of historical romance fiction who can get past Gabriella ' s foolish , headstrong antics , and who don ' t mind too much about historical accuracy , might want to add this book to their wish list , if only for Morgan ' s major scene near the end It saved the book for me . Te resa Eckford
The narrator of this novel of prehistoric Nati ve American culture is Gahrahstah (Picture Maker) , a young Ganeogaono woman known for her artistic talents As Gahrahstah begins a challenging journey through her teen years to adulthood, various cultures in North
America are explored and compared . As a young girl , Gahrahstah happily works with her mother and cousins while her father goes off to battle with neighboring tribal enemies . A surprise attack by an Algonquin tribe results in Gahrahstah ' s devastating capture and enslavement.
Gahrahstah ' s new masters include Hawk Feather, an aggressive , violent tribesman who pushes her to the limit, but her travels don ' t end there In each setting and with each culture she encounters , Gahrahstah shares the story of her adaptation to the people and cultures surrounding her Even though she is called by many different names , the reader knows that Picture Maker will never forsake her upbringing
Picture Maker is a fascinating tale that should be on everyone ' s reading list. It ' s a wonderful story and a fully satisfying read Meli ss a Galy on
HERINFINITEVARIETY:Storiesof ShakespeareandtheWomenHeLoved Pamela Rafael Berkman, Scribner, 2001 , US$12/C$18 50 (£7 32), 172 pp , tpb , ISBN 0- 7432-1255-X
Berkman' s first book is quite simply a celebration of the women in the world of William Shakespeare With very little known about his life , this collection of ten short stories presents narratives from his mother and his wife, as well as some of his unforgettable characters. Taken as a whole , they illustrate how Shakespeare may have been influenced by those women he lovedand who loved him
Traveling from Elizabethan London to Denmark and Scotland, readers will be drawn into the relationships he experienced and thrill at the enduring love shared with his wife. In a light-hearted story entitled Magic Wand, the wood fairy Titania flits around Shakespeare as he writes and reminds him how much he loves women and of their importance in his life Another story, The Sc ottish Wife, gi ves insight into the devious and ambitious mind of Lady Macbeth This marvelous collection reads more like a novel due to the interspersing of chronological tales with character-driven stories With her imaginative approach, Berkman has created a charming and sensitive portrait of the women in Shakespeare ' s life
Dana Co hlmeye r
FACEDOWNBEFOREREBEL
HOOVES
Kathy Lynn Emerson , St. Martin·s Minotaur, 2001 , $23 95/C$33 .95 (£14 92) , 20lpp, ISBN 0-312-28036-X
In her sixth mystery featuring herbalist Susanna , Lady Appleton, author Emerson weaves an exciting tale around a convoluted plot to topple the Protestant Queen Elizabeth from her throne and replace her with the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots.
Susanna is in Hamburg with her lover, Nick Baldwin, when she is approached by her old friend Sir Walter Pendennis He wishes her to pose as his recently deceased wife in order to gain access into the household of the Earl of Northumberland The powerful earl is suspected of treasonous activities in the north of England Aided in her investigation by such recurring characters as her maid, Jennet , and Catherine, Lady Glenelg , Susanna manages to survive several attempts on her life and discovers damning evidence against Northumberland, his countess , and others Complicating matters are several murders , suspicious characters , and general political unrest.
Although the plot drags somewhat in the middle , there are far too many distracting characters , and the ending seems rushed , Emerson·s fans will likel y enjoy this latest entry
Michael I. Shoop
AZTECBLOOD
Gary Jennings , Forge, 2001 , $25 95/C$36 95 (£17.42), 384pp , hb , ISBN 0-312-86251-2
A Gary Jennings novel is always a breathless , exotic and occasionally shocking ride, and this is no exception Third in a trilogy of early Mexico that began with Aztec and continued with Aztec Autumn, Aztec Blood is closer to a pure adventure novel than Jennings ' other works Still , he manages to include plenty of insight into politics , religion and injustice, and he does so with his customary evenhandedness
Cristo the Bastard is the son of a Spanish father and an Aztec mother in a time and place where mixed blood makes him legally less than human But he uses a superior intellect, a little well-placed luck, and a remarkable ability to reinvent himself to stunning advantage. The beggar from the dusty streets of Veracruz becomes a bandito ; the bandito later emerges as a Spanish gentleman Cristo pursues wealth and position not for its own sake , but that he might be worthy of the beautiful Spanish lady whom he loves
This story is more than mere adventure , however Jennings paints an unapologetic picture of seventeenth-century Mexico : A rampantly corrupt government. Natives who
1BE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
are not always innocent victims Priests devoted to caring for the poor, and priest-inquisitors devoted to the refinements of torture . Diminishing the story somewhat are grammatical errors so numerous that it would seem Jennings's first draft went straight to the typesetter without first crossing an editor's desk. Such a liability might render the average novel unworthy of reading But Aztec Blood, with its brilliant plot, flawless pacing and fascinating characters , is anything but average. It is a marvelous adventure brimming with love , mystery and danger - one whose ending leaves the reader feeling immensely satisfied, yet frustrated that there isn't any more Kelly Cannon
THEROOTANDTHEFLOWER
L.H Myers , New York Review, 2001 , $16 .95 (£ l 0.57) , 639pp , tpb , ISBN 0-940322-60-9
The Root and the Flower was originally published between 1929 and 1935 as three separate novels Set in late I 6th century India during the reign of the great Mughal emperor Akbar , this epic focuses on the family of Amar, a prince contemplating retirement to a Buddhist monastery He plans to leave the care of his state and his heir, twelve-year-old Jali , to his Christian wife, Sita But as Akbar 's sons vie for power, withdrawal from the world seems a foolhardy choice With his brother-in-law involved in a dangerous romance , and Jali drawn into the circles of the untrustworthy Prince Daniyal , can Amar really relinquish his responsibilities ?
This hefty novel is no easy read In her introduction, Penelope Fitzgerald insists that Myers ' " strange masterpiece" is not a philosophical novel , since his characters provoke thought on life and its concerns , rather than representing ideas . True as this may be , the story comes across as subservient to the author·s exploration of the transcendental question, "Why are we here?" The historical backdrop seems incidental , though I think Myers chose Mughal India as his setting because its ethnic, religious , and political tensions invite such exploration . Contemporary readers may find the absence of vibrant action and fast-paced dialogue tedious , the characters and their motives ambiguous But his novel is beautifully written , and if one can last through 639 pages of fine print , a fascinating read Claire Morris Bernard
MYNAMEISRED
Orhan Pamuk, trans Erda Goknar, Knopf, 2001 , $25 .95/C$35 , 421pp , hb , ISBN 0-3- 75-40695-6
A man called Black, returning to Istanbul to resume work as a miniaturist in his uncle's studio , soon discovers that all is not well. Another nuruaturist has recently been murdered , possibly by a fellow artist who had discovered the true scope of their current project: to illuminate an entire book for the Sultan in the Venetian style . In the 16th century Ottoman Empire , works of art that depict reality are considered heretical. Clues to the murderer s identity are revealed bit by bit , through revelations and tales alternately spun by characters both living and deceased. as well as by the inanimate subjects of the book·s paintings
As with miniatures themselves , the charm of this novel resides in its painstaking details and its brilliantly realized , colorful atmosphere . Nothing is ever quite as it seems , however , as seen in the description of a letter written to Black from his beautiful widowed cousin, Shekure While its bare words spell rejection , hidden clues reveal its meaning to be otherwise Although readers who prefer their novels told in a straightforward fashion may find the story drags in places , this novel is a feast for those whose tastes run to the literary Kudos also to the translator , whose marvelous rendition keeps the tone appropriate throughout.
Sarah Nesbeitt
I US/~~17th I
THECOMPANY:TheStoryofa Murderer
Arabella Edge , Simon & Schuster, 200 I , $23/C$35 (£14 .03) , 369 pp , hb , ISBN 0-7432-1342-4
Jeronimus Comelisz is a disturbed, and disturbing , man . Ambitious , cunning , ruthless , amoral , and greedy , Comelisz is also a killer. After experiencing a series of personal disasters in Amsterdam, the young apothecary seizes the chance at a better life in the colonies by signing on to travel on board the merchant vessel Batavia in 1629 The ill-fated merchant ship sinks , and Comelisz finds himself in control of the shipwrecked survivors Any who oppose him are tricked into leaving for another island or murdered by this master of poisons The remainder are cowed or fooled into accepting his leadership By novers end, he is a victim of his own excesses
This is a dark and chilling view of the inner workings of a psychotic mind The only
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
character who brings any light into this dark world is the stolid Lucretia . Based on a true story , The Company is most assuredly not for the faint of heart. Those who can digest Comelisz will be struck by Arabella Edge ' s undoubted capabilities as a master of nuance and descriptive powers It is a good, even compelling, story. One just has to be able to see the world through Comelisz ' s eyes to be able to enjoy it.
John R Vallely
AFIFTHOFNOVEMBER
Paul West , New Directions, 2001 , $25 95/C$37.99 (£15 83) , 362 pp , hb , ISBN 0-8112-1467-2
England during the reign of James I was a time of fear and persecution for Catholic Jesuits. A Fifth of November is a story that portrays the life of Jesuit priest Father Gamet and describes what he must endure. He goes from one parishioner's home to another to worship privately The government is always trying to apprehend him, forcing him to hide in cubbyholes not large enough for him to stand upright. Eventually , through confessionals , he learns about the Gunpowder plot to blow up Parliament and the King
slammerkin Clad in the garish colors of her trade , she discovers that " a bit of loveliness , a bit of luck" is all she needs to prosper. Eventually leaving London, she obtains a position as servant and seamstress in a tailor ' s household and tries to adjust to her new life , but without quite vanquishing her fondness for the old one. Regrettably, the past life she misses so much eventually catches up with her
Mary ' s self-awareness lends pathos and irony to her history This is a superior and incisive work of historical fiction, though not recommended for the faint of heart.
Margaret Barr
WATCHBYMOONLIGHT
uncle on his English estate , separating her from her family and Anne not long after being reunited with them When Anne ' s life takes a dramatic change , she finds herself bound for England to join Nicole . Through joys and tragedies these two young women, unchanged by the wealth that surrounds them, struggle to discover what shape their lives are destined to take
The plot seems forced at times , and circumstances are placed rather conveniently for the major characters What the book lacks in plot is more than made up in historical detail. The authors authentically describe Halifax and Georgian England prior to the Revolution Another strength of this work is the way affection is portrayed. The characters ' true concern for each other is evident but not overwhelming.
This story is most meaningful when read after the two previous books in the series
Nan Curnutt
QUESTFORLIBERTY
Robert H Rowe , Peter E $23 95 (£14 92) , 212 0-914339-92-3
Randall , 2001 , pp , ISBN
The author uses a rhapsodic style that made the reading difficult. West writes the story as if the reader is in seventeenth century England , but at times refers to Hitler. In this , West demonstrates that no matter the era , human beings can and will do evil to each other Without prior knowledge of the time period , readers may not find much interest in the story However, I recommend this book to anyone who would like to understand the social and political persecution of the Jesuits . Kathy
Kate Hawks , Morrow, 2001 , $24/C$36.50 (£14 .96) , 229 pp , hb , ISBN 0-380-81465-X Alfred Noyes's tragic, romantic poem The Highwayman is the basis of this imaginative and vivid novel. In 1763 , Jason Quick of London, son of a seditious printer, mistrusts the Crown and the law even more after their business is wrecked by vandals Supporting himself as a pickpocket on the streets and in the playhouses after his father is imprisoned as a debtor , he encounters actor David Garrick and embarks upon an affair with an actress On learning his parent was abruptly transported to Virginia, Jason hastens to Plymouth to arrange his own transport to America
King
US/CANADA:18th CENTURY
SLAMMER.KIN
Emma Donoghue, Harcourt, 2001 , $24 00 (£6 39*), 336 pp , hb , ISBN 0-15- I 00672-5
The title is drawn from 18th century slang for a loose dress , and by extension the loose woman who wears it. Inspired by the few known facts of Mary Saunders's unfortunate existence , this gnm tale of personal destruction is gripping in its detail and intensity.
Attracted to beauty , young Mary craves a poppy-colored ribbon and loses her virtue to get it. Failing pregnant , disowned by her family, at age fourteen she finds herself on the streets of an unfriendly city. Throwing in her lot with a jaded prostitute, she rids herself of the unborn child and embraces the life of a
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
Making his way through rural Dorset, he encounters an infamous local highwayman and meets Bess Whateley , devout daughter of an innkeeper Assuming the criminal's identity, he waylays coaches and army paymasters to fund his and his father's future in the New World Bess's romantic awakening and her hopes of a happy marriage are marred by concern at his recklessness. She urges her sweetheart to reform, even as he undermines her own morals and tests her loyalty.
A reader's familiarity with Noyes's rhyme (reprinted in full at the end) will not detract from the novel's suspense and excitement, nor do a few minor anachronisms mar its appeal.
Margaret Barr
THEBIRTHRIGHT:SongofAcadia#3
Janette Oke and T Davis Bunn, Bethany House , 2001 , $10 99 (£6 85) , 287pp , tpb , ISBN 0764222295
Th e Song of Acadia series began with two young women, one British and one French, who become close friends despite the fact their countries were at war This book is about their daughters , Nicole and Anne , who share as deep a friendship as their mothers. Nicole ·s Uncle Charles wants to make her heiress to his vast property in England Although Nicole doesn ' t want this, she feels led to join her
Clearly written in a style which poignantly underlies the intense emotion and beliefs felt on both sides of the American Revolution, Quest for Liberty details the beginnings of the war from the point of view of two men from a community soon to be tom apart Dealing with the deep personal issues that affiict these men of opposing convictions , Rowe effectively captures the agoruzmg decisions that accompanied this pivotal and tenuous time in history
Adherence to historical detail lends authenticity to the story, allowing a better understanding of the darker aspects of the war. Profound and well reasoned, it becomes difficult to choose a side as the plot unfolds , each man ' s position seeming reasonable and understandable . This equal presentation paints a clearer portrait of the Revolution than many other stories , illustrating that brutality and persecution rarel y, if ever, come from one side only.
Giving the reader a thought provoking look at what it took to make this country free , outstandingly written and infinitely engaging, Quest for Liberty is essential reading for anyone interested in American history.
Jes se Dubu c ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
AWOMANNAMEDSOLITUDE
Andre Schwarz-Bart, Syracuse Univ. Press , 2001 (cl972), $14.95 (£9 32), 179pp , tpb, ISBN 0815607040
The slave trade in Guadeloupe provides the grim historical context for this brief but powerful novel. The opening chapters describe an indigenous African culture with traditions , rituals and religious beliefs , but under threat from a slave trade so brutal that the factory needs a special door to throw each day's dead into the sea The first heroine is forced to submit to the pariade , the custom of slave ship sailors' raping the African women before they disembark. The result of this liaison is Rosalie or Two-Souls or Solitude, the title character
Her story develops through the period of the French Revolution, the abolition of slavery in keeping with The Rights of Man, and the rescinding of that freedom , replaced by a plantation system where the whips were tipped with tricolor flags The heroine joins a colony of escaped and released Africans whose discipline and courage are tested in combat with English and French troops , and most especially with Black revolutionary soldiers The hypocrisy of the Revolution contrasts with the genuine struggle of the Blacks , some of who plan to take ships back to Africa , or to walk there if necessary.
Ralph Mannheim's translation is usually faithful and often graceful , but it uses the word "nigger" frequently , translating "negre" and negresse" with the more offensive English term. In dialogue this might make sense, but in the text it is distracting
James Hawking
RISETOREBELLION
Jeff Shaara, Ballantine, 2001 , $26 .95/C$39 .95 (£16 .79) , 492 pp , hb , ISBN 0-345-42753-X
This is a typical Shaara masterpiece, and that is high praise indeed. Once again this talented writer transports the reader into the minds and lives of those who made history This first of a two-part series opens with the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770 and concludes in New York City on July 9, 1776 In between the reader becomes an eyewitness to the events that led the founding fathers to the gut wrenching decision to break from the English homeland . The author is very evenhanded in his judgment, giving the reader a chance to contemplate the issues and feel the anguish that accompanied the colonists ' every step away from the crown
Shaara has the uncanny ability to breathe life into heretofore flat historical personages. No longer is John Adams a portrait on a wall
Sam Adams becomes an acquaintance, rather than a figure on a beer bottle. Ben Franklin is
TIIB HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
now arespected elder, like a grandfather or a favorite professor. General Gage is no longer a tyrant, as he is so often portrayed in more shallow versions of history . The combination of superb historical research and Shaara ' s unparalleled storytelling makes this, like all of his novels , a treasure to be savored Even though I know how the story ends , I can ' t wait for the concluding novel.
Juliet Waldron, Infinity , 2001 , $19 .95 (£13 06) , 392pp, tpb , ISBN 0-7414-0661-6 Mozart's Wife is a delightfully written novel about Wolfgang Mozart as seen through the eyes of his beloved wife Konstanze The ongoing drama between husband and wife is always admirably paced The dialogue is charged with reality , sexuality and humor. Waldron effortlessly draws the daily crises that Konstanze must endure during her marriage to a fickle , impractical genius who is her genuine heart ' s desire.
The novel is exceptionally researched . Its settings , which include the cities of Prague and Venice , sparkle with the energy and exhilaration of the era. It is very much Konstanze ' s chronicle of growth, reasonableness and love that makes Mozart 's Wife a pleasurable read from start to finish
Wendy Zollo
US/CANADA:19th
CENTURY
THEELUSIVEVOICE
Mary Jo Adamson, Signet, 2001 , $6 50/C$9.99 (£4.05) , 326pp , pb , ISBN 0-451-20420-4
The Elusive Voice is a shadowy and richly satisfying traditional mystery set in late 19th century Boston. Richly set against the backdrop of the height of the Spiritualist movement, its cast of deeply drawn characters utterly involves the reader in a series of ' seance ' murders It is the mission of investigative reporter Michael Merrick to seek the truth, which he does in the realistic manner of the period.
Not once does Adamson transgress beyond the era with jarring errors , and she maintains her reader ' s intelligence by aptly keeping us monumentally interested in
Merrick's progress page by page up until the final climax.
This short novel reveals , from the point of view of a young woman, the hardships of the sea voyage from England to Australia in 1854 The unmarried female immigrants share close quarters in the belly of the ship , far from daylight, with the unnamed Matron as their guardian . Their living conditions are uncomfortable at best, with disease running rampant and water seeping in and coating their belongings with salt. To pass the time , the girls reminisce about the lives they left behind. Sarah , the narrator , gradually reveals more of her previous life in Shropshire, with an unwanted suitor, a possible romantic interest , and a mother who oddly abhors all moisture (no doubt meant to contrast with the current waterlogged atmosphere) The story wanders along with the narrator ' s thoughts , from the ship to home and back again, relating events as she recalls them Ifs not hard to believe that this is how it must have been, cooped up for months on end, with little but ocean in sight. Such is the realism of this unpleasant journey, though, that readers will likely close this novel with a deep sigh of relief.
Sarah. Nesbeitt
MOONMEDICINE
Mike Blakely, Forge , 2001 , $25.95/C$36 95 (£16 17) , 414pp , hb , ISBN 0-312-86704-2 Honore Greenwood, by his own admission a genius , fled France for America after slaying a man who raped the woman he loved . At ninety-nine, Honore looks back on his Life and shares his adventures with the Likes of Kit Carson, Charles and William Bent, and other frontiersmen who tamed the American West during the L840s He travels the Santa Fe Trail, becomes caught up in war with Mexico, fights the Apache while befriending the Comanche, and falls in love with Gabriela , who must wed another.
This is a wonderful tale of the American frontier and the men who forged the trails so settlers could follow . Honore's blunt honesty grates at first , but as his character grows and matures , he becomes quite a likeable fellow. When he cheers and weeps , so does the reader. This mingling of adventure , romance , and confrontation brings to life a time of difficulty and danger, and does so in a realistic way that
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
transports the reader back in time to stand with Honore as he lives what others only dream of. The characters he meets along the way , whether Mexican , American, Comanche, Apache , or of some other culture, are shades of gray with good and bad traits that make them living beings I look forward to reading more of Honore ' s adventures in the sequel.
Cindy Vallar
THEROMANTICS
Peter Brandvold, Forge, 2001, $24 95 (£15.55), 350 pp, hb, ISBN 0-312-87211-9 My assumption is that the title is intended to be ironic , at least in part, since there is very little that's romantic about most of the events that take place in this book. Generally speaking, legends of lost gold in the American West are only that fictions that stir the hearts of those caught up in the quest , even when they know, in all likelihood, what they're searching for exists only in dreams The underlying emotion is greed, however, nothing nobler (or more romantic) than that.
It is 1879 in the Arizona Territory Adrian Clark's wife , a Mexican beauty he won in a poker game , has a map They need a guide They don't need any of the following : a countryside filled with bloodthirsty Apaches , a troop of Mexican rurales, a perverted local outlaw gangleader in partnership with crazed ex-Confederate officer, each with a thirst for power , and a pair of loutish brothers with worse dispositions
Brandvold has a nice sense of place, the wilderness itself, that displays a great love of the out-of-doors , but midst the puking and the whoring , you have to wonder: was the West settled by no one with more grace than this? And to my mind , the dialogue is horrible , jarring in its inconsistencies , and yet the characters do start to grow a little, and the action, if that's what you're reading for , simply does not stop
It doesn't pay to be a hypochondriac, as Oscar Daggett learns the hard way when he overhears his long-suffering doctor telling his housekeeper, "I'm afraid there isn't much hope " He must right a grievous wrong before he pegs out for good, so he writes a " confession" and dispatches his maid to hand deliver it to the injured party. Soon he discovers the doctor was merely referring to a dying orange tree The hunt begins to retrieve the confession, which leads to the murder of nouveau riche con man Harrison Nye.
Enter Inspector Witherspoon of Scotland Yard to investigate, unaware that the clues are already being sleuthed by his housekeeper, Mrs. Jeffries , and her band of Victorian servants They relish solving the inspector's crimes without his knowledge , yet somehow he gets the credit. The characters in this cozy novel are lively and likable although the premise is rather thin Can the inspector still be clueless after sixteen such cases? However, this novel is a pleasant break Tess Allegra
CONJURINGMAUD
Philip Danze, GreyCore Press , 2001 , $23 (£14 34), l 92pp, hb, ISBN 0-9671851-3-0
The lush , vibrant and often harsh landscape of colonial West Africa provides a stunning backdrop to this tale of offbeat characters and an unconventional love. David Unger, son of a prosperous physician turned destitute prospector, recalls the pivotal events of his life After attending military school , he serves as an ambulance driver for the British Army during the Zulu Rebellion From an Indian sergeant-major called Bapu (who will later be known as Gandhi) , David learns the secret that enables him to make an astounding escape from a Zulu cave prison After the war, David travels to England to pursue a medical Foremost in his devotion is the intrepid British explorer Maud King Sixteen years his senior, Maud captivates young David as no other woman ever will. The two share more than just an affinity for the peoples , flora and fauna of West Africa . They are soul mates in the deepest sense of the term. While their age difference raises eyebrows amongst Maud's fellow gentry in England, the true obstacle to their happiness is Maud ' s passion for her work.
Danze fills this short tale with unforgettable secondary characters and subplots and wraps the whole package in a spare, elegant prose that reads easily and suits his subject matter well.
This light romantic read, part of a series with the " bad luck" wedding theme , begins by sustaining the narrative of the wedding night and its complications for 43 pages! Set in the late 1800s , the story begins in frontier Fort Worth, Texas with the elaborate wedding and the disastrous wedding night. The last two thirds of the book take place in Scotland and England Weddings and the details before, during, and after figure prominently in the plot for two reasons: the bride is a wedding consultant who moves among high American
society, and the groom is an English lord with a large family of girls to see settled in good marriages The style of the book is gentle and whimsical , with light touches of humor and romantic predicaments There is some use of historical setting and events that helps to keep the reader in the correct timeframe The book is perfect for the reader who likes a sweet romantic novel with just a touch of history . Mary K. Bird-Guilliams
Eleanor Glover learns her parents have agreed to her arranged marriage with Geoffrey Westerly , the son of an earl. Although initially willing, Eleanor is terrified when she discovers her fiance to be incredibly handsome and charming Shy and not beautiful, she fears she cannot withstand his charms . Rather than entering a marriage in which she loves and he is indifferent, Eleanor attempts to disgust him so that he will allow her to cry off. She tells him that she understands that men offer carte blanche to their mistresses ; if she becomes his affianced wife , she wants to be able to ask for carte blanche to name what she wants from their arranged marriage At first angered by her presumption, Geoffrey ' s sense of humor takes over, and, to Eleanor ' s chagrin, he agrees
Unlike many regency romances , Donnelly has obviously made an effort to represent her characters and time period in an accurate manner. Possibly the only false note concerns a subplot regarding fox hunting in which Geoffrey all-too-easily agrees to Eleanor ' s wish to have it banned from his father ' s estate This is a charming book for readers who enjoy light historical reading . Kathleen Sullivan
CHAPELNOIR
Carole Nelson Douglas, Forge, 2001 , $25 95 (£16.17), 494 pp , hb, ISBN 0-312-85493-5
The beautiful , adventurous lrene Adler, an American opera singer and private investigator, is the only person to have outwitted Sherlock Holmes While her husband is away on a secret mission to Prague, Irene and her companion, Nell Huxleigh , investigate a series of murders at a Paris brothel. Because of the mutilated condition of the bodies , Irene sees a resemblance to murders committed the previous year in London and asks herself the frightening question: could Jack the Ripper be on the loose in Paris ?
I have been a fan of this series for a long time and love the contrast between the worldly , "liberated" Irene and the prim and proper Nell. This story is darker in tone than
Tiffi HISTORICAL NOVELS
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
earlier volumes, however, and the graphic descriptions of the corpses may disturb some readers. As previously , Douglas introduces historical figures into the story: this time , the Prince of Wales, Bram Stoker, and Buffalo Bill Also , we see more of Holmes here than in the previous volumes; there is a wonderful scene in which Nell confronts him. Without giving too much away, I have to say that the ending makes me want to read the next volume as soon as possible! Fans of the series will not want to miss this book, and those who have not read the previous entries can easily start with this one
Vicki Kondelik
THEEXPLOITSANDADVENTURES OFBRIGADIERGERARD
Arthur Conan Doyle, New York Review , 2001, 417 pp, $13 95 (£8 51) , tpb, ISBN 0-940322-73-0
The name Arthur Conan Doyle is inextricably linked with Sherlock Holmes , yet Doyle created another character who , while not as polished and insightful as the master sleuth, is nonetheless as attractive and engaging Brigadier Etienne Gerard is a proud, stubborn, loyal, and courageous officer in the famed army of Napoleon . He is also , regrettably , somewhat dense and completely unimaginative While his dash and heroism gets ow redoubtable hero out of countless scrapes , his dull wit and slow mental state leads him into even more.
Doyle wrote these seventeen short stories shortly after concluding his Holmes-Watson adventures . Gerard is as unlikely a leading character as one can find, but the reader who dislikes him has yet to be born. The historical settings are as accurately portrayed as any , and the humor and charm of the Hussar officer stands in stark contrast to the dangerous world he inhabits Funny and fun Vive l'Empereur!
John R Vallely
THEMASTEREXECUTIONER
Loren D Estleman, Forge, 2001 , $23.95 (£14.92) , 270pp , hb , ISBN 0-312-86970-3 Estleman, who has written many thrillers, here writes of the post-Civil War years of the American West. However, this is not a "western" in any traditional sense
Oscar Stone, a young, Union veteran from Ohio and a carpenter by trade, arrives in Kansas with his new bride By chance , Oscar meets the alcoholic Rudd, the official hangman at Fort Leavenworth , who gives Oscar an opportunity to work as a carpenter building a gallows But Rudd, drunk or no, is not just a hangman--a brutish "strangler," as he scornfully describes his rivals--but a careful technician , a craftsman of the well-oiled hemp and the precisely calculated final drop Rudd
TIIE HISTORJCAL NOVELS REVIEW
recognizes in young Oscar a fellow craftsman, and he is right. Taking up this dark trade costs Stone his wife, separates him from normal society, and makes him a wealthy man. Rudd is Oscar's only real friend , though from time to time the wife reappears , to tell Stone once again why she could never live with him or love him. In the end , three decades on, the brash new electric chair is to replace hanging in much of the now progressive and "civilized" West , and the reader can perhaps guess how Oscar Stone, the Master Executioner , will end his deadly career as a perfectionist in "suspension "
Estleman, who has always been prepared to sacrifice an agitated plot for atmosphere and deeper depiction of character, has written a disturbing, hypnotic , and oddly , a nearly plotless book. Is there a touch of Adolf Eichmann in Stone (who has German ancestry) - showing a perfect , emotionless, technical and adept servant of a killing government? This may be going too far , but in Oscar Stone, Estleman, with very few anachronistic lapses , has created a character who escapes from his time and inveigles himself very coolly into ours. Not a comfortable book , this, and much more threatening than many where the blood-boltered violence 1s right on-stage rather than, mainly, off.
Dean Miller
THEGOODJOURNEY
Micaela Gilchrist, Simon & Schuster, 200 I, $24/C$36 50 (£14.64) , hb , 393pp, ISBN 0-684-87143-2
"Sixteen years ago , when I followed the General away, I had known him for only three days I reconciled myself then to sleeping with a gentlemanly stranger. How could I have known that years later a stranger would die in my arms? Perhaps in death I shall know thee. "
So begins the story of Mary Bullitt, an outspoken, independent Southern belle, and her husband, General Henry Atkinson, guardian of the frontier stretching from the Canadian border to the Red River , as Mary reflects back on their life together.
After their marriage, Mary and the General return to his post at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, where it's only a matter of time until she becomes embroiled in the bitter and personal feud between her husband and the leader of the Sauk Indian tribe. With the passage of time and despite his reticent nature , Mary falls deeply in love with her strong, silent husband as he slowly but surely becomes the lodestar of her life
From research of a collection of private letters between Mary Bullitt and General Henry Atkinson, as well as research into the General ' s military records, Gilchrist brings to
40
life these pages from history in a way that is both spellbinding and ultimately heartbreaking.
Barbara Hambly , Bantam, 2001 , $23 95 , 333pp, hb , ISBN 0553109243
In 1830s New Orleans they don't have cable TV , the Internet, or the WWF but they do have opera! It's the opening of the 1835 opera season, and rival impresarios offer competing productions. But this time , rivalry results in violence After a late rehearsal , Belaggio, creator of the opera Othello, is attacked outside the American Theatre Fortunately Benjamin January, a free man of color who's been hired as one of the musicians , intervenes , saving Belaggio's life. But that's only the beginning of a series of attacks and murders that lead January to wonder if there's more at issue than an objection to Othello's subject matter or an overly-intense competition between theatres . When his friend John Davis , Belaggio's rival producer, is accused of murder, January begins to investigate the crimes But between long-forgotten scandal and current politics , clearing Davis's name won't be an easy task for January to achieve. This is Benjamin January's fifth foray into murder in antebellum New Orleans ; this well-mixed jambalaya of opera , New Orleans history, and murder is just as engrossing as his previous cases . India Edghill
THEROSELEGACY
Kristen Heitzmann, Bethany House, 2000 , $11.99 (£7.47) , 395pp , tpb , ISBN 076422381X
SWEETBOUNDLESS
Kristen Heitzmann , Bethany House , 2001 , $11.99 (7.47) , 350pp , tpb , ISBN 0764223828
In The Rose Legacy , having left her home in California, Carina Maria DiGratia sets out to seek her destiny in the tiny mountain town of Crystal , Colorado Surrounded by beauty , she encounters the rough and tumble life in the 1880s mining town. She soon learns that appearances can be deceiving, for beautiful as the setting is , there is an evil that seems to have gripped Crystal and its inhabitants . She also meets two very different men, Quillan Sheppard and Berkley Beck, and like the town, they are not what they seem to be at first. In time, Carina learns to trust herself and seeks the truth about these two very different men in her life .
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
In Sweet Boundless , the evil that held Crystal has been taken away by a devastating flood . No one has been untouched by the events , particularly Carina. She is now married, but soon learns her new husband is too haunted by his past to stay and love her. Refusing to let his painful rejection bring her down, Carina finds a new dream She learns once again that things are not always as they seem and finds that life's lessons will test her faith in both men and God
The author has done an excellent job of bringing out another side to life in mining towns : the evangelical ministries that helped people cope under complicated circumstances
Shannon Wally
THEWITCHFROMTHESEA
Lisa Jensen, Beagle Bay Books, 2001 , $16 95 (£10 .57), pb , 32lpp, ISBN 0-9679591-5-2 In 1823 , half-Indian Victoria " Tory" MacKenzie flees an unpromising future in Boston by disguising herself as a male and stowing away on a ship The ship is beset by pirates , and Tory betrays the location of valuable cargo onboard to sav e a crewman ' s life Tory throws in her lot with the pirates and , despite the fact that her sex is quickly discovered , earns a place for herself on the crew under the tutelage of Jack, a Shakespeare-quoting actor-turned-pirate.
Jensen ' s fast-paced debut novel stands out for its satisfyingly well-drawn characters and the strong historical sense of time and place she creates . Her pirates are not the drunken rowdies of legend, but men who turned to piracy for various reasons (Jack's reason is absolutely priceless) , and they earn their living largely through swiftness and cunning rather than brute force Although this is a fun read with lots of adventure, there is a more serious side to the book as well, as it vividly illustrates the horrors of slavery and the omnipresent discrimination and prejudice endured by non-whites in that time and place I highly recommend this book to any lover of historical fiction .
Lisa Sweeney
IFTHESOUTHHADWONTHECIVIL WAR
MacKinlay
$9 95/C$13 95
0-312-86949-5
Kantor , (£6.07), Forge, tpb , 2001 , ISBN
Kantor ' s short tale of an alternative U.S. Civil War first appeared in the now defunct Look magazine in November 1960 It was published in book form in 1961, in time to satisfy a public immersed in the centennial of America ' s bloodiest conflict. The 128 pages can easily be read in an afternoon, but Kantor's keen insights and imaginative observations on "what might have been" will
TIIE HISTORJCAL NOVELS REVIEW
stay with the modem reader much as they remained in the minds of readers forty years ago
The novel begins with the accidental death of General Grant as he begins his campaign against the Confederate fortress of Vicksburg , Mississippi in spring 1863 Rather than a summer of Union victories , the Union is confronted by endless Confederate successes There is no alternative to asking the Confederate States for terms This very different Civil War is followed by Kantor bringing the several American republics into the 20th century A thought-provoking and fun novel.
The Texas frontier, spring , 1865 So begins this latest historical western novel by one of the long-time giants in the field , Elmer Kelton . This is the second in what may continue as a series of adventures of Rusty Shannon, a Texas ranger at the beginning of the book, and out of a job after the fall of the Confederacy With Texas on the losing side, the frontier was no place for the faint-hearted. The families who lived there faced Indians , outlaws , bad weather and worse , often nothing but hardships , and as Kelton sees it, in doing so , they helped strengthen the backbone of America
Badger Boy is a young white boy Rusty rescues from the Comanches After five years being raised as an Indian , the question is, can he survive being adopted back into his original culture?
Kelton's writing is smooth and even, but the challenges he places in the way of his characters seem to be overcome in rather simplistic fashion And since it's likely there's at least one more novel to come in this series , it unfortunately makes this one feel as though , yes, it ends , but no , the story is far from over Steve Lewis
THESENTIMENTALSOLDIER
April Kihlstrom, Signet, 2000 , $4 99 (£3 53) , 2 l 5pp, pb , ISBN 0-451-19898-0
The mystery content of this regency romance is slight but definitely present. Miss Prudence Marland, guised as a Moroccan prince, is rescued by a British army officer posing as a priest. Both have reasons for travelling incognito across wartime France : Napoleon is on the march again , and Wellington needs all the assistance he can get.
Of course Prudence's reputation is ruined, and marriage is the only solution. And there the detective work begins As Prudence learns how to live with her new relatives, she also
undertakes to solve the riddle of the mysterious letter that somehow haunts her new husband's family
Kihlstrom is better at portraying personal relationships than she seems to be with the skullduggery that keeps the other half of her tale in motion . Suffice it to say , perhaps , that there is deviltry afoot: espionage , treason, and (more than likely) murder, but it's rather unconvincingly told. Getting cozily involved with Miss Marland's irrepressible approach to life is where the real pleasure of reading this small-scale epic adventure lies
Steve Lewis
THEGREATGAME
Michael Kurland, St. Martin's Minotaur, 2001 , $24.95/C$34 95 (£15 55), 288pp, hb , ISBN 0-312-20891-X
This series is Holmesian by association, featuring Professor James Moriarty, Holmes' greatest foe As the protagonist, Moriarty is more of an " eminence de grise ," and Kurland wisely focuses on the adventures of two of his more morally-upright former associates , Benjamin and Cecily Barnett.
The Barnetts are traveling around Europe for Cecily's health when they begin to realize that they are the focus of unwelcome and incomprehensible attention connected to their past association with Moriarty. The Graf von Linsz, who heads up a conspiracy to unify Germany and overthrow the Austro-Hungarian Empire , kidnaps the Barnetts But Moriarty is already on the scene, engaged by the Duke of Albermar to help England - strictly sub-rosawith another matter entirely The threads of the various intrigues come together in a colorful and ingenious assault by Holmes and Moriarty together upon Schloss Uhm
A rousing good bedside read, gloriously full of bad puns and in-jokes for fans of Simon Templar, Peter Wirnsey , Sherlock Holmes, Modesty Blaise, and the like A little shaky' on overall period feel , but still a lot of fun. Holmes purists may be irritated by the treatment of their hero , however.
Rosemary Edghill
APROPERAFFAIR
Victoria Malvey , Sonnet, 2001 , $6 50/C$8.99 (£3.97) , pb, 306pp , ISBN 0-7434-1883-2 Cassandra Abbott , the author of A Lady ' s Guide to Proper Etiquette, follows her own advice to the letter. However, she has a few misgivings when her parents decide to marry her off to the decidedly aged and infirm Lord Linley She decides her parents know best , despite an exhilarating encounter with the rakish, utterly improper Lord Towle shortly before the marriage .
Seven years later , in 1843 , Cassandra is widowed and impoverished Lord Towle , now
18 DEC 200 I
the Duke of Amberville, is looking for a marriage of convenience. He needs a wife to provide guidance to his wild 16-year-old niece Who could be better than the utterly proper Cassandra? However, Cassandra hasn ' t done very well being proper, and has some ideas of her own While the historical details aren ' t front and center, readers will find this a charming, refreshing story with a hero and heroine who don ' t fit the mold.
Tntdi E. Jacobson
CIVILBLOOD
Ann McMillan, Viking , 2001 , $22 95/C$33 99 (£14.30), 196pp , hb , ISBN 0-670-89997-6
Battles rage outside Richmond in the spring of 1862 , but the possibility of a plague within the city spread by contaminated money is the main concern in the third installment of this Civil War Mystery series (after Dead March and Angel Tntmpet).
Widow and war nurse Narcissa Powers becomes involved after a patient dies and members of a youth gang steal his uniform jacket. Murder and mayhem ensue , and the threat of smallpox among the city ' s children becomes imminent. Narcissa begins a frantic search to locate the deadly money and the powerful forces behind its circulation, aided by free black healer Judah Daniel and English journalist Brit Wallace In trying to discover the truth, Narcissa and her friends find themselves questioning people at all levels of society. It is a desperate race against time, and McMillan ' s characters are once again up to the challenge.
Well researched and historically accurate, with well-drawn characters and exciting events , Civil Blood is a rare treat.
Michael I. Shoop
GRACELINO'MALLEY
Ann Moore, New American Library, 2001 , $13 95 (£8.69), 398pp, tpb , ISBN 0-451-20299-6
Gracelin O ' Malley is a farmer ' s daughter living a hard life in rural Ireland when she catches the eye of the local squire In order to save her family from financial ruin , she marries the disreputable Englishman. Thus begins what seems like an oft-told tale Don ' t be fooled Ann Moore ' s sweeping novel about the Irish Famine is anything but ordinary Fifteen-year-old Grace is only the center of the tale. The story ' s web widens to include rebels , English soldiers , starving Catholics , renegade priests , Anglo-Irish land agents, and British aristocracy - and so , as in all truly great fiction , the reader is led from the personal to the public, from the local to the international . It would be easy with such a
Tiffi HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
subject to show bias , but Moore deftly avoids tarring the English characters with a single brush - or gilding the Irish with another. This complexity of character is the novel ' s greatest strength Grace herself has a streak of darkness . Even her husband, a wife-beating alcoholic, shows a glimmer of grace.
Grace/in O Malley is a grand historical novel in the old style - full of triumph, full of tragedy, full of hope and strength of spirit. The author, in her notes , hints at a sequel. I'll be first in line to buy it.
Lisa Ann Verge
ASHESANDICE:YukonQuest#2
Tracie Peterson, Bethany House , 2001 , $11.99 (£7.47) , 384pp , tpb , ISBN 0-7642-2379-8
Karen Pierce and Grace Colton are two strong women who find themselves in an epic struggle against man and the Alaskan wilderness during the gold rush of the 1890s Karen is alone in the world, apart from two children she agreed to care for while their father went north in search of gold Grace is married to a man she deeply loves , but who cannot accept her devotion to God . Both women wind up heading north in search of answers
For Karen, it becomes a test of faith But, as in any good romance , a good-hearted man, Adrik, stands by Karen even when she doesn ' t realize she needs him For Grace , it is a search for something lost. She and her husband part over her faith in God and his lack of it, but she continues to espouse Christian values. It is with her help and Adrik ' s that Karen will find her way back to God.
In this inspirational novel , God is the main character, guiding the actions of every person The writing is preachy at times and simplistic at others. The dialogue tends to be stilted; it is very hard to have someone constantly praising God and sounding natural at the same time Still, it is not a bad love or adventure story
Alexandra Ceely
THEWINDDONEGONE
Alice Randall , Houghton Mifflin , 2001 , $22 (£13.71) , 210pp , hb , ISBN 0-618-10450-X
Alice Randall retells the story of Gone With the Wind, using Scarlett O'Hara's mulatto half-sister Cynara for her voice . In diary format , Cynara details what life was really like for the slaves on Tata (Tara) During Reconstruction, she openly becomes R's (Rhett Butler) mistress and eventually marries him, then goes on to meet Frederick Douglass and a black congressman. Emancipation may have freed her, but Cynara discovers she doesn't really belong to either society . While The Wind Done Gone has an important message to tell, the style used to
deliver it falls short. The diary format drifts back and forth with no respect to time, which causes confusion. The characters, including Cynara, remain two-dimensional and flat. Like Ms Randall , I had a love/hate relationship with the original work, and looked forward to reading the other side of the story
Unfortunately , I never truly felt what it was like to be a former slave or felt the sense that it was set during Reconstruction The author has a creative gift for the written word, but in this case , her story misses the mark.
Kim Murphy
SERVANTOFTHELAW
Dusty Richards , St. Martin's , 2000 , $5 .99 (£3 .74) , 260pp , pb , ISBN 0-312-97687-9
This novel of the American Old West has a severe case of split personality On one side is the Coyote Kid, a born killer , a hired gun with no compunction at ending the lives of those he's employed to eliminate On the other is the title character, Marshal John Wesley Michaels , as upright and square-shooting as any of the cowboy heroes whose exploits I used to follow in the Saturday movie matinees of days (long) gone by
The Coyote Kid's exploits are bloody and (seemingly) lovingly described in all of their gory detail. John Wesley is polite to women, kind to animals , and generally just a nice fellow to have around town In all honesty , I imagine that most of the inhabitants of Arizona at this time of history fell somewhere in between
Aiding the marshal , in this which may become the first of a series, is Mrs Arnold (as he calls her) , the mother of a small boy accidentally shot and killed by the Kid, and she thirsts for vengeance A male-female team of intrepid law-enforcers? It might make for interesting reading , but for historians , it might take a few hefty swallows before it can go down, if at all.
Steve Lewis
PARADISESQUARE
E M. Schorb, Denlinger, 2001 , $16 95 , 274pp , pb , ISBN 0877147116
It would be impossible to imagine a name more at odds with the reality than Paradise Square, the dead center of the notorious Five Points district of New York. It is 184 7 and a sweetcorn seller has just been violently murdered there, purportedly by her lover Peter Van Brunt. It is Sergeant Jonathan Goode ' s task to find out whodunit , and to aid (and hinder) him he has Edgar Allan Poe , a man suited to mystery if ever there was one The pair uncovers a tale of corruption , politics , murder and romance that makes this short novel into a real page-turner that has the elusive air of realism.
18 DEC 2001
Schorb has certainly done his homework here , as from page one the reader is immersed in the seedy world of New York in the 1840s Like so many other 19th century detective stories , this one has to feature the inevitable female doctor. But even this does not mar the helter-skelter pace of the plot, the darkly romantic appeal of a well-delineated Poe nor the bizarre historical facts of Boss Meade , his Plug-Uglies and the fire brigade system. If this novel doesn ' t have a sequel it will be a crime!
Rachel A Hyde
RESTITUTION
Richard S Wheeler, Signet, 2001 , $5 99/C$8 99 (£3 74), 298pp, pb , ISBN 0-451-20238-4
This very enjoyable western is a tour-de-force of the human psyche. Every virtue , vice, pathology, and emotion is embodied in its characters Truman Jackson , a respected, upstanding member of the community of Cottonwood, Utah, has a dark past: a famil y history of robbery and murder His newfound Christian beliefs lead him to reveal his past to the members of the community The citizens react as would any citizens of any town at any time in history, some with respect and acceptance , some with much darker feelings
Some support Jackson ; others scheme against him . I can look back into my own past and replace the characters of this book with people I've known Such is the author ' s skill at creating timeless characters Humanity doesn ' t change
Wheeler is adept at describing human feelings with which we ' re all familiar But he is especially skilled at making the reader feel the wide-open glory of the early west. I have a clear picture in my mind of the town of Cottonwood, Jackson's ranch, and the surrounding countryside. I feel like I've been there. There are very few books that can do that.
Mark F Johnson
SECONDLIVES:ANoveloftheGilded Age
Richard S Wheeler, Tor, 1999 , $5 99 (£3.99) , 436pp , pb , ISBN 0-812-54517-6
Denver in the early 1880s may not have been the center of the universe, but to anyone living in the American West at the time , it may have seemed like it. Colorado was a hotbed of miners , mining engineers and those others who usually ended up owning the mines , the gold, the silver and more. Some of them became rich ; some very much so
And many didn't , at least not permanently . There were also dancehall girls , respectable married women (not all of them happily so), lawyers , would-be poets dying of consumption, barmen, bankers, newspaper
lBE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
reporters, and more All with hopes and dreams , not all of which are realized, and in this long, epic novel , Wheeler follows the lives of a few of them
Wheeler has his own innate sense of justice, one which does not always necessarily follow from any particular legal or religious system As his characters come to life which they all do the decisions they make are their own , and so are the consequences The American West was a tough, unforgiving world to live in, and even though he can also be a sentimental softie at times , none of Wheeler's novels pull any punches , including this one
Steve Lewis
SOMEDAYSOON
Joan Wolf, Warner, 2000, $6 50/C$8 99 (£5 99), 359 pp , pb , ISBN 0-446-60694-4
Lady Alexandra Wilton, who has continually refused to marry without love, discovers upon her father ' s death that if she doesn ' t marry his heir, she will lose everything Add to this the subsequent discovery that the ' heir ' is not to be her ' civilized' cousin, Geoffrey, as expected, but, rather, a fiery Scottish Highlander, the recently discovered living son of her father ' s brother, she is even more incensed although she eventually agrees to the marriage From there on , the story line is , at best, predictable boy finds girl , boy loses girl , boy finds girl again , etc
Being a big Joan Wolf fan ever since reading her excellent Iron Age trilogy and medieval mystery duo , I found this book to be a disappointment because I know this fine author is capable of much, much more.
Open this book and take a Sentimental Journey back to the dark days of World War II , to a time of daring and honor, passion and sacrifice J.R. Cassidy is a U.S. Army hotshot, a man who does the impossible But this time his mission may be too much even for J.R. to accomplish: he must travel to North Africa and rescue Kitty Kincaid, daughter of a famous scientist, from the Nazis. Or rather, Kitty may be too much for him- and his playboy heart
J.R. and Kitty ' s story takes center stage, but the secondary characters also catch at the reader ' s heart : Charlie Morrison, female pilot ferrying planes for Britain ; Red Walker, poor
Texas boy who yearns to fly ; George Inskip , RAF ace , one of the " Few" to whom so many owed so much their love triangle provides poignant counterpart to J.R. and Kitty ' s flying-sparks courtship
As you ' ve probably guessed by now, I fell in love with this book. I'll admit the writing is not brilliant; I'll admit the story is far from unique But what Sentimental Journey lacks in style, it makes up for in sheer charm. I loved reading this book and hated putting it down ; my biggest complaint is that it isn ' t longer India Edghill
The second volume of Bedford's fictional memoirs uses present tense flash imagery, a focusing of the craft since The Legacy The dense texture and pointillist style create the same challenge Bedford hits her stride as a highbrow femme de lettres, but like a jigsaw, this novel requires attentive reading to put it together.
Jigsaw has a central , compelling story It's about Jewish Rosie and her secret love affair with an English judge, again a personal affair with public ramifications Billi is the sympathetic cupid of their relationship She divides her time between England and the south of France, a literary set and an arty set. One thing a mother doesn't need is a child with total recall Billi conveys a sense of adventure tinged with insecurity . Her mother marries young Alessandro and they embark on a career redecorating villas
By age eighteen, Billi spends all her time with older, bookish friends , comparing a bus ride to le Bal du Comte d'Orgel , as they attend a play by Marcel Pagnol. After a wild party, Billi raises the stakes by falling in love Like her characters , she is ennobled by the sacrifice.
Marcia K. Matthews
THEASHGARDEN
Dennis Bock, Knopf, 2001 , $23 (£13 59) , 281 pp, ISBN 0-375-41302-2
It is said that a good host always leaves his guests wanting more I find that doesn ' t apply to authors , and this book is typical of the reasons why The story is intriguing and has a few surprising twists , but at its conclusion I was left wondering what happened to the next 60 or 70 pages I felt should be there Emiko Amai was a little girl playing with her brother in a stream when the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on her city on August 6, 1945. Horribly disfigured, she suffers through years of prodding doctors and scientists and finally receives plastic surgery
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
in the United States ; surgery which leaves a telling , artificial sheen to her skin and does nothing to heal the scars on her soul
Anton Boll is a scientist who helped develop the bomb that scarred Emiko and killed her brother After the war he becomes a professor and later tours the lecture circuit in an attempt to convince others that dropping the bomb was necessary and justified.
One day Emiko walks in at the end of one of Anton ' s lectures They agree to meet later at his home in Canada With those tasty treats on the table , I leave the reader to decide if the meal lives up to the appetizers.
Mark F Johnson
CARRYMEACROSSTHEWATER
Ethan Canin, Random House, 2001 , $23 95 (£13 59), 212pp, hb , ISBN 0-679-45679-1
In this chronicle of an American businessman who started life as a German Jewish refugee, the writing is full of insights We are asked to weigh the morality of killing in peacetime and in wartime
The narrative begins when August Kleinman is 78 years old , flashes back to when he's 18 , and continues with scenes from various stages in his life August and his mother fled Germany in the '30's He succeeds as a brewmeister in Pittsburgh . When his livelihood is threatened, he wins out in a conflict with a smalltime hood Currently he is traveling to Japan to deliver a letter he found on a Japanese soldier during the war
In a tone that goes from erudite to ironic in the old man's mind, Canin constructs periodic sentences that land on the strongest word Some sentences are fragmented ; some scenes are all in dialog He explores broad themes of life , death , work, love and faith He lulls the reader with lush descriptive details , while withholding resolution of the key scene August is an individual who lives by his own conscience and learns new things at an advanced age. His endearing charm allows the author to bacl..1:rack frequentl y, and each new scene fires up our interest.
Marcia K. Matthews
THESAVAGENIGHT
Mohammed Dib , Univ . of Nebraska Press , 2001 , $20 (£14 50) , 191pp , ISBN 0-8032-6620-
This is a collection of thirteen short stories , some historical and some contemporary, that reflect a way of life and thinking totally alien to western culture The ideas expressed are from cultures where terrorism, slavery, and censorship are a part of everyday life. In the title story, the hero and heroine are from a middle class family , living a quiet life in a pleasant home. These two teenagers are lured into the world of terrorism and made to
TIIE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
believe they are furthering a glorious cause. The mindset mirrored by the adventures and attitude of the two are at odds with the result of what they accomplish.
One must get into the mind of the writer or study the cultures of third world and eastern cultures to understand the mores that are established by the terrorist and slave mentalities depicted in these stories The characters and plots require an open mind willing to accept ideas that are completely foreign to westerners That is , they were before September 11th.
This family saga set in Tennessee in the 1920s through the 1950s wants to be an epic and social commentary and maybe even Gone with the Wind , but fails on all counts The story centers on the various offspring in the Douglas clan, and fortunately , we ' re provided with a list of characters to keep them straight. However, the list itself makes characters seem more important than they are, as when Dan Douglas is described as " family historian" and then makes no more than a token appearance Such is the fate of other characters- the story opens with the wedding of a younger sister, Chloe, and the hint that not all will be well Nothing is developed along those lines until it is announced that she ' s getting divorced
The playboy Prince of Wales , Alice B. Toklas, and Gertrude Stein are a few figures who pop in to give credence to the book as a historical epic, and infidelity, alcoholism and civil rights are thrown in for the saga aspect. However, with little exception, the Douglases fail to come to life , and when they behaved in ways that seemed out of character for the little character they displayed, I lost interest. I can think of a number of other writers (Anne Rivers Siddons comes to mind) who do a much better job at creating compelling characters within a historical context.
Carola Dunn , St. Martin's Minotaur, 2001 , $22 95 (£16 99) , 248 pp , hb , ISBN 0-312-26669-3
Murder aboard a trans-Atlantic liner in 1923--what a perfect setting for a by-the-clues detective story! Daisy Dalrymple, in her ninth mystery adventure, has just married Detective
Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard, and they're off to America so he can give Mr Hoover some help in organizing his new Investigation Bureau
As in the snowbound manor house , a staple of many a British (and American) mystery, being on board ship means the suspects have nowhere to go . While the plot is not quite up to Agatha Christie standards--not if I knew the key to the mystery some 150 pages before the newlywed Fletchers--it's still a delicious pleasure to read a detective story which is exactly that. Lots of interrogations, false leads , blunt instruments and other old-fashioned paraphernalia, in other words , in a time and place (mid-ocean) quite capably evoked
Steve Lewis
SWIYfASDESIRE
Laura Esquivel , trans. Stephen Lytle , Crown , 2001 , $22/C$33 (£10 .39) , 207pp , hb , ISBN 0609608703
This is a Latin love story of a passionate couple and a tempestuous marriage , told through the eyes of their loving daughter It opens with the birth of Jubilo , born with a smile on his face and forever able to look at the best side of life. Soon he developed the skill of communication, having to speak Mayan with his grandmother and Spanish with his mother, in order to "translate" between the two women He often altered the translation to keep peace in the home . This skill led him naturally into the telegraph industry, flourishing in Mexico after World War I.
Subsequently his ability to send and receive signals cleared a path to the heart of Lucha , a rich girl who was opposite to him in background, but melded instantly to him in heart and soul Their marriage was intense , sensual and loving , but something happened to destroy their phenomenal bond. Their youngest daughter , Lluvia, is determined to uncover the truth as her father lies ill and dying in old age.
This book is a wonderful read from start to finish . It is brimming with love , passion, evil , and the deep joy and love of a daughter for her parents Can she bring them back to the desire they knew in their youth? A telegraph may have been "swift as desire ," but are the silenced signals lost for good? This novel , a seemingly short read, is a deep and delightful experience.
Tess Allegra
MCAUSLANENTIRE
George Macdonald Fraser, Akadine Press , 1999 , $19.95 , tpb , 596 pp , ISBN l 888173602 (Available from commonreader com) Volume contains : The General Danced at Dawn (1970) , McAuslan in
the Rough (1974), The Sheikh and the Dustbin (1988)
Hoorah! The hilarious sage of McAuslan, the Dirtiest Soldier in the World and his beleaguered platoon commander, Lt. Dand McNeilJ , is back in print! Just after the war (the Big One, WW2) Lt. McNeil! is given command of a platoon of Highlanders : the very platoon in which the amazing McAuslan serves Nothing much happens in this post-war platoon, but each incident--whether inspection, train trip, or Highland Reel-happens with great gusto Picaresque, brilliant, incredibly funny, and unforgettable , this comic slice of military life is pure delight. Although not as welJ known as Fraser's historical tour-de-force, the equally funny Flashman novels , McAuslan deserves every literary- if not military-accolade that can be bestowed. Highly entertaining and highly recommended!
India
Edghill CARTERBEATSTHEDEVIL
Glen David Gold, Hyperion , 2001 , $24 95 (£11.99), hb , ISBN : 0-7868-6734-5
In August 1923 , President Harding dies after attending a performance of stage illusionism given by Carter the Great. The capstone of the evening 's performance is an illusion about which all spectators are sworn to secrecy : " Carter Beats The Devil," and as his last public act before his death, Harding has taken part in the illusion
From this starting point, the book bounces from Charles Carter ' s youth and early career through events of the near present , sometimes showing the same event several times from different points of view, unveiling twist after twist. The book is never sure what it wants to be-literary novel , pulp thriller, mystery , suspense novel , bildungsroman, romance- and while it intermittently seems to want to stake out Caleb Carr territory, a few elements are missing, like a willingness to tel1 the reader what- if any-criminal event has occurred
Though the author is able to swamp the reader in a wealth of well-researched '20s San Francisco Bay Area trivia, alJ of the characters sport attitudes and vocabularies fresh from the 1990s , which shouldn ' t bother most readers in the market this author is obviously aiming for : mainstream fa1Lx-historical blockbuster.
As this debut novel is lavishly produced and strongly marketed, Carter Beats The Devil , like its eponymous main character, may well be seen " everywhere," but somehow this didn ' t really strike me as a book that succeeded as-or was really intended as- a historical novel. I found it overlong for its material, and the combination of endless pulp-noir plot twists and constant high-canon literary disquisition is not a felicitous one,
TI-IE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
growing tiresome long before the book was over.
Rosemary Edghill
GROUCHOMARXANDTHE BROADWAYMURDERS
Ron Goulart , St. Martin ' s, 2001 , $22 .95/C$32.05 (£14 30) , 214pp, hb, ISBN 0-312-26598
This is Goulart's fourth in his series featuring Groucho Marx as a detective aided and abetted by Frank Denby, the writer for Marx ' s radio show and a former crime reporter with the Los Angeles Times. Their latest adventure takes them to New York, where Frank ' s wife, Jane, a cartoonist, is meeting with producers to discuss adapting her cartoon strip for the radio
Apparently, even in the 1930s, transfer between media was not always faithful, as witnessed by the ways the executives suggest Jane alter her strip , Hollywood Molly (Let's give her a dog! Let's give her a brother!) The Broadway murder of the title is that of a Hollywood producer, a Svengali-type who jealously guards his discovery , Dian Bowers, who is starring in Saint Joan (borrowing a page from Otto Preminger and Jean Seberg, I presume). Groucho ' s Groucho-isms (there is no other word) flow non-stop , and Goulart 's ear is so good that I could almost hear them in that unmistakable voice. I was thoroughly entertained until the ho-hum denouement. Plotting is not the author ' s strong suit, but dialogue and a sense of time and place are I look forward to catching up with the first three books and the publication of the fifth.
Ellen Keith
THEREDHEIFER
Leo Haber, Syracuse Univ Press , 2001 , $24.95 (£21.50) , 273pp , hb , ISBN 0-8156-0692-3
Told from the point of view of a first-generation Jewish immigrant, only five when the story begins , this work deals with the trials and tribulations faced in the tumultuous world of New York in the 1930s Though we are always aware of the backdrop of poverty , confusion and in many cases violence, it also expounds on the richness of family life and loyalties and is studded with an array of complex and intensely illustrated characters , all of whom have their own lessons to teach and flavor to impart. Definitions of love, life, death, and the manner in which the world works are all forged in the crucible of this multifaceted time and place
Constantly struggling to find his own identity among the forces which define his life - the strong Jewish cultural expectations , at once very rigid and demanding and yet filled with strength and warmth - and the strong pull
of the completely different, and at times confusing, way of American life , the boy ' s story unfolds as a fiercely passionate depiction of an era since past, the likes of which we shall not see again
Jesse Dubuc
RIBBONOFYEARS
Robin Lee Hatcher, Tyndale House, 2001, $19 99 (£10.39) , 285pp, tpb , ISBN 0-823-4009-2
Julianna , forty something and disappointed with her life , wanders in on an intimate circle of friends. They have joined to share the memories of their recently deceased friend, Miriam Miriam was a teen who seemed to be headed for trouble She was not satisfied with her calm, orderly life. She wanted excitement. She wanted to get away. As events unfold, Miriam gives her heart to God She is forever changed by His love. Her life begins to take on a new grace; but is it enough to get her through the difficulties she must face?
This inspirational novel winds the tale of this ordinary , yet extraordinary woman through the current events of her time Hatcher is well in control of her tale , bringing events full circle, and showing how one life lived well can bring hope and purpose to others as well. Although historical details are included, they are not a significant part of this novel.
For a first novel , Losing Julia is an amazingly well crafted story The tale opens as World War I veteran Patrick Delaney, in a seniors' home , looks back on his life His idealistic youth was spent fighting the horrors of war and living with the biggest sacrifice he ever made : losing Julia, the love of his life and his best friend Daniel's widow . Daniel died on the field of battle just before Julia gave birth to their child . Patrick meets her ten years after the war , honoring the WWI dead in Paris , where they discover their passion for one another.
This is a story of love and loss , yet the story does not lose itself in sentimentality. Rather, the passion and love are tempered by the realities of war and death Three narratives are deftly interwoven, and they carry the reader from present to past with a sense that we are there
Despite being a novel of loneliness and loss , there is also levity and not a little lust as Patrick, exiled to the seniors ' home , finds he stilJ has urges and feelings though he cannot do anything about them His observations on the later years of life add humor to what could
have been a morose setting One word that comes to mind to describe this novel is " haunting. " It is worth more than one reading Tess Allegra
STANDINGATTHESCRATCHLINE
Guy Johnson, Villard (Random House) , 2001 (cl998), $14.95 (£9 .99) , 555pp, tpb , ISBN 0-375-75667-1
This is probably the most violent book I have read, but I continued in the knowledge that I was experiencing a part of American history in a way that has never come my way before The story starts with the man-child Leroi Tremain, accidental killer of white men in the swamps near New Orleans Forced to flee from his family , he goes north, and as WWI commences , he joins a " black" regiment , posted to France Here he fights for freedom while segregation rules within the army, and he learns how to kill - a skill that equips him for civilian life.
" King" Tremain 1s an enigma : cold-blooded killer, protector of children, loyal to friends , unforgiving of weakness , he is a giant among the ordinary black people who fill this book, struggling to live in an unjust society
There are appalling episodes of violence against corrupt and sadistic enemies, black as well as white, although it is the white men who are portrayed as almost universally guilty. The lot of women is harsh and unfair. The lives of the huge cast list in this book are all believable, and often I was left feeling shocked , drained and pained, but so impressed with the writer ' s achievement.
I feel that everyone should read this book , not just because it is well written and powerful , gripping and profound, but as a reminder of the legacy of exploitation of black people on both sides of the Atlantic. I am certain that this is a significant book and one destined to become a classic. Incidentally, the author is the son of Maya Angelou Janet Mary Tomson
THEWEEPINGWOMAN
Michael Kilian, Berkley Prime Crime, 2001 , $5 99 (£3 74), 247pp , pb , ISBN 0-425-18001-8
Michael Kilian's day job consists of writing a weekly newspaper column, mostly commenting with a rather attractive , sly shallowness on the putative centers of Power and Culture in this republic, but this novel, a " Jazz Age mystery," takes us back to an era when a Michael Arlen was doing the barbed social commentary. Bedford Green, the relatively impecunious but handsome and well-dressed protagonist, runs a Manhattan art gallery His " very beautiful young assistant" Sloane Smith is weeping because her friend
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Polly ·Swanscott seems to have vanished, and Polly's repellent parents reluctantly hire Bedford to find their errant daughter Bedford and Sloane, following Polly ' s trail , take ship for France, where they proceed to meet everyone who was anyone in the 1920's artistic and ex-pat scene . At times the name-dropping reaches an awful comic majesty of its own
In the midst of all this captious and possibly tongue-in-cheek flummery, Kilian actually has a grim , believable, and well-crafted little plot running ; he is just witty and skillful enough as a writer to keep the reader reading , and in the end the novel's narrative attains a sort of horrible authenticity - though Bedford Green is a pretty inept hero, with all the sex drive of a gelded codfish, and there is not much jazz - or music of any kindin this alleged Jazz Age mystery Good plot, high-mediocre ambiance, and the most convincing character - Polly herself - never appears .
Dean Miller
FORSUCHATIME
Elyse Larson, Bethany House , 2001 , $11. 99 (£7.47), 351 pp , tpb, ISBN 0-7642-2355-0 Elyse Larson skillfully combines inspiration, romance and suspense in the first novel of the Women of Valor series Cousins , living across continents, join lives when World War II calls them to action The novel opens with the Nazi capture of Giselle and Claude Munier, French Resistance leaders The Resistance rescues Giselle and relocates her to a safe house in France, but the Nazis are not likely to let Giselle disappear without a trace. Jean Thornton, Giselle ' s cousin and an American Red Cross worker, volunteers to lead Giselle ' s rescue While Jean trains for the mission, she works through her past and the loss of her younger brother , Jimmy
For Such a Time is a wonderful example of successful inspirational fiction. It will take the reader back to an important time in history with a message for all.
Melissa Galyon
SOSHALLWESTAND
Elyse Larson, Bethany House, 2001 , $11.99
(£7.47) , 352pp , tpb , ISBN 0-7642-2375-5
After her husband is killed in the London blitz, Nella Killian returns to her hometown in Wales with her young daughter The horrors of war have shaken Nelia ' s faith in God. She accidentally discovers a letter implying that the recent death of a young serviceman was not a suicide but rather a murder connected to an espionage plot. The disappearance of the letter and subsequent attempts on Nelia ' s life convince her that she has become a target , but provide her with no proof she can take to the
authorities With the help of her best friend Peggy, Nella must make tough decisions that affect the safety of her family to uncover the spies in their midst. Whereas the espionage plot is fairly elementary (experienced mystery readers will have no difficulty in predicting what happens next or in identifying the spies), the main characters of Nella and Peggy are well drawn and believable . After the tragic events of September 11th, readers of inspirational fiction may find this book a particularly relevant read as the heroine deals with the issue of maintaining her faith in God despite the evil abroad in her world.
Lisa Sweeney
THEPERFECTDAUGHTER
Gillian Linscott , St. Martin ' s Minotaur, 2001 , $23.95 (£4 79) , hb , 308 pp , ISBN 0-312-27296-0
This well written mystery series continues with another strong entry It is 1914 , with the suffragettes still fighting for the right to vote, WWI on the horizon , and a civil war expected in Ireland Nell Bray, first person narrator and active member of the crusade for the vote for women , has been asked to check up on a young relative who has come to London from Devon Nell doesn ' t know Verona very well , but complies At their first meeting , Verona expresses great interest in learning about radical political groups , and by their second, she seems to have made friends and is well settled Seeing this , Nell turns her attention to the campaign for votes However, Verona ' s frantic mother summons Nell to Devon when she hasn ' t heard from her daughter in several weeks. What Nell finds leads her to investigate exactly what Verona was doing in London .
The fierce battle waged by the suffragettes is highlighted less in this book than in several others in the series , but one still gets a sense of the horrors these women faced Nell is an engaging narrator, and the plot is compelling . Trudi E. Jacobson
OURARCADIA:AnAmerican Watercolor
Robin Lippincott, Viking , 2001 , $23 95 (£14 92) , 336pp , hb , ISBN 0-670-89273-4
Can a divorced mother, her best friend , her two young children, three artists and their various lovers live together in the same house for over fifteen years in almost perfect harmony ? They can if they live in True House , the setting of this original novel.
Our Arcadia begins in 1928 when Nora Hartley and her gay friend , Lark Martin, set out to create new lives for themselves Their purpose is not necessarily to shun convention, but to live freely, with no constraints other
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
than those they choose for themselves. They buy a home on Cape Cod, christen it True House, and rent rooms to others with similar interests. Together, they form an engaging and bohemian family. They see each other through happiness and tragedy , offering one another inspiration and empathy Separately, they search for love, artistic and personal fulfillment , secure in the knowledge that while the outside world may not accept them, those at True House will.
The story unfolds in a series of short, brilliant chapters , some almost tableau-like , evocative of a feeling or idea , highlighting a moment. Others are more concrete and expository , aimed at moving the story along. This structure is fluid and suits the artistic theme of the novel. Overall, I found it to be delightfully romantic and provocative
Alice Logsdon
ROSEOFNANCEMELLIN
Malcolm Macdonald, St. Martin's , 200 I , $24 .95 (£14 39 , as Malcolm Ross) , 411 pp , hb , ISBN 0-312-27301-0
At the heart of this entertaining upstairs-downstairs tale is an effervescent, energetic working-class heroine who accepts her place in the world but is nonetheless determined to make the most of it. During her employers' absence from their Cornwall estate, while dressed in her mistress's new finery , young Rose nurses a half-drowned yachtsman fished from the sea Aided by her fellow domestics , she claims to be her ladyship's niece , and soon she and the stranger are giddy with love Despite exposure as a fraud and dismissal from the household, she retains her sweetheart's affections
Financial reverses and class differences force their parting Rose is unwilling to marry until Louis has salvaged his fortunes , lest he regret his promises to a girl of her humble background When he travels to America to invest in a brewery , Rose remains in Cornwall to work and plan a future with the man she loves In the aftermath of her near-seduction by the predatory Roger Deveril, she accepts the lowly job of prompter in a Comish theatrical company . Her innovative promotions along the provincial circuit succeed, and her acting talent propels her to leading lady of the troupe In due course , Rose debuts on the London stage. A trip to America and the intervention of World War I all affect Rose's ultimate personal and professional choices
Strong characterizations , historical richness , and an abundance of lively, clever dialogue are Macdonald hallmarks . Margaret Barr
REQUIEMFORALOSTEMPIRE
Andrei Makine, Arcade , 2001 , $24 .95/C$37.95 (£15.22) , 252pp, hb , ISBN 1-55970571-X
Makine, an expatriate Russian who writes in French, presents a poetic and lyrical examination of the trials and struggles of the Soviet people from the early days of the Revolution to the end of the U.S S.R. The stOI)' is told through an unnamed Soviet doctor , his Red Army grandfather, and the doctor ' s tragic father. Their lives are brutal and their struggles hopeless Makine ' s elegant prose manages to attach a certain beauty and majesty to his protagonists but even he cannot provide the Soviet era with charm or dignity . From its beginnings in an isolated fairy tale world where a young boy lives isolated from the numerous Soviet tragedies, to the end where the time of Stalin and his heirs comes to its ludicrous end, Makine ' s characters give life to a brave and determined generation doomed to inherit a society without a soul.
John R Vallely
THEBIOGRAPHGIRL
William J. Mann, Kensington, 2001 , $16 (£8 79) , 457pp , tpb , ISBN 1-57566-666-9
The best biographical novels compel us to delve more deeply into the true history behind the characters , and this is no exception In 1910, Florence Lawrence was the world ' s first movie star, attracting larger crowds than even the President. In 1938, depressed over her faltering career, she committed suicide. Mann imagines that the real-life Florence faked her death , disappeared, and lived out her old age in a Buffalo, New York rest home. It is there where , in 1997 , the rival Sheehan brothers find a feisty 106-year-old woman with sharp memories of the early film industry and convince her to tell her story Florence, an entertaining narrator, recalls the details of her long life, from her childhood in vaudeville to her years as the celebrated Biograph Girl , the leading lady of numerous silent films Never comfortable with fame , Florence was all too soon replaced in audiences ' hearts Her story is told in pieces , interspersed with that of the Sheehans and their investigations into her past. The novel not only illustrates how much Hollywood has changed in a hundred years, but also, ironically, how very similar it is Sarah Nesbeitt
QUAKERTOWN
Lee Martin, Dutton, 2001 , $23 95 (£14.92), hb , 320 pp , ISBN 0-525-94583-0
The growing metropolis of 1920s Denton, Texas and the evolution of race relations are examined in Lee Martin ' s first full-length novel. Although the Civil War is long past,
the white leaders of the community are not eager to accept the integration of the two races
Little Jones is the leader of the nearby African American community known as Quakertown . A celebrated landscaper, Jones spends his days with the prominent families in town and often talks with Andrew Bell, a wealthy businessman Bell , in coordination with the town council , plans to move Quakertown further away from Denton and asks for Jones ' s help in convincing his community to accept this proposal. Jones is promised that he and his family can stay in their present home , where a park will be built to replace Quakertown
As Jones campaigns through town, his daughter Camellia finds romance with a dashing newcomer, Ike Mattoon, who has his own difficulties Camellia, the Quakertown schoolteacher, is eager to begin her life as Ike's wife even as she harbors love for Mr. Bell ' s son, Kizer.
Martin gently incorporates familial interactions, romance and violence in this entertaining and moving read demonstrating the need for tolerance and acceptance despite racial tensions
Melissa Galy on
GRANDAMBITION
Lisa Michaels , W. W Norton, 2001 , $23 95 (£13.57) , hb, 27lpp, ISBN 0393050475 In November 1928 , with minimal supplies and a homemade boat , newlyweds Glen and Bessie Hyde left Green River, Utah with the goal of running the Green and Colorado Rivers through the Grand Canyon . They hoped to break a speed record for the trip If they were successful, Bessie would also be the first woman to complete such a voyage. The last time they were seen was a December docking at Hermit's Camp in the Grand Canyon .
A gripping tale based on a true story , this fictional account shifts focus between Bessie ' s experience on the water, and rescue efforts on land led by Glen ' s father , Reith Hyde Using flashbacks , the author does a fine job of recreating their moment in history . Bessie and Glen are optimistic, adventurous , and in love They are caught up in America ' s obsession with feats of daring and the instant celebrity they will achieve if they successfully reach their goal. Likewise , Reith is the product his own experiences as a widowed father raising three children during times of war and hard economic realities . This first novel is lucidly written, with great detail given to the characters as well as the extremes of their immediate surroundings. The river is simultaneously a place of great tumult and serenity It is nature in one of its most powerful forms , the unending flow No
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
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matter the outcome of the journey, the river will go on, carrying its secrets with it.
Alice Logsdon
PROUDANDANGRYDUST
Kathryn Mitchell , Univ Press of Colorado, 2001 , $24.95 (£15 55), 242pp , hb , ISBN 087081608X
Knox Plains , Texas was a racially divided town in the 1920s , during the coming of age of Moose O ' Malley and his uncle Barnett Moose is of African and Irish heritage. The blacks grew up on the south side , thanks to the all-white Knox Plains Land Allocation Council No crop would grow on south side land Everything changes in the lives of Moose and those around him when oil is discovered on a poor farmer ' s land south of Knox Plains This formerly sleepy Texas town becomes a boomtown full of swindlers , thieves and even murderers ; and the Knox Plains Land Allocation Council members suddenly live on the poor side of town
Kathryn Mitchell has crafted an entertaining first novel where the struggles of two adolescent boys are mirrored and amplified in the struggles of the town in which they live . Her endearing , yet not always perfect, minor characters add just the right touch to complete this tale
Nan Curnutt
AWAYOFLIFE,LIKEANYOTHER
Darcy O ' Brien, New York Review Books, 2001 , $12 .95 (£8 .07) , 156pp , tpb, ISBN 0-940322-79-X
This spare , compelling book was originally published in 1977 and is reissued now with an introduction by Seamus Heaney A fictionalized account of O ' Brien ' s childhood in Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s (he was the son of actors George O ' Brien and Marguerite Churchill) , it is an unsentimental , yet never mean-spirited, look at two individuals who probably should not have married and had a child, though that union provided rich comic rewards . O ' Brien provides ample evidence of his parents ' eccentricities . His mother was an egotistical alcoholic who liked to converse with him while she was in the bath His father , a former Naval man as well as actor, pined away for her after the divorce , living with her mother and calling his son " Salty " O ' Brien ' s descriptions of his grandmother ' s refusal to adhere to his father ' s Naval regime are hysterical. As a son , he was no saint , often playing one parent off the other and moving in with a friend ' s family when he simply tires of living with his father and grandmother, but we never fail to empathize with him and his parents It's also a wonderful snapshot of Hollywood and its excesses and unreality :
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O ' Bnen ' s friend, Jerry , shares his director father ' s girlfriend, while Jerry ' s mother gets $25 ,000 annually as her gambling allowance The only sigh of disappointment I gave was at the length ; I would have loved to read more Ellen Keith
MUSICOFFALLINGWATER
Julia Oliver, John F Blair, 2001 , $21.95 (£13.68) , 302pp, hb , ISBN-0-89587-238-2
Like the soft lap of waves on a shore, this tale of a family in early 20th century Alabama gives the reader a sense of time and rhythm Told in a gentle weave of past and present , the story opens in 1918 with a Holloway family reunion at the old homestead to resolve a startling discovery. Beneath the water wheel of the old gristmill , bones have been found. Could they be the remains of Rhoda, a sister who ran away from home fifteen years ago? Gertrude , the eldest , and her lawyer husband from the " big city" of Felder arrive by car with the youngest sibling, Lola , who hasn't been told the purpose of their visit. Lola adored Rhoda but was ordered to forget the early part of her life when Gertrude took her in and raised her. The homestead is kept going by Kathleen, the shy sister, her husband and two sons.
As the relationships behveen the sisters are rekindled, memories return to haunt them, questions are asked, and missing pieces of the family puzzle click into place , some demanding forgiveness Once the author establishes the flow of past and present, the reader is pulled into the currents of the story with curiosity and genuine interest in the family. The final chapter brings a surprise as well as closure, but these powerful characters dwell in the reader ' s mind after their story has been told.
Tess Allegra
HIGHLANDHOPES
Gary E Parker, Bethany House, 2001 , $9 99 (£6 23) , 400pp , tpb, ISBN 0-7642-2452-2
Abigail Faith Porter , Granny Abby to her family , was born in 1900. Now over 100 , she recalls the first thirty years of life in the Blue Ridge Mountains for her great-granddaughter. Abby had earned a degree at the teacher ' s college in Boone County but remained proud of her highlander heritage. Growing up with a feeling of isolation in the Solomon Porter family gave Abby keen interest in the possibilities for a life beyond the mountains Her birth environment was filled with hard work, bringing in few rewards Abigail opens her detailed memory of family ties , hardships and triumphs in what is an emotionally stirring tale
Based on stories of the author ' s ancestors , this historical novel is the first in the Blue
Ridge Legacy series. The book 1s recommended especially to those curious about the unique life style of mountain dwellers. It is a book difficult to put down until finished. Descriptions of the mountains and the characters' ways of expressing themselves are appealing This is an insightful tale of people geographically bound by the mountains from which they seek a livelihood
The Nautical Chart is a modem tale of mystery and suspense. Coy is a Spaniard, a career seaman who finds himself beached by a mishap during his watch on his last ship. He becomes involved with a group of people searching for a lost treasure ship sunk off the coast of Cartagena in the 18th century
The tale revolves around a priceless book with nautical charts of the area that was published at that time. Coy is caught up in a twisting tale of intrigue and deceit , with the usual twists and turns one comes to expect from a modem whodunit. However, do not expect to open a book about a Jesuit treasure ship Nothing takes place in the past; it is purely a modem whodunit, but a good one , well written and fast-paced, with interesting characters
Alexandra Ceely
HERE'STOYOU,JESUSA!
Elena Poniatowska, Farrar Straus & Giroux , 2001 , $24/C$38 .95 (£14 .96) , 303pp , hb , ISBN 0-374-16819-9
First published in Spanish in 1969, Here's to You , Jesusa ! is the fictional autobiography of a poor Mexican woman , here translated into English.
Jesusa ' s life is fraught with hardship and grievous injustice Mistreated by her stepmother and abandoned by her father , adolescent Jesusa is forced to marry an abusive army officer. When he is later killed, a corrupt government denies her the small widow's pension it owes her . Still very young and alone with neither income nor skills , Jesusa nearly starves
Experience teaches her toughness She is also as complex as the political milieu of the Mexican Revolution in which she fought: a loner who lets friends exploit her, outwardly cold yet raising an motherless child, leaving herself open to theft though she realizes she has nothing worth stealing
Poniatowska spent several years learning about Jesusa, and it shows However, first person narration by an inarticulate protagonist weakens the story , making it a tedious and
sometimes obscure read Translation might be somewhat to blame for this effect.
Here 's to You , Jesusa ! provides rare insight into what it was like to be poor and female in early twentieth-century Mexico . Jesusa is too complex to be fictional , and her story too poignant, not to engage even the most dispassionate reader
Kelly Cannon
THEBOOKOFQ
Jonathan Rabb , Crown, 2001 , $23.95 , 375pp , hb , ISBN 0-609-60483-X
On a humanitarian mission to war-torn Bosnia in 1992 , American would-be priest Ian Pearse avoids falling shells while he has a brief affair with a local beauty named Petra. Eight years later , Pearse is in Rome , ordained and scholarly, when a monk friend shoves an ancient manuscript in his hands at the funeral of a mutual acquaintance who died under suspicious circumstances Then the monk vanishes Clues in the parchment eventually lead him to The Book of Q of the title--from the German word Quelle, "source"--the theoretical original words of Jesus upon which the later Gospels were based . The chase leads to Greek's Mount Athos and then back to Bosnia Here Pearse discovers a plot to use Q to reinstate the ancient heretical Manichean cult and take over the Catholic church
Bestselling author of Th e Overs ee r , Rabb uses all the elements of the thriller to good effect. There are even some lyrical passages , but once or twice, when absolute clarity is called for in this genre , I found myself confused by verbiage Then , too , when I hoped for some truly esoteric gnosis , the riddles were solved by resort to simple acrostics and secret panels My biggest disappointment came in realizing I was misled: This is not a historical novel. Never do characters appear in a pre-present time Mining the past for a cult with no modern descendants to complain of sacrilege may create "safe" theological terrorists , a little too "safe" to really thrill , in my opinion But replacing the thriller's recipe for a weapon of mass destruction with ancient parchments does not historical fiction make
James Reasoner is known to many historical novel buffs as the author of one Virginia famil y' s Ci vil War experiences (Manassas , Shiloh, etc.) . He applies much the same treatment in this first volume of a World War II series. Four Midwesterners (two brothers , their Jewish American friend, and a young
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woman) all enlist in the U.S armed forces at the same time The plucky , naive , and patriotic quartet quickly find themselves caught up in the crises that ultimately bring an unprepared United States into the war
In many ways the novel is a stereotypical rehashing of the familiar " coming of age in wartime" sagas that have been a staple of fiction for as long as most of us can remember. The main and secondary characters are fairly predictable, and the events of the period are hardly new Still , such tales retain their popularity for a reason . An enjoyable book for those who are comfortable with the black and white world the author ' s characters inhabit.
John R. Vallely
ESTER'SCHILD
Jean Sasson, Windsor-Brooke , 2001 , $24.95 (£15 55), 448 pp , hb , ISBN 0-9676737-3-9
Stylistically spare , Ester's Child is a natural extension of Jean Sasson's research on Princess and Princess Sultana's Daughters , and like them , provides a service to humanity. What it lacks in texture , it makes up for in plot. With three family sagas intertwined and multiple points of view, Sasson has set a challenge for herself.
The reader is intrigued with Ester and Joseph She is a rich Polish aristocrat ; he is a Parisian playboy who loves her in spite of her conservati ve ways, and by the way, both are Jewish Their families reluctantly agree to their engagement, but instead of lingering with them in Paris , Sasson fast-forwards a year to perilous times in Warsaw . We fear for the young couple, yet we don't know them well enough to feel deeply But when Sasson piles on the coal and ups the danger , the mind reels and she's got us involved Then she parks that group of characters, outlines the historical background of the Israel/Palestine conflict, and homes in on one famil y forced to leave Haifa
The plight of the homesick Palestinians involves us even more There is real value in the historical summaries , for anyone who ever wanted to know how Israel came into existence and why the Palestinians wish it hadn't.
Fate is cruel to these characters. As in a Greek tragedy, there is a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth, not many lighter moments The novel needs to vary its pitch for greater impact.
The camera clicks, images dance across a screen , as frame-by-horrifying frame unfolds the story of Nazi Germany. In this extraordinary debut novel Seiffert, a British-German film editor, presents three perspectives of ordinary people, each vignette self-contained without overlap, yet connected by Hitler's shadow
The first and perhaps the most satisfying of the tales is Helmut's . He grows up in Berlin during the beginning of the Third Reich in the early 30 ' s His story ends with its surrender, May 1945 The second story is thirteen-year-old Lore's . With both parents incarcerated in allied camps at the end of the war, she makes an illegal journey across four occupied zones , leading four younger siblings from Munich to Hamburg The third perspective is Micha's . The year is 1997 A professor of English in modern Germany and an expectant father , Micha goes on a quest to find the truth about his beloved Opa , his grandfather. His loving , smiling Opa had served with the Waffen-ss in Belarus
Seiffert writes in photographs Mostly, this works ; at other times it doesn't. While the pictures are chillingly poignant and ring true , at times her abbreviated prose confuses Seiffert depicts every scene camera-sharp , a sensory image Nevertheless , employing the tiresome present tense throughout, overusing intentional fragments , and putting bullets and italics where quotation marks would normally go , the book may seem, stylistically, too avant-garde
Laying aside issues of style, Seiffert has written a masterpiece, showing the impact of profound evil upon the innocent and asking the questions : Who is to blame? Where are hope and forgiveness when forgetting is impossible ?
Meredith Campbell
TWELVEFINGERS
Jo Soares , trans Clifford E Landers , Pantheon, 2001 , $23/C$33 (£14.34) , 294pp, hb , ISBN : 0-375-40893-2
Being born with twelve fingers portended that Dimitri " Dimo" Borja Korozec would become the world's greatest assassin -- or so thought his parents. After all , didn't having six fingers on each hand give him an extra trigger finger ? Therefore , Dimo's father , a rabid Serbian nationalist , enrolls the eager fifteen- year-old in a school that does nothing but train assassins Young Dimo has all the qualities needed to be a master spy and assassin : good looks , a poet's vulnerable manner, charismatic brilliance, and skill as a marksman But he has an innate propensity for clumsiness.
As went the boy , so goes the man. Either Dimo slips and falls , misunderstands directions , or misreads signs Something always goes wrong An inept assassin who fails to kill any of his intended targets , the anarchist bumbles through the 20th century, meeting , to name a few , Mata Hari, Al Capone, and George Raft From the 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand to the 1954 assassination attempt of Egypt's Gama! Nasser, somehow Dimitri manages to mess things up . Premier Brazilian author Soares provides a romp filled with belly laughs and fun Using a reportorial style and wonderfully "retouched" photographs , he seamlessly weaves his historical characters into the fabric of the story Soares has written a witty, historically accurate tour de force that will charm readers the world over.
Meredith Campbell
THESAVAGESINLOVEANDWAR
Fred Mustard Stewart, Forge, 2001 , $24 95/C$34 .95 (£15 55), 304 pp, ISBN 0-312874-855
Having survived WWI and the Roaring Twenties , the third and fourth generation of Savages must maintain the family fortune in 1932 Although they live on three separate continents , they remain linked by family loyalties that will be tested by another World War
Nick Savage parlays his banking experience into a position as a fundraiser for FDR's presidential campaign and eventually becomes the US ambassador to Germany His sister Brook and her husband live in Paris and are buying land in Palestine in order to establish a Jewish homeland Both siblings witness the devastating consequences of Hitler's rise to power in Germany Their step-sister-in-law, Gloria , also has a major storyline The Chinese branch of the family include Lance Wang, heir to a chain of department stores , his English wife , Nora , and his mother Jasmin, philanthropist and wife to an advisor of Chiang Kai-shek. Their struggle is to outlast not only the communist threat , but also Japanese , imperialist forces
Stewart has written several best-selling books , a few of which have been made into TV miniseries and motion pictures I had no problem following the episodic story, but found the dialogue to be forced and unrealistic Also , while no doubt Stewart expended much time researching popular culture and politics in the 1930s-40s , these facts are often presented in a pointless fashion For instance , one character, searching the movie ads in the newspaper, lists every movie playing in downtown Manhattan , then opts to do something else instead. Still, those
TIIB HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
who enjoy fast action and quick wrap-ups will want to read this novel.
Alice Logsdon
THEGARDENSOFKYOTO
Kate Walbert , Scribner, 2001 , $24/C$35 (£7 .99), 288 pp , hb , ISBN 0-684-86948-9
This lyrical book, set in the period from just before WWII through the time of the Korean War, is narrated by Ellen. The first thing we hear from her is , " I had a cousin, Randall , killed on Two Jima Have I told you ?"
Randall and Ellen had a very special relationship , one which colored all her life. Their friendship slowly takes form and then color, and with Ellen we anticipate their annual meetings Randall shares secrets with Ellen, such as the ghosts in his house that he believes are a family who stopped there on the underground railway He shares a very special book with her, the eponymous Gardens of Kyoto , and we come to understand the role this book has played in his , and then her, life We follow Ellen to college, to her first job , but see her life only in glimpses . The story moves back and forth in time , some events anticipated, others laid out for us without explanation till much later. Secondary characters come vibrantly to life.
Reading this book was like inhabiting Ellen ' s world completely Trying to return to my own life each time I put the book down was truly disorienting. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Trudi
E. Jacobson
MORNING
W. D. Wetherell , Pantheon, 2001 , $24.95 (£15.55) , 368pp, hb , ISBN 0-375-42088-6
I was only two pages into this rather lengthy novel about the early days of American television before I said to myself, "Dave Garroway This book's about Dave Garroway "
Mr . Garroway, no longer a household name, was the first host ofNBC's Today show in the 1950s , an easy-going sort of fellow just perfect for morning TV. In Wetherell's alternative history of the period , it is Alec McGowan who is the genius who conceives of the Morning television show (network not specified) , complete with trademark glasses , bow tie, and closing signature
But tragedy befalls McGowan much earlier than it did Garroway His biographer, whose notes and narrative to himself make up the book, is the son of McGowan's sidekick, and his primary goal is to determine what precisely led to that fateful day in 1954 We, the reader, gradually learn what that tragedy was
Wetherell is a superb writer, and in this book he recreates the blissful days of 50
small-town radio in the 1940s and the wonderfully hectic world of national TV in the 50s , as it simply created itself from scratch. Absorbing reading, in other words , marred only by the overly graphic descriptions of the bacchanalian revelries McGowan and his crew fell prey to . Necessary , perhaps , from the author's point of view , but still distasteful Steve Lewis
SOMETHINGSTHATSTAY
Sarah Willis , Berkley, 2001 , $13 (£5 59) , 288pp, tpb , ISBN 0-425-17060-5
This prize-winning novel came complete with a list of superlatives as recommendation . Tamara is a teenager growing up in 1950s America Her family is always on the move because her artist father needs new scenes to paint, but this time she hopes to put down roots Things go awry when she discovers her mother is seriously ill.
A typical coming-of-age novel , this has some beautiful descriptive passages and well-rounded characters, but somehow it didn't quite hit the spot. At times slightly depressing and on occasion predictable, it followed too closely the mould of other novels of this type so that for this reader at least there were not many surprises The 'flying' incident was amusing , however , and what happened to the cow was both funny and sad I was sorry not to have liked it more
Linda Sole
THECOMPANYOFSTRANGERS
Robert Wilson , Harcourt, 2001 , $25 00 , hb , 464 pp , ISBN 0-15-100846-9
Reviewed in Issue 16 (May 2001) , UK section.
THERIGHTHANDOFSLEEP
John Wray, Knopf, 2001 , $24 , 336pp , hb , ISBN 0375406514
Reviewed in Issue 17 (August 200 I), UK section.
VISIBLESPIRITS
Steve Yarbrough , Knopf, 2001 , $23 (£12 79) , 288pp, hb , ISBN 0-375-4 I 159-3
In the Mississippi Delta where plantations were carved from forest , Jim Crow challenges Reconstruction It is 1902 and echoes of field chants , like threads of mythology , thrive . Tandy Payne , troublemaker and gambler , returns to Loring, Mississippi Now mayor and editor of the newspaper, Leighton Payne is a spokesperson of liberal opinions Loda Jackson , the postmistress , is the only African-American in the state with a government appointment. Sam Payne, father of the disagreeing brothers , was a planter whose slaves once included Loda ' s mother. Tandy seeks the position of postmaster by
petition. Loda, hoping to avoid further conflict, submits her resignation. This painful upheaval is left unsolved. The ending is not entirely unpredictable.
The plot draws from an incident surrounding the author's hometown post office in Indianola , Mississippi. The character development resembles that of Faulkner, and the terse writing style reminds the reader somewhat of Hemingway. The silence in what is not said keeps one reading. Details of generational atrocities lead the reader to hope descendants of the people have put this grotesque ugliness to rest.
This novel filled with memorable characters and a realistic insight to our history is highly recommended.
Jetta Culpepper
US/CANADA: MULTI-PERIOD
SACREDGROUND
Barbara Wood, St. Martin's, 2001, $24.95 (£8.79), 340pp, hb , ISBN 0-312-27537-4
Dr. Erica Tyler, an anthropologist in modem-day Los Angeles, comes across an intriguing situation. An earthquake has revealed a hidden cave containing the ancient bones of a young woman - one whose tribal affiliation strangely cannot be identified. In pursuit of the woman's identity, she clashes with Jared Black, an attractive lawyer assigned to protect Native American interests. In a parallel tale set 2,000 years earlier, the young healer Marimi, happily married and expecting a child , is cast out of her tribe for breaking a taboo. Determined to survive, she and two other children, also outcasts, walk a great distance to form their own tribe. Marimi and her female descendants have the gift of foresight , and we see examples of how their lives intertwine with major events in California's history.
I found myself having to suspend disbelief a little too often during my reading of this tale. For example, we ·re expected to believe that a young woman, barefoot and heavily pregnant, physically carried a young child hundreds of miles to a new land: a rather superhuman feat! Also. the way all of the loose ends are tied together in the end, though satisfying, may cause some raised eyebrows. Despite these flaws, Wood is a wonderful, accomplished storyteller. Her prose flows smoothly and easily , making this a pleasant afternoon's read.
Sarah Nesbeitt
INDIATREASURES
Gary Worthington, TimeBridges, 2001, $15.95 (£9 94), 634pp , tpb, ISBN 0970766203
A sweeping saga of India past and present , India Treasures concerns the history of India as revealed through the history of Mangarh, a fictional Indian state. The main storyline, set during Indira Gandhi·s 1975 ··State of Emergency," concerns Vijay Singh, one of the income tax officials sent to Mangarh on a tax raid a mission to find a legendary treasure the government is certain has been hidden by the ex-Maharaja. During the search, Vijay is throwin into company with Kaushalya Kumari, the Maharajah ·s daughter. But each has a secret to hide and through flashbacks through Mangarh ' s history , we slowly begin to learn what formed Mangarh (and India itself), and what the consequences of those secrets might be when they're revealed.
Sprawling and leisurely, India Treasures is worth the effort it takes to get into it, but the format and typeface make the book physically difficult to read (The book is very heavy, and the typeface very crowded.) The story is a wonderful Micheneresque read , but those with weak eyes and/or hands may have difficulty. India Edghill
I US/CANADA: I HISTORICALFANTASY
THEMERLINOFTHEOAKWOOD
Ann Chamberlin, Tor, 2001 , $24 95/C/$36 95 (£15.55), 333pp , hb , ISBN 0-312-87284-4 The second in the Joan of Arc Tapestries series, Oak Wood is a well-researched novel in which Chamberlin masterfully interweaves elements of the historical and the fantastic Set in the years 1425 through 1428, when Jehannette d' Arc becomes aware that she is La Pucelle, the book brings to life the brutality and magic of the times Chamberlin excels in describing Jehannette ' s metamorphosis from a simple, country maiden into the Daughter-God/warrior woman whom prophecy has foretold will lead the French in battle
Certainly, fantastical elements are everywhere, but Jehannette·s Voices are the stuff of legend and our collective unconscious so we don·t think of the Voices as fantasy. Chamberlin draws us into the Celtic/Druidic mysteries of life. and there the fantastical elements take shape and begin to determine Jehannette ' s choices. She is Christian, no doubt, but, as her people are instilled with the mystical teachings and practices of ages long past , so is she. Jehannette is a miraculous combination of all those elements , with
Chamberlin ' s expert tailoring Angel , witch or savior, La Pucelle has never been so real , so accessible as she is here.
The members of the Kirkwood family are descended from the legendary Merlin, with powers just as legendary and just as frightening. But when Griffin Kirk'Wood rejects his heritage and his duties to become a Catholic Priest, there is no one left to defend England against the evil that stalks the land.
Such is the backdrop for this tale of high magic and fantasy set in Queen Elizabeth I's England. The writing is crisp and engaging , and the basic history is accurate, but it is merely a setting, a background for the true star of the novel: the magic. The characters are stock characters and the historical figures lack authenticity, but the magic permeates the entire book to the exclusion of all else at times. If a tale of high magic is what you want, this is a great book.
Alexandra Ceely
OUTOFAVALON
Jennifer Roberson, ed. , ROC , 2001, $5 .99 (£3.74), 336 pp, pb , ISBN 0-451-45831-l
This collection of Arthurian-themed works consists of fourteen short stories , one poem , and an introduction by the editor, who is no stranger to historical fantasy fiction. The stories draw upon the many Arthurian traditions, nicely balancing those that adhere to traditional legend with tales featuring a modem twist.
Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana L. Paxson ' s " The Heart of the Hill " leads off the collection with an elderly Morgaine reminiscing about an event of her youth. '"The Secret Leaves" by Tricia Sullivan and " The Mooncalfe" by David Farland employ the same style and defend Nimue , another misunderstood female in Arthurian legend Other stories seek to explain Merlin ' s actions regarding Uther and lgraine , share King Arthur· s dying thoughts as he is transported to Avalon , and toy with time travel. " The Mouses Song," a poem by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, and " The Castellan" by Diana Gabaldon and Samuel Watkins are fantasies set in the Arthurian era.
Although one does not need to be an Arthurian scholar to enjoy the tales , familiarity v.~th Arthurian romance is useful. Out of Avalon is recommended for anyone wishing to further explore Arthurian legend in short doses.
Suzanne Sprague
TI-IE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
ISSUE 18 DEC 2001
GODOFTHEGOLDENFLEECE
Fred Saberhagen, Tor, 2001, $24 95/C$35 95 (£15 55) , 378 pp , ISBN 0-312-87037-X
Saberhagen ·s Book of the Gods series is fast-paced, exciting historical fantasy that twists standard mythology into a pretzel. Volwne IV of the series , God of the Golden Fleece , presents a totally new perspective on the Jason and the Argonauts epic Saberhagen ' s '·hero" is Proteus , survivor of a ship destroyed by a Titan who inhabits this fantastical world Proteus swims ashore naked , with amnesia, but (amazingly) in the right place because he knows he is supposed to join Jason on his quest. As he puzzles along , Proteus regains his memory
Saberhagen departs from the traditional glorious view of these mythological heroes and refreshingly portrays them as boring , mortal and tarnished There is nothing golden about the fleece , the Argo , or the men Lovers of mythology may have to brace themselves for some very unconventional portrayals of the typical cast of characters , but it is in the difference that Saberhagen excels The wit and rapid, continuous action make this a very enjoyable read
Bound for the West Indies, John Spencer sets sail aboard the Dragon in 1803 When he sights a lifeboat with one passenger in the middle of the ocean his adventure truly begins Is Horn a Jonah as the gunner believes or is he the one man whose knowledge of the Caribbean can help John and his crew survive these treacherous waters? Sharks may inhabit the sea , but so does Bartholomew Grace, a cruel pirate who gives no quarter to his prey.
The final book in the High Seas Trilogy, this is not your normal tale of pirates and high seas adventure Iain Lawrence ' s portrayal of life aboard wooden sailing ships and bloodthirsty pirates has gritty realism that dares the reader to turn each page The Buccaneers is not for the faint-hearted Aimed at older young adults , particularly males , this stand-alone novel will also satisfy adults searching for historical maritime adventure without the romanticism often associated with piracy literature A perfect tale to read aloud on a moonless night while seated around the campfire . Cindy Vallar
MARIA'SSTORY:1773
Joan Lowery Nixon, Delacorte, 2001 , $9 95 (£6.20) , 167pp, hb , ISBN 0-385-32685-8
The death of her father turns nine-year-old Maria Rand ' s world upside down When her mother should be teaching her the skills needed to become a colonial housewife , Clementine Rand must instead publish one of Williamsburg , Virginia ' s two newspapers . Maria wants to help , but her reading and writing skills are poor and she must care for her younger brothers and cook for the family While she strives to do those tasks , she worries about the colonists ' reactions to her mother·s writings , the estate auction, and her mother losing the government printing contract.
Part of the Colonial Williamsburg : Young Americans series, this is a fictionalized account of Maria Rand and her family , who actually lived in Williamsburg Nixon , an acclaimed children ' s author, does a commendable job of accurately depicting colonial life from a child"s perspective and breathing life into a person overlooked by history. In addition , she provides details of what happened to each member of the Rand family and includes factual information about Williamsburg, colonial childhood, and eighteenth-century printing
Cindy Vallar
US/CANADA:
NON-FICTION
WHEELS,CLOCKS,ANDROCKETS:A HistoryofTechnology
(Originally published in England as The Fontana History of Technology)
Donald Cardwell , Norton, 2001 (cl994) , $16 95 (£10 61), tpb , 592 pp , ISBN 0-393-32175-4
As the tide seeps in , it moves the beach a grain of sand at a time. So, until very recently, it has been with the expansion of technical knowledge . We once studied '·progress" by learning names and dates , but the real story is far more complex
Advances were made by businessmen, not by theoreticians. Miners needed to pump water from mines, clockmakers worked in miniaturization and precision, and textile manufacturers , searching for ways to speed production, created the first factories. These men not only solved immediate problems, but made peripheral improvements and discoveries that led to inventions as various as air conditioning, machine tools, structural engineering, power generation/transmission, and the chemical and computer industries
Wheels, Clocks, and Rockets is at once dense and supremely lucid. Index, chapter notes and graceful prose make the book available to the serious student or casual reader, now catching up on a kind of history they don ' t teach in school.
George MacDonald Fraser, Akadine Press , 2001 , $17 95 (£4 .79), pb , 231 pp , ISBN 1-58579-024-9 (available from www commonreader com)
A down and dirty book that doesn •t skimp on the detail. Here are the war memories of George Macdonald Fraser, which include vivid recollections of his fellow soldiers , their daily activities , and detailed accounts of what it is to fight in the War in Burma But this isn ' t like reading a history book with vague , broad references ; it ' s more like sitting down and listening to your grandfather tell war stories As Fraser points out , when the history book says '" and a tank was destroyed;· the soldier remembers the action that set the tank on fire , the smell of the smoke , and how long it burned Written to include the vernacular of his fellow soldiers , Fraser manages to capture the flavor of his comrades while so vividly portraying the grittiness of combat. The reader is treated to the aspects of that specific time and thinking in British soldiers - from where they were born to how they make tea. The colloquial writing makes for difficult reading in places , but overall , the story can be "edge of your seat" and is very good reading.
Alycia Harris
THEARTHURIANCOMPANION
Phyllis Ann Karr, Green Knight Publishing, 2001 , $17 95 (£11.19) , 59lpp , tpb , ISBN 1-928999-13- I
Originally published in 1983 as a l 00-page hardcover, The King Arthur Companion evolved to become an authoritative source for casual readers of Arthurian romances The first edition of The Arthurian Companion, published in 1997 , doubled in size and scope. This second edition adds 20 pages of text and continues to provide useful cross-references , annotated entries , and a conversational tone that makes it accessible to everyone
Most of the book 1s arranged alphabetically with information on characters, places , events , and concepts associated with major Arthurian romantic works The entries range from a paragraph about more obscure topics such as Priamus , a knight mentioned in Malory ·s tales , to several pages on legend staples like Merlin and the Holy Grail. Definitions are derived from Karr ' s readings of classic sources like those by Sir Thomas
ISSUE 18 DEC 200 I
Tiffi HlSTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
Malory and Chretien de Troyes A bibliographical note lists additional books consulted and recommended Ninety pages of appendices contain niceties such as a map of King Arthur ' s Britain , a chronology, lists of Arthur ' s knights , and prose regarding the culture of the Arthurian time period . This is an excellent, affordable resource . All Arthurian literature fans should own it.
Suzanne Sprague
LADIESANDNOTSOGENTLE WOMEN
Alfred Allan Lewis , Penguin, 2000 , $18/C$26 (£11.21) , 540pp , tpb , ISBN 0-14-024173-6
What do Bessy Marbury , Elsie de Wolfe , Anne Morgan, and Anne Vanderbilt have in common ? After reading this group biography, rm still wondering On the surface the facts are these : Bessy Marbury was a play agent who became the domestic partner of Elsie de Wolfe , an actress better known as an interior designer and later wife of Sir Charles Mend! Somewhere along the way, Elsie had to start sharing Bessy with Anne Morgan (daughter of financier J. P Morgan) , and Anne in turn later became enamored with Anne Vanderbilt, wife of Willie K. Vanderbilt , although her feelings were not reciprocated romantically
All of these pairings occurred against the backdrop of the turn of the century with labor strikes. World War I. and Oscar Wilde among other notables , providing plenty of color . This book was so crammed full of details such as in " Mr Blank was also so-and-so ·s cousin'. that I was exhausted By making this a biography rather than fiction , Lewis must rely on the facts rather than artistic license, so at a dinner attended by both Anne Morgan and Vita Sackville-West, Anne 1s described as ··probably most fascinated by the beautiful Vita ·· There are a lot of probablies·' in this book. Granted these are all interesting women in their own right , and one can make a case for Marbury de Wolfe , and Morgan getting the group treatment, but it wasn ·t until more than halfway through the book that I saw why Vanderbilt had been included as well. Reading this book is like having several books spliced together- an uneven experience.
Ann F Howey , Greenwood , 2001 , $59 95 , 137pp , hb , ISBN 0-313-31604-X 1n this work, Howey's mission is to "[examine] the intersection of popular fiction and feminism , using popular rewritings of the Arthurian legend as sample texts " She focuses primaril y on the works of four
TI-IE 1-IlSTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
authors : Mary Stewart, Gillian Bradshaw, Fay Sampson , and Marion Zimmer Bradley It is possible to read and benefit from this book without having read all of these works , as Howey's points are often illustrated with relevant quotes and/or descriptions of the event or scene in the novels to which she is referring . Howey takes standard literary analysis techniques and applies them to the works of the four authors , using feminism as a focus At times this works well and is illuminating, for example the various interpretations of Morgan and their possible meanings Other times she seems to be stretching to make a point, and the results can be unsatisfactory . 1n particular I found the discussion of the binary system of good vs . evil and its patriarchal antecedents particularly unconvmcmg ; however, I should make it clear that I'm not a feminist scholar I did enjoy the work overall , and by examining the portrayals of the women of Camelot through the filter of feminism it fills a previously bare niche in explorations of Arthurian literature, not an easy task
Tra cey Callison
MADAMEDEPOMPADOUR
Nancy Mitford, New York Review Books 2001 , $12 95 , 292pp, tpb , ISBN 0-940322-65-X
As a child, Jearme-Antoinette Poisson went to a fortuneteller who told her that one day she would reign over the heart of a king 1n 1745 , the unlikely prophecy came true Jeanne-Antoinette became the Marquise de Pompadour and mistress of Louis XV. a position she would not relinquish until her death 20 years later
The elev ation of the Marquise created an uproar at Versailles No French monarch had ever so distinguished a commoner, and in a world where power was measured by one ' s access to the king , few people wielded as much of it as his mistress Through Mitford ' s writing , the Marquise emerges as a charming, outgoing woman who genuinely loved Louis XV and spent the remainder of her life as his lover, companion, and friend . Mitford truly shines in her depiction of the French court 1n an amusing and informative marmer, she writes of the elaborate and often ridiculous etiquette that governed every waking moment at Versailles , whose inhabitants were dedicated to advancing their own privileges , pre venting others from overstepping theirs , and avoiding the dreaded fate worse than death : banishment to the country This is a book not to be missed by anyone remotel y interested in France or the period.
Li s a S ween ey
THEDOROTHYDUNNEIT COMPANION
Elspeth Morrison, Vintage , 200 I (c I 994 ), $15/C$23, 415pp , tpb , ISBN 0-375-72587-3
This is a marvelous compendium of the facts and quotations that lace Dorothy Dunnett ' s novels For those unfamiliar with Dunnett, she is the author of many historical novels including the Lymond Chronicles (six volumes set in the 16th century) , the House of Niccolo (eight volumes set in the 15th century) and King Hereafter, a novel of Macbeth Each book is thoroughly researched, and Dunnett peppers her books with copious amounts of arcane knowledge. Her first books are notorious for this , leading many first- time readers to pull their hair in frustration.
I found this book very enlightening An example of the wonderful tidbits of knowledge is the following defmition : " Abature : The flattened area of grass caused by a deer lying upon it. " I had no idea there were even words for such things , but Dunnett knew it and managed to use it in Queen ' s Play. One may also fmd entries on the castle of Chenonceau, Geomalers , Kola Nuts and spectacles , as well as numerous translations of poetry I particularly liked the recipe for Shred Pie
This is a fun book whether you are a Dunnett fan or not. If you are indeed a fan, it is a must have . I cannot count the times I have run across a reference or a bit of poetry and wondered why Dunnett felt the need to use it. This book makes many things clear, and leaves one with a feeling of " Oh, THAT'S what she meant! ''
Alexandra Ceely
THEYCALLMEAGNES
Fred W Voget , assisted by MaryK.Mee, Univ of Oklahoma Press 2001 , $14 .95 (£9 .32) , tpb , 256pp , ISBN 0-8061-3319-8 Crow family life and culture and the changes wrought by the 20th century and reservation life are described in the words of Crow Indian Agnes Yellowtail Deemose Voget , an anthropologist, sets the stage for Agnes by beginning the book with a chapter on historic Crow and reservation culture.
Agnes , born on the Crow Indian Reservation in 1908 describes the changes she has seen in the Crow way of life in a direct. personable marmer Mirroring changes in society, the traditional roles of men and women have changed, Christianity has become the major religion on the reservation , and some customs are not practiced as widely or strictly as when Agnes was a young girl. However, despite these changes, the Crow remain a famil y-oriented people, and clan uncles and aunts still play important roles The book, which is the product of Vogefs extensive interviews with Agnes , her husband,
18 DEC 200 I
and other Crow Indians, will be a valuable resource for anyone seeking information on the Crow culture
The history of the American South in the modem Civil Rights era is a fascinating example of America ' s enduring racial tension amid an ever-hopeful tide of change Populated with larger-than-life figures such as Martin Luther King and James Meredith on the one side and sinister ideologues such as George Wallace and Byron De La Beckwith (Medgar Evers ' killer) on the other, the half-century confrontation captured the attention of a concerned international audience. Native Mississippian and Boston Globe journalist Curtis Wilkie serves as our guide through the political deals and terrifying violence of his beloved region from the 1954 landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education through the conviction of the unrepentant Klansman Sam Bowers in 1998. In between we glimpse the inner turmoil of the black and white South as Wilkie attempts to come to terms with the land of his birth.
Dixie is an outstanding work on an incredible time period. Any would-be historical novelist wishing to find ideas for plots and characters will find their time well spent with this book.
John R Vallely
1688:AGlobalHistory
John E. Wills, W.W. Norton, 2001 , 330 pp , $27.95/C$39.99 (£16) , hb , ISBN 0-393-04744-x
The year 1688 is chiefly remembered by students of British and European history as the time of the Glorious Revolution. Wills , a historian at the University of Southern California, would have been well advised to analyze the overthrow of the Stuarts rather than indulge in the rambling and random descriptions of events from all over the planet that occurred in that year The book lacks any coherent central thesis, and the essays are totally without any connection that this reviewer could find Indeed, many have no point at all. A dense study that should be avoided.
John R Vallely
Tiffi HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
AUSTRALIA
TITLES
Australia'heremeans thefollowingbooks published, but necessarilyset, Australia. that are not ID
AUSTRALIA: 201H CENTURY
GILGAMESH
Joan London, Picador Australia, 2001 , AU$28, 256pp, tpb, ISBN 0-330-36275-5 Edith Clark lives in southwestern Australia with her mother and older sister, Frances. They are in possession of the dwindling farmland that the girls' father was never able to make successful, despite his best intentions. Life is fairly bleak, but Edith and Frances have never known anything different.
Then their cousin Leopold and his Armenian friend Aram arrive for an unexpected visit, dazzling them with tales of adventure, including that of Gilgamesh, whose legendary search for the secret of immortality holds special significance to the men. Together with accounts of their own travels, they offer Edith a tantalizing glimpse of what the wider world holds
After the visitors leave, Edith discovers she is pregnant with Aram's child. In her daydreams, Armenia, Aram's ancestral home, is a paradise of sorts. With this naive assumption, she determines to go there with her baby Europe , however , is on the brink of war and Edith is headed in the wrong direction at exactly the wrong time
Author Joan London divides this novel into six chapters, consisting of short, step-like segments, representing each stage of the journey She researched details such as travel routes , passports , timetables , etc ., in pursuit of historical accuracy The result is an absorbing tale of one woman's epic odyssey.
Alice Logsdon
SHADOWOFTHEOSPREY
Peter Watt , Pan Macmillan Australia, 2001 , AU$14 .95, 694pp , tpb , ISBN 0-330-36277-1 This is the second in a trilogy that began with Cry of the Curlew. This series wants to be a juicy family saga about the Duffys and the
Macintoshes in nineteenth-century Australia but falls short of the mark (plenty of saga, but not enough juice)
Crammed with characters , it moves along quickly for its length One storyline follows Fiona White, nee Macintosh, who had Michael Duffy ' s baby in the first installment. By this volume, Duffy is presumed dead and Fiona, having married the evil Granville White , is in a torrid lesbian affair with her cousin Penelope, wife of a German baron, and also Granville ' s sister. Twice in one page does Fiona wonder if her baby was taken to an " infamous baby farm. " Twice I wondered, " What is an infamous baby farmT' Need I add that of course this child lived and of course Michael Duffy is still alive . Aborigines , gold prospectors , gunrunners , a Chinese princess, and the Irish all figure into this tale as well.
Throw in Crocodile Dundee, and Walt will be ready to take these families into the twentieth century Unfortunately , I'm not interested in going there with them . Ellen Keith
CHILDOFTHEPROPHECY
Juliet Marillier, Pan Macmillan Australia, 2001 , AU$28 , 577pb , tpb , ISBN 0-7329-1093-5
This final volume of the &venwaters trilogy set in Dark Ages Ireland is the coming-of-age story of Fainne, a young girl who must overcome the shame of her birth and train carefully in the arts of magic , all the while deciding whether to follow Good or Evil. On one side are the druids of Sevenwaters , her mother ' s people , who provide her with the family environment she·s never known On the other is her grandmother, the sorceress Oonagh, who uses Fainne as a tool in her attempt to banish the Fair Folk from the Islands forever.
The history is mostly incidental to the plot, apart from a few mentions of Viking raids and Briton invaders , and this mostly toward the end. Some names don ' t seem appropriate to the period (Peg, Danny) and occasionally drew me out of the otherworldly, romantic Celtic atmosphere But on the whole , I found this to be an utterly absorbing, satisfying end to the trilogy , and perhaps the best novel of the three
