Historical Novels Review, Issue 70 (November 2014)

A PUBLICATION OF THE HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY

HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW Issue 70, November 2014

A Study in Perspective Kamila Shamsie’s epics e pluribus unum high-concept, multi-author projects john dee & edward kelley the secrets of life & death deep waters a look at sarah waters’s the paying guests using new research abelard & heloise dr johnson’s world 18th-century london

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE publisher’s message | historical fiction market news | red pencil | new voices

Historical Novels R eview

ISSN: 1471-7492 | © 2014 The Historical Novel Society

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p ub lis h er

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

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edito r ial boa r d

Andrea Connell <connell1453@verizon.net>

Publisher Coverage: Henry Holt, Other Press, Overlook, Sourcebooks, Tyndale, and other US small presses

Arleigh Johnson <arleigh.johnson@att.net>

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

Jane Kessler <jkessler@uamail.albany.edu>

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

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Managing Editor: Bethany Latham Houston Cole Library, Jacksonville State University 700 Pelham Road North Jacksonville, AL 36265-1602 USA <blatham@jsu.edu> Book Review Editor: Sarah Johnson 6868 Knollcrest Drive Charleston, IL 61920 USA <sljohnson2@eiu.edu>

Ilysa Magnus <goodlaw2@optonline.net>

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

Tamela McCann <jjmmccann@aol.com>

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

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

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re v i e ws e d i tors , i nd i e

Features Coordinator:

Features Editor:

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

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

Helen Hollick <author@helenhollick.net>

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

Steve Donoghue <st.donoghue@comcast.net>

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

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r eviews edit o r s , u k

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Alan Fisk <alan.fisk@alanfisk.com>

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

Publisher Coverage: All UK children’s historicals

Edward James <busywords_ed@yahoo.com>

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

Doug Kemp <doug.kemp@lineone.net>

Publisher Coverage: Allison & Busby; Little, Brown & Co (inc. Abacus, Virago, Warner); Random House UK (inc. Arrow, Cape, Century, Chatto & Windus, Constable & Robinson, Harvill, Heinemann, Hutchinson, Pimlico, Secker & Warburg, Vintage), Simon & Schuster (inc. Scribner); and Transworld (inc. Bantam Press, Black Swan, Corgi, Doubleday)

Tracey Warr <traceykwarr@gmail.com>

Publisher Coverage: Birlinn/Polygon, Bloomsbury, Faber & Faber, Granta, Pan Macmillan, Penguin, Short Books, Simon & Schuster

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r eviews edit o r s , u sa

Jessica Brockmole <jabrockmole@hotmail.com>

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

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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).

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Elizabeth Hawksley <mail@elizabethhawksley.com>

confe re nce s

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

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

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e d i tori a l pol i cy

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

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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.

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copy ri g h t

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In all cases, the copyright remains with the authors of the articles. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the authors concerned.

THE HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY was formed in 1997 to help promote historical fiction. All staff and contributors are volunteers and work unpaid. We are an open society — if you want to get involved, get in touch.

HNS WEBSITE: www.historicalnovelsociety.org

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Historical Novels R eview

I ssue 7 0 , N o ve mbe r 2014 | I SSN 1471-7492

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ed itor ia l r ich a rd le e

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

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n ew voic e s p r of ile s of debut his torical f iction authors suz an n e bur don, c h ris en g lan d, alleg ra j ordan & m ar k wie de r a nde rs | m y f anw y cook

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r ed pe nc il s t e a m punk & d a wn’s early light | cin dy va l l a r

| features & interviews |

9 A STUDY I N PERSPECT I VE ka mila sh ams ie’s ep ics | b y an drea co nnel l 11 e p luribu s u nu m multi-aut hor proj ects | by s ophie peri not 13

jo h n de e & e dward kelley

t h e se cre ts o f life & death | b y kate b raithw a ite

14 deep w a ters a look a t th e paying guests | b y lucin da bya tt 15

us in g n ew res earch i n hf t he lette r s of he lo is e & abelard | by s herr y jo nes

16 dr. j ohn s on’ s wo rl d 18-c e ntur y lon don | b y my f anw y co o k | reviews |

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

PUBLISHER’S MESSAGE

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n HNS Chapter … near you?

One of the most dynamic and exciting recent developments of the HNS has been our regional chapters. They came about in an ad hoc way. To begin with, people met at conferences, and at some point the dialogue went: this was great — but do we have to wait another two years for the next time? And the next thing was: this was great — but can I justify another trip to London/Albany/Manchester/ St Petersburg? Or wouldn’t it be good to have something closer to me? So that’s what happened. HNS members set up regional chapters — with their own by-laws, their own committees, their own preferred style and regularity of meeting. To date we have 14. In the USA — Arizona, Chesapeake, Florida, Great Lakes, Los Angeles, New York City, North California, Pacific Northwest and Upstate New York. In the UK — Bristol and South West, London and (soon) Devon. There is also an Ireland chapter and an Australasia chapter. For further details, please check the HNS website (currently on the ‘Members’ drop-down, but soon to be more prominent).

What do chapters do? Well, this varies. In some places the emphasis is very much on writers, with meetings featuring author speakers and emphasizing mutual support, practical advice and networking. Other chapters are smaller scale, and emphasize reading, and the sharing of great books.

For the new year we want to do much more to encourage and support both existing and new start-up chapters — and find out more what members want from them. For example, would it be attractive if chapters offered writing courses, manuscript groups or mentoring? Or if they ran reading groups? Or mini-conferences? Or is their best function actually social?

I very warmly invite anyone with enthusiasm for getting involved with an existing or new HNS chapter to email me (richard@historicalnovelsociety.org), please putting CHAPTER as a subject heading. All ideas welcome!

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HNR The

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

HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Columns | 1

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

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

HNS Updates In August, writer Tracey Warr joined the HNR editorial team as the newest UK reviews editor. Her publishers and contact details are listed on the masthead.

Book reviewers wanted! Think you might like to review historical novels and/or historical nonfiction for this magazine?

To receive the reviewer guidelines, e-mail me at sljohnson2@ eiu.edu with a statement of interest, including details on your writing/reviewing experience and any preferred settings or subgenres. Reviewers should be avid historical fiction readers who can write clearly, concisely, and critically about their reading experience and keep to our quarterly deadlines.

New publishing deals Sources include author and publisher submissions, Publishers Marketplace, Booktrade.info, Publishers Weekly, The Bookseller, and more.

Award winner and bestselling author Deanna Raybourn’s new Victorian historical mystery series, beginning with The Unlikely Adventures of Veronica Speedwell, moving to Ellen Edwards at NAL in a three-book, good deal, by Pam Hopkins at Hopkins Literary Associates.

Maddie West, editorial director at Atlantic’s Corvus imprint, acquired three novels on “blood-crazed, decadent” ancient Rome in the time of Nero, the final volumes in Robert Fabbri’s 10-book series, via Ian Drury at Sheil Land.

Sophie Perinot’s Medicis Daughter, set in 16th-century France following a beautiful princess who walks the knife edge between the demands of her serpentine mother, Catherine de Medicis, and those of her conscience, sold to Toni Kirkpatrick at Thomas Dunne Books by Jacques de Spoelberch at Jacques de Spoelberch Associates.

The Quickening author Michelle Hoover’s Bottomland, about the disappearance of two young German-American girls in 1919 Iowa, and the family that searches for them despite the hatred towards Germans at the time, sold to Corinna Barsan at Grove/Atlantic via Esmond Harmsworth at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency.

Diana Gabaldon’s ninth Outlander book sold, again, to Ballantine Bantam Dell, in a major deal for more than $6 million, via Richard Galen at Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency.

Canadian poet and novelist Steven Price sold By Gaslight, an epic Victorian crime novel that opens in London of 1885, three years before the Whitechapel murders, to Jonathan Galassi at Farrar Straus & Giroux via Ellen Levine at Trident Media.

Parnaz Foroutan’s debut, a combination of style, history, 2 | Columns |

HNR Issue 70, November 2014

folklore and fast-paced storytelling set during the tumultuous Persian Constitutional Revolution at the turn of the 20th century, and featuring cloistered young women beholden to a man’s world, sold to Megan Lynch at Ecco, in a pre-empt, by Leigh Feldman at her new agency Leigh Feldman Literary.

The Storms of War by historian and broadcaster Kate Williams (reviewed in Aug ’14 HNR), a Downton Abbeystyle saga following a family from their privileged life before WW1 up until 1939, sold to Claiborne Hancock at Pegasus, for publication in Fall 2015, by Zoe Pagnamenta at the Zoe Pagnamenta Agency on behalf of Ariella Feiner and Robert Kirby at United Agents (US).

NYT bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert’s originally self-published A Wilder Rose, a fictionalized account of the hidden collaboration between Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose Wilder Lane on the beloved Little House books, sold to Jodi Warshaw at Amazon Publishing’s Lake Union imprint, for publication in February 2015, by Kerry Sparks at Levine Greenberg Rostan.

Ian James Ross’s The War at the Edge of the World, a 4thcentury Roman saga about a Legionnaire who travels north of Hadrian’s Wall on a diplomatic mission to Pict territory, only to find that it quickly deteriorates into imprisonments, harrowing battles and narrow escapes, sold to Dan Crissman at Overlook Press, in a three-book deal, by Paul Lucas at Janklow & Nesbit on behalf of Will Francis of Janklow & Nesbit. UK/ Commonwealth rights sold to Rosie de Courcy at Head of Zeus, by Will Francis.

The Violinist of Venice by Alyssa Palombo, a novel of composer and priest Antonio Vivaldi and a secret wealthy mistress, a decades-spanning story of passion and music in Venice, and of finding the strength to both fall in love and to carry on when it ends, sold to Vicki Lame at St. Martin’s, in a two-book deal, at auction, by Brianne Johnson at Writers House.

Eric Egger of Freedom Forge Press has acquired Linda Harris Sittig’s debut novel, Cut From Strong Cloth, which follows Irish immigrant Ellen Canavan in 1861 Philadelphia as she struggles to become a textile entrepreneur amidst the outbreak of the Civil War. Publication is scheduled for November 2014.

American Everlasting, a novel about a prominent family living in the post-Depression American South written by Annie Barrows, co-author of the bestseller The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, sold to Jane Lawson at Doubleday UK and Random House Australia, in a pre-empt from Random House US. J. S. Thorley was recently signed by US publisher Bathory Gate Press for an e-book deal for her historical vampire novel Vampyr Genesis: Hunger of the Gods, book one of the Dark Evolution series. 3000 years ago in ancient Troy, Paris and vampire Cassandra are there at the dawn of Vampiric mythology and are key players in the action-packed legends of Homer’s Iliad.

Shirley Barrett’s Rush Oh!, an account of the 1908 whaling season in New South Wales, Australia, as told by the eldest daughter of a whaling family, revealing darker history of the

Novel of Wuthering Heights, a story narrated by the housekeeper and narrator of Wuthering Heights, telling of her relationship with Hindley Earnshaw, and the stories of the youth of Cathy’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw, and Nelly’s own parents; concluding some years after the first novel ended, and containing revelations about Heathcliff and about Nelly’s own background, sold to Katie Espiner at The Borough Press, in a pre-empt, by Deborah Schneider of Gelfman Schneider/ICM. Nightingales on Sunset Boulevard by Susan Meissner, in which the story of a young woman, looking for love and direction while working on the set of Gone with the Wind in 1939, is contrasted with the life of a contemporary woman working in a vintage fashion store in Hollywood, sold to Ellen Edwards at NAL by Chip MacGregor at MacGregor Literary.

Joy Callaway’s The Fifth Avenue Artists Society, pitched as Edith Wharton meets Little Women, about a family of four artistic sisters on the outskirts of Gilded Age New York high society, sold to Maya Ziv at Harper Perennial, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, the first for publication in Winter 2016, by Meredith Kaffel at DeFiore and Company.

Murder on the Last Frontier by Cathy Pegau, about a suffragette in 1919 investigating a murder in Alaska that eerily echoes the past she’s trying to forget, sold to John Scognamiglio at Kensington, in a three-book deal, by Natalie Lakosil at Bradford Literary Agency.

Dominic Smith’s multi-period literary novel At the Edge of a Wood, set in 17th-century Holland, 1950s New York City, and contemporary Australia, centering on the masterwork of a female Dutch painter of the Golden Age, sold to Sarah Crichton at Sarah Crichton Books, at auction, by Emily Forland at Brandt & Hochman.

Recent and upcoming publications Kate Atkinson’s next novel, A God in Ruins, a companion to her bestselling book Life After Life, focusing on Teddy, the younger brother of Ursula Todd from her earlier novel, “wouldbe poet, RAF bomber pilot, husband and father,” will appear from Transworld’s Doubleday imprint next May. Madame Tussaud’s Apprentice by Kathleen Benner Duble, a young adult novel set in Revolutionary France of 1789, was published in August by Merit Press.

For additional forthcoming titles, including new lists of children’s and YA titles, see: http://historicalnovelsociety.org/guides/ forthcoming-historical-novels/

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strange men who hunt the seas and the truth of her own place among them, sold to Amanda Brower at Little, Brown, at auction, by Daniel Lazar at Writers House, on behalf of Grace Heifetz at Curtis Brown Australia. UK rights to Ursula Doyle at Virago, at auction, by Lucia Rae at Curtis Brown UK; and to Alex Craig at Picador Australia, at auction, by Grace Heifetz at Curtis Brown Australia.

Karin Tanabe’s (The Price of Inheritance) two untitled novels, the first based on the true story of a young black woman who secretly attended Vassar College 40 years before African-Americans were allowed to matriculate, sold to Sarah Cantin at Atria by Bridget Wagner Matzie at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency.

Suzanne Feldman’s Absalom’s Daughters, in which two halfsisters in the 1950s American South, one black and one white, take a road trip together to claim an inheritance from their negligent father; pitched as The Bluest Eye meets Thelma and Louise, sold to Barbara Jones at Holt, in a pre-empt, by Lisa Grubka at Fletcher & Company.

Jade Dragon Mountain by Elsa Hart, a debut thriller in which an exiled imperial librarian becomes a reluctant detective after the murder of a Jesuit missionary in a frontier town on the border of China and Tibet in the 17th century, sold to Kelley Ragland at Minotaur, in a major deal, in a pre-empt, by Stephanie Cabot at The Gernert Company.

Jody Hedlund’s Indulgences: Martin Luther’s Bride, in which a proud runaway nun and Martin Luther, a poor heretic monk, are both hunted and alone, but they must wage war before they can find in each other their greatest treasure, sold to Shannon Marchese at WaterBrook Multnomah, in a three-book deal, by Natasha Kern at Natasha Kern Literary Agency.

Simon Choa-Johnston’s The House of Wives, the story of a 19th-century Jew from Calcutta who sailed to Hong Kong to participate in the opium trade into China, inspired by the story of the author’s family, sold to Nicole Winstanley of Penguin Canada, in a pre-empt, by Denise Bukowski of The Bukowski Agency.

Sally Christie’s The Sisters of Versailles, set in the 18th-century court of Louis XV and told through the eyes of four (out of five) real-life sisters who all become his mistresses, followed

by The Rivals of Versailles and The Enemies of Versailles, which explore the later years of Louis XV’s reign at Versailles through his other mistresses, sold to Sarah Branham at Atria and Alison Clarke at Simon & Schuster Canada, in a three-book deal, by Daniel Lazar at Writers House.

Bestselling author of Somewhere in France Jennifer Robson’s final book in her WWI trilogy in which a young British aristocrat seeks to build a new life in post-war Paris, frequenting the artistic and literary salons of the period, where she meets a young American architect who may change her life forever; and the first book of a new series about war brides during WWII, sold to Amanda Bergeron at William Morrow in a two-book deal, for publication in Winter 2016, by Kevan Lyon at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

Professor at Williams College Alison Case’s Nelly Dean: A

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

HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Columns | 3

NEW VOICES Comedy, tragedy, love, risk and complex personalities fill the pages of debut novels by Suzanne Burdon, Chris England, Allegra Jordan and Mark Wiederanders.

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he Fun Factory (Old Street Publishing), written by Chris England, playwright and author of travel books, takes the reader into the “golden decade before the Great War. When music halls were the people’s entertainment, before radio, television or cinema, and bigger than all of them.”

England says: “I’ve always been fascinated by comedians and what makes them tick. My favourites, growing up, were Laurel and Hardy, and I read everything I could about their lives and careers. I was particularly curious about the period when Stan Laurel was a young comic, just starting out in the music halls, who was snapped up by the great comedy entrepreneur of the Edwardian era, Fred Karno, and set to work touring in sketches as Charlie Chaplin’s colleague and sometime understudy.

“Perhaps understandably, this time is glossed over very quickly in the many biographies of both Stan and Charlie – after all there are several subsequent decades of great successes and marital misadventures to squeeze in.

“However, when I discovered that Chaplin’s own 528-page house brick of an autobiography described the several years the two young comics spent touring the UK and the USA together, performing together and rooming together, without mentioning Stan Laurel at all, well, that struck me as odd and not altogether fair.

“Chaplin does mention another colleague, though, just once, on the night he left the Karno company in Kansas City to go and work for Keystone Pictures. ‘A member of our troupe, Arthur Dandoe, who for some reason disliked me...’ he writes, describing a leaving present arranged by Dandoe, which was ‘an empty tobacco box, covered in tin foil, containing small ends of old pieces of grease paint.’

“If only Chaplin had read the card, which, according to Laurel’s account, Dandoe had inscribed ‘some shits for a shit.’

Some believe that Stan Laurel was omitted from Chaplin’s autobiography because he was the one performer who could actually hold a candle to the genius. For myself, I was fascinated by the man who could have come up with that leaving present, and the relationship that is defined by it.

“And so, against the backdrops of the spectacular sketches of the Fred Karno music hall company, I decided to tell the story of Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel and my narrator Arthur Dandoe.”

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HNR Issue 70, November 2014

Almost Invincible (Criteria Publishing) by Suzanne Burdon is a biographical novel of Mary Shelley, whose life was as complex and unconventional as those of the early 20th century comedians that captured England’s imagination. Burdon’s novel highlights the “highly fractious relationship with [Shelley’s] step-sister Claire, who added to the scandal that surrounded this bohemian artistic set by living with Mary and her partner Percy Shelley, and having a child with Lord Byron.”

The seeds of Burdon’s story germinated unexpectedly, as she explains: “‘Don’t leave me alone with her, she’s been the bane of my life since I was three years old!’ This was the panicky cry of Mary Shelley, then in her fifties, to her daughter-in-law, when her step-sister, Claire, planned to visit. It was one of those serendipitous moments during an unrelated Internet search which fired my curiosity, and propelled me into four intense years of research.

“As soon as I started to look at what was behind that intriguing plea, I found a wonderfully dramatic and powerful story about a young woman who was a strong woman in an unsympathetic society, a teenage rebel, grieving mother, determined author, and a long suffering lover of a man well ahead of his time.

She was also the author of one of the most iconic books of any generation, Frankenstein.

“There are several good biographies of Mary, but I found it was often hard to find the real woman amongst the complexities of her life and the many people involved in it. Also, because I had started my journey from Mary’s relationship with Claire, everything that I read about her seemed to focus around that fraught interaction. From the time that Mary and Shelley eloped, when Mary was sixteen, and they unaccountably took Claire with them, through the rest of Mary’s time with Shelley when Claire was an ever-present third. A third, moreover, who was manipulative, volatile, jealous of Mary and in love with Shelley.”

Burdon “felt that the impact of the presence of Claire was not properly accounted for as a continuous influence on the fortunes of Mary, and in Almost Invincible, she “hoped to try and uncover the emotional truths that underpinned the facts.”

In Allegra Jordan’s novel, The End of Innocence (Sourcebooks), she introduces readers to characters united by love, but divided by loyalty. Her guiding inspiration was facts enshrined in a World War I memorial to “the enemy” at Harvard University’s Memorial Church: “I first heard about the memorial from the church’s late Reverend, Peter J. Gomes. He preached a sermon called ‘The Courage to Remember.’ In his sermon, Gomes said: Over on the North Wall (of the Memorial Church), in the far back is a plaque in Latin, which most of you will be unable to read. In translation it says this, ‘Harvard University has

Photo credit: Rex Miller

not forgotten its sons, who under opposite colors also gave their lives in the Great War.’ And then there are listed four German members of the University who died in the service of the Kaiser in the First World War.* “Gomes went on to explain that at the time the plaque was introduced, the University was loath to honor ‘the enemy’. However, his predecessor, Willard Sperry, believed it important to recognize these men because, as Rev. Gomes put it in his sermon, ‘humanity transcends the sides and there are no victors ultimately; there are only those to be commended to God.’ “I was inspired by this unexpected grace. I grew up in southern towns where loyalty tended to tie the community to wounded memories and prevent healing. I knew something had happened to drive the Harvard community to do this, and I wanted to uncover the underlying story.

“I explored this through the main characters in The End of Innocence – two Harvard students, Helen, from Boston, and Wils, from Germany, who fall in love on the eve of WWI and must face a world at war from opposing sides. I drew on themes of hope, despair, romance and reconciliation to give context to the story behind this little-known plaque.”

Mark Wiederanders Stevenson’s Treasure (Fireship Press) brings to life the quest of Robert Louis Stevenson, author of the adventure tales Treasure Island and Kidnapped, who, in 1879, went to America to seek out and marry Fanny Osbourne. Wiederanders shares: “My inspiration to write a novel about Robert Louis Stevenson’s secretive journey to California began accidentally, during a weekend trip. My son had recently married and moved to the hills about six miles

inland from Carmel-by-the-Sea. Although the town is known for spectacular ocean views, Clint Eastwood and high-priced boutiques, rural stretches of the inland hills are as undeveloped as they were in 1879. Hiking trails are canopied by twisting live oak branches, yucca plants jut up from chaparral grass, and occasional mountain lions prowl rocky ridges.

“While staying at my son’s house I read in a guidebook that ‘Louis’ Stevenson collapsed just a stone’s throw from where I sat. He would have died were it not for two goat ranchers who took the comatose traveler to their cabin and nursed him to health. What was the young, as-yet unknown writer with lung problems doing in these rugged hills so far away from Scotland? I soon learned that Louis’s collapse was one of several near-fatal setbacks during his year-long quest to make an American, Fanny Osbourne, his wife despite the fact that she was already married, had children and was ten years his senior. He had risked disownment by his disapproving parents and life itself to rejoin the art student he had met in France.

“Fanny, a fiercely protective mother who had fallen deeply in love with Louis, faced the realities of keeping her children fed while somehow ending a marriage to a domineering and philandering husband. As Louis wrote while riding a primitive rail car across the American plains, ‘No man is any use until he has dared everything; I feel just now as if I had, and so might become a man.’ Stevenson’s Treasure is about a couple who risked everything – and succeeded beyond their wildest imaginations.”

Undoubtedly, all the debut novelists showcased would agree wholeheartedly with Stevenson’s remark that ‘risking everything’ to bring their characters to the attention of their readers was a worthwhile journey.

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*Peter Gomes, “The Courage to Remember,” November 10, 1991. Copyright President and Fellows of Harvard University.

MYFANWY COOK would love for you to tell her about any thrilling debut novelists you uncover. Please email (myfanwyc@btinternet.com) or tweet (twitter.com/ MyfanwyCook).

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Left to right: Allegra Jordan, Chris England, Mark Wiederanders & Suzanne Burdon

HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Columns | 5

THE RED PENCIL Cindy Vallar analyzes the work behind published manuscripts. In this issue, she profiles Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris’s Dawn’s Early Light.

Ask for a definition of “steampunk,” and you’ll get just as many answers as the number of people that you queried. The genre didn’t particularly appeal to me until earlier this year when my short story, “Rumble the Dragon,” was released.

Another story in the anthology – “The Celeste Affair” by D. Alan Lewis – hooked me, and since then I’ve read several other steampunk novels, including Dawn’s Early Light by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris.

So what constitutes steampunk? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as “science fiction dealing with 19th-century societies dominated by historical or imagined steam-powered technology.” The time period and the historical inventions explain why HNS believes some steampunk falls under historical fiction.

What do Tee and Pip think?

We’ve noted the debate about the growing popularity diluting the “punk” aspect of steampunk. An elite few have even been so bold to say “Oh, the ‘punk’ is just tacked on to sound cool.

Steampunk is just Victorian science fiction.” This kind of black-and-white definition and deeming it an absolute can only be described as short-sighted and shallow. Steampunk may have started out as 19th-century science fiction, but is now far deeper than romantic Victoriana, goggles, and brass fixtures. The way Pip and I see it, the “punk” comes from going against convention, through creativity and a declaration of one’s individuality be it through style, gadgets, or attitude.

As far as being Historical Fiction, it is the fantastic reimagining of technology. The science that makes steampunk gadgetry work is based on ideas of the time, but the storytelling means we suspend laws of engineering for a time.

Technology – dirigibles, electricity, automobiles, and death rays – plays an important role in Dawn’s Early Light, 6 | Columns |

HNR Issue 70, November 2014

but some of the characters include Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Thomas Edison, and Nikola Tesla. The story takes place three decades after the Civil War, when British agents Eliza Braun and Wellington Books are sent to the United States to work with their American counterparts, Wild Bill Wheatley and Felicity Lovelace. Their assignment? Find out who’s behind recent nautical and aerial disasters off the North Carolina coast.

As with any novel, setting is crucial. Its portrayal helps transport us to an earlier place and time. In the early draft of chapter 5, Eliza and Bill seek clues to the mysterious accidents at Quagmire’s, a local bar.

The establishment smelt of fish, sea salt, and unwashed men, and was not the first place she would have picked as a night out on the town with a handsome foreign agent. Not that she was going to tell Bill she thought he was handsome.

She couldn’t imagine how large his arrogance would get if she let that one slip.

A little building on the sand, with the wind whistling and rattling the windows, a handful of bleak looking locals, was not nearly as comfortable as Sounds’ Retreat – but it was considerably less full of annoying nouveau riche. Quagmire’s was not as heaving as the pub she’d grown up in back in New Zealand, but it was closer to it than where they had left Wellington and Felicity. As far as she was concerned, she and Bill had the better deal. . . .

They had both dressed down for this little bit of infiltration, but the resident population of the Outer Banks was so small, that they were always going to draw notice. Apart from the rich little country resort, the rest of these giant sandbank’s inhabitants were better described as “salt of the earth.” Or perhaps, of the Earth and Sea, Eliza mused.

In working on the revisions, Pip and Tee “wanted to lay the groundwork that Eliza is not entirely happy to be leaving her work partner (who she is definitely attracted to) in the company of a pretty young librarian lady. Though Eliza likes a good bar brawl as much as the next secret agent, she would rather be with Wellington. There was also the comparison of a seedy sailor’s bar to the rather posh Swan’s Retreat.” (The retreat is the resort where the four agents are staying. It’s a

better comparison for the reader than the pub from Eliza’s past.) The reworded description of Quagmire’s demonstrates that “while Eliza notices it is a rather worn, dangerous place, she would rather be there than hanging out with rich folk.”

Their changes improved the story’s flow, and we can better picture the setting.

This establishment smelt of fish, sea salt, and unwashed men, and was not the first place she would have picked as a night out on the town with a handsome foreign agent.

Not that she was going to tell Bill she thought he was handsome. She couldn’t imagine how arrogant he would get if she let that one slip.

Quagmire’s – the territory they were currently scoping – was a little building on the sand, with windows easily rattled by the whistling wind and a handful of bleak-looking locals enjoying a limited choice of spirits. A far cry from Swan’s Retreat. . . .

Eliza raised both her eyebrows and sighed. They had both dressed down for this little bit of infiltration; but the resident population of the Outer Banks was so small, they would have drawn notice no matter what they wore. Apart from the rich little country resort, the rest of these giant sandbank’s inhabitants were better described as “salt of the earth.” Or perhaps, of the earth and sea, Eliza mused.

Characters can also enrich the setting. “Local watering holes also are good places to catch up on the gossip of the area, and make friends with a few pints,” which is why the agents come to Quagmire’s. Merle is one of the bar’s regulars, but in the early draft he’s simply an “Oracle” character, who “became a plothole.”

The little group of locals shared a few glances. “You need to talk to Merl,” one of them whispered. “He’s seen things.”

They pointed to an even older man, huddled in the corner, nursing a glass of whiskey, and avoiding everyone’s gaze. Using her keen observational skills, Eliza soon noted that under his trousers he was missing a leg. The prosthetic was nothing like the one her maid back in London Alice owned. This looked a much cruder and older designed. A quick glance at the fixtures told her that it had not been well cared for, and was pitted and scarred by a life at sea. Much like the man who it was strapped to.

Will leaned over. “War veteran,” he muttered, and the tone in his voice reminded Eliza that the scars of

the Civil War were still very fresh here. It had been just over thirty years since it ground to a halt, mired in machinery and blood in the fields of Virginia. The North had won, but at a terrible price. . . .

She noted the way he huddled in the corner, but still managed to have a good line of sight on the door and the rest of the drinkers in the establishment. He had the look of a beaten, but still angry dog. His hand slid down his good leg, and she was sure that he had some kind of pistol there. Her hands were full of glasses and the bottle, but she would drop them in a moment and pull on him if need be. She’d rely on the speed of youth to beat him.

After a moment of examining her, his hand slid away from whatever he had stashed in his coat. A smile twitched in the corner of his mouth, and eyes as grey as the ocean raked her form up and down.

“What do you want girl?”

In the early draft another character imparts key information to the agents rather than Merle. In the final version, Merle becomes more important and is portrayed in a better light. Why? “[T]he blonde . . . seemed to appear from nowhere, and then [disappear] . . . more like a placeholder than a character. . . . [D]uring the editing . . . we had to ask . . . ‘why do we have the conversation with Merle, but this blonde guy comes from out of nowhere and drops the bomb of information? Why talk to Merle then?’” So Pip and Tee took advantage of North Carolina’s rich history to add depth to the character. “The Civil War had a huge impact not just on the nation, but also on its people. . . . We took advantage of that history . . . to make Merle something more than just ‘an old grizzled sailor’ seen as a trope in adventures like this. By making him not only a Civil War veteran but a hero, we give him a past and we make him more real.” . . . “I’ve been pepperin’ the talk with questions about anything that just wasn’t right. I kept hearin’ the same thing: talk to Merle. Accordin’ to the lore, he’s seen things.” [Bill] took a swig of his beer.

Eliza looked at her partner, and shrugged. “Merle is . . . ?”

He pointed to an older man huddled in the corner, nursing a glass of whiskey, avoiding everyone’s gaze.

Eliza noticed immediately that there was something strange about the man’s legs. With a little more observation she discerned a prosthetic, just visible through long tears in the fabric. The fixtures she could only just see did not look well cared for, pitted and scarred by a life at sea. Much like the man it was HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Columns | 7

This simple introduction permitted Pip and Tee to build on Merle’s character until he matters “not only to the plot but to the reader.”

Historical elements can also affect setting. The published version of this novel includes a reference to the Golden Age of Piracy.

[Merle] leaned forward over the table and gestured her in closer. “It’s real, you know? Blackbeard’s airship, Devil’s Shadow, went down here. He was en route to Ocracoke, but had to stop at Corolla for a quick refuel. There was a ship moored offshore. He thought it was Queen Anne’s Revenge, but it wasn’t.” He exchanged his now empty glass for Eliza’s. “Not sure who it was that done it, but Blackbeard’s airship fell from the sky that night. A ball of flame that lit the Currituck Banks for miles.”

While akin to a fantastic yarn to chill children in front of a hearth’s fire, Merle’s story actually had merit. Early airships in the nineteenth century were truly experimental, usually a long gondola with several balloons suspended overhead.

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airships were not so common in the Golden Age of Piracy.

Blackbeard, a real pirate with a real ship named Queen Anne’s Revenge, frequented the waters around Ocracoke, where he also met his demise in 1718, during the Golden Age of Piracy, rather than a century later. Some readers might not notice this historical error, but being a pirate historian, I did.

Tee also knew this, but the error was intentional rather than accidental.

Our changes in “the Past that Never Was” actually come from true history. Airships were an idea dating back to 1670. In 1785 Jean-Pierre Blanchard crossed the English Channel in a balloon equipped with flapping wings for propulsion and a birdlike tail for steering, but in our Steampunk world, technology is shifted forward, meaning many technological marvels and accomplishments would have occurred earlier.

This is why Blackbeard took to the skies and why the Golden Age of Piracy happened a hundred years before history records it so. Whenever you change technology, writers should consider how many years they want to shift accomplishments . . . .

While Pip and Tee include story elements found in science fiction and fantasy, their treatment of the historical elements never strains our ability to believe in the world they create.

Their three-dimensional portrayals of real people demonstrate the depth of their research into these people’s lives. If you’re thinking about stepping into the world of steampunk, Dawn’s Early Light is well worth the adventure, but once you open that door, you may find yourself craving more.

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strapped to.

Bill leaned over. “Veteran,” he muttered. “Surprised the old codger has lived this long.”

He’s a man, Bill. Not some horse that should be put down on account of a crippling wound.”

He took another swig of his beer. “Take a good look at ol’ Merle, and tell me that what he’s got is something resembling a life.” . . .

He had the look of a beaten, but still very angry dog. The pity Eliza felt welling inside her vanished when Merle locked eyes with her as she approached.

His hand slid down his good leg. The snarl growing on his face, and her own instincts warned her of some kind of pistol there. Her own hands were full, but she could drop the glasses and bottle in a moment to pit her speed of youth against his advanced years and experience.

Not tonight, she thought as she cast a warm smile his way.

After a moment, his hand slid back into view, his eyes, grey as the ocean, still fixed with hers. A smile twitched in the corner of his mouth as he raked her form up and down. “What do you want, girl?”

CINDY VALLAR is a columnist, freelance editor, historical novelist, and workshop presenter. Dark Oak Press recently released her historical fantasy, “Rumble the Dragon,” in their short story anthology, A Tall Ship, A Star, and Plunder. You can visit her at www.cindyvallar.com.

the cultural themes of Kamila Shamsie’s epics

Shamsie has written novels of extraordinary power K amila and depth, epics that transcend genres and time periods.

Her historical fiction is packed with hard-hitting themes and exploration of cultures and locations — and combinations of these — that one does not commonly see on bookstore shelves.

Shamsie was born in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1973, into an English-speaking family; her mother and grandmother were both writers.

She herself studied creative writing in the United States, publishing her first novel in 1998 while a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts. Now she divides her time between Pakistan and the UK, as well as teaching in the United States. She has written six novels, two of which are historical fiction.

Burnt Shadows, her fifth novel (Bloomsbury, 2009; reviewed in HNR Issue 48, May 2009), was shortlisted for the prestigious Orange Prize and translated in more than twenty countries, while her latest novel, A God in Every Stone (reviewed in this issue), was released in the United States by Atavist Books (August 2014).

Her historical works show her passion for unearthing stories related to Pakistan’s history, as well as utilizing the influence of intercultural factors on relationships as a metaphor for larger political or social issues. Both these books are intricate literary feasts, exploring the tumultuous periods and relationships between vastly different cultures from the First World War to the beginning of the War on Terror. With so much variation in each novel, just how did the author’s conceptions for her multicultural epics arise?

Shamsie elaborates: “With Burnt Shadows I thought I was going to write a book set in Karachi during the summer of 1998 when India and Pakistan tested their nuclear bombs, but that led me to think about the use of atom bombs in Japan in 1945 — and next thing I knew I had a novel starting in Nagasaki; researching Nagasaki 1945 made me think of parallels with post 9/11 New York — so the entire geographical trajectory of the novel changed. With A God in Every Stone, I was interested in

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exploring the city of Peshawar and thought that, as with Burnt Shadows, I would write a multi-part novel that would come up to the present day. But I discovered that actually it was the early 20th century story I was interested in, so I cut out everything later and concentrated on 1915 and 1930. And those stories led me from Peshawar to the Eastern and Western front of the First World War.”1 A God in Every Stone transports the reader from the killing fields of Flanders in 1915 to the bloody Peshawar massacre of 1930, while digging through ancient discoveries that intertwine with the dramatic events of the present. Young London archeologist Vivian Rose Spencer, fascinated by the history of ancient empires, joins a dig in Turkey in 1914. A bond forms between her and Turkish archeologist Tahsin Bey, with promise of a future engagement; what happens to their relationship, however, is a tragic consequence of a wartime choice Vivian makes. She also mentors Najeeb, a gifted Indian boy, in whom she senses great potential. In turn, Najeeb is quite taken with her search for the silver circlet of Scylax, a fifth-century BCE explorer who worked on behalf of the Persian king Darius I, and indeed he pursues this passion, in spite of the antagonism of Qayyum, his brother, who is an infantryman in the 40th Pathan Regiment of the British Indian Army.

The archeological theme that threads through the book originated from the author’s fascination with ancient history: “The city of Peshawar is so rich in material for a novelist.

It’s been continuously inhabited for over 2500 years and was part of the Persian empire (Herodotus writes about it); Alexander and his armies came through there; later it became one of the great centers of Buddhism; and it’s home to the extraordinary syncretic Gandhara art which shows all these influences. One of the first things I knew about the novel was that it would have archaeologists and an ancient artifact that everyone was looking for (perhaps my childhood love for Indiana Jones coming through there).”

by Andrea Connell

I didn’t... start off thinking I would go from Nagasaki to Afghanistan and New York, but I allowed the characters to follow their trajectory through history.

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through history.”

A hallmark of Shamsie’s books, and what makes these novels “multicultural epics,” is her ability to showcase a foreign perspective.2 The Western perspective is not dominant in these stories; rather, they focus on Pakistanis, Indians, and Japanese, and portray events as seen through their eyes. These characters relate their own versions of events and speak from their own cultural points of view, which are deeply influenced by the ethnicities and traditions they inhabit. We see events in A God in Every Stone through the eyes of Qayyum, whose affiliation with his Pashtun ethnicity is the cornerstone of his identity.

Shamsie said, in the process of writing, she discarded one idea after another but, “what remained was an impulse to write about the Pathans [Pashtuns] in a way that goes beyond the crass stereotypes of people who live and die by the gun. In the early 20th century there was a very sophisticated and popular movement of nonviolent resistance to colonial rule which I wanted to explore in the novel, while also exploring the very old syncretic traditions of Peshawar.”

Shamsie’s historical fiction is also unapologetically political, portraying strong opinions on hot-button topics. This is a writer not afraid to be publicly critical of the “Islamization” of her native country in her fiction. She is outspoken on the subject of women’s treatment, unafraid to delve into the Indian version of the chaos during the Peshawar massacre of 1930, as well as able to offer a strong Muslim-focused point of view of the Partition. The issue of patriarchy — as a type of imperialism — is also deeply embedded in both novels. Hiroko and Vivian often express negative opinions on this issue, regardless of the different periods in which they live — and the author’s personal opinion on patriarchy is unambiguous: “Wherever in the world you go, you’re living in the world’s oldest and most pervasive empire, which is the empire of patriarchy. I don’t know a place I’ve been to where it doesn’t exist.”3 Yet despite the underlying political commentary in her books, ultimately Shamsie’s protagonists are humans caught up in larger dramas, and the purpose of her books is to be, in the author’s words, “novels which look at what it means to live individual lives entwined with history — how to reconcile the awfulness of the world with the joy of it; how to love, how to be loyal.”

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Notes 1. Email interview with Kamila Shamsie, 29 September 2014, posted in its entirety on thequeensquillreview.com.

2. Jordan Konell, “US fiction perspective skewed,” Yale Daily News, 27 September 2011, http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2011/09/27/us-fictionperspective-skewed/ 3. Natalie Hanman, “Kamila Shamsie: Where is the American writer writing about America in Pakistan? There is a deep lack of reckoning,” The Guardian, 11 April 2014.

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After returning to Peshawar from Flanders, where he was wounded during the battle of Ypres, Qayyum discards the idea of violent revolt against the Raj. He joins an organization of nonviolent revolutionaries but must defy Pashtun tradition and convince his fellows of the plausibility of nonviolence.

The strained relationship between the brothers, separated by an immeasurable cultural divide, again surfaces when Najeeb discovers an artifact of great archeological importance and tries to re-establish contact with Vivian at the dig in April 1930.

Soon after this, the simmering unease erupts as a nonviolent — yet provocative — protest turns deadly, resulting in the Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre. The forces of empire and the anger of second-class Indian subjects clash, as do the past and the present, and the brothers — one a protégé of the British, the other a disillusioned soldier turned nonviolent anti-imperial activist — finally cross into each other’s worlds.

Burnt Shadows picks up, in a manner of speaking, where A God In Every Stone leaves off, during the demise of the British Raj. However, the novel begins unexpectedly with the horrific atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Hiroko Tanaka, a 21-year-old schoolteacher-turned-wartime munitions factory worker, is content until her lover, Konrad Weiss, an idealistic and artistic German expatriate, suddenly becomes nothing more than a shadow on a rock and Hiroko is left branded with burns in the shape of the birds on the kimono she was wearing on that fateful day. As a hibakusha — a survivor of the bomb — Hiroko is ostracized from Japanese society, and she finds refuge in New Delhi. It is the end of the British reign in India, and the rest of the story encapsulates, through the protagonists’ relationships, the chaotic demise of the Raj and the devastating upheaval caused by man-made boundaries combined with ethnic and religious hatreds.

Burnt Shadows is an historical epic in every sense of the term — spanning sixty years, four countries, and several generations.

To that effect, we see interwoven relationships that cross continents, and world events that have rippled consequences as, once again, Shamsie tackles large themes from distinct and unique angles. In Burnt Shadows, the reader views the empire and its subjects’ relationships from a Japanese perspective. The Partition, the nuclear standoff between India and Pakistan, 9/11, the involvement of the CIA and private military companies in the war in Afghanistan, and finally — perhaps most intriguing of all — a foray into the minds of radical Islamists — are all political topics covered in Burnt Shadows. This is a rich book, full of insights into human nature and human relations as well.

The author describes the evolution of her thought process for this unusual sequence of events from Japan to Pakistan: “If you look closely enough at history, it’s all so interlinked. Pakistan’s history is the most obvious link between those stories: nuclear bombs and Afghan wars are both so much a part of the country’s recent history that I don’t really see it as much of a jump to get from one to the other. I suppose another way of saying that is that the novel follows its characters, and the characters travel from one link in history to another. What I mean is, I didn’t start off thinking I would go from Nagasaki to Afghanistan and New York, but I allowed the characters to follow their trajectory

Long-time member of the HNS and National Book Critics Circle, ANDREA CONNELL is a reviews editor for HNR and has been professionally reviewing historical fiction for over a decade. For her day job, she is a project editor for a small university press, as well as a freelance editor for a think tank in the Washington, DC area.

historical novelists’ new tool: high-concept, multi-author projects

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e’ve all heard the sayings “many hands make light work,” and “two heads are better than one.” But what about six heads or even ten? Themed anthologies and their high-concept permutation — the continuity — are beginning to have a noticeable presence (and buzz) in the world of “straight” historical fiction. It will be a while before we know if they are trend or passing fad, but in the meantime HNR spoke with a half-dozen authors about what such multi-author projects can offer writers and readers.

Let’s start with terminology . . .

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jump into the straight historical market, credit must be given to historical romance for their genesis. Historical romance anthologies were creatures of the 1990s. Published by major houses, early anthologies featured a lead author and several smaller-name writers. The idea was to cross-pollinate fan-bases, and it’s easy to see why that idea appealed to authors. But volumes were arranged by the houses, and participation was by invitation, limiting their effectiveness as a writers’ tool.

Then came e-books. Authors formed their own collaborations, and these have flourished in the self-published book market. At the Duke’s Wedding (The Lady Authors, 2013) provides an example of a historical romance continuity.

All stories included in the book take place at a single event — the wedding of the year — and characters appear in multiple tales. Miranda Neville, author of eight regency romances and one of the book’s contributors, told HNR that the integration in At the Duke’s Wedding took collaborative planning to a new level, and led to interesting creative decisions. For example, stories were put in “order by ending” to insure that each would be “virtually spoiler free.”

There have been historical anthologies for years, but not necessarily with a single connecting theme. Nor did they always contain work specifically created for the collection.

That may be changing. Anthology authors have developed a narrower device: a collection of short works purposefully created around a common historical event, date, or theme. A recent example: Grand Central: Original Stories of Postwar Love and Reunion (Berkley, 2014) in which ten authors each created a story set at the iconic NYC station on a single day, just after World War II. Continuities are so new that there is no agreedupon definition of the form. For the purposes of how Multi-Author Projects Take this article, a continuity constitutes a collection Shape . . . of interlinked fictional pieces forming a larger The impetus for multi-author projects often narrative structure. An example: A Day of Fire: comes from a core set of writers who know A Novel of Pompeii (Knight Media, 2014), in each other. Kate Quinn, Stephanie Dray which six writers offer stories of the last days and I — all metro-DC-area authors with and moments of the doomed city. While each primarily female audiences — wanted to create tale stands alone, each also contributes to a something together. Our first step: generating larger plot arc. Characters story hop, and a single a list of possible historical events to provide timeline presses relentlessly forward. a centerpiece to our collaboration. The final Such historical anthologies and continuities days of Pompeii was the idea that ultimately could be “what’s next” in historical fiction. prevailed, and became A Day of Fire.

According to Sarah Johnson, maven of the genre Similarly, the creators of Grand Central and author of Historical Fiction II: A Guide to the grew to ten from a nucleus of two. Kristina Genre, “the emergence of this development has been very recent McMorris, bestselling author and recipient of more than twenty within ‘straight’ historical fiction… nearly all that come to mind national literary awards, described its beginning: “I was joking have been published (or will be published) this year.” with my friend Sarah Jio over dinner, how we should write a book together in order to cut our workload in half. Weeks From Whence the Trend . . . later it occurred to me that the idea could indeed develop into Savvy historical novelists keep their eyes open for what an exciting project.” McMorris had been involved in a romance works in other genres. As anthologies and continuities make the anthology that spent seven weeks on the NYT list. That project,

by Sophie Perinot

Savvy...historical novelists keep their eyes open for what works in other genres.

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High Hopes . . .

What do writers hope to achieve with multi-author projects? Goals fell into three categories: commercial, craft, and companionship.

On the commercial side, “discoverability” and fan base expansion were primary. Given the sheer numbers of books released, getting onto readers’ radar is critical. As Robuck put it, “I hoped that the readers of the other authors…might enjoy my story enough to try my novels.” Of course, this assumes that readers will complete all the stories in a collection. Continuities make each piece part of a larger story to encourage them to do so.

Bestselling authors, while not against gaining readers, often have a different concern. Long lag times when publishing novels with major houses can leave fans frustrated, and writers are eager to maintain the visibility they’ve achieved. Turning out historical novels topping 100,000 words is not the work of a moment. But writing 10,000-30,000 words does not require the same time commitment. As Dray said, “from the standpoint of a working author, there’s a huge advantage in being able to release a full-length novel on an accelerated timeline because you only had to write 1/6th of it.” Collaborative projects allow writers to have something new on the market in what otherwise might be a slump.

Once the book has released, the power of many really kicks in. Promotion has become a huge part of what authors do, but authors in an anthology or continuity can tag-team it. “It seems as if just as I returned from a book club or signing for Grand Central, another author had scheduled a radio program or library appearance,” Robuck said.

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As for writing-craft goals, authors reported their projects provided an opportunity to re-energize, using phrases like “palate cleanser,” “a chance to write from a point of view or in an era you might not normally work in,” and “wonderful chance to get some use out of those ideas you have floating around that won’t quite make a full-length book.” Shecter believes participating in A Day of Fire changed her creatively. “I was startled by how inspired I was reading everyone’s stories during their process of creation,” she said. It “helped me go deeper into my own main character’s story.” Similarly new creative techniques were required. Kate Quinn, national bestselling author of three novels set in ancient Rome, didn’t hesitate when asked about the most positive surprise of her A Day of Fire experience: “Collaborative scene-writing, without a doubt! For the scenes where characters wandered into a different story, we found it was most efficient for the authors in question to crank up an interactive Google document and trade lines, writing the scene like an improv acting exercise.”

Finally, collaborating can make a very solitary business less so. The women of Grand Central celebrated their collaboration with a joint launch event. “The fact that we had such a great time in the process made a finished book almost secondary,” said McMorris. A Day of Fire’s Quinn summed up the fellowship of the collaborative experience this way, “Interweaving characters over lunch with friends is work? Sign me up!”

Something for the All-Important Audience . . .

Anthologies and continuities will not be around for long if they don’t offer something to readers. But in the opinions of those HNR spoke with, they do. Such books can provide a tasting menu. As Johnson put it: “Readers are always looking for new authors. Anthologies and continuities offer them the chance to sample many writers’ works and styles in a single book. They can serve as great introductions to an author’s larger oeuvre.”

Beyond this, as anthologies push boundaries and, as the number of continuities increases, collaborative projects will offer the novel-style plot and character development that readers crave and that can be absent from shorter works.

Here to Stay?.

Are collaborative collections here to stay? Who can say — particularly in publishing — how quickly “what’s next” will become last year’s cast-off idea. Those interviewed seemed eager for collaborative hybrids to establish themselves. “I hope it’s a trend that sticks around,” said Quinn. “Historical fiction sometimes gets the reputation for being stick-in-the-mud, maybe because all of us are mired (happily so) in the past.

Showing that we’re willing to play with innovative styles, new forms of fiction, and creative e-releases … is a wonderful way to signal that historical fiction too is moving with the times.”

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McMorris said, “taught [her] how much wider an author’s reach could be by combining forces.”

In the cases of both A Day of Fire and Grand Central, the founding writers settled on their theme before reaching out to other authors. Both a track record in the period and branding were considered in deciding which authors to invite. For A Day of Fire, we not only wanted to present a cross-section of Roman society, we wanted a cross-section of writers. We have Ben Kane — a UK bestselling author of gladiator, guts-and-glory Roman fiction — alongside Vicky Alvear Shecter — who generally writes YA. There is calculated risk in that level of diversity, but we think the breadth of our author profiles will be exciting for readers.

With collaborators recruited, the next issue is the level of story integration. Erika Robuck (author of three 20th century historicals) told HNR an anthology was the logical choice for Grand Central. “Coordinating ten very different writers for a continuous story not only seemed like a monumental undertaking, it seemed inconsistent with the themes of travel and diversity we hoped to represent.”

The collaborators in A Day of Fire wanted to go a step further and attempt a high-concept continuity. As Stephanie Dray (author of an acclaimed historical series about Cleopatra’s daughter) put it, “we had never seen this sort of thing done in the historical fiction world and knew it would be an artistic coup if we could pull it off. Shared storylines, arcs that crossed the whole book, recurring characters and themes, the complicated puzzle of it was exciting.” A Day of Fire may be the first historical continuity: “I haven’t seen any other true continuities,” Johnson told HNR.

SOPHIE PERINOT is the author of The Sister Queens (NAL, 2012), and also of The Heiress, one of six stories in A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii. Perinot’s next fulllength novel, Médicis Daughter, will release in late 2015 from Thomas Dunne/St. Martins. You can visit Sophie at www.sophieperinot.com

Rebecca Alexander’s The Secrets of Life and Death

A s a child,’ says Rebecca Alexander,‘I was taught about Tudor

England, but no mention was made of the rest of the world’s history.’ As a teenager, however, she discovered Dr John Dee and Edward Kelley in gothic novels such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Dennis Wheatley’s The Devil Rides Out, triggering an interest in history, magic and the occult that now finds happy translation into fiction in her debut novel, The Secrets of Life and Death.

This is a tale of two time periods: one contemporary, one historical. In the modern day narrative, Jackdaw Hammond describes herself as ‘just a dealer in occult ingredients, for whackos and weirdos,’ but she is also a ‘revenant’, a person who ought to be dead but is kept alive by the magical symbols tattooed on her skin. She saves a young girl, Sadie, from death by the same method, but a mysterious, malevolent woman wants the girl for herself. To save Sadie, Jackdaw needs to uncover secrets hidden in the ancient diary of Dr John Dee’s assistant, Edward Kelley.

‘The fact,’ says Alexander, ‘that Dee met with King Istvan Báthory, the uncle to Elizabeth Báthory, was a gift to the storyteller,’ and it is this part of Dr Dee’s fascinating life that is the focus of the historical chapters of The Secrets of Life and Death, as Dee and Kelley travel through Poland and into Transylvania in 1585.

Finding what she calls, ‘the gaps in the historical record… where the imagination really flourishes,’ Alexander gives us Dr John Dee and Edward Kelley, caught between a rock and a hard place – safe from the Inquisition but effectively prisoners in Csejite Castle and tasked with healing Elizabeth Báthory – by fair means or foul. Edward Kelley, who Alexander describes as ‘sharp’ and ‘a trickster’, is her narrator, Dee’s assistant and scryer: a man who communicates with angels and secretly lusts after Dee’s wife Jane.

The historical strand is a great anchor for the urban fantasy of the contemporary story. The authenticity in Alexander’s portrayal of Edward Kelley and Dr Dee’s adventures makes the fantasy

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Travelling with John Dee & Edward Kelley

elements of the modern story more believable, and her research into the past also informed the contemporary storyline. She says, “I knew how desperate people get when they are losing a loved one, trying strange treatments or travelling halfway across the world. If one of my children was dying would I try everything to save them – even if it meant trying some archaic sorcery? When I started The Secrets of Life and Death I was playing with the idea of “living on borrowed time”, but actually reading Dee’s own books made me realise just how far he experimented with alchemy and sorcery. He is reputed to have raised the spirit of a dead friend – so I couldn’t resist putting that in the book.’

The resulting novel is an intriguing mix of genres – this is a time-slip story, part historical and part fantasy, with a strong dash of vampirism thrown into the mix. The suggestion that The Secrets of Life and Death might be described as a happy mixture of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian is well received by Alexander. ‘That would be a very flattering comparison. The Historian is one of my favourite books ever, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer reanimated my passion for fantasy.

I think Buffy is at least partly responsible for the increased interest in fantasy on both television and books. One similarity which was conscious was the strong female lead in the contemporary strand.’

Readers who enjoy The Secrets of Life and Death will be happy to know that a follow up novel, The Secrets of Blood and Bone, has an October release date in the UK. Alexander, who has found that the ‘new stories creep in’ while she is writing, has confirmed that although she didn’t start out to write a trilogy, she will complete the series with a third novel very soon.

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Kate Braithwaite is a fiction and freelance writer. Originally from Edinburgh, Kate now lives in Pennsylvania and writes a humorous blog about American/British English at http:// transatlantictranslator.wordpress.com.

by Kate Braithwaite

I knew... how desperate people get when they are losing a loved one, trying strange treatments or travelling halfway across the world.

HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Features | 13

Sally Zigmond delves below the surface of Sarah Waters’s work

By

2002, Sarah Waters had published three excellent historical novels, but it wasn’t until then that Andrew Davies’s infamous BBC TV adaptation of her 1998 novel, Tipping the Velvet, brought her to wide public attention with what she called “a kind of romp,” thus belying all her deep research.

Sarah Waters makes no secret of her lesbianism. She does not dwell on it. “That’s how it is in my life, and that’s how it is, really, for most lesbian and gay people, isn’t it? It’s sort of just there in your life.”

Her latest novel, The Paying Guests, was published by Virago in August 2014 in the UK, and by Riverhead a month later in the US. It was reviewed here in the United Kingdom in The Financial Times, The Times, The Guardian, and The Sunday Times, which, incidentally, also featured a rare and pleasing interview with this reclusive author.

The reviews were, on the whole, favourable, especially that from Charlotte Mendelson in the Financial Times, whom I believe understood the novel far better than the others. She wrote: “I have tried and failed to find a single negative thing to say about it.”

Most of the other reviewers, female as well as male, made much of what I consider lesbian prurience.

That The Paying Guests has, at its heart, a passionate lesbian love affair is less important to me than its study of social class. Like it or not, class distinction remains present in Britain, even though it is increasingly blurred. The title itself is steeped in social nuance. Mrs Wray considers herself far too gentile to say ‘tenants’ or, worst of all, ‘lodgers’ when she and her unmarried daughter, Frances, are forced to rent out rooms — not just because of the state of the British economy following World War One, but due to the recently-deceased Mr Wray’s bad financial mismanagement.

So, into their home bursts the vibrant young couple Leonard and Lillian Barber, who turn their lives upside down. A passionate love affair, a murder, and its ensuing trial complete with unexpected outcome brings the novel to a gripping conclusion. To me, The Paying Guests brings Waters to the height

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Sally’s Victorian novel, Hope Against Hope (2011), is published

by Myrmidon Books. She is currently working on a 14th century novel set in a small women’s priory in a remote Yorkshire moorland dale. For more information, check out her blog at http://sallyzigmond.blogspot.com.

I have... tried and failed to find a single negative thing to say about it.

HNR Issue 70, November 2014

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of her powers with a stunning depiction of England at a pivotal period in its history.

That Waters is sidelined by the literary intelligentsia (she rarely appears on the Man Booker long-lists, let alone the final six and The Paying Guests even failed to appear at all this year) is, I believe, because her novels sell in huge quantities and top the best-sellers, unlike those of Martin Amis and Ian McEwan, for example.

I also have another theory. In Louise Wise’s Sunday Times interview, Waters says, “I’m fine with middlebrow ... it’s a more old-fashioned way of writing, which is probably why it lends itself to adaptation.”

She continues, “they’re not about literary experimentation.”

Or as Rachel Cusk, in her Guardian review, puts it: “This [the 1920s] was a period in which a new kind of literary realism was born, in particular a female style, as a result of the loss of men and male authority and values. Writers such as Elizabeth Bowen and Elizabeth Taylor could use the domestic novel to grapple with the intricacies of a broken civilization and the reconfiguring of gender and social roles it entailed. This style might be described as the attempt to depict the loss of property while remaining proper, and the result was some exquisitely tortured and distinctive prose that did not age well and consequently has been undervalued – though never entirely neglected.”​ Waters does not aim for a complex, difficult read or any experiment in style or tone. That she is thought of highly by a large, mainly female readership, whether heterosexual or lesbian, should not deter her position as one of today’s finest novelists.

by Sally Zigmond

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Deep Waters

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using new research in historical fiction

L ove is blind, but Abelard’s letters to Heloise make me pity her

blindness,” someone wrote to me. Read my new novel, I replied.

Contrary to the prevailing notion, Heloise was no starry-eyed fangirl; nor, probably, was Abelard the monster he made himself out to be.

The scandalous story of the 12th-century Parisian teacher and poet who seduced his student and suffered a violent, shocking act of revenge has captured imaginations since the pair first met, around 1115. The lovers’ tale has graced films, poems, songs, books, artworks and more, including an awful 1988 movie.

I was no less intrigued than others have been when I first heard of Peter Abelard, the greatest philosopher of his time, and his pupil, Heloise d’Argenteuil, a rare woman scholar, as brilliant as her master or even more so — her knowledge of languages and literature eclipsed his own, he wrote. Their intellectual connection quickly grew into a passionate affair conducted right under her oblivious uncle’s nose.

Abelard wrote about the affair some 15 years after he and Heloise had parted ways.

His Historia Calamitatum, or “Story of my Misfortunes,” paints him as her seducer, an impression that many hold today in spite of Heloise’s response: She wanted the affair as badly as he, she wrote, and never repented even after becoming a prominent abbess.

Their unique personalities drew me to them, as did their tragic fate. And yet, their story had already been told so many times. What could I possibly find to add to the discussion?

Quite a bit, as it turns out. Medieval historians continue to research and debate not only the details of their lives but also the essence, and meaning, of their love. Did Abelard write honestly about his lecherous role? (Probably not, the current thinking goes: he exaggerated the sins of his youth to heighten his redemption, as St. Augustine had done centuries before.) How could Heloise refuse his marriage proposal, saying she preferred “freedom to chains,” then join the convent at his command?

Was she a feminist ahead of her time or just another submissive female standing by her man?

By turns...

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How Much Do We Know, Really?

Their four personal letters — his autobiography, her response, and two more — provide scant evidence about the nature of their relationship while they lived it. Imagine my delight, then, to discover that Monash University Professor Constant J. Mews had published (The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard, St Martin’s, 1999) 113 anonymous fragments, entire letters, and poems he calls the “lost love letters” of Abelard and Heloise, written during their love affair.

By turns ardent, outraged, yearning, complaining, apologetic, playful and scornful — and always eloquent — these letters tell us much about the lovers and their love affair. Heloise, we find, gave as good as she got, and even threatened to end the affair at one point. Abelard, on the other hand, expresses a love so sweet and pure that we understand, at last, how she could have loved him. He wasn’t a cad, after all — at least, not completely.

Along with startling new theories about Heloise’s unknown parentage, I found plenty of material with which to refresh this familiar tale and make it completely my own. And I wondered: if so many historians have been wrong about Abelard and Heloise, what makes their scholarly findings different from the fiction we write?

Indeed, by calling our work “fiction,” aren’t we more honest?

Historians and historical fiction writers share the same goal: in shedding light on the past, we aim to illuminate the present.

In doing so, we make choices at every turn — which version of history to believe, which “fact” to use. It’s a guessing game for historians, as well. Today’s accepted theory may well prove to be tomorrow’s error. The only truth may be this: We can’t really know anyone else. Perhaps that’s why, no matter whom we write about, we reveal, ultimately, ourselves.

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Sherry Jones is the author of five historical/biographical fiction books, including The Sharp Hook of Love and Four Sisters, All Queens.

She is now at work on a novel for Simon & Schuster/Gallery about the African-American dance sensation Josephine Baker.

by Sherry Jones ardent, outraged, yearning, complaining, apologetic, playful and scornful — and always eloquent — these letters tell us much about the lovers and their love affair.

HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Features | 15

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a look at 18th-century London

Nestled in Gough Square in the heart London is Dr Samuel

Johnson’s house. Although Johnson (1709–81) only lived there from 1748 to 1759, the house represents much that makes this period a rich setting for historical novelists. Now a doll’s-houselike museum, it resembled “a counting house” in Johnson’s day, with his six “amanuenses” (copyists) working in the attic and a thick heavy chain on the door to keep bailiffs out. It was here that the lexicographer compiled his Dictionary, and the house was constantly full of visitors, such as his friends Garrick, the actor, Joshua Reynolds, first President of the Royal Academy, women writers like the poet Anna Williams, and his Jamaican manservant Francis Barber, who became Johnson’s residual heir.

Everyday London in the 18th century was a city of great deprivation, as highlighted in Hogarth’s etchings: gin palace-filled lanes side by side with a Renaissance-like world of fine architecture, composers such as George Frideric Handel, and philanthropists such as Thomas Corum, founder of London’s first Foundling Hospital. James Boswell, in his Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D (1791), quotes Johnson as saying: “Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in the showy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of human habitations which are crowded together, that the wonderful immensity of London consists.”

It is this “immensity” which provided novelists such as Lillian de la Torre with the background for her series of short stories based on the imaginary detective exploits of Dr Johnson. She used “imagined episodes which recall old crimes and frauds, real personalities, places and situations for the nucleus of the plot.”1 Bruce Alexander wrote ten historical novels about Sir John Fielding (1721–80), the blind London magistrate. Deryn Lake’s Georgian John Rawlings mystery series also featured Sir John Fielding, and Janet Gleeson used Agnes Meadowes, a cook to a London silversmith, to act as a detective in The Thief Taker

W ho else...

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Dr Johnson’s World

(Simon & Schuster, 2006). Georgette Heyer provided glimpses of the city in her romances, but often murder is on the agenda for novelists writing about this period. This has been a bestselling formula for Tessa Harris, latterly in The Lazarus Curse (Kensington, 2014), set in 1780s London, where “American anatomist Dr. Thomas Silkstone is plunged into a swirling cauldron of sorcery, slavery, and cold-blooded murder.” Bedlam

by Greg Hollingshead (St. Martin’s, 2004) introduces readers to another dark corner of London life, as does Imogen Roberston’s Anatomy of Murder (Headline, 2010), set in 1781, starring reclusive anatomist Gabriel Crowther.

Laura Purcell, debut author of Queen of Bedlam (Myrmidon, 2014), explains that “Eighteenth-century London was a city rife with contradiction. On the one hand, it was a place of elegance and genius. Giants walked in every field of the arts, penning the literature and designing the architecture that still endures today. And yet it is hard to imagine a bawdier, more volatile location.

The staples of the city were prostitution, alcohol and gambling. Who else but the Georgians would bet on a race between geese and turkeys, or Lord Derby’s ability to seduce a lady in a hot-air balloon? Nestled between the war-torn Stuarts and prim Victorians, the Londoners of the eighteenth century lived through a time of transition and innovation.”2 As the larger-than-life Johnson explained to his friend Boswell, on one of the latter’s occasional visits to the metropolis: “Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” This perhaps explains why many historical novelists have been inspired to use it as a setting and why the house in Gough Square is well worth a visit.

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Myfanwy Cook is HNR’s Features Editor.

Notes: 1. Obituary, 19 September 1993, The New York Times.

2. http://laurapurcell.com/

by Myfanwy Cook but the Georgians would bet on a race between geese and turkeys, or Lord Derby’s ability to seduce a lady in a hot-air balloon?

HNR Issue 70, November 2014

Reviews |

online exclusives

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

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Denotes an Editors’ Choice title

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prehistoric

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THE SPIRIT AND THE SKULL J. M. Hayes, Poisoned Pen Press, 2014, $24.95, hb, 184pp, 9781464202827 Stealing life is forbidden to the People, a Paleolithic tribe crossing Alaska’s tundra.

Nevertheless, Tall Pine is found strangled. It is up to Raven, the tribe’s spiritual leader, to uncover the murderer, but Raven has much at stake. If he can’t reveal the killer, the aging Raven may be cast out of the tribe, like other people too elderly to fend for themselves. Thus begins this novel, a pre-historical mystery created by J. M. Hayes. The story was inspired by Hayes’ work as an archeologist, and he uses his experience in the field to bring Raven’s people to life.

Raven wonders if a young woman he loves is the killer. Or is it someone in a rival tribe, led by a woman who calls herself the Earth Mother? And why does Raven dream that he is a disembodied skull held by a strange-looking man with eyes the color of ice? Though it once left me confused enough to backtrack, The Spirit and the Skull is an entertaining whodunit with a time-slip element. If you like mysteries, give it a try.

Jo Ann Butler

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ancient egypt

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DESERT GOD: A Novel of Ancient Egypt Wilbur Smith, William Morrow, 2014, $28.99, hb, 448pp, 9780062276452 / HarperCollins, 2014, £20.00, hb, 432pp, 9780007535651 Wilbur Smith’s latest historical novel set in ancient Egypt features the tale of Taita, a complex character and former slave who was gelded after Ancient History — Classical

having reached manhood. This doesn’t stop him from appreciating, “loving,” women in his own way, even though he cannot consummate their relationship. He is given the task of guarding the virginity of the Pharaoh Tamose’s sisters. But even more critical to the story, he is charged with leading a raid on a Hyksos fort. More adventures ensue, including desert marches toward Babylon, visions he receives from the goddess Ishtar, and danger and intrigue at every turn. He rescues maidens, witnesses the eruption of Mount Cronus that marks the end of Minoan civilization, and generally glories in his trials through his firstperson narrative.

In Desert God, we walk the sands of times past and feel the grit beneath our feet and in our eyes.

However, sometimes the balance of the action feels a bit off, spending more time than we might wish on a relatively minor incident but speeding through major dramatic moments. As an example, we linger with Taita over a wounded man as he attempts to remove a sword blade from the patient’s groin and then analyzes whether the victim will survive or succumb. However, among the author’s gifts is a true knack for getting inside the head of his protagonist in a way that feels realistic for the era and given the man’s spiritual beliefs. The writing style can sometimes be uneven, moving from tightly written, easily flowing prose to a sudden flurry of dreaded helping verbs. (e.g., “The mountain itself was dancing. There was a rumbling roar… The horses were panicking. They were rearing…”). All in all, though, there is just enough atmosphere and drama here to please. Devotees of Egyptian-based historical fiction may want to add this volume to their collection.

Kathryn Johnson

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classical

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THE EYES OF AURORA: A Fifth Case from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger Albert J. Bell, Jr., Perseverance Press, 2014, $15.95, pb, 272pp, 9781564745491 During the glory days of the Roman Empire, Pliny the Younger, a brilliant lawyer and a copious writer, had an unknown side to his ventures, according to our author: murder investigation.

A poor, hungry young woman searching for her husband befriends Aurora, Pliny’s personal slave, who vows her master’s help. Trouble brews as soon as Pliny and his friend, Tacitus, come upon the aftermath of the savage murder of a young woman pinioned to a wooden wheel, shocking the sensitivities – and stomachs – of both men.

The problem appears more serious than a missing husband when they find an obscure palindromic

sign (a ROTA) on the wall of a tavern, which Pliny vaguely hopes will reveal a clue to lead them to the murderer. But the truth is far more complex, as complex as Aurora’s significance in both the novel and her master’s life. The historically defined characters echo that era of Rome, yet occasionally there’s some modern “attitude” in the tale – but not enough to take the reader out of the story. Perhaps the author is merely pointing out the timelessness of crime?

Tess Heckel THE KING AND THE SLAVE Tim Leach, Atlantic, 2014, £12.99, pb, 278pp, 9780857899224 Leach’s previous novel The Last King of Lydia dealt with the fall of Croesus, from fabled king of riches to a slave in the service of Cyrus, King of the Persians. Both Cyrus and Cambyses, his halfblind son who takes the throne after his father’s death, find his advice useful and perhaps also find it satisfying to have a former king waiting on them.

Sadly for many, Cambyses becomes a Nero-like figure who is cruel, sadistic and prone to giving orders for the execution of subordinates and anyone who even hints at disagreeing with him in any way, shape or form. He arranges for the murder of his brother and marries his sister.

I previously knew very little about Cambyses but was intrigued to look up details about his life. The novel is evidently based on detailed historical knowledge, and the time and place are clearly evoked. Cambyses’ army, while struggling through the desert, descends into cannibalism as the soldiers suffer the torments of hunger, and there are overall quite a few gruesome moments.

It is an interesting tale, filled with historical detail and strong characterisation. The themes of moral responsibility and the nature of friendship add depth, which delineates the world during a time most novelists do not cover. Unusual, literary and very much worth reading.

Ann Northfield ODYSSEUS, Book Two: The Return Valerio Massimo Manfredi (trans. Christine Feddersen-Manfredi), Pan Macmillan, 2014, £16.99/C$32.99, hb, 400pp, 9780230769359 The second in Valerio Massimo Manfredi’s Odysseus novels recounts the return voyage of the hero and the crewmen of his seven ships from warravaged Troy to their homeland in Ithaca. They are repeatedly blown off course by storms into a magical and ominous world of lotus eaters, cyclops, cannibals, witches and sirens. Odysseus is dogged by his reckless challenge to the sea-god Poseidon and the unreliable support and appearances of his favourite goddess, Athena. Again and again his curiosity puts them all in danger and his ingenuity HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 17

gets them out of it, but little by little the seven ships and all their men are lost, leaving Odysseus alone, washed ashore naked. The winners of the Trojan War come out the losers as Agamemnon is murdered on his return by his wife Clytemnestra, Odysseus is lost for ten more years on the journey home, and the long absence of the Greek kings and warriors contributes to the eventual decline of their civilization. Odysseus reaches home halfway through Manfredi’s book but then has to set out on another ill-fated journey in an attempt to appease Poseidon.

There are long stretches of vivid, hallucinatory description but very little dialogue or dramatisation to engage the reader. The men accompanying Odysseus never emerge as fully rounded characters so that it is difficult to empathise with Odysseus’ grief and psychological torment. Manfredi tells the story in the first person, producing Odysseus’ stream of consciousness. He depicts Odysseus’ melancholic struggles with fate, mortality and the nightmarish aftermaths of war.

Tracey Warr ORACLES OF DELPHI: A Novel of Suspense (An Althaia of Athens Mystery) Marie Savage, Blank Slate Press, 2014, $14.95, pb, 278pp, 9780989207935 Althaia’s trip to Delphi with her tutor and two slave companions was meant to be in honor of her dead father’s final wishes. But the body of a young woman, discovered as an apparent human sacrifice on the altar of Dionysos, interrupts those plans.

For Theron, Althaia’s tutor, is accused by one of the priests as a possible suspect. They are further drawn into the mystery when they are called upon to help uncover the culprit. A second corpse only worsens the situation. She will need to use all of her skills learned from her Egyptian instructor, and those of her companions, if she is to not only solve the murders, but also diffuse what is shaping up to be a deadly power struggle among the oracles of Delphi.

This novel is mostly mystery, with a dash of romance (and explicit scene or two) thrown in.

Savage makes the intriguing choice to reveal the original culprit right at the outset, though the identity isn’t known to anyone else. The story and setting are believable and rich. Savage obviously enjoys her characters, perhaps a bit too much.

The ending is neatly bundled to tie off every loose string, again perhaps a bit too much. There are a few anachronisms (references to the Gordian knot before Alexander had ever stepped foot in Gordia, for instance). That said, this could be the beginning of a good mystery series set in Classical Greece.

Justin M. Lindsay ZEUS OF ITHOME T. E. Taylor, Crooked Cat, 2013, £6.99, pb, 9781909841215 Set in Ancient Greece in 373 BC, Zeus of Ithome explores the end of three centuries of Messenian slavery at the hands of their brutal Spartan neighbours. The hero, Diocles, has been one of 18 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 70, November 2014

these slaves for all 17 years of his life, and when he falls foul of the Krypteia, a Spartan death squad, he is forced to flee. Outlawed, Diocles leaves his home, his family and his young love, but promises to return one day and liberate his people.

Diocles’ first encounter is on Mount Ithome, with Aristomenes, an old man whose heart still beats with the pride of his people, and who lives in the hope that one day the Messenians will regain their freedom. The story then follows Diocles’ journey through the Peloponnese, to the Oracle of Delphi, then on to Thebes, where he meets some of the most powerful men of the times and learns much about the arts of war.

Zeus of Ithome is a tale of conflict, both internal and external, as Diocles learns as much about himself, and his mother, as he does about the harsh realities of his world at war. Well-crafted and with an engaging narrative, Zeus of Ithome is interspersed with a detailed historical backdrop.

The Messenian landscape comes to life, as do the other locations along Diocles’ journey. This is a work of fiction, based on fact and, as with all good historical fiction, I enjoyed learning about the ancient Greek culture and daily life. It is a wellresearched novel intertwined with a heartwarming story that I would recommend to students of ancient Greece, or any historical fiction reader interested in this period.

Liza Perrat

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biblical

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THE LEGEND OF SHEBA: Rise of a Queen Tosca Lee, Howard, 2014, $23.99/$28.99, hb, 314 pp, 9781451684049 “There is a tale that is told: A desert queen journeyed north with a caravan of riches to pay tribute to a king and his One God. The story of a queen conquered by a king before she returned to her own land laden with gifts. This is the tale you are meant to believe. Which means most of it is a lie.”

Thus begins Tosca Lee’s epic story of Bilqis, daughter of the king of Sheba, who rises to become one of the most famous queens in the world. Lee captures the mystery, majesty and mayhem of the ancient world with its warring gods and goddesses, and their struggles to gain or retain control of their piece of land. Filled with gold, frankincense and myrrh, the land of Saba (Sheba) is rich beyond imagination, and Bilqis is both beautiful and brilliant. And yet, for all her power and riches, she finds the life to which she was born often empty.

When she hears of the new king, Solomon, from that upstart land of Israel, she refuses to send him an emissary. He is offended by her stance and so writes her a secret letter. A sort of pen-pal relationship develops between the king and queen, each new papyrus a challenge, a riddle and a mirror.

Finally, Bilqis decides to travel herself to see this mighty king, in the hope that he will not cut off the trade routes that have brought Saba its wealth.

This bold move surprises the “wisest man on earth,” but he is delighted by the prospect.

Lee tells a terrific tale of a woman who must figure out her way through the prickly path of politics and religion to find what she really wants.

Anne Clinard Barnhill

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1st century

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ENEMIES AT HOME Lindsey Davis, Hodder & Stoughton, 2014, £18.99, hb, 385pp, 9871444766585 / Minotaur, 2014, $25.99, hb, 352pp, 9781250023773 This is the second in the Flavia Albia series.

When a wealthy, newly-married couple are murdered, their valuable silver stolen, and their porter badly beaten, the household slaves, fearing being accused and executed if another culprit is not discovered, flee to sanctuary at the Temple of Ceres. Flavia Albia, adopted daughter of Falco, who has become an informer herself, is asked by the magistrate Manlius Faustus to investigate after the local vigiles have made a hash of the investigation.

She questions the slaves, the neighbours, an ex-wife and others, initially with limited success.

Patiently returning time after time for more questions, she disentangles conflicting accounts, finding the truth as the complicated strands of an intricate plot unravel, and the tensions within the household are revealed. Staying away from her normal haunts, she comes to know another area of Rome, helped by Faustus and to some extent hindered by the vigiles and the local crooks who know something, and who are dangerous.

With her usual detailed knowledge of Imperial Rome and Roman life, and injecting subtle humour, Davis constructs a satisfying mystery which will please all her many fans.

Marina Oliver FINISHED BUSINESS David Wishart, Severn House, 2014, $28.95/£19.99, hb, 234pp, 9781780105758 In 1997 TLS announced that Richard Lee was starting the Historical Novel Society. I wrote him a letter expressing an interest in Roman novels and the difficulty in finding historical fiction by subject.

He responded with a list of authors, and David Wishart was the only one that was new to me. I obtained one of his books immediately and many more over the years. Since then, through the efforts of the society and other sources, it has become much easier to locate historical novels by period and place.

Marcus Corvinus, an alcoholic amateur sleuth, belongs to a senatorial family, but he tries to avoid politics. He investigates an apparently accidental death at the urging of a relative of the victim, who tells him that Alexander the Great appeared to her in a vision telling her it was murder. To his surprise, Corvinus finds that there was foul play and continues on the case in spite of being assaulted on more than one occasion. Clues lead to the conspiratorial side Classical — 1st Century

of Roman politics under Caligula (always referred to correctly as Gaius). Wishart’s Author’s Note shows that he has persuaded himself that his imaginative reconstruction was probably the real story, something he has done before.

Wishart’s style mixes Roman similes (a nose like the beak of a trireme) with contemporary slang (easy-peasy, flavour-of-the-month), while creating a satisfying historical mystery. Recommended.

James Hawking

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2nd century

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THE INNER SEA: A Novel of the Year 100 Zane Kotker, Levellers Press, 2014, $19.95, pb, 269pp, 9781937146559 Imagine yourself back in the world of Europe and the Middle East in the year 100. Jesus Christ has been crucified, the Temple of Jerusalem has been destroyed, and a pantheon of Roman gods rules the known world, vying for followers and tolerated by all. One denomination, however, threatens the world of Rome, that of the Christians, who refuse to offer obeisance to the Roman Emperor Trajan. Their intrepid refusal to bow before Trajan is admirable in one sense, yet elicits fear, as the penalty for their intractable attitude is death. Add to that that the families and known acquaintances of these Christians are subject to ruin as well.

This is their story. It’s the tale of a young girl from a noble family who falls in love with the Christ and is willing to renounce everyone and everything she had before – to a point, that is.

It’s about a young Jew who rejects the Christians’ message but is captivated by their beliefs and dogmatic attitudes, cemented further when he falls in love with one Christian soon to be condemned.

The essence of this novel lies in the numerous faiths presented, such as the devotees of Isis, etc., and the ardency of their supporters. Trajan’s desire to avoid killing for its own pleasure is notable as well. The Inner Sea presents a time of history in which commerce thrived and loyalty was rewarded beyond imagination. Trajan’s ability to coerce believers to loyalty with a small slip of reason is intriguing. Senseless refusal yielded horrific consequences. The Inner Sea is a captivating look at a historical time teetering on the brink of change, with global consequences.

Viviane Crystal

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6th century

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SAINT BRIGID’S BONES: A Celtic Adventure Philip Freeman, Pegasus, 2014, $24.95, hb, 240pp, 9781605986326 In this swiftly told tale set in 6th-century Ireland, Sister Deirdre is tasked with the most important job of the monastery at Kildare: to retrieve the stolen bones of Saint Brigid. Without the bones for pilgrims to pay homage to, and the donations from 2nd Century — 7th Century

visitors seeking healing from the precious relics, the nuns and those they care for will not survive for very long.

The author proves his intellect and research within the first-person narrative of Sister Deirdre as he deftly sets up the mystery of where the bones are and who has taken them. He even manages to flesh out Sister Deirdre’s character as we wonder if she should have even become a nun in the first place. There was a short period within the telling where I wondered if I had missed a previous novel featuring Deirdre’s story, but we slowly learn the secrets of her past before she dedicated her life to the monastery. Deirdre is a strong and willful young woman who was also a skilled bard with a few suitors at her doorstep. While she seeks answers to the mystery of the saint’s bones, she encounters ruffians and piratical lords as well as several kings of the lands of ancient Ireland. I was surprised that so much could occur within this seemingly short novel, yet the pacing and suspense were very well stylized, and I was happy to see that Philip Freeman plans on publishing a second novel featuring the lively Sister Deirdre.

Marie Burton THE LAST ROMAN: Vengeance Jack Ludlow, Allison & Busby, 2014, £19.99, hb, 382pp, 9780749014216 This is the first novel in a projected trilogy, and it starts with a bang. Flavius Belisarius is in the schoolroom having a normal day of lessons when suddenly a barbarian raid breaks the tranquillity and his life will never be the same again. Highaction from the beginning, this novel is breathless and compelling throughout. The action takes place during the 6th century of the Byzantine Empire, and Flavius’s father Decimus, as Governor, has been upholding traditional Roman values and trying to stamp out corruption. The rich and powerful do not take kindly to these attempts to curtail their power, and Decimus and his three eldest sons are all slain. Flavius, with the help of an older servant, Ohannes, veteran of many battles, must try to get the proof of the underhand dealing to important people who matter and so obtain the vengeance of the title on those who arranged for the deaths of his family. The youth and inexperience of Flavius faced with this vital but difficult task are clear, and the reader roots for him as he desperately tries to complete his self-appointed mission. The period details ring true, and the impact of Christianity onto the Roman world adds an interesting and unusual dimension. Fans of Bernard Cornwell will be lining up for this one and will be anxiously awaiting the next in the series too, as am I. Ann Northfield THE SILK TREE Julian Stockwin, Allison & Busby, 2014, £20, hb, 469pp, 9780749017958 There came certain monks who promised Emperor Justinian Augustus that they would provide the means for making silk from Sinae where they had learned the art…

Thus wrote Procopius, Byzantine scholar and Court historian at the time.

This story follows the journeyings of two such ‘monks’ from Constantinople to China and back, bringing with them some silkworm eggs. The journey is hazardous from the beginning, and our two heroes, Nicander, a Greek incense merchant who becomes known as Brother Paul, and Marius, a Roman Legionary (Brother Matthew), face hardship, danger and set-backs from page one.

Their plans and schemes constantly go awry, and their lives are often at risk.

I knew that silk originated from China and was brought to the West in camel trains (the caravanserai) along the route that became known as the Silk Road, but had never known that the secret of how it was produced, and subsequently brought to the West, was thought to have been down to two monks. Here, Julian Stockwin takes this tale and turns it into a fascinating story, full of colour and incident. Many of his characters were real people who lived and died during this period of the 6th century. His other characters, including Nicander and Marius, are fictitious, but they dovetail in perfectly and are totally believable participants in the story. I enjoyed this book very much and will look out for this author again.

Marilyn Sherlock

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7th century

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TIME OF THE BEAST Geoff Smith, Dedalus, 2014, £9.99/$15.99, pb, 236pp, 9781909232365 In 666 A.D., Athwold, a young monk who has found himself at personal and doctrinal loggerheads with his abbot, leaves his monastery to go and live as a hermit in the dank and sinister semi-flooded Fens of eastern England. The inhabitants are mostly as mysterious and threatening as the landscape, but Athwold finds his monastic vows under threat from the beautiful Alisa. Soon, though, there is no room in his mind for anything except fear of the vile and powerful monsters who seem to have selected him for constant and merciless attack.

When all is at its worst, Athwold is rescued by the wandering monk Cadroc and his local guide Alfric.

Together the three set out to stalk and destroy the greatest monster of them all.

The atmosphere of the Fens in a truly Dark Age world is very effectively evoked, as is the mindset of the time. While we recognise some of the terrors that the characters encounter as being no more than natural phenomena, the people of the time do not. I thought that Athwold’s epiphany and change in his life at the end was not quite so plausible, but Time of the Beast unusually combines fine writing with a series of properly horrid revelations.

Recommended.

Alan Fisk

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8th century

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THE ASHES OF HEAVEN’S PILLAR Kim Rendfeld, Fireship, 2014, $18.50, pb, 376pp, 9781611793055 Set in 8th-century Saxony, this early-medieval pageant follows Leova, a peasant woman who has had her religion desecrated, her husband killed in battle, and herself and her children treacherously sold into slavery. They fight to survive and to stay together, using their wits and compromising their principles in ways readers may not find admirable. Leova seeks a protector, and becomes the concubine of a man who seems kind and good, but who will not marry her. Her beautiful daughter Sunwynn becomes attracted to the man whom readers know has killed her father. Hugh is an honorable, upright man, but his slaying of Derwine may have destroyed a future for him and Sunwynn.

Son Deorlaf escapes and tries to become wealthy enough to buy freedom for the family, but he pays a high moral price.

The story makes a compelling start in a fresh, interesting setting, but some may think the plot slows through the middle as event follows event in the family’s lengthy struggle to stay safe and somehow regain their freedom. New relationships form, secrets are revealed, and the bittersweet ending seems to foreshadow happiness for the three. The story stands alone, but a sequel would be welcome to see where the characters’ new lives will lead them.

Readers may find that the characters come across as curiously flat at times, despite their dramatic, perilous lives. What saves this book is the vivid historical backdrop. Descriptions of Carolingian Europe are fascinating and glow with an almost three-dimensional richness, like a stained-glass window in words.

Elizabeth Knowles

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10th century

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SHADOWS IN THE SHINING CITY John D. Cressler, Sunbury, 2014, $24.95, pb, 606pp, 9781620063453 Enter again the world of Muslim Cordoba in the 10th century, depicted by this talented author in this fictional prequel to Emeralds of the Alhambra and the second book in the Anthems of al-Andalus series. Life and Muslim rule are precious and amply conveyed in the Caliph’s and his people’s love of women, books, research, discovery, architecture, design, and style. Every page reveals exotic and normal beauty and intelligence, so well described that it never gets repetitive but instead is thrilling.

However, underneath the positive side of humanity lie ambition, lust, power and other temptations which call forth challenges. Wars rage across Europe, with rival tribes vying for control of 20 | Reviews |

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Cordoba and thereby the entire Arab world. The new love between a royal princess and a freed slave is threatened by those who supposedly have better, self-serving plans for the young woman. A plan to eliminate a knowledgeable lover of books from antiquity is carried out to the chagrin and suffering of many. The discovery of a scientific problem worked on by Aristotle carries learned scholars into an encounter with parallels to the reality behind modern photography and science. Most of all, the novel evokes these wise men’s love affair with great, old books which they cherish reading and translating into Arabic so that all may share the abundance of learning and great thinking.

The battles are vicious and cruel beyond one’s imagination. Physical love and intellectual love are celebrated, reverberating through the reader’s mind and body. This is superb historical fiction and a delightful read!

Viviane Crystal

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11th century

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THE LAST VIKING: 1066 Berwick Coates, Simon & Schuster, 2014, £7.99, pb, 418pp, 9781471112003 Harold Godwinson has boldly taken the English throne and prepares for the expected invasion from across the Channel by William of Normandy and a likely attack from his exiled brother Tostig. Additional pressure is exerted on the king by his mother and the other women in his life. His military strategy is soon complicated by rumours of a further threat in the north of his new kingdom, from Hardrada King of Norway. Berwick Coates tells the story in a complex weave through the diverse experiences of a large cast of characters ranging from kings and lords to footsoldiers and townspeople, and sets his scenes in Norway and up and down the length of England. The scenes are very short and do not linger long enough to allow the reader to fully engage with many of the characters.

The convincing and historically accurate detail of the novel is very well researched, including the appearance of what we now know of as Halley’s Comet, the dilemmas and strategic choices made

by King Harold, and the planning of Scarborough’s defence by the town’s leaders; however, the research and exposition is often too explicit in the dialogue.

Using the convergence of the two sides in the battle of Stamford Bridge against the Norwegian invaders in 1066 which immediately preceded the more familiar battle of Hastings, is an effective structure for the novel, but the pacing is often rather laboured. Coates’ depictions of Harold’s network of clerical spies and bantering Welsh archers, on the other hand, are effective, and the banal hardships of warfare are vividly imagined: marching on sore feet and empty stomachs, digging latrines, rain and mud.

Tracey Warr

HEREWARD: Wolves of New Rome James Wilde, Bantam, 2014, £14.99, hb, 360pp, 9780593071830 This is the fourth in the Hereward series. He and a small band of followers are exiled after their final defeat in 1072. Little is known of Hereward’s true fate, but he could have gone to the east. In this author’s version, the exiles aim to reach Constantinople, and win gold and glory by joining the elite Varangian Guard, the Emperor’s own protection squad. The fabled city is torn with internal strife, with a weak young Emperor and the threat of imminent Turkish invasion.

It is not a novel for the squeamish. There is no pretty, sanitised version of history. The author is uncompromising in showing the grim reality for dispossessed men. The English endure shipwreck and battles, barbarity, treachery and captivity, first in the African desert, then in the vast Eastern city. There is savagery, ambition, a great deal of brutal, gory fighting and bloodletting, when many heads roll. The author supplies vivid details of the anxiety and terror during the sea battle, storm and shipwreck, the heat and dust and thirst in the desert, and the tensions and betrayals in the city, where both beauty and cruelty exist. This novel will please Wilde’s many fans.

Marina Oliver

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12th century

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A FALCON FLIES James Boschert, Fireship, 2014, $18.50, pb, 512pp, 9781611792850 In 1177, Talon returns to the city of Acre, accused of witchcraft by certain church authorities.

Now a rich shipping magnate working with the Templars, he travels to a small fort in the Middle East and learns that his long-lost love, Rav’an, is alive after six long years of being apart. After the Battle of Montgisard, when Talon plays a significant role in the Crusaders’ victory over an overwhelming Egyptian army led by Salah Ed-Din, he asks King Baldwin IV if he can take a year away from protecting Jerusalem and travel inland for one year to search for Rav’an while spying on the Muslims. Talon now heads to Baghdad and risks torture and possibly imprisonment if caught.

This is the fifth book in the Book of Talons series, but it can be read on its own. The plot is fast-paced, gripping and a real page-turner. The details of the period, as presented in the setting, characters, and language, are evident in Boschert’s writing. The novel is highly entertaining; the battle sequences are vividly described in all their gory detail.

Unfortunately, there were so many grammatical errors that it became distracting. The book I reviewed was not designated as an “uncorrected proof,” so I am assuming it is the finished product.

With that said, I would still recommend this book for those who enjoy a good adventure story set during the Crusades.

Jeff Westerhoff 8th Century — 12th Century

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THE WINTER CROWN Elizabeth Chadwick, Sphere, 2014, £16.99, hb, 471pp, 9781847445445 Continuing the story of Eleanor of Aquitaine, this book follows the middle years of her reign as Queen to Henry II and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right. Beginning with her coronation at Westminster Abbey in December 1154, it goes on to follow her life through her childbearing years and the gradual break-up of her marriage to Henry. The death of her firstborn son, William, at the age of two is devastating, and she also finds giving up her daughters to foreign marriages at a very young age, as was common in the Middle Ages, very difficult to bear. But Richard, the heir to Aquitaine, is her favourite, and she is determined not to lose control of him as he grows to manhood alongside his other three brothers, Henry, Geoffrey and John.

The historical facts of this era are well known and very well documented, but even so, Elizabeth Chadwick still manages to weave a gripping story which I found unputdownable. Her characters, both the real and the imagined minor ones, live and breathe and have distinct personalities of their own. The pace keeps the reader turning the pages, and the sadness of reaching the final page is only offset by the knowledge that there is another book to come. Personally, I have been an ardent fan of this author for many years now and look forward with keen anticipation to the third book in this trilogy. Highly recommended.

Marilyn Sherlock THE IRON CASTLE Angus Donald, Sphere, 2014, £18.99, hb, 388pp, 9780751551952 It is 1203, and Alan Dale is summoned to fight once more alongside his lord, the Earl of Locksley – eager to earn back the goodwill of King John, after his outlaw days as Robin Hood. Alan, an impoverished knight striving to save his manor, desperately needs the money, and so off he goes to defend Normandy against Philip of France and his allies. Once a mercenary in the service of the despicable John, though, he begins to question his choices – and Robin’s – until he finds himself among the defenders of the all-important Château Gaillard. Once the pride of Richard Lionheart, the fortress is purportedly impregnable, but soon Alan’s suspicions are aroused. Is there a traitor in the castle? Can Alan convince the High Council in time? And what will happen when he falls for the lovely Tilda Giffard, bent on enjoying life before her father ships her off to a convent?

If you have ever wondered what became of Robin Hood and his Merry Men afterwards, this book offers a perfect answer, well rooted in history, and fully as adventurous as the old legends. In 12th Century — 14th Century

the sixth instalment of his Outlaw Chronicles, Donald places his likeable hero in the thick of the action at the siege of Château Gaillard, and spins a compelling tale of war, duty, love and, above all, the way loyalty is given, returned, stretched to its limit, and sometimes lost.

Chiara Prezzavento PILGRIMAGE Lucy Pick, Cuidono, 2014, $16.00/C$17.50, pb, 320pp, 9780001121533 Gebirga is a blind woman living in 12th-century Flanders. Her mother was elevated to sainthood soon after her untimely death, quite probably at the hands of her noble father. When he returns from the Crusades with his sins forgiven and a new wife in tow, Gebirga is displaced as de facto mistress of the family’s castle. She escapes her family and finds new purpose as companion to a troubled young noblewoman. When a new Pope is elected and the political winds shift, Gebirga is charged with bringing the girl to her betrothed, a Spanish king she has never met. The two women pose as pilgrims to avoid capture or worse by political rivals who want to prevent the marriage and the alliance that goes with it. Along the way, the journey steadily turns from an undercover political mission to a pilgrimage; in fact, by the time they reach the cathedral at Compostela, the pilgrims have experienced several miracles, some more obvious than others.

Gebirga is an intelligent woman and an intrepid traveler, resilient to hardship, and usually the most sensible person in the room. Her blindness serves as a great expository device; her struggles to serve herself from platters she can’t see or embroider with mixed-up threads give the reader insight into day-to-day life in her era. The plot surrounding the pilgrimage is extremely complicated, with churchmen and nobles vying against each other in an ever-shifting web of alliances and deceit.

Pick nicely hangs a lampshade on this problem by having several of the characters admit that they can’t keep it straight either. A good read with a very satisfying ending. Recommended.

Richard Bourgeois THE TIGER QUEENS: The Women of Genghis Khan Stephanie Thornton, NAL, 2014, $15.00/ C$17.00, pb, 496pp, 9780451417800 At almost 500 pages, a book of this size could either offer a gripping tale that consumes or become a devastating disappointment to trudge through. Luckily The Tiger Queens is decidedly of the former category!

Temujin’s (who later named himself Genghis [The Great] Khan) rise to power, the building and maintaining of his empire, and the legacy he leaves to his progeny are all bolstered by the women in his life, and they narrate the story from three very different perspectives. Borte is his first and most adored wife; Alaqai, his strong, wild daughter; and finally, Fatima is a Persian captive from one of the Khan’s campaigns. Opportunities were limited for

these Mongolian women, of course, yet they had strong roles to play that would help determine the success or demise of a kingdom.

The novel is written in beautiful, earthy, and completely accessible prose which is easy to get lost in. A cast of characters list is included (thankfully!) as well as a map of the great empire. From the title, the reader may assume these three “women of Genghis Khan” are all related by marriage or blood to the great warrior, but the third section, narrated by the Persian slave, seemed a little out of place; her connection to the family was tenuous until she decided to offer her loyalty to them. This is not a woman “of ” the Khan. But that is nitpicking because, as a whole, this novel is an absorbing read – classic historical fiction at its best.

Andrea Connell

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14th century

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THE TOWERS OF TUSCANY Carol M. Cram, Lake Union, 2014, $16.00/£8.99, pb, 388pp, 9781477827215 I began reading The Towers of Tuscany as an indie publication; it has since been picked up by a mainstream publisher, and rightly so. The novel charts the life of Sofia Carelli, the daughter of a fictitious Tuscan painter who has inherited her father’s great talent but not his sex. As a medieval Tuscan woman, her aspirations to be a great fresco painter are futile in a profession where no woman would be tolerated. Her fate is to marry and bear children, to be a good wife – but paint, rather than blood, seems to run within her veins as she risks all for her art.

From the very first page, Carol M. Cram captivates with her writing, transporting you to the rolling hills and rich palette of 14th-century Tuscany.

You care for the protagonist, Sofia, from the outset and become an ally throughout the perilous pursuit of her beloved art. The twists and turns of the plot, and the fast pace of the writing, make it a book that is very hard to put down. I cannot praise this novel highly enough. It is a story that lingers long after you have reluctantly reached the last page. I highly recommend this book as a must-read and wish this debut novelist great success with her career. She is definitely an author to watch and has earned a firm fan who will be buying her next book.

Janis Pegrum Smith DEATH OF A SCHOLAR Susanna Gregory, Sphere, 2014, £19.99/$29.95, hb, 454pp, 9780751549751 More than one scholar, as well as townsfolk, dies in this new Matthew Bartholomew mystery. He is HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 21

preoccupied with helping his sister whose husband has just died, as well as preparing lectures ready for the new term. Cambridge, before term begins, is awash with riotous, unruly would-be students, and disturbed by the prospect of a new foundation whose master is determined to make it the premier Cambridge college. In searching for the killer of one of its fellows, as well as other murderers, Matthew and Senior Proctor Brother Michael encounter college feuds and jealousies, various thefts, arson and blackmail, as well as suspicious poisonings.

I would have appreciated a cast list, as there were so many people introduced in the first few pages it was difficult to follow the action and understand the relevance. Having backtracked to make my own list after the first chapter, I was able to appreciate how the author, with her usual flair, manipulated all these and more characters while assembling clues during the constant questioning of suspects and others.

Marina Oliver

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FIELDS OF GLORY Michael Jecks, Simon & Schuster, 2014, £12.99, pb, 480pp, 9781471111075 / Simon & Schuster, 2014, $14, pb, 480pp, 97814711110757 Edward III of England is determined to enforce his right to the French throne, but so far the French king has not been of a mind to give him battle. To provoke the French into action, Edward launches a devastating raid, the likes of which France has never seen, leaving only death in its wake. Left with no choice but to fight, the French raise a huge army, and finally Edward gets the battle he wants on ground of his choosing at Crécy. The French have the numerical advantage, but Edward has the devastating Welsh and English bowmen on his side. Who will prevail on this field of glory?

Some years distant from his Knights Templar books, Michael Jecks has written a brutal book to start this new series. As the English cut a swathe through Normandy, medieval warfare is shown with all its intendant ferocity as they murder, rape, pillage and burn all around them. Populating this hellish scene and using the structure of a vintaine, a group of 20 archers, Jecks has created realistic and varied characters, including the wonderfully named Grandarse. Using multiple viewpoints, both male and female, the reader sees not only the destruction inflicted on the French populace but also how the English are damaged by their own brutality. While Fields of Glory is very good on the beliefs and superstitions common to the time, it is the battle scenes which drive this book. Jecks is endlessly inventive when it comes to warfare, and the Battle of Crécy, which ends the book, is superbly depicted with the main characters in the thick of the action.

This is a highly recommended start to this new 22 | Reviews |

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series.

Gordon O’Sullivan JULIET’S NURSE Lois Leveen, Atria/Emily Bestler, 2014, $25.99, hb, 384pp, 9781476757445 One of the more overlooked characters from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is Angelica, the nurse. A prequel rather than a retelling, this version of the tale begins with Nurse’s entry to Ca’ Cappelletto upon the birth of Juliet and ends after the tragic series of deaths featured in the original.

Though she is plain spoken, her witticisms are lyrically affecting and her personality entirely fleshed out by the recitation of the events that brought her to the most significant role of her life: Juliet’s Nurse.

With much of the narrative leading up to the well-known events, a refreshing story of a lowly born shepherdess-turned-beekeeper’s wife makes for an intriguing foray into the business of making honey and maintaining a thriving hive. In addition, Nurse’s relationship with her husband, Pietro, offers the central theme of a love to outmatch that of even the famous duo, Romeo and Juliet. In fact, the reader hasn’t the time or, more likely, inclination to form an attachment to Shakespeare’s hero in this account. That role is given over to Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, who enters as an adventurous and kindly boy and becomes like a son to our protagonist.

Along with Nurse, Juliet, Romeo and Tybalt, most of the Bard’s other characters make an appearance, though some brief. The tumult between the ruler of Verona and the rival houses introduces the necessary conflict, and is neatly detailed. My only qualm is the stilted speech from the previously fluid dialog once the story moves into the lines from the play. Even so, this is a wonderfully fun story with unforgettable characters that breathes new life into one of literature’s masterpieces.

Arleigh Johnson THE STORYTELLER’S GRANDDAUGHTER Margaret Redfern, Honno, 2014, £8.99, pb, 352pp, 9781909983014 Set in 1336, and starting in Anatolia, The Storyteller’s Granddaughter tells the tale of 17-yearold Sophia, whose beloved herbalist grandmother had just died. Sophia is to be sent back to her father’s tribe, a course of action that would be fraught with uncertainty and danger. To avoid this, Sophia sets off on her own long journey along the Spice Road all the way from Anatolia to England, in search of her grandfather, Will the Storyteller.

Sophia must disguise herself as a boy to survive her action-packed, suspenseful journey with the handsome trader she believes might help her find her grandfather. The author cleverly draws the reader into this beautiful, fascinating and dangerous medieval world through a narrative pace that never lets up as Sophia faces one crisis after another: the elements, starvation, and evil, mercenary slavers. The girl finds she must use all of her skill and cunning as a horsewoman and a

healer to avoid capture and certain death. But the stories of the people with whom she travels, the heroes, the villains, the slavers and the singers, urge Sophia onward, eventually bringing her closer to a new home.

For readers looking for a gripping medieval adventure that stunningly portrays 14th-century Anatolia, I would recommend The Storyteller’s Granddaughter.

Liza Perrat PLAGUE LAND S. D. Sykes, Hodder & Stoughton, 2014, £18.99, hb, 336pp, 9781444785777 This is a mediaeval murder/mystery which begins with a murder and ends with the murderer unmasked, but it is much more than a whodunnit.

It is a complex story of a monk coming back into the world in 1350, two years after the Black Death, to find a country (specifically Kent) still traumatised by the catastrophe and struggling to rebuild family life and the local economy and make sense of what has happened. Oswald, the ex-monk and unexpected heir to the lordship of a Kentish village, tells the story in the first person.

He does not share the villagers’ myths and terrors, but they do much to handicap his investigations. In following up two local murders, he discovers some disturbing family secrets that challenge his own identity and that of his closest friend. A beautifully told story of a shattered country in the aftermath of the worst catastrophe in its history.

Edward James

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15th century

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GUTENBERG’S APPRENTICE Alix Christie, Harper, 2014, $27.99, hb, 416pp, 9780062236019 / Headline, 2014, £13.99, hb, 400pp, 9781472220172 In Christie’s stellar debut, we become observers to the birth of one of the greatest inventions of man – the printing press. What is immediately clear is not merely how miraculous that invention was, but how incredible, and improbable, that the invention ever saw the light of day.

Peter Schoeffer is about to reach his goal of becoming a successful scribe in 15th-century Paris when his foster father, Johann Fust, summons him back to Mainz, Germany, corrupted by the Elders, the guilds and the church. Fust, a wealthy merchant, is bankrolling Johann Gutenberg’s revolutionary – and perhaps blasphemous – invention and orders Schoeffer, who he saved from certain poverty, to become the maniacal, manipulative inventor’s apprentice. Schoeffer is resentful at being forced 14th Century — 15th Century

to leave behind everything he has worked for, to apprentice to a man whose invention he believes will destroy the scribe’s relationship with the Holy Word. In time, though, as his skill develops, he becomes dedicated to the venture and finally comes to realize that spreading the Holy Word through printed Bibles is also doing God’s work.

We have been taught a partial truth – that Gutenberg invented printing. His workshop’s long, hard labor was critical to the process, making the master’s concept a reality, while Schoeffer’s genius was in taking a mechanical process and creating art. The printing and marketing of those 180 Bibles, against virtually insurmountable odds, is awe-inspiring. Christie steers us through political, religious and personal upheavals using third-person narrative, intermittently shifting to first person where we hear directly from Schoeffer 30 years later in interviews with Trithemius, the abbot of Sponheim Abbey. The novel is at times dense with historical events, at times dealing more personally with Schoeffer and his own struggles; Christie does a masterful job in juggling both. The result is a highly recommended novel.

Ilysa Magnus LOST LEGEND OF THE THRYBERG HAWK Jack Holroyd, Pen & Sword Fiction, 2014, £19.99, hb 352pp, 9781783831814 The Wars of the Roses is a period of history which is often glossed over. The lethal competition between the influential houses of York and Lancaster, their complex web of obligation and family ties, only serves to confuse the modern amateur historian.

This tale is a rediscovery. In the area around the massive castles of Conisburgh and Pontefract, there was a legendary youth – a swineherd – who came from lowly beginnings to join a mercenary troupe of crossbowmen, the Wespen or Wasps. His skill with the crossbow, demonstrated in a competition in front of the King Edward IV, meant his going shoulder to shoulder with none other than Robin Hood of Sherwood.

So why did Sir Edmund Hawksworth, the Hawk, disappear from history? Especially when he played a major part in the defeat of the Lancastrian hordes at the decisive battle of Towton?

This book is a well-written story as well as an informative work on the period. We learn about the Hawk, the life of a crossbowman in the bloody conflict and the last days of the Wars of the Roses.

Alan Cassady-Bishop THE WANDERING HARLOT: The Marie Series Iny Lorentz (trans.

Lee Chadeayne), AmazonCrossing, 2014, $14.95, pb, 483pp, 9781477823347 This novel’s title provides no clue to the craftsmanship within its pages. In 1410 in Constance, Germany, Marie Schärer lives a seemingly idyllic life as the spoiled only child of a wealthy merchant. Her ambitious father arranges 15th Century — 16th Century

for her to marry a count’s illegitimate son, which for him would be a leap up the social ladder. However, Marie’s betrothed, Rupert Splendidus, a lawyer by trade, accuses Marie on the eve of their wedding of prostitution and produces several “clients” to attest to having bedded her. She is taken from her home in her nightdress, dragged through the streets, and locked in the dungeon. Here, the men who had claimed to have contractual sex with her earlier brutally rape her, to avoid lying at the judicial hearing. Marie believes that when a neighbor arrives in the morning to examine her that the plot will be exposed, but it seems Splendidus has another on his payroll. She is swiftly tried, found guilty, whipped, and driven from her home.

Marie wanders alone, barely alive, and finally lies down for what she thinks will be the last time – and perhaps it would have been had Hiltrud not been walking by. Hiltrud nurses Marie back to life, but the realization that Hiltrud is a prostitute, and that if Marie intends to survive she must become one as well, nearly breaks the resilient Marie. The women become fast friends, and Marie resolves herself to her fate, not because she enjoys it but merely because it keeps her fed. Hatred and the burning desire for revenge drive her on.

The novel is full of wonderfully rich detail and reveals extensive historical research. While its main theme is Marie’s plight, there are countless minor plots and unexpected twists and turns. I thoroughly enjoyed The Wandering Harlot, which gives voice to those heretofore ignored members of society living on the fringes.

Shannon Gallagher VOYAGE OF STRANGERS Elizabeth Zelvin, Lake Union, 2014, $14.95, pb, 224pp, 9781477825167 As the school rhyme says, “In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”

A harsh and dangerous time. In the 15th century, while Spanish ships roamed the world and Columbus discovered the Americas, the Inquisition tortured and burned those who did not embrace Christianity. Returning to Spain with Columbus, Diego Mendoza, a young Marrano Jew, plans to send his sister Rachel to Italy to join their parents and escape the Inquisition. Rachel, a willful young woman masquerading as a Christian, dreams of adventure. Ultimately unable to find safe passage for his sister, Diego convinces Admiral Columbus to allow Rachel to accompany them on the second voyage to Hispaniola. Lust, cruelty and the lure of gold lead Columbus and his compatriots to deceive and conquer the local Taino people. Having embraced the Taino way of life, Diego and Rachel must decide where their loyalties lie.

Elizabeth Zelvin’s story offers excitement and adventure in a 15th-century context. Historical detail abounds with descriptions of food, costume, landscape and customs both in Spain and Hispaniola, offering the reader an immersive experience. Minor characters such as Dona Marina, Rachel and Diego’s aunt, and Hutia, Diego’s Taino friend, come alive. Drawbacks for

me: the first third of the story was slow, dialogue felt cumbersome from time to time, and point-ofview changes – occasionally to Rachel and once to Hutia – detracted from Diego’s clear and wellconstructed voice.

M. K. Tod

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16th century

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THE TUDOR VENDETTA C. W. Gortner, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2014, $16.99/C$18.99, pb, 304pp, 9780312658588 / Hodder & Stoughton, 2014, £13.99, pb, 304pp, 9781444720891 Brendan Prescott is steeped in intrigue once again in this newest installment in Gortner’s Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles. Gortner captures the religious and political conflict and the uncertainty with which the early reign of Elizabeth was met by thrusting Brendan once more into the thick of conflict.

Eluding the wrath of Queen Mary and Ambassador Renard, Brendan has been honing his skills as an intelligencer in Switzerland under the tutelage of Francis Walsingham. At Mary’s death, Elizabeth ascends the throne, and Brendan returns home to Elizabeth’s court, where he encounters his lost love, Kate, and his nemesis, Robert Dudley.

Unfortunately, Dudley’s star is rising, and their enmity remains a source of conflict. Rather than feeling secure on her throne, Elizabeth is jumpy and strained. She confides to Brendan that Blanche Parry has gone missing after a visit to relatives in Yorkshire and sends him to investigate. As Brendan seeks to uncover the truth about Blanche’s disappearance at the dismal, desolate Vaughn Hall, he realizes that Elizabeth has secrets he must protect at all costs.

This is a must-read for any Tudor period fan.

Writing in the first person, Gortner has penned a fast-paced novel with the right blend of truth and “what if ” imagination. He creates rich, welldeveloped characters, and their fates kept me reading until late at night.

Geri C. Gibbons

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THE KING’S CURSE Philippa Gregory, Touchstone, 2014, $28.99, hb, 624pp, 9781451626117 / Simon & Schuster, 2014, £20.00, hb, 608pp, 9780857207562 Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, is an often mentioned background character in Tudor fiction.

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been closely detailed in fiction. Gregory has taken on this White Rose matriarch and given her a chance to tell her version of England’s destruction during the Reformation and the maniacal deterioration of Henry VIII. Beginning with the marriage of Arthur Tudor to Katherine of Aragon and ending with the countess’s execution almost four decades later, this story covers many triumphs and tragedies as the Plantagenet-born Pole family finds and falls from favor many times over, hiding alliances though never truly overstepping into treason. The madness of the king is the theme, and seen through the eyes of his eldest daughter’s governess, he turns from a beloved young king into a paranoid tyrant over the course of his reign.

The curse is extended from the author’s previous Cousins’ War novels, but readers uninspired by the witchcraft featured in the earlier books won’t find anything otherworldly in the pages of Margaret Pole’s telling. Though loyal to Princess Mary, Lady Pole is always aware of the danger of her royal blood and the positions of her four sons, all in the service of the king. Though devoted to Queen Katherine, Margaret is ever diligent on the matter of her sons’ birthright.

This story covers the deaths of four queens, the disinheritance of Princess Mary, the Reformation, and the Pilgrimage of Grace in detail and is an excellent addition to the Tudor royalty genre, not only for its unique perspective, but also the easy flow of the narrative and the intriguing complexities of characters’ personalities.

Arleigh Johnson CITY OF LADIES: The Cross and the Crown, Book Two Sarah Kennedy, Knox Robinson, 2014, $27.99/£19.99, hb, 305pp, 9781910282090 Sarah Kennedy’s second novel follows the lives of the former sisters of Mount Grace after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Catherine returns as the protagonist, but we now find her married to William Overton, making her Lady Catherine Overton, as well as a new mother. She is joined by another familiar character, Ann Smith, who serves in Lady Catherine’s large household but remains a close confidant and true friend.

Catherine remains loyal to her former sisters, and her social status allows her to include the former nuns within her household, forming a protective circle for these women that society had cast to the wind. Coming across the book Le Livre de la Cité des Dames, which was written by Christine de Pizan in 1405 to demonstrate the important contributions women have made to society, refute the equation of women with sinfulness, and instill self-worth in her female readers, Catherine realizes that she has formed a city of ladies she will fiercely fight to protect.

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nun, is found murdered. After Catherine settles into service at Hatfield, the murders continue to escalate. Catherine finds herself torn between duty to Crown and husband and her loyalty to and love for her friends. She also knows that few will come to their aid if she fails them.

Kennedy has turned out a wonderfully creative follow-up to The Altarpiece. Rather than expound on the story from the first novel, Kennedy populates the second with the strong characters she developed there but propels them into a murder mystery. A true page-turner.

Shannon Gallagher THE LAST CRUSADERS: Ivan the Terrible William Napier, Orion, 2014, £19.99, hb, 288pp, 9781409105374 If anyone was wondering why or how Czar Ivan got his nickname “the Terrible”, this novel will make the reasons for this very clear. In fact the adjective is rather mild, if anything. Without the historical notes at the back and previous knowledge, I might have found some of the events depicted somewhat hard to believe for sheer depravity and evil.

However here is one example when truth really is stranger (and more gruesome) than fiction.

This is not a novel for the squeamish, as these really were violent times with burnings, beheadings and blood-letting in virtually every chapter.

Elizabeth I sends a group of men on a mission to the Czar, but with the Tatars on the rampage, their task is not the easiest. At last we have a hero from Shropshire (my home county) in the shape of Sir Nicholas Ingoldsby, who with his companions in arms has to survive great dangers and rescue maidens with all the derring-do they can muster.

They have frightening encounters with the infamous Oprichnina, the Czar’s personal bodyguard who you really wouldn’t want to meet at any time, on a dark night or in broad daylight.

They ride with severed dog heads attached to their saddles and destroy whole villages, killing babies just for fun. This really is high-action, edge of the seat, unconsciously breath-holding stuff – thoroughly enjoyable adventure with oldfashioned heroes who seem born for war and awful villains who deserve what they get. Very much recommended, and I could see it being made into an excellent action film.

Ann Northfield BLADE OF THE SAMURAI Susan Spann, Minotaur, 2014, $26.99, hb, 287pp, 9781250027054 The second mystery in this series starts with a jolt and keeps up a great pace as we again accompany Hiro and his Jesuit “client” Father Matteo into this fascinating world of 16th-century shogunate Japan.

Hiro—and his “mission” to guard the life of the sometimes culturally awkward Jesuit—remains a mystery, but with some intriguing revelations of backstory this time. Why is this expert shinobi assassin assigned as “translator” for the priest, a position which brings him scorn from samurai who see this as a disgrace? In this second episode, Hiro

and Father Matteo become involved in solving the murder of a shogunate official, in the shogun’s own compound—accompanied by a command to solve it in three days or take the responsibility on themselves, meaning… execution.

Spann is meticulous about the details but weaves in various aspects of this medieval, foreign culture so skillfully, the reader is never taken out of the story with mere information. Hiro and Father Matteo are a smart and interesting detecting duo, and it’s fun to watch their growing affection for each other, punctuated by the irritations and frustrations that come with the clash of two cultures, worlds apart in every possible way except the pursuit of truth and justice.

Mary Burns THE MARRIAGE GAME Alison Weir, Hutchinson, 2014, £18.99, hb, 421pp, 9780091926250 / Ballantine, 2015, $26.00, hb, 416pp, 9780345511911 In this new novel, Alison Weir shows why she is the best-selling female historian in the UK, charting Elizabeth’s perilous, intricate passage through a landscape of cold-headed political machinations and her stormy love affair with the handsome, married Lord Robert Dudley. For more than twenty years, Elizabeth I was the greatest marriage prize in Europe. She wielded her unwed status as a diplomatic weapon, skilfully manipulating foreign princes and English lords alike in order to keep England at peace, both at home and abroad. Yet she was also a passionate, tempestuous woman who cared deeply about those she loved.

Elizabeth’s story is told with a depth of knowledge about the period that is second to none.

Weir is at her best exploring Elizabeth’s conflicted desires and the mixture of political astuteness and personal fears which led her to draw back from marriage time and again. Weir uses Mary, Queen of Scots not only to explore Elizabeth’s well-documented reluctance to send anyone, least of all a fellow queen, to share her mother’s fate, but also to provide an effective mirror of how very badly wrong the ‘marriage game’ could go for a woman trying to rule in her own name.

Elizabeth emerges as multifaceted and passionate, at times sympathetic and at others exasperating.

However, Weir is less successful with Dudley, whose personality remains elusive. He is painted (no doubt accurately) as acting from a mixture of genuine love for the Queen and mercenary impulses that see her favour as a way to advancement – but these are never quite blended into a truly rounded and convincing character. Despite this, this is a highly entertaining and beautifully drawn portrait of a complex, dangerous time, and of the challenges faced by a woman ruler in a world where men were supposed to reign.

Charlotte Wightwick

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THE MINIATURIST Jessie Burton, Ecco, 2014, $26.99, hb, 416pp, 9780062306814 / Picador, 2014, £12.99, hb, 400pp, 9781447250890 Autumn, 1686.

Petronella Oortman arrives at the home of her new husband, Johannes Brandt, the wealthiest merchant in Amsterdam. But he is absent, her enigmatic sister-in-law is all prickles and stings, and the servants, an orphan and a “blackamoor,” are unknown entities.

When Johannes gifts Nella an expensive cabinet, a perfect replica of the house in miniature, she seeks an artisan to furnish it. Delight turns to surprise and then unease as beautiful, miniscule objects of incomparable workmanship arrive – some commissioned, most not, but all with hidden meaning. Somehow, the mysterious Miniaturist knows the house’s occupants, its secrets and their consequences… before they unfold.

Burton has crafted an exceptional domestic thriller. Elements will be familiar, but it is the entire presentation, this novel taken as a whole, which impresses. As illustrated by other works with similar settings (e.g., Girl with a Pearl Earring), the closed, claustrophobic atmosphere of a Dutch home of this period can heat up the suspense to a delicious slow boil. The miniature cabinet serves as both portent and puzzle, and the duality of a Puritanical world enshrouded in the rampant materialism of the guilds is adroitly illustrated.

Nella is engaging and drawn with depth, as are all the characters in this story. The prose is evocative, and the pacing sure. But it is this novel’s atmosphere that is perhaps its strongest point: it’s Escheresque, with the elusive Miniaturist creating Nella’s world in the rooms of the cabinet, Nella looking into that cabinet, the replica of her world, and the reader looking in at Nella. A picture of the real 17th-century cabinet that inspired Burton’s story as well as a glossary of Dutch words and money equivalents are added bonuses. I’ve not been this engrossed by a novel in quite some time. Pick it up and savor it.

Bethany Latham

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THE ROYALIST S. J. Deas, Headline, 2014, £19,99, hb, 311pp, 9781472216984.

The English Civil War draws to a close. A royalist dragoon, Falkland, awaits execution. He is reprieved because Cromwell hears of his reputation as an investigator whom he can use to investigate mysterious deaths in Devon where a section of the New Model Army is quartered. Falkland discovers a dark demon at work. He does not know who to trust. What is Cromwell’s true motivation, and what part does General Fairfax play? Deas writes a page-turning novel, unpredictable and suspenseful, 17th Century

haunted by intriguing twists and turns.

The setting is a small town occupied by Cromwell’s troops, cut off from England during the winter snows.

Royalist youths are conscripted and forced to change side and religion, and families suffer as their homes are occupied. We learn about secret pamphlet printing and discover women publically admonished and cast out into the freezing world beyond. Deas shows that such impassioned armies are trained to put individual thought aside for so-called common good. He integrates history and narrative knowledgeably, with wisdom that shines through in Falkland’s voice based on his experience of the tragedy of war.

The characters are vividly portrayed, threedimensional and convincing. Falkland is astute and tough. His humanity contrasts with the politicians such as Fairfax and the fanatics who cross his path.

We meet the common woman, hair-cropped Kate, the wary of soft-talking yet hardened Warbeck and youthful aloof Carew. A colourful gallery of town characters, dispossessed women and soldiery lurk on the fringes.

The Royalist is written in concise unembellished prose. ‘In the wood the air was still and almost silent. With only a few strides I could have imagined I was anywhere in the world.’ Finally, this novel has a philosophical edge that makes it more than a thriller. It made me think when England was turned upside down by Civil War. I look forward to reading more of Falkland’s adventures and highly recommend The Royalist.

Carol McGrath A PLACE IN HIS HEART Rebecca DeMarino, Revell, 2014, $14.99, pb, 336pp, 9780800722180 Based on actual family history, this story opens in 1630 England and ends in 1640 Long Island, New York. Mary Langton has been jilted at the altar, but later falls in love with widower Barnabas Horton. She marries him knowing that he still longs for his dead wife, and much of the story relates how Mary raises his sons, manages their home, and accompanies him to America. Barnabas had not told Mary before their marriage that he planned to emigrate. Mary seems almost too good to be true as she leaves everything behind her to go to a new land with a man she knows does not love her. Her seeming barrenness is another problem for the couple.

It is difficult to understand why Mary, with every advantage of beauty, personality, and background, would accept a man who is quite open about the fact that he grieves his dead wife, and only needs a mother for his sons, a bedmate, and a housekeeper.

Mary’s history of being jilted is said to have made her unmarriageable in their village, but this seems

unlikely. Her motivation seems to be simply that she loves Barnabas and will put up with anything to be with him.

Scenes set in England are vivid, but the story really takes off after the family comes to New England in 1637. They leave Massachusetts for Long Island, where their marriage meets one final test. A heartbreaking secret from Barnabas’s past is revealed, and he and Mary are finally able to look forward as a family to building their home and their church on Long Island.

This is a compelling debut for author Rebecca DeMarino, the ninth great-granddaughter of Mary Langton and Barnabas Horton.

Elizabeth Knowles THE THIEF TAKER C.S. Quinn, Thomas & Mercer, 2014, $14.95/£8.99, pb, 414pp, 978147782493In in the heat of 1665, London was in the grip of a monster – the Black Death! Trying to make his living – and stay alive – is Charlie Tuesday, a thief taker. He is persuaded, against his instincts, to try to solve a case of murder. He soon discovers that the killer may hold the secret of his past.

Suddenly, he finds himself on the run – desperate to clear his name and find the killer. It becomes clear that there will be other gruesome murders.

All Charlie has to use is his skills as a consummate “thief taker”: cunning, and a gift for observation and conclusion. He has to stop a monster in the guise of a human, surrounded by a monster in the guise of an epidemic. Quinn paints a gruesome picture of Restoration London in the grip of terror and desperation. She uses excellent pacing and dialogue to keep the whole heady chase for a serial killer going, from the back streets of the city to the festering marshes of Wapping.

Alan Cassady-Bishop PIRATE: Privateer Tim Severin, Pan Macmillan, 2014, £14.99, hb, 258pp, 9780230709737 This fourth installment of Tim Severin’s Pirate series finds Hector Lynch and his companions plundering a Spanish wreck. Having promised his wife, Maria, that he will quit piracy, this seems like a safer, if not altogether legal option. But on their return they are captured by the notorious Captain de Graff. They manage to escape, but this is only the beginning of an adventure that sees them stranded on a desert island, fighting mutineers, facing charges of piracy and then charged with the task of hunting down de Graff himself. Meanwhile, Maria travels to Port Royal in search of her missing husband, where events reach a startlingly apocalyptic climax.

Although this is the fourth in the series it can be read as a standalone without problem.

This rather stilted romp around the 17th-century Caribbean has its focus firmly fixed on place and action rather than characterisation or dialogue.

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comes to the fore. For those who are looking for an undemanding, simple tale of pirate derring-do, then this may well be the book for you. For those who place more stress upon the quality of writing then, like Hector Lynch, they may not find it quite so plain sailing.

Tim Smith

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THE CANE CREEK REGULATORS Johnny D. Boggs, Five Star, 2014, $25.95, hb, 240pp, 9781432828523 Spur Award winner Boggs is known for his fastpaced, exciting novels, and this latest novel, set in pre-Revolutionary War South Carolina, continues to deliver. The little settlement of Ninety-Six in the colony’s Back Country is a wild and lawless place to live. Sixteen-year-old Emily, daughter of Breck Stewart, the tavern owner, escapes rape at the hands of a band of brigands that have been preying upon the settlers with impunity: murdering, stealing, and worse. When the settlers’ multiple appeals for help are ignored by the governor, Breck organizes a group of vigilantes to go after the marauders and bring them to justice. At great risk, Emily soon finds herself directly involved with her father’s Cane Creek Regulators, and in fierce opposition to her embittered and violent older brother Donnan.

Well researched and historically accurate, the details of 18th-century life on the American frontier are exactly right. The novel ends just prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, and readers will be looking for a sequel to tie up some of the loose ends in various characters’ story lines. A fine novel, nonetheless.

John Kachuba MONSOON MISTS Christina Courtenay, Choc Lit, 2014, £7.99, pb, 337pp, 9781781891674 This is book 3 in Courtenay’s Kinross series.

It’s 1759, and widower Jamie Kinross has swapped the cold of the pine forests of Sweden for the sweltering, bustling streets of India. Trying to escape his unhappy past, he starts a new life as a gem trader. But when his mentor’s family are kidnapped as part of a criminal plot, he vows to save them and embarks on a dangerous mission to the city of Surat, carrying the stolen talisman of an Indian Rajah.

There he encounters Zarmina Miller: widowed, rich and beautiful. But her infamous haughtiness towards her many suitors has earned her the nickname of The Ice Widow. While Jamie is immediately drawn to this stunning, unusual woman, he isn’t spared her scorn and it resurrects deep feelings within him about his late wife. But when it emerges that Zarmina’s stepson is involved in the plot, he begins to see another side to her.

This intriguing woman has a past as dark as his own and has put up high defensive walls against any repetition of it.

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This well-crafted historical romance has a likeable, believable hero who has seen his share of tragedy and a courageous heroine that the reader can relate to. Their love story is set against a lively plot with plenty of tension in the atmospheric settings of Surat, Nadhur and Madras. Add in a varied supporting cast of secondary characters and you have a satisfying romantic read.

E.M. Powell THE RISING TIDE Patrick Easter, Quercus, 2014, £7.99, pb, 400pp, 9781780877631 Set in 1799, this is the third of Patrick Easter’s crime thrillers featuring Tom Pascoe, a former Royal Navy captain turned river surveyor for London’s newly formed Marine Police. Although the author does slip in salient elements of the backstory, I think it would have helped to have read the other books in the series, as a significant theme here is Tom’s struggle to beat the “demon drink” to which he has resorted following the murder of a woman he loved by his sworn enemy, French agent, André Dubois.

In this adventure, the discovery of a murdered man’s body in the Thames leads into a complex tale involving the slave trade, the abolitionist movement and possible treason. Unfortunately, the only witness to another killing is himself on the run and at the mercy of powerful men. The narrative has multiple viewpoints, including that of the several villains, so for a good deal of the story, we are one step ahead of Tom and his companions, willing them to discover the truth.

This is an authentically dour and grimy narrative, realistically downbeat. It reeks of the old Thames, its wharves and riverside, with the Isle of Dogs a bleak marshland frequented by duellists.

The strongest part of the book was the brilliantly realised cat-and-mouse game between Tom and Dubois, but (perhaps unfortunately!) I found the Frenchman the most compelling character – Marseilles street thug turned soldier, turned government agent and assassin.

Recommended for those who like naval and crime fiction, and for its vivid depiction of river life and Georgian London.

Mary Seeley THE BAREFOOT QUEEN Ildefonso Falcones (trans Mara Faye Lethem), Crown, 2014, $28.00, hb, 647pp, 9780804139489 / Doubleday, 2014, £17.99, pb, 704pp, 9780857522269 The Barefoot Queen brings to life a little-told story: the saga of the Spanish gypsies in 18thcentury Bourbon Spain, their culture, and their persecution. It also tells the story of the birth of flamenco song—the cante jondo, or deep song, so integral to this art form.

In 1748 Caridad, a newly manumitted Negress, disembarks in the port of Sevilla. Her Cuban master died on the voyage, and Caridad arrives penniless, confused, alone. Eventually Caridad is taken in by the gypsy Melchor, a smuggler, who has

survived imprisonment in the notorious Spanish galleys. Among Melchor’s gypsy family Caridad begins tentatively to breathe the air of freedom.

Caridad’s story, as well as the stories of Melchor and his granddaughter, Milagros, a famed singer and dancer, forms the scaffold of this sweeping novel. The unique characters of Caridad, Milagros and Melchor remain with the reader, and Caridad’s transformation from abject slave to a truly free woman is thrilling to witness.

As a student and lover of flamenco myself, I devoured this novel. The passionate and profound art of flamenco song and dance is difficult to put into words. The broad scope of this novel vividly brings to life both gypsy and Spanish life in this era, as well as the combined gypsy, Spanish, and slave influences that gave birth to art of flamenco as we know it today. Falcones provides a great deal of background information which helps the reader navigate the era and history. The gypsies sing “until their mouth tastes of blood,” and in the pages of this novel we share their bitter and triumphant tale.

Recommended.

Susan McDuffie

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THE FAIR FIGHT Anna Freeman, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2014, £12.99, hb, 434pp, 9780297871958 / Riverhead, 2015, $27.95, hb, 480pp, 9781594633294 The Fair Fight is, I think, just about the most well-written novel I have read in five years.

The depiction of the situation and characters is very clearly done with great economy of effort.

Even the title is clever.

It’s divided into sections, each taking the point of view of one of the principal characters. This is a technique that has received some criticism, but it works really well here, enabling the reader to constantly reinterpret characters and situations.

Our heroines are Ruth, the ugly duckling child of a brothel who has a talent for pugilism; and Lottie, a smallpox-ravaged younger sister who has been made a nonentity by the rigid social conventions of the well-to-do. Ranged against them are three men who have power and money aplenty but waste everything because of serious character flaws.

Lottie’s elder brother is an alcoholic; his gay lover is an inveterate gambler, and their friend Granville Dryer masks personal cowardice with bloodlust.

The novel charts the rise of some of the characters and the decline of others.

So this is a tale of morality and female empowerment, although sadly the latter trumps the former in one important resolution, which jarred with me. With that one proviso, this is an excellent read, and one that will stay with you for a long time.

Martin Bourne 18th Century

DARLING BEAST Elizabeth Hoyt, Grand Central, 2014, $8.00, pb, 328pp, 9781455586301 Set in London in 1741, this story pushes the limits of believability yet never ceases to entertain.

Lily Stump, a beautiful actress with a young son named Indie, is so impoverished that she is forced to live in the charred ruins of an old theatre.

Apollo Greaves, Viscount Kilbourne, whose vocal cords were damaged during a vicious beating, is a convicted murderer who escaped from Bedlam and now works in the gardens of that same theatre. Indie discovers Apollo and believes he is a monster akin to the Minotaur. Although Lily quickly discovers that Apollo is a man, she believes that he is an idiot as well as a mute. This amusing confusion does not diminish the attraction between the two. With the assistance (and interference) of an assortment of interesting characters, they work together to prove Apollo’s innocence. It is a highlight of the novel that both Lily and Apollo retain their dignity despite the abuses that have caused them so much harm.

Darling Beast is the seventh installment in Hoyt’s Maiden Lane series. Artemis Greaves, the heroine of the previous book, is Apollo’s twin sister. Hoyt’s many fans will relish this addition to the series.

Nancy J. Attwell ACE, KING, KNAVE Maria McCann, Faber & Faber, 2014, £7.99, pb, 486pp, 9780571297627 Sophia, a soon-to-be-married young Georgian heiress, and Betsy-Ann, a dealer in stolen goods and former whore, lead such different lives it seems impossible they should have anything in common. Sophia, from Somerset, is engaged to the handsome and charming Mr. Zedland while BetsyAnn lives in a down-at-heel London district with Harry Shiner, a maimed card sharp whose injuries have forced him to turn to grave robbing in order to make a living.

Arriving in London, Sophia finds that married life may not quite be the romantic idyll she always dreamed about. After all, how well does any woman know her husband? Their arrival also sparks a crisis in Betsy-Ann’s life that brings back painful memories of loss and betrayal and sets in motion events that sees both women caught up in a world of gambling, whores and lies as they seek to discover the truth behind their men.

Maria McCann’s commendable novel brings to life the seedier side of Georgian London.

Ranging in topics from prostitution to card sharks to resurrection men, the book has two strong, contrasting female leads with very different experiences of life and knowledge of the city.

Intelligently written and by turns savage, sad and occasionally rather funny, the author’s colourful use of language and believable characters carry the reader easily through its near five-hundred pages to a conclusion that is neither trite nor sentimental.

Tim Smith

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QUEEN OF BEDLAM Laura Purcell, Myrmidon, 2014, £8.99/$13.95, pb, 18th Century — 19th Century

432pp, 9781910183014 I cannot applaud Laura Purcell enough for her depiction of the far-reaching, destructive effects of mental illness.

I also appreciated her depiction of George III, who is more than the tyrant king that Americans learn about in Revolutionary War history. A loving husband and popular king, he was plagued with regret over the loss of the colonies and how that impacted his people. While it’s true that Purcell is presenting a fictional representation, it is believable.

The narrative reveals the viewpoints of King George’s queen, Charlotte, and two of his daughters, Charlotte and Sophia. When King George first falls ill, Queen Charlotte, a perfectionist, tries very hard to maintain the expected decorum, but her world is quickly falling apart. The man she fell in love with no longer seems to exist, and she must face life alone without her king.

Queen Charlotte selfishly wants her family to stay intact. The novel offers insight into the disappointment of those who are of marriageable age but held back by their father’s condition and their mother’s dependence on their physical presence – even as Charlotte withdraws further into herself. The six princesses are desperate to escape their home-turned-prison and are desperate for love and freedom, but, of course, their desperation breeds disastrous consequences.

Purcell somehow manages to transfer the feelings that her characters are experiencing over to her readers, especially as news from France arrives detailing the developments of that country’s revolution.

Queen of Bedlam is a masterfully written and well-researched novel written by someone who has truly mastered the craft of evoking readers’ emotions. Not only does it give us a historical account of the depth and degrees of the mental illness of King George, but additionally, and perhaps more importantly, it gives voice to the family members who are often forgotten but are still intensely affected by it.

Shannon Gallagher ACTS OF FAITH: A Blue Satan Mystery Patricia Wynn, Pemberley, 2014, $29.95, hb, 380pp, 9781935421078 The Jacobite Rebellion and its aftermath wreaked havoc on many Roman Catholic families in 1716 England, which is carefully and cleverly depicted in Patricia Wynn’s fifth novel in the Blue Satan Mystery Series. Hester Kean has been sent by her cousin Isabella, Countess of Hawkhurst, to Yorkshire to prepare Isabella’s sister, Mary, for a life at court. Hester travels with several men of different faiths, and the tension is palpable, with most of the animosity aimed toward a reticent gentleman, Charles Fenwick. This foreshadows

much trouble ahead for Charles and stirs up Hester’s protective nature.

The remainder of the story fluctuates between the characters’ inquiries about the death of Charles’s father, who was found shot in the woods near his home, and the persistent hunting down of Roman Catholics by the local authorities. Meanwhile an old flame of Hester, Gideon, Viscount St. Mars (aka Blue Satan), arrives in Yorkshire. Apparently he is in hiding for something illegal, but that doesn’t stop him pursuing Hester and joining her to discover who murdered the elder Mr. Fenwick.

Two aspects of this novel keep it fascinating.

One is the obsession with money and architectural and interior design advertising one’s wealth or lack thereof, and the second concerns the harsh laws regarding taxes and possession of land plaguing the defeated Roman Catholics who remain in England despite its unwelcome attitude. Hester and St. Mars provide the novel’s passion, which is more awaited than actually carried out. All in all, Acts of Faith is an accurate, well-researched, and engaging mystery, romance, and work of 18th-century historical fiction.

Viviane Crystal

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THE COUNTERFEIT HEIRESS Tasha Alexander, Minotaur, 2014, $25.99, hb, 304pp, 9781250024695 The latest addition to the Lady Emily mystery series opens with Emily and her devoted husband Colin in 1897 London, attending a fancy-dress ball – she, costumed as the goddess Artemis, he as Beau Brummell. As with earlier books in the series, their relationship and witty banter provide a good deal of fun and serve as a way to launch the story. But it doesn’t take long before the festive occasion turns dark. A woman who claims to be the reclusive heiress Estella Lamar rushes from the party when confronted by a guest who accuses her of being a fraud. Whatever her reason for attending the fête, Emily and others can only guess – for her lifeless body is found not far from the house.

Of course Emily feels compelled to discover the truth behind the woman’s appearance at the party.

It seems a strange coincidence that she was also costumed as Artemis. And then there’s her murder.

Since no one has actually seen the mysterious Estella for many years, except in the form of vague photographs, no one can say with certainty whether this is actually a dead Estella or a dead someone else! And why was she killed? Certainly, impersonating the heiress isn’t enough of a motive.

There are thrills, chills, and danger aplenty in this Victorian-era romp. And readers who not only enjoy a little history mixed with their mysteries, but also welcome a touch of romance, will find Alexander’s newest novel just the right mix.

Kathryn Johnson JANE AND THE TWELVE DAYS OF HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 27

CHRISTMAS Stephanie Barron, Soho, 2014, $25.00, hb, 336pp, 9781616954239 This is the 12th in Stephanie Barron’s Jane Austen Mystery series. As the title indicates, it takes place during the period between Christmas and Epiphany. Jane, her sister, mother, brother, his sick wife and their young daughter find themselves invited to a fancy residence called The Vyne to celebrate the holidays. At first all is fun and good cheer, but when a messenger appears bearing sensitive information and then turns up dead, Jane suspects it was not a horrible accident, but rather foul play. Snowbound with the other guests, what began as a respite turns into an investigation with a murderer possibly lurking around every corner.

This was my first of the Jane Austen mysteries, and I enjoyed it immensely. While the mystery itself was a little confusing because of all its angles, I loved the historical detail Barron puts into her work. She captures Austen’s writing style so well, even using the old spelling of a few words that I often forgot I wasn’t reading one of Austen’s original works. It’s a wonderful read that I highly recommend to Austen and period fans, as well as those looking for an immersive holiday read.

Nicole Evelina FOOL’S GOLD Zana Bell, Choc Lit, 2014, £7.99, pb, 304pp, 9781781891834 The cover is beautiful, very romantic, and as it says 1866 New Zealand is no place for a lady!

I was hooked on this from the first page. The characters were so well drawn. Both Quinn and Lady Guinevere are on a mission, Quinn seeking gold and Guinevere seeking an elusive photograph of a Moa. Both have had to deal with difficult pasts, Quinn forced out of Ireland and Guinevere forced to fend for herself after the death of her father.

Lady Guinevere and Quinn were so different and individual, but both appealed to me in their own way. Even the minor characters had impact: Mary, Mr Stanhope, Bet and Cerberus the dog and others. The descriptions are very vivid and a great sense of time and place created from the beginning, with a chance meeting in the woods, to the sights and sounds of the wharves and beaches, even the bars and rooms of the inn. This was an emotional book, quite gentle but tense and quite frustrating in some parts when the relationship took its twists and turns. As Quinn says he “knew better than anyone that English ladies and Irish peasants did not go together”. Can they both he and Guinevere find what they are looking for?

Zana Bell is a great storyteller, and I read this book in just a couple of sittings because I found it compelling and something rather special. A mustread.

Barbara Goldie DODGER OF THE DIALS James Benmore, Heron, 2014, £16.99, hb, 371pp, 9781780874685 In this, James Benmore’s second Jack “Artful 28 | Reviews |

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Dodger” Dawkins adventure, our hero has served his transportation sentence in Australia and returned to London. He now heads a gang of thieves in the Seven Dials rookery. But there are problems; the pickings are small and an important job goes badly wrong. When the ruthless Billy Slade, head of a new, more successful gang, offers Dodger a business deal, Dodger accepts. But how far can he trust Slade?

Not far, it turns out. Dodger is framed for a murder he never committed and condemned to hang. But then a young reporter by the name of Oliver Twist – an old acquaintance and one Dodger dislikes – offers to take on his case. Can Oliver uncover the truth before Dodger’s frighteningly imminent execution? And can Dodger trust Oliver enough to give him the information he needs about Billy Slade and his activities?

I really enjoyed this. Benmore creates a number of believable characters, like Dodger’s determined girlfriend Lily, whose fates we care about, and his depictions of the Victorian underworld and the horrors of Newgate prison are repulsively, and accurately, graphic. The pace is terrific with enough twists and turns to keep the reader turning over the pages. I also enjoyed the ambivalent relationship between the cynical, knowing Dodger and the stripling reporter, Oliver Twist, whom Dodger hates as a ‘peacher’ whose evidence led to Fagin’s death and whose information gave Bill Sikes the chance to murder Nancy.

But the Oliver who is gradually revealed is no longer the sanctimonious prig he was as a child, but a young man of integrity and courage. The readers can look forward to more of their edgy and tension-filled relationship in Dodger’s further adventures, I’m sure. Dodger of the Dials is a terrific read; I thoroughly recommend it.

Elizabeth Hawksley PORTRAIT OF A GIRL Dörthe Binkert (trans. Margot Bettauer Dembo), AmazonCrossing, 2014, $14.99/£8.99, pb, 362pp, 9781477823446 The Hotel Spa Maloja, a ritzy venue high in the Swiss Alps, is the scene for life-changing encounters and romantic entanglements during the summer of 1896. In her uneven but ultimately worthwhile second novel, Binkert sets up an interesting convergence of personalities and social classes, with a vast gap between the wealthy hotel guests, there for a health cure or to photograph the views, and the impoverished, proud locals.

The large cast includes a flirtatious Englishman and his best friend, a young woman with bad lungs, a family of mountain farmers, Italian pastoral painter Giovanni Segantini, and a bitchy American socialite who could have sprung from a Jackie Collins book. The main plotline centers on Nika, a mute stranger with striking strawberryblond hair who endured a traumatic childhood and who’s searching for her true identity. Readers follow her on her journey of self-discovery, which is alternately helped and impeded by the men who fall in love with her.

I found the novel rough going early on. The translation has some odd phrasings for a historical novel (“he didn’t suck up to people”). The story jumped from viewpoint to viewpoint with abandon, and few people felt distinct. Fortunately, after enough time in the clear mountain air, they and their motives began to sharpen, and the reading became smoother. My interest was also piqued after discovering the novel imagines the backstory of a real painting, Segantini’s La Vanità (which looks nothing like the demure image on the book’s cover!). Binkert is gifted at describing the beautiful Engadine region and evoking her characters’ deep, swirling emotions. Another strong point is her depiction of a master artist at work in his preferred element, outdoors, where he can mix the perfect palette of colors and “capture the harmony of light.”

Overall, a good choice for readers in search of thoughtful escapism.

Sarah Johnson LIEUTENANT AND MRS. LOCKWOOD Mark Bois, Fireship, 2014, $18.50, pb, 304pp, 9781611793093 In 1815, Lt. James Lockwood is an officer of the First Battalion, 27th Regiment of Foot, also known as the Inniskilling Regiment. The regiment is manned by Irishmen and, upon hearing of Napoleon’s escape from the island of Elba, they return from Port Royal, Jamaica, to Europe facing a possible engagement with the French army. They had previously served the British Army well while stationed in Halifax, Canada.

The story revolves around the lives of both James Lockwood and his wife Brigid, along with her five children, who live in Clonakilty, Ireland.

They are both faced with hardships. James has not been home in three years, and Brigid must deal with the misfortune of being both Irish and Catholic in a country where the Protestants and English are in control.

This novel is a page-turner up to and including the climax at the Battle of Waterloo, where the battle scenes are exciting, authentic, and obviously gruesome. The author provides understanding of the contentious relationship between the Irish and the British during this time period, while showing the pain and grief felt by Brigid Lockwood. All the characters are fully fleshed out; one can feel the tension build between Mrs. Lockwood and her neighbors. The author knows his history and has a good command of the turmoil in Ireland during the early 19th century. I especially recommend this book for those who enjoy reading about Irish history.

Jeff Westerhoff THE TORRID ZONE Alaric Bond, Old Salt Press, 2014, $14.95, pb, 292pp, 9780988236097 War with France at the turn of the 19th century means conflict and intrigue on the high seas. HMS Scylla, led by Post Captain Banks, is escorting the replacement Governor of St. Helena, along with his obnoxious wife, two personal servants and a 19th Century

number of petty officials. Also traveling with these honored guests is Banks’ pregnant wife, Sarah.

After dropping off the guests on the island, the plan is to return home to England and be re-fitted for the war. Unfortunately for the Scylla and her crew, they are faced with fighting three French warships simultaneously en route, and, unbeknownst to the crew, a serial killer is on board.

This is my first reading of the books in the Fighting Sail series. Although it always helps to read the previous volumes to learn more about the characters and their backstory, this book is a good standalone novel, especially if you enjoy British nautical books as I do. What I found interesting are the culture and the politics on board His Majesty’s ships; the author does a great job telling his story through the viewpoints of several of the crew members. Many novels in this genre only tell the tale from the captain’s perspective, while this book explains in detail life on board a warship and the differences of opinion that arise between the captain and his crew. Bond’s knowledge of nautical terms is impeccable, and his command of writing about the British navy is excellent. I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy a good nautical tale.

Jeff Westerhoff THE MURDER OF PATIENCE BROOKE J. C. Briggs, The Mystery Press, 2014, £8.99, pb, 288pp, 9780750954433 The most unlikely “sleuths” appear in historical fiction. These can be real authors in view of their close interest in their character motivation. In this novel, Charles Dickens partners a fictional police superintendent in foggy Victorian London. Of all famous authors, he is perfect for the role because of his intimate knowledge of London and its people from the highest to the very lowest, criminals included.

The Murder of Patience Brooke centres on Urania Cottage. Dickens founded it in association with the philanthropist, Baroness Burdett Coutts, as a home for ‘fallen women’. The novel opens with the gruesome murder of the eponymous lady who worked as assistant matron and is a mysterious woman, although she is known to all as honest, chaste and without any known enemies. Intrigued by the victim’s secrecy as well as concerned for the reputation of Urania Cottage, Dickens and Superintendent Jones (supported ably by his wife, Elizabeth) set out to investigate and bring the murderer to justice.

This is a well-written and engaging novel. The author clearly admires Charles Dickens and his novels, which may be why the author paints him with a rosy tint. However, this is only a minor quibble. The pages keep turning, and the evocation of foggy Victorian London is excellent. If the author continues with her detective duo, she will have a successful series.

Sally Zigmond THE TRAITOR Grace Burrowes, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2014, 19th Century

$7.99/£5.99, pb, 378pp, 9781402294990 In the second book of her interconnected Captive Hearts Regency series, the author undertakes a daunting challenge: to transform a traitor to his country into a sympathetic romance hero, worthy of a good woman’s love.

In part the author accomplishes this by making Sebastian more admirable than his antagonists: a corrupt French intelligence agent and a group of aristocratic English officers (always an easy target); the heroine’s family is not very nice either.

But Sebastian not only served as an interrogator in the French army, but used harsh methods on his victims. When she observes his remorse and learns the circumstances that placed him in this situation, Milly offers a thoughtful defense of his conduct, and since she really does deserve our admiration (and Sebastian’s) for her courage and resourcefulness in coping with a learning disability, this does help. The rather convenient resolution dodges the more serious implications, and an uneasy disconnect remains between Sebastian’s dark past and his present considerate behavior.

Despite flaws, however, this is a thought-provoking romance, and the author displays her customary skill in the use of subtle irony in the dialogue.

Recommended.

Ray Thompson THE MAHARAJAH’S GENERAL Paul Fraser Collard, Headline/Trafalgar Square, 2014, $13.95/£8.99, pb, 328pp, 9781472200303 Arriving in Bhundapur after fighting in the Crimean Peninsula and surviving the Battle of Alma River in 1854, Captain James Danbury has been named an officer of Her Majesty’s 24th Regiment of Foot. He’s now stationed in India to bolster the East India Company, a mercantile company administering and ruling India in the name of Queen Victoria. Except that Captain Danbury is not the man presenting himself to his commanding officer, but Jack Lark, an Army private, who took command in the Crimea and then substituted his name for Captain Danbury. Danbury was killed at the battle. He is now becoming well known in India as a very good officer and respected by his men and the enemy, although he realizes that the time is fast approaching when he could be discovered as an imposter.

I really enjoyed this novel, which has pageturning adventure, a hero with issues yet who’s likable, and antagonists you will love to hate. This is the second book in the series. I definitely feel it would have been better to read the first book, if only to understand why Jack Lark used an assumed name at the beginning of the book. This led to confusion, because the reasons for his masquerade didn’t come out until later in the tale. With that said, I still enjoyed this novel. It was hard to put down and a real pleasure to read. If you enjoy books by Bernard Cornwell, you’ll want to put this book on your reading list.

Jeff Westerhoff

THE TSAR’S DRAGONS Catrin Collier, Accent, 2014, £7.99, pb, 552pp, 9781783755240 In 1869 Tsar Nicholas invited a Welshman to develop mining and ironworks in Ukraine. John Hughes brought with him Welsh miners and ironworkers. They built a new city on the Ukrainian steppe: Hughesovka (now Donetsk).

It was a huge project, and Collier’s account is on a similarly mammoth scale. The Tsar’s Dragons has 552 pages and is the first volume of a trilogy.

It is more family saga than history, although there is a lot of historical detail, which certainly reads convincingly. There were some points where I stumbled (could a photographer then have taken a candid “snap” without the subjects being aware?), but I was more worried about social attitudes.

Whilst anti-Semitism and the abuse of women are realistically (and sometimes graphically) portrayed, almost all the characters are noble and liberal, with just a couple of ‘baddies’ for contrast. Theirs seem 21st-century attitudes transplanted to 19thcentury Russia. The repressive nature of the regime is not mentioned, although we are reminded that the serfs had recently been emancipated. Whilst Nicholas did start to liberalise Russia, things here are progressing so well that the Russian Revolution seems unnecessary.

The modern attitudes of the characters make the primitive conditions of life in the Welsh mining villages and the cruel realities of living and mining in Ukraine both even more horrifying by contrast. Collier is unsparing in her descriptions of beatings and rapes, and her account of a mine collapse is gripping. Like all family sagas, this has its share of passionate love and illicit liaisons, much of it setting up a situation which should make the second volume satisfyingly dramatic.

If you like family sagas and want to learn more about an unexplored bit of 19th-century history, this is for you.

Tom Williams HE’S NO PRINCE CHARMING Elle Daniels, Forever, 2014, $6.00/C$7.00, pb, 400pp, 97814555455551 In this Regency romance based upon the tale of Beauty and the Beast, the passionate love between Danni and the disfigured Marquis of Fleetwood progresses very rapidly. He blackmails her into helping him abduct an heiress to marry, in place of the fiancée she helped elope with her lover, but then they must rescue her when she is snatched from them by highwaymen. As a historical novel this suffers from the modern attitudes of the major characters, and their conduct often seems implausible, at times downright silly: despite her radical views and annoyance at the hero, a lady would hardly dance with a drunken villager in a public inn. As a romance the constant introspection and self-preoccupation of the lovers, though intended to show the conflict between their family obligations and physical attraction, do grow tiresome. There is potential here: an independentminded heroine, some amusing situations, and HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 29

Ginny (the heiress) and her sisters show promise, reminiscent of the female chorus in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance, but the elements need to be developed with more care. This is a first novel, and it shows.

Ray Thompson

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THE HIGH DIVIDE Lin Enger, Algonquin, 2014, $24.95, pb, 352pp, 9781616203757 In September 1886, the Pope family is living in the small town of Sloan’s Crossing, Minnesota. One day the father, Ulysses, leaves home without notifying his family about his destination. He heads west towards Montana territory. Then one night soon after he leaves, his young sons, Eli and Danny, take off after him to discover his whereabouts and to find out why he abandoned them. They leave their mother, Greta, at home alone to deal with bill collectors and a lecherous landlord, who is only too grateful to help in her plight, if only she would consider moving in with him. Desperate, Greta also heads west to find her lost family and discover the reason behind her husband’s mysterious disappearance. Will the truth drive them further apart?

Be prepared to become immersed in this family’s epic journey. Enger does a masterful job telling their story. I felt sympathetic toward his wife and two young children with the dilemma they faced, yet I also tried to understand the sanity of Ulysses’s need to conquer his demons, which kept him from living a normal life. This is historical fiction writing at its best. Books like this are why I read and become immersed in the lives of past generations.

I look forward to reading other books the author may write in the future; he has clear knowledge of the social customs and the history of late 19thcentury America.

Jeff Westerhoff IN THE MATTER OF NIKOLA TESLA Anthony Flacco, Diversion, 2013, $17.99, pb, 310pp, 9781626811607 Nikola Tesla was born in 1856 in Serbia and died in 1943 in New York. Those are the bookend dates for a remarkable life, that of a genius who lived only partly within the bounds of what the rest of us humble creatures call “reality.” To write a work of fiction about a man this far out on the bell curve is a tall order. I was unsure what to expect, especially after reading the back cover blurb with its emphasis on Tesla’s Muse, Katrina. Although this mysterious inspirational force appears off and on throughout, she never devolves into the unseemly, into the sentimental or romantic. This is especially important because the real Tesla believed his insights derived (in part) from his celibacy. He lived his life as a self-described “monk of science,” 30 | Reviews |

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and the author delivers him to us exactly that way.

Flacco does an admirable job of showing us a man who was sometimes the brilliant, prescient Master – the man with an eidetic memory – and sometimes the helpless dupe of lesser, venial men – and in this I include Edison, Westinghouse and many other “famous household names.” Tesla spent much of his life fighting off these intellectual jackals. Eventually, inevitably, he lost, making this a story of heartbreak and loneliness. Tesla was a man so far “out of time” that modern science still hasn’t managed to understand all the marvels he proposed and dreamed about. A beautifully crafted handling of a difficult – and not always sympathetic – subject.

Juliet Waldron FAIR PLAY Deeanne Gist, Howard, 2014, $14.99/C$16.99, pb, 464pp, 9781451692419 The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 is a great backdrop for the story of a man, a woman, and the orphan baby who brought them together.

Billy Jack Tate worked hard to become a doctor during a time when women did not have careers.

She accepts a position at the fair’s infirmary, where she treats Hunter, a security guard who is very opinionated regarding modern educated women with professions. Against their better interests, both are attracted to one another, but feel that it would never work out since Billy Jack is devoted to her career and Hunter is vocal about women’s place being in the home. They put aside their differences after they find an infant left in the Great Hall.

Realizing that neither could take on the task of parenting, they set out to find a foundling home to entrust the care of the child. They find it at Hull House, where a devoted group of women educate the forgotten children of the poor working class.

Deeanne Gist did a great deal of research on the 1893 Chicago Fair, and fleshed out a more important story by combining the wonders of the fair and the needs of the surrounding poor neighborhoods. She reminded us of the difficulty that women faced during this period with education and careers. Hunter and Billy Jack came from very different backgrounds, but rather than focusing on them as a romantic couple, Gist brought them together for a bigger purpose, and then resolved the parts that mark a basis for romance and respect for individuality. I found the combination of actual period photographs at each chapter heading a wonderful way for the author to share her research and help me visualize the buildings and real people that helped tell this story along with her wonderful fictional characters. I highly recommend this book.

Beth Turza YANKEE IN ATLANTA Jocelyn Green, Moody, 2014, $14.99, pb, 411pp, 9780802405784 The third volume in the inspirational series Heroines Behind the Lines follows two women, Ruby O’Flannery in New York and Caitlin McKae in Atlanta, from 1863 to 1865. Caitlin,

originally from New York, had run away from an abusive stepfather and joined the Union forces in disguise. After being wounded, she ends up in an Atlanta hospital, because she was thought to be a Confederate and too ill to deny it. She recovers and takes a teaching job, until single father Noah Becker asks her to look after his child when he enlists.

Ruby, a maid with a toddler, is being courted

by Edward Goodrich, a hospital chaplain. Edward is a candidate for a pastorship and needs a wife, but Ruby is afraid that if they wed and the truth about her shady background gets out, Edward will not get any ministerial work. Meanwhile in Atlanta, Caitlin tries to care for little Ana under siege conditions. Food and resources are scarce, and the city grows lawless as men are drained off to try to keep Sherman’s army back. Then Caitlin is suspected of being a Northern spy, just as the Union army is about to invade the city.

Green has done her research, providing maps, a bibliography, and a concluding chapter on the historical background. She weaves interesting details into the story on life in Atlanta during the war, such as having to turn one’s dresses multiple times when no new cloth was available, and handling an outbreak of smallpox during a shortage of medical care and supplies. I liked the book up until the last chapter, when I felt that the ending seemed rushed. Ruby’s child is kidnapped and the situation is resolved rather quickly. And there are some coincidences that may raise other readers’ eyebrows as they did mine.

B.J. Sedlock LITTLE BIGHORN John Hough, Jr., Arcade, 2014, $24.95, hb, 310pp, 9781628724097 His mother’s dalliance with Col. George Armstrong Custer lands eighteen-year-old Allen Wright a position as the colonel’s aide. Riding with the glamorous Seventh Cavalry, famed for the 1868 battles with Cheyenne Indians, is every young man’s dream. Now, Allen will take part in Custer’s 1876 campaign to drive Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and their rebellious Sioux back to their reservation.

Allen isn’t the only civilian in Custer’s expedition.

Custer’s younger brother, Boston, and his nephew Autie Reed are also going as their famed relative’s aides. Custer also tasks Allen with escorting the sister of his regimental surgeon westward, so that sixteen-year-old Addie Grace Lord can bid her brother goodbye. It’s love at first sight. The pair have an eventful train ride to Bismarck, and then to Fort Lincoln, Nebraska, where Addie remains as a companion to Custer’s wife, Libbie.

John Hough’s Little Bighorn is great entertainment and a fresh look at the infamous battle at Little Bighorn. It’s well known that there were no survivors at Custer’s part of the battlefield.

Allen Winslow and his blithe companions are an engaging lot, and it’s sad to know that they are riding to their doom. However, Allen is a fictional character, so can he survive somehow to return to his beloved Addie? Read Little Bighorn to satisfy 19th Century

that bit of suspense, for a breathtaking description of Custer’s final hours, or as a fine piece of historical fiction, but read it.

Jo Ann Butler A GRAVE MATTER Anna Lee Huber, Berkley, 2014, $16.00/$18.00, pb, 421pp, 9780425253694 Lady Kiera Darby is hoping that 1830 will be a fresh start for her in Scotland, but already at the Hogmanay Ball she learns that a man has been murdered and a nearby grave disturbed. She struggles over whether to risk her reputation more than she already has, by using her skills in anatomy to help solve the case. She also battles with her feelings for inquiry agent Sebastian Gage when she realizes that they will be investigating together. She must focus on finding a murderer, though, after learning that this was not the only grave disturbed and people are being held for ransom. Kiera and Sebastian must work quickly before someone else is murdered.

The story itself is absorbing, though because this is “A Lady Darby Mystery,” and Kiera Darby has appeared in two previous books, I had read about 100 pages before I felt as if the previous books had been left behind in favor of the plot for this one. This information from Lady Darby’s previous adventures does not seem necessary to move the plot forward and begins to feel repetitive.

Once the plot of this novel takes over, though, the book is compelling. Lady Darby is easy to like, and readers will want to root for her.

Amy Watkin

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NEVERHOME Laird Hunt, Little, Brown, 2014, $26.00, hb, 256pp, 9780316370134 Historians estimate that some four hundred women fought for their country during America’s Civil War. Many of them accompanied sweethearts or husbands, but as the woman who leaves her sickly husband at home and renames herself Ash Thompson tells us, “I was strong and he was not, so it was me went to war to defend the Republic.”

What could possibly motivate Ash to leave her beloved husband and Indiana farm – where she was known as Constance – and go to war? Ash felt it was important for one of them to go, but she also felt a yearning to travel and see the country as her dead mother had done, and to plant her boots with a thousand comrades atop the ruins of secession and slavery. She promises her mother’s shade, “I won’t run.”

Without a man to keep watch as she attends to nature’s needs, it is difficult for Ash to preserve her secret. The true identity of most female soldiers was revealed when they were wounded, captured, 19th Century

or killed. It is no different for Ash. Even worse, accusations of lunacy and betraying her country lie ahead.

Laird Hunt’s Neverhome is an American Iliad and Odyssey rolled into a single, poignant tale. Half is a powerful war story, and the other half follows Ash’s struggle to return home. What will she find there, and what will readers learn about Ash along the way? Hunt presents readers with vivid imagery, a compulsively readable story, and a courageous and complex heroine. I loved Neverhome, and highly recommend it.

Jo Ann Butler YELLOW CROCUS Laila Ibrahim, Lake Union, 2014, $14.99, pb, 252pp, 9781477824757 When Elizabeth Wainwright is born in 1837, her young mother, Ann, is overwhelmed by the unfamiliar responsibilities of childcare. Ann becomes dependent on Mattie, the slave who serves as wet nurse, to care for the little girl. Although forced to leave her own son and move into the Wainwrights’ big house, Mattie comes to love Elizabeth—and the child loves Mattie.

Ann’s husband and her mother-in-law object to Elizabeth’s attachment to a slave and send Mattie back to the slave quarters. Mattie’s husband makes plans for them to run away, but Elizabeth becomes dangerously ill. When the Wainwrights, desperate, call Mattie back, Mattie promises to follow her husband later.

As she grows up, Elizabeth’s choices tell us Mattie is a better mother than Ann could ever be.

Perhaps that’s why Mattie is turned away again.

Heartbroken but resigned, Mattie finds her own family living as “free Negroes” in a “free” state.

The Wainwrights personalize the thoughtless cruelty inherent within the institution of slavery.

Countless slaves were separated from their own families for the convenience of their owners. In a final irony, Mattie and Elizabeth meet as adults where they must hide their relationship and forever stay apart for fear of revealing Mattie’s past. This is a well written and touching, if not original, story.

Yellow Crocus will be hard to forget.

Jeanne Greene THE DEVIL IN MONTMARTRE Gary Inbinder, Pegasus Crime, 2014, $25.95, hb, 264pp, 9781605986470 A macabre murder mystery with a host of intriguing characters, including a clever detective, the artist Toulouse-Lautrec, and Inbinder’s own protagonists from his novel The Flower to the Painter, this story is set in 1889 Paris, at the close of the Universal Exposition. A young Moulin Rouge Can-Can dancer’s body is found in the sewer under strange circumstances that have the police force questioning a host of individuals acquainted with the victim.

The main suspects include Toulouse-Lautrec, who had recently ended a tumultuous relationship with the dancer, English gynecologist Sir Henry Collingwood, and a circus performer known to be

abusive to women. As Inspectors Achille Lefebvre and Rousseau visit the crime scene, collecting evidence and gaining leads, their chief, Paul Feraud, struggles to keep the crime under wraps. The press is likely to connect the killing with Jack the Ripper, who had made headlines in London the previous year and remains on the loose. Not wanting his men to suffer the same ridicule as Scotland Yard, Feraud sets his two best detectives on a race against time.

Forensic science was in its infancy, and though Achille was an advocate for the new discovery of fingerprinting, his colleagues were curiously less than thrilled with the technique. This detailed inclusion, along with advances in crime scene photography and autopsies make a fascinating read for those interested in the era. The author’s use of his previous characters adds a touch of familiarity, but does not complicate the flow for new readers.

The story covers only a handful of days, and is told through multiple perspectives, which makes it more challenging for the reader to decide on the identity of the culprit—a satisfying mystery to the end. Highly recommended for Ripper fans and lovers of fin de siècle!

Arleigh Johnson WARRIOR HEARTS: A Warbonnet Mystery Robert Kresge, ABQ Press, 2014, $15.95, pb, 277pp, 9780991604616 This is the fourth in a series (after Death’s Icy Hand, 2013) set in the little town of Warbonnet, Wyoming Territory in 1873. The Sioux, having crushed the U.S. Army ten years earlier, legally own a large slice of the Territory – but distrust lingers on both sides.

When Kate Shaw, local schoolteacher and doctor’s daughter, tags along with Marshal Monday Malone to see two bodies riddled with arrows, something strikes her as suspicious. When Monday identifies the arrows, Kate’s hunch and his experience combine to uncover the real murderer before false accusations damage relations with the Sioux. Kate’s involvement in amateur theatricals provides an appropriate Shakespearian lesson on the perils of feuding with neighbors.

The research is sound, the plot is complex, and alternating narratives cover the action smoothly.

To make the participation in a young unmarried woman in 19th century criminal investigations, not to mention her relationships with men, seem credible, the characterization needs work. Although an affair (not Kate and Monday!) figures largely in the plot, there is no graphic sex or violence. Warrior Hearts is for fans of cozy Westerns.

Jeanne Greene LOVING ROSE: The Redemption of Malcolm Sinclair Stephanie Laurens, Piatkus, 2014, £7.99, pb, 374pp, 9780749958725 / Avon, 2014, $7.99/ C$9.99, pb, 374pp, 9780062068675 Laurens is back on form with this light, bubbly romance set in Regency England. Malcolm Sinclair, pantomime baddy of previous Laurens books, is HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 31

washed ashore, miraculously still alive despite his injuries. He is cared for by monks before making his way back into the world, determined to make amends for the sins committed in his previous life.

What he doesn’t know, however, is exactly how he is going to do that. Rose, as housekeeper for an absentee landlord, had thought her and her family’s secrets safe. Yet when Sinclair returns to his house to find her and two children living there, it doesn’t take him long to realise that there is more going on than appearances suggest. As the attraction between them grows, she is given no choice but to trust Thomas, as he has styled himself, with the burdens she has carried. Thomas can only find spiritual redemption through learning, for the first time in his life, to love – not only Rose, but the two children, too. But will he be able to keep them safe from a wicked plot to kill them and take their inheritance? Despite being the third in a trilogy, the book works as a stand-alone story, although existing fans will enjoy the inclusion of previous characters and Sinclair’s rehabilitation.

Lively and sparkling, this is an entertaining and pleasurable read. An enjoyable ‘guilty pleasure’ for a rainy afternoon.

Charlotte Wightwick AGNES CANON’S WAR Deborah Lincoln, Blank Slate, 2014, $14.95, pb, 270pp, 9780985808662 “Seize the day” could well be Agnes Canon’s credo, as she yearns to do more than watch men live and decide things for themselves while the opinions and acts of dependent females matter little. Leaving behind the rivers of Pennsylvania, she travels with her brother and his wife to the west, specifically pre-Civil War Missouri. On her journey to that pivotal state, she meets Jabez Robinson, a man who has lost love but is not so wounded that he doesn’t admire a fiery female spirit. Later they marry, and their romance is deep and sweet, spiced by the astounding fact that Jabez treats Agnes like an equal in all matters.

However, the crux of this novel involves the intensifying debates and sides taken for or against slavery and secession, as well as the devastating terror and destruction that occurred before the actual Civil War began. Citizens who were for or against slavery form their own bands, and thugs hired by local politicians try to force the neutral or opposed families to choose a different side.

The consequences of refusal are brutal, tough and shocking to Agnes and Jabez. While Jabez writes journalistic articles recommending neutrality, Agnes grows to cherish this land with its beautiful fields, crops and mountains.

While many novels have been written about the actual Civil War, fewer have focused on the Kansas-Missouri debacle that proved to be a microcosm of the powder keg that would explode as a result of decisions made in that initial conflict.

The characters are likeable, intelligent, humorous, spunky and passionate people whose zest for adventure is met and then some! Superb historical 32 | Reviews |

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fiction this reviewer highly recommends.

Viviane Crystal KNIGHT OF LOVE Catherine LaRoche, Pocket Star, 2014, $4.99, pb, 398pp, 9781476710136 Lady Lenora Trevelyan is the beautiful daughter of a duke sent abroad to marry a German princeling. She is shocked to discover her fiancé is a sadistic royal bent on breaking her. Forced to flee into the countryside rife with revolution, Lenora meets Wolfram von Wolfsbach, a chivalric rebel. He falls instantly in love with his captive and proposes marriage to save her. The resulting tale is filled with melodrama and miscommunication.

Knight of Love is set during the tumultuous German Revolution of 1848, a period unique to the genre. Catherine LaRoche is a talented writer; however, the novel suffers from annoying, poorly drawn characters. Wolfam is obsessed with rescuing his princessin, only to throw fits when Lenora dares to save herself. He may be an accurate depiction of the 19th-century male, but he could have had more depth. Lenora is a fine heroine, but her strange talent for knife throwing is unhistorical at best. Where and why would a 19th-century lady learn such a talent?

There are other issues in the novel, including marital rape and graphic sex scenes. Thus, this novel is recommended for diehard historical romance lovers who are not in the least squeamish.

Caroline Wilson COMMODORE LEVY: A Novel of Early America in the Age of Sail Irving Litvag, Texas Tech Univ. Press, 2014, $45.00, hb, 672pp, 9780896728813 This biographical novel chronicles the life of Uriah Phillips Levy, the first Jewish commander in the United States Navy. Born in Philadelphia in 1792, Levy was taught early to love his religion and country. Uriah’s grandfather, Jonas Phillips, takes him to see the frigate United States building in Joshua Humphreys’ shipyard. One of the original six frigates ordered after the War of Independence, the United States inspires Uriah. After leaving home at ten to become a cabin boy, Uriah learns seamanship and rises in rank. As second mate on a merchantman, Uriah is taken by a British press gang after a fight provoked by an insult to Uriah’s religion. British Admiral Cochrane releases Uriah and offers him entrance in the Royal Navy at officer rank. “I owe and always shall owe my allegiance to my country,” Uriah answers.

Much of Uriah Levy’s character is revealed in this single early incident of his life: a zeal for country, a quick and angry resentment of any slight to his honor or religion, and Levy’s maritime professionalism. Uriah enters the United States Navy, but his career, and his life, contains a great deal of irregularity. He stood six courts-martial, fought a duel with a fellow officer, and at sixty married his niece of eighteen. The courts-martial seem primarily motived by prejudice toward Levy’s Hebrew faith, and his entering the Navy through

the merchant service rather than the officer corps.

This is a comprehensive treatment of the life of the first Jewish American to reach the rank of commodore in the United States Navy. Uriah Phillips Levy’s life is depicted from five years to seventy, and though the novel may be overlong, the tale of this important and remarkable American deserves a place alongside those of other founding fathers.

Eva Ulett

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THE MAGICIAN’S LIE Greer Macallister, Sourcebooks, 2015, $23.99, hb, 320pp, 9781402298684 “Those who tell their own story, you know, must be listened to with caution.”

This quote from Jane Austen’s Sanditon is rightly placed on the opening page of Greer MacAllister’s excellent novel of murder and magic in the American Midwest.

The narrator, whose reliability is under suspicion here, is the Amazing Arden, a famous female illusionist whose husband has just been found murdered under the stage of the Iowa theater where she performed earlier that night.

When Arden is taken into custody not far from the crime scene by a young policeman, Virgil Holt, she has one night to tell him the story of her life and convince him that she is not her husband’s killer.

In The Magician’s Lie, Arden’s story is a pleasure to read, especially because the reader, just like Virgil Holt in the story, is caught up in wondering how much she is to be believed. From 1890s Philadelphia to Tennessee and back north to New York City and the world of magic and illusion, Arden appears to be making a clean breast of things, but at the same time she is charming Virgil and may not be as firmly his captive as Virgil thinks she is.

The world of the travelling entertainer is marvelously brought to life here, and Arden is a fascinating character – independent but also vulnerable. In structure and style, the novel bears comparison with Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants.

Definitely recommended.

Kate Braithwaite RUTH’S JOURNEY Donald McCaig, Atria, 2014, $26.00/$32.00, hb, 374pp, 9781451643534 / Simon & Schuster, 2014, £16.99, hb, 384pp, 9781471139192 The New York Times bestselling author of Rhett Butler’s People now takes Margaret Mitchell’s nameless Mammy from her survival as a four-yearold orphaned by the slave revolt on Haiti at the beginning of the 19th century to the days following the Twelve Oaks barbecue when Georgia secedes from the Union.

Giving Mammy a name – Ruth – and a 19th Century

history is a fascinating premise and necessary to the rounding out of our received views of history.

Such forays are something historical fiction can do as skewed straight history cannot. We learn that Ruth married a freeman for love and had a child. Dire circumstances bring her back to the French émigré family who brought her to the antebellum South, however. That family in due course produces Scarlett O’Hara, Mammy passing from grandmother to mother to daughter. Bits and pieces of the previously covered Butler people also impinge on her life. Mammy herself does not gain a voice (and an “unmistakable voice,” the publicity tells us – one might say stereotypical Creoleinfluenced slave speak) until the move with the new bride Miss Ellen to Tara. Giving this voice seemed to come late to me, to deny Ruth – and us – the chance to see her spiritualism and voodoo underpinnings as valid. They are never explored enough, in my view. Ruth never really gains the ambitions and feelings of a human except to crave white owners to save her from revolts – Haiti, the Denmark Vesey revolt in Savannah, Harper’s Ferry, and finally the gathering clouds of the Civil War. Revolts never turn out well for her.

Ann Chamberlin DEATH AT CHINATOWN Frances McNamara, Allium Press of Chicago, 2014, $15.99, pb, 226pp, 9780989053556 The fifth in the Emily Cabot mystery series sees Emily, now married and the mother of small children, coping with a seemingly uncaring husband and her anxieties about motherhood and the academic career she has abandoned.

Her meeting with two young Chinese women who sacrificed their own marriageability in order to study medicine in Chicago disturbs her, but when one of them is accused of murder, Emily must weigh her maternal duties against her moral obligation to help them.

Although I sometimes found the writing a little stilted, my interest was piqued by the depiction of turn-of-the-century Chicago’s Chinese community.

McNamara draws on real personalities and political situations to elaborate her plot—in my opinion she succeeds better at this with the male characters Hip Lung and Wong Chin Foo than with the two young women, who never took on much life for me although their working environment, the women and children’s hospital, is vividly rendered.

What I found most interesting about this novel was the way McNamara uses Emily’s view of what, in those pre-global-village days, was a very alien world to parallel her heroine’s dilemma in finding herself at odds with her own environment. It’s a tension that many new mothers will find familiar: Emily is caught between the desire to be what in her eyes is the perfect mother and the feeling that she has lost something of herself. In Chinatown her inability to speak Chinese creates what she describes as a veil between her and those most directly involved in the murder investigation—this disconnect parallels her frustrated impression that she is no longer speaking the same language as her 19th Century

husband and university mentors.

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Jane Steen

AN UNSEEMLY WIFE E.B. Moore, NAL, 2014, $15.00/C$17.00, pb, 336pp, 9780451469984 In 1867, Ruth Holtz’s peaceful life in a Pennsylvania Amish community is destroyed when her husband hears of the free land in Idaho. Driven by the fear that his sons will not have enough land to farm, Aaron is willing to go against the rules of their Order and join up with an ‘English’ wagon train heading west.

Both he and Ruth believe they can keep separate from the English as their Order’s rules dictate, but as the distance from home grows longer the small Amish family is the focus of jealousies and resentment. When tragedy strikes, Ruth questions her decision to stop being what her people see as an ‘unseemly wife’ and follow her husband in an act of blind faith.

This debut literary novel is remarkable for its lyrical tone and the sense that Moore manages to convey of Ruth and Aaron’s separateness when they eventually have to come to grips with the English community. The circles of bonding – the Amish identity, the Fold, the family, and friendship – intersect in different ways, the bonds variously tested by obdurate attitudes and the ordinary strains of family life. The poetry of Moore’s language enhances rather than diminishes a sharply drawn portrait of life within a wagon train that conveys both the sheer boredom of the long trek west and the inevitability of hardship and loss.

An Unseemly Wife is Moore’s family history, but the reader is left to imagine how Ruth’s story ends. This lack of resolution may be unsatisfactory for some, but to me it suits the theme of heading out into the unknown, on faith, that pervades the whole book. Faith, Moore seems to be saying, can be changed by circumstances but still abides deep within us. Recommended.

Jane Steen TICKET TO PARADISE Elizabeth Morgan, Opening Chapter, 2013, £9.99, pb, 254pp, 9781904958314 In 1865, the English were giving the Welsh a hard time. (Nothing changes.) Desperate to preserve their language and way of life, some emigrated to Patagonia. This story follows those who founded the town of Rawson, on the Argentine coast. It follows their struggles as they finally make a viable settlement but, at the same time, see their identity subsumed into the wider Argentine society.

It’s a fascinating story, well told. Morgan writes well and with a great ear for the cadences of Welsh, which enlivens her dialogue. The history is riveting, and I was interested enough to find Rawson on the

map. The map does confirm my suspicion that the area is not surrounded by grassland, as described in the book. That was always incompatible with the problems that the settlers had in growing crops. It’s a shame that Morgan’s geography isn’t as good as her history.

The story-telling is let down by some neat moralising (the Reverend is a pious and unpleasant man, put in his place by the atheist hero), an unnecessary (and unhistorical) aside involving Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and an unconvincing battle between the Welsh and a band of bloodthirsty Indians. There is also an unfortunate epilogue set in the Falklands War, in which the language and attitudes of 2013 civilians are written unconvincingly into the dialogue of 1982 soldiers. These failures, though, are trivial when set against the gripping accounts of daily life and the relationships between the characters.

The book provides a useful introduction to an important period of both Welsh and Argentine history. Strongly recommended.

Tom Williams LADY WINDERMERE’S LOVER Miranda Neville, Avon, 2014, $7.99/C$9.99, pb, 372pp, 9780062243324 Loosely based on Oscar Wilde’s famous play and set a century earlier, this Regency romance recounts the efforts of the earl to win the forgiveness of his wife after a disastrous start to a marriage forced on him as the price for recovering his mother’s property. When he returns a year later from a diplomatic posting in Persia, he finds the gauche and painfully shy middle-class girl he married transformed into a sophisticated beauty, rumored to be conducting an affair with a former friend, now enemy. She is not, of course: merely flirting to punish him for his past unkindness.

Although Damian’s transition from resentful arrogance to remorse at his earlier behavior and Cynthia’s from provincial inexperience to social accomplishment are a stretch, this is, after all, a romance where such rapid transformations take place. Aided by the magic of their powerful physical attraction to each other, their reconciliation is easier to accept and not without moments of humor, though the exploration of the exploitation of women, especially in the lower classes, could do to be more carefully developed. Recommended for Regency fans (sorry, couldn’t resist).

Ray Thompson A MATTER OF GRAVE CONCERN Brenda Novak, Montlake, 2014, $12.95, pb, 336pp, 9781477824528 In 1830, Abigail Hale efficiently oversees her father’s medical school by day; by night she efficiently procures cadavers for the school.

Abigail’s deepest desire is to become a surgeon, a career forbidden to women. Maximillian Wilder is a grave robber with the manners of a nobleman.

Pretending to be a down-on-his-luck gentleman, Max (aka: Lucien Cavendish, the Duke of Rowenberry) is actually searching for his halfHNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 33

sister, who was last been seen in the company of Big Jack, the head of the body-snatching gang.

When Max forces Abby to stay with the gang, she discovers his secret and throws in with the body snatchers so she can help Max find his sister.

Ultimately this leads to trust and love. The couple is granted an imperfect, if more realistic, happiness: Max’s mother, the dowager duchess, refuses to accept middle-class Abby. This is an engrossing story, part romance, part mystery, and part history.

The characters have dimension—they step outside the normal constraints of romance. We see the seedier part of the so-called Romantic era, when medical studies were considered wicked, and life was both hard and cheap.

Monica Spence LINCOLN’S ASSASSIN J.F. Pennington, Pen & Sword Fiction, 2014, £18.99, hb, 305pp, 9781783462922 Subtitled “The Unsolicited Confessions of J. Wilkes Booth”, this book is interesting but not involving. It weaves known facts concerning the assassination of President Lincoln together with modern conspiracy theories and a sweet fiction. It concerns the story of John Wilkes Booth; he was happy to know that officially he was dead, shot against orders by a Union soldier. That he was betrayed by someone who engaged him, subtly, to carry out the assassination is the thing that shakes him from his country hideaway. Booth is, if nothing else, an egoist. What this book attempts is to flesh out the personality of one of history’s most notorious assassins. Told in the first person, the novel flits from a plain narrative of Booth’s search for his betrayer, to internalised conflicts in his personality, to memories which build a picture of why he did what he did. It could be seen as filling in gaps in our knowledge, but it is based only on supposition. Somewhat disjointed but quite interesting in its theories, as told by the killer himself.

Alan Cassady-Bishop BLOOD ON THE WATER Anne Perry, Ballantine, 2014, $26.00/C$31.00, hb, 320pp, 9780345548436 / Headline, 2014, £7.99, pb, 416pp, 9780755397211 Detective William Monk, now of the Thames River Police, witnesses the blowing up of a pleasure boat where 200 people lose their lives. As he begins his investigation into the tragedy, the case is taken from him and given to the Metropolitan Police, with whispers of political maneuverings. An Egyptian man, known for shady dealings, is quickly arrested and condemned to death. The motive appears to be the Egyptian’s hatred of the British, especially the harsh treatment of his people in the building of the Suez Canal. Monk doesn’t believe this man is responsible, and with the help of his wife Hester, his old friend Oliver Rathbone, and his “adopted” son Scuff, discovers additional clues, dangerous political intrigue and government coverups.

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novels to understand who some of the characters are, when a line or two of explanation would have served well for the first-time reader. Monk, even though taken off the case, fails to demand vital information. He’d have been rebuffed, but he should have made the effort to highlight his acumen. I found Rathbone the more interesting character and wanted to know more about him and his past. The resolution of the bombing left me puzzled, but to mention it here would ruin the ending for the reader. Despite all these issues, this Victorian mystery is still a page-turner.

Diane Scott Lewis SHALL WE NOT REVENGE D. M. Pirrone, Allium Press of Chicago, 2014, $16.99, pb, 334pp, 9780989053532 Chicago is still recovering from the Great Fire of 1872 when detective Frank Hanley is assigned to investigate the brutal murder of a rabbi. At first the mystery seems impenetrable; many of the Jews who might know something about the crime do not speak English, and those that do are reluctant to talk to an Irish Catholic policeman. Frank finds an unlikely partner in the rabbi’s daughter Rivka, fluent in both Yiddish and English and not afraid to break shiva to find her father’s killer. As the two get closer to the truth they uncover a connection between the murder and Frank’s shady past – a connection that will see Frank kicked off the force and thrown in jail with justice still undone.

It’s strange now to imagine a time when the Irish were openly persecuted as undesirables, and the police force of a major American city was ignorant of even the basics of Jewish culture. In 1872 both groups are highly marginalized; so as alien as they are to each other, Frank and Rivka at least have the disdain of more established Americans in common.

Pirrone paints a beautifully grimy picture of life immediately following the Fire, with the displaced poor living in hastily constructed barracks and urchins hawking pieces of collapsed buildings as souvenirs. Frank manages to be both a hero cop and a mensch, while Rivka admirably balances the realities of the New World with her duty to the Old. Recommended.

Richard Bourgeois A DARK AND PROMISED LAND Nathaniel Poole, Dundurn, 2014, $24.99/£16.99, pb, 280pp, 9781459722002 In 1812, the first settlers from Ireland and Scotland arrive in the fertile Red River Valley, situated within the bounds of Rupert’s Land. The Red River colony is viewed by the fur traders as nothing more than a Hudson Bay plot to destroy the Canadian fur trade. As a result, the fur traders of the Northwest Company are determined to fight the settlers in what they see as a power struggle.

Twenty-one-year-old Rose and her father, Lachlan, are shipwrecked in the Hudson Bay before arriving at their destination, the outpost of Fort York. They survive the disaster and are eventually led by a young fur trader, Alexander, a young Metis man, to settle in the Red River colony. They meet

hardship and trouble with the Native Americans along the way. Rose has a history of lascivious relationships with men she knew in Ireland, and soon falls in love with Alexander. Before her father’s death on the trip, she promises him she will marry another – Declan MacCormick, who is looking for a new home to settle in the colony. As they get closer to their destination, they come in contact with the antagonistic fur traders.

This book is an entertaining read and well-researched historical fiction. The author masterfully describes life in early 19th-century Western Canada. He describes the Canadian landscape beautifully, evoking the period and place. Fast-paced, the drama and action faced by the travelers compelled me to turn the pages. Few books are written about the Canadian experience during the early 19th century, and this author has done an excellent job in presenting this story to the reading public. A highly enjoyable tale with realistic character presentations.

Jeff Westerhoff WHAT THE LADY WANTS Renee Rosen, NAL, 2014, $15.00, pb, 448pp, 9780451466716 Delia Spencer Caton is a woman with a unique lifestyle from the late 1880s on: Married to one man, she carries on a fairly public affair with another for approximately thirty years. Not only is this unheard of for the times, it’s an anathema in her high society Chicago circle, especially when the man in question is Marshall Field (yes, that Marshall Field). Beginning with the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, we follow Delia as she marries Arthur Caton, a wealthy heir for whom she feels great affection but not really romantic love. When she meets Marsh Field, a man twenty years her senior, Delia is drawn to him in ways she could not have imagined, though both are married. Risking everything, Delia embarks on a path of passion that ostracizes her from society; yet she remains loyal to Arthur and continues to love him as well. Through tragedy and triumph, Delia remains committed to the two men, forming her own definition of family.

While this is a work of fiction, the story of Delia Caton is based on fact, though the author admits to filling in the blanks with her imagination when there is no record to be found. Delia’s an anomaly in her social set, but her dedication to her family and friends remains constant throughout her life.

I was captivated by the telling of Delia’s tale; it was as though the author gets inside Delia’s head and gives plausibility to her thoughts and actions.

Rosen’s fictional take on this fascinating woman is engaging and thought-provoking, and I can definitely recommend it for its attention to detail and the larger than life characters who actually lived.

Tamela McCann THE DEAD QUEEN’S GARDEN Nicola Slade, Robert Hale, 2014, £19.99, hb, 224pp, 9780719810381 This is the third in Slade’s Charlotte Richmond 19th Century

Investigates series, set in Hampshire, England, in 1858. Her previous books have been praised by the HNS reviewer as ‘well paced and witty’, but for my taste The Dead Queen’s Garden is rather slow, and my sense of humour is obviously missing where this book is concerned!

That said, it is well-written, and the plotting is good, although if I had been editing it, I would have queried a few things. For instance, I do not think a Victorian widow, even if young, would tell an eleven-year-old boy to call her Char! And there is a scene between Sibella, one of the main characters, and the protagonist which ends without giving the reason why Sibella has sought the meeting. She only explains in a later scene.

But despite the fact that, to me at any rate, the motive driving the plot was obvious, I passed a pleasant few hours reading it and look forward to the next in the series, where no doubt more of Charlotte’s background will be revealed. jay Dixon A MATCH OF WITS (Ladies of Distinction, Book 4) Jen Turano, Bethany House, 2014, $14.99, pb, 348pp, 9780764211270 The Wild West had better watch out when Agatha Watson comes to town! Cooling her heels after a hot story earned her more than a few enemies, the last thing Agatha expected to uncover in the Colorado territory was Zayne Beckett, the man who broke her heart two years ago. Zayne is in no condition to be left on his own and since Agatha always knows best, she’s determined to bring Zayne with her back to New York, whether he likes it or not. But her time away hasn’t made her any less of a target, and Zayne thinks he’s man enough to keep Agatha out of danger, but he didn’t count on risking his heart in the process.

Turano’s knack for comic timing shines in her latest book and many of the borderline absurd situations Agatha finds herself in are laugh-outloud funny, especially if they involve a certain P-I-G named Matilda. In many ways, this feels like a series finale because we finally see how Agatha Watson and Zayne Beckett get together, but Turano keeps her options open with a new generation of irrepressible heroines waiting in the wings, who will be, perhaps, future leaders in the Progressive Era. Lauren Miller WIND RAVEN (Agents of the Crown, Book 3) Regan Walker, Burroughs Publishing Group, 2014, $11.95, pb, 294pp, 9781941260029 In May 1817, aboard the Wind Raven – a British merchant schooner – a young woman in breeches and shirt is spotted high up on the main topsail rigging, moving swiftly to the footrope for the yard.

Captain Powell and other crew are astonished to see their “passenger” rescue a sailor who is dangling there upside down. Actually the hoyden, Tara McConnell, is an American heiress returning to Baltimore following a London season; she is an experienced seafarer, having served aboard her 19th Century

brothers’ ships, and is equally comfortable dancing in ballrooms and on riggings. While Powell is enraged by Tara’s actions, and admonishes her, he is also enthralled by her beauty and doesn’t miss any opportunity to embrace her. Although Tara considers Englishmen to be “dandies,” she is infatuated by the handsome raven-haired and golden-eyed swashbuckling captain; she returns his kisses passionately.

The Raven is not only on an Atlantic crossing, but also on a special assignment from Prinny (the Prince Regent) to locate the hideout of the marauding Puerto Rican pirate Cofresí. Little did Tara realize that her love for Powell will drag her into this clandestine operation, and present her with choices that might not only steer her away from her destination, but also her destiny.

While this is the third book in the Agents of the Crown series, Regan Walker, an accomplished author, has skillfully woven in the background as needed to enable a standalone read. Although the series title might hint at this novel being an espionage tale, and while it does start off as one, the story soon diverts into an enchanting, sensual romance on the high seas. Readers will be engrossed up to the ending, which although not gargantuan, examines the fundamental question: will a lady marry a gentleman who lusts for her rather than loves her?

Waheed Rabbani THE CRIMSON BLOOM Denise Weimer, Canterbury House, 2014, $15.95, pb, 238pp, 9780988189744 The Crimson Bloom is the third in the Georgia Gold series. It primarily follows the fortunes of two women, Mahala Franklin and Carolyn Rousseau, during the Civil War years in Georgia. Both women are loved by two men: In Carolyn’s case she has married one of them, Devereaux, and his brother Dylan must make peace with her choice and also square his conscience as a pastor with the urge he feels to fight for the South alongside Dev. Mahala is torn between blockade runner Jack Randall, whose family may have difficulty accepting her Cherokee heritage, and Clay Fraser, of mixed blood like her, who joins up with a native regiment.

This family saga will please fans of Eugenia Price’s Georgia-based novels. In some respects it picks up where Price’s Savannah Quartet leaves off, detailing the hardships endured by both fighting men and those left at home as the South fights for its doomed cause. Threads from previous Georgia Gold novels run through this installment, including divergent attitudes toward slavery, the mystery of Mahala’s father’s death, and the disappearance of his fortune in gold.

Considering so much is going on, the tone of The Crimson Bloom is remarkably understated, a gentle and undemanding read with a sense of inevitability to the destinies in store for the characters. Some of the clichés of the South’s Civil War story are there in the quiet dignity of the women, the terror inspired by the advancing Union troops and the loyalty of many of the freed slaves (although there

is, I’m glad to report, one mass desertion). Weimer handles the multiple points of view well and keeps the reader engaged, although I wished there hadn’t been a cliffhanger ending.

Jane Steen THE WHITE RAJAH Tom Williams, Accent, 2014, £9.99, pb, 244pp, 9781783756025 James Brooke, late of the East India Company, was an adventurer in its truest sense. In 1838, he purchased a schooner and sailed to Sarawak in Borneo. He soon fell in love with the country and its people and, after helping to put down a rebellion against the Sultan of Brunei, is awarded the governorship of Sarawak, becoming the first White Rajah.

This novel by Tom Williams is a fictional account of Brooke and his rise, and rule, in the far Eastern lands where he made his fame and fortune.

The writing is well paced and, where differing from known facts, is logical in its conclusions. This novel straddles exciting fiction and assumed facts to great effect.

The narrator is a lowly seaman, John Williamson, who sets sail on Brooke’s first, unsuccessful foray in Far Eastern trade. Joining him on his second exploit on the schooner The Royalist, the young man is taken to Borneo, where they are caught up in the native politics and begin a true companionship. An involving tale of adventure, intrigue and unlikely love.

Alan Cassady-Bishop RAINBOWS ON THE MOON Barbara Wood, Turner, 2014, $21.95, pb, 460pp, 9781630260880 The enticing setting for Barbara Wood’s latest entertaining epic, the tropical splendor of old Hawaii, is a strong selling point. Her heroines’ linked stories are tightly woven into the islands’ cultural and political history, and while the narrative is packed with detail, the flowing prose style makes for smooth reading. Her characters grow and change over time, and the light tone doesn’t lessen the impact of the tragedies the Hawaiians experience.

Emily Stone is a new bride who settles at Hilo in 1820 with her priggish missionary husband, Isaac, to minister to the natives and improve their moral standards by eradicating promiscuity and incest. Unhappy with her grass hut of a home and her distant marriage, Emily finds herself attracted to a handsome sea captain who visits on his trade stops. While she makes inroads with educating the people, changing their behavior proves harder than expected. Earnestly devout and set in her ways, Emily is also a compassionate woman who has a tough life, isolated from family and familiar comforts in this lushly verdant, alien land.

The switch over to 1850s Oregon partway through comes as a surprise, but the story loops back to Hawaii soon enough. Anna Barnett is a determined young woman whose passion for nursing leads her to convert to Catholicism, become HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 35

a nun, and travel to Honolulu, where competent medical care is sorely needed. Her path draws her to the prominent Farrow family, who appear to be cursed. The Hawaiians’ perspective is shown via a powerful chiefess, Pua, and her daughter, Mahina, who struggle to keep their beliefs alive amid rapid industrial development and an ever-shrinking native population. The broken English they speak in dialogue feels overdone and distracting, however.

With its adventurous women, island lore, and stunning scenery, this is a lively read for anyone thinking or dreaming of visiting Hawaii.

Sarah Johnson

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THE DARLING DAHLIAS AND THE SILVER DOLLAR BUSH Susan Wittig Albert, Berkley Prime Crime, 2014, $25.95/C$28.95, hb, 304pp, 9780425260609 In this fifth book in a mystery series set in the small town of Darling, Alabama in the 1930s, the town’s bank closes – temporarily, or so the townspeople hope – and local businesses are suffering. The bank’s new president, Alvin Duffy, comes up with a scheme to print fake money called Darling Dollars to serve as local currency and keep businesses open until the bank recovers. But the Darling Dollars are stolen, and soon it appears that Duffy may be cheating the town and breaking the hearts of a few of its women. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Lacy, president of the women’s garden club, the Darling Dahlias, has her own heart broken when she finds out her longtime boyfriend might be forced to marry another woman. Will she and the Darling Dahlias be able to save the town?

This book is absolutely delightful, and full of authentic details on life in the South during the Great Depression. Since I had never read any of the previous books, it took me a while to sort out who everyone was, but the list of characters was very helpful. I would definitely like to go back and read the previous books. Depression-era recipes are included.

Vicki Kondelik

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THE ZONE OF INTEREST Martin Amis, Jonathan Cape, 2014, £18.99, hb, 320pp, 9780224099745 / Knopf, 2014, $26.94, hb, 320pp, 9780385353496 Amis takes us into the uncomfortable territory of a Nazi death camp in Poland in 1942 and 1943. It is not named, but it soon becomes clear that AuschwitzBirkenau is the place in question. The story is told in the first person, by three narrators – Paul Doll, Angelus Thomsen and Szmel. Doll is the Kommandant, 36 | Reviews |

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based upon Hoss, Auschwitz’s head from 1940 to 1945. He is an alcoholic, seems to be increasingly mentally unbalanced and has marital problems with his headstrong wife Hannah. Thomsen is in a senior position at the camp’s Buna synthetic works, seemingly owing his position to his uncle, Martin Bormann. Thomsen is an epicene womanizer, who develops a passion for Hannah Doll. Szmel is the Jewish head of the Sonderkommando, the group with the fearsome responsibility for dealing with the corpses in the death camps.

The plot mostly focuses on the relatively minor concerns and dynamics of the camp management.

In the midst of the daily industrial killing of hundreds of thousands of unfortunates, very little effort is directed towards their emotions or experiences. The scale of suffering was so immense as to be utterly unimaginable by anyone else, and that the Germans could run this atrocity whilst emphasising quotidian matters illustrates the extraordinary behaviour they consistently exhibited to do this. Amis displays a depth of knowledge on the bureaucracy of the German concentration camp and military systems and its personnel which might be rather convoluted for the average reader.

This is an engaging and brilliantly absorbing novel. At times amusing, amidst the despair and horrors of the death, there are diamond-hard glimpses of humanity and truth. In one of many extraordinary passages that stand out, Paul Doll compares his wife’s attempts to hide her smoking habit with the national effort to mask the whole exterminatory programme.

Douglas Kemp LAST TRAIN TO WAVERLEY Malcolm Archibald, Fledgling Press, 2014, £9.99, pb, 265pp, 9781905916856 Douglas Ramsay is a young officer, experienced in the carnage of the Great War, who is assigned to the 20th Royal Scots Guards. Almost immediately he is thrown with his small group of men into the depths of violence… and Ramsay fears he will meet his doom from his past. He and his handful of men find themselves trapped behind enemy lines as the German war machine thrusts deeper into Britishheld territory.With his rag-rag group of men low on ammunition, food and morale, Ramsay becomes determined to lead them back to safety, despite knowing that one of them has the power to destroy him utterly. Moving from peaceful Scotland to the mud, blood and horror of the Western Front, the author manages to capture the reader’s attention and hold it as the story of Douglas Ramsay and his irreversible change in personality caused by the Great War, the constant terror, noise and suffering.

We see Ramsay face up to his younger self and, despising what he sees, come through to accept the past, his own past, with determination and closure.

Alan Cassady-Bishop A LIVERPOOL LEGACY Anne Baker, Headline, 2014, £5.99, pb, 378pp, 9780755399604

In the spring of 1947 Millie and Pete Maynard take their daughter Sylvie on a sailing trip for a celebration birthday picnic. The weather changes abruptly. Their boat is caught in a sudden storm, and Pete dies. He leaves Millie his half share in Maynard’s, a Liverpool factory making fine quality soaps. Although she has worked in the perfume laboratory for eighteen years, she has no experience of running a company. Pete’s brother, James, sees his opportunity to take over the business and brings in his two sons, both recently demobbed and looking for work. But neither brother is what he seems, and soon Millie finds herself the victim of dirty tricks.

Skeletons in the cupboard abound, and Millie finds herself the recipient of family secrets long hidden.

Can she keep the family together? Can she fight against her uncle and his brood? Or will she go under?

Anne Baker has written a host of family sagas.

Her many fans will find this an entertaining and engrossing read. Her characters are well drawn, dynamic and believable. This is a well written, enjoyable tale of romance, family drama and black market skulduggery. Recommended.

Mike Ashworth FROM A DISTANCE Raffaella Barker, Bloomsbury, 2014, $17.00/ C$19.00, pb, 329pp, 97816204033418 / Bloomsbury, 2014, £16.99, hb, 336pp, 9781408833735 Distance is key in Barker’s new novel.

Geographically, there’s action in Cornwall and Norfolk, England, and tangentially India, Italy, and New Zealand. There’s time, with one story unfolding in 1946 and another in the present day. There’s also psychological distance, between husbands and wives, parents and children. Much of the story is the contemporary narrative of Luisa and her family in Norfolk, with Luisa feeling increasingly disconnected from her husband and teenaged children. The character of Kit, who heads up a textiles operation in Cornwall, visits Norfolk to complete the legal work on his mother’s estate, as well as to claim the property he just learned she owned: the Kings Sloley lighthouse. He and Luisa are both awakening to new phases in their lives, and neither could anticipate the depth of their connection.

Of greater interest are the chapters about Michael Marker, who returned to England after WWII and didn’t go home. Unable to face his family and fiancée after the horrors he’d endured in Europe, he makes a last-second decision to take the train to Cornwall rather than Norfolk. He finds himself in the artists’ communities that have sprung up along the southeast coast of England, where traditional fishing villages welcome the newcomers who are trying to make sense, and art, in the post-war world. Here, Michael heals with the fresh air, hard physical work, and the love of Felicity, an artist who mourns her own losses. The intertwining of lives, and revelation of decades-old secrets, bridges the distance between the timelines.

The scenes in Cornwall bring the community 20th Century

to life, and readers will ache at the suffering of Michael and Felicity; so, too, will they rejoice in the creativity of art and the hope for new beginnings.

Helene Williams THE DISAPPEARANCE BOY Neil Bartlett, Bloomsbury, 2014, $26.00/C$30.00, hb, 288pp, 9781620407257 / Bloomsbury Circus, 2014, £16.99, hb, 288pp, 9781408850442 Reggie Rainbow (so named at the orphanage for the wild hopefulness of the word) has grown up defiant despite a childhood case of polio that left one leg shorter. Years of crutches have given Reg a strength and dexterity that serves him well as a “disappearance boy” to an oily illusionist, Mr. Brookes. Under Mr. Brookes’ distracting hands and behind the mirrored walls of a large box, the hidden Reg helps a series of glamorous ladies disappear.

The latest, Pamela, arrives in a cloud of perfume and an air of self-confidence just week before the new queen’s 1953 Coronation. As the three begin rehearsals for a new show at the dilapidated Brighton Grand, they begin to realize that not all the illusions are on the stage and not all the secrets within Mr. Brookes’ mirrored box.

Told with the casualness of an unhurried tale over a pint, the narrator of Neil Bartlett’s newest novel dips between first, third, and the occasional wellplaced second person. We watch the story unfold, as though a part of the illusionist’s spellbound audience, ever alert for that sleight of hand, yet still taken in by the illusion built up for us. Even when the narrator lets us duck behind the curtain, to see Mr. Brookes’ hidden pockets, Pamela’s quick changes, Reggie’s quiet manipulations, we still wonder what is real and what is performance.

From the roles in the lascivious shows to those in the public pageantry of the Coronation, Bartlett comments on the ways women were displayed and hidden in the Fifties, on the expectations built up around them and the sometimes narrow avenues they had to escape those expectations. On and off the stage, Reggie is used to disappearances.

An arresting story about illusion, delusion, and the performances in our lives.

Jessica Brockmole LIBERTY SILK Kate Beaufoy, Transworld, 2014, £6.99, pb, 510pp, 9781848271890 This is the story of three generations of women linked by a silk dress. First there’s Jessie, whose artist husband inexplicably deserts her during their honeymoon in France in 1919. Naïve and vulnerable, she meets a man who thrusts her into the heady and dangerous high life of Paris. Then comes Lisa, who wows 1940s Hollywood but finds there’s a price for all the glitz and glamour. Finally, in 60s London we meet Cat, who searches out the secrets in the legacy she inherits and brings the story to a satisfying conclusion.

This is an absorbing read with a pacy plot full of lively characters and authentic detail, all the more so for being inspired by the life of the author’s grandmother, the original wearer of the 20th Century

eponymous dress which the author now owns, along with her grandmother’s letters, the artist husband’s sketchbook, a ring and a charm, all of them skilfully worked into the story. The book also contains an imaginary conversation between the author and her grandmother, a quiz and a link to a Pinterest page with photos of the aforementioned artefacts.

Sarah Cuthbertson

THE SHADOW OF WAR Stewart Binns, Michael Joseph, 2014, £12.99, hb, 535pp, 9780718179977 In the opening chapters of The Shadow of War, the first of Stewart Binns’ five-book series on WWI, readers are introduced to the five groups who will anchor his story. He writes of the poor Thomas family living in Wales; Maurice and Harry, who are regular army in the Fusiliers; Winston Churchill and his circle of family, friends and politicians; the aristocrats of Blair Atholl in Perthshire; and several working men and women from Burnley, Lancashire. And throughout the novel, which takes place during the last seven months of 1914, we follow the involvement of each group in the early stages of WWI. As the cover says, “All that they have known will be changed forever by the catastrophic events of the Great War.” Of the five groups, Churchill comes to life best with his wife, Clemmie, and people such as David Lloyd George, Jack Churchill, Lord Kitchener and Prime Minister Asquith. Binns’ dialogue is another excellent aspect of the novel, and the author is clearly very skilled at weaving historical facts and obscure incidents into his stories. Having read Anarchy, an earlier novel, I was expecting an action-packed story with vivid characters woven into historical events. Instead, using a distant narrator voice and told in the present tense, The Shadow of War gives the reader a sense of looking down on the players from a great height rather than being with them in the thick of things. As the weeks and months of 1914 unfold, Binns offers a mix of fact and fiction, almost as though he cannot decide whether he’s writing a novel or a non-fiction account of war.

M.K. Tod THE PRESIDENT’S LUNCH Jenny Bond, Hachette Australia, 2014, A$29.99, pb, 400 pp, 9780733629822 In 1933, Iris McIntosh loses her teaching job in Chicago and is forced on the road with thousands of others who are desperate for work, food and shelter. At the same time, the President’s wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, has her own private challenges to negotiate, and she is also trying to persuade her husband to make his New Deal initiatives more inclusive of women. Iris has a lucky encounter with Eleanor in a gas station, and her life changes dramatically as she is given opportunities that few women in her era would have. Interspersed in the narrative are the 1962 memoirs by Henrietta, a former housekeeper at the White House, and she recalls how she fed its incumbents and their VIP

visitors on a limited Great Depression menu.

The nature of this novel makes it difficult to decide which readership it is aimed at. Those who like their historical fiction more lightweight (steamy sex scenes) will no doubt enjoy Iris’s relationships with Monty, the dashing advisor to FDR, and his rival, the restrained journalist, Sam. Other readers who favor a more serious literary approach and historical novels that feature real people will appreciate the passages that deal with the complexities of American politics and Eleanor’s feminism, as well as glimpses into the enigmatic Roosevelt partnership, but they may find Iris’s dithering romantic entanglements superfluous or just plain annoying. And then there is the third strand from the wry, practical viewpoint of the housekeeper that doesn’t really seem to gel with anything else. This may have worked better if it was made concurrent with the rest of the narrative.

The President’s Lunch is often engaging and historically enlightening but is ultimately let down by its indecisive genre.

Marina Maxwell HELL WITH THE LID BLOWN OFF: An Alafair Tucker Mystery Donis Casey, Poisoned Pen Press, 2014, $24.95, hb, 244pp, 9781464202988 It’s 1916 in Boynton, Oklahoma, and for Alafair Tucker life pretty much follows her “guiding philosophy… that there is always room… for one more child.” And that’s what she’s about to get in the person of Trent Calder, Deputy Sheriff, who loves her daughter Ruth. Casey provides multiple third-person narrators, but it is Trent, the single first-person narrator, who opens and closes the novel and provides guidance and structure for both the murder investigation and the narrative itself.

When a brutal twister strikes Boynton, Jubal Beldon, the snake in this Oklahoma Eden, is found dead in the wreckage with a puncture wound in his thigh. That lethal wound could have been made by wind-blown debris, “or it could be somebody slipped a blade into his leg.” And thus whirlwind and murder collide.

I loved this book; it’s as much a saga of an American community under great natural and personal stress as it is a mystery novel. And that saga of disaster is so well detailed and comprehensively recited that it feels at one and the same time as if it were ripped from today’s headlines and related as a myth from the deepest heart of our history.

Joanne Dobson THE DAY WITHOUT YESTERDAY Stuart Clark, Polygon, 2014, £8.99, pb, 281pp, 9781846972829 The last of Clark’s Sky’s Dark Labyrinth trilogy turns its focus on the progress of physics and astronomy in the 1910s-1930s and particularly on Albert Einstein, as he struggles to formulate his Theory of General Relativity. But his personal life – the wife he can no longer live with, the two sons who need him, the cousin who loves him but refuses to be taken for granted – and the HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 37

changing political situation threaten to impinge on his work. As the patriotism of 1914 darkens into the bitterness of the inter-war years, it becomes increasingly dangerous to be a prominent Jew in Germany.

Although Clark’s three novels are officially a trilogy, it is perfectly possible to read each individually, since each deals with a different century and different characters, though references to Kepler, Galileo, Newton and the rest will be clearer to those familiar with the earlier books.

The author does a good job of humanising a man who could be seen as self-absorbed and neglectful of those who love him. Clark also avoids the mistake of many writers of fictionalised biographies by not trying to cram in every documented event in his characters’ lives at the expense of a coherent narrative arc.

Admittedly the secondary hero, Belgian priest and scientist Georges Lemaitre, gets a little overshadowed, despite playing an important role in the denouement, by laying the foundations of modern scientific theory about the origins of the universe. But perhaps it is inevitable that any early 20th-century scientist would get eclipsed by Einstein.

Clark’s language is very accessible, and I think I grasped the complex scientific theories that underpin the novel. A book that might appeal to those who find non-fiction science books too dry; or even those who don’t usually read fiction.

Jasmina Svenne TEARDROPS IN THE MOON Tania Crosse, Robert Hale, 2014, £19.99, 224pp, hb, 9780719813290 The novel opens on 28th June 1914, the day Archduke Ferdinand is assassinated in Sarajevo, in Devon where a middle-class family are celebrating Rose Warrington’s 60th birthday, unaware their lives will soon change. Marianne, Rose’s horseloving younger daughter and the novel’s protagonist, will go to the Front as an ambulance driver with the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. Her girlhood vow will be challenged, and tragedies await those she loves. Henry, her brother, will volunteer rather than be considered a coward. He would prefer to remain at home training horses for war work. Teardrops in the Moon contains a carefully integrated revenge subplot involving Rose’s mysterious past. Although this occasionally deflects from the sorrow of war which Crosse’s novel presents so well, it allows another emotion to penetrate the narrative drive.

The characterisation is satisfying. The reader walks in the protagonist’s shoes and feels for Henry and for her friends at the Front, in particular, for her love interest, Albert. Other characters such as Rose, Kate and Mary feel sketchy.

The research is impeccable. I learned much about horses in World War I, the ambulance service and the major battles. I did wonder if the author covered too great a span of time in one novel since some scenes end rather abruptly. However, this book is about how the war affected a particular family and, in this, it succeeds. I was reminded of 38 | Reviews |

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Testament of Youth by Vera Brittan.

Finally, Crosse writes beautifully, with a clear voice and strong emotional drive. The intriguing title comes from the following passage, ‘She opened her eyes wide in an attempt to let her tears dry, and stared at the moon. It was crying too, its tears falling in heavy grey clouds that drifted across the night sky.’

Carol McGrath FORGET YOU EVER KNEW ME Judy Dailey, Five Star, 2014, $25.95, hb, 274pp, 9781432829483 In 1952, Maggie Kendall, a young, enthusiastic obstetrician, is barred from a position at the new hospital in Zillah, Indiana because her husband also works there. Nevertheless, Maggie brings a black teenager suffering from a botched abortion to the hospital. It is only because she offers to pay for the girl’s treatment that the teen isn’t turned away.

Outraged, Maggie decides to open a free obstetric clinic, but meets with both prejudice and accusations of communism from nearly everyone in Zillah. Then, the clinic is torched, and gruesomely mutilated black man is found dead on the road, and Maggie disappears – until forty years later. A maid in a Zillah motel is battered to death, and the room where she died is registered to Maggie Kendall.

Why did Maggie return to Zillah, and what does she have to do with Luther Pierce’s death?

Judy Dailey’s suspense novel, Forget You Ever Knew Me, explores the persistence of racial and sexual prejudice, and reminds her readers that the statute of limitations for murder, just like the bond between mother and daughter, and the desire for revenge, never expires. This fast-moving, smoothreading tale will keep you guessing until the final pages.

Jo Ann Butler SPIRIT HOUSE Mark Dapin, Atlantic/Trafalgar Square, 2014 (c2013), $13.95/£8.99, pb, 361pp, 9781782390886 At first blush this novel seems to be a coming-ofage story about 13-year-old David, who is dumped on his grandparents’ doorstep when his mother leaves with her lover. Jimmy, David’s grandfather, is seventy and a WWII veteran, having served in the Australian army in Singapore until the army surrendered to the Japanese. He spends the rest of the war in POW camps, forced to build a railroad from Thailand to Burma for the Japanese army. Now, in 1990, brutal memories of his war years begin to haunt him, and it is clear that he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Jimmy meets regularly with a group of Jewish men, his comrades during the war, and they trade good-natured barbs and backbiting but never expose the gritty truth of their experiences.

Gradually, Jimmy begins to confide more in his grandson and relates stories of his imprisonment to David. Together, they embark upon a project of reconciliation that they hope will finally put the old ghosts of war to rest.

Despite the grim subject matter, especially when describing the POW camp experiences, Dapin injects warmth and humor into this novel with the old men sometimes sounding like borscht-belt comics. There are some mysterious diary entries in the novel that may confuse readers, but these are explained in the end. Although David’s story remains unresolved, and readers will look for a better resolution for him, this remains a moving and engrossing novel about men coming to terms with the terrible, and often unexpected, legacy of war.

John Kachuba MURDER AT THE MIKADO Julianna Deering, Bethany House, 2014, $13.99, pb, 336pp, 9780764210976 The newest Drew Farthering murder mystery surrounds an acting troupe performing Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado in the period following Prohibition. The lead actor is found in his dressing room, bludgeoned to death with a champagne bottle. Although there are many suspects, the focus is on Fleur Landis, a former lover of the actor, and current wife of one of Drew’s associates. Drew does not want to take on the job of investigating this murder, since he had experienced an uncomfortable history with Fleur as a young man, but with two more murders occurring, he has no choice. This draws his attention away from his upcoming wedding to Madeline Parker, who had assisted him on previous cases. The sudden appearance of a woman with a reputation from his past is not making things easy for his personal life, either.

The tension between Madeline and Drew, with her jealousy seeming to overpower her ability to help with the case, is a nice side story in this otherwise predictable murder mystery. It was good to see her find the cool confidence to help solve the case in the end. There is a twist with the motive for the multiple murders that we discover in the closing chapter.

Beth Turza THE BOSTON GIRL Anita Diamant, Scribner, 2015, $26.00, hb, 336pp, 9781439199350 In 1985 Addie Baum’s granddaughter asks her, “How did you get to be who you are?” It’s a long story, one which will delight readers of Anita Diamant’s The Boston Girl.

Boston in 1915 is the very essence of America’s melting pot, and Addie Baum, born to Jewish immigrants fifteen years earlier, is ready to step out of her insular neighborhood and explore.

Addie is delighted when a teacher persuades her parents to let her go to high school. Even better, Miss Chevalier arranges for Addie to spend part of her summer at the Rockport House. It’s the first time that Addie has ever been outside of Boston, and she is surrounded by a rich mix of Italian and Irish girls, along with other Jews and descendants of Boston’s Puritans. Many of the girls return to Rockport year after year, and some of them become Addie’s lifelong friends.

20th Century

Life isn’t all summer vacation, but Addie has learned to dream big. Working as her brother-inlaw’s clerk helps support her family and provides Addie with experience. One of her friends from Rockport House gives Addie a lead to her dream job at the Boston Transcript. She starts as a typist, and soon she has her own column.

Hard work, good friends, and a little luck make Addie Baum who she is. Readers who try The Boston Girl will feel lucky that they read this richly textured all-American tale.

Jo Ann Butler THE RED EAGLES David Downing, Old Street, 2014, £7.99, pb, 232pp, 9781908699961 Intense, intricate and intriguing; this engrossing novel is another example of Downing’s ability to write captivating historical espionage fiction. Set against the last days of World War Two, the story revolves around a Soviet-led plot that capitalises on the Germans’ need to turn the tide of the war.

The author’s ability to conjure up a distinct sense of atmosphere in the Soviet Union, Germany and America during that period is as remarkable as his ability to create characters that are both memorable and haunting; in particular the double agent Amy, whose vulnerability goes hand in hand in hand with her determination to ensure that even if she ends up in the electric chair she will carry out her duty. Kuznetsky is a top Soviet agent who is both dispassionate and ruthless, and his sinister character contrasts sharply with Paul and his friend Gourd, who have been plucked from the hell of battling for Germany on the Eastern Front to face what is tantamount to a suicide mission in the sleepy backwaters of an unsuspecting and unprepared America.

Downing’s acclaimed Zoo Station and this new spy thriller share the author’s skill in being able not only to evoke a sense of a particular historical period, but also to write a riveting plot whilst introducing a cast of characters such as like Joe, whose fanatical beliefs both intrigue and repel one as a reader. This fast-moving novel is quite simply an excellent read.

Myfanwy Cook SPIRITS REVIVED Alice Duncan, Five Star, 2014, $25.95, hb, 248pp, 9781432827984 This latest book in the long-running Daisy Gumm Majesty series of cozy mysteries opens a year after the death of Daisy’s beloved Billy.

Somehow, she’s struggled on, and part of her recovery may be due to her dedication to the wealthy of Pasadena, California, whom she has vowed to help during their own times of need. For Daisy is a spiritualist, although she admits she’s faking it. Still people often seem comforted by her séances and the chance to speak with a beloved departed. The problem arrives rather dramatically in Spirits Revived when a murdered young man sneaks into Daisy’s body and informs the eight people in the room that his death was not suicide as 20th Century

the police claim. Of course, Daisy feels compelled to investigate. These are entertaining, light, clever mysteries with a 1920s flavor and West Coast glitz.

Readers of gentle mystery tales will enjoy!

Kathryn Johnson THE FIREBIRD’S FEATHER Marjorie Eccles, Severn House, 2014, $28.95/£19.99, hb, 224pp, 9780727884268 The Firebird’s Feather is a historical mystery set in the Edwardian period amidst the upheaval of the new king’s coronation, suffragette protests, and revolutionary fervor. The book opens on a Sunday in the Challoner household with Kitty, the daughter of a wealthy stockbroker and Russian expatriate. Her world comes crashing down when her mother Lydia is shot while riding in Hyde Park. Sensing that the police will never find her killer, Kitty sets out to solve the crime with Marcus Villiers, the last person to have seen her mother alive.

The Firebird’s Feather perfectly captures the social discontent of the early 20th century.

The usual suffragette theme is in play, but the interesting addition of the various Russian discontents is area not usually explored in fiction.

While Eccles is a competent writer, she employs the popular method of telling the tale through the eyes of multiple characters. This method slows the pace to a crawl. Nearly a quarter of the novel is devoted to the coming and goings of the primary and secondary characters, of which there seem to be too many. While the pace does pick up, readers will have to employ some fortitude to get through the introductory chapters.

Overall, The Firebird’s Feather is an interesting novel that will appeal to mystery lovers and Edwardian-era enthusiasts alike.

Caroline Wilson REVONTULI Andrew Eddy, Booktrope, 2013, $15.95, pb, 234pp, 9781620151891 Set in war-torn Europe between 1940 and 1944, this story tells how the Germans occupied and then destroyed the Sami people’s lands in the Finnmark – Norway’s northernmost county, lying fully within the Arctic Circle. The Sami, sometimes called Lapps, are nomadic reindeer herders. Their ancient culture and ability to live off the land stood them in good stead during the German occupation and the scorched earth policy that followed.

Marit is half-Sami and half-Norwegian, living on a farm outside the village of Karasjok. Like others of her friends and family, she is strongly affected by the brutal treatment the Germans afford their eastern European slave laborers.

During the occupation she falls in love with Hans, a young German soldier. Their story is heartbreaking, although probably not unusual for their circumstances and for that era in history.

Marit and her mother, among many others, are evacuated to Tromsø, where they are fortunate to have family. Eventually they return to the mined and burnt-out Finnmark, where their Sami culture

prevails, and Marit’s future appears hopeful, if not traditional.

The magical, Nordic setting of forests, fields, lakes, and rivers under the Revontuli (Finnish for “fox’s fire,” or northern lights) adds interest to the deeply emotional but fairly predictable love story.

The depictions of traditional Sami life and folklore are riveting.

World War II buffs and anyone interested in the Finnmark and the Sami culture should enjoy this book. It illuminates what to most is probably a little-known wartime event. A historical note with more information about Karasjok and the rugged endurance of the Sami would have been welcome, but it is not really necessary. Recommended.

Elizabeth Knowles PERFIDIA James Ellroy, Knopf, 2014, $28.95, hb, 700pp, 9780307956996 / William Heinemann, 2014, 18.99, hb, 720pp, 9780434020522 Four Japanese Americans are murdered on the day before Pearl Harbor, opening a book which could be called a police procedural when police procedure involves murdering suspects, wiretapping each other, debating whom to frame for the murders, going out of town to execute a witness as a courtesy to a mobster, and plotting to profit from the upcoming internment of all citizens of Japanese descent. Casual racism is expressed throughout the book, presumably through the minds of the principal characters: a police groupie who infiltrates left-wing meetings; an IRA veteran policeman who carries out illegal operations for Joseph Kennedy; a Japanese-American forensic scientist in the awkward position of being the only one of his race employed by the L.A.P.D.; and a real-life captain who is conducting an eventually successful campaign to become chief of police.

This is the latest in Ellroy’s series of interrelated novels about the dark side of Los Angeles. His style consists of short powerful phrases sprinkled with vulgarities such as (my favorite): “stirred up a shitload of shit.” The murder investigation fades into the background as real life and invented characters react to war with its dangers and opportunities. One of the main characters is conducting an affair with Bette Davis, and other Hollywood stars are mentioned from time to time, usually in the context of rumors of homosexuality or abortion. The usual noir elements include prostitutes undergoing plastic surgery to look like movie stars and Chinese doctors selling shrunken Japanese heads. Confusion about who the good guys are and who the bad guys are disappears when you realize there are no good guys.

James Hawking

C

POTIONS AND PAPER CRANES Lan Fang (trans. Elisabet Titik Murtisari), Dalang, 2013, $17.95, pb, 250pp, 9780983627333 This novel’s mesmerizing prologue opens in 2003 in Surabaya, Indonesia. Afterward, the timeline slips to the 1940s during WWII, describing life on the island under Dutch, and later HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 39

Japanese, occupation.

The story is narrated in four first-person voices: that of Sulis, a young woman who sells herbal potions in Surabaya’s harbor; Sujono, a young, hard-working coolie; Matsumi, a geisha brought to Java by a Japanese general; and, Letsari, Sujono’s daughter. Sulis recounts vividly the dismal poverty and her long work days. She lives with her grandmother in a small one-room bamboo hut, where they survive on a meager diet of rice, soya sauce, and an occasional fish. Although Sulis forces Sujono into marriage, her life worsens.

Sujono moves in with Sulis, abuses her, and even disowns their child. Sujono, although dreaming of Indonesia’s independence, becomes enamored with Matsumi, who returns his advances. Life gets very complicated for the trio when Sujono loses his job and Matsumi becomes pregnant. Letsari recites their heartrending lives, including the Japanese surrender, up to the novel’s poignant conclusion.

For her novel’s opening, Lan Fang has used a cinematic technique by showing a bit of the ending. While this can be risky for holding readers’ interest, it is extremely effective for this novel.

After partially introducing the characters in the prologue to pique our curiosity, Fang’s strong writing keeps us turning the pages to the climactic finale. The four narratives bring to life the plight of the Indonesians: first under the oppressive Dutch colonial rule, and later made worse during the Japanese takeover. The details of war are kept to a minimum, which enable the author to focus on the lives of women in Japanese, Chinese and Indonesian cultures as well as masculine chauvinism. Readers will experience the characters’ anguish and feel as if they’d lived with them on that tropical island.

Highly recommended.

Waheed Rabbani JEEVES AND THE WEDDING BELLS Sebastian Faulks, Arrow, 2014, £7.99, pb, 350pp, 9780099588979 / St. Martin’s Griffin, 2014, $15.99, pb, 256pp, 9781250049063 What ho, the renowned scribbler Sebastian Faulks has jolly well gone and bunged out a rather decent tale involving that immortal pair of Bertie Wooster and his extraordinary valet Jeeves. It is 1926, just after the General Strike, and Bertie and Jeeves decamp to Dorset, where Bertie has the task of trying to save the engagements of two good friends at Sir Henry Hackwood’s substantial pile, Melbury Hall. This involves a fair amount of brain work on Bertie’s part to come up with a stratagem that might work… By one of those Wodehousian quirky twists of fate, Bertie ends up as valet to Jeeves, who is masquerading as one Lord Etringham. As one may well anticipate, matters get dashed complicated and Bertie, the epitome of bonhomie and a thoroughgoing good-natured 40 | Reviews |

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chappie gets a wonderful surprise at the conclusion of events away in bucolic Dorset.

This is a wonderful homage to the P.G. Wodehouse books. It is a challenging task to concoct a story in the narrative style, voice, pace and language of Wodehouse’s characters, and Faulks bring it off without wobbling. I would certainly recommend this for those who love the Jeeves and Wooster books, and for those fortunate enough to be about to discover them for the first time – then this is not a bad way to get into the mood.

Douglas Kemp

C

THE NARROW ROAD TO THE DEEP NORTH Richard Flanagan, Knopf, 2014, $25.00, hb, 352pp, 9780385352857 / Chatto & Windus, 2014, £16.99, hb, 464pp, 9780701189051 “Why at the beginning… is there always light?” muses Dorrigo Evans, recalling, as a oneyear-old in 1915, the sun flooding a church hall in Tasmania.

Later, he wins a scholarship to study medicine in Melbourne and becomes an army surgeon. Although engaged, Dorrigo has a passionate affair with a pub owner’s wife. A fire destroys the pub, and grieving Dorrigo is unexpectedly shipped out for service during WWII. In 1943, he lands in the Changi Japanese POW camp. Along with 61,000 Allied and more local prisoners, Dorrigo is put to work on the Siam-Burma railway line’s construction, aptly named the Death-Railway not only for the severe tropical conditions, but also the prisoners’ inhumane treatment—inadequate facilities, starvation, beatings—meted out by the Japanese.

As the senior officer, Dorrigo aids his colleagues.

Nevertheless, towards the end, over a quarter of the detainees become a part of the Death-Railway ground. Receiving a strange letter, an emotionally damaged Dorrigo returns home. Although he marries and starts womanizing again, little does he know that his past would catch up to him.

Richard Flanagan is aptly suited to write this novel, for it’s based on his father’s (and others’) experiences at Changi. This unsanitized account of its subject is more disturbing than that depicted in many earlier novels and movies. Nevertheless, it is penned in a splendid literary style, and its title complements that of the Japanese haiku poet Basho’s haibun. Although the intermingling of the past and present storylines requires careful reading, the mesmerizing narrative (sans quotation marks) flows to create evocative images of the characters and scenes. Flanagan has also included postwar lives of not only the Australians but also the Japanese to add depth to the novel; it provides new insights into their actions. Questions about love,

guilt and death are tackled philosophically. It’s no wonder the novel has been shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. Highly recommended.

Waheed Rabbani TIME TO SAY GOODBYE Katie Flynn, Arrow, 2014, £6.99, pb, 422pp, 9780099574668 Latecomers among the 1939 evacuees from Liverpool, three little girls – sharp-tongued Rita, sweet Debby and thoughtful Imogen – find themselves billeted at the village pub run by Auntie and her niece Jill. Slightly irregular as the situation is, the girls love their country idyll, and their kindhearted hosts, and soon make friends with the boys at a neighbouring farm. Then the Battle of England begins in earnest. Will friendship, happiness and innocence stand the test of war? Katie Flynn’s latest home-front story mostly reads like children’s fiction, following the three girls in their daily comings and goings. Nothing much happens, although war puts in an episodic appearance now and then. But in the end, what could have been a gentle little story of growing up in wartime is wrecked by endless, awkward pages of dialogue, in which the characters never cease to feed each other, and the reader, bits of Ms. Flynn’s research – even while running for shelter during a blitz.

Chiara Prezzavento LOVE COMES HOME Ann H. Gabhart, Revell, 2014, $14.99, pb, 384pp, 9780800721855 This is the third story about the Merritt family (Angel Sister, 2011; Small Town Girl, 2013). World War II is over, and two of the sisters’ husbands are returning. Evangeline worries about Mike because he seems different; her pregnancy makes her anxious and moody. Kate and Jay rekindle their romance, and Kate wants desperately to become pregnant. Victoria’s husband Sammy died in the war, and her grief is enormous. Victoria lives with her parents, who help with two-yearold Samantha. Long-time friend Clay comes to court Victoria, who isn’t sure she’s ready. Lorena, fourteen, wonders about her birth parents.

Love Comes Home is a novel of reflection. Much of the novel is spent in the heads of the characters, meditating on their problems. Characters remember the past (making reading this book out of order not a problem), pray, and think and think about their worries. The novel would have been more engaging if the author had shown the characters dealing and working through the problems rather than just thinking about them so much. Still, the Merritt sisters are well drawn, and fans of the series will want to know what is happening.

Elizabeth Caulfield Felt EDGE OF VALOR: A Todd Ingram Novel John J. Gobbell, Naval Institute Press, 2014, $34.95, hb, 344pp, 9781612515199 August, 1945. The surrender of Japan should have brought a close to the war, and to the need of 20th Century

Commander Todd Ingram’s presence in the Pacific.

But when he is called away from his duties aboard the USS Maxwell to go on a top secret mission, he is troubled. He wants nothing more than to go home to his wife in California.

Of what use would the commanding officer of an American destroyer be among a crew of pilots, Marines, and representatives of the state department escorting Japanese dignitaries? What role could he play in dissuading Soviet intentions to occupy not only territory on the mainland, but also the island of Hokkaido? When he sees his Russian contact, all is made clear. This is the very man he had come to call friend years ago in San Francisco. It’s also the very man who tried to have Ingram’s wife killed. With NKVD threats against his life, the prospect of WWIII, and the onset of the Cold War, the world itself seems at stake. And Ingram finds himself in the middle of it.

This is the fifth installment of the Ingram series. I haven’t read the others, but Gobbell does a good job of getting the reader up to speed. As a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy, he is able to bring tremendous insight, information, and authenticity to play in his writing. He obviously loves military life. The novel is full of banter among the ranks, banter between the ranks, and banter between the military branches. His enthusiasm for his characters perhaps shows through too much, and the pacing is a bit off. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable read, and it was good to meet the likes of MacArthur and be there for the official surrender ceremony.

Justin M. Lindsay THE HORMONE FACTORY Saskia Goldschmidt, Other Press, 2014, $17.95/ C$21.50, pb, 304pp, 9781590516492 Mordechai de Paauw—womanizer, cheat, and ruthless businessman—is a despicable man, yet the perfect narrator. The heir to a Dutch meatpacking family, Motke aspires to more than butchering.

He strikes a deal with the suave Rafaël Levine, a professor of pharmacology and a German.

Though neither trusts the other, they create a pharmaceuticals company, using the waste products of the meatpacking factory to seek out and extract hormones. With Motke handling the business and Levine the science they produce insulin, standardize estrogen, discover testosterone, and develop The Pill. While Motke revels in his wealth and power, the urbane Levine sees the research as a scientific quest for the human soul. As Hitler’s reach begins stretching across Europe, defining humanity becomes suddenly more urgent.

This is a meandering tale, told by Motke on his deathbed with an almost reprehensible lack of awareness. He is an engaging narrator, despite his other faults, even when the reader begins to wonder whether to believe him. You will not find much dialogue or thrilling action sequences.

The other characters are intentionally painted thinly, just as he sees them, as a collection of hormones and organs. While his partner spent decades searching for the “soul hormone,” Motke 20th Century

disregarded the soul. Under his hand, women were exploited, families were broken, people were thrust into poverty, and more than one person died. The book is the rambling of an old man desperate to tell his side of the story, but instead only managing to reinforce why we shouldn’t have listened in the first place. He’s vicious, misogynistic, narcissistic, and cowardly. In the end, he’s the best person to tell his story.

Jessica Brockmole THE SOLDIER’S DAUGHTER Rosie Goodwin, Corsair, 2014, £6.99, pb, 440pp, 9781472101723 With over twenty novels under her belt, and being the first author in the world allowed to follow three of Catherine Cookson’s trilogies with her own sequels, Rosie Goodwin has become an expert in weaving a highly readable story. The Soldier’s Daughter is no exception to this.

As the realities and hardships of World War II hit Nuneaton, 17-year-old Briony Valentine’s world is turned upside down. Her father is conscripted, and her lifelong friend, Ernie, for whom she has developed romantic feelings, joins the RAF. The war rages, and Briony is sent with her two young siblings to live on the large family estate in Cornwall with her grandparents, whom they have never seen, and who disowned their mother years before. Things are not all they seem, however, and Briony soon finds herself fighting her own private war against both her family and her romantic feelings. As the war rages on, and disaster and heartbreak hit those close to her, Briony wonders if anything – and anyone – she has known will ever be the same again, and whether happiness will elude her.

This is a beautifully drawn piece of historical women’s fiction. Believable and endearing characters work through their own private, sometimes harrowing, period in British history with resilience, humour and love. It is a book for people about people in extreme circumstances, and one cannot help loving them – even if we do not like them all! If I have any grievance with this novel, it is that the characters’ thoughts are a little too prescribed for me – but that’s only my view, of course. I would heartily recommend this novel, particularly to those readers who enjoy family dramas, or who like a bit of romance in the background of their reading. A truly enjoyable book.

Claire Cowling RIDERS ON THE STORM Ed Gorman, Pegasus Crime, 2014, $25.95, hb, 208pp, 9781605986258 Like many of his friends, Sam McCain thought he was headed to Vietnam. But after an accident in boot camp, he returns home to Black River Falls to work as a lawyer and investigator as his buddies are shipped overseas. One by one, after their tours are over, his friends return home, some of them changed forever. After a political fundraiser turns into a brawl between two of his oldest friends—

Will Cullen who has joined an anti-war group, and Steve Donovan who is running for Congress on a pro-war platform—Sam finds himself caught in the middle and caught up in the political fallout.

After Steve is found murdered and Will becomes the prime suspect, Sam is determined to prove Will innocent. No matter what Will did in Vietnam, Sam believes, he is not a killer.

Sam McCain is not perfect, but he’s not a stereotypically damaged private investigator, either. He’s real, like someone who lives right next door—someone I’d like to live right next door to.

And in Riders on the Storm, he is the type of hero who understands that the mysteries of the human condition are just as important as the mystery of whodunit.

Kristina Blank Makansi THE GODDESS OF SMALL VICTORIES Yannick Grannec (trans. Willard Wood), Other Press, 2014, $26.95, hb, 464pp, 9781590516362 On the death of her husband, the aged Adele Gödel recalls details of her life with the brilliant but disturbed theoretician Kurt Gödel. Born in Austria in 1906, he eventually moved his family to the United States to escape Nazi Germany, perhaps also seeking to leave behind his emotional torment.

Adele, in her declining years, calls up moments in history against which his career plays out.

Tragically, she also recalls the painful rejection by his colleagues due to her earlier career as a cabaret dancer. Between scenes depicting their tumultuous relationship (Gödel must have been a hard man to live with) and private lives, the novel is peppered with discussions of mathematics and metaphysical arguments.

I believe readers who enjoy philosophical interludes mixed with science and math may welcome these inclusions in the novel, inspired by the lives of this real couple. (Albert Einstein figures as one of Gödel’s contemporaries and a friend.) Other readers who are less mathematically inclined may find these passages to be unwelcome interruptions in the serious business of seeing Adele through to the end of her story. A wellwritten novel, deep, troubling, and powerful.

Kathryn Johnson GRETEL AND THE DARK Eliza Granville, Riverhead, 2014, $27.95/C$32.95, hb, 352pp, 9781594632556 / Hamish Hamilton, 2014, £14.99, hb, 368pp, 9780241146453 As hinted by the title, Gretel and the Dark is a novel built on fairy tales. In fin-de-siècle Vienna, an eminent psychoanalyst takes in a young girl, found beaten and naked at the edge of the city. Though he calls her Lilie, she doesn’t tell him her real name, instead insisting she’s an automaton, created and sent to destroy a monster she cannot name.

Years later in Germany, a girl named Krysta plays alone in a grand house. She’s spoiled, stubborn, and intensely curious about the strange infirmary where her father has taken a job. The visitors to their house laugh and tell her the infirmary is full of animals, but her father, taken to compulsive HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 41

hand-washing, refuses to talk about his work there.

With a new life full of secrets that even Krysta does not fully understand, she retreats into the familiar world of the oft-gruesome fairy tales her old nurse used to tell her.

This is a novel as dark and twisting as the Black Forest. Both Krysta and Lilie weave their stories in between fairy tales—not the stuff of princesses and white steeds, but the unflinchingly terrifying Grimms’ tales. Yet they don’t give those stories up easily. Lilie is mysterious; the reader wonders along with the Viennese doctor who she is and where she’s come from. Krysta narrates her story with a naivety that becomes almost painful as the reader sees and understands what she does not. Until the end, her who, what, and where are as mysterious as Lilie’s.

Forbidding, secretive, richly historical, this is a gripping novel that will leave you guessing until the end.

Jessica Brockmole MURDER AND MENDELSSOHN Kerry Greenwood, Poisoned Pen Press, 2014, $24.95/C$27.95, hb, 325pp, 9781464202469 When a disliked chorus conductor turns up dead, sheet music from Mendelssohn’s Messiah crammed down his throat, it’s up to Detective Jack Robinson and the Honorable Miss Phryne Fisher to find out who did it and why. Enter Rupert Sheffield, mathematician and observationist extraordinaire, who may help or hinder the case – or even be the killer. With him comes his companion, John Wilson, a wartime lover of Phryne, whose presence dredges up painful memories and a past with MI6 she thought was long buried. Can she find the killer – or killers – and put her past to rest?

This is the 20th of Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher mysteries, but the first one I’ve read in book form. I came to the series from the television show, so the differences were a bit overwhelming.

Greenwood has a peculiar habit of head-hopping from paragraph to paragraph that makes for slow reading as you have to figure out whose point of view you’re in every few minutes. Combined with the need to improve the pacing, this was a tough book. But I loved the characters and the plot was entertaining, so longtime fans will surely enjoy the newest adventure of their favorite “lady detective.”

Nicole Evelina A MERSEY MILE Ruth Hamilton, Pan Macmillan, 2014, £6.99, pb, 466pp, 9781447209485 Post-war Liverpool, and Polly Kennedy and her disabled twin brother Cal run Polly’s Parlour café in the impoverished Scotland Road. A modern government has plans to demolish the area in the name of redevelopment, and Polly is trying to motivate her community to fight to retain their homes. Her ally in this fight is local entrepreneur Frank Charleson, her landlady’s son and the widower of her best friend. The community is thrown together in shock when Father Brennan, a local priest who is both alcoholic and violent, 42 | Reviews |

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attacks and seriously injures a child. Frank saves the child’s life, and the locals are torn between their desire for vengeance and political turmoil. Polly’s already difficult life is pulled in different directions by her devotion to her brother, her love for her community and her growing attraction to Frank.

Shadows from the past and problematic family relationships haunt them.

Ruth Hamilton has written a number of popular novels set in Liverpool, and previous books have included other stories from the Scotland Road. For the new reader however, this story, though ambitious, lacks direction and the characters seem stereotypical and without depth.

Historical accuracy seems to have been sacrificed to please a more modern audience. For example, there were very few lady solicitors in 1955, and it seems unlikely that Elaine would have met a client in a pub during that era as she would surely have been too worried about her professional reputation.

Equally, although she has neither a father nor a husband, a colleague tells her that she will have no trouble getting a mortgage at a time when women could not get mortgages without male guarantors.

These are minor points, but together with slang which is more modern than Scouse, they irritate and distract from the plot. Fans of Ruth Hamilton will probably forgive and read on, whilst others may find it hard to believe that the working class in Liverpool would not have rioted if their local ‘caff ’ had served up paella!

Maggi de Rozario THE BULLY OF ORDER Brian Hart, Harper, 2014, $25.99, hb, 400 pp, 9780062297747 Set in early 20th-century Washington State, Hart’s second novel (after Then Came the Evening, 2009) is a startlingly original but completely convincing family saga. There are no heroes in The Bully of Order (although there are heroic acts); the characters are as violent and unpredictable as the changing world in which they live.

The breakdown of the Ellstrom family begins in 1883 when residents of the Harbor, an unruly timber town, discover that “Doctor” Jacob Ellstrom is a charlatan. Jacob runs, leaving his wife Nell and child Duncan to fend for themselves.

Under the cover of a sailors’ union, organized crime rules the Harbor. To keep safe, Nell Ellstrom accepts protection from the new (and genuine) doctor. Although Nell is the only sympathetic character in an ill-starred family, she doesn’t tug at the heartstrings until Jacob comes back a drunk, forcing her to escape the malevolence of his brother Matius in the only way she can.

Expedience gives way to order, slowly, even in the Harbor. As a teenager, Duncan careens from one disastrous mistake to another until, like Jacob a decade earlier, he runs for his life—but now the law is involved. In a dramatic dénouement, Duncan’s fate is decided by those by those he has wronged, including Jacob’s enemies—and by Jacob and his friends.

Hart’s dense metaphorical prose is demanding

but seldom confusing—and usually worth a second reading. He not only illustrates the tribulations of life in the Northwest Territory in transition but also the differences between the crowded, disorderly coast and the isolated inland of the emerging Washington state. The Bully of Order is highly recommended.

Jeanne Greene HOPE AT DAWN Stacy Henrie, Forever, 2014, $8.00/C$9.00, pb, 384pp, 9781455598809 Livy Campbell is the daughter of an allAmerican family; with two brothers fighting overseas, she desperately wants to help her family and accepts the first job she’s offered, as a schoolteacher in Hilden, Iowa. Friedrick Wagner, a handsome German-American living in Hilden, just wants to provide for and protect his family, but the fear and prejudice against people like him makes that increasingly difficult. Complicating things is his growing attraction to Livy, a match that can never be. With an uncertain future ahead of them, Livy and Friedrick must tread carefully to retain their faith and their freedom.

Condensing a timeline of real events in 19181919, including the liberty loan drives and a language law passed by the Governor of Iowa in 1918, Henrie sets the fictional town and characters of Hilden in a hotbed of anti-German sentiment and fear. While the romantic tension could be stronger and Friedrick’s rival more developed, Henrie keeps the plot simple and familiar. At its most ordinary, this is a romance novel that doesn’t whitewash the persecution against GermanAmericans during WWI, at its best; Henrie offers a compelling look at the danger of xenophobia, especially during times of war.

Lauren Miller

C

THE HOUR OF LEAD Bruce Holbert, Counterpoint, 2014, $25, hb, 307pp, 9781619022928 In the 1920s, eastern Washington is a land of scattered farms and small towns separated by distance, weather, and terrain. Isolated families depend on their own, and a man with no family on himself. When Matt Larson’s father and twin brother die in a freak snowstorm, and his mother falls apart, Matt, 14, has to take charge.

Strong and capable, Matt chooses a peripatetic life. He is clearly a man worthy of love, but – without understanding why or believing in a remedy for it – he still feels inadequate. Fatalistic, stubborn, his personal code includes a loyalty of sorts, but the meaning of love eludes him, even when, long after their initial courtship, he marries Wendy and has children. Years pass before Matt 20th Century

understands his role in their lives – and, by then, someone is trying to kill him.

Holbert’s characters, defined by their temperaments or their sins, are unforgettable.

Wendy, the stoic wife Matt chose as a teenager; Roland Jarms, who values Matt above his own son; Horace Jarms, the inveterate gambler displaced by Matt; Garrett, his wealthy, unforgiving friend; and Lucky, a violent, amoral man who thinks that Matt, like everything else he destroys, will be easy to kill.

The Hour of Lead (the title comes from Emily Dickinson) captures the reader in the first daring chapter and, with prose that builds to a driving rhythm, holds on until the end. This is a fine novel and a masterful tribute to the “late” pioneers, men and women who grew up in remote areas of Washington State where, unconnected by good roads or north-south passenger trains, they learned the value of hard work and fair play. Highly recommended.

Jeanne Greene SNIPER’S HONOR Stephen Hunter, Simon and Schuster, 2014, $27.99, hb, 432pp, 9781451640212 Sniper’s Honor is the latest book from Stephen Hunter and the next installment in the Bob Lee Swagger series. The old war horse is now 68 and living a peaceful life. He has a ranch, a loving wife, and successful children. To most people, this would be an idealistic retirement, but to Bob, something is missing. He has careened from one adventure to the next for so long that sitting on a porch isn’t the life for him.

Relief comes in the form of an email from Kathy Reilly, reporter for the Washington Post. She is on the trail of Ludmilla Petrova, a beautiful and legendary sniper from World War II who vanished on a mission to the Ukraine. Bob and Kathy trace the thin threads of evidence from Moscow to the Carpathians and discover the truth beneath a conspiracy that spans decades.

Stephen Hunter is on point in this work, weaving Bob and Kathy’s adventures with Petrova’s story of bravery and betrayal. As a result, a tangible connection develops between Bob and Ludmilla.

He sees himself in her, and learns to be at peace with his inevitable aging. It’s fitting to see Bob adapt to this later phase of his life. He can still shoot straight and fight when he needs to, but this adventure teaches him to be a very skilled detective.

The author’s ability to ground his characters in reality, combined with his solid research, make this a very engaging and honest read that history lovers and Swagger fans will enjoy.

Caroline Wilson HARDCASTLE’S QUARTET Graham Ison, Severn House, 2014, £19.99/$27.95, hb, 192pp, 9780727884206 In June 1918, Divisional Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle of the A (Whitehall) Division of London’s Metropolitan Police is presented with a puzzling new case. Originally thought either to be suicide or a tragic accident, the death of the 20th Century

promiscuous Georgina Cheney, wife of a naval commander and originally from Malta, is soon proved otherwise. When it is discovered there are similarities to two other murders of wives with husbands serving at the Front, the net must be cast more widely. The common link to all cases appears to be a housemaid with various aliases and who also comes to a suspicious end.

Hardcastle is a most appealing creation: he has a gruff manner and a no-nonsense approach.

His turns of phrase, combined with his suspicion of new-fangled inventions such as the telephone, add an amusing layer to his personality that make him stand out over most of the book’s other onedimensional characters, although his loyal and often long-suffering off-sider, Detective Sergeant Charles Marriott, is also engaging.

The author’s knowledge of police procedures and societal attitudes during the First World War are well woven into the plot, but there are quite a lot of pedestrian passages involving this or that government department or office that tend to blur after a while. It also might have been better if the novel ended simply with the arrest of the culprit, as the ensuing trial feels superfluous with a final revelation that isn’t surprising. In spite of this, the novel is worth reading for Hardcastle’s character and his entertaining interactions with his fellow officers.

Marina Maxwell

C

A MAP OF BETRAYAL Ha Jin, Pantheon, 2014. $26.95, hb, 304pp, 9780307911605 Was the Chinese spy Gary Shang, who loved his homeland but also the country on which he is spying, a hero or a traitor? The story switches between Gary and his daughter Lillian’s narrative voices, past and present, providing different points of view on what it’s like for Gary to be a mole for Red China living in America with Lillian, his wife Nellie, and his mistress, Suzie.

At first Gary begins as an increasingly esteemed translator in Shanghai and later strategy analyst in the CIA at Langley, Virginia. The kind of political knowledge he sends home enables the Chinese to shape their own foreign policy toward Taiwan, Russia, Korea, and the United States over the course of forty years, beginning with the battle between Nationalist and Communist leaders and soldiers and ending with America’s sports and economic overtures to the Chinese government.

Gary deeply ponders each of these conflicts as well as his battles with his own homesickness for his Chinese family, communications with his Chinese “minder,” and the complications ensuing over having a beloved family in America. Lillian’s search focuses on Gary’s story, as told through

his family’s memories. The shadowed accounts weave a brilliant tapestry that appears to be quite the opposite of what the reader expects from the beginning to the shocking end.

Careful and consistent praise blinds Gary’s inflated ego to the reality about his service to both countries. This personal and professional duality highlights this beautifully crafted historical novel.

A Map of Betrayal is the best Asian-American work of historical fiction this reviewer has read this year. Highly, highly recommended!

Viviane Crystal EVERY TEAR A MEMORY (Till We Meet Again, Book 3) Myra Johnson, Abingdon, 2014, $14.99, pb, 320pp, 9781426753725 Joanna Trapp leaves her old life in France behind when the war ends and family calls her home. But civilian life as a switchboard operator in Hot Springs, Arkansas, doesn’t have the same appeal as her formerly adventurous life as a Hello Girl for the Army Signal Corps. Thomas Ballard is a semi-successful businessman at the Arlington who was medically ineligible to serve, and although he seeks a quiet life, he finds himself attracted to Joanna’s daring spirit. The question they must answer together is whether there’s room for love when they differ in values.

Johnson continues her post-WWI series, which follows female protagonists who served during the war and the Ballard men who love them. The plot here is full of flawed characters, poor choices and misunderstandings that stand in the way of love and keep the emotions relatable, whether it’s teenage angst over a boy, or the desire to be respected amongst one’s family and community.

The book also has a refreshing emphasis on purity (without being preachy), making this a romance appropriate for younger readers. If you enjoyed Sarah Sundin’s WWII books, you should look into reading this series.

Lauren Miller DREAMING FOR FREUD Sheila Kohler, Penguin, 2014, $16.00, pb, 232pp, 9780143125198 During an eleven-week period in 1900, Sigmund Freud treated an eighteen-year-old girl for hysteria and wrote about his treatment in one of the most famous psychological case studies ever published. In Dreaming for Freud, Kohler brings us into the minds of Freud and his patient, who is never named in the novel. The patient, who is suffering from leg pains and a debilitating cough, has considered suicide. She is angry at her parents who do not believe her story of a sexual assault on her by a family friend. The girl shares her story with Freud, sometimes telling the truth, sometimes half-truths, and sometimes lying. Freud listens to her story, understanding her only as much as he can through his own prejudices.

The story shifts time periods like a dream, moving between the treatment time period and flashbacks by both the patient and the doctor. The HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 43

movement feels dreamlike but isn’t always easy to follow, especially as the text is pronoun-heavy. I found myself rereading in many places, trying to discern who “he” or “she” was. Despite these small difficulties, the story is a fascinating read. Kohler stays faithful to the historical information about both Freud and his patient, while imagining what they may have been thinking and feeling, about each other, and about the “truth” that they both seek.

Elizabeth Caulfield Felt CALL OF THE KIWI Sarah Lark (trans. D.W. Lovett), AmazonCrossing, 2014, $14.95, pb, 492pp, 9781477820261 Third in the In the Land of the Long White Cloud saga, Call of the Kiwi once again features two female protagonists, as in the first and second installments. Gloria Martyn and Lilian Lambert are the great-granddaughters of Gwyneira McKenzie.

Gloria has Maori blood from her mother and a love of Gwyneira’s sheep station, Kiward Station, of which she is to be heir. Lilian is more light-hearted, and when Gloria’s absent parents deem New Zealand no fit place for her to be raised, Lilian accompanies her cousin to boarding school in England. Her exile to England is the start of a long, hellish road for Gloria, whereas Lilian’s ebullience inures her from Gloria’s hardships.

This is not just Gloria’s and Lilian’s story, however. Gwyneira’s son, Jack is an equally strong protagonist. This book, more than the first two, takes its characters outside New Zealand, and while those experiences shape them, they also reinforce the idea that life outside home is unsafe.

Jack is one of the many who enlists in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in World War I and is present at the nightmare that is Gallipoli.

After boarding school, Gloria is crushed to learn she can’t return to the station and instead must accompany her parents on their tour of the States.

Determined to get home, she endures horrors to make her way back, and they keep her emotionally from the family she longed to see.

Although life in New Zealand is the endgame for all the characters, this installment draws a distinction between studying its past, which Jack’s wife and Lilian’s husband do, and being realistic in the present, as when the station’s sheep need to graze on land adjacent to sacred Maori space.

Gwyneira becomes a great-great-grandmother in this book, so the passing of the torch is on the horizon for the next book. And I fervently hope there is a fourth!

Ellen Keith ROAD ENDS Mary Lawson, Dial, 2013, $26.00/C$29.95, hb, 341pp, 9780812995732 / Chatto & Windus, 2014, £18.99, hb, 320pp, 9780701188528 Megan Cartwright is the glue that holds her family together. At twenty-one, she’s never ventured outside the small isolated town of Struan, in northern Ontario, Canada; instead, she keeps house for her parents and six brothers. Cleaning, 44 | Reviews |

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cooking, diapering, packing children off to school, supervising homework, and running a household is exhausting but also fulfilling.

Megan knows she can do more, though, and she leaves her family behind to start her own life across the pond in England. Her arrival is anything but smooth: 1969 London is loud, colorful, and completely alien to naïve and sheltered Megan. Her journey toward self-knowledge and independence is paralleled by the increasing chaos back at the Cartwright household. Without Megan, the school-age boys get in trouble; Megan’s favorite, little Adam, doesn’t always get fed or bathed; her mother Emily, has another baby and rarely leaves her room. Her bank-manager father, Edward, becomes increasingly querulous and is forced to confront his own past without Megan there to protect him from getting involved with the dayto-day matters of the family. Her college-graduate brother, Tom, drives the town snowplow while brooding over the death of a friend.

Chapters are told from the voices of Megan, Edward, and Tom, and the different perspectives reveal individuals, a family, a town, and indeed a world, at a crossroads. There’s some embracing of that opportunity to grow and change, but the main response is fear, and resistance. Reconciling with the past and actively seeking a more functional future is difficult, especially when it comes to figuring out how, and whether, to do the “right” thing. The geography and late 1960s culture of rural Canada are well rendered against the vibrancy of London; Lawson’s insight into her characters is strong, drawing the reader in to this riveting coming of age story.

Helene Williams BLACKLIST Jerry Ludwig, Forge, 2014, $25.99, hb, 416pp, 9780765335395 This is the story of the aftermath of one of America’s most shameful political periods. The witch hunt created by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s destroyed the careers and personal lives of far too many Americans, all in the name of ridding America of Communist spies, followers, and those just curious about a different way of participating in fair and equitable government for all citizens. “Teddy’s son” is David Weaver; his father and Leo Vardian once spent all their time co-creating scripts for ambitious, highly successive movies. Teddy, after being served a subpoena to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, escapes with his son to Mexico and dies a broken man. After the funeral, Leo invites David to work for him at a famous film studio; adding to the suspicious lure is the fact that David is still in love with Leo’s daughter, Jana.

Herbert Hoover, however, is still anxious to rid America of his enemies from long ago, including the “Red’s son,” David. Detective McKenna of the FBI is transferred to “fix” David’s arrest and imprisonment.

The story becomes more complicated as several murders occur in the jet set crowd of Hollywood

film, along with a sleazy journalist whose note to fame is slander. The central focus of this story, however, is not just the Blacklist murders. It’s about the shattered lives on all sides, about those who still carry a mammoth guilt trip. The perpetrators suffer as much as the victims. It’s a brutal satire of a particular time in history and its subsequent tragedies. This is a stunning story told so well that this reviewer can’t recommend it enough in this brief review. Magnificent historical fiction!

Viviane Crystal PUT ON THE ARMOUR OF LIGHT Catherine MacDonald, Dundurn, 2014, $17.99, pb, 288pp, 9781459715493 The Reverend Charles Lauchlan, a Presbyterian minister in turn-of-the-20th-century Winnipeg, Manitoba, is galvanized into detection by the arrest of his former university roommate, Peter McEvoy.

Pete, an alcoholic, is suspected of homicide after having been found dead-drunk with the body of Joseph Asseltine in the businessman’s office. The young minister, convinced of his friend’s innocence, wields his ministerial training, plus every advantage of his position in the church and in the city, to investigate the crime.

This novel offers a vision of a Winnipeg in transition from a brawling frontier town to a civilized 20th-century city, along with an equally charming set of characters: the earnest Charles, Maggie, his friend (or is she a girlfriend?); the Métis policeman, Sergeant Setter, and the pioneering photographer, Rosetta Cliffe. I wished the author had a better grasp on narrative structure. Lauchlan wasn’t introduced until the third chapter, and I was confused, thinking the protagonist would be Setter and/or Cliffe (who would have been bolder choices); the investigation meandered; and what could have been a knock-out final confrontation scene was cut so short it lacked the chills it deserved.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed being in that place and that time, and it’s a book well worth reading.

Joanne Dobson SLEEP IN PEACE TONIGHT James MacManus, St. Martin’s, 2014, $26.99/ C$31.00, hb, 366pp, 9781250051974 Despite his election to a third term, Roosevelt is not a popular president, fighting a strong Isolationist Party led by America’s hero, Charles Lindbergh. In January 1941, Roosevelt sends his advisor and good friend, Harry Hopkins, to England to assess the increasingly dire situation.

Roosevelt hopes that Harry can convince Winston Churchill that America will not enter the war although Britain desperately needs America’s help, not just in planes, arms and ammunition, but manpower. Harry is a match for Churchill’s overwhelming personality and his unrelenting pressure for America’s help. It is clear to Hopkins that, if Britain falls, as she most assuredly will without American help, then all of Europe will fall, with only the Atlantic Ocean between Nazi Germany and the USA – a doubtful buffer filled with German U-boats capable of landing enough 20th Century

men to constitute an invasion.

While sympathetic to England, Harry is ever loyal to Roosevelt. The best he can promise Churchill is a Lend Lease Agreement to supply the desperately needed arms and planes, although Congress opposes it. Meanwhile, Harry is surrounded by the reality of the Blitzkrieg; a meeting with Edward R. Murrow, the American journalist and Anglophile, impresses upon Harry England’s need for America’s help to win the war; and Murrow uses his broadcasts to sway American public opinion.

The author has written a magnificently gripping account of London during the Blitz. The reader is drawn into the time and place, feeling the urgency with which people led their daily lives, knowing that at any moment they might cease to exist.

Although a work of fiction, Sleep in Peace Tonight is full of historical detail and historical personages.

This is a highly recommended read.

Audrey Braver

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THE HUNDRED-YEAR HOUSE Rebecca Makkai, Viking, 2014, $26.95/C$31.00, hb, 338pp, 9780525426684 / William Heinemann, 2014, £16.99, hb, 352pp, 9780434022877 1999, 1955, 1929, 1900. Time’s arrow, loosed in reverse, slows at these points in its flight through Laurelfield estate, home to the old-moneyed, “cursed” Devohrs. The latest scion, Marxist literature professor Zee, moves back home until her machinations can secure a university position for her hapless husband. Said husband, Doug, is mired in his dissertation/literary analysis/biography of littleknown poet Edwin Parfitt, resident at Laurelfield in the 1920s, when it was an artists’ colony. Zee’s terror of a mother, Gracie, puts up barriers, but Doug will stop at nothing to search the colony files in the attic (haunted? by the ghost of Zee’s greatgrandmother?) for scraps about Parfitt. What he finds is… not what he was looking for.

This book is difficult to describe. So first, NB: it’s good. Really good. Whatever you may feel about the plotting outlined above – pick it up anyway; I haven’t done it justice. To lapse into cliché, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry. But better, you’ll get the &$%@ confused out of you – the novel’s backward structure and generational character threads require one to actually think, perhaps even give it a second read. Characterization is first-rate, the acerbic satire is clever, and the manner of expression provokes me to include an example – of an entitled jerkwad’s BMW purchase: “Doug had gladly joined in Zee’s eye rolling, wondering how Case thought he could blow through his savings, how weirdly sure he was of landing a job the moment he started looking. How a convertible would get him through a Chicago winter. But privately, all Doug wanted to 20th Century

do was lick the hubcaps.”

The 1999 and 1955 sections are strongest, with the 1920s section, told through narrative and the colony files, possessing more perspective changes and a different feel. But all are skillfully executed, and taken together, this is one impressively dimensional book. Highly recommended.

Bethany Latham AND SOME FELL ON STONY GROUND Leslie Mann, Icon, Books, 2014, £10.00, pb, 208pp, 9781848317208 The fortitude and extreme bravery of WW2 Bomber Command aircrew has over the years been well celebrated in literature and on the screen so that we are, perhaps, over-familiar with “gung ho” square-jawed representations of these men and with the simplistic bravura we associate with them.

And Some Fell on Stony Ground is described as “a fictional memoir”. In it Leslie Mann, in a thirdperson narrative, takes us through a crewman’s last “op”. It is 1941. The target is Düsseldorf. As the hours leading up to take-off pass, Mann shows us what lies beneath the carapaces under which each man deals with the demons of fear he must face.

He takes us, wincing, through the horror of past bombing missions and into the knowledge that next day or the day after, it must be repeated again and again, until...

Mann’s character is virtually the only survivor of the group of fliers who joined this squadron when he did. The loss of so many comrades has left him in mourning for them and isolated amongst the youthful jocularity of their replacements, the newlyqualified youngsters, noisily shielding themselves from the undeniable statistics that suggest that they are far more likely to die horrendously or to suffer appalling injuries than to survive the long run of “ops” that faces them. Although there is no self-pity in this airman’s account of his feelings, there is a huge sense of compassion: not only for those who are already dead but for those who are going to die.

Leslie Mann’s treatment of his subject has a lightness of touch, even, occasionally a hint of humour. He gives us the man as well as his experience. This book deserves a place in the canon of WW2 literature.

Julia Stoneham BITTERSWEET Colleen McCullough, Simon & Schuster, 2014, $26.00, hb, 384pp, 9781476755410 / Head of Zeus, 2014, £12.99, pb, 441pp, 9781781855881 After over 30 years, Colleen McCullough has written another big Australian saga that shows she’s in top storytelling form. However, despite the similarity in genre, Bittersweet is significantly, and deliberately, different from the mega-selling The Thorn Birds. It covers a narrower timespan, namely 1924 through the early Thirties, and celebrates women’s growing prominence in the workforce and the resilient ties between sisters.

The beautiful, intelligent Latimer girls – Edda and Grace, Tufts and Kitty – are two sets of

identical twins born of the same father but different mothers. To achieve their personal ambitions, and to let fragile Kitty escape from her dreadful mother’s suffocating favoritism, they sign up to train at the hospital in Corunda, their small city in rural New South Wales. Their working and living conditions are atrocious at first, and as the initial crop of prospective “new style” registered nurses, they’re resented by others who don’t have their privileged status or education. Their unpretentious attitudes and work ethic soon win over their doubters. The women are more dissimilar than alike temperament-wise, and this becomes more apparent as men enter their orbit and disrupt their exceptional closeness.

Their story is full of personality and verve even when McCullough is relating pure history, such as the circumstances leading to Australia’s downward slide into the Great Depression. The background details on medical techniques and even hospital administration prove to be fascinating, but the focus stays personal. Each woman’s true character manifests itself as the years pass, their ties to one another frequently affecting their relationships with the prideful men who interact with them, love them, and sometimes get in their way. Maybe to enhance the drama, the characters make some surprisingly impulsive decisions. The plot is constantly entertaining, and the warm and chatty style makes the novel read like a good gossip with old friends.

Sarah Johnson THE SUN IS GOD Adrian McKinty, Seventh Street, 2014, $15.95, pb, 243pp, 9781616140687 / Serpent’s Tail, 2014, £8.99, pb, 288pp, 9781846689833 Following a horrific massacre of African civilians, military policeman William Prior has had quite enough of the world. He contrives to get himself kicked out of the British Army and in 1906 retires early to remote German New Guinea. When a man from a colony of nudist sun-worshipers dies under mysterious circumstances, the authorities press Prior into service to investigate. At first, the nudists are as open and friendly as one would imagine naked people to be. They eat only coconuts, drink large quantities of opiate, and lay out in the sun for hours. But as Prior and his German partner continue their investigation, it becomes apparent that the nudists will do almost anything to protect their strange community from outside interference.

McKinty captures the other-worldliness of the “cocovore” colony with tight, sharp strokes. If only these poor free souls had chosen a more hospitable spot, or varied their diet; according to the author’s notes the real-life colony died out after a few years due to malaria and malnutrition. Through Prior’s opium-addled eyes we descend into the “heart of darkness” and return, not entirely unscathed. I particularly enjoyed the relationships between the former English officer and his companions: straitlaced Captain Klaus Kessler, who struts around the jungle capably, if improbably in cavalry boots, and a Miss Pullen-Burry who goes quite, quite native yet HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 45

saves the day in the end. Recommended.

Richard Bourgeois

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DOLLBABY Laura Lane McNeal, Pamela Dorman, 2014, $26.95, hb, 337pp, 9780670014736 Being born Liberty Bell—because she was born on July 4th—is the least of Ibby’s worries.

After her father dies, her mother dumps her unceremoniously on the curb in front of her grandmother Fannie’s New Orleans house.

A grandmother she doesn’t know. Queenie, Fannie’s cook, and her socially conscious, smartmouthed daughter Dollbaby quickly adopt Ibby.

Through them, Ibby is introduced to Southern and New Orleans culture, the dark side of race relations in the late 1960s, and the quirky, often manic, life of Fannie and the secrets that she harbors.

Dollbaby is an amazing novel in the vein of The Secret Life of Bees. Laura McNeal’s prose is poetic and hypnotic. Her characters are so alive you wish you could walk down the magnolia-lined streets of New Orleans with them. Other than an ending that felt somewhat contrived, McNeal weaves a spellbinding coming-of-age tale that envelops you in Ibby’s world like the ever-present humidity of the South. From Ibby’s abrupt thrust into the racial divide of the 1960s, to her reconciliation over her father’s death—one that she blames herself for—to her relationship with her grandmother and all her secrets, Dollbaby is an outstanding debut novel and one of the best books I’ve read this year. Definitely worth reading.

Bryan Dumas HOW SWEET THE SOUND Vanessa Miller, Abingdon, 2014, $14.95, pb, 285pp, 9781426749285 The Lord has anointed Shar Gracey with an incredible voice. Shar’s father dreams she will take her gift on the road, but her mother doesn’t hold with such nonsense and thinks it best that Shar remain home in 1930s Black Belt Chicago.

Shar’s burgeoning romance with the handsome and kind Reverend Landon Norstrom makes that prospect a pleasant one, but Shar’s mother, ill with tuberculosis, requires expensive medical care.

Touring with Tommy Dorsey’s Gospel Choir will let Shar earn much-needed cash.

Shar’s travels bring her face to face with great singers such as Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharp – as well as the prejudice and bigotry rife in the United States of that era. The handsome gambler Nicoli presents Shar with another heartrending choice.

This sweet inspirational romance brings the 1930s black community to life. It is the author’s first historical, and she has definitely done her research. The struggle for equal rights, both in the 46 | Reviews |

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Deep South and in northern cities, is a moving background against which Shar’s own more personal conflicts play out.

Susan McDuffie

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THE SHIP OF BRIDES Jojo Moyes, Penguin, 2014, $16, pb, 415 pp, 9780143126478 / Hodder, 2008, £7.99, pb, 512pp, 9780340960387 If you like stories that pull you in quickly, are filled with emotional drama, and provide a vivid atmosphere of the times, you won’t do better than Jojo Moyes’s The Ship of Brides. Set just after World War II, this is a fictionalized account of the transport of hundreds of wartime brides from Australia to England aboard an aircraft carrier filled with Marines. Many of the women have spent very little time with their husbands and almost all are leaving behind the only life they’ve ever known. The six-week journey of fear, excitement, irritation, and boredom will end in disaster for some and a lifetime of happiness for others, but it’s the getting there that this novel plays on.

While the novel is bookended with events in 2002, the main focus is the journey of four dissimilar young women forced to share a cabin: Margaret, who is pregnant; Jean, sixteen and immature; Avice, spoiled and snobby; and Frances, a former nurse with secrets that may destroy her future. Though very different, the four become friends who must learn to rely on one another because, simply, they have no one else. Meanwhile, the captain, charged with keeping the women safe on his last voyage, does his best to separate the men from the women and keep order among all those looking forward to going home. Even the ship itself becomes a character as she limps along on her way to being decommissioned after the war.

The novel moves among the points of view seamlessly and evokes the era with descriptive details that sets the reader firmly on board. I was drawn in by the characters’ heartfelt emotions and found myself enmeshed in their lives with Moyes’ rich language. What an adventure both these women and I had! Definitely one for the keeper shelf.

Tamela McCann THE INTERVIEW Patricia O’Reilly, New Island, 2014, £11.99/$27.00, pb, 196pp, 9781848403482 Drawing on facts but not constrained by them, The Interview imagines the meeting one Parisian afternoon in 1972 of the famed and aged Irish designer, Eileen Gray, and the rising young star of Fleet Street, Bruce Chatwin. A published interview with Gray, suddenly fashionable again, would have been a big scoop for the journalist. But after two

hours spent together, nothing was ever published.

What could have happened that afternoon?

Patricia O’Reilly builds an impressive edifice around that question.

O’Reilly’s second novel with Gray as a protagonist (after Time & Destiny) appears as there is renewed interest in the designer, and the writer’s fascination with both the creative and emotional lives of Gray is clear from the beginning. Gray is very much the star of this fictive documentary, the use of an omniscient narrator creating an almost docudrama feel. However, it is Gray’s fictional and beguiling voice that dominates the novel. As interviewer, Chatwin’s function is to encourage gentle revelations as her reserve gradually crumbles.

While there are consistent glimpses of his past, they serve mostly to accentuate her memories.

This is obviously a very well researched book, but that research is put firmly at the use of the narrative as the reader moves back and forth in time. The flashbacks to Gray’s childhood in Ireland, the construction of her iconic villa E1027 and particularly Gray’s encounter with the famed architect Le Corbusier are all beautifully imagined.

Her romantic relationships with both men and women are also portrayed sensitively, showing the acute loneliness demanded by genius.

In The Interview Patricia O’Reilly has written a fictional but convincing account that stays with the reader long after this slim volume is finished.

Gordon O’Sullivan A CHILDHOOD Jona Oberski, Pushkin Press, 2014, £10.00, pb, 144pp, 9781782270676 “You are not a baby any more” is a phrase applied more than once to this small boy in the course of his telling of a story. It begins in Amsterdam near the start of WW2, when life as he knew it as the happy only child of loving parents ends when the family is transported to Bergen-Belsen. His disorientation, his bewilderment, his increasing anxieties and distressing misinterpretations of events carry him like a piece of flotsam on a flood through what follows. His account ends when, with both parents dead, he is returned to Amsterdam and put into the hands of foster parents, beginning the long journey to whatever recovery will mean.

By speaking to us in the words and through the thought processes of a confused and scared little boy while he struggles to make sense of a comprehensible world, this book cleverly makes a singular and powerful statement. Jona Oberski remains faithful to this treatment of his story, recalling exactly the sort of almost irrelevant and even trivial images and events that are captured and held in the memory of a small child. There is no mawkish sentimentality here. Nor is this boy unrealistically resilient. He is simply being drawn through what we perceive as a harrowing nightmare and only very narrowly surviving it.

A Childhood punches well above its weight, and everyone should read it.

Julia Stoneham 20th Century

THE AMERICAN DUCHESS Sharon Page, HQN, 2014, $14.95, 384pp, 9780373779291 It’s the Roaring Twenties, and American heiress Zoe Gifford embraces the heady lifestyle with abandon. When her mother writes a bad check for gambling debts, Zoe must find a convenient bridegroom to access her trust fund. Enter Sebastian Hazelton, the charming but cash-strapped younger brother of the Duke of Langford. The two hatch a plot to marry and then divorce, with Zoe paying for the trouble. They do not count on Nigel, the Duke of Langford, being so scandalized that he decides to propose to Zoe himself. But he intends their marriage to be anything but brief, and their two worlds collide, with many problems as a result.

The American Duchess cashes in on the rage for all things Gatsby. Every hallmark of the period is there – fast cars and equally fast women, crazy parties, and dark speakeasies. None of these things is unique, unfortunately rendering the novel rather cliché. Zoe’s characterization is particularly difficult to digest. Longing to be accepted and loved, she hides behind scandal and at times can be downright selfish and stupid. She seems to learn nothing during the course of the novel, nor does she experience an enlightening moment. Nigel is the more sympathetic character though he is cast as the typical frigid, damaged aristocrat. Zoe cannot fathom his dark days spent in the trenches of World War I; instead, she whines about their lack of sex life and his introverted ways. Some readers may hope that they don’t end up together.

Nonetheless, the scenery is vivid and the sense of a changing world is captured wonderfully.

Though Zoe and Nigel’s incessant bickering can try the nerves, the realism of a difficult marriage is aptly portrayed. Readers looking for the Happily Ever After or for something light to read will enjoy The American Duchess.

Caroline Wilson THE EDISON EFFECT: A Professor Bradshaw Mystery Bernadette Pajer, Poisoned Pen Press, 2014, $24.95, hb, 254pp, 9781464202506 Professor Benjamin Bradshaw is not merely an academic; he is now an “electrical forensic” specialist working with the Seattle police in the early part of the 20th century. In other words, he is a CSI using his intimate knowledge of electricity to solve crimes – a fascinating combination.

A window designer is found dead at the largest department store in Seattle, the Bon Marché, electrocuted by the new-fangled Edison Christmas lights. Bradshaw determines quickly that this is a murder, not an accident. And so his investigation begins. He soon realizes that the victim knew his murderer – but how? And what can Bradshaw do to narrow the field of possible bad guys? And how, if at all, does the potentially devastating weapon invented by his late student enter into the mix?

The newest installment in Pajer’s Bradshaw series is wonderful, a quick and satisfying read. Not only do we learn about the science of electricity and 20th Century

wander Seattle in its early days, but we are invited into Bradshaw’s private life, as he wrestles with the decision between his Church and his love. Clearly, I was not at all savvy about Edison, but the guy wasn’t very nice. I always like learning new things, but particularly when I read a book outside my frame of reference and enjoy it.

Ilysa Magnus CLOSE TO THE SUN Donald Michael Platt, Fireship, 2014, $18.50, pb, 461pp, 9781611793178 This novel of World War II follows the careers of three fighter pilots, two American and one German. Each man is in love with flying above all else and comes to war with an idealized notion of the job: the fighter pilot as a “knight of the air,” meeting his noble peers in chivalrous single combat high above the impersonal slaughter on the ground.

The reality in 1942 is much different, however.

German ace Karl and his Luftwaffe comrades rack up hundreds of victories each yet are losing a war of attrition against the Soviets. On the American side, pilots Hank Milroy and Seth Braham can never fly high enough to escape the atrocities on the ground.

Platt makes his key point well: winning a modern air war is not about chivalry or singleseat fighters, it is about filling the sky with enough bombers to destroy the other side’s ability to fight. Unfortunately, this leaves little for the main characters to do but fly a succession of ultimately meaningless missions on the path to disillusionment. Karl is entirely unsympathetic, a domestic abuser who hates the Nazis only because he is an aristocrat and they’re not. The two Americans deserve medals for exposition above and beyond the call of duty, sometimes recalling entire passages from books about air combat theory and quoting them for our benefit. Despite its faults, this is a highly informative look at the changing face of aerial combat.

Richard Bourgeois IN LOVE AND WAR Alex Preston, Faber & Faber, 2014, £14.99, hb, 340pp, 9780571279456 The true star of Alex Preston’s In Love and War is not the hapless protagonist, Esmond Lowndes, but the city of Florence that gleams in the background.

Whether Florence is being described as “a mass of shadows under the hills”, or personified as “[resuming] life haltingly, stretching its stiff limbs”, Preston’s Florence reads as an authentic and muchloved place.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said of all the characters in In Love and War. Esmond himself, the reluctant British fascist, rings true, as do the other English fascists, including Diana and Oswald Mosley, and the cast of eccentrics who inhabit Florence, including the writer Norman Douglas.

However, the motivations of the two main female characters, who take huge risks to be with Esmond, are unclear. Preston would appear to realise this since when Esmond tells Ada “I can’t love you if I don’t know you”, she empties her handbag, revealing

a collection of feminine accessories, a book of poetry, and a photograph of Esmond, which is all the elucidation she – or Preston – provides.

In Love and War describes how ordinary lives might continue even in terrible circumstances, how people may still fall in love, cook meals, watch the seasons change, while a war is being carried on.

Esmond refers to the war as a series of individual stories, “stacked on top of each other, entwining, competing”. This story of a British fascist in Italy is a fascinating one.

In Love and War is a well-written book which will appeal to readers of literary historical fiction.

I would have preferred it, however, if the book had contained an Afterword. When real and fictional characters are intertwined and reputations besmirched, it would be helpful to have even a brief guide as to which characters and events were true, and which were purely fictional.

Laura Shepperson WHEN SHADOWS FALL Paul Reid, Lake Union, 2014, $14.95/£8.99, pb, 366pp, 9781477849927 Lt. Adam Bowen of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers returns home from the war in 1918, wounded and uncertain about his future.

His brothers are attorneys, so one option is to join their firm, which he reluctantly decides to do. Tara Reilly is a local girl whose family had owned a small farm near Dublin. They were killed

by IRA extremists led by a local tough named Larry Mulligan. She now seeks revenge and soon befriends James Bryant, Scotland Yard District Inspector, whose job is to root out Irish terrorists.

He falls for her, but after she accidentally meets Adam, she falls in love with him. Adam soon is forced to take up the mantle of IRA fighter and help free Ireland from British rule. They are all heading for an exciting climax: Mulligan is trying to kill Tara after she attempts to kill him, while James is trying to capture Adam after he learns he is a member of the IRA and is associated with their leader, Michael Collins.

This is a well-written, fast-paced book about the Irish Rebellion in the 1920s, the IRA, and the mixed feelings among the Irish regarding British rule. This is historical writing at its best! The drama and action compel the reader to turn the page as the plot slowly unravels, and the climax to the novel is eagerly awaited. The author places the reader into the thick of the story, sharing the pain and the grief of the characters. I strongly recommend this entertaining but tragic story of Irish history.

Jeff Westerhoff THE GARDEN OF LETTERS Alyson Richman, Berkley, 2014, $16/C$18, pb, 384pp, 9780425266250 Sweet-natured Elodie Bertolotti’s life as a teenaged cello prodigy in Verona, Italy, collapses in April 1943 after the fascist regime jails and beats her father. It changes again when, six months later, as she is fleeing Verona, she arrives in Portofino and a stranger calls out to her, welcoming her as HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 47

his cousin and saving her from having to show her false papers to the Nazi guards. The man tells her later that he has tricked the Nazis several times now. He calls out to the most frightened-looking traveler. Elodie looked frightened because she had become active in the Resistance, transmitting messages embedded in her music, minor keys and the number of notes in trills giving information to other Resistance cells. She’d also fallen in love.

Elodie’s story is told in alternating chapters as the author also tells the tragic love story of the doctor who saved her and also their days together in Portofino.

This is a gentle, sometimes dreamlike story despite its setting in the brutal days of World War II. The fact that the narrative goes back and forth between April and October means that the reader knows that Elodie survives her work in the Resistance. And as the story progress it also becomes obvious this is a love story, and we anticipate that the author is going to give us a straightforward happy ending.

The Garden of Letters tells a sweet story, guileless and plain. And yet at the same time it’s fairy talelike in its graceful writing and lovely images, in particular in the telling of the doctor’s love story, which is filled with love letters, loss, and the scent of lemons. I happily fell into this novel and predict it will find its way into the hearts of many readers.

Kristen Hannum ELECTRIC CITY Elizabeth Rosner, Counterpoint, 2014, $26.00, hb, 304pp, 9781619023468 Electric City sits near the junction of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers, home to a vast manufacturing plant whose familiar cursive logo glows huge and bright over the Company headquarters. The brilliant, misshapen Charles Proteus Steinmetz came here in 1919, hired by Company founder Thomas Edison to develop magnetic and electrical technology that would change the world. Steinmetz never married, but he ‘adopted’ a local family and befriended a Mohawk named Joseph Longboat. Their lives follow paths like canoes in the river—separate, but together.

In 1965 the world has indeed changed. The Company has peaked and is declining, and the Electric City along with it. The three main characters of the story each call forth an era in the region’s history: Martin Longboat, Joseph’s grandson; Henry Van Curler, descendant of the Dutch settlers who displaced Martin’s people; and Sophie Levine, daughter of a Company man. For friends coming of age under the Company logo, their struggle with identity and place in the world mirrors that of the Electric City itself.

Being a “Company man” (and in fact writing this review within sight of that famous logo), I appreciated Rosner’s portrayal of a very familiar city. There is regret, and a little bitterness, for the shuttered businesses and the empty spaces where manufacturing buildings once stood. But there is also a great affection in this novel, for a place at once as old as lightning and as young as the latest 48 | Reviews |

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invention. All the characters in this book—and, I suppose, this reviewer—are just molecules passing through the Electric City.

Richard Bourgeois THE LOW ROAD A.D. Scott, Atria, 2014, $16.00, pb, 326pp, 9781476756165 The latest in a series of mystery novels about Scotland, The Low Road once again features the intrepid newspaper reporter John McAllister, whose approaching marriage fills him with doubts.

The disappearance of his friend, the Scottish Traveller Jimmy McPhee, brings McAllister out of his quiet life in the Highlands back to his former life in crime-ridden Glasgow. Thrown into the company of Mary Ballantyne, a young and lovely journalist, McAllister finds himself struggling with feelings of new love as well as with many old demons. His atheism seems to cast a darkness and hopelessness over his entire approach to life, mirrored by the grayness and grime of the post-war Glaswegian slums. His social prejudices cause him to be wary and critical of anyone who comes from what he views as the upper class. In the meantime, he must decide whether or not to go ahead with his wedding. A man of honor, McAllister tries to take the high road of decency while surrounded by cutthroats. The graphic descriptions of violence and dirt do not make the book an advertisement for a summer holiday in Glasgow. Nevertheless, the suspense keeps the reader surprised and curious to see what will happen next. Each character comes with a unique mystery, which in itself makes The Low Road a pleasure for lovers of a good thriller.

Elena Maria Vidal DE POTTER’S GRAND TOUR Joanna Scott, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2014, $26.00/C$30.00, hb, 260pp, 9780374162337 Armand de Potter, a penniless Belgian who claims a noble background, becomes an entrepreneur in late 19th-century New York. He builds a successful travel business and collects antiquities, many illegally, from the countries he travels through as he guides his tours. He marries a young woman named Amy and convinces her to call herself Aimée, to add to his cachet. As his fame grows, he moves his family to a luxurious villa in Cannes, France. Aimée adores France and, especially, her husband and their son. She keeps meticulous records in her diaries of their travels throughout Europe and the Middle East. Then one day in 1905, her husband disappears from a ship off the coast of Greece. Aimée soon discovers that Armand was not the man she thought he was.

Based on a true story, the author, through Aimée’s extensive diaries, pieces together the life of Armand de Potter and the circumstances of his mysterious disappearance. Deep in debt, and entangled in the illegal and dangerous antiquities trade, had De Potter faked his own death so his wife could collect his life insurance policy? Was De Potter still alive somewhere under a new identity, or had he committed suicide? The writing flows

beautifully, with descriptions of foreign locales and complaining clients, though sometimes the minutiae of itineraries bog down the story. The time shifts from the past to Aimée’s present, as she tries to gather the threads of her life together, can get confusing. Still, the novel is fascinating and had me turning the pages.

Diane Scott Lewis LOUISE’S BLUNDER Sarah R. Shaber, Severn House, 2014, $28.95/£19.99, hb, 192pp, 9780727883926 Louise Pearlie is a government girl working for the Office of Strategic Services in Washington DC, where she reviews and files documents. Unlike many of her co-workers, she has a Top Secret clearance, and when she is asked to review the files used by a missing analyst, she jumps at the chance.

Once it is discovered the analyst drowned in the Tidal Basin, she’s sent back to her regular job. But questions persist, and eventually the detective on the case recruits Louise to help him as well.

Meanwhile, she makes friends with a progressive group of women and joins their salon where they discuss the controversial issues of the day over cocktails. As her investigation and her social life converge, she realizes she may end up floating in the Tidal Basin herself.

Louise’s Blunder is the fourth in the Louise Pearlie series, but only the first I’ve read. I very much enjoyed the details about life for a working woman during the war and felt Shaber did a nice job of weaving in the social concerns of the day such as race relations and women’s issues. I was able to piece together the clues and solve the mystery, but that did not detract from my enjoyment. I will be picking up the earlier books in the series to find out just how Louise got that Top Secret clearance in the first place.

Kristina Blank Makansi A GOD IN EVERY STONE Kamila Shamsie, Atavist, 2014, $20.00, pb, 336pp, 9781937894306 / Bloomsbury, 2014, £16.99, hb, 320pp, 9781408847206 While working on a dig in Turkey with a family friend, Vivian Rose Spencer, a young Englishwoman, falls in love with both archaeology and the archaeologist, Tahsin Bey. When World War I interrupts their plans, Vivian returns home and works as a nurse, always hoping to hear something from Tahsin and to someday join him to search for circlet of Scylax in Peshawar. Eventually she goes to India on her own and meets Najeeb, a little boy sent to the train to meet his brother returning home from fighting for the British. His brother, Qayyum, a lance corporal, has come to question his loyalty to the crown and to resent the British on whose behalf so many of his friends fought and died and for whom he lost an eye.

Unbeknownst to Qayyum or the rest of his family, Vivian takes Najeeb under her wing and tutors him, awakening a passion for the past that Qayyum does not understand. Eventually Vivian returns to England, Qayyum joins the movement for non20th Century

violent revolution, and Najeeb goes to university to become an archaeologist, obsessed with Vivian’s story of Scylax and the silver circlet. Years later, Vivian returns at Najeeb’s request, and the three are caught up in a whirlwind of revolutionary fervor that changes their lives forever.

Although there are flashes of brilliance, especially at the very end, A God in Every Stone was ultimately disappointing. With archaeology, romance, and revolution, I so wanted to love it, but the writing too often fell short, almost as if it was a shadow of what it was meant to be. The last section, “On the Street of Storytellers,” did much to redeem it, though, and the very last chapter, “485 BC,” is truly inspired.

Kristina Blank Makansi SOME LUCK Jane Smiley, Knopf, 2014, $26.95, hb, 416pp, 9780307700315 / Mantle, 2014, £18.99, hb, 400pp, 9781447275596 This historical novel follows various members of the Langdon family from 1920 until 1953.

Readers first meet Walter and Rosanna Langdon, newlyweds on their farm in Iowa, and go on to learn about the lives of their five children: Frank, Joe, Lillian, Henry, and Claire, who seem at first to have little or nothing in common. The backdrop of America during these particular decades, with major national and world events occurring within them, is a crucial part of the story, as the Langdons’ lives become bigger and broader than their little farm can contain.

Smiley uses interesting techniques in perspective, giving various points of view throughout the book, including those of some of the Langdon children as babies, narrating their experiences with an infant’s understanding of the world. After all of this time spent with one family, I wanted to feel more attached to the Langdons than I did. Instead I felt as if the story bumped along, perhaps switching points of view too often for me to form any particular relationship with any of the characters. It is an interesting book, in terms of American history and the real lives of regular folk, but all in all a bit of a disappointment.

Amy Watkin CITY OF GHOSTS Kelli Stanley, Minotaur, 2014, $25.95, hb, 326pp, 9781250006745 In this fast-paced noir mystery, set in San Francisco in 1940, private investigator Miranda Corbie is as beautiful, jaded and dangerous as the city she loves. The U.S. stands on the brink of war, and Miranda is desperate to finish up her current case, collect her payment, and book her passage to England before the jackboots kill the woman who may be her mother. But Miranda’s departure would be so much easier to effect if the State Department had not requested that she investigate a Berkeley professor who may be a Nazi spy – and if some other unknown person would stop killing her clients and friends. In this third book in the series, Miranda is still a novice investigator who has only 20th Century

recently left her work as a paid escort. Fearless, feisty, and fiercely intelligent, Miranda has the uncanny ability to instantly become her alter ego, femme fatale Marion Gouchard.

Stanley’s stark writing style punches out such a prodigious quantity of period detail that the reader is fully drawn into the 1940s. The mystery itself is both complicated and thrilling, but it is the addition of the underlying storyline of Miranda’s life that make this series so compelling. Highly recommended.

Nancy J. Attwell THE HATMAKER’S HEART Carla Stewart, FaithWords, 2014, $15.00, pb, 320pp, 9781455549948 Nell Marchwold is an apprentice designer at the prestigious Oscar Fields Millinery in 1920s New York City. For Nell, the joy is not just in creating the stylish cloches and headpieces sold in the salon, but in making each customer feel beautiful.

But she’s held back, not only by her shyness and a long-held stutter, but also by her envious boss, who wants to keep her designs under his label.

When a prominent clothing designer invites Nell to contribute to his new collection and her designs take off, she must decide whether she has the strength to strike out on her own and the courage to follow her heart.

The Hatmaker’s Heart is a sweet story, less about romance and more about finding the balance between ambition and faith. The era comes out through the fashion and Nell’s beautifullydescribed hats. As a historical romance, it’s mild— the love interest doesn’t make his appearance until quite late in the book—but as a story of a young woman finding her place in a man’s world, it hits the mark.

Jessica Brockmole EVIE Julia Stoneham, Allison & Busby, 2014, £19.99, hb, 287pp, 9780749015817 I believe it was William Golding who, when asked about the rules for good writing replied, there are no rules. I see what he means. Think of Tristram Shandy, with Sterne making up the rules as he went along, or any of the great novelists who kicked out the directives of earlier generations in order to reveal their own individual voice. If rules are made to be broken, however, even the rule about no rules can be ditched and many writing school tutors when pushed might agree on one rule: show, don’t tell.

Here is a slight story which relies heavily on telling rather than showing. The fact that it is about someone whom we never meet does not create mystery but merely adds to the distancing effect. ‘Evie barely makes a ripple,’ as it says on the cover, and this is true. We glimpse her fleetingly through the eyes of people living around a Dorset farm during and after the Second World War, and she makes little impact on anyone except for the mild mystery of her whereabouts. Speculation about her fate comes up over the years in casual,

everyday conversation but without any sense of burning passion. Chunks of back story about the characters who meet her tend to slow the pace. The author tells us Evie left her husband to join the Land Army, she tells us that she falls for a POW called Giorgio, and she tells us that she eventually finishes up with Giorgio’s family in Italy, with the result that we only hear about her indirectly. The mystery about her husband’s disappearance might have racked up the tension, but because we never meet him it falls flat. The dialogue does little to excite.

Cassandra Clark THE RESURRECTION OF MARY MABEL MCTAVISH Allan Stratton, Dundurn, 2014, $17.99/£11.99, pb, 352pp, 9781459708495 In Depression-era London, Ontario, a suicidal 17-year-old Mary Mabel McTavish receives an angelic visitation from her deceased mother that will change her life forever. Mary Mabel’s failed suicide attempt and subsequent resurrection of an electrocuted child, the unfortunate Timmy Beeford, set into motion a long chain of events – something like a Rube Goldberg cartoon, with a picaresque cast of characters pushing the levers.

The newly notorious Mary Mabel is taken under the wing of Floyd Cruickshank and Brother Percy, a pair of failed evangelists, whose tent, the scene of an earlier murder-suicide, is adorned with frequently repainted blood, gore and actual bullet holes. From this auspicious beginning the reader travels at a wickedly fast pace from the Bentwhistle Academy for Young Ladies, via backwoods Ontario, Radio City Music Hall and Bolshevik-haunted Mexico, to the Hearst Castle in California, making numerous other stops in between. Characters making an appearance include J. Edgar Hoover, Jack Warner, and William Randolph Hearst himself. Mary Mabel’s knight in slightly tarnished armor, journalist K. O. Doyle, is vividly portrayed, as are Mary Mabel herself and even the most minor characters in this very entertaining read.

This book romps through the Great Depression with the speed of a runaway freight train, and I could not put it down. Allan Stratton has won numerous awards, including the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humor. After reading this book, it is easy to see why. Highly recommended – grab a copy, hold on tight, and enjoy the ride!

Susan McDuffie IN PERFECT TIME Sarah Sundin, Revell, 2014, $14.99, pb, 408pp, 9780800720834 The latest in the WWII-era Wings of the Nightingale series follows Lt. Kay Jobson, an army nurse who prides herself on having a boyfriend for every night of the week. She finds her flirtations do not seem to have any effect on Lt. Roger Cooper.

Instead, Roger gives her his Bible in hopes to save her from her downward spiral, and will not become another of her boyfriends. Kay discovers a great deal about herself and finds that the need HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 49

to be loved by everybody is not as important as being truly loved by one. Perhaps she can prove this to Roger? The new Kay also is charged by her commander with trying to create more of a spirit of unity within her unit, achieving this only through a near disaster.

I am already a fan of Sarah Sundin’s inspirational novels. She researches the period, the theatres of war, and units involved in her Nightingale series very well. Faith and sweet romance during wartime are reoccurring themes in her books, and in this one the lesson learned involves finding oneself through finding God. This book is a nice followup to the others in the series, as I learned how the stories of the other nurses in Kay’s unit have moved forward in their relationships and their lives.

Beth Turza SING IN THE MORNING, CRY AT NIGHT Barbara J. Taylor, Akashic, 2014, $15.95, pb, 314pp, 9781617752278 Barbara J. Taylor’s debut novel is the moving story of a family from Scranton, Pennsylvania at the turn of the 20th century. Scranton is located right in the heart of anthracite coal country and, at the time of this saga, was teeming with immigrants from Wales, Poland, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, and Italy, people who had come from the old country with the hope of making a better life in America. They landed in Scranton because coal companies were desperate to find enough people to mine the rich coal that heated homes and ran steel factories.

Scranton figures almost as one of the characters in this tale of Violet and Daisy, two sisters eleven months apart; their mother, Grace; and their father, Owen. In celebration of Daisy’s ninth birthday on the 4th of July, Owen brings home sparklers as a surprise for his daughters. However, the surprise turns deadly when Daisy’s new dress catches fire, resulting in the child’s death. This loss drives Grace almost insane and leads Owen down the road to perdition via whiskey. Little Violet is caught in the middle of the tragedy, the only one with Daisy when the accident occurred. Many in the small coal town point a finger at Violet, saying she somehow caused the fire because of jealousy. Soon, Violet begins to believe the rumors herself.

This story is at once poignant and hopeful, spiced up by such characters as Billy Sunday, the revivalist, and Grief, the specter who haunts Grace to the very edge of sanity. A rich debut.

Anne Clinard Barnhill AN IRISH DOCTOR IN PEACE AND AT WAR: An Irish Country Novel Patrick Taylor, Forge, 2014, $24.99, hb, 416pp, 9780765338365 Taylor returns with the ninth installment of his series, one of four that features his hero Dr. Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly, a beloved local doctor in Ballybucklebo, Ireland. In this edition, the story jumps back and forth from the 1960s, when O’Reilly serves as a country doctor, to his service in World War II as a surgeon lieutenant on the HMS 50 | Reviews |

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Warspite. Charming tales of O’Reilly’s small-town patients are juxtaposed with harrowing accounts of his military service more than twenty years earlier.

This book moves O’Reilly’s story forward and fills in some gaps in his history. The tale begins slowly with more colorful stories about the eccentricities of life in a small Northern Ireland community than medicine, and when the war scenes appear, they too take a while to build steam as O’Reilly familiarizes himself with life in the navy. The details of World War II-era medicine and life on a royal battleship are extraordinary.

The book concludes with a helpful glossary of Ulster phrases, a few recipes provided by O’Reilly’s housekeeper, and the author’s solemn oath to close up some loose ends in O’Reilly’s history in the next installment. Fans of Maeve Binchy and James Herriot won’t be disappointed.

Rebecca Henderson Palmer

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THE LODGER Louisa Treger, Thomas Dunne, 2014, $24.99, hb, 262pp, 9781250051936 / Thistle Press, 2014, £9.99, pb, 240pp, 9781910198223 Sometimes one can judge a book by its cover. The content of Louisa Treger’s debut is just as exquisitely formed as the luminous jacket art. Dorothy Richardson was an early 20th-century literary star whose innovative stream-of-consciousness style influenced countless others but who is essentially forgotten today – undeservedly so, per Treger, and her thesis is convincing. Tracing Dorothy’s journey to selfrecognition, she movingly illustrates both the price and rewards of independence.

In 1906, Dorothy visits her old school friend, Amy Catherine, now married and living with her husband, author H. G. “Bertie” Wells, on the Kentish coast. At their home, Dorothy can temporarily forget her threadbare existence at a boardinghouse in London’s Bloomsbury neighborhood and her dreary secretarial job.

Amid this intellectual company, Dorothy feels overwhelmed. Here her conversation is hesitant, but she and the charismatic Bertie clearly share an attraction – which she resists at first but eventually succumbs to, after hearing they supposedly have an open marriage. Then the arrival of a new lodger at the boardinghouse, vibrant suffragette Veronica Leslie-Jones, throws Dorothy’s world into turmoil. Soon she’s fully engulfed in two illicit sexual relationships. As she struggles to balance her competing needs for togetherness and solitude, her literary voice is born.

Through Treger’s sensitive, poetic writing, The Lodger offers a wonderful study in character growth.

Haunted by her mother’s suicide and disturbed by her unorthodox desires, Dorothy matures through experience, acknowledging her dual-sided nature

and emerging triumphant. Alongside, she comes to recognize the many facets of the city of her heart, London, a place of “terror and beauty, squalor and splendor” where women’s rights are brutally suppressed but whose magnificence at sunset can take her breath away. Also noteworthy is the subtle depiction of the novel’s other female characters, as seen through Dorothy’s eyes. In all, a rich portrait of the times and of an unconventional woman’s interior life.

Sarah Johnson LISETTE’S LIST Susan Vreeland, Random House, 2014, $27.00, hb, 382pp, 9781400068173 Lisette’s List is a sojourn—a long stay—in the south of France, in the small village of Roussillon, and as such, the reader should be prepared to slow down and savor the pace of life it offers.

Lisette and her husband André, an expert maker of frames, leave Paris to stay with his dying father in Roussillon. The transition to rough country life is difficult, and Lisette chafes at the rusticities (an outhouse!) but more, she longs for the cafés and art galleries, the movies and restaurants, and simply Paris itself.

Gradually, her resentment lessens, especially when André’s grandfather begins to tell her stories of the great artists Pissarro and Cézanne—he knew them, and he has a small collection of nine superb paintings given to him by them. One by one, Lisette studies the paintings, hears their stories, and begins to appreciate the “sacred light” of the South, whose ochre mines have yielded the pigments for many Impressionist paintings. She learns about art and painting, and hopes it will serve her well when, some day, she returns to Paris to work at an art gallery. Then WWII intervenes and she, along with the rest of village, must learn to cope with fear, with occupation, with little food and less fuel—and with the absence of the nine lovely paintings, which her husband has taken away and hidden, not telling her where, so the Nazis won’t get them. When the war ends, and her life has been turned upside down, she vows she will not return to Paris without finding the nine paintings.

Vreeland’s writing brings the sights, smells and sounds of a country life to vivid reality, along with the emotions that Lisette and the other characters experience in a world torn by war and enlivened by love and desire. Detailed descriptions of closely examining a painting, its brush strokes, the capturing of light and shadow, are exquisitely drawn and lovingly presented. A little slow at first, the story begins to engage the reader step by step until we are right there with Lisette every moment, hoping, struggling, wishing with her to help her achieve the goals of her “List of Hungers and Vows.”

Mary F. Burns

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THE PAYING GUESTS Sarah Waters, Virago, 2014, £20, hb, 572pp, 9780349004365 / Riverhead, 2014, $28.95, hb, 576pp, 9781594633119 20th Century

Frances Wray, in her mid-twenties, lives in genteel poverty with her widowed mother in a large house in Camberwell, London. It is 1922, just four years after the end of the Great War which killed both of Florence’s brothers and also contributed to the death of her father.

In order to ease their straightened financial circumstances, they decide to take in lodgers – a young married couple, Leonard and Lilian Barber.

Their arrival in the house takes a lot of adjustment for the Wrays. Frances, we soon learn, has a past, with a former lesbian relationship that she had to end in order to look after her mother. Her new household duties as cleaner, cook and so on, now that they can no longer afford servants, grates upon Frances and the limited life she feels constrained by. But once more her life is transformed when she starts a secret love affair with her new paying guest, Lilian. And there the trouble begins, for an unconsidered act by Lilian plunges both into an unforeseen crisis that threatens their relationship and their very lives.

As one would expect with Sarah Waters, this is a superbly narrated and observed novel. It is an in-depth study of a love affair between women at a time when such relations were taboo amongst both polite and working-class society. The tension of the plot carries the reader forward, eager to find out how the cast of characters react to the challenging circumstances. The author’s previous highly successful novels have been historical, and this is a fine study of the manners, mores and times of England in the early 1920s, a country trying to begin to repair the damage done by the War. Such is one’s engagement with Frances and Lilian that a sequel is really required by the reader.

Douglas Kemp MURDER AT THE BRIGHTWELL Ashley Weaver, Minotaur, 2014, $24.99, hb, 336pp, 9781250046369 This novel immerses the reader in a glamorous and gripping tale of murder and society gossip set in the 1930s. Just as Milo, Amory Ames’s roguish husband, arrives unexpectedly from Monte Carlo, Gil, her ex-fiancé, asks her to go to the Brightwell Hotel and help him convince his sister, who is vacationing with her fiancé, Rupert, to break off her engagement. Of course, Gil hasn’t gotten over Amory, but, as a gentleman, he will not act on his feelings. Amory decides to go, despite the likelihood of scandal, and, to her chagrin, finds that Milo decides to go as well. After Rupert ends up dead and Gil becomes the prime suspect, Amory dives in and tries to solve the murder(s) herself.

With a few unexpected twists and turns and a delightful cast of characters, this is a very enjoyable book. If you like your murder served up on a silver platter with a side of romance and an abundance 20th Century — Multi-period

of wit, this book is for you. I’m hoping we will see more of Amory Ames in the future.

Kristina Blank Makansi

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BEFORE THE FALL Juliet West, Pan Macmillan, 2014, £7.99, pb, 326pp, 9781447259077 Before the Fall is the debut novel by Juliet West, inspired by real events in London during the First World War. It was shortlisted for the Myriad Editions novel writing competition in 2012, and it is extremely easy to see why.

In 1916, Hannah Loxwood’s husband joins the fighting overseas, leaving her to struggle on in London’s East End with her two small children, and a whole host of other family problems. When she takes a job in a café, it not only provides her with welcome income and respite, but she meets Daniel Blake, an intelligent, working class loner, controversially exempt from active service. Their love flourishes amid war-torn surroundings, and the constant threat of call-up forces them to take their destiny into their own hands.

West has produced an incredible debut novel in which the central love story is enveloped in a superbly drawn East End ripped apart, both literally and emotionally, by the First World War. The characters, from the major protagonists to the most minor of players, are portrayed with such realism, detail and empathy that it is immensely easy to step into the world of this novel. Believe me when I say that this story, and its heart-wrenching conclusion, will continue to haunt the reader, long after the last page has been read.

This was undoubtedly the best novel I have read this year, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes their historical fiction on the literary side.

I also challenge you to read it without needing a hankie! If this is the kind of writing we can expect from West, then I look forward with anticipation to more of her work.

Claire Cowling

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THIS IS HOW I’D LOVE YOU Hazel Woods, Plume, 2014, $16/C$18, pb, 310pp, 9780142181485 This is an absolutely gorgeous book, although I know gorgeous seems like the wrong word for a book set in wartime. But, to me, gorgeous evokes the vast expanse of the book, from New York City to New Mexico to war-torn Europe, the lyricism in its narrative, and its utterly engrossing characters.

Charles Reid, son of a steel magnate, becomes an ambulance driver in the Great War in 1917, and enters into a chess game by correspondence with Sacha Dench, a reporter for the New York Times.

Dench, a pacifist, is let go from the paper, so he and his adult daughter Hensley remove themselves

to New Mexico, where he takes a job as the manager of a gold mine.

Hensley, lonely and betrayed by a lover back in New York, takes on Reid as a correspondent as well. Their letters are a lifeline for each other.

When Hensley writes the words of Reid’s letters on her bedroom walls, that scene was written so powerfully that I could almost see it as I read it.

This is Woods’ first novel, and she gets it all right. There is not a false note in this book. One of the surprisingly effective touches is that Reid shares Hensley’s letters with his fellow ambulance driver, Rogerson. Comrades in war stick together, and Reid is perceptive enough to know that words from back home help his friend as well. There’s an element of magic in the way that Reid and Hensley find each other back in the States, but at that point in the book, that magic is both welcome and earned.

Ellen Keith THE SILENT WOMAN Monika Zgustova (trans. Matthew Tree), The Feminist Press, 2013, $18.95, pb, 369pp, 9781558618411 Monika Zgustova’s novel, The Silent Woman, is translated Matthew Tree. Not being written originally in English might perhaps explain, partially, the difficulty of the novel. For the first half of the book, the story is elusive and the plot, meandering. Perhaps that isn’t the point. Rather, the point might be how we negotiate the difficult decisions totalitarian societies force upon us.

The story is told in two voices, Sylva and Jan, mother and son, each trying to come to terms with their personal identity and where their true home might be found. Sylva, born in 1900 in Prague, suffers a loss of herself as a result of her decisions. She, like the century in which she lives, is tossed about by the powerful political currents of the time, Nazism, and, later, communism. These totalitarian governments force extremely difficult moral decisions on their citizens “Join us, or your children and parents will die.

Join us, or you will be taken away to a camp. Join us—lose yourself.” Sylva says yes to both the Nazis and the Communists and, by doing so, loses the two men she loves most in life—her husband and her son. Though at times confusing as the writer weaves back and forth through time and space, the novel is provocative, reflecting the tumultuous times of the 20th century—not too different from the challenges of the 21st.

Anne Clinard Barnhill

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EVERGREEN FALLS Kimberley Freeman, Hachette Australia, 2014, Au$29.99, pb, 436pp, 9780733630033 The setting for this dual-period novel is a grand old spa in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales and is inspired by the life of the author’s grandmother, who worked in a similar iconic hotel.

In 2014, Laura – who describes herself as a ‘thirtyyear-old virgin’ – is finding her own way in life after being severely restricted by family circumstances.

She works as a waitress in a café that is part of a major redevelopment of the once-fashionable spa at Evergreen Falls. When she meets a Danish architect, Tomas, Laura has hopes of her first romantic affair.

Curiosity leads her into a crumbling off-limits area of the west wing, where she discovers a collection of passionate love letters hidden inside an old gramophone. These were sent to Violet, a maid at the hotel in its glory days in 1926, when it was frequented by Sydney’s high society. Violet’s lover is Sam, a rich heir who is on a health cure. His sister, Flora, is highly protective of her brother but also has her own rocky relationship to negotiate with her fiancé, Tony, and his unpleasant hangerson.

Although the hotel usually closes for the winter, the manageress decides to keep it open for a few select guests and with a skeleton staff, including Violet. When a freak snowstorm cuts them off from the outside world and a tragedy ensues, a conspiracy of secrets descends that will only be unravelled years later by Laura.

The differing moral and social attitudes of the respective eras are well-defined, and the descriptions of the Blue Mountains in winter are most evocative. There is a dark undercurrent to the plot on the ravages of drug addiction, but the characters are appealing, and they hold the reader’s interest throughout. Another terrific page-turner from Kimberley Freeman.

Marina Maxwell WHEN LILACS LAST IN THE DOORYARD BLOOMED Bradley Greenburg, Sandstone, 2014, £8.99/$16.95, pb, 342pp, 9781908737878 The McGhees, a black family freed from slavery, flee the Jim Crow laws and poverty of post-Civil War Alabama for Indiana hoping to buy land. Three generations, Amos, James and young Clayton, struggle to build up a prosperous farm, which they must defend against local racism and vigilantes. Thirty years later, Clayton is still farming but land to extend the railway is valuable.

Ambitious townspeople have their eyes on the McGhee farm and will not stop at arson or murder to get it.

The first section, 1863-68, is gripping and pacy.

The McGhees are such likeable, three-dimensional characters that casual bigotry is as distressing as the actual violence they encounter. Particularly strong is the description of James’s ride north. In state after state, prejudice and fear of a different race force him to move on, but he also meets acts 52 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 70, November 2014

of kindness. The second half, 1901-28, is less successful. Clayton and his family fade to the background, replaced by a prosperous white family.

The battle between a greedy lawyer, Jeffries, and his cultured, alcoholic wife over the soul of their son becomes the main plot. These characters are also three-dimensional, but the Jeffrieses are not particularly sympathetic. Their battle is reflected in the exploding growth of the frontier town: business and profit over anything else. The plot to seize the farmland is confused, and the novel ends in a melodramatic shoot-out.

However, this is a powerful novel, well worth reading. The black dialogue especially reads beautifully. Hatred and the frustrations of casual racism are made terrifyingly believable. There is a chilling Ku Klux Klan scene. A slight fault: the nobility of the blacks and their supporters against cinematically evil baddies can be too twodimensional. To be fair, another reader might well find the second section more successful.

Lynn Guest AN ITALIAN WIFE Ann Hood, Norton, 2014, $25.95, hb, 272pp, 9780393241662 Ann Hood’s latest novel is a series of vignettes focusing on more than the title character. The book visits the experiences of three generations of reluctant immigrant Josephine Rimaldi (born, we are told, in 1874), starting at the turn of the 19th century and ending at her death, close to a century later. Quite a few members of the extended family merit stories of their own. This makes for lot of history to pack into fewer than 300 pages, and many characters for the reader to keep track of.

Josephine’s character development suffers some as a result, sacrificed to assays into the other characters’ lives.

That’s not to say that the writing also suffers, because it can be quite wonderful. One of the cleverest scenes shows granddaughter Francesca writing a letter from their home in Rhode Island to Mussolini during World War II—tricking her drooling grandmother by turning the old woman’s praise of the dictator into a hate letter. It’s clear the girl is embarrassed by and perhaps even despises the now-elderly Josephine, who still hasn’t learned English after thirty years in America. In another moving scene, great-grandson Roger receives word of his brother Davy’s death in Vietnam, even as he half-wishes this brother he has always competed with might actually be killed in battle. When the increasingly frail Josephine appears, and she and young Roger are whisked off to yet another relative’s home out of state, it’s with a feeling that neither is truly valued by the rest of the family.

If the reader is looking for plot, it will be hard to find, but these glimpses into the life of a reluctant immigrant woman, and the family she adds to America’s population, are poignant, realistic, and remind us of our own families – and the ways in which we cling together or fall apart.

Kathryn Johnson

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen Charlie Lovett, Viking, 2014, $27.95, hb, 320pp, 9780525427247 Welcome to the world of Jane Austen and Richard Mansfield, two 18th-century writers who truly love great literature. When they meet, Jane is working on a novel entitled Elinor and Marianne.

They begin to take walks together, and Jane reads parts of her novel in progress to Richard almost every day; he in turn offers criticisms. In particular, he questions Jane’s habit of forming quick plots after studying an individual’s initial appearance.

This he claims limits her character’s development.

First impressions, after all, are not what they initially appear to be!

Jane and Richard grow closer and closer, eventually planning an intriguing, joint, literary adventure. It evolves into a thrilling mystery accompanied by threats of dire consequences. At the same time, we meet Sophie Collingwood, who lives in present-day London after completing her Oxford education. Her most precious memories involve times with Uncle Bertram, another book lover and owner of an amazing, comprehensive book collection. When he dies and she takes work at an antiquarian bookshop, she’s drawn into a search for a second edition of a Richard Mansfield novel, one also being sought by several other men.

This novel is both beautiful and exciting; the love of books is so pervasive that the reader shares their passion for great writing, but then the danger of owning a book rife with a long-ago secret is absolutely thrilling. The discussions about highly literate writing and the physical creation of beautiful texts are fascinating and even more endearing. Wonderful historical fiction, this is a must-read, especially for those who love books, writing and reading!

Viviane Crystal THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF GASLIT ROMANCE Ekaterina Sedia (ed.), Robinson, 2014, £8.99, pb, 492pp, 9781472111647 / Running Press, 2014, $14.95, pb, 512pp, 9780762454679 There is plenty of choice in this book of short stories and a novella. The stories are mainly fantasy, time slip, science fiction, or a combination of two or three: four vampires with a ferociously hungry baby; horrific condemnation of women whose passions cannot be normal (anyone who has had nightmares from the terrifying old classic, The Yellow Wallpaper – be prepared); the captain of a dirigible who brings the Emperor his heart’s desire and she finds her own; a hellish although commonplace marriage; the possibility of true friendship between a man and a woman; ultra-rapid sex changes. Conventional romance is represented by a well-known Victorian lady author whose story is pedestrian compared to those written by modern authors.

Others are memorable: Merlin meets Queen Victoria; a lovable female Minotaur; a sad little fairy tale of a shoemaker. And The Lady in Red Multi-period

which is such an oddity I thought it must be a spoof but now believe the author is inexperienced.

But the best is undoubtedly Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: excitement, suspense, a solidly convincing background, a teasing conclusion and a comforting finale. Feminism is well represented but not exclusive, and if there is any moral to be found in this collection it is probably: Be careful what you wish for.

Nancy Henshaw GHOSTWRITTEN (UK) / SHADOWS OVER PARADISE (US) Isabel Wolff, Harper, 2014, £7.99, pb, 384pp, 9780007455065 / Bantam, 2015, $15.00, pb, 384pp, 9780345533180 Ghostwritten is about Jenni, a ghostwriter who prefers to work for “real” people with stories to tell, rather than celebrities who want publicity. So she offers to help Klara to write an account of her harrowing experience during the Second World War to give to her children and grandchildren, who know very little about it.

There is also a contemporary novel here, too.

The love between Jenni and Rick, her partner, is faltering because he wants to start a family, to which she is firmly opposed (the explanation may be alluded to in the enigmatic prologue. The more Jenni learns about Klara’s past, the more the similarities between them emerge).

The author’s previous novels have all been contemporary. Ghostwritten is both different and much darker. Klara, the daughter of a Dutch rubber planter, had an idyllic childhood in Java until it was occupied by the Japanese. Her father was taken prisoner and then, she, her mother and her younger brother were interned in a series of hideous internment camps where they faced daily torture, starvation and personal tragedy.

Wolff ’s research is impeccable. However, as is often the case, she falls into the trap of promoting accurate facts and extensive research over emotional involvement and characterisation.

The fact that Jenni is a brilliant and empathetic “ghost” but totally incapable of that in her own life makes it difficult to warm to her. And the fact that her life story, although sad, is nothing like as appalling as Klara’s weakens the novel. Klara is a much more complex and interesting character. To me, Ghostwritten would have worked far better without the contemporary timeline, which is somewhat contrived and far too coincidental to be believable. However, Wolff ’s many fans will not be disappointed.

Sally Zigmond

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timeslip

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THE BARTER Siobhan Adcock, Dutton, 2014, $26.95, hb, 320pp, 9780525954225 Bridget should be happy. She has a handsome husband and an adorable year-old daughter, so Multi-period — Alternate History

why can’t she stop thinking about death? Then the strangeness begins – soft thuds against the walls of Bridget’s central Texas home and the stink of moldering earth, and then a white-clad specter of a woman pulls itself into her daughter’s room to watch them with black, pitiless eyes. What does the dead woman want?

Born a century earlier, Rebecca Mueller has heard a strange tale many times: how her mother bartered away an hour of her life to save her newborn daughter in 1882, only to learn as her own life fades away that it was her next dawn.

Rebecca is told that an hour of her own life had also been surrendered, but nobody can say when or how the barter will be consummated.

The four mothers and daughters’ destinies are clearly intertwined, and Bridget senses that the ghost wants some sort of offering – a barter. It’s up to Bridget to figure out what the dead woman wants in Siobhan Adcock’s debut offering, The Barter.

This is a vividly told supernatural multi-period story, and Adcock builds the suspense nicely. Love between mother and daughter is a dominant motif, but both Bridget and Rebecca are alienated from their husbands. What must be sacrificed, and who must do it to draw them together? It’s a fascinating theme, but the characters’ discontent left this reader feeling the same emotion. You might feel differently, so if you like a thriller, try The Barter.

Jo Ann Butler

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historical fantasy

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ELISHA MAGUS E. C. Ambrose, DAW, 2014, $24.95/C$27.95, hb, 304pp, 9780756409265 Elisha, a barber-surgeon and powerful magus in an alternative 14th-century London, has killed the king and now finds himself at the center of court power politics—both Machiavellian and magical, but in every case potentially deadly.

This, the second volume of a trilogy, is a dark and complex book. It should please fantasy fans who love the feel of medieval England, in this case a place where magic, of the dark arts, alchemist’s variety, completely infuses life. Author E. C. Ambrose has created an alternative universe where London is palpably, absolutely medieval London— and yet not.

If you’re a historical fiction fan who loves stories set in the Middle Ages, be aware that you’ll need to divorce yourself from its actual history in order to enjoy this book. It threw me that there were different people in charge. (Who’s this Prince Alaric? Where were the Despensers? Edward III?) I had a hard time with all the magic and missed the Edwards, but absolutely admired Ambrose’s storytelling ability and how she conjured up a detailed, parallel world where magi and witches were powerful forces to be reckoned with. This is an intelligent book, written most especially for

fantasy readers who crave action and magic.

Kristen Hannum THE TABLE OF LESS VALUED KNIGHTS Marie Philips, Jonathan Cape, 2014, £12.99, hb, 308 pp, 9780224093422 In these dark days it’s a relief to come across a novel providing such fun. Well-written, with a firm grasp of all the tropes of medieval fiction, from questing knights, to magic swords, unicorns and a weird child with enough knowledge of magic to set the story going, this must be a joy even to serious medievalists such as myself.

Sir Humphrey, one of the less valued knights because of an earlier catastrophe in his errantry, is doomed to sit at the third and lowest table in King Arthur’s Hall, the table with one short leg, but he longs to return to his rightful place, the Round Table. By chance the opportunity to go on the prestigious Pentecost quest that could restore his fortunes comes his way, and he sets out with damsel in distress, Elaine. Meanwhile, in another part of the kingdom, the King of Puddock has died, leaving only a daughter to rule. The future Queen Martha will have none of it. She has no wish to be queen and decides to run away. I won’t spoil the plot by going into detail. Imagine kidnaps, cross-dressing, talking animals and every twist and turn you can, and then some, and you may be close to keeping up with this fast-paced tale. I can’t think of anything Philips has missed. There’s even a knight in black, and a villain so misogynistically bad you know you’ve met him, and the Lady of the Fountain (or Sorceress of the Citadel) has a great line in sassy dialogue. Do read it whether you need a tonic or not. Happily, Philips leaves the way open for a sequel called the Table of Equally Valued Knights. Good!

Cassandra Clark

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alternate history

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BACK CHANNEL Stephen L. Carter, Knopf, 2014, $27.95, hb, 443pp, 9780385349604 Set against the looming Cuban Missile Crisis, Back Channel follows an alternative history that pits a nineteen-year-old, black, female college student, Margo Jensen, against the spies of both the United States and the Soviet Union, who are dead set to make sure that she is unable to relay vital information between Khrushchev and Kennedy.

Her experience takes her from the Ukraine— along the side of Bobby Fischer—to fake dalliances with the President where she relays Khrushchev’s messages.

First things first: I found the choice of Margo as the chosen back channel a bit preposterous.

That an inexperienced nineteen-year-old college sophomore with no training other than a few counseled words as she signed confidentiality papers could outwit the KBG, CIA, FBI, and HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 53

others seemed almost surreal. However, I must admit that Stephen Carter handles this with a deftness that made me laugh at the insanity of this proposal and want to know what happens next.

Carter maintains a fast pace typical of a political thriller, but there were sections in the middle that tended to muddle—an edit of 50 or so pages wouldn’t have hurt. The ExComm history trends to accurate, especially the fiery conferences held during those dangerous thirteen days in October.

There are some creative liberties taken along the historical timeline, but these are forgivable as they help to make sense of the plot given. Not the strongest historical/political thriller available now, but a good read nonetheless.

Bryan Dumas THE DARKEST HOUR Tony Schumacher, William Morrow, 2014, $25.99, hb, 432pp, 9780062339362 The Darkest Hour is an alternative history in which Great Britain has lost the war and is occupied by the German army, the SS, and the Gestapo. King Edward is back on the throne.

Churchill and the government are in Canada, and America never entered the war. It takes place in London, 1946. John Rossett, an English war hero, has joined the Metropolitan Police after being released from a German POW camp. While in the camp, an English Resistance bomb has killed his wife and child. He’s lost all loyalty to government.

He has no ambitions. Rossett’s only motivation is to complete assignments, which he does with a robot-like perfection.

Then he is transferred to the Bureau of Jewish Affairs. His assignment is to round up Jews and send them away to “work camps in France.” As he is overseeing the transportation of Jews, one calls to him. He recognizes a former neighbor. The old man tells Rossett to go back to his house, and behind a bookcase Rossett will find a treasure. The treasure is a bag of gold sovereigns, a diamond, and the old man’s seven-year-old grandson, who is hiding in the chimney behind the bookcase. Rossett takes the bag and promises to reunite the boy with his grandfather. At this point in the narrative the plot begins a fast-paced roller-coaster journey of twists and turns. None of the characters are exactly who and what they seem.

Tony Schumacher has created a complex character in Rossett, an emotionally damaged man who trusts no one and cares for nothing. This is a spellbinding, exciting, suspenseful novel with a surprising ending. The Darkest Hour is real pageturner.

Audrey Braver A KILL IN THE MORNING Graeme Shimmin, Bantam Press, 2014, £12.99, pb, 378pp, 9780593073537 The year is 1955. It is 14 years since Churchill died and the war against Germany ended. Britain retains her independence and is engaged in a cold war against the Nazis, a war which is about to become hot…

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HNR Issue 70, November 2014

Alternate history novels set in a world in which the Nazis did not lose World War Two are persistently popular (and why is a fascinating question). Two recent ones – Owen Sheers’ Resistance and Guy Saville’s The Afrika Reich – are thoughtful and sophisticated as well as gripping.

Newcomer Shimmin’s A Kill in the Morning is merely clever and did not, therefore, grip me at all. That is not to say the book will not be a great success. It probably will. It has an ingenious, if preposterous, plot involving a macho hero, several beautiful women, megalomaniac villains wielding monstrous weapons and a dash of Nazi black magic reminiscent of Aleister Crowley. Despite some very witty, Fleming-esque dialogue, however, Shimmin’s characters, weighed down by the plot, fail to emerge from caricature. His female characters are a particular disappointment in that, although Shimmin gives them agency, they mostly exercise it by using sex. An almost honourable exception is Molly, but her Father Ted-style Irish voice irritates.

Techno-heads will love the cars, aircraft, bombs and guns and the way Shimmin has woven his history into the actual record is ingenious and thoroughly researched, as testified by a lengthy glossary. At best, however, a beach read. And for the movie producer who moves into the villa after you and picks it up, please please don’t cast Tom Cruise.

Sarah Bower

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children & young adult

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CAPTAIN Sam Angus, Macmillan, 2014, £6.99, pb, 246pp, 9781447263029 In 1915, fifteen-year-old Billy Bayliss enlists in the army, using his older brother’s papers to pretend he is seventeen and old enough to fight.

He arrives in Alexandria, on his way to Gallipoli with his regiment. He doesn’t fit in with the older men and is lonely and homesick until he meets a young refugee boy, Captain, and his donkey Heyho. The regiment sets sail for Gallipoli, and Billy is relieved to find his new friends are on the boat, too.

His relief is short lived when the troop ships are shelled in the harbour before the soldiers, mules and horses on board can disembark.

So begins Billy’s war, a time of death and terror as he struggles to cope with the appalling carnage around him. Through it all, his friendship with Captain and is donkey endures and deepens, until a tragic event changes Billy’s life forever.

This book has a warmth and compassion that made me care very much about Billy, Captain and Hey-ho the donkey. All three were brave and loyal, to each other and to their comrades in arms. It shows the part animals played in war and the often brutal reality of their fate. Angus’s writing is lovely, and her impressive and extensive research is worn lightly as she builds a vivid and at times horrific picture of a war fought at close quarters. There are

lighter moments but this is ultimately a bittersweet story without an easy ending. I loved this book and would whole-heartedly recommend it for older mid-grade readers and upwards.

Pat Walsh TELL US A STORY, PAPA CHAGALL Laurence Anholt, Frances Lincoln, 2014, £12.99, hb, 26pp, 9781847803399 This is the latest in Anhalt’s series on the lives of great artists. His subject is the Jewish Russian painter, Marc Chagall, and Anholt lets Chagall himself tell his twin grandchildren his life story.

Chagall starts with his impoverished childhood in Russia and how a local art teacher was so impressed by his paintings that he taught him for free. Later, he tells how he met his wife and their move to Paris and the birth of a daughter, the twins’ mother. As the Second World War looms and the Nazis declare Jewish art ‘degenerate’, the Chagall family flee to America. Lastly, we see the family back in France, where Chagall became rich and famous.

What I particularly liked about this book is the way Anholt’s illustrations echo Chagall’s own style and colour palette. Chagall and the children enjoy the zany pictures with flying people and strange-coloured animals. It’s a pity Anholt doesn’t say that they were inspired by Yiddish folk-tales, but perhaps he feels that the pictures’ joie-de-vivre speaks for itself.

A number of Chagall’s actual pictures are carefully placed among Anholt’s own illustrations so that readers can see for themselves what his paintings are like. I think Tell Us a Story, Papa Chagall is a great way to give children a simple account of the main events of Chagall’s life and, at the same time, introduce them to his paintings.

Anholt also, subtly, illuminates the history of the period: peasant life in a Russian shtetl; the explosion of French art in the inter-war years when Chagall designed sets for Diaghilev; the coming of the Nazis; the flight to America where the traumatized Chagall could only paint burning houses and terrified people and, lastly, he touches on Chagall’s artistic legacy. Children of seven plus should enjoy this book. Highly recommended.

Elizabeth Hawksley I loved Tell Us A Story, Papa Chagall. They are lucky children because Papa Chagall’s world is brightly coloured and dreamy, like a sweet shop.

There are a lot of hidden things in the paintings and in the stories that you can only find if you let yourself imagine them – they sort of pop into your head after a while, like being hungry suddenly. My mum and I talked about Jewish folklore which was important to Chagall and makes the paintings so strange and bright. Afterwards, I spent some time looking at other paintings by Chagall to see if I could work out the stories behind them.

William Stockton, age 9 GHOST SOLDIER Theresa Breslin, Doubleday, 2014, hb, 291pp, Alternate History — Children & YA

9780857533050 Rob and Millie’s soldier father is missing in action after the battle of the Somme, and their mother is finding it hard to cope. The family’s sheep-dog has had puppies, and Millie wants to keep the smallest one, but a vet comes to requisition all the pups to be trained as messenger dogs for the army. The children hide Millie’s puppy in a shed in the garden of an abandoned house that’s said to be haunted. Rob thinks he glimpses the ghost, but he isn’t sure – and anyway, he doesn’t believe in ghosts.

When the haunted house is occupied by army medical staff, Rob and Millie overhear a strange conversation that leads them to jump to a wrong conclusion. The final part of the book, containing the solution to this mystery, kept me guessing and made for a satisfying and believable ending.

This is an exciting, heart-warming story involving the children’s desperate search for news of their father, soldiers suffering from shell-shock (barely understood at the time), an emotionally damaged boy, and a Scottish farming community pulling together to help one another. There is a lot of information about the war, about shell-shock and its treatment, and new medical ideas. I think teachers in particular will like this story and find it a useful resource because children will learn so much from it – and it’s a good story in its own right.

And the ghost? Very subtle and understated.

It’s exactly right for this story - though some children might be disappointed by the low level of spookiness. For children of 8+.

Ann Turnbull BONESEEKER: From the Journals of Arabella Holmes and Henry Watson Brynn Chapman, Month9Books, 2014, $12.99, pb, 300pp, 9781939765383 Arabella Holmes and Henry Watson (the children of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, respectively) are in Philadelphia working at the Mutter Museum, studying bones and medical anomalies. They have not seen each other for several years—not since Henry stunned Arabella with a kiss that complicated their lifelong friendship.

Over-large humanoid skeletons have been found at a dig, and Arabella and Henry join the expedition.

Some think the bones reveal the existence of the Nephilim (angels), although Arabella believes they are more likely Neanderthal remains. The first four scientists to go on the expedition mysteriously disappeared.

The story is told in alternating first person, but the voices of Arabella and Henry are similar, making it difficult to keep track of who is narrating.

Both are obsessed with the other, their thoughts focusing on love and lust, personal insecurities, and how Arabella is not a “normal” woman. She is meant to have a Sherlockian intellect, but we rarely see her use it. Instead, her thoughts are consumed with Henry, a topic which confuses her and shows her mind as indecisive and emotional. The mysteries of the strange skeletons and the missing scientists are given short shrift to the romance. The premise is promising and the mystery intriguing, Children & YA

but the story could have used more editing. It reads like an early draft.

Elizabeth Caulfield Felt JOURNEY TO GALVESTON Melodie A. Cuate, Texas Tech Univ. Press, 2014, $18.95, hb, 176pp, 9780896728523 When Mr. Barrington’s mysterious trunk suddenly appears in the midst of Nick, Jackie and Hannah, they are amazed to watch a family of slaves step out from it, followed quickly by a snarling dog and its slave catcher owner. The man snatches Jackie – mistaken for an escaped slave – from the house, and Nick and Hannah follow them back in time to Texas circa 1865. There, Nick, Hannah, and Jackie find themselves trying to escape from a ruthless slave master as they attempt to reunite two slave twins torn apart by prejudice and hatred. Their journey takes them to Galveston via a spooky witch in a dark swamp, a dangerous river ride, and a magnificent paddle wheeler. In Galveston, the trio learns that the Civil War has ended slavery and that Jackie and the twins are free.

I read this book to/with my nine-year-old son, and though there were a few vocabulary words that we had to work out – a teachable moment – we both enjoyed the story very much. The history is accurate and, despite the horrific nature of slavery, was told in a detail appropriate for young readers.

More focused on Texas history – Juneteenth, slavery on Galveston – Journey to Galveston is a great book to introduce young readers to the issues surrounding slavery in America.

Bryan Dumas My favorite part was when they saw a ghost on the porch. It was my favorite part because it excited me on the adventure to Galveston and it was a big loop to the story. I learned that the Civil War stopped slavery and that a man named General Granger stopped slavery in Texas. The thing I didn’t like was when a croc ate a dog, and when Sam got whipped and salted. I would recommend this to ages 6-11, and I give this 4 stars. This book was great.

Ethan Dumas, Age 9 THE MADMAN OF PINEY WOODS Christopher Paul Curtis, Scholastic, 2014, $16.99, hc, 384pp, 9780545156646 Newbery Medal winner Christopher Paul Curtis returns to the town of Buxton (Elijah of Buxton), a community of ex-slaves, and adds neighboring Chatham to tell an engrossing tale of an unlikely friendship between Benji and Red, boys of Ontario, Canada of 1901. Benji is an aspiring African-Canadian newspaperman who has just gotten his first job as an apprentice, with much more to learn about the power of words. Red is an Irish-Canadian who lives with his widowed father and his terrifying An Gorta Mor (“The Great Hunger”) survivor grandmother, Mother O’Toole.

He’s an aspiring scientist.

Mother O’Toole has a traumatic past, as does the Civil War veteran known as the Madman of

Piney Woods, a legendary hermit. But where she is an embittered bigot, he is a gentle soul who has retreated into the natural world. The boys get to know the realities of both their lives, and the choices that come with experience. With each other the winsome pair are jokesters of the highest order, trading insults and loyalty to delightful effect. Red’s gullibility plays nicely against Benji’s woods-smarts.

All of their Mark Twain-like adventures separately and together prepare the reader for the drama that ends the novel with murder, mystery and answered questions. Some profound realities are here. Red’s father says, “Given enough time, fear is the great killer of the human spirit.” Passionate and humane, The Madman of Piney Woods is a great representative of the best of YA literature.

Ages 8-12.

Eileen Charbonneau THE BADGER KNIGHT Kathryn Erskine, Scholastic, 2014, $17.99, hb, 352pp, 9780545464420 Northern England, 1346. Twelve-year-old Adrian wants to follow the men of his village into battle against the Scots, who, it is feared, mean to pour over the border and terrorize the English.

Though secretly a fine archer, Adrian is small for his age. He is also, the narrative suggests, albino.

This marks him as a devil in the minds of some, and a target for the village bullies.

To prove he is neither “addlepated,” nor useless, Adrian slips off to beat back the enemy. On the way, Adrian learns to see the world in shaded terms of grey rather than in hard black and white. Few people are as bad as they seem—not even the pagan Scots. Adrian must face his own prejudices, too. A valuable message of tolerance is woven through the story once Adrian finally begins his quest. For me, though, it was a story that did not truly begin until about halfway through the book. And while we are often told Adrian is unusual looking (he describes himself as “puny, sickly, and pale as milk”), I felt a niggling disconnect and did not quite believe it.

Adrian may have asthma and poor eyesight, but he seems quick on the mark often enough.

Alana White UNSTOPPABLE OCTOBIA MAY Sharon Flake, Scholastic, 2014, $16.99, 276pp, hb, 9780545609609 In the year 1953, curious and imaginative ten-year-old Octobia May believes her aunt’s boarder, Mr. Davenport, is a vampire, and she sets out to prove it. Asking many questions, pestering neighbors, and getting underfoot become Octobia’s specialty as she delves into the mystery surrounding Mr. Davenport. But what Octobia discovers is something far more dangerous than vampires—murder and robbery. Creatively intertwining delicate topics, such as race relations and women’s rights, Flake interestingly presents the world through a little girl’s eyes. It is a unique perspective, but at times, it is hard to discern what is really happening and what is simply in Octobia’s HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 55

imagination. There is a lot of historical information packed into this small novel, which sometimes creates a clunky plot. Overall, it is a delightful mystery that is best suited for ages 8–12, with advanced reading skills.

Rebecca Cochran A LITTLE IN LOVE Susan Fletcher, Chicken House, 2014, £6.99, pb, 268pp, 9781909489462 In 1832, Paris is a city in turmoil. The blood of young men – idealists and revolutionaries who wish for a fairer society – seeps into the streets as they are defeated. Along with the unsung heroes is the dying figure of young Eponine. She has made the ultimate sacrifice for love. Eponine is my favourite character from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. A Little in Love gives us Susan Fletcher’s angle on a life and love that can never have a happy ending.

It is a huge challenge to take such a well-known character and retell her story as a stand-alone novel. However, this version reveals in graphic detail the hardship of Eponine’s life from an early age.

The cruelty that she is shown, and expected to direct towards the pretty Cosette, touches the reader deeply, as does the girl’s remorse for the deeds she is forced to do.

I found this novel extraordinarily powerful and touching. In places, it is extremely sad as Eponine tries and fails to turn from the evil life her parents expect her to follow towards a way that is good and considerate of others.

The sympathy she initially has for Cosette shows her true nature, but we learn how this changes and why. Jealousy is a powerful emotion as is love and, just like the passion revealed in the blood-stained love letter included with the book, the deep need for the missing love and affection within Eponine’s life is heart-wrenching.

The short chapters make it a very accessible read. This account is beautifully written and captivates the reader throughout. Girls of 12 plus who like a dark, powerful and emotional read should enjoy this book.

Val Loh SOPHIE, IN SHADOW Eileen Kernaghan, Thistledown Press, 2014, $15.95/C$15.95, pb, 248pp, 9781927068946 After her parents die in the sinking of the Titanic, Sophie Pritchard begins having terrifyingly realistic nightmares and premonitions, escalated by the coming war. She leaves England and heads to British India to stay with relatives, a married couple with a young daughter. The visions continue as Sophie settles into her new life in the comfortable home of her cousins. Tom, a zoologist at the Indian Museum, and Jeannie, successful a novelist, prove to be optimistic and well-educated guardians who encourage their charge in her interests. Eager to learn the new culture around her, Sophie explores Calcutta from the Temple of Kali to the Victoria Monument with her adventurous young cousin, Alex.

However pleasing this new start on life, Sophie’s 56 | Reviews |

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visions continue, becoming more and more alarming. With WWI raging in Europe, the British citizens are not untouched even in this faraway land. Planned uprisings, bombings and murders in the street are not uncommon, and spying and conspiracies abound. When the family gets caught up in an intrigue, Sophie must rely on her newly cultivated gift of foresight to save her loved ones from danger.

Sophie, In Shadow follows characters from the author’s previous book, Wild Talent, though reads beautifully as a stand-alone. Historically, this is a descriptive and engrossing read on all aspects of life in early 20th-century British India. It has a twist of mystery and a hint of the supernatural, but it is also a clever study of the customs and culture of Buddhism, as explored by one of the characters who helped Sophie understand her visions.

Alexandra David-Neel, a Belgian-French explorer, can be found in history books as a spiritualist, writer and Eastern Religion enthusiast. This story includes delightfully light-hearted humor and offers an engaging adventure perfect for young adult readers!

Arleigh Johnson THE WINTER HORSES Philip Kerr, Walker Books, 2014, £12.99, hb, 282pp, 9781406359831 Winter, 1941, Ukraine. The Nazis have invaded Russia, leaving death and destruction in their wake.

Not only have they massacred indiscriminately, they also have instructions to exterminate all the Przewalski’s horses, the world’s oldest breed.

Fourteen-year-old Kalinka, sole survivor of a massacre which killed her entire family, is on the run. She has walked hundreds of miles across the Ukraine steppe and come to what was once a Nature Reserve. Here, she befriends two of the few remaining Przewalski’s horses, a breeding pair.

Exhausted after a blizzard, they find themselves by a cottage in the forest where she meets Max, once the Reserve’s warden.

But how can Max help? A Nazi SS company is nearby, and the SS Captain intends to kill the Przewalski’s horses. But the Red Army is advancing. Soon the Germans will have to retreat but not soon enough for Kalinka and the horses’ safety. She, and the horses, must leave. There is only one direction which will give them a chance – south-east, towards the approaching Red Army.

Max gives her a compass, what provisions he can spare, and his wolf hound, Taras. Can Kalinka save them against the odds?

This is a thrilling book, and I simply couldn’t put it down. The Przewalski’s horses show their intelligence and cunning; they were not survivors of the Ice Age for nothing. They know exactly how to disappear into a landscape and hide, maybe only feet from their pursuers. This is also a story where, occasionally, history meets myth. As Philip Kerr says in his brief introduction, “Even if there are some parts of this story which aren’t true, they could be, and that is more important…. There are times when history must take second place to

legend.” Highly recommended for 11 plus, and adults will enjoy it, too.

Elizabeth Hawksley DASH Kirby Larson, Scholastic, 2014, $16.99, 256pp, hb, 9780545416351 Fifth grader Mitzi Kashino finds that everything has changed after Pearl Harbor. Her former friends now shun her because she is a Japanese-American. Her grandmother must be fingerprinted. Her father loses his job. An elderly woman, Mrs. Bowker, rescues Mitzi one day from bullies. Mitzi finds solace with her dog, Dash, and her new friend, Mrs. Bowker. When the family is incarcerated (as were many Japanese-Americans) in Camp Harmony and then to Minidoka, Idaho, they are forced to give up their home and most of their possessions. Most heartbreaking of all, dogs are not allowed in the camps. Mrs. Bowker keeps Dash for Mitzi and sends Mitzi letters as if Dash had written them. Mitzi shares the letters with the other internees and finds a new community to replace the one she had lost.

Mitzi’s story effectively shows the injustice of the Japanese internment camps in an appropriate way for younger audiences. Although Mitzi has lost everything familiar, the one thing that matters to her is Dash, a sentiment that will resonate with many readers. We root for Mitzi, a true victim of circumstance, throughout because of her bravery and dogged determination to get Dash back.

Especially interesting was the way the Japanese internees managed to hold onto to their culture and dignity in a horrifying situation. Mrs. Bowker’s back story is compelling – once she had looked the other way when a German friend was harassed during WWI. She has always regretted her actions and is attempting to atone by helping Mitzi. This is essentially a story about a girl and her dog, and Dash teaches readers about friendship and a terrible episode in America’s past. The text includes an author’s note.

Michaela MacColl THE CASE OF THE BOGUS DETECTIVE Caroline Lawrence, Orion, 2014, £10.99, hb, 310pp, 9781444001723 Nevada Territory, 1863. In P K Pinkerton’s fourth mystery, our young hero, aged twelve, is thrilled when famous detective, Mr Robert Pinkerton, together with his partner, Ray Tempest, come to Virginia City. They are on the trail of some notorious silver bullion thieves. Or so they say. P K is aware that he’s a misfit; he cannot understand emotion, he occasionally gets seriously depressed, and he has a number of obsessions, like collecting different sorts of tobacco and keeping a pet tarantula. He also believes that Mr Pinkerton is his long-lost Pa. What I enjoy about this series is that each story has its own special twist. In this one, we learn that our hero is really a girl, brought up as a boy by her Sioux mother for her own safety. P K hates dressing as a girl and much prefers her buckskin Children & YA

trousers, fringed jacket, beaded moccasins, and gun. In her view, being female seriously limits your options in life, like how you’re expected to behave, and she wants nothing to do with it.

The story moves to San Francisco in the 1860s, a city and port on the make, which includes an Amusements Park where P K meets Minnehaha, a feisty knife thrower, together with some old friends. At last, P K is somewhere where she feels she fits in. As with the other Pinkerton mysteries, the story goes at a gallop along and the pace is fast and furious. The scene with the stagecoach hurtling along terrifying and dangerous roads through the mountains is nail-bitingly exciting. My one niggle for future books is that a touch of sentimentality has crept in; it’s all getting a bit touchy-feely. I hope I’m wrong. However, it’s a fantastic read and children, particularly girls of 10 plus, should love it.

Elizabeth Hawksley THE DANGEROUS DISCOVERIES OF GULLY POTCHARD Julia Lee, Oxford, 2014, £6.99, pb, 302pp, 9780192733696 19th century, Southampton, England. Fourteenyear-old Gully Potchard is a printer’s delivery boy looking for a start in life. He lives with his theatrical cousins, the Marvels; all are talented if somewhat over the top, and he feels very ordinary beside them. But Gully has an unexpected talent: he is psychic and can sense where people and things are.

Then he meets an old acquaintance, the criminal pet-kidnapper Nathan Boldree, who manipulates him into joining his gang. Gully tries desperately to wriggle out of it, but soon he’s embroiled in all sorts of skulduggery, especially after meeting eleven-year-old Agnes Glass, whose cat has gone missing. Agnes is thin and limps. She’s supposed to be delicate and she’s hardly ever allowed out. But she’s also intelligent, good at drawing, and quietly determined to expand her horizons. Meeting Gully and his cousin the lively Impey Marvel will bring unexpected changes to Agnes’s life. Soon the different strands, Gully, Impey and Agnes’s, intertwine, and the consequences for Gully’s job, Impey’s theatrical future, Agnes’s cat, and even Agnes herself look decidedly uncertain.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The cast list is positively Dickensian, from larger-than-life theatre people, not unlike the Crummles in Nicholas Nickleby, to seedy criminals living on the margins of society, to more vicious characters, like Nathan.

Agnes’s mother, forever chairing Good Works, is surely related to Mrs Jellyby in Bleak House. Julia Lee is excellent at getting across place and mood – even the smells are authentically 19th century. The feel of Victorian life, what they ate, what they wore, the conditions they lived in are all utterly believable.

My one niggle is that the plot is somewhat overcomplicated and it’s very easy to muddle the threads. The cast-list would have benefited from being pruned a fraction.

Children of nine plus should enjoy this book.

Recommended.

Elizabeth Hawksley Children & YA

The Dangerous Discoveries of Gully Potchard is certainly not a book you can easily put down. Filled with clever coincidences, startling suspense and non-stop cliff-hangers, this is the story of a young man who is endlessly landing in trouble. I like the way tension is built up the whole way through with emotional and heart-stopping moments as Gully finds himself caught up in bizarre situations.

However, it is not just the edgy twists and turns and sudden changes of plot that makes this such a good read; the author also manages to show the importance of friendship and kindness towards others, for example, when Gully befriends Agnes and together they help free his cousin, Impey, from her kidnappers. I really recommend this book as a very good read, and it has inspired me to write stories with similarly intriguing plots.

Freya Sutcliffe A DEATH-STRUCK YEAR Makilia Lucier, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014, $17.99, hb, 282pp, 9780544164505 A Death-Struck Year is about a girl named Cleo Berry who is seventeen years old. She lives in Portland, Oregon in 1918. That happens to be the time and one of the places where the Spanish Influenza hits. With her brother and sister-in-law in California, her mom and dad dead, and her whole town in chaos, Cleo wishes her brother was there more than ever before. Cleo then runs away from her boarding school and she decides to do something she never thought she would do.

I thought this book was fabulously written. It is a story full of suspense, twists, and mysterious pasts. It is very realistic, too. Cleo is a normal girl who lives life like every other person. I think A Death-Struck Year is one of my favorite books I’ve read.

Ellen Brockmole, age 11 Seventeen-year-old Cleo Berry, orphaned and raised by her older brother, feels that she will never be more than ordinary. But when the Spanish flu epidemic hits Portland in 1918, Cleo impulsively runs away from her privileged boarding school and answers a call from the Red Cross looking for volunteers to visit the homebound and “unattended.” At a makeshift hospital at the Public Auditorium, she meets people like Edmund, a young medical student and ex-soldier, working tirelessly to fight the epidemic. Though afraid of contagion, Cleo can’t bear the thought of anyone waiting sick and alone, and summons up a courage she didn’t know she had. A moving, immersive story about one girl’s search for her own sense of extraordinary.

Jessica Brockmole SECRETS & SPIES: Treason / SECRETS & SPIES: Plague Jo Macauley, Capstone Young Readers, 2013, $8.95, pb, 218pp, 9781623700522 and 9781623700539 Women were not allowed to tread London’s stages until 1629, and the first to do so were booed from the stage. By 1664 women are accepted,

and Beth Johnson appears regularly at the King’s Theater. The attractive fourteen-year old is sought out by audiences – and also by Alan Strange, King Charles II’s spymaster.

When Beth hears St. Paul’s bell toll in her special code, she knows that Strange has an assignment for her. Fortunately, Beth has able helpers. The resourceful Ralph Chandler survives on his own in London’s alleys, John Turner is a junior clerk at the Navy Board, and little Maisie White sells oranges at Beth’s theater.

All good guys need a villain, and Beth’s troupe protects the king from the plots of Sir Henry Vale. That criminal mastermind was supposedly beheaded, but when his personal seal turns up on an encrypted note, there is yet another mystery to be solved.

Jo Macauley presents young readers with an entertaining series in Secrets & Spies. In Treason, the king’s foes have an irresistible opportunity to kill the monarch on Guy Fawkes Night. The anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot against King Charles’ grandfather is marked by fireworks, which will be attended by Charles II. Can Beth and her courageous friends defuse Vale’s infernal device?

Plague depicts a grim year in London history – 1665 – when half the population is killed by bubonic plague. Life goes on in London during the plague. So do Vale’s plots, and Beth Johnson is called on to protect King Charles again. Ms. Macauley’s fast-moving series is a great (and nongraphic) way to introduce young readers to this period in English history.

Jo Ann Butler EGG AND SPOON Gregory Maguire, Candlewick, 2014, $17.99/ C$20.00, hb, 496pp, 9780763672201 Set in the last years of the Russian monarchy, Egg and Spoon is a fanciful mix of history, folklore, philosophy, childhood fantasy, silliness, and very clever writing.

In a rural village, peasant Elena cares for her sick mother while mourning the loss of her dead father; her two brothers who have been pressed into service. Cat (born Ekaterina), a wealthy Russian girl, leaves her London boarding school to go to St. Petersburg where she will meet the godson of the Tsar. Cat’s train must wait for repairs near Elena’s village, and the two girls meet. When Cat shows Elena a Faberge egg intended as a gift for the Tsar, an accident happens that causes the girls to trade places, setting them on a string of unlikely adventures, and eventually on a quest to save the firebird, Russia, and the entire world. The story includes a vast array of incredible characters, including Baba Yaga, the witch from Russian folktale; Anton, the tsar’s godson; a magical cat named Mewster; and our insightful narrator, an imprisoned monk who, like Scheherazade, tells this story in parts, in the hope of saving his life.

By turns ridiculously silly and deeply profound, Egg and Spoon is an utter delight. Elena and Cat perform magnificently, both as examples of social class and as individual personalities. The two wend HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 57

their way through a magical, bizarre, and funny Russian wonderland. In the end, Maguire drops a serious message in a light-hearted manner: saving the world is something everyone can do, and it isn’t as hard as it might seem. Highly recommended.

Elizabeth Caulfield Felt THE GIRLS OF GETTYSBURG Bobbi Miller, Holiday House, 2014, $16.95, hb, 151pp, 9780823431632 With both her older brothers dead while serving in the Confederate Army, and nothing to keep her home, thirteen-year-old Annie Gordon sells herself as a substitute soldier, joining the Ninth Virginia Army. Tillie Pierce, a fourteen-year-old resident of Gettysburg, finds her romantic view of war dashed as two great armies descend upon her hometown.

A third young woman, a free black named Grace Bryan, refuses to flee the town, despite the threat of being rounded up and sold into slavery by the invading Confederate army. The lives of these three become intertwined during these three days of some of the bloodiest fighting of the Civil War. We’re with them as the first shots are fired, as the first wounded come into town, and as Pickett leads his doomed charge.

Both Tillie and Grace were real young women who experienced the battle much as it is laid out in this tale. Annie’s story is inspired by a Union officer when he noted seeing the body of a young woman outfitted as a Confederate soldier among the dead of Pickett’s Charge.

This book is gripping, the details strong, and the characters compelling. The historical detail is engrossing, as are the experiences of these three remarkable girls. It’s marketed toward mid-grade youth, and I had intended for my nine- and elevenyear-old daughters to read it and give me their reviews. But after reading it, I felt that they would have been overly daunted by the terminology and lack of historical and cultural context. Also, it’s bloody and at several points quite tragic. All that said, I was very much emotionally engaged by this book, and feel it is a wonderful junior companion to the likes of Shaara’s or Peters’ books about the same battle.

Justin Lindsay THE ONLY THING TO FEAR Caroline Tung Richmond, Scholastic, 2014, $17.99, hb, 288pp, 9780545629881 Eighty years have passed since the end of WWII. In this alternate history, the Nazis developed genetic superpowers, “anomalies”, before the United States could complete the atomic bomb.

North America has been conquered and occupied by the Axis powers. Sixteen-year-old Zara lives in German-controlled Shenandoah Valley. She is half Japanese, fit only for the most menial work as a janitor at an Aryan school. Her mother, part of the anti-Nazi resistance, died in a mission gone awry. Zara desperately wants to join the resistance, but her Uncle Red refuses to let Zara join. The activities of the resistance are dangerous, but Zara is even more at risk because she has an “anomaly” power herself. The Nazis would use her for medical experiments if her powers are revealed. Despite Uncle Red’s warnings, Zara is drawn into the 58 | Reviews |

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movement where she will have a crucial role to play that may change the world.

An Aryan boy sympathetic to the cause provides a romantic subplot that balances the action nicely. The premise of The Only Thing to Fear is unbelievable, and the inevitable backstory slows down the beginning of the novel. However, once you accept the premise, the story is filled with action and an appealing heroine. As Zara learns to use her powers and fight for the resistance, she comes into her own as a heroine and as a young woman in a way that YA readers will find appealing.

Michaela MacColl A SOLDIER’S FRIEND Megan Rix, Puffin, 2014, £5.99, pb, 316pp, 9780141551902 1914. The First World War has begun and it will affect, not only men, women and children, but also animals, particularly cats and dogs. A Soldier’s Friend comprises a number of interlocking stories involving both humans and animals. Animals came to play an increasingly important role both on the Western Front, where the newly-dug trenches soon became invested with rats; and the Home Front, where the medical profession gradually admitted that animals could soothe patients with shellshock and hasten their recovery.

The main story, however, concerns the friendship between Mouser, a brave and resourceful tabby cat, stolen from her owners in Battersea and taken to Flanders as a ‘ratter’ to help rid the trenches of rats; and Sammy, a terrier puppy with a passion for football. Sammy, too, ends up in France where he is trained as a messenger dog, carrying lifesaving messages about impending gas attacks, for example. His job is both dangerous and vital.

Megan Rix’s passion for animals and knowledge about their war-time experiences gives A Soldier’s Friend its special flavour. Somehow, as well as following Mouser and Sammy’s exciting stories, the reader also ends up knowing an awful lot about the extraordinarily brave and selfless actions of countless animals in war-time.

Sara Chadwick-Holmes’s fine illustrations showing how the Trench Warfare System worked, together with her cross section of a trench really help the reader to understand how Mouser and Sammy moved about and where they could hide when under fire. And David Atkinson’s maps of Europe in 1914 and the Western Front are equally useful in showing the topography. Animal-loving children of 8 plus will love this book.

Elizabeth Hawksley I think this is an extremely good book. I love how everything seems to fit together - for example, Mouser and Sammy just happening to be found by Ivor and Thumbs in the mud pit. I also like how the cover gives you the layout of the story, for instance: soldiers fighting in the background so you can guess that the story is set in a war. I would have liked to have been told how the animals were feeling (their emotions) during the story, and I think it would be more interesting if we were told more about Oliver Peter’s life. Overall, I would give this 9/10 because it fun at times yet it can be quite sad, too. I think this book would appeal to readers of 8-15 since I

think my older sister would enjoy it!

Louis McNulty, age 11 ELLIE’S WAR: Come Home Soon Emily Sharratt, Scholastic, 2014, £5.99, pb, 175pp, 9781407144748 August 1914. War has just been declared, and fourteen-year-old Ellie doesn’t see why her father, Dr Phillips, must go to war. He talks about not letting the Kaiser bully Belgium, but Ellie still doesn’t understand. The seaside town of Endstone, where she lives and where nothing ever happens, has gone war mad; even her friend Jack, who’s only fourteen, is desperate to join the army.

Emily Sharratt carefully shows us how much Endstone people are set in their ways. Ellie’s mother insists that Ellie’s only future is that of a good wife and mother. She is impatient of Ellie’s yearning for a wider life, and despises Ellie’s Aunt Frances, a spinster and supporter of Votes for Women. But gradually, as the young men, together with Dr Phillips, sign up for the army and leave, underlying tensions emerge. Ellie sees her mother as a hypochondriac, doing little to help in the house, but is this true? Why does she hold herself aloof from her neighbours?

Then Jack’s father, a wastrel and a drunkard, is given a white feather – symbol of cowardice to men who haven’t joined up. He is beaten up. Why won’t he fight, wonders Ellie – and the answer is a terrible one. Endstone is not the sleepy town Ellie once thought; there are many painful secrets under the surface.

The book covers only four months, and Emily Sharratt skilfully lets us see that, although things still look stable on the surface, underneath they are already changing and that the momentum is unstoppable. I admire the way that the author doesn’t go for the easy option and have her heroine older and becoming a VAD nurse, for example.

She’s still at school. The future, Ellie realizes, may not be the one she hoped for; they are all stepping into the unknown.

Elizabeth Hawksley CURSES AND SMOKE: A Novel of Pompeii Vicky Alvear Shecter, Arthur A. Levine Books, 2014, $17.99, hb, 311pp, 9780545509930 Vicky Alvear Shecter, the author of three nonfiction books and the well-received YA novel Cleopatra’s Moon, sets her new novel in the Roman city of Pompeii. Lucia is the only surviving child of her father. While he needs money to expand his gladiator school, Lucia wants to discover all that is around her. She is curious about the changes she sees in the natural world. Tag is a slave and a healer who yearns for a free life with Lucia, but Lucia is promised to someone else – a man her father’s age.

Even if she wasn’t betrothed, a match to a slave is out of the question.

Curses and Smoke expertly weaves the lives of these two ancient characters with the final days of Pompeii before Vesuvius erupts. Shecter has done her research, and she brings the final days of Pompeii alive with its smells, foods, people and rumblings. Although forbidden love is a central theme in this young adult novel, Shecter also introduces readers to topics of suicide, religion, Children & YA

slavery, and the treatment of women and girls. Her author’s note gives readers further information about these issues. Readers who love historical fiction will enjoy Shecter’s use of Latin throughout the text and the fast-moving plot.

Nancy Castaldo BLACK WREATH Peter Sirr, O’Brien Press, 2014, £6.99, pb, 319pp, 9781847175601 Based on fact, Black Wreath tells the story of young James Lovett, whose life stands in the way of his father (and his stepmother) inheriting a fortune. Unable to understand what is happening at first, James finds himself gradually pushed out of the family home – effectively disowned – and thrown onto the dangerous, even lethal, streets of Dublin. We follow his changes of fortune, from a street ragamuffin, to a member of a criminal gang, to apprentice; all the time desperate to know why his father refuses to acknowledge him. It is only when he sees the black wreath hanging on the door of his former home, that James finally realizes that he is now legally dead; his life has become an ‘inconvenience’. Even after his father’s death, things don’t get better; his uncle is determined to get rid of James for good.

The final straw is when James is indentured as a worker and effectively sold into slavery in America.

Now James must struggle for his very life, try to understand what’s happened, and fight for his future.

Peter Sirr, the author, writes a stirring tale.

Reminiscent of Oliver Twist, the story of 18thcentury Ireland, its laws and way of life, is brought out vividly. With great sensitivity and tact, Sirr manages to get across a world which modern children might find difficult to imagine – a world where children have neither choice nor protection.

Black Wreath is a well-written and intelligently plotted tale of adventure, desperation and the hero’s solid determination to do what is right and assert his claim to his inheritance. Children of 12 plus should enjoy this book.

Alan Cassady-Bishop

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LIES WE TELL OURSELVES Robin Talley, Mira Ink, 2014, £6.99, pb, 368pp, 9781848452923 / Harlequin Teen, 2014, $17.99, hb, 384pp, 9780373211333 1950, Virginia. Five Black pupils, including Sarah Dunbar, are starting at the previously all-white Jefferson High School, and Segregationist protesters are out in force. Feelings are running high, and the Black students run the gauntlet of taunts, spitting, and assaults.

Sarah swiftly realizes that the white pupils will do whatever it takes to get rid of them.

Linda is the white daughter of the influential Segregationist, Mr Harrison, and she has absorbed all her father’s ideas on race. She is forced to work Children & YA — Nonfiction

with Sarah on a school project, and they find themselves confronting some ugly truths about race and influence. But, underneath the hostility, they gradually sense an attraction which they both find much more frightening.

I found this book totally absorbing. I was particularly struck by the intelligent softly, softly way that Robin Talley gradually exposes the flaws in Linda’s arguments for Segregation. Linda’s ‘logic’ rests on a number of hidden, and immensely powerful, assumptions about Black intelligence and how Black people live and think. As she comes to understand that her assumptions are wrong, her case unravels. Is she brave enough to face up to where her new thinking will lead her? Sarah, too, has her own different challenges to face. Brought up in a God-fearing, Christian family, she believes that her feelings for Linda, which she dare not acknowledge, are sinful and wicked.

This book is about discovering that what you have been taught to believe may be wrong, and that, ultimately, all of us must decide for ourselves what is right. This is no polemic; there is no crude thrusting of the author’s views on race and sexuality down our throats. She’s much more subtle than that, and it pays off. This book packs a very powerful punch. Highly recommended for girls of 13 plus.

Elizabeth Hawksley NO STONE UNTURNED Helen Watts, A & C Black, 2014, £6.99, pb, 272pp, 9781472905406 No Stone Unturned is a dual time frame story of a young Traveller girl, Kelly, who becomes intrigued by local mysteries about a disused quarry with the help of her enigmatic new friend, Ben. The stone from their village was used in the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament after its destruction by fire in 1837, with enormous consequences to the local community. As a Traveller, Kelly is an outsider, putting down roots into both location and the past, which throws up interesting cultural issues regarding education, gender roles, exclusion of the Other and bullying.

The relationship that develops between Kelly and Ben is a poignant device for uncovering social history and a local tragedy. The time slip scenes relating to the story of the workers in the quarry or on the railway and the challenges of their domestic lives work well, blending seamlessly into the modern narrative and allowing the plot to unfold elegantly and the characters to develop.

However, the historical strand, which explains the financial pressures that are brought to bear on the community by the architect, Charles Barry, are lacklustre by comparison with the fully-rounded exploration of life in the village. Equally, the opening chapter where Kelly visits the Houses of Parliament is somewhat uninspiring, and it is difficult to see why she is blown away by some municipal paving slabs without the benefit of the rest of the book.

By the end, however, we have fully bought into the tale of the blood, sweat and tears of lives lost a long time ago. The uncovering of domestic heroism and the little tragedies that contributed to the delivery of a remote public building is surprisingly

moving. Recommended for boys and girls 10+.

Charlie Farrow THE CURE FOR DREAMING Cat Winters, Amulet, 2014, hb, $17.95, 368pp, 9781419712166.

Cat Winters’ The Cure for Dreaming, set in 1900, tells the story of Olivia Mead, a delightful young girl who, on her 17th birthday, attends a show starring the famous hypnotist, Henri Reverie.

Much to her surprise, she finds herself onstage with Mr. Reverie, a handsome fellow not much older than herself. He quickly hypnotizes her, showing off to the audience the completeness of her trance by standing on her stiff-as-a-board body.

These unfortunate events lead to Dr. Walter Mead, Olivia’s conservative father, hiring Mr. Reverie to hypnotize the rebelliousness out of his wayward daughter. Olivia is wayward because she supports the Suffrage movement, which, just at this moment in history, is becoming more active. However, Dr. Mead will not have a girl with opinions in his own home.

As the story progresses, we learn Dr. Mead lost his wife to the stage when Olivia was only four and he is terrified of losing his daughter to an independent lifestyle as well. Olivia wants to attend college – imagine that! Dr. Mead believes women should be silent and obedient. And, he is not alone in this. During this last lingering influence of the Victorian age, women who disagreed with men were often locked away in lunatic asylums, during which time, doctors tried to secure their ‘wandering wombs,’ a condition believed to cause women to voice opinions.

Though a bit heavy-handed with its message at times, this is a wonderful book filled with humor, compassion and yes, anger. Though the book is labeled YA, the appeal is across the board.

Weaving together feminism, hypnosis, bicycles and bloomers, Winters creates a classic story of how a clever young girl can find her own way in the world.

Jo March for the 21st century.

Anne Clinard Barnhill

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INGLORIOUS ROYAL MARRIAGES: A Demi-Millennium of Unholy Matrimony Leslie Carroll, NAL, 2014, $16.00, pb, 400pp, 9780451416766 This is the latest installment in Leslie Carroll’s chronicles of royal relationships, both legally and not so legally binding. This part of the series takes a look at the marriages contracted for dynastic reasons; as a result, most were notoriously unhappy. Each section is devoted to the husband and wife involved in the marriage. Some of the royals documented are Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou, Catherine of Braganza and Charles II, Anne of Austria and Louis XIII, and Marie of Romania and Ferdinand I. The book is very readable. It doesn’t get bogged down like a lot of non-fiction and is filled with fascinating stories from the medieval period all HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Reviews | 59

the way through World War II. The book’s focus on some lesser-known nobles is a boon for those readers who love all the intricacies of royal life. As with her other works, Carroll sometimes goes into too much detail, particularly about the political maneuverings at the time. A little more attention to the daily lives of the subjects would have made Inglorious Royal Marriages a jewel in the crown.

Nonetheless, the book is recommended for those readers who enjoy social and royal history.

Caroline Wilson

years, and Goldsworthy skilfully and painstakingly builds his case for greater prominence using the detail of his daily conduct and administration expertly. While the historian provides an insightful account of Rome under Augustus, the Princeps’ character remains slightly out of reach thanks to the paucity of primary sources available. Nonetheless, this is an excellent biography, which succeeds in ranking Augustus once more high amongst the great leaders in world history.

Gordon O’Sullivan

DIRTY BERTIE: An English King Made in France Stephen Clarke, Century, 2014, £20, hb, 385pp, 9781780890340 Edward VII has traditionally been regarded as of little political importance; and his years as Prince of Wales largely viewed as a series of unsavoury scandals, love affairs, shooting parties and gambling. Stephen Clarke offers a different take on Bertie. Yes, he was a hedonist who enjoyed sex and parties, but he was also exceptionally good at P.R. Clarke argues that Bertie’s frequent visits to Paris (his French was excellent) allowed his talents to develop as they couldn’t in Britain. For example, he threw himself into the Presidency of the Paris Exhibition of 1878, determined that Britain’s contribution would be second to none – and succeeded. He successfully negotiated the shoals of the Entente Cordiale and established a good working relationship with the staunchly Republican politician Gambetta. He was also one of the few people who could restrain his unstable nephew, Kaiser Wilhelm. All these skills, Clarke argues, he learnt in France.

I thoroughly enjoyed Dirty Bertie (the sections on exactly what went on in high-class Parisian brothels are eye-popping). The tone of the book is light-hearted; nevertheless, Clarke has done his research and his insights into Bertie’s largely unrecognised talents are surely pertinent to the way his reign is viewed. Highly recommended.

Elizabeth Hawksley

MOONSHINE: A Cultural History of America’s Infamous Liquor Jaime Joyce, Zenith, 2014, $25.00, hb, 208pp, 9780760345849 White lightning, fire water, mountain dew – call it what you like, but moonshine holds a certain fascination for Americans. An un-aged clear alcohol, traditionally made from corn (though it can be made from anything that ferments), it is associated with Southern moonshiners running their untaxed, illegal wares under the cover of darkness. This image is partially true, but Joyce reveals a much deeper and richer history of the beverage. Tracing its presence from colonial America to the present day, she explores the topic from a variety of angles including the political, social and cultural significance moonshine has had for this country. Drawing attention to moonshine’s appearance in everything from popular songs and hit movies to its link to NASCAR, the author shows how deeply embedded in our consciousness moonshine has become. This slim book provides a surprisingly thorough investigation of moonshine’s history and significance in American culture. It’s not just for fans of the reality show Moonshiners or craft distiller enthusiasts. Full of interesting asides and fun facts, including some recipes, this book is a very satisfying read.

Janice Derr

AUGUSTUS: From Revolutionary to Emperor Adrian Goldsworthy, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2014, £17.00, hb, 598pp, 9780297864257 / Yale Univ. Press, 2014, $35.00, hb, 624pp, 9780300178722 A mere youth when Julius Caesar died, Augustus was the sole ruler of Rome by the age of 33. After years of brutal unrest in the Roman world, he had finally overcome his more experienced rivals. Over the next forty years, Augustus would arguably surpass his adopted father’s achievements and die as Princeps, the strong man at the centre of power, leaving a peaceful and flourishing Roman empire and an enduring system of government.

Goldsworthy has fashioned an engrossing account of this extraordinary man, pointing out his many contradictions; fiercely ambitious but publicly reluctant to accept state triumphs, his power built on the success of his legions but never an outstanding soldier himself, adulterous in the extreme but a determined public supporter of traditional marriage.

Augustus has been somewhat neglected in recent 60 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 70, November 2014

WHAT THE APOTHECARY ORDERED: Questionable Cures Through the Ages Caroline Rance, ed., Old House, 2014, $12.95/$14.95/£7.99, hb, 175pp, 9781908402868 In this delightfully weird collection of ancient and not-so-ancient remedies for what ails us, Rance has amassed the most unusual cures she could find.

Reading this is not for the faint of heart. A few of the prescriptions defy modern sensibilities, and some are downright disgusting. For example, if you have a nosebleed, Father Schott, a Jesuit priest, suggests you hold hot Ass Dung to the nostrils and wrap the nose in a hankie. As you inhale, your nosebleed will be cured. I think I’ll just pinch my nose together the way my grandmother taught me, thank you very much! If you awaken in the night with a muscle cramp, all you need to do is rub your fingers between your toes (the smellier, the better) and then smell. Your cramp should ease immediately.

Along with such interesting and odd advice, the book also contains many pictures of the original advertisements and written passages for the above-mentioned cures. These additions are as entertaining as the text. This is a must-have book

for those who like exploring the “science” behind medicine. I wonder if future readers will think our own traditions are as primitive and repulsive.

Anne Clinard Barnhill THE RED BARON Wayne Vansant, Zenith, 2014, $19.99, pb, 101pp, 9780760346020 While the phrase “The Red Baron” conjures up memories of a 1960s novelty song in people of a certain age, there is a serious story behind the pop culture reference. World War I ace Manfred von Richthofen is still, 100 years later, one of the most famous pilots of all time. Vansant tells his story in graphic novel form.

World War I technology was so limited, pilots could shoot off their own propellers if their guns were not calibrated properly. The life expectancy of British pilots was a mere 11 days. Despite that climate, Richthofen logged far more kills than any other pilot, mostly while fighting superior forces flying better planes. When his aircraft was finally shot down in 1918, he was so respected by both sides, his enemies buried him with full military honors.

Vietnam veteran Vansant’s clear drawings make it easy to tell one plane from another, and distinguish between different people in the story.

He packs a lot of relevant information into the text boxes, and includes maps and other extras. This would be an excellent introduction to entice young people (and adults) who don’t know much about World War I aerial operations into reading further.

B.J. Sedlock THE POETS’ DAUGHTERS: Dora Wordsworth and Sara Coleridge Katie Waldegrave, Windmill, 2014, £9.99, pb, 416pp, 9780099537342 In this riveting and absorbing book, Katie Waldegrave examines the intertwining lives of Dora Wordsworth, daughter of the great Romantic poet, William, and Sara Coleridge, daughter of his charismatic but unstable friend, the poet and critic Samuel Taylor, and shows the disastrous effects of the two powerful male egos on their respective daughters. What struck me forcibly was how confined the girls’ lives were. They had little formal education compared with their brothers; their womanly duties (nursing, household etc.) were interminable and any aspirations they might have had were largely unacknowledged by their families. Dora’s role was to be her father’s prop and amanuensis. As she grew up, the unhealthy stranglehold of their relationship exacted a heavy price on her health. Sara was highly intellectual.

Today, her editing of her father’s literary legacy is praised as ‘the very model of rigorous editing’, but, in the 1840s, to be female and intellectual was a contradiction in terms. Sara struggled to be heard.

Sara and Dora’s friendship was enduring and high-prized by both. We follow them as they grow up, find love, brave male disapproval, and struggle for autonomy in a world where women’s achievements simply don’t count. Highly recommended.

Elizabeth Hawksley Nonfiction

WANTED

Two notoriously wonderful authors charged with being the Guests of Honor at the Historical Novel Society Conference 2015!

Catch them before they STEAL the show!

Karen Cushman Author of Will Sparrow’s Road, The Midwife’s Apprentice (winner of the 1996 Newbery Medal), Catherine, Called Birdy (a Newbery Honor book), The Ballad of Lucy Whipple (winner of the John and Patricia Beatty Award), and several other prize-winning novels published by Clarion Books. Guilty of having a new book, being inspirational, and keeping treasures under her bed.

Chris (C.C.) Humphreys Author of eight historical novels, The French Executioner (runner up for the CWA Steel Dagger for Thrillers 2002), Blood Ties, Jack Absolute, The Blooding of Jack Absolute, Absolute Honour (short listed for the 2007 Evergreen Prize), Vlad, The Last Confession, A Place Called Armageddon, and a YA trilogy. This man is also guilty of stealing a character, being an actor and swordsman, and having a sense of humor.

Join the Posse!

Register at www.hns-conference.org today!

The Historical Novel Society Conference 2015 will be held in the Mile High city of Denver, Colorado.

All are invited to participate in the action: •

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June 26 - 28 2015 Denver, Colorado www.hns-conference.org

HNS US Conference 2015

Swordplay! Larry Brooks Workshops will feature instruction on Broadsword, smallsword, rapier, and dagger. Make your steel sing on the page! Learn to ght in the styles of Medieval and early Renaissance Europe.

Engineer Your Novel David Blixt Workshops “Architecture of the Historical Novel” and “The Attitude and Altitude of the Historical Novel” will help you build a better story.

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Workshop on weaponry, costumes, period research, craft, and more!

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One on one pitches with editors and agents. Not to be missed!

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Saturday Night Sex Scene Readings

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Koffee Klatches

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Costume Pageant & Dinner

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More information to come. Follow us at hns-conference.org

HNR Issue 70, November 2014 | Conference | 61

© 2014, The Historical Novel Society ISSN: 1471-7492 | Issue 70, November 2014