EGYPT
THE HERETIC QUEEN
Michelle Moran, Crown, 2008, $24.95/C$27.95, hb, 370pp, 9780307381750 / Quercus, 2008, £14.99, hb, 512pp, 9781847243027
As the sole survivor of the line of Nefertiti, a family denounced as heretics and erased from history, Princess Nefertari has grown up an outcast, tolerated only because of her childhood friendship with Prince Ramesses. At seventeen Ramesses becomes Pharaoh and takes a beautiful but spoiled girl for his bride, and Nefertari’s
safety ends. Her aunt determines to have Ramesses marry Nefertari as well, both to secure the girl’s future and to further her own interests. Nefertari, who has always been infatuated with the prince, changes from a precocious tomboy to an alluring young woman, and Ramesses is easily smitten. But becoming Pharaoh’s wife is not enough; Nefertari must be named his queen and bear his heir before the court will accept her. In her way are palace enemies, a rival wife, foreign wars, and an Egyptian people who regard her as the descendent of heretics.
The author takes liberties with the gray areas of history in order to make her plotlines possible. Some will enjoy the fictional weaving; others may find it stretches the suspension of disbelief. As both protagonist and narrator of the story, Nefertari enjoys the luxury of always being in the right place at the right time with just the right piece of information; despite this she is a somewhat passive character, manipulated by others and waiting for fate. The jealousy between the two wives is unflattering to her, and even less so to Ramesses, who comes off looking rather shallow and whipped. The multiple subplots are woven together well, and the historical detail is rich and accessible, but more layered characters would have increased the story’s grip. If you enjoyed Moran’s first novel, Nefertiti, you will find The Heretic Queen a comparable sequel.
Heather Domin
CLASSICAL
KING OF ITHACA
Glyn Iliffe, Macmillan, 2008, £12.99, hb, 490pp, 9780230529236
Young Greek soldier, Eperitus, encounters a group of warriors whilst on his way to see the oracle at Delphi. He swears loyalty to their leader only to discover later that this is Odysseus, King of Ithaca, whereupon he joins the king on his mission to save his homeland.
Together they travel to Sparta and embark on a bloody and treacherous war. The ultimate prize will be that most beautiful, most sensuous and most traitorous of women, Helen of Troy.
This is a rousing retelling of the mythical adventures of Odysseus, as seen through the eyes of a common man, Eperitus, and is the first in a proposed series. The reader is quickly drawn into the world of the ancient Greeks where the superstitious and the level-headed sit side by side. The pages are stuffed full of machismo – the men are larger than life and fight gloriously bloody battles whilst remaining true to the friendships and calls of duty.
The reader does not need to be a classicist by any means to enjoy this epic and stirring tale. It makes a great novel and would be an even better film.
Sara Wilson
CALIGULA: The Tyranny of Rome
The third Roman emperor was the one they called Caligula, infamous in equal part for his cruelty and his insanity. He was an emperor to stay well away from, but such is not to be the fate of the slave known as Rufus. Assistant to an animal trainer, he has learned to prepare exotic creatures to face death in the gladiatorial arena, and here he has befriended Cupido, greatest gladiator of the day.
His skill with caring for his unusual charges comes to the attention of Caligula, who requires a keeper for his pet elephant. Unfortunately for Rufus, the royal court is riven with intrigue from which the young slave and his friend cannot escape. Assassination is on the agenda, but just who will die in the bloodbath to come?
Caligula effortlessly transports the reader into ancient Rome. The sounds, smells and sights are all vividly rendered – there are some truly stunning descriptions and details deftly interspersed through the murderous plot.
It should be noted that this gory and visceral read is not for the faint-hearted – the bloodspattered descriptions verge on the stomachchurning at times. Those who persevere are well rewarded for their efforts with an engrossing historical thriller.
Caligula would be a good buy for any fans of the film Gladiator and the recent Rome television mini-series.
THE FORGOTTEN LEGION
Sara Wilson
Ben Kane, Preface Random House, 2008, £12.99, hb, 422 pp, 9781848090088
In the dying days of the Roman Republic, anarchy rules in the capital. Three men maintain an uneasy triumvirate: Pompey suspiciously watches Julius Caesar’s achievements in Gaul while Crassus, the richest man in Rome, prepares for war in Parthia. With this background of well recorded great events, The Forgotten Legion tells four very different stories.
Tarquinius is skilled in divination and a rare survivor of the cultured Etruscans, his tribe obliterated by Rome but still a free man. Brennus, a Gaul, slave and greatest of gladiators, is tormented by his failure to protect his family. Romulus and Fabiola, twin brother and sister, were born into slavery. He is now receiving training and protection from Brennus at a school of gladiators where he shows superb promise in fighting skills. Fabiola, quickwitted and beautiful, was sold at thirteen into a luxurious brothel and is now the most sought after prostitute in Rome. All four have desires: Tarquinius to find the home of his legendary ancestors somewhere far to the east. The other three want revenge on their abusers, and the twins to be reunited. The departure of Crassus gives the three men their chance of escape, welcomed as mercenaries into his enormous, grandiose army.
The Forgotten Legion is a story of cruelty and, from the ones with power, almost unbelievable stupidity. But there is also courage N n N n N n
Douglas Jackson, Bantam, 2008, £12.99, hb, 328pp, 9780593060605
and friendship, love and loyalty plus plenty of vigorous sex. This first time novel is easy, fluent reading with some engaging characters. Except for the unlikely introduction of tomatoes, a scattering of clichés and anachronisms is acceptable in an author still learning his craft. Nancy Henshaw
THE GODS OF WAR
Jack Ludlow, Allison & Busby, 2008, £19.99, hb, 365pp, 9780749079901
The Roman Empire. The action takes place largely in Italy and the Iberian peninsula and builds up to the fall of Numantia, Brennos’s rocky stronghold from where for years he has dominated all the Celtic tribes in that part of Spain. Back in Rome, Lucius Falerius has died and his son, Marcellus, inherits and despite Quintus Cornelius’s best intentions to keep him out of the fighting, eventually becomes embroiled in the bitter struggle. Then there is Aquila. Who is this young man with the eagle talisman around his neck who joins the legions as a nobody but rises to a rank far above his station in life?
This is the third book in Jack Ludlow’s Republic trilogy and I found it difficult to get into, not having read the first two. Although the story could be read in its own right, I found the characters confusing and kept getting lost to begin with and it would have been helpful to have known exactly where we were in history
and had a short resume of what had gone before. Only when the ultimate climax of the tale was revealed could it be placed around 134 BC. Once into it I found the story well paced and full of action with the mysterious Aquila running as an intriguing thread throughout. This book has certainly made me want to read the first two in the series.
Marilyn Sherlock
1st CENTURY
BURIED TOO DEEP
Jane Finnis, Poisoned Pen, 2008, $24.95/ C$24.95/£15.95, hb, 349pp, 9781590583999
Aurelia Marcella runs a mansio, or inn, outside of York. She also does some investigating in her spare time (it is a good thing for our reading pleasure that she has such a competent housekeeper who can easily take charge). It is 98 AD, and the area Aurelia lives in is peaceful, with good relations between the Romans and the natives. However, she begins to hear reports of trouble closer to the coast, with a sharp increase in patients from that area visiting the doctor who practices nearby. The coastal area has been quiet for some time, due in part to the influence of the strong native leader there. However, pirates from Gaul have been coming ashore and raiding, even murdering. It seems as if they are under someone’s command. Could it be the Celtic leader, or is it perhaps the rather
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Y WARRIOR OF ROME, PART ONE: Fire in the East
Harry Sidebottom, Michael Joseph, 2008, £12.99, hb, 414pp, 9780718153298
Fire in the East is part one of Dr Harry Sidebottom’s Warrior of Rome series and his first novel. He is a leading authority on ancient warfare, and the impressive appendix contains the historical details which are required reading in tandem with the unfolding story.
In the third century AD, the Roman Empire is in turmoil as civil war tears Italy apart and emperor follows emperor in rapid succession. Out of the darkness comes a barbarian, Ballista, prince of his tribe and diplomatic hostage. Seventeen years pass and in 255 AD the Persian Sassanid Empire attacks Rome’s eastern territories, sweeping all before them. Ballista, now a citizen and sometime imperial favourite, is newly appointed to the post of Dux Ripae. In charge of the defences along the banks of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates and all the land between, he is empowered to hold this very edge of Empire.
greedy Roman who has recently moved in, and who hopes to expand his estate?
Aurelia’s brother is a government investigator, and luckily he and Aurelia’s lover, an Imperial investigator, show up to help find and stamp out the cause of the disturbances. Aurelia undergoes a number of tribulations, but shows great aplomb in dealing with difficulties. She is a delight to spend time with.
Trudi E. Jacobson
6th CENTURY
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The novel is a master class in ancient warfare. Vast amounts of actual historical information are expended and one wonders how much is left for the remainder of the series. The story is skilfully constructed, harrowing at times with an imaginative scope. The clarity of observation of the minutiae of war and period detail reveals the author’s command of his subject. His characters, mostly male, are well defined and realistic and illuminate the different nationalities and passions prevalent in the empire at that time. Women play little part: the wife left behind and the feisty but tempting brigand’s daughter.
This is a riveting book, the dominating feature being a city under siege. Dr Sidebottom generously acknowledges the debt owed to past historical novelists who have influenced him. The reader feels confident in the historical accuracy, but whether Warrior of Rome will become the mighty series that is envisaged remains in the gift of historical fiction fans.
Gwen Sly
THE EXCALIBUR MURDERS
J.M.C. Blair, Berkley Prime Crime, 2008, $6.99/ C$7.50, pb, 320pp, 9780425222539
Merlin the Magician and King Arthur are reunited again in Camelot. This time they work to solve the brutal murder of one of Arthur’s squires, Borolet, during the theft of Excalibur and the Stone of Bran, an ancient skull-shaped artifact purported to have magical powers. Merlin and his apprentice Colin (the maiden Nimue in disguise) must use the power of reason to conjure up a miracle and catch the murderer. As Merlin pursues suspects, he encounters Arthur’s friends and would-be enemies, such as Pellenore, the mad king ousted by Arthur, Guenevere and Lancelot, who now have their own castle in Cornwall, along with various knights and squires from Arthur’s camp. As the murderer strikes again and kills Ganelin, brother of the dead Borolet, Merlin and Nimue travel far and wide throughout England to follow leads and interview suspects. Only at the very end through Merlin’s magical tricks and sleight of hand is the killer revealed and brought to justice.
Providing a modern take on an Arthurian legend, Blair uses contemporary voice and modern dialogue. However, Blair’s work lacks scene description, Arthurian sensibility, and authentic research into the legend. I found myself longing for rich description, fuller characterization, and a clearer motivation behind the murders. In short, I longed for the passion of Camelot.
Liz Allenby
7th CENTURY
THE JEWEL OF MEDINA Sherry Jones, Beaufort Books, 2008, $24.95, hb, 368pp, 9780825305184
The novel opens with a bang. Fourteen-yearold A’isha, wife of the prophet Muhammad, is returning to Medina, her arms “entwined around another man,” a young man with whom she has been besotted since childhood, who has rescued her.
The people of Medina whisper, accusing her of adultery. Her husband, however, generously receives her in his arms, waiting to find out what has happened. The action then goes back to A’isha’s childhood, her betrothal to Muhammad at the age of six, and her
7th Century-15th Century
marriage, at nine. A’isha herself narrates how she ends up in trouble, explaining when her marriage is actually consummated, and how she becomes the prophet’s most beloved wife. Scheduled for publication by another publisher, The Jewel of Medina, was “indefinitely postponed” on the eve of the launch, supposedly because of fear of terrorists attacks. Reading this debut novel makes you wonder if that was really the case. Other than its background, seventhcentury Arabia, the novel has little merit larded as it is with generous servings of purple prose and with a main character, A’isha, who is selfish, impulsive, and a ludicrous proto-feminist. There are anachronisms galore, from golden teeth to the Turkish institution of hatun, not to speak of our heroine constantly wielding a sword for which there isn’t an iota of historical data. Islam as a religion and Muhammad are generally treated fairly, the notable exception being the less than dignified portrayal of the prophet’s sex drive (which made this Catholic cringe in distaste). Nowhere to be found is the woman Muslims revere as the “Mother of Believers,” an early scholar, and the source of many of the oral traditions regarding the life of Muhammad. Preposterous throughout.
Adelaida Lower
DANCING WITH DEMONS
Peter Tremayne, Minotaur, 2008, $24.95, hb, 288pp, 9780312375645 / Headline, 2007, £19.99, hb, 288pp, 9780755328383
In this 16th installment of Tremayne’s Fidelma of Cashel series, the High King of Ireland is killed at night in the middle of his well-defended compound. Although his killer appears to have committed suicide after having murdered the King, things simply don’t jive. How did this deed occur in a fortified palace? Why would anyone have wanted to kill the High King? What is the motive for the murder? Enter Fidelma, the sister of the King of Muman and a highly respected advocate of the courts of Ireland, to investigate and solve these seemingly insoluble dilemmas.
Rather than becoming stale and repetitive, Fidelma simply gets better with age. Tremayne consistently imbues her with charisma, intellect and a touch of down-home toughness when the situation calls for it. What is more engaging to the reader is Tremayne’s vast knowledge of Celtic Ireland and how that knowledge is employed to expand every Fidelma mystery from an investigation into an experience. Here, for instance, Fidelma is confronted with an intricate web of deceit and conspiracy involving warring religious factions which, if not resolved, will tear apart the very fabric of the united kingdoms and send them reeling into civil war.
I admit to having read every one of these Fidelma books and I’m hooked. This one stands out, however, making it a wonderful, quick and highly enjoyable read.
Ilysa Magnus
11th CENTURY
MASTER OF SURRENDER
Karin Tabke, Pocket, 2008, $6.99/C$7.99, pb, 376pp, 9781416550891
In a prison in Iberia in 1059, the brotherhood of The Blood Sword was created out of the agony of torture and triumph of survival. In 1066, that brotherhood became the most powerful squadron of William the Conqueror’s invading army. After Harold was killed, William sent these knights, led by Rohan du Luc, to secure certain properties for him, particularly the castle of Alethorpe. Lady Isabel of Alethorpe was left in charge when her Saxon father and brother went to fight the Normans. Isabel is intelligent and beautiful; Rohan is strong and powerful. She hates the Normans; he is bent on subduing the Saxons. Despite their differences there is a strong sexual attraction.
Ms. Tabke’s forte is sexual tension, and this story abounds with it. Despite some historical improbabilities, this enjoyable story moves at a fast pace and holds the reader’s interest.
Audrey Braver
12th CENTURY
THE DEATH MAZE (UK) / THE SERPENT’S TALE (US)
Ariana Franklin, Bantam, 2008, £12.99, hb, 320pp, 9780593056509 / Putnam, 2008, $25.95, hb, 384pp, 9780399154647
Fair Rosamund Clifford was Henry II’s mistress, and she was buried in Goldstow Priory, near Oxford. These are established facts. She is surrounded by legends but none of these surfaced until over a hundred years after her death. They may have been based on folk memory but there is no proof. She could have lived at Woodstock, one of Henry’s favourite manors, and he may well have made her a bower (or tower?) there. In Robert of Gloucester’s Chronicles he says, ‘Boures had this Rosamunde.’ The protective maze and Queen Eleanor’s supposed part in her death are much later and improbable additions to the legends.
The paucity of fact enables historical novelists to imagine and invent the rest, even to substitute fictional characters in place of the real ones. Ariana Franklin, in doing this, has created an intriguing, clever and richly detailed detective novel, the second to feature the female doctor, Adelia. Her former lover, now Bishop of St Albans, wants her to discover the murderer of Rosamund, absolving the Queen, who, with her sons, is quarrelling with Henry and thereby preventing another civil war.
Set against the background of a hard winter, when a second murderer is on the loose and many characters, for most of the time, snowbound in Godstow, it is an absorbing, if at times gruesome story. Adelia is an attractive heroine, a refreshingly blunt, irreverent and independent
sleuth who is reluctant at first to be involved, but she becomes determined to discover the truth about both murders.
Ariana Franklin’s first novel featuring Adelia won the Crime Writers’ Association Ellis Peters Historical Award in 2007. As Diana Norman she has previously published several muchacclaimed historical novels.
DEVIL’S BROOD
Marina Oliver
Sharon Kay Penman, Putnam, 2008, $27.95/ C$31.00, hb, 736pp, 9780399155260 / Michael Joseph, Feb. 2009, £20.00, hb, 752pp, 9780718154653
With her customary skill in depicting the personalities of medieval England’s most famously dysfunctional family, Penman delineates the last eighteen years of Henry II’s reign. Most of the action takes place in his French holdings, with less time spent in England proper. It opens in 1171, as the king weighs his responsibility in the death of his once-good friend, Thomas Becket. Though acutely attuned to political matters, Henry proves to be blind when it comes to those closest to him. Eleanor, his redoubtable queen, takes offense at his refusal to acknowledge her sovereignty in Aquitaine; their four sons, eager to assume power in their own right, join Eleanor in rebellion after Henry continues to clip their wings. As they battle both their father and one another, Henry struggles to hold onto his formerly thriving empire.
Several portrayals stand out, particularly those of people not often seen in fiction: Henry, the hot-headed Young King, who ultimately (and sadly) serves England best through his tragic early death; and Geoffrey, the third son, whose role as Duke of Brittany drives his changing loyalties. Richard, a soldier prince with a ruthless streak, remains faithful only to his mother, whose determination to preserve Aquitaine for his inheritance results in her long imprisonment. John, the youngest, remains an unknown quantity until the very end.
Most remarkably, in a book where dozens of characters share the stage, there are no true villains or flawless heroes. Though dense with detail in some sections, Devil’s Brood does an excellent job of rendering a complex series of historical events comprehensible. Those unfamiliar with Plantagenet history will probably want to read Time and Chance first, but this long-awaited volume delivers all you can expect from Penman: a story so immediate and real that you’ll feel like you’ve lived it.
Sarah Johnson
THE LAST QUEEN Ballantine, 2008, $25, hb, 384pp, 9780345501844 / Hodder & Stoughton, 2008, £6.99, pb, 350pp, 9780340962947 N n N n
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Y VEIL OF LIES
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Jeri Westerson, Minotaur, 2008, $24.95, hb, 288pp, 9780312379773
Poor Crispin Guest! In Jeri Westerson’s debut novel, set in 14th-century London and described as “a medieval noir,” Crispin is slapped, backhanded, tied up and tossed in the Thames to drown, arrested, and slapped again. The good news is Crispin is one of the most engaging characters I’ve come across in a long time. A wealthy knight imprisoned for treason against Richard II, stripped of his title and possessions but spared with his life, Crispin now inhabits the gritty backstreets of London and abhors every minute of it. To survive, he has set himself up as “The Tracker,” solving crimes for sixpence a day and expenses. His latest investigation centers on his search for a missing relic which, in turn, leads to a series of murders involving “the Italians” and a beautiful young woman who is not quite what she seems.
Westerson’s depiction of medieval London is honest, and Crispin’s loathing of it real. For the most part heroic and steadfast, Crispin is also cynical and disillusioned, a man whose main focus is his hope that one day he will again live the comfortable life he once knew at court. This, naturally, wreaks havoc in his romance with the woman he loves but who falls well below his former social status.
To say Veil of Lies is a remarkable novel doesn’t do the book justice. Just when the plot seems set on a fixed course, the author deftly arranges another neat surprise and keeps the pages turning. The story is fresh, and engaging characters abound, with nary a medieval monk or nun in sight. How can you not like a fellow who asks himself, “What am I now? The Tracker. What the hell is that?” My only complaint is now I have to wait a year, probably, for the next title in the series.
Alana White
Y THE SIEGE
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Ismail Kadare (trans. David Bellos), Canongate, 2008, £16.99, hb, 314pp, 9781847670304
The Ottoman Empire during the 15th century lays siege to a Christian fortress on a plain surrounded by the mountains of Albania. The Siege tells the story of the weeks and months that follow: the events that unfold within the camp of brightly coloured banners and hastily constructed minarets as tens of thousands of men begin to fill the plain below the citadel. One character in the novel says, ‘You cannot call a country conquered until you conquer its heaven.’ This novel describes how the citadel refused to be conquered, the elation and despair of the battlefield, the constant shifting strategies of war, and the predicament of those whose lives are held in the balance.
The story is told through the personal narrative of one of the defenders and partly through the eyes of an Ottoman chronicler, Mevla Celebi. ‘Great massacres always give birth to great books. You will give birth to writing a thundering chronicle redolent with pitch and blood.’
This gripping narrative of war is also a meditation on human relations, human folly, ambiguities of power, and the meaning of history. The thoughts and sufferings of 15thcentury warriors are barely distinguishable from those in our own time.
The vividly portrayed characters are unforgettable. The technician blunders. The astrologer makes mistakes and is sent below ground. The poet who wanted to see the action suffers for his foolhardy adventure. The harem of women who are attached to the Ottoman Pasha endure and wait.
Images leap through writing that is direct and enigmatic, and above all, flawless, beautiful and unpretentious. David Bellos’s translation of The Siege is outstanding.
This novel is a masterpiece. It is worth noting that in 2005, Ismail Kadare was the first Man Booker International Prize winner.
Carol McGrath
Issue 46, November 2008
One can take a single look at her title (“the Mad), and know that Juana la Loca has been saddled with quite the historical reputation. But where is the human truth behind the picture of the histrionic queen driven insane by the death of her beloved husband?
Gortner begins his tale with Juana at the time of the final expulsion of the Moors from Spain. A marriage has been planned for the unconventional young princess by her indomitable mother, Queen Isabel of Castile. At first Juana demurs, but when convinced by her charming father, King Fernando of Aragon, of the benefits of dynastic alliance with Philip, heir to the Hapsburg throne, Juana agrees to take one for the team and move far from her beloved homeland to Flanders. When she finally claps eyes on Philip, however, her doubts dissipate as she falls head over heels. When Juana becomes heir to the Spanish throne upon the death of her brother, she is torn between the wishes of her husband and her equally loved and feared parents. Dark secrets abound as Juana attempts to navigate this minefield of court intrigue and politics.
Gortner has obviously done his research, and his portrayal attempts to rescue Juana from historical stereotype by allowing her to tell her own story in the first person—to share the emotions and reasoning behind her decisions, and to provide context for the complicated time period in which she lived. Both Juana and the other historical characters are drawn with depth and sensitivity, and the plotting proceeds at a steady pace. Though Juana seems just a bit forward-thinking for her time period, she is an engaging protagonist in the middle of a welltold and absorbing story. Recommended.
Bethany Latham
VLAD: The Last Confession
C.C. Humphreys, McArthur & Co, 2008, C$24.95, hb, 415pp, 9781552787311 / Orion, Mar. 2009, £14.99, hb, 415pp, 978075288618
To undertake the tale of Vlad Dracul, known as the Impaler, a 15th-century Wallachian prince whose savage battle to defend his kingdom against the Turks has been overshadowed by his later incarnation as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, is no mean feat. In C.C. Humphreys’ evocative and unsettling new novel, the vampire myth is discarded as he painstakingly extracts the historical prince from folklore, presenting a multifaceted portrait of an intelligent youth whose imprisonment by the Turks introduces him to the horrifying practice of human impalement; a defiant ruler faced with a treacherous nobility and the subjugation of his homeland; a paranoid man whose obsessive need for loyalty turned him into a fearsome personage; and a human being denied the privilege to be merely humane. While the historical record is distorted, what is known about Prince Vlad is not edifying, and Humphreys doesn’t make the mistake of trying to justify him for our modern-day sensibilities. Instead, he frames his character’s increasingly
16th Century
terrible transformation through the eyes of three of his intimates—his closest companion, his confessor, and his mistress—each summoned to tell their story by a warlord seeking to redeem the prince’s Order of the Dragon years after Vlad’s demise. Through their inescapable bond with their prince, we learn of the flesh-andblood being behind Vlad’s dreadful persona, even as he strips himself of all benevolence. It is here where the heart of the story lies, showing us glimpses of the man Vlad might have been.
Humphreys’ elegant prose and command of his obscure subject matter creates an uncompromising, extraordinary journey into the brutal times and tortured soul of an oftmisunderstood ruler whose reign became synonymous with terror.
C.W. Gortner
16th CENTURY
THE HOUSE OF ALLERBROOK
Valerie Anand, MIRA, 2008, $13.95/C$13.95, pb, 537pp, 9780778326014
This entertaining if slightly overlong followup to The House of Lanyon, which like its predecessor is set on rural Exmoor in Somerset, centers on Jane Sweetwater, the youngest sister of a minor landowner. In 1535, when her sister Sybil’s illegitimate pregnancy ruins her chances of becoming lady-in-waiting to the queen, sixteen-year-old Jane is carefully groomed to take her place. Alas, at the royal court Jane attracts the unwanted attention of Henry VIII, unhappily married to Anna of Cleves. Her desperate flight home to Allerbrook House preserves her honor but angers her brother and guardian, who saw her as a way of improving his position. Married against her will to an uncouth older farmer, Jane tries to make the best of her situation. She grabs hold of her good fortune when her family’s lowly circumstances suddenly change for the better.
As the years and decades pass, Jane’s status and influence grows. Despite her continued longing for a man she can never marry, Jane takes pride in running her household, raising her son and her troublesome nephew, and following suit with the next generation. Although this is mainly a domestic saga, with the family rivalries and neighborhood squabbles such novels include, the frequent shifts in England’s state religion (and people’s resulting confusion) make themselves clearly known. In one particularly well-rendered scene, Jane, though Protestant, rides to warn local clergy about a rampaging mob bent on stealing church treasures.
Anand brings the period to life with smooth storytelling and good humor. Although it strains credulity at times for members of a minor West Country family to hobnob with royalty and play drop-in roles so many historical events, this doesn’t make their adventures any less enjoyable.
Sarah Johnson
MY LADY OF CLEVES
Margaret Campbell Barnes, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2008, $14.95/C$15.99, pb, 352pp, 9781402214318
The story of Henry VIII’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, is eloquently told in this reissue from the late English novelist Margaret Campbell Barnes. With the urging of Thomas Cromwell, Hans Holbein, court painter for Henry VIII, is sent to Cleves to paint the portraits of the two sisters who are prospective brides for Henry’s fourth marriage. Hans is immediately taken with Anne. He does his best to portray her faithfully in his portrait while letting her soul and personality shine through. Anne’s life dramatically changes when it is she that Henry chooses for his next wife. With feelings of disbelief and fear, Anne is escorted across the sea to begin her new life in England, leaving the comforts of her home behind for good.
Anne makes unfortunate mistakes early on once she arrives in England and is treated poorly by the English maids in her household. Henry begins to push her away, and soon his eye turns toward one of Anne’s maids-in-waiting, Katherine Howard. Despite Henry’s aversion to her, Anne wins over the English people, something his second wife, Anne Boleyn, failed to do—though Anne of Cleves could not win over Henry’s heart enough to save their marriage. Within six months’ time, the marriage is annulled and Henry marries Katherine Howard. It is not until after their marriage ends that Henry and Anne become friends.
Immediately readers are drawn into the story, captivated by Anne’s down-to-earth nature and her incredible attitude through adversity. Barnes does an excellent job of portraying the intricate relationship between Anne and Hans Holbein. This novel is rich in detail and flows beautifully, letting readers escape into Anne’s court and country life. It is a must read for those who love exploring the dynamic relationships of Henry VIII and his wives.
Troy Reed
THE WISE WOMAN
Philippa Gregory, Touchstone, 2008, $16.00, pb, 528pp, 9781416590880 / HarperCollins, 2002, £7.99, pb, 640pp, 9780006514640
In another reissue of her previously published work (this novel was originally released following the bestselling success of her Wideacre series), Ms. Gregory mines the Tudor era and presents an extremely dark, often disturbing portrait of sexual obsession, witchcraft and mayhem.
Alys is an orphaned novice nun who was raised as a wise woman. After she is burned out of her convent, she returns to a life of abject poverty and impotency until she sets her sights on the arrogant son of the local landowner, with horrific and ultimately tragic results. Taking the Henry VIII-Anne Boleyn-Catherine of Aragon triangle as a loose model—it’s no coincidence the novel takes place shortly before and after Anne Boleyn’s fall—Gregory clearly seeks to
illustrate the helplessness of 16th-century women when confronted by the brutal superiority of men, as evinced by Alys’s inability to stem the circumstances that sweep her into a perverse and dangerous world in order to achieve her ends. While the premise is interesting and replete with Gregory’s trademark penchant for visceral imagery and people willing to do anything for power, this novel falters in its unremitting catalog of unpleasantries. No one is particularly likeable or redeemable, and Alys’s singlemindedness blinds her to the fact that the object of her obsession seems scarcely worth the effort. Heavy-handed prose distills the shock value of some of the more graphic scenes, and there is a surprising paucity of the wit Ms. Gregory has amply shown in other books. Die-hard fans will no doubt flock to this offering while waiting for her newest novel, but those with queasy stomachs might consider reading her gorgeously rendered A Respectable Trade instead.
C.W. Gortner
A QUESTION OF GUILT: A Novel of Mary Stuart and the Death of Henry Darnley Julianne Lee, Berkley, 2008, $14.00/C$15.50, pb, 320pp, 9780425223512
When Mary Stuart is executed for plotting the downfall of her cousin, Elizabeth I, Queen of England, many believe that she is executed unjustly. Some also believe that Mary could not possibly have had anything to do with the murder of her husband, Henry Darnley. Lady Janet de Ros, the Scottish-born wife of an English merchant, is one of those people. She is convinced that Mary Stuart could not have gone so far as to have her husband murdered.
Janet is a curious, strong-willed woman on a mission to find out the truth behind the death of Mary Stuart. She travels to Edinburgh with her husband on business and spends her time talking to servants and locals who knew the former queen, many of whom readily discuss what they know of the situation. Knowing this much information puts her life in danger, and her husband repeatedly asks her to stop inquiring into the matter, but Janet forges ahead in her investigation—which ends up threatening to tear her family life apart.
Lee’s excellently researched novel is written in a fluid, engaging style and is full of intrigue, cover-ups, and plots. Her investigation of this historical mystery provides a vivid theory of what might have happened between Mary Stuart and Henry Darnley and will keep readers turning the pages.
Troy Reed
THE KING’S PLEASURE
Norah Lofts, Touchstone, 2008, $15.99, pb, 448pp, 9781416590897 / History Press, 2006, £6.99, pb, 336pp, 9780752439464
Originally published in 1969, Norah Lofts’s novel about the life of Katherine of Aragon is being reissued again for the end of 2008. Having never read it before, I took the opportunity to
see what makes this book so popular among biographical Tudor novels.
Starting with her birth during her mother Isabella’s campaign against the Moors, Katherine is portrayed from toddlerhood as a very human character, a precocious, fun-loving girl who grows into a strong-willed, intelligent young woman determined to make her life better than those of her sisters. This is no dour matron, no middle-aged princess who couldn’t keep up with England’s court. This Katherine is a vivacious, passionate woman who matches Henry’s fiery personality. She’s not without fault, having a strong obstinate side and a trust in her faith and her king that becomes more blind and stubborn as the years go on. As Katherine realizes her dreams are doomed and she will indeed follow the sad path her mother predicted, the reader keeps on rooting for her as if maybe this time things might end differently. Although the novel was written forty years ago, this Katherine still feels like a breath of fresh air.
The historical detail is masterful in its ordinariness, never feeling crammed in just for the sake of it. The novel is as well-researched as a textbook, but it never reads like one. If there is a criticism, it might be that the long chain of politics after the annulment weighs the flow down a bit right at the crux of the story. But that’s a minor negative in a book full of positives. I look forward very much to reading the rest of the series. As a lifelong Tudor fan, I’ve been missing out.
Heather Domin
17th CENTURY
THE RIGHT HAND OF THE SUN
Y THE SIN EATERS
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Andrew Beahrs, Toby, 2008, $24.95/C$24.95/£14.99, hb, 238pp, 9781592642366
Set in Jacobean England, The Sin Eaters follows the path of the herbalist Sarah, runaway wife Mary, and outcast Bill away from Monkshead and the murderous hold of Sam Ridley, a land clearing master, and toward the coastal city of Northam, their place of reckoning and possible flight to the New World.
Haunted Sarah sets the plot in motion when she claims revenge on Ridley for his exacting punishment on her as a scold. She flees with donkey, cow and provisions and soon finds fellow sufferer Bill, stripped naked and abused after being tricked into becoming a sin eater—a pariah who consumes food offerings placed overnight on corpses. Sarah devises a way to convince him that his body is once again his own and not a receptacle of the sins of others.
As the two travel toward the sea, they take on Mary, a gentlewoman who has been gambled away to a clockmaker. Mary helps them find refuge on her mother’s estate. But Ridley finds them there and bides his time as he plans to exact his revenge. Mary runs off with a member of the household. Sarah’s knowledge of herbs enables escape, and she and Bill reach Northam, but the enraged Ridley finds them at the shoreline between worlds.
In language that is dense, intimate, and beautiful, Andrew Beahrs’s richly imagined novel travels though meadow, forest, plague-flagged town, and ruined monastery. It is peopled by characters brimming with life. Sarah, attempting to live her remaining years touched by grace and wonder, is unforgettable. Highly recommended.
Eileen Charbonneau
THE FIREMASTER’S MISTRESS
Christie Dickason, Harper, 2008, $14.95, pb, 544pp, 9780061568268 / HarperCollins, 2005, £12.99, hb, 507pp, 0007180691
A firemaster is an expert with gunpowder and its various uses. Although it was known in Europe since Marco Polo’s return from China, in 1605 England gunpowder was used mainly
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Anita Mason, John Murray, 2008, £16.99, hb, 501pp, 9780719520225
What is the most dramatic and extraordinary adventure ever recorded? My vote must go to Cortes’s conquest of Mexico in 1521, when 500 Spaniards overthrew a vast and opulent empire, hitherto unknown to Europeans and alien to anything they had ever encountered: the stuff of science fiction rather than history.
The story has not lacked chroniclers, starting with Cortes himself and including Prescott’s magisterial ‘The Conquest of Mexico’ (1843) and the eyewitness account of Bernal Diaz (1580, Penguin translation 1963). No novelist could fail with such a story, but what is there new for a modern novelist to say, or in what new way can the story be told?
Anita Mason tells it from the viewpoints of several different participants, all in the Spanish camp, including Cortes and his interpreter/mistress, Marina. I found this rather confusing, and understandably Mason cannot match Diaz, who was a footsoldier in that terrible campaign. Her originality lies in developing the side story of Geronimo, a sailor who was shipwrecked in Mexico ten years before the Conquest and lived there as a slave until he was ransomed by Cortes for a bag of glass beads. The story of his captivity is imaginatively recreated and gives us a narrator who can understand and sympathise with both the European and Indian cultures. This is an exceptionally good book, the best modern novel on the Conquest of Mexico. You will enjoy this even if you already know the main story, and if you don’t I hope it encourages you to go on and read Diaz.
Edward James
in war. Francis Quoynt and his father, Boomer, are fourth- and fifth-generation firemasters. Boomer has long since retired, but his son, Francis, welcomes the new peace so he can pursue his ambition of artistic firework displays for festivals, parties and weddings. This type of employment requires a government patent, which brings Francis to London to see Robert Cecil. Cecil, wily, manipulative politician that he is, promises the patent if Francis agrees to ferret out a plot against King James I, which Cecil knows involves a significant amount of gunpowder.
While in London, Quoynt hopes to find his long-lost mistress, Kate Peach, a glovemaker, whom he had abandoned to go to war. Kate has put herself under the dubious protection of a man named Traylor, who uses Kate more for transporting secret messages than for sex. When Kate and Francis finally reunite, their former passion flares briefly but dies in the cold morass of suspicion and mistrust. Underlying everyone’s motivations is religion. Both Kate and the Quoynt family, although unknown to each other, are underground Roman Catholics.
Dickason has written a highly suspenseful novel. The period’s religious strife and mutual mistrust between Roman Catholics and Anglicans are the catalyst between hero and heroine. All is interwoven in political treachery and plots not only to assassinate King James, but to destroy all of Parliament in one “great blow.” Dickason’s descriptions of the City of London and Southwark across the Thames, combined with the use of real people, make the period come alive.
Audrey Braver
DEATH OF A BAWDY BELLE
M.E. Kemp, Hilliard and Harris, 2008, $16.95, pb, 199pp, 9781591332350
In 1692, Arabella Edwards, a golden beauty, is found hanging from the Salem gallows, but she had not been accused of or tried for witchcraft. Returning characters from Kemp’s first book in the series, Death of a Dutch Uncle, widowed businesswoman Hetty Henry and young Boston minister Increase “Creasy” Cotton, investigate. These two nosy Puritans once again get into all sorts of trouble as they delve into the mystery surrounding the dead woman, trying to figure out who killed her and why.
This novel is entertaining, despite a few annoying flaws. Kemp uses language too modern for the time period, and Hetty has some unconvincing traits for a woman of her time, as well as a tendency to swoon rather exasperatingly at every little occurrence. Nevertheless, the adventures on which Hetty and Creasy go to solve the crime prove amusing and witty, with a delightful ending. It will be interesting to see what they get up to next.
Rebecca Roberts
IMPRIMATUR
Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti (trans. Peter Burnett), Polygon, 2008, £16.99, hb, 566pp, 9781846970764 (First pub. in Italy in 2002)
The action takes place in Rome in 1683. The characters are the residents of an inn, the Locanda del Donzello, and when one of their number suddenly becomes ill, plague is suspected and the inn placed under quarantine.
Among this motley crew is Atto Melani, a spy in the service of Louis XIV. Using the young serving boy (who is also the narrator) as a guide, together they explore the underground passageways beneath the city and uncover a plot to assassinate the Pope – an alliance between William of Orange and the Vatican.
It is impossible not to draw parallels between this story and Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose; both are historical thrillers with a cleric as a central character and a young apprentice acting as his sidekick. Nevertheless Imprimatur is a satisfying novel in its own right with engaging, believable characters. Peter Burnett must be congratulated for perfectly reproducing the humour. Nothing lost in translation here.
Ann Oughton
THE KING’S GOLD
Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Putnam, 2008, $24.95/ C$27.50, hb, 304pp, 9780399155109 / Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008, £12.99, hb, 256pp, 9780297852476
King Philip IV, ruler of the Spanish empire in 1626, is expecting a large shipment of gold bullion from the West Indies. Swordsman-forhire Captain Diego Alatriste and his aide, Iñigo Balboa, have just returned to Spain from the bloody siege of Breda during the war with the Netherlands. They are looking for employment and easy money. Alatriste is presented with an opportunity to help the Spanish crown protect the incoming shipment of gold when it arrives in Spain. He must then recruit a dozen mercenaries
EDITORS’ CHOICE Y A MERCY
Toni Morrison, Knopf, 2008, $23.95/C$27.95, hb, 176pp, 9780307264237
A Mercy takes place in the late 1680s and follows Florens, a young black slave girl suddenly alone and relying on herself for the first time. Following the death of Sir, she has been entrusted with an important mission: fetch the blacksmith, long gone from Sir’s Virginia plantation, where he had designed an elaborate wrought iron gate and proved himself a healer. He is a free black man and the only person the others believe can save the Mistress and, in doing so, preserve their lives on the plantation. Florens loves him, but she desperately desires to be needed and loved. Yes, she will find the blacksmith, but will she bring him back?
The novel illuminates much more about Florens and about those who have also been gathered onto the plantation they’ve come to regard as home. The full story grows throughout in a narrative revealed by various characters: Florens, Jacob (“Sir”), Rebekka (“Mistress”), and Florens’s fellow slaves, Lina and Sorrow. Their voices disclose their unique perspectives and clarify motivations often misconstrued by the others. For instance, from Florens we learn she was given freely to Sir by a mother who preferred to keep her son. From Jacob we learn that he took Florens reluctantly to settle a debt, finally deciding that Rebekka would appreciate a little girl about the place after losing her own. But from Mistress Rebekka we learn that Florens wasn’t an addition she welcomed at all.
Toni Morrison’s A Mercy is told in a beautiful yet devastatingly honest way. Each narrative voice is distinct, adding enormous depth to the whole right down to the last voice with its final poignant message. It is an outstanding novel.
Janette King
to assist him in protecting the king’s gold.
The King’s Gold is the fourth novel in the series recounting the adventures of Captain Alatriste as told by his confidant-in-arms, Iñigo Balboa, a man sworn to be loyal to his master. Many times he needs Captain Alatriste’s assistance to help him out of a jam. It is interesting to note that Diego Alatriste has very little dialog, and that the point of view is Balboa’s.
I have read all the books in the series and enjoyed them all. The novels are well-written with interesting characters. The author regularly puts his protagonists in harm’s way yet still manages to extricate them from danger. I highly recommend this novel, which can be read without reading the other books in the series. Fans of Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe novels would also enjoy this book.
Jeff Westerhoff
18th CENTURY
ELIZA’S DAUGHTER
Joan Aiken, Sourcebooks, 2008, $14.95/ C$15.99, pb, 336pp, 9781402212888
This Jane Austen sequel is based on Sense and Sensibility and follows Willoughby’s illegitimate daughter by his jilted lover, Eliza. It is told in the first person narrated by the daughter, also named Eliza, and begins in 1797 with her earliest childhood memories. Many of the characters of Austen’s original story appear. Elinor and Edward are much changed and live in a state of near poverty. Eliza is Brandon’s ward and despised by a spoiled and indulged Marianne. Even the daring tomboy, Margaret Dashwood, has grown to be a conventional old maid. The only character who seems unchanged is the cheerful, ever-generous John Middleton.
Ms. Aiken has written a delightful and humorous story, one that can stand on its own without the Austen reference. Undoubtedly, England had its share of fatherless children left in foster care by indifferent parents; few, however, had the good fortune of Eliza and others that we meet. The only disappointment is the coy summary at the end, which comes too soon.
Audrey Braver
PETER WICKED
Broos Campbell, McBooks, 2008, $23.95, hb, 320pp, 9781590131527
From start to finish, and from stem to stern, Broos Campbell’s Peter Wicked is carried happily forward by the witty narrator Matty Graves. Acting Lieutenant Graves, in service to the infant U.S. Navy, is recovering from his wounds and imprisonment on Saint-Domingue. This third book in the Matty Graves series begins with Graves contemplating the fact that, as he relates, “It had recently come to my attention that I was a bastard and a Negro.” When he is recalled to America to give an account of the loss of his previous ship and her captain, Lieutenant Graves confronts the planter and government
elite, and his own Puritanical relations.
Affairs ashore and glimpses of postRevolutionary Baltimore and Washington are related with Matty Graves’s unique flair, but a commission involving the honor of a fellow officer and ex-shipmate, and possible piracy and treason, is thrown his way as a task no one else cares to undertake. Peter Wicked is a fine sea story, an adventure complete with nautical detail, sword-fighting fun, and an unconventional love interest. Besides all of this, it has a charming, resourceful and engaging narrator in Lieutenant Graves. Campbell gives us a glimpse of the United States during America’s quasi-war with France, and a feeling that we would be proud to have such a seafaring ancestor as Matty Graves.
Eva Ulett
THE FOUR SEASONS
Laurel Corona, Hyperion, 2008, $14.95/ C$16.25, pb, 356pp, 9781401309268
Two sisters, Chiaretta and Maddalena, are abandoned at a religious foundling home in 18th-century Venice. The Pietà raises its orphans to perform in their prestigious choir. Chiaretta becomes a celebrated soloist, and Maddalena finds joy in the violin. Vivaldi, composer and priest, notices Maddalena’s talent; the two grow close, and he encourages her. He writes special music for her, and the nuns frown on their relationship. Then one day he leaves Venice without saying goodbye.
Beautiful and willful, Chiaretta experiences a glimpse of Venice and yearns to be a part of this exciting world. Her voice attracts a marriage proposal from a son of one of the city’s most powerful families. She accepts, but finds herself in a swirl of intrigues that endanger her marriage. Maddalena rises in importance at the Pietà through her violin expertise until word of Vivaldi’s return threatens her newfound peace.
The novel would benefit from more descriptions of Venice and the historical and political factions that shaped the city at this time, and of the Pietà in particular. I wanted to know more about Vivaldi as well. It is a leisurely read, but the lovely prose, along with the sisters’ emotions and attachment to one another, kept me turning the pages.
Diane Scott Lewis
owner from a long-established family, and the other of the nouveau riche anxious to establish their own credentials in the county. Ross Poldark returns from America where he was serving with his regiment in the War of Independence to find that his father has died, the girl he hoped to marry is engaged to his cousin, Francis, and his home is a virtual ruin. The copper and tin mines are slowly closing and war with France is brewing. At the Truro Fair he meets and befriends Demelza Carne, a thirteen-year-old waif who was being bullied by a gang of boys, and takes her back to Nampara to work as a kitchen maid. The rest, as they say, is history.
In 1977 the BBC first transmitted the books as a television series, and many readers will remember the stories of love, treachery and betrayal vividly set against a backdrop of mining, fishing, wrecks and smuggling. These first three books cover the period from 17831791 and tell the story of life in Cornwall at that time with all the joys, despairs, excitement and disasters with which it was peppered.
Although a devoted fan of the TV series I never read the books but am finding them as much joy to read now as the series was to watch some forty years ago. They will certainly find a permanent place on my bookshelves. This is social history at its best and I can’t wait to read the rest of them.
Marilyn Sherlock
revolutionary masses and the sharp blade of Madame la Guillotine.
Nathan Peake, in charge of a vessel chasing smugglers along England’s southern coast, is bored with his commission and keen to see some ‘real’ action. When France declares war against England, he gets his chance, albeit as a pawn of plotting politicians.
Nathan’s role as an ‘American’ captain is to undermine the credibility of the new state and its leaders. His journey takes him to Paris, where an American citizen, Gilbert Imlay, saves his life. Through Imlay, he gains access into Parisian circles, meeting citizens of all walks of life. He witnesses trials, set up to erase all traces of the enemies of the Revolution, criminals that thrive in the confusion, and innocent people losing their heads merely for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The ‘terror’ is palpable. And his life is in danger. When he meets Danton, stalwart of the Revolution, his superiors in England are keen to make the man an offer. But with Robespierre plotting against his old adversary, will Nathan be on time?
ROSS POLDARK
Winston Graham, Pan, 2008, £7.99, pb, 455pp, 9780330463294
DEMELZA
Winston Graham, Pan, 2008, £7.99, pb, 521pp, 9780330463331
JEREMY POLDARK
Winston Graham, Pan, 2008, £7.99, pb, 344pp, 9780330463355
Set in Cornwall towards the end of the 18th century, the first three books in the Poldark series tell the story of two families, the Poldarks and the Warleggans, and the bitter rivalry between the heads of both – one an impoverished mine
TO
SEDUCE A SINNER
Elizabeth Hoyt, Forever, 2008, US$6.99/C$8.99, pb, 400pp, 0446406929
Despite, or perhaps because of, being left at the altar twice, Jasper Renshaw, Lord Vale, jumped to accept Melisande Fleming’s proposal of marriage. Melisande, herself, had been jilted when a young girl, but her proposal was not prompted by empathy. She had been in love with Jasper for many years. Now she found the man she married was haunted by events that occurred almost ten years earlier when he was serving with the British army in Canada during the French and Indian War. His regiment had been ambushed and almost totally destroyed after their victory at Quebec. Jasper felt responsible, was certain that they’d been betrayed and made it his own private mission to find the traitor. Melisande is determined to help Jasper conquer his demons and win his love.
Ms. Hoyt’s characters are very well drawn. Their emotions and reactions are true to life; the reader will identify with them. The plot is a bit contrived, and the resolution is predictable. However, readers will find To Seduce a Sinner light, enjoyable reading.
Audrey Braver
THE TIME OF TERROR
Seth Hunter, Headline, 2008, £19.99, hb, 339pp, 9780755343058
In 1793, France is gripped by The Terror – a violent period where neither the guilty nor the innocent are safe from the wrath of the
The Time of Terror is a well-researched novel that draws you into the dangers of life in France post-1789. Terror reigned. And reading this novel, we can sense the fear. The first in a trilogy, it provides us with a not altogether flawless hero, a pair of scheming politicians, self-serving businessmen and fanatic revolutionaries. I’m already looking forward to the next instalment. A highly compelling read.
Stephanie Hochadel
THE KING OF CORSICA
Michael Kleeberg, Other Press, 2008, $24.95/ C$27.95, hb, 392pp, 9781590512562
In 1736, Theodor von Neuhoff convinced the Corsicans to proclaim him their king by promising to remove the Genoese from their tyrannical rule of the small Mediterranean island. This is a fictionalized tale of the life and times of Neuhoff, who also became involved in political intrigue amongst the European powers. Working as a spy and message carrier, he possesses the “gift of gab,” which enables him to hide his true identity while traveling throughout Europe. His also has a gift for embellishing the truth, which leads him eventually to Corsica—where he tries to realize his long-sought-after dream of obtaining power and prestige.
I found this book difficult to read. Although well-written in a literary style, it lacked the type of storytelling, one combining narrative with dialog, which many of today’s readers expect and enjoy. Likewise, I was unable to develop any compassion for or understanding about the protagonist. Thankfully, the last third of the book became more interesting and more clearly defined Neuhoff, the man. I was also disappointed with the story because it had such an excellent premise: an 18th-century man with limited means who eventually had the opportunity to rule a kingdom.
Jeff Westerhoff
18th
THE WHISKEY REBELS
David Liss, Random House, 2008, $26.00, hb, 513pp, 9781400064205
Dark undercurrents in the new American republic course through this tale of greed, ambition, and an untamed frontier bursting with opportunities and dangerous pitfalls. The novel reeks of gritty realism as it moves between cosmopolitan Philadelphia and transAppalachian Pennsylvania. Larger-than-life characters spar over ferocious conflicts in the early Federal period between Jeffersonian democracy and Hamiltonian federalism. The intricate plot is driven by the machinations of infamous New York speculator William Duer and his role in the 1792 financial crash. The author’s expertise in economic history shows in his detailed picture of the shaky financial structure of the United States in the 1790s.
Appropriately, the protagonist is an alcoholic: Ethan Saunders, embittered Revolutionary War veteran and former spy, who opens the book drowning his sorrows in Monongahela whiskey in Helltown, federal Philadelphia’s Skid Row. When half-sober, Saunders is a charming rogue who uses double-talk like a sword. An appeal to help his former fiancée brings him out of the shadows into a dangerous investigation involving Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and the First Bank of the United States. Hamilton’s ruinous excise tax aimed at the frontier whiskey distilleries, which were the only hope of subsistence farmers to make a transportable cash product, sparks the violence in western Pennsylvania that would lead to the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. Paralleling Saunders’s story, whiskey distiller’s widow Joan Maycott tells a tragic tale of following her husband from New York to the barbaric wilds of western Pennsylvania.
Fans of economic history will enjoy the abundance of detailed research evident here, though at times the research slows down the plot. For my own taste I would have liked more emotional depth and credibility in the fictional characters. Includes historical note.
Nina de Angeli
WASHINGTON’S LADY
Nancy Moser, Bethany House, 2008, $13.99, pb, 414pp, 9780764205002
In the summer of 1757, Martha Custis, a young widow with valuable landholdings in Virginia, has no shortage of eligible suitors from which to choose. It is Colonel George Washington, however, who soon claims her affection—and who will hold it for the rest of the couple’s long, eventful marriage.
Having known very little about Martha Washington, who narrates this novel, I found her story an absorbing one. As portrayed by Moser, the first woman to hold the title of First Lady was a shrewd businesswoman, a devoted and somewhat overindulgent mother, and a loving but by no means mindlessly obedient wife, whose support was essential to her husband’s
success as a general and later as President. Moser tells her story with a palpable admiration for her subject and with occasional flashes of humor.
After reading this, I was interested enough in the historical Martha Washington to seek out a biography of her—always a high compliment to a novelist’s skill.
Susan Higginbotham
CASSANDRA & JANE
Jill Pitkeathley, Harper, 2008, $13.95, pb, 239pp, 9780061446399 / Copperfield, 2004, £9.99, pb, 256pp, 978-0952821052
One wonders what interest a fictionalized account of the life of Jane Austen might hold for any but the most enthusiastic fans of her novels, yet Cassandra & Jane is as fine a story as any devotee of domestic fiction could wish. Told in the voice of Jane’s devoted older sister Cassandra, a voice that never strays from the speech and mores of late 18th and early 19thcentury England, the novel follows the life of Jane Austen from the hopes of girlhood, through the frustrations of a clever young woman at her inability to direct her own life, to the emergence of the mature individual and author.
Jane and Cassandra are raised to make “good wives for a suitable gentleman and good mothers for a large number of children,” but Jane experiences disappointment in love and is apprehensive of marriage and sex. She witnesses the repeated confinements of her sisters-in-law; of Jane Austen’s six brothers, five lost wives to complications of childbirth, and two fathered eleven children each. As is well known, Jane and Cassandra end as maiden aunts to their brothers’ large broods, and they, along with their mother and Martha Lloyd, sister to James Austen’s notwell-liked wife Mary, become dependent on the Austen brothers for their maintenance. Like Jane Austen’s novels, Cassandra & Jane is a vivid and touching portrait of family life in the England of the 1790s and early 1800s.
Eva Ulett
19th CENTURY
THE DARCYS & THE BINGLEYS
Marsha Altman, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2008, $14.99/C$15.99/£7.99, pb, 424pp, 9781402213484
Subtitled A Tale of Two Gentlemen’s Marriages To Two Most Devoted Sisters, this novel begins a few days before the joint weddings of Jane and Elizabeth Bennet to Bingley and Darcy. When Bingley confesses his “innocence” and asks advice from his most cosmopolitan friend, Darcy responds by giving Bingley a copy of the Kama Sutra. Most of the characters from Pride and Prejudice appear, including the reprehensible Wickham, who is disposed of in a most ungentlemanly way by Darcy and Bingley. The two families settle down in Derbyshire close to one another, and married life progresses apace. There are births, engagements, and
marriages, but not all goes smoothly. Darcy is shot in the back, for example.
Ms. Altman has written an amusing supposition of what might have been. Jane and Bingley mature but remain true to character, as does Mr. Bennet. A more confident Elizabeth rules a somewhat weak and besotted Darcy, which is a less plausible outcome.
Audrey Braver
WHITE ROSE
Gabriella Anderson, Five Star, 2008, $25.95, hb, 307pp, 1594147248
Sedona, Oregon, is a beautiful, little town in the Willamette Valley. Unfortunately, there are not enough women. To that end, Reverend Jake Perkins plans a trip to Boston to bring back eligible brides. Deverell Blake accompanies him.
Arriving in Boston in the spring of 1873, it isn’t long before they have persuaded a group of diverse women to return with them. One of that number is Alessandra Rose Whiting. Upon the death of her parents, Alessandra’s future is in the control of her greedy Uncle Paul. She assumes the name “Rose White” and flees Boston, hoping to hide out in faraway Oregon until she can claim her inheritance.
This story has a good premise. The characters of Dev and Rose are likeable, as are the supporting characters. Their romance, however, feels rushed. For example, they have only exchanged 42 rather terse sentences, roughly 21 lines of dialogue each, before they are kissing passionately. Double that and they have progressed to heavy groping on the deck of the ship. I would have preferred a more relaxed pace for this rather sweet story.
Alice Logsdon
THE UNFORGIVING EYE
Beth Andrews, Robert Hale, 2008, £18.99, hb, 223pp, 9780709085720
Set in 1818, The Unforgiving Eye is the sequel to Hidden in the Heart (2006), where the nowmarried couple of John and Lydia Savidge were first introduced. Back from their honeymoon, they are given three days to discover who killed Sir Benedict Stanbury. The suspects range from his sister-in-law to his niece, Portia, to the stablehand who is her lover, amongst others. We are given hints throughout as to who the murderer is; in the end it is a domestic incident that gives the couple the clue they need to solve the murder, which is a nice touch. There is some good writing, and the portrayal of the young Portia, an over-the-top character, is well done. But the author has been badly served by her editor: servants are referred to with a prefix before their name, dinner is called supper, and at one point a character arrives unexpectedly for no apparent reason. A pleasant read, but not a must-have book.
jay Dixon
THE JEWEL OF GRESHAM GREEN
Lawana Blackwell, Bethany House, 2008,
Y THE BLACK TOWER
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Louis Bayard, Morrow, 2008, $24.95/C$26.95, hb, 368pp, 9780061173509
In 1818, a street beggar follows Hector Carpentier to his home in the Latin Quarter, only to transform himself into Vidocq, Paris’s master detective. What does Vidocq want with Hector, whose life with his drab mother, a trio of loutish student lodgers, and an elderly boarder is a model of law-abiding obscurity? The answer puts Vidocq and the reluctant Hector on the trail of a lost prince—Marie Antoinette’s young son Louis-Charles, supposed to have died in captivity during the Revolution. Along the way, Hector will learn some startling truths about his family and acquaintances—and about himself—all while trying to evade the men who suddenly want him dead.
This was my first go at reading a novel by Bayard, and won’t be my last. Bayard’s writing is exceptionally good: clever yet unpretentious, with wonderful turns of phrase that made me go back and re-read passages for the sheer enjoyment of it. The characters drawn from real life (including Vidocq himself) are vivid, as are fictitious ones like Hector (the narrator) and his motley companions. Even the minor characters are sharply rendered. Best of all, perhaps, is the manner in which Bayard portrays the plight of young Louis-Charles, with a self-assured combination of anger, compassion, and wit that is moving yet never maudlin. Thanks to these qualities, readers of historical fiction, literary fiction, and mystery should all thoroughly enjoy this novel.
$13.99, pb, 415pp, 9780764205118
Jewel Libby, auburn-haired seamstress in late 1800s Birmingham, is trying desperately to save her little girl Becky from the hands of Mr. Dunstan, whose leering gaze and suspicious behaviors terrify Jewel. Saved by the kindness of her local vicar, Jewel flees to Gresham, where she and Becky find refuge with the family of Vicar Andrew Phelps. Moving in with aspiring writer Aleda Hollis, Jewel and Becky observe a community with several crises. Scheming nephew Donald Gibbs aims to profit from his ailing uncle’s estate and wishes to hasten his death by depriving him of human contact. Philip Hollis, Aleda’s brother, has married Loretta, who is extremely cold to him as she mourns the loss of a former love. Andrew Phelps faces a dangerous gallstone surgery and asks his stepson Philip, a surgeon, to assist in the operation.
Well-detailed and fast-moving, the plot is absorbing and inspirational. We want good to triumph over evil in this story since the moral values of the strong characters reflect their unwavering belief in God. Lawana Blackwell’s style is accessible yet mature as she guides the reader through the world of Gresham Green. Liz Allenby
PEMBERLEY SHADES
D.A. Bonavia-Hunt, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2008, $12.95, pb, 336pp, 9781402214387
This story, first published in 1949, is the second sequel ever written to Pride and Prejudice. Darcy and Elizabeth have happily settled into married life at Pemberley and have a two-year-old son. Darcy’s sister Georgiana lives with them and they frequently entertain family and friends.
Pemberley is in need of a new vicar, and
Susan Higginbotham
Darcy is determined to find someone who meets all his requirements. Unfortunately, this takes longer than he thinks and in the meantime, Mr. Collins, whose has fallen from Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s favor, has asked for the position. This is not to be borne, so when Darcy receives a letter from old friend whose younger brother is a recently widowed clergyman in need of a living, he agrees to take him on for a trial period. The candidate turns out to be a very strange fellow whose behavior leaves everyone at Pemberley perplexed. This situation, along with some other romantic entanglements, gets sorted out satisfactorily in the end.
Bonavia-Hunt strikes the right tone, although the story gets a bit bogged down in the middle. While it’s not the masterpiece that Pride and Prejudice is, it’s an enjoyable read for those who can’t get enough of Austen.
Jane Kessler
THE VARIOUS FLAVORS OF COFFEE
Anthony Capella, Bantam, 2008, $22.00, hb, 550pp, 9780553807325
At the close of the 19th century, Robert Wallis is young unemployed poet with romantic ideals and a languid disposition who nevertheless appreciates a good cup of coffee. When served a bad cup, he describes it too loudly and too well, and is overheard by Samuel Pinker, a wealthy coffee merchant. As a consequence, Wallis acquires a job, writing a guide to the various flavors of coffee to help standardize the purchasing of beans. He also acquires an assistant, Pinker’s daughter Emily.
The poet’s life is irrevocably changed by people who are more energetic, ambitious and powerful than he. Wallis is not particularly socially conscious, nor is he an adventurer,
but he can never say no to a Pinker. He works because he needs money, yet he is indifferent to the fortunes being made around him. He is motivated by love and lust, often confusing the two. Swept along by historical tides of British colonialism, coffee importation, the rise of the stock exchange, suffragism and the labor movement, he plays his small roles reluctantly, then finds his greatest contribution is always, ever, his ability to describe. As he tells his story with an “exasperated affection” for his younger self, the reader gradually comes to feel the same.
This is a lushly written book about a flawed but fundamentally decent man making his way in a world where, as with a cup of coffee, “good” will mean different things to different people.
Sue Asher
FREEMAN WALKER
David Allan Cates, Unbridled Books, 2008, $25.95, hb, 298pp, 9781932961553
Sent by his American slaveowner father to England at a young age to be educated as a free man, James Gates dearly misses his slave mother and white father. When his father passes away, James is forced to leave his boarding school and must survive on the streets of London, where he finds work in the questionable hands of Mr. Perry and Le Chat, the owners of the Sunny Side Saddlery. Sparked by readings of the Declaration of Independence, James dreams of escaping from the hellhole that has become his life. He learns of an Irish leader, Cornelius O’Keefe, who led a rebellion against the English crown to gain Ireland’s independence.
Stealing from Mr. Perry in order to book passage to America, James is fully aware that he is entering the jaws of slavery. On the way to America, the ship gets word that Fort Sumter has been attacked and the Civil War has begun. Once there, James joins a troop of Irish Zouaves fighting for the Yankees—led by none other than the Irish leader, Cornelius O’Keefe. James saves his life during a skirmish.
By no means does this adventurous novel end here. James continues after the Civil War to San Francisco, where he decides to join a group moving across the West to a little gold camp in the heart of the Rockies called Last Best Chance City. Here he again joins Irish leader Cornelius O’Keefe. This novel is a blend of slave narrative, Civil War historical, and Western all rolled into one. Although at times repetitive as the main character ruminates about his state in life, this novel reminds one of the work of Mark Twain or Charles Dickens with a entertaining focus on detail and lively characters.
Liz Allenby
KINCADE’S BLOOD
Michael Chandler, Pelican, 2008, $23.00, hb, 224pp, 9781589805309
Kincade never knew his family. All he remembers is being raised by an old Indian, who then left the boy with people in a white town
when he knew he was dying. An outcast, young Kincade is bullied by Wil Logan, which makes him resolve to learn how to protect himself with a gun. The grown Kincade works cattle, and in the winter spends time in the Proud Cat saloon, where he is smitten by the beautiful owner, Josephine. But when Wil Logan’s gang comes gunning for Kincade, Josephine also becomes a target.
If you like your Western heroes to be good and the bad guys to be utterly despicable, this one delivers. No subtle character shadings here; villains laugh maniacally and blow their noses without using handkerchiefs. The violence is ultra-gory, so the squeamish should be forewarned. Several passages do bring the West to life, such as a description of the delights saloons offer to men fresh off the range, and the details of how stock is cared for while on the trail. The denouement ties things up neatly when, amidst the carnage, Kincade discovers the secret of his past.
B.J. Sedlock
CALICO CANYON
Mary Connealy, Barbour, 2008, $10.97, pb, 284pp, 9781597899383
It is 1867. Grace Calhoun has fled her abusive father and taken a position as a schoolteacher in the West Texas town of Mosqueros. When her father discovers her whereabouts, Grace is so desperate to escape his fury that she hides in the back of a wagon owned by widower Daniel Reeves. Daniel does not realize he has a stowaway on board until he arrives at his home in an isolated canyon far from town. By then, the extreme cold has caused Grace to lose consciousness. A heavy snowfall soon seals off the canyon, and Grace is forced to spend the winter with Daniel and his five young sons.
Calico Canyon is a charming retelling of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Daniel’s boys (a set each of twins and triplets) are dismayed that their “new ma” is the prim teacher who was responsible for their expulsion from school, and are determined to make her so uncomfortable that she will leave as soon as the weather permits. Although the pleasure of Connealy’s writing is diluted by the addition of several irrelevant plotlines, she has written a heartwarming inspirational romance that will be enjoyed by many.
Nancy J. Attwell
TWICE LOVED
Lori Copeland, Avon Inspire, 2008, $12.95/ C$13.95, pb, 288pp, 9780061364914
It is 1865 when Willow Madison arrives in Timber Creek, Texas, to marry a man of means thirty years her senior. She and her friends and neighbors fought during the declining days of the Civil War to hold onto their possessions, their virtue and their lives. Having saved the last two, they are now faced with starting life over. Willow is sacrificing herself to make a new life for herself and her two best friends.
Things begin to get complicated when her accidentally explosive entrance into the Timber Creek community ignites the fury of the town’s up-and-coming sawmill owner, Tucker Gray. That is only the beginning of the fireworks to come.
This story is the first in Lori Copeland’s new series, Belles of Timber Creek. It starts with an excellent plot and a cast of promising characters, but becomes bogged down in the constant bickering of the two protagonists. Historical details of Texas and the post-Civil War era provide a background for the story but do not play a major part. The strength of the story lies in the interesting characters Ms. Copeland portrays.
Nan Curnutt
SHADOWS OF THE PAST
Judith Cutler, Allison & Busby, 2008, £19.99, hb, 346pp, 9780749079413
Warwickshire 1811, and the second outing for the Rev. Tobias Campion, rector of the rural parish of Moreton St Jude. Despite a wealthy family background, Campion has chosen this relatively impecunious profession through personal commitment, and with his good friend Dr Edward Hansard, both are important members of the village and parish.
With the return to Moreton Hall of the widowed Lady Chase and subsequent discovery of a murdered stranger on her lands, Campion is involved in the search to uncover the truth, and also to find out about Lady Chase’s missing son and heir to the title and estate. Matters are further complicated by the presence of the odious Sir Marcus Bramhall and his family, Lady Chase’s nephew, and the heir to Moreton Hall if the son is indeed not alive. The author has a fine ear for the language and narrative of early 19th-century England, and together with an entertaining story and well-crafted plot, makes for excellent historical fiction – even though the identity of the murderer is rather flagged in advance of the denouement. My only negative observation is the unusually high number of printing errors and words repeated or missing in the text.
Doug Kemp
A MOMENT IN SILENCE
Anna Dean, Allison & Busby, 2008, £19.99, hb, 287pp, 9780749079109
Set in 1805, this delightful crime novel features Miss Dido Kent, spinster and trusted aunt of Catherine, who is summoned to the side of her distraught niece. Dido dutifully travels to comfort Catherine, at a time when the girl should be naturally happy and excited at her recent engagement to Mr Richard Montague. Unbeknown to the world, Richard has suddenly disappeared after begging Catherine to dissolve the engagement.
With Dido there as her confidante, Catherine explains to her aunt the details of events that transpired at her engagement party, away from her guest’s eyes and ears. Miss Kent realises the
implications if the mystery is left unresolved, which will affect not only her niece’s happiness, but result in the public termination of her engagement, unless answers are found quickly. Miss Kent is understandably concerned not only for Catherine’s future, but her reputation, which would suffer scandal if the truth is not discovered. It is through searching for this truth that Dido’s gift for discerning the facts takes her on a journey of discovery to unearth the murderer of a woman, the whereabouts of a missing fiancé and a family’s secret.
Miss Dido Kent discovers a greater truth about herself, realising she revels in the challenge of solving mysteries. She uses her intelligence and reasoning in a worthwhile and fascinating pursuit, by using her logical reasoning.
This is a beautifully written, skilfully crafted novel and a very enjoyable read. I shall look forward to reading Miss Kent’s next adventure.
Valerie Loh
THE SEPTEMBER SOCIETY
Charles Finch, Minotaur, 2008, $24.95/C$28.95, hb, 320pp, 9780312359782
I was looking forward to reading this book, having been assured it was excellently researched, and that the American author did a superb job of presenting Victorian England. Yes, well, this picky reader nearly tossed the book in the bin, only her duty to the HNS kept her reading. One year at Oxford is not enough to give an author the cultural information necessary to write about upper-crust Victorian society, and there were so many gaffes. A good perusal of the first copy of Mrs. Beeton’s book of household management would have put him right on meals and hours for paying visits. Topics of polite conversation were another under-researched area. What we have in this book is another version of what Americans fondly imagine is ‘British History’, seen with a dash of Hollywood and distorting lenses.
Our hero Charles Lenox (meant to be a Lord Peter Wimsey type) is scion of an ancient family and a private detective. He is also, like Lord Peter, a collector of books and dubious about getting married. I liked Peter Wimsey more.
The plot is solid; as a whodunit the story is satisfactory. The Honourable Charles is asked to find first one then two missing Oxford undergraduates and soon murder rears its head, as do the old military mysteries. It seems that serving in India is tied to the present-day September Society and more deaths threaten, so it’s Charles Lenox to the rescue.
For those who enjoy a murder mystery and aren’t fussy about accuracy or having a Victorian feel to the story, this book is a pleasant afternoon’s entertainment. I’m sure American readers will love it.
pdr lindsay-salmon
STRANGE MUSIC
Laura Fish, Jonathan Cape, 2008, £16.99, hb, 216pp, 9780224080859
England and Jamaica, 1837 to 1840. There
are three narrators: the young poet Elizabeth Barrett, before she married Robert Browning, and two former female slaves on the Jamaican sugar plantations, owned by the wealthy Barrett family – Sheba and Kaydia. Elizabeth’s story is told through her diary and correspondence and covers a period when she is prostrate with a typically Victorian illness and is attempting to recover her health in Torquay. Both Sheba and Kaydia tells their tales in an opaque Jamaican patois stream-of-consciousness which is challenging to read and understand. The Jamaican stories are of continuing brutality and harshness, with both women forced to have sexual relations and bear the children of the predatory white masters including Elizabeth’s much-loved brother Sam. Elizabeth, meanwhile, wallows in her frustration, missing her father and brothers. It is only towards the end of the novel, when rumours of elements of her family’s misconduct reach her does she begin to comprehend how their immense wealth and her comfortable standard of living have been founded upon the exploitation of human misery.
The novel demands an attentive reader, but I am not sure it works. The three strands are rather too isolated. And with about half the novel written in patois, it is rather cryptic and slow going (and I am a frequent visitor to Jamaica and have some awareness of the dialect). The author also seems to occasionally forget that her narrator is speaking patois and there are frequent phrases of elegant description of the natural beauty of Jamaica in conventional English which I cannot see either Sheba or Kaydia articulating.
Doug Kemp
SWEETSMOKE
David Fuller, Hyperion, 2008, $24.95/C$26.95, hb, 320pp, 9781401323318 / Abacus, 2009, £11.99, pb, 320pp, 9780349121550
By 1862, a slave named Cassius has worked his entire life for the white plantation owner of Sweetsmoke. Because of his experience as a carpenter and his unusual relationship with Hoke Howard, his master, he is able to obtain small favors unattainable by the other slaves on the plantation. When his friend Emoline, a free black woman, is murdered, he feels compelled to find the murderer, despite resistance from the white community, his master, and even other slaves on the plantation. Because Emoline was black, no one else seems interested in solving the crime.
The author has uniquely described the degradation and horror of slavery as it existed in the 19th century. He has captured its indignity, the sharp contrast between the white and black population, and the humility of slavery as an accepted way of life.
The novel is well written with excellent descriptions of the slave-versus-master conditions that existed at the outbreak of the American Civil War. Cassius is a strong,
principled black man who feels the wrongs and injustices but is impotent to change his status. His quest for determining his friend’s killer, while he himself is held in bondage, had me enthusiastically turning the pages to find out how or if he would discover the murderer’s identity. This is a very convincing novel about the trials and tribulations of plantation life. I highly recommend it to those who enjoy a good mystery and who want to learn more about the treatment of blacks in the South during this tumultuous time in American history.
Jeff Westerhoff
THE OUTSIDER
Ann H. Gabhart, Revell, 2008, $13.99, pb, 347pp, 9780800732394
This is a gentle read for those who like nondogmatic religious themes. The heyday of the Shakers is examined thoughtfully, and descriptions of their interesting rituals and daily lives are compelling. Mainstream readers may well enjoy the War of 1812 setting in early American history from this unusual perspective. Going Shaker seems to have served a similar function to a medieval abbey or monastery: a refuge from strife, and guaranteed protection, food, and shelter in exchange for a willingness to work and obedience to the precepts of the sect. Obviously the strict celibacy suited some and not others, and upon a young person’s maturity, they might be tempted to change their minds. Gabrielle, brought into the Shakers with her mother after hearing (erroneously, it turns out) of her father’s death, has grown up thinking herself a true member of the order. When a fire breaks out, a young outsider doctor arrives to heal the injured, and Gabrielle begins to question the Shaker ideas. Meanwhile the doctor, Brice Scott, follows his calling to the war and barely survives the River Raisin Massacre. It takes the war, plus deaths of grief and an inability to adjust to Shaker ways, before Gabrielle can make up her mind where her heart lies. Readers will not be surprised by the ending, but the fair and fascinating descriptions of Shaker and frontier warfare will make it worthwhile.
Mary K. Bird-Guilliams
LEAVING WHISKEY BEND
Dorothy Garlock, Grand Central, 2008, $13.99/ C$15.50, pb, 355pp, 0446695343
Dorothy Garlock’s newest novel takes place in Colorado in 1890, following the journey of three women leaving behind a town and bad memories. Stalwart Pearl and schoolteacher Hallie have staged the kidnapping of Mary who has been abused and tormented by her partner, Chester. As they ride hard and fast away from Whiskey Bend, they find themselves relying on the help and generosity of Eli Morgan and his family when Mary becomes desperately ill. But Eli’s got problems of his own and demons he needs to face as well, and Chester’s not about to take Mary’s leaving lying down. Faced with an uncertain future, all of them must learn to deal
with the past first.
Garlock’s Leaving Whiskey Bend is an engaging tale filled with colorful characters battling inner demons and external forces. While I enjoyed the tale, I had to stretch myself to believe in an illness that causes a man to think he’s Abraham Lincoln; likewise, I had problems with the over-the-top villains. I also felt things tied up too quickly and neatly. I would have loved to have seen the relationships given more depth and time. However, Garlock does know how to turn a phrase and breathe historical detail into her stories, and this historical romance is good, light fare that is a quick read for when you need escapist fun.
Tamela McCann
SEA OF POPPIES
Amitav Ghosh, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008, $26/C$29, hb, 528pp, 9780374174224 / John Murray, 2008, £18.99, hb, 480pp, 9780719568954
An epic tale of the opium trade in 1838 and its far-reaching effects, Sea of Poppies is a book of amazing skill and scope. Following the fates of a wildly diverse caste of characters, from an American freedman passing as white to an Indian widow who escaped from her husband’s funeral pyre, the book spins a series of picaresque tales illuminating the impact of the opium trade on individuals and on India. As each character finds his or her way to the opium ship Ibis, the stories merge into one, as the desire to break free of the poppy trade leads to defiance and mutiny.
But while the author has done a brilliant job, there are several problems with this book, at least for me. For one thing, the author doesn’t seem to know what an Englishwoman’s clothing of the period is really like (stays are not attached to underdrawers!). For another, almost every person talks in some form of heavilyaccented pidgin that I found really unpleasant (it’s no more attractive when the author’s name is Ghosh than it is when the author’s name is Smith). Everyone speaks such heavy period slang it’s almost unintelligible (even if you’re familiar with Hobson-Jobson, which I am). One Englishman talks in such thick qui-hai I don’t think even he knows what he’s saying! Here’s a sample of one of the lascars talking, taken at random: “Launder say father-bhongi-she go hebbin. That bugger do too muchi tree-pijjin...” I don’t mind a bit of pidgin to set the tone, but all the lascars talk like this all the time. The book has a great setting and a great plot, but I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did.
India Edghill
DEEP IN THE HEART OF TROUBLE
Deeanne Gist, Bethany House, 2008, $13.99, pb, 395pp, 9780764202261
In this sequel to Courting Trouble, set in 1898 Corsicana, Texas, Essie Spreckelmeyer, well into her thirties, is no longer hunting a husband. Instead, she’s devoting herself to Sullivan Oil, which she and her father own, and to the
Corsicana Velocipede Club. Then Tony Morgan, the disinherited son of the owner of Morgan Oil, comes to Corsicana under an assumed name, determined to learn the oil business from the bottom. He is not counting on becoming romantically involved with a “bloomer gal” like the independent-minded Essie, who for her own part is none too happy with Sullivan Oil’s new employee.
Like its predecessor, Deep in the Heart of Trouble is well-written with believable, sympathetic characters, including Mrs. Lockhart, who uses her extensive library of romance novels to give Tony hints on courting Essie. There’s plenty of humor here, and even a mystery. Both old acquaintances of Essie and new ones should heartily enjoy this novel.
Susan Higginbotham
THE BELLINI CARD
Jason Goodwin, Faber & Faber, 2008, £12.99, hb, 305pp, 9780571239924 / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009, $25/C$27.50, hb, 304pp, 9780374110390
This is Goodwin’s third novel featuring Yashim, the Ottoman detective whose charm and quick wits amply make up for the absence of a few vital parts. With a new sultan, Mahmut’s son, Abulmecid, on the throne, Yashim is given his first commission to find Gentile Bellini’s portrait of the great Ottoman ruler, Mehmet the Conqueror, and restore it safely to Istanbul before it can fall into the hands of unbelievers and the Austrians in particular. The portrait was last seen in Venice, and it is there that the main action of the book then moves. Goodwin sees Venice ‘as an aspect of Istanbul’ whose wealth, culture and even culinary traditions permeated the floating city on the Adriatic. In 1840, however, Venice has been reduced to a shadow of its former glory with many of its treasures stolen, first by the French and latterly the Hapsburgs: the Venetian saying, ‘come era, dov’era’ (how it was, where it was) is beginning to sound a bit hollow. The few remaining Venetian aristocrats cling proudly to their heritage – in particular, the renowned Bellini portrait.
With the usual colourful cast – Yashim and Palewski are joined, among others, by a flamboyant countess, shady art dealers and a Venetian commissario – Goodwin’s tale romps to a climax involving a dam and plenty of muddy water. The final clue revolves around Archimedes’ mysterious diagram in which all lives and events are interlocked and things change but ‘nothing, in the end, moves out of the square’.
Lucinda Byatt
men have eyes only for Annie. That’s when Bertha knows how to solve her problem. She’ll get Annie to teach her how to woo a man. Thaddeus, too, faces a dilemma, but he’s already in love. He doesn’t believe it’s fair to ask Bertha to wait until he finishes college. It’s not that he wants to continue his education, but how can he disappoint his father, who has sacrificed and dreamed of his oldest son being the first to earn a college degree?
Although based on an unsolved murder, this isn’t a historical mystery. Rather it’s the story of people who lived in and around an east Texas town where steamboats bring strangers both good and bad. Gruver expertly captures what it’s like to live in Texas, yet the joys and sorrows, trials and troubles her characters face are ones with which readers everywhere will identify. Faith plays an important part in the story, but Gruver weaves it into the events that unfold so it never seems to intrude.
Cindy Vallar
ADELSVEREIN: The Gathering
Celia Hayes, Strider Nolan, 2008, $18.95, pb, 420pp, 9781932045178
In the 1840s, an “aristocrat’s society” or “Adelsverein” formed for the purpose of bringing German immigrants into 19th-century Texas. They offered land, houses, and a freer life than most had known in the reactionary and over-populated electorates of Northern Germany. Seven thousand settlers, some farmers, some craftsmen, accepted their offer. When they arrived after a grueling sea voyage, there were no homes, little food, and no protection. There were, however, plenty of unfriendly Comanche and suspicious Americans.
So begins the first book of a trilogy, following the Steinmetz family through the hard work, tragedy, and steep learning curve that was the lot of German immigrants to the Texas frontier. Adelsverein is a fact-filled, dramatic fictionalization of the experiences of the hardy folk who founded Friedrichsburg, and a welcome addition to the growing list of HNS-reviewed regional historicals. The love story of strong-minded Magda Steinmetz and Carl “Dutch” Becker, a gun-totin’ survivor of the infamous Goliad Massacre, adds a colorful thread of romantic interest. This enjoyable page turner is definitely recommended.
Juliet Waldron
LORD BUCKINGHAM’S BRIDE
Sandra Heath, Robert Hale, 2008, £18.99, hb, 223pp, 9780709080916
obvious that Francis is leading a dangerous double life and Alison finds herself in great danger of losing her heart and her life.
Lord Buckingham’s Bride is everything a Regency romance should be – a passionate love story, a great adventure, misunderstandings, a vile rogue and a brave hero. For any reader looking for an enjoyable piece of escapism it’s just the ticket.
Sara Wilson
I HAVE SEEN THE FIRE
Robert V. Hine, Univ. of New Mexico, 2008, $17.95, pb, 142pp, 9780826343178
This was, for me, an odd book. It is a novel inspired by the life of a pioneer woman known to readers previously only through her journal. The author has fleshed out Sarah Royce’s life so we can see her as a real person facing the privations of pioneer life as her rather feckless husband drags her around the country in search of the “better life” and to make his fortune. The journey from their home in Iowa seeking California gold is hair-raising. Sarah’s insistence that they don’t travel on Sundays almost fatally delays them, and the vivid details of their difficulties, the country they travel through, and the problems they face make fascinating reading.
I’m not sure whether the novel was intended to be inspirational, as there is much mention of Sarah’s faith and her gift of a vision of God, yet I found nothing inspirational about her story. She was not exceptional; I have read several similar pioneer non-fiction works. Perhaps this is mainly a novel about friendship, or courage, of which Sarah has plenty. However the ending, for me, was highly unsatisfactory. Alas, if I discuss my reasons here I will spoil the novel for others. Sufficient to say that I found Sarah’s attitude to the information revealed in the last pages quite amazing and unbelievable.
Yet the novel is an excellent account of pioneer life and has much to recommend it as a resource for those who are studying the period or enjoy reading about their pioneering history. pdr lindsay-salmon
MURDER ON THE EIFFEL TOWER
Claude Izner (trans. Isabel Reid), Minotaur, 2008, $23.95, hb, 304pp, 9780312383749
DIAMOND DUO
Marcia Gruver, Barbour, 2008, $10.97, pb, 288pp, 9781602602052
Bertha Biddle loves Thaddeus Bloom, but doesn’t know how to capture him. When gorgeous and mysterious Annie Monroe steps off the train in Jefferson, Texas, in 1877, the
Alison Clearwell is travelling to her uncle’s home in Russia when she has an unpleasant encounter with Prince Nikolai. Her honour is saved by the quick thinking of Francis Buckingham. When it becomes clear that Lord Buckingham himself has compromised her reputation he insists on marriage – even though he is already engaged to Alison’s best friend. Matters are complicated when it becomes
Bibliophiles will embrace this novel featuring late 19th-century Parisian bookstore owner Victor Legris and his Japanese father figure and business partner, Kenji Mori. First published in 2003 in France (where this is the first title in a bestselling series), Eiffel is breezy and at times almost farcical, its setting the Elzévir Bookshop specializing in new and antiquarian books and first editions and the Eiffel Tower constructed for the 1889 World Exposition in Paris.
Have several people died from bee stings while visiting the Tower’s sky-high viewing platforms? Or is it murder? When Victor turns amateur sleuth, the list of suspects changes by the hour and includes his friend Kenji as well as the new woman of Victor’s dreams, the beautiful
EDITORS’ CHOICE Y BROKEN WING
Judith James, Medallion, 2008, $7.95/C$8.95, pb, 432pp, 9781933836447
When I think of what constitutes a superior historical romance, I think of real characters connecting on many levels with a believable setting that pulls me into the story and sweeps me along into another place and time. Judith James’s novel Broken Wing is such a tale; I was hooked from the first pages and found myself sighing with satisfaction at the end.
Set in France and England in 1800, Lady Sarah Monroe and her brother Lord Huntington have retrieved their youngest brother from a French brothel five years after his kidnapping. It is due to the care of prostitute Gabriel St. Croix that young Jamie escaped a dastardly fate, and the siblings’ gratitude is so heartfelt that they invite Gabriel to come to England with them. Once home, Gabriel and Sarah begin to feel an attraction that is both inappropriate and undeniable. After giving in to their feelings, the lovers are soon separated as Gabriel leaves to privateer to earn his fortune; fate intervenes and tragedy ensues.
Broken Wing is both well-written and compelling, and I found the pages flying by as I wrapped myself in the tale of the numb Gabriel being brought to life by the vivacious Sarah. Despite my misgivings over the cliché of Sarah, a countess, wearing men’s breeches, I found there was much to love about this story of two star-crossed lovers finding one another in many ways. Superior reading indeed.
Russian illustrator Tasha Kherson (no matter that Victor has a mistress). This delicious novel flies through multiple viewpoints, including that of the much put-upon bookstore assistant, Joseph, who must deal with the “battle ax” who demands popular fiction and bourgeois couples who shop for cheap bound books to decorate their sitting rooms.
Given its focus on books and booklovers, one wonders why (as we’re told on the back cover) the author is given as “Claude Izner” when the series is actually written by two sisters who are secondhand booksellers on the banks of the Seine and experts on 19th-century Paris. The authors include an insightful note on the Exposition and the construction of the Eiffel Tower. Worthy of mention, too, is Isabel Reid’s admirable French to English translation of this vivacious and entertaining book.
Alana White
MANY A RIVER
Elmer Kelton, Forge, 2008, $24.95/C$27.95, hb, 336pp, 9780765320506
In 1855, an Arkansas sharecropper family is attacked by Comanche Indian raiders while traveling through North Texas looking for good farming land. The parents are killed; both of their young sons, Jeffrey and Todd, survive the attack but then become separated from each other. Jeffrey, the oldest at eight, is rescued by Texas militiamen. The Indians kidnap Todd, who is only five years old.
The tale continues until the boys are six years older. The American Civil War begins, and the settlers in Texas and New Mexico are forced to join sides. Separately, the boys must learn survival techniques to live in this hostile land with little adult guidance.
Tamela
McCann
Elmer Kelton is a seven-time Spur Award winner and considered by many to be the prominent Western writer of our time. This novel, like many of his other accomplishments, is character-driven with pitfalls developed along the way for his protagonists. I enjoyed this novel, a page-turner with very interesting characters and an intriguing storyline. I highly recommend this book for true Western lovers.
Jeff Westerhoff
DESTROYING ANGEL
Alanna Knight, Allison & Busby, 2008, £6.99, pb, 262 pp, 9780749079376
Rose McQuinn, daughter of Inspector Faro and heroine of four other novels, has just received two pieces of bad news. One is that her fiancé Jack Macmerry has decided that he doesn’t want to marry her, and the other is that her beloved deerhound Thane actually belongs to somebody else. Her true owner lives in Northumberland, a wealthy landowner called Hubert Staines. His daughter is dying of consumption and wants her pet back. But when Rose delivers the dog, she soon finds that nothing is quite what it seems.
A gothic novel! This shows that the genre is alive and well in the Noughties, and Ms Knight can deliver up a real page-turner. I am not commonly fond of a woo-woo element creeping into whodunits and at times a possibly spectral dog that does good deeds is a bit much to swallow. It does fit in with the Victorian atmosphere and adds an element that I am sure 19th-century readers would have loved even if it does make the series cloying at times. Rose makes for a likeable and sensible protagonist, narrating the story in a manner that seems suitable for the period. This is also a novel with a strong sense of place like all this author’s
books, and couple with an intriguing plot and a good sense of pace, makes for an entertaining read, soppy dog notwithstanding.
Rachel
A Hyde
THE EDGE OF DESIRE
Stephanie Laurens, Avon, 2008, $7.99/C$8.99, pb, 464pp, 9780061246364
Christian Allardyce, the sixth Marquess of Dearne, is the last unmarried member of the Regency-era Bastion Club, an organization dedicated to assist its members in remaining single. Unfortunately, all his friends are married, so he has no support in this any longer. Lady Letitia Randall, his former fiancée, approaches him for help in discovering her husband’s murderer because her brother has been accused of the crime. The old flame between Dearne and Letitia sparks, rekindling their passion but not their trust in one another. Ultimately, they discover the truth behind the old misunderstanding that destroyed their former relationship. They also solve the murder. True love rules the day.
This is a romance novel with no historical pretensions. The mystery subplot makes the story more interesting than some other romances. The drawbacks of the novel include a repetitive use of the heroine’s family name, Vaux, which becomes an adjective, a noun and a verb. On several occasions, the author’s head-hopping pulled me out of the story. The sex scenes seemed forced and unlikely. This might appeal to those who have enjoyed other novels by Stephanie Laurens, but it is not her best work.
Monica Spence
LORD OF SHADOWS
Mary Lennox, Five Star, 2008, $25.95, hb, 385pp, 9781594146978
Lord Devlin Charmichael, Marquess of Headleymoor, is caught between two worlds; he is an heir of a British duke and a prince of Zaranbad. Devlin feels trapped and unsure of his destiny. As a British spy, he disguises himself as Dr. Ram Bass and protects his brother, the King of Zaranbad, from assassination.
Lady Caroline Berring, a proper lady with a dubious heritage, is thrust into the center of society when Devlin pays attention to her. Danger lurks around every corner as Devlin attempts to unmask the terrorists who threaten his loved ones’ safety and seek to destroy his country’s alliance with Britain. As Caroline’s reputation resurrects itself, Devlin finds himself falling for this pretty lady, but she is soon in danger from the terrorists.
This is engaging Regency-era historical romantic suspense starring two likable protagonists. Although the plotline is a bit farfetched, the story is still entertaining, mixing suspense and romance in an enchanting tale of two worlds merging.
Rebecca Roberts
DEAD CENTRE
Joan Lock, Robert Hale, 2008, £18.99, hb, 223pp, 9780709085744
A crime novel set in 1887, Dead Centre is the seventh Inspector Best mystery, and is set against the daily protests of the poor in the year of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. It concerns the murder of a prominent member of a socialist organisation who one morning is found dead at the foot of Nelson’s Column, after the homeless have taken over Trafalgar Square for the night.
The author obviously knows late Victorian London well, and I certainly learnt a lot as I read. But that was just the trouble – there is so much information given about Victorian society that I felt as if I were reading a treatise on the period, rather than a fictional story set in the period. I got the impression that the author was more interested in the social conditions of the poor than in her characters and their story, and when the murderer was caught through his confession, and not through detective work, I did wonder why she was writing fiction at all. However, she has received very good reviews for the other books in the series, so maybe it is just me who could not get caught up in the story.
jay Dixon
MURDER ON THE BRIGHTON EXPRESS
Edward Marston, Alison & Busby, 2008, £19.99/$29.95, hb, 310pp, 9780749079451
This is the fifth book in the series which features Inspector Robert Colbeck and Sergeant Victor Leeming, and is set in October 1854. As with Edward Marston’s Christopher Redmayne series, which I read and enjoy, the Railway Detective series is light on history, although enough is given to capture a flavour of the period. The story concerns the tracking down of the man who deliberately derailed the Friday evening express to Brighton from London Bridge, killing twelve people. There are many believable suspects, and other crimes involving them are uncovered on the way to unmasking the main culprit.
Marston has a rather flat writing-style, but that does not detract from the interest of the story, which kept my attention throughout, as Colbeck and Leeming meet vastly different characters, from both ends of the social spectrum, as they use both tedious footwork and deductive reasoning to solve the crime.
jay Dixon
AN UNCERTAIN DREAM
Judith Miller, Bethany House, 2008, $13.99, pb, 376pp, 9780764202780
In the third novel of Miller’s Postcards from Pullman series, Pullman, Illinois, is in turmoil in 1894 as its railway workers go on strike. Olivia Mott, assistant chef at the Hotel Florence, finds herself caught up in the middle of events, especially since the man she loves, Fred DeVault, is among the strikers. Meanwhile, Olivia’s friend Lady Charlotte, who had gone to
live with her parents in England, travels back to America with her out-of-wedlock son after her father dies, leaving his family heavily in debt.
The last in the series, An Uncertain Dream, like its predecessors, is a realistic look at the company town of Pullman and the toll that its labor unrest takes on its citizens, including Olivia and her friends. Miller offers no pat or easy solutions to the dilemmas facing her characters, but ends her series on a hopeful note. This is a worthy ending to a well-researched and well-written trio of novels.
Susan Higginbotham
LIES AND LOGS TO DIE FOR
Rosemary Miner, Hilliard and Harris, 2008, $16.95, pb, 185pp, 9781591332558
The rugged Adirondacks of 1874 are the setting for the second adventure of town herbalist Gracie Wickham. There are two murders to both solve and link on this outing. Grace meets the first victim on the train, young Jenny Crane, searching for a brother with news of their new inheritance. When the heiress is strangled, suspects begin to mount like the logs in a spring jam heading for Glens Falls.
Was her husband in a rage of jealousy after seeing his wife speaking with young Sam Somerville? What about his snake-oil selling partner? Or was the killing a random act of violence after the beautiful Jenny refused the attentions of the tannery workers she had questioned about her brother? Grace studies her clues carefully, and, with the able support of hotel owner and friend Ambrose Baldoon, unlocks the secrets of her case.
The setting, time, and appealing heroine are the strengths of a mystery that could have used a more careful edit for language and repetition and that too often pulls out of its narrative drive for mini-lectures on the time and its practices.
Eileen Charbonneau
JANE EYRE’S DAUGHTER
Elizabeth Newark, Sourcebooks, 2008, $12.95/ C$13.99, pb, 336pp, 1402212372
Originally published in 1997 as Consequence, Jane Eyre’s Daughter tells, as the title suggests, the tale of Janet Rochester, only daughter of Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester. When Janet’s family journeys to the West Indies, Janet is left under the guardianship of Colonel Dent at Highcrest Manor, a place as filled with secrets as Thornfield was for her mother. As Janet navigates young adulthood with only memories of her parents as guides, she captures the attention of the mysterious Roderick Landless and the dashing, if perhaps too sophisticated, Sir Hugo Calendar. Can she trust either of them? What secrets does Colonel Dent hide? Who is Roderick Landless, and why does he seem so familiar?
This charming book owes as much to Austen’s Northanger Abbey as it does to Jane Eyre; strange voices in the night, forbidden wings of dark houses, storms aplenty, and an undercurrent
of peril throughout make this a tale which captures the spirit of the Gothic. Even readers unfamiliar with the story of Jane Eyre will not be lost; Newark carefully includes enough detail to engage both fans and newcomers alike. This reader felt welcomed once more into a muchloved story world, filled with deftly-crafted characters. Recommended!
L.K. Mason
LYDIA BENNET’S STORY
Jane Odiwe, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2008, $12.95/C$13.99, pb, 352pp, 9781402214752 / Paintbox, 2007, £9.99, pb, 308pp, 9780954572211
The flirtatious Lydia Bennet, the youngest sister in Pride and Prejudice, is the heroine of this delightful Jane Austen sequel. The first part of the book is a retelling, from Lydia’s point of view, of events already familiar to readers of Pride and Prejudice, including her stay with the regiment in Brighton, where, in one of Odiwe’s additions to the story, she flirts with a royal dragoon, and her elopement with the charming but unprincipled Mr. Wickham. In the second half, we follow Lydia to her new home in Newcastle, where her marriage rapidly deteriorates once she discovers her husband’s true character. Hurt by his many infidelities, she goes to stay at Netherfield with her sister Jane and her husband, Mr. Bingley. Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, Caroline Bingley, and other characters from Pride and Prejudice also make appearances. While at Netherfield, Lydia meets the clergyman Alexander Fitzalan, who at first seems haughty and arrogant, but eventually proves to understand Lydia’s situation better than anyone else, since he himself has been disappointed in love. At a ball, a woman turns up who claims to be married to Wickham, and Fitzalan offers to help Lydia discover the truth about her situation.
Although Lydia Bennet’s Story lacks Austen’s wit and irony, it is a well-written sequel to Pride and Prejudice and an absolute delight to read. The narrative is interspersed with Lydia’s diary entries, which are hilarious. Lydia matures quite a bit through the course of the novel and at the end is no longer the self-centered flirt she was at the beginning. The author makes this transition gradual and quite believable. The new characters are all very much in the spirit of Austen. I highly recommend this book to fans of Jane Austen or Regency romances.
Vicki Kondelik
A LADY OF SECRET DEVOTION
Tracie Peterson, Bethany House, 2008, $13.99, pb, 367pp, 9780764201479
This novel, book three in the Ladies of Liberty series, takes place in Boston and Philadelphia in 1857. Cassie Stover, a young woman in her twenties, lives in Philadelphia and works as a companion to Mrs. Jameston, a wealthy widow. Mark Langford, an insurance investigator from Boston, is trying to locate his best friend
Richard’s murderer and travels to Philadelphia to find him. He suspects the killer is Mrs. Jameston’s son, Sebastian, who is recuperating from a gunshot wound received recently.
Cassie and Mark meet unexpectedly and become friends. Over a short period of time, he requests help in gathering information about Sebastian. They agree to pretend to be courting, but neither will admit their courting may mean more. Cassie grows to love Mrs. Jameston and tries to protect her from her son. Mrs. Jameston sees Cassie as the daughter she never had and subsequently renews feelings of childhood jealousy in Sebastian. She worries about Cassie, warning her that Sebastian is devious, corrupt and untrustworthy.
Sebastian and Cassie are opposing forces, both battling for Mrs. Jameston. A classic good versus evil story with romance and intrigue mixed in.
Donna Bassett-Edwards
THE SCARLET SPY
Andrea Pickens, Forever/Grand Central, 2008, $6.99, pb, 352pp, 0446618012
Sofia may be the picture of Regency femininity on the outside, but she’s got a secret— she’s a trained spy, the product of Mrs. Merlin’s Academy for Select Young Ladies, a school that trains young female orphans in the arts of espionage and seduction. Despite her rough beginnings, Sofia is one of Mrs. Merlin’s most glamorous graduates, and her assignment— masquerading as a widowed Italian countess in order to expose a society of dissolute young gentlemen of the ton who may be involved with drug smuggling—is dangerous. Lord Deverill Osborne, engaged as Sofia’s guardian during her entrance to Society, finds it difficult to fight his attraction to Sofia, but her continued insistence on mixing with the wrong company raises questions he can’t answer—and puts her in significant danger.
Like the previous two volumes in Pickens’s series about Merlin’s Maidens, The Scarlet Spy features clever dialogue, a sensual love story, and plenty of action. Sofia is capable, clever, and self-sufficient, and tough, and though Deverill wants to be her knight in shining armor, Sofia doesn’t need saving. Fast pacing, an exciting plot, and vivid characterizations make this a cut above the average Regency romance.
Nanette Donohue
THE MINUTES OF THE LAZARUS CLUB
Tony Pollard, Michael Joseph, 2008, £12.99, hb, 438pp, 9780718154035
London 1857. Dr George Phillips, a young, ambitious surgeon, is invited to join the Lazarus Club. The members of this exclusive club are some of the finest minds of the Victorian era, such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Charles Darwin and Charles Babbage. They meet to discuss unorthodox ideas and inventions that challenge conventional thinking. As a result of his membership, Dr Phillips becomes embroiled
in an intrigue to prevent the theft of one of Brunel’s inventions that could potentially be subverted to a dark use that will challenge Britain’s maritime power. Meanwhile, a steady stream of mutilated bodies washed up from the Thames leads the police directly to the surgeon, who must try and clear his name or face arrest. I was intrigued by the concept and ideas that formed the plot and was not disappointed. The story travels along at a cracking pace with both plotlines dovetailing seamlessly together. The characters of Brunel, Darwin, Florence Nightingale, et al. are convincing and well rounded. The London of Victorian England is portrayed without resorting to pages of description. A pleasure to read. This is Mr Pollard’s first novel; I look forward to reading his next.
Mike Ashworth
THE LOST DUKE OF WYNDHAM
Julia Quinn, Avon, 2008, $7.99/C$8.99, pb, 384pp, 9780060876104 / Piatkus, 2008, £6.99, pb, 384pp, 9780749937935
Being the companion to the dowager Duchess of Wyndham is no easy job, as Grace Eversleigh, said companion for far too many years, can attest. But if being the dowager’s companion is unpleasant, being her hithertofore unknown grandson is far worse, as Jack Audley, former highwayman and all-round adventurer is about to learn. The Lost Duke of Wyndham is a Regency romance that sets the stage for a sequel that sounds far more interesting. Although the dialogue occasionally sparkles between Grace and Jack, far too many scenes consist of one or the other of this pair reflecting incredulously on how much one of them is falling for the other. Suspension of disbelief is a given with some story premises, but far too often here, events hinge on the improbable. Take, for instance, the entirely contrived nature of Grace, Jack, and the dowager’s first meeting: what are the chances that the highwayman who happens upon the dowager’s coach one evening would turn out to be the son of her best-loved, long-deceased son, a fact that the dowager instantly ascertains though she can only see Jack’s eyes? As Jack’s chosen profession plays no further role in the story, it seems unnecessarily unbelievable. Sadly not up to the quality of some of Quinn’s other entertaining works.
L.K. Mason
IMPULSE AND INITIATIVE: A Pride and Prejudice Variation
Abigail Reynolds, Sourcebooks, 2008, $14.95/ C$15.99, pb, 400pp, 9781402213571
“What if Mr. Darcy didn’t take no for an answer?” is the premise of this speculative work. After reading it, the answer that comes to mind is, “Then at least this novel would never have been written.” Reynolds’ work focuses primarily on feelings—Darcy’s for Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s for Darcy—rather than action or true situational or character conflict.
In this re-telling, Darcy morphs from the curt and enigmatic gentleman of Austen’s novel to a neurotic and self-absorbed suitor. Elizabeth, no longer ebullient and charming, is actually dull, with a tendency to over-internalize everything that occurs in a decidedly 21st century fashion.
An apparent assumption that the reader knows and remembers everything about the characters and locations of the original results in very little description, detail, or development. The most significant scene, wholly improbable for the era or the individuals, places Elizabeth and Darcy in a bedchamber. And not only once.
Reynolds strives to replicate her predecessor’s graceful sentences, and though her writing shows skill, these passages contain neither the wit nor the pith of Austen’s work. While such a comparison is unfair, other authors have succeeded in Austen re-creations. Unfortunately, this one does not rise to their standard.
Margaret Barr
DEPTHS OF DECEIT
Norman Russell, Robert Hale, 2008, £18.99, hb, 223 pp, 9780709085683
A young chemist is found murdered in an ancient Roman temple in London in August 1894. He died of a blow to the head, and his mouth was filled with honey. A small disc with the scraped drawing of a rampant lion is discovered in his pockets. Another body is found in Carshalton, on the outskirts of London, on the same day bearing the same injuries and a similar disc. This time the victim is a wealthy industrial magnate.
Detective Inspector Arnold Box of Scotland Yard is called to investigate. Together with his sidekick, Sergeant Jack Knollys, he unravels a sinister plot. Were both men murdered as part of a pagan ritual by a secret society dabbling in ancient religions?
In his quest, Box encounters a triumphant archaeologist, the man’s unsuccessful adversary, a lady with in-depth knowledge of pagan cults, the magnate’s widow and daughter, united in their contempt for one another, and a maid with more knowledge than sense. Heeding advice from his superior, Box discards all fanciful theories and focuses on the hard facts. He soon has the killer in his sights.
Depths of Deceit is a traditional crime novel: innocent victims, scheming murderers, a detective overcoming his doubts, and a clear and satisfying solution. Norman Russell knows how to draw a reader into the storyline, and he brings Victorian London vividly to life. However, I was a little confused as some dates and times seem to be mixed up. But this should not deter anyone from reading this novel.
An intriguing murder plot with a fitting ending, this is highly recommended reading for fans of historical crime fiction.
Stephanie Hochadel
MUSEUM OF HUMAN BEINGS Colin Sargent, McBooks, 2008, $23.95/C$26.95,
hb, 321pp, 9781590131671
We first meet Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau in 1805 as he bounces along on his mother Sacagawea’s back, seeing the world with her eyes as they lead the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific. He is a child, and a man, caught in the middle – half-French, halfShoshone, struggling to find his place in the world and watching America grow up around him, struggling to find its identity.
This sprawling, quasi-bildungsroman, loosely based on J.B. Charbonneau’s life, is a story of dichotomies – “Injun” vs. white, the wilderness vs. civilization, the new world vs. the old, past vs. present, knowledge vs. knowing. Baptiste struggles throughout the book to find his place in these dichotomies, never bridging, always seeking to choose sides. It is a story of the labels we put on each other, and those we take on to ourselves.
The book is beautifully written, and has a good sense of time and place, but I felt held at a distance. Though Baptiste’s life was full of adventure and tragedy, I found it hard to really care about him, and watched his struggles as though he were the subject of an anthropological study. Perhaps, given the themes and subjects of the story, this was intentional – he seemed like another exhibit in Clark’s Museum of Human Beings, and not a flesh-and-blood person to struggle with and care for.
Museum of Human Beings is an ambitious, thoughtful book, but it ultimately fell short for me.
Julie K. Rose
AURORA CROSSING
Karl H. Schlesier, Texas Tech Univ. Press, 2008, $27.95, hb, 392pp, 9780896726369
This novel is a fictionalized account of the Nez Perce War of 1877. Eventually forced to leave Oregon, over 800 Nez Perce Indians travel over a thousand miles to escape and reach Canada. The American military, led by General Oliver Otis Howard, pursues and tries to capture the tribe and return them to their designated reservation in Idaho. The protagonist in this tale is John Seton, a young Indian who is responsible for herding the horses during the miles of steep mountains, rocky trails and raging rivers. A peaceful tribe, many of the Nez Perce had already been moved to reservations in the Northwest. A series of unfortunate events led to the death of both Indians and soldiers, which caused the short war to begin.
In his narrative, the author does a very good job of describing the life and travails of the Nez Perce as they were in flight. Actually, much of the novel reads like a non-fiction account of the interactions between the U.S. military and the Indians. There is little dialog in the story and, though the major characters are mentioned and described in detail, there is little interaction between them. The main character is rarely involved in the military action, except at the end of the novel; therefore the events were heard
about or described by others, which I thought made the reading very dull. I recently read Terry C. Johnston’s Cries From the Earth, which was a much better written account of the Nez Perce War and which I would recommend over this novel. Mr. Schlesier would have done better to write a non-fiction narrative of the war.
Jeff Westerhoff
THE HEARTH AND EAGLE
Anya Seton, Chicago Review Press, 2008, $14.95, pb, 377pp, 9781556527326
This novel, first published in 1948, was the fourth written by Anya Seton, a popular historical fiction writer who died in 1990, and the author of one of my favorites, Green Darkness
The Hearth and Eagle is the story of the Honeywood family of Marblehead, Massachusetts. Most of the story takes place in the mid-19th to the early 20th century. Hester Honeywood is the young daughter of Roger, an ineffectual dreamer, and his practical hardworking wife, Susan. Hester, like many young people, longs for a more exciting life beyond the seacoast town where her family runs an inn, the Hearth and Eagle. Hester grows up hearing her father talk about the courage of their ancestor Phebe Honeywood, who established the inn in the seventeenth century to support her family after her husband was paralyzed in an accident. As she grows up, Hester finds true love with Johnnie, a young Marblehead fisherman, and they become engaged. He is killed in the Civil War, the first of many tragedies that Hester must endure. She does eventually marry and move away, but is drawn back to Marblehead after the marriage fails. She marries again and becomes one of Marblehead’s wealthiest citizens. When Hester and her husband lose everything in a fire and are bankrupt, the inn becomes her home, and a refuge. In the end, Hester personifies the courage and resiliency for which New Englanders are noted, and she comes to deeply value her home and her ancestry. Seton was noted for her research, and she skillfully weaves the events of the time into the story of Hester’s life: the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, the rise and decline of the shoe industry in Marblehead, and Marblehead’s evolution into a summer community for the rich. An excellent read.
Jane Kessler
THE KILLER ANGELS
Michael Shaara, Polygon, 2008 (c1974), £7.99, pb, 346pp, 9781846970863 / Ballantine, 1987, $7.99, pb, 384pp, 9780345348104
America, June 29, 1863, and the country is being torn apart by civil war. The North, the Union, is opposed to slavery, while the South depends on slaves to run huge plantations and keep up the great demands of the North and Europe for cotton. Cotton is king, and slave labour costs nothing. The story opens on the eve of the greatest battle fought on American soil – Gettysburg. In the space of a few days,
Federal forces lose 23,000 men while the Confederates’ losses range between 20,000 and 28,000. Although there were more battles and skirmishes to follow, Gettysburg marked the great turning point in the war. In his famous Gettysburg Address following the battle, Abraham Lincoln reaffirmed the United States of America as ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people.’
Michael Shaara takes the reader blow by blow through those four momentous days, told first from one side and then the other. The various manoeuvrings, the tactics, and the orders given are graphically described, and when the two armies finally clash you are there with them amidst the dirt, the heat and the carnage.
To add to the reader’s understanding, Michael Shaara gives an excellent introductory chapter plus a rundown of who is who. The Killer Angels won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1975.
Marilyn Sherlock
BOOTH’S SISTER
Jane Singer, Bell Bridge Books, 2008, $14.95, pb, 227pp, 9780980245332
On April 15, 1865, Asia Booth Clarke wakes to find her Philadelphia home swarming with soldiers and her beloved brother John Wilkes Booth the subject of a manhunt—for the assassination of President Lincoln. The nation’s hatred for those involved in the President’s murder will eventually drive Asia into selfimposed exile abroad.
Narrated in the first person by Asia, this was a novel with great potential that was not realized for this reader. I never understood from Asia’s narrative what caused John Wilkes Booth to be so consumed with hatred that he became a killer, and I never got a very clear sense of what motivated Asia, whose loyalties are torn, to become as deeply as involved in his plotting as she did. Much of the novel is taken up with a series of vignettes from the siblings’ childhood, where Asia and John do not so much as talk to each other as declaim lines; as such, I found it difficult to believe in the deep emotional attachment that brother and sister are portrayed as having. Asia’s relationships with various other important people in her life, such as her father and her husband, are rendered in a similar, frustratingly opaque manner, with the mannered style of the narrative repeatedly getting in the way of the story. Only in the opening scene and in the last part of Booth’s Sister, where Asia waits in agony for news of her brother even as his accomplices continue to plot, did the novel and Asia briefly come alive for me.
Singer does provide a brief but interesting Author’s Note about Asia’s life in exile, thus providing a starting point for those curious to know more about Asia and her notorious brother.
Susan Higginbotham
PERDITA
Joan Smith, Robert Hale, 2008, £18.99, hb,
19th Century
223pp, 9780709079255
To escape from an unwanted marriage, wealthy heiress Perdita Brodie along with her governess, Moira Greenwood, join a shabby acting troupe and attract the attentions of Lord Stornaway. Even when they are reunited with friends and family, Stornaway continues to believe they are lightskirts and relentlessly pursues Perdita. Moira stands between his lordship and her charge, but then finds that she has become the target of his affections. But can she persuade him that she is a virtuous gentlewoman before it’s too late?
Perdita is a fun read, full of engaging characters and with a plotline that is rather racier than the usual Regency romances. The first person format makes it all the more intimate and involving.
Sara Wilson
JASPER MOUNTAIN
Kathy Steffen, Medallion, 2008, $15.95/ C$17.95, pb, 349pp, 9781933836584
Jack Buchanan becomes a reluctant miner in 1870s Jasper, Colorado. He must do so to oblige his father’s friend, mine operator Victor Creely, who offers him a job after the Buchanan ranch is wiped out in a brush fire. Milena Shabanov, a Romani, is also stranded in Jasper against her will after her father dies on the trail West. She ekes out a living telling fortunes in the local bordello, which keeps her from having to pursue the more customary occupation. Jack becomes dismayed when a series of his fellow miners vanish. He is sure that Creely is behind the disappearances, but his family’s obligation to the man makes him reluctant to follow up on his suspicions. When Creely’s negligence results in a cave-in that traps Jack and some fellow miners, Milena is inspired to use her gift of “sight” to help find them.
Multiple cliffhangers keep the pages turning. Steffen includes several rounded secondary characters, though the villain is rather onedimensional. We are told he’s been kind to Jack’s family, but that happens off-stage, and everything else he does in the novel is evil. The love story between Jack and Milena isn’t welldeveloped, and I didn’t find their relationship very believable. Steffen may have been trying for a laconic Western tone, but passages such as “Hide. Now. Someone else was here. Danger. Close.” is more comical than terse. The ending leaves several story threads dangling, so Steffen may be planning a sequel.
B.J. Sedlock
THE PRIVATEER’S REVENGE (US) / TREACHERY (UK)
Julian Stockwin, McBooks, 2008, $24.00, hb, 352pp, 9781590131657 / Hodder & Stoughton, 2008, £17.99, hb, 352pp, 9780340961117
Naval adventure series seem to have a periodic need to depart from rousing tales of oceangoing drama in favor of planting their characters on land. This ninth volume of Thomas Kydd’s
career in fictional stories of the Age of Sail finds him and his true friend Renzi engaged in both privateering (legalized piracy) and intelligence service respectively along the English Channel during the Napoleonic Wars.
Julian Stockwin enlisted me as a shipmate with his first Kydd adventure. I have always enjoyed his style and imaginative writing but must admit that Lieutenant Kydd’s inability to cope with the depression of his fiancée’s death seemed to go on far too long in this novel. I found myself hoping to read of Nicholas Renzi’s role working with French Royalists attempting to depose Napoleon rather than sail with the depressed, and thoroughly depressing, Kydd. The writing returned to full speed ahead as Kydd emerged from his grief and solved the complexities of coastal warfare while bringing victory once again to the Royal Navy.
John R. Vallely
LITTLE HUT OF LEAPING FISHES
Chiew-Siah Tei, Picador, 2008, £14.99, hb, 390pp, 9780330454384
This is the story of Minghzi, the first grandson of Master Chai, a feudal landlord and opium farmer who is determined that Minghzi will join China’s bureaucratic elite who sit in judgement on and control the lives of the peasantry. Minghzi seizes his opportunities to get away from the confines and the corruption which pervade the family mansion. As he gains advancement, he makes his own small stand against the corruption and injustice that is endemic throughout China. But this is the time of change, and Western countries are seeking to exploit China for their own benefit. Cultures clash and Minghzi finds himself embroiled in a dangerous game of family and social politics played out against the backlash against the West.
The book has a tempo of its own. This is a gentle, slow-burning read which draws you into the world of China in the late 19th century. The main characters in the novel slowly evolve rather than spring out fully formed in the first chapters, and the sights and sounds and way of life draw you into a fascinating world. Sit down with a large cup of coffee and enjoy. Recommended.
Mike Ashworth
THE BLACK HAND
Will Thomas, Touchstone, 2008, $14/C$16, pb, 290pp, 9781416558958
Fifth in Thomas’s series of Victorian mysteries featuring the enigmatic private detective Cyrus Barker and his assistant Thomas Llewelyn, this outing finds the pair pitted against the budding Sicilian mafia in London. Barker and Llewelyn are called in to assist Scotland Yard when the bodies of an Italian assassin and his wife are pulled from a barrel found in the Thames and the death of the director of the East and West India Docks turns out to be murder. They find that they have struck a nerve when their personal chef is stabbed in broad daylight and both start to receive threatening notes signed with a big
black hand.
The appeal of this series lies primarily in the characters of Barker and Llewelyn. Barker likes to play the dour Scot but is a multi-faceted man with a mysterious past in China and a friendship with a certain widow that arouses Llewelyn’s curiosity. Llewelyn, a former Classics scholar who had fallen on hard times which included a stint in prison, continues to grow into his position as Barker’s assistant, and his tart narration is a delight. Thomas also excels at descriptions of daily life in 19th-century London; the reader can see the docks teaming with unhappy workers. I was surprised to feel that the mafia element came off as rather cartoonish—it was difficult to be afraid of a note with a big black hand—but I’m chalking that up to a mafia-saturated media in the 21st century.
Ellen Keith
THE WIDOW’S SECRET
Brian Thompson, Atlantic, 2008, 268pp, £12.99, hb, 9781843547174
The secret is revealed to the reader in the opening pages: Bella Wallis, an attractive bisexual widow, is the writer known to the midto-late 19th century reading public in Britain as Henry Ellis Margam, author of sensational tales. Bella takes inspiration for her plots from life and uses a fictional veneer to extract a degree of retribution on various malefactors in her successful novels. Following the murder of a London prostitute and with other evidence of his evil deeds, Bella sets her targets on Lord Bolsover. With the assistance of an eclectic band of colleagues, friends and employees, Bella embarks on her latest campaign – but events accelerate quicker than she can control them, and very soon matters are out of hand with a number of victims implicated, both physical and emotional. This is an entertaining, rambunctious story of Victorian urban sleaze, violence and essential human decency. The characters are Dickensian and throb with life, with the author possessing a wonderful ear for dialogue. The plot is a bit sketchy at times and races along perhaps a little too superficially. But this is good and exciting historical fiction.
Doug Kemp
MURDER ON BANK STREET: A Gaslight Mystery
Victoria Thompson, Berkley Prime Crime, $23.95, hb, 326pp, 9780425221518
New York City, 1897: Four years after her husband’s murder. Sarah Brandt still mourns him, using his medical bag and office in her practice as a midwife in the city’s slums, to the dismay of her patrician family. The unsolved murder and Sarah’s developing relationship with Detective Frank Malloy have been continuing sub-plots throughout this engaging series. Finally, Malloy tackles the Brandt murder case full time, using financial assistance from Sarah’s father to bring in the Pinkerton Agency. He even recruits Sarah’s young protégé Maeve, a rescued
19th Century-20th Century
street urchin, as an apprentice sleuth.
Malloy has discovered that Dr. Brandt’s killer was one of three wealthy men, all fathers of mentally ill women Brandt had treated unsuccessfully for a sexual obsession then called Old Maids’ Disease. All three blamed the doctor for their daughters’ final breakdowns. But which father was driven to murder? All are wealthy, protected from investigation under normal police methods. Ignorance of modern psychology among police and the public at the time threatens to blacken Dr. Brandt’s reputation, even if Malloy finds the culprit. Fans of this series will be eager to learn the truth at last, enjoying Thompson’s usual warm-hearted character treatment and solid research. 10th in series.
Nina de Angeli
16-3-3
Vicki Tieche, Robin Banco Limited Editions, 2008, $12.95, pb, 312pp, 9780973826258
The unusual title refers to Range 16, Township 3, Section 3 of Delaware County, Ohio, and is the story of the European-descended people who settled there in the 1810s. Benajah Cook’s family is the main focus, and the narrative follows their attempts to acquire the property from speculators, build a home, and feed themselves off the land. They help other settlers get established, are friendly to the few Native Americans still left in the area, and work towards building a real town, complete with church and school.
The preface states that Tieche’s intention was a book that is “a combination of historical fact and historical fiction.” She provides end notes and an epilogue listing what happened to the real-life families after the close of the book, plus a list of sources.
I am interested in both the period and setting, but would not have finished the book if I weren’t compelled to in order to write this review. As an early draft it’s a pretty good effort, but it should have had many more revisions before publication. The storyline is mostly a ho-hum, first-they-did-this, and then-they-did-that kind of linear narrative. Not that I’m a particular fan of flashbacks and multiple points of view, but this could have used a few variations to liven things up. Some of the transitions are beyond banal: “The days went on.” The tiny amounts of conflict that exist are quickly resolved, which does not make for compelling reading. If the author was reluctant to stray too far off the factual path, then a nonfiction book would have been more interesting. One thing I did like: unlike some pioneer tales, the story acknowledges the fact that people in the 19th century had bodily functions and sexual desires, without being graphic about it.
B.J. Sedlock
Widowed Alabeth Manvers has long blamed Sir Piers Castleston for the death of her rakish husband Robert, so she is distraught when she encounters him on her return to London society. Her task of chaperoning her young sister Jillian through the Season looks doomed to failure.
Then the musical maestro Count Adam Zaleski appears on the scene and to Alabeth’s dismay is the image of her late husband. When she spurns his attentions the Count turns his eyes towards Jillian, and the only help available is being offered by the hated Sir Piers.
Rakehell’s Widow is another lovely romance from Sandra Wilson. The feisty heroine and misunderstood hero are perfectly matched, and their sparky encounters provide some really entertaining scenes. Well worth reading.
Sara Wilson
THE LADY FLEES HER LORD
Michèle Ann Young, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2008, $6.99/C$7.99, pb, 384pp, 9781402213991
Lady Lucinda Denbigh is in a predicament. Her husband, Lord Denbigh, married her for her fortune but treats her rudely because he finds her unattractive and overweight by Regencyera standards. When Denbigh reveals his plan to take his wife on a trip with his dissolute friends, Lucinda flees her home. She finds a new home in the countryside, on the lands of Lord Hugo Wanstead, a gruff war veteran tormented by his wife’s death and his gruesome experiences
Y THE OUTLANDER
RAKEHELL’S WIDOW
Sandra Wilson, Robert Hale, 2008, £18.99, hb, 224pp, 9780709083733
on the battlefield. Wanstead does not wish to marry again, and is appalled at his attraction to Lucinda, who is posing as a grieving war widow. In typical romance fashion, the two circle each other, both denying and reveling in their mutual attraction, and trying their best to keep their secrets. Meanwhile, Denbigh is on the search for his wife, because without her money, he’s unable to maintain his status.
Young’s second novel features a torrid love story between two society outsiders as well as some engaging secondary characters. Some of the storylines are a bit far-fetched, but overall, this is an entertaining romance novel with an unusually independent and spirited heroine.
Nanette Donohue
20th CENTURY
CRYERS HILL
Kitty Aldridge, Vintage, 2007, £7.99, pb, 344pp, 9780099506188
The story alternates between the 1930/40s and the late 1960s in the eponymous English small town. It is difficult to describe the plot, for it reflects the personal perspectives of the novel’s main protagonists, and these are an eclectic bunch. Sean Matthew is just eight and lives in the new housing estate being built on the edge of Cryers Hill, during those days when man first walked upon the Moon. The murder of a local schoolgirl has a profound effect on him.
Walter Brown is a frustrated poet, who
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Gil Adamson, Ecco, 2008, $25.95/C$29.95, hb, 400pp, 9780061491252 / Bloomsbury, 2008, £10.99, pb, 400pp, 9780747596851
This captivating story opens with a 19-year-old widow running for her life through the woods of western Canada, sometime in the early 20th century. “The widow,” as she is called throughout most of the book, is Mary Boulton, who killed her husband and is being sought by his twin brothers, who are big, burly, and mean men set on revenge. Her full story is revealed over the course of the novel through her encounters with other outlaws and social and political misfits. A shy child whose mother died from a drawn-out illness, Mary yearns to be loved but is ignored by her grieving father and pious grandmother. When John Boulton appears at a party, clearly seeking a wife, she is drawn to him as a fellow outsider; with only this in common they are married, and she moves with him to his shack deep in the forest. John is abusive and a liar, furthering Mary’s sense of being unloved. She feels she is slowly going mad, and indeed it is impossible to tell at times what is really happening and what is a hallucination.
Adamson successfully uses this technique to reveal much of Mary’s inner self and back story, combining background on the stifling and absurd treatment of women at the time with the reality and dangers of backwoods life. When Mary stops running, she finds herself in a tiny mining town with more than its share of misfits, from the minister to the apothecary to the occasional visitor. Here, finally, her story can turn to one of growth and redemption rather than instinct and fear.
In her first novel, Adamson has created a marvelously readable tale with memorable characters and an inspiring final narrative twist, all of which makes me look forward to her future work.
Helene Williams
EDITORS’ CHOICE Y THE JOURNEY
H. G. Adler (trans. Peter Filkins), Random House, 2008, $26.00/C$30.00, hb, 320pp, 9781400066735
In the introduction of The Journey the translator writes, “Neither Germany nor the world was ready for novels about the Holocaust in the 1950s.” This book, the work of H.G. Adler, a German Jew writer, philosopher, and poet, is the translation of one of only four novels written by survivors of the Holocaust. It was not published in Germany until 1961. Based on his personal experiences in the “slave community” of Theresienstadt and in Auschwitz, the novel tells the heartbreaking story of the Lustig family: Leopold, a hardworking doctor; his kind-hearted wife, Caroline; their children, Zerlina and Paul; and Caroline’s sister, Ida. The novel opens when they are told that they must leave their home to work in the fictitious slave community of Ruhenthal. Adler writes: “No one asked you, it was decided already. You were rounded up and not one kind word was spoken… Yet the tight-lipped grins remain unforgettable.” Delving beyond the particular hardships of this family, Adler also describes life in the little towns around Ruhenthal and the progressive breakdown of the society at large when in the hands of a totalitarian state. Civility and justice are destroyed first. Denial is pervasive, in and out of the camps. With their wills broken, the condemned cling to the hope that “only the stupid ones are beaten,” that “only the bad ones are shot.” The people in the towns regard them as “loafers… led by a military honor guard.” Adler makes you squirm in disgust and discomfort, when he switches tenses, narrative voices, pointing fingers at the readers, addressing us as victims or as executioners, and throwing Kafkaesque twists of metamorphosis and madness. After Auschwitz, the introduction reminds us, critics believed that literature was no longer possible. Adler believed that it was not only possible, but necessary. Writing this astounding novel, Adler amply proved his point.
chases after the rather cranky Mary Butt in the 1930s before joining up to fight in World War Two. The two tales are conjoined, and both are imbued in the history of the times. The flavour of late 1960s England is superbly realised. Sean is struggling to learn to read with the phoneticbased Initial Teaching Alphabet (ITA) reading experiment system adopted in some English schools in that decade, and which I also suffered at the same time – fortunately without terminally ruining my nascent appetite for reading! ITA was all well and good until the time came to change over to conventional alphabet and reading, and then the problems started. This is a captivating, quixotic historical novel.
Doug Kemp
THE SONG OF EVERLASTING SORROW: A Novel of Shanghai
Wang Anyi (trans. Michael Berry and Susan Chan Egan), Columbia Univ. Press, 2008, $29.95, 440pp, hb, 9780231143424
First published in 1995, Wang Anyi’s literary masterpiece has now been translated into English, which is sure to garner her many more appreciative readers. The heroine is Wang Qiyao, who grows up in Shanghai in the 1940s, entranced by fashion and Hollywood movies. A visit to a film set, then a session with a photographer, results in a picture of her being printed in Shanghai Life as a “Proper Young Lady of Shanghai.” Her brief moment of fame
Adelaida Lower
continues as her friends urge her to enter the “Miss Shanghai” pageant—this is an opportunity to show the world that both she and Shanghai are modern and fashionable. Soon Wang Qiyao becomes the secret mistress of a government official, and the rest of her life is spent trying to recapture, or re-live, those fleeting happy times of her youth. Friends and lovers come and go, and we see them and the city move through the turbulent 1960s, the more liberated 1970s, and finally, the youth-centered 1980s.
History is portrayed through the characters’ descriptions of and responses to changing fashions and social mores rather than any narrative of political movements and social upheaval. Shanghai itself is very much a character in this novel alongside Wang Qiyao, and there is extensive description of the longtang neighborhoods—that make up the city, and their evolution and eventual deterioration as the city becomes covered with huge blocks of high-rise apartments. As the city becomes ever more densely populated, the connections between people become more tenuous, and at last there is nothing to connect Wang Qiyao with her past or the city. The story is spellbinding, colorful, and sad; the writing is dense and thoughtful. Though by no means an action-packed easy read, this is a page-turner right up to the end.
Helene Williams
EVERYTHING UNDER THE SKY
Matilde Asensi, Harper, 2008, $25.95/C$27.95, hb, 400pp, 9780061458415
History is vital to this quirky thriller, which is set in 1920s China. Elvira, a Spanish painter living in Paris, travels to Shanghai with her niece, Fernanda, to cope with her late husband’s estate. What greets her are staggering debts, questions about his lifestyle and death, and a possible way out that involves a quest for the tomb of the first emperor. An adventurer at heart, Elvira teams up with the antiquarian Lao Jiang and the journalist Paddy Tichborne to seek out this tomb and the treasure it reputedly houses, but the bloodthirsty Green Gang and some other highly placed and dangerous players are eager to lay hands on the treasure as well. Do Elvira and her friends locate the ancient Chinese artifacts? You will have to read the book to find out, because to say anymore will reveal too much.
This intelligent piece of storytelling manages to pack an astounding amount of Chinese history into 400 pages – astounding because it never becomes exhausting. The references to culture, literature and legends do require some savoring but ultimately enrich the novel. I applaud Asensi’s characterization, sense of time and place, and ability to draw the reader into the story. Even some of the more fantastical elements appeared plausible when presented by her pen. Lighthearted yet heartwarming, Everything Under the Sky is a must-read for anyone interested in China.
Claire Morris
PEACE
Richard Bausch, Knopf, 2008, $19.95/C$22.95, hb, 171pp, 9780307268334
It is the brutal winter of 1944 in Italy near the city of Cassino. The Italian government has collapsed, and the Germans are retreating northward. A group of American army soldiers are sent on a reconnaissance mission. They stumble upon a German officer with a woman. The German kills two soldiers before Corporal Marson kills him. Their patrol leader, Sergeant Glick, then summarily executes the woman. Along the way, they commandeer a 70-year-old native to act as a guide. Glick sends Marson and two other soldiers, Joyner and Asch, along with the guide to scout for straggling Germans. In the relentless cold rain, they begin climbing what turns out to be a mountain. As they advance, they are not sure if the old man is really a fascist leading them into a trap. Adding to the uneasiness, there is animosity between Joyner, a Midwestern redneck, and Asch, a Boston Jew. Marson, nursing a painful foot blister, tries to keep the patrol focused on their mission. Not long after, they come under fire from a German sniper and begin a struggle to combat the enemy and stay alive.
Bausch has written a short but intense novel about the folly of war. The narrative is nuanced with individuals who at times are rational, sensitive, and trusting, then in an instant become
undercurrent: one of his students—the one he especially selects—is the son of a man who was convicted of a brutal murder, and who was actually the student of Jack’s father.
Cook’s style is very quiet, reminiscent of Kazuo Ishiguro in its subtlety and understatedness, but ultimately he lacks Ishiguro’s sense of drama. Time and again, he sets us up for some earth-shattering occurrence or dramatic turn that does not come about. While the novel is very atmospheric, it fails deliver on its initial promise, and the ending leaves the reader a little flat.
Nonetheless, Master of the Delta is well worth reading both for its evocation of a time (the 1960s) and place, and for the quality of Cook’s writing.
Susanne Dunlap
THE SOURCE
Michael Cordy, Bantam, 2008, £11.99, pb, 364pp, 9780593061107
Ross Kelly, geologist, is elbowed out of the oil business just as his pregnant wife Lauren announces that she has managed to translate much of the ancient and mysterious Voynich manuscript. Her triumph turns into a nightmare as it becomes clear that someone does not want the secrets of the Voynich made public.
Lauren is attacked and lies at the point of death. Convinced that the only hope for her lies in the strange and fabulous garden described in the manuscript, Kelly sets off for the Amazon with an unlikely group of companions. Pitted against them are a power-crazed Vatican official, a hit man and a group of trained soldiers – not to mention the dangers of the jungle itself.
This is a novel in the tradition of The Da Vinci Code and Indiana Jones, full of action although sometimes at the expense of depth. Cordy has mastered the art of the cliffhanger, and despite the feeling that I’d read this sort of thing before, I found the twists of the plot kept me turning the pages. Great for adventure fans, who will not be surprised to learn that movie rights have been sold.
Ruth Downie
DARK ECHO
F G Cottam, Hodder & Stoughton, 2008, £17.99, pb, 358pp, 9780340953884
This is arguably not an historical novel, since all the action takes place in 2006/7. However, it is the story of a haunted yacht, Dark Echo, and of course ghosts have a past, in this case from the 1920s. Actually it is not a ghost but the figure who turns up quite frequently in contemporary fiction: the man who has sold his soul to the Devil in return for eternal life.
I am not usually sympathetic with the supernatural and did not expect to enjoy this book, but it proved a very good read, after the initial suspension of disbelief. The characters are convincing, the settings authentic and it is well paced, with room for slow menace as well as hectic action. Give it a try.
Edward James
RED SKY IN MORNING: A Novel of World War II
Patrick Culhane, William Morrow, 2008, $24.95/C$26.95,hb, 338pp, 978006082555
During World War II, Ensign Peter Maxwell is preparing himself for amphibious landing duty overseas. However, his orders are changed, and he is told to report to the U.S. Naval Training Station in San Diego for duty as a choir director and trainer. While there, he and three of his buddies form a quartet called the Fantail Four and become the best of friends. When Peter decides he isn’t doing enough in the war, he seeks a ship looking for officers. He finds a posting for a ship needing four officers, quite rare. He persuades his buddies to sign on with him.
Once granted transfers, they discover that the Liberty Hill Victory is an ammunitions ship with a crew of unskilled and in some cases illiterate African American sailors. The captain of the ship is a monomaniac racial bigot who has only disdain and loathing for his crew. Peter knows the crew’s survival will depend on cooperation, communication and camaraderie. Sometime before shipping out, Peter takes his horn to an all-black club where he meets Sarge, an exdetective. Sarge and Peter form a friendship that night that will transcend race. They are destined to meet in the future aboard the Liberty, when a body is discovered and Peter asks Sarge for
Y THE SEAMSTRESS
help. Is it murder?
I was pleased to see the true story of the Port Chicago explosion included in this novel. As it is an often overlooked horrific accident, including the event adds dramatic suspense and tension. Patrick Culhane based his story on the real ship USS Red Oak Victory. He points out that the language and social themes in the novel are reflective of the period. This is a well thought-out and realistic story of life aboard a naval vessel during military segregation. Highly recommended.
Donna Bassett-Edwards
INDIGO CHRISTMAS: A
Hilda Johansson Mystery
Jeanne Dams, Perseverance, 2008, $14.95, pb, 256pp, 9781880284957
South Bend, Indiana, in 1904 is a growing city with large social divides when Hilda Johansson, Swedish immigrant and former maid at the prestigious Studebaker Mansion, marries successful Irish merchant Michael Cavanaugh. She is not content being a “lady of leisure,” and when society ladies decide to form a Boys’ Club to give social miscreants a productive outlet, they welcome Hilda’s help (and her knowledge of the “lower classes”). Trouble arrives when her heavily pregnant friend, Norah, makes a surprise visit in tears because the police have arrested her husband, Sean, for possible murder
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Frances De Pontes Peebles, Harper, 2008, $25.95/C$27.95, hb, 646pp, 9780060738877 / Bloomsbury, 2009, £12.99, pb, 656pp, 9780747596868
Orphaned at a young age, sisters Emilia and Luzia dos Santos are raised by their Aunt Sofia, a seamstress in the town of Taquaritinga do Norte in Brazil. A childhood fall from a tree causes a severe injury to Luzia’s arm, locking the joint at the elbow. Neighborhood children taunt Luzia by calling her Victrola, after the bent arm of the record player. The accident, combined with the mistreatment, causes Luzia to become more introverted—a contrast to her sunny, often flippant sister, who adores celebrity magazines and has a crush on her sewing teacher. When a group of cangaceiros—bandits living in the scrubland in the wilds of Pernambuco state—raid Taquaritinga, their leader, The Hawk, senses that Luzia is a kindred spirit. When The Hawk offers Luzia the opportunity to leave with the cangaceiros, she accepts, knowing that there is little for her in Taquaritinga.
After Luzia leaves, Emilia meets Degas Coelho, a young law student with a secret to hide. He offers to marry her and take her to Recife, providing the glamorous life she has always dreamed about. Emilia finds that big-city life is more difficult than she had expected, and Degas’s secret life becomes more difficult to hide. As Luzia and The Hawk become increasingly notorious for their violent criminal activities, Emilia wonders if her own secret—that her sister is the cangaceira known as The Seamstress—will be revealed, destroying the life that she has carefully constructed.
In The Seamstress, Peebles brings the history and culture of a part of the world rarely visited in English-language historical fiction. The pace of social, political, and technological change in Brazil during the early 20th century was rapid, and Emilia and Luzia’s story traces two women’s journey through these revolutionary times. The alternating viewpoints allow readers to follow both sisters’ journeys, both physical and emotional, and make the parallels between their very different lives even more intriguing. This accomplished first novel is highly recommended for all readers of historical fiction.
Nanette Donohue
EDITORS’ CHOICE Y
SEAL WOMAN
Solveig Eggerz, Ghost Road Press, 2008, $19.95, pb, 283pp, 9780979625534
Berlin, 1947. The Icelandic Agricultural Association advertises for “strong women who can cook and do farm work,” and artist Charlotte, who has watched her life and her city crumble around her, agrees to work at a farm called Dark Castle.
Seal Woman is, at its core, about the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and our lives. What is real, and what is myth? After almost incomprehensible pain and loss, how does one go on?
Impressionistic and mythic in the Iceland-based sections, and all too real and present in the Berlin-based sections, the settings–both time and place–are beautifully rendered. The characters, particularly the protagonist Charlotte, are very real and every bit as frustrating and messy as real people. I caught myself more than once thinking I was reading the biography of a mid-20th century war survivor.
But as fascinating as the story and the characters are, the writing itself is gorgeous; many passages are so lovely, I wanted to underline them and commit them to memory so I’d never forget their lyric beauty. Overall, this is a challenging book on many levels, but very rewarding. A fantastic story, beautifully written; highly recommended.
with shallow evidence. Hilda’s penchant for crime-solving combined with help from new Boys’ Club lads give her life purpose again.
Indigo Christmas is a historical snapshot of an early America where immigrants may clash in culture, religion, and food, but the immigrant drive to overcome adversity shines in Hilda’s abilities to keep the peace in her new family as well as to solve injustice. Indigo Christmas stands on its own as a story with never a dull moment. Eagerly recommended.
Tess Allegra
Y
THE PLAGUE OF DOVES
COPPER FIRE
Julie K. Rose
Suzanne Woods Fisher, Vintage Inspirations, 2008, $14.99, pb, 292pp, 9780981559209
Set on the home front during the final days of World War II, this inspirational sequel to Fisher’s Copper Star is again told through the eyes of Louisa, a former German resistance worker, now wife to Arizona Pastor Robert, stepmother to young William, and thorn-in-theside of the critical Aunt Martha.
Louisa’s family expands through her pregnancy and when she returns to Germany to claim her young cousin Elizabeth, who has
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Louise Erdrich, Harper, 2008, $25.95/C$27.95, hb, 320pp, 978006051512 / HarperPerennial, 2008, £7.99, pb, 356pp, 9780007270767
The Plague of Doves begins in the early 1900s as a group of adventurers head onto the prairie to found a town. Although most starve or freeze, some survive, and the town of Pluto is born. (Passenger pigeons, feasting on the newly planted wheat fields, are the “plague” of the title.) The Ojibwa are remnants of a wilder time, too, serving as convenient scapegoats for the gruesome murder of an isolated farm family. Three generations, on the reservation and off, will be affected by this crime and the lynching which follows.
Although the mystery is solved in the final pages, the book initially appears to be a collection of interwoven family stories, each with a marvelously realized narrator. We meet wily, witty Mooshum, and his granddaughter, Evelina, an intelligent and passionate young woman who is determined to escape the reservation. There is the Peace family: beautiful Maggie, mad Billy, Shamengwa the violinist, and the delinquent Corwin. We learn how reservation and town are linked inextricably by marriage, adultery, and history. The characters are exquisitely drawn, and the language is an almost magical wedding of poetry to prose. Although The Plague of Doves is a literary novel, it pulses with the warm blood of daily life. There is even, despite high tragedy, a good helping of laughout-loud humor. Beautiful and highly recommended!
Juliet Waldron
survived the horrors of the concentration camp at Dachau. Elizabeth is stunted in body and spirit and proves a new challenge to Louisa. On the other hand, seven-year-old William considers, “Aunt Martha hasn’t said anything mean about Dog since Elizabeth came.”
Friedrich Mueller, a Nazi war criminal who embroiled the town in espionage in Copper Star, may have returned. The only one willing to help Louisa find him is her first love, who she now struggles to forgive because he was involved in the death of her beloved father.
Copper Fire explores Louisa’s maturing marriage, struggles with motherhood, and community with warmth and humor even as its plot builds in conflict and excitement. A wonderful addition to the series.
Eileen Charbonneau
THE HIDDEN MAN
Anthony Flacco, Ballantine, 2008, $14.00, pb, 275pp, 9780812977585
Nine years after San Francisco’s great earthquake and fires, the city is just beginning to be reborn and is full of possibility. Against this backdrop, and the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exhibition, Detective Randall Blackburn and his adoptive children, Shane and Vignette Nightingale, struggle to understand their places in the world—all while protecting the famous mesmerist James “J.D.” Duncan from a threat only he can see.
Though this book is a sequel to The Last Nightingale, reading the first book is not a prerequisite (I did not). The setting and concept had a great deal of potential; sadly, I do not think the execution capitalizes on either.
The setting—both time and place—felt like props rather than integral parts of the story; I never felt a real sense of place or time, though the details were strewn throughout. The same can be said for the characters: I wanted very much to care about them and their plight (particularly Shane), but I just couldn’t connect with them. They felt very much like props themselves.
The potentially interesting characters were done a real disservice with a flimsy plot and sluggish pacing. The book is serviceably written but could have used a much stronger hand in editing for continuity, content (so many long expository passages!), and line editing.
Overall, the book is enjoyable enough, though I would recommend it only for historical fiction fans who want a quick read in between works with more depth.
Julie K. Rose
SUCH SWEET SORROW
Katie Flynn, Arrow, 2008, £9.99, hb, 506pp, 9780099521778
Marianne is happy with her husband, naval officer Neil, and daughter, Libby, until the Second World War intervenes. Neil is often away on his ship and the family starts to drift apart. Marianne takes on war work and removes from the family home to stay with her mother in
the docklands of Liverpool; meanwhile Libby is evacuated to Wales. Betrayal by those nearest to her lead directly to Marianne’s near fatal accident and it seems as if the family may never recover even as the war enters its final stages.
Such Sweet Sorrow is another heart-warming saga from Katie Flynn. A prolific author, she certainly knows how to keep her fans entertained from the opening pages right through to the end. Wartime Liverpool is faithfully recreated and the make-do-and-mend generation are displayed in all their true grit. A worthwhile read.
Sara Wilson
TILLY’S STORY
June Francis, Allison & Busby, 2008, hb, £19.99, 446pp, 9780749079925
In 1920, Tilly Moran is almost seventeen and has already given her heart to heroic photo-journalist, Don Pierce, now on a foreign assignment. She arrives in Liverpool to be reunited with family and many old friends but, most importantly, she can now be close to her father whose sanity has been badly damaged by lead poisoning. Tilly is warm-hearted and attractive. Her new employer, private investigator Grant Simpson, plainly admires her, while enigmatic Laurence Parker is an exciting but sometimes perplexing companion. She is deeply affected by the poverty and hunger caused by widespread unemployment and eagerly becomes involved in vigorous and practical charity. But Tilly is also young and longing for pleasure. The accounts of shocking new fashions, dancing and entertainment are a delight.
Tilly’s Story has a large cast of characters and an enormous amount of back-story to be absorbed as all the strands in this saga are brought together, with joy for some and grief for others. But when a climax of frightful double tragedy occurs, I felt those involved were a bit too restrained and unemotional. The actions of the stoical, courageous Liverpudlians are accurately conveyed - this is how they would behave. But a reader does need to share their innermost feelings.
It is a pleasure to read such a well-produced book, nice to handle and error-free.
Nancy Henshaw
WHEN THE CLOUDS GO ROLLING BY June Francis, Allison & Busby, 2008, £6.99, pb, 569pp, 9780749079475
Liverpool, 1918. The Great War is drawing to a close. Nineteen-year-old Clara O’Toole lives with her crabby grandmother, Bernie. Clara’s father has been killed in France and her grandmother’s estrangement from her daughter, Gertie, and grandson, Sebastian, means that Clara has no other family, so she is thrilled when she discovers Alice Bennett, Seb’s wife. But is she prepared for the various skeletons in the family cupboard?
When Alice hears that Seb, who has been missing, believed killed, is alive, she is overjoyed.
But Seb is not the man he was; his wounds have made him morose and uncommunicative. Alice, whose own father was violent, begins to fear her husband. Then there is Gertie, who, as a young girl, ran away to become a singer. She plainly doesn’t care about her son, Seb, and never visits. And what about the villainous Bert, thought dead in the war, but could he be back? Alice has enough on her plate: the last thing she wants is a visit from Clara.
June Francis is good at evoking the reality of life in wartime, the privations and the small pleasures, including the Picture Palace, where Clara finds a job. And the book certainly sweeps one along.
My main problem – the book is the 6th in the series – is that, with a large cast, and the previous stories intertwining over several generations, it’s difficult to work out who is who and what has been going on. There are four characters with a reputation for violence, for example, and a number of family estrangements. I never did quite work out how the villainous Bert comes into it. It really needs a family tree.
However, the history of the period comes alive in a very natural way, and I’m sure that June Francis fans won’t be disappointed.
Elizabeth Hawksley
SUBMARINER
Alexander Fullerton, Sphere, 2008, £19.99, hb, 345pp, 9781847441751 / Dist. in the U.S. by Trafalgar Square, Feb. 2009, $29.95
Think of all those submarine films from the 1940s and 1950s that turn up on the afternoon TV schedules. Submariner is like these, yet it isn’t.
Malta, summer 1942. The island has been under siege for two years. Supplies are short, but the situation is beginning to improve, and the 10th Submarine Flotilla has returned after a brief period of deployment. Among them is HMS Ursa, commanded by Lieutenant Mike Nicholson. We follow Ursa on two patrols to Sicilian waters, on the second of which she lands a party of commandos on a sabotage mission against German airfields.
Alexander Fullerton was a wartime submarine officer, and the book has a strongly factual feel to it. There are all the details with which we are familiar from those afternoon films, but the action is low-key, even when Ursa is being depth-charged. We are dealing very much with an experienced crew whose morale is high and who work smoothly as a team. Perhaps this is a more accurate reflection of the reality of submarine warfare than all those motifs we instantly think of, but it makes the book a little dull. Even the food shortages of an island under siege do not really affect the crew, as the flotilla commander has started a pig farm, and the air raids seem a long way off. The love interest is also superfluous. However, this is Fullerton’s last book – he died in February 2008 – and perhaps what he is really writing is not a novel as such but a tribute to the 10th Submarine Flotilla, or
to Second World War British submariners in general.
Ann Lyon
THE NIGHTINGALES OF TROY
Alice Fulton, Norton, 2008, $23.95/C$26.95, hb, 254pp, 9780393048872
This set of linked stories, set mostly in Watervliet and Troy, New York, follows female members of a family over almost a century. In 1908, we meet Mamie Flynn Garrahan, a hardworking, not-well young woman with a growing family and whose sister-in-law feels herself far above the daily toil Mamie faces. Eleven years later, Peg Flynn, Mamie’s mother, appears, a strong-willed, plain-speaking widow who is done with men, or so she thinks until she realizes that living with her son and his wife may be a burden to them. Mamie’s daughters feature in a number of stories, set during Prohibition, the Depression, and just after WWII. We meet Ruth, daughter of Annie Garrahan, both in her young teen years when she is entranced by the Beatles, and again when older, an Assistant Professor of American Literature and Imaginative Writing besieged by a very odd graduate student who runs his chastity belt through her dishwasher.
And the Nightingales of the title? When a priest named Jolley, whose three penchants are the river, the theater, and strong drink, was rescued from drowning in the Hudson River by Annie Garrahan, a nurse, he is determined to put on a water ballet celebrating life-saving nurses such as Florence Nightingale.
The dialogue strives to fit the period, helping to situate the stories. For those familiar with the Troy area, there is the pleasure of recognizing places and businesses (well, for those of a certain age). But for everyone else, the characters take center stage, grab hold, and pull you along for the century-long ride.
Trudi E. Jacobson
QUEEN OF THE FLOWERS
Kerry Greenwood, Poisoned Pen Press, 2008, $24.95, hb, 249pp, 9781590581711
Phryne Fisher, a seemingly flighty, iconoclastic philanthropist, is hardly flummoxed when a former friend from the circus drops by for tea in her rural Australian home, accompanied of course by her precocious elephant. Phryne, with her two adopted daughters and domestic help, is totally preoccupied with details for the upcoming 1928 St. Kilda Flower Parade, which she has basically financed.
All seems to be proceeding nicely when two pivotal characters disappear: Rose Weston and Phryne’s adopted daughter, Ruth. The latter had been allowed to go off to see her mother to ascertain the identity of her real father, who abandoned her. Mysterious letters appearing at the end of each chapter, between Miss Mavis Sutherland and Miss Anna Ross (Ruth’s mother) and much later between Rory McCrimmon and Miss Anna Ross, have a connection to the kidnapping of Rose and the disappearance of
Ruth. What begins as a nonchalant romp in the life of an odd but respected woman develops into a phenomenal mystery gripping the reader to its complex, mysterious end. Wonderful!
Viviane Crystal
THE DAM BUILDERS
Bill Gulick, Univ. of New Mexico Press, 2008, $29.95, hb, 384pp, 9780826334862
On Memorial Day, 1948, the Vanport River breaks its dikes and devastates a community of World War II veterans and their families. Most of the community is out of town for holiday parties, but Larry Scott loses not only his home but more importantly his wife and child in the ensuing flood that destroys everything in its path. Larry survives, mentally and physically, and finds purpose in continuing his education under the GI Bill’s available largesse in the postwar years. However, his education becomes more focused on the role of the Columbia River in providing electricity to nearby towns and cities. The process of dam building and water rights are fascinating in that they deal with engineering, finance and laws affecting millions of Americans, who for the most part ignore the details but protest the results when circumstances go awry.
In a novel that reads more like nonfiction at times, the reader gets an education about the Japanese internment during the war, the McCarthy tactics after the flooding at the Grand Coulee Dam, the Hell’s Canyon murders of Chinese workers, and the actual government interests in the Grand Coulee project as well as its manipulations to further its economic plans. The latter receives comprehensive coverage as it affects the Nez Perce, Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla and Yakima Tribes, who turned over their land in return for broken fishing rights.
Bill Gulick has obvious prodigious knowledge about the history, planning and process that produces pivotal dams, barriers that both protect and harm innumerable United States citizens, including Native Americans. He has managed to present this historic story in a fascinating, fictional form that counts the cost of one energy supply too often ignored.
Viviane Crystal
THE WORLD A MOMENT LATER
Amir Gutfreund (trans. Jessica Cohen), Toby, 2008, $24.95/C$24.95/£14.99, hb, 496pp, 9781592642519
This novel, translated from the Hebrew, is by a prize-winning novelist who served in the Israeli air force. Leapfrogging back and forth through time, it presents a sweeping panorama of Israeli history from the 1920s, when the Jewish state was just a dream, through the 1970s. At the beginning of the novel, Leon Abramowitz arrives in Palestine as a journalist, never intending to settle there. To his dismay, his editor wants him to write articles falsely glorifying the Jewish settlers. Eventually the editor embezzles money from the newspaper
and leaves Leon stranded in Palestine, and he becomes a pioneer by default.
Although there is heroism and tragedy in this novel, the tone is ironic and often humorous. The writing is clear, unvarnished, and has a simple beauty. Abramowitz’s eldest son Chaim prospers, acquiring land, and founding the Abramowitz Estate. The Estate’s employees range from the retiring, bookish Gunter to Lerer, a Holocaust survivor who leads his own small army of merciless fighters in Israel’s War of Independence. We also meet a would-be assassin, an electrician who enjoys setting fires, a fertility doctor who falls in love with the one patient he seems powerless to help, and other vividly drawn individuals. The book is so densely populated and has so many storylines that without the list of characters at the beginning, I would have found myself lost several times. Some readers may miss a prolonged focus on one character, but the true protagonist of this novel is a nation surviving in face of the constant threat of war. Guttfreund does not idealize or vilify Israel, Israelis, or human beings in general. He gives the reader a sense of his affection for all three. I cannot imagine reading this book without being deeply moved by the story of Israel.
Phyllis T. Smith
A PENNY A DAY
Lilian Harry, Orion, 2008, £12.99, hb, 293pp, 9780752867236
This, one of Lilian Harry’s Burracombe novels, is the fourth of her books I have reviewed. They were all excellent regional sagas, but the more I read of this one, the more I feel the author is sinking into complacency after sixty books.
Beginning in a confusing and irritating way, it introduces ten names on the first page. There is no main character’s story to follow. Mid-book, even more people with opinions are added, making over thirty. Names are confusing, too: there’s Sammy, Stephen and Stella; Maureen and Maddy ‘who used to be Muriel’.
Page 16 gives a promising hint of an emotional tangle. By page 24 the drama begins, but the author assumes the reader has read the other Burracombe novels, because little personal or location detail is offered. The author has her mind full of her characters. Is it a good idea to revive the same people in sequels?
As a student in 1952 I cannot remember the words ‘electronics’ or ‘computers’ being used. In any case both words had different meanings then. Essential emotional intensity begins late, around page 80, starting in earnest at page 100. Two contrasting romances now run concurrently: Lizzie’s Yankee lover returns to upset her marriage, and young Maddy’s and Sammy’s begins.
This book does get better. In the middle, when the young romance blossoms, the reader enjoys masterly descriptions. Some chapters shine like gems. But why so late in the book? Intensity peaks in the final pages as infidelity breaks
a marriage. A charming scene in the country between the innocent young couple contrasts sharply with the shattering, tragic yet brilliant ending, when at last the book is redeemed.
Geoffrey Harfield
THE MUSICIAN’S DAUGHTER (UK) / SWING (US)
Rupert Holmes, Allison & Busby, 2008, £7.99, pb, 366pp, 9780749079918 / Random House, 2006, $13.95, pb, 384pp, 140006158X
On the eve of the USA’s entry into the Second World War, Ray Sherwood is touring with the Jack Donovan Orchestra. The saxophonist has just arrived in San Francisco when he encounters two beautiful women and, when one dies, he becomes embroiled in a complex and compelling whodunnit.
Ray might be an unconventional sleuth, but as the red herrings come thick and fast he is determined to get to the bottom of the murder mystery. At times naïve and haunted by the skeletons in his past, Ray is also an attractive and likeable hero.
The Musician’s Daughter gets off to a slow start, but once the action gets going the plot, counterpointed by some intriguing musical references, really heats up. Espionage, witty dialogue, war tensions and intrigue combine to provide a dense and entertaining read.
The Big Band Swing era is brought to life with impressive period detail, and the twisting plot keeps the reader on their toes right up to the climax.
Sara Wilson
A MATTER OF REVENGE
I. Michael Koontz, Five Star, 2008, $25.95, hb, 303pp, 9781594146749
In 1956, 26-year-old American Superagent John Apparite botches an assassination in London. He is a CIA assassin, hand-picked by the Director. During World War II Apparite’s father, an ordinary soldier, saved the Director’s life at the cost of his own. The Director, then an OSS operative, made it a point to keep an eye on the soldier’s son. However, turning this son into an assassin seems a dubious method of repayment. Apparite gets a second chance to complete his London assignment and pursues his SMERSH nemesis to Berlin. On his way to Berlin, Apparite meets a beautiful East Berliner who works for the Russians; they begin a relationship, fall in love, and he helps her to defect to the West. Since childhood Apparite has had one passion that he shared with his father—they were both fans of the Washington Senators major league baseball team. This detail is provided, perhaps, to humanize the hero, but it interferes with the pace of the narrative.
Mr. Koontz has created a complicated hero, thoroughly believable as an assassin and much more sympathetic than Frederick Forsyth’s Jackal. However, the novel in places is uneven. There are times when the action proceeds at a breathless pace, but when the back story is
Y ANGEL OF BROOKLYN
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Janette Jenkins, Chatto and Windus, 2008, £16.99, hb, 327pp, 9780701181932
Jonathon Crane returns to his small home village on the cusp of the First World War with a beautiful wife, Beatrice. Her mysterious and exotic childhood in Normal, Illinois, sets her apart from the village wives and, when the men depart for war, her sense of desperation and isolation increase.
Her blond hair, smart clothes and accent make the local women wary of her, in spite of her continuing friendly overtures. Her life story interests and repels them, but the one story she will never tell is of how she became the Angel of Brooklyn. But secrets aren’t possible in a close-knit community, and when the truth is revealed the women unite against Beatrice; tragedy is the only possible outcome.
In Beatrice Crane, Janette Jenkins has created a heroine as colourful and alien as a bird of paradise. A creature used to warmth, noise and chatter left alone in the cold and drear of the English north is unlikely to thrive, and that sense of doom haunts the pages of the novel.
This is a fine love story in which the visceral horrors of the war are almost incidental to the mental horrors faced by Beatrice as she tries and fails to gain acceptance. The final dramatic climax is truly shocking, being both totally unexpected and yet absolutely inevitable. A fantastic and compelling read.
provided, it is too long and detailed to sustain the momentum.
Audrey Braver
LATE CONNECTIONS
Aileen La Tourette, Ilura Press, 2008. AU$26.95, pb, 306pp, 97819213250527
Annie is a consummately talented seamstress working in early 20th-century Paris who possesses the ability not only to dress her clients beautifully, but also to let them escape from their troubled lives in her garret atelier. But there is more to Annie than meets the eye. At the beginning, she welcomes Madame Gilles de la Tourette, the wife of a famous psychiatrist, who treats patients at the renowned Salpêtrière—the lunatic asylum until recently presided over by the famous Charcot, mentor of la Tourette and former teacher of the renegade Sigmund Freud.
We discover that Annie’s interest in Marie de la Tourette extends beyond her wardrobe, to the wish to confront her psychiatrist husband and call him to account as one of the male physicians who treated her badly at La Salpêtrière.
Beautifully written and full of luscious descriptive detail, Late Connections paints a vivid picture of that volatile time in the history of psychiatry. La Tourette creates a magnificent and complex character in Annie, with her troubled past and her desire for retribution and absolution. Her talents as a seamstress lead her to Chanel’s atelier in the seaside resort of Deauville, and ultimately to her ability to accept who she is and what she has done.
Although the ending forgoes drama to give us a glimpse of the imagined psyche of Freud, this novel is ultimately a satisfying read.
Susanne Dunlap
Sara Wilson
THE SERPENT AND THE SCORPION
Clare Langley-Hawthorne, Penguin, 2008, $14.00/C$15.50, pb, 289pp, 9780143113393
Ursula Marlow, heiress to her father’s textile empire, travels to Egypt for cloth purchases in 1911. She meets up with her new friend, Katya, the wife of a Russian financier. Katya is murdered in a marketplace just feet from Ursula. When she probes into the woman’s death, she’s warned to mind her own affairs. A special inspector is brought in, alerting Ursula to a high-level cover-up. Ursula returns to England to investigate the death of a young woman in a fire at one of her mills. When Ursula discovers these deaths may be related, involving Bolsheviks and a Palestinian settlement—and her life is threatened—she is determined to find the truth.
Historical detail is excellent, especially in Egypt. But information is repeated often, and the prose is weakened by adverbs. Ursula is at times reckless, naïve and astute. She manages to eavesdrop at just the right moments and spills information to the one person she shouldn’t trust. It’s an intriguing tale, but awkwardly told. In this second of a series, the ending sets up the premise for a third.
Diane Scott Lewis
KATHERINE’S WISH
Linda Lappin, Wordcraft of Oregon, 2008, $15.00, pb, 228pp, 9781877655586
Bandol, France, 1918. A frail young woman boards a military train, coughing discreetly into her handkerchief. The throng of war-weary soldiers is unaware she is a famous English author traveling south to fight the ravages of tuberculosis. Indeed, she tells them a story to justify traveling alone: she is going to meet her “wounded husband.”
Katherine Mansfield was very good with stories, and this one satisfies, to her relief. She misses her real husband, John Middleton Murry, at home in England carrying on with his work as an esteemed literary critic. Unaware how ill and lonely she would be, he forwards her books to be read and reviewed during her convalescence. Murry sees their relationship as the merging of two great minds with a combined genius that would assure them a place in history. It became apparent that her health was in danger and sending her to France for a “cure” removed him from any bother, not being a man to stop working to tend a sick wife.
Katherine was a most determined writer, defying mercurial comments by former friend D. H. Lawrence (who despised her “ill health”) and the disdain of the social coterie of Lady Ottoline, a woman who fêted the usual literary suspects known as the Bloomsberries. For a time, Virginia Woolf became Katherine’s friend, albeit reservedly, as the two discussed their mutual passion for writing.
Everyone involved in Katherine’s life, including her underappreciated friend and supplicant Ida Baker, who clung to serving her genius despite rebuffs, is presented as they may have appeared in her personal diary. Capturing the latter part of Katherine’s life and world, the author brings vivid life to this novel, which reads like a literary biography of Katherine Mansfield and her contemporaries.
Tess Allegra
HOLDING MY BREATH
Sidura Ludwig, Shaye Areheart, 2008, $23.00, hb, 270pp, 9780307396228 / Key Porter, 2007, C$22.95, pb, 272pp, 9781552638439 / Tindal Street, 2008, £8.99, 2008, pb, 256pp, 9780955138478
Beth Levy’s story of growing up starts out in a most unusual fashion. She tells us about her parents’ wedding day: where it took place, how one of her grandmother’s tablecloths served as a chuppah, why there even was a chuppah when her parents, Goldie and Saul, didn’t want a religious Jewish wedding. There was the fact that God forgot to watch over the chicken soup her grandmother planned to serve. And most arresting was the sensation of her mother’s brother’s eyes on her parents when they went up to their room to be alone for a few minutes after the ceremony. Philip, the beloved brother and uncle who died in World War II. Philip, who will have such a strong impact on Beth’s life.
Beth grows up in the ‘50s and ‘60s in Winnipeg, an only child, but with two aunts who play the role of older sisters. Carrie, an expert seamstress, spins stories of Philip and his love of astronomy, which entice Beth and impact her future. Sarah, who is only ten years older than Beth, is the glamorous one, the one who longs for a life beyond the close family and community relationships of Jewish Winnipeg. Goldie struggles through the early years of her marriage, living in an apartment
over her husband’s pharmacy, helping out with the business, and taking care of Beth. Yet she longs for acceptance with the Jewish matrons of the neighborhood, longing to be invited to join Hadassah and the synagogue sisterhood. This would show she was accepted and respected in the community. Goldie’s ambitions belong to one generation, while Beth and Sarah belong to another.
This affecting novel follows the paths of all these women, their relationships and aspirations. They are paths well worth following.
Trudi E. Jacobson
QUINTET: The Cases of Chase and Delacroix
Richard A. Lupoff, Crippen & Landru, 2008, $17.00, pb, 213pp, 9781932009699
Set in the San Francisco environs of the 1930s, this series of five short stories covers the intrigues of brilliant, stylish, and very polite amateur sleuths Claire Delacroix and her millionaire boss, Akhenaton Beelzebub Chase. They are a perfect pair to solve impossible crimes set forth by police captain Cleland Baxter, who once served with Chase in the Great War.
Mystery abounds, beginning with the intriguing puzzle of a Hungarian actor found dead in his locked dressing room with vampirelike puncture wounds in his neck. A deep water explorer disappears from his diving suit, as does a fighter plane’s passenger after traveling through a cloud. Both Chase and Delacroix have a penchant for re-enacting the scene of the crime, their many talents in evidence as they do. Delacroix is a medical doctor, pilot, and multiinstrument musician with a weakness for movie magazines and a San Francisco Call reporter (who gets his own bonus story set in 1923), while her partner Chase is a professor, inventor, and autodidact polymath whose parents went down with both the Titanic and the Lusitania, with his wartime gassed lungs as a weakness.
The crimes solved range from a very deadly massacre of even the house servants, to a missing person caught in the act of attending a bar mitzvah. Through it all there are colorful gadgets and gizmos galore, food both delicious and deadly, and a setting that sparkles as brightly as the characters of the well-matched sleuths. Great fun!
Eileen Charbonneau
THE GAUDI KEY
Esteban Martin and Andreu Carranza, Morrow, 2008, $24.95/C$26.95, hb, 384pp, 9780061434914 / Harper, 2008, £6.99, pb, 496pp, 9780007281633
This historical thriller is based on the premise that Antonio Gaudi, Barcelona’s famous, modernist architect, was the keeper of one of Christianity’s most important artifacts when he was killed by a trolley in 1926. One of the seven Knights of Moriah, Gaudi passed this artifact on to Juan Givell, his young companion. Now, eighty years later, Givell must disclose
the location of the artifact, thereby setting into motion the final part of an ancient prophecy. Suffering from acute Alzheimer’s, Givell reveals all he can remember to his granddaughter, Maria, who, naturally, is unsure what part of his fantastic tale, if any, is fact.
Aiding Maria is her boyfriend, Miguel, a noted mathematician, and her new friend Taimatsu, a Gaudi expert. Together they begin to solve a series of complex riddles left by her grandfather, all while becoming more and more certain that their task is deadly serious. They are working against time and the Corbel, another secret society, whose members worship Baphomet. They are dedicated to evil and desperate to obtain the artifact before the prophecy can be fulfilled.
The Gaudi Key is compelling and solidly written. One might argue that it is derivative of The Da Vinci Code, but that would be selling it short. I admired this vivid mixture of culture, history, spirituality and intrigue.
Alice Logsdon
THE MAZE OF CADIZ
Aly Monroe, John Murray, 2008, £14.99, hb, 294pp, 9781848540262
Aly Monroe’s debut novel launches the career of Peter Cotton, British Intelligence officer, which Monroe intends to follow through the post-war years in future novels. Set in Cadiz in southern Spain in the aftermath of the Civil War, the major strength of this book is its sense of place. It reeks of the poverty, seediness and despair of a ravaged land, reminiscent of much of Graham Greene. Like Greene, Monroe lines up an array of strong and picturesque characters, but for a thriller there is an extremely slender plot.
Most of the hero’s adventures consist of long
Y SASHENKA
enigmatic conversations with no real action before the penultimate chapter. I look forward to Peter Cotton seeing some brisker action in his next posting.
Edward James
ONE PERFECT GIFT
Kathleen Morgan, Revell, 2008, $14.99, pb, 160pp, 9780800718831
Jessica Ashmore, a penniless widow, has brought her young daughter to the Colorado high plains in 1933. Jessica hopes for employment as an office nurse, but all she finds is a temporary position taking care of a stroke victim, Abby MacKay, at the Culdee Creek Ranch. Abby’s son Sean, an embittered WWI veteran who many view as a coward and deserter, is not pleased with the arrangement, and he doesn’t hide it very well. Sean is afraid of letting someone new into his life, and he fears Jessica will leave as soon as he grows to care for her. But Christmas is a time of love and forgiveness, and their antagonism starts to give way to far deeper feelings. This is a gentle, sweet, cozy story, spiced with just the right amount of inspiration and romance. While focusing more on personal conflicts than historical detail, Morgan still portrays life on a 1930s ranch in a well-written and engaging manner. The novel is short, but the moral of the story long. An endearing tale, One Perfect Gift is the perfect way to spend a pleasant afternoon.
Rebecca Roberts
THE MARK OF THE PASHA
Michael Pearce, Poisoned Pen Press, 2008, $24.95/C$15.95, hb, 200pp, 9781590584446
Shortly after the First World War, Gareth Owen holds the position of Mamur Zapt, head of the budding secret service, in British-
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Simon Montefiore, Bantam, 2008, £12.99, hb, 533pp, 9780593056370 / Simon & Schuster, 2008, $27.00, hb, 544pp, 9781416595540
Sashenka Zeitlin is the daughter of a Jewish banker living in St Petersburg. In the winter of 1916, revolution is in the air, and the beautiful, headstrong sixteen-yearold Sashenka is seduced by the ideals of the Bolsheviks. As Comrade Snowfox she plays a dangerous game of double cross and survives a spell of interrogation at the hands of Captain Sagan.
Twenty years on, Sashenka is happily married to a senior party official with two children; working as a magazine editor, she enjoys the comfortable lifestyle she despised as a teenager. In Stalin’s Russia this is a dangerous time for those who speak out of turn but, as Stalin’s favourite, Sashenka feels that she and her family are safe. When she recklessly embarks on an illicit love affair, she cannot begin to imagine the repercussions that her actions will have for the next two generations of her family.
In Sashenka Simon Montefiore has brought to life an unforgettable character, one who enchants and inspires. Hers is an intensely moving story that combines history with a totally absorbing plot. It was during ten years of researching twentieth century Russian history that Montefiore found the inspiration for this exceptional novel of love and endurance of the spirit that rises above man’s inhumanity to man.
Ann Oughton
occupied Egypt. At the beginning of this case, Owen is given the loan of a still-rare automobile and driver to ride at the head of a procession the Khedive plans to calm civil unrest. Owen is also given a hint that someone will set a bomb along the route to kill as many dignitaries in one blow as possible.
Much is remarkable about this book. Sixteen episodes into this history mystery series, there is not a false beat. No doubt a lot of this is due to the author’s origins in Anglo-British Sudan. In 200 pages, easily read in a day, Pearce is able to capture with a paragraph here, another there, Cairo’s smells, sights and sounds: “palm doves gurgling in the pines,” the black film on trays of sweets that is really a layer of flies. Topics such as Eastern women entering the work force and the origins of terrorism are given sympathetic and not simplistic consideration. The character of Asif, the brother who, while having westernizing pretensions himself, balks at letting his sister go out to work even with Owen’s wife as her boss and who feels the weight of his dead father’s disapproval is particularly well drawn.
The Mark of the Pasha gives us an insightful view into the functions of the hammam, into the lives of carters who deliver messages--and other things--along their routes, and into the quandary in which the British find themselves now that the war is over and they have one of the most ancient civilizations in the world on their hands as a colony. All this is far more than any mystery need do, but makes entertainment feel like a virtuous thing to do.
Ann Chamberlin
Y A MANUSCRIPT OF ASHES
DEEP NIGHT
Caroline Petit, Soho, 2008, $24.00/£14.99, hb, 288pp, 9781569475300
Leah Kolbe is an independent antiquities dealer in the early 1940s Hong Kong community. Her lover, Jonathan, is insistent that they marry soon, but Leah is reluctant to subordinate her life to the possessive rule of a husband. Realizing she loves him deeply, she agrees to his proposal; they plan an engagement party, an unrivaled night of revelry that never comes to pass because Jonathan is called to report as war is about to break out with the invasion of Japan. Meanwhile, Leah meets a very insistent customer who claims that he absolutely must have a porcelain piece, emphasized by his gaze at her while stating, “One can’t be lonely surrounded by beauty.” Contrived as that may seem to the reader, Leah is mesmerized while confused about how a Japanese person, Mr. Ito, can concentrate so avidly on art while his nation’s soldiers are slaughtering Chinese on the mainland and threatening Hong Kong. She has the feeling she will see him again, though she’s certainly not anticipating the encounter with delight, but forgets him in the aftermath of the Chinese invasion and her own miraculous escape to Macao, where she discovers Jonathan is being held as a prisoner of war.
“Survivor” is the perfect word to describe Leah hereafter, as she becomes a spy who must counter the attention of Mr. Ito and the dreaded Chang. A momentary blunder could mean her death, but Leah manages to evade others who are also secretly spying and at the same time convey
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Antonio Muñoz Molina (trans. Edith Grossman), Harcourt, 2008, $25.00, hb, 320pp, 9780151014101
Resolving to flee the tumult of the university in the late 1960s, Minaya, a young student, decides to leave Madrid and write his doctoral dissertation on Jacinto Solana, a Republican poet who was killed by the Civil Guard after the Spanish Civil War. It so happens that Solana was a friend of his uncle Manuel and that the poet lived in his uncle’s country estate some time before his death. Minaya travels to Mágina, a small town in the south. Although his uncle assures him there is nothing left of Solana’s work, Minaya, with the help of Inés, a young maid, soon discovers that this is not true. His research into Solana’s last days leads him to the poet’s masterpiece, Beatus Ille, and to another unfortunate event that also took place in his uncle’s house—the death of Mariana Rios, the beautiful model who married his uncle, was loved by Solana, and was accidentally shot the day after her wedding.
First published in 1986 under the evocative title Beatus Ille, this was an early novel of Antonio Muñoz Molina, the renowned author of Sepharad and a member of the Royal Spanish Academy since 1995. Muñoz Molina’s style calls to mind a musical fugue, the writer going back to a word, or a sentence, or a scene, repeating it with a slight variation that gives it an entirely different character. Introspective, moody, structurally adventurous, symmetrical in theme, A Manuscript of Ashes is an unusual detective story, a novel about unfulfilled desire, uncompleted flights, and lost manuscripts. Muñoz Molina delves as well into the creative impulse, the need to write and rewrite. Readers might be startled by his long paragraphs, meandering points of view, and voices that mingled, but, no doubt, they will also be absolutely dazzled. Adelaida Lower
information vital to the British recovering Hong Kong for the Chinese and protecting Macao from the formidable Japanese advance. Deep Night is a terrific read that conveys the mystery, tension and historical significance of a pivotal period of Asian history.
Viviane Crystal
TRAIN TO TRIESTE
Domnica Radulescu, Knopf, 2008, $23.95, hb, 307pp, 9780307268235 / Doubleday, 2008, £10.99, pb, 320pp, 9780385613682
The story of Mona in Ceaucescu’s Romania is so clearly based on the author’s real experiences that it could have been called a memoir. This refugee story focuses on the effect of the times on a young girl from an educated family. The family’s habits in better times included summers in the Carpathian Mountains, and here Mona meets her great love, Mihai, a relationship which endures through the tumultuous times that follow. While Mona studies diligently, her parents become more involved in resistance and increasingly attract the attention of the secret police. In this atmosphere of fear and suspicion, “accidents” to friends occur, and Mona’s family plans for her to take the “Train to Trieste,” which is code for fleeing the Romanian totalitarian state of the ΄80s. How painful this decision was becomes quite apparent, as her love for Romania and the people is exhibited through vignettes and descriptions of land, friends, relatives, and events.
When the narrative switches to her flight through Bulgaria and Italy and to a rather horrible sponsor family in the Chicago area, culture clash is another avenue of vivid description—and could be the personal history of many of our more recent immigrants. The novel does bring the reader back full circle to her beloved Carpathians later in life but leaves a realistic question regarding her chances of balancing her new life in America with her Romanian past and, especially, her lover Mihai. Rich in detail, the style takes a little getting used to, as it piles facts and feelings in short, rather pointed chapters, but eventually the rhythm starts to pull the reader along.
Mary K. Bird-Guilliams
THE LIGHT ACROSS THE RIVER
Stephanie Reed, Kregel, 2008, $10.99, 216pp, pb, 9780825435744
This is a coming-of-age inspirational story about Johnny Rankin, an 11-year-old boy who was involved in the Underground Railroad, and Eliza, a runaway slave who was helped by Johnny’s family. The Rankin family lived on the banks of the Ohio River in 1837. Johnny, seventh of thirteen children, felt he was old enough to help with the runaway slaves, but his father was reluctant to include him since Johnny had trouble keeping secrets.
Eliza was a slave from Kentucky. She was the first person Johnny was allowed to help. Little did he know as he left her at her next stop that their paths were destined to cross again.
This book is a sequel to Stephanie Reed’s Across the Wide River. Both are based on the lives of the Rankin family from Ripley, Ohio. Ms. Reed has researched the Rankin family and used their notes as well as other historical information to help tell an accurate and thrilling story of how these deeply religious and courageous people risked their lives to gain freedom for others. This is an excellent true-life adventure tale for teens and adults. Nan Curnutt
CANVEY ISLAND
James Runcie, Other Press, 2008, $13.95/ C$17.95, pb, 312pp, 9781590512937
Canvey Island is a six-mile by three-mile piece of reclaimed land in the Thames estuary just off the south Essex coast. It was mainly agricultural until the 1930s, when there was an influx of residents and holiday-makers. Just after World War II, the population had grown to about 13,000, and Runcie’s well-written story is about the young Martin Turner, his family, and his connection with the island over the course of his lifetime.
He begins on the night of the North Sea Flood of 1953, which wreaked havoc in the lives of all Canvey Island residents, and which resulted in the death of Martin’s mother, Lily—a loss from which Martin never fully recovers. The chapters reflect the voices of various people in Martin’s life: his father Len, his aunt Violet, uncle George, girlfriend Linda, and wife Claire. Runcie’s use of multiple points of view creates a depth of context and feeling for all the characters, so the reader really feels present in Martin’s life, from
Y INDIGNATION
his 1950s childhood to his college years and married life in the 1960s, 1970s, and beyond. After his mother’s death, Martin’s childhood and school-age years are miserable until he breaks away from Canvey, goes to college, marries an activist, and becomes a water engineer, all activities that move him forward. Personal and professional failures draw him back to the place and people of his youth, however, and the last third of this moving novel provides a bittersweet view into a life inexorably linked to geography and the past. Although the book is a fast read, it leaves one with much to enjoy and ponder after its last page.
Helene Williams
NOW SILENCE: A Novel of World War II
Tori Warner Shepard, Sunstone, 2008, $26.95/ C$28.50, pb, 316pp, 9780865345966
During World War II, New Mexico was at the crux of matters both military and scientific; with air bases, Japanese internment camps, multiple military regiments, and scientific enclaves such as Los Alamos all within its borders, there are undoubtedly many tales of the time yet to be told. Shepard attempts to bring together several such stories in Now Silence
Senio and Melo, from the 200th Army Artillery, are among the few New Mexicans to have survived the horrendous Bataan Death March of 1942 and, when Shepard’s story begins, are suffering in the Cabantuan prison camp in the Philippines. Back in New Mexico, relatives await word from the prisoners. We see the changed lives of Santa Fe residents, with mysterious well-dressed strangers coming and
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Philip Roth, Houghton Mifflin, 2008, $26.00/C30, hb, 234pp, 9780547054841 / Jonathan Cape, 2008, £16.99, hb, 256pp, 9780224085137
Up until the last thirty pages, this book reads like a wonderfully funny and bittersweet coming of age novel, though there are hints along the way that it is something more. Marcus Messner, a young man from Newark, New Jersey, goes off to college in Winesburg, Ohio. The love of his father, a kosher butcher, has become smothering. Perhaps because it is 1950, with memories of World War II still fresh and the Korean War underway, the father sees the world as horribly dangerous. He insists on keeping close tabs on his son and will not allow him to develop as an independent human being. Therefore Marcus, who might otherwise have been content attending a local college, leaves home. Entering a conservative, largely Protestant milieu, he suffers culture shock. He clashes with the college’s dean of men, who insists he try to fit in more and not just study but have a social life. In fact, Marcus is already in the midst of a romance. A young woman has introduced him to sex and rocked his world. Olivia, whose psychological demons have led her to attempt suicide, is clearly not the sort of girl his parents hoped he would meet at college. Despite this, Roth leads us to believe that all will be well with Marcus, if the dean and his father just get off his back. A diligent student who plans on a legal career, his future seems assured. Then an unexpected chain of events intervenes.
Philip Roth excels in breathing life into a time, place, and cast of characters. In this moving work, among his best, he manages to encompass both comedy and gut-wrenching grief.
Phyllis T. Smith
going from the hotel La Fonda on trips to Dr. Oppenheimer’s laboratory in the hills north of the city; there’s also a cult of St. Germain, the “I AM” group, distributing pamphlets in the city Plaza. A third thread in this tangled tale belongs to Phyllis, a red-headed bombshell estranged from her family in Aberdeen, Scotland, and who drinks and sleeps her way from Canada to Florida, then to Santa Fe, for reasons which don’t quite add up.
The stories of the prisoners, the secret agents, and scientists are of historical interest, but the greater portion of the book focuses on sex between strangers, the schemes of angry women, and character “development” that is anything but believable. Had Shepard kept closer to the facts (some of which she gets terribly wrong, including background information on the dates of American engagement in Europe), she would have had a much better creation. Some stiff editing would have helped her at times overflowery, at times stilted, prose. The upshot is that I’ll be keeping my eyes open for more (better) fiction on this topic.
Helene Williams
BESIDE A BURNING SEA
John Shors, NAL, 2008, $14.00, pb, 448pp, 9780451224927
This novel takes place during World War II in the Pacific. The hospital ship Benevolence is torpedoed by the Japanese near the Solomon Islands. Only nine people aboard the ship survive by swimming to a nearby uninhabited island. Two of the survivors are nurses and sisters, Isabelle and Annie. Isabelle is married to the ship’s captain, Joshua Collins, who survives but is devastated by the loss of so many lives on his watch. Also among the survivors is a wounded Japanese soldier, Akira, who had been a university professor before the war. Akira, touched by the kindness Annie showed him aboard ship, saves her when she is too weak from a bout with malaria to swim to the island. Akira is haunted by his failure to prevent a young girl from being raped and killed by Japanese soldiers earlier in the war. Not surprisingly, he and Annie are drawn to each other and fall in love, although Annie is engaged to another man. Isabelle and Joshua, who had grown apart during the war, draw closer as she helps him cope with his guilt. Most of the survivors become close as they help each other cope with their frightening situation. They work together to survive and find a place to hide in case the Japanese land on the island, all the while attending to each other’s emotional needs.
While this story demonstrates all the horrors of war, it is also a lush, romantic tale about the healing power of love. The characters are compelling, the plot suspenseful, and the romance breathtaking. Shors is also the author of Beneath a Marble Sky, which I enjoyed tremendously. He is a wonderful storyteller, and I’m looking forward to his next book.
Jane Kessler
20th Century
DREAM CITY
Brendan Short, MacAdam/Cage, 2008, $22, hb, 350pp, 9781596923188
Could there be a category called the nostalgic novel which could assume a place within or beside that of historical novel? The work under review starts with a small boy at the time of Chicago’s Century of Progress (1933) and follows his fascination with the world of comic heroes all the way into the next century. The stench of the stockyards and the perfume counter of Marshall Field provide the atmosphere of bygone Chicago as Michael Halligan develops a mania for Little Big Books, illustrated book length stories about heroes like Dick Tracy and Buck Rogers. With a criminal father and a mother who dies during an apparent abortion attempt, Michael seems worthy of sympathy, but as he grows older he has few redeeming characteristics, aside from politeness to the prostitutes he frequents. The only human decency comes from an employee of the publishing company who embodies comic book idealism. Michael becomes a collector, particularly obsessed with a book made for the Dream City of the fair. Various eras are evoked by mentioning brand names, popular songs of the day and, most prominently, the comic book heroes. Not recommended.
James Hawking
MUDDY BOOTS AND SILK STOCKINGS
Julia Stoneham, Allison & Busby, 2008, £19.99, hb, 285pp, 9780749079604
Alice Todd reluctantly takes on the job of warden at a hostel for Land Army girls on a Devonshire farm, not at all sure she is up to the task. As she grows in confidence she takes
Y EARLY BRIGHT
Y EQUATOR
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Miguel Sousa Tavares (trans. Peter Bush), Bloomsbury, 2008, £16.99, hb, 374pp, 9780747581741
Luis Bernardo Valenca is a 37-year-old gentleman who owns a small shipping company. He lives a comfortable life, mixing with Lisbon’s high society and writing about politics in his spare time. However, his pampered and protected lifestyle is turned upside down when he is asked by King Dom Carlos to become governor of the tiny island of Sao Tome e Principe situated off the coast of equatorial West Africa. The English believe that slavery, although illegal, is still being practised on the island and are sending a diplomatic envoy to check out the situation.
The storyline is one of conflict, both physical and mental. Tavares struggles to persuade the plantation owners and overseers to improve the working conditions of the Angolan labourers who are slaves in all but name. At the same time he must also deal with his own emotional and moral challenges, including his passionate love affair with the wife of the British envoy.
Beautifully written, the descriptions of the island are vivid while the characters, with all their flaws and strengths, are strongly portrayed. This is an enjoyable read that will remain on my bookshelf to be read again. Recommended.
on the role of mother, confidante, friend and protector of the girls in her care. The volunteers themselves are a mixed bunch, differing wildly in character, background and aspirations, but as the war deepens they are drawn together by hard work and loss.
Muddy Boots and Silk Stockings is not quite saga, not quite soap opera, not quite drama, but a melding of the three. It’s a slice of wartime life written with great insight and subtlety. The roots of the novel are in a radio series written by the author and that sense of intimacy and
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Ami Silber, Toby, 2008, $24.95/C$24.95/£14.99, hb, 345pp, 9781592642410
It’s a rare feat of literary prowess not only to create an unappealing character who is completely sympathetic, but also for a woman to write a believable man in the first person. Silber achieves both of these extraordinary results in Early Bright.
Set in post-World War II Los Angeles, the anti-hero Louis Greenberg is a very talented jazz pianist who makes his living as a con artist, preying on the vulnerabilities of war widows and mothers who have lost their sons. Furthermore, he avoided going to war by stealing someone else’s 4-F papers, and as a result gained the censure of his father in New York—a fact that pursues him relentlessly as he tries to redeem himself through his music
As a Jew, Greenberg is an outsider—even more so because the music he plays is most at home in the black jazz clubs in a very segregated world. Yet he has friends and people who believe in him, not the least of whom is a beautiful black woman with whom he has a passionate relationship.
Silber writes magnificently about music, about the feeling of performing jazz. She immerses us in the sordid, shallow world of the movie industry and reveals without sentiment and without cliché the racism that underlies life during this time. Most of all, the ultimate tragedy of Greenberg’s life hits the reader like a punch in the gut. Early Bright beguiles with its mastery of language and drama and is highly recommended.
Susanne Dunlap
Mike Ashworth
immediacy has been retained with great effect.
My only criticism, and it is a small one, is that it occasionally reads as if it’s a sequel, leaving the reader wanting to know a little more of the back-story – although this might be addressed in the signposted follow-up novel.
Sara Wilson
THE AGE OF SHIVA
Manil Suri, Bloomsbury, 2008, £14.99, hb, 449pp, 9780747591795 / Norton, 2007, $24.95, hb, 455pp, 9780393065695
On the eve of 25 January 1955, India is to celebrate its fifth anniversary as a republic. The subcontinent is beginning to readjust after the immense upheaval of Partition. In a college auditorium in Delhi sits 17-year-old Meera, feeling for the first time stirrings of a love which will lead to a less than fairytale marriage and a life unimagined. She is to find fulfilment only when her son is born many years later. Through him she will discover within herself the strength to shape her own destiny.
The Age of Shiva traces the lives and fortunes of one extended Hindu family after Independence, a time when ancient traditions were being questioned, religious beliefs lay in the balance, and women’s role in society was in transition. Religious freedom to them meant distress, poverty and displacement to an India still populated by Muslims, who retained their superior positions in employment and housing. Will Nehru’s experiment be successful? Will allegiance depend on nationality, or will religion triumph in this secular country? The historical atmosphere which advances the narrative is in a sense peripheral to the story, as this is a book above all about the feminine, of one mother’s love for her son with its incestuous shadows.
Manil Suri has written a mannered tale with an intimate insight into Hindu life. The colours
of India are skilfully painted in as the author lays bare a society in progression, advancing towards the end of the 20th century whilst retaining a tangible nostalgia for the past. It is difficult to empathise with the central character, Meera, a harbinger of her own destruction, a woman who never takes responsibility for her actions and always making others culpable.
Gwen Sly
A TRUE LOVE OF MINE
Margaret Thornton, Allison & Busby, 2008, £6.99, pb, 415pp, 9780749079253
At the turn of the century little Maddy Moon, daughter of a local undertaker, meets Jessie on the sands of her Scarborough home. The girls become fast friends, but all is not well with the Moon family business. Tension between her father, William, and Bella, his employee is making homelife uncomfortable. There are secrets that could ruin lives and when her mother, Clara, falls dangerously ill Maddy’s life is set to change forever.
Impending tragedy bring Maddy and Jessie’s families closer together and the girls lives are to become more entwined than even they could imagine.
Pierrot shows, ice cream, sun, sand and oompah bands – Edwardian Scarborough is evocatively remembered in this marvellous family saga. With characters and story this warm and engaging, fans of the genre are bound to be well-satisfied. Another winning recipe from Margaret Thornton.
Sara Wilson
HOMESPUN
Nilita Vachani, Other Press, 2008, $24.95, hb, 380pp, 9781590512852
First published novel this may be, but it reads like the work of an accomplished novelist. The prose is tight, word choice exact, the whole conveying a sense of India and the people. For insight into India of the 20th century, Gandhi and colonialism, this book is a must read. As an insight into the institute of marriage and human relationships, it presents aspects which offer the reader much to think about. For those who wonder how arranged marriages can work, there are some lovely examples of both successful and unsuccessful ones.
The narrative sprawls between characters and places, yet all these seemingly disparate parts fit together perfectly. I particularly enjoyed the narrator Sweta’s grandparents: the influence of Gandhi on Nanaji and the disdain that his wife, Naneeji, held for Gandhi and his ideas, as well as watching Sweta on her long journey to acceptance and peace with herself and her family. The book spreads across three generations, and yet the author controls and holds all the threads together superbly. The domestic details are another thing to enjoy. India is brought alive through the many descriptions of cooking and cleaning, visiting and eating.
Helpfully the book has an historical appendix
which covers many of the details readers might not understand, for example Gandhi’s textile war, American interference in the Congo, or the influence of Malcolm X’s London speech. The details about the India-Pakistan war are extremely helpful and most revealing. The afterword also contains details of resources an interested reader might like to follow up. I shall, and I really enjoyed reading this book, which lingers in the mind and begs to be reread. It’s well worth reading.
pdr lindsay-salmon
THE INFORMERS
Juan Gabriel Vasquez (trans. Anne McLean), Bloomsbury, 2008, £16.00, hb, 338pp, 9780747592570
Colombia 1988: Journalist Gabriel Santoro publishes a book about the life of a GermanJewish woman who arrived in Colombia shortly before the Second World War. His father, a well-respected professor of rhetoric in Bogota, lambasts the book in the national press causing a huge rift between father and son. Three years later and seriously ill, Gabriel’s father attempts to rebuild their relationship. Subsequent events lead to Gabriel’s exploration of Colombia’s involvement in World War II when many German immigrants, rightly and wrongly, were suspected Nazis and hence blacklisted and ostracised from Colombian society. The novel centres around the father-son relationship and how a father’s secret and the son’s inheritance of that past propel both on a journey of selfdiscovery and the search for absolution and forgiveness.
Y THE TOSS OF A LEMON
Long sentences, a consequence of the translation, and the meandering and selfindulgent first-person narrative by Gabriel at times hamper the pace of the story and intrude on the other characters’ telling of the story. However, Velasquez’s characterisation of Sara, Angelina and his father’s old friend, Enrique, are particularly memorable and lucid, as is his description of Bogota, which is evocative and redolent. Vasquez’s examination of Colombia’s past and how it encroaches on the present, in addition to his philosophical speculations about the nature of betrayal, honour and redemption, is often compelling.
Majella Cullinane
ISAAC’S TORAH
Angel Wagenstein (trans. Elizabeth Frank and Deliana Simeonova), Handsel, 2008, $23.95, hb, 306pp, 9781590512456
Isaac Jacob Blumenfeld does not think it coincidental that the Torah has five books and he has five different motherlands, all without pulling up roots from his hometown of Kolodetz. Caught up in the shifting borders and alliances that redefined Poland in the 20th century, Isaac recounts the five major chapters of his life before, during, and after the two world wars in a narrative that Bulgarian author Angel Wagenstein, himself a concentration camp survivor, claims is just as Isaac told it to him. Since the book is presented as a novel, it is never quite clear whether Isaac is an entirely fictional character, but that question recedes in importance as the reader begins to understand
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Padma Viswanathan, Harcourt, 2008, $26.00/£16.99, hb, 640pp, 9780151015337
This phenomenal novel, set in India, follows the life of Sivakami from early childhood through old age, spanning the years 1896 through the 1950s. Following Brahmin tradition, Sivakami is married at age ten. When she is thirteen and comes of age, she is escorted to her husband’s home. By the time she is eighteen, she has given birth to two children and is widowed. The strictures for widowhood are incredibly stringent, but the remainder of Sivakami’s life is completely governed by them. Through this epic novel, we follow not only Sivakami’s life, but that of her two unusual children: Thangam, the daughter who sheds gold dust, and Vairum, a difficult young boy who becomes a financial success. The novel is rich in details about rituals of Brahmin life; it is also rich in its characterization of Sivakami’s many family members and near neighbors. Janaki, one of Thangam’s children, provides a point of focus, as does Muchami, who oversaw properties owned by Sivakami’s husband. He stays on to work for Sivakami and provides a view outside of her household, one denied to Sivakami herself.
Critical events in Indian history during this time are reflected through the prism of the caste, although cracks begin to appear in the unanimity of reactions. It is Vairum who discards many of the traditions that his mother believes to be unquestionable, and who shifts the ground under her. While we recognize that Sivakami is extraordinarily conservative, such is our empathy for her that we want her view of the world protected.
This novel was inspired by stories told by the author’s grandmother. Padma Viswanathan has transformed them into a captivating novel, one I wanted to continue long beyond its 600-plus pages. I recommend it most highly.
Trudi E. Jacobson
that this is more the story of a whole culture than an individual one. Isaac’s narrative voice is brilliantly achieved, but much like the relative who is funny and smart but never stops talking, the book combines hilarious jokes, anecdotes, and poignant observations with significant stretches when it is easy for attention to wander. The rewards are many here, though, among them old jokes and tales, which to most readers will be delightfully new. How the appearance of milk was once described to a blind man, who concluded it must look like the crook of an elbow feels, ends up as a metaphor for delusions of all sorts. Sympathetic secondary characters abound, most notably Shmuel Ben-David, the rabbi of Kolodetz but also the chairman of its Atheists’ Club, whose sermons are as thoughtprovoking as they are irreverent, and whose status as a rabbi is no protection from becoming cannon fodder at the front.
Altogether, Isaac’s Torah is an excellent and entertaining short course for those who would like an inside look at a now extinct Jewish culture in the Pale.
Laurel Corona
THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF RACHEL DUPREE
Ann Weisgarber, Macmillan New Writing, 2008, £14.99, hb, 307pp, 9780230706491
This is a story of a Negro couple who left Chicago to take on a ranch in the South Dakota Badlands. Rachel Reeves is the hired help of Mrs DuPree, owner of a boarding house in Chicago, when she meets and falls in love with the son, Isaac DuPree, a soldier in the American army home on leave but shortly to be discharged from the military. He wants to stake a claim to land in South Dakota and persuades Rachel that if she will allow him to also stake a claim in her name it would give him 360 acres, a sizeable ranch on which to raise cattle and grow wheat. Rachel agrees, providing he marries her.
When the novel begins, it is 1917, and fourteen years have passed; there is severe drought, and the cattle and crops are dying. The story of the previous fourteen years is told with occasional flashbacks to the early days in Chicago with all of their hardships. I found it a fascinating story and quickly found empathy with Rachel. This is Ann Weisgarber’s first novel, and I wish her every success with the next one.
Marilyn Sherlock
WORLDWIDE ADVENTURES IN LOVE
Louise Wener, Hodder & Stoughton, 2008, £11.99, pb, 291pp, 9780340832462
In her fifth novel, Wener examines the influence of scandal on personal relationships in two very distinct periods of British history: the 1930s and 1970s. The story revolves around two pairs of sisters, who are worlds apart in terms of background and the societies they live in, yet whose lives become increasingly entwined, reflecting the perennial traits of human nature. Wener also tackles themes that were resonant
in each period: the stigma of being single and pregnant in the ´30s, and the devastating results of divorce on a young girl in the ´70s when anorexia and all its related problems were still relatively unknown.
In 1933 Eddie became the first British woman to cross the Arctic, chronicling her exhilaration and fears in letters to her sister, Broo. An intrepid explorer, Eddie’s independence is financed by a family inheritance that allows her to mingle with the fashionable set in southern France and Italy. However, after returning to London, what began as an innocent affair in Capri becomes tinged by jealously and then violence. When Eddie discovers that she is pregnant, her sister suggests a nursing home in Sussex but then mysteriously abandons her when she realises what is at stake.
Some forty years later, in around 1977 – at the heyday of Abba, the Sex Pistols, and the Queen’s Jubilee – Jessie and her younger sister Margaret are fascinated by the eccentricity of their neighbour, Edith, and the treasures she shows them. Edith’s sudden death in a house fire appears to accelerate the break-up of Jessie and Margaret’s family. Suburban Britain in the ´70s was still very conservative, and the net curtains really start to twitch when the girls’ mother moves in with a young hippy and Margaret shaves her hair into a Mohican.
The epigraph by Amelia Earhart, “Adventure is worthwhile in itself”, is the perfect choice for a plot that explores the boundaries of human relationships and what it means to live life to the full.
Lucinda Byatt
KALEIDOSCOPE
Darryl Wimberley, Toby, 2008, $24.95/ C$24.95/£14.99, hb, 267pp, 978159264244
Set at the end of the Roaring 1920s in a noir West Coast Florida, this grizzly mystery with literary aspirations follows the adventure of Lost Generation gambler Jack Romaine. When his debts threaten both his credit and his family, Jack becomes the agent of a Cincinnati gangster looking to recover what Jack believes is a stash of stolen cash and railroad bonds. But the gangster has two men on the job, and the second is sadistic killer Arno, who maims or slaughters people in his way.
The trail brings handsome Jack to a Florida off-season “beddy” community of freak show performers called Kaleidoscope. Here he’s the odd one as dwarfs, giants, and legless women treat him with contempt until he can find a way to make himself useful. While he blisters his hands as a workman and his mouth when he tries fire eating, he also searches for the stolen goods. The trail leads him to the lovely bluetoned Luna, boss woman of the community, and the real story, just as the murderous Arno is also closing in.
Although Arno is a psychotic villain out of central casting, Kaleidoscope’s very individual citizens and their flawed hero make up for
him. With a richly detailed setting (at times reminiscent of the film “Freaks” in its realism and intensity) and galloping plot, Kaleidoscope should please history/mystery readers with a robust sensibility.
Eileen
Charbonneau
THE ANCIENT SHIP
Zhang Wei (trans. Howard Goldblatt), HarperPerennial, 2008, $14.95, pb, 451pp, 9780061436901
Zhang Wei depicts a master plot in which the Chinese sense of community vies with individuals’ desire for wealth and leadership in China’s northern town of Wali from 1949 to the late 20th century, beginning with the Sui family, which owns the lucrative “glass noodle” factory. The Zhao family is biding its time for the moment of weakness that will enable its takeover of the factory, the bridge arriving with the arrival of Mao’s revolution. However, their success is transformed with the Li family’s movement into the industrial phase of China’s evolution into a world power, one which the Zhao family fights but loses. Potent scenes rivet the reader to the reality of such changes. They include the soldier Dahu’s death in the SinoVietnamese war, the discussions of the useless and childish Star Wars space weapons race, and the land reform movement that catalyzes the town’s sense of community and competition.
Zhang Wei’s parody of tradition versus modernity is most potent in Fourth Master, whom the reader initially reveres as he discusses the virtues and merits of classic Chinese literary works The Golden Lotus and The Analects Extolling tradition, he cleverly promises to support the Communist movement yet actually is only obsessed with his own sexual defilement of an innocent young girl, Hanzhang. Chinese history has been depicted as doing what all revolutions do: transforming both individuals and society. Zhang Wei quite effectively satirizes the impossibility of achieving such a visionary ideal through fierce punishment, controlled propaganda of distant Chinese leaders, or a community’s efforts to control every facet of its individual lives. The Ancient Ship cements Zhang Wei’s literary fame, paralleled by the wondrous archeological findings which he honors within this superb work of historical fiction.
Viviane Crystal
PHARMAKON
Dirk Wittenborn, Viking, 2008, $25.95, hb, 403pp, 9780670019427 / Bloomsbury, Feb. 2009, £12.99, hb, 416pp, 9780747598107
Pharmakon had me, if not by the first sentence, then certainly by the end of the first page. This elegantly written and often witty novel envelops you in the story of a brilliant, ambitious Yale psychologist, Will Friedrich, as told by his youngest son. Beginning in the early 1950s, and leading us through the increasingly drug-dependent decades that follow, the novel
traces the long-reaching effects of Friedrich’s experiments on a drug that promised happiness and the end of depression. The tone turns dark, however, as the experiment goes wrong and tragedy enters the lives of the Friedrich family in the person of the paranoid Casper Nesdic, who becomes their all too real boogey-man. The selfdeprecating Friedrich alienates his children and almost destroys his marriage through his actions and then reactions to the dire consequences of his experiment.
The author’s skills as a screenwriter are evident in the visual impact of so much of the novel. One often can’t help but imagine the events on-screen as they unfold. The novel’s comic pacing is reminiscent of Richard Russo and Jon Hassler. The comedy is suspended, however, when the experiment goes awry and Casper Nesdic starts his revenge for the study that promised him happiness but brought instead disillusionment and misery. It becomes Casper’s mission to prevent Friedrich “from contaminating anyone else’s mind with hope.”
Looking through the lens of the author’s mordant humor, the book explores the country’s slide into its ever increasing dependence on drugs, both legal and illegal, to extinguish boredom, unhappiness and every degree of psychic discomfort. Highly recommended.
Pamela F. Ortega
LIFE AND DEATH ARE WEARING ME OUT
Mo Yan, Arcade, 2008, $29.95, hb, 540pp, 9781559708531
Imagine living within a fifty-year span, from 1950 to 2000, in China, when revolutionary change is a constant rather than an exception. It’s a time when each person is careful to do the “right thing,” while realizing that what is right today may be totally unacceptable tomorrow.
Yes, Mo Yan’s novel charts Chinese history from the rise of the revered Chairman Mao to the post-reform period of Deng Xiaoping. But the reader only meets these political idealists through the thoughts, words, and deeds of people like Ximen Nao, who dies many deaths but is reborn to narrate this tale as a donkey, ox, pig, dog, monkey, and finally as the boy, Big-Headed Lan Qiansui. His narration, with satirical comic insertions by the writer Mo Yan, who is also part of the novel, is the most pivotal, fascinating aspect. What starts out as a outrageous diatribe at his own execution turns into satire worthy of Jonathan Swift as these Chinese suburban farmers harass Ximen Nao to join the Communist Party, embrace the mythical quest for perfect pig farming, transform their farms to subsistence style output, and move into the semi-democratic mode of trying to become capitalists who will make a fortune by planning a stunning rural resort. Rebels and loyal believers mourn Mao’s death with tragic expression. Mythology, romance, murder, and adventuresome idealism clash with simplicity, independence and realistic bewilderment.
Today’s friend is tomorrow’s enemy! Today’s peasant is tomorrow’s entrepreneur!
Mo Yan is a brilliant writer who manages to convey the essence of Chinese history in the way it matters most, through its people. A must read that between the lines of parody is both informative and delightful.
Viviane
Crystal
MULTI-PERIOD
THE
HAKAWATI
Rabih Alameddine, Knopf, 2008, $25.95, hb, 513pp, 9780307266798 / Picador, 2008, £16.99, hb, 513pp, 9780330452212
As young Osama travels back to war-torn Beirut to his father’s hospital bed, he reflects on the stories that his parents, sister, uncles, and grandparents have always told. The alKharrat, his family, have a car dealership, and car salesmen, Rabih Alameddine amusingly contends, are the modern storytellers. The Hakawati is set in Lebanon, Los Angeles, and all over the Middle East, and it has a time frame that hops from 2003 to biblical times.
In the tradition of Arabian Nights, the Hakawati’s tales are wonderful. We witness the births, deaths, and missteps of successive generations of Osama’s family, starting with his grandfather, Ismail al-Kharrat, the Hakawati himself, “a teller of tales, myths, and fables…an entertainer.” But there are many other stories. There is beautiful, courageous Fatima, slave of an emir, who descends into the domain of jinns, seduces the powerful demon Afreet-Jehanam, and secures as her helpers a hilarious troupe of imps with a penchant for decorating spaces in clashing colors. There is the tale of Fatima’s sons, Shams and Layl, one a precocious prophet, the other his lascivious companion. There is the hero-king Baybars and his friends, the ex-bandit Othman, and his wife, the “luscious dove” Layla. There are poisonings, battles of heroes, pigeoneers wars, kidnappings by fiendish Crusaders, and a large array of marvelous creatures.
Stories, we learn, are useful to entice newborns to be born. They are the remedy against boredom and sorrow; they can move murderers to tears and shape a hero’s character in the womb. We also learn how to tell stories and what not to do. The stories are bite-size in length, but their wit and humor is monumental. This is a delightful book, cover to cover.
Adelaida Lower
THE 19TH WIFE
David Ebershoff, Random House, 2008, $26.00/C$30.00, hb, 528pp, 9781400063970 / Doubleday, 2009, £14.99, hb, 528pp, 9780385614757
If you are contemplating a polygamous lifestyle, this novel will talk you out of it. The author wants us to know that plural marriage creates heartbreak for women and coarsens the character of men. There is never enough money
or love to go around.
The 19th Wife has two plotlines, unrelated except that the Mormon faith and polygamy figure in both. One, set in the 1800s, is a fictionalization of the true story of Ann Eliza Young, nineteenth wife of Brigham Young. It begins before she is born, with her mother’s youthful conversion to Mormonism, and recounts decades of Mormon history through first-person accounts by Ann Eliza and other characters. Ann Eliza eventually rebels against “celestial marriage” and becomes a public figure who crusades against polygamy. Her saga alternates with a contemporary murder mystery in which a young man tries to clear his mother, who is accused of murdering his father. The Mormon Church, of course, abandoned plural marriage long ago, but his parents were members of a polygamous cult claiming to uphold true Mormonism.
The novel’s cover, depicting a possibly nude young woman, is the most erotic thing about it. When characters are seized by passion, it is religious passion. The history of the settlement of Utah is riveting and highly dramatic. One sympathizes with Ann Eliza, pressured into entering marriage with Brigham Young and desperate to escape it. However, Young is surprisingly complex, no cardboard villain but, for all his deep flaws, a visionary leader. The modern-day whodunit has some fascinating characters and held my interest. But the great mystery in this novel is the sudden genesis of a new religious faith.
Phyllis T. Smith
IN THE SHADOW OF LIONS
Ginger Garrett, David C. Cook, 2008, $13.99/ C$17.99, pb, 320pp, 9780781448871
In the Shadow of Lions is the first in a planned trilogy from author Ginger Garrett. The story is divided amongst the perspectives of three women: Bridget, a successful but cruel New York City editor dying in her hospital bed; Anne Boleyn, second queen of Henry VIII; and Rose, a servant in the household of Sir Thomas More.
A being appears to Bridget whom she believes is Death, but instead the being, known as the Scribe, offers her a second chance. The Scribe produces a laptop and begins to dictate a story to her. The book alternates between the present-day story of Bridget and the Scribe and the two stories set in the Tudor era. This is a fine premise, but unfortunately instead of adding to the plot, the scenes featuring Bridget are awkward and serve as a distraction because of the unconvincing dialog and the sporadic nature in which they appear.
Two of the more successful aspects of the novel are the ways in which Garrett portrays Thomas More as a very complex, conflicted man, and her depiction of his relationship with Rose. The religious fervor sweeping across Europe at the time is also described well, giving one perspective on the growing fear among the clergy of bringing the word of God to the people
in their own language. Garrett discusses how Anne Boleyn flirted with the Hutchins book, the English translation of the New Testament, and shows Anne as curious but also slightly afraid of the book which she puts off reading until the end.
An unsatisfying ending leaves too many questions unanswered. The theme that guardian angels influence people’s lives is not particularly clear until the end. Hopefully the series will become stronger. When Garrett is writing about the past, her voice is strong and it works; the subplot with the Scribe, though, does not.
Troy Reed
THE NIGHT VILLA
Carol Goodman, Ballantine, 2008, $14.00/ C$16.50, pb, 416pp, 9780345479600 / Piatkus, 2008, £12.99, pb, 432pp, 9780749939083 Literary fiction set in the present day, with flashbacks to 79 AD.
Sophie Chase is a classics professor who is seriously injured while witnessing a double homicide and suicide at the school where she teaches. When she accepts an offer to work on an expedition on the isle of Capri, she hopes for a physical and mental change in order to help her recover from the ordeal. Instead she is thrust headlong into international intrigue, and more murder, as a cabal of powerful conspirators seeks to steal the long-hidden secrets written in the ancient texts she is studying. While Sophie deciphers the damaged papyrus scrolls, her life is threatened once again. As she battles to discover the truth, the secrets buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius are exposed, and the story of a Roman slave girl’s fight for her freedom is revealed after two millennia. I thoroughly enjoyed The Night Villa. Goodman writes in a lyrical style which does not interfere with the story, and she keeps the reader intrigued from the opening paragraph. Her attention to historical detail is excellent, but it doesn’t get in the way of the storytelling. The layers of plot are clearly explained and do not confuse the reader—a remarkable feat since there are multiple plots and multiple timelines throughout this complex narrative.
I recommend The Night Villa to anyone who loves the addition of a historical backdrop to a well-plotted tale of suspense and intrigue. I will be picking up more of Goodman’s books very soon.
Monica E. Spence
THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN
Kate Morton, Pan, 2008, £7.99, pb, 645pp, 9780330449601
In 1913 in London a little girl is abandoned on a ship taking emigrants to Australia. She can’t recall her name, only that she was put on the ship by ‘the authoress’ and is taken in by an Australian family. Many years later Nell goes to England to trace her roots but has to return to Australia with the task unfinished. Later still, after Nell’s death, her granddaughter, Cassandra,
finds Nell has left her a Cornish cottage, so she too goes to England determined to solve the mystery of Nell’s origins and why she was abandoned on the ship.
Initially, I was frustrated by the frequent time and viewpoint shifts but became reconciled as the author cleverly weaves the gradual discovery of what happened into the stories, not only of Nell and Cassandra as they find clues, but also the other women involved in that longago mystery.
This is a gripping, delightful novel, depending for its charm less on the historical background of the different times, which is lightly sketched in, but on the twists and turns of the plot as the truth unfolds.
Marina Oliver
THE FIRE
Katherine Neville, Ballantine, 2008, $26.00/ C$30.00, hb, 464pp, 9780345500670 / HarperCollins, 2008, £20.00, hb, 9780007305711
This sequel to a 1988 bestseller, The Eight, picks up the story thirty years later. Alexandra Solarin, daughter of Cat Velis and Alexander Solarin, was a childhood chess prodigy. But tragedy brought her career to a premature end. Now, she’s a chef at one of Washington, D.C.’s finest restaurants. After receiving a puzzling message, Alex travels to Colorado for her mother’s birthday. She arrives to find her mother gone, and an unusual dinner party to host. So begins the next round of The Game, and where it will end is anyone’s guess.
Just as in the first book, the narrative alternates between the present (2003) and the past (primarily the years 1822-23). Renowned historic figures, including English poet Lord Byron, play a part in the story, which involves a mysterious chess set called the Montglane Service and, in particular, the Black Queen. The action takes place across North America, Europe, North Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Puzzles, riddles, history, science, romance and a few red herrings all combine to make this a compelling thriller.
Neville keeps several pins in the air at all times and makes this complex juggling act seem effortless. I can’t claim to understand every detail, but I’m not a chess player. Nevertheless, this is an intelligent, intriguing novel with a solid premise and precise pacing. New characters are introduced and some old ones return. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to read it again.
Alice Logsdon
WILD NIGHTS! Stories about the Last Days of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James, and Hemingway
Joyce Carol Oates, Ecco, 2008, $24.95/C$26.95, hb, 256pp, 9780061434792
The boundless creativity of Joyce Carol Oates tackles American literary greats and their works in a new collection of stories. Imagining the
final days of a spectrum of complex American authors, each tale is cast in the style and flavor of the famous writer, with added touches from Oates, who takes a seed of an idea and yields a riveting tale in full bloom.
Edgar Allan Poe, always craving solitude for writing, finds it as the sole occupant of a lighthouse where he keeps a diary of accelerating intensity compounded by having this wish. The seemingly humorous story, EDICKINSONREPLILUXE, melds the poet Emily’s past with a futuristic present when a married couple buys a lifelike replica of her which soon haunts their home and their marriage. Henry James, the Master, tries to master himself when he volunteers as a civilian to help injured World War I soldiers in a British hospital and discovers shocking new emotions propelling him into dangerous yet ecstatic territory. Ernest Hemingway’s roughest memories come out full force as he stares down the barrel of a Mannlicker shotgun. And America’s beloved Mark Twain shows a disturbing fascination for his “aquarium” of Angelfish, the unsuspecting young female fans who promise to love him— until they reach his imposed cutoff date of age sixteen, often with painful consequences.
Wild Nights! is not for the timid reader and shouldn’t be read straight through. Each story is a powerful trip through time and varied places so vivid the reader may think “Yes, it could have happened that way.”
Tess Allegra
LOVE AND THE INCREDIBLY OLD MAN
Lee Siegel, U. of Chicago, 2008, $22.50, hb, 448pp, 9780226757056
A better title for this novel would have been “Sex and the Incredibly Old Man,” because there’s little love in this compendium of carnal adventures related by a 16th century Spanish conquistador.
Here’s the premise: The author receives a letter from a man who claims to be Ponce de Leon. Having discovered the Fountain of Youth five centuries ago, Ponce faked his death and lived under a series of aliases, shifting livelihoods and religions as required in order to protect the fountain through the years. Now the fountain has run dry, and Ponce is feeling his mortality. He needs someone to write his memoirs.
Five hundred years of history, yet all Ponce wants to talk about are his lovers. Spanish aristocrats, Native Americans, artists, actresses, whores, and other men’s wives—they all fall to their knees to worship him. Ponce insists that he “loves” every one of them: He also lies, cheats, denies them the secret of the fountain, and then abandons them when they notice he fails to age. This treatment of women is offensive enough, but it’s not the worst example of a subtle, insidious anger in this novel. What begins as a series of awkward metaphors—an attempt to thematically connect sex and religion—soon solidifies into something blatantly anti-Christian. The tipping
point is a scene involving rosary beads and masturbation. After five hundred years, you’d think old Ponce might have learned something profound. Something about love, perhaps. Don’t look for it here.
Lisa
Ann Verge
THE MAP THIEF
Heather Terrell, Ballantine, 2008, $25.00/ C$28.00, hb, 246pp, 9780345494689
Terrell’s second novel far surpasses her mediocre first in this tale of mystery, suspense, and adventure. Chapters alter between three storylines, all interconnected by one very special map. Beijing, China, in 1421 is the setting for the story of a map maker, Ma Zhi, whose work will lead to the first true map of the world. A tale beginning in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1496 tells of Vasco da Gama’s voyage to find a sea route to India, and his navigator, Antonio Coehlo, who guards Portugal’s most secret treasure: a map that already shows the way.
Finally, in New York in the present day, it is Mara Coyne’s job to find a centuries-old map that was stolen from an archaeological dig her client was sponsoring in China. But as Mara begins her investigation, she realizes that the map is far more valuable than anyone has ever imagined and her client’s motives more sinister than she suspected.
Interweaving historical detail and suspense, this is a fine story about stolen artifacts and the thieves and traders who work with them. While the characters are easily forgettable, and her climax a little disappointing, the globetrotting adventure on which Terrell takes her readers moves the plot along and ends with a gratifying conclusion.
Rebecca Roberts
TIMESLIP
WHISPERS THROUGH TIME
Kim Murphy, Coachlight, 2008, $15.95, pb, 276pp, 9780971679078
In this novel that slips between the 19th and 21st centuries, Chris, the bereaved wife of plantation heir Geoff Cameron, cannot bear the circumstances of her husband’s untimely death at the hands of his deranged ex-wife. When a chance comes (though her ghost-whisperer daughter and a necklace) to travel back through time and try to change their circumstances, she’s off to Reconstruction-era Virginia to intercede in the life of her husband’s ancestor, Confederate army veteran George.
Chris quickly becomes the other woman in a triangle with George and his estranged wife, Margaret. Her presence changes some events, but other tragedies are compounded before Chris is brought back years earlier than when she left. Back in the 21st century, she’s confused, but with memories returning via her still-hauntedby-the-past husband Geoff and the spirit of her not-yet-born daughter Sarah.
keeping the complex timelines and alternate histories of her story understandable and flowing, and her race against tragedy is fastpaced and often gripping. But Whispers in Time is marred by pedestrian writing and flat characterization, including a brittle heroine who stops in the middle of a crisis to yearn for her butcher block table and fluorescent lighting.
Eileen Charbonneau
THE MEMORIST
M.J. Rose, MIRA, 2008, $24.95/C$24.95, hb, 531pp, 9780778325840
Reincarnation themes are common in timeslip novels, yet The Memorist brings a new idea to the table: binaural tones, musical notes with the power to affect brain waves and, perhaps, unlock past-life memories.
In the present, celebrated Israeli journalist David Yalom plots an explosive finale to the Vienna Philharmonic’s gala performance at an international security conference—his twisted revenge for the failure of hired security to protect his wife and family from a terrorist bomb. While he maneuvers through Roman catacombs located meters below the concert hall, Meer Logan arrives in Vienna in search of a cure to the fearful anxiety that has plagued her since childhood. Her father, Judaica expert Jeremy Logan, always believed repressed pastlife memories were the cause of Meer’s trauma, though Meer herself remains unconvinced. Then a letter hidden in an antique gaming box sets them on a path to find an ancient bone flute linked to Beethoven and his purported “immortal beloved,” Antonie Brentano. As Meer slowly gleans clues to the hiding place of this “memory tool” via flashbacks to a previous life in 1814 Vienna, a fast-paced quest begins, involving players from Meer and Jeremy to FBI agents, international security experts, and members of a centuries-old secret society. Meer’s fate depends on her uncanny ability to see through the eyes of a 19th-century woman desperate, in her own time, to rescue her beloved husband.
With multiple sets of characters and plot strands, the novel takes a while to settle in, but once it does, I turned the pages in haste, fascinated by the subject and swept along for the unpredictable ride. More original in concept than Rose’s earlier The Reincarnationist, this ambitious thriller successfully links past and present on multiple levels. An exciting, dramatically paced, intellectually satisfying read from an author who refuses to play it safe.
Sarah Johnson
FINDING FIONA
Mary Fremont Schoenecker, Five Star, 2008, $25.95, hb, 271pp, 9781594146947
complicated. When she finds herself suddenly transported from 2005 to 1905, her life takes an inexplicable twist.
Maddy is a capable character, strongly grounded within her family and extended-family relationships and secure in her faith. Her main conflicts involve the people newest in her life: her father’s wife, Kathleen; Claude Duval, her outgoing boyfriend; and Patrick. It is in her new relationships that she must learn to grow.
Patrick is fiercely loyal to his own family and defensive about its dark secret: the disappearance of his sister, Fiona. Maddy’s brief journey into the past provides her with the first clue to Fiona’s whereabouts, but her determination to solve the mystery puts her newest relationship in jeopardy.
Finding Fiona is, for the most part, an enjoyable, entertaining novel. Never dull, it shines best around its most compelling character, Tante Margaret, a mystic and seer. In all, though, I found the novel slightly disappointing, probably because it tries to be many things at once. The religious overtones dilute the romance and the mysticism; the historical aspect may be key but is minimal. Tante Margaret, on the other hand, could be the basis for a sequel!
Janette King
HISTORICAL FANTASY
N n
MIDNIGHT NEVER COME
Marie Brennan, Orbit, 2008, $14.99/£6.99, pb, 394pp, 9780316020299
Elizabeth I is believed by many to be one of the greatest monarchs in English history. But what if some of her most glorious accomplishments were assisted by unseen forces? Marie Brennan’s historical fantasy posits that the Princess Elizabeth was visited by the faery queen Invidiana while she was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and that the two noble women made a secret pact that impacted their futures—and the futures of their respective societies.
A folklorist familiar with the faery lore of the N n
Author Murphy does an admirable job in
Small-town social studies teacher Madeline Fontaine is looking to move out of the family home and change her life. Maddy is involved in a mild, nowhere relationship with a moderately successful young lawyer, but after she meets Patrick Donovan, things become seriously
Years later, a young man named Michael Deven makes his appearance at Elizabeth’s court. He finds himself admitted to the ranks of the Gentlemen Pensioners, where he attracts the attention of Sir Francis Walsingham, who charges him with a task: find the identity of the unseen intruder who seems to be spying on the court. At the same time, the Onyx Court of faery, located beneath London, is in a state of upheaval. Its ruler, Invidiana, is cruel and fickle, and she expels Lune, one of her courtiers, from the court. Lune finds herself forced to live disguised among humans. As Lune and Deven become increasingly aware of the secret pact between their respective queens, they realize that the only way to end the problems that have been plaguing both kingdoms is to destroy Invidiana’s power.
Historical Fantasy-Children & YA
British Isles, Brennan chose to focus on the area surrounding London, rather than cherrypicking from the more familiar fey of the Irish or Scottish traditions. As with most historical fantasy, there’s a lot of exposition, which is necessary to properly place the fae within historical context. As a result, the beginning is somewhat slow, but after the first few chapters, the action and pacing pick up. As with a Shakespearean play, the final act is climactic, and the resolution is satisfying. Readers who enjoy a combination of folklore and history will appreciate Midnight Never Come
Nanette Donohue
SOUL OF FIRE
Sarah A. Hoyt, Bantam Spectra, 2008, $6.99/ C$8.99, pb, 435pp, 9780553589672
In a Victorian world in which magic exists and shapeshifters are executed, Peter Farewell has fled England to hide the fact that he’s a weredragon. But in India, a land heavily populated with weres, Peter meets Sofie Warington as she flees a hateful marriage. This chance meeting embroils him in a battle with were-tigers seeking Sofie’s dowry: a magic ruby that gives its possessor ultimate power. It takes all Peter’s abilities as both man and dragon, as well as Sofie’s courage and intelligence, to outwit their enemies and save themselves and the ruby. Set at some vague time in the late 1800s, the historical part of this historical fantasy lacks conviction; many of the details about India and the Raj are incorrect. (Jaipur is nowhere near Meerut. The language is not “Indian.”
A sepoy is not a subaltern.) And some of the characterization is weak: Sofie lived in India until she was ten, when she was sent to school in England. Half the time Sofie knows all about India, and half the time Peter, who’s been there for six months, has to explain something about the country to her. In sum, while the fantasy storyline has much to recommend it, the history is half fantasy.
India Edghill
ALTERNATIVE HISTORY
BLONDE ROOTS
Bernadine Evaristo, Hamish Hamilton, 2008, £17.99, hb, 261pp, 9780241143858
Blonde Roots is the life story of a slave. Plucked from her family by pirates as a small girl, she is brutalised and dehumanised in the great city of London. After an unsuccessful escape attempt she is consigned to work as a cane cutter on a sugar plantation, when the true force of the horrors of slavery are brought home to her – and to us, through Evaristo’s characteristically punchy writing.
So far so similar to many other stories which chronicle the wretched trade on which – and do let’s be honest about this – much of our modern economy is built. When I tell you, however,
that our narrator’s name is Doris Scagglethorpe and she comes from a long line of cabbage farmers in the North East of England, you will quickly realise there is a twist to Evaristo’s tale. In this, her first prose novel, she has created a parallel history in which black Africans are the slaveowners and their slaves are drawn from the scrawny, pale untermenschen of Europe who are well known to have emotions little more sophisticated than monkeys, so you can take away their babies at birth without them feeling a thing.
It’s a great idea, and sometimes it works as, for example, when Evaristo uses the device to ridicule contemporary notions of beauty. Her irony is not, however, always successful. The Scagglethorpes are serfs, yet, of course, they value their way of life because it’s theirs. Evaristo does not convey this successfully. The device backfires, with the result that she appears to patronise both European and African societies. In creating the patois of the slaves on the sugar plantations she does no more than recreate the patois developed by real slaves but substitutes traditional English songs for African ones. This is a real disappointment from a writer whose inventive use of language is one of her hallmarks.
Blonde Roots is, notwithstanding, a good read, and it makes you think about an aspect of our real history we should never lightly lay aside.
Sarah Bower
THE MAN WITH THE IRON HEART
Harry Turtledove, Del Rey, 2008, $27.00/$32.00/£17.99, hb, 530pp, 9780345504340
SS Obergruppenfürher Reinhard Heydrich easily qualifies as one of the leading sociopaths produced by a Third Reich which possessed them in abundance. Harry Turtledove, a writer who makes his living through contrafactual history, has Heydrich survive the war to run an “Iraq-style” underground resistance to the Allied powers in occupied Germany. The operation is the product of Heydrich’s skillful planning and quickly catches the victorious Allies off balance. As is the case with Iraq, American voters quickly grow tired of GIs killed in what they imagined would now be a peaceful Germany. Heydrich skillfully plays on this in the hopes of driving foreign armies from German soil. Two Allied officers lead the search for Heydrich—Vladimir Bokov, a Soviet NKVD officer as comfortable with terror and killing as any Nazi, and Lou Weissberg, an American CIC officer consumed with the desire to end the bloodshed and go home. Weissberg provides a needed break from the murderous Heydrich and coldblooded Bokov as the three officers attempt to come to grips with this challenging, and chilling, postwar combat. Turtledove’s amazing ability to ask “what if” and follow his instincts once again bears fruit.
John R. Vallely
NCHILDREN & YOUNG ADULT
n
A DIFFICULT BOY
M. P. Barker, Holiday House, 2008, $16.95/ C$18.95, hb, 298pp, 0823420868
In 1843, nine-year-old Ethan is indentured to Mr. Lyman, a wealthy Massachusetts shopkeeper. Ethan must work with Daniel, an older Irish boy who at first seems angry and unsociable for no reason. Ethan softens toward him, however, when he realizes that Daniel keeps up his grim façade as a shield against abuse and ethnic prejudice. Together they endure long days of hard work and angry beatings from their employer. Having no one but each other, they form an unsteady friendship, a bond that gains strength when Daniel teaches Ethan how to ride Lyman’s spirited mare, Ivy. Such unsupervised moments are rare, and both know there is no permanent escape from their life of hard labor and abuse. But when Ethan uncovers incriminating secrets from Lyman’s past, the boys realize escape could be possible if they are willing to risk the danger of exposing such a prominent man.
This well-researched historical places the reader squarely in the world of a 19th-century rural community in New England. A former costumed historical interpreter and archivist, Barker has in-depth knowledge of daily life in this time period; she also possesses the skill to make these details tangible for her readers. As protagonists, Ethan and Daniel are effectively developed and sympathetic, while the antagonists are appropriately nuanced. The resolution verges on being pat with its meticulous tying up of plot threads, but most readers should find it satisfying. The book is intended for 9-12 yearolds, but teens and adults will also appreciate the rich language and detail.
Sonia Gensler
NATHAN FOX: Traitor’s Gold
L. Brittney, Macmillan Children’s Books, 2008, £5.99, pb, 327pp, 9780330454216
1587. King Philip of Spain rules much of Europe, and he has England in his sights. Two things are stopping him. One is the rise of Protestantism in Catholic France, his ally, the other the increasingly successful Protestant revolt in the Spanish Netherlands. If either country becomes Protestant and thus an ally of his enemy, Elizabeth of England, the balance of power will turn against him. He has an army of 60,000 men in the Netherlands, but their pay is in arrears and their loyalty is wavering.
In this second Nathan Fox adventure, Nathan, his sister Marie and his mentor John Pearce have a dangerous double assignment. The English spy-master, Walsingham, has learnt that one million florins are on their way to the Netherlands to pay the Spanish soldiers. Their mission is to capture the money and for it to be
used to support the Dutch rebels.
The second mission involves a holy relic. Potentially, its propaganda value is immense. King Philip would undoubtedly use it to justify his war against the Protestants. Queen Elizabeth wants it taken to the Holy Land and buried where it can do no harm. But first, Nathan and his friends have to find it, and it’s rumoured to be in a convent…
Time is of the essence. Others have also heard about the gold—the Spanish merchant Castedo, for one. And why is Lord Harcourt travelling to the Netherlands with his daughter Catherine? Could he have heard of the relic?
This is a terrific story of double-dealing and adventure. Not only does L. Brittney get across the history in an exciting and entertaining way, she also brings in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure as the subplot. Aimed at boys of 10 plus but girls who like historical adventures should enjoy it as well.
Elizabeth Hawksley
I think Traitor’s Gold is an amazingly good read. I enjoyed reading about the characters and what they do. Probably my favourite character is Sir Francis Walsingham because I like the way he says things, the way he describes everything so vividly.
I think all of the characters are very enjoyable to read about because they are all different and have distinct personalities. It’s a very exciting story set in Shakespeare’s time about spying. I like the way the author writes Nathan Fox’s thoughts down in slanting letters—it helped me understand what’s going on and what he thinks. In my opinion the author could use more descriptive words because it would help me get a bigger picture of what’s going on in my mind. So altogether I think Nathan Fox’s latest adventure is a brilliantly written book with hardly any faults.
Hal McNulty, age 10
I AM REMBRANDT’S DAUGHTER
Lynn Cullen, Bloomsbury, 2008, £5.99, pb, 303pp, 9780747591993 / Bloomsbury USA, 2008, $7.99, pb, 320pp, 9781599902944
This complex work of fiction is based upon the real person of Cornelia, the illegitimate daughter of Rembrandt van Rijn and his common-law wife, Hendricke Stoffels. The author was inspired by two paintings of Rembrandt’s: Bathsheba with King David’s Letter and a portrait of Nicolas Bruyningh.
The story is cleverly woven into the facts against a setting and time which are vividly explored and understood. Cornelia becomes her father’s main caretaker at a time when the artist is no longer fashionable, yet his character will not bend to new trends. The family is poor, and he is left with one surviving pupil, Neel. Having lost her mother, and with her beloved brother married and moved away, Cornelia is left a heavy burden as she looks after a man who is slipping into madness. This seems to
be a thankless task as he has never painted his daughter, never encouraged her, yet he has often done so with her brother.
Alternate chapters provide flashbacks into Cornelia’s past, building mystery and eventually understanding of the importance of the people therein. This book explores the complex nature of Rembrandt and the relationship with his daughter. It is rich in depth, drama, mystery, understanding, history and the coming of age of a young girl into a woman whose life is challenging and heartbreaking at times.
I would recommend this book for its skilful use of language and the depth of the subject matter by this talented author, along with the amount of period detail. It will certainly broaden and entertain the reader and is excellent value at the price too.
Val Loh
THE WALLS OF CARTAGENA
Julia Durango, Simon & Schuster, 2008, $15.99, hb, 152pp, 9781416941026
Set in 1639 during the pivotal year between the narrator’s 13th and 14th birthdays, this is an adventure tale bursting with heart and deep soulfulness. Calepino first opens his eyes on a slave ship. His Angolan mother dies after the birth. Good fortune intervenes when he’s taken in by a wealthy, pious woman in the walled city of Cartagena, in what is now Colombia. Although a slave, he’s treated with great tenderness and grows into a young man of quick wit who is especially adept at languages.
Father Pedro asks the pampered Calepino to assist his ministry as an interpreter on the newly arrived slave ships. At first the young man hates his duties, as they take him into a world of suffering and squalor he had hoped he’d forever left behind. Then he meets Mara and Tomi, who remind him of his own past. When their lives are put in peril by a cruel master, Calepino determines to help them achieve freedom, even if it puts his own life, and that of a new mentor, a mysterious doctor of a leper colony, at terrible risk.
Calepino is a fully realized character, as are his friends and enemies, people he cannot always tell apart. Fast-paced and richly detailed in setting and characterization, this young man’s journey to manhood sings off the page. A gem. Highly recommended.
Eileen Charbonneau
London.
Their ornithological quest is not without jeopardy, however. While on the river they discover an outlaw salt depot set up to avoid the heavy taxes being imposed by the East India Company, rescue a boy who has been punished and left to die by his master, and visit the village Anila’s mother had left, long ago, and in shame. Through Carlen, Mr Walker’s assistant, Anila first hears news of her father. But she cannot decide whether Carlen is friend or foe.
The novel is told in a whimsical first person voice that shifts between past and present. From Anila’s youthful perspective we glimpse the darkness of her mother’s sexual exploitation and the despair that crushed her soul. Yet the novel is never without hope. Supporting characters are drawn with a delicate blend of good and evil that makes them fully human. From the outset we are drawn into their lush sub-continental world of 18th-century Bengal.
Anila’s Journey has a bardic quality that speaks of the author’s Irish origins and a fascination with India that is both detailed and compelling. The outcome is a story that reaches beyond time, culture and place to become a novel about humanity in a wondrous but imperfect world.
Liz Corbett
CECILY’S PORTRAIT
Adèle Geras, Usborne, 2007, £5.99, pb, 169pp, 9780746073124
London, 1895. When 12-year-old Cecily Bright meets Miss Rosalind Templeton, a professional photographer, she is fascinated by her new friend’s job. She loves the way photography freezes a moment in time and admires Rosalind’s skill in manipulating the light and background to the best advantage. She longs to take photographs herself.
Since her mother’s death six years ago, Cecily leads a somewhat restricted life, and meeting Rosalind opens her eyes to new ways of looking at the world. It would be wonderful, she thinks, if her father should fall in love with and marry Rosalind. But her father’s friend, the dull and dowdy Miss Braithwaite, keeps getting in the way. To Cecily’s alarm, it increasingly looks as though he’ll marry Miss Braithwaite instead...
ANILA’S
JOURNEY
Mary Finn, Walker, 2008, £6.99, 304pp, pb, 9781406306590 / Candlewick, 2008, $16.99, 320pp, hb, 97806763639167
Anila’s Indian mother is dead. Her Irish father is inexplicably missing. When her guardian, Miss Hickey, relocates to Madras, Anila is alone. She finds employment with Edward Walker, whose intention is to travel up the River Ganges in search of a new, unnamed species of bird life. Anila’s task is to paint impressions for Mr Walker to take back to the Royal Society in
This is one of the 6 Chelsea Walk, Historical House series. In this quiet but charming tale, Geras looks at one of the new professional opportunities opening up for women –photography. We also re-meet Lizzie, from Geras’s earlier book Lizzie’s Wish, who has become a garden designer as real-life Gertrude Jekyll did at the same period.
Geras catches the social mores of the age well and offers her readers a glimpse into the restrictions expected of females. Cecily cannot visit Rosalind without her father’s permission, and he sees the Templetons (Rosalind’s father is an artist) as only just respectable. Mr Bright is something of a mid-Victorian paterfamilias, and Miss Braithwaite expects Cecily to conform
to the ‘angel in the house’ view of feminine behaviour. Rosalind, however, is a nascent New Woman: she has her own career and she’s prepared to argue with her father about the validity of photography as an artistic medium. Modern girls might find this story a touch quiet, but it certainly illuminates the 1890s zeitgeist. For 10+.
Elizabeth Hawksley
Cecily’s Portrait is a book about a girl in England before the First World War who wants to be a photographer. It’s mainly about a woman she meets and that same woman’s relationship to Cecily’s father. It’s not a very eventful book and it’s told from Cecily’s perspective. I found it a bit dull, and I’m not sure that it would appeal to a younger age group either. Overall, it’s a rather slight book, but there were some descriptions of how photographs are developed which I found interesting.
Ella McNulty, age 13
CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS
Julia Golding, Edmont, 2008, £5.99, pb, 371pp, 9781405237598 / Roaring Brook, 2008, $16.95, hb, 384pp, 9781596433526
London, 1790. In this, the second of Cat Royal of Drury Lane Theatre’s adventures, Cat’s friend, the black actor Pedro, is in deep trouble. His former master, the slave-owner Kingston Hawkins, claims that Pedro is his personal property and demands that the theatre gives him up. Pedro is due to play Ariel in The Tempest. The support of the fickle theatre-going public is vital to getting Pedro away to safety –but will the audience be on his side? Hawkins is mustering a lot of support amongst his cronies, too. Then Cat herself gets on the wrong side of the law. Both Cat and Pedro must flee, but where?
Cat hides, dressed as a boy, at Westminster School, but Pedro is betrayed and captured by Cat’s enemy, the ruthless gang leader Billy Shepherd, who is working for Hawkins. Nobody knows where Pedro is being kept and time is running out. Soon Hawkins’ ship will sail to Jamaica with Pedro on board. Then Billy makes Cat an extraordinary offer.
This is a fast, action-packed read. But Julia Golding also illuminates the history of the age. Cat’s stay at Westminster School is no joke: brutality and bullying are rife and Cat must learn some very unladylike tricks to survive. Nor does Golding duck the issue that many British fortunes were founded on the profits of slavery: it is not easy to find a lawyer to defend Pedro. But this is also the age of the Abolition of Slavery movement and she introduces the real life abolitionist, Olaudah Equiano, as well as three splendid fictional Quaker ladies who are fiercely anti-slavery, one of whom wields a mean umbrella…
This would make an excellent introduction to the study of slavery. Confident readers, both boys and girls, of 10 plus should enjoy it.
Elizabeth Hawksley
I really enjoyed this book by Julia Golding, even more than the two previous ones in the series. I thought the story got off to a good start with one of the characters in danger and a great sense of tension. It went into issues about slavery and gave good historical references about the slave debate and the slave trade which I’ve been learning about at school. For example, William Wilberforce and Mr Olaudah Equiano, who were real historical people, turned up as characters in the book.
The plot had many changes of scene and twists and turns which kept me interested. I felt that the main character Cat was developed more in this book than in the others – she was more 3D. I would recommend this book and would be interested in reading more in the series.
Ella McNulty, age 13
LILI’S GIFT: A Civil War Healer’s Story
Phylis Hall Haislip, White Mane Kids, 2008, $8.95, pb, 179pp, 9781572493926
This Civil War coming of age story packs a wealth of historical information in a slim volume. Lili’s family, part Cherokee and part Irish, has just learned their father is missing in the Battle of the Wilderness. They were barely surviving on odd jobs and this forces desperate changes. The mother places the children into an orphanage to search for the father they refuse to believe is dead. The family struggles with unequal working conditions, class war, and racial prejudice along the way but also meets up with Clara Barton at her “flying hospital” and embarks on an astonishing but plausible quest between the lines at the Siege at Petersburg. A compassionate exchange of the reunited family from Confederate to Union battle lines is the heartfelt climax.
The thread of Lili’s gift of healing suggested by the title is not pushed so strongly as to overwhelm the exciting action, but it is based on Irish and American Indian spiritual gifts so could potentially be troublesome to the most fundamental Christian sects. Historical photographs, a glossary and questions about the historical background are included in the book.
Mary K. Bird-Guilliams
GEORGIANA: WOMAN OF FLOWERS
Libby Hathorn, Hachette, 2008, AU$17.99, pb, 298pp, 9780733609169
Georgiana Molloy and her husband, Captain John Molloy, were among the earliest settlers of the remote Augusta region in the colony Western Australia. The novel begins in 1839 at the time of their arrival in Western Australia. It finishes with Georgiana’s untimely death in 1843, following childbirth.
Running parallel to the story of Georgiana and her growing family is a fictitious tale of the poorer, less educated Summerfield family. The narrative is told in a lyrical, omniscient voice that shows the varied hopes and aspirations of each family. The stage is set for a compelling
read when we learn that Will Summerfield and his sister Charlotte are living in fear of their mother’s second husband, the brutal Thomas Summerfield. The lives of the two families are loosely interwoven, and there is potential for the story to build to a satisfying climax that it never quite achieves.
Georgiana Molloy was a pious young woman, and Libby Hathorn makes a concerted effort to reconcile the evangelistic fervour of Georgiana’s Christian faith with her otherwise gentle demeanour. There is reference to a book called Peace in Believing from which Georgiana is said to have derived considerable inspiration. We are not, however, given insight into what aspects of the text particularly affected her. It is therefore difficult to develop any empathy for her convictions.
This is a worthy novel. It portrays the struggles and triumphs of early settlers in Australia and their attitude towards the aboriginal peoples of the region. It also illustrates the significant contribution Georgiana Molloy made to the study of the region’s unique flora. The narrative has a strong biographical feel and would therefore be suitable for young adult readers who enjoy life history, rather than those who want a compelling story.
Liz Corbett
IVY
Julie Hearn, Atheneum, 2008, $17.99, hb, 355pp, 9781416925064 / Oxford, 2006, £5.99, pb, 352pp, 9780192754318
Lizzie Siddel may be known as the famous muse of Dante Rossetti, but it is clear that she has also served as author Julie Hearn’s muse for her latest novel, Ivy Hearn, author of The Minister’s Daughter (named as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults), was inspired by the story of Lizzie Siddel and her drug dependency to fashion her character, Ivy, after her, except she has created a character who can overcome her desperate life. Ivy grows up among thieves in Victorian England. Rightly compared to Dickens’ Pip and Oliver Twist, Ivy becomes a memorable character. Her flame-red hair and odd eyes draw people toward her, including an aspiring painter. With Ivy as his model he is sure success will follow. But beneath Ivy’s striking beauty lies a dangerous secret. Like Lizzie Siddel she is addicted to laudanum. As we root for young Pip and Oliver Twist so we root for young Ivy as she grows to adulthood in dour circumstances.
A powerful work of historical fiction with themes relevant to 21st-century teens, Ivy, explores issues of neglect, drug dependency, human rights, and love. Age 12-16.
Nancy Castaldo
POSSESSION
Chris Humphreys, Knopf, 2008, $16.99/ C$20.99, hb, 360p, 9780375832949
In this gripping conclusion to the Runestone Saga series, Sky and Kristin must prefect their
Fetch powers and their time-traveling magic to fight their evil grandfather, Sigurd. Sigurd has formed a personality cult and plans to tap the powers of his followers to bring about Ragnarok, the end of the world. Only by possessing the bodies of their ancestors (including Roundheads, witches, Vikings and Norman invaders) can Sky and Kristin gain the strength to fight Sigurd. They practice the art of possession, which becomes a dangerous and tempting experience. But it all comes down to a battle for all time, and the outcome rests perilously on one final cast of the runes.
It’s difficult to get into this book without having read the other two in the series, but once you do, the story is fact-paced, exciting, and engaging. While it is definitely a teenageboy book, the historical sequences when Sky and Kristin travel back in time add flavor to the mythic adventure, with the climatic Battle of Hastings portrayed quite vividly. This adventure series is a great addition to any teenage fantasy fan’s library.
Rebecca Roberts
ON BEALE STREET
Ronald Kidd, Simon & Schuster, 2008, $16.99/ C$19.99, hb, 244pp, 9781416938878
Readers of On Beale Street will be plunged into the dynamic music culture of 1954 Memphis, Tennessee. Johnny Ross loves the blues, but being white and only 15, must sneak into nightclubs to hear the leading African American artists. An encounter with a fellow blues fan named Elvis leads Johnny to talk his way into a job at Sun Records. He learns how segregation deprives black musicians of their royalties and lets white singers steal their material and stage moves. Hanging out with the son of his mother’s boss’s chauffeur gives Johnny even further insight into the racial divide. Then a startling truth about his mother’s past changes everything.
Today’s pop music fans who can’t be parted from their MP3 players should be encouraged to read this book, which will help them understand the roots of the sounds coming over their earbuds. Kidd includes an author’s note telling what happened to the real people after the end of the story. He asked one of the musicians from the era to read his manuscript and make corrections, so the musical aspects of the story ring true, though the fictional parts aren’t quite as believable.
B.J. Sedlock
TAMBURLAINE’S ELEPHANT
Geraldine McCaughrean, Usborne, 2007, £10.99, hb, 186pp, 9780746078778
14th century Asia. Twelve-year-old Rusti, a Mongol, is one of Tamburlaine’s Golden Horde who swept through Asia conquering all in its path. Now Tamburlaine has his sights on Delhi, where the booty is rumoured to be fabulous. But things do not proceed according to plan. The Indian army has elephants, who terrify the
Mongols. When Rusti is ordered to capture a fallen elephant, he is scared stiff. He can only do it with the help of the elephant’s mahout, Kavi, who has stayed with her.
Rusti has been brought up to think other races are of no account. He despises Kavi as a slave. Gradually, as he learns elephant ways from Kavi, he realizes that there are other ways of looking at the world. Then an encounter with the chronicler reveals a long-hidden secret about Rusti’s own history which leads him to view Tamburlaine differently. But this is dangerous thinking. Tamburlaine is an exceptionally brutal man. The slightest hint of disloyalty and both Rusti and Kavi will die.
This interestingly written book has, at times, almost an aura of myth about it. On one level, it’s a tale of an unlikely friendship between two boys; on another, it’s a psychological journey from unthinking warmongering to recognition that brute force entails the deaths of many innocent people and the destruction of whole cities. But it’s more than this; the author is also concerned with the concomitant cultural destruction where something valuable is lost forever.
The truths Rusti learns are eternal: love, truth, peace; respect for others who are different, for animals, for life. On the surface, this is an epic tale of man’s inhumanity to man, but it is redeemed by the small acts of courage and kindness through which humanity shines.
A most rewarding book. 11 plus.
Elizabeth Hawksley
The descriptions of the characters and the scenery were very good – I had clear images of what was happening all the time I was reading. The author built up the characters well, because in every situation I could understand why they felt as they did, and almost imagine that I was in their shoes. Sometimes the story was written from two points of view – I found this very effective and it helped me to empathise.
For the first half or so of the book, I didn’t really find a definite plotline, and I saw it as a series of events with only Kavi / Kavitta to link them all together. This was a bit off-putting after the first chapter because there was nothing to hook me in. However, when it came to the second half (when Rusti met the chronicler) it suddenly became more interesting because the plot develops when we know the truth about Rusti. The last two chapters were the best, because we find out about the plot to kill Tamburlaine.
I would give this book 6 out of 10, and I would recommend it to both boys and girls aged between 11 and 13.
Rachel Beggs, age 13
THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR
Andrew Matthews, Usborne, 2007, £5.99, pb, 191pp, 9780746076354 / Dutton, 2008, $16.99, hb, 192pp, 97880525420630
16th century Japan: a period of feuding
samurai warlords. Ten-year-old Jimmu is woken one night by his father’s samurai bodyguard, Nichiren. His father has been convicted of treachery by Lord Ankan and must commit sappuku – the ritual disembowelling. Jimmu is forced to witness this. His mother has already taken poison. Nichiren tells the traumatized boy that his life’s aim is to avenge his father’s death by killing Lord Ankan and then committing sappuku in his turn.
Eight years later, Jimmu, now trained by Nichiren as a warrior, seeks out Lord Ankan and gets taken on as a guardsman. For the first time in his life, he makes friends and he admires Captain Muraki, his immediate superior. Then he notices that Lord Alkan loves his daughter, the pretty but wilful Takeko, and enjoys her company, as Jimmu himself does. Gradually, Jimmu begins to questions Nichiren’s wisdom and to wonder why his own parents were so cold and distant.
As Lord Alkan prepares for war, Jimmu is torn by conflicting loyalties. If he is to be free of the past, he must learn to judge people for himself and to make his own decisions.
I enjoyed this. The author uses deceptively simple writing to get across a very different culture. On the surface, the important qualities in a samurai warrior are obedience, emotional detachment and avoidance of shame but underneath lie other, deeper, qualities. The understanding which Lord Ankan brings to Jimmu’s dilemma shows him to be a man of mercy and integrity as well as justice.
The book is obviously aimed at boys, who should enjoy the fighting (personally, I could have done without the graphic disembowelling on page 5), though there is a nod towards romance with Jimmu’s growing relationship with Lady Takeko, perhaps to appeal to girls as well. For 12 plus.
Elizabeth Hawksley
Set in the 16th century, The Way of the Warrior is a thoroughly thought-provoking novel that you simply seem to glide through. Even for those who aren’t massive fans of the adventure genre, this is a book that is well worth reading, with a plot about far more than just battle and honour. It addresses massive questions and ideas, such as whether it is possible to be both good and evil and whether you should believe everything that you hear – I couldn’t put it down. It’s short, which in my eyes is both a pro and con. On the one hand, it was a quick read which is always good for a page-turner, but on the other, it did leave me wanting more and I felt as though it could have delved deeper into its underlying philosophical side. And been slightly less predictable; I don’t want to give too much away, but a fairy tale ending isn’t everyone’s cup of tea – it was still worth getting there, though, just for the twists and turns of the journey. A refreshing read.
Rachel Chetwynd-Staplyton, age 16
MY BONNY LIGHT HORSEMAN:
Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, in Love and War
L. A. Meyer, Harcourt, 2008, $17.00/£11.99, hb, 448pp, 9780152061876
In this sixth installment of the Bloody Jack Adventures, Jacky Faber, the infamous Napoleonic-era sixteen-year-old, finds herself in the thick of battle.
Jacky, having survived her Mississippi adventures, waits for the return of her longsuffering Jaime by growing the fortunes of Jacky Faber Shipping. While on a trading voyage, she is captured by the British Navy. Her captors set sail for London, where she’s sure to be hanged as a pirate, but the warship is captured in turn by the French—who want Jacky dead, as well. Forced into disguise, Jacky manages to escape a date with Dr. Guillotine—only to find herself (through one of L.A. Meyer’s wonderfully convoluted plot twists) in still deeper trouble with British Intelligence. Blackmailed into working as a spy, Jacky disguises herself as a soldier in order to join the French army, where she is expected to intercept sensitive military dispatches and deliver that information to the British. However, when the real battles begin, Jacky must make a serious decision: Where does her loyalty lie—with her country, or with her friends?
My Bonny Light Horseman is another lively, page-turning installment of the Bloody Jack Adventures. The always reckless, always charming Jacky has become a confident, skilled, and strong young woman. Can Jacky and Jaime finally make good the promises they’ve made to one another? And can a woman like Jacky ever settle down? In L.A. Meyer’s skilled hands, anything is possible.
Lisa Ann Verge
HOPE IN NEW YORK CITY: The Continuing Story of the Irish Dresser
Cynthia G. Neale, White Mane Kids, 2007, $7.95, pb, 170pp, 9781572493872
This novel, geared to middle school students and including a bibliography and plans for lessons on immigration, is a sequel to The Irish Dresser: A Story of Hope During the Great Hunger. It is 1849, and 14-year-old Nora, who took ship from Ireland hiding in a dresser in order to escape the Irish Famine, is now living with her family in New York City. Survival is still a struggle, and Nora becomes a “newsboy” to earn money for life’s necessities. In what is possibly the book’s most arresting scene, she meets and confronts Walt Whitman, who shares the general Yankee prejudice against the Irish. She feels like an alien in her new land and dreams of returning to Ireland, but she is attracted by some aspects of American life. Gradually she finds friends here. There is a hint of a budding first romance, and another book in the series can clearly be expected.
The novel is full of convincing historical detail. Young readers should enjoy getting to
know a courageous and engaging teenaged heroine, and they will learn a great deal about the Irish immigrant experience.
Phyllis T. Smith
THE IRISH DRESSER: A Story of Hope
During the Great Hunger (an Gorta Mor, 1845-1850)
Cynthia G. Neale, White Mane, 2004, $7.95, pb, 152pp, 9781618572493445
Thirteen-year-old Nora McCabe narrates the story of her family and friends in mid-19th century Ireland, and the upheaval caused by the potato blight, in this short novel aimed at middle-school students and young adults. The McCabe family is poor but self-sufficient and happy, raising a few animals and working their small plot of land, which was once owned by their forefathers though they are now forced to pay rent on it to the English. They and their neighbors exemplify the old rural ways of Ireland—sharing what they have, coming to the aid of anyone in need, half-believing in the fairies and gods of ancient times. The dresser of the title is the one good piece of furniture owned by the McCabes; it holds their few pieces of crockery, and, often, Nora herself: she still fits inside the cupboard and it is her retreat when times are bad. Unfortunately, times become so bad that the McCabe family decides to leave Ireland for the promise of a better life in America, and the dresser plays a key role in getting Nora to that new life.
The story touches on the religious, political, and class issues as well as the agricultural woes of the time. Nora’s point of view may well offer today’s young readers a good window into that difficult chapter in history in spite of the narrative’s abrupt end, which leaves many questions unanswered. The further adventures of Nora are recounted in a sequel, Hope in New York City. Educational resources (lesson plans, glossary, bibliography) are included.
Helene Williams
THE GHOSTS OF KERFOL
Deborah Noyes, Candlewick, 2008, $16.99/ C$18.50, hb, 163pp, 9780763630003.
What do a lonely wife, a painter, a young socialite, an unfaithful girlfriend, and a deaf teenager have in common? All of these damaged characters inhabit the French manor of Kerfol at some point in their lives, and all find themselves victims of dark forces, sometimes of their own creation. Deborah Noyes has taken Edith Wharton’s ghost story “Kerfol” and expanded it into five stories spanning over three hundred years in a wonderfully eerie adaptation.
The premise behind The Ghosts of Kerfol is that of the house as witness to several tragic events over five very different lifetimes. Beginning with a beautiful young wife treated as a possession by her jealous husband, the tale entwines the subsequent stories with a portrait, a necklace, several dogs, and violent deaths.
Each chapter builds the connections with the first tragedy until the final story encompasses all the tales in a truly creepy, almost gothic atmosphere. Noyes has crafted a fine tapestry of macabre episodes that will leave you looking over your shoulder warily. This superb ghost story is best read with the lights on.
Tamela
McCann
MAGIC TREE HOUSE: Secret of the Pyramid
Mary Pope Osborne, Red Fox, 2008, £3.99, pb, 72pp, 9781862305250
Ancient Egypt. This third Magic Tree House adventure follows the pattern of the previous books. It’s a read alone book aimed at 5-7 yearolds, with clear informative black and white drawings and an easy-to-read typeface. The two children, Jack and Annie, go back to ancient Egypt, lured by a mysterious black cat, and find themselves following a funeral cortège to its burial place inside the pyramid.
The author takes Egyptian funerary rites: the sarcophagus and the funeral procession; the burial chamber deep within the pyramid; the false passages to deter tomb robbers; Egyptian hieroglyphs; the Book of the Dead (the ancient Egyptian guide to the trials awaiting the soul in the afterlife); and how bodies were embalmed, and wraps them up in a simple story.
Jack and Annie meet the ghost of Queen Hutepi, who has been waiting for help for a thousand years. She has mislaid her copy of ‘The Book of The Dead,’ and she begs Jack and Annie to help. This involves deciphering some hieroglyphs which lead the children to the lost scroll which they place beside the queen’s rotting mummy (an episode not for sensitive children). They then get lost inside the false passages before being rescued by the black cat.
In my experience, if children are interested in a subject they have no problem with any long words involved, so I’m sure they’ll cope with hieroglyphs and sarcophagus, which are both clearly explained and illustrated. There’s just enough information to set the groundwork for a lasting interest in Pharaonic Egypt, together with a large dollop of adventure. My guess is that most children will enjoy it.
Elizabeth Hawksley
This is a story about some people who go back in time to Ancient Egypt. It’s a very exciting story with lots of adventure. I liked the mysterious cat who led them out of the pyramid. We’re doing Ancient Egypt at school at the moment, so it’s a very good inspiration to read this. I learnt that when people die, especially if they’re kings or something, they believe that they’ll go in a boat to the next life.
Jack and Annie, who are brother and sister, are good characters. Annie is really fun because she’s not usually scared and is quite fearless. Jack is very clever and interested in mummies and Egypt.
I think this book would be good for five to seven year olds. I enjoyed the way it was set out, with the magic tree house which leads them to different places in history.
Minna McNulty, age 8
MAGIC TREE HOUSE: Pirates’ Treasure Mary Pope Osborne, Red Fox, 2008, £3.99, pb, 72pp, 9781862305250
18th century. In this fourth Magic Tree House adventure, Jack and Annie are marooned on a tropical island with a pirate ship flying the Jolly Roger sailing towards them. As usual, the author plants a few historical facts inside a simple story. This time we have: Spanish treasure ships in the Caribbean bringing back gold; the Jolly Roger; and the name of a real life pirate, Captain Kidd.
In my view, this is pretty useless. There’s no historical context at all. There’s nothing about where the Spaniards were bringing the treasure from, nor about their conquest of Latin America, nor about what Captain Kidd actually did – and his story is pretty dramatic. This is Peter Pan territory. At the back of the book there’s a website, including a teacher tree, so presumably the book is aimed at the school curriculum. Personally, I can’t see how it could be useful educationally; it simply doesn’t contain enough material.
However, the story certainly has plenty of adventure. Jack and Annie are captured by a pirate with the splendid name of Cap’n Bones and taken on board a pirate ship. He has a map with a mysterious rhyme written underneath stating the treasure’s whereabouts which he can’t read. The children read it and locate the treasure’s hiding-place. The pirates return to the island to dig it up but are interrupted by a tropical storm. Will Jack and Annie be able to escape back to the Magic Tree House before the storm sweeps them away?
I think children aged 5-7 would enjoy the adventure and Philippe Masson’s blood-curdling illustrations are sure to keep them happy: Cap’n Bones has an eye-patch, another carries a knife between his teeth, etc. However, I doubt it will teach them anything of value about history.
Elizabeth Hawksley
I like the way that they drew the pirate ship and I liked Polly the parrot because she was saying ‘Go to the tree house’ at the end. I remembered from the first book that they had found an M, and Polly turned out to be the M person. Annie believes in magic and Jack likes books. I like the way Annie punched the pirate and he didn’t notice it because he was so strong. My favourite bit was where she was looking down at the water because it seemed as if she was looking at a pearl.
I really liked the drawings, especially how they drew the water and the birds. I was frightened in the story because I thought Annie and Jack were going to be hurt. I really liked the way they made the whole island in the shape of a whale, with a whale’s spout for the tree house.
Daddy read it with me.
MINNA’S QUEST
Louis McNulty, age 5
K.M. Peyton, Usborne, 2007, £5.99, pb, 192pp, 9780746078815
K.M. Peyton is a prolific writer of pony stories and this is a pony story for a mature teenage girl—with the difference that it is set in Roman times.
Minna is the daughter of the blacksmith in the Roman fort of Othona, on the coast just north of London. One morning she sees a foal lying on the saltings. It is small and weak and has been discarded. Minna determines to save it. She nurses it back to health and rears it. Minna names the foal Silva. Three years later her brother, Cerdic, has joined the army and Silva is his horse. (It is a cavalry regiment.) But Minna still helps to care for Silva.
Then one day pirate ships are spotted offshore. The commander orders Cerdic to ride Silva and take a message to Camuloden. He chooses Cerdic because he will have to swim the river and Silva is the best swimmer.
But Cerdic does not get across the river. Minna says she will take the message herself and mounts Silva. Does she get to Camuloden and deliver her message? And is Othona saved from the pirates?
And what about Cerdic? He has failed in his mission. He would be disgraced and could be severely punished. But when a marauding band of pirates land and raid the native village Cerdic has a chance to redeem himself Does he take it?
This book gives a good picture of Roman Britain in the last days of the Roman Empire. The set-up of the Roman fort with the native village just outside is clearly explained. The opulence of Camuloden is contrasted with the simplicity of Othona.
But the love of Minna for Silva and of Cerdic for his dog will mean that this book has a special meaning for animal lovers.
Comes with a glossary and a map. For animalloving teenage girls. Recommended. Mary Moffat
LITTLE ROCK NINE
Marshall Poe, illus. Ellen Lindner, Aladdin, 2008, $7.99, pb, 120pp, 9781416950660
William McNally is a 16-year-old white resident of Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. His best friend is 15- year-old Thomas Johnson, an African-American student who attends a different school because segregated schools are the normal standard for that time. Imagine how Thomas feels when he is spit upon and threatened with physical violence for wanting to attend a white high school. The majority has its way and Thomas is continually reminded by his father that they must accept their status and not go looking for trouble. Even within William’s family there is conflict as his father and grandfather verbally debate the right of
African-American students to have the same rights as white students to the best possible education. The conflict escalates due to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education that all states must desegregate their schools. When the Governor of Arkansas tries to block this federal order, the American President chooses a course of action that will change the tide of history and thus the lives of William and Thomas forever. Exciting and historically accurate, Little Rock Nine is a fine graphic novel depicting the shame and pride of all involved in this memorable historical period!
Viviane
Crystal
SONS OF LIBERTY
Marshall Poe, Illustrated by Leland Purvis, Aladdin, 2008, $7.99, pb, 120pp, 9781416950677
Imagine being a 10-year-old boy named Nathaniel Smithfield in the late 1700s in the colonies ruled by King George III’s royal soldiers. Your father is totally loyal to the British king, but you’re hearing talk about your fellow men and women having their rights destroyed. They are called rebels by the Loyalists but what those rebels are saying certainly makes sense to you. Time marches on and you see colonist ships taken by the British who charge that the owners have not paid appropriate taxes. You see the rebels’ first bold destruction of all British tea into Boston Harbor, and you not only witness but participate in the initial battles between the rebels and British troops! Family and friends argue, observe, and eventually choose irrevocable sides shaping the courageous, liberty-loving Nathaniel into a true proponent of American freedom and independence. Sons of Liberty is a historically accurate graphic novel that gets to the heart of what it felt like to be a young boy in the middle of a thrilling period of history, with its conflicts, agreements and world-changing events.
Viviane Crystal
NEW WORLD
Chris Priestley, Corgi, 2007, £6.99, pb, 400pp, 9780552552356
Fourteen-year-old Kit Milton is a street urchin and thief with a secret: he is the son of a Catholic gentleman who was executed for treason – and in 1584 Catholics were hated and feared. Kit’s adventures on the streets of London lead him to John White, a mapmaker and artist, who offers him a job as his assistant. When White is asked to accompany an expedition to Virginia to set up a colony there, Kit goes with him.
The second part of the book takes place in Virginia – and I found this part far more interesting than the mystery surrounding the betrayal of Kit’s father. Kit encounters new places, animals and birds, and is fascinated by the native inhabitants of the New World and their customs. He soon comes to have more respect for these quiet, self-sufficient people than for the English soldiers who crash about
noisily and threaten the Indians with guns. There is a hint of romance between Kit and an Indian girl, which is touching and believable. The Indians are realistically portrayed, with the same capacity for violence and deceit as the Europeans; but inevitably the English settlers are the aggressors, and when they plot to deceive and attack the Indians Kit is torn and tries to prevent the inevitable disaster. He also discovers that he has an enemy from his past in the colony.
This is a story where the emphasis is on action rather than character development, and readers who like a well-paced adventure story will enjoy it. There is some fine description of the scenery and wildlife of the New World, and the book is carefully researched and full of interesting detail. I liked the maps at the beginning and the notes at the end about the real historical characters.
Ann Turnbull
TROUBLESOME THOMAS
Jenny Sullivan, Pont Books, 2007, £4.99, pb, 143pp, 9781843238119
South Wales. 1645. Ten-year-old Thomas Mansell is in disgrace and he is sent away to stay with his uncle and aunt and his two cousins. They live in Llancaiach Fawr Manor. On arrival, Colonel Pritchard, his uncle, sends Thomas’s sadistic tutor back to his father and says he will be responsible for Thomas’s education himself.
Colonel Pritchard’s idea of education is quite different from the tutor’s. He forbids Thomas to study Latin and Greek and instead has him taught about muskets, pikes and how to use a sword. Naturally Thomas finds all this more interesting, but what he likes best is when he is allowed to ride around the estate with Ifor, the stableboy. They ride along the river and sometimes dismount and guddle for fish and swim in the river.
Then there is a description of the gathering of the harvest and the festivities which follow it.
This book has a great deal of historical detail. The reader hears how dead rats were added to cider and about the gruesome remedies for everyday ailments. And how pigeons were used to carry messages. Much of this information is conveyed by footnotes.
Even in this quiet backwater the Civil War intrudes. Thomas overhears things which he should not––about how his father and uncle are thinking of changing sides. Then there is danger from marauding deserters.
Today Llancaiach Fawr Manor is a living history museum, preserved as it was in 1645 with people dressed as the family and staff of the time. There is a related web site at http://www. caerphilly.gov.uk/llancaiachfawr. A visit to this web site will flesh out the story of Thomas.
It is told in the first person by Thomas. Entertaining and informative with some idyllic descriptions of country life at the time. Ages 812.
Mary Moffat
THE GOLD RUSH KID
Mary Waldorf, Clarion, 2008, $16/C$18.50, hb, 232pp, 9780618977307
Billy and his older sister Edna must bury their mother, who becomes ill and dies while their father is off to the Yukon to search for gold. They decide to go in search of their father, which means pretending to be much older than they are, and Edna transforms herself into Ed, an angry, abrupt, and at heart very frightened young person.
Told in the first person by Billy, whose insights and strength draw the reader through this remarkable adventure, The Gold Rush Kid is a reissue of this classic young adult novel.
Waldorf’s voice as Billy is flawlessly believable. His perspective brings the other characters to life, with the inevitable color added by a young boy’s bemused observations of a sister on the brink of womanhood. Together they face danger, heartbreak, and loneliness. They suffer injuries, save a man from drowning, and unearth widespread corruption in the boomtowns of the Klondike. The drama is constant and engaging, and Billy’s indomitable spirit leads to a strong and rewarding ending. A great YA read.
Susanne Dunlap
THE CRIMSON THREAD
Suzanne Weyn, Simon Pulse, 2008, $6.99/$7.99, pb, 207pp, 1416959432
In the late 1800s, many Irish immigrated to the United States in order to provide a better life for themselves. Most came with little other than dreams and a few family heirlooms, but a lucky few also had a skill that was in demand. Such was the case with Bridget O’Malley, whose seamstress skills (and the audacious bragging of her father) help her land a valuable job creating dresses for the daughters of an industrialist. Unfortunately, while talented, Bridget’s work isn’t quite up to the creations demanded by her new employer, and she must turn to Ray Stalls, a mysterious young man whose sewing and designing far exceed her own. But what price will Ray exact from Bridget as payment for his help? Would he even demand her firstborn child?
Suzanne Weyn’s The Crimson Thread is a delightful retelling of the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin, but instead of a mysterious little man spinning straw into gold, we have an elusive young man who seems to have fallen in love with our heroine. Throughout the book Weyn gives fairly reasonable explanations for things that were more magical in the original tale; Bridget’s “firstborn child” being her younger sister and the straw spun into gold being a thread created by Ray. I enjoyed Weyn’s realistic spin, even if it does include a thoroughly unlikely marriage proposal and a mild touch of political correctness. And while I understood the reasons for name changes, they tended to be distracting. However, these are minor annoyances that did
not take away from my overall enjoyment. The Crimson Thread is part of a series of fairy tale retellings from Simon Pulse, and I’m intrigued to pick up more to see if they measure up as well as this one did. This young adult novel will appeal to readers of historical fiction and romance alike.
Tamela
McCann
NONFICTION
UNTIL OUR LAST BREATH
Michael Bart and Laurel Corona, St. Martin’s Press, 2008, $25.95/C$28.95/£16.99, hb, 306pp, 9780312378073
At his father’s funeral, Michael Bart is approached by a mourner who informs him that his parents belonged to a World War II Jewish partisan group in Lithuania. What follows is ten years of research into his parents’ past, a journey which leads him to a very personal view of the Holocaust and a glimpse into a people who, not content with being victims, rose up and resisted the terror. With the German invasion of their homeland, Bart’s parents find themselves confronted by not only the Nazis, but also the enmity of their own countrymen. As part of a partisan group named the “Avengers,” Leizer and Zenia Bart take part in the resistance to this all-encompassing hate.
This is more than a story of faraway Jews caught up in the indescribable cruelty of the Nazis. This one is more personal. The reader comes to know these people, which makes what happens to them all the more poignant. It is particularly interesting in its portrayal of how the pent-up prejudice of their own neighbors is unleashed by the coming of the Germans. It stands as a study of how a people come to resist a seemingly unstoppable force.
The authors have crafted a well written, readable work about a struggle of survival and resistance. By telling his parents’ story, Michael Bart has in no small measure achieved the ultimate goal of the “Avengers”: to push back the forces of evil that so changed their young lives.
Ken Kreckel
MASTERS OF BATTLE, Monty, Patton and Rommel at War
Terry Brighton, Viking, 2008, £25.00, hb, 439pp, 9780670916917
In World War II, Great Britain, the United States and Germany each produced one land force commander who stood out from the rest. All three lived up to the epithet awarded them of ‘armour plated egos’ being arrogant, publicity seeking and personally flawed. Terry Brighton places these three dynamic characters in the same ring and allows them to fight it out against the backdrop of the great battles of North Africa, Sicily and Italy; the Normandy landings; and the push through France and Belgium into Germany.
‘The greatest generals of the war’ come alive within the pages, and it gives pause for thought when considering, ‘if neither Montgomery nor Patton had been available to the Allies and Hitler’s mental decline had not broken his trust in Rommel, the Wustenfuchs might well have won the war on the sandy beaches of Normandy.’
Ann Oughton
EMILY POST: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners
Laura Claridge, Random House, 2008, $30.00/ C$34.00, hb, 544pp, 9780375509216
Like her masterwork, Etiquette, Post was truly a woman who changed with the times. Born into a wealthy Baltimore family, she was raised in society and married Edwin Post, a businessman prone to making risky investments—not an uncommon trait for a Gilded Age gentleman. Though she had a strong interest in architecture passed on to her by her father, Bruce Price, she lived the typical life of a young, married homemaker until her husband’s infidelity lead to a divorce. Emily’s career as an author followed soon after. Post’s journey from Gilded Age society princess to author and career woman is engaging, and Claridge’s in-depth research illuminates facets of Post’s life that many readers may not know about. Though Emily Post’s name is now synonymous with privilege and wealth, Post was a strong believer in upward mobility, and she felt that treating others with respect and dignity made one a better person than wealth or upbringing. Claridge describes Post’s revisions made to Etiquette to keep the work relevant as times changed, making this fascinating biography as much a history of Emily Post’s time as it is of her life.
Nanette
Donohue
EMPIRES OF THE SEA: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World Roger Crowley, Random House, 2008, $30.00, hb, 315pp, 9781400066247 / Faber and Faber, 2008, £20.00, hb, 368pp, 9780571232307
Christian Europe’s fate in the struggle against an aggressive and powerful Ottoman Empire was settled in the Mediterranean between the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the climactic Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Roger Crowley’s extraordinary sense of the dramatic together with his finely crafted writing brings this struggle to life as few have done before. Rival empires wage war and religions compete for souls while colorful personalities such as Pope Pius V, Don Juan of Austria, and the unlucky Ali Pasha play their roles to perfection. Crowley analyzes both sides as he directs us through the struggle for Rhodes, the desperate Christian defense of Malta, and the critical all-important engagement at Lepanto. The author of 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West has written a tale as gripping as the finest historical novel.
John R. Vallely
DISCOVERY AT ROSETTA: The Stone that Unlocked the Mysteries of Ancient Egypt Jonathan Downs, Constable, 2008, £16.99, hb, 262pp, 9781845295790
It was a real revelation to read the story behind the discovery of the Rosetta stone. Referred to by William Hamilton as the ‘Trilinguar stone’, the importance of this polished black granite tablet was immediately obvious when it was accidentally discovered in July 1799 by Bouchard and his engineers after demolishing the crumbling outer wall of the Fort Julien in an attempt to reinforce the French position against the imminent Ottoman attack. Alongside his vast army, Napoleon had secured the services of 167 ‘savants’ to whom he gave precise orders to rediscover the lost civilisation of the Nile. Dating from 197 BC the Rosetta stone was undoubtedly the single most significant find of Napoleon’s disastrous Egyptian campaign but, having been lain undisturbed in the foundations for some four hundred years, it became one of the most hotly contested spoils of the campaign. By February 1802 the stone was in London, but how it got there and the story of its decipherment became the subject of conflicting reports and fierce argument. Seeing their work threatened by the two opposing commanders – Hely-Huchinson and the maddening Menou – the British scholars and the French ‘savants’ collaborated as best they could: to further science and ultimately, by deciphering hieroglyphics, ‘to give birth to the explosion that became Egyptology.’
Lucinda Byatt
WEBB GARRISON’S CIVIL WAR
DICTIONARY: An Illustrated Guide to the Everyday Language of Soldiers and Civilians
Webb Garrison Sr. with Cheryl Garrison, Cumberland House, 2008, $16.95/C$18.95, pb, 350pp, 9781581826753
Most Civil War buffs know that General Robert E. Lee’s favorite warhorse was the gray gelding Traveller. Fewer realize that Cincinnati was a favored horse of General Ulysses S. Grant. Who were the pads? What was junk? Hint: Soldiers said that it was about as edible as old rope. The Civil War Dictionary is a compilation of Garrison’s more than thirty years of research from primary sources. Formal and informal terms are listed, including nicknames, slang, places, ships, types of guns, and diseases. Many illustrations are included, and where appropriate, examples and anecdotes are given. Although the dictionary claims to consist of the everyday language of soldiers and civilians, the collection is military oriented. Even disease names are those that tended to affect the soldiers in the field. Still, the work is commendable, and I recommend it to anyone interested in the language from the American Civil War.
Kim Murphy
hb, 416pp, 978006153715 / Bloomsbury, 2008, £8.99, pb, 416pp, 9780747593003
What was Ann Hathaway like, and what was her role in her husband’s life? Often, male writers have suggested that she was an encumbrance who entrapped Shakespeare in a joyless marriage when he was too young to know better and who never appreciated his genius. This view has even made its way into popular culture, as in the film Shakespeare in Love. Feminist Germaine Greer argues that this says far more about misogyny than about Ann the actual woman. Ann Hathaway and William Shakespeare married when he was eighteen and she was twenty-six. We can only be sure of the barest facts about their life together. They had three children. Shakespeare left his family behind—but not permanently—to seek a career in the theater. He died in his fifties, at the family home in Stratford, bequeathing Ann, famously, his “second best bed.”
Greer uses modern research methods and new historical knowledge to set Shakespeare’s marriage in the social world of 16th- and early 17th-century England. William may have been lucky in finding Ann. While Greer can only speculate about Ann Hathaway’s specific circumstances, she makes a good case that she worked and supported their children and gave William a safe harbor to which he repeatedly returned. In historical context, it seems even Shakespeare’s will does not reflect poorly on their marriage. What I found most convincing was Greer’s reinterpretation of one of Shakespeare’s sonnets. It does, as Greer argues, read remarkably like a poem about a beloved, absent wife.
This thoroughly enjoyable, brilliantly written book deserves to be widely read. History buffs will relish the details about ordinary life in Shakespeare’s England, and those who love his work will come to a deeper understanding of its roots.
Phyllis T. Smith
EMPIRES, BATTLES AND WARS: The Middle East from Antiquity to the Rise of the New World
T.C.F. Hopkins, Forge, 2007, $14.95/ C$16.95/£9.99, pb, 256pp, 9780765303271
T.C.F. Hopkins offers a fast-paced view of a frequently misunderstood period of Middle Eastern history—the ancient world to the beginnings of Ottoman decline in 1683. This is a field which could easily take up several volumes, but the author aims at only introducing the reader to the critical topics and events. The volume begins with antiquity and quickly moves through Rome, the Byzantine Empire, the Crusades, and the rise of the Ottomans. The amount of information is dizzying for such a small book (see page 242 for the origin of the term “crescent roll”), and that may deter some readers. Those who persevere will be rewarded.
SHAKESPEARE’S WIFE
Germaine Greer, Harper, 2008, $26.95/C$36.99,
John R. Vallely
POP GOES THE WEASEL:
The Secret
Meanings of Nursery Rhymes
Albert Jack, Allen Lane, 2008, £12.99, hb, 292pp, 9781846141447
Seemingly innocent, nonsensical children’s rhymes that we may think were merely intended to amuse were, in reality, anything but. Many of the rhymes marked a point in history: for instance, Humpty Dumpty was the name of Charles I’s cannon employed in the siege of Colchester during the English Civil War. Lucy Locket was a London prostitute and the Grand Old Duke of York, Prince Frederick, was a son of George III and a blundering military commander who marched his men to the top of the hill at Toucoing where they were defeated.
Albert Jack shows that the rhymes are a means of preserving moments in history and so are still relevant today. In their time they were a means of transmitting the news of the day and their simple, easy to remember ditties have ensured their survival. Citing over 200 rhymes with their meanings and associations makes this book a treasure trove of information and sheer, light-hearted fun.
Ann Oughton
SOVEREIGNS OF THE SEA: The Quest to Build the Perfect Renaissance Battleship
Angus Konstam, Wiley, 2008, $27.95/£14.99, hb, 338pp, 9780470116678
The large and heavily armed “ship of the line” or “battleship” played a central role in naval history from early times to the submarine/ aircraft carrier era. Prolific naval and military writer Angus Konstam reminds us that the story began not with Nelson and Fisher, but in the 16th century. Monarchs in the Renaissance coveted the battleship as a vital ingredient in defense and power projection as well as symbols of royal prestige. Konstam presents the reader with tales of the unlucky Mary Rose and Vasa to go along with an extraordinary analysis of Renaissance technology and shipbuilding.
John R. Vallely
IKE: An American Hero
Michael Korda, Harper, 2008, $17.95/C$19.25, pb, 800pp, 9780060756666
This ambitious work chronicles the life of Dwight D Eisenhower, from his roots in the rural poverty of Abilene, Kansas, to his quiet and dignified end at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It tells the story of the man who engineered the defeat of Nazi Germany and guided the United States through the subsequent Cold War with the Soviet Union. Through it all shines the quiet strength and self-effacing manner that defined the notion of a hero to a generation.
The book is at its best describing the early years of Ike’s life. The author skillfully takes the reader through the making of the future general and president. The bulk of the work, however, focuses on World War II, where unfortunately
there is little new to be found. The serious student of the period will even be dismayed to find several jarring, if perhaps minor, factual errors. The post-war years are handled perfunctorily, as if the author was racing to put an end to an already voluminous book.
Although illuminating in its early chapters, Korda’s book is ultimately superficial and disappointing.
Ken Kreckel
CONQUISTADOR: Hernán Cortés, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs
Buddy Levy, Bantam, 2008, $27.50/C$32.00, hb, 429pp, 9780553805383
In 1519, when the ambitious Hernán Cortés landed on Mexican soil in the name of the Spanish monarch, he had three goals: conquer the natives, convert them to Catholicism, and take possession of a fortune in gold. In less than two years, through a series of brutal battles, shifting alliances, disease, and cunning, Cortes managed to defeat the proud and powerful Montezuma, god-like ruler of all Mexico. This volume is a riveting account of Cortés’s campaign to invade the Valley of Mexico and capture the fabulous Tenochtitlán (the “City of Dreams”), capital of an immense empire numbering some 15 million people. Levy provides realistic portraits of the two major figures and their initial meeting, and scenes of floating gardens and ornate palaces, gruesome religious sacrifice, the horrors of two war machines in face-to-face battle, in a factual, enthralling, enlightening—if at times disturbing—lush narrative that reads like good fiction. This depiction of the most powerful empire in the Americas tragically brought low by European invaders is nothing short of fascinating. Includes maps, illustrations, notes, and index.
Michael I. Shoop
FULL-COURT QUEST
Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith, Univ. of Oklahoma, 2008, $29.95, hb, 496pp, 9780806139739
In the late 1800s, the United States government established boarding schools for Native American children with the intent of assimilating the children into European culture by isolating them from their tribes and teaching them new speech, dress, and domestic methods. At the same time, the YMCA developed basketball, a team sport suitable for retaining agility and team spirit during the cold winter months. The female students at the Fort Shaw Indian School in rural Montana excelled in this sport, becoming Montana’s first championship team. Furthermore, the team had the opportunity to demonstrate their basketball and entertainment talents at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Detailed research provides a rich account
of how the girls were recruited to this isolated school. Presented factually, the narrative subtly exposes the government’s strategy to weaken the Indian tribes but focuses mostly on the women’s development into star players and young ladies. An epilogue provides analysis and conclusions, while endnotes and a bibliography present further avenues for study. Complete with photographs and maps, this book gives a voice to a group who were almost forgotten. Readers of fiction and nonfiction alike will find this book irresistible.
Suzanne J. Sprague
THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective
Kate Summerscale, Walker, 2008, $24.95, hb, 360pp, 9780802715357 / Bloomsbury, 2008, £11.99, hb, 384pp, 9780747599227
In 1860 in England, a middle-class family’s three-year-old son disappears. After a brief search, he is found dead in an outdoor privy with his throat savagely cut. It electrifies the public’s curiosity as it becomes the Victorian equivalent of the O.J. Simpson murder case. It quickly becomes apparent that the murder was committed by one of the family or servants in the household. Without important evidence, the speculations run rampant. Finally, the local law enforcement calls in Scotland Yard’s finest detective, Jack Whicher. He quickly identifies his prime suspect, but his evidence is only circumstantial. The prevailing public opinion is against him, and he returns to London with the case unsolved and his reputation tarnished. Years later, a confession exonerates him.
Summerscale has written a compelling story of this gruesome murder and Victorian society’s fascination with detectives. Overall the book is an excellent example of a subject that continues to fascinate many people today. If you are into mysteries, fictional or not, this is a must read.
Gerald T. Burke
CAVALRYMAN OF THE LOST CAUSE: A Biography of J. E. B. Stuart
Jeffrey D. Wert, Simon & Schuster, 2008, $32.00, hb, 477pp, 9780743278195
“Jeb” Stuart was one of the most brilliant and colorful personalities in U.S. military history. Jeffrey Wert is one of America’s foremost Civil War historians. This potent combination allows the reader to examine the critical role the flamboyant Stuart played in the main Confederate Army in the eastern theater. Wert clearly proves Stuart was far more of a creative and thoroughly professional cavalry officer than the showman many believe. This is a superbly written biography of “the greatest cavalry officer ever foaled in America” as well as a concise account of Robert E. Lee’s army and campaigns.
John R. Vallely
Historical Novels Review
ISSN: 1471-7492
© 2008, The Historical Novel Society
