Book Reviews

REVIEWS

KAIKEYI

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ANCIENT HISTORY

EMPIRES OF BRONZE: The Dark Earth

Gordon Doherty, Independently published, 2022, £3.99, ebook, 476pp, 9798801230498

In 1237 BC, the entire Mediterranean world is becoming embroiled in existential peril. The threat comes in multiple guises: environmental droughts and earthquakes, shifting political alliances, intrigue and betrayal within ruling families, and mysterious, seemingly unstoppable, invading hordes made up of disparate peoples. The Trojan War has relatively recently concluded, and three formerly dominant empires are holding on precariously: the Hittites, Egyptians and Assyrians.

King Tudha takes the Hittite throne at a most inauspicious time. The Hittite Empire is composed of upper and lower halves surrounded by an array of smaller vassal tribes and statelets. Compounding Tudha’s political difficulties are strains and suspicions within his own family. His mother has been a source of strength and unity after the death of his father, but he is not sure about the rest of his kin. One possible source of hope is the potential for the Hittites to be the first to master the secrets of iron-making and then mass produce weapons and armor to overwhelm his enemies’ bronze armament. But it’s a race against time and events.

This is an epic historical novel of sweeping events covering decades. It is replete with multitudes of colorful characters and details. As it’s part of a series, it is recommended that readers start with the first book. The thorough research conducted by the author is evident throughout and only heightens the interest in the themes of mastering iron working and the mystery of the Sea Peoples. Graphic but period-genuine battle scenes are excellently rendered. My only minor quibble is the extended length of the book with its protracted dream sequences. Still though, The Dark Earth is a superb imagining of a historically neglected empire and time which will captivate the reader. Recommended.

Vaishnavi Patel, Redhook, 2022, $28.00, hb, 496pp, 9780759557338

The great ancient Indian epic, the Ramayana, is told from Ram’s point of view— naturally enough, as he’s the god-hero of the story. But Ram’s story begins when his stepmother Kaikeyi demands he be banished, and Kaikeyi has been the villainess of the tale ever since. It’s this story that Vaishnavi Patel turns inside out, giving us Kaikeyi’s version of the classic. Ancient India is a land of demons and magic, and of gods. Of the three, a god causes the most trouble…

The happy third wife of a king, Kaikeyi is far more than she appears to be. She has painstakingly learned magic, for all the good it does her. She has formed a strong, fond bond with her two sister wives. She’s even driven her husband’s chariot in battle and saved his life. In gratitude, he grants Kaikeyi two boons, promises she may claim at any time, asking anything and he will have to grant it. Kaikeyi never dreamed the cost was her magic, or that the boons she would demand would tear her family apart, or that saving the world would cost her everything she held dear. But when her stepson Rama is revealed as an uncontrollable god, Kaikeyi knows nothing matters except teaching him patience and humanity.

Kaikeyi is a brilliant novel with a strong narrative voice. Kaikeyi is an appealing point-of-view character, nuanced and strong. And it’s a pleasure to read a prequel to the Ramayana from a woman’s point of view. Seen through Kaikeyi’s eyes, the struggle between what seems good and what is good takes on a fresh perspective. Highly recommended.

India Edghill

CLASSICAL

LION (UK) / THE LION (US)

Conn Iggulden, Michael Joseph, 2022, £20,00, hb, 435pp, 9780241513125 / Pegasus, 2022, $26.95/$34.99, hb, 432pp, 9781639362226

In his notes at the end of the book Iggulden writes, ‘The lack of information for key years between the Persian Wars and the conflict with Sparta is a great shame.’ I have to disagree with him. In the hands of a master storyteller, those missing years can be brought to life, seamlessly weaving imagination in and out of what is gleaned from the available historical evidence.

Lion, although told mainly through the eyes of a young Pericles, is the story of Cimon, ‘one of the greatest strategos of Athens, the lion of a new generation.’ Pericles comes of age, under the tutelage of the man who brought about the end of Xerxes. From the finding of the bones of Theseus on Scyros, through the destruction of the Persian fleet on the Eurymedon River, to the final action against King Hesiodos of Thasos, which helped sow the seeds for a future war, Iggulden tells a believable tale wonderfully, in a style which is easy and enjoyable to read. Pericles is a well-structured character with many flaws. The thread of the complex relationship between himself and Attikos, frequently changing between enmity, camaraderie and duty, endures throughout the novel, with many twists and turns.

One thing grates: at one point Attikos says to Pericles, ‘I knew you was a good man.’ Attikos’s character has a great arc, and using this modern grammatical error feels incongruous in context.

Tiny pieces of Greek history are cleverly woven into dialogue and prose, both informing and entertaining the reader without lecturing. An apparent volte-face by Pericles towards the end is intriguing, and bodes well for the next book in the series. This book should please Iggulden’s fans and, I hope, introduce new readers to his well-told stories from Ancient Greece.

Aidan K. Morrissey

ITHACA

Claire North, Redhook, 2022, $28.00/C$35.00, hb, 400pp, 9780316422963 / Orbit, 2022, £16.99, hb, 400pp, 9780356516042

Wily Odysseus, King of Ithaca, wed Penelope, then a few years later sailed off to the Trojan War with every man of fighting age. Eighteen years later, one hundred suitors camp out in the palace to win the hand of the mourning Penelope. She is weaving a funeral shroud for Laertes, promising to choose when it’s complete, but unravelling nightly. To choose one suitor means bloodshed and civil war. This queen possesses the cunning and wit of her presumed dead husband. North gives a fresh voice and point of view to the tale narrated by Hera, goddess of women and marriage. Poets sing the praises of heroes in epic ballads, ignoring the women. The stunning cover in black and ochre, reminiscent of Ode on a Grecian Urn, sets the tone.

Women shine in this tribute, the jealousies of the goddesses adding drama. Athena, protector of Odysseus, watches over his son Telemachus training as a warrior; Artemis teaches the women to fight plundering raiders. The prose loses power, detracting from the classical nature, when Hera speaks in colloquial language. Penelope seems a raven-haired Princess Grace with her patience, quiet strength, and regal dignity. It took me several pages to become involved with so many foreign-sounding names and a large cast of counsellors, suitors, maids. It is rife with political machinations and no love story. What drives the plot is the women defending their queen and island. When Penelope’s cousin Clytemnestra flees, having killed her brute of a husband, and her children, Orestes and Electra, arrive to avenge his death, an intriguing subplot is set up, adding tension to an already fraught situation. Penelope reflects on destiny: “we have no power over

Gail M. Murray

ARCADIAN DAYS

John Spurling, Duckworth, 2022, £10.99, pb, 430pp, 9780715654569

Does the world really need another retelling of the classic Greek myths? When it comes from renowned historical novelist John Spurling, the answer has to be an emphatic yes. Arcadian Days is the follow-up to Arcadian Nights (2016) and tells the captivating stories of five male-female pairs: Prometheus and Pandora, Jason and Medea, Oedipus and Antigone, Achilles and Thetis, and Odysseus and Penelope.

Spurling, who won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction in 2015 for The Ten Thousand Things, was born in 1936. The KenyanEnglish playwright and author has written 35 plays and seven books. Arcadian Days and its predecessor come from a deep love of Greece, where he has owned a house since 2006. Sadly, those Arcadian days and nights are in the past, thanks to old age, Brexit, and Covid-19. Still, the author introduces each section with a conversational air, holding the reader’s hand like a genial professor.

My personal favourite is Odysseus and Penelope, having myself pored over the myth and visited the ‘wine-dark’ seas of modernday Ithaca on many occasions. Spurling gives Odysseus a new lease on life by using the first person and letting the hero speak for himself on his eventful journey from Ithaca to Troy and back again, a danger-filled voyage which took him 20 years. However, I was glad to have read Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad (2005) to get the female perspective.

Spurling brings a unique voice to these familiar stories, which have inspired writers and artists for thousands of years. These myths, beloved of Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides may be well-known but, in Spurling’s hands, they have a freshness about them that makes them well worth revisiting.

Margery Hookings

1ST CENTURY

DESPERATE UNDERTAKING

Lindsey Davis, Hodder & Stoughton, 2022, £20.00, hb, 402pp, 9781529354683 / Minotaur, 2022, $27.99, hb, 352pp, 9781250799883

Rome, AD 89. Falco, part-time private informer, and his wife are away on holiday when the first gruesome murder is discovered. Flavia Albia, Falco’s daughter, decides to investigate. She soon finds herself looking into a series of brutal murders. Her only clues are that the victims are all members of a theatrical group who are killed in a series of bloody tableaux. The last words of one of the victims—when asked “who did this to you?”— are “the undertaker.” Flavia’s investigation will put her into harm’s way.

Fans of Lindsey Davis will know what to expect from this book: a taut, well-researched plot, which brings alive the time and culture of ancient Rome, with a strong but subtle streak of humour running through as a counterpoint to the gruesome murders. This was the first of the Flavia Albia novels I have read. I finished it with a loud satisfied sigh, but I shall be off to my local bookshop for more. Exciting and suspenseful, the story builds to an exciting, nerve-wracking climax. Recommended.

Mike Ashworth

BRONZE DRUM

Phong Nguyen, Grand Central, 2022, $17.99/ C$22.99, pb, 400pp, 9781538753705

Based on the lives of the legendary Trung Sisters, Bronze Drum opens in 36 CE in a land of Viet people striving to keep their traditions alive under the piercing gaze of their Han (Chinese) oppressors. In the midst of tragedy, two sisters arise who gather an army of women to strike back against the Han men who wish to subjugate them. With the strike of the bronze war drum, the sisters, equipped in gold armor, sit atop their elephants and lead the Viet Nam women to war.

As characters are always referenced using full names (except within intimate settings) and with the larger character count in the second half of the novel, names are at times confusing. I often had to reference the glossary to clarify who was who as new people were introduced in the thick of battle. Occasionally, a more modern reference would slip into the prose (e.g., “pennywise”). Otherwise, the land and its different villages are well explored, from the skilled mountaindwelling archers to the metal-workers of Nhat Nam and the palace of Cung Dien Me Linh.

However, the relationship, emotions, and trials of the sisters, Trung Trac and Trung Nhi, are always at the forefront of Nguyen’s story. The feats they accomplish for independence are inspiring, and I’m shocked to have never heard of these real-life historical figures before. The brutality of war and oppression, the starkness of the tragedies that occur— these are kept to a lighter tone, but the impact of these events is still powerful. This book feels unique on so many levels include setting, tone, and characterization. The story of these women’s lives is one that will stay with you, and I’ll definitely be recommending it to readers who love strong, complex, and battleready female characters.

J. Lynn Else

THE CAPSARIUS

Simon Turney, Head of Zeus, 2022, £18.99, hb, 420pp, 9781801108928

Titus Cervianus is a Capsarius: a combat medic in the 22nd Legion. He is also seen as unlucky by his comrades in the 22nd, and he upsets the gods by his questioning attitude to everything. Before joining the legion he had been a doctor, and he has a scientific curiosity which sets him apart from both the officers and his comrades. The legion is in Egypt to undertake a campaign against the Queen of Kush, who has decided to take advantage of what she sees as Roman weakness. As the campaign unfolds, Titus finds unexpected allies in a cavalryman from a native regiment and a rather strange legionary who has recently joined the legion. Titus will need all the help he can get as the legion, led by an inexperienced, arrogant, obstinate tribune, moves slowly up the Nile ready for battle. Using a Capsarius as the central character brings a whole new dimension to the genre. The action sequences are exciting and realistic without being overly graphic. The central character is strong and totally believable, while his pragmatic and probing attitude is a sharp contrast to the rather rigid Roman mind. This is a very enjoyable read, and I look forward with some impatience for the next episode. Recommended.

Mike Ashworth

I AM USHRIYA

Beverly Young, Balboa Press, 2022, $20.99, pb, 338pp, 9781982278458

Born illegitimate to the Emperor and left in the Temple of the Vestals to die, an infant is found by a family of bread bakers traveling between Pompeii and Rome. She’s taken into their family and named Ushriya. Tragically, at four years old, she’s kidnapped by slave traders and sold to a Roman family. After the Great Fire of 49 AD, Ushriya barely escapes and makes her way to Pompeii. She finds opportunity to earn her own money as a prostitute. She also grows in faith as she hears the teachings of the “Wonder Maker” as spoken by one of his closest friends, former prostitute Mary of Magdalene. But when Nero suspects Ushriya may be his sister, her life and all she’s fought for are in danger.

Sometimes the characters get lost in the setting. Most often, the choreography of movement between characters isn’t described well, and it is hard to visualize what’s happening. In the book’s second half, editorial errors become evident, with missing quotation marks, or quotation marks between sentences. Research-wise, Roman women wore tunics and stolas in layers. Only women who were prostitutes or adulterers wore togas. Often, the domina of the house was referenced as wearing togas, which would be inappropriate.

Ushriya’s life traverses vast settings, from opulent palaces to slave cages. The time period is bustling and full of tension, from the fires of Rome to the fear of Nero’s mad reign. Young does a fine job with her well-developed characters as they struggle with their faith and the teachings of Jesus. Love, loss, and forgiveness underscore the lives of all the characters.

J. Lynn Else

Douglas Jackson, Bantam Press, 2022, £18.99, hb, 432pp, 9781787634848

It’s the last days of the Roman Empire in Britain. There are now two Emperors and resources are being considered. The hardwon—and hard retained—province of Britain is a problem. But not for those who live and fight on the island. Marcus Flavius Victor, a Roman raised on the Wall, refuses to give in. He wants a solid end to incursions to Roman Britain and a reason for the lives lost over the decades. But he must work with both local tribes and a complacent Roman government. Marcus, well-trained, dedicated, and admired, decides enough is enough and, without direct authorization, embarks on an ‘inspection tour’. But really, is he gambling his life, and hundreds of others, for the Purple or the Empire?

An excellent novel combining the politics of a declining empire with real emotions, command decisions … and a balance between what is right to do or what you can do.

Alan Cassady-Bishop

6TH CENTURY

DARK EARTH

Rebecca Stott, Fourth Estate, 2022, £14.99, hb, 352pp, 9780008209223 / Random House, 2022, $27.00, hb, 336pp, 9780812989113

AD 500, and sisters Isla and Blue sit on an island in the Thames, watching the tide creep up on the Ghost City, formerly Londinium, across the water. The girls live on the island with their father, the Great Smith, maker of the coveted ‘Firetongue’ Sword. Chapter by mesmerising chapter, we discover that the Great Smith was exiled by the Kin, but is protected by Osric, Lord of the Saex. In exchange for his protection, Osric demands Firetongues—one after another. Isla’s father needs her help. But it is forbidden for a woman to enter a forge. When their father dies, where can the girls go? Isla must protect her younger sister. But no one must discover that she knows the secret of the Firetongues.

Stott mingles myths, archaeology, tropes from post-apocalyptic dystopias, and feminist coming-of-age stories. Underpinning it all are the myriad beliefs, ethnicities and cultures in the melting pot of London—as diverse then as it is now. Stott’s writing is skilled, maintaining a constant sense of mystery. Her triumph is Blue, a character full of ambivalence. Blue is ‘touched’—but touched by what?

I have to say that Stott’s research of myth and belief is better than that for crafts and trades. She seems to be under the impression that Roman underfloor heating involved lead pipes. Her herbalist makes tinctures, unlikely as distillation of the alcohol required wasn’t known in Europe then. The range of metalworking skills possessed by Isla seems improbable. Stott’s portrayal of a post-Roman collapse of civilization is very different from most Dark Age historical fiction. Whether it is a truer depiction of the reality of the times, we could only know if we had a time machine.

But, it’s a cracking read. Recommended for lovers of fantasy adventure.

Helen Johnson

7TH CENTURY

HAVEN

Emma Donoghue, Little, Brown, 2022, $28.00, hb, 272pp, 9780316413930 / HarperAvenue, 2022, C$32.99, pb, 272pp, 9781443466844 / Picador, 2022, £16.99, hb, 272pp, 9781529091113 The medieval monastic ideal of ora et labora (prayer and work) makes for a surprisingly compelling and suspenseful adventure in the hands of Donoghue, who excels at creating characters who make the best of bad situations, finding transcendence in the smallest details of daily life. Age quod agis, the monks of Haven remind each other when anxiety rears its head— focus on what you’re doing, and let God’s plan take care of itself. They’re facing an extraordinary challenge. An intense visionary, Father Artt, has plucked grizzled convert Cormac and devoted novice Trian from their comfortable monastery and led them to the isolated peak of Skellig Michael, a mountain in the midst of the Atlantic a few miles off the coast of Ireland. They are the monks who, in Donoghue’s imagining, first founded the monastery that has perched atop that peak since about the 7th century.

The nine-month ordeal that follows the monks’ landing on the rocky island is a marvel of detailed, intimate storytelling. Day by day, competent Cormac and intrepid Trian scrape survival from the rock and the birds that inhabit it, creating ingenious systems for gardening, hunting, and masonry, which allow Artt to pursue his prayer and scripture copying in peace. Their talents, however, are wasted on their grandiose leader, whose ascetic rejection of practical concerns threatens disaster for his tiny flock.

In fact, this short novel is really a parable about the narcissism of the religious fanatic, and the contrasting endurance of human communities. The three monks represent the conflicting religious imperatives of faith versus works in the most vivid way possible, although there’s no doubt which side we’re meant to sympathize with more. The austere beauties of Skellig Michael make the island itself a fourth character, earning this book a place among classics of ecological fiction.

THE RAVEN AND THE DOVE

K. M. Butler, Firsthand Account Press, 2021, $16.95, pb, 382pp, 9781737639114 890 AD. As raiding has become less profitable, Jarl Rollo decides that the Norse should settle the lands of North Frankia instead. After nearly dying a humiliating death after a raid, Halla sees this as a sign from the gods answering her cry for new purpose to her life. Offered the opportunity to rule, Halla decides to solidify her leadership by marrying one of the Christian aldermen. Representing his town, Alderman Taurin sees the size of Rollo’s army and agrees to the marriage in the hopes it will preserve his people.

When Halla, Taurin, and a group of Norse sail into Lillebonne, they are met by outraged townsfolk. Tensions run high as Halla and Taurin try to bridge the gap between the Christians and Norse settlers. While vastly different themselves, can a shieldmaiden and a Christian landowner unite two opposing cultures?

Butler deftly weaves a tale filled with high emotions, shifting loyalties, and cultural clashes within a richly detailed setting. Halla and Taurin face opposing forces both within and without their respective groups. Butler doesn’t make it easy for his characters, ushering in a wealth of character growth and plot twists. Not only must Halla and Taurin run a town together, they must also weather a marriage as feelings arise between them. Halla is a fierce warrior, while Taurin must grapple with Halla’s past: someone who raided other Christian towns like his own and plundered holy relics. Lillebonne has already had to rebuild itself from a raid in years past.

The story’s cultural details illustrate Butler’s strong research. Between the rush of battle to mounting tensions while keeping peace between religious factions, The Raven and the Dove is an immersive story with well-drawn characters. Highly recommended.

J. Lynn Else

RED BLOSSOM IN SNOW

Jeannie Lin, Independently published, 2022, $14.99, pb, 300pp, 9781957952000

In Tang Dynasty China, magistrate Li Chen possesses a fondness for Song Yi, a skilled courtesan who is indentured at the House of Heavenly Peaches. Despite the fact that they feel drawn to each other, it’s as if cruel fate is determined to separate them. He has his obligations to the Emperor and his family to

think about. Eventually, two shocking things happen. A stranger is found murdered at the same time that a courtesan goes missing from the House of Heavenly Peaches. Now Li Chen and Song Yi must work together to solve the mystery, but it is far more twisted than they have initially expected. Moreover, will they be able to fight the passion that binds them both?

Red Blossom in Snow, the fifth book in the Lotus Palace Mystery Series, is an unforgettable tale of two souls connected on a deep level. Author Jeannie Lin writes beautifully. Her words are poetic at times, which adds to the charm of the book. Additionally, Song Yi and Li Chen are such wonderful characters. As a reader, you can feel the burning romance and the deep passion that they have for each other. My favorite aspect of this book is the perfect balance between romance and mystery. From the moment I started reading, I was able to escape into a different world that the author brought to life. This story captivated me from start to finish. To put it simply, Red Blossom in Snow is a work of art.

Elizabeth K. Corbett

SON OF MERCIA

M. J. Porter, Boldwood Books, 2022, £12.99, pb, 316pp, 9781802807547

AD 826, and in the kingdom of Mercia, twelve-year-old orphan Icel labours to learn the arts of healing. As he cuts herbs under the sharp tongue of his teacher Wynflaed, he hides from the king and queen, and yet gives a running commentary on their deeds. Mercia is surrounded by enemies, and Icel’s uncle, Cenfrith, is a King’s Warrior. It’s a position that Icel’s foster brother Edwin yearns to achieve. But despite Edwin’s urging to join him in training, Icel is determined: he will remain in old Wynflaed’s hut. Icel wants to be a healer, not a killer. However, even without the cover’s alert that this is the first of The Eagle of Mercia Chronicles, we just know that Icel, with his unknown parentage, must be destined for greater things.

I enjoyed the refreshing change of an AngloSaxon male protagonist who doesn’t want to kill. When, at last, Icel is forced to defend himself, the fight scenes are well written: varied and interesting. I felt the plot was slow at the beginning, but I was sufficiently intrigued by the contradictions in Icel’s character to continue reading. By halfway, I was reluctant to put the book down, eager to learn how Icel would reconcile his wish to heal, with the events and expectations of those around him.

Porter’s research is sound, the world evoked believably. This is a workmanlike adventure, with the promise of more to come.

Helen Johnson

THE QUEEN IN THE MOUND

Johanna Wittenberg, Shellback Studio, $13.99, pb, 272pp, 9781734566437

A Norsewoman in the 9th century AD, Ragnhild is captain of the Raider Bride. She’s married to the Irish lord and one-time king Murchad, whom she’d intended to destroy but now loves. Ragnhild has the strength and authority of a man, and is developing the necessary strategy. Murchad is a Christian, but the other characters are Viking pagans, sacrificing beasts to their gods and, in some cases, in touch with the spirit world. A person of power, a sorcerer or the queen Åsa, can inhabit their totem animal when necessary. The queen in the mound is a supernatural being, and a threatening one. Other threats include two outlaws and Ragnhild’s brother, who has claimed her inheritance. These involve skirmishes, battles, wounds, and death during this brutal era. Not all Norse folk are raiders, however, and prosperous farmers prefer peace. Ragnhild herself reflects on a misbegotten war: “All the bloodshed could have been avoided.”

The fourth book in Wittenberg’s series, The Queen in the Mound makes readers wish to have read the first three. However, it’s not difficult to pick up the story or to admire the strong female characters. Whether Norsewomen could become shield-maidens, captain raiding ships, lead troops, and engage in rivalries and warfare, isn’t documented, but archeological discoveries of the graves of powerful women show that some did attain status. Wittenberg’s dramatic flair captures the reader, from the sea battle which opens the novel to the magical elements and skaldic tales woven into the narrative. There’s a golden Irish necklace with mystical powers, a witch-blinded wolf that nurtures a human (two humans, actually), and of course, the frightening queen in the mound.

Jinny Webber

11TH CENTURY

THE PROMISES OF A KING

K. M. Ashman, Canelo, 2022, £2.50, ebook, 263pp, 9781800323650

Winchester, 1053, and shock news of his eldest son’s death knocks out Earl Godwin, second only in power to the king. The Earl’s second son, Harold, succeeds his dead father, both as Earl of Wessex, and as right-hand man to King Edward, later known to history as ‘The Confessor’. By 1055, Harold and his brothers hold every earldom in England, bar that of Mercia. Thereafter, the story follows Harold’s power brokering over the next ten years.

The book is easy to read, with characters following direct and simple motives, explained in direct and simple dialogue, spoken in modern idiom. The main plot points, regarding the battles, ‘promotions’, and ‘demotions’ of Harold, his brothers, and the Earls of Mercia, generally follow well-recorded history, but artistic licence is taken with lesser details. The period is of particular interest to me, and maybe that is why I found this book disappointing. Of particular dissatisfaction was when the author despatches Harold to Hungary—and gives readers not a single sighting of him in this exotic place. Harold embarks; he returns. Other details jar. Geography is confused, with, at one point, the city of York appearing in East Anglia. The Scots raid a monastery in Northumbria which had been abandoned, as a result of Viking raids, almost two hundred years previously. Harold visits a castle that was built after the Norman invasion. While these details are trivial in terms of the overall story, for me, they broke the illusion of being ‘in the period’.

People who like easy reading, with no complications, may enjoy this book. Readers with some knowledge of the people and places covered will feel they must accept considerable artistic latitude.

Helen Johnson

BEHELD: Godiva’s Story

Christopher M. Cevasco, Lethe Press, 2022, $20.00, pb, 242pp, 9781590217146

Although most historians believe it’s highly doubtful that it ever happened, Lady Godiva’s naked ride through the streets of Coventry, England, in the 11th century remains a fascinating, if not lurid tale to this very day. The real Lady Godiva (Godgyfu in Old English) was married to Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and was a generous benefactress to the Catholic Church, financing the establishment and repair of abbeys and monasteries throughout her husband’s realm.

Author Cevasco adroitly weaves AngloSaxon politics, religion, and culture of the time with an imaginative history of Godgyfu and the events that led up to her legendary ride. When Godgyfu survives a grave illness, attributing her recovery to the people of Coventry and its patron saint, she determines to rebuild Coventry’s abbey. She has the wealth to do so, but the instability and violent political turmoil in England threaten to upset her plans. Leofric’s mental health begins to deteriorate as the kingdom becomes ever more unstable, and he is beset by disturbing visions that cause him to betray her and act out in sexually aggressive ways.

Godgyfu finds herself drawn to Thomas, a Benedictine novice who uses the cloak of Christianity to secretly invoke old pagan gods, especially Rhiannon, whom he sees embodied in Godgyfu. She becomes the third point of a dangerous triangle with Thomas and Leofric. Escape from the two men’s obsession and ambition is the only recourse left to her, but how to do it?

Cevasco has created an intriguing story, firmly couched in medieval history and culture. The novel is highly recommended for readers interested in that period.

John Kachuba

Sarah Hawkswood, Allison & Busby, 2022, £16.99, hb, 215pp, 9780749028961

Master Godfrey Bowyer and his wife Blanche are arguing again, and throwing crockery, within earshot of the servants, Gode, Runild and Alwin, who will have to clean up the mess. But before anyone can retire, the Master and Mistress collapse vomiting, the Master to his death. The healer pronounces it a case of poison, and Serjeant Catchpoll is summoned, bringing along his journeyman Walkelin. The bow-maker was little liked, but who would go as far as murder?

They report to the lord sheriff William de Beauchamp, and Catchpoll rides to inform Lord Bradecote. At some point in the past, the Master’s roving eye had caught Runild, and the effect is beginning to show. Mistress Blanche had motive aplenty, but why would she have knowingly taken the poison, too? Godfrey had taken her bowl after she had thrown his against the wall, so it could be that she herself was the intended target. Godfrey’s brother Herluin the Strengere arrives, expecting to inherit the business. He had been seen a week earlier in private conversation with Gode, she gesticulating wildly and saying the word ‘loyal’. He had also had heated words with his brother at the door just before the fateful dinner. Both Herluin and Blanche have secrets in their past. We have suspicions from the start as to the identity of the murderer, but the unravelling of the evidence is interesting.

A good mediaeval whodunnit. Clues are drip-fed as the lawmen interview person after person. There are numerous characters in the town, so we’re on our toes as to who might have had a hand in the murder. I’m not familiar with Worcester dialect, but the language has local flavour. It captures well the mediaeval times, where people rarely venture beyond their own manor or village, rank is all-important, and information spreads slowly.

Susie Helme

KING

Ben Kane, Orion, 2022, £14.99, hb, 350pp, 9781409197843

This book is the third in the Lionheart series, and possibly the last. Again, Irish-born Ferdia/ Rufus and his man Rhys are major characters, giving a human slant to the great happenings across Europe and Outremer. I shall be disappointed if they don’t pop again in some other series. Ben Kane is a superb storyteller and has a deep grasp of the politics and political geography of the day. He also writes a mean battle scene, and as you’d expect with Richard, there are plenty of those. Kane can make you smell the sweat on a gambeson, and how it feels to shrug off a hauberk.

For me, though, his greatest skill is in his character writing. I have never been a fan of the Lionheart, but I have changed my mind with this book. Viewing him through Ferdia’s fond but clear eyes, you see the man as well as the king, his flaws accepted and his undoubted qualities admired; it is impossible not to appreciate the whole man, and get a sense of why Richard’s name still echoes through time. Whether you are looking for accurate battle scenes, to appreciate a key piece of European history from an unusual point of view, or simply for a swashbuckling story, King will not disappoint. And if you haven’t read the other books in the series—you should.

Nicky Moxey

13TH CENTURY

PILGRIMS

Matthew Kneale, Atlantic/Trafalgar Square, 2022 (c2020), $15.95/£8.99, pb, 335pp, 9781786492395

In 1289, the century before Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales takes place, a band of pilgrims leaves England not for Canterbury but to Rome, picking up members as they go. Their reasons vary, some hoping to release dear ones or themselves from Purgatory, some to be forgiven for their sins. Rather than each pilgrim telling a tale, the novel is the often comic and sometimes terrifying account of their journey, narrated by several different voices. The most appealing of these is the “idiot” Tom of Tom, a ragged bound servant who makes the grueling trek to Rome to pray for the soul of his beloved cat. In his apparent simplicity, Tom offers a humane perspective. Lady Lucy de Bourne, Kneale’s equivalent of the Wife of Bath, is my favorite reconstructed character from Chaucer, though readers familiar with his work may enjoy other rough parallels.

Superstitions about God and Satan are rife among the pilgrims, and their interactions and limited perspectives contribute to the satire. One speaks in the voice of God; one communicates with Jesus; and for several, holiness is the last thing on their mind. Some exhibit antisemitism, but the prologue, set twenty-five years before the story begins, creates sympathy for Jews in London and introduces a thread later to be developed.

The book displays folly and cruelty on this dangerous journey, pitted against kindness and generosity. Though not necessarily through the interventions of St. Peter, a degree of justice prevails at the end. A lively recreation of medieval times and beliefs, Pilgrims, released in 2020 in the UK, was named a Times Book of the Year. It deserves praise for its humor, vivid characterizations, and plot twists. Recommended.

Jinny Webber

THE FALCON’S EYES

Francesca Stanfill, Harper, 2022, $32.50, hb, 832pp, 9780063074224

This weighty, rambling novel will please readers who like traditional medieval epics about damsels in unhappy arranged marriages, as long as they’re not too particular about psychology or history. The Falcon’s Eyes narrates in painstaking detail the life of an unremarkable but persistent young woman who happens to enter the orbit of Eleanor of Aquitaine near the end of her eventful life. Isabelle comes from impoverished French nobility and is married off to a mysterious gentleman obsessed with falconry and his family lineage, and not much else. Remarkably naïve even for a teenager, it takes her several years to discover that her lord and master is a rotter; she escapes with the help of a rich patroness and a wise woman in the woods, and is lucky enough to gain entry into the Abbey of Fontevraud, Queen Eleanor’s final home, where she gets to enjoy a conveniently wellfunded second chance at a meaningful life.

Stanfill’s novel is nothing if not ambitious, and she crams it full of details about 13thcentury manor life, Anglo-French politics, and the beautiful landscapes Isabelle traverses, seemingly endlessly. Stanhill’s style is more Regency than medieval, which isn’t necessarily a problem, but the novel contains numerous anachronisms as well; embroidery hoops, nativity scenes, and Christmas trees all make an appearance many years ahead of their time, and the action often stops cold for long, intricate descriptions of Disney-princess-style gowns.

Ultimately, Isabelle is an inconsistent heroine—everyone keeps telling her how intelligent she is, but she makes one questionable choice after another. She’s innocent and conniving, wary and credulous, scientific and superstitious, whichever it suits the author that she be in a given moment, so she never quite gels as a character through the 800+ pages of the narrative.

Kristen McDermott

14TH CENTURY

THE FALLEN SWORD

A. J. MacKenzie, Canelo, 2022, £9.99, pb, 345pp, 9781800329447

While the English army besieges Calais, Philippa of Hainault, Queen of England, is in Bruges to broker a marriage between her daughter and the count of Flanders, currently a prisoner. The queen comes under attack, and five of her men are dead. The boatmen have been strangled, with catgut ligatures—probably by the musicians suspected to be connected to the secret society of Pilgrims, mercenaries for hire. Simon Merrivale the herald and Tiphaine de Tesson, the queen’s lady, seek information on the renewed conspiracy against the English crown. Three men are meeting in secret: an English courtier to King Edward and two courtiers to King Philippe, John of Hainault and Guy de Béthune. The Englishman, the ‘man from the north’, plans ‘to redraw the map of Europe’. In an ever-widening spiral of conspiracies, the French crown, the papal throne and the throne of the Romans are all under threat. The Knights of St John also have a role to play. Across war-torn Flanders, Merrivale and his allies dodge ambushes and conduct secret meetings in ruined castles. Neither Paris nor Bruges is safe from assassins’ knives. People betray their friends and switch

allegiances, but in the end, the English take Calais, and the traitor’s identity is revealed.

The cast of characters is huge, mostly real historical figures, but a list at the front of the book helps to keep track. I was almost lost by chapter six and remained puzzled throughout. Right up to the dramatic conclusion, new characters are entering the picture. Even simply to know the identities, much less to understand the intricate political intrigues, of all these personages must have required prodigious research. The plot is as wonderfully complex as European history was at that time—and as difficult to follow.

Susie Helme

THE MAIDEN OF ALL OUR DESIRES

Peter Manseau, Arcade, 2022, $26.99, hb, 336pp, 9781950994212

Faith, love, and loss in the time of the Black Death are hypnotically portrayed in The Maiden of All Our Desires by Peter Manseau. Set in 14th-century Europe, this elegiac novel follows an order of nuns in a remote German abbey, founded by the inimitable and charismatic Mother Ursula. After her departure, Ursula’s pet and most devoted follower, Sister John, becomes the new mother who often closes out the daily liturgy with a reading from Ursula’s own writings. Soon, the faint whiff of heresy from this alleged “Book of Ursula” wafts into the church’s male hierarchy, and an investigation is launched. While both Ursula and Mother John have their own troubled backstories, so does the priest sent to minister to the nuns, Father Francis. Banished to the isolated spiritual outpost, this woodcarver’s son strives to find redemption for a horrible sin that haunts his waking hours. While the sisters of the order take sides in the heresy investigation, one of the bishop’s inquisitors makes a deep impression upon Sister Magdalene, the youngest sister, who hears the wind call out her real name during a deadly blizzard. Behind and around it all is the horrific landscape of the Black Death that literally knocks upon the abbey’s door and wreaks a terrible toll upon body and spirit.

The Maiden of All Our Desires is a thoughtful exploration of freedom, love, and regret during a time of apocalyptic tragedy, but it requires close reading to manage the leaps of time and place in each of the main characters’ minds. Overall, readers will enjoy this spiritual, literary tale that provides what life didn’t in plague times—a satisfying conclusion.

Peggy Kurkowski

THE STONE ROSE

Carol McGrath, Headline Accent, 2022, £9.99, pb, 395pp, 9781786157447

Carol McGrath has set herself a mission: to rescue significant women from the shadows of history. The Stone Rose, novelising the life of Isabella of France, queen to Edward II, follows on from The Silken Rose (Ailenor of Provence, queen to Henry III) and The Damask Rose (Eleanor of Castile, queen to Edward I). However, Isabella’s problem is not that she has been forgotten by history but that she is notorious. We usually remember her as an avaricious, adulterous queen who engineered her husband’s overthrow and murder at the hands of her lover, Roger Mortimer, and ruled as regent during the minority of her young son, Edward III. When Edward came of age, he had Mortimer seized and executed. The only thing which fits uneasily with this narrative is that Isabella kept her lands and possessions and enjoyed an honoured place at her son’s court for the rest of her life,

McGrath sets out to rehabilitate Isabella, emphasising that prior to the Mortimer episode she had been a dutiful and patient wife and mother. She spends 300 pages being dutiful and patient, leaving the exciting part to the last 95 pages. Sadly we find villainesses more interesting than dutiful and patient wives.

The author also excuses Mortimer from the murder of Edward II, preferring an alternative theory. There are problems with both versions, but it may not be Edward II who is buried in Gloucester cathedral.

McGrath is expert at describing the splendour of a mediaeval court, especially the clothes, the furnishings, and the food. The research is impressive. The Stone Rose may well be closer to the truth than the conventional history.

Edward James

THE LAWLESS LAND

Boyd & Beth Morrison, Head of Zeus, 2022, £18.99, hb, 472pp, 9781801108638 1351. Sir Gerard Fox is excommunicated, homeless, and without honour—all unwittingly caused by the political machinations of a cardinal who aspires to be Pope and doesn’t care how he does it. Gerard is travelling the roads of Kent on his way to Tonbridge in the hope of finding the one person who can help to clear his name and restore his family fortune. Driven by his knightly vows, he rescues a young woman from certain death. His actions put him in direct conflict with unscrupulous enemies as he finds himself far from his homeland. He must protect the enigmatic woman, a holy relic, and survive to re-establish his reputation.

This is the first jointly authored novel by a brother-and-sister team. It is a winning combination of author and expert medievalist. The plot is tight and fast-paced, and the life and times of this post-Black Death period are vividly portrayed. There are twists which will make you gasp, and a story line which makes it difficult to put the book down. Thoroughly enjoyable. More please. Recommended.

Jeanne Roland, Nepenthe Press, 2021, $16.95, pb, 624pp, 9781737887003

It’s 1347 in Ardennes, a Belgian principality, where archery is a military skill and a popular all-male sport. Every other year, the prestigious Guild of Saint Sebastian selects the principality’s twelve best young archers as journeymen. The future of these Journeys (as they are called) is assured—if they emerge among the top six in three public longbow trials. Into this competitive, hypermasculine Guild stumbles Marieke Verbeke, the disfigured daughter of a legendary archer known to have suffered a mysterious accident during his third Journey trial. Forced by a disaster to flee her home in her dead brother’s clothes, Marieke is found by some current Journeys who, seeing she is wearing her father’s St. Sebastian medal, accuse her of theft. Another Journey, Tristan, shames the others’ bullying—and, not realizing she is a girl, makes her his squire.

Marieke thus becomes a de facto member of a Guild that excludes all women. At first frightened by the prospect of discovery, she gradually settles in, her first-person narration offering a sardonic portrait of teenaged masculine dynamics based simultaneously on competition and support. Her relationship with Tristan becomes a two-way friendship as she encourages his superior performance in the three longbow trials. She loyally supports him against his arch-rival, Taran, the son of the local lord. The rivalry is physically dangerous, and not only to Tristan; Taran’s constant observation of Marieke threatens to expose her. Her greatest challenge, however, becomes love that she must disguise.

Journeys is less an historical novel than an adventure-romance. Roland’s Author’s Note admits that Ardennes and the Guild are fictional. Behind the fiction, however, is impressive knowledge of longbow shooting, displayed at its best in the three competitions that structure the plot. The prose is excellent, the characters clearly dear to their creator’s heart, and despite its excessive length, the book is a good read.

Laura C. Stevenson

15TH CENTURY

JOAN

Katherine J. Chen, Random House, 2022, $28.00, hb, 368pp, 9781984855800 / Hodder & Stoughton, 2022, £16.99, hb, 368pp, 9781399706117

You might think Joan of Arc’s tale has been told enough times, but this detailed, lived-in portrait puts the legendary historical figure firmly into her own time and place, imagining the martyred saint as a fierce, funny, resourceful giant of a teen whose escape from her abusive father lands her in the midst of the corrupt political world of France near the end of the Hundred Years’ War.

Life in Domrémy in 1422 is rich but complex;

far from being simple peasants, the citizens are politically astute and upwardly mobile in spite of periodic attacks by the allied forces of England and Burgundy. The disaster of Agincourt is recent, and Joan is raised to despise the memory of English King Henry and revere the efforts of the Dauphin of France to reclaim his throne. A tragic ending to a mock-battle between the children of neighboring villages inspires 10-year-old Joan to use her talent for fixing what is broken to benefit her entire community; as she grows into her remarkable size, strength, and charisma, she catches the attention of the jaded aristocrats in exile who mistake her organizational genius for divine mystique. The reader almost forgets Joan’s tragic fate as we marvel at her ability to fix her mind on the goal of a unified France, while also possessing the practical ability to communicate with and inspire people from all walks of life.

Chen is interested in the human Joan, not the visionary, and the voice she creates for her is unforgettable: blunt, sarcastic, affectionate, and insightful. Her religious “voices” in this version are rendered as flashes of forward-thinking insight into potential military and political outcomes. This is the richest characterization of a historical figure I’ve encountered since Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall, and Chen’s achievement belongs in that august company.

Kristen McDermott

SEA OF SHADOWS

Amy Maroney, Artelan Press, 2022, $14.99/ C$19.99, pb, 396pp, 9781955973069

This is the second novel in the Sea and Stone Chronicles set on the Greek island of Rhodes, which was ruled by the Knights Hospitaller, in the 15th century. Anica Foscolo, daughter of a Venetian father and a Greek mother, has a secret: the paintings attributed to her father are really hers. Her father, once a talented artist, is losing his eyesight. The family must keep the secret because they would lose commissions once word got out that a woman was the painter. Then Anica learns her father might be able to sail to Damascus to get an operation that would restore his eyesight. She enlists the aid of Drummond Fordun, a Scottish privateer employed by the knights. Initially mistrustful of Drummond, who she thinks of as a hired killer, Anica finds herself increasingly attracted to him. She also wishes to avoid an arranged marriage to a man she hates. Then her sister gets pregnant by one of the knights, and Anica must rely on Drummond to save her family’s honor.

Amy Maroney does an excellent job of bringing 15th-century Rhodes to life. It is a fascinating, vibrant culture, with which many readers are probably unfamiliar. Rhodes was a crossroads between East and West, and constantly under threat of attack by the Ottoman Turks. It was an important center of trade, and Maroney captures the people’s excitement whenever the merchant ships arrive, bringing goods from far-off lands. Anica is a strong, courageous heroine, and Drummond an enigmatic hero with secrets in his past which gradually unfold. He seems to be a rough man at first, but he is actually more honorable than many of the knights. Although this is the second book in a series, it stands alone because the first book has different protagonists. I highly recommend both.

Vicki Kondelik

ISABEL OF PORTUGAL, DUCHESS OF BURGUNDY

Isabel Stilwell (trans. Martha Stilwell D’Andrade), Livros Horizonte, 2022, €24.90, pb, 536pp, 9789722420303 1429, the Convent of São Bento de Avis, and Isabel, Princess of Portugal, contemplates marriage to Philippe, Duke of Burgundy. It’s a step down: Isabel is royal, while Philippe is only a duke. But his court is one of the wealthiest in Europe. And Isabel is old—in her thirties. However, Isabel is also clever. Since her mother died, fourteen years previously, she has proved herself a capable administrator, supporting her father as de facto Queen of Portugal. Hence, she appreciates the benefit to Portugal of the marriage. Despite her reluctance, she embarks upon a new life.

The marriage weds Burgundy’s wealth to Isabel’s brother Henrique’s voyages of discovery. Isabel funds Henrique, and he feeds exotic discoveries to the tradesmen of Bruges and Ghent. Isabel continued to be involved in government. She was noted for fiscal skills and diplomacy. This book is illuminated by the luxury and conspicuous displays of the Burgundian court. But Isabel never returned home, and much of the story is told in letters.

This story focuses on politics woven with familial love. Meandering “real-life” events are held together by the threads of Isabel’s pride in her inheritance, her piety, and the relationship with her “milk-brother”, son of her wet-nurse and adviser to King Alfonso V of Portugal.

I felt a bit bogged down in the middle, when events feel a little repetitive: Philippe’s marital infidelities; crusades against “the infidel”; and succession crises in Portugal, France and England. However, I enjoyed seeing the 15th century through a European lens, and the action picks up again towards the end. This is a work of considerable scholarship, with a bibliography in three languages. It is supported by maps, family trees, and a dramatis personae with historical notes. Recommended for lovers of Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir.

Helen Johnson Jill Dawson, Sceptre, 2022, £20.00, hb, 310pp, 9781473654662

This 16th-century tale tells the true story of a woman accused by her neighbours of witchcraft. Visiting her new neighbours in the Fenland village of Warboys, Alice Samuels meets the daughters of Squire Throckmorton, gifted the position by Sir Henry Cromwell. One of the girls, Jane, is experiencing terrifying fits. Jane points to Alice and calls her an ‘old witch’.

The story is narrated by Martha, a servant whose mother was a nun and who looks after the Throckmorton children. Martha senses that there is some kind of ‘wrongness’ in the household. The son, Gabriel, is in disgrace and is being sent away, and nobody knows why. She watches all these goings-on but feels her position does not entitle her to say anything. The master is strangely keen to ask her counsel. The fits spread to the other girls, and the doctor says the cause is ‘sorcery’. More ‘signs’ of Alice’s witchery arise, many of them simply tricks the girls use to get attention, and many simply made up. Even the lice in Bessie’s hair are a ‘sign’. High-born as they are, their word is taken as evidence.

This is a credible account of a conspiracy theory gaining traction and snowballing, but Martha never actually denies the craziness, so the reader is swept along. It’s a bygone time, when life centred around the master’s great house. The local abbey lies in ruins, the blackhooded monks with their silver incense burners gone, the nuns told to get married. The old herbs are considered witchery, the old prayers popery. The dynamics between the servants, their masters and the children make the story all the more tragic.

It is well written, and there are some lovely agricultural metaphors. I found it effective that the story was told from a servant’s point of view.

Susie Helme

THE COLOUR STORM (UK) / THE COLOR STORM (US)

Damian Dibben, Michael Joseph, 2022, £18.99, hb, 350pp, 9780718183905 / Hanover Square, 2022, $27.99, hb, 336pp, 9781335015938 It is 1510, the height of the Venetian Renaissance. Giorgione Barbarelli— known as Zorzo— is a young painter, fired by ambition but on the verge of bankruptcy. When a fabulously wealthy German merchant arrives in Venice amid rumours of a previously unknown pigment and a lucrative

new commission, Zorzo senses the opportunity for both fame and fortune. However, as he gets to know Sybille, the merchant’s wife, he finds himself drawn into danger, intrigue, and passion.

Little is known about the historic Giorgione, but Dibben takes the few facts known to us, and the handful of paintings ascribed to him, to weave a tale of artistry, courage and fate. The Zorzo of The Colour Storm is both sensitive (in his concern for Sybille and for his apprentices) and enthused by his work. Colour—and finding the exact pigments to use—is a constant preoccupation, yet it is equally important for him to capture the essence of the landscape and the people who inhabit it.

Alongside the art is a constant sense of menace, not just the dangers to Zorzo himself, but the looming threats of plague, and floods, and the Inquisition. The recent invention of printing has led to an explosion of knowledge, and “Pandora’s box [has been] opened”. Yet it is also a time of intellectual flowering, of art and beauty, of music and architecture. The Venice of this novel is a city of artists, a place suffused with creativity and colour. “How wonderful,” says a young artist, “To be alive at such a time.” I loved this book and I thoroughly recommend it.

Karen Warren

BRIGHT EYES

David Kudler, Stillpoint Digital, 2022, $14.95/£12.95, pb, 246pp, 9781938808630

Set in Japan of 1571, Bright Eyes is the second in a series, continuing the adventures of Kano Murasaki, variously known as Risuko, Squirrel, or Bright Eyes. Risuko is the daughter of a samurai who died dishonourably and so the family was stripped of its honour. She’s been taken under the wing of the redoubtable Lady Chinyome, the leader of the ‘Full Moon’ where girls are secretly taught to fight, and we are given some wonderful detail of the many ways in which they can overpower any attacker whatever his size.

The chapter headings and page breaks are set up as broad-brush strokes and, along with some wonderfully descriptive writing, beautifully evoke a sense of place. Risuko is a spirited heroine and bold climber, she’s also an astute observer and solves a number of mysterious deaths—yet still has to do daily chores. There are lots of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing and a wide range of characters… almost too many for this reader who, on occasion, found it difficult to keep track of who was who. Nevertheless, it was wonderful to be among the Samurai Daughters, and I look forward to the next in series.

V. E. H. Masters

THE REBEL’S MARK

S. W. Perry, Corvus, 2022, £18.99, hb, 446pp, 9781838953980

Set in 1598 in Elizabethan London and Ireland, The Rebel’s Mark opens on a ship carrying a Spanish grandee, his soon-tobe-married daughter, and their maid to Ireland across a stormy sea. The next scene is in London, where the novel’s protagonist, Doctor Nicholas Shelby, and his wife, Bianca, are attending a poetry reading in the presence of Shelby’s most important patient, Queen Elizabeth.

Nicholas is not only a physician to the queen but is also caught up in politics as a spy. He is sent to Ireland to meet with Edmund Spenser, one of Secretary of State Robert Cecil’s informants. Here Nicholas and Bianca become caught up in a war between the English and the Irish. Shelby discovers a fraud that stretches from Ireland all the way to London. Bianca befriends the daughter and maid of the Spanish emissary, in a second strand to the plot.

The story is engaging, with many plot twists and fascinating minor characters. A constant danger hangs over Nicholas and his wife. Both are sympathetic and complex, and their love story provides a strong counterpoint to the violence and treachery in the novel.

Bianca is a herbalist, and it is fascinating to read about the medicines she makes, with ‘wild campion, agrimony and fluellin.’ It is pleasing to read about such a strong female character. Nicholas and Bianca as a couple provide the reader with plenty of examples of their everyday lives in Elizabethan England. An enjoyable read.

Bridget Walsh

17TH CENTURY

DAUGHTERS OF THE DEER

Danielle Daniel, Random House Canada, 2022, C$24.00, pb, 344pp, 9780735282087

Canadian writer Daniel’s poignant historical novel, her adult fiction debut, reveals important truths about Indigenous women’s lives. The daughters of the title are Marie and Jeanne of the Weskarini Algonkin people – the deer clan – in the place now called Quebec. “In the year they call 1657, I am to marry a white man. A white man whose blood will flow in the veins of my children and my children’s children,” says Marie, a talented healer. She agrees to wed French trader Pierre Couc to save her tribe, most of whose men were killed fighting the Iroquois. Among the coureurs de bois, Pierre seems kind and respectful of her ways, yet theirs isn’t an alliance of equals. Marie’s narrative is deeply empathetic as she worries about the white settlers’ greed – they take from the land without showing respect for its gifts – and their supplanting of Native traditions in favor of Catholicism, a religion the Weskarini chief asks his people to follow for their protection.

Marie and Pierre raise a large family, and the future of their eldest daughter, Jeanne, is always on Marie’s mind thanks to an elder’s prophecy. By the laws of the French king, thousands of miles distant, Jeanne must marry by a certain age or Pierre will be fined, but Jeanne’s beloved is her neighbor and best friend, Josephine. Although samesex romantic relationships are honored among the Algonkins, the whites consider them shameful at best. Daniel’s crystalline prose ensures a smoothly elegant read that emphasizes the pristine beauty of the region and her compassion for what her ancestors endured (Marie and Jeanne are on her family tree). Her story also lays bare the deliberate erasures made by colonialism, which has left a tragic, long-lasting legacy. Deservedly a Canadian bestseller, this novel exemplifies historical fiction’s noble purpose of revivifying important voices from the past.

Sarah Johnson

ANATOMY OF A HERETIC

David Mark, Head of Zeus, 2022, $15.95/£8.99, pb, 417pp, 9781801105316

The wreck of the Dutch East Indiaman Batavia off the coast of western Australia in 1629 sets in train a story of human depravity that continues to inspire novelists with a taste for horror. Anatomy of a Heretic begins in London in 1628. Gentleman assassin Nicolaes de Pelgrom, aka Wiebbe Hayes, is the devoted nephew of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. He is engaged by the widow Mariam Towerson to travel to the East Indies to exact revenge for the murder of her husband.

On the same ship is apothecary Jeronimus Cornelisz, hired in Amsterdam to escort precious cargo. Cornelisz has just murdered someone with a poisoned letter and is rumoured to be under the influence of the Rosicrucian Torrentius. Also aboard is the beautiful Lucretia Jansz and her maid Zwaantie, who is under Cornelisz’s influence.

The commander of the Batavia is Francisco Pelsaert, constantly at odds with the skipper Ariaen Jacobsz. The mutinous mood of the crew and the enmity between the men in charge provide perfect fodder for the nefarious schemes of Cornelisz. As the two assassins clash, so do their respective missions. The ship is wrecked on the reefs of the Abrolhos Islands, and the voyage becomes the stuff of history: dark, carnal, and bloodthirsty.

The author gives little for free, jumping straight into gorgeous and grotesque scenes with no backstory, which makes the first few chapters hard reading, but it’s worth it once you get going. The writing is sumptuous and decadent, including some truly inspired curse words—e.g., ‘shit-spangled daughters

of flux-cunnied curs’. I felt certain that an evil character like Cornelisz would not prove to be well rounded, but even he becomes briefly human in the face of cataclysm.

This lush masterpiece lives in the underbelly of a vibrant period when unscrupulous adventurers clawed for profit from the wider world being opened to Europeans.

Susie Helme

18TH CENTURY

RANGER

Timothy Ashby, Sharpe, 2022, $10.99/£7.99, pb, 348pp, 9798410469432 1796: Arthur Charteris inherits a baronetcy and comes from Grenada to Leicestershire to claim it. With him are two servants and his child Alexander (Chart) by his recently deceased slave Weju. Half-caste Chart is raised as a gentleman alongside his cousin, the hunchbacked Pemberton, until Pemb commits a crime and is banished from the household. Chart goes to boarding school where Pemb is already studying and is violently bullied by his cousin. He falls in love with Arabella, but they are separated when he joins the East India Company.

Upon the death of his father, Chart returns home to find not only that Pemb has thoroughly usurped him and married Arabella, but legally he is considered Pemb’s chattel. He is seized and taken to Grenada to be worked as a field slave on the sugar plantation where he grew up. Chart “feels like an Anglo-Saxon” inside, a “man caught between two worlds”, and despite being helped by prominent abolitionists, he tends to look upon his case as a property dispute rather than a manumission issue.

The French Revolution comes to the island in the form of a slave revolt, but Chart’s position is ambiguous. The revolt gives him his freedom, but he refuses to join in the violent reprisals against the British landowners. Instead, he joins the Black Rangers and fights against the French, to crush the rebellion. But he still has to face his cousin.

The interplay between class interests, race interests, and national—even tribal—interests is complex, aggravated by the hypocrisy of the French Revolution, betrayed before it could truly deliver liberté, egalité, fraternité.

The events in this book and many of the people were real. Unfortunately, the horrific depictions of abuse and degradation of the slaves were taken from true accounts. Book One in the Storm of War series.

Susie Helme

GALLOWS ROAD

Lisa Hall Brownell, Elm Grove, 2022, $18.95, pb, 276pp, 9781940863160

Set in the Colony of Connecticut in the 1750s and inspired by true events, this is the tale of Mercy Bramble, whose short life is to be ended with a noose on the morrow. She has been jailed for an unusually long period of time, convicted of killing her newborn baby. The townspeople are gathering to enjoy their own sense of righteousness as they witness the hanging.

An unloved child, Mercy had been apprenticed at the age of seven to work fourteen hours a day as everything from scullery maid to farmhand. Traded to another family, she falls in love with her master, and their relationship not only enrages his wife but ends with Mercy’s pregnancy. When the child is born, the wife takes it. It is never seen again. Mercy is accused of having killed it.

In jail Mercy is visited only by people wanting to save her soul. One of these is a young clergyman who becomes her friend. It is here that the author drives home her point about the hypocrisy of the townspeople, compared to Mercy’s honest simplicity. The other major contrast is the growing freedom of Mercy’s mind as she is taught to read while she is confined to a tiny dark cell.

The author reveals with great clarity the conditions of the time, especially for servants and slaves. She unstintingly defines the attitudes of the outwardly religious but inwardly cruel church people of New London. Her theme focuses on the early life and character of Mercy Bramble, making this a character-driven novel, and one that draws the reader to feel great empathy for Mercy. The sense of place is strong throughout the story; one senses the author’s extensive knowledge and keen perception of the nuances of 18th-century Connecticut.

Valerie Adolph

THE HOUSE OF FORTUNE

Jessie Burton, Picador, 2022, £16.99, hb, 406pp, 9781509886081 / Bloomsbury, 2022, $28.00, hb, 304pp, 9781635579741

Amsterdam, 1705: Eighteen years have passed since the events recounted in Burton’s The Miniaturist (2014). In this novel it is Thea Brandt, niece of Nella (protagonist of the earlier novel), who takes centre stage. The daughter of Otto, a Black former slave and precariously employed bureaucrat, and of a Dutch mother who died giving birth to her, Thea has turned eighteen and is in love with a scene painter. However, her father’s straitened circumstances mean that Nella instead plots an advantageous marriage for Thea as a solution to the family’s economic woes. Their fine house is rapidly denuded of its treasures but is central to nuptial negotiations.

At a ball the Brandts are mocked by their hostess and Nella’s intentions are revealed. The elusive miniaturist makes her presence felt again, not seen but heard, communicating once more through her creations. Thea is sent a perfect miniature of her lover the painter, a fact that pleases him not at all, followed by a blackmailer’s demand. Why is the palette of the artist’s image empty when his work is in such demand? Like many eighteen-yearolds in love, the headstrong Thea rejects wise counsel initially but appears nevertheless to bow to convention.

As in the previous novel, Burton depicts in a painterly way Amsterdam’s mercantile class. A scene of Thea at a harpsichord, which she does not know how to play, is comparable to a picture by Vermeer. Thea herself is a beautifully rendered portrait of a girl on the edge of womanhood, obstinate and tender. This novel will not disappoint those who enjoyed The Miniaturist.

Katherine Mezzacappa

CAPTAIN HALE’S COVENANT

Thomas E. Crocker, McBooks, 2022, $29.95, hb, 438pp, 9781493066216

Captain Adam Hale is a blockade runner during the American Revolution. Beginning in 1783, he decides to put his maritime experience to use in building a wide-ranging merchant business centered on seafaring trade. At the same time, he is raising a family along with his dear wife, Nabby. As the years pass, Captain Hale must navigate not only through dangerous seas but also through shifting alliances among the various European powers. American mariners tend to be canny entrepreneurs, and Hale is among the best of them.

Operating out of his home port of Portland, Maine, he enlists the aid of his sons in exploiting the market for ships’ masts constructed of good Maine timber. Trading partners include the British, French, Dutch and Portuguese but, depending on the year and political conditions, these same partners can become military enemies of the young United States, which makes the Captain’s task infinitely more difficult. He and his sons must also determine what it means to be an American in service to one’s country and to be God-fearing Christians. Given the dangerous times, it is not unexpected when Captain Hale experiences both business losses and family tragedies. He continually strives to persevere through it all.

Spanning from 1783 to 1822, this multigenerational novel is both a sentimental family saga and a rip-roaring, action-filled adventure of sailing ship battles in the Atlantic. The reader must also be prepared for intermittent passages of philosophical and religious introspection. There were a few historical anecdotes which surprised and fascinated me especially as to the importance of Maine in trade and commerce at the time— it’s a very interesting period, when an infant country was just beginning to spread its wings. Recommended.

Thomas J. Howley

THE PORTRAITIST

Susanne Dunlap, She Writes, 2022, $17.95/£12.99, pb, 281pp, 9781647420970

This is a novel about the career of pioneering female painter Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, who was starting to rise in the French art world just before the Revolution. It begins in 1774, when Adélaïde is unhappily married to Nicolas, who disapproves of her desire to paint. She leaves his abuse and goes to her father’s house,

where he offers her money and help getting a separation. Adélaïde’s goal is to be named a member of the Académie Royale, which admits very few women. She creates erotic pastels to earn money for artists’ supplies, and begins lessons with François-André Vincent, an up-and-coming painter. They eventually fall in love but can’t marry because divorce is illegal in France. Adélaïde begins teaching young women who want to learn to paint, as she works on canvases that might be submitted to the Académie. She worries that her personal life might be seen as immoral, despite eventually achieving commissions from members of the royal family. But the French Revolution looms, and her associations with royalty might cost her her life.

Dunlap’s author’s note says that the major characters were real people, although she took liberties with some of them, and that there is no evidence that Adélaïde is responsible for the erotic pastels, though the pictures did exist at the time. Adélaïde is portrayed as a protofeminist, wanting to break into the normally closed male art world, and regretting that the social changes being brought about by the Revolution still did not give women a voice in society. The struggles of a single woman who wanted to work outside the home in that time period are vividly brought to life, as is the electric excitement among the proletariat once the Revolution begins. I enjoyed learning about the French art world and recommend this novel.

B. J. Sedlock

SCATTERED SEED

Francine Thomas Howard, Lake Union, 2022, $14.95/£8.99, pb, 315pp, 9781542031097

Three young women of Bambara nobility are sent to spend the summer of 1706 along the banks of the Niger river. When their camp is raided and the women are taken captive, the three sisters must endure the long march to the coast, where they are held on Gorée Island and eventually sent on a slave ship to the American colonies.

Folashade, Bibi, and Adaeze endure numerous atrocities and degradations along the way. They cling to each other throughout while deepening their bond of sisterhood and attempting to save each other from the worst of the violence and humiliation. Told in alternating points of view, each sister adapts to the grueling realities with a different coping mechanism. Throughout the story we learn more about the First and Middle Passage from the perspective of the women who were captured and sold.

The novel moves slowly, in part because the same dynamics recur repeatedly throughout the book in different settings. The characters tend to repeat mistakes or misunderstandings rather than growing and changing. A few errors or inconsistencies make parts of the story hard to believe. For example, the characters who could understand the various spoken languages seemed to shift and change, and the translator’s presence was often forgotten. Despite all this, I enjoyed the point of view of the young women characters and learning about Bambara culture in the early 1700s.

Shauna McIntyre

THE BOOKSELLER OF INVERNESS

S. G. MacLean, Quercus, 2022, £16.99, hb, 398pp, 9781529414172

This is S. G. MacLean’s first stand-alone novel since her popular Damien Seeker series. In 1745, Jacobite Iain MacGillivray is left for dead on Drumossie Moor after the battle of Culloden. Six years later, he lives a respectable life as a bookseller— until he finds a stranger murdered in his shop. A sword with a white cockade on its hilt (the emblem of the Jacobites) lies beside the body, and Iain is inexorably drawn into solving the crime. On one level, this novel is a cracking adventure story. There are plots, spies, longhidden secrets and shocking betrayals; and castles with underground tunnels and exciting escapes across night-clad moors. On a deeper level, the author portrays a haunting sense of an occupied country still reeling from the slaughter at Culloden, and from the brutal reprisals that followed. Many Highlanders were hunted down and subjected to a traitor’s death, or transported. Those left behind endured Hanoverian land seizures, and strict laws forbidding them to carry weapons, play the pipes or wear the tartan. There is scarcely a character in this novel who is not suffering from a profound sense of loss. Take Iain MacGillivray, who is scarred both physically and mentally. One side of his face is ravaged by grapeshot. He also suffers from survivor’s guilt, and from what we would now understand to be PTSD. Isobel MacLeod, the confectioner, is similarly traumatised. Her story touches on the sensitive fact that some Highland chiefs kidnapped their own people to sell into indentured servitude, and subsequently profited from the North American and Caribbean slave trade. A gripping and thought-provoking novel. Highly recommended.

Penny Ingham

THAT BONESETTER WOMAN

Frances Quinn, Simon & Schuster, 2022, £14.99, hb, 438pp, 9781471193446

London, 1757, and two very different sisters arrive on the stagecoach from Sussex. Endurance (‘Durie’) is strong and bigboned, while petite Lucinda cherishes acting ambitions but first must discreetly deal with the unfortunate aftermath of having been ‘taking advantage of’ by her employer. Durie is clumsy at women’s work, yet her hands have the uncanny skill to reset broken bones and soothe sprains. Her father has been the town bonesetter, and Durie cherishes the hope that she can follow in his footsteps. However, the attitudes of the times, not to mention the medical establishment, are set against her.

The sisters’ adventures are well portrayed mainly from Durie’s point of view, and with extensive dialogue, much of it very amusing. The narrative is fast-moving and lively, as the girls meet with sudden success, but then see it snatched away by self-serving men. Eventually Durie discovers true romance. Though I enjoyed such settings as the Tower of London, theatres, the Foundling Hospital, and a coffee house full of sexist doctors, I thought at times the story was a little light on the historical background. Given that this is the period of the Seven Years’ War, I would have expected Durie to encounter wounded soldiers and sailors on the streets, but the war is not mentioned. Indeed at one point there is a speculation about getting a dress ‘straight from Paris’: I doubt this would have been a possibility.

There is little period grimness here—no beggars or executions—unless you include the descriptions of Durie’s work as a bonesetter. In all this is an enjoyable read, feminist history which does not neglect sources of humour or romance. It deserves to reach a wide audience.

Ben Bergonzi

SISTER MOTHER WARRIOR

Vanessa Riley, William Morrow, 2022, $27.99, hb, 480pp, 9780063073548

Riley brings to life the Haitian Revolution through the lens of its two most important female protagonists in this thrilling and utterly engrossing saga. When her West African village is sacked, Abdaraya Toya trains as a Minos, the elite female guard of the Dahomey. As their general, she sacrifices herself to enslavement to protect her king. Once on SaintDomingue, under the thumb of the brutal Duclos, Toya protects her fellow enslaved and her friend’s son, Janjak, as he works to buy his freedom and win the beautiful Marie-Claire.

Marie-Claire, raised by free parents, grows up watching the Grand and Petit Blancs increasingly restrict the freedoms of the Coloreds and the freed Affranchi, while the

enslaved resist with poison or outright revolt. When Janjak is sold to the worst possible fate, Marie-Claire weds the priest Bonheur to give their child a safe future, while Toya escapes to the mountains to join the rebellion sparked by Toussaint Louverture and his charismatic general, Dessalines. As the fight for freedom and justice escalates, Marie-Claire finds herself torn between two loves and the need to minister to the victims of war. Amid horrific violence and soaring success, all three heroes—Toya, MarieClaire, and Dessalines—will sacrifice parts of themselves to birth a new Hayti that promises liberation for all Black citizens.

Riley’s prose is breathlessly beautiful, the lines clean and vibrant, her images raw and real, whether she is describing lovers eating a mango or Toya felling her foes. The chilling tortures inflicted by enslavers and the French armies are balanced with moments of incredible beauty, tenderness, and joy. A gripping animation of the first successful Blackled democracy in the West as well as a moving exploration of loyalty, passion, and grief, this book sears itself on the consciousness. Highly recommended.

Misty Urban

THE GREAT PASSION

James Runcie, Bloomsbury, 2022, £16.99, hb, 260pp, 9781408885512 / Bloomsbury, 2022, $28.00, hb, 272pp, 9781635570670

For anyone who loves the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, this novel about his composition of the St Matthew Passion for Good Friday, 1727, will enthral. Bach leaps off the page, bestriding the narrative told by 11-year-old Stefan Silbermann. Stefan is the organ maker’s son, sent to St Thomas Church song school where Bach was cantor, as a way of coming to terms with the death of his mother. The boy soprano learns about grief and how to transcend it during a turbulent coming-of-age year with Bach as the exemplar. The ferocious output of Bach’s music transmutes his grief at the death of his parents, first wife, and many of his own young children.

Organising his rambunctious, talented family with precision, he still has time to notice Stefan’s talent. Offering him escape from bullying and rivalry at his new school, Bach takes him into his household as a copyist, where one of his many daughters catches Stefan’s eye. He becomes friends with Bach’s wife, Anna Magdalena. She is in no way belittled by the charisma of her husband but complements it with inner strength, based on her early acclaim as a soprano. Music is the structure for the grief that would otherwise overwhelm them. She tells him, ‘It’s not a sin to mourn, but we cannot dwell on the past. Otherwise we ruin our future.’

Bach’s Lutheran beliefs structure his conversation as music structures his life. The public execution of a young man, to us and to Stefan a barbaric act, underlines the universality of grief and the consolation of music. The death of Bach himself many years later ends Stefan’s story with a graceful and optimistic coda. Our times are different, but the great questions remain: how to survive grief with serenity and purpose. Runcie deals as well as anyone with such matters. A moving and beautifully imagined story.

Cassandra Clark

MADEMOISELLE REVOLUTION

Zoe Sivak, Berkley, 2022, $27.00, hb, 432pp, 9780593336038

Sivak’s bold debut is an original take on the Haitian and French Revolutions, seen from the viewpoint of a biracial woman awakening to her privilege and learning how to wield it in liberty’s name. In 1791, Sylvie de Rosiers, eighteen and beautiful, is the cosseted only daughter of a coffee planter in Saint-Domingue, a French colony in the West Indies. Her father’s status means she was born free, unlike the Black mother she never knew, and she disdains politics in favor of standard feminine pursuits. But the island’s enslaved people are rising in rebellion. After she sees Vincent Ogé executed for his racial justice activism, Sylvie realizes her complicity in the horrific system.

The action scenes are strikingly written as Sylvie and her half-brother Gaspard narrowly escape being killed and, eventually, sail to Paris, where they stay with their kindly aunt. Among their neighbors are the Duplay family and their soon-to-be-famous tenant, Maximilien Robespierre. As Sylvie’s mind expands through their conversations, she falls into an affair with Robespierre’s confidante and mistress, Cornélie Duplay, though admires Robespierre deeply and can’t get him off her mind.

It takes audacity to insert a fictional character amidst the French Revolution’s major players, but Sivak manages to pull it off. That said, Sylvie can be reckless—leaving the house in pearls with impoverished sansculottes nearby isn’t the brightest move—and the prose occasionally lands heavily. The scope is impressively wide-ranging as Sylvie, from her unique vantage as a woman of color, observes the shifts between different political factions and realizes her power and its limitations.

Cinematic details unfold on the page as violent discord plays out on Paris’s streets and Sylvie ponders the similarities and differences between the two revolutions. Thoughtprovoking and passionate, this story marks Sivak as an author worth watching.

Kris Waldherr, Muse Publications, 2022, $28.99, hb, 352pp, 9798985351224

Worthy of comparison to Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, in Unnatural Creatures, Kris Waldherr moves the lens of the Frankenstein story away from Victor and his infamous monster in favor of the women in his life, and in doing so adds to the myth in a rich, satisfying, and multi-layered tale.

Three characters carry the novel: Victor’s mother, Caroline; her adopted daughter Elizabeth Lavenza, intended from childhood to become Victor’s wife; and Justine, also taken in by Caroline and given a position as a servant. Each woman’s story springs to life in parallel and at times in intersection with the events of Mary Shelley’s novel. Everything is interwoven so seamlessly it is possible to imagine that Shelley’s characters were real historical figures and Waldherr is simply enhancing our understanding of the family and the world from which Victor Frankenstein emerged to create his monster with devastating consequences. Although it’s not essential to have read the original Frankenstein, close familiarity with that novel will only enhance the reading experience.

There is much to enjoy here: rich description, gothic chills and undertones, allusion and symbolism (particularly around Milton’s Paradise Lost), questions of free will, creation and the making and unmaking of characters. Parallels between Justine’s story and that of the monster are intriguing to consider. Literary but also an engaging page-turning read, Unnatural Creatures is a splendid achievement from a writer at the height of her powers.

Kate Braithwaite

19TH CENTURY

FOREVER PAST

Marty Ambrose, Severn House, 2022, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 192pp, 9781448308576

Italy, 1873. The third in the Claire Clairmont series once again focuses on Claire’s desperate efforts to continue her search for the truth about her daughter, Allegra, with Lord Byron. We are all familiar with those transcendent figures who peopled the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva during the “year without a summer” of 1816: Shelley, Byron, Dr. Polidori, Mary Shelley and her stepsister, Claire. It is the stuff of legends and romance. When Claire becomes pregnant with Byron’s child, everything in

her world changes, but after she returns to England, Byron ignores her.

Claire decides that Allegra should be raised in opulent surroundings, so she delivers Allegra to Byron in Italy. Rather than raising the child himself, which is what Claire believed would happen, Byron places Allegra in a convent in Bagnacavallo, and Claire never sees her daughter again. Allegra allegedly dies at age five, but Claire has never learned the truth, and she believes Allegra may be alive.

Already in danger and the target of enemies who want to keep secrets hidden, Claire travels to Bagnacavallo to confront the Abbess. As Claire comes close to the truth, she becomes the target of threatening events. The question is: who can be so threatened by Claire’s inquiries and why? This is a very enjoyable series; however, the third installment may be read as a stand-alone for those who want to jump in and enjoy a solidly researched mystery filled with fascinating characters—Claire, in particular—and a great location.

Ilysa Magnus

THE YOUNG PRETENDER, or The Dramatic Return of Master Betty

Michael Arditti, Arcadia Books, 2022, £12.99, hb, 192pp, 9781529422559

England in the early 19th century. William Betty, generally known as Master Betty, who was a real-life child actor, was celebrated and feted at the aged of just ten throughout the land for his dramatic skills on the stage. However, as is often the case with child prodigies, fame and fortune rapidly declined as he entered adolescence. Ten years later, he attempts a comeback on the stage, known now as Mister Betty, having piled on the pounds. But he meets a number of challenges back on the boards and uncovers some hitherto unknown surprises of his child career.

It is a short novel about the perils and pitfalls of celebrity; even over 200 years ago, greed, deception and the desperate need for novelty surrounded the vacuous bubble of national fame, which could rocket a hitherto obscure man or woman into the frenzied limelight, and quickly cast them back down again into obscurity. While the novel presents an appealing study in the early 19th-century dramatic experience, as well as the hazards and idiocies of extravagant celebrity, the story does not entirely absorb and lacks the essential narrative fascination and drive. The format of memoir and reminiscence gives the novel a feel of a rather naïve autobiography, which is perhaps the intention of the author, but does not make for irresistible reading, though the tale is capably told and well written and has a sound historical foundation.

Douglas Kemp

THE SECRET OF BOW LANE

Jennifer Ashley, Berkley, 2022, $16.99, pb, 336pp, 9780440001799

In this sixth installment of the Below Stairs Mysteries, set in Victorian-era London, cook Kat Holloway is confronted by Charlotte Bristow, legal wife of a bigamist, Joe Bristow, who Kat once thought was her husband. Kat believed that Joe had died at sea, but Charlotte claims that he was murdered and had left behind a fortune. Charlotte offers Kat a share of the money if she finds out who killed Joe. As Kat begins investigating with the help of her friend Daniel McAdam, she must face questions herself as her connection to Joe comes to light. In addition to investigating Joe’s death, Kat decides to try and look more into Daniel’s background as well, for their relationship is beginning to escalate.

As always, the upstairs/downstairs setting of this series is fascinating. Due to strict proprieties of the time, Kat is forced to keep many secrets in order to keep her job. She has to hide the fact that she has a daughter and that she was married, or thought she was married, before. Her employers and their friends seem to find it quite their business to discuss her private life. Her job as a cook in a grand house is fascinating, but can be stressful, especially when the mistress of the house is making outrageous menus for her to prepare. The mystery is riveting and full of twists and turns. Kat finds herself actually investigating her own past, as well as Daniel’s, and more of both their backstories are revealed. The logistics of running a Victorian-era household and the complexities of society at that time are well portrayed. The touches of romance are the perfect complement to the story. This is a compelling and complex cozy mystery that will keep you guessing and turning the pages.

Bonnie DeMoss

REMEMBER LOVE

Mary Balogh, Berkley, 2022, $27.00/C$35.00, hb, 368pp, 9780593438121 1808. When a fortune-teller warns Devlin Ware, heir to the Earl of Stratton, that he is ‘a man of principle… about to be faced with an impossible choice between a destructive truth and a corrosive lie,’ surely this is no more than entertainment? But when Devlin publicly accuses his father of shaming his family, it is he whom the assembled family banishes in disgrace. Disillusioned and embittered, he joins the army in the Peninsula and severs contact with them. 1814. Captain Ware returns, scarred by his experiences. Since his father has died, he is now the earl, but might it be impossible to reconcile with offended family, neighbours, and, most importantly, Gwyneth, the girl he left behind? Believing himself no longer capable of love, he hopes she has found it elsewhere, but he is wrong on all counts. Many always did take his side, and more have come to recognize the necessity for decisive action (‘Self-deception was a powerful force,’ his mother acknowledges); he has never been replaced in Gwyneth’s heart; and does not his strong sense of duty prove that he does care for others?

Balogh manages the journey towards healing and reconciliation with her usual keen insight and heart-warming wisdom. As Gwyneth recognizes, we pay a high price for ignoring a reality we find uncomfortable: ‘When people live in denial of the truth . . . they lose something precious . . . integrity, perhaps?’ This warning resonates today more powerfully than ever. Highly recommended.

Ray Thompson

THE ELEMENT OF LOVE

Mary Connealy, Bethany House, 2022, $15.99, pb, 293pp, 9780764239588

In 1870s California, the three Stiles sisters are heirs to their father’s lumber business, which will pass to them when they marry. They have prepared by studying chemistry and engineering, which would help them run the company. But their stepfather, Edgar, has plans to marry them off to his shady friends, so he can get his hands on their money. The girls’ mother urges them to run away and find husbands quickly, so they can return and foil Edgar’s plans. Various adventures lead them to meet a party of missionaries traveling West to the goldfields, including Rev. Caleb Tillman, whom Laura finds attractive. But Caleb has a dark past that he’s reluctant to tell her about.

I liked the plot element of the sisters’ interest in science, which could be inspiring for younger readers. But Connealy didn’t sell me on the story setup—the mother was sorry she married Edgar in haste, and now she’s urging the girls to do the same thing? Caleb’s reluctance to disclose his past before marrying Laura could spark a discussion in a book club about honesty. But I didn’t feel much chemistry between the two, so I won’t be watching for the sequel.

B. J. Sedlock

PLAYING THE GHOST

Johanna Craven, Artyficial Dreams, 2022, A$6.99/$4.99, ebook, 308pp, 9780994536464 In the mid-1850s, the growing Australian town of Castlemaine is a wild and often terrifying place. People have come from all over the world seeking their fortunes in the Goldfields, but death is never far away, and ghosts stalk the landscape: ancient spirits as well as the more recent, who have been destroyed by bad luck or misfortune.

Tom and Lucy Earnshaw are an English couple who are struggling to get by, hoping to strike it rich while also dealing with a personal tragedy. Tom suggests that Lucy join a local group of amateur players as an outlet from her relentless drudgery. Although previously shy and withdrawn, Lucy discovers that some part of her craves attention and she “longs to be seen, to be heard”. The theatre is a welcome escape, and she makes new friends but also is increasingly attracted to the charismatic playwright, Will Browning. When he gives her the role of the ghostly Green Lady, she uses the disguise to haunt the town and silently observe spurious activities which might affect Tom. After Lucy’s trickery is

discovered, livelihoods and lives are at stake, and she is forced into difficult choices.

“Ghost hoaxing” would become a common occurrence in the Goldfields, and this story is inspired by real historical events. The sights, sounds and activities of the early days of Castlemaine are accurately described, the characters are appealing and believable, as is the sense of frustration experienced by those who thought digging for gold would bring happiness only to suffer from disappointment, exploitation or deceit, but mostly from rage … “Rage at their empty claims and their aching bodies and their children buried at Pennyweight Flat.”

This honest and captivating novel is highly recommended for anyone interested in the Australian Goldrush era.

Marina Maxwell

MY NAME IS YIP

Paddy Crewe, Overlook, 2022, $28.00, hb, 368pp, 9781419762291

Not since Mark Twain has a novel been written so effectively in “defective” English: the struggling and antiquated prose of a 15-yearold whose unexpected journey takes him from mute outcast to adventurous partner (still mute, but communicating through a chalk board). Yip Tolroy narrates his tale of exile, captivity, and abuse with the calm acceptance of a Dickensian youth, born into poverty in 1815 in a small frontier-rugged town in Georgia. Only the friendship of an older man pulls Yip out of animal-level existence, into communication with his fellow humans.

Yip and his new friend Dud Carter witness the start of a gold rush—and then commit a crime that sends them on the run. This reduces Yip’s level of protection; familiar only with his mother’s crude home and shop, he’s suddenly struggling to survive in wilderness, with unscrupulous characters around him whose malice is far more intentional than what he could have imagined. He explains his confusion about the voices of the men he meets: “It seemed to me they was raised in Merriment & Anger both, I was not yet versed in the vacillations of character that devilish drink did induce. I did not know how it might bring a man to his knees in anguish in one moment & have him leaping for joy the next.”

Every chapter brings conflict and suspense, while Yip’s crude communication never hides his efforts to understand and to empathize. Like Gulliver among new peoples, Yip struggles to both understand his world and seek a place in it. Events are rough, yet they lead him to growth. For a reader passionate about, say, the orphan Pip, My Name Is Yip provides a quintessential American counterpart.

Beth Kanell

THEATRE OF MARVELS

Lianne Dillsworth, Harper, 2022, $26.99, hb, 320pp, 9780358627913 / Hutchinson Heinemann, 2022, £14.99, hb, 432pp, 9781529151466 1840s London. A gaudy theatre in Drury Lane. Star act: the Great Amazonia, WarriorQueen of Darkest Africa! Playing to sell-out audiences!

But Zillah isn’t coal-black, nor is she African. She’s a woman of color who slathers on black makeup to play “Amazonia”—and gives the audience an act of unbridled savagery. She’s never considered any deeper meaning to her act than getting paid and staying out of the life of the streets; Zillah considers herself very lucky. But her protector—and the owner of the theatre—is always looking for a way to make more money, and he doesn’t care who he hurts in the process. Zillah discovers that while her act is a fraud, there’s another act waiting in the wings; no fraud, but an unfortunate slave whom Zillah vows to save from the horror awaiting her. Zillah’s quest takes her into places she never dreamed existed, and into a voyage of self-discovery that leads her to question the cost of her “harmless” act as the Great Amazonia.

This is a colorful, evocative novel. The narrative voice is strong and sure, and it manages to convey horrors without being graphic. It is an edgy, intriguing look into an unexplored sector of London history, and Zillah’s story is haunting and unforgettable.

India Edghill

THE LAST QUEEN

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, William Morrow, 2022, $16.99, pb, 384pp, 9780063161870

When Jindan notices a beautiful horse outside her window, she goes to meet it, sugar in hand. Little does she know her new friend is owned by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire. Charmed by her knowledge, the maharaja returns and spends afternoons with her. They fall in love, then marry when she’s of age. Jindan quickly becomes the favored queen and bears a son. However, after first losing her husband and then the First Anglo-Sikh War, she is imprisoned and her son taken away. Escaping her prison, she travels like a servant through 800 miles of forest to find sanctuary in Nepal, waiting and planning for the day she can be reunited with her son.

The story opens in 1826 and follows Jindan’s life from a peasant to a queen to an exile to a rebel. Perhaps it could be defined as an Indian Cinderella story, but after marriage, Cinderella must defeat the encroaching British forces while guiding her son to become the next great maharaja. It’s fascinating to see this woman, in a country where women typically were restricted behind the purdah system, as a leader. Maharani Jindan held court, conducted business in public, and spoke to the army in person. While hard to imagine a happy marriage between an 18-year-old girl and the 55-year-old maharaja, the author pens a sweet love story. Jindan also loves her country and, most fiercely, her son. Times are hard for Jindan, but how she faces each challenge is outlined in this compelling, atmospheric narrative. The story illustrates that choices

J. Lynn Else

THE THREAD COLLECTORS

Shaunna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman, Graydon House, 2022, $16.99/C$21.99, pb, 384pp, 9780369717870

Focused mostly on New Orleans in 1863 and 1864, this novel follows the lives of people of color during the Civil War. William, a talented musician, is fleeing from the city and enslavement to undertake the dangerous trek to join the Union army, leaving behind his soulmate, Stella.

At Camp Parapet, William meets Private Kling, a Jewish musician from New York who has left behind his soulmate, Lily. The two men play music together, first for their own pleasure, then to raise the morale of all the soldiers in the camps. Meanwhile, Stella is pulling threads from colored fabric to create maps showing slaves from the South the safest routes to join the Union army. Lily is sending sheet music to Jacob so he can play the latest tunes to the fighting men. Foraging away from camp at Christmas, Jacob is badly wounded. William, seeking help for him, returns to Stella, where he finds his newborn son. Lily, meanwhile, has travelled south searching for Jacob in all the Union military hospitals.

The authors have penned an engrossing story, and they use it to expose many of the cruelties experienced by enslaved people, prejudice against Jewish people, military incompetence, and the devastation of the land by both armies. This they accomplish with grace and nuance, educating as they entertain. They document also the horrors of war—the stacks of amputated limbs, the unburied dead—but within a context of time, place, and story.

This novel pulls the heartstrings of love and loss, terrors and joys. The cold facts underpin the very human emotions as people of color move from their overt exploitation by slave owners to the more veiled exploitation by the army that has come to save them.

Not an easy read, but a valuable one.

Valerie Adolph

SECRETS OF ROSENLI MANOR

Heidi Eljarbo, Independently published, 2022, $12.99, pb, 212pp, 9798438217510

Norway, 1898. When Lilly unexpectedly inherits her great-aunt’s entire estate, she feels

daunted at the prospect. Why her, not her father, or uncle, or cousins? Why not divide it among them? Given how nasty the rest of the family are, the reasons soon become obvious, but Great-Aunt Agatha leaves four letters which her good friends deliver to Lilly after her death. These reveal some unexpected secrets.

This is a Christian romance. The virtues of kindness and understanding, compassion and forgiveness, humility and loyalty, hard work and fortitude, are all handsomely rewarded; by contrast, the pride, greed, envy, and selfishness of Lilly’s grasping relatives are deservedly punished. Nor does patriarchal privilege escape censure. The didactic tone is softened by the kindliness and restraint with which the good characters treat the bad ones, though the latter do little, if anything, to deserve such forbearance. Fortunately, they are frustrated by their own arrogance and ineptitude. Recommended to readers of earnest Christian romances.

Ray Thompson

ACE’S TENACIOUS BRIDE

Kimberly Grist, Independently published, 2021, $6.99, pb, 174pp, 9798474063898 1870. In the prologue, a romping cat creates chaos of the carefully organized newspaper ads and letters of a respected Chicago matchmaker. Her granddaughter, not wanting to disappoint the clients, vows to make the matches. Unfortunately, she can’t find the questionnaires in which the clients have expressed their hopes, so she combines couples without evidence. And so it is that Mercy Fairchild, a Georgia preacher’s daughter who has requested a pastor husband, arrives in a small Texas town to marry the widower Ace Caldwell, a cigar-smoking, card-playing railroad detective who needs someone to raise his children. Previously, the three children (ages 8, 6, and 4) have behaved so badly that none of Ace’s housekeepers has lasted longer than a week. His brother-in-law, the sheriff, who has to put the kids in a jail cell to keep them out of trouble, has begged him to try a mail-order bride, because she won’t be able to leave. It’s hardly a match made in heaven, but thanks to Mercy’s patience with the children, her refusal to be husband’s doormat, and Ace’s soft side, the adversity resulting from the mismatch slowly draws the couple closer to God and each other.

This Christian historical romance more than fulfills Grist’s goal, which her website says is to “combine history, humor and romance with an emphasis on faith, friends, and good clean fun.” Its historical aspect touches not only upon Western train robberies but also, with skillful nuance, upon the link between Mercy’s wonder at having decent ingredients to cook with and her upbringing in a family impoverished by Sherman’s march through Georgia. The children’s characters are well-drawn, and Ace’s frustrated love for them is convincing. Throughout, the humor is genuine, and the matchmaker’s mix-up lends

Laura C. Stevenson

MADAM IN LACE

Gini Grossenbacher, JGKS, 2021, $14.99, pb, 298pp, 9781735842769

Celeste Bazin was born in Paris but has spent six years as a prostitute in New Orleans and San Francisco. Now she has returned to France to try to find her mother. The France Celeste finds in 1857 is ruled by Napoléon III. It is a place of great wealth and great poverty and minimum social justice. Thousands of homeless people wander the streets looking for food. In a café Celeste meets up with a group of men who plan to overthrow the emperor and bring justice and peace back to the French people. They give her food and a place to stay. Celeste agrees to take a message from them to an associate at the royal palace at Compiègne.

From there, further messages as well as Celeste’s search for her mother take her and her escort Odéon westwards to the Atlantic coast of France, where she finds her mother, who is very ill and is a political prisoner on the rocky island of Mont St. Michel.

The story of Celeste’s quest brings to life a little-known period in French history: the disastrous rule of Napoléon III. He destroyed the old tenements of the city and built the beautiful city we know today but caused great hardship to his people while he himself lived the outrageously expensive life of an emperor. The author vividly expresses this social injustice and turmoil while presenting a story of a girl’s quest to find her mother.

The novel is well researched with widely varying scenes—palaces, prisons, street life— carefully described and brought to life. An element of romance contrasts with Celeste’s previous life as a prostitute; this helps to underline effectively her role as part womanof-the-world, part innocent young girl. Third in a series.

Valerie Adolph

A REMARKABLE ROGUE

Anna Harrington, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2022, $8.99, pb, 360pp, 9781728242965

Fans of Harrington’s Lords of the Armory series will finally get to learn who is behind the shadowy organization Scepter, whose criminal activities have expanded to no less than the attempted overthrow of the British Regency. Convinced that she can lead him to the masterminds, Horse Guard Captain Nate Reed threatens Lady Sydney Rowland, blackmailer and luscious widow, with treason unless she tells him everything. But Sydney is being blackmailed herself, and she’d die to protect the illegitimate son she’s hidden from the world.

Nate’s vow to protect Sydney and root out the villains endangers her secret and her vow to never again submit to a man’s control. And though loving another woman will betray the memory of his ex-wife, Nate finds lovely Sydney hard to resist. When they rush to protect her son from a threat to his life, both are forced to face the depth of their feelings— which will never be realized unless they can survive Scepter’s final strike.

Their personal griefs and haunted memories give these characters dimension, and the emotional arc develops organically within the cloak-and-dagger twists. Humor, passion, and a pair of truly likeable leads make this a satisfying conclusion to a diverting series.

Misty Urban

A MOTHER’S BETRAYAL

Emma Hornby, Penguin Books, 2022, £6.99, pb, 348pp, 9780552178105

This novel is about a woman named Mara, who is married into a 19th-century family that has abused her from the start. Her stepson is a toxic influence on the rest of the household, and she is forced to make a decision that will impact the rest of her life. Emma Hornby has researched the novel well and has created character storylines that are true to the era and encourage sympathy from the reader. The plot is fast paced and full of action for Mara, who overcomes various trials to get the happiness she deserves. It was interesting to read about the penal system of the time in sending criminals to Australia, and how it impacted lives in England. The novel is also in keeping with the historical period and uses it effectively to further the storyline. Overall, the story is an enjoyable one and shows what life might have been like in Manchester in 1867 for a woman who wants to make a life for herself despite the challenges of home problems. This tale has an encouraging spin to what the options were yet does not avoid the harsh realities of the time. Overall, a good novel.

Clare Lehovsky

GODMERSHAM PARK

Gill Hornby, Century, 2022, £14.99, hb, 432pp, 9781529125894 / Pegasus, 2022, $25.95, hb, 416pp, 9781639362585

The Jane Austen literary industry continues apace, but this is a marvelous addition to the genre—waspish and well-written, with all the incisive wit of Austen. We are in Kent in 1804; Anne Sharp, who had hitherto lived a most comfortable and plentiful life with her mother in London, finds herself propelled into the world of work and precarity following the death of her mother from tuberculosis. Anne is aged 31, and hence dangerously near the stage of chronic

spinsterdom. She is ebullient and attractive, yet had so far positively resisted entering the treacherous marriage market. But when her semi-estranged father cuts her off with a puzzlingly measly annual allowance of £35, she has to seek work, and finds employment as a governess in the Godmersham Park house of Edward Austen, brother to the writer Jane, with young Fanny Austen (aged 12) under Anne’s charge. When she visits Godmersham, Jane starts up a firm friendship with Anne.

Anne Sharp is a delightfully spiky governess, as she observes the privileged life of the occupants of the house and the politics of house-servant relationships. She is a feminist, observing a world made by men to mainly benefit the male sex. She is determined to remain unwed, but then the charismatic brother Henry Austen visits Godmersham and draws Anne into his seemingly irresistible orbit. The truth about Anne’s obscure background is slowly revealed, though the astute reader could very well work out just what is happening before Anne finds out the unpleasant shock.

This is a well-written and delightfully observant novel. Gill Hornby uses Fanny Austen’s diaries, which detail her days with the governess Anne Sharp, but employs some literary imagination to elaborate on Anne’s intriguing backstory. The novel seems to conclude a little promptly and arbitrarily, but this doesn’t detract from an excellent read.

Douglas Kemp

A LADY’S GUIDE TO FORTUNE-HUNTING

Sophie Irwin, HarperCollins, 2022, £14.99, hb, 341pp, 9780008519520 / Pamela Dorman/ Viking, 2022, $27.00, hb, 336pp, 9780593491348 1818. Left impoverished by her spendthrift father’s death, jilted by her betrothed and with four younger sisters to provide for, Kitty Talbot hatches a desperate plan to launch herself into London Society with the aid of her dead mother’s friend, Mrs Kendall. She sets her sights on the Hon. Archibald de Lacy—naïve, goodnatured and easily manipulated—but hasn’t counted on the opposition of Archie’s older brother Lord Radcliffe. But maybe Radcliffe can be put to a different use, as a reluctant ally, if she promises to leave his brother alone?

This lively debut is as fun and frothy as one of Georgette Heyer’s Regency romances. I don’t think anyone will be in any doubt as to how the novel will end, but the fun lies in watching Kitty and Radcliffe sparring as they get to know one another and discover the vulnerabilities lurking under an outward show of confidence.

Occasionally Irwin seems a little shaky on Regency etiquette: Jane Austen has made it clear that two dances with the same partner are acceptable, but three is going too far. While Austen’s heroines are sometimes left sitting on their own in ballrooms, unlike Kitty they rarely wander off without a sister, friend or chaperone for company. Since Kitty at 20 is under age, shouldn’t she and her sisters have been made wards of court, if their father failed to make a will naming guardians for them? Once or twice the language feels a little too modern: I’ve never understood why historical novelists use an ugly modern word like ‘(un) fazed’ when more old-fashioned words like ‘(un)perturbed’ or ‘(un)troubled’ mean exactly the same thing.

But these minor quibbles aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this light-hearted romp and am looking forward to the second book in the Lady’s Guide series.

Jasmina Svenne

PAUPER AUCTION

Mary Kronenwetter, Stone Fence Press, 2022, $14.99, pb, 250pp, 9798985260984

In 1805, Margery Turner, a young widow whose beloved husband has perished in a tragic accident, finds herself standing at a New Hampshire town meeting, being auctioned off to the lowest bidder. This is a pauper auction, a means of poor relief where bidders offer to feed and house their impoverished fellow citizens in exchange for a stipend from the town and work to be performed by the pauper. It’s a fate that Margery prefers over marrying Jacob Kimball, a tanner who is disliked by nearly everyone in town.

Along with Agnes, a disabled motherless girl, Margery is taken up by a farmer, Samuell Wheeler, and his mother, Hannah. Soon an Abenaki stonemason, Joseph, joins the household. While love blossoms in an unexpected quarter and Agnes shows a gift for learning under the tutelage of former schoolteacher Margery, Kimball is not about to let the residents of the Wheeler farm lead their lives in peace.

I enjoyed this well-researched and atmospheric novel, the well-rounded characters of which surprise the reader in various ways, and its rich portrayal of a time and place that is neglected in both American history and historical fiction. Having never heard of a pauper auction, I was intrigued to learn more about the custom, both through the story and in the informative author’s note. We also learn more about the art of cider-making—and the art of concealing a homicide. As a character reflects, “Humans were complicated.”

Susan Higginbotham

THE LETTER FROM BRIARTON PARK

Sarah E. Ladd, Thomas Nelson, 2022, $16.99, pb, 336pp, 9780785246725

In 1811 England, Cassandra Hale is a strong young woman whose past is shrouded in mystery. As Mrs. Denton, the woman who raised her, lies dying, she gives her a letter written by a Mr. Clark. The cryptic letter, which was written two years before, instructs her to come to Briarton Park if she wants to learn more about her family. Suddenly, it feels as if her entire life has been a lie. Not long after, Cassandra travels north to Yorkshire, to a village called Anston, where she hopes to discover who Mr. Clark is and to have her questions answered. When she arrives, she learns that Mr. Clark has died and that the new owner of Briarton Park is Mr. James Warrington. Cassandra faces no end of mystery and danger from the moment she shows up in the village. The more they interact, the more Cassandra and James feel drawn to each other. Eventually, he agrees to help protect her from the dangers that lurk around each corner.

Sarah E. Ladd’s novels are just the right combination of romance, mystery, intrigue, and faith. The Letter from Briarton Park is no exception. In Cassandra Hale we have a capable young woman who has been forced by necessity to be strong. James Warrington is a grieving widower who lost his beloved wife and now lives with his mother-in-law and sister. When Cassandra and James come together, their chemistry is palpable. I particularly enjoyed their characterization and the romance that blossoms between them. Like Ladd’s other novels, this book is beautifully written, and the characters have such realism and depth. Another character I was fond of was James’s younger sister, Rachel, who was spirited and naive at times. This book has a great balance between romance and mystery which kept me engaged from beginning to end.

Elizabeth K. Corbett

MURDER AT OLD ST. THOMAS’S

Lisa M. Lane, Grousable Books, 2022, $11.99, pb, 240pp, 9798985302721

London, 1862. The body of Thaddeus Morton, famous surgeon, sits upright and nailed to one of the seats in the operating theater of Old St. Thomas’s Hospital, where he had previously performed surgical miracles before his medical students. The cause of death: toxic inhalation of chloroform. Detective Inspector Cuthbert Slaughter and his American sergeant, Mark Honeycutt, are tasked with finding the murderer. As they interview suspects, their investigation provides a wonderfully researched portrait of Victorian surgery in which the use of anesthetics is still experimental and hygiene is ignored by all but a few progressive doctors and the nurses who have benefited from Florence Nightingale’s experiences in Crimea.

Slaughter and Honeycutt’s investigations take place mainly in the fast-changing borough of Southwark. Old St. Thomas’s has had to move because a prospective railroad line will pass inches from its walls. The new hospital is now near the Surrey Theatre, where a famous actor (and possible suspect) is playing Richard III in an attempt to bring Shakespeare back to working people. Aiding the investigation is Jo, an independent artist whose drawings feature in London’s penny presses. And always willing to help is Tommy Jones, a former workhouse boy who sleeps in the Slaughter’s kitchen at night but takes to the streets by day, fascinated by the theatre, the hospital, and the crime.

Lane’s book is filled with deeply developed psychological portraits, from the egotistical actor to the depraved Thaddeus Morton, who, as Tommy says, “pretty much everyone” dislikes

enough to murder. The portrait of a city and a profession dealing with technological change is exceptional; the minutiae of Southwark’s streets are based on impressive historical knowledge. The fast-moving plot, the convincing connections between characters of different classes, and the eye-opening portrait of Victorian medical knowledge make this a first-rate historical mystery.

Laura C. Stevenson

THE COURIER’S WIFE

Vanessa Lind, Running Fox Books, 2022, $18.99, pb, 280pp, 9781940320175

Vanessa Lind begins The Courier’s Wife in Washington, DC in 1862. Nineteen-year-old Hattie Logan works for the Pinkerton Detective Agency, unsealing and peeking at letters Southerners send to friends and relatives. She looks for secret codes that letter writers use to convey information about the Confederacy’s military plans. Hattie’s parents live in Indiana but have ties to the South. Hattie tries to hide that fact since her heart is with the North. Lucy Hamilton, also working in the mailroom, competes with Hattie for a more exciting assignment in Baltimore. At first, two other Pinkerton operatives—Kate Warne who excels as a spy and Thom Welton who excels as a courier—select Lucy over Hattie. When Lucy falls short of expectations, Warne and Welton turn their attention to Hattie, selecting her to pose as a southerner and deliver letters in Richmond. She accompanies Welton to that city, playing the part of his wife. Hattie and Thom fall in love but soon find Richmond much more perilous than they expected.

Lind creates compelling female characters and vivid settings in both Washington and Richmond. She has chosen to introduce a large set of characters in the first half of her novel, a new set of characters in the second half, and to leave both the main plot and the subplots unfinished. Presumably Lind will pick up the threads in future volumes of her planned series, Secrets of the Blue and Gray, but readers may wish that at least some of the tales were resolved.

Marlie Wasserman

MISS MORTON AND THE ENGLISH HOUSE PARTY MURDER

Catherine Lloyd, Kensington, 2022, $26.00, hb, 304pp, 9781496723284

Lady Caroline Morton, daughter of the late Earl of Morton, has fallen upon hard times. Necessity has compelled her to seek employment as a lady’s companion to a nouveau riche widow, Mrs. Frogerton. She also helps to instruct her employer’s daughter, Dorothy, in the finer points of being a proper lady. Caroline’s disapproving aunt, Lady Eleanor Greenwood, invites her and the Frogertons to a house party in the countryside. While the party takes place, Caroline has her fair share of awkwardness. Not long after, her great-aunt is mysteriously found dead. Caroline works with Mrs. Frogerton to discover who committed the crime before the next murder happens.

From the moment I started reading Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder, I was quickly swept up in a well-written story. I found it utterly engrossing. The characters are interesting and easy to relate to, especially Caroline and Mrs. Frogerton. In Caroline, we have an admirable and capable young woman who faces all kinds of adversity. Her good-natured employer, Mrs. Frogerton, is also very affable and likeable. I particularly enjoyed their friendship. This novel kept me constantly guessing throughout all its twists and turns. While the pacing is good for the most part, there are instances where it feels a bit slow. Overall, it is an enjoyable read. If you’re looking for a fun historical mystery, definitely give this a try.

Elizabeth K. Corbett

PERIL AT THE EXPOSITION

Nev March, Minotaur, 2022, $27.99/C$36.99, hb, 352pp, 9781250855039 1893. When Captain Jim Agnihotri goes missing during an undercover investigation at the Chicago Exposition, his newlywed wife, Diana Framji, sets off to find her husband, who is working for a detective agency. As a recent immigrant to the U.S. and the daughter of a wealthy Parsee family in India, she has much to learn about the culture and customs of her new home, but despite her inexperience she has impressive credentials: courage, determination, intelligence, and initiative. But whom can she trust in this strange new world? She finds Jim, but as they draw closer to the conspirators who plot to set off an explosive device at the exposition, their personal peril steadily increases.

This novel is a sequel to Murder in Old Bombay, and like its predecessor introduces the reader to a society undergoing rapid change at the end of the 19th century. What is particularly distinctive is the sympathy both protagonists share for all levels of society. Toiling in dangerous conditions, lacking job security, exploited and underpaid, ordinary workers are driven to desperate measures, on the one hand; on the other, businessmen struggle to survive cutthroat competition, concealing their anxieties behind a façade of bravado. Yet despite the rampant cruelty, prejudice, and self-interest, Jim and Diana discern the vast potential of their new world. They discover kindness and loyalty, justice and hope for a better future for all. Amidst so many distractions, the mystery plot becomes confusing, but as events move towards the climax, the pace picks up.

Definitely recommended, particularly for its insights into conditions in America at the turn of the century.

Diane C. McPhail, Kensington/John Scognamiglio, 2022, $26.00/C$35.00/£21.00, hb, 304pp, 9781496738158

Set in New Orleans, a bustling commercial center dominated by wealthy white men, this novel celebrates the nascent movement to empower women. The wives of the businessmen are allowed to organize and plan one major social event—a grand Mardi Gras ball—once every four years. Constance Halstead, recently widowed socialite, is asked to play a major role in the 1890 event, but she will need an exceptionally fine ball gown.

She is introduced to Alice Butterworth, who arrives from a Midwest farm via Chicago with a high level of artistic and practical skills as a seamstress. Their growing friendship, almost a kinship, is a metaphor for the growing interconnection of North and South now that the Civil War is well behind them.

The novel maintains a level of tension with the appearance of a mysterious member of the Black Hand gang, all the while portraying the struggles of women to achieve even the smallest amount of equality with their male counterparts. This is one of its strengths. A weakness is the coincidence, basic to the plot, that stretches credulity past the breaking point.

The author strives admirably to develop the themes of women’s inequality at the time and also the strength of the relationship that grows between Constance and Alice despite differences in financial status and background. Her innate knowledge of the social and hierarchical intricacies of the place and the period shines through at many levels.

Valerie Adolph

BOZEMAN PAYMASTER

Robert Lee Murphy, Five Star, 2022, $25.95, hb, 454pp, 9781432892999

It’s 1866 along a tract of formidable and challenging terrain called the Bozeman Trail in what is now Wyoming. The American Civil War has only recently come to its bloody conclusion. Now the U.S. government is trying to establish a series of forts along the trail to facilitate the movement of both miners and westward-bound settlers. The U.S. Army, not fully recovered from its losses during the recent war, is tasked with providing security. But an unlikely coalition of Indian tribes under Lakota Chief Red Cloud, including Sioux, Northern Cheyennes, and Arapahos, claim, with some justification, that the lands belong to them under treaty.

Young Zachary Wakefield works for the government in various positions: assistant paymaster, muleskinner, quartermaster clerk and occasional soldier. He encounters a schoolteacher, Katy O’Toole, who is on her way to be with her fiancé further west. A series of graphically violent engagements with hostile Indians and other factors ironically draw these two young people closer together as time goes on. After violating the orders

of the overall Commander Colonel Henry B. Carrington, an entire troop of eighty men under Captain William Fetterman is wiped out. The Colonel and others must then pick up the pieces.

The Fetterman Massacre is well-known within U.S. military history circles as a classic example of a disastrous tactical action. This well-crafted novel brings a historical fiction context to the story where the characters, historical and contrived, come to vivid life. The book is interwoven with subplots of romance, betrayal and revenge. The author includes authentic technical details of terrain, equipment and daily existence in this extraordinarily harsh environment. The action, drama and scenes draw the reader’s apt attention. Very well done.

Thomas J. Howley

THE MARQUESS MAKES HIS MOVE

Diana Quincy, Avon, 2022, $8.99/C$11.99, pb, 384pp, 9780062986849

Outraged at a scheme to steal some land from his estate, Alex Worthington, Marquess of Brandon, decides to go undercover himself to find the evidence he needs, and he secures a position as a footman in the home of Roger Fleming, London’s most preeminent mapmaker, who is responsible for the fraudulent map. Roger assigns him to look after his wife, Rose, who, it turns out, is the actual mapmaker in the family. The mutual attraction between Alex and Rose heats up rapidly, though with so many deceptions and misunderstandings, it takes longer to build trust.

Though lively, the plot is complicated and unlikely, and the apparently insurmountable obstacles to a happy ending prove unexpectedly easy to overcome. Fortunately, this, the third in the Clandestine Affairs Regency series, offers an entertaining cast of characters to compensate: the protagonists are sympathetic and have justice on their side; the villains are selfish and deserve their fate; the servants are likeable, especially young Owen, a street vagabond; and Alex’s Arab relatives are warmhearted and lively. Class snobbery, patriarchal privilege, and racial prejudice are satisfyingly frustrated, and readers who enjoy steamy bedroom scenes will not be disappointed. Recommended.

Ray Thompson

NOBODY’S PRINCESS

Erica Ridley, Forever, 2022, $8.99, pb, 368pp, 9781538719589

The London-based Wynchesters, a blended family of varied talents and diverse abilities, are the self-appointed guardians of the downtrodden. But when circus-trained Graham Wynchester, their dedicated head, scales buildings to rescue the foreign princess he believes is in danger, he finds Kunigunde de Heusch is more than capable of taking care of herself. A companion to the Princess of Balcovia, Kuni has trained all her life to become a Royal Guardswoman. She won’t sacrifice that goal no matter how much she enjoys helping the rambunctious Wynchesters wreak vengeance on an exploitative mill owner, or how attracted she is to Graham. They can enjoy a delicious fling, but Kuni’s future and Graham’s obligations await.

Ridley daubs standard Regency Britain with imaginative redemptive touches, much like how the characters “liberate” an antbear (or aardvark) from the Tower Zoo. Balcovia was founded on abolition, so Kuni is an independent, ambitious, highly trained Black woman determined to break barriers for girls— the heroine a too-often-pallid genre badly needs. Neurodivergence and disabilities are handled with cheerful respect. Swift pacing, sleek prose, lively characters, and much humor make for a fun, flirtatious romp that weaves fantasy and joy into a book with real heart.

Misty Urban

W.: A Novel

Steve Sem-Sandberg (trans. Saskia Vogel), Overlook, 2022, $28.00/C$35.00/£19.99, hb, 384pp, 9781419751226

W. is based on the 1821 true crime story of Johann Christian Woyzeck of Leipzig, who murdered his lover in a jealous rage and the German play, Woyzeck, written by Georg Büchner in 1836. The novel begins with an interrogation of Woyzeck. He tells a confusing, contradictory story of events leading up to the stabbing. His mind is a fog of events. Obviously, his mental stability is in question. What emerges from his ramblings is that he planned to meet Johanna at a garden restaurant, but she doesn’t show. He searches and inquires around all day, learning that she was seen with another soldier. When he finds her, an argument and fight ensue, ending in the stabbing.

The inquest brings to light W.’s background and life in a more coherent narrative. It is a sad life of a man who feels insignificant and ignored by society, never fitting in, and often the subject of heckling. He meanders from job to job, some strange and morbid. He fights in the Napoleonic Wars, first joining the Dutch army, then the Swedish army as the opportunity arises. The middle section detailing the war is long and does drag, but is purposeful in showing the repeated horrors and brutality that W. witnessed. These experiences unquestionably affected an already fragile mind, playing a factor in the murder. Johanna is fickle toward him, showing affection then revulsion. But W. stills clings to her, always pining for her love, then his obsessed and jealous mind snaps.

This is a challenging read. The sentences don’t flow easily and require a slower reading pace, which could be attributed to the translation. Sem-Sandberg successfully creates sympathy in the reader for a man that never found the love and human connection he desperately sought, and shows the man separate from the murderer.

Nina Shope, Dzanc, 2022, $16.95, pb, 198pp, 9781950539512

The narrator observes the “great professor” Charcot as he speaks to an enthralled audience about what he calls “a museum of living pathology” at Salpêtrière Hospital. She joins other examples of neurological pathologies— Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, hysteria—on the stage. She is the hysteric Augustine.

Jean-Martin Charcot is credited with being the founder of modern neurology. He made use of photographs, hypnosis, and “grand demonstrations” to characterize disorders that were not well understood in the late 1800s. Louise Augustine Gleizes was the most public of Charcot’s subjects. She was admitted to Salpêtrière Hospital at the age of 14 after being molested at age 10 and raped by her mother’s lover at age 13. She was hypnotized and photographed by Charcot exhibiting uncontrolled emotions, contortions, and sexual aggressiveness.

Author Shope relies on the scholarly work of Georges Didi-Huberman (and its English translation by Alisa Hartz) which chronicles Charcot’s photographic studies as well as actual treatments of patients at Salpêtrière. The research makes the narrative all the more chilling. Written from Augustine’s perspective, vignettes reflect what little was known about hysteria and the experimental methods of dealing with it at the time. Readers see what Augustine sees, feel what she feels, view treatments as she herself views them—from the inside out. Beautiful and poignant, yet deeply disturbing.

K. M. Sandrick

BRIEFLY, A DELICIOUS LIFE

Nell Stevens, Picador, 2022, £14.99, hb, 323pp, 9781529083422 / Scribner, 2022, $26.99, hb, 304pp, 9781982190941

Nell Stevens’ first novel is told in the voice of a young woman, Blanca, who has spent centuries haunting a monastery in Mallorca. After years of playing tricks on monks she is fascinated to see, in the year 1838, the monastery become home to a new family— especially the beautiful George, a woman writer dressed as a man. The writer is George Sand, and the man with her is the composer Frédéric Chopin. Blanca is instantly smitten and determined to know more.

The ghost of Blanca offers a gripping narrative as she is able to spend time with each character and catch them unawares, but she is also a wonderful voice: witty, empathetic, and sharp. Despite her years, she remains in many ways a fourteen-year-old. She bounces around the monastery, trying to possess these fascinating people, understand them, share their memories and feel what they feel. Chopin’s health is failing, and as a group they are struggling financially and creatively. The children are bored, the cook is cheating them, and they are shocked to find a damp and blustery winter approaching them.

This is a beautiful, compelling novel from

a talented writer. It details the impact on creativity of adversity, whether in the form of poor health, lack of money, or the moralizing of others. It also explores George Sand’s struggles with identity and the consequences of living outside the norm, in an unforgiving time.

Lisa Redmond

MADWOMAN

Louisa Treger, Bloomsbury, 2022, £16.99, hb, 292pp, 9781448218011

Madwoman is a powerhouse novel about a powerhouse woman who defied the odds to become a legend: Nellie Bly. The book details Nellie’s early life, the loss of her father, and the disruption of her childhood, which led to her determination to support her family with her writing.

Nellie’s stay in the asylum on Blackwell’s Island posing as a ‘madwoman’ reads like a thriller, as she battles vindictive nurses, cruel treatments, cold, hunger and her own demons. Her exposé fuelled a much-needed debate about the harsh conditions faced by the women in the asylum and turned Nellie into a star reporter. Treger’s book, however, focuses on the changes Nellie herself goes through and is a fantastic study in character. The detail throughout is meticulous, capturing the despair that poverty can cause, the determination of Nellie to get ahead and the bravery that it took for her to pose as mad. The harsh reality faced by many women in the 1880s is highlighted as Nellie learns the stories of the various women she befriends, young and old: unwanted relatives, barren wives, unruly girls, many of whom are driven to madness by the treatments meted out to them. Louisa Treger captures the atmosphere and the era wonderfully.

A must-read for fans of Essie Fox, Sarah Waters, Hazel Gaynor, or Rebecca Mascull.

Lisa Redmond

JAGUAR PALOMA AND THE CAKETOWN BAR

Jess Wells, Mirador Publishing, 2021, $18.99, pb, 384pp, 9781914965005 1865, Colombia. Betrayed by her family, Paloma sets out on her own, with only determination and anger as companions. When the very tall Paloma meets the very beautiful Orietta, a friendship is formed. They start the Caketown Bar, a home for castoffs of all kinds, and it quickly becomes more than a bar. It becomes a society where everyone is accepted, no matter how odd. Fake weddings are held just for fun. It is a happy, successful, and carefree life, until Orietta marries the bank manager.

This is a completely unique and captivating story that quickly drew me in, as each character and their experiences were introduced in such compelling ways. The ability of Paloma, Orietta and their friends to basically build a world where they all belonged in Caketown speaks to the misfit in all of us. This is a story of people who rose above rejection, hatred, and abandonment, built their own world, and then had to battle against the evils of war and a terrible man. It is also a story of mistakes, betrayal, and loss, and the way we fight to come back from that. This novel is steeped in magical realism, but contains an even more powerful magic—the one that happens when a kind soul reaches out to the abandoned or neglected, and they begin to blossom.

Bonnie DeMoss

20TH CENTURY

THE CODEBREAKER’S SECRET

Sara Ackerman, MIRA, 2022, $16.99/C$21.99, pb, 384pp, 9780778386452

The Codebreaker’s Secret has dual timelines. In the 1943 plot, Isabel Cooper tries to prove her worth as the only female codebreaker at “the dungeon” at Pearl Harbor. She is also trying to come to terms with the death of her brother Walt, who was killed during the Japanese aerial attack. The 1965 plot has Luana Freitas, an inexperienced journalist, returning to her native Hawaii for the grand opening of the glamorous Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. There she meets and is mentored by renowned Life magazine journalist Matteo Russi. Russi is the bridge between the two plotlines and women.

I expected the novel to be centered primarily around codebreaking and the implications for intelligence, but it remains in the background. The novel centers around a suspicious drowning in 1943 and a missing high-level guest in 1965. Their eventual resolution brings the two plotlines together. Isabel does crack a code that has significant implications for the war effort, but the main focus with her storyline is about reconciling the death of her brother and opening her heart to love. Luana also opens herself up to love as she finds her calling in the world of journalism. The unsolved mysteries that tie both storylines are weak, but The Codebreaker’s Secret is easy to read, with lots of insight into Hawaiian culture and life as well as the workings of the intelligence community at Pearl Harbor.

Franca Pelaccia

THE POLISH GIRL

Malka Adler, One More Chapter, 2022, $16.99, pb, 416pp, 9780008525316 / £1.99, ebook, 400pp, 9780008525279

When the Russians enter Poland in 1939, eight-year-old Danusha and her seven-yearold brother Yashu are hustled from home to home, and hiding place to hiding place, until their mother Anna is able to get them out of war-torn Eastern Europe to Haifa, Israel. The journey, written from Danusha’s perspective as she grows up, is filled with small, often tender, and heartbreaking details: her mother’s efforts to hide delicate embroidered handkerchiefs and towels after washing, only to later find them missing from the clothesline. It also recalls Danusha’s observations as she experienced them: her wish to drive memories of her father out of her mind after he leaves one day and fails to return, the pains in her feet when she is forced to sit in the cold waiting hours for a train.

The Polish Girl is the second book about a Polish family in WWII by the Israeli author; Adler’s The Brothers of Auschwitz (2019) was a USA Today bestseller. It convincingly takes on the voice of a youngster who must confront complicated and dangerous situations. The narrative reveals Danusha’s feelings of loss and abandonment, her sense of estrangement from her mother, her vulnerabilities. It is only later in Haifa as her mother tells of the family’s movements through Nazi-occupied Poland that Danusha comes to understand. The Polish Girl is a poignant reconstruction of the emotional baggage carried by a young girl and a survivor.

K. M. Sandrick

THE WOLVES IN WINTER

Philip K. Allan, Independently published, 2022, $19.50, pb, 326pp, 9798438355779

Early in WW2, in order to help Russia with wartime shortages, Britain promised to send them food, ammunition and military equipment. As transport across Europe was impossible due to the war, the promised goods had to be delivered to Russia’s Arctic port of Murmansk. Convoys of freighters had to follow Norway’s coastline into the increasingly icy, stormy Arctic. In addition, U-boats were stationed, waiting, in a

Norwegian fjord.

That is, in effect, the outline of this exciting and multilayered novel: convoys of merchant ships with naval escorts braving both U-boats and atrocious weather to deliver aid to Russia. But it isn’t just about the good guys outwitting the bad in a series of naval battles. We follow the crews of U-boats as well as Navy ships. We struggle with the classic irascible ship’s engineer desperate to keep an elderly, battered vessel seaworthy and safe—but the vessel is a U-boat.

The author takes a comprehensive look at many sides of battle preparation and the range of functions during combat. We are shown the quiet Norwegian teacher persuaded to spy on U-boat movements, and something more. Then we see the codebreakers at Bletchley Park grappling with word fragments to decode a new version of the Enigma code so they can save the lives of sailors. We are shown the strategies and shrewdness of both sides in this naval warfare and the value of experience

as each tries to outwit their enemy and achieve their objectives. Not least we witness the bravery of those struggling to capture the updated Enigma machine.

It is my pleasure to read stories of naval strategy and men who go down to the sea in ships. This is one of the deepest and finest I have encountered.

Valerie Adolph

MURDER AT THE PRIORY HOTEL

Merryn Allingham, Bookouture, 2022, $3.99, ebook, 269pp, B09VK7X3GR

The fourth in the Flora Steele cosy mystery series sparks into action, with almost no preamble, as opening day for the recently refurbished Priory Hotel meets with disaster when the lead singer of the hired band is electrocuted. When the chief inspector is called away, the investigation falters, leaving Flora and her handsome crime writer friend Jack to delve into the case themselves, unearthing slimy talent agents, band members’ delinquent backgrounds, simmering hostility, and rumours of missing girls. A keen amateur sleuth, Flora is like a dog with a bone once she settles on helping her proprietor friend, who has sunk every last penny into the now-infamous hotel.

This is an entertaining mystery in which the crime takes a back seat to the delightful protagonists. The world of the mid-1950s is well portrayed, and the many occasions in which food plays a part serve as pleasant contrast to the memory of the austere post-war years. There’s an added attraction for those who like a bit of romance, as it looks as though Flora and Jack are becoming more than just friends.

Fiona Alison

SON OF SVEA

Lena Andersson (trans. Sarah Death), Other Press, 2022, $16.99, pb, 288pp, 9781635420043

This Swedish family saga follows the life of Ragnar Johansson, born in 1932 of poor parents. From young adulthood, Ragnar embraces his country’s government edicts on how people should live, work, and serve society at large. He values rules, goals, and all things modern. He is organized, disciplined, and hard-working. He comes to disdain his mother, Svea, and her waste of time in baking, cooking and cleaning. She learned little else in her early years of unrelenting poverty and toil. Ragnar marries, raises a boy and a girl, and earns a decent living as an expert furniture maker.

Through conversations among the characters and Ragnar’s thoughts, awardwinning Swedish author Andersson muses on large and small issues. Her observations run from sad to funny, contradictory to profound, insightful to unnerving. Are frozen foods better for society? They do free up a lot of time. Is margarine more healthful than butter? How much should parents live through their children? Will a life of low achievement and reliance on the state for most everything provide satisfaction, even happiness? Should talented athletes strive to win and improve or just enjoy the sport? Do only the bored and lazy travel as tourists to other countries?

Translated from the original Swedish, the novel is easy to read. Ragnar’s life unfolds without forced drama or excessive hearttugging tragedy, but that makes it feel authentic, as if it were an honest biography of real people. Though a bit bland for those wanting a compelling story arc, page-turning action, or intense romance, Son of Svea is an informative and thought-provoking portrayal of Sweden (“The People’s Home”) over roughly the last century and the effects of its heavy social democracy on ordinary citizens.

G. J. Berger

A DRESS OF VIOLET TAFFETA

Tessa Arlen, Berkley, 2022, $16.99, pb, 352pp, 9780593436851

This absorbing and beautifully written novel tells the story of one of the most iconic fashion designers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries: Lucile, also known as Lady Duff Gordon. However, when the story begins in 1893, she is the unknown Lucy Wallace, an abandoned woman on the brink of ruin. Left by her sexually abusive husband with a daughter and a mother to support, Lucy turns to her one true talent, designing beautiful dresses. Her first design is a major success, but she has no experience in business. Enter Celia Franklin, an orphan from Northumberland, who becomes her devoted right hand. Strong women abound in Lucy’s story, including her sister, Elinor Glyn, a novelist, and their mother, Mrs. Kennedy, an inveterate snob.

Reading this book is like sinking into a pile of silk. One could wallow in the descriptions of Lucy’s designs and the finished products— sleeves that are “off the shoulder in cut layers that flutter a little,” “embroidered daisies perhaps with a dark silver bead center,” and a “glorious deep ocean blue for the underskirt, with this steel embroidered chiffon floating.” Even if there were no plot to speak of, the inner workings of such a creative mind might be enough to satisfy fashion-loving readers. Yet there is a story here. With her business going full throttle, Lucy meets Cosmo Duff Gordon, the first man strong enough to love her and still allow her the freedom to pursue her art. When they take a trip to America aboard the ill-fated Titanic, however, the disaster doesn’t end with the sinking of the great ship. This chapter in their lives reveals a shocking episode in history and showcases the fortitude of an extraordinary woman.

Trish MacEnulty

THE WAR LIBRARIAN

Addison Armstrong, Putnam, 2022, $17.00, pb, 384pp, 9780593328064

Armstrong sidesteps the sophomore slump in this gripping dual-timeline tale of a WWI librarian and one of the first female cadets at the U.S. Naval Academy.

In September 1918, Emmaline Balakin takes a volunteer librarianship role at an Army hospital in war-torn France, where she’s upset by her orders to destroy certain books that the State Department deems dangerous. Determined to speak out against the censorship, she and a soldier pen a letter to a newspaper in support of librarians’ right and obligation to provide unfettered access to all ideas—not just the ones the government approves of.

In 1976, Kathleen Carre joins the first group of female cadets at the U.S. Naval Academy. She and the other women are subjected to misogynistic slurs, threats, and even physical violence. When she receives a box of WWI memorabilia from her recently deceased grandmother, who served as an ambulance driver in France, a male cadet who’s been tormenting her steals a letter decrying government censorship and tells school authorities that Kathleen wrote it. Kathleen finds herself on trial for sedition and has to reach back into her grandmother’s past for help.

Once again, Armstrong has crafted a tale of two women battling the status quo in historical eras that are relevant today. Emmaline and Kathleen both rail against book banning, racism, and misogyny and have to make difficult choices in their efforts to do what is right. While the soldier willingly helping Emmaline pen a letter than could have gotten him executed feels like a stretch, Armstrong’s point about the importance of access to ideas rings true. Dual timelines can be tricky, but Armstrong aligns hers perfectly so the issues each woman is dealing with run parallel. Readers won’t want to put this one down.

Sarah Hendess

LONG WAY HOME

Lynn Austin, Tyndale House, 2022, $26.99, hb, 400pp, 9781496437396 1946. Peggy is living with her father and working at his auto shop, but spends much of her time helping out at the Barnetts’ veterinary practice across the street. She regularly visits her good friend, the Barnetts’ son Jimmy, who was hospitalized due to a suicide attempt after his service in World War II. Determined to help Jimmy, Peggy begins looking for other soldiers who served with him in the war, and for the woman, Gisela, whose picture was among Jimmy’s possessions. 1939. After the Nazis begin to persecute and murder the Jews, Gisela and her family are put on a ship, the St. Louis, and given passage to Cuba, which had agreed to allow them to settle there. But the ship is turned away in Cuba, and Gisela begins a journey that will end at Buchenwald, where she meets a young American medic named Jimmy.

Lynn Austin has given us another well-woven and meticulously researched historical saga. This dual-timeline novel is set both during and after World War II, and slowly entwines the lives of two young women who are connected by a young soldier. We witness the heartbreaking voyage of the St. Louis as the captain tries in

vain to reach a safe harbor, and we see the terror of Jews trying to hide in Nazi-occupied territories. We are shown the horrors of World War II and the struggles of survivors to move forward. A Christian crisis of faith is explored, and primitive mental health surgical practices of the 1940s are brought to light. Long Way Home takes us across the sea and back again, into concentration camps and even to small American towns on an unforgettable journey through the evil of war and the love that brings us through it.

Bonnie DeMoss

ESTHER’S CHILDREN

Caroline Beecham, Allen & Unwin Australia, 2022, A$32.99, pb, 376pp, 9781760879501 In 1936, a young woman arrives in Vienna. Tess Simpson is the name in her British passport, but she is also Esther Sinovitch, daughter of Jews forced to escape pogroms in Lithuania. Inspired by her parents and the 1933 “Science and Civilization” speech by Albert Einstein, she has become a Quaker and is passionate about peace. In her role with the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning, she helps gifted scientists and scholars (her “children”) escape from the increasing stranglehold of Hitler’s Nazi regime.

Tess tries to persuade university professor Otto Singer and his wife to leave Austria, but the old man is stubborn and refuses. Sharing their love of performing music, Tess is attracted to their son, Harry, who also qualifies for support but won’t abandon his parents. After their lucky escape from thugs, she manages to change his mind and arranges a placement for him in an English research facility with the hope that once settled, his parents can join him.

Things don’t go smoothly for Harry when war breaks out. Paranoia and suspicion of refugees find him interned on the Isle of Man where Nazi sympathisers and Jews are forced together, with the inevitable unpleasant results. Tess must use her influence with politicians and officials to help him and many others wrongly imprisoned. Ultimately, many of the refugees saved by Tess prove to be Hitler’s loss and the world’s gain, going on “to contribute to life-changing discoveries, and to the intellectual and cultural life of their adopted homes.”

This is a powerful novel about persecution, injustice and intolerance, but also about hope, dedication and sacrifice. Although set in World War II, its message for humanity remains relevant in our own uneasy times. A fine example of historical fiction at its very best.

Marina Maxwell

A NEW START FOR THE WRENS

Vicki Beeby, Canelo, 2022, £8.99, pb, 340pp, 9781800324251

England, 1941. Mortified, after totally misreading a supposed suitor’s intentions, estate heiress Iris Tredwick runs away to sea—well, not exactly. Lured by a poster, she joins the WRNS Visual Signaller training course, hoping to catch an officer to match her social standing. Graduating top of the class with two ‘common’ girls, the three are posted to Orkney where, from a land-based signal station, they keep watch over Scapa Flow, anchorage to some of the British Fleet. She meets minesweeper engineer Rob and falls for his cheekiness, but along comes eligible Dr Irvine, much more the type to win Mummy’s approval. Iris discovers herself, her family history, and her attitudes towards class and true love, the course of which never runs smooth, especially at war and at sea. Mired in love’s angst, having followed the fleet, should she now follow her head or her heart? To complicate things, rumours of a spy surface and the girls become involved in some strange and nasty incidents; is the traitor known to them, to be unmasked before it’s too late?

This story adequately balances the line between romance and thriller, though early on it is fairly obvious who the baddy is, similarly which direction Iris will take with her love dilemma, although in neither instance does the penny drop soon enough, permitting some well-maintained jeopardy. It’s an interesting tale, not only for the insight into the WRNS and Morse code mnemonics, but also for the vivid location descriptions, particularly Orkney and its weather.

Simon Rickman

THE CORSET MAKER

Annette Libeskind Berkovits, Amsterdam Publishers, 2022, $26.00, hb, 448pp, 9789493231924

The world is a hard place, violent and dangerous. Annette Berkovits’s corset maker, Rifka Berg, has reason to ponder this question for all of us: Why, when we would rather create beauty, raise our children, and live in peace, are we forced to take up arms and kill for our very survival?

Rifka is a young Jewish woman growing up in Poland in the 1930s when the world unleashes hell. Raised in a strict Orthodox household whose rules regarding the life a young woman run afoul of her nature, Rifka and her best friend, Bronka, go into business designing corsets and women’s undergarments. She has no time for romance. She has a mind for business and an eye for what makes the most unattractive woman feel desirable. But little does the world care for her or Bronka’s happiness. Her oldest sister Golda has emigrated to Palestine. After a night of violent anti-Semitic rage that nearly destroys their shop, Rifka follows, leaving Bronka behind.

In Paris, she finds and abandons love for the first time. In Palestine, she reunites with Golda as the conflict between Jews and Arabs lights its own tragic match. Then she arrives in Spain in time for the civil war where, against her strongest pacifist impulses, she learns how to kill—a necessary skill after her flight to conquered France and her life-risking missions for the French underground.

The Corset Maker is a powerful 20th-century saga filled with great courage and persistence in the face of unimaginable human horror. As author Berkovits says, love and hate are the compelling forces of our lives. One has only to look at the state of the world today, divided by intolerance, suspicion and vengeance, to realize that Rifka Berg’s journey hasn’t ended. It is we who have taken it up.

Peter Clenott

HOME SO FAR AWAY

Judith Berlowitz, She Writes, 2022, $16.95, pb, 338pp, 9781647423759

Tracking the buildup toward World War II through the eyes of a German Jewish teen drawn to Spain and the advance of Communism is a brilliant idea, and Judith Berlowitz builds a frequently insightful action novel that follows Klara Philipsborn into the chaos and danger of the Spanish Civil War. Gently sorting the threads of difference among Jewish identities of the time—Ashkenazi to Sephardic to hidden and converting—as well as the passions of anti-fascist action, Berlowitz unfolds an era through a conflict of personal life that explores a rarely portrayed effort: that of women as nurses in this nearly modern war.

The novel is told in first person, in journal segments with black-and-white images tucked in as if secured on the pages of the diary. Klara, whose name becomes Clara in her new ambience, is called upon to shift among her identities swiftly and appropriately, as well as among languages and perhaps loyalties. As a “camarada” (comrade), a political activist, Klara readily takes a stand whenever she can on behalf of freedom, personal and political.

The first-person narrative doesn’t suit the story well, with an observer’s role and reporter’s language too often preventing alliance with the protagonist. The pacing is also slightly awkward, which makes the book feel longer than it is. Perhaps most significantly, Klara’s personal changes and decisions are for the most part unemotional and analytic. Despite these issues, the book is a valued addition to historical novels for its choice of both era and political dimensions. Place it in the hands of readers who won’t object to a slower plot, in exchange for insight into the issues of the time.

Beth Kanell

THE MODEL SPY

Maryka Biaggio, Milford House Press, 2022, $19.95, pb, 247pp, 9781620067802

The Model Spy, based on the true adventures of Toto Koopman, is not only an engrossing story, it is also a fascinating study in character. What drives an admittedly self-centered party girl to give up the good life and risk her freedom and even her life to help others?

Toto Koopman is the daughter of a Dutch father and an Indonesian mother. After

a carefree childhood in Java, she is sent to boarding school in the Netherlands at the age of twelve. After her schooling, Koopman, who is adept at languages, travels Europe, first as a model and later as newspaper mogul Lord Beaverbrook’s lover and translator. Sought after by both men and women, she lives a life of glamour and frivolity. Then Hitler invades Poland, and Italy’s dictator, Mussolini, joins forces with him. Toto’s insouciant life suddenly seems shallow and meaningless. On an impulse, she moves to Italy, where she actively seeks out opportunities to join the Partisans, save Jewish lives, and get vital information to the British, but because of her renown, the fascists are suspicious. Without a shred of evidence, they arrest her.

Biaggio’s economical prose sets a fast pace, and the result is riveting. No matter how much we learn about what happened during the Second World War, there always seem to be fresh horrors and unsung heroes. Toto is one of the heroes. Her indifference to the opinions of others turns out to be her superpower as she proves time and again that she will do whatever she must in order to save innocent lives.

Trish MacEnulty

THE WHITE GIRL

Tony Birch, HarperVia, 2022, $17.99, pb, 272pp, 9780063213531 / Univ. of Queensland Press, 2020, A$24.99, pb, 272pp, 9780702263057

As her granddaughter Sissy’s thirteenth birthday approaches, Odette develops a mysterious pain in her side and a deep sense of foreboding that something terrible is about to happen. She has spent the last twelve years raising the fair-skinned child, who was abandoned by her mother when she was just an infant. The two have formed an unbreakable emotional bond, but the arrival of a new police officer threatens to tear them apart. Sergeant Lowe revels in the authority his position gives him, including having power over all Aboriginal inhabitants of his district. He views Odette as overly independent and is waiting for a chance to put her in her place. Odette has played by the rules all her life, but with Sissy’s future at stake, she must make a decision that will have life-altering consequences for them both.

Set in 1960s rural Australia, Birch’s novel tells the story of the Stolen Generations, where “half-caste” (multiracial) Aboriginal children were taken from their families and put into institutions or given to white families. Law officers were granted guardianship of all Aboriginal people in their area and had the power to say where they could travel, work, or even live. Children could be removed from their homes anytime for no reason other than concern for their “welfare.”

Birch is a masterful storyteller and lets his story unfold naturally, trusting the reader will feel the horror of Odette’s situation without any editorializing. The relationship between grandmother and granddaughter is tender and powerful, and the supporting characters contribute additional dimension to the story. A short but gripping novel that will make the reader want to learn more about this not-sodistant part of Australian history.

Janice Derr

TOMBOY

Shelley Blanton-Stroud, She Writes Press, 2022, $16.95, pb, 312pp, 9781647424077

Scrappy Jane Benjamin aims to make a name for herself as a journalist; but in 1939, in a field dominated by men, that’s easier for a young woman to dream of than achieve. While working as a cub reporter for the San Francisco Prospect on a dull local beat, Jane hatches the idea of becoming the paper’s first gossip columnist. She reasons that the lucrative gig will grant her the financial security to raise her baby sister, Elsie, in comfort. The only problem? Her boss has already hired a man for the job.

Through a fortuitous—and circuitous— chain of events, Jane nicks a train ticket to New York and from there, passage on the Queen Mary to England. She plans to wow her boss by writing a gossip column about the Wimbledon women’s tennis championship, where San Francisco’s hometown darling, Tommie O’Rourke, is playing.

Jane’s scheme falls apart when Tommie’s long-time coach, Edith Carlson, drops dead at the tournament of a heart attack, stealing the headlines. On the ship’s passage home, Jane shrewdly befriends grieving Tommie and learns secrets that could elevate her to star status as a gossip monger. But when she also discovers that Coach didn’t die of natural causes, Jane faces a hard decision—will she use Tommie’s secrets against her, or pursue the bigger story, which may affect national security as war approaches?

Jane is a daring, likeable protagonist, with flaws galore as she pursues her ambition, and the luxurious Queen Mary setting sparkles. Mystery fans be forewarned, though: Tomboy is more character-driven adventure than whodunnit, and the shipboard intrigues add up to a somewhat lackluster reveal.

Paula Martinac

RELUCTANT REBEL

Parris Afton Bonds, Motina Books, $14.99, pb, 263pp, 9781945060533

Bonds fleshes out a lesser-known incident in North American history and adds a dollop of romance to make an entertaining read. Walt Stevenson is a Bureau of Investigation (read: early FBI) agent, who is also a journalist, working along the U.S./Mexico border in 1917. He suspects a German operative is active in the area, trying to provoke a conflict between Mexico and the U.S., to distract the U.S. from joining the war in Europe. El Paso’s mayor is a fanatic about disease, and is responsible for Mexicans, those crossing the border for work, being stripped and sprayed with chemicals so they will not bring typhus into the U.S. Housemaid Pia Arellano rebels against this invasion of her privacy, and her resistance starts the Bath riots.

Walt visits Pia in jail to learn her story, and after she is kidnapped and raped in the desert by the Mexicans who bailed her out, helps her reach home again. He then recruits a reluctant Pia to become housekeeper for the German operative and spy on him; Walt offers to buy her family a house if she is successful. A romance grows between the two during their interactions. Matters come to a head when Pia discovers an assassin will target General Pershing during a military parade in the city. Can Walt and Pia stop the shooter?

Pia’s real-life counterpart’s rebellion was not successful; the disinfection continued after the riots for years. I enjoyed the romantic giveand-take part of the story, and learning about an incident in history I had never heard of before. Yet there is a chilling aftereffect: Bonds’ author’s note says that a Nazi science journal later praised the El Paso procedure of using Zyklon B to delouse people, which inspired its use in the Final Solution during World War II.

B. J. Sedlock

YESTERDAY’S SPY

Tom Bradby, Atlantic Monthly, 2022, $27.00, hb, 384pp, 9780802159045

August 1953. Harry Tower, world-weary and recently widowed British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) spy, wakes out of deep sleep to a 3 a.m. phone call. His news reporter son, Sean, is missing in Iran, so Harry rushes from London to chaotic Tehran. Shah Pahlavi has been stripped of power and fled but strikes back with his own coup attempt, aided by loyalists and the CIA.

Tower finds Sean’s beautiful, outgoing Iranian lover, Shahnaz, and the pair chases down leads to Sean. She helps by translating the language and navigating their rented or stolen cars in Tehran and to faraway outposts. Harry employs his still-sharp hand-to-hand combat and shooting skills to thwart multiple attempts on their lives. He is injured but recovers quickly. Iranian gang leaders, various embassy personnel, local police, and even Russian operatives claim Sean went missing for writing about government drug corruption. Some rumors say Sean is dead, while others claim he’s alive but hidden. It seems the SIS has a mole in its London office, who for years sent details of SIS operations to Russia, and suspicion falls on Harry as the traitor. Flashbacks from Harry’s capers in Germany, Yugoslavia, and Albania, and from his troubled relationships with his wife and son, cut into the Iran action.

This spy thriller gives readers informative insights into little-known Iranian history and the groups scrambling to control its oil wealth

in the 1950s. Bradby’s descriptions of the settings, unruly mobs, and constant heat feel real. However, Harry’s true motives as spy, husband, and father remain unclear. Less frenetic activity and fewer characters might have allowed room for a better understanding of Harry and a more compelling story.

G. J. Berger

A MAN OF LEGEND

Linda Broday, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2022, $8.99, pb, 360pp, 9781492693819

Paisley Mahone and Crockett Legend unexpectedly meet in tense circumstances on a train ride from the big city to their family ranches in Texas. Things ended badly for the two of them the first time, and seeing her again makes Crockett realize he wants to rekindle his old flame with Paisley. But Paisley’s family has a vendetta against the powerful Legends, and she must uncover the truth behind their families’ differences and deeply guarded secrets for the two of them to have a chance at love.

Paisley is a memorable character: a frontier woman drawn with courage and intelligence who must measure up to the toughest of challenges. While Crockett’s roots are in his grandfather’s old ways, his decision to become a frontier judge and his curiosity towards innovative automobile vehicles strikes a healthy tension for change in Legend family dynamics. Set in the early 20th century, the story focuses less on historical detail and more on Paisley’s and Crockett’s smoldering, occasionally gushy, romance. Book three in the author’s Lone Star Legends series.

Brodie Curtis

THE GRAND DESIGN

Joy Callaway, Harper Muse, 2022, $17.99, pb, 400pp, 9781400234370

Dorothy Draper, the first woman in America to open her own interior design company in 1925, has been granted the most lucrative contract of the post-WWII era: to renovate the fabulous Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

The novel begins as Dorothy looks back on her youthful association with The Greenbrier when, as a debutante, she spent summers there with her family. Her memories contain vibrant images of the landscape of The Greenbrier and the young man she fell in love with there. In her task to renovate and redecorate the resort, Dorothy allows her memories to help her create lush designs for new wall coverings, upholstery, and furniture arrangements—all down to even the smallest detail to restore The Greenbrier to its former glory.

As the reader is carried through the design process, we also learn how the young love affair affected Dorothy Draper for the rest of her life. The story is a thoroughly enjoyable read with the characters, including The Greenbrier, coming vividly to life. It is wellpaced, with twists and turns in the plot and notable guests like President Taft woven into the storyline to anchor the reader in history. Dramatic details make readers believe they can almost smell the rhododendron and magnolias.

Linda Harris Sittig

SWITCHBOARD SOLDIERS

Jennifer Chiaverini, William Morrow, 2022, $28.99/£20.00, hb, 464pp, 9780063080690

In 1917, telephone operators made up a working group that was already female: “Number, please?” arrived in a woman’s voice to the early users of the phone. Chiaverini’s novel takes three young women of varied backgrounds, all fluent speakers of French and all able to operate the cables and plugs of the complex switchboards, and follows them to France that year—into war and even occupation by a foreign power. Remarkably, the United States swore these “hello girls” into its own army, since their messaging would involve troop movements and planned battles.

Chiaverini, an experienced author of historical fiction, packs abundant details into this narrative of women stepping up. Most poignant of her three women is Marie, who’d aspired to become an opera singer and whose musical gifts cheer gatherings wherever she is stationed—but who also enters into an impulsive friendship with a soldier of Italian descent, and who sometimes makes the mistake of singing music written by people from the now-enemy nation of Austria. When she hears the warning “Anyone could be an enemy sympathizer or spy for the Central Powers,” she realizes she may have made a dangerous connection.

The intimacy of women’s friendships enriches this novel, packed into 27 chapters that each feature one protagonist in turn. Drawbacks include the sometimes-scattered perspectives as points of view keep changing, and a tendency to ignore the principle of “show, don’t tell.” Early chapters take too long to get to “action,” and emotional costs are often muffled where they should be sharp. Ideally the novel would work for teens and young adults, and is written at a comfortable level of language, but the length and slow pace demand more seasoned readers.

Beth Kanell

ANGELS AND BANDITS

Brodie Curtis, Westy Vistas, 2022, $10.95, pb, 364pp, 9781733783521

This second novel from Curtis anchors itself around the early days of World War II, specifically the epoch identified as the ‘Battle of Britain’ (July-October 1940). As such, this book joins a long list of previous volumes centered on this early air war, but the author carves out a creative niche that will enthrall readers. Curtis does not offer a panoramic view mired in grand strategies; rather, he concentrates his narrative on two different pilots, thrown together by circumstances.

In Part I, the reader meets private pilot/ instructor Edouard (Eddie) Beane, who is secretly used by British authorities to film German airfields. His Aeronca flights are fraught with danger as German planes attempt to discourage his spying missions. Part II shifts to the aftermath of Dunkirk and the maelstrom that characterized the opening air war. To meet this new threat, the RAF desperately cobbled together a rag-tag cohort of dissimilar young men from numerous backgrounds and countries to pilot the Hurricanes and Spitfires to take on the German bombers and fighters.

As the squadrons are slapped together, Beane finds himself in the same group as Dudley Thane, the upper-class, Cambridgeeducated ex-fiancé of his current girlfriend, June Stephenson. Hence, the reader is embroiled in two intersecting battles: combat in the air and social tension on the ground!

Curtis’ crisp dialogue captures the terror of battle interspersed with the tension of waiting. Temporary friendships form, and deaths eulogized and forgotten, as the contemporary reality demands attention. Our two protagonists reach an equilibrium formed by danger and are able to contemplate their fates as 1941 unfolds.

Jon G. Bradley

THE LAST PALADIN

P.T. Deutermann, St. Martin’s, 2022, $28.99, hb, 288pp, 9781250279866

Lieutenant Commander Mariano deTomasi is the commanding officer of the U.S. Navy Destroyer Escort USS Holland (DE-202). Lieutenant Edmond Enright is his executive officer (XO), or second-in-command. They are quite different in background and temperament, yet they complement each other well and get along nicely. Their ship has just been reassigned from the Atlantic, where they have been hunting German U-boats, to join the much larger U.S. Pacific Fleet. They are not met with much respect, as the Pacific command feels the real and most dangerous naval action has been against the Japanese.

With the unspoken assumption that it would take too long and not be worth the effort to train and integrate DE-202 and her crew in Pacific operations, they are sent off into remote areas to search for Japanese subs. But the commander and his XO take their “out of the way” mission seriously and use their Atlantic experience and emerging technical innovations to achieve great and completely unexpected successes. Before long, their victories can no longer be ignored, and the High Command is taking positive interest.

Based on a true story, this outstanding book is told from the separate perspectives of the captain and the XO. Their different views of the same events further increase the reader’s interest. This superlative novel is a perfect example of capturing the emotions and ambience in times of genuine historical world-shaking significance. Complicated technical and tactical details are portrayed in a manner that translates well and easily

for the lay reader. The account of a small ship in a furious typhoon is fascinating, and the ending reveals a surprise example of strategic deception. Superb in every aspect, and strongly recommended.

Thomas J. Howley

TRUST

Hernan Diaz, Riverhead, 2022, $27.95, hb, 416pp, 9780593420317 / Picador, 2022, £16.99, hb, 416pp, 9781529074499

Pulitzer finalist Diaz’s brilliantly layered epic unfolds through a quartet of accounts, each of which adds new meaning to the ones that have gone before— much in the vein of Iain Pears’ An Instance of the Fingerpost, but set in the world of early 20th-century corporate finance. The authors of the four tales are given up front, but the less said about how they relate to one another, the better. Readers will derive the greatest pleasure if they uncover the revelations themselves.

First is a short novel called Bonds by Harold Vanner, a pointed morality tale about New York stock market whiz Benjamin Rask, who accumulates great wealth while remaining isolated from its impact on others. Rask’s marriage to wife Helen, an intellectual from an old Albany family, is an agreeable if emotionally distant union, and they both like it that way. In a style reminiscent of Edith Wharton, Vanner draws readers into Rask’s moneymaking ventures and the scandal that befell the couple after the 1929 crash. Next comes the incomplete autobiography of financier Andrew Bevel, who puts pen to paper—with eye-opening pomposity—to counter rumors about his investments and to honor his late wife, Mildred. Paired with Vanner’s novel, Bevel appears to cover similar ground, which may cause some confusion—but keep reading.

Up third, the memoir of Ida Partenza, an Italian anarchist’s daughter, is hugely satisfying as it brings the first two accounts into focus while leaving some mysteries for the last section to reveal (which it definitely does). Each part feels smoothly calibrated to its author’s personality and historical setting as the story continues to provoke questions about which person’s truth can be relied upon. Not only a powerful commentary on the effects of unfettered capitalism, Trust also exposes the complex art of mythmaking engineered by the rich and powerful, and those erased in the process.

Margaret Dickinson, Pan, 2022, £7.99, pb, 484pp, 9781529077926 1938. Fears of war are prevalent. Eighteenyear-old Carolyn lives on a farm on the Lincolnshire coast with her parents and fifteenyear-old brother, Tom. Carolyn’s mother refuses to allow her daughter to continue with a career, as she expects her to get married and start a family. Tom, on the other hand, has no such expectations laid on him. Carolyn teaches herself shorthand and typing and, with her brother’s help, Morse code as well. He is fascinated with radios and has built his own receiver with help from Mr. Fox, his science teacher. With the outbreak of war, Carolyn joins the ATS and there meets Beryl. They become lifelong friends. Their career in the ATS and problems at home are the main subject of the story.

I am not a great fan of WWII stories but must admit that I found this one fascinating. The characterisation is good on all counts, and the narrative smoothly passes from one set of people to the next. Tom, too, is a prominent character and perfectly believable. It covers wartime work that I only knew vaguely, and I learned a lot. It is one of a series of books by Margaret Dickinson, but each can easily be read separately. The pages turned themselves. Recommended.

Marilyn Sherlock

THE LOST CHILDREN

Shirley Dickson, Forever, 2022, $12.99/C$16.99, pb, 368pp, 9781538708439 / Bookouture, 2020, £9.99, pb, 356pp, 9781838881856

German bombs fall indiscriminately amongst the populace, and single parent Martha makes the heart-wrenching decision to send her eight-year-old twins to safer territory in northern England. The bombing has terrorized the twins, and now they are to be bundled on a train to be sent off alone to live with strangers. Molly and Jacob are afraid and confused. Life takes another strange turn when Martha presses into Jacob’s hands a sealed envelope. He is instructed to keep the envelope safe and secret, only to be read when and if they are in great danger.

This is a poignant novel that captures how war can impact innocents: those children and adolescents who barely comprehend the society in which they must now survive. Molly, who has a physical disability, and Jacob are alone and now handed another catastrophe— their mother is killed in an air raid. Both children now realize that they are truly alone.

Tens of thousands of British children were uprooted and relocated during the war. Some were shipped overseas to Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, while others were moved north in England out of the range of German bombers. The fabric of society was impacted as children found themselves floating without a grounding while, at the same time, attempting to deal with the realities of war.

Writing in the voices of children and honestly expressing adolescent angst in times of stress is a difficult literary technique for adults. How can true feelings of youngsters be explained without sounding demeaning or condescending? However, Dickson captures the tenor and tone perfectly by placing the nervous children and their issues front and center. Will their fate be an orphanage and separation? On the other hand, will the secret letter offer solace? This is a powerful novel that will bring a tear to the reader’s eye!

Jon G. Bradley

A DAUGHTER’S HOPE

Donna Douglas, Orion, 2022, £6.99, pb, 352pp, 9781409190950

Douglas focuses primarily on twin sisters Maudie and Sybil Maguire in the city of Hull, who have joined the WAAFs in the Second World War. The sisters discover that the differences in their personalities are more acutely obvious in this strange new environment and what they could ignore before is now a barrier to their individual happiness. Relationships with their colleagues and the opposite sex throw an additional emotional charge into the mix, which threatens the cosy friendship they thought was theirs unconditionally. Meanwhile, back at their home on Jubilee Row, their aunt Florence faces her own nemesis. At the office she is professionally challenged as she supervises the skittish young women of the typing pool while struggling with the inadequacies of the office manager, who is unsuited to his role. Florence finds it tough to fit in at home, too, since she’s more interested in a good book over dancing the night away. She’s pursued her career following the loss of her fiancé in World War One and feels that she is destined to remain unmarried and different from the other women in the Maguire family.

Learning about the tough decisions that women of every age had to make during the War, through the medium of fiction, allows their challenges to become more accessible. The generation of grandmothers had been influenced by the Victorian values of their parents, whilst the emerging adults were able to enjoy freedoms that were unthought of for their elders. The middle years brought their own difficulties as many of these women were vital to the workforce, much depleted due to their menfolk fighting for King and country. The main characters are well rounded and believable, and their chosen paths are recognisable within the constraints of society.

Cathy Kemp

THE LAST HOURS IN PARIS

Ruth Druart, Headline Review, 2022, £16.99, hb, 435pp, 9781472268013 / Grand Central, 2022, $28.00, hb, 448pp, 9781538735213

The four-year occupation of France by the Germans in WW2 must be one of the most intensively fictionalised episodes in history. It takes an inventive author to find a new perspective on this well-surveyed landscape. Ruth Druart is such an author, as she has

already shown in her previous novel, While Paris Slept.

Both novels are as much about the aftermath of the Occupation and the healing of old wounds as about the Occupation itself. The Last Hours in Paris begins in the last few weeks before Paris is liberated in August 1944. It describes the savagery of the liberation as the population rise up against the retreating Germans and their French collaborators and how the supposed collaborators and their children fare in their post-war lives.

This is a love story of a French girl and a German officer, about divided loyalties, savage retribution, enduring prejudice, and a form of redemption. It is structured as a dual narrative with the events of 1944 set beside the return of the lovers’ grown-up daughter to Paris in 1963 to explore the past her mother kept hidden. This is an engrossing and psychologically complex novel which helps to explain why the Occupation still so fascinates us.

Edward James

DEAD IN THE WATER

Mark Ellis, Headline Accent, 2022, £9.99, pb, 375pp, 9781786159885

We are familiar with dual narrative novels. This is surely a duodecimal narrative novel— at least! New plot lines pop up all the time; even Stalin puts in an appearance. There are three murders under investigation, all loosely related but each with a separate killer, plus several other violent deaths. This is a DCI Merlin murder/mystery set in London in 1942, and if you have read the other two books in this series you will have learned to expect this level of complexity. Once again Merlin and his Scotland Yard team sort it all out by solid policework without the help of any outside sleuth.

All the plot lines develop simultaneously, and the whole action is concentrated in one month (August 1942), narrated day-byday. The appeal of the book is watching the plot lines converge. This is not so much a whodunnit as a which-of-them-did-what. A very satisfying puzzle, expertly crafted.

Edward James

EVERYTHING WILL BE ALL RIGHT

Constance Emmett, Next Chapter, 2022, $11.99, pb, 419pp, 9798796104385

In this sequel to Emmett’s Heroine of Her Own Life, the lives of two intertwined Protestant Belfast families are followed from the Blitz of May 1941 up to the Civil Rights marches of 1969. Although there is no conscription in Northern Ireland, teenaged Robert decides to join the Royal Navy, whilst other family members flee bomb-torn Belfast for the countryside. Life on board H.M.S. Portland has been thoroughly researched, for it convinces utterly. Robert leaves behind a boy he loves and who loves him, but their then-illegal relationship cannot be spoken of. Called to serve at Bletchley Park, Robert marries a colleague who is pregnant by a married man in an echo of Alan Turing’s platonic relationship with Joan Clarke. In due course, the girl who is to the world Robert’s daughter grows up to be a Civil Rights activist in the turbulent events of the late 1960s.

This is a novel primarily about the ties of family and the sense of longing for what has been left behind; a scene of a woman returning unannounced to the home of her youth in Belfast, after decades in New York, is intensely moving. There is the undertow of sectarian separation in the attitude to those who have married out and in lines like, ‘The setting sun shone down the Lisburn Road, through the stained-glass window of the Red Hand of Ulster, bloodying the floor at their feet.’ Small anachronisms like Belfast Central for York Road or trainers instead of ‘gutties’ are made up for by convincing details like the model of cars, hairstyles and dress and above all by the unmistakable rhythms and idiosyncrasies of Ulster speech.

Katherine Mezzacappa

THE PHYSICISTS’ DAUGHTER

Mary Anna Evans, Poisoned Pen Press, 2022, $16.99, pb, 352pp, 9781464215551

The trend of catching up with women who’ve made historic choices and actions often focuses on those who were “famous” or at least pathbreakers. Mary Anna Evans offers instead a situation that at first seems very ordinary: like other women of New Orleans in 1944, Justine Byrne, age 20, has a factory job that can be boring: assembling parts of machines. Her parents have died in a car accident, and she’s living in a boarding house with other working girls, trying to get by and taking pride in doing her job well—especially when she can use her welding skills. That’s the first marker of Justine’s difference: Daughter of two physicists, excelling in math and science, she also can repair and build equipment that a lab might need—or an assembly line that must have its own secrets, feeding its parts and combinations into the ongoing war. Her own biggest secret is her German heritage, a risky background in a suspicious season. Yet when sabotage becomes evident in the factory, understanding the “enemy” language becomes yet another critical skill, as Justine struggles to avert calamity.

Evans adds a light thread of attraction to some of the men on hand—somehow not draftable, by age or condition—so that Justine must not only judge the machinery, but also the fellows trying to catch her eye. Flirtation, or something far more dangerous?

Evans lays out a fine tale of adventure and risk. What the book lacks in emotional depth, it more than makes up for in pace and detail. Accessible for those with little knowledge of World War II, The Physicists’ Daughter could also be a good teen read.

Thomas Fenske, Wings ePress, 2022, $3.99, ebook, 246pp, B0B2JQ96N5

In small-town 1930s Texas, Alvin McIntyre is the district attorney. Earl Swanger wants to defeat him. Two weeks before the primary, Earl is killed while stumping for the election. A simple car accident, right? Turns out nothing is simple, and the ensuing investigation calls many things into question.

The accident is no accident. McIntyre has commissioned Betty Johnston and her friend, Freddy Darby, to create an incident to besmirch Earl Swanger’s reputation, but they go too far.

They, Sheriff Steele, and Alvin McIntyre are tropes. But so is Texas Ranger Tim Givens, who’s assigned to investigate. There isn’t a crime Givens can’t solve by talking to himself and looking around at the “evidence.”

The book could have been a thrilling read, except the author gives us the crime in the first chapter and then backtracks, feeding his readers details about how the crime occurred. He could have opened the story with the discovery of Earl’s body and then provided the details of how the crime was committed as the story progressed, but chose not to, which is disappointing.

The characters are one-dimensional, and all talk to themselves to impart information the author wanted his readers to have. That said, the characters Claude, Evie, and Miss Lilly Mae are the most well-developed. The most realistic element is the racial climate of the time, but the author could have done better world-building. He posts the date, time, and location of each incident at the head of each section. This reviewer has never been to Texas and would have liked to have “seen” the surrounding countryside through the author’s eyes. The story is based on a true-crime incident involving an ancestor of the author’s wife.

Angela Moody

THE CRIMSON THREAD

Kate Forsyth, Blackstone, 2022, $27.99, hb, 415pp, 9798200950249

The Crimson Thread is a welcome addition to the WWII genre. On Crete between 1941 and 1945, a young woman named Alenka must protect her mother and young brother when the Nazis arrive. Accustomed to international scholars, Alenka speaks English and German as well as her own dialect and, prior to the Nazi invasion, assisted the Allied forces who headquartered in the ancient palace of Ariadne. There, she meets Jack and Teddy, two Australian soldiers who have been friends since boyhood. Teddy is brash, wild, and fair-haired, while Jack is intellectual, thoughtful, and dark-haired. When the Nazis invade and occupy the island, Jack and Teddy aren’t able to make the evacuation. Stranded on Crete, they must do what they have to in order to survive, and Alenka struggles to help them and safeguard her role in the Cretan resistance, all the while trying to care for her

younger brother, who is a Nazi sympathizer and informer.

This story has all the elements of a spy novel, a frontline war novel, and a wartime romance, all wrapped up in the mythology of the Minotaur, Theseus, and, of course, Ariadne. Through alternating perspectives, we see Alenka’s mythological knowledge and experience with Cretan culture, Teddy’s daredevil risks, and Jack’s careful and creative intelligence. The island of Crete is less of a setting and more of a character: with its forbidding, jutting peaks, its rare herbs, and ancient labyrinths, Forsyth’s Crete is a place of extraordinary feats and extraordinary people.

There are many wonderful WWII novels out there, and I would put The Crimson Thread among them. Highly recommended.

Katie Stine

WHEN THE MEADOW BLOOMS

Ann H. Gabhart, Revell, 2022, $16.99, pb, 384pp, 9780800737221

Kentucky, 1925. Widow Rose Meadows is in a tuberculosis sanatorium, hoping to be released so she can recover her daughters, teenage Calla and nine-year-old Sienna, from the orphanage where they have been mistreated. Independently of each other, she and Calla write to their family member Dirk Meadows—the brother of Rose’s deceased husband—for help. Dirk has been scarred physically and psychologically by an old tragedy, and lives as a recluse on the beautiful family farm, Meadowland.

Things improve when Dirk collects Rose, Calla and Sienna, and the farm provides a much happier environment. Dirk is struggling with old demons that threaten the foursome’s ability to bond and grow as a family. God is at work in this Christian—but never preachy— book, and the characters rely on Him and their own basic goodness and common sense to move forward toward a better life on the farm. An old mystery holds everything back, and readers will be in suspense about the fate of Dirk’s old love. Sweet but not syrupy, with multi-layered, engaging characters, this book is both entertaining and inspirational. Recommended.

Elizabeth Knowles

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF JOSEF MENGELE

Olivier Guez (trans. Georgia de Chamberet), Verso, 2022, $19.95, pb, 224pp, 9781788735889 A man calling himself Helmut Gregor arrives at the dock in Buenos Aires in 1949. He claims to be a mechanic and an amateur biologist, carrying in his luggage some prized possessions: a syringe, notebooks, anatomic drawings, and cell fragments. He is Josef Mengele, the former Auschwitz Angel of Death, who will live for the next 30 years in hiding, changing identities, moving from place to place, clinging “to fragile threads of life that can snap at any moment.”

The Disappearance of Josef Mengele is a phenomenal novel. It is based almost wholly on historical records that chronicle the time Mengele spent in South America. The book traces the salutary environment Peron’s Argentina offered to ex-Nazis in the early 1950s, which initially provides comfort to Mengele. The storyline shifts in the late 1950s to showcase a suddenly hostile terrain after agents from Mossad find another notorious ex-Nazi in South America, then capture, prosecute, and execute Adolf Eichmann.

Prose is spare and straightforward; the narrative is rooted in fact with occasional forays into Mengele’s state of mind. The result is a no-holds-barred reconstruction of events, an insightful portrayal of a man on the run, and a potent warning: “Every two or three generations, as memory fades and the last witnesses of past massacres disappear, reason is eclipsed and men return to propagate evil.”

Winner of the prestigious French Renaudot Prize, The Disappearance of Josef Mengele has been translated into 25 languages and is being produced as a major motion picture.

K. M. Sandrick

AFTERLIVES

Abdulrazak Gurnah, Riverhead, 2022, $28.00, hb, 320pp, 9780593541883 / Bloomsbury, 2021, £8.99, pb, 288pp, 9781526615893

Afterlives provides a view of the culture and world of early-20th-century Eastern Africa. Abdulrazak Gurnah, a Tanzanian author, won the 2021 Nobel Prize for his body of work. He writes of a world of displacement, colonialism, and war in his native Africa. At the end of the 19th century, Germany established their foothold in East Africa with their colony, the DeutschOstafrika. To contain the ongoing uprisings, the Germans relied on the schutztruppe, an African army of native mercenaries, also called askari. The schutztruppe was so brutal and sadistic that their own people feared them more than they feared the Germans. This unrest continued through WWI until the Germans were defeated. Life during this time is told through the lives of four main characters: Khalifa, Hamza, Ilyas, and Afiya.

In Mombasa, Khalifa is Indian-African and works as a clerk for an opportunistic money lender and merchant of shady character. Hamza joins the schutztruppe where he and the troop are subjected to abuse and humiliation by their German officers, then he becomes an Oberleutnant’s servant. As a youth, Ilyas runs away from home and is kidnapped by the schutztruppe to be their carrier; he is taken in by a coffee farmer and educated. Afiya is Ilyas’s sister, abused and living under cruel conditions when Ilyas rescues her after returning home; but when he rejoins the askari Afiya is taken in by Khalifa.

These characters are likeable and sympathetic. Initially their connections aren’t clear, but as the story develops, their storylines merge and blend nicely. The narrative is told with a sense of detachment, but its episodic nature remains gripping as it transitions between the characters. This novel brings so much to light of the evil taking place in Africa, not only under colonialism but the cruelty of Africans against their own.

Janice Ottersberg

HANOI SPRING

Liz Harris, Heywood Press, 2022, $12.99, pb, 370pp, 9781913687168

As Liz Harris’s new novel opens, Lucette Delon, newly arrived in 1930s Hanoi with her husband Philippe, a French colonial bureaucrat in a new posting, is rear-ended in her driveway by the charming Gaston Laroche. Unbeknownst to her, Gaston is a counterintelligence agent with the Sûreté, the security service in the colonial administration. Hanoi Spring then switches to Gaston’s perspective, where we learn he planned the accident as a pretense to enter the Delons’ lives, in order to monitor their next-door neighbor, Marc Bouvier, who is Philippe’s boss. Marc is suspected of aiding the Vietnamese resistance. His colonial-born French wife, Simonne, remains unaware. Gaston’s scheme is successful, allowing him to enter the social lives of the two couples as an amusing fifth wheel. So, for most of the novel, the tone alternates between light chatter and more cynical realism. The Vietnamese resistance is planning something, and Gaston can monitor the moves of those he calls “terrorists.” But more secrets await.

This is the third in Harris’s Colonials series. It is a domestic novel that often reads like a play: the action shifts between the neighboring homes and gardens of the Delons and Bouviers. Gaston’s backstory does take us to the Vendee, a rural French region, around the turn of the 20th century. The focus, however, is Lucette. I wanted more of Marc’s backstory, or even Philippe’s.

After the ending, I am not sure what this novel wants to be: the light, earnest expat friendship story, or the darker story of colonial counterintelligence. I enjoyed each, and either would be great on its own, but as the novel went on, they balanced each other less and less well. The choice of final tone and the overall ending were difficult to believe. I finished the story baffled by one key thing.

Irene Colthurst

THE LAST OF THE SEVEN

Steven Hartov, Hanover Square, 2022, $26.99, hb, 368pp, 9781335050106

Every now and then in the glutted genre of World War II thrillers, a book opens to reveal a literary pearl within. Such is the case with The Last of the Seven by Steven Hartov, a moving tale of a young German Jew, Bernard Froelich, haunted by his parents’ deaths and his sister’s disappearance at the hands of the Nazis, who seeks vengeance as an agent for the British Special Interrogation Group (SIG).

In spring of 1943, his undercover operation

in North Africa goes awry and, as the lone survivor, he escapes a POW camp wearing the uniform of a German soldier. Badly wounded, he treks across the merciless desert into a British military outpost, pleading his identity as an SIG operative, which eventually sets him on an Odysseus-like journey to an Allied field hospital in Agrigento, Sicily. During his recuperation in The Monastery of the Holy Spirit, Froelich befriends a gregarious wounded soldier and finds in Sofia, the physically disabled Sicilian “ice girl,” an emotional oasis for his own damaged body and soul.

Despite his recent injuries, Froelich learns the British Army are not done with his services just yet: he is approached to join the real-life “X Troop,” a British commando unit consisting entirely of German and Austrian Jews, who are training nearby for a top-secret mission. Tempted by hopes of a different future with Sofia, Froelich knows his destiny too well and ultimately assumes command of the rag-tag unit of diversely talented soldiers, drilling them and himself to exhaustion under the harsh gaze of the ostensibly anti-Semitic Major Nigel Butler.

Lyrical and dreamy, The Last of the Seven is a deeply felt exploration of love, hope, and forgiveness that also begs for a sequel as Lt. Froelich and X Troop embark on the most dangerous mission of their lives.

Peggy Kurkowski

THE FLAMES

Sophie Haydock, Doubleday, 2022, £16.99, hb, 464pp, 9780857527622

This is a fictional biography, of sorts, of the Austrian artist Egon Schiele, told from the perspective of four of the key women in the life of this remarkable, talented but tragically shorted-lived man who had a key influence upon him and his work.

There is Adele Harms, who became besotted with the artist in Vienna, and the tale includes Schiele’s younger sister Gertrude and their traumatic upbringing in provincial Austria, with a mentally unstable father. Vally Neuzil is Schiele’s flame-haired model who appeared in some of his more notorious works. And Edith, Adele’s sister, who became Egon’s wife. Schiele’s artistic talent was recognized within the artistic community in Austria and Europe, but within provincial bourgeois society, he was initially seen as little more than a pornographer who seduced and ruined the reputation of women and younger girls who sat for his perceived corrupt works. The writer examines the role of these females, and the limitations that society imposed upon them.

This modular approach does not always make for a greatly joined up read; rather, it’s sometimes a series of loosely interconnected narratives, with the common denominator being Egon Schiele, and the descriptive drive can be a little flat at times. The novel is wellresearched, however, and the author has an impressive knowledge of Schiele, his works and his milieu, both artistic and historical. It is an engaging read, and while Sophie Haydock admits to using some creative licence when facts are thin on the ground, it is still a most impressive work of historical fiction.

Douglas Kemp

A KIND AND SAVAGE PLACE

Richard Helms, Level Best, 2022, $17.95, pb, 328pp, 9781685120771

Prosperity, North Carolina in 1954 seems to be a small farming town from the outside, but its underbelly is rife with tragedy, cruelty, and secrets. Ev Howard just wants a job, but a Black man in a small town has a hard time finding one. When Arlo Pyle takes him on, Ev gives it his all, but is soon a victim of the manipulations of others. When a tragedy occurs, three popular teenagers—football players—are forced to take part in an unspeakable act of revenge. They remain silent until 1989, when a murderer decides to run for Congress.

This is a heartbreaking novel that takes us back to a time of extreme racism and vigilante “justice,” where there was no justice for the victims. Ev Howard, no matter how good a job he did, was always looked at with suspicion because of his skin color. The portrayal of Ev’s life and the small-town racism of the 1950s is so well done. The character of Ev just pops off the page, grabs your heart, and will not let go. The title, “A Kind and Savage Place,” is so on point. Prosperity appears on its surface to be a kind and friendly town, but underneath, in secret, lies savage hatred and murder. The politics of the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s are discussed, and we see the effect that one event had on all three football players. Historical fiction meets politics and thriller in this sad but fair look at the history of racism in the United States.

Bonnie DeMoss

THE MOTHER’S DAY VICTORY

Rosie Hendry, Sphere, 2022, £7.99, pb, 388pp, 9780751575736

England, 1940. In the Norfolk village of Great Plumstead, sisters Thea and Prue are mainstays of the local war effort, organising Women’s Institute meetings, recycling collections, jumble and bake sales. They arrange lodgings for new and expectant mums evacuated from London and further do their bit by driving a mobile canteen to refresh locally-based servicemen. Then a letter arrives requesting help for a Category C (no threat) enemy alien, language teacher Anna Weissenborn who, having escaped Nazi persecution, is legally seeking employment. Naturally, the helpful sisters agree to embark on a journey exploring xenophobia and the magnanimous comfort of the shared aim. Shockingly, the Government then demands Anna’s internment and she’s imprisoned. Nevertheless, the sisters, despite their other personal stresses, determine to free her.

This rather neat little story with its unfussy credible narrative ably tackles the anxieties of the ‘Phoney War’ when rumours of imminent invasion were rife. Interestingly, genuine events and people feature in the storyline and every chapter contains reminders of 1940s life: milking by hand, Anderson shelters, dressing gown cords, margarine, twice daily postal deliveries, or some variation of ‘make do and mend’ with home-made butter, jam and biscuits one minute, and reusing donated materials to make baby clothes the next. This fine illustration of Milton’s “They also serve who only stand and wait” provides a very good read indeed.

Simon Rickman

UNNATURAL ENDS

Christopher Huang, Inkshares, 2022, $18.99, pb, 402pp, 9781950301065 1921: Alan, Roger, and Caroline Linwood are summoned home to their adoptive father’s estate in Yorkshire by the news of his brutal murder. Alan, an archaeologist, has recently returned from South America. Roger, fascinated by engineering and flight, is accompanied by his fiancée, Iris. Caroline, destined by her father for a career in politics, has been working in Paris as a journalist. The reading of Sir Lawrence Linwood’s will reveals that, despite earlier contradictory promises to each heir, the estate will go to the one who solves his killing. The search for their adoptive father’s killer pits the three siblings against each other and the local inspector. It leads them to mysterious strangers and subterranean family history, where they unearth startling information about their own pasts, their heritage, and the present.

What at first seems to be a typical English estate murder—a Golden Age locked room mystery—quickly becomes an intriguing investigation not only of a killing, but also of the deep-set foibles of English society, culture, and worldview in this engrossing and thought-provoking novel. Huang pulls surprise after surprise from his hat and entrances the reader until the complex puzzle box of the plot finally falls open on the last page. Highly recommended.

Susan McDuffie

A CERTAIN DARKNESS

Anna Lee Huber, Kensington, 2022, $16.95, pb, 368pp, 9781496728517

In this sixth outing of the popular Verity Kent mystery series, World War I combat has ended, and Verity’s given-up-for-dead husband Sidney has returned, but all, as usual, is not right with the world. Both British and French intelligence authorities need the assistance of the intrepid and now-famous couple—a definite hindrance to undercover work.

Soon after they speak with a jailed French operative, she’s found hanging with a suspicious neck break. Then they are drawn into solving the murder of a Belgian lawyer and the disappearance of his satchel and its mysterious contents. Interwoven into all:

the hunt for a gold-laden vessel sunk during wartime.

Traveling from England to France and Holland, this complex plot turns itself inside out before its conclusion. Besides sumptuous details and atmospheric settings, the relationships among the characters, especially the tenuous renewed intimacy between Verity and her war-traumatized husband, set this series above more standard mysteries. So come for the rich, complex flavor of the bottle of pinot gris in a room swaddled in thick brocade drapes, but stay for Sidney’s wise observation of his wife’s interrogations: “you see to the heart of how they want to be seen, even if it conflicts with who they truly are.”

Eileen Charbonneau

THE WOMAN WITH TWO SHADOWS

Sarah James, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2022, $16.99, pb, 400pp, 9781728249537 1945: Lillian Kaufman, a talented and ambitious physics student, learns her identical twin sister, Eleanor, has disappeared in Tennessee. Eleanor had taken the position at a secret U.S. Army engineering site, rather than a coveted gig in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, in an attempt to repair her relationship with her fiancé Max Medelson—a relationship Lillian had helped to fracture. Lillian assumes Eleanor’s identity and job at the mysterious Clinton Engineering Works to try and discover what happened to her twin. Max eventually assists Lillian, but they soon learn other people also have disappeared from the job site. Lillian later enlists the help of the brilliant wunderkind physicist Andrew Ennis as she attempts to learn what happened to her sister. Their search reveals secrets—both personal and military of all players in the game.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, a glimpse into the clandestine world of Oak Ridge, Tennessee and the Manhattan Project. The heroine, Lillian, fascinates. Deeply flawed, she rings very true to life. A talented woman, Lillian is driven by her love of science. Her own stated desire to protect her glamorous and outgoing sister may blind Lillian to some of her other, deeper motives, but this self-deception makes her a wonderfully interesting heroine. The contrasting characters of Lillian and Eleanor drive the plot. Lillian’s attempt to assume her sister’s identity, and the conflicts that arise from this, make The Woman with Two Shadows the best WWII novel I have read in quite a long while. It proves an exceptionally refreshing read in a saturated market. I unreservedly recommend this book to all readers who enjoy

Susan McDuffie

THE PUPPET MAKER’S DAUGHTER

Karla M. Jay, Book Circle Press, 2022, $2.99, ebook, 297pp, 9798985322217

The Puppet Maker’s Daughter tells the harrowing story of the Hungarian Jews in the final year of the Second World War. Up until March 1944, Hungarian Jews had largely escaped the fate of the rest of Europe’s Jews; they had faced restrictions and been conscripted into forced labour but had not been subject to mass transportation to concentration camps.

This changed when the Germans invaded Hungary and Adolf Eichmann took charge of the ‘Jewish Question’ in Hungary. The book follows this sudden change from the perspective of Marika Tausig, a 19-year-old Jewish nursing student whose world is turned upside down. Marika becomes a resistance activist and, working with the real life Swiss and Swedish diplomats Carl Lutz and Raoul Wallenberg, shows incredible resilience to not just survive, but to help save an untold number of people from Eichmann and the Nazi death camps.

This is a very well-researched novel that mirrors the horrible but familiar path of the Nazis’ treatment of Jews across Europe, from the revoking of civil rights to the mass transportations. What makes this novel different is its depiction of the way the local population turned on their neighbours and the murders carried out by the Hungarian Fascist party, the Arrow Cross, not just against the Jews but against the people who sheltered them. This apparently even shocked Eichmann. Despite the horror of the story, Kay’s novel leaves the reader with a feeling of hope. The human spirit cannot be crushed, and those who died will live on in the hearts of those who survived and their descendants.

Alan Bardos

THE ATTIC CHILD

Lola Jaye, Macmillan, 2022, £14.99, hb, 469pp, 9781529064568

Inspired by a 19th-century photograph of Ndugu M’Hali, this novel quests through colonial genocide and exploitation to tell the fictional life of an African boy.

In 1903, the Belgian colonial regime is still at its most brutal. Nine-year-old Dikembe lives in the paradisal domestic world of his mother, until soldiers murder his father. Dikembe’s mother saves him by giving him to Sir Richard Babbington, a British explorer, who transports him to an England of automobiles and electric lights. He is renamed Celestine and lives in homesick luxury until Babbington’s death. The explorer’s heirs inherit both the house and Celestine/Dikembe, and he is consigned to a dark, unfurnished attic as an unpaid servant. There, he hides clues to his life.

In 1993, Lowra is living alone in a Croydon flat, in recovery from being kept in an attic when she was a child. When Lowra inherits her old family home, she ventures into this epicentre of both characters’ traumatic pasts. She reclaims Dikembe’s belongings which she had found as a child under the floorboards: a bone necklace, a doll, strange writing on scraps of paper and a message on the wall. These propel her to discover the real Dikembe, and she slowly comes to realise that his history is intertwined with her own.

The critical plot point where these stories dovetail is well managed. The opening and final chapters are the most persuasive, as is the moment of Lowra’s encounter with a photograph of Dikembe. In between, the story lacks pace and emotional range. The casual style of the writing is a distraction. Domestic service and the practice of historians are underresearched. That said, this story is nevertheless an important reminder of the Black lives which have been taken.

Louise Tree

BLOOMSBURY GIRLS

Natalie Jenner, St. Martin’s, 2022, $27.99/ C$36.99, hb, 368pp, 9781250276698 / Allison & Busby, 2022, £16.99, hb, 320pp, 9780749028985

A sleepy bookstore gets turned upsidedown in this cracking follow-up to The Jane Austen Society.

When the general manager of Bloomsbury Books goes on extended leave in early 1950, longtime employee Vivien Lowry jumps at the chance to take over as Head of Fiction. Having been passed over for promotion multiple times in favor of less-qualified men, she’s eager to showcase books by women. Meanwhile, secretary Grace Perkins is struggling with the decision to leave her abusive husband. She knows she should, but she worries about the stigma of being a divorced woman. Then there’s recent Cambridge graduate Evie Stone. One of the first women to earn a Cambridge degree, she lost out on a prestigious assistantship at the university to a male candidate who’d taken credit for some of her work. While the cat’s away, these women band together to transform Bloomsbury Books into the modern bookshop they know it can be. But when the general manager comes back early and returns the women to positions with no power, they realize they’ll have to fight harder to beat the status quo. Fortunately, Evie knows of a valuable rare book hidden somewhere in the crowded stacks of Bloomsbury Books that could change everything.

Jenner sparkles in this deliciously feminist yet never anachronistic sophomore offering. Each character is distinct and fully realized, and even the grumpiest ones have their charm. The author fully immerses the reader in a postwar London that is full of hope and promise but still recovering from the war. With cameos by Daphne Du Maurier and Peggy Guggenheim, Bloomsbury Girls shows that “ambition” is not a dirty word for women and that everyone should fight for what they deserve. While clearly a companion to Jenner’s first novel, Bloomsbury

Sarah Hendess

FRONTLINE

Hilary Jones, Welbeck, 2021, £8.99, pb, 454pp, 9781787397675

Set during the First World War, this novel explores the horrors of war with, understandably given the writer’s background, an emphasis on the medical side. Will, a working-class lad, enlists when he is only 15 years old. (Some such boys who lied about their ages managed to avoid detection.) His compassion, physical strength and courage under fire soon has him detailed as a stretcherbearer.

Here he meets Grace, the daughter of landed gentry, who, at an equally young age, is nursing on the front line. We follow their terrifying experiences as well as those of a range of other characters (although occasionally the head-hopping is a little dizzying), including Will’s brother and father.

Clearly a very great deal of research has gone into this writing this novel, and it is a rich mine of detail. Of particular interest is the information on the ravages of the Spanish flu, given the pandemic we’ve all just lived through. Will and Grace are sympathetically drawn, as is, especially, the story of Captain Daniel’s near-drowning in mud and his subsequent brutal treatment for desertion. This is an ambitious, sweeping epic of a story, visceral in its descriptions, and written with great insight and empathy.

Victoria Masters

ELMER KELTON’S THE UNLIKELY LAWMAN

Steve Kelton, Forge, 2022, $9.99, pb, 288pp, 9781250830692

Hewey Calloway is a cowboy’s cowboy who rode with Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. He’s never met a horse he couldn’t tame or a man he couldn’t subdue, though a gun is not his weapon of choice. He can weave a tale with the best of them and has “a somewhat enlarged fairy-tale gland.” He can be impulsive, but he quits a job only when he knows his way is the right way. Yet being right has never meant being the law, which is what he’s faced with in this adventure.

Change is coming to West Texas in the early 1900s; some ranchers even have telephones, though horses are still valuable commodities. Hewey is hired to drive a herd of horses to Colorado and challenged to find a right-hand man to accompany him. Torn between an older and younger cowboy, he wrongly selects the one who claims to know Colorado better than Hewey. As it turns out, Billy Joe Bradley is a wanted man who fled Colorado for Texas and plans to rob Hewey of the money they will earn at the end of the trail.

The prolific, late western writer Elmer Kelton gave birth to Hewey Calloway, and

Steve, his son, is running the show now. He has his father’s gifts of understanding time and place, turns of phrase, and letting his eminently relatable characters drive the plot. He models the lawman, Hanley Baker, on his own grandfather with his values of taking action, right and wrong, and attention to detail. You will enjoy this adventure where good triumphs over evil in surprising ways.

Tom Vallar

HAVANA HIGHWIRE

John Keyse-Walker, Severn House, 2022, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 224pp, 9780727850737

Private investigator Henry Gore has seen better days. After a failed attempt to get a photo of a cheating husband in Cuba’s Capri nightclub and casino—and being roughed up by the second-in-command to the crime syndicate’s Meyer Lanksy for disturbing the clientele—Gore is worried about where his next client, let alone meal, will come from. He is amenable, therefore, to an offer from the chief of the Cuban Intelligence Office, Col. Ernest Blanco Rico, to pose as a gunrunner and trap leaders of the revolutionary movement seeking to overthrow the Batista government.

With his military and intelligence background, as a Korean War veteran and former member of the U.S. Air Force’s Office of Special Investigation, Gore is up to the task. But the job is far from straightforward, putting Gore in the dangerous position of middleman with lives of new friends and distant family at stake.

Havana Highwire is the first in a series featuring PI Gore. Keyse-Walker is the author of the Constable Teddy Creque series set on the British Virgin Island of Anegada. The novel provides a solid introduction to Gore and the choices that led him to Cuba in the first place, and it includes some indelible minor characters, such as the street urchin Benny. Inklings of the political and criminal scenes of 1950s Cuba, as well as the uncertainties Gore is beginning to feel, whet the appetite for future stories.

K. M. Sandrick

VERA KELLY: LOST AND FOUND

Rosalie Knecht, Tin House, 2022, $15.95, pb, 228pp, 9781953534163

April 1971: thirty-year-old private investigator Vera Kelly and her twenty-nineyear-old girlfriend, Maxine (Max), leave their Brooklyn apartment to visit Max’s family in Los Angeles. Kicked out and disowned years before by her wealthy parents, Max wants to reconnect with her mother and sister during a new family upheaval. Max’s father, Aloysius Comstock, has taken in and become engaged to a hot young woman. Max’s mom has fled the massive Bel Aire Comstock estate. On arrival, Vera and Max receive a warm reception from the longtime family chauffeur and are assigned to one of the guest cottages. Various Hollywood scammers roam about the Comstock family compound. Vera and Max soon find imperious Aloysius, who is cold and rude. During the first evening dinner, he incites a nasty argument. Max and Vera get up from the table without even finishing their soup and plan to leave the estate in the morning. When Vera wakes up, Max has vanished.

Vera must now tap into all her PI skills to track down the love of her life. The missingperson mystery plot has some holes and contains no unusual or profound twists. However, Knecht’s exploration of Vera and Max’s prior lives and present relationship, each with the constant challenges of being gay, is well done. Detailed scene-settings, character portrayals, and dialogue, while sometimes a bit long, are engaging and often funny, particularly for those not familiar with Southern California of fifty years ago. The heart of the novel—Vera’s introspections on disappointed family and society’s reactions to a same-sex couple—will resonate with many readers.

G. J. Berger

THE SECRET WIFE

Mark Lamprell, Text, 2022, A$32.99, pb, 315pp, 9781922458421

Its 1961 in the outer suburbs of Sydney. Edith Devine moves into a new home with her two daughters and husband, Charlie. As a result, she stumbles into an unlikely friendship with the striking Frankie Heyman, who lives in the bright yellow house next door with her two sons and pugnacious husband, Ralph. This playful and incisive domestic drama conducts a moving exploration of life behind closed doors in the ´60s.

The bulk of the book is tautly narrated from the point of view of Edith, who is anxious, demure, and pious. Edith witnesses Frankie’s pedantic and overbearing husband, Ralph, exhibit controlling behaviours that drive her to seek out employment as a model in secrecy. Edith, who is captivated by Frankie’s beauty, strength, and vivacity, volunteers to spend her days maintaining Frankie’s home and becomes the eponymous ‘secret wife’. As we follow Edith, and her relationship with the extravagant Frankie deepens, we are privy to Edith’s journey of self-deception as she tries to maintain this fraught situation at the centre of this compelling novel.

Lamprell’s characters are well-drawn, and the level of detail attributed to these women’s experiences is impressive and convincing. Edith’s belief that her life moves in tandem with world events—like the assassination of Kennedy, or the explosion of the Hindenburg— makes the book feel slightly removed from its Australian context. There is a generous amount of plot movement, with one shock in particular that is bound to catch you offguard. The prose is concise and somewhat cinematic. The nuanced construction of two intriguing and overlapping family formations will move you both intellectually and emotionally. I found this work to be a literary

Georgia Rose Phillips

THE CHOSEN

Elizabeth Lowry, Riverrun, 2022, £18.99, hb, 308pp, 9781529410686

November 1912. On a cold, wet autumnal morning, Thomas Hardy’s wife Emma dies suddenly of heart failure. With both born in 1840, and hence already past the three score years and ten, Emma’s death nevertheless comes as a colossal shock to the celebrated writer. Theirs was a notoriously difficult marriage, and Thomas Hardy’s bereavement and early days as a widower, with the complicated emotions and the often bizarre and terrifying changes and sensory disruptions that loss can bring to the suffering individual, are laid out with literary finesse and understanding.

The depth of his feelings for his wife come as a surprise to Hardy and others. In some ways, Emma haunts her husband. A number of female relations descend upon Hardy after his wife’s death, as well as Florence Dugdale, the much younger woman he was most close to, who acted as his secretary and companion. Hardy discovers Emma’s journals and reads her excoriating entries about him. This comes as a huge blow to Hardy, but it does not lessen the loss that the feels.

While the real Emma Hardy did keep a journal, her widower burnt them soon after her death, so their contents are authorial conjecture, but Elizabeth Lowry captures well Emma’s voice and convoluted attitude to her husband and to the puzzling question of existence.

The reader is pulled between sympathy for the old man, who could either be considered to have been shackled to an emotionally fragile and demanding wife or treated her with cavalier disregard and emotional deprivation. The writing is at times intensely literary, and Lowry’s metaphors and similes are quite original. There are some phrases that would probably not be spoken in early 20th-century England, and the author is surely mistaken to have swarms of flying ants in early December, even in balmy Dorset!

Douglas Kemp

THE TRIAL OF LOTTA RAE

Siobhan MacGowan, Welbeck, 2022, £12.99, hb, 400pp, 9781787397316

The brewery where respectable workingclass Lotta (Charlotte) Rae and her beloved father earn their living always holds a party on Halloween night. During the gathering in 1909, Lotta is raped by a wealthy gentleman, an acquaintance of the owner. Her father is devastated and encourages her to press charges. The case comes to court where she is defended by an up-and-coming barrister, William Linden. She trusts him implicitly and so tells him absolutely everything about her life.

When her attacker is triumphantly acquitted with no stain on his character, Lotta is publicly shamed as a fallen woman, even a harlot. Although Linden realises he has been set up to fail, his acquiescence leads him on to greater influence and affluence, as a King’s Counsel (an honour granted by the monarch to distinguished lawyers) and eventually as a judge.

This one event leads them both on a course of shocking trauma and perdition, enemies in life and beyond, involving the actions of the Suffragette movement and the First World War.

It took me a while to understand the author’s purpose. Had I known from the beginning that there was a supernatural element to it, I would have understood it better. I also struggled with characterisation and motivation. Lotta is a tragic victim of male power, but wavers and becomes an on-and-off opium addict, suffragette and mother, and Linden a victim of corruption at the highest levels of society. Revenge dominates, but love shines above it. A good read, but confusing.

Sally Zigmond

CODE OF HONOR

Robert N. Macomber, Naval Institute Press, 2022, $29.95, hb, 352pp, 9781682477847

Admiral Peter Wake has had a long and illustrious naval career. This 16th and latest entry in the Wake saga carries the admiral through a dangerous and important intelligence mission. He is assigned by President Theodore Roosevelt, circa 1905, as an international naval observer onboard the flagship of the Imperial Russian Navy on its months-long voyage from the Baltic to the Sea of Japan to fight the Japanese Navy during the later stages of the Russo-Japanese War. Wake’s specific assignment is to gain firsthand knowledge of Japanese and Russian tactics and equipment with an eye toward future potential conflicts the U.S. may face.

The admiral travels with his trusted aides— crusty, dangerous Chief Boatswain’s Mate Sean Rork, and young Marine Captain Edwin Law—and, for a time, with his beautiful Spanish wife, Maria. Their journey carries them through a number of encounters with European diplomats, intelligence operatives, and heads of state before the main mission— the voyage—even starts. Once it does get underway, the Russian fleet carries Wake halfway around the world, with danger in every port.

Macomber writes with an easy assurance that only comes through deep historical familiarity with the time period and thorough identification with the protagonist. The book is reminiscent of earlier series on fictional naval heroes, such as Horatio Hornblower, Richard Bolitho, and Jack Aubrey. The admiral tells his story in first-person, and he comes across well as a believable professional military man of the period, with his own fears, faults, and talents.

I just may have a new favorite author.

Loyd Uglow

MERCURY PICTURES PRESENTS

Anthony Marra, Hogarth, 2022, $28.00/ C$38.99, hb, 432pp, 9780451495204

Mercury Pictures Presents is a multi-layered story told with humor and pathos. Marra has constructed a cohesive and very readable narrative set before and during WWII with exceptional characters to tell of life under fascist Mussolini and of Hollywood during the war. Twelve-year-old Maria and her mother flee Rome for Los Angeles, leaving behind her father, Giuseppe, who was arrested for anti-fascist activities and exiled to Calabria. The plot diverges into two storylines—one in Italy, one in Hollywood. Giuseppe struggles alone under captivity, while Maria, now 27, is an associate producer for Mercury Pictures. A variety of characters add vibrancy to the story: Artie, owner of Mercury Pictures, with his many toupees named and displayed in his office; Maria’s great-aunts, who each night “intended to pass in their sleep” and read the death notices each morning (“Some people have all the luck,” says Mimi); Ciccio, the funeral director, proposes to Mimi, who envisions the pleasure of tossing a cactus bouquet; Italian Inspector Ferrando, with his clothes covered in cat hair.

One theme running through the novel is of distorted reality. The nature of Hollywood is its artifice, but more so when the government pays Mercury to produce war propaganda. They begin “appropriating enemy propaganda” and staging war scenes to “look more realistic than the real ones.” Conspiracy theories require a “suspension of disbelief… as if reality took the crooked shape of the mind into which it was poured.” The result was Japanese Americans relocated to concentration camps on U.S. soil, and Italian “enemy aliens” relinquishing certain property, registering, and being confined close to home.

Marra’s prose turns from witty to touching with sentences stunningly well-crafted. In his descriptions, every word is important in painting a picture. His language is a delight to read and reread for its unique richness.

Janice Ottersberg

THE LIBRARIAN SPY

Madeline Martin, Hanover Square, 2022, $17.99/C$24.99, pb, 379pp, 9781335426918 Madeline Martin’s thrilling and suspenseful World War II novel tells the story of two courageous women. Ava, a rare book librarian at the Library of Congress, goes to work for the

U.S. government in neutral Portugal. Using her language skills, she searches through French and German newspapers to gather information that would help the Allied cause. Ava wants to do something for the many refugees in Lisbon who are waiting for visas, but she attracts the attention of the secret police, as well as a Nazi posing as an Austrian refugee. In Lyon, France, Elaine, a member of the Resistance whose husband has been captured by the Nazis, operates a printing press and publishes a clandestine newspaper, all the while hoping to free her husband. A Jewish mother and son come to her for help, and she places a coded message in her newspaper. Ava and her colleagues decipher the message and bring the pair to Lisbon. But, even in Lisbon, they are not out of danger. Will Ava be able to get them safely to America?

This is a wonderful novel with two sympathetic heroines. Martin skillfully alternates the point of view between Ava and Elaine. As a librarian, I identified more with Ava, and I wished I had her job at the Library of Congress, but Elaine is a very strong heroine as well. The horrors she goes through in Lyon, with her friends and colleagues being captured and tortured by the Nazis, make for powerful and unforgettable reading. Elaine is never sure who can be trusted, as collaborators infiltrate the Resistance cells and report people to the Nazis. I loved the setting in Lisbon, and Martin’s descriptions of the buildings, the streets, and, especially, the food, made me want to go there. I highly recommend this book.

Vicki Kondelik

A WEDDING FOR THE BISCUIT FACTORY GIRLS

Elsie Mason, Orion, £8.99, pb, 398pp, 9781409196549

“You gave us away. You got rid of us because you decided you didn’t want us anymore. Get out.” Mavis Kendrick has just married Sam Farley, and they are still in the local church, so what is this all about? The book goes on to tell the stories of the people who lived in the Sixteen Streets, as the area was known, and the local biscuit factory where most of the people who lived there worked. The story is set in South Shields in the middle of the 20th century, and times are hard and unsettled. Rationing is on, and Mavis’s dress had been made from a captured parachute. The book continues, delving into the lives of the characters and their various problems.

I found this story very interesting. Apart from being set during World War Two, it was much more of a social history of the times telling more of the way the poorer people lived and dressed during the early years of 1940 and the feuds and arguments among them. The characterisation is very good and the writing lively, the pages turning themselves as the reader is keen to know what happened next. Many such books have been written describing life during the War in London or Liverpool, so it was good to see this one set somewhere else and to have the war itself very much in the background. All the characters are fictional but come across as real people living in a very turbulent time. I enjoyed it.

Marilyn Sherlock

FOREVER SHERIFF

Edward Massey, Five Star, 2022, $25.95, hb, 332pp, 9781432892302

In 1905, 18-year-old Mark Willford Simms follows his sheriff father and grandfather to become deputy sheriff of Coalville, Utah. Over the next 20 years, riding in the saddle for days gives way to mere hours driving by car. Cattle rustlers become crooked meat packers. Prohibition and the Spanish flu both take hold. More routine events challenge Mark: a teenage alleged cattle thief shot dead, a suspicious drowning, a peculiar railroad crossing death, and an old man dying on an easy day hike. The book incorporates a family tree to help sort out the Simms family relationships, including our hero, who is variously called Wil, Wilf, Willford, Mark Willford, Deputy Simms, and Sheriff Simms.

Massey’s affection for the land and knowledge of its history is evident. His prose fits the time and place. He avoids the common Western genre storyline of strong lawmen bringing outlaws to justice. The sheriff father and son hardly solve every major crime on their watch. This is, instead, a character study of courageous men and women helping family, friends, and Coalville’s people during the taming of the Old West.

G. J. Berger

LOVE AND RETRIBUTION

Catherine McCullagh, Big Sky Publishing, 2022, A$29.99, pb, 416pp, 9781922488770

Widowed early in the war after only a few months of marriage, nurse Emmy Penry-Jones has often taken in shipwrecked sailors over the war years, caring for them in her parents’ spectacular house on the cliffs of Cornwall. Small village life keeps her busy as she cares for her ailing mother, tends a small vegetable garden, and donates goods baked with bartered rations. So, it’s no surprise when she finds two men unconscious on the beach below her home. As she nurses them back to health in the summer of 1943, she falls deeply in love with Max whom she discovers is a German U-boat captain. Despite their origins, Emmy doesn’t report her castaways, and when they leave for France after regaining their health, she is heartbroken and spends the next two years wondering about Max’s fate. Her first indication that he is alive and well is when she hears he is charged with sinking a British hospital ship, and she risks everything to go to Germany and testify in his defence.

Love and Retribution is told partially from a German, anti-Nazi point-of-view, providing a less common perspective of WWII. The novel is heavily researched, with impressive attention to detail about home front wartime campaigns, rationing, British naval intelligence, Reich politics, and U-boat engineering, but at times it feels unwieldy with overly detailed description and unnecessary exposition, and the flow between the Cornwall and the German stories feels disjointed. There were a couple of events (plot spoilers here!) that stretched credulity, and I felt that the novel might benefit from exclusion of some tangential storylines which could be accomplished without compromising a sound narrative. All in all, an informative novel which will appeal to lovers of tension-filled WWII romances with a number of unexpected twists and turns.

Fiona Alison

THE MOZART CODE

Rachel McMillan, Thomas Nelson, 2022, $16.99, pb, 376pp, 9780785235057

World War II stories have their Nazi villains and gripping revelations of terror and heroism, but with victory for the Allies comes another set of problems entirely: how to deal with scheming Russians, pillaged art works, and the inevitable conflict that comes from divvying up the spoils. Enter Simon Barre, the unwanted stepson of a nasty British aristocrat who wishes to cheat Simon of his estate by insisting he marry someone of equal station, and Lady Sophia Villiers, whose vacuous parents try to force her into a status marriage. The loyal friends decide on a “marriage of convenience” to outwit their overbearing parents. The problem is that they can’t admit they are in love with each other and so pretend the marriage is nothing but a piece of paper.

After the war, they wind up in Vienna, Austria, in 1947, on separate missions. Simon is on the hunt for members of a notorious spy ring called Eternity, while Sophia has adopted the code name ‘Starling’ and is searching for Mozart’s death mask. Mozart’s music has a special draw for Sophia, a talented pianist, but when she’s called to Prague in her quest, she finds she is a pawn in a game of life and death. It’s up to Simon, an avid chess player, to discover where her allegiance lies.

McMillan is a masterful prose stylist and diligent researcher, but I’m afraid I didn’t find the storytelling particularly compelling. The main characters’ motives are often murky and the pacing tedious, especially in the first half of the book. In addition, the convoluted plot involved so many different characters, all up to no good, that it was difficult (for me, at any rate) to become emotionally involved in the story.

Trish MacEnulty

TIES THAT BIND

Rosie Meddon, Canelo, 2022, £8.99, pb, 368pp, 9781800325456

In August 1943, Esme Trevannion is enjoying a romantic lunch in a London hotel not far from her husband Richard’s Whitehall office. The couple are celebrating Richard’s 30th birthday and, despite the war, are making plans for their future, and that of

their two-year-old son, Kit. On her way home Esme finds her way blocked. A bomb has fallen. Kit and his nanny are dead. A stunned and grieving Esme goes to live with her aunt, uncle and cousin in Devon while Richard has to remain in Whitehall. While trying to come to terms with her loss, former Special Operations Executive member Esme accepts a role as a driver for a secret mission and comes across a handsome young airman called Jack who makes her start questioning her marriage to Richard. Her cousin Louise has her own marital problems, too. Her husband Douglas has been stationed in Canada for three years, and their marriage was a speedy wartime one. Is it, marry in haste, repent at leisure? Meanwhile, Esme accidentally comes across her uncle Luke during one of her midnight drives. What exactly is he doing in the woods, and why does her swear her to secrecy?

The novel is the last in a trilogy that looks at the women in the family’s war. It is tightly written and an incisive look at loss, grieving and love. Meddon has also written a World War I trilogy of the family, all stand-alone books but historical sagas ideal for fans of Liz Trenow and Ellie Curzon.

Kate Pettigrew

WHAT WE MAY BECOME

Teresa Messineo, Severn House, 2022, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 193pp, 9781448308675

Tuscany, 1945. Separated from her unit in the hilltop village of Montepulciano, Italy, Red Cross Nurse Diana Bolsena struggles to survive until she can reconnect with the American army, even offering herself at her lowest point as a “night girl” to a local madam for scraps of food. Deeming her too old (she is thirty-two), the brutish Donna Lucia allows her to earn her keep by using her nursing skills to restore to health the sick, lost, and abandoned young girls who service Lucia’s customers. This, Diana feels, is a way to educate the girls and help them find their way to a better existence. Finally fleeing Montepulciano and Donna Lucia, Diana wanders upon an isolated estate that seems eerily untouched by the war.

Enter German officer Herr Adler, whose pending appearance at the villa catapults everyone into a frenzy as the mysterious Signora Bulgari and her staff prepare for his arrival. All seem spectacularly frightened by the prospect. When Adler does appear, he is as wicked as the devil himself. Although his malevolent behavior suggests supernatural forces at work in an atmosphere bordering on the gothic, he is quickly murdered and the story transforms into a police procedural—or not. Nothing, Diana learns, is quite what it seems in a plot that evolves into a quest for hidden Nazi files containing horrible scientific experiments using innocent people as guinea pigs. Scenes of war and the suffering of many nurses and soldiers, most of them painfully young and vulnerable, are well done. Although Diana’s mantra seems to be “trust no one,” she is a dedicated nurse whose goal is to survive, return home to America for a few weeks and visit her family, then hasten back to the war in the Pacific.

Alana White

THE OPERA SISTERS

Marianne Monson, Shadow Mountain, 2022, $14.99, pb, 352pp, 9781639930463

In London in the 1930s, sisters Louise and Ida Cook, who live with their parents in modest circumstances and hold down clerical jobs, are nearly oblivious as the world slides toward war: rather, they’re consumed by their new love for opera. Their enthusiasm endears them to opera stars and fellow opera buffs alike, inspiring Ida to pursue a career as a writer so she can finance the sisters’ trips to music venues in Europe. As Hitler grows more menacing and the Cooks enlarge their circle of acquaintances, their desperate friends call upon them for a dangerous mission: helping Jews to escape the Nazi regime.

Based on the real-life heroics of Louise and Ida Cook (the latter will be recognized by romance readers under her pen name of Mary Burchell), The Opera Sisters tells a little-known story about two very admirable women, but I found myself struggling with it. The characters never really came alive for me; in fact, I often confused one sister with the other. Monson has clearly put a lot of research in her novel, but her choice to detail her sources and her departures from historical fact in notes following each chapter threw me even further out of a story that I was already having difficulties engaging with. The chapters devoted to vignettes not directly connected to the sisters—there are three of them before we even meet the heroines— have a look-at-me-being-clever quality that overshadow the scenes themselves. An editor with a firm, judicious hand would have been invaluable.

Monson does write well, and the story has the considerable merit of not being like twenty other World War II–themed novels. Those who enjoy reading all things World War II will want to add this book to the to-be-read list.

Susan Higginbotham

THE UNKEPT WOMAN

Allison Montclair, Minotaur, 2022, $26.99, hb, 320pp, 9781250750341

The Unkept Woman may be one of the most entertaining historical novels of the summer. Start with a marriage bureau, “The Right Sort,” that Iris Sparks and Gwendolyn Bainbridge are running in London in 1946, in a postwar boom for settled romance. Add in Iris’s current flame, a gangster. (She handles this with panache.) And then there’s Iris’s wartime past working for an intelligence agency that might pull strings to lure her back into the ranks.

But there’s a darkening thread throughout, as various elements of Iris’s life develop into criminal threats, and as the widowed Gwen struggles for control of her son as well as her finances and life path. At first, Iris is inclined to laugh off the clumsy Polish surveillant who follows her to work one morning. Yet there’s deeper threat here than a confusion about who can marry whom.

Because both Iris and Gwen are strong and self-determining, the dangers that develop look manageable and intriguing. All the characters—the women sleuthing, the boyfriends, the police, even the criminals—offer dry humor as well as realistic emotions when facing risk and challenge, even murder. And the plot threads include not only Polish patriots but the nastiness of threatening independent women with forced lunatic lockups and cleverly tangled knots of espionage, romance, and loyalty.

In short, if Georgette Heyer and Helen MacInnes had a pair of nieces who’d grown up sophisticated, confident, and tough, this might be their story. Every chapter has a twist, and the resolution is highly satisfying. Smart teens can also read it without having to ask embarrassing questions. Bring it home for the summer TBR stack and keep it for an enjoyable reread later.

Beth Kanell

SECRETS OF THE CHOCOLATE GIRLS

Annie Murray, Pan Macmillan, 2022, £7.99, pb, 409pp, 9781529064964

Birmingham, autumn 1940. Nightly airraids are something Ann Gilby must get used to. A nurse during WWI and former Cadbury factory employee, Ann uses everything she learned during the Great War to care for her family: her husband, Len, and her three children, Sheila, Joy, and Martin. If the war weren’t enough to fret about, Ann is concerned about the growing distance between herself and Len, Sheila’s evacuation to Oxford with her infant daughter, Elaine, Joy’s new nightshifts making aeroplane parts, and Martin’s eagerness to join the ARP as a messenger. Her biggest fear of all is that her family will discover her secrets, the evidence of which she keeps stuffed at the back of her dresser. When Len volunteers with the ARP, in addition to his day job at the Cadbury factory and his duties with the Home Guard, Ann volunteers with the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) to deliver tea and sandwiches in recently bombed areas. Her decision places her directly in the line of fire. After Ann is hurt, her family comes together to care for her, but will her daughters discover her secret?

The early chapters of the story didn’t capture my attention. Several storylines are somewhat repetitious: what happens to one generation is exactly what happens to the next. However, after the halfway point, I became more emotionally invested in the characters’ fates. Murray keeps readers hooked until the end to learn all the family’s secrets. Readers who love WWII books and strong female characters will appreciate it. While it’s not quite a light-hearted summer read, this book can be enjoyed on holiday.

Kelly Oliver, Level Best/Historia, 2022, $16.95, pb, 296pp, 9781685120672

Former file clerk and newly minted spy for British Intelligence, Fiona Figg, is up to her Sacher tortes in intrigue. She’s been sent to Vienna to find and protect operatives who may be targets of Frederick Fredericks, aka the Black Panther, a German spy posing as a South African journalist.

This is not the first time Fiona’s tangled with Frederick in the days of the Great War. She met the war correspondent and suspected British traitor in Betrayal at Ravenswick (2020), when she turned to spying to get rid of an unfaithful husband, and again in High Treason at the Grand Hotel (2021). This time around, Fiona not only has covert interactions with Frederick, she sips drinks with Austrian Empress Zita, hides in an armoire in Emperor Charles’s study in Schönbrunn Palace, and serves as go-between for Frau Sacher, whose hounds have been dog-napped.

Adventurous and likable, Fiona is no slick Bondian secret agent. She has limited language skills and forgets her cover story. But she can pick locks and skillfully rub charcoal over a blank sheet of paper to darken the impressions that reveal the location of a clandestine meeting. Eyes do roll as characters conveniently turn up where Fiona is hiding so she can overhear them. Palms slap foreheads as Fiona gives up more than she gets in dialogues with possible foes. But therein lies the fun. Fiona fends off flirtations from Frederick, fumbles over foreign phrases, and finesses her forte for ferreting out falsehoods. Flippant and fanciful.

K. M. Sandrick

WHAT DISAPPEARS

Barbara Quick, Regal House, 2022, $18.95, pb, 376pp, 9781646030750

Two women who are complete strangers come to face to face in the dressing room of the prima ballerina, Anna Pavlova, in 1909, and realize they are identical twins. To Sonya the discovery is an answer to her prayers. Jeannette, however, is horrified to find out that her life has been a lie. The worst part for her is learning that she’s Jewish, a shocking discovery when you’ve been raised as an anti-Semite. The story then leaps backward and forward in time, from Paris to Russia and back, tracing the lives of these two women as they try to come to terms with what their separation has cost them.

Sonya is the heart of the novel. She’s a gentle and loving wife and mother as well as a talented seamstress, but she isn’t perfect. A moment of recklessness with the fashion designer, Paul Poiret, leaves her with a burden of guilt, made even worse because Jeannette is his lover. Jeannette is a more difficult character to reckon with. She’s angry and unforgiving, a frustrated ballerina who never quite achieves the greatness she desires. The tension between what these women want and what they ultimately get leads the reader through pogroms and floods, heartbreak and transformation. Poiret plays the role of both savior and destroyer.

The jumps in time, place, and character point of view can be jarring, and the ending is strangely abrupt. However, I was charmed by the lovely writing and the glimpses into the imagined lives of famous creators such as Poiret, Pavlova, and Sergei Diaghilev. Quick’s depiction of the demimonde during the Belle Époque proves to be an enjoyable and immersive read.

Trish MacEnulty

THE DIAMOND EYE

Kate Quinn, HarperCollins, 2022, £14.99, hb, 433pp, 9780008523015 / William Morrow, 2022, $27.99, hb, 448pp, 9780062943514

In the years before WWII, Ukrainian Mila Pavlichenko only takes a sharpshooting course to prove to her estranged husband that she can be both mother and father to their son Slavka. Her real ambition is to be a historian, but when the Germans invade and threaten Odessa, where she is trying to finish her dissertation, she enlists and has to fight to be taken seriously as a sniper.

Just over a year later, she finds herself at an international students’ conference in Washington organised by the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. As one of the Soviet Union’s most successful snipers, she has been given the task of campaigning for America to join the war in Europe, unaware that her every move is being watched by a marksman on a deadly mission of his own.

With war currently raging in Ukraine, this book feels strangely relevant. Based on a true story, it’s a novel of two halves seamlessly fitted together: a war story with its tales of hardship, loss, black humour, and unexpected love; and a political thriller with a predictably Hollywood ending. Personally, I think the book would have been more interesting without the slightly implausible thriller element.

Quinn has done an admirable job of putting flesh onto the bones of the real-life Mila’s memoirs. Maybe it’s because I’m East European by descent that it bothers me that I don’t think she quite captures exactly how repressive life would have been under Stalin’s Rule of Terror in the 1930s and 40s.

These minor niggles aside, this is a pageturning book that will appeal to anyone looking for an unusual angle from which to view WWII.

Jasmina Svenne

AN AYAH’S CHOICE

Shahida Rahman, Onwe Press, 2022, $24.99/£9.99, pb, 400pp, 9781913872090

Turn-of-the-century aspiring artist Jaya Devani yearns for a life beyond the confines of her small Indian village of Khesar. Unloved by her beleaguered and widowed mother, Jaya’s only joy is her brother Krishnan and the beautiful forest to which she can escape to create her drawings. A position as an ayah (nanny) in an English household offers the escape she craves. Colonel William Edmundson is often absent; Memsahib Sara is emotionally erratic and takes laudanum tea to sleep. Jaya falls into a clandestine relationship with William, in his study at night. When the family move to London, she has to choose whether to go with them or remain in India and marry a friend of her brother’s.

Like many women, Jaya’s subservient position clashes with her independent spirit. If love were the only question, her situation would not be impossible. William’s choices are less than ethical, to say the least, but Jaya continues to buy his justifications. She sees that it is not just the master/servant relationship that causes injustice; she sees William treat his wife as “furniture”.

The realities of life outside the study catch up with them, and Jaya finds the realities of life outside the Edmundson house even harsher. In the end it is the support of women that rescues her, and Jaya uses her artistic skill to further the cause of women’s suffrage. When Jaya falls into William’s arms, I found myself thinking, “you idiot”, yet don’t we all often take this path?

After exclusively following Jaya, suddenly Chapter 27 takes up her erstwhile fiancé Rafik’s point of view, and Chapter 28 turns to William’s. It kind of ruins things to see inside William’s head briefly. This tale of female empowerment is a well-written peek into colonial oppression and women’s oppression across the two countries.

Susie Helme

THE GERMAN WIFE

Kelly Rimmer, Graydon House, 2022, $17.99, pb, 458pp, 9781525899904 In 1950, Sofie and her children leave warravaged Berlin for Huntsville, Alabama, where they are reunited with Sofie’s husband, Jürgen, whom Sophie last saw being arrested by American troops. A rocket scientist formerly employed by the Nazi government, Jürgen has been freed in exchange for agreeing to work for Operation Paperclip, a project in which top-flight German scientists were brought to America to help the United States win the race to space against the Soviet Union.

Sofie’s first meeting with her husband’s American colleagues and their wives doesn’t go well, especially in the case of Lizzie, whose husband is in the awkward position of being Jürgen’s boss. With her beloved brother having returned from the war with combat fatigue, Lizzie is in no mood to be welcoming—

the more so after she learns of the more sinister aspects of Jürgen’s former career.

Despite the title, The German Wife is narrated by both Sofie and Lizzie, whose stories, in the style so popular now, switch between events in Huntsville, Sofie’s and Jürgen’s travails in Nazi Germany, and Lizzie’s hardscrabble existence in the Texas Dustbowl. It is a compelling read with believable characters who are flawed but sympathetic. I was particularly impressed by the author’s portrayal of the morally compromised Jürgen, an unworldly sort who just wants to be left alone with his family and his dream of putting a man on the moon, but who finds himself too useful to the Nazi regime for his own good. Also intriguing is the tough, resourceful Lizzie. She’s an unusual type in historical fiction: essentially asexual, she’s happiest on a farm. Sofie, too, is vividly rendered as she tries to keep her family safe, a task that gets no easier with her move to Alabama.

Well plotted, this is a book that kept me reading when I should have been doing something else. I highly recommend it.

Susan Higginbotham

THE SKY CLUB

Terry Roberts, Keylight Books, 2022, $19.99, pb, 432pp, 9781684428526

A love story wrapped in a Depression-era moonshine-rich and jazz-bright adventure, The Sky Club is the fifth published novel from this native of western North Carolina’s mountains. Narrated from the point of view of 26-year-old Jo Salter, slender and plain-spoken and a whiz with numbers, this literary novel offers a new classic that turns the old coming-of-age story, with its losses and grief, into an old-fashioned garment. Jo’s losses are at the start of the book: “You could say that my life began with my mother’s death.”

After promising her mother that she’ll leave the constant labor of the mountain farm to make a very different life for herself, Jo heads to Asheville, North Carolina, for a bank job. With her gifts of numbers and math, she’s more than qualified for the work—and quickly begins to absorb the complex finances of moonshineenhanced dance clubs, music, and men. She’s a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis at page 5—and from then on, this substantial book is all wings and flight and discovery, even when it’s on the nominally wrong side of the law.

Roberts mingles language of the natural world with the exultation of youth and risk and the tenderness of affection. “In making a life, what matters and what doesn’t?” Jo offers her own assessment of how she and Levi find the meaning of life together, in desperate times: “When the crash killed or crippled most people, Levi and I caught fire. Mountain bred and determined … doing something you enjoyed with someone you liked and understood, who understood you.” Stick with this long, rich novel, and reach the end feeling the pleasure of your own life more deeply.

Shari J. Ryan, Bookouture, 2022, $10.99/£8.99, pb, 306pp, 9781803143736

In 1941, 16-year-old Sofia Amsler is quietly preparing for Shabbat in her family’s house near the Auschwitz concentration camp when she overhears Nazi soldiers tell her father he must give up his medical practice in Oświęcim, stop caring for his Polish patients, and start training young Waffen doctors. The “privileged marriage” between her Protestant father and Jewish mother protects Sofia from actions taken against other Jews, such as 16-year-old Isaac and his family, who have been forcibly moved from Krakow and imprisoned behind the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto.

In the months that follow, Isaac and his younger sister are arrested and sent to Auschwitz, Isaac joins a crew that is working the farmland just outside Sofia’s home, and Isaac and Sofia become involved in a plan of concealment and subterfuge.

With The Doctor’s Daughter, USA Today bestselling author Ryan adds to other similar volumes, such as The Bookseller of Dachau and The Girl with the Diary, an uplifting story of resilience and survival, warmth and tenderness. Yet, for this reader at least, the story is superficial, downplaying not only the conditions within the camp but also the brutality and indignities of daily life. Elements of the plot strain credulity, including the ease of Isaac’s movements outside the camp complex and the practicalities and realities of more than a year of living in an underground shelter, and characters are thinly drawn.

The Doctor’s Daughter may resonate with readers who are looking for a straightforward story set in the Nazi era. It most likely will not satisfy those, like this reader, seeking stories of troubled and challenged characters who nevertheless overcome horrors like those in the 1940s death camps.

K. M. Sandrick

DAUGHTERS OF THE OCCUPATION

Shelly Sanders, Harper, 2022, $26.99, hb, 400pp, 9780063247895

In Riga, Latvia, in the 1940s, Miriam’s young family is caught between the buffeting waves of first a Soviet invasion and then a German takeover. Antisemitism dogs them at nearly every step, first when the Soviets expel them from their comfortable middle-class home and then when the Nazis begin to menace the local Jewish population, smearing them as Bolsheviks. Miriam’s husband had insisted that they flee Latvia, but Miriam fears for her older parents and doesn’t want to leave her beloved country. It is, of course, a fateful decision.

Meanwhile, 35 years later, Miriam’s granddaughter Sarah is reeling from the early death of her mother, Ilana. The only solace Sarah can imagine is a reconciliation with her stiff grandmother, from whom Ilana had been estranged. When Sarah imposes herself upon Miriam in the old woman’s isolation, Sarah learns not only that she has Jewish blood, but that her grandmother had another child, one whose whereabouts no one knows.

While in the 1940s Miriam struggles to keep her family and herself alive amidst impending genocide, in 1975 Sarah tries to reconstruct the past by making a dangerous voyage to Soviet-controlled Latvia. Each woman faces harrowing dangers in this page-turning novel, and their journey back to one another is touching.

Any dual-timeline novel invites comparison between the protagonists, and in this case, while both stories are compelling, Sarah’s motivations sometimes feel flimsy and undeveloped. Miriam’s more traditional quest to survive (based on the real experiences of survivor Frida Michelson) is easier to believe than Sarah’s somewhat naïve quest to explore her family roots. But readers eager to learn more about an underexplored WWII narrative will be gratified by Daughters of the Occupation.

Carrie Callaghan

THE SOVIET SISTERS

Anika Scott, William Morrow, 2022, $16.99, pb, 368pp, 9780063141025 / Duckworth, 2022, £12.99, pb, 368pp, 9780715654668

If you can’t trust your sister, who can you trust? If you can’t trust your own government, your lover, your superiors, or the world in general, how can you survive? Why would you want to?

In Anika Scott’s The Soviet Sisters, set in Cold War Berlin in the aftermath of great destruction, tragedy and chaos, Vera and Marya work for Stalin in Soviet intelligence. Or do they? Vera, the elder, loves the Soviet ideal. Marya loves a British intelligence officer. Vera is married to a man destined for power in the Soviet Union. Marya has been sent to the Siberian gulag as a traitor. Why? Because her sister turned her in.

In 1956, nine years later, Vera undertakes a dangerous mission to uncover the truth behind her sister’s activities in Berlin and the reason for her detainment and banishment. Is Vera so cold and mechanical that she would sacrifice her own sister for a cause long since revealed as madness? Will Marya, who longs for freedom and idyllic love, ever reveal her own truths? Which is the stronger emotion: honor or love, loyalty or desire?

In the wake of World War II, another war is brewing. What do individuals matter in a global war of different political realities waged by men who care little for the individual? I found The Soviet Sisters to be a compelling read describing what it’s like for decent people to exist under a government based on deceit, distrust, and self-survival. The build-up may be slow, but that’s how mysteries unwrap themselves as they reveal the sinister nature of an espionage system whose members must remain vigilant, wondering and fearing what’s around the next corner. Who can be trusted? How do you survive?

Adriana Trigiani, Dutton, 2022, $28.00, hb, 448pp, 9780593183328 / Michael Joseph, 2022, £14.99, hb, 448pp, 9780241565858

Matelda Roffo (maiden name Cabrelli) is an 81-yearold matriarch, following generations of Cabrelli gem cutters and goldsmiths in the coastal town of Viareggio, Italy. She suffers from sudden blackouts and other ailments. Matelda, fearing her end is near, strives to remember the people and events of her life and some from before her birth.

That journey takes us from the 1920s to the present day, from Indian ruby mines to charity hospitals in France and Scotland, from misogynistic priests and killer Blackshirts and Nazis to shallow youngsters of today. The main characters range from Matelda’s genius mother and two loving fathers, to a hip granddaughter about to marry the wrong man, to a shoe-shine immigrant boy who becomes a life-giving farmer in Italy. At the end, Matelda leaves each adult family member a special piece of jewelry with a note explaining the gift’s place in the family history.

The stories folded into this novel are both epic and intimate. True-to-life dialogue puts us into the conversations. The characters are so well drawn they seem to flit up from the pages and are easy to visualize. Some segments move fast, while others allow readers to savor food, clothes, towns, the sky and sea. Although the novel moves back and forth in time and locations, Trigiani ties off all significant loose ends and anchors readers to the present in Viareggio. Along the way, we celebrate love and suffer the cruelties of war and hate. Like Matelda, we mourn and remember the dead, and prepare for our own last day while ever striving to “leave no good undone.” This work is storytelling at its finest.

G. J. Berger

THE KEY TO DECEIT

Ashley Weaver, Minotaur, 2022, $27.99, hb, 272pp, 9781250780508

In London, 1940, Electra “Ellie” McDonnell is still adapting to a life without crime. She has turned from criminal safecracker to spy, helping the British government during World War II. In this second in a series, Ellie helps Major Ramsey by opening a mysterious bracelet locked on the arm of a dead woman. This reveals another clue and begins an investigation into a ring of spies that may be working for the Nazis. While assisting the major, Ellie is also trying to answer questions about her parents’ past, helped by her sometime love interest, Felix.

I love the premise of this series, and the characters all shine. Ellie can go from street criminal to high society in a flash. Uncle Mick is a wily thief who nonetheless lives by a certain moral code. Major Ramsey is seemingly emotionless and down to business, but sometimes shows a soft spot for Ellie. Others from London’s criminal underbelly are also introduced from time to time. I liked how most of London’s somewhat shadier elements in this novel have decided to ignore whatever beef they might otherwise have with the government and help them fight the Nazis.

There is a second mystery woven into the story, and it involves Ellie’s late mother. This is a slow-burning addition that adds another layer to the novel and the series. You will find yourself rooting for the formerly thieving McDonnells, as they use their talents to try to keep their country safe during the war. There is a realization while reading this captivating novel that spies and criminals really have a lot in common.

If you love history and mystery combined with a bit of irony and wry humor, you will enjoy this book.

Bonnie DeMoss

THE TWO LIVES OF SARA

Catherine Adel West, Park Row, 2022, $27.99, hb, 320pp, 9780778333227

Memphis, early 1960s. Sara King lives and works at a boarding house—a refuge for her wounded soul—owned by the indomitable Mama Sugar. Sara is a strong but damaged young mother, reluctant to show love even to the son she recently gave birth to, but as the novel progresses, her hard edges mellow through her recognition of a fierce protective affection for Mama Sugar’s grandson, who she escorts to and from school. It is there she meets Jonas Coulter, teacher, photographer and amateur poet, who can see only good in her. As she opens her heart to discover love for her son and her newfound family, romance blossoms despite some misgivings, but at the height of their happiness the couple is thwarted by tragedy arising from Mama Sugar’s past.

The Two Lives of Sara is a portrait of Black life during the Kennedy Administration, and an ode to love in its many manifestations. It is a time when racial tension ran high and talk of equality was cheap. The author writes an unflinching portrayal of how being Black makes you different in a world where the colour of your skin robs you of value. Sara’s backstory is woven sympathetically through the tapestry of everydayness at the boarding house; music and food are strong themes; characters are diverse and intriguing. When Sara’s world is upended, she forsakes all those who love her, but finds the strength to readdress her past and to make unexpected choices, leaving the novel on a contemplative note. West’s illustration of how our experiences continually reshape us resonates deeply as we share Sara’s road to redemption and forgiveness. A poignant and moving story which gives readers a solid glimpse into the racial reality of the times.

Fiona Alison

FRAMED IN FIRE

Iona Whishaw, TouchWood Editions, 2022, $14.95/C$16.95, pb, 480pp, 9781771513807

Lane Winslow and Inspector Darling have finally settled into a comfortable routine, so Lane decides to head out for a visit with her friend Peter, a Doukhobor man living near New Denver, British Columbia in 1948. During her visit she meets Tom, an Indigenous man who has come to find the burial lands of his ancestors. The three of them discover a very old grave in Peter’s new garden that does not seem quite right. Despite Lane’s best efforts, she is once again put at the center of one of her husband’s investigations.

Meanwhile, back in Nelson, their friends the Vitalis, who run the local Italian restaurant, are having some troubles of their own. Constable Terrell is put in charge of investigating a case of arson in their home, while Sergeant Ames is working on a robbery case. Amidst the town drama, April is keeping tabs on everything that goes on in the café and finds herself wondering if she is capable of being more than just a waitress.

Whishaw’s skillful handling of the themes of racism, community, and cultural heritage give a sensitive yet satisfying peek into smalltown life in the 1940s. The suspense will keep you reading long past bedtime, and despite the heavy topics explored in the book, the complex and quirky characters lighten the load. This was another delightful read in the Lane Winslow series and my favourite thus far.

Shauna McIntyre

PROPERTIES OF THIRST

Marianne Wiggins, Simon & Schuster, 2022, $28.00/C$38.00, hb, 554pp, 9781416571261

In this sprawling, beautifully written but oddly constructed novel, World War II tests an individualistic, self-reliant California family in unexpected ways. Rockwell “Rocky” Rhodes’s son, Stryker, who has run off to enlist in the Navy without telling anyone, winds up posted to Pearl Harbor just before the Japanese attack, and there’s no word of him. Rocky’s one-man, occasionally violent war against the L.A. Water Department, which has sucked up the aquifers beneath his ranch, takes a sharp turn when the Interior Department claims part of his property to construct an internment camp for Japanese-Americans. Schiff, the federal lawyer assigned to build and administer the camp, realizes his task is legally and morally indefensible and tries to modify the orders he’s been given. He also falls hard for Sunny, Stryker’s twin sister, who’s devoted her life to food and cooking.

The Rockwells, including Rocky’s sister, Cas, who’s raised the twins—Rocky’s French wife having died years before—are largerthan-life characters who seem capable of just

about any physical task, so you want to know what they’ll tackle next. The brilliant, evocative prose generally succeeds at carrying the reader through lengthy back story, as with Sunny’s culinary education during a trip to France at age twelve. But the tone, with authorial commentary, frequent italics for emphasis, and at times gratuitous use of French (often ungrammatical, to boot), can be intrusive and annoying.

Meanwhile, the internment-camp narrative, which focuses on the prisoners to start, pulls back to concentrate on Schiff’s and the Rhodes family’s reaction, a puzzling transformation that underlines how parts of the novel might have stood deletion. Then too, the romance subplot, somewhat predictable, feels hit-andmiss.

I find Properties of Thirst engaging, at times compelling, a vivid portrayal of an era, though the disparate elements mar the overall effect.

Larry Zuckerman

WHAT TIME IS LOVE?

Holly Williams, Orion, 2022, £14.99, hb, 387pp, 9781398706293

What if two people, born at exactly the same minute, on the same day, in the same year, but miles apart socially and geographically, were to meet at university aged twenty and fall in love? Then, what if we could follow the very same couple, re-born under exactly the same circumstances but twenty years later; and then again twenty years after that? This unlikely conceit delivers an interesting chronicle of half a century’s social transformation as we watch their relationship develop and redevelop against the changing backdrop of social, political and emotional pressures in each respective era. Initially it’s the late 1940s when mid-Wales miner’s daughter Letty meets Bertie, a Tory peer’s son, and they embark on a journey through class and gender expectations, infidelity and miscarriage. Next, the 1960s ‘reincarnation’ features the same young couple, now Violet and Al, on the hippy acid scene in swinging London and San Francisco, with underground magazines, women’s lib and open relationships; thereafter the 1980s version brings Vi and Albert’s involvement with the rave drug culture, eco-warriors, squatters, bi-curiosity and New Labour.

Each rendition vividly demonstrates the major changes witnessed during the later 20th century, how emancipation progressed as class expectations diminished, how our lives became so much more complicated, how love is ever an underlying constant, enduring and persisting despite the contemporary social and political pressures put upon lovers. The result is a well-documented, quirky, yet romantic indepth study of deep feelings. A very fine debut.

Simon Rickman

A SUNLIT WEAPON

Jacqueline Winspear, Allison & Busby, 2022, £19.99, hb, 320pp, 9780749028220 / Harper, 2022, $27.99, hb, 368pp, 9780063142268

This is the seventeenth book in Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series, which charts the life and development of the eponymous heroine from her beginnings as a self-made psychologist/ private detective in the aftermath of World War One to the ‘present day’ of September 1942.

When Jo Hardy, an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot, is ferrying a new Spitfire to its destination, she is shocked to see a figure on the ground shooting at it. Later she wonders if a similar incident could have been the cause of the fatal crash of another ferry pilot. Checking out the area, she discovers an American serviceman bound and gagged in a deserted barn and learns that his companion is missing. She consults Maisie Dobbs, now conveniently remarried to U.S. agent Mark Scott. Through him, Maisie learns of the upcoming visit to England of U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and it emerges that there is a link between all these events.

There is a touch too much serendipity in Maisie’s investigation for my taste; for example, she just happens to be driving past a house when a significant figure emerges, and the narrative is also slowed by digressions into Maisie’s home life, although fans of the series may welcome this. However, as usual her particular insights enable her to solve the mysteries.

Catherine Kullmann

THE LOST GIRLS OF WILLOWBROOK

Ellen Marie Wiseman, Kensington, 2022, $16.95, pb, 384pp, 9781496715883

In 1972, journalist Geraldo Rivera exposed the shocking conditions at Willowbrook State School, an institution for disabled children on Staten Island, New York. The horror that was uncovered—overcrowding, physical and sexual abuse, insanitary conditions—is a matter of public record and has been featured in more than one documentary. Now Ellen Marie Wiseman’s powerful new novel will bring awareness to a whole new audience.

Sage Winters is a sixteen-year-old girl, living with her neglectful stepfather, when she learns that the identical twin sister she believed was dead for the past six years is actually alive, but has gone missing from the Willowbrook State School. It’s 1971, and Willowbrook is already notorious: the kind of place an adult will threaten an unruly child with, where they may end up if they don’t behave. But when Sage sets out to look for her sister herself, she has no idea of the danger she’s getting into. She soon finds herself trapped inside the school and it’s clear she will be lucky to escape Willowbrook in one piece—if at all.

Although overall there is a young adult/ coming-of-age feel to the story, with all the action firmly rooted in Sage’s sixteen-year-old point of view, Wiseman doesn’t shy away from the truth about conditions at Willowbrook, and some of the descriptions are harrowing to read. The mystery of her twin’s disappearance and Sage’s determination to find the truth keep the pages turning, particularly in the latter stages of the book. Grounded in historical fact, it ends like a fast-paced thriller. A comprehensive author’s note at the end is well worth the read.

Kate Braithwaite

THE YOUNG ACCOMPLICE

Benjamin Wood, Viking, 2022, £16.99, hb, 368pp, 9780241438244

A novel about architecture, ambition, crime and guilt. It takes place in the early 1950s, and is set mainly on the Surrey farm where Arthur and Florence Mayhood are attempting to set up both an architect’s practice and a selfsufficient commune. Their inspiration is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin in Wisconsin, but their community has only two members, brother and sister Joyce and Charlie Savigear, young offenders recently released. Through dramatic time jumps and a sure ear for dialogue, Wood builds up convincing levels of psychological depth in all the main characters. Arthur is saintly in his determination to see good in everyone, and to rise above a major disability. Florence is his loyal, pragmatic companion, prepared to act also as driver and mechanic. Charlie is determined to overcome all obstacles to make it as an architect, and such is his practicality and willingness to learn, that we suspect he will. His older sister Joyce, six-foot-tall and immensely strong, has, however, come to the commune with hidden motives.

The truth is revealed sparingly, until we suddenly find ourselves no longer reading a psychological thriller but an action thriller, reminiscent of old British films. Wood writes with superb attention to detail and authenticity. My only question is why the Mayhoods are shown to have a diesel-powered ‘wagon’ at a time when all but the heaviest goods vehicles would have used petrol engines.

If the book has a more substantial fault, I felt its second part could have been a little longer. The brevity of the writing leads to some confusion leading up to the denouement. Still, this really is a great read, so beautifully composed that at times I found it hard to believe it was not a forgotten classic by a master such as Graham Greene or Nigel Balchin.

Ben Bergonzi

A TERRIBLE KINDNESS

Jo Browning Wroe, Faber & Faber, 2022, £14.99, hb, 377pp, 9780571368297

It’s October 1966 in Nottingham, and 19-year-old William Lavery is revelling in a night of glory. He is the youngest person to be graduating with top marks from the Institute of Embalmers. The beautiful Gloria Finch is by his side at a celebratory dinner-dance. But the speeches are interrupted by terrible news. A coal spoil heap has slid down a Welsh mountain engulfing a school and houses in Aberfan, killing over 100 children and dozens of adults. A call has come for all embalmers to volunteer to help in this real-life tragedy. William (a fictional character) decides to go. How William deals with the bodies of children and grieving parents is a subject which the

author describes sensitively, but you might need a tissue to hand.

At the funerals, William escapes up the mountain to sing. He has a beautiful voice, having been a chorister at Cambridge. Aberfan shines a light on darkness in William’s own childhood and his inability to come to terms with his father’s death, despite being a professional dealing with bereavement. The visit devastates him, and when he returns, he tells Gloria there is no future for them. After seeing so much suffering, he never wants children. His traumas affect his relationships with Gloria, his mother, chorister friend Martin and William’s gay uncle, amid bigoted views of homosexuality at that time.

With a family background in bereavement services, the author wanted to write the book as a tribute to embalmers who went to Aberfan: what one character calls the “terrible kindness” of the title. A poignant and moving tale.

Kate Pettigrew

ARAB BOY DELIVERED

Paul Aziz Zarou, Cune Press, 2022, $22.00, hb, 233pp, 9781951082390

This is a Palestinian-Christian coming-ofage story set in Brooklyn in the Sixties. The sexual revolution, civil rights, and Vietnam protests play to a soundtrack of Stones and the Beatles. Following on A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A Jew Grows in Brooklyn and other such titles, this addition to the American mosaic covers a population rarely seen in the pages of books. The anthropologist in me would have liked the tradition to come to life more; I do know the American background. Michael is the only child of immigrant parents trying to fulfill the American dream by running a little grocery store offering deliveries to a diverse neighborhood, hence the title. The day-to-day chores of such an enterprise are beautifully drawn. Points of view of other characters are woven in nicely, too. Racism greets our protagonists in many subtle as well as violent forms, but destructive forces are also at play upon “regular” Americans who are caught up in manipulating agendas from on high that have resonance today. Maybe it’s what we need in order to face today’s world, but the cheery optimism of education and hard work as the path up and out seems depressingly pat. I would also have liked more tension between a community trying to keep its spiritual cohesion and the allure of the materialistic USA.

Ann Chamberlin

MULTI-PERIOD

AN UNLASTING HOME

Mai Al-Nakib, Mariner, 2022, $27.99, hb, 400pp, 9780063135093

In 2013, Sara Al-Ameed, a philosophy professor at Kuwait University, is accused of blasphemy and arrested. Eleven years ago, Sara had returned home from Berkeley, California, to attend her mother’s funeral and stayed on. Awaiting trial, Sara reminisces about her family’s checkered past. Sara has links to the Ottomans. Her Lebanese paternal grandmother had married the son of the Pasha of Basra. Her maternal grandfather was a Kuwaiti merchant who’d established a lucrative jewelry business in India. Sara’s mother, having also lived in the United States, wished to influence the country’s Middle East policies. Sara considers her doting Indian ayah as a surrogate mother. Sara recollects the difficult lives of her great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents in their journeys to Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, India, the U.S., and Kuwait during the wars and political events. She faces adversities and prepares to encounter another ordeal.

Mai Al-Nakib, a professor at Kuwait University, has penned a sweeping multigenerational novel. The characters’ stories are told mostly in individual chapters, interspersed non-chronologically. Sara’s life and her trial serve as a framing device. This structure should work to keep most readers engrossed, yet it might disappoint others. Careful reading is required to unbundle the storyline from the layers of family members’ backstories. The historical outline of Kuwait’s development from its Ottoman Empire days to a thriving nation, despite the wars—particularly the Iraqi invasion and its aftermath—is well-woven into Sara’s family saga. Al-Nakib’s narratives also depict the development of the liberties Arab women have gained. Although blasphemy is not a crime in Kuwait, as per the Author’s Note, her choice of introducing it as a fictional case against Sara represents how such freedoms can be easily lost as fundamentalism is gaining power. An informative read.

Waheed Rabbani

THE LAST DRESS FROM PARIS

Jade Beer, Berkley, 2022, $17.00, pb, 355pp, 9780593436813

Inspired by the Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition (2019), Beer has crafted an engrossing and heartfelt historical mysteryromance. The dual timeline alternates between London and Paris in 2017 and Paris in 1952. Dying, Sylvie asks her granddaughter, Lucille, to retrieve her missing haute couture Dior dress called Maxim. In 1952, a young woman named Alice, newly married to Albert Ainsley, British Ambassador to France, attends glamorous embassy functions.

Can an item of clothing hold a memory, transporting us to a long-ago place and time? Clearly yes, with Beer’s fluid prose, vivid descriptions of Paris, and sensitive character development. Lucille contacts Veronique, whose grandmother was loaned the Maxim; there are eight Dior dresses in all. She tracks it down, meeting Leon, who aids in her mission. A tender romance develops as the mystery unravels. Each dress represents a rendezvous between Alice and Antoine, the sensitive art student she encounters at her first embassy function while wearing the Cygne Noir, a luxurious strapless evening gown of silk, satin and velvet. As Alice experiences romantic love, Lucille visits that site in the ensuing chapter, moving from Église Saint-Germain to the Jardin du Luxembourg to the Orangerie, where Alice wears Debussy as ethereal as The Water Lilies.

Beer creates sympathy for Alice, whose husband set out to win her assuming she’d be the perfect political wife: obedient, charming, and utterly beautiful. What he did not count on was that his philandering and neglect, which escalates to abuse, would be challenged as Alice grows in confidence, thriving in the deep love she experiences with Antoine. Lucille also discovers life-changing truths about herself. Parent-child relationships and motherhood are secondary themes. This bittersweet story delights with a surprising and satisfying ending. Highly recommended.

Gail M. Murray

HORSE

Geraldine Brooks, Viking, 2022, $28.00, hb, 416pp, 9780399562969 / Little, Brown, 2022, £18.99, hb, 416pp, 9781408710098

Brooks succeeds gloriously at creating a love letter to thoroughbred horses, racing, and the beauties of antebellum Kentucky, and passably well at creating an unflinching portrait of the struggle of a gifted Black man to devote his life to the miraculous horse he raises and trains, but can never own. That enslaved groom, Jarret Lewis, is Brooks’ imagining of the man who appears in several real-life oil portraits of the 19th-century racing phenomenon, Lexington. Those portraits are the unifying thread that ties together Jarret’s story, that of the equestrian portraitist, Thomas Scott, and of two young, fictional present-day researchers, Nigerian-born art historian Theo and Aussie osteologist Jess. A chance meeting allows the two 21st-century characters to piece together—via Theo’s discovery of a Scott painting on a trash pile, and Jess’ study of the horse’s actual skeleton in the attic of the Smithsonian—the story of just what made Lexington so fast. In the process, they learn about the incredible industry of American thoroughbred horseracing that would not have existed without the talent and dedication of armies of enslaved grooms, jockeys, and trainers.

Brooks creates enthralling separate voices for each point-of-view character, all of whom are obsessed geniuses in their own right. However, the details they obsess over never become tedious, because of Brooks’ gift for evoking the beauties of the Kentucky, Louisiana, and Potomac landscapes the characters inhabit. Each character allows the reader to share a growing understanding of the ironic and tragic distance between the freedom represented by Lexington’s joyous gallop, and the deadly legacy of America’s racist past. Ultimately, the dedication of Jarret to his equine protege’s dignity and quality of

life reminds the reader how historical fiction can create unforgettable heroes and role models out of people who were denied a voice in their own time.

Kristen McDermott

TWO WOMEN IN ROME

Elizabeth Buchan, Corvus, 2022, £8.99, pb, 356pp, 9781786495358

The two women of the title are British expatriates living in Rome; Lottie lives there in the near-present, and Nina lives there in the 1970s. Lottie is an archivist, and in the course of her work she comes upon documents relating to Nina’s murder in 1978. As she pursues her research she comes to identify with Nina and finds echoes of Nina’s unhappy life in her own.

This is basically the plot of scores of dualnarrative novels. There seems to be scarcely a heroine who is not researching another woman’s life (or perhaps her own early life) and finding solace from her current woes. Two Women in Rome is, however, more complex and multi-layered than most. There are two love stories, both intense, sensual and troubled, a whodunnit, a spy story and a political thriller. The complexities are sometimes difficult to handle, but one keeps turning the pages. I would have liked more of the political background to Italy in the 1970s—what was the secret army? —but Buchan is rightly shy of infodumping.

The book is strong on atmosphere. Buchan knows her Rome, and through her we become an impressionable newcomer, basking in its tumult of sights, sounds and scents. Better than most dual narratives, with narrative drive and a great sense of place.

Edward James

THE WINTER DRESS

Lauren Chater, Simon & Schuster Australia, 2022, A$32.99, pb, 368pp, 9781760850227

In 2014 there was an amazing discovery off the island of Texel in Holland. Shipwreck divers found a chest containing a woman’s silk dress that was in remarkably good condition. This is the inspiration for this fictional imagining as to who might have owned the dress and how it ended up at the bottom of the sea. The novel has tandem narratives, one in the present day, the other in mid-17th century.

With family links to the area, textile historian Jo Baaker is uniquely placed as the person to study and preserve the fragile garment. As she slowly unravels the background of the owner of the dress, she must face both academic rivalries and personal issues that she has avoided for years. And then there is the underlying mysterious question as to the “true circumstances of the dress’s miraculous survival” that could not be explained just by science. Was the discovery luck or destiny, or “was there something else at work … something that could not and would never be explained?”

Anna Tessletje is the daughter of a oncewealthy Dutch merchant who fell on hard times and she barely survives doing laundry. Although it would fetch a good price, she is loath to part with her mother’s beautiful dress. Anna is offered the post of companion to a woman artist and polymath, Catharina van Shurman. Once she joins the household, her life begins to blossom as does her relationship with Catharina’s brother, Crispijn.

Both Jo and Anna are likeable protagonists and the dual narratives are smoothly executed and complement each other well. The historical research is impeccable, as is the exploration of the misogynistic attitudes that intelligent women have always faced no matter the era. This highly memorable and absorbing tale is another cracking read from Lauren Chater.

Marina Maxwell

THE BELLADONNA MAZE

Sinéad Crowley, Head of Zeus, 2022, £18.99, hb, 394pp, 9781801105637

Gothic horror meets modern romance. The historic stream of this dual-narrative novel (actually, there is a short third stream towards the end) is a Gothic tale set in an Irish country house at the time of the Great Famine in the 1840s—a saga of murder, injustice, dispossession, sinister accidents and catastrophe. The contemporary stream (2007) features not an heiress but a young children’s nurse named Grace who works for a holiday company in the Greek islands. One of the holidaymakers, an Irishman who is renovating his rundown ancestral home, offers her a job as his child’s nanny. It is a dream job, but step by step the house’s dark past engulfs the idyllic present.

The paranormal element in the story—two ghosts, one from the 1840s and the other from the 1970s—sits uneasily in a modern romance, but if you can accept this and the implausible climax, you are left with a very readable story and a very credible central character. Like Alice in Wonderland, Grace confronts all these extraordinary events with a sturdy common sense and survives to win the man she loves.

Edward James

WOMAN OF LIGHT

Kali Fajardo-Anstine, One World, 2022, $28.00, hb, 336pp, 9780525511328

In her first novel, Fajardo-Anstine weaves a sparkling constellation of stories around her heroine, Luz Lopez, an Indigenous Chicano teenager with a rich ancestral heritage. Luz comes of age in 1930s Denver amid family and romantic intrigues and systemic discrimination. Just seventeen, she’s a tea-leaf reader and laundress for the city’s wealthy residents, working alongside her cousin Lizette. She and her brother Diego, a snake-charmer popular at the city’s outdoor festivals, have been raised by their aunt, Maria Josie, after their parents’ abandonment.

After Diego falls in love with an Anglo girl from a bigoted family and is forced to leave Denver, Luz misses him terribly. Her personality, which initially feels elusive, solidifies over the course of her transformational journey, in which she claims her place in a larger world that’s designed to exclude her. Though lacking formal education, Luz soaks up knowledge and has a talent for translation, or “moving words into words.”

The author creates evocative wordpictures, though the sections involving Luz tend to move slowly. Braided among them are mesmerizing tales involving Luz’s forebears in their homeland (the “Lost Territory”), whose lives she glimpses in visions. These include her entrepreneur grandfather, Pidre; his brave wife, Simodecea, a Mexican sharpshooter with a tragic backstory; and their daughters, Sara and Maria Josie, whose paths eventually diverge.

While scenes of Bonnie and Clyde—the familiar Depression-era outlaws—unfold in the background, Fajardo-Anstine creates a new Western lore, one involving a man’s dreams for a natural stone amphitheater, an elderly woman who “dreamt of stories in her sleep,” and a younger woman rising in power. Fajardo’s expansive vision of the West and its diverse, multilingual peoples is well worth experiencing, since it’s too rarely seen in fiction. Her novel is a triumphant reshaping of the Western narrative.

Sarah Johnson

BLUEBIRD

Genevieve Graham, Simon & Schuster Canada, 2022, $17.99/C$24.99, pb, 352pp, 9781982156657

Canadian author Graham has penned a detailed and powerful social journey steeped in Canadian history that weaves together two narratives separated by decades. In the first, the reader meets survivors of the Great War— damaged physically and/or emotionally—and all attempting to reestablish a life back in Canada. The other is a more contemporary tale concerning museum curator Cassis Simmons as she deals with her own hidden personal ghosts.

Two brothers (the Baileys) return home in 1919, not to a hero’s welcome and family happy at their survival, but struck with the reality that both parents have recently died of the Spanish flu. Finding life goals in a changing society proves challenging, and they slowly move into the illegal whisky business as a means of simple survival. Similarly, former nurse Adele Savard, who saw front-line action, also needs to adjust to a new life. Her own prospects take a sharp turn when she meets former soldier Jeremiah Bailey, whom she had treated in France near the end of the war.

Graham juxtaposes the past and present in two parallel narratives rather than a straightforward chronological timeline. Therefore, the reader is often jolted over decades as the journey shifts. Nonetheless, the details describing basic life issues, interpersonal contacts, and societal norms, as well as the realities of the times, are graphically illustrated.

What do old whisky bottles hidden in a false wall, a long-forgotten, caved-in tunnel with its buried bones, and a family homestead

renovation all have in common? Indeed, as the mysteries unravel and coalesce, it is possible that a buried liquor hoard and a decades-old murder may foreshadow a happier future for our two modern protagonists.

Jon G. Bradley

THE LAST CONFESSIONS OF SYLVIA P.

Lee Kravetz, Harper, 2022, $25.99, hb, 264pp, 9780063139992

In present-day Boston, a curator for the St. Ambrose Auction House receives three spiral notebooks that appear to contain the first iterations of Sylvia Plath’s iconic novel The Bell Jar. In the 1950s, the poet Boston Rhodes writes to Professor Robert Lowell about her intense and often competitive relationship with Plath, and psychiatrist Dr. Ruth Barnhouse challenges psychiatric protocols when she treats Plath after a suicide attempt. The three women take turns telling their stories in The Last Confessions of Sylvia P.

This debut novel by acclaimed nonfiction writer Lee Kravetz gradually unveils deeply personal and emotional connections among the women. It reveals the long-term, subtle effects of transitory yet intense interactions and the gnawing consequences of rivalry on the subject and object of the competition, as well as individuals close to them.

The narrative explores the creative soul— how poets, in particular, see and feel the world around them and how often they are overwhelmed by their observations. It also raises an unsettling question: who is entitled to heretofore hidden thoughts and feelings of a writer? It’s often said that once they are written, the writer’s words belong to the reader. But there may be times when a writer’s words are meant for the eyes of a particular person—or no one at all.

The writing is exquisite; the messages, thought-provoking. A phenomenal debut.

K. M. Sandrick

THE GREEN LADY

Sue Lawrence, Contraband, 2022, £9.99, pb, 314pp, 9781913393328

In late 16th- and early 17th-century Scotland, Alexander Seton had the most impeccable connections: godson to Mary, Queen of Scots, guardian to her grandson, Prince Charles, and Lord Chancellor of Scotland. Yet his ruthless ambition and the desire for an heir drove him to act without compassion.

This compelling story, which spans the years before and after the Union of the Crowns, gives a voice to three otherwise littleknown women: his wives Lilias Drummond, Grizel Leslie and Margaret Hay. The author freely acknowledges that this is a story set in a historical past where some details, such as Lilias’s imprisonment in Loch Leven Castle, have been adapted. However, the characterisation of these very different women, the details of their lives, and the stunning—and unsettling—setting of Fyvie Castle, make for a vivid retelling.

The addition of Maggie offers a “modern” voice from the 1980s, although for me her own story draws somewhat unconvincing parallels. A key element linking all the women’s lives, past and present, is the famous Seton parure, a historic piece still in existence. This dazzling necklace, brooch and earrings of pearls, rubies and emeralds, crafted in the finest Scottish gold, was presented to Marie Seton, Alexander’s aunt and one of the four Maries, whose sympathetic and convincing portrayal is the main strength and backbone of the book. The parure highlights the wealth and refinement of the Scottish court, in contrast with human ambition. Its shimmering green allure links the Ladies of Fyvie—and two Liliases and two Marys, living three centuries apart—in an intriguing plot.

Lucinda Byatt

A PERFECT COPY

Derville Murphy, Poolbeg Press, 2022, £7.99, pb, 400pp, 9781781997192

In present-day Dublin, problems arise at an auction sale when two strangers, Daisy Staunton and Ben Tarrant, both want to sell identical portraits of a beautiful 19th-century lady by a well-regarded Irish artist. One must be a fake, but which one? The plot thickens when, after a brief discussion, they realise not only are they related, they descend from a Jewish community in Russian-dominated Poland (now present-day Ukraine), which adds extra resonance to today’s readers.

What begins as a modern romance between Ben, a primary school teacher, and Daisy, a marketing executive, takes a dramatic twist to relate the lives of two young impoverished Jewish sisters, Rosa and Lena Rabinovitch. The novel follows the reversals of fortune in their relationship and their separate flights to Vienna, Paris and London, reinventing themselves along the way. As Ben and Daisy each learn more about their origins, they discover harsh family secrets, causing them to question their own lives and priorities and what they want in life.

There was much in this detailed novel I enjoyed, and it provides a rich portrayal of European history with the addition of a sweet love story. It also gave me pause for thought as to my own origins. I only wished the text had been edited more rigorously, and I could have empathised more with the characters, although the author took great pains to explain why they acted as they did.

Sally Zigmond

SPIES IN CANAAN

David Park, Bloomsbury, 2022, £16.99, hb, 188pp, 9781526631930

David Park sets his novel in two timeframes: the present-day United States and towards the end of the Vietnam War in the early 1970s. The protagonist is Michael Miller, a small-town American who is sent to Saigon in the dying days of the war as an intelligence agent. He tells the reader that he always felt an outsider due to his upbringing in ‘a church that believed in individual salvation.’ This gives him a more distanced view of his experience.

At first, the narrative is suffused with an atmosphere of intense despair. The reader will feel the sensation of panic in Saigon and the protagonist’s need to escape and his guilt about leaving his Vietnamese friends behind. That same feeling returns when, now retired, Michael receives a letter from one of his agent friends. The writing in this relatively short novel is full of sensory descriptions. It almost insists the reader feels the despair of the protagonist as he recalls his younger self. Older now, can he make amends for his past naivety?

In a way the novel is the story of America’s transformation from a naive, young country, whose government thought they could save the world, through to being older and wiser and hoping to survive, ‘the plagues and dark angels sweeping in from the desert.’

Michael Miller narrates both parts of the story in the first person. I found it strange at first, but I soon got used to it and found that this intensified the narrative. An excellent read.

Bridget Walsh

THE BABA YAGA MASK

Kris Spisak, Wyatt-MacKenzie, 2022, $18.95, pb, 282pp, 9781954332317

This dual-timeline novel explores the lives of three women, the contemporary lives of two Ukrainian-American sisters and their runaway grandmother, as well as the circumstances of the grandmother during the 1940s in Ukraine.

In the contemporary timeline, we meet Vira as an old woman—determined, unpredictable, strong. She tells her granddaughters that she would like to turn from Baba Vira (grandmother Vira) into the folktale version of the witch-in-the-forest, Baba Yaga. These folktales are referenced throughout the novel, giving a window into the culture Vira wants to preserve. But Baba Yaga is a trickster character, never doing the expected: sometimes helping, sometimes punishing. When Baba Vira flies to Poland to cheer on a Ukrainian dance troupe, and

then disappears at the Warsaw airport, her adult granddaughters, Larissa and Ira, must find her.

Both believe that Baba Vira intends to lead them on a merry chase, but while Larissa is irritated at the imposition and worried about an elderly woman on her own, Ira finds the adventure irresistible. As the sisters butt heads with each other, the 1940s timeline unrolls as well, expertly delivering Vira’s experiences under the Soviet occupation, the Nazi occupation, and the fleeing of her homeland with her mother and sisters.

While at times the prose seems abrupt, the plotting of this novel is expertly done. Given the background of contemporary events, this is “edu-tainment” at its best. Ukrainian culture is centered in a story that takes place all over the world, showing that it isn’t necessarily a land that unites a people, it is a united people that create a culture. This fascinating take on personal choice, bonds of blood, and familial obligation is well worth the read.

Katie Stine

THE ADMIRAL’S WIFE

M. K. Tod, Heath Street Publishing, 2022, $16.99, pb, 384pp, 9780991967070

M. K. Tod’s newest novel is set in Hong Kong in two different time periods, 1912 and 2016. It focuses on two women: Isabel Taylor, the wife of a British Admiral newly transferred to Hong Kong in the early 1900s; and Patricia Findley, the Chinese daughter of a bank CEO returning to her native city in 2016 from years in New York. Isabel faces considerable culture shock as she searches for her place in this unfamiliar city, largely on her own as her husband is away at sea. She meets a well-to-do Chinese gentleman to whom she is attracted but warned away from, as friendships across the British/ Chinese divide are not acceptable. Patricia, a married woman with three miscarriages and a successful banking career in her past, struggles with her father’s expectations that she stay at home and produce a child. She probes her family’s history to understand her father’s rigidity and slowly unfurls a mystery that connects the Taylor and Findley families.

The setting of this novel is described vividly in both time periods with its introduction to the lives of the well-to-do in the crowded city of Hong Kong. The main characters are vulnerable women whose emotional life blossoms as they define their places in society. The mysterious connection of the two families is carefully introduced in small bits and pieces that keep the reader in suspense. It should be a satisfying read for those interested in historical fiction, upmarket women’s fiction, and mysteries.

Lorelei Brush Gabrielle Meyer, Bethany House, 2022, $16.99, pb, 384pp, 9780764239748

Like many readers, I have a weakness for time-travel novels, and this one adds an extra layer of intrigue. In the world Meyer has created, some people, known as “timecrossers,” are living two different lives in two different time periods. In young adulthood the time-crosser must choose one path and relinquish the other. At twenty years old, Libby knows which lifetime she wants to keep, the one in 1775 Williamsburg, when she, the mother she adores, and the man she loves are all involved in the budding American Revolution. Unfortunately, circumstances in her 1914 life interfere with her plans, and she is doomed to marry a British lord she doesn’t even like, much less love. If she gets pregnant, she’ll have to choose between her unborn child and the life where she is happy.

The 1775 sections are inspired by the real story of a widow who was the first female public printer in Virginia. The history is particularly vivid as the founding fathers struggle to figure out who is friend and who is foe while they move toward a revolution. Libby’s other life — in which she lives in a rundown manor house on the British coast at the beginning of World War I—also has its share of excitement when a German invasion imperils the local community and thrusts Libby into a leadership role.

The clean, straightforward writing delivers an exciting, page-turning plot, filled with fascinating history. Embedded in the story is a strong religious theme, but even readers who are not particularly religious should find this book an engaging and fun read.

Trish MacEnulty

HISTORICAL FANTASY

TWILIGHT OF THE GODS

Ann Chamberlin, Epigraph, 2022, $22.95, pb, 366pp, 9781954744516

Fifth century: Brynhild, once a proud Valkyrie, is now an old woman, bent with age and fire-scarred. With her soul-friend Thora, she continues to struggle against Odin, Old One Eye. The god has cursed his former shield maidens, these two women who dared defy him, with curses which may yet come to fruition through the women’s own children. Brynhild and Thora travel throughout Germania, Gaul, and many other lands of Europe. They rescue Yrsa, Thora’s daughter, the unwitting wife of her own father, and strive to escape the wrath of Odin. Their flight leads to an encampment of the Huns and later to the city of Colonia. Ancient magic and curses play out as strands of fate spun by the ancient Norns unwind and the twilight of the old gods inevitably gives way to a new era.

Ann Chamberlin’s masterful retelling of this epic story draws from The Volsunga Saga, The Nibelungenlied, and the Old Norse Poetic Edda. The drama enraptures and delights, drawing the reader into an imagined world of 5thcentury Europe infused with the magic of old ways and old gods. Brynhild’s struggle against Odin, her love for Siegfried, and the resolution of the story transports the reader to ancient, mystical realms grounded in historical reality. For a richer experience, I would recommend reading the first two volumes in the trilogy, Choosers of the Slain and The Linden’s Red Plague, before Twilight of the Gods, but the saga, at whatever point one enters it, will sweep the reader away like the fierce flowing waters of the Danube. Like all of Chamberlin’s work, this book comes very highly recommended.

Susan McDuffie

SPEAR

Nicola Griffith, Tordotcom, 2022, $19.99/ C$26.99/£15.99, hb, 192pp, 9781250819321

In an isolated wilderness in Wales, a gifted child is raised by her mother, who keeps her ignorant of ways in the outside world. She nevertheless grows fascinated by that world; leaves her mother to “find her true self” at the court of Arturus, the king at Caer Leon; there meets Nimuë, the Lady of the Lake; and eventually sets out to find the Grail.

This is the story of Perceval, one of the greatest knights in Arthurian legend and the earliest to succeed on the Grail Quest. Here she is named Peretur, and Griffith not only makes her female in male guise, but attracted to other women rather than men. As the daughter of Mannandán, one of the Tuath Dé Irish deities, she is also semi-immortal, with the enhanced speed and strength that make her so formidable a warrior, and the acute ability to sense information from her natural surroundings and so anticipate her opponents’ actions.

While these exceptional abilities mark her as a hero in the romance mode, the author recreates a highly plausible Dark Age/early medieval world. She provides meticulous details of the natural setting, clothing and equipment, and the conditions in which ordinary people struggle to survive in a difficult and dangerous time.

In her insightful author’s note, Griffith offers

a helpful survey of medieval versions of the original story, then goes on to explain how she came to choose crucial elements from tradition and history, and why she modified them to create her own tightly structured pattern. She writes in lyrical prose that draws the reader into a fascinating world, as she explores the dangers caused by the abuse of power. An impressive achievement, and a worthy addition to Arthurian tradition. Highly recommended.

Ray Thompson

THE FERVOR

Alma Katsu, Putnam, 2022, $27.00, hb, 320pp, 9780593328330

The attack on Pearl Harbor upends Meiko’s life. Sent to the U.S. for an arranged marriage with a Japanese farmer, she instead chooses an American pilot. This doesn’t protect her, or her daughter, Aiko, from forced internment in Idaho. At first, Meiko dismisses Aiko’s disturbing drawings and her confession that she’s seeing yōkai (spirits). But as internees and guards fall mysteriously ill with “the Fervor,” incidents of unexplainable violence begin to occur, and Meiko realizes something evil has infiltrated the camp.

Meanwhile, a reporter pursues a story on strange balloons floating to the ground in the Northwest, balloons that kill and spread a sickness—which the U.S. government will go to untold lengths to cover up.

The Fervor is a somewhat schizophrenic novel, with entertainment potential sometimes eschewed in favor of polemic. Katsu is known for skillful historical horror (e.g., The Hunger), but this is more a discourse on anti-Asian racism, drifting so far from Katsu’s previous works that, in an afterword, she offers explanation to fans about why she didn’t give them what they were expecting. Elements for a unique, chilling tale are here (e.g., demons from Japanese folklore), but furtherance of the messaging can subsume atmosphere and plot continuity. Critics will doubtless be effusive due to the social message, but one wishes for organic incorporation in a way that would’ve enhanced a horror story (racism is horrific), rather than hamstring it. The creepiest parts of the novel are its initial chapters and framing device: the 1920s tale of a Japanese scientist who encounters the jorōgumo (spider demon) on a cursed island. With managed expectations, this is well worth a read, especially for commentary on America’s shameful institution of internment, but it isn’t Katsu’s best when it comes to gripping historical horror.

Bethany Latham

THE HIDDEN SAINT

Mark Levenson, Level Best, 2022, $17.95, pb, 312pp, 9781685120504

Rabbi Adam’s family has been attacked by the supernatural. In his most desperate hour, he comes across an unfamiliar book. He uses it to build a golem and seeks the wisdom of a hidden saint for answers. Adam quickly learns the attacks are rooted within a mistake in his past. If he doesn’t seek forgiveness, he’ll never be able to defeat the evil plaguing him: a demon known to the world by the name Lilith. Rooted in Jewish culture and faith, Rabbi Adam and his golem step into a fantastical adventure fraught with mythological danger set in 18th-century Eastern Europe.

The Hidden Saint delves into the choices made when we’re at our most vulnerable. Building upon stories of rabbinic legend, Levenson pens a possible origin for the fabled Rabbi Adam. Adam must face the wrongs of his past and present while encountering the mysterious and malevolent. I loved the inclusion of stories about impactful women from history inspiring the women who assist in defeating Lilith. As the narrative grows, there’s a beautiful blend of Jewish lore finding harmony with the present and providing hope to the characters. Alongside a series of mythical encounters, the book examines the balance of good and evil in the world. Levenson soulfully explores what it means to be human through the eyes of the golem, an artificial creation, looking with wonder upon the world and discovering its own purpose. The chapters blend together with easy fluidity, making it hard to put down.

Levenson has created an enchanting tale filled with engaging characters, demonic foes, rich historical details, and a fairy tale atmosphere. If you enjoyed Rena Rossner’s The Sisters of the Winter Wood or Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale, this is a must read! A sweeping adventure that will leave a lasting impression. Highly recommended.

J. Lynn Else

THE GREAT BOOK OF KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE

John Matthews and John Howe, Harper Design, 2022, $32.50, hb, 406pp, 9780063243125

This marvelous and remarkably gorgeous book was written by John Matthews and illustrated by John Howe, with a foreword by Neil Gaiman, who are three stars in the vast universe of fantasy. Matthews is a world expert in Arthurian studies, while Howe, best known for his Tolkien illustrations, served as Conceptual Artist for the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. The contemporary fantasy writer Neil Gaiman introduces The Great Book of King Arthur with engaging recollections of his own childhood love of the King Arthur stories.

The book is catalogued as a novel, but it resembles the novel’s errant ancestor, the epic romance. In beautiful modern English and with wide and meticulous scholarship, Matthews retells all the best-known Arthurian tales with some new twists and adds hundreds of lesserknown but authentic tales. Howe provides many vignettes and full-color illustrations.

But it’s a grownup’s King Arthur. For one thing, it comprises 406 packed doublecolumn pages. For another, Matthews, like his multitudinous medieval sources, does not shy away from death and sex, and there’s lots of both, although discreetly handled.

Like its cousin the Arabian Nights, it’s a vast compilation of short stories, linked here by King Arthur (usually a minor character). Matthews has organized his sprawling material into five loosely chronological Books.

And for the modern readers and writers of medieval fiction or fantasy, here’s a treasury of ideas: snake-lady monsters, women warriors, superheroes, fabulous plot twists. We encounter the Grey-Hammed Lady, the Questing Beast, a mini-knight, the Otherworld, friendly hermits, glowing deer, invisible boats, a battle between men and cats, a golden nipple, and a plethora of other wonders while wandering through what Matthews very aptly calls the Great Forest of stories.

Susan Lowell

THE BOOK OF GOTHEL

Mary McMyne, Redhook, 2022, $28.00/ C$35.00, hb, 406pp, 9780316393317

How would your perspective of religious beliefs change after reading a medieval codex illustrated with images reminiscent of fairy tales? The historical fantasy, The Book of Gothel, by Mary McMyne strives to answer the question. The story is told from the viewpoint of Haelewise, a young woman living in a Christian world during the Middle Ages in Germany. Her father and villagers believe a demon possesses and curses her with fainting spells. Her mother, a midwife and healer, tries to protect her from the scourge of the church, but she dies when Haelewise is an adolescent. Fearing persecution, Haelewise escapes on a quest to uncover her past at the Tower of Gothel, where her grandmother resides. There she begins a journey to discover her life’s role based on the spiritual healing of the ancestral Mother Goddess.

McMyne masterfully weaves fantastical elements into the historical backdrop of medieval Germany. A page-turner, the tale reminds me of Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey, but from a woman’s perspective. The storytelling gripped me from the beginning and continued holding my interest to the memorable ending. Haelewise is an engaging heroine who rises from self-doubt as a child into a formidable woman, discovering her strength from the Mother Goddess. This evocative story is rich in sensory descriptions, and the suspense heightens to a heart-

throbbing climax. It is a multi-layered story with themes of unconditional love, redemption, and coming of age.

The Book of Gothel will appeal to both fantasy and historical readers who enjoy vivid storytelling, bringing to mind favorite fairy tales that might be based on past real-life experiences. Highly recommended.

Linnea Tanner

THE MONSTERS WE DEFY

Leslye Penelope, Redhook, 2022, $17.99/ C$22.95, pb, 384pp, 9780316377911

This historical fantasy set in Washington, DC in 1925 incorporates Black folk traditions of magic with Penelope’s imaginative extensions. The main character, Clara Johnson, born at a dark crossroads, emerges with a caul covering her body, the ability to talk with spirits, and to look Over There to the dead and other restless beings. Penelope develops a convincing world in which greedy spirits called Enigmas hold various humans in debts called Tricks, in exchange for Charms, magical abilities that appear to offer easy solutions to their problems but usually don’t work out as desired. This dynamic infuses the novel with thought-provoking themes, as does Clara’s struggle to overcome her self-doubt, sense of unworthiness, and inability to trust others. Clara wants her freedom—ironically, the very thing she bargained to regain when she made her “deal” from a prison cell with an Enigma named the Empress. When the Empress offers to release her debt if she steals a magic ring, Clara tries to find the catch, but she also can’t resist, especially when she realizes the ring is causing widespread troubles within the Black community.

One of the many strengths of this novel is Penelope’s portrayal of Black life in DC of the Twenties. Clara’s feeling of obligation to her community, on the one hand, is contrasted with the class snobbery of the educated, wealthy Black elite members. Penelope’s powerful style propels the reader forward. For example, she describes a moment of emotional intensity for Clara like this: “Her fingers coiled, pressing almost painfully against her palms, taut as the head of a drum with a tempting rhythm of rage beating against it. Like the thump, thump of fists meeting flesh.” An engaging read.

Judith Starkston

SIREN QUEEN

Nghi Vo, Tor, 2022, $26.99, hb, 288pp, 9781250788832

This short novel features both glamorous Hollywood history and fanciful urban fantasy, blended into a hypnotic alternate-history depiction of queer culture on the margins of the 1930s and ’40s moviemaking world. In Vo’s reimagining, movies are made by sinister demigods who have exchanged their humanity for immortal storytelling skills; the cameras of the giant studios literally feed on the life force of mortals desperate to attain a similar immortality through film stardom. The ones who succeed live forever as literal stars in the heavens; the ones who fail are fed to the insatiable maw (imagined in this world as a literal fairyland Wild Hunt) of public clamoring for new films and stars to love.

It’s a heady blend of magic and craft that’s been done before, but Vo adds a powerful new point of view for the ambitious starlet who narrates this novel. “Luli Wei” is the stage name given by the studio to this young, star-struck daughter of Chinese immigrants; a few lucky encounters, the mentorship of a movie-queen lover, and a ruthless willingness to risk her soul allow Luli to break out of the stereotypical servant-and-prostitute roles Asian girls usually play, and land an iconic role as the evil “Viper Queen.” Ultimately, she must challenge her rapacious director and studio head in suspenseful, otherworldly face-offs reminiscent of folktales like Tam Lin and King Lindworm.

Vo’s writing style is a satisfying blend of lyricism and hardboiled wisecracking, combining a lot of familiar elements into an original revision of the Hollywood myth. In the process, she creates a powerful parable of the real human cost of the closeted lives of LGBTQ+ actors and creators during the Golden Age of filmmaking.

Kristen McDermott

ALTERNATE HISTORY

THE CARNIVAL OF ASH

Tom Beckerlegge, Rebellion, 2022, £16.99, hb, 484pp, 9781786185006 / Solaris, 2022, $24.99, hb, 560pp, 9781786185006

Sometime in the Renaissance era, Cadenza is a fictional city located in Italy, near enough to Venice for the inhabitants to be under constant fear of invasion. Cadenza is a city of words, where it is the poets who lead, poets who are worshipped, poets who have the power over life and death. Not all the inhabitants in the city are poets, but their occupations are all part of the process from the capturing of words from mouth to paper, their printing, their binding, their proclamation and their archiving.

The word “cadenza” can mean an exceptionally brilliant part of a literary work but also, in musical terms, it can mean an elaborate flourish introduced near the end of a movement. The book is split into twelve cantos, each one describing different inhabitants of Cadenza who contribute not only to the city’s brilliance but also to its final downfall. Beckerlegge has created a city where words are powerful, and like all artefacts of power they can be used to corrupt, deceive and even kill.

This is a fabulous book, and Beckerlegge uses words exquisitely to describe a world that is sometimes romantic but mostly damaged, carnal and ultimately dystopian. I loved this book, and so will any reader who enjoys beautifully written alternate historical fiction with a dash of fantasy and a smattering of blood. Highly recommended.

Marilyn Pemberton

CHILDREN & YOUNG ADULT

ISLA TO ISLAND

Alexis Castellanos, Atheneum, 2022, $21.99/ C$29.99, hb, 192pp, 9781534469242

Isla to Island is a graphic novel about young Marisol. She loves her life in Cuba: her parents, the food, the flowers, and the music. When the revolution occurs, life becomes frightening. In 1961, Marisol’s parents decide to send her to New York City to live with foster parents. The young girl struggles in this new country with a new family, a new school, and a new language to learn. Will Marisol make friends? Will she ever see her parents again?

This is one of the most remarkable books I’ve ever encountered. You don’t so much read the book as experience it. There are few words. In the beginning, in Cuba, there are some dates and captions on photographs, as well as some Spanish words on signs, coming from a radio, a few words on a newspaper. Just enough to establish setting—reading the words is not essential. The same happens with words in English when Marisol moves to America. The story is mostly told through pictures. Cuba is vibrantly colorful. New York is gray—except for the one flower Marisol brought with her. As she meets her foster family, goes to school, walks through the winter streets, everything is gray. Eventually, Marisol discovers the school library. Books are in color. Then food. And plants. Will New York ever be fully in color? Will Marisol ever be truly happy again?

A beautiful and powerful story of being a refugee child, told in a format that anyone, of any age, any culture, and any language, can understand.

Phil Earle, Andersen Press, 2021, £7.99, pb, 310pp, 9781783449651 / Bloomsbury, 2022, $16.99/C$22.99, hb, 316pp, 9781547609307

This is a moving tale of a boy and an ape in war-time, based on a true story.

Angry, disturbed Joseph, a boy seemingly born to be in trouble, finds himself evacuated not from, but to, war-torn Manchester in the worst months of the Blitz. His grandmother has sent him away to stay with an old friend he has never met before, a redoubtable older woman who he is to call ‘Mrs. F’. Joseph, who permanently ‘seethes under his breath’, resents her and everyone else, including his father for being called-up and deserting him. However, Mrs. F has a few tricks up her sleeve. It turns out that she still works at the city zoo, and soon Joseph finds himself helping her there, and introduced to Adonis, a great silver-back gorilla. Adonis is revealed as both a threat—should an air-raid accidentally free him—and a potential ally, as some of the reasons for Joseph’s anger are explored and the friendless boy and lonely ape begin to form a friendship.

This is a book that is strikingly good at dealing with issues around abandonment and alienation. Written in well-paced chapters and with a character-driven plot, this novel combines excellent historical detail with a flawed but sympathetic narrator. The story moves through the terror and confusion of war to its emotional conclusion, driven by spare and authentic dialogue. Joseph is full of bitterness: ‘Well, I wouldn’t have expected you to help, that’s for sure,’ which Mrs. F counters with practical instruction: ‘You must never EVER turn your back on [Adonis].’

Joseph may lose Adonis in the end, but the affection that has grown between the abandoned child and the acerbic old woman looks like one that will last a lifetime.

Highly recommended for 8 – 12-year-olds.

Jane Burke

WHILE THE STORM RAGES

Phil Earle, Andersen Press, 2022, £7.99, pb, 372pp, 9781839132056

It is a few days before the outbreak of World War II. Noah Price makes a promise to his father before his Dad enlists. He will look after their beloved dog Wyn, whatever it takes.

Noah then finds out about a government plan to have all pet animals slaughtered, as part of the war effort. Noah regards this government plan as nothing short of criminal. He is devastated by it. His mother sends Noah off to the vet queue to have his dog put down. But Noah devises other plans. He meets his best friend Clementine, who is accompanying her own dog Frank to the vet. They also meet Big Col, who is the school bully. Col is accompanied by his friend, a pet snake.

Noah tells his friends that he is going to commandeer his father’s boat, the Queen Maudie. He will allow as many of his friends as may be to load their pets on to the boat. The animals will then be safely conducted to Battersea Dogs Home, where he hopes they will be safe. Thus begins a perilous adventure. Will Noah manage to save Wyn and the other animals? And if so, at what cost?

Earle’s novel has beloved animals at its heart, and the suffering of their human owners when the lives of the creatures are threatened. The basic storyline is of course somewhat improbable. But the narrative must be strong enough to overcome such practical limitations. In the end even a sceptical reader will be persuaded to celebrate the powerful relationships formed between humans, and between humans and animals. It is a feat of literary ingenuity on the part of the author to have discovered a leaflet describing this wartime expedient and to have fabricated the novel on its basis.

Rebecca Butler

RIMA’S REBELLION

Margarita Engle, Atheneum, 2022, $18.99, hb, 212pp, 9781534486935

Rima is a “natural” child in Cuba in the early 20th century. Her father, a wealthy landowner, had an affair with one of his workers, and now Rima, her mother, and her grandmother live on his land with no rights of their own. Rima’s grandmother was one of the legendary mambisas, horseback-riding women revolutionaries during their country’s fight for independence against Spain. She is Rima’s inspiration as the teenager becomes a skilled rider and a witness to the struggle for women’s suffrage, democracy, the rights of natural children, and the rights of all women to be protected from the violence of husbands and fathers. Admitted to a program for apprentice printers run by a prominent feminist activist, Rima prints the poetry of poets and rebels and learns the value of her own voice.

The poems—snapshots of moments in this fictional character’s life—allow the author to span thirteen years and multiple themes seamlessly. Rima’s horse Ala (the name means “wing”) is both source and symbol of her strength as she grows into womanhood and seems to encounter more setbacks than successes in an unjust land ruled by a treacherous and merciless strongman. Despite the injustice of her situation, Rima discovers that being a natural child has benefits: Unlike her seemingly privileged halfsister whom she ultimately befriends, she has no father who can kill her if he disapproves of her choices. She learns—and so do readers— that the metaphors in poetry aren’t just for conveying beautiful images. They also serve as a language of resistance to censorship and repression: “Gardens in the poems are prisons. / Flowers in the verses / are revolutionaries.” Today when authoritarianism grows like weeds, Rima’s story is both inspiration and information for those who love freedom.

Margarita Engle, Viking, 2022, $16.99, hb, 220pp, 9780593206690

This middle-grade novel set in post-World War II California tells the story of Cubanborn immigrant Oriol. She is struggling to fit into her new community, missing the home where “cousins flowed in and out of our house like ruffled flocks of prancing flamingos,” and mourning the death of her beloved grandmother. She finds help with her language studies from a neighbor who happens to be Gabriela Mistral: poet, peacemaking diplomat and the first Latin-American winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The struggling eleven-year-old finds solace in the company of the animals in her parents’ veterinary clinic, too. Oriol has two wishes: to belong and to be brave. She gets help in both from her deep connection to Chandra, an elephant whose baby is threatened by the greed and vanity of a Hollywood actor. With the help of her family and her poet friend, Oriol takes action to reunite Chandra with her baby.

Told in verse, this novel moves as its beautiful elephants do, “like ocean waves.” It will capture the hearts of children of all ages as we learn with Oriol that there is no better home for emotions than a poem. Highly recommended.

Eileen Charbonneau

MY FRIEND THE OCTOPUS

Lindsay Galvin, illus. Gordy Wright, Chicken House, 2022, £7.99, pb, 374pp, 9781913696405

Lindsay Galvin’s second middle-grade adventure, set in 1893, introduces talented artist, twelve-year-old Lavinia (Vinnie), as she helps in her aunt’s Brighton tearoom, awaiting the return of her milliner mother from a mysterious Paris trip.

Brighton’s Aquarium attracts crowds to see its latest exhibit, the devil fish. Vinnie and this giant octopus communicate through their mutual understanding of colour, which inspires Vinnie’s drawings of it. Vinnie’s initial hesitancy and despair at being abandoned by her mother lifts as her life soon changes in mysterious ways. She blossoms with new friendships, the sea air, and a very natural intuitive ability to learn and grow. Soon a set of mysteries unfold concerning her mother’s sudden disappearance.

This is a beautiful book through and through, from the attractive flapped-cover and inner illustrations to the fast-paced story inside. It is historical fiction at its best, packed with captivating characters, fascinating detail of the period and social history. Yet, despite all we learn around the story nothing slows up the pace of the mysteries that drive the intricate plot forward.

The octopus becomes a character and the special bond with the protagonist is touchingly credible. I was also touched by the way the two maternal figures contrast, and their impact on young Vinnie. Social issues are highlighted,

such as the plight of poor children in a world where profit ruled over their welfare, trapping them into a system; however, attitudes were slowly changing.

Vinnie and her two friends are very appealing as their loyalty is tested and mysteries are resolved. I enjoyed following their adventures which never failed to deliver surprises right to the very satisfying ending. Highly recommended for 9+ to adult.

Valerie Loh

VALIANT LADIES

Melissa Grey, Feiwel and Friends, 2022, $18.99/ C$24.99, hb, 352pp, 9781250622204

“Women aren’t reckless,” I groaned as I read the opening fight scene in Valiant Ladies. My love of historical fiction taught me that while ladies might be cunning, daring, or brilliant, they aren’t aggressive, drunk, or carnal. Frustrated, I flipped to the back of Melissa Grey’s action-romance novel and discovered that her heroes Eustaquia de Sonza and Ana Lezama de Urinza weren’t simply reckless characters. They were real women who ruled the streets of 17th-century Potosí, Peru, with their swords.

Potosí, governed by Spain, was bursting with silver, corruption, and unspeakable violence. Grey’s work invites us to ride along with Eustaquia and Ana as they attend lavish parties, smash heads in the filthiest pubs, chase murderers through the streets, and fall deeply in love with one another. This story is equal parts glam and gore as Eustaquia and Ana race to rescue a damsel in distress and avenge a loved one.

This violent adventure challenges readers’ assumptions and invites them to imagine the histories that aren’t told: The stories just below the surface that white male authors often ignore. Grey lays bare the readers’ biases and reacquaints them with the limitless nature of their imaginations. Highly recommended for ages 13 and up (if you don’t mind hard-drinking and filthy mouths).

Melissa Warren

THE LUCKY ONES

Linda Williams Jackson, Candlewick, 2022, $18.99/C$24.99, hb, 320pp, 9781536222555

In 1967, Ellis Earl Brown, who is Black, lives in a two-room shack in the Mississippi Delta with his widowed mother, eight siblings, and niece. The school is too far to walk to, so only elevenyear-old Ellis Earl and eight-year-old Carrie Ann go to school—picked up by a teacher in a car crowded with other children. Ellis Earl loves school and wants to be teacher like Mr. Foster. Ellis Earl brings home books to read to his little siblings including his new favorite, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Or, maybe he’ll be a lawyer like Miss Marian Wright, who he learned about in school. Miss Wright went to Washington, D.C. to tell Congress about the poverty in Mississippi. Miss Wright even convinced Sen. Robert Kennedy to come to Mississippi to view the living conditions of some Black people. Mr. Foster invites five students, including Ellis Earl, to drive with him to Jackson and the airport where Sen. Kennedy will land, but his mother worries that there will be protestors and violence. Will Ellis Earl get to see Sen. Kennedy? Will it make any difference in how the Brown family lives?

Jackson does an amazing job at bringing this time and place to life. Through Ellis Earl, readers experience the hunger, the poverty, the love and frustrations of family, and the hope for a better life. Teacher Mr. Foster has students read articles about civil rights, fair housing, and other 1960s issues from Jet Magazine. The students then explain what the articles mean and discuss what they think about the issues—a fabulous technique for bringing this setting’s conflicts to young readers. The ending may be a little too easy, but who doesn’t like a happy ending? Ages 8-12.

Elizabeth Caulfield Felt

MURDER FOR THE MODERN GIRL

Kendall Kulper, Holiday House, 2022, $19.99, hb, 352pp, 9780823449729

In 1928 Chicago, young Ruby is the daughter of the state’s attorney and popular at parties, but she also knows dangerous secrets—because Ruby is a mind reader. When her abilities put men in her path who prey on and murder women, Ruby takes matters into her own hands. Guy has talents of another kind, and his brilliance and abilities just may uncover Ruby’s hidden life. However, Guy has secrets of his own. When the two of them meet, sparks fly, and they become a powerful and gifted team. They soon begin investigating a crime that is close to Ruby’s heart.

This unique novel combines gangland Chicago of the late 1920s with young adult and paranormal fiction. Ruby, the witty flapper who also reads minds, explodes off the page. Her gift and cunning take her from respectable society to back-alley bars, and from the best gatherings to the best poison. With the ability to pull the thoughts right out of a murderer, she is a young vigilante, determined to make things right. Guy has talents of his own, and he is looking for answers as to where they came from. He brings caution to Ruby’s bravado, and she pulls him out of the shadows. These two characters are brilliantly crafted, and they instantly pull the reader in. The plot is thrilling and engaging, and the touches of romance are beautifully balanced. This is a fun and original historical paranormal thriller that will have readers begging for a sequel.

Bonnie DeMoss

ONE FOR ALL

Lillie Lainoff, Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2022, $18.99/C$24.99, hb, 398pp, 9780374314613

Tania de Batz finds Paris of 1655 a place of exorbitant wealth and grinding poverty. Because of social unrest, the king is protected by the finest swordsmen, known as the Musketeers. Tania’s father had been a Musketeer and had trained her to be a fine fencer, but he has been murdered, and Tania is sent to Madame de Treville’s Academy for Wives. Apparently a school for grooming perfect wives for the aristocracy, in fact it trains a select few girls to become female Musketeers, accomplished fencers, and irresistible flirts using their skills to protect the king.

Not only is Tania new to Paris and to the skills of high society flirting, but she suffers from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS for short). She becomes dizzy and nauseated frequently, making her training and deployment exceptionally difficult.

As we are whirled away into Parisian high society with Tania and her three friends under the watchful eye of the demanding Madame de Treville, we find treachery and deceit at many levels—and Tania is naïve and vulnerable. This absorbing story combines romance and adventure with information about the French monarchy, fencing, and one girl’s experience of living with POTS.

The author herself has grown up and faced life with POTS, and her experience is woven into every move Tania makes. This never becomes didactic; it simply adds to the tension. From the beginning, where Tania is dismissed as a young girl whose disability will prevent her making a good marriage, we feel for her struggles and her growing hopes as Madame gives her the confidence and skills to become an unbeatable swordswoman.

This is a successful blending of the roles of both personal struggle and persistence together with consistent and informed social support in overcoming a young person’s unusual challenges.

Valerie Adolph

THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS OF CHARITY BROWN

Elizabeth Laird, Macmillan, 2022, £12.99, pb, 352pp, 9781529075632

The Brown family belongs to a Christian sect, the Lucasites. While the Lucasites are fictitious, Elizabeth Laird has drawn on her own 1950s childhood experiences growing up in a family with similar religious beliefs. Their rules include not going to the theatre or cinema, not drinking alcohol or wearing makeup, as well as not associating too much with people who are not Lucasites, at the same time as trying to persuade others to ‘enter the fold’, expectations with which the youngest daughter Charity struggles.

The Browns inherit Gospel Fields, a large house which Charity’s parents decide they will make ‘a refuge for the weary and heavy-laden’. The tensions Charity and her siblings (Faith, Hope and Ted) deal with are well described. A warm and loving family, the Browns are generally able to accommodate changes and questioning from inside and outside the family without rancour.

Charity forms a friendship with Jewish neighbour Rachel and, attending the opera with her family and shocked at the fate of Madame Butterfly, has something of an

epiphany, declaring that in addition to her avowed ambition to travel the world, she wants to fight injustice and oppression. This foretells Elizabeth Laird’s own subsequent life story as an author who has written movingly and truthfully about children’s lives in many countries where she has lived.

A first-person narrative delivered in a chatty and engaging style that endears the heroine to the reader and enables empathy with her concerns. The flavour of the 1950s is conveyed in several ways, including integral references to food, such as what becomes an important family meal cooked by Kurian, an Indian visitor, at the climax of the novel. A negative aspect of the period is shown in the stark and memorable episode demonstrating Kurian’s landlady’s racism.

Ann Lazim

THIS REBEL HEART

Katherine Locke, Knopf, 2022, $18.99, hb, 440pp, 9780593381243

On the eve of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, 18-year-old Csilla works as a typist for a newspaper in Budapest and lives with her aunt in a tiny apartment carved out of her family’s former house near the Duna (Danube) River. Four years earlier, the Communist regime executed her parents as Zionist traitors even though her father was one of their leaders during and after World War II. Under the Nazis, Csilla and her parents survived by magic, diving into the river and living there for months while her aunt endured the camps and the rest of the family perished. Now Csilla and her aunt are secretly planning to flee to Israel, but the outbreak of revolution and an encounter with two handsome young men—a gay student whose lover has also died at the hands of the regime and a gendershifting angel of death—lead her to reconsider her plans and to believe there may be a place for her in Budapest as an idealistic Hungarian Jew.

This Rebel Heart weaves fantasy into real events with a river that turns to stone, a golem that protects its creators but threatens more harm than good, and the angel of death who fights human attachment and the temptation to change history on behalf of a beloved. The novel draws its immense power from the Jewish philosophical and cultural traditions in which it’s steeped. It portrays Jews in Hungary who have never been accepted as full citizens but seek to prove themselves as equal participants in the story of their chosen land. Csilla’s efforts to understand her father’s principles and actions parallels her own courageous quest to belong and to love both a place and its people. This is a gripping, multilayered tale with appeal to adults as well as teens.

Lyn Miller-Lachmann

FREEWATER

Amina Luqman-Dawson, Little, Brown, 2022, $16.99/C$22.99, hb, 416pp, 9780316056618

In a swamp in the southern United States, escaped slaves created the town of Freewater. This story is told through the viewpoints of children. Sanzi was born in Freewater. Her desire for adventure is always getting her into trouble—and possibly into dangers she doesn’t understand. Her sister Nora does everything right, but she sometimes envies Sanzi’s bravery. Homer makes it to Freetown with his little sister but feels responsible that his mother and friend Anna didn’t escape Southerland Plantation. Anna is happy that Homer got away. She has her own plans to escape North and reunite with her own mother. Ferdinand ran from a work crew into the swamps and won’t talk about being enslaved. Billy has stuttered ever since being branded. He and his father escaped to Freewater, but his mother was sold away. Nora is a daughter of the plantation owner, but mute and with a facial birthmark, she feels more kinship with Homer’s mother than her own.

Is Freewater safe in the middle of the swamp? White tree-cutters are getting nearer, and a militia is hired to scour the swamp for escaped slaves. When Homer decides to return to Southerland to free his mother and Anna, his new friends won’t let him go alone. Is it a journey of courage? Or of foolishness? The setting is perfectly developed: the dangerous and protective jungle, the rope bridges “in the sky,” the mud huts of Freewater, the wealth of the plantation, and the horrors of slavery are all brought to life in this exciting, fast-paced story. Author’s notes explain the history of the “maroons” and the real settlements in the Great Dismal Swamp. Ages 8-12.

Elizabeth Caulfield Felt

FAGIN’S GIRL

Karen McCombie, illus. Anneli Bray, Barrington Stoke, 2022, £6.99, pb, 104pp, 9781800900554

Joe and Ettie Shaw are poor children. They live with their parents. But early in the book both mother and father die. Ettie’s first choice is to become a homeless street sweeper. Joe has already left home after unjustly losing his job as a stable boy. His sister has no idea what his new job might be. Just when Ettie is beginning to find the job of street sweeping intolerable, she happens to meet Joe. Joe says she can come with him to work for Mr. Fagin, but since Fagin employs only boys she will have to come in disguise. Ettie has no idea what Mr. Fagin’s line of business might be. But she will accept anything that gets her out of the street sweeping.

Ettie is now known as Bean. Initially she finds favour with her new employer. But when Fagin discovers that Ettie is really a girl, he forces her to go out working alongside her brother. At this point Ettie learns that she and her brother are actually employed as pickpockets. Both Joe and Ettie are arrested. Joe manages to convince the authorities that Ettie is innocent. But he is convicted and sent to Australia.

The time frame of the book now switches to 1988, Australia’s bicentenary year. A female descendant of Joe is giving a presentation marking the event. Through her presentation we learn what happened to Joe and Ettie.

The reader of this book is struck by the ingenuity with which Ettie copes with this unfamiliar situation, having to integrate with a team of boys. The shift of time to the 1980s also catches the reader unawares and provides a memorable conclusion to the stories of the siblings.

Rebecca Butler

DON’T GO TO SLEEP

Bryce Moore, Sourcebooks Fire, 2022, $10.99, pb, 320pp, 9781728229140

Moore has written a chilling true-crime novel based on a series of actual murders that took place in 1918 New Orleans— gruesome attacks by a man wielding an axe who murdered his victims as they slept. The common link: They are all Italians running grocery stores. Our heroine, 17-year-old Gianna is still experiencing trauma and nightmares resulting from her parents being attacked and injured seven years ago. Is it the same killer? As her recurring nightmares intensify, she seeks clarity from a fortune teller, Signora Caravaggio, who warns her of “sickness and death, not just from illness.” The Great War is raging in Europe, and an epidemic of the Spanish Flu is reaching its peak in the city. Gianna fancies herself a Nancy Drew and, along with her best pal, researches the cases, even appearing at the scene of a crime and picking up a Spanish coin—a picayune. Holding it, she has visions of blood splashing, feeling the rage of the axman. For me this required some suspension of disbelief. At the police station she is questioned by Pinkerton detective, Etta Palmer, who, sensing Gianna is in peril, places police outside Gianna’s parents’ store/home.

The author excels at creating suspense and tension and describing grisly details. The relationship between the two teens is endearing. At 320 pages, it may be too long for young adult readers and is at times repetitious. Will all the clues and visions lead to a horrid confrontation between our heroine and the ax murderer? Will she get out alive, whole in mind and body?

Gail M. Murray

CARRIMEBAC, THE TOWN THAT WALKED

David Barclay Moore, illus. John Holyfield, Candlewick, 2022, $18.99, hb, 40pp, 9781536213690

In 1876, the Black villagers of Walkerton, Georgia, have a miserable life. Whites in the region refuse to buy crops or handicrafts produced by freed slaves. That all changes the day Rootilla Redgums and her grandson, Julius, arrive. Rootilla, older than Georgia’s red dirt, teaches the villagers how to make rugs that never wear down, and jugs that never run out of whatever people put in them. The villagers prosper. Julius befriends a special

duck that escapes out of every cooking pot folks put him in.

Over time, the surrounding whites get scared of Rootilla’s magic and even accuse Julius of having stolen his duck. One night many whites appear at the village in hooded robes and carrying burning torches to set everything on fire. Can Rootilla’s magic or Julius’s special duck help now?

Targeting children aged six to nine, this story will resonate with readers of all ages. Its depiction of post-Civil-War brutal racism is understated, hence suitable for children, but still chilling and honest. The full-page illustrations are striking and detailed. Readers can truly “see” Rootilla and Julius. Highly recommended.

G. J. Berger

MIRACULOUS

Caroline Starr Rose, Putnam, 2022, $17.99, hb, 352pp, 9781984813152

As a dry summer turns into an even drier fall in Oakdale, Ohio, the town becomes desperate for rain. Conditions are ripe for the recent arrival, Dr. Kingsbury, who claims that his miraculous tonic can cure any ailment from personal lameness to atmospheric draught, to do his magic. As demand for his snake oil rises, Dr. Kingsbury relies on his young helper, Jack, who has indentured himself to the wandering physician because he believes Dr. Kingsbury healed his dying sister. But Jack’s fellow worker, Isaac, has mysteriously disappeared, and when Dr Kingsbury forbids Jack even to mention the boy’s name, Jack wonders whether the doctor is the hero he took him to be.

As they await Founders’ Day, Jack meets a young girl, Cora, with whom he shares an immediate, profound connection. The two don’t know that years back, Cora’s grandmother similarly formed a friendship with an outsider, Silas, who was accused of burning down a barn and then run out of town. But years later, Silas has returned to purchase the farm where he was unjustly accused. A good man, he not only sets the record straight, but supports Jack as he uncovers the truth about Dr Kingsbury.

Written in lyrical chapters that centre on a rich cast of townspeople, Miraculous tells the coming-of-age story of an itinerant boy and a homebound girl who form a late-summer friendship whose sweetness lingers in the memory. However, their youthful loyalty is put to the test when it appears that Jack might be in service to a quack and a murderer. As childhood romance gives way to the quest for a wrongdoer, Jack and Cora learn whom to trust and what version of the truth to believe.

Elisabeth Lenckos

WHAT SOULS ARE MADE OF

Tasha Suri, Feiwel & Friends, 2022, $18.99/ C$23.99, hb, 304pp, 9781250773500

When Catherine’s father unexpectedly brings home an orphan boy named Heathcliff, she believes he is meant for her alone. The two children spend their youth playing on the moors wrapped up in their own little world. As they grow, they come to realize that not everyone appreciates their friendship. It isn’t until Catherine’s parents die and her cruel brother takes over the household that long-held secrets threaten to tear them apart. As Catherine works to model herself into an eligible match for the neighbour boy, Heathcliff disappears, leaving her desolate and alone.

As Heathcliff uncovers both his roots as the son of a Lascar and the meaning of friendship and loyalty, he determines a way to right old wrongs and find a place where he can belong. Catherine must decide whether to fulfill her destiny as the proper white society lady she was raised to be or embrace a barely remembered history that pairs with the hidden silks in the attic and find her own way forward in the world. Will Heathcliff be destined to mourn Catherine forever, or will they find their way back to one another?

This gothic coming-of-age novel is everything one could hope for in a Wuthering Heights remix. The atmosphere and shape of the story are familiar while incorporating a broader, more diverse cast of characters and inclusive view of history. Letting Catherine and Heathcliff tell their own story deepens the emotional experience for a more satisfying read. This is ultimately a story of redemption and one I would recommend to everyone ages 13 and up.

Shauna McIntyre

ALL MY RAGE

Sabaa Tahir, Razorbill, 2022, $19.99, hb, 384pp, 9780593202340

In Sabaa Tahir’s latest novel, teens growing up in present-day California emotionally intersect with their parents’ experience from late-20th-century Pakistan. Told from two contemporary perspectives and a third perspective set in the past, this characterfocused story explores immigrant experiences in contemporary America.

Salahudin—called Sal at his predominantly white school—is sensitive and protective of his friends and family, even in the face of addiction, intolerance, and violence. As his mother succumbs to illness, Sal takes on the challenge of saving his family’s Mojave Desert motel, which struggles under his father’s mismanagement. Noor is his best friend, orphaned as a young child by violence and unrest in Lahore, and now facing racist cruelty at school and the harsh guardianship of her uncle. Her greatest wish is to get admitted to college and escape their isolated hometown, where her only emotional respite comes from Sal’s kindness and her love of rock music. The two storylines are intercut by the story of Sal’s mother Misbah, who tells a confessional account of meeting Sal’s father, leaving Pakistan, and coming to America to eke out a living running a motel.

In leaving behind her successful fantasy series for this contemporary novel, Tahir proves that her talent for hitting emotional nerves easily traverses genres. She deftly moves the plot of Sal and Noor’s struggle to make it out of their senior year while also covering such heavy topics as childhood trauma, domestic violence, and the ethics of criminal activity. Sal, Noor, and the recollections of the younger Misbah are fraught with major and minor tragedies, giving into or combatting their personal rage in believable and heart-wrenching moments. Their hard-won perseverance will have young adult and older readers alike rooting for them until the end.

Erin Page

THE PEACH REBELLION

Wendelin Van Draanen, Knopf, 2022, $18.99, hb, 416pp, 9780593378564

Picking friends in a California orchard in 1936 seems as simple as picking peaches to six-year-old Ginny Rose Gilley and Peggy Simmons. Ginny Rose, daughter of an “Okie” picker, and Peggy, daughter of a peach farmer, are best friends. Through the simple lenses of children, they do not see any differences, “only each other.” In this coming-of-age novel Van Draanen provides descriptions and insights as smooth as the fine dust that covered the tragic lives of Dust Bowl migrants. She also presents, in direct contrast, the struggles of work that never ends in a farming family like Peggy’s with the social woes and loneliness experienced by Lisette Bovee, a “wealthy” banker’s daughter.

After 11 years of separation, Peggy and Ginny Rose reunite in 1946. Peggy’s new best friend, Lisette, is self-centered: one whose looks and clothes turn heads. These three girls navigate the social mine fields of dances, handsome cads, skating-rink fiascos, and class distinction. The overarching mission that Van Draanen plants firmly on the hearts of the girls is surprising and grisly, but the spunky determination and unwavering quest to calm a mother’s grieving heart gives readers hope that “young people have the power to change hearts and minds, even the world.”

Analogies soften readers’ hearts as admiration for each teen develops. Van Draanen’s “a tire is like life itself,” “grace notes in a symphony of fellowship,” and the “day was a drop of joy in a sea of misery” add a lush layer of sympathy and compassion to the emerging personalities and friendships. The birthday trip to the library and a picnic are reminders that simple joys and a thank-you are enough. The Peach Rebellion is a young adult novel with life lessons for all ages.

Dorothy Schwab

DRAGONFLY EYES

Cao Wenxuan (trans. Helen Wang), Candlewick, 2022, $19.99/C$25.99, hb, 384pp, 9781536200188 / Walker, 2021, £7.99, 304pp, 9781406378252

In 1925, Chinese sailor Yeye meets the French girl Nainai in the port of Marseilles. They fall in love and marry, and Yeye takes Nainai home to Shanghai, where his family owns silk factories. There they live happily and raise four children. In 1953 their only granddaughter AhMei is born. She is the one who looks most like her French grandmother, and she is Nainai’s favourite.

The People’s Republic of China, established

in 1949, brings vast changes to the family. Once wealthy, their factories are expropriated, but poverty is not the worst problem. Nainai’s western appearance brings suspicion onto the whole family. Their home is searched and then raided and looted by gangs of thugs. They live in poverty and constant fear. And yet their love of family and their true friends carries them through.

This story intended for young people is going on my “top ten of all time” book list. The author, recipient of the 2016 Hans Christian Andersen award, writes with a piercing simplicity that carries both nuance and the overall theme of life in a time of social upheaval straight to the heart of the reader. Most of us in the West are not fully aware of how the events of the mid-20th century affected Chinese families. This book of authentically related family experiences fills that gap not only factually but emotionally. The author, a professor of Chinese literature in Peking, masterfully combines complex or difficult concepts with uncomplicated, unpretentious but pellucid prose.

Rather than a novel, this closely connected collection of stories about the growing depth and maturity of the relationship between grandmother and granddaughter gently illustrates the paradox of hard times creating deeper bonds. Highly recommended.

Valerie Adolph

THE SECRETS ACT

Alison Weatherby, Chicken House, 2022, £7.99, pb, 354pp, 9781913322991

It’s wartime England, and two young women meet at top secret codebreaking base Bletchley Park. Pearl is sixteen, local and working as a messenger, taking envelopes between huts. The older Ellen is from Wales, neurodiverse, brilliant at puzzles and employed as a codebreaker.

The two become friends enjoying a freedom they wouldn’t normally have, living more independently, going to the pub and making new friends. They include dispatch rider Richard, who Pearl has a crush on, and his posh friend from London, Dennis, who takes a shine to Ellen.

Then tragedy strikes. One of their friends dies, but is it accidental or could it be murder? And is the killer a spy in the Bletchley camp? Pearl and Ellen decide to investigate but can they unmask the killer before the killer gets to them?

Weatherby’s book was inspired by a visit to Bletchley, where the German Enigma codes were broken by mathematician Alan Turing and his team and helped lead to German defeat. Pearl and Ellen were based on young women who worked at Bletchley, although many of the details have been changed. Weatherby liked the idea of putting spies in Bletchley. and while the baddies are fairly obvious, it doesn’t detract from the whole. An ideal book for YA or middle graders.

Kate Pettigrew

THE TIDE SINGER

Eloise Williams, illus. August Ro, Barrington Stoke, 2022, £6.99, pb, 104pp, 9781800900110

Morwenna works with her Da in the small Welsh seaside town of Carregton Crow, where their family have owned the funeral parlour for generations. After preparing bodies for burial they convey them to an island cemetery in their boat, the Memento Mori. The local weather has grown wilder and bad storms have been more frequent, leading to the loss of fisherfolk and their boats. Seeking explanations for this, many townspeople have succumbed to superstition and blame beings known as ‘tide singers’ whose singing they believe draws sailors to their deaths.

Morwenna and her Da don’t accept there is any truth in these tales. Then one exceptionally stormy night, a girl is washed up, caught up in a fishing net, a girl who sings a strange and eerie song and hungrily swallows a fish in one go, stripping it from its bones. Could she be one of the mythical tide singers and what will the townspeople do to her if that is what they surmise? Will retribution or resolution result in this community so devastated by the waves?

A short novel for middle grade readers that interweaves magic into a strong evocation of a small coastal town, set in 1895 but with a timeless folkloric feel.

Ann Lazim

THE LIZZIE AND BELLE MYSTERIES: Drama and Danger

J. T. Williams, Farshore, 2022, £7.99, pb, 368pp, 9780008485252

In the prologue to this middle-grade mystery, twelve-year-old Lizzie is told an African proverb by her wise mother: give voice to the lions, not the hunter, when you tell the tale of a hunt. This is illuminating storytelling by lions, weaving fiction out of real lives from Black British history.

In 1777, Lizzie Sancho’s father Ignatius is an actor who runs a literary tea shop in Westminster. When he is almost killed by a falling chandelier on the opening night of his leading role in Othello at the Drury Lane theatre, Lizzie and her aristocratic new friend, Belle, set out to follow the clues and find who is responsible, pursuing witnesses and suspects. Through the use of authentic ephemera— playbills, pamphlets and newspapers, letters and case notes—the young reader is able to play detective on ‘The Othello Case’ along with Lizzie and Belle. We hear the stories of freed slaves, descendants of slaves and immigrants working for theatres and actors and lords, who organise themselves into freedom fighters against the ‘Vanishings,’ reenslavement and the horror of the slave ship, Apollo, docked in the Thames.

Tension is supported by suspenseful breaks and a five-act structure. Historical detail is immersive and lets the reader experience 18th-century norms and inequalities naturally, and there are gentle lessons on the social status of women. This balance between information and storytelling will speak to the young reader’s intelligence and imagination. Curious readers will discover a great deal about 18th-century London life, about the coffee house, the theatre and the culture of letters. There is plenty here to fascinate and to show where Black historical identity can be found. Highly recommended.

Louise Tree

A SINGLE THREAD OF MOONLIGHT

Laura Wood, Scholastic, 2021, £7.99, pb, 510pp, 9780702303234 1886: a fortune is at stake. Eleven-year-old Iris Scott-Holland believes that her abusive step-mother has engineered her father’s death and now wants Iris herself dead. She’s desperate to know how her father died and what happened to his will. She flees to London, changes her name to Iris Gray and, after a seven-year apprenticeship, becomes a top-class dressmaker.

Lady Scott-Holland is playing for high stakes: the highly-attractive Prince Stepan is looking for a wife—and her daughter, Agatha, would surely be perfect. Meanwhile, the handsome earl, Nicholas Wynter, has his own reasons for wanting to ruin Stepan, and he persuades Iris to be his accomplice. Which should Iris trust, Prince Stepan or Lord Wynter? She wants to humiliate Lady ScottHolland publicly, reclaim her inheritance, and get her revenge…

I thoroughly enjoyed this book; it’s fastpaced, escapist and fun. Any romanticallyinclined female from 11 up should love it. However, in my view, the author misses some serious tricks by not researching how to address various aristocrats if you are a servant, an equal, or want to be formal or informal—and it jars, e.g., always referring to Iris’s step-mother as ‘Helena’ instead of ‘Lady Scott-Holland’ reduces the baleful effect of that lady’s presence. Laura Wood needs a copy of Debrett’s Correct Form.

She also misjudges correct behaviour for the period: a lady was never introduced to a gentleman—it was always the other way round. Ladies had the right to refuse. It should be: Miss Gray, may I introduce... (She might want to say, ‘Mama would not wish me to meet Lord Wildblood…’.) Here, Laura Wood needs Manners and Rules of Good Society by A Member of the Aristocracy. It was a best-seller—my own 1892 copy is the 18th edition. It should not be difficult to find a copy.

CONFERENCES

The Society organizes biennial conferences in the UK, North America, and Australasia. Contact Richard Lee <richard@historicalnovelsociety.org> (UK), Jenny Quinlan <jennyq@historicaleditorial.com> (North America), or Elisabeth Storrs <contact@hnsa.org.au> (Australasia).

© 2022, the Historical Novel Society, ISSN: 1471-7492 | Issue 101, August 2022