Historical Novels Review, Issue 62 (November 2012) by The Historical Novel Society

A PUBLICATION OF THE HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY

HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW incorporating SOLANDER

ISSUE 62, NOVEMBER 2012

Happy 15th Birthday, HNS! the historical novel society celebrates 15 years

historically speaking: a retrospective look at the work of georgette heyer here be dragons a profile of carlos ruiz zafón

once upon a longship giles kristian’s literary beginnings

the greatest voice of her age mary sharratt on hildegard von bingen

a masterclass in characterization an interview with theresa breslin

editor’s message | historical fiction market news | red pencil | 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>

Claire Cowling <clairecowling@talktalk.net>

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

Elizabeth Hawksley <elizabethhawksley@yahoo.co.uk>

Publisher Coverage: All UK children’s historicals

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

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 entitles members to all the year’s publications: four issues of Historical Novels Review, as well as exclusive membership benefits through the Society website. Back issues of Society magazines are also available. For current rates, contact: Lois Bennett 19, The Grange, Banbridge County Down BT32 3HW UK <lois@loisbennett.co.uk>

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

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

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.

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

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.

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)

HNS WEBSITE: www.historicalnovelsociety.org EMAIL NEWSLETTER. Read news and reviews: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HNSNewsletter

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The

Historical Novels R eview

A LACK OF COMMON NARRATIVE

just read a book called Glory of War by H. A. Hinkson – first published in 1912. My idea was to see if it was

appropriate for my 9 year old who loves all things military. It

I ssue 6 2 , N o ve mbe r 2012 | I SSN 1471-7492

turned out to be too dull, though I finished it. But what did

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fiction. In those days children were clearly expected to read

intrigue me were the endpapers: adverts for other historical

about a wide range of historical subjects. They were by no means

of War): there were books about the Fall of Constantinople,

blood-thirsty adventures (eg Edith Cowper’s The House with

ed itor ia l r ich a rd le e

all about British national heroes (like Marlborough in the Glory

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 joa n n a c a mpbe ll slan , charlotte betts , liz ha rri s & m ar y a nne o’h a r a | my f anw y cook

r ed pe nc il f r e d ste mme ’s th e lieutenant’s whistle | cin dy va l la r

| features & interviews |

the Dragon Gates, A Story of Old Chiswick in 1745), and a great many set internationally (for example, pioneer stories in America, Canada or Australia). I contrast this with the view of UK and US publishers at our recent London conference, who said that they have great difficulty selling any historical fiction outside the time frames that people know – even to adults. A knee-jerk reaction to this is to be cross, and to blame

H A PPY 15TH BI RTHDAY, H N S ! the soc ie t y celebrates 15 years | e dited & com piled by s arah jo hnso n

his torically s pea k i ng a ge or ge tte heyer retros pective | b y jenni f er k l o ester

here b e dra go ns. . . a pr ofile o f carlos ruiz zaf ón | b y a del a ida lucen a de l ow er

on ce upon a l o ngshi p g iles k r istia n’s lite r ar y beg in n in g s | b y lois bennett

the g reates t voice of her a ge t he tr iumph of hildeg ard von bin g en | b y ma r y sha rra tt

16 a m as terclas s in characte ri za ti o n an int er v ie w with theres a bres lin | by lucin da bya tt | reviews | book r e v ie ws e d ito rs’ c h oic e & m ore

modern ignorance or unwillingness to be educated, but I think that’s wrong. The problem for modern audiences is a lack of common narrative. In 1912 the story was simple. The white man won. The Christians won. And yes, I mean that especially in those titles I listed above: they may have lost the history, but they won the story. In 2012... not so much. Religion still punches, but secularism counter-punches.. There is no triumph of East or West. There are no political certainties. The result (unhappily) is that historical fiction is a far harder sell. The result (happily) is little of it is as dull as Glory of War.

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the Siege of Acre, the Revolt of la Vendee as well as less

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 62, November 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.

Welcome new reviews editors Longtime reviewer Elizabeth Hawksley is the new children’s review editor for the UK, and Claire Cowling has taken over Kate Atherton’s position as UK reviews editor. Find their contact details on the masthead. New publishing deals Bernard Cornwell’s next four untitled novels sold to Jonathan Burnham and Jennifer Barth at Harper, and Kate Elton and Katie Espiner at Harper Fiction (UK), for publication through 2017, by Toby Eady at Toby Eady Associates. Sandra Gulland’s The Arts of Enchantment, the story of the impoverished daughter of itinerant actors who rises to become the confidential attendant to the mistress of the charismatic Sun King, sold to Melissa Danaczko at Doubleday by Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists. Canadian rights to Iris Tupholme at HarperCollins Canada. Hodder & Stoughton and St Martin’s Press will publish Lindsey Davis’s new historical crime series featuring Flavia Albia, adopted daughter of her popular series detective Marcus Didius Falco. The first book, The Ides of April, will appear from Hodder (UK) on 11th April 2013, and Saint Martin’s Press (US) in June 2013. Katie Espiner at HarperFiction (UK) signed a three-book deal with historical novelist and Oxford academic Harry Sidebottom via James Gill at United Agents. Sidebottom’s new Throne of the Caesars series, set around the Year of the Six Emperors in 238 AD, will chart the bloodshed of Imperial Rome. Iron and Rust, the first book, will appear in spring 2014. Elizabeth Wein’s untitled YA novel, a companion to Code Name Verity (an Editors’ Choice in May 2012), sold to Catherine Onder at Disney-Hyperion, in a two-book deal, to Janice Weaver at Doubleday Canada and to Stella Paskins at Egmont UK, by Ginger Clark at Curtis Brown. Templar has acquired two more books by H M Castor, Mary and Elizabeth, in her Tudor young adult series Sisters of the Halfblood via Helen Boyle, via Penny Holroyde at the Caroline Sheldon Agency. North American rights to Simon & Schuster US, at auction. C.C. Humphreys moves to Century with two historical thrillers set during Charles II”s reign. Selina Walker bought British Commonwealth (incl. Canada) rights to Plague and Fire, which follow the adventures of four characters struggling to survive in London in 1665-66, during the time of the plague and 2 | Columns |

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Great Fire, from Simon Trewin at William Morris Endeavor. Kristin Cochrane will publish both at Doubleday Canada. In addition, Sourcebooks has acquired Humphreys’ entire adult backlist for the US, beginning with The French Executioner in summer 2013. Booker longlisted Philida by Andre Brink, set in South Africa in the 1830s as slavery was about to be abolished, the unforgettable story of a woman determined to find her freedom, sold to Anne Messitte and Lexy Bloom at Vintage by Marc Koralnik at The Liepman Agency. The Empress of India by Michelle Moran, the story of Queen Lakshmi, who led an army against the invading British in 19thc India, sold to Heather Lazare at Touchstone/S&S via Dan Lazar at Writers House in a two-book deal. Charlotte Van Wijk acquired it and one other novel for Quercus via Angharad Kowal at Writers House UK on behalf of Dan Lazar. Empress is set to appear in spring 2014. Annamaria Alfieri’s Strange Gods, a historical mystery in which a British constable and his tribal lieutenant investigate a doctor’s murder in Nairobi, British East Africa in 1911, sold to Toni Plummer at Thomas Dunne Books by Adrienne Rosado at Nancy Yost Literary Agency. The Duchess of Richmond by Marci Jefferson, about the beautiful Royalist exile Frances Stuart, who rejected three of the 17th century’s most illustrious kings and graced England’s coins as the model of Britannia, sold to Toni Plummer at Thomas Dunne Books by Kevan Lyon at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Angus Donald’s untitled 6th book in the Outlaw Chronicles, taking the form of Alan Dale’s long-lost memoir of his life with Robin Hood, in which the outlaws fight in the Cathar crusade, sold to Ed Wood at Sphere, in a 3-book deal, by Ian Drury at Sheil Land. Linda Spalding’s The Purchase (McClelland & Stewart, Sept.), a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award, about a Quaker widower who leaves his home in Pennsylvania to establish a new life in the Virginia Frontier, and who sets in motion a morally complex chain of events when he trades a horse for a young slave boy, sold to Ann Close at Pantheon via Ellen Levine at Trident Media Group. Crossing on the Paris (reviewed this issue) Dana Gynther’s untitled novel, about the model Lee Miller as she transforms herself from Man Ray’s muse in Paris to a world-renowned war photographer known for her haunting images from WWII, sold to Kathy Sagan at Gallery by Michelle Brower at Folio Literary Management. Rosemary Goring’s debut historical After Flodden, illustrating a turbulent period of Scottish history through the story of a young woman and an English spy, sold to Polygon for publication in June 2013, by the Judy Moir Agency. Virginia Pye’s River of Dust, a story of retribution about an American missionary couple in rural China in 1910 whose

New and upcoming releases Barbara Kyle’s Blood Cousins, Rival Queens, 5th in her Tudorera Thornleigh series, will be published by Kensington in April 2013. HarperCollins UK will publish The Agincourt Bride by Joanna Hickson, epic fiction about Catherine de Valois, the queen who founded the Tudor dynasty, in January 2013. Edward Rutherfurd’s latest place-based epic will be Paris: The Novel, appearing from Doubleday in April 2013 and Hodder & Stoughton in June.

Derek Birks’ debut Feud, set during the Wars of the Roses, has been published on Amazon Kindle. A House Near Luccoli by D. M. Denton, set in Genoa, Italy, in 1681-1682 and imagining an intimacy with Italian Baroque composer Alessandro Stradella, appeared from All Things That Matter Press in September. Graham Fysh’s Moorosi: A South African King’s Battle for Survival, telling the little-known story behind the 1870s war between the British Cape Colony and Moorosi, king of the Baphuthi people, was published by Lifetime Creations in August. House of Rocamora by Donald Michael Platt, sequel to International Book Award finalist Rocamora, continues the adventurous life of Vicente de Rocamora, the historical Dominican friar and royal confessor for the Infanta of Spain, now a renowned Jewish physician, husband, father, and philanthropist. It appears from Briona Glen Publishing in November. New transatlantic editions Matt Bondurant’s Lawless, about Prohibition-era bootlegging, appeared in August from Canongate (£7.99, pb). In her review of the US edition (entitled The Wettest Country in the World) from May 2010, Nanette Donohue wrote: “The nonlinear structure takes some time to get used to… but the tale of loyalties won and lost highlights the brutality of the era.” “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,” wrote Mary Seeley about Accabadora by Michela Murgia’s Accabadora, set in 1950s-60s rural Sardinia (HNR, Feb ’12). Counterpoint published the US edition in August ($15.00, pb). Errata The review for Alyson Richman’s The Lost Wife, an online exclusive for August 2012, was incorrectly attributed. Liza Perrat is the reviewer. S.K. Keogh’s The Prodigal, reviewed last issue, takes place in the late 17th century. For additional forthcoming titles, see: http://historicalnovelsociety. org/guides/forthcoming-historical-novels.

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toddler son is kidnapped by Mongol bandits and whose search for him across a dangerous land comes to haunt them, sold to Greg Michalson at Unbridled Books for Spring 2013 publication, by Gail Hochman. The first three novels in Alyssa Maxwell’s Gilded Newport historical mystery series, about an impoverished Vanderbilt descendant who writes a society column, each novel centered on a famous Newport mansion, sold to John Scognamiglio at Kensington by Evan Marshall at the Evan Marshall Agency. Award-winning author Sandra Dallas’ Fallen Women, about a Gilded Age New York socialite determined to solve how her estranged younger sister ended up a heinously murdered “soiled dove” in one of Denver’s most upscale brothels, sold to Jennifer Enderlin at St. Martin’s by Danielle Egan-Miller at Browne & Miller Literary Associates. Savage Girl by Jean Zimmerman (The Orphanmaster), in which an alluring, blazingly smart 16-year-old girl, reputedly raised by wolves in the wilds of Nevada, is adopted by a wealthy, chic couple and taken to New York City to be civilized and introduced into Gilded Age high society, sold to Paul Slovak at Viking by Betsy Lerner at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. Canadian blogger Emily Wierenga’s Pieces of Promise, about a WWII nurse who returns home to deliver babies, finds hope, and unknowingly creates a relic of value to the World War II Museum when she wraps each newborn in the same quilt, sold to Ramona Richards at Abingdon Press by Sandra Bishop at MacGregor Literary. The Baker’s Daughter author Sarah McCoy’s New Charlestown, about abolitionist John Brown’s daughter Sarah, who is rendered sterile following a bout of dysentery, and Jack and Eden, a modern couple struggling to conceive who find a mysterious relic in their renovated home that links the past to the present, sold to Christine Kopprasch at Crown by Mollie Glick at Foundry Literary + Media. Mary-Rose MacColl’s In Falling Snow, weaving the story of a WWI nurse serving in a French countryside hospital run entirely by women, and the contemporary story of her obstetrician granddaughter, sold to Tara Singh at Penguin and Adrienne Kerr at Penguin Canada, at auction, by Daniel Lazar at Writers House on behalf of Annabel Blay and Fiona Inglis at Curtis Brown Australia.

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 62, November 2012 | Columns | 3

NEW VOICES Joanna Campbell Slan, Charlotte Betts, Liz Harris, and Maryanne O’Hara describe the seeds of inspiration that blossomed into their novels.

ane Eyre was the book that changed Joanna Slan’s life when she was searching for an idea for an historical mystery series. Though she had already authored several mystery novels, Slan had never ventured into the realm of historical fiction. Her historical fiction debut, Death of a Schoolgirl: The Jane Eyre Chronicles (Berkley Prime Crime, 2012) owes its inception to Charlotte Brontë. Slan explains that “After all, she’s the perfect amateur sleuth: observant, curious, unwilling to go along with what people tell her, smart, courageous and decent. Of course, Jane is very much the antithesis of the Georgian era. Opposites, when you are writing, make for the most fascinating stories. There’s George IV and crew, devoted to excess, caring only about their looks, forever preening, horribly inconstant, and with a total lack of substance — and then there’s Jane, the perfect counterpart who is self-contained, measured, unpretentious, reasonable and loyal. “It’s a cliché, but true, that those who don’t understand history are condemned to repeat it. Right now, in the States, we see a lot of behavior that George IV would have enjoyed. There are celebrities with no virtue other than the way they dress. There are serial marriages because people wed only to enhance their status. There are fathers who abandon their children. So, it seems to me that the timing is perfect for a new look at the Regency and the decade beyond. Except that I don’t want to create a paean to its glorification of excess. I want to show how a woman who disagreed with those excesses would make a fascinating character.” Charlotte Betts, in contrast, drew her inspiration from the diaries of a real person: Samuel Pepys. Betts writes that, “In the eleven years before The Apothecary’s Daughter (Sphere, Piatkus 4 | Columns |

HNR Issue 62, November 2012

& Atom, 2012) was published, I completed six contemporary novels. Then it occurred to me that I should write an historical novel because that was what I enjoyed reading. My research lead me to the diaries of Samuel Pepys, and the die was cast. “What fascinated me was how Sam’s character shone through and as I read about his worries and joys, I realised that people in Restoration London may have had a different perspective, coloured by political and social attitudes of the day, but they still fell in love, fretted about daily trivia and grieved if a friend suffered. “I discovered a map of London in 1666 and mentally walked the narrow streets. Higgledy-piggledy, timber-framed houses were cramped together and sewage ran through open drains. I imagined a dark and airless city; hot and stinking in the summer, bone-chillingly cold in the winter with a permanent pall of seal coal smog hanging over everything. “Then I visited India and was shocked by the juxtaposition of great wealth and utmost poverty. People lived in the streets in shelters fashioned from packing cases, making fires and cooking in the open, while dogs nosed through heaps of detritus. Suddenly my vision of Restoration London was brought to life! “I pictured a green-eyed girl with red hair living in this bustling, malodorous city. She would be strong-willed but able to cope with everything life threw at her. And so Susannah came into being.” The importance of place and setting were also major influences for Liz Harris. Her first novel The Road Back (Choc Lit, 2012) is a split-era historical novel, and located both in London and Ladakh, which is a region of India north of the Himalayas and west of Tibet; it is a place that rarely features in historical fiction. Harris hadn’t heard of Ladakh until three years ago, but she writes “I had, however, always been interested in how people lived at other times, and in other parts of the world, and when my cousin, who now lives in Australia, asked me to find a home for the album complied by her father, my late uncle, after his visit to Ladakh in the mid 1940s, I was very keen to read his album. “A home for the album was found in The Indian Room of the

Left to right: Liz Harris, Charlotte Betts, Maryanne O’Hara, and Joanna Campbell Slan

MYFANWY COOK is fascinated by the originality of debut novelists and their ability to find hidden characters and corners of history to entertain and inform their readers. Please do email (myfanwyc@btinternet.com) or tweet (twitter.com/MyfanwyCook) about debut novelists that could be featured in future issues.

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British Library, and as soon as it reached England, I read it from cover to cover. As I did so, I fell in love with Ladakh and became increasingly fascinated by the lives of the Ladkhi, living as they do in a high-altitude country with virtually no rain. “I knew at once that I had to write a book set in Ladakh, and I began to research the country in depth. I already knew my heroine, Patricia. She had been in my head for several years. Born in Belsize Park in the 1950s, she was a lonely child, living with parents who’d been torn apart by grief over a tragedy that happened to the family in the past. But I didn’t know Kalden, whose story it was also to be. All I knew was that he came from a village in the Buddhist part of the country. “So I continued with my research until one day, I read a very interesting fact about life in Ladakh. It was a Eureka moment. I had found the predicament facing Kalden, and The Road Back was born.”

Maryanne O’Hara’s novel, Cascade (Viking, 2012), focuses on “the age-old struggle between duty and desire”, but the inception of Cascade was “inspired by many ideas: about art, about the 1930s, and about a dying Shakespearean playmaster, but the biggest inspiration was the setting. Cascade, Massachusetts is loosely based on four towns in Massachusetts that were flooded to create the Quabbin Reservoir in the 1930s. I first visited this reservoir as a child, and was forever haunted by the idea that a town could be flooded, and just cease to exist. As I got older, I learned that these drowned towns happened all over the country and all over the world. “My main character is a painter, Desdemona Hart Spaulding, a woman who creates art that she hopes will matter and outlive her. Putting her in a threatened setting seemed a good way to compel her, and readers, to reflect on what is deemed valuable in the cultures we find ourselves living in. “From my earliest days, whenever I’ve looked upon an old painting, I’ve always gotten up close to really inspect the brush strokes, as if acknowledging them can somehow provide me with a more vivid sense of the person who once lived and breathed and wielded that brush. I hope Cascade brings the past to life, and I hope it also makes readers consider: If you knew you would be gone tomorrow, and you could leave behind only one thing that said, This is who I was, what would it be?”.

HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Columns | 5

THE RED PENCIL Revision, revision, revision Cindy Vallar analyzes the work behind polished final manuscripts. In this issue, she profiles Fred Stemme’s The Lieutenant’s Whistle. “Writing a first draft is like groping one’s way into a dark room, or overhearing a faint conversation, or telling a joke whose punchline you’ve forgotten. As someone said, one writes mainly to rewrite, for rewriting and revising are how one’s mind comes to inhabit the material fully.” This quote from Michael Seidman’s Fiction: The Art and Craft of Writing and Getting Published (1999) perfectly sums up the writing process. Although a novel is revised many times before its submission to a publisher, revision doesn’t end after a publisher contracts the book. An editor with the publishing company helps the author put the final polish on the manuscript before it becomes a published novel. Fred Stemme experienced this publishing stage after Amber Quill Press contracted to publish The Lieutenant’s Whistle. Prior to the United States’ entry into World War I, eighteen-yearold Henry “Hoop” Braddock arrives in France in 1916. The book recounts his experiences as an ambulance driver and the continuation of his career as a newspaper reporter writing accounts of the war from the perspective of the wounded soldiers he encounters. Soon after his arrival, he meets two volunteer nurses, one of whom becomes his sweetheart. One challenge an author faces is how to make the story more compelling. Perhaps the tweak is small, such as adding a word. For example, in the first paragraph of Fred’s early draft, Hoop stops at a canteen to get a doughnut. Raven and Hoop joined a ribbon of men working their way through the line and came out the other end, each carrying a cup of coffee and a plate holding a doughnut. This is good description, but specific is preferable to general. 6 | Columns |

HNR Issue 62, November 2012

In the published version, however, Hoop no longer has just a doughnut. It’s now “chocolate frosted”. As Fred explains, “I was taught in one of my early writing classes to be specific. Don’t write, ‘A man ate an apple under the shade of a tree.’ Instead say a man ate a Jonathan apple under the shade of a Maple tree.’ The reader, hopefully, will taste the tartness of the apple and better picture the tree.” Just writing “doughnut” doesn’t evoke any response in the reader, but adding “chocolate frosted” might make the reader’s mouth water. Sometimes, the revisions are more substantial. At the canteen, Hoop and Raven meet the volunteer nurses in the French Red Cross. Here’s the draft version of the conversation between Hoop and Kyla. “Huguenot?” Hank guessed. A surprised look came over her face. “Hoo did ye know?” “We studied it in school – how the Huguenots were, well, persecuted, I guess you’d call it – Protestants in a land of Catholics. Most of them left France centuries ago and by and large, I believe, most of them became Presbyterians, which is the way I was brought up.” Interesting? Perhaps, but this passage comes across an information dump or history lesson. A better way to provide this information is to tie it into the characters’ backstories. In this case, Fred introduces the fact that Hoop is a minister’s son. “Huguenot?” Hank guessed. A surprised look came over her face. “How did ye know?” “We studied it in school – how the Huguenots were, well, persecuted, I guess you’d call it – Protestants in a land of Catholics. They left France centuries ago and, by and large, I believe most of them became Presbyterians, which is the way I was brought up. In fact, my father is a pastor.” “He is? The three sons of my pastor were rowdy.” The other VAD said, “So were ours. E’en his daughter.”

Hoop couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, I wouldn’t say I was rowdy exactly. Maybe a little mischievous, but nothing real bad.” By adding six sentences, the conversation becomes more interesting and reveals personal information about Hoop. When I asked about this change, Fred shared, “I’m a preacher’s son so it’s somewhat autobiographical. I guess Hoop is my alter ego. A lot of people think minister’s children are wild so I thought this would receive confirmation on the part of the reader. Plus, I wanted to interject some humor into the conversation.” Other times, revisions come about because the editor suggests them. Hoop said, “And you joined because your fiancé is a French soldier? Is that right?” “’at’s right. Ah’ed already served six months ’n t’ English Red Cross. Mah finance an’ Ah met ’n Bristol whear our family wor on ’oliday. Arnaud, wor ’ead chef at a restaurant ’n ’e came to t’ pier ta buy some fish.” Connie laughed and blushed. “Our family wor ’avin an ice cream treat ’n as Ah wor comin’ out o’ t’ shop Ah bumped into ’im ’n a scoop o’ ice cream fell off t’ cone and hit ’im ’n t’ chest.” Fred’s editor, EJ Gilmer, made several recommendations concerning this passage. The heavy use of dialect in Connie’s dialogue is hard to read, and she “wanted just a hint of dialect. I was in it to such an extent that I made up dictionaries for several of my characters. To my way of thinking it added flavor and substance to the story. But I admit I got carried away. Even my online class that I took at the time I was doing a final edit thought it was too much and was hard to read. I tapered off a bit and then did so again later, but reached a compromise with my editor so that the dialects were more than just a hint but hopefully did not slow down the reading.” Another change concerned the first paragraph, which Gilmer felt “looked like ‘filler.’ Connie had just told him, she reminded me, a few paragraphs above that her fiancé was French.” Rather than include repetitious information, “[t]he campaign ribbon is used to tell a little more about Connie and the fact that she had experience.” Hoop glanced at the campaign ribbon on Connie’s uniform. “How did you get that?”

“I served six months in the English Red Cross. My fiancé and I met in Bristol where our family was on holiday. Arnaud was ’ead chef at a restaurant and ’e came to the pier to buy some fish.” Connie laughed and blushed. “Our family was ’avin’ an ice cream treat and as I was comin’ out of the shop, I bumped into ’im and a scoop of ice cream fell off the cone and ’it ’im in the chest.” By toning down the dialect, readers don’t have to decipher what the unusual spellings mean. This makes the passage easier to read and maintains the story’s flow. A similar change was made to the French dialogue that appears throughout the story. Fred included these passages to add authenticity to the setting and to allow the reader to feel as if s/he were in France. After acquiring their food and beverage, Hoop and Raven search for a place to sit. “Only one bench in the last row showed any available space, and it had room for only one of them – and that would have been a tight squeeze.” That’s when Hoop spots the two nurses, one of whom assists them in finding seats. Hoop could hardly believe their luck. He and Raven headed to the spot, but hesitated. Seeing the problem, the Scottish nurse gazed down the line of men. “Pourraient tous d’entre vous squeese ensemble, s’il vous plaît, faire une petite pièce?” The line of men stared at her much as they would a goddess. Obediently they squeezed together and the empty space gradually expanded, allowing enough space for both of them. Although the reader can figure out the meaning of the French words, the phrasing is incorrect. Fred admits his classes at school didn’t include French, so “I used Google as my translator. But it isn’t always correct. My editor knows French and thankfully corrected my effort.” Hoop could hardly believe their luck. He and Raven headed to the spot, but hesitated. Seeing the problem, the Scottish nurse gazed down the line of men. “Pourriez vous serer vers le haut, s’il vous plait, et faites un peu l’espace.” The line of men stared at her much as they would a goddess. Obediently, they squeezed together and the empty space gradually expanded HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Columns | 7

An author’s story goes through many revisions before it’s submitted to a publisher. While writing is a solitary occupation, we also consult other writers and beta-readers to get their input on how to improve the story. Since Hoop is a series character, I asked: “What makes Hoop such a compelling protagonist that readers will want to follow him from one story to the next?” I try to show him as a real person with dreams and flaws and times when he might do something dumb, but all the while dealing with the world around him as best as he can. He definitely is not a super-hero. The war, his romance with Kyla, and the things around him affect him so I try to show his mental state at any given time. I remember a lady in one of my early writing classes when I would read aloud from my novel. She kept asking, “How does he feel?” I had the character doing this, that and the next thing, but was leaving out how he felt. So, now, I routinely ask myself that same question to relate the most important part of the story. Hoop’s story unfolds through three books, two of which have been published. The trilogy came about after a seminar in European history. “[O]ne of my papers was on the Lost Generation. That paper was later published in The Lost Generation Journal along with my poem, “Montparnasse.” Hoop will eventually join the Lost Generation crowd hanging around Parisian Cafes and trying to write a novel, or poetry, or both. By the way, I made Hoop an ambulance driver because Hemingway was not the only writer to have been an ambulance driver. There was also John Dos Passos as well as others.” The first book in the trilogy is Beguiling Dreams. The Lieutenant’s Whistle is the second, and I asked Fred how he came up with that title. The title comes early in the story where Hoop . . . has a folded newspaper on his knee. He picks it up and studies a picture that shows a photo taken in a trench. A Lieutenant is poised with a whistle in one hand and a stop watch in the other. A ladder behind him leans against the parapet. Two soldiers are also in the frame: one is kissing a picture of his sweetheart or his mother 8 | Features |

HNR Issue 62, November 2012

while the other one looks like he’s saying a prayer. Quote from the book: At zero hour, when the whistles sounded up and down the line, each man would dutifully climb the ladder in his sector. At the top, upon entering No-Man’s Land, a hail of bullets would greet him, and with it, an uncertain fate. The dead, as much as possible, would be brought back at night. The wounded, too, would be carried back, if they had not been able to crawl back to the trench on their own. From the first-aid stations, to the clearing stations, to the hospitals, a procession of wounded flowed to the rear. It involved medics, doctors, nurses, orderlies and ambulance drivers, some of whom, like Hank, were volunteer drivers in the American Field Service. So, in a sense, the lieutenant’s whistle blew for all of them. Does that picture of the lieutenant actually exist? “Yes, it does exist. I went through a lot of photographs of WWI and that one caught my attention. I told myself that I should save it but I didn’t know at that time that’s what I’d name the book. Since then I’ve looked for it and have been unable to come across it. But it stuck in my brain.” In response to my question about what Fred wanted to share with readers, he wrote, “I don’t try to be flashy. I’m a storyteller. The first sentence of my first Beguiling Dreams’ review, the reviewer wrote: “History comes alive!” If that can be said of The Lieutenant’s Whistle then I’ve done my job.” If you would like to learn more about Fred, read excerpts from his books, or learn more about World War I, please visit his website, Hourglass Historicals, at http://www. hourglasshistoricals.com.

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until there was enough space for both of them.

CINDY VALLAR is a columnist, editor, historical novelist, and workshop presenter. Aside from contributions to Solander and HNR, her work includes The Scottish Thistle, a novel of the Rising of 1745, and various articles on maritime piracy that have appeared in Pirates and Privateers, The Pyrate’s Way, and No Quarter Given. You can visit her at www.cindyvallar.com.

I t seems fitting to compile our 15

anniversary feature just after our largest and most successful UK conference ever. (Hearty congratulations to Jenny Barden and her on-the-ground organizing team!) The Society has grown in leaps and bounds since Richard Lee had the brilliant idea to create it in 1997. My own entrée into the HNS began with one of Richard’s early publicity posts to an online forum… an international money order for membership was mailed out to Devon a day later. Our revamped website (www.historicalnovelsociety.org), Facebook groups, awards, and local chapters have helped us increase our range and presence; today we number almost 1100 members worldwide. However, our enthusiasm for novels set in the past has remained unchanged since the early days. To illustrate this, we’ve invited a small number of our longtime members and staff – who hail from the US, UK, Canada, and Australia – to reflect on their experiences and what the HNS has meant to them. Since magazine space is limited, I’d like to encourage everyone to contribute to the online version of this feature, which will become part of the website archive. How did you first hear about the Historical Novel Society, and what have you gained from membership? Please send your thoughts to me at sljohnson2@eiu.edu for inclusion. Happy birthday, HNS, and thanks to all our members for helping make the Society the large, thriving, and prominent global organization that it is today. th

LUCIENNE BOYCE, Author: It wasn’t until recently that I realised I was one of the first UK members of the Historical Novel Society. Really, I had no idea I was so old. Not long after I joined I remember hearing Richard Lee describe historical fiction as “the genre that dare not speak its name” (a title since claimed by science fiction/fantasy and romance). Well, that’s not true now, and I like to think that our Society played its part in exploding the misconception that historical fiction is a poor cousin of “real” fiction and an illegitimate offspring of “proper”

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the society celebrates 15 years

Happy 15th Birthday, HNS!

history. Through the Society, I’ve learned a lot, gained valuable experience and a few free books by writing articles and reviews, had the chance to interview some of my writing heroes, found some great books to read in the Historical Novels Review, and made some good friends. I hope the HNS and I trundle on together for another fifteen years!

PATRICIA BRACEWELL, Author: I attended my first HNS conference in 2009, taking advantage of the Agent Pitch Sessions which resulted in two requests for my manuscript about an early medieval queen. Once that ordeal was behind me, I relaxed and focused on the many remarkable people, both published and yet-tobe, who crossed my path. I returned home with new insights, armloads of books, and the conviction that I had been warmly welcomed into a sympathetic community of writers. As it turned out, I had also found an agent who believed in my book. Would we have discovered each other if not for that conference? I think it unlikely, and I am grateful and honored to be part of an organization whose members so generously offer each other opportunity, support, and friendship. That manuscript I pitched in 2009 will soon be published as Shadow on the Crown – a Cinderella story for sure, with HNS playing fairy godmother! LUCINDA BYATT, Reviewer and Features Co-ordinator, HNR: Claire Morris was editor when I joined the Solander team in 2005, years when that magazine was in its heyday. Some of the most memorable interviews were those I did in person: chatting to Helen Dunmore in a noisy marquee at the Edinburgh Book Festival; interviewing Alison Weir while she was finishing breakfast (for the record, a full Scottish one!) in her hotel; or discussing research with Margaret Elphinstone at the National Library of Scotland. I also had the privilege of meeting Ismail Kadare after he won the first ever International Man Booker Prize. Following the merger of the two magazines, we’ve had a few publishing coups for

compiled & edited by Sarah Johnson

Thanks... to all our members for helping make the Society the large, thriving, and prominent global organization that it is today.

HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Features | 9

ANN CHAMBERLIN, Author, Reviewer, and Conference Organizer: Frustrated for years by trying to fit in with other genre organizations when history was always my favorite for reading and writing, I found the Historical Novel Society through an internet search. I remember going down to the bank for an international money order to buy my membership when you couldn’t use dollars or credit cards. Must have been about fifteen years ago. Happy Birthday! I don’t have the personality or the cash for a lot of publicity, but I find I can do things like reviewing new titles (although I’m probably too fierce a critiquer) and working to make the North American conferences great – from the first one that was in Salt Lake because I volunteered to run it. We thought we’d be lucky to get thirty attendees for a start – we got ten times that. I could have been overwhelmed, but the support was wonderful. ANDREA CONNELL, Managing Editor, HNR Indie Reviews: I didn’t have a “label” for my favorite genre until I found the HNS in 2000. All I knew was I loved stories set in times past through which I could be learn and be entertained. Through membership, I found I wasn’t alone in my “obsession” and was ecstatic to have located an incredible resource that breathed life (and sank too many dollars!) into this fanatical “hobby” of mine. I volunteered in 2003, and never looked back – from reviewing to copyediting the print publications to becoming Indie Reviews Editor (in the days before the deluge of self-published books…). The HNS has given me the opportunity to learn a tremendous amount about the publishing industry, but the best part of being involved is helping to keep the genre alive, thriving, and in the forefront of the publishing industry’s view. Everything I do for the HNS is for that reason. Happy 15th anniversary, HNS! SANDRA GULLAND, Author: I have a complaint about The Historical Novels Review: it’s expensive. I virtually never read an issue without immediately buying several books. The reviews, I find, are exceptional – short and to-the-point – and I love the way they are organized by century. (I also love how I can now search out reviews on the new HNS website.) Through the Review, I’ve been introduced to many fine authors: Andrew Miller, Regina O’Melveny, Erin Morgenstern, Sheri Holman. The first review I read of The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt was in the HNR, and I bought it immediately. In fact, I just came across the May 2001 issue of the Review with Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks highlighted – and “ordered” written beside it. The review, by Janet Mary Tomson, states: “This is a gem of a book.” No kidding! DOUG KEMP, UK Reviews Editor: I joined the HNS around 2000, though I have no clear recall of how I first found out about this splendid society. I started reviewing 10 | Features |

HNR Issue 62, November 2012

for the HNR in 2001 and then joined the UK Reviews Editor team in 2007. In addition to the immense benefits of being closely associated with a community of historical experts, enthusiasts and aficionados who have both satisfied and further stoked my interest in historical fiction, there have been many other highly positive aspects to my involvement with the HNS. Reviewing has allowed me to read and reflect upon a range of books and authors which otherwise I would most probably not have come across. As a Reviews Editor, it has been, let us say, instructive, as well as absorbing, to work with a range of publicity and press officers from the publishing industry – many of whom have been helpful and appreciative of what we are trying to achieve in the HNS, others rather to my occasional perplexity, perhaps less so!

ILYSA MAGNUS, US Reviews Editor: Browsing around on eBay one day twelve years ago, I found a few books being offered for sale by a woman named Sarah. I bought a book or two – merely by chance – and we began to trade emails. At some point early on, Sarah asked me whether I’d like to become a reviewer for the Historical Novel Society. That reviewing gig soon evolved into an editorship. Over time, the number of books we review has increased exponentially. Since the HNS has become more visible, publicists seem increasingly more anxious to get us books to review – not quite like pulling teeth as it was back in the day. I’ve been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to review some unbelievable novels I might not have picked up in the first instance. It has been a gift working with the editorial team on both sides of the Pond – all of whom are passionate about historical fiction and respect each other’s contributions. It’s also been a blessing to have had the opportunity to develop relationships with some amazingly talented authors. Where else would I, a matrimonial attorney in Manhattan, have had that chance? JAMES VELLA-BARDON, Co-Founder, HNS Sydney Chapter: I joined the HNS after I moved to Sydney in 2007 and discovered the Society on the internet. No similar society existed locally, and I wasn’t sure what to expect when I paid the membership online. But when I received my first copy of the Historical Novels Review I was completely blown away by the market news and interviews with authors which I think helped me to understand myself better. Its reviews also helped me to discover great works like Captain Alatriste, amongst others. Through the Society I’ve been able to identify and approach agents who have sold work that is similar to my current work in progress, and a few have generously provided some very useful feedback. This underlines how crucial the HNS is to aspiring authors, and last year I started an HNS Sydney chapter (http://hnssydney.blogspot.com.au) with the wonderful novelist Elisabeth Storrs which keeps growing in momentum.

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Historical Novels Review, too: Hilary Mantel’s interview appeared just days after publication in May 2012 (although we had to sign a heavy-handed press embargo to achieve it). While the Society’s online presence is a massive new development, I hope the printed magazine will continue to interest and entertain members – I’ve certainly enjoyed my small part in it!

an exploration of Georgette Heyer’s historical novels

n February 1920 a teenage girl accompanied her family to IHastings for a holiday. Her younger brother was convalescing, and the small seaside town was dull. To relieve their boredom the young woman devised a serial story. It was an eighteenthcentury tale, full of passion and romance, featuring a disgraced earl turned highwayman, a cynical, saturnine duke and a beautiful heroine. It proved an enthralling saga, and the girl’s father encouraged her to write it out and send it to a publisher. Eighteen months later, in September 1921, Constable published The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer. She was just nineteen. More than ninety years later, more than thirty million copies of her books have been sold; The Black Moth is still selling and (despite her death in 1974) Georgette Heyer remains a perennial bestseller, loved around the world for her historical novels. During her fifty-three year career Heyer wrote across different genres and time periods, writing short stories, contemporary and detective fiction and historical fiction set in the medieval, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It is these latter two eras which were her particular forte, and it is with the English Regency period of 1811-1820 that her name has become synonymous. Of the fifty-five novels published during her lifetime, fifty-one are still in print. Of these, twenty-six are set specifically within the Regency, when George III was mad and his son ruled as Regent in his stead. Like her enduringly popular eighteenth-century novels – These Old Shades, Devil’s Cub, The Talisman Ring and Faro’s Daughter – Heyer’s Regencies are compelling stories abounding in comic irony with memorable characters whose lives and situations are ordered by the historical realities of their time and class. She loved mining primary sources for ‘recondite details’ or ‘the sudden bit of erudition that every now and then staggers the informed reader’, and she had a remarkable ability to distil effortlessly a wealth of historical detail into her stories. Today, her period dialogue has become a byword among historical novel readers and writers. While Heyer could never divest herself of the perceptions or

Heyer’s Regencies...

H i st or i c a lly Sp e a king

influence of her own era and her twentieth-century sensibilities inevitably permeate her novels, she was a master at creating a sense of the past. Her novels come to life with their depictions of upper-class Regency life, its fashion, modes and manners, with the historical details woven so deftly into the text that sometimes it is difficult to separate the historical from the fictional. Heyer’s ability to ‘re-create the past’ is due, in large measure, to her immersion in the primary sources. Although she read widely among secondary sources, she preferred material from the period; Fanny Burney, Thomas Creevey, Charles Greville, Sarah Lennox, Captain Gronow and Elizabeth Wynne were among her preferred writers. She had a vast reference library which included original sources such as Blackmantle’s English Spy; The Hermit in London; Harriette Wilson’s memoirs, all of Wellington’s Dispatches and Egan’s Life in London. Contemporary magazines, guidebooks, sporting and domestic tomes were vital resources and Heyer was meticulous in her description of Regency fashion, furniture, carriages, hunting, fencing, fist-fighting, gambling and domestic management. Heyer had no formal training in history. Until she was thirteen she was educated at home where her father, George, encouraged her love of reading and writing. He was a writer himself and father and daughter often read and edited each other’s work. It was only when her father went to war in 1915 that Heyer finally went to school. There she outshone her peers and found her intellectual equals among the teaching staff. She did not go to the university. Instead, she read the Greek classics, Shakespeare, Renaissance and Victorian poetry, her favourite, Jane Austen, Dickens, and the nineteenth-century historical novelists. Heyer’s approach to history was influenced by the great literary historians: Edward Gibbon, Thomas Macaulay, James Froude and Thomas Carlyle, who were still widely read and admired in her youth. From them she learned the importance of original sources. From historical novelists such as Walter Scott, Bulwer-Lytton, Mrs Gaskell, Alexandre Dumas (père),

by Jennifer Kloester

are compelling stories abounding in comic irony with memorable characters whose lives and situations are ordered by the historical realities of their time and class. HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Features | 11

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HNR Issue 62, November 2012

centred on Waterloo – Heyer stays close to the contemporary sources, imbuing them with colour and emotion until the past is practically brought to life again. Her ability to combine history with story was her greatest skill and even in the less serious historical novels it remains the hallmark of her work; the achievement lies partly in her ability to turn passive fact into lively and engaging prose. It has been reported anecdotally that An Infamous Army was recommended to students at Sandhurst. Both Sir John Keegan and Major-General Jeremy Rougier have corroborated this claim. Major-General Rougier’s response is instructive: I can illustrate the international respect that her book attracted. In 1964 I was a military assistant to a member of the Army Board (the top management of the Army) and he was paying an official visit to Belgium. We had a free afternoon; what should we do? “Why not ask the Professor of Military Studies at the Belgium Military Academy to give us a conducted tour of Waterloo?” I said, and so he did. It was fascinating; he knew the position of every regiment at any time on both sides. “At about 3pm Napoleon was standing here - no, here” he would say, moving 10 foot to record the precise spot. At the end I presented him with a copy of Georgette’s book and explained our connection. He was as near speechlessness as a professor of military history can be. “This” he said, holding up the book, “is the nearest to reality that one will ever come without having been there.” Heyer’s research for these three books formed the foundation for all her later Regencies. There were many aspects of the era over which she skimmed – or ignored completely – such as the Radical movement, the factory system or political reform, but she felt no need to include every aspect of Regency life in her novels. As a historical novelist, she used the past to create her stories, delving deep for detail but not for the broader historical meaning; seeking to portray the period, but not to explain it explicitly to her readers. Much of her Regency history is implicit in her books – especially in her later books such as The Unknown Ajax, Venetia, A Civil Contract and Frederica. Here, she ‘wears her learning lightly’, creating characters whose lives are both enabled and constrained by the realities of the period. By immersing herself in its broader social history as well as in its lively and engaging minutiae, Heyer was able to create characters who not only ‘lived’ within the Regency but whose (albeit fictional) lives were also shaped by its customs, manners and mores.

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Charlotte Yonge and Thackeray she learned to invoke a vivid sense of a period, its key players and events. Although she never thought of her novels as serious history, Heyer took the history that she wove into them very seriously indeed. In 1935, she wrote Regency Buck, her nineteenth book and the first set in the Regency. To prepare she read a wide range of contemporary sources and thoroughly acquainted herself with the people, fashions and social customs. Georgette rarely talked about her abilities, but Regency Buck prompted her to acknowledge her gift for creating convincing period dialogue: ‘Kindly note Purple Patch (Clarence’s proposal). Carola Lenanton [Oman] paid me the biggest compliment I’ve ever had by asking me whether I’d found it in some unknown memoir, & “lifted” it for my book. She said (though I shouldn’t repeat it) that “not one word was false, or out of place.”’ The purple patch was the Duke of Clarence’s assurance – after the heroine refuses his marriage proposal (he needed her money) – that his family would not oppose the match. Georgette had written a speech for the future king, William IV, that reveals her skill in distilling the weight of historical fact into light comedic dialogue: “Oh you mean my brother, the Regent! I do not know why he should oppose it. He is not at all a bad fellow, I assure you, whatever you may have heard to the contrary. There’s Charlotte to succeed him, and my brother York before me. You may depend upon it he thinks the Succession safe enough without taking me into account. But you do not say anything! You are silent! Ah, I see what it is, you are thinking of Mrs Jordan! I should not have mentioned her, but there! you are a sensible girl; you don’t care for a little blunt speaking. That is quite at an end: you need have no qualms. If there has been unsteadiness in the past that is over and done with. You must know that when the King was in his senses we poor devils were in a hard case – not that I mean anything disrespectful to my father, you understand – but so it was. We have all suffered – Prinny, and Kent, and Suss, and poor Amelia! There’s no saying but that we might all of us have turned out as steady as you please if we might have married where we chose. But you will see that it will all be changed now. Here am I, for one, anxious to be settled, and comfortable. You need not consider Mrs Jordan.” Heyer’s next two books extended and consolidated her Regency knowledge. In 1937 she published what would be her proudest achievement, her ‘Waterloo book’: An Infamous Army. In 1939 she wrote The Spanish Bride about Sir Harry Smith and the Peninsular Campaign. In each her scholarly rigour is obvious and, treading in her research footsteps, one can only be impressed by the breadth of her reading and her grasp of the innumerable details essential to such vivid re-tellings of these military campaigns. The descriptions of the battles are especially convincing. In the second half of An Infamous Army – when the action is

JENNIFER KLOESTER has long been a fan of historical fiction and Georgette Heyer’s witty Regency novels in particular. After multiple trips to England researching Heyer’s life and writing, Jennifer was delighted to produce a new biography (William Heinemann, 2011) of the much-loved British author. Learn more at http://www.jenniferkloester.com.

a profile of Carlos Ruiz Zafón

C arlos Ruiz Zafón is Spain’s most successful literary export.

An urban history buff, composer, scriptwriter, dragon collector, and comic devotee, Ruiz Zafón is the author of an international, bestselling, soon-to-be tetralogy that started with the critically acclaimed The Shadow of the Wind (2001), followed by The Angel’s Game (2008) and The Prisoner of Heaven (2012). Translated into fifty languages, these novels have sold millions and managed to be popular and erudite, characteristics that suit the so-called Midas of the Spanish literary circuit. Ruiz Zafón divides his time between his native Barcelona and Los Angeles. His outspoken preference for the cultural landscape of Berlin and California has prompted critics in Spain to charge that he has sold out. Ruiz Zafón is unapologetic: “In Spain, we live the bureaucratization of culture, and this generates mediocrity.” His cycle, however, is set in 20thcentury Barcelona, from the Twenties to the late Fifties. In his own words: “The cycle crisscross the literary universe of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. The novels… are linked by characters and plot lines that cast thematic and narrative bridges, although each novel is a closed story, independent and contained. The series may be read in any order, or separately.” Ruiz Zafón describes the resulting structure as a Chinese box with four entry doors and four different perspectives. The reader can start wherever she wishes. Some have argued that the series is an afterthought, the product of The Shadow of the Wind’s gargantuan success, but his method continues to appeal. Ruiz Zafón engages the reader through meta-fiction devices and allusions not only to the likes of Poe, Hugo, Borges, and Dumas, but to contemporary cinematography and graphic novels. His readers, versed in today’s multimedia narrative, appreciate novels that speak about the importance of books and have book lovers as heroes. Critics, Ruiz Zafón maintains, are the ones stuck in a 1970s bunker. The central metaphor of these novels is a mythical cemetery of lost books, a place hidden under the tunnels of the medieval quarter of Barcelona. It stands, Ruiz Zafón says, not only for

Here Be Dragons...And forgotten Books

books, “but for ideas, beauty, and knowledge, for people, for the world of the mind, for memory…all the things that makes us human and provide meaning.” If critics fault Ruiz Zafón for pulp fiction’s plot twists, they also admire his characterization. The bookseller Daniel Sempere, his friend, Fermín Romero de Torres — a thoroughly Dickensian personality — and David Martín, a writer forced into a Faustian bargain, are examples of psychologically complex characters. Even minor characters provide brilliant studies of characterization through speech. For Ruiz Zafón, “characters must define themselves through actions and words, not through lectures and immense paragraphs. That is the foundation of the dramatic narrative.” Routinely, he lambasts the distinction between literary and genre fiction, and praises TV series as “today’s equivalent to Shakespeare’s theater.” In TV series, he argues, “You visualize a character, feel him, his words connote action… Everything stems from what he says.” His writing method owes to filmmaking: “I write in the same way that movies are made, in three phases,” he says. “The first stage is pre-production: you create a map of what you will be doing. As soon as you start, you realize that you are going to change everything. Then comes filming and retrieving the film’s elements. Only the work is more complex; there are levels you had not foreseen. As you write, you also see layers and layers of depth, and you start changing things.” He points out that “The literature that has sold since the days of Cervantes and Shakespeare is the one that tells stories efficiently and professionally. I don’t believe that success is a matter of ingredients.” As worldwide readers waiting for the cycle’s final installment can attest, Ruiz Zafón has not only the ingredients of narrative, but the alchemy necessary to magically transform them.

Adelaida Lucena de Lower is a writer and reviewer, working on a novel about 15th-century Spain. Contact her at www. adelaidalucenalower.com.

by Adelaida Lucena de Lower

In Spain... we live the bureaucratization of culture, and this generates mediocrity. HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Features | 13

LB: What made you first put pen to paper? GK: The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell was so inspiring to me, and I was somehow arrogant enough to think, ‘Oh, I wonder if I could do this!’, so I started working on a book which ended up with 160,000 words, but I never did anything with it. Then, I went on a stag do to the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. I saw the ships and realised that this bunch of guys standing around me were so similar to Norsemen a thousand years ago – getting into the longship, having all this camaraderie, the mentality to find out what was across the other side. That inspired me to think, ‘Well, why don’t I write a Viking novel?’ It made perfect sense, being halfNorwegian and having spent so much time growing up in Norway. LB: How did you go about finding an agent? GK: I was living in New York, I’d finished Raven: Blood Eye and I was writing to different agents, getting rejection after rejection. Eventually, Writers House expressed interest, but they weren’t too sure about the whole Viking thing. Plus they knew Bernard Cornwell had a Viking novel out, so I basically had to convince them that it would be a good idea! When I was taken on by them, I was absolutely ecstatic. I was so naive, I thought that was it. Then they couldn’t find me a publisher in the States for the Viking series! Historical fiction is a tough sell in America, especially when it goes as far back as Raven. Back in London, I approached another agency – A.M. Heath – and said ‘I’m signed in New York. Would you be interested in taking me on in a sub-agent capacity?’ They said yes, and within four weeks they came back with an offer from Transworld. Now, they’re my primary agents. I still work with Writers House in the U.S., and they recently got me a deal with Random House for the Raven books: Blood

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NCE UPON A LONGSHIP O Giles Kristian discusses his literary beginnings Eye was released in America in August.

LB: How long did the whole process take for your first novel, Raven: Blood Eye? GK: I finished writing it in 2004, got the publishing deal in 2007, and it was released in 2009. It was a long road from finishing the story to trying to get an agent, then the agent trying to get a publisher, and then waiting for ages for the book to finally be published. Publishing just moves so slowly – it’s infuriatingly slow! LB: How many rejections did you have? GK: Initially, I had loads of rejections, from agents and U.S. publishers. It must be something like 50, which is a lot! I’d see my envelopes come back and kind of get excited. Then I’d open them and read the first few lines and see the standard form letter. It was so disappointing. But, every time I got a rejection, I’d post another submission and think, ‘This one might get accepted!’ That was my way of dealing with it. It was a way of feeling that I was doing something positive in the midst of all that disappointment. I refused to accept ‘no’. LB: What writing advice has helped you the most? GK: ‘Show, don’t tell.’ It’s such an important little one-liner when it comes to writing fiction. Also, don’t submit something until it’s really ready!

Giles Kristian is the author of popular Viking trilogy, Raven. Book one of his English Civil War trilogy, The Bleeding Land, was released earlier this year. http://www.gileskristian.com/ Lois Bennett is HNS Membership Secretary (UK), book reviewer for What the Dickens? magazine, a prize-winning poet and an aspiring historical fiction novelist.

by Lois Bennett

Every time... I got a rejection, I’d post another submission and think, ‘This one might get accepted!’ That was my way of dealing with it...I refused to accept ‘no’.

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HNR Issue 62, November 2012

the triumph of Hildegard von Bingen

orn in the lush green Rhineland in present day Germany, B Hildegard (1098–1179) was a Benedictine abbess and polymath. She founded two monastic communities for women, composed an entire corpus of sacred music, and wrote nine books on subjects as diverse as theology, cosmology, botany, medicine, linguistics, and human sexuality, a prodigious intellectual outpouring that was unprecedented for a 12th-century woman. Her prophecies earned her the title Sybil of the Rhine. An outspoken critic of ecclesiastical corruption, she courted controversy. Though women were forbidden to preach, Hildegard embarked on four preaching tours in which she delivered apocalyptic sermons warning her male superiors in the Church that they must reform their dissolute ways. Late in her life, she and her nuns were the subject of an interdict (a collective excommunication) that was lifted only a few months before her death. Hildegard nearly died an outcast, her fate hauntingly similar to that of the contemporary sisters and nuns of the Leadership Council of Women Religious as they face the current Vatican crackdown. 873 years after her death, Hildegard will finally receive the highest recognition for her considerable achievements. On May 10, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI canonized Hildegard. In October 2012, was elevated to Doctor of the Church, a rare and solemn title reserved for theologians who have significantly impacted Church doctrine. Presently there are only thirty-three Doctors of the Church, and only three are women (Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Ávila, and Thérèse of Lisieux). For twelve years I lived in Germany where Hildegard has long been enshrined as a cultural icon, admired by both secular and spiritual people. In her homeland, Hildegard’s cult as a “popular” saint long predated her official canonization. As a writer, I was particularly struck by the pathos of her story. The youngest of ten children, Hildegard was offered to the Church at the age of eight. She reported having luminous visions since earliest childhood, so perhaps her parents didn’t

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The Greatest Voice of Her Age

know what else to do with her. According to Guibert of Gembloux’s Vita Sanctae Hildegardis, she was bricked into an anchorage with her mentor, the fourteenyear-old Jutta von Sponheim, and possibly one other young girl. Guibert describes the anchorage in the bleakest terms, using words like “mausoleum” and “prison,” and writes how these girls died to the world to be buried with Christ. As an adult, Hildegard strongly condemned the practice of offering child oblates to monastic life, but as a child she had absolutely no say in the matter. The anchorage was situated in Disibodenberg, a community of monks. What must it have been like to be among a tiny minority of young girls surrounded by adult men? Disibodenberg Monastery is now in ruins and it’s impossible to say precisely where the anchorage was, but the suggested location is two suffocatingly narrow rooms built on to the back of the church. Hildegard spent thirty years interred in her prison, her release only coming with Jutta’s death. What amazed me was how she was able to liberate herself and her sisters from such appalling conditions. At the age of forty-two, she underwent a dramatic transformation, from a life of silence and submission to answering the divine call to speak and write about her visions she had kept secret all those years. In the 12th century, it was a radical thing for a nun to set quill to paper and write about weighty theological matters. Her abbot panicked and had her examined for heresy. Yet miraculously this “poor weak figure of a woman,” as Hildegard called herself, triumphed against all odds to become the greatest voice of her age.

Mary Sharratt’s Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen was published in October by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and is a Book of the Month and One Spirit Book Club pick. Visit Mary’s website: www.marysharratt.com.

by Mary Sharratt

In the 12th century... it was a radical thing for a nun to set quill to paper and write about weighty theological matters...Yet miraculously this “poor weak figure of a woman” triumphed against all odds.

HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Features | 15

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Theresa Breslin’s Spy for the Queen of Scots

Author of numerous award-winning books for children and

A Masterclass in Character was safe. When writing about real historical figures, Breslin confirms how important it is to get the facts right. You get inside the head of someone with a different mindset, living in a different world, and “you stub your toes on real events”. However, the challenge in writing for young readers is to ensure that they can identify with the protagonist. This was Breslin’s main reason for choosing to write from the viewpoint of Mary’s close companion, Jenny, a fictional character. Breslin is a superb storyteller, and the narrative is vivid and driven by a profound interest in human nature. As well as visiting the sites of key events in Mary’s lifetime – including Borthwick Castle, the scene of Mary’s most daring escape – Breslin found a unique lead to explore her character: a Book of Hours, annotated by Mary, that had once belonged to her aunt, Renée de Guise. I asked Breslin which of her Renaissance historical novels had been the most compelling to write? She said that she had discussed with her editor the idea of writing a book about Leonardo da Vinci long before Dan Brown’s book was around. The result was The Medici Seal. “It was a time when people were saying that no one was interested in historical novels, especially not young adults. I loved doing the research for it and my editor’s faith in me was borne out because it’s sold very well and has been translated into many languages.” Looking forward, Breslin says that “often when writing a book, a minor character who plays a key role lodges in my mind. I was wondering about Rhanza. I made up her name but I really like it and I liked her. Mary’s servants were intensely loyal to her – a sign of a positive aspect of her character. I was thinking perhaps Rhanza would join her in exile in England.” It certainly sounds an intriguing idea for a sequel.

young adults, including the historical novels The Nostradamus Prophecy, Remembrance, The Medici Seal, and Prisoner of the Inquisition, Theresa Breslin appeared at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival to talk about her latest publication, Spy for the Queen of Scots (Doubleday Children’s, 2012). Breslin is ideally placed to write about this iconic figure in Scottish history, since she grew up surrounded by the dramatic landscape, castles, burial grounds and the Roman Wall close to her hometown in central Scotland. Her descriptions of some of the places where Mary clashed with the rebel lords – Langside for one – are rooted in historical fact but also draw on the author’s own personal knowledge. For many historians, not least the Scottish ones, Mary Queen of Scots is a highly controversial figure, her reign once provocatively summarised as “a study in failure”. Breslin admits that in the end she had to put aside works by other historians in order to make up her own mind. She clearly found much in Mary to admire. “I tried to give a balanced view of Mary,” she writes, “bearing in mind her youth and upbringing whereas some historians seem to judge her very harshly and overlook her more tolerant views towards religion.” Breslin also added that, “With research comes insight. With similar insight I hope that historians might judge her less harshly.” Research for Spy for the Queen of Scots prompted Breslin to explore some unusual avenues. Poison is a key element of one of the plot lines, a subject that Breslin found fascinating. “I became interested in poisons when writing The Nostradamus Prophecy and got a copy of the famous Elixirs of Nostradamus. It’s amazing that more of our ancestors didn’t poison themselves with what they thought were remedies for common ailments.” Breslin realised that the spies working for Mary’s former motherin-law, Catherine de’Medici, would have had access to the most Lucinda Byatt is Features Coordinator, when not teaching sophisticated poisons, meaning that nowhere, even in Scotland, history and translating from Italian. www.lucindabyatt.com

You get... 16 | Features |

by Lucinda Byatt inside the head of someone with a different mindset, living in a different world, and “you stub your toes on real historical events.”

HNR Issue 62, November 2012

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

POSEIDON’S SPEAR Christian Cameron, Orion, 2012, £18.99, hb, 410pp, 9781409114116 Distraught over the death of his wife, Aristemnos—bronzesmith, warrior, and survivor of the battle of Marathon—flings himself off a cliff to drown. Instead, he finds that he has leapt from the frying pan of grief into the fire of being a galley slave of the Phoenicians. Before long he is free again, and a member of a truly motley crew of adventurers who decide to make their fortune by sailing to the mysterious north and cutting into the Phoenician tin trade. Travelogue, adventure story, and history lesson, Poseidon’s Spear follows on from Marathon (HNR, Nov ’11) and is in turn to be followed by a novel that will be centred upon the battle of Plataea— which happens to be Aristemnos’ home village. This is a truly rousing yarn, which I thoroughly recommend as an exciting read. Let’s set aside any pettifogging quibbles over chained Phoenician galley slaves, over how well you could tack with only a Phoenician square sail, and over whether the Phoenicians ever actually came to Britain to trade for tin. Switch off your brain; this is a novel for the heart and guts. Alan Fisk SPARTACUS: Rebellion Ben Kane, Preface, 2012, £12.99, hb, 392pp, 9781848092310 This second volume of Kane’s take on the Spartacus story begins at the point at which the first book broke off: immediately following the departure of Crixus the Gaul and his men. As all who have read the first book will know, without Spartacus’s leadership, Crixus and his men go down to inevitable defeat. Spartacus, of course, continues to be plagued by problems among his followers and indeed is forced by his own men, who think that the series of victories over the Romans will go on forever, to turn away from the Alps and the road out of Italy. But we have known from the beginning what the ending must be. Yet we identify with the protagonists, with Spartacus and with the slaves Classical — 3rd Century

who follow him, who discover what it is like to live as free men. We are caught up with their hopes that Rome might – just might – be defeated. Slavery as an institution is, of course, never an issue. It was a normal and accepted part of the world Spartacus inhabited, and Kane avoids any suggestion that anyone thought otherwise. Nevertheless, we do feel the slaves’ yearning for freedom. We sympathise too with Spartacus’s two – I assume – fictional Roman followers, Carbo and Navio, who join him because they have their own grievances against Rome. They add balance to the story, an extra dimension and also a means by which Spartacus’s wife and child are enabled to escape the final cataclysm, thus ending with a note of hope – of a kind. The documentary evidence on the life of the real Spartacus is fragmentary, but Kane succeeds in drawing a convincing picture of how it might have been, which is what a good historical novel should do. Neville Firman

1st century

AVENGER OF ROME Douglas Jackson, Bantam, 2012, £14.99, hb, 347pp, 9780593065167 Following on from Defender of Rome, Gaius Valerius Verrens, Hero of Rome in Avenger of Rome, is drawn further into the political maelstrom surrounding the Emperor Nero. The commander of the Praetorian Guard, Tigellinus, encourages Nero to believe that Rome’s greatest General, Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo covets the Imperial throne for himself. Corbulo commands the legions in the East and certainly has the ability, the popularity and the military might to topple Nero but is he a traitor? Verrens is sent by the Emperor to the East to discover the truth and to kill Corbulo if he is found to be disloyal. When he arrives in Antioch after a very eventful journey, however, Verrens sees that Corbulo is in fact more concerned with stopping the Parthian King, Vologases, from overwhelming the entire Eastern empire. While Verrens fights alongside Corbulo to save the empire from ruin, he must choose between completing his mission and incurring the deadly fury of his Emperor. As with his previous novels, Douglas Jackson is in his element when writing of battles and bloodshed on a grand scale. He deals with multiple points of view with impressive facility, never lets the pace slacken while keeping the combat itself seemingly realistic. In addition, however, he is a thoughtful storyteller who adroitly balances these set piece battles with equally dangerous political intrigue whilst convincing in both arenas. What sets Avenger of Rome apart from its

predecessors, however, is its characterization, which is unusually strong for this type of historical novel. The characters of Corbulo and his daughter Domitia, for example, are extremely well written and at times threaten to put even Verrens in the shade. This is an excellent book, the best in the series so far and warmly recommended. Gordon O’Sullivan

2nd century

AGENT OF ROME: The Imperial Banner Nick Brown, Hodder & Stoughton, 2012, £14.99, hb, 430pp, 9781444714883 Set in Imperial Rome, this is the second book in a series. I haven`t read the first, Agent of Rome: The Siege, but I shall certainly be looking out for it and for the next one, when and if it appears. It can be read perfectly well as a stand-alone, however. It begins with an all-action sequence with the gladiator Indavara fighting for his life and freedom in the famous arena of Rome. After this dramatic opening, the book swings into more of a murder mystery investigation following the attempts of Cassius Corbulo to track down and retrieve the missing battle standard of the Persian Empire. The recovery of the banner is vital to preserve the fragile peace in the area. Action is never far away, however, and Corbulo and his companions must struggle against all manner of obstacles to find the banner and the treasure which was with it: robbers, a strange cult, assassins, political double-dealings and various other problems. I could imagine this book being made into a film, as there are excellent set-pieces and moments which are very cinematic. The characters are welldrawn, and the reader wills them on to succeed. As you would expect from a humanities teacher, the history seems very accurate and the characters are part of a vividly described era, human and believable yet still of their time. Enjoyable, entertaining and well worth a read. Ann Northfield

3rd century

RAV HISDA’S DAUGHTER Maggie Anton, Plume, 2012, $16.00/C$17.00, pb, 480pp, 9780452298095 Rav Hisda’s Daughter provides a wealth of historical detail about Jewish life in Babylon and Israel in the 3rd century CE. It depicts the daily life and coming of age of a prominent rabbi’s daughter rather than propelling its reader through HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 17

a traditional arc of action with a crisis and resolution. Its interest lies in its portrayal of the sorcery, incantations, and women’s customs in this exotic, faraway period of time and place, sometimes against the backdrop of war. Anton enjoys including the full text of each incantation Hisdadukh uses and the precise, convoluted rabbinic arguments over Mishna and Torah that she listens to in her father’s school. I found that slowed me down more than I would have wished, but it certainly shows Anton’s Talmudic research sources in detail. Anton puts us inside Hisdadukh’s character fully, and we feel her fears and hopes. Sometimes other characters of importance, such as Pushbi, Hisdadukh’s destructive mother-in-law, stay mostly off scene and we know them only through Hisdadukh’s and other’s appraisals. From the beginning, we are told about the two men Hisdadukh will marry in the course of her life, and thus our interest is held by revealing how these relationships come about rather than whether they will. One of the engaging aspects of this book arises from following Hisdadukh’s growth from conventional young bride into a more experienced if confused woman. As this book is the first of a trilogy, we do not get to see the fully formed adult. This book closes with a somewhat wiser Hisdadukh at a new crossroad in her life. Judith Starkston

6th century

THE PURPLE SHROUD: A Novel of Empress Theodora Stella Duffy, Penguin, 2012, $16.00, pb, 390pp, 9780143122258 / Virago, 2012, £16.99, hb, 400pp, 9781844087778 Ah, Justinian and Theodora! Two giants of history who stood astride an empire mostly Greek that still thought of itself as “Rome.” Duffy does a fine job of weaving all the threads, domestic and foreign, tearing this empire apart within the tapestry of a fictional biography of the actress/ whore who became empress of the world’s mightiest empire. The book’s opening is dreadful— three full pages of Theodora being dressed by her servants, with the only “hook” being the fastenings of her clothing. The main point of the opening is to show how much Theodora hated being empress and what a burden it was, but the rest of the book demonstrates how much she loved her position and to what lengths she would go to keep it. Once through the opening three pages, I found that the book soared at times. All in all, this is an excellent piece of Historical Fiction with a capital H, or perhaps we should say “historical dramatization.” It is exceptionally well researched and rich with historical detail, even recounting the tidbit about the menorah the Roman general Titus took from the Jerusalem temple to Rome in the 1st century A.D. being returned to “Rome” (i.e., Constantinople) after the Goths had taken 18 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 62, November 2012

most of Italy. At times the author turns the “show don’t tell” myth upside down—but to great effect. There are a lot of expository sections, but for the most part they work. The goals and personalities of the two principles, Justinian and Theodora, are very well sketched, and the ending is heartrending. Recommended. Barry Webb

8th century

THE CROSS AND THE DRAGON Kim Rendfield, Fireship, 2012, $23.95, pb, 358pp, 9781611792270 In 8th-century Francia, Alda of Drachenhaus is promised to Ganelon of Dormagen, the fair-haired son of a noble family. Ganelon’s outer beauty masks inner evil, and Alda wants none of him. She finds what she does want in Hruodland of Brittany, a battle-scarred young warrior and relative of King Charlemagne. Alda is the opposite of the perfect medieval woman – she’s disobedient and willful. She defies her brother and pursues Hruodland; when Ganelon shows his true character, Alda’s family backs her play, she and Hruodland wed, and Ganelon’s everlasting enmity is established. When Hruodland goes off to war and fails to return, Alda must fend for herself against Ganelon. This novel is a romance in the traditional rather than modern sense – there’s no bodice-ripping and little sensuality, and the heroine spends a great deal of time separated from her beloved. There are also as many dialogue and action as romantic

THE SPLINTERED KINGDOM

scenes. As is apparent from the characters’ names, some of the “history” is taken from the Song of Roland (Hruodland) and other medieval sources. Rendfield has obviously done her homework; no glaring anachronisms stand out, and certain realities usually glossed over in a romance are included (the heroine’s lice, for example, her tendency to slap servants, or her youth at the age of marriage). Religion plays a major role, as is appropriate for characters of the period; this is, after all, the Middle Ages. The villain is decidedly stock, but the other characters exhibit greater three-dimensionality, and the mythic/ epic elements (such as Drachenfels Mountain and Siegfried from the Nibelungenlied) add depth and interest to the tale. Overall, a modern take on a Sir Walter Scott type of romance, and one that will work for a modern audience. Bethany Latham

11th century

SON OF BLOOD Jack Ludlow, Allison & Busby, 2012, £19.99, hb, 351pp, 9780749011000 This novel deals with the tangled Italian politics, changing loyalties and ferocious conflicts leading up to the First Crusade: Western Emperor Henry is ambitious and energetic; the Venetians opportunistic, unparalleled seafarers; Byzantium unimaginably wealthy; the Papacy is expert in exercising its privileged authority. But in warfare the invading Normans are unmatched in Italy.

E D I TORS’ C H OICE

James Aitcheson, Preface, 2012, £12.99, hb, 396 pp, 9781848093232 After distinguishing himself at the battles of Hæstings and Eoferwic (York), Tancred a Dinant, who doesn’t know too well whether to call himself a Norman or a Breton, is rewarded with lands of his own, not far from the Dyke, the troublesome Welsh border. But if he thought to settle into the life of a minor lord, with the occasional Welsh raiding party for all trouble, Tancred was very much mistaken. King Guillaume’s hold on his new island is dreadfully precarious, and dispossessed English, Welsh and Danes are ready to join forces to see that it remains so – at the very least. When barons and knights are summoned to take up arms, it won’t be long before Tancred’s ambition and bluntness place him in the midst of events – at the head of a dangerous raid into Wales, and in a morass of rivalries and distrust. This is a vigorously written, well researched tale of post-conquest England told through Norman eyes, with a rich, detailed setting, plenty of exciting battles, and a protagonist/narrator who is a real pleasure to read. Honourable, brave, and conscientious, Tancred often finds his good intentions ruined by his own headstrong rashness, and a talent in making dangerous enemies. I found it impossible not to root for him as he fought his way through all sorts of hazards – and the fact that this book is the sequel to a previous novel, Sworn Sword, didn’t detract from my enjoyment of it. Recommended. Chiara Prezzavento 6th Century — 11th Century

The de Hautevilles emerge as supreme, and from that family Robert of Apulia, “The Guiscard,” and his eldest but illegitimate son Bohemond are protagonists in this story. The Guiscard is unequalled as a warrior and a cunning negotiator, but the youthful Bohemond promises to excel in military strategy and rapidly improvised tactics. His father is proud of the boy’s achievements, but he cannot favour his bastard above the legitimate and pious “Borsa” whose mother, the implacable Sichelgaita, deserves a novel of her own; in helmet and mail coat she terrifies everyone, friend or enemy. Land battles, and especially those at sea or in harbour, are reported with clarity and precision. The author, assured and convincing, is to be congratulated, likewise on the whole background of time and place. He is in control of daunting complexities and situations in constant flux. The novel could have been written as nonfiction without loss of interest and entertainment since its dialogue tends to be measured and sentences long. It is an ideal book for students needing to understand the gritty intransigence of Norman invaders who had so much to gain or lose in that turbulent world. Nancy Henshaw HEREWARD: The Devil’s Army James Wilde, Bantam, 2012, £14.99, hb, 378pp, 978059365006

1356

The novel opens in 1069. William has England in an iron grasp, crushing all opposition to his bloody reign. In the Fenlands Hereward is gathering an army to resist the Norman oppression. Ivo Taillebois is commanded by William to crush the rebellion. Hereward struggles to turn his motley group of freedom fighters into an effective fighting force while struggling against an unseen enemy who is ruthlessly determined to end his patriotic struggle. The author’s great interest in Hereward and his fight against the Normans which inspired him to write shows throughout the book in the quality of the research and the writing. The action scenes are graphic and realistic without being gratuitous. All the characters are vibrant and convincing, while the brutality of William’s reaction to all forms of resistance is effectively portrayed. The Devil’s Army is the second volume in this exciting and enthralling series detailing Hereward’s resistance to the Norman invaders. Fast paced action, strong believable characters; this is an excellent exemplar of the historical novel. Recommended. Mike Ashworth

12th century

| E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

Bernard Cornwell, HarperCollins, 2012, £18.99, hb, 400pp, 9780007331840 / Harper, 2013, $28.99, hb, 432pp, 9780061969676 When Bernard Cornwell makes his appearance at our conference in London, his latest novel will have just been published. For those lucky enough to have already read it, there may be opportunities to discuss it with him. For others their appetites will no doubt be whetted. The legions of Cornwell’s fans, however, will need little encouragement to devour this latest instalment in the Hundred Years War sequence. Everything you expect of a Cornwell offering is here in abundance: interesting characters, rich historical detail, thrilling battles, war, violence, gore, heroism, wry humour – this time spiced with the appearance of la Malice, the relic sword attributed to St Peter which is deemed to give its owner special powers. Thomas of Hookton, alias le Bâtard, once again plays a major role in the action along with Edward, Prince of Wales, known to later history as the Black Prince. The culmination of the novel is the Battle of Poitiers, an extraordinary victory for the English. They were heavily outnumbered, hungry, thirsty and worn out from travel yet managed to succeed over the French and even capture their King Jean. The English longbow archers, with their renowned strength and skill, displayed their prowess as they would do again at Agincourt nearly 60 years later. Bernard Cornwell has said that he does not think Poitiers has received the recognition it deserves and that Crecy and Agincourt are better known by those interested in this period. This novel will go a long way in redressing that balance and does so in an exciting and stimulating way. Highly recommended. Ray Taylor 12th Century — 14th Century

KINGDOM Jack Hight, John Murray, 2012, £18.99, hb, 419pp, 9781848545304 1163 Jerusalem. As the book opens, John of Tatewic is accused of fighting on the side of the Saracens against his Christian brethren. Pardoned by King Amalric, he is forced into the priesthood while becoming an advisor to the king, However, this is no sinecure, and John finds himself at the centre of a maelstrom of deadly politics, where the throne is constantly under threat. While John seeks to protect himself and the king, his close friend Saladin finds himself heading to Egypt with a Saracen army. In time, both men will find that honour carries a price, and their friendship will be strained as power corrupts, and peace between Saracen and Frank becomes an elusive dream. This is book two of the Saladin Trilogy. Saladin’s rise to power is well woven into the story, as well as the rivalry between the various factions in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Well researched, the characters are all strong and believable, while the action sequences are exciting and believable. Although I had not read the first in the series, this did not detract from my enjoyment of this book. Fans of this genre will enjoy this excellent novel. Recommended. Mike Ashworth

13th century

STIGMATA Colin Falconer, Corvus, 2012, £14.99, hb, 416pp, 97880857891181 1205: The knight Philip of Vercy has survived a year of savage warfare in the Holy Land and sails back to his castle in France expecting peace and his beloved wife waiting. He is devastated to find his wife has died in childbirth and his young son is seriously ill. When he hears of the existence of a healer in the Languedoc, Philip sets off from Burgundy on a desperate voyage to save his son. He rides straight into a war where his countrymen are being brutally persecuted by the pope’s savage mercenaries sent to wipe out the heretics of the south – the Cathars. As the crusaders tighten their grip on the country, Philip’s journey becomes more and more perilous. He locates Fabricia Bérenger – a young woman who sees visions and is marked with Christ’s Stigmata, perhaps giving her healing powers. Sickened by the senseless slaughter, Philip questions everything he once held as true, and asks himself if he can give it all up and fight for justice and for a woman everyone regards as godless. The intricate detail in Stigmata reflects the author’s solid research and took me right to the core of this historical period. The sense of time and place, the dialogue and writing style, completely immersed me in 13th-century southern France. The story moves along at a cracking pace, the narrative fraught with action and tension at every turn. I found Philip and Fabricia sympathetic HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 19

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

BLOOD LANCE

Jeri Westerson, Minotaur, 2012, $25.95/C$29.99, hb, 320pp, 9781250000187 Late one night in 1386, Crispin Guest is walking along London Bridge when he encounters a man falling from the bridge into the Thames River. After attempting to rescue the man and discovering he died before his fall, Crispin embarks on a search for the killer. Known as the Tracker for his reputation in solving crimes, Crispin is faced with solving a murder where the killer’s identity may reach all the way to the King of England’s court. A former knight accused of being a traitor nine years earlier, Crispin is assisted by a 14-year-old apprentice named Jack Tucker. When Crispin becomes distracted with overindulging in alcohol and falling in love with women, Tucker keeps him focused on solving the crime. This is the fifth novel in the series of medieval mysteries featuring Crispin Guest. Westerson does an excellent job combining actual famous people such as Geoffrey Chaucer with her fictitious characters. By adding a mythological artifact such as the search for a missing lance that supposedly pierced the side of Christ on the cross, she presents a page-turning thriller while mixing in a little romance with compelling drama. This is an enjoyable stand-alone novel, but I plan on reading the four previous books in the series. Highly recommended for readers of medieval mysteries. Jeff Westerhoff and believable characters, and I would highly recommend Stigmata as a powerful tale of religious heresy, crusades, loss and love. Liza Perrat RENEGADE Robyn Young, Hodder & Stoughton, 2012, £16.99, hb, 405pp, 9780340963678 The novel opens with a flashback to Armagh, Ireland, in 1135 with reference to the Staff of Malachy, an ancient relic also known as the Staff of Jesus. It then jumps forward to 1299 and the defeat of the Scots by Edward 1. After the abdication of John Balliol, Robert Bruce is eligible to take the crown of Scotland, but that is the last thing Edward intends him to do. Bruce decides that the only answer is to submit to Edward, pretend to be loyal to him and await his opportunity to take the throne. It is this betrayal of his homeland that is the essence of the story. He is well-known and resented by the Scots in most history textbooks, and Robyn Young digs deep into history and mythology to make the reasons for his behaviour convincing and believable. When given the opportunity to review this novel, I did so with very mixed feelings. The story of Robert Bruce is dear to my heart, and I have read some dire versions of this period in this country’s history, not to mention the film Braveheart! But I need not have worried. This is superbly written with pace and great attention to detail which results in a ‘cannot put it down’ book. I had not heard of this author before, but will certainly make a point of reading the first in this trilogy and look forward to reading the third. Marilyn Sherlock 20 | Reviews |

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15th century

THE ASSASSIN’S WIFE Moonyeen Blakey, Fireship, 2012, $24.95, pb, 524pp, 9781611792188 Young Nan sees dead people – as well as those about to die, be murdered or burned at the stake. In England in 1460, it’s very dangerous to be a female who has visions, speaks with ghosts, and is too proud to keep quiet about it. Even as a child, Nan is haunted by the Sight she’s been given, through which she sees two young boys – sons of nobility, apparently – who are imprisoned and murdered, and she is determined she will find out who they are and save them. Readers familiar with 15th-century British royal history will have a pretty good idea of the boys’ identity, and it all unrolls over time. But another vision Nan is given involves a very handsome, edgy, black-haired knight who ravishes her in her dreams – she’s also on the lookout for him. The story weaves in and out of Nan’s various and everchanging fortunes as she leaves her village home for her own safety, ends up in London for a time working for a merchant-class family, and eventually rises to join the ranks of minor nobility, attending upon queens and kings. Her fortunetelling predilections are a constant threat to her peace and her life – and when she meets that black-haired knight at last, she discovers another dimension of secrecy and fear. The plot is a little thin, although the characters

and their dilemmas are interesting. I found Nan irritating at times – she seems so intelligent and yet is constantly being drawn into trouble against her better judgment when it wouldn’t take much to just say no or keep her mouth shut. The author’s attempts to replicate medieval diction and attitudes are sometimes strained, and the passage of time from one chapter to the next occasionally seems too abrupt. But overall it is an enjoyable, engaging story. Mary F. Burns ON THE COLD COASTS Vilborg Davidsdottir, AmazonCrossing, 2012, $14.95, pb, 210pp, 9781611090956 In 15th-century Iceland, Ragna Gautadottir is innocently put in an unfortunate situation when she is fourteen. Impregnated by an English sailor who then disappears, she bears a child and is considered a fallen woman. Medieval Icelandic society is dominated by men and by the church, and in this moral climate, her fiancé repudiates her. She eventually becomes a bishop’s housekeeper, and her former betrothed becomes a priest. Their love rekindles, but Thorkell cannot marry and Ragna refuses to become his concubine. Against the backdrop of Icelandic society and the international and church politics of the time, Ragna strives to build a good life for herself and her son. This portrait of a medieval woman and her life in a cold, rugged land is fascinating. Iceland is a character in itself. Flashes of the Viking heritage illuminate the bleak, grim story, especially in the fight scenes toward the end of the book. Some may find it difficult to understand why Ragna’s parents made her so vulnerable or why she continues to be drawn to an unsympathetic leading man. The book’s ending does not fully resolve the story; a sequel would be welcome. Davidsdottir is a multipublished author of Nordic historicals, but this is her only title translated into English. It would be nice to see more. Elizabeth Knowles

16th century

THE RAVEN’S HEART Jesse Blackadder, Bywater, 2012, $14.95, pb, 464pp, 9781612940274 The year is 1561, and Mary, Queen of Scots, has finally returned from France to claim her throne in Scotland. The Blackadder family has been eagerly awaiting her return, hoping for favor in their quest to regain their stolen family castle and lands from the powerful and murderous Hume clan. Alison Blackadder, who has been disguised as a boy since childhood, joins Mary’s court as a ladyin-waiting in an attempt to champion her family’s cause. Enlisted as a spy for the queen, she must learn to discern friend from foe and guard her heart against those who would seek to manipulate her for their own gain. Overall, The Raven’s Heart is a well-written 14th Century — 16th Century

story. However, the pacing often plods along, leaving the reader to shift through pages of filler to get to the important aspects of the plot. The first 100 pages would have been quite dull were it not for the impressive rendering of the setting. Characterization is another weakness. As the story is written in first person, from Alison’s perspective, characters are often one-dimensional. There are almost too many of them in the story, making sympathetic portrayal impossible. Many of them would make a brief appearance before being duly dispatched. However, both Alison and Queen Mary are compelling characters; equally soft and hard, they both struggle to find their places in a male-driven world. Despite its shortcomings, The Raven’s Heart will appeal to die-hard lovers of Scottish history and to those who love atmospheric settings, but readers who desire quick pacing and thrilling plotting may want to give it a miss. Caroline Wilson THE UNFAITHFUL QUEEN Carolly Erickson, St. Martin’s, 2012, $24.99, hb, 304pp, 9780312596910 Henry VIII’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard, tells her story in this whimsical reimagining, beginning with her early adolescence in the home of her grandmother, the illustrious Howard family’s matriarch. A flirtation with her music teacher and a secret betrothal to another man could easily bar her from ever becoming the king’s wife. But with an ambitious family and a sentimental attachment on the king’s part, Catherine finds she has no choice but to assent and hope that her past is not discovered and the marriage is of short duration. Erickson’s Catherine is not described as a beauty, but rather on the short side with unremarkable

MISTRESS OF THE SEA

THE MALICE OF FORTUNE

Michael Ennis, Doubleday, 2012, $26.95, 416pp, 9780385536318 / Century, Mar. 2013, £12.99, hb, 432pp, 9781780890975 In the midst of an upsurge in interest in the Borgias, Ennis’s new historical thriller is, at the very least, welltimed, and at best, one of the most intense literary journeys I’ve taken in a long while. Damiata, a Vatican courtesan, is sent by Pope Alexander to Imola, a remote fortress city, to learn the identity of his son, Juan’s, killer. As surety for her success, the Pope holds Damiata’s son hostage. Imola is a virtual hotbed of cutthroat politics. As Duke Valentino, the Pope’s other son, attempts to reach détente with the condottieri, mercenary warloads who are tearing apart Italy, Damiata believes her own life to be in jeopardy. As the dismembered bodies of women start piling up, Damiata partners with Niccolò Machiavelli, an obscure diplomat from Florence, and the Duke’s military engineer, the brilliant but eccentric Leonardo da Vinci, to find the serial killer, piecing together and dissecting the convoluted riddles left by him – Machiavelli applying his “science of men” and da Vinci his “science of observation.” Told first in Damiata’s voice, then in Machiavelli’s, the mystery unfolds amidst a backdrop of atmospherics so palpable that I felt like I was participating in this search. To that add a dash of Umberto Eco – from the outset in his narrative, Machiavelli reveals that he has “deeply buried” the “terrifying secret” of these crimes and the pivotal political events that are interwoven into the story in his seminal work, The Prince. Later in his life, Machiavelli apparently made oblique reference to these secrets, revealing the extent of horrific evil of which men are capable. This dense novel is well worth the effort. These three characters are so well fleshed out, so intensely human, that we can almost hear the wheels turning in their minds. It is at once intelligent, frightening and deeply satisfying – a real tour de force. A must read. Ilysa Magnus

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

Jenny Barden, Ebury, 2012, £12.99, hb, 389pp, 978009194211 It is 1570, and in the thriving port town of Plymouth, Ellyn Cooksley is a wealthy merchant’s only daughter, expected to make a good marriage. So it is entirely out of place for her to loathe both of her eligible suitors, and be attracted instead to her father’s handsome lodger, lowly master caulker Will Doonan. What’s worse, while taken with Ellyn’s beauty and ready wit, Will has other things on his mind – such as joining Francis Drake’s new journey to the West Indies, to both win a fortune for himself and avenge the beloved brother he lost to the Spaniards on a previous venture. But then Ellyn’s ageing father, one of Drake’s financers, takes it into his head to sail with the expedition and, feeling it her duty to accompany him, Ellyn stows herself aboard – to discover that adventure is not quite what she expected. Barden’s debut novel is a captivating and well researched tale of love, duty, and the consequences of actions, set against a vividly described New World, with interesting glimpses of a ruthless and charismatic Francis Drake as a secondary character. Chiara Prezzavento 16th Century

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features. The fact that she is never without admirers is owed to her pleasant personality and charming wit. The king’s fascination, however, is more deeply rooted and one of the nontraditional twists of the story. The unconventionally illmannered characterization of Anne of Cleves is another brow-raising topic, as is that of several other personas displayed in likewise fashion. Of course, even novice Tudor enthusiasts know the outcome of this story. The interesting factor lies in the creative descriptions, the easy flow of the story and the light prose. As stated in the Author’s Note, this is a historical entertainment with a fresh interpretation—and admittedly it will turn some readers off in regards to characters and events that are depicted as no other author has represented them. However, readers who can appreciate a good story without worrying over facts will find a lively and diverting tale, and even develop a fondness for Catherine, a character who has often been portrayed as ignorant, frivolous and malleable. Arleigh Johnson THE VENETIAN CONRACT Marina Fiorato, John Murray, 2012, £6.99, pb, 401pp, 9781848545670 The novel begins in Constantinople and focuses on the character of Feyra. She is (of course) beautiful, intelligent, and has been trained as a HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 21

doctor against the norms of the time. Within the first few pages, she discovers her real mother, must flee her native city and ends up on a boat to Venice. Turkey and Venice are ancient enemies, and so the sultan has hidden a man suffering with plague on board with the intention of infecting the population of Venice with the dread disease. The novel has great period detail, particularly in its depiction of plague and the desperate remedies people will try in their attempts to save loved ones. The image of the ominous beak mask of the plague doctor is one that lingers in the mind. Feyra battles, together with the handsome doctor, Annibale Cason, to conquer the plague. It probably will not surprise anyone too much what happens between the two, but that doesn’t matter. This is the fifth novel set in Italy by this author, and it is a light romantic read which is firmly based in its period. The historical setting, while not overpowering, is well-created and maintained and the sights, sounds and smells of 16th-century Venice come across well to the reader. A great holiday read with solid historical substance. Ann Northfield SACRED TREASON James Forrester, Sourcebooks, 2012, $14.99, pb, 462pp, 9781402272660 / Headline Review, 2011, £6.99, pb, 480pp, 9780755356034 This is the first volume in a trilogy of political thrillers set in Elizabethan England. The protagonist, William Harley, although a Catholic under a fanatically Protestant regime, holds an honorable position in the state as Clarenceux King of Arms. This precarious balancing act is upset one night when a Catholic acquaintance, Henry Machyn, entrusts a secret chronicle to him. Machyn is soon afterward tortured to death by the “Queen’s spymaster,” the implacable Francis Walsingham. The chronicle, it turns out, conceals a coded message which points at evidence that Elizabeth was not fathered by Henry VIII and therefore has no claim to the throne. Harley and Machyn’s widow, Rebecca, flee London with Walsingham’s brutal henchmen hot on their heels. Through a series of grueling days and nights, with one narrow escape after another, Harley and Rebecca are inevitably drawn to one another. It all ends in a rousing chase and a duel in which Harley, a gentle, peaceful man, finds his back to the wall. I discovered only after finishing the book that Forrester is the pen name of Ian Mortimer, a scholar of English history, whose delightful Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England I reviewed here some two years ago. He writes well and fills the novel’s background with lots of convincing period detail. The book concludes with quite a scholarly author’s note. The Machyn Chronicle is a real document, which one can view online, although the handwriting, I found, is all but indecipherable. I recommend the novel and look forward to its sequel. Bruce Macbain

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I, JANE Diane Haeger, NAL, 2012, $15.00, pb, 386pp, 9780451237897 This book proves that even the most ordinary lives can become extraordinary. Growing up as the plain daughter of an embarrassingly ambitious mother, Jane Seymour learns to fade into the background of life, a defense mechanism learned early at the hands of bullies. But far from being a boring character, Jane has a full and rich range of emotions and ideas that come to fruition, growing and changing as she is forced into court life in order to support the hope of her family, her eldest brother, Edward. Jane goes to France at a young age as a lady companion to King Henry’s sister Mary as she marries the King of France, where she renews a friendship with her neighbor and once champion, William Dormer. Their friendship proves unforgettable to both of them, even throughout the years as Jane waits on the exiled Queen Katherine, comes to know the reviled Anne Boleyn, and is eventually sent back home with no prospects for the future. William and Jane want to marry but are denied the chance by William’s parents. Jane has given up hope when King Henry, tiring of Anne, comes by chance to her home after a hunting accident. There he comments on Jane’s sweetness, which does not go unnoticed by her ambitious family, and Jane realizes there may be more to life than loneliness and boredom. The rest, as they say, is history. I really enjoyed this book. I would have liked the story to go a bit further; it ends rather abruptly, as I suppose Jane’s life did. I recommend this book to anyone interested in this unassuming but most important historical figure. Cynthia McArthur LAWS IN CONFLICT Cora Harrison, Severn House, 2012, $28.95/£19.99, hb, 192pp, 9781847514349 The latest in the series The Burren Mysteries about Mara the “lady judge” (or the “brehon” in Gaelic) crackles with suspense and good humor as Mara and her scholars of the law school visit Galway, the English-only stronghold in the south of Ireland. What starts out as a mission of mercy to reclaim an aged, mentally ill countryman from the clutches of “English law” turns into a fullblown murder investigation, with Mara and her crew exercising their charm, wits and intelligence to solve the puzzle and save an innocent life. I’ve never read Harrison’s novels before, but I’m going to go back and start with the first one, My Lady Judge, and settle in for a long, satisfying journey to the 16th century world she depicts so well. Each chapter starts with a quotation from a law book or scholarly tome of the time that is enlightening and fascinating as it explores the many differences between Irish and English law customs and reasoning. Harrison is clearly on the side of the Irish when it comes to a choice between, for instance, use of the death penalty or belief in the power of repentance and restitution, and her

brehon Mara makes it more than clear why the Irish way is better. A great read, informative and entertaining from start to finish. Mary F. Burns THE BLOODLETTER’S DAUGHTER: A Novel of Old Bohemia Linda Lafferty, Amazon, 2012, $14.95, pb, 512pp, 9781612184654 Born to King Rudolf ’s mistress, young Giuglio believes his mother a whore. If he had been born to the queen, he would one day inherit the Hapsburg Empire. In deep contemplation at Prazsky Hrad, the royal castle in Prague, he tries to decipher the Coded Book of Wonder. It is a miserably cold day in February of 1599, but his gaze on the barebreasted bathmaids offers warmth, for he knows they hold the secret to many mysteries and quiet the voices in his head. The king would do anything for his son. It soon becomes evident that Giuglio, called Don Julius, is mentally disturbed, frightfully so. When his father learns of his son’s continued sexually deviant and violent behavior, he is exiled to a part of Bohemia in order to protect the Hapsburg Empire from public gossip and secure his son’s safety. Rudolf II sends for the bloodletter to treat his son. The bloodletter’s daughter, Marketa, accompanies her father, as it is her wish to become a surgeon. Her presence calms Don Julius, who refuses to allow anyone else to apply the bloodsucking leeches to his skin. Marketa’s life is in serious jeopardy when she fails to see the danger of his erratic lunacy. Linda Lafferty writes as if she were creating a movie screenplay. She captures the essence of Don Julius’ demonic sociopathic behavior with precision and detail. He is a disturbing character; the reader will shudder while experiencing his depravity. Marketa, on the other hand, trusting and virginally pure, is the polar opposite. Based on the life of Don Julius, this debut novel by Linda Lafferty will offer readers suspenseful drama. Wisteria Leigh CLASH OF EMPIRES: The Red Sea William Napier, Orion, 2012, £12.99, hb, 384pp, 9781409105343 This is a sequel to Clash of Empires: The Great Siege, which I have not read and the HNR did not review (because we didn’t get a copy; hint, hint, Orion). Nicholas Ingoldsby and his manservant Hodge, English soldiers who had fought alongside the Hospitaller Knights of St. John at the victory in the Great Siege of Malta in 1565, are now, in 1571, slaves at the oars of a corsair galley on which they have spent the past two years. Fate springs them from the galley and reunites them with two Knights of St. John. Along with the shifty Moor Abdul, whose motives are unclear, they land in secret in Cyprus, which is now the scene of another siege by the Turks. After more battles and escapes, they help to galvanise the naval alliance that Pope Pius V has assembled, and a great fleet leaves Venice to 16th Century

confront the Turks at sea. Its commander, Don John of Austria, reveals an iron grasp of tactics and command beneath his foppish appearance and manners, and leads the fleet to a decisive battle at Lepanto. It’s non-stop action throughout this novel, and it is certainly a change to see two English Catholics as heroes, instead of playing the roles of psychopathic villains in which we are usually cast. The facts of history have been slightly changed, which is deliberate, although I’m not sure that the premature appearance of a telescope at Lepanto was. Thoroughly recommended as a blood-andthunder epic, but whoever was responsible for the proofreading should be sent to the rowing benches of a Moorish galley. Alan Fisk FLIGHTS OF ANGELS M. Stanford-Smith, Honno, 2012, £8.99, pb, 256pp, 9781906784386 In what is said to be the final instalment of the exciting Nicholas Talbot adventures (though, never say never), octogenarian author M. Stanford-Smith once again brings us a thrilling tale of Elizabethan life. Her hero, Nicholas, the son of the late first Earl of Rokesby, has moved up to an estate in Scotland with his wife Rosalyne, their two sons, and his great friend, the renegade playwright and acerbic wit, Christopher Marlowe. But life isn’t all peace and heather, for Nicholas’ archenemy, Mowbray, is still at large, and Their Majesties James VI of Scotland and Elizabeth I of England are also vying for his devotion. Despite moments of confusion – points of view chop and change too often, and familiarity with the first two stories in the series would be an advantage here – this adventure still rattles along for the novice to late 16th-century life, with a cracking mix of authentic language, everyday existence and courtly affairs. The characters are rich and well drawn and the politics suitably twisted and dark, particularly with the aged Elizabeth having to fend off interest from all sides. But what is most intriguing about this book is the subplot involving Marlowe and how he is the true author of the most popular plays put on at the Globe in London, which were, and still are, attributed to one William Shakespeare. Ian Roberts GOD CARLOS Anthony C. Winkler, Akashic, 2012, $15.95, pb, 215pp, 9781617751394 God Carlos is the story of a 16th-century Spanish seaman who sails to Jamaica. He participates in the common practice of mistreating the native Arawak Indians. His behavior is blatant in abusing them in physical ways as well as ridiculing them and violating the innocent trust of one Arawak in particular. The seaman, Carlos, wants to be a god, and in actually becoming God Carlos to at least some of the Arawaks, he determines his own fate through an episode of poetic justice. 16th Century — 17th Century

The book overall is well-written by this multipublished Jamaican author. Winkler is known for his humor, but there is nothing funny in this novel. The content is disturbing and unpleasant in many regards. Some may feel that the Spanish invaders are painted too onedimensionally as brutal thugs. The Arawaks are almost unbelievably sweet, childish, and trusting, although not all believe that the Europeans are gods. This is a downbeat book for the most part, and the tragic fate of the indigenous West Indian people is general knowledge. That said, Winkler’s descriptions of sea and sky as seen from a sailing ship, and of the physical beauty of Jamaica, are spot-on and breathtaking. Readers may not love this story, but they will be on a cruise to Jamaica as soon as possible. Elizabeth Knowles

17th century

HUNTER’S RAGE Michael Arnold, John Murray, 2012, £17.99, hb, 468pp, 9781848544109 1643: This is year three of the English Civil War, and the third book in Michael Arnold’s ‘Stryker’ series. It is very similar to the earlier books

which cover respectively 1641 and 1642, following the fortunes of the same captain and the same unit through the same war. The main difference this time is that Stryker’s theatre of operations has shifted from the Midlands to the West Country. Much of the action takes place on Dartmoor. As with the earlier books the action is almost entirely military. The love interest is slight and the politics non-existent (Stryker is a mercenary so the motives for the war do not concern him greatly). There is, however, however a ‘witch finder’ among Stryker’s enemies, which introduces us to the witch-hunting mania which still gripped much of England. I liked the book rather more than its predecessors, perhaps because I am becoming used to the unrelenting violence. The battle scenes are uncomfortably good, especially the descriptions of real battles, in this case the battle of Stratton in Cornwall. The research is impressive and the narrative vivid. If you liked the earlier books you will enjoy this, and you will be looking forward to 1644. Edward James THE PLUM RAINS AND OTHER STORIES John Givens, The Liffey Press, 2012, €12,95 pb, 199pp, 9781908308160 It was a pleasure to read this collection of

THE SPYMASTER’S DAUGHTER

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Jeane Westin, NAL, 2012, $16.00/C$17.00, pb, 416pp, 9780451237026 Frances Walsingham (1567-1633), Countess of Essex, Countess of Clanricarde, and daughter of Elizabeth I’s renowned spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, becomes the heroine of this fine story of a young woman born centuries before women could determine their own destinies. As the spymaster’s only child, Frances is determined to follow in her father’s profession. When she is called to attend the queen at court, she finds key allies to further her goal. Soon she proves her ability in decoding vital messages. But all of this is hidden behind daily life in court, with its gossip and intrigue. Frances, in life and in fiction, was married to the poet Sir Philip Sidney, whose sonnet Astrophel and Stella was believed to express his love for Penelope Rich, also present at Elizabeth’s court. Philip is away at war, and Frances is left on her own to deal with the Lady Penelope. At the same time, the queen’s favorite, the dashing Earl of Essex, is bent on adding Frances to his list of romantic conquests. But Frances has fallen deeply in love with another, in an impossible relationship. Robert Pauley, though the bastard son of a nobleman, is but her guard and manservant – though also a brilliant spy in his own right. I will not spoil the story’s ending by revealing what comes of their affair. One of the best things about this romance is the skillful weaving of historical fact into the fiction. The exciting scenes around Robert’s role as double agent to the Scottish queen, Mary, for example, are true to the facts known about the Babington Plot of 1586. And Frances did marry the Earl of Essex after Sidney’s death and a third time after Essex was executed. Details of court life, dress, and Elizabeth’s personality are faithfully rendered, as are the techniques of the spymaster’s trade. As a romance, the story gets high marks. But as a historical novel, I would give it an A+. Lucille Cormier HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 23

informative and entertaining short stories set at the end of the 17th century. The hereditary warrior class, the samurai, abided by the laws of bushido; loyalty, frugality, mastery of martial arts, and personal honour and conduct. In the peace of a unified Japan these men were surplus to requirements but forbidden to work at any other occupation. Adrift in the changing times, many became hired swordsmen, whilst others became aesthetes, artists and poets. The greatest Japanese haiku poet, Matsuo Basho, features prominently in this collection, which stylishly debates Buddhist philosophies. Introduced in the opening story, Basho is travelling with young, impatient Chibi-kun to the cottage bought by Kichiji, the silk merchant, who intends to make it the School of Poetry. They encounter the skeleton of an abandoned child tethered to a tree. Chibi-kun is outraged and disgusted, but as befitting those in the pursuit of wisdom, Basho remains calm and rational. A subsequent story describes what happened to the boy. At the school, they are met by Ohasu, a little pleasure girl much given to melancholy and who secretly aspires to be a poet. Whilst working dutifully she listens and learns about the precise wording and use of metaphors used in the haikai link poems she writes. She cleverly evades Kichiji’s amorous intentions. Other stories involve Hasegawa, a rogue samurai, and the recluse Buddhist, Mugen Bonze, who defends an honour code that is dying. We meet an arsonist, a nun, a would‑be samurai, and Jirobei, the executioner wanting to make amends. The writing is exquisitely detailed, capturing the language, culture, scenery, conventions, life, and brutal, horrific deaths of a time long gone. Recommended. Janet Williamson THE SULTAN’S WIFE Jane Johnson, Doubleday Canada, 2012, $22.95, pb, 384pp, 9780385669993 / Viking, 2012, £12.99, pb, 384pp, 9780670918003 A bewitching novel set in the 17th century, The Sultan’s Wife is an engulfing ride to exotic Morocco and into the palace of the horrific Sultan Moulay Ismail and his ‘witch’ wife, Zidana. From Morocco to England, the novel revolves around Nus-Nus, the Sultan’s African eunuch scribe, and Alys Swann, a virgin Dutch beauty kidnapped for the Sultan. Life is but a breath short of death around the cruel Ismail, who decides the fate of all those around him depending on the degree of his wrath. Zidana offers no respite; her poisonous concoctions are a reminder that no one is safe from her tyrannical plans. Most important on her list of things to do is to rid Ismail’s harem of all unwanted heirs (and there were quite a few – history quotes roughly a thousand!) which should surpass her own offspring. Every day is a challenge to stay alive for NusNus, who works for these two evil masters. He must also find a way to make life endurable for Alys, 24 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 62, November 2012

whom he secretly loves. She in turn trusts only him. The story becomes that much more enticing when Alys gives birth to Ismail’s son, Mohammed. Of course, this is a major hurdle for Zidana. But the story then takes us to the court of Charles II in England, where a twist in development will forever change the fate of all… Intricately woven, this novel is graphically filled with suspense and intrigue which is cleverly meshed in a blend of history, culture, religion and so much more. From beginning to end, The Sultan’s Wife is a passionately engaging book that will keep readers frantically flipping the pages longing for more. This is my first time reading Jane Johnson’s work, and it certainly won’t be my last! Loved it. Lucy Bertoldi DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE Carla Kelly, Camel Press, 2012, $14.95, pb, 271pp, 978160381819 After the death of her parents, Maria Espinosa flees Mexico City with a supply caravan headed for the Spanish colony of late 17th-century New Mexico, where her sister lives. Travel with the caravan is brutal, especially for a young woman raised in luxury. The group is close to Santa Fe when an Apache raid kills all of the travelers – except for Maria, who witnesses the brutal attack. She is found by Diego Masferrer, a local rancher, who escorts her to Santa Fe and takes Maria in when her sister rejects her. Maria soon becomes part of the Masferrer family, and Diego’s half-brother, Cristobal, falls in love with her. As tensions with the native Pueblo and Apache escalate, trouble is on the horizon for the Spanish settlers. Maria’s ability to survive – and even thrive – among the most difficult of circumstances is impressive. She not only saves herself, but she bravely and selflessly saves those she cares about. As Diego opens his eyes to love, she is the only woman that he sees, and he learns that there is more to life than property. This isn’t a novel for the faint of heart. Kelly describes (in excruciating detail) the cruelties that people inflict on one another, and there are times when it’s overwhelmingly brutal. Though Kelly is best known for her Regency romances, this debut, originally published in 1985, is a good addition to fans’ collections. Nanette Donohue McFEELEY’S REBELLION Theresa Murphy, Robert Hale, 2012, £19.99, hb, 224pp, 9780709099499 Colm McFeeley comes from Ireland to undertake spying missions for King James’s army, facing Monmouth’s invading troops. To estimate numbers and equipment he and his fellow spy climb into Monmouth’s ships as they wait in Lyme Bay and abduct one of the officers. Later McFeeley disguises himself as a Monmouth man, and one mission is to rescue Sarah, Lady Churchill, who is too close to the rebel forces. During these exploits he appears ready to satisfy various nymphomaniacs and meets people who quote from Restoration dramas.

The different strands of the novel, war, sex and literary erudition are out of balance, mainly because the author’s characterisation and historical background knowledge are not so sure as her military research. McFeeley is not a fully rounded hero. Murphy mentions ‘bloomers’ worn by a whore; that John Churchill and Sarah’s marriage had been arranged by their parents, whereas the Churchills wanted another match with Catherine Sedley; Sarah was unsure she loved him – read their love letters!; and calls them Lady Sarah and Lord John, an incorrect usage. Murphy’s other novels are set at various times. Perhaps she should concentrate on one period. Marina Oliver THE KING’S SPY Andrew Swanston, Bantam, 2012, £12.99, hb, 347pp, 9780593068861 Even in a quiet backwater like Romsey, pacifist bookseller and mathematician Thomas Hill cannot entirely avoid the lawlessness and disruption of the English Civil War. But when a stranger arrives with the message that Thomas’s former tutor at Oxford has recommended him to replace King Charles’ recently murdered cryptographer, Thomas finds himself precipitated into a world full of deceit and violence. There is a traitor in the king’s court who will stop at nothing to keep his identity secret... This debut novel takes an under-used and dramatic period of history as its backdrop and attempts to present it, warts and all (as Cromwell might say), taking neither the Royalist nor the Parliamentarian side. Unfortunately, I can’t help feeling that if there had been more depth and subtlety in the characterisation, it would not have been so simple to identify the villains (who apparently have no redeeming features) and that I might have cared more about which of the secondary characters survived and which met a grisly end. Occasionally the dialogue too seems to be there purely to convey information (particularly about ciphers and code-breaking), rather than to develop character at the same time. A brave attempt, but it didn’t blow me away. Jasmina Svenne

18th century

THE MIRRORED WORLD Debra Dean, Harper, 2012, $25.99, hb, 245pp, 9780061231452 The Mirrored World is a fictional memoir set in Russia just before and during the rule of Catherine the Great and details, with profound emotional intimacy, the lives of two women. Dasha is a cousin to Xenia and sympathetically observes and comments on daily events. Although the focus is on Xenia, a future patron saint of St. Petersburg, it is Dasha whom we come to know and love in her role as the less fortunate. For the nobility, court life is vibrant, but the 17th Century — 18th Century

demands are also onerous, and they find themselves constricted by an overpowering obligation to society while simultaneously being dominated by traditions of religious mysticism and ignorance. These are not happy people. Status and position are important for survival, as are family connections. Great care is given to arranging marriages. No one is asking for Dasha’s hand, but Xenia is privileged, for she is permitted to marry the man she loves. The couple is devoted to one another until death takes their first child. Soon thereafter Xenia is widowed, and, possessing a turbulent Slavic soul with its inherent fatalism, is unable to overcome her grief. Dasha is alarmed as she watches her cousin descend into madness. Sadness haunts this story, but at its essence, it is redemptive. As Xenia recedes into the background, Dasha moves forward to become a fuller, richer character. She finally acquires a husband, and eventually a son. She never stops loving her friend and only in the last pages does she accept both their fates. Debra Dean is a truly gifted writer. Highly recommended. Veronika Pelka LOVE’S RECKONING Laura Frantz, Revell, 2012, $14.99, pb, 428pp, 9780800720414 Eden Lee’s tyrannical father is determined that his new apprentice, Silas Ballantyne, will marry one of his daughters. The family assumes it will be bold, beautiful Elspeth, whose illegitimate child is being passed off as her mother’s son. Timid, quiet Eden deplores the deception but does not want to marry; she has other plans, and soon learns that Silas too has ambitions beyond a blacksmith’s trade. Love’s Reckoning is the first of a series tracing the Ballantyne legacy down through several generations, and as such has quite a few storylines to set up. This is well done, with plenty of twists and threads to lead into future novels. The late 1700s Pennsylvania setting is convincingly rendered, although I personally prefer that the author not rely on “’twas,” “mayhap,” and other such ornamental flourishes to remind the reader that we are not in modern times. Occasional writing quirks could have been picked up at the editing stage. The words “nearly” and “winced” are overused, generally in combination, and some phrases struck me as odd (“with a flurry of her hand”). There are some misplaced modifiers, and I struggled a little with the timeline, which at moments seems vaguely defined. My biggest issue with this story, however, is that the good characters are too overwhelmingly wholesome, while the bad characters are unremittingly unpleasant. I would have liked to see more nuances, especially in the case of Elspeth, who would benefit from some vulnerability. The Christian elements are handled with subtlety and grace, making this novel a good candidate to succeed with a secular readership. Love’s Reckoning has greater depth than a straightforward romance, and promises well for an 18th Century

interesting series. Jane Steen THE GENERAL’S MISTRESS Jo Graham, Gallery, 2012, $16.00/C$18.99, pb, 381pp, 9781451667129 The nondescript title of Jo Graham’s fourth novel could describe her heroine, a Dutch courtesan who becomes the lover, in turn, of three generals of the French Republic. However, Elzelina Ringeling would stand out as unique and memorable whatever one chooses to call her. After discovering her indifferent husband married her for her dowry, Elza flees Amsterdam for Paris, in disguise as her late brother Charles. She agrees to become General Victor Moreau’s mistress if he’ll serve as her protector. Although their liaison satisfies her material needs and passionate nature, the red-haired man she had once glimpsed in a tarot reading continues to occupy her thoughts. Elza adopts the name Ida St. Elme, “for the fire that illuminates everything and yet is nothing but illusion.” Her fortunes rise and fall, but with her beauty and wit, she’s never alone for long. Her path leads her to the theatre, to the world of the occult, and into the arms of a surprisingly attractive First Consul Bonaparte before she encounters her soul mate, Michel Ney, a man who accepts her for herself – her cross-dressing habits included. The expressive rendering of their supernatural connection gives the novel a haunting flavor, although references to their past lives may confuse readers unfamiliar with Graham’s previous books. On one level, the novel reads as an entertaining and sexy fictional biography of a real-life adventuress who reveals her love affairs, life in postrevolutionary Parisian society, and excitement in following the French army. More than that, though, it’s a thoughtful exploration of the meaning of personal freedom. The General’s Mistress presents a world sailing bravely into the modern age, with Elza/Ida as its compass. With her determination to chart her own future, one feels she could inhabit our time as readily as her own. Sarah Johnson BLOOD DIAMOND: A Pirate Devlin Novel Mark Keating, Hodder & Stoughton, 2012, £18.99, hb, 344pp, 9781444727845 In Blood Diamond, set in the year 1720, the pirate Devlin must steal the largest diamond in the world (the infamous Pitt diamond) in order to save the South Sea Company and, perhaps more importantly to Devlin, earn the pirate and his crew pardon for all of their crimes against the English. He is given this task by none other than the Prince of Wales, the future George II. Despite what might seem to be an exciting plot, the book takes a while to become engaging and never becomes ‘unputdownable’. Another negative is that the characters have little depth or likeability, so one becomes quite impartial to them and their fortunes. However, it must be said that the book is very well researched and may appeal somewhat

more to those particularly interested in the period. In conclusion, it is a book that promises to be extremely good, with extensive knowledge of the period and a well-thought-out plot, yet somehow fails to deliver. I cannot therefore honestly recommend it to those like myself who do not have a special interest in the period; those who are especially interested in the stories from the Golden Age of Piracy may feel otherwise. Chris James COME THE FEAR Chris Nickson, Severn House, 2012, $28.95/£19.99, hb, 224pp, 9781780290300 In 1733, Leeds is home to pimps, kidnappers, and thieves, apparently beneath the notice of increasingly wealthy wool merchants—but not of the Constable of Leeds. In a job that makes him part of a very small middle class, Constable Richard Nottingham works with all elements of society, but never forgets his humble roots. When a young woman and baby are found dead in a burned house, Nottingham suspects the fire was deliberate. With the aid of his deputy and his daughter’s would-be suitor, Richard traces the victim’s movements through the slums of Leeds. Criminals large and small cross his path; but whether dealing with lost children, stolen objects, or family squabbles, Nottingham doesn’t forget the young woman until he brings her murderer to justice. Nickson creates recognizable characters with families, worries, and fears like ours, while reminding us that their life expectancy was about 40. Even love was tempered by the realization that two people had less time together. This is what most readers want from a historical novel—a feeling that we understand the times a little better. Come the Fear is highly recommended. Jeanne Greene QUARANTINE John Smolens, Pegasus, 2012, $25.95, hb, 336pp, 9781605984186 Set in 1796 in Newburyport, Massachusetts, a young man comes of age during an age of pestilence, loss and grief. The trading vessel Miranda carries with it not merely cargo but a fever which has rendered it tantamount to a ghost ship. When Dr. Giles Wiggins quarantines the port, he raises the ire of his wealthy ship-builder half-brother and his mother. As the fever spreads and decimates much of the vibrant seaport’s population, greed, fear and desperation spread as well. It is an environment ripe for religious zealots, privateers and mob rule. From an entire family, only young Leander Hatch survives. He is befriended by Giles and ultimately, his own fortune is tied up inextricably with the lessons he learns from the doctor. Although merely a ship’s surgeon, Giles recognizes that the sick who are being bled by more skilled physicians are dying just as quickly and that there must be a source for the fever that can be controlled or eliminated. HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 25

This is an interesting novel about a time, place and events with which I was unfamiliar. Smolens is able to advance his plot through twists of character development, particularly in Leander, who matures quickly in the face of terrible losses and the devastation of the town he knows and loves. I found, however, that, as the town’s panic increases, the pace slows. Ilysa Magnus MESMERIZED Alissa Walser, Maclehose, 2012, £14.99, hb, 250pp, 9780857051004 Alissa Walser’s Mesmerized is set against the backdrop of Vienna in the late 1700s. It follows the story of the German physician Franz Mesmer who believed in – and practised – the movement of life energy through the body with the help of magnets to cure patients with a myriad of complaints. He called this “animal magnetism”. Mesmerized focuses on one such patient, Marie Paradis, a blind musical prodigy in favour with the Empress. Mesmer convinces Marie’s overprotective parents to let her move into his home, which is where he treats his patients. Part of his method is to place his hands on the body to help with the cure. And so a scandal begins. This is a colourful, vivid novel, full of noise and music. Yet the prose is languid and dreamy. Set over a short period of time, it is beautifully written, and one can’t help but feel sorry for the peacock of a doctor, dressed in his purple silks and employing dubious medical practices while his heart is in the right place. Katy O’Dowd THE POTTER’S HAND A.N. Wilson, Atlantic, 2012, £17.99, hb, 505pp, 9781848879515 In his capacious new novel, Wilson brings his combined skills as novelist and biographer to the life of the great potter, inventor and industrialist, Josiah Wedgwood. Taking acknowledged liberties with the historical record, he combines Wedgwood’s embarkation on the manufacture of the thousand piece Frog Service for Catherine the Great with his nephew Tom Byerley’s amorous and military adventures in the American War of Independence. The Frog Service opens the novel, the creation of the Portland Vase closes it and, through Byerley’s Cherokee mistress, Blue Squirrel, Wilson manufactures an ingenious link between these two Wedgwood landmarks. The leisurely narrative embraces a huge cast of characters both real and imagined, from Voltaire flirting with the Empress to the lecherous, stammering Dr. Darwin (grandfather of Charles) putting his hands up the skirts of the Wedgwood women, from Bentley, Josiah’s shrewd business partner, to the young Sam Coleridge, drunk every night and composing a ‘foolish little poem about an old sailor’. These people, their thoughts and feelings, are astutely and sympathetically drawn by a writer as assured in his craft as ‘Mister Jos’ is at throwing a pot. Though the structure of the novel 26 | Reviews |

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is loose, it is well paced and consistently fascinating. My one criticism is that Wilson becomes hard to follow when he attempts a phonetic reproduction of the Potteries accent, but I will freely admit that phonetic speech is a personal bugbear of mine, and this may not distract other readers as much as it distracted me. Easy flowing, informative, poignant and amusing, The Potter’s Hand is a fine evocation of the late 18th century, balanced precariously between reason and fanaticism, the wonders of pure science and the human cost of its application. Sarah Bower

19th century

DEATH IN THE FLOATING CITY Tasha Alexander, Minotaur, 2012, $24.99/ C$28.99, hb, 320pp, 9781250011039 In Tasha Alexander’s most recent addition to her Lady Emily mystery series, we find the delightful Lady Emily Hargreaves accompanied by her dashing husband Colin in Venice. She has come on a mission she’s none too enthusiastic about—helping her childhood nemesis, Emma Callum. Emma has married an Italian count—a scandalous elopement that at the time seemed romantic to her. But now her father-law-has been murdered, and her husband has disappeared. Emma is desperate—is it possible her husband is to blame? Or might he also have met a grim fate? Emily will travel from sumptuous palazzi to slums to discover the truth. But in the end, it will take untangling a puzzle that’s remained unsolved for centuries before she can get to the bottom of the murder. The story is cleverly developed by Alexander through dual time frames. Emily and Colin carry out their investigations in Victorian Venice, while short alternating chapters (each labeled Un Libro d’Amore) track the ill-fated affair of 15th century lovers Besina and Nicolo. With an appealing flair for historical detail and compassion for her characters, the author adds another wellcrafted title to her popular series. Kathryn Johnson THE WOMAN AT THE LIGHT Joanna Brady, Griffin, 2012, $14.99, pb, 329pp, 9781250003560 When her husband disappears during an afternoon’s fishing, Emily Lowry grits her teeth and keeps tending the Wrecker’s Cay lighthouse in his absence. She has little choice – during the 1836 expansion of Key West’s naval base Martin and Emily’s land was commandeered – so she has nowhere else to go. Emily keeps the lighthouse’s lamp burning, but it is a lot of work. She has three children, and another is on the way. Storms bring damage to the windswept island which must be fixed, but just when Emily is falling behind, Andrew washes up on the beach. The still-shackled young man is a runaway slave. However, Andrew says he is

actually a freedman who was grabbed by slavehunters and sold to a ship’s captain. He jumps ship during a storm and washes up on Wrecker’s Cay. Andrew lends his considerable skills to fixing up the facilities and keeping the lighthouse’s lamp lit, and takes much of Emily’s burden onto his own shoulders. In return, she teaches him to read and write. However, Key West would be horrified if Andrew stayed on the island with the widow Lowry. Emily has already concealed her pregnancy to keep her family in the lighthouse keeper’s cabin, and she hides her new helper’s existence from the rest of the world. She breaks another taboo when she falls in love with the handsome young man. Joanna Brady drew inspiration from real women who tended Florida’s lighthouses in her stirring historical novel. Ms. Brady’s characters are completely believable, and she presents Emily and Andrew’s forbidden romance with exquisite sensitivity. Anyone who enjoys a compelling tale with a strong-willed heroine will enjoy this novel as much as I did. Jo Ann Butler FRONTIER JUSTICE Bill Brooks, Five Star, 2012, $25.95, hb, 322pp, 9781432826079 John Henry Cole is a tough, experienced operative working for Ike Kelly, who runs a detective agency based in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Cole has just returned to Cheyenne when he sees a funeral procession in the street and learns that the man being buried is his boss. The sheriff can’t be bothered, so Cole takes up the investigation. Kelly was shot before being incinerated in his office. When Cole’s friend, Will Harper, rides through town following a freedman accused of similar murders, Cole joins Harper in a wide-ranging pursuit. Frontier Justice is the second in a series about John Henry Cole but stands well on its own merits. Brooks crafts a fine mystery for Cole to solve and brings the Wyoming Territory and its denizens to vivid life. Readers who love Western tales will surely enjoy Frontier Justice. Jo Ann Butler THE BAD MISS BENNET: A Pride and Prejudice Novel (US) / WHO NEEDS MR DARCY? (UK) Jean Burnett, Pegasus, 2012, $25.00, hb, 352pp, 9781605983721 / Sphere, 2012, £6.99, pb, 416pp, 9780751547047 This is a delightful romp with Jane Austen’s bad girl, Lydia Bennet. Her husband, Mr. Wickham, has left her a penniless widow, and she is not content to live in obscurity with her wealthy sister Elizabeth Darcy at Pemberley. After securing a small allowance to draw on from her brother-inlaw Fitzwilliam, the wild Mrs. Wickham flees to Paris to be with her like-minded friends, with whom she shared many late nights gambling when she was married. Her stagecoach is set upon by a handsome bandit, and she loses her special necklace and 18th Century — 19th Century

stands to lose a great deal more as their paths cross again. She has always been attracted to ‘bad boys’ and manages to find herself tangled up with not only her highwayman but also a crooked banker and the Prince Regent. Lydia is on a quest for money, jewelry, and a rich husband, but not necessarily in that order! Her skills at cheating and winning at the card table, as well as her insatiable flirting, move her across the continent to Italy. She climbs the social ladder and becomes a confidante of the Princess of Wales while living in comfort with Count Esterhazy, repaying him ‘in the timehonoured way’. The Bad Miss Bennet is not a pastiche of Jane Austen but written in the author’s own voice, a delightful book full of fun and mischief. The last chapter appears to be the beginning of still more romps with Lydia and her highwayman, Jerry, alluding to a continuation of the tale. Beth Turza LADY LOUISA’S CHRISTMAS KNIGHT Grace Burrowes, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2012, $7.99, pb, 384pp, 9781402268632 Though Lady Louisa Windham has suitors, she can’t imagine marrying any of them—especially Lionel Honiton, a dandy who seems more concerned about the color of his lace cuffs than anything else. And Honiton certainly couldn’t weather the scandal that would ensue if Louisa’s secret—a book of erotic poetry that she published under a pseudonym—became public. With two younger, unmarried sisters, Louisa is ready to step aside to allow them to take their chances on the marriage market. Then Peninsular War veteran Sir Joseph Carrington enters her life. Carrington’s good nature (to say nothing of his handsome good looks) appeals to Louisa, and the two soon develop tender feelings for one another. But Sir Joseph has a secret of his own, and someone is determined to ruin their fledgling relationship by revealing both secrets. Burrowes infuses her novels with snappy dialogue and plenty of wit, and she avoids the contrived intrigues that tend to plague Regency romances. Readers familiar with her earlier novels about members of the Windham family will be pleased to see the return of old favorites, including Louisa’s parents, who are still passionately in love after many years of marriage. Good news for fans—with two unmarried Windham sisters left, there’s little doubt that the series will continue. Nanette Donohue THE BRIDE WORE PEARLS Liz Carlyle, Avon, 2012, $7.99/C$9.50, pb, 432pp, 9780061965777 The St. James Society, a gentleman’s club in mid-19th-century London, is in reality a cover for the Fraternitas Aureae Crucis (FAC), a quasireligious society whose members have inherited the Gift. In 1848, Lady Anisha Stafford, a widow of mixed-race heritage, arrives in England from Calcutta with her two young sons. The first person she meets is a member of FAC, Rance Welham, 19th Century

Earl of Lazonby, who was found guilty of murder several years before and saved from the hangman’s noose by the brotherhood. Although Anisha and Rance become friends, Rance refuses to publicly acknowledge the depth of their affection until he can prove his innocence. Rance and Anisha, both misfits in traditional English society, are too honest with one another to deny their mutual attraction. Their lovemaking sizzles, but the plot does not. Early in the novel Anisha admits, “Vague seemed to be the operative word when it came to the organization.” This vagueness about the nature of the Gift and the purpose of FAC permeates the novel and frustrates the momentum of the story. Despite this weakness, Carlyle is such a good writer that her many fans will enjoy spending time with Rance and Anisha. Nancy J. Attwell

exposes evil, a technique that enhances a relatively simple plot — a type of magical realism but more in the tradition of the “haunting but wise ghost” so well described by renowned Chinese author Maxine Hong Kingston. Placing Pickens in grave danger, Empress Q next seeks to discover who her “real” father is. To do this, she must outwit the machinations of the eunuchs, warlords, and concubines who jealously despise Pickens for being Q’s “favorite” and the newly appointed chief financial examiner for the empire. While royalty wines, dines, and plays all day, the coffers are bare. It’s Pickens’s job to expose and eliminate the corruption. The solution will be surprising and costly to all. My Last Empress is a superb creation of historical fiction in the finest tradition of classical Chinese literature and a thriller on many levels. Viviane Crystal

SCANDAL WEARS SATIN Loretta Chase, Avon, 2012, $7.99/C$9.50, pb, 363pp, 9780062100313 Sophy Noirot and her two sisters own Maison Noirot, the finest dressmaker’s shop in London. The problem is, few people in the ton know of its existence, other than through a recent scandal. She will do almost anything in pursuit of getting the word out to the “right” customer, or getting a wealthy man’s patronage for the shop. Harry Fairfax, the Earl of Longmore, can’t help but be attracted to the gorgeous Sophy, but his family is horrified: she is a dressmaker! But when his sister, Maison Noirot’s best and favorite customer, runs away, Longmore and Sophy team up on a rescue mission. This is the second book of Loretta Chase’s Dressmaker series. Her research into the clothing and inner workings of a dress shop in the mid1830s gives the story more depth than the usual romance. As a costume historian, I enjoyed the details just as much as I enjoyed the story. Written with humor and a light touch, Scandal Wears Satin will entertain and amuse the reader with a good story and enjoyable characters. It’s a fun read. Monica E. Spence

CONFEDERADO: A Novel of the Americas Casey Clabough, Ingalls, 2012, $18.95, pb, 280pp, 9781932158984. After the American Civil War, thousands of Southerners migrated to South America seeking a new life. In fact, the Immigration Law of 1860 was passed to encourage the colonization of Brazil by citizens of North America. Known as Confederados, their descendants live today as part of the population that created a significant historical link between these two continents. Basing his work on a true story, Casey Clabough has written an adventurous and contemplative historical novel about Alvis Benjamin Stevens. The year is 1865, and Stevens returns home, having fought in the Wilderness Campaign with the infamous Mosby’s Rangers. A short time later, as fate takes a sudden turn, he is forced to flee to Brazil. Clabough’s narrative generates pause and reflection for the reader as Alvis relives the bloody battles of the recent war. Shortly, he is overjoyed to learn his former sweetheart, Lavinia, lives on a nearby ranch. Alvis is not the only one who desires Lavinia, and his future hangs in the balance. His struggle to endure each challenge makes him stronger, and through his voice we can understand his credo: “The wars men fight, one comes to understand, are a struggle between the best and worst aspects of humanity.” Confederado, and its subject, is a superb rendering of this decade and setting which is seldom written about. Some may recognize the author’s homage to Poe and Ovid within his novel. This descriptive excerpt offers a glimpse of the author’s gifted craft: “…burnt chimneys standing alone or in pairs like tired, darkened sentinels over barren fields, blackened groves and weedy gardens.” Casey Clabough’s writes imaginative prose with a fluid natural cadence reminiscent of a Chopin melody. Highly recommended. Wisteria Leigh

MY LAST EMPRESS Da Chen, Crown, 2012, $25.00/£16.99, hb, 288pp, 9780307381309 Samuel Pickens is a precocious young man at the beginning of this novel that spans life in Connecticut and China in the late 19th century. When his first love and then his wife die, he suddenly sees dead people everywhere. Has this tragedy opened his mind to another dimension where he truly sees ghosts who plan to impose good and evil on those who remain alive? Pickens believes his mission is to travel to China, where he will work as a tutor to the emperor. The court of Chinese royalty mesmerizes Pickens and inadvertently places him in dangerous situations. Q, the emperor’s wife, looks exactly like Pickens’s first love, acting like a teasing dervish. She is the “trickster” of classical Chinese literature, one who

THE SPY LOVER Kiana Davenport, Thomas & Mercer, 2012, $14.95, pb, 320pp, 9781612183411 HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 27

A PLACE OF CONFINEMENT

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

Anna Dean, Allison & Busby, 2012, £19.99, hb, 414pp, 9780749012724 There is a man interested in marrying impoverished spinster Dido Kent; unfortunately, he is the pompous clergyman Dr Proudlee. He has already worn out one wife and fills up half the church with his huge brood, and Dido already has a man in mind. Saying no has the effect of getting Dido sent off as companion to the rich and hard to please hypochondriac Aunt Manners. The pair is staying at Charcombe Manor in Devon where Aunt Manners spent her childhood, and instantly it is obvious there is something strange going on. Wealthy young heiress Letitia Verney has vanished, possibly to Gretna Green or maybe somewhere more sinister and permanent. Even worse, Tom Lomax, the son of Dido’s own would-be suitor, is held to be guilty… This is the fourth in this entertaining series set in 1805, and I hope there will be many more. Written partly in letters penned by Dido and partly from her point of view, this is historical mystery at its most effective. The author manages to create a period ambience from her sound knowledge of the era, making the right sort of underpinning for the adventures and romance. In keeping with the sort of gothic tales so beloved of the times, there is an involved plot containing ghosts, a secret room, people vanishing, mysterious visitors and the inevitable old sins that continue to cast long shadows. The romance is there, but nicely incidental and underplayed in what never stops being a mystery novel. I read quite a number of novels set in this period, and I continue to be impressed by this author’s ability to nicely sidestep the usual pitfalls many historical novelists tumble into. If you are looking for a quality historical crime series to get stuck into, then you have just found it. Rachel A Hyde The Spy Lover is a refreshing story of the journey of people of mixed ancestry through the American Civil War. Era Tom was born of two slaves, her mother of European/Native/African American parentage, and her father a Chinese immigrant who escaped his own chains. Era has lost her mother to brutalities waged on their small Southern community trying to stay clear of the raging war. She’s desperate to find her father, Johnny Tom, who has deserted to the Northern side. Era agrees to work as a nurse in a Confederate camp while spying for the Union, in return for news of and from her father. Complications arise as she assists at her first amputation and falls deeply in love with its survivor, cavalry soldier Warren Petticomb. Meanwhile, Johnny Tom survives and even flourishes at his post, forming his own makeshift family even as he longs for news of his women. Told in the viewpoints of Era, Johnny, and Warren, the story follows crucial turning points of the war through battles, prisoner-of-war camps, and letters written during brief interludes of peaceful reflection. Postwar years are more quickly covered until the lovers finally face the defining moment of their past. With captivating characterizations and beautifully rendered prose – on Warren’s listening to a lieutenant read Shakespeare: “the sounds of the words pass through me with satisfying ravishment” – The Spy Lover makes for absorbing reading. But its last third suffers from an unfortunate surrender to a few of the consolations of Lost Cause 28 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 62, November 2012

advocates, just as the weight of its own language and mounting carnage fold in on itself. Eileen Charbonneau AN HEIRESS AT HEART Jennifer Delamere, Forever, 2012, $5.99/C$6.50, pb, 407pp, 9781455518937 In 1846, siblings Lizzie and Tom Poole journey to New South Wales, fleeing scandal in England. There, they meet and befriend Ria and Edward Smythe, who have also fled in disgrace. Together these newfound friends build a better life for themselves. Five years later, Lizzie has lost both her friends and brother. She returns home in order to fulfill Ria’s dying wish. Assuming Ria’s identity, she attempts to make amends for past wrongs and to seek proof of her parentage. While assimilating into her role as Ria, Lizzie unexpectedly discovers more than a life of wealth and privilege; she learns the importance of family, honor and duty. She also discovers romance when Ria’s brother-in-law, Geoffrey, Lord of Somerville, captures her heart. Lizzie must figure out a way to reveal the truth without losing the love and family she has found. This is a charming novel with a predictable plotline. Nonetheless, Lizzie’s inner struggles captivate as she tries to play a part, but be herself. The budding romance between Lizzie and Geoffrey is sweet, the story pleasant. Rebecca Cochran

GOLD MOUNTAIN: A Klondike Mystery Vicki Delany, Dundurn, 2012, $17.99/C$17.99, pb, 328pp, 9781459701892 Delany’s Gold Mountain is an excellent reminder that gold rush fever wasn’t confined to California. Savvy bar owner Fiona MacGillivray takes advantage of the Klondike gold rush in the Yukon in the late 1890s. Operating a dance hall in Dawson City with fellow Scottish expatriate Ray Walker, Fiona is intent on making a good life for herself and her son Angus. Paul Sheridan, a gangster’s sidekick, would like to be part of that life—minus Angus. He’s got a map to the sounds-too-good-tobe-true Gold Mountain and is determined to take Fiona there and make his fortune from the gold that covers the ground. Much of the book focuses on Sheridan’s kidnapping of Fiona with Angus and Mountie Richard Sterling in hot pursuit. Sheridan is no match for Fiona’s quick thinking, so her fate isn’t an issue. What’s more interesting is her past, some of which she reveals to the reader on her journey, leaving enough out that I know there has to be more (Gold Fever and Gold Digger are the first two in the series). Delany is a vivid storyteller. I could see the mud streets of Dawson City and the avaricious glint in the eyes of those stricken with gold fever. Ellen Keith HOW TO TAME A WILLFUL WIFE Christy English, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2012, $6.99, pb, 320pp, 9781402270451 Caroline Montague would rather run around the countryside fencing, knife-fighting, and riding her beloved stallion than marry. But her father needs money, and so Caroline must do her daughterly duty. Her husband has already been selected: Anthony Carrington, Earl of Ravensbrook, a handsome war veteran who believes that there are things women shouldn’t do – and most of the shouldn’ts are Caroline’s favorite pastimes. The mismatched duo marries, surprising each other with their passionate lovemaking. But Anthony’s dominance irritates Caroline, and she rebels by befriending Anthony’s sworn enemy. When Anthony finds out, he’s predictably livid, and their lack of communication causes a bitter disagreement. Can their passionate marriage be saved? How to Tame a Willful Wife is supposedly a riff on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, but it features all of the stubborn romantic leads and none of the humor. Caroline is your standard independent Regency romance heroine, paired with an alpha male hero so inflexible that he may as well be a bronze statue. Anthony is difficult to like – a man who is so stubbornly stuck on his own way of thinking that he can’t compromise or even communicate effectively with his wife. Based on the description, I expected light humor and frothy romance; instead, I got miscommunication and bickering from a mismatched couple. Nanette Donohue 19th Century

THE NEWGATE JIG Ann Featherstone, John Murray, 2012, £7.99, pb, 278pp, 9781848542051 Set in the same era and very much in the same style as her earlier novel, Walking in Pimlico, which I reviewed and thoroughly enjoyed, The Newgate Jig is set in Victorian London and focuses on its seedy underbelly, which provides so much fascinating material to novelists. The novel begins with a young boy, Barney, waiting in the crowd to watch his father, George Kevill, hang; the ‘Newgate Jig’ of the title, a public entertainment for the masses. The story is powered by Barney’s desire for revenge. In his quest he is assisted by the wonderfully realised character of Bob Chapman, with his adorable and talented performing dogs, Brutus and Nero. With a villain known as the ‘Nasty Man’, things get very dark indeed. Reminiscent of Sarah Waters in style and feel, and full of vibrant characters such as the aptly named Princess Tiny, this novel is so evocative of its time and the reader is easily immersed in the story. Very much recommended, as is the earlier novel. Ann Northfield THE GIFTED Ann H. Gabhart, Revell, 2012, $14.99, pb, 448pp, 9780800734558 Set in 1849, this novel provides another addition to Ann Gabhart’s Shaker series. This narrative continues to follow the lives of various young women as they adjust to the customs within a Shaker Village. Jessamine Brady is accustomed to the restrictive lifestyle in Shaker society. She dreams about life outside the village and is curious about it. She enjoys the dancing at services, minds her superiors, and succeeds in following religious celibacy. That is, until she and her fellow Shakers discover a wounded man in the woods. In the process of rescuing him and tending his wounds, she rides him home behind her on her horse, his body embracing her own. From that moment she cannot stop thinking about Tristan Cooper, and he is also captivated by her. Although the introduction seems slow, the pace quickens after the encounter between Jessamine and Tristan. The author is deliberate in her placement of historical detail, and she displays a meticulous knowledge of Shaker life and customs. Ann Gabhart succeeds in bringing to life a love story between two people from very different worlds indeed. Liz Allenby SELKIE DREAMS Kristin Gleeson, Knox Robinson, 2012, $23.99, hb, 386pp, 9781908483270 Máire lives in comfort with her father and their servants in Belfast in 1889. Her loving cook has always maintained that Máire’s mother did not die but was a legendary selkie who returned to the sea years ago. When her father informs her that she is to marry his business partner, she postpones this 19th Century

undesirable request by applying for a temporary position as a missionary teacher in Alaska. She meets William during her trip, and his efforts to court her are not as welcome as he had hoped; after becoming better acquainted, they realize they hold very different opinions. Máire’s attempts at finding independence are dashed, as she is housed with controlling people, and her teaching attempts are judged and censored. I found the vivid descriptions of the native clothing and clan traditions very interesting and well researched. The author brings the Alaskan native culture alive with descriptions of the interiors of the dwellings in the clan villages. Máire finds that she is strangely drawn to the natives, whose dark shiny hair and dark eyes remind her of the selkie legend. She becomes friends with two native sisters, eagerly learning about their language and traditions and adopting their clothing style as well. She falls for their brother, Daniel (Natsilane), who treats her with indifference. It is strange that even when they find themselves together briefly, he still remains withdrawn, and she finds no love or comfort with him until the end of the book. The ending is abrupt and hurried, and there is an unsatisfactory conclusion for the main characters. Beth Turza DEAR MR. DARCY: A Retelling of Pride and Prejudice Amanda Grange, Berkley, 2012, $15.00/C$16.00, pb, 391pp, 9780425247815

ELIJAH’S MERMAID

Amanda Grange’s delightful Dear Mr. Darcy romps through the familiar grounds of Pemberley, Meryton, London, and the other haunts of the famous characters — the Bennet family, the Collinses, and, of course, the Darcys — as she probes their psyches in this epistolary novel, using letters as windows to the soul. Not only do we hear from Darcy himself, but a whole plethora of note-writers appears to reveal themselves: we have letters from Mr. Bennet, Lydia, Mrs. Bennet, Jane, Lizzy (of course) not to mention the very funny letters of Mary Bennet to Miss Lucy Sotherton, her sister in the Learned Women club. By making use of short rather than long letters, the pace of the novel moves along nicely, though some of the letters are repetitive. As Lizzy and Darcy slowly change their opinions of each other, their letters reveal this process. And, as we read from Mr. Wickham, we see how truly depraved he is, how low his character and associates. Mr. Bingley’s good character comes through his writings as well, while his sister, Caroline, is shown to be the social-climber she is. All in all, these letters provide a second look at the characters and the story made famous by Jane Austen. My favorites are from Mary to Lucy, often beginning with a militant ‘Hail!’ These two ladies are so deliciously foolish they are almost too easy a mark. Austen fans will enjoy this new addition to the canon. Anne Clinard Barnhill

E D I TORS’ CH OICE

Essie Fox, Orion, 2012, £20, hb, 416pp, 9781409123347 There is always a fear that an author’s second novel will not live up to the first. I was very impressed with Essie Fox’s debut, The Somnambulist, and have been eagerly awaiting the next. I should not have worried. Elijah’s Mermaid is even better. Lily and Elijah Lamb are twins, adopted from The London Foundling Hospital by August Lamb, a celebrated author and their grandfather. His son, their father, died in London, and August still mourns him. They do not know who their mother was. When Elijah shows a talent for art and later, photography, he is persuaded by a friend of the family, their grandfather’s publisher, whom they call Uncle Freddie, to work for the celebrated artist, Osborne Black as his apprentice. Another London orphan, a girl called Pearl, has a less fortunate early life. She is rescued as a baby from the Thames by a thoroughly despicable pimp of a brothel owner and, once of age, is sold to Osborne Black. Before this happens, Elijah sees her from a distance and falls in love with her. Meanwhile, obsessed by her beauty and also by mermaids, Osborne Black paints her constantly and when his obsession and control spirals into madness, he has her locked up in a lunatic asylum. The author captures the essence of Victorian life in this richly textured novel. You name it, it’s there: a web of interconnected lives, sensational melodrama, sexuality and sanctity, pornography and child exploitation. In the wrong hands, it could have been a thin pastiche or a ‘modern’ take on Dickens. However, the author has created a hugely enjoyable novel that constantly trips you up when you think you know what’s coming. If you love all things Victorian, you will love this. Sally Zigmond HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 29

PRIDE AND PYRAMIDS Amanda Grange and Jacqueline Webb, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2012, $14.99, pb, 312pp, 9781402265341 Fifteen years after the events of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth and Darcy receive a visit from Darcy’s cousin, Edward Fitzwilliam, who is fascinated by ancient Egypt and wishes to accompany archaeologist Sir Matthew Rosen on a search for a lost tomb. Elizabeth and Darcy soon come to share Edward’s enthusiasm and decide to go to Egypt with him. They bring their six children along, thinking the journey will be an educational experience for them. Also on the expedition are Sophie Lucas, Charlotte Lucas’ youngest sister, and Paul Inkworthy, a young artist Darcy has hired to make sketches of the sights they see in Egypt. Edward and Paul quickly become rivals for Sophie’s attentions. A map in Edward’s possession may hold a clue to the location of the tomb, but the Darcys get more than they bargained for when Elizabeth’s mother, Mrs. Bennet, stows away on the voyage and their youngest daughter, Margaret, becomes fascinated by a doll which may be possessed by the spirit of an ancient Egyptian woman placed under a curse for murdering two lovers. Grange and Webb have given us a delightful sequel, placing the Darcys in an unexpected setting. I loved seeing Elizabeth and Darcy climbing the Great Pyramid, excavating a tomb, and trying to foil George Wickham’s plans to claim the treasure for himself. The children are a great addition to the story, and each child has a distinctive personality. I hope we see more of the Darcy children in the future. The only thing that seems out of place is the supernatural element, but even that is handled very well and does not detract from the Darcys’ adventures. And I loved seeing a few little nods to Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series. Fans of Amelia, as well as Austen fans, should love this book. Vicki Kondelik

Hodgson has produced a wonderful work of Christian fiction that brilliantly blends historical retrospective with a Western adventure. The Bride Wore Blue is an inspirational and entertaining read. Shaylin Montgomery

THE BRIDE WORE BLUE Mona Hodgson, WaterBrook, 2012, $13.99/ C$16.99, pb, 320pp, 9780307730305 Vivian Sinclair is a woman with a past. She joins her three sisters in Cripple Creek, Colorado, in 1897, hoping for a new beginning. But jobs are scarce, and desperate, Vivian secretly accepts a job at the local sporting house. Deputy Carter Alwyn lives a haunted life. His father, a great lawman, died protecting a kidnapped prostitute, and now Carter has taken a solemn vow: he will never marry. But the innocent Vivian Sinclair is proving a great temptation. When bandits threaten Vivian’s life, can Carter overcome the shock of her lies in time to save her? The third novel in The Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek series, Mona Hodgson’s tale of sin and redemption will make an excellent addition to any library. Hodgson has created a set of endearingly complex characters. For instance, the strong-willed Vivian makes mistakes, but her intentions are always sincere.

THE ANATOMIST’S WIFE (A Lady Darby Mystery) Anna Lee Huber, Berkley, 2012, $15.00, pb, 368pp, 9780425253281 1830. At a house party, a beautiful aristocrat is found murdered. Recently widowed Lady Kiera Darby, the hostess’s sister, investigates, though the guests believe her to be the guilty party. Why? Her husband, a famed anatomist, “forced” her to create illustrations of his dissections for a posthumously published book. Scandal and charges result, which Darby’s family quashes while she takes refuge in her sister’s Scottish castle. The 1830 setting (a year after the execution of infamous Resurrectionist William Burke) provides impetus for the hysteria surrounding dissection, but it’s mentioned in passing rather than meaningfully exploited. Ambiance is lacking, and the characters, including the protagonist, are cardboard cut-outs: the protective older sister, catty aristocratic ladies, and good-on-the-inside rakehell love interest cum investigative partner. The novel reads as much like

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HNR Issue 62, November 2012

THE LOST SOULS OF ANGELKOV Linda Holeman, Random House Canada, 2012, C$22.95, pb, 560pp, 9780307361592 When Cossacks kidnap Countess Antonia Mitlovsky’s son, Misha, from the grounds of the Angelkov estate one snowy day in 1861, she initially holds herself together, not prepared to ‘come undone’ and disgrace herself in front of the servants. This is all the more difficult given Canadian writer Linda Holeman’s decision to make Antonia an alcoholic, a decision as intriguing to the reader as it is useful to the story. Holeman elicits sympathy for Antonia, however, as she looks past the usual trappings of the Russian aristocracy to capture the atmosphere of Antonia’s world, both geographically and emotionally — bleak, challenging and isolated in every respect. Using the kidnapping as a backdrop, Holeman also examines the changing political nature of Russia in the 1860s, in particular Czar Alexander II’s edict which freed the serfs on private estates. What anxieties, resentments and practical considerations must inherently arise when 23 million ‘souls’ are freed overnight? Holeman uses these historical details effectively to give the reader a better understanding of Antonia’s marital and financial situations and the circumstances which lead to her son being taken. Although there are a couple of minor plotlines which feel slightly convoluted or contrived (the ones involving the mysterious musician and the overly faithful servant spring to mind), this book is still a good read with an interesting twist on a turbulent period in history. Janice Parker

a romance as a mystery, and much time is spent on shrinking violet Darby’s intense physical reactions to the slightest provocation: she’s constantly blushing to her ears, her heart pounding, and her stomach incessantly souring, dropping, twisting, churning, etc. ad nauseam (literally). The dialogue is anachronistic, the prose uneven, and the ending melodramatic with an unnecessarily long epilogue and less-than-subtle foreshadowing of the next in this new series. Not recommended. Bethany Latham THE REINVENTION OF LOVE Helen Humphreys, HarperCollins Canada, 2012, C$29.99, hb, 320pp, 9781554684434 / Serpent’s Tail, 2012, £7.99, pb, 272pp, 9781846687990 With The Reinvention of Love, award-winning Canadian poet and novelist Helen Humphreys has deftly married the elaborate, factual lives of French writer Victor Hugo, his wife, Adele, and their friend (and Adele’s lover) Charles Sainte-Beuve with impressive fictional detail to produce a novel which is both panoptic yet intimate. In late 19th-century Paris, Hugo is enjoying tremendous success with his poetry and his fledgling novel writing, helped in no small part by Sainte-Beuve’s literary reviews. A genius can only exercise his talents, however, if the tedium of everyday life is absorbed by someone else, in this case Hugo’s wife, Adele. And the consequence of this staid, uneventful life, Hugo soon discovers, is the need for Adele to find excitement elsewhere. Suffering from hypospadias, a condition closely linked to hermaphroditism, Sainte-Beuve is incapable of ‘normal’ sexual relations and must provide Adele with the excitement she seeks in more unconventional, though nonetheless satisfying, ways. In order to avoid feeding an ego as colossal as Hugo’s, Humphreys has cleverly written a novel which is not primarily about him but, as with most things in his world, revolves around him. Written in the voices of Adele, Sainte-Beuve, and Hugo’s youngest daughter, Dede, Humphreys’ language is witty and poignant and with enough complexity to fully investigate the intricacies of the human heart. Not a conventional love story but any means, but all the more compelling for that reason. Janice Parker LITTLE CENTURY Anna Keesey, Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2012, $26, hb, 322pp, 9780374192044 Orphaned at age eighteen, Chicagoan Esther Chambers has no place to go. There’s nothing tying her to her childhood home but memories of her mother—no family, no work, few friends. The only relative she is aware of is Ferris Pickett, a distant cousin who lives on the Oregon frontier. Pick welcomes Esther with open arms, but there’s a catch—she must lay claim to a parcel of land that adjoins Pick’s cattle ranch and settle it. Esther’s claim is on a small lake, and in the tiny frontier community, water is almost as valuable as gold. Esther moves to Century at a pivotal time in the community’s history. There’s the possibility that 19th Century

the railroad will come through the town, which would lead to a boom—and money to be made. Cattle ranchers are battling with sheep ranchers, and the escalating tensions are leading to violent outbursts from both sides. What starts as petty vandalism quickly turns to cruelty and murder, and Esther finds herself questioning her place in this hardscrabble community. Little Century is a thoroughly modern Western that cuts through the typical “romance of the West” clichés and presents frontier life as it was—tough, bitter, and brutal. Esther is a fascinating character, open to new experiences and eager to escape her sheltered urban life and accept the challenges of frontier living. Her search for home and family leads her to unexpected friendships, relationships, and adventures. Part coming-of-age story, part history lesson, Little Century is a fine debut from a promising voice in American fiction. Nanette Donohue FELL THE ANGELS: The Case of the Priory Murder John Kerr, Robert Hale, 2012, £17.99, hb, 224pp, 9780709098386. The title implies a case of murder, but is it murder or suicide? We don’t know, as the notorious death of Charles Bravo, on which this story is based, remains unsolved. In Fell the Angels, the author presents a fictitious solution.

Charles Cranbrook dies from antimony poisoning at his elite Victorian home, The Priory, purchased by his rich wife, Cecilia. Through a fast-paced narrative the suspects and their motives of jealousy, domestic abuse and greed, are investigated. Charles’s financial problems evoke the suicide theory. I found this story very readable, the case and the investigation intriguing. It did though, have a nonfiction feel, in that the reader is told everything, rather than shown.I did not feel the characters’ emotions. Also the overuse of participial phrases sounded awkward and the continuous stream of adjectives was slightly distracting, e.g. “… inhaled the pleasant bouquet of the expensive French bath crystals.” And the author tells us ten times that Cecilia has auburn hair. As a whodunnit, the author’s solution didn’t work well for me. It seemed unlikely this person would murder Cranbrook for the reason elicited, and rather more plausible another of the characters would have been killed. This may prove dissatisfying to crime mystery lovers, for whom the puzzle is the main interest; it seems impossible to guess the perpetrator’s identity. Despite these reservations, I enjoyed Fell the Angels. Victorian respectability, fame, fortune and fall are portrayed excellently, and it certainly piqued my interest in this sensational murder case. Liza Perrat

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

IN THE LAND OF THE LONG WHITE CLOUD

Sarah Lark (trans. D.W. Lovett), AmazonCrossing, 2012, $14.95, pb, 826pp, 9781612184265 In the Land of the Long White Cloud reminded me what it was like to get lost, really lost, in a good book. This is a saga in the best sense of the word. Lark starts in England and Wales in 1852 and tells the story of two very different young women, one a lady, the other a governess, who find themselves bound to New Zealand (“the land of the long white cloud”) for equally disastrous marriages. Gwyneira Silkham, a lord’s daughter, finds herself won in a bet, her hand promised to a sheep baron’s son. Helen Davenport, her grim life as a governess stretching before her, answers an ad from a New Zealand farmer looking for a wife. Lark recounts not just their stories over the course of the next twenty-plus years but also those of the orphan girls Helen was charged with bringing to New Zealand to be servants, their children’s futures, and the sometimes peaceful, sometimes uneasy relationship between the Maori natives and the pakeha—the colonists. And the land, which can be rocky and formidable and also breathtakingly beautiful, is as much a character as anyone else. The book veers a little into cliché (that each woman’s marriage would be a disappointment was practically broadcast), but I hung on every page nonetheless. Lark is not overly sentimental about her characters; they’re not perfect, but they do the best they can. Neither woman’s life turns out as she imagined, but their emigration to New Zealand affords them opportunities (and hardships) they would not have experienced in their home country. As one of the very few people who didn’t have the attention span for Downton Abbey, I thought my patience for a good, long tale was lost forever. It’s not. Ellen Keith 19th Century

MORE THAN A STRANGER Erin Knightley, Signet, 2012, $7.99/C$8.99, pb, 327pp, 9780451237712 When her brother Richard went off to Eton in 1804, Lady Evelyn Moore (Evie to her friends) looked forward to his letters. Soon his letters were filled with accounts of his friend Hastings. Filled with jealousy, Evie wrote to Hastings and forbade him to be her brother’s friend, beginning a challenging, bantering correspondence — which Hastings ended abruptly, causing Evie much pain as she had been looking forward to meeting Hastings in person. Years later Hastings seeks out Richard, explaining that he needs a place to relax and sort his future options, so the two set off for Richard’s family estate. Hastings encounters Evie, hides his true identity, and sets off a series of romantic encounters, a shooting, a duel, and two reconciliations. Knightley has created an interesting heroine in Evie, reminiscent of Jane Austen heroines. However, Hastings’s motivations seem weak and the plot contrived. That said, More Than a Stranger is still a charming, easy Regency read. Audrey Braver A LACK OF TEMPERANCE Anna Loan-Wilsey, Kensington, 2012, $15.00, pb, 264pp, 9780758276346 The Hattie Davish mystery series is off to a promising start. The young amateur sleuth is a traveling secretary with a steel-trap mind and a curiosity that buoys the spirits of the oppressed and maddens the guilty. It’s 1892, and Hattie arrives at a small Ozark town, hired as personal secretary to a leader of the Temperance movement, one hatchetto-saloon wielding Mother Trevelyan. The lady soon goes missing, then murdered. Local police think they’ve found their man in the saloonkeeper, but Hattie and a local doctor are convinced things are not so simple. Time, place and characters are rendered with wit and heart and humor, with a nice feel for class differences. How could one not want to follow a truth-seeker who goes home to find comfort in the feel of her typewriter keys? I look forward to the next installment. Eileen Charbonneau ONE NAUGHTY NIGHT Laurel McKee, Forever, 2012, $7.99, pb, 330pp, 9781455505470 Victorian London is a difficult place to live well, or survive at all, for a woman without family or husband to provide for and protect her. But young widow Lillian St. Claire has managed to keep herself off the streets by hostessing a notorious gaming den. Her ultimate goal is to restore her family’s fortune. Whether she’ll be helped or hindered in her efforts by gambler/rake Lord Aidan Huntington provides much of the basis for this romantic romp. Of course Lilly and Aidan are attracted to each other; this novel is, foremost, a sexy romance. The title tips off the reader not to expect serious historical fiction. But taken as a romantic escapade, spiced with a bitter family HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 31

rivalry to add a touch of danger and explosive love scenes, it accomplishes what it intends. The historical details provide pleasant settings. The banter between characters is entertaining and lively. A frothy, satisfying read for the beach or a rainy day. Kathryn Johnson IN NEED OF A GOOD WIFE Kelly O’Connor McNees, Berkley, 2012, $15, 400pp, 9780425257920 Clara Bixby’s marriage is in ruins. Her husband left her after she had a miscarriage, leaving Clara to grieve and to fend for herself. When Clara overhears a conversation about the lawlessness of a town called Destination, Nebraska, at the tavern where she works, she formulates a plan to bring a civilizing influence to the struggling frontier town. She will reinvent herself as a marriage broker, working with the mayor of Destination to match the bachelors of his town with the single women of New York. Her idea causes a sensation, and she is soon preparing to send her first group of mailorder brides to the rural outpost. McNees’ second novel follows the intense challenges that three of these women face as they make their journey and settle into their new lives. Clara’s husband reappears, reminding her why she fell in love with him. Elsa, a lifelong servant who has lost all hope of marriage, develops tender feelings for her employer, a seemingly-harsh widower, and fears that her feelings will never be reciprocated. Rowena, a vain young woman whose husband died in the Civil War, finds herself matched with a kind young man with children who have nearly gone feral from lack of supervision – a difficult situation for a coddled society girl to find herself in. None of the characters are perfect. Though Rowena is cast as the villainess of the story, McNees ensures that readers understand the circumstances that cause her to act the way she does, and though Clara is the heroine, she’s far from flawless. It’s this nuance that makes In Need of a Good Wife stand out. These women struggle with their experiences and their relationships, and they have good moments and bad—and it makes them authentic. Nanette Donohue THE ORIGIN OF MAN Christine Montalbetti, (trans. Betsy Wing), Dalkey Archive, 2012, $14.95, pb, 232pp, 9781564787378 If I had to describe this book in a single word: frustrating. Some literary works that lack linear (or any) plotting and indulge in monumental digression still manage to impart meaning and enlightenment, either through beautiful prose or expansive ideas or vibrant imagery. Three strikes and this novel is out. The ostensible storyline, parsed into three sections, is that (sometime in the 1830s?) French customs officer Jacques Boucher de Crèvecoeur de Perthes visits a childhood friend, takes a trip to the seashore with a love interest, and has an English 32 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 62, November 2012

scientist refuse to confirm de Perthes’s discovery of evidence (chiseled flints) of “antediluvian” (i.e., Stone Age) man. De Perthes then triumphs when one of his diggers finds said antediluvian’s jawbone. Montalbetti’s stream-of-consciousness prose jumps without warning between de Perthes’s point-of-view and inner monologue, the other characters’, and then to her own outside (and sometimes inside) the story – giving this novel all the coherence of a schizophrenic’s journal. It also results in odd anachronism.The reader is lucky to be granted one period per rambling paragraph (a swim in the Somme and subsequent drying off takes 15 pages), and this is the novel’s true weakness: its digressions are boring. Montalbetti also employs circular narrative devices, describing events and then returning to their beginning for a “that’s how it could have happened if you want it to, but here’s what’s actually going on” effect... before beginning the mobius strip all over again. By the end, the reader witnesses Montalbetti arguing with de Perthes, literally trying to force him into finishing the story. The reader can sympathize. De Perthes was a historical person, and his life story would make for an engaging literary work of great depth. Expect to encounter this work in brief flashes while mired in the pages of The Origin of Man. Bethany Latham THE SECOND EMPRESS: A Novel of Napoleon’s Court Michelle Moran, Crown, 2012, $25, hb, 320pp, 9780307953032 / Quercus, 2012, £12.99, pb, 448pp, 9780857388605 After Napoleon jettisons his only true love, the Empress Josephine, who has not given him an heir, he makes a political deal with Austria to marry its 18-year-old archduchess, Marie-Louise. In capitulating to her father’s wishes, the young empress embarks on a strange and often terrifying adventure in Paris, making choices that will perhaps change the course of history but certainly of her own life. But that is not where Moran shines in this novel – neither Marie-Louise nor Napoleon grabbed center stage for me. Pauline, Napoleon’s sister, is the most heinous of the entire crew (and that is saying a lot considering Napoleon’s horrific history). Her intense physical lust for her brother (with whom many believe the sexually indiscriminate Pauline had an incestuous relationship) is only surpassed by her hallucinations about becoming empress, and after Napoleon conquers Egypt, queen to the Pharaoh. Simply put, she is nuts – but how gloriously nuts in Moran’s talented hands! Second only to Pauline in significance is her servant, confidant and friend, Paul Moreau, a former Haitian slave. Paul is likely the most insightful, clever and grounded person in the entire household and he finds himself divided in loyalty between Pauline – who he loves dearly (and inexplicably) – and Marie-Louise. Shifting between the different character voices and points of view, Moran punctuates the novel

with primary sources – letters between Napoleon and Josephine, historical tidbits – but that is not where the story is the most powerful. While Napoleon may rule absolutely, those around him learn to navigate the waters of this most destructive force. It is a bit like watching a train wreck, and it is highly entertaining. Ilysa Magnus SILVER: Return to Treasure Island Andrew Motion, Jonathan Cape, 2012, £12.99, hb, 420pp, 9780224091190 / Crown, 2012, $24.00, hb, 416pp, 9780307884879 R.L. Stevenson’s novel has enchanted and fascinated generations of readers since its publication in the late 19th century. The story left open the possibility of further adventures, with Jim Hawkins’ narrative stating that after Squire Trelawney, et al., found and brought the treasure to England, a cache of silver had been left on the island. The former Poet Laureate sets his sequel 40 years after these events, with the teenaged son of Jim Hawkins, also called Jim, helping his widowed father run the Hispaniola Inn on the banks of the River Thames in Essex. Jim Junior’s life is turned upside-down, however, when the daughter of the retired pirate Long John Silver calls on him. The aged Silver has decided that he wishes to locate the buried silver on Treasure Island and has thus paid for and crewed a vessel to this aim. Natalie (Nat) and Jim will be his representatives on the venture, and Jim is quickly persuaded to participate. As one would expect, the journey is not a smooth one, and the intrepid party meet all sorts of dangers when they land on the island and find that there is a nasty and sadistic regime in charge there, led by the former marooned pirates. The novel is written in a very different style from the original. Motion’s prose is poetic and lushly descriptive. The story does not pretend to be anything other than a fantasy and is an unambiguous and seemingly semi-allegorical battle between good and evil and the temptations that men are subject to. As such, it is not really a historical novel rooted firmly in the culture and mores of the times. It is an enjoyable and a fine read, though I am not entirely sure what Andrew Motion is trying to achieve in this book. Doug Kemp THE LINCOLN CONSPIRACY Timothy L. O’Brien, Ballantine, 2012, $26.00/ C$31.00, 346pp, 9780345496775 It seems that limping, cane-wielding, 19thcentury heroes are popping out of the woodwork these days. The BBC’s star of Copper hobbles the streets of a rough-and-tumble New York City, bludgeoning criminals, wayward priests and bankers alike, and now Timothy O’Brien’s detective, Temple McFadden, limps into scenes set in a shattered post-bellum Washington, DC, a month after President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Temp is a trifle less vicious in his cane usage but equally appealing. (The 1977 quasidocumentary by the same name as this novel did 19th Century

not, in fact, feature a disabled lead character.) However, the O’Brien novel succeeds in ways that neither the British TV show nor the critically panned re-enactment does. O’Brien draws from his love of the Civil War era and, instead of getting all serious about a new conspiracy theory, contents himself with entertaining the reader. He takes historical figures of the time — the much maligned Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, legendary spymaster Allan Pinkerton, famed photographer Alexander Gardner, abolitionist Sojourner Truth, and others — then effectively combines them with characters purely of his imagination, such as Temple’s delightfully spunky wife, Fiona. The story leaps into vivid action from page one, with the discovery of two diaries on the body of a dead man. One belongs to President Lincoln’s widow, Mary Todd Lincoln. The other is an encrypted journal kept by the president’s supposed killer, John Wilkes Booth. They must be protected, their secrets revealed. Temple vows to discover their hidden truths, and it seems everyone else in Washington wants to stop him. There is nothing more fun than losing oneself in O’Brien’s rich and riotous mixture of reimagination and fact. History buffs will enjoy recognizing familiar faces and facts, and readers unaccustomed to historical fiction may well be won over to the genre after reading this fast-paced, well-conceived adventure. Kathryn Johnson JEREMIAH’S HUNGER Elizabeth Osta, Borealis, 2011, $19.95, pb, 328pp, 9780888874337 In the 1840s, the potato famine ravaged Ireland. Crop failures, starvation, and emigration to America reduced the population of the country up to 25%, but Ireland was troubled before then. Until 1828, Irish Catholics had been barred from owning land. When the blight struck, most of them were still renting tiny farms from English landlords. If the starving families couldn’t pay their rent, they were evicted. Jeremiah’s Hunger, a 2011 historical novel by Elizabeth Osta, explores the aftermath of the Great Famine. Jeremiah Buckley came into manhood during this bitter time and watches family and friends die or cross the ocean forever. His physical hunger is eased through hard work and wise farming, but his soul craves the day that his beloved Ireland is freed from oppressive English laws. When Jeremiah flirts with Irish nationalism, the violent tactics of the Fenians repel him, but the brutal suppression of rebellion brings even greater horror. He finally finds peace in a quest to own his farm. Osta taps family history for Jeremiah’s Hunger, for Jeremiah is her great-grandfather. She weaves a moving tale of her family’s struggles, and Osta’s vivid descriptions of Ireland and its people are often breathtaking. However, interweaving the Buckleys’ story with that of Jeremiah’s in-laws who immigrated to America, with its large cast of characters and frequent changes of venue, is 19th Century

sometimes distracting. But Jeremiah’s Hunger comes to a lovely close when Osta’s grandmother comes to the fore as she prepares to leave home for America. I hope Osta continues to write about Maggie Buckley, because that girl came alive for me. Jo Ann Butler THE CRUEL TRADE Clifford Peacock, Robert Hale, 2012, £19.99, hb, 224pp, 9780709095835 This unusual novel is set in Zanzibar in the mid-19th century, where slavery, ivory and trade from the northern ports have made the Sultan and his minister Tippu Tip fabulously wealthy. Africa’s rich eastern coast and inland areas had already attracted the attention of the English, but the Sultan of Zanzibar intended to pre-empt their ambitions. The Cruel Trade tells the story of the extraordinary expedition made by Captain Khalil – who has been coerced to abandon his dhow – into the heart of East Africa to lay claim to a remote valley inhabited by descendants of none other than the Queen of Sheba. Khalil, an engaging character who finds himself caught in an international intrigue, is forced by Tippu Tip to make the journey and, above all, to bring back a rich haul of slaves and ivory. If he fails, his three surviving wives and his family will suffer. Colonel Hamerton’s involvement in Khalil’s adventure may be fictional, but the Englishman played a key part in the subsequent abolition of the slave trade in Zanzibar. Rich in detail and description, this book draws on the author’s personal knowledge of East Africa to create a convincing and illuminating picture of a littleknown episode in the continent’s long history of conquest and slavery. Lucinda Byatt BLOODY WINTER Andrew Pepper, Phoenix/Trafalgar Square, 2012, $14.95/£7.99, pb, 266pp, 9781780220116 Bloody Winter has two protagonists, and each tells his story in alternating chapters. The first narrator is the series’ Detective Inspector Pyke, who travels from London to rural Wales to assist with a child kidnapping case. The second is a young Irish constable in Tipperary who is charged with quickly disposing the case of a murdered vagrant. This creatively told and very emotionally compelling mystery is set in Wales and Ireland in the late 1840s and intimately acquaints us with the Irish famine, Welsh poverty, worker unrest and violence and most importantly, the indiscriminate greed of the wealthy landowners. There is nothing even remotely appealing about this setting, and Pepper has chosen it for just that reason. This outstanding mystery surpasses the traditional ones on many levels. Although we quickly come to know the two narrators, we continually wonder how these two independent stories will come together. The startling truth is revealed at the end, but the story’s true meaning will stay with you much longer. Veronika Pelka

A SUNLESS SEA Anne Perry, Ballantine, 2012, $26.00, hb, 384pp, 9780345510648 / Headline, 2012, £7.99, pb, 448pp, 9780755386208 Early on a November morning in 1864, while rowing from his duties on the Thames, William Monk of the River Police hears screams. A woman is discovered, brutally murdered. Monk and his usual cast of assistants, wife Hester and barrister Sir Oliver Rathbone, investigate a trail that leads them to the suicide of a prominent doctor several months earlier, to the upper levels of society and farthest reaches of empire in the Opium Wars. Will an innocent person hang to keep the image of imperial profits alive? This is the eighteenth title in the Monk series. No previous book need be read, Perry is so skillful at bringing you up to speed — rip-roaring speed. How does she do it? And the wonderful Perry mix of good and bad in every character. The invention of hollow needles for the injection of opium is merely one detail interesting beyond the plot itself. The only thing I missed throughout the book was a description of the murdered woman’s lodgings near the beginning. Monk would certainly have learned things introduced only later; their lack earlier was noticeable, a demerit on his skills. Ann Chamberlin THE TATTOOED DUKE Maya Rodale, Avon, 2012, $7.99, pb, 371pp, 9780062088925 Eliza Fielding is one of the London Weekly’s famous Writing Girls—a group of women who, quite scandalously, write for one of Regency London’s most notable tabloids. Her latest assignment is to go undercover in the household of Sebastian Digby, the Duke of Wycliff, to see what dirt she can dig up. The Wycliffs are known for seducing their servants, so it’s an assignment that could end in disaster. Though she joins the household in order to tell a lurid story, Eliza soon finds herself sympathizing with the duke, who is an intelligent, adventurous man who never expected to find himself in his current position—and who has found that his family’s affairs are extremely messy. Her sympathy soon turns to love, but will Wycliff forgive her when he finds out who she is? Rodale’s latest is a quick read featuring a daring hero who is a fish out of water among the ton, and a heroine whose eye for a good story gets her much more than she expected. The resolution is happy, as expected, and the couple has fun getting to their happy ending. Nanette Donohue DEATH OF A SCHOOLGIRL (The Jane Eyre Chronicles) Joanna Campbell Slan, Berkley, 2012, pb, 352pp, 9780425247747 In 1820, Jane and Edward Rochester are living happily in Yorkshire. Two alarming notes arrive from their ward, Adèle, attending a boarding school in London. One is a coded message, in French, for help, and the second a death threat. They HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 33

immediately decide to visit London. However, their doctor forbids Edward to travel, for medical reasons, and finally Jane journeys alone to London and stays with a family friend, Lucy. Jane arrives at the boarding school and is horrified to see a dead body being carted out. Jane is mistaken for the new German teacher. The head teacher, Miss Miller, informs her that the dead girl was Adèle’s roommate. Jane is surprised to find Adèle sleeping, having been given a dose of laudanum to calm her hysteria. When the Bow Street Runners start an investigation, Lucy and her brother — an inquiry agent — believe a killer is on the prowl. Being short staffed, Miss Miller convinces Jane to stay on as the German teacher to protect the other students. Jane decides to accept the position as well as play amateur sleuth to unearth the murderer and thus protect Adèle, despite putting herself at risk. From here on the novel takes the form of an entertaining murder mystery that has us guessing up to the end. While Slan is an accomplished author with over a dozen books and a mystery series to her credit, it is surprising that she chose to base this novel as a sequel to Jane Eyre, especially since this well written story can stand on its own. There is no need to have read Jane Eyre first. Although the start of the novel is indeed in Charlotte Brontë’s flowery style, it subsequently smoothes out to a narrative more suitable for a murder mystery. Recommended. Waheed Rabbani THE POISONOUS SEED Linda Stratmann, The History Press/Trafalgar Square, 2012, $11.95/C$16.95, pb, 269pp, 9780752461182 In Victorian London, Frances Doughty is the daughter of a respected chemist. When a customer dies after drinking a digestive medicine prepared by their shop, her elderly father is accused of mistakenly putting too much strychnine in the tincture. To save his reputation, Frances sets out to prove that the victim was murdered, and uncovers a complicated plot involving fraud, embezzlement and another murder from a decade before. Using wit and intelligence, she struggles to unmask a killer and also discovers disturbing secrets in her own family. With no past predilection for investigating, or experience in impersonation, Frances’ success seems far-fetched. However, her adventures as a detective, and the slowly unraveling evidence of multiple crimes in a murky Victorian setting, make for a gripping read. I look forward to the next book in the series. Diane Scott Lewis THE SECRET ARCHIVES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES June Thomson, Allison & Busby, 2012, £19.99/$29.95, hb, 286pp, 9780749011369 June Thomson has published a number of these pastiches of the famous stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. They all consist of a series of rediscovered cases written by Dr Watson towards the end of 34 | Reviews |

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the 19th century, now in the possession of a relative. These stories are recognisably in the narrative style and voice of Dr Watson, with his enthusiasm and occasionally ingenuous observation of the brilliance of Holmes, using characters and cases referred to in the canon. They are excellent entertainment and are plotted well, though there is the occasional lacunae left unexplained and a historical solecism or two. Holmes displays his usual admirable detective work to solve cases that leave the more pedestrian Watson floundering behind. Very much recommended for Holmes and Watson aficionados who wish to read more about the affairs of these two upstanding Englishmen. Doug Kemp CAPTAIN BLACKWELL’S PRIZE V. E. Ulett, Fireship, 2012, $19.95, pb, 274pp, 9781611792256 During the early 1800s, England is at war with France and Spain. Captain James Blackwell, aboard HMS Inconstant, captures the Spanish galleon La Trinidad. A passenger on the Spanish ship is Dona Mercedes de Aragon, a young woman sailing to Spain from Alta California to meet with her deceased mother’s family. In order to protect Mercedes from the crewmembers, Captain Blackwell has his “prize” sleep in a nearby cabin. They eventually become romantically involved as they sail to Gibraltar for new orders. Mercedes then accompanies Captain Blackwell on his new assignment. Romance and the high seas are this novel’s focus. In most books in this genre, the wife or lover of the captain remains at home while he sails off aboard his ship. I am not sure the British Navy allowed cohabitation between men and women while at sea, but it is a fictional story; therefore, writers are allowed a little leeway. All that said, the author has presented a fine story with little of the nautical jargon so often found in other books about the British Navy. The characters are intriguing – Captain Blackwell loves to dive into the ocean naked periodically to take a bath – and the novel incorporates accurate historical events and concise, crisp dialog. Female readers may enjoy it because the protagonists’ relationship is the main storyline, rather than the usual naval battles found in this genre. A sequel is in the works for another adventure with the Captain and his lady. Highly recommended for those who enjoy a romantic tale with a little action included as well. Jeff Westerhoff THE PAINTED BRIDGE Wendy Wallace, Scribner, 2012, $25.00/C$28.99, hb, 304pp, 9781451660821 / Simon & Schuster UK, 2012, £14.99, hb, 400pp, 9780857209276 In 1859 London, Anna Palmer is committed to an insane asylum by her minister husband. She is not psychotic but has embarrassed him by going off on her own to try to aid survivors of a shipwreck. Once in the asylum, she struggles to prove herself sane and finally to escape. She meets other women

there who are victims of Victorian society, and a sympathetic doctor who has the odd belief that the new art of photography can reveal the inward mind and help in diagnosing mental illness. This novel seems well researched. It vividly portrays practices in mental hospitals of the time, and gives the reader a painfully clear idea of the vulnerable legal position of women in Victorian England. Anna initially makes a quick decision to marry a man she hardly knows, because she is without means of support after her mother dies. She struggles with haunting visions of her own past, which she comes to understand in the course of the book. It’s impossible not to pity her in her powerlessness, but I found her hard to truly identify with. Her husband is a one-dimensional villainous fraud rather than a fully fleshed-out character. The much belabored idea of photography as a diagnostic tool in psychiatry struck me as bizarre and did not hold my interest. The writing is often lyrical, and Anna’s desperation gives the book a thread of suspense. But at times it seemed the author was more focused on making philosophical points than in storytelling. In the end I was not caught up in the story and felt little involvement with the characters. Phyllis T. Smith BRIDE OF THE HIGH COUNTRY Kaki Warner, Berkley Sensation, 2012, $15, pb, 400pp, 9780425247501 Irish immigrant Margaret Hamilton lost her family at a young age and was the victim of devastating abuse at the hands of a brothel owner. Though she was saved from a life of prostitution, the wounds of her past still haunt her. Determined to never be a victim again, Margaret plans to marry Doyle Kerrigan, a railroad tycoon whose Irish heritage makes him an unsuitable match for the blue-bloods of New York. Kerrigan’s wealth will allow Margaret to control her own destiny – or so she thinks. When Margaret discovers the dark secret of her fiancé’s past, she jilts him at the altar and flees for the West, where she reinvents herself yet again, taking the name Lucinda. But Kerrigan’s business partner, Tait Rylander, is hot on Lucinda’s trail, and the time they spend together on the westbound train awakens their passion for each other. Warner’s love of the Western U.S. and the era of westward expansion is apparent in her rich detail and lovely descriptions of frontier life. Though this is the third in Warner’s Runaway Brides quartet, it stands well on its own. However, readers familiar with the two earlier books in the series will enjoy seeing Lucinda’s perspective on the events that took place in previous books. Fans of frontier romances will enjoy this engaging, fast-paced novel. Nanette Donohue WILDERNESS Lance Weller, Bloomsbury USA, 2012, $25.00, hb, 304pp, 9781608199372 More than thirty years have passed since the 19th Century

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

THE SOLEDAD CRUCIFIXION

Nancy Wood, Univ. of New Mexico Press, 2012, $21.95, pb, 9780826351289 What novel that opens with the voluntary Good Friday crucifixion of a Catholic priest in the mountains of northern New Mexico Territory in 1897 would not instantly captivate its readers? The Soledad Crucifixion does exactly that in the beautifully haunting style of Nancy Wood, the Santa Fe author whose numerous works of fiction, poetry, and photography have chronicled the life and culture of the Pueblo peoples in the “Land of Enchantment.” Enchantment is at the heart of this novel as Father Lorenzo Soledad, a man ambivalent about Church dogma, a man who flouts the vows of chastity, a man who shot and killed his prostitute mother, comes to the little town of Camposanto. Here he is to minister to the stubborn, mostly pagan and greatly impoverished Calabazas, but finds, instead, their oneness with nature and the spirits they see in everything creeping into his belief system. Then there is La Luz, the Custodian of Desire, a beautiful and sensual young woman whose charms ensnare the priest in an unholy affair … or is it his charms that have overpowered her? The Indians are struggling with federal authorities to keep their homeland, a struggle into which Soledad is drawn. He believes he can find personal redemption for his past sins if he can win that fight for the Calabazas, but at what price? This novel is a story filled with magic, spirituality, and Pueblo traditions, all played out in the heartbreakingly beautiful landscape of northern New Mexico. It is a wonderfully written and supremely entertaining book, highly recommended. John Kachuba close of the Civil War, yet its ghosts and wounds still haunt Abel Truman. He has spent those years on the Pacific coast of Washington, a remote corner of a world that stripped him of his wife and child and led him through a war that saw the death of all his friends and left him permanently crippled. His shack, made from flotsam found on the beach, and his beloved dog are his only sanctuary from his memories. Abel had been a Confederate soldier, though he fought for no particular cause. He was a lucky soldier, never wounded until the fighting in the Wilderness of Spotsylvania. There he was shot in the arm and saved from certain death by the succor given by a runaway slave. But Abel is sick. He’s been sick since the war, but it has become unbearable. He takes what few things he needs from his shack and he and his dog head down the beach. This is to be his last journey, and along the way he meets others who are just as lost, others who are even more broken. He soon learns that he has one last purpose to serve and maybe one last chance at redemption. Wilderness takes us through some of the worst fighting of the war and some of the worst of what man can be. We meet compelling characters along the way, each one broken or lost in his or her own way, each one making their way through their own wilderness. This is Weller’s debut novel, and it is written in a compelling literary style. The story and characters will stick with me for some time to come, and I 19th Century — 20th Century

look forward to following his career. Justin M. Lindsay SHORT-STRAW BRIDE Karen Witemeyer, Bethany House, 2012, $14.99, pb, 368pp, 9780764209659 Meredith (Mere) Hayes gave her heart to Travis Archer when she was 10 years old, when he rescued her from an animal trap. Now that she is an orphan, Mere’s greedy aunt and uncle want her to marry someone she does not like. Travis Archer promised his dying father he would care for his three younger brothers and protect the land and stay away from strangers. Mere’s erstwhile fiancé plans to burn out the Archers, and she notifies them of the plot. But her kindness backfires when she spends the night at the Archer homestead without a chaperone. Her aunt and uncle insists Mere marry one of the Archer brothers. Drawing straws, Travis gets the short straw, and the bride. The importance of family, the loyalty brought by friendship, and kindness to others play a big part in this story. Set in Texas after the Civil War, there is a subplot involving the schooling of freed slaves and the relationship with their white neighbors which is eye opening as well as entertaining. Humor, romance, history, interesting plot and great characters—Short-Straw Bride has it all. A lovely Christian romance. Recommended. Monica E. Spence

20th century

THE DARLING DAHLIAS AND THE CONFEDERATE ROSE Susan Wittig Albert, Berkley Prime Crime, 2012, $24.95/C$26.50, hb, 286pp, 9780425247761 This third mystery in an ongoing series is a sweet, nostalgic, regional puzzle set in Depressionera Darling, Alabama. The Darling Dahlias are a fourteen-member garden club. For some firsttime readers, keeping them and their story lines straight may be a little overwhelming. This wellwritten novel by a multipublished author blends a fond look back at the 1930s with a hard dose of the period’s difficult realities. Garden portrayals are lyrical, and the elaborate descriptions of everything from medications to cars – including what everything costs – put the reader solidly into the setting. The intertwining mystery lines involve a Confederate spy, a missing $15,000, and the inexplicable behavior of an agitated garden club member. Loose ends are tied up satisfactorily by the end of the story. Enough is left hanging to make the reader want to return to Darling and see what happens in the next installment. The characters become real people whom many readers will wish to see again. The author includes a historical note, a resource list, and even tempting Southern recipes. Fans of the Deep South, gardening, the Confederate cause, and cozy mysteries will enjoy this multilayered novel. Yankees should visit Darling, too. Elizabeth Knowles THE NERUDA CASE Roberto Ampuero, Riverhead, 2012, $26.95, hb, 352pp, 9781594487439 Cayetano Brule is unemployed with a marriage in crisis but still determined to live his own life, no longer being dictated to by his wife, whose passion is really military socialism. The man Cayetano is about to meet would be proud of his decision. Pablo Neruda, Nobel-winning poet, is dying but seeks out Cayetano for a mysterious mission, to find an oncologist who supposedly lives in Mexico. Cayetano Brule accepts the task, which turns him into an international spy, one who follows an ever-changing trail to Mexico, Cuba, Germany, Trinidad, and back to Chile. But Chile, like the Neruda Cayetano has come to understand well, is about to undergo its own radical death. For Salvatore Allende’s reign as President of Chile is about to violently end with the Pinochet coup in the 1970s. All of the women in this story, including Neruda’s past loves, have a stormy, secretive role in revolutionary politics in all of the countries to which Cayetano travels. In between the story about the detective’s search depicted in each chapter are pages in which the great poet writes of the graphic passion he knew with each woman, followed by the gradual death of that love, usually fueled by politics. This is the story of a poet whose life perfectly parallels the changing political life of Chile. Its beauty lies in the complex motives, actions, and conversations that plot the course of those seeking to politically live like Neruda’s passionate verses and HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 35

evolving into his confusion and despair. Ampuero’s story is well-researched, comprehensive, and so well-written about the many levels of poetry and politics in Pablo Neruda’s world. Viviane Crystal SEVEN HOUSES IN FRANCE Bernard Atxaga (trans. Margaret Jull Costa), Graywolf, 2011, $14.00, pb, 256pp, 9781555976231 / Harvill Secker, 2011, £16.99, hb, 256pp, 9781846554476 The Belgian occupation of the Congo was one of the bloodiest, cruelest events in modern history, a fact reflected in the title of this cryptic and powerful novel about colonialism. Captain Biran, commander of a post on the banks of the Congo River in 1903, has already bought six houses in France: one more, in the most expensive city in France, will complete his wife’s ambitions. How those homes are purchased provides the heart of this novel: not just with proceeds from the rubber industry and its dependent slavery, but with additional corruption and graft aside from the profits of the formal military occupation. All is proceeding well, at least by Biran’s viewpoint, until newcomer Chrysostome Liege arrives. A superior marksman (important for dealing with the runaway slaves), Liege is a mystery to his peers: he doesn’t drink to oblivion, rape or forage for loot. The reader wants to like Liege – someone has to be humane and likeable, right? That he is named “Golden mouthed” (as in St. John Chrysostom) is promising, but ultimately a blind lead. Liege is not much more moral than his cohorts, just less noisy. The events of the novel are constructed around the arrival and installation of a statue of the Virgin Mary, an event that becomes as anti-climactic as the promise of Liege’s name, but also contrasts frighteningly with the violence against woman in this novel. Atxaga, a prizewinning novelist whose work has been translated into 22 languages, is a formidable writer. This novel gives us historical fiction that provides not just events but cause and effect. Landscape, culture and life itself become part of a monstrous machine that destroys much more than it provides, including the humanity of the participants. This is as important a piece of political writing as I have ever read. Jeanne Mackin ISABEL’S SKIN Peter Benson, Alma, 2012, £14.99, hb, 276pp, 9781846882067 Book valuer David Morris is summoned to Belmont Hall to value the collection of the late Lord Buff-Orpington, a specialist in works of the Age of Enlightenment. David finds himself caught up in a mystery of Gothic monstrosity, in which even the weather, ruinously wet, causing crops to fail and livestock to fall sick, conspires. “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed”, reads the epigraph, quoting from 1 Corinthians, and David’s encounter with the fabulous Isabel Carter will 36 | Reviews |

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change him for ever. Although Benson’s novel is set in an indeterminate Edwardian period, and wears its Gothic credentials on its sleeve, the roots of his tale go much deeper, through Coleridge’s Lamia, to the Breton myth of Melusine, to the Sybil and the romance of Cupid and Psyche. It is full of M. R. Jamesian suspense and Mary Shelley-ish frissons, but it is really a story about the rewards and dangers of risking everything for love. As the scales fall from David’s eyes, and he is led deeper into the mysteries of his love, both for his cold, difficult and brokenhearted father and for Isabel, he leaves the beautiful rationality of Belmont’s library behind him and enters a nightmare world from which only love can save him. Recurring imagery to do with snakes and apples serves to remind us that knowledge – seeing – is both dangerous and irresistible. Slightly marred for me by Benson’s tendency to take a metaphor and wring the last ounce of life out of it, and by some inconsistency in the narrative voice, this is nevertheless a gripping mystery, a touching romance, and a novel which has serious points to make even as it entertains. I read it in a single sitting. Sarah Bower SHE WORE ONLY WHITE Dörthe Binkert, AmazonCrossing, 2012, $14.95,

THE HOT COUNTRY

pb, 270pp, 9781612182919 It is said the journey is more important than the destination. That is true of She Wore Only White. From the moment the beautiful lady in the white evening gown steps foot on the ocean liner Kroonland, her mysterious appearance causes scandal. Quickly rumor gets around that the lady is a stowaway of unknown origins, friendless, penniless, and with only the white dress to her name. Those passengers kind or brave enough to speak to her in those first days express surprise at her vacant and melancholy demeanor. The sculptor Henri, on his way to the World’s Fair in St. Louis, decides she must be escaping a very sad past, and as it turns out, so is he. As the days spent cramped inside the ship draw the passengers closer, they find comfort and maybe some clarity in their newfound and unexpected relationships with each other. As they unknowingly turn to one another for support over rough seas, literally and figuratively, revelations and life-changing decisions are made. The character development in this novel is slow and steady and complete, and the prose elegantly expresses the yearning, oppression, and hope felt at the turn of the 20th century, a time when society was changing rapidly, to the pleasure and dismay of the passengers of the Kroonland. The story is just a priceless snapshot in so many peoples’ lives and will

E D I TORS’ CH OICE

Robert Olen Butler, The Mysterious Press, 2012, $25/C$30.95/£16.99, hb, 336pp, 9780802120465 War reporter Christopher “Kit” Marlowe Cobb is in Mexico in the spring of 1914, covering the Mexican civil war, the U.S. troops in Vera Cruz, and the furtive maneuverings of Germans – who were coming ashore for what reprehensible purpose? Cobb soon witnesses shootings, recruits a child pickpocket as extra eyes and ears, and falls for his laundress, Luisa, despite immediately realizing that she is far more than a simple washerwoman. Before long, he’s shooting back. Robert Olen Butler has won enough plaques, including a Pulitzer, to cover a wall, but after coming up for air after reading the first paragraph of The Hot Country, I wondered if he hadn’t imbibed too much Woody Allen during this book’s writing. I kept with the story (had to – I was reviewing it) and ended up with a new entry among my favorite authors. Butler writes action scenes in a unique way that perfectly captures the way time slows down during disaster and death – it’s a different flow altogether, but how to show that? Butler does it through sentence structure, a kind of magic that recalls the fact that grammar and glamour (magic) derive from the same root. Beyond that, he’s come up with a believable scenario that would have changed history had our hero not been on hand to right things – in itself a wonderful achievement. Authors aiming for this usually fall into the clutches of death ray-wielding Nazi psychics bent on world domination. Butler, in contrast, offers up something plausible yet memorable in the guise of Pancho Villa and the Kaiser’s Germans. The Hot Country is literate, funny, action-packed, vivid, and intriguing. It brings to life a rarely written-about historical episode and introduces a sexy, smart, and brave character – Kit Cobb – with whom you’ll want to spend more time. Recommended. Kristen Hannum 20th Century

leave you wondering where their lives took them when they left the Kroonland and at last stepped onto solid land again. Cynthia McArthur BEGGAR’S FEAST Randy Boyagoda, Pintail, 2012, $16.00, pb, 320pp, 9780670066582 “Beggar at the feast! Master of the dance!” The chorus from the musical Les Misérables will ring in your ears while reading this rags-to-riches saga spanning the 100-year life (1899-1999) of a Sri Lankan man. In a remote Ceylonese village, young Ranjith — unable to chase off crows on his birthdays — is blamed for the recurring droughts and pronounced ruinous by an astrologer. The 10-year-old is relinquished to a monastery, where he spends three years and suffers sexual abuse. He escapes, but not before taking revenge on a pedophile monk, who called him squirrel, by knowing “where to kick.” He changes his name to Sam Kandy and embarks on an adventurous journey to Colombo, where he learns much from a street hustler. He stows away on a ship to Australia, where he works for an affluent family. At his next stop, he toils as a street hustler, and in three years there “might have been the richest virgin in Singapore.” Sam eventually returns to his village in the manner he’d promised, “like it had never been done before,” wearing a suit, and in a motorcar! More riches follow from his business dealings and particularly during World War II, while helping the British military. He lives a luxurious life with three marriages and sixteen children. Other reviewers have aptly compared him to fictional characters in the like of Mr. Biswas, Duddy Kravitz, or Jay Gatsby. Boyagoda does a superb job of telling this century-long tale, which others might take a trilogy to cover, in just 311 pages. Eastern readers will recognize this novel as the kind of story told orally by elders, perhaps around a campfire, one with less showing but producing more images in the minds of the listeners. It’s entertaining, with much insight into the life and times of that era in the East. Recommended. Waheed Rabbani THE HARBOUR Francesca Brill, Bloomsbury, 2011, £11.99, pb, 335pp, 9781408814826 A young American journalist is in Hong Kong primarily to write a society gossip book about the Soong sisters, three Chinese women with incredible lives. It is 1940, and war is very much on the horizon, although the frivolous society of the British colony seems largely oblivious of the rumblings around them and is totally unprepared for the Japanese invasion. The book is split into three parts. Part One covers the time before the invasion in which Stevie Steiber, the journalist, meets and falls in love with Major Harry Field, a British intelligence officer. Also onto the scene comes Jishang, a Chinese 20th Century

publisher who owns a political magazine. Part Two deals with the invasion itself and the terrible fate of the local people while Part Three ends the story in America. All characters, other than the Soong sisters themselves, are fictitious but well drawn, and the time in which they lived is real enough, coloured by politics, corruption and drugs. I knew very little about Hong Kong and the way it was affected by the events of 1940-45, and I have to confess that Part One tended to drag inasmuch that I ploughed on more from duty than enthusiasm, but once the action started it got more and more ‘unputdownable’. All in all a good read, but be prepared to persist if you don’t know much about Hong Kong politics in the 1940s. Marilyn Sherlock LUCKY BUNNY Jill Dawson, HarperPerennial, 2012, $14.99, pb, 384pp, 9780062202505 / Sceptre, 2012, £8.99, pb, 304pp, 9780340935682 The title of Jill Dawson’s seventh novel, Lucky Bunny, is ironic. The white bunny that Queenie Dove receives as a present from her petty criminal father may represent her innocence, contrasting it against her father’s escapades and her parents’ volatile relationship, but it never gives her the luck to escape from that situation. Instead it becomes a symbol for her lost innocence as she grows into a troubled and incarcerated teen. Even the attention given to Queenie by her grandmother couldn’t reverse the effects of the bad parenting. This narrative shares much in common with

SHADOWS IN THE SMOKE

Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders, beginning with Queenie, who alludes to the classic 18th-century novel. Like Moll Flanders, Queenie has a cheeky disregard for authority rooted in a tragic and victimized childhood. Beginning with her birth in 1933, Queenie’s story progresses through the starkness of her early childhood to her renaming of herself as “Queenie,” culminating in her rise to criminal fame and fortune in the early Sixties. It isn’t until she has a daughter of her own that Queenie decides to change her lifestyle in order to benefit her daughter, but only after one last job: the 1963 Great Train Robbery. Dawson’s light, comical writing balances the dark tone of this novel, while her fast pace and the engaging slang Queenie uses amongst her criminal milieu creates a feminist twist on the male gangster story. The characters are interesting, and Queenie’s criminal tendencies never make her unlikeable. Indeed, Queenie Dove comes out on top as a smart, creative, and tough woman who seizes her chance to make a life for herself and her child that is vastly different from the one that ushered Queenie into criminal life. Terri Baker SHADOWS IN THE SKY Mary de Laszlo, Robert Hale, 2012, £19.99, hb, 223pp, 9780709099482 Verity and Clemency are sisters, daughters of a senior naval officer, who are respectively 17 and 18 at the outbreak of WW2. Shadows in the Sky is the story of their adventures, romantic and otherwise (mainly romantic), during the conflict. Verity decides that her best contribution to the

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Tony Broadbent, MP Publishing, 2012, $14.95, pb, 424pp, 9781849821568 It is 1949, and London is still recovering from World War II. Jethro, a Cockney cat burglar, has just scored a heist of magnificent diamond jewelry and is making his escape when he sees the shadow of another cat burglar climbing up the side of the same building, undoubtedly after the same diamonds. Later that same night the man Jethro robbed, a member of Parliament, jumps to his death. It is reported later that it is not a suicide because the MP was already dead hours before his body hit the ground. Suddenly, Jethro is the chief suspect and is being hunted not by the police but by London’s biggest crime lord. Since he doesn’t want his corpse served up to the police as the murderer, Jethro has to solve the crime himself. He enlists help from his underworld, outlaw connections, several of whom die or disappear under mysterious circumstances immediately after speaking with him. Now more than ever it is a matter of life and death for Jethro. Tony Broadbent has written a stirring, suspensefilled thriller that will keep readers riveted. The plot twists and turns, tangles and untangles with the hero on the run. Readers will be on tenterhooks throughout while following the hero through a nostalgic tour of postwar London. Shadows in the Smoke is truly a cannot-put-down book. Audrey Braver HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 37

FACE OF THE ENEMY

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

Joanne Dobson and Beverle Graves Myers, Poisoned Pen Press, 2012, $26.95, hb, 250pp, 9781464200335 / Also $14.95, pb, 9781464200328 War is about to be declared against Germany and Japan. Americans are traumatized by Japan’s military attack on Pearl Harbor. Suspicion and prejudice are running high. Even before these momentous historical events, Masako Fumio’s art show is beset by anti-Japanese sentiment, specifically amplified by a woman who during the opening of the show throws a glass of wine at one of Masako’s best paintings. This painting combines abstract and traditional Japanese poetry in calligraphy, a combination that will make her the foremost target of FBI and New York police investigation after the sponsor of her art is murdered, his body deliberately left in front of the same painting. Louise Hunter, a nurse taking care of Masako’s husband, Professor Oakley, is present when the FBI arrives to take Masako away for questioning and imprisonment. Louise enlists the help of a notable attorney to help free Masako, while Detective Mike McKenna investigates the murder of her art sponsor. Many so-called friends have alibis for the night of the murder, but they also have motives galore that earn them the label “suspect.” What works so well in this novel is the perfect balance between history and the mystery being unraveled. The FBI is hoping to trade Masako with some high-ranking persons imprisoned in Japan; their obvious prejudice and devious treatment of Masako is guaranteed to elicit strong reactions from the reader. Mike McKenna is the perfect detective, slow to believe in Masako’s innocence but fair enough to hold off a final opinion until completion of his task. A subplot involving a Nazi sympathizer and his family adds unbridled tension. Overall, Face of the Enemy is an accurate, exciting novel, demonstrating the finest writing in historical fiction and the mystery genre. A must read! Viviane Crystal war effort is to ‘raise the morale of the troops’ by frequenting dances and parties around the naval base at Scapa Flow. Clemency is made of sterner stuff and joins the Air Transport Auxiliary, ferrying aircraft to RAF bases throughout Britain. They both fall in love with the same Italian POW (those romantic POWs!), Verity falls pregnant, and Clemency takes her to London to have the baby in secret. Their mother meets them there but before they can explain the situation a German V-bomb kills Verity and her mother at church. V-bombs are a very convenient plot device: they have a high fatality rate, they are random, so no problems of motive, and they arrive without warning, so do not need any introduction. That is not quite the end of the story. This is a pleasant read which I think tries to be more than the average romance, musing on the transitoriness of life and love (‘we are shadows in the sky’). It did not quite succeed for me. Edward James THE LAST NEWSPAPERMAN Mark Di Ionno, Plexus, 2012, $22.95, hb, 232pp, 9780937548745 In 1999, a feature writer with the Shore Record in New Jersey arrives at The Oceanview, a new assisted living center. He is in search of a potential eyewitness to interview for an end-of-the-century 38 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 62, November 2012

story. He expects to find a dismal, perhaps dark facility to match a gloomy, geriatric population. Once inside, his perceptions are way off the mark. He is introduced to spunky 93-year-old Fred Haines, who lives surrounded by a bright and pleasant atmosphere. Humorous and somewhat prickly, Fred is an ex-newspaperman with a sharpas-a-tack memory. Sharing a common interest in news, Haines and the visitor begin to talk. What the old guy has to share is more than he expects. Di Ionno’s novel examines the nature of 1930s journalism through Haines’ eyes. He was a tabloid voyeur who would often invent and twist his stories to sell papers. It was never about fairness. Haines reflects on his career and shares his insight and firsthand coverage of several major stories of the era: the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh’s son, the explosion of the Hindenburg, the execution of Ruth Snyder, and the Morro Castle ocean liner fire. As Fred chronicles his reporting life and shares events about his lost love, the visitor sees his ethical transformation from voyeur to savior. When he became part of the story he realized: “For the first time in my life, I was part of something not just working the edges.” Mark Di Ionno writes about what he knows, making this a suspenseful and convincing read. The Last Newspaperman is a prescient historical novel with relevance today as the digital age of social and

mass media create an even greater blur between reality and fiction. Wisteria Leigh THE BARTENDER’S TALE Ivan Doig, Riverhead, 2012, $27.95/C$29.50, hb, 400pp, 9781594487354 Doig’s latest (after Work Song, 2010) is a compassionate coming-of-age story, in which a few years in a boy’s life, as remembered by the adult he becomes, are described in prose with the clarity of spring water. When Rusty Harry was two months old, his mother disappeared. Out of necessity, his father left the infant with an overworked aunt who already had two boys. The boy grows up knowing his parents never married, his mother doesn’t want him, and his father, who visits infrequently, doesn’t want him full time. Rusty develops into a sensitive child with the overdeveloped sense of responsibility that comes from trying to stay out of trouble. “I came to get the kid.” Tom Harry decides a 6-year-old is old enough to live with him and whisks his son away to Montana where he owns a bar. Rusty, who can hardly believe his luck, says that’s when “life stopped being cruddy.” Rusty loves his father, worries about him, and tries desperately to please him. In spite of Tom’s affectations — the black pompadour and gas-guzzling car — he’s a decent man who does the same. They both suffer from an inability to communicate. “The year of everything,” 1960, is when an old friend of Tom’s (a taxi dancer) and her teenage daughter turn the Harrys’ life upside down. Now 12, Rusty gets an education, partly by observation, partly by eavesdropping, and he absorbs a lot of misinformation. Is this woman his mother? Does Rusty have a sister? They have to talk. Revelations abound. To say all ends well is an exaggeration but not by much. The Bartender’s Tale is recommended for readers who enjoy good storytelling at a leisurely pace. Jeanne Greene THE HANDKERCHIEF TREE Anne Douglas, Severn House, 2012, $27.95/£19.99, hb, 224pp, 9780727881960 A delightful romance, The Handkerchief Tree follows the dreams of Shona Murray, raised in an orphanage in Dean Village, Edinburgh, during WWII. She befriends the local doctor’s young son, Mark Lindsay, one day in the garden, where he shares with her the rare “handkerchief tree.” This is the inspiration and the beginning of her dream to someday work in a florist shop rather than take the conventional route as a domestic servant upon leaving the orphanage. Her talents and enthusiasm for the florist business do not go unnoticed, with the new owner taking both a professional and personal interest in her. To marry Fraser Kyle would give her the security and allow her to work in the career that she so loves, but she is not in love with him. Two other men become a distraction to her, one of them the now-adult Dr. Lindsay, 20th Century

and they help her make up her mind about what direction her life should take. The author brings Edinburgh alive for the reader, and she has a rich cast of characters who interact at many levels with one another. This is a wonderful read and hard to put down. Beth Turza THE GREATCOAT Helen Dunmore, Atlantic Monthly Press, 2012, $24.00, hb, 208pp, 9780802120601 / Hammer, 2012, 9.99, pb, 208pp, 9780099564935 With rationing and housing shortages continuing in 1952 England, Dr. Philip Carey and his new wife, Isabel, make do with a cold, shabby flat near a former RAF airfield. As Philip works day and night to build up his practice, Isabel fills her days keeping house, then taking long walks to the airfield to escape. One night when Philip leaves on a call, Isabel sees a man in the front window who is dressed in an RAF greatcoat similar to an old, musty one she took from a cupboard to keep warm. He gestures with familiarity, but she shuts the curtains in fear. Later, the soldier returns to the window, and this time Isabel lets him in as he seems to know the place. What follows is a journey into a ghostly pastmade-present where Isabel allows herself to share the life of this mysterious soldier, Alec. Their encounters seem normal to Isabel, but tension builds for the reader, wondering when Philip will discover them. The nonstop intertwining of lives forms a labyrinthine plot, arriving at an explosive climax. Revealing surprises and sordid secrets kept hidden for years come to light. Much happens in so short a novel, but it is definitely worth the read. Tess Heckel AFTER CLARE Marjorie Eccles, Severn House, 2012, $28.95/£19.99, hb, 224pp, 9780727881977 In 1922, widowed Lady Emily Fitzallen returns home for the first time since her marriage many years ago. Her sister Clare disappeared from their ancestral home, Leysmorton Manor, shortly after Emily‘s marriage and has never been found. Then a body is discovered buried on the grounds of the estate and everyone wonders if it could be Clare. It turns out to be a young soldier who had worked at Leysmorton before the war. But when did he return, and who killed him? This country house murder is peopled with the usual characters with the usual secrets, but they’re well done, and there are enough suspects that you’re not sure whodunit till the end. The country house setting is delightful. I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the rooms, the furniture, the gardens, and how the house was used as a convalescent home during the war. A very pleasant read. Jane Kessler WHERE I LEFT MY SOUL Jerome Ferrari (trans. Geoffrey Strachan), MacLehose, 2012, £12.00, hb, 157pp, 20th Century

9780857051301 André Degorce is a man whose life has been both formed and distorted by the history of France in the 20th century. Internment in Buchenwald as a teenage resistance fighter diverts him from a career as a mathematician to the “absolute necessity” of becoming a professional soldier. He fights at Diên Biên Phu and is imprisoned by the Viet Minh, and now, as this brief, intense novel opens, he is presiding over a military prison in Algiers in 1957. Once his prisoners are “processed”, they are handed over to Lieutenant Andreani, who also served with him in Indochina, who makes them “disappear”. Degorce’s bad conscience finally becomes intolerable in the presence of Tahar, a leader of the Algerian resistance, who becomes the focus of his revulsion for his work as an army interrogator. While he honours Tahar’s achievements, Andreani wants only to see Tahar hang. This novel is a profound meditation on colonialism and the way in which it corrupts the souls of those who are obliged to serve it. The bleak circularity of the lives of its three principals shows how easy it is for the hero to become the villain, how noble sentiments can lead to unspeakable acts and how a man can become a stranger to himself and his family once he is lost in the paradoxical maze of committing terrible deeds for “good” ends. Although its setting is historical, its geopolitical relevance in our post-Arab Spring world is clear. In a fine translation by Geoffrey Strachan, Ferrari’s novel makes the paradox deeply personal and visceral. Its graphic scenes of torture are disturbingly erotic, and that raises a number of uncomfortable questions for readers as well as for the characters in the novel. Sarah Bower WINTER OF THE WORLD Ken Follett, Dutton, 2012, $36, hb, 960pp, 9780525952923 / Macmillan, 2012, £20, hb, 832pp, 9780230710108 The second in Follett’s Century Trilogy follows the main characters from Fall of Giants and their children as they navigate the major events of the 1930s and 1940s. Readers will see the rise of Nazi Germany, the epic battles of World War II, and the birth of the atomic era through the eyes of men and women from several countries. The opening sets the stage. Maud Von Ulrich (née Fitzherbert) is now a British expat living in Germany and married to the man she fell in love with during the Great War. Her son is drawn to Nazism, a movement anathema to the rest of their family, and conflict ensues. The Williams family’s fortunes rise as both Billy and Ethel are elected to Parliament, and the long-separated Peshkov brothers continue to grow further apart, with Grigori rising in Stalin’s army and Lev living a life of infidelity and petty crime in upstate New York. Boy Fitzherbert follows his father’s lead, becoming trapped in a loveless marriage with a woman who loves another man. Follett is at his best when there’s action and intrigue, and there’s plenty of that, especially in

the scenes set before and during World War II. A dramatic account of the Battle of Midway serves as a memorable climax to the subplot encompassing the war in the Pacific, while a dramatic confrontation between Boy Fitzherbert and his half-brother Lloyd Williams is a memorable scene from the European front. The novel isn’t always nuanced, and some events are glossed over in the name of moving the plot forward. However, it’s to Follett’s credit that this almost 1000-page book never seems to drag, and that he manages the large cast of characters so deftly. Winter of the World is a grand accomplishment, and one of the most thoroughly enjoyable books I’ve read this year. I’m looking forward to the next installment. Nanette Donohue THE LIGHTHOUSE ROAD Peter Geye, Unbridled, 2012, $24.95/C$25.95, hb, 304pp, 9781609530846 The Lighthouse Road might best be described as a family saga, except that the families are constructed out of characters who are alone in the world – orphans and immigrants. Gunflint, a tiny logging and fishing town in northern Minnesota, provides the setting, and the book does a marvelous job of making the harsh landscape part of the story. The narrative alternates primarily between two protagonists (one in the early 20th century and one in the late 19th century) to piece together the histories of four interwoven lives. Odd Eide is a 24-year-old fisherman, and Thea Eide is his Norwegian mother, a cook in a logging camp. Thea, we learn early, did not long survive the birth of her son. Odd was raised by the kindhearted people of Gunflint, primarily by Hosea Grimm (the town’s apothecary and its leading citizen) and his adopted daughter, Rebekah. The story takes off when circumstances convince Odd and Rebekah that they need to build a life together, away from Hosea’s control. Slowly, it becomes more apparent just how much influence Hosea had on their lives and how much control he still exerts. This is a beautifully written book, richly detailed, stark and tragic, but with glimmers of hopefulness. Sue Asher CROSSING ON THE PARIS Dana Gynther, Gallery, 2012, $15.00/C$17.00, pb, 384pp, 9781451678239 On June 15, 1921, the French liner Paris, combining Art Nouveau with Art Moderne in its lush, elegant interior design, left Le Havre on its maiden voyage to New York. Aboard in first class is Mrs. Vera Sinclair, an American heiress, who has been an expatriate living in Paris since 1890. She is in ill health and travelling with her maid. Vera regrets her decision to leave Paris and her dearest friend, Charles Wood, and spends most of the voyage reading her journals and revisiting her past. Mrs. Constance Stone is a second-class passenger, returning to her home in Worcester, Massachusetts, after a visit to Paris in a failed attempt to persuade her sister to return home with HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 39

her. Once aboard, Constance begins to see herself as a modern liberated woman. Her new-found confidence is inspired by the admiration of the ship’s doctor. Also, on this maiden voyage is Julie Vernet, a native of Le Havre, who has just received her assignment from the French Line to work as a server in the third-class dining room. Very young and innocent, Julie learns a wealth of life’s hard lessons during the sailing and manages to survive, battered but unbowed. During the five-day voyage, these three women’s paths cross and re-cross as their stories unfold, until the last night when they meet and form a unique bond of friendship. In this debut novel, Gynther has skillfully woven three stories each with its own heroine who is embarking on the maiden voyage of the Paris, which was originally launched in 1913, but its completion was postponed due to World War I. This is a pleasant novel, nicely written, and enjoyable to read. Audrey Braver BITTER DRINK F. G. Haghenbeck, AmazonCrossing, 2012, $14.95, pb, 161pp, 9781612183909 In 1963, beatnik P.I. Sunny Pascal is hired by a producer to keep Hollywood stars out of trouble during the filming of The Night of the Iguana. Pascal, who is half Mexican and speaks Spanish, travels to Puerto Vallarta, where the adulterous, sizzling romance between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (the star) has brought dozens of reporters to this small fishing village. When one of the movie staff is found murdered with a silver bullet, Pascal knows each actor was given a golden gun with silver bullets by eccentric director John Huston. Now Sunny must keep the actors out of jail. His investigation leads him to stolen jewelry, sex, land grabs, a mysterious roll of film, and the Mexican mafia. Pascal is a laid-back character who can be overly sarcastic and throws ill-advised punches with his mouth as well as his fists. Each chapter starts with a cocktail recipe and the history of the drink, as Sunny indulges in too much liquor. The story is told in the style of Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled detective genre, which works most of the time. There is just enough tension, mystery, and interaction with Hollywood’s elite to keep the reader intrigued in this slim book. Seeing the movie—which I have—would be a great help in understanding the machinations of this cast in this era and setting. Diane Scott Lewis THE SECRET BOOK OF FRIDA KAHLO F.G. Haghenbeck, Atria, 2012, $15.00/C$17.00, pb, 368pp, 9781451632835 Frida Kahlo’s (1907-1954) life is immortalized in her prismatic self-portraits. F.G. Haghenbeck embraces her often outlandish and spirited personality in The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo, a novel from Frida’s point of view told in an anecdotal diary format, based on the discovery of notebooks at her home in Mexico. The Hierba Santa Book 40 | Reviews |

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(The Sacred Herbs Book) was never found. Regardless of whether you have read about Kahlo, Haghenbeck has created a worthy portrayal of Frida, the artist, in this three-dimensionally tangible novel. Kahlo is an iconic figure who refused to give up on life. As a child, she recovered from life-threatening polio that left her with a withered spindly leg. She survived a near-fatal and self-described near-death experience after a horrific accident, when metal impaled her body. Kahlo believed she died that day, and Haghenbeck describes her life as haunted by two things: The Messenger (of death) and her spindly leg. She suffered unimaginable pain. To compensate, she learned to paint on her back with a mirror. She was cruelly taunted for her deformity and suffered the inability to have children. Haghenbeck depicts the artist’s indomitable zest for life through her numerous friendships with O’Keeffe, Trotsky, Hemingway, Rockefeller, Dali, Dos Passos and Henry Miller. Frida’s legendary recipes appear at the end of each chapter, a tasty culinary bonus. Above all, her tempestuous relationship with Diego Rivera would provide a lifelong challenge of emotional complexity, a man she would always love. Anyone who is familiar with Frida Kahlo will agree that Haghenbeck has nailed her persona. The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo is a novel as alluring and mystifying as the artist herself. A highly recommended accompaniment to the existing

HARD TWISTED

biographical works available. Wisteria Leigh CHRISTMAS AT EAGLE POND Donald Hall, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, $14.95, pb, 96pp, 9780547581484 In 1940, Donnie Hall is twelve years old. His mother has undergone surgery and needs peace and quiet at home to recover. Since it’s the Christmas holiday, Donnie is sent from his home in Hamden, Connecticut, to his grandparents’ farm in New Hampshire. Donnie makes this trip alone even though it requires a change of trains and a short journey to North Station in Boston. His grandfather meets him at journey’s end and, once installed in his room at the farm, Donnie relates his observations of daily life on the farm in winter, at times comparing it to his summer visits. We meet neighbors and relatives and hear stories of eccentric relatives who have passed on. It would be the last of such Christmases because the United States would be in World War II before the next Christmas came, and nothing would ever be the same again. Donald Hall was Poet Laureate of the United States from 2006 to 2007. While he spent his summers with his grandparents at Eagle Pond, he had always wanted to spend a Christmas there. This story is what such a Christmas could have been. Hall’s prose style is sometimes poetic but easy and enjoyable to read. Audrey Braver

E D I TORS’ CH OICE

C. Joseph Greaves, Bloomsbury, 2012, $25/C$26.50, hb, 304pp, 9781608198559 / Bloomsbury Circus, 2012, £12.99, pb, 336pp, 978-1408829240 In 1934, 13-year-old Lucile “Lottie” Garrett has already been hoboing with her father, Dillard Garrett, in Oklahoma for two years. Their paths cross with Clint Palmer, a man with an easy smile who immediately covets Lottie. What Lottie’s father doesn’t know is that the 36-year-old Palmer is fresh out of the federal penitentiary, and that he’s a killer. When Dillard Garrett conveniently disappears, Palmer explains to Lottie that the police are after her dad, and that Dillard said Lottie should stay with Palmer and do what Palmer says until they can meet up again. What follows is a parent’s nightmare. The fact that this is based on a true story adds to its chilling suspense. Greaves impressively brings alive Lottie’s year with Palmer; it felt as real to me as my own childhood. This is Lottie’s story, from start to finish. Greaves effectively intersperses court transcripts (fictitious—no real transcript survived) to show how the world in 1934 might see a girl like Lottie, “with [her] schoolgirl charms and [her] feminine wiles.” I was so worried about what happened to Lottie that I’d read less than 50 pages when I had to turn to the author’s note to find out what her fate would be. Even after I knew how it would end, Hard Twisted grabbed me and didn’t let go. It feels like a classic because of Greaves’s stylish writing, because of the story’s drama, and because of the powerful theme— how Lottie’s believable, determined innocence and faith kept her whole. Although Hard Twisted will never be shelved with inspirational books, it inspired me. It’s a real-life morality tale, no preaching needed. Recommended. Kristen Hannum 20th Century

THE ROAD BACK Liz Harris, ChocLit, 2012, £7.99, pb, 314pp, 9781906931674 A love story beautifully told, with passion that crosses both time and culture. The atmospheric cover entices the reader to open the book. Once opened, it is a page turner until the cover closes, but the story will remain with you long afterwards. The story is split into two eras, the 1950s and the 1990s; this works very well and helps the story flow. It tells of relationships and how the past has an impact on the present. Set in the Buddhist part of Ladakh, which is a very unusual setting, to the west of Tibet, the detailed, descriptive prose paints a picture that is vivid and colourful. London‑born Patricia and her father, Major George Carstairs, set out on a journey to Ladakh, where the Major had spent time during the war. Patricia hopes that this journey will, at last, win her the love of her father. With them is their guide, Kalden, a young local man. Kalden is destined to become a monk, although this is against his own wishes. Much to the Major’s fury, Patricia and Kalden begin to have feelings for each other, and fighting how they feel about each other proves to be too difficult as they feel they are destined to be together. Their forbidden love, the sacrifices and losses, the daughter who is unable to stand up to her stern, cold father, and the son who has little choice but to follow his family’s wishes all make the book an emotional roller‑coaster. It is a beautiful story of innocent love, a tearjerker in places, so have a tissue ready. Barbara Goldie ALONE IN THE CLASSROOM Elizabeth Hay, Quercus, 2012, £18.99, hb, 270pp, 9780857051257 / McClelland & Stewart, 2011, C$29.99, hb, 320pp, 9780771037948 Set in Canada and moving in time between more modern times and the era of the Great Depression, the novel centres around the unsolved murder of Ethel, a young girl found dead in the woods, but this is not a traditional whodunit crime novel by any means. The man arrested for the crime appears to be innocent, and there are suspicions about the local headmaster, the enigmatic figure of Parley Burns, who sports a Hitler‑style moustache and seems to enjoy humiliating the children. He makes clear his belief that Michael, the good-looking child of nature, is stupid. Idealistic, and perhaps unhealthily interested in her handsome student, Connie Flood is convinced that he can overcome his difficulties with what modern times would recognise as dyslexia. The importance of nature is highlighted in the character of Michael, and this is a key element in the novel. For me, the changes in time, narrator and place made the novel disjointed and lacking cohesiveness. There are many lovely moments of beautiful writing—“the pallid blue-greyness under her thick brown hair like a broken piece of china”—but the elements did not coalesce into a whole. It is not a novel of action, more one of ideas and moments. External events intrude little, and it 20th Century

is more of a character‑driven novel. Not for me I’m afraid. Ann Northfield IN SUNLIGHT AND IN SHADOW Mark Helprin, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, $28, hb, 720pp, 9780547819235 In Sunshine and in Shadow, the widely anticipated novel by Mark Helprin (A Soldier of the Great War, 1992) is a tale of Right against Wrong set in New York City at the end of World War II. Harry Copeland, former paratrooper, returns to the city to take over the family business. Finding the once-prosperous company heavily in debt for mob protection, Harry is trying to save it when he falls in love at first sight. Catherine is a gorgeous, talented actress with an incredible voice. She is also wealthy and socially impeccable, whereas Harry is a Jewish nobody with financial problems. (Remember, this is 1947.) But against all odds, Harry wins over her family and takes Catherine away from the rich and influential fiancé who has virtually enslaved her for years. Now Harry has enemies. The protection payments become ruinous. Brutal enforcers attack his employees and beat Harry within an inch of his life. The mob, the police, and city politicians are aligned against Harry or won’t get involved in his troubles. Alone, Harry is powerless to provide Catherine with a life free of fear. The gods intervene in the form of a stranger with a plan to eliminate Harry’s enemies. Once Harry agrees to use his military skills, the pace of the novel accelerates towards a denouement in which the plan is carried out. The action is riveting, although it comes late and is quickly over. In Sunshine and in Shadow is recommended for fans of Helprin’s fluid prose, but even they may find it florid here. Too much of the novel is a paean to beauty and love. Love’s consequences merit fewer pages and, in the end, far less compassion. Jeanne Greene THE ZENITH Duong Thu Huong, Viking, 2012, $32.95/C$35, hb, 528pp, 9780670023752 Author Duong Thu Huong’s sweeping book The Zenith opens in 1969 with Ho Chi Minh a temple prisoner of his own regime, of his conscience, and of his memories. “Memory,” he thinks, “is the one who builds you a permanent court of justice.” A man who sacrificed his own life for his people, “Saint Ho” is a figure too important to communist Vietnam to be allowed to be human, too big to fail. That’s something he already did, in the Politburo’s eyes, when he fell in love with a younger woman in the 1950s. He is now consumed by guilt over abandoning her and their children, who were hidden from the regime in adoptive homes after her rape and murder. He sees that his socialist ideals birthed a conscienceless regime that uses him as they would a puppet. He also sees that the revolution’s costs to individual people’s lives and loves have not been repaid in joy or justice. The book consists of five parts, a back and forth

between the chairman and his friend (whose wife adopts a motherless child), a woodcutter whose story reads like a village fable, and “The Unknown Brother-in-Law” who flees from Vietnam’s corruption. The book’s theme is the incompatibility of power and conscience — and the inevitability of power. A linking character throughout is Vietnam itself, lyrically lovely but also tortured. The Zenith has been aptly compared to Dr. Zhivago, also an adagio suffused with inescapable regret. This long book is not an easy read. But The Zenith is worth the time and attention, every page revealing richer, deeper treasures, poetic and moving, a grand yet intimate canvas of history, ideology, love affairs, and tragic beauty — most of all beauty, of the country, of the women, and of the heart. Recommended. Kristen Hannum FLIGHT FROM BERLIN David John, Harper, 2012, $24.99, hb, 384pp, 9780062091567 In 1936, Berlin is ready to host the Olympics. Everything has been done to make the city appear cosmopolitan, modern, and welcoming to its international guests. While the black eagle flags and swastikas are evident everywhere, all signs indicating “Jews not welcome” have been removed from shops, hotels, and restaurants. John’s protagonists are two journalists: Richard Denham, who is British, and Eleanor Emerson, a former American Olympic champion swimmer. The German Olympic team includes a token Jew, international fencing champion Hannah Liebermann, who has been coerced into competing for the German Reich in order to save her family. When Eleanor learns of this coercion, she tries to interview Hannah. She wants to expose Germany’s persecution of Jews. Meanwhile Denham is mistaken for a British agent and is being closely watched by the SS, Hitler’s black-shirted Schutzstaffel, the very name invoking terror in even the most loyal of German citizens. David John has written an intelligent, fast-paced novel that is at times gripping. There is an escape from Germany aboard the ill-fated Zeppelin, the Hindenburg. John uses real people interwoven with the fictional characters to add color and authenticity. While there may be some historical manipulation, it is employed to enhance the story. This is an excellent novel. Audrey Braver THE FALL OF THE STONE CITY Ismail Kadare, Canongate, 2012, £14.99, hb, 171pp, 9780857860118 / Grove, Feb. 2013, $24.99, hb, 176pp, 9780802120687 The Fall of the Stone City is a translation form the Albanian of a short novel by Ismail Kadare, set in Kadare’s home city of Gjirokaster, the Stone City of the title. The action takes place between the German occupation of the city in 1943 (following Italy’s withdrawal from the war) and the death of Stalin 10 years later. The main protagonist is a HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 41

DETROIT BREAKDOWN

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

D.E. Johnson, Minotaur, 2012, $25.99/C$29.99, hb, 352pp, 9781250006622 Detroit Breakdown follows Elizabeth Hume and Will Anderson as they unravel a murder at Eloise Insane Asylum outside of Detroit in 1912. Elizabeth’s cousin Robbie Clark is a longtime patient at the institution, and the security team has accused him of the crime and placed him in solitary confinement. The head of the hospital, Dr. Beckwith, is not cooperating with the Detroit police, perhaps because his emotionally disturbed son seems to know too much about the mysterious disappearances of patients. Elizabeth and Will are convinced that Robbie is innocent, and they go undercover to unravel the mystery of the real murderer and rescue Robbie from solitary confinement. Will checks into Eloise as a patient with amnesia, putting himself in danger as the staff subjects him to the “cures” of the era. They discover that three patients had previously been murdered using the “Punjab lasso,” just like in the popular book The Phantom of the Opera. This is a wonderful mystery that keeps us guessing as to why these murders are occurring and who is responsible. I really loved this book. The author draws us into the early auto industry in a story rich in the geography of the Detroit area. The reader is swept back to an era where local train service and the first electric cars were competing with horses. Some of these buildings still are standing today, and with vivid descriptions and a map of the site, the author brings the story alive. I did not read the first two books in this series, but felt this book was a stand-alone mystery that kept me on my toes. It was a quick read because I found it hard to put down. Beth Turza German-educated doctor who saves the city from German reprisals, but how? Some years later he is arrested by the Communist regime as a suspected collaborator and is eventually murdered by his gaoler, apparently in a fit of grief at the news of Stalin’s death. Do not expect an historical novel written in the usual west European or American style. Kadare does not tell the story from the viewpoint of one of the protagonists, but from that of an unidentified narrator telling the story 40 or 50 years later. Far from being an omniscient narrator, he freely admits that parts of the story are unknown and others based on speculation and hearsay. There is no sense in the doctor’s murder. The story is a tragic-comic satire of the inhuman senselessness of the Albanian (and any other) dictatorship. As far as I know Kadare is the only Albanian author translated into English, and his work gives a unique insight into the history of this, the strangest corner of Europe. Edward James ISTANBUL PASSAGE Joseph Kanon, Simon & Schuster UK, 2012, £12.99, pb, 404pp, 9781847376824 / Atria, 2012, $26.00, hb, 416pp, 9781439156414 If you enjoy Graham Greene or John le Carré espionage novels, then this is the book for you— bleak, deceitful, and full of the nastiness of the grubby spy’s world of deal and counter-deal. Kanon tells the story of Leon Baur, an American expat in Istanbul just after WWII. Baur has already helped 42 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 62, November 2012

the Allies with a couple of courier jobs and now faces the problem of trying to rescue a man. A straightforward job? It should be. But everyone wants a piece of the man and no one is telling the truth, not even Baur to himself. In the end the confusions become deadly, and Baur ends up racing round Istanbul trying to save the man and himself. Kanon has a reputation for good writing and a clever plot. This novel enhances that. pdr lindsay-salmon SPY IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS Maxine Kenneth, Grand Central, 2012, $14.99/ C$16.50, pb, 352pp, 9780446567428 As a light, fun-filled spoof of the spy genre, Spy in a Little Black Dress delivers. If you’re a fan of Jackie Kennedy, with a sense of humor, you’ll enjoy her adventures (still as Jackie Bouvier, of course) in Cuba as a CIA agent investigating a young revolutionary named Fidel Castro who is opposed to Batista’s US-backed regime. She’s the best-dressed spy—from Coco’s creations to Oleg Cassini, Jackie’s wardrobe is always smashing, even if she’s facing off against slathering crocodiles (where, by the way, her clothes are an essential weapon). Appearances by Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, mob gangsters and East German secret police add to the surreal quality of this satire. Before she heads out to Havana, she starts on her other assignment—date congressman Jack Kennedy in order to ascertain whether he’d be interested in working with the CIA. She finds herself falling for Jack, but once immersed in Cuban

entanglements, she finds her heart tugging toward a handsome and brilliant young gentleman, Emiliano, a close friend of the charismatic Fidel. The novel doesn’t shy away from Jack Kennedy’s womanizing ways. Jackie recognizes them immediately from her lifelong experiences with her philandering father and her many more-than-marginally-inappropriate father-daughter conversations on the subject of men. In contrast, Jackie is portrayed holding to her strong moral compass, sacrificing her own safety for others and arguing the value of human life with revolutionaries. This is a likeable if imaginative portrait of the future First Lady. The CIA connection is based on one of Jackie’s letters in the John F. Kennedy Library, revealing her job offer from Allen Dulles, the head of the newly formed CIA. Judith Starkston BLACK FLOWER Young-Ha Kim (trans. Charles La Shure), Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, $25.00, hb, 305pp, 9780547691138 A ship leaves Korea in 1905, bearing immigrants who hold multi-year contracts to harvest henequen in the Yucatan region of Mexico. They are a mix of Korean society (thieves, shamans, snobbish-butpoor nobles), many of whom are leaving because of Japan’s annexation of their country. While being fed on the ship without having to work is like heaven, once they arrive in Mexico their situation is far from blissful. The landowning hacendados whip them for rule infractions and cheat them at the hacienda store. Few Koreans speak Spanish, there’s no Korean embassy to protest to, and the prospects of saving enough money to return home are dim. Orphan Ijeong falls in love with a poor noble’s daughter, Yeonsu, and their furtive meetings produce pregnancy and disgrace for Yeonsu. Yeonsu’s brother Jinu strives to learn Spanish and interpret his way out of debt, while their father refuses to work like a peasant, and their mother contemplates suicide. The thief Choe Seongil remains true to his profession, despite experiencing a religious conversion. Ex-soldier Jo Jangyun dreams of starting a military school. When Ijeong and other Koreans become involved in the Mexican revolution, their chances of going home are reduced even further. The history fascinated me; I previously knew nothing about Korean immigration to Mexico. Kim explains in his author’s note how difficult the historical research was: sources were both scarce and vague. He is brave to tackle such a challenging subject. Ijeong and Yeonsu were probably the easiest characters to like among the long list of protagonists. I struggled to keep so many straight in my head. Charles La Shure’s translation from the Korean reads smoothly. I recommend the book as a window on a little-known world. B.J. Sedlock

20th Century

THE MINOTAUR’S HEAD Marek Krajewski (trans. Danusia Stok), Maclehose, 2012, £18.99, hb, 289pp, 9781906694944 Fans of the wonderful Polish crime writer Marek Krajewski will be thrilled at this, his latest story in translation, featuring policeman Eberhard Mock. It is actually the sixth investigation for the Abwehr detective (but, to date, only four of Krajewski’s books have been translated into English). The Minotaur’s Head is a strange choice, too, as Mock is more of a supporting character here, in a gruesome, harrowing tale set in Lwów, Poland, that revolves around a spate of unsolved murders where the victims are all young girls found defiled, strangled and with the flesh torn from their cheeks. The chief protagonist, Commissioner Popielski, is, like Mock, a policeman, a linguist and a classicist who is also prone to regular indulgences involving food, alcohol and loose women (and preferably all three at the same time). Those readers who enjoy Philip Kerr’s wonderful Bernie Gunther books will be mightily intrigued by this pre-war investigation set in Poland prior to the German invasion of 1939. It is incredibly atmospheric, with class, culture, customs and the cuisine of the times positively dripping off the pages. It is beautifully evocative of the age, as well as being a captivating intellectual twist on the great detective stories of Raymond Chandler. Ian Roberts

LIVE BY NIGHT

THE HEADMASTER’S WAGER Vincent Lam, Hogarth, 2012, $25.00/C$32.95, hb, 416pp, hb, 9780307986467 Percival Chen is the Chinese headmaster of an English-language school in Cholon, Vietnam, in the 1960s; he has run the school for years in what used to be his father’s rice warehouses, and he’s become a mostly respected member of the expatriate community. He has achieved much toward his primary goal of being rich and influential, and he has the time and funds to spend gambling, chasing women, and buying off pesky government officials. He remains willfully ignorant of the changing political climate, though, making it increasingly difficult for his right-hand man, Teacher Mak, to assist Percival in matters both political and personal. Mak and Percival survived the FrenchVietnamese conflict together, during which they bonded like brothers. Mak’s assistance in obtaining food, permits, and political favors over the years lulled Percival into an unquestioning acceptance of Mak’s activities. Percival’s goals, beyond the mercenary, include marrying his rebellious teenaged son, Dai Jai, to a Chinese girl, rather than the Annamese (Vietnamese) student he loves. As the Vietnamese start cracking down on foreigners, Percival’s pro-Chinese sympathies pull him, his son, and his ex-wife Cecilia, into a maelstrom of conflict from which no amount of money can set him free.

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

Dennis Lehane, Morrow, 2012, $27.99, hb, 416pp, 9780060004873 / Little Brown, 2012, £16.99, hb, 416pp, 9781408703151 Live by Night is the powerful story of a kid from a good family who becomes a petty crook, goes to prison, and learns to be a criminal. There are thousands like that. But Joe Coughlin is one of Lehane’s most memorable characters, a man as real as the time and the city he lives in: Boston in the 1920s, the era of Prohibition. Joe is good-looking and capable. In different circumstances, we’d call him smart — he could go to college — but he chooses a life of crime. We sympathize at first because of his background. Joe’s mother is dead. His older brothers are absentees with their own problems. His father, Deputy Police Commissioner Thomas Coughlin, is a powerful man but, as Joe knows, he has ties to both sides of the law. Coughlin tries to help Joe after the fact, but ultimately he is as capable of cruelty as the crime lord who mentors Joe, and the lesson is the same. Joe adores the beautiful Emma Gould. Even knowing she’s a weakness he can’t afford, he foolishly risks his life for her. When he becomes as bad as the worst of his enemies, strong-arming himself to the top of the Gulf Coast rum-running trade, he loses our sympathy — but by then, Joe can’t count on anyone who isn’t afraid of him. Think you can guess how this ends for Joe Coughlin? Keep reading. The violence should come as no surprise to readers, but the ending will. Live by Night may not be a good choice for late night reading. Otherwise, Lehane has it down. Plot, character, or setting can’t be faulted in this riveting story of love, betrayal, and crime, which is highly recommended. Jeanne Greene 20th Century

This look at the Vietnam Conflict, from the eyes of a self-involved, perhaps-naïve, Chinese businessman, exposes the politics of the U.S., Europe, and Vietnam, in a unique way; add a beautiful French-Vietnamese young woman into the mix, and the volatility increases even more. Readers will be alternately fascinated and repelled by the beauty of Vietnam and the terrible suffering of its people at the hands of calculating military and mercenary leaders. Giller Prize-winner Lam’s love story, in which family becomes all, at any price, presents a stark contrast to the realistically rendered politics and violence of the international struggle for power in Vietnam. Helene Williams SUGAR FORK Walt Larimore, Howard, 2012, $14.99, pb, 320pp, 9781439141908 North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains are a tough place to make a living in the 1920s, and life becomes even harder for Abbie Randolph when her mother dies in childbirth. Though she is only fourteen, Abbie is left to raise her four younger sisters while her father works long, hard hours at a mine and supplements his income by running medicinal moonshine. Two years later the Randolph family may not be prosperous, but they are holding together. Then Abbie’s father fails to return from a deer hunt. Cherokee friends find Nate Randolph grievously wounded by gunshots, and he is certain that a lumber company’s manager is behind the ambush. Sugar Fork Valley’s most valuable asset is the beauty of its ancient chestnuts and oaks, but they are being felled as quickly as the company can buy or lease the land. Despite being shot, Nate refuses to sell his timber, so the company’s agent takes drastic measures that will surely force the Randolph girls off their land or compel them to sell their timber to survive. The award-winning Dr. Larimore’s historical novel describes how the Sugar Fork community rallies around the Randolph girls, and this clearly told, tender tale will touch both adult and young adult readers. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Sugar Fork and meeting the tough, winsome Abbie, and so will you. Jo Ann Butler YOUNG PHILBY Robert Littell, St. Martin’s, 2012, $24.99/ C$28.99/£16.99, hb, 288pp, 9781250005168 Bestselling suspense novelist Robert Littell follows the career of Kim Philby, a notorious Cold War secret agent—or double agent? triple agent?— beginning with Philby’s recruitment by communists in Vienna in the 1930s, as fascist jackbooted police wipe out the communist resistance to Austria’s fascist dictatorship. Philby saves a smart young Jewish communist from the jackbooted police who were wiping out the communist resistance to Austria’s fascist dictatorship. He brings her home to his upper-crust slice of London and marries her, but after he agrees to become a Soviet spy, they HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 43

must divorce, since she’s a known communist. Philby travels as a journalist to cover Spain’s Civil War where he writes dispatches for the conservative London Times, putting him in the center of Great Britain’s right wing, Nazi-appeasing circles. The book ends with a twisty epilogue as Philby flees to Moscow in 1963, to live out the rest of his life. A deadly and damning subplot takes place in Moscow during Stalin’s purges, with Stalin himself putting in an appearance in one of the later chapters. The elusive undercurrent throughout is Philby’s relationship with his famous father, an advisor to the king of Saudi Arabia and a behindthe-scenes player himself. Littell tells the story with humor and elegant vigor through eight narrators’ points of view, plus an omniscient narrator for the epilogue. His writing is so fluid and compelling that there’s no bother moving from one thread to another. This is a book like a Russian kachina doll, with each colorful figure revealed to be hollow, but with another inside it. Best of all, that last little doll to be exposed has its own satisfying yet enigmatic surprise. Recommended. Kristen Hannum A NEW DAY Beryl Matthews, Severn House, 2012, $28.95/£17.99, hb, 240pp, 9780727881823 Two young English siblings, Hanna and Jack Foster, are put into a London orphanage upon the death of their parents. In 1938, lying about his age, 15-year-old Jack joins the merchant navy to run away from the Talbots, the family who had taken him in. They had wanted a strong lad to slave in their greengrocery business, and during the year Jack was with them, he “was worked from dawn to dusk and thrashed often” by Talbot. While Hanna agrees with Jack’s decision, she is apprehensive that Talbot might balk, for he wished to adopt Jack. While Jack is on the high seas, Talbot appears at the orphanage demanding to know where Jack is. When Hanna doesn’t tell, he grabs her roughly but leaves after she threatens to call the police. Hanna leaves the orphanage to work as a nanny for a rich lady, Jane. Soon Talbot tracks her down and arrives with Alan, a policeman. After determining the facts, Alan advises Talbot that there is no case, for he hadn’t adopted Jack. Talbot is furious and threatens to report Alan to his superiors. Alan falls in love with Hanna. The war starts in 1939, and with the considerable buildup of conflict and romance to this point, one would have expected that a thrilling historical romance plot — as noted on the cover — would follow. However, Jane and most other characters are extremely kind to Hanna and Jack; the antagonist, Talbot, doesn’t appear again. While some of World War II’s major events are mentioned, the battle scenes are narrated only briefly. The love story feels lukewarm and moves to a predictable ending, although life in England during the war years is well covered. Waheed Rabbani 44 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 62, November 2012

JANE: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan Robin Maxwell, Tor, 2012, $25.99, hb, 320pp, 9780765333582 Going on safari was all the rage among British noblemen in early 20th-century England, but Jane Porter and her father, a professor of science at Cambridge, weren’t interested in trophy hunting: they were searching for evidence of Darwin’s missing link. Setting off on a seemingly wellplanned adventure thrilled the bold and courageous Jane, and even when signs of trouble with their traveling partners arose, her enthusiasm and clever reasoning calmed the situations and returned the focus to the matter at hand: their all-important expedition in the name of Science. Once in Africa, their companion’s doubledealing becomes obvious and Jane finds herself abandoned in the wild, but in the care of a gentle savage who calls himself Tarzan. Coming to terms with her predicament, Jane’s ever-resourceful personality and commitment to her scientific endeavors overtakes her inbred socially decorous qualms. She fully embraces her newfound opportunity to study not only a man-turnedferal-animal, but the tribe who raised him. The Mangani were an undiscovered group of ape-men complete with a language not unlike the mysterious neighboring human clan, who own the secrets coveted by corrupt fortune hunters. The most apparent theme to this novel is a woman’s place in society, within the confines of British aristocracy, and other male-dominated orders. Jane chafes against the gender-biased culture, but finds the same standards often apply to the natural world. Another dilemma lies in readying Tarzan for a society in which he belongs but which is entirely alien to him. With an imaginative and enlightening journey from Edwardian England to unchartered wilds, an intensely dangerous climax and a satisfying ending, this retelling of Tarzan through the eyes of Jane is an adventurous cross-genre read, as well as an unforgettable love story—a great addition to the classic on its centennial anniversary. Arleigh Johnson SWEET TOOTH Ian McEwan, Jonathan Cape, 2012, 330pp, £18.99, 9780224097376 / Doubleday, 2012, $26.95, hb, 320pp, 9780385536820 For many members of the HNS, the early 1970s may not seem to be very historical. But Ian McEwan’s new novel, which is set in England during this period, seems to concern a wholly different time and country than we know today. Serena Frome, a beautiful, literature-loving mathematics graduate from Cambridge, is recruited to work for the UK Security Service MI5 by Professor Tony Canning, with whom she had an idyllic summer love affair in 1972. She starts her work in a country beset by industrial strife, economic dislocation and in the midst of the Cold War. Serena is shocked to discover that Tony had previously supplied documents to the USSR and had recently died as a pariah. She then becomes

involved in a project, known as Sweet Tooth, to fund British authors to write articles and books critical of the Soviet Union and the communist bloc. In this way, she meets and falls for Tom Haley, an upcoming writer who seems to be closely based upon Ian McEwan himself. When Haley’s work is nominated for a literary prize, matters start to get difficult for Serena as he has no knowledge of her role in MI5, thinking that she represents the charitable foundation that provides the funding to encourage emerging writers. As one would expect from the talents of the author, this is a consummately well-written story, engaging and authentically located in the conflictridden England that seemed to be spiralling towards a terminal decline in the early 1970s. There is a neat and unexpected twist at the end that challenges the reader’s perspective on the foregoing narrative. An excellent book. Doug Kemp FOR YOU, MADAM LENIN Kat Meads, Livingston Press, 2012, $19.95, pb, 285pp, 9781604891003 Kat Meads’ exquisite prose brings to life one of the most determined and enigmatic women in history in a story which exemplifies with irony, pathos and dark humor that there is no tragedy like a Russian tragedy. The life of Nadya Krupskaya, wife of the first Soviet dictator Vladimir Lenin, is told in vignettes and through fictional historical interviews, mostly from the point of view of Nadya’s devoted mother Yelizaveta Vasilevna. Yelizaveta watches as her daughter immolates her entire person for the triumph of the Revolution and the glory of Lenin. In striving to build a free new world by destroying the old one, Nadya endures sickness, prison, exile, poverty, an unfaithful and mercurial husband, and ultimately the betrayal of the party for whom she sacrifices herself. Throughout the novel she nourishes hatred and contempt for the bourgeoisie and the monarchy, with particular hatred for the Empress Alexandra. Nevertheless, the day comes when she realizes how difficult it is to carry the burden of supreme power, and like Alexandra must face her own downfall, as Russia falls into the hands of a ruler more tyrannical than any tsar could have imagined. Elena Maria Vidal SUTTON J. R. Moehringer, Hyperion, 2012, $27.99, hb, 352pp, 9781401323148 / Blue Door, 2013, £12.99, hb, 352pp, 9780007489909 Pulitzer Prize winner Moehringer does not tell you a couple of things in his brief author’s note about the facts behind this novelized life of the Depression-era bank robber Willie Sutton. He told us these things during a speech I attended at BookExpo America, and I thought these stories were worth including here. When asked why he robbed banks, Sutton, who wrote two contradictory autobiographies, was famous for answering, “Because that is where the money is.” 20th Century

Moehringer told us he began the book as his angry response to the present recession’s immoral causes. The second thing Moehringer told us was about the gangland barbershop shoot-out that killed the man who killed the man who sent Sutton, a master of disguise, to prison in 1952. Another patron of that Manhattan barbershop fled, still in his sheet and shaving cream, into a nearby office where the startled young secretary was Moehringer’s own mother. She never told him this until he began to write the book. I liked both of these anecdotes to enlighten how novels set in the past can become very personal and relevant to today in the hands of a master. And Moehringer’s Pulitzer — in a completely different genre — must be well-deserved. This novel is moving, artistically layering places and emotions in three times: Sutton’s youth, his tell-all (that hides more than it reveals) to a reporter at Christmastime upon his 1969 prison release, and the author’s present. The enigmas of this American Robin Hood are not all solved, and some solved in a most confusing fashion, but it’s a greater book for all of that. Ann Chamberlin ICELIGHT Aly Monroe, John Murray, 2012, £8.99, pb, 435pp, 9781848544857 This book is a cracking political thriller. Set in 1946 blitzed London, Icelight has fast action, resilient characters and sparkling period feeling. The hero, Peter Cotton, is an intelligence officer with MI5. There are brilliant characterisations, including some very unpleasant male language, ‘sniffing dog’s bottoms’, which is distasteful, though refreshing coming from a female writer. Aly Monroe is no lady. The story is extremely well-devised, with intelligent observations on the human condition. It is not without its faults. There are too many shady characters with similar initials, which gets difficult to follow. There is no travel, no landscape, and few women. It can be a bit heavy going with a lot of supposition and discussion between Cotton and his pompous, ruthless colleagues. Name dropping abounds. We have Simpsons in the Strand, F. D. Roosevelt, Emanuel Shinwell, Stafford Cripps, Clement Atlee and Bertrand Russell. The book may be considered over-rich in dialogue at the expense of character and location, though it shows well how to handle three way conversation. Aly Monroe also does a lot of preaching about marriage, homosexuality and politics, dredging up the mud about former communist Tom Driberg MP, and art historian, MI5 officer, Russian spy, and Surveyor of the King’s Pictures, Anthony Blunt, who was finally debunked by Margaret Thatcher. Nonetheless, a rattling good read. Geoffrey Harfield MAN IN THE BLUE MOON Michael Morris, Tyndale, 2012, $19.95, hb, 314pp, 9781414373300 20th Century

Man in the Blue Moon, which was inspired by a real incident, turns fact into powerful, highly original fiction. Readers haven’t heard this tale of loss and love before, but the power is the telling and in the voice. Sometime during World War I, Harlan Wallace disappeared, leaving his wife, Ella, with three young sons, a store, and a mortgaged tract of land near Dead Lakes, Florida. Ella can’t work the land (school comes first for the boys). The store can’t feed them and make mortgage payments, too. Ella’s intelligence, talent, and education, qualities that once sustained her, can’t meet her immediate needs. When Harlan’s cousin Lanier comes into her life mysteriously, he restores Ella’s confidence. Lanier’s not an educated man, but he understands Ella’s values better than she does his. Lanier is a faith healer, and even though he saves her son’s life, this troubles Ella. Dead Lakes is inhospitable to anyone outside the local norm. With Lanier and Ella working the land, there’s a profit to be made, but their efforts end in catastrophe. Men who want the land for their own purposes use violence to force foreclosure. Bloodshed follows Lanier, too. When his presence causes the death of someone Ella loves, Lanier, now a liability, leaves town. For a while, Ella manages well enough alone; but she gets sick. When Lanier hears, he comes back to restore the balance to Ella’s life. Michael Morris is a fifth-generation Floridian. His knowledge is enhanced by a facility with

BECOMING CLEMENTINE

language, as it must have been spoken in small towns 65 years ago. Man in the Blue Moon is highly recommended. Jeanne Greene DAMN YANKEE: Murder in Myrtle Beach Troy D. Nooe, Ingalls, 2012, $15.95, pb, 238p, 9781932158977 In this hardboiled-style mystery, Frankie McKeller is a “damn Yankee,” that is, a transplant from the North now living in the South. He is also the “house dick” of Myrtle Beach’s famed Ocean Forest Hotel. A veteran of Omaha Beach, McKeller bumbles his way through the post-war racist culture of this Southern city to find a black girl’s killer and track down a missing white girl. His investigation takes him into Myrtle Beach’s black ghetto and to isolated roadway houses, where he drinks and gambles his way to vital information. After bungling his attempt to rescue the missing girl, he hits an emotional low. With nothing left to lose, he concocts a wild, potentially deadly confrontation with the local underworld capo and manages to save the day. He also finally puts together the pieces of the murder mystery and a killer is brought to justice. McKeller is an intriguing character. He suffers from what today would be diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder. He’s also got a phenomenal case of bleeding heart syndrome and feelings about racial equality that won’t be seen for another twenty years. We don’t know where he gets

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Jennifer Niven, Plume, 2012, $15/C$16, pb, 368pp, 9780452298101 For those who loved Niven’s previous books, Velva Jean Learns to Drive and Velva Jean Learns to Fly, and wonder what happened to Velva Jean Hart after she learned to fly, Becoming Clementine is the answer. I was deeply invested in the first two books about Velva Jean and approached this one with some skepticism. How in the world did Velva Jean Hart from the mountains of North Carolina transform herself into Clementine Roux, a spy for the French Resistance? World War II is the agent of change for Velva Jean. As a WASP, she has volunteered to pilot a B-17 to England, hoping once she’s there she can look for her beloved brother Johnny Clay, a paratrooper missing since D-Day. From England, it’s off to France to drop supplies. When her plane is shot down by Germans, she’s stuck in occupied France with members of the Resistance, posing as Clementine Roux, an American widow of a Frenchman, allowing herself to be sent to prison so that she can free the valued agent, “Swan.” I feel challenged to do this book justice. I’m not the writer that Niven is, but I loved it that much. The Velva Jean who taught herself to drive, play the guitar, write songs, and fly is wholly credible in this persona she’s forced to adopt. Her determination and strength see her through a terrible ordeal in prison, and her ingenuity saves her life. The horrors of occupied France are on full display – even after the liberation of Paris, freedom is elusive, and the Germans are ruthless. There is a love interest, but as in the previous book, Velva Jean finds that she’s not defined by the man in her life. I’m not sure where Velva Jean will go after this, but I’ll follow her wherever that is. Ellen Keith HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 45

all the money he spends helping victims or raising stakes in poker games. He drinks too much and is self-admittedly not good at being a detective. He is certainly unique in the world of mystery book sleuths. Still and all, Damn Yankee is a decent read. There are some good action scenes and nice touches of local history. Who knows? With a few more cases under his belt, McKeller might become the next Columbo. Lucille Cormier PARK LANE Frances Osborne, Vintage, 2012, $15.95/C$18.95, pb, 322pp, 9780345803283 / Virago, 2012, £14.99, hb, 336pp, 9781844084791 This novel has its origins in Frances Osborne’s own family background, and an inevitable comparison to the TV series Downton Abbey will either help or hinder it, depending on the reader’s own feelings about the big-house genre. Same era, similar cast. Upstairs, Bea is the 1914 equivalent of a Sloane Ranger with a thwarted love life and too much time on her hands. Downstairs, Grace is the practical and clever lass who aspires to more in life than housemaid’s knee. Bea secretly joins the suffragettes to find purpose and meaning,

ABOVE ALL THINGS

while Grace has her own secrets and lies to negotiate. All lives are altered drastically by World War I. Bea nobly goes forth to drive ambulances, while Grace battles on after a tragedy that would crush anyone with less North Country grit. She also has to deal with the predictable outcome of her own particular method of helping the war effort. No new ground has been broken here. The effects of war trauma on everyone are as expected. The women test and stretch themselves to fit the changing times, but the male characters retain their stiff upper lips and so relationships stumble on, vague and unsatisfying. The coincidental link between Bea, Grace, and her brother Michael is stretched to the limit and by the conclusion is a damp squib. The gushing, breathless writing style can also seem as frivolous as debutante chatter and draws attention away from weighty ideas and issues that might have had greater impact with a different approach. The best part of the book is in the detailed descriptions of the secret operations of Mrs. Pankhurst and her movement. Revel in it if you’re a fan. Otherwise just grin and bear it and think of dear old England. Marina Maxwell FATAL INDUCTION

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Tanis Rideout, McClelland & Stewart, 2012, C$29.99, hb, 368pp, 9780771076350 / Putnam/ Amy Einhorn, Feb. 2013, $26.95, hb, 400pp, 9780399160585 Canadian writer Tanis Rideout’s debut novel, Above All Things, is a beautifully written book mapping the distinct yet intertwined journeys of British mountaineer George Mallory and his wife, Ruth, during Mallory’s third expedition to Mount Everest in 1924. Rideout has cleverly constructed this novel, slowly following George over a number of months as he travels out to Nepal with his expedition team and begins his final, treacherous ascent. These passages are written in language of high adventure and carefully observed detail, leaving the reader with, perhaps, a little more understanding of Mallory’s motivation for climbing Everest than his famously glib line, “Because it’s there.” Ruth’s ‘adventure’, on the other hand, is told all in the space of one day as she busies herself with dinner party preparations in an effort to distract herself from the endless wait for news of her husband. Ruth’s world is quiet, domestic and contained, something one cannot imagine satisfying the adventurer George for very long. Yet there is no denying that the love story Rideout creates between Ruth and George is very believable and very mutual. She does an exceptional job of maintaining their intimacy over 4600 miles, using snippets from their correspondence and small but captivating details to bind the couple to each other and the reader. George’s habit of tearing out the last page of Ruth’s book as he is leaving for Everest, returning it to her only upon his own safe return, is endearing enough in the circumstances to distract from the fact that he has destroyed a book in the process! One of my favourite novels of the year, this book is definitely worth the time invested in reading it, especially if, like me, you’ve never really understood why men (or women, for that matter) climb mountains. Janice Parker

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Bernadette Pajer, Poisoned Pen, 2012, $14.95/ C$18.95, pb, 226pp, 9781590586143 I don’t mind starting a series late in the game. If I like the book, that means I’ve got earlier books in the series to pick up, while I wait impatiently for the next to be published. So, after reading Fatal Induction, second in a mystery series about Professor Benjamin Bradshaw, I’m anxious to pick up the first, A Spark of Death. Bradshaw teaches electrical engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1901. An abandoned gypsy peddler cart attracts his attention, especially since at least one of its occupants is a young girl. Although distracted by President McKinley’s assassination and caught up in an electrical competition, he nonetheless investigates the fate of the girl and her father. Bradshaw, a single father himself, is an honorable man who digs into corruption and poverty to find the truth. His academic career plays less of part in this book than his skill as an inventor. It’s fascinating to read about the birth of technologies we now take for granted. And, Seattle at the turn of the previous century would be unfamiliar to its coffee-loving denizens today. Pajer captures its rough-and-tumble aspect expertly, while balancing it with enough good characters so we see why Bradshaw would make his home there. I’m off to find the first and looking forward to the third! Ellen Keith THE HEAT OF THE SUN David Rain, Atlantic, 2012, £12.99, hb, 283pp, 9780857892034 David Rain has imagined a sequel to the story in Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly. In the opera, Butterfly has a child, a boy, by Lieutenant Pinkerton, a U.S. naval officer, and at the end of the opera, the child is taken back to the USA by Pinkerton and his American wife. So what happened to him? According to Rain, in his early life at public school he meets Woodley Sharpless. The lives of these two boys become inextricably linked and are carried through the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression and the Japanese involvement in WWII, climaxing back in America in 1945. I found this a fascinating book and very plausible. The characters were well drawn and could well have lived the lives mapped out for them. I found myself sympathising with Woodley and irritated by Ben Pinkerton, or ‘Trouble’ as he was known. The background of events is accurate enough historically, and I was totally caught up with them as they unfolded through the decades until Ben Pinkerton’s ‘dark secret’ is revealed. Marilyn Sherlock A SHORT TIME TO STAY HERE Terry Roberts, Ingalls, 2012, $17.95, pb, 268pp, 9781932158991 In 1918, the little town of Hot Springs, North Carolina, held the largest World War I internment camp in the United States. More than 2,000 German inmates, mostly crew members from 20th Century

commercial ships stranded in American ports, were housed in and around the Mountain Park Hotel. Frequent contacts between the locals and German internees led to friendships that outlasted the war. With history as inspiration, Roberts has written a fascinating mystery around a mostly fictional cast of characters, headed by the fictional resident manager of the Mountain Park Hotel, Stephen Robbins. Robbins makes a sympathetic narrator. He is a flawed but conscientious man who treats inmates as individuals and tries to make the camp a decent place to live out the war. Most of Robbins’s problems come from a different quarter. He has a running feud with the hotel owner’s son, having recently lost the man who was his mentor; his job is at risk. He falls for a prickly woman, a Yankee in town to make a documentary; the relationship could sour at any time. And Robbins has a history; he’s fighting a drinking problem. When a murder takes place, the guilty party could be an inmate, an outside German agitator, or a local hillbilly — and Robbins could be the only one who wants to know the truth. When his conscience won’t let him take the easy way out, Robbins risks everything to make sure the wrong man doesn’t go to the electric chair. A Short Time to Stay Here reminds us that some worked successfully in a multicultural environment before the term existed. And that the impact of foreigners on an insular community, even in wartime, wasn’t all bad. Highly recommended. Jeanne Greene THE PRISONER OF HEAVEN Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Harper, 2012, $25.99, hb, 320pp, 9780062206282 / Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2012, £16.99, hb, 288pp, 9780297868095 Faithful readers of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game will be delighted to find that he has released a related book featuring some key characters from the previous novels. Readers who have read the earlier books will note that this book is slimmer in scope, though just as fascinating. The Prisoner of Heaven centers on the search for a hidden truth and the sacrifices that are made in the name of love. It is 1957, and Daniel Sempere still works with his father at their bookshop in Barcelona, alongside their longtime friend and employee, Fermín Romero de Torres. A mysterious (and perhaps dangerous) unidentified man has come to the bookshop, looking for Fermín, and leaves him a cryptic note. Daniel, who is still haunted by the death of his mother, Isabella, when he was a child, becomes intent on learning more about this stranger. In the meantime, his wife, Beatrice, has been acting suspiciously, and Daniel is afraid that she is having an affair. Soon Daniel learns that Fermín knows more about Daniel’s mother than he is letting on; eventually, Fermín relays the story of what happened to him while in prison many years earlier, which sheds light on key pieces of information that Daniel needs to partially resolve the questions 20th Century

that have plagued him for years. Nonetheless, the author has left the storyline open for another sequel, or, perhaps, a prequel. Ruiz Zafón writes with his usual blend of wit and insight, with prose that is both lyrical and provocative. While this story-within-a-story may be enjoyed as a stand-alone, it is highly advisable to read both of his previous novels to be able to fully understand and appreciate the background accounts and themes that are woven into The Prisoner of Heaven. Hilary Daninhirsch

inner workings of the heart. Epiphanies of criminal identification come to Sidney at the most unlikely moments—stray pieces of conversation, crossword clues, flickers of recognition between apparent strangers. Sidney protests—perhaps too often for my taste—that he did not become a priest to get mixed up in solving crimes. He prefers to think the best of men, but tracking down murderers has him focusing on suspicions and evil. An old-fashioned pleasure of a read. Judith Starkston

SIDNEY CHAMBERS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH James Runcie, Bloomsbury USA, 2012, $16.00, pb, 400pp, 9781608198566 / Bloomsbury, 2012, £14.99, hb, 400pp, 9781408825952 The Shadow of Death, despite its ominous title, is first in a series of interconnected, gentle mysteries set in 1953, and featuring the humane self-examination of Sidney Chambers, vicar of Grantchester. Each Thursday evening, Sidney and his great friend Inspector Keating share a backgammon game and a couple of pints. This connection and a startling number of murders and thefts within Sidney’s circle of friends and parishioners thrust the charming priest into criminal investigations. He has a talent for reading human nature and the

THE RIDE OF HER LIFE (Manawa Summers #3) Lorna Seilstad, Revell, 2012, $14.99, pb, 381pp, 9780800734473 Lilly Hart is struggling as a widowed mother in a small town of Iowa in 1906. Her in-laws are resorting to treachery to gain custody of her young son Levi, but thankfully Lilly has a friend in roller coaster builder Nick, if only she would stop being too stubborn to accept his help. Lilly is determined to save enough money from her waitressing job to buy a house in Lake Manawa so that she can provide a stable home for Levi, but at what cost? Her powerful father-in-law applies pressure from all angles against Lilly, which includes harming Nick’s upcoming roller coaster debut, putting lives in danger as well as Nick’s livelihood.

HEMINGWAY’S GIRL

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Erika Robuck, NAL, 2012, $16.00, pb, 352pp, 9780451237880 Ernest “Papa” Hemingway seems to hold perennial fascination for other writers, and this novel is woven around his time in Key West during the 1930s. Mariella Bennet is nineteen and dreams of having her own fishing boat, but her father’s death and her mother’s inertia in grief force her to become the family’s sole breadwinner. Also, with two younger sisters to care for, one of whom is often ill, Mariella is grateful to get a job in the Hemingway household. She soon finds herself drawn into the vortex of Papa’s charismatic sexuality and his friction with Pauline, his second wife. When the scarred veteran Gavin Murray enters the picture, Mariella’s emotions become torn, and she is faced with some difficult choices. Mariella is an appealing heroine who demonstrates maturity and self-assurance as she deftly juggles the conflicts of love and desire and her family situation without compromising her conscience. Her dialogue with Papa is often whip-smart, and author Erika Robuck has done an excellent job of bringing this famously complex man to life: a man forced to stay “... strongly in character, forever trying to hold up his image for the men around him.” Robuck also touches on the issues of anti-Cuban feelings and the plight of veterans in the road camps as they build the Overseas Highway. Her descriptions of the 1935 Labor Day hurricane and its aftermath are almost harrowing: an event that changes the lives of all who experience it. This is not just another analysis of Hemingway, but rather an exploration of the positive and negative effects on those living in the shadow of power as well as the shifting bonds of love and friendship. A total reading pleasure – ultimately a story about seeking and finding the best in ourselves and in others. Marina Maxwell HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 47

Throughout the story the reader knows what Lilly must do, and whom she should and should not trust, which makes Lilly’s stubbornness tougher to tolerate as it slows the story down. The lighthearted and fun-spirited romance is rounded out with the suspense from the father-in-law’s shady dealings, and both Nick and Levi make extremely lovable characters. The inspirational theme is quietly laced throughout as both Nick and Lilly work through the questions of their faith and how God fits in their lives, making this a sweet romance novel. Marie Burton FREUD’S SISTER Goce Smilevski (trans. Christina E. Kramer), Penguin, 2012, $16.00/C$17.00, pb, 264pp, 9780143121459 In 1938, Sigmund Freud is granted an exit visa from Vienna with certain individuals of his choice. His four elderly sisters are not included, and their fates are sealed. As one of them, Adolfina, is about to enter the gas chamber, she recalls her earlier life. No novel about Europe at the time of the Holocaust is going to be a comfortable read, but when family abuse, melancholia, madness, and suicide are also factored in, it can be a herculean challenge. While one has enormous sympathy for Adolfina and her callous treatment at the hands of her mother, brother, and even her lover, it is difficult to accept that someone displaying such a submissive personality would have been capable of this articulate – at times even assertive – philosophical dialogue. Adolfina just doesn’t ring true; she seems to be a construct of female helplessness and psychological disturbance that has been created as a device to reflect new ideas about Freud himself and his own selfish motivations. Her friend, Klara Klimt, sister of artist Gustav, is a more believable and appealing woman, with her fighting spirit and determination to help people. Although heralded in Europe as a major work of literature, as a historical novel, there are questions as to what truth it is based on and whether it bears any resemblance to the real lives of its characters. It is hoped that whatever the real Adolfina’s preHolocaust life was like, surely it had to be better than this. The constant repetition of certain phrases and themes on the meaningless of human existence also just add to the gloom. As Sigmund Freud tells his sister, “Enjoyment, suffering, they are the same. It is called enjoyment of negative pleasure.” Definitely one for the literary intelligentsia who like being miserable. Marina Maxwell THE RESISTANCE Peter Steiner, Minotaur, 2012, $26.99, hb, 320pp, 9781250003713 When Louis Morgon arrives at a meeting with the Secretary of State, he assumes that he’s to be praised for his deeds as an agent for the CIA. Instead he is summarily dismissed. Having built a life around his career, he finds himself adrift. He leaves his wife, leaves his children, indeed leaves his old life entirely to go find himself in France. There he wanders the countryside and eventually sets down roots in the provincial town of Saint-Léon. He isn’t far into the renovation of his new home when he uncovers a set of Liberators, handguns distributed to the French resistance during WWII 48 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 62, November 2012

by American forces. The presence of these guns, and some accompanying leaflets, prove to be too much for this investigator to ignore. He contacts the local gendarme, Renard, and the two of them begin to unravel the tale. What follows is the story of the resistance efforts in this little village during the war. We meet Renard’s father, gendarme during the war, two brothers who are recruited into the movement, and a full cast of Nazi officers, Gestapo thugs, collaborators, militia, and French patriots. The tragedy that unfolds is heartbreaking. The Resistance is the fourth book in Steiner’s Louis Morgon series. I haven’t read the other books in this series, but Louis Morgon was a very unsympathetic character, and I regretted having to spend much time with him. Thankfully, the rest of the story, which is most of the book, takes place during the war. Steiner does a very good job of portraying life in the French countryside during Nazi occupation. The anxiety, the moral confusion, the crippling suspicion, and the perpetual fear make this novel a worthy read, even if I found the reveal at the end to be a bit flat. Justin M. Lindsay LAURA LAMONT’S LIFE IN PICTURES Emma Straub, Riverhead, 2012, $26.95, hb, 320pp, 9781594488450 / Picador, 2012, £12.99, pb, 256pp, 9781447218654 Elsa Emerson is the youngest of three sisters growing up in the wings of the popular Cherry

RAISED FROM THE GROUND

County Playhouse in Wisconsin. When a tragedy befalls their family, Elsa vows to leave Wisconsin for bigger and brighter things. She gets her chance when a young actor, Gordon-from-Florida, whisks her away to Hollywood. The marriage is shortlived but provides a stepping-stone to achieving her dreams. In Hollywood, plain Elsa Emerson is discovered by studio executive Irving Green. He changes her from a buxom blonde into a willowy brunette and renames her “Laura Lamont.” A star is born. The novel follows Laura/Elsa as she moves through the studio system, trying to balance career and family while holding tight to the few happy things in her life. But, true to Hollywood, happiness only lasts so long. Things begin to disintegrate for Laura, both on and off the screen, and she begins to miss being unassuming Elsa Emerson. This is a fascinating glimpse into early Hollywood in the heyday of the studio system era. Through Laura’s sometimes dispassionate eyes, we see a system that created and then carefully guarded stars. Having done research into this era of film, I was struck by the depth of historical detail, which made for an absorbing read. Though the story itself is idealistic at times – Laura finds and loses fame with surprising ease – it echoes the setting. Her rags-to-riches story seems plucked straight from the big screen. Jessica Brockmole WITH EVERY LETTER: Wings of the

E D I TORS’ CH OICE

José Saramago (trans. Margaret Jull Costa), Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, $26.00, hb, 384pp, 9780151013258 / Harvill Secker, 2012, £17.99, hb, 400pp, 9781846557064 Nobel Prize Laureate José Saramago’s (1922-2010) most autobiographical novel opens with the statement “I was born in a family of landless peasants.” That there might have been landless peasants in 20th-century Europe isn’t a thought that crosses the mind of many Americans today. And though the author did not live in the Alentejo district of his characters, he knew their lifestyle, having grown up on his grandparents’ pig farm and then in the barrio pobre of Lisbon. He also experienced firsthand the fascist and communist upheavals that swept through Portugal in the last century and made the already unbearably hard lives of landless farm and cork plantation workers even more tenuous. Raised from the Ground is the story of three generations of the Mau Tempo family’s struggle to survive in a medieval system where a peasant’s livelihood depended on the good will of the landholding family. It is a story of loves, marriages, children, and life in tiny villages. It is also the story of the workers’ fight to gain a subsistence wage, of their beatings and imprisonments, of the duplicity of religious and civil authorities. Yet Raised from the Ground is not a sad story. The unique narrative style turns the reader into a conversational companion, sharing the story as it progresses. Even in translation the writing is beautiful, the imagery a delight. There is not a tedious sentence in the book. The only caveat is that it may present a bit of difficulty for readers not familiar with 20th century Portuguese history, as the author leaves out specific dates and names. Raised from the Ground may well be Portugal’s Grapes of Wrath. You really should read it. Lucille Cormier

20th Century

Nightingale, Book One Sarah Sundin, Revell, 2012, $14.99, pb, 425pp, 9780800720810 In this novel, an anonymous exchange of letters unfolds a cross-cultural story of broken people and the transformational power of God’s mercy and healing. With Every Letter is the first book in a new series (Wings of the Nightingale), which follows three flight nurses in World War II as the scene of action pushes from North Africa to Italy and into southern France. This is the female counterpart to the Wings of Glory series, Sundin’s first WWII trilogy. Lt. Philomela (Mellie) Blake is an American, but her Filipino heritage instills some old-fashioned values that puts her at odds with the other flight nurses and endangers her post. She must prove she’s a team player by making friends and corresponding with an officer overseas. Lt. Tom MacGilliver, an army engineer, needs a sterling war record to ensure a post-war job designing bridges. Tom fails to command respect from his troops and refuses to use the notoriety of his name to strong-arm his men. Friendless, his chances seem slim, until Mellie. The anonymity of the letters provides them both the grace to step away from their pasts and nurture a growing respect and admiration. Both protagonists struggle with the same sin, which alienates them and endangers others. Only when they can offer each other mercy will they discover the love of a lifetime. This book will appeal to inspirational romance readers and WWII buffs alike as Sundin infuses the text with scripture and day-to-day coverage of Operation Torch. Lauren Miller THE SHADOW OF TREASON Edward Taylor, Robert Hale, 2012, £19.99, hb, 223pp, 9780709099666 This is a brisk little thriller set in the last months of WW2, during the V2 (rocket) attack on London and the Home Counties. Most of the action is set in Essex, around Southend. The plot is based on the premise that there is a left wing group plotting a coup d’état to pre-empt the 1945 General Election (I would have thought a right wing group was more likely), using the Home Guard as its strike force. It is a pleasurable piece of nonsense, although two points spoilt it for me. The first is that in the earlier chapters the narrator breaks into the story from time to time to explain rather obvious facts, such as what were the Black Market and the Home Guard. Apart from being a clumsy intrusion into the narrative, does the author actually believe that these institutions are so long forgotten? On a second point, as one would expect the hero tracks down the villains only to be captured and put in peril of his life. How does he escape? A V2 lands and wipes out most of the villains, leaving our hero unscathed. Yes, such things happen – I survived a direct hit from a V-bomb myself during a birthday party and there was no warning, but it really is too neat a way to resolve a difficulty in the plot. Edward James AN IRISH COUNTRY WEDDING Patrick Taylor, Forge, 2012, $24.99, hb, 432pp, 9780765332172 Author Taylor continues his lively series about the adventures of feisty Dr. Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly in the Northern Irish village of Ballybucklebo. Set 20th Century

in the 1960s, it is a village overrun by eccentric characters of every kind and is seemingly untouched by the outside world, until the world creeps in unbidden. Dr. O’Reilly is preparing to marry his sweetheart Kitty O’Hallorhan while dealing with the illness of his housekeeper, Kinky Kincaid. In the meantime, his partner in medicine, Dr. Barry Laverty, is having some romantic ups and downs as he helps O’Reilly deal with the various intrigues and crises in the village. Taylor adds a hint of political ferment for the first time ever in the series, which is appropriate considering how close Ballybucklebo is to Belfast. Otherwise there is not a trace of religious conflict in the story, and it is difficult to tell who is Catholic and who is Protestant, which seems odd in a book about Ireland. There are a great many subplots which all come together at the end, as well as a prodigious amount of medical descriptions. Fraught with earthy humor, the wedding scene and the reception are particularly enjoyable for the comedy provided. Ballybucklebo is definitely worth a visit. Elena Maria Vidal THE FIVE O’CLOCK FOLLIES: What’s a Woman Doing Here, Anyway? Theasa Tuohy, Calliope, 2012, $14.99, pb, 368pp, 9780984779918 In 1968, Angela Martinelli, wearing a light summer dress, high-heeled sandals, and a big hat, deplanes in Saigon. Immediately, she catches the eye of Nick O’Brien, a journalist from Chicago. At the official army news briefing that correspondents called the Five O’Clock Follies because the information is laughably less than reliable, Angela is thrown out for not following protocol. With no credentials and no credibility, too green and too pretty, she is a bit of an outcast and sits off in the corner of a bar popular with the other journalists, more or less watching the war go by. Nick finally invites her to hang with him and his colleagues. Then she begins to develop her own sources and starts looking for human interest stories among the Viet Nam civilians. When the U.S. Embassy is attacked, Nick asks her to be his stringer. Then a photographer invites her along to where there is actual fighting. She is in a helicopter crash, taken prisoner by the Cong. Soon Angela is accepted and respected by the other newsmen. Angela begins an affair with an older much-respected war correspondent whom she suspects has become soft. Tuohy has written a thoroughly engrossing story. There is no retro-history, no political agenda here. Five O’Clock Follies starts slowly with a backstory to explain why Angela is in Viet Nam. The pace of the novel picks up when she finds herself in the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time and gets a scoop on a big story which gains her recognition. There are wonderful characters, love and death, wartime friendships and loss. Audrey Braver WICKED PLEASURES Penny Vincenzi, Overlook, 2012, $27.95, hb, 640pp, 9781590203583 / Headline Review, 2006, £8.99, pb, 816pp, 9780755332380 Praeger & Son banking company in New York City had been successful for many decades thanks to Frederick Praeger III, who brought the business out of its all-time low point due to his father’s poor management. By 1960, both of his children, Fred “Baby” Praeger and Virginia Caterham, had made socially successful marriages — Virginia even

becoming a countess and mistress of the beautiful and mysterious Hartest house in England, while Baby began planning his overtake of the bank upon his father’s retirement. The root of the story is the enlightenment of Virginia’s children to the astonishing fact that they were all illegitimate, despite having been raised in a loving, though sometimes strained, household by both their mother and the man they called their father — Alexander Caterham. As the secrets surrounding their births unravel, combined with the continuing ups and downs at Praegers, readers witness class bias, sociopathic behavior, affairs, failing marriages, career woes, family feuds, weddings and funerals—all the makings of a highly entertaining daytime soap. The timeline jumps back and forth, but this serves to give away clues at an appropriate pace, filling in gaps of the story without giving away the ultimate secrets. Sometimes the initially disagreeable characters shine and in many cases become the hero, as in turn the protagonists disappoint. Lengthy though it is, the wonderfully fleshed out characters, detailed settings, and believable plot make it a pleasure to read. One of the most interesting and authentic topics covered is the banking world — Wall Street and the Stock Exchange. The crash of 1987 is the climax of the story, bringing the characters either high or low. Though the ending leaves a few strings untied, it was for the most part satisfactory. Arleigh Johnson BEAUTIFUL RUINS Jess Walter, Harper, 2012, $25.99, hb, 337pp, 9780061928123 Beautiful Ruins begins in 1962 in Porto Vergogna, a nearly deserted village along the Italian coastline. Pasquale Tursi is trying to build up the beach and daydreaming about constructing a tennis court to attract American tourists to his hotel when a mysterious guest arrives. A sickly American actress, fresh from the set of the movie Cleopatra, makes her way to the hotel, and Pasquale believes he has found love. The novel then jumps to presentday Hollywood. We meet Claire, a script reader for famous producer Michael Deane. She is about to call it quits and start a new job at a film museum funded by Scientologists when two people arrive to meet with her. One is a struggling writer; the other is Pasquale. In his broken English, Pasquale tells Claire he is looking for an American actress whom he met years ago. The novel takes the reader on a journey from 1962 to the present, making a few side trips along the way. A large cast of characters are introduced, including the aforementioned parties, a failed ’90s rocker, a World War II vet hoping to write a novel, and members of the Donner party. Even Richard Burton makes an appearance. Walter remarkably manages to keep track of all of these characters and their storylines and blends them into a very satisfying tale. The characters are quite engaging, and the book is peppered with lush, almost cinematic descriptions of the varying landscapes, as well as Walter’s dry humor. Highly recommended. Janice Derr HABITS OF THE HOUSE Fay Weldon, House of Zeus, 2012, £14.99, hb, 314pp, 9781908800046 / St. Martin’s, Jan. 2013, $25.99, hb, 320pp, 9781250026620 Our fascination with the early 20th century HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 49

endures. “If you like Downton Abbey you’ll love this,” trumpets the sticker on the cover of Fay Weldon’s new novel, which promises to be the first of three set between 1899 and 1906. Habits of the House takes place in London over several weeks during late 1899. The characters and plot are familiar: the lady of the house, born into trade but married into the aristocracy for love and now hidebound by the rules of class; her husband, gambling with his friend the Prince of Wales, and losing the family fortune in an ill-fated South African gold mine; their heir, obsessed with his steam car and his mistress; the daughter espousing causes and keeping in her room a parrot trained to squawk “Votes for Women”. In their need for money, the family turns to the O’Briens, whose fortune comes from Chicago slaughterhouses; mother and daughter are in London, the former hilariously vulgar and warmhearted, the latter demure but with a past. Adopting the authorial viewpoint throughout, sometimes wry or cynical, Weldon moves the focus like a camera lens from one character to another, revealing thoughts and motivations, including the stock cast below stairs who hate any upset to the lives of their employers or the routine of the house. As if a 21st-century reader needs reminding, the book shows the arrogance and self-belief of the aristocracy, the injustices of a fossilised system. However, I did not find the characters, storyline or writing engaging enough for any of it to matter. Perhaps, after all, this was the author’s intention. Janet Hancock SKELETON WOMEN Mingmei Yip, Kensington, 2012, $15.00, pb, 356pp, 9780758273536 Heavenly Songbird Camilla is the top nightclub singer in Shanghai, adopted as a child by a Chinese mobster, Wang, and meticulously trained to destroy Master Lung, a rival Flying Dragon mob leader. The first step of her purpose has been achieved, sleeping with Lung and carefully pretending she worships him. But Camilla fears another female could replace her precious status in a heartbeat, and most of the novel concerns her plot to block a talented magician and newspaper reporter from stealing the coveted position Camilla has worked so hard to gain. What is the ancient key to success over one’s enemies? Feel nothing toward anyone or any situation; clarity of thought and action will follow. However, Camilla has no way to handle the attraction of Lung’s son, Jinying, who has obsessively fallen in love with Camilla, and Lung’s bodyguard, who dare not act on his obvious infatuation. While Camilla’s actions are planned according to her studies of The Art of War and other classical Chinese philosophical books, events still jettison her into a world of betrayal, attempted assassinations, trickery, manipulation, and ostentatious lifestyles that are natural for our regal-appearing characters. Extensive, sensual descriptions depict the beautiful culture of Shanghai architecture, dress, music, food, and art which the reader wants to experience. Finally, a violent ending will reshape every character, including the heroine the reader is rooting for throughout the entire novel. Aside from too much repetition, this is a nicely crafted historical novel. Viviane Crystal

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multi-period

SAN MIGUEL T. C. Boyle, Viking, 2012, $27.95/C$29.50, hb, 384pp, 9780670026241 In 1888, Marantha and Will Waters sail to one of California’s Channel Islands, San Miguel, to operate a sheep ranch. Accompanying them are their 14-year-old adopted daughter, Edith, and three hired hands. Marantha, suffering from consumption, hopes that the “salubrious air” will rejuvenate her failing health. However, they find the winter conditions extremely harsh. The cold wind, persistent rain, and fog are just as appalling as in San Francisco. After only a few months, coughing up blood, Marantha passes away, and Edith absconds from the island. She detests the authoritarian attitude of her stepfather and aspires to be an actress. The novel’s timeframe jumps to 1930 as we are introduced to new arrivals. Elise and Herbie Lester take over as overseers of the same ranch, assisted by the former owners’ farmhand, Jimmie. Since conditions have improved somewhat, and it being spring, their introduction to the land is painless, and they enjoy the idyllic environment. Elise gives birth to two daughters. The inventions and conveniences of the modern age, such as an airstrip, reach the island and make their life comfortable. The mainland press nicknames them “the Swiss Family Lester.” Jimmie provides the link to the former residents, the Waterses. However, the Lesters encounter tragic events as well. Since the 1719 publication of Dafoe’s Robinson Crusoe, novels with descriptions of life on remote islands have enthralled readers, and the same will be true of this book, too. San Miguel provides insight into islanders’ ingenuity and the intense struggles of man against nature, both requisite for existing in a harsh environment and achieving self-reliance. Boyle’s dual-period plots are based on true stories and, although the link between them is weak, they present a contrasting narrative. It illustrates how both the Waterses and Lesters failed to achieve their dream of freedom on an isolated island. Recommended. Waheed Rabbani ASTRAY Emma Donoghue, Little, Brown, 2012, $25.99/ C$25.94, hb, 288pp, 9780316206297 / Picador, 2012, £14.99, hb, 288pp, 9781447209492 / HarperCollins Canada, 2012, C$29.99, hb, 288pp, 9781443410793 Award-winner Donoghue (Room, Life Mask, Slammerkin) presents a collection of her short stories which focus on journeys, both literal and figurative. Characters may have gone astray by immigrating or drifting away from home; others are in a more focused search with a definite end, be that a person or a place, in mind. The stories are grouped according to the stage of the journey: Departures, In Transit, and Arrivals and Aftermaths. Each tale creates its own world, most from the 19th century, ranging geographically from the London Zoological Gardens, to the gold fields of Alaska, to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the deserts of Arizona, and even the shore of the Mississippi in southern Louisiana. In just a few sentences, Donoghue places the reader at the center

of the journey, and we feel the painful hunger of Jane Johnson in “Counting the Days,” the bitter cold and loneliness of “Snowblind,” and the confusion of a young German soldier working for the British during the Revolutionary War in “The Hunt.” More often than not, the narrative reveals a secret, which may pull a family together, or, usually, tear it apart, thus sending the characters astray, once again. Each story is based on historical artifact—a newspaper clipping, letters, a footnote in a history text—making the characters and their journeys all the more real and memorable. While some stories were originally published in other venues, everything here fits well into the thematic collection of those struggling to reach home, to find themselves, or to be with the ones they love. Helene Williams THE BONES AND THE BOOK Jane Isenberg, Oconee Spirit, 2012, $14.95, pb, 262pp, 0984010920 It’s Seattle, 1965, and Harry Mazursky, having recently screwed up financially so that he is eager to make a redeeming deal, is on his way to sell an insurance policy in a “post-coital euphoria so great that he was actually trying to compose a poem.” Unfortunately he is neither a poet nor a person with a future. Moments later an earthquake brings “a challah-sized chunk of cornice” down onto his head. This startling opening to Isenberg’s lively mystery introduces many of the book’s strands: Judaism, money shortages, cruel blows by fate, the American dream, marriage, sex, emotional endurance, and some unlikely but surprisingly poetic users of language. The other timeline in this book, the late 1880s, comes in when Rachel, Harry’s widow, sees an earthquake-related headline: “Yiddish Book Uncovered with Human Remains.” Rachel feels drawn to what turns out to be the diary of a Ukrainian girl, Aliza Rudinsk, who immigrated to America. When Rachel learns the girl was murdered, she feels compelled to solve the crime. Aliza’s story involves many hucksters, creeps and some surprising friends as she wends her way from New York through the American frontier. Which of them killed her? In addition to this engaging murder mystery from the past, Rachel has a number of issues that require sorting — how to rebuild her life, what kind of man was her husband, what kind of man is her suitor, what to do about her daughter, and who the mysterious woman is who loaned her father money. The connections between Rachel’s life and Aliza’s will surprise you, though the author avoids clichéd overly-easy coincidences. Isenberg has given us a novel with rich resonances of history, religion, and family. Judith Starkston BLACKBERRY WINTER Sarah Jio, Penguin, 2012, $15.00, pb, 304pp, 9780452298385 “Blackberry winter” is a term used by farmers to describe the cold snap in spring that’s needed to set the blooms on blackberry bushes. This story takes place at such a time in 1933 and 2010 in Seattle, Washington. There is a snowstorm in May 1933 when single mother Vera Ray leaves for work and returns the next morning to find that her 3-year-old son, Daniel, has gone missing. The story shifts to May 2010, when another snowstorm has blanketed Seattle, and journalist Claire Aldridge is asked by 20th Century — Multi-period

her editor to do a feature article about the snow for the newspaper. She feels that an article about snow in 2010 would be boring to readers, but when she begins to research the snow of 1933 and the unresolved abduction of little Daniel, her reporting instincts take over and she has found her story. Recovering from the loss of her own child and struggling to keep her marriage afloat, Claire is angry and puzzled when the story is cancelled, but she refuses to accept this decision and searches to find out what happened to Daniel, Vera Ray, and Daniel’s father. Some of the characters are better than they appear in the beginning and one is just what she seems, but they are all memorable, especially Vera, who faces adversity with strength and determination. The author does a good job of moving the story between the present and the past and tying it all together in the end. I recommend this book to readers looking for a light, nicely paced mystery. Susan Zabolotny THE FIRST MURDER The Medieval Murderers, Simon & Schuster UK, 2012, £12.99/$22.95, pb, 373pp, 9781849837378 Here is the eighth compilation of interwoven historical mysteries by the changing cast of The Medieval Murderers. As per usual it is the tale of how an item causes murder and mayhem down the centuries before turning up in more recent times and being finally laid to rest. This time the item is a mystery play, first penned at Oseney Abbey in Oxford in 1154. The subject is the first murder as Cain slays Abel, and as the manuscript resurfaces in later centuries it continues to wreak its curse. I always enjoy these and think of them rather like a holiday annual. The various authors either choose to write about their usual characters in a way that does not get alluded to in the main series books, or opt for something totally new just for this series. Ian Morson writes again of the adventures of the engaging Joe Malinferno and Doll Pocket, and I wish he would write about them in a new series of full-length novels. They are certainly interesting enough, and his 1820s setting is not a decade often featured, being neither Regency nor Victorian. Susanna Gregory treats us to the next chapter in her tales of the equally engaging 12th-century Welsh pair (again, nice to read about a) Wales and b) mediaeval Wales for a change). Bernard Knight has a new one-off setting, as does newcomer Karen Maitland, while Philip Gooden revisits Nick Revill. These are all authors equally adept at the often restrictive narrow margins of the short story and this is, as usual, a fine collection of entertaining tales that fit together as neatly as a Chinese puzzle box. One series that shows no sign of getting tired; long may it be an annual tradition. Rachel A Hyde THE SECRET KEEPER Kate Morton, Atria, 2012, $26.99/C$29.99, hb, 463pp, 9781439152805 / Mantle, 2012, £16.99, hb, 600pp, 9780230759503 It’s 1961, and 16-year-old Laurel Nicolson is hiding in a tree house during a family celebration, wanting only a few minutes alone as she contemplates her future. When she hears a stranger approaching, she is shocked to see a confrontation between the man and her mother; when a desperate crime occurs, Laurel and her two-year-old brother Multi-period — Paranormal & Historical Fantasy

Gerry are the only witnesses. And though Laurel speaks in defense of her mother, she never forgets the scene and its disruption of their calm family life in the English countryside. Fast forward 50 years, and Laurel, now a famous actress, returns home to help her three sisters tend to their dying mother, Dorothy. As time grows smaller, Laurel becomes more determined to discover precisely what happened on that long ago day, and she enlists Gerry to help her track down the relationship between Dorothy and her friend Vivien, who might have known what led to the confrontation she witnessed. As the layers are slowly revealed, Laurel begins to realize that her happy, loving mother had a past that holds more secrets than she ever imagined. Though I initially felt the story started a little slowly, I soon found myself gripped as Laurel dug into her mother’s story, finding clues that led her back in time to the London Blitz. The story moves through several points of view, including those of Laurel, Dorothy, and Vivien, with each character building on the other’s experiences. The ultimate revelation left me feeling completely satisfied. Morton’s story is much more than a family saga; it’s an historical mystery that impacts multiple generations. This novel is definitely going on the keeper shelf! Tamela McCann THE GIRL ON THE CLIFF Lucinda Riley, Atria, 2012, $15, pb, 416pp, 9781451655858 / Penguin, 2011, £7.99, pb, 576pp, 9780241954973 Riley’s second novel uses a familiar but intriguing device in which secrets of long ago impact a love story today. Moving from Russia to Ireland to Switzerland, the story follows two families and touches on 100 years of European history. The dominant voice is that of Grania Ryan, a young Irish-American who runs home to her family in Ireland after a tragic breakup with her lover in New York. After Grania sees a young girl alone on a dangerous cliff, she learns that Aurora Lisle, eight years old, is dreaming of her dead mother. Grania befriends the lonely child, but when she meets Aurora’s handsome father, and begins to spends at the Lisle manor, her own mother objects. Kathleen Ryan says association with the Lisles is unlucky. To prove it, she gives Grania letters written in 1914 by her great-grandmother Mary, a servant for a wealthy family. Although Mary’s story, which spans the First World War, explains her relationship to the Lisles, it ends with unanswered questions. Kathleen picks up the thread, revealing a Ryan tragedy, but the Lisles’ story remains a mystery. Years go by before Aurora finally weaves all the threads together so that both families can heal. The Girl on the Cliff is pleasantly old-fashioned novel featuring elegant houses, skeletons in closets, and low-key love stories. Recommended for those who enjoy novels that span several generations. Jeanne Greene

paranormal & | historical fantasy

THE LADY OF SECRETS Susan Carroll, Ballantine, 2012, $15, pb, 448pp,

9780345502957 Meg Wolfe, the Lady of Faire Isle, is far from home in the latest installment of Carroll’s longrunning historical fantasy series. King James is on the English throne, and at the book’s opening he declines to pardon two accused witches, setting several revenge plots into motion. Meg finds herself summoned to court to help cure the king of a curse inflicted upon him by one of the doomed witches, and Sir Armagil Blackwood, a physician who specializes in treating the residents of London’s slums, is one of her traveling companions, along with Sir Patrick Graham, a courtier with a secret. As Meg gets to know Blackwood, she discovers the heart of gold behind the dissolute façade, and the two grow fond of each other, despite Meg’s desire to keep her distance from romantic pursuits. Meg soon realizes that there’s more afoot than a witch’s curse, and saving the king from the Gunpowder Plot may be the key to saving her own life and the life of the man she loves. The pacing is slow in the beginning, but picks up steam as the plot against the king thickens. Part of the reason for the slow pacing could be the lack of a definitive villain. Meg mostly seems haunted by the specter of her mother, who may or may not be alive – there’s really no foil to contrast with Meg’s goodness. Carroll’s infusion of the fantastic into the historical continues to be effective, although it’s uncertain if the series will continue beyond this volume. Unlike the earlier books in the series, there aren’t many loose ends left hanging. Nanette Donohue AURARIA Tim Westover, QW, 2012, $16.95, pb, 400pp, 9780984974801 James Holtzclaw is sent to Georgia’s Appalachians on a special errand. He has a sack of money and instructions to buy every property in Auraria. That shouldn’t be difficult, for the onetime gold mining town has gone bust. A few dozen families remain on their farms, sifting for gold flakes in Lost Creek. In theory, Holtzclaw’s employer wants to harvest scrap metal from the old mills. He actually has a dam across Lost Creek in mind. Those hardscrabble farms will be transformed to valuable lakeside estate. With his agenda hidden, Holtzclaw easily persuades landowners to sell. However, very strange things are going on. Holtzclaw, whose coins are stamped with designs he’s never seen before, must learn Auraria’s golden secrets. When he sees a princess walk on water and watches Mr. Bad Thing play the piano – rather, doesn’t watch Mr. Bad Thing, because that entity is invisible – Holtzclaw realizes that he must deal with Auraria’s non-human residents too. What will they do when a lake fills their valley? I loved Auraria, a 2012 novel by Tim Westover, who based much of his mythos on southern Appalachian folklore. This story romps across those rugged mountains and splashes gleefully into springs flecked with gold. Westover presents us with a delightfully imaginative world, where trees sing and fish swim in the mist. His fluid, humorous style draws us right into that magical place, and straight into a story which could have been written by Stephen King on a good acid trip. Highly recommended. Jo Ann Butler HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 51

alternate history

MOSAIC OF AN UNQUIET TIME Mary Chiappe, DOMA, 2012, £9.99, pb, 300pp, 9780958301626 1963: three islands, a fictitious British colony known as As Areias, form an archipelago off the coast of Portugal and were named after stretches of coastal sand, sand being ‘areia’ in Portuguese. The official language was English, although the population spoke a rapid mixture of English and Portuguese. Nothing much ever happened in As Areias, except that from time to time the Blessed Virgin Mary was reported to have made an appearance. For several years Portugal had prospected for oil in the straits which separate As Areias from the mainland. Portugal, Spain and Great Britain each laid claim to the benefits and resources that oil would bring. The Church controlled the conscience of the islanders and Whitehall controlled the islands. Tilly’s family reflected life in As Areias. Her daughter Soledad attracted all the men on the island. While Tilly nursed at the local hospital, her brother Francis broke women’s hearts and their mother prayed for all her family. Guy Gosforth, the aide-de-camp to the governor of the islands, admired Matilda, but that friendship waned as did all his others. But as for Miss Larkin, she was content, even pleased, to fit into the slot allocated to her: ‘English Spinster, Anglican, retired’. Many things lie buried beneath the surface of the sand in As Areias, the tranquillity may even be disturbed, the future of the islands might be in jeopardy, but above that surface nothing appeared to threaten the peace of As Areias. I would like to have taken a holiday there, but as I read the book I likened it to buying a beautiful painting to take home with me as a souvenir, in the belief that the scenery and the characters would never change— but that could be deceptive. Jane Hill THE WAR THAT CAME EARLY: Coup d’Etat Harry Turtledove, Del Rey, 2012, hc, $28.00, 432 pp, 9780345524652 In this fourth installment of Harry Turtledove’s latest series, set during World War II, he asks the same questions that his previous books have asked. “How would world history have changed if key figures had made different critical decisions?” This is what alternative history is all about — and it provides interesting possibilities for the creative novelist. In The War That Came Early, the sides are scrambled. Germany, England and France are allies, fighting Russia. The United States is fighting only Japan, which is in possession of a horrible secret weapon. We see the story largely through the eyes of ordinary people — soldiers and civilians — and there are a lot of them. If the story has a flaw, it’s the swollen cast, which sometimes makes it difficult for the reader to focus for very long on a favorite character. We leap from one point of view to another, from one country to another, in an attempt to take in the big picture. But for lovers of alternative history, and particularly for the very popular Turtledove with 52 | Reviews |

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his appealing weaponry, battle tactics, and setting details, this story will satisfy. It sets out to entertain lovers of wartime stories, and that it does. Kathryn Johnson

children & young adult

COME AUGUST, COME FREEDOM Gigi Amateau, Candlewick, 2012, $16.99/ C$20.00, hb, 231pp, 9780763647926 Gabriel is born into slavery in Virginia during the American Revolution. He is raised on Prosser’s plantation and then sent to Richmond to learn blacksmithing. He falls in love with a slave from a neighboring estate, but, due to his headstrong immaturity, lands in a situation that delays his marriage. As Gabriel grows to manhood, he is inspired by the slave revolt in Haiti, and initiates an uprising. Even though the revolt is doomed from the start, Gabriel’s story highlights an important but little-known episode in American history. The book contains transcriptions of what appear to be real historical documents. While they interrupt the text and are sometimes confusing, they do add richness and dimension to the story. The book needs an author’s historical note and a resource list. Without them there is no way for the reader to know what is fact and what is fiction, although a quick online search for “Gabriel Prosser” provides the information. Amateau’s prose is lyrical, portraying the lush Virginia countryside in postRevolutionary times. Gabriel’s characterization may seem a little flat to some, but as a freedom fighter who devoted his life to the cause of liberty, he was one of early America’s true heroes. He deserves more attention than history has given him. Elizabeth Knowles FISHTALE Hans Bauer and Catherine Masciolo, Amazon, 2012, $16.99, hb, 197pp, 9780761462231 Anything can happen in “Catfish Time,” as young Sawyer Brown learns when a monster cat named Ol’ One Eye eats his widowed mother’s cherished wedding ring. She falls sick, and for reasons as obvious as they are unexplainable, Sawyer and his friends must leave the family catfish farm on a quest through the bayou to retrieve the ring and save his mother. Sawyer’s quest can be touching at times, especially when it brings him into a sort of spirit world where the Mississippi and Mekong deltas merge, and Sawyer makes peace with the loss of his father in Vietnam. But the book suffers from a confusing point of view, unnecessarily framed as a story told decades later by a character who isn’t even present for several key events and certainly couldn’t know what’s going on in other peoples’ heads. For the most part the authors keep the characters at a sort of cinematic middle distance; we see their quirks and hear their banter but never get close enough to experience what’s surely meant to be a journey of growth. Richard Bourgeois THE MARBLE QUEEN Stephanie J. Blake, Amazon, 2012, $16.99, hb, 180pp, 9780761462279

Dolls and tea parties bore Freedom Jane McKenzie, age 10. She would rather be the 1959 Marble Queen of Idaho Falls, but her ambition gets thwarted at every turn. Her mother tells her that marbles is a boys’ game, and after Freedom accidentally swallows a marble (resulting in a rush to the doctor and a nasty dose of castor oil), she forbids her to play with them anymore. Freedom can’t hang out with her best friend Daniel, either, because his mother tells him he’s too old to play with girls. And the boys playing marbles in the park say “No girls allowed.” Yet her rather shiftless, alcoholic father supports her marble ambitions. How will the too-impulsive Freedom rise above the roadblocks between her and her goal? While the story is set in Idaho Falls, it’s not location-dependent and could take place in any small-town-USA of the period. I liked Blake’s characters, all of whom have flaws while still remaining likeable. Nobody is all bad or all good. Her parents have relationship problems yet still love each other, and her pregnant and worried mother says “no” a lot, but still makes Freedom feel loved and cared for. Young readers may be inspired to put down the video games and try playing marbles to win their own cat’s-eye or blue taw. This book provides a lovely escape into 1950s America, with characters readers can root for. Enthusiastically recommended. B. J. Sedlock YESTERDAY’S DEAD Pat Bourke, Second Story, 2012, $11.95, pb, 258pp, 9781926920320 Between 1918 and 1919, the Spanish flu killed up to 100 million people. The flu first rose near Boston, and as it raged through the city, people were told to nurse their sick at home because the hospitals were overwhelmed. Toronto watched as the flu ravaged Boston, then Montreal. The virus was on its way. However, thirteen-year-old Meredith is preoccupied with her own problems. Though she dreams of becoming a teacher, the girl is working as a servant for Doctor Waterton and his motherless family. She assists the cook and butler, and minds Harry, the youngest son, who is as mischievous a lad as any who ever stole from the sugar bowl. Imperious Maggie is a few years older than Meredith, and is a demanding mistress. Fortunately, the new maid finds a friend in Maggie’s fifteen-yearold brother, Jack. Then the flu strikes Toronto. Dr. Waterton goes to the hospital to tend the first patients, but never comes home. He sends word that he cannot be spared – not even when young Harry takes ill. Then the cook collapses, followed by the butler. The Waterton house is virtually cut off from the world. Meredith turns inexperienced hands to nursing and seeks Jack and Maggie’s help in saving the sick. Pat Bourke’s debut YA historical novel Yesterday’s Dead plunges us into the desperate straits of families caught up in the epidemic. Bourke also explores the everyday struggles of working girls like Meredith. The epidemic tests Meredith’s resolve, and also her ability to forge bonds with her reluctant helpers. Younger teenage girls should particularly enjoy Meredith’s story and her ultimate triumph over adversity that most of us can only imagine. Jo Ann Butler THE ORPHAN KING Alternate History — Children & YA

Sigmund Brouwer, WaterBrook, 2012, $7.99/ C9.99, pb, 224pp, 9781400071548 Orphaned at 10 and raised by monks, Thomas is 18 when he realizes the time has come for him to honor his mother’s deathbed wish. He must return to the fortress kingdom of Magnus and claim his destiny. But secret forces, good and evil, have been awaiting his coming of age. As Thomas sets out on his quest, he gathers an unusual army of supporters: a condemned knight, a beautiful deaf and mute girl, and a young pickpocket. But can he trust them? The Orphan King is the first book in a series entitled Merlin’s Immortals. Set in the early 1300s, the novel mixes factual names and places with a fictional kingdom and conflict. The Druids and Immortals are fighting an epic battle, but in this installment they form only a mysterious background for Thomas’s quest. Although the adventure entertains and the interaction between Thomas and his comrades provides depth, this is very much an introduction to a series. At the end, rather than feeling eager to read book 2, I felt that I’d read a book that was incomplete. Fans of historical fantasy (ages 12+) who enjoy committing to a series may find the adventure in this tale outweighs the abrupt ending. Sue Asher FROZEN Mary Casanova, Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2012, $16.95, hb, 264pp, 9780816680566 Sixteen-year-old Sadie Rose remembers very little of the time before she went to live with the Worthingtons at age five; she knows that her mother died under mysterious circumstances that rendered her mute, but the details have long since been buried. Now it’s 1920, and the unexpected discovery of several photographs of her mother have Sadie experiencing long-repressed memories of living in a brothel, a frozen body, and two men covering up a crime. But what does it all mean? And what role, if any, does her foster father, Mr. Worthington, have in her mother’s death? Determined to find out, Sadie Rose leaves her comfortable home and heads off to learn more about the mysterious life and death of the woman in the pictures. Though it’s fairly clear early on how this mystery will play out, author Casanova does a good job of pulling the reader into Sadie Rose’s confusion about the circumstances surrounding her mother’s death. There are memorable characters met along the way, including wealthy, unstable Trinity, who helps Sadie Rose hide as the past resurfaces, and Owen, who becomes a love interest. Mix in environmental issues and politics, and this young adult novel gives us a heroine who learns to trust her instincts and herself. A good, absorbing mystery. Tamela McCann WILL SPARROW’S ROAD Karen Cushman, Clarion, 2012, $16.99, hb, 224pp, 9780547739625 Twelve-year-old Will Sparrow is a boy of the streets. After being abandoned by his mother, abused by his father, and threatened to be sold as a chimneysweep by his employer, Will decides that no one will look out for him but himself. He runs away, and adopts a new mantra: “I care for no one but myself and nothing but my belly!” But in 1599 England, Will finds that an empty belly isn’t always easy to fill. And as he encounters human kindness Children & YA

in those he meets along the road, he finds that maintaining emotional detachment and caring for “no one but himself ” is harder than it looks – and maybe not so worthwhile after all. When Will falls in with a traveling troupe of “oddities” – a dwarf, a “cat-faced” girl, and others who maintain a bright outlook in the face of cruelty and ridicule – his thick skin begins to soften, and he gradually finds in himself the compassion that he has been so long deprived of. As always, Karen Cushman is a master of portraying personal transformation: when Will is introduced, he is often rude and selfish but just vulnerable enough that he never quite slips into unlikeability, and the reader roots for him as he begins to see the error in his ways. Cushman’s trademark cast of colorful Renaissance characters is present here as well, from conjurers to swineherds to pickpockets. The story is a simple one, and often predictable, but is a warmhearted portrait of a boy coming to terms with himself and the world. Ann Pedtke THE QUILT WALK Sandra Dallas, Sleeping Bear Press, 2012, $15.95, hb, 215pp, 9781585368006 In 1863, with the Civil War raging, ten-yearold Emmy Blue and her parents start across the plains toward a new life in Golden, Colorado. The way – much traveled now, 20 years after the first pioneers went West – is still long and hard, and to get through it Emmy’s mother proposes they work on a quilt as they walk, sewing a piece a day.

THE DIVINERS

Emmy at first has no use for such tedious work, but as she travels through the wild and dangerous country, she learns the value of taking good stitches, and finishing the job. In the end, the family reaches Golden, and Emmy Blue has grown both older and wiser. The novel is full of well-researched details. The space in their wagon is so close that Emmy and her mother have no room for their clothes, so they wear all their dresses at once. Buttermilk John, their guide, is a representative sample of the mountain men who went from trapping beaver to guiding greenhorns through the wilderness. The settlers’ wagons are forever breaking down, and must be mended, hundreds of miles from any wagon shops. The food is awful. The dust is worse. The problem is that Dallas has not allowed her characters to inhabit any of this. It happens, and they watch, but there’s no sense of them actually experiencing it. The emotions are curiously muted, distant; perhaps Dallas, writing her first book for young adults, wanted to shield her audience from the savage reality. The trek west was a mix of boredom and utter terror. The Quilt Walk could have done with more terror, and less boredom. Cecelia Holland SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY Susan Dennard, HarperTeen, 2012, $17.99, hb, 388pp, 9780062083265 Eleanor would do anything for her dear older brother Elijah, including fighting an evil necromancer who is awakening the dead in late

E D I TORS’ CH OICE

Libba Bray, Walker, 2012, $16.99/C$19.50, hb, 336pp, 9780802722997 / Atom, 2012, £12.99, hb, 592pp, 9781907410390 Seventeen-year-old Evie has been sent away from Ohio to live in New York City with her eccentric uncle – and she couldn’t be happier about it. 1920s New York promises all the glamor and excitement she has missed in her small Ohio town. Perhaps there she can forget the loss of her brother in the Great War, and the strange visions she has been experiencing since his death. But Evie finds that supernatural forces have followed her to New York. Her uncle runs the Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, and soon Evie is using her visionary powers to help him investigate a series of grisly ritualistic murders. With the help of an aspiring poet, an irreverent pickpocket, a showgirl with a secret past, and her uncle’s handsome but strangely reticent assistant, Evie must stop the killer – before he completes his mission and raises an evil force that no one can control. This novel offers a rich portrait of New York City in all its grit and all its glitter. Libba Bray digs deep to portray not just the glamor of fashionable uptown residences, but the wail of trumpets in Harlem speakeasies, the gang wars in Hells Kitchen, and the crammed tenements in the Lower East Side. Her research is comprehensive, and it shows. The one wrong note is that the climax hinges on a scientific impossibility: a comet that, rather than appearing in the sky for weeks or months at a time, blazes improbably into existence on the stroke of midnight and disappears again just as quickly. But this slip detracts only slightly from the well-developed world of the novel. The Diviners is a murder mystery with the pacing of a thriller, the delicious chill of a horror story, and the rich period detail of the best historical fiction. Ann Pedtke HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 53

THE DARK UNWINDING

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

Sharon Cameron, Scholastic, 2012, $17.99, hb, 336pp, 9780545469647 Ever since her father died at sea, Katherine Tulman has known her place in the world. She acts as account-keeper for her coldly cruel Aunt Alice, managing a family fortune to which she has no claim – it’s all destined for her sweets-addicted cousin, on whose dubious generosity Katherine will depend for the rest of her days. When Aunt Alice receives word that Katherine’s Uncle Tully has gone mad and is squandering the estate, she sends her seventeenyear-old accountant to have him committed. But Uncle Tully is only mad in the most conventional sense; his childlike genius has created a refuge from the workhouses for hundreds of people, a clockwork paradise of greater value than any account-book can record. Cameron builds a wonderfully tight, thrilling story on the classic Victorian framework of stolen birthrights and stiff propriety. Katherine is a pleasantly formidable heroine, pointed in her speech but seldom cutting. One has no difficulty believing that this exceptional young woman is up to the many challenges before her. The steampunk elements of Uncle Tully’s world are exceptionally well done, presented perfectly in Katherine’s voice but with enough clues for a modern technical person to sort out exactly what they are. (This engineer particularly enjoyed the description of insoluble nitrocellulose.) Similarly the mysterious “unwinding” of Katherine’s mental state is at once creepy and credible, pulling the reader right along with her on a journey to madness and back again. Highly recommended. Richard Bourgeois 19th-century Philadelphia. To help rescue her brother, Eleanor seeks the aid of three Spirit Hunters: Joseph, a trim and proper looking Creole; Jie, a trouser-wearing China-woman; and Daniel, a frustratingly handsome inventor. While Eleanor sneaks out to battle the dead and uncover the necromancer’s power and motivation, Eleanor’s mother schedules her for croquet parties and nights at the opera with Clarence, a rich and handsome bachelor who seems to be hiding secrets of his own. Something Strange and Deadly is a fun, fastpaced, steampunk thriller. The characters of Daniel and Clarence create a nice romantic tension, complicated by the fact that we know neither is completely what he seems. Although some elements hidden from Eleanor are easily seen by the reader, other mysteries unfurl with more difficulty. Dennard gives explanations for everything (which I really like): what motivates the characters (both good and bad), how the dead can be made to walk, why the dead are sometimes hungry and sometimes not, how an amethyst earring can control a spirit, and how standing in water can magnify power. The mix of true and imagined technology, and the wonderful historic details of the Philadelphia setting, including the Centennial Exposition, all give a feel of reality to this obvious fantasy. Although the ending solves all of the mysteries, loose ends are left untied. I predict a sequel in which Eleanor once again must battle the dead, possibly to save the one she loves. Elizabeth Caulfield Felt THE HISTORY KEEPERS: Circus Maximus Damian Dibben, Doubleday, 2012, £9.99, pb, 472pp, 9780857538585 Rome, AD 27. In their second time-slip 54 | Reviews |

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adventure, Jake and the History Keepers find themselves in Ancient Rome. The evil Agata Zeldt plans to dominate the world and only Jake and his friends can stop her. Jake has something to prove. Earlier, his impetuosity resulted in the vital consignment of atomium, the liquid which enables them to time travel, being stolen by Agata’s son, Leopardo. Jake must redeem his honour or be labelled forever a traitor. Crunch time comes in the Circus Maximus, Rome’s gigantic stadium for chariot racing, capable of seating 150,000 spectators. We are overawed, just as Jake is, by the sheer scale and magnificence of the place; the skill of the chariot drivers and the danger of the race itself comes vividly alive. Agata Zeldt, supposedly acting on behalf of the reclusive Emperor Tiberius, plans to set off a bomb which will result in the death of thousands of people, including all the Senate, thus enabling her to rule the known world, change the course of history and plunge it into barbarism. With her is Leopardo, as cruel as she is herself. He will stop at nothing to win the chariot race. Can Jake get there in time to stop the massacre? This is a terrific story whose pace never lets up. The action goes from the cold of Stockholm where the History Keepers go to collect the atomium, to France, to the Island of Vulcano in the 1820s, and, finally, to Ancient Rome. There are some historical errors, for example, wheeled traffic was not allowed inside the city of Rome during daylight hours. And surely the time Jake and his friends take travelling from Herculaneum to Rome is positively 21st century in its speed! Still, I’m sure that boys of 11 plus will be gripped by this nail-biting adventure.

Elizabeth Hawksley ELEVEN ELEVEN Paul Dowswell, Bloomsbury, 2012, £6.99, pb, 224pp, 9781408826232 November 11th, 1918, the last day of World War I. It is still night, and three young soldiers are on their way to the Western Front: a young German, Axel; a young American air pilot, Eddie, whose family emigrated from Germany; and sixteen-yearold Will Franklin from England. Before the day is out, they will meet. None of them knows that a peace treaty is being hammered out. Axel is on a train. He doesn’t want to go to war, but the German High Command has called up all sixteen-year-olds. He can’t understand why their soldiers look so exhausted and half-starved; the Germans are winning the war, aren’t they? Will is cold, wet, hungry and terrified; they are marching towards the battle-line. His brother Jim is Platoon Sergeant but Will knows he can’t expect any preferential treatment. Eddie prides himself on his skills as a pilot. He’s had four ‘kills’ so far. He needs five to call himself an ace. Even though he hears that there will be no flying that day, he’s determined to go up for one last time. When the news comes through that war will cease at 11 am, not every one stops. Jim and Will are on a spying mission, and the order cancelling it doesn’t reach them, and Axel takes a last shot at the American plane flying towards them. Will the three young men still be alive at the end of the day? Paul Dowswell knows his stuff. What comes across is the soldiers’ utter exhaustion after four years of war. Everything is in short supply, food especially. War is not glorious deeds of derringdo; it’s a grim struggle for survival. Eleven Eleven will appeal to boys of 12 plus who want to know what life on the Western Front was really like. Recommended. Elizabeth Hawksley THE MESSENGER BIRD Ruth Eastham, Scholastic, 2012, £5.99, pb, 244pp, 9781407142612 This is a race-against-time mystery story in which three children have only a few days to solve a series of complex clues. It’s narrated by 13-year-old Nathan, whose father, Leon, is arrested by officials from the Ministry of Defence and accused of crimes under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Leon may face life imprisonment. As he is taken away he manages to tell Nathan that he is innocent and has evidence to prove it, if only Nathan can follow the trail of clues. But he warns him not to tell anyone else, not even his mother and sister. Ruth Eastham describes well the terror, shock and bewilderment of the family. She shows the close relationship Nathan has with his father and their shared interest in codes and puzzles. “Think literally and laterally”, his father has always said, and Nathan follows this advice. The family has just moved into an elderly relative’s house which is cluttered with World War II memorabilia – and it’s amongst all this that Nathan finds the first clue. It dates from the 1940s. He soon realises that the mystery involves the code-breakers at Bletchley Park and the Enigma machines. There is danger on all sides. Can Nathan trust his father’s solicitor? Is the house bugged? Is the woman who seems to be watching him an official from the MoD or a ghost Children & YA

from the past? Not surprisingly, Nathan cracks under the strain and tells his two best friends about the trail. The three discuss ideas and support each other as the mystery and danger escalate. I raced through this story. It’s both gripping and emotionally satisfying, and I think anyone aged 10 or older would enjoy it. Ann Turnbull GHOST KNIGHT Cornelia Funke, Orion, 2012, £6.99, pb, 352pp, 9781444008234 Eleven-year-old Jon Whitcroft is being sent to the Salisbury Cathedral Choir School where his late father once went. He’d convinced that this is because his mother doesn’t want him around. She has a new man, whom Jon disparagingly calls ‘The Beard’, and she’s going on holiday with him to Spain. Jon will only be in the way. He’s miserable, he hates ‘The Beard’, he’s homesick – and furious. And his problems escalate. The first night, he wakes up, looks out of the dormitory window and sees three ghostly figures on horseback staring up at him. They are the ghostly retainers of Lord Stourton. He learns that one of his Harthill ancestors (his mother was a Harthill) was murdered by Lord Stourton, who was hanged for his crimes. The ghost of Lord Stourton is now out for revenge on all Harthills, and Jon is his next victim. Jon is terrified. But then he meets Ella, a feisty girl whose grandmother does ghost tours of the cathedral. Ella tells Jon to meet her in the cathedral that night and to seek the help of William Longspée, a bastard son of King Henry II, whose tomb is there. Longspée is doomed to walk until his heart, stolen from him by Stourton, is buried with that of his beloved wife, Ela. Can Longspée help Jon, and can Jon and Ella discover where Longspée missing heart is? I loved this book. It’s exciting, funny (I love all the toads in Ella’s grandmother’s house), and emotionally truthful about Jon’s jealousy of ‘the Beard’ and his bitter feeling of being supplanted in his mother’s affection. When ‘the Beard’ appears and wants to help, will Jon ever learn to trust him, let alone like him? Highly recommended for boys and girls of 10 plus. Elizabeth Hawksley SECRETS AND SHADOWS Brian Gallagher, O’Brien Press, 2012, £6.99, pb, 9781847173508 1941. When twelve-year-old Grace Ryan’s Dublin home is bombed, she goes to live with her grandfather and uncle in another part of the city. There she meets Barry Malone, an evacuee from the Nazi saturation bombing of Liverpool. They both go to the same new school and are now neighbours as well. At first, Barry finds it difficult to settle in. The class bully, Shay McGrath, has it in for him. He has other worries, too. His mother is still in Liverpool, working in a Munitions factory now relocated outside the city; his father is fighting with the navy; and his Uncle George is a P.O.W. Then Barry and Grace become friends and he begins to settle down. The summer looks at though it might be fun with activities at the school Sports Club, run by the friendly Mr Pawlek. But is Mr Pawlek all he seems? Barry spots him photographing the Irish naval base on a school trip, Children & YA

and he keeps asking questions about where Barry’s mother’s Munitions factory is. Is he just being friendly or does he have an ulterior motive? Could he be a Nazi spy? Barry and Grace set out to find proof. At first, it’s an exciting game, but then things turn dangerous. Barry and Grace’s courage will be tested to the limit as they set out to unmask Mr Pawlek. I enjoyed this. All the characters are well-drawn. Brian Gallagher is good at getting across everyday life in 1941 Dublin: the playground games, the carefulness with money (every penny counts), the new music from the States, and so on. Similarly, the bombing of Liverpool is nail-bitingly gripping. The history is woven seamlessly into the fabric of an exciting story so that it becomes utterly convincing. Children of ten plus should enjoy this book. Recommended. Elizabeth Hawksley A ROMAN RESCUE K. A. Gerrard, illus. Emma Dodd, Templar, 2012, £6.99, pb, 88pp, 9781848771918 Ancient Rome. Young Charlie and his dog Bandit fall down a hole and find themselves in Rome during the reign of the emperor Hadrian. Charlie meets Cosmo, son of an important Senator, and his adventures begin. The dastardly Grumio, Cosmo’s cousin, is plotting with the tutor Porcus to oust Cosmo from his father’s favour and install Grumio as head of the household. It all hinges on a chariot race: if Grumio wins, Cosmo will be humiliated. Things are looking bad for Cosmo – all he has are two old donkeys. Worse, Porcus and Grumio plan to sacrifice Bandit to the goddess Fortuna to ensure Grumio’s victory. Can Charlie rescue Bandit and thwart Grumio? Can Cosmo and the donkeys win the chariot race? It’s a race against time… This somewhat absurd story is greatly enhanced by Emma Dodd’s lively illustrations. She’s very good at expression, and a few simple lines show us exactly what everyone is thinking. I love the horrible Porcus’s ferocious eyebrows and fat, sleek look. As a postscript, there are four pages of ‘Charlie’s Notebook’, subtitled ‘Useful things to remember if you’re ever in Ancient Rome’. We are taken on a whistle stop tour of the Roman Empire, looking at gods and goddesses, the Colosseum, the Circus Maximus, clothes, jewellery, toys, food and school work. I find it difficult to credit that girls of good family were sent to school; surely only boys had that privilege; though, doubtless, girls were taught weaving and, if they were lucky, to read and write, at home. The author has gone to some trouble in ‘Charlie’s Notebook’ to give her young readers a reality check as to what ancient Rome was really like and to make a clear distinction between her fun story and the historical truth. Boys of six plus should love this book. Elizabeth Hawksley I really liked A Roman Rescue, it was easy to read and fun and had some Roman names to try and say. I am doing Romans at school soon, so I liked learning about the way they lived and things like the clothes they wore and what they ate. I’m glad they found their way home, and that Charlie and Cosmo met up as friends again in this time. The Romans were clever but a bit nasty. I don’t think I’d like to be one, but I do like all the gods and goddesses,

they are much more interesting and fun than our God at school. Bandit was funny and sweet. I liked the bit where they won the chariot race with their skateboard. Romans didn’t have skateboards, but I’m sure they could have invented them if they wanted to. Mummy doesn’t know why they didn’t invent skateboards. William Stockton, age 6 EGYPTIAN ESCAPE K. A. Gerrard, illus. Emma Dodd, Templar, 2012, £6.99, pb, 89pp, 9781848776289 In Charlie and his dog Bandit’s second time travel adventure, splendidly illustrated by Emma Dodd, Charlie finds himself in Egypt in 1906. It is the heyday of British archaeology and the beginnings of Egyptology. Charlie meets Jack and Poppy (a budding suffragette) who are there with their grandfather, Professor Honeycut (worryingly, gone missing) who is excavating Ancient Egyptian tombs. He was last seen looking for the fabled Eye of Pakhet, rumoured to be cursed. All Charlie wants is to find Bandit. But there are others on the trail of the Eye of Pakhet: the professor’s servant, Haru, and the creepy Dr Bull, who is determined to take over the dig and seize the Eye of Pakhet, which he believes to be a fabulous jewel. They are hot on the children’s trail. In their attempts to escape, Charlie, Jack and Poppy find themselves transported back to 1500 B.C., to the reign of Queen Hatshepsut, a powerful female Pharaoh who has an unpleasant way with intruders. Can the friends meet up with Professor Honeycut and Bandit, find the Eye of Pakhet and outwit their enemies? I enjoyed this lively adventure. I liked the stop off in 1906 – a time when British archaeologists were particularly intrepid. K. A. Gerrard and Emma Dodd have plainly done their research. Charlie’s notebook at the end gives the reader the essential historical facts, not only about Hatshepsut’s extraordinary reign but also about Egyptology in the early 20th Century; the Rosetta stone and the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphs; Howard Carter and the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun; mummification; the temple of Pakhet; and the suffragette movement. This is more than just a fun read, readers will learn a lot, too, in an interesting and non-pedantic way. Children, especially boys, of 6 plus should enjoy this book. Recommended. Elizabeth Hawksley SILHOUETTE OF A SPARROW Molly Beth Griffin, Milkweed, 2012, $16.95, hb, 224pp, 9781571317018 When 16-year-old Garnet is sent to spend the summer with her wealthy aunt in Minnesota, she looks forward to an escape – from her overprotective mother and distant father, from the boy everyone expects her to marry, from the societal expectations that she will settle down as a housewife rather than pursue a career of her own. Garnet hopes to go to college and study ornithology, but in 1926 this is hardly seen as an acceptable course for a woman. However, when she gets to Excelsior, Minnesota, Garnet enters a world where it is almost implausibly easy to break the rules. She can sneak off on forbidden adventures to the amusement park; she can get a job at the local hat shop at a nod from her well-connected aunt; she can even begin to explore HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 55

her sexuality with a dazzling flapper named Isabella. And under the influence of this new freedom, she eventually finds the strength to stand up for her beliefs and her vision of her own future. I was drawn into the eccentric world of Excelsior, Minnesota, and I loved the ornithological theme that wove its way through the book in the chapter headings and elsewhere. But where the author excels at crafting a rich setting, she falls short in plotting. Every victory comes too easily for Garnet, and every emergency – from house fires to blackmail threats to devastating letters from home – ultimately fades in a depressing blip of anticlimax. Garnet’s burgeoning relationship with Isabella garners strangely modern reactions, with none of the historical baggage of the time. And the grandscale deus ex machina that finally catalyzes Garnet to assert herself only furthers the implausibility of the story. I love this period and loved the setting, but ultimately couldn’t vouch for characters who fall into life-changing decisions so easily. Ann Pedtke DEBUTANTES Cora Harrison, Macmillan, 2012, £6.99, pb, 303pp, 9781447205944 1923, England. World War I is over and the country is partying. London is fizzing with new music, new fashions and new ideas – but these are forbidden for Ladies Violet, Daisy, Poppy and Rose Derrington, daughters of a cash-strapped earl living in the decaying and isolated Beech Grove Manor. What will happen to them? Ladies don’t work for a living; they get married. Violet longs to make a brilliant marriage, but there’s no money for a Season. Daisy has ambitions to be a film director, but her strict, class-conscious aunt would never agree to anything so demeaning. Poppy and Rose, too, have their own hopes and dreams, and they all need money. The girls seem doomed to become impoverished old maids. Then a chance letter discovered whilst exploring the attic changes everything. Who is the mysterious Elaine and why does nobody ever speak of her? The family secret, if exposed, could have devastating consequences for the sisters’ hopes and dreams. Debutantes has some nice period touches, which fans of Nancy Mitford will recognize, like the ‘Murder in the Dark’ party game. I also enjoyed Daisy’s expertise with the camera, creating a darkroom in the old dairy pantry and messing about with chemicals — a reminder that early filmmaking was a hazardous business which required considerable skill if the whole reel were not to go up in flames. A niggle: the social mores don’t always ring true. An earl’s daughter would never call a duchess ‘Your Grace’; that is for servants. And it would be more in keeping with the period if the earl were referred to as ‘the earl’ throughout, rather than ‘Michael Derrington’. Small points, yes, but they dented my suspension of disbelief. However, the story zips along most enjoyably. For girls of 12+. Elizabeth Hawksley Debutantes is a fantastic book filled with romance and mystery. It has an intriguing, fast-moving plot and fun protagonist. Daisy and her fascination with film production gives a great insight into the 1920s film industry which I found particularly interesting. The mystery that runs throughout the book is 56 | Reviews |

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clever, though a touch easy to see through, although the twist comes completely out of the blue. It makes for an interesting, though somewhat unsatisfactory ending. I did not want Violet and Justin to get together after the way she treated him; it takes away from the book’s moral integrity as exemplified by Daisy, the lead character. I found Debutantes a very enjoyable read and think any keen reader of 12+ would, too. Rachel Beggs, age 17 QUEST OF THE GODS: Attack of the Scorpion Raiders Dan Hunter, Usborne, 2012, £4.99, pb, 137pp, 9781409521051 The evil Pharaoh Obo has chosen to ally himself with Set, the Egyptian god of darkness. The good gods who protect Egypt have all been imprisoned, and now famine and drought threaten the country. Only Akori, a peasant boy, can rescue the gods and restore to Egypt the life-giving waters of the river Nile. Together with Manu, a young trainee priest, and Ebe, a mute slave girl, Akori sets out to rescue Ra, the sun god. But how can they reach him and his golden boat when all the forces of darkness are ranged against them? This is very much a ‘quest’ story: think Ancient Egypt meets Mordor. Akori is the aspiring hero who needs to learn to think before he acts. Manu is the thinker, overburdened by his papyri – though they come in useful in unexpected ways. Ebe is strong, silent and intuitive but, at the beginning of the story, not really valued by the others. They must learn to appreciate each other’s strengths and to pull together. The black and white illustrations by Jerry Parris are wonderfully atmospheric and help the reader visualize ancient Egypt and the different gods well. Boys of 8+ who like adventure should enjoy this. Elizabeth Hawksley When I saw the playing cards inside the front cover, I thought was an imitation of the Beast Quest series. But when I read Quest of the Gods, I thought it was amazing. But there are some things that I thought were weird. Here are two examples: I think it should be called Quest to Find the Gods because it gives the reader more of a clue about the book to help them decide if they want to buy it or not. And on the front cover of the book it says, ‘One boy, five gods and a thousand monsters’. There can’t be a thousand monsters because there is only one monster in this book and there are only five books. Louis McNulty, aged 9 VIVA JACQUELINA! L. A. Meyer, Harcourt, 2012, $16.99, hb, 368pp, 9780547763507 Viva Jacquelina! is the tenth installment of the riveting Bloody Jack series. Jacky Faber has once again been coerced into working for the British Intelligence, this time in exchange for the safety of her now mentally disturbed fiancé, Jaimy Fletcher. While Jaimy recovers in luxury at the hands of Jacky’s Chinese friend and ally, Charlie Cheng, Jacky works as an aide to General Wellesley during the battles of the Peninsular War. After a conflict resulting in Wellesley’s repositioning, Jacky goes undercover in the heart of Spain as a muse to the artist Francisco Goya, charming her way into the imperial court to spy on Napoleon’s brother. All is going well until a jealous rival turns her over to the

dreaded Spanish Inquisition, sending her fleeing across the country with a band of gypsies. I enjoyed reading this book. Although Meyer’s series has been going on for quite a while, he still manages to keep the amusing, carefree tone that has brought readers back again and again. Some elements of the story are starting to get repetitive, however; for example, Jacky’s continuing penchant for playing around on the side while her fiancé is in peril, as well as her improbable journeys around the globe. Meyer continues to be innovative in Jacky’s continuing adventures; nonetheless, I do hope that the end is in sight because fans are not going to wait forever! Recommended for ages 13 and over. Magdalen Dobson THE BROKEN LANDS Kate Milford, illus. Andrea Offermann, Clarion, 2012, $16.99, hb, 464pp, 9780547739663 Walker and Bones arrive on Coney Island to subvert both New York City and Brooklyn to their evil purposes. Few places are as powerful as a crossroads, and the new Brooklyn Bridge is perfect for their needs. All their planning and preparation, however, didn’t account for the intervention of a young local cardsharp or a Chinese fireworks expert. The two teenagers have just met when horrific murders start appearing in back alleyways. As the violence spreads, these two, with the aid of their closest friends, must make whatever sacrifice is needed to keep the cities safe. Kate Milford does an amazing job of placing the reader in Coney Island in 1877. The setting is rich, and you can almost feel the breeze as the characters dash across the heights of the not-quitefinished bridge. We meet a wide cast of characters that includes Civil War veterans, crime bosses, politicians, and some of the most evil and powerful monsters to beset mankind. Everyone in this ensemble is believable, with depth of personality and background to make them fleshed-out individuals to root for. The Broken Lands is a young adult historical fantasy novel, prequel to Milford’s The Boneshaker. The novel includes quite a few wonderful illustrations to complement the narrative. I look forward to reading more of Milford’s work. Justin M. Lindsay WALTER TULL’S SCRAPBOOK Michaela Morgan, Frances Lincoln, 2012, £11.99, hb, 32pp, 9781847802125 This is the true story of Walter Tull (18881918), the first professional Black footballer in the UK, who joined the Football Battalion at the outbreak of World War I, rose to become an officer (unheard of for a Black man) and was killed on the Somme in March 1918, age 29. His body was never recovered. Michaela Morgan tells his story through his scrapbook, which is a brilliant device. It enables her to show original material, such as Tull family photos covering his childhood with his family and, later, after his father’s death, his life in the orphanage; newspaper cuttings covering his football career; the telegram sent from Buckingham Palace offering sympathy at his death; cigarette cards of the period and other contemporary items. Ian Benfold Hayward supplies drawings of an Edwardian footballer’s kit, First World I army uniform, a crosssection of a dug-out at the Front and so on. It all adds up to a lively and engrossing Children & YA

account of Walter’s life, and the illustrations, both contemporary and modern, allow the reader to get a real feeling for what his life must have been like, especially in the trenches. Walter himself comes across as an intelligent and talented man. It is a tribute to his courage and leadership qualities that he was not only put forward for officer training (the rule book specified that it was only for men of ‘pure European descent’), but also mentioned in dispatches and recommended for the Military Cross. It doesn’t pull its punches about the horrors of war but it does so in a responsible way. It also shows the camaraderie and the bravery of the troops – and their horses – under appalling conditions. I think any boy of 7+ who is interested in World War I would love this book. Highly recommended. Elizabeth Hawksley A SOLDIER’S SECRET Marissa Moss, Amulet, 2012, $16.95, hb, 400pp, 9781419704277 Private Frank Thompson of the 2nd Michigan Volunteers is not your typical Civil War infantryman. He is also a battlefield nurse and writes dispatches for a weekly newsletter. Frank even serves as a spy, scouting Rebel lines dressed as a Confederate soldier or as an old woman. He provides information on troop movements and artillery placements, and reveals the identities of Confederate spies who have crossed Union lines on their own covert missions. Frank is an expert on concealing his identity for a very good reason: Private Thompson is actually Sarah Edmonds. This bold young Canadian ran away from an abusive father and a forced marriage, crossed the border as a man, and worked as a bookseller before enlisting in the Army of the Potomac. Sarah Edmonds’s story is true, and that makes Marissa Moss’s charming A Soldier’s Secret even more amazing. Many women are known to have served in the Civil War with their husbands, who helped conceal their true gender, but Sarah is the only one to have created a male identity before the war. Other women’s sex became known when they were wounded or pregnant – will Sarah’s secret be revealed? Using Sarah’s own memoirs and her fellow soldiers’ diaries, Moss creates a delicious blend of history, biography, and fiction. One might think Sarah’s tales of survival and rescuing the wounded under fire to be too incredible, but they actually happened! Moss creates a romantic fillip at the end of Sarah’s heroic story, but it is one that would have delighted Sarah. You don’t need to be a Civil War buff to enjoy A Soldier’s Secret. It will enthrall all teens and adults who enjoy a courageous woman’s tale well told. Jo Ann Butler INDIA DARK Kirsty Murray, Templar, 2012, £6.99, pb, 329pp, 9781848772106 Melbourne, Australia, 1909. Thirteen-yearold Poesy Swift’s father has died and the family is on the breadline. She has two options: a job in a dangerous match factory or joining the Lilliputian Opera Company, a children’s travelling troupe about to tour America, or so she thinks. Poesy has always longed to join the theatre so, encouraged by her more worldly-wise friend, the 15-year-old Tilly Children & YA

Sweetrick, she joins the company. However, things are not as rosy as they seem. The manager, Mr Percival, is strapped for cash, and their incompetent female chaperone is inadequate for the job. Things begin to disintegrate. Far from touring America, the children find themselves in increasingly squalid lodgings, first in the East Indies and then in India. Accusations of cruelty and hints of sexual abuse against Mr Percival are whipped up by Tilly and some of her friends and, unwillingly and unwittingly, Poesy is drawn in. What Kirsty Murray is extraordinarily good at is Poesy’s emotional journey from innocence to knowledge. Like William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, she illuminates the consequences of young adolescents being left to fend for themselves. Truth, empathy and reason swiftly get lost. Poesy struggles to hold onto the truth in a world where adults are exploitative and where she only half-understands the emotional currents swirling around her. India Dark is based on a true story and the period is brilliantly captured. There are dangerous undercurrents as India kicks against the British Raj – but Poesy fails to see them. Nor does she realize that Mr Percival is having an affair with one of the girls. When, two years later, she is finally reunited with her family, she has eaten the bitter fruit of the tree of knowledge and weeps ‘for a childhood lost to me too soon’. Recommended for girls of 12+. Elizabeth Hawksley SUCH WICKED INTENT Kenneth Oppel, Simon and Schuster, 2012, $16.99, hb, 310 pp, 9781442403185 In this second book of The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein series, we pick up not long after the death of Victor’s twin brother, Konrad. Victor is bereft without his brother and soon becomes determined to somehow bring Konrad back to life. With the aid of a spirit clock and a mysterious elixir, Victor is able to transcend the essence of the spirit world, and, along with his cousin Elizabeth and friend Henry, hatches a scheme that will bring Konrad’s soul back by means of a strange being created through mud. While all this is taking place, however, Victor also becomes intrigued by an unknown force being held within the ancient tunnels beneath Frankenstein manor, and this as fascination as much as anything spells doom for all concerned. Though I’d not read This Dark Endeavor, the first in the series, I was able to follow the story quite well as Victor, with more than a hint of future madness, tries to find the secret to resurrecting his twin. The writing is very dark and at times quite scary, and there are frequent references to Victor’s nonbelief in God. Told with passion and atmosphere, Such Wicked Intent succeeds in its quest to scare the bejeebers out of the reader. Tamela McCann DODGER Terry Pratchett, Doubleday, 2012, £18.99, hb, 356pp, 9780385619271 London, 1840s. Seventeen-year-old Dodger is a ‘tosher’, scavenging in London’s old Roman sewers for a living. It is dark, dangerous and smelly work, but Dodger is nimble, quick-witted and knows exactly how to work the system. The law has never yet laid a finger on him, and he intends to keep it that way.

But when Dodger rescues a mysterious young lady from a murderous attack, things start to get difficult. The new Metropolitan Police gets involved; Charles Dickens of the Morning Chronicle scents a story and a dangerous foreign assassin comes to London. Dodger will have his work cut out to keep the lady safe, discover who she is, why the Foreign Office is taking an interest – and stay alive. Time is running out … I loved this book. Pratchett’s writing is like a brilliant shower of golden nuggets, with nods to various Dickens novels, Mayhew’s London Life, Bazalgette’s dream of a new sewerage system, the astute millionaire Miss Burdett-Coutts, shopping in Savile row, the notorious Sweeney Todd, and scores of other contemporary references. There is a philosophical element, too, as Dodger works out what sort of man he wants to become. I have an MA in Victorian studies and all this, together with the lively Victorian low-life slang (though a few anachronistic ‘OKs’ crept in) hugely increased my enjoyment. All the same, Pratchett understands that the story must be paramount, and it’s a cracker. I was hooked, frantically turning over the pages to see what was going to happen next, every now and then shrieking with laughter. It’s glorious mixture of inventiveness, fun and slightly massaged history. Pratchett insists that Dodger ‘is not an historical novel’. I suspect his definition is too proscriptive; I think it illuminates London’s Victorian underworld brilliantly. Dickens would have loved it. For 12+. Highly recommended. Elizabeth Hawksley SHADOW ON THE MOUNTAIN Margi Preus, Amulet, 2012, $16.95/C$18.95, hb, 304pp, 9781419704246 One of my favorite books as a child was Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan (Dutton, 1942), about brave children resisting the Nazis in Norway during World War II. I had hoped that Shadow on the Mountain (about brave Norwegian children resisting Nazis during World War II) would be as good, and I wasn’t disappointed. Fourteen-year-old Espen and his little sister Ingrid each do what they can, Espen as a courier for the resistance and Ingrid recording what the Nazis are doing in her diary – also forbidden. Espen leads small acts of open resistance as well, like leading a walk-out when his soccer team is informed that they’ll now be playing in a Nazi youth league. I appreciated the insights into how a combination of bribes, insecurity, and fear of communism allowed some Norwegians to rationalize allying with the invaders. The book includes a bibliography for more advanced readers, a list of reading recommendations for younger readers (which includes Snow Treasure), maps, a glossary, an author’s note, photos, a timeline, and even a bonus for code breakers. Recommended. Kristen Hannum RIPPER Amy Carol Reeves, FluxBooks, 2012, $9.95/ C$11.50, pb, 346pp, 9780738730721 With a mother as a governess, Abbie moved between Dublin’s good society and its poorer residents, learning how to make polite conversation and how to fight with a knife. After the death of her mother, Abbie moves to London to live with a grandmother that she hardly knows. Life HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 57

amongst the tea-drinking, husband-hunting gentry is boring, so Abbie jumps at the opportunity of volunteering at Whitechapel Hospital for Women, whose patients are mostly prostitutes. Abbie gets to know several of the doctors and through them their friends and family. These men are varied: some handsome, some strange, some intense, some quiet. Abbie begins having visions, which include a glimpse of Jack the Ripper killing former Whitechapel Hospital patients simultaneous to the actual murders. The police think the Ripper may be a doctor, and the story has given us suspects galore, including two doctors who have become Abbie’s love-interests. This is a fast-paced gothic tale, dark and overly dramatic, with a nice sprinkling of the supernatural. Unfortunately, it needs more editing. The dialog is forced, the emotions told more than shown, and in places odd things happen, such as a character burning her finger on a candle with no explanation (she’s not holding it). If a reader can look past the awkwardness of the writing, a fun and frightening tale lies beneath. Elizabeth Caulfield Felt RACHEL’S SECRET Shelly Sanders, Second Story, 2012, $12.95/ C$12.95/£8.28, pb, 248pp, 9781926920375 In 1903 in Kishinev, Russia, a 14-yearold Christian boy was stabbed to death by his uncle because of family squabbles over money. Newspaper stories subsequently blamed Jews for the murder, repeating outlandish lies that fed the people’s willful ignorance. No doubt it sold papers.

ALL FALL DOWN

A pogrom followed, not dissimilar to the “race riots” taking place at the same time in the United States. In Russia, Christian mobs destroyed Jewish property and killed Jews. In the U.S. white mobs destroyed black neighborhoods and killed blacks. Shelly Sanders’ grandmother was the inspiration for this book. She survived a Russian pogrom, escaping to Shanghai and from there to the United States. Sanders has written a fine juvenile historical novel based on Kishinev’s 1903 history. Rachel, the protagonist, sees the boy’s murder but is afraid to say anything for fear that it will make things worse for her family and community. She becomes unlikely friends with the murdered boy’s best friend, a Christian. The story soon won me over. I also appreciated the author’s note and glossary. Kristen Hannum SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS Laura Amy Schlitz, Candlewick, 2012, $ 17.99, hb, 384pp, 9780763662462 The title of this upper-middle-grade novel derives from Percy Shelley’s poem “Adonais”: “And others came … Desires and Adorations, / Winged Persuasions and veiled Destinies, / Splendours and Glooms…” That alone should tip off the reader that this story will have a definite literary flavor and sophistication that is likely to appeal to the particularly precocious young reader. Schlitz’s writing style has been called Dickensian, and it seems to comfortably fit that label – a flattering one in many ways, because the prose does all of the wonderful things for which we love Charles

E D I TORS’ C H OI C E

Sally Nicholls, Scholastic, 2012, £7.99, pb, 233pp, 9781407121727 1349. Thirteen-year-old Isabel and her family live in the Yorkshire village of Ingleforn. Farming is Isabel’s whole life, but that is about to change – terribly. The Black Death has arrived in Britain, and it will kill nearly half the population. Sally Nicholls is interested in how people react to catastrophe. Isabel’s life is bound up with her family, looking after her little sister, worrying about her favourite brother, Geoffrey, in the nearby monastery, yearning after the shy but handsome Will, and helping her father farm their acres. As villeins, they are legally bound to their lord and have few rights; they cannot move away to better themselves. Isabel’s own options are even fewer; women can’t own businesses and have no say in who they’ll marry, for example. She cannot imagine things ever changing. I was gripped by this book. Isabel’s reactions are absolutely believable: she can be defiant – as when she sneaks off to see if Geoffrey has survived; she sulks when she’s put in charge of her younger brother and sister; she regresses to being a child when tragedy threatens to overwhelm her – and all these emotions ring painfully true. But she also finds the courage to endure, even when she doesn’t know what the future holds, or, indeed, if she has a future. All Fall Down is a thought-provoking book which looks squarely at an historical cataclysm of unimaginable proportions. It asks a number of important questions: how can you live through unremitting tragedy? How do you grow up in a disintegrating society and keep your moral integrity? How do you cope with being a survivor when most of the people you’ve loved have died horribly? Isabel must find a way to live without feeling that she’s betrayed the dead. Thoughtful girls of 12 plus should love this book. Highly recommended. Elizabeth Hawksley 58 | Reviews |

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Dickens. The scenes are richly drawn; we can imagine ourselves on gritty Victorian streets, set upon by villains with frightening intent. Readers will enjoy sorting out the innocent from the evil. We meet Lizzie Rose and Parsefall, two orphaned assistants to the master puppeteer Grisini. When a show is arranged for Clara, child of a wealthy doctor, the orphans can’t help envying her warm, safe life. But they are unaware of the dark secrets and grieving that shadows the young girl. It’s Clara’s disappearance that shakes up their world. Suddenly the pair are suspected of being involved in her kidnapping; they must find Clara, which means leaving London. But along the way they become caught up in an ancient rivalry between Grisini, with his criminal past, and the witch that is his nemesis. A challenging novel for some young readers, but one to be cherished by others. Kathryn Johnson ALEXANDRA’S SECRET Annie Laura Smith, Cool Well, 2012, $9.99, pb, 234pp, 9781618770639 Eighteen-year-old Alexandra Cockrell wants to save people from experiencing the same Nazi brutality that killed her grandparents in Belgium. Her Belgian heritage and ability to fluently speak all Western European languages, combined with her paramilitary training, make her an ideal operative for the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS). In May 1944, Lieutenant Jason Norris is on his way to Naples, Italy, with top secret papers concerning Operation Dragoon, the Allies’ planned invasion of Southern France slated for August. After Germans shoot down his plane over Belgium, Alexandra parachutes into enemy territory to locate Norris and destroy the secret papers before the Germans learn of Operation Dragoon. What Alexandra doesn’t know is that Jason no longer has the papers. He lost them when he jumped from the plane. A chance encounter with a Gestapo officer complicates Alexandra’s mission, since she is with him when she finally locates Jason. Before they begin the arduous trek over the Pyrénées into neutral Spain with the help of the Resistance and a Basque guide, Alexandra must convince Jason she’s not a double agent and locate the missing papers. But the Gestapo knows of this escape route and sets a trap to catch them. Although less well-known than the D-Day Invasion, Operation Dragoon was equally important. Smith superbly weaves the historical facts into the fiction, but the story never achieves the level of tension and suspense readers will expect. There are two poignant episodes, but only once does the danger truly seem perilous. The story is geared for a middle-grade (ages 8-12) audience, but there are no children in the story. It’s an interesting tale, but the inclusion of the “wow” factor would have made this promising idea into great historical fiction. Cindy Vallar PASSION BLUE Victoria Strauss, Amazon, 2012, $17.99, hb, 352pp, 9780761562316 Giulia, the heroine of this young adult novel about the Renaissance, is the bastard daughter of a nobleman whose death allows his jealous wife to hustle the girl off to the Santa Marta convent in Padua. But Giulia longs for a better life, a home Children & YA

of her own, and a true love, and she seeks out her father’s astrologer to help her. He gives her an amulet, with the promise that she will get what she desires. In the convent, she discovers two conflicting ways forward: work as a painter among Santa Marta’s astonishing group of artistic nuns – or a young man. How she chooses between them drives this novel. The task of a writer taking on such familiar stuff is to vitalize it, find some surprises, build deep characters. Strauss fails at this. The men are bad and wrong, the women are spunky and right, you know by page 10 what’s going to happen on page 300, and the amulet hardly matters, being the only magical element in the whole story. YA has to be better than this: grown-ups will sometimes go for something that simply reassures them in their values, but younger readers want more edge. Cecelia Holland KIZZY ANN STAMPS Jeri Watts, Candlewick, 2012, $15.99, hb, 192pp, 9780763658953 It’s July 1st, 1963, and 12-year-old Kizzy Ann Stamps is a black girl preparing to enter a newly integrated school in Virginia. Through a series of letters to her new teacher, we learn that Kizzy has a lot on her mind: she doesn’t want to go to the white kids’ school (although if there are reference books, it might be worth it), and her face is badly scarred from a childhood accident. Kizzy writes in a matter-of-fact way about the daily racism she encounters, including a shocking scene where she is “switched” in public because she offended a white neighbor. Kizzy’s refuge is her dog, a stray border collie named Shag. Shag’s loyalty and intelligence help her navigate her new school and open up doors to new friendships with a white boy next door and a Scottish farmer who helps her train Shag for competitions. Kizzy’s narration is skillfully done with an authentic voice. At times an angry child, at times precociously wise, Kizzy is a heroine with grit and likeability. Particularly interesting is Kizzy’s perception of the pervasive racism around her. At the start of the novel, Kizzy absorbs the casual cruelty directed at her, but through her new friendships she begins to see other possibilities. The epistolary style gives full rein to Kizzy’s charming voice, although it can create an emotional distance between the reader and the text. The reader might have benefited if Kizzy’s teacher had a greater role. Only one of her responses appears, and it has a saccharine feel that detracts from the authenticity of the novel. Michaela MacColl THE LAST SONG Eva Wiseman, Tundra, 2012, $19.99, hb, 225pp, 9780887769795 The Inquisition has just begun, and teenage Isabel believes she is safe from Torquemada and his brutal minions. She was raised in a Catholic family, and she attends church regularly. But her parents have a secret – they are conversos, Jews who converted to Christianity to avoid persecution, and they still practice some of the traditional Jewish customs in their home. For her protection, Isabel is betrothed to Luis de Carrera, an uncouth young man from an old Catholic family. Marrying into the de Carrera family would ensure Isabel’s safety from the Inquisition if her family were to come Children & YA — Nonfiction

under suspicion. But marrying Luis is the farthest thing from Isabel’s mind – especially after she meets Yonah, a goldsmith’s apprentice who lives in the Jewish ghetto of Toledo. When the Jews are expelled from Toledo, Yonah must leave. But Isabel and her family have a difficult decision of their own to make: do they stay true to their beliefs and leave as well, or do they continue to live a lie and risk incurring the wrath of the Inquisition? Teenage protagonists work well in this type of setting – the typical rebelliousness and bravery of teens makes it believable when they stand up to authority. Isabel is no exception. Her search for her place in the world is fascinating, and her quest for belonging transcends time and place. Eva Wiseman’s novel is brief, poetic, and difficult to put down. The Last Song is suitable for readers ages 12 and up. Nanette Donohue BUTTON DOWN Anne Ylvisaker, Candlewick, 2012, $15.99/ C$19.00, hb, 177pp, 9780763653965 In 1929 Iowa, Ned Button is thrilled when local football hero Lester Ward is tapped to attend the University of Iowa, the first-ever player from Goodhue. Ned wants to be just like Lester, but his puny frame puts him at a disadvantage. He probably won’t even be able to go to a game to watch Lester play, since his family is the stay-athome type, not to mention the money it would cost. Even his fantasy of being a football hero on the playground are dashed when Lester’s younger brother Burton won’t give Ned his leather football back, leaving Ned and his friends to make do with a paper and twine substitute. Then his grandfather not only offers to coach Ned’s pickup team against Burton’s, but also finds a way to get tickets for an Iowa game. But will Granddaddy’s sudden illness ruin Ned’s dreams? This book is a sequel to The Luck of the Buttons, which featured Ned’s sister Tugs as the main character. Short chapters, lots of dialogue and humor, and the sports theme will get reluctant readers to try it. Ylvisaker doesn’t spoon-feed her readers. It takes some time to figure out who is who, but kids will be hooked by the quirky characters. They will root for Ned, an appealing boy trying to fight family tradition and bullies at the same time, and Granddaddy Ike, who likes to have Ned read aloud the only book he possesses, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Warmly recommended for ages 8-12. B. J. Sedlock

nonfiction

THE WATCHERS Stephen Alford, Bloomsbury, 2012, $35.00, hb, 400pp, 9781608190096 / Allen Lane, 2012, £20, hb, 416pp, 9781846142604 Several recent nonfiction books have delved into the thorny subject of Sir Francis Walsingham, his dedication to Queen Elizabeth I, and ruthless pursuit of those he perceived as enemies of the state. Stephen Alford’s The Watchers is a welcome addition to the popular study of Elizabethan espionage in that he does not repeat facts already established so much as breathes startling fresh life into the origin and spread of the Elizabethan secret service. Alford is a scholar who has done his work,

digging into archives to exhume fascinating and previously unexplored events; starting with a fictional assassination of Elizabeth, he sets the stage for his exploration of the deep-rooted fears that the queen, her people and ministers lived under—a nightmare scenario of an unwed sovereign’s untimely death that would expose England to invasion and war. Alford’s portrayal of the motley crew of opportunists, pariahs and sociopaths recruited by Walsingham in his cold war on terror paint a distinctly darker portrait of the reign of this most beloved queen, exposing a sordid underworld where everything was for sale and no one could be trusted. C.W. Gortner UNDERWORLD LONDON: Crime and Punishment in the Capital City Catharine Arnold, Simon & Schuster, 2012, £14.99, hb, 350pp, 9780587201164 This is a broad-brush account of London’s most notorious crimes from the Middle Ages up to the present day, together with descriptions of the punishments meted out to those responsible. The author collates a variety of secondary sources in a readable and pacy narrative that, given the upwards of a thousand years covered, is necessarily a little lacking in depth at times. For a English national, most of the crimes and malefactors are fairly well known already, though the accounts of the grisly and often appalling punishments makes for occasionally uncomfortable reading. Arnold makes a strong case to show why capital punishment should remain off the statute books and if there is anything positive to take away from this catalogue of human iniquity, it is that the more enlightened recent attitudes towards the punishment of serious crime has to be a good thing. Doug Kemp THE CRIMINAL CONVERSATION OF MRS NORTON Diane Atkinson, Preface, 2012, £20, hb, 486pp, 97881848093010 Caroline, granddaughter of the playwright Sheridan, marries George Norton and finds him to be violent and unpredictable. She was already a noted poet, and with her songs, poems and novels helped support their family. Much admired, she was flirtatious and knew many of the haut ton. George accused her of adultery (known then as criminal conversation) with Lord Melbourne, at the time Prime Minister. George lost his case, but Caroline’s reputation was ruined. Women were unable to appear in court to defend themselves. They owned nothing, and could not sign leases or contracts. Husbands could claim any earnings or inheritance, could sell their possessions, repudiate their debts and prevent them from seeing their children. Driven from her home, Caroline campaigned for changes to the law, writing pamphlets and letters, lobbying politicians. It was largely due to her efforts that the Infant Custody Act, the first to give women some legal rights, was passed. It gave mothers a right to see their children. She supported later legislation over financial matters. Atkinson manages a huge cast and quotes from numerous letters and press reports. This is a devastating account of the position of married women in the early 19th century. Marina Oliver THE BRONTËS: Wild Genius on the Moors: HNR Issue 62, November 2012 | Reviews | 59

The Story of a Literary Family Juliet Barker, Pegasus, 2012, $39.95, hb, 1200pp, 9781605983653 Juliet Barker has impeccable credentials to write a definitive history of the Brontës. As curator to the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, she has immersed herself in all the modern research about the Brontë family. The original 1994 edition was considered a meticulous and thoroughly researched history. In 2012, Barker has updated the work to include new scholarship and documents that were unavailable for the previous edition. Barker painstakingly sifts through all the theories and myths surrounding this literary family. She particularly takes aim at the famous The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell in 1857, which created the familiar romantic myth of the Brontës as a doomed family of genius. Barker meticulous debunks Gaskell and presents the reader with a fascinating story of an unusual and talented family that is far more interesting than the stereotypical portrayal of their lives. The length (1200 pages) is daunting, but the Brontë family’s story is worth the space. Barker has managed to create that rare biography – exhaustive but still extremely readable. Michaela MacColl THE DAMNATION OF JOHN DONELLAN: A Mysterious Case of Death and Scandal in Georgian England Elizabeth Cooke, Walker, 2012, $25.00, hb, 304pp, 9780802779960 / Profile, 2011, £14.99, pb, 304pp, 9781846684821 Theodosius Boughton: youthful heir to a baronetcy, womanizing ne’er-do-well, a year from his inheritance ... and dead. This nonfiction work boasts the enclosed environment and finite cast of a real-life manor house mystery. There’s John Donellan, brother-inlaw and bon vivant of questionable background; his wife, her loyalties split between husband and family; and Boughton’s own mother, at once vacuous and avaricious. When Theodosius dies after taking a medicinal draught, suspicion is directed at Donellan. Riddled with venereal disease and having drawn the genetic short straw, did Theodosius die of natural causes, or was he poisoned? If so, qui bono? Cooke examines the facts of the case, leaning towards vindication of Donellan (convicted on the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence and executed), but at over 200 years remove, can conclusively prove nothing. There are gratuitously gory descriptions of Theodosius’s rotting corpse, and the lackadaisical, forensic-bereft court proceedings are examined at length. In the end, the reader must decide not only if murder was committed, but by whom. An interesting look at Georgian society and an absorbingly real (murder?) mystery. Bethany Latham BEYOND THE BLUE HORIZON: How the Earliest Mariners Unlocked the Secrets of the Oceans Brian Fagan, Bloomsbury, 2012, $28/C$32.50/£20, hb, 336pp, 9781608190058 Brian Fagan is a marvel, not just in his encyclopedic knowledge of history, archaeology, and anthropology, but in the way he offers up all the best parts in coherent, compelling anecdotes, leaving the boring parts back in the encyclopedia. Not only that, but it turns out he’s a sailor, which explains a lot about his own æfintyr, a Norse word he uses 60 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 62, November 2012

several times in this book. He explains it means “‘venture,’ a word that implies a strong element of risk, and the fear and excitement of facing the unknown and unpredictable.” Fagan relates it to “the profound, restless curiosity” that beckoned so many to explore the open water, “no place for the ordinary traveler.” He focuses on five regions explored by sea travelers in prehistoric times: the South Pacific; the Mediterranean, especially the Aegean; the Indian Ocean; the North Sea and North Atlantic; and the North Pacific off the U.S. coast. The book is a cargo-full of information on winds, shipbuilding techniques, natural history, routes, ancient cultures, and primitive navigation. It’s also an ode to æfintyr, a luring call to the sea. Recommended. Kristen Hannum ATLANTIC FEVER: Lindbergh, His Competitors, and the Race to Cross the Atlantic Joe Jackson, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012, $30, hb, 515pp, 9780374106751 The Orteig prize of $25,000 (approximately $330,000 today) was established in 1919 to award the first pilot to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Those who attempted the crossing in 1927 were a mixed bunch—pros, amateurs, famous and now infamous—but almost all were better known and better equipped than the winner Charles Lindbergh was. Anyone who has seen the fragile Spirit of St. Louis will salute Lindbergh’s courage, but he was one of fourteen. Jackson reminds us there are other courageous pilots in his shadow. Jackson’s research is well documented in notes and bibliography, which will interest historians and history buffs. This should not deter general readers. Atlantic Fever is a page-turner that deserves a wide audience. Highly recommended. Jeanne Greene TOWER: An Epic History Nigel Jones, St. Martin’s, $35.00/C$40.00, hb, 464pp, 9780312622961 / Hutchinson, 2012, £20, hb, 464pp, 9780091936655 This is a fascinating look at the infamous Tower of London, from its beginnings as a motte-andbailey castle built by William the Conqueror, to be both palace and stronghold during many reigns, to the last man executed there, one Josef Jacobs, a German paratrooper who was captured and shot during WWII. Telling the bloody story of the English nation, Tower graphically describes the horrific events that have occurred within its walls. Jones is not content to explain the process of disemboweling one time, but describes it in great detail each time an unfortunate prisoner receives the grisly sentence. There are also some debatable “facts” presented as such, though historians do not agree upon these “facts.” Case in point: he mentions a letter written by Anne Boleyn to King Henry as if there is no doubt of the letter’s authenticity. However, most historians agree than the letter is not written by Anne. There are other such details glossed over as factual when there is some debate. However, the book is written in a very engaging style and is definitely worth having as part of one’s library. Anne Clinard Barnhill LEONARDO AND THE LAST SUPPER Ross King, Walker, 2012, $28.00, hb, 352pp, 9780802717054 / Bloomsbury, 2012, £20, hb, 352pp, 9780747599470

This time out, Ross King, novelist and bestselling author of biographical nonfiction focusing primarily on the Italian Renaissance (Brunelleschi’s Dome, Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling), fixes in his crosshairs Leonardo da Vinci as Leonardo struggles to define his talent and find recognition in 15thcentury Italy. King moves easily from Leonardo’s birth and early days in Florence, where his few commissions are seldom completed, to Milan, where the gigantic bronze horse he has begun work on is dismantled to forge three cannons. In its place, suddenly he is handed a new project: painting one wall of a church dining hall with a mural that surely few people other than the church’s Dominican brothers would ever see. King’s narrative is entertaining and movingly told. Leonardo was an ambitious and often frustrated man who had difficulty harnessing his art and his dreams, a man who explored why the sky was blue, went mountain climbing, and wanted work as a military engineer, then found himself facing that refectory wall in Santa Maria delle Grazie with no knowledge in the technique of fresco—one renowned as the most difficult painting technique to master. Overall, this new work is an invaluable addition to all things Leonardo. Alana White ABLE SEAMEN: The Lower Deck of the Royal Navy, 1850-1939 Brian Lavery, Naval Institute Press, 2012, $41.95, hb, 368pp, 9781591147305 Brian Lavery presents his second book describing the world of sailors and naval vessels, covering 18501939. He discusses the transition of sailing vessels from boats and ships of the most rudimentary style to steamships to iron and steel ships as well as the evolution of gunnery. Lavery spends a great deal of space describing how British sailors were first impressed, then legally acquired for set terms, and then later how enrollment and training developed to its present status. The numerous battles in which the Royal Navy engaged are cited and the major ones described in adventurous detail, including all of the victories and gaffes that occurred during those momentous times. Social customs existing during time “out to sea” and “in port” are also fascinating reading; in particular, Lavery describes numerous mutinies, including causes and effects, all of which evolved into the 20th-century code of discipline, a mammoth change from the almost primitive state existing in the Royal Navy’s earliest days. Photographs and an appendix are added to enhance the story Lavery tells so well and which includes many other comprehensive aspects of this huge topic. This is a book for all interested in the military to enjoy, an accurate, fascinating book that would serve as an excellent, reliable source for researchers. Viviane Crystal MONEY AND THE MIDDLE AGES Jacques Le Goff (trans. Jean Birrell), Polity, 2012, £15.99/€18.60, pb, 200pp, 97807456652993 This is a scholarly, yet brief and readable, study of the development and use of money in the High Middle Ages. Some areas are still obscure: when sums of money are mentioned in contemporary records, it is often not clear whether actual coins are being referred to, or merely units of account. The growth in the use of money paralleled and reinforced the development of the nation‑state. There were also the problems of the multiplicity Nonfiction

if types and weights of coins in circulation, and also of bimetallism and trimetallism (gold, silver, and copper). This book is interesting in itself and provides useful background to the period; for example, I had no idea that gold was very rarely used for coinage. Alan Fisk WHO’S WHO IN WOMEN’S HISTORICAL FICTION Kathy Martin, Remember When (Pen & Sword), 2012, £14.99, pb, 216pp, 9781844680818 A must‑have for the bookshelf of lovers of historical fiction, this book is well researched and packed full of information and facts. It covers the works of many must‑read women authors of historical fiction and is well illustrated with photographs, drawings and lots of book covers. The characters are presented in an A-Z format, complete with their romantic interests, friends, family and servants. Dip into this book time and time again, immerse yourself in the characters you know well and find lots of new ones along the way. The book starts with a series of essays, followed by the A-Z list, which has symbols to correctly identify the historical settings and find all the characters from a particular era quickly and easily. A quick browse will have you searching the bookshelves for well‑loved novels and inspire you to try new titles. Not everything is given away. so the plots still stay intact, but enough is given to arouse your interest and want to give the novel a try. An excellent book, so make sure you put it on your wish list this year! Barbara Goldie ROAD TO VALOR: A True Story of World War II Italy, the Nazis, and the Cyclist Who Inspired a Nation Aili McConnon and Andres McConnon, Crown, 2012, $25.00/C$32.95, hb, 316pp, 9780307590640 Siblings Aili, a journalist, and Andres, a historical scholar, meticulously researched this story of a cyclist still revered in Italy as a national hero. Gino Bartali was a poor Florentine son whose faith and discipline helped him win the 1938 Tour de France. His wartime experience as a bicyclemounted messenger, first as part of his army service from 1940 to 1943 and then for Cardinal Elia Dalla Costa, the Archbishop of Florence, in a secret network of resistance members who produced and distributed false identity papers for Jews, kept him competitive. This, and the inspiration of the Italian people struggling to recover from the war, contributed to his ability to win a second Tour in 1948, the only Tour winner with such a span between wins Although this book illuminates a little known chapter in World War II history, it also tends to idealize Bartali. While his wartime activities are inspiring and this recognition of those activities well-deserved, the most exciting passages come from Bartali’s triumph over climate, physical terrain, and age to win his second Tour. This biography is accessible and reads like a novel. I would recommend it to anyone interested in cycling, World War II, or sports heroes. Terri Baker THOMAS JEFFERSON: The Art of Power Jon Meacham, Random House, 2012, $35.00/£24.99, hb, 800pp, 9781400067664 If you think you know all about Thomas Jefferson, Nonfiction

read Jon Meacham’s brilliant 2012 biography, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power. Mr. Meacham presents an unblinking examination of Jefferson’s career in all of its triumphs and contradictions. We see the political mastermind of the Declaration of Independence – and the Virginia governor who abandoned his state to British invasion in 1781. Jefferson argued many times that slavery should be ended, yet he kept many humans enslaved. After his death, only those who could support themselves with a trade were freed; notably Sally Hemings and the children Jefferson sired on her. Liberally aided by his own words, Meacham brings Jefferson to life as a diplomat, philosopher, and a president who described the office as “splendid misery.” Jefferson truly did wield his power artfully, but as Meacham’s description of his beloved Monticello demonstrates, Jefferson also understood the power of art. The world created by Jefferson leads us to more clearly understand the architect of America, and so does Jon Meacham’s masterful Thomas Jefferson. 100% recommended for all readers! Jo Ann Butler CAPTAIN’S WIFE: Narrative of a Voyage in the Schooner Antarctic 1829, 1830, 1831 Abby Jane Morrell, Seaforth, 2012, $27.95/£13.99, hb, 224pp, 9781848321250 This firsthand account by a woman of a voyage to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific is part of the publisher’s Seafarers’ Voices series. New Yorker Abby Morrell, at the age of 19, embarks on the schooner Antarctic with twenty-three sailors and her merchant captain husband. She leaves behind family, an infant son in the care of her mother. Morrell’s descriptions of the places visited, the Cape Verde Islands, Tristan da Cunha, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Africa, are fascinating and well observed. The narrative contains exotic locales, as well as the customs and superstitions of the mariners with whom Morrell travelled. As the captain’s wife, Abby Morrell didn’t mix with the sailors, but she shared the dangers of the sea with them. She records illness and death aboard ship and violent encounters with native peoples. Morrell holds the work of Christian missionaries in the Pacific in the highest esteem, and refers to indigenous people as savages. Captain’s Wife is a narrative from the days of sail and early 19th-century exploration. Editor Vincent McInerney describes Abby Morrell’s world as one “in which early Pacific traders found themselves, when torture, death, and the cooking pot seemed to lurk within every coral reef.” Eva Ulett THE BLACK COUNT: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo Tom Reiss, Crown, 2012, $27.00, hb, 432pp, 9780307382467 The swashbuckling heroes in Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo have stirred the imaginations of millions of readers worldwide. But few of them know that these dashing characters had a real-life model: the author’s father, Alex Dumas. Born in Saint-Dominigue (modern-day Haiti), Alex Dumas was the son of a black slave woman and a fugitive white French nobleman. Despite adversity in his youth — including being sold into slavery by his father — Dumas made his way to Paris. There he became a master swordfighter and

member of the French aristocracy. A brave and fearless soldier, he rose rapidly through the ranks of the French Republic army, becoming Napoléon’s cavalry commander in charge of 53,000 men. While fighting for Napoléon, Dumas was captured and imprisoned in a dungeon for several years, providing his son with the inspiration for The Count of Monte Cristo. Reiss weaves the younger Dumas’s recollections of his father with the incredible history of Dumas père to provide an intriguing story of a man of color making his way through 18th-century France, the modern world’s first multiracial society. This well-researched and engrossing book will appeal to readers interested in both French history and literature. John Kachuba BERTIE: A Life of Edward VII Jane Ridley, Chatto & Windus, 2012, £30.00, hb, 608pp, 9780701176143 This isn’t yet another biography of the irresponsible, hedonistic heir to the throne who became king far too late in life and achieved little in his nine-year reign. Jane Ridley has made excellent use of private papers unseen by previous biographers to paint a rather different picture of Edward VII. In an entertaining yet thoughtful style she sets before us a young man frustrated by a difficult relationship with his mother, Queen Victoria, who thought he would make an unsuitable king. He found refuge in gambling, gourmandising, and conducting scandalous love-affairs. But he married dutifully a woman who, though tolerant and loving, never quite grew up, and when he did become king at 59, proved himself to be a fine diplomat who made the monarchy more human and accessible. Sarah Cuthbertson CALL THE MIDWIFE: Illustrated Edition Jennifer Worth, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2012, £20, hb, 392pp, 9780297868781 Attached to an order of courageous, kind and eccentric nuns, apprentice midwife Jennifer Worth tells the story of the women she treated and the horrifying conditions in which they lived and gave birth in the Docklands slum areas of the 1950s. While she witnessed loss and brutality, she also met with incredible compassion, understanding and a large dose of Cockney humour. Funny, moving and tragic, Jennifer’s stories bring to life London’s impoverished East End of the 1950s. From the moment I opened this beautifullyillustrated hardback, I was enchanted –– from the poignant sepia photographs, to the author’s engaging, conversational prose. Obviously not penned by a trained writer, this doesn’t detract from the story, but rather enhances it. Written straight from the heart, she does not try and impress with any forced, literary skills, her no-nonsense narration echoing, even more resoundingly, her down-to-earth characters. My own training and work as a midwife perhaps rendered this story even more enjoyable. I certainly identified with the midwives and their difficult situations, but I would highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a moving and heart‑warming memoir. Liza Perrat

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