Historical Novels Review, Issue 59 (February 2012) by The Historical Novel Society

A PUBLICATION OF THE HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY

HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW incorporating SOLANDER

ISSUE 59, FEBRUARY 2012

Sibling Rivalry on a Royal Scale

Four sisters of the House of Savoy violence, american style the work of donald ray pollock research in your pjs online primary sources dickens’ legacy a look at the author’s effect on historical fiction an expanding past observations on the novel approaches conference

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE editor’s message | historical fiction market news | history & film | new voices

Historical Novels R eview

Jessica Brockmole 14413 Worthington Drive Granger, IN 46530 USA <jabrockmole@hotmail.com>

pub lis h er

Richard Lee Marine Cottage, The Strand Starcross, Devon EX6 8NY United Kingdom <richard@historicalnovelsociety.org>

edit o r ial boa r d

Publisher Coverage: Amazon Publishing, Hachette Book Group, Hyperion, W.W. Norton

Andrea Connell 10011 Beacon Pond Lane Burke, VA 22015 USA <hnsonline@verizon.net>

Publisher Coverage: Bethany House; HarperCollins; Penguin Putnam; Random House (all imprints); university presses; and any North American presses not mentioned below

UK Review Coordinator: Richard Lee Marine Cottage, The Strand Starcross, Devon EX6 8NY United Kingdom <richard@historicalnovelsociety.org> Publisher coverage: UK children’s publishers

Features Coordinator: Lucinda Byatt 13 Park Road Edinburgh, EH6 4LE UK <mail@lucindabyatt.com>

Jane Kessler University Library 119, University at Albany, SUNY 1400 Washington Avenue Albany, NY 12222 USA <jkessler@uamail.albany.edu>

Publisher Coverage: Algonquin; FSG; Five Star; IPG; Kensington; and Trafalgar Square

Book Review Editor: Sarah Johnson 6868 Knollcrest Drive Charleston, IL 61920 USA <sljohnson2@eiu.edu>

review s edit o r s , u k

Publisher Coverage: all self-published, subsidy, and electronically published novels

Managing Editor: Bethany Latham Houston Cole Library, Jacksonville State University 700 Pelham Road North Jacksonville, AL 36265-1602 USA <blatham@jsu.edu>

re v i e ws e d i tors , u s a

Features Editor: Myfanwy Cook 47 Old Exeter Road Tavistock, Devon PL19 OJE UK <myfanwyc@btinternet.com>

Kate Atherton 92 Wilsdon Way Kidlington, Oxfordshire OX5 1TX UK <kate.atherton@googlemail.com>

Publisher Coverage: Birlinn/Polygon; Bloomsbury; Constable & Robinson; Faber & Faber; The History Press; Macmillan (inc. Pan, Picador, Sidgwick & Jackson); Penguin (inc. Allen Lane, Hamish Hamilton, Michael Joseph, Viking); Short Books; Snowbooks; and Transworld (inc. Bantam Press, Black Swan, Corgi, Doubleday)

Alan Fisk Flat 25, Lancaster Court, Lancaster Avenue London SE27 9HU UK <alanfisk@yahoo.com>

Publisher Coverage: Creme de la Crime; Duckworth; HarperCollins UK (inc. Flamingo, Fourth Estate, Voyager); Orion Group (inc. Cassell, Gollancz, Phoenix, Weidenfeld & Nicolson); Piatkus; Picnic Publishing; Quaestor2000; Quercus; Severn House; and all small independent UK publishers not handled by other editors

Edward James 2 Hayman Close Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL53 9FD UK <edward654@btinternet.com>

Publisher Coverage: Arcadia; Atlantic Books; Canongate; Hodder Headline (inc. Coronet, Hodder & Stoughton, NEL, Sceptre); John Murray; and Robert Hale

Doug Kemp Tulip Lodge, Harrowden Road Wellingborough, Northamptonshire NN8 5BD UK <doug.kemp@lineone.net>

Publisher Coverage: Allison & Busby; Little, Brown & Co (inc. Abacus, Virago, Warner); Random House UK (inc. Arrow, Cape, Century, Chatto & Windus, Harvill, Heinemann, Hutchinson, Pimlico, Secker & Warburg, Vintage), Simon & Schuster (inc. Scribner)

Ilysa Magnus 5430 Netherland Avenue #C41 Bronx, NY 10471 USA <goodlaw2@optonline.net>

Publisher Coverage: Dorchester; Grove/Atlantic; Minotaur Books; Picador USA; Poisoned Pen Press; Soho Press; St Martin’s Press; and Tor/Forge

Tamela McCann 5265 Village Terrace Nashville, TN 37211 USA <jjmmccann@aol.com>

Publisher Coverage: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Simon & Schuster, including children’s divisions of both

Ann Pedtke 38-13 52nd Street Sunnyside, NY 11104 USA

Publisher coverage: US/Canadian children’s publishers (except S&S, HMH)

confe re nce s

The Society organizes annual conferences in the UK and biennial conferences in the US. Contact Richard Lee (UK) or Ann Chamberlin <annchamberlin@annchamberlin.com> (USA).

m e m be rs h i p d e ta i l s

Membership in the Historical Novel Society is by calendar year (January to December) and entitles members to all the year’s publications: two issues of Solander, and four issues of Historical Novels Review. Back issues of society magazines are also available. For current rates, contact: Lesley Robb Flat 5, 28 Fellows Road London NW3 3LH UK <lesleyrobb@googlemail.com>

e d i tori a l pol i cy

Georgine Olson 400 Dark Star Court Fairbanks, AK 99709 USA <georgine@mosquitonet.com>

Reviews, articles, and letters may be edited for reasons of space, clarity, and grammatical correctness. We will endeavour to reflect the authors’ intent as closely as possible, and will contact the authors for approval of any major change. We welcome ideas for articles, but have specific requirements to consider. Before submitting material, please contact the editor to discuss whether the proposed article is appropriate for Historical Novels Review.

copy ri g h t

In all cases, the copyright remains with the authors of the articles. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the authors concerned. THE HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY was formed in 1997 to help promote historical fiction. All staff and contributors are volunteers and work unpaid. We are an open society — if you want to get involved, get in touch. HNS WEBSITE: www.historicalnovelsociety.org EMAIL NEWSLETTER. Read news and reviews: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HNSNewsletter

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Historical Novels R eview I ssu e 5 9 , Fe br ua ry 2012 | I SSN 1471-7492

| columns |

ed itor ia l r ich a rd le e

histor ic a l fic tion market n ews s ar a h joh nson

n ew voic e s p r of ile s of debut his torical f iction authors a nne c lin ar d ba r nh ill, kate william s , s op hie peri not & m ar ga r e t w ur te le | my f anw y cook

histor y & film c las s ic a l my th on the s ilver s creen | kate a t her ton

| features & interviews |

8 S IBLING RIVALRY ON A ROYAL S CA L E f our s iste r s of the hous e of s avoy | b y s herr y jo nes 10 violen ce, america n st yl e t he wor k of donald ray pollock | by ken k reckel 12

res earch in your pa ja ma s p r im ar y sour c e s available on lin e | by b.j . sedl o ck

14 dicken s’ l ega c y the au t h or ’s e ffe c t on his torical f iction | b y my f a nw y co o k 15 an expan di ng pa st obse r vation s on the n ovel ap pro a ches con f eren ce | by jenny b a rd en | reviews |

book r e v ie ws e d ito rs’ c h oic e & m ore

MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

012 is already being touted as an “historic” year in the UK, as London hosts not only the Olympics, but the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The Olympics brings with it nostalgia for the 1908 Olympics, when you could win gold for running deer shooting (not real deer!); also for the 1948 Austerity Olympics, the first games following the War, and the first since the 1936 Nazi Olympics in Munich. The Diamond Jubilee will be only the second of its kind in British history, and inevitably stirs up comparisons with Victoria’s 1897 celebrations. What is Britain now compared with Britain then? How would we compare Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria? I confess that I had expected publishers and authors to exploit this. Genre novels – murder mysteries, romances, thrillers – all could be set against meticulously recorded and well photographed events, with an obvious tag-line and all sorts of intriguing present-past ironies to explore. So far I haven’t seen any at all. I wonder why. Is it that the “significant dates” that really excite us are the unexpected kind? For example, 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the maiden voyage of the Titanic, but it isn’t that fact that makes it ubiquitous in print and on screen. Julian Fellowes, who is offering up this year’s anniversary drama about the Titanic interestingly started his Downton Abbey saga in 1912, eschewing a 2010 anniversary. The date was chosen partly for the Titanic, but mostly because of its proximity to 1914. In 1910 war was unlikely, but by 1912 it was possible and even probable – and so every plot and shot of Downton can be elegiac. What Fellowes set himself to write against was the invisible “historic” year – the date that the audience knows but the characters do not. Maybe, in the end, most historical fiction has an element of that?

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HNR The

RICHARD LEE subverted a promising academic career by choosing to write a thesis about John Buchan when given a research bursary at Merton College, Oxford. Since then, he has spent many years as a bookseller, founded the HNS, and has established a successful property business near his home in Devon.

HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Columns | 1

H I STO R I C AL FICTION MAR K ET NE W S

ould you like your latest publishing deal to appear here? Email me at sljohnson2@eiu.edu.

HNS updates The UK HNS conference will be held September 29-30, 2012 at the University of Westminster, Regent Street, and the 5th North American HNS conference will be held from Friday June 21, 2013 to Sunday June 23, 2013, at the historic Vinoy Renaissance Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida. Special thanks to Kim Rendfeld for copy editing this issue, to Troy Reed for magazine distribution, and to Sarah Cuthbertson for compiling UK forthcoming titles for the website. New publishing deals Sources include author and publisher submissions, Publishers Marketplace, Booktrade.info, Publishers Weekly, The Bookseller, and more. Maryka Biaggio’s Parlor Games, based on the true story of the woman who rose from high-class courtesan to well-do-do baroness to world-class blackmailer, sold to Melissa Danaczko at Doubleday by Stephanie Cabot of The Gernert Company. Alana White’s debut historical mystery The Sign of the Weeping Virgin, set at the height of the Italian Renaissance as Florentine lawyer and diplomat Guid’Antonio Vespucci and his nephew and secretary, Amerigo, investigate a plot involving a painting of the Virgin Mary that has begun weeping in the Vespucci family church, a missing girl, and a scheme to overthrow Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Florentine Republic, sold to Five Star Mysteries Senior Editor Deni Dietz for publication in 2012. Peter Lynch of Sourcebooks has purchased US rights to many novels from C.C. Humphreys’ backlist, including A Place Called Armageddon (reviewed this issue), The French Executioner, and all three books in the Jack Absolute adventure series. Patricia Bracewell’s debut novel, the first in a proposed trilogy featuring Emma of Normandy, who becomes Queen of England when she marries King Athelred, a man haunted by his brother’s ghost, sold to Emily Murdock Baker at Viking, by Stephanie Cabot at The Gernert Company. UK rights to Harper UK. Avon UK editorial director Claire Bord bought world English rights to two novels by Gill Paul from Vivien Green at Shiel Land. The first, Women and Children First, set on board the Titanic and exploring the horror of its sinking and its aftermath through the eyes of several characters, will be published in 2 | Columns | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

spring 2012. Robert Fabbri’s The False God of Rome, third in a planned seven-volume historical epic about Roman emperor Vespasian, sold to Toby Mundy at Corvus, for publication in May 2013, by Ian Drury at Sheil Land Associates. Barbara Kyle’s books 5, 6, and 7 by in her Tudor Thornleigh saga, in which the fates of family members are deeply entwined with Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, radical Puritans, and insurgent Catholics, sold to Audrey LaFehr at Kensington and to Constable Robinson UK, by Al Zuckerman at Writers House. Kelly O’Connor McNees’s In Need of a Good Wife, the story of three women in a group of mail-order brides who travel from New York City to Nebraska in 1867, sold to Claire Zion at Berkley by Marly Rusoff at Marly Rusoff & Associates. The Blue Cotton Gown memoirist Patricia Harman’s Sound of the Heart, about an apprentice midwife in Depression-era Appalachia and her struggles with poverty, labor strife and the Klan, sold to Lucia Macro at William Morrow, at auction, by Barbara Braun at Barbara Braun Associates. Rights to Michael Ennis’ The Malice of Fortune, a historical thriller set in 1502 Italy about the secret history behind Machiavelli’s The Prince, in which the Borgia Pope dispatches a courtesan to a remote Italian city on a mission to learn the truth behind his illegitimate and most beloved son’s murder, went to Lara Hinchberger at McClelland & Stewart in Canada and to Carole Baron and Bill Thomas at Doubleday US, via Daniel Lazar at Writers House. UK rights to Selina Walker at Century, in a pre-empt, by Angharad Kowal at Writers House UK in association with Maja Nikolic on behalf of Daniel Lazar. Suzanne Woods Fisher’s Petticoat Row, inspirational fiction set on Nantucket Island in the early 19th century, sold to Andrea Doering at Revell, in a three-book deal, for publication in 2014, 2015, 2016, by Joyce Hart at Hartline Literary Agency. Astor Place Vintage by Stephanie Lehmann, set in presentday and 1907 New York City, in which a vintage clothing shop owner’s recent purchases contain a hidden journal over 100 years old that links the shop owner and journal writer in ways neither can predict, sold to Heather Lazare at Touchstone, at auction, for publication in Summer 2013, by Emma Sweeney at Emma Sweeney Agency. Amanda Coplin’s The Orchardist, the story of a solitary, middle-aged orchardist who, at the turn of the 20th century in the US Pacific Northwest, takes in two scared, pregnant teenage girls, sold to Terry Karten at Harper, at auction, by Bill Clegg at William Morris Endeavor. UK/Commonwealth rights to Arzu Tashin at Weidenfeld & Nicolson. The Van Goethem Sisters by Cathy Marie Buchanan, the story of teenaged sisters in 19th-c Paris whose father’s death sets one on a trajectory to the Paris Opera Ballet to become a model for Degas, and the other into the stage adaptation of Emile Zola’s naturalist novel L’Assommoir, and into the arms of a young man

Liz Trenow’s debut The Last Telegram, a WWII-set novel about a young woman who has to run a factory producing silk for parachutes after her father is killed in the Blitz, a story of forbidden love, tragedy, and hope, sold to Caroline Hogg at Avon UK, in a two-book deal, for publication in September 2012, by Caroline Hardman at Christopher Little Agency. New and soon-to-be-available titles Lynna Banning’s new book, Gauchos & Gumption, My Argentine Honeymoon, was published in January by Turquoise Morning Press. It’s a fictionalized diary kept by the author’s grandmother, Leora Marie Banning, who as a new bride in 1910 sailed off to South America to run cattle on the Argentine pampas. In Victoria Lamb’s The Queen’s Secret (Bantam UK, March), Elizabeth I asks a young black girl singer to spy on the Earl of Leicester and his lover, the Countess of Essex. An 18-year-old Gordianus the Finder takes the stage in Steven Saylor’s The Seven Wonders (Minotaur, May), a prequel to his Roma Sub Rosa mystery series. Dancing at the Chance by DeAnna Cameron (Berkley, April) tells the story of a chorus girl in turn-of-the-century NY who is pulled into the intrigues of the city’s elite. Meg Clothier’s The Empress (Century, May) is the littleknown tale of Agnes, Princess of France, who is wed to the son of the Emperor of Constantinople in the early 13th century. Errata In The Nightmare by Nancy Means Wright (HNR 58, Nov. 2011), the novel begins in 1792, not 1781, and the correct title of Wollstonecraft’s book is A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Brock’s Agent by Tom Taylor (HNR 58) begins in 1812 rather than 1813. For the review of Fortune’s Son by Emery Lee (HNR 58), the following corrections should be noted: The main character is Philip Drake (not Sir Philip Drake), son of the Earl of Hastings; he has only one brother; and the prince portrayed as drinking and having mistresses is Prince Frederick, not Prince George (which negates the criticism noted by the reviewer). For forthcoming titles through August 2012, visit www. historicalnovelsociety.org/forthcoming.htm.

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who may be a killer, sold to Iris Tupholme at Harper Canada and to Sarah McGrath at Riverhead, by Dorian Karchmar at William Morris Endeavor. Maureen Jennings’ Detective Murdoch Mystery series, set in late-Victorian Toronto, the basis for a TV show now in its fifth season, sold to Cath Trechman at Titan Books, in a 7-book deal, for publication starting in February 2012, by Suzanne Brandreth at Cooke Agency International. Canadian rights to journalist Ian Thornton’s untitled debut novel, which follows the last-minute replacement for the drunk and disorderly chauffeur to Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, on their fateful visit to Sarajevo in June 1914, sold to Kevin Hanson of Simon & Schuster Canada by Bruce Westwood and Carolyn Forde of Westwood Creative Artists. Barbara Mutch’s The Housemaid’s Daughter, pitched as a South African The Help, which intricately portrays the drama, dynamics and heartbreak of two women against the backdrop of a beautiful yet divided land, sold to Jennifer Weis at St. Martin’s, for publication in 2013, by Jason Bartholomew at Headline. Tanis Rideout’s debut novel, Above All Things, pitched as The Paris Wife meets Into Thin Air, about British explorer George Mallory on his final doomed attempt to scale Mt. Everest, and his beloved wife Ruth as she awaits word of his fate, sold to Amy Einhorn at Amy Einhorn Books, at auction, by Ron Eckel at Cooke Agency International, on behalf of McClelland & Stewart in Canada. Winner of the Michael Shaara Prize for Civil War Fiction (for My Name is Mary Sutter) Robin Oliveira’s untitled novel, set in the 19th-century art world of Paris and about the 40-year relationship between Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas, sold to Kathryn Court at Viking by Marly Rusoff at Marly Rusoff & Associates. Alexandra Lapierre’s Between Love and Honor, the story of a prince raised as the foster son of Czar Nicholas I, set against the splendor of the Russian Imperial Court, translated from the French by Jane Lizop, sold to Gabriella Page-Fort at AmazonCrossing, for publication in March 2013, by Jessica Papin at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. Michael Joseph (PenguinUK) publishing director Alex Clarke bought UK and Commonwealth rights to Conn Iggulden’s new series, set during England’s Wars of the Roses. Claire Wachtel at HarperCollins US bought Phillip Margolin’s first historicalnovel, Judge Knot, in which a lawyer in 1860 Portland,Oregon takes a case in which he represents a former slave, from Jean Naggar at Jean V. Naggar Literary. The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, set in Barcelona from 1939 through the 1950s, a novel of love, literature, passion, jealousy, and revenge, moving to Terry Karten at Harper and Iris Tupholme at Harper Canada, for publication in June 2012, by Thomas Colchie at The Colchie Agency on behalf of the Antonia Kerrigan Agency in Barcelona.

SARAH JOHNSON, Book Review Editor of HNR, is a librarian, readers’ advisor, and author of reference books. She reviews for Booklist, CHOICE and Canada’s Globe and Mail and blogs about historical novels at readingthepast.com. Her latest book is Historical Fiction II: A Guide to the Genre.

HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Columns | 3

NEW VOICES Debut novelists Anne Clinard Barnhill, Kate Williams, Sophie Perinot and Margaret Wurtele introduce us to the sources of inspiration that sparked their novels.

have always loved ‘sister stories.’ I suspect this is because my own sister is (and always has been) my best friend. She is also the reason I decided to pursue writing in a serious way,” explains Sophie Perinot, author of The Sister Queens (New American Library, 2012). Perinot continues, “My first stories were created for my sister’s entertainment as we walked to school together. Years later, while in the midst of a professional identity crisis after deciding to leave the practice of law, I received a phone call from my sister. ‘I know you are writing a story in your head right now,’ she said. ‘Whatever it is, pick up your dictaphone and say it out loud.’ The result of that sisterly admonition was my first completed historical fiction manuscript.” Anne Clinard Barnhill also drew inspiration from her family to create At the Mercy of the Queen (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2012). However, unlike Perinot, whose novel is set in 13th-century France, Barnhill’s explores the reign of Henry VIII. Both novelists have chosen strong women as central characters to weave their novels around. Perinot discovered her main protagonists while researching. She says,“I came upon a footnote in a history of Notre Dame de Paris — about Marguerite of Provence (whose kneeling image is carved over that great church’s Portal Rouge) and her sisters. These remarkable 13thcentury women were the daughters of the Count of Provence and related, through their mother, to the house of Savoy. The Savoyards were celebrities in the High Middle Ages — a family of considerable political and marital power, whose members were renowned for their personal attractiveness. People wanted to be like the Savoyards, and people (even kings and popes) wanted to be seen with them. All four of these extraordinary sisters made politically significant marriages, yet I had never heard of them. I wondered how such women could have largely slipped through the fingers of history. I started a manila folder with their names on it and tucked it away in my file drawer, vowing to come back and tell their story. The Sister Queens is the result of that vow. “My novel weaves together the stories of the two eldest sisters 4 | Columns | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

— Marguerite, who became Queen of France, and Eleanor, who became Queen of England. I chose this pair not only because the marriages they made were more significant than those of their younger siblings, but because of their particularly close bond. Like most sisters, Marguerite and Eleanor were rivals, but they were also life-long friends and their mutual devotion helped each to navigate the challenges posed by love, war, political intrigue and betrayal. It is that sisterly support that I wanted to celebrate in my novel, both in honor of my own sister and in hopes that it will resonate with sisters everywhere.” Barnhill’s novel is, in part, a quest to readdress a member of her family whose life was irrevocably changed by her relationship with Henry VIII. When she was a teenager her grandmother told her about their family history. It was a revelation. Barnhill explains that after learning “I was related to Queen Elizabeth I, one of my heroines, I was hooked on the Tudor tales. I scoured every book I could get my hands on for information about my Shelton ancestors, Sir John and Lady Anne (Boleyn, sister of Thomas Boleyn). I learned about their daughter, Margaret, who was one of three named mistresses of Henry VIII. I spent literally years wondering about this young girl whose only legacy was a besmirched reputation. I decided to tell her story, to give her a voice so that she could somehow be more than the slut history remembers. Women had such a difficult time in the 16th century and I wanted to stand up for Margaret somehow. “I read dozens of nonfiction books about the Boleyn family, especially Anne. For over thirty years, I explored my ‘secret’ obsession. After I had read extensively biographies and other books about the period, I began Jean Plaidy’s historical novels about Renaissance England. I skipped through several other writers who made history come alive and, after I had come to the end of those, decided to write one for my own satisfaction. I had already written two what might be called literary novels (still under my bed in boxes!) and started this book with a desire to please no one but myself. I really had no idea it would be the book to land me an agent and a big publishing house — it’s all been quite an exciting ride. And I’m happy to have discovered Lady Margaret, a character who stepped into my life and impressed me with her verve and joie de vivre.” In contrast to both Barnhill and Perinot’s novels, the theme and characters in Margaret Wurtele’s The Golden Hour (NAL, 2012) resulted from an Italian holiday combined with her own childhood as a post-war baby. She writes that, “In September 1945 Japan officially surrendered to the United States, marking

the end of World War II. I was born ten weeks later. Though I never lived a day of the war, it has always loomed large in my consciousness. My father was 4F and unable to enlist, but World War II, its rationing and many sacrifices, defined my parents’ college years, their courtship and early marriage. I needed somehow to connect that war, to make it come alive for me. “In the spring of 2004, my husband and I — along with two other couples from the California wine country where we spend much of our time — settled into a rented house in Tuscany. One day, we were invited to a fattoria (farm) near Lucca, the source of our friends’ olive trees for their property in Sonoma. After a tour of the estate, we sat down to a leisurely lunch outdoors in the shade of a fragrant linden tree. As our vitello

MYFANWY COOK is fascinated by the skill with which writers of historical fiction bring the past to life and is always looking for debut novels that inspire and thrill readers. If you have information about a debut novelist of interest to feature, please email (myfanwyc@btinternet.com) or tweet her (twitter.com/MyfanwyCook).

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Left to right from top: Sophie Perinot, Margaret Wurtele, Anne Barnhill, and Kate Williams

tonnato was replaced with a dessert of Peach Melba, our vivacious, dark-eyed host Marcello began reminiscing about his mother at the end of World War II. He held the group in thrall as he told us how the villa next to us had been taken over by Nazi troops, who forced his mother’s family to live in a few small rooms in the back. After the war was over, he recounted, his mother fell in love with the Italian translator for the Allied troops who had liberated them. Despite the oppression their family had suffered under Nazi occupation, his mother’s father still objected strongly to the marriage because the translator was Jewish. The irony of his story struck me and wouldn’t let go. I returned home eager to write about it. The landscape, the vineyards and olive trees were so much like our own in the Napa Valley. I began reading voraciously, burying myself in research about the war in Italy. As I wrote, as my own characters emerged, the story changed and became their story — altogether different, yet clearly inspired by our day with Marcello. Kate Williams conjured many different associations — UK readers may associate her with coverage of the Royal Wedding for the BBC in 2011 and historians with her award-winning nonfiction books. Like Barnhill, Perinot and Wurtele, however, she found herself unable to stop writing her first novel, and became completely engrossed in the intracies of relationships and their impact on her characters. Williams says, “I began writing The Pleasures of Men while living in Paris, over three years ago. I rented a flat near Notre Dame and spent the days working in the archives on my next historical work. At night, I would walk around — and I found [the streets] surprisingly deserted and unlit. To me, wandering in the dark, swathes of the city seemed as they must have done, centuries ago. “I started to imagine how it must have been for those who were not used to the streets. And then, very soon, my heroine Catherine Sorgeiul and the murderer, the Man of Crows, came into my mind. I thought of her, a young, isolated girl in a house in Spitalfields, growing increasingly obsessed with a man who is killing young girls, not realising that every word she writes takes her closer to him. The city around her is suffering the aftermath of a terrible economic crash and is ravaged by poverty and crime. “Once I took up my pen, I could not stop. I sat in street cafes around the city until late at night, scribbling down the story of Catherine and the Man of Crows.” Williams admits she “was entirely taken over by the story,” as were her fellow debut novelists by the tales they have chosen to tell.

HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Columns | 5

aHISTORY & FILMe CLASSICAL MYTH ON THE SILVER SCREEN

ollywood has been reinventing the myths and legends of antiquity since before it could talk. According to the J. Paul Getty Museum, in the early days of cinema ‘more than 800 films drew their inspiration from ancient Mediterranean cultures, history, and society’ (http:// www.getty.edu/museum/programs/performances/silent_ cinema.html). While significantly fewer than that are made these days, the mythology of the ancient world nevertheless remains an inspiration to filmmakers today — just as it did to poets, dramatists and novelists through the ages. Although special effects have moved on in leaps and bounds over the last couple of decades, most especially in the last few years, many of us look back with great affection on the past master of stop-motion model animation, Ray Harryhausen. For almost four decades, Harryhausen brought the gods, demons and heroes of the past to the imagination of the public in a way that had not been seen before. As a child, I first saw Sinbad battle a troop of skeleton soldiers in the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958) and I’ve never forgotten it. There was more to come in Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and Clash of the Titans (1981). In Clash of the Titans, Ray Harryhausen’s Medusa, Kraken, Pegasus, vengeful gods and goddesses were matched with a living, breathing legend, Laurence Olivier. It was an enchanting combination and the film has an appeal to this day that its recent imitation (2010) has not challenged. To the surprise (and disdain) of some, Hollywood is not letting this one rest and Wrath of the Titans is already in the can. Due to be released in the UK in March 2012 with a new director, Jonathan Liebesman (Battle Los Angeles) replacing the old, Louis Leterrier, the bad news is that Sam Worthington will be reprising his performance as Perseus. This time, Perseus is called upon to settle a war between the Greek pantheon of gods and the Titans. Whether this new cinematic adventure for Perseus will recapture the interest audiences lost with Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans is uncertain. The story of Perseus, a poor boy who discovers his demigod status along with great powers and influence, is timeless in its appeal and in its context. In 2010, the story had a different retelling in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Based on the popular book series by Rick Riordan, Chris Columbus’ film brought Greek myth out of the heavens and into the streets and skyscrapers of New York City. Zeus and Poseidon walked among humans again, just as they did in the original myths, abandoning 6 | Columns | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

lovers and creating offspring who would enjoy the benefits and suffer the consequences of divine fathers or mothers. This is a recognisably modern world populated with centaurs, fauns and ferrymen to the Underworld. In 2013, Logan Lerman is set to return as Percy in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters. His goal this time will be another favourite quest, the Golden Fleece, once sought by Jason and his crew of Argonauts, including Theseus. Todd Armstrong brought Jason to life in Don Chaffey’s 1963 film dramatisation of the quest of Jason and the Argonauts. Harpes, a hydra, the metal giant Talos and another of Harryhausen’s skeleton armies are as astonishing now as they were then. A TV series (featuring, rather appropriately, Jason London as Jason) appeared in 2000 but failed to leave much of an impression, despite the efforts of Derek Jacobi, Dennis Hopper and Olivia Williams. A new cinematic version, called The Kingdom of Hades, is provisionally in the making, although details are scarce and a director as yet unnamed. Theseus himself was recently brought to the screen in 2011’s Immortals, starring Henry Cavill in the heroic lead and Mickey Rourke as evil King Hyperion whose goal is to acquire the weapon that can destroy all humanity. No amount of 3D, special effects, minotaurs and bowmanship could save this film from the attacks of the critics and audiences alike. In 2006, a horror version of the Theseus myth, called Minotaur, was released, directed by Jonathan English (Ironclad) and featuring Tom Hardy as the hero, here named Theo and set on the Island of Minus. A 3D telling of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur is set to be unleashed on audiences in 2013. Moving from the heavens to that middle earth of human heroes who fight and suffer for the amusement for the gods, we have Troy. Achilles, Agamemnon, Paris and Helen continue to fascinate audiences despite the great distance in time since the 12th century BC when the Greeks set sail. Stanley Baker, who turned down the role of James Bond in Dr No, played the role of Achilles in the 1956 Helen of Troy. Rossana Podestà, who could speak no English, was Helen. In 2004, arguably the most well-known version of the legend was released with Brad Pitt shining in golden armour as the flawed hero Achilles. With Brian Cox as Agamemnon, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Diana Kruger as Helen, Eric Bana as Hector, Peter O’Toole as Priam and Sean Bean as Oysseus, Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy was a glittering, shiny tribute to an immortal legend. For the first time, we saw those thousand ships with our own eyes on the big screen. The aftermath of the Trojan War was presented in a 1971 cinematic version of Euripides’ tragedy The Trojan Women. Starring Katharine Hepburn as Hecuba, Vanessa Redgrave as Andromache and Geneviève Bujold as Cassandra, and directed

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with one of the most notable recent examples being the telling of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, a battle between the Spartans and Persians vividly portrayed in Zack Snyder’s 300 in 2006. This, of course, was on the receiving end of a retelling in Jason Frieberg’s Meet the Spartans a year later. The silver screen is not the only venue where classical myth rears its head — television has been a home for classical myth for years. Back in 1967, an episode of the Original Series of Star Trek saw Kirk and his crew encounter a planet of alien travellers, led by Apollo, who claimed to have visited earth thousands of years before. In addition to the 2000 series of Jason and the Argonauts mentioned above, there have been multiple animated and live action productions of Hercules, as well as a 2005 TV movie about the hero which featured Timothy Dalton (although not in the lead role). In 2014, Hercules may make it back to the big screen in a version directed by Brent Ratner (Tower Heist, Horrible Bosses, X-Men: The Last Stand) called Hercules: The Thracian Wars. As yet, Hercules himself has not been picked from the ranks of available actors. I would be remiss not to mention the Italian sword-and-sandal movies of the 1950s and 1960s, which focused on Hercules as well as other mighty heroes such as Goliath and Samson. With an Anglo-American usually in the lead and, despite formulaic plots and poor dubbing, these productions won large audiences in their day until they were replaced by the Spaghetti Western. Despite the mixed reception of recent large-budget productions such as Clash From top to bottom: Eric Bana as Hector in Troy (2004) readies himself for battle and Todd Armstrong as Jason of the Titans, the number of films in the pipeline suggests that audiences enjoy the fights off a skeleton army in Jason and the Argonauts (1963) escapism of myth at the movies as much by Mihalis Kakogiannis, this adaptation was not especially well as they ever did. It may not be based on a conventional myth, but David Fincher’s forthcoming film on Cleopatra, starring received. Of course, possibly one of the grandest incarnations of Angelina Jolie in the title role, is indicative of the appeal that the Agamemnon is in Time Bandits, where the king is played by ancient world still holds over movie-goers and readers alike. The none other than Sean Connery. Young hero Kevin is rewarded problem facing filmmakers today is how to continue to do justice by Agamemnon for helping him to defeat the Minotaur and is to these much loved tales from a distant past in a time when happily adopted by Agamemnon until the time bandits drag him audiences are bombarded with the latest CGI techniques, often off. While the original myths themselves have often graced the in more than two dimensions. screen, the lessons of Troy have wider reverberations through the movies — think no further than the Trojan Rabbit of Monty KATE ATHERTON has written about and reviewed movies for several years, covering large movie Python and the Holy Grail. One of my favourite cartoons as a events for major film news sites and blogs. With a youngster was Ulysses 31, in which Ulysses, a survivor of the background in archaeology, historical research, and Trojan War, is banished to space by the gods for destroying the publishing, Kate currently works in education and continues to spend her free time immersed in novels Cyclops and has to journey back to earth and his wife, via a series and movies, writing reviews of everything she reads of adventures based on The Odyssey. and watches. Later wars have also become the subject of myth and cinema, HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Columns | 7

Marguerite. Eléonore. Sanchia. Beatrice. These four sisters,

members of the prestigious House of Savoy, made history in the 13th century when they all became queens – of France, England, Germany, and Italy. Arguably the most famous women in the Western world during their lifetimes – praised in the chansons of the Southern troubadours, mentioned in Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, lauded by chroniclers for their incomparable beauty – the sisters of Savoy also might have been, as a group, the most powerful. Working together was the key to their success, as their mother, Beatrice of Savoy, had doubtless told them many times. Had they continued to do so, they might have made remarkable accomplishments for their kingdoms and their family. Indeed, Marguerite and Eléonore, the eldest sisters, worked together with the younger Sanchia to promote peace between England and France for the first time since the Norman Conquest of 1066. Yet the death of their father and his bequest of Provence to the youngest, Beatrice, tore the sisters apart, with tragic consequences. “Family comes first.” That’s the motto the queens’ mother, Beatrice of Savoy, hammers home to her daughters in my novel about them, Four Sisters, All Queens (to be pub. May 2012, Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books). As daughter in an up-and-coming aristocratic family, the Countess of Provence knew what she was talking about. Initially rulers of a small, inconsequential area in the foothills of the Alps, the House of Savoy increased its influence not through battles and conquests as others did, but by virtue of marriages, diplomacy, and political maneuvers. (Ultimately, the Savoyards would rule all of Italy for centuries until the middle of the twentieth century.) Beatrice of Savoy knew how important one’s family can be to securing and maintaining power, never more so than when one’s family members are also powerful. Four daughters had Count Ramon Berenguer, Each one of them a queen, thanks to Romeo

Although Dante credits the count and countess’s steward, Romeo de Villeneuve, with the sisters’ marriages to kings, Beatrice of Savoy’s influence cannot be overlooked. After all, she had eight brothers, of whom seven were essentially landless. Given her involvement in her daughters’ lives until her death, it’s certain that she played an important role in their marriages to kings and future kings. Not for nothing did she have them schooled in the trivium and quadrivium, comprising the seven liberal arts of grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. This type of education, almost always reserved for boys, gave her “boys,” as she supposedly called them, an edge when it came to meeting the demands of courtly life. Indeed, it probably helped Marguerite impress the King of France’s envoy, Giles de Flagy, on his visit to Aix-en-Provence to inspect her as a potential bride. “If you marry the first well, you will marry all the others the better for the sake of her kinship,” Romeo is supposed to have told the girls’ father, Ramon de Berenguer. Not long after Marguerite’s marriage to King Louis IX of France, his prediction seemed destined to come true: Marguerite’s younger sister Eléonore married King Henry III of England in 1236. The sisters, only two years apart in age, must have competed with each other from the time Eléonore was born, for they certainly competed as queens. Friendless and without family in Paris – and tormented by her spiteful mother-in-law Blanche de Castille, the powerful “White Queen” (whose story is told in my Gallery Books e-novella, White Heart, scheduled for release in April 2012) – the childless Marguerite, facing annulment of her marriage, must have turned positively green with envy when Eléonore announced the birth of a son. Eléonore was also able to provide for the Savoy family what Marguerite was not: landed titles. Soon her uncle Guillaume became King Henry’s chief advisor; her uncle Thomas, the Count of Flanders; and her uncle Boniface, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Not until their kingdoms faced grave crises, however, did these sisters truly shine. In 1248, when King Louis IX sailed to Egypt with an eye toward

by Sherry Jones

Four daughters... had Count Ramon Berenguer, Each one of them a queen... 8 | Features | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

four sisters of the House of Savoy

Si b ling Riva lry o n a R oya l S ca le

Marguerite Married to King Louis IX when she was thirteen, the witty and intellectual Marguerite learned patience the hard way: by enduring the contempt of her mother-in-law, the formidable

Blanche de Castille. Suppressed by the jealous and possessive Blanche, Marguerite finally got to show her mettle in Egypt, when, just hours after giving birth, she convinced a group of merchants not to abandon Damietta to starvation and conquest by their Saracen enemies. She also negotiated the ransom and release of her husband and his knights from Egyptian prison. Her marriage to Louis, however, was not a happy one. Although she bore him eleven children, the king’s chronicler, Jean de Joinville, criticized him for his inattentiveness to her and their offspring. After King Louis died, Marguerite refused to testify in favor of his sainthood. “Louis,” she says in Four Sisters, All Queens, “was no saint.” Eléonore The stylish Eléonore, known for her cutting-edge fashions, was King Henry III’s bold and daring Queen of England who advanced her family’s interests at the expense of England’s coffers and her own popularity. She and Henry enjoyed a happy marriage; their many interests in common included the Arthurian legends. Eléonore braved angry crowds on the London Bridge in effort to reach her eldest son, Edward I, when he was in danger, and she raised armies more than once on her husband’s behalf. She, more than any of her sisters, advanced the interests of her family by helping her Savoyard uncles gain prominent positions in the church and aristocracy. Sanchia Timid, sweet Sanchia was said to be the best-looking of all the sisters, who, according to the chronicler Matthew Paris, inherited their mother’s renowned beauty. She married King Henry’s brother Richard, the Earl of Cornwall, after he fell in love with her at first sight. She hated Germany, despite being crowned its queen; her husband, disillusioned with her, left her to die alone in their castle in Berkhamsted. Beatrice The baby of the family, Beatrice was the favorite child of the Count of Provence, who left the county to her in order, he said, to ensure her an advantageous marriage. Men traveled from kingdoms far and wide to woo her, but, like Penelope in Homer’s The Odyssey, she resisted them all. Only Charles d’Anjou, the daring and ambitious younger brother of King Louis IX, won her by literally sweeping her off her feet and carrying her on horseback to France, where they married. While fighting against her sisters’ efforts to wrest part or all of her inheritance from her, Beatrice also raised an army of 10,000 to conquer Sicily, then led them over the Alps in the thick of winter.

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conquering Jerusalem in the Seventh Crusade, Marguerite went with him – and, when he was captured, saved Damietta from invasion, negotiated the terms of the King’s release, and raised the funds to ransom him. When she and her husband returned to France after Queen Blanche’s death, Marguerite played a prominent role in the kingdom’s administration and business affairs. Eléonore, exiled in France during the rebel baron Simon de Montfort’s mutiny against the Crown in 1264, raised an army to send across the Channel, using funds given by Marguerite. Only her husband’s letter begging her to desist convinced her to drop her bold plan. Sanchia enjoyed a less illustrious career, in part because of her shy nature. She wanted to join the convent but instead wed King Henry’s brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who became King of Germany. Richard’s support was crucial for the England-France treaty. Did Sanchia help convince him to support the agreement, which meant an end to English aspirations on the Continent? Peace must have been in the sisters’ minds when they brought their families together for Christmas in 1254. Although King Henry and King Louis warmed to each other, the treaty they signed five years later was no easy feat. King Henry gave up claims to Normandy and other lands his father, King John, had lost to France, and King Louis agreed to pay for them. The Treaty of Paris would keep the peace between these perpetually battling kingdoms until the Hundred Years’ War some eighty years later. Where was Beatrice during the love fest? Sitting at the royal equivalent of the “kids’ table.” Marguerite had placed her there saying that, because she wasn’t a queen, she couldn’t sit with the rest of them. Marguerite was resentful over property her father had promised for her dowry, then awarded to Beatrice – and that Beatrice refused to give up. The baby among the sisters, Beatrice was seen as spoiled and selfish – but was she any more ambitious than her siblings? Her marriage to Charles of Anjou, King Louis’s brother and Marguerite’s nemesis, only fanned the flames of her sisters’ resentment, and caused them to join forces against her. “Be at peace,” Charles told her, “for I will shortly make you a greater queen than them.” She had to work hard for the honor, raising an army of ten thousand to help him conquer Sicily, then leading those troops over the Alps in the wintertime. While Charles fought, Beatrice acted as his general in Rome, coordinating the campaign. She was crowned Queen of Sicily in 1266, but her reign was short: she died the following year. One wonders if, at her sister’s funeral, Marguerite felt remorse for the way she had treated Beatrice. Was gaining a castle in Provence worth the price of her sister’s love? Apparently so. Beatrice gone, Marguerite turned her efforts to overthrowing Charles and taking Provence for herself. It was a fight she would continue for the rest of her life.

SHERRY JONES is the author of the controversial bestseller The Jewel of Medina and its critically acclaimed sequel, The Sword of Medina. Her e-novella, White Heart: A Tale of Blanche de Castille, the White Queen of France debuts in April, and her novel Four Sisters, All Queens debuts in May 2012, both from Simon and Schuster’s Gallery Books. Find her online at www. authorsherryjones.com.

HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Features | 9

the work of Donald Ray Pollock

“Violence is American as cherry pie,” the black activist H. Rap

Brown famously uttered in the 1960s. Historical novelists seem to agree, as violence pervades many of their works, including works not confined to an American setting. As violence comprises much of history, this is hardly surprising, yet questions remain. How much violence is appropriate in a work? How graphically should it be portrayed? For many writers, a restrained approach is taken, to the point of sanitizing to a large degree, such as the murders in a cozy mystery. Others, however, take the opposite tack. One such prominent historical novelist was Gary Jennings, whose epic novels have been described as “packed with violence, braggadocio, and vivid sex scenes.”1 Jennings has his successors, also noted for the graphic nature of their works, particularly the violence they include. Donald Ray Pollock, author of the recently released The Devil All the Time, is such a novelist. Mr. Pollock, former meat packer and self-admitted drugger and drinker, is a late bloomer as a writer. He started college at age 40 and joined Ohio State University’s creative writing program ten years later. His critically acclaimed first work Knockemstiff, named for his hometown, was a anthology of linked short stories in which, said a NYT review, “nearly all the characters are violent or abused, and most are serious drinkers (one swigs Old Grand-Dad from his car ashtray) and inventive drug users besides.”2 Pollock’s more recent novel does not depart from these themes, featuring characters such as “a husband and wife team of serial killers, a predatory minister and a spider-eating backwoods preacher convinced that he can raise the dead.”3 Appropriately, the novel takes place between the violent bookends of World War II and Vietnam. I recently interviewed Pollock, and getting right to the heart of the matter, I wondered where the interest in violence arose. Pollock answered, “As we all know, America has always been a violent place and many, many people are fascinated by criminal

behavior and mayhem as long as it doesn’t strike too close to home. Why else could a TV show like Nancy Grace continue to go over the same grisly incident night after night after night and still maintain an audience? As I’ve said before, if you have two stories on the front page of a newspaper, one dealing with a serial killer and the other with a child who donates his piggy bank to the starving in Somalia, most people are going to read the serial killer story first. Regarding the violence in my work, I think I paid more attention to violence than most while I was growing up simply because I was always afraid of it.” I noted that many of Pollock’s characters are unlovable, far from nice people. Some might ask, why focus on this unseemly side of life? Pollock shared, “I suppose I focus on the unseemly side of life because it’s what I know best. I grew up around a lot of very poor people, and later spent a lot of time in bars and houses and factories that were filled with people who were, to an extent anyway, much like some of my characters. I suppose, in my case anyway, a writer has to work with the material he’s been given.” This focus on violence in one’s work could, however, be off-putting to to readers, or worse, contribute in a negative way to a society that already seems to be getting more and more uncivil with every passing year. How does Pollock feel about this? “Well,” he says, “I have to admit that I worry more about off-putting readers than contributing to the uncivil nature of today’s society. Only a very tiny percentage of people read my books, and, let’s face it, those people aren’t the ones bringing about the decline and fall of our society. As for alienating readers, though, I have sometimes thought that I’d probably sell more books if I was a more ‘gentle’ storyteller, but then I wouldn’t be true to my work. It certainly would be nice to have the money from a ‘bestseller,’ but I didn’t start writing to get rich.” I told Pollock that I’d just completed an interview piece with

by Ken Kreckel

How much... violence is appropriate in a work? How graphically should it be portrayed? 10 | Features | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

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V IOL EN C E, A M E R I C A N S T Y L E

Te l l i n g that tale is an exciting thought to me. Certainly topical, given today’s economic pressures on the middle class. A worthy topic, some might say, for a writer described by one critic as “Nice guy, badass writer.” Pollock demurred, “Well, I’m not sure if I’m a badass writer, but I try to be a decent human being. Heck, I feed stray cats; I won’t kill an insect if I can get around it. What’s going on in America now is alarming and downright sickening, with the spread of government and individual corruption and greed and the rapid reduction of educational standards in the schools and universities and the rise of technological devices that cut people off from the physical world around them and seem to be as addictive as crack cocaine and on and on. I realize that I probably sound like an old curmudgeon, but striving to be a decent person is, I think, more important than anything now.” References: 1. Gary Jennings website, www.garyjennings.com 2. McGrath, Charles. “Writer remains the literary voice of Knockemstiff.” New York Times, page C1, 12 July 2011. Accessed 20 January 2012 from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/ books/donald-ray-pollock-still-the-voice-of-knockemstiffohio.html?pagewanted=all. 3. Minzesheimer, Bob. “‘The Devil All the Time’ unleashed in Appalachia.” USA Today website. Accessed 2 August 2011 from http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2011-07-09devil-all-the-time-review_n.htm.

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John Sayles, whose recent novel, A Moment in the Sun, is also quite violent, a violence which he uses as a way to highlight the injustice existing in late 19th-century America — essentially the powerful using power for their own ends, the consequences for others be damned. Pollock’s setting in The Devil All the Time is much later, post-World War II, but seems to convey the same type of injustice, or does it? Pollock replied, “Unfortunately, I haven’t read Sayles’ novel yet, but I can say that I wasn’t consciously attempting to portray any social injustice while writing The Devil All The Time. Look, I’m not what you would call a big ‘thinker.’ In all honesty, I was just trying to tell a story that people might want to read.” I decided to turn to Pollock’s career as a writer. I understood that he began writing using a unique method of preparation, essentially retyping the stories he admired from some of the great authors. I asked Pollock to comment on how he thought up that technique and how it helped him to write. “I didn’t come up with that technique. I read about it in an interview somewhere years ago, maybe one with Gina Berriault, though I’m not positive. Anyway, typing the stories got me so much closer to seeing how the writer, be it Hemingway or Cheever or O’Connor, put the story together. I probably copied out 75 stories on an IBM typewriter over an 18-month period, around one a week.” I noted that many authors struggle mightily until they get that “big break,” the one event or person that enables them to rise above the slush pile and get noticed. I asked Pollock if he had one of those moments, or a particular person, in his writing career. “Yes, in a way. While I was in the MFA program at Ohio State, I finished what I thought might be a collection of short stories and was getting ready to send it out to venues like the Flannery O’Connor Award and the Iowa Award when Nathaniel Jacks, an agent from NYC, read one of my stories (‘Lard’) in a small but great magazine called Third Coast. He emailed me asking if I had a book and if I needed an agent. Three or four weeks later I signed with Inkwell and within a month they had sold Knockemstiff to Doubleday. I was very, very lucky. I know many writers who are much better than me, but are still looking for a break like that.” I wondered if Pollock’s work contained a message for his readers, something with which he’d like them to come away, or if he were more of a observer, just trying to present things the way they are (or were, in the case of historical fiction). Pollock told me, “I’m definitely just an observer. I’m just trying to tell a story. I will say that I’d like to write a novel someday which details the fall of the middle class in America, which I believe is one of the main things that will eventually destroy us as a country. The Greeks knew 2500 years ago that the middle class was the backbone of the state, and without it things would descend into chaos. We’ve lost our way in the last 30-40 years, turned our backs on the Greco-Roman principles on which the country was founded, and that’s a sad tale that needs to be told.”

KEN KRECKEL is a former features editor for HNR with an abiding interest in the 20th century.

HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Features | 11

primary source documents freely accessible online

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Research in Your Pajamas

oes the state of your piggy bank mean you can’t afford D many research trips to distant museums and archives? Wouldn’t

documents waiting to be made public. Not every document in every archive may get digitized. Libraries and museums don’t you love to be able to do historical research on primary source always own the copyright to the documents they hold in their documents in your pajamas, from your home computer? vaults, and may not be able to obtain permission to make certain Libraries and other cultural institutions are increasingly making ones available to the public over the internet. that possible by offering free use of primary source documents Nevertheless, there are enough exciting digitized resources online. I’ve found oral history recordings, historic video clips, already available to make it worth your while to try the search full digital images of letters, music recordings, photographs, and techniques below. Even if the exact document you need for your early newspapers. research has not yet been put online, these Why would institutions make such searches may help you pinpoint a specific content available for free? Libraries are repository that would be worth your while trying to stay relevant to those computer to visit in person. users who think Google is the answer to every research question. Nonprofits such USING A WEB DIRECTORY as museums and libraries are aware of The web directories below provide lists competition from commercial websites of institutions which offer open-access, (eg, www.ancestry.com). The new reality digitized documents. All three provide of fewer bodies in the building means that international listings, especially useful libraries have found it necessary to route for novelists who write about geographic resources away from traditional paper locations distant from where they live: books and put them into digitization and OpenDOAR | http://www.opendoar. other e-projects. They want to persuade org lists open access repositories around you, the researcher, to use their online the world, and offers a search feature for resources, whether you live nearby or repository contents. Staff at University of halfway around the world. Nottingham (UK) check each repository My employer, Defiance College (located in the listing to ensure quality. in Defiance, Ohio, USA), has joined DSPACE | http://www.dspace.org/ the trend. For the last year I have been whos-using-dspace lists the many digitizing materials from our archives, with cultural institutions that use the DSpace the goal of making them available online to open source software package, which alumni and researchers. The photo on this manages digitized materials. The site lets page is an example of an item from this process, a photograph you search by country and type of institution. of students making light of being confined to campus for a week Repositories of Primary Sources | http://www.uiweb.uidaho. during a scarlet fever quarantine in 1917. edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html is hosted The benefit of this trend to historical novelists is clear: as more by the University of Idaho, compiled by Terry Abraham. It and more primary source images, videos, and other documents is a directory of repositories that have physical collections of are made available on the internet by libraries and museums, the primary resources, many of which also make digitized materials less traveling you may have to do to for your research. available on the internet. Now don’t get me wrong; I am not urging anyone to give up visiting museums and libraries. There is no substitute for the awe USING A SEARCH ENGINE of holding, or at least being in the same room with, an artifact If you are among the researchers who prefer to rely on search or document from the era that interests you. Also, there are engines like Google or Bing, you can use those engines to find reasons that the day may never come when historical novelists websites with digital primary source content. But it can be tricky can do all of their research over the internet. Many libraries are getting relevant sites to arrive near the top of your retrieval list. just beginning the digitization process, so there is a backlog of Here are some searching hints:

by B.J. Sedlock

Wouldn’t you...love to be able to do historical research on primary source documents in your pajamas, from your home computer?

12 | Features | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

SEARCHING GEOGRAPHICALLY Do you need to research historical events in a distant geographic region, and don’t know which repositories to look for? Many library and museum repositories located in a particular geographical area collect materials about the history of that area. Google Maps can help you locate them. Go to: http://maps.google.com and type in “universities” or “museums” and the geographic area you wish to research, such as: universities West Sussex universities Madrid museums Tennessee Roll your cursor over the little alphabetical flags that appear on the map, which will then display a pop-up of the name of the university/museum that flag is pointing to. You can then open a second browser window and search, as suggested above: digital repository [name of university or museum] to bring up the page of the university’s or museum’s website that may have a digital repository. If you are searching for institutions in non-English language countries, first make a stop at a translation website and get the local language’s equivalent of “digital repository” or “special collections.” Then search on that term plus the local language’s version of the university name: repositorio digital universidad complutense madrid If you don’t read the language, some websites include an option to translate their pages into English. PUBLIC LIBRARIES You may find additional repositories by substituting “libraries” for “universities,” which makes Google Maps retrieve many public library sites:

libraries Colorado will retrieve names of public libraries in Colorado. Large and medium public libraries, like their university cohorts, are also creating digital repositories for similar reasons. COMMERICAL WEBSITES THAT HOST ARCHIVAL MATERIALS Many cultural institutions are choosing Flickr’s Commons page to host some of their archival images: http://flickr.com/ commons. Museums, national libraries, and universities from all over the world are participating in this project. Institutions like the Smithsonian, the National Library of Scotland, and NASA are compiling channels of archival film clips on YouTube: www.youtube.com. Try searching on the name of the cultural institution and the word channel. FINDING STORY IDEAS HNS members who are between novels, trying to decide what to write about next, may also find the aforementioned search techniques useful to troll for documents that will yield story ideas. It can be an amusing lucky dip/grab bag game to see what you can find. I came across some websites that surprised me with their unexpected digitized content: oral histories by people from the area where I grew up, historical U.S. railroad timetables and restaurant car menus, and a podcast on how to win a duel. A researcher who came across the quarantine photo on the other page could be inspired to use college students in the 1910s for a novel’s setting. Imagine the trouble a house mother would have had, trying to keep a dorm full of teenage girls inbounds and out of trouble for a week! I hope that fellow HNS members who did not know about these resources will be able to make good use of the searching tips. While you may still have to travel now and then, the ability to preview some primary source material from your home computer may save you research time and money.

Links to these and other sites are all included here: http://libguides. defiance.edu/HNS.

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Use “digital library,”“digital repository,” or “special collections” along with a subject term. Examples: Special collections Conwy Castle leads to a collection of photographs of the Welsh castle, hosted by the University of St. Andrews Digital library Victorian fashion leads to a collection of Victorian fashion plates hosted by Claremont Colleges (see illustration at right) Digital repository San Francisco earthquake leads to the Online Archive of California site, which hosts a collection of images from the 1906 quake and fire. Many academic libraries have websites that end with .edu or .ac, sometimes with a country abbreviation; museums often use .org: Defiance College Library’s digital documents: http://memory.defiance.edu Oxford University’s Digital Library: http://www.odl.ox.ac.uk University of Western Australia’s library: www.library.uwa.edu.au Detroit Institute of the Arts: www.dia.org Scan your retrieved list for websites that use .org, .edu, or .ac suffixes. They will be more likely to contain library or cultural institutions’ free digital content than the .coms you may have also retrieved.

B.J. SEDLOCK has been a librarian at Defiance College (Ohio) since 1982. Besides writing reviews for HNR, her byline has also appeared in The Sondheim Review.

HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Features | 13

Myfanwy Cook examines the author’s effect on historical fiction

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Dickens’ Legacy

This year is Charles John Huffman Dickens’ bicentenary.

1859), is reputedly his best-selling novel. It is also a large He was born on 7 February 1812 in Portsmouth and died part of his legacy to historical novelists. The writing is draaged 58 at Gad’s Hill Place, Higham, Kent. Dickens re- matic, powerful and compelling and both the opening lines mains an iconic name in literature partly owing to the nu- (“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …”) and merous films, television series and musicals based on his Sydney Carton’s last words before he is guillotined (“It is a novels. The musical “Oliver” is a favourite both on the ama- far, far, better thing that I do, than I have ever done …”) are teur and professional stage and films like the 1946 version among his most often quoted passages. It is also factually of Great Expectations, directed by David Lean and star- accurate. Dickens was a devoted friend of Thomas Carlyle, ing John Mills, have become classics in the historian whose book, The French their own right. However, it is Dickens’ Revolution, published in 1837, became characters, wit, realistic descriptions his main source of reference. His only and skill as a storyteller that appeal to other historical novel is Barnaby Rudge, readers today, just as they did to the published weekly in Master Humphrey’s earliest readers of his works, like The Clock in 1841. Set in 1780 London, Old Curiosity Shop with its cliff-hangers against the background of the antiand chases culminating in the death Catholic Gordon Riots, it provides not of little Nell. His skill as a writer also only colourful and evocative descripenabled him to bring to the attention tions of the riots, but also demonstrates of the reading public social issues such how humour can be used to great effect as the poverty enshrined in his novels in historical fiction writing. Barnaby Hard Times and Oliver Twist. Rudge and his pet raven Grip are comic Dickens created over 980 characters. characters, as are Gabriel Varden’s wife Many of these inspired other noveland her maid. ists to add their own creative stamp Dickens’ legacy to historical fiction is and produce such memorable works A bust of the author from his home, now a museum, in part his use of real people – and even as Drood by Dan Simmons, Jack Maggs at 48, Doughty Street, London his own pet raven, which lived with his by Peter Carey and Mister Pip by Lloyd family at 48, Doughty Street – as modJones, while Miss Havisham features as a major character els to create memorable and engaging characters. He did in Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series. John Irving, Tom this often by acting out the roles of his characters in front Wolfe and Anne Rice are just some of the many other writ- of a large mirror, which is now on display at the Dickens’ ers whose work reflects the influence of Dickens. Museum in London. However, even more impressive was A Christmas Carol remains a firm favourite and has even his ability to combine historical accuracy with his distincbeen adapted to be performed by the Muppets, but sur- tive style of descriptive writing, which conjures up a sense prisingly, despite the popularity of this and many of his of time and place. Indeed it was a “far, far, better thing …” other novels, it is A Tale of Two Cities, one of his two his- that he did for the development and popularisation of historical novels, that has sold over 200 million copies. The torical fiction writing than he could possibly have imagined latter, Dickens’ fifth novel published in the author’s own when experimenting with the genre. new weekly journal All the Year Round (April – November

by Myfanwy Cook

It is... Dickens’ characters, wit, realistic descriptions and skill as a storyteller that appeal to readers today, just as they did to the earliest readers of his works.

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observations on the Novel Approaches Conference

ave historians become more responsive to historical H literature as authors have become more attuned to historical

research? This was one of the closing questions in the fascinating discussion between Hilary Mantel and David Loades at the Institute of Historical Research’s recent conference (17-18 November 2011, London), and the answer, echoed throughout the whole event, was a resounding “yes.” Mastery of the tools of literature gives historians the means to effectively communicate their ideas and discoveries to a wide audience; careful attention to the work of historians gives authors the building blocks with which to ground their stories convincingly in the past. “Truth is always more interesting than invention,” said Hilary Mantel so succinctly and provocatively; “the first requirement of an historical novelist is honesty,” and historians hold the keys to the factual truth. From historians much was heard about their indebtedness to literature, particularly the early influence of inspirational novelists. At its best, historical fiction has the power to “spark the latent historical imagination,” so said Paul Lay of History Today, and the best historical novelists are conscientious: “Conscientious about fact and conscientious about consciousness.” Ian Mortimer spoke of the revelations gained through reading and writing historical fiction, of understanding human nature in a different age — truth again, but a truth distinct from that of facts and dates: the truth about the human condition in other circumstances, faced with different challenges from those of today. But in the midst of this very well-informed and stimulating debate there were questions unspoken and issues unaddressed. Most noticeable to me was the preponderance of literary novels in the examples given of historical fiction from which historians might usefully gain insight. Homage was rightly paid to Hilary Mantel, Alan Hollinghurst, Pat Barker and William Boyd among many other literary greats. But when referring to the influences that had motivated current students to take up history, the remark was made, “Why does it always have to be Sharpe?” “Well, why not?”I’d like to ask.

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An Expanding Past

Bernard Cornwell is an author who not only consults the recognised historical texts in researching the backdrops to his stories, but reads the letters, walks the ground, and feels the soil. You get more than just the correct number of combatants in a battle he describes, you get an authentic sense of the terrain, and the sound and smell of the weapons. Elizabeth Chadwick is another author who could not be more assiduous in her attention to detail in her storytelling. At the conference she gave the example of her familiarity with medieval cooking pots as just one instance of the way in which she immerses herself in all aspects of the age in order to bring it alive for her readers. Yet hers was a lone voice among the academics and historians-turnednovelists: a non-historian writing wellrespected commercial fiction. It would have been interesting to have heard from more, though, given the remit of the conference, I can understand why we did not. What would other best-selling historical novelists have made of Paul Lay’s quip that, “Most historical fiction is tosh”? They might well have agreed. There was a general consensus that writers who perpetuate misconceptions and sow confusion about mores, settings and behaviour in the past are writers who offer nothing to historians and do a disservice to readers about history. But the best commercial historical fiction commits no such transgressions; the Tudor whodunits of CJ Sansom are just as authentic in their backdrops as the beautiful and fabulous stories of Rose Tremain. So what makes for “good” historical fiction when, as Alison Weir happily admitted, she will take liberties as a novelist which she never would as an historian? For her, even flimsy and contradicted evidence can be enough to weave a plot around with a storyteller’s licence. But if it is acceptable to develop a novel centred, for example, on the premise of Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl — to suppose that Anne Boleyn committed incest when the only evidence to suggest that she did is confession obtained under torture — when, put broadly, most historians

by Jenny Barden

However Hard... an author might try to project away from himself and into the characters and mindsets of another era, the author’s own viewpoints and opinions are liable to sully the process.

HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Features | 15

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The struggle for truth becomes particularly difficult when played out in the arena of the marketplace. To be viable commercially, historical fiction must pass the same “trial by ordeal” of acquisition and publication which almost dealt a death blow to Hilary Mantel’s first masterpiece, A Place of Greater Safety. Novels must also survive the vagaries of sale such as those which meant (as Peter Straus so engagingly explained) that AS Byatt’s Possession took off in the US mainly because of the Iraq War (the Americans couldn’t visit the UK, and got their nostalgia-fix for England by reading the book!). Alison Weir put it very well: the forces of consumerism are a threat to accuracy — “Commercial pressures can result in a dumbing-down.” But that’s recognising the dangers. There was a consensus that the opportunities for historians and novelists prepared to enter the commercial fray are better now than they’ve been for years thanks to an increase in general interest in the past. Of the nourishing food for thought I took away from the conference, perhaps the most satisfying was this: that historical fiction brings historians and novelists together to the same starting point on a journey back in time — to the new territory of the unexplored past. Hilary Mantel said that historical fiction is about “filling in the gaps,” venturing into those regions of the past that remain unmapped. For her it’s about charting what was never recorded — a voyage (as she put it) into thoughts and lost conversations in stairwells and behind screens. Suddenly, seen like that, how vibrantly exciting are the possibilities for the novelist, for if facts are the atoms of this material, then there must be a colossal amount of space between for the imagination — a space of endless potential under infinite magnification. What at first might appear dense and rigid becomes like a universe full of galaxies, and an expanding one at that, as more evidence is discovered and its implications explored. The facts of historical research are like stars and novelists are like astronauts in the spaceships of their own invention. How glorious a prospect for any writer is that! My deep thanks to Jane Winters and the rest of the team at the Institute of Historical Research for a first class conference. Podcasts of the presentations and discussions at the Novel Approaches Conference are available through HistorySPOT here: http://ihrconference.wordpress.com/category/lectures http://ihrconference.wordpress.com/category/lectures/page/2 The next Historical Novel Society Conference will be held on 29-30 September 2012 at the University of Westminster, Regent Street. For more information please see the HNS site: http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org/conference.htm

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would not consider the scenario probable, then why shouldn’t it be acceptable for any story to be developed for which there is no firm evidence to the contrary? Or is there an unacknowledged credit-ranking for historical fiction based on concordance with and reference to recorded facts, a ranking by which novels about known historical figures, bristling with reliable information, score more highly than novels about imaginary characters involved in adventures that are largely made up? Put another way, is it unacceptable to describe a Tudor townscape in which the timber and daub houses are painted back and white (we’re pretty sure they weren’t), but acceptable to have a plot in which the future Edward VII is Jack the Ripper (we’re pretty sure he wasn’t)? And if liberties are taken with the historical evidence in storytelling, then does the insertion of an explanatory author’s note somehow make this “all right”? Alison Weir spoke of using such notes to ensure her readers were not left confused about the history as a result of imaginative leaps she had taken; Hilary Mantel said that if she was to use footnotes to explain her sources then they’d be as long as her novels. These issues all arise by reference to the same basic question which hung in the air throughout most of the conference: how important is historical accuracy in making historical fiction worth reading? The answer, to my mind, was probably best supplied by Stella Tillyard when she said: “What makes Wolf Hall great is that Hilary Mantel is a great novelist, not that she is faithful to the facts.” Awareness of the facts is crucial to any historical novelist, but sound referencing alone will not make a good novel. Novelists seek a wider truth. “Living in the past” involved much more than recorded history. As Ian Mortimer made plain, our forebearers hundreds of years ago would have been preoccupied with basic needs: fear, love and loathing — all the minutiae of existence that has largely vanished without trace — and these truths about “being there” are what the novelist tries to convey. There’s probably no better example of the tightrope walked by novelists between historical accuracy and effective storytelling than that of diction. How should historical characters speak? Can a novelist ever manage to get it right? If his characters speak in modern-day English, that isn’t going to sound authentic; yet if they speak in the idiom of their time and place the likelihood is they’ll be unintelligible to readers now. The problem is compounded when considering characters who would have spoken in another language: how can they possibly be depicted accurately? This was just one of the dilemmas which were recognised as beyond perfect resolution. Another was that of tainting by subjectivity. To quote Hilary Mantel again: “Empathy is essential but it can be corrupting.” However hard an author might try to project away from himself and into the characters and mindsets of another era, the author’s own viewpoints and opinions are liable to sully the process. Historians are used to the demand for scrupulous objectivity in their research, but for a novelist, endeavouring to create empathy with the personalities of fiction, remaining impartial may be a failing rather than an asset, and partiality can distort truth. A similar conundrum derives from the reader’s own assumptions and values; these too will affect understanding and appreciation. The conveyance of truth in historical fiction is not an exact art; it is, as Hilary Mantel put it, “a constant compromise.” A novelist is: “Always trying to drag a satisfactory result out of a position that is inherently unstable.”

JENNY BARDEN is an artist-turned-lawyer-turned-writer whose debut novel, a Caribbean-set Elizabethan romantic adventure, is scheduled to be published by Ebury Press in September 2012. She is the Co-ordinator for the upcoming HNS London Conference, has previously organised “Get Writing” Conferences at the University of Hertfordshire, and moderated the Reader Awards for the UK’s inaugural Festival of Romance. More about Jenny can be found at www. jennybarden.com and Twitter @jennywilldoit

Reviews Due to an ever-increasing number of books being reviewed and space constraints within HNR, some reviews are now published as online exclusives. To view these reviews and much more, please visit http://www. historicalnovelsociety.org.

classical

THE GATES OF TROY Glyn Iliffe, Pan/Trafalgar Square, 2011, $12.95/£6.99, pb, 475pp, 9780330452526 Upon reading the back blurb, my husband quipped, “Another book about that guy.” Here comes Wise Odysseus again, this time in the leadup to the Trojan War. In this novel, he is provided with a fictional sidekick who will provide an outside point of view, the warrior Eperitus, who has been itching for a fight ever since he came to Ithaca with the king ten years ago. Iliffe knows the old story and characters well,

SPARTACUS: The Gladiator

and the famous scenes – Odysseus pretending to be mad as he sows a field with salt, the flight of Helen and Paris, the sacrifice of Iphigenia by her powermad father, even the manifestations of various Olympians – are all included. Having cut my teeth on Mary Renault, my standards for retellings of classic myth are high, but the author does a credible job. Setting and scene are beautifully presented and always evoke period and place. As expected, there is plenty of swordplay, wrestling, and plain, old bare-knuckle fighting. My only complaint is that occasionally I was knocked out of the story by modern language, e.g. “Forget Priam!” This novel is part of a series, The Adventures of Odysseus, so if you find it to your taste, the others should be also. Juliet Waldron

1st century

THE CORPUS CONUNDRUM: A Third Case from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger Albert A. Bell, Ingalls, 2011, $16.95, pb, 284pp, 9781932158960

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

Ben Kane, Preface, 2012, £12.99, hb, 448pp, 9781848093403 Thanks to Hollywood, Spartacus is one of the most familiar figures of Roman history, notorious and glorified for his slave rebellion in the 1st century BC. When reading Kane’s Spartacus, it is advised that you put everything you think you know behind you and immerse yourself in this enthralling recreation of the years that turned Spartacus from a noble Thracian warrior into a gladiator in Capua, finally becoming a figure feared and ridiculed by the Roman senate who sent against him army after army, ever increasing in size, only for them to suffer humiliating defeat. The figure of Spartacus inspires his men, moving the pages on fast, but there is much more to the novel. The history comes alive through Spartacus’s relationships with other people – Ariadne, priestess of Dionysus, who becomes his wife; Carbo, the bitter young Roman who finds his own identity through Spartacus; the mishmash of argumentative followers; and Crassus in Rome, who makes the destruction of Spartacus and his rabble his personal mission. This is the first in a series and so focuses not on the war with Rome as much as Spartacus’ efforts to rally slaves and gladiators together (no mean feat), giving them military training along with hope that they can defeat the might of Rome. The parallel story of Carbo helps to build a fascinating picture of the world that Spartacus opposes, and demonstrates that there is good and bad on both sides. There is also a lot of action, every bit as thrilling as you would expect from a tale of a great fighter. Ben Kane is a master of blending action, storytelling, living characters and historical and military detail. At the end of this novel, Spartacus will live in your memory, and he will be different from any incarnation you have encountered before. Highly recommended. Kate Atherton Classical — 1st Century

As the title suggests, this is the third book of a series featuring Pliny the Younger. Using Pliny’s first person point of view allows the author to insert occasional bits of exposition disguised as Pliny’s own thoughts. The Roman historian Tacitus is also brought into the story as a friend of Pliny’s, and as the sidekick off of whom Pliny can bounce ideas. The story revolves around a mysterious character named Aristeas, who has the habit of falling into a death-like condition on occasion – and then coming back to life. Pliny becomes involved in the case when he finds the “dead body” of Aristeas on his property. When the “body” disappears overnight, the mystery deepens, and there is speculation that this Aristeas might be the same Aristeas that Herodotus mentioned and whose soul, as some thought, had the ability to leave his body and then return. As the story progresses, a parade of strange characters begin to show up on Pliny’s property, some dead, some not. Among the living are two people claiming to be Aristeas’s children – with both denying the other’s claim. The book is well-written, and the characterizations are excellent. On the negative side, there are enough typos to fill the stable where Pliny stuffs the bodies that keep piling up. But this novel is more than just a typical who-doneit mystery because of the hints of Twilight Zone phenomena throughout. The bottom line is that it kept me interested. I had not read either of the first two novels in this series, but that is not necessary as this is a good stand-alone. The history is well researched, so for those who enjoy a little mystery with their history, I highly recommend this book. Barry Webb MASTER AND GOD Lindsey Davis, Hodder & Stoughton, 2012, £18.99, hb, 487pp, 9781444707328 / St. Martin’s, May 2012, $25.99, hb, 464pp, 9780312606640 More cloak-and-dagger than sword-andsandals, Master and God follows Emperor Domitian’s Rome (AD 80-96) through the eyes of ‘a reluctant hero’, Gaius Vinius Clodianus, and Flavia Lucilla, an imperial freedwoman who becomes a hairdresser for the imperial family. The love affair between Lucilla and Clodianus features prominently in the story as well as the palace intrigue. Like all of Lindsey Davis’s books, this is well researched and gripping enough to keep one coming back – so a pleasurable read. What I find particularly impressive is Davis’s ability to portray male characters, especially in the gorier moments when you might expect a female author to either refrain from explicit details or just simply present male behaviour in a way not believable to a man. HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 17

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

THE SONG OF ACHILLES

Madeline Miller, Ecco, 2012, $24.99/C$28.99, hb, 384pp, 9780062060617 / Bloomsbury, 2011, £18.99, hb, 368pp, 9781408816035 Whether you are fascinated by the history and the people of The Iliad, or you’re looking for an achingly good love story, or you want to escape from an overconnected world to one where gods, not gadgets, rule, this book is for you. Miller’s debut novel, a retelling of the life of Achilles through the eyes and voice of his lover Patroclus, is a tour de force of history, mythology, politics, and devotion. Most readers will know the basic storyline, and Miller stays true to the events portrayed in The Iliad while contributing her own insights. Here, she begins with the young Patroclus being banished from his father’s kingdom and sent as an orphan to Phthia, where King Peleus trained other such outcasts for battle. Peleus’s son, Achilles, befriends Patroclus, and the two young men are sent into the wilderness to be taught by Chiron, before heading to Troy for a tenyear war to rescue Helen from her captors. What Miller adds is depth, and life, to every character and facet of the story: Thetis, mother of Achilles, is a powerful, at times terrifying force; Odysseus is revealed as a thoughtful man not above using trickery to gain the advantage; Agamemnon, leader of the Greek army, is at times more evil than honorable. And of course there is the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, which starts as friendship and grows into a deep, undying love, even though both men know there can be no happy ending. Immersion into Miller’s world, with descriptions reminiscent of Mary Renault at her best, and not a single false note in the dialogue, is a true pleasure. Readers may suffer from withdrawal as they reluctantly finish this book, and this reviewer hopes to see more soon from this talented author. Helene Williams Because of this, my favourite character became the centurion Decius Gracilis – a sword-and-sandals type through and through. I do regretfully have some criticisms: there was a major overuse of semicolons, the book ironically loses pace at a time when events speed up towards the end, and I kept getting the urge to swat the fly on the front cover, as Domitian does in the book. The passage where the fly becomes the narrator seems rather out of place. Readers of this genre would find great appeal in the story. Recommended. Chris James PRAETORIAN Simon Scarrow, Headline, 2011, £18.99, hb, 350pp, 9780755353774 Praetorian is the 11th book in the series relating the careers of Prefect Cato and Centurion Macro. A consignment of silver bullion is stolen from under the noses of the Praetorian tribune sent to guard it and convey it to Rome, while back in the city wheat is running dangerously short and a new plot to assassinate the Emperor is suspected. It is up to Imperial Secretary Narcissus to sort it all out, and who better to call in than Cato and Macro. ‘The waiting is over,’ Narcissus says to them, ‘Your Emperor needs you again. Now more than ever.’ I fell in love with this series from the first one I read, and several now grace my bookshelves. Fast tracked into the Praetorian Guard under pseudonyms, Macro and Cato soon lose no time 18 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

THE DOVEKEEPERS

in finding out that the original task of discovering who is behind the assassination plot soon splits into various strands with many suspects. There is Cestius, the leader of a local criminal gang; Pallas, another close adviser to the Emperor and rival to Narcissus; Centurion Lurco and Optio Tigellinus; plus the covert organisation known as the Liberators, to name but a few. Simon Scarrow’s knowledge and understanding of 1st-century Rome is excellent, and he blends together the historical facts and characters to create a book that simply cannot be put down. Everything is there – the sights, sounds and even smells of Rome as well as totally believable characters. Highly recommended. Marilyn Sherlock

6th century

NINE FOR THE DEVIL Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, Poisoned Pen, 2011, $14.95, pb, 308pp, 9781590589960 This is the ninth and latest entry in the John the Eunuch series, set in the time of Justinian, the Eastern Roman emperor of the 6th century. John, a war veteran who was castrated after having fathered a daughter, serves as chamberlain to the emperor and is charged with investigating the death of Theodora, the colorful empress who has just died. Justinian wants him to prove that it was

E D I TORS’ C H OICE

Alice Hoffman, Scribner, 2011, $27.99/C$29.99, hb, 503pp, 9781451617474 / Simon & Schuster, 2011, £16.99, hb, 512pp, 9780857205421 A new book by Alice Hoffman is always cause to sit up and take note, and The Dovekeepers does not disappoint. Five women dominate the story, four of them taking a turn as narrator of their personal journeys to Masada, the hilltop citadel that was home to the last Jewish holdouts against Roman annihilation in 70 CE. Shirah, raised in Alexandria by a courtesan mother and known as the Witch of Moab, has two daughters – Aziza, who disguises herself as a man and fights in her brother’s place, and Nahara, who falls in love with an Essene and goes off to live a life of such austerity it pains others to watch. Together, they tend the dovecote at Masada, along with Yael, the daughter of a ruthless political assassin taking refuge there, and Revka, a baker’s wife, whose husband and daughter were murdered by the Romans. Their stories are unpeeled more than simply presented, revealing layers of personal griefs, forbidden loves, mind-numbing horrors, and private triumphs of the spirit. The tension builds as drought and famine take their toll on the hilltop fortress. Hoffman’s atmospheric prose has the reader staggering under the brutal sun and incessant dusty wind, and when the first Roman scouts are followed by a legion intent on destroying this rebel community, the tension catches the reader by the throat and does not let go. The outcome is never in doubt – Josephus tells us that only two women and five children survived the mass suicide before the successful Roman assault on the citadel. This is the story of those who survived and those who did not, bringing the reader closer to the daily life of women in those desperate times than has been achieved by any other novel to date. Laurel Corona 1st Century — 6th Century

a murder. The star of the series has been Theodora, the former entertainer (or prostitute, depending on whom you believe), so vividly slandered in Procopius’s Secret History. Even after her death, the taverns of Constantinople are alive with stories of how she used geese to pick grain from her private parts. Like any good detective, John is guided by motive (almost everyone in the empire hated her and wanted her dead), method (which can only be poison because there are no marks of violence) and opportunity (which no one had because she was isolated within the palace). Historic characters blend easily with the fictional creations, identified clearly in a character list in the beginning. John is a follower of Mithra, but he is discreet about it given the persecutions of the time. The history is accurate, and the mystery provides the reader with a number of clues, mostly deceptive. An entertaining read. James Hawking

12th century

A DEADLY PENANCE: A Templar Knight Mystery Maureen Ash, Berkley Prime Crime, 2011, $14.00, pb, 288pp, 9780425243367 When Aubrey Tercel is found murdered on the grounds of Lincoln Castle – slain with a crossbow from the castle’s armory – Templar Bascot de

Robert Lyndon, Sphere, 2012, £12.99, hb, 658pp, 9781847444974 England, AD 1072, and a Christian knight languishes in Anatolia, captive of Emir Suleyman. His ransom: four rare birds of prey, gyrfalcons to be taken as nestlings from icy, near-mythical Greenland; thence by sea and land, to reach the emir within one year. That is the quest, so perilous that there is bound to be loss of life – hawk and human. The men who undertake the journey have their own secrets and purposes. Vallon, the leader, an outcast tormented by guilt; Hero, possessor of dangerous knowledge; Wayland, hawk master, traumatised and mute, protected by the gigantic dogwith-no-name; Raul, craftier than he seems; Richard, a known coward – terrors ahead can’t be worse than the hell of home. Pursued by old enemies, this ill-assorted band soon includes women: Syth, a Fenland will-o-thewisp, and Caitlin, a haughty Icelander. And apart from nestlings, Wayland triumphantly captures a priceless treasure: a haggard, a pure white gyrfalcon that has already achieved full flight in the wild. Give time to Hawk Quest. Do not be tempted to skip anything: you may lose a small vital incident or a metaphor of startling originality that illuminates a whole scene. Does four pages devoted to raising a ship’s mast sound tedious? It is not; it is suspenseful near to screaming point. This magnificent novel has all the breathtaking cruelties and valour a lover of historical adventure and romance can wish for – the treatment of wounds will have readers gnawing their own fingers – but there is more: growing respect, affection and understanding between the little group of such diverse men and women engages those same readers’ feelings with an intensity that will surely mean tears before the end. The haggard gyrfalcon soaring, literally above all, learns to live in the world of humankind. Nancy Henshaw

CONQUEROR: A Novel of Kublai Khan E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

Conn Iggulden, Delacorte, 2012, $27.00, hb, 496pp, 978038534305 / HarperCollins, £18.99, hb, 464pp, 9780007271146 Conqueror is the story of the renowned scholar and warrior Kublai Khan, but it is also the tale of those men who shaped and opposed Kublai as he was maturing into a brilliant 13th-century Mongolian leader. It begins with Kublai’s brother Guyuk, a suspicious leader whose fears border on paranoia while he rules. Ironically, Guyuk is brought down by an unexpected, formidable enemy capable of breaching the strongest security measures. Kublai’s cousin, Mongke, then proclaims himself as Khan, one who deplores the weaknesses of the past government and one who will die by the hand of that same elusive enemy that killed Guyuk. Years before that happens, however, Mongke sends Kublai out to conquer more of China, a task Mongke believes Kublai will fail, as he has previously concentrated only on the skills of reading and studying. Instead, Kublai manages to combine fierceness with reason; he realizes, because of his scholarly nature, that he can leave behind those who obey out of fear or those who comply out of respect. These two aspects of the Khans’ rule are where the author most excels. Iggulden makes the reader quake with fear while reading some of the most horrific scenes of murder and torture, but in the next breath one is respecting and admiring the Khans’ wise decisions about where to be merciful and forgiving. We feel the unspoken depths of all of the Khans’ fears, doubts, and confusion that are potent, albeit temporary, moments in their trek to conquer the entire world. Kublai will declare himself Khan after conquering Xanadu, and he wants to continue his elusive quest to overcome the ancient, powerful empire of Sung China. Conqueror is a superb, fifth historical volume in this notable series depicting the lives of Genghis to Kublai Khan. Wonderful novel! Viviane Crystal 6th Century — 13th Century

E D I TORS’ CH OICE

HAWK QUEST

Marins is brought in to lead the investigation. He has a long list of potential suspects, including those who had attended the party the night of the murder, along with members of the furrier and winemaker guilds. But as de Marins uncovers more about the enigmatic Tercel, he must cast his net even wider. Could Tercel, a cofferer and known adulterer, be a bastard son of Richard Lionheart? Could this have motivated his murderer? Maureen Ash does a masterful job of drawing the reader into 12th-century England. She flavors her narrative with just enough detail about things like candle-making, the furrier trade, and Lincoln’s legal system to flesh the world out without slowing down the pace. This is the sixth installment in her Templar Knight mystery series, but this novel works just fine as a standalone. This reads as a cozy, good for cleansing the palate of heavier or darker content. Justin M. Lindsay

13th century

THE ROSE OF THE WORLD (A Hawkenlye Mystery) Alys Clare, Severn House, 2011, $28.95/£19.99, hb, 240pp, 9780727880239 / also pb, £11.99, 240pp, 9781847513434 In 13th-century England, we find a former abbess, Helewise, who has renounced her vows, deserted the nunnery, and is living with her lover. HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 19

No one in the environs seems to much mind this, which I found hard to believe. Trouble rears its head when Helewise’s granddaughter disappears. The author spins a convoluted tale of kidnapping and murder. King John figures in the story, and so do family relationships that are not what they seem. The revelations about who is actually related to whom provide some interesting plot twists. There is a madman at the center of the story, and he is well-drawn, sympathetic though potentially dangerous. However, this novel has an extensive cast of characters, and the frequent shifts in point of view made it difficult for me to care much about anyone in particular. The language and people’s thought processes are sometimes jarringly modern. King John seems a paper-thin creation as he laughs happily at the thought of inflicting a painful death on a close relative, and then a few chapters later changes his mind for the slimmest of reasons. All in all, I was disappointed. Phyllis T. Smith PERDITION James Jackson, John Murray, 2012, £12.99, hb, 369pp, 9781848540040 The last decade of the 13th century sees the Crusader city of Acre awaiting the final onslaught from an overwhelming Saracen army. Benedict, a 14-year-old orphan half-breed, is employed by William of Beaujeu, grand master of the Knights Templar, as a spy and deliverer of secret messages. Protected and at the same time exploited for his talents, the young man finds himself involved in a deadly game of intrigue, murder and survival where the greatest danger does not always come from the enemy. The pace from the opening pages to the final satisfying end is unrelenting. Once started, I found this book difficult to put down. The plot is fastpaced and gripping, while the characters are well formed and credible. The siege and the events leading up to it form an exciting framework for this well-researched and atmospheric novel. The culture and politics of the region are effectively evoked, bringing this whole bloody period to life. This is historical writing at its best. A real pleasure to read. More please! Mike Ashworth THE LION WAKES Robert Low, Harper, 2011, £7.99/C$17.99, pb, 412pp, 9780007337880 For me, this was a book of two halves. Each scene is vividly told, with unusual phrasing and a knowledgeable eye for detail. At the same time, the dialect and head-hopping point of view makes it hard to keep track of the many characters who progress the story in a disjointed and confusing way. There are wonderful descriptions of Scottish life in 1297, but the author is overly fond of using similes involving bulls, dying horses and generally revelling in the stinking vomit, blood and shite‑filled world his colourful characters inhabit. He mixes fictional and historical characters 20 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

with great success, and many are likeable. Nobles such as Buchan, Comyn, Balliol and Bruce struggle in Scotland’s civil war, hampered by the fact that not one of them wants to nail his true colours to the family flagpole. They have too much to lose by choosing the weaker side so split their families in order to run with both and retain what they have. Only landless Wallace stands for the idea of a free, united Scotland. The nobles, of course, resent him because he isn’t noble, isn’t one of them. Edward I, the English king, is a further complication. Many of the Scottish nobles, with great-grandparents who came from Norman France with William the Conqueror, want to retain the lands they hold in England. Edward, of course, expected their loyalty when he declares war on the Wallace faction in Scotland. In this maelstrom, those who suffer most are the landless poor. I enjoyed this book and was frustrated by it in equal parts, but I recommend it for those who prepared to settle down and read slowly. An easy read it most certainly is not. Jen Black THE SISTER QUEENS Sophie Perinot, NAL, 2012, $15.00/C$17.50, pb, 432pp, 9780451237501 Marguerite and Eleanor are sisters, Savoyards living in the 13th century. Each young Provençal girl is married off to a king – Marguerite to Louis IX of France, Eleanor to Henry III of England. They are heartbroken to be divided because, despite their obvious personality differences, they are blood and family, a theme that will play out time and again in this, Perinot’s debut novel. As Queen of England, Eleanor is adored by her husband and protected by her Savoyard family. As Queen of France, Marguerite is brutally despised by her mother-in-law, Blanche of Castile, and generally, banished to the back burner by her

A PLAY OF HERESY

husband, the man who would come to be known as Saint Louis because of his devotion to Christianity. Yet, each woman, in her own right, plays a significant role in the times beyond the norms of childbearing and rearing. And each woman wants the love of her husband and of her sister queen across the Channel. Each is given an equal voice via a technique that I typically find annoying and distracting – alternating chapters told in first person, but in Perinot’s hands, it is comfortable and workable. Notwithstanding their physical distance and despite their often tumultuous relationship, the sisters survive the rocky times and are finally reunited after 19 years of separation. From the author’s note, it seems clear that this détente was the beginning of a time of true unity between England and France – spearheaded by the sisters. Marguerite and Eleanor are fully-fleshed out characters; they are products of their time and place, which Perinot establishes in fine form. I even have respect for – if not fully buy into – Perinot’s research about a full-blown romantic relationship between Marguerite and Jean de Joinville, the king’s seneschal. In the end, this is a fine debut, and I will look for Perinot’s next work. Ilysa Magnus A KILLING SEASON Priscilla Royal, Poisoned Pen, 2011, $14.95, pb, 240pp, 9781590589496 Prioress Eleanor of Tyndal of the Order of Fontevraud and her companion arrive at a castle on the English coast to help a family in crisis. Not only has the lord of the castle, Baron Herbert, forsaken his wife’s bed, but one by one, their grown sons are dying under suspicious circumstances. Is it murder, or has the Devil taken possession of them? With the help of Royal’s cast of characters, Eleanor and her brother seek to unravel the secrets which

E D I TORS’ CH OICE

Margaret Frazer, Berkley, 2011, $15.00/C$17.50, pb, 290pp, 9780425243473 During the reign of Henry VI, Joliffe the Player returns to his travelling troupe as they prepare to assist the citizens of Coventry to stage their annual mystery plays. Within common memory, Coventry had been rocked by Lollard heresy, and the disappearance of a merchant between Coventry and Bristol might be linked. Joliffe investigates while he tries to whip the least inspiring of the plays into shape. In a wonderful, detailed author’s note, Frazer describes the opportunity she had to attend a recreation of the Coventry guild plays at the University of Toronto. How I wish I’d been there! This novel, so much more than a historical mystery, may be as close as I’ll ever get. The detail and recreation of the players’ craft are brilliant. She has clearly acted, but readers are so lucky she didn’t decide to restrict her skills to that calling. Every detail, physical and emotional, is spot on. And where other later installments in other mystery series can leave the novice reader floundering, I know these characters from the beginning pages. Ann Chamberlin 13th Century

plague the family. In this 13th-century thriller, medieval medicine and piety play major roles. Although the story is quite dark at times, Prioress Eleanor always lends balance and good sense to the narrative. The characters are true to their era in outlook and behavior; they are all involved in their own personal struggles and come to greater self-knowledge by the end of the story, although, as in real life, it is clear that each soul is a work in progress. The nature of marital love is explored as well as the commitment of the religious life, each vocation having its joys and challenges. The beauty of true friendship, as people in the Middle Ages understood it, shines through all the storms which surround the beleaguered castle, replacing an old curse with a new blessing. I highly recommend the novel for those who love both mysteries and medieval tales. Elena Maria Vidal

14th century

A PARLIAMENT OF SPIES Cassandra Clark, Minotaur, 2012, $25.99, hb, 320pp, 0312595743 / Allison & Busby, 2012, £19.99, hb, 320pp, 9780749009625 This fourth installment featuring Abbess Hildegard is set during the tumultuous times of the reign of Richard II in the 14th century. The series focuses on Hildegard and some of her loyal friends as they try to uncover various treasonous and murderous plots. The mistrust between the barons and the king is highlighted as Hildegard investigates the mysterious deaths that occur around Archbishop Neville’s retinue. The archbishop trusts Hildegard with secrets and relics as she progresses through England, looking over her shoulder for her husband who was once declared dead. Although there well may be a fascinating history behind Hildegard, newcomers to the series are left wondering who exactly she is. While one would expect the term “abbess” to refer to a religious woman, Hildegard’s actions are not those of one who is immersed in religion; in fact, her thoughts illuminate her doubting faith. The dramatic times of unrest in which Henry Bolingbroke made a name for himself are marginalized, and the entire story is dull and lackluster. The book appears well-researched, but I felt no empathy for the characters, making this a tedious read with politics and character so generalized that the story misses the mark. Perhaps the novel is better suited for readers familiar with Hildegard and knowledge of the political machinations among the factions surrounding Richard II’s courtiers. Marie Burton TO TOUCH THE KNIGHT Lindsay Townsend, Zebra, 2011, $6.99/ C$7.99, pb, 346pp, 9781420106985 1349. In order to escape Giles, their brutal overlord, Edith of Warren Hamlet disguises 14th Century — 16th Century

herself as a princess of Cathay and the members of her village as her entourage. She knows the masquerade carries a death sentence if they are caught, but to her mind, it is the only way to survive. At least they are fed and treated as guests as they travel around England. Sir Ranulf of Fredenwycke is a widower mourning his late wife, not out of love, but from guilt. He has no interest in any women, except the mysterious princess from Cathay. But Giles is Ranulf ’s good friend and comrade-in-arms. Only Ranulf stands between Edith and her former lord and death. Love finally conquers all. There are flaws in this story. The concept of Edith, a medieval English peasant, disguising herself as a princess stretches credibility to the breaking point. Ranulf is at turns obnoxious and lovable, but with little in between. However, the subplot of how Ranulf reacts when he learns of his friend, Giles, and the cruel treatment he deals out to the villagers under his authority, is far more interesting. Monica E. Spence

15th century

A PLACE CALLED ARMAGEDDON C.C. Humphreys, Orion, 2011, £16.99, hb, 461pp, 9781409114864 The fall of Christian Constantinople to the Turks is a historical fact, but knowing this in no way detracts from the narrative. This book is more than the story of the fall of Constantinople; it is also the story of a cast of fictional characters. A mercenary returns from exile and meets his twin brother who betrayed him. The girl he once loved is now married to his brother and is forced to choose between them. A sorceress also plays a significant part in his return. This excellent book is told from both sides of the religious divide. The Sultan is a young man given to wild outbursts of rage but with a brilliant tactical mind. The Emperor of Constantinople is equally interesting, a heroic and intelligent man. The fictional characters are woven seamlessly into the mix and their stories add a compelling, page-turning thrust to the main event: the fall of Constantinople. The battle scenes are exciting and authentic and suitably gruesome. I knew little about the 1453 siege of Constantinople before I read this book, but now I have a realistic picture of what it must have been like for the citizens and the soldiers. Everything about A Place Called Armageddon is exactly as it should be – from the brilliant narrative to the perfect cover. This is my first C.C. Humphreys book, but it will not be my last. A brilliant novel – a tour de force – very highly recommended. Fenella Miller KING’S GOLD Michael Jecks, Simon

Trafalgar Square, 2011, $24.95/£19.99, hb, 518pp, 9780857201119 / also pb, £12.99, 9780857201119 Here is a tale about the costs of remaining loyal when the tides of favor imprison King Edward II, while his queen, Isabella, and her lover Sir Roger Mortimer take over ruling England in the year 1326. Violence swirls in the early days of the king’s imprisonment and the execution of his right-hand man, Sir Hugh le Despenser. Three brothers who belong to the House of Bardi, a notable banking family centrally located in Italy but with powerful connections now in England as well, are enmeshed in the turmoil. One dies, and another, Matteo, is almost murdered and wonders if it was his own brother or someone else who wished him dead. Certain funds that they send to support the old king become the center of this mystery, a chest of coins that a monk cannot wait to be rid of but which causes the death and suffering of many. At the same time, a plan to free the king from a fortress castle is hastily attempted and thwarted as quickly. It is decided that the old king must be transferred to a more secure castle, and that journey fosters more deaths and a search for justice. It takes a long time before the actual murder mystery part of the novel appears, but Jecks does a fine job of presenting the tension of mistrust and desire for security and survival in a world where loyalty has gone awry. King’s Gold depicts real 14th-century life in all classes and dimensions. Viviane Crystal THE MIDSUMMER CROWN (Roger the Chapman Mysteries) Kate Sedley, Severn House, 2011, $29.95/£19.99, hb, 256pp, 9780727880192 This is a locked room mystery with a fascinating historical backdrop. It is set in England during the months in 1483 between the death of Edward IV and the assumption of the crown by Richard III. Roger, a peddler and sleuth, is asked by none other than Richard to investigate the puzzling murder of a tutor and the disappearance of his pupil. Sedley gives us a Richard who is neither a monster nor a saint, decent in many ways but a ruthless enemy. His wife, Anne, is not the usual sweet creation but a loving spouse who is also Warwick’s ambitious daughter. Richard’s mother and the nephew whose crown he will snatch also spring to vivid life. The mystery itself is interesting enough, though the purely fictional characters seem a bit flat next to the royals. I did not find the resolution completely believable. Along the way, we get vivid glimpses of Richard and members of the royal family as he prepares to claim the crown. The remarkably good features of this novel are the deft sketch of history and the psychologically astute renderings of real historical personages. Phyllis T. Smith

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Schuster

16th century

UK/ HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 21

AT THE MERCY OF THE QUEEN Anne Clinard Barnhill, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2012, $14.99/C$16.99, pb, 448pp, 9780312662134 Margaret “Madge” Shelton of Norfolk, Anne Boleyn’s pretty 14-year-old cousin, becomes ladyin-waiting to the new queen, accompanied to court by her nurse and her dog. An excited participant in Anne’s coronation, she soon discovers her cousin’s uneven temper and determination to keep King Henry in thrall to her. As she settles into court life, she also has cause to be wary of the ambitious Boleyns, who expect her to aid their advancement. As well as befriending court luminary Sir Thomas Wyatt, she is courted by the obnoxiously lecherous courtier Sir Henry Norris. (The title-challenged author erroneously refers to them as “Sir Wyatt” and “Sir Norris.”) But ever since her arrival in London, Madge has fancied only one man— Arthur Brandon, a duke’s illegitimate son. After Anne bears a daughter rather than the longed-for son, she begins to fear that Henry’s straying eye will alight upon an enemy—plainfaced Jane Seymour. To prevent this, she urges Madge to become the king’s mistress, as Anne’s sister Mary once was. Madge agrees but assures Arthur that she will lie first with him before going to Henry—his acceptance of this offer is a hint of the breaches in logic that follow. The king’s affair with Madge is brief, and he is inclined to marry her to Norris. Anne miscarries a son, and her well-known downfall is accurately charted. Leaving court, Madge finds herself married to a Norfolk landowner but carrying a lover’s child. The conclusion of her tale requires significant suspension of disbelief. Fans of Tudor court stories will appreciate Barnhill’s fine descriptions of pageantry and her effective depiction of Henry and Anne and their relationship. Unfortunately this novel is marred overall by stilted dialogue, character inconsistencies, and an unlikely and incomplete resolution. Margaret Barr THE CROWN Nancy Bilyeau, Touchstone, 2012, $24.99/ C$28.99, hb, 448pp, 978145626858 / Orion, 2012, £12.99, pb, 416pp, 9781409133070 Nancy Bilyeau’s debut novel begins in London in 1537, where the narrator, Joanna Stafford, a novice nun, breaks the sacred rule of enclosure to be at her cousin’s side when the cousin is burned for treason. Along with her father, Sir Richard, Joanna is arrested for interfering with the king’s justice. Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, offers to help Joanna’s father if Joanna will agree to return to Dartford Priory to find a relic of great power once worn by Saxon King Athelstan. This crown has been lost for centuries, but Gardiner believes whoever has it in his possession cannot be defeated, and he wants to use the crown himself to save the monasteries of England. Joanna has no choice but to agree and returns to her priory to accept the punishment and unwelcoming presence of most of the nuns. As Joanna begins to search for the crown, she realizes 22 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

the two monks who escorted her to the priory have also been sent by Gardiner, and together they continue their task. Betrayal and murder ensue – whom, exactly, can Joanna trust? I found the view into life in the cloister to be of great interest in this novel. Bilyeau captures the frustration of those who are told, suddenly and without choice, to change their faith. The rituals and relics which had been so meaningful are taken away with little to fill the gap, especially for those who cannot read (most of the populace). The monks and nuns are uprooted from their homes, often with no compensation. The spunky character of Joanna Stafford may not seem very nun-like, but she is determined to do all she can to save her treasured way of life. Anne Clinard Barnhill AT THE KING’S PLEASURE (Secrets of the Tudor Court) Kate Emerson, Gallery, 2011, $16.00, pb, 351pp, 9781439177822 The successful author of Pleasure Palace, Between Two Queens and By Royal Decree returns us to the ever-popular Tudor court and another real historical character, Lady Anne Stafford. Although her brother, Edward third Duke of Buckingham (later to be accused of treason), carefully provides a second husband for Lady Anne when her first dies, the young Henry VIII sets his eye on her, too. Courtier William Compton is the gobetween – and another love interest. In spite of her innocence, her husband sends her away from court to a convent – where there are more scandalous goings-on. Emerson knows her stuff and provides us with a map, genealogical chart as well as pages and pages of true biographies of everyone including the misbehaving nuns – of whom more could be told within the fictional pages. A missed opportunity! Ann Chamberlin IAGO David Snodin, Henry Holt, 2012, $28.00/£20.00, hb, 464pp, 9780805093704 Iago, Shakespeare’s famous villain, has escaped from Cyprus, leaving a trail of corpses behind him. He falls into the hands of Annibale Malipiero, Chief Inquisitor of Venice, who comes up with a method to get Iago to talk: he will imprison him with 15-year-old Gentile Stornello, Desdemona’s bookish, blundering cousin. Alternating between a third-person narrative and Gentile’s first-person narrative, this is a clever and lively novel, with a rich cast of characters and a nice blend of adventure, romance, humor, and psychological drama. Snodin, a television producer who has worked on the BBC’s Shakespeare series, endows his narrative with suitably Bardic touches, though one needn’t be familiar with Othello or Shakespeare’s other plays to enjoy this novel. The mix of third-person and first-person narratives, which in the wrong hands can be clumsy, is skillfully deployed here. In his author’s note, Snodin cheerfully admits to

taking liberties with both Shakespeare’s play and with his historical setting, but it’s clear that he has a deep respect for both. Susan Higginbotham

17th century

ACCIDENTS OF PROVIDENCE (US) / THE GLOVEMAKER (UK) Stacia M. Brown, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, $25.00, hb, 247pp, 9780547490809 / Arrow, 2012, £6.99, pb, 384pp, 9780099553687 Set in England during Cromwell’s interregnum, Accidents of Providence centers on Rachel Lockyer, a glove maker’s apprentice accused of murdering her illegitimate child. After moving to London, Rachel and her brother Robert become acquainted with the malcontent society called the Levellers; they are unhappy that the war that should have freed the common people seems to have stopped with Cromwell. When Robert wants to join them, Rachel accompanies him and meets William Walwyn, a married Leveller with whom she begins an affair. When Rachel’s employer, Mary Du Gard, sees her sneak into the night, she follows Rachel and sees her bury a small bundle. Mary returns the next day to dig the bundle up, finding an infant. Was the infant stillborn? Did Rachel kill her baby? Who is the father? So begins the investigation and trial of Rachel Lockyer for the murder of her spurious issue. The story follows Rachel, the accused; William, her lover; Thomas Bartwain, the tired investigator who can’t look away from the story; John Lilborne, the Leveller leader who looks to turn every death into martyrdom; and John’s wife, Elizabeth, Rachel’s closest friend and Leveller in her own right. All the characters are changed because of Rachel’s plight, and the author eloquently portrays the confusion ordinary people must have felt in the days of the Protectorate. However, I felt as though I was just thrown into the story as narrated by the author and never really got inside the heads of these complex characters; their personalities seemed only skin deep. The author has beautiful phrasing, however, and her sentences are often poetic and thought-provoking. With a little more character development, this would have been a truly engrossing novel. As this was the author’s first novel, it shines with potential, and I look forward to reading her next work. Cynthia McArthur THE JUDAS BLADE John Pilkington, Hale, 2011, £18.99, hb, 222pp, 9780709093517 Betsy Brand, an actress in the relaxed culture of Restoration England, is doing well financially, but her friends and family are not. Being an allround nice person, she decides to help them out. Unfortunately, the only way to acquire the sums needed is to visit an old acquaintance, Lord Caradoc, who had been keen to recruit her as a 16th Century — 17th Century

“Crown Intelligencer” – basically a spy – and to accept his offer. Caradoc is short of female agents with acting abilities, and Betsy is immediately thrown into uncovering a Republican plot. This involves assuming a variety of identities in England and the United Provinces, and a succession of assaults, murders, interrogations, thefts and all the other activities that go with a career in espionage. Period feel is rather lacking. There is not enough description of the world Betsy inhabits, and generally she comes over as being too modern, too heroic and altogether too lucky. Her acceptance as an agent by her colleagues is far too convenient, and their foibles, although interesting, are also very clichéd. As I was collating these shortcomings in my mind, I suddenly realised I had read a third of the book in one sitting! It might be rather lightweight, but The Judas Blade is a real page-turner. The steady unravelling of the plot is genuinely exciting, and there is a lot of fast-paced action, although the final resolution is a bit flat. There are far worse ways of spending your time. Martin Bourne JOSEFINA’S SIN Claudia H. Long, Atria, 2011, $16.00/C$18.99, pb, 342pp, 9781451610673 A perplexing prologue draws the reader into this lusty story of Josefina María del Carmen Asturias, who became the wife of Don Manuel de Castillo, a landowner in Mexico. The reader will not discover until the final pages how she came to be stricken with a palsy that leaves her mute and lame. She is tended in a convent by Doña Angélica, her husband’s mistress, and even still she yearns for her husband. She is but 27, and on slips of paper, she begins to write. In the year 1689, when Josefina arrives at the Court of the Marquesa and her salacious husband, the Marqués, little does she know that the short time at court will feel like a lifetime. Educated by nuns, separated from Manuel, consumed by forbidden love, subjected to despicable, depraved carnal acts and the grip of the Spanish Inquisition, she can now tell her story. She must write to heal from her sins. The author was inspired to write this story by the subject of her senior thesis, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Sor Juana was a controversial writer of poems, plays and sonnets, and the poems published in Josefina’s Sin are hers. Even in the shadows of the Inquisition, her bold words promoted the right for women to be educated. A 17th-century feminist, she chose to be a nun to pursue her passion for knowledge and writing. The author brings the two women together when Sor Juana becomes Josefina’s mentor and rival. Sensually spicy, Josefina’s Sin is a woman’s journey of personal discovery and pain that will beguile you with temptation and curiosity – truly unforgettable. Wisteria Leigh

17th Century — 18th Century

A SHIP FOR THE KING Richard Woodman, Severn House, 2011, $28.95/£19.99, hb, 224pp, 9780727880789 Having first gone to sea at the age of sixteen, spending the better part of forty years in various nautical posts, and then becoming one of England’s foremost historians of the British Merchant Navy, Richard Woodman writes maritime historical fiction with an authority few others possess. He’s penned thirty novels, most notably the Nathanial Drinkwater series set during the Napoleonic Wars. Woodman’s latest book, A Ship for the King, explores the role of the Merchant Navy leading up to the English Civil War. The novel’s protagonist, Kit Faulkner, is an orphan who lives on scraps from Bristol’s docks. Two merchant seamen, one a former privateer, Sir Henry Mainwaring, find Kit and take him under their care, dubbing him ‘Mr. Rat’. Over the years, Kit grows into a competent seaman, eventually captaining his own ship and running a successful merchant operation. But Sir Henry has not nurtured Kit to be a merchant. Civil war is brewing in England, and Sir Henry needs both men and ships for King Charles. Torn between his Puritan in-laws and Sir Henry, Kit attempts to remain neutral. But neutrality is the first casualty in the conflict, and Kit must decide if he is a king’s man or a Parliamentary man. Rich in historical detail, A Ship for the King is a must read for those interested in maritime adventure and the English Civil War. Patricia O’Sullivan

18th century

THE PEARLS OF TANGIER Sam Benady & Mary Chiappe, Rock Scorpion Books, 2011, £8.99, pb, 290pp, 9780955246555 This is the third book in the Bresciano Mysteries series, but it works perfectly well as a standalone read. This particular novel is set mainly in Tangier, as the title suggests, and it follows the fortunes and investigations of Giovanni Bresciano, a likeable and astute amateur detective from Gibraltar. He is asked to go to Tangier on a family rescue mission because his young sister has become unsuitably entangled in a possible love affair with a certain Percival Aziz Rogers, who features prominently in later plot developments. Arriving in Tangier, Bresciano is confronted with a murder and serious theft case which he must solve in order to save the day. With the help of a local street boy and Dr Lemprière, a real life surgeon who was sent to try to help the emperor’s son keep his sight, Bresciano must find out who committed the murder the Scandinavian guard and try to recover the lost pearls of the title. The novel is well plotted with the usual red herrings and subplot complications, and the characters are strongly conveyed. The time period of 1789 and the exotic setting permeate the novel without overpowering the action or the characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed this light but well researched novel. It is reminiscent of Agatha Christie in the way it has a limited number of suspects and with various secrets being revealed along the way. Recommended. Ann Northfield THE TURNING OF ANNE MERRICK Christine Blevins, Berkley, 2012, $15.00, pb, 448pp, 9780425236796 This sequel to The Tory Widow takes place in 1777. Widow Anne Merrick has infiltrated General Burgoyne’s British army as a peddler selling writing supplies during the Revolutionary War. She gleans information through “friendly” conversations with the officers and their wives, which includes a flirtation with a handsome British captain. Through secretive actions, she sends the details of troop movements to her lover, Jack Hampton, a scout for General Washington. Jack keeps an eye on her while performing as a sharpshooter during the battles. After the battle of Saratoga, Anne escapes the British and rejoins Jack during the freezing winter at Valley Forge. Soon General Washington recruits Anne to set up a coffee shop in Philadelphia to continue her intelligence gathering. Anne is confronted by a man from her past she thought dead, who captures her to have her executed for treason. The setting feels authentic, and the drama and action compels you to turn the pages. Having not read the first book, I wanted to know more about these characters and their motivations. Jack, Anne, and their close friends often behave like teenagers on a romp rather than persecuted patriots involved in a serious war. Jack especially seems immature and indiscreet when it comes to his relationship with Anne. His insistence on being intimate with her in the midst of her spying puts their lives in too much peril. Blevins’s research is impeccable, and the details of everyday life in this time period are masterful. The last scene sets up what must be a third book in the story. Diane Scott Lewis THE DANGER OF DESIRE Elizabeth Essex, Kensington, 2011, $14.00/ C$15.95, pb, 374pp, 9780758251589 If a reader is looking for a sexy romance that has more than a thin wash of 1799 realism in it, one needn’t look further than Elizabeth Essex’s latest. Yes, there’s plenty of lusting and bedding, but there’s an appealing story here too. Naval Captain Hugh McAlden is a military spy – a creature looked down upon in an era that viewed espionage as “ungentlemanly.” Hugh is ahead of his time; he knows how important information is, and he’s willing to take risks to get it. When faced with a dangerous mission, he’s the first to admit he needs someone clever to work with. Someone nearly invisible. So he recruits a common street thief with an uncommon ability to snatch a purse without the owner even realizing HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 23

it’s gone. Meggs Tanner is caught in the act by the young officer, and though she knows he’s using her, she sees him as a means to escape the grim streets and her life of crime. Granted, the novel is a classic romance at its roots, with graphic sex scenes. However, Essex provides a sufficiently realistic backdrop in which her hero and heroine frolic. Meggs is endearing in her desire to protect her young brother and rise above her gritty fate, while McAlden is a lover for all times. An entertaining read! Kathryn Johnson THE SCOTTISH PRISONER Diana Gabaldon, Delacorte, 2011, $28.00, hb, 534pp, 9780385337519 / Orion, 2011, £18.99, hb, 560pp, 9781409130970 I admit it – I am a major Diana Gabaldon fan and a particular devotee of her Lord John Grey character. To say I was eager to savor and review her newest in the series, The Scottish Prisoner, is an understatement; as with all favored authors, I worried if Lord John would captivate me once again. Added into my concern was the inclusion of my hero Jamie Fraser as a major point-of-view character: would this novel derail my enthusiasm for both men? Thankfully, the answer is no, and my fascination remains intact. The Scottish Prisoner’s main focus is, of course, Lord John Grey, as he again finds himself needing to investigate a fellow officer’s potential criminal activity at the behest of his brother the duke. Upon examination of the situation, both men decide that their best bet lies in the use of Jacobite prisoner Jamie Fraser, whose knowledge and skills will bring them closer to trapping their man. Jamie is reluctant to leave Helwater, the estate where he is serving part of his sentence for the Jacobite Rebellion, as his secret and only son is there; he realizes he has no choice, however, and finds himself partnered with Lord John. The two men exchanged heated words the last time they were together; will they be able to solve this mystery and perhaps repair the threads of friendship? There is quite a bit of set up for the first 150 pages or so, and Lord John continues to grapple with his feelings for Jamie. Jamie is the Jamie we love: strong, canny, devoted. Actually the mystery itself is secondary to the story of friendship broken and reforged. The stories of both men blend brilliantly and are heartrending, and Gabaldon’s storytelling is in top form. Highly recommended. Tamela McCann SUP WITH THE DEVIL Barbara Hamilton, Berkley, 2011, $14.00/ C$16.50, pb, 323pp, 9780425243206 Barbara Hamilton’s third book in the Abigail Adams Mystery series is set on the cusp of the American Revolution, and her husband, John, is up to his neck in rebellious activity with the Sons of Liberty. But it isn’t John who has Abigail worried in this book; it is her nephew, Horace, a student at Harvard and a bit of a hypochondriac, who finds himself involved with a shady lady who goes by the 24 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

name of Mrs. Lake. When Horace’s dear friend, George Fairfield, ends up murdered in his room, though Fairfield is a Tory, Abigail sets out to find his killer. This chase leads Abigail and Horace to a house of ill repute, an abandoned stone castle in the middle of nowhere, a clutch of ancient books that someone wants very badly, and Mr. Fairfield’s slave, Diomede, who is jailed for the murder. Hamilton recreates the turmoil of the times and the dangers that lurk around every colonial corner when one group of people is in rebellion against the ruling class. Abigail Adams is full of courage and cleverness as she inspects the world around her. The relationship between her and her husband, captured for us in their charming letters, is echoed in this novel and a pleasure to read. As Abigail Adams is one of my favorite heroines, I’m delighted to find her a sleuth on her own in this series. Anne Clinard Barnhill THE POWER & THE GLORY William C. Hammond, Naval Institute, 2011, $29.95, hb, 256pp, 9781612510521 The decade between the end of the American Revolution and the War of 1812 was a crucial challenge for the United States. Lacking a navy, and with mere remnants of an army, the fledgling country was described by Alexander Hamilton as “A nation, despicable in its weakness, [which] forfeits even the privilege of being neutral.” That nation desperately needed to establish itself as an independent entity in the eyes of Great Britain, and of America’s erstwhile ally, France. Meanwhile, France used nearby possessions in the Caribbean to harass American shipping; seizing cargos and ships, and slaughtering their crews. The United States needed to protect its ships and exports – and quickly – or it would founder. In 1794, Congress ordered the building of six frigates for the newly formed Navy; ships of war crammed with cannons and Marines, and built of live oak, a wood so dense that cannonballs bounced off the ships’ flanks as though they were made of iron. The Power & the Glory is the newest offering in William Hammond’s award-winning series about the seafaring Cutler family. Two previous books covered the Cutlers’ naval service during the American Revolution, but Power is a fine stand-alone read. Hammond offers a deft blend of fictional and real characters which range the American coast from Massachusetts to Barbados, as Lt. Richard Cutler rises in the new American Navy. Hammond’s meaty tale climaxes in 1800 with a splendid ship duel between the newly-built U.S.S. Constellation and La Vengeance. This battle alone is so thrilling that I am now eager to look up Hammond’s previous works, and I heartily recommend The Power & the Glory. Jo Ann Butler THE ANATOMIST’S APPRENTICE Tessa Harris, Kensington, 2012, $15.00/C$16.95, pb, 310pp, 9780758266989 In 1781, when young Lord Crick dies of

convulsions, his sister Lydia seeks the help of Dr. Silkstone to ascertain the cause. Silkstone is a rising anatomist and pioneering forensic detective. At Crick’s Oxfordshire manor, the young doctor discovers that Crick had nasty proclivities and numerous enemies. Tales of greed and sexual depravity are rampant. The suspicion of murder through poisoning points the guilt at Lydia’s husband, an Irish fortune-hunter. Silkstone exhumes the decomposing body to extract its secrets, while fighting his attraction to Lydia. Intricate forensic details and a host of intriguing characters drive the story. While the climactic scene is a little melodramatic, and Lydia needs more dimension, the action never wanes. The author will have you flipping the pages at each unexpected turn in the plot. The novel is an absorbing read with a shocking twist at the end. Diane Scott Lewis THE GOOD HOPE William Heinesen (trans. W. Glyn Jones), Dedalus, 2011, £12.99, pb, 384pp, 9781903517987 William Heinesen was a native of the Faeroe Islands – where this book is set – although he wrote in Danish. He was renowned as a poet and novelist (this is the fifth novel recently retranslated by Dedalus), but he made his living as an artist. Indeed he offers vibrant descriptions of these seabound islands and, above all, their inhabitants and the oppressive confines of the world in which they lived. In the 17th century, the Faroes were so remote from Denmark that the feudal overlord, Von Gabel, ruled through a provost and a military commander. The Good Hope is essentially a story of the struggle between good and evil, in which good is represented by the newly arrived pastor, Peder Børresen, and evil by the military commander, Lieutenant Claus Cattorp, a villain of biblical proportions. The inhabitants of Torshavn, the largest town, are mostly harmless, pious folk, but they are treated by the authorities as rebellious and ignorant. Even the law is in the hands of Cattorp and his cronies at the fort because the judge is corrupt. Many – including the pastor himself – are locked into the “Black Hole” for days. Børresen decides to start a journal and to note all these wrongdoings, including the social problems (prostitution, abortion, forced labour and witchcraft), in a series of letters written in diary form. This unusual tale is strangely compelling, and it also opens a window onto a little-known society at a time of social and political upheaval. Lucinda Byatt A VERY MURDERING BATTLE Edward Marston, Allison & Busby, 2011, £19.99/$29.95, hb, 382pp, 9780749009762 This is the last of the Captain Rawson novels. The father of the hero, as followers of the series will know, was hanged after the Battle of Sedgemoor, having taken part in the Monmouth Rebellion against James II. The Duke of Marlborough, under whom he serves, had then been a commander of the 18th Century

THE BLACK HAWK

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

Joanna Bourne, Berkley Sensation, 2011, $7.99/C$8.99, pb, 336pp, 9780425244531 Joanna Bourne always manages to pack her historical romances with plenty of plot twists, multi-layered characters, and deftly placed historical detail, yet she never compromises the central relationship driving 6 tHer h latest cen t u r the y story of Justine and the| story. offering, Hawker, the young spies from her previous The Forbidden Rose, is no exception. The war between France and England may be over, but the spying continues. When French agent Justine DeCabrillac is attacked in a London alley, she drags herself to the door of the only person she trusts – Adrian Hawk, head of the British Secret Service and her one-time lover. From their alliance during the French Revolution to their forced enmity on opposite sides of the Napoleonic Wars, their relationship was fraught with mistrust but also yearning passion. To find the assailant, Justine and Hawker must look to their past, at 23 years of secrets, lies, and forbidden love. I really love Bourne’s romances and thought this was the best so far. Intricately plotted, carefully structured, gorgeously written. Despite the violence of the inciting incident, this is a quiet story, a story about a relationship, where it went wrong, and how it can again go right. She dips in and out of the present day, as they search for Justine’s attacker, and the previous two decades, as they fall inescapably in love. A lesser writer may have lost control of her story, but Bourne keeps hold of it, using the time shifts to build the story up by layers. She has a knack for describing characters and scenes in a way that’s both fresh and familiar. I’m not | a Napoleonic 1 s t cspy, e nyettIufeltr right y along | with Justine and Hawker. Jessica Brockmole royal forces. An engaging opening, but the theme of Rawson, the rebel’s son, is not carried forward in the later books, and as they have progressed, my own interest in the captain’s fortunes has waned somewhat. To be sure, in this last book all the right ingredients are there. The murderous battle of the title is Malplaquet. The portrait of Marlborough in this late stage of his career is good, as is that of Villars, the French commander. There is intrigue, there are good battle scenes, the comic, womanhating Sergeant Welbeck is there and furthermore he finally finds his ladylove. In this book, our hero also has to decide whether to marry his Dutch fiancée, the passive and much too adoring Amalia Janssen. In short, it does what it says on the tin, but for me the heart seems to have gone out of Captain Rawson. Neville Firman THE SCHOOLMASTER’S DAUGHTER John Smolens, Pegasus, 2011, $25.95/C$30.00, hb, 389pp, 9781605982526 This story, an action-packed, superbly written piece of historical fiction, takes place in Boston and covers the two months from Paul Revere’s ride on April 18, 1775, to warn that the British were planning a raid on Concord, to the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775. The author fills in the details between known facts to create a story about a real family, that of John Lovell, the schoolmaster of the Latin School and an ardent Loyalist. Events are seen 18th Century

through the eyes of Abigail Lovell, John’s daughter, who is beautiful, intelligent, and courageous. Unfortunately for John, his children are all on the side of the patriots. His son James is involved with the Sons of Liberty with Dr. Joseph Warren, his son Benjamin acts as a courier for the patriots, and his daughter Abigail assists both her brothers in their activities. Naturally, this causes friction in the family and adds to the difficulty of living in a Boston occupied by British soldiers. In addition, Abigail’s beloved, Ezra, has disappeared, her brother James is ill, and her brother Benjamin goes missing for days at a time. Things really become tense when a British soldier is murdered, and suspicion falls on Abigail. I felt totally absorbed in the period and these people’s lives as I read, and the conclusion is satisfying, although poignant. I’m looking forward to reading Smolens’s other work of historical fiction, The Anarchist. Jane Kessler THE WINTER PALACE Eva Stachniak, Bantam, 2012, $26.00, hb, 434pp, 9780553808124 / Doubleday, 2012, £12.99, hb, 464pp, 9780857520531 When shy Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst arrives at the Russian court to marry Empress Elizabeth Petrovna’s nephew and heir, Peter, no one suspects she’ll be anything other than the consort of a weak future emperor. No one suspects that, behind her unassuming façade, she harbors an

ambition, one that will lead to history remembering her as Catherine the Great. Varvara is the daughter of a Polish bookbinder, orphaned at a young age and brought up within the glitter and intrigue of the Russian court. Taken under the wing of the court’s spymaster, Varvara is taught to pick locks, listen for gossip, and ferret out the secrets of everyone near to the empress. When the empress orders Varvara to get close to the new princess, the two girls become unlikely friends. Instead of spying on Sophie, Varvara begins using her skills to protect her friend from the court intrigue and politics. This is a novel steeped in the intricacies and politics of the 18th-century Russian court. In a place where one could wield power through sex and gossip as easily as through birth, Varvara and Sophie seem an unlikely pair to navigate successfully through it. Varvara, poor, and Sophie, foreign, are both uncertain of their place in the imperial household. Yet, together, they manage a coup that shakes the course of Russian history. The Winter Palace has it all – clandestine affairs, political intrigue, spirited revolution, little-known history – to make this a satisfying read for historical fiction fans. Jessica Brockmole THE JOURNEY OF ANDERS SPARRMAN Per Wästberg (trans. Tom Geddes), Granta/ Trafalgar Square, 2011, $15.95/£9.99, pb, 352pp, 9781847081759 The Journey of Anders Sparrman is a biographical novel of the life of the 18th-century naturalist, explorer, and physician. The narrative begins in Anders’s boyhood in a Swedish parsonage. As a student, Anders meets Professor Linnaeus, the renowned naturalist and classifier of species. Linnaeus sponsors Sparrman on an expedition to China, in the capacity of botanist and surgeon aboard a Swedish East India vessel. Anders returns to Sweden with his grandfather’s chest filled with, “seeds, fossils and plants … all of which took their place in Linnaeus’ library.” Anders sails again with the East India Company to South Africa, eventually joining Captain Cook’s second circumnavigation of the globe. In Africa, Sparrman makes his most significant discoveries, both in natural philosophy and in his own character. He is appalled by the enslavement of the native peoples in Africa. He describes a “frenzy prevailing here, a convulsion of wantonness and frustration that gives rise to excesses.” In later life, Sparrman is encouraged the King of Sweden to prohibit the slave trade. Yet his collections of fauna and flora and experiences in Africa form the paramount episode in Sparrman’s life. Returning to Sweden, he does not fit in with the bureaucratic officialdom. Anders Sparrman ends his journey as physician to the poor in Stockholm, having found a measure of happiness with his companion Lotta. The novel is fascinating both in detail and insight on the life and times, the science and discoveries of an important Swedish naturalist and explorer. Eva Ulett HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 25

UNREST IN EDEN Florence Byham Weinberg, Twilight Times, 2011, $18.95, pb, 292pp, 9781606191187 Unrest in Eden is the fourth novel in a series about the adventures of Father Ignaz Pfefferkorn, a character based upon a real-life 18th-century Jesuit missionary, musician, and scholar, who in Weinberg’s stories is a sleuth as well. Forced to leave his beloved mission in Mexico, Father Ignaz survives both the disbanding of his order as well as imprisonment and torture in a Spanish prison. Released through the intervention of the Austrian imperial family, Father Ignaz begins the long trek across Europe to his hometown in Germany, where he has long dreamed of being reunited with his sister Isabella. In spite of his precarious health and near starvation, he is able to complete his journey, thanks to the kindness of such persons as Eveline the innkeeper in Strasburg. While the priest is overjoyed to find his sister and her family thriving and happy to see him, he soon discovers that the village he has idealized is torn with strife. In an effort to save another priest who has been unjustly accused, Father Ignaz takes up a hunt for a murderer, putting his own life and reputation at risk. Combining the elements of a thriller and a mystery, Unrest in Eden is an outstanding work of

historical fiction for the flawless research as reflected in the detailed authenticity of the settings and descriptions. As Father Ignaz struggles with those who oppose him, he also struggles with himself as a man, who often finds the loneliness of his calling a heavy cross. My only complaint is that at the end Father Ignaz acts in a way that is completely out of character, going against everything he has believed in and suffered for, which weakened the integrity of the novel for me. Nevertheless, it is a book to be enjoyed by anyone who relishes well-written historical novels. Elena Maria Vidal

19th century

ISLAND OF WINGS Karin Altenberg, Penguin, 2011, $15, pb, 320pp, 9780143120667 / Quercus, 2011, £12.99, pb, 304pp, 9780857382320 In 1830, the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge sends the Reverend Neil MacKenzie to St. Kilda, the remotest of the Scottish islands, where fulmars, gannets, and puffins outnumber residents by the thousands. The independent and stalwart villagers need his spiritual guidance, for how else can he bring them

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

THE PRINTMAKER’S DAUGHTER (US) / THE GHOST BRUSH (CAN.)

Katherine Govier, HarperPerennial, 2011, $14.99, pb, 501pp, 9780062000361 / HarperCollins, 2010, C$22.99, pb, 396pp, 9871554686438 Readers will cherish this story and not soon forget | daughter 6 t hof Katsushika c e n t uHokusai r y (1760-1839). The the famous painter of The Great Wave had a daughter. Not much is known about Katsushika Oei other than that she worked with her father. Speculation has emerged that paintings originally attributed to Hokusai may have been hers. It was common for his protégés to sign their master’s name to their work, along with his stamp. Katherine Govier imagines the life of Oei from her own in-depth research. In her historical novel, Oei is portrayed as an independent woman who was raised around courtesans in the streets of Edo. The political climate during the 19th century was a time when artists, musicians, and novelists feared the regime. Oei was a devoted daughter to Hokusai, and he adored her. She was chained to him, without question. As she says in the novel, “A husband can be left, but a father cannot. He is always attached...” Her father Hokusai, considered the “Dickens of Japan,” was highly successful yet never wealthy, as he faced the challenges of war and earthquakes during his life. Oei became a masterful painter in her own right, but uncovering her history reveals a trick that prevented her fame. Katherine Govier creates an image of Oei that will beguile the hardest of hearts. She emerges as a strong, sensitive and talented personality and artist. This captivating novel of a remarkable woman would pair well with a screenplay adaptation. Govier’s writing style is imaginative and irresistible. The unique father-daughter bond is captured with honest sensitivity, and the picturesque beauty and vivid color shapes her setting and characters. Not to be missed, this is sure to be an historical novel bestseller. Wisteria Leigh 26 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

from the backward ways of their Gaelic ancestors into the 19th century? Doubts and guilt plague Neil, however, for the death of a close friend haunts him. Just when he believes he’s succeeded in his task, the old superstitions and rituals return and threaten all that he’s striven for. Lizzie, pregnant with their first child, has romantic ideas, which ill-prepare her for the realities of life among the St. Kildans. They speak Gaelic, a language only her husband knows, and her inability to communicate isolates her even more in this barren and strange world that is now her home. Not until two naturalists visit the island a year later does she comprehend the depth of her loneliness. With the help of a young girl, fluent in both languages, Lizzie slowly becomes involved in the islanders’ lives. But as she does, the rift between her and her husband widens. Mysterious sightings and strange occurrences eventually threaten to expand that rift into a chasm that can never be crossed. Altenberg spins her tale with such deftness and vividness that readers step with trepidation onto the island, hear the howling wind on a stormy night, feel repulsion while crawling into one of the filthy hovels, rejoice at the birth of newborns and the return of the birds, weep when death claims the children. Island of Wings is a poignant story of hope, sorrow, disbelief, faith, and maturity that indelibly engraves itself into your heart and mind. Cindy Vallar IN THE ARMS OF A MARQUESS Katharine Ashe, Avon, 2011, $7.99/C$9.50, pb, 355pp, 9780061965654 In 1812, sixteen-year-old Octavia arrives in Madras to reside with her aunt and sister, whose husbands are East India Company officials. Besides getting bedazzled with the country and culture, she becomes besotted with the boy-next-door, Benjirou. He’s the son of an English marquess and an Indian lady. At Octavia’s eighteenth birthday party, they are discovered in a compromising situation, in the garden under a banyan tree. Ben is shunned. However, upon inheriting the title he is called back to England. Their paths cross again, when at “five-and-twenty” Octavia returns home. Although she is now betrothed, and Ben is seeing others, they discover, after stolen kisses and caresses, they are still smitten with each other. Will they consummate their passion? The love story and the weaving of an interesting mystery will keep readers engrossed. This reviewer concurs with others’ rating of the sensuality level as “hot.” Ashe’s writing style is unique. Occasionally, exquisite passages of interior monologue follow a dialogue, which expound on the person’s thoughts and feelings. Readers will get enamored with this type of narration, and it will not disappoint aficionados of historical romance. The facts are mostly accurate, except perhaps for the flying of a Union Jack on a merchant vessel. Waheed Rabbani

18th Century — 19th Century

A COUNTRY GENTLEMAN Ann Barker, Hale, 2011, £18.99, hb, 223pp, 9780709093312 Lavinia Muir and her friend, the flirtatious Isobel Macclesfield, visit Lavinia’s godmother and her son, Lord Thurlby. He can only recall a disastrous previous visit she once made, and when she arrives on the common stage instead of in a carriage, it sets alarm bells ringing. When Lord Thurlby suspects Lavinia has become entangled with the rakish Lord Riseholm, his reservations about her provide a reasonable cover for his jealousy. What follows is a charming and light tale which is an easy-to-read but not too fluffy Regency romance. The characters are likeable and well-rounded, although Lord Thurlby is rather priggish! Ann Barker is thoroughly enjoying herself with this story and seems to make gentle fun at her characters without spoiling them. The splash of intrigue which is maintained throughout adds to the spice. All in all a gentle tale to while away an afternoon. Karen Wintle MR MICAWBER DOWN UNDER David Barry, Hale, 2012, £18.99, hb, 223pp, 9780709093121 A brilliant, fast, enjoyable read, this shows the ever optimistic Wilkins Micawber and family under hard times in Australia, in the Melbourne mud of 1855. Narrated in a lofty pseudointellectual tone to match Micawber’s own speech, and showing many dramatic twists and turns, this is a most enjoyable book as our hero wriggles against his landlord’s demands. ‘Something is sure to turn up,’ he repeats as his son goes off to be an actor. There are probably too many characters on the scene at this stage, in any case. But to replace Young Wilkins we have a bright young Irishman who causes both family and money trouble when Micawber’s daughter falls for him and she is already engaged to the rich but thick landlord’s son. During the progress of the book our Mr Micawber and family consume more bottles of port than they can afford as, with the slightest hint of luck, he is off down to the off-licence. Micawber and his wife face a dilemma. Something has surely turned up, and it’s not what he expected. In order to earn a bob or two, Micawber turns detective, and by a startling coincidence, this leads him straight back home. How Mr and Mrs Wilkins Micawber wriggle out of their problem brings the book to its conclusion, but it could well do with a stronger and more dramatic ending. Well constructed, but barely long enough, this Hale volume shows brilliant characterisation by its actor writer who has appeared in many British TV shows over the past 40 years. Geoffrey Harfield THE YELLOW EMPEROR’S CURE Kunal Basu, Overlook, 2011, $25.95, hb, 320pp, 19th Century

9781590207086 / Duckworth, May 2012, £14.99, hb, 320pp, 9780715642870 Antonio Maria is the most famous surgeon in Lisbon in the late 1800s. Admired both by colleagues and the ladies of the city, he works very hard and plays just as hard. Nothing seems better to him than a day full of successful operations followed by an evening of drinking and wooing the ladies. Indeed, his reputation precedes him that ladies vie for his attention during a siesta walk or an evening’s festival celebration. All of that changes in a horrific moment when he is suddenly called to his father’s home, only to learn that his father has the dreaded, incurable disease of syphilis. Unable to find anyone who can teach him how to cure the disease, Antonio’s friend tells him there is a famous doctor in Peking, China, who can perhaps teach him how to treat this devastating illness. At first appalled by the smells and strange habits of this exotic land, Antonio falls in love with his strong-minded and quietly passionate teacher, Dr. Xu’s assistant, Fumi, who originally is meant to help Dr. Xu teach the basic and advanced precepts of Chinese medicine, a challenge to impatient Antonio, who wants a quick answer and not a lengthy schooling. Living within the empress’s safe enclave, Antonio doesn’t realize how volatile his situation could rapidly become with the increasing attacks of the Boxers, a revolutionary group wishing to rid China of foreigners who have brought disease and aggressive treatment with their prosperous businesses. Kunal Basu smoothly makes the transition from the light-hearted world of Lisbon to the peaceful and then highly charged world of 19th-century China. Romantic, humorous, and informative, Kunal Basu’s novel is highly entertaining, although a bit light on historical facts about the Boxer Rebellion. Viviane Crystal DEEPLY DEVOTED Maggie Brendan, Revell, 2011, $14.99, pb, 326pp, 9780800734626 In 1887, with a secret past and only a few precious Willow Ware china pieces to her name, Catharine Olsen journeys to Wyoming with her orphaned sisters as a mail-order bride to farmer Peter Anderson. As she and her sisters acclimate to life in America (it is nothing like their beloved Holland), Catharine finds herself falling deeply in love with her new husband, which makes it harder to tell him the truth about her past. But with a meddlesome mother, Peter soon discovers part of Catharine’s secret. His faith and love falter as he tries to understand her motives, but in the end, love wins out, especially when Catharine bares her soul to him relating the tragedy that has fundamentally altered her life. Culture shock, prejudices, and forgiveness feature broadly in this placid Christian romance. Peter and Catharine both learn lessons about trusting in God and each other, and letting go of the

past. All in all, this is a gentle read recommended for any Christian romance fan. Rebecca Cochran STAR-CROSSED SEDUCTION Jenny Brown, Avon, 2011, $7.99/C$9.50, pb, 374pp9780061976063 In 1820 Captain Miles Trevelyan is home on leave from India. His main purpose is to find a bride and produce an heir before he returns there, in case he does not survive his next tour of duty. On his way to a brothel with another officer, Miles has his pocket picked by an extraordinary beauty. When she is caught by the crowd and about to be handed over to the police, Miles rescues her. Although there is a strong attraction between them, there are many twists and turns before these two Scorpios can find a fit and finally reach their inevitable journey’s end. This is the second book by Jenny Brown. The beginning is blatant exposition. However, it improves after a few pages and becomes interesting. The hero and heroine are definitely appealing characters, but the plot is formulaic romance fiction despite its twists and turns. Audrey Braver CATCHING THE EAGLE Karen Charlton, Knox Robinson, 2011, £19.99, hb, 341pp, 9781908483034 Catching the Eagle is based on a true story of the theft of £1157 from Kirkley Hall in Northumberland in 1809. Aynsley the steward and a farm labourer, Jamie Charlton, are suspected of the crime. Stephen Lavender, an officer from Bow Street, is sent for to investigate. A golden eagle flies over the area and the search and capture of this bird is mirrored by the search and capture of the thief. Karen Charlton has based this book on the life story of one of her ancestors. The novel is impeccably researched and has a good sense of period. In places the dialogue is particularly effective. Some chapters are written from the narrator’s point of view, others from mixed viewpoints. It is hard to warm to any of the characters as this writing style distances the reader. In my opinion Catching the Eagle is overwritten and under-edited and is not a book I would recommend. Fenella Miller PRINCE OF RAVENSCAR Catherine Coulter, Putnam, 2011, $19.95/ C$23.00, hb, 403pp, 9780399158070 In 1831, Lord Julian is being pressed to find a second wife by his mother. She has in mind Sophie, the daughter of her best (deceased) friend. Julian resists Mama’s suggestions, his mind on other matters including smuggling. But then there’s the question of what happened to his first wife, Lily, who was found dead. To discover the truth, Julian partners up with his nephew Devlin, who is more willingly involved in his own romance. And oh yes, there’s another subplot and complication—Devlin HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 27

happens to be a vampire. When looking for an entertaining adventure with a generous dollop of romance – whether a contemporary thriller or traditional Regency – I’ve chosen and delighted in many a Catherine Coulter title. At the top of her game, she can be among the best in either genre. But Prince of Ravenscar was a disappointment. The plot feels unfocused, and often distracted, rather than enhanced by the witty Regency banter. I couldn’t fall in love with any of these people; they failed to step up and become individuals I could care about. I can’t recommend this novel but hope for a return, in future novels, to Coulter’s earlier flair for exciting stories with welldrawn, sympathetic characters. Kathryn Johnson THE UNRULY PASSIONS OF EUGÉNIE R. Carole DeSanti, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, $26.00, hb, 432pp, 9780547553092 When 17-year-old Eugénie leaves her humble home in France’s foie gras country to follow her wealthy lover to Paris, she has dreams of a better life. But dreams are fleeting in the Second Empire, and Eugénie soon finds herself alone, penniless, and pregnant. There are few options for a single woman in 19th-century Paris, and she moves from protector to artist’s studio to brothel. Giving up her daughter in a moment of panic, she then spends the next ten years fighting to get her back. The FrancoPrussian War engulfs Paris just as Eugénie’s past catches up to her, and the city is not the only thing under siege. Confronted with love both old and new, she must decide where her heart lies. This is a book of beautiful writing yet sometimes dense plotting. I appreciated the subtleties in the storytelling even when I didn’t follow them to their depths. The setting is one I know very little about, which made for an interesting read, but it hindered me at times, as I didn’t have the background into the political situation of the Second Empire or the Franco-Prussian War. Jessica Brockmole A NECESSARY DECEPTION Laurie Alice Eakes, Revell, 2011, $14.99, pb, 343pp, 9780800734664 England, 1812: Young widow Lydia Gale helps parole an imprisoned Frenchman and starts a chain of events that takes her from the sparkling life of the ton to the danger of the Napoleonic Wars. Christien de Meuse turns up in her drawing room and her heart, but he may be a spy. This convoluted story combines Regency romance with mystery and suspense. Other elements involve Lydia’s two younger sisters’ romantic tangles. The hero and heroine both struggle with their faith and their perceived family responsibilities. A series of melodramatic and perilous events thicken the mix as Christien and Lydia try to identify a blackmailer and traitor while learning to trust their love for each other. Christian readers will like this sweet Regency with its religious tone. The book may also appeal to mystery lovers and history buffs. The occasional 28 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

anachronisms will set Janeites’ teeth on edge. A Regency miss would not have said, “Now, scoot!” to her sister, and Lime Regis (sic) is jarring. Still, this award-winning author provides a pleasant, escapist read. For sizzle and a more authentic Regency feel, there are other authors to try. Elizabeth Knowles SWEETER THAN BIRDSONG Rosslyn Elliott, Thomas Nelson, 2012, $15.99, pb, 400pp, 9781595547866 This is the second book in the Saddler’s Legacy series, set in the 1850s. Sweeter than Birdsong is a fictionalized account of the relationship between real-life abolitionist songwriter Ben Hanby and Kate Winter, one of the first women to graduate from Otterbein College in Ohio. Painfully shy Kate is dominated by her overbearing mother and confused by her absent, alcoholic father. Her quiet beauty attracts the attention of several suitors, and her inability to express herself makes one wonder if she’ll ever be able to take control of her life. Ben Hanby wants to end slavery in America, by helping escaped slaves, by teaching children, and by songwriting. He especially wants to help Nelly Gray, a slave whose husband died in his home while trying to get to freedom. His obsession with helping Nelly causes a string of events that tie Ben and Kate together. The relationship of Kate and Ben is charming, and their prayers to God for help are wellplaced and not overdone. They develop nicely as characters, and the romance in the novel will please readers of Christian romance. Elizabeth Caulfield Felt

THE CIRCUS OF GHOSTS Barbara Ewing, Sphere, 2011, £7.99, pb, 520pp, 9780751540956 New York in the 1840s. Cordelia Preston and her daughter, Gwenlliam, are on the run. Cordelia is a professional mesmerist and (back in England) a murder suspect. Gwenlliam is a talented acrobat – and the granddaughter of the brutal Duke of Llannefydd. The duke is determined to have Gwenlliam under his thumb and to silence Cordelia – permanently. He sends the ambitious and avaricious Mr Doveribbon to track them down. Surely America, the land of the free, will shelter them? Perhaps not. Silas P. Swift’s Amazing Circus employs them, but he loves Cordelia’s notoriety. It’s good for business. How can the women escape Mr Doveribbon’s notice when Silas is determined to trumpet Cordelia’s history? New York offers opportunities for the hard-working, but it also has a dangerous underbelly ruled by vicious city gangs as Cordelia and Gwenlliam soon discover. I thoroughly enjoyed The Circus of Ghosts. I loved the depiction of New York as an exciting city continually reinventing itself. Ewing has obviously done her research, but there are no visible information dumps. It’s unobtrusively there, giving the story that unmistakable feeling of authenticity. The book reminds me of Angela Carter’s

Nights at the Circus both in its scope and its vivid exuberance. Ewing shares Carter’s interest in how vulnerable people create families out of the human flotsam and jetsam around them. There is tragedy as well as love and humour in the women’s ‘family’; they must either face their deepest fears, learn and move on or be destroyed. The book whooshes the reader along, and there’s never a dull moment. It’s exciting and thought-provoking, and it warms the heart. What more could one ask? Highly recommended. Elizabeth Hawksley HOLD ON TO HOPE Jean Fullerton, Orion, 2012, £18.99, hb, 304pp, 9781409122937 This tightly crafted romantic mystery set in the East End of London convincingly conveys the concerns, conditions, social conventions and clothing of the poor in the years following the Crimean War. Captain Jonathan Quinn lost an eye serving in the war and leaves military service behind, much to his father’s shame and disgust. He takes charge of St Katherine’s School and instigates transformational changes in the standards and lessons which impress many, particularly Mrs Puttock and her daughter Mabel. Kate Ellis rears her two children, Ella and Joe, alone but under the watchful eye of her Irish family. Her wastrel husband abandoned them and then served a prison sentence. In his absence, Kate has opened a thriving chop shop, Kate’s Kitchen, on St. George’s Highway. Captain Quinn arrives as a customer, and both are instantly attracted to each other, but must maintain their distance for the sake of their reputations, and because her children attend his school. Kate becomes a victim of a crime that threatens to destroy what happiness she has, but Captain Quinn becomes her ally in the ensuing struggle. This story is wholly absorbing and gripping. Janet Williamson THE ROGUE PIRATE’S BRIDE Shana Galen, Sourcebooks, 2012, $6.99/£4.99, pb, 342pp, 9781402265556 An admiral’s daughter, Raeven Russell has the men on her father’s ship wrapped around her finger – which is why she and Percy Williams aren’t aboard HMS Regal as they should be. They’re at a Brest tavern, where Raeven intends to kill Captain Cutlass, who killed her fiancé. Sébastien Cutlass, forced into piracy during the French Revolution, toys with the upstart who dares to challenge him. Discovering the lad’s true identity, he imprisons Raeven, but she escapes. When these two cross paths again, Raeven’s presence complicates Sébastien’s plans to locate the elusive pirate who killed his mentor, almost getting them both killed. Taken prisoner once again, Raeven’s not certain she wants to regain her freedom – certainly not at Sébastien’s expense. Galen’s well-drawn characters come to life 19th Century

as they grow in depth and maturity in this swashbuckling romance. Her details of life at sea in the Age of Sail ring true, but her characters, who should know better, have the annoying habit of referring to the ship’s guns as cannons. (Any reader of Age of Sail novels knows cannons are only found on land.) Still, readers will enjoy this rousing adventure laced with humor. Cindy Vallar SHAKA THE GREAT Walton Golightly, Quercus, 2011, £14.99, pb, 588pp, 9780857383297 A weighty tome like this is usually a blessing for me, the bigger the better, but sadly this was not the case with this novel. This is the second book in the Amazulu series, and it follows the life and career of the great Zulu chief Shaka. It is not a straightforward read, however, as there are strange italicised sections which focus on the spiritual, witch-doctor elements presumably entering the inner mind of Shaka with sentences such as: “The Bull – which is his Bull – is coming awake, called forth by the swallow-tailed axes of the generals, and by the bellowing of the Indunas.” Perhaps fans of magic realism would like this novel as there is a zombie and the style sometimes seems to fit that genre somewhat. I have to confess that I didn`t get it, and that it wasn`t the novel for me, but this could be just a personal preference. My increasing dislike for the book made it hard for me to care about the characters or what was going on, and the frequent forays into the inner mind were distracting and made the plot hard to follow. The African flavour is very strong, however, perhaps too strong to aid comprehension at points for those readers like myself who know little about it. Sentences such as “’Nonetheless,’ says Mhlangana, pointing his isinkemba at the sangoma,” are quite off-putting. It is clear the author knows this continent extremely well, and many readers may appreciate being caught up into the dark world of the African spirit, but for me, it was just too alien and abstract. Ann Northfield A TEXAN’S HONOR Shelley Gray, Abingdon, 2012, $14.99, pb, 325pp, 9781426714634 In 1874, the American Civil War has been over for almost a decade, but the consequences still reverberate in the lives of ordinary people throughout the country. Families are shattered, and thousands of ex-soldiers believe that all they are good for is to “hold a rifle and shoot to kill.” Will McMillan has parlayed his military skills into a career with the Federal Marshals, while fellow Texan, Scout Proffitt, became a professional gunslinger. Both men join the infamous Walton Gang, Will as an undercover agent and Scout as a hired killer. When beautiful Jamie Ellis is taken hostage in a train robbery, each man is forced to acknowledge how far he has strayed from the honorable behavior he was taught in his childhood. There is a depth to Gray’s writing that strikes me as unusual in a book that is such a light read 19th Century

that I finished it in an afternoon. The flow of language is smooth, the plot exciting, and the themes well-developed; but more than that, when I turned the last page I felt wiser for having shared in the struggles of her characters. This very enjoyable romance is surely destined to become a favorite of many readers. Nancy J. Attwell THE SHIRT ON HIS BACK Barbara Hambly, Severn House, 2011, $29.95/£18.99, hb, 256pp, 9780727880109 In this newest installment in the Benjamin January mystery series, Ben sets off from New Orleans with friends Hannibal Sefton and Lieutenant Abishag Shaw in search of the man who killed Shaw’s youngest brother at Fort Ivy, a fur trading station “six weeks beyond the frontier.” Ben is reluctant to leave his pregnant wife, Rose, during fever season, but he can do with both a little adventure and a little extra money in the wake of 1837’s bank failings. On the trail of the killer, the three men join a pack-train to a fur-trading rendezvous along the Green River. But the mystery only deepens when another body is discovered: an elderly man, naked apart from a pair of black kid gloves. Between smoothing over relations between the rough-and-ready trappers and the local Omaha tribe and rubbing elbows with such notables as Kit Carson and Jim Bridger, Ben and friends unravel a much bigger and more sinister murder plot. Shaw must decide if personal revenge is worth endangering the rest of the rendezvous. As much as I enjoy the Benjamin January series, I found The Shirt on His Back difficult to get into at first. Not being in New Orleans with the cast of supporting characters I’ve grown to know and love was disconcerting at first. The new characters populating the Green River rendezvous are colorful, but at times I felt they almost overshadowed Ben and friends. But Hambly’s research is solid, the dialogue lively, and the mystery intriguing. Once the clues started coming in and Ben was fully engaged on the case, the pace picked up and it rounded into another satisfying mystery from Hambly. Jessica Brockmole A RIVER TO CROSS Yvonne Harris, Bethany House, 2011, $14.99, pb, 297pp, 9780764208058 Mexican soldiers abduct Elizabeth Evans and kill her brother, a newspaper editor who published information about General Manuel Diego’s design to overthrow his president. With the help of gypsies and several fellow Texas Rangers, Jake Nelson, a former army reconnaissance officer and now a Ranger captain, rescues Elizabeth from her captors and returns her to El Paso. Diego, refusing to allow anyone to thwart his plans, devises another scheme to kidnap this daughter of an important senator. Elizabeth’s attraction to Jake is instantaneous, but after her husband died, she vowed never to marry another military man. Although betrayed once before, Jake can’t deny what his heart wants. But will he prevent Diego from killing Elizabeth to

spark another war between Mexico and the United States? Set in 1886, this border town springs to life within the pages of this historical romance. Harris’s three-dimensional characters step off the pages in a stirring adventure that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. The depth of her research is evident throughout yet never intrudes into the intricate, sometimes humorous, web she weaves in this vivid portrayal of Texas Rangers in the Old West. Cindy Vallar THE DOCTOR’S LADY Jody Hedlund, Bethany House, 2011, $14.99, pb, 378pp, 9780764208331 Priscilla White, a young woman from a respectable family in Angelica, New York, in the year 1836, knows that God has called her to be a missionary. Having forsaken marriage as a possibility due to her infertility, she has dedicated herself to the Lord’s service, planning to teach the “savages” in India. Eli Ernest is a doctor dedicated to bringing Christ’s healing to the “savages” in the West. He does not wish the burden of marriage and family life. Since neither party is permitted to begin missionary service while single, Eli proposes and Priscilla accepts an unconventional marriage, a “working partnership,” without any “romantic complications.” The fate of this half-baked arrangement is obvious from chapter three. Like her first novel, The Preacher’s Bride, Hedlund provides interesting characters, including a strong heroine and a mostly compelling narrative. However, the overwhelming parallels between the novels give me pause. One does tire so easily of formulaic writing; it would be a pity to see such an obviously talented writer fall victim to it. Nonetheless, the book is recommended despite reservations. Michael DiSchiavi GHOST ON BLACK MOUNTAIN Ann Hite, Gallery, 2011, $15.00/C$17.00, pb, 328pp, 9781451606423 Ann Hite’s debut novel, Ghost on Black Mountain, is a winner. Set in the Appalachian Mountains during the Great Depression, Hite tells the story of Nellie Clay who, at seventeen, falls in love with Hobbs Pritchard, a man filled with evil but irresistible to women, especially young girls prone to rebellion and romance. After Hobbs and Nellie marry, he takes her to his home in Black Mountain, North Carolina, where he is despised by everyone who lives there. Nellie soon realizes she has come to a strange place when she begins to see ghosts hovering all around her – the man with glasses who visits her, the young girl who tries to warn her away – apparitions of Hobbs’ victims. But Nellie loves Hobbs and intends to stand by him, even when he beats her silly. Slowly, her love turns into something else, and the admonitions she has ignored prove accurate: there is death in the air. Told in the voices of five different women, all who loved Hobbs one way or another, this book HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 29

is riveting. However, the first and longest section, from Nellie’s point of view, is the most compelling. Hite gives voice to Southern Appalachian culture – the haunted landscape of hills and hollows that make perfect habitats for spirits of all kinds. In a culture that has been historically without the resources of other, more profitable areas, stories and music have served to entertain on cold, lonely winter nights. And that is the gift of the mountains captured here. Anne Clinard Barnhill THE NUN Simonetta Agnello Hornby (trans. Antony Shugaar), Europa, 2012, $15.00/£11.99, pb, 336pp, 9781609450625 In 1839, young Agata has fallen in love with wealthy Giacomo Lepre, and he with her. Unfortunately, Agata’s parents disapprove of the affair, and her mother believes the best solution is to whisk her daughter away from Giacomo and her home in Messina, Italy. The two women travel by ship to Naples, where they seek a stipend from the king. But the mother’s plan doesn’t work, and Agata’s only recourse is then to join a convent. Through her, the reader receives a rare and startlingly accurate picture of 19th-century monastic life with its calm, perpetual routines and deep religious fervor. But we also glimpse the darker side of life in this silent, chaste world. Translated by Antony Shugaar, the story builds slowly, each chapter opening with a brief summary of what the reader can expect to find within. (“The grueling two months of probation.”“The new abbess is opposed to Agata; the cardinal denies her Brevi.”) These encourage the reader to keep on turning pages, expecting dramatic moments. The slow pace in the first half of the novel may discourage readers who are accustomed to speedier plots. Although a love story develops as Agata gradually falls in love with the young Englishman James Garson, who sends her books to read while she is cloistered, the relationship develops at a distance. Only very near the end of the novel do we learn its resolution. The most dramatic scenes (and my favorites) come late in the story when Agata discovers illicit passions within the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio Stilita and bravely tries to convince those in power of the shocking truth surrounding the death of a young nun. This is a deeply moving, exquisitely written novel that ultimately rewards readers for their patience. Kathryn Johnson A QUEEN’S JOURNEY James D. Houston, Heyday, 2011, $14.95, pb, 120pp, 9781597141635 In 1896, Boston freelance journalist Julius Palmer receives a summons from the deposed monarch of Hawaii, Lili’uokalani. When they’d first become acquainted in Honolulu, Julius had known her as Lydia Dominis, sister to the Hawaiian king, David Kalakaua. With only pleasing memories of the woman and her land, Julius meets the queen and becomes her unofficial press secretary in the 30 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

United States. No one knows the motive for the queen’s visit, undertaken immediately after her release from a long incarceration by the Missionary Boys, as the queen calls the political junta opposing her. Lili’uokalani and Julius deal with threats to her life while she stays in the nation’s capital, meeting outgoing President Grover Cleveland. Cleveland had been opposed to the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands without the consent of her people, and the queen herself calls forth “an old gallantry and in his eyes a look any man would recognize” from the president. A Queen’s Journey is Part One of an unfinished novel by James D. Houston, who died on April 16, 2009, in Santa Cruz, California. Though the book is curtailed, it is a well-told and complete story, narrated from Julius Palmer’s viewpoint. His appreciation for the Hawaiians’ generous spirit, which is “both their beauty and their undoing,” and his real affection for and attraction to Queen Lili’uokalani imbue the narrative of the queen’s journey to North America. In an afterword, Maxine Hong Kingston suggests Part Two may have included the events and relationships of the story from Queen Lili’uokalani’s perspective. That would have added another level of intimacy to this novel of the ties between the queen and the American journalist, between a sovereign and the nation that deposed her, and between the queen and her land and people. Eva Ulett THE DUKE IS MINE Eloisa James, Avon, 2011, $7.99/C$9.50, pb, 373pp, 9780062021281 / Piatkus, 2012, £7.99, pb, 400pp, 9780749956028 James’ most recent fairytale-inspired Regency romance features a plot that reaches beyond reimagining the classic Princess and the Pea tale. The fun begins when heroine Olivia, promised to a man she cannot love, falls for Quin. The trouble is, he’s the duke she had hoped to secure as a fiancé for her proper and well-mannered sister Georgiana, who is without dowry and therefore without suitors. (“Dignity is not desirable,” her sister said.) Although James playfully draws elements of the original fairytale into her story – yes, there are mattresses and a moment of discovery that something lies beneath them – much of the story is new and pure Eloisa James wit and charm. Chapters begin with clever titles like: In Which the Merits of Virginity and Debauchery are Evaluated, and Debauchery Wins, or The Dangers of Poetry Under the Moon. Olivia is a heroine readers will adore for her intelligence and selflessness, but she is atypical in that she is a bit on the, shall we say, plump side. Quin is a hero who accepts Olivia for all that she is and doesn’t choose to be, despite society’s view of her failed “duchification.” (That is, her un-duchesslike behavior.) Historical details are few and far between. But that doesn’t stand in the way of this being a delicious romp and a romantic fantasy that succeeds in entertaining the romantically inclined reader. Kathryn Johnson

DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY P.D. James, Faber & Faber, 2011, £18.99, $25.95, hb, 310pp, 9780571283576 / Knopf, 2011, $25.95, hb, 291pp, 9780307959850 Following the current fashion for new fictions derived from the works of Jane Austen, P.D. James has combined her love of Miss Austen’s writing with her own consummate skill as a teller of murder stories to bring us Death Comes to Pemberley. It is 1803, and the Darcys and the Bingleys have been happily married for six years. They are now neighbours in Derbyshire, and the book opens with the gathering of family and friends at Pemberley for a ball. In an opening scene worthy of Wilkie Collins, a recklessly driven chaise arrives at Pemberley in the middle of a storm. Out tumbles Lydia Wickham, saying her husband has been murdered in the woods. From this point on, James is on familiar ground, as the magistrates and constables and the sinister doctor with an interest in experimenting on dead bodies congregate to examine Lydia’s claim and the body which inevitably turns up. She lays trails involving Darcy family history and the household servants but, most cleverly, uses the various loose ends left by Jane Austen at the end of Pride and Prejudice to conjure a web of motives linking the characters from that book. I enjoyed reading Death Comes to Pemberley. It is an accomplished whodunit contrived by one of the great mistresses of the genre, and a pitch-perfect pastiche of Austen, but it is also slightly uncomfortable to witness the subjection of Austen’s characters to modern psychological analysis and forensic examination. I was left with a nagging suspicion that, when I next return to Pride and Prejudice, I shall know more about these people than I ought. I shall feel as if I have been prying where I should not. Sarah Bower LITTLE BONES Janette Jenkins, Chatto & Windus, 2012, £12.99, hb, 282pp, 9780701181949 Jane Stretch is fifteen and crippled when her questionable parents and pretty older sister abandon her at the mercy of their latest landlady. Luckily, Mrs. Swift, for all her vagueness and frustrated aspirations to gentility, is not unkind, and Jane finds a home with her, and an occupation assisting her medical husband. True, Doctor Swift only seems to assist “inconvenienced” young ladies from the theaters, but Jane begins to think she could be happy with him – until fate interferes in the double shape of Jane’s own conscience and a volatile Cockney singer. Set in turn-of-the-century London, gritty, vivid, and rich in beautiful imagery, this is a little gem of a book. Jenkins etches London’s seedier side in sharp detail, and Jane, the “cripple” struggling to survive in a hostile world, armed only with good brains, imagination and a loving disposition, is a wellrounded and endearing character. Although not perfect (some readers may find the open ending a bit of an anticlimax), Little Bones is an absorbing, 19th Century

well written, and poignant exploration of the power of inherent goodness against the unfairness of life. Recommended. Chiara Prezzavento OPEN WOUND: The Tragic Obsession of Dr. William Beaumont Jason Karlawish, Univ. of Michigan Press, 2011, $24.00, pb, 280pp, 9780472118014 Dr. William Beaumont did not realize right away that the gunshot blast that blew a hole in the side of Alexis St. Martin would begin a lifelong connection between both men. The year is 1822; Alexis is a humble fur trader living on the army outpost at Mackinac Island, Michigan, where Dr. Beaumont is the attending physician. They will be tied to one other for more than 30 years, as Alexis fulfills a promise to God and Dr. Beaumont fulfills a promise to himself. In his determination to overcome his humble beginnings and reach the rank of general surgeon, Dr. Beaumont’s desire turns to obsession as the hole in Alexis’s stomach remains open and his indepth study of digestion begins. His experiments are performed three or four times a day, with different types of food lowered into the hole by a string and left for various lengths of time. Unable to work, Alexis becomes a charity case. When the town no longer consents to pay for his keep, Dr. Beaumont takes him into his own home. This causes added stress for his wife, who wants him to begin a private practice in St. Louis. He refuses to leave the army because it might jeopardize his study. His theories are ridiculed by some and exalted by others. Sometimes he forgets that Alexis is a human being with feelings and desires of his own. Alexis would not be subjected to such experiments today, and the brilliant Dr. Beaumont might not have to strive so hard for recognition. This book was very well researched. Novels based on true stories can be challenging to write because authors must work that much harder, but Dr. Karlawish, a professor of medicine and medical ethics, has succeeded admirably. I recommend this well-written and fascinating book to anyone interested in early medicine. Susan Zabolotny COWBOY COME HOME Janette Kenny, Zebra, 2011, $6.99/C$7.99, pb, 348pp, 9781420106602 In west Texas in 1895, Daisy Barton is struggling to run her ranch in the midst of a drought after her father’s death. Former ranch hand Trey March returns to claim money her father owed him. Daisy isn’t glad to see the former lover whom she thinks abandoned her, but she doesn’t know he left involuntarily. Her father’s foreman had arranged for Trey to be dragged behind a horse and abandoned in the desert to die. Now the only way Trey will recoup his money is to stay and help Daisy keep the ranch running until she can pay him. Two ex-lovers in forced proximity, both of whom feel betrayed, provides many opportunities for sexual 19th Century

tension in this historical romance. Much time is spent on ties to characters in other volumes of the Lost Sons trilogy, such as the discovery that Trey’s foster brother Dade may be related to Daisy. Readers may be confused if they read this volume first. While the one bedroom scene sizzled, I didn’t feel the couple had much chemistry. The secret-keeping goes on too long, stretching the story too much, and Daisy’s “Daddy” this and “Daddy” that made her seem like a spoiled brat. This was a miss for me. B.J. Sedlock OFF THE RAILS Beryl Kingston, Hale, 2011, £18.99, hb, 256pp, 9780709090953 Set in York, England, from 1830, this book is mainly a true account of George Hudson, the most remarkable rogue of the Victorian railway financial mania. An enterprising crook, a selfish, bombastic tycoon and a chief figure in the development of the railways, he rose, by chicanery, to be three times Lord Mayor of York and an MP. Off the Rails opens when George, a farmer’s son, seduces an innocent girl. He leaves her, and taking a job as a draper’s apprentice, he marries the owner’s daughter. With a legacy he leaves to form railway companies with other people’s money, and his rise to fame begins. The girl he selfishly deserts becomes the main female character in the story after she marries George’s railway surveyor. A well researched history of the time, this has excellent characterisation, a little romance, much financial wheeling and dealing, but no description of railway building and nothing of the poor railway workers. Despite all the coach travelling, there is a noticeable lack of the hardships of the many days’ travel that the railways relieved. Strong on contemporary Yorkshire dialect, there is vivid description of the filthy York slums and Hudson’s callous reaction as a councillor. While this book majors on the rich and disreputable life of the Railway King, it also shows a fine insight into Victorian family life in both big and small houses, touching on the rising middleclass, the nobility and the downtrodden poor. Hudson is forgotten for a time, to reappear later as we read of his daughter (unknown to him) marrying a lawyer with an unexpected title and fortune. This man exposes Hudson’s fraudulent sharedealing, and he’s imprisoned as a debtor. A romping read to be enjoyed by students of Victorian life in the north of England and the history of railways. Geoffrey Harfield PAINTED WOMEN Robert Kresge, ABQ Press, 2011, $15.95, pb, 292pp, 9780983871217 Monday Malone is the sole lawman in the frontier town of Warbonnet, Wyoming Territory. When his brother is framed for the murder of one of Laramie’s “soiled doves,” Malone turns to Kate Shaw, the brainy Warbonnet schoolteacher, for help in tracking down the real killer. After all, she

had already helped Monday solve one murder. Robert Kresge, a former CIA senior intelligence analyst, is also the author of Painted Women. This Western murder mystery is the sequel to his Murder for Greenhorns, which featured the team of Malone and Shaw. I haven’t read Greenhorns, but it wasn’t needed before reading Painted Women. Kresge’s picturesque yarn is entertaining and presents the reader with a fine whodunit to solve. Formerly a Texas cowhand, Monday is now a fine sheriff, tough enough to survive a stampede and clever enough to single-handedly capture two criminals in the backwoods. He’s a little sweet on Kate but is also a gentleman who can handle Laramie’s painted ladies and fend off a rancher’s forward daughter. Though Kate might seem like the typical smarty-pants schoolmarm, fear not. She’s no stereotype. The engaging Ms. Shaw fibs her way onto the Hayden expedition’s 1871 survey of Yellowstone as one of the artists recording those natural wonders for the rest of the world to see. She sketches alongside Thomas Moran, and toys with posing for another of the painters in a canyonside tableau – au naturel. Painted Women is an enjoyable story with lively characters, a quick pace, and plot twists which keep readers guessing as Monday and Kate pursue the cold-blooded murderer who will do anything to cover his tracks. Jo Ann Butler REEFS AND SHOALS Dewey Lambdin, Thomas Dunne, 2012, $25.99/ C$29.99, hb, 354pp, 9780312595715 I have sailed with Alan Lewrie, R.N., on sixteen voyages before Reefs and Shoals and was as eager to embark for the seventeenth as was the temporary squadron commander himself. Set in 1805, Captain Lewrie is dispatched to enemy waters off Florida and Cuba to check the freebooting Spanish and French privateers (essentially legalized pirates in the Age of Sail) and end their disruption of British trade. Lewrie, the womanizing, hard living “Ram Cat” famous for his questionable activities on shore as well as his superb command and battle strategies at sea, is to use diplomacy and persuasion in calling upon officials and naval officers of the young United States to assist him with his task. Our gallant hero is, of course, anything but diplomatic, and I imagine the author had more than a little fun placing “Ram Cat” in these situations. Be of good cheer though, for the good captain displays rare talents in his new field of work while simultaneously, naturally, engaging in yet another of his seemingly endless love affairs. Dewey Lambdin remains a joy to read, and his devil-may-care Lewrie is easily Napoleon’s greatest naval antagonist after Horatio Nelson. Lambdin promises Lewrie’s next voyage will take him south of the equator bound for glory and for what will undoubtedly be yet another liaison! John R. Vallely

HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 31

IN PURSUIT OF ELIZA CYNSTER Stephanie Laurens, Avon, 2011, $7.99, pb, 440pp, 97802068613 / Piatkus, 2011, £7.99, pb, 448pp, 9780749955984 In this Regency romance, Eliza Cynster is awfully close to being on the shelf. Her rapidly advancing age makes her wonder if she will ever find the man of her dreams (or any man to marry, for that matter). After her sister Heather is abducted by a mysterious Scotsman, Eliza and her sister Angelica are kept under close watch, thus preventing them from meeting any eligible bachelors. Then, at Heather’s engagement ball, Eliza is attacked, drugged, and tossed in a carriage bound for Scotland – yet another victim of Heather’s abductor, who seems intent on marrying one of the eligible Cynster sisters. Eliza’s situation seems desperate, but she finally recovers sufficiently from the laudanum and flags down a carriage – one that happens to be driven by scholar Jeremy Carling, a man who doesn’t see himself as a hero, but who realizes that there’s a woman in need of his assistance. Carling helps Eliza escape her captors, and the two take flight for the English border, falling in love in the process. Laurens has been hit-or-miss for me lately – some of her most recent books have been too full of purple prose and too dependent on recurring characters for my taste. I was pleasantly surprised by In Pursuit of Eliza Cynster – it’s truly a welcome return to the exciting romantic adventures that she is best known for. Instead of rolling my eyes at yet another extension of the convoluted Cynster family tree, I’m looking forward to the next installment in this trilogy. Nanette Donohue FLAWLESS Carrie Lofty, Pocket, 2011, $7.99, pb, 386pp, 9781451616385 Lofty moves from medieval to Victorian romance in this first in a series about the Christie siblings. Lady Vivienne Bancroft is trapped in a loveless marriage to a dissolute viscount whose interests lean more towards gambling and drinking than being a good husband. Desperate to escape Viscount Bancroft’s clutches, she flees to New York, but is forced to return when her adoptive father dies. Sir William Christie spent his life amassing a large fortune, which will be split up among the four Christie siblings – but there’s a catch. Vivienne’s challenge is to take a diamond mine in South Africa and turn a profit within one year. Viscount Bancroft’s presence at the reading of the will – and his determination to help Vivienne earn her inheritance – adds a further challenge. The majority of the book is set in South Africa following the Boer War, and while Lofty touches on the racial and ethnic tensions of the era, there was less depth than I expected. The love story between Vivienne and her husband drives the plot, and the sexual tension between the two is handled nicely. Lofty obviously did some research into the history of the South African diamond trade, as there is plenty of detail, but the plot never gets 32 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

bogged down. Romance readers who enjoy exotic settings and passionate love scenes will find plenty to like in Lofty’s latest. Nanette Donohue THE BALLAD OF TOM DOOLEY Sharyn McCrumb, St. Martin’s, 2011, $24.99US/ C$28.99, hb, 311pp, 9780312558178 Before reading Sharyn McCrumb’s new novel, all I knew of Tom Dooley came from the famous Kingston Trio song; I didn’t even realize the tale was based on an actual murder case from the 1860s. Now, in The Ballad of Tom Dooley, McCrumb has taken details of the tragic event and has woven possible motives and circumstances around the mysterious death of Laura Foster and the hanging of Tom for the crime. Set in the mountains of North Carolina, the novel is told mostly from the point of view of Pauline Foster, a cousin of Laura’s as well as that of Ann Foster Melton, lover of Tom Dula (the actual name of the main character). There is nothing to like about the amoral Pauline; she comes to town and moves herself in with Ann and her husband, James, in order to find a treatment for her case of syphilis. It’s from this vantage point that she sees all that goes on with the odd quadrangle of James, Ann, Tom, and Laura. Pauline’s need to see others more miserable than herself sets her as catalyst to ruin not only Ann’s life but also everyone else’s and not feel one shred of remorse. When she discovers that Tom is seeing Laura, Pauline takes the opportunity

A GOOD MAN

to bring down both Ann and Tom by deceit and innuendo. Interwoven in Pauline’s viewpoint is that of former governor Zebulon Vance, who is made to defend Tom against the murder charges. McCrumb does an outstanding job building her case for what in all likelihood actually happened in this tragedy, and she gives life to those participants caught up in Laura’s murder. Unfortunately, there is not one single character with any redeeming value throughout the story. Still, McCrumb makes it easy to experience the events of one of the most celebrated murder trials in the 19th century. Tamela McCann LONG TRAIL HOME Vickie McDonough, Moody, 2011, $14.99, pb, 272pp, 9780802405852 Waco, Texas, 1865. Riley Morgan returns home after four years of war to find his parents dead and his fiancée married to another. He takes a job as handyman at a school for the blind, where he is soon attracted to Annie Sheffield, a blind girl with an unfortunate past and a huge secret. Annie and Riley fall in love while struggling with their personal issues and trying to help keep the school afloat. Riley in particular has suffered staggering losses that will have readers cheering for him as he tries to rebuild his life. Some may find Annie’s way of coping somewhat less endearing, but she eventually finds redemption, happiness, and stability. Readers of tender, American-set Christian

E D I TORS’ CH OICE

Guy Vanderhaeghe, Atlantic Monthly, 2012, $24.95, hb, 480pp, 9780802120045 In the 1870s, the resistance of the Plains Indians to the inexorable advance of the United States was coming to its tragic and terrible end on the high plains of Montana. Guy Vanderhaeghe’s excellent novel | 6does t hjustice c e ton the t u heroic r y genius of Sitting Bull and the suffering of his people; fortunately, he leavens the dread and guilt and sorrow of this history with a beautiful, grown-up love story between two lively, warmly drawn and interesting people. Both Wesley Case and Ada Tarr are suffering from some bad decisions earlier in their lives. The frontier for each represents a chance at renewal, as it did for so many people in real time. Vanderhaeghe’s description of life on the edge of civilization is detailed, unsentimental, and demythologized; this is about the West, but it isn’t a Western, although there’s plenty of action. The necessary threat to Wesley and Ada’s happiness comes from one of the best villains I’ve read in a long time. Vanderhaeghe shrewdly invades this man’s psychopathic mind and makes him both horrible and utterly believable, and he nearly steals the novel. The author’s gift for characterization and his fluent, literate style overcome some curious tics in the book, which is told sometimes in the first person, sometimes in the third, sometimes in present tense and sometimes in past. Wonderful passages abound. The Milky Way “hangs its trembling canopy” over travelers. “Birds fling out of the trees, turn into mad whirring specks.” All in all, A Good Man is a nifty piece of work, true both to the time it portrays and to our own, the best kind of historical fiction. Cecelia Holland 19th Century

romance will like this story, although they may find the villain somewhat one-dimensional, and Riley’s acceptance of Annie’s secret a little too pat. There is a cast of appealing secondary characters, including the charming blind students and their teacher. Violence is alluded to, but is kept offstage. A pleasant read, with enough suspense to keep the pages turning. Elizabeth Knowles THE MEASURE OF KATIE CALLOWAY Serena Miller, Revell, 2011, $14.99, pb, 316pp, 0800719980 Hypnotic storyteller Serena Miller writes so atmospherically that her novel deftly absorbs the reader into the story of the loggers and the plight of Katie Calloway. While the straight-and-narrow character of Katie lacks emotional development, the plot makes up for it with both tragic and endearing situations. Katie is taking care of her young brother and desperate to escape an abusive marriage which is a political clash between North and South in postCivil War Georgia. She seizes the opportunity to run away, taking little Ned with her to parts unknown. Traveling to Michigan, she meets up with Robert Foster, who gives her a respectable job as a cook for the loggers he employs, offering a sanctuary for Katie that she has never had. The lines separating the boss and cook begin to disappear, but the secret that Katie hides threatens everyone’s security at the logging camp. Katie’s story is made more enticing with the scenery and supporting characters of the camp: a surly head cook, the many loggers, and Robert and his children. Robert battles his own demons, but can Robert save Katie from her marriage and still feel like an honest Christian? Marie Burton MANU Christopher Nicole, Severn House, 2011, $28.95/£18.99, hb, 240pp, 9780727880734 This well researched novel covers a period of the British Raj prior to the 1857 Mutiny. In 1849, a young and attractive Englishwoman, Emma, is suddenly widowed when her missionary husband is garroted by thugs, and she escapes miraculously. Emma is found, wandering in the hills, by East India Company soldiers, led by a dashing Captain Dickinson. He is immediately taken in by her beauty. Emma is to be shipped back home, but fearful of facing criminal charges there, she manages to stay on by persuading the governor general’s wife to send her as a governess, requested by the Rajah of Jhansi, for fourteen-year old Rani Manikarnika (Manu). Somewhat like Anna in Anna and the King of Siam, Emma arrives before the Rajah in Jhansi’s glittering palace and gets embroiled in some of the vignettes there. In one she is persuaded into marrying an Indian officer and in another she’s faced with a dilemma when her old flame, Dickinson, is posted to Jhansi and still desires her. While this novel’s writing may not be at par 19th Century

with that of E.M. Forster’s or M.M. Kaye’s, it does bring to life that era of Indian history by evocative descriptions of scenery and edifices, and exact period dialogue, at least of the British characters. Christopher Nicole is sympathetic to the Rani’s plight and has used Emma’s firstperson voice effectively to reveal the folly of the East India Company directors in imposing the Doctrine of Lapse – disallowing adoptees to govern – on Jhansi. Also, Emma’s observations on the strangeness of some of the Indian customs, such as the mutilation of an adulterous wife by her husband, are enlightening. The open ending indicates that Manu is the first book of another one of Nicole’s acclaimed serials. Readers would be looking forward to a sequel. Waheed Rabbani THE HEALING Jonathan Odell, Doubleday, 2012, $26.00, pb, 325pp, 9780385534673 Granada is an enslaved girl, torn from her mother’s arms on a whim to be raised in a mansion as the mistress’s pet. Sometimes dressed in finery, sometimes scrubbing the kitchen floor, the confused Granada knows nothing of her past – who her mother is, where her people came from, or of the ancient voices who could guide the girl if only she knew how to use her Sight. The master brings a healer home, paying an unworldly price for the ancient hoodoo woman. Polly Shine recognizes Granada’s gift and obtains the reluctant girl to be her helper. She begins to learn Polly’s herbs and potions, but the old woman cannot teach her to open a connection with the Old Ones, to become a master healer herself. Only Granada can do that, by reaching back to her past. The Healing is Jonathan Odell’s beautifully written historical novel of denial and acceptance set in the antebellum Deep South. Every character struggles with the agonizing lies and realities on both sides of the master-slave relationship. Those emotions still reverberated during Odell’s boyhood days in Mississippi amid segregation, lynchings, and the KKK. In writing The Healing, Odell sought to understand slavery’s terrible consequences and also the fractured society in which he was raised. Just as the power of story helped patients that Polly Shine healed and brought Granada to accept herself, Odell’s story will touch his readers, and I sensed that he found healing in his own words. Odell’s lush descriptions set me in the Mississippi Delta so clearly that I could feel the humidity and hear the mosquitoes whine. His characters, particularly the richly-drawn Polly Shine, will haunt you long after you finish The Healing. Jo Ann Butler MERCURY’S RISE Ann Parker, Poisoned Pen Press, 2011, $24.95, hb, 378pp, 9781590589618 / also pb, $14.95, 9781590589632 In book four of the Silver Rush series, Inez

Stannert travels through the Rocky Mountains to Manitou, Colorado, eager to reunite with her son, William. A sickly child, he was sent to her sister’s Eastern home to improve his health. Inez, her husband, Mark, and a friend Abe Johnson, all successful gamblers, own the Silver Queen Saloon in Leadville, Colorado, a mining town. Mark disappeared unexpectedly over a year ago and was presumed dead. Now, he has returned, wishing to explain and to resume married life with Inez, but Inez has created a new life that does not include her resurrected husband. However, on the way to Manitou, one of her carriage companions dies after drinking a miracle cure touted by a Manitou resort. Even though his death is attributed to a heart weakness, Inez is compelled by his widow to investigate and must enlist Mark’s assistance to gain access to information still off-limits to women in 1880s Colorado. Although her previous novels have been set in Leadville, this time Parker relocates her characters, allowing exploration of new scenery, including Colorado resort areas, and the opportunity to add new characters without abandoning the old. Although we do not see much of favorites like Abe and Justice Sands, Susan Carothers accompanies Inez, and Mark makes his first appearance in the series. Parker’s accurate depiction of the silver rush and development of the West never detracts from the mystery or her characters. And her examination of women’s place in society, both Eastern and Western, illustrates the diligence needed for successful career women to maintain their reputations. While Mercury’s Rise will stand alone as an excellent mystery, reading the series in order is recommended. Suzanne J. Sprague THE COCOA CONSPIRACY Andrea Penrose, Obsidian Mystery, 2011, $7.99, pb, 336pp, 9780451235312 This is a story for chocolate lovers. Chocolate appears on nearly every page, whether the characters are eating it, drinking it, researching it, or gazing into each other’s chocolate-brown eyes. The Cocoa Conspiracy is the second installment in the Lady Arianna Regency Mystery series, and Arianna is now married to Lord Saybrook. Because of the unconventional way they were married (in the first book), each is insecure about the relationship, creating a well-written, subtle tension. After buying a birthday present for her husband (a book on chocolate), Lady Arianna discovers a coded message hidden in its binding which speaks of planned treason and murder. The Saybrooks take their knowledge to the dastardly Minister of State Security Lord Percival Grentham, with whom they tangled in the last book. Grentham convinces them to attend a Peace Conference in Vienna to solve the mystery and stop the murders. The Cocoa Conspiracy has plenty of intrigue, thrills, history, and best of all, chocolate. Each chapter begins with a recipe from “Lady Arianna’s HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 33

Chocolate Notebooks.” Though conveniently modern, these recipes seem out of place with such anachronisms as “heat oven to 325 degrees” and “with an electric mixer…” Still, I cuddled up with a cup of hot chocolate every time I sat down to read. I can’t wait for the next installment. Elizabeth Caulfield Felt BETWEEN THE THAMES AND THE TIBER: The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Ted Riccardi, Pegasus, 2011, $25/C$31/£5.99, hb, 336 pp, 9781605981871 Ted Riccardi is writing in an established genre of Holmes knock-offs. His Holmes seems to be the Basil Rathbone type; however, Riccardi’s Holmes and Watson are not only inseparable but ever kindly and solicitous of each other’s well-being (as opposed to the 2009 Robert Downey Jr. film or the original books, where Holmes was a real pain in the neck). Riccardi’s Watson has inherited a pot full of money and given half of it anonymously to Holmes. The two can thus live wherever they want. They intelligently choose Rome, but also travel. Riccardi’s Holmes is friendly with everyone worth knowing—Liszt, Marconi, Puccini, the pope, even Arthur Conan Doyle. This Holmes also knows everything, of course. And yet his brilliant powers of deduction and vast knowledge can’t keep people safe, even after he’s on the case. Riccardi has the language down, and readers who love Doyle might well feel as though they’re

ON CANAAN’S SIDE

reading newly discovered manuscripts of the real thing. Riccardi is an academic and an obviously intelligent writer. This collection of short stories was, however, unsatisfying for me – but take that with a grain of salt since I’m not a Holmes aficionado. Still, I had no thrill of “ah-hah!” or charged amazement over how Holmes figured it out. It was more a “right … right … right … that’s it?” Kristen Hannum

This is a story of self-discovery, understanding and acceptance. We get a glimpse at the underlying thoughts and motives of key Austen characters: Lady Catherine, Mr and Mrs Collins, Mr and Mrs Bennet, and, of course, Mary. New and unexplored personalities make this a refreshing take, possessing an authenticity that would make Jane Austen proud. Fans will count this sequel as an amusing addition to a saturated genre. Arleigh Johnson

THE UNEXPECTED MISS BENNET Patrice Sarath, Berkley, 2011, $15.00, pb, 296pp, 9780425244210 / Hale, 2011, £18.99, hb, 224pp, 9780709092803 Among the plethora of Jane Austen continuation novels, this story is distinct in that its central character is the least inspiring Bennet sister, Mary. Realizing that her sermonizing and lackluster pianist skills had been the object of ridicule among her limited society, she gave up on the endeavors and found a sense of open-mindedness the old Mary would have scorned. Beginning at Longbourn and with a short stint at Pemberley, most of the story takes place at none other than Rosings Park, home to one of the main antagonists from Pride and Prejudice, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mary had secured a position as companion to Anne de Bourgh, though she had caught the notice of more than one gentleman. Should she continue in her elevated – though somewhat oppressive – surroundings, or find happiness like her much admired elder sisters?

A WHISPER OF PEACE Kim Vogel Sawyer, Bethany House, 2011, $14.99, pb, 352pp, 9780764207853 Secrets are the unspoken divider in this fastpaced novel of the complex, painful, but loving interaction between the Athabascan Indians and white traders/missionaries in 1890s Alaska. Lizzie Dawson lives alone, banished from her mother’s tribe. Her mother had married a white man and on her dying bed begged Lizzie to make peace with her grandmother. Lizzie is making a moose hide coat for her grandmother as a reconciliation gift which she remains unsure will be accepted. Planning and doing are fillers for the lack of courage for fear of rejection anew. Along comes Clay Selby, a white missionary, and his sister Vivian. He is minimally accepted by the Indians, and this beginning becomes jeopardized when it’s discovered that he and his sister have been visiting Lizzie. Clay is so strongly attracted to Lizzie, and Vivian has gradually become close to her, although their different ways clash wildly at times. Thus the story proceeds to the moment when the secrets are revealed, and decisions about reconciliation, forgiveness, hope, love, and revelation culminate in an ending that is fraught with conflict but no less satisfying. A Whisper of Peace is a lovely novel. Viviane Crystal

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Sebastian Barry, Faber & Faber, 2011, £16.99, $25.95, hb, 272pp, 9780571226535 / Viking, 2011, $25.95, hb, 272pp, 9780670022922 The narrator of On Canaan’s Side, 89-year-old Lilly Bere, feels herself at the end of her life. She is the midst of an intense grief, mourning the recent loss of her grandson, Bill, and everybody she has loved is now dead. She is left only with her memories, the entry point to the narrative of this novel, one filtered purely through her sensibilities. Lilly’s story is both intimate and grand. As she tries to truly grasp what her life has been, the reader is transported through some 70 years of history, beginning in Ireland at the end of the First World War and continuing right through her subsequent and dangerous flight to America, where Lilly’s life of hope and pain unfolds against the cultural changes of her adopted country, the immigrant’s promised land of the title. Sebastian Barry continues in this, his fifth novel, to explore the almost forgotten stories of the marginalised victims of Ireland’s quest for independence. There are narrative connections too with earlier novels; Lilly is the younger sister of Willie Dunne, the central character of his hugely successful novel A Long Long Way. This is not an easy book to read in one sense, as Lilly’s life is not one of untrammelled joy, but it is a simple pleasure to read for the wonderful lyricism of Barry’s prose. His writing is truly poetic, constantly creating images full of an emotional power that drive this novel. He concentrates on tiny fragments of Lilly’s experience to create an intense narrative sustained by Lilly’s memories of love and loss. This is simply a wonderful novel. Gordon O’Sullivan 34 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

THE SILVER LOTUS Thomas Steinbeck, Counterpoint, 2011, $25.00/£16.99 hb, 368pp, 9781582437781 During the last decades of the 19th century, the ruggedly handsome and dashing sea trader Captain Jeremiah Macy Hammond, descended from stern New Englanders, ran a profitable trading schooner that ventured out from California and traversed throughout the whole of the Pacific Ocean. On one of his trips to China, he meets the beautiful and talented Lady Yee (“Silver Lotus”) and is immediately enthralled by her intelligence and grace; she is drawn to this “barbarian,” with his great determination and strength. After Hammond saves Lady Yee’s family from approaching violence, he asks for her hand in marriage. Her father, a wealthy Cantonese merchant, gives his blessing to their union, and together they forge a life of adventure, drama, and service. They build a trading empire, and by 1900 settle in Monterey, California, creating rich and meaningful lives in their community with expressions of compassion and service. Although the brilliant and ambitious Lady Yee maintains a low profile, her character is the 19th Century

driving force behind their lives and community. The couple’s abiding love shines through the book in their devotedness to each other, all the while weathering horrific storms, illness, social issues, and tragedy. And if at times Lady Yee seems to be too perfect a paragon, the lush descriptions, vibrantly drawn characters, and interesting locales (the Far East and California) make it easy to lose oneself in the romance and vitality of the story. Michael I. Shoop SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE GHOSTS OF BLY AND OTHER NEW ADVENTURES OF THE GREAT DETECTIVE Donald Thomas, Pegasus, 2010, $25.00/£15.99, hb, 364pp, 9781605981345 Sherlock Holmes is up to his pipe stem in the title mystery and three bonus adventures thanks to this recently unearthed Dr. Watson account, courtesy of Donald Thomas. To whet our appetite is “The Case of a Boy’s Honour,” whose issue of bullying and class distinction seemed thoroughly modern, though the case is set on the eve of World War I at the Royal Naval Academy. Next, the main event is a baffling ghost story set in the Elizabethan manor house of Bly. A young heir has already been judged a victim of his deranged caretaker, conveniently locked up in the Broadmoor lunatic asylum. It’s up to Holmes and Watson to get to the root of the visions of the walking dead and a second murder. A delightful profile of “Sherlock Holmes the Actor” follows, as a prelude to the baffling “The Case of the Matinee Idol,” a theaterset murder mystery. It’s always good to see new adventures of the archetypes of Holmes and Watson, and Donald Thomas has fun putting them in The Turn of the Screw and The Winslow Boy territory. As always, what seems is seldom what is as the two strive toward the truth and justice being served. Knowledge and period detail are evident, but not always the heart of setting and characters. Watson’s prose lumbers upon occasion and might have benefited from Holmes’s keener editing hand. Eileen Charbonneau THE SAILOR’S RANSOM Brian Thompson, Vintage/Trafalgar Square, 2011, $13.95/£7.99, pb, 252pp, 9780099539490 The plot in Brian Thompson’s most recent historical novel revolves around matchmaking. Heroine Bella Wallis is introduced to a young heiress, Mary Skillane, who was been promised by her father to a vulgar treasure seeker. When the heiress falls in love with the best friend of Bella’s sometime-lover Philip Westland (sometimes because Bella has also enjoyed female lovers) Bella and Philip attempt to escape the jilted and irate Robert Judd and bring their two young friends together. Judd, it seems, cares not a whit about his lovely intended and is only after the famous Skillane pearls, which Mary is due to inherit. The plot may seem familiar and simple, but what Thompson does best is to soak us in the sensations of Victorian London and life. Throughout 19th Century

E D I TORS’ CH OICE

THE YEAR AFTER | THE LAST SUMMER

Martin Davies, Hodder & Stoughton, 2011, £17.99, hb, 401pp, 9780340980422 | Judith Kinghorn, Headline Review, 2012, £7.99, pb, 437pp, 9780755385997 Occasionally the accidents of publishing bring out two books in the same season which neatly complement each other. The Last Summer and The Year After do just that, so much so that it seems inexcusable not to include them in the same review. Even the titles are complementary. The Last Summer is the sultry, idyllic summer of 1914, before the young men went away to war, and The Year After is 1919, the year the survivors came back to a grieving, shell-shocked nation. Both novels are set in country houses in southern England, the homes of the super-rich, and both are told in the first person. The narrator of The Last Summer is the teenage daughter of the owner of the house. That summer she loses her innocence to a young man on the outer edge of her social milieu, her uncle’s illegitimate son. Before the year is out her whole world loses its innocence on the battlefields of France, and the story follows her romantic obsession through the nightmare of the war into the early years of peace. The narrator of The Year After is a young officer returning from France. Before the war he has been a frequent guest at a country house in Devon, even though he is not really part of the family’s glittering milieu, where he fell in love with the daughter of the house. At Christmas 1919, he is invited back, as the family struggles to restore the old routine. He consummates his prewar love affair, although he fails to reignite his old passion, and takes the first steps to finding a new love. It is almost as if the same story is being told by different authors from different viewpoints, although the romantic outcomes are not the same. In both stories the pre-war world was not as innocent as it seems, and secrets emerge after the war. The Year After has a more explicit detective story element, but it is not really a murder/mystery (the suspected murder wasn’t a murder). Both books excel in evoking rural England of the early 20th century – the lush, lovely summer countryside of Sussex in 1914 and the harsh winter moorland of Devon in 1919 – and the closed hierarchical world of the village and the ‘big house’, and both books chronicle the shock, grief and bewilderment as this world blows apart. There are obvious echoes of Gone with the Wind. Unlike the antebellum South, aristocratic England was on the winning side in its war but its way of life, if not quite blown away, was badly shaken and lost its sense of permanence and legitimacy. Both The Last Summer and The Year After mix nostalgia and cynicism, a gracious world with a dark underside that maybe deserved to die, if not with so much suffering. Edward James the adventure, we feel we are in the midst of characters who must have lived and breathed in 1876 England. Glimpses of historical events are peppered throughout the pages. But there’s more here than borrowing a backdrop. The atmosphere is delicious, tangible, and irresistible. The dialogue is believably Victorian. And Bella Wallis is a joy to follow around through a few hundred pages. She’s a complex woman who lives not only her own life to its fullest, she also has to cope with her arrogant

alter ego, Henry Ellis Margam, the sensationalist author. Kathryn Johnson HAWKE’S TOR E.V. Thompson, Hale, 2011, £18.99, hb, 270pp, 9780709092797 Nineteenth-century Cornwall provides the setting for this tale of illicit affairs and murder. Superintendent Amos Hawke and Sergeant HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 35

Tom Churchyard are the sole representatives of an embryonic detective service in the Cornwall Constabulary. Their enquiries into the disappearance of a young married woman and her baby turn into a murder investigation when their bodies, and those of a gypsy man, are found on Hawke’s Tor. The community in the nearby village closes ranks as the truth behind the murder is slowly revealed. Sergeant Churchyard finds himself drawn to a gypsy girl, daughter of the murdered man. She seems to hold the key to the investigation, but the sergeant’s feelings become more personal. The characters are well drawn and believable. The pressures on the infant police force and local rivalries are evoked in a sparing, yet informative style of writing. The murder is solved and all loose ends tied up in a satisfactory manner. E.V. Thompson has written over thirty novels and has a multitude of fans. This latest offering will please them, while also serving as a good introduction to those not familiar with his work. Mike Ashworth BY THE KING’S DESIGN Christine Trent, Kensington, 2012, $15.00, pb, 360pp, 9780758265906 Annabelle Stirling (Belle) and her flighty, journal-writing brother Wesley own a draper’s shop in Yorkshire until a Luddite mob, unhappy with Belle’s purchase of a gig mill (an innovation of the Industrial Revolution) which would enable the shop to finish fabric more quickly, attacks the shop and tears the mill to bits. Belle travels to London, crashes a session of Parliament to demand restitution, and is naturally laughed out of the room. Indignant, she and Wesley set up shop in London, and Belle catches the notice of John Nash, the prince regent’s favorite architect. Belle receives a lucrative commission from the regent and becomes so busy with the intriguing cabinetmaker Putnam Boyce, and all of London society’s elite, that she does not notice Wesley’s descent into opium addiction and involvement in a plot to overthrow England’s government and kidnap the regent until it is too late. This story is very well written. The character development is excellent, as we often get to read Belle’s sardonic thoughts about the people around her and excerpts from Wesley’s journal. The story gives the reader a peek into the changes English society was undergoing during the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. This novel is interesting, fast-paced and easy to read. Highly recommended. Cynthia McArthur QUEEN OF AMERICA Luis Alberto Urrea, Little Brown, 2011, $25.95, hb, 496pp, 9780316154864 Teresita Urrea acquired her title of “Saint of Cabora” during the Mexican war known as the Tomochic Rebellion during the despotic rule of Porfiro Diaz in the mid-1800s, a vivid story depicted in The Hummingbird’s Daughter. It’s after the war now, and Teresita and her father, Tomas, 36 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

have fled Mexico and will travel throughout America in the course of this novel. But this is the story of a woman constantly fighting to live a normal life as a woman with desires for a home to settle in and a spouse to love and be loved by. At first that hardly seems the case, as her father spends his time reminiscing about his past glorious life as a respected, powerful Mexican ranch owner and the rest of it drinking and carousing with his friends and any female skirt that passes by. Teresita is annoyed by him, and he taunts her. The healing power she displays is actually the native Indian medicine she learned from an old friend as a child, coupled with the prayers she learned on becoming a Christian. She also realizes that those around her want her to foment another revolution in Mexico. A large portion of the novel is taken up with how newspaper writers distort things she says and does, inflating her normal comments to superhuman dimensions. Finally, Teresita has a very brief, loving relationship, one that causes a break between father and daughter. Perplexed at first, the reader cannot help but become increasingly respectful of this woman yearning to be ordinary but who is forced to live her days in a world where poverty, illness, and political machinations mold her into a projection of public and individual desires. Luis Alberto Urrea has again written a moving, complex, and yet

worthy historical novel. Remarkable! Viviane Crystal THE BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE Anne-Marie Vukelic, Hale, 2011, £18.99, hb, 223pp, 9780709093664 The Butterflies Are Free, a quotation from Bleak House, is the title of Vukelic’s excellent new novel about Charles Dickens. Set against the backdrop of 19th-century London, Dickens struggles to oversee his home for fallen women, act as a guide for his drug obsessed friend Wilkie Collins, and care for his children, who were often rebellious. The novel opens in 1856, and soon after Dickens not only cruelly sets aside his wife, Catherine, but takes charge of his family with the exception of the eldest, Charlie. He becomes obsessed with a young actress, Ellen Ternan, and they indulge in a difficult long-term secret affair which lasts until Dickens’s death in 1870. This novel is notable for the author’s delivery of character. Dickens, Ellen and Collins are vividly portrayed, and the relationships in the novel are exceptionally convincing. Ellen’s story is engaging. She clearly gained much from the affair but she also lost years to a man who actually was a strange and brilliant mix of arrogance, profound humanity and generosity. His family especially his ‘Lucifer Box’, daughter Katie, and his son, Charlie, whose voice allows the story an intimate perspective into

E D I TORS’ CH OICE

THE TIME IN BETWEEN (US) / THE SEAMSTRESS (UK)

María Dueñas, Atria, 2011, $26.00, hb, 624pp. 9781451616880 / Viking, Apr. 2012, £12.99, hb, 624pp, 9780670920020 From Gone with the Wind to The Thorn Birds, the romantic epic is a tried-and-true favorite, invariably set during a tumultuous period in history, with a heroine, and hero, overcoming spectacular odds to consummate their passion. In María Dueñas’s The Time in Between, some of these motifs come into play: a naïve seamstress named Sira falls in love and finds herself a victim of vicissitudes beyond her control, cast adrift in the Spanish protectorate of Morocco on the eve of the Spanish Civil War. Here, she’s forced to reinvent herself as a mysterious couturiere, abetted by a cast of eccentric friends, including a redoubtable black-marketeering landlady and stylish Englishwoman who happens to be the mistress of a high-ranking official. But this is where the familiar ends. In her heroine, Dueñas has crafted a refreshingly ordinary woman who rises to the challenge of a world plunging into darkness. She’s clever but not infallible, and her driving ambition isn’t to get her man but to seize control of her fate. With her native Spain devastated and Europe overshadowed by the threat of Nazi supremacy, Sira discovers that her past isn’t so easy to escape when she’s drawn into an espionage ring that sends her back to shell-shocked Madrid, where the Nazis exploit the new regime’s Fascist sensibilities. Here, she undertakes a mission that could prove her undoing, returning to the world she left behind, to face old ghosts and new foes. Narrated in elegant prose, set in a time rarely explored – that of the aftermath of Spain’s civil war and Franco’s underhanded dealings with Germany – The Time in Between is a romantic epic for a new age, in which love, when it arrives, cannot be fulfilled without freedom. C.W. Gortner 19th Century

their lives, are brilliantly depicted, as is his odd relationship with his wife’s sister, his housekeeper, Charlotte. The tension in the novel lies in the secret nature of his affair. Otherwise it is the female characterisation and the background of Victorian England which is, from our modern perspective, repressive towards women that fascinates. Not only has Vukelic researched her work thoroughly, but chapter notes are provided which indicate where she has followed her imagination in order to put flesh on the bones of this particular history. The Butterflies are Free is a very satisfying and flowing novel about a charismatic personality, published in time for Dickens’ bicentenary. Carol McGrath BLUE HEAVEN Willard Wyman, Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 2011, $21.95, hb, 194 pp, 9780806142180 Fenton Pardee learned the packer’s trade with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show – how to handle horses, and how to strap packs onto a mule that won’t come apart on a fractious animal. He hears tales of Montana’s high country from Cheyenne Indians and real-life cowboys who work for the show. A disastrous train wreck leaves Pardee on horseback, riding west to explore those rolling grasslands and snow-covered scarps which become

HALF-BLOOD BLUES

his home. Blue Heaven is the prequel to Willard Wyman’s award-winning High Country. It features Fenton Pardee in younger days, following many a difficult trail through forests and rivers into the unforgiving, heartbreakingly beautiful Rockies. We meet Pardee’s friends, the woman he married, and the young Ty Hardin, who works for him as a fledgling packer. Wyman re-creates the Old West for his readers, before roads scarred its mountains, and when horseback was the only way to get to Fenton’s lofty paradise. I loved the way Wyman could put me in the saddle, and haul me up a muddy mountainside so clearly that I could feel cold rain down my neck and the slick reins in my hands. In the early pages, Pardee’s characters seemed sketchy to me, perhaps because I haven’t read High Country and didn’t get to know Pardee there. Wyman’s characters didn’t truly engage me until Cody Jo, a cute, gutsy schoolteacher from Massachusetts, comes to town and flings every man into a dither. That is when Wyman’s characters really come to life, for as they reveal themselves to Cody Jo, they do the same for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of Blue Heaven. Jo Ann Butler CITY OF ROCKS: A Western Story

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

Esi Edugyan, Picador, 2011, $15/£10.99, pb, 336pp, 9781250012708 / Serpent’s Tail, 2011, £10.99, pb, 352pp, 9781846687754 Sid Griffiths is a “dependable” bass player who, with his old neighborhood friend Chip Jones from Baltimore, was part of a jazz band in the cabaret scene in pre-Nazi Berlin. Now that “the Boots” have taken over, Sid, Chip, and their brilliant half-German, half-African trumpet player, Hieronymous Falk, flee to Paris. They meet up with Louis Armstrong there, and Armstrong and Hiero work together to cut a recording, creating a sound that “was the old Armstrong and the new, that mature distilled essence of a master and the boy he used to be, the boy who could make his glissandi snap like marbles, the high Cs piercing.” The Germans arrive in 1940, and arrest the paperless Falk. The book travels back and forth between 1992, when Sid and Chip are invited to Berlin as special guests of a Falk Festival. The two take a side trip to Poland, to check out whether a letter from the long disappeared Falk might be real, with the implication that he survived the concentration camps. Even seeming diversions are meaningful – like the cat they find living in their hiding place’s walls in Berlin. When the men leave, they put the cat back into the walls, “it was either that or the streets.” Edugyan’s characters are tragic and absolutely believable, and she compellingly unpeels the layers that Sid hides behind. He is revealed first as a self-centered loser (not just an innocent victim) and finally as a tragically blind man, always hiding his woundedness. Half-Blood Blues was the winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize (the literary prize for Canadians, with a $50,000 purse), and shortlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction. The honors are deserved; it is a dark and jazzy masterpiece, beautifully executed. Recommended. Kristen Hannum 19th Century — 20th Century

Michael Zimmer, Five Star, 2012, $25.95, hb, 200pp, 9781432825577 City of Rocks is built around a clever conceit: the interviews of Joseph Roper as part of the American Legends Collection, an offshoot of the Federal Writers Project. Roper is interviewed in 1938, when he is 76, about the events of 1879, when he was 17 and found himself tracking the McCandles gang. Roper is the only one to take action when his town of Coalville, Idaho, is terrorized by the gang. While the rest of the town cowers in a darkened restaurant, Roper takes off after Ian McCandles, who has shot his friend and employer, the sheriff, and kidnapped Lucy, one of the town prostitutes. Roper’s recounting of his adventure, 59 years after the fact, serves to temper a 17-year-old’s boasting into a rueful, mature reflection on his younger self and his mistakes. For Roper does catch up with McCandles, captures him, and rescues Lucy and another prostitute. However, he allows the women to talk him into going after McCandles’ stash of gold instead of going back to Coalville to turn the outlaw in. His cataloging of every bruise, scrape, wound, and betrayal serves as a deterrent to any impressionable youngster who would find his tale exciting and his life desirable. I wish the American Legends Collection actually existed! Ellen Keith

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THE DRESSMAKER Kate Alcott, Doubleday, 2012, $25.95, hb, 320pp, 9780385535588 A light romance released for the centennial anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, Kate Alcott’s tale of plucky Tess Collins follows Tess as she flees servitude in 1912 France to follow her dream of becoming a successful seamstress. Sadly, Tess boards the Titanic for its maiden voyage to New York City. Happily, she survives the sinking of that great passenger liner. As luck would have it, the world’s most famous clothing designer, Lady Lucile Duff Gordon, who has taken Tess under her curmudgeonly wing, survives too. In New York, Tess commits a grave error when she befriends a reporter who guesses the awful truth: while brave Tess saved people from drowning in the icy Atlantic, Lady Lucile saved herself, costing the lives of countless others. Trouble abounds, leading to a denouement that includes the Senate investigation into the tragedy, the decision Tess makes regarding the two men who love her (one a poor but proud coal miner with a jaunty spirit, the other a fabulously wealthy but really nice American businessman), her own independence, and the milestone suffrage parade along Fifth Avenue on 6 May 1912. Alana White WONDERLAND CREEK Lynn Austin, Bethany House, 2011, $14.99, pb, HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 37

385pp, 9780764204982 This enchanting story begins in 1936 Blue Island, Illinois, when readers meet dreamy Alice Ripley, who spends her life inside books and whose one ambition in life is to collect used books for a small Kentucky mining town hard hit by the Depression. As the piles of donated books gets higher, so do Alice’s troubles. She loses both her library job and boyfriend in one day. Desperate to escape gossip, she decides to hand-deliver the books to the Kentucky librarian, Leslie. Upon arrival, Alice shockingly discovers that the town has no electricity, running water, or even a functioning library. Even worse, Leslie turns out to be a brusque, unfriendly man who desperately needs help. Alice reluctantly plunges into a real-life adventure, including attempted murder, packhorse book deliveries, solving a mystery, and finding love and purpose in her life. As with all Austin’s novels, I was immediately engrossed in Wonderland Creek, its people, and Alice’s plights. The whole town came alive as Alice met and interacted with its inhabitants. Alice’s evolution from a clueless librarian to a caring, deeply changed woman was fascinating, and I especially appreciated the slowly budding romance. Lynn Austin once again enthralls and delights. Rebecca Cochran

A GOOD AMERICAN

NO ONE IS HERE EXCEPT ALL OF US Ramona Ausubel, Riverhead, 2012, $26.95/ C$31.00, 336pp, hb, 9781594487941 It’s 1939, and in the small Jewish town of Zalischik, Romania, the villagers know that bad things are happening in the rest of the world. The little they hear, in the newspapers and mail, and from the few travelers passing through, is incomprehensible. After a bomb and a flood, the village is suddenly cut off from all outside contact; the townspeople decide, based on 11-year-old Lena’s idea, to start the world over. They discard radios, watches, machines which have no place in a just-created world, and they live simply, honestly, and spiritually, in the belief that there is nothing beyond the boundaries of the village. Lena matures, learning difficult lessons about love and family, yet this newly created universe contains some joy, as well, until the real world and war intersect it, shattering everything. Although the novel is narrated by the young Lena, the story is much more than her gripping story of survival: it is also the history of a people, of belonging, of being free and of being held captive. It is also a deeply insightful look into how faith and belief shapes our everyday lives. Ausubel has based this, her first novel, on her own family’s history, and she has said she found hope in the telling of the story. The need to remember, and to

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Alex George, Amy Einhorn Books, 2012, $25.95/C$30, hb, 400pp, 9780399157592 George, an Englishman now living in Columbia, Missouri, has written an absolutely beautiful book about one immigrant family’s experience in America. Spanning almost one hundred years, from the turn of the 20th century to the turn of the 21st century, this book is both a saga and a series of discrete, always fascinating, stories. Frederick and Jette Meisenheimer emigrate from Germany to the United States in 1904. Jette is pregnant and disowned by her parents. They have their sights set on a job for Frederick in Rocheport, Missouri, but babies come when they want to come, and Jette gives birth in Beatrice, Missouri, and that settles the destiny for the Meisenheimer family. Beatrice residents they shall be, and their story, their children’s story, and their grandchildren’s story are all lovingly recounted by their grandson, James. Through each generation, various truths are illustrated, but never in a ham-fisted way. Frederick, a gregarious man with a love of music, finds himself fighting anti-German sentiment during World War I. The Great Depression takes its toll through foreclosures and suicides. African-American family friend Lomax encounters smalltown racism with devastating results. And yet, the overall tone of the book remains buoyant. James is self-deprecating about his quiet life as his brothers, Freddy, the eldest, and Teddy and Franklin, the twins, seem to live more interesting lives. But James underestimates himself. His clear-eyed view of his family, his relationship with his Aunt Rosa, and how he handles himself when he learns a long-hidden family secret are testaments to his character. This is a tale to savor and then reread and reread again. It’s just that good. Ellen Keith 38 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

be remembered, is a recurring theme for Lena, for the village, and for the Jews lost in the Holocaust. Ausubel’s lyrical and haunting narrative ensures that this story, at least, will not be among the forgotten. Helene Williams THE LAST NUDE Ellis Avery, Riverhead, 2012, $25.95, hb, 320pp, 9781594488139 In this stunningly intimate reimagining of an important year in the life of Tamara de Lempicka, we follow the young woman who was her muse for several famous paintings, in particular La Belle Rafaela. On her way from the United States to Italy, Rafaela Fano stole away to France to escape an arranged marriage. Destitute and nearing desperation, a chance meeting with Tamara turned into a lucrative job, and eventually a relationship between the two women. Once La Belle Rafaela was finished and set to appear at the Salon, selling even before the event, two mysterious art enthusiasts begin to vie for Tamara’s remaining works – especially the ones featuring Rafaela. Mostly told through Rafaela’s perspective, we find in her an honest protagonist, sympathetically portrayed and easily liked. Tamara’s character, however, is an intriguing mix of credulous wonder and grudging admiration that has the reader questioning her motives. I found this to be an engrossing tale, with fascinating period details and excellent character development. Rafaela’s budding interest in fashion and Tamara’s painting techniques give the story, along with its setting in 1920s Paris, a great appeal for historical fiction readers, as well as art and biography fans. My one qualm was the lack of details regarding Rafaela’s later years, though perhaps the author felt it more historically accurate as is, or is allowing the reader to decide the fate of beautiful Rafaela. Arleigh Johnson THE PICTURE BOOK Jo Baker, Portobello, 2011, £12.99, pb, 452pp, 9781846273810 ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ has a considerable following on TV as well-known people delve into family history. Author Jo Baker knows that her great-grandfather was killed at Gallipoli in 1915. She has a scrapbook of postcards he sent to his wife, the last being the Grand Harbour, Malta. What a wonderful starting point for a novelist! In The Picture Book we meet in snapshot four generations of the Hastings family: factory lad William becomes a stoker on HMS Goliath, torpedoed by the Turks; his son, Billy, is a champion cyclist in the 1930s and survives D-Day in 1944; crippled Will, a 1960s Oxford academic; and his daughter, Billie, an artist who takes up a residency in Malta. The chapters are headed with place and date, sometimes even time (7.07p.m.); minutes can mean the difference between life and death, a decision taken, a chance lost. At first, I found the 20th Century

episodic narrative disconcerting; William’s last hours on Goliath were so affecting and vivid I couldn’t stop thinking about them and wanted to stay with that storyline, instead of the next chapter, which was ten years later, with young Billy learning to ride the grocer’s delivery bike. However, the author is so good at evoking atmosphere, in sensuous detail, that I was quickly drawn in alongside new characters. Sully, William’s surviving shipmate, haunts the lives of Billy, his mother, and, unknowingly, Will. When Billie goes to Malta in 2004, the story comes full circle. Only after her return does she discover the scrapbook of postcards from her great-grandfather. The narrative flattened at that point but perked up again with a moving ending on 7/7 the following year. A lovely book, an intimate portrait of a family, social change, attitudes to war; and the author one to look out for. Janet Hancock SPITFIRE GIRL Lily Baxter, Arrow, 2011, £5.99, pb, 411pp, 9780099562641 This is the third of Lily Baxter’s Second World War novels, and it follows the fortunes of 18-yearold orphan Susan Banks. She longs to fly, but that is impossible for her, a poor servant girl living in London. Then an act of kindness in rescuing an abandoned Labrador catapults her into a series of events that change her life. She meets Tony Richards, a flying instructor, and when life in London becomes unbearable, she follows him to Hampshire, where the local pub landlord and his daughter take her in. Susan works hard to pay her way, and her diligence and kindness are soon rewarded. Her friendship with Tony blossoms into romance, and Susan’s ambition to fly a Spitfire is still a distant dream, but this is wartime, and anything can happen… This is a warm, entertaining novel with a wealth of interesting and engaging characters who have very human flaws and weaknesses. Susan’s kind and unassuming character make her very likeable. The settings are evocative, whether watching the air raids from Primrose Hill or enjoying the relative tranquillity of a Hampshire village. Although it is a tribute to the women of the ATA, there is not too much detail about them or the flying, and this is one reader who would have liked a little more. However, there is enough human interest in the book to keep the reader wanting to turn the page, and Baxter ties up all the loose ends very neatly, but being wartime there is sadness and heartache before the satisfying ending. Melinda Hammond A DEATH IN SUMMER Benjamin Black, Henry Holt, 2011, $24.99, hb, 320pp, 9780805090925 / Mantle, 2011, £16.99, hb, 256pp, 9780330509091 This latest offering in the Quirke series opens with the shotgun killing of newspaper proprietor Richard Jewell, aka Diamond Dick. His own paper reports he died of a cerebral hemorrhage, yet others 20th Century

rumor it was a suicide. As both Quirke and the police settle down to investigating the actual cause of death, various roadblocks appear, not the least of which emanates from Irish anti-Semites. Throw in Quirke’s attraction to the widow, Françoise d’Aubigny, who is less than perturbed at her husband’s demise, we have all the elements familiar to readers of the genre. Fans of Benjamin Black, or more properly the author’s actual name, John Banville, will not be disappointed. There is the same fresh, impeccable prose and the same tight plotting that are fixtures in the series. Yet to me, the familiarity of the characters is faintly disturbing. For Quirke himself is an amalgamation of other well-known detectives. Like Morse, he is known only by his last name and like countless other protagonists, he is no stranger to drink. His strained relationship with his daughter recalls Wallender. He is irresistible to women, in the tradition of Bond. Other characters beg comparisons as well. A good book, yet I think too familiar by half. Ken Kreckel I AM HALF-SICK OF SHADOWS Alan Bradley, Orion, 2011, £12.99, hb, 296pp, 9781409114208 / Delacorte, 2011, $23.00, hb, 320pp, 9780385344012 This historical crime novel set in the early 1950s sees the return of the irrepressible Flavia de Luce, who once again is at odds with her two bookish sisters, Daphne and Ophelia. Still a child, Flavia retains belief in Santa Claus until her sisters reveal he is a myth. She retreats to the laboratory near her room in the East Wing, determined to prove them

GILLESPIE AND I

wrong scientifically. The financially constrained family looks set to lose their house, Buckshaw, unless their father comes up with a solution. He offers to rent out the Hall to a film company as the setting for their next film. The cast and crew arrive in a fall of snow “with a pantechnicon in the lead and smaller vans trundling behind like a herd of elephants”. The stars of the show and their entourages are housed in the hall. Among them is the world-famous actress Phyllis Wyvern, whose image is sweeter onscreen than off. After an impromptu Christmas Eve performance for the benefit of the villagers, and Ophelia’s three boyfriends, Phyllis is found murdered. Despite being warned not to interfere by Inspector Hewitt, Flavia applies her keen analytical, scientific mind and observational skills in deducing who the killer is whilst putting herself in great danger. This story conveys Flavia’s daring and inquisitive nature, whilst her interactions with Aunt Felicity and Dogger, the general factotum who pops up when needed, show levels of maturity and insight that add depth to her personality and warmth to the story. Recommended. Janet Williamson DYING IN THE WOOL Frances Brody, Minotaur, 2012, $24.99/C$28.99, hb, 368 pp, 9780312622398 In post-World War I England, there’s a young woman of independent means who lost her beloved during the war, who is serving her country in the Voluntary Aid Detachment, who is driving a jaunty sports car, and has a knack for piecing

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Jane Harris, Faber & Faber, 2011, £14.99, hb, 504pp, 9780571275168 / Harper Perennial, 2012, $14.99, pb, 504pp, 9780062103208 Harriet Baxter is sitting in her flat in Bloomsbury in 1933 writing her memoir of events that took place in Glasgow in 1888 at the time of the International Exhibition. She recalls events surrounding her meeting of a talented artist, Ned Gillespie, and what follows is a dark tale of deception and tragedy which leads to an exciting criminal trial in the second half. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. You are kept guessing until the end of the novel, and you are left never knowing quite the whole story but still satisfied that it was all worth reading. Harriet remains an unreliable narrator, and you have to consider if she is an interfering busybody or a firm family friend. The ambiguity surrounding her adds to the mystery and enjoyment. The two narratives, one set in 1888 and the other in 1933, entwine together to provide an absorbing and well-written tale. In places the novel is quite creepy and menacing, with memorable characters and authentic setting, and at the same time shot through with Gillespie’s wicked sense of humour. This story put me in mind of the sensation novels of the Victorian Gothic tradition, but even if you are not familiar with these, it is still full of atmosphere and well worth a second read. Karen Wintle HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 39

together the truth about people. No, it’s not Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs, nor has Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher switched continents. Meet Kate Shackleton, heroine of a new entry in the growing amateur-turned-professional detective genre. While Kate’s life bears a striking resemblance to Maisie’s and Phryne’s on the surface, underneath she’s her own person. Kate’s first paid assignment as a sleuth is to find Joshua Braithwaite, the father of her friend from the VAD, Tabitha. Braithwaite was the wealthy owner of a woolen mill, who one day was found face down and injured in a small brook; the assumption was that he was trying to commit suicide. When he disappeared from a hospital the next day, never to be seen again, more rumors swirled around, about his fleeing the country with ill-gotten gains. Tabitha wants Kate to locate Joshua, just as Kate has located other missing people. To succeed, Kate must find out the truth from Tabitha’s mother, her fiancé Hector, the mill workers, and the police. She is aided in her detecting endeavors by Sykes, a former policeman, who is a bit unnerved at finding himself employed by a woman. This well-plotted mystery has some surprise twists, and reveals Kate to be thoughtful, resourceful, and well able to carve out a space for herself on a playing field next to Maisie and Phryne. Helene Williams LITERALLY DEAD James Conroy, Knox Robinson, 2011, 313pp, hb, £19.99, 9781908483003 In Depression-era Chicago, Amos Jansen, clerk at the Chicago Modern Literature Society, welcomes Ernest Hemingway to the city to give a reading. Shortly after his arrival, Jansen’s boss, Professor Eldon, is found shot dead in his office. The conceit of this crime caper is an ingenious and entertaining one. As Jansen investigates the murder to clear his own name, he has the help of Hemingway, Nelson Algren, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Carl Sandburg, as well as the legendary lawyer, Clarence Darrow. These characters are well drawn and indulge in a good deal of clever and witty dialogue, even if the literary allusions are sometimes a little laboured. The period atmosphere is terrific, achieved not just through detailed description but through the use of a hardboiled narrative voice reminiscent of the greats such as Hammett or Chandler. Ultimately, however, the novel does not deliver on its promise. The problem is that, while a murder with a literary theme is set up, what we get is a much darker story of labour unrest, police corruption and intimidation. About halfway through, the story becomes bogged down by a heavy-handed political message. Of course this has considerable modern resonance as we head, it seems, into another great depression, but Conroy does not appear to trust his readers to work this out for themselves. His preaching undermines the early fun and tends to leave the reader feeling vaguely guilty about having the leisure to read a novel at all. 40 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

Although the book is a nice package, with a stylish cover design and good paper and print quality, the editing is disappointing. I spotted a number of spelling errors, omitted words and – most irritating of all – a couple of hanging clauses. Sarah Bower SLASH AND BURN Colin Cotterill, Quercus, 2011, £16.99, hb, 374pp, 9780857381972 / Soho Crime, 2011, $25.00, hb, 290pp, 9781616951160 This Doctor Siri Paiboun mystery opens in 1968 when Boyd Bowry, son of a U.S. senator, is presumed dead after the helicopter he was piloting exploded over a remote jungle village in the northern mountains of Laos. Ten years later, psychically enhanced Doctor Siri, the country’s only coroner, is dealing with Shamanic mysteries whilst awaiting his retirement. He lives with his wife, noodle seller Madam Daeng, evading the dangers from living near Kampuchea (Cambodia), refugees, Khmer Rouge, and seasonal typhoons. Siri’s superior, Judge Heung, sends for him and instructs him to form a delegation to meet with an American delegation who want to determine what happened to Bowry. Siri contrives to take his closest family, colleagues and friends as interpreters and investigators, including a transvestite. They travel by helicopter to the remote village close to where Bowry was last seen and meet up with the Americans, and through the use of a young interpreter named Peaches, begin exchanging information and investigating Bowry’s last mission. News arrives concerning the mysterious deaths of people connected with the pilot, and this energises the investigating teams.

Siri sifts through incongruous clues to pronounce upon the fate of the pilot, and he denounces a murderer whilst coping with having his own death foretold. The masterly exposition of facts, and plotting, wit, humour and warmth made this an enjoyable and entertaining read. Janet Williamson HOPE AT HOLLY COTTAGE Tania Crosse, Allison & Busby, 2011, £7.99, pb, 378pp, 9780749009861 Plymouth, England, 1954. World War II is over, and young Anna Millington should be looking forward to life as she studies to become a teacher. But things are not easy. As a result of a war injury, her father suffers from terrible mood swings, and Anna fears for her vulnerable mother. When tragedy strikes, Anna must get away fast. She finds herself a job as a housemaid in rural Devon. She should be safe here, surely. The housekeeper may be over-strict and snobbish, but Anna’s employer, Lady Ashcroft, is kind, and her son, the handsome Sir Gilbert, soon indicates that he likes Anna very much indeed. Things are looking rosy – or are they? Anna discovers that life can be as difficult in the country as it was in Plymouth, and soon she faces some very tricky problems. The author plainly knows her subject well; the continuing lack of any but the most basic amenities in post-war Plymouth grinds Anna and her family down in a way which has the stamp of authenticity; as does the upstairs-downstairs life at Ashcroft Hall where the old rules of class snobbery still holds sway under the surface friendliness. Anna must learn to judge people and situations for herself rather than taking them at face value.

THE SILENCE (Viennese Mysteries)

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J. Sydney Jones, Severn House, 2011, $28.95/£18.99, hb, 240pp, 9780727880840 In this excellent mystery set in Vienna in 1900, Werthen, a lawyer, is hired by a wealthy family to find a son who has disappeared. Werthen is told by a friend of the young man that he is safe and has gone abroad. But then the informant dies and the circumstances are such that Werthen may be accused of the murder. Or was it murder? By threatening to expose his homosexuality in order to induce him to talk, Werthen may have precipitated the dead man’s suicide. Not devoid of conscience, Werthen wishes to prove to himself as well as to others that he had no role in the death. So he begins investigating and enters a complex and dangerous labyrinth. Vienna provides an atmospheric backdrop for this story. It is a city in which sophistication and high culture coexist with virulent anti-Semitism, a city of great wealth in which the poor make their homes underground in the sewers. With artful writing, the author has brought this time and place to life. He has also created a vivid cast of characters and devised a plot that never lags. I was engrossed by this novel and highly recommend it. Phyllis T. Smith 20th Century

Unfortunately, in spite of the various serious problems Anna faces, she is never left friendless for more than a day or so. Heroines need their mettles tested, and it’s difficult to become involved with Anna’s problems when help invariably arrives sooner rather than later and the burden is lifted from her shoulders. The story zipped along, but it was all a bit cosy for my taste. Elizabeth Hawksley JULIA Otto de Kat (trans. Ina Rilke), MacLehose, 2011, £12.00, pb, 192pp, 9780857050557 The book starts in the 1980s when Chris Dudok is found dead in his study by his driver. He has committed suicide. The novel is also based around events in World War II when Chris met Julia, the love of his life. When he is found dead there is a copy of a German newspaper on his desk with a name circled on the front page. The reader is then taken back to the 1940s as the story and the mystery of his suicide begins to unfold. The novel follows Chris’s life starting with his love for Julia, through an unhappy and loveless marriage, the responsibility he has to shoulder when his father dies and he has to take over running the factory, then into his later years where he lives alone and employs a driver. It is an excellent storyline, which keeps the reader engrossed, and at less than two hundred pages can easily be read in one sitting. Even though the book is a translation from the Dutch, this can easily be forgotten in the vivid descriptions and easy poetic language. The characters are well written and believable. Chris grows and ages though the book, and although the book starts with his death the reader grows quite close to him, and he stays with you after the book has ended. Barbara Goldie THE DAY BEFORE HAPPINESS Erri De Luca (trans. Michael F. Moore), Other, 2011, $16.95/C$18.95, hb, 192pp, 9781590514818 De Luca’s tale of an orphan boy in Naples after World War II is short but powerful. Our unnamed narrator tells of being raised in an apartment building by the doorman, Don Gaetano. He has a foster mother who pays his expenses, but he lives alone. Due to his slight frame, he makes himself indispensable to the local boys who play soccer, retrieving the ball from precarious places, and in the process, hoping the neighbor girl is admiring his prowess. When the boy is a teenager, the mysterious girl returns, and he falls even more hopelessly in love with her than before. She could be crazy and dangerous, but love only makes those qualities more exciting. The tale is so much more than a love story. It’s also the story of a young man being raised on stories of the occupation of Naples by the Germans. Don Gaetano is a wise and loving mentor who shares with the boy just as much as he can handle at the time, teaches him the repairman trade, and, when the time is right, tells him the story of his parents 20th Century

and gives him a knife, not forgetting that he is a Neapolitan. I experienced this book more as a series of impressions than a sustained narrative, and I have no complaints about that; I think it’s one of the book’s charms. Don Gaetano’s tales of the German occupation, when he hid a Jew in the cellar recall those dark days in history. The title comes from something the Jew tells Don Gaetano when he asks him to cast a stone in the water for him the day before the Jewish New Year, making that day the day before happiness. Postwar Naples, an orphan’s longing, and a man’s wisdom are vividly rendered in this evocative book. Ellen Keith BROKEN MUSIC Marjorie Eccles, Minotaur, 2011, $25.99, hb, 336pp, 9780312591458 / Allison & Busby, 2009, £19.99, hb, 384pp, 978-0749007966 Broughton Underhill, England. The death of young Marianne Wentworth, found in the lake on the Oaklands Park estate, haunts this novel. The narrative flashes back and forth between 1919 and the drowning in August 1914. The story dips in and out of the war years, following the lives of Francis Wentworth and his motherless children – Nella, Amy, and William – as they grieve, love, and serve their country. Enter former police sergeant Herbert Reardon returning home after the war. Aware of the original investigation, Reardon never feels satisfied that Marianne’s death was a simple suicide. So he begins to wonder when a maid dies in the lake in the same place as Marianne. He retraces the flirtations between Marianne and four young men, including a gypsy and an Austrian boy with suspicious alliances at the outbreak of war. His discovery of Marianne’s notebook provides the possible key to both drownings and the discovery of a long-concealed affair. Marjorie Eccles is an established mystery novelist. Her work has been serialized on British television, and her novels are acclaimed. This is a well-crafted, detailed novel which draws the reader in slowly. Eccles presents Broken Music – the world before and after the Great War, and its impact on an English country town, all the while focusing on the drowning of Marianne and the questions that ensued. Her traditional style provides rich narration and literary imagery. Eccles embeds clues along the way which delightfully culminate in the epilogue as the reader gasps and says, “Ah, now I see.” Liz Allenby THE PRAGUE CEMETERY Umberto Eco, Harvill Secker, 2011, 446pp, £20, hb, 9781846554919 / HMH, 2011, $27.00, hb, 464pp, 9780547577531 Renowned primarily for his novel The Name of the Rose, the reader approaches a new Eco work of fiction wondering what sort of intellectual rollercoaster ride is in prospect. And this does not disappoint insofar that the book is crammed full of arcane events and historical lore and

conspiracies. But whether the outcome is a work of art or a hodgepodge/torrent of narrative is open to question. The story is unfolded through the diaries of Simone Simonini, a master forger, spy and murderer. He has an alter ego in the form of a priest complicating the story, as Simonini claims that he does not know about his dual personality. The story ranges from Garibaldi’s freedom fighters in Sicily, through to the Paris Commune and the Dreyfus affair. Simonini is at the centre of the events, and the thread running through all of this is the rise of anti-Semitism in mainland Europe together with the growth of Freemasonry. The title of the book refers to the location of a secret meeting of leading rabbis held every 100 years in which they plot the rise to dominance of the Jewish people. This, of course is an invention by Simonini taken from a story his grandfather told him, and which eventually evolves into the notorious fake document, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. There is some black magic, and the thesis of antiSemitism as described by Eco is repellent and rather uncomfortable to read. I cannot recall reading a book over which so many times I dozed off! It is not an easy book, and while it challenges and provokes, it is also often monotonous; a shame, given Eco’s previous fictional excellence. Doug Kemp WAITING FOR ROBERT CAPA Susana Fortes (trans. Adriana V. Lopez), HarperPerennial, 2011, $14.99, pb, 208pp, 9780062000385 / HarperPress, May 2012, £7.99, pb, 224pp, 9780007410934 Almost everything in this novel violates the rules writers are told to follow. The author uses fragmented sentences, tells a lot more than she shows, shifts points of view, and makes lists. From time to time, she even intrudes upon the narrative, notifying the reader what is going to happen decades into the future. It doesn’t matter. The story is stronger than any of these supposed flaws. Waiting for Robert Capa depicts the love affair between the historical Gerta Pohorylle, a young German woman in conflict with her Jewish heritage, and Hungarian photographer André Friedmann. They meet in Paris in the 1930s and become lovers. André teaches Gerta how to develop photos. She takes to photography with gusto. Paris is home to literati and artists: Picasso, Hemingway, Man Ray, amongst many others. Communists, young and beautiful, Gerta and André rub elbows with the intelligentsia in cafes and bistros. They take professional names: Gerda Taro and Robert Capa. And the novel becomes even more fascinating as they both travel to Spain to cover the civil war, “the first conflict to be photographed and transmitted on a daily basis.” Of particular interest is the account of how Capa took his famous and now controversial photograph of the falling loyalist, one of the greatest war photographs ever. As the novel proceeds toward a tragic end, I am not sure what I liked best, the HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 41

epoch, the intriguing characters, or the stylistic freedom of the author and the message it conveys: “It’s the story, Stupid.” Adelaida Lower

murderers in Christina’s midst. A quick and light read; there was a bit of predictability to the events but this is still good escapist fiction. Marie Burton

THE LOST SAINTS OF TENNESSEE Amy Franklin-Willis, Atlantic Monthly, 2012, $25.00, hb, 352pp, 9780802120052 In the changing South of a generation ago, Ezekiel Cooper struggles to find a true path through the dense jungle of his family’s feuds and secrets. The story ranges from a small town crippled by the economic destruction of the rural south to a prosperous horse ranch in Virginia; the cast of characters includes Ezekiel’s twin brother, mysteriously lost years before the story opens, his opinionated and cross-grained sisters, and his unscrupulous mother Lillian, who may be the novel’s best character. It’s hard for me to see what purpose the author had in writing this novel. It opens with Ezekiel preparing to commit suicide and managing only to poison his dog; it goes downhill from there. The history of the Coopers is as grim as the House of Atreus, one bad thing after another, but there is no resolution, no moment of understanding, not even a place of peace Ezekiel in his painful struggle can come to and rest. The writing has no grace to overcome this constant drumbeat of failure and loss; this is not Faulkner, whose passionate skill could illuminate the humanity in the most debased and unforgiveable people. The book is told in present tense, increasing the sense of being stuck in some place that never gets any better. There’s a reason why these saints are lost, and in my opinion, they can stay that way. Cecelia Holland

LOVE ON THE LINE Deeanne Gist, Bethany House, 2011, $14.99, pb, 368pp, 0764204098 Loaded with intrigue, historical context, and birds, this is a well-written story of telephone switchboard operator Georgie Gail and Texas Ranger Lucious Landrum set in 1903. The Ranger goes undercover as a telephone salesman to catch a criminal in Brenham, Texas, and he soon finds himself in love with the bird-loving Georgie. If he blows his cover with Georgie, he could risk his law career and lose the trail of the notorious Comer Gang. Georgie is ferociously protective of birds, and a large part of this story is Georgie’s stance against the use of bird parts as decorative accessories on clothing, and in the spirit of Nellie Bly, she educates the townsfolk on her favorite pastime of bird watching. Meanwhile, it is the very townsfolk who are members of the Comer Gang that the Ranger is tracking, and Georgie finds herself immersed in the Ranger’s plans to trap the men. If the two survive the Comer Gang, can they allow themselves to love each other when the stubborn and strong-willed Georgie learns who her telephone salesman really is? A fast-paced, humorous, and well researched story with many intriguing characters and that offers a little bit of everything, Love on the Line is the perfect historical romance to curl up with on a long weekend. Marie Burton

COME A LITTLE CLOSER Dorothy Garlock, Grand Central, 2011, $14.99, pb, 400pp, 0446540161 Author Dorothy Garlock is known for her novels set in America’s Heartland. This novel continues a series with the Tucker sisters; the previous novel, Keep A Little Secret, focused on Charlotte, and this one focuses on Christina Tucker. The set-up and plot are easy to follow as a stand-alone, as Garlock creates a new storyline following Christina’s path as a nurse in a new town. Christina meets the nephews of her employer, and right away we know that there will be a love triangle that dominates the book. Tyler and Holden Sutter each take a liking to Christina, and she has feelings for both of them for which she must answer to. Each of the boys has his own issues after returning from World War II, and Christina tries to help both without getting hurt in the emotional crossfire between the brothers. Instead of being a straight romance, though, there is a thriller side to the novel when Christina becomes subjected to the contemptible folks of her new town, and she becomes a prime target for revenge on those she becomes close to. The main characters could have used a bit more dimension and spark, although there was enough insanity amongst the two 42 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

PASSIONS OF WAR (Leonora Trilogy) Hilary Green, Severn House, 2012, $28.95/£18.99, hb, 224pp, 9780727881045 The second in Green’s World War I trilogy (after Daughters of War, 2010) opens in England in 1914. War is still simmering in the Balkans. Leonora Brown, “Leo,” has recently returned from Bulgaria, where she served as a volunteer with a mounted relief organization and, subsequently, as aide-de-camp to a Serbian officer, Colonel Sasha Malkovic. Leo is in love with Sasha, who is engaged to be married, but Leo’s own engagement to Tom is one of convenience. Sasha is constantly on her mind as the conflict spreads, but by staying in England when Tom goes back to the Balkans, she hopes to avoid further heartbreak. Tom’s concern is Leo’s brother, Ralph, who may be in political trouble in Serbia; together they witness the assassination of the heir to Austrian throne. When Austria calls on her allies to retaliate, the Balkan war becomes an international conflict. Tom and Ralph join the British military, headed to the killing fields along the Somme. Leo volunteers again and, in time, she returns to Bulgaria where, caught up in a general retreat, she is almost killed. Rescued by Sasha and his men, Leo joins him on the march across mountains to the sea and safety. Sasha and Leo come to know

each other, if imperfectly, on this arduous journey; but, like the war, their troubles are far from over. Green uses the experience of Sasha, Leo, their families, and friends, to make “the war to end all wars” heartbreakingly realistic. Whether familiar with the events of 1914-1918 or not, readers in search of adventure and some romance will enjoy Passions of War and look forward to the concluding volume of the Leonora Trilogy. Jeanne Greene CHERRY TREE LANE Anna Jacobs, Allison & Busby, 2011, £7.99, pb, 320pp, 9780749009076 Mattie Willitt hates the idea of marriage to her father’s friend Stan, especially when money will change hands between the two men on the wedding day. Bart is an aggressive bully who expects his two younger daughters to remain at home and look after him in his old age once Mattie has married Stan. Set in Wiltshire in 1910, the story tells how Mattie and her sisters make up their minds to escape before it is too late. There is little time to plan, and not much money, but the younger girls have a boyfriend who is willing to help them vanish. Mattie, fighting a heavy cold, opts to go alone and, when her money runs out, sets off to walk to Bristol. Within hours, she is near death in a rainstorm, and though a small boy returning home from school finds her and brings his father, Mattie’s life hangs in the balance for many days. This is where the story really begins. The spare, clear writing style moves the story along at just the right pace, and the reader gains a clear picture of the characters through their actions and dialogue. I found myself reading on much longer than I intended because I enjoyed meeting the lovely young widower Jacob and his children, and the sharp-tongued, decisive Miss Newington. With Bart and Stan tracking Mattie in order to take her back home, and bullies who try to cheat their way into inheriting Miss Newington’s big house, the story does not flag at all, and I recommend it as a jolly good read. Jen Black ELM TREE ROAD Anna Jacobs, Allison & Busby, 2011, £19.99, hb, 350pp, 9780749009977 Anna Jacobs has a long track record. Some fifty novels, according to the dust jacket of this one, all presumably ticking the same boxes, pleasing her readership and satisfying her publishers. This novel, second in the series, follows the experiences of three sisters, Mattie, Nell and Renie. It opens in 1910, when they decamp from their brutal father’s home. Life is not easy for any of them and tragedy strikes Nell when a gas explosion kills both her husband and her young daughter. With practised skill, the story unfolds within in a controlled, well-judged structure. The rather stereotyped characters react logically – there are few surprises here – and the resolutions to their various situations are satisfyingly plausible, 20th Century

conforming, one imagines, to the expectations of this particular readership. Details of time and place add to a convincing sense of period, but it is slightly disappointing when well researched, strong stories and potentially interesting characters are not developed in a more imaginative and challenging way. Robert Fletcher ALL THE FLOWERS IN SHANGHAI Duncan Jepson, Morrow, 2012, $13.99, pb, 320pp, 9780062081605 One of this book’s discussion questions asks if it’s surprising it was written by a man, given its first-person female narrative. Surprising, no, but convincing … perhaps also no. Xiao Feng, a young girl in 1930s Shanghai, loves time in the garden with her grandfather. Unfortunately, he and Feng’s father share the same genetic deficiency: milquetoast syndrome. Thus, they’re ineffectual in preventing Feng’s grasping mother from marrying her daughter into the prestigious, rich, traditional, and terrible Sang family. Feng’s trials begin immediately as she adapts herself to this harsh new environment and, with implausible speed, transforms into someone else entirely. This book is billed for fans of Memoirs of a Geisha, but caveat emptor — Jepson is not as proficient at donning female skin or portraying credible interpersonal relationships. Most devastating, however, is the inability to evoke a convincing historical atmosphere. 1930s Shanghai is lush with potential, but this story is temporally unmoored; without the cover art, one would spend several chapters in ignorance of the time period. It’s also repetitive — the reader shares Feng’s boredom as she spends months cooped up in the Sang compound, with the same dinners and visits from her husband and comforting from her servant repeating in continual cycle. The ending, with China in the throes of revolution, will come as little surprise. One refreshing point is the characterization of Feng’s husband, Xiong Fa. He exhibits unexpected three-dimensionality as a character, garnering sympathy in the process. The villains of this tale are stereotypically flat and almost entirely female — Feng’s soulless sister, her avaricious mother, catty and mean mothers-in-law, and even Feng herself. The result is that one fails to identify with Feng — undeniably, she’s dealt a crummy hand, but the manner in which she chooses to play it loses her the reader’s empathy and interest. Bethany Latham NANJING REQUIEM Ha Jin, Pantheon, 2011, $26.95, hb, 303pp, 9780307379764 Many accounts have been previously written about this most horrendous historical event, better known as the Rape of Nanking, a time in the late 1930s when Japan invaded China. When China refused to surrender, the Japanese military warned Chinese leaders that there would be no mercy, assuring that plunder, rape, and murder would be 20th Century

the ultimate end of China’s resistance. Ha Jin has depicted this infamous event in fictional form but adds a humanitarian element to it in the persons of the narrator, Anling, and the famous missionary, Minnie Vautrin. She has taken over the administration of Jinling College, the place that would be converted to a sanctuary for women and children in the days of Japan’s attack. The complexities of protecting the Chinese, trying to compromise with the Japanese military in order to get food and safety for those in the sanctuary, the inability to stop the atrocities being carried out on a daily basis, and the all-too-frequent failure to stop some of the women being taken from the sanctuary all provide pages and pages of intense, fear-filled, and horrific reading. Minnie Vautrin herself has a terrible end, focusing more on what she was unable to accomplish than the incredible deed she accomplished in saving so many lives. John Rabe is a German who actually sets up the sanctuary, an irony of ironies when the reader knows what was occurring at the same time in war-torn Europe at the hands of Germans. Reading this necessary fictional story of reality is heart-rending, ennobling, and mesmerizing, a tribute to the juxtaposition between the best that humanity can be and its worst moments. Nanjing Requiem is an amazing, obviously well-researched, and creative historical novel. Viviane Crystal THE BUNGALOW Sarah Jio, Penguin, Plume, 2011, $15, pb, 320pp, 9780452297678 The Bungalow by Sarah Jio is another wonderful tale from the South Pacific. In 1942, 21-year-old Anne, born into an affluent Seattle family and engaged to a bank’s VP, is having second thoughts about her betrothal; she believes her fiancé is not passionate enough. When she learns that her best friend, Kitty, wishes to do “something of great meaning” with her life and has joined the Nursing Corps to serve in the South Pacific, Anne decides to postpone her wedding and follow Kitty. The nurses arrive in Bora-Bora, and immediately Kitty is flirting, starting with the colonel and then the corporals. Anne is more cautious, but one enchanted evening, while strolling on a deserted beach, she meets a soldier, Westry. They discover an abandoned bungalow and decide to renovate it. Eventually they fall in love and are soon making happy-talk and more in the hut. However, their paradisiacal life is shattered when they view a macabre murder on the beach. Anne’s dreams crumble like sandcastles on the seashore and, not unlike the barrier reefs around Bora-Bora, she faces several impediments; it takes her nearly a lifetime to resolve the resulting issues. Jio, unlike earlier authors, hasn’t delved too deeply into class and racial prejudices of that era but has done a superb job of pulling together the themes of friendship, betrayal, and endearing love. These keep us engrossed in the novel to an unpredictable conclusion. However, some plot twists, such as at the novel’s start when Anne

receives a letter after 70 years from Bora-Bora, might tax the imagination of some readers. Nevertheless, Jio’s first person Hemingway-ish writing style, like her The Violets of March (judged by Library Journal as one of the Best Books of 2011), is a pleasure to read. Waheed Rabbani MOTOR CITY SHAKEDOWN D. E. Johnson, Minotaur, 2011, $24.99, hb, 352pp, 9780312644574 In 1911 the city of Detroit, heart of the nascent automobile industry, is plunged into a violent gang war, as rival mobs try to infiltrate and control the car companies. Will Anderson, hero of Johnson’s earlier novel The Detroit Electric Scheme, stands against the powerful criminals behind the violence, while struggling against his personal demons, and trying to recover the love of well-bred and brave Elizabeth Hume. All this happens against the backdrop of the industrial city. Johnson’s research leads to a sharpeyed reconstruction of the time, and especially the new world of the motorcar, just now winding its way in through the horse-drawn wagons and handcarts of the streets: how hard they were to start, how novel it was to tear along at thirty miles an hour. Other details resonate: the desperate misery and hope of the immigrants, the murderous gangsters who operate out of two modest neighborhood grocery stores across the street from each other. A gang of street boys, who will eventually become the notorious Purple Gang, kill people for cigarette money. Johnson’s narrative clips along at a good pace, as Will and Elizabeth outwit their enemies and maneuver them into ambushes, although it’s a little hard to imagine a genteel girl like Elizabeth carrying a pistol and actually shooting somebody. The major problem with the book is actually its mopey hero, whose self-pitying voice takes the edge off the narrative. “Stop bein’ such a pussy,” somebody says to him. My sentiments exactly. Cecelia Holland RED FLAGS Juris Jurjevics, HMH, 2011, $26.00, hb, 294pp, 9780547564517 Corruption in the South Vietnamese government and a lack of commitment on the part of the regular South Vietnamese army are hardly surprising to those familiar with historical accounts of the war. The struggle of the “Yards,” Montagnard hill people caught between the rival Vietnamese states, is known to only a very few. Erik Rider, a U.S. Army officer from its Criminal Investigation Division, is assigned to a small village near Pleiku, where his task of cutting drug shipments runs into interference from corrupt South Vietnamese officials as well as enemy forces determined to seize the isolated hamlet. Rider’s undercover assignment is not confidential for very long, and his military police duties are forced by circumstances to take second place to leading infantry patrols and mounting ambushes with the valiant support of HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 43

the Montagnards. Historical novels rise and fall on an author‘s ability to transport the reader to another time and place. Accurate knowledge of that time and place and seamlessly narrating the account within the milieu is evident here from the opening sequence, when a young woman asks Rider to speak of her father and his role in the war surrounding Rider’s Montagnard village of Cheo Reo. Red Flags is a welcome addition to the historical fiction bookshelves on the Vietnamese conflict. John R. Vallely GOOD GRACES Lesley Kagen, Dutton, 2011, $25.95, hb, 340pp, 9780525952381 Eleven-year-old Sally O’Malley and her younger sister, Troo, are as close as two sisters can be, their lives knit together by the tragic circumstances of their father’s sudden death in an automobile accident. Both girls are coping with the trauma in different ways – Sally by hiding out, and Troo by acting out. Troo’s sudden moves towards becoming a neighborhood “bad girl” concern Sally greatly, as she made a promise to her father to always watch out for her younger sister – a promise that she takes very seriously. There are plenty of dangers lurking around the neighborhood for Sally and Troo, including a cat burglar stealing items from neighbors’ homes, a former nemesis who has reportedly escaped from reform school, and a priest who isn’t who he appears to be. What seems to be a nostalgic look at the summer of 1960 through rose-colored Baby Boomer glasses quickly turns into a glimpse at the dark side of any neighborhood during any era. Sally and Troo’s world is populated with molesters, murderers, mean girls, bullies, and the occasional best friend or adult ally. Kagen captures the naïve worldview of an eleven-year-old girl effectively, although Sally’s occasional cluelessness about what’s really going on around her can be cloying at times. Nevertheless, the O’Malley sisters are entertaining young heroines, and their continuing adventures will remind many readers of their own childhoods. Nanette Donohue IN BORROWED LIGHT Barbara Keating and Stephanie Keating, Vintage/ Trafalgar Square, 2011, $16.95/C$21.95/£8.99, pb, 608pp, 9780099520634 Sister authors Barbara and Stephanie Keating, who grew up in Kenya, offer great escapism with In Borrowed Light, which transports readers into exotic 1970s and ’80s Kenya. It’s the third book in the Langani series, a sweeping family saga – or rather a sweeping friendship saga. Three friends, Camilla, Sarah, and Hannah, do right and wrong by their husbands, lovers, and children as they choose life in a country that is shifting around them. The series’ first book, Blood Sisters, begins with the girls during the 1950s Mau Mau Rebellion and follows them into the 1960s as they leave the Kenya Highlands for marriage or careers. In A Durable Fire they 44 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

return, loyal to their country despite the violence that leaves Sarah’s fiancé (Hannah’s brother) brutally murdered on their family farm, Langani. That’s back story for this book, which I enjoyed so much that I’ve bought the first two – despite a patch of clunky dialog that made me wary as I read In Borrowed Light’s first pages. As one catastrophe after another befell the characters, though, the writing became transparent to the story. I felt like I know these women. They’re both good and flawed; their mistakes always recognizable and believably right or wrongheaded. At some point, I realized that a male character might well be a villain if he behaved in the high-handed way that these women sometimes do. I was on their side all the way; sometimes wishing I could give them a good talking to. Recommended. Kristen Hannum PARIS TO DIE FOR Maxine Kenneth, Grand Central, 2011, $13.99/ C$15.50, pb, 368pp, 9780446567411 In 1951, a young Jacqueline Bouvier declined a position with Vogue magazine because she had been offered “a special job on a certain project” with the newly formed CIA. Maxine Kenneth took this cryptic reference from an actual letter in the John F. Kennedy Library and from it spun a fun and frothy mystery. Jackie’s first assignment with the CIA was supposed to be easy. Meet with a Russian defector in Paris and secure from him sensitive information. But the Russian turns up dead and, with the assassin hot on her heels, Jackie finds herself up to her satin-gloved elbows in international espionage. Although Jackie draws on every unorthodox skill in her handbag, including her skills as an equestrienne and, in one quick-thinking instance, her Chanel No. 5 atomizer, she’s no match for the persistent assassin. She calls on Jacques Rivage, a French photographer and CIA liaison, to help her retrieve the Russian’s intel while, at the same time, staying alive. But Jacques provides trouble of his own in the form of smoldering good looks, the tendency to kiss her at exactly the wrong moment, and more than a few secrets of his own. Part mystery, part chick lit, Paris to Die For is all fun. It manages to bring together a satisfying mystery and Cold War espionage with a lighthearted romance and gushing tour of Paris. It’s full of name-dropping, with cameos from Wallis Simpson to Ian Fleming to the then-unknown Audrey Hepburn, and peppered with delightful bits of pop culture. I’m already anticipating the next book in the series. Jessica Brockmole PIRATE KING Laurie R. King, Bantam, 2011, $25.00/C$27.00, hb, 304pp, 9780553807981 / Allison & Busby, 2011, £19.99, hb, 350pp, 9780749040918 Mary Russell, American-born wife to Sherlock Holmes, signs on as assistant to the film crew in the heyday of silent movies. The script is a movie within a movie about The Pirates of Penzance. Russell’s

assignment, straight from Scotland Yard, is to discover the whereabouts of the woman who held her job before and suddenly vanished as well as to ferret out the strange coincidences in cocaine and rum running that have haunted previous projects of this company’s attempts to wedge in on Hollywood’s monopoly of such blockbusters as The Sheikh. The tale is even punctuated by black screens posting dialogue as it wends its way – by pirate ship of course, in the end – from Portugal and finally Morocco. I caught the appearance of Fernando Pessoa, that contemporary – and real – Portuguese literary figure who wrote poetry under half a dozen personas and appreciated his delicious romp within the movie within a movie. That is the level of keen intelligent humor I expect from King. Alas, not much of the rest of the novel matched up. I suppose there’s little else one can do with a shipload of the Modern Major General’s blonde, blueeyed daughters – named alphabetically A-M for convenience – and their stage mothers. And A-L pirates and A-L constables added to the cardboard histrionics. I would not have objected quite so much had I not detected an unsavory whiff of Arab bashing the intensity of the plot in O Jerusalem forgave, but which caricatures stood up in blackand-white here. A great disappointment. Ann Chamberlin HERALD OF DEATH Kate Kingsbury, Penguin, 2011, $15.00/C$17.50, pb, 287pp, 9780425243350 Someone is murdering the villagers of Badger’s End. The killer has taken a lock of hair from each victim and left a gold Christmas angel sticker on the corpse. Over her husband’s objections, Cecily Sinclair Baxter, the manager of the Pennyfoot Hotel, has been asked by the local constabulary to assist in the investigation. Bodies are piling up, and Cecily’s biggest concern is that it may impact on the holiday reservations for the hotel. Billed as a Special Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery, I expected to be a welcomed stranger in a wellestablished world. Unfortunately, the author seems to have forgotten those of us who had not read her stories. I had no idea what time period the story was set in until I checked the author’s website. (It turned out it is an Edwardian setting.) There was little or no description of the hotel or the characters. She gives great emphasis on introducing what seem to be “familiar” characters, but again little help in visualization. Perhaps, if I had read the prior novels, this book would have been like a homecoming – one filled with warmth and friends. Instead, I felt left in the cold on the doorstep. Monica E. Spence LOOK TO THE EAST Maureen Lang, Tyndale, 2011 (c2009), $12.99, pb, 357pp, 9781414338958 Set in the small village of Briecourt, France, during the early battles of World War I, Look to the East opens in the midst of a long-standing feud between the families de Colvilles and Toussaint. 20th Century

The de Colvilles have spread many lies about Julitte Toussaint’s past as an adopted child. When the German army sweeps in to occupy Briecourt, a handful of outsiders are trapped behind enemy lines. Father Barnabe shelters one of those outsiders, Belgian entrepreneur Charles Lassone. Visiting the village church, Julitte discovers Charles hiding in the basement. An unexpected love blossoms between them. Working together despite past hatred, the de Colvilles and the Toussaints succeed in smuggling Charles out to England. Determined to save Julitte from the occupied village, Charles hatches a rescue plan that will entail a dangerous return mission behind German lines. Maureen Lang, award-winning author of several novels including The Oak Leaves and On Sparrow Hill, has written this romantic novel as part of her Great War series. The author evokes the sense of desperation within any village about to be swallowed up in the march of a war that turns men first into animals, then into machines. Lang provides a strong sense of historical detail as the villagers see their food become scarce, their homes ravaged, and their pride trampled by enemy demands. While the setting is well-drawn and spiritual message strong, the relationship between Julitte and Charles seems lukewarm. The reader yearns for a deeper connection between the two lovers as motivation for Charles’s later rescue mission in which he risks his life for Julitte. Liz Allenby A HEART REVEALED Julie Lessman, Revell, 2011, $14.99, pb, 505pp, 9780800734169 This Christian novel is different: the characters are Catholic, and the reader peeks into the married couples’ bedrooms. Emma Malloy has fled an abusive marriage and is content working in her friend’s store in 1931 Boston, until Charity’s brother Sean comes into her life. He claims marriage is not for him, because he can’t control his flashes of anger. And Emma can’t even think about marrying another, when she still has a husband back in Ireland. Or does she? Secrets are revealed in the climax, which change Emma’s fate. Lessman tackles the weighty topic of spouse abuse, and I liked how the story was realistic about married couples having a sex life while staying within genre bounds. Interior decoration and clothing details lend period flavor. The heavy religious content deals with the characters’ personal relationships with God, rather than mass, confession and other Catholic topics. The volume includes characters and subplots from the previous book in The Winds of Change series, which I had trouble keeping straight without a list. That and its length convince me that more editing might have helped the story. Lessman has some fervent fans, judging by other reviews, but this volume didn’t recruit me. B.J. Sedlock A RHUMBA IN WALTZ TIME Robert S.Levinson,Five Star, 2011, $25.95, hb, 350pp, 20th Century

9781432924976 Los Angeles, 1933: Police detective Chris Blanchard of Hollywood Division is a straight cop for the LAPD who made the mistake of defending a beaten, abused prostitute arrested by not-sostraight crooked cops. The “Blue Wall of Silence” went up when Blanchard couldn’t find the bailedout lady to testify on her own – and Blanchard’s –behalf. Because she was a low-level starlet, MetroGoldwyn-Mayer movie studio had the incident covered up by the studio’s “silent fixer.” Blanchard was “outsted” by the LAPD, and immediately hired for MGM by none other than Mr. Mayer himself as a fixer’s assistant. The conditions for hire were honest, secure, and with lots of pay; Blanchard signed on the dotted line. His first job was immediate. Second-rate, but popular, movie actor Day Covington was murdered. His wife was suspected. Get her off the hook. Then, find the killer. Sounds routine, but this was a drop in the bucket that would launch Chris Blanchard into all the nooks and crannies of the Tinseltown behind the facade of the Silver Screen. The novel includes enough famous names to fill a year’s lineup of Turner Classic Movies. But behind the story’s star-studded name-dropping is an undulating plot of thugs, crime bosses, and weird but solid characters to keep Chris Blanchard and the reader going until the twists and turns hit upon the final solution. Characters run the gamut of humanity, and hardcore mystery fans will enjoy this lively yarn that winds back to the Golden Age of the movies. Tess Heckel THE LOST BOOK OF MALA R. Rose MacDowell, Bantam, 2011, $15/C$17, pb, 372pp, 9780385338585 MacDowell’s novel tells the story of three California women in the present, each affected in different ways by the journal of a gypsy, Mala Rinehart. Mala was expelled by her Romany clan in the 1940s in Texas for the spurious crime of bringing them bad luck. Basically dumped at the side of the road, Mala sets out to find the woman who taught her to read (another crime). In presentday California, three neighbor women live in a charmless subdivision, hard hit by the economy. When one of them discovers Mala’s journal at a yard sale, they pass it amongst themselves, attracted to her sayings and spells, and they set out to discover what happened to her. What MacDowell captures so palpably is the discontent in this Southern California neighborhood. Each woman has cause to feel alienated from her spouse and question her life. The mysteries of Mala’s journal provide both outlet and escape. Linda misses her life in New York and is forced to entertain her stepdaughter for the summer. Christine and her husband, struggling with fertility issues, find themselves estranged when he’s accused of murder. And Audrey, whose downsized husband seems to have divorced himself from reality, finds herself taking personal and professional risks she may not afford to take.

Their problems are quite different from those of Mala, who is struggling to support herself and find a woman who was once kind to her. In truth, I found Mala’s story more absorbing than any of the California women’s troubles. I’m not sure that theirs were the right stories to contrast with hers. So, I’m left wondering how I feel about this book, and I conclude that as I’m still thinking about this, then MacDowell has affected me just as Mala affected Linda, Christine, and Audrey. Ellen Keith TIME OF DEATH Gary Madden, Five Star, 2011, $25.95, hb, 290pp, 9781432825133 Other than being set in 1952, there really isn’t anything historical about Gary Madden’s debut novel, Time of Death. In fact, this novel is decidedly more paranormal mystery/fantasy than anything else. That said, Time of Death is still a rollicking good time and well worthy of a positive endorsement. Melody Rush’s special gift of seeing the dead makes her life fairly unusual for someone who just works at a local shop in Pittsburgh. Feeling compelled to track down the murderer of a prostitute who has been haunting her, Mel ends up being knocked off a bridge by a gangster and then finds herself making a deal with Death; she will restore Death’s Mask to him by midnight of New Year’s Eve and he will not allow her to die. As the mystery deepens, Mel realizes that not recovering the Mask has dire implications for not just herself but all mankind, and she becomes determined to not only track down the Mask but also solve the murders taking place around her town. With just a bit of romance thrown in along the way, Mel comes to belatedly realize she may have gotten in over her head in several areas. This short mystery is fun from the word go; Mel is a brash, smart young woman who isn’t afraid to take charge and face danger. I admit to being worried when talking cat Voe joined the mix, but letting go of my disdain for verbal animals enabled me to actually enjoy the interactions between feline and human. If this is the beginning of a series, I’ll be on board for more because Mel and her odd inclinations definitely kept me engaged from beginning to end. Tamela McCann DEATH ON THE RIVE NORD Adrian Magson, Allison & Busby, 2011, £19.99, hb, 382pp, 9780749008390 This is the second in Magson’s Lucas Rocco series, set in Picardie in the early 1960s. Rocco, a tough Parisian detective posted to the country as part of a new crime fighting initiative, is now well settled in his rural home, living contentedly enough with fruit rats in his loft and a landlady bent on marrying him off. But his peace is shattered when the body of an Algerian immigrant turns up in the canal on his patch. In many ways a darker and subtler novel than Death on the Marais, the first in the series, Death HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 45

on the Rive Nord takes us into the shadowy world of illegal immigration to France from North Africa in the wake of Algerian independence in 1962. The setting is not the picturesque and ghostly marshlands of the first novel, but a seedy, liminal world of industrial suburbs where illegals are mercilessly exploited and powerless to fight back. Parallels with present day Europe are not laboured, even though the reader cannot avoid drawing them. Magson populates his novel with the requisite cast of tough heroes, feisty women and monstrous villains. The assassin, Bouhassa, in his djellaba and safety glasses (don’t ask), is particularly Bondesque. The novel is ingeniously plotted and works up to an unexpected climax in which Rocco makes a spectacular escape from drowning and takes an unorthodox approach to the administration of justice for the murderer. His story also sets us up well for the next in the series, with the introduction of a possible love interest for Rocco. A thoroughly enjoyable read from an accomplished crime writer, though do not expect the high-octane shenanigans of the previous novel. Sarah Bower A BESPOKE MURDER Edward Marston, Allison & Busby, 2011, £19.99/$29.95, hb, 352pp, 9780749009908 Edward Marston is best known for his popular railway detective series, and here he is branching

out into a new murder mystery series set at the outbreak of World War I. A Bespoke Murder introduces us to Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion, Sergeant Joe Keedy, and their working world. As usual, Marston’s historical research is sound, his details telling, giving readers a real feeling of Britain in 1915. A Bespoke Murder deals with the anti-German feeling brought on by the zeppelin bombs and the sinking of the Lusitania. During an anti-German mob raid on Jacob Stein’s bespoke tailoring shop, his safe is raided, he is killed, and his daughter, Ruth, rushing out to get help, is raped. Inspector Marmion finds he is not simply dealing with a mob that got out of hand, but with something much nastier. He is determined, despite strong official opposition, to unravel the mysteries and get justice for Ruth. A strong plot, plenty of action and solid writing make the novel a good read for lovers of historical mysteries. The characters are fleshed out with details of their homes and families, giving readers interesting glimpses into ordinary life. This is a novel men will enjoy and might well get the reluctant young male reader interested in history. pdr lindsay-salmon WINGS OF A DREAM Anne Mateer, Bethany House, 2011, $14.99, pb, 319pp, 0764209035

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

THE HOUSE AT TYNEFORD (US) / THE NOVEL IN THE VIOLA (UK)

Natasha Solomons, Plume, 2011, $15.00, pb, 368pp, 9780452297647 “On the page we live again, young and unknowing, everything yet to happen.” So begins the captivating story of Elise Landau, a young Jewish woman living in 1938 Vienna. As the situation in Austria grows dangerous, her family sends 19-year-old Elise to England as one of the many Jewish refugees working in domestic service. The reluctant Elise arrives at Tyneford House, a coastal estate owned by the kind but reserved Mr. Rivers; unaccustomed to looking, acting, or being treated like a servant, her indignation adds to her homesickness as she struggles with the starched rigidity of the English class system. Her Jewish faith and German accent stack the deck against her, but she refuses to be cowed; and when the master’s son, Kit, arrives home from university, Elise finds in him a friend who will change her life in ways she could never imagine. Through years of conflict, love, loss, and healing, Elise grows from a headstrong girl to a courageous woman determined to protect Tyneford House, and all those in it, from the ravages of war and time. Some readers may assume that The House at Tyneford is another reheated Jane Eyre mixed with Upstairs Downstairs – but it’s not the uniqueness of a premise that makes a book great, it’s what the author does with it, and Solomons has done something magical here. Her story is rich with history and filled with characters that soak into your heart and come knocking on its door at night, asking to come back in; time and place come to life in the kind of smooth, nimble prose that disappears and lets the pages turn themselves. This is a book that will make your heart ache, but some aches are more sweet than bitter. The House at Tyneford is very highly recommended. Heather Domin 46 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

This impressive debut novel is an inspiring and descriptive story with a heroine who manages to captivate from the start. Rebekah takes a short trip to Texas to help her ailing aunt, where immediately she is thrust into the lives of four young lovable children as the Spanish flu epidemic takes a hold of the small community. She cares for the children and becomes instantly devoted to them as she is their sole caretaker while their father, Frank, is away during World War I. We experience Rebekah’s fears and dreams in the first person, making the story more endearing and powerful as death and faith intertwine. Rebekah enjoys her life with the children for the time being but has always told herself there were more options for her. She clings to the dream of the unknown, and shuns the everyday life she is unknowingly carved out for. When Frank finally comes home to claim his spot as head of household, Rebekah has to choose which path is best for her. Could it be impetuous Arthur, or the kindly sheriff, who always knows when Rebekah needs a helping hand, or should she just go on back home to Mama? Highly recommended. Marie Burton BRIDGE OF SCARLET LEAVES Kristina McMorris, Kensington, 2012, $15.00/ C$16.95, pb, 436pp, 9780758246851 This wonderful World War II novel is written with a wealth of insight that, presumably, comes from the author’s own experiences growing up in a Japanese-Caucasian family. Although McMorris does not shy away from exposing the mistreatment of men, women, and children, who were guilty of nothing more than having Japanese ancestry, neither does she settle for simplistic judgments. Instead, she gently probes the complexities of human relationships. Nineteen-year-old Maddie Kern and her older brother, TJ, who live in Los Angeles, are struggling emotionally and financially after an accident kills their mother and leaves their father in a deep depression. The siblings’ different personalities are reflected in their reactions to this tragedy: TJ loses his focus on the pitcher’s mound, which may ruin his chances of being recruited to play professional baseball; Maddie concentrates feverishly on her violin and may actually achieve her goal of being accepted into the Julliard School of Music. The relationship between the siblings becomes so strained that Maddie does not tell her brother she has fallen in love with his best friend, Lane Moritomo, the son of Japanese immigrants. On December 6, 1941, Maddie and Lane elope. The attack on Pearl Harbor, the following day, shatters the couple’s hopes for a future together. Lane attempts to protect Maddie by dissolving their marriage before he and his family are sent to an internment camp, while TJ enlists in the Air Corps as a means of escape. The “bridge” in the title draws attention to the musical imagery that is skillfully woven into the novel, adding depth and elegance while highlighting themes of hope and forgiveness. Rich in historical 20th Century

detail, peopled with well-developed characters, and spiced with tension and drama, Bridge of Scarlet Leaves is a novel to savor, and then to share with a friend. Nancy J. Attwell ACCABADORA Michela Murgia (trans. Silvester Mazzarella), MacLehose, 2011, £12.99, hb, 204pp, 9780857050458 This is Sardinian Michela Murgia’s first novel and comes garlanded with prizes from Italy, where it was first published in 2009. It is a lyrical, leisurely-paced story, set largely in rural Sardinia of the 1950s and early 1960s. The mountain village of Soreni is a place so seeped in tradition and superstition that the mention of a character wearing jeans or the appearance of a television seems at odds with an otherwise timeless feel. The central character, Maria Listru, is, at the age of six, adopted as a “soul child” by the elderly village seamstress, Bonnaria Urrai, a woman who is both respected and feared, for she is also the accabadora, who eases the passing of the dying or the terminally ill. Maria is the only member of the close-knit community who remains unaware of her fostermother’s calling, until the night Bonnaria breaks her own rule of only acting with familial consent. In the recriminations that follow, Maria leaves to seek work in Turin, its cold, regimented streets literally a world away from the ramshackle community of Soreni. The narrative voice flits between characters and also takes on an omniscient viewpoint. This works in the context because this is just as much a novel about a community as individuals. The prose is precisely crafted, sometimes poetically beautiful, occasionally mannered and confused in meaning and metaphor. It is at times frustrating and might seem to strive for style more than substance, but there is much in this novel that is humane, poetic and deeply moving. Mary Seeley THE WINE OF SOLITUDE Irène Némirovsky, Chatto & Windus, 2011, £14.99, hb, 248pp, 9780701185572 First published in France in 1935 yet only available in English since 2011, The Wine of Solitude is the most autobiographical novel of Irène Némirovsky, the Russian Jew born in Kiev in 1903, who in 1919 fled civil war via St Petersburg and Helsinki to the rootless rich in France. As in several of her novels, the theme of this introspective book is a girl’s revenge on her mother. ‘Only the blood of an old wound,’ Némirovsky wrote, ‘can give colour to a work of art in the right way.’ The fictional Irène is Hélène daughter of Boris Karol, a peasant who has made good, and his lustful, spiteful wife, Bella, who resents her only child. Lonely, neglected, Hélène turns to her French governess for affection. When Bella discovers what her teenage daughter has written about a dysfunctional family, the 20th Century

governess is blamed and dismissed, and dies soon after. Hélène plans, and ultimately achieves, her revenge. There is beauty in Némirovsky’s atmospheric, descriptive prose: the cold and snow of Finland; the light and spring leaves in Paris. Historical references are brief: Reds and Whites fighting near the town; sewing money and valuables into clothing; the Romanov heir ten thousand francs in debt to Boris Karol in Biarritz. Nothing detracts from the cruel, melancholy relationship between Hélène, Bella, Boris, and Bella’s lover Max. The ending is profound. Twenty-one-year-old Hélène faces a future alone with her cat and a suitcase of belongings, ‘but my solitude is powerful and intoxicating.’ Had Irène Némirovsky not perished in Auschwitz in 1942, she might have become the finest French novelist of the 20th century. Janet Hancock THE OCEAN FOREST: Murder in Myrtle Beach Troy D. Nooe, Ingalls, 2011, $14.95, pb, 219pp, 9781932158915 In the ‘40s, the Ocean Forest in Myrtle Beach is a grand hotel frequented by the Southern upper class, of which Francis McKellar is not a member. Frankie is a Baltimore private investigator, a novice “dick” who hates his sleazy job. When he’s invited to a wedding at the Ocean Forest, even with all expenses paid, he’d just as soon skip it. But the guy getting married saved his life during the war, so Frankie has to be there. Frankie’s a blue-collar guy in a secondhand tux, a Yankee who’s conspicuous among his buddy’s well-dressed friends even before he opens his mouth. When one of them is murdered, however, Frankie is in his element. Tough, determined, annoying, but effective, Frankie probes until he touches a nerve and somebody slugs him. His technique lacks class, but when he uncovers a web of crime and cronies as sordid as any up North, he will remind you of Bogart or that other Francis, but without the “pipes.” Nooe draws on the noir vocabulary, if not the mood, to create snappy dialogue. There are a few anachronisms (“You think?”), but Nooe is at his best when he’s putting words in Frankie’s mouth. The quick-witted gumshoe talks himself into the job of house detective at the classy Ocean Forest Hotel, where you’ll undoubtedly find him in future novels. Recommended for those who like a fastmoving mystery with a minimum of blood and a lively postwar atmosphere. Jeanne Greene RESTORATION Olaf Olafsson, Ecco, 2012, $14.99, pb, 320pp, 9780062065667 Restoration looks compassionately at the life of a young English expatriate who, in the decade preceding World War II, impulsively marries a somewhat older Italian and leaves her privileged life in Florence to help him rebuild a dilapidated

villa and estate in the Tuscan countryside. Unsuited for this life, Alice tries to find her niche there. The eventual birth of their son gives her purpose for a while. However, the emotional distance between the couple continues to widen, and Alice succumbs to the lure of her former life and an affair with an old suitor. During this time their young son dies, adding to her guilt over her secret life. The affair does not go unnoticed, however, by a war profiteer dealing in plundered and forged art who forces Alice to hide a valuable painting at her villa in return for his silence. Alice’s husband nevertheless learns of her affair and leaves, presumably to join up with the growing numbers of partisans. Most of the action takes place in the last year of the war. Partisans, Germans, allies and war profiteers all descend on their peaceful valley, and it is up to Alice, who is consumed with guilt over so many things, to maintain the estate and the safety of the many locals who are dependent on it. Filled with multi-dimensional characters and very eloquently written, this is a novel about the horrors and moral ambiguities of war, the consequences of our decisions, and the search for absolution. Very highly recommended. Pamela Ferrell Ortega THE ADJUSTMENT Scott Phillips, Counterpoint, 2011, $25/ C$27.95/£16.99, hb, 218pp, 9781582437309 The term “anti-hero” fits Wayne Ogden to a T, although it’s not a term you would think to apply to a World War II veteran. Wayne’s war experiences were no Normandy Beach; instead, he had a lucrative sideline in the black market and ran a stable of prostitutes in Rome. Naturally, peacetime in Wichita, Kansas, pales in comparison. He has returned to his pre-war job at Collins Aircraft, which actually isn’t so different from his wartime experience – he procures women and drugs for his employer, Everett Collins, nominally running a department but in truth, at Collins’s beck and call and hated by all other employees as a result. He has another enemy as well – an anonymous letter writer who taunts him with ill-written missives about his wartime activities and threatens his wife and prosperity. What makes Wayne an anti-hero (besides the aforementioned activities) is that he just doesn’t care about this threat. Yes, he wants to get the letter writer off his back, but he could care less about Collins, his job, and his pregnant wife. This doesn’t make him a nihilist; instead, he represents another aspect of the veteran who discovers that war has either changed or amplified something in his nature. Phillips most ably captures a certain postwar experience: not that of the returning hero, but that of the restless man who finds that everyday life with its responsibilities and norms are not for him. Ellen Keith THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME Donald Ray Pollock, Doubleday, 2011, $26.95/ C$31.00, hb, 261pp, 9780385535045 / Harvill HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 47

Secker, 2011, £12.99, pb, 272pp, 9781846555411 Pollock returns to southern Ohio, the setting for his collection of short stories, Knockemstiff, and unleashes a bizarre and compelling cast of characters whose seemingly diverse stories eventually weave together in a gritty, brutal fashion. The story begins with Willard Russell, just returned from the horrors of combat in the South Pacific during World War II. He marries Charlotte, a pretty waitress he met while passing through Meade, Ohio, on a Greyhound bus taking him home to West Virginia. He teaches their only child, Arvin, to stand up to bullies, but Willard himself is unable to stand up to the cancer that is slowly killing his wife, no matter how much he prays, no matter how many animals he sacrifices at his altar in the woods. When his mother dies and Willard has gone mad, Arvin is sent to live with his grandmother, Emma. Emma is also caring for Leonora, a timid, religious girl whose mother was murdered by her father, Roy, a crazy preacher who was sure he could revive his wife from the grave. The novel just gets crazier. Roy has fled the state with his crippled, guitar-playing cousin, Theodore, and they eventually wind up in a circus sideshow. There’s a corrupt sheriff whose sister Sandy and her perverted serial killer husband, Carl, cruise the interstates looking for male hitchhiker “models” to photograph and exterminate, a holy-roller preacher who indulges in private religious lessons for the young women in his flock, and other assorted misfits. This is not a novel for those with delicate sensibilities, but fans of Flannery O’Connor will appreciate the raw, no-holds-barred story that, in

THE GOLDEN HOUR

the end, offers long-suffering Arvin Russell a break. John Kachuba THE BOY: A Holocaust Story Dan Porat, Hill and Wang, 2011, $16.00/£10.99, pb, 216pp, 9780809030729 Of all the photos taken of the Holocaust, none was more haunting to historian Dan Porat than one taken by a Nazi photographer during the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto. At the center of the photo is a young boy with his hands raised in surrender. Nazi officers stand behind the boy. On the other side of the boy is a group of people also with their hands in the air. Porat kept seeing the photo at Holocaust museums and heard from several curators how the young boy in the photo survived and settled in New York after the war. It is a good story, but Professor Porat wanted to know more. In writing The Boy, Porat relied primarily on research and explains that he filled in gaps in the story by drawing on “a priori imagination” rather than speculation. It is an interesting approach to history, but it makes the book difficult to categorize. The Boy consists of the five overlapping stories of three Nazi officers and two Warsaw ghetto inhabitants. The individual stories are compelling and seek to explain how each person got to the moment in the photo and what happened after the photo was taken. However, Porat maintains the most important question is not what happened? but rather “how one set of men saw in that photograph heroic soldiers combating humanity’s dregs while the vast majority of mankind sees here the gross inhumanity of man.” Patricia O’Sullivan

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

Margaret Wurtele, NAL, 2011, $15.00/C$17.50, pb, 320pp, 9780451237088 Summer 1944, Tuscany. Giovanna Bellini is a girl of seventeen, longing for life to begin for her. When the Germans invade her village and ensconce themselves in her family’s villa, she is simultaneously intrigued and repulsed by them. Her brother, Giorgio, takes a stand by refusing to fight for the invaders. When he joins the local partisans hiding in the forest around the villa, Giovanna, without her parents’ knowledge, helps by gathering clothing, food, and medical supplies for him and his compatriots. When Giorgio brings a wounded partisan, who is Jewish, and begs Giovanna to help him, she is drawn into a world of terror and intrigue where interception could mean death. Giovanna’s growth as a person and into adulthood is emphasized in her realization that people have more similarities than differences, and that love and fate often play counter to what we expect from life. This wonderful debut novel grabs the reader from the first word. The history of World War II in Italy is gently woven through this story where character, courage, and love win the day. I did not want the story to end. An excellent story, beautifully written. Highly recommended. Monica E. Spence 48 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

THE DARKENING FIELD (US) / THE BLOODY MEADOW (UK) William Ryan, Minotaur, 2011, $24.99/C$28.99, hb, 322pp, 9780312586515 / Mantle, 2011, £16.99, hb, 320pp, 9780230742741 Captain Alexei Korolev of the Moscow Militia’s Criminal Investigation Division is ordered to Odessa, Ukraine, to look into the suspicious suicide of a young actress. On the surface, this would appear to be a rather routine matter for an experienced and veteran policeman. However, the term “routine” is not part of the vocabulary in the 1937 period of the Great Purge in the paranoid and vicious world of Stalin’s Soviet Union. Korolev must tread lightly as he comes to understand that the dead woman was the mistress of a powerful local Communist Party official. If Korolev brings the party into his work, then he knows he will be the one who suffers. A decent man who has trouble navigating the dangers of law enforcement in a system outside of any law, Korolev works his way through the lies, coverups, and half-truths to uncover a Ukraine with nationalist underground movements pledged to liberate the region from Stalin and his murderous policies. Odessa and its people present problems Korolev has not been confronted with in his native Moscow, and the fact that he has no other resources save his own intelligence sends him chasing down many false leads that keep both the good captain and the reader guessing. I have not read The Holy Thief, Korolev’s first case. I shall not hesitate to do so now. John R. Vallely THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES Eduardo Sacheri (trans. John Cullen), Other, 2011, $15.95, pb, 382pp, 9781590514504 Set in Argentina before and after the period known as the Dirty War, this is the story of Benjamin Chaparro, a retired detective who is writing a book looking back on the investigation of a brutal rape and murder. The Oscar for the best foreign film of 2010 was awarded to a movie of the same title roughly based on the novel. The book is more about personal lives than the political situation, but the corrupt regime of the colonels creates the conditions for acts of private revenge. The murderer is exposed through clever interrogation, but he is released long before his term. The relationship between the detective and the victim’s husband is one of the main threads of the story. The other is Chaparro’s love for a woman, once his co-worker, but now a judge. The translation has to find equivalents for a number of Argentine epithets, such as boludo (translated as asshole) sometimes successfully and sometimes less so. For the ubiquitous puta, he finds numerous equivalents depending on the contexts. Some Argentine references are inexplicably altered. In the original, someone confessing was said to sing “como Patuto Ortega,” a popular singer who had a second career as a provincial governor, but the translation inexplicably uses the better-known but less contemporary tango master Carlos Gardel 20th Century

in the comparison. However, on the whole the translation keeps the faith with an exciting and complex novel. James Hawking

a hotshot lawyer and her Indian father is depicted as enlightened and nurturing. Marcus’s life is possibly the most precarious as sole carer for his grieving, agoraphobic, alcoholic mother, Alison, but the potential drama is neutralised by taking place off-stage. A couple of historical ‘facts’ mentioned are simply wrong – it wasn’t illegitimate but unbaptised babies that were denied burial in consecrated ground, and high-waisted frocks didn’t come into fashion till long after 1768. Recommended only to those who want a gentle, undemanding read that won’t give them nightmares. Jasmina Svenne

THE HAUNTING OF MADDY CLARE Simone St. James, NAL, 2012, $14/C$16.50, pb, 336pp, 9780451235688 Debut author St. James has written an atmospheric and resoundingly old-fashioned ghost story that pulls you in from the first pages. Sarah Piper, a young woman with a wretched past, is alone and adrift in London, working for a temp agency in 1922. When a job offer comes in to work as an assistant to handsome and wealthy Alistair Gellis, a researcher who writes about ghosts, Sarah hesitates but accepts the strange job. She travels with him by motorcar to the distant and (for her) exotic countryside. She’s far from home the next day when she learns she’s not just going to be taking notes for Alistair, but will go alone into the barn where the hauntings are taking place. It turns out that Alistair needed her because the ghost of Maddy Clare becomes too violent around men. Soon Alistair and Sarah realize that they’re not just investigating a haunting but also a murder. This book is just right for those who prefer suspense to be scary but not too scary. It’s haunting but (despite disturbing elements) not nightmarish. St. James’s writing evokes the time period without pretension, the pacing is just right, the ghost story plausible, and the love story important but not allconsuming. Recommended. Kristen Hannum

NETHERWOOD Jane Sanderson, Little Brown, 2011, £6.99, 455pp, 9780751547634 Eve Williams is a happily married miner’s wife; her husband works in Lord Netherwood’s coal mine. When tragedy occurs, she is forced to find a way to earn her own living and look after her three children. Meanwhile, up at the big house his lordship has his own problems with his rakish son and a wayward daughter who wants to help her father run his mines. The two worlds are about to collide… I’m not normally a fan of what I call “clog and shawl”, nor did I enjoy Downton Abbey (which it is purported to resemble), but I do have to admit

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AUDREY SCHULMAN - Three Weeks in December

THE PROMISE Susan Sallis, Corgi,AUDREY 2011, £6.99, pb, 366pp, SCHULMAN 9780552164559 THREE WEEKS DECEMBER May Thorpe is 11 IN years old on the night of the air raid on Coventry.Praise Her adored for Audrey Schulman brother Jack is Schulman does a beautiful jobsister of balancingFlorrie adventure, about missing after “Audrey Dunkirk and her suspense and self-discovery.” , CNN to join the Wrens. But—Mthat Rnight is the beginning “[A House Named Brazil is] quirky and thoughtful… of a sequence of tragic thatof a leads May to Schulman rendersevents the strange beauties world that draws on resources scarcely known to us.” —The New Times of her shameful promise her mother never toYork speak “[The Cage is] a genuine page-turner.” past. —Boston Globe Seventy years on, sixth formers Daisy and “Lyrical…suspenseful…Schulman’s heroine [in The Cage] is a true original transformed emotionally and physically Marcus are bysent tomarvelously interview for a history experiences imagined andMay compellingly described.” —The Los Angeles Times project. An inter-generational friendship develops, “Schulman’s language is lovely.” —USA Today but both teenagers have troubles of their own... Despite the blurb, this is essentially a contemporary novel, with only the prologue set during World War II. Considering the subject matter, it’s a surprisingly cosy read, with the characters depicted with warmth and humour. Unfortunately, this results in a distinct lack of narrative tension. It never feels as if any of the characters is in any real danger, physically or emotionally. May comes across as too twinkly and well-balanced for somebody meant to be still haunted by unresolved traumas, and since we are told (almost) everything that happened to her during the war in the prologue, there isn’t even any mystery to unravel. Daisy’s fears of an arranged marriage seem frankly ludicrous, given that her English mother is

ulman is the author of three ovels: Swimming with Jonah, nd A House Named Brazil. as been translated into eleven Born in Montreal, Schulman now mbridge, Massachusetts.

THREE WEEKS IN DECEMBER

to being entertained by this atypically upbeat tale. I particularly liked the way in which some clichés were neatly sidestepped. For example, Lord Netherwood is a credible character that is neither the invariable cruel mine owner nor an unbelievable philanthropist, while Eve makes for a delightfully headstrong and determined protagonist. Eve is firmly centre-stage throughout, and thus there is more about her and the world of the mineworkers than about what is going on at the hall. I felt that this whole novel had a “Book One” feel about it with much more in the offing concerning other characters. Certainly, many loose ends are left hanging, and many of the other characters’ stories start but are not continued in any meaningful manner. However, throughout the book, there is always plenty of interest going on, and I would certainly eagerly read a second instalment. You certainly do not need to be a fan of Downton Abbey or sagas to enjoy this one; in fact, it probably helps more if you don’t for the reasons given above. Rachel A. Hyde KAFKA’S LEOPARDS Moacyr Scliar (trans. Thomas O. Beebee), Texas Tech Univ. Press, 2011, $26.95, hb, 152pp, 9780896726963. 1916: In a shtetl in Bessarabia, Czarist Russia, lives Benjamin Kantarovich, 19, nicknamed “Mousy,” whose sick friend, Yossi, asks him to undertake a secret revolutionary mission in Prague.

E D I TORS’ CH OICE

Audrey Schulman, Europa, 2012, $16/C$17.50/£11.99, pb, 352pp, 9781609450649 Schulman has written two stories here in alternating In 1899 Jeremy, a young engineer, leaves a small town each in Maine to oversee chapters; stands on its own, so good you hate the construction of a railroad across British AUDREY SCHULMAN East leave Africa. In charge of hundreds of Indian tolaborers, its fully imagined world at the chapter’s he becomes the reluctant hunter of two lions that are killing his men in nightly THREE WEEKS conclusion. Together they make a rich and suspenseful attacks on their camp. Plagued by fear, wracked with malaria, and alienated novel, bringing IN DECEMBER by a secret he can tell no one, hein takesbig issues of what makes us human, increasing solace in the company environmental destruction, love, parenting, and even of an African man who scouts for him. “Schulman’s writing is mesmerizing, richly imagined, compelling to the last page.” In 2000 Max, an American ethnobotonist, insights into gorilla and human leadership. travels to Rwanda in search of an obscure —Philadelphia Inquirer vine could become Inthatthe firsta lifesaving story, Jeremy, a young engineer and misfit, pharmaceutical. Stationed in the mountains, she shadows a family of gorillas—the last finds himself in love with life in 1899 British East Africa of their group to survive the merciless assault of poachers. Max bears a striking gift for ascommunicating he never felt in Bangor, Maine. He’s in charge of with the apes. But soon the precarious freedom of both building stretch is threatened as aaviolent rebel groupof railroad; 700 laborers, mostly from from the nearby Congo draws close. India, are in his charge. They’re dying of malaria by the Told in alternating perspectives that interweave the two characters and their fates, dozens and, even more terrifyingly, being picked off by Audrey Schulman’s newest novel deftly between progress a confronts pair the ofstruggle lions. and preservation, idiosyncrasy and acceptance. Evoking both Barbara Kingsolver 2000, Max,fiction, a mixed-race, female ethnobotanist andIn Andrea Barrett, this enthralling wise and generous, explores some of the with (sometimes described as a milder form of crucial Asperger’s social and cultural challenges that, over the years, have come to shape our world. autism), travels to a Rwandan mountain gorilla research The engaging story and memorable characters make this fine novel an ideal station just across the border from the Democratic book club selection. Republic of the Congo. She too, finds comfort amidst Europa Africa’s dangers, and she seems to understand the U.S.A. $16.00 editions gorillas in ways the “normals” cannot. As Jeremy must reluctantly hunt the two man-eating lions, Max must face her role in finding a vine that could help save thousands of lives from stroke or helping to save the few surviving mountain gorillas. Adding immediate danger to both Max and the gorillas (versus slow death by climate change, overpopulation, and resource extraction), child soldiers from the Congo are killing and eating both bush meat and foreigners. The final third of this book is a page-turner, with both Jeremy and Max in deadly danger and facing impossible choices. Schulman pulls off this bravura writing with ease, as though fitting these two stories together were as simple as walking while chewing gum. Recommended and unforgettable. Kristen Hannum HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 49

Although Mousy has never been outside of his small town, he goes to Prague, losing the satchel containing the mission instructions. Frantically trying to piece together the key to the mission, Mousy decides that “the text” that he is seeking comes from the pen of Franz Kafka – one of his aphorisms that Mousy interprets as a call to arms. Failing miserably as a revolutionary, Mousy returns to his home and emigrates with his family to Brazil. 1964: The right-wing repressive regime seeks out possible left-wing revolutionaries. To help Jaime, his grand-nephew and the only person he loves, to leave his home and go underground in Sao Paolo, Mousy gives Jaime the old parable, handwritten by Kafka and signed by him, a piece of paper now worth many thousands of dollars. Jaime is discovered with the writing, which the police immediately believe to be a coded revolutionary message. Scliar, a Brazilian Jew and physician who died earlier this year, wrote extensively on many issues, his works translated into many languages. The Leopards in the Temple parable, which forms the very underpinning of this novella, is classic Kafka – and the ultimate meaning, if there can be one in the world of critical interpretation, is perhaps just as convoluted and subjective. What Scliar does in this brief work, though, is to make us ponder, to force us to see connections between events and people, to begin to wonder at the power of the word. Thought-provoking and engrossing, this is not an easy work albeit simple on the surface. Ilysa Magnus LOUISE’S WAR Sarah Shaber, Severn House, 2011, $27.95/£19.99, hb, 208pp, 9780727880406 This is the first book in a new series set in 1942 in Washington, D.C. Louise Pearlie is a young widow who works as a clerk at the Office of Strategic Services, typing and indexing confidential information. Louise has been concerned about her college friend, Rachel Block, who is Jewish and living in France under the Vichy regime, whom she has not heard from recently. Louise comes across a document indicating that Rachel’s husband, a geologist, is trying to trade his expertise for visas to the U.S. for himself, Rachel, and their son. Thinking she might be able to help, she brings the file to her boss’s attention. When he is found murdered, Louise investigates. This was a great read: suspenseful, fast-paced, with an interesting, likeable heroine, an intriguing mystery and a bit of romance. Sarah Shaber has done a fabulous job capturing 1942 Washington, D.C. I can’t wait to read the next installment. Jane Kessler THE LITTLE RUSSIAN Susan Sherman, Counterpoint, 2012, $25.00/£16.99, hb, 384pp, 9781582437729 Only the courage and endurance of the Jews of Russia match the suffering of the Jews of Russia. Susan Sherman’s ambitious first novel attempts to display all of this, and in part succeeds. 50 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

The novel begins with a pogrom set off by a mere accident, one person pushing another, who pushes another, who spills his meat pie; and out of this rises a wave of murder and rape against which the Jews have no power except to survive. The shock fades into the ordinary story of Berta Lorkis, who has been living with rich cousins in Moscow, but now, to her dismay, must go home to a modest life in the Ukraine. But this is the beginning of the 20th century. And Berta is about to live through a horror story all the more awful because we already know what it is. Sherman’s sprawling research carries the book. She weaves the comfort and complacence of the wealthier people together with the grim desperation of the poor, the comforting, sustaining rituals of the Jews together with the hysterical ignorance of the larger society that vents all its terror on them, slaughter together with a sustaining ritual life. Great scenes abound – a deadly stampede to board a train; flights through snow and icy rivers toward some illusion of safety; tender moments of faith and hope. Where the novel falls down is in its chief character. Berta is a witness, a victim of great events, not the hero of them. She never grows into the indomitable figure you want her to be. Her husband and son engage you much more, brave and resourceful, but they are peripheral. The story wants to be about Berta, but she never fills the available space. Cecelia Holland AGENT 6 Tom Rob Smith, Grand Central, 2012, $25.99, hb, 467pp, 978-0446573870 / Simon & Schuster, 2011, £16.99, hb, 560pp, 9781847375674 This sprawling novel begins with Moscow in 1950 with the chilling observation, “The safest way to write a diary was to imagine Stalin reading every word.” It begins with the tragic destruction of a black American singer, based somewhat on Paul Robeson, who is shot to death at the UN in a nefarious plot, and barrels on through the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and into Reagan’s America. Written in the clunky style favored by such work, the narrative moves at a blistering pace, delivering up a relentless chain of bloody violence and some fine action scenes – an escape over the Khyber Pass is riveting. The Soviets are genuinely repulsive, but the Americans are not much better: as a view of the Cold War this book is unsparing (as it should be) of either side. Thrillers seldom take the time to develop real characters, and Smith obeys that code. Nonetheless his hero – who is, in spite of everything, really a hero – becomes an appealing and admirable figure: an ex-KGB officer whose love for his wife, murdered early on, helps him steer a true course through the corruption and degradation of his life. The best part of the book is Leo Demidov’s struggle to keep in touch with his humanity in the bleak cinderblock world he’s forced to inhabit, and his hard-won survival is a triumph.

Above all, though, the book is a grim message about Stalinism: in such a world, the greatest threat to anybody’s survival is his own idealism, but without ideals nothing is left but an unsustainable husk. Agent 6 is interesting for of its narrative thrills and gory violence, but even more for its portrait of Stalinism devouring itself. Cecelia Holland VALLEY OF DREAMS: Wild West Wind Series Lauraine Snelling, Bethany House, 2011, $14.00, pb, 339pp, 9780764204159 Cassie Lockwood has traveled with her father’s Wild West show all her life, and at 20, she can shoot and ride like Annie Oakley. Her formal education is a little sketchy – her mother died young – but her father taught Cassie to be honest. He had hoped to settle in South Dakota one day, on land marked by a special rock, but that was just a dream. The show has been Cassie’s only home. Years after Cassie’s father died, his partner Jason Talbot, who is running the business, suddenly closes the show. Talbot admits that, according to her father’s will, Cassie is part owner and, to avoid liability for the all its debts, he urges her to leave. Unprepared to challenge Talbot, Cassie takes her best friends, a wrangler and an Indian, her horse, wagons, supplies, and a buffalo, and heads across for the valley her father had described. Miles away, widow Mavis Engstrom, her two sons and a daughter, struggle to keep their farm going. Their story is braided with Cassie’s, and while she and her friends fight robbers, cheats, and winter storms, the Engstroms battle a different set of problems. It seems certain there is a connection between the families, but readers will have to wait for the second in the Wild West Wind series to find out what it is. Cassie may shake up the residents of a small Dakota town – she has an unusual background – but she is a worthy heroine. Valley of Dreams will appeal to readers who enjoy an inspirational story that plays out over several volumes. Jeanne Greene APRICOT JAM Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (trans. Kenneth Lanz and Stephan Solzhenitsyn), Counterpoint, 2011, $28.00/£16.99, hb, 340pp, 9781582436029 As one who can truthfully say she enjoyed (if that’s the right word) Nobel Prize-winner Solzhenitsyn’s soul shattering Cancer Ward and Gulag Archipelago, I looked forward to immersing myself in this posthumously published collection of short stories. In his earlier novels, the author’s eloquence and craft took the grimmest images of government oppression and turned them into shimmering examples of human courage and satires of the darkest sort. I looked forward to more! Happily, there are lightning flashes of Solzhenitsyn’s genius in these stories, waiting to be mined by the patient reader. But between those vivid little packages of emotional luminosity lies a wasteland of tedium. This puzzled me. Can 20th Century

we fault the translation? Or perhaps a lack of careful editing? Where has the eloquence gone? The writing often feels pedantic, flat. What we are most aware of is the author’s repetition of his core message: the failings of the Soviet Union and its ultimate demise. In one story, “The New Generation,” we follow a professor who promotes a lackluster student, only to find himself, years later, interrogated and threatened by this same young man. In “Nastenka” we meet two women with the same name and experience the changes in their lives as a result of the Revolution. Somehow these characters never grip us with the tenacity and tender intimacies of Ivan Denisovitch in his degrading work camp or Oleg Kostolokov as a cancer patient, modeled after Solzhenitsyn himself. We continue to shake our heads at the follies of the same corrupt government that expelled the author from his country, but there’s little new here except the format, an arrangement of “binary” stories – two stories linked by subject or characters under a single title. Design isn’t enough to save the book … or the reader. Kathryn Johnson BLOW ON A DEAD MAN’S EMBERS Mari Strachan, Canongate, 2011, £12.99, pb, 309pp, 9781847675316 The war is over, but it has left its mark on the tiny West Wales village of Non and her family. Men are lost, some without a trace. Widows and grieving mothers find themselves endlessly searching. So does Non. For although Davey has returned, he is distant and troubled – no longer the gentle widower she married. As Non watches him crouch beneath the kitchen table, an imaginary gun to his shoulder, she cannot fathom the terrible changes in him. Neither can she imagine, in the long hot summer of 1921, that her search will take her back and forth, across country, and into the spirit world beyond. Or anticipate the damage some truths might unwittingly cause. Blow on a Dead Man’s Embers is a mystical novel, filled with endearing, quirky characters who, though unique, may be found in any small village – their tale being universal. A tale of blended families, relentless grief, disability, the need to know and terrible secrets, set against a backdrop of misguided love and mythology. The setting of this novel is tactile and evocative, the tale quietly compelling. The political spirit of times is also faithfully recreated. But above all, this story is a triumph of the ordinary. Strachan takes the fragile threads of village and family life and juxtaposes them against medical science, herb lore and spiritualist practices, to explore themes of truth and meaning. If at times, Non feels a little older than she is supposed to be on the page, we can forgive the author, for it is still a pleasure to be in her company. This accessible literary novel is certainly worth reading. Elizabeth Jane BLUE SKIES TOMORROW: Wings of Glory, Book #3 20th Century

Sarah Sundin, Revell, 2011, $14.99, pb, 427pp, 0800734238 Helen Carlisle is almost the merry widow, until secrets of her heroic husband who died in World War II start coming back to haunt her. Helen was always happiest doing volunteer work, yet she worked for a paycheck which became commandeered by her in-laws. Wanting to leave the stressful situation behind, Helen strives to better herself and her situation. Ray Novak, older brother to the Novak brothers featured in previous Wings of Glory books, is happiest being a pastor. With a war going on, Ray feels obligated to face his fears of combat and signs on for combat duty where things take a drastic turn. What could have been a wonderful relationship developing between Helen and Ray becomes close to impossible given all the obstacles that continually worked against each of them. As a woman in the ’40s, Helen faced issues of the times such as the plights of women and black people, while Ray ended up fighting for his life in his enemy’s hands. Sundin’s writing is fluent and natural, with a story of many facets that is entertaining and emotive. World War II enthusiasts will learn a bit from Ray’s experiences, while the romantic reader will enjoy the journey of Helen and Ray. Marie Burton PAINT ON THE SMILES Grace Thompson, Hale, 2011, £18.99, hb, 224pp, 9780709092384 Although a prolific author with many books to her name, this writer was new for me. I will not be returning for more offerings. This particular novel centres on two sisters, Cecily and Ada, and their successful shop before and during the Second World War. It is a sequel to an earlier novel, and although the reader can catch up due to the chunks of knowledge inserted, it would have been easier had I read the first book, Goodbye to Dreams. The mention of the Pleasure Beach suggests the novel is set in Blackpool, but this is the only real mention of the place. There are various subplots involving an angry daughter Myfanwy (Van) who is unable to forgive her mother for her illegitimate birth and the criminal husband of Ada, who emerges from prison a disturbed and potentially dangerous man. The characters are secondary to the plot in that they behave in certain ways and commit various acts because the plot demands it. The reader lurches from event to event, which, while quite exciting as set pieces, lack emotional depth or meaning. Instead of believable, rounded characters, we have an attempt to create idiolect by rearranging the sentence structure of many utterances of the characters. Annoying it quickly becomes, and overused in the style of Yoda it is, and it does not work as a substitute for real characters. If you find dialogue such as `Loved it she did, flirted something awful, mind, terrible she was’, convincing and interesting, then this may be the book for you. Recommended by me, it isn`t. Ann Northfield

RAIN FALLS LIKE MERCY Jack Todd, Touchstone, 2011, $25.00, hb, 272pp, 9781416598510 Rain Falls Like Mercy, the third book in Jack Todd’s western trilogy after Sun Going Down and Come Again No More, actually seems like two stories pasted together. A good deal of the book springs from the trilogy, the story of the Paint family of Wyoming, and their experience of the Second World War; the rest follows the career of a maniac murderer only tangentially related to the Paints. This begins well enough, reminding me of No Country for Old Men, with more sex and without the metaphysical angst. A Wyoming lawman, Tom Call, pursues the killer of a young girl, gathering clues and suspicions. Details of ranch life and the wild country are neatly displayed, and the writing is spare, rhythmic, evocative. Then the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Characters from the earlier books are now in harm’s way, and Tom Call enlists in the Air Force. World War II zips by, too quickly for real drama, and the story loses its tension and crispness. When the plot snaps back to the murderer, it’s all body fluids, gore and mean people. Todd may have wanted to contrast the world-shaking violence of the war with the mindless nastiness of his murderer, but he rips through the war scenes so fast they seem to have no weight, while the murderer is almost comically grotesque. This is the kind of book that can make you feel that the human race is doomed, and that you don’t much care. Cecelia Holland IF I BRING YOU ROSES Marisel Vera, Grand Central, 2011, $13.99, pb, 351pp, 9780446571531 Born into a poor family in a small Puerto Rican village, Felicidad Hidalgo has few expectations for her future. When her mother suffers from a mental breakdown and climbs, naked, onto the roof of the family’s home, Felicidad takes over the management of the family’s household. When an opportunity arises for Felicidad to move to the city and work in her aunt’s bakery, her father, struggling to make ends meet, agrees. Though Felicidad is family, she’s treated as the country cousin and relegated to a life of near servitude and frequent mockery for her lack of refinement. Nevertheless, she works tirelessly and becomes close friends with her young cousin while entertaining an active fantasy life where she is loved by a man she calls her Spirit Prince. Aníbal Acevedo left Puerto Rico for a better life in Chicago but is lured back for a family visit. Aníbal’s greatest weakness is women – he is seductive and sensual, but ultimately noncommittal. His mother wants him married to a nice Puerto Rican girl, and she has her sights set on Felicidad. What begins as a joke to Aníbal quickly becomes the serious pursuit of a woman who could be his equal. “The Hidalgo girl,” as he dismissively calls her before they meet, would actually make a fine wife. After a brief courtship, the two marry and return to Chicago, but neither is ready for HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 51

the challenges and struggles of their relationship. Culture shock sets in for Felicidad, and Aníbal falls back on his womanizing ways. If I Bring You Roses is an engaging novel about the immigrant experience, told from a perspective not often seen in American fiction. Felicidad is an admirably strong heroine who faces the challenges of her life with dignity, and Aníbal is a flawed romantic hero, a midcentury rake in need of reform. The dual settings of Puerto Rico and Chicago are beautifully drawn. Fans of women’s fiction will enjoy Felicidad’s journey to find the happiness that she deserves. Nanette Donohue

descendant of the policeman who investigated the murders, Flynn probes deeper. A famous female suffragist and spiritualist named Victoria Woodhull also investigated the crime at the behest of the accused, who begged for a séance to exonerate him. Through Flynn’s investigation, a recently uncovered diary kept by the lover, and Victoria’s careful notes, a web of sexual intrigue, blackmail, and betrayal emerges. The writing is sparse, as are the setting details, but the characters are compelling. The past story could have stood alone without the modern interference. Diane Scott Lewis

IF JACK’S IN LOVE Stephen Wetta, Amy Einhorn, 2011, $25.95, hb, 358p, 9780399157523 The Witchers are the quintessential family from the wrong side of the tracks. Reviled by their wealthier neighbors for their rough-and-tumble ways, they live in the kind of run-down house that tends to affect the property values of the surrounding area. Jack Witcher, the youngest of the family, doesn’t seem to belong with the others and longs to escape the stigma of being a Witcher. Even worse, he’s in love with Myra Joyner, daughter of a particularly upstanding local family, and she seems to like him back (albeit not in front of anyone else). In his attempts to win Myra’s heart, Jack enlists the help of the neighborhood jeweler, Mr. Gladstein, who offers both assistance and lewd suggestions as to how Jack can encourage Myra to love him. Jack is a charming protagonist who is easy to root for, but it’s his nasty, crude brother Stan who steals the show. Stan has no interest in escaping the rough-and-tumble Witcher legacy – he’s more interested in smoking pot and seducing Anya, the wealthy hippie girl who just moved into the neighborhood (and therefore knows nothing of the dark cloud hanging over the Witcher name). With every step Jack makes towards escaping his family, his brother drags him back, and Stan eventually does something so offensive and hurtful that it destroys Jack’s fledgling relationship. In this debut novel, Wetta captures the ups and downs of preteen love, as well as the atmosphere of late1960s suburbia. Nanette Donohue

PASSING LOVE Jacqueline E. Luckett, Grand Central, 2012, $14.99/C$16.50, pb, 320pp, 9780446542999 Young RubyMae Garrett leaves Mississippi for Paris, following love and the lure of adventure. Postwar Paris is a place where dreams are made and where a colored woman can walk freely in the streets. For a girl who wants to be a singer, the thriving black expatriate jazz scene is the place to be. Sixty years later, Nicole-Marie Handy, tired of a life turned ordinary, takes a spontaneous trip to Paris, a place she’s always wanted to visit after finding a battered blue French dictionary in her parents’ cedar chest decades ago. Paris is more than the city of love for Nicole, though. When she finds an old photo of her father in a Parisian antique shop, inscribed on the back to a woman Nicole has never heard of, Paris becomes a city of hidden family secrets. Passing Love is a book of secrets and deftly handled reveals, and so it is hard to summarize without giving anything away. Moving between the 1950s and today, Luckett sets up surprises for the reader that I am loath to spoil. RubyMae is a hard character who makes some questionable decisions, yet Luckett handles it well. She sells the character convincingly so that, even when I didn’t agree, I was still swept up in RubyMae’s story. Jessica Brockmole

multi-period

SÉANCE IN SEPIA Michelle Black, Gale, 2011, $25.95, hb, 324pp, 9781432825485 Flynn, a modern-day woman, buys an unusual photograph at an estate sale. As she delves into the history behind this “spirit photograph” – an image of a woman with two floating male heads hovering above – she discovers a Victorian female photographer with a husband and a lover; their relationship culminated in a sensational murder trial in 1875 Chicago. With the help of the 52 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

HILL OF BONES The Medieval Murderers, Simon & Schuster UK/Trafalgar Square, 2011, $16.95/£12.99, pb, 404pp, 9780857204264 This is an anthology of mystery novellas by the writing team of Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Karen Maitland, Ian Morson, and Philip Gooden, all successful authors of historical mysteries. Like their earlier King Arthur’s Bones (2009), it has an Arthurian connection: Solsbury Hill outside of Bath, where they locate the Battle of Mount Badon. The stories begin on the eve of Arthur’s great victory and continue down the centuries until the present, when police come searching for another victim of a serial killer. What they uncover instead is evidence of much earlier crimes – murder, fraud, and robbery – that were concealed on the hill. Space limitations mean plots feel hurried and characters harried, but there are clever touches too

and the numerous unsavoury characters doubtless reflect historical circumstances. Not their best outing. Ray Thompson NO LESS IN BLOOD D.M. Pirrone, Five Star, 200, $25.95, hb, 335pp, 9781594149276 The story begins in 2007 and then flashes back and forth to 1893 and the true beginning of the saga of the heroine, Rachel. She is an adoptee who has decided at the age of 30 to discover her real family, perhaps even meet her birth mother. As she begins her investigation, Rachel uncovers the mystery of a missing woman who may turn out to be her great-grandmother. Rachel also discovers that she may be an heiress, which puts her life in jeopardy. Pirrone has created a mystery that is at times riveting and at times confusing as it twists and turns. There is more than one villain with murder and mayhem on his agenda. Some of the characters are unlikable and their motives unclear, and that includes the heroine. However, there are parts of this book that will fascinate the reader. Audrey Braver THE ODDITORIUM Melissa Pritchard, Bellevue Literary Press, 2012, $14.95, pb, 256pp, 9781934137376 The title for The Odditorium fits this slim book of short stories nicely, as most of the tales are indeed quite odd and very clever. Ranging from folk stories (“Pelagia”) to World War II (“Captain Brown and the Royal Victoria Military Hospital”) to almost present day (“The Nine-Gated City”), the settings are as varied as to be almost extreme, but all the stories carry undertones of darkness that will creep into your soul and plant their desperate seeds deep within. Decidedly literary in style, many of the stories in The Odditorium have their genesis in reality, with “Watanya Ciclia” (based on the entwined lives of Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull) making perhaps the best use of known historical facts. While this reader is not normally enamored with literary fiction, I found myself thoroughly engaged with the stories like “Captain Brown and the Royal Victoria Military Hospital,” with its depth of detail and its intricate layering of the main character. However, there are some disturbing elements throughout many of the stories, including necrophilia, that I found distasteful, though that is my personal disinclination. In addition, these stories are not light, easy reads; time must be devoted to absorb the complexities of the storylines. Most delightful, however, is the author’s appealing use of intellectual vocabulary which pulls the reader into the lives of her characters. These are indeed stories that will stay with me for a long while, and I’ve no doubt I will be revisiting them to glean new interpretations in the future. Tamela McCann

20th Century — Multi-period

I, JUDAS James Reich, Soft Skull, 2011, $15.95/C$18.50, pb, 224pp, 9781593764210 As Taliban fundamentalists dynamited the Bamiyan Buddhas, with this book Reich blows up the Gospels. How can I, Judas possibly be described for the innocent? (And if you haven’t read it, you are innocent. Yeats’ “Second Coming” is so optimistic in comparison.) Romanian/New Orleans poet Andrei Codrescu wrote for I, Judas’s cover blurb: “This one’ll have you clenched in a fetal position for a century, relieved only by the occasional orgasms of its mellifluous prose. You have to be strong to read this book: it rains fireballs.” It is the story of Judas, who pops up throughout the centuries like a bloody Forrest Gump, always being betrayed and betraying. He’s with JFK, Oswald, and Ruby in Dallas, where “jackals careened about the passenger door. Scarlet broth ran down her sunglasses. His back brace held him corseted to his cross, and the shot pealed again.” Judas tells us, “I slept rough in the red light district of Jerusalem and was often overwrought with nostalgia born of suffering. Scripture is nostalgia, and Judea was addicted to it.” The entire Holy Family is greasy and fallen in these pages: Jesus’s father was content to make crosses for the Romans because there was a chance that he might make the instrument of the death of his wife’s lover. Don’t even think about turning to this book for a cozy evening’s read. Yet Reich writes beautifully – I sometimes felt as though I was being sucked

into a gruesome enchantment. It gave me a new and personal understanding of that old-fashioned word blasphemous. It is not, however, historical fiction. I’d recommend it instead for readers with a soft spot for iconoclastic and brutal prose poetry. Kristen Hannum THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES M.J. Rose, Atria, 2012, $24.00, hb, 416pp, 9781451621495 Jac L’Etoile and her brother, Robbie, are heirs to the House of L’Etoile, a famous perfumery that has been a part of their family since 1799. Their father, suffering from dementia, has been sent to a nursing home, and Robbie is desperate to save the financially troubled company. Jac insists that the business be sold, but Robbie continues working on perfumes that might save them. While straightening his father’s shop, he discovers shards of pottery in the bottom of a box and asks his friend, Griffin, to piece them back together and translate the hieroglyphics written on the sides. More significant is the remnant of a perfume clinging to the pieces, and Robbie believes it may be the long-sought-after key to discovering past lives through scent. Jac has the most sensitive nose in the family, but she refuses to be a part of this discovery. Griffin and Jac were once lovers and parted on a bitter note, but they join forces when Robbie disappears and a dead body is left behind in the House of L’Etoile. The search for Robbie takes them into the catacombs that run for miles beneath

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

THE WATCH THAT ENDS THE NIGHT

Allan Wolf, Candlewick, 2011, $21.99/C$25.00/£12.99, hb, 467pp, 9780763637033 Simply put, The Watch That Ends the Night is one of the best books I’ve read all year. Written in verse, it is the story of the Titanic from its launch to its sinking, told in 24 different voices, including those of third-class passengers, first-class passengers, crew, and even the iceberg. We learn of the hopes of young third-class teens, the desperation of a second-class father, the con artist in first class, the valiant musicians, and the new Marconi wireman, plus many more; with the exception of only one, all were real passengers aboard the ship, and all were changed forever when destiny met a silent, waiting iceberg in the dark of the ocean. Creative and captivating, Wolf keeps the action steady as the stories of the passengers’ race toward a struggle with life and death. I was equally as enthralled with young Frankie Goldsmith’s ice dragon adventures as I was with Captain Smith’s realization that this final voyage would not be to his anticipated retirement. Wolf ’s research is detectable in all his details, and this Titanic buff was pleased to read the illuminating author’s note in the final pages. I could easily have inhaled this novel in one long breath, but I made myself savor each word, right down to the lines falling off the pages as Thomas Andrews takes his final plunge with the ship. As 2012 is the centenary of the sinking of the great ship, there will doubtless be lots of information and many books available, but this title should definitely be the one literature and history lovers seek out first. Highly, highly recommended. Tamela McCann Multi-period — Time-slip

the streets of Paris and reawakens a love that is now forbidden, since Griffin is married and has a child. There are several characters in this story, all seeking to find this ancient and valuable perfume. Robbie feels the Tibetans are most deserving, while the Chinese Mafia in Paris is working hard to stop him. Dr. Malachi, director of the Phoenix Institute for the study of reincarnation, has offered Robbie more than enough money to save their perfumery in exchange for the perfume. The outcome is so worth the wait. M.J. Rose spent over two and a half years traveling and researching this contemporary novel with flashbacks to ancient Egypt. I highly recommend this book. Susan Zabolotny THE GARDEN INTRIGUE Lauren Willig, Dutton, 2012, $25.95/C$30, hb, 400pp, 9780525952541 Historian Eloise Kelly is back, still working with a treasure trove of primary sources for her dissertation on English spies immersed in the intrigue in France between 1789 and 1815. Her latest research subject is Augustus Whittlesby, an Englishman in league with the Pink Carnation in France in 1804. Whittlesby is most effectively disguised as a terrible poet who pays court to Jane Wooliston, aka the Pink Carnation. To gain entrance to Napoleon’s residence, Malmaison, Whittlesby teams up with American widow Emma Delagardie. Emma has been charged with writing a masque for the first consul’s, now emperor’s, entertainment, and Whittlesby gallantly volunteers to assist. Willig captures perfectly the 19th-century woman’s plight. As a widow, Emma is afforded a bit more freedom than a single woman, but just a bit. Her cousin comes to Paris, charged with bringing her home. As Napoleon’s stepdaughter’s best friend, she is invited to join his court, but that too brings its own confinement. In the present day, Eloise wrestles with a similar dilemma – to accept a head teaching fellow position back at Harvard or to stay in England with her boyfriend Colin (he of the treasure trove of primary sources). Willig provides a fascinating look at Napoleonic France in addition to the 19th and 21st-century love stories. Napoleon doesn’t take center stage, but his narcissism is palpable, nonetheless. Although lighthearted, the series has a vein of seriousness running through it; Willig knows her history. Ellen Keith

time-slip

THE SOLITAIRE GHOST: Blackstone Gold, Book One Sylvia Kelso, Five Star, 2011, $25.95, hb, 300pp, 9781432825324 In Australia, Dorian Wild shockingly witnesses a ghost traipsing about her apartment and office. Intent on discovering what this sighting means, Dorian delves into the past to discover her ghost is a 19th-century Irish reporter named Jimmy HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 53

Keenigham. Mystery and danger deepen when her geologist boyfriend suspiciously dies in a car crash after sending her enigmatic messages about gold mines and shifty business takeovers. With Australian lingo and locations, this book was a bit hard to follow at first, but the fast-pace and interesting plot helped to carry the story along. Jimmy somehow travels to the present, adding romance and intrigue to this already curious storyline. The ties between the Solitaire gold mine, Chris, and Jimmy were interesting, although the total acceptance all characters had of a ghost sighting was a bit hard to swallow. All in all, recommended for its unusual plot and look at historic gold mines. Rebecca Cochran THE TIME SEAM: Blackstone Gold, Book Two Sylvia Kelso, Five Star, 2011, $25.95, hb, 342pp, 9781432825478 This sequel to The Solitaire Ghost picks up right where the first story left off. Twenty-first century lawyer Dorian Wild is in the middle of working with Jimmy Keenigham, an Irish 19th-century reporter who has inexplicably time-traveled, to uncover the mystery surrounding the Solitaire gold mine. In the first story, Dorian’s boyfriend, Chris, discovered the mine and died for it. Not only is Dorian intent on vindicating Chris’s death, but she is determined to understand why the company Pan-Auric is involved and to figure out how Jimmy has time-traveled. Full of action, romance, and an Australian setting, this fast-paced novel provides plenty of chills, twists and turns. Jimmy and Dorian fall in love, causing all sorts of complications. And when the pair becomes suspicious that another time-traveling anomaly is occurring, real dangers threaten their very existence. The mix of paranormal, romance, and suspense creates a unique but slightly confusing story. I sometimes felt like there was too much happening, and it was hard to keep everything straight. However, the story still intrigues, and the ending satisfies. Rebecca Cochran

paranormal & | historical fantasy

THE BLEEDING DUSK Colleen Gleason, Allison & Busby, 2011, £7.99, pb, 410pp, 9780749009588 / Signet, 2008, out of print Kick, shove, slice, and an ogre-faced demon’s head is parted from its doglike body; Lady Victoria Gardella is in action. In early 19th-century Rome, abolishing demons is only one of her duties as Venator, dedicated destroyer of vampires. Demons and vampires in alliance ravage the Roman streets, slaying and feasting in foul weather where night falls far too soon. The destruction of the Obelisk 54 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

of Akvan has been achieved at great cost: Akvan himself, mightiest of demons, is free to return and wreak havoc in a world already in dire peril. Can beleaguered Victoria trust two men, both thrillingly seductive: light-hearted, golden Sebastian who eschews slaughter – vampires were once men and women – or saturnine Max, formerly in thrall to the fiendish Lilith? This novel is a good example of the genre and will be relished by all devotees of the undead. The author generously acknowledges the help she has received in writing and bringing her novel to publication, but she has allowed a sense of the intrusion of other voices. She has her own talent, and the passage where Max has to make an agonising decision, where either choice will bring him everlasting grief, is very strong writing which feels like the work of a single person. The chapter headings are delightful. Nancy Henshaw THE THIRD SECTION Jasper Kent, Bantam, 2011, £12.99, pb, 476pp, 9780593065372 / Pyr, 2011, $16.00, pb, 479pp, 9781616145316 It is 1855, and after 40 years of peace in Europe, war rages in the Crimea. Sevastopol is in ruins as Dimitry Alekseevich Danilov faces not only the guns of the French and British but a much more sinister enemy: one which his father had believed to be buried beneath the earth 30 years previously. Tamara Valentinovna Komarova, agent of the tsar, was brought up by the Lavrovs, but she knew they were not her natural parents. She secures employment in Moscow, working for The Third Section; her cover a brothel keeper. With access to documents in the Kremlin, she felt certain that she would discover her true parentage. Continuously surrounded by danger, Tamara treads a fine line, surrounded by vampires, unable to distinguish friend from foe, horror follows upon horror, and she discovers more than she could ever have imagined. Jasper Kent spins a fine yarn that seamlessly combines historical fact with fantasy in the most credible manner. I haven’t read the previous two volumes in this Danilov quintet but it definitely works as a standalone novel. Ann Oughton JANE AUSTEN: Blood Persuasion Janet Mullany, Morrow, 2011, $13.99/£9.99, pb, 286pp, 9780061958311 Fact: Vampires have haunted bookstore shelves for some time now. In recent years, they’ve poked their fangs into many a celebrity character in novels and stalked victims in nearly every historical era. This is all to the delight of vamp lovers. When the Undead take beloved author Jane Austen as one of their own, in Janet Mullany’s series that began with Jane and the Damned and now continues with Blood Persuasion, admirers of the paranormal genre will rejoice. This is great fun! In fact, Mullany does a bang-up job of herding vampires, including a lover who “turned” Jane,

through the pages, while deftly capturing the style of an Austen novel, complete with tongue-in-cheek wit and humor. The Damned predictably raise hell in the tranquil English countryside of 1810. Jane’s work on her masterpieces is interrupted by their shenanigans, and she must rescue her niece from flirting dangerously with their pale and mysterious neighbors. But all the while, the author exhibits marked respect toward Austen and her mortal legacy, and that makes the book work as fine entertainment. That said, purists who like their historical fiction well rooted in fact will probably want to look elsewhere for their next Jane Austen fix. Kathryn Johnson THE DOCTOR AND THE KID Mike Resnick, Pyr, 2011, $16.00, pb, 324pp, 9781616145378 In Mike Resnick’s last “Weird West” book The Buntline Special, Doc Holliday survived the battle at the OK Corral and “killed” an undead Johnny Ringo. Now the West’s most dangerous dentist wants only to live out his final days in comfort, in a special facility for terminal consumptives such as himself. But even in Resnick’s anachronistic version of 1882 America, there is no such thing as longterm care insurance. And so when Holliday blows his entire bankroll in one drunken night at the card tables, he has only one option to pay his bills; kill or capture outlaw Billy the Kid and collect the reward money. Strong Cheyenne ‘medicine’ protects the Kid, but Doc has two powerful allies of his own: one a Native sorcerer named Geronimo, the other the future ‘Wizard of Menlo Park’. It’s hard to go wrong in a book featuring a cyborg Thomas Edison, but what could have been an intriguing collision of classic Western and science fantasy falls well short of its potential. Most of the trouble is in the characters. Only Holliday himself has a clear narrative voice, and a host of lifeless historical cameos bogs the story down. Resnick’s portrait of Susan B. Anthony is about as deep, and as successful, as the one on her illfated dollar coin. A worse travesty is Oscar Wilde: fawning, snarkless, and vaguely – gasp – American. Similarly, Edison’s advanced tech comes and goes without much real impact to the plot. The final showdown is a letdown, a passionless exchange of gunfire and electromagnetism that does not rise to the coolness of the concept. Richard Bourgeois THE CENTAUR IN THE GARDEN Moacyr Scliar, Texas Tech Univ. Press, 2011, $18.95, pb, 216pp, 9780896727304 During the early 19th century, a Jewish family escapes the brutality of the Russian Cossacks by immigrating to a small farming community in southern Brazil. To their amazement and horror, their youngest child, Guedali, is born a mythological creature—a centaur. Though he thrives and is accepted into the family, he must be hidden from all outsiders as they search for a cure, improvising Jewish traditions to coincide with his Time-slip — Paranormal & Historical Fantasy

condition along the way. Though he knows he is loved, Guedali feels the gulf between himself and his family members. As he grows older, the need to find a sense of self overtakes him, and he sets out on a series of adventures that eventually lead him to another of his kind. Together they pursue the seemingly unattainable normalcy that is their view of humankind. Guedali finally experiences life as his vision of normal, but ultimately discovers that perhaps life as a centaur offered freedoms beyond what a human could experience. Descriptive even in the most personal matters, the storyline and prose nonetheless carry the reader along to a satisfying conclusion. The whimsical ending offers further insight into human – and nonhuman – nature, and allows the ultimate fate of the characters to be pondered. Arleigh Johnson

children & young adult

LA LLORONA, THE CRYING WOMAN Rudolfo Anaya (illus. Amy Córdova, trans. Enrique Lamadríd), Univ. of New Mexico, 2011, $19.95, hb, 42pp, 9780826344601 Maya is born in ancient Mexico with a sunburst birthmark on her shoulder. She is declared to be a child of the Sun by the village priest, favored with immortality. Once she is grown, her parents take Maya to live beside a jungle lake, to protect her from jealous Señor Tiempo. In this isolated situation Maya becomes lonely and grows children in bowls filled with earth and seeds brought by a young farmer from a neighboring valley. Maya and her children are content in their lakeside home until Señor Tiempo discovers them. He deceives Maya into destroying the bowls from which the children sprang. Maya loses her children, and her lamentations beside the lake are heard by the villagers from afar. Mothers warn their children not to venture near dangerous waters or La Llorona, the Crying Woman, will claim them as her own. La Llorona, the Crying Woman is a retelling of a Mexican cautionary folktale. The illustrations are vibrantly colored and evocative of an indigenous culture. Rudolfo Anaya’s gentle portrayal of mortality and loss is presented in side-byside English and Spanish text. The story is recommended for ages 9 and up. Eva Ulett THE GATHERING STORM Robin Bridges, Delacorte, 2012, $17.99, hb, 400pp, 9780385740227 Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, may look like an ordinary Russian teen, circa 1890. She attends a prestigious finishing school intended to prepare her for a life among royalty and is expected to marry well – and soon. But Children & YA

Katerina has her own dreams. Inspired by her physician father, she wants to attend medical school and have a life of her own. She also has a talent that she intends to keep hidden: she is a powerful necromancer who can raise the dead. A necromancer’s talent is difficult to hide, though, and Katerina soon attracts the attention of the heir to the throne of Montenegro and his wicked sisters, who wish to harness Katerina’s powers for their own ends. Teen readers may overlook some of the contemporary slang (e.g., Katerina referring to a ball as a “meat market”) and historical inaccuracies (in 1888, Marie Curie wouldn’t have been a scientific hero to a Russian schoolgirl), because The Gathering Storm is quite the page-turner. Bridges incorporates elements of a number of recent teenlit sensations into her debut, including “ordinary” young women with extraordinary powers, epic battles between Light and Dark, and – yes – the ever-present vampires. This is more paranormal fiction than historical fiction, and it sometimes reads like Gossip Girl meets Twilight in late 19thcentury Russia, but The Gathering Storm is a lot of fun for what it is: a lightweight young adult novel that young women 13 and up will enjoy. Nanette Donohue CALEB’S WARS David L. Dudley, Clarion, 2011, $16.99, hb, 262pp, 9780547239972 Fifteen-year-old Caleb Brown struggles through his adolescence in a tumultuous setting: Georgia during World War II. He’s waging wars on five fronts—his Jim Crow-ruled town, his father who whips him when he transgresses those rules, his spiritual calling as a healer, himself and his own emotions, and the world war itself, which has taken his beloved brother overseas and brings a German POW into his life. To spite his carpenter father, Caleb asks the ruling family for a summer job and becomes dishwasher at The Dixie Belle, a new whites-only restaurant in town. It’s there he meets Andreas, a German POW from a nearby camp, who is brought in for his kitchen skills and free labor. Andreas has lost a brother in the war and wants it to end with a Nazi defeat. He treats Caleb with respect and becomes his first white friend. When Caleb gets baptized, largely to please his mother, he hears a call from God that disturbs him. Asked to lay hands on an arthritic friend and his boss’s mother whose mind is fogged by dementia, both respond with dramatic shifts in health. But he is powerless to keep his brother from being severely wounded in Europe. As tensions build within him, Caleb takes a stand that’s before its time as he demands service as a customer at The Dixie Belle. The attitudes of the new generation as represented by Caleb and his brother contrast both with his father’s fiery anger and his mother’s religious stoicism towards their life’s realities. Although buoyed by strong characterization and sometimes rising to poetic heights, Caleb’s Wars was also plagued by plot turns that made this

reader feel manipulated. Eileen Charbonneau SCARLET A. C. Gaughen, Walker, 2012, $17.99, hb, 296pp, 9780802723468 / Bloomsbury, 2012, £7.99, pb, 9781408819760 Tyrants come in all forms – princes, sheriffs, and even lowly thief catchers. Fortunately for the people ground under the heels of those tyrants, heroes arise, though some from the unlikeliest of places. When Prince John of England gives the stolen lands of Nottinghamshire to a crony, a bold band of thieves and prison-breakers saves the people from heavy taxes and starvation by their new sheriff. The leader of this band is one of our most popular folk heroes: Robin Hood. A.C. Gaughen’s Scarlet is a fresh interpretation of the familiar legend of Robin Hood and his followers, John Little, Friar Tuck, and Will Scarlet. However, Gaughen presents an intriguing twist: Will Scarlet is actually a young woman on the run from her wicked fiancé. Only Robin and a few of his most trusted men know Scar’s secret, since she wears men’s clothing and slips through drains with ease, and she fights at Robin’s side, hurling daggers and somersaulting through the air like a ninja. Perhaps Gaughen’s Scarlet is a little too invincible when she gets hacked in the shoulder by a sword, then scales a sheer castle wall despite her grievous wound, but there’s no lack of action in this book. Scarlet also uses a crude dialect, and I wondered why nobody else in Robin’s band spoke that way, but eventually we learn that it is part of her disguise. Twilight fans will relish the romantic tension between Scarlet, Robin, and John. Both teens and adults will enjoy this fast-paced novel, and hold their breath for the moment when Gaughen’s truculent, engaging heroine’s hidden life is exposed. Jo Ann Butler GETORIX: Games of the Underworld Judith Geary, Ingalls, 2011, $14.95, pb, 248pp, 9781932158892 The second book in Judith Geary’s popular Getorix series finds the young Celt in Rome, treading the line between slave and free, where he watches out for his Celtic slave compatriots as well as his best friend, Lucius, the son of a powerful Roman general. When Lucius is suddenly abducted in a public raid, Getorix is first suspected of collaborating with the kidnappers, then charged with rescuing Lucius and solving the mystery. Enlisting the help of Celtic and Roman friends, Getorix dives into a tangled web of deception and intrigue that threatens not only the lives of himself and his friends, but the very balance of power in Rome. Set in 100 BC during a period of intense political upheaval that would eventually change the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire, Games of the Underworld is a fast-paced and exciting story filled with great dialogue and lots of historical detail. Rome is brought to life as a living, breathing HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 55

city; everyday life and complicated politics are woven into the story without feeling crammed in, and readers of all ages will be able to relate to the characters. The first Getorix title, The Eagle and the Bull, was approved for use in classrooms, and it’s easy to see why. Very enjoyable and very recommended. Heather Domin R MY NAME IS RACHEL Patricia Reilly Giff, Wendy Lamb, 2011, $15.99/ C$17.99, hb, 176pp, 9780375838897 Rachel has lived in the city her whole life and loves her neighborhood: Charlie the butcher, Clarence the stray cat, Mrs. Lazarus her teacher, and especially Miss Mitzi, the florist who is like a mother to Rachel and her siblings. Rachel loves school, reading, and writing letters to famous people with Miss Mitzi; the only thing Rachel dislikes is her bossy, cleanliness-obsessed sister, Cassie. When Rachel’s father loses his job at a bank (it is 1936), he decides to move his family to the country, where he believes a job awaits. The farmhouse is a wreck, and the job falls through, but with nowhere else to go, the family stays in the country where they can plant a garden and get chickens and goats. The children love the outdoors, and though the school is closed and they have no friends, they are happy in the country. But the farmhouse is rented, so when he is almost out of money, Rachel’s father must leave for work up north. Rachel, Joey, and Cassie are left to take care of the farm and themselves on their own. Patricia Reilly Giff captures childhood in the piercingly honest voice of Rachel, especially in the way she talks to and thinks about Cassie. Their close-in-age sister relationship is complicated and realistic, filled with both oft-voiced recriminations and deep love. Giff shows how difficult life was for many during the Depression – the constant struggle for food, shelter, and the ability to take care of those you love. I thoroughly enjoyed this genuine, heartfelt story of childhood, courage, and family. Elizabeth Caulfield Felt CROSS MY HEART Sasha Gould, Delacorte, 2012, $17.99, hb, 272pp, 978038574150 Venice, 1585. Confined to a convent for the six years since her mother’s death, 16-year-old Laura lives for her memories of her happy childhood with her sister Beatrice. When she learns that she is suddenly to leave the convent to return home, her joy becomes pain when she hears that her beloved sister’s mysterious death is the reason for her freedom. Laura’s grasping father has decided to wed her to the aging and crass, but very wealthy, merchant Vincenzo. In order to escape this unhappy union, Laura joins a secret society of Venetian women by betraying the secret of the most powerful man in Venice. The pleasure of Vincenzo’s downfall is short-lived for Laura, however, as she comes to realize that the women she has come to trust could be involved in Beatrice’s 56 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

death, and that the very man she betrayed to enter the society has an even more unbelievable secret she is bound to keep. This story was fast-moving, and every chapter had a new secret, or a new adventure. The characters are believable, and it is interesting to see them change and learn throughout the story. This book would be perfect for a young person who is just beginning an interest in historical fiction. Cynthia McArthur THE FAERIE RING Kiki Hamilton, Tor Teen, 2011, $17.99, hb, 348pp, 9780765327222 Tiki and her family of orphans live in a hideaway adjoining Charing Cross Station in central London in 1871, picking pockets to survive. One night, Tiki steals a ring from Buckingham Palace which holds a truce between the Faeries and mortals. Its loss risks an all-out war with the Fey. Tiki is being watched by Rieker, a fellow thief who suspects her involvement in the disappearance of the ring. The queen’s son, Prince Leopold, will do anything to get the ring back. Rieker has secrets of his own, and Tiki must decide whom she can trust if she’s going to provide a home for her family of thieves. Hamilton does a lovely job of placing Tiki in Victorian London. The details are terrific and not overwhelming. The story feels like a slow-moving fairy tale, much like Tam Lin, a fairy tale that Tiki often references. I wish the family of thieves and the royal family had been more developed; they have little to do except act as spurs for Tiki’s decisions. The fairies were fascinating but needed more substance. There’s a lot of action that goes in circles, which I found frustrating. Since there will be three more books to come, Hamilton will have opportunity to develop the story. As it stands, Tiki is an appealing character with a mind of her own who should appeal to young teens. Magic seems at home in Victorian London. Michaela MacColl DARKER STILL Leanna Renee Hieber, Sourcebooks, 2011, $8.99/£5.99, pb, 336pp, 9781402260520 Inspired by The Picture of Dorian Grey, Darker Still begins a series aimed towards readers ages 12 and over. Mute since witnessing her mother’s death at the age of four, Natalie Stewart has spent all her life in a convent school for unfortunates such as herself. Now, she is living in Manhattan with her father and working with the Acquisitions department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And there’s one particular acquisition that has caught perhaps more than just her eye – a life-size portrait of the young, handsome Lord Denbury, a tragic suicide. She imagines that his eyes follow her around the room and even goes so far as to think that she notices tiny changes in the painting from day to day. Through her own ingenuity and the help of her mystic friend, Mrs. Northe, she discovers that he is indeed transient within the portrait, the victim of a terrible curse which dooms his soul to

imprisonment in the picture while his possessed body commits atrocities in the city. What’s more, Natalie herself may be the only person who can save him. Although I found the premise of this book superb, I am sad to say that it did not live up to my expectations. The main criticism I would make is that while the writing itself was geared towards younger readers, some aspects of the content seemed too mature for them. The “love at first sight” cliché was also altogether too rampant in the story for my tastes. However, the atmosphere of the book was quite masterfully crafted, and Hieber did well at working Natalie’s disability into the plot without letting it dominate. In short, I would recommend it as a recreational read for those ages 14 and over. Magdalen Dobson, age 15 IN DARKNESS Nick Lake, Bloomsbury USA, 2012, $17.99, hb, 352pp, 9781599907437 / Bloomsbury, 2012, £12.99, hb, 352pp, 9781408819944 Two years after the earthquake, the crippling poverty and devastation faced by the Haitian people has all but disappeared from the news in the United States. In his debut novel, Nick Lake brings readers back to the days immediately following the earthquake through the eyes of Shorty, a Haitian teen trapped in a life of poverty, gang warfare, hunger, and pain. Shorty was in the hospital when the earthquake struck. Shot by a rival gang member, he is expected to recover, but the earthquake traps him in a pile of rubble that he cannot escape. He is surrounded by corpses, and soon begins to hallucinate about the life of Toussaint L’Ouverture, the 18thcentury revolutionary who led the slave revolt that gave Haiti its freedom. The stories of both men are intertwined throughout the novel, and the similarities between the two, along with the complex intergenerational bond that unites them, helps to sustain Shorty through his ordeal. Toussaint and Shorty share the same struggle – to survive when the odds are against them – and both do, though in different ways. The gang lifestyle that Shorty cannot escape is described in detail but never glamorized; rather, it’s presented as Shorty’s only route to surviving the slums of the Site Soley. Toussaint’s story, which few American teens will know, opens young readers’ eyes to a revolution they likely never studied in school. In Darkness isn’t an easy read, and it’s not uplifting, but it’s a very important book that will help young adult (and adult) readers understand more about Haiti’s history – and its present-day problems. I came away with a deeper understanding of the human rights issues in modern Haiti, and the desperation, even before the earthquake, is worse than I could have imagined. Nanette Donohue AMADITO AND THE HERO CHILDREN / AMADITO Y LOS NIÑOS HÉROES Enrique R. Lamadrid, illus. Amy Córdova, Children & YA

Univ. of New Mexico, 2011, $19.95, hb, 59pp, 9780826349798 Amadito lives in New Mexico in 1918, where his whole family has to help with the harvest, because most men are in Europe fighting the war. Soon the great flu epidemic reaches even their isolated village. Amadito’s mother does all she can with local remedies to keep the children from getting sick. To encourage them, she tells the story of the heroic orphans, including Amadito’s great-grandmother, in another epidemic in the early 1800s. They were deliberately given cowpox and sent to other villages in order to infect people. Since anyone who got cowpox did not contract the deadlier smallpox, the heroic children saved lives. Aimed at ages 9 and up, in parallel English and Spanish text, the book gives a good flavor of life in New Mexico’s early statehood. Readers learn about foodways and health practices, and the charming illustrations add to the atmosphere. The epilogue says the 20th century part is based on fact, but the 19th century section is fictional. The biggest drawback is the way the story rather peters out – there isn’t much plot tension involving Amadito. Better to have included the material from the afterword that revealed how Amadito grew up to be a pioneering doctor. B.J. Sedlock

Around the World in Eighty Days inspired the public imagination. Many adventurers set off to try the journey for themselves, some on foot, some by boat, and some using more novel, newly introduced means of transportation. Phelan’s funny and historically adept graphic novel Around the World chronicles three such journeys: that of Thomas Stevens, a former miner who decided to circumnavigate the globe by bicycle; that of Nellie Bly, a pioneer female reporter with an eye for a good publicity stunt; and that of Joshua Slocum, a retired sea captain who determined to set out on one last voyage. Phelan goes beyond the spectacle of round-theworld travel to portray each adventurer as a fully developed character, emphasizing the personal demons each must conquer even as they face down more physical hurdles. Though the feisty Nellie Bly is my personal favorite, the audacious Thomas Stevens and soulful Joshua Slocum balance out the narrative well. The simple but telling facial expressions of Phelan’s characters are a delight, as is his light palette of colorful pastels. Phelan has combined his playful artistic style, his apt sense of narrative pacing, and his abiding respect for historical accuracy to create a funny and enlightening work. Ann Pedtke

THE LIONS OF LITTLE ROCK Kristin Levine, Putnam, 2012, $16.99, hb, 304pp, 9780399256448 Twelve-year-old Marlee lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. The year is 1958. The high school is closed because some people do not believe in integration. Marlee’s older sister is sent away to live with her grandmother so she can attend high school. Marlee is upset because her older sister is one of the few people she shares her thoughts with. Marlee rarely speaks, is a whiz in math, and keeps to herself until she meets the new girl at school. Liz is outgoing, smart and pretty. Their budding friendship is just what Marlee needs to become more confident. However, one day Liz suddenly withdraws from school. There are rumors that Liz was seen in the black section of town. Everyone quickly learns that Liz is black, but due to her light skin color, she is able to pass for white. The girls are urged by their communities to forget about their friendship. But they do not listen and continue to see each other even though their own lives, and the lives of their family members, could be in danger. The author does an excellent job of capturing different views during this challenging time. I enjoyed the relationship between Marlee and Liz. They had an interesting dynamic which enriched the novel. The story is written in the first person, which is popular in young adult novels. Gina Iorio

MISTER CREECHER Chris Priestley, Bloomsbury USA, 2011, $16.99, hb, 400pp, 9781599907031 / Bloomsbury, 2011, 10.99, pb, 400pp, 9781408811047 Two outcasts inhabit London in 1818 – one of them 15-year-old Billy, a pickpocket and thief, the other a hulking creature given life by Dr. Victor Frankenstein. This is not a retelling of that other famous story, but rather an inventive narrative that looks into a dark world where Billy is beaten and bullied and Mister Creecher is judged for his terrible appearance. Kind at heart, his face “looked as though it had been hanging at Execution Dock for many days.” It is night as Billy steps out into foggy, ominous Finsbury Square. He attempts to rob a corpse, only to have it rise to its feet, save Billy from street thugs, and hurry him to safety. Their unlikely friendship grows as Billy helps Creecher locate Dr. Frankenstein, who has promised he will create a bride for his “monster.” Appalled and fascinated, Billy accompanies Creecher on Creecher’s quest for love and acceptance, learning a lot about himself and the true nature of the world and his place in it in the process. Priestley’s eloquent descriptions of London’s underbelly make this a compelling book whose characters are not soon forgotten. The author’s scenes with Mary Shelley, though brief, add to this gothic novel’s engaging and enlightening tone. Highly recommended. Alana White

AROUND THE WORLD Matt Phelan, Candlewick, 2011, $24.99/C$28.00, hb, 237pp, 9780763636197 At the turn of the century, Jules Verne’s novel

MAY B. Caroline Rose Starr, Random House, 2012, $15.99/C$17.99, hb, 240pp, 9781582464121 Twelve-year-old Mavis Elizabeth Betterly (May

Children & YA — Nonfiction

B.) is a Kansas prairie pioneer girl, whose parents send her to a neighboring homestead to help out – “Just until Christmas,” her father promises. Mr. Oblinger’s new bride needs a housekeeper, and May’s parents need the extra money. Feeling frightened and abandoned, devastated to have to leave school before term ends, May notes that she is helping everyone but herself. She wants to become a teacher, but is already behind in her lessons. Although she works hard for the Oblingers, nothing she does seems to help. Mrs. Oblinger is homesick and miserable and finds fault constantly. Just when May thinks things could be no worse, she finds herself deserted on the homestead, miles from home. No one knows she is alone. She must fend for herself until Christmas. May B. is a verse novel that grabs you at once with its lovely language and descriptive prairie images. It is more introspective than action-oriented. May reflects heavily upon her school days and reading difficulties. She ponders what her family is doing without her. There is less of the nitty-gritty daily struggle of a child eking out an existence alone in a sod house for four to five months than I might have wanted to see, but the verse form is well suited to introspection. May’s story reads quickly and is sweetly, emotionally tension-filled. It’s a wonderful book for the middle-grade audience. Sue Asher CROW Barbara Wright, Random House, 2012, $19.99, hb, 304pp, 9780375869280 Omens hang heavy over the life of Moses Thomas, a young man coming of age at the turn of the 20th century in Wilmington, North Carolina. For his beloved grandmother, former slave and family storyteller Boo Nanny, the mobbing crows signal a return to hate against the AfricanAmerican majority, who are gaining the realization of their rights through hard work, learning, and alliances with progressive Republicans. But Moses’ father, a city alderman who works on the state’s daily newspaper, sees the shifting winds blowing towards opportunity for his family. This portrait of Moses and his family over a crucial summer in their lives is by turns playful, heartrending, and powerful. Simple pleasures like competing to win a bicycle or finding a pirate hideout become lanced by racism. Envy and hatred turn to madness, but the family’s island of decency expands and stays firm in its courage. As Moses faces the hard truths along with his last summer of light and play, Crow’s readers experience an extraordinary novel of depth, beauty, and soul. Highly recommended. Eileen Charbonneau

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CECELIA AND FANNY: The Remarkable Friendship Between an Escaped Slave and Her Former Mistress HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 57

Brad Asher, Univ. Press of Kentucky, 2011, $30.00/ C$30.50, hb, 240pp, 9780813134147 This book tells the true story of the bond between Cecelia Reynolds, who escaped from slavery in 1846, and Fanny Thruston, who owned her. Cecelia grew up with Fanny in Kentucky and was given to her as her maid. Accompanying her on a trip to Niagara Falls at age fifteen, she took the opportunity to flee to Canada. One might expect that to have been the end of their relationship, but it was not. Among the sources for this book are five letters written from Fanny in reply to correspondence from Cecelia. Cecelia had reason to contact Fanny, whose family still held her mother and brother in slavery. Her major purpose seems to have been negotiating for her relatives’ freedom. Unfortunately her letters have not been preserved. Fanny’s replies were friendly, even chatty. She said at one point that she thought the desire of a slave to be free was perfectly natural, and apparently she never reproached Cecelia for running away. There are gaps in the historical record. The two women stayed in touch all their lives, but were Cecelia and Fanny in any true or deep sense friends? Despite the unanswered questions, this well-written, extensively researched book makes fascinating reading. Phyllis T. Smith IRELAND: A History Thomas Bartlett, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2010, $55.00/£35.00, hb, 648pp, 9780521197205 Irish history is often fragmented into singleperiod studies – examinations of early Christian Ireland, treatments of the Protestant Ascendancy, narratives of the Easter Rising and the War of Independence. However, I have yet to read a singlevolume history that covers the full sweep of Irish heritage as well as Thomas Bartlett’s Ireland: A History. As chair of Irish History at the University of Aberdeen, Bartlett has established preeminence in Irish military history, with past books focusing on the Catholic Question and the Rebellion of 1798. This preference shows in his new volume, as Ireland skims through all of Celtic and early Christian history in a single chapter and moves ahead to the making of Protestant Ireland and “Ireland’s long eighteenth century,” where the pace slows considerably. Despite some unevenness in coverage, however, Bartlett proves a master of every period, all the way up to his consideration of the Good Friday Agreement and continuing political negotiations over the past two decades. With aptly chosen eyewitness quotes and flashes of humor here and there, Bartlett conveys not just the sweep of historical events but the individuals – from Columbanus to Daniel O’Connell, from Patrick Pearse to Mary Robinson – who made them possible. Ann Pedtke LIFE AND LOSS IN THE SHADOW OF THE HOLOCAUST: A Jewish Family’s Untold Story 58 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

Rebecca Boehling and Uta Larkey, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011, $29.99/C$30.95/£20, hb, 350pp, 978052189991 When far-flung cousins pooled their Jewish parents’ letters, they realized they had more than 600, plus diaries and other records. They could precisely document their parents’ escape from Nazi Germany. Here is this family’s intriguing and distressing biography, complete with evocative photos. One daughter came to the United States; another to Israel then Chile. The son’s fiancée used a forged document to get him released from Buchenwald, and the couple became Israeli citizens. The authors combine excerpts from the letters with the historical background to chronicle those survivors’ stories, which include the three siblings’ frantic attempts to save their mother, Selma, and their aunt, both of whom stayed behind and died in Treblinka. The authors note this was typical. Elders, especially elderly women, were more rooted in place and also less attractive to receiving countries, and so could not escape the way younger people could. A photo of Selma, visiting Tel Aviv in 1937, is heartbreaking. Genealogy charts show that she and the majority of her generation in this family died in 1941 or 1942. The book is an excellent resource for historical novelists and for anyone fascinated by the decade leading up to World War II in Germany. Kristen Hannum 1494: How a Family Feud in Medieval Spain Divided the World in Half Stephen R. Bown, St. Martin’s, 2012, $27.99, hb, 287pp, 9780312616120 “How a Family Feud in Medieval Spain Divided the World in Half ” is the subtitle but could also have possibly been the “elevator pitch.” Pope Alexander VI is to settle a dynastic row between Portugal and Spain, dividing the world (known and unknown!) between these two nations, unintentionally setting off a chain reaction of discovery, exploitation, and genocide that would lead to five centuries of unintentional outcomes as various and extreme as the Protestant Reformation and European colonialism. Since I received an Anglo-centric historical education, the affairs of Spain and Portugal during the 15th century were, prior to this book, mostly a blank for me. This readable popular history helped me not only to fill the gaps in my understanding of the European past, but also plugged in key connections to another personal terra incognita – the Middle East. The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks closed the traditional spice routes to European merchants, which led to a flood of out-of-work, highly skilled cartographers and mariners from Italy seeking employment and a new route to the east. These men and their protocapitalist backers formed the kernel of the first great merchant navies of the western world – those of Portugal and her closest rival, Spain – and thus, the connections illuminated by Bown’s work were made for me. Highly recommended. Juliet Waldron

DEEP TRAILS IN THE OLD WEST: A Frontier Memoir Frank Clifford, Univ. of Oklahoma, 2011, $29.95, hb, 336pp, 9780806141862 Born in 1860, John Menham Wightman came to Cimarron, New Mexico, at the age of eleven. Seventy years – and several name changes later – Frank Wallace, a retired councilman in Emporia, Kansas, left an account of tales that he’d never told his family: 20 years drifting across Texas and New Mexico’s high plains and parched mountains. Frank never explained why he’d changed his name so many times, but as Frank Clifford, he was hired to ride with the Canadian River Cattle Association to break up Billy the Kid’s cattlerustling gang. Fresh eyewitness accounts from Billy the Kid’s day are hard to come by, but Deep Trails in the Old West is one of them. Clifford’s transcribed memoirs, edited and scrupulously annotated by Frederick Nolan, are the most entertaining Western yarns I’ve read since Mark Twain’s Roughing It. I highly recommend Deep Trails in the Old West to any reader who enjoys stories well told and wants to learn what the Wild West was really like from one who lived there. Jo Ann Butler THE QUEEN’S AGENT John Cooper, Faber & Faber, 2011, £20, pb, 374pp, 9780571218264 In the time of Elizabeth I, 16th-century England was in turmoil – Protestants against Catholics, wars with Spain, and a further outbreak of the plague, to name but a few of the problems facing the monarch. Plots against the queen of one sort or another abounded, the most famous of them being the Babington plot which resulted in the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Onto this scene comes Francis Walsingham, who was to prove a most efficient spymaster. His agents were everywhere, and nothing escaped his notice or attention. The Queen’s Agent tells the story of a man devoted to the queen and who would stop at nothing to protect her. Written more as a biography than a novel, it goes into great detail, and I can’t express it better than the writer in the Daily Telegraph who said: ‘it paints a John le Carrélike world of double-dealing and intrigue, where moles were planted in Catholic seminaries and loyalties were seen to shift opportunely. In the looking-glass war of Elizabethan diplomacy, traitors were never far away.’ A scholarly book, fascinating to read and one which would grace any library shelf. Marilyn Sherlock MEMOIRS OF A BRETON PEASANT Jean-Marie Déguignet (trans. Linda Asher), Seven Stories, 2011, $19.95, pb, 431pp, 9781609803469 In the 1970s, a handwritten manuscript of some 4,000 pages (of which only a small portion was previously known) came to light in the city of Quimper, Brittany. They constitute the memoirs of a remarkable man: Jean-Marie Déguignet (18341905). The present translation is a tightly edited version of that manuscript. This peasant, born in abject poverty and raised amid the ignorance and superstition (his words) of rural Breton society, Nonfiction

grew into a self-educated, questioning, freethinking, anti-clerical, misogynistic, socialist cynic who was successively a beggar, cowherd, soldier, traveler, farmer, insurance salesman, shopkeeper, outcast, and, finally, derelict. How he happened to take such a different path from his peasant countrymen, he himself ascribed to having been kicked in the head by a horse at the age of nine! Whatever the cause, this intelligent, angry man, who never missed an opportunity to denounce a priest or a politician (or an in-law), has left us a fascinating account of a truly unique personal story. I would like to have known him. Bruce Macbain ON UGLINESS Umberto Eco, MacLehose, 2011 (c2007), £20.00, pb, 443pp, 9780857051622 / Rizzoli, 2011, $29.95, pb, 456pp, 9780847837236 A companion piece to Eco’s On Beauty, this book explores the culture, politics and aesthetics of ugliness through a history of art and writing. Ugliness, Eco observes in his introduction, differs from beauty in that it evokes an immediate emotional response. We can observe beauty dispassionately, but ugliness makes us feel sick, repelled and fearful. It is, therefore, very much more than beauty’s counterpart, and a useful and intriguing glass through which to refract a culture. With chapters ranging over subjects as various as martyrdom, monsters and portents, the ugliness of women and the devil in the modern world, this is an eclectic entertainment, stuffed with high quality colour plates and extracts from the writings of thinkers as various as Angela Carter and St Augustine, Emily Brontë and H.P. Lovecraft. It can be read from cover to cover or dipped into at random; either way, it is guaranteed to deliver all kinds of provocative and arcane delights. Like most of Eco’s work, it defies ready classification, but is surely the better for that. Highly recommended. Sarah Bower SISTER QUEENS Julia Fox, Ballantine, 2012, $28.00/C$32.00, hb, 432pp, 9780345516046 / Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2011, £20.00, hb, 456pp, 9780297857563 Sister Queens is the story of two daughters of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, Their Most Catholic Majesties, whose formidable influence directed the course of all their children’s lives. Juana, third in line for her parents’ throne, is married off to Philip of Burgundy and left at his disinterested mercy until circumstances intervene and she finds herself the heir. Though maltreated and continuously pregnant, Juana is devoted to Philip and their life together, even when it appears his decrees will interfere in her ability to govern on her own. Katherine, married young to Arthur of England and later on to his brother, the young King Henry VIII, also pledges her soul to her new family. Both women face turbulence at the hands of husbands and relatives; both find their rules disrupted by discard and death, with tragic consequences. Nonfiction

Fox’s research on both Katherine and Juana seems to be well done, and her writing style is accessible and engaging. Her take on “Mad Juana” is especially sympathetic and plausible, and she gives valid reasons for her conclusions. I quite enjoyed learning more about both sisters, though I came away with more enlightenment toward Juana than her equally unfortunate sister. Fox brings a clear focus to her subjects, and I can recommend her quality of work in this book. Tamela McCann THE SWERVE: How the Renaissance Began (UK) / THE SWERVE: How the World Became Modern (US) Stephen Greenblatt, Bodley Head, 2011, £20, hb, 356pp, 9780224078788 / Norton, 2011, $26.95, hb, 356pp, 9780393064476 There was something serendipitous about reading this book in a week that modern scientists took a step closer to the elusive Higgs boson. The Swerve focuses on an elusive manuscript, a 9thcentury copy of Lucretius’ De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things), which was rediscovered in a southern German monastery in 1417 by the Florentine humanist Poggio Bracciolini, a leading manuscript hunter and also an influential curial scribe. Bracciolini and papal politics are at the centre of this study, but Greenblatt casts his net wide, offering a fascinating overview of this crucial period in the history of early Renaissance Italy. Bracciolini’s recovery of Lucretius’ poem – and the work’s subsequent diffusion in print – is seen as an epochal moment, “a midwife to modernity”. Lucretius explores nothing less than the substance of the universe and mortal life in these “sublime” verses, modelled on Epicurean learning and in turn on Democritus’ theory that the universe is filled with colliding atoms in constant motion. His work would influence artists such as Botticelli, political thinkers such as Machiavelli, and philosophers and writers from Bruno to Montaigne, Jefferson and Darwin. This is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the Renaissance. Lucinda Byatt THE WOMEN OF THE COUSINS’ WAR Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin, and Michael Jones, Simon & Schuster, 2011, $26.00/C$29.99, hb, 319pp, 9781451629545 / Simon & Schuster UK, 2011, £18.99, hb, 352pp, 9780857201775 This collection of essays is a gift to those who love historical fiction. It not only functions as a history book for readers of novels set in the 15th century, it also contains valuable discussions of the relationship between history and fiction. Gregory’s introductory essay, both inspiration and guidance, is necessary reading for readers and/ or writers of novels set in the past. In writing a historical novel, which she compares to a historical romance or a fantasy, ideally, the writer sticks to recorded facts. Given the paucity of historical evidence for medieval and early modern lives, however, particularly women’s lives, the novelist may enter the realm of educated guessing, whereas the biographer may stay away.

This is illustrated by three eminent historians who discuss the real-life subjects of Gregory’s latest novels: Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV (The White Queen); her mother, Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford (The Lady of the Rivers); and Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII (The Red Queen). The women were well educated if not scholarly; well born if not noble, and uniquely positioned by birth, marriage, or both, to influence events during the political turmoil we call the War of the Roses. Yet they were ignored by contemporary chroniclers – those who disdained the role of women – thus making modern research difficult. Drawing upon years of study, the authors provide useful insights into the lives and times of these fascinating women. Readers will benefit from a deeper understanding of historical novels in general, as well as the trilogy written by Gregory. The Women of the Cousins’ War is highly recommended. Jeanne Greene MIDNIGHT RISING: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War Tony Horwitz, Henry Holt, 2011, $28.00/£18.99, hb, 384pp, 9780805091533 With his raid and subsequent hanging in 1859, John Brown was despised as a madman in the South and revered as a patriot in the North. He hated slavery more than he loved his own life and those of his followers. Ten years in the planning, his raid and takeover of the armory at Harper’s Ferry on a cold October night sparked a battle that would cost several lives, including some of his own family. Tony Horwitz has done a wonderful job of giving readers a deeper look at this complex man. Brown’s attack at Harper’s Ferry further divided the North and the South and predated the Civil War by 18 months. His hope in making this raid and arming local slaves was to unite all abolitionists and end slavery in the United States forever. Lincoln called his Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 “a John Brown raid on a gigantic scale.” This book gives us a look at every man and woman closely related to this important part of U.S. history. It’s been a while since I’ve read a narrative that flows so well while informing so much. I recommend this book to anyone with even the slightest interest in America’s past. Susan Zabolotny EXPLORERS OF THE NILE: The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure Tim Jeal, Faber & Faber, 2011, £25, hb, 510pp, 9780571249756 / Yale Univ. Press, 2011, $32.50, hb, 528pp, 9780300149357 This is a story you might think you know already, also thanks to Alan Moorehead’s two books published fifty years ago. However, by incorporating the latest research – Richard Burton’s papers and letter books and Samuel Baker’s letters and his wife Florence’s diaries (although, most unusually for the times, she was not married to Samuel Baker during their journey to Lake Albert), Jeal’s picture of the two key figures, Livingstone and Stanley, is HNR Issue 59, February 2012 | Reviews | 59

more rounded than Moorehead’s portrayal of “the former as a near saint and the latter as a brash and unprincipled condottiero”. Understandably, Jeal does not include here all the material used in his earlier biography of the Scotsman, but Stanley’s role may surprise readers because his contribution to the latter years of the Nile quest was clearly “second to none”. Jeal also analyses the varying motives that prompted the various explorers to embark on such death-defying adventures. In the period (1856–71) covered by this book, which eventually led to the solution of “the planet’s most elusive secret”, these explorers were driven more by a “mania” for discovery than by the political or commercial motives evident by the end of the century. A compelling read. Lucinda Byatt THE TIGRESS OF FORLÌ: The Life of Renaissance Italy’s Most Courageous and Notorious Countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de Medici Elizabeth Lev, HMH, 2011, $27.00/£18.99, hb, 320pp, 9780151012992 Caterina Sforza, born in 1463, lived a full life. The illegitimate daughter of the future Duke of Milan, she was married at age ten to the pope’s nephew, who was later assassinated. Her lover, who became her secret husband, also died at the hands of assassins, an act which Caterina brutally avenged. Widowed from her third husband, Giovanni de Medici, Caterina was left to defend Forlì against Cesare Borgia, who as the victor would rape and imprison her. Free at last, she spent her last years focusing on her children and grandchildren and conducting botanical experiments before dying at age 46. Cosimo de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, was her grandson. In The Tigress of Forlì, Elizabeth Lev tells Caterina’s fascinating story with verve and objectivity, not letting her admiration for her subject overshadow Caterina’s darker deeds. Her research, which is heavily based on archival sources, appears to be meticulous. This is Lev’s first book; I look forward to reading more of her work. Susan Higginbotham QUEEN ELIZABETH IN THE GARDEN: A Story of Love, Rivalry, and Spectacular Gardens Trea Martyn, BlueBridge, 2012, $22.95, hb, 336pp, 9781933346366 In this book (previously published in the UK under the title Elizabeth in the Garden) garden historian Trea Martyn concentrates on a relatively neglected aspect of Elizabeth I’s reign: her courtiers’ attempts to outdo each other in creating magnificent gardens. I found this to be an informative and entertaining book, although I caught myself skimming when Martyn veered off her subject of gardening into Elizabethan politics, sometimes more than seemed necessary to put the competitors’ horticultural exertions in context. Martyn makes up for this, however, in her lovingly detailed descriptions of the grounds of Kenilworth Castle, where Robert Dudley strove to impress the queen, and of Theobalds Palace, where his rival William 60 | Reviews | HNR Issue 59, February 2012

Cecil concentrated his efforts. Martyn also tells us about the entertainments that took place on these grounds, the gardeners who made all of this splendor possible, and about what was planted in these gardens: novelists who live in dread of committing agricultural bloopers will be relieved to know that it is perfectly all right to have William Cecil serving potatoes to Elizabeth, as they were in his kitchen garden. Susan Higginbotham TITANIC TRAGEDY John Maxtone-Graham, Norton, 2012, $24.95, hb, 220 pp, 9780393082401 April 15, 2012, marks a sad centennial: the sinking of the Titanic. Interest has never waned in this preventable tragedy, and John MaxtoneGraham’s nonfiction Titanic Tragedy will note the event’s 100th anniversary. Maxtone-Graham has been writing about ships at sea for 40 years. His experience shows in his storytelling, as smooth and clear as the North Atlantic on that dead-calm April night. In this book, he does not retell the entire Titanic saga but concentrates on less-commonly investigated elements including the new Marconi radio and Morse code used by Titanic’s radio operators, survivors’ stories, and their dawn rendezvous with the Carpathia. A section devoted to the Harland and Wolff shipyard slows down the midsection of Titanic Tragedy. Also, newcomers to the Titanic story will miss much of the familiar events – for example, the iceberg strike which sank the ship is barely described. However, Titanic Tragedy will entertain and educate, and whet the appetites of its readers for more. Letters by Walter Lord (author of A Night to Remember) make this book a must-read for the Titanic enthusiast. Jo Ann Butler MOLL: The Life and Times of Moll Flanders Sian Rees, Chatto & Windus, 2011, £18.99, hb, 234pp, 9780701185077 The eponymous heroine of Daniel Defoe’s novel, first published in 1722, is a well-known icon of female depravity. Moll was a serial bigamist and a thief, but of the social crime for which she is most notorious – that of being an inveterate prostitute – she cannot be justly accused. Sian Rees take a dual approach to this account: while summarising Moll’s action-packed life, she also puts it into the context of the 17th century times in which she lived, both in England and in Virginia, where she was a planter on two separate occasions. This provides an interesting context to Moll’s life, though much of the history is a superficial commentary on events such as the English Civil War and the London in the 1660s. Defoe’s novel is a first-person narrative, as if written by Moll herself and in the novel she shows very little appreciation of or acknowledges the political, social and economic developments and uncertainties that dominated the 17th century. Consequently, the historical context as rehearsed by Rees does seem a little forced and nugatory.

But Rees does provide fascinating detail with the biographies of female criminal contemporaries of Moll who may have inspired Defoe, and also the setting the context of the American plantation settlers to show just how unremittingly harsh were their early lives. Doug Kemp A MORE PERFECT HEAVEN: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos Dava Sobel, Walker, 2011, $25.00, hb, 274pp, 9780802717931 / Bloomsbury, 2011, £14.99, hb, 288pp, 9781408818008 In mid-16th-century Poland, Nicolaus Copernicus, a reclusive canon of the Catholic Church, had labored for decades over an astronomical treatise that stood to revolutionize all Western thought. But – whether out of fear of ridicule or prosecution, or out of an obsessive desire to gather still more evidence – he refused to publish his work. Until, in 1539, a young mathematician from Germany braved the upheaval of the Reformation to journey to Poland, seek out the great astronomer, and convince him to reveal his findings to the world. Acclaimed science writer Dava Sobel (author of Longitude and Galileo’s Daughter) brings to life this monumental meeting between Copernicus and his pupil Rheticus, along with the rich historical and scientific context of the period. While Sobel’s scholarship is impeccable and her prose a joy to read, what sets this history apart is the inclusion of Sobel’s play, And the Sun Stood Still. This affecting dramatization of Copernicus and Rheticus’s meeting, bookended by sections of more traditional historical narrative, offers a unique vision of the pioneering astronomer and his revolutionary theory of a heliocentric universe. Ann Pedtke CROWN AND COUNTRY David Starkey, Harper Press/Trafalgar Square, 2011, $19.95/£10.99, pb, 560pp, 9780007432004 Just imagine that breathtaking moment when you become the ruler of Great Britain. Your father or brother dies, or perhaps you sailed across the Strait of Dover to slay the previous king. You are now in charge of everything. Armies move at your command, people die at your whim. Nobody can tell you what to do either – unless you overreach and lose your head. Any man or woman who may one day wear the crown must dream, “What shall I do when I am king?” David Starkey’s nonfiction Crown & Country, now in its third revision, tells us how each ruler from before the Roman invasion to the present carried out those plans; many for the better, a few for the worse. Starkey’s artful biographies of each king and queen provide a delightful buffet for everyone who loves the royals or British history. Maps would have been helpful, but clearly-drawn family trees untangle the complicated royal lineages from the House of Wessex to the House of Windsor. I highly recommend this entertaining and very useful history. Jo Ann Butler Multi-period — Alternate History

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