n
LIKE MAYFLIES IN A STREAM
Shauna Roberts, Hadley Rille, 2009, $11.95, pb, 195pp, 9780982514009
Roberts retells ancient Mesopotamia’s Epic of Gilgamesh, the world’s first written tale. Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, oppresses his people until a priestess of the Goddess Inanna goes out to the wilderness and tames the wild man Enkidu to be the king’s friend and equal.
Small press Hadley Rille’s goal with this series is to present “archaeologically-correct historical novels.” Author Roberts mentions in her concluding note how she set about fulfilling this mandate: “Rather than make up something misleading, I’ve given the people of Uruk far more secular and colorless lives than they actually lived.” In this, I have to say she has succeeded. Periodic flashes of fine description – due all to primary sources – only served to illuminate the general tone of lifeless grey through which drab and undistinguished characters moved. I’ve read many an archaeological report that brought more vibrancy to the hole the excavators were digging. Rather then being carried away to the time and place sketchy excavations only partially reveal, I found myself stumbling in badly realized scenes: During, for example, just the first we lose track of an attacking lion for far too long. Other places, the groundwork is not laid for emotional experiences, so the whole loses what was perhaps meant to be barbaric primitiveness and becomes merely anorexic. Finally, no remorse is felt at the loss of archaeological purity when a too-modern romantic ending is pasted on in the final pages.
Ann Chamberlin
Proginosko, a device that will enable mankind to have control over time.
Amidst this turmoil, Cleopatra, a former pupil of Sophia’s, has returned from exile to claim power from her brother Ptolomey. She is determined to save herself and Egypt by winning Caesar’s alliance at any cost, but does not realize that cost may be greater than anything she has yet given: her heart. Culture, ambition, and faith clash as each woman meets her match and must make a decision that will change her life forever.
Guardian of the Flame is the third in Higley’s Seven Wonders series. Part romance, part suspense, and part political novel, it defies a standard categorization. I have reviewed several inspirational novels for HNS and found this to be a cut above most. I enjoyed Higley’s retelling of the Beauty and the Beast myth in the unlikely romance of the plain, surly Sophia and cultured Bellus, as well as her blending of fact and fiction to create a suspenseful story leading to one of the most famous fires in history.
Susan Cook
CLEOPATRA’S DAUGHTER
Michelle Moran, Crown, 2009, $25.00/C$29.95, hb, 488pp, 9780307409126 / Quercus, 2009, £12.99, hb, 432pp, 9781847249548
In 30 BC, after the defeat and suicide of Antony and Cleopatra, their twin children, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, were taken to Rome as captives by Octavian (the future emperor Augustus). The boy thereafter disappears from history. Selene was raised in Augustus’s household and was eventually married off to Juba, the client king of Mauretania. And that is about all we know. Out of these scant materials, Moran has attempted a fictional biography. The novel, however, is a disappointment.
We are asked to believe, for example, that
THE SILVER EAGLE
the young Selene has such a prodigious gift for architectural drawing that she is taken on as an assistant by the great Vitruvius, with whom she helps design the Pantheon (!). Then there is the love triangle, involving Selene with Augustus’s bitchy daughter Julia and his handsome nephew Marcellus, in what reads like an offering from Gossip Girls, except that here raging hormones are reduced to limp and repetitious dialogue. (There is a lot of shopping.)
Add to this, a subplot in which a mysterious Robin Hood-like figure, calling himself the Red Eagle, darts about the city freeing slaves. It won’t be giving away too much to say that his identity, when revealed, is historically preposterous.
The novel is further marred by misinformation and errors in Latin. To mention only a few examples: Selene did not have the blood of Alexander the Great in her veins; her shock at Roman infanticide is uncalled for (the practice was just as common in Hellenistic Egypt); actum, the word used repeatedly for the Red Eagle’s proclamations, does not have this meaning (the correct word is libellus); the celebratory shout at Roman weddings was Thalassio, not thalassa (a Greek word meaning “sea”); and finally –students of Latin be prepared to wince – “pleb” is not the singular of plebs
All this could be forgiven if the story itself were compelling enough. It isn’t.
Bruce Macbain
BIBLICAL
N n N n
CLASSICAL
GUARDIAN OF THE FLAME
T.L. Higley, B&H, 2009, $14.99, pb, 400pp, 9780805447323
Sophia passes her days shut up in the lighthouse of Alexandria, blaming herself for a tragedy of twenty years past. She dedicates her life to keeping the flame alive and preserving her husband’s intellectual legacy at the Museum, sure she neither wants nor deserves anything more. Bellus is a commander in Julius Caesar’s sixth cohort, respected by his centurions, with a beautiful fiancée back in Rome. Yet he knows that he longs for something more in life. When Caesar descends on Alexandria, Bellus is charged with keeping the lighthouse. However, Sophia is using it to guard something more precious from Caesar’s grasp: knowledge, in particular the
DELILAH
India Edghill, St. Martin’s, 2009, $25.99/ C$32.99, hb, 384pp, 9780312338916
As a young girl, Delilah is brought to the Temple of Atargatis in Ascalon, one of the Five Cities of Philistia in Canaan. There she trains to be a priestess, along with Aylah, whom Delilah
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Ben Kane, Preface, 2009, 402pp, hb, £12.99, 9781848090118
The Silver Eagle, the second in a trilogy, picks up from where the earlier book, The Forgotten Legion, left off. Ten thousand legionaries are now captives of the Parthians, of whom Romulus, Tarquinius the soothsayer and Brennus the ex-gladiator are three of the survivors. Back in Rome, Fabiola, Romulus’ twin sister who was sold into a brothel aged just thirteen, and who subsequently became the lover of Brutus (now in Gaul with Julius Caesar), finds that she, too, must leave Rome and travel to Gaul to find him.
Based around events which finally led to the downfall of the Roman empire and around many of the people who actually lived, worked and fought in the 1st century BC, this book is one of the best I have read on this period. It is full of action with just enough explanation, description, to inform the reader without falling into the trap of producing long, boring tracts. The characters live and breathe – the noise, smell, desperation, moments of joy are all there, and the pages turn themselves. I simply could not put this book down and feel compelled to read the first book. I also look forward in great anticipation to reading the third. Highly recommended.
Marilyn Sherlock
befriends when the girl is bought at a bazaar and brought to the Temple.
Meanwhile, as word of the almost superhuman strength of the young Samson spreads, the Israelites become convinced that he is the man to lead them in rebellion, despite Samson’s own peaceful nature. When Samson comes to Ascalon and is instantly smitten with Delilah, the High Priestess of the Temple and the Prince of the City determine to use first Aylah, and then Delilah herself, to destroy Samson.
Told in the first person by Delilah and through the eyes of several other characters in third-person chapters, this is a compelling tale of intrigue and betrayal, told in lyrical but highly readable prose. Knowing little about this time period, I found the early part of the story, about Delilah’s upbringing in the Temple and her life as a priestess, to be fascinating. If there was a weak spot for me, it was in the love story between Delilah and Samson, which seemed underdeveloped compared to what seemed to be the more deeply felt friendships between Delilah and Aylah and between Samson and the harper Orev. Still, I’ll be reading more of Edghill’s novels in the future.
Susan Higginbotham
GIRL MARY
Petru Popescu, Simon and Schuster, 2009, $15.00, pb, 560pp, 978146532637
Romanian-born bestseller Petru Popescu imagines the girlhood of Jesus’s mother in this European-flavored literary work. We first see the tall young woman through the eyes of a Roman who turns out to be Pontius Pilate, sent by his emperor to find the prophesied mother of God to give his imperial claim a boost of divinity. Mary and her family have fled from (rather gratuitous, it seems to me) civil strife in their native Nazareth to be caretakers of a desert well Mary herself discovers through inspiration. Mary then leads her people back to reclaim their homes and she her Joseph—who is too representative a woodcarver to suit my idea of a first-century Jew.
I really wanted Pilate to be the Roman soldier Panthera whom early anti-Christian writers claimed was the true father of a bastard Jesus. In spite of Mary’s visceral experience seeing young women stoned for not being intact virgins at their weddings, I was all set up for that cynical revelation—and other things—but no such riddles are solved in this literary book. The novel often seems more grounded in modern existential circles than first-century Palestine— not necessarily a bad interpretation. The language rings foreign, which adds to the exotic flavor, but sometimes slips into anachronism. Networked? A wire fence? Copperhead snake? Anna’s dyeing work is wondrously portable— no stink, no vats—and lucretive. People are always “jumping” onto horses and “galloping” impossible distances. We have candles instead of lamps.
All can be forgiven in the face of the lyric
sensuality of many passages. The breathtaking first-person epiphany Mary has where God watches her “out of every leaf and blade of grass” makes a believer out of me.
Ann Chamberlin
1st CENTURY
THE GLADIATOR
opponent for Macro and Cato in Ajax, who has a personal reason to hate them both, as well as his deep resentment against all Romans for his enslavement, to fuel his actions. I look forward to the next in the series.
jay Dixon
n N n
Simon Scarrow, Headline, 2009, £17.99, hb, 370pp, 9780755327782
The Gladiator is Simon Scarrow’s ninth book in his Roman series featuring Macro and Cato. This time the intrepid duo are in Crete, after an earthquake there, followed by a tidal wave at sea, has marooned them in the coastal town of Matala, along with Julia, Cato’s fiancée, and her father, Senator Sempronius. The earthquake having killed most of the senior dignitaries of the island, including the governor, the Senator takes charge.
All the slaves have been freed from their bondage by the earthquake. Gradually they band together, under the charismatic leadership of Ajax, the gladiator, with Macro and Cato the only officers left capable of dealing with the revolt, along with a few legions. And deal with it they must, despite the lack of men, before it ignites rebellion throughout the empire.
I have enjoyed all of Scarrow’s Roman series. Macro and Cato are contrasting characters, well portrayed and believable. The battle scenes are not drawn out, but are vivid, and there are some good linguistically humorous touches, as in Macro’s ‘pardon my Gallic’. The Gladiator is well-paced, with an excellent
Y CLAUDIUS
2nd CENTURY
EMPIRE: Wounds of Honour
Anthony Riches, Hodder and Stoughton, 2009, £12.99, hb, 341pp, 9780340920305
Marcus Valerius is a young Roman aristocrat whose family is judicially murdered on a trumped-up treason charge. Keeping just ahead of the Emperor’s death edicts, he flees to the edge of the Roman world, becoming a centurion on Hadrian’s Wall. Unfortunately, overwhelming numbers of the locals are plotting a revolt, and as the posh, junior officer, Marcus has been saddled with the unit’s rejects. Can he weld them into an effective fighting force in time?
Well, let us just say this is a story full of clichés. It’s a “new recruit” drama, and it could be easily transposed to any barracks in any time. For a self-confessed aficionado of the Roman experience, Mr Riches doesn’t convey a great deal of period feel into his first book. How did Romans and Celtic Brits speak, think and go about their business? According to Wounds of Honour, they went in for a lot of angst-ridden dialogue, which frankly surprised me.
The point of view jumps round a lot. The pacing is uneven, with many pages devoted to some events, and others skimped over. This is the first in a projected series. Let us hope for
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Douglas Jackson, Bantam, 2009, £12.99, hb, 327pp, 9780593060629
Emperor Claudius needs to secure his tenuous position in Rome and sets his sights on victory in Britain as a surefire winner. In far off Britain, King Caractacus and his rival tribal leaders unite to face a vicious and unforgiving enemy, certain in the knowledge that they can win a great victory – and therefore lasting peace – for themselves.
Into this maelstrom is cast the slave Rufus, an animal trainer with a unique position – that of elephant keeper to the emperor himself. He and his pachyderm charge, Bersheba, are in Britain for uncertain reasons. Their emperor has commanded and they have obeyed.
Then, when a Roman victory seems a bloody certainty the truth dawns – they are there to put fear of the gods into the Britons. To embody the very might and power of the Roman Empire and to prove the potency of Claudius himself. All of which makes them an obvious target for the wrath of the Britons.
This is top quality storytelling with an almost filmic quality, and it is obvious that Douglas Jackson has really hit his stride with this second novel featuring Rufus the animal trainer. He seems completely comfortable with his Roman history whilst producing plot, character and dialogue of the highest order.
Visceral, yet undeniably gripping, Claudius might not be a book for the squeamish, (like Caligula before it), but it is not to be missed by those who like their history to be thrilling and action-packed from start to finish.
Sara Wilson
better things to come.
Martin Bourne
3rd CENTURY
KING OF KINGS
Harry Sidebottom, Michael Joseph, 2009, £12.99, hb, 391pp, 9780718153311
Harry Sidebottom continues his Warrior of Rome series where part one – Fire in the East – ended. Marcus Clodius Ballista, Dux Rupae, defender of the lands between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, leads his remaining troop to the safety of the mountains thus hoping to outpace the Persian Sassanid Cavalry hard on their heels. It is autumn 256 AD and Ballista has lost, through betrayal, the siege of the city of Arete. At the end he hoped to have gained for Rome a year’s grace as the Empire in the East continues to crumble.
In King of Kings, Ballista, born a barbarian, sometime imperial favourite, now finds himself to be expendable. A year after the fall of Arete he is appointed by the ageing emperor, Valerian, as deputy governor in Asia and sent to Ephesus, where his task is the rigorous persecution of the atheistic sect of Christians.
The reader is never in doubt of Dr. Sidebottom’s command of the history he portrays. The appendix is impressive, the glossary essential to understanding the complex titles of the Imperium. The frustration, glory, fear and death of the Roman soldier is described in vivid terms, each component of the legion explained making a cohesive whole.
Part one of the series was total immersion in siege warfare; utterly compelling. Here, in part two, the author is on firm ground when affairs take on a military stand; however, chinks in his impressive armour start to show when the story turns to civilian issues. New characters are suddenly and briefly introduced, leaving a vague feeling of disconnection.
Overall, the novel is an intelligent portrait of a turbulent period. It is strong stuff. I await the emergence of part three when we are promised more in-depth descriptions of the main protagonists.
Gwen Sly
5th CENTURY
A LAND BEYOND RAVENS
Kathleen Cunningham Guler, Bardsong, 2009, $25.95, hb, 384pp, 9780966037166
At the very end of this novel, the fourth and final book of Guler’s Macsen’s Treasure series, Claerwen tells her husband Marcus, “I broke the joy you felt in what happened here.” Her words might easily apply to the mood throughout: despite the hope offered by the prospect of Arthur’s succession, anxiety and fear dominate.
Mind you, there is good reason for alarm. The novel is set in fifth-century Britain, when invading Saxons are driving the British ever
farther west; in the face of this threat to their very survival, the British rulers remain disunited and quarrelsome, while the Christian Church is concerned only to grasp political power for itself. Furthermore, Marcus has attracted the enmity of his overlord, Cadwallon, King of Gwynnedd; Uther, the High King whom he has long served as a spy, has grown autocratic and suspicious of him; and his beloved wife is plagued by a heart condition and by ominous and confusing visions of the future, involving the Grail, Camlann, and Medraut. As they struggle to ensure that Arthur succeeds his father as High King, it is upon their trials that Guler focuses. Moments of success or happiness, such as the loving embraces between husband and wife, are passed over briefly or undercut by their pressing concerns; by contrast, accusations and threats, capture and beatings, and worry for those they care about, abound and make the lives of Marcus and Claerwen very stressful indeed.
The picture of what is now north Wales in the 5th century is credible and probably depressingly accurate. If you like your Dark Ages suitably dark, your tyrants vengeful, your traitors vicious, and your heroes harried (think Henry Treece), then this is for you.
Ray Thompson
PENDRAGON’S BANNER
Helen Hollick, Sourcebooks, 2009 (c1996), $16.99, pb, 496pp, 9781402218897 / BookForce UK, 2006, £12.99, pb, 432pp, 9781905108282
Pendragon’s Banner, the second book in Helen Hollick’s take on the Arthurian legend, follows closely behind The Kingmaking. Arthur has won his kingdom, but finds he must constantly look over his shoulder at the legions ready for him to lose control of his lands. Peace also eludes Gwenhwyfar as she raises her three young sons, knowing Arthur’s first wife Winifred is looming with her own son as rival heir. Mix in Arthur’s aunt, Morgause, whose sole evil purpose seems to be to bring Arthur to ruin, and you’ve got a perfect recipe for a royal disaster of epic proportions.
Pendragon’s Banner gives us a very different Arthur than the one made famous by so many others. He’s not Christian, or even particularly religious; while he loves Gwenhwyfar beyond reason, he’s not a faithful husband. This Arthur is not always a good person, but he is a brilliant military commander and a man whom others will follow even unto death. There is no magic to be found in Pendragon’s Banner, no Lancelot, no Merlin; instead we are given a fallible man striving to hold his kingdom together for the sake of his people and his sons. Likewise, Gwenhwyfar is no wallflower, waffling between two men. Indeed Gwenhwyfar steals the show late in the book when she takes matters into her own hands and decisively leads a charge in the face of incredible odds.
accessible. Written as history rather than myth, the story at times moves a bit slowly but builds very nicely toward the climax. While purists may not like Hollick’s take, I found myself enjoying the idea of Arthur as a real king facing distrust and doubt, both from himself and his vassals. I will definitely be waiting anxiously for the third installment in this excellent trilogy.
Tamela McCann
6th CENTURY
KING ARTHUR: Dragon’s Child
M. K. Hume, Headline, 2009, £12.99, 433pp, 9780755348657
In Dark Age Britain, a boy called Artorex is being fostered by Lord Ector. Even Ector does not know who and what the boy is. In this first book of a trilogy, the tale covers his life from a boy to the very early years of the King Arthur of legend.
The narration shifts around to various characters, which can be distracting, but the author is seeking to control her story, using different views where necessary. Initially Artorex seems too perfect, but gradually he becomes a little more manipulative and makes hard decisions, which means he develops into an interesting and intriguing character.
Though much is made of Roman culture, unfortunately the Romans as portrayed here are those of the Early Empire, or maybe earlier. One character, for example, carries a short sword, specifically pointed out as being Roman. But by the Late Empire, the short gladius had been abandoned in favour of the longer spatha (ideal for slashing the enemy from horseback, for instance). There are many more examples (including confusing Saxons with Vikings) which inevitably leads to an unconvincing historical setting.
This is an interesting addition to the growing legion of King Arthur novels, much in the tradition of the medieval and later legends.
Sandra Garside-Neville
9th CENTURY
POPE JOAN
Donna Woolfolk Cross, Three Rivers, 2009, $15.00/C$18.95, pb, 432pp, 9780307452368
Gifted with a thirst for knowledge and the ability to reason, Joan soon learns these traits are of little use to a young girl of the ninth century. Even so, her father begrudgingly allows a visiting religious scholar to tutor Joan with her brother. Before her teacher leaves, he promises to find a way for her to continue her studies. When that day arrives, her parents convince the messenger he wants John, her brother. Her mother’s betrayal and the beatings her father inflicts drive Joan to run away. Reunited with John, they make their way to Dorstadt where the bishop permits Joan to study at the schola. Neither her teacher nor the boys approve of this N n N n N n N n
This novel is an ambitious twist on the well worn tale of Arthur Pendragon, and it succeeds because Hollick has made Arthur human and
departure from tradition. She endures unending teasing and abuse, but finds solace in Gerold, a soldier who welcomes her into his family and home.
When Norsemen attack the town, Joan survives the slaughter and plundering. She finds her brother’s body and assumes his identity. As John Anglicus, she enters a monastery and becomes a healer. Eventually, she makes her way to Rome, where her skill as a physician soon brings her to the pope’s attention. The moment she enters the Patriarchium she follows a path that will eventually lead to her election as Pope John.
Many ancient texts recount Pope Joan’s story, and Cross intricately weaves a stunning and harrowing tale of life in the 800s from those accounts. She vividly portrays the places and times, and her characters come alive to communicate the story of the world’s first and only woman pope, a person the Catholic Church didn’t attempt to eradicate from the historical record until the seventeenth century. Equally informative is the author’s note that answers the question “Was there a Pope Joan?” and explains the changes Cross made to the original edition of the book.
Cindy Vallar
10th CENTURY
TO KNOW EVIL
pb, 448pp, 9780452295681
Rachel is the third daughter of the 11th century French Talmud scholar Salomon ben Isaac, better known today as Rashi. Rachel’s story follows that of her elder sisters Joheved and Miriam. Rachel engages in a money lending business, but is trying very hard to develop a family-run wool business, from sheep through finished fabric, in order to allow her traveling merchant husband, Eliezer, to stay at home with her in Troyes and earn his living there. With the advent of the Crusades (we read of the horrendous effect of the First Crusade on Jewish communities in Germany) and the unruly followers of Peter the Hermit, as well as events in an unsettled Spain, this is not the best time for Jewish merchants to be traveling. However, Eliezer has found the excitement of secular study in Toledo to be overpowering, and is not interested in being in Troyes year round. This leads to continuing friction with Rachel, who does not want to leave Troyes, despite the unwanted attentions of a local count. Rachel’s extended family is growing and the older generation is aging, bringing a number of changes to their lives. It is interesting to watch this development through the series.
But all is not love and heartbreak in this near 500-page saga. Reynald de Chatillon’s treachery is faithfully recounted, as are his and de Ridefort’s roles in precipitating the treacherous battle of Hattin. The author weaves together fiction and history skillfully even giving Khalidah and Sulayman a crucial role at Hattin which I will not spoil – nor the fate of Bilal and Salim. All comes together in the mythical land of Qaf, a utopian mountain valley where males and females live in pastoral harmony. All train as superb warriors who serve in a mercenary army dedicated to helping others in righteous causes. In describing the journey to Qaf and in retelling its myths the author takes the story into more serious territory, contemplating the role of religion and the nature of faith.
All in all, this is a very good book. It is endearing as a romance yet has enough action and history to satisfy Crusades enthusiasts. Confidently recommended!
Lucille Cormier
THE LUTE PLAYER
Norah Lofts, Touchstone, 2009, $16.00/ C$21.00, pb, 572pp, 9781439146071 / History Press, 2007, £6.99, pb, 424pp, 9780752444673
Stephen Gaspar, Pemberley, 2009, $17.95/ C$19.95, pb, 224pp, 9780977191390
Any reader searching for a less densely detailed description of medieval monastic life than that provided by Umberto Eco may wish to join along with Brother Thomas of Worms as his duties take him to a Benedictine monastery in a remote section of northern Italy. The year 999 has not gone well for the Benedictine monks as a series of allegedly accidental deaths appear to Thomas as homicides. The Abbot, extremely reluctant to rule the deaths as murders, forcibly reminds Brother Thomas of his vows of obedience by ordering him to laboriously copy a portion of the Bible. A young monk, Brother Nicholas, introduces Thomas to a Gnostic manuscript. Despite the need to obey his superior and his conflicting desire to seek out a killer, Thomas finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the Gnostic material. The text stuns Thomas and leads him to seriously question his role in the Church and the very foundations of his faith. As chance would have it, Thomas’s hitherto stable world is further shaken as the monks nervously prepare for the expected struggle between Good and Evil certain to be play a critical role the moment 999 turns to 1000 on the calendar.
N n N n
John R. Vallely
11th CENTURY
RASHI’S DAUGHTERS, BOOK III: Rachel Maggie Anton, Plume, 2009, $15.00/C$18.00,
This volume brings fascinating practices to light, from those connected to developing wool fabric with existing or emerging technologies to marriage customs and laws amongst the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews. Jewish practices are tied into the teachings of the Talmud, allowing readers to enter this religious world more fully, as was the case in the previous books in the trilogy. An afterword that explains what is fact and what is fiction, maps, a timeline, and a glossary all aid readers. I am sorry that Rashi did not have additional daughters for Maggie Anton to write about.
Trudi E. Jacobson
I first read this recently reissued novel over twenty years ago. A sweeping saga about Richard the Lionhearted and the Third Crusade, it helped make me a fan of historical fiction.
12th CENTURY
N n
SAND DAUGHTER
Sarah Bryant, Berkley, 2009, $15/C$18.50, pb, 496pp, 9780425229804 / Snowbooks, 2007, £7.99, pb, 496pp, 9781905005222
This is the first U.S. release of Sand Daughter, originally published in 2007 in the U.K. It is a sweeping tale carrying the reader from the deserts of 12th-century Palestine to the mountains of Afghanistan.
Sand Daughter is the story of two great romances. Khalidah, daughter of an Arab sheikh, ties her destiny to the minstrel, Sulayman. Together they flee the tribe and weather the hazards of the treacherous journey to Qaf, home of the Jinn and of Khalidah’s maternal clan. She leaves behind her childhood friend, Bilal, who is forced into the service of Gérard de Ridefort as a spy in Salah ad-Din’s camp, that is, until he meets and falls in love with Salim, Salah ad-Din’s son. These are beautiful, intertwined stories of young lovers caught in the politics and battles of the Second Crusade.
A traveling minstrel, Blondel, the title character, arrives at the court of Navarre. Anna, the king of Navarre’s illegitimate daughter, a hunchbacked dwarf, falls hopelessly in love with him. He develops an equally impossible love for her legitimate half-sister, the princess Berengaria. Berengaria has glimpsed a knight at a jousting tournament and informs her father that she will wed him and no other. He is Richard Plantagenet and unfortunately he is betrothed to a French princess. Even more unfortunately, he is no lover of women, and his one great, consuming passion is to recapture Jerusalem, which has fallen to Saladin.
The novel is narrated by Blondel, Anna, and Richard’s mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. The characters work out their destinies against the backdrop of the Crusade. There are exciting battle scenes and court intrigue, war and politics as well as romance. Still, in less skilled hands, much of the story might boil down to soap opera. Norah Lofts breathes such extraordinary life into her characters that it is a profoundly moving work that speaks about the many types of human longing. Lofts’s people are all flawed to some degree, and yet most of them engage our sympathy. Richard is monomaniacal and at times cruel, but a true hero. The wise and worldly Eleanor of Aquitaine paints a marvelous self-portrait. Blondel and Anna are wonderfully, achingly real and make the reader truly care. The prose style is not remarkable—contemporary terms occasionally jarred me—but reading The Lute Player for the second time all these years later, I would still call it a masterpiece of
Phyllis T. Smith
13th CENTURY
THE FRUIT OF HER HANDS
Michelle Cameron, Pocket, 2009, $25.00/ C$32.99, hb, 448pp, 9781439118221
Shira’s upbringing is different than other Jewish girls’ childhoods in 1224. Her widowed father, the esteemed Rabbi Shmuel ben Solomon and great Talmudic scholar of Falaise, allows his only child, Shira, to study the Talmud in the same manner he teaches his male students. Eventually, the rabbi is convinced to remarry so that Shira has a female influence to curtail her so-called wild behavior and teach her womanly skills. Shira manages to learn household duties while continuing her studies, becoming more learned than the average Jewish man. These skills serve her well when she marries one of her father’s students, a man who will build his own reputation as a great scholar. This education and her b’shert (loving husband who is her soul mate) will help her cope with the hardships that are to come.
This novel follows Shira’s life from childhood through old age, but her narration is more a conduit for the story of Cameron’s famous relative, Rabbi Meir ben Baruch of Rothenberg, the Maharam, Shira’s husband. Through the fictional character of Shira, Cameron personalizes events like the burning of the Talmud, mock trials intended to legitimize genocide, and the exploitation of the Jewish community’s hard-earned wealth. Anti-Semitic thoughts and actions were encouraged by officials, who did everything they could to keep the Christians suspicious of the Jews. Arguments among Jewish scholars added further turmoil.
Finely written, The Fruit of Her Hands imparts an impressive amount of historical information in a pleasing fashion that contains romantic elements, demonstrating the author’s expertise and passion. A glossary provides definitions for unfamiliar terminology. Readers desiring a realistic look at Jewish life during the Middle Ages will thoroughly enjoy this book.
Suzanne J. Sprague
OUTLAW
Angus Donald, Sphere, 2009, £6.99, pb, 365 pp, 9780751542080
Retellings of the Robin Hood legend are always interesting. This novel tells the tale from the point of view of the band’s minstrel, Alan o’ Dale. Here he is called Alan Dale. He is a thief, and in flight from the harsh Norman law of the period, he is forced to join the outlaw band. But Dale has a gift for and a love of music, hence the link with the Alan of legend. All the other familiar figures of the legend are there too: Little John, Will Scarlet and Friar Tuck. But they are demystified and captured upon the page as real people. This applies to Robin also, who is certainly not the Robin Hood of legend. He
is capable of great ruthlessness and violence and rules Sherwood by running some kind of protection racket. Yet the Robin Hood who robs the rich to give to the poor is not entirely absent.
Angus Donald has avoided the trap of going to the other extreme and presenting us with an out-and-out villain who merely robs the rich for his own profit, though he does that too, of course. The Robin Hood of this novel is a complex and believable person, a mixture of both good and bad. The main elements of the legend are still there, but transmuted into a more realistic form. All in all a satisfying read. I was glad to see, too, that this book is the first in a series continuing the story of Alan and his relationship with the legendary outlaw of Sherwood.
Neville Firman
THE KINGDOM OF LIGHT
Giulio Leoni, Harvill Secker, 2009, £12.99, pb, 324pp, 9781846551284
1240, Florence. In this, the second of the Dante mysteries, the poet finds a galley beached by the river Arno; all the crew are dead. The only clues are a damaged, mechanical device, possibly Arabic, and a note containing the words ‘The Kingdom of Light’, the name of a secret sect devoted to freedom from papal despotism – dangerous with a powerful inquisition around. Later, he’s asked to investigate a murder at the Angel Inn. The victim was one of six people staying there. Who are they? Why are they in Florence? Do they have anything to do with the Kingdom of Light and the mysterious galley? Leoni is good at getting inside the mindset of another age. Pre-Renaissance Florence is a dangerous and squalid city, riven by warring factions, whose superstitious inhabitants believe in miracles. Science, though still regarded with suspicion by the inquisition, is beginning to
Y FLINT
open minds.
Unfortunately, the book is something of a chore to read. Too many names begin with B: Brunetto, Bigarelli, Bernardo, Bonatti, Brandano, not to mention Boniface. There are almost as many M’s. I frequently had to check the cast list and the translator’s notes to work out what was happening. I found the translation self-consciously literary which had a ponderous effect on the prose style. Personally, I agree with George Orwell that the best writing never uses a long word where a short one will do and avoids Latinate words if possible in favour of an everyday English equivalent. Whiteside has phrases like the obscene exultation of the flesh (what does that mean?) and uses words like vulpine instead of fox-like or foxy. However, I do understand that a book shot through with hidden quotations from Dante’s The Divine Comedy, is never going to be an easy book to translate.
Elizabeth Hawksley
CHAMBERS OF DEATH
Priscilla Royal, Poisoned Pen Press, 2009, $24.95, hb, 260 pp, 9781590586402
It is 1284, and no one at the Earl of Lincoln’s castle is having a happy sex life. Those who aren’t gay are having illicit affairs – or trying to – and those who are gay snuggle at night by the kitchen fire and exchange soulful gazes by day. That is, except for Tobye, the groom, who enjoys more “favors” than everyone else combined. But Tobye doesn’t really count because he is killed off almost at the start. Ah, the wages of sin!
In this, the sixth of Priscilla Royal’s Prioress Eleanor mysteries, personal torments seem to outweigh the elements of a good mystery story. The young prioress castigates herself for her decision to travel during the wintertime, for being a factor in a young novice’s consequent illness which forces the party to impose on the
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Margaret Redfern, Honno, 2009, £6.99, pb, 195pp, 9781906784041
Young Will and his brother Ned are called away from their home in East Anglia to King Edward’s Welsh wars to dig the foundations for his new castle at Flint, intended as part of his campaign to bring Prince Llewellyn to heel once and for all. Will is the younger of the brothers but takes responsibility for Ned, who is strange and otherworldly. Ned is a mute, a musician, an herbalist and healer, who has been taught his arts by an accomplished Welsh bard, Ieuan ap y Gof – but what is a Welsh bard doing in the heart of the East Anglian fens? As the boys travel into the heart of Wales, they find their answer, but there is danger on all sides and nothing is as it seems.
Flint is a book that sits well in both the young adult and adult markets. Its particular strength is the poetry of the language and the way it draws the reader into a stark, beautiful, dangerous mediaeval world, so rounded out and tactile that I believed I was there. It’s a wonderful, miniature gem of a novel. The reader will need to concentrate as the novel does flick about in time, but once absorbed into the rhythm, it’s a highly rewarding, skilled piece of writing. One for my keeper shelf.
Susan Hicks
13th Century-14th Century
earl’s hospitality, for her pride and arrogance, and for still lusting after Brother Thomas, who continues to pray for release from his unnatural desires. From the castle’s steward down to the cook in the kitchen, all are plagued with guilt and fear over real and imagined sins. Perhaps that’s the way things must be in this sin-soaked culture, but the wallowing becomes tedious and one wishes that the author could strike a balance between describing the morbid mindset of her characters and entertaining the reader with a challenging murder puzzle.
Ms. Royal does lift the clouds of selfrecrimination enough to allow Eleanor to track Tobye’s killer who has struck twice more, but not before a fourth victim is claimed. The ending is complex and surprising and the author again displays a rare sensitivity to human frailty. She treats her characters kindly. Hopefully she will add a little joy to their lives in her next volume.
Lucille Cormier
HODD
Adam Thorpe, Jonathan Cape, 2009, hb, £17.99, 309pp, 9780224079433
One of Britain’s most critically acclaimed authors, Adam Thorpe, has written another brilliant and original novel. The device is not entirely new (a hitherto unknown and now destroyed manuscript) but it is narrated in such a manner and with immense learning and knowledge of society and literature of the 13th century to engage the reader immediately.
An amateur historian, Francis Belloes, still recovering from the trauma of the Great War, has translated from Latin the confessions/memoirs of an aged monk at Whitby. The monk-narrator, whose name remains unknown throughout the telling, reflects upon his life, in particular his time as a youth when he lived with the criminal Robert Hodd – known now to us as Robin Hood – and his band of cruel outlaws in Yorkshire (and not Nottingham as per the legend). The monk’s narrative is immersed in the now utterly alien medieval mind, expressed in the appropriate grammatical structure and learned asides. Hood, far from being the jesting, socially enlightened brigand of legend, is a charismatic insane cult leader with a mystical religion that opposes the society’s rigid theological and feudal hierarchy. Yet he imposes his own intolerant dictatorial regime on his outlaws and those that are unfortunate enough to cross him often meet a cruel end.
Our narrator follows the conventions of the day, by spelling places and people in a wondrous variety of ways, though the “translator” is considerate enough to spare the reader by regularising the rest of the manuscript. The quasi-archaic style means that the story cannot be rushed through, but absorbed with the slow pace of the medieval times it is set in. Belloes uses over 400 footnotes to explain references and peculiarities in the manuscript, which also include some of his critical thoughts on the Great War and English society after the end of
Hugh and Bess by Susan Higginbotham STAFF PUBLICATIONS
Sourcebooks, 2009, $14.99, pb, 304pp, 9781402215278
Susan Higginbotham’s debut novel The Traitor’s Wife told the story of Eleanor, wife of Hugh le Despenser, intimate of King Edward II and casualty of Queen Isabella. Now the Despenser story continues in Susan’s second novel, Hugh and Bess This book tells the story of Eleanor and Hugh’s son, the younger Hugh, and his marriage to Elizabeth “Bess” de Montacute—a love story almost thwarted by a vast age difference, ghosts from the past, and the harsh reality of life in the 14th century.
When 13-year-old Bess is informed of her betrothal to the 32-year-old Hugh, she is less than thrilled. Bess has no wish to marry someone from such a tainted family, to be shipped off to live in disgrace in “a horrid place full of dead Despensers.” Hugh himself is not keen on wedding a child, not to mention giving up the woman he loves to do so. Both submit to the wishes of their families and their king, but the odds are stacked against them—as time passes, however, a true and lasting love grows between this unlikely pair, a love that endures past disgraces, present betrayals, and future tragedies.
At the close of The Traitor’s Wife, Eleanor advises her son to marry, and here we see that counsel come to fruition as Hugh finds love and redemption after an unspeakably cruel youth. Yet this story is also that of Bess, a young woman coming of age, experiencing her first love, and finding her place in the world. Like Eleanor, Bess flowers from a side note of history to a real woman with her own flaws and virtues.
Susan admits to a bit of “second novel syndrome” while writing Hugh and Bess: “I had a hard time settling on a topic to write about, and once I did, I found it harder to avoid things that distracted me.” Writing new characters also presented new challenges: “With Bess, all I knew was the bare genealogical data and the lands that she held. That gave me a lot of freedom in creating her character.”
Will there be future stories from the Despenser family tree? “I’m intrigued by the 13th-century Hugh le Despenser who served as justiciar to Simon de Montfort’s government,” Susan says. “I might well revisit the Despenser family.” No matter what the topic, her readers are sure to be pleased.
Heather Domin, with notes by Susan Higginbotham
the conflict.
14th CENTURY
THE KING’S MISTRESS
Emma Campion, Century, 2009, £12.99, pb, 536pp, 9780434015504
The story is based on the theory that Alice Perrers’ first husband, Janyn Perrers, was embroiled in some dark secret concerning Edward III’s father, Edward II and his
queen, Isabella of France. When Janyn dies mysteriously whilst away in Europe, Alice is given the protection of the court and becomes a lady in waiting to Queen Philippa of Hainault, wife to Edward III. Gradually, over the years and with the increasing infirmity of the queen, Alice becomes the king’s mistress. There are two schools of thought about Alice: one that she was greedy, grasping and out for all she could get, and the second that she was of a much gentler nature, although very clever, and was more the victim of circumstance than
Doug Kemp
a scheming woman with an eye to the main chance. Emma Campion’s book follows the second one.
Although I knew that Edward III fathered a large number of children, not all by his wife, I had not come across this particular character before, but she certainly existed. Woven around real people of the age, the story gives an excellent insight into the period and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, but I did feel that in writing it with Alice’s ‘voice’ there was rather too much introspection in places, which tended to hold up the action. Alice herself says, ‘When had I a choice to be other than I was?’ Read it and judge her for yourself.
Marilyn Sherlock
A VEIN OF DECEIT
Susanna Gregory, Sphere/Trafalgar Square, 2009, £18.99/$26.95, hb, 468pp, 9781847441102
This is the 15th chronicle in the series featuring Matthew Bartholomew, a Fellow of Michaelhouse College. Living in 14th-century Cambridge, Bartholomew has an unenviable position as both Doctor of Medicine in sole charge of a large group of disparate medical students and physician to the city residents. A pregnant friend of his sister dies unexpectedly from a preparation that induces miscarriages, and some is noted to be missing from his own herbarium around the same time.
The finances within the college appear strangely awry and, coincidentally, Matthew’s good friend Wynewyck, responsible for the books, dies in strange circumstances as the extent of the deficit becomes apparent. Income to the college has been good, yet a significant amount of funds have been paid out without the purchases being received. As Bartholomew investigates, more deaths occur and he must travel to Suffolk to follow leads of enquiry.
This engaging story unfolds rapidly, twisting and turning as discoveries are made, leading the reader to guess at the level of involvement of each character encountered as the vein of deceit is revealed.
Cathy Kemp
SERPENT IN THE THORNS: A Medieval Noir
Jeri Westerson, Minotaur, 2009, $24.99, hb, 288pp, 9780312534981
This is the second entry in a series featuring medieval private detective Crispin Guest, the Tracker. Seven years before, Crispin had been entangled in a plot to overthrow the recently crowned Richard II, and his punishment was the loss of his knighthood, forcing him to live among London’s poor. Having descended several rungs on the social ladder, Guest sometimes has difficulty remembering that those he used to treat with aristocratic arrogance, like sheriffs, are now in a position to lord it over him.
Like most novels in the noir genre, it opens with a poor but principled private investigator receiving a visit from a woman in trouble over a
corpse. Crispin goes about collecting ballistics, in this case arrow markings, and avoiding continual murderous attacks, described in lively action sequences. The mystery involves a sacred relic which may or may not be the original crown of thorns and which may or not may have special powers. The previous entry, Veil of Lies, involved the Mandillon, the cloth with the imprint of Christ’s face. A petulant and arbitrary Richard II features in both books, as does Crispin’s erstwhile patron, John of Gaunt. Some well-fashioned descriptions of 14thcentury clothing and a judicious sprinkling of archaic terms lend interest to the historical aspect of the books, which is stronger than their mystery plots. I would recommend reading Veil of Lies before starting this one.
James Hawking
15th CENTURY
THE TUDOR ROSE
Margaret Campbell Barnes, Sourcebooks, 2009 (c1953), $14.99, pb, 336pp, 9781402224683
“It is strange how many want to sit in the king’s seat even though it’s so uncomfortable.” From the mouths of babes. As history unfolds, Elizabeth, pawn to the future of England, endures the death of her beloved father, her mother’s flight to safety with Edward’s heirs, the mysterious disappearance of the young princes in the Tower, Richard III’s coronation and the battle between Plantagenet king and his most powerful threat, Henry Tudor. Elizabeth’s young life is spent watching and waiting, in sanctuary with her mother and sisters and in Richard’s court, where his unwanted attentions give rise to gossip and her absolute conviction that that Richard has murdered the princes. While Henry Tudor gathers forces and support, Elizabeth is acutely aware of the opportunity to embrace her destiny and end the long years of war between York and Lancastrian causes. With Richard dead on the battlefield, Elizabeth marries Henry, becoming the only English queen to have been wife, daughter, sister, niece and mother to English kings, most significantly, Henry VIII.
434pp, 9780755347513
Raiders from the North is the first in a quintet of novels chronicling the rise and fall of the Moghul Empire. The story begins in 1494 when the ruler of Ferghana dies in an extraordinary accident. His only son, twelve-year-old Babur, ascends the throne despite the opposition of many of the senior advisors at the royal court. Bloody conflict follows as he fights to maintain his precarious position on the throne. As Babur grows in age, his experience of both victory and defeat strengthen his determination to emulate his ancestors, Genghis Khan and Tamburlaine, and establish his own empire. His ambitions lead him on to the fabled city of Samarkand, and then onwards to India where he establishes the foundations of the Moghul Empire.
N n N n
I must admit to knowing little about the Moghul dynasty, but Alex Rutherford brings the period and the history of the region alive. The characters are dynamic, and the deadly regional politics of alliances and treaties are reflected by the internal tensions at court. I look forward to reading the next instalment in what promises to be an exciting and vibrant series.
Mike Ashworth
16th CENTURY
THE MEMOIRS OF MARY QUEEN
OF SCOTS
Carolly Erickson, St. Martin’s, 2009, $25.99/ C$32.99, hb, 320pp, 9780312379735
Historian and novelist Carolly Erickson takes another foray into fiction and delivers a sweeping tale spanning the life of Mary Queen of Scots. The novel, told from Mary’s point of view, focuses on the queen’s whole life, not just the time she spent in captivity, which adds more life to the story and gives readers a more complete picture of who Mary Stuart was.
This novel harbors no romantic view of Richard III, no ambiguous feelings between Elizabeth and her uncle while his wife is dying and no doubt as to Richard’s guilt in the fate of the princes in the Tower. Propelled by events, Elizabeth is thrust from royalty to insignificance, only to embrace her role as matriarch of the Tudor dynasty. Even Henry Tudor is plagued by usurpers and pretenders, the unknown fate of the princes a constant source of opportunistic scheming. Only Elizabeth’s son, Henry VIII, will hold England in his firm grip, shaking the very foundations of the country.
Luan Gaines
EMPIRE OF THE MOGHUL: Raiders from the North Alex Rutherford, Headline, 2009, £12.99, hb,
The story begins with the young Mary’s betrothal and marriage to the king of France, which did not last long before the young, sickly king died. Her mother-in-law, Catherine de Medici, is portrayed as an imposing and cruel figure in Mary’s life, and Mary rightfully fears what will happen to her if she remains at the French court. The widowed queen feels very alone with only her beloved grandmother there to support her. Mary returns to her birth land of Scotland after the death of her mother, the ruling regent. She is quickly surprised by the different life she is thrust into and must quickly adjust from the serene, cultured French court to the rough, undisciplined ways of Scotland. Mary is living in turbulent times, with very little guidance, and fears betrayal and uprisings at every turn. Her cousin, Elizabeth I, who always viewed Mary as a threat, plays a very small role in the novel. Instead, the book is more focused on the relationship between Mary and her second husband, Jamie, Earl of Bothwell.
Erickson writes from the perspective of what if and fills in the gaps that history has left. Her style makes for an entertaining story
about imagined events and people in the life of the Queen of Scots. As long as readers are not looking for historical accuracy in every part of the plot, they should be pleased with Erickson’s take on the life of the headstrong and tragic queen.
Troy
Reed
THE QUEEN’S MISTAKE: In the Court of Henry VIII
Diane Haeger, New American Library, 2009, $15.00/C$18.50, pb, 416pp, 9780451228000
Catherine Howard is living as a poor relation in her grandmother’s house, passing the dull days in dalliance with Francis Dereham, when her uncle Thomas Howard comes to call. His plan: to restore his standing with Henry VIII by dangling his beautiful niece before the unhappily married king. Soon Catherine heads to court, where she meets not only Henry, but his handsome courtier, Thomas Culpeper.
In The Queen’s Mistake, Haeger tells the very familiar tale of the unfortunate Catherine’s rise to queen and her fall from grace when her past catches up with her. Nonetheless, I found the story to be an absorbing one. Haeger’s characters, even her minor ones, have a certain depth that’s often lacking in novels that trod this well-traveled ground, and she handles the love affair between Catherine and Thomas Culpeper skillfully and sympathetically. Though some readers might be bothered by the frequent shifts in point of view, I found that the use of different perspectives added to the story and increased the sense of menace as the various court factions plot to advance themselves at the expense of young Catherine.
Though the Tudor court is a recognizable place in historical fiction, I found myself hoping that Haeger will spend more time there in the future.
Susan Higginbotham
HUE AND CRY
Shirley McKay, Polygon, 2009, £12.99, pb, 325pp, 9781846971310
St. Andrews, Scotland, 1579. A young lawyer, Hew Cullen, returns home from France. His welcome home is lukewarm even from his family. He finds a town whose inhabitants are controlled and cowed by the all-powerful Protestant Kirk which supervises all aspects of their lives. When his friend, Nicholas Colp is accused of the murder of a young boy, hew takes it upon himself to prove his friend’s innocence. While doing so he finds himself challenging not only the might of the Kirk but he also uncovers a web of lies, corruption and deceit.
King James VI of Scotland visited the town of St Andrews when he turned fourteen, and it is this episode which underwrites the novel and provides the denouement in a satisfying manner where all is revealed. While a little slow at times, the plot is convincing. The dourness of the Scottish town and inhabitants which hides the dark passions that lie beneath the surface is
effectively invoked. This is the first Hew Cullen mystery; no doubt there will be more. If you enjoy historical crime mysteries you will like this.
Mike Ashworth
TOMATO RHAPSODY
Adam Schell, Delacorte, 2009, $25.00, hb, 352pp, 9780385343336
Set in 16th-century Italy, this first novel by Adam Schell is advertised as “a fable of love, lust and forbidden fruit.” In it, Schell, who is a former chef, offers readers his version of how the tomato, or the “love apple,” first appeared in Tuscany. Schell’s story follows a pair of starcrossed lovers (Davido is Jewish and already betrothed, Mari is Catholic), Mari’s villainous olive-tycoon stepfather, and, at their center, Davido’s grandfather, Nonno, who brought the first tomatoes to Italy as a result of his voyages with Columbus. There is also the new priest in town (The Good Padre), who speaks in rhyme. Along the way, the author toys with history (for example, he creates a false Medici family tree, the Meduccis, rather than the Medicis), while walking across the stage himself in passages that read like pure nonfiction. The footnotes sprinkled here and there are largely unnecessary and seem, therefore, condescending, while the rhyming speech becomes monotonous. All this is, of course, meant to be clever, delivered with “spectacular wordplay,” according to the book jacket, and, perhaps, some readers might find it so.
YREBELS AND TRAITORS
But take for instance, this sentence: “The man seemed genuinely overcome, as if the mass of his bafflement suddenly slipped through a crack in his discretion.” Mine, too.
Alana White
17th CENTURY
TRANSGRESSIONS
Erastes, Running Press, 2009, $12.95/ C$15.00/£7.99, pb, 348pp, 9780762435739
The author of Transgressions (the playfully pen-named Erastes) has set her novel in the England of the 1640s, a time of enormous political and social upheaval, as military forces under Oliver Cromwell came to challenge the authority and then the very throne of King Charles I. It’s a period long favored by historical novelists, but this is a book Georgette Heyer couldn’t have imagined in her wildest dreams.
In 1642, David Caverly’s blacksmith father introduces him to the shop’s new apprentice, a broad-shouldered young Puritan named Jonathan, and Bible fans might guess from the nomenclature what happens next: David and Jonathan quickly discover a love that surpasseth the love of women. Erastes portrays the heat and innocence of their initial pairings with a winning combination of fierce narrative intensity and surprising delicacy; this is neither tokenism nor pornography. Instead, it’s an intricate and extremely enjoyable fantasy of two very different young men caught in the tangle of their times but trying to stay true to their desires.
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Lindsey Davis, Century, 2009, £18.99, hb, 742pp, 9781846056321 / St. Martin’s, Jan. 2010, $27.99, hb, 752pp, 9780312595418
Like many an adolescent, Gideon Jukes is a young man rebelling against family constrictions and looking for his own path in life. He takes an apprenticeship as a printer and so is exposed to the teachings of many great men. But wisdom does not warn him to avoid marriage to the scheming Lady Keevil. Committed to the Parliamentarians, Gideon is prepared to make any sacrifices to aid their cause. Meanwhile, Juliana makes a hasty marriage to avoid penury and finds herself allied to a poor man of mercurial character. Orlando Lovell is a schemer extraordinaire and a King’s man. Often left alone, and then pregnant, Juliana has to survive using her wits to secure a home of her own. Gideon and Juliana might be on different sides of the conflict but their lives will meet and part, cross and cross again. Mutual attraction accompanies their meetings, but there will be much adversity before they can even think of finding a life together. And when peace comes they may find that even harder to survive than war.
Rebels and Traitors is a truly epic novel. Vast in scope and depth, it tells the story of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth, from the perspective of the common man and woman. It takes the reader into the heart of civil conflict and never flinches from showing the true scale of horror and atrocity.
Lindsey Davis casts off her popular detective writer persona and dons the mantle of the serious mainstream historian. Her Falco novels are great escapist literature, but this book takes her writing to a newer, altogether weightier level. Extensive research combined with dynamite storytelling has produced a masterpiece and this comes highly recommended to all.
Sara Wilson
Given the strength of religious indoctrination and the claustrophobic nature of English village life, the actual 17th century would have made short work of David and Jonathan. But in Erastes’ more forgiving version of the times, pockets of tolerance and even happiness are possible. Both young men are briefly consumed by the civil war—David as a Royalist, Jonathan as a Cromwellian; Erastes’ period research is excellent (although her Puritan ‘thees’ and ‘thous’ tend to wander a bit), and her descriptions of the witch-finders Jonathan joins are fascinating, especially the psychotic Michael, who’s not only a villain but also Erastes’ concession to the psychological damage the time could do to its gay men. Transgressions is fantastic—highly recommended.
Steve Donoghue
THE BEST OF MEN
Claire Letemendia, Jonathan Cape, 2009, £12.99, hb, 682pp, 9780224089371
I really wanted to enjoy this book. The size didn’t put me off, and the cover informed me that in 1642 one man had to unravel a coded plot to kill the king. Everything should have added up to a good read. So why did I find the book so tedious?
I think because there are really two novels here. There’s a genre romance of the misunderstood, dark and brooding hero, Laurence Beaumont, son and heir to a fortune, on his black stallion, with his upper-crust, whoring lover, Isabella, who rides as if moulded to her horse, and is intelligent and resourceful. This plot has all the usual pages of detailed sex and sexual tension as found in genre romance. There’s even the back story of Laurence’s lover, the gypsy Juana. All very unrealistic, clichéd and bodice-ripping, with not an STD in sight!
The political plot had enough strength to stand on its own, and it would have been better to cut the romance back to a subplot and not a competing parallel plot. What the reader gets is intrigue continually interrupted by lengthy chunks of the romance and back story, carrying information that could have been introduced in other ways. The tension, which should have been building up to an exciting climax, is continually weakened by these interruptions. Sexual climaxes we had in plenty; the political one fizzled out. Because we learn very early on what the plot is and who the plotters are, we needed pacy writing, a clever build up of tension, and those dithering delays by King Charles used to tease the reader into wondering if Laurence is ever going to succeed. Instead, the reader gets a rather flabby and frustrating read. Such a pity.
pdr lindsay-salmon
LOVE’S PURSUIT
Siri Mitchell, Bethany House, 2009, $13.99, pb, 329pp, 9780764204326
Susannah Phillips lives in 1640s Massachusetts Bay Colony, and is growing impatient to wed Jon Prescotte once his family
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Y THE CAVALIER IN THE YELLOW DOUBLET (US)
/ THE MAN IN THE YELLOW DOUBLET (UK)
Arturo Pérez-Reverte (trans. Margaret Jull Costa), Putnam, 2009, $25.95/C$32.50, hb, 384pp, 9780399156038 / Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009, £12.99, hb, 288pp, 9780297852483
In this fifth book in the adventures of Captain Alatriste, the captain and his page, soldier in training Íñigo Balboa, experience a respite in Madrid from fighting in Flanders. Madrid in 1626 is enchanted with the theater and with the actors, playwrights and poets of the day. When Captain Alatriste and amorous Spanish monarch Philip IV receive favors from the same beautiful actress, the captain’s enemies use the rivalry in their own cause. Captain Alatriste’s friends, the high and the low, gather round him when he is accused of plotting regicide; poet, playwright and wit don Francisco de Quevado, King Philip IV’s favorite the Count of Guadalmedina, and 16-year-old old Íñigo Balboa. Yet the captain’s most loyal companion, Íñigo, may prove a dangerous connection with his love for Angélica, a “poisonous young woman,” and niece of the sinister royal secretary Luis de Alquézar.
Akin to the preceding novels, The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet is a superior adventure story wherein swordfights, gallantry, and intrigue are never lacking. But the deeper enjoyment in all five adventures of Captain Alatriste is in Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s prose. In the guise of narrator Íñigo Balboa, a mature soldier looking back on 17th-century Spain, Pérez-Reverte ponders the Spanish hunger for luxury and the “moral infirmity that destroyed the Spanish empire, that empire of two worlds – the legacy of hard, arrogant, brave men who had emerged out of eight centuries spent cutting Moorish throats.” Even a heretic can recognize that The Cavalier in the Yellow Doublet is a gem.
Eva Ulett
problems are resolved. But the increasing attentions of Simeon Wright, an influential townsman, have become troublesome. Rumors of cruelty towards his mother, capped with his arrogance, are disturbing. Then yet another man enters the picture. The Boston authorities send Captain Daniel Holcombe to Stoneybrooke to train the men so that they may be better prepared against Indian attacks. Holcombe is quartered on the Phillipses, and his non-Puritan ideas about salvation and God’s love cause Susannah to question the religious notions she has been taught. Then the rejected Wright causes Susannah to be accused of murder, which brings matters to a head.
This book held several surprises for me: its unusual setting, the tackling of domestic abuse in an historical context, and the unexpected death of a major character. Mitchell makes 17thcentury domestic details memorable: it was a regular household duty for members of the family to delouse each other’s hair, for example. And I hadn’t realized what a disaster it would have been for a woman of the day to use up the last of her dough starter, or to let a fire go out.
A small problem was the dual points of view between Susannah and a reclusive woman named Small-Hope, whose past is finally revealed during events leading up to the trial. It was not always easy to figure out which of the two women was speaking. But the good characterizations trump that minor issue, and I
intend to watch for the sequel presumably in the works. The last chapter is open-ended enough that Mitchell must be planning to continue Susannah’s story, and I’d like to find out what happens to her. Excellent Christian fiction.
B.J. Sedlock
CAPTAIN BLOOD
Rafael Sabatini, Vintage, 2009, £7.99, pb, 216pp, 9780099529897
Peter Blood, tall, spare, elegant, swarthy as a gipsy, with his startlingly blue eyes, highbridged nose and thin, firm mouth is born to be a romantic hero. Condemned to the plantations of Barbadoes for using his medical skill in tending a wounded rebel against King James II, he is purchased by odiously sadistic slave owner Colonel Bishop at the behest of the Colonel’s niece Arabella (fair, frank and unfashionably slender).
Peter Blood and selected fellow slaves, poised for a daring escape, are unexpectedly aided by a dastardly Spanish attack on Carlisle Bay. And this is where the story really begins. Starting off in a stolen Spanish ship, within three years Captain Blood has become a terror of the seas, renowned for his unequalled seamanship, honourable dealings and courtesy to women.
This novel was first published in 1922. Disregard the sometimes dated attitudes and simply enjoy this glorious romp through the Caribbean where villains are either cowardly,
17th Century-18th Century
sweaty and stupid, or brutally handsome and cunning but not nearly so smart or witty as Peter Blood with his appealing Irish accent.
An ingenious double bluff, a masterpiece of seamanship whereby he outwits the Spanish, taking his fleet out of a seemingly impregnable trap at Maracaybo, sets the tone for a magnificent series of set-piece sea engagements worthy of the greatest storytellers of the genre. Sabatini’s command of language is vivid, assured and utterly convincing. But will Peter Blood at last win the heart of the feisty, sceptical Arabella?
Nancy Henshaw
18th CENTURY
NOT WITH SILVER
Simi Bedford, Vintage UK/Trafalgar Square, 2009, $14.95/£7.99, pb, 368pp, 9780099445173
“Some, who are woven into our pattern, are colours from another, possibly larger pattern, in which there will be a little of us. For part of us will travel with them, just as part of them will remain with us, for ever.” From 1740 to 1818 the characters present a distinct identity that shapes their future in Nigeria, South Carolina, Nova Scotia, and Sierra Leone.
Abiola, a young Nigerian boy in the village of Oyo, is desperately trying to prove himself in the middle of political intrigue and schemes. One can visualize the vivid colors of turbans and robes, smell the camwood and citrus, imagine the mystical dancing and hear the chanting of poetic proverbs interwoven into every aspect of West African life. Abiola, however, is eventually captured and forced to endure the infamous Middle Passage journey as a future South Carolina slave. Renamed as Cornelius, he is sold to a French plantation owner who trains him to speak and read French and uses him to entertain his Charleston neighbors. He vows to be part of the total abolition of his own people selling slaves, a vision cherished by his daughter, Epiphany, and eventually his grandson, Abiola.
The overriding conflict within this sweeping saga depicts the desire for financial independence that will mark one’s ascendancy from the bowels of slavery to equality with white people, as opposed to reliance on tradition and religion to surmount the scarred memories of slavery. One character, Delilah, however, secretly trafficks slaves to America, a decision of greed which threatens to undo the foundation of past and present.
Not with Silver is an amazing saga that attempts to cover the history of slavery, and its shameful African origins, in a social and cultural presentation that is quite literally and intelligently, wonderful. A must read!
Viviane Crystal
Cavalier, highwayman extraordinary. Out on the roads one night she sees a fire at the home of Lord Wickerston. He dies, but from arsenic poisoning. When her brother Edward, Lady Wickerston’s lover, is arrested, feisty Georgiana determines to discover the truth.
This unlikely 18th-century lady, who refuses to obey the conventions of society, finally solves the mystery with the help of her servants and others.
I was frustrated by a lack of detail – location, clothing, wigs, food – and irritated by historical errors. I’m passionate about getting historical facts right, so as not to mislead readers, especially when the facts are so easily ascertained. The story takes place in the 1780s, but her characters visit Jackson’s Saloon (opened in 1803) and Watier’s (1807). If all you want is a rapid adventurous gallop this is the book for you.
Marina Oliver
THE GOOD DOCTOR GUILLOTIN
Marc Estrin, Unbridled, 2009, $14.95, 336pp, 9781932961850
The lives of five men converge in on one epochal event – the first use of the guillotine as a method of capital punishment in Revolutionary France. The book follows the paths of each of these men – the first customer of the device, his priest, the executioner, the builder of the device, and its designer, the good doctor as they come together on that lovely spring day in 1792.
The book is an interesting mix of fiction, essay, and authorial intrusion, a blend of philosophy, modern political commentary, and historical fiction. The dialog is mannered – more a vehicle for philosophical concepts than human interaction – and the writing overall is not easy, but certainly interesting and at times even elegant.
As a polemic against the death penalty, it is effective; as an historical novel, somewhat less so. While the details of life under the Ancien Régime, and then under the Revolution, were graphic and convincing, I felt held somewhat at a distance – as though I was being read a report or a philosophical treatise about the Revolution, and not brought into the story itself. That said, I would still recommend this book for readers with an interest in Revolutionary France, and those looking for a more challenging philosophical read.
Julie Rose
fashionable. However, Grace is the one with the Real Artistic Talent, and, in between going out with her basket in search of provisions, paints in secret, in defiance of the convention that a lady may be an amateur painter, but may only paint flowers. Gradually her talent becomes known, and she is invited to participate in a fraud which will be the coup of the century.
Barbara Ewing has done her research thoroughly, but wears it lightly. The Fraud makes an enjoyable read, though the ending comes out as a little of a damp squib after earlier excitement.
Ann Lyon
THE FRONTIERSMAN’S DAUGHTER
Laura Frantz, Revell, 2009, $13.99, pb, 412pp, 9780800733391
Set in 1777, this is the coming-of-age story of Lael Click, who lives in Kentucky, in Indian Territory. Lael is haunted by her father’s former captivity with the Shawnee Indians, as well as the secrets of her family’s past, and struggles to find herself amidst the pressures of daily life in the frontier. Drawing strength from the rugged land and her relation, Ma Horn, Lael learns important lessons in life and love. Ma Horn’s faith shows Lael how she needs to trust in God. And as in all proper frontier romances, Lael faces the difficulty of choosing from the love of three different men: the Shawnee warrior, the son of a rival family, and a Scottish doctor.
Frantz does an excellent job shaping Lael from girlhood to adulthood, from the frontier to Virginia, and back again to the frontier. The story is a slow starter but gets interesting and ends up being a powerful journey of love and redemption. Recommended for those interested in the time period and lovers of Christian frontier fiction.
Rebecca Roberts
THIS DUCHESS OF MINE
Eloisa James, Avon, 2009, $7.99/C$8.99, pb, 370pp, 9780061626821
LOVE NOT POISON
Mary Andrea Clarke, Crème de la Crime, 2009, £7.99, pb, 273pp, 9780956056603
Georgiana Grey moonlights as the Crimson
THE FRAUD
Barbara Ewing, Sphere, 2009, £7.99, 416pp, pb, 9781847442024
The time is the 18th century. The Marshalls are a faded gentry family living in Bristol. After both parents and various siblings die in an epidemic, Philip, the eldest, departs for Italy on what little money is left, and returns some years later, having reinvented himself as Filipo di Vecellio, Italian portrait painter. Settling in London, he presses his surviving sister, Grace, into service as his housekeeper and soon becomes rich and
In London in 1784, Elijah, the Duke of Beaumont, requires an heir. He also requires that his wife return from her travels across the Continent in order to produce said heir. Jemma, the Duchess of Beaumont, left her husband upon discovering he had mistresses—not just a lady, but his unusual attachment to politics. How to get the two together? A chess match, where membership to a male-dominated chess club is the prize. Of course, the Duke and Duchess are the players and love triumphs.
Though I have read and enjoyed Eloisa James’s books, I struggled to read this novel as some spark seemed missing in the story. I did not care about the characters, who seemed cool and removed, and I found the author’s historical notes more interesting than the story. Much of my trouble was due to the references to previous stories in the Desperate Duchesses series. This Duchess of Mine might appeal to those who have enjoyed these aforementioned novels.
Y THE NINTH DAUGHTER
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Barbara Hamilton, Berkley, 2009, $14, pb, 368pp, 9780425230770
This first novel of a new mystery series begins with Boston housewife Abigail Adams visiting Rebecca Malvern, only to discover some unknown woman’s bloody, brutalized corpse—and no sign of her friend. Abigail faces three significant problems: locating the missing Rebecca before the killer can, resolving the murder’s apparent connection to the Sons of Liberty, and not implicating her lawyer husband John, a prime suspect.
Boston is a town under curfew, occupied by British soldiers. A parallel to the colonists’ drive for independence is the lack of freedom experienced by the women in the novel, wife or servant, respectable or not. Conspiracies abound and suspicion is rife.
Abigail’s intelligence, devotion to family, and humor make her eminently sympathetic. Relying on the legal knowledge and deductive skills gained from John she seeks Rebecca, dodges danger, and comes ever closer to identifying the killer—at significant risk to her loved ones. Hamilton provides those rich and telling details that convey personality and locale and has a gift for dramatic pacing. A singularly successful example of re-imagining a historical figure as a sleuth and a brilliant beginning to a series deserving of a sizeable readership.
Margaret Barr
sees the return of the enigmatic Atto Melani, once a celebrated castrato singer and now a spy in the service of the Sun King. The story is set seventeen years later and Melani’s erstwhile assistant is now a happily married odd jobbing gardener at the magnificent Villa Spada in Rome. The plot is again extraordinarily complex with multiple subplots and minor characters who add flamboyant colour or comic relief – here, a parrot plays a particularly interesting role. Melani is again enmeshed in politics at the highest possible level: dealing with the succession of popes and the Spanish throne. Charles II, King of Spain, is gravely ill, and the Sun King and Kaiser Leopold of Austria are both hotly in pursuit of rich pickings as the Spanish Empire is left without an heir.
However, since it does not stand independent of these other works it may lose a great many readers early into the story.
Monica Spence
BLACKSNAKE’S PATH
William Heath, Heritage Books, 2008, $30.00, hb, 364pp, 9780788446498
“Blacksnake” is William Wells, a boy from a Kentucky settlement who was captured by the Miami in 1784. He underwent initiation among them, and fought his first battles on their side, most notably at the defeat of General St. Clair. After reconnecting with his birth family, Wells rethought his loyalties. He returned to the American side at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. He then worked for the army as scout and translator, and finally as an Indian Agent, although everything he tried to do for his adopted people was undermined. Wells met all the “big names” of the period, Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Anthony Wayne, William Henry Harrison, Gilbert Stuart, Tecumseh, Blue Jacket, Little Turtle and The Prophet.
The novel begins with Wells’s capture, training, and his daily life among the Miami. This is, however, primarily a military novel, without much characterization. It is, however, well fleshed out with marches, battles, strategy sessions, and politics. It is also a carefully researched account of American expansion into the Ohio Valley, and the resulting violence as First People and Europeans fought for the land east of the Mississippi. Like a blacksnake, Wells was an opportunist, his life’s path a crooked one. He was no hero, but he was a warrior, a man with a large presence at pivotal events in U.S. history. Although the book is long and detailed, this less-than-familiar story made fascinating
reading.
TO DESIRE A DEVIL
Juliet Waldron
Elizabeth Hoyt, Grand Central, 2009, $6.99, 384pp, 9780446406949
Beatrice Corning, niece of the Earl of Blanchard, is secretly attracted to a handsome man depicted in a portrait that hangs in her home. When a mysterious man crashes one of her uncle’s political teas, it brings excitement and scandal both—it seems that the madman is Reynaud St. Aubyn, the long-lost son of the previous early, who was captured by Indians while serving in the military in America, and was presumed dead. Though Reynaud survived his captivity, he is plagued by emotional and physical scars, but he finds that Beatrice awakens something within him that he believed was lost forever.
The final novel in the Four Soldiers quartet demonstrates that Elizabeth Hoyt is a master of historical romance. The love story is engaging and entertaining, but it is also layered with a healthy dose of political and social commentary that applies both to the era of the novel (the 1760s) and to the present day. Beatrice and Reynaud are well-matched characters who experience signficant personal growth as their relationship blooms. Highly recommended for all fans of historical romance.
Nanette Donohue
SECRETUM
Rita Monaldi & Francesco Sorti (trans. Peter Burnett), Polygon, 2009, £16.99, hb, 732pp, 9781846971044
The sequel to Imprimatur, a novel that outraged the Vatican and is still banned in Italy,
Monaldi and Sorti again manage to pull off another tour-de-force of derring do complete with secret languages, religious sects and forgery of state documents. This time, however, the reader is asked to suspend disbelief to a greater extent than before: the introduction teasingly wonders whether ‘this too is perhaps an historical document, perhaps a novel?’ Based on meticulous historical research, the authors have claimed that they, ‘don’t need to invent very much,’ but the plot is nonetheless pure fiction. Much of it centres on Louis XVI’s first love, Maria Mancini, and questions what might have become of Louis XVI – and France – if he had married her. The trouble with the ‘what if’ branch of history is that the ramifications can get a little heavy going, and I sometimes felt that the plot has one too many false trails and blind alleys making the story rather laboured and a little less exciting than the first book.
Lucinda
Byatt
SCARAMOUCHE
Rafael Sabatini, Vintage, 2009, £7.99, pb, 340pp, 9780099529859
1788, France. When André-Louis Moreau, illegitimate son of no-one knows who, witnesses the murder of his best friend by the arrogant Marquis de la Tour d’Azyr, he vows to avenge him. Revolution is in the air, the Third Estate is demanding its rights and André, a lawyer, is determined to bring the marquis to justice. But the marquis has powerful friends and, before long, André is on the run.
In a series of thrilling adventures, André joins a travelling Commedia dell’arte theatre company and takes on the role of the wily rogue Scaramouche; becomes the speaker for the deputies of Nantes at the Estates-General at Versailles; and, when that position becomes too hot, turns fencing-master in Paris. Not only is the marquis determined to see André dead, he also plans to marry Aline, the woman André himself loves. The twists and turns of the plot add further complications in the shape of Climène, the pretty actress of easy virtue, and some unexpected revelations about André’s parentage.
First published in 1921, Scaramouche was
Sabatini’s fourteenth novel and a runaway best-seller. As Bernard Cornwell’s excellent introduction comments, Sabatini gives readers what they want: ‘strong storylines, vivid characters and exotic settings.’ The plot is terrific and the pace fast and furious. Furthermore, Sabatini has done his research: André’s adventures follow the course of the French Revolution as it moves ever closer to the Reign of Terror.
I have been a Sabatini fan since I was a teenager and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Scaramouche again. However, I did wonder whether a modern editor might not want some of the slightly over-long paragraphs pruned but the book is well worth the reader’s perseverance through the slowish first chapter. When the plot takes off, it’s like a rocket. A terrific story told by a master storyteller.
Elizabeth Hawksley
THE GATHERING STORM
Peter Smalley, Random House, 2009, £18.99, hb, 370 pp, 9781846052453
Set in 1791 at the height of British naval supremacy, this is a roller coaster of a nautical yarn liberally peppered with naval terminology and 18th-century English. For the uninitiated, confronted with a bewildering medley, this could be perplexing.
The secret mission offers Captain James Hayter an opportunity to revive a naval career brought short by personal tragedy and requires him to work with the British Secret Service
Y SECRET LAMENT
Fund in France during the French Revolution. The story includes many of the characters described in earlier books in this series; their interrelationships are further developed in this story. It is especially poignant between Hayter and his former Captain Rennie, the latter torn between his friendship and regard for Hayter and as his naval peer. The mission tests their regard for each other, professionalism as naval officers and the secrecy and urgency of their duty to the limit, especially in the closing stages of a rescue of eminent people from the revolutionary forces.
An author comfortable with his characters and storyline tautly and graphically portrays various sea battles and encounters with the French. However, the story of Captain Hayter’s career transition from potential Master and Commander of the sloop HMS Eglatine to agent is engrossing rather than gripping. When the few action encounters are described in vivid detail, the reader is totally absorbed. Unfortunately these are all too few.
Vivien Cringle
THE BLUE ENCHANTRESS
M. L. Tyndall, Barbour, 2009, $10.97, pb, 317pp, 9781602601574
In St. Kitts in 1718, Captain Nathaniel Mason is shocked to see a familiar face from Charles Towne, that of beautiful Hope Westcott, an admiral’s daughter who has never bothered to be pleasant to Nathaniel. But Hope, abandoned by her lover, is about to be auctioned off as an
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Roz Southey, Crème de la Crime, 2009, £7.99, pb, 305pp, 9780955707865
An exciting page-turner set in Newcastle in the 18th century. This is the third book by Roz Southey with Charles Patterson as the central character. Charles, who once only wanted to play and compose, cannot remember the last time he put pen to paper. These days he cannot resist helping to solve mysteries. This time, however, he also finds himself suspected of the crime. English ruffians are after his blood, and there is an attempted burglary at the house of Esther, his girlfriend.
The novel is set in a world of time slippage, at an intersection of two worlds. Charles has the ability to slip out of one world into the other and, when a murder is discovered in one world, Charles unexpectedly discovers that there is something completely different happening in the other world.
Gossiping spirits who are not always that helpful, a psalm teacher who keeps vigil over a house, music rehearsals with the new band director, Italian actors, and French spies are all included along with actresses, mistresses, flirtations and seductions – together they combine to create a vivid picture of the time. You can see and smell the city, feel the mystery and tensions, and become drawn into the pursuit as the pace quickens. It remains absorbing to the end. The story is very readable, keeping the reader guessing and eager to know more. Its characters are very well drawn and it is crammed with historical facts. Roz Southey creates something completely different with this series. It is a must-read for those who love historical fiction. There is also crime, mystery, romance, and a bit of science fiction thrown in.
Barbara Goldie
indentured servant, so Nathaniel reluctantly parts with one of his ships to save her from her fate. When Nathaniel undertakes to return the not particularly grateful Hope safely to her family in Charles Towne, the unlikely pair find themselves attracted to one another, despite Hope’s tattered reputation and Nathaniel’s misgivings.
The second novel in Tyndall’s Charles Towne Belles series, The Blue Enchantress continues the story of the Westcott sisters. Replete with misunderstandings, dark secrets, and villains from the past, it is an entertaining, if somewhat predictable, tale of romance and adventure on the high seas. Nathaniel and Hope make an appealing couple, and their love story is aided by lively dialogue and a cast of likeable supporting characters, including the occasional pirate.
Susan Higginbotham
SONORA MOONLIGHT
Florence B. Weinberg, Twilight Times, 2009, $16.95, pb, 250pp, 9781606191149
In the 18th century, Spanish missionaries struggle to convert and educate the Native American population of Sonora, Northwest New Spain (Mexico). Father Ygnacio Pfefferkorn, a historical Jesuit missionary, finds himself assigned to the faltering mission at Guevavi, replacing an alcoholic priest who let the mission fall into disrepair, ravaged both by the harsh environment and frequent Apache raids.
Pfefferkorn’s obstacles seem insurmountable; he is suffering from malaria; the mission is falling down around him; and many of the peaceful Pima Indians at the mission have been scared away by the Apaches, or have been lured away from Christianity by the enigmatic and charismatic medicine man Jevho. Add to those problems the Irish ranchers in the area that seem to be, on the surface, welcoming and supportive, yet could also be harboring some secret, and Pfefferkorn finds that he will need all the strength, both personal and spiritual, that he can muster to make the mission a success.
When Patrick O’Meara discovers the horribly mutilated body of his brother Michael in the desert, killed in a macabre crucifixion fashion, Pfefferkorn becomes a detective as he tries to discover who killed O’Meara and why. Could the killer be one of the Irish ranchers? The Apaches? Jehvo the medicine man, or worse, one of the padre’s own Pima converts? He finds his own life, as well as the life of the mission in jeopardy until he can find the answer.
Weinberg tells an exciting and engrossing story of the old Southwest, loaded with geographical and historical details, many of them based upon her childhood experiences growing up in New Mexico’s ranching country only a few miles from the Mescalero Apache Reservation. A finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award, this novel is a must-read for anyone with a passion for Southwest history and culture.
John Kachuba
19th CENTURY
A FRAUDULENT BETROTHAL
Natasha Andersen, Robert Hale, 2009, £18.99, hb, 224pp, 9780709087632
In Regency England, identical twins Clarissa and Marianne Meredew are faced with a tough decision – only one of them will have a season in London. A little wistful, Clarissa declines her right as first-born to allow the bubblier Marianne to go.
Left behind in the countryside, Clarissa wonders if she should give in to the attentions of the local rector, for lack of any other offers. Her sister’s letters tell her about Marianne’s successes in London. The girl seems to have a plethora of admirers. Soon, news of Marianne’s engagement to the rich Lord Richard Leighton reaches her. Clearly, life could not get any better for her twin. Then Marianne goes missing.
Clarissa is determined to discover what happened to her and agrees to step into her shoes. Literally. In London, she even manages to fool Marianne’s friends. Yet when Marianne’s fiancé returns early from his travels, discovering a changed woman, Clarissa has to face another dilemma: Richard falls in love with her. Clarissa doesn’t have the heart to tell him the truth. Guilt consumes her as she realises her own strong feelings. He is engaged to her sister, after all. Their attraction growing, obvious to all around them, can Clarissa keep her secret from him? And where is Marianne? As Clarissa digs deeper, she suddenly finds her life in danger. Natasha Andersen writes with plenty of knowledge of the era. The plot is intriguing although a little obvious at times. Clarissa’s character is developing throughout the story, yet she lacks the depth that Richard’s character brings to it. A stronger Clarissa would have made their relationship just a little more challenging. This novel is an enjoyable, light read for a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Stephanie Patterson
THE MESSENGER
Bill Brooks, Five Star, 2009, $25.95, hb, 192pp, 9781594147975
In the late 1800s, Royce Blood owned his own spread, was married to a young woman, and had a young son. On one fateful day that would change his life, a bear mauled and killed his son. In desperation, Royce went after the bear. Upon returning to his ranch months later, his wife had left him. Learning that she had traveled to Butte, Montana, he followed her, only to learn that she had become a prostitute. Turning to drink, Royce began to drift and eventually wound up in Deadwood Gulch. An old friend tried to turn his life around and convinced him to hire on as a messenger guard on a stage line. Royce didn’t know it, but his problems had only just begun. I really enjoyed this Western story. The main character was intriguing: Royce Blood’s traumatic experience with his family, his falling
into alcoholism and drifting from town to town, and then his attempt to begin a new life made for an excellent tale of remorse and redemption. I highly recommend this well-written, fast-paced book to anyone who may never have read a Western novel.
Jeff Westerhoff
THE PROMISE
Benita Brown, Headline, 2008, £5.99, pb, 518pp, 9780755334766
This story is set in Newcastle in 1885 and centres around a newspaper investigation into child prostitution within the city. Henry Brookfield is a journalist engaged in some important investigation when he is murdered one night when going to meet an informant in a less than fashionable part of the city. With their mother dead, Marion, the elder of his two daughters, has promised to look after her younger sister who desperately wants to go to art school. Marion’s friend, Daniel Brady, who dreams of being a journalist himself, decides to look into Henry Brookfield’s death. The tale then twists and turns towards its final conclusion.
The author is following very closely in the footsteps of Catherine Cookson. The book describes the differences between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ and leaves the reader in no doubt of the difference between the social classes of the day. The characters are well drawn, the story moves at a good pace, and altogether I found it a compelling story although the final outcome was never really in doubt.
Marilyn Sherlock
ACROSS THE ENDLESS RIVER
Thad Carhart, Doubleday, 2009, $26.95, hb, 309pp, 9780385529778
The youngest member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau became a ward of William Clark, then a trapper and a guide to many naturalists, explorers and adventurers longing for their view of the New World wilderness. When eighteen he met the Duke Paul of Württemberg, who invited the young man to return to Europe in his company. Across the Endless River speculates on what may have transpired in those years (1823-1829) before the son of Sacagawea returned to the American frontier.
Baptiste travels with his benefactor throughout Europe as Duke Paul struggles with managing his collection of animals. He struggles in his family’s expectations, but manages a shortlived beneficial marriage and heir. Baptiste remains an outsider, despite his two love affairs and acquiring languages and understanding of a world in which he is sometimes treated as a specimen himself, and other times passes as a gentleman because he dresses and speaks as one.
The life of Sacagawea’s son continues to captivate writers, from Susan M. Colby’s wellresearched and through biography Sacagawea’s Child to fictionalized accounts that range from
Colin Sargent’s brutalized victim in Museum of Human Beings, to Larry McMurtry’s liberties that cut his life short in By Sorrow’s River. Carhart’s effort comes to life briefly with exciting descriptions of a buffalo hunt or a performance by Schubert, some good conversation of Old and New World differences and carefully rendered details, but mostly the novel remains soulless. The enigmatic heart of Baptiste Charbonneau remains elusive, due to Across the Endless River’s passive, slow-moving narrative, stilted dialogue, and constant point of view shifts.
Eileen Charbonneau
DON’T TEMPT ME
Loretta Chase, Avon, 2009, $6.99/C$9.50, pb, 384pp, 9780061632662
When yet another young woman surfaces claiming to be Lord Lexham’s daughter, abducted in Egypt twelve years earlier, powerful family friend Lucien de Grey, Duke of Marchmont, rushes on the scene anxious to unmask the imposter. But rich, fashionable and rakish Marchmont, who keeps his pain and grief over the early loss of parents and brother locked behind a jaded façade, encounters instead Lexham’s legitimate daughter Zoe Octavia, the Duke’s childhood friend. Zoe had been rebellious and prone to running away in their youth and though the Lexhams are rejoiced to have their youngest restored to them, her captivity in the harem of an eastern Pasha creates a scandal. Marchmont, however, vows he will present Zoe to the Queen and launch her into fashionable society.
The acculturation of Zoe to English society and her sexual awareness gained in the harem are fresh elements in this clever late Regency romance. Don’t Tempt Me is well paced and entertaining, with amusing secondary characters playing off the engaging principle couple. A subplot involving a vengeful servant seems unnecessary; the romance of Zoe and Marchmont, their discovery of connections to one another, family and community suffice to make this a highly enjoyable story.
Eva Ulett
STAND THE STORM
Breena Clarke, Back Bay, 2009, $14.99/ C$16.99, pb, 321pp, 9780316007054
Sewing Annie Coats and her son Gabriel were born in slavery. Annie taught her son everything she knew about sewing so he could stay away from the fields and close to her. She taught him to be quiet and careful, to restrain his excitement, so he wouldn’t be rebuked or punished. She taught him to sew nearly perfect stitches, since perfect stitches might cause the devil to grab him up in his sleep. She wanted, above all, to keep him away from the fields, where a slave’s life was short and hard. Mother and son were devoted to each other. When she had a daughter, Ellen, three years later, Annie and Gabriel were devoted to her as well. Because of his skill, Gabriel was loaned out
as a tailor’s apprentice in Georgetown shortly before the Civil War. His mother and sister soon joined him. They operated a successful tailoring business for their master’s nephew. They eventually earned their freedom, but not a freedom from the tailoring shop they continued to operate for their master. When the Civil War began, the Coats’ newfound freedom was in jeopardy of being lost. Gabriel had to decide how important real freedom was to himself and his family. As the war overtakes Georgetown and Washington DC, the freedom they value so highly seems in danger of disappearing.
Breena Clarke writes a moving novel depicting the simple, yet profound love and devotion of mother and son as they struggle for true freedom for themselves and those they love. This love is like the stitches they sew; it holds the fabric of their lives together.
Nan Curnutt
COWBOY CHRISTMAS
Mary Connealy, Barbour, 2009, $10.97, pb, 288pp, 9781602601451
Annette Talbot considers herself a coward because she escaped the brutality of Claude Leveques by leaving, unburied, the body of a dear friend. Leveques, desperate to recapture his “songbird” and force her to entice customers to his gambling tables, chases Annette across the west for a year. Hungry and broke, Annette finally returns to her hometown of Ranger Bluff, Wyoming, just before Thanksgiving, 1880. Once there, she is devastated to discover that her father is gone and her home a ruin.
A year earlier, Elijah Walker saw his fiancée murder his father. Mistrustful of all women, he stoutly resists his attraction to Annette until the day he scoops her battered body from the icy waters beneath the Medicine Bow’s twin waterfalls. Elijah realizes he would do anything to protect her; but Annette, determined to never be a coward again, prays for “more crosses to bear” and stubbornly defies Elijah’s attempts to keep her safe.
Virtually all the dialogue in this book, both spoken and unspoken, is written in a punchy, caustic style. Whereas a sprinkling of this sarcastic spice might have flavored Cowboy Christmas with wit, when doused with a full shaker the pleasure shrivels and––for this reader––dies.
Nancy J. Attwell
MONTANA ROSE
Mary Connealy, Barbour, 2009, $10.97, pb, 320pp, 9781602601420
In the Montana Territory in 1875, Cassie Griffin, pregnant and newly widowed, has just buried her husband when the menacing Mort Sawyer tries to force her to marry his wastrel son, Wade. When handyman Red Dawson comes to her rescue with his own marriage proposal, Cassie immediately accepts his offer as the lesser of two evils. Meanwhile, Red has his own misgivings about marrying a woman
who plainly is not used to roughing it.
Accustomed to her controlling first husband, who constantly belittled her, Cassie reminds Red of a china doll, pretty but fragile. She must learn to adjust to life with a man who likes her to think for herself—even as Wade Sawyer still wants to claim her for himself.
Though the caring, sensitive, and rugged Red sometimes seems a little too good to be true, and Cassie’s low self-esteem makes her rather heavy company at first, Montana Rose is an engaging romance, with likeable characters and a light touch that makes its message go down easily.
Susan Higginbotham
GODDESS OF THE HUNT
Tessa Dare, Ballantine, 2009, $6.99, 384pp, 9780345506863
Lucy Waltham grew up as one of the boys, tagging along with her brother Henry and his friends, and she is as skilled at riding, fishing, and archery as any man. But she lacks skills in the feminine arts, particularly flirtation and seduction, and she’s about to lose Toby, the man she has loved since childhood, to a soft-spoken, ladylike rival. Lucy learns best from doing, so she sets out to seduce Jeremy Trescott, who has always seen her as a little sister. The seduction goes humorously awry, but it awakens some very surprising romantic feelings for Lucy and Jeremy.
Dare’s debut, the first in a Regency trilogy, is lively and fun. Lucy is a spunky heroine, and her attempts at becoming more ladylike in order to trap a man are humorous. The romance between Lucy and Jeremy isn’t unexpected, but the development of their love story is handled nicely, as is the resolution of Jeremy’s emotional distance from the people he loves. Sophia, Lucy’s rival for Toby’s affections, has unusual depth for a secondary character, and the surprising friendship between the two women adds to this enjoyable novel.
Nanette Donohue
THE OTHER MR. DARCY
Monica Fairview, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2009, $14.95/$18.99, pb, 368pp, 9781402225130
Who would have thought that the sneering, snobbish Caroline Bingley could become a thoughtful, helpful, sympathetic creature? Monica Fairview has undertaken this daunting task and presents her readers with a Miss Bingley who undergoes a complete and convincing transformation, led by her increasing self-knowledge and greater observation of the hypocritical manners of the members of the “best circles” she had once aligned herself with. In this somewhat unevenly written but entertaining story, Fairview trots out all the familiar Bennets, Darcys and Bingleys, who come across as not quite fully rounded characters, rather relying on the reader’s prior knowledge of them than presenting them more in depth. But there are also some new and interesting characters—in particular, Mr. Robert Darcy, the American
cousin of Elizabeth’s husband, who finds himself stranded in England, unable to return to his native Boston because of the war between “the colonies” and Great Britain. In a parallel to the original Pride and Prejudice, Caroline and the “other” Mr. Darcy start off on the wrong foot and continue to misunderstand each other (almost for a bit too long), but with the help of some very creative plot turns (wait ‘til you read what happens to Mr. Wickham!), the story keeps moving at a good pace as it heads toward the very Austen-like ending. A fun read!
Mary F. Burns
THE FLEET STREET MURDERS
Charles Finch, Minotaur, 2009, $24.99/C$31.99, hb, 320pp, 9780312564940
Amateur detective Charles Lenox is having a happy Christmas in his Mayfair townhouse with his fiancée Lady Jane Grey while across London, two prominent newspapermen have simultaneously met a violent end. Lenox is intrigued, but his efforts at solving the case must take a back seat to his need to go to north England to campaign for a seat in Parliament. Two likely suspects in the case are quickly apprehended, but Lenox has his doubts. To him, the crimes seem inevitably linked to an old nemesis and former suitor of his Jane, George Barnard. However with no evidence of his suspicions, and no time to uncover some, the gentleman detective is frustrated. Worse, Lady Jane sends a wire expressing some doubts about their relationship.
This mystery, set in 1867 London, is as far from the mean streets of contemporary novels as Lenox is in the faraway north of England. Moreover in Lenox, there is no deeply flawed crime fighter. He is as warm and upstanding as one can be, a truly likeable fellow who seems destined to secure his love, the infinitely desirable Lady Jane. That is what sets this book apart from the pack. It is just so comfortable, like talking to old friend over a wee dram of Scotch near a warming fire. The scenes and the story itself are subtly evocative of that more livable 19th century. The pacing fits as well, chapters short and to the point, but entirely lacking in the over-the-top action so often found in crime novels. Not that the mystery is lacking—it is as puzzling and complex to challenge even the most expert reader. It just doesn’t overwhelm you.
Charles Finch has crafted a fine addition to a fine series. Highly recommended. It’s just so darn likeable.
Ken Kreckel
A GLIMPSE AT HAPPINESS
Jean Fullerton, Orion, 2009, pb £11.99, 344 pp, 9781409113201; hb, £18.99, 9780752883731
Josie O’Casey returns to East End London overjoyed to discover her childhood sweetheart, Patrick Nolan, is alive and well. Her happiness is short-lived. As she settles back into the life she knew as a child, she recalls her poverty-stricken
upbringing. But her family’s social standing has vastly improved since her return...
The setting, London’s docklands in 1844, is colourful in dirt and poverty, hard labour, thieving, corner pubs, fights and tarts.
Josie, in her twenties, moves in her new middle-class circles, but sees criminal low life and honest working class too. Emotional intensity, chapter-end hooks and action lead the reader quickly on. Underlying sexual tension and cleverly handled introspection make this is a real page-turner. The author shows a sensitive understanding of the physical effects of intense emotions.
Contemporary detail, skirts that drag in the dirt, the Thames Tunnel, the rag trade, new letter envelopes and the Irish in London, is only skated over. What I missed were the smells and the sounds. No horses whinnied, no dogs barked, no costermongers or labourers shouted except in violent argument. Where were the smells of bodies, the excrement and rotting vegetables? Where is the mention of child labour? School education for the working classes only began in the 1870s.
A feud between Patrick and Ma Tugman’s gang develops when Pat informs on their ongoing theft of goods from the docks. The tales concludes with a courtroom fight and a bloody affray in Ma’s pub that resolves the fate of both the crooks and the lovers.
In the end they come together in all the moral, emotional, rough and filthy docklands of 19thcentury London.
Geoffrey Harfield
THE BELIEVER
Ann H. Gabhart, Revell, 2009, $13.99, pb, 394pp, 9780800733629
Kentucky, 1833. When Elizabeth Duncan’s father dies suddenly, the young woman finds herself responsible for her brother Payton and sister Hannah. Her only option seems to be marriage to her father’s landlord, an older man who frightens and repulses her. Praying for guidance, a packet of seeds falls from her Bible. Elizabeth remembers her father’s description of the Shaker community where he bought the seeds: a peaceful village where no one in need is turned away. The Shakers welcome the Duncan family, but adapting to the strict religious community is difficult. Free spirit Hannah finds conforming almost impossible, and Elizabeth worries about her romantic feelings toward Ethan Boyd, a Shaker believer. Marriage is forbidden among Shakers.
From the hanging of chairs on pegs, to the separation of genders, to the stomping out of evil, Gabhart brings to life Shaker customs with respect and dignity. This is a well-written story with engaging characters and melodious dialog. Gabhart clearly invokes the language of the past, capturing the respectful speech of the Shakers and differentiating it from regular 19th-century conversation. The Believer is a page-turning romance, with danger, mystery,
and thoughtful musings on the importance of religion and relationships.
Elizabeth Caulfield Felt
FOREVER WAITING
DeVa Gantt, Avon A, 2009, $13.99, pb, 434pp, 9780061578267
The Duvoisin family saga that began with A Silent Ocean Away and Decision and Destiny wraps up with this final volume. It takes place in the late 1830s in Virginia and on the lush West Indies island of Charmantes, the longtime residence of the wealthy Duvoisin family. Charmaine Ryan, the family’s governess, finally makes her choice between the two Duvoisin brothers: Paul, the dashing illegitimate son, who makes his marital intentions clear at last; and John, the complex man with whom she has, to her surprise, fallen in love. In the last book, John had left Charmantes in the wake of a devastating tragedy, but circumstances call him back again – to face his father, patriarch Frederic Duvoisin, and determine whether the deep wounds between them can ever be repaired. Forever Waiting is ultimately a novel about maturity, forgiveness, and coming to terms with the past, but before the dust settles, there’s still much more of the Duvoisins’ painful history yet to be revealed.
The novels must be read in order, and although the first one started out rough, I quickly became sold on this trilogy. It’s full of likeable, flawed characters I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with; John’s gradual transformation from embittered, cynical family pariah to honorable hero was especially well portrayed. While the ongoing drama remains at the forefront, the story takes place against a well-rendered backdrop of the 19th-century shipping industry and the burgeoning abolitionist movement along America’s eastern seaboard. The plot twists and turns in unpredictable ways, and the conclusion is as satisfying as anyone could wish. DeVa Gantt is the joint pseudonym for coauthor sisters Deb and Valerie, and some have called their style old-fashioned, but if their work marks a return to solid, engrossing storytelling, then I’m all for it.
Sarah
Johnson
A BRIDE IN THE BARGAIN
Deeanne Gist, Bethany House, 2009, $13.99, pb, 362pp, 9780764204074
In 1865, the land of Seattle, Washington Territory, belongs to landowners with wives: a married man can acquire 640 acres of timberland, but bachelors don’t even get half that. Lumberjack Joe Denton’s land is threatened when he can’t prove he was married and that his wife died before making the trek West to join him. To ensure his rights, he reluctantly buys a Mercer bride—an eastern orphan brought out West by Asa Mercer.
At nineteen, destitute and alone, Anna Ivey doesn’t realize she’s signed on for marriage; she only wants passage out West and a job as a cook. When she reaches Seattle and learns the truth,
she refuses to marry Joe, jeopardizing his land and business. Joe must convince Anna to marry him before it’s too late, and Anna must convince Joe only love will induce her to marriage. With her usual spiritually fulfilling yet comical and sassy prose, Gist has once again written a delectable Christian romance. The setting, characters, and plot meld so well with historical detail that everything comes alive and one is swept away by the story. This is definitely one of Gist’s best, and I hope she continues enthralling her readers with well- balanced, engaging stories.
Rebecca Roberts
BORDER AMBUSH
Melody Groves, La Frontera Publishing, 2009, $19.95, pb, 256 pp, 9780978563462
In 1860s New Mexico, stagecoach guard James Colton is beaten and robbed of his grandfather’s watch by an outlaw gang. Seeking to recover his stolen watch, a family heirloom, James eventually trails the outlaws to a town controlled by a crooked sheriff. Forced to kill the popular sheriff in self-defense, James is hunted down and captured. His brother Trace helps James escape and they both track the bandits to Mexico, hoping that their capture would prove that James killed in self-defense. A posse continues to follow the brothers to the border. The bandits gravely wound Trace in a shoot-out, and James must decide to turn himself in to save his brother’s life or remain in Mexico.
This is the third book in the Colton Brothers Saga. Poor James is beat up, shot and hunted down, as in the previous books, while his brother Trace comes to his rescue. Even with the trouble James continues to encounter, which becomes predictable, I enjoyed this book. It’s a pageturner with excellent character development. You do not have to have read the previous books to follow Border Ambush. I highly recommend it to Western lovers.
Jeff Westerhoff
HOMELAND
Barbara Hambly, Bantam, 2009, $26, hb, 336pp, 9780553805529
Set during the American Civil War, Homeland is not just an epistolary novel; it’s a heartfelt conversation between two women, one a daughter of the North, the other of the South. Cora and her Tennessee-born husband have left the South to make their home in Boston, Massachusetts. Her correspondence with Susanna begins when Susanna – in Greene County, Tennessee – fears Cora might betray a secret inadvertently revealed. Each in their turn, the fears and everyday casualties of war are as much the topic of conversation as the latest novel one or the other has read.
The similarities in their lives are as many as the differences: Susanna is single and enrolled as an art student; Cora is married and about to become a mother. Both understand and respect the other’s point of view. When Cora’s husband,
Emory, is to sign on with the Union army, Cora relocates to her family home on Deer Island in Maine. But Emory joins the Confederates in Tennessee, and Cora’s battle comes closer to home as she is viewed in some social circles as a traitor.
Though I adored both principal characters, I found the novel a challenge to follow at times. While the lack of chronology is understandable as new letters were begun before answers to previous letters were received, the paper trail was further confounded because the letters written but not sent were included in the text – voiceless cries into the dark. Separating sent from not sent was a layer of complication that at times hampered understanding, though this makes a great excuse for re-reading. Cora and Susanna are such good literary company!
Janette King
WHAT REMAINS OF HEAVEN
C. S. Harris, Obsidian, 2009, $23.95, hb, 352pp, 9780451228024
Regency London is stunned by the murder of the bishop, Sir Francis Prescott. Responding to the request of his aunt and the Archbishop of Canterbury, the inimitable Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, former spy and military hero, agrees to investigate the shocking murder when yet another body is discovered, this one killed thirty years earlier. Both corpses are found in an ancient burial crypt. St. Cyr learns the murders are tangentially connected with the infamous Hellfire Club, a volatile collection of treasonous letters penned during the American Revolution and dark family secrets that lead directly back to his own bloodline.
Harris is a master of the genre, exploring politics and personal agendas, local unsavory characters benefiting from the tragedies of others, and the carefully wrought facades of noble families riddled with secrets. Bedeviled with personal problems, St. Cyr interviews a plethora of potential suspects. Barely surviving a bloody confrontation, he races against time to a reckoning in the crypt, exposing a murderer, thirty years of deceit and the crooked branches of his own family tree.
Luan Gaines
RACE FOR THE DYING
Steven F. Havill, Thomas Dunne, 2009, $25.99/ C$32.99, hb, 322pp, 9780312380717
Thomas Parks of Connecticut, newly graduated from a prestigious medical school back East, arrives in Port McKinney, Washington in 1891 to take up a position with an old friend of his father’s. No sooner has he arrived, though, that he finds himself in the position of patient rather than physician. He was thrown off a mule while racing to assist an accident victim, and very nearly killed. His time convalescing allows him to learn more about the members of Dr. Haines’s household and staff, including Alvina Haines, Dr. Haines’s medically talented daughter, and the enigmatic Dr. Riggs, who
never seems to visit the clinic or tend patients. Port McKinney is a rough frontier town with a large lumber mill, where accidents are all too common. Thomas is a lousy patient, loathe to waste time recuperating when he could be helping at the clinic. As he begins to maneuver his way around, he becomes intrigued with the part of the medical operation that Dr. Riggs does handle, diagnosing illnesses and promoting treatments for people from all over the United States. Suspense about a murder also builds, and the converging plotlines kept this reader on the edge of her seat.
Steven F. Havill is known for his engaging mystery series set in the American Southwest. Yet in this book he shows a real flair for writing atmospheric historical novels. I hope it is just the first of many.
Trudi
E. Jacobson
LORD KANE’S KEEPSAKE
Sandra Heath, Robert Hale, 2008 (c1992), $24.95/£18.99, hb, 223pp, 9780709080923
Sweet-tempered Emma Rutherford is betrothed to Gerald Fitzroy, Lord Kane. It is quite a coup for a young lady from Dorchester to capture the attention of such a sophisticated and wealthy nobleman. Emma’s insecurities that she is marrying above her station are compounded by discovering that Lord Kane was involved with the most beautiful woman in London, and by the whispered slanders of Kane’s rival, Lord Avenley.
Y A SEPARATE COUNTRY
This book was written over fifteen years ago, and I wonder if this was reissued without evaluation by an editor. Since that time, writing styles have changed. Both writers and readers have become more sophisticated. No longer are whole paragraphs devoted to what the main character is wearing where a word or two would suffice. This stops the story in its tracks, whereas the reader wants to move through the story to get to the happily-ever-after of the romance. The characters seem one-dimensional, and the plot is predictable. Compound this with the ugliest woman to ever grace the dust jacket of a novel. All these make Lord Kane’s Keepsake a book that will not grace your keeper shelf.
Monica Spence
THE CRACK IN THE LENS: A Holmes on the Range Mystery
Steve Hockensmith, Minotaur, 2009, $24.99, hb, 320 pp, 0312379420
This book, the fourth in a series, answers the question “What would it be like if Sherlock Holmes was a cowpoke in 1890s Texas?” It sounds a bit ridiculous, but that just adds to our admiration of Steve Hockensmith and his ability to blend wildly different genres into a successful story.
At this point in the series the Amlingmeyer brothers have discovered, and in their eyes become masters of, the great detective Sherlock Holmes. They travel to San Marcos, Texas to “deducify” a mystery that’s both heinous and
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Robert Hicks, Grand Central, 2009, $25.99/C$31.99/£18.99, hb, 422pp, 9780446581646
The bestselling author of The Widow of the South has penned another atmospheric masterpiece, this time a moving portrait of the post-Civil War life of Confederate general John Bell Hood.
New Orleans is in the grip of yellow fever, and General Hood is dying. He summons to his deathbed a young man whose family had been destroyed during one of Hood’s many campaigns—a young man who’d once tried to murder him. Into this man’s care, General Hood deposits a most precious book. It is not Hood’s war memoirs, detailing how he lost his leg at Chickamauga, or the use of his arm at Gettysburg—that book he orders to be burned. This book concerns his life after the war, more specifically, his marriage to Anna Marie Hennen, the flower of Creole aristocracy. Through her, Hood came to know the true New Orleans—of a dwarf who rules a powerful underworld; of a burly priest who tends to yellow fever’s colored victims; and of a piano player lynched trying to pass as white. This story, combined with Anna Marie’s own memoirs and the young man’s commentary, details the deeply emotional journey of a soldier who seeks forgiveness not just through the love of his family, not just through acts of charity that destroy him socially and financially, but also through the grace of those very men whose lives he destroyed.
Robert Hicks has penned a powerful story of redemption set in a swampy, insular, and color-conscious New Orleans. The novel is filled with psychologically complex characters whose true natures remain a mystery until the peeling of the final layer. A Separate Country is a fabulous novel, and well worth the wait.
Lisa Ann Verge
personal. Five years ago, Gustav Amlingmeyer, the older brother, fell in love with a prostitute in San Marcos and planned to marry her. These plans were destroyed when she was brutally murdered.
When the brothers return to San Marcos to solve the murder, they discover two stunning things. First, it appears the death of Gustav’s fiancée was one of several Jack the Ripperlike murders. Second, the people who run San Marcos don’t want two cowboys stirring up a serial murder scandal.
Hockensmith does much more than borrow the investigative techniques of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective. He creates two appealing characters that spice their conversations with cowboy humor and solve a clever murder at the same time. No wonder all three of his previous “Holmes on the Range” mysteries were nominated for Edgar, Shamus and Anthony awards.
Chuck Curtis
MY UNFAIR LADY
Kathryne Kennedy, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2009, $6.99/C$8.99, pb, 384pp, 9781402229909
“My Unfair Lady” is Summer Wine Lee, an Arizona-bred prospector’s daughter, determined to be accepted by New York society. And what better way to do that than to go to England and be presented to Queen Victoria. It is 1895, when such things were possible if one could afford a Worth wardrobe and hire the impoverished Duke of Monchester to play Pygmalion to Summer’s Galatea. This duke has a hard time convincing Summer not to strap a knife to her leg, let alone teach her how to be a lady. Then there is Summer’s ménage, her eccentric companion, Maria, assorted rescued animals including a monkey, which Summer takes with her everywhere even to a house party with the Prince of Wales. Of course the Duke who, is at first appalled by her, falls in love with Summer. Amid a myriad of subplots are several attempts on the Duke’s life.
Kennedy has won awards for her “magical romances.” However, this heroine, a combination of Ellie May Clampett and Eliza Doolittle, has all the charm of a cannonball. This story has a good premise, but it disappoints. Tarnation!, to borrow the heroine’s favorite swear word.
Audrey Braver
THE UNTAMED BRIDE
Stephanie Laurens, Avon, 2009, $7.99/C$10.99, pb, 448pp, 9780061795145 / Piatkus Books, 2009, £7.99, pb, 368pp, 9780749952259
Readers of Stephanie Laurens will be pleased with The Untamed Bride, the first in a new quartet of books. In 1822 India, the Black Cobra cult is terrorizing villages, torturing and murdering Indians and Englishmen alike. Four men find proof that the leader of the cult is a highly protected English aristocrat. These men must take the evidence back to England and into
Y THE WIDOW’S WAR
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Mary Mackey, Berkley, 2009, $15/C$18.50, pb, 368pp, 9780425227916
Carolyn Vinton and Dr. William Saylor, both abolitionists, were about to get married when he suddenly disappears. The family assumes he is dead, and Carrie is left grieving, pregnant and alone. When Deacon Presgrove, William’s stepbrother, offers to give the baby a name, Carrie accepts his offer to wed.
It is 1853. In the years heating up to the Civil War, the Kansas Territory is a battleground between proslavery and abolitionist factions. Carrie soon learns that her father-in-law, a famous senator, is in favor of slavery. Feeling betrayed by Deacon, and then learning that William is alive, Carrie decides to break free to find William.
This is a novel to read again and again. Mackey creates magic when she brings together the star-crossed pair of Carolyn Vinton and Dr. William Saylor. This is one of those “non-stop, can’t put down” books. Carrie is dynamic and strong, a woman of presence and grace, and the sparks fly between her and William; their connection is sensational.
The story is peppered with intricate deception and edgy climactic tension that builds until the conclusion. Mackey has created a well-researched romantic historical novel. The depictions of John Brown, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, “Bloody Kansas,” and other events are credible, real and memorable. This would be an excellent companion novel when studying the American Civil War in high school or beyond. No doubt The Widow’s War will be one of the best of 2009.
Wisteria Leigh
the waiting hands of another powerful aristocrat who is willing to challenge the evil-doer. The men separate, one with the evidence and the others with copies, each taking different routes to England.
The Untamed Bride follows the path of one of the men, Colonel Derek “Del” Delborough. Arriving in England, Del meets up with Deliah Duncannon, a beautiful and willful Englishwoman returning from a mysterious sojourn in Jamaica. Together, the two battle the minions of the Black Cobra while dealing with their strong attraction. The action in the bedroom is as vivid and dangerous as the action on the streets.
Laurens is adept at weaving together thrilling adventure and intense passion. Her fans will not be disappointed in the first episode in this new series.
Elizabeth Caulfield Felt
THE SILVER LOCOMOTIVE MYSTERY
Edward Marston, Allison & Busby, 2009, £19.99, hb, 320pp, 9780749083977
The sixth book in the Railway Detective series of Victorian mysteries, The Silver Locomotive Mystery brings back Inspector Robert Colbeck, Sergeant Victor Leeming and Madeleine Andrews, the woman Colbeck is in love with. This time, Colbeck and Leeming are in Cardiff, on the track of the thief who has stolen a silver coffee-pot in the shape of a train and murdered the young silversmith who was delivering it to the owners.
In the course of their enquiries they meet some splendidly drawn characters – over-the-
top members of an acting troupe, the clever and refined mistress of a local business magnate, and not least the selfishly callous wife of the man who had commissioned the coffee-pot. As the case proceeds, their suspects include a missing son, and an actress who disappears. With a final neat twist, on both the professional and personal levels for Colbeck, this novel is an enjoyable addition to a crime series that has an interesting background and always manages to deliver an enthralling whodunit. Plus, Edward Marston has the trick of giving you enough information to make the historical ambience real, without overloading the reader with so much extraneous detail that it holds up the story.
jay Dixon
THE INCENDIARY’S TRAIL
James McCreet, Macmillan New Writing, 2009, £16.99/C$24.95, hb, 355pp, 9780230736276
When the murder of conjoined twins, ElizaBeth, shocks Victorian London, Detective Inspector Newsome hatches a daring plot to solve the case. He blackmails a mysterious prisoner, Noah Dyson, into assisting the highly respected Sergeant George Williamson to track down the shadowy master criminal and pyromaniac known to his associates only as the General. Noah has his own reasons for wanting to catch the General, and as events escalate Williamson realises nobody is playing by the rules.
The Incendiary’s Trail is an ingeniously plotted novel. Dickens is clearly a strong influence, from the author’s penchant for unusual words to the use of an omniscient, anonymous narrator who claims to be a journalist and therefore can
highlight the gap between fiction, journalism and the ‘truth’.
The narrative technique also allows McCreet to slip from one set of characters to another, hunting with the hounds and manoeuvring with the fox. Wisely, he leaves the most violent scenes off-stage, allowing the reader’s imagination to conjure up the full horror of what has happened. The quasi-Victorian style means that politically incorrect but historically accurate attitudes to black or disabled characters can be shown. An assured debut from a writer worth looking out for in the future.
Jasmina Svenne
HARRIETTA’S HAPPENSTANCE
Jeanne McElvaney, Country Messenger Press, 2009, $12.95, pb, 273pp, 9780980155440
Miss Harrietta Eastmont appears to be a well-bred, well-educated, albeit mysterious gentlewoman in this Regency romance set in London and the country. Harrietta has a secret and a past she’s running from. When she applies for and is accepted as companion to the elderly and lonely Lady Blackstone, it surprises the Lady’s son to no end. Lord Blackstone is convinced that he will get to the bottom of what troubles the puzzling young woman, a task which proves quite difficult since she is skittish around men. Harrietta must learn to overcome her fears, and trust the loving Blackstones in order to face her past, and heal her heart. This cozy romance creeps along at a slow, even pace. The underlying theme of female empowerment will appeal to modern-day readers, while the standard plot will delight Regency romance fans. Some parts of the novel do seem contrived, like Lord Blackstone repairing Harrietta’s ribs after an accident, despite a doctor being in the house at the time. Nonetheless, this is a pleasant read with a fine ending.
Rebecca Roberts
HOW DO I LOVE THEE?
Nancy Moser, Bethany House, 2009, $13.99, pb, 364pp, 9780764205019
This is an inspirational fiction take on the famous love story of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. It begins in 1840, when Elizabeth (“Ba” to her family) suffers guilt over the death of her brother in a sailing accident. Her father’s peculiarities, including a refusal to let any of his children marry, deeply affect the Barretts’ family life. Ba, a self-taught classical scholar and poet, is confined to her room by chronic illness, maintaining contact with the world via correspondence with fellow authors. Robert Browning writes her an admiring letter, but it is long before the recluse will allow a stranger to visit her room.
A romance eventually grows between them, but when they do decide to marry, they must hide it from her family, followed by a flight to the Continent. There the Brownings enjoy a happy marriage, eventually producing a son.
When Robert is in despair over the news of his beloved mother’s death, Ba presents him with the poems eventually published as “Sonnets from the Portuguese.”
The author of fictional biographies of Jane Austen, Mozart’s sister, and Martha Washington, Moser uses the Brownings’ own words when possible and quotes many passages from their letters. Her research resulted in 42 pages of supplemental material: book club discussion questions, explanations of fact vs. fiction, and excerpts of Ba’s sonnets, including the famous one quoted in the book’s title. Ba’s religious views from her writings are gently emphasized. The main problem with a novel based on her life is the difficulty of making enough drama from the domestic situation of a character who almost never leaves her room. But I was intrigued enough to seek out a biography of EBB after finishing this book, and bet that Christian fiction fans will also have their interest sparked.
B.J. Sedlock
A MOST LAMENTABLE COMEDY
Janet Mullany, Little Black Dress, 2009, £5.99, pb, 309pp, 075534779X
Beautiful, young, widowed Lady Caroline Elmhurst escapes out her window with her maid and as much clothing as they both can carry when her creditors become too pressing. She uses every wile at her disposal to join the Otterwells’ house party and theatricals, where she will play the rich widow, thus to attract another rich husband to save her from poverty.
Nicholas Congreavance, a handsome young scoundrel who makes his living in the arms of bored young wives of rich men in Italy, escapes to England with his life, his servant, and little else. He joins the Otterwells’ house party to find a rich widow to entice into marriage so he can live a life of ease.
When Caroline and Nicholas meet, sparks fly. They see in each other the answer to their financial difficulties, not realizing they are both acting in more than one theatrical during this house party.
Janet Mullany’s tale is told in the alternating voices of both endearingly flawed protagonists. She humorously enriches even her minor characters with entertaining personalities that add depth and humor to this wonderful romp of a novel.
Nan Curnutt
JARRETTSVILLE
Cornelia Nixon, Counterpoint, 2009, $15.95, pb, 352pp, 9781582435121
In 1869, Martha Cairnes walks up to the porch of a hotel in Jarrettsville, Maryland, where a group of ex-Union soldiers are celebrating the fourth anniversary of the Confederate surrender at Appomattox. There, in front of fifty witnesses, she shoots Nicholas McComas, her former fiancé and the father of her child, in the chest. As Martha prepares to go to trial to face an almost certain verdict of guilty, Nixon goes back to the
days immediately after Lincoln’s assassination to answer the question of why Martha killed the man she loves.
Narrated from a variety of perspectives, including those of Martha, Nicholas, and a host of witnesses and family members, Jarrettsville tells the story of a love affair gone wrong, against the grim backdrop of a Reconstructionera Maryland where old wounds still fester. The novel is all the more interesting for being based on an episode from Nixon’s own family history—an incident that the author tells us was hushed up by the family until the author’s mother and uncles rediscovered it in the 1950s.
This is a well-researched and well-executed novel, and its various narrators all have distinctive styles. Though I never warmed to the characters—which may be more the historical record’s fault than that of the author—Nixon portrays the period vividly, and she has a particular flair for courtroom drama.
Susan Higginbotham
WILLOUGHBY’S RETURN
Jane Odiwe, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2009, $14.99/$18.99, pb, 352pp, 97814022222672
Odiwe’s follow-up to Sense and Sensibility tries hard to invoke the Austen magic, but sadly isn’t quite up to the mark. Her Marianne Brandon is thinly and unconvincingly drawn, and rather annoying; younger sister Margaret is more appealing, though shallow. The crowded cast includes lesser characters like Lucy Ferrars and the bustling Mrs. Jennings, a worthy attempt that falls flat into mere caricature. Elinor Dashwood Ferrars comes across as a prudish, fussy woman, and Colonel Brandon is a cipher, though a nice one.
My most serious disappointment is that the plot (in itself somewhat predictable and thin: “Let’s find a husband for Margaret!”) is carried forward with an unimaginative pastiche of dialogues that are taken, some almost word for word, from Austen’s classic novels, or in scenes clearly derived from the slew of popular modern films—in her desire to make everything “Austen-like,” Odiwe borrows too much from Austen and doesn’t give us enough of her own creation. I realize such Austen references are common in sequels, but it shouldn’t be this obvious and heavy-handed.
The style is wooden and banal with odd choices (people “butt in” to conversations, or “shout” their questions; nice ladies “smirk”). Marianne’s and Margaret’s private thoughts are often (but not always) presented in quotation marks, making it confusing as to whether they’re speaking aloud or not. The “realistic” details of country fairs, clothing, and carriages seem present only to persuade the reader this is an historical novel, but without conviction or ease.
Mary F. Burns
STONE’S FALL
Iain Pears, Jonathan Cape, 2009, £18.99, hb,
597pp, 9780224081795 / Spiegel & Grau, 2009, $27.95, hb, 608pp, 9780385522847
The story straddles the 19th and 20th centuries, and, like the author’s An Instance of the Fingerpost, is narrated by a number of different characters. Each tells a part of the story, amplifying and explaining what has gone before, even though the three parts are chronologically in reverse order.
Lord Ravenscliff, a hugely successful and wealthy arms manufacturer, dies in odd circumstances. His widow, the charismatically attractive Lady Elizabeth, employs a journalist to track down a hitherto unknown child of her husband, who is to receive a substantial bequest in his will. This reveals a complicated web of intrigue, duplicity, espionage and mysterious romance. The second part of the story, told by a young spy Henry Cort, reveals Stone’s Machiavellian role in a banking crisis (with contemporary relevance concerning the current crisis in Western finance) in the late 19th century, as Russia and France combine in an attempt to bankrupt the Bank of England. John Stone sneakily manipulates the emergency to expand his maritime industry empire. The final part is narrated by Stone himself, and set in Venice, where the young arms magnate first sees the opportunities for wealth in making and selling torpedo technology to the world’s navies.
The reader needs to be alert to be fully aware of all the serpentine twists and unexpected developments in the tale. It is a long book, but written in a congenially authentic style, and with tight and capable plotting making it an ultimately enjoyable and rewarding read, with an entirely unexpected and unforeseen conclusion.
Doug Kemp
A CHRISTMAS PROMISE
Anne Perry, Ballantine, 2009, $18.00, hb, 208pp, 9780345510662 / Headline, 2009, £16.99, hb, 160pp, 9780755351114
This Dickensian tale begins in 1895 London, a poor young girl of eight anxiously searching for Charlie, her uncle’s donkey. Uncle Alf, a rag and bones man, has been brutally murdered, his donkey and cart missing. When thirteenyear-old maid, Gracie Phipps, stumbles across Minnie Maud Mudway on a street corner in London’s East End, she joins the distraught girl on her quest to find the animal who offers comfort in Minnie Maud’s meager life.
A small gold coffin is the key to the mystery, a Pandora’s box revealing a trail of lies, a heartbreaking addiction and an opportunistic murderer. A tragic story turns to one of hope as Gracie and Minnie Maud brave the perilous streets of Victorian London in search of Charlie. London holds no safe places for such children, with the exception of Mr. Balthasar, who saves the girls from grave danger in time to deliver a precious treasure to a glorious Christmas Eve celebration. Gracie, a familiar character in the author’s Victorian mystery series starring Charlotte and Thomas Pitt, is a fresh new
heroine in this uplifting novel. Luan Gaines
WHAT HAPPENS IN LONDON
Julia Quinn, Avon, 2009, $7.99/C$10.99, pb, 372pp, 978006141887 / Piatkus, 2009, £7.99, pb, 400pp, 9780749941895
Regency London thrives on scandal and the latest on-dit, so when Olivia Bevelstoke is told that her new neighbor may have killed his fiancée; she’s rather unconvinced at the hearsay. Discovering her bedroom window looks right into his study, however, perks her interest, and she soon succumbs to subterfuge and stealth to see what he is up to, and what kind of man he really is.
Sir Harry Valentine translates national security documents for the War Office, occasionally doing espionage jobs. He keeps a low profile, and works mainly in his study. Noticing his gorgeous next door neighbor watching him from her window, the nosy debutante merely amuses him, until he discovers that she may be engaged to a foreign prince, who might be plotting against England. Getting close to Olivia, in order to get close to the evil prince, becomes more than a job and more than Harry bargains for.
Quinn’s trademark quips, sharp banter and pleasing love story make this a light, easy read. With a derivative plot, it is a typical regency romance that delights and amuses, but is not at all taxing on the imagination. Read only if you crave light fluff.
Rebecca Roberts
Y THE BRIDE’S FAREWELL
THE WILDEST HEART
Rosemary Rogers, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2009, $7.99/C$9.99/£4.99, pb, 748pp, 9781402222740
Lady Rowena Dangerfield, the future Countess of Melchester, had a rather unconventional childhood. While still an infant, her parents divorced, her father fled to America to escape a conviction for murder, and she herself was whisked off to India to be raised by her curmudgeonly grandfather. At her grandfather’s death, in 1873, 18-year-old Rowena returns to London. Life in her stepfather’s home is so unpleasant that Rowena is overjoyed to learn that she has inherited a title and a fortune from her father, and must travel to Santa Rita, New Mexico, to claim her half-share in the SD Ranch. Attracted to her father’s partner, Todd Shannon, Rowena soon agrees to marry him, but the engagement is threatened when Todd’s enemy, the handsome half-breed, Lucas Cord, rescues Rowena from Apaches.
Bold, stubborn, and self-reliant, Rowena is a charming heroine who thrives in the midst of atrocious circumstances––which is a good thing given the violence and abuse the men around her are unashamedly willing to dole out. There are no heroes here. But there is a firstperson narrative written in a voice so smooth and sure that (once the prologue is behind you) it draws you through the complexities of the story, entices you to care about the passions of the characters, and leaves you with a desire to know more about the history of New Mexico. I
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Meg Rosoff, Viking, 2009, $24.95, 214pp, 9780670020997 / Puffin, 2009, £10.99, hb, 192pp, 9780141383934
Pell Ridley has seen the ravages of marriage, and she has firmly decided against it. Her mother’s health and well-being have been compromised by frequent childbirth, spousal abuse, and a hardscrabble life in a town with a very apt name: Nomansland. Though her childhood friend Birdie would make a fine husband, marriage isn’t for Pell, so she escapes her home on the morning of her wedding, accompanied by her adoptive brother Bean, a mute who was abandoned by his mother, and her beloved horse Jack. Pell has a way with horses, so she travels to Salisbury Fair in an attempt to find work. But work is difficult to come by for a young woman traveling on her own, and Pell quickly finds herself facing challenges she did not expect. While there are many along her path who are willing to come to her aid, there are others who wish her harm, and her journey toward independence from her family and a better life becomes a struggle to survive.
Set in the 1850s, The Bride’s Farewell is spare, uncompromising, and difficult to put down. Pell could have easily become little more than a tragic runaway in less capable hands. Rosoff shows the reader brief glimpses of the forces that shaped Pell Ridley: the loss of several of her siblings to disease; her drunken zealot father’s abuse; her relationship with Birdie Finch and his family; and her knowledge and love of horses. Most of the relationships that Pell has witnessed in her brief life are dysfunctional in some way, and one of Pell’s greatest struggles throughout the book is reconciling her need for connection with others with her fear of dependence. This novel is strikingly original, refreshingly unsentimental, and a pleasure to read.
Nanette Donohue
devoured my way through this novel as though famished. At the end I was satiated, even if not entirely satisfied. The title, The Wildest Heart, was exceptionally well-chosen. Long before the last page is turned, it becomes quite clear that Lucas Cord, who is a “…wild young man, a murderer, and perhaps a rapist as well…” does not possess the wildest heart of all.
Nancy J. Attwell
LADY BLUE
Helen A. Rosburg, Medallion, 2009, $7.95/ C$8.95, pb, 380pp, 9781605420639
Raised on a cattle ranch in the American West, Harmony Simmons must move to England to live with her older sister Agatha when her parents die. For reasons unknown, Agatha despises her younger sister and threatens to deny Harmony her financial inheritance. On her first day in England, Harmony’s coach is robbed by a handsome bandit and that evening she is kidnapped by the same outlaw. After a day in his custody, he releases Harmony, but the hearts of the two have become entwined. The next day, the bandit returns and presents himself as Lord Farmington. Is he the bandit in disguise, or is he really a lord who pretended to be a bandit just so he could meet her? Agatha pushes the two together, hoping to rid herself of Harmony, but Harmony isn’t sure what to think. Can she trust him? Should she listen to her heart or her head?
Despite its simple plot, uncomplicated characters, and lack of historical references, Lady Blue is a fun and entertaining read.
Elizabeth Caulfield Felt
LADY VERNON AND HER DAUGHTER
Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway, Crown, 2009, hb, $24.99/C$29.99, 320pp, 9780307461667
Lady Vernon and Her Daughter shares the distinction with Sense and Sensibility of being based on characters created by Jane Austen in an epistolary novella. Though Elinor and Marianne were metamorphosed by Austen into her first novel, Lady Susan’s characters had to wait for the mother/daughter team of Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway to take them from their dusty pages and give them a home in the most Austenesque novel they could.
Lady Susan Vernon, like most Austen mothers, is most concerned with trying to secure a suitable match for her daughter, Frederica. Lady Susan’s challenge is that, through the loss of her husband and the conniving of another heir, she and her daughter are no longer of a monied family – or even one with a home – so securing a wealthy suitor is of the essence. Lady Susan is more than capable of talking Frederica’s way into a good match. If only Frederica were more attuned to the ways of society, her mother might not have to work as hard.
The characters in this novel are all so very Jane Austen! The ease of reading something recently written is perhaps the only thing that really gives away the fact that it was not written
by Austen herself. The novel mimics ably enough her well-tucked prose and wry humor. A delight.
Janette
King
OKEI: A Girl from the Provinces Mitsugu Saotome (trans. Kenneth J. Bryson), Alma/Trafalgar Square, 2009, $15.95/£9.99, pb, 9781846880704
The old ways of the Shogunate dynasty in the late 1800s are coming to a violent end. Three Western Japanese clans have united to overthrow the present Shogun’s influence with the Emperor and are now about to wreak revenge on the Aizu community. At first Okei, the young daughter of a peasant worker, slowly realizes she has fallen in love with a local samurai warrior, Sanasuma Kingo, who in turn adores a fellow samurai widow. This follows after Okei travels to a part of Japan where the war has already begun and meets the foreigners Henry and Edward, two Dutch brothers who are supplying the enemy with the most up-todate guns and cannons for the conflict already in process. Edward, thinking simple Japanese women are easy prey, physically accosts Okei, who is rescued at the last precarious moment by Henry, an honorable man who wants to marry one of her best friends.
Most of the novel concerns the complex relationships uniting and dividing the Aizu clan in their loyal service to the local feudal lord and the realization that his defeat means theirs as well. Okei spends hours and days dealing with her own shock of how little she knows of love and revolution. Traditional loyalties, manners and obedience are jettisoned by the fierce winds of warfare. Finally, Okei and several of her new and old acquaintances survive sure death by traveling to America, where they will form a Japanese community in Coloma, California.
Although the language earlier in the novel sometimes seem out of synch with the times, the remainder of the novel portrays a dynamic period in both Japan and California that will fascinate any reader who loves precise, wellresearched historical fiction full of action and complex characters. Nicely done!
Viviane Crystal
THE UNBELIEVERS
Alistair Sim, Snowbooks, 2009, £7.99, pb, 335pp, 9781906727383
In Victorian Edinburgh in an age when the Highlands were being cleared of the local peasants in order for the wealthy landlords to turn their estates over to sheep, grouse moors, etc., the Duke of Dornock has been shot and his body dumped in a well on the family estate. Inspector Allerdyce and Sergeant McGilvray VC are put in charge of the case. Things do not go well, and one by one the Duke’s brothers are also murdered. Who could have such a grudge against the family?
The tale is well told and, although it took a while to be drawn fully into the plot, it turned
out to be quite a good read. The characters were a little wooden but I understand that this is the first book by this author. He has been described as, ‘a wonderful new Scottish crime fiction voice’, so hopefully this will improve.
Marilyn Sherlock
INVASION
Julian Stockwin, McBooks, 2009, $24.00, hb, 320pp, 9781590132371 / Hodder & Stoughton, 2009, £18.99, hb, 352pp, 9780340961155
Commander Thomas Kydd, RN, is determined to once again sally forth to protect England from the threat of Napoleonic France. In this tenth volume of a thoroughly enjoyable series, our nautical hero witnesses the birth pangs of a new era in naval warfare. He is tasked by the high command to work with the eccentric American artist and inventor Robert Fulton on the development of Fulton’s submarine and torpedo—“infernal machines” to one comfortable on the quarterdeck of a sailing ship man-of-war.
The present novel deals with the very real threat posed by a French invasion of England. Robert Fulton had first demonstrated his revolutionary weapon to the French but was frustrated at their hesitant reaction. Kydd’s good friend, Nicholas Renzi, is instrumental in convincing the reluctant American to transfer his allegiance from Napoleon to George III while Kydd is engaged in the deadly work of coastal warfare in the treacherous waters of the English Channel and the Downs.
Stockwin continues to display his talents in transporting his audience from the 21st century to the chaotic worlds of Kydd, Renzi, and their imperiled homeland and its enemies. He captures Georgian society and the closed world of a Royal Navy warship particularly well and, as one expects, goes into action with swords drawn and cannons and carronades blasting. Britannia does indeed rule the waves.
John R. Vallely
THE CORAL THIEF
Rebecca Stott, Spiegel & Grau, 2009, $25.00/ C$29.95, hb, 304pp, 9780385531467 / Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Jan. 2010, £14.99, 224pp, hb, 9780297851370
Young Daniel Connor travels on a careerexpanding venture to the post-Napoleonic Paris of 1815. A medical student from Scotland, Daniel carries a letter of introduction to a French professor and precious coral specimens. He shares the coach with a child and mother, a beautiful woman who is interested in the emerging theories of evolution. After a brief nap, Daniel awakes to find his possessions stolen and blames the mysterious woman. Now his future is at stake and to seek out the thief he’s plunged into the Paris underground of brigands and murderers and runs afoul of the police chief who also searches for this woman, Lucienne, a notorious criminal. Daniel’s fate is complicated when he meets and falls in love with the alluring
Lucienne. With the police chief threatening his freedom, Daniel must choose between saving the woman’s child in a risky jewel heist and betraying the very man he works for who can advance his medical career.
The story is fascinating in its exploration of evolutionary theories before the advent of Charles Darwin. The displays of bones and fossils at the Jardin des Plantes, where Daniel is employed, are richly detailed. The underground grottos, sleazy lives of thieves, and a Paris reeling from the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo are well done. Daniel too easily abandons his scruples and medical aspirations to “puppydog” after Lucienne, but this is a captivating read nonetheless.
Diane Scott Lewis
THE CAPTAIN’S TABLE
Brian Thompson, Chatto and Windus, 2009, £12.99, hb, 232pp, 9780701184132
This is the second in the Bella Wallis series: Bella is an attractive widow, who writes thrilling and highly successful tales under the pseudonym of Henry Ellis Margam. Once again, Bella gets involved in a rather unpleasant imbroglio, which she uses as inspiration for a plot in her fiction. Bella, her cultured inamorato Philip Westland, and her team of rough-diamond but salt-of-theearth assistants, have to tackle some particularly nasty villains – one of whom, Robert Judd, is out to steal some hugely valuable pearls belonging to Sir William Skillane as well as Skillane’s daughter, who is the beloved of William Kennett – friend to Bella and Philip. This Judd has a rather unfortunate habit of killing or nastily mutilating anyone who gets in his way, particularly females. The tale races along with a constant sort of gallows humour. There is much casual violence and sexual references aplenty, all serving to tread on the more traditional myths of Victorian moral rectitude. An easy, undemanding read, though I am puzzled about why the author chose the title as neither this nor the illustration for the cover seems to have very little resemblance to the plot.
Doug Kemp
NO LESS THAN THE JOURNEY
E. V. Thompson, Robert Hale/Trafalgar Square, 2009, £18.99, hb, 336pp, 9780709087441
The novel is set in the late 1870s. Wesley Curnow has emigrated from the Welsh coal mining country of Cornwall to the United States in search of a new life. He works his way to New Orleans, where he begins a journey up the Mississippi to find his uncle who works in the mines in Missouri. Along the way, he hooks up with Aaron Berryman, a U.S. Marshal who is heading west to bring law and order to the new expanding territories. The journey upriver is strewn with danger, as the marshal knows well. On the riverboat Missouri Belle, they become romantically involved with two croupiers, Lola and Anabelita. As the journey continues, Wes learns to contend with river pirates, outlaws,
and renegade miners. When he discovers that his uncle has left Missouri, he follows him further west. Along the way, he teams up with a rustic mountain man who teaches him how to master the revolver, the weapon of survival in the West.
Thompson has crafted a straightforward narrative about the obstacles that confront individuals as they struggle to forge a new life in the frontier of a fledgling United States. It is a story that readers of Western fiction will find predictable yet interesting.
Gerald T. Burke
A MATCH FOR MARY BENNET
Eucharista Ward, O.S.F., Sourcebooks Landmark, 2009, $14.99/C$18.99, pb, 364pp, 9781402220111
Without recourse to murder mysteries or explicit un-Austenlike bedroom details (not that I don’t enjoy those too), Eucharista Ward has given us a gift of a true-to-Jane story that gently inspires with the coming-of-age journey of Mary Bennet, the least noticed of the famous Bennet sisters. As she spends time with the happily married Darcys and Bingleys, Mary’s views of love and marriage undergo some unsettling changes, and she finds she must alter her opinions, guided as they have been by her overly strict reading of Scripture.
I’ve often wondered at the very little space Austen gave in her novels to the influence of religion: her characters nominally go to church, but only Fanny Price and Edmund Bertram in Mansfield Park appear to have any true religious sensibility. In Ward’s sequel to Pride and Prejudice, Mary Bennet reads and ponders the great human and theological questions of life and love, struggling with new emotions and thoughts that challenge her very literal approach to the world—but not in a tiresome, preachy way at all! Her devotion to truth and humble service leads her to examine her (often) severe judgments of others, and she becomes more observant, more helpful, and more wise as she both learns from and teaches others what it means to discern God’s will in one’s life, forgive those who have caused injury, and even to fall in love! A thoroughly charming and entertaining book, one of which I’m certain Austen herself would approve.
Mary F. Burns
A CLAIM OF HER OWN
Stephanie Grace Whitson, Bethany House, 2009, $13.99, pb, 318pp, 9780764205125
Desperate to escape an abusive employer, twenty-year-old Mattie O’Keefe makes the arduous trek to the gold-rush town of Deadwood, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where she anticipates finding refuge with her brother. Instead she finds that her brother has died and she has inherited his claim. When Mattie decides to work the claim herself, her new friends––a female freighter and her mentally-challenged son, a merchandiser, a cook, and a family of
prospectors––all work together to help her as she learns to pan for gold. The handsome street preacher, Aron Gallagher, also tries to befriend her, but Mattie, who recognizes the telltale signs of a gambler in his mannerisms, disdains him as a hypocrite.
Except for the villain, whose motivations seem somewhat forced, the characters have depth and appeal. Mattie’s transformation from a woman fleeing her past to one embracing her future is deftly handled, and the changes in the lives of the minor characters add considerable texture. What is more, Whitson’s decision to set this novel in 1876 allowed her to weave some fascinating history of the Black Hills into an already rich story. This book is a keeper for anyone who enjoys inspirational romance.
Nancy J. Attwell
20th CENTURY
BURY ME DEEP
Megan Abbott, Simon & Schuster, 2009, $15.00/ C$19.99, pb, 240pp, 9781416599098 / Pocket, 2010, £7.99, pb, 256pp, 9781847396334
Phoenix, Arizona, in 1931 is a combination of a dusty Wild West town and a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. Marion Seeley, the naïve wife of a morphine-addicted doctor, is literally thrown into this mix, as her husband abandons her in Phoenix on his way to Mexico. Lonely and afraid, Marion meets the energetic redheaded Louise Mercer and her sickly roommate Ginny, and is drawn into the wild, reckless lifestyle of these two women who have a past but no future.
Gin, music, and men become the order of the day (and night); Marion retains her innocence for quite some time, outwardly observing the behavior of her friends and the seeminglyrespectable men of the town, but not succumbing to their invitations to partake. Until she meets Joe Lanigan, that is: tall, handsome, and powerful, Joe sweeps Marion off her feet and away from her moral-ridden upbringing; suddenly she is not just in love, but also in lust, and ready to do anything for this dangerous man who has a finger in all the businesses in Phoenix. Marion’s inability to see the truth about her friends and lover doesn’t change even when she becomes the victim of their plotting and fickleness. A fight, some shouting, a gun, and Marion’s life changes forever.
The last third of the novel is a wonderfully insightful description of Marion’s journey to reality, the truth, and inner strength, which Abbott skillfully contrasts with matter-of-fact details of murder and missing bodies. Based on a true story, Abbott’s gruesome yet riveting tale explores the deeper, darker recesses of human actions and desires while never closing the door on redemption.
Helene Williams
THE TALE OF APPLEBECK ORCHARD
Susan Wittig Albert, Berkley Prime Crime, 2009, $23.95/C$30.00, 320pp, hb, 9780425229774
In this installment of the Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter series, facts from Potter’s world mix with a fictional mystery set in England’s Lake District in 1910. Gruff Mr. Harmsworth closes the public footpath which cuts through Applebeck Orchard, causing accusations to fly. Who burned Mr. Harmsworth’s haystack? Do day-trippers cause enough damage and havoc to warrant the closure? Is there a connection to the story of the orchard being haunted? Into this scenario comes Beatrix Potter, owner of Hill Top Farm and good neighbor to all. Potter’s personal life, complete with a secret romance, is but one subplot in this busy volume. Several other elaborately-arranged subplots involve the animals of the district, but unfortunately nearly all of them are left unresolved. The central tale is deftly told, though having several points of focus was distracting—for example, I still wonder what happened to the cats after they met the ferret. Albert’s self-referential style, à la Jane Austen, aims to keep the reader on track and is clever up to a point, but is overused here. The bits of Lake District history and discussions about social class and marriage are nicely done, however, and add much to keep the reader’s interest.
Helene Williams
ALL THE NICE GIRLS
Joan Bakewell, Virago, 2009, £17.99, hb, 339pp, 9781844086009
It’s a pity this book has come up for review for the autumn magazine as it is a perfect beach read. As the cover blurb says, Joan Bakewell’s first novel is ‘a big, wonderful, romantic wartime novel’, in which the formidable Ms. Bakewell wears her learning lightly.
In 1942, Ashworth Grammar School for Girls signs up for the Merchant Navy’s Ship Adoption scheme, which sets in train a series of events which will finally unravel sixty years later, when a young woman’s search for a kidney donor causes the family’s DNA to reveal its secrets. The characters are the only ones who get surprises in this novel. The plot is nothing if not predictable and the reader who anticipates a heart-warming family saga will not be disappointed. The writing style is straightforward, making for a quick and easy read.
Not a great classic of literature, but a book with a strong feel-good factor, excellent for a long winter evening or Christmas afternoon if you can’t bear yet another repeat of Morecambe and Wise.
Sarah Bower
LETTERS FOR A SPY
Stephen Benatar, Welbeck Press, 2009 (c2005), £7.99, pb, 256pp, 9780955475740
In April 1943, the British set up Operation Mincemeat with the aim of fooling the Germans into thinking that the Allies would attack Europe via Sardinia rather than Sicily, the more
logical choice. They arranged for the body of a drowned “Major Martin”, carrying top secret documents to that effect, to be washed up on a Spanish beach. The Spanish authorities allowed a German agent to remove the documents. He believed them to be genuine and the Germans duly altered their war plans.
So much is history. In this enjoyable book, part thriller, part romantic adventure, Benatar has the young Erich Anders, working for German Intelligence and a fluent English speaker, come to Britain to check out the story. Erich is a likable young man: diffident, intelligent and with a niggle of unease about some of the German top brass but a patriot all the same.
Erich’s brief is to test the “evidence”, which includes seeking out Martin’s fiancée, Sybella, in the hope that, if it’s a hoax, she will give something away. But what begins as a simple quest soon turns into something much more challenging, as holes in the story emerge and Erich’s relationship with Sybella becomes more personal. This is a book of shifting realities and shifting truths, together with the ever-present danger of Erich being captured and shot as a spy.
For me, Letters for a Spy fulfils the criteria for good writing set out by that acknowledged master of English prose, George Orwell: Benatar uses simple, clear English, without clichés, longwindedness or overuse of the passive. I found it impossible to put down. It was like reading a kaleidoscope - the patterns were ever shifting - and I was engrossed both intellectually and emotionally.
A terrific story, beautifully told, and I recommend it highly.
Elizabeth Hawksley
THE DAISY CLUB
Charlote Bingham, Bantam Press, 2009, £14.99, hb, 383pp, 9780593061480
Daisy, Freddie, Aurelia and Laura are the Daisy Club, formed from their year at the finishing school at Twistleton Court. When war breaks out the village, Twistleton becomes the embodiment of everything for which they are fighting, especially when it is requisitioned by the army and they have to take shelter at Twistleton Hall.
It took me a long time to get into this book. There were so many characters and different stories to piece together that it threatened my desire to actually finish it. Once I had established who was who, it became a lot clearer, and it turned into a decent story. There were phrases that were a delight to read – ‘she was last week’s custard’ and the irreverent term for the Local Defence Volunteers – ‘look, duck and vanish brigade.’ These little asides really added to the atmosphere and helped make it enjoyable.
Karen Wintle
In 1928 a train crash and fire in Gloucestershire killed twenty people. Among the dead are two beautifully dressed children, a boy about ten years old and a girl of about eight. Despite massive local and national publicity no one comes forward to claim them. The engine driver, Jamie Thornton, survives the crash, and becomes intrigued by solving the identities of the children. He is questioned intensely by an Inspector Maguire about the details of the accident but appears particularly concerned with details concerning the children.
A young, questing reporter, Ron Charteris, interviews them, and finds he too cannot leave the case alone. Independently all three dig deep into the mystery and suspect that the children came from a charitable orphanage run by Lord Eastermain, a high-ranking government official who has bought and built upon lands in the Dominions of Canada and Australia. They think the children were to be transported there.
Delving into Eastermain’s past and his connections with the Wessex Yeomanry brings the men into danger as they unearth a conspiracy connected to the highest in the land. The conspirators will stop at nothing to conceal the identities of the two children.
Maguire dies in suspicious circumstances but Jamie and Ron ignore warnings and threats to delve deeper, only to find that the conspirators do their worst during the Blitz.
This was a good story once I’d adjusted to the temporal and character shifts in the earlier chapters. The characters are well drawn, and all except one of the plot details dovetail well: a detailed description of Jamie’s constructed job would have given more credibility. Careful editing would have eliminated a few other distractions, but the use of reported speech to relate the actions and events in the key scenes diluted the tension.
Janet Williamson
HARD WINTER: A Western Story
Johnny D. Boggs, Five Star, 2009, $25.95, hb, 232pp, 9781594148033
This novel from Spur Award winner Boggs is not the stereotypical Western. Rather, this is a coming-of-age story told by Jim Hawkins, a fifty-year-old cowboy. It is 1920; Hawkins keeps his grandson Henry out of school for a few days so that the boy can accompany him on a horseback trek to the scenes of Hawkins’ youth. Along the way, the taciturn Hawkins begins pouring out his life experiences to young Henry, recalling the brutal winter of 1886-1887. Thousands of head of cattle were lost; many drifted in blizzards, only to become fatally stalled at barbed wire fences.
SOMETHING HIDDEN
Nick Blackstock, Picnic, 2009, £9.99, pb, 304pp, 9780955861376
Hawkins believes that hard winter drove his friend John Henry Kenton to murder, took the eye of Hawkins’ young pard’ Tommy, and cost two estranged friends their lives. Well researched and historically accurate, the details of barbed wire, harness and tack are exactly right. The novel plods along at first,
perhaps bogged down by the memoir style, but it does pick up, resulting in an interesting story. One may still question the memoir approach, though. Since Henry does not seem to be changed in any way by his grandfather’s stories, one wonders why he tells them.
John Kachuba
ROYAL FLUSH
Rhys Bowen, Berkley Prime Crime, 2009, $24.95/C$31, hb, 306pp, 9780425227886
Third in Bowen’s highly entertaining mystery series featuring Lady Georgiana, thirtyfourth in line to the British throne in 1932, this outing finds Georgie visiting the family seat in Scotland, Castle Rannoch. For once, she and her priggish sister-in-law Fig find themselves on the same side as they conspire to make their odious American guests as uncomfortable as the draughty old castle will permit. Georgie also has more assignments—to suss out who is attempting to kill the Prince of Wales as he visits Balmoral and to keep an eye on the infamous Mrs. Simpson before she sinks her claws into said prince.
Although ostensibly a lighthearted mystery, class and rank figures heavily into this book, causing much of the grief that ensues. Georgie is pressured to make a correct match with a German prince (never mind that he’s homosexual) and sees her love for Darcy O’Mara, a penniless Irish peer, as hopeless as he must make a wealthy match himself (Georgie is equally penniless). A famed aviatrix must sing for her supper (or endorsements) as her humble parentage cannot support her flying habit, and through all these travails, the Prince of Wales goes merrily on his privileged way. Bowen has a deft touch with such issues, and Georgie is proving herself to be a worthy heroine.
Ellen Keith
THE WISE WOMAN’S TALE
Phillipa Bowers, Piatkus/Trafalgar Square, 2009 (c2008), $12.95/£6.99, pb, 236pp, 9780749938390
During the Great War, life in London was thought not as safe as the countryside. But as Kate Barnes discovers during her stay in Somerset, she loves the country and her grandmother best. She loved the fresh air and trees and made friends with a rather rich military neighbor. When her father decides to move the family back to London for better job opportunities, Kate’s life is tinged by tragedy as she becomes responsible for her younger sister, Betty, a very difficult child. Adding to her trials, Kate learns she has second sight, scorned by her mother and inherited from her grandmother, whom her father acknowledges as a bad influence on his daughter; he refuses to let Kate go back for a visit. When illness looms large for her grandmother, Kate returns to Somerset to absorb the wisdom while there is still time. She learns of deep caves and herbal medicine but also the persecution by people who fear what
they don’t know. Kate matures into the wise woman legacy of her family, discovering that Betty also has the gift. But are her motives as honorable as Kate’s?
This story is a historical escape into a world that many people believe in and others fear. Kate’s sincerity and her many all-too-human experiences draw the reader in for a willing suspension of any disbelief. An enjoyable saga with mystical flavor, and with herbal remedies as chapter headings.
Tess Heckel
THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE
John Boyne, Doubleday, £14.99, hb, 428pp, 9780385616065
When Georgy Jachmenev inadvertently stops a bullet meant for the Tsar’s uncle, his life is changed forever.
It is 1916 and the 17-year-old Georgy is transported from his simple life of farmer’s boy to become companion to the young Tsarevitch, Alexei Romanov. The Tsar, Nicolas, takes a liking to young Georgy and allows him access to his library. Georgy settles in and witnesses intimate scenes of the family’s life and falls in love with the Grand Duchess Anastasia. He also witnesses the downfall and execution of the imperial family.
This story is told in a series of flashbacks from the year 1981 and, now in exile, Georgy is reminiscing as he sits by his wife, Zoya’s deathbed. This constant switching of time and place is disconcerting, and, like a switchback ride, makes for an uncomfortable journey. The denouement is contrived and not at all convincing. Fans of Boyne will probably enjoy this, but it sadly does not live up to the promise that was The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
Ann Oughton
THE JADE CAT
Suzanne Brøgger (trans. Anne Born), Overlook, 2009, $26.95, 400pp, 9781590202302 / Harvill, 2004, £12.99, hb, 416pp, 9781860467233
The Løvin family has survived worldchanging events, including two world wars and the persecution of Jews by the Nazis, but the dramas of everyday life—stress, infidelity, marital discord, tension between parents and children—threatens to destroy them. Led by their matriarch, Katze, the family comes together and falls apart at the family home, a well-appointed apartment in Copenhagen. Brøgger follows the Løvins through several generations, and describes a family falling apart in every possible way.
The enjoyment of this novel depends on the reader’s tolerance for unpleasant, unhappy characters, repetition of key phrases, and muddy, experimental narrative. There’s really no plot, just a life cycle, including several characters’ descents into madness, illness, and addiction. While the novel is technically linear, the focus on the characters’ inner lives and motivations— which are often quite ugly—make the story
seem suspended in time somehow. The Jade Cat is a difficult novel to read, and the payoff was not worth the effort. While I have no doubts that Brøgger, a well-known author in her native Denmark, deserves to be better-known to English-speaking readers, I don’t think this is the novel that will change that.
Nanette Donohue
THE OTHER EDEN
Sarah Bryant, Berkley, 2009, $14.00, 320pp, 9780425229293 / Snowbooks, 2006, £7.99, pb, 462pp, 9781905005116
Sarah Bryant is unquestionably a talented writer who deserves a wide readership. Her historical novel set during the time of the Crusades, Sand Daughter, conjures a marvelous evocation of a tumultuous period as seen through the eyes of both Islamic and Christian protagonists engaged in the struggle. Her first novel, The Other Eden, recently been re-issued by Berkley Trade, has an entirely different feel—a homage to the suspenseful classic tales of Daphne du Maurier and the Brontës, with a healthy dash of Victoria Holt’s lady-in-distress thrown in for good measure.
In 1920s Louisiana in a dilapidated antebellum plantation house, Bryant’s heroine Eleanor Rose is a high-strung, aspiring concert pianist whose mysterious family past has haunted her since childhood. Upon her grandfather’s death, she returns to the house where her mother and her mother’s twin sister were raised; here, she begins to uncover clues to the secrets that plague her in the form of vivid nightmares, even as she finds herself trapped between the romantic overtures of an older Russian musician and the elegant interest of a menacing stranger. The atmosphere is steeped in Gothic traditions, and the writing often turns lyrical when evoking Eleanor’s dreams and humid unpredictability of the Louisiana climate, which reflects Eleanor’s increasingly fraught mind. Is she mad? Or is she being made to look mad?
Readers familiar with the twists and turns of this genre will certainly find much to engage them, down to the crumbling house on the hill; and Bryant, as always, excels in capturing the mood, despite her somewhat overly convoluted plot. Nevertheless, a climactic confrontation and wistful finale resound much like the melancholic etudes that serve as the novel’s musical underpinning.
C.W. Gortner
CIAO BELLA
Gina Buonaguro and Janice Kirk, St. Martin’s, 2009, $24.99/C$31.99, hb, 256 pp, 9780312379926
Corelli’s Mandolin meets The Bridges of Madison County in this WWII tale of a love affair between an American soldier and the wife of a member of the Italian resistance.
Graziella lives in war-induced poverty with her senile father-in-law in the northern hills of Italy. Months have passed since the Allied
troops swept the Germans out of the country. Yet her beloved husband, Ugo, still hasn’t returned home, and no one has heard from him since a disastrous raid on a German arms cache several months earlier. When an American soldier is stranded on the mountain after his motorcycle dies, he exchanges his labor for room and board in Graziella’s hayloft. Handsome and empathic, the soldier soon charms not only his hostess, but also her somewhat vicious in-laws and all the neighborhood children. Graziella still loves her husband, but can’t help her growing affection for the American—an affection complicated by guilt as news arrives of Ugo’s death. Her situation becomes even more complicated as terrible secrets from the war come to light, forcing Graziella to make an impossible choice. A wistful story about the difficult decisions people must make in both love and war, Ciao Bella is drenched in Italian sunshine. The authors have penned a sweet, nostalgic story about how good people struggle to do the right thing, even when there are no good choices at all.
Lisa
Ann Verge
THE SKY TOOK HIM
Donis Casey, Poisoned Pen Press, 2009, $24.95, hb, 238pp, 9781590585719
Donis Casey continues this gentle but enlightened series with a second mystery set in early 20th-century Oklahoma. Alafair Tucker, wise domestic goddess and plainswoman, is traveling from her home to assist her sister and visit her dying brother-in-law. A young husband who has not returned as expected from a business trip is found frozen to death in the company meat lockers. Amidst these sad and solemn events, the town of Enid is preparing to celebrate the anniversary of the Cherokee Strip Land Rush with parades and exhibits and a carnival atmosphere. Lots of little plot twists and some surprises keep the reader moving along, trying to guess which secrets will be revealed as the celebration continues. A practical wholesomeness keeps the action from being too upsetting even when dealing with absinthe addiction and uncouth wildcatters. Fans of the first book should like this one, and new readers may well take to the series.
Mary K. Bird-Guilliams
THE HARROWING
Robert Dinsdale, Faber & Faber, 2009, £12.99, pb, 307pp, 9780571238255
On the eve of joining his regiment in January 1916, William Redmond takes one last walk with his younger brother, Samuel, through the back streets of Leeds and onto the moor beyond. There, years of resentment rise to the surface and, sick of living in his brother’s shadow, Samuel strikes William down with a stone.
When William wakes he finds that Samuel has vanished and a conspiracy of silence is in place among his family, friends and neighbours – intended to prevent him from discovering that his under-age brother has been sent to the front
in his place. Half-healed wound or not, William is determined to follow his brother and fetch him home, alive.
For a young author Dinsdale has remarkable insight into the complexities and contradictions of character and the mechanics of sibling rivalry. William sees that the way in which Samuel, a natural loner, is treated by the people around him perpetuating his status as an outsider. William is blind to the fact that it is precisely his attempts to protect his younger brother that led to Samuel’s burst of temper and instinctive bid for independence.
Occasionally, Dinsdale’s research strikes me as being a little dodgy but, somehow the atmosphere he conjures up is so convincing that I found myself questioning whether I wasn’t the one to have got the facts wrong. It is an intriguing reworking of the Cain and Abel story.
Jasmina Svenne
WHOSE TURN FOR THE STAIRS?
Robert Douglas, Hachette Scotland, 2009, £14.99, hb, 407pp, 9780755318919; also £7.99, pb, 407pp, 9780755318926
This debut novel (the author has previously published non-fiction) is set in Glasgow and covers the year 1949 in a particular tenement close, getting to know all the different inhabitants, their problems, joys and sorrows. It is almost like a series of slices of life as with each chapter we visit the next neighbour. The title refers to the fact that each of the neighbours must take their turn to clean the communal area, but it is also a metaphor for the community spirit and close interrelations of these neighbours and friends.
The novel conjures up a lost era of tight-knit communities and late ‘40s life, with its rationing, making do, trips to the laundrette, attitudes of the time, etc. If you were alive then, you will be sodden with nostalgia by the end as the sense of time and place really lives in the reader’s mind. If, like me, you are too young, this is a wonderful introduction to the way things were. It touches on serious issues such as the aftermath of war, domestic violence and poverty but also focuses strongly on the humour, traditions and strong friendships of these people all sharing one roof under the watchful matriarchal eye of Granny Thompson to whom all secrets are confided. It is the literary equivalent of a hot water bottle, and while the reader may regret the loss of such close neighbourly relations, sharing the toilet with your neighbours and having to go down a passageway clutching your key will probably not be on the list of regrets.
Ann Northfield
SHEER FOLLY
Carola Dunn, Minotaur, 2009, $24.99/C$31.99, hb, 296 pp, 9780312387754
In this latest addition to Carola Dunn’s mystery series set in 1920s England, Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher, now the mother of twins, and her friend Lucy, a photographer married
to an aristocrat, are working on a book about architectural follies, Daisy doing the writing and Lucy taking photographs. They spend a long weekend at Appsworth Hall, home of one of the loveliest grottoes in the country. The stately home is currently owned by Brin Pritchard, who has made a fortune in plumbing products. Among the other guests are Daisy’s schoolmate Julia Beaufort, her mother, and her two suitors, the obnoxious Lord Rydal and Charles Armitage, a Canadian historian researching the Appsworth family. Julia much prefers Charles, but her mother wishes her to marry the aristocrat. But, even while he’s pursuing Julia, Lord Rydal is carrying on an affair with yet another guest, the vampish Lady Ottaline, wife of a high-level bureaucrat. Shortly after Daisy’s husband, Scotland Yard detective Alec Fletcher, joins the party, the grotto explodes with Lord Rydal inside. Since Lord Rydal has managed to insult everyone at Appsworth Hall, they all have a motive for murder, and Alec--with much help from Daisy, of course--must find out who the killer is.
This book is a delight from beginning to end, with a witty, intelligent heroine and wonderful period detail. It recalls the classic mysteries of Agatha Christie and others, with its country house setting and numerous suspects. Fans of golden age mysteries are sure to enjoy this.
Vicki Kondelik
BROKEN MUSIC
Marjorie Eccles, Allison & Busby, 2009, £19.99, 382 pp, 9780749007966
In the golden summer of 1914, Lady Sybil Foley plans a dinner party. Her husband, “selfmade man” Alfred, has provided her lavish life style and their marriage of convenience is one of affection and respect. Musically talented Greville is a son to be proud of, and rebellious daughter Eunice is sure to enjoy her London Season. The Rector, widower Francis Wentworth, his son and three daughters are Lady Sybil’s most welcome guests. On the night of the party, war in Europe is imminent; the weather breaks in violent storm and an angry scene amongst the young male guests is hastily patched up as they prepare to take part in the greatest conflict of the new century. But the next morning personal tragedy anticipates the enormity of war when the Rector’s daughter Marianne is found drowned. Five years later former Police Sergeant, Herbert Reardon, returns to the scene. He was dissatisfied with the Coroner’s verdict and is now uncertain of his own future. Badly disfigured, he has learned from warfare how the strong and virtuous can be affected by the burden of an intolerable situation. As he has gained in selfknowledge and knowledge of humanity, so have all the men and women involved in Marianne’s death as he makes enquiries, forced to consider the near unthinkable possibility of foul play. Multiple viewpoint, flashback and flash forward, exceptionally deftly handled, enhance the pleasures of this intriguing mystery.
Nancy Henshaw
A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS
R.J. Ellory, Overlook, 2009, $24.95, hb, 352pp, 9781590202500 / Orion, 2008, £7.99, pb, 396pp, 9780752882635
A Quiet Belief in Angels follows narrator Joseph Vaughan, an author, who recounts the story of his life, from his time as a child in rural Georgia in the early 1940s to a hot, dark hotel room in 1960s New York City, where we learn that Joseph has just shot a man. Previously published in over 20 languages and a bestseller in the UK, A Quiet Belief in Angels is the first of Ellory’s books to be available in the US. In a series of flashbacks and flash forwards, Joseph tells the story of his life, wreathed in heartache and tragedy, defined by a series of child mutilations and murders in his own hometown. When he finally escapes Georgia and moves to New York City to chase his dream of becoming a writer, he finds that has not escaped, and that tragedy and death itself has followed him. Ellory renders mid-20th century America convincingly, with a good sense of place and time, through both description and realistic dialogue. That said, while the Georgia sections ring particularly true, the Manhattan passages suffer from too many historical details shoehorned in. However, those quibbles are minor. This is a gripping mystery, beautifully written. Recommended.
Julie Rose
FIVE SMOOTH STONES
Ann Fairbairn, Chicago Review, 2009 (c1966), $18.95/C20.95, pb, 756pp, 9781556528156
The story takes place in New Orleans in 1933. Times are hard, money is scarce, and Jim Crow separates black from white with a tenuous acceptance. Li’l Joe Champlin and his wife, Geneva, have suffered hardship and have witnessed the plight of Negro men and women. The unwritten laws of white society instill a sense of inferiority on one side and the pure, supreme power of the white elite on the other. Li’l Joe and Geneva know that justice is taken care of without trial and with discrimination and hatred. They suffered unbearable grief and pain when their son David was murdered by a white mob. The pair decides to raise their grandson, another David, and vow to give him the best education possible. Li’l Joe is befriended by Bjarne Knudsen, who becomes David’s mentor and surrogate father through high school, Harvard Law and then Oxford. David, a brilliant scholar, falls in love with Sara, a petite white artist he calls “the smallest.” Although Sara sees love without a color barrier, David only sees the ugly future of racial hatred.
David is challenged again when he gives up a certain-to-be-golden career in international law to help lead his people fight for civil rights and change.
Despite the overwhelming length of this historical novel, you will be spellbound by
every page. David and his friends are characters to remember and reflect on for years. You will recognize them as friends by the author’s detailed shaping of their personalities. The picture of the life lived by an interracial couple is honestly portrayed and still has value and truth today. Five Smooth Stones has proven to be timeless, and a tremendous testament to the civil rights struggle.
Wisteria Leigh
WALKING IN PIMLICO
Ann Featherstone, John Murray, 2009, £11.99, pb, 305pp, 9781848541733
This is Ann Featherstone`s first novel, and I, for one, will be looking forward eagerly to her next. She has previously written a non-fiction book about this era and her detailed knowledge helps immerse the reader in the sights, sounds and smells of the seedy theatres, spa towns and backstreets of Victorian London and Birmingham.
The novel is narrated by two different characters, each with their own distinctive voice. The characters are so believable it is as if you are talking to them and having the story whispered down your ear; it is almost a shock to put down the book and return to the real world. The distinctive language of the time is used to great effect to create the atmosphere and evoke the period without making it too arcane or obtuse. ‘To walk in Pimlico’ is apparently period slang for being handsomely dressed, and this is a strong desire for one of the characters.
The book begins with a vicious murder. One of the narrators, Corney Sage, clog dancer, comedian and general entertainer, sees the murderer and in fear for his own safety, decides to change his place of work. The murderer pursues Corney through a series of different locations, with many twists and turns en route. Anyone who liked Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith or who has the remotest interest in the Victorian era is sure to find this a very rewarding read. A real gem.
Ann Northfield
TURBULENCE
Giles Foden, Faber & Faber, 2009, £16.99, hb, 350pp, 9780571205226
From time to time weather forecasters find themselves in the news (remember Michael Fish and the hurricane?) but mostly, they operate behind the scenes wielding arcane formulae to reduce the planet’s weather to predictable patterns and narks on maps. You can just get an inkling of how difficult this is when you realise that, despite the enormous advances in technology since weather forecasting first began in the mid-19th century, it is still almost impossible to forecast accurately more than two or three days ahead.
What then of the meteorologists who were charged with forecasting the weather for the DDay landings? The generals wanted a five-day forecast, and they wanted to know when fine
weather in the Channel would coincide with a full moon so low tide would be far enough out to complete the clearance of mines and tank traps from the designated beaches. One man, Wallace Ryman, a reclusive pacifist living in the wilds of Scotland, has devised a mathematical system which might be able to achieve this. Henry Meadows, a young maths prodigy from the Met Office, is sent to track him down and discover his system.
The central tenet of Ryman’s system is to be able to quantify the relationship between predictability and turbulence. As Meadows, another of Foden’s blundering innocents, like Nicholas Garrigan in The Last King of Scotland, is drawn into the secret tragedy of Ryman’s life and marriage, chance and turbulence affect his own life just as they do the weather.
This is a clever novel, excellently researched, but one which does not quite work. Perhaps this is because of the difficulty of illustrating the effects of turbulence through the formal structure of a novel. There is a certain randomness to Henry Meadows’ progress which, while true to life and weather forecasting, makes for an ultimately unsatisfying read.
Sarah Bower
GIFTS OF WAR
Mackenzie Ford, Doubleday, 2009, $24.95/ C$28.95, pb, 352pp, 9780385528955
During the Christmas truce along the front in 1914, British infantry officer Hal Montgomery emerges from the trenches to meet Wilhelm, a young German officer with a remarkable request. He hands over a picture of a lovely English girl, asking him to make contact to deliver the message that he is safe, and still in love with her. Hal makes contact all right, but says nothing about the young German officer. Instead he falls for her himself. There is a complication, however. The beautiful Sam has a young son, the image of Wilhelm, a fact that is threatening her livelihood as a teacher in her small Cotswold community. The solution is marriage, of sorts. Although she doesn’t love him, Sam agrees to go to London, taking the role of his wife. Thereby begins a journey, one in which as Hal becomes increasingly engaged in espionage work for the government, he hopes she will become increasingly engaged with him.
The publisher promises this is a book that will allow the reader to fall completely into the time and place of the story. And it is. The author spins a wonderful tale of complex relationships and unusual pairings which, if not only due to the upending circumstances of a World War, are certainly enhanced by it. However the skill by which he allows us to enter the lives of these two characters, as well as their family members, is ultimately the downfall of the book. Having painted himself into a corner with the web of deceit that supports their lives, he finds no way out at the end. Without giving the game away, I submit the author takes the coward’s way
out, leaving the reader with a dissatisfying and deeply disappointing conclusion.
Ken Kreckel
WATCHING GIDEON
Stephen Foreman, Simon & Schuster, 2009, $14.00, pb, 272pp, 9781439135747
Jubal Pickett is the loving, warmhearted father of Gideon, a 16-year-old boy who was born mute. Although he is unable to speak, the two communicate and share a bond of closeness that is enviable. When Gideon is hospitalized with a ruptured appendix, Jubal meets Abilene. He calls her “sassy, saucy, smart and full of surprises.” They hit it off immediately. The year is 1952, and they live in Natchez, Mississippi during a time when atomic power is in its infancy and uranium is in high demand. Abilene and Jubal pool expenses and decide to take off to chase a dream. They have caught the fever sweeping the country, to get rich from mining the precious ore.
Not one to marry, Abilene is happy with this arrangement for a while. Then one day Jack Savage wanders into their comfortable life. Could it be that Gideon sees trouble brewing ahead? He may not talk, but his eyes have much to say.
Foreman molds memorable characters with depth and dimension. He is a master of character development. Abilene calls Jubal a “man of dreams” and Jack a “man of means.” Jubal is the trusting lover, devoted father and naive dreamer who could be Adam. Abilene is a modern Eve, a temptress. Yet she is lusty, greedy, desperate and conniving. She is the perfect partner for Jack, the evil snake. Gideon, although wordless, has an emotional transparency that is strong and sweet.
The historical events are subordinate to the characters and their lives. A mesmerizing story, from the beginning to the unexpected ending.
Wisteria Leigh
THE BLIND SIDE OF THE HEART
Julia Franck (trans. Anthea Bell), Harvill Secker, 2009, £12.99, 424pp, 9781846552120 Eastern Germany at the end of the Second World War. The story starts with a young boy, Peter, being abandoned by his mother on a railway station as they try to escape the Red Army’s advance. This bleak episode takes up just a few pages, and the rest of the novel is concerned with the events that lead up to this desertion. Helene Wursich is a clever young girl in the small town of Bautzen, on the border of Germany and Poland. Her Jewish mother shows signs of increasing mental instability, while her father is seriously injured during the Great War and dies after returning home. Helena and her older sister Martha run their house in Bautzen and are then invited to Berlin by an aunt. There, in a frantic bohemian lifestyle, Helene finds love, is bereaved and during her prolonged grief marries a Nazi engineer who mistreats, using her mischling status to abuse her and then to leave
her and their newly-born son. Helene is under huge mental strain, working as a nurse and she develops problems just as her mother had years ago before her death. The book closes as it started – with Peter, now as a young man some years after the end of the war. It is a melancholy tale.
The story captures the alienation and pressures of life in Germany spanned by the two wars of the 20th century, with the momentous events as a living background to the tale. One criticism is that this is another novel that disdains the use of the basic speech mark – I really do not understand the reason for this, as it distracts the reader unnecessarily by having to establish if it a character is speaking or if it is part of the narrative.
Doug Kemp
THE TEHRAN CONVICTION
Tom Gabbay, Morrow, 2009, $24.99/C$32.99, hb, 304pp, 006118845X
The third novel to feature Gabbay’s CIA sleuth, Jack Teller, pivots between Teller’s 1953 assignment in Iran and his return in 1979. In 1953 idealism and hope motivated both Teller and an Iranian government official he manipulates, Yari Fatemi, in the CIA-sponsored overthrow of the young Iranian democracy. By 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini is in power and Fatemi sits in jail awaiting execution. Motivated by the guilt of his earlier treachery, Teller returns to Iran to save Fatemi.
Gabbay accomplishes a great deal in this novel. He connects the cynical international politics of 1953 to the hard-line Islamic politics of Iran in 1979. He also shows the personal corruption that grows in people who cross first one ethical line and then another until they lose all moral bearings. Gabbay gives us a frontrow seat to these two tectonic events in Iranian history and offers a personal connection to the life and death choices Teller must make.
The back-and-forth viewpoints between the 1953 revolution and the 1979 Islamic revolt ask more of your attention than a standard thriller. However, the effort rewards you with both entertainment and historical facts about a nation that is in our headlines every week.
Chuck Curtis
THE MISSING
Tim Gautreaux, Knopf, 2009, $25.95/C$32.00, hb, 381pp, 780307270153 / Sceptre, 2009, £17.99, hb, 384pp, 9780340977941
Sam Simoneaux arrived in France for the Great War just in time to clean up after the Germans. Not a pleasant job, and although he usually got along anywhere in the world, he was eager to return to his native Louisiana. His search for normal work led him to a job as floorwalker in a large New Orleans department store. Until the fateful day a little girl went missing on his watch. Sam was fired, unless he could find little Lily, whose showboat parents insisted the thief was a spectator on the popular Mississippi
dance boat where Lily sang as their feature attraction. Joining the steamboat personnel seemed the best way for Sam to search for Lily’s kidnappers. Filled with fervor for his task, Sam followed leads which brought him into the dark, dangerous bayous where life was cheap. Yet, as he veers closer to discovery, he is faced with a problem. Which family does Lily really belong with, and does he have the right to choose?
Tim Gautreaux’s latest story of the depth of native bayou customs clashing with life in the new century intrigues and immerses the reader deeply into the world and culture of Sam Simoneaux and his people. The author knows his terrain and his history and brings it to life in a way that is universal. This is truly a story that lives with the reader long after the last page is read; it whets the appetite for the author’s next engrossing saga.
Tess Heckel
UNFINISHED DESIRES
Gail Godwin, Random House, 2009, $26.00/ C$32.00, hb, 393pp, 9780345483201
As this novel opens, Mother Suzanne Ravenel, in her eighties in the year 2001 and the former headmistress of a Catholic girls’ school, is about to write a memoir and school history. She is particularly concerned about confronting her memories of the class of 1951. The narrative skips back and forth chronologically from that year when we meet two students, Tildy and Maud, whose intense friendship seems to be dissolving, then back to 2001, and then finally to 2008, when we glimpse Tildy, Maud, and other former students in their later years.
The relationships between girls at school, between girls and their mothers and teachers, and between nuns are the focus of the novel; they are beautifully conveyed. The characters are well-drawn and easy to empathize with despite their warts. The reader gets a strong sense of their spiritual lives, their guilt, and their blind spots. However, the pace of this novel is quite slow, with some events being repeatedly discussed or viewed from the perspectives of different characters at different times. The drama and conflict are understated, and my interest was definitely lagging by the middle third of the book. There is an enormous buildup to a school play in 1951. We know that something happened that was so shattering that the headmistress had to take her only leave of absence from the school right afterwards and is still brooding about it fifty years later. The actual event falls short of what I anticipated. I was left with a sense of anticlimax. The author’s skill in conveying subtle nuances of character shines, but this novel did not fully satisfy me as a reader.
Phyllis T. Smith
AS IF BY MAGIC
Dolores Gordon-Smith, Constable, 2009, £18.99, hb, 296pp, 9781845299361 / Soho Constable,
2009, $25.00, hb, 288pp, 9781569475881
On a stormy night in October 1923, the destitute and feverish George Lassiter breaks into a house in Mayfair to which he feels strangely drawn. He craves food and shelter but he gets more than he bargains for when he witnesses the apparent murder of a beautiful woman. He flees from the scene straight into the arms of a passing policeman – but, when the house is searched, the body has vanished.
George is forced to conclude it was all a delirious nightmare. With help from his friend Jack Haldean he turns his attention instead to recovering his missing legacy. A calculating murderer is on the loose in London and Jack is on his trail.
The third in the Jack Haldean series, As if by Magic is an old-fashioned detective story in which characters seem to polarise into two categories – ‘thoroughly decent’ and ‘utter rotter’. Even the more sordid elements of the plot are touched on with a delicate hand so as not to shock sensitive readers. Unlike many amateur sleuths Jack’s involvement with ongoing police investigations is made plausible by his friendship with Inspector Bill Rackham and his own fame as a writer. An entertaining bit of escapism.
Jasmina
Svenne
THE FINAL ACT
Hilary Green, Hodder & Stoughton, 2009, £7.99, pb, 472pp, 9780340932674
It is spring 1944. Before the war ends, Richard makes a mistake behind enemy lines which results in devastating tragedy. Rose has to make the most difficult decision of her life and Merry and his lover are separated by duty. It is a story of love, duty and despair but life continues.
This is the final book in a quartet of novels beginning with Now Is the Hour. I loved this book. I didn’t want it to finish. By the end the characters became old friends, and I think this was because I read the books in sequence. I had already established the settings and characters in my mind, so I was able to read the story without that sometimes irritating need to establish who was who and who liked whom. Apart from that it was a story well told. Plenty of action, some tense moments and the odd cliff-hanger. A good read.
Karen Wintle
SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS
David Guterson, Bloomsbury, 2009 (c1995), £8.99, pb, 404pp, 9781408801406 / Vintage, 1995, $14.95, pb, 460pp, 9780679764021
In 1954, a fisherman is found dead in the nets of his boat, and a local Japanese-American man is charged with his murder. Prejudice, which has become entrenched in the community since the attack on Pearl Harbour, bubbles to the surface as a court trial takes place and threatens to overcast the proceedings until a crucial piece of evidence is found.
Y ENDURING
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Donald Harington, Toby, 2009, $24.95/C$29.95/£14.99, hb, 500pp, 9781592642564
The novel encompasses the breadth of the 20th century as it follows the life of Latha Bourne, a resident of Stay More, a small fictional hamlet in the Arkansas Ozarks. Essentially, the narrative is the 106-year-old Latha’s life story. She grew up in poverty and was a vibrant and curious child who always asked questions. As she matures into adolescence, she attends the local school and begins to explore her awaking sexuality. At one point, she becomes pregnant and goes to stay with her sister in Little Rock. After the baby is born, her sister has Latha declared incompetent as a mother and has her committed to a psychiatric hospital, where she remains for several years. Finally she escapes and wanders the roads until she meets a wealthy woman, Mildred Cardwell, who gives her a job as a servant. She stays for seven years and reads voraciously from Mrs. Cardwell’s extensive library. Finally, she returns home and settles down. Eventually she is reunited with her daughter and, over time, becomes the respected sage of Stay More. When the novel ends, she has withdrawn from the mere ghost of a town to become a hermit.
Harington has written another exceptional work about the mythical town of Stay More in which the protagonist of this novel is a central figure. He brings to life the numerous characters that inhabit Latha’s world. He portrays Stay More as a poor but vibrant community where the simple life is really not simple or easy; it is place where someone can find contentment, happiness, and experience a full and interesting life. This is an outstanding work of American fiction not to be missed.
I loved this book from the first page. It says on the cover it is ‘a glorious whodunnit’ but it is so much more than that. There is such careful, exquisite detail. The prose is dense with it;
Y THE FOREIGN FIELD
Gerald T. Burke
imagery like, ‘scritching sound of leaves’ is so apt and atmospheric. Besides that, it deals with such timeless matters, racial prejudice and the difficulties of second-generation immigrants. The
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, Sphere/Trafalgar Square, 2009 (c2008), $34.95/£19.99, hb, 513pp, 9781847440938
This is the 31st installment in Harrod-Eagles’ Morland Dynasty series, which traces 500 years of British history from the point of view of the fictional Morland family. The series starts in 1434 with the War of the Roses and will finish with WWII. The Foreign Field covers the third year of World War I, 1917.
Members of the Morland family are in various places during the war, providing different perspectives on the war’s course and its impact on people’s lives. Some of the Morlands are at home at Morland Place in Yorkshire, where the patriarch, Teddy, has turned most of his land over to growing vegetables and hosting the local battalion. Other family members are in London; some are fighting in France; one is serving in the Royal Flying Corps and another in the Royal Army Medical Corps; one is nursing in London and then France; and one is stationed in Russia as a military attaché. All these different vantage points make for a complete picture of the war and times.
Harrod-Eagles captures the mood of the period and incorporates events that were happening at the same time as the war, including the women’s suffrage movement. I don’t usually understand or enjoy military strategy and battle descriptions, but she does a masterful job with them, writing with both clarity and conciseness. Remarkably, with all this history, the book is also an absorbing family drama with well-drawn characters. Harrod-Eagles is a skillful writer, and this is a highly readable, fabulously entertaining way to absorb British history. Do not miss this series. It will keep even the most voracious reader entertained for a long time!
Jane Kessler
murder mystery keeps on simmering, ensuring that you follow the story throughout but more is at stake than one man’s guilt or innocence. The flashbacks, often long and complex, relate to the stories behind a community’s fear and prejudice against its neighbours. It is a story of love, hatred and long memories. Read it for its mystery but also for the intricate and rich prose. Recommended.
Karen Wintle
SPRINGTIME IN BURRACOMBE
Lilian Harry, Orion, 2009, £16.99, hb, 288pp, 9780752898834
This is the fourth of Lilian Harry’s Burracombe novels. It opens in the spring of 1953 with an accident befalling elderly Constance Bellamy, who is found and assisted by her old nursemaid, Minnie Tozer. Shortly after, Minnie contracts bronchitis and is nursed at home around the clock by her family. The youngest daughter, Jackie, comes at once from Plymouth despite being determined to live away from home and in the city. While nursing Minnie, the family is preoccupied with the well-being of Minnie’s great-granddaughters, premature twins Suzanne and Heather.
The villagers are concerned for Minnie and the twins but are experiencing a spirit of change and are full of optimistic hopes for “The New Elizabethan Age”. Encouraged by their new vicar, the villagers abandon their feuding and prepare to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation.
Weddings are planned, the newly-ordained vicar is full of confidence, and village life continues with gossip, personality clashes, and romantic concerns being resolved.
Tragedy strikes when it is least expected, leaving the Tozers bereft, but none more so than Minnie’s granddaughter-in-law Joanna. Her distress drives more than one relationship to the breaking point. Only the revelation of a secret restores the sense of perspective she needs to reconcile her feelings towards her family and village life.
The book ends at the home of the wealthy Napier family, when a young French woman arrives with her son, Robert. Her child is the heir to Burracombe.
Lilian Harry admirably weaves the full cast of characters through the story and uses the sights and sounds of spring to create atmosphere to good effect. No doubt all her fans will enjoy this book.
Janet Williamson
of recollections, aphorisms, and stream-ofconsciousness statements that range from nonsensical dreams to deeply meaningful allegories, all interspersed with simple (and mostly abstract) line drawings of people mentioned in the text. There is no traditional narrative, no beginning, middle, and end, but after reading the volume, one has a sense of Hoffmann the writer, and the major influences in his life—his family, his wives and children, his travels, and his studies, from Europe to Palestine to Japan.
The “historical fiction” appellation comes from Hoffmann’s inclusion of glimpses of Jewish life in Europe and the Middle East from World War II to the present. Hardships are briefly mentioned, as are deaths, births, celebrations. Memories of everyday occurrences (one of Hoffmann’s sons watching television) illuminate the more meditative segments (poems the Japanese say before death), and together all the pieces do create a whole of sorts. By the time I hit this segment: “It’s all so self-evident why Joyce wrote, for some twenty years, a book without any real words in it,” somehow it made sense to me as well. Asking me to explain it, however, would take more streamof-consciousness statements than there’s room for here. If one is looking for an outside-thebox tale with tantalizingly brief glances into an author’s life and mind, this volume of puzzles (and rewards) just might fit the bill.
Helene Williams
STARDUST
Joseph Kanon, Atria, 2009, $27.95/C$36, hb, 506pp, 9781439156148 / Simon & Schuster UK, Apr. 2010, £12.99, hb, 512pp, 9781847376800
In 1945 Hollywood, the end of World War II, while cause for rejoicing, also ushered in the beginning of the Communist witch hunts. Ben Collier, on personal leave from the Army, stumbles into this world when he meets Continental Studio head Sol Lasner on a crosscountry train ride to Los Angeles. Ben has been granted leave to visit his brother in the hospital after he fell, jumped, or was pushed from an apartment balcony. After Danny dies, Ben is left with too many unanswered questions and stays on in Hollywood, working on a war documentary for Lasner while investigating his brother’s death and fighting his attraction to his brother’s German-born widow.
sympathetic character who in the end proves to be too good for Hollywood.
Ellen Keith
THE CALLIGRAPHER’S DAUGHTER
Eugenia Kim, Henry Holt, 2009, $26.00, hb, 380pp, 9780805089127 / Bloomsbury, Jan. 2010, £7.99, pb, 9781408806180
Eugenia Kim’s debut novel is a beautiful, poignant story that portrays the life of a young woman during one of the most difficult time periods in Korea’s history. Narrated by Najin, the daughter of a calligrapher from the yangban or aristocratic class, is not named when she is born, due to the fact that her birth occurs when the Japanese first occupy Korea. She comes to be known by Najin, the name of the town of her mother’s birth.
The novel is set between the years 1915 to 1945 while her family’s fortunes change as the Japanese extend their control over the lives of the Korean people. When her father finds her a husband at the age of fourteen, her mother objects, and instead Najin is sent to the court of the ruling family to learn from the princess during the end of the dynasty. She continues on to college and studies to be a teacher, proving that she is intelligent and gifted. Her parents choose another husband for her, and Najin is delighted to find that she is in love. After their wedding, Najin is heartbroken when she is forced to remain in Korea, denied a passport, while her new husband goes abroad to America to continue his studies. The next ten years of her life are filled with agony as her country is torn apart by war.
Much of the book is based on the life of Kim’s own mother, which may be why Kim writes with such a tender hand. Readers will be drawn to Najin, a young woman caught between two worlds, those of a conservative, traditionalist father and a more modern, forward-thinking mother who has different plans for her daughter. Kim paces the novel slowly, savoring the development of her characters over time, all the while exposing the rich cultural heritage of Korea.
Troy Reed
OCTAVIA’S WAR
Beryl Kingston, Allison & Busby, 2009, £19.99, hb, 478 pp, 9780749007560
CURRICULUM VITAE
Yoel Hoffmann (trans. Peter Cole), New Directions, 2009, $14.95/C$18.50, pb, 128pp, 9780811218320
Part fiction, part memoir, Hoffmann’s novel could mean many things to readers, or it could mean nothing. Written as a series of 100 brief segments (“essays” is far too formal a description), the book is comprised
Stardust is jam-packed with characters, some given short shrift, some verging on cliché (the gay former child star, the gruff studio head, the villainous Commie-hunting congressman), and the plot is overly complicated at times, but it is an undeniably tense and powerful story, expressing the helplessness of those targeted as Communists and the ambivalence of those who chose to protect themselves and be whistleblowers. Kanon even inserts some jabs at the studio system when one talented starlet is elevated above another. Ben is a driven but
Beryl Kingston is a popular and wellestablished saga writer. Rightly so, she tells a good story and her main characters are appealing. The Octavia of this novel has already starred in an earlier one where readers followed her adventures as a supporter of rights for women and an active suffragette. Now it is 1936 and we find her established as the formidable headmistress of an all girls’ prestigious secondary school. But war is looming and the comfortable life she has achieved is about to vanish.
We follow Octavia, her relatives, and friends through the daily problems of living in Britain during WWII, all of them trying to ‘do their bit’
in whatever way they can, a quieter telling than the usual air force, army, navy, big battles-type WWII novel, but a history just as important as the more dramatic ones.
The story is told more than shown and is comfortable and predictable, but that is saga style. All those well-researched tiny details of ‘fighting’ on the home front make this a novel I would particularly recommend for history students as well as saga fans.
pdr lindsay-salmon
HOUSE OF ANGELS
Freda Lightfoot, Allison & Busby, £19.99, hb, 352 pp, 9780749007126
This is the first book by Freda Lightfoot I have read and, despite the fact that I am not a lover of sagas, I was engaged with the story from page one. She piles horror on horror – rape, torture, sexual humiliation, incest, suicide - but she keeps you reading! The story of the Angel sisters, the novel is set in the Lake District in 1908, the title referring to the high-class department store their father owns. A tyrant, he successfully marries off one of his legitimate daughters so he can gain a plot of land he wants to build on. When his illegitimate daughter comes to him for help after her mother has died, however, he has her taken to the workhouse as, far from being of use to him, she is a threat to his standing in the town. Another daughter defies him, refusing to give up the working-class man she loves, while his youngest remains at home, hating him but unable to escape. How each of these four women cope with the life their father has forced on them, makes for page-turning reading, and I am sure that this novel will become yet another bestseller for Lightfoot.
jay Dixon
THE KINDLY ONES
Jonathan Littell (trans. Charlotte Mandel), Chatto and Windus, 2009, £20, hb, 984pp, 9780701181659 / Harper, 2009, $29.99, hb, 988pp, 0061353450
This is an immense novel; both in terms of its size, for it was a physical challenge to take this on the daily commute to and from London, but more importantly with reference to its theme and content. There is much to say about this disturbing book, but I should focus on it as a historical novel, rather than examine the many other issues it raises.
Dr Maximilien Aue, a man with a mixed French-German background, addresses the reader directly in his memoirs as he analyses in forensic detail his career as a legal jurist in the SS in wartime Germany. Littell provides extraordinary depth of detail about the bureaucratic structures and disputes that underpinned Germany’s horrific war on the Eastern Front, as well as the historical narrative of the many important events that Aue somewhat conveniently observed and engaged in – the exterminations, Stalingrad, Auschwitz and the chaotic Endseig in Berlin. The depth
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Y THE PRIVATE PAPERS OF EASTERN JEWEL
Maureen Lindley, Bloomsbury USA, 2009, $14.00/C$17.50, pb, 288pp, 9781596917033 / Bloomsbury, 2009, £7.99, pb, 304pp, 9780747596264
“In 1914, at the age of eight years, I was caught spying on my father Prince Su as he made love to a fourteen-yearold girl.” This is the opening sentence of a remarkable novel: the fictionalized account of a real-life Chinese princess who became a Japanese spy in the 1930s and 40s and finally died by the sword in a Chinese prison camp. Banished to Japan for her childish indiscretion, she finds herself trapped in the loveless household of Baron Kawashima, a powerful and ruthless man who rapes her repeatedly. Her response to this is not the expected one. She enjoys the rough sex and, far from seeing herself as a victim, she learns to use her beauty as a weapon. Throughout her life, sex will be a tool of her trade as well as an anodyne for the depressions and nightmares that haunt her. She also develops an early taste for opium, alcohol, and male dress—not wanting to be a man but to enjoy a man’s freedom and power. The ruling passion of her life, however, is Japan. She admires Japanese strength while she despises Chinese weakness. And her youthful predilection for spying will now be employed in Japan’s interest. The requirements of her masters will send her to Mongolia, Manchuria, Shanghai, and Peking—always living the high life and leaving behind a string of lovers. But her own heart is broken too, and her depressions become deeper. Her motto had always been: “We are all animals and to survive well should be each individual’s aim.” But when Japan is defeated and her own life is in ruins, one supremely selfless act redeems her. It is Eastern Jewel’s self-knowledge and complete honesty that rescue her story from sordid tragedy. Lindley’s writing is subtle and sensitive, and every page shines a light into some dark corner of human nature.
Bruce Macbain
of detail is astounding and authentic. We spend so much time within Aue’s perverted mentality that eventually his own Weltanschauung, i.e. the acceptance of the necessity to solve the Jewish question one way or another, comes to seem almost as natural, so that the reader just begins to understand the fractured perspective which drove the Germans onto their ideological Armageddon. Aue is both homosexual (which creates problems for him as an SS officer) and increasingly mentally imbalanced – an incestuous obsession with his twin sister, a serious head injury in Stalingrad, and the psychological damage caused by witnessing and perpetrating in the atrocities against civilians, all draw him down into a mental maelstrom. He is the archetypal unreliable narrator. We observe akin to the shocking fascination of a nasty traffic accident. Definitely not light reading, but a challenging work that gets into the inner core of historical atrocity.
Doug Kemp
ROSES
Leila Meacham, Grand Central, 2010, $24.99, hb, 609pp, 9780446550000
Howbutker, a small town in east Texas, is home to three dynasties: the DuMonts, the Warwicks, and the Tolivers. The history of the three families stretches back to the founding of the close-knit community in the mid-19th century. The DuMonts own a ritzy department
store, the Warwicks are lumber magnates, and the Tolivers own Somerset, a cotton plantation. Roses focuses on the ways that these families’ lives intertwine throughout the 20th century. Cotton planting is Mary Toliver’s life. When her father leaves her the plantation in his will, her mother and brother are devastated, but Mary is determined to continue the plantation’s success. Mary’s budding romance with Percy Warwick, son of one of the other great Howbutker families, is derailed by her love for Somerset over all else. After a series of misunderstandings, Mary marries Ollie DuMont instead of Percy, and the families’ lives are changed. Sixty years later, the story begins to repeat itself, this time with Mary’s great-niece Rachel and Percy’s grandson Matthew. Will the descendants repeat their ancestors’ mistakes, or can they learn to reconcile their love for the land with their love for each other?
This cross-generational tale is reminiscent of the family sagas that were popular in the 1970s and 1980s, only restructured and updated to fit modern tastes. While the story is epic, the cast of characters is manageable, allowing the reader to get to know the players well. There are enough twists, turns, and surprises to keep the book interesting, but not so many that the story becomes overloaded or unbelievable. The resolution is satisfying but not necessarily tidy, and the new generation of characters—Mary and Percy’s grandchildren—learn important
Y TRANSGRESSION: A Novel of Love and War
EDITORS’ CHOICE
James W. Nichol, Harper, 2009, $13.99, pb, 352pp, 9780061782312
In 1941, in German-occupied France, 16-year-old Adele Georges meets Manfred Halder. Halder, a 19-yearold German working as a clerk, offers to help Adele find information about her missing father, a doctor who served in the French medical corps. The attraction between the two is palpable. They fall in love and begin a desperate affair that causes joy and grief to both.
In 1946, in Canada, a young girl finds a finger in the woods. The police chief suspects there is a entire body to be found as well, and begins an investigation for the corpse and the murder that created it.
The murder investigation progresses slowly, hour by hour, alternating with the story of Adele and Manfred and the war in Europe. When the war ends and Adele moves to Canada, the plots merge. The ending is fast-paced and gripping. Which character is the corpse and which is the murderer?
This is a brilliantly constructed novel of good people trying to do good things, surrounded by war, hatred and bigotry. Nichol perfectly captures the sense of hope and hopelessness of those in the midst of war, as well as the pain and terror that continue after the war has ended. It is a heart-wrenching, haunting, beautiful book.
Elizabeth Caulfield Felt
and there are great insights into mid-war life and attitudes.
Martin Bourne
A TIME FOR EVERY SEASON
Shelagh Noden, Robert Hale, 2009, £18.99, hb, 224pp, 9780709087823
This is, I suppose, a saga, although it covers many themes – murder, blackmail, medicine, war and farming, to name a few. Set during the First World War, it is the story of Meg Fraser, widowed by the war, and her ambition to keep the family farm going for her schoolboy son, Will. It is also the story of Isobel, her daughter, who is a VAD and whose fiancé is declared missing in action, and of Jeannie, the daughter of a widowed crofter who wants to become a teacher, but who seems to be destined to remain a maid for the rest of her life.
When Meg falls foul of a neighbour, Will is accused of his murder, which leads to the uncovering of a secret he has kept from his mother. And when Isobel returns to England from France dangerously ill, another secret is revealed which changes the lives of all concerned for ever.
lessons about love, forgiveness, and family from the mistakes of their ancestors. Family saga fans should hope that Meacham’s debut is a sign of good things to come for the genre.
Nanette Donohue
SURE AND CERTAIN DEATH: A Francis Hancock Mystery
Barbara Nadel, Headline, 2009. £19.99, Hardback, 278pp, 9780755336234
Francis Hancock is a middle-aged, halfEnglish, half-Indian undertaker whose London “manor” is being systematically dismantled by Hitler’s Luftwaffe in World War Two. Now horribly mutilated women are showing up in the rubble, and it is clear a madman is murdering them. The police are undermanned and overworked, and Hancock finds himself pressured via family connections to investigate.
Hancock has been severely traumatised by his experiences in the First World War, and he frequently exhibits odd behaviour, such as running around the streets at night when the bombs are falling. He makes an interesting detective, although personally I find the idea of a man who regularly has nightmares of severed heads persisting in a profession where he regularly comes into contact with dead people a touch unlikely.
The supporting cast is much less clearly defined. Mostly they are similarly dressed, similarly spoken, similarly aged females. Not to give too much away, that’s one of the main points of the book, but still I found it quite hard work keeping track of them all. I’m not the only one – the author mixes them up at least once. She also describes Lascars as being “mostly Hindus” and yet in the very next sentence says they are “Christians to a man”.
As a “whodunit” this novel doesn’t work too well. The vagueness of the characterisation and the paucity of clues make it difficult for the reader to engage with Hancock’s detection work, and the resolution is unmoving. As an exposition of social history it is much better,
Y VELVA JEAN LEARNS TO DRIVE
Pleasantly written, although I am dubious about some of the language used (did people say ‘I haven’t seen you for ages’ in 1915?), and lacking some detail (I never knew how old Will and Jeannie were meant to be, as the information given indicated anything between 12 and 16) this is nevertheless an easy read with
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Jennifer Niven, Plume, 2009, $15/C$18.50, pb, 404pp, 9780452289451
In 1933, when she is ten years old, Velva Jean Hart is saved for the first time. And she is “saved” with the full sense of the theatrical implied in that word, at a revival meeting in her home of Sleepy Gap, North Carolina. Her subsequent salvations are less dramatic but more profound.
Spanning just eight years, Velva Jean’s story takes the reader from the death of her mother when she was ten to her marriage at age fifteen to a moonshiner’s son to her discovery of freedom at eighteen. When I finally lifted my head from this book, I couldn’t believe all that had happened in that short period of time; I was completely immersed in the insular world of Fair Mountain where the construction of a road to lead out of the community is viewed with deep suspicion (and some sabotage) by the locals. Velva Jean is different, though, and her mother’s dying request for her to “live out there” resonates within her as she sings, writes songs, and dreams of Nashville.
This is a beautifully realized world filled with recognizable but not clichéd characters. The reader knows that Velva Jean’s marriage to Harley Bright will derail her plans for Nashville, but like her, I was seduced by his attentions and saw, just as she did, that his transformation into a revival preacher would have consequences for their future together. Her true soul mate is her brother Johnny Clay, who gives her a bright yellow truck, inspiring a song.
Niven is the author of two non-fiction books and a forthcoming memoir, but this is her first novel. Not a misstep is taken. I was thrilled to learn she plans a sequel; Velva Jean’s story has me that captivated.
Ellen Keith
some insights into life in a farming community in Scotland in the early part of the 20th century. jay Dixon
SHADOW ON THE LAND
Wayne D. Overholser, Five Star, 2009, $25.95, hb, 218pp, 9781594148071
In 1909, the Pacific Northwest had become an attractive place to settle. Several railroad lines competed for the lucrative rail business into central Oregon. Lew Dawes was a front man assigned the responsibility for buying the rights to the rail lines for one of the competing railroads. An important goal was to acquire the right of way across the Hanna Racine property. Dawes would have to compete with a cunning competitor named Mike Quinn and a mystery woman, Deborah Haig.
Wayne Overholser is a Spur winner, an award from the Western Writers of America. This is a story of greed, romance, strategy, and violence. Under today’s standards of greedy business owners, Lew Dawes could be disliked by some because of his desire to acquire land rights for his employer at the expense of the landowners. During the early 1900’s, America was growing and the railroads were necessary to carry the goods and the people quickly to their final destination.
Aside from the protagonist, there is very little character development. The book is well researched, though, and the story is fast-paced and a quick read. Western history buffs should enjoy this book.
Jeff Westerhoff
BROKEN JEWEL
David L. Robbins, Simon & Schuster, 2009, $25.00, hb, 432pp, 9781416590583
A Japanese prison camp in the Philippines is the setting for a tense novel of brutality, endurance, hope, and, most of all, love. The Tucks are two of the some 2,100 Allied men, women, and children held in conditions of near starvation in the Los Banos prison camp. Governed by the orders of an uncaring commandant and the psychopathic whims of his second-in-command, the prisoners spend their days awaiting the eventual American return. Young Talbot Tuck and a Filipina “comfort woman” named Carmen become lovers in the midst of the daily horrors that surround them. Remy Tuck, Tal’s father, copes with the death of friends by losing himself in card games but slowly comes to grips with his duties as a father. Their worlds are destined to come to a tragic end as the Japanese camp guards prepare to murder all of the civilian prisoners in the face of imminent Japanese defeat. Talbot, Carmen, and Remy race against time as Filipino guerrillas work with American paratroopers of the 11th Airborne Division to forestall the enemy plans. The moment of reckoning arrives as the paratroopers jump off in the early morning hours of February 23, 1945. Historically accurate and written by a skilled craftsman who is equally at
home in describing the nuances of people under pressure as he is with suspense, the tale of Los Banos makes its mark.
John R. Vallely
OUR LADY OF THE NIGHT
Mayra Santos-Febres (trans. Ernesto MestreReed), Harper, 2009, $13.99, pb, 368pp, 9780061731303
This novel is set in Puerto Rico during the first half of the 20th century. It opens with the protagonist, Isabel Luberza, presiding over her brothel, euphemistically named Elizabeth’s Dancing Club. Over the years, it has become the gathering place for influential politicians, businessmen, and other important figures of Puerto Rican society. “La Negra,” as she was known, was born into poverty. As a young girl, she worked as a household servant after being abandoned by her mother and raised by her caring godmother. While at the brothel, she masters the art of sewing and later becomes a successful seamstress with her own business. As Isabel matures, she has a number of liaisons. At one point, she gives birth to a son who she quickly abandons. One of her lovers, a wealthy attorney, gives her a small parcel of land near St. Anton, outside of the city of Ponce. Isabel builds a house that she transforms into the brothel that she will become famous for. Through her experiences, she becomes a shrewd and hardhearted businesswoman in her obsessive quest to become an influential and respected member of Puerto Rican society.
Santos-Febres has written an alluring story about a real yet elusive woman. She portrays Isabel as an individual, strong and ambitious and with a keen intellect, who is undaunted by the real world. The novel is masterfully written in a prose style that is descriptive and engaging. It is a fascinating insight into an aspect of U.S. history that is well worth exploring.
Gerald T. Burke
THE SHAPE OF HIM
Gill Schierhout, Jonathan Cape, 2009, £16.99, hb, 210pp, 9780224088886
Sara Highbury is haunted by her long-ago relationship with Herbert Wakeford, a diamond digger in 1920s South Africa. When Herbert was diagnosed with Huntington’s Chorea, an hereditary degenerative brain disease, Sara abandoned him to a mental hospital. For a while Herbert was able to visit her occasionally at the sweat-shop she started in another town, but their relationship soon petered out. Its only legacy was a daughter Herbert acknowledged as his by one of Sara’s workers, and whom Sara reluctantly agreed to take in when the mother abandoned her. But in 1945, the reappearance of a later lover of Sara’s rakes up the past in a shocking way.
This is a bleak story in a bleak setting and frankly it left me feeling rather, well, bleak. One might admire what the blurb describes as the writer’s ‘spare, exquisitely-crafted prose’, but
too often I found style overwhelming substance in a way that almost sabotaged my sympathy for characters haplessly caught up in the effects of a dreadful disease. Not entirely, though: Sara’s honesty and Herbert’s simple dignity and honour still managed to come through.
Sarah Cuthbertson
GOODNIGHT VIENNA
J. H. Schryer, The History Press, 2009, £8.99, pb, 192pp, 9780752449203
Goodnight Vienna is a ‘30s title out of the last century – but this is a modern novel printed in 2009. The story takes place within eighteen months, between March 1938 and the day the Second World War is declared. It exposes the horrors of newly-occupied Nazi Austria, describing the destruction of the Jewish community in Vienna and the disintegration of Viennese society into a hostile audience as they become brutalised under the Hitler regime.
Katherine Simmons, a young Englishwoman and classical violinist, is persuaded to join the SIS and work undercover in the visa section of the British Embassy in Vienna. Her husband, also on secret work, is taken by the Gestapo and disappears. At the same time, several British agents are discovered brutally murdered. Katherine is given the task of discovering the identity of the traitor in their midst.
The authors writing as J. H. Schryer, in beginning their career in fiction, have made an engrossing portrait of a turbulent period of history. The novel has all the ingredients of a compelling story, but the writing is stilted, the dialogue unconvincing and the characters never really come to life. The reader is introduced to people who lived at that time and played key roles in those final days of peace but, with the possible exception of Winston Churchill, seem no more than an exercise in elaborate name-dropping. Should Goodnight Vienna be reprinted, a reworking of the dialogue on the penultimate page could be considered.
Gwen Sly
OFF SEASON
Anne Rivers Siddons, Grand Central, 2009, $13.99/£10.99, pb, 384pp, 9780446698290
With Off Season, Anne Rivers Siddons demonstrates again why she is lauded as one of America’s most popular and respected literary writers. Each page sings with style, emotion, and grace. Set in the summer of 1963 and the present day and told in retrospect, the story follows eleven-year old Lilly during the last season her family spends at their vacation home in Maine. There Lilly experiences first love with a golden boy that inevitably ends in tragedy. Moving seamlessly forward, we are with Lilly as an adult, a recent widow, who, caught up in her memories, returns to her homeplace with her husband’s ashes in her pocket and her only company her beloved cat, Silas, with whom she communicates her deepest thoughts and feelings. Along the way, Lilly discovers that
her late beloved husband, Cam, was not the person she thought him to be. As Siddons says so eloquently, “Almost all couples... have one or two secrets they keep from each other. But not the ones that defined life, skewed souls. Cam’s secret was almost who he was. I thought there must be something in me that kept him from trusting me with that pain.”
Lilly’s story reminds us how profoundly John Kennedy’s assassination affected America, how our relationships with our parents shape our lives, how people react to the deaths of those they love, how they survive, and, in the end, how we all have secret places in our hearts. In the end, Off Season leaves the reader with many unanswered questions, just as in real life.
Alana White
THE INNOCENT
David Szalay, Jonathan Cape, 2009, £12.99, pb, 181pp, 9780224081573
The novel is set in Soviet Russia and begins in 1972, but then quickly jumps back to the central moment of the book when the main character Aleksandr, an MGB (forerunner of the KGB) major goes to visit a brain-damaged man named Yudin. His purpose is to ascertain whether he can be questioned by the state regarding his past activities or thoughts. The novel is quite disjointed, and at times it is hard to be sure where we are exactly. It seems to be mostly in 1972; the writer uses key historical events such as the Munich Olympics to anchor us there. The structure is probably deliberate as it follows the meanderings of Aleksandr`s memories of his past and the effects his actions, particularly regarding the Yudin case, had upon his life and the lives of others. There is no escape from politics in this Russia, and in an atmosphere of fear and suspicion, grounds can always be found to question someone’s loyalty to the state.
The novel is very atmospheric in this sense and is particularly good at showing the reactions of the ordinary citizen to events such as the famous Fischer–Spassky chess match, but I found myself increasingly frustrated by the nebulous nature of the story. There are powerful moments but somehow it didn’t involve the reader. It is probably the whole point; the nature of memory as the man looks over important moments in his life, the lack of directness reflecting the society at the time where people were afraid to speak too unambiguously, but it is the indistinct quality of the book that I found quite off-putting. I’m sure many will disagree, however.
Ann Northfield
THE BALLAD OF TRENCHMOUTH TAGGART
M. Glenn Taylor, HarperCollins, 2009, $13.99, pb, 276pp, 9780061922978 / Blue Door, Feb. 2010, £12.99, hb, 284pp, 9780007337736
Trenchmouth Taggart lives three different lives over his 108 years, spanning the years from 1903 to 2010. Dumped into a river during a strange version of baptism by his insane mother
in West Virginia, TT develops a horrific gum disease kept in check by imbibing his adopted mother’s distilled liquor concoction. Initially the brunt of relentless bullying, TT quickly develops the boxing and sharpshooter abilities that earn him feared respect. The latter arises as well from his reputation as a womanizer, a legend he ignores while he engages in the randiest type of sex imaginable. Yet at the same time, TT develops an honorable integrity leading him to fight with the local mine strikers against those who refuse to alter horrific work conditions and poor pay in Matewan County. The tables are turned finally as the mine owners and spies are attacked by TT and other rebels, shortly before the well-known Battle of Blair Mountain. But by the time the end of that conflict occurs, TT has now become “Chicky Gold,” a country musician catching up with humanity after 25 years of hiding in the deep mountains. A momentous decision soon causes Taggart to adopt a new identity, that of A. C. Gilbert, a newspaperman who gets to interview John F. Kennedy and cover other significant historical events of the latter 21st century.
M. Glenn Taylor’s first novel depicts a funny, thoughtful, straight kind of backward and yet innately intelligent mountain man. The narrative voice is so very engaging; this is an outstanding novel definitely worthy of its finalist status as a National Book Critics Circle Award and Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection.
Viviane Crystal
AN IRISH COUNTRY VILLAGE
Patrick Taylor, Brandon, 2009, hb, 429 pp, 9780863224027
Ulster in the 1960s. In the village of Ballybucklebo, 24-year-old Dr Barry Laverty gladly accepts a year as full-time assistant in Dr Fingal O’Reilly’s general practice, leading to a partnership. O’Reilly, huge, fierce but friendly, is generous in sharing his vast experience with Barry, allowing him as many opportunities as a young doctor could wish for. The patients are wonderfully diverse and entertaining; maddening and beguiling turn and turn about. Housekeeper Mrs Kincaid is a superb cook, the countryside is glorious, and beautiful Patricia Spence obviously likes his company. Barry ought to be a happy man but Patricia is an ambitious engineering student and an enthusiastic feminist who is aiming for a Cambridge scholarship. If she is successful they will be parted for months on end. The sole weakness in this novel is the failure of their romantic encounters to strike compelling sparks. Intelligent and articulate, these two honest and caring people are somewhat too calm and clearheaded in dealing with strong emotional problems.
Worse is in store for Barry. The unforeseen death of a patient calls for a nerve-racking investigation and suspicion from Ballybucklebo’s inhabitants. In the ensuing weeks, and with the unfailing support of Dr O’Reilly, Barry gains
maturity and confidence. The multiplicity of medical emergencies is rivetingly graphic, from 1960s cutting edge expertise to traditionally based swift improvisation.
The Races held under the auspices of the kindly Marquis of Ballybucklebo provide two hilarious chapters in this delightful book.
Nancy Henshaw
ANGEL WITH TWO FACES
Nicola Upson, Faber & Faber, 2009, £12.99, hb, 426pp, 9780571237951
This is the second novel featuring crime writer, Josephine Tey as a sleuth. She is invited to visit the Cornish home of Inspector Archie Penrose, an old friend. On this estate she finds an inward-looking community in which a number of people are harbouring secrets. These are gradually revealed after one young man drowns and another disappears. When a third young man is murdered Archie is invited to investigate. He knows the people, but is torn between discovering the truth and harming his friends.
The novel is beautifully evocative of the landscape, centring on the Loe Pool and the Penrose estate which is now under the management of the National Trust. Set in the 1920s, it shows how the effects of the ‘14-18 war linger, both with the people who survived and the estate. The historical detail is unobtrusively sparse but the atmosphere and attitudes of the time are authentic.
The story concerns a group of villagers where every family seems to have some tragedy which affects them, or a dangerous secret to hide. Multi-layered, the emphasis is more on how each person reacts to events than detection but, between them, Josephine and Archie tease out the secrets. A satisfying read.
Marina Oliver
THE SEVEN FIRES OF MADEMOISELLE
Esther Vilar, Vintage, 2009, £7.99, pb, 265pp, 9780099531647
Young Carlota is the daughter of an Argentinian diplomat in the US during the Kennedy years. Her governess – the eponymous Mademoiselle – is a young Frenchwoman of extreme beauty and, although she could have any man she desires, she spurns each and every offer. Then comes the day when Carlota’s Christmas tree catches light and the chief of the local fire brigade comes bursting onto the scene. Nick Kowalski might be quite ordinary looking and not likely to start female hearts a-thumping, but Mademoiselle falls deeply in love with him. But for the first time ever she encounters a man immune to her charms.
So how to catch the attention of a fireman? Carlota knows the answer – you light a fire. And if that doesn’t work you light another and then another. And so begins the series of seven fires that gradually draw the threesome together into conspiracy and speculation. The trouble with pyromania is that it is addictive, and it will
only end when Mademoiselle gets her way. And maybe not even then.
The Seven Fires of Mademoiselle is an enchanting little novel. The incendiary infatuation at its heart is both inexplicable as it is enthralling. It is sometimes hard to know why one person loves another and what it is that sparks the initial attraction, but it is fascinating to speculate. So as a thought-provoking romantic read this is recommended. My only hesitation is over the “historical” setting. Aside from mentions of Kennedy, there is not much that implies the 1962 backdrop, which is a shame, but in no way detracts from what is an accomplished piece of writing.
Sara Wilson
THE UNFINISHED GIFT
Dan Walsh, Revell, 2009, $14.99, pb, 249pp, 9780800719241
“Years later, Patrick would still remember the first moment he laid eyes on it.” This is the first moment of awe and joy that seven-year-old Patrick has experienced in a very long time, an unfinished carving symbolic of a deep family rift. Patrick’s mother had died in a car accident a week earlier. Miss Townsend, the government social worker, has brought Patrick to live with his grandfather until his own father returns from serving as an Air Force pilot in World War II. The shock of it all is exacerbated by meeting the stern, grouchy man who claims to be his grandfather. Now Patrick understands why
Y A SHORT HISTORY OF WOMEN
he has never previously been brought here to visit. Sean, Patrick’s father, and Elizabeth are Christians who have found a new life based on their deep faith and their mutual love, all of which they have so obviously passed on to their son. But Christianity and love have little to do in this cold home, a gloomy atmosphere saved only by the visits of Miss Townsend and Grandpa’s homely, loving Italian neighbor, Mrs. Fortini.
Patrick is about to become the key to redemption as yet unimagined by all involved. A telegram, a series of letters, and the kindness of a stranger are the keys that will answer the prayers of two dead women who both adored Ian and Sean Collins. The battles will rage on in both Europe and within the elder Collins’ mind, heart and spirit but healing looms in a stormy twist of events that will warm the heart of every reader.
The Unfinished Gift is a perfect gift for anytime as well as for the holidays that manages to combine global and personal history with the essence of the Christmas spirit. Charming and poignant!
Viviane Crystal
TRUE CONFECTIONS
Katharine Weber, Shaye Areheart, 2009, $22.00/ C$26.95, hb, 288pp, 9780307395863
In 1975, Alice Tatnall, a convicted felon and local pariah at age eighteen thanks to her having accidentally burned down a classmate’s house,
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Kate Walbert, Scribner, 2009, $24.00, hb, 9781416594987
“‘What can be done?’ asks Man.‘What cannot be done?’ answers Woman.” This apt quote signifies the thrust of five generations of women spanning the time between the late 1800s and 2007.
It all begins with the suffragette, Evelyn Charlotte Townsend, who starves herself to death for the cause of women’s freedom, an act that haunts the next five generations of her family in England, Argentina and the United States. Culturally, these women are far ahead of their time, wanting to learn more than the niceties allowed in order for them to care for the “doers,” the men in their lives. They aren’t afraid to learn about Darwin, to quote the most liberal and visionary poets, and to soak up relevant knowledge of the most current thinkers like Havelock Ellis. Dorothy’s granddaughter, Evelyn Charlotte Townsend, takes up the cause against World War I that would hide the returning caskets of fallen soldiers, a mission that gets her socially labeled as a troublemaker like her grandmother. So it goes through these generations all the way to the last Evelyn, who markedly protests the Iraq War.
The plot sounds mundane, but this novel is written in such a literate, solid style that it pulls the reader into scenes that invite participation, if only one could dredge up such feisty nerve. To say more would be a spoiler, but this reviewer so highly recommends this literate account of unique women who live in a cocoon of haunting, surrealistic rebellion with such realistic goals that are ironically deemed as insane by those who follow the norm. Such is the stuff of heroic living. A Short History of Women is must reading and should be part of any decent literature, anthropology or social science curriculum. It’s bound to become a classic.
Viviane Crystal
wanders on an impulse into Zip’s Candies in New Haven, Connecticut, to fill out a job application. There she is hired on the spot and promptly discovers both her future calling, the candy business, and her future husband, Howard Ziplinsky, whose family has run Zip’s for generations.
Telling her story in the form of an affidavit given in 2009 as the feuding Ziplinsky family prepares to head to court over the future of their business, Alice is a splendid character, frequently digressing from her narration to take jabs at her in-laws and offering everything from grammar lessons to snippets of Ziplinsky family history to a spirited critique of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Along the way, we learn a great deal about the workings of the candy business and its history in America.
True Confections is as slyly ambitious as it is funny, tackling themes such as greed, intergenerational strife, betrayal, and the decline of the small manufacturer in such a painless fashion that the reader will hardly notice the substance mixed in among the sweets. It’s a real treat.
Susan Higginbotham
THE HIDDEN DANCE
Susan Woolridge, Allison & Busby, 2009, £12.99, hb, 351pp, 9780749007416
Set mainly during the 1930s, this novel follows the escape to America of Lily Sutton. Most of the action takes place on board the luxury liner, the SS Etoile. The real story is told in flashback describing important incidents in Lily’s life; her mother, her violent husband, the life she led and why and how she decides to escape. The novel is quite a light read but still shows plainly the status of women at the time, particularly in regards to power over children; another thematic strand is that of class and its importance in society at that time. The sharply divided worlds of the different classes aboard the liner reflect the society of the day with touches of humour and astute observation of human foibles. The book also touches upon the damage left behind by the horrific events of the recent war.
Lily is an engaging character who, although damaged by her experiences, has found the strength to try to forge a new life for herself in a new land. The characters are well-drawn and the reader becomes quickly involved in the story. The villain is suitably villainous and the plot is entertaining and engrossing. Fans of Nora Roberts and Judith Lennox would certainly like it, and it makes for a perfect holiday read. An afternoon on the beach will fly by.
Ann Northfield
AFTER THE FIRE A STILL SMALL VOICE
Evie Wyld, Jonathan Cape, 2009, £16.99, hb, 296 pp, 9780224088879
Though they are disparate main characters, Frank and Leon are a complex blend of traits and
Y THE LITTLE STRANGER
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Sarah Waters, Virago, 2009, hb, £16.99, 501pp, 9781844086016 / Riverhead, 2009, $26.95, hb, 480pp, 9781594488801
There is a fundamental enigma at the heart of this excellent novel set in England in the austere and grim years after the Second World War: is Hundreds Hall, the elegant but crumbling house belonging to the Ayres family, haunted, or are the weird phenomena merely the perceptions of the rather disturbed inhabitants? Dr Faraday, an unmarried general practitioner in his late thirties, whilst on a visit to attend to a servant in the house gradually gets to know the Ayres family – the middle–aged widow Mrs Ayres and her two grown-up children, Roderick and Caroline. Faraday comes from a working class background and has had to work hard to achieve and maintain his professional position, and the clash between his social class and that of the gentrified Ayres is a main thread in the story. Childhood memories of a visit to the Hall, where Faraday’s own mother, who died young, was a nursery maid just after World War One, provide the impetus for his intense interest and obsession with the house and its occupants. Faraday is the rationalist who explains away the seemingly paranormal, but is helpless as tragedy afflicts both the Ayres and then Faraday himself.
Sarah Waters has quickly gained a well-deserved reputation for her fiction, and this book is excellently narrated in the first person by Dr Faraday, with whom the reader develops an ambiguous relationship, for at times he seems obtuse and selfish, while at others, the readers empathises with the perplexities he is faced with. The decline of landed gentry and the rise of new wealth in England still struggling to recover from the War is very much the leitmotif, as the telling historical context is accurate and credible.
Doug Kemp
KING ARTHUR’S BONES
The Medieval Murderers, Simon & Schuster UK/Trafalgar Square, 2009, $14.95/£12.99, pb, 405pp, 9781847373465
This is an anthology of mystery novellas by the writing team of Michael Jecks, Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Ian Morson, and Philip Gooden, all in their own right highly successful authors of historical mystery series. Although set at successive time periods, as the title proclaims the plots are connected by King Arthur’s bones, reportedly excavated at Glastonbury Abbey in 1191. In his prologue, Gooden describes how, after a group of Welsh patriots steal the bones from the abbey, the abbot arranges their replacement with others from the grave site. Thereafter, each novella involves the solution of murders linked in some way or other to the (genuine) bones—three during the Middle Ages, one in the seventeenth century, and one in the nineteenth—before Knight’s epilogue concludes with their recovery during a modern archaeological dig in London.
similar desires as each try to find themselves. Both want to discover who they are and what they want and need, out of their lives. The setting is eastern Australia in the 1960s, and the opening pages introduce the reader to Frank, who moves into an inherited rundown shack, and whose unhappy and violent childhood has left its stamp; as an adult he is a withdrawn loner attempting to reinvent himself as a regular guy in a small community on the east coast. The other, Leon, a child of European settlers, eventually becomes a conscripted machine-gunner in the Vietnam War.
Alternating chapters deal with their lives, their relationships and, especially, their characters. The author’s distinctly descriptive style flows easily with Leon, and his military comrades as they encounter war, combat and eventual comprehension of what matters and means most to him. Frank’s character analysis is less flowing, perhaps because there are just so many descriptive nouns that can be captured in one sentence without overwhelming the reader. He, too, eventually finds a peace, albeit through an inner turmoil that at times was irritating rather than readable. Yet this became for me a worthwhile read as the author’s style engaged and challenged my own preconceptions of the main characters. This is a debut novel and not an easy read, but one that is worth staying the course, as its richness of prose is evocative.
Vivien Cringle
A BOARDWALK STORY
J. Louis Yampolsky, Plexus, 2009, $24.95, hb,
488pp, 9780937548721
Fifteen-year-old Jack Laurel comes of age in his home town – Atlantic City, still the “Playground of the World” even in 1939, the tenth year of the Great Depression. The summer is life-changing and full of convergences for Jack. He meets three boardwalk entertainers who become mentors – a mysterious mechanical man who is a reclusive intellectual, a young pitchman with a gift for numbers, and a fortuneteller with no belief in her own powers. With the first two he enters a commodities trading partnership. Soon a crime boss wants to invest, and their dealings become dangerous. Jack is also facing murderous local bullies and his own sex and love life.
Family, friendship, honor, against the backdrop of a changing and ever more violent world: this big, fulsome novel has it all, told in a voice of hard-won experience. It’s a gripping story, a hybrid of nostalgic memoir and fastmoving suspense. Its language and details transport, as in a Memorial Day parade that includes Civil War vets, yet a black family is barred from attending while “the general revelry was not disturbed.” A tighter story may have come from more editing for repetition, and more care might have been taken to differentiate the language patterns of each character, but A Boardwalk Story is a compelling journey from a great new voice in fiction.
Eileen Charbonneau
MULTI-PERIOD
As one would expect, the novellas are well written, presenting both a credible historical setting and fascinating insights into human nature as it confronts difficult challenges. The animosity between the English and Welsh is a recurrent motif, as are the hardships of life for ordinary people in the past, but these are balanced by the presence of attractive and sympathetic characters: despite their disparate background, Gregory’s Welsh wife and English husband share a good working relationship as well as a loving one; Jecks’ two Anglo-Norman knights who serve as investigators are surprisingly shrewd and conscientious; Gooden’s Jacobean players are enjoyably cynical; and Morson’s lively Essex bawd displays an unexpected range of entertaining talents. Warmly recommended to lovers of historical mysteries.
Ray Thompson
PIRATE HUNTER
Tom Morrisey, Bethany House, 2009, $13.99, pb, 352 pp, 9780764203480
This story interweaves between the 18th century in the West Indies and Key West of the 21st century. Captain Henry Thatch, a notorious pirate with a good heart, is attempting to make just one more haul before retiring from the brethren of the coast. In the present-day Florida Keys, marine archaeologist Greg Rhode is on a treasure hunting expedition looking for lost pirate gold. This tale is about two men trying to escape their past. Greg Rhode seeks to put his relationship with his father behind him. Ted, a young African sold into slavery by Vicar Bascombe, a man who taught him to read and write and treated him like a son, was rescued by Thatch and served on his pirate ship.
The story is contemporary fiction with an historical connection. Mr. Morrisey does a fine job separating each plot so that they don’t become confused. He writes the tale of Ted from
Y NEW YORK: The Novel
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Edward Rutherfurd, Doubleday, 2009, $30.00, hb, 880pp, 9780385521383 / Century, 2009, £18.99, hb, 1040pp, 9781846051951
Edward Rutherfurd says that “New York’s magnificent gift to the storyteller is a four-century history as exciting as that of any place on earth.” Well, New York: The Novel is Edward Rutherfurd’s gift to historical fiction readers. He is at the top of his game with this book, which tells the story of New York from 1664, when it was New Amsterdam and a Dutch settlement, to the terrible events of September 11.
As in all his books, the story follows the lives of a few fictional families through time, with historical events interwoven, including the rise of New York as the financial capital of the U.S., the construction of major city landmarks, Tammany Hall politics, and the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. The families represent a cross-section of New York. The Dutch and English settlers are represented by the Van Dycks and Masters, united through marriage, who become wealthy early on and are part of the group of New Yorkers with “old money.” Their story is contrasted with that of a black slave, Quash, and his descendants. Then there are the O’Donnells and the Carusos, Irish and Italian working class families pursuing the American dream in their own way.
While it’s clear that Rutherfurd has done a prodigious amount of research, he never gets boring or pedantic. He obviously knows the city well and has great affection for it. Don’t be put off by the book’s length – it is a quick read despite its 800+ pages. When I finished, I thought about how wonderful it is that there are writers like Edward Rutherfurd who make vast amounts of history so incredibly entertaining. Highly recommended.
the 18th century in third person while using first person to tell the story of Greg Rhode. Although this novel is Christian fiction, I didn’t feel this book was trying to sell a Christian message. The novel is well researched, and the characters are believable. This is not your ripe-snorting, bodiceripping pirate story, but a well-written tale of sin and forgiveness. Highly recommended. Jeff Westerhoff
THE HIDDEN OASIS
Paul Sussman, Bantam, 2009, £6.99, pb, 640pp, 9780553818734
The Hidden Oasis brings together a group of priests who hide a mysterious object in the desert in the year 2152 BC. Bedouin tribesmen, an ex-MI6 agent, a geologist, the CIA and various villains in a story set in modern Egypt. It is a tale of murder, global power politics, greed and violence with various groups’ search for the so-called Hidden Oasis where a mysterious weapon of great power has been secreted.
This is a very visual book. From the descriptions of the early morning desert through the descriptions of Cairo and the car and foot chases to the cataclysmic finale the author writes with an immediacy which brings the reader into the heart of the action. However, I found all the main characters one-dimensional and stereotypical while the archaeological descriptions, although of interest, were overlong. I felt that the book needed the services of a good editor to pare it down to what could have been a tight, edge-of-seat read. If you are looking for a book to read on a long flight or on the beach,
this is for you.
A WINDING ROAD
Mike Ashworth
Jonathan Tulloch, Jonathan Cape, 2009, £17.99, hb, 328pp, 9780224071147
The circumstances surrounding a masterpiece’s creation – witness Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring – is fertile ground for fiction writers. In A Winding Road, Jonathan Tulloch takes us to Auvers-sur-Oise in the summer of 1890, during the final weeks of Van Gogh’s life, surrounded by eccentric aspiring painters, and patients of his doctor. This is one of three strands in the book. In contemporary London, art expert Piers Guest swans in his white suit around cafes, galleries and hotels with rich artists, financiers and nubile women, returning to his wife and daughter in Chelsea. In the 1930s Black Forest, Ernst Mann subverts folk tales to corroborate Nazi racial theories and save his harelipped daughter. Linking the storylines are two works of art from the Auvers period, and the theme of humanity’s extreme deprivation, physical depravity, the shabbiness beneath the allure, versus the drive to create something sublime.
to discover about his father’s death thirty years before and it became apparent that as a child he was never allowed to grieve. In his scenes, we are quickly into John Le Carré territory, and this scrambled my brain as I tried to keep hold of the threads. It made for an unsatisfactory read – I reached the end, immediately plunged back into the book, certain I had missed something, trying to find – unsuccessfully – answers to several questions.
Clever, but certain parts better than the whole.
Janet Hancock
IN THE AMERICAN GRAIN
William Carlos Williams, New Directions, 2009 (c1925), $13.95, pb, 272pp, 9780811218498
This is not a book you chew and swallow in a single day. Dubbed a literary classic and authored by a famous American poet, this book of essays on American history is idiosyncratic in style and uniquely personal in content. The twenty-one essays differ widely. Some, such as “Cotton Mather and The Invisible World,” or the chapter on John Paul Jones, contain extended selections from original documents. Here, period language is allowed to simply speak for itself. Other essays, like the ones on Daniel Boone and Aaron Burr, embrace conclusions quite different from those of more prosaic writers. I found the first half, on the Spanish adventurers and their brutal collisions with indigenous people, to be the most accessible. Here are gorgeous, unstoppably flowing images of a magical, savage Eden, the America first encountered by Europeans 500 years ago. Certain themes appear repeatedly, such as the single-minded greed of the first immigrants, from conquistadors to pilgrims. The seeds of many of our present ills and conflicts, Williams believes, are to be found in our brief and violent history. There is a source in America for everything we think and do. In support, Williams has dug deeply into primary documents, but the reader will never forget he is foremost a poet. In the American Grain is not an easy read, but even 84 years after publication, it remains as radical, as fresh and as important as it was in 1925
Jane Kessler N n
Juliet Waldron
ALTERNATE HISTORY
THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD
Margaret Atwood, Bloomsbury, 2009, £18.99, hb, 431pp, 9780747585169 / Nan A. Talese, 2009, $26.95, hb, 448pp, 9780385528771
The Auvers scenes are beautifully done, with a reeking Van Gogh’s tormented genius as he plays with himself, while trying to complete Wheat Field with Crows. The German scenes are convincing: the fear and stubbornness of the 1930s, and the ghastly outcome for the Mann family. Piers, however, is shallow and unlikeable. The only sympathy I felt was as he struggled
Described as an epic of biblical proportions, The Year of the Flood is a tale set in a purely imaginary span at the end of the world. Genesplicing is normal, animals have been recreated from mixing the species and pigs have human DNA. God’s gardeners, a religious group dedicated to living totally from the natural world, have long predicted a waterless flood but
Y THE BOOK OF THE ALCHEMIST
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Adam Williams, Hodder & Stoughton, 2009, £18.99, hb, 438pp, 9780340899137
Imagine the Arabian Nights transposed to the Spanish Civil War, or rather the narrator transposed to Andalusia in 1938, for like Scheherazade the narrator of the Book of the Alchemist is telling stories of long ago. Also, like Scheherazade, the narrator is a prisoner telling the stories in a bid to survive.
This then is a story within a story, each with its own narrator, switching alternately from the 20th and the 11th century. The 20th-century framework concerns a Republican politician held hostage by a band of Communist guerrillas besieged in a cathedral by the Francoist army. He discovers an Arab manuscript in the crypt which narrates the adventures of three men, a Moslem, a Christian and a Jew, in Mediaeval Andalusia and in reading the stories to his fellow prisoners he finds the means to escape.
This is also a moral tale, contrasting the enlightened tolerance of Arab Spain with the murderous bigotry of the 1930s. Both the Arab story and the Civil War story in which it is embedded are ultimately tragedies, although in both tales enough of the protagonists survive to keep the flame of hope alive.
The Arab story takes up the larger part of the book, told from the viewpoint of a small Moorish principality assailed by both Christian crusaders and Berber fanatics. It has all the feel of court, military and harem life that pervades the Arabian Nights, and as with Scheherazade we have to stretch our credulity at times. If you enjoyed the Arabian Nights you should enjoy this.
Edward James
is staying with Anna, he is drawn to a small, paper-wrapped package from Anna’s recent trip to Ireland. When he opens the package, the two are transported back in time to Kinsale in 1844. Both Anna and Joseph wash up on the Irish shore and are rescued by different people— Anna by Glenis, a young mother with a secret double life, and Joseph by Deirdre and Taleen, a mother and daughter with mystical healing powers. Both find that the change in era helps them heal their emotional wounds and learn to love more freely.
One of the perils faced by authors of timeslip novels is helping their character fit in to the time period without coming across as an anachronism. Sheehan handles her modern characters effectively, and their interactions with the Irish characters seem very natural. While there are plenty of darker themes here—including fidelity, child abuse, infertility, and fear of abandonment—the overall tone is surprisingly light. This is a character-driven book, so Sheehan doesn’t delve deeply into the history of the era, but the historical facts presented ring true. Now & Then is enjoyable and thoughtfully written, and readers of light, romantic timeslip novels will appreciate its charm.
Nanette Donohue
are tolerated by the ruling power, the Corpse Corps, as they are not considered a threat to the world as it is. The flood happens, eliminating most human life with the exception at the opening of the book of two women.
Apart from the fact that this purports to mirror the Creation and the subsequent fall of mankind ending in Noah’s flood, I can see no justification for it being included in the genre of historical fiction except perhaps under historical fantasy.
Margaret Atwood won the Man Booker prize in 2000 and has been shortlisted on other occasions. An epic this may prove to be and if you are a devotee of books that go on to win the Man Booker, you may well enjoy this one, but I am afraid that it was not for me.
Marilyn Sherlock
HITLER’S WAR
Harry Turtledove, Del Rey, 2009, $27.00/ C$32.00, hb, 512pp, 9780345491824
What if British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had refused Hitler’s request to return the Sudetenland to Germany? That is the premise of Turtledove’s latest alternative history novel. From the Spanish Civil War, Japan’s occupation of China and intention to strike Russia, Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia and French and British efforts to prevent the fall of that nation and others, to Russia’s bid to protect Poland as the Poles ally themselves with Hitler to protect their borders, the book unfolds between 1936 and 1939 from the perspectives of the men who fight and innocent civilians caught in the middle.
I’ve enjoyed several of Turtledove’s previous
alternative history novels, but found this one disappointing. Chamberlain’s failure to kowtow to Hitler fails to create a story much different from how actual events unfolded, and only an aficionado of World War II will distinguish the differences. With thirteen major viewpoints, readers may have difficulty keeping track of who’s who, and the scenes aren’t long enough to truly get to know the characters. Throughout my reading, I felt as if I was kept at arm’s length from the events. The lack of time passage indicators makes it difficult to know when something happens, and repeated references to disappearing commanders under Stalin and Hitler, as well as watching what one says, becomes tedious. The various storylines are akin to a jigsaw puzzle in which I couldn’t fit the pieces together to make sense of them. Rather than enjoying the book, I felt as if I slogged through mud, and discovering that nothing is resolved at the story’s end only reinforced that sensation.
Cindy Vallar
HISTORICAL FANTASY & PARANORMAL
TWILIGHT OF A QUEEN
N n N n
TIMESLIP
NOW & THEN
Jacqueline Sheehan, Avon A, 2009, $13.99/ C$17.99, pb, 400pp, 9780061547782
Anna’s life is a mess. After multiple miscarriages, her husband has left her for the receptionist at the dentist’s office. Her highpressure job as a lawyer is unfulfilling, and now her brother has been in a serious car accident and his son Joseph is being held at a juvenile detention center for stealing a car. While Joseph
Susan Carroll, Ballantine, 2009, $15.00, 466pp, 9780449221099
The titular queen in the fifth novel in Carroll’s 16th-century saga is Catherine de Medici, dowager queen of France, whose influence and health are fading rapidly. When a sailor with paranormal abilities offers to embark on a voyage to bring Catherine the mythical Book of Shadows, a rare text full of dark magical spells, Catherine agrees to fund him. Catherine, however, is unaware that her ”necromancer” is Louis Xavier Cheney, half-brother of Catherine’s enemies, the Cheney sisters of Faire Isle. Xavier has troubles of his own—he has never forgiven his father for abandoning him. When Xavier shipwrecks off the coast of Faire Isle, he is forced to come to terms with his past and with his family history, and he meets a woman— British exile Jane Danvers—who helps him heal physically and emotionally. No man has ever crossed the Dark Queen and survived, but as Xavier grows closer to his sisters, he realizes that delivering the Book of Shadows to Catherine de Medici is not an option. But can Xavier evade her grasp without jeopardizing his sisters and their families?
Twilight of a Queen features the same blend of historical romance, magic, and women’s friendships as the other books in the Dark Queen series. Thouguh it stands alone effectively, readers familiar with the earlier books may have a more rewarding experience, since a number
Y AN ECHO IN THE BONE
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Diana Gabaldon, Delacorte, 2009, $30.00, hb, 820pp, 978038534252 / Orion, Jan. 2010, £14.99, hb, 848pp, 9780752898476
One of the best feelings in opening a sequel is in knowing you are soon to be reunited with very good friends, people you have grown to love. There is a sense of trepidation as well; will the new installment stay true to what’s gone before, or will it veer wildly off course? Thankfully, almost from the moment I began reading, I realized I was indeed in for another great adventure filled with old friends, new enemies, and relationships that transcend time… literally.
Seventh in the popular Outlander series, An Echo in the Bone finds our heroes, Jamie and Claire, leaving Fraser’s Ridge, North Carolina, for Scotland during the early years of the American Revolution. As expected, nothing runs smoothly, and they soon find themselves battling pirates, the British at Ticonderoga and Saratoga, and assorted ruffians. When they reach Lallybroch, old hurts and new losses rear their ugly heads, and they find themselves separated again. As these circumstances play out, the plot moves among the viewpoints of Jamie and Claire; Jamie’s two children, Brianna and William; Jamie’s nephew, Ian Murray; and Lord John Grey.
An Echo in the Bone builds solidly on A Breath of Snow and Ashes, and its strength lies in the characters’ depth of feeling. Some story arcs wrap up, and new characters promise future problems. Gabaldon throws Brianna and Claire some major surprises, and as long-held secrets come to light, William, John, and Jamie must find peace with what they share.
Gabaldon takes the long way around to tell her tale, and some will wish more editing had taken place. Not me, however; I love the way Gabaldon evokes the period and her characters, no matter how many pages it takes her to do it. This is a sprawling, delicious novel, and Jamie’s own words can apply to it: “Ye’re no verra peaceful, Sassenach, but I like ye fine.”
of characters make appearances in Twilight of a Queen, including Ariane Cheney, the Lady of Faire Isle. Xavier’s story provides a dose of seafaring adventure, and Catherine’s ongoing political machinations are as intriguing as ever. The story wraps up neatly, and though this is likely the final book in the saga, the ending is just open enough to allow for another sequel.
Nanette Donohue
THE SECRET WAR
M.F.W. Curran, Tor/Trafalgar Square, 2009, $14.95/£5.99, pb, 407pp, 9780230711181
In the aftermath of the battle of Waterloo, Captain William Saxon and Lieutenant Kieran Harte are wounded and battle-weary – but the end of the war with Napoleon is the beginning of another war for these life-long friends. When a powerful evil object is found and comes into William’s possession, he and Kieran are set on a path filled with danger, political intrigue – and daemons.
I wanted very much to like this book. The concept – a hidden war between Heaven and Hell, played out against the backdrop of the end of the Napoleonic era – has a great deal to recommend it to a fan of fantasy and history alike. Unfortunately, it does not live up to the promise. The book could have used a stronger editing hand – while Curran renders the time and place fairly well, the story suffers from
Tamela McCann
telling rather than showing, jumping-head point of view shifts, stilted dialog, and slow pacing (especially for the subject matter). The lack of polish made it very difficult for me to engage with the story, and though filled with potentially interesting twists and monsters, overall it fell flat for me.
Julie Rose
A SPELL FOR THE REVOLUTION
C.C. Finlay, Del Rey, 2009, $7.99/C$9.99, pb, 378pp, 9780345503916
This second book in the Traitor to the Crown series finds Proctor Brown and Deborah Walcott continuing their battle against the Covenant, a shadowy alliance of witches who are determined to do great evil, and who are working to defeat the rebel Americans, favoring British troops and Hessian mercenaries in the War of Independence. Proctor and Deborah are still developing their own powers, while they are constantly challenged by members of the Covenant, under the direction of an exceedingly powerful Hessian necromancer. In their quest to keep this man from harnessing the power of young witches, Proctor and Deborah set out from Massachusetts to Long Island to rescue one boy. Their travels place them at key battles, with the action ending at Trenton in December 1776.
I am enjoying this series immensely. I know
very little about the American Revolution, but the author limns the details carefully, so that the weather and the despair just leap off the page. The alternate reasons for the outcomes of battles and the condition of the troops are creative and engaging. Yet it is fairly simple to remove the fantasy elements and get an excellent sense of the actual history involved. I strongly recommend reading this series in order, starting with The Patriot Witch.
Trudi E. Jacobson
MR. DARCY, VAMPYRE
Amanda Grange, Sourcebooks, 2009, $14.99/ C$18.99/£7.99, pb, 320pp, 9781402236976
Mr. Darcy, Vampyre combines the romantic tale of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice with the dark world of vampyres, giving a new twist to the multitude of Austen sequels available. Being a lover of both Austen and vampires, just the thought of this novel had me smiling. Unfortunately, my anticipation exceeded the execution of the novel’s unique premise.
Things start off well, with Elizabeth and Darcy newly married and on a whirlwind wedding tour of Europe. Elizabeth, however, almost immediately senses that Darcy has had misgivings about their marriage, and the lack of consummation verifies her fears. The tour then begins to meander through France, the Alps, and into Italy, and this is where the story stalls. Irritatingly filled with a myriad of odd friends of Darcy’s, the storyline goes nowhere as Elizabeth cluelessly follows her brooding husband from one arena to the next, wringing her hands in despair over his lack of attention.
There were indeed things I liked about this novel, including the tension between Elizabeth and Darcy, and the continuation of Elizabeth’s letter-writing to express her emotions. But the book lost its focus as it traipsed through Europe, and it left behind the feel of Austen’s world early as it morphed into just another paranormal romance. Perhaps the story would have benefited from being told through Darcy’s viewpoint; as it is, Elizabeth’s wavering and fretting left me cold. By the time I’d limped along to the convoluted climax, I was mostly just glad that these two were finally, finally on their way home to Pemberley.
Tamela
McCann
THE SHOW THAT SMELLS
Derek McCormack, Akashic, 2009, $15.95, pb, 120pp, 9781933354712
Jimmie Rodgers, Carrie Rodgers, Elsa Schiaparelli, Lon Chaney, Coco Chanel, the Carter Family, and the reader in a mirror maze. Carrie trades her soul to Schiaparelli, a vampire fashion designer and perfume creator, in return for a curative scent, Shocking!, to keep the tuberculosis-ridden, country-crooner Jimmie alive. Jimmie insists upon continuing to sing with the traveling carnival despite his illness. Coco and the Carter family are vampire slayers
Y HEART’S BLOOD
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Juliet Marillier, Roc, 2009, $24.95/C$31, hb, 416pp, 9780451462930 / Tor UK, 2009, £17.99, hb, 560pp, 9780230017917
When a narrative is potent enough to absorb my thoughts long after I turn the final page, I know I’ve got a winner in my hands. And so it is with Heart’s Blood, a gothic romantic fantasy set in 14th-century Ireland.
Whistling Tor is a place of secrets, a mysterious wooded hill housing the crumbling fortress of a chieftain whose name is spoken throughout the district in tones of revulsion and bitterness. A curse lies over Anluan’s family and his people; the woods hold a perilous force whose every whisper threatens doom. And yet the derelict fortress is a safe haven for Caitrin, the troubled young scribe who is fleeing her own demons. Despite Anluan’s tempers and the mysterious secrets housed in the dark corridors, this long-feared place provides the refuge she so desperately needs. As time passes, Caitrin learns there is more to the broken young man and his unusual household than she realized. It may be only through her love and determination that the curse can be lifted and Anluan and his people set free...
Marillier continues to deftly blend elements of the fantastical and spiritual with the corporeal and earthly in Heart’s Blood, shifting the focus from human’s interactions with mythical, ethereal beings to those of unquiet spirits. Although darker in tone than many of her previous books, the novel’s rendering of strong characterizations and complex emotions shines brightly. This novel tackles strong themes, such as abuse and faith, with subtlety and finesse, while engaging readers’ senses with striking descriptions of place and time. An enchanting, touching read—highly recommended.
Andrea Connell
CHILDREN & YOUNG ADULT
THE BOOK OF THE MAIDSERVANT
Rebecca Barnhouse, Random House, 2009, $16.99/C$21.00, hb, 232pp, 9780375858567
After young Johanna’s mother dies and her family falls apart, she is sent to be a serving girl to Margery Kempe of Lynn, England. Dame Margery has a reputation as a holy woman, but her devout behaviors don’t make her an easy woman to live with. When she decides to go on a pilgrimage to Rome, she selects Johanna to accompany her. Johanna has never been very far from home and has no idea what to expect on this trip. She and Dame Margery join a group of other travelers for safety, but the woman’s behavior causes the group to refuse to travel with her, and they cast her out. Johanna, however, is told to stay to act as everyone’s servant. She is terrified: will she ever see her mistress again? How will she manage to return to England? Johanna turns out to be a resourceful young lady, and readers will root for her during her adventures.
who use Chanel No.5 (sanctified, and therefore, harmful to vampires) and the stereotypical stakes to foil these fangy fiends.
Artfully written, the story, which briefly vaults off into homosexual behavior and child abuse, includes Coco’s and three Carters’ quests to save Carrie from Schiaparelli’s clutch. However, the writing is truly the star. McCormack’s experimental literary stylings may leave the casual reader scratching his or her head, but read a chapter, restart the book, and finish in one sitting. Appreciation of the unique structure that includes repetitive passages, poetic phrasings, and cleverly amusing word choices will grow. Billed as a Tod Browninginspired production, the book sometimes feels more like poetry than prose.
The 1930s characters and inclusion of the inspiration for Schiaparelli’s circus collection give imaginative nods to historical perspective. Those wishing for a historically accurate novel should look elsewhere. Anyone wishing for a silly, fun, and challenging (yet rewarding) reading experience, using famous names in a fantastic way, should consider this book just the ticket.
Suzanne Sprague
THE MIDNIGHT GUARDIAN
Sarah Jane Stratford, St. Martin’s, 2009, $24.99/ C$31.99, hb, 320pp, 9780312560133
This first volume in The Millennial Series tells the story of Brigit, a fierce Saxon-era vampire with serious anger management issues, who is sent on a mission to thwart the Nazis before they
start another world war. But Brigit doesn’t have human interests in mind: The previous world war caused terrible destruction to the vampire’s food source, and the subsequent deprivation led to a vampire civil war. The Millennials—a group of powerful vampires who have existed for at least a thousand years—intend to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
The heart of this volume is Brigid, a fierce and complicated creation. She’s a vampire deeply in love with another of her kind, a man forced to stay behind in England. She’s a creature with no qualms about sucking the blood out of humans—yet out of honor she is bound to protect two Jewish children she attempts to smuggle out of Germany. The story jumps skillfully between the past and present, detailing how Brigit became a vampire, how she found her life’s mate, Eamon, how she and her compatriots infiltrate the upper echelons of Nazi power, even as skillful vampire hunters stalk them in turn. Though the mission is doomed to failure, these vampires strike where they can, taking small measures of vengeance before they are forced to flee for safety.
Push through the confusing, head-hopping five-page prologue—it’s not representative of the rest of the story, which is emotional and compelling and well-written. The author has penned a promising beginning to a new vampire series.
Lisa Ann Verge
The 15th century Book of Margery Kempe, the first autobiography written in English, actually mentions a young serving girl whom Dame Margery abandoned along the pilgrimage. The author has created a lively story about Johanna and her trials based on several mentions in the autobiography, as described in a helpful author’s note. For ages 10-13, but quite enjoyable by adults, as well!
Trudi E. Jacobson
WAR GAMES
Audrey Couloumbis and Akila Couloumbis, Random House, 2009, $16.99, hb, 240pp, 9780375856280
This middle-grade novel explores coming of age in Greece during World War II, as seen from the viewpoint of 12-year-old Petros and his older brother, Zola. War Games is a husband-andwife collaboration based on Akila Couloumbis’ memories of his own childhood and immigrant family. Its members returned to Greece during the American Depression and were trapped there when the German army invaded.
Instructed to hide their American link and association with their resistance fighter cousin, the boys still want to make a difference. They bury all gifts from the United States and hide their knowledge of the English language, but also pass on messages of hope to their neighbors as they play ball, and hide their wounded cousin in the family’s well. When a German officer decides to board at their house, the stakes are raised but also complicated by their unwanted guest’s humanity.
Full of striking images: of food, a pet goat, a flag that becomes a freedom-loving kite, and the beautiful countryside so cruelly invaded, unfortunately the story also suffers from characterizations that fail to come to life despite too many scenes of teasing and scolding, as well
50, November 2009
as a choppiness of pace.
Eileen Charbonneau
DRACULA The Un-dead
Dacre Stoker with Ian Holt, Dutton, 2009, $26.00, 432pp, 9780525951292 / HarperCollins, 2009, £7.99, pb, 324pp, 9780007310340
Classics do not happen overnight. Time is their standard, and in the case of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, time has proven an invaluable ally, much as it was for the novel’s irresistible lead. Since publication in 1897, Dracula has accomplished far more than sell millions of copies and inspire countless incarnations; it has left an indelible mark on our cultural consciousness. There have been numerous sequels, yet none carried the Stoker family endorsement until now.
Dracula the Un-Dead employs Stoker’s original title and was penned jointly by Stoker’s greatgrand-nephew and a Dracula historian; using notes left by Stoker and excised portions of his original text, the authors have constructed the perfect 21st-century sequel to a tale that has enthralled generations before them. But readers expecting a return to the brooding sexually-charged ambiance of the original will be disappointed. This time, the unlikely heroes who set out to destroy Dracula are semi-destroyed themselves, even as a new menace stalks them. The Count takes his time before appearing, leaving the stage open to an amoral Elizabeth Bathory and trio of vampiric lovers, who hiss and dismember their way through 1912 London. Unable to resist the temptation to employ every Hollywood vampire cliché known, the authors reduce Bathory to a predictable monster.
The rest of the cast doesn’t fare much better. While there’s plenty of action, this sequel reads as though it were translated for the screen, with enough gore to satisfy the lustiest horror fan. Toss in an additional Ripper subplot and you have next summer’s blockbuster. Unfortunately, none of it does justice to the Gothic subtleties of the original; indeed, you might say it’s about as subtle as a stake through the heart.
C.W. Gortner
I took this book for review because I’ve never read the original Dracula, and I wanted to see if the novel would stand up for someone who had not read its predecessor.
The action, and there’s a lot of it, takes place 25 years later. The central character is Quincey Harker, son of Jonathan and Mina Harker. Quincey’s parents, along with Dr. Van Helsing, Arthur Holmwood, Quincey P. Morris, and Dr. Jack Seward, had formed the heroic band who dispatched Dracula for ever; or had they?
Quincey Harker abandons his law studies in Paris for the stage in London, where he forces his unwanted help upon an adaptation of Dracula, written and directed by Bram Stoker himself. Quincey succeeds in persuading the charismatic Romanian actor Basarab to play Dracula. Quincey’s troubles are made far worse when a series of gruesome murders begins. Has Dracula returned?
Dracula the Un-Dead is meant as an entertainment, and I shall not judge it otherwise. Set aside, then, the innumerable historical, cultural, geographical, linguistic, and technological errors. Ignore the high-pressure melodramatic prose; it is a melodrama, after all. There is only one standard to assess this novel by: is it entertaining? It certainly is, and so it is a roaring, flashing, blood-soaked success.
Alan Fisk
THE STOLEN ONE
Suzanne Crowley, Greenwillow, 2009, $17.99, hb, 406pp, 9780061232008
Sixteen-year-old orphan Katherine Bab, bold in appearance and manner, knows she is meant for more than a rustic country life. Marriage to a pear farmer certainly isn’t her idea of a happy ending. So when her foster mother dies, Kat travels to London to learn the truth about her parentage. Her embroidery skills gain her entry into Queen Elizabeth’s court. Soon her vivacious personality and unruly red hair capture the attention of the queen herself. When she becomes a favorite among the royal ladiesin-waiting, she is assailed by suitors… and rumors. Could she be the Virgin Queen’s secret daughter?
The Stolen One’s many strengths include its engaging first-person voice, exquisite attention to period detail, and page-turning pace. Though the novel is not a fantasy, the mystery surrounding Kat’s birth and the glamour of Queen Elizabeth’s court add considerable magic to the tale. One might argue that the characterization of Kat’s suitors could be more compelling. Two wouldbe lovers are rather transparent in wanting her for the wrong reasons, while the other is absent for most of the book. Nevertheless, Kat is so captivating that her story succeeds despite the lack of a strong romantic hero. In fact, the most fascinating “pairing” may be that between Kat and the queen. This novel is suitable for readers 14 and up. Some familiarity with Elizabethan England will enhance the reading experience.
Sonia Gensler
BIRTH OF A WARRIOR
Michael Ford, Bloomsbury, 2008, £6.99, pb, 262pp, 9780747593874
510 B.C. Ancient Sparta. At the end of the first book in the Spartan Warrior series, Lysander, the half-breed trainee warrior, defeats the arrogant Demaratos, to become the victor in the annual games. Now he must cope with the fall out; others, as well as Demaratos, resent his success and they are plotting his downfall. Now he faces a new challenge. In their final ordeal, the trainee warriors must go in pairs, with an older guide, up into the mountains. There, without food or weapons, they must survive for five days, living off the land and fulfilling the challenges their guide sets them; challenges designed to test their stamina and courage to the utmost. To his horror, Lysander is paired with Demaratos and their guide is the tough ephebe Agesilaus who, Lysander swiftly realizes, has a hidden agenda – to make sure that he, Lysander, doesn’t return.
His cousin Kassandra tells him that that Spartans must learn to trust each other and assures him that Demaratos isn’t a bad person. Could Demaratos ever become a friend? But outwitting Agesilaus and facing wild boar and
wolves isn’t all Lysander has to cope with. Whilst high up in the mountains, he spots the invading Persian army. Can he warn the Elders in time and will they believe him? And, crucially, will the Spartans be able to defeat a numerically superior force?
As with the previous book, this adventure is full of fights, tough ordeals and lots of brutality. However, this isn’t all it is. Michael Ford poses a number of questions: where should Lysander’s loyalties lie? Should he support Spartan honour – which considers the helots (Lysander’s mother’s people) to be worthless – or protect the helots against Spartan brutality? Ford does not pull his punches about Lysander’s dilemma and there are no easy answers. For boys of 11 plus.
Elizabeth
Hawksley
This is the second book of the series. I loved the first but I enjoyed this even more because it’s a nail-biting adventure in which the hero, Lysander, displays courage and intelligence. It made more sense of Lysander’s actions and included more side-plots so was very exciting. My favourite character is Lysander’s known enemy – Demaratos – because he always finds a way to cheat or lie his way out of difficult situations.
I like Michael Ford’s work because he always describes something fully so that you understand it clearly. He gives you a colourful image in your mind of the scene at hand. I learnt a lot about Spartan times and how they worked, and what they did. This is an unmissable book, so make sure you read it now!!!
Hal McNulty, age 11
THE PUZZLE RING
Kate Forsyth, Pan Macmillan Australia, 2009, AU$16.99, pb, 394pp, 9780330424936 / Scholastic UK, 2009, £6.99, pb, 448pp, 9781407102849
The Puzzle Ring is a fantasy adventure with an almost Blytonesque feel. It involves a curse, a prophecy, a puzzle ring, and a trip through time, as well as mouthwatering descriptions of marmalade cake.
Hannah Rose Brown is an ordinary Australian school girl. One day, she receives a letter from her great-grandmother, telling her she is the heir to a castle in Scotland. Through the letter and her subsequent visit to the Highlands, Hannah learns there are mysteries surrounding her father’s death that her mother has failed to mention. She also learns of a curse that has haunted her family for generations. When Hannah finds her father’s diaries, she is determined to break the curse. But to do so, she must travel back in time along with her friends, Scarlett, Donovan and Max, in pursuit of the four missing parts of a puzzle ring.
The majority of this story is set in the present day. Only 173 of its pages are set in the days of Mary, Queen of Scots. So it only just qualifies as historical fiction. Nevertheless, the build
up to time-travel is well handled, with a great deal of historical detail surrounding the folklore and superstitions of the Highlands. Particularly interesting is the children’s involvement in the events leading up to the sudden and mysterious death of Henry, Lord Darnley. Their observations regarding hygiene, poverty and personal freedom in the 16th century are also amusing.
The Puzzle Ring is a compelling fantasy novel that will appeal to children in the upper primary school years. It will also serve as a good introduction for those not familiar with the historical fiction genre.
Elizabeth Jane
SPHINX’S PRINCESS
Esther Friesner, Random House, 2009, $17.99/ C$22.00, hb, 372pp, 9780375856549
Aimed at a young adult audience, Friesner’s novel portrays Nefertiti as a dutiful, lively, and intelligent teenage girl, growing up in a commoner household in an Egypt on the brink of change. As a youngster, her cares are few, and her pleasures include music and dance and secretly learning from a scribe to read and write. When she is thirteen, her father, Ay, is summoned along with his family to Pharaoh’s court by his sister, the strong-willed and ambitious Queen Tiye. The queen, in her bid for power, decides Nefertiti should marry without delay Tiye’s son, the rather imperious Crown Prince Thutmose.
Upon Nefertiti’s and her father’s objections, Queen Tiye agrees to postpone the marriage for three years. During this time, Nefertiti discovers that Thutmose has his own agenda, which doesn’t necessarily include her. Virtually a prisoner in the palace and often lonely, Nefertiti finds companionship with his younger brother, Amenophis, a kind and loyal soul living in his brother’s shadow; their older sister, the talented Sitamun, and the young Habiru servant, Nava, who has oddly compelling religious beliefs concerning One God. Nefertiti inadvertently becomes involved in the tangled loyalties and alliances swirling around her, and even as she reluctantly comes to know and like Thutmose, she realizes there are those within the palace circle who plot against her.
Friesner creates an ancient Egypt that is lush and exotic, filled with beauty and sophistication, but which also harbors dangerous intrigues. I found this a suspenseful, well-paced and credible coming-of-age story about the young woman who will be forever immortalized in history as Nefertiti, “The Beautiful Woman Has Come.”
Michael I. Shoop
CHILDREN OF THE DAWNLAND
Kathleen O’Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear, Starscape, 2009, $17.95/C$19.95, hb, 332pp, 9780765320193
Twelve-year-old Twig of the People of the Dawnland has begun to develop powerful dreaming abilities. In particular, she is haunted
by a vision in which a light explodes in the sky, bringing destruction in its wake, and of a woman who calls to her. Her mother, the tribe’s Spirit dreamer, is reluctant to let her daughter face the perils and burden of being a Dreamer, but Twig knows she is called to save her people. Together with her best friend, ten-year-old Greyhawk, a trainee warrior, she sets out to find the woman in her dreams: Corba, the most powerful and most feared Spirit dreamer of them all.
Nightcrow, Dreamer and Chief of the Thornback People, has also dreamed of the coming destruction. His solution is to send his warriors across the land, killing everyone in their path so that when the devastation strikes, his people will not have to compete for survival. He has also sensed Twig’s powers, and wants her at any cost, especially before she reaches Corba.
Kathleen and Michael Gear have recreated paleolithic America in several novels for adults, but this is their first for children. While it is a little heavy on the environmentalism/New Age parallels, this middle-grade novel has plenty to appeal to both sexes. The children’s quest combines physical and spiritual dangers, forcing them to develop both their intellect and strength, their wisdom and courage. The Gears combine their expertise in archaeology and anthropology with a fascinating story that will bring this obscure period alive for young readers and have them waiting eagerly for the promised sequel. Susan Cook
I like reading both historical fiction and fantasy, and I enjoyed the combination of both in Children of the Dawnland. One of the things I found intriguing about the book was that the power of the Spirit Dreamers was so definite. I had expected them to be more like oracles. However, I did not like the fact that Twig’s mother tried to prevent her from exploring her powers. Another thing that struck me about the culture was that one of the greatest warriors was a woman. One criticism that I would have to make was that I found it very hard to relate to the main characters in the book even though I thought the storyline was fascinating. I enjoyed this first book and am looking forward to reading the sequel.
Magdalen Dobson, age 12
SECRET OF THE NIGHT PONIES
Joan Hiatt Harlow, Simon & Schuster, 2009, $16.99/C$21.99, hb, 336pp, 9781416907831
This story is set in 1965 in thinly settled Newfoundland. It begins with a shipwreck, and the action rarely slows down. Jessie is a teen with a big heart, a Newfoundland dog and a pony. She doesn’t get into the nearest town too often, but when she does, she makes plenty of friends. One of them is an orphaned girl named Clara who is abused by her foster parents. People have ignored this for years, but Jessie cannot. When she finds Clara locked in a barn and covered with bruises, she brings her
home. Jessie’s parents agree to conceal Clara until they can find a way to permanently remove her from the bad foster home. The same cruel people have also rounded up ponies, deserted when the outlying islands were abandoned, and are planning to sell them for dog food. Jessie won’t stand for this either, and makes a plan to rescue the ponies.
This book has a strong heroine and intense life and death situations. The pony rescue is based on the true story of the Newfoundland ponies, which were saved from slaughter in the ‘60s. There is more plot here than characterization, and many unfamiliar “Newfoundlish” words, which may be off-putting to some young readers, particularly as there is no glossary. Nevertheless, this is an exciting, and, finally, a truly heartwarming tale.
Juliet Waldron
ROWAN THE STRANGE
Julie Hearn, Oxford, 2009, £10.99, hb, 352pp, 9780192792150
Rowan is a young boy with a particularly vibrant imagination, who spends life captivated within his own thoughts – in many ways like any child. But sometimes his mind sprouts legs of its own and leads Rowan to do terrible things.
This novel follows Rowan’s journey through the twists and turns of WW2 hospital life. Diagnosed as a schizophrenic, we see the different methods used to treat his condition and the successes and pitfalls of mental health practice of that time. The novel deals not only with the ethical issues raised by trials of electric shock treatment (ECT) but also with other complex issues, such as racism, separation, prejudice and exclusion. It raises important questions like where people draw the line between sanity and mental illness, and whether troubled times drive us all mad to some extent.
Julie Hearn chooses to write from a neutral perspective. She gradually introduces us to the characters’ inner worlds, which show just how similar the patients’ thoughts can be to their keepers’. This is one of the most interesting aspects of this interesting book, as it’s something that all of us can relate to.
From beginning to end I could not put it down; this book is the pure definition of a page-turner. It is also an intense, deep and well-written book dealing with a subject that is at times disturbing. However carefully the subject matter is treated, I think it might shock younger readers left to read it alone, without friends or parents reading the book at a similar time. It naturally gives rise to a lot of discussion – I know it did in our house.
Rachel Chetwynd-Stapylton, age 16
CROWS & CARDS
Joseph Helgerson, Houghton Mifflin, 2009, $16.00, hb, 344pp, 9780618883950
Twelve-year-old Zebulon Crabtree doesn’t want to be steaming down the Mississippi on a riverboat in 1849. His father is sending him to be apprenticed to a tanner, which he considers
EDITORS’ CHOICE
Y THE ENTOMOLOGICAL TALES OF AUGUSTUS T. PERCIVAL : Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone
Dene Low, Houghton Mifflin, 2009, $16.00, hb, 196pp, 9780547152509
Dene Low, the pen name for author Laura Card, has created a wonderful tale of Victorian fantasy in this first novel. The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival: Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone is the delightful and funny story of 16-year-old Petronella. The book opens with her coming-out party, an important affair for any fashionable Victorian girl, but readers quickly find that it will prove to be a most unusual event. Her guardian, Uncle Augustus Percival has developed a compulsion for eating bugs. Yes, that’s right—bugs! If that isn’t strange and disturbing enough, party guests begin disappearing. Kidnapping notes appear, complete with bug clues. Can Petronella keep Uncle Augustus from eating them? Low/Card has given us a spunky heroine that doesn’t disappoint.
A wonderfully crafted middle-grade mystery, Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone made me want to dig out my copy of Fabre’s Book of Insects in lieu of the imagined Insectile Creatures to examine those old entomological drawings! Seemingly first in a series of adventure/ mysteries, I can’t wait to read the next.
Nancy Castaldo
a very unexciting profession. An opportunity to change his fate arises when gambler Chilly Larpenteur tries to persuade him to become his assistant. After Chilly loses the tanner’s apprenticeship fee in a card game, Zeb has few alternatives.
In St. Louis, the gambler guides Zeb to an inn run by his partners, where they fix up a cupboard for Zeb to hide in so he can spy on the players and signal which cards the victims hold. Chilly justifies himself by saying that an honest rich man wouldn’t be gambling to try to increase his fortune, but when Zeb expresses his doubts, Chilly uses force to make him continue spying. Then Chilly arranges to cheat a blind Indian chief and his beautiful daughter out of a medicine pouch and other valuables. Zeb thinks he knows a way to help them outwit Chilly and his gang, and maybe escape from his enforced apprenticeship.
This Twain-influenced adventure story will make young readers both think and laugh. The tone is often humorous, though serious questions such as what makes someone a gentleman, and whether cheating is ever acceptable, form some of the themes. Helgerson uses a single, clever footnote to lure young readers to consult the over 60 pages of historical background materials: “Proceed with caution. That dictionary’s filled with words and foreign phrases that have been dying off in these parts since the time of this story. There’s no telling what diseases you might catch from them.” An afterword explains what life was really like in the 1840s for white and Native American children, and slaves.
B.J. Sedlock
THE DRAGON’S PEARL
Devin Jordan, Simon and Schuster, 2009, $16.99/C$21.99, hb, 341pp, 9781416964100
Chomping at the bit in the desk job destined for him in Venice, teenager Marco Polo jumps at the chance offered when an Abarimon monster kills his just-returned uncle. Marco runs away with his friend Amelio to find his father held captive by a dark magician in the unknown lands of Asia. Further adventures are promised. Parents and educators would not do well to present this book to young readers as having much to do with the historical Marco Polo. Passages presented as from the actual Polo journals—well, some are and some aren’t, with no aid to the trusting youngster in guessing which is which. The evil Arghun has nothing to do with the great-nephew of Kublai Khan, the insect-like Abarimon hold no resemblance to the backwards-footed people believed to inhabit the Himalayas. The real worlds of Venice and Constantinople are badly drawn indeed. Once we’re over the hurdle of pretending that this book has anything to do with history, however, the magic of a fantasy adventure is compelling enough and hits all the selling points competently if not with originality. Dragons, magic jewels and escaping princesses abound.
Ann Chamberlin
MAGIC TREE HOUSE: Palace of the Dragon King
Mary Pope Osborne, Red Fox, 2009, £3.99, pb, 73pp, 9781862309142
200 B.C. China during the Han Dynasty. In this Magic Tree House adventure, Jack and Annie visit ancient China at the time of the Dragon King, the first emperor. This trip has rather more
substance to it than the usual three or four facts that Jack notes down about his visits – a tribute to the superiority of Chinese civilization at that period. Amongst other things, the children learn about the forced labour used to build the Great Wall of China, silk weaving, something of the Chinese way of life and are nearly trapped inside the emperor’s newly constructed tomb with the famous terracotta army.
Philippe Masson’s illustrations, always good, are particularly evocative here. He has plainly done his homework. He gives us realistic scenes of Chinese rural life, with peasants ploughing fields with oxen; conscripts being rounded up and marched off to build the Great Wall; street market scenes; and some terrific pictures of what’s inside the imperial tomb. For 5 plus.
Elizabeth Hawksley
I thought the book was very good because everyone helps Jack and Annie to find what they need, which is the old Chinese book. In this story, they are in China where the Dragon King lives. I thought, when I was looking at the pictures with Dad, that the silk weaver was trying to catch Jack and Annie but she was actually trying to help them. I found it really freaky when they got into the Dragon King’s tomb – because I thought there were going to be loads of skeletons instead of knights. But I thought it was very clever that the knights weren’t real, and were painted. I thought it was weird when the silk went out of the bag by itself and showed the children the way to the stairs. I preferred this book to the others because it had knights in and I liked all the crickets.
Louis McNulty, aged 6
SELINA PENALUNA
Jan Page, Corgi, 2009, £5.99, pb, 365pp, 9780552558648
Twins, Ellen and Jack, are evacuated from East London to Cornwall during the early stages of WW11. In contrast to their background, they find themselves homed by a well-off, educated, couple called Rosewarne. Jack hates his new life although he is favoured by them. Ellen thrives, loving the opportunity to learn, even though she feels that Jack attracts all the favour despite her best efforts to please her new family. When their parents are killed in the Blitz, both are devastated, but Jack loathes the thought of staying. He has befriended the beautiful Selina Penaluna, a merrymaid, whom he would run away with.
The beauty of this novel is in the unusual and original manner in which it has been created. The detail gives it the credibility and plausibility that makes it feel real. The characters are complex; they are flawed and are therefore believable.
The pace is controlled, as is the viewpoint, which shifts and changes in time. The book offers an interesting plot that is filled with issues to challenge younger minds. Sexual themes are disclosed, some in their ugliness, as naivety is tainted by the touch of lust rather than love.
Trust and mistrust combine and conflict across the generations; when one person’s selfish actions impact upon both the living and the dead. Through these issues the author takes the relationships into greater depths and shows the reader how life’s mistakes can lead to years of emptiness and regret.
I think the power lies in the challenging issues, which are raised around and throughout the story itself, to create a very thoughtprovoking book.
Val Loh
THE STORM IN THE BARN
Matt Phelan, Candlewick, 2009, $24.99/ C$29.00, hb, 201pp, 9780763636180
This graphic novel, aimed at ages 10 and up, uses a dash of fantasy to make the 1930s come alive for young readers. Jack Clark’s worries include more than his father’s brusque rejections of his clumsy help around their farm, or dodging town boys intent on bullying him. Living in Dust Bowl-era Kansas means that a sudden dust storm could make a mere walk to town life-threatening. Older sister Dorothy is bedridden with “dust pneumonia,” and Jack’s father wonders whether his son suffers from “dust dementia” when Jack claims to see strange lights, a shadowy figure, and a carpet bag emitting odd rumbling noises in a neighbor’s abandoned barn. After hearing a traveling rainmaker say, “Where there is thunder, the rain must surely follow,” Jack wonders whether opening the carpet bag to release the thunder might bring on the badly-needed rain. Despite his father’s warning to stay away, Jack returns to the barn, determined to help his sister get well and make a difference for his family.
Phelan was inspired to create the story after seeing WPA photographs of dust storms in his father’s books as a child, and later, viewing a television documentary on the Dust Bowl. The text is minimal, with many wordless panels, letting Phelan’s drawings masterfully convey characters’ emotions with just a few changes of line. The soft edges are suited to the dusty setting and evoke a real sense of place. Children will love the theme of empowerment, when small, weak Jack finds a way to solve a problem that the adults can’t. Parents or teachers should be warned, however, that the story includes an incident involving killing animals that, while not drawn explicitly, might shock sensitive children.
B.J. Sedlock
HELLIE JONDOE
Randall Platt, Texas Tech Univ. Press, 2009, $16.95, pb, 224pp, 9780896726635
This young adult novel begins in New York City in 1918 and travels west to a ranch outside Pendleton, Oregon. Siblings Harry and Hellie Jondoe have been street kids, beggars and thieves almost as long as they can remember. But Hellie is turning into a woman, and her brother can no longer pass her off as a boy. After a gang
shootout, he picks up a fifty-dollar “finders’ fee” for himself and coerces Hellie to head West on an orphan train and a three-year indenture.
Out of her element, Hellie’s hard-won Hell’s Kitchen skills are not called for as she forms a friendship with two fellow unwanted passengers: the scarred and nearly blind Lizzie and a crippled toddler, Joey. There is also a journalist aboard with her camera, Amanda Collier, who had been an orphan herself and, alert to Hellie’s curiosity and quick wits, begins an interview and instruction.
Finally at the end of the line, the last three children are taken in by the elderly, domineering Scholastica Gorence at her ranch. There Hellie plans her escape but also changes as members of the household become her family. When her brother returns, bringing with him a new legacy and the dreaded worldwide flu epidemic, Hellie is faced with choices that will chance her life and future.
Fast-paced, plot-twisting, and both heartbreaking and beautifully told, Hellie Jondoe captures the speech, setting, and time. Characterizations are wonderfully realized, none more than Hellie herself, alive with contradictions, exasperations and her own code of honor. Despite occasional reader distancing slips into the omniscient point of view and a largely unnecessary epilogue, Hellie Jondoe is highly recommended.
Eileen Charbonneau
CITY OF GHOSTS
Bali Rai, Doubleday, 2009, £12.99, hb, 396pp, 9780385611695
1919, India. Amritsar is a city in ferment. Riots against British rule are increasing and, sooner or later, there will be a showdown.
We follow three intertwining stories. Bissen fought for the British in the Great War. Badly wounded in the trenches, he meets pretty English nurse, Lilian, in the army hospital. They fall in love, but is marriage between an English girl and a Sikh possible?
Gurdial, a young orphan, struggles to make a living. He loves Sondi, the daughter of a cruel rich man and an evil step-mother. When he asks Sondi’s father for her hand, he is ordered to bring back the most precious thing in India or die. Can Gurdial fulfil his quest and marry Sondi?
Gurdial’s friend, Jeevan, also an orphan, yearns for a proper family where he can belong. He is dangerously susceptible to the brainwashing techniques of the enigmatic Hans Raj, who is determined on killing India’s enemies. For Hans Raj, non-violent protesters are enemies as much as the British. But would Jeevan really kill fellow-Indians?
Meanwhile, events move towards the infamous massacre where British troops fired on an unarmed crowd, killing 379 civilians and wounding many more.
Rai’s book reminds me of Kipling’s masterpiece, Kim, in its ability to summon up the vibrant multi-cultural nature of India, with
its contradictory mixture of faiths, customs, superstitions, and modern radicalism, shot through a fairy-tale element of the hero on a quest, and ghosts who try to help the living.
My one caveat is Lilian who behaves quite unlike an early 20th century woman. Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth (she was a VAD nurse during the Great War), tells how she was chaperoned when meeting her fiancé. Yet Lilian, a respectable girl, sleeps with Bissen – unlikely, given the social mores of the time. For 13 plus.
Elizabeth Hawksley
This book is split into several diverse parts, each part containing a completely different style. From romance to action, it’s pretty much all there. Essentially this is a book of short stories centred around the same city at the same time, and this is perhaps where it falls short. For those who like a melting pot of massively contrasting styles, this is the book for you! For me it was confusing to be thrown from a romance to an action novel with only a headed page to separate the two. Personally, I need an unbroken novel that I can really get my teeth into. That said, it taught me so much about a period of history that I knew very little about, even if it did not take me on the emotional rollercoaster that I wished for.
Rachel Chetwynd-Stapylton, Age 16
MY VICKSBURG
Ann Rinaldi, Harcourt, 2009, $16, hb, 154pp, 9780152066246
When Vicksburg, Mississippi, comes under Union siege in 1863, Claire Louise Corbet’s family joins their neighbors in seeking shelter in nearby caves. Most of the family, that is: Claire’s father, a doctor, is joining a Confederate regiment, and Claire’s beloved brother Landon, also a doctor, is serving with the Union army. When Landon returns to Vicksburg in charge of a wounded Confederate soldier with a secret, Claire finds herself having to make a decision— one that would be difficult enough for an adult to make, much less thirteen-year-old Claire.
Told by the sharp-eyed, sharp-tongued Claire, My Vicksburg is a fast-moving and absorbing story about the effects of war on one close-knit family and about the tension between love, honor, and duty. Claire’s narrative has a homespun feel to it without sounding artificial or strained, and the characters are flawed and endearing. Though Rinaldi doesn’t evade the terrible cost of war, her novel also shows the human capacity to hope and endure, making it a good choice for young readers.
Susan Higginbotham
during the 18th century to help keep peace in the land. Anson is excited about the opportunity of serving his country and carrying on the family tradition. He is serving under his father, the colonel, and he has a great deal of pressure placed on his shoulders as all his ancestors served as Fencibles to the king. Soon after arriving in Ireland, his conscience begins to bother him after he witnesses several acts against Irish commoners that he feels are hard to justify. Anson knows that if the people do not obey the king’s orders then they must be made to obey, yet he struggles with this logic. As he deals with his conflicting feelings, he realizes that being a part of the Fencibles may not be what he wants after all.
Schmidt does a fine job of portraying the conflicts in the story, those of Anson and those between the English and the Irish, but the story falls flat in many ways. The time period is not very clear, though there is a mention of George II as king. Also, the reader does not have a clear grasp of Anson’s age. There is quite a bit of marching here and there, but without this, there is not much to keep the reader engaged. What saves the story is Schmidt’s attention to the relationship between Anson and his father and the difficult choices that one must make.
Troy Reed
SISTERS OF THE SWORD: Blade’s Edge Maya Snow, Oxford, 2009, £5.99, pb, 270pp, 9780192728302
Japan, 1216. In this second Sisters of the Sword adventure, Kimi and Hana, who have been living disguised as boys at a martial arts school, are recognized by their evil uncle Hidehira, and must flee for their lives. With them goes their friend, the master archer Tatsuya. Can they get to the temple at the foot of Mount Fuji where their mother and baby brother are hiding before Hidehira and his Samurai warriors find them?
The plot is simple: lots of fights, gallons of blood, hair’s breadth escapes, danger and betrayal all wrapped up in a high octane story, full of excitement. The girls are now effective killing machines and the body count is high. This is very much the fight of the little people against the might of a usurping dictator intent on taking over, no matter what the cost: think hobbits against the might of Mordor.
the characters somewhat clichéd – they are either good or bad. There is little space for more complex characters to develop amid the relentless pace of endless escapes, re-capture and bloodletting.
For 11-14 year-old girls.
Elizabeth Hawksley
This is the second in the series, and its narrative starts soon after the first book, The Warrior’s Path, ends. The book begins on a low note, with the funeral of a friend, and with mounting tension, Hana and Kimi have to find their remaining family before their uncle, the bad guy, does.
In this book, the characters have to find and solve clues to help them reach their goal. At the beginning there is a good scene, with a battle, an escape, lots of blood, and then the story is a journey. If you like fast, detailed action involving lots of near death situations, this is a good book for you. It is easy and enjoyable to read. The main characters still seem fairly onedimensional, so occasionally I lost interest in what was happening to them. Finally, there are some good tips about what to do in quicksand.
Ella McNulty, age 14
NIGHT FIRES
George Edward Stanley, Aladdin, 2009, $15.99/ C$19.99, hb, 184pp, 9781416975595
ANSON’S WAY
Gary D. Schmidt, Sandpiper, 2009, $5.99, pb, 224pp, 9780547237619
In this reprint geared towards ages 9-12 from Newbery Honor author Gary D. Schmidt, Anson Staplyton, a drummer with the Staffordshire Fencibles, is sent to Ireland with his regiment
Yes, it’s exciting but it’s at the expense of deeper, more personal quests. The girls occasionally talk about how different their lives are now from what they were as the Jito’s well-born daughters, but there is little evidence of their experiences changing them in any meaningful way. Their predominant aims are to ensure the safety of their little brother, now the rightful Jito, and to kill Hidehira. They remain the Jito’s noble daughters whose family is born to rule, no matter how muddy or tired they get. Doubtless this is correct for the period in which it’s set but it gives it a curiously old-fashioned feel in these more egalitarian times.
It’s certainly well-written but I found
In 1922, thirteen-year-old Woodrow Harper’s father dies in a car accident. His father had been a West Point career army officer. Woodrow and his father had not been close. Now his mother has moved the family from Washington, DC, back to Lawton, Oklahoma, to the Harper ancestral home. When Woodrow meets their new neighbor, Senator Crawford, who lost his son in the Great War, he feels an instant kinship that seems to be returned by the Senator. His need for a father parallels the Senator’s need for a son. They bond over a mutual love of painting. He insists that Woodrow meet “the right people” and takes him under his wing. Finally, Woodrow is beginning to feel he is gaining acceptance in his new home. While this is important to him, he also feels an undercurrent of something vaguely unpleasant that he doesn’t understand. There is friction between the black and white communities. Senator Crawford is head of the Ku Klux Klan, and his efforts to indoctrinate Woodrow make the boy uncomfortable. Woodrow believes that if he joins the Klan he can change it from within. He witnesses a Klan punishment of a black man and the taunting of young white boys who have black friends. After this he realizes his plan is futile.
Stanley has written an account of a painful and disgraceful period of American history. In parts, Night Fires is quite thrilling and compelling. Told from Woodrow’s point of view, it is reminiscent of To Kill A Mockingbird, without the intellectual depth of that masterpiece. This book is appropriate for its target audience of
young adults and will appeal to them.
Audrey Braver
A FARAWAY ISLAND
Annika Thor (trans. Linda Schenck), Delacorte, 2009, $16.99, hb, 248pp, 9780385736176
During the early years of World War II, 500 Jewish children were allowed entry into Sweden, expecting it to be a temporary stop while awaiting their parents on the way to America. Most of these children ended up spending the majority of the war years spread throughout the country, hoping to be reunited with family while living with strangers. Using this information, Annika Thor has woven her novel around two Austrian sisters sent alone to the remote islands of Sweden.
In this English translation of a Swedish bestseller, 12-year-old Stephie and 8-year-old Nellie arrive in Sweden and find themselves sent to two different homes for their stay. Nellie immediately fits into her new family, her transition made easy with lots of new friends and her ability to learn Swedish quickly. Stephie, however, is sent to live with a somewhat dour older woman and finds it harder to make friends; the popular girl decides early on to make Stephie miserable, and Stephie’s worry over her parents make things even more difficult. As time goes on, things become more complicated and Stephie must learn to stand up for herself in more ways than one.
A Faraway Island is the first in a quartet of books following the sisters during the war years. I found myself caught up in their plight and applauding Stephie’s developing maturity. The one thing I didn’t care for was the use of present tense, though the author explains it as a way of inserting the reader into the immediacy of the story. But this novel, most suitable for those twelve and younger, is well-written and heartwrenching. Recommended.
Tamela McCann
THE LOCKED GARDEN
Gloria Whelan, HarperCollins, 2009, $15.99, hb, 176pp, 978006079043
It is 1900, and with the dawn of the new century comes a chance for Verna and Carlie to make a fresh start after the death of their mother two years earlier. Their father has taken a post in Michigan, in one of the newer mental asylums designed to treat its patients with meaningful work and pleasant surroundings. However, their mother’s sister, Aunt Maude, who comes to keep house, seems determined to make them live in mourning for ever. When Eleanor, a young, recovering patient, joins the household as a maid, the girls naturally warm to her and ignite Aunt Maude’s jealousy. The children’s schemes to get rid of their aunt and find love for their father unwittingly place the vulnerable Eleanor in jeopardy.
Though the novel reads lightly on the surface, its meaning runs deep. Whelan suggests several parallels between bereavement and mental
illness, most notably in the way that the asylum becomes as cathartic for the grieving family as it is for the inmates. The locked garden of the title, kept for the more seriously disturbed patients, is a metaphor for the heart; some, like Aunt Maude and the girls’ father, are determined to keep emotions caged, while Verna, Carlie, and Eleanor want their love to roam freely. Since I enjoy closure, I was slightly frustrated by the open ending, but overall found the characters and plot engaging, and the subject fascinating. For middle grades and above.
Susan Cook
The Locked Garden is a wonderful example of how minds can be reached by gentle treatment and pleasant surroundings. One of the things that especially struck me was that although the doctors lacked modern medicines, they still made great progress with their patients. Whelan’s characters are extremely well drawn. One of my favorite characters was Eleanor because she was such a friend to Carlie and Verna. I particularly enjoyed the part where she stood up to her demanding father and kept her job at the asylum. I would recommend this book for ages 8-11.
Magdalen Dobson, age 12
NONFICTION
RECORDING
MEDIEVAL LIVES
Julia Boffey and Virginia Davis, eds., Shaun Tyas Publishing, 2009, £49.50, hb, 336pp, 9781900289555
This book is a collection of essays based upon papers presented in 2005 at the Harlaxton Symposium, an annual interdisciplinary event on medieval history, art, literature and architecture. At the 2005 Symposium, the speakers had been invited “to explore the variety of forms in which medieval lives were recorded, and some of the many considerations which determined how such records were prompted or shaped”.
This, then, is an academic work, bristling with footnotes and bibliographies, but I was surprised to find how interesting it was for a non-specialist reader. I had not known how much of a merchant’s life could be recovered from the records kept by his scrivener (a sort of combination of clerk, lawyer, and accountant). I discovered that some medieval people, women as well as men, are known only by the chance discovery of their personal seals. It was a revelation to me that personal seals were owned by members of all levels of society. As you would expect, there are also essays dealing with better-known types of record such as wills and chronicles.
The concluding essay is a knowledgeable and mildly provocative look at “Historical Novels and Medieval Lives”, which includes mentions of the Historical Novel Society and of some of its members’ novels. It is interesting to have a non-patronising examination by a historian of the historical novel as a source of information
and misinformation.
I’ll certainly hold on to this book, and not only because it is an incidental source of lives that would make good subjects for historical novels. If you happen to read about Thomas Salter and plan a novel about his fascinating life and character, hands off: I’ve already bagged him.
Alan Fisk
HUNTING EICHMANN
Neal Bascomb, Quercus, 2009, £20, hb, 390pp, 9781847247384 / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009, $26.00, hb, 400pp, 9780618858675
This is a fascinating account of the capture of Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires by Israeli agents, an event that made headlines around the world. In the first half of the book, Bascomb presents a vivid picture of the chaos of the end of the war explaining how many high-ranking Nazis, including Eichmann, managed to remain in Germany for years after the war. Eichmann, responsible for the gruesome logistics of the genocide of millions of Jews, escaped American custody in 1946 and managed to remain undiscovered in Germany until 1950, before escaping via a “ratline” route to Argentina. After a decade of relative anonymity in Buenos Aires, Eichmann was finally discovered in 1960 and during this meticulously-planned and daring operation, he was smuggled by plane to Israel, where he was tried and hanged for crimes against humanity. The second part of the book focuses for the most part on the kidnap operation itself, bringing the Israeli operatives superbly to life, and painting brief but resonant portraits of the men and women involved, many of whose families had suffered directly at Eichmann’s hands. Bascomb also provides a striking comparison between the strutting wartime Eichmann and the feeble and isolated man he became in Argentina. Bascomb has drawn on archival material and interviews with the Mossad agents and people who knew Eichmann in Argentina. What he has pulled together is partly a journalistic exposé and partly a detective story, but the two are woven tightly together to make an absorbing whole. This book is very much recommended.
Gordon O’Sullivan
JOURNAL
Hélène Berr (trans. David Bellos, introduction and essay by David Bellos, Afterword by Mariette Job), MacLehose Press (Quercus), 2009, £8.99, pb, 9781906694197 / Weinstein, 2009, $15.95, pb, 304pp, 9781602860940
Hélène Berr was born into a prosperous Franco-Jewish family in Paris in 1921. At the time of the Nazi occupation, she was a highflying student at the Sorbonne. Her diary begins in 1942, its pages brimful of tea parties, musical afternoons, visits to the family’s country house and agonising over her feelings for two young men, Gérard (already fighting with the Free French) and handsome fellow student,
Jean Morawiecki – although, as the moving Afterword reveals, Hélène was already involved with a clandestine network to save Jewish children from deportation. Hélène did not seem to fear, initially, for the safety of her own social “set” – with hindsight, a shocking naivety. The diary records her growing horror as anti-Jewish legislation, round-ups and deportations become an almost daily occurrence. Its pages become darker, more fragmented and more introspective as she realises, in part, the nature of the persecutions and the ghastly betrayals of many of her fellow Frenchmen, although her love of Paris shines though even at the darkest of times. She knew it would only be a matter of time before she, too, was arrested, and intended the Journal to stand as a testament to both posterity and to her beloved Jean.
The diary shows a confident literary stylist and gives a portrait of a vivid young woman growing with courage and resolve against a background of persecution and terror. Her tragic end is a reflection of the millions of others across Europe who suffered under the Nazis’ genocide.
Mary
Seeley
THE CONTEMPORARY BRITISH HISTORICAL NOVEL: Representation, Nation, Empire Mariadele Boccardi, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, £50.00, hb, 193pp, 9780230200074
This ‘first full-length study of a genre that has had increasing critical attention and popular appeal at the turn of the twenty-first century,’ discusses the success of the historical novel over the last forty years. The author offers detailed analyses of thirteen novels including John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Lindsay Clarke’s The Chymical Wedding, Ahdaf Soueif’s, The Map of Love and James Robertson’s Joseph Knight. Along with others, these novels are used to illustrate in turn the themes of tradition and renewal, romance of the past, empire and politics, political engagement and the romance of withdrawal. With a comprehensive bibliography and excellent index this critical analysis extends the understanding and increasing debate: of the origins and development of historical fiction in respect of national identity in the aftermath of loss of empire.
Ann Oughton
ELIZABETH’S WOMEN: The Hidden Story of the Virgin Queen
Tracy Borman, Jonathan Cape, 2009, £20, hb, 450pp, 9780224082266
Elizabeth I knew well the challenges facing her as a woman in a man’s world, yet her genius lay in the transforming image as Gloriana, into something to be celebrated and admired. Yet, to date, little has been written about the only other women at court, those in her household who supported and comforted her throughout her extraordinary reign. Borman has produced a compelling and fascinating account of these women, from Elizabeth’s difficult childhood through to her death, and at the same time gives a picture of her court that reveals the domestic
and more intimate side of Elizabeth’s life: what went on in the Privy Chamber, and indeed the Queen’s bedchamber which was barred to all but a few of Elizabeth’s most trusted ladies. In this male-dominated world, the Queen’s household was “one of the very few institutions in which women had a role to play”, and there was fierce competition for these positions. Above all, while her ladies had to be immaculately dressed, none should outshine the Queen’s own magnificence. It took her ladies at least an hour to dress their monarch, and later in life, to apply the mask of cosmetics and the elaborate wigs that preserved her carefully constructed image. Kat Astley and Blanche Parry are the two women who stand out, having serving the Queen respectively twenty-nine and fifty-seven years of service. Reading of the conditions in which Elizabeth’s ladies worked and the way they were sometimes treated, it is clear that there was more than just personal loyalty at stake. Although the events of her life are well known, I thoroughly recommend this revealing but rigorously unsentimental account of Elizabeth’s women.
Lucinda
Byatt
THE SECRET WIFE OF LOUIS XIV: Françoise d’Aubigné, Madame de Maintenon (US) / MADAME DE MAINTENON: The Secret Wife of Louis XIV (UK) Veronica Buckley, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009, $30/C$37.95, hb, 544pp, 9780374158309 / Bloomsbury, 2009, £9.99, pb, 480pp, 9780747596547
When Françoise d’Aubigné was born in a French prison cell to a disgraced criminal and the warden’s daughter, no one could ever have imagined she would one day marry the King of France. This biography traces Françoise’s (literally) rags-to-riches story—her unhappy childhood in the Caribbean as a penniless, unloved, neglected girl; her success in the salons of high society as an intelligent, independent, stylish woman; and her pinnacle as a benefactor and caretaker of royal children, bringing her ultimately into the house—and bed—of King Louis XIV.
Buckley’s biography is a page-turner, engaging and witty, stylish, intelligent, and often humorous—much like Françoise herself. A secret side note of history becomes a complex, real woman, a paradox of tradition and innovation, the sum of her parts and yet more so. Françoise was by no means perfect, but this makes her no less fascinating. An enjoyable and educational read.
Heather Domin
THE SISTERS WHO WOULD BE QUEEN Leanda de Lisle, Ballantine, 2009, $30, hb, 384pp, 9780345491350 / HarperPress, 2009, £20.00, hb, 400pp, 9780007219056
In The Sisters Who Would Be Queen, de Lisle tells the story of Lady Jane Grey and her lesserknown sisters, Katherine and Mary, all of whom would spend time in the Tower.
In this impressively researched study, the three sisters emerge as distinct personalities: the staunchly evangelical Jane, who here is very different than the mere helpless puppet of
her parents’ ambitions; the reckless Katherine, whose secret marriage and closeness to the throne ran her afoul of Elizabeth; and Mary, who also married secretly but who alone of the sisters died a free woman.
In an epilogue, De Lisle examines how, in Jane’s case, fiction has been piled on fact over the centuries to create a young woman whom Jane herself might not have recognized. In this same vein, a particularly fascinating aspect of this book is de Lisle’s rehabilitation of the sisters’ mother, Frances Brandon, who de Lisle points out became demonized over the centuries just as Jane would become idealized.
Concisely and engagingly written, yet scholarly and well documented, this book was a refreshing reminder that sound research and objectivity need not be sacrificed for the sake of popular appeal.
Susan Higginbotham
CRANIOKLEPTY: Grave Robbing and the Search for Genius
Colin Dickey, Unbridled, 2009, $25.95, pb, 312pp, 9781932961867
In 1796 Dr. Franz Joseph Gall began lecturing in Vienna about his anatomical studies of the human skull that he believed showed that the mental faculties of a person could be ascribed to specific areas of the brain. By “reading” (feeling) that person’s skull one could make several observations about that person’s character and intelligence. Further, he argued, the bigger the skull, the larger the brain, the more intelligent the person. Gall was an instant hit in Vienna, and soon his science of phrenology spread throughout Europe and North America, lasting well into the mid-19th century.
But in order to carry out their studies, phrenologists needed human skulls, and lots of them. The heads of executed criminals were one source of supply, but as the demand for skulls outpaced the supply, grave robbing became a common and lucrative business.
Author Dickey discusses this macabre, but fascinating business in vivid detail and writes at length about the after-death trials and travels of the skulls of Haydn, Beethoven, Swedenborg, Sir Thomas Browne, and other men of genius whose skulls were prized by phrenologists.
Interesting and informative, this book is a useful resource in helping to understand 19thcentury medicine and popular culture.
John Kachuba
FROM DACHAU TO D-DAY
Helen Fry, The History Press, 2009, £20.00, pb, 192pp, 9780750951111
In a twist of fate, German Jew Willy Hirschfield’s father transferred his family to Bonn from Graudenz fearing the worst if Graudenz became part of Poland. Willy enjoyed a happy family childhood until Hitler rose to power in 1933, when all aspects of their life deteriorated and they were classified as outcasts.
The day after Kristallnacht, 17-year-old Willy went to work and was ordered to hide by his employer, but it was too late. The SS arrested and imprisoned him before transporting him to Dachau concentration camp.
His family, who apart from his twin sister all died in the Holocaust, strove to obtain the emigration papers required to secure his release. Willy emigrated to England in 1939 and worked assiduously in jobs that aided the war effort. Governmental rule changes saw him arrested, interned as an enemy alien, and shipped to Australia on the troopship Dunera, which was torpedoed by U-Boat 56 just off the Irish coast. Despite this, the ship completed the hellish journey. At 21 he returned to Britain, signed the Oath of Allegiance and promptly enlisted.
As a tank driver in the 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars he landed in France three days after the D-Day landings and was among those regiments spearheading the advance through Normandy, Belgium, and the Netherlands. He survived a direct hit to his tank and, though wounded, drove another tank over the border into Germany. He assisted in the liberation of Hamburg, and transferred concentration camp victims to hospitals. Willy proudly drove his tank past Winston Churchill in the Berlin Victory Parade in 1945.
He is a remarkable human being who bears no grudges despite the adversities he endured. His message to all is that you should forgive but should never forget. Highly recommended.
Janet Williamson
THE LADY QUEEN: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily
Nancy Goldstone, Walker, 2009, $27.00/ C$33.50, hb, 384pp, 9780802716705
During the 14th century, Italy consisted of a collection of independent cities, the papal states, and the kingdom of Naples. Due to a family history so complicated it ensured many disgruntled claimants to the crown, the designated heir to Naples was a woman. When Joanna I ascended the throne, her wisest option for pacifying rivals was to marry Andrew of Hungary, brother of the Hungarian king. After a short, contentious marriage, Andrew was brutally murdered. Joanna stood accused of orchestrating the crime. As the vengeful, ambitious king of Hungary bore down on Naples with an army, Joanna went to Avignon to plead her innocence before the pope. The Lady Queen is a fascinating account of the life of Joanna I. It provides a sympathetic appraisal of the notorious queen, placing her rule within the broader historical context. This includes her navigation of the political realities of the Black Death, the Hundred Years War, economic downturns, and the papal court’s movement between Avignon and Rome. In an age dominated by men, this previously obscure historical figure fought scandal, betrayal, and personal tragedy to rule in her own name for over a quarter century.
Sue Asher
of residents and visitors to the oldest part of London’s West End are drawn into a fascinating collection.
The author concentrates on the two decades following WWII. Outsiders may perceive Soho as a haunt of prostitutes and crooks, but for centuries ordinary people lived and worked there too, as did successive waves of immigrants coming through many decades from all over Europe and beyond. It was a multilingual polyglot community but it was a real community. There was an enormous variety of work so that residents normally had to travel very short distances to their jobs or to their entertainments. Soho and the adjacent Covent Garden were the home to several produce and flower markets, restaurants and specialty food shops, theatres and clubs, the rag trade and much more.
Written in easy, sometimes colloquial style, this book is a delight to read, full of stories of the famous and infamous alongside the lives of true Sohoites. A must for anyone who knows London.
Marina Oliver
THE SCOURGING ANGEL
Benedict Gummer, The Bodley Head, 2009, hb, £25, 528pp, 9780224077675
The author has written a comprehensive study of the Great Death (as it was called at the time – The Black Death was a 19th-century invention) with its immense impact upon Britain in the second half of the 14th century. Gummer describes the spread of the pestilence, advance notice of which had already reached the country from mainland Europe, throughout the rest of the British Isles. It entered initially via a port in Dorset and spread via the main nodes of communication. The estimated mortality rate was probably over half of the population, with subsequent revisitations in the latter years of the century taking further heavy tolls, especially on children, who had developed no immunity from previous episodes.
Aboriginal saying: People who lose their history, lose their soul. What the Igguldens have done is give us back our national stories. Once common currency, many of them have been swept away by the tides of political correctness. The authors, however, are unrepentant about their choices. ‘Some of the heroes are more rogue than angel – and one or two are absolute devils … We have not judged them by modern standards.’ All come from Britain, the Empire or the Commonwealth. The criteria for inclusion are simple: ‘courage, determination and some dash.’
They include some old friends: for example James Cook, Captain Scott and Florence Nightingale. There are also composite entries, such as the Gurkhas, the Magna Carta Barons, or the women of the Special Operations Executive (1939-45) who worked behind enemy lines, many of whom were captured, tortured and executed. Some of the ‘heroes’ are decidedly dodgy characters, like the buccaneer, Henry Morgan. Some entries are of single events, like the defence of Rorke’s Drift where 104 British soldiers fought off 4,500 Zulu warriors; or school-teacher Lisa Potts’ bravery in rescuing three children from a machete-wielding maniac.
The authors go for broad brush strokes rather than in-depth analysis and all the stories are terrific. Some are inspirational (Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s conquest of Everest); some contain mind-boggling acts of almost insane bravery (Charles Napier); some show courage and determination over a long period (Thomas Paine and the Rights of Man). The book ends, fittingly, with the Unknown Warrior, brought over from the killing fields of Flanders and buried in Westminster Abbey. Graeme Neil Reid’s illustrations perfectly complement the tales of bravery, determination and derring-do. Any boy over 11 should love this book but others will as well. I, for one. Elizabeth Hawksley
ARISTOCRATS
UP WEST
Pip Granger, Corgi, 2009, £6.99, pb, 493pp, 9780552153751
Pip Granger’s first novel, Not All Tarts Are Apple, won the first Harry Bowling Award. It was the story of a young girl growing up in Soho. In this book the comments and recollections
This is also a detailed history of 14thcentury Britain, the underlying socio-economic structures and behaviour, and the government and politics of the day – Edward III’s campaign in France and the long-running struggles against the Scottish and Irish. There is a wealth of detail, which is impeccably researched and is an excellent source for fiction writers of the period. Some conclusions are at variance with conventional wisdom: for example, that the Great Death did not have much long term and profound effects upon the economy. Gummer argues that the trends in society would have led to an ending of the feudal landholding structure in any case, notwithstanding the almost unimaginable grief and distress that such high rates of death caused to the afflicted population, whose world did indeed turn upside down to a hellish state in a few short weeks.
Doug Kemp
THE DANGEROUS BOOK OF HEROES Conn and David Iggulden, HarperCollins, 2009, £20, hb, 481pp, 9780007260928
This book is prefaced by an Australian
Lawrence James, Little, Brown, 2009, £25, hb, 438pp, 9870316731898
This is a wide-ranging survey of the influence of the aristocracy, from 1066 to the present, on politics, the constitution, culture, sport, industry and transport. Up to 1603 the aristocrats are in the ascendancy, from then till 1815 in equilibrium, and afterwards, decline, as the various social and political reforms of the nineteenth century whittle away at their income and power to rule. Using their wealth and influence initially for their own aggrandisement and liberties, the aristocrats eventually provided liberties for the masses as well. With the current uncertainty about the future of the House of Lords, this decline of the former ruling class is a continuing process.
Inevitably, with such a broad canvas, there is selectivity in examples, but some of these, especially the lesser-known details, are fascinating. The author has strong opinions on some of the enigmas of history, with a rosetinted view of the chivalry of crusader knights, and uncompromising condemnation of the motives of Richard III.
One minor editing quibble is a reference to Plate XX, when the plates are unnumbered and there is no list of them in the contents pages. This can be forgiven for the rest of the book, a good read by a knowledgeable author. Marina Oliver
AN ARTIST IN TREASON: The Extraordinary Life of General James Wilkinson
Andro Linklater, Walker, 2009, $27.00/C$33.50, hb, 400pp, 9780802717207
James Wilkinson (1757-1825) is one of the most obscure figures in American history. His life was spent as a Revolutionary War hero, American Army general, colleague of the infamous Benedict Arnold, servant of four American presidents, suspected murderer of Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark fame), greedy and thoroughly venal and corrupt public official, and, last but hardly least, a paid spy of Imperial Spain who was not in the slightest manner troubled with qualms about selling out his country. If Wilkinson were created as a fictional character, few would believe such a being could exist. But exist he did and Linklater’s dispassionate account provides a well-researched biography of Wilkinson and his times. Wilkinson’s double life is detailed against a backdrop of people struggling for selfdefinition and survival in a hostile environment. Wilkinson’s papers provide fascinating glimpses into this America and the iconic personalities who determined its future.
John R. Vallely
SOMETHING FOR THE GIRLS, The Official Guide to the First 100 Years of Guiding
Alison Maloney, Constable, 2009, £20.00, hb, 218pp, 9781845297800
This is the history of the birth and evolution of guiding for the past 100 years. After the formation of the Scouts movement by BadenPowell their sisters wanted, ‘something for the girls’. Since its formation almost half of all women in the UK have been involved in guiding at some point in their lives. Today, with over 10 million members, this is a club that has become world-wide. Girls from all walks of life, including members of the royal family, are able to meet on an equal footing, finding a common fellowship in a range of pursuits. In this handsome volume, photographs, letters and personal records tell the story of the first 100 years. A wonderful souvenir for all who have and those who still do participate in the Girl Guide Movement.
Ann Oughton
THE GUTENBERG REVOLUTION
John Man, Bantam, 2009, pb, 304pp, £8.99, 9780553819683
At the age of twelve I wrote in a school essay that Johann Gutenberg was the inventor of printing, only to be told that the honour belonged to William Caxton. I have been somewhat hazy on the subject ever since, and agreed to review this book as much as anything in order to find out exactly what Herr Gutenberg actually did.
The answer is that Gutenberg and a group of businessmen and craftsmen, working first in Strasbourg and then in Mainz, did indeed develop printing as a practical industry during the 1450s. John Man emphasizes that the various technical requirements were widely available by this time, for example the presses used for producing wine and olive oil were adapted for printing, but it was Gutenberg’s genius and vision over a long period of development that brought them together into a workable process.
Mr Man’s book makes a highly readable account of a fascinating subject, and brings one area of 15th Century society – the prosperous urban tradesmen – to life. As an academic, however, I found the absence of references frustrating. Worth reading.
Ann Lyon
XANADU
John Man, Bantam, 2009, £20, hb, 312pp, 9780593061763
Europeans knew little of the mysterious east until Marco Polo wrote about his travels. His father and uncle had been there earlier, and he accompanied them on their second visit. Marco travelled through China and elsewhere on many missions for Kublai Khan, but returned to Venice in 1296. A few years later Marco was a prisoner of the Genoese, with Rusticello, author of tales of Arthurian knights. He dictated his ‘travels’ to Rusticello, with the help of just a few notes. Rusticello wanted romance and marvels. Marco obliged, describing events not experienced and places not visited, but omitting much else and being vague about things which did not interest him. This lost version was copied and translated many times, embellished, added to, cut, and changed. None of the existing versions are exactly the same. John Man set out to trace the journeys and disentangle truth from myth.
The resulting volume is an intriguing mixture of geography, history, and commentary on the various editions. The author verifies many facts, throws doubt on others, based on references in different sources, or probability, and suggests solutions to mysteries or omissions. There are some wonderful photographs, and I wanted more, as well as more maps. The book left me with a desire to know more of this part of the world. A book to be recommended.
Marina Oliver
THE PENGUIN BOOK OF CLASSICAL MYTHS
Jenny March, Penguin, 2009, £12.99, pb, 590pp, 9780141020778
This up to date retelling of the myths of Greece and Rome offers a new and wider insight into the stories we think we know. To the Greeks, rather than stories, these were historical accounts, and the first recorded myths are found in the poems of Homer and Hesiod. The Romans, coming into contact with the Greeks, adopted their artistic works as well as their gods. Quoting from original texts Dr March brings an immediacy and new appreciation to these ancient tales. From Creation to the Myths of Love and Death, gods and heroes, maids and
monsters come to life once more. Beautifully illustrated including ten colour plates, maps and constellation charts, this is a book to dip into, excellent for research as well as pure pleasure.
Ann Oughton
SEX MURDER AND THE UNWRITTEN
LAW: Courting Judicial Mayhem, Texas Style
Bill Neal, Texas Tech University Press, 2009, 356 pp, hc, $29.95, 978-0896726628
Wild West doesn’t begin to describe the antics Bill Neal recounts in this well-researched volume. From the late 19th century and well into the 20th it was not unusual in certain Texas murder cases to have a killer – whose guilt had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt – found not guilty.
The reason behind this stunning phenomenon was the South’s adherence to the lex non scripta, the code of honor that obliged a man to act against those who defiled his womenfolk or uttered public threats against him. The six cases described in this book are telling examples of juries setting aside statutory law in favor of their own brand of folk justice.
Aside from providing a carefully documented summary of the cases, the author paints a detailed and colorful picture of Texas society in the oil boom years. His thought provoking analyses are an added bonus. This is not a novel but certainly reads like one. A definite thumbs up!
Lucille Cormier
ORWELL DIARIES
George Orwell, ed. Peter Davison, Harvill Secker 2009, £20.00,hb, 520pp, 9781846553295
This collection of eleven of Orwell’s diaries, from 1931 to 1949, is a treasure, both for the historical and literary researcher and the lay reader. Orwell famously engaged with the great events and social movements of his age and writes about them here in ways which are fascinating for the student of his books, although – frustratingly – some of his diaries covering the Spanish Civil War remain in the NKVD Archives in Moscow. There are also, however, enchanting entries about his garden (‘One of the plants that carries the snow most beautifully is lavender’) and his animals (‘Pig active again’, the number of eggs collected each day noted as meticulously as Bridget Jones’ calorie intake!). Even though many of the entries are in note form, they retain the spare elegance and rhythm of his more formal prose, making for a fluent and absorbing read.
Peter Davison has done a thorough and excellent job of editing the diaries, which are extensively annotated and indexed. Expensive, but worth it.
Sarah Bower
THE MYTH OF BLOODY MARY
Linda Porter, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2009, $19.99, pb, 452pp, 9780312564964
This fascinating biography of Mary Tudor cuts through centuries of assumption, legend, and demonization to reveal a more even-handed portrait of the first true English queen regnant. Every aspect of Mary’s life is thoroughly
reexamined: from her supposed religious fanaticism to her seemingly loveless marriage and the derangement resulting from two phantom pregnancies. Instead of a wizened crone who burned heretics to warm her frigid body, Mary is revealed as a woman of her time, a true Tudor whose every action bore careful forethought and purpose, even if those thoughts do not mesh with modern-day morality. We watch a vivacious and intelligent child, the delight of her parents, grow into a beautiful and articulate young woman, the trend-setter of her day, who endures terrible traumas and psychological torment to become a Queen whose heartbreaks eventually lead to a sad conclusion. Mary was by no means an innocent, but neither was she the unhinged monster of legend, the “bad Tudor” shelved away in the dark to make room for Elizabeth’s light. Mary’s life, like all lives, had its share of triumphs as well as failures, and Porter’s exhaustive research makes this passionately clear. Highly recommended for any Tudor library.
Heather Domin
THE LADY IN RED (US) / LADY WORSLEY’S WHIM (UK)
Hallie Rubenhold, St. Martin’s, 2009, $25.99, 308 pp, hb, 0312359942 / Chatto & Windus, 2008, £25.00, hb, 320pp, 9780701179809
When well-bred heiress Seymour Fleming married the urbane Isle of Wight landowner and politician Sir Richard Worsley, it seemed no different than many similar matches of the late 18th century. She sought a title and a lifestyle and he a great fortune. It wasn’t long before the bride startled society with her wild antics. Worse would follow.
The British army is preparing for war in the colonies, and at Coxheath in the South of England a vast militia encampment formed, where aristocrats frolicked with officers. Lady Worsley, famously immortalized by portraitist Sir Joshua Reynolds in the vivid red regimental riding habit she wore while there, conducted an affair with Captain Maurice Bisset, apparently with Sir Richard’s knowledge. After the pair ran off together, the cuckolded husband sued for divorce and sought ruinous monetary damages from his rival. Bent on revenge, he never imagined he sowed the seeds of his own downfall, or that his shameless and unrepentant wife would use her very immorality in defense of her lover.
The Worsley trial and its many outcomes are fascinating to follow. More intriguing still are the motives and machinations of those involved—the runaways, the servants a the London inn where they hid themselves, her ladyship’s ever expanding circle of lovers, the lawyers, the caricaturists who profited greatly, and Worsley himself.
Rubenhold cleverly and effectively creates suspense by doling out information when it delivers the most impact. Her skill as a researcher are rivaled only by her talent as storyteller, making this tale of sex, scandal, greed and publicity a must-read for those who
enjoy the aristocratic exploits and the seamier aspects of British social history.
Margaret Barr
LOVE IN AN ENVELOPE: A Courtship in the American West
Daniel Tyler and Betty Henshaw, eds., Univ. of New Mexico, 2009, $24.95/C$34.95, pb, 210pp, 9780826345356
This collection of letters, between Leroy Carpenter, of Greeley, Colorado, and Martha Bennett, of DeWitt, Iowa, covers from January 1871 to April 1872, and provides a first-hand look at American life—home, church, and work—not to mention courtship rituals, of the time. Leroy met Martha before he left Iowa to stake a claim in Colorado, then wooed her with plain language and honest thoughts. Martha, a teacher, responded in kind: simply and honestly, with just a smattering of flirting. These letters were written by a demographic we haven’t heard much from: Leroy and Martha are not from the privileged, highly-educated class, but are instead plain-spoken, hard-working individuals whose writing reflects their lives (they even write about the difficulty of finding lined notepaper). Composition, spelling, and punctuation take a back seat to the couple’s thoughts about everyday activities, housekeeping preferences, and town gossip. The editors did a great service both in not sprucing up the letters and in providing supplemental information about the Bennett and Carpenter families. The textual notes supply necessary context to fill in gaps in readers’ knowledge, making this a great way to learn about rural life in Victorian America.
Helene Williams
THE ENEMY AT THE GATE: Habsburgs, Ottomans, and the Battle for Europe
Andrew Wheatcroft, Pimlico, £14.99, pb, 339 pp, 9781844137411 / Basic, 2009, $27.50, hb, 384pp, 9780465013746
In The Enemy at the Gate, Andrew Wheatcroft sets out the political background to the 1683 siege of Vienna in clear detail. There had been other sieges of Vienna, the first one in 1529, but the 1683 siege has become a ‘metaphor of perpetual struggle’. Wheatcroft starts with a description of both armies, contrasting the welldisciplined and efficient Turkish army, under the sole command of one man (nominally the sultan, Mehmed IV, but in fact the Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa) to the rather more diverse armies of the Habsburgs and their allies, with no-one in overall command. Charles, Duke of Lorraine was the nearest the allies had to a supreme commander, and he, a better diplomat than military thinker, needed all his tact to keep the Habsburg alliance together and the commanders working in tandem.
The siege itself, and the battles around it, are described in the central portion of the book, with a clarity that, along with the maps provided, makes it easy to follow the events, with Wheatcroft’s descriptions of the personalities involved adding to the overall understanding of what happened and why. The final part of the
book is a summing up of the aftermath of the siege and its long-term effects.
Wheatcroft calls his book a study in fear and, with its historical analysis of the relationship between Christian Europe and Islamic Turkey, it is a well-balanced, readable and timely account of the 1683 siege. There have been other books on this important event in European and Ottoman history, but for a well-written and knowledgeable introduction, you could not do better than The Enemy at the Gate.
jay Dixon
THE INHERITANCE OF ROME
Chris Wickham, Viking, 2009, $35.00, hb, 651pp, 9780670020980 /Allen Lane, 2009, £35.00, hb, 720pp, 9780713994292
A distinguished professor of medieval history at Oxford and author of the award-winning Framing the Middle Ages, Chris Wickham presents a comprehensive and challenging interpretation of the alleged “Dark Ages.” Far from being the cultural and social wasteland as described by countless historians, Wickham opens up a world of astonishing depth and variety in societies ranging from the Carolingian Empire, to the ‘Abbasid Caliphate, the always fascinating Byzantines, and the Britain and Ireland of 400-800 AD. In a work not geared toward the novice, Wickham assumes a fair amount of knowledge on the part of the reader, who will be impressed at his analysis of a world staggered by political turbulence but resilient in its response. Viking Press is to be commended for publishing a monograph of such merit as those commonly produced by Oxford and Cambridge.
John R. Vallely
THE CELTIC REVOLUTION
Simon Young, Gibson Square, 2009, £14.99, hb, 320pp, 9781906142438
In his introduction to The Celtic Revolution, Simon Young tells us he has ‘erred on the side of comprehensibility’ in this succinct but erudite examination of what the Celtic civilization actually was, as opposed to what many people assume it was – all ceilidhs, knotwork and Druids. With his customary humour and clarity, Young looks at 2000 years of a people who, though now completely disappeared, had a fundamental effect on the development of Europe, from inadvertently helping to establish the Roman Empire to bringing Christianity to the fringes of the continent. He also discusses the development of the Arthurian legends, using the changing character of these stories to illustrate the influence of the Celts on the modern European mind.
Young has synthesised sources from all over Europe, and in many different languages, to create this eminently readable and enlightening account of a much-misunderstood strand of our ancient and medieval history. An excellent read as well as a rich source of inspiration for the historical novelist. Highly recommended.
Sarah Bower
Historical Novels Review
ISSN: 1471-7492
© 2009, The Historical Novel Society
