Founder/Publisher: Richard Lee, Marine Cottage, The Strand, Starcross, Devon, EX6 8NY, UK (histnovel@aol.com)
SOLA DER
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
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
CO-ORD INA TING EDITOR (UK)
Sally Zigmond, 18 Warwick Crescent, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG2 8JA.(sallyzigmond@hotmail.com): HarperCollins UK (includes Flamingo, Voyager, Fourth Estate), Orion Group (includes Gollancz, Phoenix House and Weidenfeld & Nicolson), Severn House, The Women's Press, House ofLochar CO-ORDINATING EDITOR (USA)
Sarah Nesbeitt, 6868 Knollcrest, Charleston, IL, 61920, USA. (cfsln@eiu.edu): Random House, Penguin, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin, Five Star, Cumberland House, Tyndale, Bethany House, Farrar Strauss & Giroux REVIEWS EDITORS (UK)
Sarah Cuthbertson, 7 Ticehurst Close, Worth, Crawley, W Sussex, RHI0 7GN.(sarah76cuthbert@aol.com): Arcadia, Canongate, Robert Hale, Hodder Headline (includes Hodder & Stoughton, Sceptre, NEL, Coronet) Towse Harrison, 12 Ascott Road, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP20 I HX.(towse@sunjester.freeserve.co.uk) Little, Brown & Co, (includes Abacus, Virago, Warner), Random House UK (includes Arrow, Cape, Century, Chatto & Windus, Heinemann, Hutchinson, Pimlico, Secker & Warburg, Vintage), Simon & Schuster (includes Scribner) Ann Oughton, 11, Ramsay Garden, Edinburgh, EH 1 2NA. (annoughton@sol.co.uk). Penguin (includes Hamish Hamilton, Viking, Michael Joseph, Allen Lane), Bloomsbury, Faber & Faber, Harvill, Constable & Robinson, Transworld (includes Bantam Press, Black Swan, Doubleday, Corgi), Macmillan (includes Pan, Picador, Sidgwick & Jackson).
Mary Moffat (Children's Historicals - all UK publishers), Sherbrooke, 32, Moffat Road, Dumfries, Scotland, DG I I NY (sherbrooke@mary.moffat.ndo.co.uk)
REVIEWS EDITORS (USA)
Trudi Jacobson, University Library, University at Albany, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY, 12222, USA (tj662@csc.albany.edu) Simon & Schuster, Warner, Little Brown, Arcade, WW Norton, Hyperion, Harcourt, Toby, Akadine, Regency Press, New Directions Ilysa Magnus, 5430 Netherlands Ave #C4 l , Bronx, NY, I 0471, USA: (goodlaw@aol.com) St Martin's, Picador USA, Tor/forge, Carroll and Graf, Algonquin, Grove/Atlantic, Kensington
THE HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY ON THE INTERNET: WEBSITE: www.historicalnovelsociety.org.
NEWSLETTER: Write to Lucienne Boyce (lucboyce@blueyonder.co.uk) for our fortnightly email 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.
MEMBERSHIP DETAILS:
Membership of the Historical Novel Society is by calendar year (January to December) and entitles members to all the year's publications: two issues of So lander, and four issues of The Historical Novels Review. Back issues of society magazines are also available. Write for current rates to: Marilyn Sherlock, 38, The Fairway, Newton Ferrers, Devon, PL8 IDP, UK (ray.sherlock@macunlimited.net) or Tracey A Callison, 824 Heritage Drive, Addison II , 6010 I, USA. (callison@wwa.com) or Teresa Eckford, 49 Windcrest Court, Kanata, ON, Canada K2T IBF (eckford@sympatico.ca), or Patrika Salmon, Box 193, Whangamata, New Zealand. (pdrlindsaysalmon@xtra.co.nz)
OUT OF PRI T BOOKS
The following are dealers in out of print historical novels:Boris Books, Market Place, Stunninster Newton, Dorset, DTI0 !AS, UK. www.borisbooks.co.uk Forget-Me-Not Books, 11 Tamarisk Rise, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 I WG.judith_ridley@hotmail.com Rachel Hyde, 2 Meadow C lo se, Budleigh Salterton, Devon, EX9 6JN. rachelahyde@ntlworld.com Rosanda Books, David Baldwin, 11 Whiteoaks Road, Oadby, Leicester LE2 5YL. dbaldwin @themutual.net David Spenceley Books, 75 Harley Drive, Leeds, LS13 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.
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW: Issue 22, December 2002 ISSN 1471-7492
CONTENTS
Editorials and Forum
Light historical fiction Trivium Publishing
book ordering service
EDITORS' BIT
It's that Janus moment again - a time to look both back and into next year. Once again, historical fiction featured strongly amongst all the major literary prizes of 2002 and I read far less of the usual patronising comments about the genre. Hooray! I was delighted to see Justin Stockwin emerge as the heir to Patrick O ' Brian's crown. Jean Plaidy's skill in recreating historical characters for modem readers has passed to Philippa Gregory, whose The Other Boleyn Girl, is now in paperback and selling well.
For sheer rollicking historical adventure look out for CC Humphreys' Blood Ties , published by Orion in February, a sequel to The French Executioner. January sees the launch of Emperor: The Gates of Rome by Conn Jggulden (see below). Historical fiction is on the march again.
Can I make a plea to UK members who feel that the inclusion of novels published beyond our shores is not for them? Although more and more titles are published worldwide, some are not but are still wellworth seeking out. Do take full advantage of the HNS book ordering service. Details are on page 7.
SARAH CUTHBERTSON'S LIST OF FORTHCOMING ATTRACTIONS ...
Browsing the inestimable Amazon websites recently, I came up with a feast of must-read historical fiction to keep me happy until Spring 2003. So many books , so little time ... Anyway, here's a selection:
The Company by Robert Littell (Overlook Press U.S., April 2002 and Macmillan U.K., ovember 2002)
I'm expecting great things of this. Littell is already known as an author of Cold War spy thrillers and at 894 pages, this saga of the CIA should be the mother of them all. According to Booklist , "If le Carre is the Joyce of spy novelists, Littell is the Dickens ."
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
This Is Not a Novel by Jennifer Johnston (Headline Review U.K., November 2002)
As Imogen gradually pieces together bits of her family history, including the disappearance of her brother, "we hear the tragic echoes that connect her with the Great War and Ireland in the nineteentwenties." From an author who deserves to be better known (though not all her fiction is historical).
I Should Be Extremely Happy ill Your Company: A Novel of Lewis and Clark by Brian Hall (Viking U.S., January 2003)
Was the early 19th-century Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific the triumphant success it's usually portrayed as? What really went on in the minds of those who took part? Here the story is told in the voices of Lewis, Clark, their Indian guide Sacagawea and the French fur trader she married, and examines "the collision of white and native American cultures at the time."
Emperor: The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden (HarperCollins U.K. and Delacorte U.S., January 2003)
First of a trilogy on the life of Julius Caesar, beginning with the youth of one Gaius and his friend Marcus. Advance publicity hints that it 's more Ridley Scott than Colleen McCullough, with fast-moving action in the form of battles, political intrigue and , well , gladiators. I'm hoping it's better than the overhype makes it sound.
The Lost Legion by Valerio Massimo Manfredi (Pan U.K., February 2003)
I wasn't impressed by his plodding Alexander trilogy. But I'm intrigued by the plot of this one: As the Western Roman Empire falls, a band of Roman soldiers from Britain flees Rome with the young son of the last emperor, and goes in search of the one legion to remain loyal to Rome.
Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott (Bantam U.K., February 2003 and Delacorte U.S., June 2003)
Time for a new version of the legendary story. This novel , which begins with Boudica's youth and ends with the Roman invasion of 43 AD, promises a new slant told on an epic scale. It's the first of a trilogy written by an author best known for tightly-plotted, edgy contemporary crime fiction peopled with believable characters.
It seems be the season for ancient Rome and its enemies (the Gladiator effect, no doubt) . Also published are Gods and Legions by Michael Curtis Ford (about Emperor Julian the Apostate who wanted
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
to wipe out Christianity and conquer Persia a la Alexander), The Druid King by Norman Spin rad (Julius Caesar and the Gaulish resistance led by Vercingetorix), and A Song for Nero by Tom Holt (what if Nero didn 't really kill himself?)
Wintering by Kate Moses (Sceptre U.K. and St. Martin's Press U.S., February 2003)
Apparently, after Sylvia Plath's death, her husband Ted Hughes reselected and rearranged her last poetry collection to make it read like a journey to selfdestruction. Here, daringly, Kate Moses recreates the story as she believes it was intended: "a mythic narrative of survival and triumphant renaissance". Should be controversial.
Diary of an Ordinary Woman by Margaret Forster (Chatto & Windus U.K., March 2003)
Novelist and biographer Forster presents in journal form the fictional life of a young woman who was born in 1901 and died in 1995. Millie starts her diary at the age of 13, on the eve of the Great War.
The Coffee Trader by David Liss (Abacus U.K. and Random House U.S., March 2003)
In boom-town Amsterdam of the 1690s, "Lienzo, a Portuguese Jew, stumbles across a new commoditycoffee - which could make him the richest man in Holland. But his rivals will do anything to stop him." If this is anything like as good as Liss's South Sea Bubble novel, A Conspiracy of Paper, it should be a thrilling read.
And finally, in a welcome reissue,
Winter Quarters by Alfred Duggan (Cassell Military U.K., May 2003)
In his unique style, Duggan gives us King Alfred as he most likely was. "Unglamorous, uncompromising and shorn of Victorian mythology," quoth the blurb, "Winter Quarters is a fast-paced tale of Dark Age warriors in battle." For once, I believe it.
AND SARAH NESBEITT PICKS
HER SELECTION FOR THE NEW YEAR
Lest you think that the coming of winter means a slowdown in the historical fiction world, here comes a good selection of novels to keep you happily reading until spring comes again.
Only Call Us Faithful by Marie Jakober (Forge U.S., December 2002)
Jakober, author of the innovative medieval fantasy
The Black Chalice, shows her versatility in this new novel of Elizabeth Van Lew, a spy in the heart of Dixie during the American Civil War.
Lucy by Ellen Feldman (Norton U.S., January 2003)
Lucy of the title is Eleanor Roosevelt's social secretary, the woman that FDR fell in love with during WWI and whose arms he returned to twenty years later. Initial reviews are mixed, but it's sure to be controversial.
Seraglio by Janet Wallach (Doubleday U.S., January 2003)
I'm not quite convinced that it was Empress Josephine's cousin Aimee Dubucq de Rivery who was kidnapped from Martinique, captured into slavery, and rose to become the most powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire but in the hands of Middle East expert Wallach, I'm sure it will make a fascinating novel nonetheless .
The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander (Viking U.S., February 2003)
I'm intrigued by the pretext of this novel , in which readers will see the assassination of the Russian Imperial family in 1918 through the eyes of a "real but forgotten witness" to the basement execution the kitchen boy.
Jester by James Patterson and Andrew Gross (Headline U.K and Little Brown U.S., March 2003)
The authors are best known for modern police thrillers, and their publisher is obviously hoping to carry their popularity into the historical arena. Jester is being promoted as a "breathtakingly romantic, pulse-pounding adventure" of a man who returns from Crusade to find his wife held captive.
Lucrezia Borgia by John Faunce (Crown U.S., March 2003)
Was she an incestuous tart or a shy, virtuous noblewoman? At last - claims the publisherMadonna Lucrezia will have the chance to tell her own story in this fictional memoir, aimed at fans of Jean Plaidy and Margaret George.
My Dearest Cecelia by Diane Haeger (St. Martin's U.S., March 2003)
Haeger's previous romantic historical novels include Courtesan, about Diane de Poi tiers, and The Secret Wife ofKing George JV, about Maria Fitzherbert. Her latest historical saga about a beautiful woman marginalized by history covers the life of Cecelia
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
Stovall, "the southern belle who stole General Sherman's heart."
THEFORUM
Letters may be edited for reasons of space
From Ann Proudfoot, Liverpool
I spent a happy hour mulling over Sarah ' s article ' When is Historical Fiction?' in Issue 21. Here are some thoughts, scribbled down as they came to me.
On balance, I think there has to be a recognised/objective, if arbitrary and arguable , cut-off date (as with antiques) - perhaps ' beyond general living memory' which would give pre-1914 , and Scott's 'two generations'.
This leaves the 20th century and the debate between modernist and contemporary studies : as a medievalist, I just sit back and enjoy! Applying the above criterion , fifty years or so hence the Bragg novels she cites would go into the same category as Austen for the respective periods: something like ' Social History--Printed Primary SourcesCreative/ Imaginative'. But where does that leave the earlier Cumbrian novels? Does one distinguish this ' immediacy to' from the 'imntion of the author? (I can think of other writers whose overall work poses the same problem.) Actual vs Potential HF?
I don't think the 'historical perspective-objectivity' argument applies here: it's for historians, not historical novelists However, A.S.Byatt 's On Histories and Stories is reposing in a pile of unread books, so perhaps she'll give a scholarly and literary perspective. Meantime, my 'reading for the zeitgeist' approach--lookng for an insight into people, places, personalities beyond my own experience--holds sway, with checks on the books for accuracy when appropriate Your reviewers cope with the range of historical fiction, from Duggan to Barbara Cartland (yes , she did!) -a subject in itself.
From Mandy Jones, Wilmslow
Whilst I agree with Jasmina Svenne ' s letter in Issue 21 , that factual accuracy is important in historical novels, I'm not sure novelists have a duty to avoid perpetuating myths, for the simple reason that it's almost impossible to say what is or isn't a myth. Although highwaymen were not bored aristocrats, human nature being what it is, there must have been the odd bored aristocrat who held up a coach. The idea of a duel not being romantic is surely down to the individual's viewpoint (in any century!) and elopements didn't always permanently blight a young woman's reputation. In Pride and Prejudice, Lydia THE HISTORICAL NOVELS
went on to live happily ever after following her elopement with Wickham and I don ' t think anyone would like to accuse Jane Austen of a lack of authenticity!
I believe it's a mistake to lay down hard and fast rules about what novels should or shouldn ' t be like. If we do, some readers will love everything publi s hed but other readers won ' t like a thing. It seems to me we should be celebrating the diversity of historical novels on offer rather than trying to make them all the same. History's a big place - there ' s room for all of us , readers and writers, whatever our tastes (Mandy writes historical roman ce as A manda Grange.)
I take y our point, Mandy , although I di sagree with y ou about Pride and Prejudice. Sur e ly, th e point Austen was making was that Ly dia would mo s t c ertainly have been 'ruin ed ' and very n early wa s, had it not be en for th e generous intervention of Mr Darcy? And as for Ly dia livin g 'happily e ve r afte r,' I doubt it ve ry mu c h! - Sally)
From Jasmina Svcnne, Mansfield
Reading the review of yet another Bronte book , my heart filled with dread . I have read a lot of them . My English teacher , a fellow addict , used to lend them to me because , as a teenager , I was introverted enough to pass for an extra Bronte sister who had wandered into the wrong century by mistake.
One thing that has always struck me is how many people feel compelled to write about them, yet seem totally unfamiliar with the basic behaviour patterns and physical reactions chronically shy people experience when placed in situations in which they feel uncomfortable
I have read novels in which Emily, surely the most defensive of the sisters, tells virtual strangers that Charlotte is writing increasingly desperate letters from Brussels , or that Anne is hinting that all is not well with their brother at Thorp Green. Whereas , I suspect that if a villager met her in the streets of Haworth, he or she would have been lucky to receive a nod and a monosyllable before she vanished round the nearest comer.
Of course, the purpose of such dialogues is plot exposition, but at the expense of realistic characterisation. It would have been far batter to place thoughts inside Emily ' s head instead . I don ' t know how many extroverts are aware of how crippling shyness can be - blushing, sweating, throbbing pulses, stomach cramps, dizziness, an inability to remember words , the feeling that your voice is stuck at the back of your throat so that you physically cannot speak, even if you wanted to ISSUE 22 , DECEMBER 2002
It doesn't surprise me that someone has come up with the idea that Emily Bronte must have been sexually abused as a child. It has become so fashionable that no one can be even slightly eccentric any more without people suspecting childhood abuse. These people overlook the fact that there are many other ways in which a sensitive or imaginative child can be damaged.
Many biographers and novelists fail to realise that Emily Bronte was old enough to have some fragmentary memories of her mother's life and death. It is well known that children who lose one parent are often haunted by the fear that the other will die also. In fact, this is what the younger Catherine confesses to Nelly Dean in Wuthering Heights.
And if that wasn't traumatic enough, at the tender age of six, Emily was unceremoniously dumped miles away from home in a school where, even taking into account the distortions of fiction in Jane Eyre, discipline was harsh and where she probably saw little of her older sisters, two of whom fell ill and died.
I agree with Val Whitmarsh that Juliet Barker's biography of the Brontes is a stunning achievement. Almost all of the characters come across as believable, including marginalised figures like Arthur Bell Nicholls and Ellen Nussey. I think, however, that Emily eludes her, because there is so little documentary evidence about her life. Maybe, like God, we must accept that everyone will create Emily Bronte in their own image.
Jasmina Svenne wins a copy of The Root and the Flower by L H Myers, recently republished by Phoenix Press, for her letter.
From Glen Sly. East Sussex
I cannot understand why the title of a book is often changed when published in countries other than that in which it originated. Titles are changed within English speaking countries - North America often being different from the UK; I wonder do they even change between Canada and the US?
An example is the current bestselling autobiography of the tennis-player, John McEnroe: It is called Serious in the UK and You Cannot Be Serious in the US. Most people recognise the phrase which seems an ideal title, so why change it? Vittorio Massimo Manfredi's Spartan, also on the bestsellers list was entitles Lo Scudo di Talos (The Shield of Talos) in the original, which is far more appropriate. It happens to film titles, too.
This now brings me onto another related theme, which halts a reader's pleasure in a book - the 'Parse and Construe' school of translation. This, I think, has
led translators of the past to translate more Iiterally than is done nowadays, where freedom of expression is considered of higher value than pedantry. My theory is that in the days of old, translators were classically educated and spent more time teasing out translations that combined faith to the original with literary invention. In the process, they created English, which may have raised eyebrows among their contemporaries but is now considered classical in its own 'write.' The translator of a literary work must have literary ability as well as sufficient knowledge of the source language and subject. Think Tyndale.
The writer of the best letter in February's issue will receive a copy of Gods and Legions by Michael Curtis Ford
The Fluffy Stuff?
Dr Sheila Anne Holman Finch discusses Light Historical Fiction
TO compare classical opera with operettas or musicals is similar to comparing the serious, scholarly work of historical fiction, with popular or light historical stories. Whereas popular historical novels are mass-market novels covering many subjects, light historical fiction is usually shorter, with romance, mystery or comedy as a theme. Yet all these types of novels require sound historical research to be worthwhile. And each genre pleases different audiences.
Surely light historical novels are easy to write and the genre is not worth pursuing?
The point has been made before that the genre is not as important as the quality, or the commitment of the author. A fine singer can raise the standard of a mundane song to move us deeply. An expert is able to transcend the banal. And that aim is what makes light historical fiction a challenge for an author, just as any other historical novel writing.
But who reads that fluffy stuff?
_Many readers require a shorter, easy-to-read, amusing tale for entertainment or solace. These readers might be the young with little time for reading; the shortsighted who find reading difficult; or the elderly who require a book that is not too heavy to hold. To presume these readers are not discerning ,
THE HlSTORJCAL
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
or do not have a good knowledge of history, would do them a disservice. Therefore authors of light historical fiction have the task of producing the best work they can. That means using the most interesting, accurate facts in their historical stories, within the boundaries of the genre.
Who publishes light historical novels and what do the publishers want?
The light historical genre has publishers who have requirements which need to be followed. 35,000 words is the length required by D.C. Thomson. F.A. Thorpe needs the same word count. Short sentences and most of the story written as conversation, are two other requirements. But the story itself offers the author a wide creative opportunity, as long as the subject does not become too downbeat. The audience of these small novels don't want to read about bearbaiting and other horrors, which occurred in the eighteenth century. And although poverty and the unfairness of society is recognised, readers prefer to hear about upper class living in a world of horses and coaches for travel, and the humour in such subjects as scandal and intrigue.
Obtaining the meat for the pie.
Like the annoyance of dropping a sock on the way to the washing machine, and finding it after you've sent it burring away, an author can easily fall into historical errors. For one thing, references are not always accurate, or sources may disagree. Even the experts can have a point of view. But historical facts are easily available from libraries and the internet, and if you are able to obtain an interesting source, then it can add spice to a simple story. For example, my brother lives in Leamington Spa and belongs to the Leamington Spa Historical Society. In his collection of books about the town he has a tourist guide dated 1814. I used the information from this book for my historical novel, The Longman Girl. Similarly, as I live in Devon now, several of my novels have West Country settings. But the East Anglia, Peterborough and Stamford area, where I was born and spent some of my youth, also provides colour to my historical novel, The Owner of Thorpe Hall. Thorpe Hall exists. Stories with less wellknown, regional historical facts are of interest to readers. Even though, owing to the short space available, the information has to be woven into the story, sometimes in conversation.
OK, so how do you find this outlet for your historical writing?
I was told about the market for light historical writing by Hilary Johnson, who has helped many authors on their way. And the possibility of selling historical novels on to the large print publishers, Ulverscroft,
THE HISTORICAL
F.A. Thorpe, by Ann Redmayne, who tutors for Writers News home study. Both generously gave me the direction for my work and I pass it on for those interested in writing short historical novels. But by reading the My Weekly Collection historical novels or the large-print Linford Romance historical novels you can judge for yourself if the market appeals to you.
But isn't that sort of historical junk dropped like hot cakes by historians or thrown away after it is read?
Interestingly, these light historical novels are produced in a very good format by large-print publishers. They sit very nicely on a bookshelf. They are also sold by Ulverscroft on the Internet by booksellers such as W H Smiths, and Amazon in many countries. And libraries too stock them, so the author can claim for PLR. So, although overlooked by the majority of book people, they do have a niche and are enjoyed by many who enjoy reading undemanding historical fiction.
Ah! But there must be a catch somewhere?
One difficulty I find in writing these short novels is the necessity to evoke emotion in the stories. After years of academic writing, and to the frequent despair of university professors who were trying to make me write objectively, they finally succeeded so well that when I attempted to write a story I had to spend hours looking up the meaning of"emotion". And even when confronted with the alternative thesaurus words in front of me, "emotion" still wouldn't fully register. I read, Harold Osborne's Aesthetics and Art Theo,y on Expression and Communication, and still didn't fully understand the, for me, elusive sense of emotion, although I can remember being overwhelmed by the beauty of the architecture of Gabriel's, Le Petit Trianon, 1763, at Versailles, as a teenager.
So, having a knowledge of artistic emotion, why couldn't I express it? Why is it that Charles Dickens can make tears come to your eyes when describing the hardship of David Copperfield's young life? One thing is for sure, apart from his genius for writing, it was Dickens sheer hard work at his craft of writing that produced the effect. It was not until I saw on TV a programme of the behind the scenes filming of the musical, South Pacific , and heard the singers trying to express feeling in their performance, that I began to understand the effort required by artists to provide some emotional release for their audience. It seems we all have a soft core inside us, and will grasp at situations we see or hear that send messages to our subconscious and provide the opportunity to release pent up emotion. Even if a story has nothing to do with having to have our beloved old dog put down by
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
the vet last week, we need to opportunity to have a good cry about it.
Isn't it about time we ditched our prejudice against light reading?
Emotion is an essential part of light historical romance. This ingredient can so easily be scoffed at. It is probably the reason why many people consider romance to be beyond the pale and only fit for women to read! However, emotion, like humour, needs hard work by authors to achieve.
We have come to terms with many changes within the last fifty years. Some have been thrust on us and we reluctantly tolerate them now, even coming to realise our past prejudice. But previously held opinions can linger on. Nowadays, pop music is taken as seriously as classical music. Contemporary art as seriously as the Old Masters' work. And so, just because historical stories are short, are designed for quick reading, and for those not blessed with a scholarly tum of mind, shouldn't they be taken seriously as a worthwhile genre?
But who wants to work for nothing? No prestige, little money to pay your huge gas bill?
The financial rewards of writing light historicals may be sparse, but the writers know the importance, and fun, of trying to make their work brilliant - and their readers can appreciate it.
(Dr Finch writes as Anne Holman)
Back numbers of The Longman Girl (No 1301) and The Owner of Thorpe Hall (No 1344) by Anne Holman, and other authors short historical novels can be obtained from:
My Weekly Story Collection
D.C. Thomson and Co., Ltd., Subscription Dept 80 Kingsway East Dundee, DD4 8SL
A Maverick Enterprise
Wendy Zollo profiles Trivium Publishing
Trivium Publishing, a new publishing venture owned by HNS member Tamara Mazzei of Lake Charles, Louisiana, is well under way in its goal to create homes for midlist authors that major publishers shy away from.
In deciding to create Trivium, Tamara was disillusioned by the failure of a number of mainstream publishers to promote and draw attention to historical fiction, which tends to fall into the midlist rather than the best-seller catalog. It is effortless, risk-free and safe to do nothing, but Tamara's frustration with the current marketplace took hold. She would like Trivium to publish quality fiction, but she also wants to give the reader something more. She would like Trivium's publications to have an extra sparkle, if possible. Trivium's ideals are to bring fresh and innovative historical and fantasy novels to the people, standards that they can't get from the typical publisher. As such, Tamara is searching for material that is a little different, material that doesn't fit the standard genres.
The story behind Trivium's first publication, Gillian Polack'sllluminations, is a saga in itself. Tamara's collaborator on a nonfiction reference book about the Middle Ages (Medieval Essentials for Writers and Readers), Gillian admitted during the course of their research to writing fiction as well. After a number of good-hearted disputes Gillian relented, letting Tamara read her efforts. Tamara was impressed and suggested she submit it; however, Gillian, an Australian, insisted that she wouldn't stand a chance with an American publishing house. At this point, Tamara was already in the early stages of planning her publishing company. The chance of Illuminations virtually falling into her lap caused her to move ahead with her course of action for Trivium at a pace quicker than she had originally intended.
Illuminations is an Arthurian fantasy with an
22, DECEMBER
exceptionally curious treatment. It does not, for example, pivot on the mystical Arthur himself, but on three women, two of Arthur's period and an additional female a modern-day historian who discovers a manuscript that recounts the tale of the other women.
The public can expect Trivium's initial release in December 2002.
Tamara chose the name Trivium (grammar, rhetoric and logic) because in the Middle Ages the term was said to represent the "power of language." Even before she considered opening Trivium, she always considered the power of language to be the utmost in energy and intensity. ls there a more appropriate title for an undertaking involving the written word?
Trivium has been on the receiving end of nonstop queries, but Tamara has yet to discover another one distinctive enough to catch her eye. Tamara is insistent on making certain Trivium's follow-up to Illuminations is something thoroughly distinct; a wonderful historical novel in the vein of Sharon Penman is something along the lines of which she is looking for. Tamara is drawn in by an original voice and not anything that plummets into a strict geme. As such, she is readily looking for writers with flair, inventiveness, and skill in both storytelling and language. She is interested in both historical fiction and fantasy and in the diverse forms that these can take.
Trivium's goal is to remain small enough to care about each individual author and novel placed under contract, but also sufficiently large to make a difference in the market. In Tamara's opinion, rather than being a small pocket in the marketplace, historical fiction deserves to be mainstream and hopefully Trivium Publishing will help make a difference. For more information, readers and potential authors may visit http: //www.triviumpublishing.com. (Ed. note : Gillian Polack's Illuminations is reviewed on page 44 )
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CORRECTION
Barbara Soper's novel reviewed in issue 21 (20th Century) is entitled Carnival of Rainbows.
We regret this error and apologise to Ms Soper and her publisher.
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
REVIEWS
General fiction is classified by period. Within each section, the books are listed in alphabetical order of author.
While the HNS takes every care to provide accurate and up-to-dale information about the books under review, sometimes errors creep in. We apologise for these, and advise all our readers to cross-check our information with booksellers before attempting any purchase.
ANCIENT EGYPT
THE SLAYERS OF SETH
P. C. Doherty, St. Martin's Minotaur, 2002, $23.95, hb, 306pp, ISBN 0-312-28264-8 Pub. in the UK by Headline, 2002, £6.99, pb, 41 Opp, ISBN 0747264694
It is impossible for P.C Doherty to write a novel that isn't excellent. The fourth of his ancient Egyptian mysteries has the Pharaoh-Queen Hatusu's chief judge, Lord Amerotke, investigating the murder of a scribe. Possibly the victim of scorned love, the victim is soon revealed to be connected to a web of intrigue and revenge involving a mighty band of war heroes known as the Slayers of Seth. As the members of this elite group start dying off, Doherty richly imbues his writing with the power of both politics and religion in this ancient culture. Not the least amazing detail is the fact that Lord Amerotke and his staff use the equivalent of modem day forensics and intricate police investigation that were available to a people living almost 4000 years ago. Doherty's writing brings to life people in all strata of society. From the power of Pharaoh, the nobles like Lord Karnac, leader of the Slayers of Seth, and the Lady Neshratta, who faces a brutal death sentence if found guilty of murder, to the obscure slaves--all are presented to the reader to gain a view of a world long gone.
Suzanne Crane
BIBLICAL
THE SHADOW WOME
Angela Elwell Hunt, Warner, 2002, $19.95 (£ I 6.99), hb, 336pp, ISBN 0446530 I 15
In this volume, Hunt, a successful inspirational novelist, gives voice to the women surrounding Moses in his epic life. Each of the women narrates her own chapter and shares her experiences with Moses. Hunt has extensively researched the background for this novel, and it shows.
Merytamon is the Pharaoh's daughter and wife and must present him with a son to maintain favor with the king. Miryam, Moses's biological sister, gives voice to her family as they give him up to Merytamon. And Zipporah narrates her experiences as his wife and mother of his children. Though this novel was extremely interesting, the narrators were not quite as gripping as those in other biblical fiction epics. I enjoyed Anita Diamant's The Red Tent and India Edghill's Queenmaker, BUT this novel didn't grab me in the same way. I'd also suggest Thom Lemmon's Women of Faith series as an alternative.
David, the first king of the ancient kingdom of Israel, lies dying - but not in peace. His ambitious sons contend for the throne, egged on by their equally ambitious mothers. Into this palace of plot and counterplot comes a young girl, a maiden from Shunam who is brought to tend David and warm his failing body. Her name is Avishag, and she unwillingly becomes the focus of the warring factions of David's unruly family. Walking a narrow path between the dangers, A vi shag becomes essential to King David and thus to the sons who would claim the t~one, Adoniyah and Shlomo (Solomon). It is Shlomo whom the Shunammite maiden loves - but forces both political and religious threaten to tear them apart. In the end, it is Avishag's courage and pure sense of self that enables her to triumph and create a new life for herself.
Set in a world of shadowy intrigues and bold action, Avishag tells a compelling story, giving radiant life to a woman who is presented in the Bible as a mere pawn. Fans of The Red Tent and The Midwife's Song will find Avishag a worthy addition to the genre.
India Edghill
CLASSICAL
THE GODLESS MAN: A Mystery of Alexander the Great Paul Doherty, Constable 2002, £ 16.99, hb, 303pp, ISBN 1841194964. Published in the US by Carroll and Graff at $25.00, ISBN 0786709952
physician, Telamon, into the city to put an end to it. Six of the Oligarchs together with a servant and one of the King's soldiers escape to seek sanctuary in the Temple of Hercules. Alexander publicly guarantees their safety. The temple is locked, the doors sealed with the King's seal and a guard is posted outside. When the doors are opened next morning everyone is dead - brutally killed. As Telamon says, 'This is murder, treason, and the culprits must be found.' How could eight men be murdered when securely locked inside the temple and guarded on the outside.
The story moves rapidly making the reader keen to know what happens next. The fictitious characters blend in beautifully with those of Alexander, Aristander and Apelles. It is not until the end of the book when Alexander captures the port of Miletus that we find out whodunit. Paul Doherty has written an intriguing mystery which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Marilyn Sher lock
THE OCTOBER HORSE
Colleen McCullough, Simon & Schuster, 2002, $28, hb, 792pp, ISBN 0684853310
Pub. in the UK by Century, 2002, £16.99, hb, 608pp, ISBN 07 I 268056X
This final volume of a series of six novels about republican Rome brings the story from Caesar's pursuit of Pompey after Pharsalus through the final vengeance on his murderers (48 BC to 42 BC). The title comes from the ritual of sacr ifi cing a prize racehorse and the subsequent fight over the remains.
McCullough's expert command of the historical facts from a broad range of ancient and contemporary sources makes this the kind of novel that tests and expands even an expert's knowledge of Roman history. Her work is very specifically grounded in Roman law and political practice, yet her specific stories of Senate intrigue are universal in their portrayal of the role of friendship, family and faction play. All good historical novels can teach us history; McCullough's novels a lso teach us politics.
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
This is the second volume in this mystery series. Alexander the Great has just won the battle of the Granicus and arrived in Ephesus determined to stamp his authority on that city. The Persian army flees leaving the city at the mercy of the Democrats who now vent their fury on the rich and powerful Oligarchs who had collaborated with the Persians. A blood bath ensues. Entire families are slaughtered before Alexander sends his friend and 8
Like most political writers, McCullough is a fierce partisan, damning the Optimates and praising the Populares, at least those allied with Caesar. Caesar comes across as the best in a number of categories: strategist, soldier, eng in eer, poet, prose writer, priest, politician, lover, philosopher and anything else he chooses. The villains are, as always more intriguing: Cato, usually drunk on cheap wine; Brutus, spotty and greedy; Antony, disloyal and oafish. The October Horse opens with Caesar's pursuit of Pompey after Pharsalus, takes us through C leopatra's Egypt and returns to Rome where we see the formation of the Kill Caesar Club. After the Ides of March, attention turns to
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
young Octavian and his fight to consolidate power and avenge his adoptive father.
As usual, McCullough adds maps , drawings and a detailed glossary providing historical background. In her afterword, she announces that she has now decided to end the series she began in 1990 , but her fans can still hope she changes her mind. I would recommend a reader unfamiliar with the series to begin here with the last volume and to work his or her way back through, First Man in Rome, The Grass Crown, Fortune's Favorites, Caesar's Women, and Caesar.
Sparta: considered to be the dark side of Ancient Greek civilisation where the State is dominant and its sons are trained from boyhood to see war as their destiny.
Two brothers are born to a noble Spartan family in SBC. One is strong and healthy , the younger, a cripple who is exposed, as the law decrees, on Mount Taygetus. He is discovered and saved by an old shepherd. Renamed Talos and living a life of servitude he is schooled by his adoptive grandfather in the history of the Helots, that once proud race of men now enslaved by the Spartans. His elder brother, meanwhile, is raised in the mighty warrior caste and it is only when the brothers grow to manhood, unaware of their blood ties , that they finally meet.
Thus, Massimo Manfredi begins this epic adventure set in the period when Persia was fighting for control of Greece and was only held back by a band of 300 Spartans at the pass ofThermopylae.
There is a compelling story here, but the translation distracts the reader with its grammatical errors and modem jargon. The quality of dialogue, which should reveal the author's command of his characters, is missing. As with Manfredi's trilogy of Alexander there is a scholarly adaptation of Greek history but bis lists of all the races which inhabited the ancient world and bis uncontrolled jumping from one subject to another again shows a compulsion to impart every particle of his knowledge which makes the writing stilted. A map would have been useful and I cannot understand why the more worthy title, The Shield of Talos, as it was in the original Italian, was abandoned for one which suggests a box of chocolates. *
Gwen Sly
* No soft-centres in the selection, I take it? -Ed
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS
1ST CENTURY
ALL ROADS LEAD TO MURDER
Albert A. Bell , Jr., High Country, 2002, $21.95 (£12.52), hb , 248pp, ISBN 0-9713045-3-X There's a new detective to add to the ranks of historical mystery, and his name is Pliny the Younger. All Roads Lead to Murder is set in the first century Roman province of Smyrna, when the murder of a not-so-agreeable fellow traveler occurs at an inn. With the aid of sidekick Tacitus (yes, the famous Roman historian), Pliny initiates the investigation until it can be turned over to the proper Roman authorities. With everyone a suspect, Pliny must use his talents of observation and deduction to insure that not only is the murderer brought to justice, but also so that he himself will not be the next victim.
The author brings to the reader the many cultures that were yoked under the politics and power of ancient Rome The novel is well written and informative. If Pliny's narration sometimes feels a tad flat, it certainly is excusable, as even Pliny describes himself as somewhat of a prig. The colorful characters, both fictional and historical, are well blended to reveal the sordid web of money, greed and ruthlessness hidden behind the facade of civilization. One hopes to see Albert Bell 's Pliny again in the near future.
Suzanne Crane
THE GAIUS DIARY
Gene Edwards, Tyndale House, 2002, $10.99 (£6.26), pb, l 76pp, ISBN 0-8423-3871-X
The fifth installment of Gene Edwards' First Century Diaries series, The Gaius Diary covers the last years of St. Paul. The reader follows Paul as a prisoner to Rome and sees him through his ensuing meeting with Emperor Nero, after which he is released. Through the narration of Gaius, who participates in the story's events only at the end of the novel, the reader then encounters many of Paul's followers. Edwards' writing is simple and easily digestible, as most of his writings are. This novel makes for a good introduction to some of the teachings of Paul and the persecutions of the followers of Jesus. The Gaius Diary 1s highly suitable for young adult enjoyment.
Suzanne Crane
CENTURION: A Novel of Ancient Rome
Peter W. Mitsopoulous, Xlibris, 2001, $21.99 (£13.93), pb, 200pp, ISBN 1-4010-2741-5
Based on the disastrous foray into Germania in 9 AD by Roman General Quintilius Varus, Centurion shows us the campaign through the eyes of a career soldier, Senior Centurion Glaxus Claudius Valtinius. Nearing retirement, Glaxus looks forward to a quiet life and marriage to Calvinia, the woman he has loved
9
for many years. But military incompetence and patrician arrogance combine to drag Glaxus into one last campaign, one that ends in catastrophe for the once-invincible Legions. Glaxus manages to survive the battle - only to embark on a desperate return to Rome , carrying with him the only evidence of the truth behind the loss of the 17th 18 '\ and 19 th Legions.
Dynamic and engrossing, Centurion offers a vivid picture of life in one of the greatest empires ever to rule the world - as we! I as an insight into one of the great military blunders in history. Fans of ancient Rome or of military fiction in general should enjoy this rousing story.
India Edghill
WHEN THE EAGLE HUNTS
Simon Scarrow, Headline , 2002, £18.99, hb, 274pp, ISBN 0747272840
44AD. While the Roman army prepare s for the next phase of its conquest of Britain, Centurion Macro of the Second Legion loses his crusty heart to a feisty girl called Boudica from the Iceni tribe. However, he and his young sidekick Cato, fresh from their adventures in Under the Eagle and The Eagle's Conquest, must now infiltrate enemy territory and rescue the family of Governor Plautius from the clutches of a sinister, ruthless Druid sect - with unexpected help from an unusual quarter.
The tale is exciting and well-paced, the writing lively. Scarrow is firing on all cylinders now, and there are still plenty of rich seams to mine for a couple of resourceful and intrepid Romans in what's developing into a memorable adventure series. Not to mention the puns Sarah Cuthbertson
IMPERIAL GOVERNOR
George Shipway, Cassell Military, 2002 (previously published 1968) , £6.99 UK/$9.95 USA/$15.95 Canada, pb, 398pp, ISBN 0-30436324-3
The narrator is the Roman general and Governor of Britain, Suetonius Paulinus. In 59 A.D. the Emperor Nero posts him to Britain with a simple mandate: make the new province profitable for Rome.
To do this the frontier must be pushed westwards and northwards, to capture the prime mineral-producing areas of Britain. Suetonius Paulinus makes plans for an audacious campaign to secure the coveted territories, but he is aware of the restiveness of the tribes of East Anglia and Essex, the Iceni and the Trinovantes, who have suffered harsh exactions from Roman administrators and moneylenders. Suetonius Paulinus knows that they are soon to suffer more, and fears an insurrection in the east while the weight of his anny is in the west
The western campaign is successful, carrying the Roman armies as far as Anglesey, where
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
they destroy not only the military power of the local tribe, the Ordovices, but also wreak revenge upon the Druids. Shipway's terrifying Druids are not the gentle stargazers of modern politically-correct orthodoxy.
As we know, Queen Boudicca of the Iceni does launch rebellion from East Anglia, and the Romans are stretched to their limits before they defeat it.
In the aftermath, Suetonius Paulinus launches a policy of harsh reprisals, but he is eventually recalled from his post for a reason that astonishes him.
Shipway is not afraid to represent Suetonius Paulinus as a harsh, ruthless, and unforgiving man, who tends to see weakness or cowardice as the motives for anyone who disagrees with him. Shipway also makes a serious attempt to create a narrator whose attitudes are those of his own time and culture, even where we would find them shocking or reprehensible.
This is a very masculine book. Suetonius Paulinus meets Boudicca only once, in a scene that perhaps should have been played up more. The only other female character is Queen Cartimandua of the northern tribe of the Brigantes, with whom Suetonius Paulinus has a passionate affair that will haunt him all his life. The historical and military detail is minute and, so far as this reviewer can judge, accurate. The tale is grim in tone, but Shipway's Suetonius Paulinus is not without sensitivity. If you like military historical novels that are hairy-chested but thoughtful, this will be one for you.
Alan Fisk
11TH CENTURY
THEPru CEOFDE MARK
Graham Holderness, University of I lertfordshire Press, 2002, £ 16.99,pb, 227pp, ISBN 1902806123
It's the I I th century, but not as we think we know it. It's Hamlet, but it's not as we know him. Most people probably at least know the bare bones of Shakespeare's play, and I lolderness seeks to put his own spin on the story, making a new Prince of Denmark and different end.
With this book's literally and figuratively wandering narrative, and shifting points of view, I often found it difficult to keep track of what was going on. There was little chance to warm to any of the characters. As a reader, I prefer to be carried away into a story enmeshed within a recognisable period of history. This tale is not anchored in the 11 th century, though there are some literary elements that can be identified with this period, particularly of the saga and myth-making kind. Occasionally, there is the odd flight of lyrical prose, but these are few and far between, with the reader being
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
hauled sharply back to the author's multifacetted matter in hand.
This book, then, seems to be a literary approach to the tale of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and could well be appreciated by those who have studied the play in depth, or who enjoy books that deliberately seek to draw parallels with a more recent era.
S Garside-Neville
RASHOMON GATE
I. J. Parker, Minotaur, 2002, $24.95 (£ 14.23), hb, 336pp, ISBN 0-312-28798-4
Rashomon Gate is a charmingly illustrated mystery of I I th century Japan. The hero, Akitada Sugawara, is an amateur detective who has been asked by one of his former professors to assist in an investigation of black.mail before the poor, struggling Imperial university is ruined by scandal. Under the cover of a teaching assistant, Akitada returns to his alma mater. As part of the faculty, he encounters academic jealousy, corruption, the disappearance of a student's grandfather, and more than one on-campus murder. Akitada must tap dance around an obstacle course of red herrings before he is able to solve the mystery. An added complication to Akitada's personal life is his apparently unrequited love for Tamako, the daughter of his professor. Shamus Award-winning author I. J. Parker has written a compelling mystery with an intelligent, sympathetic hero. Rashomon Gate opens with the discovery of a headless corpse, with which the author cleverly draws the reader into the story. Ms. Parker knows the customs of the period and has provided notes as well as a list of characters.
Audrey Braver
12TH CENTURY
BONE OF CONTENTION
Roberta Gellis, Forge, 2002, $25.95 (£14 80), hb, 432pp, ISBN 0-765-30019-2
Magdalene la Batarde runs the best whorehouse in 12 th -century London. Sponsored by William of Ypres, King Stephen's staunch supporter, Magdalene has managed to become a woman of independent means - save for her continued indebtedness to William. William asks Magdalene to come to Oxford, where the king holds council, for William needs a safe place to meet men of all stations and all politics - and where better than his "mistress's" lodging? Politics is bad enough, from Magdalene's point of view - but when an old murder sparks new ones, and an apparent plot against William of Ypres, not only her diplomatic but also her deduction skills are needed before the king's council concludes.
A whore-mistress may seem an odd and unsavory choice for an amateur detective, but in
Gellis's skilled hands, Magdalene emerges as a strong and sympathetic character. Her relationship with both her patron William and her lover Sir Bellamy keeps the emotional tension high - and reader interest even higher. Magdalene's saga continues to build in strength and appeal. Highly recommended for both mystery and historical novel lovers.
India Edghill
SHIELD OF THREE LIO S
Pamela Kaufman, Three Rivers/ Crown, 2002 (cl984), $9.95 / $Cl4.95 (£5.68), 485pp, pb, ISBN 0-609-80946-6
When her home is attacked by the Earl of Northumberland, I I-year-old Alix, heiress to Wanthwaite, is ordered by her dying father to disguise herself as a boy and seek out the king, who will protect her and recover her inheritance. So Alix sets out on a bizarre quest, aided by her semi-constant companion, Enoch the Scot, whom she meets upon the road south For it's I 190 and England's king is Richard Lionheart, whose eyes are fixed upon Jerusalem. When she finally meets Richard, the king is fascinated by the beautiful "boy" and takes Alix on Crusade as his page. Certain Richard knows her true sex, Alix falls in love with the king - only to find, in tunnoil of the Holy Land, that she is not the only one masquerading as something she is not. Through Crusade and betrayal and daring escapes, Alix clings grimly to her determination to return to claim Wanthwaite for her own.
This is a highly readable and very colorful book - but it's an MGM historical (this is the sort of book in which the heroine owns a pet wolf). The author knows huge amounts about specific areas of the period, but then throws in something like a "magenta" garment (magenta dye was invented in 1859). However, while half the details are wrong, they frequently aren't the half you'd think. "Dangereuse" was a woman's name of the period. Richard Lionheart did come up with the bright idea of marrying his sister to Saladin's brother.
Be warned that there's a great deal of talk about bodily functions, and plot incidents require firn1 curbing of one's sense of disbelief. (At one point a lone knight, armed and mailed, strips naked on the road to rape a woman.) But if you let it, the author's bawdy, witty style will sweep you along on a riotous, ribald, romantic romp.
India Edghill
BA NERS OF GOLD
Pamela Kaufman, Three Rivers/ Crown, 2002 (cl986), $9.95 / C$14.95 (£5.68), 404 pp, pb, ISBN 0-609-80947-4
Three years after Lady Alix of Wanthwaite accompanied King Richard on Crusade, she is 16 and living happily on her estate while her
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
husband Enoch fights in Scotland. Alix thinks her days of high adventure are past until King Richard's emissary, Bonel of Rouen, rides into her life. For Richard is imprisoned in Austria, and Alix is to be one of the noble hostages who will be collateral for the king's ransom. Or so she is told , for Queen Eleanor has a different plan in mind for Alix.
Eleanor has her heart set on an heir to the throne of England sired by her favorite son, a difficulty considering Richard 's taste runs to boys, not girls. She wants Alix to bear Richard 's son - and the heir to England's crown. At first Alix refuses, despite her own youthful love for Richard; but when a reliable source reports her husband dead, Alix succumbs to Richard's rough wooing. But despite the king 's love, Alix's future proves precarious indeed , and only the love of Bone! of Rouen, an elegant, intelligent man whose Jewish past shadows his life, enables her to triumph over fate once more.
This sequel to Shield of Three Lions is just as outrageously enjoyable as the first, with the same caveats about subject matter. (Alix blithers Richard 's sexual preference to just about anybody, with no thought for either his reputation or her own safety ) The book also delves into darker realms of passion and prejudice than did its predecessor. Richard's turbulent affair with Alix, and Bone! 's poignant, unselfish love for her , combine to create a memorable love story.
India Edghill
THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH
Zoe Oldenbourg, Phoenix, 2002, £8.99, pb , ISBN 1842125125
The word classic is perhaps overused, but in this case it is entirely justified. Zoe Oldenbourg (with Yourcenar and Druon) was one of wonderful generation of French academics who moved the goal-posts for historical fiction. This is a book of high seriousness. The research is immense, but as Oldenbourg would say, that is only the beginning. Her aim is to convey a whole medieval life within a book: the life of a petty barony of Linnieres at a time washed with the history of a divided France and the dream of the crusade. She achieves it quite wonderfully. As a warning I should perhaps say that it is very densely written (I confess I subtitled it 'Life ls Not Long Enough' at one point). It is also very French (how to explain that? read it and see!). But it is a must-read for any reader or writer of the period.
Richard Lee
14TH CENTURY
VAGABOND
Bernard Cornwell, Harper Collins, 2002, £17.99, hb, 365pp, ISBN 0002259664, pub in US by HarperCollins at $25.95, ISBN 0066210801
This novel, as no Cornwell fan needs reminding, is the second in the Grail Quest series, following on from Harlequin and continues the fortunes of Thomas ofHookton as he reluctantly pursues the Holy Grail, which his family is reputed to have possessed at one time. But with such a prize at stake, he is relentlessly pursued by those who seek to possess it and w ill kill anyone who stands in their way. For this is no noble quest. The ultimate goal is not a vision of Heaven but power and wealth.
Thomas is a reluctant seeker of holy truth, as he is first to admit. He is a soldier, a member of that skilled band of English archers who lifted two fingers to the French at Crecy. His world is the world of warfare and he has many battles to win before scores, old and new can be settled.
This is where I stand up and confess that this is the first Cornwell novel I have read and to be honest , I wasn't too enthusiastic. (I was asked to review it for another publication.) However, the combination of intelligent writing, plenty of action and an attention to historical detail kept me turning the pages. I even found the battle scenes exciting as well as understandable - another first for me.
If the characterisation is somewhat cliched and the women little more than stereotypes, it matters not because this is not what Vagabond is about. It's about a slice of little known history written in a such a way to bring it to vibrant life. It may have been my first Cornwell novel but it won't be my last.
Sally Zigmond
A SUMMER OF DISCONTENT
Susanna Gregory , Little Brown , 2002, £17.99, hb , 540pp, ISBN 0316859524 It is August 1354 and Thomas de Lisle , the Bishop of Ely, has been accused of murdering Tom Glovere, the much maligned steward of Lady Blanche de Wake. Brother Michael, Senior Proctor at Cambridge University and one of the bishop's trusted men , is called to Ely to investigate - and dismiss - the allegations. With him goes Matthew Bartholomew, a physician and ally in several previous adventures. On their arrival they find that Glovere's drowning is not the only suspicious death to have occurred recently and their worst fears are confirmed when an examination of the bodies reveals all to have been murdered. Suddenly their mission seems in danger of failing since de Lisle certainly had a motive for the deaths. But so do several others amongst the
secretive and fantastic inhabitants of the town and cathedral-priory. What is certain is that the murderer is getting bolder and has not yet tired of his killing spree.
This is another fabulous historical mystery from Gregory - the eighth in the series. Yet again she provides a whole array of eccentric and vivid characters, a labyrinthine plot and a good dollop of humour thrown into the mix The whole novel is a gaudy affair that gallops along at breakneck speed and constantly defie s the reader to keep up What is more she is a writer who definitely knows her history and makes sure that her readers benefit from her knowledge. Her characters smoothly inhabit their world, totally at home in the fourteenth century setting. Hurrah for Ms Gregory, long may she write!
Sara Wilson
15TH CENTURY
THE CLERK'S TALE
Margaret Frazer, Berkley Prime Crime, 2002, $22.95/C$33.99, hb, 312pp, ISBN 0425183246 Pub . in the UK by Robert Hale, 2002, £16.99, hb, 254pp, ISBN 070907171X
This latest entry in the Dame Frevisse mystery series does not disappoint. In 1446, Dame Frevisse and her superior, Domina Elisabeth, arrive at St. Mary's priory in Berkshire shortly after a royal official has been found dead in the infirmary's garden. Master Montfort was not popular, and several people have motives. Soon Dame Frevisse, who knew and disliked Montfort when he was a crowner, finds herself drawn into finding the identity of the killer. In typical Fraser fashion, interesting secondary characters abound, complicating the investigation , while the clerk of the title lends Dame Frevisse a helping hand. Many aspects of the medieval period come to life in this book with details that fascinate rather than overwhelm, while the mystery takes twists and turns along the way. Dame Frevisse remains the quiet centre of the story, using her deductive powers to unravel the many tangled strands of the mystery. Somehow Fraser manages to add new dimensions to Frevisse's character with each outing, not an easy feat for a series writer.
Teresa Basinski Eckford
THE GREEK BOY
Sheila Geddes, Pen Press Publishers , 200 I , £7.99, 290pp ISBN 1-904018-15-7
Primum non nocere.
The first requirement of the physician might also, according to the practitioners in this novel , be that of the herbalist, or even the alchemist. The search for gold should be in God's service; natural substances are to be used m experiments: "God would not expect him to use small mammals or rotted meat."
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
Lyss, the Greek boy, is ten, at the opening of the story. He has found a piece of amber, apparently given to him by the god Hermes. But this is not classical Greece. The story is set in the fifteenth century and Lyss, under the protection of an English alchemist, is brought to Norwich to develop his gift, "The Sight". As he grows, he experiences life in both mediaeval England and in Greece, now under Turkish rule. Marion, the daughter of the house, is expert in simples and knows all their uses. Alchemy is a secret science and "affects the soul's progress." I !ere, Lyss has an advantage; he does not need the herbal remedies to conjure up spirits. llaving studied astronomy, he is keen also to move on to astrology. For this, the oracle's advice "Man, Know Thyself' is a powerful instruction.
The contrast and connections between Christian beliefs and the pagan gods whom Lyss reveres are an interesting theme in this book. At the time of his marriage, he suffers a crisis of conscience about the mysteries of the Mass and ponders over the nature of belief and how much an intellectual mind will accept.
Sheila Geddes is a professional astrologer herself, already the author of A Strange Alchemy. The book is packed with interesting facts and, in these days of holistic medicine and perhaps a more open-minded approach to complementary techniques, it will have much appeal. This well-written novel might also be suitable for young adults.
L M llussenbux
THE PAINTER'S DAUGHTER
Carolyn Street Lafond, Frederic C. Beil, 200 I, $35 (£ 19.95), hb, 307pp, ISBN 0-913720-78-X Alessandra Lippi is the beautiful daughter of the infamous painter Fra Lippo Lippi. Her story begins in 1467, as she tells of her first memory of her beloved Botticelli. She lives a comfortable life, with her father; her mother, Lucrezia, the defrocked nun; her brother, Filippino Lippi; and her father's apprentice, Sandro Filipepi, aka Botticelli. Alessandra grows into a beautiful woman, worthy of every man's attention and every artist's paintbrush. She becomes intoxicated with the power of her own beauty, and this later leads to trouble. Even so, her one true love is Botticelli, who never took a wife, saying that his paintings were enough for him.
Ms. Lafond knows her historical facts, but she has unfortunately chosen to put every single one into this book. As a result, the book reads like a travelogue, with meticulous yet soulless, descriptions of Florence in the 15th century. Her many characters are very difficult to tell apart, but if you are familiar with Italian Renaissance art, you can track down their portraits because she has kindly mentioned every painting in which these real-life people
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appear. One other problem with focusing on facts over story is that when one does encounter an error, it jumps out like a jack-in-the-box (she mentions Teresa of Avila in the 1490s, and Teresa was not even born until 1515). Still, the book is a fair introduction to the history of Florence.
Alexandra Ceely
THE SIL VER BRIDE (US Title: MOONLIGHT AND SHADOW)
Isolde Martyn, Pan MacMillan Australia, 2002, AU$28, 434pp, pb, ISBN 0-7329-1127-3. Pub in the US by Berkley, 2002, $14 (£7.98), 448pp, pb, ISBN 0425186083
In 1483 England, Sir Miles Rushden, adviser and loyal friend to Henry, Duke of Buckingham, is kidnapped by Heloise Ballaster's greedy, merchant father and forced to marry his silver haired daughter. In doing this, Heloise's father hopes to kill two birds with one stone: raise himself and his family socially and, at the same time, rid himself of a daughter whose unusual silver colored hair is rumored to be a sign of the "fairy" people. Miles, bitter at the way he's been manipulated by Heloise's father, is determined to have his marriage annulled in spite of the fact that he finds himself more enamored by his silverhaired bride with every passing day. Then the fickle and unstable Buckingham, to whom Miles is fiercely loyal, begins fomenting rebellion against Richard Ill and the House of York, with whom Heloise's sympathies lie.
I found Buckingham's historic rebellion to be a fascinating and sadly neglected setting among historical fiction authors. On the other hand, Miles's and Heloise's romance was more than a little predictable. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed Martyn's depiction of Buckingham and his young son. Considering all the above and this author's excellent research of the historical time period, I found it well worth the read overall.
Pat Maynard
16TH CENTURY
THE FOOD TASTER
"Ugo DiFonte" (trans. Peter Elbling), The Permanent Press, 2002, $26 (£14.82), hb, 248pp, ISBN 1-57962-047-7
This work is purported to be the innovative, sassy memoir of Ugo Difonte, a food taster in I 6 th century Italy. Ugo, unwillingly pushed into the service of a deliciously devious Duke, manages in a most unwitting comical manner to prosper in his new position. That is, until his attractive yet catty daughter Miranda's love life adds more curls and bends to his alwaysprecarious position.
Caught between her desire to play the Duchess after catching the eye of the
enormously stout and egotistical Duke DiVincelli, and her more than flirty adventures with the palace cook Tommaso, Miranda continually uses her father's devotion to bum both ends of the candle. Ugo is constantly struggling between his appalling family ties (a wicked, immoral brother who incessantly haunts him) and his own rollicking affairs of the heart just to live to tell his tale.
Elbling's usage of the little known world of the medieval food-taster brings a genuine freshness to the genre. The reader can become a bit lost in DiFonte/ Elbling's endlessly rich characters, yet they are so charmingly eccentric that it's a maze worth wandering through to the end of this original and atypical historical novel's ultimately frenzied conclusion.
Wendy Zollo
THE SHADOW OF GOD
Anthony A. Goodman, Sourcebooks, 2002, $24 (£13.68), hb, 435pp, ISBN 1570719047
The historical setting of this novel is not the heyday of the Crusades, but three centuries later. This is good to keep in mind, since the warfare pits Christian Knights against Muslim Turks. Again.
The theme of recurring conflict between fanatical elements of both sides of this religious divide is too relevant to miss. The battle for Rhodes, a strategic island of economic importance, is disguised as an ideological conflict, but it is really a vivid demonstration, painstakingly reenacted by the author, of masculine power madness, territoriality and aggression. The epigraph by Blaise Pascal reads: "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction," but I repeat, the piety does not obscure the naked berserker momentum on both sides.
The author provides good objective viewpoints of the Christian and Muslim. Many interesting details of the Ottoman Empire and the Knights' daily lives accompany and relieve the play by play of the siege. This book is worth picking up if you are interested in historic battles, the background of Christian/Islamic conflicts, or if you fancy a fresh lesson on the madness of war. Sensitive types be warned: gore abounds.
Mary K. Bird-Guilliams
DARK MATTER
Philip Kerr, Crown, 2002, $24/ C$36 (£13.68), hb, 352pp, hb, ISBN 0-609-60981-5
Subtitled The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton, this is Kerr's first historical mystery, and a fine one it is too. Told in the voice of headstrong Christopher Ellis, we meet young Ellis and Sir Isaac Newton, his master, in the Tower of London in I 696. Newton is not merely a renowned scientist, and one of the most brilliant
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
scientific minds of any century, he is also Warden of the Royal Mint by royal appointment. His job: to uncover and prosecute counterfeiters who are undermining the warweakened and shaky British economy by producing false coins.
What Newton and Ellis discover is that the counterfeiting scheme is merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Sinister and insidious, the detective team learns that not merely is the British economy under attack but a conspiracy is afoot which reaches to the highest level s of British society, threatening the very fiber of their nation Kerr ingeniously interweaves mysterious, apparently unrelated murders, heavily encoded ciphers and alchemy into this remarkable fust try at the genre. Add to the mix Kerr's admirable research into the period and his talent for making us feel that we're sitting in the same room with Ellis and Newton, listening to their repartee. A fun read, and illuminating as well.
Ilysa Magnus-
THE BAWDY BASKET
Edward Marston, St. Martin's Minotaur, ~002, $23.95/C$33.95 (£13.66), hb, 262pp, ISBN 0312-28501-9
Nicholas Bracewell, stage manager of the Elizabethan actors' troupe, Westfield's Men, has a serious problem when a young, distracted fledgling actor, Frank Quilter, starts spoiling the current production. When Frank confides that his father is falsely accused of murder and will be hanged soon, the ever-kindhearted Nicholas agrees to help. Before he can, Gerald Quilter is hanged- and young Quilter vows revenge, taking a leave of absence to trail the perjurers when help arrives from an unlikely source: Moll Comfrey, a comely young "bawdy basket" who travels with the Bartholomew Fair. This is an elaborate tale that promises much, but doesn't satisfy. The usual colorful characters and a clutter of new ones give the reader a glimpse of Elizabethan life, but the pace is slow. Even the title character plays primarily an offstage role. Not until the final "chase scene" is there any palpable action in this novel. After many previously entertaining novels, Marston's current tale appears less of a romp and more an amble Tess Allegra
THE MAN ON A DONKEY
HFM Prescott, Phoenix Press, 2002 (first published 1967) , £9.99,pb, 841 pp , ISBN 1 84212 603 2 , pub in US by Sterling Publications at £15.95, ISBN 1842126032 I did not know of HFM Prescott nor her books but The Man on a Donkey should be required reading for students of Henry VIII and his reign.
Written as a chronicle and set in Yorkshire and London , it covers the years from 15091539 and with masterful ability gives the reader a vivid insight into life in Tudor England. The story culminates in the Pilgrimage of Grace: the rising of the Catholic Commons in the north against the King's "New Ways" after his divorce from Catherine of Aragon and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn. Had the drift towards Protestantism, destruction of the monasteries, and Henry as Head of the Church come as a religious rebellion, it would undoubtedly have led to disastrous consequences - but the uprisings in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire were largely unsupported. Miss Prescott reminds us how near togetherspanning only a few generations - were the unsettling and disturbing times of the War of the Roses, the rising of the Commons, and eventually the Civil War.
The novel is beautifully crafted and delicately written and clearly expresses the author's own Christian beliefs. The impressive historical research brings to life the main protagonists in the unfolding drama: Thomas Cromwell the manipulator, Norfolk everchanging, and Robert Aske one of the more pleasing figures in the conflict - brutally executed by an unforgiving monarch.
Perhaps the translation of the New Testament into English by William Tyndale and the possible consequences of Anne Boleyn's adherence to the new religion could have been more developed, and it is unfortunate that the birth date of Elizabeth I is wrongly given, but this is a huge , skilful and profound book , rich in drama, and with such quality of writing it should receive as much praise as when first published.
Gwen Sly
17TH CENTURY
AN UNCLEAN ACT
Dean Burgess , The Permanent Press , 2002 , $26 (£13.82), 253pp, hb, ISBN 1-57962-046-9
A meticulously researched first novel , Burgess ' story concerns what was likely the first recorded divorce in seventeenth century New Eng land. Thomas Burge and Elizabeth Bassett are pledged to each other at a young age, when their families lived near Plymouth. Both families relocate to Sandwich , and the two are eventually married , but the union is not a success. Years lat er, Thomas is drawn to the Quaker faith, causing the couple to separate for good. The much younger Lydia Gaunt , long attracted to Thomas, marries him in a simplified Quaker ceremony - which leads to public notice , scandal, and punishment for all concerned.
Narrated mainly by Thomas, and occasionally by Elizabeth and Lydia , the novel
accurately portrays the hardships of New England life , Indian customs and relations with the colonists, and Puritan beliefs and prejudices toward those of different faiths. The use of real people, such as Pilgrim John Alden and persecuted Quakeress Mary Dyer, adds authenticity to the story. A mostly successful attempt to breathe life into a compelling, but almost forgotten , episode of early American history.
Michael I. Shoop
THE PALE COMPANION
Philip Gooden, Constable 2002, £16.99, hb, 280 pp, ISBN 184119381X, pub in US by Carroll & Graf, $24.00, ISBN 078671008X
This is the third book in the series set in Elizabethan England featuring Nick Revill. A clergyman's son, Nick joins the Chamberlain's Men as a jobbing actor after the death of his parents.
Nick and the company journey into Wiltshire across Salisbury Plain on their way to a country house to perform A Midsummer Night's Drea m to celebrate the marriage of Lord Elcombe's son. During a stop in Salisbury Nick is attacked and beaten. This leads to his meeting the local magistrate, Adam Fielding and his beautiful daughter , Kate
When Nick and the company finally arrive at Instede House, the atmosphere is tense . The bride groom seems reluctant to marry. Matters are complicated when a wild man who lives in the woods and another group of travelling players , the Paradise brothers , arrive on the scene.
The first death to occur could be suicide but Nick is not convinced With a second death the 'Dream' looks like becoming a nightmare and Nick and Adam Fielding join forces to solve the cnmes.
I enjoyed this book It opened with a bang and gripped me from the start. The character of Nick Revell is sympathetically drawn and one feels for a young man and his odd moments of unrequited love. The comparison with Edward Marston's stories of Westfield 's men is inevitable, but Phillip Gooden ha s written a book that stands or falls on its own merit. I look forward to the fourth book in the series. Mary Tucker
THE KlNG'S TOUCH
Jude Morgan , Headline Review , 2002, £10.99, tpb , 536pp, ISBN 0747269521
The King 's Touch is elegantly crafted and a joy to read. It brings to life the flamboyant times of the Restoration as shown through the eyes of James , Duke of Monmouth , the beloved and illegitimate first-born son of King Charles II . The novel is so intricately detailed that it feels like stumbling upon lo st diaries newly discovered.
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ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
James 'no-name' was born in the Netherlands to Lucy Walter and Charles, who were 18 and in love, but as exiled Royalists, often destitute. I !is parents soon separated and young James spent his early years with his mother travelling within Europe, existing on charity and credit, unschooled and often shoeless.
Rescued by his father, he lived with his grandmother, the dowager Queen Henrietta Maria, in the Court of France, until arriving in England in 1662. James rose to dizzying heights but his struggle for the legitimacy which would enable him to take his rightful place as heir to the throne of England was never to be realised.
We sec Charles II in intimate close-up, his reign characterised by the lustiness of his lifestyle. His addiction to horse-racing and curiosity towards the newly-emerging sciences whilst keeping a finn hold on his throne amidst the religious intrigue of his younger brother the Duke of York, are well observed. Yet Charles II remains, as he was to his contemporaries, an enigmatic character; outwardly the genial and popular monarch but inwardly impenetrable, never forgetting the wilderness years when, cup in hand to the monarchies of Europe, he was dismissed as the King without a crown.
The author has a light touch with the great events of the period - the Plague and the Fire of London but I would have liked some insight into Charles's relationship with Christopher Wren and the rebuilding of the City, and perhaps more of Frances Stuart, who became the model for Britannia on the coinage.
This is, however, an impressive debutimaginative and skilfully told.
Gwen Sly
TIIEY WERE DEFEATED
Rose Macaulay, Phoenix Press, 1932/ 2002, £8.99, pb, 445pp, ISBN 1-84212-522-2, pub in US by Sterling Publications, $15.95, ISBN 1842125222
This is one of the historical novels recently reprinted by Phoenix and featured in HNS Review 21 (August 2002). Originally published in 1932, it is Rose Macaulay's only historical novel. The tale is set in England in 1640, on the verge of the Civil War. The novel opens in Devon, with the poet Robert Herrick as vicar of the bucolic parish of Dean, then moves onto Cambridge and enters the intellectual ferments of the day. The author visits the key issues of the times of religion, politics, the prevalence of superstitious beliefs and the slow acceptance of the new learning. There are a mix of fictional character and historical figures - particularly the Cambridge poets, Cleveland, Crashaw and Cowley, as well as cameo appearances from several of other known figures.
The novel is a substantial and gently moving story of ideas. The conversation of the
characters is rendered wholly in contemporary speech and idioms, which is both highly impressive and seemingly accurate. But some of the Devonian dialect is utterly impenetrable, as well as the generous amount of untranslated Latin quotations. It is certainly not a novel to be rushed through in an afternoon, though some may find the plot both a little pedestrian and it odes have some eccentricities: about halfway through the novel, Robert Herrick is virtually removed from the stage, even though he was the central character for the preceding part.
The author displays a sound grasp of the issues of those uncertain days in England's history and I can thoroughly recornrnend this as a historical novel of rare depth and substance, and definitely worth the effort to read and understand.
Doug Kemp
JUST BEYOND TOMORROW
Bertrice Small, Brava, 2002, $ I 5/ C$2 l (£8.55), 329pp, pb, ISBN 1-57566-737-1
The mother of the new Duke of Glenkirk's mother had given him two pieces of adv ice The first, "to marry soon," is easily accomplished. When Patrick Leslie tries to buy land adjacent to his holdings, he is told the price includes marriage to his neighbor's beautiful and wild daughter, Fianna Brodie. The second piece of advice, "avoid the royal Stuarts," is harder. Fianna tries to be a good, obedient wife, but she is a Loyalist. Unaware of the tragic history between the royal Stuarts and the Leslies, Fianna's sworn fealty to Charles II challenges Patrick and jeopardizes his life. In 1651 the king flees Scotland, leaving Patrick and Fianna free to find the love they both secretly feel.
In Just Beyond Tomorrow, Bertrice Small continues the saga of Skye's Legacy. Ms Small is nothing if not a skilled storyteller. She weaves a rich tapestry of seventeenth century English politics through a passionate love story that is guaranteed to enthrall the reader.
Audrey Braver
18TH CENTURY
SALLY HEMINGS
Barbara Chase-Riboud, Virago, 2002, £7.99, pb, 438pp, ISBN 186049952X
In 1787 Thomas Jefferson, a hero of the recently ended war, is revered as the man who drafted the American Declaration of Independence. But he despises himself for having been overborne. The clause that would have led to the ending of slavery never reached the final draft of the Declaration.
Chase-Riboud has undertaken a fascinating task of detection. Sally Hemings, Jefferson's black slave mistress was a woman so enigmatic, elusive and discreet that she was for years regarded by many historians as a 'non-person'.
The author has made her discoveries. The result, strongly backed up by known facts, is a grand romance. Passion forces Sally to make bitter choices. Jefferson, her lover and twice President of the USA has the power to grant her freedom but he will not. (His ostensible reason is extraordinary, if not totally unaccountable.)
Sally, with her quick intelligence and indestructible beauty lives surrounded by luxury in glorious, unspoiled Virginia. But she can never be hostess when Jefferson entertains the men (and their strongminded wives and daughters) who are shaping America's future. The perpetrators of an unspeakably savage crime on a neighbouring plantation go unpunished. They were free men, their victim a slave. Sally's determination is now fixed. Her life will be dedicated to obtaining freedom for her children.
This rewarding book is not a difficult read but begs for close attention. With hindsight, the missed opportunities of the young USA are apparent, and sad rather than horrifying. The path that Sally Hemings walked so delicately for so long deserves to be recognised. A successful novel by an experienced and gifted writer.
Nancy Henshaw
VERSAILLES
Kathryn Davis, Houghton Mifflin, 2002, $21 (£ 11.97), hb, 206pp, ISBN 0-618-22136-0 Kathryn Davis makes use of a clever narrative device in this, her fifth novel: she allows Marie Antoinette's soul to speak. This ghostly narrator is a detached thing, an omniscient spirit possessing wisdom the doomed queen rarely exhibited. Davis invites us to listen to the queen's innermost thoughts, and yet the use of this point of view allows enough emotional distance to avoid the melodrama, the pity, and perhaps the contempt that the reader may have felt, had Marie Antoinette herself told the sad and familiar tale.
Davis is clearly an ingenious and masterful writer. At times, her spirit-narrator is coy. ls the soul a truthful teller of the tale? Will she tell us if Count Fersen was ever the queen's lover? This spirit is also mischievous. Several chapters of the book are sly little plays, 'written' by the queen, in deference to her love of theater. Even the transitions between chapters are cunning.
Davis expects much from her readers. For lovers of I 8th century French history, the novel is an absolute feast of allusions and understatements. Those less familiar with the history may dislike the lack of historical detail, and become confused by all that has been left unsaid. Versailles is best read as a smart historical-literary-commercial novel about one ordinary woman's journey through an extraordinary life. Highly recommended.
Lisa Ann Verge
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ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
THE BEEKEEPER'S PUPIL
Sara George , Headline Review , 2002 , £12.99, hb , 314pp , ISBN 0747270414
How clever of Sara George to intertwine a man ' s blindness with the Enlightenment and then to turn the tables , contrasting the man ' s inner vision with the darker aspects of the French Revolution Against this background is the fascinating and intelligent bee, diligently constructing its own world with a beauty and a precision that is awe-inspiring.
As a young man (and self-styled peasant) , Frances Burnens comes to work for Frarn;:ois Huber in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It is 1785 and M Huber is carrying out scientific observations of his bees. Since he is blind, M. Huber needs an assistant to read to him, to observe the bees , to write up notes and to make drawings. Bumens stays for nine years , during which time he keeps a journal. The bulk of the journal records their experiments with , and observations of, bees. To a lesser extent, the journal also records the daily life of the Huber household: Madame , clever, loving, troubled and somewhat manipulative ; Monsieur, Bumens' second father. Blind since the age of fifteen , intelligent painstaking and gentle , M. Huber teaches the young Bumens much more than scientific method. There are the children and the servants and the scientist, Clara Jurine, attractive, clever and fascinating to the young Bumens.
Sara George is to be congratulated for making the arcane so riveting , for her lyrical descriptions of scientific observation. Who said natural history wasn't sexy? I revelled in this book and while I acknowledge that bees , science and the Enlightenment are not for everyone, I recommend the book for the sheer pleasure of the writing. Anyone aspiring to write vivid, descriptive passages should also read it. Above all, anyone who eats honey should read it, look upon the works of the little bee, and be humbled Geraldine Perriam
THE BARGAIN
Melinda Hammond, Robert Hale, 2002 , £17.99, hb , l 89pp , ISBN 070907117 5
The Earl of Aldringham is a rake and breaker of women's hearts. While news of his latest scandalous affair calms down he escapes to Bath. There he meets an animated , no-nonsense Melissa , from a good family , but orphaned and virtually penniless. Although she turns down the Earl's advances , he uses underhand methods to persuade her to run off with him. Melissa is surprised to find that he has arranged to marry her and despite his offhand attitude she finds herself increasingly attracted to her sardonic husband.
The Bargain is a slight piece of fun , with a charming, if wafer-thin , plot. Though the hero's
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character seems a little underdeveloped , the heroine ' s sparkiness more than makes up for his deficiencies. Although the requisite happy ending is never in doubt, there are enough obstacles in the way to keep the reader absorbed to the end.
Sara Wilson
THE BELVEDERE T O WER
Elizabeth Hawksley, Robert Hale , 2002 , £17.99, hb, 254pp, ISBN 0709073062
After the death of her baby son, Cassandra Hampden flees her violent husband to live in the rundown Belvedere Tower at her family home. The remaining estate is sold to Daniel Darke, a self-made man and wealthy Yorkshire mill owner who must get to grips with running the estate, thwarting the local poachers, finding h imself a wife and mother for his two children , and at the same time trying to remove Cassandra from her home Then Cassandra's husband reappears with murder on his mind and she finds herself in danger. Will Daniel realise his true feelings and save her from disaster?
This is a lovely light-hearted romance , with plenty of action and thrills. The heroine is witty , resourceful, artistic and humanitarian and the hero is just flawed enough to make him more real and therefore more attractive. There are cruel villains to boo and a particularly underhand rival to dislike.
Sara Wilson
DO MINO
Ross King , Walker , 2002 , $26 , hb , 448pp , ISBN 0-8027-3378-6
Pub in the UK by Minerva , 1996 , £6.99 , pb, 439pp, ISBN 0749396687
In his novel of masquerades and the blurring of gender characteristics , Ross King does an admirable job of recreating the idiom and the culture of 18th century London and Italy , but at the expense of accessibility. The story unfolds as a double narrative , as the painter-protagonist George Cautley describes his adventures and misadventures as an artist's apprentice in London. In the process of telling his tale, he retells the story told to him by his own Scheherezade , the mysterious and tempting Lady Beauclair. Years ago, while posing for her portrait, her ladyship recounted the history of Tristano, a castrato singer, whose fame carried him from Milan to England
As Cautley feels his way through the quagmire of London's artistic community, he imbibes philosophy from the famous and from the books they lend him. He also championsor tries to - Eleanora, his mentor's mistress.
Constantly shifting from Tristano's native Italy to England , and from Cautley's present to the castrato's past, the novel presents an accurate , detail-rich , and vibrant portrait of the era , its surface elegance and its seamier
underside. The circuitous , 18th century writing style , archaic vocabulary , and convoluted relationships make demands of the reader. Moreover, the symbolism of masks , masquerade costumes (dominos) , cosmetics , and wigs is a trifle overdone. As a work of historical fiction, it is flawed , but worthy of attention.
Margaret Barr
DEATH AT ST JAMES'S PALACE
Deryn Lake, Allison & Busby , 2002, £17.99 ($24.95) , hb , 286pp, ISBN 0749005831 John Rawlings, apothecary and gentleman, spends his pare time assisting John Fielding, the famous London magistrate , with his numerous criminal investigations. This time they are meeting under happier circumstances - Fielding is to receive a knighthood in acknowledgement of his role in establishing the Runners , the predecessors of the London metropolitan police.
At the St James's Palace investiture George Goward falls to his death and , in spite of the hoards of assembled guests , no one has noticed anything suspicious. No one that is other than John Fielding and he is a blind man. Thus the two Johns embark on another murder hunt during which they meet an array of eccentric suspects. Jack Morocco, a former black slave adopted by the Duchess of Arundel! ; Elizabeth Chudleigh the infamous society beauty ; Lady Mary Goward a far from grieving widow; a young girl disguised as a boy and a talented hunchbacked artist.
This is the seventh novel in the- senes featuring John Rawlings and the main characters have really settled into their appointed roles by now. As well as being a first class mystery writer and storyteller, Deryn Lake also manages to effortlessly bring to life all the colour and glamour of Georgian London . Her plots are always crammed full of exciting action and exotic characters, accented with welcome touches of humour and wit.
Another top quality historical mystery. Sara Wilson
DEATH IN THE WEST WIND
Deryn Lake , Allison & Busby , £6 99 ($9 95), pb , 386pp , ISBN 0749005882
I believe Deryn Lake is one of the best UK writers of historical mysteries , and this is the seventh of a series that shows no sign of flagging.
In this seventh book John Fielding is conspicuous by his absence while Rawlings and his new wife Emilia are on their honeymoon in Sidmouth , Devon . He doesn ' t get to indulge much m the traditional pa s time s of a honeymoon but he does get to solve a crime Dutch merchant Jan van Guylder seems an ordinary man faced with the usual problems of
ISSUE 22 , DECEMBER 2002
rebellious teenage children, but soon be is to have some rather larger and more tragic problems. A woman is found dead tied to the figurehead of a schooner. She seems to have had more than her share of lovers and was expecting the child of one of them - but where is her missing brother? And how do the mysterious haunted house, phantom coach and the terrible Society of Angels from Exeter fit in? Somehow John isn't going to have much time for his new bride and this is going to make complications of its own ...
This story gives most of the series' main characters a holiday, but the old sparkle is still as present as ever and the whole thing fizzes merrily along and Lake tells it all in just the right number of words, describing life in the robust mid-eighteenth century with a cast of provincial fops, fishermen and west country worthies in a well realised setting that rings true to this reviewer - who lives there! It is highly recommended for all historical whodunit fans, not least because Ms Lake lets her characters behave like eighteenth century people and doesn't bow to modem political correctness. Polished and hugely enjoyable.
Rachel A Hyde
SEA OF GREY
Dewey Lambdin, St. Martin's, 2002, $25.95/C$35.95 (£15.03), hb, 39lpp, ISBN 0312286856
Royal Navy Captain Alan Lewrie has had better times than the long and trying months of 1798. His trusting wife has learned of his infidelities and proves to be a much fiercer enemy than the warships of Revolutionary America or France. The intrepid hero of Camperdown finds haven in the arms of his mistress and temporary relief from domestic strife as commanding officer of H.M S Proteus. Sent on a mission to the Caribbean, Captain Lewrie is once more in his element as he employs his command skills and keen intellect to advance his career while simultaneously aiding the Admiralty in its plans for playing a major role in the strategically vital Caribbean waters. Lewrie remains a complicated character who stubbornly refuses to behave in a more conventional manner in his private life. His flaws are constant in this, bis tenth adventure on the high seas, and they continue to bring readers back into the world of this sterling naval officer.
John R. Vallely
THE WIDTE
Deborah Larsen , Knopf, 2002, $22.00, hb, 219pp, ISBN 0375413596
In 1758, Shawnee Indians attack the Jemison family on their Pennsylvania farm. Only Mary, aged 16, and her brother are spared scalping and death. Mary is given to a pair of Seneca sisters to replace their brother, killed by whites.
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Well-treated, she eventually accepts her fate and settles down , marrying twice and raising a large family. She has several opportunities to return to her own people, but chooses to stay with the Indians.
At the end of her life, the real Mary told her story to a local historian who wrote it down for posterity. A poet herself, Larsen retells it in a series of poetic, impressionistic snapshots, mainly in third person, but with brief sentences in Mary's own voice, as she emerges from shock and grows slowly into her new life and its natural surroundings. While the lyrical brevity of the style is self-consciously beautiful, it puts us at a rather icy distance from the inner lives of the characters. It's hard to care about Mary, her husbands, and the tragedy of her sons when we hardly get to know them as more than figures moving through a landscape.
This beautifully imagined (if slow to unfold) tale concerns the life of Anna Maria Pert!, wife of the minor Austrian composer Leopold Mozart, and mother of the legendary Wolfgang Amadeus. Ms. Norman's story is heavily fictionalized, for not enough is known of the life of Mozart's mother to make a biography. Anna Maria lived, as the author notes, in the eighteenth century, when the "rights of man" were trumpeted, but women of all classes were simply regarded as breeding stock. They were, according to both priests and philosophers, made expressly to cook, clean, sew, and serve their masters.
The real Anna may be lost to history, but not to this ingenious novelist. Ms Norman makes the most of the mystery, fashioning a living, breathing woman and her brace of brilliant children. Having written about Wolfgang Mozart's marriage, I feel that Ms. Norman has caught the essence of his parents. I know bow brutal the eighteenth century was, both in estimation and treatment of "the sex." It is entirely possible, as the author suggests, that it was Anna, not Leopold, who contributed the raw talent with which her son Wolfgang was so famously blessed. Norman's Anna is a thwarted composer-an inspired musician trapped in a woman's body, motherhood her only permissible destiny. In the course of Stitches In Air, we guess that the same doom might await Nannerl, Mozart ' s gifted sister. Fantasy, in this case , might very well be the tragic truth of this archetypal musical family.
Juliet Waldron
THE DIST ANT BEACON
Janette Oke and T. Davis Bunn, Bethany House, 2002, $11.99 (£6.83), 270pp, pb, ISBN 0- 7642-2600-2
This book is the fourth volume in the Song of Acadia series. Nicole, who has been made Lady Harrow by her uncle, sets sail for America where she has been asked to manage her uncle's estates. Once she arrives, she finds that she is looked upon with suspicion by both sides. Fortunately, she has the help of British Captain Gordon Goodwind who, despite reservations, is dedicated to helping Nicole succeed in her quest to reach her uncle's lands. After many adventures , they have come to a better understanding of their hearts , their faith and their loyalties.
Oke and Bunn are extremely successful writers of inspirational fiction. They fill the book with kind and strong characters who seek to do the will of God. Those who have read and enjoyed the earlier volumes will no doubt want to continue to follow the adventures on Nicole and her family. However, those who prize historical accuracy will not find much of it here. Among the more glaring faux pas are the source of Nicole's peerage; the fact that she travels without a maid or chaperone; that she, as an unmarried woman, is being sent to take care of her uncle's holdings in America during a time of war. Goodwind's failure to follow naval orders in order to assist Nicole is also totally unbelievable.
This book cannot be recommended as an accurate portrayal of the times.
Kathleen Sullivan
PETER LOON
Van Reid, Viking, 2002, $24.95/C$35.99 (£ 14.42), hb, 299pp, ISBN 067003052X
The time is shortly after the end of the American Revolution. The place is the District of Maine, then a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Peter Loon is a young man whose father has just died. His mother, perhaps not completely sound of mind , wakes Peter in the middle of the night and sends him to look for Obed Winslow, location unknown. Peter has never heard of Obed Winslow, and has never ventured far from his parents' homestead. The power of Reid's writing is such that readers discover the wider world right along with Peter, and to discover it thus made me feel as if life had slowed down and calmed down. Peter has a number of interesting adventures, but his greatest luck is in falling in with the itinerant Parson Leach. Together they become involved with events connected to the rebellion of the small homesteaders. These "Liberty Men," who felt that unsettled land in the forests of Maine belonged to those who cleared it through their back-breaking labor, pitted themselves against the representatives and agents of the "Great
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
Proprietors," who "claimed vast tracts of territory on the strength of old King's Grants and often contradictory Indian deeds ."
The characters in this beguiling novel are well drawn. There is a proper villain, and a hero who is almost too good to be true. The historical details never overwhelm, but are critical to the plot and atmosphere of the novel. I hope very much that we will have a chance to follow further adventures of Peter and Parson Leach - I can't think of a better way to spend my time. In the meantime , read his three Moosepath league books, if you haven't yet had the pleasure.
Trudi E. Jacobson
THE GLORIOUS CAUSE
Jeff Shaara, Ballantine, 2002, $26.95/C$39.95 (£15.94), 688pp, hb, ISBN 0-345-42756-4 I couldn't wait for this sequel to Rise to Rebellion; I knew it was going to be superb and was not disappointed Shaara resumes his history lesson where Rise left off, in New York of August, 1776. He carries it through the end of the war to Washington's return home to Mount Vernon. Along the way he tells the tale of the American Revolution through the eyes of those who fought it , never letting the reader forget that those icons from the past were all too human . Once again, Shaara demonstrates his uncanny ability to introduce the reader personally to some of history's greatest figures: Washington , Franklin , Lafayette, Cornwallis, Howe , Von Steuben, and others.
This is neither a collection of dates nor a long-winded debate about strategies. Instead, this is the story behind the dates and the history book pictures and as such should be required reading for American history classes, for many students would find several eye-opening revelations. This is history as it was, and not as it is commonly taught. As with all his books, the author does not pass judgment, does not take sides, and does not pull punches. The follies, misjudgments, cowardice, and betrayals on both sides are woven into the same tapestry as the heroics and masterstrokes. The resulting image is unforgettable.
Mark F. Johnson
AWOMA AMED SOLITUDE
Andre Schwartz-Bart, Vintage, 2002, £6.99, pb , I79pp, ISBN 009944075X, pub in US by Syracuse Press, $19.95, ISBN 0815607040
Conceived on a slave ship on its way to the Caribbean, Solitude is born into slavery. A mulatto, a chattel and victim of the inhumanity of humankind. In 1799 she takes part in a rebellion, but for her and other rebels life is no less harsh than working for a master and capture, torture plus the ultimate punishment is still an everyday reality. Descriptions of inhuman treatment, torture and barbarity fill every page and because this is so relentless I
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
feel some impact is lost. The author himself suffered oppression and was witness to atrocities during World War Two and his first novel The last of the Just (HNS Review , June 2001) tells this story. Although understandably harrowing in parts this first novel has a credibility which Solitude does not. The book jacket, press release and the final sentence point out a 'distant echo' between Solitude's story and the author's experiences in Nazi occupied Europe, but in my opinion this analogy is not altogether convincing.
The Last of th e Just and Solitude are separate stories set in different political, social and historical times and by attempting to merge the two the first novel takes over and Solitude's story becomes lost. This is a pity because there is an interesting story of slavery at the end of the eighteenth century which remains obscure in this novel. Then again other readers who have (or have not) read The Last of the Just may sense the 'echoes' and the analogy more than I did.
Greta Kryczyk-Oddy
19TH CENTURY
SUNDANCE, BUTCH AND ME
Judy Alter, Leisure , 2002, $4.99/C$6.99 (£3.16), 336pp, pb , ISBN 0-8439-5042-0 ln all the legends and lore of the west, few historical figures stand out more vividly than the men who comprised the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. While much is known about the men who rode the Outlaw Trail, less is known about the mysterious Etta Place. Some accounts say she was the descendant of an English nobleman. Others that she was an orphan raised by outlaws. Or was she the rebellious daughter of a wealthy cattle baron? The one thing known for sure is that she was a woman of uncommon beauty .
In this narrative, Etta Place sets the record straight, telling of her troubled childhood as Mary Baird; her unconventional teenage years where by days she excelled in convent school and by night lived, chastely, in a San Antonio bordello; and her wild years on the run with her lover , the notorious Sundance Kid and his partner, Butch Cassidy.
Perhaps because so little of Etta's true background has been conclusively documented, her story is the perfect fodder for an author with imagination and talent. Judy Alter delivers plenty of romance, excitement and historical detail in this tale of a woman who chooses to follow an unusual lifestyle in pursuit of adventure. I found it very entertaining.
Alice Log sdon 17
LAN DS OF GLASS
Alessandro Baricco, (trans. Alastair McEwen), Hamish Hamilton 2002, £16.99, hb 23 lpp ISBN 0241141745
This is Alessandro Baricco's first novel, published in Italy 1991 and now released in English translation following his success with the later bijou novel , Silk. Although anchored to real events (the development of the railways and the competition to build the Crystal Palace) , it is more a fantasy of alternative historical possibilities. The names of the characters and places are not specific to any one country, although the imagined location has to be European, and his inventions are oflen Pythonesque in their implausibility and humour of their description.
The book has all the features of Baricco 's unique style. Characters are minutely and perceptively drawn in beautifully precise and elegant language and their idiosyncrasie s are portrayed with delicate wit and irony The plot is not much to tell; it is an interweaving of character studies and amusing events: the glassmaker who builds a railway to nowhere , the architect obsessed with building in glass; the operation of the ' humanophone' and its obsessive inventor. an author's obsession with obsessions.
Baricco's imaginative power and use of words is breathtaking, a virtuosity which shines through the English version thanks to a splendid translation. Ile does suffer from not always knowing when to curb his muse. The phrase, 'perverse omnipotent rotation' is recycled four times within a few lines in a sentence lasting almost two pages and containing numerous other delights such as, 'a clot of floss , use les s dangling mush a squalid bolus of mushy brain '
When it is not self-consciously pretentious Baricco's writing is delightful. He can change the pace at will, be lyrical , ironic, touching, his images are brilliant. A book to enjoy.
Allan Derwent George
HAZARD
Jo Beverley, Signet, 2002, $6.99/C$9.99 (£4.43), pb , 363pp, ISBN 0451205804 Lady Anne Peckworth was content to lead a sheltered life on her family's estate in England until her younger sister wished to marry. Because custom dictates that an older s ister must wed before the younger, despite an awkward limp Anne agrees to join London society with the intention of finding a spouse. In preparation, Anne practices the art of flirtation on Racecombe de Vere, her brother's new friend. Race 's experience with pleasing women and Anne's determination not to let him think her a schoolgirl soon cause sparks to Oy. However, because he lacks a title, he cannot be considered an eligible suitor.
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
slaves to Canada and freedom. Hannah too has a difficult journey. Hers is to achieve adulthood and know her own mind. She goes to New York City to learn about smallpox vaccination and on her return has to face prejudice and must make an inevitable decision: should she make her life with her father's people or her mother's?
As she has done throughout the books , Elizabeth shows great resourcefulness, courage and an unswerving detennination to do what she believes is right. The love between Nathaniel and Elizabeth is undiminished and Hannah's love story is painful and tender.
Pamela Cleaver
CASTLE ROUGE
Carole Nelson Douglas , St. Martin 's Minotaur, 2002, $25.95/C$35.95 (£ I 4.80), 544 pp , hb , ISBN 0-312-86941-X
Castle Rouge is the sixth entry in Douglas's series featuring Irene Adler, American opera singer turned inquiry agent, who once outwitted Sherlock Holmes. It begins in the summer of 1889, exactly where the previous book, Chapel Nair, left off: Irene's husband, British barrister Godfrey Norton, had mysteriously disappeared while in Prague on secret business. Irene's companion, parson's daughter Nell Huxleigh , had been abducted in Paris, apparently by Jack the Ripper , who had committed a series of murders similar to those which took place in London the year before In this volume, we find Nell and Godfrey imprisoned in a castle in Transylvania , where they encounter some old enemies. Meanwhile , Irene and her friends, who include daredevil reporter Nellie Bly, search for Nell and Godfrey and the Ripper, who has struck again in Prague.
I am always glad to see another Irene Adler mystery. Castle Rouge and its predecessor are much darker than the rest of the series, although this is not as bloody as the previous book. Some readers may be confused by the multiple viewpoints. Also, I do not recommend reading Castle Rouge without having read Chapel Nair first. Or, even better, begin the series with the first book, Good Night, Mr. Holmes. Vicki Kondelik
THE PLEASURE OF ELIZA LYNCH
Anne Enright, Jonathan Cape, 2002, £12.99, hb, 230pp, ISBN 0224062697
Early nineteenth century Latin America is in turmoil as it shakes off Spanish and Portuguese colonial rule. This novel , set in the 1850s in Paraguay, is the last convulsion of that event. Its megalomaniac dictator, Lopez, precipitates a disastrous war against neighbouring Brazil , Argentina and Uruguay. He is accompanied by his mistress , the beautiful and rapacious Eliza Lynch, a sort of Lola Montez figure.
This novel, a third person narrative, shifts backwards and forwards in time, and we see the
THE
HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
slow slide into war and anarchy through the eyes of Eliza and Dr Stewart, an expatriate Scot. It is beautifully and interestingly written, but the author is, as it were, sitting so close to Eliza and Stewart, that what we see is almost entirely subjective. Events are refracted through their psyches and the background is never objectively explained. After I'd read it I realised that I hadn't the foggiest idea what was going on. It was only after I'd been to the library, checked out the history of Paraguay, and re-read the book with this new, essential knowledge, that I could understand what was happening.
Anne Enright is undoubtedly a talented writer, but the book really needs an introduction with a potted history of Paraguay. Otherwise, I'm afraid, many readers will probably give up, which would be a pity.
Elizabeth Hawksley
THE TRESPASS
Barbara Ewing, Little Brown, 2002, £9.99, pb , 384pp, ISBN 0316860573, pub in US by St Martins Press, $24.95, ISBN 03 12314205 Victorian London in 1849 is a city in despair Cholera transcends the rigid social class system taking its victims from the rich and poor alike. Overcrowding, pollution and poverty are rife. Sir Charles Cooper is a respected, prominent MP and affluent businessman, and father of two daughters, Mary and Harriet. This is their story. Harriet is both beautiful and troubled. Her safety and happiness are complete when she is in the company of her older sister Mary. But Sir Charles decides that she should be sent to stay in her Aunt Lucretia's country home, Rusholme. Here her laudanum addicted aunt introduces her to the domineering and wealthy Lady Kingdom, mother to two eligible sons. However Harriet is more interested in the adventure her cousin Edward is about to embark on - making a new life fanning in New Zealand.
This book draws the reader into a time when hypocrisy ruled. The poor were dirty, but then the standard of sanitation and the water supply was low , if it existed at all. Many men entered the church as a respectable career option, rather than for the love of God. This diluted the true message of Christianity into a lip service of biblical text, rather than an implementation of the message . Women had few rights over their lives , possessions and futures. Harriet's journey is emotional and troubled and leads her to question many aspects of her life. This is happening at a time when Darwin's evolutionary theories are challenging the scientists and theologians of the day.
This is an original and enjoyable book. It relates Harriet's struggle and survival against one of the worst fonns of trespass a girl can endure. The reader is taken from a graphic
portrayal of life in London on a journey of lives, loves and heartaches, across oceans to a new land; and a very satisfactory ending. A very enjoyable read.
Val Loh
THE CRJMSON PETAL A D THE WHITE Michel Faber, Canongate, 2002, £17.99, hb, 838pp, ISBN 1841953237, pub in US by Harcourt, $26.00, 848pp, ISBN O15100692X
When we published Michel Faber's A Star Falls in Memphis in So lander 4 ( 1998) , the author biography mentioned that 'a massive Victorian novel waits in his bottom drawer'. This is it. It has been twenty years in the writing. It has now been published to great acclaim internationally , becoming a New York Times bestseller. Anyone else with a novel in his or her bottom drawer must take heart
This vast novel tells a surprisingly tight, detailed story of a very few characters over a very short time. There's Sugar, real name unknown, a well-read whore who is determined to better herself; William Rackham, would-be writer and real-life son of a perfume mogul, who is infatuated with her; Sugar and William's friends, William's wife-in-the-attic, and one or two servants and other bit parts, and that's it in 838 pages. The result is full and intimate: more intimate in places than readers will enjoy, but Faber is a master of discomfort. He addresses us directly as narrator, drawing wry attention to things his characters won't notice : supposed empty rooms which hide servants that his characters look straight through ; supposed medical or prophylactic practices that can only make us shudder; supposed glamour or eroticism that become comic and shaming when viewed with an all-seeing eye.
I found the book utterly compelling, despite being a slow reader and liking my Victoriana, generally, as the Victorians wrote it. Partly it's because it offers a new world, not Dicken s revisited. For Dickens , a whore is most exciting when being clubbed (witness Nancy in Oliver Twist: the reading of that scene in Dickens' public readings drove his pulse to dangerous levels, and resulted in his collapse and death). But Dickens, as we know, used whores himself, and had a 'kept woman'. Faber gives us not just a Victorian man's view of a whore, but the whore's own view - and her viewpoint becomes a masterful way of seeing the politer world of the Victorians afresh. For Charlotte Bronte, the woman in the attic is a nightmare who turns up to spoil your wedding, or a gargoyle wreathed in flames. For Faber, she is a character who takes centre-stage, whose diaries we read, whose charms and terrors we understand at first hand. In an utterly Victorian way, the book is about a callow youth's discovery of his fortune, his transformation into a man-of-the-world, and the story of a woman
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
and of her redemption. The agents of change, though , are slyly inverted at every stage: dogooders actually do good, even if ineffectually; poor, innocent children need rather less than a beadle to stifle and bully them ; tarts have hearts, but it is their brains that count - and before they are beaten out!
This is probably my Book of the Yearcertainly, it runs a close race with Sarah Waters' similarly newly-imagined Victoriana, Fingersmith. I'm not sure I'd recommend either book unreservedly to everyone - they're too exacting - but each, in its way, is a remarkable achievement.
Richard Lee
THE PORTRAIT OF MRS. CHARBUQUE
Jeffrey Ford, Morrow, 2002, $24.95/C$37.95, 310 pp, hb, ISBN 0-60-621126-3
To be published in the UK by Pan in May 2003 Imagine being commissioned to paint a portrait without being allowed to see the subject. This is the irresistible challenge facing Piambo, a reknowned portraitist at the peak of his career. He is allowed to interview the subject, Mrs. Charbuque, who speaks to him from behind a screen. From these question and answer sessio ns, Piambo is supposed to picture her face and form and create the portrait. This is a mystery within a mystery, for as the sittings progress, New York City is plagued with murders as inexplicable and horrible as those committed by Jack the Ripper, the investigation of which involves Piambo.
This intriguing story, set in New York City in the 1890s , has a surprise ending. Jeffrey Ford has presented a solid mystery with a good feel for time and place. Divination of the future by the study of snowflakes is integral to the plot, but the author describes the process in such detail that it slows the pacing a bit. However, this in no way affects the suspense as the dual mysteries unfold.
Audrey Braver
THE BOOK OF ISRAEL
Jeremy Gavron, Scribner, 2002, £15.99, hb, 289pp, ISBN 0743220986
Beginning in Lithuania in 1874 this is the story of a Jewish family over 130 years, where the forename Israel is twice handed down from grandfather to grandson. What lifts the book above the ordinary is the style: the dialogue is sparse and one-sided; most of the narrative consists of diary entries, letters, newspaper or magazine articles. The result is a poignant yet comic evocation of the quotidian in the Jewish story, a seamless stream of consciousness that crosses geographical boundaries. It moves from the rag trade sweatshops of Leeds, the harsh open lands of pioneering South Africa, a kibbutz in the young state of Israel, as each
generation struggles with what it means to be a Jew.
The range of voices is excellently portrayed and the characters convey the collective deracination of the Jewish people Beginning with Genesis, the chapters are named after the books of the Bible, or in the same style e.g. 1 and 2 Soldiers - experiences during the war and in post-war Berlin - while Leviticus is a hilarious account of Jack's law studies at Oxford in the 1950s.
A fresh and convincing portrait of a dissipating national identity. Worth reading.
Janet Hancock
WET GRAVE
Barbara Hambly, Bantam, 2002, $23.95/C$35.95 (£13.66), 288pp, hb , ISBN 0553-10935-9
Once Hesione LeGros was a high-flyer , a corsair's beautiful mistress. But that was twenty years ago, during the heyday of such buccaneers as Jean Lafitte. Now Hesione is only a corpse - and no one cares about the murder of a poor old woman of color in the New Orleans slums. No one except Benjamin January, who is drawn by Hesione's death into a web of intrigue and murder that entangles rich and poor , black and white; a mystery that takes all of January's resources of mind and spirit to solve.
This series, set in 1830s New Orleans , and starring free man of color Benjamin January , continues to offer a fascinating look at an exotic society. Hambly weaves a masterful tapestry of character, plot, and setting, producing one of the best of the many historical mystery series currently stocking the bookstore shelves.
India Edghill
SCANDAL'S DAUGHTER
Mallory Dom Hart, John James Company, 2002, $15, 344 pp, pb, ISBN 0-9675915-3-8 Scandal's Daughter spins a tale of extramarital liaisons, romance, and betrayal. The story revolves around the scandalous life of Isaac Merritt Singer, developer of the sewing machine: a brilliant inventor who had a shocking domestic life. Hart creates a fictional daughter, Gussie, for Isaac Singer, and the story is told around her character.
Hart takes the reader back in time to the still-developing and ever-changing New York City just before the Civil War. The political and social turmoil during this time in history is well written into the story. Gussie's steamy romance with a young lawyer causes the city's social elite to ostracize the Singer family. Her character is also used to introduce a number of social issues, including the rights of women workers, immigration, slavery, and the innovation of machinery into the industrial world. Scandal's Daughter is a fast moving and
passionate story that keeps the reader wanting to know more right up to the last page.
Kathy King
THE A VI GATOR OF EW YORK
Wayne Johnston, Cape, 2002, £16.99, hb , 483pp, ISBN 0224069187, pub in US by Doubleday, $27.95, ISBN 0385507674 This story centres round the bitter rivalry between two Arctic explorers, Robert Peary and Frederick Cook. The narrator is Devlin Stead, a young man from Newfoundland, whose father had disappeared during Peary 's previous expedition, and whose mother died in mysterious circumstances. After a lonely childhood Devlin learns the truth about his parentage and sets off to find his real father. His journey takes him to New York, a vibrant city in the throes of inventing itself, and to the Arctic wastes. There are painful secrets to uncover before Devlin is free of the shackles of the past.
This is a book of considerable accomplishment and the young Canadian author has something of Robertson Davies' gift for drawing the reader into the tortured complex emotions of the various male protagonists. He is also terrific at conveying a sense of time and place: for example, the raw vitality of New York in the 1890s and the desolation of an Arctic winter. On the minus side, Devlin's childhood dragged somewhat and could have done with pruning, and the female characters did not convince. All the same, I enjoyed this book and it was well worth the trouble of persevering.
Elizabeth Hawksley
THE DEV1L'S OWN
Garry Douglas Kilworth, Robinson 2002, £6.99, pb, 290pp, ISBN 189114492.
THE WINTER SOLDIERS
Garry Douglas Kilworth, Constable 2002, £16.99,hb,280pp, 189114492
These are the first and fourth books in the series featuring 'Fancy' Jack Crossman and his motley crew of misfit soldiers. Set during the Crimean War, the books chronicle the progress of this appallingly mismanaged military venture and the special missions Crossman and his men undertake, usually behind enemy lines They will appeal to all who enjoy highly detailed backgrounds and meticulously researched accounts of the various battles and sieges. I found them knowledgeable on facts, less satisfactory as novels.
Fast paced though they were - in the first book the lengthy description of the Battle of Alma left me breathless, it was so intense for so long - the books were unsatisfactory. I wanted more characterisation, especially of the women, and a greater integration of the incidents into a more rounded plot. In some ways the books
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ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
were more like diaries and although they culminated in major actions these struck me as being more like convenient cut-off points than satisfying resolutions. When the slice of action is only a part of a larger enterprise it is difficult to avoid a mere chronicle of events. Perhaps more emphasis on personal development would have helped.
The author related with brutal honesty the incompetence of the commanders and the desperate conditions suffered by the rank and file He also tended to interpose discussions of barely related new scientific and technical advances and predictions of their future uses for mankind which seemed, to me at least , as false to the time.
Marina Oliver.
GILDED
Catherine Karp , Coachlight Press, 2002, $14.95 (£8.53), 3 I 2pp, pb, ISBN 0971679002
See review in Issue 15, US section
THE BREACH
Brian Kaufman , Last Knight , June 2002, $12.95, 199pp, pb , ISBN 0-9720442-0-5
Although few Americans remember March 6, 1836 , many know the event connected with that date - the day Santa Ana's army breached the defenses of the Alamo and many brave Americans died. The Brea ch recounts the events before, during, and after the Alamo from the viewpoint of the Mexicans. General Castrill6n, an officer in Santa Ana's army, shares his thoughts, experiences, and opinions of his commander, the march to Texas, the siege, and the final confrontation between the two forces at the Battle of San Jacinto.
Written as a translation of Castrill6n's journal, replete with footnotes explaining prior events or identifying people, The Breach is so well crafted that the reader believes the journal actually exists rather than being a figment of the author's imagination. The recounting of how Mr. Kaufman acquired the journal adds further credence to this belief, yet in the end he acknowledges it is a work of fiction, even though Castrill6n actually lived. Kaufman's Mexicans rouse the reader's sympathy and anger. His is a realistic portrayal of a historical event steeped in legend with a poignant account of Davy Crockett's death. The inclusion of Castrill6n's last thoughts on the battle to come and a letter from an American chronicling that fateful encounter put the finishing touches on a moving novel.
Cindy Vallar
THE ENIGMA TIC MR FARRAR
Gillian Kaye , Robert Hale , 2002, £17.99, hb , 191 pp, ISBN 0709070292 • Judith Piercy , daughter of a Swaledale mine owner, loves to roam across the moor and
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
during one such outing meets a new neighbour , Mr. Devlin Farrar. She is attracted to him , but is wary of committing herself to such an enigmatic stranger. The Piercy family decamps to Richmond, where Judith's brother, Gerard, falls for a young novelist named Alice Boston. Alice's domineering sister, Lavinia, is making her life very unpleasant and Gerard, Judith and Devlin have to join forces to rescue her. When Devlin is called away unexpectedly, Judith is persuaded that he is not for her and becomes engaged to a childhood friend. Only to realise that Devlin is the one she truly loves
This another lively romp from the Robert Hale stable. With a plot that provides plenty of twists and turns, along with a couple of red herrings, the reader is sure to be amused and entertained.
Sara Wilson
THE GOLDEN GA TE MURDERS
Peter King, Signet, 2002, $5.99/C$8.99 (£3.79), 272pp, pb , ISBN 0451207467
As the story opens, Jack London meets the owner of one of the many saloons in San Francisco, someone with important matters to discuss The man is called away before revealing anything, and his body is later found in an alleyway, the victim of an apparent mugging. Jack is contacted by a group of saloon owners and is told that a mysterious threat is hanging over the city; the saloon owners want to hire him to investigate.
It is quite an adventure as London ranges over much of the infamous Barbary Coast, then takes a side trip to gold country and finds adventure in an abandoned gold mine He and a colleague even get marooned on Alcatraz Island. Real people of the era, such as Wyatt Earp, also make their appearance. Jack London is an engaging and likeable hero , using his wits and wisdom to achieve his aim of solving the mystery. His character and those of his friends ring true, and Mr. King presents a fascinating picture of a colorful era in the American West. Lorraine Gelly
A NAME OF HER OWN
Jane Kirkpatrick, WaterBrook, 2002, $ I 3.99/C$20.99 (£7.97), 388pp, pb, ISBN 157856-499-9
In 1811 Marie Dorion was a Native American from the Towa tribe , traveling with her husband , Pierre, in the Astor overland expedition. In this novel about her life , Marie went against her husband's wishes when she took her two young sons and followed him on the wilderness voyage that took them overland from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean. She faced many difficulties, including an abusive, alcoholic husband and an untamed wilderness, as she worked to keep her family together. Her love
for them helped her endure extreme hardship s and survive when others did not.
Jane Kirkpatrick has woven a masterful tale in this, the first installment of the Tender Ties Historical Series. She does not describe her characters as absolutes, but as living , breathing, imperfect people. Each person made both good and bad choices and they and the people around them lived with the consequences. Nevertheless, Marie learns that the loving hand of Providence guides each choice and its consequence. The changes in Marie and her family are subtle. They mature over time. Ms Kirkpatrick has carefully researched her subject: many details are based on historically documented facts, which the author explains at the end of the book This book is highly recommended both on the merit of its scholarship and the complex nature of its characters.
Nan Curnutt
WHAT ONCE WE LOVED
Jane Kirkpatrick, WaterBrook, 200 I, $l3.95/C$21 (£7.97), 390pp, pb, ISNB 157856-224-1
Poverty Flat, California during the fall of 1853 is where Ruth Martin's fishing experience opens the third volume in the Kinship and Courage trilogy. It continues the daily lives or eleven frontier women traveling the Oregon Trail. The physicaJ strength and undaunted courage of these women, who were brought together by chance in All Together in One Place, may inspire readers. Here are pioneer heroines who maintain cherished friendships as they pursue dreams. Death has robbed each or a husband , except for the wife of the insane Zane Randolph. He troubles various people throughout the story. The tale of each woman's migration is told in a separate story, which is connected to that of the others by the women's supportive relationships.
The narrative reflects living conditions, troubles, social inequalities , and religious faith typical of the times Historical details, including conflicts between diverse peoples natives, Chinese, and new settlers is carefully woven into the plot. Travel during pioneer times is explained with such intimate clarity that readers will become enthralled. This book is highly recommended either as a single volume or as a sequel.
Jetta Culpepper
CODE OF THE WEST
Aaron Latham, Time Warner Paperbacks, 2002, £6.99, pb , 503pp, ISBN 0751532622 It is the 1860s and a fair arrives in a small farming town. One of the sideshows ha s a blacksmith 's anvil in which is embedded an axe; for the price of a nickel anyone can attempt to pull out the axe Aaron Latham ha s taken
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
inspiration from the legend of King Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot and set his love story in the Wild West among the cowboys who lived in the sweeping red canyons and vastness of Texas.
Two men called Goodnight and Loving, actual names from history and beautifully appropriate, are brought together by an accident from which springs instant friendship. Goodnight, a gentle and courageous character who finds comradeship with men comes easily, is a natural and worthy leader. Having been taken by the Commanches as a child, he has acquired native wisdom and the value of living things. He sets out, armed with this knowledge, to write a Code of Honour for the lawless times in which he lives. By contract Loving is a handsome but lonesome drifter who stays through friendship but leaves when his passion for Goodnight's wife is discovered.
The author is a master of description and the detail of the narrative draws the reader into the atmosphere of the Old West. He winds the threads of the Arthurian myths imaginatively into his story, which continues full circle to the inevitable ending where friendship is tom asunder by the love of two men for the same woman. This is an imaginative telling of a timeless classic. Those who may not have been tempted by a cowboy novel before should give this one a try - they will be impressed and entertained.
Mardi McConnochie has given the Bronte family new life with a new surname. In 1847 Australia, in the Coldwater penal colony, Captain Wolf directs the prison and brings his three daughters to live with him. Emily, Anne, and Charlotte narrate their own scenes, and their personalities significantly resemble those of the Brontes, as if they were removed from their true existence and placed in this unique s ituation
When Finn O'Connell, an Irish prisoner, joins the colony, the sisters, once very placid and obedient to their father, begin to realize that their father does not rule all. Captain Wolf sees many possibilities for O'Connell's reformation and allows him to work near the family on their homestead . Emily immediately falls in love with O'Connell and asks Anne and Charlotte to help keep the secret. Once Captain Wolf di scove rs Emily's secret, a domino effect sets events in motion.
The novel starts off slowly but picks up when the sisters discover they must work together to protect themselves from Captain Wolfs irrational behavior. Coldwater is wholly
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appropriate for Bronte fans. It's a wonderful opportunity to once again acquaint oneself with the women and the ways in which their personalities and experiences influenced their writing.
Melissa Galyon
GREY LADY
Jenny Maxwell, Time Warner, 2002, £5.99, pb, 419pp, ISBN 0751532339
Grey Lady is a saga set on the English canals over two centuries. I was unsure at first whether this would appeal to me but, after reading the first few pages , I was completely drawn in Jenny Maxwell transports the reader into another world and another life. It has certainly given me a totally different understanding of the people who lived and worked on the canals at that time. The style is unusual and very cleverly done. Most of the story is related using the thoughts of the characters which I found enabled me to become 'at one' with each of them.
When Ben Jacardi runs away from a violent mother he is caught stealing coal from the boatbuilding yard of Josiah Armstrong. But Josiah takes Ben in as an apprentice and he and his wife , Kathy, come to regard him as a son. When their real son, Patrick, steals from the family, Josiah gives Ben a narrowboat, the 'Grey Lady' in payment for his work. Realising he needs a partner to help with the boat, Ben marries Faith , a plain, older woman, who sett le s into a good partnership with him. It is a hard and eventful life for a working canal family but it is Ben and Faith's son, James, who finally discovers his father's ancestry, bringing the story to a satisfying conclusion.
This is one of the most enjoyable books I have read and I look forward to more of Jenny Maxwell's work.
Vivienne Bass
MISCHIEF
Laura Parker, Zebra, 2002, $5.99/C$7.99 (£3.79), pb, 382pp, ISBN 0-8217-7086-1
Author Laura Parker positions her characters like pieces in chess. Plotting is her strength, and structure of each sentence is sound. She has depth of research , but declines to explore deep themes.
Japonica is not a typical Regency heroine , but an ordinary-looking merchant's daughter who manages her own affairs. She goes to the "Indian Devil" to seek passage out of Baghdad. He drugs and seduces her. She submits to his charms, not realizing he is an English officer who has "gone native." Switch viewpoint to that of Devlyn, chagrined to discover that his friend Lord Abbott sent her. He had thought she was an assassin sent by his enemies, and deserving of punishment.
Left in charge of Lord Abbott's five unruly daughters, Japonica travels to England where she again meets Devlyn , but "he is nothing like the man in whose bed she had lain captive to the rapture of his passion." Such passages hint at stronger writing than Parker has crafted here. Marcia K. Matthews
THE SHADOW CATCHER
Michelle Paver, Corgi 2002, £5.99, pb, 412pp, ISBN 0552148725.
The author was born in Malawi and educated in England. Her previous novels are, Without Charity and A Place in the Hills. The latter was shortlisted for the Parker Pen Romantic Novel of the Year Award.
The Shadow Catcher, the first book in the Eden trilogy, opens in Jamaica in 1895 with the character, Maddy in a state of confusion which is not explained until lat er. Then the scene is switched to Galloway, South west Scotland in March 1884. Maddy is a littl e gir l whose life is about to change forever when her sister Sophie is born.
Because both girls are illegitimate their only salvation comes in the form of Aunt Lettice who reluctantly takes it upon herself to bring them up in the ways of the good Lord. They move to London and live between dirt and poverty on the one side and richness on the other. Another change in circumstances forces Maddy to consider a life of ill repute. Salvation comes in the form of Sinclair who takes Maddy and the now sickly Sophie to Eden in Jamaica.
The circle has almost closed in on the girls. Jamaica is a wonder land full of magic potions , breathtaking colours and scary ghost stories. All is not what it seems and the past soon catches up with them and the reason for Maddy's confused state in the prologue is revealed.
This is a complex novel. It is peopled by many strong, well-drawn characters who are tom between wishing to express their individuality while they are restricted by the religious mores of the period.
The writing is evocat ive. In the opening chapters when Maddy is trying to assist her mother in childbirth no detail is spared yet the mother retains her dignity to the last. Victorian London is shown in all its filth and perversity. Contrast this with the brilliant colours and scents of Jamaica and the reader is transported in a global time machine. The author really knows her subject which shines through in the description of the creaking bamboo canes sounding like a ship being launched.
My only gripe, if it can be called that is that I found that the stubbornness of some of the characters rather laboured the plot. There again, in these days of texting and fast food it is easy to forget what people were like in those days. Sarah Crabtree.
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
DEATH OF A STRANGER
Anne Perry, Ballantine, 2002, $25.95/C$39.95, hb, 352pp, ISBN 0-345-44005-6, pub in UK by Headline, 2002, £18.99, hb, 275pp, ISBN 0747268959
I will say it right out: I much prefer Perry's William Monk se rie s to her Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, and this installment of the Monk books tells the tale. Monk is a far more interesting, unique and multi-layered character than either of the Pitts. He has chosen a wife, Hester, who appears almost antagonistic to his goals, but she is truly his soulmate and best friend. Monk is a wealth of contradictions, and good for him.
In Death of a Stranger, Perry 's twelfth Monk book , we finally learn the genesis of Monk's amnesia. I will not, of course, reveal it here Suffice it to say that , indeed, in his early life , Monk had been a very successful businessman (as he himself has conjectured in his prior stories - owing primarily to his great taste in clothing!) and that his business and business associates were overshadowed by fraud and misrepresentation. When Monk is hired to inve s tigate possible fraudulent practices in the railway industry , it is the jumping off point for his ultimate journey of self-discovery. As Monk becomes aware of the issues necessitating resolution, he is forced to confront himself. Despite his dread that he is , in fact, a terrible person and that he may not be able to deal with those revelations, Monk , in characteristic style, charges full-speed ahead in his investigation.
I am still waiting for Perry, who is unbelievably prolific , to lose her touch. This one has such twists and turns that you never really know what's going to happen until the denouement. At the finish, I felt even closer to the more human Monk than I had in the fir s t eleven installments.
Ilysa Magnus
DO 'T LOOK BACK
Amanda Quick, Robert Hale , 2002, £ 17.99 , hb , 320pp, ISBN 0709071655
Following her recent success as an amateur detective , Lavinia Lake is contemplating advertising her services, despite objections from her partner Tobias March. Then a friend asks her to investigate his wife's murder and the disappearance of a rare bracelet.
Occasionally the pace flags while the inve st igators bicker, spy on each other and have sex. However, since the detectives outnumber the suspects, the novel probably works better as a romance than as a mystery.
Little things bothered me. Even shopkeepers refer to Lavinia 's niece as Miss Emeline, which would be correct etiquette if she were a child or had an older sister. The Regency was a fairly relaxed era, but I doubt an unmarried middle-
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
class woman of childbearing age could afford to be as casual about sex as Lavinia.
Jasmina Svenne
A VERY ENGLISH AGENT
Julian Rathbone , Little Brown, 2002, £16.99, hb , 437pp, ISBN 0316857319
This is in fact a sequel to Joseph, shortlisted for the Booker in 1979. lt follows the later history of the unreliable narrator of that book. Here, Joseph, or as he now prefers to call himself, Charlie Boylam , is just as unreliable in the accounts he gives of his adventures. But there the resemblance ends. Since the publication of The last English King and A lbion , Rathbone has become famous (in the eyes of some, infamous) , for his use of anachronism. Joseph is an excellent pastiche of the language of the period - not an anachronism in it - proving that Rathbone can do it ifhe wants to.
In the sequel, however , there are enough anachronisms to provoke fits of apoplexy in the purists , thus rendering them - I devoutly hopespeechless. The story, told in a mixture of first and third person narrative , follows Charlie's adventures from the battlefield of Waterloo to the Great Exhibition. He becomes an agent provocateur for the British government, providing the pretext for the Peterloo massacre and even managing to arrange the death by drowning of the revolutionary poet Shelley. But nothing Charlie says can be taken at face value. It will be sufficient, to give a flavour of the anachronisms , to say that Charlie has the code name '003' and is 'licensed to kill'. Yet the novel contains a great deal of authentic historical details , showing that the author has researched his period meticulously Rathbone 's critics would do well to remember that his anachronisms are deliberate.
One of the delights of the novel , which again will probably annoy the purists , is that it is full of literary allusions , not to say illusions, as when Charlie finds himself in a safe house called Pemberley in Derbyshire, rented from a Mr Darcy. Another highlight occurs when our hero encounters Mary Shelley who wonders whether she should have depicted her monster as a dwarf. Charlie, as all who have read Joseph wi 11 realise, is somewhat short of stature.
Whether readers enjoy this book depends largely on their attitude to the use of deliberate anachronism. My own view is that Rathbone's method enables him to create a real sense of history , a sense that time , as he says in the preface to The last English King, is 'a continuum which leads forward as well as back'.
Neville Firman
CHICKAMAUGA
James Reasoner , Cumberland House , 2002, $22.95, hb, 394pp, ISBN 1-5 8 I 82-253-7
This seventh installment of ten in the Civi l War Battle Series picks up the story on July 4, 1863, the day after the surrender of Vicksburg. The Brannon boys--Cory, Will, Mac, Henry, and Titus--are all fighting battles both person a l a nd military. Henry , mistakenly believing hi s brother Titus was killed at Fredericksburg, becomes engaged to Titus' su ppo sed widow. Meanwhile Titus, having just escaped from a hell-hole POW camp just outside Chicago, is making his way homeward Mac is fighting alongside General Fitzhugh Lee and worrying about Will, who was seriously wounded at Gettysburg. And Cory ha s just se nt hi s new bride off to Texas as he leaves to fight with General Nathan Bedford Forrest. There's enough drama here for a very lon g mini-series. Reasoner does an admirable job of s uccinctl y reviewing past storylines so that each book is completely enjoyable on its own merits. Hi s characters always seem to be some general's right-hand man, but it makes them more interesting than run-of-the-mill gru nt s. Hi s action sequences are well written, and even the most ancillary character is developed with care. It all makes for great reading.
Mark F. Johnson
DESIREE
Annemarie Selinko, Phoenix Pre ss, 2002, pb , £8.99/ $15.95, 574pp, ISBN 1-842 12-521-4 , pub in Us by Buccaneer Books , $49.95, hb , ISBN 156849548X
Desiree, first published in 1953 , tells the s tory of Desiree Clary, the daughter of a Marse ille silk merchant. A chance encounter during the Revolution results in Desiree 's older sister, Julie , marrying Joseph Buonaparte and De s iree becoming engaged to his younger brother, the "Ge neral " Napoleone. But Napoleone is too ambitious for Marseille. He moves to Pari s, frenchifies his name to Napoleon Bonaparte, ditches Desiree for Jo se phine , fires on Pari s ian food rioters and defeats the Ita lians The rest, as they say, is history. Desiree marries Bernadotte, one of his Marshals, who is selected by the Swedes as their Crown Prince Because he detests what Bonaparte is doin g to France, Bernadotte accepts the Swedish offer and leaves his beloved French anny to become a Swedish citizen. In 1813 , Bernadotte le ads Napoleon's enemies against him to victory at Leipzig The agony felt by a general fighting against his own nation and his forrner troop s is caught well by Selinko.
The rise of the Bonaparte family from Corsican refugees in a Marseille s lum to become the kings and queens and duke s of Europe may seem preposterous but it is true. However, Selinko reduces their careers to the
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
ordinary and domestic. Battles do not matter here. Trafalgar, Waterloo , Wellington, etc are casually tossed away in a line or two. The Peninsular Campaign is simply a housekeeping inconvenience for Julie, putative Queen of Spain. It is the Bonaparte family and their interactions with the Clarys that matter. Perhaps predictably, the Clarys seem colourless while the Bonapartes glint with life, especially Napoleon himself, a charming, ruthless megalomaniac.
Desiree's self-exile from Stockholm back to France as Napoleon's Empire disintegrates (in great part due to Bemadotte's "treason") is the most dramatic, and for me, successful section of what otherwise seems a rather stagnant and long novel. However, Selinko's research has been exhaustive and it is refreshing to see the Napoleonic Wars from a European rather than British point of view.
As a teenager, I loved Desiree. Furthermore, it sold 20,000,000 copies in the 1950s and was made into a film with Brando as Napoleon. The translation (from German? Swedish?) is clear and reads easily. The novel is certainly to be recommended to anyone interested in the Napoleonic period or, indeed, in reading a good, solid, old-fashioned historical novel.
Lynn Guest
GOD'S FOOL
Mark Slouka, Macmillan 2002, £10.99, pb, 272pp, ISBN 1405000333
On a houseboat tied to the shore of the Mekong river in ancient Siam a woman gives birth to twins. They are born with their heads between each other's legs and for one brief moment the birth of two sons is seen as good fortune. When the midwives try to untangle the babies they discover the band of flesh linking the pair together and their screams rend the air.
When the boys are seventeen a typhoon destroys both their home and their livelihood and their mother sells them to a trader bound for Europe. For a short spell they become an entertainment on the London stage until the novelty fades and they are quickly reduced to poverty They are then discovered by Phineas T. Barnum , find fame with his touring show, finally marry and settle in America.
This is a fictional account of the lives of the so-called Siamese twins, Chang and Eng seen through the eyes of Chang. It is a study of the power of love and hate; a power that binds the twins more securely than the bridge of flesh joining them together. It is also a story of bow two people come to terms with their limitations and disabilities and learn to live their own lives.
To modem sensibilities there is something degrading and grotesque about the Victorian love affair with the bizarre and the deformed but Mark Slouka shows how two clever men
learned to use this fascination to their own advantage. They never allowed themselves to feel degraded and therefore ultimately took control of their destinies. It is an uplifting and life affirming read.
Sara Wilson
THE KISSING BOUGH
Joan Smith, Robert Hale, 2002, £17.99, hb, 207pp, ISBN 0709065825
Joan Smith is a prolific writer of Regency romances, with great feeling for the period and this, coupled with her gift for credible dialogue and a mischievous sense of humour, makes for a most charming and entertaining read.
Her hero, returned to England after Waterloo, wants to settle down, take care of his estate and raise a family. He is swept off his feet by a young beauty to whom he becomes engaged. It's only when he introduces her to his family that realises his mistake
This story is character-led and I laughed aloud at some of the exchanges between his formidable relatives, especially the ladies. All the protagonists are well drawn and there isn't a dull moment as the personalities clash. The plot is slight but that doesn't matter , as most of us are more interested in people and their struggle for fulfilment.
Margaret Crosland
BEYO D THE LIMIT: The Dream of Sofya Kovalevskaya
Joan Spicci, Forge, 2002, $26.95/C$37 .95 (£15.37), 490pp, hb, ISBN 0765302330
In mid-I 860s Russia , Sofya KorvinKrukowskaya and her sister Anya are intellectuals in a time of unrest , when women are not permitted to attend university. Their only chance to study abroad is if one of them marries for convenience, providing them with a chaperone. Though Anya is older and prettier, it is Sofya who catches the attention of promising "liberator" Vladimir Kovalevsky, a publisher and amateur scientist.
Within months Sofya and Vladimir are married and move to St. Petersburg, where Vladimir helps Sofya begin her medical studies by sneaking her into the university. Difficulties arise and at last they leave Russia with Anya so Sofya can benefit from the slightly more liberal western universities. But the marriage of convenience proves difficult as love blossoms between them, and Sofya refuses to consummate it until her studies are complete. As she and Vladimir struggle to maintain their marriage through separation and hardship, Anya throws herself into the revolutionary movement in Paris.
This engrossing novel covers a turbulent period in history and is rife with fascinting detail , though the awkward prose does at times slow the pace Sofya and Vladimir are real
people with faults, while Anya shines in her supporting role. All three mature and develop as the story unfolds.
Every woman should read this story - it certainly made me appreciate the relative ease with which I earned my degrees. I was disappointed, however, to learn that the couple's story didn't really end where the author chose to finish. Overall, though, an interesting novel that brings to life an aspect of history often ignored.
Teresa Basinski Eckford
THE BLOODIED CRAVAT
Rosemary Stevens, Berkley Prime Crime, 2002, $22.95/C$33.99 (£13.09), 291 pp, hb, ISBN 0425185397
This work is the third in Stevens' mystery series, which features famous Regency dandy Beau Brummell. Frederica, the Duchess of York, has invited Brummell to her birthday celebration at her estate, Oatlands. Brummell is unable to attend dinner because his valet, Robinson, has been unexpectedly delayed Brummell's chagrin quickly turns into panic when Robinson arrives only to announce that highwaymen have taken some of Brummell's baggage. The clothes can be replaced, but an indiscreet letter, sent by the Duchess to Brummell, is also missing. This piece of news threatens his close friendship with the woman he worships. When a guest at the party is murdered, and Frederica is implicated, Brummell must once again play detective. While at times the mystery plot tends to drag, the reader who enjoys a tale with rich historical details will find much to enjoy. Probably the most interesting characterization is that of the Duchess, whose inordinate love of animals turned Oatlands into a menagerie. Through the Beau's first-person narration, one also obtains glimpses into the early workings of the police in London, the life of a wealthy bachelor, and the varied amusements of the time. While it lacks some of the rich atmosphere of Georgette Heyer's Regency world, Stevens' cozy mysteries offer a fascinating glimpse into the world and personality of one of the most famous-forbeing-famous personalities of that period.
Kathleen Sullivan
A VICTORIAN CHRJSTMAS COLLECTIO
Peggy Stoks, Tyndale, 2002, $7.99 (£5.06), 387pp, pb, ISBN 0-8423-6013-1
This is a collection of five Christmas stories set in Minnesota during Victorian times, each accompanied by a recipe from the author. Each story is different, but all provide a theme of hope and renewal for the holiday season. In Tea for Marie, Marie learns the value of people whose actions are louder, and more honest, than
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ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
their words. In Crosses and Losses an affluent family never lets go of hope for their emotionally absent father. Rebecca learns about true beauty when facing her feelings about the birthmark that scars her face and life in The Beauty of the Season; and in Wishful Thinking, an elderly spinster learns not to take life too seriously as she discovers it's never too late for love.
Stoks, a former nurse, draws from the things she knows to enrich her stories. Most of the conflict surrounds characters whose depression has a debilitating effect on their lives and the lives of those around them. Each of these characters experiences an epiphany that dissolves their depression, and sometimes, this epiphany suspends belief. However, since this is a book of stories celebrating Christmas and the Christ Child, and since all things are possible, this reviewer will step out in faith and accept all. This is a cozy group of stories suited for a snowy night, a warm fire, a pot of tea, and some of the recipes the book contains.
Nan Curnutt
IN STILL AND STORMY WATERS
Reay Tannahill, Headline Review, 2002 (reissue), £6.99, pb, 597pp, ISBN 0747267170 Sophie and Raebel Macmillan are cousins, born in 1848. This is the story of their rivalry for an inheritance - the Juran estate in the Scottish Highlands - and the love of Rainer Blake. At first neither girl knows of the other's existence. Sophie, a pampered only child, lives with her father, Archie, in China and Hong Kong. Rachel is the illegitimate daughter of Archie's younger brother. Taken to live at Juran when her parents finally marry, she loves the place obsessively. Then Archie, who left Juran under a cloud, mortgages his inheritance with Rainer Blake's bank and Blake, inspecting his investment, meets Rachel.
An engrossing read, full of incident romance, pirates and typhoon in Hong Kong; accusations of murder, adultery and kidnapping in Scotland. Reay Tannahill is new to me and I look forward to enjoying other re-issues of her novels (see HNR 21 and elsewhere in this issue).
Jeanne Fielder
TEMPTING
Hope Tarr, Jove, 2002, $5.99/C$8.99 (£3.85), pb, 308pp, ISBN 0515133655
The opening scene of Tempting, which takes place in 1848, introduces us to a young and impoverished Simon Belleville, who is trying to defend his sister from an attack on a London dock. We next meet him 19 years later, but the psychological trauma of that earlier night has obviously affected his ent ir e life since that point. He has made a name and fortune for himself, and now serves as the head of Her
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
Majesty's Morality and Vice Commission and plans to run for a seat in Parliament. He is in the process of shutting down brothels when he comes across a young woman locked into the attic of one of the houses of ill repute. He is unable to let her go to prison with the other prostitutes, and arranges for her to enter the Mayfair Academy for Young Ladies. Simon and Christine find themselves attracted to one other, but they have incredible barriers to hurdle. The story is imaginative with welldeveloped characters and more historical details than many historical romances, but I found Simon's and Christine's relationship to be lacking in electricity until near the end.
Trudi E. Jacobson
HEART'S DESIRE
Michael Taylor, Hodder & Stoughton, 2002, £18.99, hb, 506pp, ISBN 0340818263
Rhianna Drake, brought up in the industrial slums of Dudley, yearned for a better life, with a husband who would love and cherish her. Lawson Maddox seemed to be that man but marriage to him comes as a rude awakening. The honeymoon over, he neglects her for the company of gamblers and loose women and when she discovers that her housemaid is his mistress, she leaves him. Meeting a young artist, she leave s England with him for Italy. Lawson refuses to divorce her and embarks on a campaign of vicious revenge.
Set in contrasting worlds and peopled with believable characters, this novel vividly evokes the late Victorian era. It is a compelling tale of betrayal, love and the depths to which a truly evil person can descend. Occasional lapses into modem vernacular didn't spoil my enjoyment of this memorable read.
Jo Coles
MURDER ON WASHINGTON SQUARE
Victoria Thompson, Berkley Prime Crime, 2002, $6.99 (£4.43), 320pp, pb, ISBN 0425184307
This is the fourth book in Thompson's Gaslight Mystery series, set in New York City in the 1890s and featuring midwife Sarah Brandt and policeman Frank Malloy. Sarah's neighbor, banker Nelson Ellsworth, is accused of murdering his mistress. As it turns out, the murdered woman, Anna Blake, was not as innocent as she seemed; she had been blackmailing Ellsworth and another man, making them believe she was pregnant. Now Sarah and Frank must find the real killer in order to clear Ellsworth's name.
Murder on Washington Square is an enjoyable, suspenseful mystery, even though it lacks the depth of Anne Perry's books. I enjoyed the developing relationship between Sarah and Frank, who are obviously attracted to each other in spite of class differences. At times
I felt that Thompson could have given more details on the background of the characters, for people who had not read the earlier books. But the book did make me want to go back and read the others.
Vicki Kondelik
THE BOUNCE
Betsy Tobin, Headline Review, 2002, £10, hb, 280pp, ISBN 0747272263
This novel can only be described in terms of something delicious like a real pavlova, full of wonderful layers for your intellectual teeth. For me, good historical novels are like good science fiction: they examine our fears, foibles and ways of thinking in a setting so different from our own, but through characters who feel like us, that we are forced to rethink. This The Bounce does so well.
On the surface it's about a young American showman, Nathan, coming to London in thel870s to find his equestrienne mother. She left him when he was four and he doesn't understand why. This is the first layer: loving and lo sing.
But the novel is also Queen's story. She's a lioness bought by Nathan's mother for her menagerie, and trained by Nathan. Betsy Tobin uses multiple viewpoints to tell the tale so Queen tells her own story. This is the layer about freedom and loss of freedom, of choices and being denied choices.
Then there are the other characters, Lulu the man/woman tight rope artiste, Nan the orangeseller, and Nan's childhood hanger-on, Shad. All of them love and lose, have choices and no choices, and are not loved in return. Love and pain, frustration and hurt: it's a very human mtX.
And the title? The bounce was a highly dangerous manoeuvre that master-tamers sometimes made their lions perform. It involved arousing the lions to an excited state, moving them round the cage and challenging them. The lions would literally bounce off the cage walls rather than attack a master. And Betsy Tobin's characters, driven by their different loves, losses, pain and frustrations, are stirred into a human version of the bounce. It's a stunning novel and worth the concentrated reading it deserves.
Patrika Salmon
PHAROS - A ghost story
Alice Thompson, Virago, 2002, £15.99, hb, 151 pp, ISBN l 86049949X
The lighthouse on remote Jacob's Rock is the place where this novel is set and the time is 1826. Cameron, the principal lighthouse keeper is joined by a young assistant, Simon. But apparent ly they are not alone on the island and we are made aware of the presence of a dark complexioned young girl who is sometimes
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
'seen' but more frequently heard in a crypt near the ruined chapel on the opposite side of the island Soon after Simon's arrival a young woman is discovered washed up from the sea. She has no idea who she is nor how she got there and for unexplained reasons she is forbidden to leave. A woman without a memory and therefore without a history When Cameron's sister, Charlotte, comes to stay the is land becomes almost overcrowded and at times the ordinary and extraordinary seem blurred
A map of the is land at the beginning of the book e nlightens as to where events take place in thi s vivid, expressionist ghost s tory where the characters and claustrophobic is land setting add to the haunting tension. Alice Thompson is (unsurprisingly) an award winning writer and her literary and expressive style and minimal use of di a logue adds to the atmosphere. The piercing light from the lighthouse may cut throu gh the night sk ies and warn of danger , but the tiny island becomes increasingly vulnerable to both the sea and forces beyond the natural world. An un se ttling , intriguing tale.
Greta Krypczyk-Oddy
FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE
Peter Watt, Pa n Macmillan Australia, 2001, A U$16.95, pb, 674 pp, ISBN 0-330-36364-6, Peter Watt, Corgi 2002, £6.99, pb 668p, ISBN 0552147966, pub in US in April 2003, no detail s.
Flight of the Eagle is the final volume of a trilogy set in 19th century Australia, with segments taking place in the Sudan and Ireland. As the s tory opens, the Native Mounted police are trying to hunt down pockets of resistance to European settlements in Queensland by the Kalkadoon tribe.
Watt describes the outback territory vividly, and the novel conveys a strong sense of the multicultural stew of settlers who built modem Australia. He portrays the conflict between settlers wresting a life from the wilderness and native people who see European settlement as destructive to their ancient way of life. I lowever, frequent changes of focus are disconcerting. Watt gives the reader a number of storylines, with a large and shifting cast of characters, but spends too much ink in recalling events from their past histories (presumably recounted in his previous books). The interesting setting and events were developed in a pedestrian style. Perhaps there were too many characters to weave into a coherent story.
Mary L. Newton
EYE OF THE BEAR
Naida West, Bridge House , 2001, $18.98 (£ I 0.82), pb, 630pp, ISBN 0-9653487-4-1
Eye of the Bear, the prequel to the author's earlier novel River of Red Gold, relates the
history of early California during the time of the Spanish missions. What makes it unique is that Ms. West tells the tale from the point of view of a Native American.
Grizzly Hair is a young hunter of the Lopotsumne tribe who comes upon strange tracks in the woods - demon tracks, the elders of his tribe say, the same black-hatted demons who long ago killed his father. Grizzly Hair follows those tracks and ends up a whipped, shackled mission prisoner. Escaping, he returns to his tribe with fantastic stories of the great weapons and strange ways of the Padres , and a sure knowledge that it is his destiny to protect his people from 'the Spanish.' Thus he begins a remarkable journey across greater California, in an attempt to unite the diverse native people, the Russian traders of Fort Ross , and various American fur traders in what comes to be known as the 1829 rebellion.
Ms. West has a scholar's knowledge of the peoples, languages and customs of the early California natives , and a novelist's keen integrative sensibility. She manages to give us a confident overview of the situation without fracturing the narrative with too many points of view. This is a meaty book, intimidating in its heft , but a fascinating read for a long winter night.
Lisa Ann Verge
RIVER OF RED GOLD
Naida West , Bridge House , 2002, $23 (£10.82), 624pp, pb, ISBN 0-9653487-2 - 5
This is the story of the California Gold Rush from the point of view of Mexican land grantees, Native Americans, and the immigrants who worked the land , overwhelmed, in 1849 , by rogues, miners and adventurers.
Pedro Valdez is the son of a Mexican lieutenant. A skilled cattle-wrangler, he hopes to earn a land grant from Mexico Maria Howchia , his lover , is an Indio who seeks power and wisdom to understand the rude people who now live so close to her tribe. Elitha Donner survives her family's fate and is determined to settle in California just as her father dreamed. But as the U.S. conquers the land, Pedro's hopes for a ranch are shattered. As gold is found in the rivers , Elitha's land is overwhelmed by squatters and destroyed by the mining proce ss. As more and more men flood the gold fields, Maria's people face a worse fate: genocide.
I admire Ms. West as a historical novelist. Occasionally , the novel lags in narrative drive , as Ms. West opts for a complete and thorough accounting, but her research is meticulous, and her ability to integrate it into the narrative is outstanding. A warning to the reader: River of R ed Gold is an unrelentingly grim story. Indeed , it could not be otherwise.
Lisa Ann Verge
TIIE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
FLUSH
Virginia Woolf, Vintage, 2002, £7.99, pb , I 69pp, ISBN 0099438011
First published by the Hogarth Press in 1933 , this is the biography of Flush, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cocker spaniel, given to her by Mary Russell Mitford in an attempt to help her to get better. The story Flush tells is of his adventures in London and Italy as well as glimpses into the life of his owner, her early days as an invalid and reclusive poet in Wimpole Street , then later the many life changes brought about through her courtship and elopement with Robert Browning and their life in Italy.
Similarities and differences between life in London and Italy from Flush 's viewpoint are told here in a poignant and often amusing way. The episode where he is 's tolen ' and taken to Whitechapel to await a ransom payment shows the drastic contrasts for both dogs and human between life in Whitechapel and Wimpole Street. Flush's jealousy of Robert Browning and later Pen , Elizabeth and Robert's son, are described with insight as are the different sights and aromas at dog level which he seeks out in London and Florence.
This publication contains the original four drawings by Woolfs sister, Vanessa Bell, as well as photographs of the 'model' for Flush, the golden cocker spaniel given to Virginia by Vita Sackville-West. An introduction by Margaret Forster, an addendum by Margaret Reynolds and Woolf's notes are included. This original, charming novel show s Virginia Woolf at her witty and descriptive best. A timeless classic.
Abandoned to nuns by a dying mother , Ruby 's rebellious nature forces her into a refomrntory and then into marriage with a man she doesn't know.
A promising beginning to a saga that holds the reader's interest and exploring the realms of working men as they fight injustice and the right to join a union and a decent living wage which Ruby 's husband tries to win for them. He's a more complex character than is sometimes found in sagas, and perhaps it's because he is missing from most of the last quarter of the book that it seemed to fizzle out. Although the author's reasons for continuing beyond World War I are understandable , it might have been better to bring the story to a dramatic close sooner. Enjoyable, nonetheless. Linda Sole
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
20TH CENTURY
MURDER ON THE MIN ESOT A
Conrad Allen, St. Martin 's Minotaur, 2002, US$24.95/C$34.95, 295pp, hb , ISBN 0312280920 , Pub. in the UK by Duckworth , 2002, £6.99, pb , 270pp, ISBN 0715632140 George Dillman and Genevieve Masefield have already made a name for them se lve s as shipboard detectives with the Cunard Lines. Now they are invited to be detectives aboard the Minnesota bound for Japan and China. However, hopes for smooth sailing are soo n dashed when a priest is murdered
Unfortunately, this isn ' t the end of the problems the sleuths will face.
The setting is so well de sc ribed and provocative that the reader will be ready to sign up for a cruise - if only they made them like they used to. The story is set in the early part of the 20 th century when sailing was the means of traveling to distant lands. Not only were the destinations exotic, but the voyages were exotic as well. Lavish descriptions of characters, their lifestyles, the ship, and more, transport the reader on board and into the midst of the excitement. Even the individual characters are developed with the richness of the period
The excellent treatment of the historical period through vivid descriptions and details would make a great book no matter what the plot. Thankfully, the mystery story is well developed and wonderfully complemented with historical details While it may not be the greatest mystery story ever written, it certainly holds reader interest and instills excitement from start to finish.
Alycia Harris
GAME OF SPIES
John Altman, 4 th Estate, 2002, £6.99, pb, 244pp, ISBN 0007138865, to be pub in US in Feb 2003, no price as yet, Jove Pubnsm pb, ISBN 0515134635
February 1940 and the war is in its infancy Chamberlain is a sad, disillusioned figure and nobody is sure which way Hitler is going to jump next , but France looks a likely venue for his empire building. Young Eva Bernhardt is a good German woman, brought up to expect that her role will be a traditional one, of wife and mother , but the charismatic Mi6 agent William Hobbs has other plans for her, and she becomes a spy for the British instead. But it is not long before she is rumbled , and Hobbs as well, so thus begins a chase across Gemrnny for them both with the Gestapo after them , including one Frick, who seems to be unravelling before everyone's eyes
On the cover of the book Jack Higgins is raving about Altman's unputdownable style, and as chase stories go this does have some edge-of-the seat moments But it is a slim
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
volume and I like my books with a few more fleshed out characters in them. As war books go it isn 't the most thrilling and if you are expecting something like a cross between Dennis Wheatley and John Le Carre this will fall rather short. In all, a bit linear and thin but if this sort of thing is more your bag than mine it may well please. For my money the sadly scrambled figure of Frick tends to stand out the most , but the heroes Eva and Hobbs somehow remain shadowy.
Rachel A Hyde
A WING AND A PRAYER
Lyn Andrews, Headline, 2002, £16.99, hb, 249pp, ISBN 0747269076
Andrews has written a pleasant family saga set against the familiar background of war-tom Liverpool. Mary Callaghan has had a hard life and now she has to stand by and watch her two daughters apparently following in her footsteps. Daisy is trapped in poverty by marriage to a man she has learned to despise Desperate to escape her sister's fate, Nell takes the easy way out only to discover that life has a way of being crueller than she could ever imagine.
The sisters battle against the hardships of life in the slums, the destruction of Liverpool and their private heartaches. The solution to their problems comes over as being a little too neat, too convenient, but otherwise it's an enjoyable and at times compelling story. The warmth of the characters easily overcomes any small disappointment with the plot.
Linda Sole
WI TER RUN
Robert Ashcom, Algonquin Books , 2002, $19.95, hb, 224pp, ISBN 1565 l 2328X
This book can best be described as a slice of life , evoking a time and a place on the brink of change. The place is Virginia, the time the late 1940s to early 50s. The central character is Charlie Lewis, a white boy living in a mixed , rural community. Charlie has an affinity for the animals around him and is driven to decode their mysteries. Without children living nearby, his closest friends are older black men, neighbours and men who work on the fam1. They watch out for him , teach him how to hunt , how to understand and respect the nature of the animals that so fascinate him. And while Charlie accepts that the black members of the community have their own church and school, segregation plays no part in his own private world. He is unaware of the undercurrents , the first stirrings of the struggle for civil rights.
This is a lovely book, beautifully written by a well-published writer of poetry and short stories. In fact each chapter is a short story in itself, each one an absorbing tale and there is a continuity that holds the book together. It is described as a work of fiction, yet I had the
strong impression that the author was describing aspects of his own childhood. Whatever the case this book left me wanting to read more about Charlie Lewis. A very satisfying read.
Celia Ellis
FORGOTTEN FIRE
Adam Bagdasarian, Dell Laurel-Leaf, 200 I , $5.99 / C$8.99 (£3.79), 272pp, pb , ISBN 0-44022917-0
Vahan Kenderian was 12 when the Ottoman Turks sought to exterminate the Armenians in 1915. Comforts of his family's upper class life in Bitlis , Turkey, are quickly destroyed. It is as if they never existed. Young Vahan watches while family members are assassinated, experiences the death march , struggles with starvation and thrust, and eventually flee s. Running and hiding for three years is pre se nted with much detail. In desperation , Vahan searches for safety.
By relating this true story, the author recreate s the horror and brutality of that great tragedy for the world. This book is recommended for readers of high school age and older who can tolerate the sheer horror of the first few chapters. Vahan's is a traditional survivor's story with a message intended to reach people deeply. Readers will recall the death and pain of the Armenian people in a truly unforgettable plot. The stark reality of human cruelty is eloquently reflected and, in this instance, is told with little emotion.
Jetta Culpepper
GOODBYE LIVERPOOL
Anne Baker, Headline, 2002, £5.99, pb , 437pp, ISBN 0-7472-6778-2
After Josie Lunt's husband is killed, to provide for Suzy and herself she quickly agrees to marry Luke Palmer, only to discover that he is an abusive bully and a heavy drinker. She and Suzy flee Liverpool and go to work at 'T he Lawns' for a difficult employer, Heb e Smallwood. They make many friends, even though they're forever worrying that Luke will track them down. In the end both Josie and Suzy find happiness and stability, but not before Josie is forced to face up to unhappine ss from her past.
Goodbye Liverpool is a prime example of a Liverpool saga and Anne Baker makes the story a lively and entertaining affair. Characters, setting and plot are all well developed and sufficiently interesting to keep the reader 's attention throughout. Perhaps its only real letdown is its rather weak climax, which fails to pack a solid emotional punch
The story is narrated in the early 1970s , but is clearly about the earlier post-war experiences of the main character, Aron Blank. He describes hi s life to a writer attempting to capture the life story of this survivor of the concentration camps. During the war , he loses his wife and surrenders his son to authorities. After the war, through an organization called Rescue, he searches for and finds him. Together they try to build a life that is persistently shadowed by the war experience.
Becker's story echoes, with a tone that is relentlessly inert, the chronic damage of the camps He paints a psychological landscape that is perpetually aching, yet Aron never ceases to yearn for a normal life. As he recalls his life of worldly success , he also reveals his attempts to build emotional relations that always appear doomed from the start. This is a sober but heartening book describing the obstacles of a Jewish life in Germany after World War II, and , on a different level , what human nature can endure and transcend.
Gerald T. Burke
THE ASH GARDEN
Dennis Bock , Bloomsbury 2002, £6.99 , pb , 281pp , ISBN 074755787X , pub in US by Knopf, $23.00 , hb , ISBN 0375413022
From the author of Olympia this is a perceptive account of a Hiroshima survivor, Emiko, who meets one of the scientists, Anton , who worked on the atomic bomb. Each has lived through personal tragedy. Anton's wife, Sophie, has an incurable condition. She in turn has had to cope with his obsession for work. While Emiko has had the most challenging life of them all, having to put her life into some kind of perspective after the events of 6 August I 945.
There are events that touch all our lives. The bombing of Hiroshima is one such event. The Mayor of Hiroshima made an address on the last anniversary of the bombing; a speech which condemned the current atmosphere of warmongering. The speech aroused many comments from Japan and the United States. The Japanese are keen to discuss their experiences being the only nation to have suffered a nuclear attack. Those who waited for news of their loved ones after the bombing feared that when a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki there would be a chain reaction which would destroy the world.
This novel , whilst dealing with the international concerns after the bombing, personalises the tragedy by homing in on these three main characters. The image of a six-yearold playing in the river shallows with her little brother and then becoming aware of a large plane dropping a strange metallic object will
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
haunt me for a long time. This was the beginning of the Nuclear Age , the construction of weapons of destruction and the attempt by others to make some sense of it all.
Ernriko is one of the young gir ls chosen to receive special care in the United States to repair her facial scars. Her life intertwines with that of Sophie and Anton. The inner scars can never be comp letely healed, yet, out of the ashes there comes forth a kind of healing. Beautifully executed and highly recommended. Sarah Crabtree.
UP THE D USTY TRACK
Norman W. Booth , NTU (Northern Territory University), 2002, $33 Australian dollars, pb, 183pp, ISBN 1-876248-73-4
This is a war novel set in the Austra lian outback in the early months of 1942. After the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese Alice Springs in Central Australia is invaded by convoy drivers taking war supplies from factories in the South to the North The setting for the story is the 622 miles between Alice Springs and the railhead at Larrimah The central character is Sergeant Sandy Duncan who has to keep the convoy of dilapidated trucks going against challenging odds - unsurfaced roads , potholes, lack of spare parts and an unvaried diet of tinned cheese and bully beef swilled down with tea.
The journey itself is given more weight than the characters. The drivers are less important than the heat, harsh landscape and tough conditions they have to cope with in order to get to their destination. The drivers are described in a series of sketches in the same way that the author describes 'the grey-green scrub', the mulga, lancewood trees or the boiling radiators. These snapshot portraits give the reader a glimpse of the men's lonely lives. The cameo description of Hurricane and his pet kangaroo Dempsey is particularly poignant. This lack of in-depth characterisations compliments the story and makes it more powerful. The drivers become another tool -a necessary piece of equipment that is needed to get the job done.
This is not a traditional war novel. It is a story of courage, but the battle is one of ordinary 'blokes ' against appalling conditions and their 'matter of fact' determination to do their bit and keep the convoy running. It would make an exciting and moving war film.
I found the most appealing part of the novel was the author's ability to capture the sight, sound and fee l of outback Australia. When you've finished reading it you want to wash the ' bulldust' out of your hair and brush the flies away from your face.
Myfanwy
Cook 28
THE SOL DIE R 'S RETURN
Me lvyn Bragg, Arcade, 2002, $24.95, hb, 360pp, ISBN 1559706392
Reviewed in Issue 10, December 1999.
M ONTEIT H 'S M OUNTAI NS
Skip Brooks, High Country , 2002, $21.95 (£12.52) , hb, 288pp, ISBN 0-9713045-4-8
This nove l takes place primarily in the year 1902 in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, a time when great changes began to sweep the region Poor farmers whose families had for generations toiled ceaselessly to eke out a living found employment with large, eastern logging and mining operations that moved into the area after depleting resources elsewhere. These companies offered hope for a better future, yet simultaneously destroyed that very thing. This area today is dotted with company towns which flourished only as long as the profit margin held up.
This is the historical backdrop for a showdown between two men. David "Goodman" Brant is a young man of ·both Mohawk and Cherokee descent. Having lived most of his life with his father's people in Canada , he has just arrived in the mountains of his mother's peop le when he witnesses a co ldblooded murder. Walker Tom Monteith, the son of a fervent though unorthodox mountain preacher, is plagued by demons from his past, a loner whose insane rage has claimed countless victims. The third person in this mix is a young woman, Taylor Henry, who must also come to terms with her past before she can claim her destiny.
This is a taut thriller, exploring the parallels between love and loss , reconciliation and destruction, hope and regret. Each character is fully developed, leaving no doubt as to why they act the way they do. Skip Brooks does an excellent job of interweaving the various stories, and rewards the reader with a dramatic and unexpected finish.
Alice Logsdon
THE RESTLESS TIDE
Julia Bryant, Hodder & Stoughton, 2002 , £18.99 , 392pp, ISBN 0340819251
Set in 1920s Portsmouth , this energetic saga has an unusual and courageous heroine whose temper often results in a stormy ride for the man who loves her. Matthew Miller is a submariner who offers Mary Vine a better life than she has known , and after some ups and downs she leaves the family she has struggled so hard to keep together.
Other characters , such as Cissie Nugent and Captain Clements, weave their own stories in and out of the main threads, making for a more complex tale than many sagas of a similar type. It is on the whole an absorbing story, simply
ISSUE 22 , DECEMBER 2002
but channingly written and the well-thought-out plot, which isn't manufactured to make everything neat and correct as so many others are these days, is a refreshing change.
Linda Sole
THE DISTANT LA D OF MY FATHER
Bo Caldwell, Harcourt, 2002, $14, pb, 3 84pp, ISBN 0156027135
Reviewed in Issue 20 (May 2002).
CARRY ME ACROSS THE WATER
Ethan Canin, Bloomsbury 2001, £6.99, pb, 206pp, ISBN 074755790X, pub in US by Random House, $12.95, pb, ISBN 037576993X
This is a wistful, moving story of an elderly Jewish widower in the USA who reflects on his past life as his days draw to a close.
As a boy, August Kleinman escaped from Nazi Germany with his mother in 1933 and after a defining experience while fighting with US forces in Japan in WWII he subsequent ly amassed a great fortune in business. He decides to return to Japan to reconcile the key moment of his life
The story is told in a series of vignettes. Although numerous episodes are mixed up together the overall effect is one of unity and the style does not suffer from any disjointedness or obscurity. An excellent read.
Doug Kemp
STREET BOYS
Lorenzo Carcaterra, Ballantine, 2002, $23.95, hb, 325pp, ISBN 0-345-41096-3 Pub. in the UK by Pocket, 2002, £16.99, hb, 326pp, ISBN 0743232089
The German armed forces were guilty of countless war crimes in Italy during the Second World War. While the casual observer is familiar with the mass shootings of civilians, the deportation and eventual murder of Italian Jews, and the mistreatment of Allied prisoners of war, most remain unaware of the willful and brutal destruction of the port city of Naples. Naples was an important city to both sides owing to its location and its large and relatively modem harbor facilities. As the Germans retreated before the Allied advance, Berlin ordered the total destruction of the city. Thousands of Neapolitans were either driven off or shot by German soldiers and police. A fairly small number of Italian teenagers and small children remained in the city and, to the surprise of the German troops, defended what was left of their native city against the pitiless invaders. It is one of the most arresting stories of World War II.
Lorenzo Carcaterra grew up listening to family members speak of the heroism of these now forgotten children and wrote this novel as a testament to their sacrifice. The description of Naples and the characterization of the German
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
and American soldiers are well constructed and illustrate the author's talents and skills as a novelist. The portraits of the children and their motivation are not as successfully drawn While this detracts from the impact of the book as a novel, the saga of these children provides the reader with as dramatic a story as it is possible to imagine.
John R. Vallely
FRANKLIN FL YER
Nicholas Christopher, The Dial Press , 2002, $24.95/C$37.95 (£14.23), hb , 3 l 7pp, ISBN 0385-33545-6
Born in I 907, named after the train on which he was born and which was blown from the tracks by a tornado soon thereafter, Franklin Flyer's life through the 30s and early 40s was filled with as many eventful happenings as the United States itself. And how many men are there in the world who could say they had done the following: talked with FDR, kissed Rita Hayworth , and shaken bands with Albert Einstein? Been stranded in Antarctica , helped discover a zilium mine in Argentina, met and fell in love with a black blues singer in Mississippi , made a fortune during the depression in the pulp publishing business , and worked for the OSS in World War II?
Franklin Flyer was not so lucky with the women in his life, however. Always on the search for the woman in a photograph , his other affairs were both incandescent and brief. Also coming back into his life at regular intervals is the mysterious metal zilium, which promises to be of enonnous usefulness to the Nazis, another constant source of irritation and confrontation in his life.
Christopher's prose, poetic and yet deceptively plain , continually propels and pushes the reader onward. The story is smoothly told , but the subtle hint of mysticism that rises every several pages is allowed to take over completely as it reaches its end What's left is a focus that's frustratingly just out of reach , or so it proved for me. That's the only downside. There's a lot of fascinating history in these pages , not all of it real, but just maybe, in a universe parallel to ours?
Steve Lewis
CARAMELO
Sandra Cisneros, Knopf, 2002, $24/C$36, hb, 442pp, ISBN 0-679-43554-9 Pub. in the UK by Bloomsbury, 2002, £16.99, hb, 388pp, ISBN 0747560625 "Always remember, Lala, the family comes first - la Familia." This idea is the cornerstone of Caramelo, a semi-autobiographical novel that tells the story of a multigenerational Mexican-American family. It is the lesson that the narrator of the story, Celaya, or Lala, struggles with but eventually embraces. No
matter how much they embarrass, provoke, or disappoint her, Lala has no choice but to recognize that her family is her life. When the novel opens, the Reyes family is about to embark on an epic road trip from Chicago to Mexico City to visit the Awful Grandmother and the Little Grandfather. The events that transpire are filtered through the eyes and ears of the child Celaya. Part two deals with the Reyes' family history, which, as a matter of course, includes discussion of the socio-political history of early 20 th century Mexico. In this section, Celaya is an adult, and therefore her perceptions are more experienced and world-wise. The final section is told by a teen-aged Celaya, who learns to appreciate and respect her family while dealing with some difficult circumstances. Throughout, there are other contributing voices, but it is , in the end, Celaya's voice that resonates Cisneros' prose is direct but poetic. She captures the moment in time with precise words and keen imagery, whether handling pathos or slapstick humor. I could literally fill this review with quotes I've marked with Post-it notes. J highly recommend Caramelo.
Alice Logsdon
A SANTO I THE lMAGE OF CRISTOBAL GARCiA
Rick Collignon, BlueHen , 2002, $24.95/C$35.99 (£14.23), hb, 288pp, ISBN 039914921X
This final installment in a critically praised trilogy set in New Mexico follows one day in the life ofFlavio Montoya, an old man living in small northern New Mexico village where the winters bring snow and the villagers all know each other's secrets. His best friend from childhood, Felix, has been in a coma for several years. All Flavio has left of his family is hi s dead sister's fields , which he arrives to tend daily , but ends up daydreaming the hours away instead. On this particular day , Felix, who stumbles out of the nearby woods, interrupts his mental wandering. Felix's return to a nonvegetative state and the commotion caused by his actions cause the two to reminisce about a story concerning the founding of their town-and to engage in one final exploit.
Collignon's simple writing style, spiced with Spanish, suits his rather unlikable characters, who seem to be incapable of doing anything to help themselves For every happy second, there must be an unfortunate consequence and a disturbing conclusion. Flavio and his friends never catch any breaks or seem to command any respect. Several stories from Flavio's youth are told concurrently in bits and pieces through flashbacks , and the sparse prose certainly evokes the intended emotions. This story will appeal to those interested in life in a small southwestern village, wish to
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
shed a few tears, and enjoy a book that is part coming-of-age story, part ghost story, part thriller, and part slice-of-life. This is not an uplifting tale, but it will lend itself well to literary analysis for a research article or a book club.
Suzanne Sprague
THE COLO EL'S RENEGADE
Anthony Conway, Hodder & Stoughton, 2002, £ 18.99, 348pp, hb, ISBN 0340822082 This tale of 1920s high adventure (the third in a series) finds Captain Caspasian and the most raffish members of his Gurkha regiment escorting archaeologists into the Egyptian desert. British and French are racing to locate the lost city and tomb of King Menes. But the expedition must overcome formidable obstacles: contrary personalities, hostile tribesmen, and terrorists bent on driving all Europeans from Egypt. After a rambling start, it became absorbing and authentic. I could easily picture the desert hardships and the stuffy colonial garden party. The denouement was original, and contained a twist I didn't anticipate. Caspasian is an interesting hero, though his use of martial arts will be unintelligible to those unfamiliar with its terminology. Having spent some years in Nepal, I was happy to note that Conway avoided cliche in his depiction of the Gurkhas and Nepalis. I was also pleased that he included a believable female character.
Claire Morris Bernard
SILENCE IS GOLDEN
Jeanne M. Dams, Walker, 2002, $23.95 / C$39.95 (£ 13.66), hb, 226pp, ISBN 08027-3373-5
Although only a maid in a wealthy mansion, Hilda Johansson has a strong sense of justice (and injustice) in the world. The year is 1903; the locale, South Bend, Indiana. In this third of her adventures, the theme is child abuse in particular, men who prey on small boys. In one sense the title should be Silence ls Not Golden, as crimes such as this are usually hushed up quickly. But when a small friend of Hilda's 12-year-old brother Eric is a victim, and he may be next, her protective instincts go into action immediately. And when Eric sees the perpetrator in action, the title is correct: he must not speak up and draw attention to himself. Equally important to the story is the Swedish Hilda's ongoing romance with the Irishman Patrick Cavanaugh, and some cracks in their respective families' opposition are starting to show. And in the background, always present but not ostentatiously so, are the characters' reaction to new items in their everyday lives (aspirin) and old favorites (circuses and ice cream).
All in all, nicely done. I'm looking forward to my next visit to this ongoing turn-of-thecentury saga.
Steve Lewis
DUKE OF EGYPT
Margriet de Moor, Arcade, 2001, $24.95 / C$39.95, hb, 245pp, ISBN 1559705469
Pub. in the UK by Picador, 2002, £6.99, pb, 272pp, ISBN 0330390465
Set principally during the 1960s and 1970s, Duke of Egypt illuminates the plight of the European gypsies who, distrusted by most, could never settle in one town or even one country for long. Often members of one family would hold passports from different nations. Multi-talented, the gypsies clung to their nomadic lifestyle, despite the routine of authorities escorting them beyond borders and boundaries. This story's main character, Joseph, curtails his wandering after meeting Lucie, a Dutch woman who rears horses at her father's farm. Yet although seemingly content with Lucie, with the horses, and with caring for the farm, Joseph still takes to the road each summer.
This novel unfolds in a very non-linear fashion. The relationship between Lucie and Joseph develops amid stories Joseph tells of his travels, and historical anecdotes of treatment the gypsies received at the hands of settled people between the 18th century and World War II. Many of these mistreated gypsies are members of Joseph's own family.
It is difficult to say more without spoiling the plot. But to unravel this plot does require perseverance. Despite well-placed imagery and deft research, the characters of this novel never fully came alive for me. I think the constant digressions to another time, another placemeant, I suppose, to emulate the story-telling of the gypsies-and the use of a narrator whose identity is never wholly revealed, are the reasons for this. I sensed that I should have been moved by this novel, but although the subject matter fascinated me, I felt very little when I read the final page.
Claire Morris Bernard
THE BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS
Kim Deitch with Simon Deitch, Pantheon, 2002, $21 / C$32 (£11.97), hb, unpaginated, ISBN 0-375-42191-2
This is a fantasy "graphic novel" with confusing historical content by important underground cartoonist Kim Deitch. Parts of it have previously been printed m Raw Magazine, which despite its name, is an underground comic book.
Spanning a period from 1910 to the present, its framework is the life of Ted Miskin, who begins his career as a child working in
vaudeville for Windsor Newton, animation pioneer, and goes on to work as an artist for Fontaine Studios, a small animation house. Ted has visions of a demonic anthropomorphic blue cat he calls Waldo, which may or may not have objective reality. As Ted goes in and out of mental institutions, the reader gets a tour of the fall and rise of animation over the next several decades, as Ted works in comic books, as the television cartoon market opens up in the late fifties, and then as the modem day rediscovers the ground-breaking animation pioneers of the 20s and 30s.
Dense, cryptic, and circular, the storyline is difficult to decode unless you already have a familiarity with both the history of early animation and the illustrating conventions of underground comics, but this is obviously a heartfelt labor of love.
Rosemary Edghill
EUREKA
William Diehl, Heinemann, 2002, £17.99, hb, 440pp, ISBN 04340 I 0324, pub in US by Ballantine Bks, $25.00, hb, ISBN 024511463 One of the joys of reviewing for the HNS is reading books you would normally avoid. Eureka, with the DIEHL in blood-red, sans serif letters right across the cover, not to mention his other books with macho titles like Primal Fear, would have put me right off.
It opens in Eureka, a rough frontier town in California in 1900 and follows the fortunes of Brodie Culhane, who works his way up from a poverty-stricken childhood to being sheriff, and cleaning up the town. Forty years later, Zeke Bannon, a police detective from LA, is investigating the murder of Verna Wilensky, a lonely, unremarkable woman, but who left nearly $ I 00,000. Bannon tracks the money back to Eureka. Does the town's murky past still linger? And what does Culhane know about Verna's murder?
The historical aspect of the book is unconvincing, but I doubt whether this bothers Diehl. His forte is writing page-turning thrillers, in which he succeeds admirably. Eureka is wonderfully cliche-ridden. For example, there is Sheriff Buck Tallman, who says things like, 'One to one's a fair fight Three to one don't work with me,' and the hoodlums obliging slink away. The good guys are hard men with soft centres (Bannon takes on Verna's dog), and the baddies end up dead in various spectacular ways. What more could one want?
Elizabeth Hawksley
WINSTON'S WAR
Michael Dobbs, HarperCollins, 2002, £17.99, hb, 496pp, ISBN 000225414X
£10.99, tpb, 496pp, ISBN 000713018X Once again Michael Dobbs, author of House of Cards, plunges us into treachery and intrigue at
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
the heart of British government. This time the setting is 1938-1940, the years of appeasement and 'phony war' that ended with the Norwegian disaster and the Nazi invasion of Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg. Churchill, in financial debt and politically out in the cold, is frustrated that his warnings about Hitler's ambitions are ignored by Chamberlain's government. Brooding (and bricklaying) at Chartwell, he receives a visit from Guy Burgess, then a BBC producer, to arrange a radio talk. Churchill is taken with the young man , whose loathing of Nazism matches his own, but comes to distrust him , though Burgess later plays an important role in the novel's denouement, during which some shocking revelations are made
This absorbing novel of conspiracy and betrayal is told through many viewpoints besides those of Churchill and BurgessChamberlain, Brendan Bracken , Lords Beaverbrook and Halifax, U.S. Ambassador Joseph Kennedy, two Chamberlain fixers and a few ordinary people caught up in the meshes of this anxious time. Dobbs skilfully weaves his story into the fabric of real events and in an epilogue he outlines the later careers of the major players, HarperCollins predict that Winston 's War 'w ill be one of the most controversial and talked-about historical novels of the year.' Maybe it will.
Sarah Cuthbertson
FATE A D TOMORROW
Rose Doyle, Hodder & Stoughton, 2002, £18.99, hb , 404pp, ISBN 0340771356
Ireland 1902: Vanessa O 'Gra dy 's life has become dragged down with misfortune Her father commits suicide, her family home is decaying and her childhood sweetheart falls in love with an actress. To escape she accepts marriage to the wealthy Thomas Cooper, even though he is almost a stranger. They travel to his rubber plantation in the Congo Free State. Almost from the start Nessa realises that the marriage is a mistake, but matters take a dramatic tum after their arrival when she discovers that her husband is a vicious brute, responsible for the mutilation and murder of many black plantation workers.
She flees to the local mission, where she meets David Addison, a black American journalist , and Roger Casement, the British Consul and crusader for Congolese rights. With their help she manages to escape to Ireland, only to find herself pregnant - with Addison's child. Their fate is sealed when Nessa books a passage to America for herself and her daughter on a doomed voyage.
Rose Doyle sets her novel firmly in a period of great social change. It 's a time when women are beginning to demand a voice and conventions are being challenged by new ways
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
of life. In Ireland , the landlords are losing their power and wealth, while in Africa the superiority of the white master is being challenged by an emerging morality.
This is a powerful, intense novel , focusing on the rights of the downtrodden and undervalued. It's hard to understand how the atrocities in the Belgian Congo could have taken place in the 20th century. And even harder to accept that black oppression was still very much in existence - indeed accepted as the norm - long after the official abolition of slavery.
Sara Wilson
PERMARED
Debra Magpie Earling, Blue Hen, 2002, $24.95 (£14.23), hb, 296pp, ISBN 0-399-14899-X Perma Red will reward those readers waiting for the latest great American novel. Earling weaves a timeless tale of love , heartache , and betrayal through impeccable characters and a driving plot set in 1940 on the Flathead Indian Reservation.
For Louise White Elk, growing up on the Reservation is tough. Constantly hungry and on the run from school officials, Louise becomes an adult quickly. Four men who live around Louise shape her life into one that most women choose to avoid. A sheriff on the Reservation who falls in love with her despite his existing marriage; a cowboy rancher who ignores her childish crush; a rich white man willing to give her the world, for a price ; and a young Indian man who seemingly spends his life waiting for her, all become central to Louise's evolution. An intense series of events bring them together, and Louise must decide which man she will choose for life.
Earling's prose is concise, lyrical , and gripping. Each chapter, narrated by alternating characters, adds a third dimension, so that the reader learns as much of Louise as possible This extraordinary novel is not one to miss.
Melissa Galyon
I SEARCH OF KLINGSOR
Jorge Volpi Escalante, trans. Kristina Cordero, Scribner, 2002, $26 / C$39.50, hb , 4 I 4pp, ISBN 0743201183; to be published in UK by 4 th Estate in March 2003
After World War II, young American physicist Francis Bacon is assigned the task of uncovering the identity of a man known only as Klingsor - code name of the scientist orchestrating research throughout the Third Reich. Lt. Bacon finds a reluctant ally in Gustav Links, a German physicist who was part of the team working on Hitler's atomic research. The search for the true identity of Klingsor leads Bacon through the mirror-maze that was Nazi Germany's scientific establishment, to meetings with Heisenberg , Godel, and Schrodinger. And his meeting with
Irene, a Gemµn woman with whom be falls in love, 1eads:'Bacon towards Klingsor by an even more tortuous route.
Told in interweaving sections, half flashback , half current musings , In Search Of Klingsor is also a search for truth - moral , scientific, historical. Links guides Bacon through an ethical labyrinth , a quest for the elusive grail of Truth. And in the end, Bacon's choice is both inevitable and obvious. But is it right ?
Klingsor is that literary oddity, the engrossing yet boring book. Sections of it are intensel y fascinating - sometimes I even seemed able to understand physics for several shining pages but other portions descend into such banal predictability it's stunning. (Let me just say, without giving away the plot twists, that l guessed who would do what to whom, and how well Truth would be served, by page 200 of a 400 page novel. Any reader of genre fiction, as opposed to literary fiction, will probably be just as little surprised as I.) A fascinating, if flawed, read for anyone interested in the post-War world and the consequences of choice.
India Edghill
THE TIGER BY THE RIVER
Ravi Shankar Etteth, Doubleday 2002, £12.99, hb , 303pp, ISBN 0385603630
Swati Varma, Prince of Panayur, once promised his young wife, Nina, that he would take her to his childhood home . When she is killed he fulfils that promise and scatters her ashes in the sacred Papanasini river. There he is reunited with his first love, Antara. She is now the caretaker of the decaying royal palace and shares his memories of his late mother , the Queen. Memories filled with mythical tales of his ancestors and the tiger by the river. Meanwhile, Swati's cousin, Vel sets out from America on a journey to discover more about their grandfather, Rama Vamrn. Rama Vamrn perished in Germany during the Holocaust but be left a trail of clues for Vel to follow so that his bones may be returned to Panayur. Swati and Vel are destined to meet and together they perform a ritual of farewell to an honoured father. Each will then be able to move on to the next phase in their lives. Vel, with hi s soulmate, Kay and Swati to find his son and meet the tiger.
This is an outstanding first novel from Ravi Shankar Etti th. It is a story of how modem lives can be influenced and altered by history and legend. It is essentially a talc of redemption and healing, set against an exotic backdrop where magic can seem very real. The occasionally bloody subject matter is beautifully handled in poetic , mystical and symbolic prose. From the first there is a sensation of being safely in the hands of a talented story spinner. This sad, yet uplifting story continues to haunt long after the book is back on the shelf. If this
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
is only his debut then Etteth's next novel promises to be worth waiting for.
Set mainly in 1950s Notting Hill, this is the story of two sisters, Daisy and June, separated in childhood. Daisy is raised in a Children's Home while June is adopted by a well-off couple. June marries the owner of a hotel in Torquay and is childless, while Daisy is an unmarried mother with two daughters in bed-sit London. Circumstances bring them together to unearth their joint history.
Set against a background of race riots and Rachmanism, with a legacy of emotional neglect and child abuse, plus the discovery that their father is in prison, wrongly accused of murder, this has the potential to be a memorable read. Unfortunately, these themes are only superficially addressed and what emerges is a bland account and a series of one-dimensional characters. For me, an unconvincing story although possibly heart-warming if you like your fiction like your tea, lukewarm and sweet.
Janet Mary Tomson
ST ANDING IN THE RAINBOW
Fannie Flagg, Random House, 2002, $25.95 / C$39.95, 495pp, hb, ISBN 0-67942615-9
Pub. in the UK by Chatto & Windus, 2002, £12, pb, 512pp, ISBN 0701174102
Welcome to Elmwood Springs, Missouri, a typical small town of 1940s rural America. Stop by Doc Smith's pharmacy for a phosphate, and you might catch a broadcast of his wife's radio program. "Neighbor Dorothy," who is really Dot Smith, introduces you to her friends, family, and neighbors. To the chagrin of her children, Anna Lee and Bobby, you'll hear all about the events of their lives as well as everyone else's in Elmwood Springs. Transients waiting for the bus that stops in front of the Smith house, where Dot broadcasts daily, often seek refuge in the Smiths' living room during the broadcast; some even stay for dinner and become lifelong friends.
Fannie Flagg is a consummate storyteller. Standing in the Rainbow consists of episodic vignettes spanning five decades. With humor and compassion, Ms. Flagg brings you the joys, sorrows, triumphs, and failures familiar to everyone. By the end of the book, you will have made a lot of new friends. You probably already know people very much like the residents of Elmwood Springs. They may even be you.
Audrey Braver THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL
Katie Flynn, Arrow, 2002, £5.99, pb , 484pp, ISBN 0099436523
It is 1934 and Lonnie has been sent to England to stay with her maiden aunt. She is accompanied by Esther, an orphan, who has been appointed as her governess. The aunt is less than pleased but reluctantly complies as she is economically dependent on her brother. For rich, spoilt Lonnie and poor Esther Liverpool is very different from India. To begin with Lonnie is nasty but doesn't know any better, whereas Esther is nice and deserves better. They become friends with the Baileys , a poor but decent working class family but the association is frowned upon. Gradually Lonnie learns to cope with life in England while Esther develops a growing affection for Dick Bailey.
I was unclear as to whether Esther, whose dead mother was called Kai and had never left India, was actually Eurasian. If so the difficulties relating to persons of mixed race in the 1930s was not addressed. It would also have added an interesting dimension to this otherwise pleasant but unremarkable story.
This Liverpool saga is Katie Flynn's twelfth and anyone living there would probably enjoy the references to street names and the use of dialect; although as an outsider both detracted from the story for me. However, the book has all the comfort and reassurance of the genre in that you know that everything is going to be all right in the end.
Janet Mary Tomson
THE PAWNBROKER'S NIECE
June Francis, Allison & Busby, 2002, £17.99, hb , 319pp, ISBN 074900598X
A fast paced story about Liverpool during the Depression and the hardships faced by so many. In The Pawnbroker's Niece Francis portrays struggle and friendship nicely laced with tragedy and a splash or romance.
Rita Taylor is deserted by her mother and has no choice but to live with her aunt over the pawnbroker's shop, despite their initial animosity the two women become firm friends, and Rita persuades her aunt to do the good deed that is to change both their Iives as well as that of the Brodie family. This story is almost too packed with incident but makes for compelling reading as robbery and violence pile on top of one another.
Francis will not disappoint her legion of fans with this one. Hang on to your hats and enjoy the ride!
Linda
Sole
BLOOD OF VICTORY
Alan Furst, Random House , 2002, $24.95, hb , 237pp, ISBN 0-375-50574-1 Pub. in the UK by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002, £12.99, pb, 352pp, ISBN 0297829513
This novel opens on the Black Sea in November 1940. Once again a man without a country, this time Russian writer I. A. Serebin, is the central character in a battle to thwart the Nazi juggernaut as it rolls over Eastern Europe. His goal is to sink a small fleet of barges to block shipments of Romanian oil, the Blood of Victory, to the German war machine.
Like all of Furst's characters, Serebin finds himself in an inextricable position, a pawn caught between giants. He's a key player with a very low profile who slips in and out of shadowy ports and sleazy bars, always one step ahead of death. A consummate Auslander, he's a different person to everyone who meets him.
This story is like exploring a cave: dark, cold, foreboding, and thoroughly enjoyable. As I read this book and imagined the scenes as they unfolded, I couldn't help but think in blackand-white. Color doesn't fit here , only various shades of gray. There's nothing uplifting and nothing much to smile about, save the author's occasional wit, which is very dry and much too rarely shown.
Mark F. Johnson
DARK STAR
Alan Furst, Random House , 2002, $12.95 / $19.95, 437pp, pb, ISBN 0-375-75999-9 Pub. in the UK by HarperCollins, 1998, £7.99, 400pp, pb, ISBN 0006511317
Set in the area between Gennany and Russia known as The Pale of Settlement in the years immediately prior to WWII, this spellbinding story follows Tass journalist Andre Szara on his journey from occasional informant for the NKVD to full-fledged spy master. Along the way he teams up with a British nobleman to help Jews emigrate to the future Israel, falls in love with one of his operatives, and stays one step ahead of those who would wish him dead.
Alan Furst is the tough act to follow when it comes to historical spy novels: Dark Star is further proof of that. His characters are always regular folks who happen to find themselves pawns of the powers-that-be. Yet they always have a knack for survival, a will to live just for the sake of denying satisfaction from those who would see them dead. While each of his novels has its own underdog hero, characters from other novels frequently reappear, lending a subtle credibility to his stories. It's like historical voyeurism on a grand scale. The reader gets to enjoy each microcosm while still maintaining ties to the big picture. It makes for fascinating reading.
Mark F. Johnson
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
NIGHT SOLDIERS
Alan Furst, 2002, $12.95 / C$ 19.95 , pb, 456pp, ISBN 0375760008
Pub. in the UK by HarperCollins , 1993 , £7.99 , pb , 448pp, ISBN 0586217762
Khristo Stoianev, a Bulgarian peasant, is introduced into the brutality of Soviet life as a shocked witness to his brother's murder by a fascist gang. Recruited into Soviet intelligence, the more worldly and sophisticated Stoianev ultimately learns that communist terror is every bit as destructive of body and spirit as that of the fascist enemy. From service in the Spanish Civil War, to duty with the French Resistance during World War II, to his final experiences on behalf of the American OSS in the war's final days, the reader is plunged into the dark and unforgiving world of covert operations. Furst's detailed knowledge of the 1930s and 1940s is nicely balanced by his insights into the shadowy mindset of NKVD agents. A beautifully crafted novel in every respect.
In New York in 1913, sixteen year old Poppy Minkel is a disappointment to her widowed mother who decides that Poppy will remain unmarried. Poppy, however , has other plans. Rich, wayward and na·ive, she soon launches out on her own.
This first person narrative sees Poppy go through two husbands, two daughters (who she dumps on her sister) and various ventures, from a boutique in 1920s Paris, to a trendy Art Gallery in 1950s New York. There is also her dysfunctional Jewish family, some eccentric English gentry a la Nancy Mitford , and various other colourful characters.
The blurb says: 'Narrated by a heroine as original and enchanting as Sally Bowles, The Unfortunates is an hilarious, sweeping celebration of passion's triumph over prudence.' I didn't agree. Sally Bowles, for example , is seen through Christopher Isherwood's sharply observant eye, and her life is set against the menacing rise of Nazism in Berlin. Poppy, in Paris in 1938, reluctantly hands out money to rescue various people from a fate she neither understands nor particularly cares about. Nor did I find her passionate , merely self-centred. She reminded me of one of Nancy Mitford's characters , a short of younger Jewish-American Lady Montdore, perhaps.
I see that other critics found her previous book 'laugh-out-loud funny, intelligent and moving ' , so I could be wrong. But it wasn't my cup of tea.
Elizabeth Hawksley
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVlEW
HAWESWATER
Sarah Hall , Faber & Faber 2002 , £10 99 , pb, 267pp , ISBN 0571209254.
In 1936 a small rural community in Mardale , Westmoreland, discover that their valley is to be flooded to create a new reservoir that will supply water to a number of Midland cities. The village and outlying districts will be forcibly evacuated and the inhabitants relocated.
The Lightburn family tries to make a stand against the Water Company and fight to keep their farm. Janet Lightbum in particular feels a close affinity with the land ofMardale and uses her strength of character to rally the villagers. When she begins a passionate affair with Jack Liggett, who represents the enemy company , her loyalties are tom When tragedy strikes Janet makes a last desperate attempt to stop the construction of the reservoir for good.
Although this is a fictional account the Haweswater reservoir did go ahead. Because of this there is a great sense of authenticity to this novel allied with a notable sense of period. Past thoughts and actions are effortlessly reproduced and conveyed with an authoritative touch.
Haweswater is a beautifully constructed novel, written by a striking and original new voice. Sarah Hall manages to convey the intense emotions of love and obsession with refreshing brevity. An assured first novel from a young writer of great promise.
Lucy's mother has been housekeeper to Stanley Jones since she was widowed. Dying, she makes Lucy promise to go and live with her father's sister Flo in Liverpool. Lucy is nai"ve, sheltered and ignorant of what life can be like in the slum where Flo and her unpleasant family live. She makes mistakes, suffers, seems to learn nothing from her experiences and falls ever further into despair and degradation.
Readers who devour all Liverpool sagas will enjoy this book but I would have liked more historical detail to set it firmly in the 1930s , and a deeper sense of place. For me the characters were unsatisfactory. Uncle Fred ranted so fiercely and continuously that when he really became angry there was no scope for more. Cousins Frank and Selina were unrelievedly nasty. Lucy made little effort to help herself, depending on others to rescue her or solve her problems, and I doubted she would ever develop strengths of her own.
Marina Oliver
A GIRL CALLED THURSDAY
Lilian Harry, Orion, 2002, £17.99, hb, 378pp, ISBN 07 52851241
Thursday Tilford, named Thursday because she
was born at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 , is a heroine of character. Her detennination to leave home to become a Red Cross VAD at the outbreak of the Second World War is unaffected by the dismay of her parents. They don't want her to leave home and expect her to do local work before eventually marrying her rather dull boyfriend. A life of domesticity spent in the same neighbourhood into which they were born was the normal thing for many women of her generation , but Thursday is secretly delighted when her application is successful and s he is posted to the Haslar naval Hospital 111 Portsmouth.
It all seems very strange at first to a girl who has never s een the sea before but she grows up very quickly when the first of the casualties from Dunkirk begin to arrive. She learns to tend men with horrific injurie s and bums , but she makes friends too, and meets romance in the tall, handsome form of Commander Connor Kirkpatrick Although these events are set amidst the turbulence of war, this is nevertheless a story which meanders like a gentle stream, calm in places, then quickening as it encounters sudden and unexpected rocks.
Lilian Henry's knowledge of the period is unquestionable and will evoke memories for many who read it.
Pub. in the UK by Abacus, 2002, £10.99 , pb, 414pp, ISBN 0349114994
I hadn't heard of the fabulous comic duo of Fountain and Bliss before reading this huge biographical compendium of their careers as America's favorite funny men through the 1940s and 50s, and after doing so , I'm totally convinced I must have missed something Martin & Lewis , I remember, and Abbott & Costello, but Vic Fountain & Ziggy Bliss where was I?
Ziggy was born Sigmund Blissman, an overweight, wild-haired son of two vaudeville troupers whose act he destroyed early in his youth with his zany comic antics. Vittorio Fontana ("Vic") , born into an Italian fisherman family in New England, tries singing for a living instead and nearly fails , until he meets Ziggy, and like Shazam, lightning strikes. From nightclubs in the Catskills, to Broadway, radio , movies and then TV , the pair shakes the entertainment world apart , and America can't stop laughing. Told completely in the form of interviews with the duo's family, friends, various hangers-on , agents, publicity hounds, wives , lovers there were a lot of these this doorstop of a novel takes you
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
behind the scenes, kicking and yelling, many times further than you'd really like to go. Sometimes vulgar, often extremely funny, with a list of cast members at the end that's nearly four pages long, this book is a monumental event, guided in part by the lives of those other comedian pairs mentioned earlier: two lesser beings created into superstars almost solely by their pairing, to which they're forever joined. Both the heights and depths of their careers are opened to our view, and perhaps it can all be summed up by saying: Sometimes it takes a sad man to make another person laugh.
Steve Lewis
OUR EVA
Anna Jacobs, Hodder & Stoughton, 2002, £18.99, hb, 389pp, ISBN 0-340-82131-0 When Alice, Eva's friend and mentor dies, she leaves a rather unusual will. This throws Eva and the recently arrived nephew Gus together, and there is trouble. Eva's instinctive distrust of Gus clashes with her desire to please Alice. Before her illness Alice helped Eva to become a teacher, but when she tries to find a job Eva struggles against poverty and prejudice. By befriending little Molly who is bullied at school she encounters a family with their own dire problems.
This is a Lancashire saga which brings to life the conditions in the countryside just after the end of WW I. There is the feel of the times , subtly indicated. The plotting is intricate, the characters believable, though I occasionally felt the foreshadowing was a trifle heavy-handed.
Anna Jacobs ' books are deservedly popular. She is one of the best writers of Lancashire sagas around.
Marina Oliver
FLYKILLER
J. Robert Janes. Orion. 2002. £10.99, pb, 408pp. 0575072121
Flykiller is the latest book in the St.-Cyr and Kohler mysteries. Despite what is happening on the European front during 1943, ordinary murder and mayhem is still being committed on the streets of France. In this story we move to Vichy and discover that the mistress of a highranking government employee has been killed. Other murders follow and Premier Pierre Laval needs help in solving the crimes. John-Louis St.-Cyr of the Surete Nationale and Hermann Kohler of the Gestapo are sent from Paris to investigate.
Set against the German occupation of Vichy the two friends , in order to find the perpetrator of the crimes, have to weave their way through all the threads that bind the town's collaboration with the Germans, the resistance movement and the highly profitable black market. Are these murders simply a matter of
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
civilian love and lust or do they have a deeper significance?
Once again J. Robert Janes has managed to spin a tale of mystery and intrigue set in a real place during real events interspersed with real people who were caught up in the events of the time. For me, this technique makes a book more enjoyable. For those for whom WWII is a chapter in a history book, his descriptions of life lived in the cold short days of February with the blackout, food rationing and strictly enforced curfews plus all the other privations the war brought in its wake, vividly brings the story to life.
Marilyn Sherlock
SUBJECTS OF THE QUEEN
Roy Kerridge, Duckworth, 2002, £16, hb, 192pp, ISBN 0715630202, pub in US by Focus Publishing/R Pullins Company, $21.95, hb , same ISBN.
Set in the first decade of the late 1950s AfroCaribbean immigration to Britain, Kerridge introduces us to a variety of West Indian characters, together with a few white prostitutes and drop-outs, mostly living in Notting Hill. This is a world of petty criminals, pimps, hippies, over-zealous social workers, religious West Indian women struggling to make ends meet, and a lot of wheeling and dealing.
In the introduction Kerridge confesses that the hippy Stuart Markham is much like his younger self. Stuart's beliefs are a mish-mash of imperfectly understood Marxism, a shot of anarchy, a hatred of anything 'bourgeois' and a disinclination to earn an honest living. Stuart's life becomes intertwined with various West Indian spivs. After a horrific LSD trip he returns to the fold and turns to the church and the young Conservatives.
Indeed the book gives the curious impression of having been written by a member of the Monday Club looking back on his misspent youth as a left-wing revolutionary. The characterisation is more comic-strip than three dimensional , and there is no attempt to look deeper. The story is lively and touched with humour, but I feel that it would have worked better in a more journalistic format.
Elizabeth Hawksley
MR POTTER
Jamaica Kincaid , Chatto & Windus , 2002, £12.99, hb, 195pp, ISBN 0701173726, pub in US by Farrar Strauss & Giroux, $20.00, hb, ISBN 0374214948
Mr Potter, born in 1922, a poor, black, illiterate cab driver in Antigua, drifts through his li fe. Nothing much happens. We hear of his parents, whom he scarcely knows; of the unsympathetic Shepherds who brought him up; of his Lebanese employer; and of a couple who escaped the Holocaust and now found
themselves in Antigua. All these figures are experienced but dimly. The book is narrated by his daughter , a woman who does not know her father, so her stream of consciousness account of what Mr Potter might or might not think or feel adds to the nebulous quality.
The book is written in very long sentencesone and a half pages, is not uncommon - and with phrases end lessly repeated. For example, the first sentence is fourteen lines long and the phrase 'the sun was in its usual place' is repeated five times. The paragraphs can run to eight pages or more. There is no dialogue, except for occasional phrases. The very slowness of the narrative and the repeated phrases has a hypnotic effect; you are drawn into the meaninglessness and hopelessness of Mr Potter's life, whether you will or no. I felt as if I ' d been collared by the Ancient Mariner. Elizabeth Hawksley
DIG DEEP FOR MURDER
Kate Kingsbury, Berkley, 2002, $5.99/C$8.99 (£3.79), pb, 199pp, ISBN 0-425-18886-8 Somewhere on the coast of England during WWII, Lady Elizabeth Hartleigh Compton, divorced heiress of the Manor House of Sitting Marsh, strives to keep up her duties despite the tunnoil of the war, her money problems and the disturbing presence of American soldiers billeted at the Manor. Lady Elizabeth is a proud, responsible yet vulnerable woman who tries her best to reconcile the traditions inherited from her parents witl1 the inevitable changes brought about by war. We have here a classic English mystery setting complete with elder ly butler, cherished cook/nanny, and quaint villagers. The author manages to make it all feel believable, including Lady Elizabeth's cession of a portion of her land for a Victory Gardenwhere, unfortunately , the body of one of her tenants is dug up.
The plot follows the same cozy tradition of an amateur sleuth getting herself brashly in danger and needing to be rescued by her beloved American Major. Some parts of the book - the blackout curtains, the lack of food, the Americans driving on the wrong side of the road, the importance of appearances - tend to be repetitive, and the author doesn't quite manage to shed her romance writer persona. However , none of this prevents the reader from dashing through this fast, delightful story, fourth in the Manor House mystery series Nicole Leclerc
FOR WHOM DEATH TOLLS
Kate Kingsbury, Berkley, 2002, $5.99/C$8.99 (£3.79), 204 pp, pb, ISBN 0-425-18386-6
This short WWII mystery, the third in the Manor House series, continues the adventures of Lady Elizabeth Hartleigh Compton. When an American airman is found hanging in the bell
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
tower of her local church, Elizabeth determines to uncover why. Is his death related to the black-market goods surfacing in her village? Since the villagers resent the Americans, could one of them have committed murder?
The author fits a copious amount of period detail into this novel. The reader remains conscious throughout that a war is on. Her interplay between the Yanks and the Brits sounds authentic; I noticed just two out-ofplace Americanisms. This mystery contains a touch of romance, and interesting , if eccentric, characters, but it is for readers who prefer lightness and humor.
Claire Morris Bernard
THIS PLACE CALLED ABSE 'CE
Lydia Kwa, Kensington, 2002, $23 (£13.11), hb, 218pp, ISBN 0-7582-0147-8
Lydia Kwa's first novel is both a lyrical and unsettling piece of prose that spans a century and an ocean. As the book opens, Vancouverbased Lim Wu Lan's life is in a period of turmoil and mourning. Following a breakup with her lover and the suicide of her father, Wu Lan suffers a nervous breakdown and takes a leave of absence m her position as a psychologist.
While Wu Lan tries to reconcile her feelings of helplessness and guilt, her musings are joined by the voices of three Singaporean women; her mother Mahmee , and two turn-ofthe-century prostitutes, Lee Ah Choi and Chow Chat Mui. Mahmee, though haunted by the ghost of her late husband, provides a muchneeded lightness to this work with her humorous ruminations on the fate of her daughter. While Wu Lan 's emptiness is palpable , it is the suffering and surrendered hopes of Lee Ah Choi and Chow Chat Mui that are most moving and disturbing. Sold into sexual slavery and addicted to opium, the two an ku cling to each other for love and companionship.
The voices in this book often paint a depressing and restless portrait , but for all of that, Kwa writes in a poetic , almost dream-like voice that offers just a glimmer of hope beyond the horizon . The author, herself a Vancouverbased psychologist, offers a bibliography of sources, including material on nineteenthcentury Singapore.
Deb Schmidle
THE HOPE BEFORE US Elyse Larson, Bethany House, 2002, $11.99 (£6.83), pb, 352pp, ISBN 0-7642-2376-3
In this third in the Women of Valor series, Elyse Larson has delivered another winning episode in inspirational fiction. The Valor series showcases fictional women going beyond the call of duty to contribute to the World War II effort. The Hope Before Us, set in 1944
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
following D-Day, involves two American sisters both helping to save lives and help the Allies overseas.
Marge Emerson, a war correspondent, joins the US Office of Strategic Services to transport intelligence information across Germany, using her interviews with everyday citizens as a cover. A fledgling relationship with a handsome reporter and the longtime friendship of a French woman keep Marge on her toes as she sends secret messages and packages across the country. Her sister Em is a nurse stationed in France who helps return wounded soldiers to health and meets a faithful soldier along the way. Circumstances lead Marge and Em to reunite, where they collaborate to save a member of the Resistance and his family from the Nazis.
As usual, Larson keeps up the suspense and mystery for the duration. Be sure to start with the first book in the series, For Such a Time, as characters featured there make appearances in this novel.
The garden has long been abandoned. Colin, who's interested in the life of its creator, decides to carry out some unauthorised summer archaeology. He isn't prepared for the discovery he makes.In the 1920s , Isabelle Allegri has returned to Hereford with her errant artist husband and their two children. Their marriage is on the rocks and to give her life purpose , she asks Phillip Cordell, respected plant collector and her lover, to create a garden for her. As the summer unfolds , Leon Allegri leaves suddenly. Only his daughter really wants him back.
Isabelle owns coalmines. Humane , unworldly , she is unaware of the true consequences of her source of wealth. In her employ, at the mines and at her country home , are members of the Evans family. Gradually, as the children of both families grow, and social unrest threatens, their lives become inextricably intertwined. Then, there's the secret.
Gillian Linscott has written several other historicals and mysteries, and this combines both elements with great skill. Her characters are believable, the background feels authentic and the players' motivations ring true. For garden enthusiasts, the unfolding of the landscape has all the magic of the Lost Gardens of Heligan Above all, the mystery has an unforeseen resolution.
Janet Mary Tomson
ABEDI HEAVE
Tessa de Loo, Arcadia, 2002, £10.99, pb, l 20pp, ISBN 978 I 900850643, pub in US by / Soho Press, $21.00, hb , ISBN 1569473 I 6 I This Dutch author returns to the theme so movingly explored in The Twins (HNR I 2) of a family sundered and melded by World War 11 , only this time the central relationship is one that cannot be acknowledged. How about this for an arresting opening: Today I buried my father in Pest. Now .I am lying in bed with his son. Kata and Stefan meet as students in Holland in the 1960s. The encounter isn't auspicious: Stefan seems to have several girlfriends. For the most part, Kata is the narrator, showing us in the present tense what happened. There are also reminiscences of her grandparents, stories told by Uncle Miksa who fled to Holland from the Hungarian uprising in 1956 , bringing with him a photograph album and a portrait. The storyline has the scope for a sprawling saga, yet in just over 100 pages the secret events of the family's past are revealed layer by layer, until at the heart we reach a cruel enigma.
I found some of the changes of time and place confusing, and it wasn't until halfway through the novel that I realised Kata and Stefan were in Holland , not Hungary. The other characters we glimpse like snapshots in an album. However , as in The Twins, Tessa de Loo has humanised history through her characters; l would like to spend more time with them and shall read the book again. Perhaps this is the greatest thing one can say about any novel.
Janet Hancock
MUSIC OF A LIFE (UK title: A LIFE'S MUSIC)
Andrei Makine, trans. Geoffry Strachan, Arcade, 2002, $19.95, hb , 109pp , ISBN 1559706376; Pub. in UK by Hodder & Stoughton, £12.99, hb , I 92pp ISBN 034082008X
In a crowded, dreary, and frigid train statio n somewhere in Siberia, the narrator whiles away the time musing over the nature of the "Soviet man ." A sound interrupts his philosophizing, a sound that seems out of place in a Soviet train station in the dead of night... music! He creeps toward that sound and witnesses a man playing on a sadly neglected grand piano, then suddenly breaking down and weeping. He becomes immensely curious about this enigmatic musician. As luck would have it , the two end up travelling to Moscow together in the same car. The narrator gains the man's confidence and learns the sad, touching story of his life.
Alexei Berg's story begins on the evening of his first public recital in 1941 Alexei is returning to his family's apartment to find his parents being arrested by Stalin's police. I le flees for his life , beginning his journey with a harrowing escape to the Ukraine to take refuge
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
with relatives When the Germans invade , he appropriates the identity of a dead soldier whom he remains for the remainder of the war. Alexei , under a constant fear of giving himself away, struggles with his separate personas, that of the sensitive musician and the fearless , heroic soldier.
Surprisingly for such a thin volume, the story is quite atmospheric and does indeed recount an entire life story , albeit sparsely and with economy. Although this book was originally written in French , the text has been excellently translated.
Andrea Connell
THE RICE MOTHER
Rani Manicka , Sceptre, 2002 , £14.99, hb , 468pp , ISBN 0340823828 , to be published in US in July 2003 , Viking Press , hb , ISBN 067003 I 925 , no price yet available When she becomes a woman at 14 , Lakshmi marrie s Ayah , leaves Ceylon and goes to live in Malaya. Although she has been lured by the promises of riche s and an easy life , reality proves to be rather different. She finds herself living in poverty and gives birth to six children in as many years.
Despite her youth , Lakshmi is a powerful and matriarchal figure , the focus and energy of her family , the rock they all lean upon. She has been thwarted in her ambitions and fully intends to live her life through her children ' s successes Unfortunately these anticipated s ucces ses prove illusive and tragedy s talks the family.
Decades of toil and the hardships of the Japanese invasion take their toll and leave on every family member deep scars that endure until Lak shmi ' s great-granddaughter, Nisha , finally pieces together her family history and understands the true legacy of the Rice Mother. Thi s is a story told by many voices , with each chapter being written from the point of view of either Lakshmi or other family members. The effect is of many fragmentary , even contradictory , memories being woven into one complete truth. Blended within these memories is an exotic cocktail of the myths, legends and beliefs of early 20th-century Malaysia
A violent streak runs through the narrativethe author is especially unforgiving of the Japane se occupation - and although the brutality a lmost a lways occurs off-stage , or in remini scence, it is harrowing nonetheless. This is a vivid narrative , rich in imagery and even though it e vokes a strange and foreign land , it is one that manages to remain curiously familiar.
Sara Wil son
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
CASA ROSSA
Francesca Marciano , Jonathan Cape , August 2002 , £12.00 , hb, 340pp, ISBN 022406164X, pub in US by Pantheon Books , $25.00, hb , ISBN 0375421238
Casa Rossa, the family home in Puglia, is being sold. Alina Strada is packing up, and thinking about the family's past. Her grandmother, Renee , deserted her painter husband, who , in turn , covered up his collaboration with the Nazis and blamed it on his unfaithful wife. Their daughter Alba marries a scriptwriter, who dies in mysterious circumstances. Alba's daughters , Alina and Isabella , also react to the half-hidden messages from the past, and Isabella embraces Italian terrorism in the 1970s. Alina must disentangle the past in order to move forward into the future.
• The author says of her book: ' I wanted to write about a family whose history mirrors the history of their country. The lies, the way a story is handed down from one generation to the next , is very similar to the way we inherit the history of our own country, especially in the case of Italy , where ambiguity and denial have played a bit part. This is nowhere more evident than in Italy's attempt to forget its involvement with fascism in the 30s and with terrorism in the 70s ' .
I was very impressed by this book. Not only is Casa Rossa emotionally gripping, but it also manages to convey how it feels to be Italian , and burdened with the ambiguities and assumptions of that country's history. Recommended.
In Walking Through Shadows, Bev Marshall writes about a young woman challenged by a physical defect. Sheila develops a strong fantasy life. Her ability to create magic draws people to her , bringing triumph and tragedy. To her, overcoming adversity is "walking through shadows "
The story takes place in Zebulon , Mississippi , in 1941. Annette, age 11 , is teenaged Sheila's best friend. The older girl comes from a family of 12 children. Beaten by her father , Sheila finds living at the Cottons' dairy farm is a step up in the world. Their friendship builds as Annette learns to love and respect Sheila. Others are charmed by her , including Stoney Barnes , a young farmhand. Annette feels jealous when Stoney marries Sheila. The point-of-view shifts to Annette's father , Lloyd. His view of Sheila's murder plunges the reader into a nightmare world. Solving the murder becomes the driving force of the book, since its delicate spirit was snuffed out.
The points-of-view revolve quickly. Annette's is descriptive , close to nature and personal details She carries the fire into the next scene, but that narrator lacks appeal and the momentum slows. The plot sustains interest, but too many characters are driving the vehicle. Marcia K. Matthews
THE NECROPOLIS RAILWAY
Andrew Martin , Faber & Faber 2002 , £10 99 , pb , 23lpp , ISBN 0571209610.
A chance encounter leads young Jim Stringer, a railway porter, to move from Yorkshire to London enticed by the prospect of realising his ambition to drive express trains. He discovers that the Waterloo area of 1903 is a world of garish pubs and tawdry brothels.
Jim is set to work cleaning locomotives and finds himself mysteriously confined to the strangest comer of the South Westem's business: a railway line that runs to an enormous cemetery. He is perplexed by the instant loathing the majority of his colleagues have for him. Furthermore, his predecessor has disappeared in suspicious circumstances.
The novel concerns Jim's attempts to discover what is going on before he too is travelling on a one-way coffin ticket aboard the Necropolis Railway.
The problem with this novel is that the reader is never fully engaged enough to care about the denouement. For me , the author , who is highly regarded, never decided what kind of novel be was actually writing - comic , farcical, gothic , thriller , detective - and ultimately he attempts to combine elements of all of these; it does not work. Because of poor characterisation, mundane dialogue and a lack of tension or pace this novel fails to deliver what could have been a quirky historical mystery.
I can only recommend this book to railway enthusiasts and/or insomniacs.
Ray Taylor
IN REVERE, IN THOSE DAYS
Roland Merullo , Shaye Arebeart/Crown, 2002 , $22 / C$33 (£12.54) , hb , 309pp , ISBN 0-60961032-5
In R e ver e, in Tho se Days is the coming-of-age tale of Anthony Benedetto and his extended Italian-American family , yet it is also the account of the city of Revere , Massachusetts , some forty-odd years ago. Merullo intertwines the two into one entity. Anthony , orphaned at a young age , becomes enmeshed with not only his sizeable family of uncles , aunts and cousins but also with the atmosphere that defines Revere. In doing so , he creates a conflict be must solve before he's able to sort out the person he genuinely is.
The troupe of characters Merullo has tenderly created is difficult to abandon. Anthony's uncle with the oversize personality
ISSUE 22 , DECEMBER 2002
speaks with the grace of a bull and not a final "r" in sight! The Italian grandparents are drawn with out-and-out perfection, gracefully quiet yet with unspoken wisdom that Merullo conveys to the reader with charm.
Revere itself will be a place difficult for the reader to leave behind, from the main street called Broadway, to the richly ornate church of St. Anthony's, to the fine grains of sand of Revere Beach; all of these are calling cards to the young Anthony's experiences. In Revere is a slice of modem history. A well crafted, impeccably researched, most enjoyable and humorous story make this novel a must read.
Wendy Zollo
THE SCEPTERED ISLE CLUB
Brent Monahan, St. Martin's Minotaur, 2002, $24.95 / C$34.95 (£14.23), hb , 306pp , ISBN 0312288034
In late 1905, recently retired sheriff and celebrated crime solver John le Brun makes his long-anticipated Voyage of Discovery to London, England , eager to challenge himself against the great minds residing there. A friend introduces him to the world of the men's club , where he soon meets Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Within days of his arrival he finds himself caught up in a mystery after a poker game ends in mass murder. Suspicion falls on his host, one of the few surviving members of a lucrative tontine.
Monahan's second le Brun novel takes the reader on a twisting journey through foggy streets, clubs, and grimy alleys as the bodies continue to pile up. He effectively recreates Edwardian London , peopled by an array of fascinating characters , including one from his previous book The pace is a bit leisurely , but it works well, drawing the reader deeper into le Brun's world
Le Brun himself is a refreshing character: not your run-of-the-mill amateur detective , but a true professional who through the course of the book must come to terms with a life-altering condition. His background is awkwardly introduced in the first chapter - it would have been nice to learn some of the details a little more gradually. Still, his slightly fish-out-ofwater experience adds an extra element to the story. The mystery itself is well-plotted and true to the period. Detective fiction fans with a love for history should enjoy this book.
Teresa Basinski Eckford
THIS ROCK
Robert Morgan, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2001, $24.95 (£7.98), 323 pp, hb, ISBN 1565123034; Pub. in paperback by Scribner, 2002, $14 / C$22 , pb, 323pp, ISBN 0743225791 Robert Morgan follows up his bestseller and Oprah Book Club selection Gap Creek with another Southern family braving the hard times
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
of farming life. Set in 1920 North Carolina, a widow raises two sons and a daughter with all her hope s and dreams in God. Morgan again creates a real is tic experience with all the bleakness and richness of small-town existence
Muir , the middle child , is earnest and hardworking , while the eldest, Moody , bootlegs whiskey and hides from the law. Their disparate personalities precipitate frequent conflicts. The youngest child , Fay , has less of a presence due to the increasing tension between the battling brothers. For each character, their relationship with God reflects their relationships with each other. Muir hopes to find his call in life that will please God and his family. Ginny depends on God's grace when the brothers disagree or stumble on their path. And Moody rebels against God in the same way he rebels against a mother who favors Muir over himself.
Morgan has a talent for giving voices to female characters. He also gives Muir a sympathetic soul that readers will cheer on to the end.
Melissa Galyon
TWELVE BAR BLUES
Patrick Neate , Grove Press, 200 I , $24 , hb , 40lpp , ISBN 0-8021-1727-9
For review , see Issue 17.
THE DEAD FILE
Kevin O'Morrison , Xlibris, 2001 , $22.99 (£ 14) , pb , 355pp , ISBN 1-4010-0003-7
The author is a noted playwright and actor , so his behind-the-scenes look at the acting business as it was in the early l 950s (movies , dramatic radio , live television in its infancy) is authentic and absolutely , positively , mustreading for any fan of the era.
As a bonus, O'Morrison's fictional account of the life and struggling career of Des McCrossan is also strongly intermeshed with some of the blackest days of the entertainment industry. The time of the Blacklist, that is, designed to save the country from Communists and their sympathizers and , even worse, the Dead File. By paying the appropriate fees, some of the sinners on the former could recant and rather easily remove the blots from their record. The Dead File was worse this was a list of names of actors who were just not allowed to work. Unknown to them, their names were often there only for matters of petty jealousies and personal revenge. Careers were built by wrecking the lives of others.
The author, it is claimed, discovered the existence of the Dead File by accident. So, this is fiction, perhaps, or perhaps not. In those dark days , it could have been. And this could have been a great novel, even with the flaws that invariably come from small presses: poor editing and small typos. But the rhythm is wrong dramatic turns come with no
forewarning and the finale falls surprisingly flat. Worth reading , that's a given, but alas, not the classic it might have been Steve Lewis
WHEN THE EMPEROR WAS DIVINE
Julie Otsuka, Knopf, 2002, $ I 8/ C$27 (£7 .99) , pb, 141pp , ISBN 0-375-41429-0
Don't let looks deceive you; although small , this novel packs a powerful punch as it recounts one of the greatest forced migrations in American history It follows the members of a Japanese-American family as they are ordered out of their homes with only what they can carry in their arms and congregated in an assembly center, where they are assigned identification numbers. From there they are herded like cattle onto a train bound for one of the numerous "enemy alien camps" which sprang up like mushrooms across the western United States after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in December I 941. Ironically , the only crime of which this family and their contemporaries were guilty was being born Japanese, although the majority of them were American citizens.
The horrors of the Nazi extermination camps during World War II have been highly publicized over the years , and rightly so , but little has been written in the historical fiction genre about this shameful period of American history. And, although the American government didn't force their JapaneseAmerican "detainees" into gas chambers or steal the gold from their teeth , it certainly absconded, for all practical purposes, with the feelings of self worth of an entire segment of society. The author has done excellent research on her subject matter and, in doing so , effectively and eloquently exposed another tragic example of man's inhumanity to man Highly recommended.
Pat Maynard
DEATH AT DARTMOOR
Robin Paige, Berkley Prime Crime , 2002, $21.95 /C$31.99 (£12.52), hb, 324pp, SBN 0425-18342-4
The eighth in the series by the husband/wife team of Susan Wittig Albert and William Albert, Death at Dartmoor doesn ' t disappoint readers looking for atmosphere , mystery , and history all. in one place . It's 1901, and American Kate Sheridan and her English husband, Lord Charles Sheridan, are in Princetown, home of the infamous Dartmoor Prison. Kate is gathering material for her next novel and meeting up with her photographer friend Patsy Marsden , while Charles implements the new technology of fingerprinting at the prison. They join in a local seance at Thomworthy Castle, the estate of Sir Edgar and Lady Duncan, along with some
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
colorful (and suspicious) local characters and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . Soon after, three prison inmates escape, Sir Edgar is murdered, and only Kate, Charles, and Patsy believe there is more to this tum of events than meets they eye Enlisting the help of Doyle , the amateur detectives ferret out the truth, revealing much about life on the tum of the century moors as well as the more human side of the man who created the greatest detective of the nineteenth century. The solid writing and intriguing subplot will keep readers riveted to this exciting tale
Helene Williams
HIGHLA D MERCIES
Gary E Parker, Bethany House, 2002, $11.99 (£6.83), pb, 391 pp , ISBN 0- 7642-2453-0
This highly recommended sequel to the first novel in the Blue Ridge Legacy series, Highland Hopes, thrusts Abigail Porter Waterbury into responsibility for herself and her family. The collapse of her husband 's law practice, which signals an inevitable struggle to hold on to the land, is accompanied by marital difficulties. Daniel Porter, brother of Abigail, fights life's circumstances, like her husband , drowning in drink. Troubles continue as Daniel and Abby watch their sons enter the war following Pearl Harbor
The writer brings home daily life for these Blue Ridge Mountain people. Economic and social realities, riveting clements of hard times, impoverish families previously destined by profession and education to become financially successful. The rich plot of this novel makes a perfect sequel to the previous book, especially with the old feud between the Porters and the Clacks rising amid the stress. The writing style yields a smooth, flowing text. Readers become s ubmerged in an inspirational story of faith and love It is difficult to stop turning pages seeking a conclusion to the suspense.
Jetta Culpepper
DOCTOR ZHIVAGO
Boris Pasternak , Vintage, Republished 2002, £7.99, pb, 510pp, ISBN 0099448424 (Republished prior to a TV mini-series - Ed ) Against a background of the sustained cruelties and heroism of Revolution, this is a story of Russia and of two lovers, Larissa Fyodorovna (Lara) and Yury Andreyevich (Doctor Zhivago). As the twentieth century begins the degenerate tzarist autocracy is eliminated. The Revolutionary Reds and Whites are locked into a relentless savagery. Minor but equally ferocious factions add to the sufferings of townspeople and peasants. Hammered by a climate of harsh but sometimes glorious extremes, the land itself by turns embraces, taunts and brutalises its inhabitants. Never less than great, Russia endures years of unremitting
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
self-inflicted wounds. At last, Exhausted, released from the constant overt threat of savagery and destruction the survivors of warfare live without liberty, plagued by a background without mercy , where ignorance or misunderstanding of ever-changing directives (often written in gobbledygook of appalling length and tedium) can be fatal.
Lara, with her careless beauty and passionate, uncomprom1smg spirit is the inspiration and greatest love of Zhivago, a dedicated doctor, intellectual and poet. Neither is impossibly heroic but they share the virtue of compassion. Their times together are pitifully few and brief, and overshadowed by danger, hardship and terror. Any one of their grievous partings may prove to be final.
Doctor Zhivago is a book impossible to put down. Yet this magnificently told story is so intense and emotionally exhausting that the reader really ought to put it down from time to time; to go away and think about what has been read. There are many stunning set pieces. Amongst the most haunting: Zhivago's flight by train from Moscow with his family; Lara and Zhivago and their child in snowbound, wolf-haunted solitude; Zhivago's meeting with Lara's husband, a man of extraordinary complexity with a past of remorseless cruelty. The wonderfully extended Russian namessurnames, first names, diminutives and patronymics - once grasped do not confuse, but may be enjoyed and even relished. The poetry is refreshing and enjoyable.
Nancy Henshaw
THE CAMEL OF DESTRUCTION: A Mamur Zapt Mystery
Michael Pearce , Poisoned Pen Press, 2002, $24.95, 250 pp, hb, ISBN 1590580249
Pub. in the UK by HarperCollins , 1995, I 92pp, pb, ISBN 0006478921
In a 1910 Cairo rife with corrupt, strangely modem land deals and sour banking schemes, series sleuth Captain Owen solves yet another mysterious death, that of a civil servant. The sparse, dialogue-heavy writing style moves like a house afire while at the same time managing to give the flavor of the time and place in surprising nooks and crannies. A scene where the widow Shawquat rouses the quarter to action against the land dealers is particularly good for showing the power of women and grassroots politics in pre-World War I Middle East. To my taste, however, the book was sometimes too sparse. We never see the actual fellahin whose livelihoods give the bankers means to gamble with.
More scenes not just in council chambers discussing the finances but showing them working (or not) wou ld have enlivened the book and given it more depth.
Ann Chamberlin
THE MAMUR ZAPT & THE RETURN OF THE CARPET
Michael Pearce, Poisoned Pen Press , 200 I , $13.95 (£7.96), 240pp, pb , ISBN 1890208779 With the celebration of the Return of the Holy Carpet from Mecca soon to take place, Captain Owen , the Mamur Zapt or head of the Egyptian CID, must navigate tricky political intricacies to figure out who might have nearly assassinated a prominent figure. Meanwhile, political unrest threatens to erupt into terrorist activities as Captain Owen continues to peel back the international layers of society in search of the answers.
If the reader isn ' t careful, they'll start tasting the coffee and feeling the dust of 1908 Cairo. This story is rich with elements that paint a vivid portrait of Egyptian life and politics In fact, its descriptions of just about every facet of life make the book more interesting than its plot line. Seedy back rooms, steamy baths, crowded shops, coffee houses, etc., all are described in detail and intricately entwined with the politics and personalities of a variety of nationalities and plenty of intrigue.
The book may be uncomfortable for some American readers - it can be a bit dry. Still , this historical mystery/ thriller is hard to put down. Readers of mysteries, terrorism, early 20 th century Egypt and more will find this book enjoyable. If nothing else, the reader will be momentarily transported to time and place now long gone.
Alycia Harris
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS POOL
Elizabeth Peters, Constable & Robinson 2002, £6.99, 386pp, ISBN 1841194589, pub in US by Warner Books, $7.50, pb , ISBN 0446603988 When a masked stranger, who promptly disappears before he can tell them the secret, offers to reveal the whereabouts of the lost tomb of an Egyptian queen, Amelia Peabody and her irascible archaeologist husband, Emerson are intrigued to say the least. As they set sail to Thebes to follow the trail the Peabody/Emersons are helped and hampered in their search by their teenage son Ramses and their beautiful ward, Nefret. Before the sands of time shift very far they will all be risking their lives foiling murderers, kidnappers, grave robbers and ancient curses.
The Hippopotamus Pool is a legend of war and wits that Amelia is translating. One that a lerts her to a different kind of hippo. A grotesque art dealer who is on course to become her new arch-enemy.
This is a wonderfully enjoyable book but for those who have not read any of the Amelia Peabody books do not start with this one. The series is so linear, I think it would be almost impossible to fully appreciate this one if it is read out of sequence. Do begin with Crocodile
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
on the Sandbank and discover how Amelia meets Emerson I guarantee you will be hooked. Amelia is a wonderful character and there is the added bonus of Emerson's brother, Walter and his wife , Evelyn playing a more central role than previously There are distinct signs that Ramses is growing from a precocious brat into an even more precocious adult. Nefret will be moving centre stage in subsequent adventures. The plot 1s convoluted but does not overwhelm the reader. The history of Egyptology at the tum of the last century as well as the archaeological techniques used by the Peabody/ Emersons during their excavation of the lost tomb are spot on Use of real characters such as a young Howard Carter add verisimilitude to this entertaining romp.
Shirley Skinner
ANGEL OF MERCY
Tracie Peterson and James Scott Bell , Bethany House, 2002, $11.99 (£6.83), pb, 379pp , ISBN 0- 7642-2420-4
Angel of Mercy , third in Peterson and Bell's Shannon Saga , portrays the life of a young, single woman in the predominant male culture of early 1900s Los Angeles. ](jt Shannon, attorney , finds herself in the middle of a murder trial defending an enemy from a former court case. Peterson and Bell have continued a very entertaining inspirational series in this novel. A Los Angeles police officer, Ed Hanratty , needs to find a way to look good in his captain's eyes. W11en he hears of criminals on the run near the local bar, he takes off to capture them But the arrest goes badly, and a man is killed. Hanratty , arrested and indicted , faces murder charges. He calls his former opponent, Kit, to his defense. The novel is fun and suspenseful , leaving readers few opportunities for breaks. Kit is a likeable character, as are her friends and coworkers. I definitely suggest reading the series in order (start with City of Angels) to keep track of the storyline.
This story's setting is New York City in the 1950s. Dave Markowitz , a dreamer, sees the future as a boundless horizon of opportunity. Unfortunately, his past successes have been modest. He loves his family, but his dreams frequently put him at odds with them. Then he takes an ambitious gamble that fails , and tragedy follows. The story continues as Ruth , his wife, struggles to raise three children. They are challenged , not only by poverty but also by their Jewishness , from both society and their family.
As the story unfolds, it explores the difficulties of a single mother during the 1950s,
and the conflicts and challenges that two of the children face. The child Sara , perpetually selfconscious , grows and slowly embraces her religious heritage; while Jesse, as a young) adolescent , travels a difficult path trying to replace his father , which almost leads to a tragic end.
In a prose style that is disarmingly straightforward, Ragen's narrative is rich in period detail, describing the struggle this family survives and triumphs over. It has a spiritual resonance without being maudlin or preachy.
Gerald T. Burke
A PIPE FOR FEBRUARY
Charles H. Red Corn, Univ of Oklahoma Press , 2002 , $29.95 (£17.08), hb, 272pp, ISBN 08061-3454-2
They've gone from teepees to mansions; from riding ponies to driving Pierce Arrows; from hunting buffalo to hunting a murderer. Set in nineteen-twenties Oklahoma , based upon true facts , this novel shows Osage Indians with college educations who travel the globe, dress in flapper fashions, and wine and dine well. Oklahoma oil , found on Osage land , has made these Native Americans the first oil-rich population in the world. However, wealth has made them targets. The United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) presumes Indians are unlearned; they need "protection" from scammers who would steal their oil rights. The local Agent superintends all Osage financial requests, using funds from the tribal account's stored millions. The situation holds open the door , pulling corruption inside Stalking their victims, greedy wheeler-dealers want a piece of the action. To get it some are willing to commit murder.
The grim tale unfolds through the eyes of young artist John Grey Eagle. Two family members die under mysterious circumstances Cousin Molly is threatened and another relative courts what could be a murderous relationship. John sets out to fmd the killer or killers . Red Com takes his time developing this plotline. In prose sometimes stiff, yet filled with descriptive beauty, he deliberately titillates , making the reader ingest teaspoons of trivia first. It works. As counterpoint, tribal elders keep alive the old customs and rituals, but the young people, caught up in the Jazz Age , still hear the tribal drums-- particularly John , who wishes to memorize the old prayers and songs. Red Com's best writing occurs when he leaves the white man's world and enters the world of the Osage. The cadence changes. First time author Red Com, an Oklahoma Osage himself, beautifully captures his people's thought and speech patterns. Hence lies the truth of this remarkable book.
Meredith Campbell
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
THE EDUCATION OF RUBY LOONFOOT
Paxton Riddle , Five Star, 2002 , $25.95 , hb , 340pp , ISBN 0-7862-4437-2
Loon Lake , Wisconsin , 1957. Ojibwe elder Cecelia starts the day in her unheated cabin and chants the nagamoon to the Great Spirit , Gitche-Manitou. She prays for her granddaughter Ruby , whose Indian name is Little Warrior. Ruby is away at Catholic boarding school, being proselytized by "the Robes." Their mission is to stamp out Indian culture and heritage Cecelia want s to s ta1i a school with native teachers.
This is a novel of child abuse and cultural genocide. Rich in detail and fast-paced , it grip s the reader and sweeps one along in it s deep currents. Thirteen-year-old Ruby is a rebel who fights the system and endures life-threatenin g punishment. Author Paxton Riddle channels th e girl, and transcends his white milieu to educate readers about the language and traditions of the Ojibwe. He sprinkles the dialog with Ojibwe words , and provides a glossary. This is an original story , an unexplored branch of the Civil Rights movement.
Marcia K. Matthews
TWELVE SECONDS TO LIVE
Douglas Reeman , Heinemann , 2002 , £ 16.99/ $24.95, hb , 31 Opp , ISBN 0434008745
One of the most popular masters of the naval thriller , with over thirty books published under his own name and over twenty more written as Alexander Kent and set in Napoleonic times , Reeman has here introduced a new element: the hairspring tension and intricate menace of mine clearing, carried out by those in the Special Countermeasures section of the Navy. Several sub-plots involving officers who have volw1teered to tackle one of the most lonely and unforgiving of duties are woven throughout the book. One land-based Lieutenant-Commander is forced to follow in the dangerous footstep s of a man he and others greatly respected and admired. Another, out at sea , fmds his s hip entangled in a live mine, with enemy ves sel s approaching.
Reeman 's prose is lean and brisk , with no surplus dialogue or description , and it effectively conveys the drama and suspense he has set up. His characters are not the straightforward heroes of inferior military fiction , but have failings and doubts. What I think interests him most of all , apart from the accomplishment of his plotting , is how those in peril work as a team , with an unsentimental camaraderie. There is a surprising rou g h delicacy , if I might use what may seem a paradoxical term , in the way thi s is evoked throughout the book. Douglas Reeman has provided another undeniably s trong addition to the form that he has made his own.
Mark Valentine
ISSUE 22 , DECEMBER 2002
THE HOLLOW CROWN
David Roberts, Constable 2002, £16.99, hb, 320pp, ISBN 1841195715, pub in US by Carroll & Graf, $24.00, hb, ISBN 0786710527
This is the third book in the Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Brown murder mystery series. Set in 1936 with the shadow of war with Germany looming on the horizon and preceding the abdication of Edward VlII over bis affair with Mrs Wallis Simpson.
Lord Edward Corinth is asked by a friend, Joe Weaver to retrieve a bundle of letters written by the King to Mrs Simpson which bas been stolen from her. The thief is known. A Mrs Raymond Harkness; former mistress of the King and friend of Lord Edward Corinth. He and Mrs Harkness have been invited to the home of the Conservative MP, Leo Scannon. Lord Corinth is not happy about the job and cannot know that two murders will intervene.
Lord Corinth is joined by his friend, Verity Brown who has just returned from the Spanish Civil War. Heartsick at the brutality she has witnessed she thinks that the distraction offered by investigating the murders will take her mind off the horrors she has witnessed.
Against a background of political unrest, the ]arrow March and the Cable Street riots, they struggle to discover the truth behind the murders, the hollow crown and more than one truth about themselves.
Although I enjoyed this book I wonder whether the author is wise to introduce the romantic sub text as I was getting away from the feeling of deja vu with the Lord Peter Wimsey books but, if Mr Roberts follows this through and marries Edward and Verity off the comparison will be inevitable. In spite of this reservation I found this a very good read which captures the feel of the time, warts and all. Mary Tucker
A LONG JOURNEY HOME
Wendy Robertson, Headline, 2002, £18.99, hb, 278pp, ISBN 0747272166
In Singapore, 1942, Sylvie Sambuck is a difficult ten-year-old. In a world of colonial parties and trips to Raffles, she just isn't ladylike enough. It's only when the well-educated Eurasian Virginia Chen is employed as governess that anything can be done with her. Then the Japanese come. Sylvie becomes separated from her family as the last boat leaves the harbour, and only her relationship with Virginia saves her.
The novel takes us through the rest of the war, and a time that changed that part of the world forever. We see it from English eyes, child's eyes, but also from the point of view of the Chinese, and the half-caste Virginia. Sylvie suffers, but the narrative isn't morbid. She masquerades as Virginia's sister, and this at first saves her from internment. Eventually, she
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joins the noble, pitiful, spiteful and racist world of the camps, and Virginia's loyalty becomes the only thing that can protect her in a world where the British no longer hold power.
This is a terrific read. It's a world on the cusp of change, and we experience it intimately. What impressed me most was the sense of hope in the newness of the world. Wendy Robertson conveys the danger and horror of the time, but she is also clear-eyed about some of the horror of the colonial world before the change. Virginia, and particularly Sylvia, are characters who will live with me for some time.
Richard Lee
DAMNED GOOD SHOW
Derek Robinson, Cassell, £ 17 .99, hb, 3 I 6pp, ISBN 0304363103
Fiction grounded in fact, Damned Good Show is the story of 409 Bomber squadron in the early years of World War Two. Told through the eyes of its pilots, wives, intelligence officers and a government-sponsored cameraman this is a tragicomic tale of the harsh realities of lives lived on the edge, of young men with old and cynical eyes who fly to tell - and back if they are lucky- every night.
The style of the writing and the characterisation is superficially of the Wizard Prang variety, but once the reader begins to settle into the novel, they are quickly rewarded with depths beneath the superficial shallows. The tone is humorous and frequently slapstick, but darkness runs parallel. Characters whom the reader has got to know and care about, go out on missions and return neither to the airfield, nor to the pages of the book. The reader is left dangling and bereft, but rather than seeing this as a flaw, I regarded it as a reflection of what so often happened during wartime bombing raids and totally consistent with the tone of the novel. The Times Literary Supplement commented that 'Derek Robinson has developed a brand of "ripping yam" alt his own hard-bitten stuff, anti-Newbolt and anti-Biggies, yet disrespect falls short of subversion.' I would completely concur with this opinion and recommend that former Booker Prize shortlisted author as a 'damned good read'.
Susan Hicks
PIECE OF CAKE
Derek Robinson, Cassell, 2002, £7.99, pb, 672pp, ISBN 0304363 I 2X
This is a reprint of a 1983 novel about the fighter pilots of the RAF's Hornet Squadron during the Second World War, especially the Battle of Britain. While some features - the schoolboyish nicknames (Fl. Lt. 'Moggy' Cattermaul), the banter, the black humour - are reminiscent of the characteristics that are often romantically associated with the RAF, the book
is bleaker and often darker than this air-ace and handlebar-moustache image.
Robinson understands the bureaucracy and the boredom that belongs to war and portrays the desperation, cynicism and feuding amongst the men of the squadron, bringing out characters that are more fully realised than is often the case in war novels. He is particularly deft at encapsulating the crisp, self-mocking, illusionless conversation of his characters, with several scenes of some drily sardonic dialogue that are not merely amusing in themselves, but also have a tragi-comic force. The operational detail also seems both reliable and yet not overly deployed, so it is integral to the story.
There is a convincing revisionist aspect to the novel too, in that Robinson considers many of the claims made for RAF successes in the Battle of Britain to be exaggerated and his novel is intended to be a more realistic portrayal. This is not for purposes of mere debunking; he wants to show that the actual achievements and bravery were enough to stand on their own, without the need to maintain old myths.
Derek Robinson's first novel, Goshawk Squadron, about the Royal Flying Corps, was shortlisted for the Booker, a very unusual achievement for a work in this field (and perhaps an indication that the Booker was once rather more open-minded than it is now). On the evidence of Piece Of Cake I can quite see why. It has all of the sombre mood, the intense realism, and (despite its length) the spareness of prose of V M Yeates' classic RFC/RAF novel Winged Victory, and that is high praise indeed. Mark Valentine
TlliS SIDE OF THE SKY
Elyse Singleton, Bluehen, 2002, $24.95/C$35.95 (£14.23), hb, 334pp, ISBN 0399149201
Lilian and Myraleen first met as toddlers in 1930 in Mississippi. Growing up in the small black community of Nadir, their earliest aspirations were simply to escape. As years go by and they graduate, then move on to jobs as maids in a wealthy white household, they seem to be destined to stay. In their mid-twenties, both reali zing that life is passing them by, they take a giant step and move north.
This Side of the Sky is a heart warming story of the life-long friendship and love that these two woman share. Through war, family problems, man trouble and the soul-numbing experiences of being black in America in the post-war years, nothing can intrude on their loyal friendship. The author has created two compelling characters: the wisecracking, nononsense Myraleen and the dreamer and idealist Lilian are women the reader wants to know. The experiences that they, two small town girls from the Deep South, share in the wider world,
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kept me engrossed. This is a book to be read in one sitting, watching two special women grow up and grow old with grace . Lorraine Gelly
BLOOD TO DRINK
Robert Skinner, Poisoned Pen Press , 2001 , $14.95 (£8.53), pb, 25lpp, ISBN 1890208-67-1 New Orleans , 1934. No vampires in sight despite the title, but worse demons abound on the Mississippi River as bootleggers scramble to make their final fortune just before the repeal of Prohibition. The Volstead Act (1919-1934) criminalized alcohol in the United States for moral reasons resulting in higher crime and illegal, tax-free earnings. Wesley Farrell , a small time operator who eluded the Coast Guard on many occasions, ponders his future in a local bar when a brawl breaks out. He and a well-dressed stranger fight their way out and the stranger introduces himself, offering Wes a ride Out of the blue , his new pal is shot to death by a drive-by hit man. Wesley escapes but tells no one, to keep the law out of his affairs. He ignores the slight twinge in his conscience and gets on with his life
Five years later, the dead man's brother arrives in New Orleans to investigate the unsolved case. Criminals who believed themselves safe crawl out of the woodwork to cover their tracks by any means possible. Skinner's novel is a hard-boiled slice of life during segregationist New Orleans , when "whites and negros" each had their own societies and law enforcement systems. In this novel, they are called to work together , and insight into both races and their interrelationships are exposed as Wesley Farrell walks the many streets and parishes of the area to right a wrong and bring the crooks to justice. New Orleans ambiance is detailed in the street names , landmarks , music and attitudes ultimately demonstrated that, despite the hardcore crime, there is always that human element in all ofus. (# 3 in the Wesley Farrell series ) Tess Allegra
PALE SHADOW
Robert Skinner, Poisoned Pen, 2001 , $23.95 (£13.66), bb, 226pp, ISBN 1-890208-66-3 War may be raging in Europe , but for the crooks and cops of New Orleans, 1940, it is still a distant rumble. Wesley Farrell , nightclub owner, is the pivot of this complex mystery that centers on the disappearance of his friend, a criminal organiser hunted by various factions and the setting up of a major counterfeit ring. The story is told in the bard-boiled tradition with a high body count and a host of unsavoury characters. The viewpoints shift constantly, but it is easy to navigate because the characters are well drawn. The feel of the city in that era comes through clearly, despite the author's
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tendency to indulge excessively in mentioning every street or bar the numerous characters encounter. There is also a certain complacency in describing torture scenes which are reserved for the females who are constantly in jeopardy. Despite a few weaknesses in the plot, it remains a story that grips you from the first sentence only to let you off tl1e hook at the very end. The war isn ' t so distant after all. (# 5 in the Wesley Farrell series.)
Nicole Leclerc
THE RIGHTEOUS CUT
Robert Skinner, Poisoned Pen Press , 2002, $24.95 , hb , 259pp, ISBN 1-59058-029-X
In 194 l New Orleans , when the young daughter of corrupt white councilman Whitman Richards is kidnapped , Whitman refuses to allow the police to become involved in the case, and bas the political muscle to back it up. His wife turns to the one man she thinks can help her , old flame Wesley Farrell. Farrell quickly discovers that this isn't a simple kidnapping, but a war between Richards and his old partner in crime, Pete Carson, who Richards once framed for murder. But there is a darker connection between the two men as well..
Though the main character is supposed to be a "Creole" passing for white , it's hard to keep track of the fact during the book, and there doesn ' t seem to be much awareness of the " color bar" among any of the characters. Though there is a lot of good period description, period attitude is spotty and a few historical glitches mar the book. Particularly puzzling: though the book ends on December 7th, 1941, for some reason the news of the bombing of Pearl Harbor apparently doesn't reach New Orleans until 5:30 pm that day. (# 3 in the Wesley Farrell series.)
Rosemary Edghill
WHEN EVE WAS NAKED
Josef Skvorecky, Farrar, Straus & Giroux , 2002, $25 (£14.25), hb, 352pp , ISBN 0-37414975-5
The subtitle of this work , Stories of a Life ' s Journey, describes the contents perfectly. Translated from Czech, this collection of short stories-some only a few pages, others 20-40 pages long-serves as the author ' s memoirs As he says in his introduction: "There is perhaps no character or event without a basis in what I actually knew and saw in real life." With this aim in mind, the stories progress through the 20C. We see Prague before the Nazi occupation , people irreparably affected by WWII, life controlled by Communism, a college professor in Toronto grappling to understand students who have never experienced repression or fear.
Readers who shy away from short stories should not dismiss this book as something not
for them. Although each story stands alone, the recurrence of many characters , including Danny Smiricky-narrator of most stories and Skvorecky's fictional alter ego-fosters the feeling that this is a novel of loosely held together vignettes. In these vignettes , the author displays tremendous insight into the human condition. Laws of the Jungle , where Danny attempts to come to terms with unrequited love , is an especially powerful story. If you ' re still not convinced , then consider reading this book as a 20th century history of the Czech people, for it is an enviable example of how time and place, used properly , can enhance both characters and plot.
Claire Morris Bernard
NIGHT MUSIC
Harrison Gradwell Slater, Harcourt , 2002 , $26 (£15 09) , hb, 559pp , ISBN 015100580X Night Musi c opens with the narrator preparing for surgery to remove a knife sticking deep into his chest, then works backwards to show how it got there. Scholars, collectors , and performers of Mo zart are all suspects in a tale of murder and mayhem. The only historical connection comes from snatches of a Mozart diary and stopovers at many of the places visited by the composer. Slater had previously written In Mo z art 's Footsteps , a travel book about places with Mozart connections.
Coincidentally , Matthew Pierce , the narrator and hero of this mystery, has also written such a book. Like many first-person narrators, he is relentlessly pursued by women, all of whom are stunningly beautiful , from talented divas to a barely resistible nymphet. After discovering the Mozart journal, Pierce is invited to a traveling party given by a foundation. Here he meets characters too numerous to mention and too blurred to distinguish.
The scene shifts from Milan to Nancy , to Venice , to Salzburg to Munich to London to Genoa , to Prague to the monastery Lesni Klaster and back to Nancy. These settings should be the strength of the book, but little is done to portray the scenes either in the 18th century or now. What does come through is the author's love for music, especially specific pieces like Mozart's Symphony Number I However, by the time it is revealed who stabbed Pierce, even the most patient reader may wish the assailant had struck earlier and harder.
James Hawking
DECEMBER6
(UK title: TOKYO ST A TION)
Martin Cruz Smith, Simon & Schuster, 2002, $26 /C$41.00, hb, 339pp , ISBN 0684872536 Published in the UK by Pan, 2002, £16 .99, hb, 336pp, ISBN 140500116X Few novelists possess Martin Cruz Smith's talents in transporting a reader to a different era
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and actually making them believe they too arc living in that time frame every time they open the book, Smith's research for December 6 is every bit as thorough and imaginative as that of his Gorl...y Park and Polar Star. Harry Niles is an American raised in the militaristic and racist Japan of the 1930s. A nightclub owner and seemingly amoral loner, Niles finds himself caught between Japanese police and naval intelligence, a homicidal army officer seeking revenge, and the two women in his life. Intent upon escaping Japan before she launches her surprise attacks on Western Pacific bases, Niles attempts to infonn Westerners of the impending Pearl Harbor strike while simultaneously helping others escape Japan before the shooting starts. The description of Tokyo daily life and the author's quite impressive understanding of Japanese thinking are nicely played out against a tale of intrigue and passion.
John R. Vallely
DOCTOR GLAS
Hjalmar Soderberg, (trans. Paul Britten Austin), Harvill 2002, £ I 0.00, hb, l 60pp, ISBN I 843430996. First published in English translation by Harvill 1963, pub in US by Anchor Books, $12.00, pb, ISBN 0385722672
Doctor Tyko Gabriel Glas is a thirtyish, lonely bachelor in the early years of the twentieth century. Full of romantic notions of becoming a hero and rescuing a modem day damsel in distress, he only seems to be able to love women who are in love with other men. Because the women are already in love they cannot see the doctor but look through him as if he were made of glass.
During one of his consultations he decides to help Helga Gregorius, the beautiful wife of the local pastor. Reverend Gregorius is old, morally deficient and self-righteous; Helga has begun to abhor him. She has taken a lover and wishes to be spared her husband's physical demands.
Dr Glas intervenes and for a while manages to convince the loathsome pastor to leave his wife alone: but only for a short while. Eventually, Dr Glas must decide whether to tum his back on Mrs Gregorius or to cross the line; take drastic action and become her saviour.
When Doctor Glas was first published in Sweden in 1905 it provoked a stonn of protest about its liberal attitudes towards sex and death. Its supposed advocation of abortion and euthanasia were difficult to accept. Today it stands out as a classic novel which is both frank and surprisingly modem in its approach to its central themes.
The novel is often deeply disturbing. It has a dreamlike quality, yet, at the same time its language is fresh and vivid. Whether it qualifies as 'historical' is neither here nor there. It is an acclaimed masterpiece and deservedly so.
Sara Wilson
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APPOINTMENT AT THE PALACE
Mary Jane Staples, Corgi 2002, £5.99, pb, 382pp, ISBN 055214908X
The year 1950 heralds some changes for the Adams family. For a start Chinese Lady - the formidable matriarch of her rapidly expanding family - is set to become a real Lady when her second husband, Mr Finch is knighted at Buckingham Palace. Paul Adams is working for the Young Socialists and trying to keep his step-grandfather's impending knighthood a secret from his colleagues, especially the fiery tempered Lucy; a woman of grand passions and Paul is keen to cultivate their friendship.
Appointment at the Palace is the latest in a long line of novels concerned with the trials and tribulations of the Adams family. There are so many characters that any reader coming to the series for the first time is bound to be confused. Almost without exception the vast cast is overwhelmingly chipper and upbeat - the epitomy of the 'cheeky cockney'. The effect is curiously like a soap opera in book form and the brevity of each scene enhances the televisual quality.
Sara Wilson
DOWN TO A SOUNDLESS SEA
Thomas Steinbeck, Ballantine, 2002, $24.95 /C$37.95 (£14.23), 304 pp, hb, ISBN 0345-45576-2
Except for the first story, set in the midnineteenth century, the rest of the stories' settings are in the early twentieth century, and all take place along California's rugged Monterey coast. What they also share is a sort of fabulous quality. For example, in one story, a mysterious light guides a young boy to the rescue of his Indian mother during a horrific storm. In another, a young dreamer, who is working the summer as a cowboy, wastes all his time and ruins his reputation pursuing proof of the extinct "Big Sur Bear" he claims to have encountered. In another shorter story, a frustrated anthropology professor searches for fame in the discovery of important Native America campsites, only to be humiliated by his own blind ambition. The final story, which is more of a novella, tells of a Chinese immigrant's long struggle for happiness and how he finds it in a strange, ironic way.
As Steinbeck notes, the oral traditions of the Monterey coast are the origins of these wellwritten stories, and that quality permeates them. They are entertaining, and, yet, tell us more of the character and experience of the people who lived there than any history book could.
Passing Glo,y covers the life and times of the Britton family, Clydeside shipyard owners, from 1901 to 1953. It's a big book, one of those that you enjoy chapter by chapter each night as a satisfying bedtime read, but too much to devour in one session.
There's a large cast of characters covering all aspects of the shipyard: family politics, government politics, union politics and good old people politics, are recorded in enjoyable detail. The rise of aviation and the inevitable fall of shipping are brought in through the Britton black sheep, who develops his own aviation company. And the book details much of the changes in domestic life which interest so many readers.
For those who enjoy a good story as well as good history. the characters are a mixed bag of villains, heroes, heroines and fools and we care about what happens to them.
Patrika Salmon
THE STORY OF LUCY GAULT
William Trevor, Viking 2002, £16.99, hb, 228pp, ISBN 067091342, pub in US by Viking Press, $24.95, hb, ISBN 0670031542. It is County Cork in the 1920s. When Captain Gault, in thwarting an attempt to fire his house, accidentally wounds one of the intruders with a warning shot the life of the Gault family is irrevocably changed.
Lucy Gault is eight years old when her parents decide to leave Ireland and what they perceive to be potential trouble brewing. Other Protestant families have already boarded up their large houses and left. Lucy cannot bear the thought of leaving the only world she has ever known. The old house, the walks on the seashore the stray dog she befriends, the family retainers, Bridget and Henry. On the eve of departure Lucy disappears.
What follows can only be described as a tragic tale of misunderstanding, unfulfilled dreams and regret. Beautifully written, eschewing any trace of sentimentality it involves the reader in a hope against hope scenario which never lets up.
The Story of Lucy Gault, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2002, is my book of the year.
Ann Oughton
THE TRAITOR
Guy Walters, Headline, 2002, £6.99, pb, 627pp, ISBN 0755300564
This brilliantly plotted novel is well researched, and impossible to put down. Set principally in Germany during World War II, it centres around John Lockhart, a British SOE agent. Captured in Crete by the Nazis, Lockhart agrees to work with the Reich if it will ensure that his
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wife, interred in a concentration camp, will remain alive. But can Lockhart become a traitor? Can be subscribe to the fascism that underpins the incipient British SS unit known as the British Free Corps? Grasping opportunities as they come his way, he manoeuvres himself into a position where he could outwit the Nazis and save millions of lives but also sacrifice those he loves. His daughter Amy spends much of her life attempting to discover which choice he made. In this startling arena, the characters develop with their choices and circumstances. Not only Lockhart changes from privileged archaeologist to often ruthless spy to loyal husband; the secondary characters are equally complex. I particularly liked Strasser, the SS officer Lockhart must work with, and Leni, the Berlin law student coerced into prostitution to save her Jewish father.
Guy Walters states on his Web site that he wanted to write a thriller about the British Free Corps because few people seemed to have heard of the unit. As one of these people, I am glad he did. The result is World War II from a fresh perspective.
Claire Morris Bernard
CLARA CALLAN
Richard B Wright, Flamingo, 2002, £16.99, hb , £7.99, pb, ISBN 000714488, pub in US by HarperCollins, $25.95, hb, ISBN 0060506067 Set in 1930s Canada and the USA, this is the story of two sisters. After the death of their parents , Clara and Nora have to decide how they will live their lives. Nora, the younger and prettier sister tries her luck as an actress in decadent New York, whilst Clara chooses to stay behind and continue her hum-drum life as a schoolteacher in the backwoods town of her birth.
If you think you can see where the story is leading , then think again. Something truly awful happens, not to Nora, but to steady, dependable Clara and it is light-hearted Nora who shows her practical side.
The atmosphere of nineteen thirties North America from unemployment to the impact of mass media is brilliantly conveyed, especially the small-mindedness of small-town life and the surface glamour of New York. Both sisters, but especially Clara, with her strange combination of recklessness and innocence, are so well portrayed that I forgot the author was male, so real they seemed.
Written in a beautifully stylish and low-key but non-judgemental way, this novel quietly settled under my skin. I hope that more of this writer's novels will become available in the UK.
Sally Zigmond
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MULTI-PERIOD
THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF EGYPTIAN WHODUNNITS
Mike Ashley (ed.), Robinson 2002, £6.99, pb , 512pp,ISBN 1841195057
Containing nineteen short stories set in Egypt from 4000BC to the time of WWII this book begins with Deirdre Counihan's, Set in Stone and features the Lord Imhotep , vizier to the third dynasty King Djoser. It concludes with a story by Michael Pearce about the Mamur Zapt which takes place during the years leading up to WWI.
The stories are arranged chronologically; the authors include, Marilyn Todd, Gillian Linscott, Paul Doherty , Elizabeth Peters and Lynda S. Robinson. Most of whom are well known for their historical whodunits set in Egypt. For the fans of this particular genre the book is an enjoyable feast.
Two of the best are Doherty 's, Or You Can Drink the Wine and Gillian Linscott's Heart Scarab. Both Mike Ashley's foreword and Elizabeth Peters' introduction are essential reading for those who know little about Egypt; ancient or modern.
Mary Tucker.
THIEF OF SOULS
Ann Benson, Delacorte, 2002, $23.95/C$35.95, hb, 496 pp, ISBN 0-385-33502-4
Benson has made a name for herself juxtaposing the medieval and the modern (Plague Tales, for instance) and here, again, she proves that the differences between those two eras are few and far between and that the similarities bind us.
Parallel stories - one set in Nantes, France in 1440 and the other in Los Angeles in 2002capture our imaginations, grip our insides and raise our hackles. Abroad in each era is a serial killer of the worst type, one who preys on young boys, a sexual predator who abducts them from their homes and families and lures them to their deaths. While the man who we have come to know as Bluebeard (really Gilles de Rais , one of the great heroes who fought with Joan of Arc) lures children to his castles with promises of food and shoes and clothing that their families cannot afford, the "B luebeard " of Los Angeles, another wellknown and well-respected man, lures their modern counterparts into cars by pretending to be a close family friend, an ally, a protector. Each of the stories has its heroine , and both are powerful, determined and devoted women. In medieval France, it is Guillemette de Drappiere, companion to the Bishop of Nantes and Gilles's "milk mother." In modern Los Angeles, it is Lany Dunbar, single mother of three and a cop. Her instincts, her perseverance and her desire to protect children clarify her
vision and permit her to make the quantum leap necessary to trap the ki Iler.
This book, told in alternating chapters, moves quickly and ensnares you right away. The way Benson juxtaposes the stories and develops the two plots and sets of characters is ingeniou s. With this type of subject matter, I frankly didn't expect to become as engrossed as I did, but this is, as far as I'm concerned, a must read. Be aware, though, that it is not for the faint of heart.
Ilysa Magnus
POSSESSION: A Romance
A.S. Byatt, Modern Library, 2001, $17.95, hb, 605pp, ISBN 0-679-64238-2
Reissued to accompany the film starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart, Possession is a must-read for those who missed it the first time around, and a must re-read for everyone else. Underemployed English Ph.D. graduate Roland Michell chances upon several drafts of what looks like a love letter, at least given its writer, the Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash, to a little-known poetess, Christabel LaMotte. With a brilliant mix of academia, mystery, and history, Byatt draws readers in to her many layered-tale.
Byatt's descriptions of Victorian life are dead on. The narrative moves far and fast as Roland and Maud try to discover the truth behind Ash's and LaMotte's epistolary relationship without arousing the interest, or the ire, of their presentday colleagues and competitors. Soon, however, the only boundaries being respected are those between Maud and Roland, while moneyed collector Mortimer Cropper, strident feminist scholar Leonora Sterne, and the dusty scholars in the aptly-named "Ash factory" vie for the document s and the truth of the matter. The connections between the contemporary researchers and the actions of the subjects of the research are realistic and never suffer from an overdose of coincidence. Byatt's world is a tour de force of narrative, poetry, history, and academic cntlc1sm. This edition has an introduction by Byatt, which provides her perspective on the tale and its evolution from the germ of an idea to completed novel. Helene Williams
CITIES OF GOLD
William K. Hartmann, Forge, 2002, $25.95US/C$35.95 (£14.80), hb, 54lpp, ISBN 0-765-30112-1
Set both in 1989 and 1549, but almost entirely in the American Southwest, this tells the story, supported by extracts of actual primary-source documents, of the real-life Fra Marcos de Niza, who journeyed north from Mexico into what is now Arizona in search of the "Seven Cities of Cibola." Though de Niza has long been considered by historians to have been a li ar and
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fraud, through the mouthpiece of his protagonist, Kevin Scott, a city planner working for a ruthless real-estate speculator, Hartmann presents a compelling alternate theory: that de Niza, like the idealistic and overly-ingenuous Scott, was merely the impotent victim of the appetites and agendas of others, and the reports he made of what he found on his journey north from Mexico were completely true.
While Scott's naivete about how real estate development and Arizona politics work may be a bit much for the reader to swallow at times, the story of how he is recruited to work in Rooney's organization, falls in love with Phaedra, Rooney's secretary, is set to work researching de Niza , and slowly becomes obsessed by the historical record, is interesting enough to frame the more-engrossing story of de Niza's quest for Cibola and provide a counterpoint to it.
Rosemary Edghill
ILLUMINATIONS
Gillian Polack, Trivium Publishing, 2002, $14.95, 296pp, pb, ISBN 0972209107 Rose is an Australian scholar, conducting research in present-day Paris , who discovers the Chantilly manuscript, the adventures of two magically-inclined young women from the Middle Ages who are trying to save the world from evil. Rose becomes obsessed with translating the manuscript and regularly sends pages of the footnoted translation to her mother. The accompanying letters detail Rose's emotional status as she deals with her love life, siblings , and a family crisis from afar. These letters alternate with portions of the manuscript.
Dr. Gillian Polack's medieval expertise is evident as aspects of Arthurian legend are worked into Ailinn and Guenloie's story. Unfortunately, the translation portion of the novel suffers from poor writing that seems to be a convention used to convey the feeling of a medieval text. The simple sentence structure, lack of dialog, and an overuse of passive verb tenses are combined with inconsistent and flat characters For example, when Guenloie loses her cherished harp used for spells of protection, she inexplicably shrugs it off as inconsequential. The footnotes sprinkled throughout the text also hinder the suspension of disbelief that is crucial for pleasure reading. Rose ' s quirky letters , however, prove entertaining.
This book is more suited for fantasy fans than Arthurian romance devotees , and all should be warned that the uneven writing style may become intrusive Suzanne Sprague
THE BL OOD REMEMBE RS
Terry Stanfill, Elton-Wolf, 2001 , $24.95 (£15.80) , hb, 358 pp , ISBN 1-58619-033-4
Rose Orlando-Kirkland, a jewelry designer from California, is haunted by the voice of a twelfth century woman. For reasons Rose can't comprehend , she is propelled toward Oxford, then Vieste, Italy where her father was born, then to Nonnandy. In stages, Rose comes to identify this disembodied voice in her head as that of Rosamonde , a mistress of King William of Sicily.
The journey on which Rose embarks is not only one of distance but of time and space, spanning more than eight centuries. Intent on following the path set out for her by her Hauteville /Altavilla ancestors, Rose delves deeply into the Nonnan-Sici lian connection of which she is a product. None of the secondary characters are extraneous; indeed, each of them seems to shed more light on Rose's quest.
Emperor Frederick II, his magus, Michael Scot, and Frederick's mother, Constance, are just some ·of the h istorical personages who fill the pages of this somet imes strange, often engaging first novel. If one overlooks Stanfill's apparent need to fill Rose's life with extramarital romances while she searches for her roots, the story is really quite interesting. Ilysa Magnus
ST O NES OF JE R USALEM
Bodie and Brock Thoene , Viking , 2002, $24.95 / C$35.99 (£14.23) , hb , 263pp , ISBN 0670-03051-l
This fifth episode in the Zion Legacy series continues the popular story of faith, preserving and hope. Those who enjoyed previous volumes will definitely find this story of interest. Readers are carried back in time from the war in Jerusalem in 1948 to the first century A.D. Moshe Sachar, hidden in a secret tunnel , becomes engrossed in reading ancient scrolls. He follows the love story of Marcus Longinus and Miryam.
Much of the impact of war is told through the lives of children such as Ave!, who loses everything--including his best friend. Those who have observed a child deal with death will find inspiration in Avel's strength in moving on after losing his family, searching for food, and surviving frequent flights from danger. The writer has mixed people from the Bible with fictional characters and happenings to create both conversation and narrative. Sometimes this story is a little difficult to follow. Matters of war--destruction, poverty, death and cruelty-are often presented in senseless acts of violence
Jetta Culpepper
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
THE ST ONE CAR VE R S
Jane Urquhart, Bloomsbury 2002, £6 99, pb, 390pp, ISBN 0747557802, pub in US by Viking Press, $25.95, hb, ISBN 0670030449 Jane Urquhart ' s books have won prizes and been shortlisted in prest igious competitions. The prose, spare and elegant, is what one might expect from a poet.
The strands of various timescales are woven into the fabric as the story unfo lds. These strands encompass a Bavarian priest sent in 1867 to minister to a small German community in Canada, the settler who carves wooden statues for the priest's visionary church and his grandchildren who, with a friend, begin to carve in stone and help with the great memorial in France to the fallen Canadians of the Great War.
An outwardly simple plot, concentrating on the surface with deep ly fe lt and often inarticulate emotions. There is deep passion for people and carving, the pain of loss and gradual recovery.
Marina Oliver
T HE B LOOD DO CT OR
Barbara Vine, Viking 2002, £16.99, hb , 389pp, ISBN 0670912743 , pub in US by Crown Pub , $25.00 , hb, ISBN 1400045045 Lord Henry Nanther gained his peerage after becoming a favourite physician to Queen Victoria. He specia lised in disorders of the blood , espec ially haemophilia. On his death he left a huge body of written work, hoping that someone would write his biography.
The present holder of the title, Martin Nanther, sets out to write such a book but the more he researches his great grandfather's life the more of a puzzle it becomes. Something happened in the past; something so awful that the blood doctor has tried to expunge it from the records.
The Blood Doctor is set in context against the reform of the modem House of Lords and also against Martin and Judith's attempts to have a baby: attempts thwarted by a genetic inheritance.
Blood is the theme of this novel which, although set in the present, deals with the subject of historical research , genealogy and past occurrences giving some justification for viewing it as historical fiction.
It is an intriguing novel written with all the assurance and pace of a best-selling writer, although the solution to the central mystery surrounding Henry seems obvious from the earliest chapters. When Ruth Rendell writes as Barbara Vine the reader expects complex characterisations and psychological disturbances ; once again they will not be disappointed.
This time-slip novel takes Sam Fowler from a modem Amtrak train to a locomotive traveling across 1869 America with little explanation beyond the possession of an old watch. After we accept this event, we wind up in a wor ld populated by Mark Twain, Fenian rebels fomenting violence in the United States, a beautiful heroine , gamb lers and gold miners. The center of the book is baseball, more exactly America's first professional baseball team, the Cin cinnati Red Stockings of I 869.
The Red Stockings were managed by Harry Wright, a professional cricketeer who transferred his skills to baseball. Wellresearched tidbits about the early rules and customs help bring ear ly baseball to life, as the professional nine defeats all of the lo cal teams it encounters. Red Stockings 45, Eckfords 18 was a typical score, but there are as many resemblances to modem baseball as there are differences. Our hero joins the Red Stockings as a substitute and makes such contributions as the invention of the bunt and the development of the practice of sell in g frankfurters and hamburgers at a profit.
Fowler finds the beginning of love with a teammate's sister, but hi s pursuit of hidden go ld with the cooperation of his new friend Twain causes a misunderstanding with the lass. A violent subplot tends to crowd the story, which becomes less effect ive as it moves away from the baseball diamond.
Few modem fans would recognize the names of the game's founders, like George Wright, the game's first star. This book entertains because it captures the spirit of the early days of the American national pastime and the inevitable path to professionalism.
James Hawking
TWO IN THE FIELD
Darryl Brock, Plume, 2002, $ I 4 (£7 .98), pb, 382pp, ISBN 0452283566
This sequel to If I Never Get Back (see review above) returns Sam Fowler to the I 9th Century after a brief visit home to check the obituaries and other records of his Cincinnati Red Stocking teammates. Once again, he 1s transported across time, thus given an opportunity to renew his love affair with Caitlin Leonard, the Fenian grass widow. This sample of I 9th century life includes gold fever, adventurous balloonists, and the soon-to-bekilled General Custer. Twain appears again, and the author gives him the inspiration for A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The strength of the earlier book was its recounting of 19th century baseball, which still
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
makes up the best part of the sequel. An emerging professional league is supplanting the system of barnstorming professionals playing local talent. The portrayal of Caitlin's son gives the author a chance to portray baseball as it is most meant be seen, through the eyes of a boy. If you enjoyed the first book, you will want to read this , but I would advise against starting with the sequel. Both this book and the reissue of If I Never Get Back come in attractive matching paperbacks.
James Hawking
ALTERNATIVE IIlSTORY
WORLDS THAT WEREN'T
Harry Turtledove, S.M. Stirling, Mary Gentle, Walter Jon Williams, Roe, 2002, $2 I.95 /C$3 l.99 (£ I 2.52), hb, 295pp, ISBN 0451-45886-9
These four alternate-history novellas make an appetite-whetting introduction for the neophyte. In Turtledove's The Daimon, Socrates looks on in dismay as a great Greek general flouts politically-motivated criminal charges against him and parlays victory in one battle - a battle which, in "real" history, was lost - into a position of unmatched power in Athens. Once on this pedestal, however, Alkibiades resorts to the same murderous tactics used by his old foes.
Gentle's fifteenth-century heroine in The logistics of Carthage followed her son to war, discovered that she preferred a soldier's life to a prostitute's, and joined a company of European mercenaries. Now, her company finds itself stranded on the coast of North Africa with a corpse they cannot bury because of a religious dispute. During a tense and bloody standoff, Yolande has what she believes are visions, but which are actually glimpses of the future 500 years hence.
Williams's The last Ride of German Freddie finds German philosopher Frederich Nietzsche walking the dusty streets of Tombstone , Arizona and trying his hand at some trigger-assisted social engineering at the OK Corral. But is it really social engineering, or merely the vengefulness of a man thwarted in love?
With Shikhari in Galveston, Stirling brings us the most inventive and fully-realized of these four universes: a radically different present-day Earth that, in the nineteenth century, saw her population slashed and much of her land rendered scarcely habitable by a catastrophic heavenly bombardment. The British Empire still reigns - albeit not supremely - over much of what remains. A British officer and his Indian servant travel to the wilds of southern Texas for a hunting expedition, and, rather than hunting for trophies, find themselves fighting for their lives against an adversary unlike any they ever imagined.
Those new to alternate history or not well versed in the real history behind the fiction will benefit from first reading the afterword accompanying each novella.
Kelly Cannon
HISTORICAL FANTASY
THE DRAGO QUEEN
Alice Borchardt, Bantam 2002, £ I 0.99, pb, ISBN 0593050622, pub in US by Del Ray, $25.00, hb, ISBN 0345443993
Britain during the Dark Ages after the departure of the Romans is a place of warfare, feud and fear. Into this world a girl is born; the result of a union between her royal mother and a magical deity. Her childhood tutors, a shape changer and a druid, teach her to use and control her formidable magical skills until she is ready to assume her destiny.
She is Guinevere, one filled with light, who will one day be great: the Dragon Queen. As such she must marry and her choice of husband is clear from the start. Her husband will be Arthur whom Merlin , her implacable enemy, has trapped in the dark and dangerous underworld where escape is almost impossible Guinevere must face the sorcerer alone summoning all her magical powers and calling upon the ancient spirits if she is to survive and emerge triumphant.
Alice Borchardt is the sister of Anne Rice and obviously shares her passion for seamlessly blending historical fact with mystical fantasy. The Dragon Queen is a fabulous and fantastical rendering of the familiar legend of Arthur and Guinevere. As well as some spellbinding scenes of magical confrontations and pagan rites there is also a keen sense of history that gives the story a finn grounding in reality.
This is a rich tapestry of a novel and since it is only the first in a proposed trilogy thankfully, there is more for the reader to look forward to in the near future
Sara Wilson
KNIGHT FANTASTIC
Martin H Greenberg & John Heifers, eds, DAW, 2002, $6.99 (£4.43), pb , 3 l 7pp, ISBN 07564-0052-X
In most theme antho logies there are high spots and low spots, with most stories falling somewhere in between, but on the whole this collection of 15 original stories is a strong one. There is something for everyone here - from tales of squires and unblooded knights (including a fine story by Mickey Zucker Reichert that follows a young knight-to-he's struggle with integrity and honor) to the end of the road and the li fe's-end accounting that all people must make with themselves. Settings range from the fantastical to the historicalthere are tales of Knights Templar and
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
Arthurian legends, including a delightful comedic tale by Tanya Huff that explains just how the fall of Camelot came about. Fiona Patton weighs in with a dark and brooding tale about the price of duty and loyalty, while Nina Kiriki Hoffman tells the story of an unusual squire. The collection ends with a beautiful and moving tale by Michelle West that explores the responsibilities of power. Each of the stories speaks of choice, often the struggle between desire and duty that those sworn to another must so often face. Recommended. Tracey Calli on
ALL NIGHT A WAKE
Sarah A. Hoyt, Ace, 2002, $21.95 / C$31.99 (£ 13.09), hb, 306pp, ISBN 0441009735
All Night Awake is a sequel to Ill Met by Moonlight, which described young Will Shakespeare's first encounter with Faerie. He hadn't yet done any writing, was in fact a schoolteacher, so this second book in the series gets him to London, even more involved with the elves and towards the end finally sees him picking up his pen. One foresees more to follow. The research behind these books can be seen in author's notes, where it is explained what theories of Shakespearean scholarship she is utilizing, or not, and she freely admits shaping her story just as she likes it. Following the success of Shakespeare in Love, apparent ly pop-Shakespeare is in vogue. Tapping into the vast mystique of the Bard is risky if you offend the fans, but if the consensus is approval, the sheer numbers will be with you. This is not meant to be high literature, but it is supposed to be entertaining. My confession outright, I liked it not. The gimmicky action and melodramatic fantasy just did not add up for me. Each chapter begins with an italicized stage setting: "The fairy palace. Queen Ariel sleeps on her high, gilded bed." Quotations derived from authentic Shakespeare are all uttered by players other than hapless Will. "What light beyond yonder window breaks" is said to himself by Christopher Marlowe, right after his body is possessed by the evil exiled Elf King. As many Shakespearean tidbits as possible are injected into the narrative. Jf this is your kind of fun, enjoy.
Mary K. Bird-Guilliams
HAREM
Dora Levy Mossanen, Scribner, 2002, $14/ C$21.50 (£7.98), pb, 378pp, ISBN 0-74323021-3
In a timeless Persia that never was, the beautiful Jewess Rebekah is married to a man whose cruelty shapes not only her life, but those of her daughter and granddaughter. Death frees Rebekah from her violent marriage, but the only way she can support her daughter Gold Dust is as a whore. Using every resource at her
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
command, the c lever, manipulative Rebekah manages to place Gold Dust in the Sultan's harem. Gold Dust becomes the Sultan's favorite, but never forgets her true love, the acrobat Soleiman. While it's a wonderfu l story, Harem is not really a historical novel, but a semi-fantasy. Flora, fauna, and facts from many times and places mingle in a kaleidoscope of Arabian Nights imagery. For example, Nakhshe-Del is mentioned as having ruled the Turkish Empire from the harem in the past. Nakhshe-Del died in 1817 - yet later, Persia is invaded by Teymour the Lame, who died in 1405.
Sumptuous and engrossing, Harem is a voluptuous reading experience: the literary equivalent of lolling upon ve lvet cushions and nibbling upon expensive chocolates. Just don't mistake it for other than the elegant fable that it is.
India Edghill
TIME FOR ALEXANDER
Jennifer Macaire, Jacobyte Books, 2002, pb, 291pp, ISBN 1741000947 - buy online from
Finding how to categorise this novel was my first problem. Let me run this past you. Ashley is a journalist from the 3 1st century. Time-travel is possible but is not an easy process. She is lucky enough to get the chance to interview Alexander the Great. However, like Cinderella, she must return after 22 hours or she will never be able to get back to her own time.
Once in Alexander's time, they not on ly meet and are able to communicate, but pretty soon are (how shall I put this?) as close as a man and woman can get. When she reluctantly tries to return to her own time, Alexander 'rescues' her so she is forced to remain where she is.
And so Asley joins Alexander's army as it travels east and conquers Persia and ends up on the shores of the Persian Sea. Not only that, she becomes his wife, is imprisoned for a year, bears a child and also has an affair with Plexis (aka Hephaestion.) However, she is careful not to do anything that will alter history because if she does then she will be vaporised. However she still manages to explain about germs to the medical team tending the wounded after the destruction of Persepolis and enlightens Plexis about hormones and even gets Alexander to sing along to the Beatie ' Let it Be.
It's a brave writer that chooses to follow Mary Renault (or even Manfredi) and although I am not an expert on Alexander's campaigns, I didn't feel that this was a plausible interpretation of historical events. Apart from the fact that the whys and wherefores of timetravel would keep popping up, plus events in Ashley's past life, there were some infelicitous moments of the 'pleased to meet you, my dear.
I'm Aristotle,' variety.
But it was Alexander's character that failed to convince me. I have no doubt that he was charismatic but he seems to emerge from this novel more as a Macedonian movie-star and female erotic fantasy than a human being. evertheless, this was an entertaining gallop through ancient history and if it did anything for me, it made me want to re-read Renault and Plutarch. It was great fun, if not perhaps for the right reasons. If a mixture of science fiction and historical romance appeals to you, then there are six further titles in the series to entertain you.
Sally Zigmond
NON-FICTION
AUGUSTA LEIGH: BYRO 'S HALFSISTER
Michael & Melissa Bakewell, Pimlico, 2002, £14.00, pb, 438pp, ISBN 0712665609 Lord Byron might have been the most attractive man in England and fascinatingly 'mad, bad and dangerous to know', but he must have been hell to live with!
Most biographies end with his death, with just a tailpiece summing up the lives of those with whom he was involved. This immensely entertaining and well-researched biography also includes the dreadfully badly behaved Medora, who might have been Augusta and Byron's child.
It makes for enthralling reading. Annabella, Byron's c lever and unfortunate wife is cast in the role of black-hearted bitch. She was unfortunate in that, having fallen for a classically beautiful Mr Darcy/Rochester type, she did not find him to be the caring chap she thought he was. Byron could not keep his mouth shut and not only treated her appallingly, but talked to all and sundry about his incestuous relationship with his half-sister, Augusta, until he had to flee the country. To say that this soured Annabella's temper is to underestimate the sheer cruelty of what she then did to Augusta.
Augusta was pennanently in debt, had a gambler for a husband who cheated the Prince Regent and fiddled regimental accounts, and seven children, of whom one was mentally backward. Annabella kept the incest story on the boil - and incest was a capital offence at that time - and was infuriated that after Byron's death, Augusta became an object of intense public interest because he had so loved her.. Once opened, impossible to put down. Highly recommended.
This is the bizarre story of the financial frenzy that was initiated by The South Sea Company in I 720. The background and events leading up to the creation of the company, the mad scramble for investment and profits, followed by the ugly aftermath, are covered in a very readable and intelligible prose.
Balen examines the establishment's efforts to evade responsibility when it all went wrong and describes how Robert Walpole masterfully used the aftermath and recriminations to seal his own political ascendancy But just in case we think that we have outgrown such examples of irrational behaviour, the author illustrates the parallels between the events of I 720 and some of the more recent financial crashes relating to the Internet and dotcom share collapses. The book would have benefitted from footnotes for source references.
Doug Kemp
WARFARE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Jeremy Black , Cassell, £9.99, hb , 239pp, ISBN 0304362123
This series of essays gives an overview rather than detailed accounts of campaigns and battles. There are maps and even plans of battlesthough as noted above , the battles are not described in detail - and a chronology. Best of all , perhaps, there is also an extensive bibliography where sources for detailed information on battles, campaigns, weapons, etc. might be found.
An important aspect of the book is its stress on a non-Eurocentric approach. ' The Eurocentric approach ' the author writes ' may appear to be valid when studying I 900, when European states and military methods did indeed dominate most of the world; it is not, however, appropriate for the year 1800 , still less so for 1750 when a large part of the world was outside European control'
All in all this provides a very useful overview and reference book
Neville Firman
FOREIGN MUD
Maurice Collis , New Directions , 2002 , $16.95 /C$24 99 (£9.82), pb, 320pp , ISBN 00811215067
First published in 1946 and long out of print, this account brings an obscure (at least to most Americans) subject engagingly to light. First, the scene is thoroughly set. Early nineteenth century Canton is laid before us: An isolationist, elitist Chinese culture that looks down its collective nose at the British and American traders it tolerates for fiscal reasons; a subtly intricate political milieu that nearly
defies present-day western understanding; the clandestine importation from British India of "foreign mud," or opium, to which huge numbers of Chinese have become addicted
The elegantly written narrative is interspersed with informative maps and rich illustrations from paintings by period artists. Events are recounted with a level of detail and cohesion that conveys a sense of historical integrity. People on both sides of the conflict are depicted with great depth and a thoughtful objectivity.
Kelly Cannon
THE LOST KING OF FRANCE
Revolution, Revenge and the Search for Louis XVII
Deborah Cadbury, Fourth Estate, London, 2002 , £18.99, hb, 286pp, ISBN 1-84115-58888, pub in US by St Martin's Press, hb, $25.95 , ISBN 0312283121
This biography of France ' s missing monarch Louis-Charles XVI 1 is divided into two parts. The first is an historical account of the last days of the Bourbons and of the brief life of LouisCharles.
The second part is devoted to examining the claims of the hundred young 'dauphins ' who stepped forward to demand their inheritance in the post-revolutionary years, and to resolving the mystery that surrounded the death of LouisCharles.
This is a thrilling, wonderful and remarkable biography It is rare to find an accurate historical account of the French Revolution that conveys the passion and drama of the event. Deborah Cadbury uses the contemporary sources such as the narrative account of the royal families' experiences by Marie-Therese Louis-Charles ' sister and Madame de Touzel the family governess. I am not used to reading extensively researched biographies that are so well written and moving that they make you want to cry. The short life of Louis-Charles is tragic , but even more touching is the bravery and devotion of the friends of the royal family.
This isn't just a fascinating biography it is also an astonishing book.
Myfanwy Cook
WHAT IF? 2: Eminent Historians Imagine
What Might Have Been
Robert Cowley, ed. , Berkley , 2002 , $ l 4.95US /C$21.99 (£ 16.51 ) , pb, 425pp, ISBN 0-425-186-13-X
This sequel to What lf? contains twenty-five essays from historians both professional and amateur speculating on what might have happened if key turning points in our history had gone a different way.
While 17 of the 25 essays cover history from 1800 or later, and 8 of them deal with American history, the collection still manages to offer at least one essay of interest to
everyone even though a few of the historians seem to restrict themselves to recapping what is known about the actual situation rather than speculating in detail about what would happen if it were changed.
Rosemary
Edghill
HEAR THAT LONESOME WHISTLE BLOW
Dee Brown, Vintage, 2002 first UK publication 1978 , £7.99, pb, 283pp , ISBN 009944074, pub in US by Owl Books, $15 00 , pb , ISBN 0805068929
Before the building of the American railroad s was completed at the end of the nineteenth century more than 155 million acres of land had been given to the railroad barons , the buffalo driven from the Great Plains and the Indian tribes massacred. When the Eastern railroads reached the Mississippi in 1854 , between them and the Pacific were thousands of miles of unexplored and uncharted territory belonging to the native tribes. So the Great Race began , the riches of India and the Orient the goal , to see which of the companies would reach the ocean first. The corruption of the politicians who granted huge tracts of land to the unscrupulous railroad bosses is told in unrestrained language. It was an immense and dangerous undertaking for the actual builders of the railroads; the immigrant Irish labourers, ex-Yankee soldiers and imported Chinese coolies who were paid so little for tl1e harsh conditions in which they worked.
I have been a great admirer of Dee Brown since reading Bury My H e art At Wound ed Knee His books deal with the history of the American west and show the tragedy of the Native Americans. In Hear Th.at lon es om e Whistle Blow he tells us how the lron Horse despoiled the v1rgm West , and how inadvertently the expansion of the railroads into these new territories led to the Civil War and later the ignominy of General Custer at the Little Bighorn.
This is a splendid book, well balanced , absolutely riveting.
Gwen Sly
GOING TO THEW ARS
Charles Carlton, Routledge , 1993 , £18.99, hb , 440pp , ISBN 0415103916 , pub in US by Routledge, $33 .95 , hb , ISBN 0415103916 Field Marshall Wavell wrote 'It is the actualities of war, the effects of tiredness , hunger, fear , lack of sleep , weather, that make war so complicated and so difficult, and are usually so neglected by historians. ' Carlton set out to redress that neglect , with great success. No easy task for , as he says , men faced with the extraordinary often try to hide behind uninformative banalities.
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ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
The author has tackled a fonnidable number of primary sources , teasing out the personal from the banal and covering every level of society Yet he is thoroughly readable , ascribing his quotations without interrupting the now of his narrative , drawing parallels with other wars in other times and places, and elucid ating the preconceptions which prompt men to go to war and the emotions which accompany its execution.
With so much material to organise, occasional if regrettable errors may be forgiven. The book as a whole is a convincing eye-opener.
Alexine Crawford
CICERO
Anthony Everitt, Random House , 2001 , $25.95 / C$39.95 , hb , 359pp , ISBN 0-37550 746-9
Pub. in the UK by John Murray , 2002, £9.99 , pb , 357pp , ISBN 0719554934
Marcus Tullius Cicero was born in I 06 BCE to a well-connected provincial family. Throughout his early years, he immersed himself in reading and studies. With his keen intellect and sharp wit, he entered civic life and quickly became Rome's most outstanding lawyer; also, his s hrewd political skills made him one of Rome ' s major power brokers.
In this lively, compelling biography, Anthony Everitt creates a vivid portrait. Cicero comes alive in the context of the society and culture of his times. Everitt shows how Cicero, the public man, navigated the hazardous and frequently fatal waters that constituted Roman society (he sets the tone for the times by opening the book with a detailed narrative of the assassination of Julius Caesar). Everitt also shows Cicero ' s personal side. He was, like many Romans , a dedicated family man as both a loyal husband and loving father. Still , Everitt does not shy away from his dark side; he could be pompous , mean , and vengeful in both public and private life. Overall , this biography reads like fiction; yet the author adds numerous sources for additional reading. This is an enlightening read for anyone interested in Roman or Western history.
Gerald T. Burke
THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF LITERARY ANECDOTES
Philip Gooden (ed.) Robinson 2002, £7.99, pb, 499pp , ISBN 1841193046
From John Donne and William Shakespeare to P G Wodehouse and Ian Fleming, this book covers hundreds of 'things you did not know' about some of the most famous and infamous literary greats.
There is an index of writers but without page references not as helpful as it should be. Amusing and infonnative this is a book to dip
into , deserving of a place on any reader/ writer's bookshelf Ann Oughton.
A BRAND FROM THE BURNING
Roy Hattersley, Little Brown , 2002, £20 , hb, 451 pp , ISBN 03 16860204 , to be pub in US in May 2003 at $26.00
John Wesley ( 1703-91) founded Methodism. Neither he nor his brother intended to form a new denomination but changes in society, particularly the rapid growth of the industrial working class and their lack of respect for the established Anglican Church , meant that Wesleyan ideas took a firm hold in people's minds. But Wesley was not without weaknesses. He caused havoc among his female followers , always following the same pattern: converting, fondling , suggesting marriage , holding at arms length and abandoning. When he did marry , his wife left him , unwilling to share him with either his evangelism or other besotted, younger women. He also had the ability to twist everything around so that his personal will became God's will - handy , but unpleasant.
The author has tried hard to strike a path of absolute fairness between Wesley ' s achievements against his odd personality. I read the book with interest - it is clearly written and undoubtedly faultlessly researched - but I no longer respect John Wesley.
Val Whitmarsh
THE MARLBOROUGHS
Christopher Hibbert , Penguin 2002, £8.99 , pb , 407pp , ISBN OI 40284931.
This biography of two remarkable characters is both illuminating and entertaining with a lively style and comprehensive research. The author deals with domestic, political, diplomatic and military matters with equal ease, chronicling both virtues and faults. He treats both John and Sarah with understanding and affection. I would have liked a few maps of the campaigns and individual battles and I rushed to consult my books about Blenheim Palace to remind myself of details.
My only quibble is with the publishers. Straight reduction in size from the hardback edition, instead of resetting, while satisfactory with this text makes the illustrations a much poorer definition. It is , no doubt , an economy measure but so much can be done on computer to enhance pictures and select appropriate fonts that more care might have been taken with these aspects of production.
Marina Oliver
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
ATHENAIS - THE REAL QUEEN OF FRANCE
Lisa Hilton , Little Brown , 2002 , £17.99 , HB , 339pp, ISBN 031685878 I, pub in US at $26.95 , same ISBN Louis XIV had a wife , two mistresses and one morganatic wife. The second mistress , Athenais de Montespan , was an aristocrat, beautiful , clever, cultured and amusing. She was also married , but her husband was a waster and she saw distinct possibilities both for herself and her family , if she could catch , and keep, Louis ' attention. This is a sumptuous biography, charting Athenais' rise to power and how, under her guidance, shy , gauche Louis , recreated himself as the 'Sun King', a living representation of the divine right to rule; with Athenais his counterpart, a symbol of his glory.
When the 'Affair of the Poisons' was uncovered in 1680 she was implicated. Louis covered up her involvement but the scandal changed bis feelings and she lost her position to another woman, but all Athenais ' children by Louis were recognised and their descendents permeated most of the royal families of Europe.
This book tackles the build up and progress of the English Civil War from the point of view of those caught up in it. Using contemporary documents, letters and images , he illuminates forgotten voices and experiences
The book has a whole chapter dedicated to King Charles I and his character, but this is let down by the fact that the King's complex personality is skimmed over too vaguely to get a full and fair understanding of the man behind the crown. It leaves Charles, a linchpin in the story of the English Civil War , as a relatively unknown being to the reader.
A jewel of the book , however, is that Hunt uses rarely seen illustrations, rather than the usual standard ones and he uses them in abundance , which gives life to the writings of our ancestors.
Overall a very useful and highly interesting resource.
Mark Turnbull
VIRGINS OF VENICE, Enclosed Lives and Broken Vows in the Renaissance Convent Mary Laven , Viking 2002 , £20.00, hb , 200pp , ISBN 0670896357, pub in US by Viking , $24.95 , hb , ISBN 0670031836
In Renaissance Venice , no daughter of the nobility could marry beneath her class. Therefore families could ill afford the high cost of the dowry for all their daughters, so the
ISSUE 22 , DECEMBER 2002
surplus were packed off to one of the many convents in the city. Few had any vocation and for many life was one of luxury.
When Napoleon issued the decree 1810 which commanded the suppression of convents and monasteries throughout the Venetian territories it was the end of an era. Thousands of nuns were forced to relinquish the religious life and return to their families. Some conventual buildings were razed and their treasures seized by the state while others were converted into barracks
This is a fascinating account of one facet of a unique city. A first class reference tool.
Ann Oughton
THE HIDDEN LIFE OF OTTO FRANK
Carol Ann Lee, Viking 2002, £17.99, hb , 299pp, ISBN 0670913316, pub in US by William Morrow, $26.95, hb , ISBN 0060520825
Otto Frank was born a month before Hitler , into a wealthy German Jewish banking family. He fought as a German officer in the first World War. His father's early death and his mother's heavy investment in worthless war bonds led to the closure of the bank. In 1933 he moved to Amsterdam to establish a business selling pectin. Dutch society was more integrated with its Jewish community than the rest of Europe and after sending for his family, they lived happily until Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940.
When Otto's eldest daughter, Margot was 'called-up' in 1942 for labour service in Germany the rest of the family went into hiding in the annexe to his office at 263 Prinsengracht. Twenty five months later they were betrayed and sent on one of the last trains to leave for the concentration camps.
The account of the conditions Otto endured in Auschwitz is taken from a previously unknown journal he kept from the day of his liberation until his return to Amsterdam where he eventually learned that his wife and daughters had died in Belsen.
The subsequent discovery of his daughter , Anne's diary and the publishing sensation that followed helped him on the road to recovery although he all too often had to prove its authenticity.
Ms Lee's biography skilfully shows us a man on the periphery of history whose life was both charmed and cursed. She uncovers secrets that have remained hidden for sixty years and leaves us with an enigma. Otto Frank knew the name of his betrayer but refused to reveal it.
Gwen Sly
FATAL PASSAGE
Ken McGoogan, Bantam 2002 , £7.99, pb, ISBN 055381493, pub in US by Carroll & Graf, $25.00, hb, ISBN 0786709936.
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
The man who discovered the final link in the Northwest Passage was the man who determined the fate of the doomed 1845 Franklin expedition to find it: John Rae
He was born in the Orkney Islands , leaving there for Canada in 1883 aged nineteen and already qualified as a surgeon. He spent the following twenty years walking the entire arctic region of Canada. He discovered new territory and defined the edge of the North American mainland
When Rae brought to England the news of the loss of the Franklin expedition nine years after it had set out he was shunned by society for presenting unpleasant facts - that the final survivors had resorted to cannibalism in a fruitless attempt to survive. Victorian England could not believe that members of the British Navy could descend to such levels.
Lady Jane Franklin, the powerful widow of Sir John, set out with the assistance of others, including Charles Dickens , to discredit John Rae thus denying him the recognition he deserved.
This is a riveting story of courage and determination, high adventure and imperial ambition in which the author has redeemed this Arctic explorer to his rightful place in history. There are excellent maps and the line drawings capture the atmosphere of a winter where temperatures can fall to minus 72F and there are snowstorms in June.
Gwen Sly
THE ESCAPE OF CHARLES II
Richard Ollard, Robinson 2002, £7.99, pb, 160pp , ISBN 1841195170.
Charles' escape from England after the battle of Worcester in I 651 has, over the years become the stuff of romance.
Richard Ollard has taken this snapshot of British history and expanded it into a gripping and accessible book. Like all good historians he makes liberal use of first hand contemporary accounts to season his prose with authenticity and the result reads as a detailed and entertaining historical adventure story. Anyone wishing to get a feel for and flavour of life in the mid-seventeenth century should find this book an invaluable addition to his or her library.
Sara Wilson.
THE LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL
Tudor Parfitt, Weidenfeld&Nicolson, 2002, hb, 277pp, ISBN 0297819348
The twelve tribes of Israel are said to have descended from the twelve sons of Jacob who divided Israel between them. After the death of Solomon, ten of the tribes set up an independent northern kingdom whilst those of Judah and Levi established one in the south. In 721 BC the ten northern tribes 'disappeared'.
Since then, claims to be descended from the
lo st tribes have been made on behalf of various ethnic and religious groups - from the Native Americans, the Mormons, the Japanese and even the Anglo-Saxons. But is any of it plausible?
In this clearly argued account, Tudor Parfitt explains how such claims came to be made and more importantly, why. He however is convinced that the original ten tribes were either absorbed into other races or, more likely, massacred - 'ethnica lly cleansed' as we say today. He argues that any claim to belonging to one of the lost tribes is at best wish-fulfilment ands at worst dangerous.
Sally Zigmond
THE FALL OF THE FRENCH MONARCHY
Munro Price, Macmillan 2002, £20.00, hb, 425pp, ISBN 0333901932, pub in US by St Martin's Press, $29.95, hb, ISBN 0312268793 This is a detailed reconstruction of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette's clandestine diplomacy from 1789 until their execution focusing on a hitherto ignored figure, the Baron de Breteuil. Exiled from France the Baron became the royal couple's secret Prime Minister and confidential emissary to the courts of Europe Breteuil's role is crucial to understanding what Louis and Marie Antoinette felt and thought during the Revolution. The author draws on previously unpublished material, much of it still in private hands.
l enjoyed the introduction in which Munro Price tells of his quest for the elusive Baron de Breteuil 's surviving papers, some of which were tracked down to a 12th century Austrian castle. Anyone keen on research would share his excitement.
Diane Johnstone
A COUNTRYWOMAN'S JOURNAL,
'The Illustrated Diary of a Passionate aturaiist' Margaret Shaw, Constable 2002, £12.99, hb, 144pp , ISBN 1841196312
This facsimile edition of the sketchbook and diary of an English countrywoman covering the years 1926-28 gives a unique account of the flora and fauna abundant at that time. The handwritten notes are amusing and informative , the accompanying water colour illustrations are enchanting.
Margaret Shaw travelled widely and her notes and illustrations cover France and Italy as well as England and the Scottish Highlands. Many years after she died in 1970. a friend discovered the sketchbooks, their pages perfectly preserved to give us: 'A fascinating insight into an almost vanished world.'
Ann
Oughton ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
TRAVELS WITH A MEDIEVAL QUEEN
Mary Taylor Simeti , Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2001 , $30/ C$47 , hb , 318pp , ISBN 0-37427878-4
Pub. in the UK by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002 , £20 , hb , 256pp , ISBN 0297607952
The queen of the title , Constance of Hauteville, daughter of Roger II of Sicily , wife of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VJ and the mother of Emperor Frederick II is perhaps best remembered for having given birth to Frederick in 1194 , at age forty, in public at Jesi , Italy. Her reason: after many years of barrenness , she wanted the people to know that Frederick was truly hers - not the product of a surrogate - and , thu s, of royal lineage so that he could take his proper place in Norman Sicily.
This book is a journal of sorts about the journey of Simeti and her friend through the Italy which Constance would have travelled. Since there is not a great deal known about Constance , Simeti extrapolates from extant texts about what route Constance took to Jesi , what she wore, what she ate, how she spent her days awaiting the birth of her child. The pages are peppered with pages from illuminated manuscripts , photographs of twelfth century churches Constance probably visited , cloth she might have worn, goblets from which she might have drunk .
Even though this is a wonderful effort, I found Simeti ' s comparisons to modem Italy jarring Ilysa Magnus
THE LUNAR MEN, The Friends Who Made The Future
Jenny Uglow , Faber & Faber 2002, hb , £25.00, 50lpp, ISBN 0571196470 , pub in US by Farrar Strauss & Giroux , $30.00, hb, ISBN 0374194408
In the Midlands in the 1760s a group of amateur experimenters met and made friends. They were Matthew Bolton, James Watt , Josiah Wedgwood and Erasmus Darwin, (grandfather of Charles). Later , Joseph Priestley, discoverer of oxygen, joined the group. Together they formed the Lunar Society of Binningham: so called because they met at every full moon. Sharing ideas and ideals they built canals, launched balloons , named plants, gases and minerals; they changed the face of England and the china on its drawing room tables.
These giants of the industrial revolution, their minds ever open to new ideas, pooled their knowledge and came up with some of the most exciting discoveries of their time.
Jenny Uglow brings them all vividly to life recounting their loves and passions as well as their quarrels and tragedies. Written in an easy, accessible style this is as exciting a page-turner as any fictional thriller.
Ann Oughton
THE
SURVIVING THE CONFEDERACY
John C. Waugh , Harcourt, 2002 , $28 00 (£16.21), hb , 464pp, ISBN 0151003890
Mr. Waugh states that his mission as a writer is to "revive [history's] echoes, and rekindle the passion of former days. " Surviving the Confedera cy accomplishes this goal.
Civil War Virginia comes alive through the eyes of Roger and Sara Pryor. A non-slave owning couple, they were well known and admired in prominent social circles. While Roger was an ardent fire-eating secessionist, Sara was a compassionate but strong-willed woman. Their story is traced from the spawning of the Civil War through Reconstruction , and finally healing and recovery during their later years in New York. The account is vivid and touching. Highly recommended!
Kim Murphy
DIXIE: A Personal Odyssey Through Events That Shaped the Modern South
Jay Winik, HarperCollins, 2002, $14.95 (£8.53) , pb, 388pp, ISBN 0-06-093088-8
April, 1865 saw the burning of Richmond, Lee's surrender, Lincoln assassinated , Northern chaos, a South economically and socially devastated, failed negotiat10ns, continued bloodshed, and a daring , last-ditch southern strategy for guerrilla warfare. April also saw a movement away from saying "the United States are " to saying instead, "the United States is." That such unification occurred was "almost miraculous ," says Jay Winik, former consultant on foreign affairs and now a senior scholar at the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs. The month proved to be " perhaps the most moving and decisive month not simply of the Civil War , but indeed , quite likely , in the life of the United States."
The best story telling occurs at Ford's Theatre, the night Lincoln is shot. At a breath holding pace Winik takes readers from the poignant mundane Mary Lincoln whispering to her husband, "What will Mrs. Harris think of my hanging on to you so?"-- to abject horror as Booth sets off the fatal shot, a "muffled sound of an otherwise loud noise , like a violent clap of hands, or the crack of wood, or perhaps a firecracker."
Jay Winik not only writes accurate history but also a rollicking good story. Read it. This book just may change the way you see the war's end and America's new beginning.
Meredith Campbell
THE PIRATE HUNTER: The True Story of Captain Kidd
Richard Zacks , Theia Books/Hyperion, 2002 , $25.95 / C$36.95 , hb , 406pp, ISBN 0786865334
Published in the UK by Headline Review, 2003, £17.99, hb , 432pp, ISBN 0755311310
There ' s an exciting sense of discovery as author Richard Zacks peels back the layers of history and shows us 1696 Manhattan. Captain Kidd sails in at the helm of the 32-gun Adventure Galley , short-handed due to a press gang taking his best sailors in London . His effort to line up a crew to hunt pirates fails until he promises tem1s more favorable to the men , less to the backers. The ship is a week out of port when his partner Robert Livingston writes to the Duke of Shrewsbury , that "Captain Kidd was constrained to make new conditions with his men and hath only reserved 40 shares for the ship. " He recommends the ship be seized.
Kidd was an individualist with high standards. He would never dip his colors to the Royal Navy or East India Company. His hubris caused antagonism and rumors.
Zacks detailed style fascinates , but once in a while, he over-explains.. He draws a stark contrast between Kidd and his arch-enemy Culliford. In every game, you either play , or get played.
Marcia K. Matthews
GLADIATRIX: The True Story of History's Unknown Woman Warrior
Amy Zoll, Berkley Boulevard Books, September 2002, $14.00, pb, 26lpp , ISBN 0425186105
Gladiators are very much in vogue at the moment, so it was fortuitous that in the late 1990s the Museum of London published, and publicised their discovery of the possible remains of a female gladiator. Next came a UK TV documentary with which this book is tied
Although a non-fiction work, the book is punctuated with short fictionalised paragraphs of the life of a British Gladiatrix in Roman London. The reference chapters are carefully researched and well-documented. The author covers the role of women in Roman society as well as examining the gladiatorial games. The non-fiction sections often feel like an academic thesis , and the lack of illustrations throughout compounds this.
The fictional sections don't work as they are too episodic. Some of the language used by the characters is trite and far too modem. It would have been better to omit these chapters altogether.
Overall, the impression of this book is that it was hastily put together by the publisher to cash-in on the current fad. However , this book still serves as a useful research tool.
S. Garside-Neville ISSUE 22 , DECEMBER
CHILDREN'S
THE LOST DIARY OF KI G HENRY
VIII'S EXECUTIONER
Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore. Collins. 1997. £3.99. pb.126pp.ISBN 0006945554
April 23rd , 1509 and Watkyn Smith begins his new job as Henry Vlll's executioner. Never having done anything like it before he is , understandably, a little nervous but soon gets into the swing of it and earns the nickname of Chopper. He becomes the confidante of the King and unofficial adviser, suggesting that he might make a little extra money for his French wars if he closes down all the monasteries
This is a fun book for children. Written in bite-size chunks , it is easy to read but still manages to put over the events of the sixteenth century. The humour is exactly right and my grandson eyed it with interest when he saw it on my desk This is one book that won't end up in my bookcase , but in his.
Marilyn Sherlock
THE RIGHT MOMENT
David Belbin , A&C Black , 2000 , £8.99 , hb, 84 pp, ISBN 0-7136-5350-7
This book is one of A&C Black's World War II Flashbacks
In 1940 , twelve-year-old Jean is living in Paris with his mother. His father is a prisoner of war in Germany. As the War progresses Jean's mother thinks he would be better off with his uncle in the south of France It is not just the food shortages. She is frightened that the Germans will force him to work for themparticularly after the passing of the STO law , or Service Travail Obligatoire. So a friend of his uncle's comes to take Jean to his farm outside Villefranche Once there , young as he is, Jean finds he has some hard thinking to do and some difficult decisions to make.
His cousin Philippe supports the Maquis and later goes and joins them . But there are those who say that the Maquis are just bandits and deserters and Jean's uncle tells him that if the Germans are driven out of France it will be due to the Allies and not the Maquis But Philippe tell s Jean , 'You're either for us or against us.'
But is it that simple ? Jean does not want to become a thief. He also knows that the Germans often shoot innocent people as reprisals for sabotage Then there is also the fact that Paul Lurcat , his uncle' s friend , is a black marketeer.
Jean has another cousin , Nina. She goes to work for the Germans in the chateau She becomes friendly with the young German captain and later becomes secretly engaged to him. Jean has to decide when is the right moment to fight the Germans
Against this background of conflicting opinions is a story of action involving a meeting with the Maquis in their hidden camp in the forest and a sabotage raid on the radio room in the chateau.
This book is short and the style and vocabulary makes it easy reading. But the story and ideas should hold the interest of any young person up to the age of twelve. This book should certainly appeal to boys although girls should enjoy it too. This is a book which asks a lot of questions. 8 - 12
Mary Moffat
MILO'S OLYMPICS, A STORY OF ANCIENT GREECE
Richard Brown, Anglia Young Books , 2002, pb, 60 pp , ISBN 1-871173- 76-0
This book is for children aged seven to eleven. It is about I 0,000 words long.
Milo and Demetrius are friends - although their family circumstances are very different. Their fathers are both farmers but Demetrius' father is the wealthy owner of many farms while Milo's father is struggling to make his single farm pay. But Milo is luckier in one respect. His father treats him kindly while Demetrius father is a brutal bully who beats his sons. He is desperate that his son should win the boys' race at the Olympics for the sake of the family honour and he is even prepared to resort to bribery and threats.
He approaches both Milo and his father. He offers Milo's father money but to Milo himself he says something far worse. He makes a vague threat that harm will come to his father if he wins the race. This really worries Milo What is he to do?
This book gives a good impression of Ancient Greece at the time of the Olympic Games. The darker side of Greek life is not shirked. There is the dangerous aspect of the Games where competitors risk serious injury as in the chariot races and the wrestling Then there is the sacrifice to Zeus when the air is thick with the burning flesh of one hundred bulls. The position of women is also made clear. They are treated almost like property. Milo's mother has to stay at home because married women are not allowed to go to the Garnes. Hera , Milo's sister, is told she will soon be married to a man chosen by her parents. This means that she will have to spend most of her time indoors Worst of all is the custom by which a father can reject a new born baby if he thinks it does not look well. But it is girl babies who are usually disposed of in this way. Demetrius lost a sister because of this custom.
Comes with notes on Ancient Greece and the Olympics. A good story which is also informative and thought provoking. 7-11 Mary Moffat
This is the last book in the Childre n of th e Famin e trilogy
At the end of the second book it seems as if the three O'Driscoll children are settled at la s t. They have survived the potato famine and Eily , the eldest, is now married. Michael is workin g as a stable lad and jockey at a big house , and far across the Atlantic Peggy has found a job as a servant girl.
But this improvement in their fortune s proves to be only temporary It is a time of suffering, discontent and violence in rural Ireland. The landlords are increasing the rents of their tenant farmers and , when they cannot pay , they are evicted . Eily and her small holder husband have their rent doubled They struggle to raise the money but cannot find enough If they are evicted what will happen to them and their two small children?
Michael is doing well in his job and then disaster. The house where he works is destroyed completely in an arson attempt. The owner decides that there is now nothing for him in Ireland and takes his family to England. Thi s means that all the servants and estate worker s are now unemployed. The hors es are sold Michael is given a mare and foal instead of the payment which is due to him. But how will he manage to look after them ?
Far away in Boston , the youngest of the family , Peggy also has her problems - although they are not so great as those of her elder brother and sister Peggy is lonely. Her friend and fellow servant girl , has left to be servant to the daughter of the house who has recently married. Then Peggy hears that her best friend is also about to leave With her two brother s s he is going to join a wagon train going west. So Peggy seems to have lost all her friends
But the O'Driscolls are a resilient family and they do not readily give in to misfortune. Surely everything will come right for them in the end
This whole trilogy - which starts with Unde r the Hawthorn e Tr ee - gives a good picture of rural Ireland in the second half of the nineteenth century. The true extent of the problems and suffering is highlighted and brought home to the reader all the more by being shown through the fortunes of one particular family.
This book is set in the Middle Ages Matilda was brought up in a manor where she received her education from the priest. She is used to prayer and study She can read and write Latin , do figuring, and name all the saints. But when
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
ISSUE 22 , DECEMBER 2002
she gets dumped in dirty, dark Blood and Bone Alley with the most ungodly person, Red Peg the Bonesetter, she wonders if it could get any worse. As she learns new skills in this strange medical trade , she starts to find happiness in the most unusual places and comes across many changes , starting with berself1
I liked the way this book bas quite a few twists in it. The book is quite wise, but it is also funny and even touching. It shows bow what people say is not always right or true, and not everyone is who they make out to be. Matilda learns that she shouldn't just look at the appearance of people but who they really are inside, which I think is a very important lesson . This book would be good for children of 11 +. It would be quite good to read at school as well , because it teaches you quite a bit without you even realising. It shows that people shouldn't be scared of changing their minds because if they are , they might leave it too lateand I even learned a few words of Latin!
"Saliva mucusque!"
Sophie-Ann Leyland, aged 14
THE B IRCHBARK HOUSE
Louise Erdrich , Orion, 2000 , £4 .99 , pb , 228pp , ISBN 1858817986
This truly good, meaty read is set in the middle of the 19th century and follows a year in the lives of a family of American Indians from the Anishinabc tribe who lived on an island in Lake Superior. The story is set at the time when white settlers are gradually but determinedly pushing them from their tribal lands and forcing them to abandon the way of life that they have followed for centuries
We follow them as they move from the snug winter log cabin where they spend the winter months to their summer home built of birch bark. This is out in the maple forest when the sweet sap begins to rise and they can tap the trees for the syrup.
This story allows us to eavesdrop on many intimate moments of family life as seen through the eyes of Omakayas , a girl of seven or so years and this book seems intended for good readers of this age or older. Omakayas has to grow up quickly as many of the village become ill with the dread disease of smallpox. Despite the tender nursing of the grandmother , a respected tribal healer , courageously aided by Omakayas who , surprisingly, is not infected, the family will never be the same again by the end of the story.
If I have any criticism it would be the occasional use of Anishinabe words , and a lthough there is an extensive glossary at the end of the book , it slightly bolds up the flow of the narrative. However , this could be considered as a foible of this reader, as I have the same irritation with the Arthur series by
Bernard Cornwell: blame it on my advancing years!
Jan Shaw
QUEST FOR A KELPIE
Frances Mary Hendry , Floris Books , 1986 , £3 50, pb, 154pp, ISBN 0-86241-136-X
This book was first published in 1986 as the first of the Canongate Kclpies. The Kelpies have now found a new home with Floris Books of Edinburgh.
When she is ten years old a gipsy tells Jeannie Main , 'Ye will make a king and break a king, but will ye ride the kelpie? Seek out the kelpie , Jean Main.'
Jeannie docs not understand this at the time but she is later to remember the gypsy's advice. Her mother tells her that a kelpie is a water horse. If anyone tries to ride it they will be taken to the foot of a loch and drowned. But if they succeed in riding it then they will get their heart's desire. Jeannie is given an incentive to find the kelpie when her father is paralysed in an accident.
To this background of traditional Scottish legend and folklore is grafted a story set in the harsh reality of history. Jeannie belongs to a fishing family in Nairn , in the north east of Scotland. But she has red hair and the other fishers say she is unlucky and she is forbidden to go near the boats. So, instead, Jeannie goes into service in Nairn in the town house of Patrick Clark, the surgeon. She soon settles down in her new life. She is clever and she learns quickly and does well. And she becomes very friendly with the younger daughter, Celia.
Two years pass and then there is the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. The town house is occupied first, by Highlanders, and later by soldiers from Cumberland's Army. Jeannie plays her own part in the events of the Rebellion and does indeed make a king and break a king.
As well as the story element this book gives a good picture of life at the time. The story is told in the first person by Jeannie and this is used very effectively to describe social conditions Jeannie moves between her own home among the fishers , to her grandfather's croft , and the Nairn town house. For example, when she goes to Nairn Jeannie stares in wonderment at the fine house and comments 'There was a floor of smooth stones , not like ours of dried blood and burnt shell. And there was oiled linen in the window behind the shutters.'
A very skilful use of the first person. An exc1tmg story, a detailed and authentic historical background , and even a touch of traditional legend. What more could anyone ask for?
Mary Moffat
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
J O URNEY T O THE RIVE R SEA
Eva Ibbotson, Macmillan , 2001 , £9.99, hb , 296pp , ISBN 03339474Q I , and £4.99 , pb , ISBN 033339715X
It is 1910 , and orphaned Maia, who is in her early teens, is going to live with some unknown relations, the Carters. Mr Carter is a rubber baron and lives in Manaus , a city carved out of the jungle one thousand miles up the Amazon, in Brazil. Accompanying her is Miss Minton , a ferocious-looking governess, with a fearsome hatpin , in the shape of a spear. Maia is enchanted by the Amazon, its plants, animals and people , and is looking forward to meeting her young cousins. But neither her relations, nor Miss Minton, are what Maia expected, and problems soon come thick and fast. Before she knows it, Maia becomes involved in a series of extraordinary adventures.
I have to say that I thought the book was wonderful. I read it at a gallop. Twice. The story is gripping, and the action fast-paced and exciting. But it bas other qualities as well. Neither the heroine , nor her friends , have it easy. There are difficult moral choices to be made , fears to overcome, and important lessons to be learnt, like consideration for others , deferral of gratification for a future end , responsibility , and courage in the face of adversity. Mrs Ibbotson's skill makes the mastering of these boring, though essential, virtues , challenging and exciting There are also fairy tale elements, and it comes as no surprise to learn that the author acknowledges the influence of Bruno Bettelheim's seminal work, The Use s of Enchantment, about the meaning and importance of fairy tales to a child's psychological development.
Furthermore, it is written in the style of the period. It could easily be an undiscovered work by Frances Hodgson Burnett; there are certainly elements of A Little Prin cess and one of the characters , Clovis , is a child actor playing in a theatre adaptation of Little Lord Fauntlerov, which leads to some wonderfully funny moments towards the end. I could not fault it historically , and Mrs Ibbotson bas managed that difficult feat , to convey the cultural assumptions of the time in a way that is understandable for modem children.
The book was short-listed for all the major children's awards and won the Nestle Smarties Award in 2001, and was , apparently, a surprise success.Still , Macmillan must have believed in it, since they entered it for the various awards It is good to see that quality will out, even in a book which harks back in style to the Edwardian era. But perhaps the book's success should not surprise us too much. The early years of the 20th century was a golden age for children's books , with Edith Nesbit, L.M. Montgomery and Kenneth Grahame , as well as Frances Hodgson Burnett, all producing their
ISSUE 22 , DECEMBER 2002
best work.
A book to be savoured by girls of ten upwards and adults alike, though boys may well enjoy it, too. Every library should have a copy.
Elizabeth Hawksley
BLACK HORSES FOR THE KING
Anne McCaffrey, Corgi Books, 1996, £4.99, Pb, 2 I9pp, ISBN 0-552-52973- 7
A story with a difference about King Arthur, who, in this book , is referred to as Artos, Comes Britannorum.
This is also the story of Galwyn Varianus, a young boy who goes with Artos to the horse fair in the Pyrenees where he buys some black Libyan mares and stallions from which he hopes to breed the warhorses he needs to drive the Saxons back into the sea. The horses are taken back to England and a farm outside Chester. There Galwyn meets the old horseman Canyd Bawn who proceeds to teach Galwyn all he knows about herbs and healing and, above all, about horses' hooves. Galwyn becomes his apprentice and later becomes a travelling smith to Artos.
The main interest of this book lies in its detail - detailed descriptions of the great horse fair in the Pyrenees, details about the problems of shipping the great horses back to Britain and, above all, details about the creation of the horseshoes.
This novel also has a subplot. This concerns the evil lswy who is dismissed from Artos' service and ever afterwards he is always trying to find a way to harm the Libyans.
Anne McCaffrey has stuck to the historical facts, such as they are, about Arthur. It is claimed that Arthur brought Libyan horses from the horse fair in the Pyrenees. Anne MaCaffrey also has a deep equine knowledge and this gives the novel great authority.
This book is written in a fluent, easy style. It gives a fascinating account on an important aspect of history which is often ignored. Throughout the author's love of animals is apparent. History aside, this is a treat for animal lovers. Comes with a historical note and a glossary. 11 + Young adult.
Mary Moffat
PLUNDERING PARADISE
Geraldine McCaughrean, First published OUP 1996, Puffin, 1998, £4.99, pb, 214 pp, ISBN 0-14-0383 I 6-6
Geraldine McCaughrean's story of early 18th century swashbuckling pirates is described on the back of the Puffin edition as 'simply brilliant', and 'not to be missed' - and I certainly found it a very good read. Young Nathan Gull, boarding at a miserable private school, finds on the death of his clergyman father, that he is unexpectedly a pauper. Summarily ejected from
the school by a cruel headmaster, Nathan is taken under the wing of Tamo White, son of a notorious pirate, who is planning a piratical career himself. In no time at all, Nathan, his sister Maud, and Tamo are on board ship, and after encounters with pirates and a narrow escape from being sold into slavery, they reach Madagascar.
On one level it is a traditional adventure yam reminiscent in its style and atmosphere of Leon Garfield. However, Nathan's story is more closely tied to its period than Garfield's novels, from the references to the educational theories of John Locke, to the consciousness of the constricted lives and expectations of girls and the apparently glamorous but in reality dangerous and transient freedoms experienced by contemporary pirates. Tamo White is a colourful character, inspired by a brief reference in an 18th century account of real-life pirates, but much of the focus is on the flowering of timid, bullied Nathan and his sister 'Mousy Maud' into confident, independent young people. Without giving away too much of the ending, potential readers may like to know that the headmaster who turned young Nathan out to fend for himself, is subjected to a most satisfactory revenge at the hands of an older and wiser Nathan who after many adventures has learnt how to deal with the world on his own terms.
A real page-turner, which would be well suited to children of around IO - 12.
Belinda Copson
A LONG WAY FROM CHICAGO
Richard Peck, Hodder, 1998, £3.99, pb. 168 pp, ISBN 0-340- 77803-2 1
Joey and his younger sister Mary Alice live in Chicago, but for a week every summer between 1929 and 1935 they are sent by train to stay with their Grandma in a small Illinois town cut in half by the railway. This lovely, warmhearted book charts those years with a series of loosely-connected stories about the escapades of their maverick Grandma, a larger-than-life character with a touch of Robin Hood about her.
Grandma has a waspish tongue and likes nothing better than to deflate the pompous and outwit the greedy - and she's not afraid to lie or bend the law to get her way. The children, often shocked by her outrageous behaviour, nevertheless approve the outcomes - such as the time when she takes them on an illegal fishtrapping trip, and then feeds the huge catch of catfish to hungry drifters being driven out of town.
The stories combine to create a picture of small-town America in the thirties: the feuding neighbours, the ghosts and tall stories, and the Depression - those who profited from it and those who lost out. Against this background
Joey and Mary Alice are seen to change and grow up, 'slower than we wanted to, faster than we realised'.
Richard Peck's beautifully pared-down prose is a joy to read. With its nostalgia and often sophisticated humour, this is a book that would appeal as much to adults as to children.
Ann Turnbull
TRAFALGAR
Bryan Perrett, Scholastic Children's Books, 2002, £4.99, pb, 159pp, ISBN 0439994217 Trafalgar gives a good insight into what life was like on board a frigate in the early 1800s and during the Battle of Trafalgar. The book tells of James Grant's voyage abroad the HMS Norseman. James is a midshipman and his duties and life on the ship are described in good detail. During the voyage James has many adventures and learns many new things. The Battle at Trafalgar is told very well. Although life is hard on the ship, when he gets a fever, he misses his life onboard. This book is definitely for anyone who likes reading about sailing and naval life . It is written in the format of a diary. There is a good glossary at the back of the book to define terms in use in James' day , but it was a bit of nuisance as I had to refer to it too often. There are also some interesting maps and pictures.
Charlotte Kemp , aged 12
MATCH OF DEATH
James Riordan, Oxford University Press, 2002, £6.99, 150 pp, ISBN 0192718797
Vova, a fifteen-year-old boy is in prison under sentence of death. He is sitting on his bunk writing his story and he hopes to get it finished before he is led out to Hangman's Square. What is his crime? He scored a goal.
This is the poignant, thought provoking first chapter. Then the book goes back and describes the events which led to up to it. Vova lives in Kiev and is interested mainly in football. He plays for the Dinamo Kiev club. But in 1941 the Germans bomb Kiev. The young footballers escape and they go and join the partisans.
But the Nazis had heard about the Kiev footballers and they claim that they will not be able to win against properly trained European sides. So it is arranged that the Kiev Dinamos should play against various Fascist sides. Vova is told that victory on the football field will show his people that they can win.
They train, the matches begin and the Dinamos win all of them. Then it is time for the last match and it is to be against a professional German side. Just before the match the refereea German - comes into the dressing room and tells them that they will lose the match or they will all die. It takes some time before they can take it in. To live they have to lose.
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
ISSUE 22, DECEMBER 2002
The Dinamos are soon two goals down. Then Vova looks at the haggard , hopeful faces in the crowd and realises just what victory would mean to them. He says, 'Better die in hope than live in shame.' From then on the Dinamos begin to fight back.
But the football match is only part of the story. It also raises , tacitly , the position of the Partisans. They know that for every Gennan they kill many innocent people will be killed in reprisals - on the odd occasion hundreds or even thousands.
The book is based on a true incident. Poignant and heart rending, it shows the true reality of the Second World War in Russia. 12 to adult.
Mary Moffat
THE REBELLIOUS TOWNE
Frances Usher, Illustrated by Gerry Ball, Cambridge Reading - Cambridge University Press, 1998, £5.25, pb, 95 pp, ISBN 0 52147705 0
Set In 1644, this book tells a dramatic tale of Ann and William Say. Mistress Say has brought her children to stay with their relatives, the puritanical Berridge family, in Lyme Regis. Far from being safe from the civil war that has engulfed the country , they soon find themselves trapped within a town under siege. Lyme Regis stood for parliament against the Royalists who were supporting King Char le s I.
The war , which is about taxes , religion and ultimate control of the country, bas resulted in armies roaming the land, using people's homes and possessions as they wish. Families have been split by their differing political and religious views. Unlike a war where there is a common enemy , this one turns brother against brother, and father and son against each other. Ann and William soon become in volved in the many unpleasant realities of war - digging trenches, tending the wounded or dying , killing and the realisation that their own brother might be fighting against them.
The book deals realistically with all the horrors of fighting and makes no attempt to glorify, excuse or support war. It merely paints a clear picture of how the issues raised, and the actions taken affect the views and characters of the two children. It is also a fitting tribute to the courage and unity of a small town and its people who refused to be defeated.
Val Lob
AUDIO REVIEW
DEATH ON THE ROMNEY MARSH
Deryn Lake, read by Michael Tudor Barnes, Soundings Audio Books *, Playing Time 10 hours and 30 minutes, 2002, ISBN 9 781842 833 629
Lake's detective, 18 th Century apothecary John Rawlings investigates the murder of an unknown man whose body has been found near a deserted church on the Romney Marsh. He becomes enmeshed in intrigue both local and national as be pursues his investigations at the behest of the Blind Beak, magistrate John Fielding. The blurb for the book describes the story as "atmospheric", an excellent description of Lake's recreation of Georgian London and the Romney Marsh. It is reminiscent of the works of John Meade Faulkner and Leon Garfield.
I admire Michael Tudor Barnes as an audio reader but his narration seems plodding at times with this book. That does not mean, however, that the book was not engrossing. It certainly was and well worth listening to. For those who are lookin g for a new direction in historical thrillers and have not tried Deryn Lake's John Rawlings series, this book is a good starting point.
AUDIO UPDATE
New Releases from Soundings and Isis
Lack of space precludes full descriptions of new titles here but the catalogues available from Isis and Soundings are a helpful guide (see below for contact details)
The Winter Mantle by Elizabeth Chadwick
Not Thinking of Death by Alexander Fullerton
High Street by Anna Jacobs
The Ragamuffins by Anna King
Dead Born by Joan Lock
Halfhyde and the Fleet Review by Philip McCutchan
Francie by Jo Robinson
The Privateersman by Richard Woodman
Memoirs of an Orphan Boy by Hugo Bergstrom
The Gourlay Girls by Margaret Thomson Davis
So Long at the Fair by Jess Foley
The Unfortunates by Laurie Graham
The Jarrow Lass by Janet MacLeod Trotter
The Pirate Round by James L Nelson
Wilful Murder: The Sinking of the Lusitania by Diana Preston
Her Father's House by Emma Sinclair
The Lost Years by E.V. Thomson
The House at Harcourt by Anita Burgh
The Sixpenny Winner by Alexandra Connor
The Colonel's Renegade by Anthony Conway
The Wedding Guest by Anna Gilbert
I, Victoria by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Claudine's Daughter by Rosalind Laker
Tara Flynn by Geraldine O'Neill
Constable Along the Riverbank by Nicholas Rhea
Saturday's Child by Ruth Hamilton
The Dream of Scipio by lain Pears
The Broken Bough by Nicola Thome
Loving Geordie by Andrea Badenoch
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
Barry Lyndon by William Thackeray
Roman Blood, A mystery of Ancient Rome by Steven Saylor
The Chestnut Tree by Charlotte Bingham
Marne by Daniel Eastennan
The above are published as audio cassettes although some are available on CD also. Free P&P to UK customers.
To contact Isis/ Soundings, or to obtain a catalogue contact the publishers at: Isis Publishing Limited, 7 Centremead, Osney Mead, Oxford, OX2 0ES, tel: 01865 250 333; E-mail: audiobooks @ isis-publishing.co.uk
Website: www.isis-publishing.co.uk
Prices for individual customers are lower than those for retail and institutional customers. Check by phone or e-mail.
