Historical Novels Review | Issue 88 (May 2019) by The Historical Novel Society

H I S T O R IC A L

NOV EL S REVIEW

ISSUE 88

INDIAN HISTORICAL NOVELS The origin & evolution of the historical novel written by Indians in English More on page 8

MAY 2019

FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE ... Taking Liberties At the boundaries of fictionalised history Page 10

Nazi Hunters & Night Witches Kate Quinn's The Huntress Page 12

Time-slip & Local History Interweaving past and present Page 13

Landscape, History & Folktales Katherine Stansfield's Cornish fiction Page 14

Natural Connections Niamh Boyce's Her Kind Page 15

Historical Fiction Market News Page 1

New Voices Page 4

Ask the Agent Page 6

A publication of the Historical Novel Society | www.historicalnovelsociety.org

H I S T O R IC A L

NOV EL S REVIEW ISSN 1471-7492

PUBLISHER Richard Lee

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

EDITORIAL BOARD

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 US (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; Australian presses; university presses

Features Editor: Lucinda Byatt 13 Park Road, Edinburgh, EH6 4LE UK <textline13@gmail.com>

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

REVIEWS EDITORS, UK Alan Fisk

<alan.fisk@alanfisk.com> Publisher Coverage: Aardvark Bureau, Black and White, Bonnier Zaffre, Crooked Cat, Freight, Gallic, Honno, Impress, Karnac, Legend, Pushkin, Oldcastle, Quartet, Sandstone, Saraband, Seren, Serpent’s Tail

Edward James

<busywords_ed@yahoo.com> Publisher Coverage: Arcadia; Atlantic Books; Canongate; Head of Zeus; Glagoslav; Hodder Headline (inc. Coronet, Hodder & Stoughton, NEL, Sceptre); John Murray; Pen & Sword; Robert Hale; Alma; The History Press

Doug Kemp

<douglaskemp62@gmail.com> Publisher Coverage: Allison & Busby; Little, Brown; Orion; Penguin Random House UK (Cornerstone, Ebury, Transworld, Vintage, and their imprints); Quercus

Linda Sever

<LSever@uclan.ac.uk> Publisher Coverage: All UK children’s historicals

Karen Warren

<worldwidewriteruk@gmail.com> Publisher Coverage: Accent; Birlinn/Polygon; Bloomsbury; Duckworth Overlook; Faber & Faber; Granta; HarperCollins UK; Hamish Hamilton; Pan Macmillan; Penguin Random House UK (Michael Joseph, Penguin General, Penguin Press, and their imprints); Short Books; Simon & Schuster UK

REVIEWS EDITORS, USA Rebecca Cochran

<CochranR95@gmail.com> Publisher Coverage: Amazon Publishing; Hachette; Hyperion; Pegasus; and WW Norton

Bryan Dumas

<bryanpgdumas@gmail.com> Publisher Coverage: Algonquin; Kensington; Other Press; Overlook; Sourcebooks; Tyndale; and other US/Canadian small presses

Ilysa Magnus

<goodlaw2@optonline.net> Publisher Coverage: Bloomsbury, FSG; Grove/Atlantic; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Minotaur Books; Picador USA; Poisoned Pen Press; Soho Press; St Martin’s Press; and Tor/Forge

Arleigh Ordoyne

<arleigh.johnson@att.net> Publisher Coverage: US/Canadian children’s publishers

REVIEWS EDITOR, INDIE Misty Urban

<misty@historicalnovelsociety.org> Publisher Coverage: all self- and subsidy-published novels

EDITORIAL POLICY & COPYRIGHT 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. 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.

MEMBERSHIP DETAILS 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/

HISTORICAL FICTION MARKET NEWS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTRIBUTORS WANTED

ISSUE 88 MAY 2019 COLUMNS

The HNS produces many original feature articles for our website. These involve reading a book, preparing some questions for the author, and then writing a narrative-style article based on the responses. Interested in contributing? Please contact Claire Morris, HNS web features editor, at claireonwriting@gmail.com.

NEW BOOKS BY HNS MEMBERS

Historical Fiction Market News

Sarah Johnson

New Voices Profiles of debut historical fiction authors Mary Calvi, Gina Marie Guadagnino, Lana Kortchik & Kris Waldherr | Myfanwy Cook

Ask the Agent Giles Milburn and Elizabeth Macneal |

Richard Lee

FEATURES AND INTERVIEWS 8

Indian Historical Novels Origin & evolution of the historical novel written by Indians in English by Waheed Rabbani

10 Taking Liberties At the boundaries of fictionalised history by Michael Dean 12 Nazi Hunters & Night Witches Claire Morris speaks to Kate Quinn about her exciting new novel, The Huntress by Claire Morris 12 Time-slip & Local History Interweaving past and present by Lucinda Byatt 14 Landscape, History & Folktales Cornwall offers an anvil on which to forge historical fiction by Myfanwy Cook 15 Natural Connections Niamh Boyce's Her Kind by Bethany Latham

REVIEWS 16 Book Reviews Editors’ choice and more

Congrats to the following authors on their new releases! If you’ve written a historical novel or nonfiction work published (or to be published) in Feb. 2019 or after, please send the following details to me at sljohnson2@eiu.edu or @readingthepast by July 7: author, title, publisher, release date, and a blurb of one sentence or less. Details will appear in August’s magazine. Submissions may be edited for space. In A Distant Field by RJ MacDonald (Warriors Publishing Group, Nov. 11, 2018), two brothers survive the sinking of the RMS Lusitania and go on to enlist in the Seaforth Highlanders; all too soon they find themselves heading towards the bloody battlefields of WWI. Set during WW1, Colleen Adair Fliedner’s In the Shadow of War: Spies, Love & the Lusitania (Sand Hill Review Press, Nov. 15, 2018) weaves together a patchwork of real events, including the bombing of the U.S. Capitol, the attempted assassination of J.P. Morgan, and the sinking of the famous passenger liner that took the lives of 1,198 souls. Zimbabwe Falcon by David Maring (BookBaby, Dec. 21, 2018) covers the conflicts involving the Rhodesian Pioneers, Boers, Ndebele, Shona, and a black Jewish tribe in the region between Limpopo and Zambezi Rivers from 1898- 1923. In Joy to My Love by Karen M. Edwards (Amazon, Jan. 2), Effie Innes has encountered prejudice and belittlement most of her life, but when two men she loves are taken from her Lowland Scottish fishing village to fight in the War of 1812 with America, she finds the courage to reach out for what she wants. The Serpent, The Puma, and The Condor: A Tale of Machu Picchu (Mnemosyne Books, Jan. 22), Gayle Marie’s debut historical novel, is set during the time of Pizarro’s invasion of Peru and is told from the Inca perspective. Marina Osipova’s How Dare the Birds Sing (indie, Jan. 24) takes readers across the 1930s Stalinist Soviet Union and WWII in a tale whose characters are bound by secrets, love, hatred, and unthinkable quirks of fate. The second book in a two-part series, P.K. Adams’ The Column of Burning Spices (Amazon/Iron Knight Press, Feb. 1) tells the true story of Hildegard of Bingen, who, enclosed in a Rhenish convent at a young age, defies the medieval Church hierarchy in her quest to become a physician.

A publication of the Historical Novel Society | www.historicalnovelsociety.org

Peculiar Savage Beauty by Jessica McCann (Atlantis Audio Productions/Perspective Books, Feb. 26) was praised by Publishers Weekly as a “…gripping, atmospheric novel. McCann’s Dust Bowl saga meshes a seminal event in American history with a suspenseful plot and insightfully etched characters.” Nancy Blanton’s third novel, The Earl in Black Armor (Ellys-Daughtrey Books, Mar. 1) is a story of loyalty, betrayal, love and murder, centered around the life of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, in 1635 1641. In The Deceivers by Bill Page (Matador UK, Mar. 19), set in Roman Britain in AD 370, unwilling to comply with an order from Caristanius Sabinus, governor of Britannia Prima, to hand over a mysterious figurine of the Underworld Goddess Hecate, Canio sets out to acquire a fake good enough to deceive him: it may not end well. Arthur, Dux Bellorum by Tim Walker (TimWalkerWrites, Mar. 1) is a re-imagining of the King Arthur story from a historical perspective. Ervin Klein’s novel Subterfuge (Enigma House, Mar. 31) is a World War II story of a missing U-boat, a Nazi cover-up, and a son’s determination to discover the truth. White Rose by Kip Wilson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Versify, Apr. 2) is a YA novel-in-verse that recounts the lives of Sophie Scholl and fellow members of the White Rose resistance group in Nazi Germany, highlighting their brave stand against fascism. In Bright Axe, second in the Byrhtnoth Chronicles by Christine Hancock (Madder Press, Apr. 11), set in the 10th century, Byrhtnoth is torn between his quest to find his father and his duty to his lord; his friends suffer, and in Northumbria he encounters wolves and a mysterious woman who offers him news of his father – and more. The Time Collector by Gwendolyn Womack (Picador USA/ Macmillan, Apr. 16), a romantic thriller between two psychometrists who can touch objects and see the past, travels around the world and through time to solve the mystery behind out-of-place artifacts that challenge the timelines of recorded history. Mary Lawrence’s The Alchemist of Lost Souls (Kensington, Apr. 30), is fourth in the Bianca Goddard Mysteries set in Tudor London, where Bianca risks her life to prevent her father’s dangerous discovery—an amalgam of earth and fire—from being used against the King’s army in Scotland. In Kate Braithwaite’s The Girl Puzzle, A Story of Nellie Bly (Crooked Cat, May 5), asked to type up a manuscript revisiting Nellie Bly’s experience in a New York asylum, Beatrice believes she’s been given the key to understanding one of the most innovative and daring figures of the age. Abe & Ann by Gary Moore (Komatik Press, May 15) is a novel based on the little-known story of Abraham Lincoln’s passionate romance with Ann Rutledge in his twenties, when long before he was a bearded wise man saving democracy, he was homely, timid, and hopelessly in love. In Book 3 of Catherine Kullmann’s The Duchess of Gracechurch Trilogy, The Duke’s Regret (Willow Books, May 28), when Jeffrey, Duke of Gracechurch is forced to realise how hollow his marriage and family life are, he is determined to make amends to his wife and children and forge new relationships with them.

COLUMNS | Issue 88, May 2019

The past meets the present in Jessica James’ Lacewood (Patriot Press, Jun. 18), a haunting read about the restoration of an abandoned mansion, and the secrets it reveals about a long-lost love. In Promises by Eileen Joyce Donovan (Waldorf Publishing, July), Lizzie, age 13, is among the children sent to Canada to avoid the brutal bombing of English cities during World War II; however, this doesn’t mean she escapes the horrors of war, since both on the voyage and in the fishing village where she and her brother are sent, she experiences danger, cruelty, and loss, but resiliently forms alliances, makes plans, and takes charge of her life.

NEW PUBLISHING DEALS Sources include authors and publishers, Publishers Weekly, Publishers Marketplace, The Bookseller, and more. Email me at sljohnson2@ eiu.edu or tweet me @readingthepast to have your publishing deal included. Eleanor Anstruther’s debut, A Perfect Explanation, a tale of family dysfunction set in the interwar years and the 1960s, and based on the lives of the author’s own aristocratic relatives, sold to Helen Atsma at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, by Robin Straus at Robin Straus Agency on behalf of Jenny Saville at Andrew Nurnberg Associates. Published by Salt (UK) this March, it is longlisted for the 2019 The Desmond Elliott Prize. C.W. Gortner’s The First Actress, recreating the life of Sarah Bernhardt, the 19th-century thespian who was the first to act in a modern, natural style, who began her career as a courtesan, daringly bore and raised an illegitimate son, had numerous lovers, and ultimately became the most celebrated actress of her era, sold to Susanna Porter at Ballantine by Jennifer Weltz at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency. Lancaster University associate lecturer Yvonne Battle-Felton’s debut, Remembered, set in 1910 Philadelphia, delving into the memories of Spring, an emancipated slave, as her son’s life hangs in the balance, sold to Haila Williams at Blackstone Publishing, by Jenny Bent at The Bent Agency on behalf of Elise Dillsworth at Elise Dillsworth Agency. UK rights were sold to Sharmaine Lovegrove at Little Brown UK; it is longlisted for the 2019 Women’s Prize. Westering Women by Sandra Dallas, a novel of female friendship, focusing on a young seamstress in 1850s Chicago who signs on to a California-bound wagon train filled with husband-seeking women as a means of escape, sold to Elisabeth Dyssegaard at St. Martin’s Press via Danielle Egan-Miller at Browne & Miller Literary Associates; publication will be winter 2020. Debut novelist Nicole Glover’s The Conductors, an #OwnVoices historical fantasy set in post-Civil War Philadelphia, about a magicwielding African-American couple, former conductors on the Underground Railroad, who solve mysteries the white authorities won’t touch, sold to John Joseph Adams at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s John Joseph Adams Books, in a two-book deal, by Jennie Goloboy at Donald Maass Literary Agency. Jennifer Delamere’s The Spinster’s Guide to Romance, first in the Love on the Wires series set in 1880s London, where a telegrapher decides to test the theories from a book on how to attract men, sold to David Long at Bethany House in a three-book deal, by Jessica Alvarez at BookEnds. The complex sisterly relationship between Cassandra and Jane

Austen is the focus of Gill Hornby’s Miss Austen, which reimagines many of Jane’s lost letters. It sold to Caroline Bleeke at Flatiron Books by Pippa Wright at Century; UK rights were sold to Selina Walker at Century via Caroline Wood at Felicity Bryan Associates. The Mimosa Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu, latest in her Crown Colony Mystery series set in 1943 Singapore, in which the murder of a local collaborator means deadly retribution from the occupying Japanese unless a woman can help a sympathetic Lance-Corporal pin down his killer, sold to Krystyna Green at Constable & Robinson in a threebook deal, for June 2020 publication, by Priya Doraswamy at Lotus Lane Literary. The Women in Black, a classic Australian novel (first published 1993) by the late Booker-shortlisted author Madeleine St. John, about four women working at an upscale department store in 1950s Sydney, sold to Kara Watson at Scribner for publication in spring 2020, by David Forrer at Inkwell Management on behalf of Michael Heyward at Text Publishing. The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis (a pseudonym for bestselling author Rowan Coleman), in which Charlotte, Anne, and Emily Brontë become amateur detectives in 1945 Yorkshire, investigating a young mother’s disappearance, sold to Michelle Vega at Berkley, in a twobook deal, by Lizzy Kremer at David Higham Associates. Hodder & Stoughton will publish in the UK this September. National Jewish Book Award winner and Canada’s Harbourfront Prize Winner Joseph Kertes’s Last Impressions, set in present-day Toronto and WWII-era Hungary, and following a larger-than-life father and a devoted son who come to terms with each other and the fallout from their Hungarian refugee past, sold to Lara Hinchberger at Penguin Canada for publication in March 2020, by Julie Stevenson at Massie & McQuilkin. M. J. Cates’s Into That Fire, compared to The Paris Wife, and inspired by the historical Dr. Phyllis Greenacre, who forged her way against obstacles as a young doctor at a Baltimore psychiatric institute during WWI, and the man who loved her from a distance, sold to Anne Collins at Random House Canada by Martha Webb at CookeMcDermid; publication was Feb. 2019. Spanning centuries, Crossings by Alex Landragin, in which starcrossed lovers from 17th-century Polynesia, and who can leap into the bodies of others, search for one another as they journey through 18th-century Paris, inhabiting the forms of Charles Baudelaire, Walter Benjamin, and Coco Chanel as a sinister killer chases them across history, sold to Michael Homler at St. Martin’s Press via Susan Golomb at Writers House. It will also appear from by Picador Australia in 2019. Bestselling author of The Familiars (reviewed this issue), Stacey Halls sold two new historical novels to Margaret Stead, publishing director at Zaffre; the first (as yet untitled) is set in Edwardian Yorkshire, “in the gloomy valleys and damp woodland of Hebden Bridge where a recently graduated Norland nanny gets a position with the perfect family, who are hiding their own dark secrets.” Katie Hutton’s (pseudonym for HNR reviewer Katherine Mezzacappa) debut saga The Gypsy’s Bride, described as “a crosscultural love story” during the interwar years, about a Methodist preacher’s granddaughter who falls in love with a member of a recently arrived Gypsy community, sold to Claire Johnson-Creek at Zaffre via Annette Green at the Annette Green Authors’ Agency, for projected publication in June 2020. Under the title Merripen, the

novel was longlisted for the HNS’s New Novel Award for 2018. Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet, set in the 1580s and inspired by the story of William Shakespeare’s son Hamnet, who died aged 11, and Shakespeare’s subsequent play, Hamlet, sold to Tinder Press editor Mary-Anne Harrington, via agent Victoria Hobbs at A. M. Heath. Publication will be April 2020. Award-winning biographer Lucy Jago’s A Net for Small Fishes, about the unlikely friendship between a dressmaker and a countess in 17th-century England, and the dark lengths they will go to defy the conventions of a male-dominated society in pursuit of happier lives, based on the true story of a scandal that rocked the court of James I, sold to Sarah Murphy at Flatiron Books by Alexandra Cliff at PFD on behalf of Eugenie Furniss at 42 MP. The Woman Before Wallis by Bryn Turnbull, about American socialite Thelma Morgan Furness, who was mistress to Edward, Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII) before introducing him to her good friend Wallis Simpson, sold to April Osborn at Mira, in a two-book deal, by Kevan Lyon at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. James May’s historical mystery The Body Outside the Kremlin, set in 1926 in the labyrinth of the brutal Russian prison camp Solevetsky Island, and centering on several unsolved murders as well as stolen icons, sold to Joseph Olshan at Delphinium, for publication in January 2020, by Mitchell Waters at Curtis Brown. Nancy Revell (pseudonym for Sunderland-based journalist Amanda Revell Walton) has sold five new books in her bestselling Shipyard Girls saga, following the courageous women of Sunderland’s shipyards during WW2, to Cassandra di Bello at Cornerstone imprint Arrow via Diana Beaumont at Marjacq Scripts. L Annette Binder’s debut novel Mutti, inspired by her family’s daily life under the Third Reich, was acquired by Alexis Kirschbaum at Bloomsbury and Liese Mayer at Bloomsbury US, via Claudia Ballard at WME, for publication in spring 2020.

NEW EDITION AVAILABLE George Shipway’s novel of the Boudiccan revolt, Imperial Governor, has been reissued by the Santa Fé Writers Project. An earlier edition was reviewed in HNR 22. For forthcoming novels through early 2020, please see our guides, compiled by Fiona Sheppard and Sarah Cuthbertson: https://historicalnovelsociety.org/guides/forthcoming-historical-novels/

COMPILED BY SARAH JOHNSON Sarah Johnson is Book Review Editor of HNR, 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.

A publication of the Historical Novel Society | www.historicalnovelsociety.org

NEW VOICES

Mary Calvi

Lana Kortchik

Gina Marie Guadagnino

Photo credit: L.M. Pane

Mary Calvi, Gina Marie Guadagnino, Lana Kortchik & Kris Waldherr take readers on a journey into past mysteries and relationships

Kris Waldherr

Kris Waldherr’s name is associated with her work as a visual artist and creator of The Goddess Tarot. She describes her first novel, The Lost History of Dreams (Atria, 2019), as “a Victorian Gothic reworking of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice featuring a post-mortem photographer and a Byronesque poet who happens to be his cousin. It’s also a love story about the power of forgiveness, and a ghost story about how those who love us never truly leave.” Inspiration for a novel can come from many sources. In Waldherr’s case, she says, “The genesis of The Lost History of Dreams was spurred by a dream I had several years ago. In it, I witnessed a young woman arguing with a gentleman over an inheritance in a shabby room lit only by a fireplace. Both were dressed in mid-Victorian clothing. When I woke, I had no idea what the dream was about, or who the couple might have been. “I wrote the dream down in an attempt to figure out who the people were, and why they were so distressed with each other, feeling as though I’d happened onto another reality. This dream eventually became a pivotal scene in my novel when Robert, my photographer protagonist, first encounters his grief-stricken cousin Isabelle.” As she continued to write, she says, “Robert and Isabelle’s story collided with my interest in Victorian mourning rituals, and then expanded to include a nested story involving the poet’s ill-fated marriage. But dreams can only take you so far when it comes to historical fiction. There’s also research—and in my case, travel too.” Waldherr’s next step in the process of writing The Lost History of Dreams was to consult books: “about the history of daguerreotypes, post-mortem photography and Victorian mourning traditions,

COLUMNS | Issue 88, May 2019

as well as biographies of the Romantic poets, such as Byron and Shelley.” Also, she continues, “I traveled twice to England, where I walked the paths trod by Robert and Isabelle in London and Shropshire. For the poet’s story, I traveled to Herne Bay, Paris, and nearby Sèvres. Another research trip took me to Rochester, New York to the George Eastman Museum to gain a greater understanding of daguerreotype plate formats and antique cameras. At one point I considered taking a course on daguerreotype creation there, but was unable to; instead I relied on the Eastman Museum’s wonderful photographic processes video series to understand the chemistry and mechanics of Robert’s occupation. All of this helped me create a world on the page that previously only existed in a dream.” In The Story of Us (HarperCollins UK, 2019), Lana Kortchik conjures up a different world from Waldherr’s Victorian setting: that of Russia during the Second World War. Kortchik’s story is: “a tale of war and betrayal, of love and forgiveness. It is September 1941, and Hitler’s Army Group South has occupied Kiev. A young Soviet girl named Natasha falls in love with Mark, a Hungarian soldier of Russian descent. With everything stacked against them and nothing to hope for, Mark and Natasha are forced to keep secrets from everyone around them, every day fighting for their love and survival.” For Kortchik, she reveals, “The story of Natasha and her family is very close to my heart. Like most Russians, I grew up hearing about the war from my grandparents. These stories are in our blood, like our love for Pushkin and our penchant for drinking tea with every meal. My grandparents were too young to fight in the war but old enough to remember the hunger and the fear for everyone they loved, especially their fathers, faraway at the Eastern Front and inching their way towards Berlin. “I had lived in Kiev for three years as a child and fallen in love with its cobbled streets and golden domes; I knew that was where I wanted to base my story. One of the first short stories I’ve ever written was about a couple in love, trapped on opposite sides of the most brutal conflict the world had ever known. It was inspired by an article I came across many years ago, about a famous Soviet actress who had survived the war thanks to the kindness of a German soldier, who twice a day, for the duration of the occupation, fed the local children. When the short story was published in a magazine, people reached out to me, asking questions. They wanted to know how long the occupation of Ukraine had lasted and what life had been like for the ordinary Soviets. I realised there was more to the story than I first thought, and two years later it became a novel.” Gina Marie Guadagnino’s novel The Parting Glass (Atria, 2019) has its roots in her love of New York. As she explains, “In January of 2010, I moved away from New York and almost immediately regretted it. Pining for the city that had been my home for a decade, I began writing a short story about a townhouse on Washington Square. Having attended NYU and subsequently worked at the university, I had spent a great deal of my time scurrying to and from classes by cutting through Washington Mews, and it was this memory that became central to the story I was writing. The sound of my boot heels ringing out on the cobblestones felt like home to me in a way that my new environs did not, and the story began to take shape as I imagined who, amongst the original inhabitants of Washington

Square North, would have had occasion to cut through the Mews as I had. “The story began to crystallize around the servants living their lives in the back alleys of Greenwich Village, and, as I spent most of my time in the Mews heading to classes at NYU’s Glucksman Ireland House, I seemed to naturally gravitate toward the Irish immigrants who made up much of the servant class in 19th-century New York. The story, which I quickly realized was turning into a novel, became a love song to the city that I missed, and its melting-pot history, to which my ancestors had contributed. I specifically wanted to focus on the lives of women (particularly women whose experiences have been historically marginalized) and the ways in which they overcame or worked around the societal expectations that kept them from their desires. “About halfway through the first draft of what would become The Parting Glass, I moved back to New York and found deeper inspiration to complete my novel in coming home. The Parting Glass stands as a paean to my longing for the city, to my love for its hardscrabble heritage, and to my respect for all the tenacious women who came before me.” Mary Calvi’s novel Dear George, Dear Mary: A Novel of George Washington’s First Love (St. Martin’s Press, 2019) tells the story surrounding the “Mystery Woman of George Washington’s Love Letter.” As Calvi writes, “I let my eyes move slowly as I read the word “love” written in a most elegant cursive. My fingers gently held the jagged edges of a letter on linen paper—gently because it was dated 1758. The author of the romantic passages before me was Colonel George Washington. “On a large wooden table inside Harvard University’s Houghton Library was the multi-page letter that I had removed from a legal sized manila folder retrieved for me from a back-storage unit. This love letter to a woman, who was not Martha, reveals a passionate man. ‘Tis true, I profess myself a Votary to Love—,’ writes Washington as he seemed to unleash his heart on these papers. Historians have long believed George was in love with the woman to whom he wrote, his close friend’s wife, Sarah ‘Sally’ Fairfax. I strongly believe differently. And I have my reasons. What if the subject of this letter turned out to be another woman altogether?

recollection of a thousand tender passages…’” Calvi points out: “The letter itself yields one clue at the very start; George was not writing about his soon-to-be-betrothed. We know her as Martha. George refers to her in the letter as Mrs. Custis, who was a widow of eight months with two children when George met her. While the letter was clearly written to Sally, it is my belief that it is not about Sally. Only months before George wrote this letter, a New York heiress whom Washington courted and, some believe as I do, he loved, married another man. Washington goes on to scribe in his letter to Sally, this: ‘the World has no business to know the object of my Love…’” Calvi continues: “In the winter of 1758, Mary Eliza Philipse of New York married a British commander, after waiting nearly two years for George Washington to return for her. Washington was stationed in Virginia, while serving as a colonel in His Majesty’s Army. His continued requests for leave were denied by the very British commanders wanting to seize Miss Philipse’s surrender. One of them did. “It appears no matter how hard Washington tried, he would not be permitted to leave his post, giving room to another to move in on his girl. In the end, he seems to try to come to terms with the outcome when in the letter to ‘Sally’, he writes this: ‘There is a Destiny, which has the Sovereign control of our Actions—not to be resisted by the strongest efforts of Human Nature.’” Calvi, Guadagnino, Kortchik and Waldherr have invited readers into their worlds of love and mystery, which are tangled by time and destiny but unravelled in their novels.

WRITTEN BY MYFANWY COOK Myfanwy Cook is an Associate Fellow at two British Universities and a creative writing workshop designer. Please do email (myfanwyc@btinternet.com) if you discover any debut novels you would like to see brought to the attention of other readers.

“Washington wrote, ‘I feel the force of her amiable beauties in the

A publication of the Historical Novel Society | www.historicalnovelsociety.org

ASK THE AGENT Richard Lee talks to Giles Milburn and the agency’s newest star, Elizabeth Macneal The Madeleine Milburn Agency is in Shepherd Market, an area of Mayfair that feels more like Soho. The delightful 18th-century house was once a drinking den, and boasts original panelling and topsyturvy doorways. When it was built, Giles explains, it was on the very edge of London. There were fields beyond, where they held a raucous two-week fair each May. Giles attended our conference in Scotland last year, so I ask (inevitably) how the pitch sessions went. I am thrilled to learn that he signed two authors. The details are under wraps, but by any standards, it is a great result. Is this the value of conferences? ‘Meeting face to face does give you a better chance to understand the person – their passion for the subject. Why it matters to the author is ultimately why it might matter to a reader. It is harder to get that from a cover letter. ‘Besides, it is always interesting to meet authors, to find out why they are writing what they are writing, what influences them, what they are reading. Authors are our business.’ The business is doing rather well. In its seventh year, the agency has expanded to four full-time agents. In 2018 founder Madeleine Milburn won Literary Agent of the Year at the British Book Awards. The agency robustly champions historical fiction, and Giles states that he is ‘actively looking for anything historical, be it literary, commercial, crime, series, non-fiction or all of the above.’ We talk about what kinds of historical fiction he thinks are ‘hot’ right now. In terms of period, he highlights the 17th Century. I am surprised, because this era has been a difficult sell of late. It is a century torn by the wars of religion, and no-one much likes religion any more. ‘It’s not so much the religion,’ Giles explains, ‘It’s the sense of division. Family member against family member. Communities divided down the middle. It resonates now with politics in turmoil, with Brexit, with Trump.’ He cites Philippa Gregory’s latest, Tidelands, and Stacey Halls’ muchvaunted debut, The Familiars.

‘Really, historical can be any kind of novel. Thriller. Romance. Psychological drama. Mystery. The historical element brings an extra element to the genre that you choose to write. Selling it I would not necessarily stress the history. It is the human interest of the premise that is important.’ I ask which kinds of novels he particularly likes. ‘I find myself intrigued by books that are set after the event. You have a big event that everyone knows, and everyone knows the outcome. Instead of telling that as a sequential narrative, you set the book afterwards. Everyone has memories. Everyone is marked by it. Secrets. So the book is about the event that excites the interest, but it is not a direct telling.’ He mentions a novel that he has just signed set in Leningrad after the war – ‘the time recalls great heroism, great sacrifice, but it is set in the depths of a truly chilling Stalinist winter.’ We finish discussing the Indie/Trad publishing divide, and electronic books versus print. The effect on the industry has been seismic, and Giles thinks it will take many years before everything settles down again. Initially, he had seen digital as the way to launch an author, with print to follow when the audience is assured. ‘But there is still plenty of life in traditional publishing. Authors love to see their books in a bookshop.’ Can an author skip the traditional route and self publish until they have built a following? Giles agrees that this can work, but doubts it increases the chances of success. Huge numbers of books are published on Amazon, and understanding how to promote a title is a skill in itself. Eventually, he thinks, most authors will benefit from an agent to look after their business, a publisher to manage sales – ‘simply because it gives them more time to write.’ My thanks to Giles Milburn for supporting the HNS. It is wonderful to find such optimism for historical fiction. For more about the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency, follow Giles and Maddy on Twitter @giles_milburn, @agentmilburn.

He thinks there is a hunger for 18th century settings. ‘Particularly the far flung places. The aspect of strangeness, the difficulties of travel, familiar sorts of people in unfamiliar settings. Or of familiar settings told differently (for example Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s Blood and Sugar).’

ELIZABETH MACNEAL

World War II is also perennially strong – especially in the US market. In March, Canelo Publishing released an example of the kind of book that Giles is championing – LP Fergusson’s A Dangerous Act of Kindness – World War II, but featuring a sympathetic enemy, and conveying an idea of what the good Germans suffered under Nazi rule.

I recall how I felt receiving this. Joyous? Certainly. Frustrated? A little. The book was already on my longlist for the Award for unpublished novels, but unannounced.

I ask a few specific questions. Would he represent a US author? Yes,

it just depends on the novel. Would he sign an author over sixty? Absolutely – again, it is the writing that counts. Is there still a market for the action/adventure novel? Yes. Given that women read and buy far more novels than men, should books be written with a female reader in mind? Writers should write what they love. What about historical detectives?

COLUMNS | Issue 88, May 2019

‘I am writing to withdraw my entry, The Doll Factory, from the Historical Novel Award, as I have just received the (thrilling and joyous) news that Picador will be publishing my novel next year.’

The Doll Factory (reviewed this issue) is an extraordinary novel that wraps you in its atmosphere within a sentence or two. Maggoty rats, strawberries pickled in sugar, coal-smoke, fur-dust and stink. We are firstly drawn into the macabre world of a taxidermist and collector,

then into that of the Whittle sisters, shop-girls, (one with twisted collar-bone, one with smallpox scars), who paint dolls’ faces – either mourning dolls, ‘to be placed in the grave of a deceased infant’ or ‘a plaything for a bouncing, living child’. From here the novel expands to include the artistic ambitions of the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the Great Exhibition. Its off-beat charm won it Maddy Milburn as agent, a 14-way auction, publication in 28 languages, major launches in the UK (May 2nd) and US (August 13th). TV rights have been optioned by Buccaneer Media. So I wonder which Elizabeth I will meet, walking to her East London home. Iris Whittle, stifled shop girl? Louis Frost, self-indulgent painter? Silas Reed, driven collector? Or someone else? Elizabeth is nervous. Of course she is, she is going to get written about. We settle down with a cup of tea (served in an Elizabeth Macneal mug – did I mention she is also a ceramicist, her work acquired by the Museum of London?). Two determinedly affectionate cats are part of the welcome.

Eliot. Thackeray, Hardy, the Brontes.’ Contemporary influences are Sarah Waters, Michel Faber (‘a genius’), and Maggie O’Farrell. ‘It is about daring. It is Iris’ pursuit of her ambition that sets her free. She would never have left the doll shop to be a model. She leaves to learn to paint.’ The artwork for which Iris sits tells the story of Guigemar from the Lais of Marie de France. ‘I asked a friend who specialises in medieval literature for a story in which the female protagonist frees herself, rather than being rescued.’ And it is about contemporary issues. ‘Of course. All historical fiction is.’ Her greatest surprise, apparently, is that the book is being described as a thriller. ‘It’s gratifying, though. I suppose the pace is a natural effect of one of the characters’ ambitions impinging on the protagonist’s.’ Readers will decide.

‘Is this the dream?’

The cats have been playful throughout our chat, comically affronted when Elizabeth dissuades their naughtiness with a water spray.

‘Of course! But everything has changed, and nothing has changed. I still see myself as the same writer as before, and still spend my days in roughly the same way.’

On Elizabeth’s bookcase there is a single stuffed mouse – high enough that her cats cannot reach it – a present from her husband, bought as a joke.

We admire the pile of hardback books. There are three UK editions alone. The endpapers of the Waterstone’s exclusive edition are Elizabeth’s own work. We talk about TV (they are waiting on book sales in hopes of attracting the best scriptwriters), scariness (‘the first broadsheet reviews!’), excitement (‘actually seeing my book in a bookshop’) and the next novel, which I cannot divulge.

It is this image I think of, as I make my way home.

I ask about the spark for The Doll Factory. Was it Lizzie Siddal (model to the pre-Raphaelites, wed to Dante Gabriel Rossetti)? ‘I wanted to write a biographical novel about her. I did so much research.’ But in the end it was too uncomfortable. ‘I felt uneasy imagining her unrecorded emotions and thoughts, but also constrained by being unable to be creative with the plot.’ So Iris was born - her life comparable to Lizzie’s, but all of it fictional. Yet the true spark for the novel was actually Silas. ‘I wrote about him for an assignment on my MA’ (the prestigious MA course at the University of East Anglia). The intrigued reaction of her workshop group gave her the confidence to develop his story further: they had not reacted so warmly to any of her other writing. ‘At first I wondered if he was too weird, but their reactions told me to embrace it.’ They also insisted she make a viewpoint character of Albie. It is clear that UEA was a watershed for Elizabeth. She had written two novels before enrolling and spent ten years writing. Part One of The Doll Factory is mostly unchanged from the version submitted for her thesis. Her critique group from UEA continues in London, even though they have all graduated. I ask about the themes of The Doll Factory.

WRITTEN BY RICHARD LEE

Richard Lee is founder and chairman of the Historical Novel Society. He is writing a novel about the Crusades.

‘It is about what it means to be stifled and achieve freedom. It’s about obsession, confinement, personal expression, objectification. You know Dickens criticised Millais’ Christ in the House of His Parents not only for the painting, but for the model! ["horrible in her ugliness"].’ I have the impression she doesn’t like Dickens much. ‘I prefer George A publication of the Historical Novel Society | www.historicalnovelsociety.org

INDIAN HISTORICAL NOVELS The origin & evolution of the historical novel written by Indians in English

Palace of Illusions (Doubleday, 2008), by the award-winning author Chitra Divakaruni, is a historical fantasy that brings to light Vyasa’s Hindu epic of circa 350 BCE, Mahabharat, from Princess Panchaali’s female perspective. Vasant Davé’s Trade Winds to Meluhha (Vasant Davé, 2012), which received favorable reviews by Publishers Weekly, HNR, and others, is another example set during this earliest period, a coming-of age adventure tale focusing on a young orphan. Indian novelists seem to have ignored Alexander’s invasion, which is considered to have had little influence on Indian culture. Indian English novels abound for the period before the arrival of Central Asian Muslims in the twelfth century. Aditya Iyengar’s The Conqueror: The Thrilling Tale of the King Who Mastered the Seas, Rajendra Chola I (Hachette India, 2018) is an HF account of a South Indian emperor who in 1025 extended his empire across the seas up to Indonesia. The decline and fall of Hindu kingdoms is aptly narrated in Anuja Chandramouli’s Prithviraj Chauhan: The Emperor of Hearts (Penguin India, 2017). Prithviraj III is fondly called “the last Hindu emperor,” for despite fierce battles, he eventually lost, in 1192, his vast north-western Indian empire to the invading Ghurids led by Shihabuddin of Ghor. The Ghurids extended their kingdom up to Delhi, and Shihabuddin, not having any offspring, appointed Qutb-ud-din Aibak, his slave, as the first Sultan of Delhi. Five successive Muslim dynasties ruled the Delhi Sultanate, up to 1526. That era of chaos and violence is covered comprehensively in Kerala native Abraham Eraly’s book The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate (Random House India, 2014). The fascinating story of Razia Sultana, the first female ruler of Delhi, 1236-1240, is grippingly recounted by Rafiq Zakaria in his Razia: Queen of India (Oxford, 2000).

The Romans didn’t make a foray into India. In A. David Singh’s Caesar: Escapades in Rome (Amazon, 2016), Julius Caesar clutches a leg of Alexander’s statue and weeps in the knowledge that Alexander had conquered the lands from Greece to the Indus. When I wrote to Dr. Singh, he responded that Caesar’s lament is indeed a historical fact, but had the Romans followed-up on Caesar’s yearning, India’s history would have been written differently. In the early nineteenth century, with the introduction of English by colonial administrators, notably Lord Macaulay, into the curriculum of Indian schools, Indian writers began writing novels in English. These historical fiction (HF) authors are the subject of this feature. The first Indian English novel was Raj Mohan’s Wife by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (serialized in 1864, published by Chatterjee, 1935). Subsequently, Indian writers were appreciably encouraged when the “Bard of Bengal,” Rabindranath Tagore, was awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature. Consequently, numerous Indian English novels began appearing. Historical fiction constitutes a large portion of their canon. There are some HF novels set during the Indus Valley Civilization era of 3300-1300 BCE (the ancient Hindu religious texts, the Vedas, are considered to have originated during this or an earlier period). The

FEATURES | Issue 88, May 2019

The Mughal invasion led by Babur—a descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur—ended the Delhi Sultanate. Babur defeated the last Sultan, Lodhi, in the First Battle of Panipat in 1526, establishing the Indian Mughal Empire. Five major emperors followed Babur, up to the death of Aurangzeb in 1707. Their successors, thirteen other minor emperors, faced a tumultuous period during their reigns. The award-winning author Indu Sundaresan brilliantly tells the Mughals’ saga in her Taj Trilogy, starting with The Twentieth Wife (Atria, 2002). Other novels include Sir Salman Rushdie’s The Enchantress of Florence (Random House, 2007). It weaves fable and history in telling a fantastic tale of a golden-haired Florentine stranger arriving in Emperor Akbar’s court in the late 16th century, claiming to be his relative. The British East India Company (BEIC) sailed into India in 1608, initially as traders and subsequently as colonizers. Bharti Kirchner’s Goddess of Fire (Severn House, 2016), set in the 1680s, depicts the life of a young Hindu widow saved from a Sati pyre by a factor of the BEIC. The novel is an eye-opener into that era and the practice of Sati (wherein a widow immolates herself on her husband’s funeral pyre), which was later banned. There aren’t many Indian HF accounts in English of the establishment of the BEIC in Calcutta and how it became the Diwani—tax collector—of the Delhi Mughal emperor in 1765. Bhagwan Gidwani’s The Sword of Tipu Sultan (Rupa, 2009) is an excellent description of the BEIC’s 1799 expansion into Mysore. Acclaimed author Amitav Ghosh’s The Ibis Trilogy unmasks the BEIC’s involvement in the opium trade and wars. Book 1, The Sea of Poppies (Picador, 2009) covers the transporting of coolies to Mauritius. The following years, and the BEIC’s takeover of Delhi in 1803, are dealt with mostly in nonfiction, but the 1856 annexation of Awadh

IT HAS BEEN a long journey for Indian authors, writing in English, from their humble beginnings in the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, and achieving international recognition. features aptly in Sangeeta Bhargava’s HF The World Beyond (Allison and Busby, 2012). The Rebellion/Mutiny or The First War of Independence (1857-58) has been recounted in HF presenting the natives’ side of the history. S. C. Dutt’s Shunkur: A Tale of Indian Mutiny 1857 (The British Library, 1885, reprint edition 2010) tells the story of an Indian villager who turns into a mutineer. Manohar Malgonkar’s The Devil’s Wind (Viking, 1972) presents the events, particularly the Bibighar massacre, from Nana Sahib’s point of view. Jaishree Misra’s Rani (Penguin, 2008) narrates the story of the valiant Lukshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi, who by her Jeanne d’Arc-like struggle against the BEIC’s armies gained immortality in Indian minds. In Sangam: The Jhansi Legacy (AuthorHouse, 2014), an extension of The Jhansi Trilogy, Balkrishna Naipaul has taken the Rani’s mission further from the Gwalior battlefields to the sugar plantations of the Caribbean. Upon my inquiry, Balkrishna responded that based on notes in a British Major’s diary, some of the transported indentured laborers were likely scions of the rebellious queen. They continued their struggle for rights and freedom. Although the BEIC ended the Mughal dynasty by exiling the last emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, to Rangoon,1 the BEIC itself was dissolved, and the British Government took direct control of India. The colonial period (1858-1947) saw a renaissance in Indian HF. Instead of emulating British authors, Indian writers found a voice of their own. This fervor was no doubt brought about by their enthusiasm to expose mistreatment by the colonizers and the zest for independence. In Mulk Anand’s Across the Black Waters (Orient, 2008), set during WWI, an Indian soldier realizes that the European war is not his. Raja Rao’s Kanthapura (New Directions, 1963) recounts the rise of Gandhi’s freedom movement in a village and its brutal suppression. The award-winning author Sujata Massey’s The Widows of Malabar Hill (Soho Crime, 2018) is a novel based on the real-life Cornelia Sorabji, the first female barrister in 1920s Bombay. Massey told me that her choice of a female lawyer for her protagonist sleuth was ideal, for other professions open to women at that time, such as a schoolteacher, might not have worked. Indeed, the choice is perfect for a story which highlights the few opportunities available to women in that era. Indians continued to serve their colonial masters in the government, in the military, in the hospitals, and on railways. Acclaimed author Shauna Singh Baldwin’s The Tiger Claw (Knopf, 2004) narrates the intriguing story of a young woman, Noor Inayat Khan, who worked for the Special Operations Executive during WWII and served in occupied France. Baldwin informed me that she chose to write about Noor Inayat after hearing about her from a real-life former secret agent (who was in the same Nazi prison as Noor), and reading the notes he sent her showed the poor way that others portrayed Noor. Baldwin was most disturbed and decided to write the story from Noor’s perspective. The independence struggle is the topic of several HF novels. Among others, Chaman Nahal’s Azadi (Houghton, 1975) and Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan (Grove, 1961) are both excellent, portraying the political turmoil and the horrors that ensued during the 1947 Partition and the end of the British Raj. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s speech, “At the stroke of

midnight…,” delivered on the eve of Independence, 14 August 1947,2 was likely the inspiration for the title of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (Jonathan Cape, 1981). This HF novel based on the preand post-partition events also includes some magical realism, such as the novel’s 1001 children born near midnight, at Independence, who possess unusual powers. This multiple award-winning novel was extremely well received, most recently winning the Best of the Booker Prize (2008). Post-Independence, Indian writers continued to highlight the circumstances of India’s and East/West Pakistan’s relationship. The conflict that induced the countries immediately into war in 1947 over Kashmir is presented in Mulk Anand’s Death of a Hero (Orient, 1960). Razia Ahmad’s Breaking Links (Oxford, 2007) narrates the lives of Pakistani family members and the 1960s events that led to the breakup of East and West Pakistan. Sir V. S. Naipaul was the first Indian-origin writer to win the Booker in 1971, for In a Free State (André Deutsch, 1971). Arundhati Roy won in 1997 for The God of Small Things (Random House, 1997), Kiran Desai in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss (Atlantic, 2005). Indian authors are winning other countries’ literary prizes as well: Jhumpa Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000, and M. G. Vassanji the Canadian Giller Prize in 1994 and 2003. It has been a long journey for Indian authors, writing in English, from their humble beginnings in the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, and achieving international recognition. Presently, the club is flourishing. Some Booker-longlisted authors and other prize-winners, such as Anita Desai, Rohinton Mistry, Mohsin Hamid, Mohammed Hanif, Neel Mukherjee, Indra Sinha, Jeet Thayil, Mirza Waheed and Kamila Shamsie, among others, are destined for greater laurels. Their new offerings are eagerly awaited.

REFERENCES

1. William Dalrymple

The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty: Delhi, 1857 (Knopf, 2007).

2. Cambridge University

A Tryst with Destiny, https://www.cam.ac.uk/tryst_with_destiny [retrieved 3 April 2019]

WRITTEN BY WAHEED RABBANI Waheed Rabbani was born in India and grew up reading English novels in his father’s library. Now a retired engineer, residing in Canada, Waheed has embarked on a literary journey and is currently writing The Azadi Series. https://www. wrabbani.ca/author/

A publication of the Historical Novel Society | www.historicalnovelsociety.org

TAKING LIBERTIES At the boundaries of fictionalised history

“The White Crucifixion presents itself as a kind of biography,” Monica said, at one point in the discussion. The implied criticism was clear and, I thought, perfectly fair. By presenting my fiction in a way that could be interpreted as fact, I was blurring the boundary, straying over into non-fiction territory, or at least misleading the reader into thinking I was. I had met this charge before. An earlier novel, I Hogarth (Duckworth/Overlook, 2012), was also a first-person fictional memoir of an artist. Some critics and reviewers assumed I was following the facts of Hogarth’s life when actually I was describing him wandering into and out of his paintings. Rightly or wrongly, I was flattered when my artifice succeeded so well. But The White Crucifixion does not do this. And it contains non-naturalistic elements less likely to be confused with real life. For example, the Prophet Elijah appears to the young Chagall at the Jewish Passover service and gives him his mission in life: to save the Jews by putting them on canvas. This idea is taken from Chagall’s own memoir My Life, a source classed (arguably wrongly) as non-fiction. In it he writes: “The army advanced, and as they advanced, the Jewish population retreated … I felt like having them all put onto my canvases, to keep them safe.”2 Interestingly, Chagall’s memoir itself briefly became the focus of our discussion about boundaries, as I saw it as a piece of impressionistic poetic prose not unlike the prose poems of Dylan Thomas. To call it “unreliable” as to the facts, I said, is to misread its artistic intention. After all, Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote a poem called “Ode to the West Wind,” but you wouldn’t judge it in terms of its reliability as a weather forecast.

Two of my early novels are “historical fiction,” which is usually defined as a historical novel with predominantly fictional characters describing mainly fictional events. My later novels are “fictionalised history” featuring real historical characters only and dramatising real events. This is not the place to develop the distinction, but it is the place to start, because fictionalised history comes closest to the increasingly fragile boundary with non-fiction. This article is based on an inspired idea of my publisher, Bernadette Jansen op de Haar of Holland Park Press, who arranged a discussion between myself and a recognised expert on the subject-matter of my latest fictionalised history, The White Crucifixion (Holland Park Press, 2018). The White Crucifixion centres on the life of the artist Marc Chagall. The expert on Chagall was Monica Bohm-Duchen. Our discussion took place before a ticketed audience on 17 February 2019, in London.1

Then we came to the heart of the matter. “Throughout history, [fiction] authors have taken liberties with the facts,” Monica said. She was articulating a widely held view among historians – including art historians – that they deal in facts mined from the historical record, which fiction writers then change, perhaps cavalierly, and perhaps with deleterious results. To clear the ground, Monica was talking only about deliberate and conscious alteration of the historical record. In his article “Alternative Truth,” which appeared in HNR 83, February 2018, Douglas Kemp dealt with “clear historical anachronisms and errors.”3 Monica was not accusing me of that. Indeed, on the detail of Chagall’s life and art, and certainly on the wider issues like the Nazi attack on the Vitebsk ghetto, we spoke as equals. I had researched The White Crucifixion for over two years and read over a hundred books and articles. But the historical record we writers are accused of altering – the “facts,” if you like – is not the same as the truth. “Evidence is always partial. Facts are not truth, though they are part of it,” as Hilary Mantel put it in the 2017 Reith Lectures.4 Moreover, the historical record is incomplete, to quote Hilary Mantel again: “99% of the evidence, above all unrecorded speech, is not available to us.”

The White Crucifixion is a fictionalised memoir of Chagall’s life told in the first person. My fictional Chagall speaks directly to the reader about his life from birth to death, but also about his art and the fate of the people he painted, the people of his home town, Vitebsk, in present-day Belarus. That fate, and Chagall’s life, embraced some of humanity’s worst horrors – World War One, Russian communist totalitarianism and the Nazi occupation of Vitebsk.

How far novelists can go to alter the historical record to move readers’ hearts is a central and never-ending debate among historical novelists, and I said so in the discussion with Monica. As there is no definitive formula, and probably never will be, I offered Monica and our audience two examples from The White Crucifixion – one where I felt I could change the historical record and one where I felt I could not.

FEATURES | Issue 88, May 2019

AS LONG AS I catch the poetic truth of this relationship (hopefully), I am not too worried about who was really where and when.

The one where I felt I could make a change I described in answer to Monica’s question: “Why did you have Bella with Chagall at The Hive before the First World War when she was not there?” Bella Rosenfeld was the love of Chagall’s life, his first wife. The Hive was an artists’ colony in Montparnasse where Chagall lived along with – among many other artists – Soutine and Modigliani). So why the change? My answer was twofold. First, a “technical” answer. Chagall leaves The Hive on page 149 of my novel. That is way too late to develop the novel’s central love story. Secondly, I am interested in the poetic truth not only of Bella and Chagall’s love story, but of the love triangle between Bella, Chagall and the sculptor Osip Zadkine, which played out over most of Chagall’s adult life. I set the description of it in The Hive. As long as I catch the poetic truth of this relationship (hopefully), I am not too worried about who was really where and when. “Bella being at The Hive adds sex and sexiness,” Monica said. Guilty as charged, but only as part of an exploration of the characters’ emotions. The implication was that the sexiness was added gratuitously. But it is difficult enough to write a novel from the heart. Adding extraneous elements according to what may (or may not) sell would make it almost impossible, as well as ruining the novel, which is why writers tend not to do it. The part of the novel where I felt I could not make a change from the historical record was this: Chagall did not witness the Nazi creation of a ghetto in Vitebsk and its subsequent obliteration. He was in France at the time, where he was briefly arrested by the Nazis then released because of his fame. I felt I could not put him in Vitebsk in my fiction. Why not? As I said at the discussion, I don’t really know. But I could not make him witness those murders, those atrocities. Instead, I used the device of the Prophet Elijah who shows Chagall these events in a vision. Chagall painted the obliteration of the Vitebsk ghetto with some accuracy in his most famous painting, The White Crucifixion, from which I took the title of my novel. The painting shows Christ on the cross as a Jew wearing a Jewish prayer shawl. In the background you can see the fires as the ghetto is destroyed. You can see the Dvina river in Vitebsk with Jews fleeing across it. What happened at the Dvina river is described in The Encyclopaedia of Camps and Ghettos: “The Germans turned the river crossing into a slaughter of the Jews. German soldiers in boats in the middle of the Dvina overturned boats and rafts that were carrying Jews and their belongings.”5 However, Chagall painted The White Crucifixion in 1938 and the murderous attack on the Vitebsk ghetto took place in July 1941. When I made that point at the talk, Monica said: “I accept that artists can foresee events.” I took that to be an acceptance of the role of artistic intuition and poetic truth generally. I would say that artists and writers should foresee and adapt and invent events, using intuition and emotion, changing the historical record as necessary. The aspiration is always to make the reader feel at the moment of reading what the writer felt at the moment of writing. It has become common for writers of fictionalised history to issue a disclaimer, usually at the end of the novel, to the effect that this is a work of fiction and where the demands of drama conflict with the historical record, the writer has obeyed the demands of drama. In American Adulterer, Jed Mercurio uses the phrase “artistic licence,” a popular term for what we are discussing: “Numerous instances

of artistic licence pertain to the details and chronology of events depicted in this novel.”6 In The White Crucifixion I did it differently: I used a quotation from the poet Blaise Cendrars, a friend of Chagall. The quotation is at the front of the novel: “The first virtue of a novelist is to be a liar.”7 Virtue. It’s a virtue.

REFERENCES

1. Holland Park Press

www.hollandparkpress.co.uk/photos-from-the-spiro-ark-whitecrucifixion-event/ [accessed 29 March 2019].

2. Marc Chagall

My Life. Trans. Dorothy Williams (London: Peter Owen, 1965), p. 132.

3. Douglas Kemp

”Alternative Truth,” Historical Novels Review, Issue 83 (February 2018), p. 8.

4. Hilary Mantel

The Reith Lectures, July 2017, BBC website, https://www.bbc.co.uk/ programmes/b08x9947

5. Martin Dean & Mel Hecker (eds)

The Encyclopaedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945. vol. 2 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012), p. 1746.

6. Jed Mercurio

American Adulterer (London: Jonathan Cape, 2009), p. 351.

7. Blaise Cendrars

Quoted in Dan Franck, Bohemian Paris. Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse, and the Birth of Modern Art (New York: Grove Press, 2001), p. 207.

WRITTEN BY MICHAEL DEAN Michael Dean’s upcoming novel is True Freedom – How America Came to Fight Britain for its Freedom (Holland Park Press, June 2019).

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NAZI HUNTERS & NIGHT WITCHES BY CLAIRE MORRIS

Claire Morris speaks to Kate Quinn about her exciting new novel, The Huntress For nearly a decade, Kate Quinn has been captivating historical fiction enthusiasts with her fast-paced plots, interesting characters and colourful depictions of ancient Rome, the Renaissance and, lately, the early 20th century. When I received marketing materials claiming her latest novel, The Huntress (William Morrow, 2019), was “special,” with “breathtakingly good storytelling,” I was curious to see what the hype was about. I’m happy to report that it is indeed an unusual and compelling story, and — clichéd as this sounds — I did not want it to end. The fictional “Huntress” was a Nazi who by all accounts delighted in killing children and other vulnerable people during the tumultuous years of World War II and its aftermath. The novel weaves together three storylines: that of the Huntress disappearing into a new life in post-war Boston (which includes the likeable eighteen-year-old aspiring female photographer, Jordan); that of the group attempting to find her and bring her to justice; and the backstory of a member of this group, Nina, who escaped a difficult life in Siberia to eventually become one of the Night Witches, the all-female Soviet bomber regiment who fought on the Eastern Front during the last years of the war. It’s a complex story, with characters who are all coping with their life experiences in very believable ways, and I asked Quinn how she came to weave the disparate threads together. “I let out a tremendous ‘Eureka!’ when I came across a mention of Lake Rusalka, a beautiful manmade lake in Nazi-occupied Poland which could serve as the place where my Russian heroine and German villainess have their first deadly stand-off,” she explains. “And with the name rusalka — the eastern European and Russian term for a sometimes benevolent, sometimes lethal water nymph—I realized that through lakes and lake spirits, I could tie all my characters together even though they begin the novel standing on vastly different shores. The Huntress opens with an Austrian lake and its whispered mention of a lorelei (a German water spirit), then moves to Lake Baikal in Russia where the legend of the rusalka still carries strong, then skips around the world to Selkie Lake in Massachusetts (a selkie is a Scottish water spirit—and yes, I did make up Selkie Lake to keep the metaphor going, but all the other lakes are real!).” As Quinn mentions, the novel moves between a number of different places: Siberia, Moscow, World War II’s Eastern Front, Poland, Vienna and Boston. For the settings depicted in The Huntress, especially the more remote ones like Lake Baikal, Quinn says, “[I] relied on photographs and maps and historic accounts and everything else I could find to give me as complete a picture as possible. Often when describing historic settings, there has been so much change to a city or location in the intervening decades (especially when a war means

FEATURES | Issue 88, May 2019

lots of destruction and rebuilding) that a visit to the modern site actually wouldn’t be terribly helpful—in that case, it’s more useful to find historic photographs and descriptions from journals and war records.” Quinn set her last novel — The Alice Network (William Morrow, 2017)—in the early 20th century as well. Referring to her earlier novels, she said, “I love ancient Rome and the Renaissance, but I thought it might be a good time for a change—not only can historical eras start feeling stale, but different eras go in and out of style in the fiction world just like anything else, and I was seeing a real boom in 20th-century war fiction. So I started exploring the idea of writing something 20th century, and when I stumbled across the real story of the historic Alice network, suddenly I had a book dying to be written! The Huntress followed naturally after that—I may very well go back to earlier historical eras in future books, but for now I’m enjoying exploring World War I and World War II history.” I asked her why she thought the early 20th century is a compelling period in which to set a story and why it’s attractive to readers. “It’s the more recent past, so it feels less foreign to us—many readers have family members for whom this part of history is not just history, but memory,” she said. “And it’s an incredibly packed period of time: two world wars, the Great Depression, the space boom...so much happened in the space of fifty years, there’s room for an infinite number of new stories to be spun.” Although there is no connection between The Alice Network and The Huntress, fans of the earlier novel will enjoy the fact that Eve Gardiner makes a cameo appearance in The Huntress as an old friend of Ian Graham, the former English war correspondent who has transformed himself into a Nazi hunter. “I always knew I wanted to give Eve a brief appearance [in The Huntress],” Quinn said. “I toyed with giving her a larger role, but decided that would make The Huntress too much of a sequel, and I wanted the books to stand on their own.” Talk of sequels made me ask Quinn if she had any plans to continue the stories of Ian, Nina, Tony and Jordan from The Huntress in another novel. She doesn’t, but also doesn’t completely rule out the idea. At the moment she is certainly staying in the 20th century with her writing. “I’m working on a novel tentatively titled The Rose Code about the female codebreakers of Bletchley Park whose efforts in cracking the German military codes shortened World War II by two or three years,” she shares. “I’m hugely excited about it!” As is this reader and surely many others.

Claire Morris is the HNS web features editor. She served as the managing editor of the HNS journal, Solander, from 2004 to 2009, and helped to start the HNS North American conferences.

TIME-SLIP & LOCAL HISTORY BY LUCINDA BYATT Interweaving past and present It is a question that may have crossed your mind if you live in a historic neighbourhood, with a rich history: why not write a novel which refers to well-known local events and buildings? In Down to the Sea (Saraband, 2019), Sue Lawrence has done just that, recreating this distinctive community in vivid and at times poignant detail. What’s more, she is an award-winning cookery writer (and a past MasterChef winner), so her books are also steeped in the knowledge of local Scottish dishes and traditions. One aspect that is more complex to pull off is that she has used timeslip for all three of her novels to date. Time-slip can risk leaving the “historical novel” enthusiast feeling a little short-changed because of the more limited space for the historical plot, but it is also a very effective narrative technique. Down to the Sea is partly set in the late 1890s, and partly set in the 1970s and 80s when a couple, Rona and Craig, acquire a large Victorian property, known as Wardie House, with plans to run it as an upmarket care home. The house is in the well-to-do area of Wardie, not far from Newhaven, an ancient fishing village on the Firth of Forth. The fishing community provides the historical setting of the book since Jessie’s family are fisherfolk who earn their livelihoods from the herring industry. I asked Lawrence about her choice of structure, and she justifies it as a useful plot device. “By using time-slip,” Lawrence tells me, “I can divulge information about the house subtly in the contemporary story and Rona finds out about what happened to the family that used to own it. Without this device it would be harder for readers to discover this because the historical part is written mainly from Jessie’s point of view. She would have had no idea about the posh families who lived up the hill.” Unusually, in Lawrence’s plot, the separate strands finally overlap in real time, which adds poignancy and depth to the story. The history and the folklore of the herring girls also fascinates the author. She tells me how the Newhaven girls were some of the few who did not travel up and down the east coast of Scotland, following

the migrating shoals of herring. Instead, Jessie and her sisters were kept busy gutting enough fish to fill the creels their mothers, the famous Newhaven fishwives, would carry on their backs in order to sell the fresh fish to their clients in Edinburgh. Lawrence uses a notorious historical calamity – a terrible storm in which many fishermen are known to have drowned – as the catalyst for her story. Jessie, who was born with a distinctive birthmark around her upper lip, is banished from the village because she is thought to have cursed her father’s boat, causing it to sink. She has nowhere to go but the local poorhouse. As Jessie gradually becomes aware of the mysterious circumstances of its owners, the tragedies of the past become increasingly pertinent to the house’s later occupants. Evocative local detail abounds throughout the book: Newhaven harbour with its Stevenson lighthouse (shown on the book cover) and the Chain Pier are local landmarks; smuggling tunnels did indeed run “down to the sea” from many of the larger houses; photography developed early and became very popular in Victorian Edinburgh; and ships from the port of Leith plied back and forth across the Atlantic. Lawrence says she researched the local history in depth, but when she began to write the story the characters came to life. A good tip, she says, is to search out local historians, and better still, talk to them in person, since they will have the best stories to share and can identify local secrets. This is how Lawrence heard about the tunnels and, although they had long since been blocked off by the construction of the seawall along the Forth, the detail was enough to concoct a series of vivid scenes in which the tunnels play a key role. Lawrence’s previous novels, both historical thrillers, were also structured around time-slip plots. Fields of Blue Flax (Freight, 2015) was her debut and is described as a genealogical mystery. Here, her parallel plotlines achieved an even more complex feat: they worked in reverse, moving in tandem back through time to solve the mystery of a missing birth certificate that lay at the heart of the story. The Night He Left (now published as The Last Train, Allen & Unwin, 2018) is a more traditional time-slip narrative that recounts a contemporary mystery set against the backdrop of the Tay Bridge disaster in December 1879, when a train travelling over the newly-built bridge to Dundee plunged into the freezing waters beneath. Sue Lawrence is also a very successful author of several cookery books and a former president of the Guild of Food Writers, so it seems natural to ask whether she takes a particular interest in the food of the period. She tells me that this angle of research was fascinating. In Down to the Sea, the detail certainly feels authentic, whether it was the watery porridge and thin soup served to the inmates of the poor

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house, or the more lavish offerings for the Governor’s table, including meat in rich sauces and Madeira cake. For Jessie, however, what really makes her feel homesick is the scent of fresh herring coated in oatmeal and sizzling in butter. For her next project, Lawrence has moved back a century, to the 1730s, and this time it will be a straightforward historical narrative. Yet, different voices and different settings in Edinburgh, East Lothian and the Western Isles will bring variety to the plot, Lawrence says. Here again, Scottish ingredients seem to have played a key role, since it was lobsters and lobster fishing on the Outer Hebrides that encouraged her to research the story further. The title is still under wraps, but it will be published next year. Lucinda Byatt is HNR’s Features Editor and by coincidence lives within a short walk of Newhaven. She is a historian and translator. www.lucindabyatt.com

LANDSCAPE, HISTORY & FOLKTALES BY MYFANWY COOK Cornwall offers an anvil on which to forge historical fiction Katherine Stansfield is a multi-genre novelist who spent her formative years in Cornwall and now lives in Cardiff. In 2014 she won the Holyer and Gof prize for fiction, and she currently teaches for Cardiff University. She works as a mentor for Literature Wales, is a writing fellow at the University of Wales, and the Royal Literary Fund fellow at Cardiff University. Stansfield is also a member of Crime Cymru, a new collective of crime writers with a connection to Wales; she’s also a member of the Crime Writers Association. Allison & Busby publish her historical crime series, Cornish Mysteries, which is set in the 1840s. The third instalment, The Mermaid’s Call, will be “swimming onto” bookshop shelves in September 2019. Stansfield says, “I grew up in Cornwall, on Bodmin Moor, from the age of four until nineteen, and the place seems to have taken root inside me. I think part of the reason is that I lived on the moor during my formative years, including as a teenager. In some ways I feel like I was ‘forged’ there. The history and folklore of north Cornwall were part of this becoming. I was always interested in Cornwall’s past, whether that was the documented, factual sort, or fireside stories of mermaids. Also fascinating was the way these different kinds of histories seemed often to overlap.” However, since leaving Cornwall to go to university, Stansfield notes, “I haven’t lived there in a physical sense, but creatively that’s where I spend much of my time: to date, I’ve set four novels in Cornwall, each of them historical. I see my Cornish Mysteries series as a way to share more widely the history of the north of the county, which doesn’t get as much attention in fiction and drama as the south. It’s become my mission to spread the word about north Cornwall’s past – as much as I love Poldark, there’s a lot more to the county!”

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Her Cornish Mysteries series has a dark and almost Gothic quality, which is perhaps because the Cornish landscape combined with the rich folklore of the area lends itself to the creation of a sense of foreboding and apprehension. Stansfield believes that this sensation of unease and apprehension is “a combination of the two, not least because the folklore arises from the landscape. Stories about warring giants ‘explain’ strange moorland rock formations. Mermaids are said to be responsible for silting up harbours.” Her first novel in the series, Falling Creatures (Allison & Busby, 2017), was set on Bodmin Moor, which is, she says, “an unforgiving place: marshes to drown in, mine shafts to fall in, fog to get lost in. That book set the tone for the others that followed, but the underpinning narratives in each book tend to be quite dark anyway. The stories use a combination of real events and folk tales. The majority of the latter were first written down during the mid to late nineteenth century by visiting folklorists. As a result, many tales reflect developments in Cornwall at that time: the rise of Methodism, industrial decline, emigration, poverty, the improvement of transport links and the increased presence of those from outside Cornwall, plus scientific advancement (Cornwall was home to many of the great scientific thinkers of the day). The series, which is set in the 1840s, explores these tensions to provide an insight into the lives of working people, particularly in very rural areas.” It was from the rich vein of farming and mining history that Stansfield drew the inspiration for her two detectives, Anna Drake and Shilly. She explains, “Anna and Shilly came into being in response to the historical basis of Falling Creatures – it was very much story first, characters second. The real story behind the novel is the murder of a young woman called Charlotte Dymond in 1844. Charlotte worked on a remote farm on Bodmin Moor. She was known to be courting a fellow servant, and after walking out on the moor with him one Sunday, she disappeared. Several days later she was found nearby with her throat cut. The case became something of a media sensation, for the same reasons such cases do today: a beautiful young woman said to be flirtatious was murdered in an act of horrific violence and left exposed for the world to gaze on, and to judge. In all the documentation about the case, there’s no one who mourns Charlotte, no one who fights for her memory.” Stansfield says, “my detective protagonist Shilly is that person – a fictional intervention in the past to restore what I see as a kind of emotional balance. But Shilly has some limitations in her capacity to solve the case: she is illiterate, restricted by the narrowness of her world, at the mercy of superstition. She needed some help – cue Anna Drake’s arrival. Anna is a disciple of the new science of detection, which is something I’m interested in exploring in the series. Together, their approach is akin to that of Mulder and Scully in The X-Files, including the will-they, won’t-they romantic element.” “In The Magpie Tree (Allison & Busby, 2018), Shilly and Anna take on their second case. In a wooded valley near Boscastle, a local boy is missing. A pair of strangers stand accused of witchcraft, but the truth is much closer to home, and much stranger than ill-wishing.” Stansfield sets her plots against the harsh and desolate landscape of Bodmin Moor, with its peat bogs, mires and the superstitions surrounding its ancient sites, like the Hurlers and the Cheesewring. This enables her to share through her writing the hidden mysteries, landscape and folklore of a dramatically different part of Cornwall to that of Charleston and St. Austell, where Winston Graham’s Poldark novels are situated. Stansfield’s mysteries are bringing to the attention of readers an area that was once made famous through Daphne du Maurier’s 1935 historical novel, Jamaica Inn, set in the

THIS WORLD, and religious institutions, then and now, often damage the natural connections between women.

nineteenth century on Bodmin moor. Myfanwy Cook, who lives close to the border between Devon and Cornwall, is an associate fellow at two British universities and a creative writing workshop provider. www.myfanwycook.com

NATURAL CONNECTIONS BY BETHANY LATHAM Niamh Boyce's Her Kind In 1324, Dame Alice Kytler, imprisoned by Richard Ledrede, Bishop of Ossory, became the first woman in Ireland to be tried for heretical sorcery. Author Niamh Boyce had been familiar with the story since her childhood – the witch locked up long ago in nearby Kilkenny Castle. Yet this was far from the extent of the true history, as Boyce soon learned. “Alice Kytler is the name associated with the tale locally,” says Boyce, “but few ever mention her maid, Petronelle. It was Petronelle, and how little-known she was, that first intrigued me. I began working on a sequence of poems about her. I began to research further, and I was hooked. At that stage, I realized my poetry sequence was turning into a novel.” This novel is as much the tale of Petronelle as it is Alice Kytler. Petronelle is a Gael, and when her village is decimated, she flees with her teenaged daughter, Basilia, to the safety provided by Alice, a Flemish childhood friend who is now a burgess in Hightown. Alice is an interesting characterization on many levels, one of which is the power she wields. Boyce explains, “Kytler was a revelation: a wealthy, powerful, influential moneylender who ruled the roost in 14th-century Kilkenny. We would never have known she existed had Ledrede not accused her of such notorious crimes. When it comes to women in history, modern prejudices often lead to skewed interpretations. There are contemporary accounts of Dame Kytler being red-haired, young, and seductive – deducing that her wealth and multiple husbands were due to ‘feminine’ wiles. She was at least sixty at the time of the trial, so grey hair was more likely than red. And marriage was a business transaction amongst merchant families, so hot or not, her husbands were more likely to have been attracted by her power than anything else. She was in possession of enormous wealth by the standards of the time; King Edward was one of her debtors. A strong individual, a moneylender, an intelligent woman managing a profitable business – here was a woman whose power was of her own making.” Yet how Alice exercises that power is anything but admirable. Medieval Ireland was a melting pot: there was culture clash, oppression, immense wealth disparity. “It fascinated me,” says Boyce, “that there were so many languages in the town, so many

types of people. It was a cultural hive. Everything in the book had a starting point in some fact, a name or a detail. Especially telling were the Customs Rolls of the time. While fine items such as saffron, figs and linen were arriving on ships to supply the towns, famines were plaguing the rest of the countryside.” Gaels are forbidden in English-controlled Hightown, and Alice takes full advantage of it: the price she extracts from Petronelle for protection is high. Alice forcibly removes Petronelle’s identity: she must answer to a new name, wear different clothes, and is forbidden even to speak her own language. It is from this theme of identity that the novel takes its title. Boyce says, “It was a place where she, and her kind of person – the native Irish – were seen as a threat. How strange that must be, to be cast as the outsider, the foreigner, in your own native country.” Rather than anger, Petronelle’s initial reaction is telling: “I felt a stab of loneliness for my own people.” Boyce notes, “It’s incredibly lonely to have to pretend that you are other than who you are. Petronelle assumed the subjugation would be for a short time, that she would soon leave, that she and her daughter could remain unchanged — but she underestimated her environment, she had underestimated Alice. She didn’t realize what she was about to sacrifice.” Alice’s haughty refusal to pay taxes to the church draws the ire of the local bishop, Richard Ledrede. With three of Alice's husbands already buried and the current fourth seriously ill, the bishop is sure sorcery must be at work, and he can use it to his advantage for extortion. Boyce employs some of the dialogue from the historical Ledrede’s own account, which has been preserved in the Bodleian Library. But unlike Petronelle and Basilia, who speak in the first-person, Ledrede is only observed omnisciently. “It was a very conscious decision to tell the story from the voices of the women involved. His version has been heard. It’s not his turn to tell the story,” says Boyce. Boyce warns against giving individuals like Ledrede a pass based on “the times.” She says, “The thing that repels most was his malice. People often make excuses for ‘historical’ cases such as this, but we must remember, every one of Ledrede’s contemporaries, including his superiors, opposed his actions. His actions were not the norm, or common at the time. It was unheard of that someone be accused of witchcraft in Ireland. It was the first time that anyone was burnt at the stake for heretical sorcery in the British Isles. It was incredibly cruel, deliberate, and unusual.” Ledrede isn’t the only character capable of deliberate cruelty. Alice exerts her power over Petronelle in terrible ways, one of which is to groom Basilia to favor and trust her mistress over the mother who loves her more than life itself. The biggest challenge with this story was, Boyce notes, “deciding what to leave in and what to leave out. There was so much in the real case, so many characters and related events – all intriguing. Yet, I knew at a certain stage that I couldn’t include everything and still keep the story of Petronelle central.” And it is Petronelle’s experience and perspective which truly ground this story. “For me, the mother-daughter dynamic is central,” says Boyce. “This world, and religious institutions, then and now, often damage the natural connections between women. The world is hard on mothers. Daughters are hard on mothers. Mothers are hard on themselves. Basillia touches on this when remembering a time with Petronelle – ‘when I was child enough to love her, just for being my mother.’” Sorcery, religion, politics, greed, privilege, power – all pale in comparison to what one finds at the heart of this story: that natural connection, the love of a mother for her child. Bethany Latham is HNR’s Managing Editor.

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REVIEWS ONLINE EXCLUSIVES Due to an ever-increasing number of books for review and space constraints within HNR, some selected fiction reviews and all nonfiction reviews are now published as online exclusives. To view these reviews and much more, please visit www.historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews

BIBLICAL

SONG OF SONGS

Marc Graham, Amphorae, 2019, $17.95, pb, 400pp, 9781943075577

Approximately 1300s BC: Makeda is a daughter of Saba’s chieftain and his slave wife. When her older half-sister Bilkis is lost after a violent flood, Makeda becomes her father’s heir. Through her faith and intelligence, she wins her freedom and eventually becomes chieftain. Unbeknownst to her, Bilkis survived the flood and was rescued by traveling merchants. Their travels lead her to Auriyah, a prince of Urusalim who captures his father’s throne and makes Bilkis his queen. Meanwhile, in Kemet, Yetzer saves Pharaoh Horemheb’s life during an accident at his father’s worksite. Afterward, Yetzer is given a place by pharaoh’s side. Twists of choice and chance propel Yetzer’s life to highs, lows, and everywhere in between. Eventually, these three people unite in the city of Urusalim under the shadow of the great temple, where good and evil collide. The characters feel well-developed and possess strong voices. I enjoyed the intricacies that brought the main characters together. The narrative switches between Makeda in first-person to Yetzer and Bilkis in third-person are smooth. The story also employs some fantasy elements. However, Graham’s twist on well-known historical figures is a bit jarring. Many characters and legends are drastically changed, most particularly the worship of YHWH, which Graham splits into two: Ya (male) and Havah (female). Even Solomon’s acts of wisdom are darkly carried out by different characters. Graham explains his extensive research and plot choices. Despite this, King David is so well-known to Abrahamic faiths that this interpretation of his house made it hard to invest in the Urusalim plot threads. Overall, the story didn’t feel like the story of the Queen of Sheba, and unfamiliar elements involving David and Solomon detracted from my overall enjoyment. However, the setting is immersive, and the prose is lyrically engaging. There’s much to savor in Graham’s writing. J. Lynn Else

THE HEART OF A KING

Jill Eileen Smith, Revell, 2019, $15.99, pb, 432pp, 9780800722401

King Solomon of biblical fame is the king referred to in the book’s title. As the main character, the book follows him and four of his many women. The setting is the ancient Middle East from the first millennium BC. Solomon is a grown man at the book’s start, pacing the halls of the palace and longing for the day he will be crowned co-ruler with his aged, weakening father, King David (of Goliath fame). He complains to his mother, Bathsheba, about his uncertain position. And he frets in his own mind about it. Again. And again. And yet again. Due to his one-track mind, I found it hard to sympathize with his plight and care about his eventual ascension to the throne. For those without a background in Christian scriptures, Solomon was the purported author of three of the Old Testament books: the Song of Solomon, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Scholars have suggested that he wrote them in like order: youth, middle age, and old age. The sensual content of Song of Solomon certainly argues for authorship by a young, passionate man. The other two books argue for a thoughtful seeker of wisdom. Indeed, Solomon is practically a synonym for wisdom. With such a legacy, the reader may expect to find Solomon characterized with depth as a devout, scholarly man who nevertheless indulges in the pleasures of the flesh. The reader would be disappointed by this novel, then. This Solomon seems little interested in intellectual pursuits. While the author frequently quotes from the Song of Solomon’s beautiful love poetry, it seems shoehorned in, the cadence of the prose juxtaposed with it. If you can overlook Solomon’s annoying characterization and focus on the rotating points of view from his lovers instead, you may find this a satisfying read. Xina Marie Uhl

CLASSICAL

SHADOWS OF ATHENS

J. M. Alvey, Orion, 2019, £8.99, pb, 373 pp, 9781409180630

Imagine being a new playwright in 443 BC Athens, on the eve of having your comedy performed at the Dyonisia festival… Proud middle-class citizen Philocles is going through the thrill and terror of it – and really doesn’t feel the need for anything more on his plate; certainly not for the body of a murdered man dumped at his door. When the man turns out to have been an emissary from a disgruntled ally, Philocles brings the matter to his patron, wealthy aristocrat Aristarchos – and it is not long before something more sinister begins to

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emerge than a street robbery gone bad: who wants to stir trouble within the Delian League? What a delightful book! Alvey vividly conveys the daily cares, passionate politics, and love of the arts of Athenians, as well as the highly competitive, religious and social nature of Greek theatre. Add a solid whodunit and a very engaging sleuth in Philocles, and you have the beginning of what promises to be a great new series. Chiara Prezzavento

THE NEW ACHILLES

Christian Cameron, Orion, 2019, £19.99, hb, 400pp, 9781409176565

226 BC. Bronze Age Greece is in trouble. Once, the Achaean League, an alliance of citystates in the Peloponnese, worked together to protect themselves, but the League is weakening, and the hungry wolves of Sparta, Macedon, Egypt and Rome all want a slice. Greece badly needs a champion. Alexanor, a young warrior from Rhodes, has quarreled with his father and fled to the temple at Epidauros to train as priest and healer; he wants to heal, not destroy. When the severely-wounded Philopoemen is brought in, Alexanor fears that he will die. But Philopoemen is not fated to die; his destiny is to be the champion Greece needs; the ‘new Achilles’. The New Achilles is a thrilling roller coaster of a book, and I read it at full gallop, including an extended battle scene involving Spartans, Cretans, Rhodians and Macedonians, not to mention the superlatively brave Achaeans under Philopoemen, where, at times, I wasn’t sure what was happening and who was fighting who. Throughout the book, Philopoemen is always right. The problem, when writing about an ideal hero (and Philopoemen, according to The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, was ‘one of the last great men produced by Greece in the period of its decline’) is that one cannot get emotionally involved with a character who is never wrong. Readers want to identify with somebody whose personal problems force him to struggle, learn and move on – Alexanor, in fact. He’s appallingly treated by his avaricious father, who misleads him, tears him from his true love, and tries to disinherit him. Alexanor must face the difficult truth that his father is corrupt. Unfortunately, we are just told about Alexanor’s situation, we don’t see it for ourselves, so it is less involving emotionally. Christian Cameron writes beautifully but that, alas, is not enough. Elizabeth Hawksley

FIRE AND SACRIFICE

Victoria Collins, Amazon, 2018, £6.49, pb, 260pp, 9780987589835

Rome, 114 BC. On the verge of being publicly executed by her cruel master, Secunda is saved by a Vestal virgin claiming she’s been marked by sacred fire—half of Secunda’s face is marked by fire from a childhood accident. Eager to please her saviors, Secunda makes use of her cooking

talents. All the while, she becomes close to a priestess named Aemillia. Aemilia has tended the Vestal fire for almost thirty years and is poised to leave the temple. But military defeat and ill omens stir up tensions in the city. Then, three priestesses, including Aemilia, are accused of a shocking scandal. If found guilty, the women will be buried alive. Despite her social status, Secunda is determined to find a way to save her friend before it’s too late. The narrative is broken into four elements: fire, water, air, and earth. The first three are different fictional viewpoints while “earth” provides snippets of research texts. I appreciated how each section was used to move the plot forward, but the character narrations sounded like one person instead of three unique perspectives. Part of this problem can be attributed to a lack of emotional depth. Significant events were presented via clipped dialogue instead of through emotional angst and exploration. The author does a great job bringing the setting and political atmosphere to life. Exploring the inner workings of the vestal virgins is a delight. What is missed, however, is the historical vernacular. Expressions such as “scrummylicious,” “her bum,” “bugger off,” and “batshit” are glaringly modern in an otherwise lovely landscape. Overall, though, I enjoyed the author’s writing and her exploration of a time when Vestal virgins became the political scapegoats of Rome. This is an intriguing tale of forbidden love, political intrigue, and empowering friendship. J. Lynn Else

ATHENA’S CHAMPION

David Hair and Cath Mayo, Canelo, 2018, $17.99, pb, 364pp, 9781788634212

In 1290 BC, twenty-year-old Odysseus has been cast out by his father after a prophecy unveils a devastating family secret. While on the run and in a life or death struggle, Odysseus is visited by Athena and accepts her as his patron goddess. His life is saved, and Odysseus finds himself in the care of a daemon named Bria who can inhabit different bodies when the situation calls. Previously a skeptic of the uncanny, Odysseus now finds all his beliefs being challenged as he’s pulled into a secret war between the gods. When a mission for Athena goes horribly wrong, Odysseus will need all his intellectual and warrior skills to save the kidnapped Princess Helen from the realm of Hades. In the vein of The Song of Achilles and For the Most Beautiful, Athena’s Champion explores the Achaean gods through the eyes of a young hero. Odysseus is well-known for his part during and after the Trojan War, but what of his early life? Hair and Mayo take elements that are already known and explore his beginnings, diving into how one becomes a legendary hero. Odysseus faces hard choices and personal sacrifices that will influence his future. Their prose is entrancing, setting the stage within the first few pages for this fantastical and thoughtful journey into

a world of myth and mystery. While there are plenty of fantasy elements, there’s also a well-crafted historical backdrop that brings its own enchantment to the narrative. Odysseus has just the right balance of wonder and rationalism to lend credibility to supernatural events happening around him. If you like magic and mayhem wrapped around ancient historical legends, this cup of nectar has your name on it. Recommended.

via long dialogues, mostly set in one of the Caledon roundhouses. It all becomes a bit tedious at times, slowing down the narrative – as does the somewhat cumbersome prose. For those with an interest in Celtic (and Roman) Britain, Ms Jardine offers a lot of insight into a tumultuous time. I would, however, recommend that the books be read in order, as this enhances the reading experience.

1ST CENTURY

THE DAMASCUS ROAD

Lindsey Davis, Hodder & Stoughton, 2019, £18.99, pb, 381pp, 9781473658752 / Minotaur, 2019, $27.99, hb, 320pp, 9781250152701

After receiving a divine vision on the road to Damascus, Paul devotes his life to proclaiming the news of Jesus. Often accompanied by Luke who records their journeys, Paul preaches to Jews and non-Jews alike, breaking bread with anyone interested in his teachings. His inclusivity upsets many Jewish leaders, including some of Jesus’s disciples, who attempt to defame him. Thus, following the travels of this controversial figure, The Damascus Road explores the triumphs, difficulties, and lifethreatening dangers surrounding Paul’s life. Luke and Paul are resolutely committed to each other. They’re forever changed by the message of Jesus, yet their interpretations of events and Paul’s visions differ. This multilayered exploration of faith in Jesus is insightfully done. Paul is highly educated, and his ability to encompass ancient philosophies into his teachings is fascinating. However, I found characters lacking in emotional resonance. Blinded after his first divine encounter, Paul has no visceral reaction to losing his eyesight. There’s no terror, anguish, or fear, only the author telling readers how Paul feels. This “telling” is a constant throughout the narration. The spirit moves through Paul, and I wanted to be taken into these profound moments emotionally. This was a missed opportunity to deepen Paul’s message even further. That said, the broad scope of Paul’s travels provides beautiful glimpses of multiple ancient cities. Parini brings the time and places vividly to life, adding a layer of vibrancy to his prose. Written with care and meticulous research, Paul’s life and devotion to Jesus’s message saturate the pages with ardent wonder. The people are delightfully diverse, and the setting is richly woven. An intriguing journey into the ancient world and the life of the apostle Paul.

J. Lynn Else

A CAPITOL DEATH

Lindsey Davis is putting ancient Rome to rights again with the help of Flavia Albia. The Emperor Domitian is on the throne and has demanded a double Triumph, a huge public event, to celebrate his victories. All seems to be going well until one of the more senior figures involved in its organisation is found dead at the bottom of the Tarpeian Rock on the Capitoline Hill. Suicide or murder? Tiberius Manilus is ordered to sort it all out but, being far too busy with the arrangements for the Triumph, passes the job to his wife, Flavia Albia. The incident happened at night with supposedly no witnesses until one elderly resident comes forward insistently claiming that she saw another figure with him on the hill at the same time. Rome is a superstitious city, and an event such as this could well be a bad omen especially as the victim, when identified, was unpopular, dodgy in his dealings and closely involved with the arrangements for the Triumph. Naturally, finding the solution is not simple. Can Flavia Albia sort it all out before the day of the Triumph? These books are fun. The prose flows smoothly, and the reader is easily involved in all the activities, double dealing, red herrings and life generally. A good bedtime read, a book to while away a long holiday flight or just to relax with and read on a beach somewhere. Marilyn Sherlock

AGRICOLA’S BANE

Nancy Jardine, Ocelot Press, 2018, $3.99, ebook, 328pp, B07JNCN2XC

Britain in the first century AD was a complicated place. The Roman Empire was determined to push its boundaries further north, and the various Celtic tribes who called Britain their home were doing their best to resist. In Agricola’s Bane, the Roman efforts are led by Agricola himself. The recently defeated Celts are licking their wounds and attempting to regroup while Agricola pushes further and further into their territories. As a setting, this is heady stuff, and undoubtedly Ms Jardine knows her period and her various tribes extremely well. This is the fourth book in Ms Jardine’s Celtic Fervour series, and a lot of backstory is presented during the first third or so of the book, usually

Anna Belfrage

Jay Parini, Doubleday, 2019, $27.95, hb, 368pp, 9780385522786

J. Lynn Else

I, CLAUDIA

Lin Wilder, Wilder Books, 2018, $15.75, pb, 272pp, 9781948018432

I, Claudia is the story of Claudia Procula and her husband, the infamous Lucius Pontius Pilate. For Claudia, Lucius is her one true love, although as an oracle, Claudia knows early on of his ill fate. This novel appears to be well researched, but it never gelled for me. Over a third of the book passes before Claudia and Lucius, who

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alternate as narrators, meet. This isn’t much of a problem in Lucius’s case, since we learn about his early career, but young Claudia’s time is taken up with a back story that could have been heavily condensed. Once the pair marry, Wilder seldom shows them together. Not only does this make it difficult for us to believe in their mutual love, it has other unfortunate effects. Late in the narrative, we learn that Claudia has had several miscarriages; the novel would have been stronger if we had been allowed to see the couple face these losses together instead of having them separately recall them. Although Claudia’s powers cause her to engage in odd behavior, such as taking thirteen-hour swims, Lucius never seems to notice anything unusual about his wife. Strangest of all, the New Testament episode where Claudia warns her husband that he should have “nothing to do with that just man”—Jesus—is absent from the narrative. Wilder may have had reasons for omitting it, but it seems more that having determined to keep her characters at an artificial distance from each other, she was left with no way to include such a scene. I, Claudia, is clearly a labor of love. Reading the back matter, where Wilder discusses her affinity for her characters, I couldn’t help but think that her research might be served better through her writing a historiography of Pilate and his elusive wife. Susan Higginbotham

2ND CENTURY

ARRIUS, VOLUME III: Enemy of Rome

Preston Holtry, Moonshine Cove, 2019, $15.99, pb, 320pp, 9781945181610

This third novel in the Arrius trilogy finds the Romans expanding northwards into Scotland from Hadrian’s Wall. Arrius, once a career Roman officer, battle-tested and sagacious, has joined the motley collection of tribes opposing them. His concern now is the welfare of his wife Ilya and their son. Ilya has been chosen to lead her tribe, and she relies on Arrius’s understanding of the tactics of the Roman military as well as his knowledge and confidence in battle. But they are surrounded by other tribes who are more warlike and untrustworthy allies. As the Romans move northwards over tribal lands, Ilya and her people are forced to look to these other tribes for alliances and support. But all is not running smoothly in the Roman camp. Tiberias Querinius, an unpopular leader, has troops on the verge of revolt against his cruel and vindictive punishments—the severest of which he is saving for Arrius. And Arrius, in an effort to save hostages, virtually delivers himself into the Roman stronghold. Holtry sustains, in this third novel of the trilogy, all the suspense and complications we have come to expect from the first two. His knowledge of military strategy, both Roman and tribal, is conveyed with both passion and 18

understanding. His knowledge of the way men think in battle, when on guard duty, and when following a leader who might be taking them to their death – it all has the ring of truth and experience. Yet Holtry intersperses battles and fights with moments of quiet as Arrius interacts with his wife and son. Each book in this trilogy stands alone, but together they give a comprehensive view not only of the army of Rome but also of the tribes as they struggle against the inevitable Roman advance. A compelling and enthralling read. Valerie Adolph

6TH CENTURY

TO ABANDON ROME

Vann Turner, Feather Books, 2017, $5.99, ebook, 326pp, B07622YRBH

Vann Turner’s To Abandon Rome brings to life a period of Roman history that is unfamiliar to me. In 593 AD, the Lombard King threatens to lay siege to Rome. Titus Tribonius, a Roman who was once chief magistrate to the Lombard King, has been banished and forced to work as a brickmaker in Rome. Later, he is appointed to a minor office in the city and becomes very popular because of his sympathy for the common people. He lives in a chaste relationship with Adria, an unmarried musician in her thirties who loves Titus, even though he is faithful to his wife, who remains on his estate near Verona. When Titus receives a letter from his wife, telling him that the Lombard King’s Master of Horse has raped her, he vows revenge. The Lombard King meets with him in secret and tells him if he rallies the people to the Lombards’ side, he will help him get his revenge. But Pope Gregory, who supports the Byzantine Emperor even though he has done nothing to help Rome, entrusts Titus with the city’s defense against the Lombards. Titus is torn between his loyalty to Rome and his desire for revenge. This is a sequel to Turner’s previous novel, To Forestall the Darkness, but can be read on its own. It made me want to read the previous book, and to read more about this period of history. This is a fascinating time, when Rome had been Christian for a long time, but many people, including Titus, secretly adhere to pagan beliefs, and Pope Gregory has given much power to the Archdeacon, who frowns on public entertainment and wants people to repent their sins. Turner’s writing is modern in tone, and somewhat reminiscent of Lindsey Davis, whose writing I enjoy. Vicki Kondelik

9TH CENTURY

THE OFFICE OF GARDENS AND PONDS

Didier Decoin (translator Euan Cameron), MacLehose, 2019, £14.99, hb, 308pp, 9781529402438

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

Set in Heian Japan, the book gives us two

startlingly opposed worldviews – the imperial court is described in all its effete, rigid, exquisite beauty, and then we see something of the world of Miyuki, the carp-fisherman’s widow who is forced to interact with it. Miyuki’s adored husband was the provider of outstanding quality carp to the Imperial ponds, and when he dies in an accident, the whole village will suffer unless someone can fulfil the annual order from the Office of Gardens and Ponds. And who but Miyuki knows how to carry carp on a bamboo yoke across the shoulders and keep them alive and in pristine condition through all the long and hazardous journey? Against all odds, Miyuki makes it to the Palace, covered in muck, fish slime, and other unmentionables, in the only clothing she owns – smelling, shall we say, odd. And this personal odour turns out to be essential for a palace ritual, a suitably fantastical climax for the encounter… Quite apart from the wonderful setting, Decoin (and his translator) has made Miyuki a most sympathetic character. Throughout, she looks back on her life with her husband and uses his tales of the similar journeys he has made, and the memory of their mutual love, to sustain her progress. Some of her memories are deliciously erotic; Miyuki is undeniably a person rooted in the flesh. A fascinating book, skillfully written. This is not my period, but the details of both worlds feel right; and in any case, the story holds up on its own. Nicky Moxey

10TH CENTURY WAR KING

Eric Schumacher, Creativia, 2018, $5.99, ebook, 299pp, B07GT3DB13

Hakon’s Saga Book 3, War King, is a riveting Norse historical action adventure set in 957 AD. The saga continues for King Hakon Haroldsson, who wrested Norway’s throne from his murderous brother, Erik Bloodaxe, but mercifully spared Erik’s family. This is a mistake Hakon regrets later when he must face the sons of Erik, who are bent on avenging the wrong done to their father and family. Erik’s sons ally with the Danish king, Harold Bluetooth, and wreak havoc on the region with their brutal raids and plunder. The book is divided into three parts in which Hakon must defend his realm against all odds in three major military campaigns. He uses sound strategy and battle tactics to overcome his enemies. But, as a Christian king, he begins to question if the bloodlust to defend his realm has only resulted

in fear and sorrow for his people and those he loves. Author Eric Schumacher masterfully tells the story from the point of view of King Hakon, an engaging character who demonstrates strength, loyalty, and self-reflection. What makes this tale rise above others in this genre is the author’s skill in vividly capturing the Viking culture. Through graphic detail, readers are immersed in the chaos of fighting, but the battle scenes and tactics are presented with clarity. The saga not only captures the excitement of battle but is also characterdriven. Extra bonuses in the book include regional maps and a glossary of Viking terms which are used in the narrative. War King immediately draws and keeps readers immersed in the legendary tale of King Hakon through rich details of the Viking culture, landscape, and clashes. Highly recommended for those seeking Viking adventure. Linnea Tanner

11TH CENTURY

THE CONQUEROR

Aditya Iyengar, Hachette India, 2019, $15.99, pb, 272pp, 9789351951483

Although the novel bears the subtitle “The Thrilling Tale of the King who Mastered the Seas, Rajendra Chola I,” the narrative is told mostly from the point of view of the man over whom he triumphed in 1025, and whose life was subsequently lost to history. When Maharaja Sangrama, the king of the mighty Srivijaya Empire, is defeated and taken prisoner by Chola’s forces, he is transported to their capital city, where he spends his captivity recording his experiences, the region’s history, as well as his feelings for the enigmatic friend who alone relieves his isolation. Interestingly, Sangrama’s firstperson account is complemented by a thirdperson narrative relating the adventures of his daughter, who is left to fend for herself after the surrender of Srivijava and must endure a perilous odyssey through hostile territory before she can reveal her true identity and marry Airlangga, the founder of the Kingdom of Kahuripan, at whose palace she arrives after several hair-raising adventures. Fortunately, Dharmaprasadottunggadewi’s marriage to Airlangga turns out to be happy, as her husband designates her Queen Regent, and their eldest daughter, Sanggramawijaya, heiress to the throne. Inspired by the Serajah Melayu, the legendary Malay Annals that recount the establishment of the first great Southeast Asian maritime empire, The Conqueror is a sweeping tale that takes us back to the mythical period before the European invasions and to a time when the Malay, Tamil, Chinese, and Arabic cultures founded a trading empire that found no equal in the world. This history is told in the stirring voice of Sangrama, whose descriptions and comments evoke a vanished world for the reader, but even more stirring is the account of Dharmaprasadottunggadewi’s adventures,

and her marriage to Airlangga, which, based on mutual respect and esteem, rather than passion, has the capacity to be deeply moving. Highly recommended. Elisabeth Lenckos

ARISE CRUSADER

Val Jensen II, Moonshine Cove, 2018, $14.99, pb, 264pp, 9781945181979

1096 France: young ploughman Anseau of Valois’ rustic but comfortable life is ripped asunder when it becomes known that he loves a local Jewish girl, Channah. On both sides, such a relationship is condemned. A fascinating character who is a friend of Anseau’s father and a warrior bishop of the church intercedes and offers the boy salvation if he will come to the bishop’s abbey and train to become a knight in service to the Lord. Anseau, though never giving up on seeing his love again, meets every challenge and is knighted in a lavish religious ceremony. To gain salvation and please the bishop, the newly minted warrior joins a dubious hermit monk and thousands of other Christian soldiers as well as vulnerable women and children on a crusade to Jerusalem. Nothing goes right, as tragic pogroms against Jews, internecine bloodshed among various Christians, and primitive national politics work against the common cause. Somehow, Anseau wins through the turmoil to finally confront the Saracens and gain a chance to be reunited with Channah. This first book in The Lotharingian Chronicles is a sweeping epic rooted in the tumultuous history of the times. The author presents the horrendous treatment of Jews by some Christians and the kindness they receive from others, the gruesome and bloodsplattering violence of medieval combat, and the complicated relationships among the various nations and ethnic groups in vivid detail. Because of these diverse players, it would have been beneficial to provide the reader with more historical context on the various players and nations. Bulgars, Byzantines, Hungarians, and Pechenegs all make fascinating appearances. Still, this superb novel is my favorite type of illuminating and informative historical fiction, and the ambiguous ending presages more intrigue and stirring adventures to come. Strongly recommended. Thomas J. Howley

IMPERIAL PASSIONS

Eileen Stephenson, Blachernae Books, 2018, $2.99, e-book, 386pp, 9780999690703

The Byzantine Empire of the 11th century is something of a political maze, a complicated, twisting thing where various families vie for power. All of this is deliciously brought to life by Ms Stephenson. Her passion for the Byzantine period is apparent throughout the book, be it in the elegantly presented descriptions of furnishings, clothing, traditions, food or in the somewhat more morbid scenes where

men are permanently blinded. This is a world where ambition and ruthlessness can lead you right to the top—or crush the life out of you. It is a world in which the wise man (and woman) watches her step, each move as carefully considered as when one is playing chess with a master. Despite her youth, Anna Dalassena excels at chess. Ms Stephenson presents us with a vibrant character, a strong-willed a n d accomplished young woman who, to Ms S t e p h e n s o n’s credit, still lives within the constraints imposed on the women of her time. It is therefore fortunate for Anna that her future husband, the equally engaging John Comnenus, recognises her strengths—and is willing to embrace them. One book does not suffice to tell the fascinating story of Anna Dalassena, one of the more intriguing medieval ladies around. Ms Stephenson ends her narrative while there is still a lot of life ahead of Anna. I hope she will be kind enough to furnish us with a sequel as well-written and researched as Imperial Passions is! Anna Belfrage

12TH CENTURY

THE WAY OF GLORY

Patricia J Boomsma, Edeleboom Books, 2018, $16.00, pb, 406pp, 9781732682009

The novel begins in Bristol, England, in 1154. A Civil war known as the Anarchy drags on. It is a wholly Christian conflict, unlike the war which rages in the Holy Land between Christians and Muslims. The novel is largely told through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Cate, who longs to see Jerusalem for herself. When her two brothers, Sperleng, a soldier, and Williard, a priest, decide to join the Second Crusade, she pleads to be allowed to accompany them. But when their ship lands in Portugal to re-supply, she is bitterly disappointed to learn the English army has agreed to stay and support the Portuguese Christians in their struggle to drive the Moors from Lisbon. The Way of Glory is a well-written, wellresearched novel, and an intriguing read on several levels. Notably, the male-dominated, brutal and bloody world of the 12th century Crusades is portrayed through the eyes of a female protagonist. Cate is an engaging character, true to the period with her deep religious devotion. She begins the novel naive and unworldly but, having tended the wounded and dying during the siege of Lisbon, she quickly discovers the stark realities

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of war. Many in the English army are fighting simply for riches and wealth and show a total disregard for the suffering of the ‘godless’ Moors, but Cate comes to pity the Muslim men, women and children being slaughtered in the name of God. I have to admit to initially sharing Cate’s disappointment that she would not reach the Holy Land but applaud the author’s decision to explore the less trodden path of the Hispanic Crusades. An intelligent and thoughtprovoking novel. Penny Ingham

THE EARL STRONGBOW

Ruadh Butler, Accent, 2018, £8.99, pb, 383pp, 9781910939291

Ruadh Butler’s series about the Norman conquest of Ireland continues with The Earl Strongbow, picking up a week after the events of Lord of the Sea Castle. Strongbow’s small advance force have secured their bridgehead on Ireland’s south coast and await his arrival from Wales with an army big enough to assault Waterford. Or, rather, to assault a place called Veðrarfjord. Butler clearly has a great passion for the period and culture, but using historically accurate names creates big problems for a casual reader. It’s hard to get a flow going when characters are called Mael Sechlainn Ua Fhaolain and Sigtrygg Mac Giolla Mhuire – and Butler’s leaden prose, where sentences are either short and dull (“The woman was beautiful”), or punctuation-free and tedious (“Sir Hervey de Montmorency was bone tired as he urged his horse down the bank and onto the causeway of slippery black logs which crossed the creek.”), hardly helps. But – and it’s a big but – readers who can get past this will find themselves in a rollicking, fast-paced adventure, full of proper medieval hacking and slashing. Butler’s description of a shield wall advancing into a heavy bombardment of slings and arrows is so gripping it could have come from a Bernard Cornwell novel, and in this genre there can be no higher praise. Thank goodness also for Raymond de Carew, the protagonist, who holds everything together here. His bravery, sensitivity, and outrageously brilliant military tactics make him very easy to root for. The first half of this novel is a real slog, but the final act is breathlessly superb, as Raymond’s cunning and invention come to the fore again. Butler’s strengths are battles and campaigning, and readers who can handle his style will be rewarded. Tom Graham

13TH CENTURY

Sally Zigmond

14TH CENTURY

book of the Meonbridge Chronicles, more and more women are given the opportunity to take on men’s work, the women of Meonbridge being no different. Eleanor Titteridge, without a husband, hopes to build up a fine flock of sheep; Susan Miller tries to encourage her husband to pull himself out of his increasing melancholy and ill-temper. Agnes Silver longs to be a wood-turner alongside her husband, but he is scornful, particularly as she struggles to cope with the duties of a wife and mother. The village priest sees all these women as scolds deserving the wrath of God. Soon, most men of the village are persuaded by his rhetoric – but not all. This novel is an absorbing account of the times. Although we readers, with education and more enlightened attitudes, might consider the inhabitants of Meonbridge cruel and ignorant, they are instantly recognisable to us. Some things never change. Sally Zigmond

THE GODLESS

TRAITOR’S CODEX

Brother Athelstan is a friar, devoted to his parish in late 14th-century London, called to investigate the deaths of prostitutes whose nude corpses have red wings pulled onto their heads. The deaths are attributed to the notorious “Oriflamme,” a notorious be-wigged murderer. When a ship of supplies bound for the English garrison at Calais is blown up on the Thames, his focus turns to the clues this incident provides about the killer’s motives and background. Suspicion soon settles on the current and former members of a company of English mercenaries who fought in Normandy during the last days of the Hundred Years’ War. Some of these veterans joined Athelstan’s motley group of parishioners. Others took a different path. With a prologue set in war-torn France, The Godless spans a setting far beyond the London precincts where its main plot is set. Doherty conveys the sights and smells of the medieval English metropolis with precise detail. As is typical of mysteries, Brother Athelstan is a stalwart, essentially unchanging character. But he is good-natured, methodical, and highly moral, which makes the reader root for him as he unravels the plot of the cunning and diabolic Oriflamme. The Godless is a well-constructed historical mystery: the context supports the rising tension as Athelstan closes in on the killer. This is a highly recommended read for those interested in the late medieval period or those who enjoy a whodunit with a distinctive historical backstory.

Crispin Guest, former baron of Sheen, has come down in the world after falling out with King Richard II. Now living in a workingman’s part of London and earning his keep as a tracker – a version of medieval detective – he has settled into a kind of family life, sharing a humble home with his former apprentice, Jack, and Jack’s wife and children. He also keeps an eye from a distance on his own son, who is being raised by the love of his life and her apparently unsuspecting husband. One day, a man bestows on Crispin a mysterious book in an unknown language and urges him to do the right thing with it. Entirely unsure what that might be, he sets off to investigate. A trio of crypto-Jews help him decipher the text – which turns out to be an alternative Gospel – and all end up dead. Who wants the book, and why are they willing to kill for it? Side tangents abound, including a doppelganger trading on Crispin’s reputation and the famous anchorite Julian of Norwich, trotted out to say her most famous line. Crispin also is drawn back to court, where he investigates the queen’s death as a possible murder. While that matter is wrapped up quickly, it puts him back in contact with his old mentor, John of Gaunt, and the grief-stricken king, who gives him hope that there might still be a place for him in the royal graces. This book is part of a series and suffers a bit from excessive references to past storylines. Despite deaths and violence and deep themes, the mystery lacks urgency. The author is more interested in her main character and his relationships. Readers of the series may well be fine with that, so if the time and place intrigue you, perhaps start from the start.

Paul Doherty, Severn House, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 221pp, 9781448301850

Irene Colthurst

I WILL GIVE MY LOVE AN APPLE

A WOMAN’S LOT

It is 1204. The winter is harsh, and a stranger is found assaulted and left to die in the forest

Following the devastation of the Black Death, depicted in Fortune’s Wheel, the first

Susanna M Newstead, PastMastery Press, 2018, £1.99/$2.56, ebook, BO7BMH8KT6

surrounding the village of Savernake. Although he eventually recovers from his physical injuries, he has no recollection of who he is and what he was doing in the area in the first place. Sir Aumary Belvoir, the warden of the forest of Savernake, Wiltshire and newly appointed Constable, sets out to solve the crime, which is the first of many revealing the presence of evil amongst them when they are snow-bound in the village. The Savernake Novels are stylish medieval murder mysteries featuring Sir Aumary. A childhood friend of King John, he is not what you might expect, as he is a kind and fairminded man, respected by all both high and low. This is the first of the series I have read and enjoyed it so much, I am determined to read the whole series, each one taking its title from a traditional English song.

Carolyn Hughes, SilverWood, 2018, £2.99/$3.87, 288pp, ebook, BO7KGGRGLF

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

Jeri Westerson, Severn House, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 208pp, 9780727888754

Martha Hoffman

16TH CENTURY

A WEB OF SILK

Fiona Buckley, Severn House, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 224pp, 9781780291130

In 1582, Ursula Blanchard receives a summons from Sir Francis Walsingham, spymaster for Queen Elizabeth. As this is book 16 in this popular series, the reader recognizes that Ursula is again putting herself in harm’s way. Fiona Buckley has a knack for plotting a seemingly simple story which turns out to be extraordinarily complex. Ursula is to teach the daughters of her neighbor Giles Frost to embroider and keep an eye on him at the same time. Giles does a large amount of trade with Spain and is thought to be passing the Spanish king information which may eventually lead to war. Ursula is to converse with Frost about false information. At the same time, Ursula visits a tradesman who specializes in making stained glass windows. She wants one window replaced which is a hideous version of saints and sinners entering Heaven and Hell. While visiting Julius Stagg to discuss making a new window, he deliberately shows her a magnificent chest that is part of a dowry. The remainder of the novel involves the disappearance of this chest after the death of a person found on Ursula’s property. The core of this mystery concerns a plot by Mary, Queen Elizabeth’s sister, to cause war and Spanish intervention. The reader becomes amazed at how much Elizabeth relies on her spymaster’s teams to stymie or kill plots designed to dethrone her. Fiona Buckley is a master at eliciting fear and confusion in the characters and readers. The web of silk taking shape is indeed lethal! An irresistible and fascinating historical mystery. Viviane Crystal

LOVE THAT MOVES THE SUN

Linda Cardillo, Bellastoria, 2018, $19.95, pb, 528pp, 9781942209546

A Renaissance woman, wife, mother, poet, diplomat, spiritual reformist, and lover – all labels for Vittoria Colonna that omit the essence of this unique person living during turbulent times in 16th-century Italy. While Italy is a country of warring city-states beyond the permanent control of leaders and Popes, Vittoria’s status as nobility and a spiritual woman allows her independence and power, a force to unite the factions across the country. The influence of her mother and Costanza, her mentor, leads Vittoria to a deeper appreciation of Mary, the mother of God. Gaining and losing the love and life of her husband, Vittoria discovers a true love beyond description in Michelangelo Buonarotti: “The intimacy that binds us – intellectual, emotional and spiritual – has transformed me… I am becoming Michelangelo.” The artistic brilliance of their work in poetry and painting is fed by the intellectual and spiritual poignancy of their sharing and that of friends. However, this time of reform is curtailed by the influence of Protestant changes instituted by Martin Luther and King Henry VIII. The rash

acts of family and other influential leaders cause civil war. Linda Cardillo’s writing is exquisite, inviting the reader into total immersion in this life story of a challenged and challenging woman who left an indelible mark on Italian and spiritual history. Descriptions of Vittoria’s poetry make the reader yearn to enjoy a sample (or two or three) of her writing – the only lapse in this moving story. The tale includes practical life fused with personal Christian meditation, poetry and sharing – the “questioning and doubt and discovery and revelation… the ultimate act of love.” Read and relish this singular work of historical fiction! Viviane Crystal

A SUSPICION OF SILVER

P. F. Chisholm, Head of Zeus, 2019, £18.99, hb, 299pp, 9781786696144 / Poisoned Pen, 2018, $15.95, pb, 289pp, 9781464210457

This is the latest in a series following the historical figure of Robert Carey, a lawman on the English/Scottish border in the period immediately prior to the uniting of the two kingdoms. The tales are based on his memoirs and this helps considerably with the excellent period feel. The book follows on directly from the previous books, and like A Chorus of Innocents, it is a murder mystery. However, this one is very character-based (and upon now wellestablished characters) and works better. Carey is away from the borders here, having run his suspect down in a mining operation run by “Deutschers” (Germans) in Keswick. Some impressive research has gone into this book. The insight into this little-known community, not to mention the technical details on mining, really help to bring the story to life. Characterisation is excellent, particularly with the main villain. Unlike the previous episodes, the “B” story arc, about the fearsome Border Reiver blood feud mentality, does not work as well because really not much happens, although the resolution at the end is very satisfying. Martin Bourne

THE REVERSIBLE MASK

Loretta Goldberg, MadeGlobal, 2018, $19.99/£15.99, pb, 540pp, 9788494853951

The Reversible Mask is Loretta Goldberg’s first novel. Goldberg is an AustralianAmerican with an academic background in literature, history and music. The Reversible Mask is the first in a future series of three novels but can be read as a standalone. It’s an epic, Elizabethan-era political intrigue and espionage novel spanning 22 years. Goldberg takes the reader from 1566 England at the time of Elizabeth 1 and Mary Queen of Scots, through to Spain, France and across Europe to Constantinople and back to Calais. Inspired by a real Elizabethan spy, Goldberg has created protagonist Sir Edward Latham. He’s a minor Catholic aristocrat in Protestant England. With complicated allegiance to Catholic Mary, Protestant Elizabeth and

other European Catholic monarchs, he becomes a successful double agent driven by a desire for religious peace. He’s bisexual and opportunistic and tries to keep free of entanglements, a loner with many superficial acquaintances. In Latham, Goldberg has created a flawed character, perfect for the challenging role of international espionage in a Europe with rapidly shifting, national alliances. Goldberg’s research and description of the complex, interdependent political and religious situation in Europe during this period is remarkable. At times it appears to overshadow the pace and flow of the story. Nevertheless, The Reversible Mask is action oriented and richly descriptive and has a cast of intriguing characters. Often a dense read, this 30-chapter epic is not for the fainthearted, but if you enjoy national politics, battle scenes and want to learn more about this period of history, beyond the popular story of Elizabeth 1 and Mary Queen of Scots, it is well worth it. Christine Childs

THE PHOENIX OF FLORENCE

Philip Kazan, Allison & Busby, 2019, £14.99/$19.95, hb, 352pp, 9780749022136

The author returns to Renaissance Italy with The Phoenix of Florence. Onorio Celavini, a commander in the Medici’s feared policy force, investigates two murders. To his horror, he discovers a personal link to them, which could unearth his deeply held secrets, and a wider conspiracy, which threatens the state itself. To solve the crimes of the present, and to prevent more catastrophes, Celavini must confront the past: the hidden vendettas, tragedies and battles – both real and emotional - that created him. Kazan skilfully evokes the world of the Renaissance, from the beauties of the Tuscan countryside to the brutality of internecine warfare and the poverty of Florence’s slums. Celavini is an interesting and, at times, surprising central character, whose story is told with compassion and intelligence, and Kazan’s novel explores themes of tragedy, necessity and identity within a world that requires people to fulfil the roles allotted to them by class and gender. This is a beautifully written, atmospheric and enjoyable novel. Recommended. Charlotte Wightwick

THE ALCHEMIST OF LOST SOULS

Mary Lawrence, Kensington, 2019, $15.95/ C$21.95, pb, 312pp, 9781496715319

London in 1544, with Henry VIII on the throne, definitely has its seedy side south of the Thames. Bianca, the alchemist’s daughter, lives there making a living selling herbal cures. As if it is not bad enough that her husband is compelled to join the army and march north while she is pregnant, now her disgraced alchemist father needs her help. He

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has discovered some wonderfully potent bright stones, but they have been stolen. Meanwhile, Leadith Browne, wife of another alchemist, appears at the Dim Dragon Inn with unusually bright stones on offer to the highest bidder. She leaves the inn elated at her good fortune but later she is found dead, the stones missing. It seems likely that she swallowed them. It also seems likely that Bianca’s mother might be responsible for the death so, with the help of Cammy, a serving girl from the inn, Bianca begins to investigate. Her inquiries centre on the Thames and the dwellings on both its north and south banks. This is a very different Tudor London from that of Henry’s court. Lawrence uses carefully researched detail to bring the miserable hovels of the poor to life as well as the comparative wealth of tradespeople. The vocabulary is rich and authentic (not a single ‘twas or forsooth), and the colorfully vivid detail of clothing and housing brings the period and its people to life. The plot moves swiftly through the treacherous currents of both London and its river, with the supernatural never far away and a climax that is dramatic and satisfying. Lawrence presents the gritty details of everyday Tudor life in a way that might not be for the squeamish, and her characters are acutely, if uncomfortably, realistic. A satisfying and engrossing read. Valerie Adolph

FORSAKING ALL OTHER

Catherine Meyrick, Courante, 2018, £2.30/$2.99, ebook, 308pp, BO7B8QK3VS

In 1585, Bess Stoughton, a young widow and well-loved waiting-woman to Lady Allingbourne, asks her father not to make her marry an old man she dislikes intensely, merely to cement a land-deal. In return she promises to secure a more suitable husband within a year. It is not easy for her as she is no longer young or rich enough. That is until she meets Edmund Wyard, but because he is a dour soldier with lands in Ireland to which he is anxious to return and fight, her friends discourage her. Not only that, but his domineering mother has reasons to dislike Bess intensely. Yet despite all this, they can’t take their eyes off each other. Forsaking All Other is a classy historical romance in which the Elizabethan period is well-depicted. Although the conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism does play its part in the plot, the fact the characters live far from the royal court with its well-known characters plotting and vying with each other, is refreshing. Sally Zigmond

THE SERPENT’S MARK

S. W. Perry, Corvus, 2019, £14.99, hb, 422pp, 9781786494962

London, 1591. Nicholas Shelby, physician and reluctant spy, has returned to Suffolk to the family farm. Heartbroken, he is mourning the death of his wife in childbirth. In need of money, he accepts a commission from a family 22

friend, which takes him back to his old haunts in London. While in London he is asked by the Queen’s spymaster, Robert Cecil, to investigate the dubious practices of a mysterious doctor from Switzerland. With Bianca Merton, healer and mistress of the Jackdaw Tavern, at his side once again, the pair find themselves in a dangerous world of religious fanatics, charlatans and treason, with Cecil ruthlessly pursuing all enemies of the Crown, whether real or imagined. This follows on from the excellent The Angel’s Mark and further develops the relationship between Nicholas and Bianca, as well as providing a gripping read which brings alive the culture and times of the Elizabethan age. With a strong plot and characters, the story is fast-paced and exciting. It can be read as a stand-alone novel, but the reader will get even more enjoyment having read the first in the series. I predict a long and fruitful future for Nicholas Shelby. Recommended. Mike Ashworth

TOMBLAND

C. J. Sansom, Mulholland, 2019, $28.00, hb, 880pp, 9780316412421 / Mantle, 2019, £20.00, hb, 880pp, 9781447284482

Fans of Sansom’s celebrated Tudor mysteries know that he offers far more than the standard murder mystery. His novels surround the formulaic plots with rich historical detail about political turmoil and memorably complex characters. At 880 pages, Tombland is the longest of all the hefty volumes that Sansom has produced, and his research sometimes gets in the way of his formulaic whodunit’s pace and plotting. This outing puts the brilliant lawyer, Matthew Shardlake, into the midst of Kett’s Rebellion, the 1549 uprising against the unfair privileges of Norfolk landowners. Called to Norwich to investigate a murder involving a Boleyn cousin of Princess Elizabeth’s, Shardlake falls into the hands of the leaders of the rebellion and slowly becomes sympathetic to their grievances. The events of that summer provide an impressively diverse cast of characters for the empathetic Shardlake to investigate and assist, and Sansom masterfully lets the reader experience the highs and lows of life in the rebels’ camp, with all its sounds, smells, and heightened emotions. Shardlake is truly a man with a foot in both camps – privileged professional and idealistic commoner – and makes an ideal observer of the wide social pageant of the period. If the procedural part of the novel sometimes seems a little inconveniently structured and overwhelmed by the period details of battle and bureaucracy, it’s worth it to get a participant’s eye-view of the populist rebellion that, although a tragic failure, awakened England’s leaders to the need for reform of their feudal system of land ownership.

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

Kristen McDermott

ANNA OF KLEVE, Queen of Secrets (UK) / ANNA OF KLEVE, The Princess in the Portrait (US)

Alison Weir, Headline Review, 2019, £18.99, hb, 528pp, 9781472227720 / Ballantine, 2019, $28.00, hb, 512pp, 9781101966570

Anna of Kleve (or Anne of Cleves as she is known to most English readers) is the least known of Henry VIII’s queens because she was speedily divorced, for reasons that remain strange and complex. Weir traces this to a teenage romance. Anna, aged 14, falls in love with her cousin, Otho, unaware that their sexual encounter will impact upon the marriage negotiated with Henry VIII by her family. The historical record says little about Anna’s upbringing, although it is on record that Henry said to Thomas Cromwell after his wedding night: ‘I liked her not much before but now I like her much worse, for I have felt her body and her breasts and thereby as I can judge, she should be no maid…’ Whilst this romantic theme is speculative, it is plausible. Anna of Kleve is a thoroughly researched novel, conveying the tense atmosphere created by Anna’s anxieties and fears and the threatening factions at Henry’s court. It presents a large gallery of characters, mostly real historical personages, supportive of Anna and detrimental, brilliantly and fully realised. This is an outstanding novel, the most intriguing so far in Weir’s ‘Six Queens’ series. Weir portrays Anna as pragmatic, clever, attractive (no Flanders Mare), and frequently terrified, kind and down-to-earth as well as queenly. She enjoys her months as Queen and likes Henry throughout her life. He comes to regard her as his sister, and her divorce settlement is generous. Anna is a survivor, even during Mary’s reign when she is suspected of plotting against the Queen. Weir tells her story with passion, a strong emotional pulse and an excellent knowledge base, creating a novel which will keep her readers page-turning. Carol McGrath

17TH CENTURY

THE KING JAMES MEN

Samantha Grosser, Sam Grosser Books, 2018, $17.99, hb, 428pp, 9780648305224

Supreme irony: spending one’s days translating former versions of the Bible into a new King James Version in early 1600s England while persecuting those who choose to worship God without intermediaries or ritualistic forms.

Biblical scholar Richard Clarke and his friend Ben Kemp have spent hundreds of hours arguing about the meaning of Scripture. They were the best of friends, but Richard is now an elect member of the traditional church, and Ben is a Separatist. King James has no toleration for Papists, Puritans, or Separatists, and wants them hunted down and destroyed. Bishop Bancroft demands that Richard live with the Kemp family and report on Ben’s words and activities. Ben’s family expects Richard to serve as the go-between as Ben’s rebellion grieves his parents and siblings more intensely with each passing day. Who said life is fair? Day after tension-filled day, the same scenario plays out with the Kemp family while Richard and Ben recall past joyful and painful memories. The uniqueness of this novel lies in this tension between the characters and their sincere attempts to render a spiritual and inspiring translation of God’s Word, to worship in a way that draws closer to God. The result is that even the translators behave in a manner that does not befit their position, engaging in brutal and blood-chilling persecution. Grosser’s novel leaves the reader with simple yet profound questions that these characters elicit through their interactions. This is an intense, drawn-out evocation of a traumatic, turbulent historical period – not human behavior at its finest, yet a fine portrayal of those who tried to make a positive difference. Viviane Crystal

THE FAMILIARS

Stacey Halls, Bonnier Zaffre, 2019, £12.99, hb, 418pp, 9781785766114 / MIRA, 2019, $26.99/ C$33.50, hb, 344pp, 9780778369189

The Familiars is set in 17th-century Lancashire. It tells the story of the trial of the Pendle witches from the point of view of Fleetwood, a young, pregnant woman and member of the local gentry. Married for several years, she has had a number of miscarriages and stillbirths, and is desperate for a living baby. When already-pregnant for the fourth time, she reads a letter addressed to her husband, which says that the bearing of another child will kill her. By chance Fleetwood meets Alice, a local midwife, who says that she can save Fleetwood and the baby, but then the accusations of witchcraft begin. Who should Fleetwood trust: the husband and mother who have, in her eyes, already betrayed her, or the young woman accused of consorting with the Devil? This is an evocative first novel, which follows Fleetwood’s emotional turmoil as she struggles with love, betrayal, the fear of death and a friendship which, according to the dictates of class and respectability, should not be. It also skilfully depicts the increasing paranoia about witches sweeping Lancashire during the early 17th century – and the political machinations behind that fear. Above all, it is a novel about women: their power and powerlessness; the often-complex relationship between mother

and child, and about friendships that blossom even where they should not. Halls has produced a thought-provoking and enjoyable historical novel. Recommended. Charlotte Wightwick

AN ABIDING FIRE

M. J. Logue, Sapere, 2019, $2.99, ebook, 279pp, 9781912786800

When a woman with the Puritan name Fly-Fornication Coventry is strangled and her house burned, suspicion falls on her notquite-so-Puritan brother, Thankful-for-HisDeliverance Russell. The accusations start after the joyous wedding of middle-aged Major Russell, scarred Roundhead army veteran, and young Thomazine Babbitt, deeply in love with him. Their newlywed joy suffers as further crimes build public opinion against him. War with the Dutch looms, and Russell’s loyalty to England, as well as his innocence in his sister’s murder, is called into question. In preceding years, he had continued to serve his country as a secret agent, gathering information from commercial contacts in the Netherlands, and now the government calls on him again. In London he and Thomazine fall in with a crowd of hedonistic socialites, and some in that group go out of their way to make the new couple uncomfortable. To prove himself to his friends, his country, and above all his bride, Russell bends his efforts toward establishing his innocence and unmasking the parties who have blackened his name. Mysteries focus on the mind, with the sleuth putting obscure clues together to unravel the puzzle. At that level, the book is not strong. The mystery seems to solve itself rather than be solved by the active logic of the protagonists. As a piece of historical fiction, however, it is much more successful. Logue brings 17thcentury England to life in a style reminiscent of Patrick O’Brian’s wonderful Aubrey/Maturin novels. And on the level of characterization, the author explores the limits of love and trust as Russell and Thomazine struggle to emerge intact from a maelstrom of attacks on their honor and their very lives. Loyd Uglow

SUNWISE

Helen Steadman, Impress, 2019, £8.99, pb, 202pp, 9781911293255

When Jane’s lover, Tom, returns from the navy, he finds Jane unhappily married to his rival. Helped by an old priest, they plan to flee to America, but meanwhile Jane’s life as a mother and village healer must continue as normal. Then news comes that John Sharpe (the self-appointed witch-finder who hanged Jane’s mother) is searching for Jane, determined to destroy her, her daughter and her unborn child. Sunwise, a sequel to Widdershins, does not, for me, quite stand alone as a novel. Too many past events and lost characters are in the shadows, so that Jane, Tom and

the priest seem colourless and undeveloped, as though we have missed all the interesting bits. Only John Sharpe is a three-dimensional, if repellent, creation. But why has he such a fanatical hatred of Jane? On what grounds was Jane’s mother condemned as a witch? What part does the old priest play in their lives? Luckily, in alternate chapters Jane and John relate their movements and this does help build suspense to the horrific climax. The novel is rich in fascinating details: Jane’s remedies and the village customs, partly Christian, partly pagan. Ancient names for plants and festivities, both seasonal and Christian, add colour to the narrative. Jane’s story is based on true events, and Jane represents the many women whose healing gifts made them victims of superstition and violence. In John, Steadman makes a convincing if not original case that his overzealous persecution of supposed witches stems from his fear and shame at his own lust and contempt for women. Sunwise is an interesting novel but perhaps would be enjoyed more after reading Widdershins. Lynn Guest

CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA

Isabel Stilwell, Livros Horizonte, 2017, £20.00, pb, 648pp, 9789722418546

In 1640, after 60 years of domination by a succession of Spanish monarchs, the Portuguese overthrew their unwelcome masters and elected John, the 8th Duke of Braganza, as their king. The story begins with the young family of John and his wife, Luisa, before they take the throne of Portugal, and is told through the eyes of Catherine, their fourth child. Catherine grows up realising that her eventual marriage will be of political necessity, not for love, but from an early age she has a deep admiration for Charles II of England who also regained his crown. Imagine her surprise and excitement when it is suggested that a marriage be arranged between the two. With the courtship, and the negotiations over the dowry, comes the realisation that Charles is going to be anything but a dutiful husband. Catherine has to accept that he has a string of mistresses who have already given him a brace of illegitimate children. Charles and Catherine are married in secret in Portsmouth by a Catholic priest, and then go to London where they are publicly married in an Anglican service. The story describes her life in the court of a flamboyant adulterer whose favourite mistress is one of Catherine´s handmaidens, Barbara Villiers Palmer. Catherine, meanwhile, has three miscarriages, and seems incapable of producing an heir to the throne. She survives plots against her and her husband and suffers Charles´s very public infatuation with Nell Gwynne. In a country torn by religion, where she was never popular, she is a rock upon which the waves of intolerance and debauchery constantly break. The harrowing

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story of her royal life is artfully told in this wellwritten book. Alan Pearson

18TH CENTURY

THE OPIUM PURGE

Elizabeth Bailey, Sapere, 2018, $10.99, pb, 402pp, 9781912546497

Ottillia Fanshawe, called “Lady Fan,” is the wife of Lord Francis Fanshawe and an amateur detective in England of 1790. While visiting her mother-in-law, Ottilia encounters Tamasine Roy, a strikingly beautiful young woman who displays a kind of child-like madness. After Tamasine announces that she has killed her guardian, Sir Joslin Cadel, Ottilia sets out to discover the truth about the man’s death. Third in a series, The Opium Purge is a tightly-paced parlor room mystery whose main action occurs in the Fanshawe house and across the way at Sir Joslin’s Willow Court, but the novel also pulls in a backstory set in the British imperial Caribbean. Bailey allows Tamasine’s condition to remain as compellingly imprecise as the social attitudes and medical knowledge of the time period allow. As seems typical of mysteries, Ottilia’s major development as a character involves gaining knowledge, and I thought Bailey balanced the social constraints on a woman in this era with Ottilia’s talent at fact-gathering and deduction very well. The details of the past scandals connected to Ottilia’s in-laws are a distraction in the first chapters, but that confusing and ultimately irrelevant material is the novel’s only real flaw. . An intriguing look at the manners of Georgian England, The Opium Purge is a cozy read recommended for fans of historical mystery. Irene Colthurst

THE ALMANACK

Martine Bailey, Severn House, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 304pp, 9780727888631

Saturated with beautiful images of the natural world in mid-18th century rural England, Bailey’s third mystery evokes a time when people regulated their lives according to the change of seasons and were fascinated by mechanisms, scientific and not, used to predict future events. It takes place during a pivotal period rarely seen in fiction: the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, when eleven days were “lost.” A young woman named Tabitha Hart is robbed by her latest bedmate while traveling from London to her home village of Netherlea at her ailing mother’s request. Alas, she arrives too late: the Widow Hart lies cold in her bed, presumably having drowned in the river. Although she is shamed for her loose behavior, and for leaving behind an infant girl for her mother to raise, Tabitha is welleducated, and she takes up her mother’s former post as village searcher. She also picks up her mother’s favorite Almanack, and the scribbled marginalia in the little book, along 24

with a threatening note, convinces Tabitha she was murdered. Nat Starling, a poet newly arrived in town, helps Tabitha in her search to avenge her mother’s death, and the main clue is the purported killer’s initial, “D.” Although at first Tabitha suspects Nat is “all verse and no purse”—one of many fun expressions—she soon grows as beguiled by him as he is by her. Meanwhile, some dire predictions in the Almanack appear to be coming true. Adding to the intellectual puzzle, each chapter begins with a riddle from the era (the answers can be found at the end). The writing has an authentic period richness, and while the mystery unfolds slowly, there are moments of fast-paced excitement and several real surprises on the way to the big reveal. Sarah Johnson

CASANOVA AND THE FACELESS WOMAN

Oliver Barde-Cabuçon (trans. Louise Rogers Lalaurie), Pushkin Vertigo, £9.99, pb, 380pp, 9781782274537

Only the devil himself is quicker. When Louis XV’s Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths is called upon to examine the corpse of a cruelly defaced young woman, he does not expect to encounter the most famous seducer of the age at the scene of the crime. But meeting Casanova is only one surprise of many this strange case holds in store for Chevalier Volnay, who soon understands that this seemingly simple murder is tied up in a highly complex intrigue involving the royal court, competing secret societies, members of the rogue clergy, and the more or less respectable representatives of scientific and medical progress. However, since 1759 Paris is ruled not only by the King, but also by his mistress, Volnay must contend with Madame Pompadour, whose smart and charming envoy, Chiara, so bewitches him and Casanova that the men are pitted against one another in a passionate rivalry, possibly to the death. Published in France in 2012, Casanova and the Faceless Woman won the Prix Sang d’Encre and has been followed by six more installments featuring the volatile and enigmatic Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths. As of this year, the capable translation by Louise Rogers Lalaurie will finally enable English readers to make the acquaintance of the equally fascinating and exasperating Volnay and to enjoy Barde-Cabucon’s richly wrought, historical mystery, which conjures up pre-revolutionary Paris in all its glory and depravity. Traveling the heights and depths of a vastly stratified society, paying attention to the strides made by Enlightenment science and philosophy, Casanova and the Faceless Woman stands in the august tradition of French historical fiction from Dumas to Yourcenar. A historical romp worthy of your time.

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

Elisabeth Lenckos

DEAR GEORGE, DEAR MARY

Mary Calvi, St. Martin’s, 2019, $27.99, hb, 336pp, 9781250162946

I couldn’t wait to begin the story of the illstarred romance between the young, striving George Washington and Mary Philipse, a New York heiress, especially when I read that the book was based heavily on primary sources. Unfortunately, this novel, inspired by the author’s curiosity about a mansion in her native city of Yonkers, failed to live up to my expectations. While George, seen here long before he achieved fame and glory, is an intriguing character, I never warmed to Mary, here portrayed as the quintessential poor little rich girl who can’t enjoy even a game of shuttlecock without tragedy ensuing, nor did I feel any chemistry between the lovers. I never really understood the motivations of the villain of the story, James Jay, nor was I convinced by Calvi’s explanations for why the lovers allowed themselves to be separated so easily, especially since the author insisted on giving them a lastminute opportunity to reconcile. There are some redeeming qualities here: an occasional flash of wit, and some vivid descriptions, especially of Mary’s home. Unfortunately, they only leave the reader longing, like the protagonists, for what might have been. Susan Higginbotham

FLED

Meg Keneally, Zaffre, 2019, £7.99, pb, 394pp, 9781785768811 / Arcade, 2019, $24.99, hb, 400pp, 9781948924269

Fled is based on an extraordinary true story. Desperate to escape a life of gruelling poverty in Cornwall, Jenny Trelawney turns to highway robbery. When her luck runs out, her death sentence is commuted to seven years in Australia’s Botany Bay. The author vividly evokes the brutality and injustices of the late 18th-century British legal system, from the overcrowded, stinking prison hulks, to the grinding deprivation of many months at sea. It is hard for us to imagine today the hardships the convicts endured: wearing only the clothes they stood up in, forced to exist largely below decks in foetid conditions, with only meagre rations of dried ship’s biscuits for sustenance. Many did not survive the crossing, and those that did were often fatally weakened. When the crops fail at the fledgling penal colony and the prisoners face starvation once again, Jenny is determined to do whatever it takes to ensure her loved ones survive. Escaping by boat with her new husband and her two small children, she sets sail on a hazardous journey around the coast of Australia to Indonesia. The characters, largely based on historical figures, are finely drawn. Jenny is instantly engaging, strong and feisty. Determined to rise above the horrors of her situation, she strives to retain her dignity whatever the cost. Captain James Corbett, the sympathetic officer on the

convict ship, is cleverly nuanced, struggling to balance his inherent compassion with his obligations to king and country. Written with great sensitivity, Fled is a story of unimaginable suffering and loss, but also an elegy to the indefatigability of the human spirit. Highly recommended. Penny Ingham

THE BODY IN THE BOAT

A. J. MacKenzie, Zaffre, 2019, $14.95/ C$19.95/£7.99, pb, 400pp, 9781785761263

Romney Marsh, 1796: A hidden smuggler spies a small coffin unloaded from a rival’s boat. A few weeks later another boat is discovered drifting on the tide, with a decidedly un-coffined corpse lying within it. The corpse is Hector Munro, a young banker. Justice of the Peace Reverend Hardcastle had recently attended a party given by the young man, but now he must investigate his murder. Meanwhile the Revolution roils across the channel, bringing refugees to English soil, while local citizens engage in constant smuggling. The reverend is aided in his search for Munro’s killer by his assistant, Joshua Stemp, and his friend, Mrs. Amelia Chaytor. Their investigations reveal some irregularities at Munro’s bank, and bring to light the possibility that the bank could fail, ruining many of the local folk. But which of the remaining partners could be behind the fraud? And why was Munro murdered? Are there more sinister motives at the root of this crime? I thoroughly enjoyed this historical mystery. The characters, both major and minor, are well drawn, interesting, complex, and true to the era. The plot intrigues, and the writing skillfully draws the reader into this world of smugglers on the mist-shrouded Kentish coast. This is the third Hardcastle and Chaytor mystery. Readers can easily pick up any necessary backstory in this volume, but will most likely want to seek out the two earlier cases after reading this one. The Reverend Hardcastle and Mrs Chaytor seem well worthy of a prolonged acquaintance! Recommended. Susan McDuffie

ESTHER

Jessica North, Allen & Unwin, 2019, A$29.99, pb, 277pp, 9781760527372

London, 1786: Esther, aged 16, Jewish, pregnant and in gaol for stealing 24 yards of black silk lace, awaits transportation on an eight-month journey to the other side of the world. First Lieutenant, George Johnson, a soldier in the elite British Marines, waits to board the same ship. On one of eleven ships with orders to establish a ‘settlement capable of supporting many shiploads of British criminals’ Johnson and Esther travel to a land ‘virtually unknown.’ Esther meets Johnson through milking his goat on the ship. Once on shore, she continues to do so and eventually moves in with him. I

was interested to learn that freemen were not permitted to marry convicts and, like Esther and Johnson, many raised a family together without marriage. This is a true ‘rags to riches’ story of one of the first Jewish women to arrive in Australia – a convict on the First Fleet who became First Lady of the colony. Through Esther we meet some of the key people who shaped the nation, and we see the fledgling colony’s struggle to provide enough food, maintain law and order, and interact with the indigenous people. The book is thoroughly researched, complete with photos, chapter notes and bibliography. It is set out like a diary, with the events of each date imaginatively described. The only drawback is that the characters’ emotions are mostly told and described, which keeps the reader at an emotional distance. Perhaps it is the nature of this genre, which is described not as historical fiction but as ‘historical biography’. Esther is packed with fascinating facts and insights in an easy-to-read format that is sure to please anyone interested in learning about Australia’s early colonial history. Cindy Williams

THE BLOOD AND THE BARLEY

Angela Macrae Shanks, Braeatha Books, 2018, £10.00, pb, 294pp, 9781999962418

Set in a close-knit crofting community below the Cromdale Hills (north-east Highlands of Scotland) in 1780, this novel opens with a Beltane ceremony, in which Celtic traditions survive within a devoutly Catholic, Gaelicspeaking community in the long aftermath of Culloden. Crofting life is one of unrelenting toil, where a meagre income is supplemented by the tending of covert whisky stills and accompanying smuggling – an existence under continual threat of eviction or from the excise-men – notably the dreaded McBeath. Against this backdrop is told the story of Morven Macrae, and her tentative courtship by Jamie Innes, nephew of the ‘wise woman’ Rowena – who is teaching her craft to Morven. McBeath is obsessed by the widow Rowena and, under threat of arrest for witchcraft, presents her with a terrible choice. This novel is beautifully written and thoroughly researched: I could probably set up an illicit still myself given the detail provided. References to actual historical figures are seamlessly and naturally interwoven (Joseph Skene, for instance). Shanks makes gentle use of the Doric throughout, but this enhances the authenticity of the narrative rather than impedes the reader (she helpfully provides a glossary of the few more impenetrable words). The plot does not move fast yet occasionally Shanks gives it away too early; the nature of Rowena’s choice could potentially have been held back from the reader until Morven herself knows it, to build the tension more, and there is some repetition which slows the pace in places. However, the final pages are

pleasingly dramatic. I’d recommend reading this book especially in conjunction with a visit to the area portrayed. Katherine Mezzacappa

BLOOD AND SUGAR

Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Mantle, £14.99, hb, 434pp, 9781509880775

2019,

June 1781. Captain Harry Corsham is a veteran of the American War. He looks set to pursue a promising political career, and he dotes on his small son. The only fly in the ointment is his increasingly distant relationship with his wife, Caro. Then the sister of an estranged university friend comes to ask him to find her missing brother. Harry discovers that Thaddeus (Tad) Archer, always a passionate abolitionist, believed he was on the brink of ending the slave trade – until someone tortured and killed him and left him strung up by the Deptford Dock. But by investigating Tad’s death, Harry puts at risk everything he holds dear and is forced to confront unresolved issues from his own past. This is an intricately plotted debut novel – so intricate that at times I felt I was slightly losing track of who did what to whom when, where and why, though I suspect a second reading would help. The characters are by and large multifaceted, though few of them come across as particularly likeable – perhaps an inevitable by-product of their involvement in the slave trade. A few tiny details niggle me. For instance, where did an 18th-century publican get a 20thcentury name like Marilyn? Half a guinea is 10s 6d, not a sovereign (20s). I’m not sure what the author thinks dropsy is, but it’s not a condition that can be easily “feigned”. And would a military man like Harry, aware of the problems of re-loading, go repeatedly into dangerous situations carrying only one pistol, when they were so often sold in pairs? On the whole, however, the novel brings powerfully to life the atmosphere of 18th-century London and Deptford and the mental attitudes that allowed the slave trade to flourish. Dark but thought-provoking. Jasmina Svenne

A SONG FOR THE STARS

Ilima Todd, Shadow Mountain, 2019, $15.99, pb, 352pp, 9781629725284

1779 marks the arrival of English ships on Hawaiian shores. While at first they are welcomed, cultural misunderstandings lead to a bloody confrontation. Maile, the chieftain’s willful daughter, discovers the body of her betrothed—killed by the Englishmen’s weapons. Intending revenge on his killer, she must use the foreigner as a hostage to escape the battlefield with her life. At a secluded hut, Maile finds herself healing the man, the ship’s translator John, from his injuries instead of killing him. When Maile learns a neighboring tribe seeks to conquer her people, John may be their one chance at victory. But Maile has

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a secret, one she’s kept to protect her father’s honor, which could unravel their alliance. While a romance at its heart, the narrative is embellished with rich cultural details and environmental elements. My favorite scenes were with Maile as she becomes immersed in the sights and sounds of the ocean. The budding relationship is developed with grace and gentleness. I loved Todd’s skillful illustration of the beautiful differences between Maile’s and John’s cultures. Inspired by her family history, Todd’s heartfelt connection to this story adds a special vibrancy to each page. Recommended for fans of daring female leads, sumptuous settings, and slow-burn romances. J. Lynn Else

GOYA: The Terrible Sublime

El Torres and Fran Galán (illus.), Pegasus, 2019, $25.95/£16.99, hb, 120pp, 9781643130163

The work of artist Francisco de Goya (17461828) runs the gamut from sedate portraits of the Spanish royal family to pornographic nudes to phantasmagoric horrors executed as life-sized murals on the walls of his home. It is this last type of work, Goya’s darker paintings, which is the focus of this graphic novel. After an illness which leaves him severely hearing-impaired, Goya experiences a variety of dreadful visions: are they symptoms of madness, or are they real? Actual historical figures, such as the Duchess of Alba, feature heavily in this tale of an artist who may be mad, or may simply be one of the few who can see into a dark otherworld that exists alongside our own. This graphic novel, like some of Goya’s work, is grotesque and surreal – Fran Galán’s illustrations play off of Goya’s paintings (specifically El Aquellare, “Witches’ Sabbath”) in a sumptuous composition and color palette that offers a Rococo sort of horror singularly appropriate to the subject matter. The story itself is likewise engaging in its ability to unsettle. Unfortunately, this is marred by multiple misspellings and typographical errors in the text, along with anachronistic dialogue and idiosyncratic bolding, which interferes with the flow, since in more than one instance, it conveys emphasis in nonsensical ways. All things considered, this graphic novel is certainly worth a read, but members of the publisher’s copyediting and quality control departments deserve a stern lecture and some points off during annual review. Bethany Latham

SARAH’S WAR

Eugenia Lovett West, SparkPress, 2019, $16.95, pb, 275pp, 9781943006922

In 1777 an embryonic America is fighting a seemingly doomed battle for its existence. Seventeen-year-old fervent patriot Sarah Champion is sent from her Connecticut farm family to stay with her apparently impoverished loyalist aunt in Philadelphia as an act of familial charity. Sarah’s twin brother has been recently lost in battle against the 26

British at Long Island. When Sarah reaches her aunt’s home, she finds nothing is as it seems. Her aunt, Mrs Sage, is actually quite rich and harbors even more secrets. The British occupation army makes Philadelphia its winter headquarters, and Sarah is emplaced into the social scene of senior British army officers through her aunt’s connections. But she is also an asset of the small but formidable intelligence network of G e n e r a l Washington to spy on the enemy. The young patriot finds it is not as simple as just two sides, and she can trust no one. Sarah enters a dangerous world of sordid and treacherous espionage and crime and must face heart-rending choices. This outstanding historical novel is filled with exciting twists and surprises to the very end. Interesting historical characters play parts along with the fictional players. Men should not be turned off by the book’s title or cover; this superbly well-written tale of war, espionage and intrigue will appeal to all, especially those interested in the American Revolution. The first half of the book completely draws the reader in, and the second half takes off with pounding action and rising drama. It portrays the brutal treatment of American women by British soldiers and their officers. Yet it shows there was honor and gentleness on the part of at least one British aristocratic officer. Even the author’s bio fascinated me. Enthusiastically recommended. Thomas J. Howley

19TH CENTURY

HAVE YOUR TICKET PUNCHED BY FRANK JAMES

Fedora Amis, Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 325pp, 9781432851927

Jemmy McBustle is a young novice reporter for the Illuminator newspaper, located in St. Louis in 1898. She seems to always be on the borderline of being fired for arriving late, because she also helps her mother and her siblings manage a boardinghouse. Upon attending a local play, she observes the on-stage death of a character during the performance and soon learns that the actor may have been murdered. Her editor allows her to begin investigating the cause of the death and report on her results. The police arrest Frank James, formerly a notorious outlaw and brother to Jesse James, who was at the scene of the crime punching

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

tickets as the theatergoers entered. The murdered actor is a boxer who has participated in illegal fights, and soon Jemmy and her friends become embroiled in the seedy world of boxing and the dealing of drugs. This mystery resembles a Nancy Drew/ Hardy Boys novel in that Jemmy and her young friends attempt to solve the crime like the heroes of those long-ago stories. Because of her inexperience, she seems to stumble on clues and at times is not sure how to proceed in questioning possible suspects. Regardless, I found the story engaging, and I especially enjoyed the exciting climax where the murderer appears and is finally apprehended. Jeff Westerhoff

COURTING MR. LINCOLN

Louis Bayard, Algonquin, 2019, C$37.50, hb, 400pp, 9781616208479

$27.95/

Two visitors arrive in Springfield, Illinois, in 1839: an aristocratic Kentucky belle with politics in her lineage, and a backwoods l a w y e r , Kentuckian by birth, with politics forever on his mind. Mary Todd’s first impression of Abraham Lincoln reminds her of a spindly pine tree, w i t h appropriately rustic manners. But we know what results. Bayard recounts their unlikely romance with the wit and keen observation of a latter-day Austen, and the pain and poignancy of tragedy waiting in the wings. The two point-of-view characters are Mary and Joshua Speed, the dry-goods merchant who becomes Lincoln’s closest friend and social mentor, and with whom he shares the loft above his store. Speed provides lessons in everything from proper etiquette, sartorial necessities, and, most hilariously, the waltz. But he has mixed feelings about his charge’s social success, because he cherishes their common bachelorhood, while, conversely, supposing he might have wanted Miss Todd for himself. Using his ambivalence, the narrative delves into the nature of friendship (easy to test) versus marriage (a more speculative option). Since the only perspectives belong to Mary and Joshua, the reader understands implicitly how helpless they feel at Lincoln’s dark, distant moods, and how frustrated at his emotional elusiveness. Courting Mr. Lincoln offers a penetrating view of what the great man must have been like to live with and resuscitates Mary’s reputation as a woman of charm, wit, and political acumen, rather than the neurotic millstone that so many writers portray. Both characters bear deep psychological wounds,

which is why the course of their true love never does run smooth. And as a chronicle of that love, this is a terrific novel, vivid in detail to satisfy lovers of historical fiction, and offering a taste of heaven to the literary. Larry Zuckerman

A SINISTER SPLENDOR

Mike Blakely, Forge, 2019, $29.99/C$38.99, hb, 448pp, 9780765328380

In 1845, General Zachary Taylor and his American army arrive at Corpus Christi, Texas. Taylor has been ordered by President James K. Polk to begin a N o r t h e r n Campaign and drive the Mexican Army south of the Rio Grande, reestablishing the border between the two countries. Cries of Manifest Destiny from the American public influence President Polk to continue moving South into Mexico and force the Mexican government to negotiate the acquisition of the lands west of Texas, including California. The Mexican Army attacks Fort Brown, and battles ensue there and at Matamoros along the Rio Grande. The American army then moves further south to battle the Mexicans at Monterrey and Buena Vista. Led by General Taylor, other American combatants include Lt. Sam Grant, the Texas Rangers, Irishman John Riley and laundress Sarah Bowman, wife of one of the soldiers. The novel highlights the plight of the Irish soldiers and their ill treatment by officers who dislike the Irish, the meanest being Lt. Braxton Bragg. Many will desert to join the Mexican army, feeling that because of their Catholic religion, they can side with the Mexican cause. Rich in historical detail, the author’s research is unimpeachable. I’ve read nonfiction books on the Northern Campaign of the Mexican War, and I found this fictionalized account (specifically the dialog) really clarified the campaign from both sides. This is a wide, ambitious sweep of a novel that follows major characters from both sides of the conflict. The author’s narrative is like that of Jeff Shaara in depth and detail, and his battle scenes are well-documented, providing the reader with a feeling of being on the battlefield. An exceptional work that I plan on reading again. Jeff Westerhoff

WHAT GIRLS ARE GOOD FOR

David Blixt, Creativia, 2018, $17.99, pb, 493pp, 9781730978425

Frustrated by the lack of opportunities

available to a young woman of her modest standing, Elizabeth Cochrane is outraged when the Pittsburg Dispatch publishes a column asserting that girls are good only for staying in the home. After penning a scathing retort to the newspaper, she suddenly finds herself a Dispatch employee with a pen name: Nellie Bly. What Girls Are Good For traces Bly’s early career, from her days reporting on factory conditions in Pittsburgh to her stint in Mexico and finally to her breakthrough in New York City. After months of struggling to convince the editors that women can report as well as men, Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World finally gives her an assignment. In September 1887, Nellie Bly goes undercover to expose the horrid conditions of the infamous Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island. She has no trouble getting herself committed, but getting out proves much trickier. Blixt’s meticulous research shines through from the first page of this novel. Pittsburgh, Mexico City, and New York City come alive through both sensory and historical detail. However, such a great amount of research and detail causes pacing problems. The first half of the novel describing Bly’s early career and adventures in Mexico often drags, forcing Blixt to rush through the more thrilling second half about Bly’s time in the asylum. As a result, the climax of the novel falls flat. This book would have done better as two novels, so the story of Bly’s asylum stay could have been given its full due. On the whole, however, What Girls Are Good For is a timely feminist novel about a timeless feminist. Readers will come away much educated on the world women navigated in late 19th-century America. Sarah Hendess

AN UNWILLING ALLIANCE

Lynn Bryant, Richard Dawson, 2018, $12.46, pb, 552pp, 9781980744306

Lynn Bryant is a British author of historical fiction with a passion for the Napoleonic era. An Unwilling Alliance is the first novel Bryant has written about the Isle of Man, her current home. Set in the early years of the 19th century, it features some of the characters from her Peninsular War Saga series. An Unwilling Alliance can be described as blending the genres of romance and maritime or military history. The main protagonist is 21-year-old Manx local, Rosheen Crellin, a feisty but socially awkward tomboy. Rosheen’s father wants to marry her off to someone with property and wealth, but she has other ideas. Enter returned local, Captain Hugh Kelly. The path to true love never runs smoothly, of course, and Captain Kelly sets sail for the British invasion of neutral Denmark, a particularly ugly period in English military history. In Copenhagen, he encounters British army Major Paul van Daan, their paths crossing on a number of critical occasions. In addition to Bryant’s detailed descriptions of the shameful British army and naval activity

in Copenhagen, she also gives great insight into the established practice of impressment. Impress gangs were responsible for legally endorsed, forcible indenturing of civilians into military service. Bryant gives us the example of Manx fishermen kidnapped and held against their will by press gangs acting on behalf of the British Royal Navy. An Unwilling Alliance is an entertaining and thought-provoking read for lovers of historical romance and maritime history, with the landscapes of the Isle of Man and Denmark creating added interest. Christine Childs

LA LUMINISTE

Paula Butterfield, Regal House, 2019, $17.95, pb, 307pp, 9781947548022

Berthe Morisot meets Édouard Manet at age 17, while she and her sister are copying master works in the Louvre. This begins and an on-and-off again relationship with the artist as his model, lover, and student of Impressionism. Berthe is driven to be an artist in her own right and capture natural light on canvas, landscapes as they appear to the naked eye, and domestic, private activities such as women at their toilette. So much so she balks at societal norms, resisting marriage until Édouard urges her to wed his brother Eugène. Though Berthe is able to display her paintings at Salon de Paris and attract the eye of a private dealer, she is an exception. Author Paula Butterfield reminds readers that women have limited artistic opportunities in late 1800s Paris. They can take up arts as a pleasant pastime until they marry but have little hope of gaining entry to salons or getting commissions on their own unless they use a male pseudonym. Butterfield provides more than surface brush strokes, adding exquisite details of Parisian and Berthe’s life, the view from an artist’s eye, and the eruptions of techy temperament. This is an impressive debut novel for Butterfield, who builds on her experience as a teacher of women artists to develop a multi-dimensional painter of the light, la luministe. K. M. Sandrick

A TENDER HOPE

Amanda Cabot, Revell, 2018, $15.99, pb, 352pp, 9780800727581

A Tender Hope is the third book in the Cimarron Creek Trilogy, an American West series set in Cimarron Creek, Texas in the late 1800s. Thea Michener and the other characters come alive quickly, and tension is set between the midwife and a Texas Ranger on the hunt for a deadly gang. With the backdrop of a pre-established community of characters, some actions might better be understood having read the previous books, but it doesn’t take long to get into the energy of a woman adapting to a new town, new friendships, old hurts, and the surprise of an abandoned baby. Faith is a big factor in this series and is credited when developments

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work to the favor of the main characters. With criminal investigations knitting the town tightly together, the real test for Thea and the Texas Ranger is courtship, unraveling secrets, and finding a way to right the very bad wrongs of their past. Circumstances are overcome easily in this novel about second chances at romance and family, and the conversational writing style is so easy to follow and enjoy that the book is more about discovering what’s on the next page and less about finding the mysterious gold. The author clearly understands delivering good characterizations, believable conflict, and resolution. The setting feels accurate for the era, and it’s a book I can highly recommend. Kimberly Fish

MAKE ME A CITY

Jonathan Carr, Henry Holt, 2019, $30.00/ C$39.00, hb, 448pp, 9781250294012 / Scribe UK, 2019, £16.99, hb, 448pp, 9781911617150

In Carr’s sweeping epic, the city of Chicago, from its humble and swampy beginnings in 1800 to the day the swamp is finally drained in 1900, is the both the main character and its plot. Employing various “sources” (journals, letters, the fictional Chicago: An Alternative History 1800-1900, and even a review of said book) the birth and life of Chicago is told from a wide cast of historical figures, beginning with Jean Baptiste Pointe de Sable—a mulatto living in a small log cabin who is argued to be the founder of Chicago. Other historical figures whose stories help move Chicago along ebb and flow through time, including land speculator and heart-sick lover John S. Wright; Eliza Chappell, John’s first love and Chicago’s first teacher; Antje Hunter, one of the city’s first female reporters; and the man responsible for the Crib and water tunnel and for literally raising Chicago, Ellis Chesbrough. Helping to tie these various lives together are relics of the past, including a pot, a painting, and a watch. Altogether, a portrait of Chicago emerges. With this story told through multiple vignettes and voices, readers may find it difficult to find footing, but Carr’s prose is often amusing and heartfelt (J. S. Wright’s death, for example) and pulls readers through the joys and pains of the people who made Chicago a city. There are times, however, when the writing borders on patronizing (the rough dialect of the Native Americans) and unauthentic (non-standard writing in young Antje’s diary, “geniully” and “politerly”). Readers looking for a history lesson on the rise of Chicago will come away confused and frustrated. However, if you are looking for a gritty, unapologetically unique “alternative” history of the Windy City, this is the place to start. Bryan Dumas

SEVEN APRILS

Eileen Charbonneau, BWL Publishing, 2019, $18.99, pb, 347pp, 9780228606512

The Seven Aprils of this action-adventure romance are the Aprils in the years that surround 28

the American Civil War. Tess is a mountain girl of extraordinary capability who finds herself about to be sold into marriage. She runs away, dressing as a man for protection. She meets a young doctor, and when the Civil War erupts, they enlist. The young doctor turned combat surgeon does not know the true gender of his assistant but falls in love with stories of a twin sister. He conflates those stories with a young whore, who is, in fact, Tess, now fulfilling her own amorous desires in yet another disguise. The darkness needed for these meetings is such that the doctor doesn’t know if she is white or black, yet it is light enough that they communicate in gestures. Some suspension of disbelief is challenging. Romance readers may not care for this, as it lags on the regular genre beats, particularly in the beginning. When amorous declarations do come, they seem unexpected. Plot points turn on a dime, and there are several chapter openings that are unclear. Overall, if you enjoy the cross-dressing trope, it is a fine read, just patchy. Katie Stine

THE WOMAN WHO SPOKE TO SPIRITS

Alys Clare, Severn House, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 240pp, 9780727888686

It’s 1880 in London, and Lily Raynor has just hired Felix Wilbraham as the clerical assistant for her World’s End Bureau private investigation agency. Cases usually involve reporting on cheating wives, runaway sons or dogs, and small thefts until Ernest Stibbens asks them to investigate a threat toward his wife, Albertina. Albertina is a psychic, and the threat may be coming from beyond the grave. While Lily poses as a customer at a séance and Felix investigates the romance between an aging actress and a young male heir, they stumble on seven unexplained deaths of young female prostitutes, which the law has ignored. The Woman Who Spoke to Spirits, the first book of the World’s End Bureau Mystery, drew me in from the start and held me to the end. The usual suspects are thrown in, and the villain is a shocker, which makes for a sound mystery, but it’s the characters that are the surprise. Just as Lily is taken aback to find herself hiring a man as her office help, so is Felix at finding himself reporting to a woman. But the chemistry between them is evident, as is the respect, and both develop as a result. The cases also personally affect them, and their responses make for an interesting rapport. Two minor characters, the aging actress Violetta Da Rose and the morally-conscious reporter Marmaduke Smithers, are especially well-drawn and memorable. Felix is engaging, but Lily is too uptight. Whatever “incident” in her history forced her to give up nursing in India and open the agency needs explaining in order for her to become more than a onedimensional character. The Woman Who Spoke to Spirits is a solid mystery with some surprising characters. It’s

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

an intriguing introduction to the series, and I look forward to more. Franca Pelaccia

THE CONFESSIONS OF FRANNIE LANGTON

Sara Collins, Viking, 2019, £12.99, pb, 371pp, 9780241349199 / Harper, 2019, $26.99, hb, 384pp, 9780062851895 / HarperCollins Canada, 2019, C$22.99, pb, 384pp, 9781443456180

It is 1826, and in London, a former Jamaican slave, Frannie Langton, is working as a servant to Mr and Mrs Benham, a highly respected philosopher and his wife. Frannie has a good life. But through c i rc u m s t a n c e s leading to a love affair with her mistress, Frannie finds herself accused of a double murder and is incarcerated in Newgate Prison awaiting her trial. She passes her time writing the story of her life. At the trial Frannie has to tell this story for the first time, but even she begins to question herself as to whether she could have carried out the murders. Told in a series of 54 very short chapters, some only a page long, and broken down into sections depending on location, Frannie unravels her tale in a series of chronological flashbacks. These begin with her as a young girl learning to read on a plantation in Jamaica, moving to her working for the Benhams and ending with the prison and the trial. Interspersed throughout are the testimonies and extracts from journals, letters, and diaries, each one confirming Frannie’s guilt. At the centre of the novel is a deeply complex, passionate and forbidden love story between two women, giving society even more reason to condemn her. But there is more, much more. At every turn of the page something new is revealed that draws the reader into the dark world of Georgian England’s skewed conventions. This book is more than just a Georgian slave narrative. It is a gothic murder mystery, love story, and a tale of a woman determined to succeed in a world that prevents her at every turn. It is an astonishing piece of writing, and even at the end you are left wondering what actually happened. Highly recommended. Linda Sever

YESTER’S RIDE

C.K. Crigger, Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 250pp, 9781432849702

Yester, a 16-year-old boy living in the inner northwest of the United States, leaves the family ranch to search for his younger halfsister, Ketta, who has been stolen by her

Chinese father. On his ride to follow and rescue Ketta, Yester is accompanied by his friend Nat. Their friendship, like the land they traverse, is nuanced and accurately observed. This is a time when the west has been settled and become a land of ranches, farms and small towns, but still preyed upon by outlaws. Crigger shows us a time of racism, of roving bands feeling free to steal livestock, burn ranch houses and rape the womenfolk. Girls can be bought and sold, treated as slaves or worse. The outlaws in this story (and there are several, because as one lot meet a bad end, they are replaced by others) are evil, ugly and dim-witted. This piling on of negative characteristics contrasts effectively with the subtlety of the description of the land. All the details of the newly-settled western frontier—the horses, guns, cabins—give an accurate picture of the place and time. The ability to track others across the wild lands, noting almost invisible details, is well-portrayed and used to emphasize the closeness of the relationship between the settlers and the land. The characters, with a couple of exceptions, are satisfyingly good and wholesome or horrifyingly bad. The exceptions are Ketta’s biological father and her stepfather; both appear bad in the beginning. Her stepfather, however, a Chinese man named Kuo, proves his caring and earns a beautiful redeeming moment when he pushes Ketta out of a burning cabin and she finally manages to call him ‘Father’. Crigger’s love of her land and the strength, skills and adaptability of its people make this an interesting and revealing read. Valerie Adolph

APACHE LAMENT

Patrick Dearen, Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 269pp, 9781432855680

This western novel is based upon the actual events of January 1881, when a small contingent of Texas Rangers tracked the last free group of Mescaleros up into the frozen Diablos Mountains in Northern Texas. In this stark landscape, Sam DeJarnett accompanies his fellow rangers, but his primary goal is revenge. Eight months ago, his young pregnant wife was killed in an Apache raid, and Sam’s grief and anger are all that is keeping him alive. As the rangers follow the Apaches higher into the mountains, the story’s point of view switches to Nejeunee, a young Apache woman whose husband was killed by government soldiers in the same battle where Sam’s wife met her demise. Nejeunee is desperately trying to escape to protect the life of her baby. As Sam and Nejeunee are thrown together by fate, each one will have to come to terms with learning to understand a hated enemy. A thoroughly enjoyable read; I just wish there had been a map for me to follow the geography of the events. Linda Harris Sittig

LOCH OF THE DEAD

Oscar de Muriel, Pegasus, 2019, $25.95, hb, 448pp, 9781643130101 / Penguin, 2018, £8.99, pb, 448pp, 9781405926249

In this suspenseful Gothic novel set in Scotland in 1889, Ian Frey and ‘Nine Nails’ McGray face an evil that challenges their detective skills and courage to the limit. This celebrated duo, protagonists of three acclaimed previous novels, are lured from their familiar Edinburgh surroundings to a lonely atmospheric island in a remote Scottish loch. Ian Frey is brought there by the possibility of a cure for his mentally ill sister. This is being offered in return for his help in finding the sender of death threats to Millie Fletcher’s illegitimate son, Benjamin, who is now heir to vast vineyards. But the son’s tutor and mentor is found dead in a remote town, and Benjamin is the obvious suspect. Nine Nails McGray brings him home to the family’s grand house on an island in Loch Maree, while Ian Gray explores the house and the Koloman family, including their pale and beautiful twin daughters. Evil awaits as Ian Frey tries to find the cure for his sister. The tale explodes into a nightmare of corpses drained of blood, of madness, murder and curses. It involves many of the tropes of the Gothic horror genre – the misty loch, shadows, dark pine trees, omens, secret midnight assignations, as well as omens and forebodings. But bats and blood dominate, culminating in a bloody cave full of bats. De Muriel understands this genre – he is a master of horror and crime. Frey and McGray are expertly portrayed as they, with their scientific and cynical minds, are drawn into other realities and other worlds where the embodiment of evil reigns in its own darkness. This juxtaposition of the practical – the guns and McGray’s seasickness – and the supernatural embodied in the corpse-like Mr. Nelly is masterfully accomplished. This is a well-paced, action-packed Gothic novel. Valerie Adolph

SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE CASE OF THE UNDEAD CLIENT

M. J. Downing, Burns and Lea Books, 2019, $10.99, pb, 264pp, 9780999508343

Whitechapel, 1888. You know what’s coming next—but you don’t expect Sherlock Holmes to be involved. That’s the twist in this alternative explanation of the Jack the Ripper murders. The case starts out innocently enough: Holmes is asked by former Prime Minister William Gladstone to find two missing people, the sister and the fiancé of a young Scottish nurse who tends to the poor in London’s East End. They discover the infirmary to which Anne Prescott is attached is run by an American with ties to New Orleans’ infamous LaLaurie voodoo family, and fear that Katie

and Tom may have already fallen into the ranks of the undead. Holmes uses his disguises and employs his Irregulars to ferret out clues to the mastermind behind the zombie scheme. Watson is so infatuated with Anne’s beauty that, when she becomes infected after a zombie bite, he feels he must use his medical training to save her as only he can. After Watson’s scalpels are stolen and prostitutes with their throats slashed pepper the headlines, the situation goes from bad to worse, especially because Anne’s pet name for Watson is “Jack.” The body count grows as Holmes and Watson confront their mortal enemy, Professor Moriarty. Downing plots a credible storyline and clearly knows his way around the Sherlock Holmes cases. Watson’s personal involvement in this tale is the icing on the cake since he is much more than the narrator throughout. The violence quotient is a bit high, but the subject matter warrants it and the timeliness of the walking dead for today’s audience is spot-on. A fitting tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Tom Vallar

THE LIVERPOOL NIGHTINGALES

Kate Eastham, Penguin, 2019, £6.99, pb, 392pp, 9781405936606

Starting her story in 1870 and moving the location to a deprived area of Liverpool, the latest offering from Kate Eastham sees another group of student nurses embark on their training. The core group of intrepid young women comes from different walks of life, and living in the nurses’ home inevitably causes some personality discordance. Maud Linklater had been working as a housemaid for many years and at the age of 22 feared that she would remain there or in a similar position for the rest of her life. However, an unfortunate accident happens to the young chimney sweep boy, Alfie, when he is forced to climb up inside the fireplace, and Maud is delegated by the housekeeper to accompany him to hospital. During the time Alfie spends on the overcrowded ward recuperating, Maud not only observes the activities around her but is drawn to help. The Hospital Superintendent notices Maud’s capabilities and offers her a place alongside the other trainees. Maud makes excellent progress, but when young Alfie is abducted, she is distraught, and with her new friends, they scour the alleyways and backstreets in their search for him. Their search takes them into places that are seedy and certainly not safe for young, single women, who have been mysteriously disappearing from the streets. Kate Eastham has researched the rudiments of medicine from this era, along with the social limitations to give an accurate representation of the challenges faced within an engaging tale. This is a well written story that is easy to read, and the author successfully creates a number of credible characters that are interesting to the reader,

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who wants to know more about them and cares about their uncertain futures. This is a recommended addition to the growing subgenre of historical-nursing fiction. Cathy Kemp

LADY FRANKLIN OF RUSSELL SQUARE

Erika Behrisch Elce, Stonehouse, 2018, $19.95/ C$19.95, pb, 218pp, 9781988754079

Set in the mid-19th century, this historical novel takes the form of detailed letters by Lady Franklin to her then-missing husband, arctic explorer Sir John Franklin. The discovery of the letters represents a treasure in itself, as Lady Franklin was said to have burned many of her personal writings. The richly detailed correspondence becomes a diary of her life as she waits for the return of her husband. John Franklin embarked in 1845 on the nowinfamous arctic voyage to find the Northwest Passage. The novel begins with the first letter dated in May of 1847, describing Lady Franklin’s return to her childhood home in London after travels through America and Europe being honored for her husband’s sacrifice. However, as years pass, Lady Franklin’s hope that her husband is alive is put to the test, especially when stories circulate of cannibalism. She steadfastly lobbies for subsequent expeditions to locate the ill-fated expedition. Interspersed with the correspondence are excerpts from articles in The Times, which closely covered the expeditions, as well as Admiralty records. These track the ultimate sad story of John Franklin’s venture and are based largely on the story given by Dr. John Rae, who was on a mission to explore the Gulf of Boothia when he discovered evidence of what happened to the Franklin party. The heartache suffered by Lady Franklin upon the publication of the gruesome discovery is wrenchingly brought to life. Nonetheless, she continues to defend her husband to the end, her letters continuing through 1857. The novel ends with her mention of the final expedition by Capital McClintock, which she herself lobbied and paid for in a final desperate bid to discover what happened to her husband. The style is direct and believable, and the novel’s strongest point of interest is in its emotional perspective. Recommended. Jackie Drohan

MURDER AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM

Jim Eldridge, Allison & Busby, 2019, £19.99/$29.95, hb, 320pp, 9780749023713

London 1894, and Daniel Wilson and Abigail Fenton have teamed up once again, after solving the murders in Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum (reviewed in HNR 87). This time the British Museum is the location for a murder. An author, Lance Pickering, has been stabbed to death in the gentleman’s toilets. Wilson, a private investigator, is employed by the Museum to investigate the crime, as the Director seems not to have full 30

confidence that Scotland Yard are capable of quickly finding the killer, and the reputation of the British Museum is paramount. Wilson has good relations with Inspector Feather, the official representative from the Yard as they were close colleagues while he was employed by the Metropolitan police – but is otherwise a figure of deep suspicion for Feather’s acerbic superior, Superintendent Armstrong. Wilson and Fenton are lovers, and scandalous as it may seem to Victorian London, they are living together in brazen sin in Wilson’s house in Camden Town. Their joint investigations reveal a variety of possible suspects and motives, made more complicated by physical attacks on the British Museum’s exhibition of the legend of King Arthur, which was also the subject of the murdered Pickering’s book. It is an entertaining and well-plotted story that meets the usual criteria and standards of the crime fiction genre. At times though, there is perhaps a little too much history dumped on the reader via rather staged conversations between characters rather than revealed as subtle background. Douglas Kemp

A STRANGER HERE BELOW Charles Fergus, Skyhorse, 2019, C$33.99, hb, 276pp, 9781510746367

$24.99/

First in a projected series, A Stranger Here Below introduces Sheriff Gideon Stoltz. Stoltz is no hardened old-timer but a twenty-one-yearold Pennsylvania Dutchman, an outsider in the town of Adamant, Pennsylvania in 1835. His friend Judge Hiram Biddle has killed himself, and Stoltz wants to know why. What follows is not a story that reveals the suicide was actually a murder but instead something much darker. Using the judge’s old diaries, interviews with people with long memories, and leg work, Stoltz discovers the lengths to which someone would go to ruin a man’s life. Fergus has created a strong character in Stoltz. He’s stoic in the face of those who make fun of his Pennsylvania Dutch accent because he’s confident in his abilities and fortunate in his home life. He’s made a love match with his wife, True, and they’ve been blessed with a beautiful baby boy, David. His pursuit of the truth puts all that at risk, however. Adamant is a familiar and yet unfamiliar place. There are no modern creature comforts, and Stoltz must travel days by horseback to track down a witness. But some themes are universal, and the jealousy, cruelty, and greed that Stoltz uncovers are as prevalent in 2019 as they were in 1835. The book ends on a somber note, leaving me anxious about Stoltz and his family in the next installment. Ellen Keith

A THIMBLEFUL OF HOPE

Evie Grace, Arrow, 2019, £6.99, pb, 389pp, 9781787461659

In 1864 Violet Rayfield’s father is a prosperous Dover ship owner. She had hoped to marry his most promising apprentice,

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

William Noble, but her father’s new partner, Arvin Brooke, is pressing Violet to marry him. When the Dover Belle goes down in the English Channel with the loss of crew and passengers, Mr Brooke stands by her, and the marriage takes place. It is short lived: he is on board and loses his life when a second disaster in the Channel drives Mr Rayfield to suicide. Thereafter the story is Violet’s as she faces the task of keeping the family together and, all too soon, from starvation – her mother, her unmarried sister, herself and her own baby son, Joe. Her husband having been revealed as a bigamist, Violet has been publicly disgraced as an unmarried mother and an object of ridicule and contempt. The nadir is reached when bailiffs arrive to take over Violet’s home and its contents. She manages to retain her precious sewing box and finds one-room accommodation; starvation is staved off with the baker’s leftovers. The sewing box gives Violet the wherewithal to use her talent as a seamstress, but the situation is precarious even after the unlooked-for reappearance of William Noble. The novel demonstrates the terrifying rapidity of disaster where poverty may be a misfortune, but destitution is regarded as poisonous contagion to be avoided. This is a high quality, thought-provoking story. Nancy Henshaw

DESTINY’S GOLD

Pamela Grimm, SisterShip Press, 2018, $11.99, pb, 224pp, 9780648428336

It’s 1820—trade restrictions in the wake of the War of 1812 have ceased, and Napoleon is safely ensconced on the island of St. Helena. The owner of Thorn Shipping of New York has decided to give his niece, Jane, the captaincy of one of their ships, the Destiny, for a transatlantic run carrying a load of sugar from Cuba to Russia. Jane, who has a decade of seafaring experience under her belt, takes leave of the New York Harbor, although with a troublesome, last-minute deckhand aboard. On the voyage to Cuba, and later toward Russia, Jane uncovers a scheme that would threaten her newfound career and stain her family’s good name. She must successfully navigate the maritime industry and the temperamental Atlantic, while protecting her goods, her men, and her own questionable place in the male-dominated enterprise. The first in a series, this volume introduces a smart, witty protagonist alongside a host of colorful characters. Although at times it borders on eyeroll-inducing romantic angst, there is plenty of action and nautical detail to satiate readers looking for an adventurous tale. It is an especially interesting look at relations between various countries during this era, and additionally the merchant trade that threatens great change with the incoming power of steam versus sails. Savvy Captain Jane Thorn seems to have an abundance of luck on her side, yet there are plenty of loose ends that are sure to present themselves later in the series. Her perfectly-paced story has careful attention

to detail, and Grimm has created an intriguing fictional world that, according to the author’s note, is not so implausible as it may seem. Arleigh Ordoyne

THE SCOUNDREL IN HER BED

Lorraine Heath, Avon, 2019, $7.99, pb, 400pp, 9780062676054

After she left her ducal groom at the altar in the second Sins for all Seasons book, Lady Lavinia Kent plunged into Victorian Whitechapel to rescue vulnerable children from baby farmers, the remorseless women paid to raise unwanted waifs. Finn, a former waif himself, one of five illegitimate children raised by Ettie Trewlove, is surprised to encounter the earl’s daughter in this rough part of London, since he’s been trying to forget her after she jilted him eight years ago. Troubled Lavinia can’t resist the seductive, noble-hearted Finn—who doesn’t behave the least bit like a scoundrel, either in the present or in the flashbacks that portray their young, consummated love—but her scars and secrets threaten to destroy their fragile reconnection. The book leans hard on the theme that family is unrelated to blood, and the sentimental, soft-focus romance as Finn and Lavinia rediscover one another as adults clashes oddly with both characters’ tendency toward physical violence as conflict resolution. While this third installment of the Trewlove saga is not quite as winning as the previous books, it should be enjoyable enough to tide fans over for brother Aiden’s story, next. Misty Urban

SEARCHING FOR YOU

Jody Hedlund, Bethany House, 2018, $15.99, pb, 341pp, 9780764218064

After she witnesses two murders, Sophie Neumann, the focus of Jody Hedlund’s bighearted and generous Searching for You, flees the rough streets of 1850s New York City to seek refuge out west. Because she has two abandoned children along with her, her plans are derailed, and she settles down among the farm people of northern Illinois. The spirited Sophie is an orphan, and Hedlund has a lot to say about how that era regarded children, particularly girls, often without affection. Absent of marriage or the keep of a family, the prospects for poor young women in the new country were not good. They were often prey to violent or lascivious men, and when they ran out of legitimate options for survival, many turned to prostitution. The best most of these girls could hope for was domestic work. The Midwest presents its own set of challenges for Sophie, who brings a checkered past and a few secrets with her. She finds a home with the Duffs, a kindly couple with five boys. But the Duffs cannot accommodate the two children, Olivia and Nicholas, in Sophie’s care. Through the Children’s Aid Society, the children are placed with the severe Mr. Ramsey,

a farmer who, like many people of that time, considers orphans no more than chattel. Daily life on the farm is illustrated by a lot of “ing” verbs—washing, scrubbing, and digging. When Sophie learns of the mistreatment the children must endure, her mission becomes how to rescue them and provide a home for all of them. Because Searching for You is aimed at a Christian audience, the story includes moments when Sophie wonders if the bad luck she’s had in life is God punishing her for her sins. But Hedlund allows her characters ample opportunity for redemption, sometimes through their deeds, sometimes through other characters. John La Bonne

ROAD TO ANTIETAM

Tom E. Hicklin, Palmetto, 2018, $15.95, pb, 278pp, 9781506903668

The reality of war for Daniel and Christopher Galloway is mostly marching back and forth or digging ditches. The rebels stay one step ahead of them and are gone when they arrive. Daniel, the older brother, focuses on doing the right thing to be a hero so he’ll finally get permission to court his girl… maybe. But Christopher tends to get into trouble, which shines a poor light on Daniel. Christopher just wants to be a good soldier but is easily frustrated. He also drinks and, while stationed in Virginia, goes with a friend to a makeshift drinking establishment. But the provosts are on their way and the friends get separated. Christopher is captured by bushwhackers, who take him to jail where he’s imprisoned with a handful of others, one of whom is a violent bully. The torment Christopher suffers eventually drives him to do the unthinkable, an action that haunts him long after his release. This book encompasses April 1861 through September 1862. It follows the Galloways through boot camp to seeing the elephant and enduring the bloodiest single day of fighting during the war. Along the way we get a taste of camp life, cowardly leaders, and life as a POW in Libby Prison. Hicklin does a commendable job depicting the brutal reality of war. While occasional scenes – such as Daniel’s dream or the pastor who gives up his place in the prisoner exchange to save Christopher – evoke strong emotions in the reader, the author maintains a distance between the events being recounted and the reading experience. At least, the depiction of the Battle of Antietam provides a powerful and memorable ending. Cindy Vallar

SAVAGE CONVERSATIONS

LeAnne Howe, Coffee House, 2019, $15.95, pb,144pp, 9781566895316

Part fever dream, part extended meditation on madness, Howe’s Savage Conversations is a bracing commentary on the nature of guilt and grief. When Mary Todd Lincoln is deemed insane

and committed to a sanitarium in 1875, she continues to have visitations from the Savage Indian, a key player in her derangement. The story—told in dialogic form—uses the Indian Mary has conjured to rage at the crimes that the government perpetrated against native peoples, specifically thirty-eight Dakota men executed in a mass hanging in Mankato, Minnesota on December 26, 1862, on the order of Mary’s president husband. White people’s cruelty is revisited upon Mary by the Savage Indian, who slits her eyelids and scalps her, and who matches her barbs with sharp retorts and insults of his own. Mary’s agony over the assassination of her husband, as well as the burden of outliving three of her four children, lies at the root of her madness. It is also compounded by her jealousy of Matilda Edwards Strong, an early rival for Abraham’s affection. Nonetheless, the reader comes away with a fair amount of sympathy for Mary. While it is clear that her tempestuousness is the cause of much of her suffering, one cannot help but feel for a woman who did not possess the language to articulate grief so profound and inexplicable. Savage Conversations provides Mary with that language, while at the same time giving voice to the pain of native peoples whose troubles were not even thought worthy of consideration. John La Bonne

AN ARTLESS DEMISE

Anna Lee Huber, Berkley Prime Crime, 2019, $16.00, pb, 384pp, 9780451491367

Huber delivers her latest installment in The Lady Darby Mysteries with this finely crafted novel set in London of 1831. Lady Kiera Darby, now pregnant, has returned to London with her new husband, Sebastian Gage. Some members of high society hold her in disregard. As she says, “Among society, it was not so much the truth of the matter, but the appearance of it.” Kiera’s anatomist former husband had her draw pictures of cadavers, some procured by body snatchers, to use at his medical schools. Thus, Kiera carries with her the stigma of having been a party to Sir Anthony’s dissections. Enter Burke and Hale, known bodysnatchers, who are suspected in the murder of a young Italian boy who could not have been older than fourteen. Add that to the growing number of disappearing boys in London, and the town is aghast and fearful. One day she and her husband Gage stumble onto the dead body of the young heir of a wealthy family. She and Gage take on the investigation, only to debate whether it is the work of London bodysnatchers or someone much closer to their circle. Huber’s detail-filled style draws the reader in. She weaves the life and times of London streets, in addition to the politically charged environment of unrest, into Kiera and Gage’s daily efforts to solve the mystery. She plays out their love story within the context of their compatibility as fellow sleuths. In addition, Huber provides meticulous detail about the

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furnishings in the great houses, the clothing of both men and women, and the local customs of both rich and poor. Though Gothic in her use of dissection and cadavers, Huber intertwines the theme of love in a most artful way. Gini Grossenbacher

THE UNMOURNED

Meg and Tom Keneally, Point Blank, 2019, £8.99, pb, 316pp, 9781786074607

As the tagline says, ‘not all murder victims are lamented’ and this is certainly the case here with the unregretted demise of Robert Church, superintendent of the Parramatta Female Factory in colonial Australia. For years he has been enjoying himself preying on the powerless and making the most of his privileged position and using his opportunities to rape and terrorise those under his care. Monsarrat, the convict hero of the previous novel, The Soldier’s Curse, is charged with finding the killer. Together with his indefatigable housekeeper Mrs Mulrooney, they aim to solve the crime and save the convenient scapegoat Grace O’Leary from the gallows. Tom Keneally won the 1982 Booker Prize for Schindler’s Ark, but is now writing with his daughter Meg. They have created a memorable protagonist in Monsarrat, who understands convict life better than most. The arbitrary nature of justice is evident throughout the novel. As O’Leary herself says, ‘it is just a word that those in power use to justify their actions.’ In colonial Australia, fairness and equality are hard to come by, and as an ex-con, Monsarrat has a lot of problems and prejudices to overcome. The book is well-written and the characters well-drawn. While I enjoyed the first one, I felt this one was even better. I am already looking forward to number three. Ann Northfield

DAISIES AND DEVOTION

Josi S. Kilpack, Shadow Mountain, 2019, $15.99, pb, 352pp, 9781629725529

Impoverished Timothy Mayfield seeks a wealthy wife; Maryann Morrington has a substantial inheritance but is not as pretty as some younger debutantes. Impressed by his honesty (and charm), she offers h i m encouragement, and prospects for both look hopeful until Timothy’s uncle offers him a m o d e s t inheritance should he marry sensibly. Freed from financial constraints, he decides to search for his ‘ideal wife’. Maryann does not make the cut. The characters are well drawn, their interaction is involving, and the echoes of Jane 32

Austen add richness. The main strength of this Regency romance, however, is the exploration of the problems that face both men and women in finding a suitable partner. Not easy in any age, but particularly in the 19th century when opportunities for meaningful interaction and frank discussion were strictly limited in the upper class and the consequences of misjudgment dire. Timothy is fortunate to realize eventually that Maryann possesses the most important qualities to make him happy, but he comes perilously close to losing her. Her reluctance to trust him after he confesses his error and proposes does seem excessive, but it arises from insecurity and painful experience. Highly recommended. Ray Thompson

THE CONVICTION OF CORA BURNS

Carolyn Kirby, Dzanc Books, 2019, $16.95/ C$25.50, pb, 296pp, 9781945814846

The Conviction of Cora Burns is a wholly original and highly compelling novel that delves into the psyche of a young woman and explores an early version of the nature-versusnurture debate when it comes to behavior. In the midto-late 1800s in England, Cora Burns becomes the unwitting object of a psychological study when she is finally released from the prison workhouse. Cora has spent her entire life as a ward, having never known her mother. Between the workhouse, the orphanage, and the gaol (jail), Cora has never known an easy life. Upon release, she is summoned to be a between maid in the household of a well-to-do member of society, a man who has his own ulterior motives for Cora coming to work for him. While there, she meets a young girl, Violet, who lives at the house, but who may not be who she seems to be. Cora constantly tamps down violent urges, as she is haunted by memories of Alice Salt, a girl she knew while growing up; the two of them orchestrated a terrible crime, though Cora’s memories of that day are hazy. In between the storyline are the thoughts and conclusions of two ‘scientists’ who offer competing theories about biology versus circumstance—one is familiar with Cora and the other with her mother. This brilliant book is a masterful piece of literature that will pull you in from the very beginning with its intelligent discourse about personality and behavior. Cora herself is an unforgettable protagonist. The shifting narrative leads the reader down one path, only

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

to end up on another. This novel would be an ideal book club choice as well. Hilary Daninhirsch

THE GOVERNESS OF PENWYTHE HALL

Sarah E. Ladd, Thomas Nelson, 2019, $15.99/ C$19.99, pb, 352pp, 9780785223160

This is not your typical Regency romance. The motif of the much-preoccupied hero who unexpectedly finds himself the guardian of his deceased brother’s children and who discovers how much he appreciates their beautiful and highly capable governess is common enough in the genre. Mutual physical attraction between Jac Twethewey and Delia Greythorne steadily develops into love, but it is often overshadowed by other elements in the story, which is set in Cornwall: Jac’s struggle to overcome the children’s initial mistrust; his concerns to make a success of his cider-making project; Delia’s efforts to protect the children she has come to love; the conflicting demands of those who need and love her. And why is the family of her deceased husband pursuing her so menacingly? There is a stronger emphasis on realism than in most romances, the characters’ dominant emotions are anxiety, and the suspense builds powerfully. And since this is also an inspirational romance, faith is a wellintegrated current. There might be rather too many plot strands, but then life is untidy. Definitely recommended. Ray Thompson

MUCH ADO ABOUT LEWRIE

Dewey Lambdin, St Martin’s, 2019, $27.99/ C$36.50, hb, 336pp, 9781250103666

All seems to be going well for Captain Sir Alan Lewrie aboard his ship HMS Vigilance. It’s early in the 19th century, and the British are fighting the French. Together with an army regiment, Lewrie’s crew wins a couple of hardfought battles against the French in Sicily. But then he is ordered home for the Vigilance to be re-fitted. With no ship to command, Lewrie will be living ashore on half pay. It is some comfort that he will be with his beloved wife, Jessica. At this point that we discover that the novel is divided into four ‘books’. Book Two is a domestic idyll with Jessica at their comfortable home in London and then in the English countryside, where the major excitement is the purchase of horses. Book Three sees Lewrie with his family and retinue of servants back in London on the trail of a gang of dog nappers who have attacked Jessica and stolen the family’s two dogs. After a successful scrimmage the dogs are recovered and Lewrie is hailed as a hero. In Book Four he is hot on the trail of art forgers, but his previous heroism is, as it were, rescinded. This is Lambdin’s 25th novel, and he writes as if Sir Alan Lewrie is an old friend, almost an alter-ego. Literary structure and plot development are not strongly evident,

but it hardly matters because the reading is pleasant and has the warmth of a well-told tale. It might be disappointing to some that the naval adventures are confined to the first part of the novel; clearly the naval aspect has been the heart and the strength of the series. But let’s allow the old sailor to relax and take some shore leave.

brave women pursue an impractical dream in an era when they struggle under so many disadvantages, and the triumph of their improbable success; an intriguing mystery; appropriate punishment for the arrogant and predatory. But it is the author’s use of wit and irony that makes this story really stand out. Highly recommended.

Valerie Adolph

Ray Thompson

THE PURSUITS OF LORD KIT CAVANAUGH Stephanie Laurens, MIRA, 2019, C$10.99, pb, 384pp, 9780778369394

$7.99/

In this next in the series on the lives and loves of the Cavanaugh clan, Lord Kit Cavanaugh descends on Victorian-age Bristol to establish a yacht-building business, his lifelong dream. Outraged that her charity school has been ousted from its warehouse, Sylvia Buckleberry charges into Kit’s office to demand redress and is mortified to encounter the subject of her younger self’s sensual fantasies. Sylvia puts the old crush aside to focus on preserving her school, but her admiration grows as Kit comes to the rescue of all around him, adopting the school, revitalizing the local economy with his business, and saving many a family from despair. Kit, whose rakish reputation was all a sham anyway, decides early on that he wants to install Sylvia in his home, and sets to wooing the clergyman’s daughter with long walks and a night at the symphony. There is no villain Kit cannot handily defeat, no hardship he cannot ease with his fortune and status, and no question that the lovely, sensitive Sylvia will surrender to his noble pursuit. The easy resolutions and warm-heartedness of her latest romance will leave Laurens’s legions of fans sighing and nicely sets up Stacie Cavanaugh’s story next. Misty Urban

LADY DERRING TAKES A LOVER

Julie Anne Long, Avon, 2019, $7.99/C$10.99, pb, 384pp, 9780062867469

When her husband dies, Delilah Swanpoole, Countess of Derring, finds herself not only a widow, but penniless. All that remains is an old, run-down house by the London docks. Not a salubrious neighborhood. Determined never to depend upon a man again, she decides to create a fine boardinghouse, and she persuades two of her former servants and Angelique Breedlove, her husband’s mistress, to join her on this idealistic venture. Slowly, guests begin to arrive, and among the first is Tristan Hardy, the formidable Captain of the King’s Blockade, who is on the trail of cigar smugglers. Despite their caution, they fall in love. Despite its implausibility, there is much to enjoy in this Regency romance: the difficult journey, as two very different personalities reluctantly open up their hearts and find true love; the grace and fortitude with which

THE DOLL FACTORY

Elizabeth Macneal, Picador, 2019, £12.99, hb, 336pp, 9781529002393 / Atria, $27.00, hb, 368pp, 9781982106768

Iris paints porcelain faces, ‘threads hair through the holes in the scalp, sometimes curls it with irons heated in the coals,’ in Mrs Salter’s Doll Emporium. She longs to escape the drudgery, to learn to paint properly. A few streets away, Silas harbours a comparable ambition. A taxidermist of subtle skill, he runs a middling successful Shop of Curiosities, but is forever ‘hounded by doubts, by the ache for more.’ The Doll Factory toys with our reader’s sensibilities from the outset. Looking over Silas’ shoulder we relish each telling detail of Victoriana, but we are conscious all along of our present-day squeam. A dog-skin purse, a fan made of whale’s lung tissue, ‘a pocket of air escapes, gamey, sweet and putrid.’ Elizabeth Macneal is needling us, making us squirm. We have a similarly modern response to Iris. She is an honest girl, ‘so unlike those squawking bonnet touters on Cranbourne Alley,’ but we do not want her to be honest. We want her, like real historical bonnet touter Lizzie Siddal (painter’s muse to the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood) to follow her dream of painting, to shake off her Victorian sensibilities. So we read the story for the thrill of rediscovering a Victorian world, but always interpreting the scenes, aware that we do not want the characters to be Victorian, we want them to break the glass jar. Elizabeth Macneal’s magnificent debut works on so many different levels. We identify with protagonist Iris. She is flawed and, in her own estimation, a selfish character, but we warm to her because we feel her desperation, and because, wherever she can be, she is kind. The Doll Factory is not just a satisfying literary novel, it is a love story and a thriller that absolutely gallops to its conclusion. Read it! Richard Lee

INNOCENTS TO THE SLAUGHTER

H.P. Maskew, Unbound, 2018, £10.99, pb, 294pp, 9781912618781

1839: following a tipoff, undercover journalist Ambrose Hudson, his aristocratic friend Edgar Lawes, and a teenage boy rescued from a workhouse head north from Suffolk to Bingley in Yorkshire to investigate reports of flouting of a recent law forbidding the employment of children under nine, and the practice of baby-farming, in which desperate mothers entrust their infants to women who often either neglect their charges or actually murder them. This is the second book of a Hudson-Lawes trilogy (the first is On the House, reviewed in HNR 83). Whilst incidents in the earlier book are referred to, and characters reappear, the present novel satisfyingly stands alone. Maskew writes beautifully and has a really convincing voice in her dialogues, in which her thorough research is evident. She takes us into the world of early-Victorian woollen mills – and dark and satanic they certainly are – with sounds, smells and squalor, and contrasts them with the surrounding countryside – lonely and dangerous moors dotted with sheep and remote farmhouses. I wasn’t convinced by “tone up” (on taking exercise) or “downgrading”, and there is the odd inconsistency, such as Hudson and a correspondent agreeing to write under pseudonyms, and then not doing so. The novel opens with an arresting description of a hanging (as did the first previous book), but its vividness is diminished by hiding the sex of the prisoner from the reader (which really wouldn’t have given the game away). This is a thriller, initially moving forward stealthily rather than quickly, until it gathers speed to its enthralling climax. Katherine Mezzacappa

FUGITIVE SHERIFF

Edward Massey, Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 341pp, 9781432854973

In July 1883, during the celebration of Pioneer Day in Coalville in Summit County, Utah Territory, the Sheriff is killed in a shootout. Arriving late on the scene, his son, who is one of the deputies, appoints himself sheriff and intends to locate the men responsible. The new sheriff, John Willford Simms, is a Mormon and has two wives. Because of the Edwards Act, recently passed in Washington, men who practice polygamy in the Utah Territory are to be arrested. Marshals are then sent to Utah to carry out the law. Meanwhile Simms is on the trail of those responsible for killing his father while remaining hidden from the marshals to avoid his capture. I enjoyed this western because of its unusual subject: the Mormon religion and its practice of polygamy. My only reservation about the story was the sheriff’s continued ability to enter and leave the town without being caught. He seemed to perform his job with little worry

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until near the end of the book. An interesting story line, though, and an enjoyable read. Jeff Westerhoff

THE ABOLITIONIST’S DAUGHTER

Diane C. McPhail, John Scognamiglio/ Kensington, 2019, $26.00/C$35.00, hb, 304pp, 9781496720306

In 1859, Emily Matthews is living a privileged but sheltered life. Her father, a judge, opposes slavery and has illegally educated the slaves he’s purchased away from harsh masters. When shy Emily is courted by the town doctor, despite her father’s reservations about the doctor’s character, he consents to their marriage. It isn’t long before tragedy strikes Emily’s family at the hands of her new husband. As the Civil War looms, closely-guarded family secrets begin to rip apart the fragile fabric holding Emily’s marriage together. Does she have the strength to overcome a war that’s slowly marching toward her front door? The Civil War was a time when women had to take a step forward and take control while men were away, and I appreciated McPhail’s focus on this piece of history. However, it took me a while to get to know Emily. Often, circumstances occur without her being present. When she is present, the scenes break away before her reaction or Emily completely shuts down. There are even scenes where I couldn’t figure out her motivation at all, like when Emily is in her shed swinging an axe around. Emily’s friend, Ginny, has the most compelling voice. As a slave homeschooled alongside Emily despite laws against it, Ginny has the best perspective on circumstances before and during the Civil War. She also contrasts well to younger slaves who believe in the dream more than reality. This aspect of the book truly shines, seeing the truth hidden behind ideals and agendas. McPhail is great at showing differences, but also frightening similarities, in the attitudes about slaves between Union versus Confederate soldiers. A well-researched story into the lives of Southern Abolitionists. J. Lynn Else

THE YANKEE WIDOW

Linda Lael Miller, MIRA, 2019, $26.99/C$33.50, hb, 432pp, 9780778316411

Caroline Hammond has never traveled far from her home, a farm nestled just outside Gettysburg. But in June 1863, when her husband Jacob is listed among the wounded in the newspaper, Caroline boards a train to Washington, DC to find him amidst the endless sea of medical tents. In a few days, he succumbs to his wounds and is brought home for burial. Meanwhile, the war is knocking on Caroline’s front door. A handsome Union officer named Rogan McBride asks Caroline to keep food and medical supplies hidden from encroaching Confederates. Reluctantly, she agrees. After the Battle of Gettysburg, union soldiers return to the farm, many wounded and dying. Hidden in their ranks is a Rebel named Bridger Winslow 34

who’s suffered a grievous wound. Captain McBride has disguised Bridger, his school friend, in Union blue. When Rogan receives his next orders, he reveals the truth to Caroline and asks that she keep Bridger safe until he’s healed. Caroline questions what nursing back to health a confederate soldier could mean for Union officers like her husband. Unexpectedly, Caroline develops feelings for Bridger. But what sort of future is possible between a Southern gentleman and a Yankee widow? Miller poignantly explores this tumultuous time in American history. She brings characters together from opposing sides and teaches them the true measure of a person. Caroline runs an emotional gauntlet as her home becomes an emergency field hospital with sights, smells, and sounds exactly the same as where her husband died. Caroline reconciles the person she was with Jacob while exploring who she’s becoming and how it feels to move on. This is a well-crafted story with absorbing characters and a hearty helping of period details. The setting and vernacular provide a divine frosting over the story’s decadently gooey and sweet emotional center. Recommended. J. Lynn Else

GILDED SUMMERS

Donna Russo Morin, Creativia, 2018, $12.99, pb, 300pp, 9781980953845

Morin’s Gilded Summers explores two women and their opposite worlds, detailing their unlikely friendship and growth into the people they truly want to be. Pearl and Ginevra are close friends and confidants during Newport’s Gilded Age. But as one navigates the ballrooms and social expectations that come with being a member of the elite Four Hundred, the other finds herself mending clothes and ostracized by household staff for her Italian accent. When both women aspire to be more than their gender or station allow, society’s expectations and even physical danger get in their way. This tale is full of fun details on Newport life and the Gilded Age, and the characters of Pearl and Ginevra provide two different but compelling lenses to view life at the time. However, jumps between these two narrators are confusing at times, as the voices of both Pearl and Ginerva are alarmingly similar on the page. Despite this confusion and reliance on narration or setting clues to follow the different threads, segments of delightfully descriptive Gilded Age Newport abound. The pace quickens exponentially toward the end as the story covers a mysterious crime involving the two women and a resulting criminal trial. This twist is unexpected and contrasts with the earlier portion of the book, but it moves the tale to a satisfying conclusion. Ellen Jaquette

TOM WASP AND THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS

Amy Myers, Endeavour Quill, 2019, £7.99, pb, 264pp, 9781911445692

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

Early one morning, Tom Wasp, master

chimney sweep, finds the garrotted corpse of the unlikeable Arnold Harcourt, bookseller and philanderer, in the yard of Dolly’s chop house. What first appears to be a crime of passion proves to be a literary mystery, with at its centre the manuscript of a lost play by the Elizabethan clown Richard Tarlton, which may or may not have been annotated (or more) by an even greater contemporary. To complicate matters, Tarlton’s work is mixed up, in more ways than one, with Christopher Smart’s Jubilate Agno. This is the third book in Myers’s series featuring her sooty sleuth. Soot pervades the novel, both literally and metaphorically: Wasp describes his investigation in terms of flues, chimneys and coal dust: his solution is likened to the sweep’s brush emerging at last above a chimney pot. Although the novel is set in Victorian London and is written for adults, Myers’s portrait of the teeming, squalid underside of the city has echoes of Leon Garfield’s Smith set a century earlier (a considerable compliment) and whilst there are some comparisons to be made with Dickens (not least the choice of names: Phineas Snook, Algernon Splendour and Cockalorum the cat I found particularly attractive) her characters are believable and avoid Dickensian caricature. There are occasional errors of continuity that closer copy-editing could have picked up (like ‘no smile…’ followed in the next paragraph by ‘the smile disappeared’) but nevertheless this is an immensely appealing, engagingly written and original read. I appreciated Myers’s historical note at the end, which explains clearly how she has woven together carefully researched fact and fiction in a story that holds the tension right to the end. Katherine Mezzacappa

THE WELSH FASTING GIRL

Varley O’Connor, Bellevue Literary Press, 2019, $16.99/C$25.50, pb, 352pp, 9781942658627

In 1869, American journalist Christine Thomas leaves her home in Brooklyn, NY, to travel to Wales, the homeland of the husband she lost in the Civil War. Christine has an assignment to investigate Sarah Jacobs, a twelve-year-old Welsh farm girl who is said not to have taken food for sixteen months. Christine grows attached to the sweet and pious Sarah, and in letters to her lost husband, she analyzes the cultural forces acting on the girl, caught in a web of lies spun by her father and the local vicar, living in a rural society challenged by the forces of modernity. When a strict watch set upon the girl ends in her death, Christine watches the unfolding legal action until one of the Jacobs sisters draws her personally into investigating how Evan Jacobs’ sexual abuse, ruthless control, and vaunting ambition destroyed his daughters, his family, and his livelihood. O’Connor stays close to the facts of the Jacobs case but crafts a moving, masterful story of human error, longing, and conflicting belief. Christine’s analytical letters feel heavyhanded in comparison to the wildly beautiful

prose that sings through the chapters narrated by the Jacobs sisters; the voice of the youngest, Margaret, is especially compelling. Though dealing with their own conflicts, the invented characters—Christine, her family, her grown children and her reporter friends—somehow feel less real than the deeply complex and vividly sketched historical figures, including the Jacobses, the vicar, and the medical experts who watch the girl die. O’Connor’s recreation of this world and its people is haunted and haunting, with marvelous poetry and human sorrow resonating in every line. Misty Urban

BAKHITA: A Novel of the Saint of Sudan

Véronique Olmi (trans. Adriana Hunter), Other Press, 2019, $27.99/C$36.99, hb, 362pp, 9781590519776

This profoundly painful, beautifully written, and deeply moving fictional biography of Africa’s first canonized Catholic saint plunges the reader into the bottomless evil of institutionalized slavery. In 1876 (roughly, she’s not sure) a happy, cherished seven-year-old village girl in Sudan is seized by slavers while gathering rushes by the river. For the next nine years she will be sold and resold, tortured, chained, whipped, scarred, raped, stripped of all dignity, forgetting even her birth name—yet her humanity endures. Named Bakhita (“the fortunate one”) by her captors, she finds beauty in the world and shards of human compassion. At 16, she is bought by an Italian diplomat and taken to a village near Venice. Housed in a convent of the Canossian Sisters, she discovers not only Christianity but also the possibility of free will. Eventually taking vows to join the sisterhood, Bakhita becomes a teacher, cook, and mentor to generations of abandoned children, bearing witness to the possibility of forgiveness and faith in unimaginable circumstances. While her story was co-opted by Mussolini as a justification for imperial expansion to Africa, Sor Moretta (“the little brown sister”) was increasingly revered for her sanctity. After her death in 1947, proceedings for canonization began, completed by Pope John Paul II in 2000. Chilling, uplifting, achingly vivid and tender, this beautifully rendered translation from the original French should be widely read. Bakhita is significant not merely as a historical document, but as a window into the lives of the estimated thirty million people held in involuntary servitude around the world

today. She is the patron saint of Sudan and human trafficking survivors. Pamela Schoenewaldt

JANE EVANS

Christine Purkis, Y Lolfa, 2019, £8.99, pb, 304pp, 9781912631001

In 1850s Wales, orphaned Jane Evans’ life is hard, looking after five brothers and the farm animals. Her consolations are her Bible and her pigs. Ordered to marry an elderly, repulsive neighbour, she escapes to join the “drove”, walking livestock to the English markets. In London, the head drover delivers her to a philanthropic couple who are bound for Miss Nightingale’s hospital in the Crimea. There, as an assistant nurse in the appalling conditions in Balaclava, Jane learns about the world and herself. Using her research into the real Jane Evans, Purkis has created a three-dimensional character set in a three-dimensional background: rural Wales and the horrors of the Crimean hospitals are brought to colourful life. The chapters on the drove are particularly fascinating: landscapes, weather, and rough conditions are vividly drawn. The Welsh countryside is so vividly described that later, in the Crimean scenes, we can appreciate Jane’s homesickness. When the drove reaches England, Jane’s dialogue takes on a Welsh cadence and syntax, as does that of the Welsh people she meets in the hospitals. This emphasises Jane’s working-class roots, as opposed to the English officers, doctors, and Miss Nightingale, who are “above” the nurses, who are “above” the assistant nurses. When Jane’s naivety leads her to misjudge an officer’s intentions, the results are shocking and realistic. Small details are telling. In a drought, Jane cannot wash blood from her hands. Clothes drenched in gore are never changed. English tourists arrive with luggage to watch a siege. The flashbacks inserted into the narrative can be confusing, and if the ending is an anticlimax, real life often is, but these are minor complaints. Jane Evans is a gripping, rewarding read. Lynn Guest

A DANGEROUS COLLABORATION

Deanna Raybourn, Berkley, 2019, $26.00, hb, 336pp, 9780451490711

If Raybourn published a new Speedwell mystery every week, I would only be reading Speedwell mysteries. End of review. Seriously, what could be better than the fourth installment of my favorite series? Veronica Speedwell is hornswaggled into posing as the fiancée of Lord TempletonVane, Stoker’s aristocratic brother, at a Cornish house party which, we later learn, is a ruse. The lure: the opportunity for Veronica to catch a glimpse of a rare and elusive butterfly.

How can Veronica resist? Actually, how can Stoker resist inviting himself? What the invitees soon discover is that they have been invited to the island to resolve, once and for all, what happened to the host’s bride, Rosamund, who disappeared on her wedding day. What the guests come to realize is that there are dangers lurking around every corner and a bevy of idiosyncratic personalities roaming the family castle. This book is just delicious – as in edible. The characters are fully fleshed out – Veronica and Stoker are cleverly drawn, and their repartee is unmatched. Even the secondary characters are fully developed and have crucial roles to the plot development. The castle is gothic and just plain creepy. Somehow the fact that the host’s sister maintains a poison garden isn’t shocking or surprising. And the denouement is a bit shocking. What more could a reader want for pure atmosphere and entertainment? Highly recommended. Ilysa Magnus

SOUL OF THE BORDER

Matteo Righetto (trans. Howard Curtis), Atria, 2019, $25.00, hb, 240pp, 9781501188121 / Pushkin, 2018, £12.99, hb, 224pp, 9781782274650

Soul of the Border is set in the late 19th century in the remote village of Nevada, Italy, near the Austrian border. Augusto De Boer grows high-quality tobacco on the steep valley terraces of the Alps as his ancestors have done before him, but his crop is monitored by the Royal Tobacco Company, which underpays Augusto. In order to survive and provide for his family, Augusto puts tobacco aside and smuggles it into Austria through the perilous Alps to avoid customs officers who shoot on sight. In exchange for the tobacco, he gets metal that he sells for food. Three years after taking his fifteen-year-old daughter, Jole, on one such journey so she can learn the “trade,” Augusto disappears. In order to find answers about his disappearance and provide for the impoverished family, Jole undertakes the journey on her own. Soul of the Border is a complex and beautifully written novel. The writing is sparse and clean but powerful and evocative. It is lyrical, its brief chapters reminding me of poetry. The characters are representative of their condition and time, God-fearing hard workers with no education, but to survive they are stoic and emotionless. They snap into vivid life with descriptive and precise prose. The terrain is harsh, complex, and dangerous, but

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as vivid as any of the human characters. The terrain is actually a major antagonist, one which needs to be challenged and surmounted, just like other adversaries of the De Boers. Soul of the Border is compelling and immersive. It illustrates the strength of the human soul as it confronts challenges and evils without question. Jole’s coming-of-age journey is painful but inspirational. Franca Pelaccia

THE HOUSE OF STONE AND IVY Anita Stansfield, Covenant Communications, 2019, $16.99, pb, 271pp, 9781524408565

In 1808, Henrietta (Hennie) Wood is toiling as an inn servant in Lancashire. While it’s a step up from the workhouse, she doesn’t enjoy it. Her friend Lottie offers rescue; if they disguise themselves as men, they can work as grooms at a manor house. Hennie acquires suitable male clothes and then is surprised to find that she is now employed at the same house where her mother had worked as a maid and Hennie had played with the owner’s children. The eldest son, Jack, has mysteriously disappeared. On Hennie’s frequent trips to the local blacksmith in the course of her job, she learns that the smith, Ollie, knows Jack’s fate. Hennie is a likable character in this Regency romance, and I enjoyed the servants’ point of view. However, the plot lacked salt; that is, there isn’t enough conflict to make it interesting. There’s little suspense over Hennie and Lottie’s disguise, and once it’s revealed, they suffer no consequences. The reason for Jack’s disappearance is overcome with relative ease. A section with a lengthy backstory would have served the plot better as a prologue. There are things to like in this book, but also enough problems that I can’t recommend it. B. J. Sedlock

THE AWAKENING OF LA MUSE

S. R. Strickland, CreateSpace, 2018, $19.95, pb, 479pp, 9781977664075

Six-year-old Muse, a house slave on a plantation owned by the Hallisburgs in Virginia, innocently observes life around her, not questioning her world. While she is shut away in a shack while recovering from a contagious disease, she discovers a way into the plantation schoolroom and is discovered by the teacher. He recognizes an intelligent little girl who wants to learn, and after explaining to Muse the risk they both take, he agrees to teach her. By the time Muse is sixteen, she is reading and writing. She has also developed into a pretty girl. The Hallisburgs decide their daughter, Cassandra, will learn the finer points of society in Paris. Muse is brought along in order to learn to be a ladies’ maid, “à la française”. While in steerage on the ship, Muse meets two women. One is the first free black woman Muse has ever met. The other, Claire, a white governess, is instrumental in Muse’s future. In Paris, Muse finds a world where slavery 36

has been abolished. Claire encourages Muse to escape her masters. Muse has a talent for sewing and design, and she and Claire decide to open a dress shop. With a plan to meet Claire, Muse escapes. When her plan goes wrong, Muse must find her way alone in a strange city. This is a great read with insights into the heart of a young woman born into slavery who has no concept of what it feels to be free until she is introduced to the wider world. She makes friends and even has a romantic interest. Ultimately, however, her life is in her own hands and the choices she makes to live as a free woman. Highly recommended. Susie Pruett

MURDER ON TRINITY PLACE

Victoria Thompson, Berkley Prime Crime, 2019, $26.00, hb, 336pp, 9780399586637

“All he ever talks about is milk.” Thus Sarah Malloy hears the first of many complaints about Clarence Pritchard, the neighborhood dairyman in 1899 New York City who is found strangled, face-down in some bushes not far from Trinity Church after the New Year’s Eve revelry. Sarah Malloy and her detective husband, Frank, find the news distressing, and since the police do not appear interested, Pritchard’s family asks Frank to investigate. Frank and his fellow sleuth Gino discover wagons traveling between the dairy and the wharf at night—and they suspect the contents in the wagons are not exactly milk. When Sarah tries to help a young Miss Vane, a pregnant woman in disgrace, she and Frank enlist the help of one Black Jack Robinson, an owner of gambling dens and saloons who may marry the young pregnant woman Maeve in a unique arrangement. She will gain protection and a father for her child. He, in turn, will gain respectability. Robinson assists Malloy and Gino by adding his underworld tips to their ongoing investigation. Thompson’s novel moves with ongoing twists and turns while Frank and Gino uncover murder clues inside the dairy business. At the same time, Sarah unearths gossip concerning Frank Pritchard’s wife, his son Harvey, and recent arguments over the son’s gambling. When Harvey is murdered, Malloy suspects that the dairy fronted the moving of stolen goods throughout the city and his murderer may be linked to that business. The “gaslight” setting of New York and the society’s mores prevail in this novel. The reader learns about the restrictions on women at the time. The pace is brisk and keeps the reader’s attention; the style is a lesson in purposeful, tension-filled plotting. Fans of Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight Mystery series will not be disappointed with this new addition. A most satisfying mystery.

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

Gini Grossenbacher

THOMAS AND BEAL IN THE MIDI

Christopher Tilghman, FSG, 2019, $27.00/ C$35.00, hb, 377pp, 9780374905293

In the early 1890s, childhood friends, now newlyweds Beal Terrell and Thomas Bayly, leave their native Maryland. Their departure would be unremarkable, except that Beal, the child of former slaves, grew up on Thomas’s father’s farm. Since interracial marriage is illegal in Maryland—dangerous anywhere in the United States—the pair crosses the Atlantic to Paris, where, after a few months’ research, Thomas decides to grow grapes in Languedoc. Thomas and Beal are happy together, and despite what other people expect, the interracial aspect of their marriage causes them no trouble. Rather, what friction they have, which rubs below the surface, involves the failure to communicate their dreams in a way the other understands, and what they do to compensate. The biggest trouble between them—and with the narrative—is Beal’s passivity concerning how men other than her husband look upon her as a beautiful object. I like the theme, but I find her reaction hard to credit and unsympathetic. As for the prose and Tilghman’s gift for capturing emotional nuance, the narrative succeeds marvelously. The grafting of grape rootstock that Thomas must do to protect his vineyards from pests offers a wonderful metaphor for their marriage, his attempt to repair his father’s sins, and the chance to make a fresh start. Don’t let the detailed focus fool you into thinking the narrative moves slowly; there’s plenty going on, unexpected small moments full of meaning that create tension. In fact, it seems as if the end were condensed, forestalling a needed confrontation or two. But anyone who likes historical atmosphere will breathe in Paris and the Languedoc wine country with pleasure; and as a literary excursion, this journey satisfies. Larry Zuckerman

CHEROKEE AMERICA

Margaret Verble, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019, $27.00, hb, 400pp, 9781328494221

For some, the idea that the United States government enveloped sovereign nations sounds strange. But this novel reminds the reader that sovereign entities existed amongst the American states. Set in 1875, before Oklahoma was created, the Cherokee Nation was home to the titular character. Check, the main character, is the center of a powerful family in the Cherokee Nation. Two of her five sons are nearly grown, and her husband is on his deathbed. The dance of fullblood, mixed-blood (the “Cherokee-ness” of a person is not the tint of the skin, but the ways in which one chooses to live), white, and black is complex. The older characters walked the Trail of Tears from Georgia to Oklahoma, and some owned slaves before being relocated. Like every community, some come from money, and others not. This novel is picaresque, a year in the life of this community. However,

with orphans, young love, a shooting in a whorehouse, the threat of the United States government, the novel isn’t lacking for action. This novel is a slow burn, but a worthwhile one. Divided into three sections, the first is the longest in length, and the most convoluted. The second and third sections have clear plotlines that resolve. Verble also does an excellent job of spelling out how people communicated—telling the reader why the characters won’t ask a direct question. It isn’t a plot device in this novel; it’s local color. The style is full of abrupt sentence fragments, which is jarring to read, but part of the no-nonsense personality of Check. Another unusual aspect of this novel is the Cherokee text. There is no phonetic guide to the symbols, which serves as a reminder that this story isn’t set in the United States: we are in the Nation. Katie Stine

THE LOST HISTORY OF DREAMS

Kris Waldherr, Atria, 2019, $26.00/C$35.00, hb, 320pp, 9781982101015

Reeling from a personal tragedy that has estranged him from his family, Robert Highstead is surprised to discover a cousin he never knew he had, famous poet Hugh de Bonne. De Bonne disappeared years before, and has now died, leaving Highstead with an unusual task per his will: to inter de Bonne’s body next to that of his wife, Ada, in the beautiful glass folly he built for her tomb. Highstead has a profession well-suited to this task: he is a post-mortem daguerreotypist in a Victorian society that has elevated mourning to an art form. Yet Highstead is blocked in his attempts to carry out his cousin’s last wishes by de Bonne’s enigmatic heir, Isabelle, who possesses the only key to the folly and refuses entry until Ada’s story has been told. While undeniably readable and guaranteed to draw fans through its premise alone, this Gothic mystery has a great deal of potential that it, unfortunately, fails to fully realize. Highstead’s profession, a tragic love affair (or two), ghosts, death, poetry – all of this could have been combined into a heartpounding, terribly creepy Gothic masterpiece with a satisfying denouement. Instead, the overall impression is that Gothic elements have been blended into a somewhat bland concoction. The poetry created for de Bonne lacks the polish and convincing voice of, say, Byatt’s Possession, and more macabre mileage could have been made of Highstead’s chosen profession. Relationship arcs lack credibility, even by the standards of Gothic melodrama. In short, the set-up is operatic, but the delivery is more community theatre than Met. Bethany Latham

STOKER

Dick Warburton, The Book Guild, 2018, £8.00, pb, 249pp, 9781912575510

British aristocrat Matthew Stoker is

traveling through the Great Plains of the American West in 1860 when he comes across a young woman covered in blood following an attack on the campsite where she had rested with five other people. She is the only survivor. The young woman refuses to speak to Stoker, but he encourages her to trust him enough to travel with him to St. Louis, where he plans to leave her in someone else’s hands. Along the way, however, Stoker finds his plans disrupted with the appearance of renowned explorer, Richard Burton. Burton has his mind set on having Stoker assist with a mission to serve the British Crown. Soon after, two more complications appear: Stoker’s troubled brother, Buller, and James Maybrick, the cotton merchant from Liverpool known perhaps best in history as a potential Jack the Ripper suspect. As Stoker maneuvers through a series of violent events and chicanery, the mute young woman finally finds her voice, sharing with Stoker a story of unfortunate circumstances, the mystery surrounding her past deepening. Warburton has a way of writing compelling characters with rich backstories and a keen attention to detail and description. This book is recommended for readers interested in the American West in the late 19th century. On the surface Stoker appears to be a typical Western, but it turns out there is a deeper level of intrigue that was refreshingly surprising to encounter. This is not a novel I would have likely picked up on my own, but I was not disappointed to read it. Elicia Parkinson

THE UNQUIET HEART

Kaite Welsh, Pegasus Crime, 2019, $25.95, hb, 288pp, 9781681777498 / Tinder, 2019, £18.99, hb, 288pp, 9781472239846

1894, Scotland. In the gloom of an Edinburgh night, three terrified young women wait to hear their grade on a medical school examination. Women, who might otherwise live a privileged life, must sacrifice to become medical doctors. It’s too hard. Their families and friends urge them to give it up and get married. Most will drop out. But Sarah Gilchrist (The Wages of Sin, 2018) is made of sterner stuff. Sarah gave her parents false hope when she became engaged to Giles Greene. Her fiancé is a useful cover for her real intention to become a medical doctor. Then Giles’ father is murdered, and Giles is jailed. Sarah, a good investigator with an interest in forensics, attempts to solve the murder and absolve Giles, but she not only uncovers enough about his family’s past to relieve her of any obligation, she also reestablishes her association with another man. Professor Gregory Murchison has more than a professional interest in Sarah. Should Sarah fall in love with Murchison; will her professional goals get in the way? Or vice versa? Will her interest in solving murders distract her from both? Welsh has solved a problem confronting every romance writer: how to keep lovers

apart without ending their affair. Sarah Gilchrist has years of medical training to complete before she becomes a MD and, if her challenges in The Unquiet Heart prove typical, she seems unlikely to abandon her goal. Welsh is a skillful writer. She has created a likeable protagonist with a purpose, a dilemma, and lots of curiosity to distract her. Readers, pick up The Wages of Sin, if you missed it, and look forward to more Sarah Gilchrist Mysteries in the future. Jeanne Greene

THE SUMMER COUNTRY

Lauren Willig, William Morrow, 2019, $26.99/ C$33.50, hb, 464pp, 9780062839022

In The Summer Country, Lauren Willig transports readers to 19th-century Barbados with two alternating storylines. Emily Dawson, a vicar’s daughter, arrives in Barbados in 1854. Emily has just inherited Peverills, a decrepit sugar plantation, from her recently deceased g ra n d f a t h e r. Having never heard of this plantation, Emily is intrigued, investigates the ruined property, and begins to uncover her beloved grandfather’s longhidden secrets. In 1812, Charles Davenant returns home to Barbados after completing his education in England. As the oldest son, he is set to take over Peverills, the family plantation, much to the chagrin of his younger brother, Robert. An idealistic man, Charles believes in the abolition of slavery, but freeing his own slaves is easier said than done. During the slave revolt of 1816, Charles’ beloved Peverills will burn to the ground, and this will have repercussions for future generations. Willig describes her newest book as a cross between The Thorn Birds and M. M. Kaye, which is a very accurate comparison. Like these two, The Summer Country is an epic narrative, taking the reader to an exotic location full of family secrets and betrayals. Willig’s book can also be described as a Gothic mystery, as there is a crumbling, old house with a ghost, many skeletons in the closet, and mysterious deaths. Whatever the comparisons might be, it represents the best of historical fiction because it is a vivid depiction of a different time and place. But also, by reading this novel, one learns about the history and social issues of 19th-century Barbados, from how a sugar plantation operates to a cholera outbreak to slavery. As a result, one comes away not only highly entertained but also edified. Willig’s fans will be delighted with her latest! Julia C. Fischer

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THE RECKONING

Ethan J. Wolfe, Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 281pp, 9781432849993

During the latter half of the 19th century, the Youngblood brothers, Jack and Emmet, are working for Judge Isaac Parker to uphold the law in New Mexico Territory. They learn that over 1000 head of cattle destined for the Indian reservation were stolen and the Indian drovers were killed. After their scout is wounded, they are forced to hire Two Hawks, a former adversary. Two Hawks is a wanted man and volunteers subject to the condition of gaining his pardon for previous crimes. While on the trail of the outlaws, the story revolves around the relationship between the Youngblood brothers and Two Hawks. The character of Two Hawks “outperforms” the two brothers because of his past and his killing of white settlers, and how the author supports how he changes in his outlook towards white men. There is a lot of fast-paced action, but I also found the drama interesting as it played out between the two brothers and the former renegade Indian. Jeff Westerhoff

20TH CENTURY

DAUGHTER OF THE DALES

Diane Allen, Pan, 2018, £6.99, pb, 336p, 9781447295174

The novel opens with the death in 1913 of Charlotte, formidable founder of the successful Atkinsons department stores. The stores are familiar to Allen’s readers from two earlier books, thus placing this one firmly in the saga genre. Allen was brought up and now lives in the Yorkshire Dales where the book is set, and the landscape and lives of Dales people come across authentically. She describes a vanished world before the cataclysm of war, in which large houses still had servants, and those servants belonged to dynasties as much as did their masters – a romance that crosses that divide ultimately drives the plot. Actual historical events play their part: for instance, a daughter campaigns for women’s suffrage, and the shadow of impending war hangs over the latter half of the book. With Charlotte’s death, there is the inevitable jockeying for power amongst the next generation – over the family business and property inheritance – and then family secrets start to work their way out. Charlotte’s daughter Isabelle emerges as the first strong character, but the “daughter” of the title is Charlotte’s niece, Rose. She is an appealing character, and I wish we got to meet her properly earlier, rather than almost a quarter of the way through the novel. There is regular reiteration that for this reader could have been culled, but also some appealing turns of phrase, like “kick one of us and we all limp”. There are occasional cultural or historical mis-steps: a search for a Gypsy grandfather who abandoned his pregnant Gypsy wife is plausible, but at odds with the Romani attitude to family. And Rosie and her sweetheart buy second-class train tickets at 38

a time when the choice was first or third. But the dénouement, Charlotte’s Christmas ball unravelling under the onslaught of family revelations, is immensely enjoyable. Katherine Mezzacappa

THE BLUEBIRD GIRLS

Rosie Archer, Quercus, 2019, £20.99, hb, 361pp, 9781787453935

Hampshire 1939. World War II has started, and three young girls are about to have their worlds turned upside-down. Rainey and her mother are doing a moonlight flit to Gosport to get away from her violent dad. It’s a cold, wet October and every item they own is piled up in the old car. Their new home is damp, has mice and smells – and winter is approaching. Ivy is desperate to get away from her deadend job and to stop tongues wagging about her mum’s ‘job’, she keeps her head down. Bea has discovered that alcohol can give her the confidence she so badly needs. All three girls are talented singers, and when kind but strict Mrs Wilkes starts a choir to raise money for war charities, they all jump at the chance to sing. Each of them longs to make singing their career, but as the Battle of Britain begins in earnest, their dreams must be put on hold. But then a mysterious stranger arrives who might just be able to help them… I really enjoyed this book and quickly got caught up in Ivy, Rainey and Bea’s lives and the problems they faced. I like the way the three girls each have their own fears to deal with and lessons to learn. Rosie Archer writes with pace and energy, and the reality of war in Gosport, with nightly bomb raids and desperate shortages is very real. My heart was in my mouth when the three girls were caught in a cellar during a bomb raid as plaster fell, glass windows shattered and outside, and bombs exploded in the nearby harbour. The Bluebird Girls is the first in the Forces’ Sweetheart series, and it bears all the hallmarks of success. I look forward to Rosie Archer’s next book. Elizabeth Hawksle

A BEND IN THE STARS

Rachel Barenbaum, Grand Central, 2019, $28.00, hb, 464pp, 9781538746264

Russia, 1914. Against the backdrop of increasingly brutal attacks on the Jewish community, Miri Abramov and her brother, Vanya, fight formidable odds—Miri, to overcome what seems like insurmountable prejudice to become one of the country’s only female surgeons, and Vanya, to solve the puzzle of Einstein’s theory of relativity. Their family’s dream has been to flee to America, but with so much at stake for each of them, how can they bear to leave their homeland? As it happens, before they can decide what to do, war is declared. And then Vanya, on the hunt for evidence that will enable him to calculate the math that will profoundly affect science, disappears, along with Miri’s fiancé. Now, accompanied by an enigmatic soldier, Miri begins a search that finds her

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

crisscrossing Russia in a desperate effort to find her brother and the man she has planned to marry. Romance and mayhem ensue in the thick of social and political crisis, presented in alternating chapters with different points of view. The author does a commendable job of guiding readers through the intricacies of the theory of relativity, Vanya’s realization that light bends, and his race to photograph light curving around the sun during the total solar eclipse visible in Russia on 21 August 1914. This, while evading treacherous competitors who will stop at nothing, even murder, to beat him to it. Alana White

MISTRESS OF THE RITZ

Melanie Benjamin, Delacorte, 2019, $28.00/ C$37.00, hb, 384pp, 9780399182242

Melanie Benjamin has a wonderful track record of finding lesser known characters and stories from history and bringing them to life in fiction. In Mistress of the Ritz, she does so again with the fascinating story of Claude and Blanche Auzello. Claude is the manager of the Paris Ritz, married to American actress, Blanche, after a whirlwind romance in 1923. The couple’s relationship is tested many times over the years, but never more so than in World War II, when as a result of the Nazi occupation of France, the Ritz hotel is commandeered by German soldiers. Blanche and Claude are very different characters. Blanche is impulsive, generous and unpredictable, whereas Claude is buttonedup and responsible, priding himself on his trustworthiness. Despite their differences, they muddle along together, working and living in the Ritz and enjoying its luxury—until the war changes everything. With the Germans come many challenges. Parisians struggle for supplies and to live safely within occupied territory. Nazi policies against the Jewish population take effect in France, and the staff at the Ritz struggle when colleagues go missing and everyone is forced to cow-tow to the ‘haricot verts’—as they call the German soldiers. Survival and resistance are paramount, but Blanche and Claude struggle to understand each other in this time of great crisis. Mistress of the Ritz is a dramatic and passionate story with vibrant characters facing great adversity. Benjamin brings the trauma of the Nazi occupation to vivid life in a narrative that moves back and forth between the different perspectives of husband and wife, and also through time, revealing the ups and downs of the Auzellos’ relationship before the war. With some very moving scenes and deeply believable and brave characters, Mistress of the Ritz is a rich and rewarding read. Kate Braithwaite

A DEATH IN CHELSEA

Lynn Brittney, Mirror Books, 2019, £7.99, pb, 326pp, 9781912624201

This is the second in the Mayfair 100 series.

(The first, Murder in Belgravia, I reviewed for HNR 86 as an online review.) July 1915: Chief Inspector Peter Beech and his team – Dr Caroline Allerdyce, legally-trained Victoria Ellingham, DS Tollman and PC Rigsby – are eager for a new case. Pharmacist Mabel Summersby, and PC Rigsby’s mother and aunt have also joined them. Society gossip columnist Adeline Treborne is found dead, an apparent suicide. Her family are convinced it is murder and Adeline’s scurrilous journalism has left no shortage of people who would like to be rid of her. The case quickly proves to be far from simple, and Beech and his companions are once more drawn into the darker side of society – high and low. I would have liked to have a little description of the deceased Adeline (age, appearance), if only to put her life in context with the developing plot, and I did think that too often we are told a character “looked” angry, frustrated, miserable, etc., but the story moves along at a fair pace and keeps the reader guessing. Mabel Summersby is a great character, a pioneering scientific woman with an interest in forensic policing (although she manages to acquire a 35mm Leica camera 10 years before they went on the market!). Mary Fisk

MURDER SERVED COLD

Eric Brown, Severn House, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 208pp, 9780727888525

A Gainsborough painting gone missing from Lord Elsmere’s manor house sends private detectives Ralph Ryland and his associate, crime fiction writer Donald Langham, to the Suffolk countryside to investigate. With no signs of breaking and entering the locked library where the painting hung, residents of the manor house are suspects: retired Major Rutherford, fledgling writer and acknowledged beauty Rebecca Miles, scarred and aloof Dutchman Patrick Verlinden, and Elsmere’s son Dudley Mariner and his imposing artist fiancée, Esmeralda Bellamy. The investigation shifts to a murder inquiry when the most likely thief, Verlinden, is found shot-gunned to death on the manor house grounds days after the detectives’ arrival. Murder Served Cold is 6th in Eric Brown’s Langham and Dupré mysteries, which have paired the mystery writer with his fiancée Maria Dupré since 2013. Now his wife, Dupré plays a background role to Ryland in this novel, which returns to 1950s England and plumbs still-smoldering links to World War II. A fast-paced whodunit with plenty of assumed identities and side-line plots, Murder Served Cold is a quick and satisfying read, although repeated servings of tea, pints, and whiskies make one wish for other ways of ferreting out motives and modi operandi than the standard murder-mystery conversation. That aside, Murder Served Cold effectively strings readers along, with character reveals

that keep crime solvers on their toes until the end. K. M. Sandrick

ANNALIESE, SOUND AND TRUE

Lindy Keane Carter, Milledge & Lumpkin, 2018, $8.99, pb, 188pp, 9781732052000

Annaliese Stregal is newly widowed in the first years of the 20th century, left with her husband’s lumber company, two young children and a third imminent. She’s an outsider, transplanted from Louisville to the hills of north Georgia. Her plan to import a forester trained in modern conservation methods doesn’t go over well with the locals, who only know destructive clear-cutting techniques. The new man is part Cherokee, an additional cause for suspicion. Competing lumber boss Buck Dawson is scheming to steal valuable timber from the Stregal land. Family lawyer Henry Chastain is romantically interested in Annaliese and tries to help, but her problems compound when the baby is born disfigured, and she learns that her husband had been unfaithful with multiple women, leaving present-day consequences. This book was hard to put down, despite my not having read the first in the series, Annaliese From Off. Annaliese stands strong despite the multiple problems she faces. She has doubts and makes mistakes but remains a compelling person. The secondary characters are also well-drawn, except for Dawson being more one-dimensional. The plot is intriguing; I couldn’t guess what would happen next, and the short chapters keep the reader moving along quickly. Strongly recommended. B. J. Sedlock

RESISTANCE WOMEN

Jennifer Chiaverini, William Morrow, 2019, $26.99/C$33.00, hb, 608pp, 9780062841100

Beginning in 1929, Resistance Women follows the life of Mildred Fish Harnack, an American literary scholar married to the brilliant German economist Arvid Harnack, from the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party to the end of World War II. Harnack and her friends: Greta Kuckhoff, whom she meets while they are students at the University of Wisconsin; Martha Dodd, daughter of the US Ambassador to Germany; and Sara Weitz, a young Jewish student living in Berlin, organize a network of like-minded intellectuals, playwrights, ordinary citizens, and well-placed government workers determined to bring down the Third Reich. Their commitment is brave and inspiring. Their work is dangerous and life-threatening. Their sacrifice is the greatest there can be. Mildred Harnack, Greta Kuckhoff, and Martha Dodd are all historical figures. The character of Sara Weitz is fictitious, a compilation of different historical women. That fact does not lessen the impact of the character. The story of the Harnack resistance cell is not well known. Due to Cold

War tensions, the US government buried this heroic story, assuming members of the Harnack circle were Communist sympathizers because of their reliance on Soviet contacts. One criticism of this book is the lack of identifying and naming the rampant antiSemitism that existed in the US State Department during these years. Ambassador Dodd is said to have “contentious” meetings with State Department officials and to be “besieged by obnoxious political enemies.” It is unfortunate that Chiaverini does not frankly state the problem, rather than using euphemisms. Although the story is sometimes plodding, Chiaverini’s research is impeccable, and more people should be aware of this piece of history and these courageous women. Meg Wiviott

IN THE FULL LIGHT OF THE SUN

Clare Clark, Virago, 2019, £16.99, hb, 428pp, 9780349010823 / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019, $27.00, hb, 432pp, 9780544147577

Berlin 1923, Julius Köhler-Schultz in his late fifties, is a successful art critic and writer. His rather rushed marriage to the philandering and much younger Luisa has ended in acrimony, and she flees to her parents in Munich, taking with her Julius’s young son, and, more annoying for him, his much-loved self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh. Julius becomes friendly with Matthias Rachmann, a young art dealer from Düsseldorf, and then he also takes under his wing a young, rebellious, artistically talented 17-year-old schoolgirl, Emmeline Eberhardt, who wants to study art at the Berlin Academy. The novel then moves to focus on the life of Emmeline in late 1920s Berlin, with a switch to a third narrator, Frank Berszacki, a Jewish lawyer in 1933, who records the rising threat of the ruling Nazi Party to his livelihood. The connecting thread is Van Gogh and the contested matter of art forgery – of relevance as Germany entered the period of Nazi rule when truth consisted of what the Party said it was, and perhaps also to today, when the notions of the primacy of old-fashioned objective truths have been challenged by political elites. Clare Clark’s narrative voice is pitchperfect, and the story is a delight to read. The historical background is excellent. I fond the final part of the triptych did not initially blend in easily with the two previous elements and was initially rather an unwelcome disruption to the smooth narrative thread. All of her previous novels have been historical fiction and reviewed by the HNS – this is her first publication since 2015. Douglas Kemp

WHEN WE LEFT CUBA

Chanel Cleeton, Berkley, 2019, $16.00, pb, 368pp, 9780451490865

Last year, Chanel Cleeton’s Next Year in Havana was one of Reese Witherspoon’s book club selections, and it introduced readers

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to the Perez family in revolutionary Cuba, specifically Elisa Perez, and her granddaughter Marisol in the present-day. In When We Left Cuba, Cleeton continues her chronicle of the Perez family, this time turning her attention to Elisa’s passionate older sister, Beatriz. The family, having escaped the revolution and Fidel Castro’s ensuing regime, is living in Palm Beach, Florida and grappling with their new, much changed circumstances. Beatriz, fueled by her desire to avenge her twin brother’s death, becomes involved with the CIA in the hope of killing Castro and ending communism in the country to which she so desperately wants to return. While engaging in espionage, Beatriz falls in love with an American senator and discovers that her childhood friend, who is also fighting for the Cuban cause, loves her. But Beatriz’s personal life takes second place to her mission. Cleeton’s book and her memorable character of Beatriz Perez crackle with life and intensity. Outspoken, independent, and myopic in her desire to kill Castro, Beatriz boldly makes her way in a man’s world and never apologizes for it. When We Left Cuba is chock full of espionage, murder, romance, politics, family drama, and themes of national identity. Cuban history of the 1960s especially takes center stage, with the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis factoring prominently into the plot. Ultimately, Beatriz must ask herself if returning to Cuba and her old life will ever be possible, for Cuba will never be what it once was. Can we ever really go home? If you loved Next Year in Havana, read this straightaway! Julia C. Fischer

NEMESIS

Rory Clements, Zaffre, 2019, £12.99, hb, 318pp, 9781785767487

This novel is the third in a series featuring the Cambridge history professor Tom Wilde, the first two being Corpus (reviewed in HNR 80) and Nucleus (reviewed in HNR 83). Clements has also written a series set in Elizabethan England which is a l s o recommended. The novels do not need to be read in order, but to be quite honest, you should not deprive yourself of that pleasure. Wilde is on holiday in France in 1939 and inadvertently becomes enmeshed in the rescue of a former student, Marcus Marfield, from a concentration camp. Blessed with good looks and the voice of an angel, Marfield disappeared two years before after having gone to fight for the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. All is not as it seems, however, and Wilde 40

becomes key in puzzling out hidden loyalties, dark secrets and political shenanigans. There are many plot layers, such as the sinking of the liner Athenia in the Atlantic, the visit of Joe Kennedy to Britain, and a mysterious Russian woman who seems central to many of the events. The story is satisfying and keeps the pages turning quickly. Thoroughly enjoyable story-telling, reminiscent in some ways of The 39 Steps. Ann Northfield

AFTER THE PARTY

Cressida Connolly, Pegasus, 2019, $25.95, hb, 272pp, 9781643131269 / Viking, 2018, £8.99, pb, 272pp, 9780241327739

Phyllis Forrester lives a sheltered life in Sussex in 1938, devoted to her children and taking care to appease her tyrannical husband, Hugh. Phyllis’s politically active sister involves the Forresters in a nationalist party that appeals to many people in their well-todo set. But Phyllis fails to understand what they’ve gotten themselves into, or what that party represents behind the bold words. Her blindness, and Hugh’s, ruins their lives. Students of the era will likely guess what movement Connolly is talking about long before she identifies it, but I think she wants you to react without a label to guide you, to understand what kind of person would support such a group. In this, she does a great service, because at first glance, you’d say that the Forresters and their friends are snobby or selfish rather than sinister. But that revelation evokes a theme, not a story, and when the narrative pushes beyond that point, the disparate elements fail to hang together. The party of the title, at which Phyllis makes a mistake that shames her, happens two years before the fatal consequences that sink the Forresters. Phyllis links the two in her mind, but later, she recognizes they’re actually separate. Further, the downfall happens out of the blue, without a rise in tension or subsequent climax. The occasional short chapters set in 1979, when Phyllis ruminates about her past, weaken the flow and drop in privileged information that could, and perhaps should, have appeared in the main narrative. Readers of historical fiction may appreciate the loving detail with which Connolly brings certain social attitudes to life, but I think lovers of literary fiction will turn elsewhere. Larry Zuckerman

A VEIL REMOVED

Michelle Cox, She Writes, 2019, $16.95, pb, 400pp, 9781631525032

Fourth in the Henrietta and Inspector Howard Series, A Veil Removed returns readers to 1930s Chicago and its posh North Shore suburbs. The sudden death of Clive Howard’s father, Alcott (an accidental fall or murderous push in front of a commuter train?) interrupts the newlyweds’ honeymoon on the other side of the Atlantic and thrusts him into a long-standing dilemma: pursue his— and Henrietta’s—wish to continue working

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

as a police detective, open his own private investigation service, or head his family’s business and estate. Meanwhile, Henrietta’s sister, Elsie Von Harmon, is distraught after learning her intended, Lieutenant Barnes-Smith, impregnated and abandoned a young woman whose family then refused to settle money on the couple. She is regretting her own seduction by Barnes-Smith. Though author Michelle Cox has received awards for books in this series, first-time readers may feel overwhelmed by the amount and early introduction of backstory in A Veil Removed. Readers unfamiliar with previous volumes may grow impatient with incidental scenes involving characters that may be central to other storylines but do not advance the plot of this narrative. Though Clive has little need to engage in complex detection, his path forward becomes clear. Elsie, on the other hand, lurches from one possible future to another. Attitudes about her and her damaged reputation, not to mention her demeanor and looks, are unpleasant and sometimes harsh, serving as reminders of societal hypocrisies and strictures that erode Elsie’s self-esteem and complicate her decision-making. The journey for Elsie, as a result, remains veiled. K. M. Sandrick

GRIEVOUS

H. S. Cross, Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2019, $27.00/C$35.00, hb, 544pp, 9780374906689

This intense, unwieldy, and moving narrative about lives of quiet and not-soquiet desperation is the sequel to the critically celebrated Wilberforce, set, like this one, in an English boy’s school in Yorkshire. St. Stephen’s Academy is a middling sort of school, antiquarian in its values but far less afflicted by class snobbishness than the usual Etonian setting. Five years have elapsed since the time of the first novel, but it’s not necessary to have read it to appreciate Cross’s fine eye for detail and empathy for the human condition. In fact, the structure and revelations of Grievous pretty much repeat those of its predecessor, so it might suffice to read one or the other. Both books are fervent, overlong, and claustrophobic, but ultimately rewarding in their emotional insights. Like its predecessor, this novel is crammed with masses of colorful details of public-school cruelty, swotting, cricket, 1930s schoolboy slang, and homoerotic yearning, but it adds a web of family entanglements that expands the setting and allows the reader a glimpse of the confusion and ennui that afflicted the British professional classes between the World Wars. The focus in this novel shifts from the students to the teachers, particularly the complicated relationship between John Grieves (whose school nickname provides the title) and his Headmaster, Jamie Sebastian, his childhood classmate/lover, now boss and married man. As the main characters travel around Europe in the holidays, Grieves’ precocious goddaughter,

Cordelia, and his favorite student, sullen Gray Riding, begin a correspondence that threatens to reveal all their adult guardians’ closely-guarded secrets. Those secrets are not particularly unexpected, but their weight is felt by a large cast of characters who learn their most important lessons outside of school— about trust, memory, intimacy, and love. Kristen McDermott

THE HOUSE CHILDREN

Heidi Daniele, SparkPress, 2019, $16.95, pb, 234pp, 9781943006946

In early 1940s Ireland, six-year-old Mary Margaret Joyce is sentenced by a judge to nine years in The Certified Industrial School in Ballinasloe. Her crime? Being born to an unwed mother and left “destitute and not an orphan.” Her mother gave birth to her in the Tuan Home for unwed mothers and served her year of punishment there. She returns to her family, where life continues as usual. But Mary Margaret is sent to a foster home. Now under the care of the Sisters of Mercy, she is given the number 27, and renamed Peg. Peg has no memories of her mother and longs for her own family and a mother’s love. Life with the nuns in the Industrial School is harsh and cruel. An exciting event happens when Peg is sent on a week’s holiday to Galway. Greeting her at the rail station is the kind lady who visited her occasionally in the foster home. Now she is married, and her name is Mrs. Hanley. Peg delights in her time with Mrs. Hanley, and her holiday ends all too soon with promises of another visit. This brief, idyllic time makes her return to school life more difficult. Peg lives for this one week a year with the Hanleys and wishes fervently that she could live with them, but it can never be. Peg’s story reads like a diary, but her voice doesn’t change over time as I would expect from a child-to-young-adult first-person narrative. We do see into her thoughts, feelings of pain and emptiness, and conflicting emotions of anger, love and hate when she discovers who her mother is. The secrecy and shame of her origin carries with her into adulthood. I recommend this authentic account of the oppression and punishment inflicted by the Catholic church and Irish society on unwed mothers and their innocent children. Janice Ottersberg

CHASING THE BANYAN WIND

Bernadette Gabay Dyer, LMH Publishing, 2018, $16.95/C$22.55, pb, 315pp, 9789768245717

Driven out of damp and cold Bristol by bad health, Jonathan Gunn, his wife Wilemina, and their two children, Dunstan and Eliza, emigrated to Jamaica in the early 1920s. They built a house outside of the town of Hedley, and the children made friends with the locals, a diverse group including not only native Jamaicans but Chinese and Jewish immigrants as well. The narrative traces Dunstan and Eliza’s formative years and

their close friendships with Peter and Maggie Chung. Both the need to travel for education (for the boys) as well as the outbreak of World War II broke up this tight band, bringing into sharp focus the social, economic, and racial distinctions rampant on the island. As the four pursue different paths, issues of gender and the limited options for women take center stage. Eliza risks her safety, her mother’s love, and society’s approval, as she chooses to follow her heart with Lucas Paynado, a Jamaican who once lived on the Gunns’ property but who now has political ambitions. Maggie turns away from what she thought was love to hide from a situation of disgrace. Wilemina also has to change her long-held beliefs, born of naiveté and her upbringing in Britain. Dyer’s story is simply told and is a haunting tale of Jamaican life for locals and immigrants during the first half of the 20th century. Local history and folklore are interwoven with imperialist overtones prevalent during the time. Dyer provides an honest, unfiltered perspective not often reflected in mainstream US or UK novels about Jamaica, which is a welcome contrast to narratives that soft-pedal the issues underlying the area’s history. Helene Williams

WUNDERLAND

Jennifer Cody Epstein, Crown, 2019, $27.00, hb, 384pp, 9780525576907

Ava has given up on trying to develop a closer relationship with her mother, Ilse. All of her questions go unanswered. Who was her father, and why was she left at an orphanage at the end of WWII? It is easier to sever ties entirely than to deal with her mother’s emotional distance and secrets. Then in 1989, a box unexpectedly arrives containing Ilse’s ashes and a packet of letters addressed to someone named Renate Bauer. After reading the letters, Ava finally understands what shaped her mother into the person she became. The novel switches between Ava and Ilse and Renate, two best friends growing up in Germany before the beginning of the war. The girls are inseparable until the Nazi Party takes over and turns their world upside down. Enticed by the promise of building a stronger Germany, Ilse becomes an active member of the Hitler Youth and starts writing for their propaganda publications. Meanwhile, Renate is shocked to discover her father was born Jewish. The news makes friendship between the girls impossible and leads to an unthinkable act of betrayal. Epstein does not shy away from her description of the atrocities Ilse and Renate witnessed and endured. One comes to expect this from novels set during WWII, but at times this book feels like an open wound, and I had to put it down to take a break. Other than a brief hint of hope at the end, there is very little relief in the characters’ suffering, but perhaps that was the author’s intention, to show the long-lasting impact of war. A painful and challenging read. Janice Derr

OLD BAGGAGE

Lissa Evans, HarperPerennial, 2019, $15.99, pb, 320pp, 9780062895448 / Black Swan, 2018, £8.99, pb, 336pp, 9781784161217

The golden, but flawed burden of the memories we carry with us from youth is the subject of Lissa Evans’ beautiful novel, which tells the story of erstw h ile suffragette Matilda Simpson. She is not taking kindly to middleage but stands, wooden club in hand, against the rising tide of new, disturbing reactionary p o l i t i c s , threatening the rights of women even as they are granted the vote in 1928. But while Mattie is eagle-eyed about the dangers of grand political trends—of fascism and its indoctrination of the young—she remains blind to the personal fallibilities of some of the people she loves and adores. Worse, she falls victim to her own pride when a narrow-minded opponent casts aspersions upon her closest friend, and stands in danger of losing her dearest companion in life because she is fearful of prejudice and its attendant horrors. Will Mattie understand that friendship comes in many forms, and that a devotion to the living should take preference over her reverence towards the dead? Only when Mattie can admit to herself that someone she has idolized her entire life was not perfect, while someone else, who has stood by her, is waiting to be recognized as a far worthier object of her love, will she be able to turn her life around. Mattie last appeared in The Crooked Heart, where she succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease during the London Blitz, and like that book, Old Baggage divides between a mature and a juvenile perspective. The plucky Ida, whom she encounters when Mattie chucks a bottle at her, provides a powerful counterpoint to the older woman’s narrative, her near fall and subsequent salvation showing us what is at risk—nothing less than the wellbeing of young souls and bodies—when the older generation fails in its duty towards its daughters and sons. Highly recommended. Elisabeth Lenckos

CITY OF FLICKERING LIGHT

Juliette Fay, Gallery, 2019, $16.99/C$22.99, pb, 400pp, 9781501192937 / also hb, $27.00, 400pp, 9781501192944

1921. Irene Van Beck and Millie Martin, dancers in a burlesque show, have just jumped from a moving train, a plan they kept hidden for some time. A comedian in the same troupe, Henry Weiss, unexpectedly follows them.

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Though his decision was impulsive when he saw Irene and Millie leave, it turns out to be advantageous for the three of them as they enter into Hollywood with dreams of making a successful life for themselves in the silent film industry, the “flickers.” The three characters are wonderfully developed and charming each in their own way. Fay spent a great deal of time researching Hollywood in the 1920s and inserts timeappropriate slang and details to bring the story alive. An epigraph begins each chapter, quotes from Hollywood heavy-hitters of the early 20th century: Mary Pickford, Cecil B. DeMille, Greta Garbo, etc. The epigraphs add to the historical tone of the story as we follow these three main characters through the trials and tribulations of being up-andcoming, unknown actors and actresses of the day. Irene, Millie, and Henry find themselves encountering people and circumstances they are not always entirely equipped to deal with, but together they work to find their way. Two things are certain, however: by leaving the burlesque show behind, their freedom comes at a price, and there are no guarantees in life. Highly recommended for readers fascinated by stories of Hollywood in the 1920s and the scandalous reports that were deftly covered up by the studios. While some character names in Fay’s novel will be familiar to many, the inspiration for others will be apparent to fans with a deeper knowledge of the sordid history surrounding Hollywoodland. Elicia Parkinson

TEMPT ME WITH DIAMONDS

Jane Feather, Zebra, 2019, $7.99/C$10.99, pb, 266pp, 9781420143607

1902. Diana Sommerville returns from South Africa to find the detested Colonel Rupert Lacey in her house. What started as childhood friendship between them had developed into love, but believing he has been unfaithful, she broke off the engagement. Her brother Jem, however, in hope the rift can be healed, made his best friend and comrade-in-arms his heir, and after Jem dies in battle during the Boer War, Rupert inherits half the family estate. Can they find happiness together again? Can they even manage to remain civil? Although resentment simmers, their physical passion for each other sweeps aside restraints, and it is not long before they begin to rediscover and appreciate the other qualities that first drew them together. The path to reconciliation is not easy, however, given Diana’s impetuous nature and Rupert’s touchy pride. Despite the improbable situation (including, one might add, the surprisingly rapid promotion of Jem and Rupert at so young an age in the British Army of this era), the uncertain progress of the lovers’ relationship is involving and their self-honesty refreshing. Recommended. Ray Thompson

A DANGEROUS ACT OF KINDNESS

L. P. Fergusson, Canelo, 2019, $2.25/£1.99, ebook, 429pp, 9781788633673

In 1940, Oberleutnant Lukas Schiller is flying over England in his Messerschmitt, its engine overheating. Following a bombing raid, he is desperately trying to return to base in occupied France. Shutting the ignition off and attempting a restart proves unsuccessful, and although he manages to parachute out, the airplane crashes into Millie Sanger’s farm field in Oxfordshire. Millie finds Lukas in her barn and, taking pity on him, treats him for his injuries. Having studied in Dublin before the war, Lukas speaks English. Although Lukas was to depart soon, a blizzard breaks out confining him to the farmhouse. Millie, a young widow, is troubled about her past, and when Lukas shows sympathy, her attraction to him turns into love and intimacy. Millie must hide Lukas from her neighbor, Hugh, who’s keen on her, and from other London evacuees. But her friend Brigsie, a Land Girl, betrays her, and Millie’s dangerous act of kindness could lead to imprisonment. Although there are numerous novels about Allied POWs being assisted in Europe, this is one of a few stories about downed Luftwaffe pilots in England. L. P. Fergusson has acknowledged in the Author’s Note that this novel is loosely based on stories of a Luftwaffe pilot, Franz von Werra, the only German POW to escape from British captivity, and the downing of a German bomber in the Berkshire Downs. While the novel has the usual set of coincidences, the strong writing, with its attention to detail, wonderful descriptions and authentic dialogue, holds our attention. While the treatment of German POWs during their internment in camps and their use as farm laborers is well known, the novel’s account of some of them assisting British military intelligence in translating German recordings is remarkable. Although the story’s romantic ending is classic, it’s heartwarming nonetheless. Waheed Rabbani

LITTLE BOY

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Doubleday, 2019, $23.00, hb, 179pp, 9780385544788 / Faber & Faber, 2019, £14.99, hb, 192pp, 9780571351022

How does one review the experimental novel of an author who celebrates his 100th birthday on March 24, 2019, yet continues to take chances with his oeuvre? With awe and reverence towards the literary traditions and anti-traditions he represents, although it is not easy to divide Ferlinghetti the writer from Ferlinghetti the legend—a poet, social and cultural activist, the founder of City Lights Booksellers and member of the Beat Generation, who was arrested for publishing Allen Ginsberg’s Howl. Far from settling down, Ferlinghetti has given the world, in the year leading up to his centennial, no conventional memoir, nor a straightforward biographical novel taking stock of his life, but rather a startling original

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work that reminds this reviewer, at least, of Louis Aragon’s Paris Peasant, that classic of French surrealism, the roman fleuve, which mixes personal reminiscences with astute social and artistic observations. Just as Aragon criticized the modern crisis of rational thought at a moment in history when fascism and populism were sadly in the ascendance, Ferlinghetti expands what begins as the evocation of a childhood into a fresh reflection upon the challenges facing 21st-century readers, such as the fate of the human race and the future of the planet. Mixing autobiography and essay in the tradition of Montaigne and Sebald, Ferlinghetti’s Little Boy resurrects T S Eliot’s Waste Land as well as the Beat Generation greats. A fascinating evocation of fiction at its most daring. Elisabeth Lenckos

HOUSE OF GLASS

Susan Fletcher, Virago, 2018, £16.99, hb, 358pp, 9780349007649

Clara Waterfield grew up in the early years of the 20th century with the rare medical condition of h a v i n g extraordinarily delicate bones, liable to break with any significant contact with other objects. Disabled and feeling freakish and unattractive, she finds solace in the botanical collection at Kew; this, somewhat surprisingly, leads to her taking on a project to manage the installation of tropical plants supplied by Kew in a newly-built domestic glasshouse in Gloucestershire during the long and hot summer of 1914. The house is Shadowbrook, owned by a mysterious and mostly absent Mr Fox, and Clara, inquisitive and assertive, settles into the quiet household to establish the new plants. She soon begins to sense that all is not quite right. Clara’s singular personality, combined with her unusual appearance, makes her a subject of much interest in the house and the nearby village of Barcombe-on-the-Hill. There are unexplained phenomena, which Clara, as a committed atheist, refuses to accept as the work of a supernatural presence. But as she learns more about the previous owner, one Veronique Pettigrew, and the notorious reputation she had in the surrounding villages, and when Clara herself is subject to activity which she cannot easily explain—then her certainties begin to wobble a little, and she finds herself in a vortex of mystery and untruth, which go to very heart of her own identity and background. This is a beautifully written novel, poetic and

acutely observant. The characters throb with life: Clara is a wonderful creation, her feisty eccentricities reverberate throughout the gothic tale, and it is firmly anchored in that 1914 summer, so coveted by fiction writers as a haven of never-to-be-repeated innocence and content – except that for Clara, life at Shadowbrook was anything but pure and gentle. Douglas Kemp

DUCHESS BY DECEPTION

Marie Force, Zebra, 2019, $7.99/C$10.99, pb, 352pp, 9781420147858

1902. Although he must marry by his fastapproaching thirtieth birthday or lose his title, Derek Eagan, the Duke of Westwood, finds the current crop of debutantes tiresome. But then he comes across a beautiful woman digging on his estate. He is powerfully attracted, but after fighting off the advances of a vicious viscount, Catherine McCabe despises all aristocrats. So Derek pretends to be his estate manager. They fall head-over-heels in love, hasten to Scotland and marry; but what will happen when she learns the truth? This improbable predicament has comic potential, as many a play has demonstrated, but the author leans more towards melodrama. The dashing hero and (for good measure) his equally dashing cousin are noble and respectful of women (well, basically, and they’re very rich); the heroine and her equally beautiful sister are grateful to be rescued from their unwelcome suitor (and delighted to be taught the pleasures of making mad, passionate love); the despicable villains are roundly chastised for their misdeeds. Americanisms (cookies; okay) do intrude, but if you are looking for a sentimental romance with idealized characters, frequent sexual encounters, and a happy ending achieved after suitable remorse, then look no further. Ray Thompson

RAGS TO RICHES

Maggie Ford, Ebury, 2019, £6.99, pb, 507pp, 9780091956691

This novel sheds light on two social classes in London in the 1920s, when everything is turned upside down by both lust and love. Amy Harrington regrets the mistake she’s made when she’s forced to leave her upperclass family to live in London’s East End with the family of her maid. Little did she know that she would find so much more life there than in the glitter and glamour than she was previously used to. Ford takes great care with each of her characters and leaves us with the feeling that we are part of the Jordan family as we see what they go through. Similarly, we follow Amy’s maid Alice with bated breath while she finds out what having a family really means. Through the girls’ unlikely friendship at the beginning of the book we see what life was like for teenage girls on either end of the

spectrum, and how they could be affected by the same decisions and consequences. Rather than focusing on one social class, the author seamlessly flits between the two, which makes us aware of the importance of money and also the importance of genuine love. The length of the book allows characters to develop over time, and it is an engrossing experience. By the end of the novel you love each character in their own way and feel their pain. You begin to resent anyone who goes against them; however, sometimes your own loyalties are tested as everyone is interlinked. Clare Lehovsky

FIRE IN THE RECTORY AND TWO MORE JOHN NOLAN DETECTIVE NOVELLAS

Stan Freeman, Hampshire House, 2019, $12.95, pb, 216pp, 9780989333399

New York City, 1915: John Nolan, private detective and Irish immigrant, is summoned by an insurance company to the scene of a fire at the local Catholic rectory. Although the damage was mainly confined to one room, it becomes apparent that a valuable painting, a Raphael Madonna, has been destroyed. Or was the fire an attempt to defraud the insurance company and cover up the theft of the artwork? Detective Nolan intrepidly works through this, and two other cases – a kidnapping of a child, and a murder of a philandering violinist at the Metropolitan Opera House – in this collection of three detective novellas. The dialogue is well written, and the plots move along nicely as Nolan investigates all three cases. The period detail is extremely accurate, giving a nice feel of New York in the early 20th century, and photo illustrations add to this sense of the era. All three mysteries are competently crafted. I did feel that a little more sensory detail in the writing would have increased my emotional involvement with these characters, but fans of classical detective novels and who-done-its should enjoy these stories. Susan McDuffie

THE PARISIANS

Marius Gabriel, Lake Union, 2019, $14.95/£8.99, pb, 366pp, 9781503905047

In Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion, the Ritz Hotel is the center of life for the rich and famous and the staff who serve them. When the Nazis march into Paris, the Ritz Hotel is commandeered for the officers. Many of the staff have already fled or been forced out of Paris, leaving a much-reduced staff to maintain the high standards of this worldclass hotel. This novel is populated with real and fictional characters, keeping the focus on three women: Olivia Olsen, a chambermaid at the Ritz, and two residents at the hotel, Coco Chanel and the French actress Arletty. Olivia is an American living in Paris as a struggling artist. To eat and pay her rent,

she takes a job at the Ritz. When her fiancé is arrested and killed by the Gestapo, she is motivated to join the French Resistance. She takes advantage of her access to Hermann Goering and other Nazi officers’ rooms to gather classified information. Coco Chanel is living at the Ritz with her lover while battling drug addiction during her declining years. She is bitter towards a Jewish business associate and takes an active pro-Nazi stance. Arletty is a famous actress known for her steamy roles. She begins an affair with a Nazi officer, which has a devastating effect on her career. This is an engrossing read. I was captivated by Marius Gabriel’s fictionalized account of the real-life Coco Chanel and Arletty, as well as his characterization of Hermann Goering. Gabriel captures the story of the people who struggled to survive the occupation, those who actively resisted, and the ones who collaborated with the Nazis. In the Author’s Notes, we learn what happened to the Ritz and many of the real-life characters after the war, including Coco Chanel and Arletty. This section nicely wraps up the novel. Janice Ottersberg

FEAST YOUR EYES

Myla Goldberg, Scribner, 2019, C$37.00, hb, 336pp, 9781501197840

$28.00/

Lillian Preston is a woman driven to capture her unique world vision through the lens of her camera. In 1953, the seventeenyear old abandons her Ohio home to s t u d y photography in Greenwich Village, NYC, taking candid shots of strangers by day, and developing them late into the night in a tiny lavatory in her shared apartment. Two years later, a brief romance gives Lilly a daughter. Samantha is incorporated into Lilly’s artistic vision; first as her own fertile body swells, and then as a rolling photo blind. Few people notice the young mother pushing a baby carriage with one hand and taking furtive photographs with the other. Naturally, Samantha appears in Lilly’s photos, but the world pays little attention until 1963, when Lilly’s photographs are featured in a Brooklyn art gallery. The collection includes “Mommy is Sick,” based on an illegal abortion Lilly had received, nude self-portraits, and photos of Samantha in her underwear. The show’s reception varies from raves to revulsion. Is it obscenity, or is it art? Award-winning author Myla Goldberg explores this eternal debate in her amazing novel, Feast Your Eyes. She also explores Samantha’s feelings about her involuntary role in the legal debate –

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revulsion, mixed love for her mother and fury at feeling exploited for her art, and Samantha’s search to discover her own identity. Ms. Goldberg uses Lilly’s journal, letters from friends, and the adult Samantha’s gallery notes to tell her story – a technique I love when done well, and Ms. Goldberg’s treatment is superb. I highly recommend Feast Your Eyes for all readers. Jo Ann Butler

forced to look for work elsewhere. She finds it in the orphanage. These stories are well written but, although set in 1943 in an area much affected by the war, there is little to connect it. It is more to do with the problems of the children and could happen any time anywhere. However, the characterisation is good, and one feels for the children. I enjoyed it. Marilyn Sherlock

FORGOTTEN MURDER

Dolores Gordon-Smith, Severn House, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 209pp, 9781847519702

Jenny Langton is thrilled to be on her first assignment to view a property for the real estate firm Wilson and Lee: the detached Victorian house known as Saunder’s Green. She is surprised to find familiar surroundings—a jackin-the-box in the attic toy chest, cornflower blue and yellow wallpaper in one of the bedrooms— and recognizes that some items are missing: a window seat absent from the sunroom, the tiles that used to frame the fireplace. She swoons as she places her hand on the bark of a cedar tree in the garden, feels herself looking downward, and revealing in her mind’s eye a monster: a black leather-clad figure with huge, square reflecting eyes. This is the tenth in the Jack Haldean series of mysteries. Haldean is a former WWI pilot who writes mysteries and acts as amateur detective in 1920s Sussex, England. Haldean is skilled in ferreting out facts with the help of his wife, Betty, and Chief Inspector Rackham. The factfinding route he takes in Forgotten Murder is more than the usual amount of red-herring distraction. The Q-and-A’s with potential suspects and witnesses do not give enough direction, so the reader is left with an “oh, that’s how it was done,” rather than, “I knew it.” Haldean’s interviews uncover Jenny’s past and family history, resolve an old wrong, and lay the groundwork for understanding the killer’s motive. One could argue that there are other ways for the killer to act in the first place, and therefore no reason to murder in the second. Forgotten Murder is nonetheless an enjoyable read, and Haldean is likable enough to warrant another look at one of his mysteries. K. M. Sandrick

AN ORPHAN’S WISH

Molly Green, Avon, 2018, £7.99, pb, 418pp, 9780008239008

An Orphan’s Wish is the third book in this series set in World War II in Liverpool and around Bingham Hall, a Dr. Barnardo’s Home just outside Liverpool. In this story Lana, who has lost her fiancé in a torpedoed merchant shipwreck in the Atlantic, moves from her home in Yorkshire to take up the temporary post of headmistress at the local village school. Here she comes into contact with the Barnardo’s orphanage and the children who live there. Life does not all go smoothly, and when the original headmaster is able to return Lana is

LAND OF THE LIVING Georgina Harding, Bloomsbury, 2018, £16.99, hb, 230pp, 9781408896242

Charlie Ashe, a survivor of World War II battles against the Japanese in the uplands of northern India, is trying to adapt to a new life on the Norfolk farm he has inherited from his bachelor uncle. But memories of the war recur constantly as he tries to pick what he can share with his well-meaning but sheltered wife, Claire, and what he must keep to himself. All of Harding’s previous novels have been highly acclaimed and/or short-listed for major prizes, and it is easy to see why. This is a powerful and lyrical novel, exploring the sense of guilt and alienation that separates war veterans from civilian life. We know right from the beginning that Charlie spent time alone and lost in the rainforest, though he started off in a four-man patrol, but the flashbacks only gradually spiral in to reveal what became of the others and what other grisly secrets haunt him. Although atrocities lie at the heart of the book, nothing ever feels gratuitous. I could imagine this literary novel being turned into a visually arresting film, with the contrast between the flat, muted browns of a Norfolk winter and the lush green mountains of Nagaland with their fortified hilltop villages and sudden mists, low cloud and heavy showers. Despite its grim subject matter, the novel is deceptively easy to read, divided into short sections (some only a few paragraphs long), alternating between Charlie’s life with Claire, his more palatable memories, and the things he can barely acknowledge to himself. Some readers may be irritated by the absence of speech marks, but I found I barely noticed this quirk because it was always clear who was speaking. A book that will linger in my memory for a long while. Jasmina Svenne

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

CASTLE MACNAB

Robert J Harris, Polygon, 2018, £12.99, hb, 201pp, 9781846974571

This is the second in a series of books by Robert J Harris which pay homage to the classic adventure stories of John Buchan. The first, The Thirty-One Kings, presses Buchan’s best loved character, Richard Hannay, into service again for the British state and its allies in the Second World War. In this book Harris takes the characters from Buchan’s John Macnab and, like other writers before him, sends them off on another exploit, involving their wartime enemy, the Kaiser himself. Richard Hannay and his three friends, peer Charles Lamancha, banker and sportsman John Palliser-Yeates and the MP and lawyer, Sir Edward Leithen, find themselves racing against time to rescue the Kaiser and thus avert the risk of plunging Europe into another war. This is an entertaining new adventure for Hannay and his chums, and is ably told with great pacing. Harris pulls off Buchan’s style but with a tad more wit and a tad less colonialism, which is to be welcomed. However, the prologue and first chapter were a little too full of adjectives and adverbs for my liking, with phrases like “innocent mischief of boyhood” and “good-humoured wrinkles” grating slightly. However, the narrative soon picks up steam when Richard Hannay makes a dramatic appearance, and takes up the story in first person, with a plea to his friends to help him in “what may be the most desperate endeavour of their lives”. This is the moment when the book comes alive, with chases through woods and over craggy rocks. There’s genuine empathy for those affected by the Great War, and it shows how emotional damage distorts ethical values for men and women of all backgrounds. A yarn with a heart. Katharine Quarmby

A CHRISTMAS WISH FOR THE LANDGIRLS

Jenny Holmes, Corgi, 2018, £6.99, pb, 436pp, 9780552175814

In a well-written and gripping story, Jenny Holmes sets her tale of land girls in the winter of 1943 in a stunning Yorkshire landscape. The effect of the wintry weather on the landscape and the lives of the inhabitants is very convincing, as are the details of the routines of the land girls and lumber jills who people the story. They are set to work on farms and estates in the countryside to help the farmers who lack manpower while the men are away fighting. There is a helpful glossary at the start of the book but, though this is the third in the trilogy, the book can be read as a standalone story. The main female characters have relationships that undergo ups and downs—one boyfriend is in the RAF, another in the Navy—but through it all they continue with their daily tasks which are knowledgeably described. The author has firsthand experience as her mother was a land girl. There are a couple of rogues to add spice to the tale, who get their come-uppance, and a rather sad death; but all works out well in the

end in time for Christmas, which is the wish of the title. Julie Parker

THE GREAT PRETENDERS

Laura Kalpakian, Berkley, 2019, $16.00, pb, 376pp, 9781101990186

Panache. That is what Laura Kalpakian brings to vivid life in The Great Pretenders. The leading lady, R o x a n n e Granville, has always been destined for greatness, and after her grandmother ’s passing, she embarks on her own to find it. In the mists of the Red Scare, while the House Un-American Activities Committee is pursuing a witch trial of Hollywood, Roxanne finds a way to help those accused. With her legacy as movie industry royalty, exiled “communist” writers find her, looking for help to get their stories back in theaters, even if they have to use aliases. With a good head on her shoulders, wit flying from her lips, and oozing glamour from every angle, Roxanne refuses to accept the sanctions of society. She especially challenges those assigned to gender, political views, and race. Enter Terrence Dexter. Terrence is an AfricanAmerican journalist who leaps not only into Roxanne’s heart but right off the pages. In a time when no one is safe from trial, and racial issues spell danger for everyone involved, will Roxanne pull off her grand charade and get the guy? Pages quickly slip by in pursuit of those answers. This wild adventure starts at a funeral, and as the book progresses readers will not only be stunned by the character development but confronted with adventure, thoughtprovoking comments, and a powerful romance. Kalpakian broaches tender subjects with class and style, leaving readers contemplative and imagining what it would be like to live in a time such as this. There is no pretending; this is an excellent novel. Alice Cochran

THE MATHEMATICAL BRIDGE

Jim Kelly, Allison & Busby, 2019, £19.99, 350pp, 9780749021665

Cambridge, England in the cold and snow-laden New Year of 1940. Detective Inspector Eden Brooke, a veteran from the Great War whose eyesight was damaged in the conflict, attempts to rescue a five-yearold Catholic boy, Sean Flynn, from the River Cam; he is seen in a sack rapidly floating in

the freezing waters. Sean had only just arrived as an evacuee from London. When there is an explosion caused by Irish nationalists at a local factory that is involved in highly classified war work, Brooke begins to wonder whether there may be a connection between the two events. His investigations uncover a sorry tale of treachery, duplicity and betrayal, with quite a few unforeseen twists in the plot to surprise the reader. The depiction of wartime Cambridge is excellent, with detailed researched topographical details on the war-time university city. There is the common occasional fault of characters using phrases that were not current at the time – it is an irritating tendency, and one that should be quite easy to eradicate (such as the term “bragging rights”, and referring to the Celtic Queen Boudicca when she was widely known as Boadicea at that time). Nevertheless, it is a very capably constructed narrative, with a story that is both intelligent and absorbing. Brooke is a rounded, well-depicted character – he suffers from insomnia, again most probably a result of his experiences in North Africa in the War, but in his 50s, has a surprisingly tactile and close relationship with his wife. This is the second book in the Nighthawk series, and it is recommended for intelligent and well-written crime fiction. Douglas Kemp

METROPOLIS

Philip Kerr, Marian Wood, 2019, $28.00, hb, 384pp, 9780735218895 / Quercus, 2019, £20.00, hb, 400pp, 9781787473218

An elegy for Bernie… Philip Kerr’s final installment of his masterly Berlin Noir mysteries takes his hero back to his beginnings as a cop on the streets of the metropolis during the Weimar Era. Recently promoted to the city’s Murder Squad, Bernie searches for a killer, who has graduated from murdering prostitutes to executing the republic’s warinjured, homeless veterans, parting the seas between Berliners who want the murderer brought to justice, and others that applaud his ‘cleansing’ program. In the end, Bernie discovers more than the assassin’s identity, as his investigation reveals a truth about Berlin, and the way the city doles out justice, that is far more terrifying than a mere manhunt. What future is there for a place, where criminal gangs have the upper hand, and exterminating angels mask themselves as officials? While Bernie tries to make sense of the confusion that is 1920s Berlin, Hitler and the Nazis loom large on the horizon. When Philip Kerr died in March 2018, the world mourned the passing of a fine author, who in his most ingenious creation transposed the quintessential gumshoe detective from the streets of North America to the alleys of Berlin, where he investigates, up close, the nature of institutionalized evil and the way it co-opts and corrupts ‘regular’ citizens. In this, his final work, Bernie returns as a young man, who cares about Berlin’s underdogs and refuses to yield to the cynicism that divides ‘worthy’

from ‘unworthy’ lives. As he traverses Weimar Berlin, Bernie travels from its elites to its demimonde, supplying the city’s most famous director, Fritz Lang, with the idea for a great film classic. Metropolis ends with a wink to its most glorious creation: an art that outlasted Hitler and enthralls us to this day. Elisabeth Lenckos

THE STORY OF US

Lana Kortchik, HQ, 2019, £12.99, pb, 384pp, 9780008323066 / $2.99, ebook, B07D52YW1R

This novel was previously published as Savaged Lands and has been re-issued under a new title. In 1941, Natasha Smirnov and her family are experiencing the hardships brought on by WWII. Dread is high as they hear news of Hitler’s approaching army across Ukraine. The Red Army has moved out and left Kiev defenseless as the Germans take over. Mark is a Hungarian soldier conscripted into the German army. When he witnesses a confrontation between Natasha, her grandmother, and a German officer, he comes to their defense by killing the officer. Natasha instantly falls in love with Mark. Kortchik portrays Mark as a hero, yet when the Nazis search for the killer of their fellow officer, he doesn’t step forward, so the wrong person pays for the crime. When the Smirnov family harbors a wounded Red Army soldier, Yuri, a love triangle is formed, and Natasha must choose between Mark and Yuri. There are many conflicts in the story as townspeople struggle to find food, friends and neighbors disappear, and Germans requisition homes for their living quarters. But when Natasha and her sister worry over a new dress or makeup and argue over who will pour the tea, the reader is distracted from the serious event in history that the author is attempting to portray. This lackluster novel suffers from shallow characters, numerous inconsistencies, and inexperienced writing. Janice Ottersberg

SPITFIRE GIRLS

Soraya M. Lane, Lake Union, 2019, $14.95, pb, 336pp, 9781503905030

When May is invited to establish a contingent of British women flyers for the Air Tr a n s p o r t Auxiliary in 1939, she knows it won’t be easy. How many women are willing to risk everything tangling with the G e r m a n Luftwaffe pilots lurking in the clouds above England? But many women clamor to be a part of the team. By shuttling new aircraft to

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bases around England and retrieving damaged planes for repair, they liberate male pilots for combat missions. Despite her training and competence, pretty, petite Ruby doubts herself at every turn. Can she truly fly a war plane without the support of her flier fiancé? Lizzie, an audacious American aviatrix, is asked by the President and Eleanor Roosevelt to go to England to see how the women’s air shuttle unit is run. The friction amongst the women fliers begins following Lizzie’s arrival. While May works to keep a diverse group of women safe and focused on their mission, Lizzie shows off her piloting talents, and Ruby hides her insecurities. Women pilot everything from Spitfires to transports, but when an opportunity to fly bombers is presented, the women are challenged to learn to fly the huge aircraft and compete for the coveted position of the first woman to fly the beast. I loved this book, a fictionalized story based on the historical British and American women pilots of the ATA and its American counterpart, the WASP (the Women Airforce Service Pilots). The terrible losses, fears for loved ones at the front and friction between the women and their male superiors, and the fight for equal pay for the women pilots remind us why and how our courageous foremothers proved themselves to be a vital part of the Greatest Generation. Highly recommended. Monica E. Spence

FINDING DOROTHY

Elizabeth Letts, Ballantine, 2019, $28.00/ C$37.00, hb, 345pp, 9780525622109 / Quercus, 2019, £16.99, hb, 368pp, 9781529403442

It’s hard to imagine a more essentially American life than Maud Gage Baum’s. The wife of the author of the beloved Oz books began as the daughter of one of the nation’s most celebrated suffragists, Matilda Gage, and lived through the nation’s expanse to the West, two World Wars, and the rise of the Hollywood blockbuster. In this version of her story, Maud acts as backstage mentor to young Judy Garland during the 1939 filming of The Wizard of Oz, and recounts her life story as a way of explaining the origins of her husband’s magical land and the character of Dorothy. There’s no historical evidence that Maud had such extensive access to the actress, though she did act as a PR consultant, but it’s a delightful context for a fascinating life story. From the halls of Cornell University, where Maud was among the first generation of coeds, to life on the rails in a traveling theater troupe, to a homestead in South Dakota, to suburban boredom in Chicago, Maud steadfastly supports her dreamy husband’s many attempts to get rich quick. Each home she struggles to make for them and her four sons contributes another thread to the tapestry that becomes the beloved Oz series. The depiction of the studio system that victimized Garland is equally nuanced and complex, and Maud 46

comes across as a person it would in fact be wonderful to spend time with. Letts reflects Maud’s optimism in a breezy, chatty style, so Frank Baum’s reputation is somewhat whitewashed in this novel; his infamous racist editorials about the massacre at Wounded Knee are never mentioned, nor are the more troubling political aspects of his literary creations. This is understandable, however, given the author’s focus on Maud’s dedication to turning the messy minutiae of life into opportunities for joy and wonder. Kristen McDermott

THE STRANGE JOURNEY OF ALICE PENDELBURY Marc Levy (trans. AmazonCrossing, 2019, 271pp, 9781542040563

Chris Murray), $10.99/£8.99, pb,

Late December, 1950: London is a dreary place and time for beautiful Alice. At age 39, she is still single and childless. Her friends convince her to join them on a fun day trip to the south coast’s Brighton, its tourist attractions, and the carnival on the pier. There, a fortuneteller says Alice must travel to Turkey, where she’ll encounter a succession of six important men and recover her forgotten past. Bachelor artist Ethan Daldry rents another flat across the landing of the same floor. Daldry’s father suddenly dies and leaves Daldry a tidy sum. He offers to escort Alice to Istanbul and even pay all expenses. Alice’s English parents perished in WWII, and her perfumemaking business can be put on hold. Until now, Daldry has been a grouchy neighbor, but she accepts his generous offer. Once in the strange, but fascinating Turkey, Alice spots buildings she has seen in frequent nightmares. Many odors are familiar to her keen sense of smell. Alice and Daldry, aided by a local guide, have a series of interesting discoveries. Daldry returns to London alone, and Alice stays to continue her search. Levy tells much of the story through Alice’s dreams, long stretches of dialogue, letters Alice writes to a London friend, and some 30 pages of letters between Daldry and Alice. The people, places, vehicles and language of 1950s England/Turkey all ring true. Easy to read and often engaging, this would have been a more absorbing tale with less summarizing in the letters, dreams and conversations. Written in French and translated, this light romance was first published in 2011. G. J. Berger

THE ROAD BEYOND RUIN

Gemma Liviero, Lake Union, 2019, $24.95, hb, 433pp, 9781503904767

Germany’s surrender to the Allies in May 1945 ended World War II, but Europe’s suffering is scarcely abated. Stefano, a scarred Italian soldier held in Germany as a prisoner of war, is set free, but Berlin is far from home, and Germany’s roads and railways are smashed to rubble. Stefano sets out on foot, surviving on

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

scant rations given him by his liberators, when he discovers a dead woman and infant, and a four-year-old boy temporarily shocked into muteness. The lad clings to Stefano, and they take shelter in a pair of secluded houses. The buildings appear abandoned, but Stefano is wakened by his shelter’s owner, Erich, a former German soldier. Erich invites the refugees to stay, and Stefano meets his neighbors – wartraumatized Georg, and his nurse-wife, Rosalind. The reticent Rosalind thaws when Stefano repairs her home but evades further questions about her cousin Monique when Stefano asks about the photograph of a young woman hanging on the wall. Then he discovers a packet of Monique’s letters hidden in Erich’s attic, and is drawn irresistibly into a mysterious drama connecting these four people. Best-selling Australian author Gemma Liviero brings these intriguing persons together in her marvelous historical novel, The Road Beyond Ruin. It’s an elegant literary striptease, in which lucky readers learn that each character keeps a secret, and then another, and another. The reveals keep coming until you reluctantly turn the final pages, and close the cover with a satisfied sigh. Jo Ann Butler

THE SATAPUR MOONSTONE

Sujata Massey, Soho, 2019, $26.95, hb, 360pp, 9781616959098

Perveen Mistry’s position as the only female lawyer in 1921 Bombay keeps her services in demand. When Sir David Hobson-Jones, the governor’s chief councillor, asks her to investigate a legal matter for the Kolhapur Agency, a British civil service branch, she’s wary of getting into bed with India’s colonizers. It’s a lucrative, prestigious short-term opportunity, however, and she feels compelled to accept. The maharaja of the small princely state of Satapur is a ten-year-old boy, and his widowed mother and grandmother disagree on his education. Because they live in purdah, a woman lawyer is the best choice as mediator. While this premise is similar to the series opener, The Widows of Malabar Hill, Perveen quickly finds herself in a very different situation that tests her physical strength and negotiating skills and lands her into danger. Massey devotes ample time to illustrating the politics and culture of a remote Indian princely state and the personalities of a new cast before introducing the mystery, which emerges midway through. This may unsettle genre readers who expect a more standard

detective story, but it lets the investigation unfold organically. The maharaja Jiva Rao’s older brother and father both died well before their time; the palace servants blame a curse. Perveen comes to suspect a more human cause, and she worries for the boy’s safety. Even before the mystery begins, a sense of uneasiness arises because Perveen is out of her element. She must travel by palanquin through the jungle to the palace, which she finds awkward and embarrassing, and endures the dowager maharani’s rude comments on her Parsi customs. The characters, even the unpleasant ones, are all intriguing, from the snobby royals to compassionate political agent Colin Sandringham. Perveen clearly wants to see more of him, her complicated marital status notwithstanding, and readers will too. Sarah Johnson

TOMORROW’S BREAD

Anna Jean Mayhew, Kensington, 2019, $15.95/ C$21.95, pb, 273pp, 9780758254108

The black neighborhood of Brooklyn in Charlotte, North Carolina, has received a death sentence from city planners. Its churches, restaurants, schools, theaters, and night clubs will be knocked down, their remains carted away, their sites leveled and raked. The order is indiscriminate: all Brooklyn’s homes, whether shotgun shacks or well-kept homes with front and back gardens, will be bulldozed. Headstones will be carted away from the cemeteries and remains will be disinterred. All because, city planners insist, the area is 70 percent blight. But Brooklyn in 1961 is a vibrant community, where Loraylee Hawkins works at the S&W Cafeteria, raises her son Hawk, and maintains a clandestine relationship with S&W owner Mr. Griffin. Jonny No Age lives with his partner and runs Steadman’s Flower shop; pastor Eben Polk wonders if he will find the answer to the mystery of the rock at the back of the St. Timothy Cemetery, the marker JTQ, and the register his predecessor claimed would tell the truth behind the grave markers. Brooklyn faces the same fate as other black areas of major cities. Although intended to raze and replace shacks and tenements with better housing, urban renewal ended up destroying the black neighborhoods that sat close to downtown areas. Tomorrow’s Bread is a lament for the loss not only of a thriving, if poor, community but the businesses it supports, the history it seeks to protect, and the connections it creates with neighbors, friends, and families. K. M. Sandrick

MURDER AT MORRINGTON HALL

Clara McKenna, Kensington, 2019, $26.00/ C$35.00, hb, 304pp, 9781496717771

In 1905, Stella Kendrick and her father cross the Atlantic from their home in Tennessee to rural England in order to attend a wedding.

Much to her surprise, Stella is the bride! Her father has made arrangements for her to marry the Viscount Lyndhurst of Morrington Hall. Naturally, Stella is stubbornly opposed to this idea and balks at the plans. She does not wish to be bought like one of the family’s prized racehorses. Lyndy is equally displeased to discover that his betrothed wants nothing to do with him, and startled to discover she had no notion of her father’s plan. The plot thickens when the vicar is found murdered, a guest is attacked, and a thoroughbred horse, money, and jewels go missing. As Lyndy and Stella begin to get to know one another, they also begin to work together to solve the mysteries at Morrington Hall. Overall, this is a cozy mystery, albeit with over-the-top, slightly unbelievable characters. Stella’s father is a bit of a caricature, and I found myself rolling eyes every time he spoke out of place or was yet again described as rude and vulgar. Stella is also meant to be an independent and charming heroine but comes across as more of a Regency maiden who needs rescuing from her verbally abusive father. In fact, much of the story reads more like a Regency romance and not Edwardian. The murder mystery itself though is interesting, with some unexpected twists and turns and a clever ending. This is McKenna’s debut novel and the first in her Stella and Lyndy Mystery series. Hopefully, her next one will have just as much quirkiness and fun, but with slightly more evened out characters. Rebecca Cochran

THE RIGHT SORT OF MAN

Allison Montclair, Minotaur, 2019, $26.99/ C$34.99, hb, 336pp, 9781250178367

Iris Sparks and Gwendolyn Bainbridge open The Right Sort Marriage Bureau in London after the end of WWII. Iris is short and intensely practical, experienced with knives, guns and other ways to d i s a b l e opponents, having fought behind the lines in occupied Europe. Gwendolyn is tall, elegant, and the young widow of a man from a wealthy, titled family. Neither have any apparent qualifications for running a marriage bureau. In the beginning, clients are few. Then Tillie LaSalle walks in looking for a husband. Iris and Gwen agree that accountant Dickie Trower would be a perfect match for her. A date is arranged, but sadly Dickie gets a letter cancelling the date. Later Tillie is found murdered. Dickie is arrested and thrown in jail

for the murder. Iris and Gwen go in search of the real killer and find themselves in a world of spies, black marketeers, forgers – and a killer. Montclair has drawn some of the most interesting characters – intriguing, unusual yet totally believable – to populate this novel. Archie, Sally, Mister Tolbert, Lady Carolyne and Mrs. Dowd are almost Dickensian in their spot-on authenticity and aptness for their environment. The plot moves quickly, well-paced with unexpected twists. There are moments of light-heartedness and moments of deep emotion, adding depth and dimension and lifting this book well out of the field of runof-the-mill historical mysteries. The dialogue is fast-paced and funny, with some of the best one-liners I’ve seen in a novel. And throughout the voice and tone are – well – cheeky. Irreverent. A lot of books start that way and then hit the doldrums. It’s hard to maintain it over 300-plus pages. Montclair succeeds, while varying it strategically for the deeper moments. I’ll be first in line for her next book. Valerie Adolph

THE FLIGHT PORTFOLIO

Julie Orringer, Knopf, 2019, $27.95/C$36.95, hb, 553pp, 9780307959409

In 1940, Varian Fry, American scholar and historian, arrives in Marseilles from New York facing an impossible task: pry a handful of gifted refugees out of Vichy France and get them to safety. These unfortunates, mostly stateless Jews, belong to the intellectual and artistic cream of Europe—Marc Chagall, André Breton, and Walter Benjamin, for starters. But the collaborationist Vichy regime would just as soon deliver them to their German overlords, and American officialdom, patently anti-Semitic, wants no part of saving anyone. The first hundred pages or so of The Flight Portfolio will take your breath away. Orringer writes like a Muse, and she immerses the reader in wartime Marseilles, the perilous, clandestine work, the constant obstacles, and how out of touch Varian’s stateside supervisors are. She also pays heed to the moral problem of rescuing luminaries while leaving ordinary innocents to die. But after the first hundred pages and before the last hundred, the novel loses its way. Though each rescue poses unique obstacles, the process resembles a revolving door—a refugee enters, gets stuck, exits, and another one comes along. To add context, Orringer invents Elliott Grant, a former lover of Varian’s from their Harvard days. Renewing their affair shows Varian that he empathizes with the refugees, in part, because he too must live underground, as a bisexual man. Fair enough; but he takes forever to grasp this, and when he finally does, the earth fails to move. It’s as though saving lives from murderous bigotry weren’t enough, and that what really matters, the point of the whole exercise, is a love affair. Consequently, I suspect that historical fiction fans will enjoy the descriptions but soon

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lose patience; I think this is a book for literary readers who enjoy prose above all.

Larry Zuckerman

PRAIRIE FEVER

Michael Parker, Algonquin, 2019, $26.95, hb, 320pp, 9781616208530

Set between the wars, Elise Stewart is a fifteen-year-old dreamer living on the rough Oklahoma prairie with her down-to-earth sister Lorena, 17, who is ready to head out for life beyond Lone Wolf, Oklahoma, but still finds one thing that might keep her home. That one thing is Gus McQueen, the new schoolteacher, who is only a few years older than Lorena. But for now, Lorena and Elise share everything: a cot on cold nights in their attic room, makebelieve games and skits, a fondness for the local news, and a sisterly bond that should have survived anything. But when Elise skips school and rides off in a blizzard on Sandy—her horse of mystical powers (he routinely makes secret visits to the seashore)—she puts not only her own life in jeopardy but also those of Gus and Lorena. When they find her, near death, in the snow, Elise will realize later that that was the moment “Lorena had chosen Gus over her sister, with whom she had shared a skin and sky.” Eventually, Gus comes to his own revelation, and instead of marrying Lorena, he marries Elise. Parker explores the fragile bonds that hold sisters together in the second half of this lyrical and meditative character examination. Through letters written by Elise to Lorena by way of Sandy (long dead), and Lorena to Elise, by way of former schoolmate Edith Gotswegon, readers are brought into the internal struggles of their attempts at reconciliation. There are moments of genuine tenderness and wit (Lorena’s snarky note that “unlike some others… who write cryptic letters to deceased livestock” and Elise’s general outlook on life, which many considered a bit “off”). A slowburning beginning may have some shutting the book, but patience is rewarded. Bryan Dumas

THE REDEEMED

Tim Pears, Bloomsbury, 2019, £16.99, hb, 382pp, 9781526601025 / Bloomsbury, 2019, $29.00, hb, 382pp, 9781635573824

The Redeemed follows the lives of two main characters during and after World War I. Leo Sercombe starts the book as a ship’s boy aboard the battleship Queen Mary, heading out to sea and, unbeknownst to him, to the Battle of Jutland, while Lottie Prideaux seeks to take

advantage of the new opportunities that war has brought young women and studies to be a vet. When the war ends, both use the skills they have learned to build lives for themselves in a changing world, while longing to return to one another. The novel explores themes of love and loss, war and peace, and the desire for a life in which individuals can be true to their selves and their emotions, free from the expectations of class and gender. The descriptions of life on board ship, and Leo’s subsequent experience as a diver salvaging parts of the German fleet in Scapa Flow, are vivid and exciting. Lottie’s experiences as she trains, and then builds up her veterinary practice, despite setbacks, are fascinating and moving. Above all, Pears’ evocation of a world on the brink of a huge change in the years after World War I – the countryside on the cusp of mechanisation, old patriarchal and aristocratic relationships starting to evolve into something new – is both wistful and hopeful. Although the third in a trilogy, The Redeemed stands in its own right. It is a beautiful, elegiac novel, written with great sensitivity and delicacy. Highly recommended. Charlotte Wightwick

THE LAST THING YOU SURRENDER

Leonard Pitts, Jr., Agate Bolden, 2019, $17.00/ C$25.50, pb, 511pp, 9781572842458

Private George Simon of Mobile, Alabama, is introduced to war in 1942 when his ship is attacked at Pearl Harbor. Badly injured and trapped in a f l o o d i n g compartment as his ship overturns, George is saved by a black messman he knows only as Gordy, who falls to his own death while they make their way to the ship’s upturned hull. The Navy hopes to center a public relations campaign on George and his rescuer’s widow to encourage more blacks to enlist. Thelma Gordy and her brother Luther Hayes vehemently reject the notion. The siblings have a good reason for their anger— their parents were lynched when they were children, but the man who led the all-white mob was never prosecuted. Despite her initial distaste, Thelma and George strike up an unlikely correspondence. Luther joins the Army rather than go to jail. Mankind is full of contradictions. We can love and honor friends and kin, but simultaneously dehumanize—even slaughter—‘others.’ The best novelists tease those paradoxes from carefully drawn characters with stirring dialogue and ripping good plots relevant to

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

today. With a Pulitzer Prize in Commentary, Leonard Pitts, Jr. is clearly a great writer, and The Last Thing You Surrender is a superb historical novel. Mr. Pitts presents lucky readers with a sweeping view of World War II’s melting pot, when people who had lived in bubbles all their lives were confronted with new realities. With so many young white men gone to war, skilled manufacturing jobs were available to blacks and women, though not without a struggle in many places. Some black soldiers fought along whites, and soldiers from the country and big cities got to know each other. Though much of The Last Thing You Surrender is grim, this is a story of redemption and acceptance. Thoroughly recommended. Jo Ann Butler

DAISY JONES & THE SIX

Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine, 2019, $27.00, hb, 368pp, 9781524798628 / Hutchinson, 2019, £12.99, hb, 368pp, 9781786331502

A story about a rock band that climbs to the top of the charts in the Seventies, attaining iconic status, only to fall apart spectacularly, is the subject of the unputdownable Daisy Jones & the Six. Opening in 1965, the story follows Daisy Jones, a singer who could never catch a break, in part due to her troubled past and stubborn disregard for authority, and a rock group called The Six, a group of six musicians who, while on the road to success, teamed up and discovered something extraordinary. However, what made them work as a band also contributed to their eventual downfall. Although the novel is fascinating in its own right, with a cast of wholly original characters, the storyline is advanced tremendously because of the way it is told: the entire book is an “interview” in the style of Rolling Stone, with an unnamed interviewer and the band members, some forty years after the breakup. The voices of the band members who are being interviewed are remarkably authentic and distinct. As the characters are reliving their time in the band and telling their individual stories, the reader is pulled into the messy conflicts. What is so intriguing is how each of their perspectives is just a little different from the others; two band members will tell two different versions of the same story, which mirrors human nature. It is also quite impressive that the author wrote lyrics to all the songs mentioned in the book; although the reader will never hear the actual music and melodies, the lyrics are a poetic P.S. The book is multilayered with a twist at the

end that ties everything together. For anyone interested in what goes on behind the scenes of a (albeit fictional) rock band, this is the perfect read. Hilary Daninhirsch

THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK

Kim Michele Richardson, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2019, $25.99, hb, 320pp, 9781492691631 / $15.99, pb, 320pp, 9781492671527 / HarperCollins Canada, 2019, C$22.99, pb, 320pp, 9781443458658

“‘Right there’ll do it.’ Pa fussed one last time with the slide on the courting candle, then finally placed the timekeeper on the table in front of my rocker and the empty seat beside me.” Troublesome Creek, Kentucky. 1936. “There didn’t seem to be much marriage prospect for the last female of blue mountainfolk,” says narrator Cussy Mary. But Mary’s father, a coal miner whose days are running short, intends to see his nineteen-year-old daughter settled. She resists, for if she marries she will lose her job as a Pack Horse Librarian, carrying books to the hillfolk of “Kaintuck,” and her work is all the security she needs and the only life she wants. Her patrons, poor and uneducated, and many starving to death, relish the books she brings. And despite the hereditary blue skin that renders their “Book Woman” an untouchable in town, they love and respect her. By depicting the struggles of a woman whose skin tones range from sky blue to cobalt, author Kim Michele Richardson lays bare the lengths to which Mary is willing to go in order to be accepted, and the prejudice and meanness that underlie her shunning by neighbors and co-workers. Richardson skillfully allows her narrator, without self-pity or boasting, to reveal both the pain of her loneliness and the will and compassion that enable her to survive in Troublesome Creek and even flourish as she makes her solitary rounds through Kentucky’s treacherous hills. Richardson, a master of phrase, cadence, and imagery, once again delivers a powerful yet heartfelt story that gives readers a privileged glimpse into an impoverished yet rigidly hierarchical society, this time by shining a light on the courageous, dedicated women who brought books and hope to those struggling to survive on its lowest rung. Strongly recommended. Rebecca Kightlinger

DISTANT SIGNS

Anne Richter, Neem Tree Press, 2019, £14.99, hb, 226pp, 9781911107088

This nicely produced book explores, across three generations, the situation of two German families during the years immediately following the end of World War Two. As Europe struggled to recover from the ravages of Hitler’s Reich it was, arguably, the citizens of East Berlin who bore the brunt of

the damage. While the Wall separated West from East, isolating one community from the other, the inadequate supplies flown into the East barely fed the deprived families in that area, who found their survival and recovery increasingly threatened and hampered by international politics. The storylines focus on three couples caught in East Berlin at that time. The youngest couple, Margret and Hans, is at the start of a relationship made complicated and difficult by their situation, while Hans’s parents, Lena and Erwin, and Martha’s, Johanna and Friedrich, having reached middle age, encounter the ageing process in a world that differs hugely from their expectations. Anne Richter writes elegantly and sympathetically about her characters and skilfully suggests the murky chill that pervades their environment and that is possibly responsible for their often bleak relationships. Even family events that promise a glimmer of warmth seem to twist away into often bitter exchanges. Although the families have concern, respect and an understanding of one another, they seem unable to express feelings of simple affection. As time runs on and life continues to deliver complications and difficulties for one or another of our family members, extending now into the new generation with Hans and Margret’s child, Sonja, we must accept the ambience the writer has created, smell the fumes from aircraft engines, and duck, as they roar relentlessly overhead. This novel is a quietly compelling definition of collateral damage. I look forward to reading Anne Richter’s second novel. Julia Stoneham

GRACELAND

Bethan Roberts, Chatto & Windus, 2019, £12.99, hb, 423pp, 9781784742485

From the moment she first holds him, after his twin brother is stillborn, Gladys Presley loves her son ferociously. This is a love which is fully reciprocated by Elvis. The book opens in 1957 at Graceland, where Gladys prevents the chairman of the local draft board from personally delivering his draft induction papers to Elvis. This incident illustrates just how overprotective Gladys was towards Elvis. The story moves between 1937 and 1958 in a series of small, readable chapters which form a counterpoint between his early life-skirting poverty in Tupelo, Mississippi, and the wealth and lifestyle that fame as a pop superstar brings. In the background, there is another story – of drinking and diet pills, loneliness and loss. When Elvis finds success, he buys Graceland primarily for his mother, although he puts his individual stamp and taste on the house. He hopes the house will give her the security and happiness she so desperately craves. As his success grows, the demands of Hollywood keep him away from his home and parents,

and he fails to notice her slow physical deterioration. The book ends with Gladys Presley’s death from acute hepatitis and severe liver damage, leaving Elvis at the height of his success without his emotional anchor. The relationship between mother and son can be very intense. Despite all the emotional turmoil of Elvis’ early life, there is little depth of explanation on how this affected him. I would have liked to read about the effect on Elvis’ life after his mother’s death, and the effect on his relationship with other women, especially on his marriage. One for Elvis fans. Mike Ashworth

THE ROAD TO GRANTCHESTER

James Runcie, Bloomsbury, 2019, $28.00/£14.99, hb, 336pp, 9781635570588

England, 1938. Eighteen-year-old Sidney Chambers’ life is filled with “study, friendship, peace and parties,” but that changes when WWII begins and Sidney and his best friend, Robert Kendall, enlist. Robert is the hero who leads the way into battle while cracking jokes and who always gets the girls. Self-deprecating Sidney is quieter and more thoughtful. When Robert is killed in battle, Sidney must cope with his own grief while acting as substitute son to the Kendall family. His decision to be ordained comes as a shock to everyone, especially Amanda, Robert’s sister, who blames God for her brother’s death. Runcie sheds light on the complex motivations that lead people to repeat the same mistakes despite their better judgement. Sidney is a compelling protagonist, and his gradual realization of his calling is believably rendered, as are the objections of his family and friends. As he begins his ministry, the gap between his new life and his old widens, leading to loneliness and a strong drive to help others. This is a psychologically astute character study and a poignant meditation on the legacy of war. Watching a group of young folk singers after the war, Sidney and a fellow veteran wonder if the new generation will understand the sacrifices they made. Sidney says, “I’m sure they’ll have a few questions. They won’t just be grateful.” Fans of the PBS series will devour this prequel. Clarissa Harwood

THE ROCKING STONE

Jill Rutherford, Little Wren Press, 2018, $11.99, pb, 240pp, 9780956967985

The novel opens with a newspaper article from 1973: in Pontypridd in Welsh mining country, a skeleton is found in an abandoned well, with a Miner’s Federation card dated 1934 (though its owner disappeared before the General Strike). What follows is the story of miner’s daughter Kate, told in the first person, starting in 1906 when she is a child. Though Kate dreams of a life beyond the pits, she is pursued by two brothers. Engaged to be married to Tom, calamity strikes weeks

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before their wedding, but Kate keeps what has happened to her secret, and works hard at her marriage despite the antagonism of her mother-in-law. Unguarded words in an argument lead to a chain of events in which Kate comes to suspect her husband of murder. Rutherford’s depiction of life in this nowvanished mining community is impressive, to the degree that sometimes the book reads like a memoir, or like the protagonist’s interview with a social historian. This is both a strength and a weakness, for often Kate simply recounts a series of events, without giving much away of her emotional reaction, leading to a sense that the book needs to go deeper – the point where intimacy in the marriage finally ends is one example. There is the odd anachronism: two young men are caught making love (why in the parlour?), and whilst this leads to a split in the family, there is no suggestion that they were also, at that time, breaking the law. Where the novel really comes alive is in Rutherford’s dialogue, and in her gift for description; I particularly liked the image of the rows of miners’ cottages seen from a hillside compared by Kate to a marching band. The twist at the end is extremely satisfying, and hints at a sequel. Katherine Mezzacappa

BUSARA ROAD

David Hallock Sanders, New Door, 2019, $16.95, pb, 286pp, 9780999550120

Soon after the death of his mother, 11-yearold Mark Morgan relocates with his father, Reece, from Philadelphia to Kwetu Quaker Mission in Kenya. Distant from his father because of grief and Reece’s travel and work schedule, Mark must fend for himself in an environment of red dust and shimmering green jungle, screeching birds and bleating goats, smells of dung and smoke and sweat. Mark makes new friends at the mission school – storyteller Raymond (Radio), ruffian Darrell, and emotionally scarred and mercurial Layla. He takes a job at the post office/general store/barber and auto repair shop Industrial Center, and learns the dangers of the still waters of Mwezi, the subtleties of bargaining for goat’s milk, the meaning of the scrape of the rhinoceros, and the characteristics of his spirit animal, the leopard, from houseman/ cook Chege. Mark’s story is one of adventure and discovery, friendship and enmity. His education moves beyond books and blackboards to recent Kenyan history: the remains of the Kazi camp of huts and torture pits where Radio was born and spent the first six years of his life, the actions of Kenyan Home Guard loyal to British colonial rule, and freedom fighter Mau Mau during the Kenyan Emergency of the 1960s. Mark experiences the warmth and exuberance of Kenyan family and friends as they celebrate Jamhuri Independence Day and witnesses the flash of retribution exacted on an oppressor. His time on Busara Road is an 50

awakening not only for him, but for readers as well. K. M. Sandrick

THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN

Lisa See, Scribner, 2019, $27.00, hb, 384pp, 9781501154850 / Scribner UK, 2019, £14.99, hb, 384pp, 9781471183812

Life for women in Jeju, a remote Korean island, is very different than in other places. Here women are the b re a d w i n n e r s , working outside the home, while the men watch children, cook, and keep the house. From generation to generation, mothers teach their daughters to respect and honor the life-giving (and sometimes dangerous) ocean as they are trained to be haenyeo, divers who harvest seafood to sell at the market. Young-sook and Mi-ja, an orphan with a troubled past, meet as young girls when they begin their diving training. The two become friends, almost as close as sisters, and dream about what life has in store for them. They both become accomplished divers, marry, and have children. Their world is rapidly changing, though, and their lives, once so intertwined, are about to be pulled apart. The formerly peaceful village becomes a violent place during WWII and the years following, as it is occupied first by Japanese and later by American soldiers. On a night when the violence becomes deadly, Young-sook begs for her friend’s help, but Mija refuses, an act of betrayal that ends their friendship. My favorite historical novels introduce me to new things and make me want to learn more. See’s story is complemented by detailed research on haenyeo culture. The reader is pulled into a rich, complex society lead by strong, passionate women. The descriptions of diving and village life are beautifully detailed and engaging. The relationships between female friends and family members are loving and complicated. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time. Janice Derr

THE MURMUR OF BEES

Sofia Segovia (trans. Simon Bruni), AmazonCrossing, 2019, $24.95, hb, 537pp, 9781542040495

From his birth in 1910, it is clear there is something unusual about Simonopio Morales. It isn’t just the birth defect which disfigures the infant’s face and robs him of speech – when old Nana Reja finds the little boy abandoned under a bridge in Linares, Mexico, Simonopio

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

is blanketed by bees. Though some mutter that the child was disfigured by the devil’s kiss (or the devil himself) the Morales Cortéz family, a prosperous farming clan, adopts Simonopio to raise as their own. Over the ensuing years, the family witnesses marvelous events. Some, like the Spanish Flu of 1917, the 1910 Revolution’s land seizures, or a tenant’s jealousy, prove more tangible threats than demonic possession. Through it all, Simonopio repays the Morales’ kindness many times over: tending the ancient woman who rescued him or retrieving young Francisco Morales when he strays. It’s clear that there is far more to Simonopio than the swarm of bees which follows him everywhere – the Morales have a protector with near-supernatural abilities. The Murmur of Bees, an award-winning novel by Mexican author Sofia Segovia, intrigues from the start. Ms. Segovia combines a subtly magical atmosphere and unique, yet believable characters with kinetic narration to craft a story with broad appeal. I particularly loved Ms. Segovia’s vivid depiction of northeastern Mexico, letting this reader explore the area’s pastoral farms and rocky hillsides with Simonopio and his murmuring bees. You will enjoy The Murmur of Bees too! Jo Ann Butler

LOUISE’S CROSSING

Sarah R. Shaber, Severn House, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 208pp, 9780727888624

Louise’s Crossing is the seventh in Shaber’s mystery series featuring Louise Pearlie, a widow stationed in Washington, DC, working for the OSS during World War II. In this outing, she’s been transferred to London, so almost the entire book takes place on the crossing to England, on the SS Amelia Earhart in February 1944. The ship wasn’t designed as a passenger ship, so although it carries a small group of civilians, its cargo is primarily wartime vehicles and artillery. It’s a motley crew of civilians sailing with Louise: a British widow returning home, a Dutch family, a salesman for the American Rubber Company, a nurse, and an Irishman returning to the homeland to retire. Days into their journey, Grace Bell, the African American ship’s stewardess, is found dead at the bottom of the stairs, in what looks like an accident. Louise’s OSS training kicks in, and she believes Grace was murdered. Shaber has expertly captured the ship’s claustrophobic atmosphere with the added tension of fear of attack by German submarines. Louise is dismissed by the ship’s master as a hysterical female, and conditions are primitive, with freezing cabins and canned food. Wartime privations make people desperate, and Louise must figure out who has the most to lose. The strengths of the story are its setting and characters. I could feel how cold, scared, and uncomfortable Louise was on this ship, but also how she had become emboldened by her war work to be assured of her capabilities and press on with her investigation. She’s a character worth following, so I’ll look for her

earlier adventures and look forward to the next. Ellen Keith

GREENHORNS

Richard Slotkin, Leapfrog Press, 2018, $16.95/ C$20.50, pb, 181pp, 9781935248996

The seven short stories in this collection, garnered from the family remembrances of a number of Slotkin’s acquaintances, concern that oft-covered trope: the Jewish experience in America, newly arrived from the horrors of Eastern Europe. Slotkin captures the voice like no one I’ve ever read before; the multiple voices, in fact. Those who went to gymnasium in the old country and cling to high culture as to a life raft as well as those who lived handto-mouth, here and there. Usually, in such tales, the pogroms are merely referred to: “They were horrible. May you never see such times.” Or they can be given the equal gloss: “We survived and are now all normal.” Which can give the lie to the reputed horrors. The penultimate story gives us both a description of an attack and of the lives that must go on afterward. To call them normal and saved does them a disservice. The story of “Uncle Max and Cousin Yossi” is marred only by too many characters, characters we cannot and should not remember, and characters of the normal variety, everyone cramming into the family photo. The final story, “Greenhorn Nation: A History in Jokes,” speaks to the immigrant, the greenhorn in all of us, even those who came in earlier waves. I recommend this book, even to those who think you’ve read enough in the genre. Ann Chamberlin

A SEASON OF GRACE

Lauraine Snelling, Bethany House, 2018, $15.99, pb, 320pp, 9780764218989

1910: Norwegian immigrant Nilda Carson and her brother Ivar are settling into their new life in Minnesota, with their brother Rune and his growing family. They work the farm, raise pigs, sheep, and cows, can food for the long winter ahead, and try to learn English. Things are settling down after the death of Uncle Einar, and life runs on an even keel. Nilda is offered a job, a chance at advancement, by a wealthy businesswoman. Ivar and Nilda even attend a social in the town of Blackduck, but Nilda’s composure is shattered when a man who attempted to assault her in Norway makes an appearance. Dreng says he has turned over a new leaf and wants to make amends. Can she forgive him? Should she? This is the third in a trilogy, and it would no doubt be a little easier to understand all the characters and relationships if one had read the previous two volumes. Eventually things sorted themselves out and became clear to me. I confess some of the writing, although competent enough, seemed a tad flat to me; despite the accurate and obviously well-researched period details, I yearned for more vivid sensory descriptions to really

involve me with the characters. However, the heartwarming portrayal of family life lends appeal, Nilda’s struggle is certainly relatable, and readers who like inspirational novels, sweet reads, and pioneer settings will no doubt enjoy this novel. Susan McDuffie

THE YEAR THE SWANS CAME

Barbara Spencer, Amazon, 2018, £3.99, ebook, 385pp, 9781789016116

In a town still recovering from the aftermath of invaders, Magrit aka “Maidy” is turning 16, an age heralding womanhood. However, birthdays haven’t been very joyous since the disappearance of her older brother Pieter six years ago. On the morning of her birthday, a flock of swans arrive, which villagers consider an ill omen. Then at school, Maidy and best friend Ruth meet four handsome new students. Another surprise awaits Maidy when she returns home, her brother Pieter! Ruth and Pieter begin courting, but harsh truths involving Ruth, Pieter, and the four mysterious students will crumble the foundations of Maidy’s world and uncover a long-forgotten magical curse. In an “Ask the Author” question, Spencer shares that her book is set in 1951-1952 in Holland, which makes sense though isn’t otherwise mentioned. The literary allusions about life and the world are quite lovely. Spencer has unique ways to describe the setting, which I relished. However, there are awkward phrases, too, one example being “don’t let’s fall out.” Fantasy elements are sparse, but the plot has plenty of twists to keep readers engaged. Characterwise, though, Maidy has a severe case of “doormat” syndrome—letting everyone walk over her. Maidy also justifies the unhealthy relationships ruining her family dynamic. While Maidy’s own reflections call out this fact, pondering her part in the tragic play she’s found herself in, her lack of influence on the plot undermines character development. Ruth has an interesting backstory, but it’s never realized and only used to poorly excuse her behavior. The ending is sudden, and I was left wondering why a significant moment hinged on superficial words instead of genuine feelings. It makes one character’s plotline too simplistic. While the book lacks relatable characters, its prose is beautiful. Spencer is a word artist, painting settings with expert pen strokes. J. Lynn Else

GUM MOON

Jeffrey L. Staley, Jeffrey L. Staley, 2018, $18.95, pb, 350pp, 9781732244504

Gum Moon, Cantonese for ‘Golden Gate,’ indicates the setting for most of this illuminating novel about the slavery of Chinese girls in San Francisco from late in the 19th century to the early 20th century. It

follows Chun, later called Maud, from her sale at the age of three in 1898 to her early teens. Chun’s mother is forced by poverty to sell her to a brothel owner where Chinese girls sold into slavery must serve men. Chun is too young for this, but even at age three, she must work, often beaten and always hungry, cleaning the house. But there are missionary societies funded by congregations in the eastern U.S., who struggle to save as many young Chinese girls as they can. In a dangerous manoeuver Chun is liberated. She is re-named Maud and raised and educated among a group of Chinese girls in an environment of white people where she learns English and becomes literate, Christian, and a skilled pianist. However, when their large house is destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, the girls face a terrifying trek to safety. Soon afterwards they form a choir and head east to raise money to build a replacement house. Travelling by rail they tour the northern U.S. with one teacher and Chun/Maud as accompanist. This tour, with all its ups and downs—including a meeting with President Roosevelt—is told mostly in a young girl’s voice. This is fiction, but it’s based on the experiences of a relative of the author and on missionary society records. I found it an engrossing read but not a comfortable one. The story, from the filth and debauched cruelty of the brothel, to the President’s office, to the boredom of a child on a long train ride, is told with honesty and perception. Highly recommended. Valerie Adolph

SCENES FROM THE HEARTLAND

Donna Baier Stein, Serving House, 2019, $15.00, pb, 152pp, 9781947175105

Donna Baier Stein has embarked on an intriguing mission in Scenes from the Heartland: imagining stories around artworks by Missouri’s Thomas Hart Benton, a “Regionalist” artist whose popularity peaked pre-World War II with works depicting everyday Midwestern life. And what a bleak and joyless struggle that life could be, judging from Stein’s tales. Her characters are hard-working, hard-drinking country folk prone to jealousy, violence, misogyny, racism—you know, the same issues we face today. Stein’s simple, stark, onlyoccasionally-lyrical prose fits well with the book’s themes, as well. In the opening tale, Stein portrays the petty rivalries and hypocrisies small-town life so often engenders—and notes the leveling effect of tragedy. Her protagonist, Martha, is a schoolteacher consumed with jealousy and resentment toward the town’s attractive rich widow, Zula. It’s to Stein’s credit that Martha seems mean-spirited until we meet Zula and discover that we don’t like her much, either. In the closing story, a small-town servicestation attendant struggling with guilt over his mother’s death marries out of his league

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and pays the price. People wonder why Ruby, a beautiful, wild, Daddy’s girl from the city, would fall for Arthur, a small-town fellow with little money and even less ambition, and so do we—but Ruby’s attraction is never explained. In fact, her character remains an enigma to us and to Arthur even after four years of marriage. In this book Stein comes close, but doesn’t quite breathe life into her characters. The tales feel plot-driven, the characters flat. We learn little about them, or at least not enough to make them complex and ambivalent, which is what humans are. For her next work, I would advise Stein: dig deeper. Tell us more. Just because Midwesterners are known as taciturn doesn’t mean you have to be, too. Sherry Jones

NIGHT WATCH

David C. Taylor, Severn House, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 304pp, 9780727999679

Manhattan, 1956. Holocaust survivor, Leon Dudek, is found murdered a short distance from his Central Park horse carriage. Police believe that Dudek was killed by two people – but why? A happily married man jumps out of a hotel window – but why? His colleagues claim he was depressed, but his family denies any sign of depression. Who are these colleagues? Michael Cassidy is a New York cop, sharp and smart but haunted by dreams. Soon he learns that someone is trying to kill him – but why? Cassidy begins to understand that all these events are connected. Through a series of seemingly unrelated events, including the kidnapping and drugging of his brother, Brian, a television news anchor with a sterling reputation, Cassidy unravels a complex plot which originates at the highest levels of the federal government. The author’s note provides deep background about the factual underpinnings of the dramatic events in this noir thriller. This is the third book in the Night series, but I had no problem getting into the story and felt a deep connection to the characters and locales. It certainly helped that I’m a New Yorker, born and raised – I enjoyed the tour of 1950s Manhattan and seeing that world through the eyes of Cassidy and the other characters. A gritty, fast-paced and fascinating glimpse into a post-war world where sometimes what you believe just can’t be true really is true. Ilysa Magnus

THE LAST PIER

Roma Tearne, Aardvark Bureau, 2019, $15.95/£8.99, pb, 336pp, 9781910709306

Cecily Maudsley is a young teenager living in her family’s farmhouse in southeastern England in the summer of 1939. The youngest of the family, she wants to be a writer and is determined to observe everything, although she does not understand most of it. She follows and spies on her beautiful older sister, Rose, aware of her trysts with several of the local 52

men. However, she is not aware of the complex relationships between her father, her mother and her aunt, and how these involve her. Nor is she aware of her mother’s relationship with Lucio, Italian part-owner of an ice cream shop in the nearby village of Bly. Cecily herself loves Carlo, Lucio’s nephew, but while Carlo speaks kindly to her, he is dazzled by the allure of Rose. Throughout that beautiful summer, with its rumours of spies and counter spies and the threat of war, Cecily’s family plan a grand outdoor party at the farm. The Italian family start to worry about what might happen to them if Italy joins the Germans in the war. Their daughter and the Maudsleys’ son are in love. All this is remembered by Cecily as she returns to the farm almost 30 years later, a psychological wreck after being blamed for Rose’s death. Much has changed in the village, but older people remember. Tearne writes evocatively of the English countryside that glorious but foreboding summer. Her descriptions of fields, hedgerows, garden flowers are full of nostalgia and beauty. The relationships as observed by young Cecily and their implications are not always clear to the reader. Cecily’s voice conveys the complicating innocence of childhood – part sure of itself, part unsure, and always vulnerable and prone to misinterpretation. As an adult, her understanding of the secrets and truths may still be incomplete. Valerie Adolph

AMERICAN PRINCESS

Stephanie Marie Thornton, Berkley, 2019, $16.00/C$22.00, pb, 448pp, 9780451490902

Alice Roosevelt Longworth—the name itself is enough to capture the attention of readers interested in fictional biographies. Thornton’s gem of a telling journeys from the Adirondack Mountains to the White House to the Far East and gives a thorough account of the p o l i t i c a l landscape of early 20th century America. Spanning eight decades, it covers Alice’s outrageous antics as a teenager and young adult, followed by her troubled family life and complicated friendships. The heart of her relationship woes begins with her father, President Theodore Roosevelt, who had lost his wife and mother on the very same day—left only with newborn baby Alice. After her father’s second marriage, she was the half-sibling of the family and always the black sheep. She feels like an outsider, and one can surmise her non-conforming personality grew from the state of her upbringing, and her father’s emotional coping method of keeping her at an

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

arm’s length. Alice’s strained relationship with her cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt, seems a central theme as the story repeatedly circles back to scenes between the women, with Alice comparing herself to her saintly rival. Character dynamics aren’t the only offering from this tome; Edwardian societal rules followed by the New England elite are also of interest, as well as a thought-provoking look at the media when it consisted of only newspapers, magazines, and the occasional black-and-white photograph—so different from journalism today, yet alike in some ways. For those not versed in the political scene in the 1910s, it is both enlightening and entertaining. Readers who enjoy sweeping family sagas will devour this novel with its feisty protagonist and host of well-known historical figures. It comes highly recommended—especially those looking for a fresh viewpoint of the muchbeloved President Theodore Roosevelt. Arleigh Ordoyne

LILY’S HOME FRONT

Hillary Tiefer, Moonshine Cove, 2018, $14.99, pb, 270pp, 9781945181450

Lily is a young Jewish girl living in Oregon during World War II. To help with the war effort, she works as a welder to help make parts for ships. Lily is as passionate about her boyfriend, Jim, as she is about her contributions to the war efforts. She also calls out injustice wherever she sees it and has no tolerance for intolerance. Although Lily loves Jim, who has enlisted in the war, the two of them have what might be an insurmountable difference: they are of two different religions. Jim is reluctant to reveal to his family that Lily is Jewish, though neither family is happy about the match. Jim’s brother is outright anti-Semitic, which drives a wedge between Jim and Lily. The novel traces the course of their relationship and highlights the issue of bigotry against the backdrop of a devastating war. Lily is headstrong and outspoken, even willing to sacrifice friendships and love for the sake of her beliefs. In an era when both women and Jews were devalued, she is a refreshing heroine. The conflict between the families and the blatant religious prejudice on both sides was painful to read but was reflective of the times. Both adults and young adults alike can enjoy this book, as it has an interesting storyline and a powerful underlying message. Hilary Daninhirsch

THE DRAGON LADY

Louisa Treger, Bloomsbury Caravel, 2019, £16.99/$26.00, hb, 306pp, 9781448217397

This novel is a blend of fact and fiction. Its central character is Lady Virginia Courtauld, called the Dragon Lady because of the exotic tattoo snaking up her leg. The story begins with Virginia (“Ginie”) being shot in her garden in Rhodesia in the 1950s, and then jumps back in time to different stages of her life: meeting Stephen Courtauld; what they did during the war; and how they became involved in the

struggle for black rights. As well as moving around in time and space, the events are also viewed through the perspective of Catherine, a teenage girl who is witness to the dramatic shooting. Ginie is a vital character, an unconventional challenger of the status quo who paradoxically still longs for acceptance. We see her mortified by her social mistakes and also unable to understand the casual acceptance all around her have of the belief that the black people were somehow inferior. Robert Mugabe appears in the novel as a part of the early movement for civil rights, and the Courtauld couple are warned, “Helping the Africans isn’t going to make you popular”. Ginie is not perfect, but a dynamic character who wants to do her bit to challenge injustice, and it made me want to explore more about the real person. The novel asks a key question, still so relevant today: ‘Why couldn’t black and white people co-exist gently, with respect for each other’s differences?” Why not indeed? Ann Northfield

STANLEY AND ELSIE Nicola Upson, Duckworth, 2019, £10.99, hb, 366pp, 9780715653685

Stanley and Elsie is the story of the artist Stanley Spencer, told mostly through the eyes of his housekeeper, Elsie Munday. It focuses on the period in the 1920s when he was painting the interior of the Sandham Memorial Chapel, a massive project which took almost ten years to complete. It also tells of Stanley’s complex personal life: his love for his wife, the painter Hilda Carline, and his obsession with another artist, Patricia Preece. Elsie herself is confidante to both husband and wife. She becomes a friend but as she matures she is increasingly outspoken in her views. Stanley’s conversations with Elsie give the reader an insight into his thought processes, both as a man and as a painter. The seventeen paintings that he paints in the chapel are designed as a memorial to one man who died in the First World War, but in Stanley’s hands they become a commentary on the War itself. They honour all who served, in whatever capacity (Stanley himself spent much of the War working as a medical orderly). The pictures are also a celebration of work as a valuable part of life. This is a continuing theme of the book – whether it is Stanley’s painting, Hilda’s gardening, or Elsie’s housework. But really this is a story of human frailties and the fragility of relationships. It is set against a background of postwar tension, in a world that has been stripped of all certainty. And it is told with a vivid sense of time and place that will stay with me for a long time. A recommended read. Karen Warren

MINKY WOODCOCK, THE GIRL WHO HANDCUFFED HOUDINI

Cynthia von Buhler, Titan Comics, 2018, $24.99/£21.99, hb, 112pp, 9781785863974

This stunning graphic novel will appeal not only to Houdini devotees but also to those who may discover, within in its luscious pages, an introduction to the captivating skills of its author and creator, Cynthia von Buhler. It is centred around Minky Woodcock, who works as the secretary of her father’s detective agency and wishes that he would give her a chance to do more. Iconic characters come and go, but Houdini endures, from one generation to the next, as one of the most vividly remembered celebrities of his time. Often the focus of theories and speculation, there has always been a plethora of works elaborating on his spellbinding performances, his relationships with his public and his effect on those close to him. This is a gloriously witty, touching and very beautifully produced book. Yes, it follows the criteria of a “comic book” in some respects, but its exquisite illustrations, immaculate draughtsmanship, colouration, and subtext hit whatever target it sets itself with astonishing assurance. This high-quality book is a “keeper”, a surprising and endearing publication which is a delight both to have and to hold. Whether one is fascinated by Houdini himself, or discovering for the first time the spells cast by Cynthia von Buhler, The Girl Who Handcuffed Houdini is a possession to treasure. Julia Stoneham

A DECEPTIVE DEVOTION

Iona Whishaw, Touchwood, 2019, $14.95/ C$16.95, pb, 378pp, 9781771513005

Lane Winslow, raised in Latvia, is fluent in both English and Russian. After a stint in the UK spy services, she has “retired” to the natural beauty of King’s Cove, British Columbia. Now Lane wants only to work on her wedding to the local constable, named Darling. In 1947, Vancouver and nearby territory are a magnet for Russians on the run from or chasing other Russians. Grandmotherly Countess Orlova, knowing not a word of English, arrives in Nelson to look for her longlost brother. Orlova solicits Lane to help—and pulls Lane back into her past of double agents and treachery. Soon after Orlova’s arrival, a local hunter turns up deep in the woods with

his throat slit, his rifle missing, and his horse spooked. A Russian lies dead in the Vancouver morgue of no apparent cause. Another older high-level Russian spy, Aptekar, makes his way from a gulag transport train to Canada and adds more complications. Lane and Darling take the lead in getting to the bottom of the multiple puzzles—while trying not to interfere with each other and keep their wedding plans on track. Whishaw knows the land, the language, and the people. She gives readers many interesting characters—Countess Orlova and Aptekar are two of the best. The plot lines play out from the late 1800s to 1947 in about 150 scenes that jump from King’s Cove and nearby Nelson to Moscow, London, Vladivostok, Vancouver, Ottawa, and places in between. But all the threads come together with considerable surprises and twists. Fans of Whishaw and Winslow will enjoy this 6th in the Lane Winslow Mysteries. G. J. Berger

THE QUINTLAND SISTERS

Shelley Wood, William Morrow, 2019, $15.99/ C$19.99, pb, 480pp, 9780062830901

In 1934 Ontario, the world’s first identical quintuplets were born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne, a poor French-Canadian farming family. These five tiny girls weighed in at a total of 13 lbs., 6 oz. The eyes of the world watched as the Quints struggled hourly then daily to survive. Dr. Defoe became famous for his role in delivering the girls and was lauded for their survival. For four months, these miracle babies were cared for by a team of nurses and caregivers in the small farmhouse without electricity and running water. Generators, incubators, and supplies were donated for the babies. Dr. Defoe took over control of the Quints and isolated them from the outside world. He built a special hospital nearby that provided electricity, water, and sanitary conditions, as well as administrative offices and housing for the nurses and caregivers. The parents and five older siblings remained in the old farmhouse, separated from the Quints. The parents were not allowed access to the girls, and battles over guardianship ensued. Shelley Wood tells the Quints’ story through the diary entries and letters of Emma, a fictional midwife, who stays on as a caregiver for their first five years. She also incorporates actual newspaper articles, revealing the tragic details of legal battles over guardianship, lucrative endorsements,

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and photo copyrights between the parents, Dr. Defoe, corporations, and the Ontario government, who took custody of the girls. Hundreds of journalists and photographers descend on the small community while Dr. Defoe places the Quints on display for the viewing pleasure of tens of thousands of tourists. This creates an economic boom for the area during the Great Depression while making the doctor a rich man. This captivating read reveals the greed and exploitation that worldwide fame can create, profoundly affecting the innocent lives of these children. I highly recommend this memorable novel. Janice Ottersberg

AMERICAN POP

Snowden Wright, Morrow, 2019, $26.99/ C$33.50, hb, 386pp, 9780062697745

“Southerners are only as good as their ability to tell a story,” writes Snowden Wright. His terrific novel American Pop proves Wright to be a good Southerner, indeed. This dark, rollicking saga breaks the rules by mixing non-fiction, fiction, and meta-fiction in a nonlinear, rags-to-riches-to-rags-again tale of the Forster family, the Mississippi dynasty ruling over the fictional Panola Cola kingdom, and does it so breezily and assuredly that one almost wonders why those silly rules ever existed in the first place. And yet: among the entitled Forsters, it’s difficult to find a character worth caring about. Points of view and timelines shift frequently and unpredictably, dropping plot threads—and what do they matter, anyway, when Wright has laced his book with spoilers revealing everyone’s fate in advance? Readers who prefer the traditional narrative arc may feel disappointed and even annoyed enough to abandon American Pop. Abandon, instead, your preconceived notions of what a novel should be and do, and you may find yourself, as I did, turning the pages eagerly to read Wright’s next story, and then the next, timeline and tension be damned. Along the way, you’ll learn curious and unflattering truths about upper-class white Southern culture (finally, an explanation for why so many Southern men have two last names!), get a smattering of quotes from real-life historians and biographers, and read vivid, inventive, intelligent writing that only sometimes feels self-indulgent, and even then ebulliently so. Your reward, at the end: a wonderful, “aha” ending and, if you’re like me, an almost irresistible desire to read the book again. Sherry Jones

MULTI-PERIOD

THE UNLIKELY OCCULTIST

Isobel Blackthorn, Creativia, 2018, $2.99, ebook, 322pp, B07KHN3N7B

In this biographical novel, 21st-century Australian librarian Heather Brown inherits the manuscript collection of a scholar working on the occult and learns of Alice Bailey, a 20th-century spiritualist hailed as the mother 54

of the New Age. As Heather makes her way through the collection, her skepticism turns to interest and then fascination with this bold, uncompromising woman who reminds Heather of the aunt she’s recently lost. Chapters on Heather’s reading progress, which sometimes summarize information, alternate with chapters that dramatize turning points in Bailey’s spiritual life, from her first contact with the guide who will dictate several of her books to her missionary work in India, her break with Theosophy to found her own school, and her inspiration for an organization to work for global peace. Adding interest to these scenes is the looming menace of Hitler, Alice’s worries about her health and her daughters, and a feud with a former student. In the end, Heather finds a surprising connection between Bailey and her own family that makes her wonder why Bailey isn’t better known, given that many of her works, including the school she founded, survive to the present day. The vivid scenes from Bailey’s point of view save the book from otherwise becoming a very interesting encyclopedia entry, and Blackthorn gives a human face to a woman whose vision for global peace and prosperity predated the United Nations and made her, in her own time, as influential as Annie Besant and Madame Blavatsky. While it leaves aside any discussion of her teachings to focus instead on Bailey’s life, Blackthorn’s book offers a fascinating portrait of a woman dismissed by mainstream thinkers and religions, a woman whose current obscurity is all the more poignant considering the grandeur of her ambitions and her hopes for a healed world. Misty Urban

THE GUEST BOOK

Sarah Blake, Flatiron, 2019, $27.99, hb, 496pp, 9781250239761

This is a multigenerational story of the wealthy Ogden family in America, from the Great Depression through World War II to the beginning of the 21st century. In the 1930s, Kitty and Milton Ogden are the golden couple with a seemingly perfect life. But when tragedy strikes, Milton buys Kitty an island and a house in Maine to mend the rift between them. This island will be passed through the generations, and by the beginning of the 21st century, Kitty and Milton’s granddaughter, Evie, struggles to preserve the crumbling Ogden family legacy. In doing so, family secrets from the past are revealed, changing Evie’s perception of her grandparents forever. While exploring the consequences of this long-held secret, Blake confronts timely themes of privilege and racism in the United States. The content is intriguing, and the characters are well drawn-out and realized. Unfortunately, for this reader, the novel is unsuccessful because of its mechanics. Because I love epic family sagas, I really wanted to like this book, but I found The Guest Book long and tedious. At almost 500 pages, it was often difficult for me to decipher the different storylines; the author bounces around in time and the chapters do not indicate what year

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

we’re in. It thus took time at the start of each chapter to orient myself. In addition, from the very beginning, I disliked Blake’s writing style, which also contributed to the book being difficult for me to get into. While other readers will probably praise the lyrical prose, I found her extremely long sentences distracting and pretentious, and ultimately, they did nothing to propel the narrative forward. Julia C. Fischer

ISLAND SONG

Madeleine Bunting, Granta, 2019, £12.99, pb, 385pp, 9781783784615

Island Song is set partly in the present day and partly during the Second World War. The main story features Helene, a young married woman living in Guernsey during the German Occupation. The island is cut off from the outside world, and she faces a constant struggle for survival, with food and other provisions increasingly hard to find; at the same time there is a lack of any news about her husband and brother, who are away fighting. The author uses Helene’s relationships with a German soldier and a Russian prisoner to explore the moral choices and dilemmas imposed by wartime and suffering. The contemporary story is that of Helene’s daughter Roz and her attempt to learn about her mother’s early life. During her research she meets Antoine, a French academic, who is looking for Nazi-looted artwork. It soon becomes apparent that their quests are connected. At first sight Island Song seems like a superior kind of Victoria Hislop, with a m o d e r n protagonist who visits an unknown place in search of family secrets. But there is more to it than that. There are parallels b e t w e e n Antoine’s pursuit of public justice and Roz’s need to know the truth about herself. When Antoine says that a country should not be allowed to choose “what to forget and what to remember,” he could equally be talking about personal history. But in practice both countries and individuals can – and do – pick and choose. I found this an interesting and multilayered novel, and I enjoyed the focus on Guernsey, whose wartime history is sometimes overlooked. Thoroughly recommended. Karen Warren

FRIENDS CALL ME BAT

Paul Colt, Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 252pp, 9781432855017

In 1919, William Barclay “Bat” Masterson is a slightly plump, older, gray-haired NYC

sportswriter who covers boxing. Bat is sought out by younger newsman and acclaimed future playwright, Damon Runyon. Runyon is keen to hear stories of Bat’s younger days, when the apparently nondescript old gent was a legendary figure on the American western frontier. Over a series of retrospective conversations, frequently in some New York deli, Bat’s impressive story unfolds. Born in Canada, Bat later moves to the West seeking adventure and wealth. Starting out by earning v a l u a b l e experience as a buffalo hunter, he eventually moves about b o t h geographically a n d experientially, fighting Indians, scouting for the army, and as a l a w m a n , gambler and occasional businessman. Famous western historical venues like wild cow-town Dodge City, Adobe Walls, and Sweetwater are well-known to him. A gunfight over a woman leaves him with a slight limp but provides him with the opportunity to carry his later famous cane along with his guns, which only adds to his allure. After losing an election for Dodge City sheriff, Bat is awakened to the local media’s “fake news” of his day. Short little tales, one after the other, captivate the reader in rapid succession. One of Bat’s overriding and interesting themes is that Wild West fame should not always be confused with the truth. Exaggeration can lead to a fearful reputation, and that reputation can have its advantages as well as its dangers. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Teddy Roosevelt, and Judge Roy Bean, along with other famous notables, were all in Bat’s circle at one time. Riveting right up to its bittersweet and melancholy ending, this splendid little book will hopefully elevate Bat Masterson higher in the pantheon of fascinating characters of the old West. Decidedly recommended. Thomas J. Howley

THE STORY COLLECTOR

Evie Gaughan, Urbane, 2018, £7.70/$14.95, pb, 288pp, 9781911583608

Sarah Harper lives in New York, her marriage is on the rocks, and she drinks too much. She arrives at Newark Airport for a flight to spend Christmas in Boston with her family. While waiting and drinking to calm her nerves, she reads a newspaper report about Ireland that intrigues her. She boards the plane, falls asleep and wakes up at Shannon Airport, yes, in Ireland. Sarah rents a cottage, then finds an old journal in a hollow tree and so a strange and magical tale told unfolds. The first is Sarah’s

stay in a hired cottage in Ireland and the people she meets; the second is what is written in the journal. This takes us back to the 19th century when Anna, a simple farm girl, is hired as an Irish-English translator by an American, Harold Griffin-Klaus, who arrives in the village of Thornwood to research folktales and legends. The two tales thereby become entwined and Sarah reads on. On one level, The Story Collector is an engaging modern love story with a lot of coincidences and oddness, such as how on earth did no-one notice that Sarah was on the wrong flight? Could it be magic? The 19thcentury tale is much darker and asks questions about the human condition. I was totally gripped until, towards the end, both timelines rushed headlong to the end. On reflection, I would have preferred to read a more detailed 19th-century story alone. Having said that, this is an intriguing novel with its combination of Irish hardship and charm. Sally Zigmond

HEAR THE ECHO

Rob Gittins, Y Lolfa, 2018, £8.99, pb, 380pp, 9781784615239

Set in a mining town in the Welsh Valleys, this dual-narrative novel centres around an Italian café, “Carini’s”. One strand is the story of Chiara, brought over as a teenager from her impoverished village in Fascist Italy, and the other Frankie’s story, and her presentday struggle in the same town with poverty and a feckless husband. The echo of the title (derived from a song of 1939) is Frankie’s sense of Chiara’s presence in her own life: Frankie records her own experiences for Chiara on a stolen Dictaphone. Gittins is an accomplished screenwriter (notably for the UK TV soap opera Eastenders), and it shows, in the immediacy and visual quality of his writing. His historical research is immaculate and his sense of place convincing. The café successfully battles Sabbatarianism but is powerless against wartime internment of enemy aliens, and the ensuing tragedy of the ship Arandora Star. Chiara’s story centres on her relationship with two brothers – but the choice she ultimately makes, and why, did not ring true for this reviewer, and sometimes the symmetry of the two narratives in the closing pages felt a bit forced. The child Chiara discovers the body of a murdered girl early in the novel, but this crime is solved rather quickly, and its inclusion did not advance the plot (it resembles a 2010 murder case in that area of Italy, so there may have been at some stage an intention to “mirror” the historical incident with a modern one). Where Chiara’s story is often tumultuous, Frankie’s is bleak but utterly believable, though I would have liked a more definite trigger for Frankie’s sense of the presence of the vanished Chiara – a photograph, perhaps, or a letter. But this is a graceful and moving read, an elegy for the Italian cafés of Wales and the author’s love for them. Katherine Mezzacappa

THE PEACOCK FEAST

Lisa Gornick, Sarah Crichton, 2019, $26.00, hb, 300pp, 9780374230548

As a child in 1916, Prudence remembers the night of Louis Tiffany’s Peacock Feast, hosted at his Oyster Bay home. Prudence is the daughter of one of the gardeners and one of the maids at the Hall. This is a fateful time. Mr. T, angered at the locals using what he considers his private beach, orders the breakwater to be blown up. Soon afterwards Prudence, her brother Randall and her parents move to New York where her parents continue as gardener and maid at Tiffany’s town house. Research into the Tiffany family and their friends is mentioned in the Acknowledgements – this helps to reveal the life style and attitudes of the time The novel jumps to 2013. Grace, Prudence’s great-niece who she has never met, asks if she might visit her in her New York apartment. The two women start to piece together the story of their family from the early days at Oyster Bay. Prudence recalls her own life, her marriage and the man she almost married. Grace struggles to piece together the life of her grandfather Randall and his hippie son, Leo, who fathers the twins Grace and Garcia. Grace has become a hospice nurse, and she understands that Prudence herself is close to death. This might be considered a family saga as it traces one hundred years in the life of one family, their lives, and loves. However, in this family the avoidance of love seems to have been more common than love itself. Perhaps this is what makes this novel such an arid read. Gornick, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology, is well able to write about attitudes to death and dying. She makes her own opinions clear. But it was not only Prudence’s impending death that made this novel lifeless. Valerie Adolph

THE WOMAN IN THE WHITE KIMONO

Ana Johns, Park Row, 2019, $26.99, hb, 336pp, 9780778308140 / C$22.99, pb, 336pp, 9780778309260

In her first historical novel, Ana Johns explores the tragic fate of the relationships between American servicemen and Japanese women, and their children, in post-World War II Japan. Both Americans and Japanese vehemently opposed these interracial relationships, and their children were outcasts or orphaned. The narrative is told in two time periods. The first section is in 1950s Japan. Nakao Nakamura is an eighteen-year-old who falls in love with Jimmy, an American serviceman. Her family is against the relationship, and eventually the two lovers are ripped apart by forces beyond their control. In the present day, Tori Kovac is a journalist whose father, Jimmy, is dying of cancer. After his death, Tori begins to unravel the mystery of Jimmy’s relationship with Nakao, with

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whom he had a child, and along the way, she discovers more about herself and her father. The Woman in the White Kimono is a promising first novel, bringing an important part of history to light. Exploring themes of racism, love, and family relationships, Johns weaves an enlightening tale of love and loss. But the character of Tori needs to have more depth; the reader has no idea what she looks like, and she has few relationships with other people. Tori is completely focused on uncovering her father’s secrets, and that is the extent of what one knows about her, making it hard to connect with her. Nakao, though, is more fleshed out. She is a modern Japanese woman who is still tethered to traditions but wants to break free from these constraints. Overall, Johns’ book is entertaining and an easy read. Julia C. Fischer

THE LIGHT OVER LONDON

Julia Kelly, Gallery, 2019, $16.99, pb, 304pp, 9781982107017 / Orion, 2019, £19.99, hb, 304pp, 9781409189367

In 2017 in Barlow, Gloucestershire, a mansion is up for sale. The deceased owner’s grandniece hires an antique dealer. While evaluating the mansion’s contents, the dealer’s assistant, Cara, discovers an anonymous diary written during WWII, and a photograph, initialed “LK,” of a woman in an Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) uniform. A woman in her thirties, Cara is intrigued, for her grandmother had served in the ATS but is secretive about it. The grandniece directs Cara to throw the diary out. Cara keeps it and, assisted by her neighbor, Liam, sets out to research LK and learn about her grandmother’s past. In 1941 Cornwall, 19-year-old Louise Keene waits for her serviceman suitor, but she falls in love with an RAF officer, Paul. When he is suddenly deployed, Louise sneaks away to London and joins the ATS. She is assigned to an ack-ack unit as a Gunner Girl. During the German bombing raids, Louise works diligently yet yearns to meet Paul again. Julia Kelly has penned an appealing romance with three storylines: the war years of Louise and Paul, those of Cara’s grandmother, and the present day with Cara and Liam. At the start of the novel, it seems rather odd that the grandniece wants Cara, offhandedly, to dispose of the war diary, which could contain some of her family’s memories, or at least have value as an antique. Readers may be led to believe that this is a part of the plot. The present-day and wartime storylines are narrated in alternating chapters with minimal loss of continuity. The descriptions, particularly of London during the Blitz, are vividly written. There is much information about the operation of the anti-aircraft batteries and the routines of the Gunner Girls. It’s interesting to learn that while women could set up the guns, only men were permitted to fire them! Waheed Rabbani

MIRA’S WAY

Amy Maroney, Artelan Press, 2018, $18.99, pb, 393pp, 9780997521337

Mira’s Way, though one of a series, is a standalone story that grips from start to finish. It tells the dual tales of Mira, a Renaissance artist and Zari, an art scholar of the present day whose goal in life is to connect Mira with a series of unsigned portraits. The two women may be separated by time, but their lives are interwoven with art and cultural history, with Zari hearing Mira whispering to her across the divide of 500 years, and as she follows in her footsteps she comes to know and understand her and the world of her time. The action takes place in southern France, northern Spain and the Pyrenees, in 1504 and 2015. The author’s impeccable research brings the two women, their surroundings and the powerful men and women they cross swords with to life. Her knowledge of ancient manuscripts and painting techniques—the use of a lead stylus to make Flemish-style under-drawings, the techniques involved with lapus lazuli, the usage of vine charcoal and linen paper—draw us into the intricacies of Renaissance painting, art history, and the technology used to explore that history. History brims with silenced stories, but Zari is determined that Mira’s story will not be lost. Amy Maroney has a gift of making the past come to life in a way that is relatable and engaging. Her characters are convincing, her stories are about the art world and painting, and she paints her own portrait with delicate words and visual imagery. Her writing is clear, precise and visual. Patricia O’Reilly

THE LAST YEAR OF THE WAR

Susan Meissner, Berkley, 2019, $26.00, hb, 400pp, 9780451492159

A metaphorical thief. The war. Lost friendship. And Davenport, Iowa, my hometown. The Last Year of the War grabbed me from the first sentence. Even if the reader isn’t from Davenport, which was obviously thoroughly researched and is portrayed in detailed accuracy, the story of Elise Sontag’s life will enthrall and inform just the same. The Last Year of the War begins with Elise’s sunset years in 2010 and her quest to reconnect with her old friend, Mariko, who she met at an internment camp in Crystal City, Texas, for so-called suspicious German and Japanese immigrants during World War II. The book then jumps back to 1943, before Elise’s life was turned upside down. The rest is told by flipping between 2010 and the past, taking us through Elise’s entire life until the stories converge in the present, all the while seamlessly weaving in historical facts. Meissner provides a sense of World War II as an American immigrant interned in America as well as a German in Germany during and immediately after the

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

war (even though Elise was born in Iowa and had never been to Germany), and then as an American immigrant in the post-World War II era. There is the mystery in an outer story of why this childhood friend was so important to Elise; a primary inner story of where Elise belongs in the world, how she finds her way back to America, and what happens with her family after the war; and a secondary inner story of what happens in a book she and Mariko were writing as children. Meissner keeps the suspense moving by braiding these mysteries together from the first page through the last, tossing in several plot twists along the way, and creating an unpredictable, can’t-put-down novel. Jodie Toohey

LOOKING FOR GARBO

Jon James Miller, Amphorae, 2018, $17.95, pb, 308pp, 9781943075553

1939: Greta Garbo may be the Queen of the Silver Screen, but she is very private. Reporters looking for an elusive story track her every move and hound her, no matter where she is, or what she is doing. Seth Mosley is an ambitious Associated Press reporter who scooped his rivals in the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping, and the Hindenburg and the S.S. Morro Castle disasters. But his greatest scoop could be a candid photo of Greta Garbo that he can sell for big bucks —if he can dodge gangsters Toes and Bernie, who are out to hurt him bad for an overdue debt to their boss. 2000: James Main is a fledgling filmmaker working on a documentary about Garbo. He places an ad looking for anyone who can give him firsthand information on her. Seth, now in his 90s, is dying of emphysema and wants to close his career with a bang. Would James want to hear the story about how and why Garbo left Hollywood at the height of her reign? The story of how she was plagued by her most obsessive fan, Adolf Hitler? How she planned to stop the outbreak of World War II? At first James thinks this is a hoax, but the more he listens to Mosley he becomes convinced that the story is true. I loved this novel, which is based on a prizewinning screenplay by the author. The characters are well-rounded and believable; the plot combines romance and a hard-boiled detective story. Looking for Garbo will keep the reader enthralled to its very satisfying conclusion. Monica E. Spence

THE THINGS WE CANNOT SAY

Kelly Rimmer, Graydon House, 2019, $16.99/ C$21.99, pb, 432pp, 9781525831515 / Headline Review, 2019, £8.99, pb, 352pp, 9781472247315

Straddling the past and the present, The Things We Cannot Say is a mesmerizing tale of family, memory, forgiveness, and unconditional love, but it is also about retrieving lost stories. Alina is an innocent young Polish country girl whose country is in the midst of World War II. She knows she is destined to marry Tomasz but must wait for him as he attends college in W a r s a w . Although she thinks her pocket of the world is insulated from Nazi brutalities, that, unfortunately, proves to be untrue. Suddenly, everything she thought she had to look forward to in her life is in jeopardy. In the present day, Alice is a stressed-out wife and mother of two children—a precocious daughter and a nonverbal autistic son. Although she is married, she might as well be a single mother, as her husband is not an involved parent, choosing to occupy himself with work rather than bond with the children. In the meantime, Alice’s Babcia (grandmother) has had a stroke and cannot communicate verbally, but using her grandson’s voiceassisted app, she transmits urgent messages to her granddaughter: Find Tomasz and Babcia fire Tomasz. Although she does not understand Babcia’s command or what she’s even supposed to be looking for, Alice travels to Poland to help unravel a decades-old family mystery, while simultaneously seeking healing and solace for her own broken life. The book examines relationships between spouses, between parent and child, and the powerful connections between families separated by decades. Strong, resilient women dominate this book, along with a compelling storyline and a message of hope. The Things We Cannot Say is a true achievement in World War II fiction. Hilary Daninhirsch

CONTENTION AND OTHER FRONTIER STORIES

Hazel Rumney, ed., Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 333pp, 9781432854669

Thisbookisthepublisher’ssecondanthology of new short stories written by seventeen wellknown Western writers. The tales are of the American frontier, encompassing the period after the Civil War through the early 1900s. The stories are of men and women trying to

survive the problems they face in the early frontier. They feature a character who has a dual personality; a coward trying to survive the Spanish American War; a woman seeking revenge after being raped by two men after her husband is murdered; the treatment of Native Americans by white settlers; and an exciting story of people who happen to be caught in a storm and are isolated in a church. There are several stories involving the burying of loved ones, and a tale of two men named Frank and Jesse, although they are not the outlaws you may think from the title. There are many other stories I found to be fun reads. If you enjoy western novels, as I do, you will find the stories in this anthology to your liking. They are small bits of western culture that are intriguing, and I found it difficult to put the book down until I finished the last story. Jeff Westerhoff

THE OLD DRIFT

Namwali Serpell, Hogarth, 2019, $28.00/£16.99, hb, 576pp, 9781101907146

Some novels are almost impossible to summarize in a few paragraphs, and this is one of them. After a conventional opening chapter, the remainder of the book is largely experimental literary narrative, complete with magic realism and even futuristic fiction. The opening sets the scene in the early 20th century when Percy Clark, a white pioneer of what was Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), takes up residence at a drift (ford) on the Zambezi River. While he is deluded due to fever, he accidentally pulls out the hair of an Italian waiter at the nearby Victoria Falls Hotel. This propels us into a second chapter, which is a knotty tangle in more ways than one, and features Sibilla, who is covered in hair that never stops growing. And then we leap forward to Agnes, a blind white woman in love with an African academic at a time when such an interracial union would have been fraught with many problems, practical as well as social, and it fails to be convincing in any way. Another chapter takes us into the realms of outer space and, weird as it seems, would have been inspired by real plans in the 1960s for Zambian astronauts. Knowledge of the country’s origins and politics will help one to appreciate certain real-life individuals, facts and expressions of language, but if you know little about Zambia and are hoping for a cross-cultural family saga that might enlighten you as to its character and development over the past century, you won’t find it here. Also, with chapters that are linked by a buzzing commentary from a swarm of mosquitoes, any historical anachronisms hardly matter. Not for everyone, but if you are prepared for a lengthy and innovative reading challenge you may find this an interesting experience. Marina Maxwell

ALTERNATE HISTORY

LIBERATION SQUARE

Gareth Rubin, Michael Joseph, 2019, £12.99, hb, 400pp, 9780718187095

Liberation Square asks the reader to imagine a very different 1952, a world in which, instead of a divided Berlin, London and the United Kingdom are carved up between a Soviet state and an American state. The main character, Jane Cawson, lives on the Soviet side of the wall, and comes to realise how precarious her position is when her husband is arrested for the murder of his first wife. I hadn’t read much in the genre of alternative reality before, and it took a little while to understand the geography. Wisely, however, the author, Gareth Rubin, does not focus on past politics, but instead on the mystery Cawson is trying to solve: the murder of Lorelei Cawson and her husband’s potential political crimes. This book is more of a conspiracy thriller than a history book, and as such, it is a page-turner. I raced through the story, keen to discover its secrets. The mystery did not hold together entirely convincingly, and Jane’s voice and concerns came across as those of a woman written by a man. However, my real complaint would be that split London was a mirror of split Berlin (even including its own Checkpoint Charlie). The book could easily have been set in Berlin, without needing to create a different history. Perhaps this was the author’s point: under the same circumstances, British people would have developed the same totalitarian regime that developed in Berlin. But this did not seem enough of an unusual or novel theory to warrant the alternative reality, and as a result, the background felt flat and unconvincing. I did enjoy reading Liberation Square, and perhaps readers who read more in this genre will appreciate the twisted setting as much as the conspiracy that makes up the plot. Laura Shepperson

HISTORICAL FANTASY THE PEDDLER OF WISDOM

Laura Matthias Bendoly, Amazon Digital, 2018, £2.29, ebook, 413pp, B07KVLXZFW

This rather strange historical fantasy is set in a remote Provençal mountain pass in the first half of the 17th century when Cardinal Richelieu was Louis XIII’s chief minister. Wise-woman, healer and tarot reader, widowed Irène Gueri follows the old ways and is a devotee of Zahara, who protects her home. While Irène’s healing skills are much sought after, she is always conscious of the risk being accused of witchcraft, as her mentor was. Despite this she perseveres in doing what is right. The self-proclaimed Duke Domenico of Sardinia arrives and claims the district, exchanged, he says, by the king for the port of San Remo. Domenico takes over the village of Les Échelles and its castle, executes the ruling Count and commences a reign of terror. While some villagers accept the new regime,

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others, led by Irène, form a resistance. Irène makes friends with Durande, one of the Duke’s followers who has set up shop as an apothecary but also dabbles in alchemy. And the Duke is also a sorcerer whose evil machinations can only be foiled by an unlikely alliance. Laura Matthias Bendoly has clearly researched her period very well and paints a convincing picture of remote, postRenaissance Provence. Irène and Durande make an attractive hero and heroine and the supporting cast of villagers, clerics, courtiers, guards, etc., is well drawn. I found the magical/ sorcerous side of Duke Domenico hard to swallow, however. The story would have been as compelling and the suspension of disbelief easier without them. Catherine Kullmann

PRISONER OF MIDNIGHT Barbara Hambly, Severn House, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 268pp, 9780727888600

At the Hotel St-Seurin in Paris, James Asher reads a letter written hurriedly by his wife. Dr. Lydia Asher reports that she sees the vampire Don Simon Ysidro in her dreams—and feels his pain. He is imprisoned on the steamship City of Gold bound for New York City. Despite threats to shipping because of the Great War in Europe, she feels compelled to find and free him before he is pressed into service as a weapon. Prisoner of Midnight is the eighth in the James Asher series, which introduced James, a professor and former spy for Queen Victoria, Lydia, and Don Simon in Those Who Hunt the Night in 1988. The books follow the trio as they get involved, together and separately, in espionage and political intrigue, romance and love, and altercations between the living and the undead. Prolific author Barbara Hambly (she has written 15 other novel series) smoothly transitions between characters’ thoughts and actions and long-distance, independent storylines. In Prisoner of Midnight she adds keen insights about war and its effects on different populations. A number of the wealthy who sail on City of Gold bemoan the inconvenience of wartime as it delays or interferes with business dealings. Vampires, meanwhile, revel in the carnage of the battlefield. The concern for both Ashers is the recognition of the abilities of vampires by a hostile power and their subjugation to win at all costs. Characters are clearly delineated; plotlines are, for the most part, crisply drawn and unpredictable. This is a prime example of the staying power and fascination vampires hold for readers who wonder whether the prisoners of midnight are the undead or their victims. K. M. Sandrick

A BRIGHTNESS LONG AGO

Guy Gavriel Kay, Berkley, 2019, $27.00, hb, 448pp, 9780451472984 / Viking Canada, 2019, C$32.00, hb, 448pp, 9780670068708 / Hodder & Stoughton, 2019, £19.99, hb, 448pp, 9781473692336

Guy Gavriel Kay is the master at writing fantasy that is richly based in a particular historical time and place, and, at the same time, is set in a fantastical world with two moons and mysticism and magic. A Brightness Long Ago evokes Renaissance Italy. The names of cities and famous people are shifted—Venice is Seressa, for example—but the qualities that identify them are retained. Seressa is a dominant mercantile city with canals. The novel’s twin themes pertain to memory and the role of chance in life. A young man, Danio, recognizes a highborn woman disguised as a peasant and takes an unexpected role in the assassination she commits. From this act, his life b e c o m e s entwined with a n o t h e r unconventional woman who has mystic healing powers and with two mercenary leaders who dominate relations between the warring city-states. The thoughts of the dead, another fantastical element, add depth to these paired themes of chance and memory. One contemplates, “The dead… seem to be all about wishing things had been otherwise… Such a short life… No mark made upon the god’s world. No ripples. Most lives are like that.” What gives a life meaning? What choices do we look back upon and realize those chance moments made all the difference? Some men or women—Kay develops the women most attractively here—shine far brighter than others, and why they do is important. Kay reveals his mastery also in his choice of narrative point of view. Danio, as an old man looking back in first person, carries the main job of pulling the reader in. Kay also puts us into a series of close-third narrators without creating any confusion. Through these multiple immersions, the reader considers how differently perception and memory ring for each person. Another brilliant novel from a literary giant. Judith Starkston

THE PHILOSOPHER’S WAR

Tom Miller, Simon & Schuster, 2019, $26.99/ C$35.99, hb, 389pp, 9781476778181

Miller continues the exciting alternate World War I adventure begun in The Philosopher’s Flight, picking up where the original volume left off as Robert Weekes, now going by his

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

patronym of Canderelli, leaves Radcliffe and musters out to join the Rescue & Evacuation Corps of philosopher-flyers in the waning days of Germany’s final push to conquer France. The lone male flyer in a hard-as-nails division, Robert struggles to prove himself as good as any woman at the arcane skill of using glyphs drawn in powdered metals to fly without machines, and to transport wounded soldiers to battlefield hospitals. As in the first volume, there’s lots of fun to be had with the gender-switching of the traditional “band of brothers” plot, as Robert bonds with his platoon and suffers lots of microaggressions from the sisters he comes to know, value, and face death alongside. The plot is fast-paced and propulsive as Robert becomes drawn into a mutinous plot to bring the endless war to a quick close via a mysterious weapon of mass destruction aimed at Berlin. Robert must balance his loyalty to his sister flyers with his love for a glamorous government operative and his desire to prove himself to his Machiavellian commander. He’s an appealing character: principled, resilient, and humorous, and his choices are realistic and sympathetic. Miller brings his technical expertise as an ER doctor into the graphic descriptions of trench warfare and wounds, and manages a tastefully graphic erotic encounter as well. In other words, there’s something for everyone in this entertaining adventure, and fans get to look forward to another volume to come soon. Kristen McDermott

THE JINNI’S LAST WISH

Zenobia Neil, CreateSpace, 2018, £4.99, ebook, 224pp, B07FLDRY4V

A servant of the Ottoman Empire, Olin, and his master, Chief Black Eunuch Mustafa Agha, watch over the sultan’s harem. Taken as a boy from his nomad life, Olin struggles with the cruelty around him as he’s often called to punish servants who have displeased their masters. He never imagines that his mercy given to a servant woman will change his destiny. The beautiful servant offers him a necklace that she claims holds a jinni inside. Olin believes the tale, a story from his childhood, to be an opium-driven fantasy. But when she’s accused of witchcraft, Olin discovers her claims to be true. What he doesn’t understand is the price and consequences that come with each wish. This book was way more erotic than I expected. Almost every woman is described by the size of her breasts and buttocks. There is even an abusive sex scene. The chapters follow a pattern of sex and then exposition. Everything about the characters is told to the reader. I also noticed how different characters used the same phrases to describe objects or people, making voices interchangeable. The author doesn’t pin down her story to a particular time period, and historical setting details are light. There is potential for a fascinating exploration of consequences resulting from wishes, but this is underutilized. One editing note: in the last chapter, a main character’s name is misspelled multiple times. This is a book about a harem, so I get there’s

going to be sensuality. But to characterize these women and men as little more than lustdriven creatures without other interests or needs is disappointing. However, for readers who prefer lots of heat with a sprinkling of magic and a dash of historical setting details, this book delivers. J. Lynn Else

PRIESTESS OF ISHANA

Judith Starkston, Bronze Age, 2018, $16.99, pb, 464pp, 9781732833920

In Priestess of Ishana, author Judith Starkston dives into the little-known Bronze Age world and dresses it up with a heavy layer of fantasy. In a time when magic and sorcery were considered real, and demons and gods were worshipped in temples, Starkston’s high priestess of Ishana, Tesha, must unravel a murder, a political plot, her father’s constant blustering, her sister Daniti’s blindness, and her mother’s plan to marry her off. Tesha makes enemies and friends from unlikely sources, and uses the power given to her by the goddess Ishana wisely—most of the time. Her journey to romance is certainly flooded with danger, and the twists and turns in the novel will keep the reader uncertain of the outcome throughout the pages. Unfortunately, those very twists and turns make for a very long novel that could have benefited from a heavy edit. I felt as though I reread the same conversations between Tesha and Daniti and Tesha and her father several times over, and characters seemed to populate simply to help with the plot. The fantasy element is well done, but this book should be considered that: a fantasy novel, set in a fantasy world that is very loosely based in history. I also felt that the author could have spent more time creating the world and characters, and less time with repetitious interactions. What I did like was the note about how Tesha is modeled after a real-life ruler, Puduhepa, a woman who ruled for decades over the Hittite Empire. I look forward to historical stories about this real-life queen, and appreciate the author discovering her story. Sara Dahmen

CHILDREN & YOUNG ADULT LOVELY WAR

Julie Berry, Viking, 2019, $18.99/C$24.99, hb, 480pp, 9780451469939

In Lovely War’s opening, Hephaestus traps Aphrodite and Ares in a golden net and puts them on trial for infidelity—a Homeric story, now set in WWII. Aphrodite offers as defense two pairs of lovers in WWI: Hazel and James, and Aubrey and Collette. Aphrodite demonstrates through mortal stories how essential vicissitudes are to love, and hence how she, perfect, cannot be loved. The

deathless gods are shallow because death’s deadline gives life meaning. At first, these divine narrators, with voices enjoyably clever but tinged in sarcasm, create problematic distance, except that soon, human feelings permeate the story with pageturning engagement. There’s a counterpoint between godly voice (“Hephaestus would almost worry for the Fates, but they’re tough old cookies.”) and mortal, visceral depth. Love in time of war could fall into clichés. Berry’s doesn’t. She’s masterful with dialogue of people falling in love—revealing flashes that show how well-suited they are. Hazel, a classical pianist, reveals her feelings for James, “You’re a brand-new piece of sheet music . . . for a song which, once played, I’d swear I’d always known.” He responds, “A piece of sheet music, am I? . . .Makes me rather flat, doesn’t it?” She retorts, “I prefer gentlemen who are sharp.” They “get” each other, James’s bad jokes, her affinity for music. Repeatedly, Berry reveals genuine connection. Berry is skillful portraying war, from German-destroyed villages to trenches, as well as racial hatred within the Allied side (Aubrey’s Black). Suffering is essential to the novel’s emotional resonance. Love must endure despite the abyss of war, perhaps because of it. Berry’s historical details are compellingly accurate. Grab tissues. Happiness is tempered with nuanced reality, but the warm feelings are richer for that. Even the gods get a final twist. Judith Starkston

SOMEDAY WE WILL FLY Rachel Dewoskin, Viking, 2019, C$23.99, hb, 368pp, 9780670014965

$17.99/

1941 is a terrible time for Lillia, a 15-yearold Polish girl. Soon after Germany invades Poland, starting World War II, Lillia, her father, and her sister Naomi flee Poland to make a traumatic escape and journey to Shanghai. The trauma of knowing her grandmother is probably dead and not knowing where her mother is haunts Lillia’s days and nights. She spends most of the journey caring for Naomi, who is mentally challenged, more so because they are all suffering from malnutrition. Before this journey, her parents were circus performers, and their talent and skills are obvious in Lillia, who makes puppets and stories, although she keeps this creative outlet a secret. Occasionally she goes to school, where she becomes friends with other Girl Guides and a Chinese worker, Wei. Desperate for money, she becomes a dancer at a local men’s club. Eventually Japan attacks Shanghai. This horror changes the world of family, friends and acquaintances. While this story seems usual for the times, the depiction of Lillia is poignantly unique. She is an intelligent, creative, and reflective person who rises above the nightmarish events of her teen years. She also has so many cultural challenges to absorb and adapt to that have to do with economic classes, foreign languages and customs, different types of

Jewish acquaintances, and social norms for these groups. She believes she is saint and sinner but accepts what the times demand. Her naiveté, reserved nature and vivacious actions mandated by necessity are constantly shifting as she grows into a new identity and establishes priorities that, to the modern reader, seem dangerous and even defiant. Someday We Will Fly is stunning historical YA fiction. Viviane Crystal

THE STEAM WHISTLE THEATRE COMPANY

Vivian French, Walker, 2019, £6.99, pb, 298pp, 9781406376319

Victorian London. Pa Pringle’s family theatre company, newly renamed The Steam Whistle Theatre Company, is heading north to Uncaster by train (a first for all of them). They specialize in Shakespeare (whittled down to an hour’s running time, plus Pa’s especially composed songs). The ever-optimistic Pa thinks that the North will appreciate the Bard and their bad luck will turn. Child actors, Charlie and Rosie Pringle just want to stop worrying about where the next meal is coming from. In Uncaster, the newly arrived (and lightfingered) Eliza Snicket, and her son, Little Baby Bubbles, master of Magic and Escapology, don’t want any rivals. At nearby Uncaster Hall, Arabella Poskett is being pressurized by the unpleasant Olio Sleevery to sell Uncaster Hall to him for a fraction of its value; whilst the skivvy, little Edie Boiler, is desperate to keep her job. The Pringles, Arabella and Edie have a lot to lose – whilst others have much to gain if the theatre company goes under. The stage is set for skulduggery and sharp practice. I read this book twice, first at a gallop, and then slowly to savour it. The story-telling is terrific. I enjoyed the nod towards Vincent Crummles’ travelling theatre company from Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby. The names, too, are perfect: e.g. Miss Twillfit, Uncaster’s talented dressmaker. But, underneath the dastardly deeds of various malefactors, there is a strong thread of how one should behave. The children look out for each other. Arabella must learn the skills she needs to turn Uncaster Hall into lodgings to pay off her late ne’er-do-well husband’s debts. Everyone must learn to adapt to difficult circumstances. In 2016, the author was awarded the MBE for services to literature, literacy, illustration and the arts, and readers of this exciting story can see why. Suitable for 8 plus. Elizabeth Hawksley

MASTERS OF SILENCE

Kathy Kacer, Annick Press, 2019, $18.99/ C$18.95, hb, 272pp, 9781773212623

Henry longs to ride his bike again, as his sister Helen desperately tries to remember the features of her father’s face. Thoughts like these haunt the Rosenthal children after the

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terrible events of Kristallnacht in 1938. Their father, along with 30,000 other Jewish men, was arrested and then disappeared on the night of broken glass. As the children long for his safe return, their mother makes the difficult choice to trek from Germany to France to hide Henry and Helen in a convent. Masters of Silence, the second book in Kacer’s Heroes Quartet series, follows Henry, ten, and Helen, fourteen, as they hide from the Nazis in southern France. Desperate to see their parents again, and confused by the rules and rituals of the foreign nuns, Helen and Henry fight to remain hopeful, but an encounter with a group of Nazi soldiers threatens to break their spirits. The nuns, while terrified themselves, work to boost the morale of the over sixty Jewish children hiding in their convent with a visit from “the clown.” The clown visits the convent regularly and entertains the children with his vivid yet silent performances. As the children watch him tame an invisible lion, they do not know that along with lifting their spirits, the clown, Marcel Marceau, will also save their lives. This novel explores the transformative powers of empathy, gratitude, and selflessness. As their world is torn apart by hatred and violence, the children in the convent work to create a new one built on imagination and kindness. While the story deals honestly with terrifying events, Kacer crafts a narrative that is both appropriate and inspiring for young audiences, ages ten and older. I highly recommend it. Melissa Warren

PIRATE QUEEN: The Legend of Grace O’Malley

Tony Lee, illus. Sam Hart, Candlewick, 2019, $19.99/C$23.99, hb, 128pp, 9781536200195

In 1546, young Grace O’Malley is the daughter of a powerful chieftain in Western Ireland. “Black Oak” O’Malley wants his daughter to grow up refined and educated as befits her station, but Grace prefers wielding a sword and going to sea to smash the English enemy which is striving to subdue Ireland. With the help of sympathetic crewmen, she cuts her fiery red hair and stows away aboard her father’s ship, ultimately saving him from assassination in Spain. Now a member of the crew, she voyages to aid one of her family’s Scottish friends across the sea and manages to 60

earn the enmity of an English nobleman and spirit a very young Scottish Queen Mary away to safety. Later the English paid Irish traitors to try to capture Grace and end up killing her husband. Grace recruits an army of rejected sailors and eager, motivated women and takes the battle to the English and treacherous Irish clans in revenge. Over the years, her family grows, and she continues the struggle, eventually confronting English Queen Elizabeth in a dramatic meeting where the two earn each other’s respect. This graphic novel, designed for middlegrade readers, is characterized by brilliant and vivid artwork and a thrilling story closely based on actual historical events. English Lord Richard Bingham is the perfect sinister and murderous villain to offset the valor and patriotism of Grace and other rebellious Irish leaders. The book has the feel of an exciting animated movie. Discerning girls and boys may end up disdaining the made-up farcical and cartoonish “superwomen” of film, television and video games and come to appreciate the infinitely more impressive and thrilling women of actual history. Heartily recommended. Thomas J. Howley

THE INVENTORS AND THE LOST ISLAND

A. M. Morgen, Little, Brown, 2019, $16.99/ C$22.49, hb, 384pp, 9780316471534

Second in a series after The Inventors at No. 8 (oddly, there’s only one inventor, and she lives at number 5), this magical Victorian steampunk adventure is a really fun hijinks tale! Hapless and self-doubting George, 3rd Lord of Devonshire and his neighbour, ingenious mathematician Ada Byron (future Countess of Lovelace), team up to follow more clues to Grandfather Devonshire’s lost treasure. Pursued by the evil Don Nadie and his ‘Society of Nobodies’, the kids set to sea in Ada’s adaptable mechanical whale, finding friends from the previous book along the way—Captain Bibble, a pirate; Oscar, his son and a “wanna-be-a poet” (not pirate!) and the adorable orange-haired baby orangutan, Ruthie. This is a lovely story, perfect for 8+ with their uninhibited imaginations. Although chased by adults, there are no inconvenient grown-ups (read parents) to spoil the adventure, danger, and good fun. The children must rely on their wits and be pragmatic, thoughtful, and clever. They all chip with their talents when solving the clues to clear the Devonshire name of scandal. There are lots of surprises along the way—even the treasure is sentimentally not what’s expected—and friendships are tested as the children learn to believe in one another and help each other, risking their own safety to stand side by side. Oscar and Ada keep George putting his best foot forward even when his hereditary identity is in doubt, which is what good friends do. Bravo to Iacopo Bruno for the lovely cover designs for this and the previous book! The Author Notes about Ada Byron are well worth a read. Let’s hope Ms. Morgen’s got another doubtful George and plucky Ada adventure in the pipeline.

REVIEWS | Issue 88, May 2019

Fiona Alison

WITHIN THESE LINES

Stephanie Morrill, Blink, 2019, $17.99/C$21.99, hb, 352pp, 9780310765233

Within These Lines is a captivating young adult novel set in San Francisco on the cusp of World War II. Not long after Pearl Harbor was bombed, the U.S. government forcibly relocated many Japanese-American citizens to internment camps, removing them from their homes and livelihoods. This drastic action results in the separation of a young teenage couple, Evalina and Taichi. Evalina is an Italian-American whose parents own a restaurant; Taichi is the Japanese son of a farmer, who sells produce to local restaurants. Evalina and Taichi meet and fall in love but keep their relationship secret from friends and family, believing that neither of their families will accept the union due to their racial differences. In fact, interracial marriages were illegal in many states at that time. When Taichi’s family is relocated to an internment camp, the couple struggles with the reality of separation and whether they can have a future together. The book follows the trajectory of their relationship, shifting viewpoints between Evalina and Taichi. Evalina is portrayed as a strong and passionate young woman who defies convention and social norms in an era in which it was risky to do so; Taichi is the more level-headed one who tries to make the best of a bad situation. When an uprising occurs at Manzanar, the internment camp where he and his family live, he wrestles with the divided loyalty he feels for his ethnicity and his country. An engaging cast of supporting characters rounds out this insightful novel. Though set 70 years ago, the issues of diversity and racial discrimination are very much timely today. In a narrative that’s sometimes disturbing to read, the author has clearly researched the period and subject matter, as she brought the internment camps to life in a vivid and evocative manner. Hilary Daninhirsch

THE GOOD SON: A Story from the First World War, Told in Miniature

Pierre-Jacques Ober, illus. Jules Ober, illus. Felicity Coonan, Candlewick Studio, $22.00, hb, 104pp, 9781536204827

This is a story of WWI for ages 8-12. It concerns Pierre, a French soldier who leaves his post for two days and is arrested for desertion when he returns. As Pierre sits in the guard house, he thinks back to how the war began. He had enlisted to make his mother proud. He had wanted to do his part to stop the Germans advancing through Europe. He recalls his first battle and the terror of war. He remembers that his friend Gilbert saved his life. When Pierre is sentenced, he writes his mother one final letter. In it, he tells her how he left his unit looking for water and stumbled into a small party of German soldiers. To his amazement, they offered him coffee, and he stayed for two days. This is not a story to be taken lightly. Pierre will not survive the war. But, it is the superb way in which the illustrations were composed, all miniatures—from the soldiers to the details in the landscape, that grabs the reader’s attention. It is lovingly created, and I

found myself reading it over and over. Highly recommended. Linda Harris Sittig

MAKING BOMBS FOR HITLER

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, Scholastic, 2019, $7.99, pb, 240pp, 9781338312836

At the beginning of this story, nine-yearold Lida is separated from her younger sister and taken to a Nazi work camp. Lida lies about her age, hearing that it is safer to be older and “useful.” Her talent with thread and needle gains her a job as a seamstress, but she eventually ends up doing factory work: making bombs and bullets. Many of the Ukrainians, Poles, Russians and antiNazi Germans kept for slave labor died from over-work, accidents, malnutrition, and Allied bombing raids. Lida’s life is difficult and full of danger. She makes friends with other young prisoners and constantly worries about her sister. Making Bombs for Hitler is an exciting read, filled with suspense and led by a sympathetic protagonist. Lida is courageous, selfless and forgiving. There are many books about the horrors Jewish people endured during WWII; this one covers the lesser-known horrors faced by Ukrainian Christians and others forced into slavery by the Nazis. The story has a few small problems. I was sometimes surprised by the time of day and the season—references to these were either not often enough or not consistent. Also, a few times Lida remembers something about candy and a Nazi woman, related somehow to why she and her sister were captured and separated. I could not find that scene, and Lida’s memories are not fully informed flashbacks. More information about Lida’s past—such as her grandmother, the candy, and how and when she left Ukraine—are needed. It felt like an integral scene was accidentally deleted. Nevertheless, this is a good addition to children’s novels on World War II. Elizabeth Caulfield Felt

STOLEN GIRL

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, Scholastic, 2018, $17.99/C$23.99, hb, 256pp, 9781338233025

It’s 1950, and “Nadia” has arrived in Halifax as an immigrant into Canada. She is from Europe, but where exactly? She is with a woman she must call “Mother,” and they are going to join a man she must call “Father” who has managed to find a laboring job in Canada. Despite the fact that these two adults are kind and loving to her, Nadia knows they are not her real family. And it turns out that Nadia is not her real name. This is the story of a young girl who struggles to adapt not only to the strangeness of life in North America, but also to come to terms with whatever lies in her past. She has blocked out most of the horrors, but she experiences short flashbacks that seem both unrelated and impossible. She remembers being chauffeured in an imposing limousine. But why is she terrified of a woman in a brown suit? Could she possibly be German? And

worse, it looks as if she might be Himmler’s daughter. Over a period of months, as Nadia goes about learning North American ways—going to school, to the library, to hang out with friends—the series of flashbacks each reveal a fragment of her previous life. Not until the end do the fragments fit together to form the framework of her past. I found this novel, written for younger readers, engrossing. Nadia’s fears about her identity and her struggles to conform to new norms create a compelling protagonist who truly is on a hero’s journey. Our knowledge of past sufferings of Eastern European people is generally lacking. Novels such as this fill in a few of those blanks for us. It’s a privilege to glimpse into that world in this multi-layered novel. Valerie Adolph

SUMMER OF ‘69

Todd Strasser, Candlewick, 2019, $17.99/ C$23.99, hb, 384pp, 9780763695262

Lucas Baker is living a dream. Most of the time he’s either smoking pot, hash or whatever he can get—and popping pills is a beloved alternative. Yes, he, Robin and their friends belong to the Hippie Generation of the late 1960s. Lucas has been telling himself to get serious about school and work but is focused instead on driving his psychedelic-painted Odysseus and loving his girlfriend, Robin. The war in Vietnam is in full swing, and the letters Lucas receives from his soldierfriend Chris convey the soldier’s panic and intense fear. Americans are hated by the Vietnamese, and killing is more reactive than planned strategy. The more Lucas reads, the more desperate he becomes to escape the draft. His parents seem oblivious to his life. An interesting section talks about the reading Lucas does to shore up his moral and philosophical contention of being a conscientious objector. Life at home is nonexistent, as his parents appear headed for divorce, and his siblings and friends seem lost in their own fantasies. Robin hints at a break in their relationship, and a friend, Tinsley, seems to romance every passing male, including Lucas. Woodstock is a funky experience that blows the minds of the participants. Summer of ’69 is a comprehensive depiction of hippies’ lives during the tumultuous times of the late ‘60s, when freedom was taken to its limit but reshaped an entire generation. At rock bottom, Lucas experiences an unexpected act of redemption which radically changes his world. This novel is a powerful account of the years when conformity is rejected, and rebellion becomes the norm. Supportive love becomes the glue that heals, binds and builds anew. Viviane Crystal

THE UNSUNG HERO OF BIRDSONG, USA

Brenda Woods, Nancy Paulsen Books, 2019, $16.99/C$22.99, hb, 208pp, 9781524737092

a town where everyone seems to get along, while racial inequality bubbles beneath the surface. The setting is Birdsong, near Charleston, South Carolina, and the year is 1946. The protagonist, young Gabriel Haberlin, has received a beautiful new Schwinn bike for his birthday. On his first spin through town, an errant driver almost runs him over, but Gabriel is pushed out the way by a good Samaritan, Meriwether Hunter. And thus begins an unusual friendship between a young white boy and an older black man, a veteran of World War II. Gabriel is still too young to understand the complex emotions involved when Meriwether explains that his unit fought in some of the worst battles of the war, but they are never invited to participate in any parade. As the story unfolds, Gabriel witnesses firsthand the ugliness of racial inequality at his father’s auto shop. By the end of the novel, Gabriel has learned the painful truth that life is not always fair. This is a great story with complex characters, a setting that comes to life, and a dilemma that Americans still face today. Recommended. Linda Harris Sittig

SPY RUNNER

Eugene Yelchin, Henry Holt, 2019, $17.99/ C$23.50, hb, 352pp, 9781250120816

Twelve-year-old Jake McCauley is convinced the boarder his mother has taken in is a Russian spy. Mr. Shubin is Russian, after all, and it is 1953, when students practice duck and cover drills, hiding under their desks in the event of a nuclear attack, and every American is charged with doing their part to protect America from Communism and Russian spies who threaten US borders and the American way of life. Mysterious phone calls in the night, hidden photographic equipment, and a man with gold teeth spying on his house add to Jake’s suspicions. He doesn’t believe Mr. Shubin’s claims that he knows Jake’s father, who went missing in action during WWII. When Jake confides his worries to his best friend, Duane, all the kids at school turn against him. Determined to prove himself a loyal American and Mr. Shubin a spy, Jake pretends to be a spy like the character in the comics he and Duane read. What he discovers is that no one is who they pretend to be. Filled with car chases, crashes, threats, thugs who claim to be FBI agents, gun battles, and general mayhem, this is not a simple story about prejudice and scaremongering. Jake is an imaginative, impulsive boy trying to find truth when no one around him—grown-ups, teachers, parents, and even the government— is being honest. The author’s own grainy, black and white photographs intersperse the book, increasing the tension. This is a timely choice for middle-grade readers who love adventure mixed with political intrigue. Meg Wiviott

This middle-grade novel introduces us to

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CONFERENCES

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ÂŠ 2019, the Historical Novel Society, ISSN: 1471-7492 | Issue 88, May 2019

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