Historical Novels Review, Issue 75 (February 2016)

A PUBLICATION OF THE HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY

HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW Issue 75, February 2016

Who Owns the Past? the risky business of icons mary surratt conspirator or victim? weathering the storm nelly dean’s story cleaners & cowkeepers’ wives the suffragists of leeds the lure of another place & time landscape & history of france the mystical world of hf the persistent illusion drawn to fiction janet todd’s a man of genius

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

Historical Novels R eview

ISSN: 1471-7492 | © 2016 The Historical Novel Society |

pub 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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Managing Editor: Bethany Latham Houston Cole Library, Jacksonville State University 700 Pelham Road North Jacksonville, AL 36265-1602 USA <blatham@jsu.edu> Publisher Coverage: Simon & Schuster (all imprints) Book Review Editor: Sarah Johnson 6868 Knollcrest Drive Charleston, IL 61920 USA <sljohnson2@eiu.edu> Publisher Coverage: Bethany House; Five Star; HarperCollins; Henry Holt; IPG; Penguin Random House (all imprints); Severn House; Trafalgar Square; university presses; and any North American presses not mentioned below Features Coordinator: Lucinda Byatt 13 Park Road Edinburgh, EH6 4LE UK <mail@lucindabyatt.com> |

review s edit o r s , u k

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

Elizabeth Hawksley <mail@elizabethhawksley.com> Publisher Coverage: All UK children’s historicals

Bryan Dumas <bryanpgdumas@aol.com> Publisher coverage: Algonquin; Kensington; Other Press; Overlook; Sourcebooks; Tyndale; and other US/Canadian small presses Arleigh Johnson <arleigh.johnson@att.net> Publisher coverage: US/Canadian children’s publishers Ilysa Magnus <goodlaw2@optonline.net> Publisher Coverage: FSG; Grove/Atlantic; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Minotaur Books; Picador USA; Poisoned Pen Press; Soho Press; St Martin’s Press; and Tor/Forge |

Steve Donoghue <st.donoghue@comcast.net> Publisher Coverage: all self-published, subsidy, and electronically published novels (USA) |

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, Orion, Pimlico, Secker & Warburg, Vintage); and Transworld (inc. Bantam Press, Black Swan, Corgi, Doubleday) | Quercus (interim)

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Rebecca Cochran Jessica Brockmole <CochranR95@gmail.com> <jabrockmole@hotmail.com> Publisher coverage: Amazon Publishing; Hachette; Hyperion; Pegasus; and WW Norton

e d i tori a l pol i cy

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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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Helen Hollick <author@helenhollick.net> Publisher Coverage: all self-published, subsidy, and electronically published novels (UK)

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 | Alma and The History Press (interim)

Tracey Warr <traceykwarr@gmail.com> Publisher Coverage: Birlinn/Polygon; Bloomsbury; Faber & Faber; Granta; Pan Macmillan; Penguin; Short Books; Simon & Schuster | Accent Press; HarperCollinsUK; and Knox Robinson (interim)

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

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THE HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY was formed in 1997 to help promote historical fiction. We are an open society — if you want to get involved, get in touch.

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, please see: https:// historicalnovelsociety.org/members/join/ HNS WEBSITE: www.historicalnovelsociety.org |

confe re nce s

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The Society organizes annual conferences in the UK and biennial conferences in the US and Australasia. Contact Richard Lee <richard@historicalnovelsociety.org> (UK), Ann Chamberlin <annchamberlin@annchamberlin.com> (USA), or Elisabeth Storrs <contact@hnsa.org.au> (Australasia).

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Historical Novels R eview I ssu e 7 5 , Fe br ua ry 2016 | 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 ca ro l b ode nste ine r , gr ant b y waters , an drew lath a m & a n d r ia willia ms | m y f anw y cook

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histor y & film t her e she blows! | b ethan y latham

| features & interviews |

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W HO OW N S T HE PAST?

t he r isk y busin es s of icon s | by mar y sha rra tt

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mar y su rra tt conspir a tor or victim ? | b y s us an hig g inbotha m

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we athe ring the storm

se t t in g ne lly de a n’s s tor y s taig ht | by lucin da bya tt

13 clean ers & cowkeepers’ w i ves the suffr ag is ts of leeds | by chris nick so n 14

the lure of an other place & ti me the land sc a pe & h is tor y of f ran ce | by tracey w a rr

15 th e m ys tical worl d o f hf the pe r siste nt illus ion | b y s tep han ie cow el l 16 drawn to f icti o n j ane t tod d ’s a man of g en ius | by lucin da bya tt | reviews |

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

PUBLISHER’S MESSAGE n the UK our big TV show for January is a new six-part adaptation of War and Peace. I am very fond of the book. I first read it 30 years ago and was surprised then that it did not feel too ‘foreign’. It is a love story and a family story more than a war story, and though it is Russian it did not feel more distant to me than Dickens. I was scarcely aware at the time that it was an historical novel – written more than 50 years after the events, and intended to address opinions on the Crimean War as much as the Napoleonic. At the inception of the HNS, though, I became very strongly conscious of the book’s status as ‘the greatest historical novel.’ It was the biggest stick we could wave at the scornful ‘contemporary’ set. No-one can really argue that Tolstoy is an inferior writer; and no-one can claim that War and Peace has failed the test of time.

So it was a stick we waved frequently, and to good effect. It has been interesting, therefore, to see what the critics have been saying about this adaptation – especially what preconceptions they have brought. The Guardian, of course, claimed we should have ‘a liberation from the stays and corsets of costume dramas’ because ‘delusive Sunday night fantasy of a past that never existed’ keeps ‘Britain supine during austerity years’ – but it was a half-hearted and unargued bigotry, and the writer concluded that he was ‘already hooked.’ I am delighted to say that none of the other reviewers (all enthusiastic) had any kind of chip on their shoulders about the historicalness of the story.

They worried that it was a little English, a little compacted, a little sexed up – and of course they pointed occasional fun where fun could be pointed – but they left the historicalness alone. That feels like progress.

Happy 2016 to all!

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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.

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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.

In Memoriam – Tammy McCann At press time for this issue, we were shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of Tamela (Tammy) McCann after a brief illness. Tammy had contributed many thoughtful and well-written reviews for the HNR over the years, including three in the current issue, and signed on as a reviews editor in 2011. She was a valued member of the editorial team and enthusiastically took on assignments beyond her regular duties, such as working with new publishers and conducting author interviews for the magazine and website. Tammy had a passion for reading, historical fiction and YA novels in particular, and sharing her thoughts about books for HNR, Amazon, and her blog. She especially enjoyed epic sagas, biographical fiction that spurred her to learn more about their subjects, and multilayered, atmospheric novels with realistic characters. She could also be counted upon to review anything involving the Titanic.

Tammy was a highly admired technology teacher with the Metro Nashville Public Schools. Our condolences to her family.

Tammy will be greatly missed.

HNS Updates Regular HNR reviewers Rebecca Cochran and Bryan Dumas are the newest members of the US editorial team.

They will be editing reviews and soliciting review copies from a selection of publishers (details on the masthead).

We continue to have a position open for a UK-based reviews editor interested in working with publishers and reviewers.

This is a volunteer position, as is the case with others within HNS. Editors receive free membership during their tenure and first picks on incoming review books. Please contact me for more details. Thanks to Doug Kemp, Edward James, and Tracey Warr for working with an increased number of publishers during the interim period.

Thanks also to Fiona Sheppard for her great work proofreading the reviews.

Reviewers wanted! If you enjoy reading this magazine and have thought about contributing reviews, I’d be glad to hear from you. Please email me with a statement of interest and to receive the reviewer guidelines. Reviewers should be able to write clearly and concisely and adhere to our quarterly deadlines. In the UK, Ireland, and Europe, new reviewers interested in sagas and/or romantic fiction are especially needed since we have many of these titles awaiting review. In North America, areas of greatest need include Western fiction, Christian fiction, and 20th-century settings. For reviewers outside these geographic 2 | Columns |

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locations, please write and we’ll see what we can work out.

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

Elizabeth Chadwick has agreed to a 6-figure deal with Sphere (Little Brown) UK for two novels. Templar Silks will cover William Marshal’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and The Irish Princess (working title) will tell the 12th-century story of Aoife McMurrough and Richard de Clare. She has also had 5 novels optioned for film and TV by Avino Productions, the novels being A Place Beyond Courage, The Greatest Knight, The Scarlet Lion, The Time of Singing and To Defy A King. Elizabeth has been contracted as historical consultant on the project. In addition, Polish publishers Proszynski have bought Elizabeth Chadwick’s first two Eleanor of Aquitaine novels, The Summer Queen and The Winter Crown.

North American rights to Mary Sharratt’s Ecstasy: A Novel of Alma Mahler, about the controversial early 20th-century Viennese socialite who married composer Gustav Mahler, among others, went to Nicole Angeloro at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via Jennifer Weltz at JVNLA. NYT bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home Hazel Gaynor’s novel about the two young cousins who created the Cottingley Fairy photographs that fooled the world postWWI, and the present-day woman who sets out to discover what really happened 100 years ago, sold to Lucia Macro at William Morrow, by Michelle Brower at Kuhn Projects.

Grace by Paul Lynch, about a young girl and her brother who set off on an epic journey across 19th-century Ireland on the eve of the Great Famine, sold to Asya Muchnick at Little, Brown (US), by Dorian Karchmar at William Morris Endeavor on behalf of Simon Trewin/William Morris Endeavor London.

Author of Flight of Dreams (reviewed this issue), Ariel Lawhon’s I Was Anastasia, a dual narrative exploring the mystery surrounding Grand Duchess Anastasia’s death and Anna Anderson, the woman who long-claimed to be Anastasia, sold to Melissa Danaczko at Doubleday by Elisabeth Weed at The Book Group.

Minrose Gwin’s Promise, set in Tupelo, Mississippi, in the same world as her earlier The Queen of Palmyra, and exploring its black and white communities during the 1936 tornado, the fourth deadliest such storm in the nation’s history, sold to Carrie Feron at William Morrow by Jane von Mehren at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency.

Oskar’s Shadow by Ursula Werner, based on the author’s family, is about a German family living in a small town far from Berlin; their patriarch’s role in Hitler’s cabinet seems remote and mysterious until the Führer’s sudden visit shatters the family’s attempt to protect their quiet existence. It sold to Trish Todd at Simon & Schuster, in a pre-empt, by Leigh Feldman at Leigh Feldman Literary.

Field of Stars, about an American actress starring in the West End in 1960s London who goes missing, and the eponymous theatre dresser who tries to find her, sold to Claire Wachtel at Harper and Iris Tupholme at Harper Canada, in a pre-empt, by Caroline Hardman at Hardman & Swainson. UK rights sold to Helen Garnons-Williams at Fourth Estate, also in a pre-empt.

NYT bestselling author Beatriz Williams’ A Certain Age, a Jazz Age novel about a passionate affair between the queen of New York society and a much younger man just returned from the Great War, set against the backdrop of a scandalous murder trial, sold to Rachel Kahan at William Morrow and Martha Ashby at Harper UK, in a two-book deal, for publication in Summer 2016, by Alexandra Machinist at ICM. Historical suspense novel The Kaiser’s Last Kiss by Alan Judd (first published by HarperCollins UK in 2003), set in Occupied Holland at the start of WWII, involving the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm, the young Nazi officer assigned to guard him, and a beautiful Jewish housemaid who comes between them, sold to Etinosa Agbonlahor at Touchstone by Pamela Malpas at Harold Ober Associates on behalf of David Higham Associates. .

Sunday Times bestseller Dinah Jefferies’ The Tea Planter’s Wife, in which a young Englishwoman in 1920s Ceylon marries a charming tea plantation owner and widower, only to discover he’s keeping terrible secrets about his past, sold to Hilary Rubin Teeman at Crown, for publication in Fall 2016, by Sarah Scarlett at Penguin UK. Emma Donoghue’s The Wonder, set in 1850s rural Ireland, the story of an 11-year-old girl who has stopped eating but remains alive and well, and an English nurse charged with determining whether the girl is a fraud, sold (again) to Judy Clain at Little, Brown, for publication in fall 2016, by Kathleen Anderson at Anderson Literary Management.

Forthcoming title announcement Karen Harper’s The Royal Nanny, the true story of the Cockney woman, Charlotte Bill, who reared King Edward VIII/Duke of Windsor; King George VI; and four other royal children, including ‘The Lost Prince,’ who was epileptic and autistic, will be published by HarperCollins in June 2016.

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For additional forthcoming titles, please see: http:// historicalnovelsociety.org/guides/forthcoming-historicalnovels/

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Vesper Stamper’s debut novel The Orange Tree, about two teenage Holocaust survivors who meet in a Displaced Persons Camp in the aftermath of WWII, sold to Karen Greenberg at Knopf Children’s, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in Spring 2018, by Lori Kilkelly at Rodeen Literary Management.

Jacquelyn McShulskis’s dual-period novel The Invisible Shore, in which a disillusioned writer living in a small coastal town in Michigan is swept into an unsolved mystery surrounding the 1930s disappearance of a local female poet with whom her English professor husband has developed an unhealthy and perhaps even dangerous obsession, sold to Anna Michels at Sourcebooks, for publication in Spring 2017, by Kevan Lyon at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency (World English rights).

Author of The Dynamite Room Jason Hewitt’s Devastation Road, set in 1945, about an Englishman who wakes in a field with a severely damaged memory, and, as he sets out on a journey toward home, is joined by a teenage boy and a young woman, both of whom are hiding secrets, sold to Asya Muchnick at Little, Brown, by PJ Mark at Janklow & Nesbit.

Deborah Hopkinson’s The Neptune Cipher, a mystery of coded messages, espionage, danger, and friendship between an American girl and British boy during World War II, sold to Allison Wortche at Knopf Children’s, for publication in Spring 2019, by Steven Malk at Writers House.

Agatha-nominated author Edith Maxwell’s Quaker Midwife Mysteries, featuring Quaker midwife Rose Carroll solving murders with John Greenleaf Whittier’s help in an 1888 Massachusetts mill town, sold to Terri Bischoff (Midnight Ink)

by John Talbot at Talbot Fortune Agency in a three-book deal.

The first book, Delivering the Truth, releases in April 2016.

Samantha Norman’s next book in the Mistress of the Art of Death series, thrillers set in 12th-century England, sold to Rachel Kahan at William Morrow by Helen Heller at the Helen Heller Agency.

Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini, the remarkable story of Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron and mathematician who invented what many consider to be the first computer program, sold to Maya Ziv at Dutton by Maria Massie at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin.

Longtime HNR reviewer Phyllis T. Smith’s (I Am Livia) second novel, The Daughters of Palatine Hill, in which a woman and her daughters navigate the dangerous world of Rome’s ruling elite, sold to Danielle Marshall at Lake Union, for publication in February 2016, by Elizabeth Winick Rubinstein at McIntosh & Otis.

Benet Brandreth’s The Spy of Venice, a Shakespearean thriller set in 1580s England and Italy which stars William Shakespeare as a young actor, sold to Joel Richardson at Twenty7, in a twobook deal, for publication in March 2016, by Ivan Mulcahy of Mulcahy Conway Associates.

Playwright Miranda Emmerson’s Miss Treadway and the

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.

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NEW VOICES Weaving tales to intrigue readers, debut novelists Carol Bodensteiner, Grant Bywaters, Andrew Latham & Andria Williams illuminate some hidden corners across a wide swathe of history.

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he first inkling for The Red Storm (Minotaur Books, 2015) came during a history class I was taking in college,” explains Grant Bywaters. The class was an African American history course, at which time, he says, “I was also in the process of getting my private investigation license, so the two aspects kind of merged into the rough outline of my story.”

Bywaters continues, “I chose New Orleans because of the city’s rich history and more lax regulation of Jim Crow Laws, which would have made it possible for a black private detective to somewhat be able to do his job in such a difficult period of time.”

Bywaters notes that the history of boxing was “always intended to be interwoven into the main character. The backstory of him not getting the chance to fight for what was then considered the greatest prize in sports because of fear.

After all, during this period the first and last black heavyweight champion inspired an entire nation to search out for a Great White Hope.”

As with Bywaters’ novel, Andria Williams’s The Longest Night (Random House, 2015) also highlights the role of the individual in making history. Williams says, “Like most Americans, I had heard of the infamous 1979 nuclear accident at Three Mile Island and the public panic it had caused. I’d assumed it was the U.S.’s major nuclear accident (Wikipedia calls it the “worst” in U.S. history), and that fatalities had occurred.”

However, Williams admits, “I was surprised to learn that, thankfully, no one had died at Three Mile Island. Instead, the nation’s first and only fatal nuclear reactor accident had occurred eighteen years before — in Idaho Falls, Idaho in January of 1961.” Williams wondered why she had never heard about it.

Williams discovered through research that “the SL-1 had been a small nuclear reactor on government land and that all three operators working at the time of the accident had been killed. The lack of a survivor’s story allowed various rumors to take hold, the most notable being that the meltdown was actually a murder-suicide caused when one operator, distraught over his crumbling love life, pulled the central rod too high and caused the reactor to go ‘supercritical’ in a fraction of a second.”

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“Now we know,” Williams explicates, “that it was probably mechanical failure that doomed the SL-1.This explanation absolves the operators of some guilt, but can also feel sterile.

I wanted to re-humanize, re-populate, the story. It wasn’t just the tale of a machine that went haywire; it was the story of the people struggling desperately to control it. What characters could I create, and what tensions build between them to mimic and illuminate the events of January 3, 1961, a night when three very young, enlisted soldiers tried, with no higher-level oversight, to restart a temporarily shut-down reactor on one of the coldest nights of the year? That was how Paul, Nat, Jeannie, Mitch, and the other characters came to be, popping into my head and each telling me: It was like this, or No, you’re wrong, it was like this.”

The Longest Night is Williams’s “attempt to walk a reader through a fascinating and little-known event in American history while giving the story a human dimension, putting man at the center of the story where he belongs, back inside the machine.”

In contrast to The Longest Night, Andrew Latham’s The Holy Lance (Knox Robinson, 2015) takes the reader back to the period of “warrior-monks.”

Latham never dreamed he’d write an historical novel. He had always loved reading historical military adventures, but it simply never occurred to him that he might write one someday: “Scholarly books, yes. But a novel!” All that changed, however, as Latham was working on his recently published non-fiction work, Theorizing Medieval Geopolitics. Latham says, “I had been reading pretty widely about war and political violence in later medieval Europe and had just begun to get a handle on the Crusades when I first encountered the Templar knights.

Like most people, I thought I knew what these guys were all about: either religious fanatics or cynical thugs using religion to camouflage their all-too-worldly motives. Like most people, though, I was wrong. The more I read, the more I became fascinated by these warrior-monks, the Templars in particular – not by the caricature of them that is so prevalent in popular culture, but by the historical reality.”

Latham’s first thought was to write a non-fiction book on the military religious orders, but he says, “I ended up writing something very different instead – a work of historical fiction.

The more I thought about what I wanted to achieve, the more it seemed that non-fiction would not be the best tool. I was interested in the Templars, not because of their supposed secrets or mysteries, or their fabulous wealth and influence, but because of what they were: warrior-monks.”

Latham continues, “On the one hand, Templars, like all medieval knights, were warriors, bred to be brutal and merciless

killers. On the other, they were pious monks, committed to a life of prayer and works of charity. How was that possible? How did they reconcile these two personas? Answering these questions, it seemed to me, required reconstructing the imaginative world of these self-styled ‘knights of Christ.’ And the best medium for that sort of project has always been fiction.”

Carol Bodensteiner’s Go Away Home (Lake Union, 2015) was inspired in part by family photographs rather than academic research. Bodensteiner describes her novel: “Set in the years leading up to and including World War I, Go Away Home is the story of Liddie Treadway, an Iowa farm girl who wants more out of life than her family and society envision.”

As Bodensteiner says, she discovered that: “Women of that time, particularly rural women, didn’t recognize a lot of options for their lives, which does not mean they lacked opinions and aspirations. Young women were expected to get married and raise a family. A girl might teach school for a while but when she married, she was not allowed to teach any longer. Liddie wanted to be a seamstress but the expectation was that she’d do that only until she married. Women were dependent on men for respectability and security, but they were pushing the boundaries. Liddie wants adventure and a career and to pursue these as a single woman.”

The seeds for her story, Bodensteiner notes, “were planted through family stories and picture albums. From earliest memory I knew that my grandfather died of the Spanish flu in 1918.

My connection to that major world event and the grandfather I never knew stuck in my mind. Even though my grandmother

lived until I was in my 20s, I never asked her a single question about him or their lives together. And she was not the type to share. Yet tidbits of her life were elemental to creating Go Away Home.

“One example: A significant plot line in the story was inspired by my grandmother’s interest in taking pictures. Like many people at the turn of the century, she owned a Kodak box camera with which she took a wealth of pictures of everyday farm life.

Those pictures of livestock, clothing, horses and cars helped me visualize the people and places in the story. I felt incredibly fortunate to have a visual record of farm life at the turn of the century.

“Small anecdotes my mother shared about her mother also fueled my imagination. ‘She went to sewing school in town,’ is one of those anecdotes. From that thread, I wove the story of Liddie’s interest in becoming a professional seamstress.”

Bodensteiner says, “I enjoy reading historical fiction because it transports me to another place and time where I learn a lot while reading a good story. When I set about writing historical fiction, one of my greatest joys was the research. The anecdotes and photos that inspired the story led to countless rounds of research. Having grown up on an Iowa farm, I knew a good deal about Liddie’s environment, but the research ensured I turned the clock back to the right years.

Go Away Home offers the story of a woman striving for independence, making choices she must live with, and finding love. Liddie’s story is one that may ring true with women of any era.”

By creating characters that “ring true,” Bodensteiner, Bywaters, Latham, and Williams have been able to “re-populate” some tantalizing historical events.

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MYFANWY COOK admires the creativity of debut novelists and their different approaches to transforming historical fact into historical fiction. Email (myfanwyc@ btinternet.com) or tweet (twitter.com/MyfanwyCook) about debut novelists you have enjoyed reading..

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Andrew Latham, Carol Bodensteiner, Grant Bywaters & Andria Williams

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aHISTORY & FILMe THERE SHE BLOWS !

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he majority of the time, when I screw something up, a moment’s reflection is all it takes for me to pinpoint exactly where things went off the rails. But did you ever have one of those “how did I get here?” moments? Suddenly you find yourself in a situation, and despite having traversed the requisite path to arrive at that destination, you can’t figure out exactly what you did wrong to end up where you currently are. You look behind you, and the breadcrumbs are gone. Such was my plight as I stood, attired in a 14th-century Basque whaler’s costume, waiting to parade out onto a stage for an audience of a couple hundred HNS conference attendees.

Introversion being a special gift of mine, this prospect was somewhat torturous, in a way that even a couple of hastily tossed-back alcoholic beverages couldn’t mitigate.

I furiously pondered, and finally came up with someone to blame for my predicament: Nathaniel Philbrick. Perhaps you know Mr. Philbrick, one of that blessed breed of nonfiction authors who manages to turn the minutiae of a particular historical event/period/ industry/personality into a read so compelling it puts fiction to shame. While he’s covered everything from Little Big Horn to the Mayflower, my fashion-show distress sprung entirely from a single offering, Philbrick’s National Book Award-winning work, In the Heart of the Sea. In the Heart of the Sea is subtitled “The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex,” and the basic story is this: in 1819, a crew of 21 men set out from Nantucket on the 240-ton Essex, seeking sperm whales for their spermaceti and blubber, which rendered into valuable oil, a livelihood for the whalemen, and profits for their Quaker backers. What is known to history of the fate of the Essex comes primarily from three sources: its 29-year-old captain on his first command, George Pollard; his first mate, Owen Chase; and the ship’s youngest occupant, 14-year-old cabin boy Thomas Nickerson. In 1821, a handful of starving survivors, floating aimlessly in the Essex’s whaleboats for over 6 | Columns |

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90 days, were picked up by passing ships. Near death, the men clutched the bones of their fellow sailors, whom they’d devoured.

Almost as terrifying as their situation was what they said had put them there: an 85 foot-long sperm whale that, according to them, intentionally and maliciously attacked and sunk their ship. As Chase put it, they were “stove by a whale.”

Sound familiar? It should, since the woeful fate of the Essex provided the basis for Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Man against behemoth, cannibalism, surviving the cruel sea against all odds – is there a need to sensationalize elements of a story this gripping? Why, of course there is, says Hollywood! Enter In the Heart of the Sea, the movie version, directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth as Owen Chase.

While the historical survivors told their story early and often to many and sundry (Owen Chase published his for general consumption, and Nickerson also produced a written account), Howard has framed the movie as the difficult process of Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson), now an old man, reluctantly dredging up his horrific tale for the first time and pouring it out to Melville (Ben Whishaw) in one marathon night of catharsis. Enter flashbacks of beefsteak Owen Chase, with Nickerson as awestruck young observer.

The historical Captain Pollard was both older and of equal, if not greater, seafaring experience than the 23-year-old Chase, and both had a former (and amiable) working relationship, having served together on the Essex’s previous voyages as first mate and boatsteerer, respectively. Both had been promoted up the ladder when the Essex’s captain retired. But the movie has a superior Chase being passed over in favor of a greener than green Pollard simply because Pollard’s family is affluent and native Nantucketer (a singularly insular bunch; the movie gets this vibe right). The stage is set for the film Pollard (Benjamin Walker) to make a series of haughty missteps which the smarter, more competent Chase warns him against, engaging in a…measuring contest for which the martinet Pollard is singularly ill-equipped. By the time the CGIed monster whale destroys the Essex and stalks the survivors left adrift in three whaleboats, it’s obvious to whom the men will look for salvation.

Since there’s already the man against the sea and man against the beast dynamic, pitting first mate against captain seems needless piling on.

Coffin refused, selflessly laying down his life in order to offer his shipmates some chance at survival. This unfortunate boy quite literally took it like a man – “it” being a bullet to the head with the knowledge that his shipmates would eat him.

Admittedly, I’m a nerd of the first order, so perhaps I simply would’ve been happier with a documentary2 which, obviously, isn’t what the Hollywood version of In the Heart of the Sea could or should be if it wants to draw any kind of a typical box office audience. Yet I missed what made Philbrick’s work so engrossing: its educational component. He focuses on Nantucket’s peculiarly insular culture, the plight of the women left behind (given a film flyby in the person of Chase’s wife) and their unprecedented independence, the Quaker worldview and, perhaps most fascinatingly, the details of whaling, from boatsteerers’ duties to try-pots to whale behavior. In fact, I found all this so interesting that it started me down the dark path of reading all about the whaling industry. Not long afterward, I found myself seated at a conference dinner next to a nice lady who happened to mention that her last novel involved Basque whalers of the 14th century.

How fortuitous, for I have read about whaling; I can make this kind of small talk! We had a discussion about the differences in technique between the Basques and the Nantucketers five centuries later. All was going well until she mentioned that she needed her whaling costume modeled at the historical fashion show, and she was sure it would fit me. There were polite refusals on my part and just as polite refusals to acknowledge my refusals on hers until, finally, lacking any sort of vertebral column, I gave up and gave in. And thus, dear reader, ends the tragic story of how I found myself on stage in front of a couple hundred people, modelling a 14th-century Basque whaling outfit. Thank you, Nathaniel Philbrick.

But as to the movie, my two cents’ worth (adjusted for inflation): it’s worth watching, but whether you see Hollywood’s version or not, read the book. Just be careful when you talk about it to strangers.

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Notes: 1. Kermode, Mike. “In the Heart of the Sea: O Blubber, Where Art Thou?” The Guardian. 27 December 2015. http://www.theguardian. com/film/2015/dec/27/in-the-heart-of-the-sea-review-ron-howardben-whishaw-cillian-murphy 2. For those interested, there’s a fantastic PBS American Experience documentary, Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World, which chronicles the whaling industry in America from the 17th to the 19th centuries, and prominently features the Essex’s story.

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I loved the book, and I wanted to like this movie. It certainly has its positive aspects (yes, beyond “Thor with oars”). The Nantucket scenes provide a sense of what a bustling port of this period might have felt like, and the portrayal of the Nantucket sleigh-ride (i.e., when a whaleboat was pulled along behind the harpooned whale at what was, for the 19th century, breakneck speed) gives one a sense of how exhilarating whalemen might have found their very dangerous chosen profession. And yet…

Opie, I expected better. I couldn’t get past an anachronistic moralizing tone and what one reviewer dubbed the film’s “overwhelming sense of artificiality.”1 Other concerns aside, watching a nautical offering such as, say, Master and Commander provides a sweeping sense of the sea: its enormity, its beauty, but also its peril. The corollary is the love of the ship, no matter how indifferent a vessel, as a representation of safety and “home” in this unforgiving landscape. This film can’t seem to manage either, suffering from an excess of cartoonish CGI and outlandish action scenes. The appearance of the whale itself does not impress, a problem that cannot be overlooked.

And while I take no issue with a film that espouses a viewpoint, attempting to equate the whale’s revenge as visited upon a mankind deserving of it due to his lust for oil (subtle) subverts and ignores the 19th-century whaleman’s worldview: the sea as frontier with game to be harvested, upon an earth over which God had given him dominion. What happened to the Essex was such a shock precisely because the Quakerish Nantucketers saw it as an affront, an inversion of the natural order of things, not a warning or deserved rebuke from nature. Perhaps that’s the main problem with the film version of In the Heart of the Sea: it can’t seem to decide exactly what type of film it wants to be. CGIed action spectacular, monster-movie à la Jaws, quietly desperate survival story, Sea Shepherd revenge fantasy, Mutiny on the Bounty-type rivalry tale…to me, it seemed it just couldn’t find itself, and vacillating between all these possible foci meant immersion in none.

I also couldn’t help but take issue with those historical figures unfairly maligned here. This is not because I have a personal stake in their reputations or don’t appreciate/condone dramatic license, but because dramatically, it added nothing – more the opposite. While undeniably unseasoned as a captain, the historical Pollard’s main fault was listening to Owen Chase when he knew better; choosing Chase’s proposed course over his own better judgment ended in countless unnecessary days at sea, the deaths of many, and the terrible sufferings of the few who survived (all of which could have been avoided – why not play up the pathos of that?). And if anyone gets undeservedly aspersed here, it’s Pollard’s cousin, Owen (in the movie rechristened Henry) Coffin. In the film, he’s an entitled and hysterical brat who pulls a gun on Chase, along with other odd little outbursts that seem out of place and nonsensical. The historical Coffin, a boy of only 17, showed amazing bravery – when things became desperate, he drew the short straw. Pollard, who had sworn to the boy’s mother to protect him, offered to take his place, but

BETHANY LATHAM is a professor, librarian, and Managing Editor of HNR. She publishes in various scholarly and popular journals, as well as writing for EBSCO’s NoveList database. She serves as Internet Editor and a regular reviewer for Reference Reviews.

HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Columns | 7

the risky business of writing about historical icons

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and writers of historical fiction are absolutely passionate about the past. Were it not so, the genre would not exist.

Good historical fiction makes history come alive, transforming stuffy historical personages into vibrant men and women who leap straight off the page and into the reader’s heart.

Novels drawing on the dramatic lives of key historical figures have topped the bestseller list for decades. Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl (Scribner, 2001) has become enshrined as a classic of the genre. More recently, Priya Parmar’s dazzling and very literary novel, Vanessa and Her Sister (Ballantine US, 2014 / Bloomsbury Circus UK, 2015), drew a huge audience with its enthralling exploration of the complicated relationship between Virginia Woolf and her overshadowed sister, Vanessa Bell.

Some agents and industry experts believe that choosing “marquee name” characters is imperative, especially for new writers hoping to break into the genre. Novels about historical celebrities certainly seem to be an easier sell than historical novels involving characters that are wholly invented.

But writing about historical icons can be a dangerous game — Anne Boleyn and Virginia Woolf aren’t called icons for nothing. When readers disagree with your interpretation of a historical figure, you risk facing a serious backlash.

This is a risk some authors gladly take.

Hilary Mantel took readers by storm with her unexpectedly sympathetic portrait of the notorious Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall (Henry Holt US / Fourth Estate UK, 2009) and Bring Up the Bodies (Henry Holt US / Fourth Estate UK, 2012). Many were furious about her perceived whitewashing of Cromwell and her scathing portrayal of Thomas More, a man whom Catholics revere as a saint and martyr.

Indeed, readers’ reactions can become especially polarized when authors write about religious figures. Sherry Jones’s debut novel, The Jewel of Medina (Beaufort, 2008), inspired by the life of A’isha, child bride of the Prophet Muhammad, was so

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Who Owns the Past?

controversial that it made world news before it was even released.

Fearing violent reprisals from Muslim extremists, Random House dropped the book from its list, forcing Jones and her agent to find another publisher.

On a slightly less headline-grabbing note, my own book, Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012), based on the life of the 12th-century visionary abbess and composer, garnered both heartfelt fan letters and hate mail — with added threats of hellfire! Some readers found my reading of Hildegard’s life to be too uncomfortably feminist.

Even with the most meticulous research to back them up, authors who dare to take a fresh approach can catch hell from readers.

Author M.J. Rose says that the biggest problem she has faced in unearthing new information about historical figures and weaving it into her fiction is having readers and reviewers “chastise” her for “faking it.”

“I don’t write traditional historical fiction,” says Rose, “but more gothic with some erotic and esoteric aspects and by placing some historical figures in that context, I’ve upset more than a few readers. There are definitely readers who’d prefer to have their visions left alone. For instance, Victor Hugo was a huge believer in reincarnation and I used that in The Seduction of Victor H (Atria, 2013). But I got quite a few negative reviews and criticisms...from people who didn’t want to believe that I’d portrayed him correctly.”

A vocal minority of readers are so passionately attached to their own interpretation of historical icons that they make no allowance for any other viewpoint, even in books that are clearly labeled fiction.

HNR Editor Sarah Johnson gives the example of Susan Wittig Albert’s biographical novel, A Wilder Rose (Lake Union, 2015), about the relationship between Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the much-loved Little House on the Prairie series, and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. Although Albert’s research was impeccable, some readers were nonetheless outraged by the premise that Wilder Lane

by Mary Sharratt

Novels... about historical celebrities certainly seem to be an easier sell...but writing about historical icons can be a dangerous game.

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HNR Issue 75, February 2016

Anne Easter Smith has devoted her literary career to championing the most maligned king in English history — Richard III. Her novel A Rose for the Crown (Touchstone, 2006) and her four follow-up titles reveal that Richard was far from being a “hunchbacked, usurping murderer of little boys.”

Rescuing long-dead figures from centuries-old defamation is one thing, but what if one’s protagonist is rumoured to have been complicit with the worst evils committed within living memory?

In Mademoiselle Chanel (William Morrow, 2015), Christopher Gortner has gone to great lengths to create a nuanced portrait of iconic fashion designer Coco Chanel, who was vilified as a Nazi collaborator. Gortner attributes Chanel’s affair with a highranking Gestapo officer to the “complex set of circumstances” she faced in German-occupied wartime France, rather than to her alleged antisemitism.

From Gortner’s experience, any author’s attempt to humanize a legend has its yin and yang. While some readers enjoy a new perspective, others “want the story they have become attached to and dislike learning that ‘history’ as they know it does not always represent the entire truth.” Gortner says that he takes great joy in writing about controversial women with rough edges.

Stephanie Cowell, author of Claude and Camille (Crown, 2010), points out that the shifting of cultural values over time can make historical fiction especially challenging for both writers and readers. It’s hard to identify with a protagonist who holds views that we would find unconscionable. “Many years ago,” says Cowell, “I read about one-third of a brilliant novel about Hermann Goering by Ella Leffland, The Knight, Death and the Devil. I wish I had the courage to have read more but when I found myself in deep sympathy with the young Goering, I shut the book quickly. [Leffland] had the courage to write it; it scared me too much to read it.”

“I think there are some historical figures,” says Sarah Johnson, “whose reputations are so blemished, or whose deeds were so heinous, that rehabilitating them via historical fiction is unlikely to be tolerated.”

While not exonerating war criminals and mass murderers, novelist Margaret George agrees with historian Lacey Baldwin Smith’s observation that if one shifts the lighting on the same facts, a different picture emerges. George believes that we owe it to historical anti-heroes “to at least look at them in a different light.” George is currently at work on a new novel about the most notorious tyrant of the ancient world, Emperor Nero.

Far from looking back over the centuries through a sepiatinted haze, historical fiction unflinchingly embraces the whole of our past in all its scary, unsettling, and complicated glory.

Instead of shying away from controversy, we might choose to write what sets us on fire – to make history come alive in a way that’s visceral and real.

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contributed to the writing of her mother’s books. “ I’m not willing to have the image of my childhood icon, Laura Ingalls Wilder, ruined,” reads one comment to an Amazon review. “Whether it is a true account or not, I’ll continue wearing my rose-colored glasses.”

So what are authors to do? Shy away from controversy? Bend over backward to keep our readers in their comfort zone?

In my mind the bigger question is this: Who owns the past?

For example, William Shakespeare, who features in my upcoming novel, The Dark Lady’s Mask, left behind the greatest corpus of literature in the English language, but the documented facts about him as a man are sparse. Yet this hasn’t stopped academic historians from weighing in on Shakespeare’s marriage, his religion, and even his sexuality. It’s as though Shakespeare has become a blank screen on which we can project any number of images, according to our own subjective filters. Was he a callous husband, a loving father, a closet Catholic, a conflicted gay man?

Will we ever know the truth?

Historians have long argued that history itself is in a constant state of revision and re-interpretation. If academic scholars lay claim to wildly divergent views of someone as iconic as Shakespeare, might fiction authors — and their readers — also allow for a less rigid and monolithic understanding of famous historical figures?

Maybe it’s our vocation as historical novelists to be part of this wider discussion about what we can really claim to know about the past. The authors I spoke to are clarion voices in this ongoing debate.

Sandra Gulland believes that historical fiction, at its best, can contribute a deeper historical understanding than biographies and non-fiction accounts. “As a novelist, one spends years ‘in the shoes’ of one’s subject,” she points out. This psychic immersion into deep research can open up a new perspective on an entrenched historical interpretation.

When Gulland began writing her bestselling Josephine B. trilogy (HarperCollins Canada, 1995, 1998, 2000) she “naively assumed that the popular view of Josephine was accurate: a good mother, perhaps, but promiscuous, manipulative, unfaithful, a spendthrift and a liar. I knew it would be a challenge to make such a portrait believable (in fiction, a character portrait has to make sense).”

Gulland’s research exposed the fact that the scandalous stories about Josephine weren’t actually true but based on malicious slander. While her Josephine trilogy was “surprisingly well accepted” by French historians, she did catch flak from British reviewers who “read the novels in expectation of a satisfyingly smutty read” and were disappointed “to encounter a fairly virtuous Josephine!”

Similarly, Leslie Carroll’s recent trilogy on Marie Antoinette (written under the pen name Juliet Grey) (Ballantine, 2011, 2012, 2013) portrays the ill-fated monarch and scapegoat of the French Revolution in all her human complexity and vulnerability. Carroll says that she felt quite passionate about reclaiming her heroine from the many distorting layers of myth and propaganda attached to her. Marie Antoinette was aware of her subjects’ plight, says Carroll, but powerless to change an already bankrupted France.

MARY SHARRATT’s new book, The Dark Lady’s Mask: A Novel of Shakespeare’s Muse, drawn from the life of the ground-breaking Renaissance poet Aemilia Bassano Lanier, will be published in April 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Visit her website: www.marysharratt.com

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conspirator or victim?

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Mary Surratt

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n July 7, 1865, a middle-aged, middle-class widow, school chum Louis Weichmann, began to wonder just what unremarkable in appearance, stepped onto the gallows and was going on — and he wondered even more when, one day in plummeted to her death, becoming the first woman to be March, John Surratt, Booth, and Payne, agitated and waving hanged by the United States government. But even though a weapons about, stormed into the room Weichmann shared with military tribunal had judged Mary Surratt to be complicit in the Surratt, then abruptly adjourned to the privacy of the attic. assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, the debate about In fact, the men were plotting the kidnapping of President her guilt or innocence was only just beginning, Lincoln. Their scheme failed, but the next month, Booth Mary’s march to the scaffold began in the fall of 1864 when, changed history with a single Derringer shot at Ford’s Theater. saddled with debt from her alcoholic husband, who had died At about the same time, just blocks away, a powerfully built man two years before, she leased out the tavern she operated in forced his way into the home of the Secretary of State, William Prince George’s County, Maryland and moved to Washington, Seward, who was recovering from a carriage accident, and D.C. Some years earlier, her attacked him in his bed. husband had acquired a house Within hours of the there, and Mary decided to assassination and the assault on operate it as a boardinghouse.

Seward (who survived), police, Two of her grown children, John tipped off that Booth had spent and Anna, came to Washington time at H Street, turned up at with her; the third, Isaac, was Mary Surratt’s boardinghouse. serving in the Confederate They searched the house but left army. John, too, served the after finding no sign of Booth or Confederacy, but in a different John Surratt, who was suspected way: making the dangerous trip of the assault on Seward. By the across the Potomac River to carry late evening of April 17, however, clandestine messages from North military authorities had acquired to South. more evidence. They again came For the rest of 1864, life to the boardinghouse. This time, Mary Surratt (under umbrella) and her fellow prisoners awaiting their hangings went on in Mary Surratt’s (photograph by Alexander Gardner, courtesy of Library of Congress) they took Mary and all those boardinghouse no differently staying with her at the time into than it did in the many other small boardinghouses that dotted custody. As the party awaited transportation to Washington’s wartime Washington. Then, early in 1865, John Surratt brought military headquarters, a man in grubby but well-made clothes home a new acquaintance: actor John Wilkes Booth. Soon turned up at the door with the unlikely excuse that he had come Booth was stopping by the boardinghouse regularly. Sometimes to dig a ditch for Mary the following morning. Asked to identify he would sit in the parlor and converse with the ladies; other him, Mary swore she had never seen him before. In fact, she had times he would confer with John Surratt privately. He visited seen him several times: he was the Mr. Payne who had stayed even when John Surratt was away from home. at her house just a month before. He was also, Seward’s servant Around the same time Booth began frequenting the soon confirmed, the man who had assaulted the Secretary of boardinghouse, a stream of odd guests began to appear, staying State. for only a few nights at a time. One man came twice, calling By the time federal authorities caught and killed Booth in himself Mr. Wood on the first occasion and Mr. Payne on Virginia, Mary, Payne (whose real name was Lewis Powell), and the second. Another, whose German surname no one could six others had been identified as his co-conspirators. While the pronounce, was scruffy and disreputable looking. A lady guest evidence against Powell was ironclad, the cases against some kept her face shielded by a veil. One boarder, John Surratt’s of his codefendants were weaker, and it was decided to try the

by Susan Higginbotham

A century and a half...

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HNR Issue 75, February 2016

after Mary’s execution, the question of what the widow knew — or didn’t know — continues to intrigue.

the weapons which Mary had allegedly told Lloyd to have ready. All in all, the evidence allows a case to be made by either the prosecution or the defense; indeed, the two most recent biographers of Mary, Elizabeth Steger Trindal and Kate Clifford Larson, reach diametrically opposed conclusions.

Unlike those writing nonfiction, novelists have the luxury of offering a definitive answer to the question of Mary’s culpability.

The two twentieth-century novels in which Mary is the major character each come down on the side of Mary’s innocence, although the books are in all other respects quite different.

Helen Jones Campbell published The Case for Mary Surratt in 1943. Passionately convinced after extensive research that her subject was wrongfully convicted, Campbell put forth her thesis with such vigor that the book is sometimes treated as a work of nonfiction rather than a historical novel. Unfortunately, the polemical element in this novel overshadows the characterization.

Passive and listless, Mary makes a splendid martyr, but not a compelling heroine.

In Pamela Redford Russell’s The Woman Who Loved John Wilkes Booth, published in 1978, Mary’s daughter, Annie, addicted to laudanum and all but sleepwalking through her dreary days, reluctantly accepts her mother’s diary from her former jailer, setting in motion a journey of self-discovery that will allow Annie to reconnect with those around her. Although Russell’s Mary, like Campbell’s, is innocent of any crime, The Woman Who Loved John Wilkes Booth (the title of which may mislead some readers into expecting steamy Boothian romance) is concerned not with exonerating Mary but in exploring the emotional lives of Mary and her daughter. As such, it makes for an engrossing, character-driven read.

The best-known fictional treatment of Mary, however, is cinematic: Robert Redford’s 2010 film The Conspirator. Starring Robin Wright as Mary and James McAvoy as her attorney, Frederick Aiken, the film is less concerned with her guilt or innocence than with the legality of the proceedings against her.

The film takes a number of liberties in making its points, such as giving Mary several courtroom outbursts — but it is thoughtprovoking and well acted.

Two novels featuring Mary will be published in 2016.

Jennifer Chiaverini’s Fates and Traitors: A Novel of John Wilkes Booth (Dutton, September), has Booth’s mother, sister Asia, sweetheart Lucy Lambert Hale, and Mary as its protagonists.

My own novel, Hanging Mary, to be published in March, is narrated by Mary and by her young boarder, Nora Fitzpatrick.

A century and a half after Mary’s execution, the question of what the widow knew — or didn’t know — continues to intrigue.

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eight before a military commission (which did not require a unanimous verdict to convict) instead of in a civilian court.

The trial began in May 1865. The chief witnesses against Mary were her former boarder, Lewis Weichmann, and the tenant at her Maryland tavern, John Lloyd. They testified to two particularly damning incidents: on April 11, three days before the assassination, Weichmann had driven Mary to her tavern, ostensibly for Mary to meet with a man who owed her money.

On the way, they met Lloyd, to whom Mary gave a message: to have some “shooting irons” ready for a party who would soon call for them. Worse, on the day of the assassination itself, Mary had received a visit from Booth. Having heard that she was going to the tavern again, he had given her a package to hand to Lloyd, along with a message: have the guns ready, along with some whiskey, as they would be called for that very evening.

Indeed, Booth and his companion, David Herold, did turn up at the tavern that evening and called for the guns and whiskey, as well as the package, which contained a field glass. Also weighing against Mary was her suspicious claim not to have recognized Powell, who had stayed at her own house.

Neither Lloyd nor Weichmann was an ideal witness, however.

By all accounts, Lloyd was a heavy drinker who had been drunk when Mary saw him that fatal Good Friday, though how incapacitated he had been was debatable. Weichmann, though sober and steady, was also compromised. He had been close friends with John Surratt and had got on well with another defendant, George Atzerodt. One witness claimed that he had shared War Department records with John Surratt and his Confederate friends, and John Surratt later insisted that Weichmann had wanted to join the conspiracy but was disqualified because he could neither ride a horse nor shoot a gun. Some believed that had Weichmann not testified so freely against his landlady, he would have been on trial himself.

Under the law at the time, criminal defendants in most American courts were not allowed to take the stand, so Mary, who under interrogation had vehemently denied knowing anything of the assassination, delivering messages about shooting irons, or recognizing Powell, had to rely on impeaching Weichmann and Lloyd. For all of their shortcomings, both witnesses proved enough to convince a majority of the commissioners that Mary Surratt was guilty of conspiring to murder the President.

Was she guilty ? A pious Catholic who would not have wanted to have gone to her death with a lie on her lips, Mary went to the gallows insisting on her innocence, and Lewis Powell, who was certainly in a good position to know, claimed that Mary had not been complicit in the assassination, although he acknowledged that she might have known that something untoward was going on. John P. Brophy, a young man who was friendly with the Surratt family and Weichmann, became convinced that the latter had been coerced into giving false testimony. Weichmann himself would spend the rest of his life justifying his trial testimony and rather pathetically seeking praise for his actions.

But Lloyd’s testimony was more damning than Weichmann’s, and it was corroborated by the undeniable fact that Booth had indeed turned up at the tavern after the assassination to claim

SUSAN HIGGINBOTHAM is the author of six historical novels, including the forthcoming Hanging Mary (Sourcebooks, 2016), her first novel to be set in the United States. She writes nonfiction as well and has contributed several articles to the Surratt Courier, a publication of the Surratt Society.

HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Features | 11

Alison Case sets Nelly Dean’s own story straight

A literary critic once wrote that the careful balance of characters

in Emily Brontë’s renowned work, Wuthering Heights, was divided between “children of calm and children of storm.”1 In the novel, Ellen Dean, known to all as Nelly, provides the calm at the eye of that storm. Although some readers have seen her as a boring, somewhat complacent figure (Nelly says of herself, “I certainly esteem myself a steady, reasonable kind of body”), Alison Case’s debut novel adds unexpected twists and substance to her story.

Many retellings choose to provide prequels or sequels, but Case’s novel retraces the same timespan, ending a few years after the original. The story is again told by Nelly, in the form of a letter to Mr Lockwood.

Perhaps that’s not surprising because Case is a feminist narratologist – in other words, as Case describes it, someone who makes use of the study of narrative techniques to examine the impact of gender ideology on the form as well as the content of literary narratives.

Her specialist studies of British fiction of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries reveal that “positive female narrative voices in the period are more likely to be represented in an epistolary or diary mode, a form in which the narrator is generally ignorant of the trajectory and significance of her own unfolding story.” Does this sound familiar?

It’s not necessary to have read Brontë’s original work. Case admits that she “never much enjoyed” the original, finding “the level of physical and especially psychological violence in it deeply distressing.” However, she adds, “intellectually, as a work of art, I found the novel deeply impressive.” Case’s own novel stands as an entirely self-contained work. She devotes little space to the best-known characters of Heathcliff and Cathy Earnshaw, instead creating an entirely new story centered on Nelly’s life, showing us the same familiar events, the same settings, through Nelly’s eyes, knowing what she knows.

Case jokingly tells her elevator pitch for the book: “It’s the story that Nelly Dean doesn’t tell [in Wuthering Heights]. About what she’s thinking, behind the scenes and between the chapters.” Once the idea for Case’s novel came to her, the book took, she says, eight to nine years from conception to completion.

Nelly’s voice, Case says, “began speaking in my head. I never felt I was trying to undo the Nelly Dean of Wuthering Heights. I just wanted to set people straight.” She continues, “There is a tradition

Nelly’s voice...

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Weathering the Storm

of novels that tell famous stories over again from the perspective of a different, often minor or negative character. Jean Rhys’s 1966 novel, The Wide Sargasso Sea, which offers a sympathetic prehistory of Bertha Mason, Rochester’s bestial and violent mad wife in Jane Eyre, is probably the most literarily significant example. The peculiar difficulty in my case, though, was that I was working with the same narrator as the original, as well as the same time frame. In addition, I had no wish to falsify, undermine or rewrite the original. I wanted my story to deepen and complicate the original, not to criticize or simplify it.”

Most of her research was done at Haworth, the parsonage where the Brontës lived. It was important to experience the Yorkshire moors in different seasons: to bring that world to life imaginatively and to see what Nelly was seeing, feel what she felt. “It was a tall order,” Case adds. “What made it possible was that, because of all the teaching, thinking, reading and writing about Wuthering Heights I had done over two decades, Nelly had simply come to life for me, and I believed in her completely.”

When asked what Emily Brontë might have said about her book, Case replies, “the imagination is a collaborative space, so if someone took the backstory and continued it, I would be pleased.” The Brontës themselves collaborated by reading their stories together in the evening. Nonetheless, Case adds, “I would not like to be waiting for Emily’s review!”

Case’s next project involves plans for Jane Austen’s Sanditon – certainly, that will give Case’s readers something to look forward to.

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Lucinda Byatt is HNR’s features coordinator. http://textline. wordpress.com Notes: 1. Introduction by David Daiches, Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, Penguin Classics edition, 1965, pp.13, 28.

Alison Case is Professor of English at Williams College, Massachusetts. She appeared at Edinburgh International Book Festival in August 2015 and some of these quotes come from her talk on that occasion. Others were provided in email.

The bicentenaries of the Brontë siblings will be celebrated between 2016 and 2020. http://bronte200.org/

by Lucinda Byatt

began speaking in my head. I never felt I was trying to undo the Nelly Dean of Wuthering Heights. I just wanted to set people straight.

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HNR Issue 75, February 2016

Isabella Ford and the suffragists of Leeds

Strong women. Northern women. The two seem to have been

fixed in the national consciousness since Ena Sharples and Elsie Tanner first went toe to toe on Coronation Street. But the cliché is true. The women of northern England have always been strong, from ‘Lady Ludd’ leading food riots in the early nineteenth century to Chartism, unions, all the way to the miners’ strike. And Leeds women have taken their place at the forefront.

The very first petition for women to have the vote came from Leeds in 1832; it was laughed out of the Commons. Another followed in 1866. The signatories weren’t all middle-class women, either. The wife of a cowkeeper and a cleaner were among those adding their names.

Another petition to Parliament followed in 1868, and the town’s first suffrage meeting came a year later. By 1871 Leeds had a Women’s Suffrage Society, with Mrs Catherine Buckton as secretary. By then, though, some women had already enjoyed their first vote, for the new School Board. In 1873 Mrs Buckton became the first woman elected to the board. Alice Scatcherd gained some fame when she was elected to represent Morley Liberal Club at the National Reform Congress.

But it wasn’t until 1890 and the refounding of the Leeds Women’s Suffrage Society that things truly began to gain a head of steam. The time was right. Building on the foundations of writers like Mary Gaskell and Charlotte Brontë, in literature this was the decade of the ‘New Woman.’ Author Sarah Grand rocked the established order in her novel, The Heavenly Twins (1893), by decrying the moral double standard that allowed male promiscuity; so did Thomas Hardy, whose character Sue Bridehead, in the first part of Jude the Obscure (1895), refused to conform to society’s expectations. It wasn’t only in fiction: in journalism, pieces like W.T. Stead’s The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon (about child prostitution) and The Bitter Cry of Outcast London were part of a general change in attitude.

Leeds had its own strong woman: Isabella Ford. The daughter of campaigning Quakers, she arrived with her own political history, a strong advocate of unions, having already helped the Tailoresses’ Union to victory in their strike.

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CLEANERS & COWKEEPERS’ WIVES

This was the decade when political hopes and dreams truly started to come together, and Ford proved to be the local catalyst.

The Suffrage Society in Leeds became closely aligned with the brand new Independent Labour Party (ILP) when it formed in 1893, and Ford had a foot in both camps as well as with the unions (in 1897, in fact, she opened a Women’s Trade Union Club, the building carefully decorated, because “beauty of all sorts is excluded from so many of our girls’ lives, that it shall not be excluded from their club”).

For someone who became such a vital political figure, moving from the regional to the national stage, she’s a remarkably unsung heroine. That’s one reason I wanted her as a minor character in my new crime novel, Skin Like Silver (reviewed this issue), which is set in 1891 against the backdrop of the growing suffragist movement in Leeds. She deserves to be remembered and celebrated.

Isabella Ford achieved remarkable things, going on to become the first woman elected to the National Administrative Council of the ILP, on the executive committee of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, as well as being involved with the Women’s Peace Crusade.

Ford was a strong woman, an example in my book to Annabelle Harper, one of the Society’s new speakers, and firmly in that line of Northern woman. In turn she’d pass the torch to a younger generation, like Leonora Cohen, the suffragette jailed for smashing a glass case at the Tower of London, and Bertha Quinn, the first woman elected to Leeds City Council. Ford helped lay the groundwork for the future to happen.

Isabella Ford died in 1924. But the things she helped achieve still resonate today. Things are better, but far from perfect. It’s why the North, and all of Britain, needs the inspiration of strong women, in life and on the page.

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Chris Nickson is the author of the highly acclaimed Richard Nottingham series and is also a well-known music journalist.

Born and raised in Leeds, he lived in the USA for thirty years and now makes his home in England. Skin Like Silver is published by Severn House. www.chrisnickson.co.uk

by Chris Nickson

FOR SOMEONE...

who became such a vital political figure, moving from the regional to the national stage, she’s a remarkably unsung heroine.

HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Features | 13

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the landscape and history of France

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France is graced by spectacular hilltop castles, medieval towns and a rash of English historical novelists. There are plenty of castles in the British landscape as well, so I asked several novelists what it is about France that works for writers.

Kate Mosse’s trilogy is set in Carcassonne, and she declares her writing starts with landscape: “France was a language that spoke to me.” Imagining the Cathars during a visit to Montsegur sparked Labyrinth, and a plaque to two nameless female members of the Carcassonne Resistance was the impetus for Citadel. Mosse likens characters emerging in the process of writing to “developing a photograph.”

Deborah Lawrenson also emphasises the importance of landscape: The senses bring a story alive and can transport the reader to another time and place by making a connection to memories of the scent of lavender, for example, or the taste of sea wind.

When I visit Nice, or Aix-en-Provence, it’s an important part of the experience to think I am walking in the footsteps of artists who were drawn to the light here.

Lawrenson’s The Lantern (Harper, 2011) depicts the perfume industry in Provence after the Second World War: Being in the actual places I write about offers the chance to make them authentic on the page. A walk through a town or a pinewood above the sea is a gift of detail for a writer. Some of it will be background description, but the landscape itself often suggests the stories that might be possible within it.

For historical novels, understanding the geography gives a vital insight into why certain events played out in specific places. In my novel The Sea Garden (Harper, 2014), I wrote about the RAF planes that landed clandestinely in Provence during WWII. When I found the plateau in the lavender fields where these real events took place...I could place my characters in it and imagine their thoughts and feelings, and personal stories.

Jacqueline Yallop’s Obedience (Atlantic, 2011) deals with the fraught legacies of sexual passion during the Second World War German occupation. Yallop says, “Obedience evolved from conversations I had with neighbours and friends.

No matter how much accurate historical research you do, I find it’s actually treading the ground which makes a difference,

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The Lure of Another Place & Time

which allows you as a writer, for a moment, to inhabit other lives.”

Vanessa Couchman’s The House at Zaronza (Crooked Cat, 2014) centres on a young girl growing up in a patriarchal society on Corsica in the early 20th century, experiencing rapidly changing values and the First World War. Couchman notes, “France is near enough to be familiar to readers, but far enough to be slightly mysterious.”

Amanda Hodgkinson’s 22 Britannia Road (Fig Tree, 2011) focuses on Polish refugees in England after the Second World War, and Spilt Milk (Penguin, 2014) concentrates on two prewar moments to tell a moving, lyrical story of sisters and mothers. Hodgkinson remarks on a strong sense of the importance of culture in France: “The French have a wonderful attitude to writers. They are supportive of the notion of an artist’s life in general.” Mosse points to the substantial market of avid English ex-pat readers. The bilingual Festilitt festival in the French village of Parisot is evidence of that audience, and a wonderful experience where English and French writers and readers come together.

Writing my own novels about French medieval history, I often wonder: how might French readers feel about this outsider perspective? Before I arrived in France I read Helen Stevenson’s Instructions for Visitors (Black Swan, 2002) about making a new life as a writer in France. Not entirely fitting in, being a bit of a voyeur, is the ideal position for a writer. “Writers are by nature nosey,” says Mosse. There is value in the estranged position evidenced by ex-pat writers from Joyce to Hemingway. Not belonging can allow a writer to see afresh, to dehabitualise their observations.

Place is geographical, textual, imagined and psychological all at the same time. The lure of another place and time that are not your own is strong for writers and readers.

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The books mentioned are reviewed in HNR. The next Festilitt festival is in October 2016, http://www.festilitt.com Tracey Warr lives in southern France and Wales and has published two novels set in early medieval France: Almodis the Peaceweaver (Impress Books, 2011) and The Viking Hostage (Impress Books, 2014).

by Tracey Warr

Not belonging...

can allow a writer to see afresh, to dehabitualise their observations. Place is geographical, textual, imagined and psychological all at the same time.

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HNR Issue 75, February 2016

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the persistent illusion

he distinction between past, present, and future is only an T illusion, however persistent,” Albert Einstein wrote in 1955. As a 1

historical novelist, these words haunt me.

When I was a child, I never felt I entirely belonged in my own life, but that I was being called back to another one. Often I am struck how entirely my writing colleagues are also drawn to a certain time from the past.

Historical fiction begins with a feeling, a dream…you read something, you encounter an old street in Italy or a graveyard or a song and you are there suddenly. You listen and hear people speaking. After a while you wake in the middle of the night, turn on a lamp, and begin to write what you hear.

C.W. Gortner, author of The Last Queen (Ballantine Books, 2008) and many other novels says,“I do feel as if I have a connection with the past; certain places, sights, even smells, can evoke strong emotions in me…I’ve had a few eerie moments during research trips where I’ve visited a certain place and I’ve known something instinctual about it, as if I’d been there before.” Novelist Barbara Quick was also quite swept away when she stayed in Venice to write Vivaldi’s Virgins (Harper, 2007). “I always knew I was Italian,” she told me.

One of my own most haunting experiences occurred in Canterbury, England, where I was writing of Christopher Marlowe, who had been born there. Having dinner in a restaurant alone, I felt he was standing behind me. I turned and he was not there. Later, as I walked under the dark medieval gateway to my room, I felt him following me. I again saw no one. Was it an over-excited imagination? I don’t know.

Mary Sharratt rode her beloved horse all over the Pendle Forest area in Lancashire, which made her novel, Daughters of the Witching Hill (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010), seem to grow out of the woods and earth where those women once lived so long ago.

Judith Lindbergh, author of The Thrall’s Tale (Viking Penguin, 2006), wrote, “For me, it’s … trying to slip back into another time … I try to listen for those spirits, to let them enter my body and my mind.”

Why are we called to write one thing or another from the past?

If all matter is used and reused, energy turning to matter and back

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The Mystical World of HF

again, if we are made of star stuff indeed, is it not possible that some part of us, some dream, some sensation, is remembered?

Lance Ringel, author of Flower of Iowa (Smashwords, 2014), a tender World War I novel about two young soldiers in love, wrote, “You start to get this feeling that someone, somewhere wants you to write this book.”

I asked Mary F. Burns, author of the mystery The Spoils of Avalon (Sand Hill Review Press, 2014), about her experiences while writing the haunting Arthurian sections of her book. She told me, “When I visited Glastonbury in England, I went to the Chalice Well, where, legend has it, Joseph of Arimathea hid the Holy Grail. Everything I gazed upon — flowers, leaves, rocks — seemed brilliantly outlined and exquisitely detailed…All the rest of the day I felt a lightness, a peace, a joy that lingered long.”

Sandra Worth, author of Pale Rose of England: A novel of the Tudors (Berkley, 2011), told me, “I don’t understand the process exactly — whether it’s genetic memory, past life, or simply a vivid imagination — but one thing I am certain about. I was meant to write this book that I’m writing now. I have the sense that I’ve been led to this new book, this time period, and these people. They are my ancestors, and they want to be found; they want their place on this earth, and they want their story told. I think it’s because what happens on this earth matters to those who are no longer here. That is the sense I have been given.”

As writers, is the past calling us? Are we calling the past? As Shakespeare says in Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

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Stephanie Cowell is an American Book Award recipient and the author of five published novels, including Claude and Camille: A Novel of Monet. Her next novel, Robbie, is a love story between a younger and older man in the Edwardian countryside.

She lives in NYC. www.StephanieCowell.com Notes: Peter V. Coveney, Roger Highfield, The Arrow of Time, 1992, p.30.

by Stephanie Cowell

Historical fiction...begins with a feeling, a dream...you read something, you encounter an old street in Italy or a graveyard or a song and you are there suddently.

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Janet Todd’s A Man of Genius

Janet Todd is a distinguished academic and literary historian.

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Now retired, she lives for part of the year in Venice. What, I wondered, had prompted her to embark on a new journey by writing her first novel? Surprisingly, Todd admits that she has always been drawn to fiction.

When I was a student in the ‘60s a tutor told me to go and be a novelist when I half-heartedly suggested I should apply to become a solicitor. I became an academic in the US for financial reasons and because the American feminist movement inspired me to do excavating work on early women writers. I think my biographies have had a tendency towards fiction and I’ve certainly had to rein in speculation! As soon as I escaped from full-time work, I’ve turned to the form I’ve always loved best.

The result is A Man of Genius, a book described by Todd’s publisher, Bitter Lemon Press, as “a work of psychological fiction.” The historical setting of the two cities where the novel is mainly set, London and Venice in 1816–21, is evocatively described. Caroline of Brunswick, then the Princess of Wales, is a favourite subject for gossips, such as the protagonist’s mother and her widowed friends. Ann St Clair is a complex figure: she craves the affection of Robert James, a “man of so much promise,” a magnetic (but strangely repulsive) character, the author of a single fragment, an unfinished work on Attila the Hun. Todd certainly captures Ann’s complete infatuation as the ill-assorted pair set off on a reckless journey to Venice, ostensibly motivated by Robert’s search for creative inspiration. Ann’s inspiration has far more mundane origins: she writes cheap gothic novels, modelled on the likes of Mrs Radcliffe, whose heroine in The Mysteries of Udolpho sees Venice through an improbable “saffron glow.” Todd confirmed that the character of Ann was not inspired by a single woman writer.

For many years I’ve worked on early women writers and been fascinated by the increase in numbers at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries. They fed the taste for gothic and sensational fiction while modestly avoiding claims to being artists – usually they said they wrote for money because they lacked a male breadwinner. My character Ann is like one of the hack writers of the horrid novels that so entranced Catherine

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D r aw n t o F i c t i o n Morland in Northanger Abbey.

Two of my latest biographies, of the 1790s feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Fanny (along with her sister, later Mary Shelley), have dealt with a fatal passion of women for men they invested with imaginary qualities.2 I’ve not followed the trajectory of the biographies towards suicide, but my reading of these lives helped inform my creation of Ann St Clair.

The Venice where Ann and Robert arrive in 1819 is not the resplendent city of, say, the sixteenth or the seventeenth century, but altogether a sadly diminished place, its proud independence first despoiled by Napoleon and now suffocated under Austrian rule. Todd’s intimate knowledge of Venice reveals an absorbing picture. Ann gets to know the city and its inhabitants through her tutee, Beatrice Savelli, and the mysterious Giancarlo Scrittori and his friends. She grows fond of the “tawdry glamour” of the city, “its gaiety, its insouciance about its failure of nerve.” Even the freezing cold and later the oppressive heat, the rotten wood and the broken stone cannot detract from the beauty of the lagoon birds whose names Scrittori teaches her.

In A Man of Genius Todd explores the idea of the downfall of the divinely inspired, “almost invariably male” poet, a figure that “became a cultural cliché in the Regency.”

Robert is so all-consumed by his art that he despises the fame and adulation received by another contemporary, Byron, who also spent some months in Venice. As fear of failure grows, violent abuse and hatred fill the void of Robert’s creativity. Ultimately, perhaps, Todd is exploring the nature of genius that borders on madness, “aspects of our present cult of celebrity with its acceptance of destructive behaviour in cultural icons.”

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Lucinda Byatt is HNR’s features coordinator. More at www. lucindabyatt.com Notes: 1. Todd’s works include The Secret Life of Aphra Behn (André Deutsch, 1996), The Cambridge Introduction to Jane Austen (rev. ed. Cambridge University Press, 2015).

2. The Revolutionary Life of Mary Wollstonecraft (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000), and Death and the Maidens: Fanny Wollstonecraft and the Shelley Circle (Profile Books, 2007).

Visit Janet Todd’s website for further information: http://janettodd.co.uk/

by Lucinda Byatt

Ultimately, perhaps... Todd is exploring the nature of genius that borders on madness, “aspects of our present cult of celebrity with its acceptance of destructive behavior in cultural icons.”

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Reviews |

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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 Denotes an Editors’ Choice title

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CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON: Sword of Destiny Justin Hill, inspired by the work of Wang Dulu, Weinstein, 2016, $15.00, pb, 288pp, 9781602862876 / Little Brown, 2016, £12.99, pb, 320pp, 9780349140926 Jiaolong speaks to her daughter: “I follow the Iron Way… the world of wushu. Of martial arts…

The wushu warrior steps outside society. Their lord is their master, their teacher. Their brothers are those they fight beside… Those who fight the Iron Way have their own code of justice. The best of them keep to the narrow path.”

That road leads warriors, she says, to “right wrongs, challenge unjust rulers, remove oppressors, bring retribution to the corrupt… You must be loyal, fearless, just, benevolent. And you must forego wealth and glory. And often much more.”

This, then, is the world of the wushu warrior, originating in the 3rd century BC. It’s the narrow way followed by the protagonists of this novel: Yu Shu Lien, or Shulien, and Mubai, her lover, who is now deceased. Theirs was a story of love denied to honor the memory of Mubai’s best friend, a man once betrothed to Shulien. During the same time period, we read of the story of Yu Jiaolong, once also a follower of the Iron Way, and now raising her daughter, Snow Vase, to be a wushu warrior.

Great battles, displaying mesmerizing skills of kung-fu (a form of wushu), fill these pages as thieves vie to steal the wondrous Sword of Destiny, a perfectly crafted sword holding magical power.

Snow Vase finds not only the sword but also Weifang, a student of Shaolin Monastery: 108 Styles, a kung-fu manual. Netflix will be presenting this astonishing, beautiful, fierce and loving story as a film in February 2016. May it be equally as stunning as this well-crafted historical novel!

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ONLY THE STONES SURVIVE Morgan Llywelyn, Forge, 2016, $25.99/C$29.99, hb, 304pp, 9780765337924 Morgan Llywelyn reminds readers why she is the mistress of Irish historical fiction with this newest addition to her extensive body of work, which weaves Irish myth with historical and archaeological evidence into a complex and fascinating tale of mythic prehistoric Ireland. Told largely from the perspective of Joss, a young man of the Túatha Dé Danann struggling to figure out his place in the changing world, the novel covers the conquest of the Túatha Dé Danann and the settlement of the Gaels in Ireland. It is rich with Irish mythology, as is any novel worth its salt that’s written by this author.

The character development is detailed and satisfying throughout. Readers see Joss grow from a child to a leader and deal with joy and tremendous loss. Eremon and Amergin are similarly complex and conflicted figures. Secondary characters such as Shinnan, the Dagda, and Sakkar are nearly as well-fleshed as primary characters and add depth because they make readers genuinely care about them. A third category of characters that is particularly intriguing are the inanimate ones, such as Ierne (Ireland) and the harp, Clarsah. Giving names and traits to inanimate objects gives them power, and the same holds true here as well. The land and the harp both hold subtle but prominent places within the narrative, and the novel would not have quite the same lovely otherworldly tone without their voices. One line is particularly beautiful: “The harp, if it was a harp, added other themes. The music, if it was music, gave voice to sunshine. And moonlight. A woman’s extant cry as she bore a child. The clashing antlers of rutting stags. Hope and fear and courage... That is more than music; it represents an entire world.”

This beautiful novel is highly recommended for lovers of Irish mythology, magical realism, and those who hold out hope that they may themselves be descendants of the ancient noble blood.

Kristen McQuinn

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BATHSHEBA: Reluctant Beauty Angela Hunt, Bethany House, 2015, $14.99, pb, 384pp, 9780764216961 996 BC, Jerusalem: Bathsheba is considered a tob woman, a Hebrew word meaning a woman of great beauty and sensual appeal, one who is highly desirable. The infant Bathsheba was presented to the prophet Samuel, who prophesied that she would be the mother of a great man who would be important to Israel. As a young woman Bathsheba

happily marries Uriah, a Hittite soldier of King David, but her loveliness leads to disaster. King David himself spies on her while she bathes and, overcome by her dangerous appeal, he rapes her.

Eventually David has Uriah killed and takes Bathsheba into his own harem.

This is a reverent retelling of the Biblical story of David and Bathsheba, and the reign of King David. I found the story of Bathsheba’s early life compelling and her response to her situation realistic and emotionally involving. However, as the years progressed I felt some of the emotional spark left the story. Bathsheba’s conflicts about her changed life seemed to get lost as the author continued the story of King David’s reign and the ascension of Solomon to the throne.

Angela Hunt has done a great deal of research, and a lengthy list of references is provided. Her portrayals of King David and the lovely Bathsheba are quite human, and lovers of inspirational fiction will no doubt enjoy this retelling of their story.

Susan McDuffie

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A DOUBLE SORROW Lavinia Greenlaw, Norton, 2015, $29.95, hb, 218pp, 9780393247329 This rewarding little book is an ambitious sheaf of verses, each seven lines long, retracing the story of Troilus and Cressida—not Shakespeare’s play, but Chaucer’s late medieval poem, written in seven line stanzas in a rhyme scheme Greenlaw also picks up.

The story of Troilus and Cressida, while part of the Matter of Troy, doesn’t come from the Iliad: a medieval spin-off, as it were. In the late years of the Trojan War, the Trojan prince Troilus falls in love with Cressida, and his friend Pandar helps him lure her into his arms; but then Cressida is packed off to the Greek enemies in a prisoner swap. A practical (or helpless) woman, she takes up with a Greek, breaking Troilus’ heart.

Greenlaw is not retelling this story, so much as hitting the high spots: a kind of lyrical commentary.

Where Chaucer is lavish and courtly she is lean, taut, understated. Reading through bit by bit, along with the Chaucer, brings up some stunning contrasts: Chaucer, from Gutenberg: Criseyde was this lady name a-right; As to my dome, in al Troyes citee Nas noon so fair, for passing every wight So aungellyk was hir natyf beautee, That lyk a thing immortal semed she, As doth an hevenish parfit creature, HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 17

That doun were sent in scorning of nature.

Greenlaw: Her beauty, so bright as to blank our gaze, Empties the room.

In her presence we know ourselves most Ordinary. She stands apart, is left alone.

The comparison reveals the two different cultures like a palimpsest: Chaucer is all about angels and heaven and immortals scorning nature, while Greenlaw goes entirely for how Criseyde makes other people feel. A Double Sorrow is a pleasure to read, if a little demanding, and at a time when poetry seems to gasp for life, an affirmation of its old and ongoing power.

Cecelia Holland

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DICTATOR Robert Harris, Random House, 2015, £20.00, hb, 449pp, 9780091752101 / Knopf, 2016, $26.95, hb, 391pp, 9780307957962 In 58 BC, Cicero is exiled. Once the staunch defender of the Republic, the canny orator didn’t reckon with the machinations of the Triumvirate of Caesar, Pompey and Crassus, and their henchman and lead “muscle,” Clodius.

Accompanied by his faithful slave, aide and friend, Tiro, he endures much just to escape from his beloved Italy – only to be recalled to his beloved Rome to witness the rise and fall of a despot, personal tragedy and dishonor, and the final death throes of the ideal Republic.

Written with much reference and research from the existing writings of statesman Cicero, Tiro (a much-overlooked figure in history) and the dusk of the Roman Empire, this book is an ideal combination of real history and involving story. No one is a hero; no one is perfect. What happened happened, and Harris has cleverly interpreted evidence to bring forth the story of the fall of the Roman Republic, not Empire, as seen through the eyes of real witnesses and statesmen of the day. I might not have liked Cicero as a person, but this book makes me want to ask him questions.

Alan Cassady-Bishop SWORD OF APOLLO Noble Smith, St. Martin’s, $27.99, hb, 336pp, 9781250025593 Nikias of Plataea appears in the third and final installment of The Warrior Trilogy, the story of his small city allied with Athens during the long struggle with Sparta and her even more vicious allies, which included Persians and Thebans.

Another Spartan ally, the Dog Raiders, amused themselves with the four-chop, considering… “nothing funnier than watching an armless and legless man wriggling in the dirt…”

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Battles and skirmishes on land feature the courage of the hero and his Scythian associate, Kolax. Well-realized sea battles are led by Chusor, a mechanical genius. The air war includes flaming arrows launched from above by Plataean women, who practice their skills at the feast of Artemis.

The soldiers swear frequently with oaths like “by Zeus’s balls.” Everybody calls everybody else “sheep stuffer.”

An escape to Athens under cover of smoke and fire occurs just as Perikles’ death changes the situation. Nikias rescues his beloved wife and, to add an extra dimension, his attractive hetaira mistress. The story moves from one battle to the next with occasional glimpses of the political and social background.

James Hawking ARCADIAN NIGHTS: The Greek Myths Reimagined John Spurling, Overlook, 2016, $29.95, hb, 320pp, 9781468311792 / Duckworth, 2015, £18.99, hb, 320pp, 9780715650479 With Arcadian Nights: The Greek Myths Reimagined, John Spurling, winner of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, makes an ambitious bid to join the ranks of myriad classical anthologies already on the market. Surprisingly, he succeeds.

What makes these retellings (or “reimaginings,” as Spurling bills them) new and different? A glance at the Table of Contents, featuring sections on Herakles, Theseus, and other familiar suspects, augurs little originality. And while the narrative is charmingly irreverent (“Hippodameia was all for leaving Myrtilos in the mountains as prey for lions, but Pelops argued that one could never count on lions”), Spurling wavers between seriousness and satire and never completely commits to one or the other.

However, what makes this book shine is Spurling’s personal knowledge of Greece and of Arcadia in particular. In the introduction Spurling tells of how he and his wife fell in love with a cottage in Arcadia and bought it as a second home – and he continues to draw on modern-day references throughout the book. His tales begin with himself looking out over the Gulf of Argos, imagining Agamemnon’s signal fires heralding the end of the Trojan War – or exploring the ruins of the ancient sanctuary of Apollo the Shepherd, since converted to a chapel to the Prophet Elijah. Rather than creating an immersive historical fiction narrative (as one might expect from an established author in the genre), Spurling instead adopts the habits of the most readable pop history – seamlessly interweaving personal and historical perspectives, discussing the people and events of prior ages as if they all led inexorably to the world of today.

For the young reader prepared to face frequent (if somewhat blithe) references to rape and violence, or for the adult with an enduring fondness for the Classics, Arcadian Nights is good fun.

Ann Pedtke

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THE CONQUEROR’S WIFE Stephanie Thornton, NAL, 2015, $15.00/ C$20.00, pb, 512pp, 9780451472007 After witnessing his father’s murder at games celebrating a royal wedding, the handsome, god-like warrior Alexander of Macedon ascends the throne as the new basileus and begins his meteoric rise to greatness. This hugely sprawling saga about Alexander the Great’s quest for empire is told by multiple narrators, including: his sister, Thessalonike, who desires to conquer new lands at her brother’s side, instead of being married off and watching others share in the honor and glory; Roxana of Balkh, a scheming, vindictive woman determined to be Alexander’s only wife; Drypetis, a sharp-tongued Persian princess who captures the heart of Alexander’s dearest friend; and his great companion and lover, Hephaestion, who never hesitates to tell Alexander the truth, and whose loyalty is without question.

Thornton provides a fresh look at Alexander and those closest to him, with excellent historical detail, thrilling battle scenes, murderous intrigues, and touches of romance. She sets her story firmly in the era of ancient Greece and Persia, with all its wealth and splendor, cruelty and violence, and the ever-present horror of constant warfare across vast expanses of territory. She deftly weaves her myriad plot lines together and juggles her enormous cast of characters with a vibrant and well-paced narrative, interspersed with plenty of action, and laced with wit and humor. I found her characters, with their various back stories, relationships, and motivations, to be sharply drawn, intensely human, and realistic. Even such minor figures as Bagoas, Queen Sisygambis, Cynnane, and Barsine are given distinctive voices – but in the end, it is Alexander who is the shining star, and everyone else is just a supporting player. I found this every bit as entertaining as any of Mary Renault’s acclaimed novels about Alexander. Recommended.

Michael I. Shoop

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EAGLES OF THE EMPIRE: Britannia Simon Scarrow, Headline, 2015, £18.99, hb, 340pp, 9781472213327 Britannia is the latest in Simon Scarrow’s longrunning Eagles of the Empire series, set in the 1st century AD. It is a Roman military novel that sees the main characters of the series, Macro and Cato, back in the newly created Roman province in Britain. Here, the death of the governor gives the legate Quintatus, now acting governor, a brief window of opportunity to win glory for Rome Classical — 1st Century

and himself. The Britannic tribes are united by the elusive and hated Druids so Quintatus determines to destroy their stronghold on the island of Mona (modern-day Anglesey), taking Cato along with him. A wounded centurion, Macro is meanwhile left in charge of the fort. There is action aplenty and unexpected drama, making this another good read from Scarrow. Readers of the series will not be disappointed by this book, and fans of military historical fiction would be well advised to give it a read. Recommended.

Chris James TRADE SECRETS: A Marcus Corvinus Mystery David Wishart, Crème de la Crime, 2016, $28.95/£19.99, hb, 224pp, 9781780290805 It’s a sunny day in May in 41 AD, and for once Marcus Corvinus doesn’t have any pressing mysteries to solve. Indeed, with Claudius on the throne and a new grandson visiting, life seems to have settled into a pleasant routine of domesticity— that is, until one of his wife’s poetry group friends begs him to look into the murder of her brother, and his daughter discovers a dead man sitting on a bench in a city garden. Suddenly two investigations land in his lap, and he finds himself up to his eyebrows in lies, obfuscations, and corruption. And when he discovers that a clue in the first murder leads him to Ostia, Rome’s trading port, where the dead man on the bench was from, he begins to see connections between the two cases. When he is followed and attacked, he knows he’s on the trail of something bigger and more dangerous than he suspected.

I admit I was not a huge fan of my first David Wishart Marcus Corvinus book because of the modern and very cheeky British language the author employs. Even though I found the mystery compelling and fun, I couldn’t get into the swing of things. Not so this time. Marcus Corvinus has won me over, and I very much enjoyed the combination of the ancient Roman setting and the easy-going sarcastic British wit seasoned with a bit of noir thrown in for good measure. Wishart knows how to craft a tangled mystery, and the list of names he includes makes it easy to follow along with who’s who and how they’re related. It’s a fun read, and I look forward to the next installment.

Kristina Blank Makansi

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3rd century

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DAUGHTER OF SAND AND STONE Libbie Hawker, Lake Union, 2015, $14.95, pb, 363pp, 9781503947634 At seventeen, Zenobia bat-Zabbai of 3rdcentury Palmyra is old enough to wed, but none of the prospective suitors meets her approval. She is descended from queens – Dido of Carthage and Cleopatra of Egypt – and she will not be wed to a lesser man. The death of her father does not spell an end to his daughter’s ambitions. Zenobia takes 1st Century — 7th Century

up a sword and rallies the Palmyrenes to defend their city, and then brokers her own marriage to the Roman governor of the region as his second wife. Will the death of Odenathus cast Zenobia into obscurity? Hardly. Two years later, Zenobia has conquered Egypt, declared herself Empress of the Palmyrene Empire, and proposes an alliance with Rome.

The plot may sound improbable, especially considering that Palmyra is now known as Syria; hardly the place you would expect to find a woman in command. However, Zenobia is a historical figure, and Libbie Hawker introduces her to modern readers in the very enjoyable Daughter of Sand and Stone. Ms. Hawker’s Zenobia is very much a woman of flesh and blood; bold beyond her years, capable of strong ambitions, and even stronger love. An intriguing, believable character set in unfamiliar events, which deserve to be better known. If that sounds good to you, give Daughter of Sand and Stone a try.

Jo Ann Butler

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6th century

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SACRIFICE: A Celtic Adventure Philip Freeman, Pegasus, 2015, $24.95, hb, 192pp, 9781605988894 Following Saint Brigid’s Bones, Philip Freeman brings Sister Deirdre back in Sacrifice, and this time someone is killing the nuns from her monastery.

Deirdre is a druid who still holds the title of bard, but is also a nun at the monastery of Kildare.

When a nun is found strangled, bled dry, and left in a bog, Deirdre suspects a druid might be behind the killing. When a second nun is found dead, Deirdre is certain that the killings are following an ancient, long-forgotten sacrificial practice. Deirdre is charged with uncovering the murderer, but when confronted by the head nun at Kildare about her loyalties – to God or the druids – Deirdre is torn between her two worlds. Knowing she cannot divulge druid secrets, Deirdre accepts being banished from the sisterhood but refuses to give up searching for the killer. But can she find them before they complete the seven sacrifices, and can she protect the sisters of Kildare? What’s more, the killings are driving the Celtic clans to war over druidic and Christian faiths. Deirdre stands astride the rift, and only she can solve the killings and save Ireland from a brutal civil war that will destroy not only her home but also her beloved monastery.

Freeman drives a quick pace with characters that are well-crafted and dynamic. His writing and sense of place and time easily set the reader in an ancient Ireland so foreign yet incredibly familiar. Sacrifice is a great mystery that gets readers thinking they have the murder solved and then it throws it all out the window. This is a great book for its history and the characters that populate it.

Bryan Dumas

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7th century

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THE ABBESS OF WHITBY Jill Dalladay, Lion Fiction, 2015, £7.99/$14.99, pb, 349pp, 9781782641544 Like all Oxford history students of my generation, I had to start my course by studying Bede’s History of the English Church in mediaeval Latin. I have forgotten most of my Latin but I still remember Bede’s History, particularly the Synod of Whitby in 664, chaired by Abbess Hild, which reconciled the rival Celtic and Roman churches in Britain. Hild was obviously an important woman and a skilful chairperson.

Bede tells us nothing about Hild’s life between the ages of 13 and 33. The silence of the historian is the liberty of the novelist. Dalladay tells an exciting tale of the wife of a minor thane in wartorn Northumbria who makes a daring escape from the sack of Edinburgh. The story slows down when we reach the better chronicled part of Hild’s life, when she became a nun.

There are only a few pages about the Synod, near the end of the book, which you may find disappointing or a relief. One thing I had not fully appreciated as a student was that almost everybody there was a first-generation Christian. This book is the story of a woman and a people moving to a new faith and struggling with its complexities.

It is a good companion to Bede and is written in beautiful, clear English.

Edward James

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THE MOON IN THE PALACE Weina Dai Randel, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2016, $14.99/£9.99, pb, 400pp, 9781492613565 When Mei is twelve years old, her father dies suddenly, leaving his family unprotected.

Their only hope is that Mei, as she has been prepared to do, will still be accepted as a concubine for Emperor Taizong.

But the position is a challenging one, and she soon finds that the world of the Chinese imperial court is full of intrigue and in-fighting. Mei, destined to become Empress Consort Wu – the only female emperor of China, from 684 to 705 AD – must find her own path to power and security, even if she risks her own chance of happiness in love to do so.

This is a very successful and transporting novel that beautifully captures the sounds, smells and social mores of 7th-century China. Mei is a strong character: literate and quick-thinking – more familiar with Sun Tzu’s The Art of War than with the art of embroidery – and the story of her path to power makes for a fascinating read.

That’s because Mei is only one of a cast of strong HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 19

females struggling for supremacy in the imperial palace. Mei must decide who to trust as the health of Emperor Taizong declines and a power struggle rages within his extended family. This is the first book in the Empress of Bright Moon duology, and the story moves quickly. From the emperor’s wardrobe rooms to the houses of silkworms and the imperial polo fields, the past is vividly brought to life. Looking forward to the sequel.

Kate Braithwaite

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8th century

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SAXON: THE POPE’S ASSASSIN Tim Severin, Macmillan, 2015, £16.99, hb, 304pp, 978140911417 In this third instalment of Tim Severin’s Saxon series set at the end of the 8th century, The Pope’s Assassin brings his central character, Sigwulf, who is a servant to Charlemagne, to the snake-pit that is Rome. Ordered to investigate a brutal attack on Pope Leo, Sigwulf soon finds himself in the midst of a conspiracy to dethrone Leo and replace him with a more compliant pontiff. But who is involved in this conspiracy? Roman mafia-type families, the Byzantine Emperor and even Sigwulf ’s own master are some of the many and varied bunch of suspects. With enemies around literally every corner, Sigwulf needs to draw on every ounce of skill and strength he possesses to get to the bottom of who is trying to kill the pope.

The appeal of The Pope’s Assassin lies in the relative unfamiliarity of its setting. A Rome that smells of corruption and has decadent and crooked families jostling for control at its very centre is skilfully created. Sigwulf ’s extended sojourn in the land of the Avar people is also refreshingly new and interesting. However, the main plot of The Pope’s Assassin doesn’t quite manage to sustain itself right through the novel, losing steam and interest before its final exposition. The characterisation is also somewhat inconsistent, with few of the characters standing out from the generic crowds.

With Sigwulf, however, Tim Severin has created a complex main character who is far from a super spy and one that transcends the limitations of the novel’s plot. In addition, The Pope’s Assassin always feels authentic and well-researched without being text-book dry.

Gordon O’Sullivan

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10th century

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WARRIORS OF THE STORM Bernard Cornwell, Harper, 2016, $27.99, hb, 320pp, 9780062250940 / HarperCollins, 2015, £20.00, hb, 320pp, 9780007504077 The ninth entry in Cornwell’s Saxon Tales brings us yet another glorious tale of Uhtred, warrior extraordinaire. Though there is a fragile peace in Wessex, Mercia, and East Anglia, rumors of Danes 20 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 75, February 2016

and Northmen constantly circulate, putting King Alfred’s son, Edward, and his daughter, Æthelflaed, on alert. Uhtred, in control of most of Mercia, soon finds himself facing Ragnall Ivarson, a warrior who has aligned with the Irish and is determined to take over the northern country for himself.

As in most of the series, Uhtred finds himself and his men in all-but-inescapable predicaments and yet somehow finds ways not only to break out, but also reign victorious over his enemies.

Uhtred continues to delight in taunting those who are against him, and while he may not have the complete favor he once did with Æthelflaed, he still uses his arrogance and swagger to great purpose.

This story brings back Uhtred’s family members and at least one character not seen since the first book.

Uhtred is in full form once again in this novel, and I for one would not have him any other way.

For fans of the television show, it should be noted that the books are richer and more involved, and Uhtred continues to surprise nine books on.

Tamela McCann

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11th century

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THE BETROTHED SISTER: Book Three, The Daughters of Hastings Trilogy Carol McGrath, Accent, 2015, £7.99, pb, 400pp, 9781783752935 This is the final novel in Carol McGrath’s excellent Daughters of Hastings Trilogy, and while it brings the series to an end, it also works just as well as a stand-alone work. The series as a whole examines various women in the family of King Harold in the aftermath of defeat for the AngloSaxon side.

The Betrothed Sister focuses on Thea (also known as Gytha), elder daughter of King Harold, as she travels into exile in Denmark after 1066 with her grandmother and loyal servants, Padar and Gudrun. Thea is a spiky and charismatic character, and McGrath’s research and storytelling are impeccable. The days of endless embroidery and sharp remarks amongst the women of the Danish court leave Thea feeling worn out and belittled and longing for a home to call her own. The possibility of escape comes in the form of a betrothal to a prince of Kiev. Thea learns the language and customs of her betrothed and eventually travels to Russia, where the life of a royal wife is much more sheltered than she is used to as the independent daughter of Harold.

Carol McGrath has written a beautiful tale of a young woman coming of age in a time of great change and upheaval. Thea, clever and bright, finds love, friendship and hope in a strange land and, despite the barriers of language, religion and culture, makes this land her home. A wonderful setting that is rarely explored in romantic fiction and a perfect read for fans of Joanna Courtney and Elizabeth Chadwick.

Lisa Redmond

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12th century

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THE WINTER ISLES Antonia Senior, Corvus, 2015, £12.99, hb, 376pp, 9781782396581 This book covers the story of Somerled, the first Lord of the Isles, and the constant battles between the inhabitants of Scotland’s northern islands and the Viking raids during the 12th century. Little is known about him, although he appears to have belonged to a fairly powerful Norse-Gaelic family.

His father, GilleBride, appears to have conducted a marriage alliance with Malcolm, a son of Alexander I of Scotland, and a claimant to the Scottish throne.

His name was a common Viking name meaning ‘Summer Warrior’. Through marital alliance and military conquest, he rose in prominence and seized control of the Kingdom of the Isles.

Antonia Senior has woven this tale around what is known about him and what fits in to make a good story. For instance, she states in the historical notes at the end of the book that Eimhear is her own invention. On the whole it works to produce a powerful and compelling story, and from the back cover has been favourably compared with the writings of Bernard Cornwell, among others.

But although I enjoyed reading it very much, I did find the constant change of viewpoint from Somerled to Eimhear with every chapter irritating.

For me it broke up the continuity of the story.

However, Somerled was a very real person, and his descendants include the MacDonald clan while his title, Lord of the Isles, is still in use today, currently held by the Prince of Wales. Recommended.

Marilyn Sherlock

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13th century

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RIVER OF INK Paul M. M. Cooper, Bloomsbury, 2016, $26.00/C$31.00, hb, 304pp, 9781632860705 / Bloomsbury, 2016, £12.99, pb, 304pp, 9781408862223 This debut novel, set in 13th-century Sri Lanka, is the story of court poet Asanka. When his king is usurped by a tyrant from the mainland, he is commissioned by the new king to translate a holy Sanskrit text into the local Tamil language. Asanka at first makes some minor mistakes in translation, which then become deliberate and subversive alterations to the text. Through his work, Asanka becomes the reluctant catalyst for rebellion.

Cooper’s novel is written in gorgeous, lyrical first person as a one-sided narrative directed to Asanka’s mistress, Sarasi. Through Asanka’s eyes, readers see the changing political climate he struggles through, his role as a figurehead of insurrection, and his overarching desire to be reunited with Sarasi. Woven wonderfully throughout the novel is the theme of the change poetry can create, a stark 8th Century — 13th Century

counterpoint to Asanka’s own claim that “poetry makes nothing happen.” This novel is highly recommended for its lush imagery, unique narrative format, and strong theme of human creativity and endurance.

Kristen McQuinn A POET OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD Michael Golding, Picador, 2015, $16.00/C$18.50, pb, 336pp, 9781250071286 One expects a boy born with an extra set of ears to be able to hear twice as well; one does not necessarily expect him to have so much to say. The boy, Nouri, lives a fabulously improbable journey: first as a ward of Sufi mystics, then as a dervish himself, next as tea boy and poet to a sultan, then a goat-herder living among Christians, for a time a hopeless opium addict, once more a Sufi, and finally – well, perhaps an identity all his own, or none at all.

Early on a teacher instructs him: “You cannot avoid life … you have to move through it – the struggles – the fears – until you can be in it and out of it at the same time.” And Nouri does struggle: with his faith, with the strangeness of his ears, with the sexual attraction he feels for a fellow brother of the order. He walks his path imperfectly, falling to weakness and worldliness more than once. But always in a slow, years-long dervish whirl, closer to Allah and to himself.

As I read, I began to suspect that the conclusion to Nouri’s tale would leave more questions than it answered. I was not wrong. I read the last few chapters more than once, looking for another clue to Nouri’s fate and the meaning of his final message.

How disappointing it would have been had I found it there in the text – such a thing is better left between the reader and the Divine. Recommended.

Richard Bourgeois THE STOLEN QUEEN Lisa Hilton, Corvus, 2015, £12.99, pb, 400pp, 9781848874695 This novel, about Isabelle of Angoulême, King John’s second wife, is very well written, and Lisa Hilton has obviously done a lot of research into the period. But I was confused by it.

It is billed as historical fiction, yet Hilton’s thesis is that Isabella was initiated into the pagan religion and raped by the Horned Man, who turns out to be her father through an adulterous affair with her mother. Also, according to Hilton, John is impotent, and all five of Isabelle’s children were fathered by her half-brother Pierre of Joigny.

And then Hilton has Isabelle betrothed to Hal, son of Hugh de Lusignan, as a child and marrying him after John has died. But historically she married the son of the man she had been betrothed to.

Another historical re-writing is that when Isabelle is a prisoner at Corfe Castle, her gaoler is Terric the Teuton, but historically he was her bodyguard as she travelled round southern England during the civil war between John and the barons.

So, is the whole thing meant to be fantasy? In which case why call it historical fiction and not 13th Century — 14th Century

historical fantasy?

Or are we meant to believe Hilton’s version of events? There is no historical note to help us, so all I can say is if you like historical fantasy you may enjoy this novel. Personally, I found it very disappointing. jay Dixon LAND OF SHADOWS: A Medieval Mystery Priscilla Royal, Poisoned Pen Press, 2016, $26.95, hb, 236pp, 9781464205095 This is the twelfth in the series fearing Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas of the Order of Fontevraud. In March 1279, Eleanor arrives at Woodstock Manor to see her father, Baron Wynethorpe, as he lies dying from a stroke. Queen Eleanor, who is expecting a child, is also at the manor even as her husband attends to the business of moving against the Jews, in part to increase his own coffers. As visitors come and go, one of the queen’s attendants is found hanged after what appears to be a sexual escapade. Unfortunately, Prioress Eleanor’s beloved nephew looks to be the prime suspect. As she works with the High Sheriff and Brother Thomas to clear her nephew, her father’s health becomes ever more precarious, and her brother arrives just as tensions erupt. As blame shifts to an elderly Jewish woman and her granddaughters, Prioress Eleanor suspects that bigotry and corruption may be at the heart of the crime.

This is the third installment of the series I’ve read, and it’s my favorite so far. I found the character development – especially that of Prioress Eleanor’s brother, Hugh, a veteran of the Crusades – deeper and more multi-dimensional and real to me than the sometimes more stereotypical nature of other characters. Like the other books, this one dragged in places, yet I couldn’t stop turning the pages.

Kristina Blank Makansi

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14th century

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THE SALTERGATE PSALTER Chris Nickson, The Mystery Press, 2015, £8.99/$16.95, pb, 263pp, 9780750964852 The Saltergate Psalter is an engaging medieval mystery and a sequel to Chris Nickson’s excellent The Crooked Spire. Set in the latter half of the 14th century, it continues Nickson’s protagonist John Carpenter’s story. John is now married, soon to become a father. He is yet again called upon by the town coroner to use his intuitive powers to solve another crime in medieval Chesterfield when an elderly man is murdered in his bed and a magnificent psalter has gone missing.

Nothing is as it seems. The reader is led by the nose along blind alleys filled with nasty medieval villains only to find yet another dangerous route opening as information changes and deaths occur.

The key to solving this crime lies with the missing exquisitely described psalter.

Nickson presents rounded medieval

characterisation, in particular that of John and his young wife. His wife’s siblings, her aunt, and the coroner, whilst less complex, also draw us into moments of their daily life. We care about them all, especially when John’s own family is threatened. Sharp dialogue moves this fast-paced story forward to its conclusion, whilst presenting an emotional pulse to the characters’ relationships.

Nickson is a master at painting a vivid picture of a small town in the late 14th century, his descriptions convincing and succinct. I walked amongst Chesterfield’s inhabitants as a fly on the town walls thanks to meticulously researched town and family life details, all flawlessly integrated into the plot – whether it is John’s house with its buttery and garden, or his purchase of a new pair of boots.

If you enjoy reading well-written, page-turning historical thrillers, this one is for you.

Carol McGrath PHILIPPA OF LANCASTER: English Princess, Queen of Portugal Isabel Stilwell (trans. Martha Stilwell D’Andrade), Livros Horizonte, 2015, £20/$28.50, pb, 542pp, 9789722417945 This is a biographical novel, translated from Portuguese, of the life and imagined thoughts of the daughter of John of Gaunt. The first part, set in England from 1364 to 1386, describes Philippa’s childhood and relationship with Katherine Swinford, her father’s mistress. When she is 26 Philippa accompanies her father and his second wife, Constanza of Castile, and their daughter, Catalina, to Portugal so that King João can choose which of them to marry. After much hesitation he decides on Philippa.

The second part of the novel concentrates on the domestic life of Queen Filipa until her death in 1415. She had eight children and two step-children. Mistresses, illegitimacy and their sometimes disastrous effect on history are a persistent theme throughout the book. Chaucer’s benign influence on Philippa comes out strongly, as do her engagements with the Portuguese advisers to King João. Between descriptions of life in various Portuguese palaces, there are interesting insights into why and how Portugal became England’s oldest ally and the positive part played by Queen Filipa in achieving this.

The translation from Portuguese reads very smoothly, but there are occasional misprints, and a few historical anachronisms such as tea drinking in the 14th century and a palace courtyard with an araucaria (monkey puzzle). This tree was first introduced into Britain from Chile in 1795, and not much earlier into Portugal.

There are two simplified genealogical tables, a dramatis personae and a short bibliography but, unfortunately, no map of Portugal. Although it is a novel, the book contains 16 pages of superb colour plates showing the main characters and the buildings connected with them. In some ways, therefore, this book can be regarded as a biography with imagination.

Danae Penn HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 21

THE SILENCE OF STONES: A Crispin Guest Medieval Mystery Jeri Westerson, Severn House, 2016, $29.95/£19.99, hb, 240pp, 9780727885623 Set in London in 1388, The Silence of Stones is the exciting eighth installment of the Crispin Guest series. The novel opens, as anticipated, with action, in this case an explosion, after which it is discovered that the Stone of Destiny has been stolen from the coronation chair and replaced with a replica. King Richard II tasks Crispin with finding the Stone, which is thought to create kings. To “encourage” Crispin’s best efforts, Richard imprisons his apprentice, Jack Tucker, with the threat of a traitor’s death if Crispin doesn’t find the Stone in three days.

Crispin himself seems to be growing as a character, for he is less bitter about his situation in life than in previous books. His tracking skills are as keen as ever, though, and help make his compelling characteristics shine. Jack Tucker also is growing both as a character and as a boy. He manages a wonderful side job of his own, despite being under lock and key. It is wonderful to see him stretch his wings as a tracker and as a boy becoming a man.

Henry Bolingbroke, Katherine Swynford, and, delightfully, John Rykener all make important appearances throughout the book as well. Despite his squeamishness, Rykener makes a terrific and funny sidekick, one who will hopefully continue the role in future novels, though of course not to replace Jack. For readers less familiar with Rykener, he was a 14th-century cross-dressing prostitute.

Westerson’s author’s note goes into further detail about this intriguing historical figure. This is a satisfying and fast-paced tale, complete with Westerson’s typical dry humor and thorough research.

Kristen McQuinn

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15th century

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WARS OF THE ROSES: Book 3: Bloodline Conn Iggulden, Michael Joseph, 2015, £20, hb, 480pp, 9780718159870 / Putnam, July 2016, $28.00, hb, 432pp, 9780399165382 Conn Iggulden’s third book in his superb Wars of the Roses series begins with the striking image of the heads of three of England’s foremost nobles spiked on a city wall, and Bloodline simply doesn’t let up from there.

The reader is quickly brought into the midst of a narrative of bewildering shifting political factions and actions as the parties of Henry VI and Edward, Duke of York contend for a final victory and the ultimate prize, the crown of England. But all these political machinations are just skirmishes 22 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 75, February 2016

compared to the final climactic battle of Towton, accorded the dubious honour of being the bloodiest battle on English soil.

It would be easy to take for granted the masterful skill with which Iggulden deals with the fighting scenes throughout Bloodline, and particularly Towton, but that is only because it has always been his particular strength, as shown in his other historical series on Caesar and Genghis Khan. Bloodline deals with the clash of swords with reassuring authenticity and driving energy, but Iggulden always manages to balance the narrative scales, never letting the reader lose sight of the complex political arguments and divided loyalties that swirled across 15th-century England. As always with the best historical fiction, the historical narrative is not allowed to overpower the story or the characters. And the characterisation is so important in this third Wars of the Roses novel, as the characters of Derry and Margaret of Anjou evolve and deepen in complexity while Edward and Elizabeth Woodville intrigue as they take centre stage. This is a book that appeals to the reader’s senses and emotions while making sense of the historical, military and political environments: a singular achievement.

Gordon O’Sullivan QUICKSILVER HRH Princess Michael of Kent, Constable, 2015, £20, hb, 302pp, 9781472123053 Quicksilver follows the life and career of Jacques Coeur, a highly successful French merchant who lived during the reign of King Charles VII of France during the 15th century. Born to a rich merchant in Bourges, he followed his father’s career, married well and became one of the richest men in the kingdom.

The book is the third in a trilogy surrounding the lives of Charles VII of France and the Anjou court.

Jacques Coeur, born to a merchant in Bourges, is first heard of in the annals of history around 1418, when he married Macée de Léodepart, daughter of the Provost of Bourges. His career as a merchant flourished and he became one of the richest men in France, and confidant to the King and House of Anjou.

Although I know this period of French history fairly well, I had never heard of this particular character and looked him up; his is a fascinating story. In the book, his tale is well-researched and well-told, but I did find the present tense a little off-putting. However, it has been well received by some notable historians.

Marilyn Sherlock

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16th century

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THE LION AND THE ROSE Ricardo Bruni (trans. Aaron Maines), AmazonCrossing, 2015, $14.95, pb, 352pp, 9781503948327 When horribly mutilated corpses start showing

up in Venice’s Grand Canal, the Doge summons the only man he thinks capable of solving the mystery: a German monk, Mathias, who once lived in the city and knows its ways but is not a member of any of its factions. Mathias soon begins to piece together a sinister mosaic of a plot involving a secret society of printers, a forbidden book, a sadistic torturer and a shadowy group of nobles determined to overthrow the Doge in favor of an alliance with the Papacy.

If this seems like a lot to keep straight, don’t worry – the author will summarize it all over again every ten pages or so, in the midst of voluminous historical exposition. The dialogue is similarly repetitive. Here’s Mathias questioning an informant: “What was his specialty? What kind of thing would a person pay him to do? What services could he provide?” And as if we didn’t get the picture from the question being repeated three times, the author adds, “Mathias was sure this detail would provide an important piece of information.” Also largely irrelevant are a pair of romantic subplots, neither of which achieves a satisfying resolution nor affects the main plot except to (very briefly) provide a hostage in need of rescue.

There’s intriguing material here: Venice, that city of masks and shadows, always the crossroads between Europe and the East, beholden to none but herself. I think the author simply tries to include too much story and teach too much history.

At the core of the work is a reasonably interesting chase for a literary MacGuffin that presages the Protestant Reformation; with half the back story and a dialogue coach for Mathias, it might have succeeded.

Richard Bourgeois A PRISONER IN MALTA Phillip DePoy, Minotaur, 2016, $25.99/C$29.99, hb, 320pp, 9781250058423 England, 1583: Brilliant young Christopher Marlowe is recruited by his friend Dr. Lopez and Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster, Walsingham, for a secret and important mission. Marlowe and Lopez must travel to Malta to rescue a prisoner with crucial information important to the welfare of Queen Elizabeth. Upon his return to England, Marlowe, falsely accused of murder, struggles both to clear his name and to thwart a plot against the queen herself. Aided by Lopez and by Walsingham’s own daughter, Marlowe battles exotic assassins and home-grown traitors to save Elizabeth and her reign.

DePoy writes a fast-paced mystery. The fight scenes, and there are many, many action scenes, are exceptionally well choreographed. However, although DePoy writes well and has clearly done his research on Marlowe, an authentic feeling for the period did not come through to me in the writing. It could easily have been any time, any place, and I felt that some of the characters, the women in particular, did not ring not true to their era. Still, Marlowe devotees and readers who like action-packed mysteries will no doubt enjoy this one.

Susan McDuffie 14th Century — 16th Century

MURDER IN THE MERCHANT’S HALL: A Mistress Jaffrey Thriller Kathy Lynn Emerson, Severn House, 2015, $28.95/£19.99, hb, 256pp, 9780727885388 In this second of the Mistress Jaffrey Elizabethan spy thrillers, Rosamond Jaffrey’s old friend Godlina Walkenden has been accused of murdering her brother-in-law, Hugo Hackett. Lina did want to escape from the marriage Hugo was foisting on her, but she vigorously denies killing him. She hopes that Rosamond – highly intelligent and capable, artful at disguise, and a spy for Francis Walsingham – can help her.

The mystery surrounding Hugo’s death is intricate, well-plotted, and full of twists. Lina is not especially likeable, and despite her predicament, it is hard to feel much sympathy for her. The historical settings are rich with detail, and the turbulence of Tudor times is vividly described.

What weakens this story is Mistress Jaffrey herself, who is immature, arrogant at times, and not entirely believable as a young 16th-century woman. (Riding astride through the night wearing boy’s clothing, for example – or walking boldly into a brothel to question the madam.) Her dismissive attitude toward her sweet young husband is sometimes grating. Perhaps the author intends to develop Rosamond as the series progresses, but for now, she can be an irritating protagonist. Enthusiastic Tudor fans will probably enjoy this fast-paced story anyway.

Elizabeth Knowles THE VATICAN PRINCESS: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia C.W. Gortner, Ballantine, 2016, $28.00/ C$36.00, hb, 400pp, 9780345533975 / Hodder & Stoughton, 2016, £13.99, pb, 400pp, 9781444755084 Pity Lucrezia Borgia and the legacy of historical gossip permanently attached to her. Simply saying the name conjures up titillating visions of wealth, power, evil, and lots of illicit sex. C.W. Gortner, who specializes in Renaissance fiction featuring strong female protagonists, uses his latest novel to cut through the innuendo and perhaps shine a more historically accurate light onto this notorious woman, who seems to have simply had the misfortune of being born into the wrong family.

Gortner has Lucrezia narrate her own story, and he presents her as a credible witness. She and her siblings are the children of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia and one of his many long-term mistresses; the barest of charades is used to maintain the required appearances. The story opens when Lucrezia is twelve and the conclave of cardinals is set to elect a new pope. We immediately plunge into the stunning complexities, intrigues, and coldblooded cynicism of life among the Vatican elite.

Rodrigo’s machinations win him the papacy, a thoroughly political office that demands constant power-brokering and frequent wars to protect it.

Lucrezia is used as any Renaissance princess would be, as a useful tool for cementing allegiances, and she has precious little real influence. However 16th Century

much Rodrigo dotes upon her, or her brother Cesare claims to love her, the entire Borgia clan uses her horrifically and eventually causes her nothing but misery.

The author has invested his novel with impressive historical detail that is woven neatly into the threads of the story, and his afterword and references offer excellent insight and final wrap-up.

Though he strikes a few false notes – Lucrezia’s relinquished child seems to play almost no part in her emotional make-up – Gortner gives us a sympathetic portrait of a woman who was treated badly both in life and by the historical record.

Jennifer Bort Yacovissi FAIR HELEN Andrew Greig, Quercus, 2015, $24.99, hb, 384pp, 9781623656416 / Quercus, 2014, £7.99, pb, 368pp, 9781782066736 In the late 16th century, Harry Langdon returns home to the Scottish Borders to aid Adam Fleming, his distressed best friend. Adam is in love with Harry’s cousin, Helen Irvine, although she is betrothed, as arranged by the families, to a notorious hoodlum, ‘heidsman’ Robert Bell. Helen dearly loves Adam, and he requests Harry to stand guard against Robert’s henchmen during the lovers’ nocturnal trysts. Nevertheless, Harry hides secrets of his own, for he is a spy for Laird Branxholme, who wishes to control the lawless Border.

Decades later, Harry recollects that anarchic time period, before ‘Jamie Saxt’ united the thrones of England and Scotland. It was a period of much feuding between the clans, Border ‘reivers’, and complex political intrigues. Learning that Harry has lost an arm, one can well imagine he must have lived through a violent epoch.

Andrew Greig’s prose retelling of Sir Walter Scott’s epic ballad, “Fair Helen of Kirkconnel Lea,” is a wonderful word painting that fills in the blanks of the poem and evocatively re-creates those violent, lawless times when disputes were settled by dirks and other weapons. Using Harry as the sometimes unreliable narrator, Greig has skillfully developed Helen and Adam’s story. There are intimate scenes between the lovers and, as childhood kissingcousins, between Helen and Harry as well.

Furthermore, Harry’s unrequited love for Adam adds authenticity to the fictional recreation of the ballad. While the use of colloquialisms in Scots dialect is somewhat overdone, requiring frequent references to the glossary, those persevering with the narrative will find it delightful. Although the tragic ending of Fair Helen is noted at the start of the novel, as a quote from Sir Walter’s poem, this Scottish Romeo and Juliet tale will draw readers’ sniffles.

Waheed Rabbani

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A FATAL INHERITANCE Cora Harrison, Severn House, 2016, $27.95/£19.99, hb, 224pp, 9780727885661 To say that Clodagh O’Lochlainn wasn’t wellliked is an understatement. After her strangled body is found roped to a stone pillar in the valley

of Oughtdara in southwestern Ireland, the list of suspects grows longer by the day.

Her husband Aengus, a gentle shepherd, had endured her foul mouth and shameful taunts for a good forty years.

A short time earlier, Clodagh had won – maybe by cheating – a legal case against her four male cousins, which gave her the rights to her late father’s lands. Or maybe the Fár Briege had killed her, the ancient stone god himself. To many villagers, this is entirely possible, for belief in the Tuatha Dé still runs strong in the year 1523. Tasked with rooting out the murderer is Mara, Brehon of the kingdom of Burren, the same judge who’d recently awarded the verdict in Clodagh’s favor.

Mara makes for an ideal yet unique detective.

She knows everyone, and her forthright manner tolerates no nonsense, but she’s also wise enough to let the pupils in her law school share their opinions.

These include her near-adult grandson and her young son, one of whom shows strong aptitude in law, while the other merely goes through the paces.

Caring and observant, Mara spends considerable time pondering her family’s future, and that of her friends.

As new leads emerge in this complex mystery, her investigations take her all over the countryside, interviewing both rich and poor. The novel is set almost wholly outdoors, and although late March brings gusts and rain, the land is a vision of stark beauty, with great swaths of rock interspersed with tufts of green, and heavy mists occasionally obscuring the nearby mountains, sky, and ocean.

The Irish legal system is fascinating to learn about, too. This is a terrific read for anyone wanting immersion in another time and place.

Sarah Johnson QUEEN AND COUNTRY Shirley McKay, Polygon, 2015, £12.99, pb, 284pp, 9781846973123 Hew Cullen is a landowner and lawyer from Saint Andrews who finds himself – not entirely through his own volition – in London in the employ of Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster, Francis Walsingham. Hew learns to decode ciphers and consorts with the family of the cryptographer, Thomas Phelippes. As a Scot, Hew is not entirely trusted by Walsingham, which enables him to retain a position betwixt and between in these fraught times around the murder of William, Prince of Orange, in the Netherlands and the lethal plots and counterplots as the fate of Mary Queen of Scots is decided. In the second part of the novel, Hew returns home to Saint Andrews, where he is tasked by young King James to solve the mystery of a strange painting.

This is the fifth Hew Cullen mystery, and for a reader unfamiliar with the previous books some of HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 23

the references to how Hew ended up in London, and to the woman Clare, may be a little mystifying.

The story is slow-paced and takes a long time to wind up its mysteries and a short time to unravel them. The writing is a little too well padded in parts and tells its tale rather opaquely. It is written in a curious, lyrical, archaic language that is occasionally striking and at other times a little irritating. There is rather too much exposition; nevertheless, this is a richly imagined tale, very well researched with some finely drawn minor characters, such as the deaf and dumb painter’s apprentice and the malevolent student, Roger, who is “puffed up and surquidous”.

Tracey Warr THE GOLD EATERS Ronald Wright, Riverhead, 2015, $28.95, hb, 384pp, 9781594634628 In 1526, Waman, an Inca lad trembling on the edge of manhood, leaves home to make his fortune.

His grandfather went to sea as a young man and returned as a rich trader with tales of fire islands and giant tortoises. So Waman joins a Peruvian raft headed westward, only to be overtaken by a strange ship carrying pale-skinned barbarian men clad in cold metal. Most of the raft’s crew is slaughtered, but Waman is enslaved.

After hearing of Mexico’s unbelievable wealth and the ease of its conquest by Cortez, Francisco Pizarro is ravenous for Inca gold. He has the same weapons as Mexico’s conqueror, but Pizarro needs an interpreter to control the Incas. Waman is old enough to learn Spanish, but young enough to be pliable. The lad is dubbed Felipillo, taught his captors’ language at the point of a sword, and taken to Spain with samples of Inca treasure.

When Pizarro raises an army and returns to Peru a few years later, Waman is forced to aid in the destruction of his people.

In The Gold Eaters, the award-winning Ronald Wright explores both the mighty clash of great civilizations and Waman’s internal struggle. Has the young man taken on so many Spanish ways that he is a man of two hearts – no longer Inca?

Will the remnants of his family embrace him, or recoil? Wright presents lucky readers with complex, interwoven tales in a truly compelling story. I devoured The Gold Eaters, and you will too.

Highly recommended.

Jo Ann Butler

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17th century

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THE JADE LIONESS Christina Courtenay, Choc Lit, 2015, £7.99, pb, 342pp, 9781781892374 Japan, 1648. The only foreigners permitted to trade are the Dutch, and then only from the island enclave of Dejima, near Nagasaki. Temperance (“Temi”) Marston has accompanied her halfJapanese cousin, Midori, and her Dutch husband, Nico, in search of adventure – but the naïve 24 | Reviews |

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and impulsive girl is frustrated by the strictures imposed on her, both as a woman and a gai-jin.

On a reckless excursion to the mainland, she encounters Kazuo, a ronin – outlaw – on a mission to redeem his father’s lost honour. Kazuo is intrigued by this creature with her ash-blonde hair and blue eyes, whom he at first takes for a seasprite, but he resolves not to be distracted from his quest. When Temi is captured by less honourable ronin fate throws them together again, and Kazuo must decide whether to risk his mission to free her.

In an edge-of-the-seat romantic adventure, the fugitives try and evade both a ruthless Japanese nobleman and a vengeful Dutch trader whom Temi has spurned – all the while searching for the evidence to clear Kazuo’s father’s name. There may be slightly too many coincidences and the odd lapse into over-familiar similes (“weak as a kitten”) and overly colloquial description (e.g., our heroine dragged along “willy-nilly” by the ronin), but all in all, we have a vivid read with an exotic setting and a risk-taking heroine who is not afraid to fight for what she wants. The author’s love of Japanese culture clearly shines through.

This is the third volume of the Kumashiro trilogy, and although events in the previous books are referenced, it is not necessary to have read them. However, for those who want to find out what went before, the adventures of Temi’s aunt, Hannah, are recounted in The Scarlet Kimono (HNR 56) and those of her cousin, Midori, in The Gilded Fan (HNR 64).

Mary Fisk THE WORDS IN MY HAND Guinevere Glasfurd, Two Roads, 2016, £16.99, hb, 410pp, 9781473617858 The Words in My Hand, the debut novel from Guinevere Glasfurd, tells the story of Helena Jans, a Dutch maid in the 17th century who became the lover of philosopher René Descartes. Helena is a powerful character who is determined to read, write, and learn about the world. Initially hired by Mr. Sergeant, a bookseller, because she could write, she is intrigued by the world of books. However, she is soon relegated to the kitchen and, without access to writing materials, she experiments with making her own ink using charcoal, soot, and even blood before finally settling on beetroot. Without paper, she writes on her own skin.

When Descartes comes to lodge with the bookseller, Helena finds his work and experiments fascinating but, divided by social class and religion, their affair must remain a secret. Over the next few years, as Descartes struggles to write and to have his ideas accepted, Helena raises his child in secret as neither a maid nor a wife.

This is a fascinating book fleshing out the life of a real woman and her story; it brings to vivid life the frustrations of women who were denied access to education and art. In an age when reputation meant everything and to be different often meant to be beaten down, Helena stands as an icon facing challenges as desperate as those faced by Descartes.

Despite this, Glasfurd is honest about the reality of

their unequal relationship as Helena must regularly take second place. Fans of The Girl with the Pearl Earring and The Miniaturist will love this tale.

Lisa Redmond MARIE GRUBBE Jens Peter Jacobsen (trans. Mikka Haugaard), Dedalus, 2015, £9.99, pb, 278pp, 9781909232280 Marie Grubbe is a new English translation of a novel written in 1876. It is loosely based on the true story of a Danish noblewoman who lived from 1643 to 1718. The real Marie Grubbe had a tempestuous life, with three marriages and many affairs. Her first marriage was to the king’s favourite illegitimate son, and the last to a penniless coachman, but it was this final relationship that was said to be the happiest.

The novel is set against the backdrop of the war between Denmark and Sweden, and there are frequent references to the political intrigues and social structure of the late 17th century.

However the book’s real focus is on the inner lives of the characters. Marie herself is presented as a passionate woman whose narrow and restricted life provides no outlet for her romantic imagination.

Without any real education, and lacking female friends or sympathetic partners, she struggles to express her feelings. It is no accident that the nearest she finds to happiness is with a man who has no need to observe the conventions of polite society.

Jacobsen’s use of inner thoughts and philosophical discourse was innovative at the time, and his style influenced later writers such as Strindberg and James Joyce. There is more introspection than action in this novel, but the power of Jacobsen’s descriptive prose and his insight into Marie’s character and motivations make it a satisfying read. With its numerous historical footnotes, Marie Grubbe will also appeal to anyone with an interest in this period of European history.

Karen Warren GODDESS OF FIRE: A Historical Novel Set in 17th-Century India Bharti Kirchner, Severn House, 2015, $29.95/£19.99, hb, 288pp, 9780727885500 Set in Rampore, India, in 1684, this novel’s opening scene is hair-raising and tense beyond description, as the body of Moorti’s much older husband is about to be ritually burned on a pyre, and 17-year-old Moorti with him, in the rite known as sati. If she refuses, she has no hope of a future, as a widow is considered cursed unless cleansed by the sati purification; choosing the latter, Moorti would be considered a Hindu saint. Fortunately for her, she is rescued by a British merchant, Job Charnock. They dare to defy convention in their evolving relationship; indeed, they create new rules and standards for their situation.

In incident after incident, Moorti shows herself to be a quick learner of languages and the details of trading. She has an instinctual sense about each trader’s thoughts and feelings, whether honest or otherwise. Job is torn between being a decent 16th Century — 17th Century

human being and a detached trader who counts profit above all. India is portrayed in all her glory and ugliness. Moorti confronts the scorn of being a woman, a lower-class subject, a worker with no status whatsoever, a lover with new-found status, and a sharp observer of those who trade in the name of the East India Trading Company. Yet she also receives multiple small and large acts of kindness that gradually offer her undreamed-of possibilities. The reader’s emotions and thoughts soar and fall and soar again with each seemingly insurmountable problem. This is magnificent, classical historical fiction which is said to depict the life and work of the founders of Calcutta. An absolute must-read!

Viviane Crystal

THE WEREWOLF OF BAMBERG: A Hangman’s Daughter Tale Oliver Pötzsch (trans. Lee Chadeayne), Mariner, 2015, $18.00/£12.99, pb, 624pp, 978054481094 It’s 1668, and the hangman of Schongau, Jakob Kuisl, and his daughters, Barbara and Magdalena; her husband, Simon; and their children are in the town of Bamberg for the wedding of his brother, Bartholomaus. Also a hangman, Barthomaus will break social conventions when he marries Katharina Hauser, daughter of a prominent city clerk, and celebrates with a large party. But what was planned to be a festive occasion soon turns into a nightmare when severed limbs of citizens who have gone missing are found scattered outside the city. When more body parts are found and a monstrous furry creature is sighted running through the town, rumors quickly spread that the murders are the work of a werewolf. To prove the superstition wrong, catch the real murderer, and make peace with a love-struck and rebellious daughter, Jakob and the rest of his family embark on solving the mystery of the werewolf of Bamberg.

The Werewolf of Bamberg is the fifth book in the Hangman’s Daughter series by Oliver Pötzsch, who gives enough background information to allow the novel to stand alone. The plot is complex with lots of twists and turns and subplots that keep the reader hooked and maintain suspense and mystery to the end. All the characters, whether major or minor, are fully developed with their own histories and roles in solving the mystery.

The novel is rich in historical details, bringing the harsh realities and makeup of 17th-century Bavaria to vivid life, especially the piety and superstitions of the people, who are ready to accuse and attack anyone, and the corrupt clergy and city officials, whose greed brings on a story of revenge.

The Werewolf of Bamberg is both an entertaining novel and an insightful history of the time. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Francesca Pelaccia FIRE CATCHER C. S. Quinn, Thomas & Mercer, 2015, $15.95, pb, 542pp, 9781503947887 This story takes place in London of 1666, where city blocks and non-believers were burned 17th Century — 18th Century

in cleansing fire. The streets are dangerous for the ‘thief taker’ named Charlie Tuesday, searching London for the man who murdered his mother when he was a boy. Now a man, Charlie has worn a mysteriously-shaped key all his life, given to him by his mother as she hid him away from the horrors to come. He sets about trying to find the now powerful and dangerous Master Blackstone, leader of the Brotherhood of the Sealed Knot, and his mysterious box that holds important papers.

Tuesday teams up with a streetwise card shark, Lily Boswell, who may be able to help Charlie on his mission, as she is knowledgeable about the secret society. London is on fire and it is believed that arsonists are at work: it has now become a race against time and the elements. If they find the box that contains secrets that could topple his powerful hold on all of those that he controls, then the thief taker could bring Blackwell to justice. There are dangers around every street in London for Lily and Charlie.

The reader is transported back into time in this hard-edged book that takes a look at the underworld and the cults of the period. Setting this adventure against the backdrop of the famous fire that destroyed much of London, and combining it with a secret society of the day, provides another element of mystery and danger. Recruiting young, hungry children into the society and the evil, bloody initiations and punishments to instill fear of Master Blackstone are very realistic touches. The book is well written, and I would recommend it to readers of historical mystery, though it’s not for the squeamish.

Beth Turza MACHUGH AND THE FAITHLESS PIRATE William S. Schaill, Fireship, 2015, $18.00, pb, 305pp, 9781611793574 Old New York, 1694: Robert MacHugh, a wine merchant and smuggler, takes on a dangerous assignment at the request of his powerful patron.

MacHugh must pursue and capture the infamous pirate, William Archer. If MacHugh fails, his own younger brother, held captive by the Grand Moghul of India, will die. Of course our hero accepts the challenge and pursues Archer throughout the Caribbean in this swashbuckling tale.

MacHugh’s exploits sail along at a crisp pace.

Schaill writes well. His descriptions grip the reader and bring the 17th-century Caribbean ocean and islands vividly to life. The partners in this enterprise, the crew, and the secondary characters are all well-drawn and engaging. MacHugh’s venture takes him first to Bermuda, then further south to the Bahamas and other islands in the region. A map of old New York is provided, but I would have appreciated one of the Caribbean as well, so I could follow the route of the journey.

Schaill provides no shortage of nautical detail.

The author evidently knows seafaring and ships, so lovers of nautical stories may particularly savor this read. However others who enjoy a vivid adventure, spiced with pirates, smuggling, and just a whiff of

romance, will also enjoy MacHugh’s expedition. I certainly did.

Susan McDuffie THE GOLDEN LION: A Novel of Heroes in a Time of War Wilbur Smith and Giles Kristian, William Morrow, 2015, $28.99/C$35.99, hb, 381pp, 9780062276469 / HarperCollins, 2015, £20.00, hb, 416pp, 9780007535705 The Golden Lion takes place in the last half of the 17th century, in the 30 years between Smith’s earlier novel Birds of Prey and the later Monsoon.

The Courtney family saga continues with Hal Courtney as the captain of his own ship: the Golden Bough. The first part of the story moves between several points of view and suffers from long pages of discussion between the characters. When we meet Hal Courtney, he appears too polite and too indulgent for a man of the 17th century, especially when contrasted with two characters preoccupied with lurid sex and grotesque plots of murder.

Critical to the plot is his pregnant wife, Judith, who is aboard ship with him. But Judith is no ordinary captain’s wife. She is a successful warrior in her own right and has led armies. She is known to the world as General Nazet. There is more action in the latter half of the book as well as more plot twists once Judith is abducted and Hal and his men attempt to rescue her. This historical novel may appeal to Wilbur Smith fans who like an element of romance in their stories.

Veronika Pelka

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18th century

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THE STARGAZER’S SISTER Carrie Brown, Pantheon, 2016, $25.95/C33.95, hb, 352pp, 9780804197939 Carrie Brown’s seventh novel, The Stargazer’s Sister, is the richly-told tale of Caroline Herschel, sister of the famous astronomer, William Herschel, and an astronomer in her own right. Beginning with the early life of ‘Lina’ in mid-18th century Germany, where she is tormented by her cruel brother, Jacob, and abused by her mother, the story then moves to England. Rescued by her favorite brother, William, and swept into William’s life as if she is mere flotsam in the vast sea of stars, Lina escapes, some might say, from the frying pan into the fire.

Lina is thrilled to be with her brother and swears she will never complain, no matter what he asks of her. Amazingly, she lives up to this promise (well, almost) though she is required to run the house, cook food for the workers who are struggling to create William’s enormous telescope, help William at night by taking notes while he charts the heavens, and even feed William while he works, as if he were a baby. She is even asked to sift dung.

In spite of these impossible demands, little sleep, and the constant threat of poverty, Lina is able to learn about the cosmos at her brother’s side.

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His passion becomes her passion. She devotes her life to William, in the way that a poor woman with no marital prospects would be forced to do in the 19th century. William has no qualms about taking his sister’s help; indeed, he could not be a ‘genius’ without her.

Wonderfully written with keen insight into the obsessive, almost marital relationship between Lina and William, The Stargazer’s Sister offers us a glimpse of the limited world offered to women of intelligence in earlier times.

Anne Clinard Barnhill

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NELLY DEAN: A Return to Wuthering Heights Alison Case, Pegasus, 2016, $25.95, hb, 480pp, 9781605989617 / The Borough Press, 2015, £12.99, hb, 480pp, 9780008123383 Whether you’ve read Wuthering Heights a hundred times or never picked it up, you are going to like this book.

Set in the moors of late 18th-/early 19th-century England, Alison Case’s novel follows the story of Nelly Dean, who grew up at Wuthering Heights alongside Catherine, Hindley, and Heathcliff. In her early teens, Nelly becomes the housekeeper instead of the schoolmate and friend, but maintains varying levels of complicated relationships with the children of the Heights as they all grow up.

Fans of Wuthering Heights will find the characters, setting, and writing style they remember, but the genius of this novel is the frame.

It’s told from Nelly’s perspective as a letter she’s composing to Mr. Lockwood, who is the man she told only part (or so we now learn) of the story to in Emily Brontë’s novel. This is brilliant, because it eliminates the need for Case to rewrite the original Wuthering Heights, as Mr. Lockwood already knows that part of the story. Nelly’s purpose is to add to or correct what Lockwood already knows.

This book really does stand on its own quite well, though your experience may be richer if you read (or re-read) Wuthering Heights first. The books interlock like a puzzle that you hadn’t realized had pieces missing. I felt as though Nelly became the voice of my own conscience in many ways, echoing my feelings about the other characters. Her story is heartbreaking and courageous and simply lovely.

Amy Watkin CASSIA Susan Craft, Heritage Beacon, 2015, $9.95, pb, 248pp, 9781941103739 This is the third book in Craft’s Xanthakos Family Trilogy, but it is not necessary to read the first two to enjoy this one. In 1799, Lilyan and Nicholas take their three children, Paul, Laurel and Marion, on a sailing voyage from South Carolina to Roanoke. Nikki wishes to share the family’s wine 26 | Reviews |

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trade business with his children. Lilyan hopes for a quiet journey with time to spend with her loved ones. But, as always, perilous adventure intercepts their finely laid plans. When the family rescues an ill and expectant slave, their Christian act causes the ship’s captain to maroon the family on a nearby island. The adventure doesn’t stop there, though; Lilyan and Laurel are then captured by pirates.

While Nikki plots a rescue mission, Lilyan plots a daring escape, determined not to let her children fall into the hands of an evil pirate lord.

Nonstop action creates a fast-paced story and keeps readers engaged throughout. With pirates, love, and sacrifice, this tale will entice any fan of historical fiction. The devotion and faith of Nikki and Lilyan are particularly powerful and inspiring.

I especially enjoyed the development of children Paul and Laurel as they endeavored to find their place in the world. Recommended.

Rebecca Cochran

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ASCENSION: Venice 1749, City of Secrets Gregory Dowling, Polygon, 2015, £8.99, pb, 298pp, 9781846973130 Gregory Dowling’s fifth novel, his first foray into historical territory, is set in mid-18th century Venice and introduces a charming protagonist in the form of cicerone or tour guide Alvise Marangon.

Having grown up mostly in England, Alvise makes guiding British tourists his specialty, but he gets more than he bargained for when he offers to guide the young Mr. Boscombe and his tutor, Mr. Shackleford. Soon Alvise is entangled in the city’s criminal underbelly, finding himself arrested, robbed, beaten up and finally persuaded to join the city’s secret network of spies to uncover a criminal threat that goes to the highest levels of Venice’s aristocratic society.

This is a wonderful page turner with a fabulous cast of characters from the gambling dens to the theatres, the booksellers to the taverns, the courtesans to the gondoliers. Alvise is able to use his innate sense of theatre and charm to move fluidly between all the classes, and this also makes him a perfect spy. Dowling’s storytelling is superb, and the sights, sounds and smells of 18th-century Venice are brilliantly realised. Although the plot is resolved, the book has the feel of the first in a series so I hope there will be a return for Alvise. This book would be ideal for fans of Diana Bretherick and Robin Blake.

Lisa Redmond

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AMERICA’S FIRST DAUGHTER Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, William Morrow, 2016, $15.99, pb, 624pp, 97800062347268 On her deathbed, the mother of Martha “Patsy”

Jefferson asks her to take care of her father, Thomas, and makes him promise never to take another wife.

They both unwittingly agree, never realizing the momentous consequences to follow.

Initially, Thomas remains sunk into grief, with Patsy there to pull him back from the abyss of madness.

Their story continues in Paris, where Thomas serves as ambassador to France. Here Patsy comes of age in the middle of the 1780s, a time when France’s tempestuous, brutal revolution is forming as a result of its king and queen’s denial of the chaos throughout their country. Patsy gradually falls in love with William Short, a young Virginian who worships Patsy’s father but decries his ownership of slaves; he is unable to understand Patsy’s unwavering devotion to her father’s political passions. At the same time, Patsy realizes her father is following his “baser instincts” when it comes to women, especially his slave, Sally Hemings.

The starvation and brutality fueling French anger are juxtaposed against the glamour and social galas of Paris. Immediately before the rage of the Jacobins is unleashed, the Jeffersons return to Monticello in Virginia. There, a whole new story evolves: family dysfunction, financial distress, Patsy’s marriage, and political rivalries before, during, and after Jefferson’s presidency.

This novel’s essence shows Patsy, as an adult, prevailing amid problems, all connected to her father’s massive presence – which inspires some but also inadvertently diminishes other politicians and family members. This is a stunning historical novel that will keep you up late, hoping the engaging story never ends. Highly, highly recommended!

Viviane Crystal CAPTAIN IN CALICO George MacDonald Fraser, The Mysterious Press, 2015, $26.00, hb, 288pp, 9780802124388 / HarperCollins, 2015, £16.99, hb, 304pp, 9780008105570 Readers know the late George MacDonald Fraser as the author of the Flashman series, that wickedly funny long-term diatribe on the grim costs of glory. Captain in Calico is a previous work, when Fraser was still finding his way; here he is doing full-on Harold Lamb, without the master’s redemptive edge.

Set in early 18th-century Jamaica, Captain in Calico stars the notorious pirate Calico Jack Rackham, here shown chasing a king’s pardon, or a woman, or a ship full of silver, depending on the needs of the plot. Fraser’s love of a well-endowed woman finds a worthy outlet in Anne Bonney, splendid and cruel. “The woman in the carriage was tall, and quite the most vivid-looking creature Rackham had ever seen.” She sweeps him off to her bed, goes on to demand he let her torture 18th Century

somebody, all through she leaves him awed and amazed, never quite up to her furies, entirely too nice.

Fraser’s best work here is, as it would be later, the scenes in taverns, the dialog, the atmosphere.

In action scenes he always fell into the movie trap of trying to jam everything together into a single Brueghalesque moment. “One moment the brig had been drowsing peacefully in the calm, the next she was a madhouse of blindly scattering men.”

Like much of the novel (which Fraser himself thought unpublishable), this shows a writer still assembling his skills, testing out his material, and just waiting for the right cad.

Cecelia Holland MRS. BENNET HAS HER SAY Jane Juska, Penguin, 2016, $15.00/C$20.00, pb, 293pp, 9780425278437 1785. How did Mrs. Bennet, made famous in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, become the “woman of mean understanding, little information and uncertain temper” who has driven readers, as well as the entire Bennet clan, absolutely mad for the past two hundred years? Jane Juska’s debut novel gives us the hilarious, and heretofore untold, history of the lady.

Done as a series of letters between Mrs. Bennet – here named Marianne, though Austen gives her none – and her sister Jane, and interspersed with diary entries of Mr. Bennet, the story starts on Marianne’s unfortunate wedding night. While she spends the balance of the novel attempting to avoid Mr. Bennet’s advances, as she has given her heart – and her virginity – to one Colonel Millar, Mr. Bennet is trying with equal vigor to disabuse her of those notions.

I found Marianne more to be pitied than censured. She is a woman of her time. Un(der) educated and married very young, she focuses on the frivolities of life: clothes, parties, and the latest gossip. Funny and filled with pathos (the passages about the Bennets’ stillborn son will bring a reader to tears), this is a terrific first novel.

Monica E. Spence

BLOOD OF THE OAK Eliot Pattison, Counterpoint, 2016, $26.00, hb, 304pp, 9781619026155 In the spring of 1765, the small community of Edentown, New York, led by Sarah Ramsey, is a quiet town segregated from colonial strife and struggle. Her indentured servant, Duncan McCallum, known as the Death Speaker, has the ability to heal the sick and injured. He has a fatherson relationship with Conawago, an elder of the Nupmuc tribe. When the masks of Blooddancer, also known as Trickster, are stolen, Duncan is called upon to retrieve them and, through a message received from a friend, save the lives of 19 men who are marked for death.

Duncan and Conawago proceed down the Susquehanna River, accompanied by a young French girl named Analie. They discover the deaths of several people along the way, including 18th Century

community leader Jessica Ross. Duncan learns that the trail leads to “runners” who transmit messages from New York City and Philadelphia to nearby communities in northern New York, describing the anger of the colonists towards British taxation.

Duncan discovers the presence of an enemy cartel known as the Kracken Club, who may be responsible for the killings.

This is both a mystery story (who is killing the runners?) and a historical novel of the early American Revolution. The fourth entry in the Bone Rattler series, this stand-alone novel is fastpaced with loads of action and suspense. Duncan McCallum and the supporting cast are wellformed and credible for the time period, and they provide an excellent backdrop to this exciting era of American history. Well-researched, the novel presents aspects of the early colonial experience that are little discussed outside the Northeast. I highly recommend this novel and look forward to future books from this author.

Jeff Westerhoff MISTRESS OF THE COURT Laura Purcell, Myrmidon/Trafalgar Square, 2015, £8.99/$14.95, pb, 448pp, 9781910183076 In her second entertaining novel about the Georgian royals, Laura Purcell explores the complex interdependencies between two intelligent women and intergenerational strife at the realm’s highest level.

In 1712, Henrietta Howard is in desperate straits. Tied to an abusive husband, and short on funds to raise their son, Henrietta takes the impulsive step to leave England, board a ship to Germany, and throw herself on the mercy of Sophia, Dowager Electress of Hanover, elderly heiress to Britain’s throne. She finds a sympathetic ear not only in Sophia but also in her grandson’s wife, Princess Caroline; the warm rapport between Sophia and Caroline is charming to witness.

When word finally arrives of Queen Anne’s death – alas, six weeks after Sophia’s own death – the royal party heads to London, where Sophia’s haughty son, now George I, is crowned king. However, Caroline’s protection has a price.

Caroline’s husband George, Prince of Wales, decides to take a mistress. They have an affectionate marriage, but it’s what princes do. A clever woman with behind-the-scenes influence, Caroline knows of Henrietta’s discretion and agreeable nature.

Rather than leave it to chance, she pressures Henrietta to take the role.

Through their alternating viewpoints, Purcell highlights the commonalities the two women share, as well as the shifting tensions in their one-time friendship. Loving mothers, both, they endure long-term separations from their sons and suffer the unfortunate consequences. From architecture to politics to women’s circumscribed roles, Georgian London comes into clear view.

Delightful little details bring the era alive, such as a scene in which Caroline’s hair is blasted with powder-blowers until her “buttery locks were curls of snow.” It all works to serve the storyline; the

history-fiction balance is essentially perfect. The writing style is very approachable, too, making this a great read for royalty fans and also for newcomers to historical fiction.

Sarah Johnson THE TAMING OF MALCOLM GRANT: The MacGregors; Highland Heirs Paula Quinn, Forever, 2015, $7.99, pb, 384pp, 9781455519521 This story, Book Four of The MacGregors: Highland Heirs, is set in 18th-century northern England. Emmeline Grey is blind, but a capable healer. Her unprincipled brother had abandoned her during her tragic childhood in France. Now he has brought her home to his brothel in England.

Highland warrior Malcolm Grant and his brother, Caelean, are visiting the brothel to rid Caelean of his innocence. When a patron mistreats one of the girls, Malcolm and Caelean intervene. A man is killed, and the brothers are injured. They must remain in the brothel to recuperate while danger threatens in the person of the dead man’s brother.

This is a sensual, romantic fantasy with only the thinnest of historical backdrops. There are many toe-tingling love scenes, as purple passions (and prose) are unleashed. Trysts in the beds, in the woods, on the beach, and in the sea will leave readers entertained – and amazed that the characters have any energy left to advance the plot. Malcolm and Emmeline do find their happy ending. Caelean is not so fortunate – yet – but his story will continue in a sequel.

Elizabeth Knowles

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THE SILENT BOY Andrew Taylor, Harper, 2016, $26.99/£7.99, pb, 448pp, 9780008131357 / Harper, 2015, £7.99, pb, 448pp, 9780007506606 ‘Say nothing. Not a word to anyone.

Whatever you see.

Whatever you hear.’

That warning begins The Silent Boy, where, in 1792, in the chaos of the French Revolution, 11-year-old Charles sees his mother brutally butchered. Charles is a smart boy, and even after his flight through streets filled with mobs and murders, even after he reaches a short-lived haven, he’s silent. He understands that he doesn’t know whom he can trust, and so: ‘Hush now. Don’t say a word.’

He won’t speak when he’s taken to the man who may be his father, a count, and he certainly won’t speak to the count’s creepy physician, who has horrifying, cutting-edge (for the time) notions about how to help the mute boy regain his speech.

Charles flees one Dickensian terror after another. The other protagonist, Edward Savill, who was married to and cuckolded by the boy’s mother, is trying to save him. Readers of Taylor’s HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 27

earlier book, The Scent of Death, will recognize Savill, that book’s protagonist – but if not, I predict reading one book will mean you’ll read the other.

The Scent of Death won the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award in 2013, and The Silent Boy was named the historical crime novel of the year by the London Sunday Times.

I found this page-turner immensely satisfying, and I was pleased to see its author, Taylor, has written other books, many of them also award winners. The Silent Boy is a perfect mix of light and dark, with compelling suspense, a measure of humor and insight, and always the feeling that you’re being swept along by a classic. It even has a good twist at its end. I can’t imagine who wouldn’t love this book.

Kristen Hannum DIGGING UP MILTON Jennifer Wallace, Cillian Press, 2015, £9.99, pb, 208pp, 9781909776104 London in the hot summer of 1790, and Elizabeth Grant has the unlikely occupation of being both wife to a rather put-upon and older legal clerical officer, Nathaniel, and a part-time gravedigger in her parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate.

Elizabeth, aged 25, is an orphan but finds happiness with her gentle and refined husband. The story centres on the discovery of the remains of John Milton in St. Giles’s church. Elizabeth, or Lizzie, is involved in this exciting finding, but matters quickly get out of hand when there is a scramble to take parts of his body as “relics”. Elizabeth is involved in this nefarious activity and moves on to trying to sell parts of the corpse to interested collectors. When a Milton scholar, Philip Neve, hears about this desecration, he publishes pamphlets revealing this defilement, and Lizzie is in trouble with her pious husband, who also wrestles with his own guilt.

The essential plot is based upon actual events, and Neve did write his reports of the robbery of Milton’s grave. This is an engaging story that is narrated capably. It develops the character of Elizabeth well, focusing on the struggles and uncertainties of an impoverished married female, by no means a vulnerable ingénue. But, without giving too much of the plot away, there is a twist at the end of the tale which surprises the reader, but also makes retrospective and rather unsettling sense of some of the nagging inconsistencies of Lizzie’s explanation of the events.

Douglas Kemp

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MYCROFT HOLMES Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse, Titan, 2015, $25.99/$33.95, hb, 323pp, 9781783291533 The authors make good use of history to support a clever plot in which Sherlock Holmes’s elder brother, Mycroft, also a man of many talents, takes on a challenging case of his own.

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In 1870, Mycroft Holmes is a personable 23-year-old, a Cambridge man employed as secretary to the secretary of state for war in London.

(Young Sherlock is still in school.) With a promising career and a lovely fiancée, Georgiana, Mycroft is content with life – but Evil abroad shatters his complacency.

Demons are murdering children in Trinidad, the island riven by class, race, and color where Georgiana grew up. When she returns to her family, Mycroft and his Trinidadian friend Cyrus follow – only to be attacked by men (not demons) who want the Englishmen gone. With the help of Cyrus and local friends, and skills equal to his brother’s, Mycroft uncovers a nefarious plot to return slavery to the islands. Sadly, the involvement of someone close to him sours Mycroft’s success and, perhaps, his outlook on life.

This is the first adult book written by AbdulJabbar, an award-winning children’s author and basketball player (!), with Waterhouse, a talented screenwriter. Their experience shows in the believable 19th-century dialogue, well-developed protagonists, and plausible villains. Mycroft Holmes is recommended for all mystery lovers, not just Holmesians.

Jeanne Greene

9780952821045 We have all wondered at least once about Lizzie Bennet’s married life as Mrs. Darcy, haven’t we? Well, Janet Aylmer must have too, and she imagines Elizabeth’s first months as the lady of Pemberley, where apparently match-making is everyone’s first concern. Mr. Darcy is dead set on seeing his sister Georgiana married to their cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam – an idea neither involved party relishes. Fortunately for everyone, Elizabeth is there to change her husband’s mind while both Georgiana and Fitzwilliam find happiness elsewhere.

Ms. Aylmer brings together Jane Austen’s beloved characters and her own from previous books, and engages them in a good deal of visits, luncheons, housekeeping, piano-playing, estate management, family matters and romance. Jane Austen’s world is lovingly recreated, and woven into something that is hardly a story, plodding along at a gentle (and slightly repetitive) pace, with not much happening, and everyone – except Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Mrs. Bennet but including a very tame Elizabeth – being impossibly pleasant and even-tempered. Still, the atmosphere will delight lovers of Regency stories.

Chiara Prezzavento

MAYHEM AT BUFFALO BILL’S WILD WEST Fedora Amis, Five Star, 2016, $25.95, hb, 288pp, 9781432831332 Jemima McBustle is a reporter for the St. Louis Illuminator, and she’s on her way to Sedalia, Missouri to cover Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show in the fall of 1898. Naturally, an eighteen-yearold needs a chaperone, so Jemmy is accompanied

by Miss Tilly Snodderly, her maiden aunt. Aunt Tilly foils a train robber on the Missouri Pacific, and Jemmy’s photographer, Hal, misses the entire incident. Not that a train robber would stand still for photography with heavy glass plates.

In Sedalia, Jemmy, Aunt Tilly, and Hal are guests of Mrs. Obadiah Koock, a former charge of Aunt Tilly’s. While Aunt Tilly takes Dorothea’s (Mrs. Koock’s) unruly daughters in hand, Jemmy has some breathing room to try to file her story of the train robbery, and to visit the Wild West show. She finds that danger wasn’t confined to the train: Annie Oakley and her husband Frank Butler believe that someone has been taking aim at Annie.

There’s no shortage of suspects, and Jemmy and the Butlers join forces to flush them out.

This is a lively read. Amis ably captures the strictures of life for an ambitious unmarried woman. Historical figures such as Oakley, Butler, and Cody enhance the story without overwhelming it. Even ragtime musician Scott Joplin makes an appearance, as he got his musical start in Sedalia.

Amis seems to promise further adventures of Jemmy McBustle, next time in Europe. I’ll be there.

Ellen Keith

DIALOGUE WITH DARCY Janet Aylmer, Copperfield, 2015, £8.99, hb, 225pp,

THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND Robert C. Bartsch, Sunstone, 2015, $28.95, pb, 504pp, 9781632930798 By 1860, America’s east has been settled and California’s Gold Rush is old news. New finds are petering out, so eager prospectors swarm the Rocky Mountains in search of places where a man can strike it rich. In 1857, brothers James and Granville Stuart leave their Iowa home and trek westward.

They hope for the same adventure their father had in the California goldfields. Instead, they hear of promising finds in southwest Montana’s creeks.

The Stuart brothers will need grit to survive, and luck to thrive.

Nearby is Terra Incognita – unknown lands – in the high mountains of Wyoming, where trappers tell wild tales of steaming geysers and mountains made of glass. However, when the famed explorer Jim Bridger guides an army expedition to investigate these freaks of nature and map the unknown lands, they are defeated by deep snows.

The Devil’s Playground will not reveal its secrets for another decade.

With claim jumpers, Indians defending their territory, and treacherous sheriffs, the goldfields of Montana are just as hazardous as the boiling geysers of Yellowstone. Robert Bartsch explores this beautiful, often deadly region in The Devil’s Playground. Mr. Bartsch is clearly familiar with the area and thoroughly researched its complex history for his debut novel. It’s tough to keep such a broadranging story and large cast of characters focused, but Mr. Bartsch does a fine job, and writes gripping tales of survival. If you enjoy tales of the Old West, give The Devil’s Playground a try.

Jo Ann Butler 18th Century — 19th Century

THE DEAD CAN’T PAINT Sam Benady and Mary Chiappe, Two Pillars Press, 2015, pb, £9.99, 240pp, 97819196633357 This is the latest and last of the Gibraltar-set Giovanni Bresciano mysteries. An arrogant and obnoxious French painter comes to Gibraltar in 1817 and proceeds to offend so many people that there is no shortage of suspects when he is found murdered.

Bresciano is tasked to investigate, to the annoyance of the Town Major, the Army officer who is responsible for dealing with crime in Gibraltar.

Bresciano’s attempts at detection are complicated by the involvement in the case of so many odd characters. They include a glum lady herbalist that Bresciano’s sister is trying to match him up with, and a strange 10-year-old boy who today would probably be assessed as being somewhere on the autistic spectrum. A more welcome, but sometimes equally stressful, distraction is the return to Gibraltar, after decades away, of Bresciano’s first love, Bianca, now widowed herself.

The story is framed by scenes set elsewhere much later in the 19th century, with unrelated (or are they?) characters, and there is a bonus in the form of a mention of Bresciano in a famous author’s newly-discovered letter, and two short stories, one of which is narrated by Bresciano himself.

The Bresciano series comes to a fitting end with this mystery, and I choose to boast that it is the first one in which I spotted the murderer before Bresciano did.

Alan Fisk WOMAN IN BATTLE DRESS Antonio Benítez-Rojo (trans. Jessica Powell), City Lights, 2015, $19.95, pb, 480pp, 9780872866768 In 1827, Henriette (Enriqueta), a convict, and Madeline, a prostitute, are on a ship bound for New Orleans from Havana. Henriette is being deported and sent to a convent. Bribing the captain, Madeline exchanges her passport and clothes with Henriette’s, which lets Henriette escape. Later, while ensconced in a New York hotel, she pens her memoir.

Henriette Faber was born in 1791 in Switzerland. Orphaned at a young age, she is brought up by her uncle. After her husband, a dashing Hussar, is killed, she poses as a man called Henri and enrolls at the medical school at the Université de Paris at the age of 18. We learn of her service – forbidden to women at that time – as a surgeon in Napoleon’s Army and her participation in various campaigns, including the disastrous retreat from Russia in 1812. Henri is captured

by Wellington in Spain and then finds her way to Cuba, getting in trouble with another woman and the law there. This captivating account keeps us turning the pages.

This is the last novel by the late Antonio Benitez-Rojo, an acclaimed Cuban author. Using the sparse historical records, he has skillfully reconstructed Henriette/Enriqueta’s not-widelyknown life story. The exquisitely detailed chronicle, written in the first person and seamlessly translated 19th Century

by Jessica Powell, is a fascinating read. We are taken along with Henriette on her epic journey, hear her thoughts, and observe the joys and pains she experiences while growing up, attending grand balls, having adventures on the battlefield, dealing with slaves, and practicing medicine in the demanding disguise of a man. Although the “telling” format Benítez-Rojo uses for her story can be tiring to read at times, he keeps the novel to a manageable length. This is a valuable addition to existing stories about courageous gender-bending women, and as such it is highly recommended.

Waheed Rabbani THE LOCKWOODS OF CLONAKILTY Mark Bois, Penmore, 2015, $20.50, pb, 306pp, 9781942756248 Lieutenant James Lockwood of the Inniskilling Regiment returns home to Clonakilty after the battle of Waterloo, badly wounded. He recovers a precarious health but his career options are limited by lack of money, and he won’t accept more than the minimum from his father because of his sympathies for the repressed, impoverished Irish Catholics, his wife’s people. His family’s wellbeing and reputation are also under threat from his old enemy, Charles Barr. When James loses his commission because of Barr’s knowledge of his past, he is forced to head for India, while his daughter Cissy remains to face Barr alone.

This novel felt like a heavily abridged version of an epic, and I wished it had been expanded to a more appropriate length. The need to fit a great deal of plot into a small space made the pacing uneven, a pity because Bois’s style seemed best suited to close-up scenes. The strong points of this novel were the rendering of Irish speech into lyrical English, touches of humor, and the author’s skill for immersing the reader in the vocabulary and forms of speech of the era, all features which needed an expansive approach to plotting. The romantic elements didn’t succeed for me as well as the portrayal of deep ties of friendship and family loyalty. A promising, but inconsistent, depiction of military life in a fragile peacetime.

Jane Steen BEYOND THE HORIZONS Douglas Boren, Fireship, 2014, $18.50, pb, 350pp, 9781611793413 The Civil War is raging in the West. Mace Alexander of Tennessee, along with his three friends, is faced with fighting the Union army at Wilson Creek, Valverde, and finally, Glorieta Pass.

Mace and his friend, Tom Lipton, are captured by the Union and remain incarcerated in a Yankee prison until 1864. They are given the chance to join the Union army to fight the Apaches, thereby obtaining an early release. Mace takes the offer and remains with the cavalry even after the war ends.

Mace marries a Spanish beauty, Angelina, whose family owns a ranch near the fort where he is stationed. He is looking forward to life after the army, but everything changes when renegade Apaches, led by Chactoke, commit a horrible act.

This historical novel based on factual events is subtitled “Part of the Alexander Family Chronicles.”

The stories of Mace Alexander’s ancestors are covered in two of the author’s previous novels. I found the action, especially descriptions of the battles, exciting and vividly described. There were many pages, 56 to be precise, that covered the Apache Wars and had little to do with the main character, except for the development of Chactoke. This occurred midway through, and I found it distracting. Regardless, I recommend this book for its page-turning pace, the in-depth characterizations of the major characters, and the exciting conclusion. Highly entertaining.

Jeff Westerhoff A WICKED WAY TO WIN AN EARL Anna Bradley, Piatkus, 2015, £8.99, pb, 296pp, 9780349410487 / Berkley, 2015, $7.99, pb, 304pp, 9780425282632 Delia Somerset only wants her sister Lily to be happy when she agrees to attend a house party – that is until she comes across her host, the dashing Alec, Earl of Carlisle, in rather compromising circumstances. Her opinion of him as a rake and a scoundrel is fixed, although so is her interest. Alec in turn believes Delia is trying to entrap his brother into marriage and, angered by her connection to an old family scandal decides that the answer is to seduce her himself. The ensuing ballroom banter, misunderstandings and heated encounters in moonlit gardens are all that one would expect from the genre. A Wicked Way to Win an Earl is an entertaining debut from author Anna Bradley; a light, amusing Regency romance with fizz and sparkle. I look forward to her next.

Charlotte Wightwick FALLEN LAND Taylor Brown, St. Martin’s, 2016, $25.99/C$29.99, hb, 288pp, 9781250077974 During the US Civil War, Callum, an orphaned Irish immigrant, runs afoul of his commanding officer when he deserts to rescue a young woman, Ava. When the officer is slain by Union soldiers while attempting to retrieve Callum, the marauding band which makes up his forces takes up the chase, believing Callum to be the killer. With a massive bounty on his head and with a horse named Reiver for companionship, Callum must flee before them to keep Ava out of harm’s way. With a merciless bounty hunter and killer dogs on their heels, Callum and Ava must rely not only on their wit and grit, but also on the kindness of strangers to see them to safety.

Despite the fact that this is Taylor Brown’s debut novel, the sophistication and maturity of the writing speak to the talents of an experienced writer. Though the pacing is halting at times, the narrative is compelling, and the prose is both evocative and literary in feel, despite being a shorter novel. Brown pulls no punches in revealing not only the ugliness of war, but also the depravations of the Confederate rangers as they roam the countryside in the wake of Sherman’s march to the HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 29

sea in pursuit of Callum and Ava. The characters are fleshed out and memorable, including brief, poignant encounters with bootleggers, newly freed slaves, and Union surgeons. Recommended for fans of literary novels and Westerns.

Justin M. Lindsay ENRAPTURED : Secrets of the Loch Trilogy Candace Camp, Pocket, 2016, $7.99, pb, 391pp, 9781476741109 Candace Camp’s Enraptured, set in 1807, is the final book in the Secrets of the Loch series, and she hooks you with archeology as well as her characters. Unmarried, stubborn, intelligent, and educated archeologist Lady Violet Thornhill is determined to assume her late uncle’s position at Duncally, a Highland dig. She only hopes to survive long enough to get there. When Coll Munro, the estate manager of Duncally, rescues Violet’s carriage from a bunch of would-be highwaymen, the only payment he wants is a kiss. That kiss, and the memory of it, inspires him to watch over the wee Sassenach archeologist as she determinedly unearths the remains of an ancient civilization on the property. A series of mysterious clues in an old book have Coll and Violet working together to uncover the whereabouts of a treasure left by his grandmother, endangering them both.

This historical romance/mystery ties into the early 19th-century British interest in antiquities and archeology, sparked by John Frere in the late 18th century. The plight of women in the sciences, and the budding interest in the ancient world, are unusual themes for a romance, but Camp gives the story heart and soul. An interesting and fun read.

Monica E. Spence CINDERELLA SIX FEET UNDER: A Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery Maia Chance, Berkley Prime Crime, 2015, $7.99/ C$10.49, pb, 310pp, 9780425271636 Sparks fly as Ophelia Flax and Professor Gabriel Penrose reunite to investigate another fairy-tale themed murder mystery. Ophelia’s friend, Prue, arrives in Paris to rejoin her family, only to be mistaken by her estranged family for the latest victim – and why does it seem as if nobody in the family is perturbed by the young damsel’s death?

With the Paris Opera showcasing Cendrillon, the details of the case are eerily similar, and Professor Penrose suspects a search for a fairy tale relic may be afoot. Join Flax and Penrose as they scour Parisian venues looking for clues in this caper to find the murderer, because if the shoe fits…

Chance’s sequel is a fun read, appropriately peppered with twists and turns and a cast of characters including a feisty heroine, steampunk automatons, and a Miss Havisham-like crone, obsessed with fairy tales. Fans of Cinderella will enjoy the unique spin on the tale’s “historical origins” and laugh as Ophelia shows remarkable spirit, cunning and a resolute Victorian primness in spite of the circumstances in which she finds herself. The novel includes the first two chapters of the next installment, a take on “Beauty and the 30 | Reviews |

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Beast,” to be released in February 2016. Be sure to snag your copy of this magical mystery before the clock strikes twelve.

Lauren Miller THE HEIRESS OF LINN HAGH Karen Charlton, Thomas & Mercer, 2015, $15.95, pb, 325pp, 9781477830086 It’s England in 1809, a time of two-wheel shays, smoky taverns, highwaymen, and the Bow Street Runners, two of whose adherents star in this sprightly mystery.

Detective Lavender and Constable Woods arrive on the moors to investigate the disappearance of the heiress of the title, who has vanished out of a locked room in her own house on the eve of coming into her inheritance. As the two Londoners work out the tangled family history behind this seemingly impossible event, they discover a whole spectrum of characters, from the local gypsies to the heiress’s poor mentally disabled brother, the only true innocent – a cast that often seems just popped from Mr. Fielding’s novels, who founded the Bow Street Runners.

“Katherine Armstrong was well wrapped up against the cold in a purple, fur-trimmed pelisse over her brown dress. She wore stout boots and a domed velvet bonnet that matched her coat.

Her funny-shaped hat, decorated with artificial berries, reminded Lavender of a plum pudding.

This was a good metaphor for her, he decided: rich, full of goodness, traditional and probably only remembered by her family on Christmas Day.” The lively characters and vivid local color propel the story more than the thin plot; Lavender, in any case, has solved the main piece of that, the locked room, fairly early, in a nice piece of period detail. Clearly, more will come about Lavender and Woods, an interesting prospect.

Cecelia Holland

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DUKES PREFER BLONDES Loretta Chase, Avon, 2015, $7.99/C$9.99, pb, 384pp, 9780062100344 Lady Clara Fairfax is a celebrated beauty, raised to be the wife of a duke; Raven Radford is a barrister, too smart and tactless for his own good.

The social gulf is wide.

But Clara, possessed of keen intelligence and independent spirit, is ‘suffocating’ under the weight of social and parental expectations; and Raven is fascinated by her. Despite misgivings, he falls in love. The lady proves willing, but will her parents agree? Still, he is skilled in the art of persuasion, and he is, conveniently, in line to inherit a dukedom.

There are villains to frustrate and lessons to learn, and they make for an involving Regency tale.

There are, furthermore, sharp insights into the predicament of children driven by ignorance and

poverty to a life of crime; and of aristocratic ladies trapped in gilded cages, their lives a ‘froth of pretty nothing.’ The wit and irony are delightful, the plot structure well-balanced, the protagonists insightful and admirable (refreshing to meet a Regency hero noted for intellect, rather than a dissipated – but muscular – rake needing only the right woman to domesticate him). Highly recommended.

Ray Thompson THE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT Alexander Chee, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, $28.00, hb, 576pp, 9780618663026 When Lilliet Berne, a legendary soprano with the Paris Opera, is presented with the opportunity to star in a new opera, she discovers that the plot is based on her own life. Distraught and puzzled, she realizes the story could only have been told by one of four people: “one who loved her, one who had owned her, and one who never thought of her at all.” The fourth person has died.

Structured as five acts, The Queen of the Night switches back and forth in time to reveal Lilliet’s unusual past and the path she takes to uncover the opera’s origin. First we meet Euphrosyne, a one-time cancan dancer and prostitute, and learn of Lilliet’s escapades and efforts to survive in that world. Then we meet the tenor, the man who teaches Lilliet to sing, the man who thinks he owns her. In Act III, during a time when the Comtesse de Castiglione controls Lilliet’s life, she meets and falls in love with Aristafeo. In Acts IV and V, the crescendo builds as further details of the past unfold and Lilliet gets closer and closer to solving the mystery. Love holds the story together.

“My theme here is love. Love and the gifts of love, love kept secret, love lost, love become hatred, war, a curse. Love become music. Love and those who died for love.”

While the novel would be stronger with less interior monologue, fewer twists and turns, and a clearer delineation of past and present, Alexander Chee offers an intriguing premise and a good deal of suspense in The Queen of the Night. He has clearly done his research to bring 19th-century Paris to life and enriches the story with several historical characters including Verdi, George Sand, and Empress Eugenie, wife to Napoleon III. An enjoyable read.

Mary Tod

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AT THE EDGE OF THE ORCHARD Tracy Chevalier, Dutton, 2016, $26.95/C$34.95, hb, 285pp, 9780525953005 / The Borough Press, 2016, £16.99, hb, 400pp, 9780007350391 The search for happiness, the complex entanglements of family life, and people’s reactions to trying circumstances: these themes are familiar and universal. What makes Chevalier’s eighth novel distinctive is how she links them to the mid-19th century world of trees and the care she takes with her realistic characters. It also moves beautifully between different styles and viewpoints, and the plot offers many surprises.

By 1838, the Goodenoughs have spent 19th Century

years living amid the muddy wetlands of northwestern Ohio, growing fruit trees as a requirement of their settlement – but not everyone blooms where they’re planted.

For the father, James, apples are sustenance, a delicious reward, a symbol of prosperity, and justification for his family’s continued stay in an inhospitable land. For his neglected wife, Sadie, they’re a hateful obstacle to returning home, and also, through her love for strong applejack, they provide a means of escape. The arduousness of frontier life, which Sadie detests, is illustrated in meticulous detail. The Goodenoughs have lost half their children to fever; the remaining five get embroiled in their parents’ spiteful feud. Their orchard becomes a battleground.

Part Two introduces an unsettling mystery: what drives nine-year-old Robert, the youngest son, to flee his home? Out in California in the 1850s as an adult, following rumors of a grove of giant sequoias, he stumbles into a job working for an eccentric Cornish plant collector. He actively avoids long-term commitments, women included, but later finds his past has followed him there.

Historical figures like John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed, are woven credibly into the story. Both Ohio’s Great Swamp and the American frontier itself are long gone, but the novel recaptures these settings through its elegantly written, emotion-filled narrative. One of Chevalier’s strongest novels, it will also leave you pondering the awe-inspiring splendor of nature and people’s connections to it.

Sarah Johnson WEST OF PENANCE Thomas D. Clagett, Five Star, 2016, $25.95, hb, 290pp, 9781432831417 It’s 1875 in New Mexico Territory. The archbishop from Santa Fe approaches Father Clement Grantaire, requesting funds to help build his new cathedral. Before Clement became a pastor, he was a gambler. Clement suggests to the archbishop that he knows a way to collect the funds required to finish the project. Changing clothes, he heads to Fort Union, where he wins over a thousand dollars in a card game. Upon his return to his parish, he is bushwhacked and his money is stolen. Nursed back to health by a young woman, she tells him of the ongoing war between squatters and new owners of the Maxwell Land Grant. He then learns of the identity of the man who stole his money and devises a way to get it back.

What an entertaining read! Prepared to be immersed in the story’s twists and turns while Father Clement tries to get his money back while involving himself in the land war and helping the woman who saved his life. The novel is well researched in New Mexican history during the 19th Century

late 19th century. Also, be prepared for a surprise ending!

Jeff Westerhoff THE DEVIL’S ASSASSIN Paul Fraser Collard, Headline, 2015, £19.99, hb, 364pp, 9781472222718 The place is Bombay, the year 1857; the man is Jack Lark, a rip-roaring blend of James Bond and Sharpe, an heroic outsider who has been forced to make his own way in life. He is brave, resourceful, and devilishly attractive to women and yet vulnerable on the inside, as are all great heroes. The reader is never really in doubt that Lark will win through in the end, but there are enough dangers, thrills and spills along the way to keep anyone and everyone turning the pages fervently.

The novel begins with Lark masquerading as a fallen officer in order to survive. Events in his past have made it essential for him to disappear for a while. Discovered in this deception by Ballard, the Devil of the title, he is given no real option except to become a spy, working to uncover the identity of the mysterious traitor who is giving away vital military secrets to the Persian Army. This is the third in the series depicting the life and fortunes of Lark, but it is perfectly readable as a stand-alone.

The history and atmosphere of the desert come clearly through the pages, and the high-octane action make it an entertaining and exhilarating read. Fans of Cornwell, Scarrow and Iggulden will be very happy.

Ann Northfield THE LONE WARRIOR Paul Fraser Collard, Headline, 2015, £19.99, hb, 369pp, 9781472222732 Bombay, 1857. Jack Lark, honourably discharged from the British Army, helps a young woman, Amira, to escape from a gaming house. He promises to take her home to Delhi before taking ship to England. They arrive just as the Indian Mutiny, in all its horror, explodes across the country.

Escaping the carnage, they find relative safety with a military column tasked with retaking the city – Jack finds himself back in uniform in a brutal and bloody war against a brave and determined enemy.

The book races along with the speed of a bullet fired from an Enfield rifle. The action scenes are realistic and exciting without being overly graphic.

Although Jack and Amira are fictional, they are supported by actual historical figures whose roles and careers are discussed at the end of the novel.

There is a comprehensive glossary of Indian terminology, which I found invaluable and referred to frequently, as the book is full of Indian words which contribute towards the enjoyment of a taut, well-written historical novel. This is the fourth book in the series, but there is sufficient back story to fill in any gaps. Fans of Sharpe will find this a treat. I’m going to read the rest of the series!

Recommended.

Mike Ashworth

CHEATING THE HANGMAN Judith Cutler, Allison & Busby, 2015, £19.99, hb, 350pp, 9780749017385 Tobias Campion, riding through the woods, comes upon a gruesome rotting corpse whose murder demonstrates hatred and contempt. He must investigate this horrific occurrence before the burial can take place. The estranged son of a Duke, Tobias is Rector of Moreton St Jude’s, and pride in his calling includes the greatest possible generosity towards those of his flock who live in poverty. His own parish is idyllic compared to the dreadful village of Clavercote, where disease and infant mortality are rampant amongst near-starving folk without hope. Even their priest has deserted them to take spa cures in Europe. The unlucky Tobias is instructed to take over this God-forsaken village, and when visiting, he narrowly escapes lynching by a mob reduced to savagery. With rumours of orgies and witchcraft in the local great houses, Tobias, with his admirable housekeeper Mrs Trent and medical friends Doctors Edmund Walton and Augustus Toone, must alleviate the worst abuses in Clavercote while proceeding with their investigation into the murder and seeing justice done.

Do not miss one word when reading this elegant, faultlessly edited, sometimes terrifying and hugely entertaining novel, which deserves high praise for a wonderful but unsparing picture of country life in the early 19th century. Tobias has a host of devotees: a clever, attractive and beguiling young man whose naturally fiery temperament wrestles with humility.

Nancy Henshaw HANNAH’S CHOICE: Journey to Pleasant Prairie Jan Drexler, Revell, 2015, $14.99, pb, 384pp, 9780800726560 In 1842 Pennsylvania, Hannah Yoder is a proper young Amish woman with some troubles and a few choices to make. Her mother suffers from depression; her sister rejects their way of life, and her father dreams of moving west where outside influences won’t threaten his family.

These complications are just the start of the story, though. At the center is Hannah’s choice between two men. One suitor, Adam, has been her lifelong friend and confidant. But he is a Mennonite and Underground Railroad participant. Hannah loves Adam and knows marrying him would mean staying in her beloved Conestoga Creek, but it would also mean a potential life of danger, helping slaves, and forsaking her community. On the other hand, Josef Bender offers a life of faith, community, and the opportunity to stay with her family. But it would mean leaving her home forever.

Drexler delights with a well-researched and plotted story, focusing always on family and faith.

Throughout the story, I really couldn’t tell who Hannah was going to choose, and really didn’t even know who I wanted her to choose; both Adam and Josef were lovely characters. It was refreshing having this unpredictable romance, and Drexler told it well. This is the first book in her new series, HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 31

Journey to Pleasant Prairie, and I look forward to seeing where Drexler takes readers next.

Rebecca Cochran VIRTUOUS SCOUNDREL: The Regency Romp Trilogy, Book 2 Maggie Fenton, Montlake, 2015, $12.95, pb, 273pp, 9781503947894 The second book of the aptly named Regency Romp Trilogy turns to Sebastian Sherbrook and Katherine, Marchioness Manwaring, his aunt by marriage. Sebastian and his uncle were bitter enemies, but since the events of The Duke’s Holiday, the latter has died and Sebastian has succeeded him as marquess. And despite their professed disapproval of each other, he and Katherine are actually desperately in love.

Eventually, they confess their true feelings along with details of their checkered past: his reputation as a dissolute rake is mainly posture; her previous marriage was not out of cynical social ambition, but forced upon her by her father after a youthful indiscretion; and underneath their aloof façade both are really nice people, albeit unexpectedly insecure. She helps establish a charity hospital for fallen women, and even likes unlovable animals!

But can they marry?

This is another light-hearted romance, filled with characters exaggerated to the point of caricature and with implausible situations that can descend at times into farce. While not up to the standard of its brilliant predecessor, it is a witty and fast-paced comic delight (even the chapter headings). Definitely recommended.

Ray Thompson VIENNA IN VIOLET David W. Frank, Blank Slate Press, 2015, $15.95, pb, 372pp, 9781943075102 Amsterdam, 1822. After performing a commissioned piece for some of Amsterdam’s wealthiest, singer Johann Michael Vogl and composer Franz Schubert become the lead murder suspects when the lady of the house is found dead.

The investigation uncovers plenty of political and personal scandals, but only Vogl seems to have discerned that the song may be the key to the truth they are all looking for.

While the story begins immediately with the music’s commission by an old friend, the story slows for introductions and political chatter, eventually leading back to the party, murder, and investigation.

Frank alternates points of view frequently, though easily, with most of the action centering on Vogl.

We follow his actions and accounts through the commission of the song, to the realization of what may have triggered the lady’s murder.

This is an enjoyable story, filled with scheming and sly nods to music and the stage. While the song in question is fictitious, and a few phrases are inharmoniously modern for the era, Franz Schubert and Johann Michael Vogl are researched thoroughly, lending an air of authenticity to the novel that makes one feel they are reading a true account.

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A GILDED GRAVE Shelley Freydont, Berkley Prime Crime, 2015, $16/C$21, pb, 402pp, 9780425275849 In A Gilded Grave, Shelley Freydont creates an entertaining murder mystery set amidst the lavish wealth and Victorian strictures of Newport, Rhode Island in 1895. Deanna Randolph, the marriageable daughter of one of Newport’s leading families, finds inspiration for her detecting from the dime novels of the day, but her style as a sleuth is seriously cramped by the necessary six to eight gown changes per day and her mother’s rules of proper deportment. Deanna makes small steps over the class divides of her world and the limitations put on women. She’s bright and daring and willing to overlook being jilted by the one smart, sympathetic man in her world. Together they solve a mystery involving murdered maids. Elspeth, her maid, assists with a clarity of perspective only someone born to poverty seems able to achieve in this extravagantly wasteful world.

You’re likely to identify the villain early on, but complications with a sugar trust and cutthroat business practices add a pleasant sizzle to the puzzle. There’s plenty of fun in the descriptions of clothing and mansions (called “cottages”). Despite the tight constraints placed on Deanna, Freydont shows her readers how far outside the expected mode this young woman acts by juxtaposing her with her best friend, Cassie. Another young lady asks Cassie, “Don’t you think women should think?” Cassie responds, “Oh, I suppose so. When there’s nothing else to do. Though, gee, there’s always something to do.” Deanna, in contrast, is summed up by the local police detective (a Yale graduate) when he says, “If I had even one officer with your brain, the crime rate in Newport would be cut in half overnight.”

Judith Starkston

back story necessary to bring Lord Byron to life.

Lurid, debauched, and comical.

Janice Derr

RIOT MOST UNCOUTH Daniel Friedman, Minotaur, 2015, $24.99, hb, 304pp, 9781250027597 Officially Lord Byron is a student at Trinity College in Cambridge, England, albeit one who never attends class and loves nothing more than to irritate the faculty of the esteemed institution. He is too busy drinking, seducing women, and hanging out with his pet bear, mischievously named the Professor, to pursue a formal education. When the body of a young woman is found brutally murdered at a nearby boarding house, Byron offers his services to help apprehend the killer. After all, doesn’t being the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest poet” lend itself to private investigation?

Byron finds himself more entwined in the case after additional murders occur, and each victim is somehow connected to him. On a quest to prove his innocence, the amateur detective is more a nuisance than help to the two private investigators hired to solve the murders. Because the bodies have all been drained of their blood, Bryon concludes a vampire is on the loose and only he can stop it.

No need to be a scholar of 19th-century literature to enjoy this fast read. Friedman provides all of the

KITTY PECK AND THE CHILD OF ILL FORTUNE Kate Griffin, Faber & Faber, 2015, £7.99, pb, 406pp, 9780571310852 This is the second of Kate Griffin’s novels featuring Kitty Peck, a young woman living in Victorian Limehouse. Kitty has risen from music hall skivvy to celebrated singing trapeze act, and at the beginning of this new novel, she inherits her grandmother’s vast and shady criminal empire.

Kitty’s voice as the east end narrator is convincingly written. She and her gay friend, Lucca, travel to Paris in search of Kitty’s brother, Joey, who is missing and presumed dead. Kitty is relieved to find Joey alive and well and running a high-class crossdressing establishment. Joey and a mysterious man called David, who Kitty finds irresistibly attractive, persuade her to smuggle a baby back to Limehouse.

This is Kitty’s first error. Before she has even taken possession of the baby at the Paris Gare du Nord station, she is knocked onto the railway tracks by a murderous railway porter. Once back in London things go from bad to worse as Kitty struggles to protect the baby, unravel its secrets, and assume effective rule of her grandmother’s empire. Can

A GHOST’S STORY Lorna Gibb, Granta, 2015, £12.99, hb, 336pp, 9781783780341 A Ghost’s Story is an intriguing book, as it presents the tale of Katie King – not a famous medium but a famous ghost. A number of real people are included in Lorna Gibb’s first work of fiction. There is correspondence between Bob Loomis, Senior Librarian at the Magic Circle, and the author herself, who has received the Katie King ‘spirit writing’ from the Magic Circle archive. This writing is interspersed with a manuscript from an Italian bookshop named after Katie King and the academic notes of Adam Marcus, who had been investigating the manuscript prior to his death.

The narrative is in the voice of John/Katie King, a celebrated spirit who visited a number of mediums during the 19th and early 20th centuries when séances and an interest in the spirit world were at their peak. Moving between America, Britain, Russia, Italy, France and Canada, we observe Katie’s growth as she gradually begins to affect her surroundings, to be heard by those she is drawn to and even to enter into the mediums she visits.

Written in a vivid lyrical style, the sense of passing time, as Katie witnesses the changes in the places and people she visits and tries to be perceived and believed, is beautifully rendered.

Gibb’s research is meticulous, and the unusual framing makes this a genuinely compelling read.

This book will appeal to anyone with an interest in Victorian spiritualism, but its unique style will undoubtedly mean its appeal will be much broader.

Lisa Redmond

19th Century

Kitty hold her own with the group of powerful London crime lords she has just joined? Can she safeguard her brother?

The novel ratchets along at a lick, and Griffin is a consummate mistress of the cliff-hanging chapter ending. Peopled by sinister Russian ballet dancers, inscrutable Chinese servants, crime barons embodying their vile corruption and impoverished Eastenders with hearts of gold, this is an enjoyable Victorian Gothic romp. Griffin’s evocation of the world of the music hall is vivid and seems to owe some inspiration to Manet’s famous painting of the Bar at the Folies Bergère. The mutual tenderness of Kitty’s relationship with Lucca is well drawn, and the depiction of Kitty’s frightful, diseased and opium-drenched grandmother, Lady Ginger, is utterly compelling.

Tracey Warr A FRIEND OF MR. LINCOLN Stephen R. Harrigan, Knopf, 2016, $27.95, hb, 432pp, 9780307700674 During the 1830s, Springfield, Illinois, is a political hotbed for both Whig and Democratic politics. Abraham Lincoln, a young lawyer, is a Whig state representative. Young Cage Weatherby, a local poet, befriends Mr. Lincoln and begins a Springfield poetry society. The two men, along with several others, meet regularly to discuss local politics, available young women, and literature.

Cage becomes Lincoln’s best friend, and Lincoln confides in him his innermost secrets, especially about relationships. Snubbed by a local woman, Lincoln soon finds and is admired by Mary Todd of Kentucky. An intelligent but overbearing woman who speaks her mind, she becomes Lincoln’s intellectual equal. Meanwhile, Lincoln becomes active in state and national politics while managing a local law firm.

Lincoln’s early law experience and his relationship with Mary Todd are presented in detail, and the latter involves an early break-up that results in Lincoln’s mental collapse. Slavery is an issue in Illinois, and Lincoln represents a runaway slave trying to make a life there. He also becomes involved in a duel against an individual who feels Lincoln has slandered him in the newspaper.

This work of fiction is told from the viewpoint of Cage, who is a fictitious character. It has been well-researched, also providing information on Lincoln’s courtroom experiences, his early opinions on slavery, and the Mexican War. The author combines fact and fiction in a way that brings life to the period, especially the culture and politics of mid-19th century Springfield, Illinois. Highly recommended for those who admire Abraham Lincoln and wish to learn about his early life.

Jeff Westerhoff DUKES ARE FOREVER: The Secret Life of Scoundrels Anna Harrington, Forever, 2015, $5.99/C$7.49, pb, 384pp, 9781455534036 Colonel Edward Westover returns from the war in Spain, burning for revenge against Philip 19th Century

Benton, the drunkard responsible for the death of his older brother and sister-in-law. With the resources he now possesses as Duke of Strathmore, he buys up Benton’s debts, ruining him financially.

Benton has a daughter, but Katherine is not a child, as Westover casually assumes when he agrees to become her guardian. She is a beautiful woman with green eyes, fiery red hair, and a spirit to match.

Inevitably, they fall in love, though the path to redemption and happiness is rocky.

This is the first of a series, but though the situation is promising, the treatment is uneven.

Katherine’s self-taught medical skill seems implausible; and her devotion to her father, despite the painful evidence of his repeated perfidy over the years, is as stubbornly wrong-headed as Edward’s refusal to recognize he is in love with her. They are an attractive pair, but rather irritating. This will appeal mainly to devotees of Regency romance, particularly those who relish extended descriptions of sexual encounters and the conflicted emotions of lovers.

Ray Thompson WHEN FALCONS FALL: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery C.S. Harris, NAL, 2016, $26.00, hb, 368pp, 9780451471161 St. Cyr, better known to his readers as Devlin, arrives with his family in a small Shropshire village in 1813, ostensibly on a quest to discover the truth about his own identity and to pay homage to a slain friend. What he finds on his journey is more than he bargained for.

Of course, Devlin quickly becomes involved in a murder investigation. Despite the town’s efforts to classify the death of a young widow, found dead on the banks of the river, as a suicide, the pieces don’t fit. Why is Emma Chance in Ayleswick? Who is she sketching and why? As Devlin digs deeper, he learns she is not the first young woman to have died under mysterious circumstances.

The inhabitants of Ayleswick are not what they seem, either. The town takes on a personality of its own – a history of deadly fire, black market doings, and just plain bad folks with nasty secrets.

To add to this messy stew is newly ensconced Lucien Bonaparte, estranged brother of Napoleon, who appears to have more up his sleeve than first appears.

What a delight! Not just a fun romp, this is well-written and plotted, and, again, as Devlin attempts to sort out truth from artifice, a showpiece for Harris to create wonderfully fleshed out and complex characters. One of the best Devlin entries, and highly recommended!

Ilysa Magnus THE BAKER’S TALE: Ruby Spriggs and the Legacy of Charles Dickens Thomas Hauser, Counterpoint, 2015, $25.00, hb, 256pp, 9781619025981 In 1839 London, a baker named Antonio observes a destitute man named Spriggs and his three-year-old orphaned niece, Ruby, enter his

bakery. Pitying their hungry looks, Antonio – who had earlier been assisted himself by a benefactor, Mr. Joy – offers them sustenance and also refers Spriggs to Marie, the widowed proprietress of another bakery. Marie hires Spriggs and provides them with accommodation. The waif thrives under Marie’s motherly care and the tutelage of Antonio and Joy. Ruby is a quick learner, and upon her blossoming into an attractive sixteen-year-old, Joy appoints her to teach at his school. He also invites a bright and handsome young man, Edwin, to visit. Edwin works in the coal industry. Soon Ruby and Edwin fall in love. However, Edwin’s employer, Murd, a coal baron, has other plans for Edwin. Murd is enraged upon learning of the affair and puts devious schemes in place to separate the lovers. We are driven towards the ending to learn if love can conquer capitalistic objectives.

In 1868, Charles Dickens had recollected: “In the winter of 1836, I held an infant in my arms... I have often wondered what happened to the child.”

Thomas Hauser has skillfully based his novel on that child. The themes in this book will remind readers of similar premises in many of Dickens’ own novels. His fixations on the suffering of the poor, their lack of education, their struggles for justice, and the triumph of good over evil are all exemplified. While the plot is of Dickensian proportions, it seems to have been accomplished at the expense of some characters’ development, likely in an attempt to keep the novel’s length within present-day norms. For instance, we do not learn much about Ruby’s “mother,” Marie, nor about Joy. Nevertheless, this historical novel enables us to revisit that era as if Dickens had presented it.

Waheed Rabbani HANGING MARY Susan Higginbotham, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2016, $15.99/£10.99, pb, 400pp, 9781492613626 In this novel we meet Mary Surratt, the only woman convicted and executed in connection with the Lincoln assassination. The widow of a drunkard, Mary remakes her life as a boarding house owner in Washington, DC. With her eldest son, Isaac, fighting for the Confederacy, Mary has concerns about her wayward son, Johnny, an impressionable and frequently unemployed young man who undertakes dubious schemes in support of the Southern cause. The other voice within this novel is that of Mrs. Surratt’s boarder, Nora Fitzpatrick, admirer of President Lincoln and loyal friend to the Surratt women. When Johnny Surratt brings home the charismatic actor John Wilkes Booth, Mary’s boarders are star-struck. Although concerned by Johnny’s mysterious associates, Mary agrees to look the other way and is eventually convinced to pass along cryptic messages, although she prefers to remain blissfully ignorant of the details. Higginbotham’s Mary is a supremely devout woman, a true “victim of circumstance” who pays dearly for her naiveté. She is tried in a military court, and despite several pleas for clemency, she becomes the first woman executed by the U.S. government.

HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 33

Three things make this novel truly shine: the many historical details that paint a vivid picture of those days in 1865, and the facts that neither narrator is an eyewitness to the assassination and that Mary’s fate is revealed on the title page, yet the plot never suffers for it. Two notable women, with different perspectives, get a chance to tell their tales. Whether you believe Mary was an active accomplice or unwitting victim, the injustice she faces at the hands of those out for revenge won’t fail to grip you until the final pages, even as she approaches her own inevitable conclusion.

Rebecca Henderson Palmer ALICE IN BED Judith Hooper, Counterpoint, 2015, $25.00, hb, 325pp, 9781619025714 “My fate had been prearranged by biology.” This is the conclusion reached by Alice James in Judith Cooper’s novel, Alice in Bed, the story of the invalid sister of novelist Henry James.

Hooper’s novel is set in 1889 but moves backwards and forwards through the span of Alice’s short life (she was born in 1848 and died aged 43). In the present of the story, Alice is bedbound by a mysterious illness, and so she revisits her late teens and earlier adult life that she has spent in Boston, New York and Europe. What emerges is a story not, as might be expected, of the familial doings of a famous writer, but that of his bright and humorous sister, struggling with illness and infirmity as well as a growing realization that the world is a very different place – depending on whether you are a man or a woman.

There is no doubt the James family was a rich mix of genius tinged with a less-than-happy history of mental illness and instability. Alice’s brother William spends some time in a mental institution, and Alice’s illness, unexplained during her lifetime, is given interesting scrutiny in Hooper’s afterword.

It should be happy hunting ground for a novelist.

But while the quality of writing is commendable and Alice’s character engages, the story lacks forward momentum.

Not having any foreknowledge about Alice James may be a bar to enjoyment here. The real Alice James did begin a diary in 1889. It was published long after her death and appears to have been well received. As it is not clear from Alice in Bed where the lines between Alice’s actual diary and this fictional portrayal are drawn, it is difficult to assess what Alice in Bed gives readers that the actual The Diary of Alice James would not already have supplied.

Kate Braithwaite HALF THE WORLD IN WINTER Maggie Joel, Allen & Unwin, 2015, £8.99, pb, 421pp, 9781925266528 Set in 1880, the novel begins with a train accident in which three people are killed. The life of bereaved father Thomas Brinklow becomes intertwined with that of the Jarmyn family, who own the railway. This family, too, has known terrible loss, due to the death of the youngest 34 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 75, February 2016

daughter, Sophie. Diana, the surviving daughter, is a key character, and her attempts to cope with the grief of her parents and her own feelings are central.

The novel also raises interesting questions about business. In the early days of the railway, the safety features we take for granted today were by no means ubiquitous. Safety costs money, and if there is no law enforcing these measures, why should businesses trouble themselves with them?

Ultimately it is a question of conscience and perhaps also the fear of bad publicity. It certainly makes the reader think more about how and why these safety rules came about, often through painful and deadly experience.

I found this book enormously enjoyable and hope it will be a big success. The dry humour interspersed with tension and tragedy make the pages turn quickly. The absurdity of life is demonstrated clearly. Romantic ideals are brought crashing down, and the focus upon small details amidst big events serves to remind the reader how inconsequential we are ultimately in the scale of things. It’s thought-provoking and entertaining, with strong characters and plot, and I will be looking out for more of Ms Joel’s work.

Ann Northfield REGENCY CHRISTMAS GIFTS Carla Kelly, Camel Press, 2015, $14.95, pb, 195pp, 9781603819947 In three Regency-set novellas, Carla Kelly evokes a gentle Christmas past. “The Lasting Gift” tells of an impoverished widow and her child who receive a misdirected package. Their subsequent meeting with a retired sea captain answers holiday wishes.

“Faithfully Yours” is a Cyrano-esque story of rags to riches. When John McPherson left Dumfries for North America, Sally wrote to him on behalf of her friend Margaret. Now John has returned, with marriage on his mind – but will he find the right girl? In “Lucy’s Bang Up Christmas,” Lucinda and her family mourn her mother’s passing while she struggles to plan her sister’s society wedding, but Lucinda and her cousin Miles discover the true meaning of the season in the end.

These are sweet romance stories, perhaps verging on inspirational, but what could be more fitting at Christmastime? Carla Kelly writes well, and effortlessly evokes the Regency era, and a host of beautifully portrayed characters in a variety of different circumstances engage the attention and hearts of readers. Regency lovers, and readers who enjoy gentle and uplifting stories, will find these three stories a gift indeed, as did I. Susan McDuffie

C

MRS. HOUDINI Victoria Kelly, Atria, 2016, $26.00, hb, 306pp, 9781501110900 Houdini – we’ve all heard the name, but what do most of us know about him? Ehrich Weiss was born in 1874, and began entertaining the public on the trapeze at the age of nine. He dubs himself Harry Houdini when he begins a sensational

career as an escape artist in 1891. Three years later, eighteen-year-old Bess Rahner, a songand-dance performer at Coney Island, watches Harry and his brother on stage. A day later Bess marries Harry and replaces his brother for the Metamorphosis trick.

A century later, Harry Houdini is famed, but his wife has largely been ignored. Victoria Kelly corrects that oversight by presenting Bess Houdini to lucky readers in her debut novel, Mrs. Houdini.

Her husband’s performances are truly deathdefying – burial in 6’ of earth, leaping shackled into the East River in winter – while Bess watches in agony to see if he will survive each trick. Harry is determined to make the greatest escape of all: he will send a message to Bess across the void of death. After Harry dies, she waits once more while frauds hold séances. Then Bess begins to see her own signs.

Mrs. Houdini is a dazzling blend of adventure, love, betrayal, and redemption. Houdini’s feats are unimaginable, yet Ms. Kelly vividly imagines them for us. I hope that she will continue to do so for a very long time.

Jo Ann Butler COLD-HEARTED RAKE Lisa Kleypas, Avon, 2015, $7.99/C$9.99, pb, 416pp, 9780062371836 / Piatkus, 2015, £8.99, pb, 400pp, 9780349407609 England, 1875, and Devon Ravenel has inherited an earldom. Strangely, he is not happy about it. But why should a selfish and indolent aristocrat welcome responsibility for not only a financially indebted estate, but his deceased (and unloved) cousin’s three sisters and widow? He callously determines to sell up and leave the young women to make their own way in the world, but when he meets them he finds himself enmeshed.

He feels concern for the fate of servants and families on the estate, he is charmed by his lively cousins, and he falls passionately in love with Kathleen, the beautiful and spirited young widow with a conscience.

There is much of interest here: economic forces that place financial pressure on great estates; constraints upon gently born women; consequences of parental neglect and class barriers; even the discomfort of impractical clothing. All are handled with skill and subtle humor: the suffocating layers of petticoats and whalebone corsets, through which the lovers must fight to come together, are as inhibiting and frustrating as the impractical social conventions of the day, such as those governing mourning. Definitely recommended.

Ray Thompson THE VISCOUNT RISKS IT ALL: A Prelude to a Kiss 19th Century

Erin Knightley, Signet Eclipse, 2016, $7.99, pb, 336pp, 9780451473660 Regency romances are wonderful escapism, but sometimes they get repetitive. If you’re looking for something a bit out of the ordinary, The Viscount Risks It All by Erin Knightley fits the bill. The protagonists are more mature than your typical debutante and rake, with more life experience to influence their choices. Lady Felicity Danby is a young widow with a toddling daughter. Her marriage was a love match, and her husband’s sudden death devastated her. On a trip home to Bath to visit family, she reconnects with her childhood best friend, Gavin Stark, Viscount Derington. Unbeknownst to Felicity, Gavin was desperately in love with her and heartbroken by her marriage. He has made the best of life without her and is determined not to make the same mistake twice. Naturally, a romance is kindled/rekindled.

However, what makes this such a pleasant read is how respectful the characters are, and how kind. They have a delightful repartee based on a longstanding friendship. There are no nasty grudges or prolonged, purposeful misunderstandings.

They are surrounded by supportive friends and family who may misstep but who truly have the protagonists’ best interests at heart. This couple deserves their happily-ever-after.

Sue Asher UNEARTHING THE BONES: A Warbonnet Mystery Robert Kresge, ABQ Press, 2015, $15.95, pb, 270pp, 9780991604692 Unearthing the Bones is fifth in Kresge’s Warbonnet series. Warbonnet is in Wyoming, and in 1874 it’s under the protection of Marshal Monday Malone. Malone also serves as deputy sheriff of Albany County, and in that position he is sent out of town to investigate a murder at a fossil digging site. In fact, there are rival sites, and Malone has to untangle who is selling secrets to whom.

While Malone is at the diggers’ camp, schoolteacher Kate Shaw takes his place at Turnabout Day. Thankfully, it’s an uneventful day, but she has to assume his duties again when a trial takes him out of town again. This next round with Miss Shaw as marshal is more fraught with danger when her good friend is kidnapped.

This is definitely a book in a series, alluding to events which happened in previous books and ending on a note that leaves the reader waiting for the next installment. This makes it a little less satisfactory as a stand-alone. Kresge has created engaging characters, however, and a love triangle that still needs to be resolved. And, what’s a western without Native Americans? Lakota Indians take refuge at Malone’s ranch, and Miss Shaw must convince the town of Warbonnet to overcome their prejudices and accept them. This is a rather gentle story; no grave harm comes to characters we know, and life is fairly civilized for the Wild West.

I’ll admit to wanting to know how the love triangle turns out so yes, I’ll be looking for the sixth.

Ellen Keith 19th Century

BROOKLYN ON FIRE: A Mary Handley Mystery Lawrence H. Levy, Broadway, 2016, $14.00/ C$18.00, pb, 352pp, 9780553418941 Mary Handley is a young, feisty woman trying to break into the male-dominated world of police and detective work at the end of the 19th century.

When Emily Worsham arrives at her office, Mary gets her chance. Emily asks Mary to locate the killer of her uncle, John Worsham. As Mary digs more deeply into the case, nothing is what it appears, and Mary is thrust into the depths of a political power struggle between the cities of New York and Brooklyn and the corrupt men who run them. Mary finds herself immersed in the deceitful world of New York’s business elite, who are willing to lie to protect their interests. Mary’s only ally comes from an unlikely source: an adventurous George Vanderbilt, with whom Mary falls into an unexpected romance. Ultimately, her search for John Worsham’s killer takes her to North Carolina for an unexpected plot twist and forces Mary to take on the murders of two other people and a case that presents a danger to people close to her heart.

Lawrence Levy’s Mary Handley is a fun, unconventional woman, and the world he’s built for her is as boisterous and rebellious as she is.

Populating his novel with famous names like Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller, Levy brings to life both the impoverished and stratospheredefying elite of New York and everyone in between.

Brooklyn on Fire is a fast- paced detective novel with a lead character who is both humorous and a serious sleuth. A great book looking into the corruption of New York in the late 1800s, and one that readers will enjoy.

Bryan Dumas

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AMERICAN BAROQUE Adam Littleton, Knox Robinson, 2014, $27.99/£19.99/€26.99, hb, 228pp, 9781910282380 In the summer of 1835, three strangers saunter into Mohawk, Indiana: an urchin, a scruffy schoolteacher and a scruffier, cheerfully inebriated preacher dressed in an old coffee sack who claims to be Johnny Appleseed, the frontier folk hero. Fascinated and suspicious, half the town cautiously allows them to stay to teach Latin and scripture and check the apple trees. Occasionally, fired by strong cider, the Planter delivers impassioned sermons or performs magic tricks. To his admirers, he seems a mad but harmless prophet, but to many, he is a fraud, a blasphemer and a con-man, a danger to decent people. This latter impression is fortified by the urchin’s habit of picking pockets. Whatever and whoever the Planter might be, he remains always happily drunk and always smiling through hunger,

cold, a vicious beating and jail. The situation is complemented by the beautiful, over-sexed daughter of the local doctor who takes them in.

The Planter, a.k.a. Johnny Appleseed (maybe), is a wonderfully created character, larger than life and mysterious to the very end. An even better creation is the narrator, Morris, an ex-schoolteacher whose son has died and whose wife has left him.

Wandering aimlessly, he happened to fall in with the Planter and the urchin whom he struggles to educate. He records their adventures and many disasters in his journal. A worrier, a dreamer and a gentle intellectual, he makes a perfect foil to the confident, autodidact Planter. Mohawk, with its colourful population and rough-and-ready frontier standards, is deftly drawn and convincingly in period, and accompanied by Adam Littleton’s sensitive descriptions of weather and landscape.

This is a beautifully written, intriguing novel. It is also very funny. A most enjoyable, often thoughtprovoking read.

Lynn Guest THE ASSASSIN’S HONOR Robert N. Macomber, Pineapple Press, 2015, $16.95, pb, 400pp, 9781561647958 Heading into the holiday season of 1892, USN Commander Peter Wake is looking forward to weeks of easy exercises for his top-of-theline cruiser, Bennington, and for him to pursue his new lady love. Wake’s superior, Admiral Walker, has other plans. The Admiral makes the Bennington hasten 700 miles to Key West for further instructions. There the Admiral orders Wake to solve a recent passenger ship murder of an American citizen. The dead man’s cabin holds clues about a larger crisis: the planned assassination of a local leader and the crushing of indigenous unrest so that Germany and Spain might gain stronger economic holds on Central America.

Wake and his crew race to warn the assassin’s target. They must overcome bad weather, serious misdirection, an insubordinate first officer, ship boilers threatening to explode, tricky waterways, and two other ships (one German, one Spanish) bent on assuring the success of the planned assassination.

Macomber’s portrayals of ships and seamanship, the locales, and many interesting multi-national characters are first-rate and accurate. Interactions with the arrogant first officer, Nathan Gardiner, who must be dealt with again and again, ring true and end hilariously.

The would-be assassin’s reveal comes out of nowhere, and the American passenger’s death remains shadowy. But, as Macomber explains in helpful endnotes, the actual identity of the wouldbe assassin and related circumstances are murky to this day. Unfortunately, the novel is sprinkled with distractions. The typesetting, punctuation, and spelling contain a fair number of errors (e.g., the wrong title sits at the top of every right-hand page).

The writing is sometimes too wordy and repetitive, but “Wakian” fans will still enjoy this twelfth novel in the series.

G. J. Berger HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 35

THE ROGUE NOT TAKEN: Scandal and Scoundrel, Book 1 Sarah MacLean, Avon, 2015, $7.99, pb, 432pp, 9780062379412 / Piatkus, 2015, £8.99, pb, 432pp, 978-0349409726 The first book in this new series by Sarah MacLean is billed as “old-school TMZ” and does it deliver. The Talbot sisters, daughters of the newlyminted (and wholly unaristocratic) Earl of Wight, are favorites of the Regency gossip mill. Even the youngest and plainest, Sophie, can’t escape the attention of the ton. After an unfortunate incident involving a duke and a fish pond, she makes a desperate escape and finds herself in borrowed livery, perched on the back of the disreputable Marquess of Eversley’s carriage. But perhaps his scandalous reputation isn’t any more warranted than hers, something both begin to wonder as they get to know one another along the Great North Road.

This book is breezy and fun, suggesting the light, gossipy magazines promised by the author.

The romance is easy, helped along by delicious banter between Sophie and Eversley. Between chapter titles that read as tabloid headlines, largerthan-life characters, and snappy dialogue, the reader is reminded that celebrity gossip is nothing new. But, behind that, is a lesson. Even the puffiest tabloid pieces conceal real stories, more complex and human than their headlines would have you believe.

Jessica Brockmole DAKOTA TRAILS Robert McKee, Pen-L, 2015, $14.97, pb, 300pp, 9781942428442 Set in 1881 on the dusty, lawless plains of Wyoming and into the even more lawless Black Hills of the Dakotas, Dakota Trails follows the exploits of Neil Bancroft, a retired cavalry man who keeps his army days to himself, and Katie Burke, the woman who hired him to help her find her dead husband’s lost gold. Neil is busting broncos in Fetterman City, Wyoming, when he meets the beautiful Katie Burke in the most unlikely manner: She puts up a twenty gold piece to any man who can beat Bancroft to a pulp. It is a test; she needs to see if Neil is crafty enough to help her elude the men who killed her husband and get her across the plains, where Indian threats still remain. As they cross the trails into the Dakotas, Neil slowly falls in love with Katie – and vice versa, but the deeper in love he falls, the more about her past he realizes he doesn’t know. And Katie’s past is not what she’s been leading him to believe it is. Despite being shot at, nearly hanged, and beaten to a pulp, Neil follows Katie into chaos and rescues her from death.

Robert McKee weaves a thrilling Western that keeps the reader guessing, and the pace drives readers through to the end before they know it. I’m not personally partial to the Western genre, but I could not put this book down. Neil and Katie are dynamic and fun characters, and along the way the people they encounter truly bring the Wild West alive in a historically accurate way. Dakota Trails 36 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 75, February 2016

is a wonderful blend of Western, mystery, and romance.

Bryan Dumas THE POTTER’S LADY: Refined by Love, Book 2 Judith Miller, Bethany House, 2015, $14.99, pb, 326pp, 9780764212567 In The Potter’s Lady, Miller returns to the Irish immigrant McKay clan in the next book of her Refined by Love series, which is set in West Virginia and Philadelphia in the 1870s.

Ewan and Laura McKay (featured prominently in the first book) are looking to acquire a pottery business, and Ewan’s sister, Rose, a fresh graduate of the Philadelphia School of Design, is looking to make her mark. Rose’s ideas for transforming the struggling business draw admiration and conflict from Rylan Campbell, an assistant at the pottery, and Joshua Harkness, who runs a competitive pottery business. A prestigious design contest with a lucrative contract may be the turning point the McKays are looking for, but can Rose trust those closest to her?

Rose McKay reads as a naive character, a little too innocent given her exposure to city life, educated in design but not in the ways of the world. Peppered with research on pottery making during the 1800s, Miller’s novel shines with rich, historical detail that enriches the story. Those familiar with The Brickmaker’s Bride will smile at the continued antagonism of Aunt Margaret’s attempts to sink her hooks in family affairs, empathize with new characters that want a better life for themselves, and speculate on how Miller will wrap up this series.

Lauren Miller SIGNS FOR LOST CHILDREN Sarah Moss, Granta, 2015, £12.99, pb, 357pp, 9781783781058 1880s England. Signs for Lost Children picks up directly from where Sarah Moss’ previous novel Bodies of Light left off. Freshly qualified doctor, Ally, has married Tom, an engineer, but after only three months he must leave for work in Japan. Ally volunteers at the local asylum, struggling to improve the lot of the women there; struggling too against prejudice aimed at female doctors, and her own mother’s austere voice in her head. In Japan, Tom finds a country and lifestyle utterly at odds with the one he has left behind. The enforced separation so early in their marriage is a struggle for both, leading them to question their commitment to each other and their place in the world.

Sarah Moss writes beautifully, and in many ways this is a continuation of the first book, but it treads a little more heavily than its predecessor. It does not manage to walk the fine line of Bodies of Light, a book in which much was left unsaid. This time, too much is said; points are often driven home. Ally remains an interesting character, but Tom feels like a mirror held up to reflect only certain, shiny aspects of Japanese culture. This is a good book, with things to say and worth a read.

Tim Smith

DEATH IN CANTERA John D. Nesbitt, Five Star, 2016, $25.95, hb, 214pp, 9781432831363 In 1896, near the small town of Cantera, Wyoming, a stranger arrives and becomes friends with Owen Gregor, who lives alone and owns a small lodging establishment. Cantera is located near two quarries, the Frenchman’s Quarry, which is now sitting idle, and Bluestone Quarry, owned by the local marshal, Pat Roderick. The stranger, named Dunbar, becomes interested in the local quarries. Dunbar is told the history of the Frenchman’s Quarry, along with the deaths of the owner, his first wife and the killing of the owner’s young son. It becomes apparent to both Dunbar and Owen that mysterious events are now occurring in the community, leading to the deaths of three more people over a few days. With little help from the town marshal, Dunbar and Owen begin their own investigation.

This western mystery set near the turn of the 20th century is rich in western lore. As the stranger Dunbar becomes more involved in the community, he and Owen try to pull the clues together to solve the crimes. This book is an entertaining read, and although the pace is a little slow, the need to complete the book is compelling as the chase to capture the murderer begins to unfold. A surprisingly good mystery novel.

Jeff Westerhoff HELL’S HALF-ACRE Nicholas Nicastro, Witness Impulse, 2015, $11.99, pb, 384pp, 9780062422569 In 1857, six-year-old Kate lives with her father in “borrowed rooms” while traveling through towns southwest of Chicago. While her papa is busy gambling, she learns by reading magazines and novels from the hotels’ collections and asking the other guests and bellhops about the meanings of words. However, one morning in Denver, her father hands her over to a stranger, whispering that she should play along as if the stranger has won her in a card game, and he will come soon for her. The stranger deposits Kate with Almira – a harlot – in a mining camp. Kate assists Almira in her unsavory activities while waiting for her father. Even when two marshals come around investigating a disappearance, Kate doesn’t speak up, for she’d been told by her papa never to cooperate with the law.

In 1870, Kate and Almira meet the Benders, an older man and his son. Coming to an arrangement, they decide to operate a grocery and an inn near Cherryvale, Kansas. The Benders claim a strategic location close to the Osage Trail. However, they have other motives besides homesteading and operating a B&B. Nicastro has based this novel on the true crimes committed by the so-dubbed “Bloody Benders, America’s first serial killers.” Although the particulars of the gruesome murders, discovered in 1873 as if at a “Hell’s half-acre,” are well recorded, the Benders’ origin and their subsequent disappearance are mysteries. Even the museum 19th Century

erected at the site has been taken down, replaced by a plaque. Nicastro has reconstructed Kate’s story well, and although it’s captivatingly written, with all of the details, prairie life, and dialogue of the period, its enjoyment requires suspension of disbelief. This Western’s plot straddles the Civil War period, and the use of flashbacks keeps the mystery riveting. A surprise ending awaits readers.

Recommended.

Waheed Rabbani CUSTER’S CAVALIER Thom Nicholson, Five Star, 2016, $25.95, hb, 327pp, 9781432831400 At the battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, General George Armstrong Custer begins his career as a leader of the Union cavalry. Lt. Colonel John Whyte serves under Custer, accompanied by his faithful Indian Sikh companion, Sergeant Khan Singh. A disgraced English lord who served in the British Army, he commands the 5th Michigan.

He leads his cavalry troop from the Gettysburg Campaign into the 1864 Valley Campaign. Along the way, he falls in love with a plantation owner but is eventually captured after the Battle of Cedar Creek. Faced with a death sentence, he must devise a way to escape imprisonment.

Subtitled “A John Whyte Novel of the American West,” this novel is a prequel to Trouble in Texas.

In this fast-paced, entertaining read, the author has developed an exciting character – a transplanted Englishman with an English military background forced into a life in America during the Civil War. The battle scenes are well researched while the author continues to place his protagonist in harm’s way. A very good Civil War novel! It’s part of a series but can be read as a standalone. Highly recommended.

Jeff Westerhoff THE LIE AND THE LADY: A Winner Takes All Novel Kate Noble, Pocket, 2015, $7.99/C9.99, pb, 384pp, 9781476749396 In The Game and the Governess the earl switched places with his secretary, and both fell in love.

Discovering that one’s love interest is more eligible than one assumes is one thing, but finding he is less is another. This Regency romance sequel follows the fate of the less fortunate pair, driven apart by ‘the Lie’. John Turner returns to run the family’s struggling flour mill, while Letty, the widowed (and impoverished) Countess Churzy, endures not just personal betrayal, but social humiliation and ridicule. Fleeing to France, she meets Sir Barty, older and crippled by gout, but kindly. He promises to take care of her, but when they return to his estate in rural Lincolnshire, she meets a difficult prospective step-daughter, a hostile community, a blackmailer, and… John Turner, the local mill owner.

Letty navigates these challenges with skill, resourcefulness, and courage, winning widespread respect and gratitude. Despite the rather melodramatic climax, the author handles her 19th Century

material with a deft and humorous touch, as she explores how restrictive social conditions affect women in this era. Recommended.

Ray Thompson SISI: Empress on Her Own Allison Pataki, Dial, 2016, $28.00/C$36.00, hb, 464pp, 9780812989052 The Accidental Empress, Allison Pataki’s introductory novel on Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary, is continued in this portrayal of her later years as an absent wife and adventurous wanderer. Sisi, as the Empress is styled by her loved ones, had endured betrayal and court intrigue in her younger years, and was made to step aside while the Emperor’s mother raised the royal children and ordered every other aspect of Sisi’s life, insisting on strict etiquette that stifled her sensitive nature.

Thus, the beginning of this book has Sisi removed to her own palace of Gödöllő in Hungary, where she is determinedly raising her fourth child, her daughter Valerie, on her own terms.

Duty, however, continues to recall her, and she’s only able to get away for certain seasons. Eventually she begins traveling to England, where her favorite hunting sport is rumored to be incomparable, and is introduced to a man who would become a close companion for many years. The public follows her every move and, though beloved by many, she is vilified in the press for her long stretches from Austria, the Emperor and her duty. This, along with the strange relationship with her husband, serves as the antagonist in the story, though the opening chapter and a few throughout the book chronicle a madman stalking the Empress.

As a stand-alone novel, readers may question Sisi’s personality and selfish choices. For a fair assessment, The Accidental Empress should be read first to understand the reasoning behind her characterization. The author’s writing style is elegant and naturally flowing, and though a bit modernized in places, it does not take away from the story. Overall, Sisi is a fast-paced and immersive novel with a unique setting and intriguing set of characters. It is recommended for those looking for unconventional royalty fiction.

Arleigh Johnson NO PLACE FOR A LADY Gill Paul, Avon, 2015, £7.99, pb, 417pp, 9780008102128 Set during the Crimean War, No Place for a Lady tells the story of Lucy and Dorothea Gray.

Headstrong and romantic, Lucy elopes with Captain Charlie Harvington and accompanies him to the Crimea. Self-sacrificing and noble, Dorothea spends her days caring for her senile father, volunteering at a London hospital, and worrying about Lucy as the days turn to months and no letters arrive. Desperate to bring her sister to safety and repair their relationship, Dorothea joins a group of nurses sent to work under Florence Nightingale.

The conditions and events that both women witness and experience are terrible and vividly

described, but the narrative is sometimes bogged down by the inclusion of historical persons or military manoeuvres that don’t necessarily move the plot ahead. Though the concept of the conflict between the sisters is compelling, unfortunately both characters are rather two-dimensional, and as a result the narrative lacks the emotional impact to drive it forward. As a historical novel No Place For a Lady works well, but it is let down by the emotional arc.

Rachel Richardson THE LAST CHANCE CHRISTMAS BALL Mary Jo Putney, Jo Beverley, et al., Kensington, 2015, $15.00/C$16.95, pb, 392pp, 9781617739231 This is a compilation of novellas by a group of writers collectively known as The Word Wenches.

The frame is a Christmas ball at which Lady Holly plans to give some not-so-young but deserving women a last chance to find true love. In the spirit of the season (and Regency romance), all succeed. Some are reunited with childhood friends or former suitors from their youth, others meet strangers, and one even manages to straighten out a misunderstanding with her husband. The weather co-operatively maroons some couples in snow storms, providing a unique opportunity to spend time together and learn more about each other.

As in all novellas, limited space means that the couples fall in love rather precipitously, given the restraints of the age. But those who have shared an attraction for some time need only the chance for an honest avowal of feelings. Nor is there room to do more than touch upon wider social issues, though the precarious situation of women and wounded soldiers returned from war are recurrent motifs. As different characters take center stage, they provide valuable insights into the feelings behind the social façade they erect, as well as their reaction to the façades of others.

The tales are rather sentimental, a box of chocolates with sweet, soft centers inside a dark covering, a pleasant confection for the holiday season. My personal favorites are Anne Gracie’s “Mistletoe Kisses,” a charming variant on the Cinderella story, and Susan King’s “A Scottish Carol,” whose lovers must struggle to find healing for the wounds of self-doubt and past failures; but there is ample variety here for other tastes.

Recommended for lovers of Regency romances.

Ray Thompson AN AMERICAN IN SCOTLAND Karen Ranney, Avon, 2016, $7.99, pb, 345pp, 9780062337528 1863. American abolitionist Rose O’Sullivan did not expect to fall in love in Scotland. On a desperate mission to save her family, she poses as the widow of Southern planter Bruce McIain, hoping Bruce’s cousin, mill owner Duncan McIain, will buy the cotton she has to sell. The problem?

He has to retrieve the cotton from a warehouse in Charleston, a harbor currently blockaded by the Union navy.

Duncan needs the cotton to keep his mill in HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 37

operation, but his love for Rose, and his desire to keep her safe, weighs heavily on him. He accompanies Rose to the U.S. to claim the cotton.

He is horrified to find that Rose’s situation, and the situation at the plantation, is much worse than she ever revealed.

Romance novels rarely tackle something as ugly as slavery, but Ranney does it with sympathy and skill. By setting the story in the South in the middle of the American Civil War, rather than at the South’s foolishly optimistic beginning or its tragic end, Ranney allows her tale substantial back story. She gives her readers much to consider in not foretelling the outcome of the war. Well done.

Recommended.

Monica E. Spence

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THE MIND’S OWN PLACE Ian Reid, UWA Publishing, 2015, A$24.99, pb, 316pp, 9781742587479 Inspired in part by real events and the early pioneers of the Swan River Colony, this novel tells the story of five individuals, principally two convicts from respectable English backgrounds who are transported to Western Australia for crimes that are “foolish rather than vicious” and how they struggle to make amends to society and rise above disgrace.

Thomas is an architect and engineer, trained in the railway workshops of Robert Stephenson, who ought to find success but becomes instead a victim of family circumstances and his own obstinate righteousness. Alfred’s passion for finer things leads him down a slippery slope to fraud and then shame. Although both men are intelligent and enterprising and are later linked via their marriages, their routes through life are markedly different.

And then there’s Runty, the undercover policeman originally sent on a special assignment to spy on Irish Fenian political prisoners but who eventually becomes Western Australia’s first detective. The wives of Thomas and Alfred, Polly and Amelia, come to the Colony as free settlers but have to deal with their own weaknesses, tragedies and family secrets.

Whether he is describing the slums of Bermondsey, the British railway boom, the fiery kilns of the Potteries, tedious ocean voyages or the “powdery windblown dunes” of the Colony, the author’s prose is always vivid and evocative, almost poetic. The dialogue, moral dilemmas and contradictions are all handled with equally exquisite expression.

It’s been a long time since I came to the end of a novel and immediately wanted to read it again to uncover more of its nuances. Ian Reid is a revelation, and he deserves the widest recognition as a remarkable ambassador for Australian 38 | Reviews |

HNR Issue 75, February 2016

historical fiction.

Marina Maxwell LADY BRIDGET’S DIARY: Keeping Up With the Cavendishes, Book 1 Maya Rodale, Avon, 2015, $7.99/C$9.99, pb, 368pp, 9780062386731 In 1824, when her brother inherits a dukedom, Lady Bridget and her two sisters move from America to high-society London. Bridget struggles to find her place in this new world, and stumbles quite a bit along the way. With little knowledge of the proper way to behave, the three sisters easily succumb to gossip and scandal. Lord Darcy, a pompous and proper gentleman, can hardly believe the atrocious behavior of the Americans, especially Lady Bridget. The two continually clash and snipe yet, predictably, can’t stop daydreaming about each other. Complications ensue when Lord Darcy’s brother, Rupert, decides to court and marry Lady Bridget.

Little snippets from Lady Bridget’s diary start each chapter and are scattered throughout, providing an inside look into her thoughts and enabling her spunkiness to shine through. Fans of Mary Balogh will appreciate this amusing romp, but fans of classic Regency romances may be disappointed. There are many similarities to Pride and Prejudice – including dour Mr. Collins – but with a slightly sexy and scandalous twist.

Diehard fans might find this a tad disrespectful of Miss Austen. I still appreciated the fun, fluffy read, though.

Rebecca Cochran LEMON BLOSSOMS Nina Romano, Turner, 2016, $31.95, hb, 344pp, 9781681621197 / also $19.95, pb, 344pp, 9781630269098 This dual point-of-view novel (told by Angelica and her mother) relates the story of Angelica Domenico, a 19th-century Italian girl who grows into a woman struggling to define herself in relation to familial and cultural expectations in addition to her own religious calling. A physically damaging accident when she is young, coupled with an early introduction to her mother’s gory, frightening and sometimes deadly occupation of midwifery, inspires Angelica to seek refuge from the life of wife and mother, which she desperately fears. Instead, she turns to the convent, a vocation her parents oppose, convinced she is seeking to flee her life and will someday find love and follow a traditional path.

This is an odd book that feels like a translation, though it is not. This comes from the language being simplistic and sometimes stilted, as well as the structure being unlike a conventional plot. Rather than having an over-arching destination, it reads more like a series of loosely connected vignettes.

I found the main character’s fears to be true to life, but the non-sexual way she loses her physical virginity – a key plot element – was a stretch of the imagination. Some of the descriptions in the beginning are beautiful, transporting the reader

to rural Italy, but this doesn’t hold up throughout the novel. The tedium of the overall story plus its unusual writing style made this a tough read that didn’t live up to the promise of the premise.

Nicole Evelina THE KILLING LAND Jacqueline Seewald, Five Star, 2016, $25.95, hb, 311pp, 9781432831196 The Killing Land is set in the Arizona territory in the 1880s, and opens with an intriguing hook that snags the reader’s attention quickly. Mary MacGreggor is a pioneer from the East Coast who moves in with her aunt and uncle after the death of her parents. Cal Davis is a rich cattle baron who is suspected of driving homesteaders off the land he wants. As expected, Call and Mary become entangled, each bringing their own baggage into the mix with them. Along the way are the requisite complications, misunderstandings, and potential other love interests of the standard romance novel.

Seewald does a fine job with character development, including with her secondary characters. Several are intriguing and complex, in particular Wolf, Billy, and Rebecca. The plot itself is quite detailed as well, with fairly believable twists and action. Seewald is rather vague and loose with Arizona geography, though perhaps only a fourthgeneration native such as myself would know it.

She does well with some of the state history, such as the Tewksbury and Graham clan feud. Fans of western romance should be pleased with this novel.

Kristen McQuinn GOING HOME James D. Shipman, Lake Union, 2015, $14.95, pb, 375pp, 9781503944190 After an explosive, vivid moment of battle, Joseph Forsyth winds up in a hospital tent, with the doctor giving him up for dead. A lonely, heartsick nurse, tending him, finds a letter from his wife, and begs the doctor to save him. He clings to life, drifting from infection to fever, and in between, Shipman tells the story of Joseph Forsyth’s life.

The story wanders far from the Civil War battlefield where it starts. Born in Ireland, Forsyth has come to America with his parents, been abandoned and virtually enslaved, farmed and traveled the back country and fallen in love, always on a quest to find some place to belong.

“Joseph walked quietly through the house and back out the front door. He sat down in a chair he kept on the porch, looking out over the land and up at the stars. He wondered about life, all his adventures and all those to come. He whistled an Irish tune his mother had taught him. He was finally home.”

James D. Shipman is the descendant of the real Joseph Forsyth. He plunges through his story with a sincerity that overcomes the stiff characters and the sometimes clumsy writing. The work draws on family sources, and the details of life are sharply drawn. An interesting rendition of the Civil War novel, surely by now its own subgenre.

Cecelia Holland 19th Century

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SALT CREEK Lucy Treloar, Picador Australia, 2015, A$29.99, pb, 416pp, 9781743533192 In the 1870s, Hester Finch lives a comfortable life in her ancestral family home near Chichester in England, but she is beset by memories and nostalgia for her youth spent in a wild, vast and remote part of South Australia called the Coorong, where the Murray River meets the sea.

In a ramshackle house built of driftwood and spars from shipwrecks, Hester’s weary mother yearns for her own secure English life, which she gave up to become the wife of a man whose fecklessness means the family is always debtridden, and they must start yet again raising cattle on marginal land miles from anywhere. They soon interact with a local tribe of Aborigines that includes the fairer skinned Tully, whose father was either a whaler or sealer, and he joins Hester and her siblings in their home schooling. Like the shifting shoals and sands that surround them, this isolated family is alternately thrown together and then thrust apart by events beyond their control or simply their increasingly fractured personalities.

The 19th-century manners, dialogue and thought processes are thoroughly convincing. The author has a delicate touch and doesn’t resort to intimate description where it isn’t necessary. Mr Finch is a complex, deeply religious individual whose behaviour wavers between the honourable and the utterly reprehensible. As eldest daughter, Hester is duty-bound but longs to escape and follow her own path. Her flighty sister, Addie, pays a bitter price for her honesty and affections. Sensitive and artistic Fred struggles with his stubborn and boorish elder brothers. Tully has to try and negotiate the cruel ambivalence of the white man’s religion and society.

This is another brilliant and absorbing addition to the recent crop of exceptionally fine historical novels exploring the Australian pioneer experience and is very highly recommended.

Marina Maxwell SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE BARON OF BREDE PLACE: Book II, Sherlock Holmes and the American Literati Daniel D. Victor, MX Publishing, 2015, £8.99/€9.99/$14.95, pb, 233pp, 9781780927732 In the second of a new series “penned by” Holmes’ crony Dr. Watson (after The Final Page of Baker Street, 2014), Sherlock Holmes meets Stephen Crane: poet, journalist, and author famous for The Red Badge of Courage.

After learning from a local bigamist that Crane, who has a common-law wife and, perhaps, a lover, is being blackmailed by Milverton, one of London’s worst, Holmes deduces that the writer has financial problems. When Crane disappears, 19th Century — 20th Century

Holmes, who is charmed by Crane’s “wife” Cora and disgusted by the nefarious Milverton, works the case into his busy schedule. Thus begins a series of misadventures involving a gaggle of “wives,” wigs, and disguises, murder (of course), bombing, and haunting, plus destroyed evidence and a false proposal of marriage, to Holmes’s discredit, and an appearance by H. G. Wells. All in all, delving into Crane’s psyche is more interesting than the mysteries, but this is, after all, a work of fiction.

Although “Dr. Holmes’s” clunky sentences and superfluous detail detract from the prowess of the great man, mystery lovers will find Sherlock Holmes and the Baron of Brede Place entertaining.

Jeanne Greene CHILDREN OF THE DAY Louise Lenahan Wallace, All Things That Matter Press, 2015, $18.99, pb, 315pp, 978990715856 The Michaels family lives in Union County, Ohio in 1870. It’s a blended family, Larissa having lost her first husband in the recent war, and Ethan’s wife Nettie to snakebite. Larissa’s son Mac is in Philadelphia studying medicine; her daughter Rose lost her hearing during a measles attack. Ethan’s daughter Charity secretly loves Mac, but when he returns from Philadelphia with his fiancée, Amity, Charity is devastated.

So when a letter arrives from a family friend telling of a need for teachers in Wyoming, Charity decides to apply for a post there, to escape the constant reminders of Mac and Amity’s happiness.

Her former teacher, Miss Sullivan, agrees to accompany her on the long train journey, to help her settle into her first teaching assignment. Will Charity be able to handle rebellious students, frontier living, and a resentful rival, while overcoming her longing for Mac? This is a sequel to Day Unto Day, with references to past events, yet the story can stand alone. I cared about the characters, though there are a lot to keep track of; a list would have been helpful. There are parts which are a bit slow-moving: it takes from page 130 to 204 for Charity to board the train, arrive in Wyoming, and teach her first class. Yet slow isn’t necessarily bad. Interesting descriptions of the Wyoming landscape or a rural country store’s interior might have been cut from a fasterpaced story. But then there is one passage at the end that needed more exposition than it got: the change of heart in one character was rather abrupt.

Final verdict: I liked the novel, and would recommend it to readers who like to savor character and descriptions over quick action.

B.J. Sedlock MURPHY’S LAW: The Regulator – Book Two Ethan J. Wolfe, Five Star, 2016, $25.95, hb, 270pp, 9781432831394 In September 1881, Chester A. Arthur is sworn in as President of the United States. Murphy, known as the Regulator, and who has served as a special assistant to former Presidents, beginning with President Grant, is also a Secret Service agent. When his boss, William Burke, tells him

of counterfeit money being spread in the West, Murphy must put on hold his impending marriage to Sally Orr and head west to find the counterfeiters and arrest them before the American economy is badly shaken by this influx of new money.

Soon he is on the trail of the counterfeiters, taking him farther away from Washington.

Meanwhile, Sally is raped in her home while waiting for Murphy’s return. Afraid to tell him of the assault, knowing Murphy would kill the assailant, she decides to leave and head for Canada.

This second installment in the Regulator series can be read as a standalone, and I found it as exciting as the first. The fast-paced action and the unraveling of the plots and sub-plots make this book and series Western writing at its best.

Jeff Westerhoff LITTLE GIRL LOST Val Wood, Bantam Press, 2015, £18.99, hb, 361pp, 9780593074329 In 1842 Margriet is a lonely girl growing up in Hull under the claustrophobic watch of her mother. Her loving father commutes across the German Ocean (the North Sea) for business, and to visit his lovely mother in his Dutch homeland.

Meanwhile, until he returns, Margriet uses her intelligence and imagination to break her boredom and discovers a little Dutch girl. The two enjoy each other’s company. When tragedy strikes her young life, Margriet has to mature quickly and learn how to face a very changed future.

This is a coming-of-age novel, which delightfully twists and turns, as Margriet blossoms into a kind-hearted, sensible young woman. Her eyes are not blinkered to the suffering of the children around her neighbourhood. She is inspiring as a protagonist as she battles through her own emotional turmoil. The change in her home and her mother’s circumstances, as well as the surprising repercussions of her mother’s decisions – or perhaps lack of them – mean that Margriet has to use her clever mind and her compassion to inspire a future for them both. This heart-warming tale subtly deals with the issues facing women before they had any right to control their own lives.

They were brought up to be dependent on men and to serve as good wives and mothers. It also illustrates the folly of living your life purely to meet someone else’s, or society’s, expectations. The novel captures the essence of the town within the era and weaves through this the influences of two cultures separated by a tumultuous sea. I enjoyed reading Little Girl Lost and would heartily recommend it.

Valerie Loh

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THE MAGIC STRINGS OF FRANKIE PRESTO Mitch Albom, Harper, 2015, $25.99, hb, 480pp, 9780062418586 / Sphere, 2015, £14.99, hb, 420pp, 9781847442277 HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 39

Music is revealed in the first pages as one of the narrators, which made me a bit skeptical about the device. But Albom (Tuesdays with Morrie) makes it work. Music is joined as narrator by its devotees Wynton Marsalis, Burt Bacharach, Roger McGuinn, and Paul Stanley, among others, whose differing voices move the plot along and kept me reading.

Born in a besieged church during the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Francisco Presto bounces between two foster fathers, one of whom is a blind guitarist, El Maestro, who passes on his musical knowledge to the boy and arranges for Frankie to escape Franco’s Spain for America. El Maestro supplies him with a guitar with special strings which turn blue, a touch of magical realism that happens when Frankie affects the life of someone around him.

His climb to fame brings him in contact with the guest narrators and many other famous people in the music world: at one point, Frankie secretly stands in for Elvis during a concert, and has an impromptu performance at Woodstock. Frankie falls in love, but pursuit of a pop career affects his relationship with Aurora. While he eventually seems to secure a musical legacy, he struggles to find peace in his personal life.

The story jumps around in time, but that kept me guessing: Why was Frankie searching for eggs at Woodstock? Is the hairless dog going to reappear again? I didn’t think the storyline was difficult to follow despite being nonlinear. The impact of the ending was lessened a bit by one too many coincidences, but it was satisfying to have the plot threads completed and mysteries solved. I liked the novel a lot, and so will Albom’s many fans.

“Everyone joins a band in this life. And what you play always affects someone.”

B.J. Sedlock DAISY’S LONG ROAD HOME : Daisy’s War: Book 3 Merryn Allingham, Harlequin MIRA, 2015, £8.99, pb, 373pp, 9781848453982 This, the third book in a trilogy, takes place in 1948. WWII has ended and Daisy Driscoll is working in a hospital in Brighton, where her mother once nursed wounded soldiers sent home from the front. Daisy has problems in that, together with a failed marriage, she thinks that she was abandoned as a child and has no real idea of where her roots are. Her great friend, Grayson Harte, works for the government in security and is to be sent to India, together with another colleague, Mike Corrigan, to try and locate a missing colleague. Before leaving he goes to see Daisy in Brighton. Convinced that India features somewhere in her past, Daisy decides to give up her nursing job and go with them.

The book is set during the struggle for India’s independence, a period of which I have only the sketchiest knowledge, but it does have an air of reality about it and I assume, therefore, that the author has done her research. I have not read the two preceding books and found this one a little difficult to get into, but gradually things became clearer and I caught up with the plot. The tale is well told, with plenty of suspense and unexplained happenings. The characters are well-drawn and convincing, so much so that when the twist came at the end I was not surprised, having already worked 40 | Reviews |

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out who the ‘baddie’ was. Does Daisy finally find out who she is? I leave that to the reader to find out.

Merryn Allingham also writes Regency romances under the name of Isabelle Goddard.

Marilyn Sherlock EARLY ONE MORNING Virginia Baily, Little, Brown, 2015, $26.00, hb, 391pp, 9780316300391 / Virago, 2015, £12.99, hb, 400pp, 9780349006482 In 1939, as families are being deported from an Italian Jewish ghetto on their way to almost certain death, a mother on the train gives a bystander a silent, pleading look. In that moment of unspoken compliance, Chiara Ravello makes an impetuous, life-changing decision: she pulls a young boy off the train, pretending that he is her nephew. Chiara is part of the Italian Resistance and had planned to flee Rome to the safety of her grandmother’s country home. Her fiancé was killed, and both of her parents are dead, making her the sole guardian of her sister, who has epilepsy and brain damage as a result. But the decision to take and raise Daniele has a profound effect on the tiny family.

Years later, long after Daniele has disappeared from Chiara’s life, Chiara receives a phone call from a young girl from Wales purporting to be Daniele’s daughter. The girl, who recently learned of his existence, begs for information and goads Chiara into allowing her to stay with her in Italy to learn about the father she never knew. Chiara allows it but holds back key information from Maria. But someone is keeping information about Daniele from Chiara.

The story weaves back and forth in time, with present-day Chiara in her 60s. The reader only learns about Daniele through Chiara’s memories of him, both as a child and as a young man, and it is not an idyllic story. I closed the book with unanswered questions about Daniele and wanted to know more about him and about their mother-son relationship.

Nonetheless, the writing is exquisite, and the story, which is about motherhood, sacrifices and regret, is a poignant one.

Hilary Daninhirsch

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CARRY ME Peter Behrens, Pantheon, 2016, $26.95, hb, 443pp, 9781101870495 Before the First World War, young Billy Lange is captivated by a family friend, Karin Weinbrenner.

In the novel’s opening lines, he states, “Her story is not mine, but sometimes her story feels like the armature my life has wound itself around.” So as art imitates life, Peter Behrens weaves the past and the present, and the settings of the Isle of Wight, Ireland, Germany, and Texas, in a gripping tale of love and loss at the time of Nazi Germany.

Reunited in Frankfurt after World War I, Billy and Karin become fans of Karl May’s Winnetou tales, the most popular books published in Germany.

They unite in the love of May’s common dream, that of escape to El Llano Estacado, the great high plains of Texas, spreading out like a promise of freedom and happiness. This dream reappears for them whenever they meet in the years that follow, as they face the deaths of their loved ones, the heady rise of Nazism, and their escape to America. Their childhood friendship deepens into

a high-stakes love affair, only to culminate in Billy Lange’s startling realization about Karin’s impact on his life.

The novel is presented in a series of short bursts that mix non-fiction telegrams, pieces of letters, family histories, and scenes that shift not only location but time periods. Although seemingly disconnected, they resemble the bits and pieces of life experienced, life remembered, not in order, but as triggered by memory. The thread that unites the pieces lies in Billy and Karin’s love affair as they are caught in the mystical search for El Llano Estacado.

Each connection through time offers them not only a refuge, but also a definition of who they are in the mindless, faceless atrocities they witness. Karin’s characterization is of particular note: she is elusive, strong, yet vulnerable. It is she who intones the haunting words, “Carry me.” Her power lies in her remoteness, and when Billy is with her, he is under her spell. And so are we.

Liz Allenby CHARLOTTE’S STORY: A Bliss House Novel Laura Benedict, Pegasus Crime, 2015, $25.95/ C$33.95, hb, 400pp, 9781605988788 Bliss House is an old Virginia manse that holds many secrets. In the fall of 1957, Charlotte Bliss, upon the death of her mother-in-law, becomes keeper of the ominous home along with her husband. Shortly after Olivia Bliss’s death, Charlotte’s daughter Eva dies. Immediately, Charlotte is thrown into the depths of sadness and depression. But is her depression leading her into madness, or is Bliss House trying to show her the truth? When two friends of Charlotte’s husband die, on the way to Bliss House for Eva’s wake, Charlotte soon learns that nothing about Bliss House or the community around her is what it appears.

True to its Southern Gothic roots, Charlotte’s Story is both frightening and revealing. It is a “house” story where Bliss House becomes a significant character in the story, and Benedict gives the house as much depth as the characters themselves.

Benedict lulls the reader into her haunting story with an idyllic beginning that quickly spirals into layers of “proper” Southern society hiding terrifying secrets. Full of paranormal elements that will keep readers on the edge of their seats, and an ending that will both shock and horrify, Charlotte’s Story is not to be missed.

Bryan Dumas THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE Melanie Benjamin, Delacorte, 2015, $28.00/ C$36.00, hb, 368pp, 9780345528698 In 1950s New York City, the newspapers’ society pages were full of pictures and stories of the high and mighty women married to rich and powerful men: women such as Barbara “Babe” Paley, wife of CBS chairman Bill Paley, and her friends, “Slim” Keith, Gloria Guinness, and Pamela Harriman, among others. Often those pictures included 20th Century

Truman Capote, a favorite among high society women. As a gay, well-dressed, amusing writer who at times dived into the seamy underside of New York culture, Truman was an exotic specimen to these women – someone who entertained them endlessly, but was not a threat to their husbands or marital status.

Benjamin recreates this world of glamour, cigarettes, alcohol and gossip, following Babe, Truman, and the other swans from the mid-1950s into the 1970s, when the unthinkable happened, and the women found their intimate inner lives revealed in print in one of Truman’s stories. Along the way, Benjamin builds the relationship between Truman and Babe, two people longing to be loved for themselves, but who always felt they needed to put on the perfect front; they shared their innermost secrets and were honest with each other, learning to trust the intimacy of deep friendship.

This contrasts with the increasingly garish and bright New York culture, always demanding the newest fashions (in clothing as well as sex and drugs), which also threatens the well-bred women in Babe’s circle.

The final betrayal isn’t by the changing culture, but by one of their own; readers are treated to the inner workings of Truman’s writing habits, and the desperate search for inspiration, which would keep his name in the press and his books in print.

Readers will enjoy – and be saddened by – this fascinating peek into the lives of the real people behind the society pages.

Helene Williams GO AWAY HOME Carol Bodensteiner, Lake Union, 2015, $14.95, pb, 389pp, 9781503944206 A century ago, the roles of women were etched in stone: wife, homemaker, helpmate.

However, Liddie Treadway does not intend to be pigeonholed into the expectations of others – she has dreams beyond the Iowa farm in which she was raised. But when tragedy strikes the family, Liddie is forced, temporarily, to shelve her desires to become a dressmaker, staying on the family farm.

Eventually, though, she has an opportunity to live on her own in a boardinghouse in town and begin an apprenticeship as a seamstress.

In the meantime, Liddie strikes up a friendship with Joe Bauer, the hired help, and keeps up a correspondence with him after he leaves the farm, even while she is being courted by a wealthy business owner.

The book transports the reader to America’s heartland one hundred years ago, exploring the role of women and societal expectations, and vividly depicting the harsh realities of farm life. With a love story threaded through the pages, the novel could also be viewed as a coming-of-age story, with Liddie undergoing self-realization while learning to trust her instincts and her heart.

Go Away Home is a captivating and poignant saga, brimming with both tenderness and grit. The writing style is down-to-earth and will appeal to those who enjoy stories about strong women who defy convention.

Hilary Daninhirsch NOT BY SIGHT Kate Breslin, Bethany House, 2015, $14.99, pb, 20th Century

384pp, 9780764211614 I was intrigued by the opening scene of Not by Sight: wealthy suffragette Grace Mabry infiltrates a masquerade ball in 1917 to hand a white feather to playboy Jack Benningham, who has refused to enlist in the Great War. This is a time period and topic I’m familiar with, so I expected to enjoy the story.

Jack is an engaging combination of Erik from Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera and Rochester from Jane Eyre. His motivations and behavior are believable, aside from one exception regarding his prior engagement to another woman.

But Grace is more difficult to like. Though she has plenty of spunk and a kind heart, her tendency to feel guilty about actions she isn’t responsible for and her preachy, goody-two-shoes attitude to other characters grated on me.

This is an inspirational romance and Breslin does create believable chemistry between Jack and Grace. I enjoyed the way their relationship develops, though I could have done without Jack’s teaching Grace to be a good novelist by encouraging her to describe scenery with excruciating passages of purple prose. One question-and-answer session between them also reads like an info-dump. I liked the mystery and espionage subplot, but it won’t be enough for fans of mystery or spy thrillers. The inspirational elements are subtle except at the end, which seemed both rushed and contrived.

Readers who know about the women’s suffrage movement in the early 20th century will find the term “suffragette” misleading: Grace is in no way a suffragette (a term properly used only for the militant wing of the movement), nor does she even seem particularly concerned about women’s rights.

I would cautiously recommend the novel to fans of inspirational romance, but it will likely not appeal to others.

Clarissa Harwood MURDER ON A SUMMER’S DAY Frances Brody, Minotaur, 2016, $25.99, hb, 416pp, 9781250067401 / Piatkus, 2013, £8.99, pb, 416pp, 9780349400587 The 1920s amateur detective, revived in several recent mystery series, has another winner in WWI widow, Kate Shackleton. Kate, adopted from the slums into the aristocracy as an infant, has connections in society both high and low, extremely convenient for a sleuth. In this outing, Kate has been recruited by the India Office to solve the disappearance of an Indian Maharajah visiting an English country house. When Prince Narayan is found murdered, his fabulously valuable diamond missing, she is charged with solving the politically fraught crimes. Who is the killer? One of the locals who’d been guiding him through the countryside?

An aristocrat from the Duke of Devonshire’s country house? A member of an Indian royal family travelling to Bolton Abbey by train? Or, the maharajah’s fiancée, a gorgeous London showgirl with local roots? You’ll never guess.

Skillfully written and conceived, Murder on a Summer’s Day is a delightful, beautifully textured evocation of post-war British life, perhaps not so much as it actually was, but rather as it was fictionally conceived by contemporaneous writers such as Christie, Sayers, and Tey. Readers will feel as if they’ve come home again.

Joanne Dobson

THE AXEMAN (US) / THE AXEMAN’S JAZZ (UK) Ray Celestin, Sourcebooks, 2015, $14.99, pb, 420pp, 9781492609162 / Pan, 2015, £7.99, pb, 448pp, 9781447258889 The Axeman opens with a threat. New Orleans in the spring of 1919 was awash in rain, jazz, and murder when the Axeman, a real serial killer, posted a letter from “Hell” to the Times-Picayune predicting his next brutal slaying, promising to spare those “in whose home a jazz band is in full swing.”

As more bloodied, faceless victims are discovered, Detective Michael Talbot must solve the case before his family’s secret is revealed. Five years before the Axeman’s rampage, Michael sent his police mentor, Luca D’Andrea, to prison for collusion with the notorious Italian Black Hand gang. Released from prison early, Luca owes the mob one last job: find the killer who’s making the crime family look weak. Michael and Luca— once close, now competitors—scour crime scenes and bayous to save themselves and the citizens of New Orleans. The storyline of two men working through complicated pasts in a deadly present is layered with guilt and introspection.

Ray Celestin added another duo to his debut novel, perhaps too much of a good thing. Ida Davis, an aspiring secretary at Pinkerton’s Detective Agency, and her best friend, Lil’ Lewis—a young Louis Armstrong—also seek the Axeman.

Through the pair’s investigations, Celestin explores New Orleans’ black markets, jazz clubs, and racially charged neighborhoods.

The Axeman is a novel of relationships, regret, crime, and mystery set in a city lavishly described in concrete and sensual detail. For readers who come to love the ensemble cast, the epilogue places Pinkerton Detectives Talbot and Davis in Chicago in search of Louis Armstrong’s new boss: Alphonse Capone.

Jo Haraf

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THE DRESSMAKER’S WAR (US) / THE DRESSMAKER OF DACHAU (UK) Mary Chamberlain, Random House, 2016, $27.00/C$35.00, hb, 302pp, 9780812997378 / The Borough Press, 2015, £14.99, hb, 336pp, 9780007591527 1939. At nineteen years old, Ada Vaughan has English working-class roots and a stellar talent in dressmaking. Her dream of owning her own atelier and rubbing elbows with the wealthy pushes her to Paris with Stanislaus, her titled Austrian lover, at the brink of World War II. Abandoned by Stanislaus, she is trapped by the Nazis as they sweep into Paris. She is taken prisoner, sent to a concentration camp, and forced to work in demeaning jobs until her dressmaking talent is discovered. Alone, and fighting against the threat of cruelty and death at every turn, Ada makes decisions that will haunt her at the end of HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 41

the war. For once the war is over, the terror lies not only in the nightmarish past, but also in how she will be judged by men who have never been tortured, starved, or sexually abused, or who never had to make life-and-death decisions to survive.

Mary Chamberlain’s haunting and poignant debut work of fiction is one readers will carry with them for years to come. As a teacher of fashion and a skilled dressmaker, I could identify with teenage Ada’s aspirations and dreams for a better life. But war is a brutal teacher, and dreams are discarded out of necessity, no matter how skilled or talented one is. The decisions Ada has to make are decisions based on survival. The judgments rendered against her are based on pre-war standards and attitudes, not the reality and sadism of the brutal Nazi regime. Very highly recommended.

Monica E. Spence THE LONELY WAR Alan Chin, DSP Publications, 2015, $17.99, pb, 320pp, 9781632167972 In early 1941, Japan invades Southeast Asia.

Foreigners flee as best they can. Among them are 17-year-old Andrew Waters and his father, a US oil man based in Saigon. Andrew’s father had married a Chinese woman, who died when Andrew was six. Andrew, honoring his father’s wishes, enlists in the U.S. Navy, and troubles break out—Andrew’s Asian appearance, the struggle to reconcile his Buddhist training with this time of killing, the brutality of war, and the overpowering awareness that he is gay. The settings include Andrew’s boarding school, the U.S. Navy destroyer to which he’s assigned, a Japanese prison camp, and post-war Japan.

Against this rich and varied background, Chin explores some of the many natures, complications, hardships, and heartbreaks of love between men, between men and women, between the powerful and the powerless, and between those of vastly different cultures. Chin adds interesting sidebars of Japanese prison life and Japan in the time immediately after WWII. Chin’s writing is often literary, sometimes poetic, and in keeping with the broad sweep of the story, it illustrates the intensity of the love relationships and the coarseness of an all-male crew and prison camp. The male-centric story lines are nicely varied but in some instances resolve too coincidentally.

Certain details will disappoint some readers.

No destroyer was “twenty thousand tons of steel”; destroyers of this era ranged between 1000 and 3000 tons. No Japanese warship could sink another moving vessel with only a few minutes of gunfire from eight miles away and at night. Chin uses “amble” too often. But these and a few other misses do not undermine an interesting and welldeveloped story for both straight and gay readers.

G. J. Berger THE DUST THAT FALLS FROM DREAMS Louis de Bernières, Harvill Secker, 2015, £18.99, hb, 524pp, 9781846558764 / Pantheon, 2015, $27.95, hb, 528pp, 9781101946480 The beginning of the novel is somewhat ominously familiar: a perfect English setting in the early years of the 20th century, which is utterly ruined by the onset of the Great War. Rosie McCosh and Ashbridge Pendennis (a native of 42 | Reviews |

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Baltimore) were childhood sweethearts. Ashbridge joins up to do his bit, and you know what happens; very shortly, it ends with his foul-smelling possessions and mud-stained kit being returned to his bereft mother and desperate fiancée. The grieving Rosie finds consolation in her Christianity and becomes a VAD, helping the wounded at the enormous Netley hospital. Her three sisters also find various war work, and the main body of the story is set after the conclusion of the war, with Rosie and her sisters living near London, with their increasingly eccentric mother and kindly father. The incapacitating effect the war had on the soldiers and pilots as they tried to return to the normality of civilian life, with their subsequent relationships and employment back in England, is also illustrated through the marriages that the sisters make.

The story is narrated via a congenial gallimaufry of short chapters, starting off in a combination of first and third person, and then moving to just third person, with frequent forays into correspondence.

For a writer with de Bernières’ reputation, at times the prose and delivery is a little wooden, the pace is almost procedural. The story, too, is an unusual mixture of intimate tragedy, frequent horror and a sort of bouncy, surreal humour – often all mixed up in one short chapter. But it is novel that engages the reader and flows along pleasantly enough.

The conclusion leaves various loose ends, strongly suggesting that a sequel is in the cards.

Douglas Kemp

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THE BOTTOM OF YOUR HEART: Inferno for Commissario Ricciardi Maurizio de Giovanni (trans. Antony Shugaar), Europa Editions, 2015, $18.00/£11.99, pb, 408pp, 9781609452933 Maurizio de Giovanni’s brooding Commissario Luigi Ricciardi is back in the seventh installment of this terrific mystery series set in 1930s Naples, Italy. By now devoted readers are on intimate terms with Ricciardi and the rich cast that populates these character-driven novels.

First, there is Ricciardi – a melancholy bachelor in his thirties who sees and hears the last seconds in the lives of those who have suffered a violent death and, who, therefore, has resigned himself to inhabiting an insular, lonely world. Who does he let near? Two people only: his protective partner, Brigadier Raffaele Maione, and elderly Rosa, Ricciardi’s childhood governess, who lives with him still. Rosa, whose greatest wish has always been for him to find a nice girl, have a family, and settle down—is now gravely ill.

This time around, the mystery provides the backdrop for the author’s exploration into the complexities of love, trust, and betrayal. A renowned surgeon has fallen from his office window to his death. Was it suicide, or murder?

This happens as a spectacular heat wave holds Naples in its grip, much like the inferno burning in Ricciardi and Brigadier Maione’s hearts. Ricciardi,

because bespeckled, “plain” Erica, who embroiders at her window each night while Ricciardi stands in the shadows, admiring her from afar, is no longer there, and he does not know where she has gone.

Maione, because he suspects his beloved wife of having an affair, a turn De Giovanni handles with sensitivity and a welcome touch of humor.

This is a poetic book of voices, laments and favorite, recurring characters, not the least of which is Naples itself: bawdy, sprawling, filled with the sounds of both the living and the dead clamoring to tell their stories. A fine translation from the Italian by Antony Shugaar, as always. Very highly recommended.

Alana White LAST BUS TO WISDOM Ivan Doig, Riverhead, 2015, $28.95, hb, 450pp, 978159463202 Last Bus to Wisdom is Ivan Doig’s final novel.

The author passed away on April 9, 2015. The story is set in the Two Medicine Country of Montana, where orphaned Donal Cameron lives with his Gram, the cook on the Double W ranch. In the summer of 1951 Gram must undergo surgery. Her only option is to ship Donal off to their only living relative, her estranged sister in Wisconsin. And so begins Donal’s odyssey.

Indeed this is an “Odyssey”, with challenges and misadventures scaled to an 11-year-old Odysseus.

But the characters are more authentic, and there is far more humor and pathos than in the classic tale.

Donal’s trip on the Dog Bus, his doomed stay with Aunt Kate and Herman the German, his escape from same, and his surprise partnership with Herman as they retrace the trip back to Montana – are all salted with richly drawn characters that move the story at a rollicking pace. I won’t spoil the ending but promise that you will like it.

In Doig’s last “note to readers,” he describes himself as “the red-headed only child of a Montana ranch hand and ranch cook who died when he was six years old.” Like the red-headed Donal, he led a nomadic life following his father’s seasonal ranch work and carried the heart of a motherless child. Thus, one can’t help thinking that Last Bus to Wisdom is at least semi-autobiographical.

Donal seems very much the embodiment of the young Doig, who also took a cross-country trip in 1951 and, like his creator, Donal is a storyteller extraordinaire; his tales are little cameos in the epic adventure.

Biographical or no, the author’s life experiences resonate throughout and make Last Bus to Wisdom a wonderfully bittersweet closing to a beloved author’s career.

Lucille Cormier

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ONLY WITH BLOOD Thérèse Down, Lion Fiction, 2015, $14.99/£7.99, pb, 320pp, 9781782641353 Set in rural Ireland during World War II, this gripping story combines family drama with nerveracking political thrills. As 17-year-old Caitlin Spillane is sold into marriage with a much older man, certain Irish factions are trying to forge an alliance with Nazi Germany and overthrow the British. At first these strands do not seem to be related. Then Caitlin meets covert IRA man Donal Kelley, and the two plot threads start to intertwine 20th Century

in frightening, heartbreaking ways.

On her husband’s hardscrabble farm, Caitlin continues her schooling while cooking and cleaning for him.

At first seeming like a reclusive boor, Jack Flynn soon emerges as a complicated man with tragic reasons for his behavior. He is old at 43, prematurely aged by his difficult life, and made ill by it. Caitlin detests him and the bargain her father made that trapped her into this marriage.

She and Flynn mostly play fair, and she takes care of him stalwartly—albeit with little grace.

Donal has hurt and compromised his own family, but makes up for it as best he can. He loves Caitlin from a distance, and manages at least in part to get back at the Spillanes for what they did to her. Donal makes a pivotal political decision during a moment of crisis that will change his life—and probably Caitlin’s—forever. This story’s resolutions at least provide satisfaction and closure for the reader, if not entirely so for the characters.

Readers should not start this book in the evening, or they will be up all night. A multilayered, compelling page-turner, this is a mustread. Highly recommended.

Elizabeth Knowles ENFILADE Julia Draper, Ergo Press, 2015, £7.99, pb, 298pp, 9780993433009 1915. The Great War grinds on. Conscription has not yet been introduced but is on the horizon.

Jim Errington is torn between his desire to remain at home with his young wife, Elsie, and the need to do his duty. Other young men in his Northumberland village have signed up, and many have paid the ultimate sacrifice. Each day the women of the village gather in the square, waiting to see who will receive the dreaded telegrams telling of a loved one’s death. Ivan, Jim’s brother, only wishes to remain in Northumberland near Elsie who, unknown to her husband, is in love with both brothers. Thus the stage is set for a story of love, personal tragedy and family strife set against a background of horrific warfare.

Enfilade is the author’s first novel. It effectively portrays not only the suffering of the men at the front, but also the effects on their families left behind – fear, loneliness and dread. It was a hard time that brought out the best and worst in people.

The characters are believable, and the plot never falters. This is a fascinating debut from a talented new author, and I look forward to her next novel.

Mike Ashworth

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EXPOSURE Helen Dunmore, Hutchinson, 2015, £16.99, hb, 400pp, 9780091953942 / Atlantic Monthly, 2016, $25.00, hb, 400pp, 9780802124937 London 1960. Simon Callington is a relatively junior civil servant, working in naval intelligence.

He has a German-born Jewish wife, Lily, who was brought to England as a child to escape the Nazis, 20th Century

and three children.

His life is turned upside down when a senior colleague from the Admiralty, Giles Holloway, telephones him from a hospital bed to collect a highly classified file from his apartment. It is clear that Holloway is spying for the Soviet Union and photographs top secret intelligence. He has had a drunken accident in his apartment, and needs Simon to take the incriminating evidence away. Simon and Giles have a past – they had a homosexual relationship while Simon was studying at Cambridge. When Simon sees the file, he realises that something very serious is afoot, and that he could be in deep trouble.

Indeed, Simon is soon in an invidious position, and it becomes clear that with his homosexual background he is vulnerable to being the fall guy for the spies when the fact that the file is missing is exposed. And then Lily finds the file in their home and buries it in the garden of their London home. Simon is arrested, charged with espionage, and remanded in a London prison; it all gets rather unpleasant for everyone, including the hospitalised Giles.

Dunmore writes with consummate skill and narrates the story beautifully. Her books are superb visions of what life can be like, with minutely and accurately observed descriptions of human behaviour and emotions that both afflict and beguile us. The rather baleful, but often shabby, bureaucratic world of intelligence is analysed precisely. This book is simply a delight to read.

Douglas Kemp FIELD SERVICE Robert Edric, Doubleday, 2015, £17.99, hb, 300pp, 9780857522894 Captain James Reid is in charge of work for the construction and occupation of a war cemetery at Morlancourt, a small village in the Somme. It is the summer of 1920, and each morning a train arrives at the small station, containing coffins and remains of British soldiers to be interred in the new graveyard. Reid, who was wounded during the Great War, works for the War Graves Commission, which oversees the construction of the cemeteries throughout the areas in France where there was fighting from 1914 to 1918. Temporary burial sites and remains are seemingly found daily by French farmers returning to their land – the difficult task for Reid and others in the Commission is to identify these men. There are a raft of delays and bureaucracy, which cause delays and frustrations to Reid’s task. Reid is a decent man, but the pressures on him and his colleagues by his superior officers breed a cynicism and weariness; he sees little future and wonders how society will ever re-create itself from the chaos of the war. The form of the narrative replicates this cycle of scepticism, where the work stumbles on from one obstacle to another.

Edric gives little or no physical descriptions of his characters, who are essentially mouthpieces for the constant series of complications and personal grief and ambitions.

I’m not aware that this aspect of the Great War and its commemoration has been the subject of fiction before; it makes a positive change from the usual theme of the fighting itself. The whole novel is permeated with the war; with death and trauma, and with what happens to the devastated villages and the lives of those who are left to clear up the mess – both physically and spiritually. Very good fiction.

Douglas Kemp THE LIFE AND LOVES OF LENA GAUNT Tracy Farr, Aardvark Bureau, 2016, $14.95, pb, 304pp, 9781910709054 / Fremantle, 2013, A$26.99, pb, 312pp, 9781922089465 Musical prodigy Lena Gaunt rises to fame and acclaim in the 1930s as the world’s most accomplished master of the theremin, a unique electronic instrument played as a conductor “plays” an orchestra, by waving the hands in the air. When she is in her 80s and largely forgotten, a documentary filmmaker conducts a series of interviews with her in which Lena reluctantly tells her stories: a lesbian love affair, an out-ofwedlock childbirth, a tragedy that led to her opium addiction, and more.

Australian author Tracy Farr’s debut novel gets off to a compelling start, told in the delightfully cantankerous voice of the elderly, fictional Lena, and positively hums with perfect sentences and musical metaphors. About halfway through, though, the story sags, and so much that gave the book such promise fades: Lena’s tough-old-bird language and devastating wit; the younger Lena’s immersion in music and the breathtaking language associated with that; and the narrative, which moves along thrillingly through Lena’s relationship with “Trix,” an older, accomplished artist, but loses momentum at the very point where Lena’s story ought to sweep us along to its poignant climax.

For some reason, Farr has omitted key details, leaving the reader flipping through the pages, wondering what was missed, and raising questions never answered. In portraying an intensely private protagonist unwilling to tell all about her life, Farr seems to have detached herself from Lena, as well, depriving readers of the intimacy and emotional resonance those early, engaging chapters led us to expect.

Sherry Jones THE MYSTERY OF THE VENUS ISLAND FETISH Tim Flannery, St Martin’s, 2016, $24.99/C$28.99, hb, 304pp, 9781250079428 / Text, 2014, A$29.99/NZ$37.99, pb, 294pp, 9781922079305 This novel is a silly romp through the Australian Museum collection in 1932. Archie Meeks returns home to his fiancée, Beatrice, after five years of research living with the natives of Venus Island.

He finds the staff much changed in his absence: curators have left or simply gone missing, and Beatrice won’t speak to him. The museum’s most noteworthy artifact, the Venus Island Fetish, is a ceremonial piece ringed by 32 human skulls and hanging in a place of honor, but subtle changes have occurred. Some of the skulls have taken on a different coloration, and the number of odd skulls is, coincidentally, the number of missing curators.

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their skulls? Archie puzzles over this, but his biggest challenge will be winning Beatrice over and convincing her he is not crazy. The author, a former museum curator himself, enjoys creating his characters with whimsical names that sum up their jobs or personalities, which left me with a smile. The book is great fun to read.

Beth Turza GIVE THE DEVIL HIS DUE: A Rowland Sinclair Mystery Sulari Gentill, Pantera Press, 2015, A$29.99, pb, 374pp, 9781921997570 This is the seventh book in 1930s Australian mystery series featuring wealthy man-about-town Rowland Sinclair and his artistic friends, Edna Higgins, Clyde Walton Jones and Milton Isaacs.

Journalist Crispin White interviews Rowland at his palatial mansion about his upcoming participation in a motor race for the “Lucky Devil” cup. Within hours, White is found dead at a waxworks museum, his throat slashed. Milton is the likely suspect as he had issues with White and is the last person to see him alive. After an English Blackshirt aristocrat is killed during a practice race and someone tries to shoot Rowland, things start getting edgy.

There is a lot more going on here than murder: there’s the ambitious rookie journalist interested in the occult, Clyde’s romance with an Italian girl who has an angry father, skulduggery with fascist and communist organisations, and the underworld of illegal bookmaking. Many real-life Australians litter the pages, including scandalous artist Norman Lindsay, poet-journalist Kenneth Slessor and dashing young actor, Errol Flynn.

Even eccentric recluse Arthur Stace, who wrote “Eternity” in chalk on Sydney pavements, pops up.

This 1930s Sydney is vibrant and authentic, and the inclusion of a relevant newspaper cutting at the beginning of each chapter is a neat touch, but there are the usual problems for any reviewer coming late to a series such as this. Without knowledge of the back stories and the nature of Rowland’s personal relationships, these must be guessed at; ditto references to his previous adventures, including a recent trip to Germany and his arrest for some unspecified crime. Thus it almost goes without saying that in order to get the best value out of this highly original series with its quirky characters, it is recommended that readers seek out the earlier titles and follow them in sequence.

Marina Maxwell PLATINUM DOLL Anne Girard, MIRA, 2016, $15.99/C$18.99, pb, 368pp, 9780778318668 What a gem of a book this is! Anne Girard has taken the story of Jean Harlow, glamorous bombshell of the early days of motion pictures, and given us insight and even sympathy into the private life that built one of the biggest legends in Hollywood.

Jean was born Harlean Carpenter, dominated by her mother (the original Jean Harlow). At sixteen, she marries Chuck McGrew, a wealthy young man who promptly moves the couple to Hollywood.

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(working with Laurel and Hardy, for example), her mother and stepfather show up and begin to exercise control of her life. They would like nothing better than for Harlean to leave Chuck, something she refuses to do. As time goes on, Harlean literally falls into a major role, and the rest, as they say, is history.

My emotions ran the gamut of disbelief to excitement to sorrow for the beautiful starlet; intelligent and loyal, she allowed certain people way more control than she should, with disastrous results. The author gives us possible reasons for what happened and fills in the blanks with credible stories. It is an ultimately tragic tale of a talented young woman who died much too early but whose legend lives on. Highly recommended.

Tamela McCann THE YID Paul Goldberg, Picador, 2016, $26/C$29.99, hb, 320pp, 9781250079039 The Yid is a black comedy set during the antiSemitic Doctors’ Plot of 1953, a ruthless pogrom that nearly sealed Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s reputation as history’s maddest, meanest and most murderous tyrant.

Old and crazy Solomon Levinson is a former actor from the Yiddish theater and a former Red Army cavalryman. His ability to execute Nijinskystyle soaring leaps while brandishing cavalry sabers enables him to escape liquidation by the Secret Police. Levinson decides that he must kill Stalin before Stalin can kill him. Together with a motley gang of conspirators who represent various strains of anti-Stalinism and who argue endlessly about the meaning of history, Marxist-Leninism, racism, Shakespeare, theatre, Judaism and medieval folklore, Levinson sets out to kill Stalin.

Levinson and his friends speak in a spicy mélange of English and transliterated Yiddish and Russian that is surprisingly reader-friendly.

What many readers will have trouble with are the frequent graphic descriptions of violent, gooey, messy death. This is not gratuitous, however.

Stalin used the fear of torture to terrorize the people he ruled, so torture and mutilation form a necessary counterpoint to the hijinks depicted in the story.

The publisher’s PR describes this novel as “a crazy Soviet Ragtime,” a narrative that balances philosophy and farce to reveal some home truths about “an individual’s place in the scope of history.”

It is more a muddle of points of view and frequent digressions. Like Leacock’s rider, the story “gallops off in all directions.” The ritual murder passage that is intended to be the climax of the book is way too long and manages the difficult feat of simultaneously jumping the shark and being tedious.

Liz Milner SMOKE AND MIRRORS : A Stephens and Mephisto Mystery Elly Griffiths, Quercus, 2015, £16.99, hb, 338pp, 9781784290559 In this novel Detective Inspector Stephens and magician, Max Mephisto, who previously appeared in Elly Griffith’s novel The Zigzag Girl, become involved with the disappearance and subsequent murder of two children. As with the previous

book, the locale is primarily Brighton, England in 1951, when post-war rationing was still part of everyday life. The backdrop of the story is an endof-the-season pantomime production of Aladdin in which Max is playing the villain, Abanazar. The children’s bodies are discovered in a staged setting in the snow surrounded by sweets and, as Stephens and his team begin to investigate the crime, they consider the significance of fairy tales in this case. The dead girl has been writing plays and is planning to produce one – The Stolen Children – with the help of her teacher, who is also murdered during the course of the story. The fairy tales’ allegorical resemblance to real life themes becomes apparent as the story progresses and always, in the background, the nature of theatre and the actor’s life. The novel is an entertaining read and could be followed up with some of the author’s other novels.

Julie Parker THE HOLLOW GROUND Natalie S. Harnett, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2015, $15.99, pb, 336pp, 9781250067753 Eleven-year-old Brigid Howley lives a grim life in Pennsylvania coal mining country, where mining accidents kill or maim many and the ongoing mine fires threaten to consume them. Brigid is a descendant of a member of the Molly Maguires on her father’s side, and family lore claims that the Howleys are cursed. With a father who is injured and a mercurial, combative mother, Brigid believes in the curse, as she has little cause to believe otherwise.

When a sinkhole claims her aunt’s life, the family is forced to move in with her father’s parents.

Brigid’s Gram and Ma have an acrimonious relationship, and Gram makes no secret that Brigid’s late uncle was her favorite child. As the fire spreads – often causing daffodils to bloom in the winter – the federal government declares their neighborhood a slum and begins to demolish the houses, uprooting the residents and leaving them to find new lives elsewhere. Brigid’s Ma leaves, her father descends into melancholy, adultery, and alcohol, and Brigid and her Gram are left to fend for themselves as the demolition date nears.

This novel sheds light on a relatively little-known tragedy, namely the evacuation of entire eastern Pennsylvania mining towns such as Centralia. The people who lived and worked there seem largely forgotten, as if they simply disappeared with their homes. This heartbreaking tale provides insight into their struggles. Brigid must endure poverty, verbal abuse, the abandonment by her mother, the adultery and alcoholism of her father, scandal, and a cyclical pattern of despair from generations past.

This story rings true, and yet it’s a difficult one to read, both because of the never-ending series of tragedies and because the readers are left with scant optimism that Brigid will prevail. You will need a box of tissues for this one.

Rebecca Henderson Palmer THE CALIFORNIA WIFE Kristen Harnisch, HarperCollins Canada, 2016, C$22.99, pb, 432pp, 9781443426466 / She Writes, 2016, $17.95, pb, 432pp, 9781631520877 Second in a series about a Franco-American winemaking family at the turn of the 20th century, The California Wife presents the next stage in life 20th Century

for its heroine and hero – as well as the next step in the development of their winemaking business.

The Vintner’s Daughter was an enjoyable romantic saga, and this new entry, which spans 1897 to 1906, is even more involving. Harnisch has hit her stride as a writer: the pacing never flags throughout this lengthy novel, and the many trials that Sara and Philippe Lemieux undergo, separately and together, add new layers to their character.

Sara and Philippe, whose families shared a painful history in France’s Loire Valley, get married and settle on their large California vineyard, planning to raise their orphaned nephew as their own. However, Sara’s desires are torn between making Eagle’s Run a success and her obligations toward her beloved vineyard back home.

Competition among local winemakers is heating up; so is pressure from prohibitionists. The story brings readers deeply into the economics of the wine industry – a unique historical fiction subject – as the couple negotiates prices, develops creative sales techniques, and secures buyers in Napa and elsewhere. Philippe’s role as primary supplier of sacramental wine to the local archdiocese causes grumblings, and that’s just one impediment to their financial goals. Although their love remains strong, their married life is equally turbulent. Operating within a male-dominated field, Sara’s vast winegrowing experience is sometimes downplayed, and Philippe’s former mistress introduces a new complication to their happiness.

Later chapters draw in the viewpoint of Sara’s good friend, Marie Chevreau, an experienced midwife who aspires to become a surgeon – another ambitious woman whose presence complements the growing cast. Readers will enjoy being whisked back in time to Napa’s beginnings as a major wine-producing region, and the stage is set for future adventures with these warm-hearted, ambitious characters.

Sarah Johnson THE SOLDIER’S WIFE Pamela Hart, Piatkus, 2015, £7.99, pb, 355pp, 9780349410180 / Hachette Australia, 2016, A$14.99, pb, 384pp, 9780733631214 This book opens in 1915 in the midst of World War I as Jimmy Hawkins is about to be sent away to Gallipoli. Although his wife, Ruby’s, roots are from the country, she made a decision to live in the city while her husband is away. The book follows her progress as she gains a position in a man’s world and is thrown into all that this entails. Although seemingly naïve to begin with, she does prove herself to be of strong character and perfectly capable of carrying out her job as a bookkeeper. In the meantime she receives letters from the front periodically, with Jimmy looking forward to returning home to Australia to settle and start a family. However, bad news does come from the front and has an effect on Ruby’s life.

Hart does a marvelous job creating the social landscape of the time. It was interesting to note the reaction of people to a woman getting a job in a man’s world. She portrays the difficulties faced by men coming home from the atrocities of war, to settle back into life, as clearly the war has affected them, and it is not a straightforward process.

Cathy Powell 20th Century

SPILT MILK Amanda Hodgkinson, Penguin, 2014, £8.99, pb, 304pp, 9781905490714 The Marsh sisters, Nellie and Vivian, are inseparable until the great flood of 1913 brings a charismatic but unreliable stranger to their isolated cottage in rural Suffolk. The events that follow have repercussions that affect not only the two sisters, but younger generations of their family as well.

Amanda Hodgkinson’s second novel is about mothers and daughters, as much as it is about sisters, and particularly about how different women in different eras and different circumstances deal with the issue of finding themselves pregnant by a man who cannot or will not marry them.

There is a lot to admire about this book, such as the lyrical descriptions of the Suffolk countryside and the clever use of parallel scenes (two floods; two scenes of near-drowning; the way the beginning and the end dovetail with each other).

I rather like the fact that the reader uncovers family secrets, while the characters fail to spot the significance of what they are being told or shown, which is probably more realistic than most novels on a similar subject.

I couldn›t help feeling at times that I was being kept at a distance from the characters. There were many interesting moral dilemmas within the story, but Hodgkinson has a tendency to approach them obliquely, in brief flashbacks rather than dramatising them directly. This means that, for me at least, the scene that I assume was meant to be the grand climax of the book fell flat, and I couldn›t help imagining what, say, Ruth Rendell or Sarah Waters would have done with the same material. A pleasant read for anyone interested in 20th century history.

Jasmina Svenne

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BOTTOMLAND Michelle Hoover, Grove, 2016, $16.00, pb, 336pp, 9780802124715 Hess is a German name – and on the bleak Iowa plains in the wake of World War I, that means confronting your neighbors’ anti-German sentiment, being ostracized, banished from their society. It is difficult enough to be an immigrant, struggling to farm and raise your family in this harsh and unforgiving environment – but when you also are not welcome in your own community, the resulting grief and shame are unremitting and the isolation often intolerable.

Esther and Myrle, the two youngest Hess daughters, find a way to leave this bleak existence one night. It isn’t immediately clear why they leave or whether they are, in fact, still alive, but they find a way out of their strangling lives, seeking something better. The family’s efforts to find them are futile; finally the younger son, Lee, who has come home from the war after being wounded, goes to Chicago to find his missing sisters. He returns without them after scouring the boarding houses and waiting at the garment mills at the end of each day

– a life almost as bleak and difficult as that they left in Iowa – hoping to spy the young girls and bring them home. But that is not the end of the story, and perhaps it is really just the beginning.

Hoover tells the story of the Hess family in shifting voices from children to father to children.

The stark pioneer life vividly portrayed by Hoover is reminiscent of Cather, and her Chicago of Dreiser. Although deeply disturbing and often difficult to read because of the depth of despair experienced by each member of this family, Hoover is an eminently talented writer who captures a reader, moving us forward to a resolution that speaks of hope, reconciliation and acceptance.

Highly recommended.

Ilysa Magnus NIGHTFALL OVER SHANGHAI Daniel Kalla, Forge, 2016, $27.99, hb, 416pp, 9780765383808 Dr. Franz Adler, a refugee from Germany, and his Eurasian wife, Sunny, a native of Shanghai, live through the Japanese occupation in 1944.

Several Jewish residents are responding to the war by imagining a new type of existence in Palestine within the Zionist movement. Survival is the essence of their lives and this novel, and Kalla brilliantly depicts each character with extraordinary responses to the prevailing conditions. These include three Japanese officers: one is a coward who brutalizes wounded Japanese soldiers with horrific beatings with his cane, and another, Captain Ghoya, who calls himself the “King of the Jews” as he dispenses exit passes, orders Dr. Adler to the Japanese front and executes other residents.

However, after initially neutralizing Franz’s communication attempts, the third Japanese officer, Captain Suzuki, gradually confesses his own war stories, which have broken him and enabled him to have a well-hidden compassionate side, one which will probably cause his demise.

Another German officer terrorizes Franz, with no motivation other than the power it feeds his warped ego. Spies abound, despite the known consequences of discovery and capture. One of them devises an ingenious plan. Sunny, a nurse whom Franz has trained as a surgeon, adopts a child, whose life clearly serves as a symbol of hope for a better future.

Rather than stereotyping these and other people, Kalla offers readers a panoramic view of individuals with singular characteristics who bond into a protective community assisting each other through many different types of suffering, and who display unique aspirations for a free future as the end of the war approaches. Remarkable historical fiction that is a must read!

Viviane Crystal THE SECRET LIFE OF ANNA BLANC Jennifer Kincheloe, Seventh Street, 2015, $15.95/ C$17.00, pb, 368pp, 9781633880801 Anna Blanc is the daughter of a wealthy banker in Los Angeles. She cannot abide by the rigid rules of 1907 high society, and she bucks the system whenever she can. She hides crime novels in the covers of more appropriate reading, and she longs to live the life of a sleuth. When Anna sees an ad in the newspaper for a police matron position, she knows it is an opportunity she cannot pass up.

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But, first she has to get away from her horrendous chaperone. All it takes is a little bribe, and Anna finds herself downtown applying for, and getting the matron position – in disguise, of course. There, Anna learns that prostitutes are being killed, but that the police are ruling them suicides and not investigating. Anna resolves to do some detective work on her own and discover who is killing L.A.’s prostitutes. But doing so threatens to expose her identity, destroy her engagement, and face disownment by her father. To complicate matters, Anna is falling in love with a police officer from her station.

The Secret Life of Anna Blanc won the 2013 Colorado Gold contest in the mystery category, and as a mystery it is a fine book. However, Anna’s character often comes off as a spoiled, petulant child who toys with people for the fun of it, and that can be off-putting. The mystery-romance is, as a whole, a good story, and the look into parts of Los Angeles society in the early 1900s is interesting.

For me, the focus on all the fashion got in the way of the story, but it is a fairly well-written book that has enough plot twists to hold your attention.

Bryan Dumas FLIGHT OF DREAMS Ariel Lawhon, Doubleday, 2016, $25.95, hb, 336pp, 9780385540025 Any reader fascinated by the tragic disaster of the German passenger airship the Hindenburg will want to read Ariel Lawhon’s imaginative and thrilling new novel, Flight of Dreams. The Hindenburg, Nazi Germany’s showpiece of air travel, exploded as it approached its mooring pole at Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937. The ship was completely destroyed in half a minute. Of the 97 people on board, 35 died. An inquiry attributed the fire to a discharge of atmospheric electricity in the vicinity of a hydrogen gas leak in the ship, but over the years various theories have pointed to sabotage.

Lawhon reimagines the last voyage of the Hindenburg, populating the ship with the real passengers, including the only female crew member, Emilie Imhoff. Lawhon describes the ship’s interior, passenger quarters, and staff areas, as well as the lavish meals and furnishings. But the thrilling plot is entirely Lawhon’s. The book is written in present tense, which heightens the tension. Multiple points of view add to the unsettling notion that no one on board can be trusted. As Emilie’s budding love affair develops, intrigue grows among the passengers. Though the climactic explosion comes as no surprise, the results are shattering.

The book is professionally written and wellresearched. The dialogue is believable and the characters well-rounded. Although the shifting points of view create a choppiness in some areas that could have been prevented by combining chapters, the shifts nevertheless contribute to the rapidly building climax.

Lawhon is also the author of The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress and co-founder of the popular website, SheReads.org. If the quality of this work is predictive of Lawhon’s future novels, lovers of historical fiction have something to look forward to.

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THE FOOD OF LOVE: Book One, Laura’s Story Prue Leith, Quercus, 2015, £19.99, hb, 432pp, 9781784290689 England before the Second World War, and we follow Laura, the youngest of three siblings with two brothers each born a decade apart, and her relationship with her parents, through her formative years into adulthood. Laura’s father, Donald, dotes on his little girl, elevating her onto a pedestal and promising her (and himself ) that she will enter society with all the trappings associated with a debutante. Donald holds the position of Chair of the War Agriculture Committee, which gives him the opportunity to acquire part of the poorly farmed land owned by his neighbour, Lord Frampton, thus encouraging his ambitions for moving up the social ladder. Unfortunately, hopes are dashed by the developments outside the family unit. Following her first unsatisfactory adult relationship with a Polish plumber from a German Prisoner of War camp, Laura falls in love with Giovanni, who works at a local hotel restaurant.

Her father hasn’t approved of either of Laura’s choices of partner and now, with a baby out of wedlock on the way, she and Giovanni must leave the Cotswolds to set up a new life in London. Postwar London is not the welcoming destination the young couple envisaged, and life proves a challenge for them, resulting in further heart-wrenching moments.

Having not read any of Prue Leith’s previous writing, I had expected that this story would be less of a complete work and more of a history of recipes. I was therefore pleasantly surprised that the tale was well told, flowed with conviction and introduced believable characters to fulfill the expectations intimated in the title.

Cathy Kemp GOOD HOPE ROAD Sarita Mandanna, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2015, £14.99, hb, 385pp, 978029760928 Good Hope Road centres on Jim, a young man in a New England apple orchard during the Great Depression, who falls in love with glamorous city girl, Madeline, while struggling to understand his father, “the Major,” a reclusive alcoholic veteran. Interspersed is the story of an unlikely friendship between James Stonebridge, an educated and cultured New Englander, and Obediah Nelson, a charming and wandering black Southerner, who come together as two Americans in the French Foreign Legion during the Great War. The dialect-heavy first person story of Obediah (supplemented by extracts from James’ journal) brings the horrors of war to life and makes a refreshing break from the less personal, omniscient later narrative. The historical details are rich and the language beautifully crafted, and the two narratives complement each other, threading together neatly but rather hurriedly in the end. The rushed pace covering several years at the end of Jim’s story waters down the emotional impact of the revelations that punctuated James and Obediah’s friendship. And while the inclusion of the Bonus Army plotline is interesting and ultimately serves as the medium through which the Major and Jim could understand each other (if not communicate),

the focus on the character of Connor feels lopsided without an echo of him in the earlier narrative.

An enjoyable, wide-reaching story including some lesser-known aspects of the War and its aftermath. Sarita Mandanna is an ambitious and accomplished author.

Rachel Richardson DANCE OF DEATH Edward Marston, Allison and Busby, 2015, £19.99, hb, 352pp, 9780749018399 Set in 1916, this is the fifth title in the Home Front Detective Series. Dancer Simon Wilder leaves his house, lost in his own thoughts, not realising that as the drama of another Zeppelin raid breaks out around him he is being stalked.

The Zeppelin is hit and turns into a fireball. All eyes are watching the spectacle with the exception of Wilder’s murderer. The task of discovering who killed him, and why, falls to Inspector Marmion and the handsome Sergeant Keedy.

The main focus of the novel is the intricate and mysterious murder mystery. However, the amazing detail, which is slipped in about the horror and dramatic changes occurring, due to the war, is revealed through the characters within the plot. The need for women to do men’s work and the existence of the Women’s Police Force is one major development, and how they were viewed by the communities they served is shown quite clearly.

Many men went to war, many did not return and of those who did, they often returned physically wounded and mentally scarred. The effect upon the families who had to adapt and try to understand how to cope with their changed relative(s) is also sympathetically revealed.

The novel is a joy to read. The masterly way the story is crafted makes the mystery an enjoyable puzzle to fathom, the surprising truth being revealed in the conclusion. The personal lives of Marmion and Keedy overlap, but not when it comes to their professional working relationship.

Their camaraderie makes for a detective duo who, I hope, have many more mysteries to solve. I would recommend this book to lovers of beautifully written and crafted crime fiction.

Valerie Loh

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TIGHTROPE Simon Mawer, Little, Brown, 2015, £16.99, hb, 412pp, 9781408706213 / Other, 2015, $15.95, pb, 512pp, 9781590517239 April 1945, and Marian Sutro, a young woman with English-French parentage, has returned to her parents’ home in Oxford after working for the Special Operations Executive behind the German lines in France. She was captured and tortured and escaped from the Germans after being incarcerated in Ravensbrück concentration camp and now, somehow, has to find a way of moving on with her life. This is her story of her life as it is formed by the horrors of war, with the shocking back-story revealed as the narrative progresses. It is a tale of extreme bravery, despair and human treachery.

Marian comes out of her ordeal as a heroine, to be decorated by the British and French states, but she does not feel herself to be an unusually brave woman , but one who has been irredeemably damaged by her experiences in France at the hands of her German opponents and captors. As the USA 20th Century

uses the atom bomb in Japan and the former allies polarise into the Cold War, Marian tries to make sense of this constant conflict, whilst attempting to live a normal life, impossible though that is for her.

And so she is sucked back into hazardous intelligence work – balancing a precarious tightrope of clandestine confused loyalties and personal infidelity.

Marian’s story is narrated by Samuel Wareham, who was a young boy when Marian returned to Oxford, and whose families knew each other.

Marian’s beauty, glamour and magnetism possessed the young Sam. Some of the events in Marian’s life have been imagined by Samuel; he does not know precisely what happened, but has deduced them from the plot of her life and later from researching the files covering her espionage activities. This is a wonderfully unfolded story, one that engages the reader in the plot and the lives of these people.

Excellent, intelligent fiction.

Douglas Kemp CHANGE: Lives Apart – A World War Two Chronicle, Volume Two Carole McEntee-Taylor, GWL Publishing, 2015, £12.99/$20.00/€18.00, pb, 414pp, 9781910603147 Change is the second novel in this Lives Apart series by Carole McEntee-Taylor, a follow-up to Separation, and is set in 1940 in various locations around war-torn Europe. Here we continue the story of Joe Price, British soldier, prisoner of war in Poland; his girlfriend Peggy Cooper, a student nurse; and Peggy’s cousin, Olive, whose secret lover is a German soldier. From across the Channel are Marcel Servier, Free French soldier training in Britain; his family at home in France, including his brother, Louis, and cheating girlfriend, Brigitte, who also sleeps with a German officer; Marcel’s estranged Jewish girlfriend, Jeanne; and her family, who flee to southwest France. We follow the main characters, their families and friends through bombing and intrigues, births, marriages and deaths. There is a genuine flavour of the fear and deprivation that enveloped Europe at the time.

The novel is prefaced by a very essential cast of characters, many first introduced in Separation, as the sheer number of protagonists could be difficult to follow. McEntee-Taylor manages the many individuals and locations with short segments within chapters; thus the reader rarely has time to drift. However, this also makes establishing and filling out a personality more difficult. There are nice descriptive passages and only short flashes of battle scenes as balance.

Although there is action throughout the novel, the writer is clearly aiming to carry the reader through the whole saga, and the conclusion of this instalment brings no denouement. Fans will need to wait for Book Three to bring a sense of an ending.

Jo Galloway 20th Century

THE EDGE OF LOST Kristina McMorris, Kensington, 2015, $15/ C$16.95, pb, 327pp, 9780758281180 The Edge of Lost opens on Alcatraz in 1937, with an elusive prologue describing a moment from an apparent escape attempt. The prologue ends with the sentence, “So long as they didn’t find the girl.”

The questions that sentence raises entice the reader forward to nearly the end of the novel, where the mystery of which girl and why is answered.

After the prologue, the novel jumps back to 1919 in Ireland, with a young boy, Shanley Keagan, an orphan in the dubious care of his violent and drunk uncle. Over the course of the novel, Shan is given a multi-layered portrayal as a thoughtful person, smart and able to charm, who nonetheless sometimes makes understandably bad decisions.

We learn that Shan has a talent for humor, music and imitating accents. When his uncle realizes they might make more money in America with Shan’s skills as an entertainer, they head to New York.

Eventually Shan is taken in by an Italian family and acquires a new identity. From this ItalianAmerican world he becomes connected to crime, although not as a criminal. The circumstances that eventually put him in Alcatraz are constructed to leave him relatively blameless.

All of this complexity makes for a plot that will either intrigue the reader or feel artificially constructed. Moving between both Irish and Italian immigrant communities adds dimension to the novel and serves the plot at several points, but McMorris exploits stereotypes at times, even while she develops characters within them that we care about.

Judith Starkston STARS OVER SUNSET BOULEVARD Susan Meissner, NAL, 2016, $15.00, pb, 400pp, 9780451475992 Following the paths of two women, this story takes readers to 1930s Hollywood and the glamorous film set of Gone with the Wind. Audrey Duvall and Violet Mayfield are roommates and both employed as stenographers at Selznick International Pictures, though each with her own goals for the future. Violet had moved across country to make a new life for herself after a failed relationship, and Audrey, a one-time silent film star, was networking and trying to make a comeback in the industry. With the highly anticipated film adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s bestselling novel, the stage is set for both women to get closer to her own heart’s desire.

As with the author’s previous novel, Secrets of a Charmed Life, this is an intricately layered story about choices and consequences over several decades. While early in the story the reader is drawn toward Violet’s character with her naïve, but well-intended decisions, later Audrey’s pragmatic attitude and unspoken wisdom evens out the score, making a perfect dual perspective. There are plenty of famous names discussed, such as Lillian Gish, Clark Gable, Laurence Olivier, and Vivien Leigh, and though they were not the main focus, the inclusion sets the tone of the story and gives credence to the lofty title.

This novel is a delight for fans of the early Hollywood era, as it brings to light the inner workings of a famous film set and many of the

actual people, props and rumors that are still widely discussed today. Meissner’s signature style tends to be weaving a complicated and multifaceted narrative with troubled characters – and it works exceedingly well in satisfying readers with high expectations of entertaining, but historically accurate reads.

Arleigh Johnson US CONDUCTORS Sean Michaels, Bloomsbury, 2015, £16.99, hb, 260pp, 9781408868669 / Random House Canada, 2014, C$26, hb, 368pp, 9780345815767 / Tin House, 2014, $15.95, pb, 464pp, 9781935639817 Sean Michaels’ debut novel has already won Canada’s 2014 Scotiabank Giller prize and deservedly so. It is a fictionalised account of the life of Lev Termin, better known in the West as Leon Theremin, Russian scientist and inventor, most famously of the electronic instrument that bears his name. The novel takes the form of a yearning, searching love letter to Clara Rockmore, Lev’s “one true love”. It ranges from his life in Petrograd (St Petersburg) as a young man meeting his hero Lenin, through his adventures in New York during the roaring twenties as a celebrity inventor and Russian spy, and back to Stalin’s USSR and a Siberian gulag.

Lev is an intriguing character – at times weak, self-obsessed and delusional, yet compelling nonetheless. His naiveté in both his professional and personal life engages the reader’s empathy, and his love for Clara is heartfelt without being sentimental. The passages describing the journey to and life in the gulag are exceptional, describing not only their horrors with dreadful exactitude but also Lev’s bewilderment at finding himself in such a reality. As a result, this is a novel of great contrasts: light and dark, hope and despair, love and illusion.

Michaels’ prose is beautiful in its restraint, as pure and otherworldly as the sound of the theremin he seeks to invoke.

Despite the beauty of the writing, the plot does slightly peter out towards the end, and the author tells us that there are a number of inventions within the storyline (including, for instance, a fictional murder), which seems a shame when Theremin’s life contains so much incident without the need for further embellishment. This novel is not without its flaws, therefore, but notwithstanding them, this is a beautiful, well-crafted and wide-ranging novel. It’s a highly enjoyable read – very much recommended.

Charlotte Wightwick BETWEEN ENEMIES Andrea Molesini (trans. Antony Shugaar & Patrick Creagh), Atlantic, 2015, £12.99, pb, 352pp, 978857897954 November 1917. Austrian soldiers requisition the estate of the aristocratic Spada family, near Venice. The family and their servants, as well as the occupying forces, struggle to find a way of living together against a background of barbarity which tests standards of civilised living on both sides and foreshadows a new Europe in which there will be no place for aristocratic archaisms.

Narrated by 17-year-old Paolo Spada, heir to the estate, this novel is more than a little reminiscent of Lampedusa’s The Leopard. It is similarly HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 47

distinguished by its memorable characterisation and its combination of tragedy and broad humour, as well as by its setting at a major turning point in history among people who are deeply rooted in the traditions of the past. Although the dramatic events of the Great War drive the story, what lies at its heart is the way in which everyone – from Grandma Nancy, obsessed by mathematics and enemas, and Grandpa Guiglielmo, who escapes into the novel he believes he’s writing on a typewriter named Beelzebub, to Baron von Feilitzsch, whose sense of military honour is warped by a dishonourable and brutal conflict, and the steward, Renato, leading a double life – struggles to come to terms with the new era. This is a novel of quiet, genteel desperation in which, until its unbelievably tense conclusion, most of the action takes place offstage and the focus is on the interior lives of the characters.

A wonderful novel but not, alas, as well served by its translators as it merits. However, despite some passages of somewhat clunky English, it’s a great read – funny, tragic, surreal, romantic, brutal and utterly gripping from beginning to end. Highly recommended.

Sarah Bower THE MONET MURDERS Terry Mort, Pegasus Crime, 2015, $25.95/ C$33.95, hb, 295pp, 9781605986975 Riley Fitzhugh is a novice detective in 1934 Hollywood. He loves the sun, the women, and the movie industry, and knows there’s plenty of crime to investigate. Because it’s Hollywood, and also because of his slightly inconvenient past activities, involving money laundering and the FBI, Riley goes by the name Bruno Feldspar and has adopted the hard-boiled qualities of his new moniker and profession. A studio contact lands him a job tracking down a lookalike of an executive’s dead wife at the same time as he meets a society wife who thinks her Monet painting has been stolen and replaced by a forgery. The movie and art worlds collide as Riley penetrates the gambling ships off the LA coast as well as the hallowed halls of a local university and museum. Keeping track of the women, the paintings, the drunken screenwriters, and the interweaving pieces of these cases (which do include dead bodies needing to be disposed of ) makes for a romp through the lighter side of the noir detective life. Readers may recognize some of the characters from real life (is that F. Scott Fitzgerald?), and all will enjoy how Mort makes Riley the pivot point of this fast-paced adventure.

Helene Williams THE TAXIDERMIST’S DAUGHTER Kate Mosse, Orion, 2015, £7.99, pb, 416pp, 9781409153771 / William Morrow, 2016, $26.99, hb, 432pp, 9780062402158 Connie is a self-possessed young woman living in an isolated house at the edge of flooding water meadows in Sussex. She is coping with an alcoholic father, practising the delicate art of bird taxidermy, and experiencing flashbacks from a childhood accident that has left her with disquieting amnesia.

Harry is the likeable, aimless son of a respectable doctor, an aspiring artist forced to work for a vulgar town merchant. Harry’s father goes missing after an argument with a mysterious stranger. As the 48 | Reviews |

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spring waters begin to rise Connie’s father also goes missing. Can she piece together the mystery of her past? Harry and Connie meet fishing the body of a garroted woman out of the flooding river. Can Harry rise to the occasion and prove his mettle?

The scene is set for an enjoyable romp through a murder mystery.

Kate Mosse delights in weaving together the tropes of the Gothic genre: a spooky graveyard, ghosts walking, an undelivered letter, birds gathering like Hitchcockian omens, an asylum, a theatre stage trap-door, a teetotal policeman, a creepy museum, and all tightly plotted around a concentrated geographical locale and a time span of three days in 1912. But the result is no formulaic novel. Mosse’s lyrical descriptions of ominous weather, dreary landscapes and encroaching waters, combine with well-drawn characters, including a particularly endearing urchin, to create an engaging world for the reader to step into: we are in that churchyard, that village pub, the bullying merchant’s office with his fearful clerk; we are in Connie’s workshop as she operates on a jackdaw.

The novel is a shift from the sweeping historical epics of Mosse’s Carcassonne trilogy, Labyrinth, Sepulchre and Citadel, but has the same fruitful use of meticulous research. A well-written page-turner.

Tracey Warr BLOODLINE Warren Murphy, Forge, 2015, $16.99/C$27.99, hb, 448pp, 9780765377968 New York City in the 1920s: a time when La Costra Nostra is just beginning to evolve and their influence is felt in every section of the city.

The story of the Mob’s start is told through an immigrant family named the Falcones. The father, Tony, is a cop with an impeccable reputation. His two sons, Tommy and Mario, choose to follow his lead in helping others. One becomes a policeman and the other becomes a priest. Their sister, Tina, is a gifted singer but with no money to enroll in music classes. Then their cousin, Nilo, arrives from Sicily with a sordid past, and quickly becomes ensnared in the allure of becoming an American gangster.

As the plot unfolds, Nilo willingly dives into the shady world of the Mob yet still yearns for respect from the Falcones. As he gives in to his violent side, his criminal deeds fuel the start of a vicious gang war in which criminals like Al Capone and Lucky Luciano suddenly appear in New York City. The Falcones suspect Nilo’s criminal involvement but try to stay neutral until the day comes when that is no longer possible.

This is a fast-paced story with each chapter pulling the reader in more deeply. I especially liked how the author ended the chapters with italicized notes of the real current events happening in New York at that exact time. This was a great read.

Linda Harris Sittig THE CASE OF THE ‘HAIL MARY’ CELESTE: The Case Files of Jack Wenlock, Railway Detective Malcolm Pryce, Bloomsbury, 2015, £8.99, pb, 352pp, 9781408851975 On the eve of the nationalisation of Britain’s railways in 1947, Jack Wenlock, last of the GWR company detectives, monikered the Railway Goslings, returns to his office where a spirited

young woman, Jenny, is waiting to ask for his help in finding her missing aunt. Thus begins a twisting track of a tale that will see them tackle the infamous case of the ‘Hail Mary’ Celeste and its legendary cargo of nuns. Taking everything devious officialdom can throw at them, Jack and Jenny manage to avoid being derailed in their quest to solve this state-shattering case.

Imagine a stew of Agatha Christie, P.G. Wodehouse and a dash of George MacDonald Fraser thrown in, and you begin to approach the sensibility of this fantastical narrative adventure.

This is a world where characters talk about the news of a train delay as a relative’s death and where, amazingly, a man can love a woman just as much as a train. Trains, as you would expect, are at the heart of the story, but while there is much to please trainspotting readers, there is plenty more for readers who think of railways simply as a mode of transport.

Set just after the Second World War, Malcolm Pryce’s detective, Jack Wenlock, is a man out of his time; he has an almost Victorian belief in Empire and fair play. His partner in crime solving, Jenny, is a more modern Millie and far more worldly-wise; the two contrast wittily in style. And style is the true delight of this novel. The narrative is framed with excerpts from an old-fashioned Boys’ Own annual, including the hilarious magazine responses to a seemingly murderous junior readership, while minor characters pop up with names like Cadbury Holt and Clerihew Gape. This is a delightfully surreal pleasure.

Gordon O’Sullivan THE DARK INSIDE Rod Reynolds, Faber & Faber, 2015, £12.99, pb, 392pp, 9780571323043 Charlie Yates is a reporter on the edge. His life is a mess and his job hangs by a thread. Exiled from New York to Texarkana to cover a series of murders, he finds himself drawn further and further into a town where nobody can be trusted and secrets are as commonplace as nickels in a rich man’s pocket. Soon his own life is threatened, as well as that of the beautiful Lizzie. Charlie must make a stand and fight, not only against those who would do him harm but also against his own shameful past.

The Dark Inside is a place where women have red hair, emerald eyes and all the men are angry. All the time. For this, his first novel, Rod Reynolds hunted down the noir genre checklist and went through it at least twice. Then poured a bucket of tar over the top for good measure. That said, Reynolds just about manages to pull it off. A simple enough tale, competently told.

Tim Smith MOONLIGHT OVER PARIS Jennifer Robson, William Morrow, 2016, $15.99/ C$19.99, pb, 336pp, 9780062389824 After narrowly escaping a serious illness, Lady Helena Montagu-Douglas-Parr sets off to Paris, determined to live a fuller, more meaningful life. For the past five years she’d been shunned in London society because she was jilted by Lord Cumberland, the subject of the author’s previous novel, After the War is Over. Helena, far from heartbroken, enrolls in an exclusive art school and arrives in the City of 20th Century

Lights ready for a fresh start among people who do not know her family connections or background.

Helena lives with her eccentric aunt, who introduces her to the popular literary set – names such as Hemingway and Fitzgerald numbered among them. She forms a close bond with three particular friends from art class: Etienne, Daisy and Mathilde. Sam, who is an American journalist for the Chicago Tribune, joins their group with a special interest in Helena. As she prepares for an upcoming art show – the outcome of which will make or break her career prospects – Helena must finally come to terms with the person she has become during her year away, and determine what she really wants from life.

For those who’ve read the author’s first two novels, Somewhere in France and After the War is Over, Helena will be a familiar name, though previously unexplored as a character – finding all at once the same atmosphere, but with a different perspective. Though the story is enjoyable, there is no discernible conflict until after the halfway point, from which it moves quickly to a satisfying ending.

Those who enjoy reads that do not stray from the conventions of their time, in particular in regards to class and etiquette, will be pleased with all of Robson’s early 20th-century novels.

Arleigh Johnson BEHAVE Andromeda Romano-Lax, Soho, 2016, $26.95, hb, 400pp, 9781616956530 In 1920, Rosalie Rayner is on the verge of a rich career as a psychologist. Recently graduated from Vassar and enrolled in the graduate program at Johns Hopkins, she’s offered a research position with the celebrated John B. Watson. He’s charismatic, fearless, and a pioneer in the field of behaviorist psychology. But today Rosalie isn’t remembered for achievements as much as she is for controversy: the infamous Little Albert study she conducted with Watson, where they conditioned a baby to fear; their headline-grabbing love affair and marriage that led to both being ostracized from academia; and their co-authored parenting book, which encouraged detachment and a businesslike relationship between mother and child. Framed

by Rosalie’s regrets and memories as she nears death, this is a novel of an enthusiastic life lived in controversy.

This is a book well set in its era. Historical details are plentiful and interesting, bringing the 1920s and ‘30s to vivid life, not only in setting, but also in attitudes. The Watsons – both Mr. and Mrs. – are difficult characters to like. They are at times brilliant, selfish, and ambitious. This reader did not always agree with their actions, but it is to the credit of the author that she’s penned characters so complex and rich that they engage the reader. Illfamed figures, like Rayner and Watson, are often redeemed through historical fiction when given a chance to tell their side of the story, but RomanoLax doesn’t apologize for her characters. She creates a story peopled with very human characters who, while they don’t always learn from their mistakes, acknowledge those mistakes and their place in history.

Jessica Brockmole

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WHISTLING WOMEN Kelly Romo, Lake Union, 2015, $14.95/ C$19.95/£8.99, pb, 414pp, 9781503948785 Whistling Women begins as Addie Bates, 32, who lives in a nudist colony in northern California in the mid-1930s, learns that her days there are numbered, along with other women of her vintage.

Nothing personal, just “old nudists just aren’t good business,” as another aging woman tells her. Not only that, but Addie is dismayed to learn she won’t be able to duck out of being part of the colony’s exhibit at the World Fair in San Diego. Whistling Women’s chapters skip back and forth between the ’30s present and Addie’s past: being orphaned, living in an orphanage, then being rescued by her older, married sister, who brings her to San Diego.

What happened then is why Addie dreads going back to Southern California, why she joined the nudist colony to begin with.

Whistling Women is the story of why Addie and her sister are estranged and the question of whether they’ll heal their relationship – with the sisters’ two very different daughters complicating and pushing the matter along.

I’ve been impressed by Lake Union’s authors, and this Lake Union author, Kelly Romo, didn’t disappoint. Whistling Women is a well-crafted book that puts readers into the lives of the two generations of sisters. It’s also quirky, with the nudist colony backdrop. The nudist business (curious), the title (from “A whistling woman and a crowing hen always come to some bad end”), and the cover (why is the woman wearing a bathing suit?) all bemused me to different degrees, but in the end I was won over by the unexpected yet absolutely believable twists and revelations in Romo’s solid storytelling.

Kristen Hannum TO LOOK ON DEATH NO MORE Leta Serafim, Coffeetown Press, 2016, $13.95, pb, 232pp, 9781603811927 Although many historical novels have been written about the Second World War, this is the first I’ve read that’s set in Greece, concerning the war’s effect on that country. Serafim’s To Look on Death No More tells a painful but engrossing story about Germany’s assault on the Greek isles. It is told through the eyes of an outsider, Irishman Brendan O’Malley, a doctor who had enlisted in the British forces and is parachuted into Greece to create an airstrip. Wounded in his fall, he’s held prisoner by Danae, a young Greek woman, and her even younger brother Stefanos.

O’Malley takes to Danae and Stefanos, and when Stefanos is witness to a German soldier’s shooting in their village, Kalavyrta, the Irishman hides with the young boy among the Greek resistance, the antartes. Tragedy after tragedy befalls this group, both from in-fighting and at the hands of the Germans. The innocent villagers of Kalavyrta are the targets of the Germans’ revenge on the antartes. Serafim has written devastating descriptions of the ruthless violence that is inflicted on the women, men, and children. The attitude of O’Malley’s British superiors towards the carnage is as chilling as the Germans’ actions. What saves the novel from a feeling of complete despair is O’Malley’s love for Danae and his growing love of her country. This aspect of the war was unknown

to me before this book. It’s as important as the Blitz and the occupation of Paris, and Serafim makes me want to learn more.

Ellen Keith ORLA’S CANVAS Mary Sharnick, Penmore, 2015, $19.50, pb, 238pp, 9781942756200 Eleven-year-old Orla Gwen Gleason lives in St. Suplice, Louisiana, during the upheaval of the Civil Rights era. She’s fatherless; her mother is a maid for the wealthiest lady in town, Mrs. Bellefleur Dubois Castleberry, who makes a statement by inviting a black preacher and his son to her annual Easter party. Orla witnesses a predictable racist backlash.

Orla is horrified, but she’s more intent on discovering both her mother’s and Mrs. Castleberry’s secrets, secrets that involve her own paternity. And through it all Orla often finds time to paint, something that wins her a trip north for lessons.

This is a pleasant, low-key book that looks at the relationship between mother and daughter, the empty space of a missing father, and a period in time where change and justice had been bottled up for far too long. Orla’s mother’s actions are believable, as are Orla’s. The novel also has a fine set-up: who is Orla’s real father? Why would her mother lie about who fathered Orla? Why does her mother work for Mrs. Castleberry, anyway? Orla’s Canvas does a good job evoking the Civil Rights era in the South, its real dangers and crazy racist attitudes.

What I missed was suspense. The answers to those questions are pretty clear early on, and then it’s just a matter of watching Orla figure it out and hoping that the idiot racists, just off to stage right, don’t hurt too many people.

Sharnick is a graceful writer, and I’ll watch for her next book.

Kristen Hannum BITTER ALMONDS Lilas Taha, Bloomsbury, 2016, $26.00, hb, 320pp, 9789927118005 / Bloomsbury Qatar, 2015, £16.99, hb, 320pp, 9789927118005 Omar is orphaned at his birth and then exiled from his beloved Palestine after the Israeli Stern and Irgun presence becomes life-threatening.

Omar and his adoptive family are exiled to Damascus. Now it’s 1961, and readers are invited to share the familial world of Mamma Subhia, Uncle Mustafa, and their five children, some natural and some adopted. Still, Omar has reminders that he is not the real son of the family, a state paralleling the loneliness of all exiled Palestinians.

Readers will expect this story to focus on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Instead, what we get is a very different account of religious and cultural practices in Palestinian families: rules for interaction both at home and outside, rituals performed after a child’s birth, courtship and wedding practices for the families of both bride and groom, women’s family roles, and men’s roles to ensure all customs are fulfilled and that the family’s honor is always kept intact and in the forefront of neighbors’ attention. Omar is madly in love, but those familial duties and his lover’s desire to be more than wife and mother – to have an education – thwart Omar from declaring himself HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 49

to Nadia. While waiting, he fights in the Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt and then serves in a secret Palestinian military action, but how he is treated later on is astonishing.

Bitter Almonds is a poignant exposition of Palestinian Arabs living in perpetual exile from their homeland. This is another historical fiction story on a subject contrary to what readers usually hear and read about from this war-torn corner of the Middle East, where residents are currently being forced into exile again. Recommended reading!

Viviane Crystal THE PASSENGER F. R. Tallis, Pegasus, 2016, $25.95, hb, 400pp, 9781605989570 Siegfried Lorenz, captain of the U-471, a German submarine patrolling the frigid, stormy waters of the North Atlantic, is an excellent sailor and credit to the Fatherland even though he does not believe in the war and has nothing but disdain for Hitler. When the U-471 receives top-secret instructions to pick up two prisoners from a ship near Iceland and transport them back to port in Brest, he dutifully follows orders. However, once the prisoners – a British submarine commander, Sutherland, and a Norwegian academic, Professor Bjornar Grimstad – are on board, their behavior spooks the superstitious crew. After Sutherland makes an unexpected move, things on the ship begin to go sideways as one accident after another threatens the crew’s safety. Men start hearing voices and seeing things that could not possibly be real and British forces seem to be waiting for them every time they surface.

F.R. Tallis does an excellent job of evoking the claustrophobic feel of living in a metal tube with a thousand feet of water pressing down on you. I’ve read and edited several books about submarines and submarine warfare (and my brother served on a nuclear sub in the U.S. Navy) and find the subject fascinating. In a submarine, the only thing separating a tenuous life underwater and certain death in the abyss is the vessel’s thin metal skin, and in Tallis’s tale, the only thing separating sanity and madness is the thin line between the conscious and unconscious. Are the voices real? Are the visions real? Are the disasters befalling the sub mere accidents or something altogether more sinister – and more deadly? With every page turn, I rooted for Lorenz and his crew and recommend The Passenger to readers who enjoy a healthy serving of impending doom and growing dread with their World War II fiction.

Kristina Blank Makansi NO SHRED OF EVIDENCE: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery Charles Todd, William Morrow, 2016, $25.99/ C$31.99, hb, 352pp, 9780062386182 In the eighteenth in this fine series, Scotland Yard sends Inspector Ian Rutledge to Cornwall to investigate a boating incident in which a young banker was injured and, subsequently, dies. The only witness is a local farmer who claims he saw four young women from good families intent on murdering the man.

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fiancée, a potentially awkward relationship under the circumstances. Mindful of the social chasms between a farmer and a banker’s son and a young woman of impeccable lineage, Rutledge must be careful not to alienate someone who might have information.

Although the social setting is intriguing, the reader is not allowed to forget that the penalty for capital murder is hanging and that the recent war left a legacy of pain. Rutledge is not the only one scarred by wartime experiences. Could another person’s scars lead to murder? Would revenge make up for loss of a loved one? Asking questions requires sensitivity; answering them correctly demands logical analysis. Rutledge’s conduct of the investigation makes fascinating reading.

If this is your first glimpse of Inspector Ian Rutledge, A Fine Summer’s Day (2015) is a prequel to the series. Charles Todd, the pseudonym of a mother-son team, also writes the Bess Crawford mysteries about a World War I nurse. All are highly recommended.

Jeanne Greene

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GEORGIA Dawn Tripp, Random House, 2016, $26.00, hb, 322pp, 9781400069538 In 1915, 27-yearold Georgia O’Keeffe is an impoverished schoolteacher when she creates her first abstract drawings in charcoal. She mails them to a friend in New York City, who takes them to Alfred Stieglitz. A brilliant photographer in his own right, Stieglitz is renowned for introducing such artists as Picasso and Matisse in his gallery. He writes to Georgia, saying that she will become legendary. She keeps drawing, and two years later, he features her works in his gallery. Without telling Stieglitz, she spends her last dollars on a train ticket from Texas to New York.

Thus begins Georgia, by Dawn Tripp. This breathtaking novel plunges deep into the two-way relationship between O’Keeffe and Stieglitz – passionate lovers, artist and muse, inspiration and the fertile loam which nurtures it. Georgia becomes Stieglitz’s most intimate subject, and he displays her nude portraits with his other photography.

He spurs her on to try oil painting, and her work literally blossoms with spellbinding irises, hypnotic poppies, and delirious jimsonweed.

Georgia is also the finest imagining of another woman’s very soul that I have ever read. Ms. Tripp uses Georgia O’Keeffe’s correspondence with Alfred Stieglitz, interviews, and speeches to create completely believable scenes and dialogue, both internal and between her characters.

Sensual and intimate, heart-wrenching and triumphant: if you read only one book this year, let it be Georgia.

Jo Ann Butler DEATH IN FLORENCE Marco Vichi, Pegasus Crime, 2015, $25.95, hb,

400pp, 9781605989297 Death in Florence is the fourth Inspector Bordelli novel, albeit my first exposure to the series.

Set in 1966, we see a Florence recovering from World War II but still haunted by the specter of Il Duce and his fascist followers. One afternoon a young boy vanishes into thin air on his way home from school, and the police can find no clues and have no suspects. Inspector Bordelli, longing for a woman with whom he could share his life, facing retirement, and dwelling on his own experiences in the war, refuses to give up on the boy’s case. The case drags on and on until he finally finds one small clue just as the rains swell the river and the Arno floods the city, knocking out communication and potentially destroying a crime scene.

For those readers looking for an action-packed mystery, this book is not for you. But for those who have wandered the streets of Florence or who want to inhabit another person’s head for a while and to delve into the musings of a dogged detective with a dedication to justice and a desire for a simpler life shared with a beautiful woman and a glass of his favorite wine, this is a rewarding read. It was a little slow at times, and I didn’t think I needed detailed directions of Bordelli’s movements throughout the city streets, but ultimately the book was satisfying.

Indeed, as I approached the end, I couldn’t put it down.

Kristina Blank Makansi A TALE OF TWO CITIZENS Elyce Wakerman, Yucca, 2015, $24.95, hb, 362pp, 9781631580147 A Tale of Two Citizens is a timely reminder of America’s strong roots as a nation of immigrants.

The novel begins in 1929, a time when anti-Jewish sentiment is growing in Europe, and continues through the 1930s.

Yankel (Harry) Himelbaum is a Polish national whose father, Yitzak (Izzy), had been in America for several years. To secure a visa and join his father, Harry must be unmarried. Harry is about to leave for America when he learns that he is about to be a father. Wanting to do the right thing, he secretly marries his girlfriend but does not reveal that he is married to either of their families, and especially not to the immigration officials, as that would have affected his ability to enter the country. As he makes his way in America, Harry is worried that the lie about his marital status will catch up with him. Meanwhile in Poland, his family struggles to stay safe as the Nazis rise to power.

The other citizen in the title is a by-the-book immigration official from Iowa, Will Brown, who is rigorous in his examination of new arrivals to the country and has no qualms about sending any of them back for even the slightest infraction or irregularity in the application process.

The book is a multilayered immigration story told from several perspectives. In light of the current political climate regarding immigration, it is also relevant. All of the characters, from Harry’s wife and sister-in-law back in Poland to Will’s wife, Barbara, are complex and authentic. The book, which was based on the author’s father’s experiences, is about hard choices, love of family, and the clash between old ways and modernity.

This well-researched, absorbing and stellar novel is one I’d recommend without hesitation.

Hilary Daninhirsch 20th Century

THE ARRANGEMENT Ashley Warlick, Viking, 2016, $26.00, hb, 320pp, 9780525429661 Set in California, France and the Swiss Alps, The Arrangement is a story of love, passion, and the price paid by those involved. The book is a fictionalized story of Mary Frances Kennedy (MFK) Fisher, a revered food writer who changed forever the way Americans approached living and eating. While other writers limited their food writing to recipes, Fisher, as stated in her 1992 New York Times obituary, “used food as a cultural metaphor.”

The Arrangement begins in Los Angeles in 1934, before Fisher achieves fame. A beautiful, complex woman, Fisher is married to husband Al, a poet and professor who doesn’t take her writing seriously. She begins an affair with their neighbor, Dillwyn “Tim” Parrish, who is also married. Tim is supportive of her writing and encourages her to pursue a literary career. When Tim, Mary Frances, and Al live together in France, their love triangle has far-reaching consequences for their lives and families.

Warlick, the author of four books, is confident in her grasp of shifting points of view, and her writing is smooth and elegant. The love and anguish experienced as marriages unravel is palpable and painful to the reader.

Readers of The Arrangement who want to inquire further about MFK Fisher’s life should investigate Poet of the Appetites, a biography of Fisher written by Joan Reardon. There readers will learn more about Fisher’s affairs with various men and at least one woman, and her family’s struggle with suicide, drug addiction, and estrangement.

Lorraine Norwood THE LONGEST NIGHT Andria Williams, Random House, 2016, $27.00/ C$35.00, hb, 375pp, 9780823997743 The only fatal nuclear accident in the United States occurred in Idaho Falls in 1961. With the nuclear clock ticking in the background, The Longest Night explores what happens to a flawed marriage in a time of crisis. Will it break or can it heal?

In 1959, Army Specialist Paul Collier arrives in Idaho Falls with his wife, Natalie, and two toddlers; this is their third assignment as a military family and a career move for Paul, an expert in nuclear reactors. Paul sees problems with his reactor, but his teammates won’t listen. When no one seems concerned with nuclear safety on base, least of all his sergeant, Paul, a reticent man, keeps his worries to himself.

Paul’s failure to talk to her frustrates and angers Natalie. She tries to be a good military wife (like the sergeant’s sophisticated spouse), but she lacks the confidence to mingle and make friends. Idaho winters are hard, and Nat, a Californian, is bored and lonely when Esrom, an attractive cowboy, comes into her life. Paul, who is concerned about his marriage and his job, is suddenly sent to the Arctic on temporary duty. Someone wants him out of the way, but if there’s trouble with a reactor, his family will be alone. Frantic with worry, Paul risks his marriage by calling on the only person he trusts to keep Natalie and their children safe: Esrom.

The Longest Night is a familiar story in outline 20th Century — Multi-period

only; the rest is fiction. Nevertheless, Paul and Natalie – once attracted by differences that now drive them apart – seem touchingly real. The Longest Night is a riveting 20th-century love story.

Highly recommended.

Jeanne Greene

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COAL RIVER Ellen Marie Wiseman, Kensington, 2015, $15.00, pb, 341pp, 9781617734472 In 2015, it would be unthinkable to send a child into the coal mines. But in 1912, America was a different place. It was a country without unions; it was a time when “breaker boys,” boys as young as seven, would remove impurities from coal, all day long, with their bare hands.

Emma, 19, lives with her actor parents in New York. Apart from the accidental death of her brother years earlier, she is relatively content. But her world is shattered when her parents are killed, and her choices are to go to the poorhouse or to move in with her aunt and uncle in their small Pennsylvania coal town.

From the start, Emma is treated as a servant and forced to turn over her wages to her greedy aunt and uncle, who is a foreman at the mines.

Working at the company store, Emma begins to realize how impoverished the citizens really are, and how the cruel coal mine bosses control their lives. She begins to anonymously help the families by stealing food from her aunt’s house and leaving it at the doors of the coal mine families. As her aunt and uncle begin to tighten their grip, she begins to make plans to escape. But her compassion for the people, especially the young breaker boys, her desire to set things right, and her visions of a boy who is the spitting image of her deceased brother bring her plans to a crashing halt.

The book is intense and heartbreaking at times, but full of hope. The author’s impeccable research into this era makes for a spot-on portrayal of a dark time in American history. Coal River has made my list of one of the most “unputdownable” books of 2015.

Hilary Daninhirsch DARK PLACES Reavis Z. Wortham, Poisoned Pen Press, 2015, $26.95, hb, 370pp, 9781464204227 / also $15.95, pb, 370pp, 9781464204241 It’s 1967 in Lamar County, Texas, a place for young and old to easily become bored. Fourteenyear-old Pepper convinces Cale, a boy she sortof likes, to run off and join hippies in California.

Pepper’s father and her lawman grandfather chase after them. Meanwhile, back in town, an old dairy farmer gets run over in his own cow pasture, and two men, flashing money and given to wearing suits, go missing. Sheriff Cody Parker and his new deputy, good-looking Anna Sloan, try to figure out the old farmer’s death and whatever happened to the missing businessmen. Days of hard rain from a Gulf hurricane complicate everything. Lots going

on, but it works.

Wortham’s people speak as they did then – a car’s accelerator pedal is the “foot feed” – and every locale feels real. Readers will cheer for and ache with the good folks, and secondary characters hold their own. Melva, the dead farmer’s wife with her out-of-place giggling, is a scene-stealing enigma.

Crow, a wandering Native American, is one clever badass. Even a cadaver-smelling Springer spaniel, brought around to help search for the missing, is authentic. The “dark places” inhabited by the malevolent perpetrators are indeed very dark.

The novel’s short chapters fit both the fast pace and the deftly spare actions and details. Some readers not familiar with Wortham may struggle a little with the opening chapters, which hop around among many characters, multiple points of view, and several locations. But the rhythm of Wortham’s writing, transporting us back in time, soon takes hold and is well worth the reader’s efforts.

G. J. Berger LITTLE AUNT CRANE Geling Yan (trans. Esther Tyldesley), Harvill Secker, 2015, £14.99, hb, 487pp, 9781846555909 Following the defeat of Japan in 1945, sixteenyear-old Tatsuru flees the mass suicides of Japanese communities in Manchuria and is sold into slavery to a Chinese family who use her as a surrogate mother, to give birth to children on behalf of their son and his barren wife. Geling Yan’s novel is a family saga following three generations through the Great Famine, the Cultural Revolution and into the calmer waters of the early 1980s. Through all this period, the ‘Jap Devil’ mother is concealed within the family but leaves her mark on it, raising children who speak a language combined of Chinese and Japanese, cooking Japanese dishes and observing Japanese customs of cleanliness and politeness as she struggles to preserve her own identity and history.

The passage of years cements a complex relationship between Tatsuru (now renamed Duohe), her ‘husband’ and his ‘first wife’, and Yan writes wonderfully about this. She has a subtle and sensitive understanding of the workings of the human heart, and makes these three ordinary yet extraordinary people and the children they raise the focus of her novel. The defining historical events of those years take place largely off-stage, impinging only indirectly on the family’s life, whose day-to-day struggles to sustain themselves and their unconventional relationships, and keep their great secret, offer a gripping, poignant and often very funny narrative. The two wives are both strong and memorable characters, who complement each other perfectly as they alternately fight and plot together to keep their precarious show on the road.

Although the translation does not always fall easily on the English ear, this is a terrific read and an enchanting revelation of ordinary lives in extraordinary times.

Sarah Bower

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THE KINDNESS OF ENEMIES Leila Aboulela, Grove, 2016, $25.00, hb, 320pp, 9780802124487 / W&N, 2015, £14.99, hb, 320pp, 9781474600095 Aboulela’s book moves between 2010 Scotland and mid-19th-century Russia and Dagostan.

Imam Shamil, the Muslim leader in Dagostan, is determined to end the Caucasus War, but is betrayed when his eight-year-old son is taken from him as part of an ill-conceived peace deal. Years later, Imam Shamil’s son has been raised Russian and has nearly forgotten his family, language, and religion, but Shamil still wants his son back. His people capture Anna, Princess of what had been an independent Georgia.

In 2010 Scotland, Natasha, a history professor with a Russian mother and Sudanese father, finds herself in the home of two of Imam Shamil’s descendants, who help her unravel the history and understand the humanity behind it.

I read this book in only one day. I was immediately drawn in to the stories and the layering of the characters’ lives. The book alternates between perspectives, and I found myself looking forward to each one. All of the characters are fully drawn and equally captivating. Aboulela lets readers learn from them even as they learn from each other. Ultimately, this book is about shadows, three characters whose lives overlap and who find themselves struggling with similar questions: How should people of different religions treat one another? What is the best sort of parent/child relationship? Who are our true teachers in life?

When can we allow ourselves to let go and just trust one another? What happens when you no longer see your enemy as a bad person? Aboulela writes beautifully of complicated identities and mixed races, handling great complexities with art and thoughtfulness.

Amy Watkin BLACK RABBIT HALL Eve Chase, Putnam, 2016, $27.95/C$35.95, hb, 384pp, 9780399174124 / Michael Joseph, 2015, £12.99, hb, 400pp, 9780718182977 With Black Rabbit Hall, Eve Chase has crafted a Gothic novel that ticks all the genre boxes in a way that could be boringly formulaic, but isn’t — the sensuous prose and adept pacing saves the novel and lends the requisite level of depth, suspense, and ambiance to make for a good read.

In 1968, the Altons are one blissful family, centered around a vibrant mother who serves as hub and anchor for her husband and four children: teenaged twins Toby and Amber, little brother Barney, and toddler Kitty. The family spends idyllic summers at the ancestral estate in Cornwall, Black Rabbit Hall. But as this is a Gothic novel, the idyll cannot survive for long. In a dual storyline set in the present, thirty-something Lorna, searching for the perfect venue for her wedding, is mysteriously drawn to crumbling Black Rabbit Hall, inhabited now only by a single servant and decrepit, cold, terrible Mrs. Alton. When Lorna looks into the house’s history, she discovers the tragedies that befell the Alton children, and why she cannot resist the pull of the manor house and its former occupants.

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child’s skin to the stillness of a long-closed room, Chase’s prose provides a feast for the senses. The dialogue and inner lives of her characters are likewise skillfully crafted. Using the tried and true method of switching between alternate storylines, the pacing and thus suspense are maintained. The ending is perhaps too satisfactorily pat to warrant the comparisons with du Maurier touted by the cover blurbs, but fans of the Gothic will eat this novel with a spoon — it’s a delicious way to spend a stormy evening.

Bethany Latham THE HOUSE AT ZARONZA Vanessa Couchman, Crooked Cat, 2014, £8.99, pb, 264pp, 9781909841826 This emotionally powerful novel is set on Corsica, and the island itself is the most important character. I could see the deep blue Mediterranean and the plunging cliffs and savour its cuisine and myrtle aperitif, but this novel is more than a travelogue. A tragic tale of misunderstanding and betrayal is its central love story. Its core strength is the depiction of the island during the 1914-18 war and in particular the life of French nurses on the Western Front.

The House at Zaronza begins in the present day, when Rachel Swift travels to Corsica where her mother was born, to research her family’s past. In the guest-house she discovers some passionate, but anonymous, love letters written to a girl called Maria. Although the name is common enough, Rachel is intrigued. Could Maria be one of her forebears?

During her research Rachel receives Maria’s memoir and discovers that Maria and Raphael, the young schoolteacher, fell desperately in love and planned to elope, escaping a marriage that Maria’s strict Corsican parents have arranged. For reasons Maria does not understand, Raphael fails to turn up. Devastated, she has no choice but to marry the detestable Vincentello. The marriage is a disaster.

When the island, a territory of France, enters the Great War, Maria works on the mainland as a nurse, where she experiences death and misery on a massive scale. However, the novel draws to an optimistic conclusion, leaving the lingering fragrance of Corsica.

Vanessa Couchman writes with intelligence and skill but, as is often the case with first novels, this book suffers a basic structural fault. It is far too slow and laborious to begin with and is forced to rush headlong through the most important sections. With a rigorous editor, it would have been a more compelling read.

Sally Zigmond JERSEY: The Hidden Histories Paul Darroch, Seaflower Books, 2015, £9.95, pb, 136pp, 9781906641832 The author has assembled a fictional historical overview of the island of Jersey, from Stone Age times up until the present day. He takes episodes and events and elaborates from a firstperson perspective on the issues, together with a linking authorial commentary, which provides the historical context.

The book is well written, expertly researched and interesting to read. Reading the thoughts and emotions of someone from thousands of years

ago always seems rather artificial and, clearly, it is utterly impossible to gauge with any sense of authenticity or accuracy if the author has captured the alien voice well. But we also hear from more contemporary personalities such as Sir Walter Raleigh, Queen Victoria, Lillie Langtry and Charlie Chaplin, all of whom had a connection to Jersey and they reveal their thoughts and experiences of the island.

Douglas Kemp PLAYING CUSTER Gerald Duff, TCU Press, 2015, $22.95, pb, 278pp, 9780875656069 June 2001. A home economics teacher and a software engineer drive from Texas to Montana to reenact the 125th anniversary of Custer’s Last Stand. En route, the teacher wonders what is normal, finally deciding, “…normal to a true enactor of a historical moment is exactly the opposite of what normal is in the untranscended world.”

Composed of nearly forty monologues, Playing Custer is not a “normal” novel. The author moves quickly from 2001 to 1876, introducing the desires and demons that drove soldiers, Indians, and the extended Custer family to the banks of the Little Bighorn River. As the battle date approaches, time shifts forward and back, interweaving the lives of the reenactors and their 19th-century doppelgängers.

Duff gives his twenty characters unique voices through diction, not dialect or cliché. Former boxer Patrick Bruce establishes his County Cork ancestry through cadence and word choice, avoiding cheap brogue. Bloody Knife’s awkward syntax reflects his mixed Sioux/Ree parentage. After the pain and thirst of the Sun Dance, Sitting Bull’s language circles upon itself in poetry and confusion: My “dream was complete in the way a picture made with colored sand is done when the artist feels it comes all the way into itself.” Those who survive the battle, such as Captain Frederick Benteen, offer glimpses of the future, “They tell me [Custer’s request for reinforcements is] at West Point now, behind a big sheet of glass.”

An authoritative author, in command of both fact and language, Duff creates a world where fictional characters and historical people strive simultaneously in the present and the past.

Jo Haraf THIS IS YOUR LIFE, HARRIET CHANCE! Jonathan Evison, Algonquin, 2015, $25.95, hb, 296pp, 9781616202613 Harriet Chance, a widow living in Washington State in 2015, is surprised to learn that her late husband, Bernard, has won a cruise to Alaska. At 78, Harriet has little interest in traveling, but she asks her best friend to accompany her. Her best friend backs out at the last minute, and Harriet ends up going alone. A letter, given to her by this friend, reveals Harriet’s husband was not who she thought he was. Her life was a lie. She’s devastated.

Her daughter, with whom she has a contentious relationship, joins her on the cruise, and more deceptions are revealed.

A tragedy in her childhood and further bad choices have made Harriet the person she is, always giving but never receiving. A failed career plus a dull marriage to a controlling man, a man she must Multi-period

care for when he slips into Alzheimer’s disease, are her main trials.

The story bounces around in time, showing Harriet’s life at different intervals, as the cruise progresses through the beauty of Alaska’s Inside Passage. The scenes in the past are narrated by a game show-like host who often scolds Harriet for her actions – not a choice I would have made in structure, but it is fresh. I found it odd that her lawyer father, who had such plans for Harriet, was agreeable with her marrying a maintenance man.

The author’s prose, which kept me absorbed in her life, and the slight humor prevent the story from becoming too maudlin, but I wished for more happiness for Harriet.

Diane Scott Lewis THE LAKE HOUSE Kate Morton, Mantle, 2015, £13.99, pb, 595pp, 9781447260288 / Atria , 2015, $28, hb, 512pp, 9781451649321 This family mystery, written in the very popular two-era format, begins in 1933 with the young Alice Edevane excited at the midsummer party which is to be held at Loeanneth House in Cornwall, where she lives with her parents Eleanor and Anthony, her sisters, and her baby brother, Theo. Alice longs to be a writer, has fallen in love for the first time, and records her thoughts in her journal. However, the party is eclipsed by tragedy when baby Theo disappears, and her distraught parents close the house and leave. The mystery remains unsolved and the house falls into ruin.

In 2003 Sadie, a young policewoman staying with her grandfather in Cornwall whilst on gardening leave after a particularly difficult case, literally stumbles upon Loeanneth whilst out running. She learns of the mystery, and in order to occupy her mind, decides to try to solve it. Her path then crosses with Alice, now a successful but formidable writer, and family secrets which have been kept under wraps for the previous seventy years are gradually uncovered and the truth about Theo’s disappearance resolved.

At almost 600 pages this is a very long novel.

Kate Morton is an extremely able writer, and the characters and scenery are well drawn. However, the two time-frame scenarios are somewhat fragmented, and the story is pulled together by a series of somewhat unlikely coincidences.

Although a perfectly acceptable read, the book could have done with some serious pruning. As a mystery it lacks sufficient intrigue to keep the reader truly engaged. In my view, not of the same calibre as Kate Morton’s other novels.

Maggi de Rozario THE SPY ON THE TENNESSEE WALKER Linda Lee Peterson, Prospect Park, 2015, $15.00, pb, 241pp, 9781938849619 The Spy on the Tennessee Walker is the third installment in the Maggie Fiori Mysteries. Reading the two prior novels is not necessary, as this story stands on its own admirably. In this outing, Maggie Fiori, the editor-in-chief of a small magazine, is intrigued when she receives a daguerreotype of a woman on a horse. The woman is her spitting image and is assumed to be her third great-grandmother, Victoria Cardworthy. Maggie and her husband decide to journey to Oxford, Mississippi to Multi-period

investigate her family’s long-lost past. As Maggie delves into Victoria’s role as a Civil War nurse, she discovers that she may have had secret connections to a Confederate spy ring.

Maggie’s journey is superimposed with excerpts from Victoria’s diary, giving the reader a leg up on the investigation. Linda Lee Peterson deftly handles the narrative of modern-day Maggie along with Civil War-era Victoria. Maggie and her husband are amusing characters, while Victoria is shrouded with mystery, but passionate about the people and causes she holds dear. The reader gets a glimpse into the fractured landscape of Civil War America, and even though this is Peterson’s first foray into historical fiction, it is clear that she did the requisite research into the era. Those who enjoy a good historical yarn will definitely enjoy The Spy on the Tennessee Walker.

Caroline Wilson THE MURALIST B.A. Shapiro, Algonquin, 2015, $26.95, hb, 340pp, 9781616203573 On the eve of the Second World War, artist Alizee Benoit is employed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to paint murals for public buildings in New York City. Her heart isn’t in the flat representational work, which to her is akin to painting by numbers. She and her like-minded friends, who include Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock, William de Kooning, and Mark Rothko, are interested in pushing the boundaries of art, beyond the representational into abstract expressionism.

Alizee’s mind races with the artistic possibilities, so much so that when Eleanor Roosevelt visits the warehouse studio, Alizee confronts the president’s wife with the request to include more modern art in the WPA’s projects. This chance meeting also offers her hope that she can use Roosevelt’s influence to help evacuate her Jewish relatives from an increasingly desperate situation in Europe.

Thus Alizee gets pulled into the political world of immigration (surprisingly like the current international situation) and isolationists and fearmongers such as Charles Lindbergh and Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long. And then, Alizee disappears.

Seventy five years later, Alizee’s great-niece Danielle works at a New York City auction house, and runs across several canvases which she thinks may have been painted by Alizee, based on their resemblance to two pieces she owns. Danielle’s search for more clues leads her back through history to piece together what really happened to Alizee.

Shapiro deftly weaves the political with the artistic, providing stirring historical details of U.S. foreign policy along with biographical and cultural information about the Abstract Expressionist movement, to create a seamless story with great impact. The multiple perspectives of Alizee, Danielle, and Eleanor Roosevelt herself, add depth to this tale and significance for readers concerned with world politics today.

Helene Williams RAWBLOOD Catriona Ward, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2015, £12.99, hb, 320pp, 9780297609643 This is a novel dominated by the figure of She –

who She is and whether She really exists or is part of the fevered imagination of the characters is open to the reader. Beginning in 1910, the story follows the eleven-year-old Iris, who is kept alone and isolated by her father, allegedly due to a hereditary disease. However, the real reason is more to do with She who haunts the house, Rawblood. Any of the Villarca family to whom Iris belongs, who get too close to others, suffer a peculiar and painful death.

Parts of this are reminiscent of The Observations

by Jane Harris in which mysterious unexplained events are left for the reader to ponder for some time. The reader can happily go along with this for a while, although in the second half of the novel, it becomes more of an effort, as the story seems to spiral off into a laudanum dream filled with Gothic nightmares. The way it moves around from narrator to narrator doesn’t help orient the reader.

There are diary entries, vivisection, addictions, madness, lobotomies, and people clawing their own eyes out. In essence, this is a love-it-or-hateit read; the reader will either enjoy the weirdness and revel in the strange or spend most of their time wondering what on earth is going on. The writing is powerful and atmospheric, and it is certainly an unusual novel, not for the faint-hearted.

Ann Northfield THE FORGOTTEN ROOM Karen White, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig, NAL, 2016, $25.95/C$33.95, hb, 371pp, 9780451474629 This multi-generational novel, set between 1892 and 1944, is jointly written by three people, all bestselling authors (and good friends), but the smooth writing style makes it hard to tell it’s a collaborative effort. That said, I had fun guessing who wrote what.

The women are introduced one after the other.

During WWII, while on duty at a private hospital on East 69th St. in Manhattan, Dr. Kate Schuyler is surprised by her attraction to a new patient, Captain Cooper Ravenel, and his possession of a miniature portrait that resembles her greatly. At the height of the Gilded Age, gentle Olive Van Alan goes into service at the elegant Pratt Mansion, concealing her identity, and planning revenge on the rich family that ruined her father. Lastly, in 1920, Lucy Young, a German baker’s spirited daughter, takes up residence at a women’s boardinghouse, hoping to uncover her mother’s connection to the place. The house in all three stories is the same. By the time the second iteration of Kate’s narrative came around, I was hooked, wondering how each woman’s story would turn out, and curious about the origins of the portrait and Kate’s ruby necklace.

Genealogy buffs will appreciate the unfolding mystery; I found myself sketching a family tree as relationships slowly fell into place. With its themes of lost grandeur, poignant romance, and the elusiveness of the past, the plot has a grand emotional sweep. It also addresses social barriers and the challenges women face in the working world. Through the role the house plays in each era, too – a status symbol, a respectable residence, and a utilitarian building – it symbolizes the changes transforming American society. This is an absorbing standalone novel, but fans of the authors’ previous books will notice some references left just for them.

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INSCRIPTION Christine Whittemore, Sowilo Press, 2015, £13.00, pb, 184pp, 9780984472765 It is said that history teaches us about the present, usually meaning war and politics, which is what history is usually about. We seldom look to history to help us with our private lives.

This was not always so. The early Christian historians hoped that in narrating the lives of the Saints they might inspire the personal lives of their readers. Inscription tells the story of a modernday woman who comes to a better understanding of her own life by studying the life of an early Christian saint.

The story is told in two time streams. The modern stream is told by Aubrey, a female palaeographer (expert in ancient manuscripts) who discovers a 1st-century Latin manuscript, written not by the saint herself but by Marina, her companion-in-exile on the Italian island of Ponza.

The 1st-century time stream is told by Marina, speaking through Aubrey’s translation. Aubrey intersperses chapters from the manuscript with her own commentaries, which gradually become a retrospective of her own life. The two women have very different lives, but they echo the same themes of exile, loss and redemption.

This short book is excellently researched, although I found the modern stream more compelling. All the main characters are women, but this should not deter male readers from a delightful and poignant tale.

Edward James

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HOUSE OF SHADOWS Nicola Cornick, Harlequin MIRA, 2015, £7.99, pb, 476pp, 9781848454163 Professional glass-engraver Holly Ansell receives a frantic call from her young niece saying her father Ben, Holly’s brother, has disappeared.

Holly rushes from London to Oxfordshire to find out what has happened, but there is no trace of him. The only clue is that Ben uncharacteristically has become interested in family history, and Holly sets out to investigate why.

This is an intriguing journey through time that weaves between 17th-century power plays during the life of the Winter Queen, Elizabeth of Bohemia; the memoirs of an early 19th-century courtesan, Lavinia Flyte; and a modern-day missing-person case. At its heart is an old house that is connected to each of the women in some way, as well as two dangerous fantastical objects that were once used for divination by the Knights of the Rosy Cross – a diamond-encrusted crystal mirror and a fabulous jewel known as the Sistrin Pearl.

As often happens with time-travel or multiperiod novels, some sections can work better than others, but in this case the three strands are well-plotted, and all come together in a satisfying way. Those who enjoy more romance than facts in their novels are well catered for in the ups and downs of the three respective love stories, while others keener on the historical aspects will discover this lesser-known Queen Elizabeth, sister of King Charles I, and the role she played as wife 54 | Reviews |

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of the ill-fated Frederick, Elector Palatine, and her rumoured relationship with William, 1st Earl of Craven, builder of Ashdown House. There are echoes of that real Regency courtesan and memoirist Harriette Wilson in the character of Lavinia Flyte. Holly is perhaps the least interesting through no fault of her own, simply because she is contemporary.

A must-read for fans of romantic time-slip novels.

Marina Maxwell THE ACCIDENTAL WIFE Cj Fosdick, The Wild Rose Press, 2015, $16.99, pb, 341pp, 9781628308464 In 2012, Jessica Brewster has inherited her beloved grandmother’s belongings. As she rummages through the items, she finds a delicate teacup with a strange word on the bottom: Mitawin. Jessica, a life-long single woman due to an unfortunate experience in college, also volunteers at historic Fort Laramie in her Wyoming town.

She dresses in her period costume, takes the teacup, and joins the ladies for their tea party in a vintage house at the fort. Waiting for tourists to arrive, she runs her finger around the rim of the cup and feels suddenly peculiar. She shakes it off and greets the other women, but something isn’t right. She quickly discovers she’s been propelled back to 1886 into the life of her look-alike greatgreat-grandmother, Jessamine. Now she has a nineyear-old daughter, and is married to Jessamine’s first husband, a handsome half-Lakota Indian.

Jess must struggle to survive as a frontier wife and learn to be a mother, while resisting the advances of her unexpected husband. He calls her Mitawin, meaning “wife.”

Frontier life and homes are well described, as is the Wyoming scenery. Jessica almost immediately realizes she’s gone back in time, which seemed contrived. She’s not very anxious to find her way back to her own era and doesn’t worry about what happened to Jessamine until near the end of the novel. Other than those quibbles, the story is welltold, if leisurely. Fosdick is a talented writer.

Diane Scott Lewis

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IN ANOTHER LIFE Julie Christine Johnson, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2015, $14.99/£9.99, pb, 368pp, 9781492625209 This dual time period story parallels the modern-day life of Lia, a historian writing her dissertation on the beliefs of the early 13th-century Cathars, and a conspiracy-style tale behind the 1208 historical murder of papal legate Pierre de Castlenau, an act of violence which sparked the religious crusade against the Cathars. Having moved to France to grieve the untimely death of her husband, Lia quickly learns that past and present aren’t as far removed as they may seem, and not all souls rest peacefully after death. The deeper she gets involved, the more Lia realizes history may not tell the truth of what happened

to Castlenau and the Cathars; the real story may be far more dangerous, with the possibility of changing not only her own life, but also the history of the Church.

In Another Life grabs you from page one and doesn’t let go. The prose is rich and evocative, transporting the reader to rural France with an ease unusual for a debut author. The story is intriguing, weaving past and present in an ever-tightening braid that eventually dissolves the separation altogether, adeptly illustrating how the Cathars’ belief in reincarnation might play out in the real world. Lia is especially well-portrayed as the unwitting catalyst uniting two deaths, three men, and 800 years of history, while the male characters are slowly revealed as we learn their unlikely pasts and how they affect the present. Very highly recommended.

Nicole Evelina

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historical fantasy

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THE TIME OF THE CLOCKMAKER Anna Caltabiano, Gollancz, 2015, £14.99, hb, 271pp, 9781473200432 After being abducted, turned into an immortal adult overnight, and sent back and forth in time at the behest of her inscrutable mentor, notquite-Rebecca Hatfield might think she’s seen everything... Not so, of course: Rebecca’s longdead lover reappears in ghostly form, her mentor is murdered before her eyes and, while fleeing, the poor girl is accidentally whisked off to Tudor England – and stranded there. But immortals cannot stay long in any time, and Rebecca is desperate to recover a time-traveling device that might not have been created yet – all the while juggling the affections of her jealous ghost and a charming court alchemist.

Now, if this reads confusing, it’s because it is.

The interesting premise (a line of immortal timetraveling women, very uneasy with their condition) is left largely unexplained and poorly developed, the plot is paper-thin, and the characters quite shallow.

Worst of all, when it comes to history, the author hasn’t done her homework. Her portrayal of Tudor England is sketchy and unconvincing at best – and often downright wrong. Part of the blame probably lies with the very young Miss Caltabiano’s lack of experience, but the result is a highly disappointing read.

Chiara Prezzavento WINTERWODE J. Tullos Hennig, DSP Publications, 2015, $17.99, pb, 328pp, 9781632167934 At the end of the 12th century, King Richard I, on his way home from the Crusades, is captured and held for ransom by the Duke of Austria.

In England under John Lackland, Eleanor of Aquitaine is held captive so she won’t ransom the elder brother and dethrone the younger. And in Shirewode, a band of outlaws under merry/gay Robyn Hode, avatar of the Horned God, and his sister/healer, Marian, seek to maintain the pagan ways they were born to. Templar knights with their own magic and heresies provide nemeses and Multi-period — Historical Fantasy

hidden connections.

Hennig’s prose is full of revelations, a rich, dialectical brew spiked with archaisms that seem so right. Sometimes, more in this third book in the series than in the last I read, this style proves too much, obscuring the story and emotions rather than elucidating them. Several scenes, particularly at the beginning of the tale when I was trying to get my footing, seemed to serve little purpose.

Throughout the book, tension that could have been held was dropped. I lost sight of details I thought would be important. They weren’t used with strong enough plot force. Read, of course, to continue the story and if interested in taking on this different twist to the old tale. It may prove too difficult otherwise.

Ann Chamberlin THREE GREAT LIES Vanessa MacLellan, Hadley Rille, 2015, $16, pb, 347pp, 9780989263146 Three Great Lies starts in modern Egypt, with a tourist named Jeannette enticed to a newly uncovered tomb. Once there, she tumbles through a hole and finds herself, Alice-like, in a semifantastic ancient Egypt. Jeannette’s modern life held little meaning for her. Her boyfriend dumped her for her best friend, her job is boring, and she is disillusioned with religion. But life in Egypt gradually jars Jeannette’s negative sensibilities, and she develops deep friendships with a determined, lost mummy and a young cat-headed girl who has been sent by the goddess Bast to assist both the mummy and Jeannette, although no one knows what form that help is meant to take.

MacLellan juggles these serious themes of friendship and what gives life meaning with a flip voice and a humorous style. Frequently the humor is delivered via simile. For example, early on the effect of the heat on Jeannette is described: “The mid-day sun had baked her brain within the black helmet, and sweat lacquered the sides of her face…

She’d been cured, like a Christmas ham.” Often a contemporary reference is used in these similes, and the humor is meant to arise from the absurdity of such a comparison within this ancient world.

The growth and changes of the three central characters are believable and endearing. The plot, however, meanders slowly. Judicious clipping of plot arc and repetitious language would have greatly improved this imaginative novel. For example, pruning would benefit this passage describing Jeannette’s emotions: “Jeannette forced her features into lax neutrality. Her jaw tightened and she forced herself to relax.” MacLellan’s creative concept and good characters would have been enhanced by thorough editing.

Judith Starkston ROOKS AND ROMANTICIDE J.I. Radke, DSP Publications, 2015, $16.99, pb, 250pp, 9781634760584 Rooks and Romanticide alters the well-known tragedy of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet by placing it in an alternative world of Victorian London. In J.I. Radke’s atmospheric novel, New London is besieged by turf warfare between the Dietrich and Ruslaniv families. Yet, amidst this violent turmoil, the two families’ male heirs develop a clandestine love affair that could potentially save their world, Historical Fantasy — Alternate History

or shatter it to pieces.

Radke creates a richly descriptive alternative London while making several references to Romeo and Juliet (the novel is divided into acts and scenes, there is a balcony, and lines from Shakespeare’s play are incorporated throughout). Like Romeo and Juliet’s forbidden love, the romance between Cain Dietrich and Levi Ruslaniv is passionate and intense. Radke enhances this intensity by surrounding the romantic plot with political intrigue. Moreover, the sexual intimacy of the two male lovers makes the romance even more perilous: the characters exist in an alternative Victorian England, yet the morality is much the same. While Radke does borrow bits from Shakespeare, this is certainly not the Bard’s romance as it is full of sex and violence.

Rooks and Romanticide is a fun read, with a vivid setting and a compelling plot. However, the novel is largely overwritten as Radke does not trust his readers to interpret the significance of a gesture or moment and instead points it out for them.

Additionally, Radke sacrifices potentially powerful scenes for extensive exposition that is overpopulated with similes and rhetorical questions. All of this results in characters that are distanced from the reader’s sympathies and concern.

Nicola M. Imbracsio

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THE LOST TIME ACCIDENTS John Wray, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2016, $27.00/ C$31.50, hb, 512pp, 9780374281137 Taken together, John Wray’s first three novels clearly demonstrate his facility in representing a broad, eclectic range of subjects, time periods, and characters; thus, this novel should come as no real surprise, but it does. Defying easy categorization, the book weaves elements of science, science fiction, history, pop culture, and religion to produce a funny, mordant, thoughtful, and thoughtprovoking exegesis on the nature of time.

Waldemar Tolliver is both the hapless victim and natural product of his notorious family’s history.

When his great-grandfather, pickle baron and amateur physicist Ottokar Toula, dies just hours after making the stunning but ill-documented discovery that it’s possible to move freely within the dimension of time, Ottokar’s descendants are trapped in lifetimes of attempting to unlock those lost secrets. Waldy’s family, certain it has the inside track on the right answer, dismisses Einstein as “The Patent Clerk.” “The belief that every physicist since Newton has been a fraud or a sucker (or both) is our family dogma, passed from generation to generation like a vendetta or an allergy to nuts.”

The details unwrap themselves slowly as we read over Waldy’s shoulder while he pens his family’s sordid history for the faithless woman he loves, Mrs. Haven. He writes from inside the depths of his late aunts’ huge, stuffed-to-the-rafters New York apartment where, incidentally, he finds himself entirely outside the stream of time. How he came to be there, how he is named after his great-

uncle the war criminal, how his father’s bad science fiction writing is responsible for the founding of a cult (Wray doesn’t bother to hide that he’s describing Scientology), and how his thoroughly eccentric aunts may have finally solved the puzzle are all eventually revealed in this story that, like a black hole, winds ever tighter around its core.

Jennifer Bort Yacovissi

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alternate history

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THE AMBASSADOR Yehuda Avner and Matt Rees, Toby Press, 2015, $29.95/C$33.95, hb, 339pp, 9781592643882 The Ambassador is a revisionist historical novel set during World War II. It asks the question: What would have happened to the Jews if Israel had its own state before the Holocaust? The novel is based on the historical revision that the British government accepted the recommendations of Lord Peel and partitioned Palestine. This would have ended the British Mandate and Israel would have gained statehood in 1937.

The novel follows Dan Lavi, who is appointed ambassador to the Third Reich in Berlin. His task: to process Jews out of Germany and into Israel. Working with high-level Nazis like Adolph Eichmann and Reinhard Heydrich, Lavi must stay true to his mission despite the growing horror that encompasses him and his family. As the war goes on, Lavi sees his mission changing from diplomat to spy to saboteur and must decide whether the risk to himself, his friends and family is worth it to bring down the Reich.

Avner and Rees tell a riveting tale that shines with expert writing, intriguing character arcs and captivating scenes. The authors had me thinking that if the partition did happen, then the world would have been a much better place.

The Holocaust would have been greatly lessened; North Africa, Italy and Germany would have been won faster, and America would have controlled all of Europe without Soviet intervention. I don’t doubt some of that. Unfortunately, I think the authors could have hidden their agenda better, because I think many would deem this on the verge of propaganda.

Val Jensen THE BRITISH LION Tony Schumacher, William Morrow, 2015, $25.99, hb, 464pp, 9780062394590 / also £7.99, pb, 352pp, 9780062439192 In The British Lion, sequel to The Darkest Hour, author Tony Schumacher has created a believable and terrifying alternative world in which the Nazis were victorious during World War II and now not only occupy Britain, but have an uneasy detente with the United States. The book opens with decorated London police officer, John Henry Rossett, known as the British Lion for his bravery during the war, in a hospital bed recovering from a gunshot wound. His friend and boss, SS officer Ernst Koehler, helps cover up the facts of the incident that led to the shooting. Neither man quite trusts the other, but when Koehler’s own wife and daughter are kidnapped by American spies, HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 55

Koehler turns to Rossett for help rather than going to any of his comrades. The Americans, seeking to discover the whereabouts of a Jewish nuclear scientist in order to kidnap her, believes Koehler will trade the information to save his family, but things go wrong from the beginning and then go from bad to much, much worse.

An intricately plotted mystery, The British Lion is an atmospheric work that describes the depressing and oppressive world of a defeated and occupied nation. There is not a contented soul in its pages, and Schumacher ably evokes the cold of both the weather and the relationships between the characters in dark, wintery language. What fleeting moments of happiness that do exist are quickly extinguished, and human connections are put to the test over and over again. Schumacher has painted London on a canvas of chaos and suspicion, and I am glad I don’t live there. Recommended for fans of historical mystery and alternative history.

Kristina Blank Makansi

perspective – though it’s not always used to its best advantage.

The Golds are an affluent, influential Jewish family in the Polish town of Pinczow. Hana and Leib and their children – Shoshana, Esther, and the youngest child, David – seem close, naïve, and ostensibly prepared as the Germans invade and occupy their city, rounding up Jews and conveying them to the Treblinka concentration camp. Leib Gold separates from his family to locate a suitable hiding place, and when he doesn’t return, Hana is forced to deal with terrifying situations, mistrust and constant trepidation and panic as she and her family survive two years in hiding.

The story is a remarkable one. It takes the mind where it does not want to go, and where unspeakable things happen based on basic abuse of human rights. However, it disappoints in its stiff, lifeless writing style and an absence of flow throughout the story. This tale deserved more vitality. For 12 plus Wendy Zollo

Rupert manages the hotel until Warren comes of age. Although Warren works very hard, the hotel is poorly managed by lazy Rupert and his evil new wife, Anaconda. Anaconda, who is a witch, married Rupert because she seeks the “all-seeing eye,” rumored to be hidden in the hotel. She invites her sisters of the triangle witch coven to help her find it, but they let the secret slip. Eventually the hotel fills with guests all trying to find the all-seeing eye.

Warren discovers a journal written by one of his ancestors that predicts when “the all-seeing eye is commandeered, the hotel shall no longer stand.”

Warren must find the eye before anyone else.

The mystery of this story is intriguing and fun, with puzzles, maps and magical characters. The fantasy world is steampunk-ish, with no reference to time period or place, a little like Lemony Snicket’s world, but with more magic. The physical book is well designed: a large-page format with double columns on a page and illustrations that enhance the mystery and magic. For 10 plus.

Elizabeth Caulfield Felt

LIZZIE AND THE LOST BABY Cheryl Blackford, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, $16.99/C$23.99, hb, 192pp, 9780544570993 During WWII in England, city children who are expecting the terror of German bombers are sent to the country, where they can escape the life-threatening challenges to come. Lizzie and her brother, Peter, arrive in Yorkshire valley and are anxious to adjust. A woman named Madge leaves the children with another woman, Elsie, who sits in a chair all day, not speaking or moving except to roll her head from side to side. Aside from doing dishes and keeping their sleeping area clean, they have nothing else to do, and so they go exploring.

Nearby a group of gypsies live, at least until the danger in the cities ends. A young boy named Elijah is being forced to do things because a family acquaintance, Bill, is bribing him. Elijah has a secret that might mean being cast out or shunned by the gypsies, and Bill takes advantage of the young boy’s fear. The plot involves a baby Elijah left in a field and whom Elsie is now taking care of. The remaining story involves the gypsies’ attempts to find their baby and Lizzie’s realization that telling lies and keeping secrets have terrible results.

This is a lovely historical novel about the challenges and mysteries confronting innocent children who were affected by the war. It is also a microcosm of how rejecting those who are different can grow into life-changing realities of danger and shame. This is a nicely crafted book and highly recommended for ages 9 - 12.

Viviane Crystal

MANNERS & MUTINY: Finishing School, Book the Fourth Gail Carriger, Little, Brown, 2015, $18.00/ C$21.50, hb, 336pp, 9780316190282 Sophronia Temminnick and her particular friends are nearing the end of their careers at Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing School. The proper Victorian establishment is actually a training academy for female intelligencers, run aboard a dirigible hovering over the Dartmoor moorlands.

The story opens with a Finishing School tea party, where Sophronia and her classmates are impersonating one another, under the critical eyes of their human and vampire professors, at the same time carrying on flirtations with the boys from Bunson’s – a school for evil geniuses.

We are at once immersed in Carriger’s frolicsome world, where characters have names like Lord Dingleproops, the heroine wields weapons ranging from a wicker chicken to a bolt-shooting crossbow, and the government is run by a Shadow Council consisting of a head werewolf, vampire, and Queen Victoria. The somewhat thin plot centers on a threat to School and Country from the Picklemen.

The chief of this nefarious group is styled the Chutney, while his right hand man is the Grand Gherkin. None of this really matters, because the story is packed with fun, wit, and adventure.

Sophronia’s single-handed confrontation with the Picklemen, when exploding chicken and pastries come into play, is an exciting highlight.

This fourth book in the Finishing School series has a great mix of humor and action, and features an intelligent, daring, well-rounded heroine.

“Imagine discounting someone on the grounds of age and gender!” Sophronia declares for all young women everywhere. For 12 plus.

Eva Ulett

HIDDEN GOLD: A True Story of the Holocaust Ella Burakowski, Second Story, 2015, $12.95, pb, 314pp, 9781927583746 This is the story of the Gold family’s suffering in Nazi-occupied Poland. It is a first-hand account, as Burakowski is the daughter of one of the surviving members of the family, which allows for a unique

WARREN THE 13TH AND THE ALLSEEING EYE Tania Del Rio (illus. Will Staehle), Quirk, 2015, $16.95/C$17.95/£14.99, hb, 224pp, 9781594748035 The Warren Hotel has been in Warren the 13th’s family for many generations. Warren is twelve, and after the death of his parents, his uncle

THESE SHALLOW GRAVES Jennifer Donnelly, Delacorte, 2015, $19.99, hb, 484pp, 9780385737654 Set in Victorian New York, this story follows Jo Montfort as she longs to test the glittering restrictive world of her birth.

As one of New York’s elite, she has been raised to marry the perfect gentleman and have babies; but what Jo really longs for is to pursue her love of journalism. Her world is rocked when her father is discovered dead, a supposed suicide. Not believing her father capable of such a thing, Jo teams up with newspaper reporter Eddie Gallagher to uncover the dark secrets lurking just out of sight. She will risk her heart and social oblivion to discover to the truths that threaten to challenge her perfectly planned existence.

Jennifer Donnelly truly excels at historical fiction, whether it be for adults or teens. While These Shallow Graves is geared towards young adults, it will intrigue adult readers as well. At first the heart of the mystery seems easily solved, but as Jo and Eddie continue to uncover pieces to the puzzle, the real truth becomes further obscured.

Descriptions of Victorian New York really give the novel its flavor while the characterizations are equally wonderful. So many female protagonists in today’s historical fiction are not in sync with the realities of their time periods. Jo Montfort is very aware of her place in society and the constraints upon her as a woman. She is constantly barraged with who she is and how she should act, which reminds the reader of how life used to be. But Jo is wonderfully smart and courageous, and though she challenges the establishment, she does it with grace and deportment.

Another excellent read from Donnelly, this novel should not be missed. Highly recommended.

Caroline Wilson

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children & young adult

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HNR Issue 75, February 2016

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Children & YA

DEAR MISS KARANA Eric Elliott, Heyday, 2016, $9.99, pb, 117pp, 9781597143233 Tíshmal Wáaşaq is a ten-year-old Native American girl living on a reservation in Southern California. After reading Island of the Blue Dolphins, Tíshmal becomes curious about Karana, the woman rescued from San Nicolás Island a hundred and sixty years ago. Through an old recording of a song sung by Karana, Tíshmal recognizes similarities to her own language, Chamtéela. As she pieces together what little Karana left behind, Tíshmal begins to understand more about her own tribe.

Dear Miss Karana looks at the familiar story of Island of the Blue Dolphins through the perspective of a modern Native American girl who, despite time and distance, feels an affinity with the Nicoleño woman who lived alone for twenty years. It’s a wonderful little companion piece, with insights into the language, beliefs, and traditions of several Southern Californian tribes, some of which may be close to what Karana spoke and believed. It’s geared to middle grade readers and appropriately so.

Jessica Brockmole I liked this book because it was very focused on the main idea of the story. It also was very informational about Karana and how she lived in the real world and not just about what the book Island of the Blue Dolphins said about her life. Even though some of the book was fiction, at least half of the book was true about Karana’s life. What I don’t get was that the main character in the story was Tíshmal Wáaşaq and not Karana, whose name is in the title and Tíshmal’s is not. But I do think that Tíshmal is a good main character because she is really involved in the story.

Owen Brockmole, age 9 DA VINCI’S TIGER L. M. Elliott, Katherine Tegen, 2015, $17.99, hb, 304pp, 9780060744243 When there are gems like this to be found, it’s no wonder adults get in the habit of raiding bookstores’ YA sections. This lyrical characterdriven novel is narrated by 17-year-old Ginevra de’ Benci Niccolini, daughter of a banking family in 15th-century Florence, who was one of Leonardo da Vinci’s early subjects. His painting of her is groundbreaking for its forward-facing gaze and backdrop of the natural world. Ginevra was also a poet, although only one line remains of her writing (the book’s title derives from this).

Ginevra is the wife of a kind but distant wool merchant twice her age. Her marriage was arranged by her uncle and Lorenzo de’ Medici, and despite her convent education and spirited wit, she’s used to having little say in her life. However, when Venetian ambassador Bernardo Bembo decides to make her his Platonic lover and commissions her portrait, it pushes her to consider delicate matters of the heart, especially when Bembo seems to want more than idolizing her from afar. Her sympathetic mentor, Abbess Scolastica, gives her wise advice on how she can retain her virtue and make her own voice heard.

Ginevra’s movements around the city create a richly detailed tour of Florentine history and culture, from an exciting joust at the Piazza di Children & YA

Santa Croce to the peace of the Le Murate convent – famous for its sisters’ gold-thread embroidery – to a fancy dinner party at the Palazzo Medici, where the strange new table fork is introduced.

Elliott also brings readers into the studio with Leonardo, imagining the artistic decisions behind Ginevra’s portrait. Her research is thorough and enthusiastic, so much so that Ginevra’s story sometimes fades into the background, but anyone fascinated by the setting won’t mind. Speaking to the theme of women’s agency in restrictive times, this is a beautiful and thoughtful read for teenagers on up.

Sarah Johnson TWENTY-ONE HEROES Sam A. Forman, Pelican, 2015, $17.95, hb, 224pp, 9781455620876 This story of three young people – Katherine Mayhew, Joshua Spencer and Ezra Wright – is set at the dawn of the American Revolution, and explores how the ideas of liberty, democracy and a new way of thinking about the role of government (by the people, for the people) affects them. It is a coming-of-age tale for the characters as well as the budding new country.

Forman’s first book, Dr. Joseph Warren: The Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hills, and the Birth of American Liberty, is a non-fiction volume that explains the role Dr. Warren played in the American colonies and, later, the development of the United States. This acclaimed book is an important addition to our information regarding the Founding Fathers.

However, fiction is a different animal, and a successful historical novel uses different techniques from a non-fiction book, which is the problem with Twenty-One Heroes. There are many facts, but the story itself lacks tension; the reader is not compelled to keep turning the pages. Perhaps in an effort to mimic the speech or language usage of the 18th century, the writer has unwittingly created labyrinthine sentences that have little rhythm or grace. Whatever the intention, the result is less than satisfying. For ages 12-17.

Anne Clinard Barnhill THE CHARMED CHILDREN OF ROOKSKILL CASTLE Janet Fox, Viking, 2016, $16.99/$21.99, hb, 400pp, 9780451476333 Janet Fox, a former high school English teacher, has written a middle-grade novel sure to have students arriving at school bleary-eyed after staying up all night to finish this thrilling mystery.

Heroine Kat Bateson, age 12, and her siblings have been sent to Rookskill Castle in Scotland to escape the Nazi bombing of London during World War II. The castle is remote and sinister, and its inhabitants appear drugged. Only the mistress of Rookskill, Lady Eleanor, appears normal – and that’s not saying much, since she can’t be trusted.

The children soon hear strange noises at night and wonder if the castle is haunted. To save herself and the children at Rookskill, Kat must answer two questions: Is the castle haunted? Or is there a Nazi spy lurking in its dark corners?’

The mystery revolves around a belt-like piece of jewelry called a chatelaine, which is at the center of the World War II chapters and the time-switching

chapters set in the 1740s. The time switches should be no problem for middle-graders used to fantasy and time travel novels. Children ages 10 and over will find this clever story creepy and thrilling.

Readers who are easily frightened may want to wait until they are older.

Fox’s ending wraps up the mystery but leaves open the possibility that Kat will be back – and so will the magic. An excellent book, highly recommended.

Lorraine Norwood CAPTIVE OF FRIENDLY COVE: Based on the Secret Journals of John Jewitt Rebecca Goldfield and Mike Short, Fulcrum, 2015, $25.95, pb, 160pp, 9781936218110 John Jewitt was a British soldier whose ship was attacked by the Mowachaht people, a First Nation community, who resided on an island off the west coast of Vancouver Island. This is the graphic novel story of his capture and subsequent three years as a slave. Only his skills as a blacksmith saved him from being massacred, like the other members of his ship The Boston, on March 12, 1803. Words cannot capture the fear and the strangeness Jewitt endured, but the graphic novel medium conveys it all in riveting, color-filled frames. Adapting to a steady diet of fish and fish lard, watching the custom of decorating one’s body in vibrant colors that bespeak the Indians’ fearless and ferocious hunger for attacking their enemies, and more pull the reader into this unfamiliar world, where Jewitt and his irascible peer, Thompson, abide. Chief Maquinna wavers between friendliness and threats.

This is remarkable historical fiction presented as a vibrant journalistic account, replete with vivid, unforgettable details to please readers of all ages.

Viviane Crystal THE DARK DAYS CLUB Alison Goodman, Viking, 2016, $18.99, hb, 496pp, 9780670785476 Lady Helen Wrexhall is excited to begin her first Season out in society. She has noticed that she is getting heightened senses and wonders about it when Lord Carlston enters her life. Accused of murdering his wife and fleeing to France to avoid prosecution, he has returned to England, he claims, to mentor her in her new abilities as a Reclaimer.

Their duty is to keep in check the Deceivers, evil beings who drain the life force out of people in various ways. The group of people that has Reclaimer skills is known as the Dark Days Club.

Helen must decide if she will join them or if she will turn her back on Carlston and his world and fundamentally change who she is for the chance to have a life of love and happiness.

This is a terrifically fun novel and a good starting place for readers who may not be familiar with historical fantasy. The main characters are well developed, though the secondary characters are mostly flat. There is ample room for them to grow in subsequent novels, however.

T h e action takes a hundred pages or so to get going, but it doesn’t drag because the setup of the characters and plot is interesting enough not to need tons of action right away. The plot moves along well and left me wanting to see what happens next. I would definitely read more by this author, and recommend this novel to readers of 12 plus who HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 57

enjoy historical fantasy and steampunk, though I wouldn’t categorize this novel as such.

Kristen McQuinn LEGACY OF KINGS Eleanor Herman, Harlequin Teen, 2015, $19.99/ C$21.99, hb, 432pp, 9780373211722 Book One of the Blood of Gods and Kings saga is a fantasy novel borrowing the marquee name of Alexander the Great to add to its allure. Historical fiction fans looking for an epic story of Alexander with some fantasy elements may be disappointed, as there is little of the historical figure in the book.

However, fantasy fans of 12 plus may enjoy the adventures of the young characters.

Kat (Katerina) and Jacob begin their quests in a manner reminiscent of The Hunger Games: two feisty lifelong friends, now with a growing mutual attraction, must leave their small village for the capitol. Jacob has been chosen for an arena battle in which participants from all parts of the realm slaughter one another until the last man standing wins the prize. Alex (Alexander), Heph (Hephaestion), Cyn (Cyane), and Alex’s mother hatch their own plots in the capitol. Each seeks a different magic to help them achieve individual goals. Kat, already possessed of magic (she can communicate with animals and heal with her touch), has come for vengeance against Alex’s mother. As a side plot, Zo (Zofia) pursues life with her soldier/lover in defiance of her betrothal to Alex, but she’s off in Persia.

The various storylines bump into each other but don’t significantly intersect until three-quarters of the way through, when the heroes find a common enemy and the pace quickens. Secrets are revealed and allegiances shift as the climactic battle sets the stage for Book Two. Sue Asher HELL AND HIGH WATER Tanya Landman, Walker, 2016, £12.99, hb, 318pp, 9781406356618 England, 1752. Caleb, a boy of mixed race, is deserted when his loving father, a puppeteer, is wrongly accused of being a thief and is sentenced to transportation to the Colonies. Left scared and alone, Caleb follows his father’s wishes and carries their Punch and Judy show with him to find his timid aunt who lives in Devon. There, Caleb begins a new life in his aunt’s home, shared with the headstrong and capable Letty. From an initial distrust, Caleb and Letty’s friendship begins to grow.

This is a beautifully written, fast-paced novel.

Issues of ignorance, corruption and bigotry are revealed in all their ugliness throughout the story.

Caleb is brave yet sensitive as well as talented with a needle. Letty has an equally determined character, combined with the strength and ability to skilfully row a boat, understanding the sea and the tides.

Together they complement each other well as they leave his aunt behind to pursue the truth and reveal injustice.

The Punch and Judy show is an important thread in this novel. The detail is written in such a way that you can easily visualise the scenes as they are played out from the audience’s perspective as well as the effort and talent needed by the puppeteer.

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This engaging tale is intriguing. It is brilliant in the portrayal of the period and the corruption and inequality that controlled everyday existence for many. In Caleb and Letty I discovered two engaging characters with whom I empathised and I was delighted with the ending of their story. I would definitely recommend the novel. For 12 plus.

Valerie Loh RAZORHURST Justine Larbalestier, Soho Teen, 2015, $18.99, hb, 320pp, 9781616955441 Razorhurst is the nickname given to a seedy part of Sydney, Australia, which in 1932 is controlled by two competing gangsters and their best hit men. Their empires are beginning to crumble following the murder of Boss Gloriana’s top man, who happens to be beautiful Dymphna Campbell’s lover. Streetwise and powerful Dymphna, known as the Angel of Death, discovers young Kelpie at the scene and, fleeing, takes the orphaned waif under her wing. Kelpie is tormented with the uncanny ability to see and communicate with ghosts, a gift that helped her survive as a youngster alone on the streets. She is unaware that her new protector also has this gift, but maturity has taught Dymphna to control them so that they cannot control her as they do Kelpie. We follow them for the next 24 hours after finding the victim, while the victim’s ghost follows them. Danger is around every corner as the ladies team up with Snowy, the head gangster for the other mob boss, Mr. Davidson. Who can they trust, and who will ultimately become ghosts in this murderous city?

The novel is edgy and bloody, and readers of gangster stories will love the dangerous situations that the characters experience. The added level of the supernatural gives this story another dimension, literally. The author has developed the characters well and slips in Kelpie’s storyline through her memories, allowing the reader to discover more about her parentage than Kelpie. The book has a satisfactory conclusion. For 14 plus.

Beth Turza THE AFTER-ROOM Maile Meloy, Putnam, 2015, $17.99/C$20.99, hb, 432pp, 9780399175442 This is the final book in the Apothecary trilogy, which includes The Apothecary (2013), The Apprentices (2014), and The After-Room (2015).

In 1955, Janie and Benjamin are living with her parents in Michigan after the death of his father.

Janie and Benjamin are still in love, but Benjamin is depressed and has closed himself off from Janie.

When Benjamin discovers he can visit his father in the after-room he nearly dies in the attempt.

Janie and Benjamin meet a man who can read minds and may be able to help Benjamin safely talk to his father, but this man seeks a filter for his own psychic abilities. Using the Pharmacopeia, Benjamin creates a medicinal filter which has unintended side-effects. The man ends up telling a mobster about Benjamin’s apothecary abilities.

With the help of Count Vili, Janie’s parents get a job in Rome, and the family moves there, but the mobsters follow.

Meanwhile, Jin Lo washes up on the shore of an island where Ned Maddox, an American Navy officer, is searching for a man who has stolen a

nuclear weapon. Ned brings Jin-Lo back to health, and the two fall in love. Jin Lo is searching for the cargo of radioactive uranium lost in the last book.

She and Ned travel into China, encountering pirates and the evil Danby in their attempts to thwart World War III. I read and enjoyed the first two books in the series, and the same is true with The After-Room.

Benjamin, Janie, and Jin Lo are well-developed, likable characters, as are many of the side characters. The plot twists and tangles keep readers on edge. The magic is fun and creative and adds sparkle to the story. The books are probably best read in order, although this story is fairly standalone. Recommended for 10 plus.

Elizabeth Caulfield Felt MINNA’S PATCHWORK COAT Lauren A. Mills, Little, Brown, 2015, $17.00, hb, 288pp, 9780316406215 In this reworking of Mills’ picture book, The Rag Coat, Minna, a girl living in Appalachia at the turn of the 20th century longs to attend school.

However, her family is too poor to provide a coat for her, and the weather is too cold to allow her to go coatless to the one-room schoolhouse a goodly distance away. To make things worse for Minna and her family, her father is sick with black lung disease, acquired while working in the coal mines.

No longer able to work, her family struggles to survive through subsistence farming.

Minna’s mother earns a little money sewing quilts with the neighborhood women, beautiful patchwork designs which are sold in New York City for a fine price. At a quilting bee, the women decide to make Minna a coat so she can go to school. The women select patches of material from their own children’s discarded or outgrown clothing. Each strip of cloth has a story about the former owner, and is a tale which Minna files away.

Knowing about each child at school helps Minna forgive the children when they make fun of her for her ragged clothes.

Mills captures the spirit and flavor of the Appalachian Mountains in this middle-grade story of courage, heartache and family ties. Inspired by Dolly Parton’s song, “Coat of Many Colors,” this novel will warm the heart of any reader with the carefully woven stories of all those who live in the closely knit community of Rabbit Ridge.

Anne Clinard Barnhill DEADLY SHOT: Dan’s Diary Patricia Murphy, Poolbeg, 2015, €7.99, pb, 293pp, 9781781999370 It is 1920. Dan O’Donovan is twelve years old, a promising footballer and a messenger boy for the Irish Free State army and its rebel leader, Michael Collins. Despite promising his cousin Molly, and his mother, not to get caught up in the fighting, Dan is gradually drawn deeper into the struggle for an independent Ireland and becomes involved in a web of ambush and murder plots.

The story is fast-paced and often very graphic for a children’s book, in its description of the actual shootings and bombings. The real-life happenings are seen through the eyes and mind of a child, many with Dan being an eye-witness; for example, the events of Bloody Sunday in 1920, when the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Auxiliary Division Children & YA

opened fire on the crowd at a Gaelic Football match at Croke Park in Dublin, killing fourteen citizens and wounding many others.

Dan, like many boys, has a passion for football.

His talent helps him out of many dangerous situations but also is his way of dealing with the increasing violence he witnesses around him during a particularly brutal time in British and Irish history.

Poolbeg Press is a small Irish publishing company, who produce excellent books for both adults and children. Dan’s Diary is one of their Hands on History series, aimed primarily at Irish schoolchildren. Non-Irish children may find the cultural and historical references difficult to understand, despite some helpful facts at the beginning of the book and Author’s Notes at the end. However, I am sure, with a little more explanation, any reader would find the story gripping to the last page.

Linda Sever WHEN MISCHIEF CAME TO TOWN Katrina Nannestad, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, $16.99/C$23.99, hb, 192pp, 9780544534322 In 1911, Inge Maria finds herself shipped from her beloved city of Copenhagen, where she lived with her mother, to the small island of Bornholm, an isolated spot of land in the Baltic Sea. She has never met her grandmother before – not in all her eight years – and here she is, alone with Grandmother for the first time, in a strange place without her mother to comfort her. Instead of the laughing citizens of Copenhagen, Inge must contend with Levi, the cantankerous donkey, and Henry, the trouble-prone turkey. Nothing is as it should be as Inge learns to adapt to her new, sometimes frightening, surroundings.

This middle-grade story is charmingly told from Inge’s point of view in the present tense, which gives a sense of immediacy to the events as they occur.

She is a girl with an abundant imagination, who treasures the stories of Hans Christian Andersen, which she shares with her grandmother. Though years separate them, both are creative and full of life. Inge, in spite of the trouble she causes, brings a lively spirit back into her grandmother’s life.

Readers will laugh as Inge learns to love the old woman who seems so stern at first; and they will cry because Inge must deal with the grief of losing her mother. Together, granddaughter and grandmother find love in this heartwarming tale.

Anne Clinard Barnhill A NIGHT DIVIDED Jennifer A. Nielsen, Scholastic, 2015, $16.99/ C$19.99, hb, 317pp, 9780545682428 Gerta is twelve when the Berlin Wall emerges overnight, dividing the city of Berlin into East and West sectors. The division is unthinkable and tragic when both her father and middle brother are in West Berlin seeking work. They are not allowed to return home. Gerta’s mother believes that the wall is only temporary, but soon succumbs to the sobering truth that the wall is not coming down and there is little chance they will ever see the father and brother again.

The family now comprises Gerta, her mother, and older brother Fritz. As the East Berliners try Children & YA

to cope with the devastating occurrence of the wall, neighbors soon turn against one another in an attempt to gain favor with the East German soldiers. Gerta’s best friend, Anna, becomes distant after Anna’s brother is discovered to be fleeing, and is shot. Anna’s family suspects that Gerta’s family is to blame.

As weeks turn into months Gerta walks by the wall on her way to school and one day sees her father on a viewing platform on the Western side. He is pantomiming a message to Gerta. He wants her to go to an abandoned building next to the wall. She believes he wants her to dig a tunnel and escape to the West. At first, Gerta only tells her brother Fritz, because she is too afraid of involving their mother. But when a nosy neighbor asks too many questions, Gerta, Fritz, and their mother realize that they are almost out of time. They must dig.

This is a wonderfully written story about life behind the Berlin Wall. Middle school audiences will devour this fast-paced thriller about a horrific time in German history.

Linda Harris Sittig DARKER ENDS Alex Nye, Fledgling Press, 2015, £7.99, pb, 276pp, 9781905916061 Alex Nye continues his exploration of the chillier end of children’s fiction with this novel set in modern Glencoe. Or is it? This is a skilled timeslip tale of time, life and consciousness swirled up into a heady brew of mystery and danger. ‘Time is a web… Sometimes threads break, and worlds collide.’

A man, Ivan, crashes his car in a ditch and walks to the nearest habitation. Inside the old inn two children, Maggie and her little brother Rory, await the return of their parents from a shopping trip.

But it is getting late, a storm is brewing, and the stranger at their door seeking help is not the only stranger in the house. The mists of history begin to blend with the present as Ivan regales the children with the legend of the massacre of Glencoe in 1692: when the children flee, their experiences become strangely entangled with the lives of those fleeing the massacre all those years before.

The historical scenes in this novel are sharply depicted without sentimentality, but the power of the novel lies in its other-worldly atmosphere, of snow, cold and darkness – the ‘velvet darkness’ of a power-cut, a storm that ‘trembles in the rafters’ – and the eerie sense of muddle and mix-up in the minds of the protagonists. Maggie worries that her memories are becoming ‘broken up into tiny pieces like a complicated jigsaw puzzle.’

Little flashes of reality – the blue lights of a police vehicle outside their house, Rory’s need for his inhaler – only add to the sustained air of jeopardy.

The affectionate reliance and resourcefulness of brother and sister offer safety despite the spooky plot-lines, and the emotional finale provides an effective resolution, though not the one imagined at the start of the book. For 10-14 year olds.

Jane Burke

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IN SEARCH OF MARY: The Mother of All Journeys Bee Rowlatt, Alma, 2015, £12.99, pb, 278pp, 9781846883781 In Search of Mary is one of the most interesting

books I’ve read all year. Journalist Bee Rowlatt follows 18thcentury feminist Mary Wollstonecraft’s epic 1796 journey (plus baby daughter) first to Norway; then retraces Mary’s earlier visit to Revolutionary Paris; and lastly travels to America, home of Mary’s faithless lover, Gilbert Imlay – a place Mary never herself went. Bee (with her own baby son) follows in Mary’s footsteps. She wants to find out what drove Mary on, what she thought about the places and people she visited, and to gain a deeper understanding of what Mary has to teach the 21st century about feminism.

From the jaunty cover to the unstuffy and punchy tone, it’s not initially clear whether In Search of Mary is fact or fiction. Mary’s lover and father of her child, the attractive but duplicitous Gilbert Imlay, is running a dodgy business exporting silver once owned by guillotined aristocrats and selling it in Norway in order to buy what? Weapons?

Corn? And for who, exactly? Gilbert has packed Mary plus baby off to Norway to track down Peder Ellefsen, the last man known to have handled the silver… You can see why it sounds like fiction. In fact, it is all true.

Bee, however, has her own emotional journey to make; her hippy father left when she was a child – just like that rat Gilbert – and Bee must face up to her own unfinished business. This is about two extraordinary women, living two centuries apart, each struggling to understand her place in the world. It’s about rites of passage; the choices we make; recognizing possibilities and taking action; and, perhaps above all, about changing perceptions.

The book is unputdownable and any thoughtful teenager, thirsty for adventure – with a touch of humour – will love it. Highly recommended.

Elizabeth Hawksley THE TOYMAKER’S APPRENTICE Sherri L. Smith, Putnam, 2015, $16.99/C$19.99, hb, 400pp, 9780399545160 After his father is kidnapped to build an army of toy soldiers for the ruthless mouse queen intent on mankind’s demise, Stefan Drosselmeyer and his cousin with an eye patch embark on an adventure across Germany to find the legendary krakatook, cure a princess, and save Boldavia from extinction.

In Smith’s middle-grade debut we are introduced to a world filled with sword-fighting rats, scholarly squirrels, great clocks keeping time—and souls— under the city, and a terrible yet sympathetic mouse prince who would be king. Even if you are not familiar with E.T.A. Hoffmann’s original work, you will quickly find yourself caught up with the fate of Stefan and his companions, including a brave Clara and her slipper. But this is not a fantastical ballet: mice wield paralyzing poison in their bite, mechanical horses carry Stefan on his journey, and there is only one mention of a sugarplum. Stefan is smart and likeable, and still reeling from the recent death of his mother, when his cousin—our familiar, though younger version of Drosselmeyer—offers him a place as his journeyman in the secretive HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 59

clock-making guild. This ends his apprenticeship as a toymaker under his father, but Stefan will need both skills to eventually defeat the mouse king.

I enjoyed this loose and imaginative retelling immensely. The writing is well-suited to the older end of the middle-grade age group, although it may be a bit dark for anyone younger.

Holly Faur LOVE BY THE MORNING STAR Laura L. Sullivan, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, $8.99, pb, 320pp, 9780544542594 This teen novel is not what you might expect from a story set in wartime Britain. With Hitler on move against the rest of the world, the country is shaken by the evils of Nazism. Yet, it skims over the surface of such tumult the way a skylark skims over clouds – with grace and beauty. An unlikely romcom, Love by the Morning Star employs comedic devices as old as those used by Shakespeare: mistaken identities, midnight rendezvous with the “wrong man,” and laugh-out-loud confusion when an old British codger mistakes an opera star for a common woman-of-the-evening.

It all begins when Hannah, a half-Jewish, halfBritish girl, escapes from Germany at the very last minute. She’s able to leave because of her halfBritish citizenship, and she’s on her way to meet her stodgy relatives, who have agreed to take her in for the duration of the war. Her parents are supposed to join her in England; Hanna and her family are performers and Hannah is a rising star in the opera.

Enter Anna, daughter of a British grocer, but beautiful and blond, and a little daft. Anna is mistaken for the fleeing German cousin by the family and is treated like a princess. Of course, the family has no idea Anna is a spy for Nazisympathizers – not that Anna sympathizes; she’s only interested in marrying a rich lord. She has no time for politics.

As you can see, if you add a handsome gardener and the son of the house into the mix, laughter is bound to follow. And yes, I caught myself chuckling out loud as I read this sparkling comedy of errors.

Anne Clinard Barnhill INTO THE DIM Janet B. Taylor, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, $17.99, hb, 432pp, 9780544602007 Hope Walton was homeschooled in her small town, and she’s developed some crippling phobias.

When her mother dies in an explosion thousands of miles away, she finds herself sent to Scotland to live with an aunt she’s never met while her father vacations with his new girlfriend. Oddly enough, Hope seems to settle into her new life until she discovers that her mother is alive but trapped back in time during the age of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Besides being a brilliant scientist, her mother is also a member of a secret society of time travelers, and now her aunt wants Hope to travel back to help rescue her mother.

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along her path to time travel are intriguing and loyal, but there is one boy who seems to be hiding something. The climax will keep you on the edge of your seat, but there is a definite sense of more to come. The one part that I felt was unnecessary was the explanations of the Dim, the device that makes time travel possible; it pulled me out of the story every time. Otherwise, this is an exciting tale, wellplotted and rich in detail. For 14 plus.

Tamela McCann THE WORLD BENEATH Janice Warman, Candlewick, 2016, $16.99, hb, 176pp, 9780763678562 This is the story of a young boy, Joshua, who lives in South Africa in 1976. Unaware of the political unrest seething in the bigger cities like Johannesburg, Joshua finds joy in sneaking into the master’s house to keep his mother company while she works. He loves to hide in a cubby beneath the stairs with the master’s dog, Betsy, often sleeping there, keeping warm against the dog’s soft fur.

Though his older brother, Sipho, has been killed in the big city, Joshua still longs for his playful ways. His little sisters live with their grandmother far away. And, though Joshua shouldn’t have been allowed to stay with his mother, the mistress, Mrs. Malherbe, lets him live there unperturbed, as long as he keeps out of sight when the master is home Everything changes for Joshua, however, when the boy discovers an injured man hiding in a tree that lines the drive to the master’s house. This man, Tsumalo, is about the age of Joshua’s big brother and a resistance fighter. He tells Joshua about how Sipho died and why people are fighting to change things. Joshua’s mother tends to Tsumalo’s wounds and allows him to stay hidden in the old family shed, putting all their lives at risk.

This is a sensitive and well-written story about a part of history many American children will not ever know, yet there are echoes of the American story here, too. Warman pulls no punches, and there is death and violence in these pages. It is an honest story recommended for ages 12 and above.

Anne Clinard Barnhill ASSASSIN’S MASQUE: A Palace of Spies Novel, 3 Sarah Zettel, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $17.99/ C$24.99, hb, 432pp, 9780544074088 It’s 1716 in England, and life is turning around for seventeen-year-old Margaret “Peggy” Fitzroy.

By day Peggy is maid of honour to her Royal Highness, Caroline Princess of Wales. By night she is a confidential agent, or spy, in the service of the Crown. When a mysterious veiled woman shows up at her aunt’s home, Peggy’s life begins to unravel, and she doesn’t know who to trust: her father who has just come back from the dead and may be a double agent; her mentor, Lord Tierney, aka Mr. Tinderflint, who may not be her greatest ally; her seemingly innocent Aunt Pierpont; or various lords and ladies of the court, with their own motives and aspirations against the royal house. With the threat of a Jacobite invasion, Peggy finds herself a

pawn in everybody’s plots and schemes. To get to the truth she has to rely on her wits, on subterfuge, and on the only two people she explicitly trusts: her cousin, Olivia, and her paramour, Matthew.

Assassin’s Masque is the third installment of the Palace of Spies young adult series. Peggy is a typical adolescent of any time period, prone to outbursts, long-winded “what if ” scenarios, rashness, and sentimentality. But she is also endearing, smart and witty.

This is a light, breezy, and entertaining novel, involving a plot against the royal house, the inadequate spy, and her equally inept cohorts who try to prevent it.

Francesca Pelaccia

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STITCHES IN TIME: The Story of the Clothes We Wear Lucy Adlington, Random House, 2015, £16.99, hb, 410pp, 9781847947260 The author’s deep scholarship is very evident, as is her joy in clothing. A collection of anecdotes talking about an item of apparel per chapter, this book could have been entertaining froth; but it’s much, much more. She focuses on the last 200 years, but ranges from prehistory onwards, describing the evolution of items in a very engaging manner. The book is illustrated with black and white sketches and photos, and has a colour centrefold. From knicker elastic to hats, topics are covered in detail. My favourite timeline takes the pocket from a fold in a Roman toga to today’s handbag, covering chatelaines, a man’s “posturing pocket” (not what you might think), and the 18th-century “indispensable” on the way; each journey has similar intriguing details. I learned something new from every chapter, and was thoroughly entertained whilst doing so; there are articles of interest here for everyone. The book has an extensive bibliography and source reference material, making it a good springboard for research.

An excellent book for either the fashionista or the historical novelist in you.

Nicky Moxey A GUEST AT THE SHOOTERS’ BANQUET: My Grandfather’s SS Past, My Jewish Family, A Search for the Truth Rita Gabis, Bloomsbury, 2015, $28.00, hb, 464pp, 9781632862617 / Bloomsbury, 2016, £16.99, hb, 464pp, 9781408845233 Rita Gabis, an American poet and writer of half-Catholic, half-Jewish descent, writes a memoir which is part mystery, part family history, part confession, and totally gut-wrenching. Five years prior to the publication of her book, Gabis was unaware of her beloved maternal grandfather’s work as the chief of security under the Gestapo in Svencionys, Lithuania. Once uncovered, she devoted years of her life to discover the truth about the killing grounds of Lithuania and her family Children & YA — Nonfiction

complicity in the horror and tragedy that evolved there.

With prose in turns poetic and brutal, she goes into the history and politics of Lithuania, and explains the complications due to religious and ethnic differences. Gabis writes from her soul, trying to comprehend the terror of people under the heel of both the Nazis and the Russians, to understand there was no way out for so many, and no matter what the choice, it was always the wrong one.

This unsettling, unnerving book makes you think of the what-ifs of both the past and the present. Gabis touches so many who had never had the courage or ability to tell their stories, and those who had never heard them. This should be on everyone’s To Be Read list. It will make you examine your own conscience. Very highly recommended.

Monica E. Spence WILLOUGHBYLAND: England’s Lost Colony Matthew Parker, Hutchinson, 2015, £16.99, hb, 294pp, 9780091954093 Willoughbyland is the fascinating story of the rise and fall of a South American colony that I suspect many readers (including me) will never have heard of. It is also a complex weave of, and a commentary on, the politics, religious divides, economics and ambitions of 15th- and 16th-century Europe that drove the desire to explore and colonize, Parker convincingly presenting Guiana as a microcosm of empire. A treasure trove for the curious, there is a wealth of information on the geography, topography, flora and fauna (Guiana has 300 varieties of catfish) of the vast land area between the Amazon and Orinoco rivers.

However, I felt that too much space was devoted to the background of Willoughbyland (c.100 out of 250 pages), especially the myth of El Dorado That quibble aside, Parker’s flashes of humour, classical allusions and pithy commentaries on both characters and information – he categorizes Raleigh’s account of Guiana as a mix of ‘priceless anthropological evidence and patent hearsay’ – make this an immensely enjoyable read and one that will repay a second visit because of the sheer volume of information it contains.

Margaret Skea THE WITCHES: Salem, 1692 Stacy Schiff, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2015, £20, hb, 510pp, 9781476602242 / Little, Brown, 2015, $32/C$38.50, hb, 512pp, 9780316200608 This is a very detailed and erudite account of the infamous witchcraft frenzy which afflicted the small village of Salem, Massachusetts and then some neighbouring settlements in the first half of 1692.

Schiff provides a full narrative of the known and assessed events, combined with full background explanation and analysis, to provide a readable and comprehensive history of those dark days. There are various theories about why the whole bizarre episode happened, and Schiff discusses in detail the context of the times, showing how the apparent demonic persecution and subsequent prosecutions Nonfiction

were not so egregious in the most peculiar world of the Puritan colony in the late 17th century.

Schiff gives a balanced and insightful analysis of where the blame most probably lies for the whole imbroglio; in particular, the role and capability of the mostly teenaged female accusers are discussed intelligently and fairly.

One issue is that although there are generous footnotes, they are only listed at the back of the book, with no reference in the text – this means the engaged reader will need to keep flipping back and forth to check if a particular point has an associated footnote; an odd omission.

Douglas Kemp THE KAISER’S ARMY: The German Army in World War One David Stone, Bloomsbury, 2015, $50.00, hb, 512pp, 9781844862351 / Conway, 2015, £30.00, hb, 560pp, 9781844862351 While I was expecting this to be a standard history of the Great War with maybe a new spin on the turbulent times, this was a unique perspective.

While there is a general overview of the war with almost every theater being touched upon, it is much more – a story of the Kaiser’s Army.

This is the most comprehensive look at the German army before, and during, World War I that I have ever read, and I have read a great deal on the subject. Stone covers every aspect of the army, starting with the Infantry and the NCOs, to the Officer’s Korps up to the German High Command. It goes into the training, organization, and equipment used by the different units of the army. All of the various support services are surveyed from the Engineers and Pioneers down to Veterinary Korps.

While the detail can be rather dry at times, Stone sprinkles in enough real-life incidents to keep the reader engaged. This book is not for everyone, and I would not recommend it to the casual reader who wants a basic understanding of World War I. I would, however, highly recommend it to everyone who has more than a casual interest in the war, and is interested in seeing what makes an army work.

Stone has done an extraordinary job in pulling all of this information together and presenting it in a sensible and manageable way.

Paul Kowalinski

waned with Henry’s and Mary Tudor’s struggles to produce an heir. She died never knowing her grandson eventually claimed both thrones.

Meg’s story is told chronologically, with descriptions of the houses she inhabited, her love for her husband, her attitude to religion and her struggle to raise children. There are maps that show her properties, genealogical tables of her relationships with the royal families of Scotland and England, illustrations and an appendix on her portraits, plus an appendix of the poems, written

by Margaret and others, which she copied into the Devonshire Manuscript. There is a 25-page list of dramatis personae, copious notes, a bibliography, references and the usual index – as you would expect from such a professional historian.

Jen Black THE STUARTS IN 100 FACTS Andrea Zuvich, Amberley, 2015, £7.99/$13.00, pb, 192pp, 987144564302 The Stuarts in 100 facts! Who needs it? I know thousands of facts about the Stuarts.

In fact the ‘100 Facts’ are actually 100 short essays each of about two pages, all crammed with facts, so there are indeed thousands of them, many of which I didn’t know. They are in no particular order and range from ladies’ underwear to the Duke of Monmouth (not entirely unrelated topics).

Some of them are gossipy tidbits; others contain useful information, such as the two calendars in use in England throughout the 16th century. Don’t be put off by the jokey language or the tendency to assume total ignorance, such as explaining who Julius Caesar was. This is not a children’s book.

I am not sure who buys these miscellanies, but this one is well done, accurate (as far as I can see) and entertaining.

Edward James

THE LOST TUDOR PRINCESS: A Life of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox Alison Weir, Jonathan Cape, 2015, £20, hb, 542pp, 9780224089807 / Ballantine, 2016, $30, hb, 576pp, 9780345521392 This is a work of immense political and personal detail with a straightforward style, easily read by anyone with an interest in the daughter of the English Queen of Scotland and her second husband, the Earl of Angus. Margaret’s uncle was no other than Henry Tudor. She lived through the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, Jane Grey and Elizabeth I and was imprisoned more than once. Her hopes of becoming Queen of England and, possibly, Scotland waxed and HNR Issue 75, February 2016 | Reviews | 61

© 2016, The Historical Novel Society ISSN: 1471-7492 | Issue 75, February 2016