Reviews
N n PREHISTORY
Y DAWN OF EMPIRE
several pages of references provided at the end of the novel.
Sue Schrems
THE SECRET MAGDALENE
Ki Longfellow, Crown, 2007, $24.95/C$30.00, hb, 464pp, 9780307346667
Mariamne and her father’s ward, Salome, are
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Sam Barone, Century, 2007, £12.99, pb, 483pp, 9781846050510 / Morrow, 2006, $25.95/ C$33.50, hb, 479pp, 0060892447
On the eastern bank of the Tigris five thousand years ago, Orak grew into a rich and powerful village, settled by merchants, traders and farmers. These “dirt-diggers,” despised by the nomad barbarian clans, were the target of many ferocious, murderous attacks. But this time the people of Orak decide to fight back. Under the guidance of a lowly soldier, Eskkar, and his woman, Trella, the citizens decide to build a defensive wall against the attackers and train its menfolk as soldiers and archers. It’s a bold plan with no guarantee of success, but the dirt-diggers will not be running away this time.
For Eskkar the task is a more personal one. If he succeeds he will not only win power and influence over Orak, but he’ll also be avenging the death of his family at the hands of the barbarians. For one lacking in knowledge and diplomacy, it proves an awesome task, and without the wise guidance of Trella, it would have been an impossible one. The pair fall in love against a backdrop of terror, brutality and betrayal. If they can survive the odds stacking up against them, their future might just be assured.
Dawn of Empire is a rattling good adventure story, full of blood, slaughter and sex. With the barbarian hordes at the gates, the tension virtually hums through the pages, and the battle scenes, when they come, are as powerful and brutal as expected. A swift pace and heaps of colourful action turn this into a page-turner of the first quality. This great debut novel is bound to win Sam Barone a large following. Sara Wilson
At that point, Gethsemane in particular is indeed “beautiful,” and it’s well worth adding this book to your alternate New Testament shelf.
Ann Chamberlin
THE BOOK OF SAMSON
David Maine, St. Martin’s Press, 2006, $23.95, hb, 229pp, 0312353391 / Canongate, 2007, £9.99, pb, 240pp, 1841958859
An angel announces to Samson’s barren mother that she will give birth to a son who will be remembered for his mighty deeds, but who must, in return, forever forswear both strong drink and the cutting of his hair. Thus favored, Samson grows up with the body of a titan, the brain of a gnat, and the uncanny ability to speak to animals and stones. He begins his life of violence by wreaking lawful but terrible vengeance on a neighbor. While still in his youth, he turns his own wedding into a bloodbath and then slaughters a thousand Philistines with a jawbone. Having proved his worth so valiantly, he becomes Israel’s judge. Samson’s infatuation with Delila, the Philistine woman who cajoles him into imparting the secret of his strength, propels Samson into the final cataclysmic event of his life.
BIBLICAL
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MAGDALENE
Angela Hunt, Tyndale House, 2006, $13.99, pb, 1414310285
Magdalene is a fictionalized account of the life of Mary Magdalene, a close follower of Jesus of Nazareth, told from the viewpoints of Mary and Atticus, a fictional Roman soldier. After building backgrounds for both characters, the story becomes a summary of the public life of Jesus beginning with some of his miracles, proceeding to his crucifixion and resurrection and then to the fate of many early Christians at the hands of the Romans. While the parts dealing with Jesus’s public life are based on the accounts in the Gospels, they are paraphrased and emphasize the reactions of his followers and the Roman soldier.
This story’s retelling as modern fiction, as seen from the viewpoints of Mary and Atticus, makes this book a pleasant and engaging read. It is not always clear what is purely fiction – the details given about Mary Magdalene go beyond those included in the Gospels, and it is not clear what support there is for them – but that is the nature of historical fiction. Some of this is covered in an author interview as well as in
raised in wealthy comfort in Roman Jerusalem. Her father is a member of the Sanhedrin, Josephus of Arimathaea. So begins the tale that promises, under a glowing quote from Elaine Pagels of the Gnostic Gospels, to bring to life what The Da Vinci Code only hinted at: the secret life of Mary Magdalene, Mariamne of MagdalEder. As quickly as possible, our heroines make a Shakespearean switch to “breeches” and the personae of John the Less (which I found an inspired connection) and Simon Magnus (less so). They find their way to Alexandria, where they soak up mystery religions and neo-Platonic philosophy under, among others, Philo Judaeus. The pair return to uneasy Palestine and find their soul mates in Yehoshua the Nazorean and his cousin, John the Baptizer.
The “greatest story ever told” plays out from there, with mixed success. Often our heroine’s wanderings have more to do with stretching the new fabric to fit old forms than to motivation or believability. Sometimes the real issues are shied away from. Ironically like chunks of Archon darkness weighing down true slivers of Gnostic light, the chunks of philosophy and convoluted connections keep the story from soaring. Many characters are called to be more than themselves, and by names Greek, English and Hebrew – until we’re delivered from confusion at the very end.
Told in Samson’s boorish voice, this version of the biblical story amplifies the sex and gore of the original without adding any significant illumination. While Samson does a credible job of explaining the nature of his obsession with Delila, this one positive attribute of the story is not enough to give overall satisfaction. There are moments when a kernel of insight is planted, giving hope of bringing forth a theme worth thought and discussion. (Did his rigid and compassionless adherence to the law send him on his killing rampage? Is belief in the divine no more than human delusion?) But none of these seeds is nurtured. Each withers and dies away, and what is left is a disjointed, distasteful account of a self-righteous hooligan’s adventures. A morality tale without a moral, this is a most disappointing read.
Nancy J. Attwell
THE PROPHET
Francine Rivers, Tyndale House, 2005, $14.99/£6.99, hb, 218pp, 0842382682
Hugely popular inspirational writer Francine Rivers turns her prolific pen to the prophet Amos in this short novella that forms part of her Sons of Encouragement series. Amos cares for his flock, including killing those who don’t behave, until confronted by the corruption of cheating temple priests. Then God’s Voice comes to him, sending him to preach dire retribution upon all peoples, including those of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel, generally making himself unpopular. Rivers’ use of the term “camel jockey” is shockingly out of place; there are gaps in logic; actions take place without foreshadowing. These quirks speak to a certain haste in writing, and the narrative takes us to no new understanding. Otherwise, any conflicts outside the black and white are
avoided or cleaned up and therefore, with the comprehensive study guide at the end, this book is completely suitable for Sunday School.
Ann Chamberlin
FIFTH SEAL
Bodie and Brock Thoene, Tyndale House, 2006, $22.99/£14.99, hb, 342pp, 084237518X
This is an interesting retelling of the Nativity from the points of view of Joseph and Mary, but also of the wise men who came to worship at the manger and of the shepherds who kept watch. It begins a few months earlier, when their neighbors notice that the young bride of four months is beginning to show a very advanced pregnancy. The people in their village shun Mary, and Joseph’s friends have an intervention in the hope that he will renounce her. The Thoenes write of the world as it was at the time of Christ’s birth from a modern perspective everyone can appreciate. There are many characters and several subplots in the beginning that might confuse the reader, but perseverance pays off, and it all falls into place. Throughout the book, Bible verses and prayers are included to show their relevance to the story, but they slow the action. The authors have provided study questions suitable for individual use or group discussion.
Audrey Braver
BROTHERS
Chayyam Zeldis, Toby, 2006, $14.95/ C$19.95/£9.99, pb, 556pp, 1592641679
This Toby Press thirtieth anniversary edition of the novel first published in the seventies may be appearing to take advantage of recent popular interest in Judas and other controversial New Testament topics. This book follows the career of Judas, the favored son of a great landowner, while his younger brother Jesus is sent off to be raised by poor, childless relations in Galilee. Our man is clever, educated — and utterly ruthless. He devises a plot to free his land of its Roman and Herodian overlords and take the reins of government into his own hands. When the plot goes awry, Judas schemes again, this time using his own dreamy brother to take eternal revenge against the worldly forces.
The new author’s preface is interesting for the insight it gives us into the younger man who wrote this book, his alienation as a Jew growing up among prejudiced American Christians. The bitterness of that life unrelentingly infuses our fictional hero; it is hard to take for any length of time. And alas, for someone whose address is Ra’anana, Israel, I would have hoped for a better sense of place and culture, something redeeming to slake all that bile. What I am persuaded we have instead is a portrait of an angry young man of the ´70s for whom kinky sex and violence is normative. Ann Chamberlin
Y THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Steven Pressfield, Doubleday, 2006, $24.95/$32.99, hb, 351pp, 038551641X / Doubleday, 2007, £12.99, hb, 336pp, 0385610645
Pressfield has penned an astonishing story about a young soldier coming of age during a brutal war. In the process, he opens a window into a past that looks very much like the present.
Matthias is a Macedonian soldier eager to follow in his brothers’ footsteps by seeking glory in military service. As a mercenary, he voyages through Alexander the Great’s empire to join the army. By 330 BC, that army is struggling to subdue the tribes of Afghanistan. Though poor in resources, Afghanistan has plenty of fierce warriors who refuse to meet Alexander in open combat, melt away only to attack when least expected, and honor no promises made to the invader. Matthias makes friends among the Afghans, as well as implacable enemies, and neither in the way he expects: this is a place where Afghan men kill their own daughters for the slightest offense against their code of honor, and Macedonian prisoners are tortured in unspeakable ways. For three long years Alexander struggles to subdue the tribes, but peace comes only when the king chooses to marry the daughter of the strongest chieftain.
The Afghan Campaign is a brilliant novel: clear, compelling, with cinematic descriptions of ancient battles, strong characterizations, and an honest look at a clash of cultures. The parallels to the current situation in that part of the world are undeniable and deftly made. Bravo to Pressfield for writing a novel about the ancient world that resonates so vividly in the current one.
THE ASSASSINS OF ISIS
P.C. Doherty, Minotaur, 2006, $23.95/C$31.95, hb, 303pp, 0312359607 / Headline, 2005, £6.99, pb, 416pp, 0755307828
This is the fifth Egyptian murder mystery starring Lord Amerotke, the Pharaoh’s chief judge. It is a quick-paced adventure with plenty of Egyptian detail to fascinate the reader.
Y TROY: Shield of Thunder
Lisa Ann Verge
Pharaoh Hatusu asks Amerotke to stop the audacious grave robbers. It seems a simple request, but in fact there’s more at stake. Then General Suten is murdered, and there is trouble at the Temple of Isis. Why have four temple girls vanished, and who murdered the captain of the Temple Guard? There are also complaints that old people sent to the Temple hospital are
EDITORS’ CHOICE
David Gemmell, Bantam, 2006, £17.99, hb, 480pp, 0593052226 / Del Rey, 2007, $25.95, hb, 487pp, 0345477014
Plain-faced Helen sits behind the walls of Troy, married to Paris but never to Menelaus; Andromache loves another but is betrothed to Hektor, favourite son of Priam; Achilles is a bully and heir to the dissolute Peleus of Thessaly. David Gemmell makes us work to identify his fable with that of Homer. Shield of Thunder, the second book in his trilogy encompassing the Trojan War, is quite impossible to put down and achieves the same heights as Lord of the Silver Bow.
Amid the glory that was ancient Greece, the western armies of the Great Green (which we know as the Mediterranean) are gathering under the leadership of Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, to invade the shores of Ilium and bring about the downfall of Troy. Legendary heroes return and are joined by new characters: Kalliades and Banokles, soldiers banished from their homeland with a price on their heads; Pira, a runaway priestess searching for her lost lover; and Ganny, a surprising companion to Odysseus. This is a passionate, elegant, ruthless and romantic historical novel. For those who have not yet read the earlier book, the author interweaves the storylines flawlessly, and all will enjoy the touches of humour.
David Gemmell has a masterful ability to bring to life period and place: his characters are skilfully constructed, strong, and tangible, and his writing vivid and precise. Troy: Shield of Thunder is a worthy epitaph to a consummate storyteller. (Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow was reviewed in Issue 34, November 2005. –ed.) Gwen Sly
5th Century-11th Century
dying there, leaving large sums of money to the Temple. Amerotke finds all the cases are linked, and so assassins try to stop him before he finds the chief perpetrators. It’s an exciting read.
Patrika Salmon
5th CENTURY
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BRIGID OF IRELAND
Cindy Thomson, Monarch, 2006, $13.99/£7.99, pb, 320pp, 085246112X
Brigid of Ireland tells the story of how Ireland’s 5th century patron saint received her calling. Brigid, a Christian slave, is taken from her slave mother at a young age to live in the pagan household of her father. Her unorthodox behavior – giving away her father’s goods – eventually earns Brigid her freedom, which is tantamount to a condemnation to poverty and death. She finds herself drawn to a path of evangelism and charity, but never gives up her dream of finding her mother. Her fame and influence spread quickly, and she finds opposition from druids and rulers who fear that her “king” will diminish their own power. One in particular, Ardan, a druid who has departed from the rules of the brotherhood, is determined to find Brigid’s weakness and manipulate her so that she will serve his own ambitions rather than her God.
Recreating a believable, miracle-performing saint is no easy task. It is not therefore surprising that sometimes it felt hard to empathize with the character of Brigid. However, the strength of the novel lies in the richly-woven narrative and a sensitive evocation of the faiths of Ireland. I certainly feel that Cindy Thomson is an emerging talent and would read her next book, projected also to be set in ancient Ireland. Recommended for both adults and young adults.
Susan Cook
6th CENTURY
COUNT BELISARIUS
Robert Graves, Penguin, 2006, £10.99, pb, 421pp, 0141188138
Originally published in 1936, Count Belisarius has not basked in the same limelight as Robert Graves’s two earlier masterpieces set in the early Roman Empire. Instead, in Count Belisarius the focus shifts east from Rome to Constantinople. The cast is full and complex but essentially can be summarised as a foursome: the Emperor Justinian and his wife, Theodora, whose closest friend, Antonina, marries Justinian’s general, Belisarius.
characters here come as a surprise: for all its ideals and renewed hope, the Eastern Roman Empire was as corrupt as its Western predecessor. Belisarius alone rises above this as a man of principle and integrity and a renowned military leader. He leads Justinian’s army to victory in the campaigns against Persia, Carthage, Sicily and Northern Italy, often against astonishing odds and with little backing.
The new introduction by John Julius Norwich is a bonus. Perhaps a film or TV series of this extraordinary man is overdue.
Lucinda
Byatt
THE LAND OF ANGELS
Fay Sampson, Hale, 2006, £18.99, hb, 224pp, 0709080972
In the late 6th century, a monk called Gregory, later to be Pope, sees two blond, blue-eyed boys for sale in Rome’s slave market. He enquires further about them, and finds that they are Angles from England. To him, they seem to be angels, not Angles, and later on he sends the timorous Augustine to England to convert the pagans to Christianity.
Meanwhile, bright young Bertha, a Frankish princess, is sent to England to be the bride of heathen King Ethelbert of Kent. Bertha is a Christian, and she brings her own priest with her. The king allows her freedom to worship, but does not allow his children to be baptised. The chances for making conversions are limited, but Bertha finds that there are already other Christians in the Kentish kingdom. They are British and have been cut off from Rome for over a hundred years.
Sampson gives a vibrant portrait of both the people and the places included in the book. She writes with great vividness about her subject, which ensures a constantly engaging story. There are dangerous and swaggering warriors, cautious and thoughtful priests, and a pragmatic and wise queen. Sampson masterfully draws them all together to make the story of Augustine’s bringing of the Christian faith to England an absorbing and rewarding read.
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S. Garside-Neville
8th CENTURY
THE KING’S NUN
Catherine Monroe, New American Library, 2007, $14.00/C$17.50, pb, 267pp, 0451220196
and agriculture, and aspires to become both nun and abbess. After a chance meeting with the king, she is invited to his palace to act as his counsel. Love blossoms between the two, and their separation by wars and her work in a poor village forces her to ponder her decision to devote her life to God.
Both main characters are complex and interesting, as are the secondary ones, and I couldn’t help but care about their fate. The setting is the 8th century, a time when the influence of the Greeks and Romans was still felt, while the Middle Ages were closing in. Through Amelia and Charles, we explore the problems of those times: the spread of Christianity, its clashes with old pagan beliefs, the unification of various tribes, the growth of the Empire, the status of women and the clergy. All these threads are woven masterfully into a very lively story of love and personal decisions. Once you accept the hurdle that an older, powerful man could take counsel from a young and inexperienced girl, you should be able to fully enjoy the rich tapestry that is offered.
Nicole Leclerc
9th CENTURY
ERINSONG
The story is narrated by a eunuch, Eugenius, a devoted slave in Antonina’s household. The scope of the book is massive – encompassing religious controversy and cultural developments as well as military history – yet, throughout, Graves succeeds in blending historical details with the development of his main characters. For anyone who has seen the beautiful mosaic of Justinian and Theodora in Ravenna, their
French children still, albeit reluctantly, celebrate Charlemagne’s birthday. They do so because he is considered the inventor of schooling. Indeed, learning plays a major role in this novel, which recreates from factual documents, deductions, and imagination a segment of the life of a young novice, Amelia (who was eventually elevated to sainthood), and Charles, King of the Franks, before he became Emperor Charlemagne.
Given to an abbey by her parents at the tender age of seven, Amelia, now seventeen, thrives on learning, especially in architecture
Diana Groe, Leisure, 2006, $6.99, pb, 326pp, 9780843957891
A fresh new voice in historical romance sets her pen to a star-crossed love story featuring a daughter of an Irish chieftain and a memoryimpaired Viking wainwright. Lovely and sharptongued Brenna is drawn to the stranger who washed ashore with nothing but his considerable charm and a cask of ale with which he bargains for his life. Warming his way into clan life with a daring rescue of her sister, the mysterious Northman is given to Brenna in marriage by her grateful and wily father. But as they set off for the Viking stronghold of Dublin to discover the secrets of both their pasts, the couple must face divided loyalties, treachery, and a plot to take down both the culture and the people of her besieged land. Despite a couple of wrong notes (like both hero and heroine considering their dreams as foolish – dreams held great power in both cultures), Erinsong is deftly plotted and peopled with compelling characters. Terrific, robust storytelling. Highly recommended.
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Eileen Charbonneau
11th CENTURY
BLACK ARROW
I.J. Parker, Penguin, 2006, $13.00, pb, 355pp, 9780143035619
Imperial official Sugawara Akitada is recently assigned as deputy governor of Eichigo (now Niigata province) on the rough, snow-bound northern frontier of Heian Japan in 1015 CE. The corrupt and tyrannical local warlord, his family symbol a black arrow, defies the emperor’s rule and threatens Akitada’s mission and even his
11th Century-13th Century
life. Arriving in the wintry provincial capital accompanied only by his pregnant wife and four loyal retainers, he at first despairs, surrounded by hostile forces. The garrison soldiers nominally under his command seem drunk and disorderly. His legal role as governor is undermined by the warlord’s control of judge and constables. Then a series of unexplained murders challenges his wits and authority. Only the nearby village of untouchable-like outcasts, led by Kaoru, a mysterious man of noble bearing, and his mentor, a Buddhist hermit monk, offers aid. With skillful assertion of his imperial mandate at critical points, the self-doubting Lord Sugawara must transform his motley crew into a loyal fighting force to confront the enemy.
A winner: this stylish recreation of early medieval Japan displays fine research, engaging characters, and fast-moving action. Includes historical notes and character list. 4th in series.
Nina de Angeli
LORD OF SEDUCTION
Paula Quinn, Warner Forever, 2006, $6.50/ C$9.50, pb, 336pp, 0446617822
In 11th century England, Lady Tanon Risande, goddaughter of William the Conqueror, unexpectedly finds herself betrothed to Gareth ap Owain, a dangerous Welsh prince, as a means of bringing peace to their two kingdoms – the same Welsh prince who befriended her while they were children and whom all believed was long dead. Although Gareth is a prince, he lacks the means to offer Tanon the life of luxury she is accustomed to. Yet when they arrive in Wales, an untamed, feral land, Tanon does not complain and wins the heart of the people. Unbeknownst to the lovers, a deadly plot to cause a war between England and Wales unfolds – a plot that will see Tanon murdered. I enjoyed the author’s portrayal of the sexy Gareth, a strong alpha male unwavering in his love for Tanon. This was a powerfully written, impassioned love story sure to please fans of medieval romances.
Mirella Patzer
12th CENTURY
TWILIGHT
MAGIC
Shari Anton, Warner Forever, 2006, $6.50/ C$8.50, pb, 336pp, 0446617555
In 12th century England, Lady Emma de Leon envisions the future whenever she stares into a body of water. In one such vision, she saw the man destined to become her lover: Darian of Bruges. Darian is a mercenary, an assassin for hire, a man of inadequate social standing who enjoys his life of freedom. Falsely accused of murder, he suddenly finds himself embroiled in a dangerous royal plot that will see him hang for his crime. Lady Emma comes to his rescue by providing an alibi. Darian is puzzled as to why such a noble lady would lie to save his neck. Then, by decree of the king, he and Lady Emma are forced to marry. As this medieval romance
unfolds, bits of magic add interest as the hero and heroine seek to vindicate the injustice of the false accusation. This was a pleasant read, a nice story with which to relax.
Mirella Patzer
WOLF OF THE PLAINS (UK) / GENGHIS: Birth of an Empire (US)
Conn Iggulden, HarperCollins, 2007, £14.99, hb, 455pp, 0007201745 / Delacorte, May 2007, $25.00, hb, 400pp, 0385339518
The author is best known as the author of the Emperor series of books based on the life of Julius Caesar. The first book was devoted to the future dictator’s boyhood and youth. This has become a recurring theme with Iggulden; how a boy becomes a man, and in particular how he becomes a ruthless world conqueror.
So, pausing only to write The Dangerous Book for Boys, Iggulden has launched upon the life of Genghis Khan. Wolf of the Plains is the first of the new Conqueror series, devoted to the boyhood and youth of the future Genghis (or Temujin as he is known throughout this book). Compared to Genghis, Julius Caesar had it easy. By the age of eleven Genghis’s father had been murdered and he was an outlaw on the Mongolian steppe. The gang of teenagers who gathered around him soon became expert killers, and the rest is history – or will be in the succeeding volumes.
The story is vivid, fast and brutal, with a high body count. I do not know how much firsthand experience the author has of the Mongolian steppe, but from my own experience of the
Y MISTRESS OF THE ART OF DEATH
much-derided Kazakhstan, it rings true. Now that Genghis has united the Mongols, we look forward to the conquest of the world.
Edward James
THE KNIGHT’S COURTSHIP
Joanne Rock, Harlequin Historicals, 2006, $5.50/C$6.50, pb, 297pp, 0373294121
It is the 12th century, and Ivy Rutherford, who hopes to find favor as a female troubadour at the court of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, is ordered to instruct the notorious Roger Stancliff in the rules of courtly love. Despite the complications posed by their wariness of one another, their difference in class, King Henry’s unexpected arrival and capture of the queen, and Ivy’s abduction by Roger’s bitter foe, the pair not only falls passionately in love, but consummates it with uncourtly exuberance.
The novel touches upon some of the problems confronting women in the area of love and marriage during the Middle Ages, but it pays scant attention to these and the rest of the medieval background, focusing instead upon the lovers. The heroine is an attractive combination of romantic idealism and common sense, but even if she is deserving, the dangers and obstacles to her happiness melt away rather too readily.
This is a pleasant light read for lovers of Harlequin romance.
Ray Thompson
13th CENTURY
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Ariana Franklin, Putnam, 2007, $25.95, hb, 336pp, 0399154140 / Bantam, 2007, £12.99, hb, 320pp, 0593056493
Adelia, who has studied medicine in Salerno, Sicily, is selected by the King of Sicily to accompany Simon of Naples, a man renowned for his detecting skills, to England. In Cambridge, the Jews are accused of crucifying a young boy. Henry II is most displeased, as the Jews are now taking refuge in the castle, unable to attend to business and therefore increase the king’s coffers. He would have the true killer found. When Simon, Adelia, and Mansur, Adelia’s attendant, reach Cambridge, they find that not just one boy but three more children have been horribly murdered. It is inconceivable that a woman might be a doctor, so the three have to pretend that it is Mansur who is actually the physician. Adelia ministers to patients under his orders, while spending the rest of her time investigating the deaths. The author does a superb job of evoking Cambridge in the second half of the 12th century. All strata of society are encountered, from lowly peasants to royalty, and readers get a vivid sense of their roles and their prejudices, most notably those against Jews, women, and Saracens. Nearing Cambridge, the trio travel in the company of a group who are just returning from pilgrimage or crusade to the Holy Land, and conditions there are tellingly invoked by a returning crusader. The hunt for the killer is gripping, but the tension is leavened by a romance and by Adelia’s growing fondness for several local inhabitants.
The author’s note indicates where she took liberties with historical fact, and a set of questions for the author at the end of the volume provides the very welcome news that a sequel is planned. I have read many medieval mysteries over the years – this one falls in the very top tier. Trudi E. Jacobson N n
Y THE RUBY IN HER NAVEL
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Barry Unsworth, Doubleday, 2006, $26/C$35, hb, 416pp, 0385509634 / Hamish Hamilton, 2006, £17.99, hb, 336pp, 0241142202
Set during the brief but glittering rule of the Norman kings, this beautifully written novel opens in Palermo where Arab, Christian and Jew live together in an uneasy truce. Thurstan Beauchamp is the Christian son of a Norman knight deprived of his status when his father forswears his worldly goods and becomes a monk; thus, he is driven by a vain ambition that seemingly knows no bounds. Thurstan works for a Muslim Arab in the palace’s central finance office, where bribes and blackmail are set in motion, and part of the job description is to gather secret information for King Roger of Sicily.
Thurstan is dispatched to uncover the myriad conspiracies threatening to topple the kingdom, both from without and within. On his journeys, he rediscovers a woman he loved in his youth, pledging his troth to her, knowing little of her history. He then encounters a mysterious dance troupe which he engages and brings back to the Court to entertain the king. Thurstan’s literal journeys are triggers for the more significant, spiritual journey upon which he is about to embark. How the chivalric Thurstan deals with the deception and cruelty that surrounds him and his own unremitting ambition is at the crux of the story.
This is a novel for our times. The tensions of tribe, race and religion which remain unresolved today are mirrored in the interactions between the questioning Thurstan and people who, like himself, are forced to deal with vast and often insoluble cultural differences. There is so much detail that this is by no means an easy and light read, but rather a complex novel that demands to be savored.
A highly recommended, intense and demanding book. Ilysa Magnus
THE WAXMAN MURDERS
Paul Doherty, Headline, 2006, £19.99, hb, 314pp, 0755328825
In 1272 Henry III died with the new king, Edward I, in the Holy Land. Back in England
Y THE SCARLET LION
there was a breakdown of law and order. On the high seas piracy was rife, and on land, robber gangs roamed the countryside. Add to this the rumour of a fabulous treasure, a mysterious map purporting to tell where it is, and you have
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Elizabeth Chadwick, Sphere, 2006, £18.99, hb, 579pp, 0316728314
This novel is a sequel to The Greatest Knight which told the early story of William Marshal, although any reader can, as I did, come to it cold. It continues the story of William’s life throughout the reign of King John and his role as Lord Protector to the young king Henry III. Although he is little known today, he was the greatest man of his time: a warrior, a powerful and wealthy landowner, an advisor to kings – in other words, a politician, at a time when Parliament was in its very earliest infancy.
Elizabeth Chadwick is a consummate historical novelist. All the political facts are here: King John and the Magna Carta, the wars with France, battles between English factions and Irish rebels. Where she fills in the gaps, she does so with total authority and plausibility. But what she does so well here is to tell us a moving story of a marriage. William and his beloved Isabelle are not a modern couple in period costume but real people, fully alive within the customs and beliefs of their time. They argue, they make love, they celebrate and grieve; their children bring them joy and pain and not a little irritation, like all people have always done. But we never forget they are medieval people.
The author’s detailed knowledge of the period is so secure it does not detract from the page-turning story. I never felt she was trying to impress readers by trotting out her research. Everything is woven seamlessly into the narrative.
A period of history that was a dull monochrome to me at school bursts into colour within its pages, and now I fully understand the importance of the Magna Carta, why John was deemed a ‘bad’ king, and how people lived and loved during his reign. Can one ask for more in any historical novel?
Sally Zigmond
the bones of a murder mystery par excellence. In December 1303, Sir Hugh Corbett rides in to Canterbury to examine the case of Adelicia Decontet, who is accused of murdering her husband. That same night four people are found hanging in a local manor house which is locked, barred and guarded by the City Guard with no signs of forced entry, and Sir Hugh finds himself with more on his hands than the death of one man.
Paul Doherty has taken one small fact and woven a complex story around it. His characters interact and weave in and out of the plot with ease, while his descriptions of the streets, the smells, the food and clothes, etc., add detail and colour, which result in an intriguing tale.
A book to curl up with by the fire and thoroughly enjoy.
Marilyn Sherlock
14th CENTURY
THE MAID OF LORNE
Terri Brisbin, Harlequin, 2006, $5.50/C$6.50, pb, 296pp, 0373293860
“Wed or dead by nightfall.” That’s the choice Sebastien of Cleish gives Lara of the MacDougalls, besieged in Dunstaffnage Castle in 1308. Sebastien has been ordered by Robert the Bruce to take the castle, using Lara’s siblings as hostages. Lara chooses marriage, so that she will at least be alive to resist. After such a dire threat, she is surprised by the humane treatment Sebastien metes out to the castle’s occupants. And she discovers that, despite being coerced into it, she enjoys the marriage bed. When her kinsman Eachann tempts her to spy against the Bruce’s forces, Lara is torn between clan loyalty and her growing love for Sebastien.
Sebastien and Lara are rounded characters, and Brisbin treats romance fans to some juicy bedroom scenes. Unfortunately, I found the secondary characters flat, and some plot points don’t make sense. An enemy described as one who “murders without care” suddenly forgets his murderous nature, merely knocking a main character unconscious when he could have easily killed him. Readers who are more interested in romance than plot logic won’t let such nitpicks bother them, and will like this book.
B.J. Sedlock
QUEEN OF SHADOWS: A Novel of Isabella, Wife of King Edward II
Edith Felber, New American Library, 2006, $14.00/C$17.50, pb, 304pp, 045121952X
In her own time, Isabella, the much maligned wife of the English king Edward II, was known as the She-Wolf of France because, with the help of her lover, she deposed her ineffectual husband. She then, so some sources assert, had him murdered in one of the most horrible ways imaginable. With the revision of perceptions about historical women that has come with modern feminism, historians are taking another, less opprobrious look at Isabella (see Alison Weir’s Queen Isabella). In Queen of Shadows,
Felber follows suit. She presents us with a sympathetic picture of a woman, unloved and mistreated by her inadequate, homosexual husband and his overweening favorites, who finally took action in order to save her own life and the throne for her son. Felber uses the device of Gwenith, a Welsh lady-in-waiting with her own agenda, to provide an inside look into Isabella’s life.
Felber, who is known for the romances she writes as Edith Layton, has crafted a competent historical which nevertheless occasionally devolves into a girl-power manifesto with clumsy romantic overtones. Isabella bemoans her subordinate and supposedly helpless situation in a decidedly modern feminist way, and this often jars the reader out of an otherwise capably handled historical. The other sour note is Isabella’s constant, repetitious questioning of Gwenith’s loyalty (although Isabella’s actions denote complete trust) and Gwenith’s equally ubiquitous protestations of faithfulness. The treatment of Isabella’s relationship with Edward is well-done and plausible, and Felber avoids making caricatures of the villains in the story, such as Piers Gaveston and the Despensers. With the exception of the aforementioned oversights, Queen of Shadows is a readable novel about a captivating historical figure and the fascinating times in which she lived.
Bethany Latham
THE FIRST PRINCESS OF WALES
Karen Harper, Three Rivers, 2007, $14.95/ C$21, pb, 624 pp, 9780307237910
Originally published in 1984 as Sweet Passion’s Pain and revised in this version, Karen Harper (now known for her Elizabeth I mystery series) tells the riveting story of the fiery-tempered Joan of Kent.
The young daughter of a disgraced earl, Joan is sent to Edward III’s court. Hoping to redeem her family’s name and unaware of the treacheries and politicking going on around her, Joan is befriended by the King’s daughter, Isabella, but only after she goes head to head with Edward, the Prince of Wales, the day she arrives at Court. The sparks fly between Edward and Joan from the first.
When Joan learns from her dying mother that Edward III betrayed her father, Joan sets out to wreak vengeance against the Plantagenet family. Joan’s strategy is to manipulate Edward, but that strategy backfires when she realizes she is in love with him. When Joan is maneuvered into marriage by the Queen, she does her best to make her marriage work and convince herself that she does not love Edward. Ultimately, history tells us, these two lovers reunite and have their own family, including a son who was to become Richard II.
Harper keeps our interest piqued throughout this lengthy retelling of the Joan-Edward story. Joan is high-spirited and feisty, but she has clearly met her match in Edward. The intrigues and treacheries of Edward III’s court are played off against the chivalric games of which Isabella
and her ladies are enamored. In an interesting author’s note, Harper relates that many assumed the conclusion of the fairy tale Joan-Edward story to have been mirrored in the Diana-Charles marriage – Harper tells us, though, that, in her mind it is more like the modern Camilla-Charles relationship.
A fun read for a chilly winter day or on the beach.
Ilysa Magnus
THE THIRD HEAVEN CONSPIRACY (UK) / THE MOSAIC CRIMES (US)
Giulio Leoni (trans. Anne Milano Appel), Harvill Secker, 2007, £12.99, hb, 320pp, 184343279X / Harcourt, 2007, $25.00, hb, 336pp, 0151012466
Florence, 1300. The city teeters on the edge of the Renaissance, and is trying to reinvent itself as a place of learning and high culture. Dante Alighieri has just been made Prior, and is keen to make a good impression. But what he gets instead is involvement in a complex case following the bizarre murder of a master craftsman who was working on a vast mosaic. Under the floor is a network of ancient catacombs, haunted by the beggars’ guild and worse. Surely such a civilized place cannot be the venue for satanic rituals?
It all sounds a bit like Paul Doherty, but is nearer in style to The Name of the Rose. Leoni presents Dante warts and all, and he comes over as being arrogant and unsympathetic –something of a flaw in the protagonist. His chilly persona distances the reader from the story, and it is hard to care much whether he succeeds or fails. This is, however, an absorbing glimpse at Florence when it was just heaving itself out of the Middle Ages and into a more familiar setting for novels. This alone makes it worth the price of admission. Also fascinating are the politics of the time, but it might be a better idea to have put that all-important glossary at the beginning of the book. Shades of The Da Vinci Code, but if you didn’t like that (my hand is up now) it won’t mean that you won’t like this.
Rachel A. Hyde
CHAUCER AND THE DOCTOR OF PHYSIC
Philippa Morgan, Constable, 2006, £17.99, 288pp, hb, 184529310X / Carroll & Graf, 2006, $24.95, hb, 256pp, 0786718242
Life for Chaucer in the 14th century would appear to have had its fair share of difficulties and intrigue. As poet, king’s diplomat and occasional spy he is dispatched to the Devon coast following his successful return from a mission in Florence. His remit initially appears to be to solve a case of theft from a Genoese shipmaster’s cargo which has been lodged in the warehouse belonging to the Mayor of Dartmouth.
En route to lodge with Dr Richard Storey, who has a reputation as a doctor of physic, Chaucer and his two companions are duped by a deranged woman and set upon by outlaws.
Following their rescue and arrival at the fine doctor’s house, they find that the family dynamics are stretched by disharmony between the new, young stepmother and the adolescent son. Further strain is suffered when the small dog belonging to the highly-strung new wife is killed and the son is blamed.
The murder which follows is puzzling, and Chaucer becomes involved as the list of suspects grows. The storyline is adequate, though the links between characters seem rather too predictable and there is little sense of time and place.
Cathy Kemp
IN PURSUIT OF THE GREEN LION
Judith Merkle Riley, Three Rivers, 2006 (c1990), $13.95/$C18.95, pb, 448pp, 0307237885
The first two novels in Riley’s highly entertaining trilogy about the adventures of Margaret of Ashbury have recently been reissued by Three Rivers Press. Set in England in the 1350s, In Pursuit of the Green Lion is the second installment, and finds the widowed Margaret newly wed – by force – to the scholarly “Brother Gregory,” who is actually Gilbert de Vilers, second son of a boorish nobleman. Margaret is extremely fond of Gregory/Gilbert, but the forced marriage and subsequent confiscation of her late husband’s property have placed her at the mercy of her scheming in-laws. Her situation becomes more untenable when Gregory leaves for France to chronicle the exploits of the Duke of Lancaster. But then Gregory is captured by a sinister count from Navarre, and Margaret enlists her old friends Mother Hilde and Brother Malachi to help her rescue him, escaping in the process the dangers that hover in her father-inlaw’s home.
Despite being the second in a trilogy, this novel can stand alone. It contains a liberal dose of humour and of the supernatural, trademarks of this author. Fifteen years have passed since I first read In Pursuit of the Green Lion, and I enjoyed it easily as much the second time around. But I am probably a more critical reader than I was in 1991, and so I will say that I thought the action flagged for a short spell about threequarters of the way through. However, this is a minor quibble in the context of an intelligent, fun read, where the savagery and pageantry of the Hundred Years War are expertly rendered. I am really looking forward to The Water Devil, Margaret’s third outing.
Claire Morris
THE WATER DEVIL
Judith Merkle Riley, Three Rivers, 2007, $13.95/ C$17.95, pb, 267 pp, 9780307237897
Riley completes her Margaret of Ashbury trilogy (A Vision of Light and In Pursuit of the Green Lion being the earlier installments) in this frolicking novel set in 1362 that melds history with the supernatural. Margaret has rescued her true love from France in a most unladylike way. When Margaret, Gilbert and their rambunctious children return to England to resume their
15th Century-16th Century
normal lives, Gilbert’s father comes to them to bail him out of debt or he will lose his woodlands – including an ancient spring – to a greedy abbot. When they refuse, he threatens to sell Margaret’s oldest child, Cecily, into marriage against her will. Only Margaret’s friend, Brother Malachi, has the ability to get these folks out of harm’s way and save the family.
This novel is easily read as a “stand-alone.” Although there is some relation back to the earlier installments, it isn’t a terrible problem if you haven’t read them. Margaret is a genuinely likeable, wise and loving woman, a tender and intuitive mother and a loving wife. The fact that she has a gift of healing is secondary to the plot. Margaret’s children are wonderful creations; the character of Madame Agathe is formidable, and Margaret’s in-laws are so despicable that you love to hate them. A fun read.
Ilysa Magnus
15th CENTURY
n
THE ROSE OF YORK: Fall from Grace Sandra Worth, End Table Books, 2007, $16.95, pb, 272pp, 0975126490
While Worth’s ambitious novel offers a sympathetic representation of King Richard the Third, she also depicts him as humanly flawed and, at times, deeply neurotic. Hemmed in by treachery, haunted by loss, he strives to secure his family’s Yorkist claim to England’s throne, yet at every turn finds himself thwarted by bad luck or bad decisions.
The author’s research impresses, as does her passion for the era. Her characters’ dialogue, at times, is heavy with exposition, and occasionally they fail to emerge from their well-wrought setting as dynamic and realistic individuals. Queen Anne’s selfless devotion to her misunderstood husband, however admirable, weakens her as much as her physical frailties. By contrast, Richard’s enemies – those who appear on the page and those lurking in the background – are more vital and interesting. Bess Woodville, the widowed queen, and Margaret Beaufort, scheming to place her son Henry Tudor on the throne, come to life in a way that anemic Anne and Richard’s niece, Elizabeth, whom he dare not wed after his Queen’s demise, do not.
The tortured hero of the piece does have the power of engaging the reader. But at times he becomes so hopelessly mired in woe, so gripped by husbandly concern, that his heroism is lessened. The novel’s pace, prescribed by actual events, picks up nearer the end. As Richard is propelled towards his destiny, the action and the suspense – even for those familiar with the facts – grows ever more compelling. Worth manages her confrontation and battle scenes far more skillfully and effectively than the earlier repetitive husband-and-wife encounters that demonstrate Richard’s softer side.
This is an admirable and well-written work, worthy of attention. It should be well-received by fans of historically accurate fiction, ardent
Ricardians, and those specifically interested in the Wars of the Roses.
Margaret Barr
16th CENTURY
IN THE SHADOW OF LADY JANE
Edward Charles, Macmillan New Writing, 2006, £12.99, hb, 352pp, 0230001068
This novel covers the well-known story of Lady Jane Grey, queen for nine days and executed at the age of sixteen in 1553. It is narrated by Richard Stocker, who has enjoyed a meteoric rise in Jane’s father’s household, from Deputy Warden in a small manor house in Devon to the Duke of Suffolk’s personal secretary and, later, companion to Jane during her incarceration in the Tower of London after Mary’s accession to the throne.
It is a fairly faithful narration of historical events, utilising some historic documents and letters to bolster the story and show how Jane was used as a pawn by the Suffolks and the Northumberlands to take the throne. Richard is a youth of absorbing charisma and multifarious talents who seems to have the convenient gift of forging confidence with whomever he meets, including the young King Edward VI. This provides him with a privileged position from which to observe and comment on the events of the time.
The dialogue is an odd mixture of attempted 16th century idiom and 21st century slang – I cannot imagine anyone using the verb ‘to party’
Y INÉS OF MY SOUL
or indeed taking the opportunity to ‘do some last-minute Christmas shopping’ in 1553. Jane and her two younger sisters display an incredible maturity of emotional thought and eloquence of expression in their conversation. The intimacy that Richard easily develops with the three sisters beggars belief. But the historical context is very good, and this is a racy, absorbing tale even if one knows that all will end in tears for poor Jane.
Doug Kemp
THE SIXTH WIFE
Suzannah Dunn, Harper Press, 2007, £10.99, pb, 302pp, 000723242X
This is the author’s second foray into historical fiction. The Queen of Subtleties told the story of Anne Boleyn. Here she turns to Henry VIII’s sixth and last wife, Katherine Parr.
The novel’s narrator is Catherine, Duchess of Suffolk, Katherine’s friend and confidante, and is set after Henry’s death when Katherine is newly married to Thomas Seymour. Theirs is a crowded household. Both Elizabeth Tudor and Jane Grey are in their care, and the Duchess visits often and is witness to Thomas’s dangerous power-play. During Kate’s pregnancy, Catherine begins a secret affair with Thomas (neither historically verifiable nor likely), and the wheels of treachery both personal and political are set in motion.
Dunn writes very well indeed. The more descriptive passages are beautiful, but they’re too modern in tone. But what puzzles me most is why she chooses to write historical fiction in
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Isabel Allende (trans. Margaret Sayers Peden), HarperCollins, 2006, $25.95, hb, 336pp, 0061161535 / Fourth Estate, 2007, £17.99, hb, 336pp, 000724116X
Doña Inés Suárez tells the epic story of her life and the conquest of Chile in this fictional biography. Inés, a Spanish seamstress, makes her way to the new world in search of her wandering husband. She arrives only to discover that he has been killed, and fate throws her together with the first real love of her life, conquistador Pedro de Valdivia. This power couple endures political machinations, the harshness of the South American landscape, and the enmity of the fierce Mapuche natives in order to found the nation of Chile.
A Chilean native herself, Allende easily conjures the beautiful but turbulent people and landscape of the country. Inés is an amazingly brave, passionate, and independent woman, and the panoramic tale she tells is both captivating and engrossing. The story is told through a letter/memoir the elderly Inés is writing for her adopted daughter, and thus allows for both foreshadowing and hindsight. Inés’s voice is powerful and her story epic, but she tells it with an engaging frankness and discernment which spares no one, not even herself or the loves of her life. All the characters are vividly drawn, and Allende uses them to illustrate the motivations behind and the human costs of conquest.
Like much of Allende’s work, Inés of My Soul often delves into dark territory — war, death, torture, murder, greed, and betrayal abound, but this is tempered by humor and Inés’s can-do attitude. Inés is perhaps a little more forward-thinking than seems probable for her time, but this allows Allende to show both sides of the conflict between the Spanish and Mapuche with sensitivity and perception. This story of Chile’s often-overlooked founding mother is an epic, absorbing read, and is highly recommended.
Bethany Latham
a very modern vernacular. It’s not that I demand cod-Shakespearian prose, and I do agree that history should be accessible. However, ultra-modern slang such as ‘done him proud’, ‘sidekick’ and even worse, ‘cheat on’ into a story about Tudor aristocrats grated horribly on me.
It’s not only the language. History tells us that the duchess was a highly educated woman and yet Dunn’s Catherine thinks and speaks like a schoolgirl. Anachronisms also abound. There’s no point dressing one’s characters in farthingales and ruffs but have them performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and ‘switching off’ fountains.
Finally, another quibble: This is not a novel about Katherine Parr. We never get to hear what she thinks or feels. It’s not even about Thomas Seymour. This is the Duchess of Suffolk’s tale, and she deserves better than this shallow, unsympathetic portrayal.
Sally Zigmond
GLASTONBURY TOR
LeAnne Hardy, Kregel, 2006, $12.99, pb, 239pp, 0825427894
Set during the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII, this didactic novel describes the coming-of-age experience of seventeen-yearold Colin. Fleeing the cruel father whom he blames for the death of his mother, he joins the monastery in Glastonbury, where he witnesses its closure.
Through his eyes, we are offered a balanced view of the situation. The Catholic Church hierarchy abuses its power by enforcing a
Y THE REBEL HEART
Y THE MAYFLOWER MAID
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Sue Allan, domtom, 2006, £8.98/$24.84 (postpaid), pb, 302pp, 9781906070007
It’s always a treat to get a book from a small publishing house, and an even bigger treat if the book turns out to be a good one. This is the tale of the Mayflower Maid, an obscure servant who is mentioned as being on that ship and arriving in the New World. We don’t know much about her, but in this novel her life as this author imagines it is laid before us: her unhappy beginnings in rural Lincolnshire, her involvement with the Separatists, years in service, engagement, and subsequent departure on the Mayflower.
Ms Allan has endeavoured to get under the skin of everyday life in the early 17th century and manages it well, conveying a sense of immediacy and excitement. I particularly enjoyed seeing the viewpoint of a minor player in this well-known story, making this grand drama seen very human and fresh. Life on board the Mayflower and after making landfall are described in unflinching detail, making it one of those important and useful historical novels which, I felt, tells is like it actually was without idealising it. This is not a long book, but it is crammed with incident and manages to make history – and a story that we all think we know well – seem close and exciting. It looks as if there is going to be a sequel too…
harsh discipline upon those over whom it rules, and by persecuting those it deems heretics for reading the Bible in English, unmediated by its teachings, but many of its members are fairminded and struggle to lead godly lives. The general populace is often brutal and greedy for monastic spoils, but some are kind and forgiving, thirsting for spiritual guidance from the Bible. The struggle between good and evil within individuals and society has also a supernatural
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Martin Stephen, Sphere, 2006, £16.99, hb, 370pp, 0316726702
This is the fourth outing for Stephen’s charismatic antihero Sir Henry Gresham. It is 1598, and Elizabeth I is getting old. Her health is failing, but she resolutely resists all attempts to name an heir. Indeed it is treasonous to even discuss the possibility of her death. Her dalliance with the young Earl of Essex makes her feel young and lovable but he, handsome, exciting, arrogant and egocentric, has ideas above his station. Gresham, drawn to Essex as a friend, retains the needs of the country as his prime motivation. Around them the vultures gather, France, Spain, Scotland – everyone has a hand in the most devious of plots. As ever with Stephen, the plotline is complex and compelling. I would defy any reader without the keen training of the most Byzantine or Machiavellian court to work out where the storyline is going. Gresham, so authentic a fictional character that a reader may well spend time trawling through history to find him, winds his way through these plots. He risks his life, suffers the consequences of ill-advised actions, but retains throughout his own somewhat individualistic sense of honour.
I am very fond of this character and of all of those who live and work in ‘The House’ on the Strand. But I am also hugely in awe of his creator, who has not only given him such realism as a character but also painted a totally believable and authentic Elizabethan and Jacobean landscape for him to live in. The books are not in chronological sequence, so we are seeing different aspects, and raisons d’être from Gresham’s life unfold and are explained in each book. This also means that they can easily be read as standalones. But personally, I would highly recommend that you read them all in whatever order you can find them.
Towse Harrison
Rachel A. Hyde
dimension: Gwyn ap Nudd, the Horned King, is opposed to the Holy Grail, a simple wooden cup that helps Colin finally attain the salvation he so sorely craves.
Hardy explores the tensions of a troubled time, but struggles to integrate them into a coherent whole.
Ray Thompson
17th CENTURY
DEATH OF A MUSKETEER
Sarah D’Almeida, Berkley Prime Crime, 2006, $6.99/C$9.99, pb, 273pp, 0425212920
With an “All for one, murder for all,” Alexandre Dumas’ famous literary characters turn sleuth in this debut of a new series. No sooner does Henri D’Artagnan arrive in 1625 Paris and make the acquaintance of Aramis, Porthos, and Athos then he is embroiled in a plot to discredit the hapless French queen, Anne of Austria. Discovering the brutally murdered body of a woman strongly resembling the queen but dressed in a musketeer’s uniform, it falls to the King’s Musketeers to unravel the case. As their investigation deepens and the body count grows, the musketeers realize the crime is part of a dark conspiracy of political intrigue, convent-bred secrets, infidelity and murder that includes a connection to one of their own.
D’Almeida manages to set the story within the known framework of the well-known classic while introducing new characters, and cleverly including familiar ones like the villainous Rochefort and Cardinal Richelieu. Plenty of swordplay, verbal sparring, and general mayhem keep the story moving briskly, and make for an appealing mix of history, adventure and mystery that stands on its own merit.
Michael I. Shoop
THE THREE MUSKETEERS
Alexandre Dumas (trans. Richard Pevear), Viking, 2006, $35.00/C$45.50, hb, 704pp, 0670037796 / Penguin Classics, 2006, £25.00, hb, 736pp, 0713999527
Originally published in 1844, the many incarnations of The Three Musketeers have embedded into our collective unconscious the image of three men in plumed hats, raising their swords while a fourth, d’Artagnan, cries, “All for one, and one for all.” Yet, before reading the book I could not have named the three – Athos, Porthos, and Aramis – or given any account of what the musketeers actually did. When a new translation arrived, with a historical introduction and endnotes, and that is reportedly more faithful to the original than previous English translations, I decided it was time to discover why it is such an enduring classic.
D’Artagnan is a near-penniless young Gascon adventurer newly arrived in Paris in the spring of 1625 to seek his fortune. He presents himself to the captain of King Louis XIII’s musketeers on recommendation from his father. Accidentally, and almost to his misfortune, he falls in with three of the captain’s favorites. From then on, they work together, all-for-one, etc. It is d’Artagnan’s intrigues that drive the increasingly complex plot. He is drawn into a mission to protect the honor of the queen against the manipulations of Cardinal Richelieu. Yet that plot becomes secondary when d’Artagnan’s lady love disappears and the mysterious Milady takes center stage.
The writing is somewhat old-fashioned. The humor is a bit dated although still funny in places. The heroes are not as heroic as I expected. Women are frankly treated abominably. And yet...crack open the book and you can’t put it down. The story races along, and amidst the rollicking fun and adventure, Dumas sticks in some surprisingly lovely and timeless truisms about politics and human nature. So, it is an enduring classic and, in this new translation, a delightfully enjoyable read.
Sue Asher
THE SEEDS OF SIN
Anne Herries, Severn House, 2006, $28.95/£18.99, hb, 250pp, 0727863894
After the death of Cromwell and the restoration of Charles Stuart to the throne of England, Sir Rupert Saunders returns from exile at the French court looking forward to meeting his sixteen-year-old daughter, Angelica, introducing her to the English Court and finding her a suitable husband. However, Angelica is already in love with her handsome second cousin, Hal, the adopted heir to Thornberry Hall who was born out of wedlock. Sadly, Hal feels committed to marry his cousin Claire and appears to have little interest in Angelica.
Sir Rupert takes Angelica and Claire to London where Angelica chooses fine dresses and captures the attention of Lord Chesterford, a young rake who is a member of Lord Rochester’s
circle. Despite his obvious attraction and pursuit of her, she can only think of Hal, and in the meanwhile Claire confides to Angelica that she does not really wish to marry Hal.
These affairs of the heart are further complicated by the appearance of a family of gypsies in the village and the claim of Jared, a young gypsy, that he is the half-brother and rightful heir to Thornberry Hall, as his mother had married Hal’s father. The story reaches a dramatic climax as a ‘Witch Finder’ arrives in the village and identifies Jared’s mother and sister as witches.
As is usual with many historical romances, the plot does appear somewhat complicated and contrived, but it will nevertheless please readers who enjoy this genre. The background details are accurate and well researched and do not intrude on the story. This is the final book in the Civil War series, and it is a good tale set in a very turbulent period.
Jane Hill
THE WEIGHT OF SMOKE: A Novel of the Jamestown Colony
George Robert Minkoff, McPherson & Co., 2006, $24.95, hb, 392pp, 0929701801
In 1607, the English founded the Jamestown colony in the New World, led by men who considered themselves gentlemen. Not accustomed to physical labor, they also lacked survival instincts and relied on Captain John Smith to guide them to gold and riches. This novel is the first in a trilogy comprising the imagined diaries of Captain Smith, a man whose idol and champion is English privateer Francis Drake. Although the novel is primarily written in the first person, an old mariner named Jonas Profit, who served with Drake, tells the settlers of Drake’s adventures in the Caribbean fighting the Spanish while attempting to steal their gold.
The author is a marvelous wordsmith, occasionally using poetry in his prose: “The next day the world was eyes and trumpet calls. A sky of banners and ladies graced the city’s walls.” His story-within-a-story, the adventures of Francis Drake several years prior to the establishment of Jamestown and Smith’s adventures, is handled cleverly. Minkoff demonstrates the difference in class structure between the higher classes (the gentlemen) and lower classes (the sailors). It’s amazing that the colony ever succeeded. The importance of Drake’s story helped me understand Captain Smith’s drive to explore the coast of North America, as he tried to locate the Northwest Passage to the Pacific. The author also introduces Pocahontas and Powhatan and explains the effect of the English settlement on the local Native American tribes – who try to maintain their culture as they war amongst each other – as well as the “magic” of tobacco, the weight of smoke. The novel is not a quick read, but one to be savored.
Jeff Westerhoff
IN THE LAST BLUE
Carme Riera (trans. Jonathan Dunne), Overlook, 2007, $26.95, hb, 384pp, 9781585678532 / Gerald Duckworth, 2007, £14.99, hb, 384pp, 0715635948
The story of the Majorcan Jews in the time of the Inquisition during the 17th century is one with which most readers will be unfamiliar. The island, administered by a viceroy under the austere Catholicism of the Spanish crown, had been settled by Jews for generations. Most were unwilling converts who outwardly practiced the rituals of Catholicism while preserving their own religious traditions in secret.
This somewhat rambling, lyrical novel centers on an abortive attempt by the head of the Jewish community on the island to escape to Livorno, a free port where Jews were allowed to live and thrive unmolested. With a pointillist approach to the multitude of characters and viewpoints, Riera immerses us in the terrifying net spread by mostly ambitious and misguided Jesuit priests and local functionaries.
Underpinning the complex story is the tale of a mysterious beauty, a wealthy widow with a shameful past who tries to mastermind the escape from her home in Livorno, we sense as a kind of penance. In the end, her life is not fully explained, only hinted at. This, and Riera’s indulgence in descriptions that sometimes overwhelm the pace of the story, are the only features that mar what is otherwise an enthralling tale.
All too few novels in translation reach English readers. Carme Riera is one of Spain’s foremost writers, and deserves to be better known. A native of Majorca herself, she writes in Catalan – virtually a foreign language to Spanish readers as well. Dunne’s translation is readable and evocative, despite a few jarring anachronisms of language.
In the Last Blue is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of the Inquisition, or that of the apostate Jews who fell victim to it.
Susanne Dunlap
THE RED CHRYSANTHEMUM
Laura Joh Rowland, St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2006, $24.95, hb, 304pp, 0312355327
Sano Ichiro, chamberlain to the shōgun, finds himself in the most difficult situation he’s ever faced (and he’s faced some — see the ten other offerings in this series). Sano’s pregnant wife is discovered naked and drenched in blood, vainly trying to revive a nobleman who’s been murdered and mutilated with her dagger. The conclusions to be drawn are obvious, and Sano, with the help of his samurai sidekick, Hirata, must solve the murder and save his wife before they’re both executed.
Rowland has adopted a Rashomon/“In a Grove” technique here, using alternating viewpoints (including the dead man through a medium) to provide several different versions of the same tale. This keeps the reader in the dark and adds to the suspense, but it’s handled
a little clumsily. Though it enhances the novel’s historical detail, the exposition involving politics and period Japan makes the plotting slow out of the gate. The main characterization is solid and the protagonists are engaging, but the villains border on a Japanese version of Snidely Whiplash at times. The story shifts into overdrive in the second half as Sano is saddled with that most stereotypical of plot devices, an impossibly short deadline given by a superior.
Overall, this is a quick and easy read which fans of the series will devour with relish, but uninitiated readers may not find it quite as palatable.
Bethany Latham
THE WINTHROP WOMAN
Anya Seton, Chicago Review Press, 2006 (c1958), $14.95, pb, 586pp, 9781556526442
A sprawling epic that covers the entire life of a woman whose vicissitudes and adventures formed a characteristic part of the early settlement of the United States, The Winthrop Woman follows the fortunes of Bess, a spirited young girl from Norfolk. Starting with her youth as the restless daughter of an apothecary who gives her heart away to a wild cousin, we follow Bess as she emigrates with her uncle John Winthrop’s family to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1631.
Through family and state politics, Indian relations, and deeply personal stories of loss and suffering, Bess comes to exemplify the indomitable spirit of those who carved New England out of the inhospitable lands of the new world. Through her eyes, we watch the expansion out of Massachusetts west through Connecticut, and come to understand the fragile, combative relationship with the Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam. But the political history is really a backdrop to the deeply engrossing, beautifully written saga of one unconventional woman’s quest for love and redemption. A true page-turner, I could not put this novel down.
The Winthrop Woman is a magnificent book, scrupulously researched, with an unerring instinct for drama and pace. Her characters — even those of the Indians who form an important part of Bess’s life — are all sympathetic and complex, and although her constantly shifting point of view takes some getting used to, the absorbing whole is more than worth the effort.
This edition features a foreword by Philippa Gregory, which furnishes some fascinating background about Seton’s influences, and points out the proto-feminism in this work dating from a time when patriarchy was the dominant social paradigm.
Susanne Dunlap
Woman follows Sophie Barton’s attempts to learn the truth behind the murders of her rebel father and two other men. But if running the printing press at her father’s newspaper in Alton, Georgia, isn’t already an inappropriate occupation for a lady, joining a group of concerned locals (including a notorious Frenchman, her womanizing brother, her former lover, and two Indians) on a crosscountry journey should earn Sophie quite a reputation! A clever and resourceful woman, she quickly proves herself a capable associate. But even with the combined abilities of her team of friends, there is still much to fear from the redcoats behind them on the trail.
Suzanne Adair has provided a compelling array of characters, in particular the roguish adventurer Jacques le Coeuvre. Sophie herself isn’t exactly a run-of-the-mill heroine, having chocked up quite a past before we meet her. And she’s soon to be a grandmother. Before Sophie embarks on her adventure, a difficult decision concerning her future is put before her.
Adair’s interests in historical re-enactment serve her well in creating details necessary to bring the period to life. Paper Woman is an entertaining and well-paced novel, and Sophie Barton proves to be far more substantial than the title might suggest. I look forward to the upcoming sequel.
Janette King
LOVE IN A BOTTLE
Zoe Archer, Leisure, 2006, $6.99, 353pp, pb, 0843957387
Sophie Andrews is more interested in botany than in her parents’ plan to marry her off advantageously, as befitting a wellborn young lady in Georgian England. When her sole supporter, her doting uncle, is brutally kidnapped from the carriage in which they travel, she relies on the assistance of a handsome vagabond. The arrival of Ian Blackpool, a mountebank who hawks a bogus love potion, proves timely.
After her parents destroy her laboratory and her botanical library, Sophie accepts Ian’s offer to continue her studies in his gypsy wagon. They are equally interested, for different reasons, to learn whether a plant-based love elixir really exists. Their symbiotic relationship suffers when Sophie’s parents announce her engagement to a local landowner. Ian, distressed by her apparent rejection, decides to return to the home he deserted long ago, a visit interrupted by news of Sophie’s disappearance. Her resourcefulness and knowledge of plants prove invaluable and ensure a satisfactory conclusion.
Historical romance fans will appreciate this clever and entertaining novel by a promising author.
Margaret Barr
during what Marryat called “the golden age of warfare under sail”. John Fury is a seventeenyear-old midshipman on the frigate Amazon, and although his uncle is the captain, things are not going smoothly for him. He always seems to be in trouble of some kind, and when he is inadvertently responsible for a death, he is told to shape up or ship out. A cloud hangs over his name, for his father was so sadistic and violent that he caused a notorious mutiny, and it looks as though his son has leanings towards being a Jonah. But they haven’t seen any action yet…
The old idea of an unpopular young midshipman who makes good when he sees some action is surely the blueprint for most first novels in a seafaring series, and this is no exception. Still, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” is a good maxim, and it applies to this lively pageturner. Beard shows that he can write about nautical action fluently, and there is always something going on as adventures fairly fall over each other once the ship sails into Indian waters. If you like sea stories, you will enjoy this, and even if you think you don’t but enjoy things like Sharpe, it might just convert you. Originality isn’t everything.
Rachel A. Hyde
WOLF’S TEMPTATION
Donna Birdsell, Berkley, 2006, $6.99/C$9.99, pb, 293pp, 0425212610
It is 1776 and Ethan Gray, a spymaster called the Wolf, is on the hunt for a smuggler shipping arms to colonial rebels in America. At every turn, he finds himself frustrated by a mysterious woman he can only recognize by the alluring scent she leaves behind. Having made no progress, his boss, Lord North, assigns him to work with the renowned spy, the Raven. Much to Ethan’s dismay, the Raven turns out to be Maris Winter, who has spent her life admiring Ethan after he risked his own life to try and save her father’s many years ago.
When Maris is assigned to work with Ethan, he turns from hero to rival. With many secrets, Maris has good reasons for protecting the very man the Wolf is stalking. However, she realizes she must choose between her loyalties to the past, or a new future as the Wolf’s partner.
In this plot-twisting, surprising novel, Birdsell has crafted an interesting tale of espionage and romance. Readers gain a fascinating British view on the Revolution, with entertaining characters that enliven the story. Although its plot is not entirely believable, a bit too coincidental, and rather forgettable, this book is nevertheless a fun read for a rainy day.
Rebecca Roberts
18th CENTURY
n
PAPER WOMAN
Suzanne Adair, Whittler’s Bench, 2006, $19.95, pb, 288pp, 0978526511
Set during the American Revolution, Paper
MR MIDSHIPMAN FURY
G S Beard, Century, 2006, £18.99, hb, 309pp, 1846050529
Ah, at last a new series dealing with the adventures you could have aboard a ship
DRUMS
James Boyd, Whittler’s Bench, 2006, $21.00, pb, 490pp, 0978526503
Its back cover advertises Drums as “the best novel of the American Revolution ever written.” Frankly, I found that description quite misleading. Drums has precious little
to do with the American Revolution along the North Carolina coast, or elsewhere. Yes, it is set in the Revolutionary era. Yes, the issue of the Revolution and whether to join it or side with England plays some part in it. Yes, some three hundred pages into the book, the main character finds himself sailing with John Paul Jones. Nevertheless, the Revolution does not form a central part of the story.
This is not to condemn the book. It does give a picture of life in Revolutionary-era North Carolina and London. The main character comes from a well-to-do family, so this is not the story of “everyman” in that era. It is, however, the story of individuals who were not the movers and shakers of the times and who were not from the revolutionary centers of Massachusetts and Virginia. Because of this, it provides a view of that era that is not found in the recent spate of books about the revolution. This makes it a worthwhile read.
A brief caution is in order. This book is a reprint of a book first published in 1925. It does not present the modern, somewhat sanitized view of race relations. The “N-word” appears frequently; readers who are unable to accept this as representative of how things used to be should avoid it. But those who can accept the fact that the world has not always been as we wish will find Drums an engaging read.
Sue Schrems
SPARROWHAWK, Book 6: War
Edward Cline, MacAdam/Cage, 2006, $25.00, hb, 379pp, 1596921986
The sixth and final book of the series picks up the story in the spring of 1774 and continues to the very beginning of September, 1775, although the epilogue fast-forwards a bit and ties up loose ends through the end of the Revolutionary War. Jack Frake, who has long believed no reconciliation is possible and that war is inevitable, continues his preparations by storing weapons and ammunitions and training a militia force. Hugh Kenrick, on the other hand, still hopes to avoid an all-out war with England. He travels to England to handle personal matters and seek a chance to speak to Parliament. However, he finds that body to be more obstinate than ever; each stubborn move by Parliament dims his hope until he, too, is convinced that America must stand on its own. Meanwhile, back in Virginia, his former friends and neighbors begin to takes sides, and the Loyalists resort to betrayal and deceit in an effort to capture Jack and Hugh. Caxton itself becomes a battlefield.
This volume, more than any of the previous ones, contains more action and actual historical events. While Cline does an admirable job with the action scenes, his forte is in putting into words the internal philosophical struggles of his characters. At this he is a master, and those scenes in this book stand out like diamonds. One in particular, between Jack and Hugh, revolves around the conflict between deep devotion to a
friend and an equally deep devotion to a cause and ultimately to one’s own beliefs. It is while reading those passages that the reader may suddenly find himself not immersed in the scene at hand, but looking inwardly to his own ethics. Remarkable.
Mark F. Johnson
MARTA’S PROMISE
Jeanne Dennis & Sheila Seifert, Kregel, 2006, $13.99, pb, 320pp, 0825424895
In 1766, many German Protestant religious minorities respond to Russia’s offer of open immigration, which includes free farmland, and they risk imprisonment and death to escape their home states. Marta Ebel is one of these immigrants. Carl Mueller, a calculating stranger who saves Marta from the authorities, offers to travel with her, and Marta insists they marry for propriety’s sake. Though she and her husband begin to care for one another, Carl has an agenda of his own, and Marta must rely on her faith in God to see her through hardship and abandonment.
This novel provides an interesting look at a little-known group of German émigrés and the hardships they suffered. Marta’s struggle is realistic and moving, but Carl’s insensible grappling with his feelings and the predictable conclusion is less so. Their relationship follows the expected route, as does the novel’s plotting, leaving the reader to mechanically turn pages while interest wanes. This novel’s take on non-Protestant religious groups, however, is refreshing — rather than villainize them, they are portrayed sympathetically, and Marta’s prejudice is challenged when she is helped by a Catholic priest and a Russian Orthodox family. Though predictable, fans of romantic inspirational novels may enjoy this comfortably familiar offering.
Bethany Latham
A RESPECTABLE TRADE
Philippa Gregory, Touchstone, 2007, $16.00, pb, 512pp, 0743272544 / HarperCollins, 2006, £7.99, pb, 512pp, 0006473377
Fans of Gregory’s phenomenally successful Tudor novels will encounter a more somber, pensive writer in A Respectable Trade. Reissued by Touchstone, this novel set in 18th century Bristol offers a painful glimpse into the flourishing slave trade of the era, which enabled the majority of England’s enterprising merchants and the nation at large to amass fortunes at the cost of unimaginable human suffering. Rather than opt for comfortable characters and pat storylines, Ms Gregory has crafted a quiet, powerful meditation on the nature of mankind’s inhumanity toward our fellow man, and the compromises we make to excuse and obscure our choices.
Through the viewpoints of three main characters — Frances Scott, a fragile spinster who marries beneath her rank because of penury and finds herself caught between two
worlds, neither of which she fully belongs to; her husband Josiah Cole, an ambitious, morally ambivalent and gullible merchant determined to succeed no matter the cost; and Mehuru, a sage African priest who is kidnapped and brought to England in chains by the Coles — we are lured into a time of pretense and grim contradiction, where silk wallpaper and elegant ascendancy conceal the poison of avarice and nearinsurmountable barriers of class, all of which have become dependent on commerce with human beings. While Josiah throws everything he has on the line for the sake of advancement in a society that despises his kind, Frances plunges into a fantastical and ultimately destructive love affair with Mehuru, whose elegant stoicism illuminates the devastation that slavery has wrought upon Africa. Threaded throughout the novel is the character of England itself — satiated on the so-called respectable trade it has perpetuated, violently divided over the torment it has caused, and poised on the edge of irrevocable change.
C.W. Gortner
MOZART’S SISTER
Nancy Moser, Bethany House, 2006, $12.99, pb, 336pp, 0764201239
Nannerl Mozart, a talented musician in her own right, is used to being overshadowed by her brother, Wolfgang. Nonetheless, she struggles with envy and frustration — particularly when as a young girl, she realizes that her gender, rather than her musical gifts, will shape her destiny.
As the story of a woman cheated of the opportunities enjoyed by her brother, Mozart’s Sister, narrated by Nannerl, could have made for depressing reading. Instead, it’s a moving story of a woman who must cope with often difficult circumstances while doing her best to build a satisfactory life for herself.
The novel did feel a bit unbalanced to me; there’s a great deal about Nannerl’s childhood and years as a single woman, while comparatively little of the book is given over to her married life. This made an epiphany Nannerl experiences feel somewhat forced and abrupt; it was also odd, in light of the dramatic opening scene, not to see more of the emotional impact Mozart’s death had on his sister. These minor flaws, however, are countered by the novel’s strengths: its characterizations, especially that of Leopold Mozart, who turns out to be more complex and sympathetic than the stage parent he appears to be at the beginning; Moser’s deftness at portraying the shifting relationships within the Mozart family; and Nannerl herself, a good but realistically flawed woman born in the wrong time.
Susan Higginbotham
COMMAND
Julian Stockwin, Hodder & Stoughton, 2006, £16.99, hb, 345pp, 0340898550 / McBooks, 2007, $24.00, hb, 336pp, 1590131207
Y THE SPARKS FLY UPWARD
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Diana Norman, Berkley, 2006, $15.00, pb, 423 pp, 0425211584
As the waning days of the French Revolution evolve into the Reign of Terror, marked by indiscriminate beheadings, fear and the tyranny of the mob, things are not so dandy on the other side of the English Channel either. Makepeace Hedley, a headstrong widow, feminist and abolitionist who was born and raised in Boston (herself knowing a bit about the tyranny of the mob), tries to keep peace within her family. Her daughter, Philippa – a fiercely independent and smart woman – becomes engaged to a campaigner for the rights of slaves in the colonies, a man she does not love, hoping to quell the feelings she has for a man she cannot have. Both have strong ties to the nobility in France, and particularly to the de Condorcet family. It soon becomes obvious to Philippa that she can only save the Marquis if she crosses the Channel – with forged papers – carrying only her enormous courage as a shield against the daily executions in Paris.
In Norman’s talented hands, what could have been a humdrum story comes so alive with passion, intrigue and sheer guts that it’s difficult to put this book down. As Makepeace creates her own personal drama – literally and figuratively – back in London trying to raise public awareness of the plight of African slaves, Philippa, in Paris, discovers just how powerful the forces of love and devotion can be. Every page of this novel is so chock full of historical detail, dialogue that literally jumps off the pages, romance, skullduggery, heroes, and villains that it is a sheer joy to read. What a pity when you reach the satisfying conclusion!
I loved this book and highly recommend it. I just wish I could convince Diana Norman to revisit these characters in a sequel!
It is the late 18th century, and Britain is at war with the French. At the start of the novel, Thomas Kydd is promoted and sent to Malta to commission his first command, a brig sloop called Teazer. With the fleet engaged in blockading the French off the coast of Egypt, Kydd finds himself in the position of needing to build his reputation without being under the direct eye of those senior officers who are in a position to advance his career. Although he does
Y THE LONGING SEASON
Ilysa Magnus
distinguish himself, he finds to his chagrin that peace is declared. His ship is decommissioned, and he is sent home on half pay. He then takes command of a convict transport for the penal colony in New South Wales, where he faces new challenges.
This is the sixth novel that charts the next step in Kydd’s inexorable rise to high command in His Majesty’s navy. Though well written and researched, the book does not compare well
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Christine Schaub, Bethany House, 2006, $12.99, pb, 248pp, 9780764200601
This is the most compelling novel about slavery that I have ever read, not because of horrific details, but because it reveals how deep-seated the human willingness to enslave other humans truly is. John Newton, who is renowned as the author of “Amazing Grace,” traveled a long road before joining the fervent group of Christians who successfully fought to abolish the British slave trade. Although he had been a wretched and mistreated slave himself, upon his redemption he rejected pity and embarked on his own lucrative career as a slaver. It truly was amazing grace that changed not only Newton’s heart but the course of history as well.
This second book in Schaub’s series, which portrays the stories behind popular hymns, is as powerful and haunting as Newton’s lyrics. Conscripted into the royal navy in 1743, Newton is forced to leave behind the girl he loves. While he roams the world, cursing God for his miseries, she grows into a woman of wit and wisdom who prays for his safe return. Although occasionally slowed by unnecessary quotation marks, this is a fast-paced and often surprising inspirational novel that I recommend even to those who would not normally choose this genre.
Nancy J. Attwell
with the Hornblower and Bolitho series. The action scenes were credible, but I found the main characters insubstantial and rather predictable. Fans of Mr Stockwin will enjoy this book, and will no doubt sign on for further adventures. For me one voyage was sufficient. Disappointing. Mike Ashworth
19th CENTURY
THESE THREE REMAIN
Pamela Aidan, Touchstone, 2007, $14, pb, 464pp, 0743291379
Aidan’s trilogy Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman recounts the events of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of the male hero. The first two volumes (see HNR 37, Aug 2006, p18) examine Darcy’s earlier experiences; the conclusion, his encounters with Elizabeth Bennet at Rosings, Pemberley, and finally back in Hertfordshire.
Aidan focuses upon Darcy’s state of mind: the conflict between his sense of duty to family and his powerful feelings for Elizabeth that are responsible for his offensive marriage proposal at Rosings; his anger and despair after her rejection; his struggle to reform himself, to reject pride and instead show more consideration for others. This requires him to treat with greater understanding and forbearance not only those he cares for, like Bingley and his own sister Georgiana, but also his old enemy Wickham. While in London, Darcy blunders into a gathering of Irish rebels plotting against the government, but most of the expanded material is devoted to his interaction with friends, family, and servants. He makes time, for example, to get to know his sad little cousin Anne and to recognize that he has neglected her shamefully.
The problem for Aidan, as for all authors who use borrowed characters, is that her novel invites comparison with its predecessor. Aidan writes a historical novel that explains customs and cultural background of the age; Austen assumes her readers’ knowledge of a contemporary world they shared. As a result, the later novel is not as tightly structured and focused as the earlier one. Moreover, since Darcy lacks Elizabeth’s lively sense of humor, his tale is more ponderous, even though, paradoxically, it contains more action. Aidan’s enjoyable novel nevertheless heightens our appreciation of Jane Austen’s wonderful achievement.
Ray Thompson
REVEALED
Tamera Alexander, Bethany House, 2006, $12.99, pb, 330pp, 0764201093
Just past Denver at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in 1870, Annabelle Grayson’s husband died, leaving her once more on her own. She promised her husband she would find a guide and finish the trip they started to his farm in Idaho. The problem is that his own half-brother, Matthew Taylor, is the best guide she can find. Matthew does not approve
of Annabelle; he despises her for her past. He doesn’t want to help his sister-in-law, but he needs the money.
This second book in the Fountain Creek Chronicles reveals the power of love and forgiveness. All of the characters in the story are interesting and complex, even if they play minor roles. Though the characters were present in the previous story, Rekindled, this book can stand on its own. The author realistically describes the land and the hardships of making an overland journey without dwelling on them. The real plot involves the relationships between people. A warm-hearted inspirational story.
Nan Curnutt
PRYDE’S ROCK
Malcolm Archibald, Severn House, 2007, £18.99/$28.95, hb, 247pp, 9780727864598
Mathew Pryde, a young engineer, is the central character in this novel of adventure, romance and mystery. The story is set in Northumberland, London and Kent at the end of the 18th and start of the early 19th centuries.
Mathew is commissioned to assess the possibility of building a lighthouse on the Black Corbie, which is a shipping hazard that has caused many fatal wrecks. His attempt to survey the island and to find support for the project from the villagers of Onswick and the local landowner is greeted with violence and intimidation. In trying to complete the survey, he also finds himself uncovering the blanket of secrecy that has always masked his own lonely and mysterious past. His attraction to the beautiful Grace Fenwick leads him into even more dangerous and uncharted water than his surveying of the Black Corbie.
In this novel the author has achieved a balance between the storyline, characters and historical detail. Mathew Pryde is a strong and attractive central character. Nicholas Elmstead, Kate Denton, Grace Fenwick and the other minor characters are all interesting, but not overpowering.
Historical detail has been used with great effect to conjure up a sense of place and period. Engineering, nautical and geographical information have all been interwoven into the story with great skill. The curricle race, duelling scene and the colourful description of Mathew’s journey on the Edinburgh Diligence from Newcastle northwards all demonstrate the author’s ability to use factual detail without overshadowing the characters or the story. The plot moves along at a brisk pace, and you reach the last page before realising it. This novel is quite simply a riveting good read.
Myfanwy
Cook
about her unexpected inheritance. She plans to establish a comfortably independent existence for herself. Octavia prudently decides to keep her inheritance a secret from her selfish half siblings, who already seek to control her in all things, until she better understands her situation. She goes to live in London at the house of her overbearing half-sister, and there meets her delightful niece, Penelope. On a trip to visit her cousins, Octavia is rescuing library books from a house fire when the owner, Lord Rutherford, ruthlessly carries her out of the house. Instead of being grateful to Octavia, he is angry with her. They seem doomed to an antagonistic relationship until they find Octavia’s niece and Lord Rutherford’s best friend are in love. This relationship is not likely to be welcomed by Octavia’s family, since Lord Rutherford’s friend has no fortune or title. Octavia begins to reveal her wealth, and to enjoy herself in the literary and political world of Regency England, when a shadow in the person of George Warren casts itself over her rosy, independent future. Aston weaves an entertaining tale of situations and manners, rich in character and humor. There is never a dull moment in this novel. Jane Austen would be proud!
Nan Curnutt
THE TEAHOUSE FIRE
Ellis Avery, Riverhead, 2007, $24.95/C$31.00, hb, 400pp, 1594489300
In New York in 1865, little Aurelia Corneille, the illegitimate child of a French maid, is orphaned. Her uncle Charles is a priest whom she has never liked, but when he accepts a post in Japan, Aurelia has no choice but to go with him. Soon after their arrival, her uncle finds sexual gratification with Aurelia on his lap, and she flees his presence. She wanders into a Japanese shrine, where she makes a wish for a better life. Afterward she returns home only to find her house in flames and her uncle presumed to have perished inside. Devastated and completely alone in the world, Aurelia seeks shelter in a Japanese teahouse. A young woman named Yukako Shin, daughter of Japan’s leading tea master and a descendant of Rikyu, the founder of the tea ceremony, discovers her and takes her to be her maid.
VERTIGO
Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Delta, 2006, $12.00/ C$16.00, pb, 353pp, 0385340311
For sixteen years Emma Smith has been the perfect wife and society showpiece for her husband, famous novelist John Smith. As the Victorian era draws to a close, Emma begins to realize she’s not completely happy with her life and her restricted lot in it. She makes a resolution to “become a better person,” and, with the aid of her husband, implements this by corresponding with a notorious murderer, Chance Wood. Since he’s in prison, he can’t harm her, and since the epistolary relationship was set up by her husband, society can’t frown upon her.
What follows is an awakening that Emma never imagined, leading to sexual encounters, ruthless acts, and very un-Victorian behavior.
Lauren Baratz-Logsted was one of Harlequin’s first Red Dress Ink authors (How Nancy Drew Saved My Life) – those meatier-than-usual Harlequin titles with a chick-lit, explicitly sexual edge. With Vertigo, Baratz-Logsted’s effort to transition into the literary fiction genre isn’t entirely successful; the supposedly late-Victorian backdrop to the story varies between descriptions more evocative of the 17th or the 21st centuries rather than being precisely rendered. The plot is engaging, though increasingly unrealistic, veering at times towards horror, at other times towards fantasy. The quite explicit sex scenes may also deter some readers (especially those really looking for something more Victorian). However, there’s a nice touch of psychological playfulness at work in this book, leading me to believe that Baratz-Logsted’s future literary efforts may be less jarring – historically as well as in other senses – than this one.
Helene Williams
THE INCONSTANT HUSBAND
Susan Barrett, Headline Review, 2006, £19.99, hb, 375pp, 0755321774
THE SECOND MRS. DARCY
Elisabeth Aston, Touchstone, 2007, $14.00, pb, 352pp, 0743297296
Mrs. Octavia Darcy, second wife, now widowed, of Captain Darcy, is surprised to find she is a very wealthy woman. She decides to leave her beloved India and return to England to learn
Japan in the late 19th century was ruled by Emperor Meiji. It was a time of upheaval, as the West began to influence Japanese culture; a time when the Samurai no longer fought, and men and women began to adopt Western fashion. Temae, the sacred tea ceremony traditionally performed by specially chosen men who were trained by expert tea masters, was no longer held in reverence as it had been in the past. Aurelia and Yukako are forced to adapt both the temae and their own lives in this passionate story of betrayal and unrequited love set in a world of tumultuous change and uncertainty. The book is beautifully written in a gentle, enthralling prose that accurately depicts a way of life that faded far too easily into the past.
Mirella Patzer
The 19th century is in its closing years, and Rose Seaton is bored with her life as the daughter of a well-to-do iron manufacturer. Then one day Patrick McKinley, a handsome if disreputable artist, literally steps into her drawing room and into her life. Given the chance to make a satisfactory marriage and keep her parents happy, Rose decides rather to run away and live a raggle-taggle life on the continent with her bohemian suitor.
Aided and abetted by her cousins, Edy and Guy, Rose soon discovers that her new lifestyle brings with it as many lows as it does highs. That Patrick loves her she does not doubt, but Patrick also loves money and himself in equal quantities, making the outlook rather uncertain for the naïve Rose. Whatever else, life is never boring, but is that enough?
The Inconstant Husband is a coming-ofage tale, following Rose’s development from innocent flower to resolute woman. Her many vacillations could have become irritating in the hands of a lesser novelist, so it is all credit to Susan Barrett that Rose’s character sustains the
action, and the reader’s interest, from beginning to end. Likewise Patrick’s inconstancy remains charming and boyish rather than descending into parody or frustration.
This is a worthy follow up to Susan’s Barrett’s debut novel Fixing Shadows and marks her out as a novelist to look out for in the coming years.
Sara Wilson
JANE AND THE BARQUE OF FRAILTY
Stephanie Barron, Bantam, 2006, $24.00/ C$32.00, hb, 330pp, 0553802267
Miss Jane Austen has left cozy Chawton for a month in London overseeing the printing of her first novel, Sense and Sensibility. Busy London life with sister-in-law Eliza begins with a play where all the “ton” display their fine clothes, jewels – and mistresses. The latest scandal deals with love letters printed in the Morning Post, allegedly written to a Tory minister from a jilted Russian princess who is later found with her throat cut on the steps of the lord’s home. An inquest confirms self-murder, but Jane is puzzled. When events conspire to bring Jane and Eliza into the frame of her possible murder, they must outrun the infamous Bow Street Runners to prove their innocence by finding the murderer among the untouchables of society. Jane’s ninth adventure builds to the intensity of a thriller but never abandons the gentle language and good manners of a proper Regency story.
Tess Allegra
THE HART BRAND
Johnny D. Boggs, Five Star, 2006, $26.95, hb, 226pp, 1594143994
In the tradition of such notable writers as Owen Wister, Louis L’Amour, and Max Brand, author Johnny D. Boggs delivers yet another classic western. Set in New Mexico in 1896, The Hart Brand tells the story about a fourteenyear-old boy coming of age in the American West. It begins as Caleb Hart is sent by his father from their home in St. Louis to live with an uncle, Captain Frank Hart, on his larger-thanlife ranch in the remote country of southwestern New Mexico. All the elements and drama of the American western genre unfold. From the very beginning, when Caleb arrives by train and is met by the Hart Ranch cowboys, the reader can see that the young man is going to learn valuable life lessons while working with more “seasoned” cowhands. Young Caleb learns how to “cowboy” and, more importantly, how to survive in the rugged western environment. Survival also involves joining forces with other ranches or “brands” to fight rustling thieves and murders. The rancher’s solutions to these problems often involve a type of justice not found in the East. Boggs writes a wonderful story using a style that is engaging and easy to read.
Sue Schrems
LEADVILLE LADY
Leslee Breene, Five Star, 2006, $26.95, hb, 267pp, 1594145466
Set in booming, silver-rich Colorado in 1880, Leadville Lady follows the adventures of bookkeeper Sky Saunders, who leaves her embezzler bank president husband to strike out on her own and invest in a silver mine, along with her cousin and a crusty miner as third partner. She’s met at the train station by her cousin’s boss, the marshal of the rough and ready town, Cody Cassidy. Their paths keep crossing as Sky is hired by a gambling hall, takes under her wing an orphan boy and his dog, and keeps tripping on smelter slag piles or bar chairs. She’s determined not to be “owned” by another husband, but once she nurses Cody’s wound after he’s ambushed by a claim-jumper’s gang, embers turn to sparking passion. Sky is not quite divorced from her abusive husband, which cools off their romance until misunderstandings are resolved and the divorce papers at last come through.
Leadville Lady clips along and has a lovely godmother ghost in Sky’s granny, but overall does not rise above its plot-driven, cliché-ridden devices (hero and heroine sharing each other’s miserable childhoods, trusty canine leading the marshal to the waif tumbled down the mineshaft) to fully engage this reader.
Eileen Charbonneau
FINN
Jon Clinch, Random House, 2007, $23.95, hb, 287pp, 1400065917
Huckleberry Finn’s drunken father is the inspiration for this novel, which owes more to William Faulkner in style than the easy, conversational storytelling of Twain’s famous boyhood narrator. Clinch employs an omniscient
Y EYE OF THE SERPENT
narrative voice in the present tense, allowing a host of familiar and unfamiliar characters new light in his imagination.
Finn is a murderous river dweller who lives in the shadow of his father, the Judge, and his lawyer brother. Where Twain chose to leave the dark side of the Mississippi river culture largely off-stage and allow only selected parts of it into Huck’s life, Finn dwells foursquare in this world of alcohol, slavery, and death. Finn’s relationship with the woman who gives birth to his son explores not only his complicated nature but also the uneasy relationships born of slavery in 19th century America. The money that Huck finds with Tom Sawyer only serves to remind Finn of his own poverty and lack of respectability.
As the novel unfolds, we understand why Twain’s eternal boy felt compelled to run away. Finn eventually gives his son an invented past, that most American of narrative solutions. Clinch’s tale eventually takes Finn to his familiar ignominious end in a cabin, later to be found amongst a pile of castoff clothes and odd furnishings by Jim in the backwash of the Mississippi.
It’s obvious that Clinch knows his Twain, as well as his narrative style. Almost any work ambitious enough to insert itself into the mythos surrounding the signature American novel would suffer from comparison. But Finn rises above this in shedding a little more light into a very dark corner of our collective imagination.
William Thornton
SHARPE’S FURY
Bernard Cornwell, HarperCollins, 2006, $24.95/C$32.95, hb, 352pp, 0060530480 / HarperCollins, 2006, £17.99, 416pp, 000712015X.
This twenty-first title in Cornwell’s Sharpe
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Joanna Challis, Hale, 2006, £18.99, hb, 224pp, 9780709081302
1870: Christabel Brown leaves England, becoming governess to the teenage daughter of an Austrian count. Liesel von Holstein is a difficult charge; her last governess came to an untimely end. Max von Holstein, handsome, widowed, rich, with a mysterious past and an impossibly beautiful castle, is the kind of man romantic dreams are made of. Christabel, beautiful, brave, forthright and honourable, is both entranced by her new employer and bewildered by the secrecy surrounding him. Before Christabel left England, her Grandma entrusted her with the safekeeping of a precious family heirloom, an unusual bracelet in the form of serpents entwined. When Christabel realises this same serpent is the insignia of the Von Holstein family, she wonders about the history of her bracelet. Can it truly be hers? Or was it stolen? Before long, death occurs. Dark forces are gathering, and Christabel is plunged into danger, along with the Count. A not unusual pattern of events, the Von Holstein family history is littered with tragedies. Is history about to repeat itself? Or is Christabel strong enough to claim what is rightfully hers? An achingly beautiful tale, incurably romantic in every sense. Perfect from start to finish, deliciously pleasurable, and highly recommended. Fiona Lowe
series brings the dashing, 19th-century rifleman to Spain during the Napoleonic wars. The drama begins with a battle that sets up Sharpe’s desire for revenge against the French general Vandal, who dogs Sharpe’s steps until the very end of the book. Although the British initially succeed in their mission to blow up a pontoon bridge, one of Sharpe’s men is captured in a very underhanded way, and their commanding officer, General Moon, is wounded in the action. They are forced to hole up in Cadiz, a city currently under siege by the French.
While he is in the Spanish city, the British ambassador hires Sharpe to undertake a dangerous undercover mission to recover some letters — love letters he wrote to a courtesan — that certain Spaniards are using to further the cause of the French. The action reaches a climax, and all the exciting threads of the narrative come together at the battle of Barrosa, where the Spanish desert their British allies, leaving them to fight the French — and Vandal — against seemingly insurmountable odds.
Bernard Cornwell is a marvelous storyteller with an impeccable sense of timing. He keeps the action moving, making generally plausible twists and turns along the way. It hardly matters that Sharpe, despite his dubious background, is almost too good to be true. He is a likable hero who tears through the Napoleonic wars and shows us the grittier side of the conflict in a very believable way. While his encounter with the one significant female character in the book seems a bit superficial, and she herself rather predictable, this small flaw can be forgiven for the sheer pleasure of adventure and excitement to be found throughout the book.
Sharpe’s Fury will appeal to fans of Cornwell’s fiction, and to anyone who wants a good, rollicking read full of blood and action.
Susanne Dunlap
FORT DEARBORN
Jerry Crimmins, Northwestern Univ. Press, 2006, $27.95, hb, 431pp, 0810122960
Written by a well-known reporter who has reported and edited Chicago papers for the last thirty years, Fort Dearborn is obviously a labor of love, detailing the humble beginnings of today’s metropolis as a frontier trading post. The story opens in 1803 and ends with the massacre of 1812. Told from the point of view of Jim, a boy whose widowed father is a soldier at the fort, the author describes the unique and long forgotten world of tall grass prairie, slough, dunes – and whole lakes of mud – that once fronted Lake Michigan. The fort was surrounded by both great beauty and great danger, for the Potawatomi, Miami, Shawnee and Kickapoo were fighting a rear guard action against the incursion of land hungry Americans. Jim is both fascinated and frightened by Indians. One rebellious day, he borrows a horse and rides out to see a Potawatomi boy he’s befriended at the trading post. It proves to be a bewildering visit. The Indians are less than friendly, because the
teachings of the Shawnee Prophet have taken hold, and one of these is to abjure all contact with whites.
The description, reportage, and research are in every way strong. Characterization and dialogue, unfortunately, are ineffective. Jim was the only character with whom I became involved, and his story ends without resolution. The gold in Fort Dearborn is 99 pages of notes, maps, drawings, and excerpts from letters and diaries, which could provide a reader who wants to learn more about the beginnings of this great modern city with an excellent starting place.
Juliet Waldron
WANTED!
Pam Crooks, Harlequin Historicals, 2006, $5.50, pb, 298pp, 9780373294138
After an exciting if western cliché-ridden prologue featuring the 1868 downfall of the Reno gang, Wanted! switches gears, catching up with its female member, Wild Red. She’s done five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary and has remade herself into Lark Renault, bank teller of Ida Grove. And she’s still good with numbers, and now content, if lonely, living on the right side of the law.
But nearby lives the man who brought her down, former bounty hunter Ross Santana, with a convenient younger sister ready to act as gobetween when Lark needs his help. Together they battle a surviving member of the gang, Catfish Jack, when he returns, looking for the money from a former heist. Revealing her part in the crime means more jail time for Lark, and the loss of her new home and respectability. Her hero also must battle in his loss of confidence and closed-down heart. Adventures both within and without give the lovers their hard-won happy ending.
Staying within romance and western conventions, Wanted! delights with a strong plot and galloping pace. Though Catfish Jack is strictly out of central casting, the frank, crackling personality of Pam Crooks’s outlawturned-respectable woman matches up nicely with her gruff and taciturn bounty hunter.
Eileen Charbonneau
REDEMPTION
Carolyn Davidson, HQN, 2006, $5.99/C$6.99, pb, 379pp, 0373771495 / Mills & Boon, 2006, £3.99, 379pp, 0263849619
Widower Jake McPherson takes no prisoners with his temper as he sits in his wheelchair, closed off from the world while his nineyear-old son runs rampant through town. Tall, plain Alicia Merriweather, the town’s spinster schoolteacher, has had enough of watching young Jason McPherson leap from one selfcreated disaster to another. She confronts Jake about his son’s behavior, ignoring the veteran’s nasty attitude. Slowly, she pushes her way into Jake’s house, and eventually into his life. It’s not easy for Jake or Alicia to drop their defenses, but eventually they turn their marriage of
convenience onto one of love.
This skillfully told tale, set in Green Rapids, Kansas, in 1880, wraps the reader around the lives of a non-traditional hero and heroine. He’s a double amputee and she’s not a traditional beauty, refreshing for a historical romance. At times, the heroine seems a little too good to be true — she teaches all day, cooks the meals, cleans the house, takes care of the yard, keeps Jason out of trouble — all while Jake grouses about how hard he has it living in a wheelchair, but the title says it all, so it should be no surprise that patience and persistence win and love conquers all.
Debra Rodensky
QUEEN OF SWORDS
Sara Donati, Bantam, 2006, $27.00/$36.00, hb, 562pp, 055380149X / To be pub. in Aug 2007 by HarperCollins UK, £6.99, pb, 612pp, 000710832X
Sara Donati revives the sweeping, no-holdsbarred historical sagas of the 1970s and 1980s in Queen of Swords, the fifth book in her Bonner family saga. This installment begins with Luke and Hannah Bonner searching the Caribbean for Luke’s abducted wife, Jennet. But though Jennet’s rescue is swift and successful, she has terrifying news: in captivity, she’d given birth to Luke’s son, but she’d been forced to give him up to a stranger – a horrid man – in order to keep the baby safe. Determined to find their son, the reunited couple follow the trail to New Orleans in 1814, on the eve of the decisive battle between the British and the Americans. There they make new friends and find old enemies as they struggle to reunite their family and make their way home.
Find a comfortable couch; this is the kind of series that a reader can wallow in for days. The characters are warm and finely drawn, if perhaps too liberal for the time period. The historical details are vivid and well woven into the story. One could argue that the villain is of the mustache-twirling kind, but that can be forgiven as the reader is swept into the lives and loves of so many passionate and good-hearted characters. Bravo to Ms. Donati, and hurry up with the next installment.
Lisa Ann Verge
BEGUILED
Shannon Drake, HQN, 2006, $7.99/C$9.50, pb, 424pp, 0373771312
In the waning years of Victoria’s reign, orphaned Ally Grayson is fascinated by a masked highwayman who steals nothing, nor will he say why he stopped her carriage. He turns out to be the fiancé she’s never met, Mark Farrow, a titled detective working on a murder case involving anti-monarchists. Ally has a secret, too — she is the author of anonymous essays against the antimonarchists. Mark soon discovers that Ally’s mysterious parentage will put her in danger if the murderer traces her identity.
Beguiled is both a historical romance and
a murder mystery, unsuccessful at either. The obstacles thrown in the couple’s way to keep them apart are contrived. Mark’s highwayman pose provides a “meet cute” scenario, but doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the murder case. The book is loaded with Americanisms, and the supposedly English characters woefully misuse English titles. Why bother setting a book in the past if you don’t at least try to get easyto-verify facts right? The bedroom scenes will satisfy romance fans who aren’t bothered by the odd clinker, such as, “She touched his flesh, and it was alive.” What was she expecting, a little necrophilia?
B.J. Sedlock
TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH: A Sea Trilogy
William Golding, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006, $18, pb, 784pp, 0374530912. Pub. in the UK by Faber and Faber, 2005, £9.99, 784pp, 0571225411
Rites of Passage, the first novel of this trilogy, won the Booker Prize; Golding is also a Nobel laureate, a master of language, using English to create, in these three books, the enclosed world that is a sailing ship heading for Australia.
Rites of Passage centres on the story of Reverend Colley, and it is tragic, a shocking episode that is typical Golding. But here his narrator, Edmund Talbot, is that rare thing, a comic Golding character that is often foolish. Readers see through his eyes, and are able, sometimes, to laugh.
The ship’s crew and passengers reflect the spectrum of 19th century English society. We see these characters, the disgruntled captain, his officers, the motley crew and the passengers, interacting with Edmund. Readers often understand more than he does, which provides a comic twist. But Edmund is not merely a caricature, he is a three-dimensional character who grows through the three books from a conceited youth to a more thoughtful young man, and because he does, often in spite of himself, the reader is left with hope, not despair.
By the end of the voyage, and the trilogy, there is happiness for Talbot, in love, and with a promising future, but not so for all the other characters. A very Golding ending.
The trilogy is a superb read. Historical detail is excellent, the characters are fascinating, and the story itself nail biting. Will there be mutiny; will the ship reach Sydney Cove? Add to that the quality of William Golding’s writing and you have a book to re-read with as much pleasure as when you first read it.
Patrika Salmon
Mr Knightley slowly comes to recognize his growing romantic feelings towards Emma Woodhouse, and we also get another perspective on Emma’s doomed matchmaking endeavors and see first hand her mistakes and misadventures. All the original characters make their appearances, a few gaps in the original plot are filled in, and the social life of Highbury is more fully portrayed, but this time all from the viewpoint of a single man.
Whilst Mr Knightley’s Diary might not have a profound influence on our understanding of the original novel, it is a lighthearted and sparkling rendition of the classic love story. It also helps to round out Knightley’s character and gives it an added dimension. Probably not for those who have not yet read the original, it is an interesting addition and worth a quick read.
Sara Wilson
THE BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE
S.C. Gylanders, Random House, 2006, $25.95, hb, 448pp, 1400065143
The title, a phrase from Lincoln’s 1861 inaugural address, haunts the brutal Civil War that followed. The phrase also describes the young orphan boy, Jesse Davis, who joins Union general William Tecumseh Sherman before the battle of Shiloh. Jesse exemplifies angelic behavior amidst the destruction of war. We see horrific battles through the youngster’s eyes, some of the most vivid Civil War battle scenes you will ever read. Yet Jesse demonstrates kindness, love and self-sacrifice amid the chaos and cruel mass murder of war. To Gylanders’ credit, she creates a creature that seems real and believable while also being ethereal. Jesse stays with Sherman through Shiloh, the siege of Vicksburg and on toward Chattanooga, touching many wounded lives along the way.
Gylanders also provides a strikingly realistic description of Sherman. You see the lines of emotional distress etched on his face and smell cigars and whiskey on his breath. By the end of the book you will swear you can hear the great general’s voice just outside your window.
Jesse’s identity becomes a mystery that moves to center stage of the story. Where does Jesse come from? How can a person with such innocence demonstrate such wisdom? What has Jesse been put here to do? These are the questions that will keep you reading this worthwhile book.
Chuck Curtis
WHEN GODS DIE
C.S. Harris, New American Library, 2006, $23.95/C$31.50, hb, 352pp, 0451219686
the body exhibits unusual characteristics, and Sebastian is called in when it’s discovered that a necklace found on the marchioness was last owned by Sebastian’s mother – and she was wearing it the day she was lost at sea. Painful family secrets and conspiracies are uncovered as Sebastian attempts to solve the murder and save the monarchy.
Like the inaugural book in this series, Harris again showcases her ability to craft a fast-paced mystery with a convincing historical atmosphere and an intense, sexy protagonist. Unfortunately, this offering is significantly heavier on the romance and emotional baggage St. Cyr shares with his erstwhile actress lover, and this doesn’t sit as well. Though a small dose is needed for character development, the recurring romantic scenes become repetitive in their themes and slow the mystery plot. This is a minor quibble, however; When Gods Die is a skillfully written, gripping mystery that is well worth the read.
Bethany Latham
WHIRLWIND
Cindy Holby, Leisure, $6.99/C$8.99, pb, 341 pp, 9780843953084
Though Zane Brody looks like a happy and handsome bachelor, he pines for the comforts and happiness of a home life similar to the ones he sees his friends enjoying in Laramie, Wyoming. It takes a working trip to New York City and a follow-up adventure through Indian Territory for this young ranch hand to realize what he desires. Zane is hired to retrieve a fine thoroughbred mare in New York. During the trip home, he is bedeviled by the goat (appropriately named Lucifer) which comes with the package. To boot, Zane meets Mary, a delightful widow, who is not impressed with him. She, too, is journeying west to take on a teaching position in none other than Laramie. The real adventure begins when their train is held up by Indians and Mary’s brother is kidnapped. Determined to rescue her brother, Mary takes off with the thoroughbred and Zane and Lucifer are left to follow. The rest unfolds from there. If you abhor violence, you may want to skip reading some sections, but otherwise this is an enjoyable romance that will open your heart and make you smile.
Carol Anne Germain
ROSE ALLEY
Audrey Howard, Hodder & Stoughton, £6.99, pb, 470pp, ISBN 0340921374
MR
KNIGHTLEY’S DIARY
Amanda Grange, Hale, 2006, £18.99, hb, 224pp, 0709081340
Following the success of Darcy’s Diary, Amanda Grange has now taken Jane Austen’s Emma and retold it from Mr Knightley’s point of view. Here we see from the beginning how
Apparently Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is having a rough year. Having just managed to clear himself of murder earlier in 1811 (see What Angels Fear), St. Cyr now finds himself looking into yet another murder. A beautiful young marchioness is found stabbed – in the arms of the Prince Regent himself. But
Audrey Howard’s new book is classic Victorian melodrama. From the foetid Liverpool slum of the title, Queenie Logan and her improbably named daughter, Gillyflower, struggle against Poverty, Convention, Jealousy, Snobbery, Violence, Rape and Tragedy to eventual Triumph and Marriage. The villains are utterly villainous; our heroines are beautiful, hard-working, resourceful and intelligent. And naturally Gilly and dashing shipbuilding heir, Lucas Barrie, would have married much earlier
but for misunderstandings, lovers’ tiffs and the complication of childhood sweetheart, Jem Wilson.
If you can tolerate the endless descriptions of Gilly’s beauty and perfect dress sense, Rose Alley makes an enjoyable read. However, having parents from that part of the world, I found the author’s attempts to write Scouse dialect tiresome. Ms Howard, though born in Birkenhead, cannot decide whether her characters speak Scouse or Lancashire, as mingled with Cilla Black’s “lorra” and “gorra,” we have “‘appen” this and “‘appen” that. Admittedly, my parents were middle class, but my father served an apprenticeship in the workshops of the Mersey Dock & Harbour Board, and my mother tended children from the Birkenhead slums as a nurse. Both insist that ‘appen has no place in the Scousers’ lexicon. At times the period detail is distinctly heavy-handed, with descriptions of journeys taken straight off the street map, and the opening ceremonies for Sefton Park from newspapers of the day. But at the same time Ms Howard misses some obvious points. At a time when the age of majority was twenty-one, no bank manager would make a loan to a girl of seventeen, however impressive her business acumen, nor would that girl be able to take a lease of commercial premises.
Ah well, an undemanding read for a wet winter weekend.
Ann Lyon
THE RULES OF SEDUCTION
Madeline Hunter, Dell, 2006, $6.99/C$9.99, pb, 416pp, 0553587323
This engaging novel, set during the reign of George IV, features an honour-bound hero and a penniless heroine brought together in a marriage of convenience after his aunt buys her family’s home. As always, Hunter has woven a lively tale of love full of plot twists and brimming with sparkling dialogue. Hayden and Alexa spar verbally as they fall in love, each working to overcome believable barriers to their happy ending. They are far from stereotypical, each with strengths and weaknesses. Of special note is Alexa’s side career as a milliner, an element that adds depth to both her character and the story. The secondary characters are equally well realized, with stories of their own, yet never do they threaten to overshadow the protagonists. Georgian England is well depicted, brought to life with small details and carefully chosen prose evoking the era, while providing a lively backdrop for the well-paced story of romance, mystery and a touch of humour. I laughed out loud on several occasions. Fans of historical romance would do well to pick up this delightful novel and make room for it on their keeper shelf. I know it will reside on mine.
Teresa Basinski Eckford
THE GODS OF NEWPORT
John Jakes, Dutton, 2006, $26.95, hb, 400pp, 0525949763
In Gilded Age Newport, wealth and social
status are all; wars are fought on tennis courts and in ballrooms; and the arbiters of these cutthroat conflicts bear names like Astor, Vanderbilt, and Fish. Nouveau riche railroad tycoon Sam Driver is willing to do almost anything to break into Newport’s patrician circles and provide entrée for his beautiful daughter, Jenny. Jenny, who approves the idea but still manages to fall in love with a lower-class Irishman, and Driver’s implacable enemy, William Brady, provide just two of the obstacles Sam must face to achieve his goal of joining the cream of fin-de-siècle society.
This novel by the prolific Jakes is a strange combination of set piece and strikingly unmoving melodrama. The reader is treated to two over-emotionalized murders in the first pages of the book (one is the real murder of Jim Fisk told in flashback), and the latter pages are filled with over-the-top “action” scenes, such as a tennis match whose winner gets the girl, a four-in-hand coach race, and scattered brawling. The book often reads like a screenplay, and there are abundant descriptions of clothes, food, and the social rules. This makes for a glitteringly attractive tableau, but there is no depth to it, and the plot is remarkably predictable. Real historical personages, such as Mamie Fish, make engaging characterizations, and are really the only thing that keeps this novel from devolving into a morass of predictability and formula. Taken as a whole, Jakes’s latest offering is a shallow, easy read which captures the zeitgeist of the Gilded Age, even if it doesn’t tell a multifaceted or particularly absorbing story.
Bethany Latham
THE SCHOOL FOR HEIRESSES
Sabrina Jeffries, Liz Carlyle, Julia London, and Renee Bernard, Pocket, 2007, $6.99/C$8.99, pb, 384pp, 1416516115
A delightful collection of four passionate Regency-era short stories by different authors is tied together through the heroines, all pupils at The School for Heiresses. The first, “Reasons to Stay” by Sabrina Jeffries, begins when the hero catches a runaway heiress stealing his horse to escape an arranged marriage. In Liz Carlyle’s bedroom farce, “After Midnight,” the unorthodox heroine is trapped into marriage by circumstances. Julia London’s heroine in “The Merchant’s Gift” is a dutiful daughter of a wealthy tradesman torn between her father’s demand to marry a title and the tradesman she loves. The final story, “Mischief’s Holiday” by Renee Bernard, has a madcap, clumsy heroine who gets stuck in the window of her brokendown carriage, which presents her enticing rear-end to the hero as he comes to her rescue. Sabrina Jeffries, Liz Carlyle, and Julia London are established, well-known authors. Renee Bernard, a relatively new author, has proven to be their equal. This is as good as it gets for an anthology.
Audrey Braver
CONFESSIONS OF A VISCOUNT
Shirley Karr, Avon, 2006, $5.99/C$7.99, pb, 375pp, 0060634129
If you are a regular reader of historical romance novels, you’ve probably encountered this plot before. Karr’s storyline is not new, but she does provide the reader with interesting characters, heated interactions, and subtle nuances. Set at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the storyline focuses on a young female spy, Charlotte Parnell, who has returned to London society where her sleuthing expertise is no longer desired. Miss Parnell is determined to continue her espionage activities and prove that she is a worthy operative. However, her half-brother is determined to have her enter the social world and ultimately marry.
As luck would have it, on the London social scene is a handsome, muscular, intelligent, charismatic aristocrat, Alistair, the Viscount Moncreiffe. He may turn out to be too much of a catch for Miss Parnell and she for him. While his attention is mainly focused on the heavenly bodies, yes, stars, comets and the like, he also finds Charlotte an attractive distraction. The two work together through her surveillance endeavors and his nightly sky watches. There is plenty of steamy sexual tension and intrigue between the main characters. So, if this is a plot you enjoy – go for it!
Carol Anne Germain
MEASURING THE WORLD
Daniel Kehlmann (trans. Carol Brown Janeway), Pantheon, 2006, $23.00/C$30.00, hb, 259pp, 0375424466 / Quercus, 2007, £12.99, pb, 272pp, 1847240453
With its lively translation, Daniel Kehlmann’s Measuring the World tells the parallel stories of two scientists who were child prodigies, Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Friedrich Gauss. In the early 19th century, the business of measuring, naming and categorizing the known world was in full swing. Both men were straight from the genius mold, famously obsessive. Von Humboldt, born a Prussian aristocrat, spent months traveling to Spain because he had to measure every mountain, cave and river he encountered along the way. Gauss, who was a humble gardener’s son, explored the frontiers of mathematics, and has been called the greatest mathematical mind since Newton. Gauss had a healthy interest in women; however, he is said to have interrupted his wedding night in order to note down a ground-breaking equation.
The strange and occasionally outrageous thought process of these brilliant minds, neither of whom was the least affected by the conventions of that (or any other) time, are wittily and deftly presented. Humboldt’s New World adventures as he explored the Amazon and Orinoco, detailed by letter to newspapers in Paris, are as colorful and compelling as anything imagined by H.G. Wells or Rider Haggard. In short, Kehlmann creates an illuminating and entertaining picture of the end of the Enlightenment and the tangled politics of the post-Napoleonic era among the
still- disjointed states of greater Germany. Here are the struggles of a matchless pair of geniuses to procure the resources needed for their pursuit of knowledge, while, for the most part, successfully manipulating bureaucrats, politicians and courtiers. Don’t be afraid of a novel abounding with science and philosophy, translated from a famously dense language. The pages almost turned themselves.
Juliet Waldron
THE TASTE OF INNOCENCE
Stephanie Laurens, Morrow, 2007, $24.95/ C$31.50, hb, 384pp, 0060840862
In 1833, Charles Morwellan, 8th Earl of Meredith, returns home resigned to marry; it is time and it will please his mother. He has two requirements. First, that the woman he chooses be suitable to be his countess; and second, that he does not love her. That had been his father’s very costly mistake. Charles decides that Sarah, daughter of his nearest neighbor and childhood playmate, would do nicely. Sarah refuses to marry except for love. That is her single requirement. So when Charlie proposes and suggests they marry immediately by special license, Sarah requests a two-week period of courtship before giving her answer. Charlie embarks immediately on a courtship based on seduction and Sarah, who has loved Charlie all her life, succumbs. That, however, is just the beginning. In this Cynster novel Ms Laurens has characters cross over from her Bastion Club series. There is more here than erotic passion, which the author does so well. There is mystery, danger, and a spectacular fire. This is vintage Laurens.
Audrey Braver
WAYS TO BE WICKED
Julie Ann Long, Warner, 2006, US $6.50, pb, 384pp, 0446616877
Sylvie Lamoureux, prima ballerina of the Paris ballet, takes a daring leap and finds herself penniless in a generically described Regencyera London. Luckily Sylvie lands in the lap of a gorgeous hunk who owns a bawdy theatre. Is she hungry enough to accept his offer of a bumpand-grind job in his chorus that requires her to hide her elegant ballet training? Is she really the long lost sister of wealthy Lady Grantham? Will she choose the self-made English impresario or the titled French lover? Author Long keeps the tone light and playful throughout this amusing melodrama set in London’s theatrical demimonde. Labeled a historical romance, this one is more sex and romance than history, but it a fun read.
Nina
de Angeli
from Antigua in the West Indies to the island of Martinique. Assigned to the Mediterranean, he then becomes inadvertently involved in a Spanish civil war. While in Italy, he is ordered on a rescue mission to northern Africa. He faces diplomatic intrigue and many life-threatening experiences. Although happily married, Lt. Wake becomes involved in an affair of honor with the wife of a French diplomat. A subplot deals with his wife’s concern about their marriage because of his love for the ocean and the U.S. Navy. He has spent little time at home, always at sea.
This series is unique in naval fiction; the plots are considerably character driven, with the protagonist facing challenges from his superiors, the crew on board his ships, and interesting antagonists who are out to defeat him. Macomber’s writing skills have improved significantly since his first novel. His books are page-turners that make me anxious to read the next chapter. If you enjoy reading naval fiction and would like a change of pace, I strongly suggest An Affair of Honor. This book can stand alone, but I recommend starting with the first book in the series, At the Edge of Honor, to achieve a more thorough understanding of the main and supporting characters.
Jeff
Westerhoff
THE RAILWAY DETECTIVE
Edward Marston, Allison & Busby, 2006, £6.99/$9.95, pb, 318pp, 0749083522
The first novel in the Detective Inspector Colbeck Mysteries has a handsome new cover in honour of its reprint. 1851: the Great Exhibition is soon to open, interest in railways running high, and Detective Inspector Colbeck is faced with a double challenge. In a neatly executed attack upon the London-to-Birmingham railway line, a mail train is robbed and derailed. Serious injury results. Someone clearly does not care for the new transport system sweeping the face of the English countryside and changing it forever. Colbeck must act and find the perpetrator fast, before both the railway company and the relatively new Detective section of Scotland Yard lose too much face. Under pressure from his disapproving superior, the Superintendent of the Yard Edward Tallis, Colbeck cannot afford to fail. Soon Colbeck encounters the daughter of the injured railway driver, Madeleine Andrews. And the pace quickens.
Known as the dandy of Scotland Yard, Colbeck is charming, intelligent and cultured. His able assistant Sergeant Victor Leeming is the perfect foil: a working man of sound common sense principles and brisk no-nonsense approach.
This second novel in the Detective Inspector Colbeck mysteries is now in reprint with a splendidly eye-catching new cover. Robert Colbeck is once again asked to solve a crime involving the railways. No wonder they’re starting to call him the Railway Detective down at the yard. This time it’s the seemingly motiveless murder of a passenger on a crowded excursion train. Odd then that the chosen weapon should be a noose. All too soon it transpires the murdered man was a public hangman. At least motive is no longer an issue; indeed quite the reverse. Now the chase is on to find the murderer, a chase which involves the solution of quite another mystery altogether. The bluff Edward Tallis and brisk Victor Leeming once again play their parts in chasing down the criminal, as does the redoubtable Madeleine Andrews. Relationships flourish in this the second outing, and as the plot proceeds the reader is treated to fascinating insights into the main characters. Charmingly written, thoroughly researched, and a most enjoyable follow-up to the first in the series. I for one can’t wait to read number three.
Fiona Lowe
TURN OF THE TIDE
Elisabeth McNeill, Severn House, 2006, £18.99/$27.95, hb, 167pp, 0727864564
It is always interesting reading a sequel when you haven’t read the first book. In this case, it doesn’t really matter, as there is a four-page synopsis of it at the beginning of this one.
The first book, The Storm, told the tale of the impact on three loosely linked women of the violent storm that wiped out the fishing fleet of the Berwickshire town of Eyemouth in 1881. Picking up where the previous book left off, this book follows these women over the next twenty years, as they rebuild their lives, two in Eyemouth and one in London, struggling at times to put the events of 1881 behind them, and find happiness.
The historical background cannot be faulted – the quality of McNeill’s research is clear – but she has not given herself the space to do her story justice. Far more could have been made of the London subplot, for example. So although a story of great potential, I felt that given the brevity of the novel and the timescale involved, it left me feeling dissatisfied and wishing there had been more.
Cas Stavert
BEWARE OF VIRTUOUS WOMEN
Kasey Michaels, HQN, 2006, $6.99/C$8.50, 377pp, 037377107X
AN AFFAIR OF HONOR
Robert N. Macomber, Pineapple Press, 2006, $21.95, hb, 376pp, 1561643688
In this fifth novel in the award-winning Honor Series, Lieutenant Peter Wake is the executive officer on board the U.S.S. Omaha. It is 1873, and the book follows Lt. Wake’s travels
A thoroughly enjoyable Victorian crime novel, a must for aficionados. For the general reader in search of fresh entertainment, and well worth reading.
Fiona Lowe
THE EXCURSION TRAIN
Edward Marston, Allison & Busby, 2006, £6.99/$9.95, pb, 318pp, 0749082372
Book three of Michaels’ new Romney Marsh series focuses on adopted daughter Eleanor, who has always been aloof, quietly running the boisterous Becket household. When the notorious Red Men Gang threatens the family, friend Jack Eastwood offers to infiltrate London society to uncover the gang’s leader. To the dismay of her family, Eleanor volunteers to play Eastwood’s pretend wife and journeys to
London with him, intent on helping.
Although secretive about her past, Jack finds that Eleanor is not just a private, delicate woman, but has a steely will and a quick mind. Her secrets, however, become a liability when Jack discovers that Rowley Maddox, the Earl of Chelfham and quite possibly the leader of the Red Men, knows who Eleanor is and what she is hiding. Jack and Eleanor find themselves playing a dangerous game with Maddox, leading to a cataclysmic climax, and threatening the growing love between them.
Despite rather corny, cliché-ridden love scenes, the story resonates with romance and adventure, with two likable protagonists. The lively dialogue and engaging characters make for a suspenseful plot, with exciting predicaments and a satisfying conclusion. Michaels has once again captured the intriguing Becket family in a delightful story of love.
Rebecca Roberts
A DISSEMBLER
Fenella-Jane Miller, Robert Hale, 2006, £18.99, hb, 224pp, 0709081316
When Marianne Devenish runs away from the unwelcome attentions of a disreputable suitor, she expects to find sanctuary with her elderly great-uncle. Instead she finds herself in the bachelor household of Theodolphus Rickham, a man who is not all he seems to be. For the sake of her reputation, Marianne is billeted out with a local family, the Griersons of Fratling Hall. They are as friendly and welcoming as she could wish for, but they also seem involved in a local smuggling racket. Drawn into scandal against her wishes, Marianne’s reputation is in jeopardy and can only be saved through the quick-thinking actions of the dissembling Theo.
Anyone wanting to read a classic Regencystyle romance need look no further than A Dissembler. It’s easy to be dismissive of these fluffy mousse confections, but what they lack in literary depth, they more than make up for in sheer joie de vivre. Fenella-Jane Miller obviously knows her market through and through and has written the perfect novel to satisfy its demands.
Sara Wilson
DAYLIGHT COMES
Judith Miller, Bethany House, 2006, $12.99, pb, 377pp, 0764200003
In 1882, Nicodemus and Hill City, Kansas, have grown from their frontier wilderness beginnings. These two towns, one black and one white, share a bond of goodwill, forged when they were young communities. Nicodemus townsfolk are elated when Moses Wyman is asked by the Republican Party to run as state auditor. This could be the highest political position a black man has held in Kansas. However, Moses’ newly pregnant wife, Truth, is not pleased at all. If Moses wins, they will have to move to Topeka. Truth wants her child to be born and raised in Nicodemus among her family and friends. Meanwhile, in nearby Hill
City, Macia Boyle returns from Europe to find the man she loved engaged to another woman, and a new man in town who strikes her interest. Daylight Comes is the third installment in the Freedom’s Path series. Although the story is mildly interesting, it doesn’t measure up to the promise of the earlier books (First Dawn and Morning Sky) and is best read as the last part of the series. Judith Miller mentions in a note to her readers that Nicodemus is the only African American frontier town in existence today.
Nan Curnutt
A GENTLE AXE
R. N. Morris, Faber & Faber, 2007, £12.99, pb, 292pp, 978057123205 / Penguin Press, 2007, $24.95, hb, 320pp, 9781594201127
A man hangs from a tree in Petrovsky Park, St. Petersburg, an axe tucked in his belt. Beside him on the ground is a leather suitcase containing the body of a dwarf (or should that read ‘a height-challenged person’ in these days?). Zoya Nicolaevna, walking home through the park, discovers the bodies, finds six thousand roubles in the hanging man’s pockets and goes on her way, laughing. As for the bodies, this is clearly another case for Detective Porfiry Petrovich.
The story is set in the winter of 1867 in St. Petersburg. It is an intriguing tale with many avenues to explore before the murderer is exposed in the last few pages, but I found that the constant use of the full Russian names, usually three of them, irritating. It may well be that this was the norm, the author seems to have researched the period well, but I found it offputting. The characters in the story, apart from the police, are largely poverty-stricken for one reason or another, and as human nature doesn’t change much it could have been set in any place, in any age.
Crime fiction, it certainly is, but there are no historical events or persons involved and to me, therefore, simply dating it to a year in the mid-19th century does not merit the genre of an historical novel.
Marilyn
Sherlock
THE TWISTING VINE
Margaret Muir, Hale, 2006, £18.99, hb, 224pp, 0709081324
When Lord Farnley’s young daughter dies, her maid, Lucy Oldfield, is ordered to burn the child’s expensive French doll. Unable to do the deed, Lucy hides the doll and takes it with her when she is forced to leave her post. After that her life takes a series of twists and turns as she first falls on hard times with an illegitimate child to support, and then comes into money when a kind benefactor comes to her rescue. But whatever happens, Lucy keeps the French doll safe until the day comes when she might be able to bring solace to an elderly man by returning her to her rightful owner.
The Twisting Vine is a classic rags-to-riches tale but is none the worse for that. Lucy is an engaging heroine and there is plenty of action
to keep the reader’s interest from beginning to end. When the final resolution comes it is totally appropriate and artistically extremely satisfying.
Sara Wilson
HAWK’S PURSUIT
Constance O’Banyon, Leisure, 2006, $6.99, pb, 341pp, 9780843956368
The third volume of O’Banyon’s Hawk Crest saga finds the youngest of four children, elevenyear-old Jena Leigh, in mortal danger from both diphtheria and the fire that destroyed her orphanage in 1858 Texas. Rescued and brought up by a wealthy, unconventional journalist, she returns during the Reconstruction Era to find her family.
Both impulsive and self-righteous, Jena Leigh soon embroils herself in both politics and a serial murder investigation on behalf of the local newspaper, where she is known for her editorials under the pseudonym J.L. Rebel. Union leader Colonel Clay Madison is smitten and learns to respect Jena Leigh’s intelligence and independence as she is busy matchmaking and finding the murderer. Another villain, set on destroying the Hawk family, is closing in as Jena finds both a husband and brother.
After a promising opening, Hawk’s Pursuit suffers from clichéd characterization (including a villain who actually hisses), awkward viewpoint shifts, and plot devices that don’t make organic sense. The novel is further disserved by cover art depicting the hero in the wrong side’s uniform.
Eileen Charbonneau
THE RUNAWAY HEIRESS
Anne O’Brien, Harlequin, 2006, US$5.50/ C$6.50, pb, 297pp, 0373294114
The night her uncle and guardian informs her that she is to marry her cousin, Frances Hanwell escapes Torrington Hall, where she has lived most of her life. Her aunt and uncle have mistreated her and while their son has been decent to Frances, he’s not been her champion. She manages to escape by hiding in the carriage of a neighbor, Hugh, Marquess of Aldeborough, recently returned from the Peninsular War. Very much in his cups, Hugh mistakes Frances for a runaway scullery maid, and considering her life at the Hall this is not far from the truth. In the morning, a sober Hugh realizes who Frances really is and insists on marrying her to preserve her reputation. Recognizing this as possibly her only realistic option, Frances accepts. There are murder attempts, a kidnapping, a jealous woman, and a guilty conscience to stir the plot along to its inevitable happy ending.
Anne O’Brien’s fifth book is packed with enough action and adventure to be interesting, but there is a surreal sense of time and distance.
Audrey Braver
A HEARTH IN CANDLEWOOD
Delia Parr, Bethany House, 2006, $12.99, pb, 316pp, 0764200860
In 1841, with grace and fortitude, fifty-yearold Emma Garrett presides over Hill House, a stately boardinghouse in the canal village of Candlewood, New York. She ministers to her guests’ spiritual as well as physical needs, but when a runaway grandmother lands on her doorstep, Emma finds herself embroiled in a family feud. Her home and good works are also put in danger when the ownership of her boardinghouse is called in question.
Emma has a natural curiosity and zeal for helping others. Against the advice of her attorney, Zachary Breckenwith, she is determined to solve both issues. With all of these circumstances hovering about her, Emma turns to her strong faith to help her get through it all. A no-nonsense woman, Emma is steadfast in principles and family values, always doing what is right even when it is not convenient.
With colorful, lively characters, this story weaves in humor, friendship and faith to create a gentle retreat from our bustling world. Quietly told, this story is best for those looking for a calm book with little action, but big in heart. A Hearth in Candlewood is the first installment in the inspirational Candlewood Trilogy.
Rebecca Roberts
A CHRISTMAS SECRET
Anne Perry, Headline, 2006, £14.99 hb, 136pp, 0755334280 / Ballantine, 2006, $16.95, hb, 136pp, 0345485815
In December 1890, Clarice Corde accompanies her husband to the village of Cottisham, where he is to stand in while the resident vicar takes a holiday. The beautiful country setting is a complete contrast to the bleak area of industrial
Y THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES
London where her husband Dominic is a curate, and Clarice considers the break an ideal Christmas present. Dominic is anxious to make the right impression in the village, and even when events take a tragic turn, the couple are determined to do what is right.
Ms Perry’s descriptions of the winter landscape are excellent, but although the date is conveniently stated in the first paragraph, there is little Victorian atmosphere in this novella. The plot is implausible, with “an excellent housekeeper” who does not notice that her employer has gone away without taking any of his belongings, and villagers rushing to confess to Dominic secrets they had not confided to their own vicar who, it would appear, was an admirable and wise shepherd to his flock. There are also inconsistencies: for example Dominic and Clarice decide that they should trust no-one in the village, yet both go off to discuss matters with people who would appear to be under most suspicion. Disappointing.
Melinda
Hammond
DREAM OF LIFE
Michael Phillips, Tyndale House, 2006, $13.99, pb, 639pp, 0842377786
“We have all been handed a photograph of ourselves standing in the midst of the world. But we don’t know very much about that world just from looking at the photograph. It is sometimes a confusing world. We just cannot make sense of it. We need to know more.” Volume 2 of the American Dream series, Dream of Life clearly and comprehensively presents what happens when economic and political pride prevails over basic Christian principles of love and justice.
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Stef Penney, Quercus, 2006, £12.99, hb, 440pp, 1905204817 / Viking Canada, 2006, C$36, hb, 464pp, 9780670066100
If I had to review this book in six words, it would be “Stop everything and read this novel.” It is set in the remote Canadian settlement of Dove River in 1867. In a landscape of snow and ice, a trapper named Jammet is found murdered in his cabin by Mrs Ross, the wife of a settler. The Hudson’s Bay Company employees arrive to investigate. Mrs Ross’s seventeen-year-old son is missing and there are others on the trail of the murderer, including Jammet’s friend and fellow trapper, William Parker. Mrs Ross and Parker set out across the snow together but with different intentions. Back in Dove River, various inhabitants are affected by the upheaval of the murder, and the narrative moves between Dove River and the journey northwards.
The writing has a beautiful wintry spareness and the swift undercurrent of a tense and urgent narrative. The characters are portrayed warts and all, but with sensitivity and an understanding of the complexity of human motives and aspirations. And the landscape matters, as it should! Although the plot does become a little (and I mean just a little) disjointed towards the centre of the book, it is soon ironed out. The interaction between Mrs Ross and William Parker is finely tuned and compelling, a superb lesson to all writers in conveying much with very few words.
Lastly and most importantly, it is a thoroughly good story. My favourite novel of 2006. Geraldine Perriam
Yet as the Cherokee nation loses its homeland and native rights, graphically described, especially in the sections called “the Old Books - America,” it retains its ancient royal status, its honorable dignity. Hope in a higher authority in this story transcends the facts and opinions, since all else is subsumed in that faith. Southern secession and Northern union are endearingly and honestly presented within a Christian, Cherokee, and African-American framework that engages the reader through every pulsating page. Michael Phillips is a born storyteller crafting memorable, inspirational historical fiction in quite a pleasurable manner.
Viviane Crystal
SILENT IN THE GRAVE
Deanna Raybourn, MIRA, 2007, $21.95/ C$26.95, hb, 509pp, 0778324102
This can only be described as a rich plum pudding of a book, full of everything you would find in a Victorian melodrama. And what melodrama it is. In 1886, in London, we have the hero, Nicholas Brisbane, the violin-playing, bastard grandson of a duke who is a Byronically handsome private detective with second sight and gypsy blood. Next there’s the heroine, Lady Julia Grey, a lord’s daughter who was reared unconventionally, of course, behaving like a Victorian miss one moment and a 21st century heroine the next. She’s in an unhappy marriage that ends in the death of her wealthy, well-bred husband on the first page. A cracking opening, and the pace is kept up right through the book. There are the now expected homosexual and lesbian liaisons as well as the build-up to a Big Romance for our heroine in the next book. The plot is basic. Who killed my husband? However, there are so many subplots and such a large cast of personalities that there are almost too many plums in the pudding. Best taken chapter by chapter at bedtime.
Patrika Salmon
THE WITCHERY
James Reese, Morrow, 2006, $25.95/C$33.50, hb, 466pp, 9780060561086
In the final book in James Reese’s Herculine trilogy, the title character roams the Florida territories, the Keys and Havana, using her witchery and curious body attributes with both tender and compelling skill.
Set in the 1840s, Herculine is first called to Havana by her mentor Sebastiana; however, she is deceived by Queverdo Bru’, an alchemist, snake-like, brooding and vile. Escaping Bru’ with the aid of her lover (?) Calixto, yet not unharmed, the forerunner of a clever plot twist that is essentially revealed on the jacket, Herculine realizes an unimaginable reunion with Sebastiana, resulting in a most startling “treasure.”
Reese, who ran into a sea of confused eloquence with his previous effort, The Book of Spirits, is back in sparkling form with The Witchery. He is a master at crafting his
character’s backstories and inserting them flawlessly into historical events, e.g., Indian attacks in the Florida Keys. His characters are fully realized. Bru’, who easily could have been simply corrupt, instead transfixes the reader with his flawed, slithery, seriously twisted being. They exist, they breathe, they love, and they are acutely damaged. They are a tumultuous joy to read.
The Witchery is an evocative, hold-yourbreath, fitting finale to this trilogy.
Wendy A. Zollo EUNICE
William James Rivers, Univ. of South Carolina Press, 2006, $29.95, hb, 288pp, 9781570036408
Novelist and poet William James Rivers (1822-1909) was also one of South Carolina’s first professional historians. Published for the first time, his Reconstruction novel Eunice opens with the burning of the state capital, Columbia, in February of 1865, a scene served well by its author’s eyewitness experience.
The title character, Eunice DeLesline, survives Sherman’s March and the war impoverished. She’s faced with a choice of suitors—Willie Barton, a son of the Old South, and Colonel Loyle, a self-made Confederate captain, while to a third, Union soldier turned evangelist Benjamin Guelty, she is an obsession. Guelty’s threat and Eunice’s marriage choice reflect not only views on ideals for mature romantic relationships, but also the choice of the Reconstruction South— what kind of Southerner might best lead the region to renewed prosperity?
Eunice is a damsel in distress as well as dilemma as the plot teems with twists and characters like the historical Wade Hampton and his Red Shirts, the Ku Klux Klan, African Americans, and carpetbaggers. Throughout, Rivers voices his opinions on race, gender, and power in this transitional period in American history. Tara Courtney McKinney’s introduction and notations set the story in its cultural context.
Scholars and students of southern history may rejoice at this first-time publication of Eunice. Some are sure to delight in comparisons to better known works like Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Eunice features a similar self-sacrificing Uncle Tom) and Gone with the Wind (Scarlett O’Hara’s marriage partners can be compared to Eunice’s). But for the modern reader, the convoluted, overheated writing style may converge with the author’s of-his-time prejudices and stereotyping, especially of African Americans, to prove a hard slog through the mess Sherman left behind.
Eileen Charbonneau
THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION
Pam Rosenthal, Signet Eclipse, 2006, $14.00/ C$17.50, pb, 341pp, 0451219473
By 1817, Kit Stansell has survived the Napoleonic Wars and is ready to return to England and begin a career in the Home
Office. There is unfinished business that he must conclude with his estranged wife, Mary, before he can start his new life. He and Mary, the daughter of an extremely wealthy industrial neighbor, had eloped nine years earlier. The first two years of their marriage had been full of high times and sexy fun, but then it fell apart. Now he wants a divorce. The problem with that is that he must catch Mary in flagrante, and she no longer has a lover. Unless one counts Kit himself, that is. Every time he and Mary meet, the old sexual attraction flares up, and neither can resist the temptation to make love. But when lust is satisfied, they fall into petty squabbling, mostly about politics. Yet, oddly, it is their differing political views that help solve a mystery and reunite the star-crossed couple.
A consummate storyteller, Pam Rosenthal has drawn on a real historical event as the basis of the mystery that brings Kit and Mary together. Audrey Braver
A DEAD LANGUAGE
Peter Rushforth, MacAdam/Cage, 2006, $26.00, hb, 650pp, 1596921927 / Simon & Schuster, £18.99, hb, 647pp, 0743286057
Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton is the naval lieutenant who abandons Madam Butterfly in Puccini’s famous opera. A Dead Language, sequel to Pinkerton’s Sister, explores Lt. Pinkerton’s childhood in late 19th century New York to see how a man nearly sociopathic in his callousness comes to be.
Young Ben’s problem is that he died as a boy. Not literally, but his father took enormous sadistic glee in crushing any happy or spontaneous impulse he ever displayed. His attachment to his mother and his sisters, his appreciation of music and books, the way he walks, talks, thinks, and speaks, all these must be mutilated in the name of manhood. As he is a small, pretty boy, his father’s hysterical obsession with homosexuality has particular resonance.
After the elder Pinkerton’s suicide, the task of destroying Ben is taken over by Mr. Rappaport, teacher of Latin and Sport at his new school. On the first day, Mr. Rappaport singles out boys who have recently lost their fathers and demands that they conjugate the following sentence: The father loves his son. This sets the tone for the years of unremitting cruelty and humiliation to follow. Mr. Rappaport demonstrates a seemingly insatiable thirst for the tears of his charges, and it is under his tutelage that Ben learns to hide every emotion.
Rushforth’s years as a teacher inform every excruciating detail. He knows the power of a mean word; there is virtually no physical violence in this book, but it’s still one of the most vicious novels you’ll ever read. Improbably, it’s also very funny. He pulled off a similar miracle in Pinkerton’s Sister, an account of abuse and madness that, in addition to being incredibly literate and moving, was also sharply witty.
Rushforth’s work is unique. His books are sophisticated, passionate, informed novels,
truly massive achievements. He passed away in 2005.
Colleen Quinn
DEAREST ENEMY
Nan Ryan, MIRA, 2006, $6.99, pb, 384pp, 077832348X
It’s 1860 and Suzanna LeGrande, a pampered Southern girl à la Scarlett O’Hara, is living happily in Virginia with her wealthy widowed mother and brother. When the Civil War breaks out, Suzanna loses both her brother and her fiancé at Manassas. Her mother dies not long after, totally unwilling to deal with a life of hardship. Suzanna blames her losses on the Union and all Northerners, and vows to take her revenge. She falls in with Confederate sympathizers and determines to become a spy for the Confederacy, using her considerable good looks and charm to get Union officers to divulge military plans.
When Suzanna meets the dashing and handsome Rear Admiral Mitchell Longley, she plans to add him to her list of conquests. Mitch is smitten with Suzanna but is more guarded than other Union soldiers and reveals nothing. Suzanna may have to do more than flirt to learn anything from him. Complications ensue when she falls in love with Mitch. Will she be able to betray him when the time comes?
This was a quick, light read, but the author relied much too heavily on coincidence as a plot device for my taste.
Jane Kessler
MURDER IN THE NORTH END
P. B. Ryan, Berkley, 2006, $7.99/C$10.99, pb, 278pp, 0425212955
In this fifth mystery featuring Nell Sweeney, Detective Colin Cook is wanted for the murder of a man in the unsavory North End of Boston a few years after the end of the Civil War. Nell had worked with Detective Cook in the past, and can’t believe he could be guilty, even though eyewitnesses saw him standing above the body with his gun drawn. Nell is determined to find out the truth, and in this she is assisted by Dr. Will Hewitt, son of her employer and the man she finds herself strongly attracted to. At the end of the last book, Will had left for Shanghai when he thought that he and Nell had no future together, but he has found he can’t stay away. His return comes at an auspicious time for Nell.
The author makes the smells and sounds of the slums of the North End come alive. Cook’s alleged victim died in an establishment that is part bar, part boxing ring, part dancehall, and full house of corruption and vice. Readers will feel that they are there, the writing is so vivid. The characters, some virtuous but many not, really come alive as well. Nell and Will advance in their relationship, yet their future together is anything but assured. Readers new to the series are advised to start with Still Life with Murder and work through the books sequentially for the fullest reading experience.
Trudi E. Jacobson
THE ROAD FROM CHAPEL HILL
Joanna Catherine Scott, Berkley, 2006, $14.00/ C$17.50, pb, 340pp, 0425212521
The Road from Chapel Hill offers readers a fascinating and blessedly stereotype-free drama about life in divided North Carolina during the Civil War. The lives of its three main characters often intersect or run parallel, influencing the fates of one another, but Scott wisely avoids the trap of a too-convenient coming together at the conclusion. She has created multidimensional characters and a driving narrative, and her meticulous historical research is richly evident throughout.
At the start of the novel, Eugenia is the spoiled daughter of a failed slave-owning landowner who had aspired for much more but who has been reduced to penury and manual labor. Her feelings of resentment and humiliation, combined with the strong affection she has for Tom, their only remaining slave, set into motion the events that change the lives of several people, sometimes tragically. Clyde is a poor farm boy and aspiring slave catcher (and an all-around opportunist) who was responsible for the capture of Tom before the outbreak of war. Through a twist of fate and his growing bitterness against the Confederacy’s injustices toward poor whites, Clyde is reluctantly swept into the war fighting for the Union.
This is a novel about the consequences of Eugenia’s rash actions and her subsequent redemption set in a time of war and divided loyalties. Scott seamlessly leads the reader to the novel’s surprise ending, revealing a truth which can be said to be symbolic of the American South and of America itself. This is a fascinating read for those looking for memorable characters trapped in the crossroads of a bloody civil war.
Pamela Ortega
DUTY’S DESTINY
Wendy Soliman, Robert Hale, 2006, £18.99, hb, 224pp, 9780709081388
This compelling Regency is set not long after the passing of the Anti-Slavery bill. The main voice is male, one Viscount Felix Western, making the novel a refreshing change from the norm. At the beginning, with his rakish disdain for moral propriety, Felix Western is not the most attractive of characters. Interestingly he soon develops into a very readable hero, both complex and compelling. Though the heroine, widowed Saskia Eden, is not given a great deal to say that is by no means a failing. When she speaks her voice adds depth and poignancy.
The story revolves around the smuggling activities of Samuel Barker, father of Saskia. Barker does not deal in the usual commodities – he trades in human flesh. When Viscount Western learns his father’s shipping line is the method of transport, he decides to bring to an end Barker’s vile trade of smuggling ex-slaves, ensuring his meeting with the intriguing Saskia. He rapidly becomes equally determined to solve the mystery of Saskia’s silence regarding her
estranged father. Dangers multiply yet the story never rattles nor drags, but lingers in all the right places building steadily to a joyful denouement. A thoroughly enjoyable, rewarding read. Recommended.
Fiona Lowe
THE PURE LAND
Alan Spence, Canongate, 2006, £12.99, hb, 420pp, 9781841958552
Closely based on historical fact, this is the story of Thomas Glover, the young Aberdeen merchant who became known as the Scottish samurai, the man who bankrolled the rebellion leading to the deposition of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the restoration of Emperor Meiji. He first arrived in Nagasaki in 1859 as a very junior apprentice employed by the shipping company Jardine Matheson. Japan and nearby Shanghai offered rich pickings for men like Glover, his countryman Mackenzie, and the American Walsh, who were willing to take risks and who were not overly concerned about the morality of trading in opium and arms. Glover was not so lucky in his personal relations. One of the three geishas whom he loved – probably Maki – is thought to have inspired the libretto for Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. Occasionally, a deeper analysis of character is sacrificed to the fast-paced action of the novel, and to the analysis of clan feuds and alliances, but Spence offers a compelling account of how Japan moved from a feudal, pre-industrial society, dominated by the bakufu with its hierarchy of samurai and daimyos, into the 20th century in the space of forty years. Imbued with the contrasting values of Western capitalism and the Samurai code of honour, bushido, not to mention anecdotes from Zen Buddhism, this book has a haunting quality that remains long after you turn the last page.
Lucinda Byatt
JARED’S RUNAWAY WOMAN
Judith Stacy, Harlequin Historicals, 2006, $5.50/ C$6.50, pb, 299pp, 0373294018
It is 1887. Jared Mason has arrived in Crystal Springs, Colorado, with a single goal: retrieve his young nephew from the hands of the woman who took him. Instead he finds himself tackling drunken cowboys, doing time in jail, mediating marriage disputes, and best of all, kissing a beautiful woman in a darkened alleyway—the same woman who took his nephew in the first place.
Kinsey Templeton has spent years protecting her son from the Masons, a high-powered, wellconnected New York City family who could easily take her son away from her—if they could find her. Now that she has finally settled in Crystal Springs and found herself a real home, Jared Mason has found her—and kissed her! She must find a way to convince him to leave Crystal Springs without his nephew. For Kinsey, running is no longer an option.
The author has created a sparkling romance with two strong-willed characters who bare
their tender hearts without betraying their inner strength. Kinsey and Jared have something to lose by doing what they think is best for the child. What they don’t realize is that they also have something wonderful to gain. A sweet read.
Debra Rodensky
TRAIL HAND
R.W. Stone, Five Star, 2006, $25.95, hb, 225 pp, 1594143900
At six foot three and 230 pounds, Owen Burke is an imposing figure. Taught how to handle a gun by his father, he knows how to take care of himself. Out of work, Burke finds a job as a scout for a Texas landowner. He was to help lead horses from Texas to California. A gang of outlaws, who made it look like Burke had a hand in the job, steals the herd. To clear his name, Burke sets out on his own to find the stolen herd, capture the outlaws, and return the horses to their owner. Chavez, the foreman of the ranch and the leader of the men driving the herd, never liked Burke and sets out on his trail.
Trail Hand is a surprisingly good story containing action, suspense, and conflict. Stone used his knowledge of guns, horses and riding to write a believable tale. With this, his first novel, he did a marvelous job creating a character that was interesting and a story that was enjoyable to read.
Jeff Westerhoff
CITY OF GLORY: A Novel of War and Desire in Old Manhattan
Beverly Swerling, Simon & Schuster, 2007, $25.95, hb, 465pp, 0743269209
The War of 1812 serves as backdrop to this intense saga of early New York and the woodlands of Manhattan. President James Madison has declared war on Great Britain, resulting in a British navy blockade and economic hardship. Such discontent attracts treachery, and the wealthy owner of the merchant ship Canton Star, Gornt Blakeman, sees this opportunity to stir dissent and succession. If he can bring New York and New England over to the side of Britain, he will then install himself as “governor” and remove the foolish idea of “democracy.” However, he did not reckon with patriots like Joyful Patrick Turner, famous surgeon, who sailed with Commodore Perry, losing his hand and his livelihood from a British bomb. He goes into trade buying a failing shipping company to trade with China, where he grew up as a boy. Turner is a patriot and must rally those who believe in the Constitution and American democracy. Surrounding the conflict are jewel merchants, pirates, and the town bordello, run by a comely mulatto who looks over her shoulders for the blackbirders, bounty hunters for runaway slaves.
The author brings the time alive with true characters such as Jacob Astor, who brought the first Chinese to New York as his house servants. He lived in the country, but had
definite development plans to cut Manhattan woods with divisions of north-south avenues crossed with numbered streets – although no one thought this would be possible. This book has all the qualities of a good winter’s read: conflict, tension, romance, the upper and lower levels of society and a satisfying finale. Highly recommended.
Tess Allegra
TEXAS RAIN
Jodi Thomas, Berkley, 2006, $7.99, pb, 374pp, 0425212793
The first book in a trilogy featuring the handsome McMurry family features Texas Ranger Travis, product of mid-19th century Texas hill country and the loving marriage between a Scot and an Apache. After the tragic demise of both parents, the sons and daughter have found refuge and nurturing in their hiddenaway Whispering Mountain Ranch. Travis first encounters Rainey Adams as she’s stealing a kiss and his horse. She’s a schoolteacher on the run from a cruel father insisting on an arranged marriage. She wants her freedom at any cost. But Travis in intrigued by the puzzle of his “fairy woman” and proves himself as both protector and lover to win her. Both heroine and hero are well-matched in that their blighted lives have left both awkward and unusual, even though Travis is not always as inarticulate as he’s described. Their sexual awakening is lively and sensitive, and well-developed supporting characters put Texas Rain above the grade.
Eileen Charbonneau
THE TEXICANS
Nina Vida, Soho, 2006, $23.00/C$25.95, hb, 296pp, 1569474346
Aurelia Ruíz, a young woman of mixed Mexican/Anglo parentage, never felt at home in San Antonio despite returning there when she discovered her gift for healing the sick. Whether she cured anyone of the cholera in 1843 she couldn’t truly say, but that she commanded a power that could influence people and meteorological events was without doubt. Joseph Kimmel – teacher of mathematics, former trapper, Jew – never lived in San Antonio, would never have abandoned his career in 1845 to journey from Missouri to San Antonio, had his brother not died and left a business there. Aurelia and Joseph meet somewhere in between.
The Texicans is a unique novel that’s nothing like a genre western. The bad guys aren’t always Indians, and those who’d normally have been good guys dish out mostly knee-jerk justice. Elements of magic realism blend with pioneer journeys and new beginnings in this lawless land.
Nina Vida’s characters are well-proportioned, and each of them possesses a welcome streak of unpredictability. When Joseph marries Katrin, an immigrant German girl whom he doesn’t like (and who doesn’t like him), to prevent her from being taken as a Comanche wife, the
consequences of later meeting Aurelia would seem straightforward.
This is one of those novels I finished with a feeling of loss, but that’s a good sign: the characters seemed so true as to exceed the bounds of endpaper. And that’s always the reader’s best hope!
Janette King
A HOUSE DIVIDED
Ben Ames Williams, Chicago Review Press, 2006 (c1947), $24.95, pb, 1514pp, 1556526199.
The Currain family saga begins in 1783 with Tony Currain, and moves through over 1,000 pages past the time of his grandson – at least in this version of the story! – Abraham Lincoln. This reissue of a classic Civil War novel chronicles the building of an agricultural, social, and political dynasty, particularly in Richmond, Virginia. However, protection and pride in this system begins to subtly, at least at first, and then ruthlessly destroy those who failed to recognize its inherent flaws. Readers will gasp and be inwardly paralyzed at scenes such as the Southern and Northern rage at John Brown’s revolt, the former arising from fear, the latter from glorifying the rebel’s courage for justice. Inflammatory rhetoric reduces logic to hysteria. Read, over and over again, how rumor, misinterpreted facts, and looting for profit pervades the pre- and post phases of battle, scenes in which thousands will die. And how poignant are the stories of men like Trav Currain, who tells his children pleasant war stories that in reality were horrific (and he knows it). One wonders and then understands how the Southern belle mentality prevails throughout the gruesome reality of wartime. Characters like Faunt state that governments deny the will of their constituents while leaders plot, fail, and revamp multiple plans in search of victory. Indeed, Faunt stands like a Greek chorus, explaining, decrying, and praising the multiple sides of human personalities, all trying to gracefully and voraciously hold together an unraveling nation.
If you like an ever-changing novel of pulsating, comprehensive, and scholarly ideas about the causes, actuality, and effects of the Civil War, especially how they play out in one representative family, this is a terrific read. It’s worth every page of its riveting, saga-like tale. Classic historical fiction that you won’t want to end.
Viviane Crystal
20th CENTURY
MAMA FELA’S GIRLS
Ana Baca, Univ. of New Mexico Press, 2006, $24.95, hb, 318pp, 0826340237
Mama Fela’s Girls is a multi-generational tale in a fresh setting: Santa Lucίa, a small town in New Mexico in 1934. The generations of the Romero family are Mama Fela, an aging seamstress; her daughter, Cita, who longs to
pursue a career as an artist; her daughter-in-law, Graciela, a schoolteacher who is also her family’s main breadwinner; and her granddaughter, little Cipriana, who loves Shirley Temple movies. Their good points and flaws are all well rendered, and their dialogue is convincing and natural, even down to the Spanish phrases these Mexican-American characters use on occasion.
The male characters are somewhat less successful than the female ones; with a couple of exceptions, most seemed unsatisfactory in some way, being either absent, undependable, or worse. Given the novel’s title, I wasn’t surprised that the female characters overshadowed the men, but I would have liked to have seen some more strong male characters alongside the many strong female ones. That, however, is purely a personal preference.
Though the settings are completely different and the plots and writing styles have little in common, Mama Fela’s Girls kept reminding me of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, another novel about a family dominated by strong women. Perhaps that’s because what is at the heart of both novels is family life, with its attendant frustrations and joys. Indeed, much of the action of Mama Fela’s Girls involves characters who must choose between staying in the family circle and leaving it. In this debut novel, Baca excels at presenting both the conflict and the tightly knit family that gives rise to it.
Susan Higginbotham
COTTON SONG
Tom Bailey, Shaye Areheart, 2006, $24.00/ C$32.00, hb, 336pp, 140008332X
Cotton Song opens with social worker Baby Allen bumping her Model T down a dry and dusty 1940s Mississippi road on her way to rescue a twelve-year-old African-American girl. She hopes that Sally Johnson has survived the lynch mob that killed her mother, Letitia, after she was accused of drowning the (white) baby of the town’s most important family. As Baby fights to uncover the truth behind this heinous crime, she finds herself at odds with Boss Chief and his son, Jake Lemaster, who run Parchman Farm – a local prison – on the backs of men unjustly accused.
Bailey uses several narrators to move the story forward, with much success. Readers meet Jolene, Jake’s prim wife, and feel her misery. Readers suffer with Sissy as she struggles to understand what happened to her baby daughter. Readers get chilling glimpses into the hidden lives and motivations of these and other characters. The contrast between the sultry Mississippi heat and the coldness of some of the characters is one of the novel’s most captivating aspects.
The combination of such incredibly wellwritten characters and an almost timeless, yet so of-its-time, story creates an incredibly harsh and touching read. This is one of those books that, after finishing, gets placed quietly on the table, pushed slowly away, and leaves one feeling
quietly reflective for a few moments. I highly recommend it.
Dana Cohlmeyer
OPENWORK
Adria Bernardi, Southern Methodist Univ. Press, 2007, $22.50, hb, 344pp, 0870745107
Using the image of close needlework – where patterns are formed by holes in the cloth – Bernardi tells a cross-generational story of Italian families that begins in Italy, travels to America, and eventually comes full circle. Imola lives in Northern Italy, caring for her children. Her brother Egidio sets out for America and eventually finds work in the mines of New Mexico. He seems content with his lot, but his friend Antenore Gimorri is not. He stirs with all the passion of turn-of-the-century labor activism.
When Egidio is killed in a mining accident, it only confirms Antenore’s suspicions about the value of the labor force and the need for change. The story skips ahead decades, through Antenore, to Chicago. Adele, a fully assimilated American, returns the story to Italy in search of her family’s past and stumbles upon the novel’s beginning. Bernardi uses the openwork metaphor in the end as the generations talk to each other over the years and lives.
At times, I didn’t feel myself as connected to these characters as I could have been. Bernardi veers between prose and poetry at times, rendering action – such as the mining accident – in verse and short bursts of description. It’s obvious she cares about these people and the world they inhabit, but this gives the reader an unwelcome distance. However, it also keeps the story from veering into sentimentality. Other novels have chronicled the immigrant experience, the cross-generational American story, and what it was like to live during the Great Depression, two world wars and the upheaval of the sixties. Because this is all welltended soil, perhaps it was wise of Bernardi to employ this style.
William Thornton
THE LIGHTNING RULE
Brett Ellen Block, Morrow, 2006, $24.95/ C$32.50, hb, 306pp, 9780060525064
In Newark, 1967, Detective Martin Emmett has been consigned to the basement of his precinct, filing records as punishment for failing to close a homicide case. As race riots break out in the city, Emmett has been given another unsolvable case, that of a black teen stabbed and mutilated in the subway. Growing suspicious that the murder is actually the work of a serial killer, Emmett finds himself beset by crooked cops and mob bosses alike.
Emmett is an intriguing character, a former seminary student who left the priesthood and has a strained relationship with his brother Edward, a Vietnam vet who’s lost the use of his legs. The turbulent sixties, especially a hot summer simmering with racial tensions, create
a memorable backdrop for his case. Not only is he isolated by his fellow detectives, but the rioting, lawlessness, and virtual shutting down of Newark increases his alienation to the nth degree. Block emphasizes Emmett’s lone ranger aspects but gives him a small community— a witness under his protection, Edward’s caregiver, and even Edward himself—that make both Emmett and the reader despair less. The serial killer’s story is chillingly woven in, and although Newark would not be my first choice of settings for any book, the effect of time and place is indelible.
Ellen Keith
NEXT OF KIN
John Boyne, Michael Joseph, 2006, £6.99/ C$16.00, pb, 502pp, 0141018798
This novel is set in 1936 at a time when the nation was shaken by the scandal of Edward VIII’s affair with Mrs. Simpson and the ensuing abdication crisis. The characters are upper class, one of them a prominent member of the establishment closely involved with the manipulation of the crisis. This enables the writer to introduce the feeling of disquiet that permeated the country as a background to the edgy main plot.
At first, I was irritated by some careless writing, especially the slipshod speech of the main characters. Surely in the 1930s only icily correct speech was acceptable in high society. However, as I read further I became so absorbed in the story that these lapses did not matter.
Next of Kin does not depend very much on suspense but rapid twists of plot keep the reader’s interest to the end. I can recommend it to those who enjoy a fast-paced thriller.
Ruth Nash
THE COMMANDER
Kate Bridges, Harlequin, 2006, $5.50, pb, 296pp, 0373294107
“Wanted, one Gentleman Husband.” When Julia O’Shea publishes an ad for a man to end her widowhood, she has not reckoned on the arrival in town of her one-time lover, Ryan Reid. Ten years have passed since Ryan fled Calgary after killing a man in a fight; and now he has returned—a competent surgeon, a scarred veteran of the South African War, and an intimidating adventurer who scowls at all the applicants for her hand. As a massive wildfire races across the drought-parched prairie, the townspeople know that Ryan is the only person with enough experience to lead the battle against the flames; yet it is not easy for them to set aside their many resentments and place themselves beneath his command.
Born into intimately connected families that emigrated from Ireland when they were still children, Julia and Ryan must not only confront their own failures but those of their families as well, if they are to find happiness with one another. Written with a delightful combination of humor and drama, this is a very satisfying
romance. Pour yourself a cup of hot chocolate, curl up in an armchair, and enjoy the sizzling courtship of The Commander.
Nancy J. Attwell
LACHLAN’S WAR
Michael Cannon, Viking, 2006, £14.99/C$30.00, hb, 257pp, 0670916323
Usually I am allergic to novels like this, in which the story is told in the present tense. The technique shouts ‘pretentious literary effect’ at me and soon becomes wearing. If the purpose is to maintain immediacy, it doesn’t work because story tension depends on being balanced with the episodes of non-tension. If the purpose is to differentiate between the ‘now’ of the story and the ‘then’ of flashbacks told in the past tense (as happens here), that’s just patronising. What on earth is it for?
Despite this annoying tic, Lachlan’s War is an affecting novel dealing with the devastating impact of a complex, sophisticated outside world on a traditional rural community. Lachlan McCready, GP in a remote West Highland village during World War II, takes in Frank, a young withdrawn evacuee who turns out to be a refugee from Nazi-occupied Europe. Lachlan sends Frank to the village school, where the teacher, Gail, an English Land Girl, takes him under her wing. Between them they try to break Frank’s silence and reveal his past, a process which also reveals much about Lachlan, Gail and another Land Girl, Lucy, whose careless amorality invites tragedy.
The author has created characters we care about and placed them in a setting we can only see in our mind’s eye but almost, touch hear and smell too. The village setting is almost palpably bleak and a bombing in Glasgow, in which one of the characters is caught, is heart-stopping. But, if you’re thinking the novel is unremittingly grim, read on – there is room for hope too.
Sarah
Cuthbertson
THE MOLDAVIAN PIMP
Edgardo Cozarinsky (trans.Nick Caistor), Harvill Secker, 2006, £12, hb, 138pp, 1843432340
In present-day Buenos Aires, the narrator, a journalism student, begins a dissertation about early 20th century Yiddish theatre. He finds the script of a 1920s Yiddish play entitled The Moldavian Pimp, performed in a poor Jewish area of the city, whence had emigrated tens of thousands of Jews from Russia. The play tells of Jewish girls from the shtetls of the Ukraine recruited by Jewish pimps, promised freedom and a new life in Argentina only to find themselves sold into prostitution. By the late ´20s, the Jewish gang Zwi Migdal was estimated to control about 2,000 brothels and 20,000 prostitutes in Argentina. Complicit, even phony, rabbis conducted marriage ceremonies which bound the victims to the men who exploited them. Considered unworthy of traditional funeral rites, not even worth remembering, the women were buried in secret cemeteries.
This the stuff of saga, yet Argentinian author Edgardo Cozarinsky concentrates on the essence of the story, a distillation into a few precise events. There is no linear conclusive narrative, more a space where different stories meet, blurring fact and fiction: strange encounters, unexpected revelations, uneasy coincidences; the fate of Jewish girls brought to 1920s Argentina is mirrored by that of a Kosovar girl in Paris of 2000 working the stretch of road between the A4 and the périphérique. The novel is peopled with memorable, if tragic, characters; their stories unfold with sensual imagery: the smell of the sea on the beaten earth patio of a brothel in a moment of peace between clients, for a girl who does not know when or where she was born; the smell of disinfectant years later as she lies dying of consumption; the haunting melodies of tango, in early 20th century Argentina the preserve of pimps and low-lifers. A moving glimpse into a little-known twilight society.
Janet Hancock
THE SAFFRON KITCHEN
Yasmin Crowther, Viking, 2007, $23.95, hb, 258 pp, 9780670038114 / Little Brown, 2007, £14.99, hb, 288pp, 0316731846
“‘And what does my father believe?’ Ali frowned. ‘Tradition, I suppose.’ ‘In spite of all its blood and misery?... As if we’re trapped in the past and can’t think for ourselves.’” Maryam Mazar lashes out with a statement that will indirectly lead to her daughter Sara’s loss of a pregnancy. While a common enough climax in literary fiction, the historical and psychological origins behind this scene carry the poignant weight of this novel.
Maryam and Sara take the reader back to an Iranian small town, Mazareh, during its revolution, which culminates in the exile of the Shah and the takeover of Islamic fundamentalists. Harrowing interrogations, ruthless abuse of justice, and the transition to religious fanaticism infiltrate the dreams and choices of this typical Iranian family. Sara realizes what her mother has suffered and lost, which haunts her past and present life. While all the plot strands aren’t necessarily resolved, the historical realities threatening to destroy this brilliant and beautiful culture fail as these courageous characters face past demons with the strength and deep love of their Iranian identity. The Western mind cannot help but be brutally shocked at a father so indoctrinated in a particular faith and culture that he would irreparably be part of the forces which almost destroy his daughter. Despite the painful scenes, the processing of this reality is amazingly touching and unforgettable.
Maryam and Sara’s evolutions are riveting and potent. A true celebration of individual and collective freedom, this is a classic historical novel sure to win Yasmin Crowther multiple admirers.
Viviane Crystal
£18.99/$27.95, hb, 200pp, 9780727864536
In 1944, when Jaime Gray is killed in an air raid, life is turned upside down for his wife, Ailsa, and their two children. Talked into leaving their comfortable London home by Jaime’s brother, Callum, they return to Jaime’s Northumberland home to attempt to rebuild their lives. Over the following summer, Callum and Ailsa become close, but he is engaged to be married, and his fiancée, Phoebe, feels threatened by this new relationship. Then Ailsa’s children develop unsuitable friendships with two of the village children who may be more than they seem.
With such a title, one would expect this novel to have more of a mystery about it. But there is little suspense and the actual secret of the title is revealed in the first third of the book. The subplot with Phoebe is underdeveloped, which is a pity given the premature resolution of the mystery element. As a whole, the novel is competently written, culminating in a neat, if historically improbable ending. However, this was a pleasant enough read that will no doubt satisfy Gill’s many fans.
Cas Stavert
A CALL TO COLORS
John J. Gobbell, Presidio, 2006, $6.99/C$9.99, pb, 487pp, 0891418903
Gobbell’s novel is a surprising mix of traditional World War II sea combat and a view of wartime California’s railway system and an Axis spy’s attempts to disrupt it. The recently promoted Commander Mike Donovan is a combat veteran scarred by the terrible responsibilities of command and the knowledge his actions had resulted in the death of a friend. Although haunted by self-doubt and guilt, he eagerly accepts command of the newly-launched destroyer, U.S.S. Matthew. Before he returns to the Pacific and the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Donovan meets Diane Logan, a young doctor living in the small California railroad town of Roseville. Their attraction is complicated by the presence of Lieutenant Commander John Sabovik, a naval intelligence officer who blames Donovan for killing his brother. Sabovik’s hunt for the spy continues as Donovan sails for Leyte Gulf and the U.S. Navy destroyers desperately fight against the Japanese fleet.
Gobbell’s tale is interspersed with historical figures from both American and Japanese navies. It also includes the courageous Japanese officer, Yuzura Noyama., whose love for his doomed brother and navy is a reflection of the emotions of sailors from both sides. Donovan and Nomura will meet by chance in battle and will also cross paths in a more peaceful world at the novel’s conclusion.
John R. Vallely
A first-person narrative written by the American-born son of an immigrant from Asturias, in the north of Spain, Pinnick Kinnick Hill is partly a memoir and partly fiction. It is the story of the Villanueva family and of their countrymen, and how they come to a small town in West Virginia at the beginning of the 20th century to take jobs as zinc smelters. The horrible working conditions, the discrimination they suffer, their spirited response (labor organizing) and their eventual assimilation make for an interesting tale.
Unfortunately, the book’s fictional façade crumbles quickly. At the end of the 19th century, over sixty percent of Spanish males and fourfifths of females were illiterate. Yet, Juan, the son of a fisherman, the book’s main character, is not only able to read and write in his native Spanish, but he speaks English fluently. The Villanuevas are so lucky that they travel across the Atlantic first class, and they breeze through Ellis Island. The book is on much firmer ground when the author describes the problems facing his community, and, especially, the grueling work at the furnace.
Although Pinnick Kinnick Hill was originally written in English, it is accompanied by a Spanish translation. In the foreword, the reader learns it has been translated into “the Spanish this Asturian community might have used.” And the translation is flawless. Only in the Spanish text there is not a shadow of Asturianu or Bable, or of Astur-Galician, the very distinct languages of that region of Spain. More puzzling yet are wrong usages and misspellings in the Spanish words sprinkled in the English text (“Hay!” instead of “¡Ay!” for example), misspellings that appear correctly written in the Spanish pages. Of interest to local or labor history researchers, not for a general audience.
Adelaida Lower
GONE WITH THE WINDSORS
Laurie Graham, HarperCollins, 2006, $24.95, hb, 416pp, 9780060872717 / HarperPerennial, 2006, £6.99, pb, 512pp, 0007146760
Written in diary form covering the years 1932 to 1946, these entries document the life of the fictional, recently widowed Maybell Brumby, Baltimore heiress and close friend of Wallis Simpson, the woman whose relationship with King Edward VIII led him to abdicate the throne. Through the eyes of the flighty, naïve socialite Maybell, we witness the courtship of the besotted Prince of Wales and wily, crafty Wallis, and the rise and fall of the clique surrounding the couple.
THE SECRET
Elizabeth Gill, Severn House, 2007,
PINNICK KINNICK HILL: An American Story
G. W. González (trans. Daniel F. Ferreras), West Virginia Univ.Press, 2006, $16.50, pb, 246pp, 1933202149
I found this book to be an enjoyable and, at times, witty read. At the beginning of the novel, references to social figures and places associated with Maybell’s circle come thick and fast and may be exasperating to some readers, but don’t let that stop you. You will get used to the names, and once the plot takes over it is difficult to put the book down. After overcoming my personal annoyance with Maybell’s flighty, judgmental,
and shallow attitudes, I realized that the fact that this character provoked such strong feelings in me was a good thing. In fact, the portrayal of the Prince of Wales as childlike and hopelessly lovesick and Wallis as ruthless and manipulative gave the story a compelling push. It is a fun, light, summertime read.
Andrea Connell
NEVER SAY GOODBYE
Hilary Green, Hodder & Stoughton, 2006, £18.99, hb, 342pp, 0340839015
Diana Escott-Stevens, known as Steve, has worked for twelve months preparing agents for missions in France. Then Steve herself applies to join the Special Operations Executive, SOE, and is accepted. After rigorous training she is flown to France to act as a courier. Here the slightest lapse of concentration could lead to her capture, and mean torture and death for herself and others. When circumstances change, Steve finds herself running the resistance operation. Her bravery and intelligence make her an excellent leader.
This is a fascinating glimpse into the world of espionage and resistance. The author’s detailed knowledge of her period is apparent but has been well integrated into the narrative. The details of Steve’s training, her meeting with members of the resistance and the Maquis, her gradual change from a nervous young woman slightly out of her depth to a confident manager of her cell, are handled with expertise. The book starts slowly then builds into an action-packed last few chapters.
Although this book has not been promoted as a sequel, it might have been better if it had been. The introduction of several of the characters from the first book would be extremely confusing to someone who has not already read We’ll Meet Again. If you had read the first novel, the appearance of these ‘old friends’ would be welcome and Never Say Goodbye considered an excellent and exciting read. However for anyone who had not, the book is somewhat flawed and would fail to have the same impact.
Fenella Miller
ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE
Samantha Grosser, Macmillan New Writing, 2006, £12.99, hb, 299pp, 980230002357
In 1944, Anna Pilgrim falls in love with an American airman, Tom Blake, after a chance meeting in a café. They enjoy a brief affair before he is shot down over France; soon after his departure Anna discovers she is pregnant. Harassed by a dragon of a mother to have the baby adopted or to marry her boss, Mr Morris, Anna’s situation seems bleak. She hangs on to the belief that Tom will return and marry her, but as the months go by, her worries increase as she waits in vain for news of him.
For a first novel this is a brave attempt. It moves along at a fair pace as the narrative switches from Anna to Tom and back. The description of Tom’s capture by the Germans
as he tries to make his way back to England is gripping, and the historical background of Bomber Command is well researched, but the social background does not reflect the hardships of ordinary people trying to survive. For instance, it was impossible to drop into a café in 1944 in England and drink wine and coffee, or to buy luxury items of lingerie when one could not even buy a pair of utility branded cotton knickers without the necessary clothing coupons. In spite of these hiccups it is a good story well told, and I am sure that there will be more from this new author.
Ann Oughton
HAWESWATER
Sarah Hall, HarperPerennial, 2006, $13.95, pb, 266pp, 9780060817251 / Faber and Faber, 2003, £7.99, pb, 288pp, 0571209300
In 1936, the Cumbrian village of Mardale is selected as the site for the Haweswater reservoir. The people of Manchester are running short on water, and Mardale sits in a valley perfectly proportioned to hold the reservoir shored up by the dam the city’s waterworks proposes to build. Jack Liggett arrives in Mardale to sell this proposal, but his salesman’s talents are wasted on the locals, who want only to continue the pastoral life enjoyed by generations of Mardale sheep farmers. Janet Lightburn is one of the most passionate of these locals, more outspoken than most about the reservoir and how it will displace an entire village. Yet she has never met anyone like Jack – and he has never met anyone like her. As both struggle to see the other’s point of view, they reach that place beyond which understanding cannot go and inevitably, tragedy results.
This is Sarah Hall’s first novel, set in the land where she grew up. It is clear she knows her setting well, and the picture she presents of Mardale is as authentic as any you will find. She shows us the sadness behind the displacement of its people through understated details – for example, how many of them disinterred loved ones from the churchyard before water submerged it. Haweswater is not an easy read. Hall employs a unique style, and the story flits about instead of being precisely chronological and centering on one character. But not for nothing has she received critical acclaim. If you can take the time to become absorbed in this novel, you will be rewarded by a story that leaves you pondering long after you’ve read the final page.
Claire Morris
THE BURNING ROSES
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, Sphere, 2006, £18.99/$29.95, hb, 530pp, 0516861065
This, the 29th book in the Morland family saga, is set in 1915. The nation is at war. Jessie Morland, struggling with depression following a miscarriage, plunges into war work. Her husband Ned is off to the Western Front, just in time for the new offensive. Bertie, whose love
of Jessie is more than cousinly, is also off to war. The old order is breaking down and new possibilities are opening up, especially for the women.
The story is engrossing and well-written and, with the aid of the family tree, I easily picked up the threads. The novel stands alone, but the ending is open; none of the characters’ personal stories have a resolution here.
What impressed me was the author’s ability to create characters who are fully of their time, whilst still engaging the reader’s interest. Maria, a respectable young woman, cannot meet her Frank unchaperoned, for example; Ned and Bertie subscribe to the contemporary patriotic ethos of fighting for civilization and keeping a stiff upper lip. The male characters’ discussions of battle tactics are obviously accurate if, at times, overlong. Nevertheless, one gets a very real sense of how it must have felt living in that difficult year.
Elizabeth Hawksley
MY MOTHER’S LOVERS
Christopher Hope, Atlantic, 2006, £14.99, hb, 442pp, 1843543826 / To be pub. by Grove, July 2007, $24.00, hb, 448pp, 080211850X
In a recent talk at the University of East Anglia, Christopher Hope described Africa as “a great comic opera” which “out-imagines writers”. My Mother’s Lovers is the latest in a series of memoirs and autobiographical fictions in which Hope has attempted to come to terms with what it means to be an African. Perhaps it is a measure of Africa that even a writer of Hope’s stature does not quite succeed.
When Alexander Healey’s mother dies, he returns to Johannesburg (a city which, according to Hope, has no history, just a police record) to carry out her final wishes by delivering an odd assortment of bequests to her beneficiaries. These include a cache of firearms for an apartheid enforcer, a wig that once belonged to a Liberian boy soldier and her knitting needles which she leaves to the Rain Queen. During the course of his journey into his mother’s past and that of the continent she always believed belonged to her, he must also confront his mother’s bequest to him – his capacity for love.
This is a masterly piece of writing, full of an exuberant and eccentric humour. Kathleen Healey should be destined to become one of literature’s great characters, with her handknitted cardigans, a chin like Desperate Dan’s and a colourful past which includes going three rounds with Ernest Hemingway and listening to Albert Schweitzer play Bach. She almost makes it but falls at the final hurdle, reduced to caricature by the very richness of Hope’s imagery. He piles it on too thick. He does not trust us to understand the preposterous, macabre extremes of his Africa, nor his own ability to describe them. This is, nevertheless, a sad, funny and very readable not-quite-masterpiece.
Sarah Bower
LOVING ENEMIES
Jeannie Johnson, Severn House, 2006, £18.99/$28.95, hb, 315pp, 0727864475
This is a gritty saga set in Bristol at the start of WW2. It immediately draws the reader in as sons leave to fight, daughters lose their virginity and mothers worry. That September, Mary Anne Randall, a working-class mother of four and a cut above the rest, runs a pawnshop in her washhouse. The war takes sons away but brings an enigmatic stranger into Mary Anne’s life. In both unusual and authentic settings – the washhouse, a pawnshop and the black-out – put-upon women and their grown up children struggle to better themselves.
Jeannie Johnson includes a full range of lifelike, well-drawn characters, from the fat, tarty neighbour down on her luck and Mary Anne’s son with a weak chest, to a drunken husband and the comfortably-off widow with a handsome son. Mary Anne has a bad marriage to a stereotypical, boozy rotter. Why is it so many writers for women have a down on their male characters? Are we men all violent, boozy, dirty, lechers? Or does portraying them as such sell books?
This is a well-planned, fast moving family story which races to a too brief conclusion. If there were criticisms I could make, it would be in the anachronisms. I am informed Gold Top milk was not around in 1939. It was called Grade A then. Similarly ‘streetwise’ is a far more recent term, and while an Austin seven was contemporary to the period, only a midget girl could lie across the back seat or make satisfactory love on it.
A fine read, set in a time of change, Loving Enemies will have a very wide appeal.
Geoffrey Harfield
EYE OF THE STORM
Catherine Jones, Severn House, 2006, £18.99/$28.95, hb, 248 pp 0727864483
The Normandy landings are a recent memory in June 1944, and everything has changed irrevocably. Near the front line is the quiet farm of Ferme de la Source, where Martine has her own problems keeping the farm going, and hiding her German lover, Otto. Meanwhile, Colonel David Clarke is getting his troops ready for the big push, while his wife has an American pilot lover of her own. All the battles aren’t going to be fought on the battlefield…
I’ve read lots of books about wartime, and they usually fall into two categories: the home front (bombings, land girls, GIs and goodbyes) or the front itself (missions, captures, historical figures, etc). I prefer the latter, but sometimes wish a bit of the former could be incorporated too for a more rounded picture. In this book the two are actually combined, and the main characters seem wonderfully realistic and immediate. It shows how war changes everything, and how people react to the situations they find themselves in, whether it is taking a lover or planning an attack. Ms Jones is
adept at descriptions of battle, and the result is a book that ought to please a large range of people of both sexes – no mean feat. This one stays in the mind for sometime afterwards, always the sign of a good book.
Rachel A. Hyde
SLAY BELLS
Kate Kingsbury, Berkley Prime Crime, 2006, $13.00/C$16.00, pb, 291pp, 0425212009
Pray for a rainy day! It’ll give you the perfect excuse to curl up with Kate Kingsbury’s latest book in the Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery series. Cecily Sinclair Baxter is planning a Christmas gathering for the children of Badgers End where they’ll get to meet Father Christmas. Unfortunately, her plans go awry when he fails to appear and a footman falls off the roof to his death. As Baxter tries to solve the mystery of the dead footman, the missing Father Christmas, and the apparent clown ghost haunting her hotel, she’s also deeply suspicious of her husband and the charming singer down from London for the holidays.
This tasty tidbit can be best described as a cozy English mystery. The plot is filled with plenty of twists and turns and stuffed with period detail (pre-World War I). The hotel is staffed with all the requisite characters – mad French chef, Cockney housemaids, stern housekeeper –that are well depicted, if somewhat predictable. Overall, I’d recommend settling in with a cuppa and some biscuits to enjoy this one.
Dana Cohlmeyer
THE WILLOW FIELD
William Kittredge, Knopf, 2006, $24.95/ C$32.95, hb, 320pp, 1400040973
The novel tells the life story of Rossie Benasco, from the age of fifteen until he becomes an older man and a grandfather. Covering most of the 20th century, it begins as Rossie is working on a ranch. He becomes involved in his first love affair and is soon invited to drive a herd of horses from Nevada to Calgary. After he arrives in Canada, he meets a young woman named Eliza, impregnated by an incarcerated Indian, and falls in love. Rossie follows Eliza to her home in Montana, where he discovers that her family is rich (during the Depression years of the 1930s) and befriends her parents; eventually they marry.
The author ably depicts the beauty of the country: his choice of prose enabled me to drink in his descriptions of the landscape. His characters added just the right amount of spark to the novel’s beginning, especially the interplay between Rossie and Eliza. They came from two different worlds, their continual bantering adding elements of suspense and humor. As the book progressed, I wondered how their marriage could survive.
My only reservation was the final third of the book, as I began to lose interest in the characters and their life. The novel moved much too quickly through the 1940s and ´50s. There seemed to
be little real tension or conflict between the characters, other than normal problems that we all face as we age.
Kittredge is a very talented writer. His novel reads like a literary essay about a quiet young man who tries to exist in a world alien to his upbringing – sometimes succeeding, but many times failing in his attempts to survive and prosper.
Jeff Westerhoff
CHARITY GIRL
Michael Lowenthal, Houghton Mifflin, 2007, $24.00/C$32.95, hb, 336pp, 0618546294
Charity Girl explores the little-known to virtually-unheard-of subject of the internment of thousands of American females alleged to be prostitutes in order to deal with the spread of syphilis among troops during World War I. Frieda Mintz, a seventeen-year-old bundle wrapper at a department store in Boston, Massachusetts, not quite an innocent yet in no way a fallen woman, contracts a venereal disease after one encounter with an infected soldier. She is tracked down, housed with “girls of her kind,” humiliated, held with no formal charges, and treated for her illness.
All this would be very compelling if it weren’t presented in such a predictable fashion. If only Lowenthal had the actual perspective of a real detainee (albeit, he admits this fault and lack of obtainable documentation in the author’s notes)… if only the characters weren’t so infuriatingly transparent, so obviously wronged and used, to the point that there is no need to turn the page. The reader knows (or should know) precisely how this novel will progress and come to an end.
This is a case of a truly intriguing subject matter handled in deadpan style by an author whose writing range comes off as limited and flat, especially when the words have to lend themselves to dealing with emotions besides anger.
Wendy A. Zollo
THE TOWER
Valerio Massimo Manfredi, (trans. Christine Feddersen-Manfredi), Macmillan, 2006, £16.99, hb, 295pp, 1405052015
Shortly after the Great War, American archaeologist Desmond Garrett disappeared whilst looking for the legendary Tower of Solitude in the Sahara desert. Now, ten years later, his son, Philip, arrives in Rome in the hope of discovering his father’s fate. What he actually discovers is that his father’s disappearance is just the latest in a long line of mysterious events surrounding the Tower over the last two thousand years.
Armed with only his father’s sketchy notebooks and a keen mind, Philip’s search encompasses Vatican City, the French Foreign Legion, mysterious signals from outer space, a desert princess and the ubiquitous hidden enemy. It becomes clear that the only way for
EDITORS’ CHOICE Y GHOST SEA
Ferenc Máté, Norton, 2006, $23.95/C$32.50, hb, 263pp, 09025649
“He loved the sea, he loved a boat, he loved a woman, Some would say he loved wrongly or too much — or both.”
Ghost Sea is a wild chiaroscuro of raging storms and dense coastal mists set on the coast of British Columbia. S.V. Dugger, captain of the ketch Terrance Jordan, is hired to pursue Kwakiutl warriors to recover tribal masks they have stolen from a collector of ancient artifacts. Set shortly after World War II, the story is not only about tracking sacred masks — perhaps it is not much about tracking sacred masks — for the warriors have also taken the collector’s wife, Kate, who is Dugger’s lover. It is her husband who commissioned Dugger and who accompanies him on this foray. The storms and deep fogs through which Dugger navigates are not only marine in nature.
to untangle the mystery and even now, I’m not so sure I get it. Where this is redeemed, however, is Mathews’s deft evocation of this particular time, when unthinkable things were beginning to happen. There is a hint of future mysteries featuring Sally and Joe, and it is fair to say that I’d brave the plots and follow them.
Ellen Keith
THE SAVAGE GARDEN
Mark Mills, HarperCollins, 2007, £12.99, hb, 345pp, 9780007161911 / To be pub. by Putnam in May 2007
In 1958, Cambridge art history student, Adam Strickland, goes to Tuscany to work on the Mannerist garden of the Villa Docci near Florence. The garden, apparently created by a grieving husband in memory of his dead wife, turns out to harbour much darker secrets than Adam had anticipated, as does the villa itself. Soon, Adam is drawn into a complex mystery which shifts between the 16th century and the recently-ended Second World War, and into the web of charm woven by the Docci family.
Lucille
Cormier
This is a great story. It has all the ingredients an adventure should have: excitement, danger, romance. The narrative is strong and the dialogue is true. The story moves at rapid pace towards an incomparable climax. But Ghost Sea is not just a seagoing Indiana Jones tale. The author is a scholar of the Kwakiutl nation, and the story is through and through a story of the Kwakiutl people. Máté opens most chapters with quotations from Franz Boas’ ethnological studies of the Kwakiutl. He weaves extensive history into his narration, and introduces yet more through Dugger’s first mate, Nello, who is part Kwakiutl. He does all this without a break in the nonstop action of the tale. What adds even more to the storytelling is Máté´s thorough knowledge of sailing ships and the sea. He shares his love of both in passages that can only be described as poetry. Ghost Sea is a beautifully written intellectual thriller. I would rank it alongside Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s The Nautical Chart.
Philip to solve the mystery is to find the Tower himself.
There are so many plot strands and ideas in The Tower it is sometimes in danger of being overwhelmed by them all. However, Manfredi somehow manages to keep the action on track and as long as the reader is prepared to suspend disbelief there is plenty of enjoyment to be found within its pages.
I have always felt that Manfredi’s novels read almost like film scripts with their short, visual scenes – indeed The Last Legion is currently being filmed – and The Tower is no exception. Whilst this style may suit some readers I found that it lacked depth, and the translation was not particularly inspired either. Putting those niggles aside, it is an entertaining archaeological thriller and very much aimed at Da Vinci Code fans.
Sara Wilson
THE ALIBI CLUB
Francine Mathews, Bantam, 2006, $24/C$32, hb, 310pp, 0553800331X
It is the summer of 1940 in Paris, and the Germans are beginning their invasion. Sally King, an American model for the House of Chanel, is expecting a proposal from lawyer Philip Stilwell. Instead, Stilwell is found dead, an apparent victim of a gay encounter gone wrong. Refusing to accept his death as anything but murder, Sally brings her questions to the American Embassy, and a chain of events is set in motion by her inquiry.
Reminiscent of Casablanca with its “usual suspects,” The Alibi Club has a host of shady characters—from lawyers to nightclub singers
to Germans with questionable alliances. Sally’s white knight is Joe Hearst of the American Embassy, who uncovers a plot that involves a whole host of other characters, including Frederic Joliot-Curie, son-in-law of the Curies, and his British lover, who is coincidentally the cousin of the German with the questionable alliances. This German is also the lover of the nightclub singer, who is modeled after Josephine Baker. Confused? I was! It took a few readings
Y THE OFFICER’S DAUGHTER
Mark Mills won the Crime Writers’ Association’s John Creasey Memorial Dagger for his first novel, The Whaleboat House (US title Amagansett) in 2004. Whether that was a weak year from crime writing or he is suffering from second novel syndrome I cannot say, but, although I enjoyed reading The Savage Garden, I cannot rate it that highly. Mills distracts from the narrative momentum of his novel with learned digressions on all sorts of matters from classical mythology to the evolution of orang-utans. While these do have some incidental bearing on the plot, Mills goes into far more detail than is necessary, which is frustrating when you’re longing to know what happens next. Possibly as a result, the end feels rushed, almost as though
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Zina Rohan, Portobello, 2007, £16.99, hb, 592pp, 9781846270673
Sixteen-year-old Marta always wanted to be a soldier like her father, an officer in the Polish army. Instead she has to settle for leading a group of girl guides on a camping trip into the forest on the Polish-German border on the day the Nazis invade her country. The girls are spirited away across Poland until they are billeted in a nunnery. When the Russians arrive and arrest Marta, her nightmare really begins. She endures a perilous journey of thousands of miles from the logging camps of Siberia to the British field hospitals in Persia. The book ends in post-war England when she is a mature young woman of twenty-seven. During this epic book, Marta is forced to draw on reserves of courage and make impossible choices.
This is a huge book in every sense of the word. It transports the reader into a world of horror and deprivation so extreme that in places it is hard to read on. However, the power of the story is such that you are compelled to continue. The heroine, Marta, is not a sympathetic character; she is far too self obsessed, too opinionated. But she is totally credible, and the author drags you into her life to suffer alongside as she makes the transition from child-woman to adult.
This is a tour de force, a wonderful book which will stay with you for years. Very highly recommended. Fenella Miller
Mills has simply got bored.
The novel is also thin on period atmosphere. It is almost as though the year 1958 was chosen solely to serve the needs of the wartime plot strand, and the author has not bothered to consider the 1950s as an historical decade in its own right. I spotted several glaring anachronisms, including a reference to Velcro fastenings. I was also left with the feeling that the characters lacked the right period sensibility, especially the young, unmarried women whose carefree attitude to sex seemed implausible.
A fun read, meticulously researched and informative about all sorts of things, but not a masterpiece.
Sarah Bower
A DAY OF SMALL BEGINNINGS
Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum, Little, Brown, 2006, $24.99/C$32.99, hb, 384pp, 9780316014519
In early 20th century Poland, Itzik, a young Jewish boy, kills a Polish Catholic and runs to the graveyard for cover. There he wakens the spirit of Friedl, a childless woman, who vows to protect him. She helps him travel to Warsaw, then America, where he marries and has a family. Years later, his son Nathan and granddaughter Ellen return to Poland for both business and personal reasons, where they learn about what drove their Itzik to his new life and the reasons behind his rejection of his religion. Friedl’s spirit is present throughout, a linking element that helps Nathan and Ellen understand their faith and the past.
I found this book difficult to read at times because the paranormal component
Y THE RISING TIDE
overwhelmed a little too much at the beginning and then later, because the son’s story moved quite slowly, with lots of dialogue that went over the same ground. Once the author moved into Ellen’s story it became easier, both because the characters were more sympathetic and because there was more action. In the end, the story came full circle, wrapping up in a satisfying way.
On a wholly positive note, the author’s setting is vibrant and detailed, taking the reader to Warsaw, Krakow and the countryside in between. Her voice is unique and at times the prose is a little passive, but at others quite poetic. Her descriptions of the sights, sounds and tastes of Poland, especially the architecture, music and the food work well for the most part, especially as they’re seen through the characters’ eyes as they come face to face with their heritage.
Readers of Eastern European ancestry will find this intriguing novel of special interest, but anyone searching for something different yet engrossing might want to add this title to their To Be Bought list.
Teresa Basinski Eckford
TOMORROW THEY WILL KISS
Eduardo Santiago, Back Bay, 2006, $13.99/ C$18.99, pb, 282pp, 0316014125
Santiago evokes a strong sense of Cuban immigrant life in this novel set in 1960s Union City, New Jersey. Graciela, Caridad, and Imperio, the three narrators, all left Castro’s Cuba for various reasons. They work dead-end jobs, assembling doll parts in a factory where immigrants are only trusted to work with the doll bodies, not the heads. What binds the three
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Jeff Shaara, Ballantine, 2006, $27.95/C$36.95, hb, 536pp, 034546141X
After an introduction, which whisks the reader through the events leading up World War II and into the early years of the war, Shaara’s latest history lesson opens on the North African campaign in May 1942, just prior to the battle for Tobruk. Rommel has the British forces on the run, but he knows the entrance of the United States into the war will cause problems for the German war machine. He is already saddled with poor supply lines and shoddy leadership from the Italian high command. When Montgomery takes over command of the British forces and defeats Rommel at El Alamein, the tide in North Africa turns. The landing of American forces in the west, to Rommel’s rear, puts Rommel in an untenable situation. The rest, as they say, is history.
Shaara’s trademark is his tight adherence to actual events and, where possible, actual conversations. The “fiction” comes in when he fills in the conversational blanks where no record exists. Still, he’s so good at it you have to believe his educated guesses must be close to spot on. This rare talent enables the reader to really get to know the people who made history and gain an appreciable insight into the dynamics and emotions involved: Rommel’s frustration with his superiors, the animosity between Patton and Montgomery, the awesome balancing act that Eisenhower had to maintain through the entire war. This is history as it should be learned, for it gives the reader a true understanding of events, rather than just memorization of dates and facts. When I reached the end of the book, which concludes in late 1943 as the Allies are planning Operation Overlord, I was still eager for more. I can’t wait for the next course.
Mark F. Johnson
ladies together is the fact that they all came from the same town in Cuba, and they all love to watch “telenovelas,” Spanish-language soap operas.
Having that neutral topic for conversation on van rides to work is necessary, because they are not exactly friends. Caridad and Imperio, homesick for Cuba, criticize Graciela’s learning English and taking fashion design classes in an attempt to better herself. Graciela doesn’t care. She has always been a source of scandal, even in Cuba, where she married above her station by snagging a newly-widowed teacher at his wife’s funeral, and then cheated on him. Her attempts to attract the American factory supervisor provide even more food for gossip. Graciela’s life has come to rival the events in one of their favorite telenovelas.
Santiago drew on his own Cuban American family’s experiences for the book. Its lack of strong male characters reflects the relatives he knew, who became “distant, or depressed or drunk” once they emigrated. Flashbacks are skillfully woven into the narrative, giving readers a well-drawn picture of life in a Cuban small town. Spanish expressions in the dialogue add to the local color, yet are made understandable for English speakers. A discussion guide for readers’ groups, including an interview with the author, is provided. I relished the novel’s dip into Cuban culture, and enjoyed the memorable characters.
B.J. Sedlock
THE CRIMSON PORTRAIT
Jody Shields, Doubleday, 2007, £14.99, hb, 295pp, 9780585603164 / Little, Brown, 2006, $23.99, hb, 304pp, 0316785288
In 1915, Catherine, an Englishwoman grieving for her husband who has died on a WWI battlefield, turns over their country mansion to the army as a hospital specialising in facial injuries. She finds consolation in the company of Julian, a young soldier whose face is swathed in bandages, save for one eye. When the hospital’s gifted surgeon and his dentist colleague realise they cannot reconstruct Julian’s face, an alternative is offered: an artist will make a lightweight mask in silver and copper and paint it with a likeness of Julian’s face taken from a photograph. But Julian is no longer interested in his former face, and Catherine sees in his reluctance an opportunity to secretly substitute a photograph of her husband and thus remake Julian in his likeness. Will this be any consolation to either of them?
The cover of my proof copy says that the novel was ‘inspired by a little-known but extraordinary collaboration between artists and surgeons during the First World War.’ The author seems to have taken this information and run with it, trailing reams of research on artistic and medical matters – why give such voluminous detail about facial reconstruction in the early 20th century when it isn’t going to be used? The result is that the lush and detailed description
distances the reader from the characters, slows down the story to yawning pace, and blurs whatever interesting things Shields has to say about identity and desire.
Sarah Cuthbertson
A PROMISE FOR ELLIE
Lauraine Snelling, Bethany House, 2006, $12.99, pb, 314pp, 0764228094
Ellie Wold and Andrew Bjorklund are engaged and looking forward to a life together, farming the Dakota prairies in 1900. When Andrew’s father asks them to delay the wedding from the spring until after the harvest, Andrew is mulishly resistant to having his plans overturned. It soon becomes the worst summer of his life, when Ellie is injured in the fire that destroys their new barn. Andrew, suspecting his boyhood enemy Toby of arson, lets his temper get the better of him and is jailed for assault.
This is the first volume of Daughters of Blessing, a sequel to Snelling’s Red River of the North series. Farming, weddings, and babies figure largely in the plot, with religious content on the heavy side. Snelling creates some good word-pictures, as in a scene where a mother gives a toddler a piece of candy, then reaps the sticky consequences. The main characters are well developed, and I didn’t feel the lack of not having read the original series. I enjoyed it much more than Snelling’s earlier novel Amethyst, which I previously reviewed for this magazine.
B.J.
Sedlock
UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS
Tracie Peterson, Bethany House, 2006, $13.99, pb, 379pp, 9780764227745
In this second book of the Alaskan Quest series, Leah Kincaid is kidnapped by her husband’s identical twin brother, Chase, who carries her northward, across the frozen terrain and into the face of the coming winter. Leah believes her husband and brother are also at the mercy of this murderer but learns, in time, that his only other captive is Helaina Beecham, the Pinkerton agent who has been trying to arrest Chase and bring him to justice. Leah and Helaina quarrel incessantly over their plans for escape, a disagreement that continues to fester even after they have reached safety.
Although the scenes of the Alaskan wilderness of the early 20th century are well written, educational and intriguing, they are not enough to carry a story whose major plot conflict is resolved early. Tension builds again toward the end, but only to lead into the third title of the series. What a shame that Bethany House did not trim this book and publish the series as one action-packed thriller. That would be a novel worth reading.
Nancy J. Attwell
of many different genres: At the beginning, it’s strongly inspirational; at the end, it’s pure adventure. Full of family secrets and scandals, the novel also expresses a political message about the treatment of sealers. Yet any discerning reader will soon discover the book’s true nature: Black Water Born is a lovely, old-fashioned romance novel.
Lucky has been in love since childhood with Helen, an intelligent redhead from a local Newfoundland family. But Lucky is “black water born”: the son of a woman pulled from the sea who dies without telling anyone her name. Because of this, people are quick to suspect his character. Lucky drinks, fights, and refuses to attend church or school, thus doing everything in his power to support their prejudices. Ostracized because of a misunderstanding – one of many in this story – he flees to St. Johns to look for work. There, he runs illegal booze, hangs out with a prostitute, and takes in a pregnant girl from back home. Meanwhile, the devoted local schoolmaster courts Helen, but her heart is with Lucky. She defies her parents’ wishes by chasing him down, to the point of disguising herself as a sealer and stowing away on a boat bound for the ice floes. There, they are thrust into a struggle for survival, as victims of the horrific treatment of sealers by ship captains in the early 20th century.
Though misunderstanding and miscommunication form many of the conflicts in this novel, Fara Spence has penned a sweet story with a warm heart.
Lisa Ann Verge
THE SPLENDOR OF SILENCE
Indu Sundaresan, Atria, 2006, $25.00/C$32.95, hb, 403pp, 0743283678
India, 1942. American Sam Hawthorne, recovering from a wound received in Burma, turns up in the remote Indian state of Rudrakot. He asks permission to stay with the political agent, Raman, who welcomes Sam into his home, introducing him to sons Kiran, Ashok, and daughter Mila. But they don’t know that Sam is a member of the OSS, come to look for his missing brother, who was last seen in Rudrakot and rumored to be in the army’s field punishment center.
Sam brings further disruption into a Rudrakot already made turbulent by the war and India’s looming fight for independence. He introduces Ashok to Vimal, a charismatic nationalist who shuns Gandhi’s nonviolent policies, and is eager to use the new connection to his advantage. And on an expedition to visit a desert tomb, trapped overnight by a sandstorm, Sam and Mila fall in love. But how can Mila marry Sam when she is already engaged to become the second wife of Jai, Rudrakot’s prince?
and the clash between old ways and new. The story alternates between Sam’s mission rescuing fellow Americans in Burma a month earlier, and the scenes in Rudrakot. I did not find the time and location switches confusing, and the storyline kept me guessing as to what would happen next. Both major and minor characters were interesting, although I was a little disappointed in the fate of one of them. An absorbing read about a period and society I previously knew little about.
B.J. Sedlock
REDEMPTION
Frederick Turner, Harcourt, 2006, $24.00, hb, 348pp, 0151014701
Rarely has New Orleans appeared as dark and dangerous as it does in Turner’s “Big Easy” of 1913. Francis Muldoon, nicknamed “Fast Mail” for his record-breaking running skills as a teenager, is an ex-cop forced to leave the police force after being accused of cowardice in a shooting that left him partially disabled. He now works for Tom Anderson as his man about town, patrolling the crime boss’s bars and brothels in seedy Storyville. Muldoon is drifting through his meaningless, amoral life dreaming of the “Fast Mail” with a once-promising future. His world changes when the vicious Parkers attempt to displace Tom Anderson from Storyville and the beautiful Adele returns to town. Muldoon is attracted to the mysterious Adele and is not aware that Tom Anderson is the stepfather who abused her as a young girl. The Anderson-Parker gang war is played out as the tragic Adele and pitiful “Fast Mail” search for a better world amongst the corruption of New Orleans.
Historical novels usually fail owing to the author’s inability to convey the right feel to the setting. Turner brings the reader with “Fast Mail” as he walks the streets of Storyville. The author not only did the necessary research, his Storyville comes to life in all its ugliness and beauty.
John R. Vallely
THE JADE BRACELET
Wilma Wall, Kregel, 2006, $13.99, pb, 304pp, 0825439485
BLACK WATER BORN
Fara Spence, Breakwater, 2006, C$16.95, pb, 313pp, 155081057X
Black Water Born integrates the elements
The love story aspect might make the book sound like a romance novel, but it’s more than that. The author examines issues of race and class prejudice, the politics of Indian royalty, the nationalist movement just before independence,
Elsa Meier is a child of China. As the daughter of an American missionary and his wife in the 1930s, Elsa feels most at home in Chinese culture and has no urge to return to the United States. This makes for a great rift between Elsa and her mother, Rachel, who disapproves of her daughter’s “foreign” ways. But as the Communist invasion begins and World War II looms, the family is forced to flee their mission and ultimately return to America. The problems between mother and daughter intensify as Elsa’s father dies, and Elsa begins to make her own decisions about her life. Her mother disapproves of her choices, but when Elsa’s daughter Crystal is born, Rachel gives Crystal the love and affection she never gave her daughter. When
EDITORS’ CHOICE Y THE BOOK THIEF
Markus Zusak, Doubleday, 2007, £12.99, hb, 584pp, 9780385611 / Knopf, 2006, $16.95, 560pp, 0375831002
1939, Nazi Germany. Liesel Meminger, the daughter of a communist, is the eponymous Book Thief, and her story is told by Death. Even before she could read, Liesel loved words, and that is why she will steal three books and one of the reasons she hates Hitler and his book-burning regime. Fostered by the Hubermanns and living a rough and tumble life in the back streets of Munich, Liesel learns the value of books and the power of words from her foster father, Hans.
The brief safety of life in Himmel Street, forever overshadowed by political unrest and tensions Liesel barely understands, is to be ended forever with the coming of the bombs.
If we are all going to die, why is Death more afraid of us than we are of him? The Book Thief has the answer: because he can see the terrible things we do to each other. And that sums up the book in a nutshell. It is powerful, compelling and bleakly truthful. As Markus Zusak says himself, Liesel’s love of words is a statement on their importance for the Nazi regime and what they were able to make people do and believe.
The Book Thief is a great read containing some startling imagery and truly inspired scenes. Liesel herself is a well-judged combination of naivety and resolution, an eloquent heroine in spite of her lack of education. This is a must-read for anyone who loves books and believes in their ability to influence mankind.
Elsa gets a chance to return to China decades later, she hopes that by revisiting the past, she can find reconciliation for them all.
The description of Elsa’s childhood parallels the author’s youthful experiences; perhaps that is why the novel is so rich and detailed in the nuances of Chinese culture and in its descriptions of locations and sensations. Wall skillfully portrays the friction between three generations of women, and sensitively shows how understanding and forgiveness are able to heal old wounds. The inspirational element of the novel is present but not overwhelming. The book also credibly portrays Elsa’s transition from “being” Chinese to becoming American, with its discomfort, humiliation, and isolation vividly depicted. My only gripe is that I wish the writing had flowed more smoothly; I found it to be a bit choppy. Otherwise, this was a good piece of family/relationship drama fiction.
Andrea
Connell
CASTRO’S CURVEBALL
Tim Wendel, Bison (Univ. of Nebraska Press), 2006 (c1999), $19.95/£15.50, pb, 299pp, 0803259573
In 1947, career minor leaguer Billy Bryan is in Cuba playing winter ball, chasing a dream of making it to the majors that is fading as rapidly as the splendors of old Havana. After another trying day behind the plate, he meets an enigmatic young political protester with a wicked curveball. This chance encounter soon plunges the fading catcher into a world of high adventure and danger. Going beyond the glitz and glamour of turista Cuba, he finds sad, desperate revolutionaries, duplicitous leaders, and a beautiful crusading photographer named
Sara Wilson
Malena, with whom he falls in maddening and passionate love.
Told from the perspective of a recently widowed and retired Billy, the story enfolds as a memoir of the meaning of loss. Traveling back to Cuba with his daughter, he seeks to uncover the truth about that winter of 1947 and to make peace with his painful memories of that Cuba of so much promise and disappointment, as well as the personal failures of that fading ballplayer, both of which haunt him daily.
This is a skillfully rendered story that resonates with the ring of truth. The author’s prose is so convincing you’ll smell the aroma of Billy’s leather mitt and feel the softness of the grassy field cooling in the tropical evening. Your heart will pound whether staring into a rifle held by a shaking soldier, an oncoming fastball thrown by the team’s latest young prospect, or the deeply evocative eyes of the lovely Malena. This book has the power to get under your skin, and the wisdom to make you reflect on the meaning of your own life. Above all, it stands as an allegory for the story of Cuba itself, in all its tragic magnificence. Highly recommended.
Ken Kreckel
MULTI-PERIOD
BULL BY THE TALE
John Duncklee, Univ. of New Mexico Press, 2006, $17.95, pb, 287 pp, 0826338895
This book is an anthology of eight short stories about the American West from Spanish colonial days to the present. Two stories tell of men with weaknesses, especially in their relationships with women, resulting in problems that complicate their lives. Three stories feature
miners looking for lost treasure; another is about an illegal immigrant who travels across the border from Mexico looking for work. One story, the one I liked best, is about two Spaniards who leave Spain for the new world looking for adventure. The last story is a fantasy about what would happen if famous western characters, such as Wyatt Earp, return to the town of Tombstone in the 21st century and find a world different than the one they left.
John Duncklee knows the West and its people, and has written other books about this part of the United States. As a reader of short stories, I didn’t find anything exceptional about this book. Yet it was a quick read, and if you enjoy short stories you may like these eight tales.
Jeff Westerhoff
COLD ROCK RIVER
J. L. Miles, Cumberland House, 2006, $22.95, hb, 327pp, 1581825706
In Vietnam-era rural Georgia, insecure Adie falls in love with the most popular boy in high school. She is thrilled when Buck begins to court her. The sex he considers a prerogative soon leads to pregnancy and a shotgun wedding. Adie’s family has skeletons in the closet, and she quickly learns that her new husband and her judgmental mother-in-law have a few of their own. Buck insists that they move to his original town, where he has a prospective employer. Once there, he quickly takes up with the boss’s daughter. Adie remains determined to be a good wife. During her struggles with loneliness and poverty, she makes two firm friends. One is a kind neighbor, Murphy, upon whose property she rents a cabin. The other is an aged black woman who has dark secrets of her own. Willa Mae shares with Adie a precious heirloom, the diary of a slave called Tempe. Tempe’s tale, replete with rape, murder, and the sale of her beloved children, reinforces Adie’s determination to make a life beyond mere survival.
In short, Cold Rock River is hard-core rural Southern melodrama, with more twists and turns than a nine-foot blacksnake. The flashbacks to antebellum life are by turns colorful and agonizing. The secretly intermingled world of the supposedly “segregated” and the tragic loss of children are reoccurring themes. The endlessly beset Adie and her friend, Willa Mae, are engaging characters, but the rest seemed a little flat. Although there is abundant regional dialect and local color, the book ends, perhaps to intensify an already powerful down-home flavor, with several pages of recipes: Erskine Caldwell meets Paula Dean. Readers who enjoy this popular Southern subgenre should find Cold Rock River a compelling read.
Juliet Waldron
THE VIEW FROM CASTLE ROCK
Alice Munro, Knopf, 2006, $25.95/C$34.99 hb, 352 pp, 0771065264 / Chatto & Windus, 2006, £15.99, hb, 368pp, 0701179899
In this collection of stories, Alice Munro
Multi-period-Time-slip
picks through her family tree – as far back as 18th century Scotland and as close as her recent cancer scare – to present a tender and nostalgic genealogical narrative.
Starting in Ettrick Parish, Scotland, a country of “no advantages,” Munro chronicles the lives of a few locally famous Laidlaws and Hoggs and Bostons. These early anecdotes fascinate, but Munro’s writing is restrained: Some stories read like a mix of genealogical research and stop-and-start narrative, as if Munro herself hesitated to fictionally fill in the gaps in the historical record. Once her ancestors board the ship to Canada, however, the storytelling soars. The settlers bring their provincial ways, their stoicism, and their silences to the wilderness. They obtain land, clear it, and farm. As the stories draw closer to the present, the tales deepen in insight and perception. They also become exquisitely personal. The second half of the book reads like a memoir, full of tales of her ill-matched parents, her own rustic childhood, her sexual awakening, and painfully discerning details about the peculiarities of the rural population. Here, Munro is at her best, describing in a softly nostalgic way a world and a lifestyle that is disappearing. The View from Castle Rock is not the most cohesive of Munro’s story collections, but the clarity and intensity of the second half of the book make it well worth the price.
Lisa Ann Verge
GHOSTWALK
Rebecca Stott, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007, £12.99, hb, 304pp, 0297851365 / Spiegel and Grau, $24.95, hb, 256pp, 0385521065
This is a strange and intriguing book, part detective mystery, part love story, part ghost
story. It is set in Cambridge from 2003 onwards and is only obliquely an historical novel.
The woman whose sudden death opens the book has left behind an unfinished manuscript of a life of Isaac Newton the alchemist (Newton devoted much more of his life to alchemy than to physics, although most of his alchemy was practised in secret). Lydia, the heroine of the book, is hired by the dead biographer’s son, who is also Lydia’s ex-lover, to ghost-write the remaining chapters. As she works she unravels a skein of sinister mysteries about Newton, about his biographer, and about her employer/lover. None of these mysteries is fully resolved, leaving the reader with a choice of explanations. I was relieved that Newton was cleared of being a serial murderer, as seemed likely at one point, since my wife is a descendant of Newton’s mother. Indeed my only criticism of the book is that it presumes that the reader is familiar with Newton’s complicated family structure; not all of us know that Hannah Smith was Newton’s mother.
The press release describes the book as ‘beautifully written’, meaning that is very slow, with long lyrical descriptions of Cambridge in autumn. I found it deliciously slow, gradually ratcheting up the tension to the final violent denouement.
Edward James
THE DECEPTION OF THE EMERALD RING
Lauren Willig, Dutton, 2006, $21.95, 389pp, hb, 0525949771
Letty Alsworthy, the responsible member of an eccentric family in early 19th century England, is seriously concerned about her beautiful sister’s plan to elope with a peer. In preventing
Y THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Maggie O’Farrell, Headline, 2006, £14.99, hb, 245 pp, 0755308433
Iris Lockhart is a stubbornly independent young woman in modern Edinburgh. Her only real connections with the past are Kitty, her Alzheimer’s-afflicted grandmother, and the beautiful vintage clothes she sells in her boutique. Out of the blue, she receives a phone call from a mental hospital, which is about to close down and must re-house all its inmates. Iris is asked whether she is willing to take on Esme Lennox, the great aunt she never knew existed. Esme is Kitty’s sister, yet Kitty had always insisted she was an only child. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn the story of Esme, a spirited woman, much like Iris, except that she had the misfortune to be born in a place and time that labelled her rebellious streak as madness. After a troubled childhood in colonial India and 1930s Edinburgh, Esme was incarcerated in a mental institution at the age of 16 and erased from her family history. By the time Iris discovers Esme’s existence, she has been in the asylum for 60 years.
Iris is torn between her reluctance of taking on a mad and possibly dangerous old woman and her curiosity. Compassion overrides caution when she learns that in the 1930s, a G.P.’s signature sufficed for a father or a husband to have a woman committed for life. O’Farrell poignantly describes the growing bond that forms between Iris and Esme as Esme gathers her courage for her inevitable reunion with Kitty, who has betrayed her in the most unspeakable way.
Mary from making a dreadful – and scandalous – mistake, she succeeds in compromising herself. Thus Geoffrey Pinchingdale-Snipe finds himself married to the younger sister he hardly knows rather than the one he adores. Resentful of the way Letty manipulated him into marriage, he doesn’t object when the League of the Purple Gentian requires him to travel to Ireland. A French-supported rebellion is imminent, and he is expected to thwart the Marquise of Montval (the Black Tulip) and any other spies placed there by the enemy.
In the present day, American historian Eloise Kelly struggles with her attraction to handsome Englishman Colin Selwick, whose family papers proved useful in solving previous mysteries connected to the female spy she is researching. In the British Library she uncovers evidence of Letty Alsworthy’s connection to PinchingdaleSnipe, and ponders their association with Jane Wooliston, the Pink Carnation. She also sticks a tentative toe into the dating pool, with mixed results.
The principal characters are lively and witty – classical allusions abound – and their repartee, however silly, is enjoyable. History, romance, danger, and high society collide in wonderful ways in the latest installment in Willig’s intelligent and well-written series.
Margaret Barr
TIME-SLIP
JACK KNIFE
Dark and disturbing, this cautionary tale is not for the faint-hearted. But this gorgeously written novel is subtle and elegantly drawn: a masterpiece. Mary Sharratt N n
Virginia Baker, Jove, 2007, $7.99/C$10.99, pb, 352pp, 9780515142525
The movie Time After Time, released in 1979, purported that Jack the Ripper stole H.G. Wells’s time machine and went to the 20th century to be a modern-day serial killer. Jack Knife, however, reverses that. In 2007, government scientists are working on a time traveling machine called the Portal when the megalomaniacal Jonathan Avery makes an unauthorized trip in it, going back to Victorian England when Jack the Ripper was terrorizing the East End. Desperate to stop Avery from changing the past, scientist Sara Grant and Captain David Elliot go after him and find themselves in a London already altered by Avery, where they raise the suspicions of Inspector Jonas Robb with their knowledge of the future.
At times this book contains too many elements — mystery, romance, time travel altering both past and future — to do equal justice to all of them. Sara and Jonas’s romance is inevitable yet unmoving, and Sara and David, posing as brother and sister, skip in and out of society with an ease that would be impossible to the Victorians. What is poignant, though, are Sara’s encounters with prostitutes she know will die at the Ripper’s hands, and what Baker gets right is the treatment of women in this very repressive time. And, if Jack the Ripper could go into the present, it is equally absorbing to see him come from the future.
Ellen Keith
Time-slip-Children & YA
YSABEL
Guy Gavriel Kay, Viking Canada, 2007, C$34.00, hb, 432pp, 0670043214 / Roc, 2007, $24.95, hb, 432pp, 0451461290 / Simon & Schuster, 2007, £18.99, hb, 432pp, 0743252500
Guy Gavriel Kay has mesmerized readers with his realistic, historically-steeped novels set in alternate versions of actual eras and places. He has won or been nominated for numerous awards and praised for the depth and authenticity of his research. In his new novel, he returns to his roots as a writer with a contemporary tale set in southern France, entwined with a mythic ages-old struggle between three doomed lovers.
The protagonist is Ned Marriner, the fifteenyear-old son of a renowned photographer, who, while on a photo-shoot with his father, stumbles upon an ancient enigma from the past about to materialize in the present. As Ned struggles with the onset of an unexpected precognition and becomes immersed in a battle between the enigmatic titular character, Ysabel, and the two enemies who love her, he also becomes aware of secrets hidden in his own family.
The premise is intriguing, and Kay delivers with his customary confidence. The tone and style are more direct than in his other books, however, and the point of view almost exclusively that of his adolescent protagonist. Kay succeeds admirably in depicting the emotions of a youth hovering on the edge of manhood, as well as the eerie occurrences Ned must confront, but at times the narrative falters due to the lack of a more mature interpretation of the book’s central events. Likewise, while the near-immortal Ysabel captured my attention with her allure and the effect she exerts upon those she meets, her own story is revealed only in fragments, even though it promises more complexity than that of her modern counterparts. In this novel about how the past affects the present, it was the untold story of Ysabel’s past I yearned for the most in Kay’s otherwise accomplished tale.
C.W.
Gortner
HISTORICAL FANTASY
BLADE OF FORTRIU
Juliet Marillier, Tor, 2006, $27.95/C$36.95, hb, 496pp, 9780765309969 / Tor UK, 2006, £17.99, hb, 560pp, 1405041080
Bridei has been King of Fortriu for five years, and his people have known great contentment. He decides it is now time for him to drive the Gaelic invaders from the land. As part of his battle strategy, Bridei arranges for the court hostage, Princess Anna of the Light Isles, to wed the Caitt chieftain, Alpin of Briar Wood, to secure his allegiance. This is not an easy decision, for Anna has become quite dear to Bridei and Tuala. But Anna, who knows she is a political pawn in this game, accepts that she has no choice. She is secretly sent off to Briar Wood under the care of Faolan, the King’s assassin and
spy. The two dislike each other at the beginning of this ill-fated journey, but their relationship evolves and becomes very complicated by the time they reach their destination. Once there, Anna resigns herself to wedding a man who she finds offensive and repulsive…until she meets Alpin’s mysterious imprisoned brother, Drustan. To say any more would be to give away the plot, and I want you to have the joy of discovering the rest yourself!
Blade of Fortriu is a captivating and enchanting read, as was the first book of this trilogy, The Dark Mirror. The story continues the romance of Bridei and Tuala, but the focus is on the intense relationship triangle between Anna, Drustan, and Faolan and on their personal quests for survival. The humanity of Broichan and Faolan is highlighted through their trials – they are not as cold and heartless as they seemed to be in The Dark Mirror. This second book in the Bridei Chronicles is a page turner and a wonderful addition to the author’s list of excellent fantasies.
Andrea Connell
ROMAN DUSK
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Tor, 2006, $27.95/ C$37.95, hb, 352pp, 076531391X
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro continues her popular vampire series into the decadent reign of the boy-Emperor Heliogabalus as Rome totters on the edge of collapse. Bureaucracy and prejudice against foreigners threaten our hero, Rogoczy Germainus Sanct’Franciscus, known elsewhere as the Count Saint-Germain. His lady friends feel a similar pinch against women, and Christians – actually called “terrorists” at one point – threaten to purify the rotten city with fire, which, of course, is deadly for vampires.
Constantine Rome, let alone someone who’d been undead for two thousand years prior.
Ann Chamberlin
ALTERNATE HISTORY
EMPEROR
Stephen Baxter, Ace, 2007, $24.95/C31.00, hb, 384pp, 0441014668 / Gollancz, 2006, £10.99, pb, 320pp, 0575074337
In a small village in Northern England in the 5th century, a woman is in the throes of a long arduous labor. At the moment she gives birth to her son, Nectovelin, she begins to babble a stream of Latin words, a language unfamiliar to her. A druid in attendance scribbles down her words just before she dies. The druid is convinced the woman has spoken a prophecy foretelling the death of an emperor, a prophecy that will change the destiny of the Roman Empire. Emperor follows Nectovelin and his descendants as they struggle to make the prophecy come true.
A skillful, knowledgeable and subtle hand drew beautiful descriptions of Roman life, and it is worth seeing how Yarbro does this throughout the book. I am, however, not a Saint-Germain initiate, and this may be the cause of the difficulties I had with what appears in between descriptions. This vampire is such a nice guy, bringing his feminist and criminal-reclamation values to the Forum, that tension evaporates from the pages. Much of the threat to his alchemically funded fortune is dealt with by factotums, off stage. Other constraints and threats that make a vampire’s, um, life interesting in other tales receive the merest brush here. Instead of conflict and action, we are fed expositional dialogue. I’ve never thought I’d say too much dialogue is a problem, but here it is. The incendiarilynamed Ignatia is sister to a Christian ringleader and caretaker to a verbosely ill mother. We feel the tedious pain with this impossible woman, so much so that Ignatia’s liberation at the skillful undead hands of the great lover hardly seems recompense. And forgive me if this is some secret touchstone of the cult, but this installment never satisfied me as to how a Christian name dating to the 13th century of the common era ever found itself attached to someone in pre-
Stephen Baxter is a highly acclaimed science fiction author who has transitioned into alternate history with this novel. To write a historical epic that spans four centuries, multiple generations, and numerous characters in only 384 pages is a daunting, almost impossible task. I found this especially true in this case. With too many characters that appeared and disappeared over the lengthy span of time, characterization was weak, which left me feeling disappointed. The opportunity to know and understand the historical characters and eras through the experiences, values, and beliefs of the times did not present itself. I’m sorry to say I found I found this book a tribulation rather than an enjoyable read.
Mirella Patzer
N n N n
CHILDREN & YOUNG ADULT
THE LADY GRACE MYSTERIES: GOLD
Grace Cavendish, Doubleday, 2006, £6.99, hb, 242pp, 0385608527 /
1578. Lady Grace Cavendish is maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth I in this, the seventh Lady Grace mystery. The court is at Windsor Castle and preparations for the wedding of one of the maids of honour are in full swing. The Queen’s temper is short – she hates her maids of honour marrying – and worse, part of a consignment of gold and jewels from Flanders is stolen from an inn at Meadowsfield, only fifteen miles from Windsor.
Grace’s search for the thief is made more difficult by the arrival of numerous wedding guests. Could any of them be involved? What about Stephen Morling, suspiciously taken ill at the banquet, or was that an excuse to N n
leave the castle to intercept the jewels? One eyewitness says that he was threatened by a fine gentleman with a pistol. Another tells of three ruffians heading for the forest. Who is telling the truth? And how is Grace going to get to Meadowfield when she cannot leave the castle unchaperoned?
I enjoyed this in spite of a somewhat slow start. It is a lively glimpse into Elizabethan court life, from the deer hunt which begins the wedding festivities, to the energetic dancing – and the gambling – which follow. We get glimpses behind the scenes, too, for example into the kitchen, laundry and stables and see how they operated. Unlike many historical novels, this one echoes Tudor assumptions about class and gender. Grace cannot scamper about the countryside unchaperoned, nor should she hobnob with servants. Her friends ‘below stairs’ must be visited with circumspection. She must track down the culprit in a way which won’t scandalize the court and damage her reputation. There is also a useful glossary at the back to explain unfamiliar terms.
For girls of 10 plus. Recommended. Elizabeth Hawksley
This book is very exciting. The plot is intriguing and makes you want to read more. As it is written as Lady Grace’s daybook, and she is solving the mystery, she gives you clues as to who stole the loan and it keeps on leading you on wild goose chases!
Personally, I found the answer to the mystery obvious, but that’s just me. I really enjoyed it and could barely put it down. I know there are others in the series but it works as a book on its own because the author describes everything as if you didn’t know the previous books. The plot was original and very enjoyable.
I would give this book 8 out of 10. Rachel Beggs, aged 11
GATTY’S TALE
Kevin Crossley-Holland, Orion, 2006, £12.99, hb, 400pp, 1842552732
This is a stand-alone novel which follows Kevin Crossley-Holland’s Arthur trilogy. The main character is Gatty, Arthur’s brave, loving and open-hearted friend from the earlier books. Gatty is now fifteen and alone in the world at Caldicot. Although she is only a field-girl, her lord and lady recognise her potential and arrange for her to be taught to read and to sing. She is sent away to be second chamber servant to Lady Gwyneth of Ewloe – a widow who has lost her only child and intends going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, taking eight pilgrims, including Gatty, with her.
One of the joys of this book is its clear, poetic depiction of this extraordinary journey, each stage of which is described and explained, along with the many people and strange foods, dress and customs the pilgrims encounter. Various adventures occur in which Gatty reveals her bravery and trusting nature – sometimes too
trusting. The group reaches Venice, and what happens there leaves Gatty with a powerful sense of purpose as the pilgrimage continues. Jerusalem is not the holy place that the pilgrims had expected. It’s full of cheats and swindlers and people trying to make money from the sale of relics. But Gatty’s innate goodness creates holiness even in that mercenary place.
During the course of the story Gatty grows from a tomboyish, outspoken field girl to a young woman maturing in spirituality, knowledge and understanding of other cultures. She also becomes aware of her own beauty and sexual potential.
And so at last she comes home to the Marches, to what must surely be a very different destiny to that of the field-girl she once was. Perhaps another book will follow? Let’s hope so.
Ann Turnbull
BLAST TO THE PAST, BEN FRANKLIN’S FAME
Stacia Deutsch & Rhody Cohon, Aladdin Paperbacks, $3.99/C$4.99, pb, 119pp, 9781416918042
Jacob, Zack, Bo and Abigail are members of the “top-secret” History Club, founded by their history teacher Mr. Caruthers. Their objective is to travel through time preventing the wicked Babs Magee from altering history. In Ben Franklin’s Fame, Franklin has disappeared from their textbook. Thus using their “supercool, hand-held video game-like time-travel computer,” the gang sets off back to the many events (1741-creation of the Franklin Stove, 1750-invention of the lighting rod, 1752-the famous kite experiment, 1776-the signing of the Declaration of Independence) in Franklin’s life, attempting to set the course of history straight.
It is easy to see why the Blast to the Past series has recently been awarded Learning Magazine’s Teacher’s Choice Award. It simply makes history accessible and pleasurable. The concept is quite engaging, enough for me to order the rest of the series for my own enjoyment. The characters are refreshing given that they are flawed and actually bicker while performing Herculean deeds! The Author’s Notes were fun and quirky, and the historical timeline is a terrific bonus for the young reader and parents with slippery minds. Ages 7-10
Wendy
A. Zollo
HEARTS OF IRON
Kathleen Benner Duble, Margaret K. McElderry, 2006, $15.95, hb, 248pp, 1416908501
Lucy Petee lives in a small mountain ironworking community in 1820. She’s fourteen years old, too old to swim in just her shift with her best friend, Jesse, but too young to consider the marriage her father has in mind for her. Duble, author of The Sacrifice, has returned again to historical fiction in this novel of friendship and love. In Hearts of Iron, readers feel Lucy’s love for her community, and at the same time empathize with Jesse’s desire to
escape the ironworks. It would be easy for Lucy to marry Jesse and for them both to stay, but Lucy’s father expects more for his daughter, and a life with Jesse on the mountain is out of the question. Jesse’s parents have plans for him too. They expect him to follow the family tradition of working in the ironworks’ forge even after his brother is burned. Jesse is determined to join the navy and move away, even if it means leaving Lucy behind. Can Lucy and Jesse balance their dreams with their hearts? Duble presents a believable story of teen/parent conflicts, romance, and friendship in this second novel. The tension-filled plot flows quickly, but readers may not find the ending they want. Ages 8-11.
Nancy Castaldo
FLYING ACE
Jim Eldridge, Scholastic, 2003, £5.99, 158pp, 0439977371
‘I have decided to join the Royal Flying Corps. I’m going to learn to fly, and fight the Hun that way’. When seventeen-year-old Jack Fairfax announces this, his father is disgusted. It is 1915, and Jack is breaking away from the family tradition of joining the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. Although his father does not approve, they come to a compromise, that if Jack’s career in the RFC does not bring him success, then he will honour the family tradition. Jack and his friend, Alan Dixon, travel to London to get some basic training and leave with civilian flying certificates. They undergo several months of intensive fighter plane training and are finally allowed onto the Front in 1916.
Over the next few months, Jack adapts to life as a fighter pilot, flying many missions, and losing many comrades along the way, but miraculously both he and Alan survive unharmed, until a meeting with a squad of unusual German fighter planes. These Fokker EIs astonish Jack when he first sees them as they are painted bright yellow, instead of the usual dull brown colour – and are quickly given the nickname ‘the flying bananas’. Jack’s plane is hit by the leader, Von Klempter, but will he survive being shot down from 10,000 feet and land safely in a plane with no engine that is suddenly heavier than the air surrounds it?
I found Flying Ace a relatively simple read, and although it was well written, in places it read more like an information manual on fighter planes of the First World War, rather than a novel. This was due to some of the information given being irrelevant and unnecessary considering there were several pages at the end of the book on the characteristics of the main German and British fighter planes. I would recommend this book to 11-14 year olds.
Charlotte Kemp
LEONARDO’S SHADOW, OR MY ASTONISHING LIFE AS LEONARDO DA VINCI’S SERVANT
Christopher Grey, Atheneum, 2006, $16.95, hb, 400pp, 141690543X.
EDITORS’ CHOICE Y HEARTS OF STONE
Kathleen Ernst, Dutton, 2006, $16.99, hb, 256pp, 0525476865
Fifteen-year-old Hannah finds herself the head of her family when her Cumberland Mountain home is torn asunder by the ravages of the Civil War. Her best friend and neighbor Ben’s family is Confederate, while Hannah’s father becomes an early casualty on the Union side. When bushwhackers threaten and their mother dies, Hannah makes the monumental decision to keep her family together by walking to a Nashville aunt’s home – a walk that takes them through the very heart of the war.
On the way they face dangers both natural and man-made, and continued animosity from Ben’s family. But Hannah sings to her twin sisters even when “worn to a nub.” They find kindness from both a former slave woman and Confederate gun runner. Cruelty comes by way of a desperate Union soldier.
When they finally reach a crowded-with-refugees Nashville, they spend their first night huddled together in a coil of rope at the docks. A Union surgeon offers help at a terrible price, and an uneasy truce begins with neighbor Ben and his sister. Although she feels like “someone had taken a flax comb to my heart,” Hannah finds strength in the healing power of music, story, and family.
Like an old-time ballad, Hearts of Stone transports readers into a lyrical, essential world brimming with life and spirit. It succeeds in that rarest of objectives – to both wrench and warm the heart. Highly recommended. Age 12 and up.
The ongoing popularity of Leonardo da Vinci in fiction often obscures his preeminent place as the Renaissance’s most gifted and versatile artist. Likewise, the presence of fictional or semi-fictional characters interacting with Leonardo to their own ends usually reduces the artist to a cliché or foil for the plot in question. Fortunately, in Christopher Grey’s young adult novel Leonardo’s Shadow, these obstacles are delightfully overcome.
Though written for the adolescent market, this book has a depth that makes it accessible for older persons interested in Leonardo and 15th century Italy, and is indeed better written than several adult offerings set in the same era. The voice of the novel is Giacomo, a youth without a past rescued by Leonardo and set to work for him as a servant. Giacomo yearns to discover who he truly is, as well as to secretly learn the art of painting (which Leonardo refuses to teach him); but it is his devotion to his master, as well as his wry insight into Leonardo’s idiosyncratic temperament and procrastination while working on the The Last Supper, which give the novel its heart.
Giacomo’s sardonic observations of daily life in Milan and the artist’s struggles with penury, his capricious patron Il Moro, and all the clamoring merchants eager to exchange credit for immortality are woven with refreshing wit into a tale that deepens in scope when Giacomo finds himself thrust into a plot to save Leonardo from his own debts. A host of well-drawn characters that include a menacing alchemist, a sage housekeeper, and a lovely discarded ducal mistress, as well as the always imposing but astonishingly human presence of Leonardo himself, only serve to exalt the exuberant soul and courage of a boy who matures into far more than his master’s titular shadow. Ages 12 and up.
C.W. Gortner
Eileen Charbonneau
THE REMARKABLE LIFE AND TIMES OF ELIZA ROSE
Mary Hooper, Bloomsbury, 2006, £6.99, pb, 334pp, 0747575827 / Bloomsbury USA, $16.95, hb, 336pp, 1582348545 London, 1670. In a tremendous opening scene, 15-year-old Eliza, starving and desperate, is thrown into the notorious Clink Prison. From then on, the pace never drops. She is rescued by Ma Gwyn, a bawdy house madam on the look-out for fresh country girls. Eliza is forced to display herself semi-naked as a mermaid at the Midsummer Fair. She is rescued by Ma Gwyn’s daughter, Nell, an actress and soonto-be-mistress of Charles II. Eliza becomes an ‘orange girl’. We follow Eliza’s struggles to keep her virtue intact and to find her father.
There are plenty of adventures in store for Eliza. Her father repudiates her; the lecherous Henry Monteagle pursues her; she becomes dangerously involved with the highwayman, Claude Duval; and she must grow up fast to survive. Mary Hooper’s depiction of Restoration London rings true with the rakes, the quack doctors and the filth – a world where an unprotected girl is seen as fair game. It is also a terrific read.
There are informative historical notes at the end. Unfortunately, there are a number of historical inaccuracies in the novel: Queen Catherine was Portuguese, not French; ‘sire’ was a title of respect for a king, not a synonym for ‘sir’; and Barbara Castlemaine, Charles’s mistress, is hardly going to ‘demand to be a countess’ when she is already a duchess, two ranks above that.
My main concern, however, is about sex. There are no sexually-explicit scenes, nevertheless, Ma Gwyn grooming Eliza to get the highest price for her virginity, the lecherous
lords licking their lips over the ‘mermaid’, the sounds of Nell and her lover humping away in the next room, all contribute to a sexuallycharged atmosphere. It’s spot on for the period but is it suitable for ‘young teenage’ as the PR suggests? Personally, I’d prefer 15 plus.
Elizabeth Hawksley
THE GREEN GLASS SEA
Ellen Klages, Viking, 2006, $16.99/C$22.50, hb, 324pp, 0670061344
In 1943, Dewey Kerrigan, nearly eleven, finds herself on a train headed toward New Mexico to join her father, a mathematician who has been working on what Dewey can describe only as “secret stuff.” Dewey is bound for a place called “the Hill” – Los Alamos – that is populated by scientists and mathematicians and their families, all working on a mysterious project known only as the gadget, one that everyone hopes will end the war.
The Green Glass Sea – the reason for the title becomes clear only in the last chapter – has many strands running through it. In part, it’s about the budding friendship between two outsiders: Dewey, who reads The Boy Mechanic and who is building her own radio, and her belligerent, artistic classmate, Suze Gordon. In part, it’s a tale of how Dewey copes with loss. In part, it’s a celebration of intelligence and nonconformity. In part, it’s a story of the World War II home front (the scene where Dewey hears of the death of FDR is particularly moving). And in part, it’s a story of how the adults of Los Alamos put in long hours and make sacrifices to create their gadget – with a success that exhilarates some and terrifies others.
Crisply and compassionately written, with period details (like Mrs. Gordon’s chainsmoking) that light up the story without overwhelming it, this is an excellent novel that adults might want to borrow from their children. I’m looking forward to the sequel.
Susan Higginbotham
MY LADY POCAHONTAS
Kathleen V. Kudlinski, Marshall Cavendish, 2006, $16.95/C$24.95, hb, 273pp, 0761452931
In grade school, we all hear the story of Pocahontas, the daughter of an Indian chief who befriends Captain John Smith and helps ensure the survival of the fledgling English colony established at Jamestown in 1607. But details of the relationship between Pocahontas and Smith are somewhat murky, and most times you never hear what happened to the “Indian princess.” My Lady Pocahontas, written for 10 to 14 year olds, tells the tale from the point of view of Neetah, a loyal Pamunkey girl whose very name means friend.
Pocahontas sees visions which lead her first to spy on the settlers in order to protect her people, then to believe she herself will prove a peaceful link between the two disparate cultures. Neetah stands by her friend through many trials, even when she begins to suspect
Pocahontas’s visions might be clouded by love for Captain Smith. She remains steadfast when it appears Pocahontas’s machinations have not been protecting the Pamunkey from the newcomers but inadvertently bringing death and destruction.
Steady and true, Neetah understands Pocahontas’s heart and presents to young readers a sympathetic account of this Pamunkey woman whose life can be seen as both tragic and inspiring. Well-researched and engaging, this book is recommended, although it may be a bit mature for some ten-year-olds.
Sue Asher
HATTIE BIG SKY
Kirby Larson, Delacorte, 2006, $15.95/C$21.00, hb, 289pp, 0383733135
After the death of her parents, Hattie Brooks has spent her life moving from one relative to another, many of whom would just as soon not have her. While she is living with a distant cousin, Uncle Holt, and his wife, Aunt Ivy, in Arlington, Iowa, in 1917, she finds out that she has inherited the 320-acre Montana homestead claim of her mother’s brother. However, it still needs to be proved up. Hattie is only sixteen years old—dare she take on this challenge? The property needs to be fenced and forty acres need to be cultivated, and she just has ten months left to do it. But since Aunt Ivy has decided it is time for her to leave school and begin working in a boardinghouse, she decides to strike out on her own. She finds her neighbors, Perilee and Karl Mueller and their children, to be welcoming and eager to help her out. However, the war makes itself felt throughout this novel. Chapters begin with excerpts from Hattie’s letters to a friend who is fighting in France, and the news from home often brings bad tidings of others she knows who are soldiers. In the environs of Vida, Montana, anti-German feeling is growing, making life for the Muellers very uncomfortable.
Hattie is a remarkable character, and a joy to spend time with. The first person point of view adds to this vibrant tale of the homesteading life, a life filled with pleasures and many privations, and subject to the incredible force of nature. Ages 12 and up.
Trudi E. Jacobson
PETER PAN IN SCARLET
Geraldine McCaughrean, Margaret K. McElderry, 2006, $17.99, hb, 310 pp, 1416918086 / Oxford, 2006, £12.99, hb, 288pp, 019272620X
Whether or not you’ve read the original Peter Pan, you are no doubt familiar with at least the high points of the story about the Darling children who learn to fly, Peter Pan, the boy who won’t grow up, the glittery fairy Tinkerbell, and the evil Captain James Hook. Who among us hasn’t wanted to revisit Neverland at some point, putting aside the hassles of being grown up? Well, here’s your chance. At last, the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital (to whom J.M. Barrie gave the copyright of Peter Pan)
has authorized a sequel to this favorite story. Geraldine McCaughrean provides a delightful tale of just such a return to Neverland in which the adults-turned-children battle pirates, overgrown Lost Boys, and some scary inner demons in order to save not only Peter, but Neverland itself.
Set in the 1930s, the story evokes post-war London and the feeling of loss—of friends, family, and innocence—that the now-grown Wendy, John, and the rest are encountering. Not only that, but nightmares are leaking out of Neverland, and it becomes obvious that a rescue mission is necessary. Along the way we meet some new characters, including Fireflyer, the lovable but pathological liar fairy. This book is a great read for adults and children alike, and while I highly recommend introducing children to Barrie’s tale first, this volume can easily stand alone, providing a refreshing respite from the cares of day-to-day adult life.
Helene Williams
THE WATER MIRROR
Kai Meyer (trans. Elizabeth D. Crawford), Simon Pulse, 2006, $7.99, pb, 250pp, 0689877889
Kai Meyer’s inventive fantasy The Water Mirror takes place in Venice in the 1890s in an alternative world where the Egyptian empire has conquered the whole world except for Venice, which has been under siege for more than thirty years. Only a being called the Flowing Queen has protected Venice. Fourteen-year-old Merle, an orphan who has a mysterious link to the Flowing Queen, is apprenticed to Arcimboldo, a maker of magic mirrors, along with her friend Junipa, who is blind. The boys apprenticed to Umberto the weaver, Arcimboldo’s rival, often cross the canal to play tricks, but Merle soon makes friends with one of them, Serafin, who used to be a master thief. One night, Merle and Serafin overhear a plot by three city councilors to betray Venice to the Egyptians. The traitors have captured the essence of the Flowing Queen in a crystal vial. After taking the vial from them, Merle and Serafin go on a quest to save their city.
This is a wonderful book, and I can only admire the author’s imagination. Meyer’s Venice is inhabited by such beings as mermaids, flying stone lions, and, towards the end, a frightening demon. Merle has a mirror made of water; she can put her arm inside and it will not get wet. These are only a few of the author’s wonderful inventions. The book is the first in a trilogy, so do not expect everything to be resolved at the end. I am looking forward to the next volume. Ages 12 and up.
Vicki Kondelik
HERE, THERE BE DRAGONS: The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica James A. Owen, Simon & Schuster, 2006, $17.95/C$19.99, hb, 326pp, 1416912274
The author’s note at the end of Here, There Be Dragons, says it best: “The most interesting
stories are those that have one foot firmly planted in fantasy, and the other in the real world; and the best way to create a marriage of the two is find those gaps in history where there is no certainty, and create a supposition.” That’s what this story does so well.
Opening one rainy London night, readers find themselves drawn into the lives of strangers John, Jack, and Charles, as they are being summoned by their mutual friend, Professor Sigurdsson. They soon find themselves caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica—an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale—and traveling across the Frontier between worlds into the Archipelago of Dreams to do battle with the Winter King and his minions. Along the way, these young men encounter a fantastic range of characters from a talking badger to the Cartographer inhabiting the Keep of Time and fight the Wendigo, the Shadow-Born, and all the evils of Pandora’s Box.
Replete with such fantastical characters, this book feels almost Tolkienesque yet keeps a foot firmly planted in the real world. At times, the breakneck pace did seem to slow a bit, but each new chapter reinvigorated the reader and stoked interest in the characters’ latest struggle.
Intended for a young adult audience, Here, There Be Dragons will appeal to that age group as well as to any fantasy-lover.
Dana Cohlmeyer
THE MONEYLENDER’S DAUGHTER
V.A. Richardson, Bloomsbury, 2006, £12.99, hb, 383pp, 0747570175 / Bloomsbury USA, $17.95, hb, 300pp, 1582348855
1637. In this second book in the Windjammer series, the Draco, carrying sixteen-year-old Adam Windjammer, is sailing up the American coast towards Cape Fear. Some of the crew are after treasure, for the Spanish ‘Silver Fleet’ will pass Cape Fear, laden with booty from Latin America. Adam, however, is looking for the wreck of his uncle’s ship and hoping to find survivors. When the Draco’s longboat lands him and some of the crew ashore, he finds more than he bargained for. Not only is there danger and betrayal ashore, there is also a spy aboard the Draco, a man in the pay of Adam’s enemy, the moneylender Van Helsen. If Van Helsen can gain control of the Draco, he will ruin the house of Windjammer.
The second strand in the book concerns Jade, Van Helsen’s daughter. Van Helsen despises daughters; Jade is only useful to forge a marriage alliance with a rich, old goldsmith. Appalled at the prospect, Jade runs away. But how can a female survive of her own in the cut-throat, men only, business world of Amsterdam? There will be testing times ahead for Jade.
I found it difficult, at the beginning, to work out who was who and what was going on; the book would have benefited from an introductory summary of book 1. Chapter 1 was particularly confusing as it seemed to bear little relationship
to either of the two strands. If I hadn’t been reviewing the book, I might well have given up. Fortunately, by Chapter 4, things improved and the rest of the book was an action-packed, riproaring read. Richardson is good at illuminating the turbulent world of the 1630s, a time of ruthless colonial expansion and unprecedented business opportunities, both in America and in Amsterdam.
For boys and girls, 10-13 years.
Elizabeth Hawksley10
The cover of this book intrigued me – it looked mysterious and not at all boring. The first chapter was all about sailing. I gave it a go but it lost my interest almost immediately – I didn’t understand it. There was no background information, and I got very confused.
After a couple of chapters the scene changed. The book wasn’t talking about boats any more –it was about bankers and merchants. It grabbed my attention and I could barely put it down. The vocabulary was great. I got a real feel for the characters and background.
I was disappointed when it changed back to sailing and the storyline bored me. Then the plot changed again – and I got really involved. The ending was my favourite bit. It had excitement and fun. I think you need to have read the previous book to understand this one. The plot was very dry in certain places and so drawn out in the sailing bits that nothing happened for a very long time, but towards the end it was fantastic.
This wasn’t my favourite book in the world and I would only give it 6 out of 10.
Rachel Beggs, aged 11
ANAHITA’S WOVEN RIDDLE
Meghan Nuttall Sayres, Amulet, 2006, $16.95, hb, 352pp, 0810954818
Tapestry weaver Meghan Nutall Sayres certainly drew upon her art to write Anahita’s Woven Riddle. Her main character, Anahita, is a nomadic weaver living in 19th century Iran. When she is confronted with the possibility of marriage to the leader of her tribe, a repulsive man older than her father, she asks if she can hold a contest to help determine her fate. She weaves a riddle into her marriage carpet and agrees to marry the man who can solve it.
Sayres brings to life the details of Persian culture, interspersing Sufi poetry, romance and adventure with Anahita’s spinning, weaving and dyeing. By the time her carpet is completed and the contest begun, readers are completely invested in finding out who will win her hand. But what Anahita wants most of all is the power to determine her own fate. Readers will have to wait until the end of this fast-paced novel to find out if she succeeds.
Anahita’s Woven Riddle offers a glimpse into a world not many books enter. Sayres does an excellent job developing characters that intrigue and tug at the heart. Ages 12 and up.
Nancy Castaldo
FORGED IN THE FIRE
Ann Turnbull, Walker, 2005, £6.99, pb, 290pp, 1844289354 / Candlewick, $16.99, hb, 320pp, 0763631444
This captivating story is the sequel to No Shame, No Fear. It works as a stand-alone book relating the story of William and Susanna, who share a faith and a love but who need to separate before they can marry. William ventures to London, seeking his financial independence. There he works in a ‘Friend’s’ bookshop whilst Susanna waits for him in Shropshire until he is established and they can be together at last.
The story is beautifully written, painting an accurate and atmospheric picture of the life and times of 17th-century London. The two characters follow their hearts, religion and destiny against a dramatic backdrop of plague, political and religious bias, plague and fire. The book has the emotional power of the strength of love and survival; overcoming hardship, illness, separation and pride.
William is arrested for meeting with fellow Quakers and falls ill in jail. He is rescued from death, unlike his friends, by a rich member of his faith. In his friend’s home he rediscovers his health and discovers temptation. Susanna travels to London to join him and discovers how much has happened to change their initial plans and threaten the marriage they are both committed to.
The story cleverly follows their individual viewpoint in alternate chapters. This gives a clear insight into Susanna’s and William’s own emotions, the culture and religious framework with which they live, and how events unfold along their own journeys. The impact and reality of plague and fire are seen through their eyes and described in a convincing language for the era.
I found this a very absorbing and touching book, which will bring this dramatic time in London’s history alive for young readers today.
Val Loh
FINEST KIND
Lea Wait, Margaret K. McElderry, 2006, $16.95, hb, 246pp, 9781416909521
It’s the fall of 1838. Twelve-year-old Jake Webber and his family have arrived in Wiscasset, Maine, from Boston. Jake’s father has lost his job because of the Panic of 1837 and has been forced to take a job at a saw mill. This is a reversal of fortune for the Webbers, who lived in a large home in Boston and employed servants. Jake has a lot to cope with as winter approaches, including finding food for himself, his mother, and the crippled brother his family keeps a secret from neighbors. Over the course of the winter, Jake makes friends with a neighbor girl, Nabby, who teaches him survival skills, and he slowly adjusts to his new life in the country. He displays great courage and proves himself to be the “finest kind” of young man in the eyes of both his family and his new community.
Jake is a likable character. I particularly
enjoyed the historical notes at the end of the book in which the author reveals that some of the supporting characters are based on real people. Lea Wait skillfully shows the impact of historic events on one family in a way that will keep young readers interested.
Jane Kessler
FIREHORSE
Diane Lee Wilson, Margaret K. McElderry, 2006, $16.95/C$21.95, hb, 325p, 1416915516
This young adult novel is based on the events during and after the 1872 Boston Fire. Aimed at horse lovers, it’s about the fire-horses, the real heroes at a fire. But in Boston in 1872, half the fire-horses were ill, dying of distemper, making the Boston fire a real disaster.
Heroine Rachel is appealing as she struggles to be herself. Her father moves the family to Boston; Rachel’s horse has to be sold. Rachel doesn’t stop sulking until her brother becomes a fireman and involves her with the fire-horses. After the fire, Rachel helps the vet care for a badly burnt fire-horse and discovers that she wants to be a vet. In 1872 women marry and stay at home. Rachel must fight society’s expectations, but with the help of a young vet and her mother she takes the first steps.
As an adult historian, I wondered at the amount of free time Rachel had. She did very little work with her mother, and her father never used any of the usual Victorian threats and punishments to prevent her “disgracing the family” by riding bareback in skirts.
Patrika Salmon
NONFICTION
N n
ENGLISH HISTORY MADE BRIEF, IRREVERENT, AND PLEASURABLE
Lacey Baldwin Smith, Academy Chicago, 2006, $17.95, pb, 264pp, 9780897335478
The cover of this slim, informative volume suggests at first glance something in the spirit of A’Beckett’s The Comic History of England, or Dickens’s A Child’s History of England. But unlike its predecessors, Smith’s lightning study of the island nation’s convoluted history does not seek to have readers clutching their bellies in helpless laughter. This volume, although certainly pleasurable to read as the title promises, is rather a serious, scholarly, trenchant romp through the centuries, informed by contemporary history studies. Smith’s ability to weave in cultural and economic details rather than focusing simply on monarchs and battles will give fresh food for thought to the enthusiast and amateur alike. Peppered throughout with tongue-in-cheek illustrations (as of a jubilant Philip dancing a jig upon hearing of his wife Mary Tudor’s death, or British bureaucrats at work on a Rube Goldberg kind of contraption), English History Made Brief takes us from the earliest origins of Angles and Celts through recent history, including the world wars and Thatcherism, and ending with a lengthy chapter
titled “The Royal Soap Opera.” It makes a fast yet meaty read, and will be invaluable to anyone interested in having a better, more updated understanding of English history.
Susanne Dunlap
BEYOND
THESE WALLS – Escaping the Warsaw Ghetto
Janina Bauman, Virago, 2006, £7.99, pb, 289pp, 1844083195
This is the vivid and compelling autobiography of Janina Bauman, a young Jewish girl (the same age as Anne Frank) from a professional Jewish family who lived in Warsaw during the Second World War. Against all the odds, Janina, as well as her mother and sister, escaped both the destruction of the Jewish ghetto and the mass transportation of Polish Jews to the concentration camp at Treblinka. Janina tells how she and her family spent two years in hiding, always on the move from house to house, constantly threatened by betrayal or discovery. We also learn the story of Janina’s adolescence: when she snatched what education she could, grabbed any books she could find, and learnt about love – as well as facing semistarvation, TB, the deaths or disappearance of friends and family, all against the backdrop of the brutality of the Nazis. Recommended.
Elizabeth Hawksley
A NEEDLE IN THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD
R. Howard Bloch, Random House, 2006, $25.95, hb, 272pp, 1400065496
This book is subtitled The Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Making and Meaning of the Bayeux Tapestry. While the author always returns to the tapestry, he ventures far and wide in his exploration of the influences upon its creation, key people involved in the Battle of Hastings, styles of handiwork and design from around the globe that are evident in the tapestry, and more. If readers come to the book believing it is focused just upon the Bayeux Tapestry, its purpose and origins, they will be perplexed at the author’s much broader canvas. Evident throughout is the erudition of Bloch, the Sterling Professor of French and the Director of the Humanities Division at Yale and the author of many books about the Middle Ages. He does not try to pin down who commissioned the work or where it was created, but follows numerous clues to narrow down the field. He explains that the rivalry between the posited English and French origins has more to do with 19th century national rivalries, rather “than in the reality of medieval perceptions and events.” The published volume contains a reproduction of the tapestry (not seen by this reviewer) that should be very helpful for following the examples described in the text. This is a fascinating voyage through the world in which the Bayeux Tapestry was created.
Trudi
E. Jacobson
