Historical Novels Review, Issue 89 (August 2019) by The Historical Novel Society

H I S T O R IC A L

NOV EL S REVIEW

ISSUE 89

AUGUST 2019

DAZZLE WITH DELIGHT

FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE ...

More on page 8

History on Ice HF of the polar regions

The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction & the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes

Page 10

Saving Washington Chris Formant's exciting new novel Page 12

A Rich & Bittersweet Confection Karen Brooks' The Chocolate Maker's Wife Page 13

An Enchanted Land SofÃa Segovia's The Murmur of Bees Page 14

How We Disappeared An interview with Jing-Jing Lee Page 15

Historical Fiction Market News Page 1

New Voices Page 4

History & Film 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

Douglas 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

Sarah Hendess

<clark1103@yahoo.com> 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/

TABLE OF CONTENTS

NEW REVIEWS EDITOR

ISSUE 89 AUGUST 2019

The HNR editorial team is welcoming Sarah Hendess as its newest reviews editor, handling coverage of children’s and YA titles from North America. She replaces Arleigh Ordoyne, who is stepping down after five years in the role; thanks to Arleigh for her great work.

COLUMNS 1

Historical Fiction Market News

Sarah Johnson

New Voices Profiles of debut historical fiction authors Colleen Adair Fliedner, Matt Gianni, Janet Hancock & Kip Wilson | Myfanwy Cook

History & Film The historical films of Ridley Scott |

Richard Lee

FEATURES AND INTERVIEWS 8

HISTORICAL FICTION MARKET NEWS

Dazzle with Delight The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes by Lucinda Byatt

We’re seeking additional reviewers particularly for children’s and YA titles in both the UK and North America. For more information, and to request the guidelines, please email me at sljohnson2@eiu.edu.

NEW BOOKS BY HNS MEMBERS 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 May 2019 or after, please send the following details to me at sljohnson2@eiu.edu or @readingthepast by Oct. 7: author, title, publisher, release date, and a blurb of one sentence or less. Details will appear in November’s magazine. Submissions may be edited for space. A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (Alternative Book Press, Aug. 2018) by Ann S. Epstein is a fictional biography (1935-1980) of Meinhardt Raabe, who played the Munchkin Coroner in the Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz.

10 History on Ice Historical fiction of the polar regions by Edward James

Eleanor’s Daughter: A Novel of Marie de Champagne by June Hall McCash (Twin Oaks, Jan. 1), set in twelfth-century France and rich in historical detail, medieval pageantry, warfare, and intrigue, tells the compelling story of two women who refused to be pawns in the hands of powerful men.

12 Saving Washington Ilysa M. Magnus speaks to Chris Formant about his exciting new novel by Ilysa M. Magnus

A medieval epic adventure set in 1204-5 AD, Derry McKeone’s The Stolen Calix (self-published via Amazon, Feb. 15) features an archer forced to take a symbolic drinking vessel from Southern England to Constantinople.

13 A Rich & Bittersweet Confection Karen Brooks' The Chocolate Maker's Wife by Sally Zigmond 14 An Enchanted Land The magical world of Sofía Segovia's The Murmur of Bees by Adelaida Lucena-Lower 15 How We Disappeared An interview with Jing-Jing Lee by Alan Fisk

REVIEWS 16 Book Reviews Editors’ choice and more

Feisty Sigga’s own struggles to survive are intertwined with Iceland’s fight for independence and the moral dilemmas posed by the Allied occupation of World War II in Sigga of Reykjavik by Solveig Eggerz (Bacon Press, Feb. 21). In Greg Kater’s Conflict on the Yangtze (Zeus Publications, Mar. 4), during 1946, former army officer, Jamie Munro, and educated half-aborigine, Jack “Jacko” O’Brien, who head the Australian Commonwealth Investigation Service, are asked by Colonel John Cook, a senior commanding officer of MI6, to go to China and assist in the investigation of a drug cartel who are believed responsible for killing one of his operatives along the Yangtze River. The third novel in her Enemies Series, Mary Ann Trail’s Masking Enemies (self-published, Mar. 11) introduces the reader to an innocent woman and a rascally dropout trying to survive mortal danger and mutual loathing in the Cotswolds, 1803. Set in 1453, during the last days of Byzantine Constantinople, Peter

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

Sandham’s Porphyry and Ash (Thomson Fleming, Apr. 8) charts the fate of two genuine historical individuals: Anna Notaras, the youngest daughter of the city’s wealthiest family, and John Grant, a Scottish soldier-of-fortune. In Jennifer Hallock’s Sugar Moon (indie, Apr. 10), the second full novel in the Sugar Sun series, set in the Philippine-American War, a survivor of the attack at Balangiga seeks redemption farming sugar cane in the Philippines, but his past won’t let go.

The Silken Rose by Carol McGrath (Accent, Oct. 3) is biographical fiction about Ailenor of Provence, cultured and intelligent, who is only thirteen when she marries Henry III of England; aware of the desperate importance of providing heirs to secure the throne from those who would snatch it away, she is ruthless in her dealings with Henry’s barons.

Oracle’s War, by Cath Mayo and David Hair (Canelo UK, Apr. 29) follows Athena’s Champion as the second book in their Olympus series: Odysseus faces sorcery, assassination and a deadly dynastic feud after a mysterious new oracle forewarns of the destruction of Achaea at the hands of the Trojans.

An update of a collection of 10 short pieces of historic fiction, Jerry Smetzer’s Cassiopeia’s Quest - A Rewrite (Amazon, Nov. 29) takes the reader on a walkabout through the lens of 10 periods of change in human history as a young female protagonist in each period works on her own journey of challenge, discovery, and imagination.

Wanders Far-An Unlikely Hero’s Journey by David Fitz-Gerald (Outskirts Press, May 11) is a mystical adventure featuring a young messenger, an old shaman, and the legendary unification of the Iroquois in precolonial New York, circa AD 1140.

In Frances Schmidt’s FRED: Building of Dreams (Buffalo Heritage Press, fall 2020), FRED, the building himself, shares the legacy of many of his ethnically and culturally diverse tenants and their families, who arrived in America during the span of 1900-2018.

Across the Great Divide: Book 1 The Clouds of War by Michael Ross (Elm Hill, May 14) tells the story of an ordinary family drawn into the Civil War – a nation divided, a family torn apart, a love threatened, a dream of freedom.

NEW PUBLISHING DEALS

In The Final Reckoning (RedDoor, Jun. 27), the third part of Chris Bishop’s The Shadow of the Raven series, with the threat of an imminent Viking attack, Matthew, now a warrior, is sent to fortify and defend the ford at Leatherhead; hopelessly outnumbered, he faces his sternest test as he and a small band of barely trained Saxon warriors strive to hold out long enough for help to arrive or resolve to die trying. Katia Raina’s debut YA novel Castle of Concrete (New Europe/Young Europe Books, Jun. 11), is set in the last year of collapsing communist Russia and features a shy daughter of a Jewish dissident falling in love with a young man who may be anti-Semitic. In Severed Knot by Cryssa Bazos (W.M. Jackson Publishing, Jun. 7), set in the aftermath of the English Civil War, Scottish prisoner of war Iain Johnstone is transported to the sugarcane fields of Barbados as an indentured servant and struggles to regain his freedom. In Pam Lecky’s No Stone Unturned (KDP Amazon, Jun, 28), Book 1 of The Lucy Lawrence Mysteries set in 1886 London, when the secrets of Lucy Lawrence’s late husband spill from the grave, and her life is threatened by the leader of London’s most notorious gang, Lucy must find the strength to rise to the challenge—but who can she trust, and how is she to stay out of the murderous clutches of London’s most dangerous criminal? Teresa McRae’s Emily Garrison (Teresa McRae Publishing, Jul. 1), book 3 of the Garrison Series, covers the years from Reconstruction to the beginning of Jim Crow. Downton Abbey down south, set in boll-weevil depressed 1920s Georgia: In The River Nymph by Anne Lovett (Words of Passion, Jul. 21), a sharecropper’s runaway daughter and an ambitious flapper with a camera confront a Valentino with secrets who’ll stop at nothing for riches and revenge—can he keep the girls from success in a man’s world? Charity’s Choice by Alexine Crawford (The Conrad Press, Sep. 1): While in the 1640s the Levellers campaign for justice and freedom,

and King Charles prevaricates, Charity faces a town of strangers, challenging her to make her own choices.

COLUMNS | Issue 89, August 2019

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. Deanna Raybourn’s books six and seven in the Edgar Awardnominated Veronica Speedwell series sold (again) to Danielle Perez at Berkley, in a two-book deal, by Pam Hopkins at Hopkins Literary Associates. Molly Green recently signed the second three-book deal with Avon/ HarperCollins to write a new series called The Victory Sisters. Each sister will have her own story. The first, A Sister’s Courage (to be pub. on 28th Nov. 2019), features the eldest sister, Lorraine Linfoot, a ferry pilot in the Air Transport Auxiliary delivering planes to the fighter pilots, and is a wartime story of friendship, bravery and love. MadeGlobal Publishing has acquired Natalia Richards’ Falcon’s Rise and The Falcon’s Flight, both about the early years of Anne Boleyn. The first covers her life at Hever and at the court of Margaret of Austria, and the second covers her time in France, at the court of Queen Claude. Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb’s Advice for Lady Adventurers, an historical coming-of-age tale pitched in the vein of Thelma & Louise, the story of feuding sisters who set out to retrace Nellie Bly’s famous 1889 around-the-world race only to be confronted with Nazioccupied Europe at the start of WW2, sold to Lucia Macro at William Morrow by Michelle Brower at Aevitas Creative Management. Kate Byrne, senior commissioning editor at Headline, acquired two new novels from Christina Courtenay via Lina Langlee at the Kate Nash Literary Agency. Echoes of the Runes, a romantic time-slip adventure set in Sweden during the Viking era and the present day, will be first in an epic series; release date will be March 2020. Nancy Bilyeau’s Dreamland, taking place in New York in the tumultuous years between the Gilded Age and World War I, pitched as inspired by the early life of Peggy Guggenheim and other real-life people, sold to Alice Rees at Endeavour Quill, in a pre-empt, for Jan. 2020 publication, by Christine Cuddy at Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo. Bilyeau’s newest novel The Blue was an HNR Editor’s Choice in

Feb. 2019. Jodi Daynard’s A Transcontinental Affair, which follows two young women aboard the Pullman Hotel Express beginning in 1870, a journey of adventure, corruption, and romance on America’s first transcontinental train passage, sold to Jodi Warshaw at Lake Union for publication in Nov. 2019, via Emma Patterson at Brandt & Hochman. Author of Courting Mr. Lincoln (an HNR Editors’ Choice last issue) Louis Bayard’s Jackie and Lem, based on the friendship between the young Jacqueline Bouvier and Lem Billings, a gay man who had been JFK’s real-life best friend since their prep school days, sold to Betsy Gleick at Algonquin via Dan Conaway at Writers House. Isabel Allende’s A Long Petal of the Sea, set during the Spanish Civil War and WWII and described in The Bookseller as “a rich historical saga inspired by events and people from Allende’s life,” following a young doctor and others as they’re forced out of Barcelona and into exile, taking refuge in Chile, sold to Bloomsbury UK publishing director Alexis Kirschbaum via Peggy Boulos Smith of Writers House, via Johanna V Castillo of Writers House, and Carmen Balcells Literary Agency, for January 2020 publication. Jennifer Hershey, editor-in-chief at Ballantine, acquired North American rights. The Age of Desire author Jennie Fields’ Atomic Love, a story of betrayal, love, desire, and secrets set in 1950s Chicago, in which a former Manhattan Project scientist finds herself caught between two men: the physicist she loved passionately during the war, and the handsome, wounded FBI agent now investigating him for espionage, sold to Tara Singh Carlson at Putnam, in a pre-empt, by Susanna Einstein at Einstein Literary Management; UK rights sold to Jillian Taylor at Michael Joseph in a pre-empt.

reserve officer, sold to Leslie Gelbman at St. Martin’s in a pre-empt, by Deborah Schneider at Gelfman Schneider/ICM, on behalf of Rebecca Ritchie/AM Heath. Jocasta Hamilton, publishing director at Hutchinson, acquired Neil Blackmore’s “rollicking historical page-turner” The Intoxicating Mr. Lavelle, about two brothers sent on a European Grand Tour in 1764, and how they’re driven apart by the beautiful, cruel Lavelle, via Veronique Baxter at David Higham. Journalist Anika Scott’s The German Heiress, set in post-World War II Germany, about a German heiress being chased by a British officer accusing her of war crimes, and who discovers dark secrets about her family’s past, sold to Liz Stein at William Morrow by Pippa Wright at Hutchinson. Finding Clara Falkenberg will be the UK title (publication date April 2020). The Taste of Sugar by Marisel Vera, set in turn-of-the-20th-century Puerto Rico and centering on a coffee farming family during the Spanish American War who migrates to Hawaii in search of work, sold to Gina Iaquinta at Liveright by Betsy Amster at Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises. Debut novelist Louise Fein’s People Like Us, a story of forbidden love set in 1930s Leipzig, following the German daughter of an SS officer and the Jewish man who had saved her life as a young girl, sold to Hannah Smith at Head of Zeus via Caroline Hardman for Jan. 2020 publication; William Morrow will publish it in the US in May 2020. Nancy Turner returns to the world of her Sarah Agnes Prine novels with Light Changes Everything, about Sarah’s spirited niece Mary Pearl, beginning in 1907; it sold to Thomas Dunne Books, with Samantha Zukergood editing, for Jan. 2020 publication.

Heather Moore’s The Paper Daughters of Chinatown, about New Zealand-born missionary Donaldina Cameron, who fought against slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the early 20th century, sold to Heidi Taylor Gordon at Shadow Mountain, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2020, by Ann Leslie Tuttle at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

Posy Lovell (pseudonym of author Kerry Barrett), in partnership with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, sold two fiction titles to Sam Eades, publishing director of Orion imprint Trapeze, via Gina Fullerlove, Kew’s head of publishing, and Felicity Trew at the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency. The Kew Gardens Girls, the first book, follows two women working at Kew in the early WWI years.

The Talented Ribkins author Ladee Hubbard’s The Rib King, set in 1917 Chicago, the dark and absurdist story of the Ribkins family’s progenitor, whose life as the faithful servant to a white family is violently upended, sold to Patrik Henry Bass at Amistad for publication in fall 2020, by Ayesha Pande at Ayesha Pande Literary.

OTHER NEW & FORTHCOMING TITLES

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher, focusing on Sylvia Beach, founder of the bookstore Shakespeare & Co. in Paris, who risked her reputation and fortune to publish and distribute James Joyce’s controversial Ulysses, sold to Kate Seaver at Berkley by Kevan Lyon at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Stephanie Storey’s new novel Raphael, Painter in Rome, about the Renaissance master’s service as the Vatican’s chief decorator, his rivalry with Michelangelo, his tempestuous love affair with a prostitute/model, and the creation of his masterworks, sold to Lilly Golden at Arcade, for publication in April 2020 (the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death), via Barbara Braun at Barbara Braun Associates. Meet Me in Bombay by Jenny Ashcroft (whose previous historicals Islands in the East and Beneath a Burning Sky were published in the UK), a love story, set in the early WWI years, between a young woman living in Bombay at the height of the British Raj and a young British

For forthcoming novels through early 2020, please see our guides: https://historicalnovelsociety.org/guides/forthcoming-historicalnovels/

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 The thrills, spills and patterns of history have been transformed by Colleen Adair Fliedner, Matt Gianni, Janet Hancock and Kip Wilson into enlightening debut novels.

Janet Hancock

Colleen Adair Fliedner

The testament of courage that these young people displayed is, for Wilson, a lesson to be remembered: “Sophie Scholl’s story is important to tell because history repeats itself. In the current political climate, the importance of standing up for others cannot be underestimated. Role models like Sophie are still there, ready to inspire a new generation.” Photo credit: L.M. Pane

Kip Wilson

to resist their government and its criminal regime by writing and distributing anti-Hitler leaflets, knowing full well the consequences.”

Matt Gianni

Fliedner's fascination with the Lusitania and its passengers, she says, “began many years ago when I worked as a research and oral historian for the California State University system. In an interview with pioneering deep-sea diver Col. John D. Craig, he discussed his 1930s efforts to dive the wreck of the luxury liner, which had been torpedoed by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland in 1915. My interest was piqued by his descriptions of the once-beautiful ‘Greyhound of the Seas’ lying on the ocean bottom off the Irish Coast. Of the nearly 2,000 passengers and crew, 1,198 men, women, and children perished, including 128 American citizens.”

Kip Wilson has blended her interest in poetry with her skills as an author to create her Young Adult fiction novel White Rose (HMH Versify, 2019). Wilson is known in writing circles for her work as the Poetry Editor of YARN (Young Adult Review Network), and she first discovered the young activist who is central to her novel while she still at school herself. Wilson first learnt, she says, “about the White Rose resistance group in high school German class. I was hooked. Students not much older than I was, standing up to the Nazis? I needed to know more, so I read everything available at the time — a general book about the Scholl siblings, a biography about Sophie Scholl, and a collection of letters. I went on to study German Literature in college and graduate school, but I never forgot the White Rose, continuing to research and read new materials as they came out.”

As a result of Craig’s interview, Fliedner explains, “I was determined to write a novel about the event and the circumstances that led the Germans to commit this heinous war crime. Why did the Germans torpedo an ocean liner? Who were the passengers? And what were the repercussions of the sinking?”

She believes, “because I was a teenager myself when I first learned about Sophie Scholl, her rebellious mindset really spoke to me. I strove to maintain that spark as I filed away information over the years. I first tried writing a nonfiction manuscript about the White Rose back in 2005, but it wasn’t working, and I ended up setting that project aside.” It was only years later, she says, “that when a couple of verse novelists mentioned to me that tragic, emotional subjects are often well-suited to verse, it was like a billion light bulbs going off in my head. Writing White Rose in verse allowed me to get much deeper into Sophie’s head and emotions, which I find ironically difficult with all the words available in prose.”

Set in the same period as Fliedner’s novel, Beyond the Samovar (Conrad Press, 2019) by Janet Hancock is described as a literary novel created from two threads. Hancock says, “I love anything that has me reaching for the atlas. I once read a newspaper reference to a young Englishwoman caught in the 1917 revolution in Baku, at that time in Russia. She wouldn’t let me go. Who was she? Where was Baku? How and which way might she leave?”

Wilson highlights, “it was over 75 years ago, three members of the White Rose resistance group were executed by the Nazis for treason: Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans, and their friend Christoph Probst. These young students had their lives ahead of them, yet chose

Colleen Adair Fliedner’s novel, In the Shadow of War: Spies, Love & the Lusitania (Sand Hill Review Press, 2018) focuses on the sinking of the Lusitania, in which 94 children died. The sinking of the ship also demonstrated the courage of the younger passengers. One example was Kathleen Kaye, a 16-year-old who encouraged everyone to stay calm and helped to row a lifeboat. She was undaunted by this experience and went on to travel to California, marry the artist Carl William Brandien and then travel the world with him.

COLUMNS | Issue 89, August 2019

The research, Fliedner notes, “took years and included trips to New York, London, and most importantly, Cobh, Ireland (Queenstown), where both the survivors and the dead were brought to shore. I visited the local cemetery and placed flowers on the mass graves of the victims, spent time at the Cobh Heritage Center where Lusitania artifacts are displayed, and combed through countless photos and historical documents.”

Detailed research, she notes, “revealed early 20th century Baku to be a boom town built on oil wealth, like the American Wild West in the gold rush. People from all parts of Russia flocked to Baku to make a fortune – some did, others sank to the bottom of the social heap, fertile ground for revolutionaries. Add simmering tensions between indigenous Moslem Tartars and Christian Armenians to make an explosive mix.” When creating her characters, Hancock notes, “the fictional oil-rich

Markovitch family came to me first. The unnamed Englishwoman blossomed into Livvy who meets Esther Markovitch and her father in St Petersburg in June 1914 and returns with them to Baku for a threemonth stay as companion to Esther. Livvy abandons in St Petersburg her English employers with whom she travelled to Russia earlier in the year. The outbreak of war that August keeps her in Baku.” At the outset of Hancock’s novel, Peter, Livvy’s English husband, was a challenge: “How to get him to Baku? A journalist? Diplomat? An engineer, I decided. A winter of bronchitis in St Petersburg – pivotal in the narrative – sends him south to the mountain air of Grozny and later down the coast to Baku.” The second thread of Hancock’s novel, she explains, “concerns my maternal grandparents who lived in Birmingham, England, where Part 2 takes place. A few details of their story have come to light over the years and have always fascinated me, but much is not known. Peter is the adventurous eldest son of such a family.” The “big canvas” she had found was only the beginning, and when she started to write, Hancock says, “I felt like a fledgling soaring. I typed up the first draft, 800 pages, several storylines, multiviewpoint, with little understanding of editing. The book was as long as it took to tell the story. The RNA New Writers’ Scheme taught me otherwise. I joined the Historical Novel Society and started reviewing for the Historical Novels Review, a good lesson in editing and concise writing.” Hancock explains, “The novel went through six drafts, three changes of title, 800 pages reduced to 330.” All this before she was satisfied that she had done her characters and story the justice they deserved. As an aeronautical engineer and flight instructor, Matt Gianni, author of Lever Templar (Dark Ink Press, 2019) has been writing nonfiction most of his adult life, works such as airplane flight manuals for Boeing and instructional articles for flying magazines. Gianni notes, “I am an avid reader of thrillers having strong historical emphases, I’ve also often found myself inspired by specific aspects of certain authors’ work, such as the high concept, religion-based plots of Dan Brown, the exciting point-of-view characters of James Rollins, and the thrilling action and dialogue of Steve Berry.”

Gianni describes his novel as “a dual timeline historical fiction/ contemporary thriller novel.” The inspiration for the past timeline of Lever Templar came from, Gianni explains, “thinking about how the Templars could have attained such leverage over popes and monarchs through their two centuries of dominance, what could have been at the core of such leverage as they transitioned from protecting Holy Land pilgrims to being the world’s first international bank, and how they could have fallen so quickly at the whim of the French Crown.” Gianni is, he says, “always on the lookout for odd historical mysteries. When I find an interesting one, I print it out and put it in what I’ve labeled ‘Pandora’s shoebox.’ From time to time I go through them, see how they might be combined, and what effect they might have on the modern world.” His present timeline for Lever Templar came from Gianni’s fascination with, he says, “discoveries such as The Dead Sea Scrolls, that more closely resemble anathematized heresies of the past rather than orthodoxy, and also from rumors of the clandestine Vatican City intelligence service, known as Santa Alleanza (‘Holy Alliance’), or L’Entità (‘The Entity’), and all the trouble they might get themselves into by emphasizing Catholicism over other world religions.” Gianni, Fliedner, Hancock and Wilson have all chosen to use historical fiction as a way of introducing their readers to recurring conflicts, dilemmas and questions of morality throughout history that have shaped the destiny of real and fictional characters.

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.

However, it was only in 2013 that he finally realized he might be able, says Gianni, “to take all such aspects of my favorite authors and write a book that I, and possibly others, might actually like to read.”

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HISTORY & FILM Are you not entertained? Truth & the historical films of Ridley Scott

sets, historical props and wardrobe all lead to a remarkably faithful historical presentation – one that even tracks the fashions through the twenty years of the narrative. The two American lead actors (Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine with Napoleonic pig-tails) are ably supported by a roll-call of eminent British thespians, and convey Conrad’s story beautifully, with a measured voice-over narration adding to the literary feel. The film won a prize at Cannes, and has been lauded since. So why have so few people actually seen it? Scott says that it was criticised for being ‘too beautiful.’ It was hardly marketed on release, and opened in few theatres. It was pigeon-holed as art-house.

In 2018 Sir Ridley Scott received a lifetime achievement fellowship from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) - its highest award. In the selection of clips with which the academy introduced Scott’s work, they began with, and most frequently returned to, his film Gladiator (2000), and when he walked up to the stage to receive the award the music they played was the theme from Gladiator. The significance of this, to me, is huge. Scott’s directorial reputation is founded on his sci-fi films Blade Runner and Alien. His best critical reception came for the zeitgeisty road movie Thelma and Louise, which turbo-charged Brad Pitt’s career. Scott’s biggest box office success is 2015’s The Martian. Emotionally, though, Gladiator is still the film of his that has most engaged audiences. Are you not entertained? As such its influence on how our world views ancient Rome is incalculable – and will continue. In his acceptance speech Scott acknowledged this power that filmmakers have. He talked about his responsibility to present what is true (‘the best stories tend to come from truth, even fiction’), and he talked about the enormous power of entertainment to educate. In truth, the ‘educative’ impact of his historical films has been patchy. Gladiator – vast, in my opinion. The Duellists and 1492 - Conquest of Paradise – probably negligible. The Kingdom of Heaven and Robin Hood – somewhere in between. But I am fascinated to explore where the true power of film really lies. Is it in ‘truth,’ as Scott thinks? Or does Hollywood ever, really, deal in truth?

THE DUELLISTS Scott had made his name – and fortune – in advertising, before he filmed his first feature, aged 40, basing it on a short story by Joseph Conrad. Conrad’s The Duel was serialised in The Pall Mall Magazine in 1908, but depicts a sequence of duels between two men a hundred years earlier. Conrad appears to have been fascinated by the sense of honour at that time, perhaps in comparison to his own day, and by the way that secrecy enhanced a story that in itself was slight. Scott filmed the tale on location in three winter months at the end of 1977. The gorgeous setting of Sarlat in the Dordogne and the thin light of the fading year very much inform the film’s atmosphere. Scott says that he was influenced for the look of the film by Kubrick’s 1975 Barry Lyndon, but also by contemporary Napoleonic paintings and by earlier artists painting candlelight, particularly Georges de La Tour. The combination of location and research, the diligent 6

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So here, you could say, the young director met the film business in fullon collision. Scott had taken a great personal financial risk shooting The Duellists: he had agreed to an overage bond, which meant that if the filming came in over budget he would pay any excess fees from his own pocket. By comparison, the studio took no risks. They had a very beautifully shot, compelling movie with bankable stars (Carradine had costarred in Robert Altman’s Nashville the previous year, and scored a number one hit single with the song ‘I’m Easy’) but they more or less ignored it. The Duellists has a lot of ‘truth’ about it. Its historical verisimilitude is impressive, and it is strongly faithful to Conrad’s text. Above all it is true to Conrad’s wish to present the singular sense of honour that he saw pertaining to the Napoleonic era. Perhaps that is too narrow a ‘truth’ for a wide audience?

1492 - CONQUEST OF PARADISE It is more than a decade till Scott directs another historical film. By this time he is a director with a cult following because of Blade Runner and Alien, and the clout afforded him by the box office success of Thelma and Louise. The Duellists was filmed for £900,000. Conquest was pre-sold and privately funded for £47 million, believed to be a sure-fire hit on the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ celebrated voyage. The result is, sadly, a mess. There are many things to admire about Conquest. Scott’s painterly eye constructs many exquisite scenes. The Spanish locations are gorgeous, and Scott brings his artist’s eye to animate scenes that might be taken from contemporary still life paintings. The pageantry surrounding Isabella and Ferdinand is breathtaking. In the New World I particularly enjoyed the layered symbolism of the raising of the bell in the new bell-tower. The problem is more with Roselyne Bosch’s script. Scott’s vision, it seems, is to present Columbus as a hero – a man of superhuman determination, a man able to make other men dream his dreams. He chose Gerard Depardieu for the role, an actor who has always been able to express passion and irascibility on screen. To make Columbus hero, though, the script firstly sets him in opposition to a flimsy representation of the Catholic Church (burning heretics for fun; ignorant flat-earthers despite the contrary evidence supplied within the film itself), and later in opposition to his evil co-colonists who only wish to exploit and enslave the Native Americans. Depardieu does with this what he can, but the film does not seem to believe its own narrative. Worst of all it indulges itself with a character of utter, obvious and unmotivated evil (Adrian de Moxica) in comparison to whom Columbus is supposed to look good. As Alex von Tunzelmann

has wittily pointed out, ‘1492: Conquest of Paradise works best if you view it as 15th-century Fight Club, with Moxica as Columbus’s Tyler Durden.’ A film to celebrate an historical anniversary might expect more of an attempt at accuracy than a film about fictional duellists, but this proves not to be the case. Nowadays everyone expects the Spanish Inquisition, to misuse Monty Python. Perhaps more truth in Scott’s depiction of this subject matter would have been too gruelling to entice any kind of audience to watch (it is gruelling enough as it is). The lack of truth, though, kills the film.

GLADIATOR Eight years after Conquest Scott was approached by DreamWorks to direct another historical film, and was convinced to sign up as soon as they showed him the 19th century painting Pollice Verso by JeanLeon Gérôme. I think this initial difference in conception was important for Scott. With The Duellists and Conquest he was striving for realism inspired by period locations and contemporary art. With Gladiator – more like Blade Runner or Alien – he was creating his own impression of a world, using Gérôme’s vision as a touchstone somewhat as he had used Giger’s vision for Alien. The other significant difference in approach seems to have been an extreme reluctance to accept any final version of the script. The initial screenplay by Franzoni was firstly rewritten by John Logan and also reworked by William Nicholson. Apparently actor Russell Crowe questioned many of his own lines, and lays claim to some of the surviving dialogue – the battle cry ‘Strength and Honour’ for example, and the description of his farm at home. As such the film seems to benefit from a greater control in terms of location and look, and greater depth and flexibility in terms of script. Though Gladiator includes historical characters – most notably Marcus Aurelius – the protagonist Maximus is entirely fictional, as, indeed are most of the events. The truth in Gladiator is more one of mood. This great civilisation really did delight in blood. Its leaders were obscenely powerful and self-indulged, but were also vulnerable and isolated. I think Gladiator also interests us where it holds a mirror up to our own society. We have our own obsessions with violence, self-indulgence and megalomania. The world of Gladiator in these ways is closer and more understandable to us than either of Scott’s previous historical worlds. Gladiator is a film of pervasive sadness and fragility. Yes, violence. Yes, an opulently re-imagined Rome. Yes, adrenalin and excitement. But the Hans Zimmer score is haunting as much as rousing – and the hand just touching the heads of wheat in a field ready for harvest is the strongest image in the film. The message that most viewers understand from Gladiator is not Maximus the Roman general’s vainglorious rallying call: ‘What we do in life echoes in eternity,’ but the slave-dealer Proximo’s line: ‘We mortals are but shadows and dust. Shadows and dust, Maximus.’ Somewhat of a bleak truth, no doubt, but a truth hard to refute.

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

story about knights, and writer Bill Monahan convinced him that the best way to approach this was in the context of the Crusades. The resultant script, he said, was among the best Scott had ever been offered. I am a firm fan of the cinematography of Kingdom. Contrasting a wintry dour Europe against a sunny and full-coloured Holy Land may be a little obvious in terms of imagery, but both look well in their different ways. Costume is sumptuous, interiors fabulous, and the film affords any number of wonderful looking stills or short action sequences even if (as ever) pedants pick holes. The central character of Balian is an amalgamation of two archetypes. The first is the innocent. A blacksmith, he finds that he is the son and heir of a barony in Outremer. As such we are encouraged to discover the world of knights, the world of the crusader states through his eyes, the newcomer to whom all must be explained. Later in the film, though, with no discernible point of transition, this blacksmith becomes the wise Lord – a man of experience who can transform local irrigation, plan and co-ordinate the defence of a city, win the most beautiful princess. Orlando Bloom generally gets blamed for not managing to convince in the role. I think he does remarkably well – or the camera’s love of him does remarkably well – with such impossible material. This failed story arc is probably what kills the film for most audiences. What kills it for me it is its egregious hostility towards the crusader kingdoms. Guy of Lusignan and Raynald de Chatillon share something of the ‘motiveless evil’ trait that Moxica demonstrated in Conquest. There are numerous infelicities of fact. The central fallacy, though, is that Saladin the Conqueror is presented by some sleight-of-hand as the non-aggressor. Noble, perhaps. Inspired strategist, probably. Conqueror, certainly. He usurped the Fatimid (Shia) Caliphate in Egypt, replacing it with his own Abbasid (Sunni) Caliphate, and conquered (Sunni) Syria and (Sunni) Yemen before his decisive attack on Jerusalem. Does this kind of truth matter? My view is unequivocally that it does. It demeans the achievement of Saladin as much as it misrepresents the purpose and actions of the crusaders. Worse, it entirely ignores the indigenous peoples of the region, who were still by majority Christian at this time – albeit not Catholic. A Kurdish Iraqi Moslem was not their liberator. So does Sir Ridley Scott’s oeuvre show the power of truth in film? I think it does. But there are big truths and smaller truths. Where there isn’t a truth of character, power is greatly diminished. But truth in this sense is not the same as accuracy, and Hollywood, as we all know, can disseminate inaccuracy with incredible reach and power.

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

And so to the Crusades. Given that I am writing my own fiction set against this fractious backdrop I declare, in advance, a prejudice. The germ of Kingdom of Heaven was purportedly Scott’s wish to explore the idea of ‘right action.’ What is the correct way to behave under duress? Scott thought this might be best addressed through a A publication of the Historical Novel Society | www.historicalnovelsociety.org

DAZZLE WITH DELIGHT Marking the anniversaries of two prestigious literary prizes

one key aspect is emphasised time and again. However much the historical novel focuses on the past, highlighting forgotten stories and patching fact with fiction, many, if not all, of these authors stress how closely intertwined their work is with the present. Samantha Harvey (shortlisted this year for her novel The Western Wind, Vintage Publishing) emphasises, “if writing about the past can bring context, or overturn magical or mythical thinking, it can help us navigate our present and envisage our future.” In a similar vein, Peter Carey (shortlisted for A Long Way From Home, Faber & Faber) underlines, “My primary engagement is not with the past but with our present terrifying age and the volcanic forces that have made me who I am. Past, present, future, these are the tectonic forces that shape my fiction. As Faulkner wrote: ‘The Past is not dead. It is not even past.’” The main prize is now flanked by a Young Walter Scott Prize, open to “budding historical fiction writers” in two categories (ages 11-15 and 16-19). The quality of the winning entries is always inspiring. Elizabeth Laird is one of the judges and an established historical novelist for children and young adults. She lists some of the key characteristics of the works submitted as “enthusiasm, the joy of exploring history, the delight of experimenting with words, and above all the thrill of exercising the imagination.” This evolution of the prize is the best possible way of ensuring that the genre engages younger generations, both as readers but, most excitingly, also as writers.

This summer marks important anniversaries for two of the UK’s premier literary prizes: the tenth anniversary of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the centenary of the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes. There is an obvious link between HNR and the former, and a personal one between this writer and the latter. To start with the first prize, Walter Scott’s connection to historical fiction will be well known to HNR readers. The subtitle of Scott’s first novel, Waverley (1814), ’Tis Sixty Years Since, has become the (minimum) time lapse that separates each generation of historical fiction authors from their chosen period. The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction was founded by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch in 2009. Asked about his idea, the Duke replies that “he thought he’d give it a shot,” not knowing whether it would last two years or ten. Over the past years, both shortlisted and winning authors have been featured in these pages. The winners include Hilary Mantel, (twotime winner) Sebastian Barry, Simon Mawer, Robert Harris, Andrea Levy, John Spurling, Tan Twan Eng, and Benjamin Myers. Finding themselves categorised as “historical novelists” has not always sat comfortably with the short-listed authors, but as Barry comments, the prize has “not only boosted and bolstered the historical novel, but also has begun to redefine it.” How exactly the historical novel is being redefined is not clear, but

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In this anniversary year the prize-winning novel was The Long Take (Picador, 2018) by Robin Robertson, who became the first poet (and incidentally the first Scot) to win the prize. Robertson’s remarks highlight his surprise. He admits to being “flummoxed” before adding, “while Walter Scott was deliberately becoming a novelist, I seem to have done it by mistake.” His work, a mixture of verse and prose, “is peppered with real historical events – for a sense of verisimilitude, to reinforce the timeline, to point up some important contemporary social and political moments, but also to remind us of certain facts. My hope was that this geographical and historical accuracy would allow the reader to trust the emotional terrain.” He continues: “We are currently living in accelerated times: of both instant information, often superficial and inaccurate, and wholesale amnesia. As Santayana famously said, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’” When talking to the patrons of the prize I mentioned that another Scottish prize – or rather two, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes – was marking its centenary this year. This prompted the duke to comment wryly that he certainly wouldn’t be around if the Walter Scott Prize lasted that long. To celebrate ten years is nonetheless a wonderful achievement, and the prize is now firmly on the map: “a serious prize for serious writing,” according to Andrew Miller (shortlisted for And Now We Shall be Entirely Free, Sceptre). The story behind the second prize to celebrate an anniversary this year is a remarkable one. Janet Coats Black was a cousin of mine who died shortly after Armistice Day in 1918. In her will, she bequeathed shares in the Paisley-based thread manufacturers, Coats & Company, to fund two prizes – one for biography, the other for fiction – as a memorial to her husband, who had been part of a well-known publishing family in Edinburgh. By way of a coincidental link between the Walter Scott Prize and the James Tait Black Prizes, the publishers A&C Black acquired the copyright for the Waverley novels in 1851 and printed collected editions during the second half

HOWEVER MUCH the historical novel focuses on the past...many, if not all, of these authors stress how closely intertwined their work is with the present. of the nineteenth century. Janet Coats Black left precise instructions that the prizes she wished to establish were to be known as the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes and they were to be administered and judged by the University of Edinburgh. They have been awarded every year since 1919, making them the UK’s longest-running book prizes. After being overlooked for many years, Janet Coat Black’s role has now been rightly highlighted. This year, for the first time, a prize for a piece of creative writing submitted by an English postgraduate at the University of Edinburgh will also be awarded in Janet Coat Black’s name. It is a fitting tribute to the woman who had the vision to establish these book prizes and to the university that has continued to award them. The first historical novel to win the James Tait Black prize came in 1931 with Kate O’Brien’s Without My Cloak. The Irish novelist’s first novel was reprinted by Virago Modern Classic in 1986 and still garners praise from readers. Among other prize-winning historical novels were by Robert Graves (1934: I Claudius and Claudius the God), C.S. Forester (1938: A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours), Salman Rushdie (1981: Midnight’s Children), Jonathan Keates (1983: Allegro Postillions), Caryl Phillips (1993: Crossing The River), Andrew Miller (1997: Ingenious Pain) and Beryl Bainbridge (1998: Master Georgie). Moving to more recent years, Rosalind Belben (2007: Our Horses in Egypt, Chatto & Windus) told me her initial reaction: “Much gratification. No book of mine had won a prize before, so I was frightfully pleased.” For the past few decades the judging process has involved postgraduate readers in the English department, as well as the professor of English Literature. I asked Belben whether this had made the prize distinct in any way. She replies that the judging “was palpably different.” It’s a view that was borne out by A.S. Byatt’s reaction to winning the fiction prize in 2010 for her novel The Children’s Story (Chatto & Windus). She comments that “having put the shortlist announcement aside, I was very delighted to win a very, very distinguished prize.” That year’s shortlist also included Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, which Byatt praises as “transcending the genre.” Dr Lee Spink of Edinburgh University, who judged the fiction prize between 2014 and 2016, says, “[the judging] is what makes it absolutely distinct. There is no celebrity panel. These are students who love literature, are trained in it, who read widely in the field, and when you speak to the short-listed authors they notice and particularly value the fact that this is not necessarily an academic exercise but done by people who have a deep investment in books.” Jim Crace won the James Tait Black Prize in 2013, for his novel Harvest (Picador). Replying to my question about the historical novel genre, he stresses, “even though the [historical] setting and timing of Harvest are hazy, its argument is contemporary. It attempts to be true without being factually accurate, whereas some of the finest historical fiction – Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell books, for example – succeed in being both.” When asked about the judging process, he replies, “The fact that the prize was awarded by a University English Department wasn’t especially important to me, though I can tell that the close academic selection method has – recent company excepted – produced a list of winners which seems to have its finger more fully on the pulse of contemporary literature than any other prize I have received. Crace concludes, “All prizes have their own criteria, and that’s good. It gives a chance to a wide number of writers. As a reader and writer, I like that variety and diversity. The Tait Black is a distinguished part of

that scene. It should stick to its guns.” Both prizes will, I’m sure, stick to their guns and continue to delight readers with the best creative and experimental works that, as a contemporary of Walter Scott’s said of the Waverley novels, dazzle as if by “an electric shock of delight.”1 More details of both prizes and the winners can be found online: Walter Scott Prize | http://www.walterscottprize.co.uk/ James Tait Black Memorial Prizes | https://www.ed.ac.uk/events/ james-tait-black

REFERENCES

1. Walter Scott, P.D. Garside (ed.) and Ian Duncan (intro.) Waverley, London: Penguin (2011), vii.

WRITTEN BY LUCINDA BYATT Lucinda Byatt is Features Editor for HNR and teaches translation and history at the University of Edinburgh. www.lucindabyatt.com

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

HISTORY ON ICE Historical fiction of the polar regions

almost as tragic as its predecessors. I was in my forties when I first visited Greenland, and it was a pleasant surprise. Greenland really is green, greener than Ireland, at least the parts settled by the Vikings, and I discovered that in most lights icebergs are sapphire blue. The people all seemed happy and regarded having to leave as a great misfortune. I have since visited several other Arctic regions and my experience has never been unenjoyable. However, this has not prevented me from writing a typically tragic Arctic novel, The Frozen Dream (Silverwood, 2015), about one of the earliest disasters in Arctic exploration. I asked Ian McGuire, author of the dark tale The North Water, about murder on a whaling expedition to Baffin Bay in the 1850s, if it was possible to write a happy novel about the Arctic. He replies, “it’s quite hard to imagine a comedy set in the polar regions, but maybe it’s possible. I’m sure the people who actually live there ... have a different and probably less tragic relationship with the landscape.” One novel that he does describe as “frequently funny” is The Balloonist by MacDonald Harris (Allen & Unwin, 1976). Reissued with a foreword by Phillip Pullman (Harry N. Abrams, 2012), it is set in 1897 and based on the ill-fated attempt by the Swedish aeronaut, Salomon Andrée, and his companions to reach the North Pole by hydrogen balloon. But this, too, is a tragedy, and the humour is black humour born of the hero’s ineptitude and overconfidence.

I date my literary interest in the Arctic to Nevil Shute’s An Old Captivity. This time-slip novel about the Viking settlement of Greenland in the tenth century was published in 1940, before I learned to read, so I must have read it somewhat later. From then on the Arctic was in my blood. Among more recent books on the first settlement in Greenland, Viking: The Green Land by Katie Aiken Ritter (KTOriginals, 2016) is perhaps the most evocative. Tim Leach’s The Smile of the Wolf (Head of Zeus, 2018) gives a chilling description of tenth-century Iceland, the homeland of the Greenland settlers, but this is arguably subArctic. Although the Viking colony in Greenland lasted for 500 years, the later years have attracted comparatively little literary interest. A wonderful exception is Jane Smiley’s The Greenlanders (Alfred A. Knopf, 1988) written in the style of a Norse saga, setting out her own version of why the colony disappeared in the fifteenth century. The re-colonisation of Greenland in the eighteenth century has attracted even less attention, but there is Kim Leine’s The Prophets of Eternal Fjord (Liveright US, 2015 / Atlantic UK, 2016). It is an exceptionally dark story indeed, with almost every imaginable form of tragedy. For late twentieth century Greenland we have a rare thriller with a female (and half Inuit) protagonist, Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow (HarperCollins UK, 1993 / Harvill US, 1996) by Peter Hoeg, a tale

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However, we, the outsiders, need the polar regions to be “tragic.” If they did not exist, we would invent them. Indeed, the Philip Pullman fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials (1995-2000) uses Spitsbergen, an island off the coast of Norway, as the entry point into a parallel universe. The climax for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is at the North Pole, a point no one had yet visited when the novel was written. Our fascination mixes awe and horror. From the comfort of our armchairs we identify with the lone individual or tiny group pitted against a weird, hostile environment where even the sea freezes and day and night follow different rules. As Tim Leach puts it, “that is what tends to draw me to a time and place, when I can really see how it is putting pressure on the characters, how it is difficult to live in such a world. Such a world lends itself to complex character choices and dynamic narrative developments.” Ian McGuire gives a similar explanation for the appeal of the Arctic. “I was attracted to the beauty and strangeness of the landscape, but also to its harshness. If you put people in that extreme environment (especially without the aid of modern technology), then you are inevitably testing them in some way – and that can produce great drama. Will they survive? And, if they do survive, at what cost to themselves or others?” Francis Spufford gives a masterly analysis of this obsession in I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination (Palgrave, 1997). “I may be some time,” were, of course, Captain Oates’s last words when he stepped outside Scott’s tent into the blizzard. Spufford includes all English speakers in his “English” imagination, but the ice enters everybody’s imagination, except perhaps for the people who live in the Arctic. Readers like stories about polar tragedies, particularly the Franklin Expedition to Arctic Canada in 1845 and Scott’s expedition to the

I COULD NEVER IMAGINE being that cold, or the frostbite. The thought of taking your boot off and having your toes crumble away.

South Pole in 1912. Each of these has been the subject of many books, notably The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andria Barrett (W.W. Norton, 1998), about one of the expeditions sent to find Franklin, which itself runs into difficulties; The Rifles by William Vollmann (Viking, 1994), concerning a possible reincarnation of Franklin; and The Birthday Boys by Beryl Bainbridge (Penguin, 1991), which has a less reverential take (actually five different takes) on the Scott tragedy. The first two are included in McGuire’s “top ten” polar novels, while children’s author Catherine Johnson describes Bainbridge’s novel as “absolutely phenomenal.” (1)

At the summit of Observation Hill in McMurdo Sound in the Antarctic there is a memorial to Scott and his men set up by their colleague, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, author of The Worst Journey in the World (1922), which quotes Tennyson’s lines from Ulysses: To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield This is essentially the plot of every novel, but it shines more brightly on ice.

Thriller writers love ice and snow. Alistair MacLean is perhaps the best known, with Ice Station Zebra (Doubleday, 1963), one of his four “Arctic Chillers.” However, for me the best Arctic thriller is Kolymsky Heights (St. Martin’s, 1994) by Lionel Davidson. None of these was written as an historical novel, but their Cold War and immediate post-Cold War settings are now very much history. Arctic literature, fiction, non-fiction and ‘creative non-fiction’ has long been used for a moralistic purpose, to teach us how to behave in extreme adversity. Franklin became an example to the Victorians, and Dickens leaped to his defence when it was reported that his men had resorted to cannibalism. In our own day Brad Borkan (When Your Life Depends On It, co-authored with David Hirzel, Terra Nova, 2017) is busy giving talks to corporate audiences to inspire them with stories of the ‘heroic age’ of Antarctic exploration. Nor are children ignored. William Kingston’s Peter the Whaler (1851) was an immensely popular boys’ adventure story in the nineteenth and into the twentieth century. It is still a popular subject, and in 2018 Catherine Johnson produced a fictionalised retelling, written for older children, of the story of Matthew Henson, the young black American who went with Peary to the North Pole and maybe got there first (Race to the Frozen North, Barrington Stoke). As a child, Johnson says, “I adored the danger and bravery in polar exploration stories.” When she discovered Mathew Henson, she declares, “I knew it was a story I would never forget – it’s close to unbelievable, and when [my publisher] asked me to choose someone heroic to write about ... I knew it would be him.” Polar historicals are not just historical novels in a polar setting. Not only is it difficult to imagine a comedy with a polar setting, there are very few polar romances with a central female character, even though romances are still a large part of the historical fiction market. Polar historicals are mostly, although not exclusively, action adventures written by men for men. I tried to bridge this divide in The Frozen Dream by having four main characters, two female and two male, telling the story from different viewpoints. The females went North as well as the men. It was not meant to be a feminist book, although some readers thought it so. Unlike other historicals written with an adventurous readership in mind, polar historicals are seldom about war. There is certainly death, but seldom organised mass slaughter. The violence comes mostly from the environment, and the environment often wins. I asked Catherine Johnson why polar stories appeal to children. She replies, “It’s the danger – it is like going to the moon. And I could never imagine being that cold [but of course that is just what she makes her readers imagine], or the frostbite! The thought of taking your boot off and having your toes crumble away.”

Memorial Cross erected in 1912 on Observation Hill near McMurdo Station by the expedition team of Robert Falcon Scott, who died on his return from the South Pole.

REFERENCES 1. Ian McGuire

"Top 10 Arctic Novels." The Guardian. 17 February 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/17/top-10-arcticnovels/

WRITTEN BY EDWARD JAMES Edward James’s The Frozen Dream is published by Silverwood Books. See also https://busywords.wordpress. com/the-frozen-dream/

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

SAVING WASHINGTON BY ILYSA M. MAGNUS Somewhere deep beneath the bustling streets of Brooklyn, New York lie the remains of perhaps the most important, yet most forgotten, citizen soldiers in American history: the heroic young men from Maryland whose suicide mission on August 27, 1776 bought General George Washington and the Continental Army precious time to escape certain annihilation and a premature end to the American Revolution. In the words of Thomas W. Field, a nineteenth-century historian, this was “An hour more precious to American Liberty than any other in history.” Until recently, Chris Formant was the president of a large global business. An obvious starting question: what motivated him to become a writer? “Best-selling author Steve Berry once told me, ‘Chris, you know you’re a writer when there’s a little voice in your head telling you a story and that voice won’t go away. We all have our little voice.’ I’ve always loved to tell stories, especially ones that reframe history in some way. Whenever I would share my ideas with friends, they would encourage me to write about it. One day I did.” Business skills are not always associated with the creative process of writing but, as Formant highlights, “an effective business leader needs to be a good storyteller able to translate complex strategies into easily visualized actions that will resonate at all levels in an organization. A good writer needs to do the same: create an engaging story allowing the reader to visualize and emotionally commit to the characters and storyline.” In discussing the germination process, I wondered how long it took from that “aha” moment to the actual publication of Saving Washington (Permuted Press, 2019). Formant says, “A few years ago, I accidently came across a one-paragraph announcement in The Baltimore Sun describing a wreath-laying ceremony near Prospect Park, Brooklyn. The ceremony was honoring the sacrifice of a small Maryland regiment at the Battle of Brooklyn on August 27, 1776. It was captioned: ‘The Maryland 400 who saved America.’ I had never heard of them. “So, I googled the Maryland 400, sweeping back the centuries of historic dust that covered this unbelievable lost moment in American history and patching together the random bits and pieces of a story – one so inspiring that I knew I wanted it to reach the broadest possible audience. The process, which took about three and a half years, included my conscious decision that Saving Washington should be historical fiction rather than non-fiction.” Asked about the writing process, Formant replies, “Once I compile my research, I usually begin with a storyboard. I flesh out a storyline and arc in an outline-like form and write a bit of content for each section, including the ending. It helps me see the entirety better. Then, I go back to the beginning and start the methodical writing and rewriting of the story.” How soon after plotting out the novel did he settle on Joshua and Ben, the protagonists of the novel? Formant explains, “Young adults fight all wars. So, I decided to tell this story through the eyes of two 12

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teenagers, one white and one black. What motivated them to enlist, ultimately sacrificing themselves in this suicide mission? Rather than an adult or military point of view, I permitted myself to internalize as a young adult might, focusing on the colliding forces of personal freedom, taxation, American exceptionalism and Old Testament religion – and the swirling emotions of the boys and the colonies. “Peer pressure, a sense of adventure and growing anti-British sentiment drove Josh and Ben to enlist. But what I soon realized was something more profound – how Josh and Ben matured from happy-go-lucky teenagers to warrior patriots. I wanted to explore what deep motivation would be so powerful that it would drive their selfless actions on the battlefield. Certainly, teenagers wouldn’t sacrifice themselves for taxes. Something more profound was propelling them. That is the story I wanted to tell.” Ben is Josh’s young African-American friend, fellow patriot and soldier, so why is Ben such a focal point and why is his story is so impactful? “Going back to post-war pension records,” says Formant, “I discovered that there were African-American members of the original Maryland Regiment, unreported in combat records but paid a pension for their service years later. The Army War College estimated that the Revolutionary War had the highest percentage of African-American combatants of any war until the Korean War. “I’ve hypothesized that combat rosters of the early battles of the Revolution may have under-reported black participation and in some cases are historically misleading. “Saving Washington has drawn large support from students, teachers and black organizations for introducing a young black man as one of the central characters in a Revolutionary War story. It has also created some expected controversy, as well.” Saving Washington has sometimes been described as a Young Adult book, which certainly wasn’t my own experience. I asked Formant why the novel appeals to younger readers as well as adults. “It was never intended as a young adult novel,” he says, “but surprisingly debuted as the #1 YA Historical Fiction in this category. Candidly, I think that was because the two lead characters are teenagers. “Based on book event attendance and my fan mail, it has struck a chord with kids from age 7 through college. A college senior is writing his honors thesis based on the story. A monument to one of the heroes of the story was recently erected as an Eagle Scout project. Teachers have asked if I can write a teaching companion. Others have told me that students are hungry to hear about American heroes, especially ones they can relate to.” Formant plans to write more historical fiction, and confirms, “I love to take a known subject or time period, but with spotty and disparate facts, and create a realistic story that brings it to life.” There may be interest in bringing Saving Washington to film or television, and it has been optioned by the award-winning producer of Big Little Lies, Deadwood and Twin Peaks. “No guarantees, but exciting nonetheless,” says Formant. Chris Formant is a student of history, a technology investor and the former president of a multi-billion dollar global communications company. His previous novel, Bright Midnight, received lavish praise and has been dubbed the “DaVinci Code for rock and roll fans.” Ilysa M. Magnus is a US reviews editor for HNR.

A RICH & BITTERSWEET CONFECTION

He blames his son-in-law for the death of both his beloved daughter and her infant, as well as the disappearance of his son. As the chocolate house thrives, attracting many influential customers, Rosamund is surrounded by death and danger, not just from the devastating plague of 1665 and the fire that follows on its heels, but from the secrets the Blithman family fights to hide. How will she survive in this sweetly sinful world?

BY SALLY ZIGMOND

So, how on earth did Karen even begin to write such a fascinatingly detailed and historically accurate novel?

If you’re an Australian member of the HNS, Karen Brooks will need no introduction. For the rest of us ... where do I start? As an academic, you can catch her giving her expert opinion on TV, radio and print media. She is the author of nine novels, the most recent being The Locksmith’s Daughter (William Morrow, 2018), which involves the machinations of the Tudor spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham.

The novel begins on a roasting hot May morning in 1662 in Gravesend on England’s south coast. Catherine de Braganza has arrived from Portugal to marry the king, and the inns are full. Rosamund, the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman who is now the step-daughter of an abusive publican, has been working hard since dawn. When taking a breath of fresh air, she is knocked over by Everard Blithman’s carriage. His help also offers the opportunity to escape her misery, which she grabs with both hands and makes her own.

“I begin my research with ‘big picture’ stuff – biographies of the reigning monarchs, then the work of fabulous historians which cover a range of topics from culture, society, politics, right down to fashion, food, parliamentary policies, trades, etc. I delved into studies on chocolate and coffee and their social and economic impact as well as how they worked upon politics and, throughout the Restoration and beyond, were integral to the fomenting of rebellion. Then, I turned to the history of journalism. I wasn’t aware when I first began how interrelated all of these things were – that was fascinating. And then there were the diaries of Samuel Pepys – what a boon. I also read wonderful historical fiction set in the period, plays from the 1600s, and I listen to the music of the era while writing. I note-take as I research, flag the books I read, and mostly remember where I find fascinating titbits that I want to include. Once I start writing, I am very linear, but will pause to fact check things like fabrics, idiom, road conditions, proper names, and so on. When I am editing, I do more research to make sure that any facts I have included are correct (to the best of my ability!) and that anything I have invented rings true to the era. To know you thought it fitted together seamlessly is such a relief, let me tell you. It’s what every author intends and hopes. I just adored this period (as I have the others I have researched). It was so rich, decadent, exploitative, adventurous, cruel and yet full of hope, resilience and awareness of rapid social, political and scientific change. I hope to revisit it again in the future.”

He, a wealthy, widowed merchant, plans to open a chocolate house and place Rosamund, his wife, at its head. Although she has much to learn about this new product and its preparation, she is soon the most talked-about woman in society, desired and respected in equal measure.

Impressed by the breadth and depth of Karen’s research, I then asked her if she’d enjoyed school history lessons. This is of real interest to me as I found it and my teacher as dry as dust until historical fiction taught me that history was more about people than dates and treaties.

But Sir Everard’s plans are by no means altruistic; they involve dark family secrets. His beloved first wife and daughter are both dead, and his son is missing somewhere in the New World across the Atlantic.

“I understand completely. Back then, I wasn’t a lover of history – certainly not the periods I write about now (medieval through to 1700s). But, in high school, I was passionate about ancient history.

The Chocolate Maker’s Wife (Oneworld UK / William Morrow US, 2019) takes us forward to Restoration London. The drab years of the interregnum are gone, London’s theatres re-open and the presses roll, trade burgeons importing new ideas, colours and flavours from around the world. Before I introduce you to beautiful and determined Rosamund Tomkins, I have to tell you that by the time you have finished reading this page-turning tour-de-force, you will, if not already, be addicted to chocolate! Be warned.

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I put that down to my amazing teacher, Mrs Bourell, who made history come alive by introducing me to the works of Herodotus, Suetonius and the plays of Euripides and Sophocles, and so many others. She made sure that her students didn’t only know about wars and leaders, but the human side of history – what motivated people – desire, rage, love, sex, sorrow, poverty, power, wealth, etc. Once I went to university, I thought I wanted to study history, but it was made lifeless and dull, so I dropped the subject. Like you, I came back to it through literature and, especially, historical fiction. I think it was Rudyard Kipling who said, ‘If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.’ I think that’s true. It’s also an enormous responsibility, which means story-tellers owe it to everyone to keep history in our memories and thus alive. The past, after all, is the greatest predictor of the future and how we learn not to repeat mistakes – lessons I fear, the more I learn, we don’t heed so well.” On that sobering note, my only remedy was to indulge in a delicious cup of chocolate and decide whether to add a dash of cinnamon or even chili powder. Sally Zigmond writes, edits and reviews both short and long fiction. Her Victorian saga, Hope Against Hope, was published in 2011.

AN ENCHANTED LAND BY ADELAIDA LUCENA-LOWER The Murmur of Bees by Mexican writer Sofía Segovia (translated by Simon Bruni, Amazon Crossing, 2019) is the rare novel in historical fiction, realistically framed within historical events – the Mexican Revolution, the Spanish flu – and, at the same time, filled with preternatural circumstances and fantastic characters that have earned Segovia comparisons with magical realism writers such as Gabriel García Márquez and Isabel Allende. It is universal at heart but also deeply imbedded in its setting. Inspired by stories from her childhood, Segovia sets her novel in Linares, northern Mexico, weaving the era’s class struggle and agrarian reform into the sweeping multi-generational tale of the Morales family. It is also an evocative portrait of the land and its people, from Francisco Morales, vying to keep his inheritance and pass it to his children, to the mysterious Nana Reja, the wet nurse whose flesh has become wood. In this landscape, houses echo with the laughter of long-gone children, shutters bang on windless days, and people accept the extraordinary, regardless of logic. Among the strong characters that populate The Murmur of Bees, one stands out: Simonopio, an abandoned infant with a facial disfigurement, who is adopted by the Morales family and grows up to be their protector. Constantly surrounded by bees, Simonopio is fanciful, mystical, almost a nature spirit in the classical sense. It’s hard to achieve truth and credibility but Segovia succeeds with him. “A character like Simonopio has to emerge on its own,” she says. “Simonopio couldn’t be planned. I absolutely believed in him since paragraph one, so he is written from a place of honesty and even love. That’s important. I think that’s the reason readers easily accept

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traversing the threshold of disbelief as they follow Simonopio and his bees.” And the bees, by the way, are no arbitrary plot device. Like Chekhov’s gun, they appear early, are relevant throughout the narrative, and central at a crucial point. Yet, Segovia didn’t set out with a plan and genre. “I don’t like labels,” she says. “I wasn’t planning on magical realism as I wrote The Murmur of Bees. I always imagined magical realism would thrive only in the rain forest! But I tread in the desert and it jumped at me and enthralled me. If it’s there in my novel, it sprouted on its own. Much like nature. With a combo like Nana Reja, Simonopio and the bees, how could it be otherwise? That’s how it should be, or else it would come off as contrived, artificial.” Going from one chapter to another, Segovia switches points of view, a technique that sometimes confuses readers. In this case, however, the switch heightens tension and pace, and deepens the understanding of the characters. Segovia even plunges into the mind of the sinister Anselmo Espiricueta, a laborer whose envy and resentment triggers murder and heartbreak. “Everything [about Espiricueta] is alien: his origins, his feelings, his ancestral history, his suffering,” Segovia points out. “But I had to be brave and go deep and walk not in his shoes, but in his skin and feel his beating heart. It was very painful and eye-opening.” Translated works often invite questions about what Nabokov described as “the world of verbal transmigration.” How much of the original text is preserved? What are the concerns when the novel is historical? Simon Bruni, who translated The Murmur of Bees, grew up reading novels from the Victorian era and early twentieth century. His work retains the lovely incantatory tone of Segovia’s prose in Spanish, rendering her voice and rhythms; her superb use of language registers. Bruni is aware of the potential pitfalls of translation. “The first,” Bruni asserts, “is a challenge that the original author also faces, which is to adopt a style that evokes the past but is accessible to a modern reader. I’m writing in modern English, really, but adding an archaic flavor. There are two pitfalls to avoid here: clichéd language that reads as a parody of old English, and language that is too modern for the context. I try to create the right balance primarily by using English that is in current or quite recent usage.” An unusual milieu presents added challenges. As Bruni observes, “the new readership is likely to be less acquainted with the history, culture and real historical figures in the book than the original readership. People tend to know much more about the history of their own country.” When context is needed, the translator must intervene: “What I try to do here is add some kind of description as seamlessly as possible, with the addition of a word or a few words if needed. Brevity is key and I do this only when absolutely necessary to avoid interrupting the original flow of the book.” Segovia’s approach to research is distinctive. While many authors fret about the historical record and squirm about deviating from it, she is forthright about taking liberties. “There is no greater freedom than writing a piece of fiction,” she writes in the novel’s Notes, where she also admits to willful anachronisms, and to mixing fictional and historical characters. Extensive as her research was, she resolved to be faithful to her inspiration. With so many novelized biographies in which authors pretty much follow biographers’ trails, I asked if the role of imagination is devalued in historical fiction. “I think imagination should be a requisite for all types of writing or creative endeavor, be that literary, historical or scientific, even,” Segovia suggests. “Imagination sparks new questions, invites us to see with different eyes, see connections

I WASN'T fully conscious of the fact that I had written my family history into my novel. It came as a bit of a shock to me when I learned about what happened to my great-grandfather.

where others haven’t. In historical fiction, I believe that imagination removed from the interviewees’ own private sphere so that they can works as an invitation for the reader to connect, to perceive, to feel, remain fairly untouched by the trauma and shame. So no, the issue to make a story from another time and place their own.” is not being discussed as openly as in Korea and China. I believe the size of the country is a one factor. Its smallness prohibits any sense of Adelaida Lucena-Lower lives in Virginia and is working on a novel anonymity, so that there’s nowhere to hide from the shame of being a set in eighth-century Spain.l rape victim once you’ve confessed to having been a comfort woman for the Japanese soldiers.”

HOW WE DISAPPEARED BY ALAN FISK

On 15 February 1942, the island of Singapore in Southeast Asia surrendered to a Japanese invasion force. The Allied forces were twice the strength of the Japanese, but a badly organised and badly commanded defence condemned the people of Singapore to three and a half years of brutal occupation. Jing-Jing Lee’s first novel, How We Disappeared (OneWorld UK / Hanover US, 2019; reviewed this issue), begins in 2000 and flashes back to episodes in this terrible time for her birthplace (which is also mine). Bullied, nerdish Singaporean Chinese schoolboy Kevin starts a personal research project to try to make sense of the mutterings of his dying grandmother. His chain of discoveries leads him to revelations that he would never have imagined, and to facts about his family that even his parents did not know. In a parallel narrative, starting in 1942, a teenaged girl called Wang Di is carried off by Japanese soldiers from her home village and put to work as a “comfort woman” in an official military brothel. I asked Lee whether she thought that the issue of “comfort women” is being more openly discussed in Singapore now, as it is in Korea and China, for instance. “It depends on how you define ‘openly discussed,’” she says. “The general population is very much aware of the issue; ask any Singaporean if they think that local women were taken during the Japanese occupation and, young or old, they would likely say ‘yes.’ In the 90s, there was even a Chinese TV drama serial set during the Occupation and one of the strands showed how young local girls were taken by the Japanese troops to be used as sex slaves. The government, however, is reluctant to touch upon this issue. In the 1960s, Singapore received 25 million Singapore dollars from Japan as a loan. The Singaporean government tried to have the amount officially named as a ‘blood debt,’ but Japan refused. In the end, the two countries called it a ‘bilateral agreement’ instead. “Although Singaporeans take for granted the fact that local women were abducted during the Occupation, no victims have come forward to give testimony. During my research, I came across several interviews in which war survivors mentioned having seen, or heard about, such events. The women involved, invariably, would be a distant relation or a friend of a neighbour – someone conveniently

Although How We Disappeared is in no way a fictionalised account of real people and events, it is heavily influenced by stories that Lee heard from her relatives about events during the Occupation. I asked her whether the fact that this novel is partly based on the history of her own family had made it more emotionally difficult to write. She explains, “No, as I wasn’t fully conscious of the fact I had written my family history into my novel. It came as a bit of a shock to me when I learned about what happened to my great-grandfather. His village had been set upon by the invading troops and was decimated during the attack. My great-grandfather got away with a stab wound in his torso but lost all of his family (except for two daughters who had married shortly before the invasion and moved out), but he never talked about what happened during the war until he became demented. When the subject came up during one of my visits back to Singapore, I was in the later stages of finishing the book – the story of Soon Wei (the girl around whom the second timeline is based) had already been written. The only way I can explain it is that my father must have told me this story when I was too little to process it, but it remains uncanny to me that the memory resurfaced in this manner.” Finally, I asked Lee about her own background in writing. She was previously known as a poet and short-story writer. “My parents are not the literary type by any stretch of the imagination – I’ve never seen my father read a book and my mother only had two years of education and is semi-illiterate. I learned to read in English using audiobooks as I was raised in Chinese by very pragmatic, baby-boomer parents. Even as a child I harboured a secret desire to create, and to write, but this would be tantamount to telling my family that I wanted to join the circus. In an effort to accede to their wishes, I started my college education at a Singaporean university, reading social science while doing a minor in business studies. I soon became depressed because it was clear that what I was doing (and the future this path would lead to) would make me utterly miserable. I applied to the diploma course in creative writing at Oxford and got in, much to the chagrin of my father. After I finished the diploma, I applied to the master’s. This has allowed me to practise writing full-time and, more than anything, to have enough confidence in my abilities as a writer to attempt starting (and finishing) a complete work of fiction.” The physical relics of the Occupation are much less visible in modern Singapore than when I was a boy in the 1950s, playing in Japanese concrete pillboxes. The emotional scars were also more open; I remember that when the first Japanese trade delegation came to Singapore, they had to be rescued by the police from a furious crowd that was quite literally trying to beat them to death in the street. How We Disappeared is a powerful, sometimes painful, read, whose characters and incidents will remain with you. Alan Fisk is a UK reviews editor for HNR.

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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

CLASSICAL

RACE TO MARATHON

Jay Greenwood, New Hickory Press, 2018, $14.99, pb, 403pp, 9780692110331

After word arrives that hundreds of Persian ships are on course to land at the Bay of Marathon, the fewer Athenians scramble to meet the enemy. The novel offers an educated retelling of the days before the conflict, what key players may have said and done in their preparation, and the mighty battle itself. Race to Marathon is set across Ancient Greece and beyond. The action primarily focuses on the generals at Marathon and their runners—supremely fit men who raced across vast distances to deliver timely messages. Occasionally, author Jay Greenwood takes us to Persia, where we explore King Darius’s outlook, and Athens, where the women left behind attempt to thwart enemy spies. In a delightful nod to the Homeric poems, the novel also entertains the perspective of the gods, who are every bit as sensitive and influential as those of The Iliad and The Odyssey. Greenwood’s exhaustive research is at the forefront of every page, the characters feel true to history, and readers are treated to a fascinating tour of three distinct, ancient cultures. Unfortunately, in his effort to include so much information, the author is sometimes guilty of “telling” too much, and not “showing” enough; although Greenwood’s attempts to mask this where possible are commendable. Race to Marathon is an enthralling read throughout. While the novel celebrates historical valour and strategy, this is also the story of democracy, how it was nearly destroyed in its infancy, and the brave souls who fought to defend it. Dan Cross

THE AMBER SEEKER

Mandy Haggith, Saraband, 2019, £8.99, pb, 227pp, 9781912235292

Set in 320 B.C., The Amber Seeker is the sequel to the critically acclaimed The Walrus Mutterer (reviewed in HNR 86). The novel is told in the first person through the eyes of the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia, a genuine historical figure who left behind a 16

unique account of his sea voyages to Britain, Iceland and beyond. (Each port of call is given its ancient Brittonic name, so a map would have been helpful to follow his progress without having to resort to Google, but this is a minor quibble.) As in her previous novel, the author’s meticulous research shines from every page. I was particularly intrigued by her explanation for Pytheas’s journey of exploration: in an age when knowledge is power, he is searching for the sources of precious commodities such as tin, amber and walrus ivory. He is also looking for Rian, the elusive slave girl who has stolen his heart and who haunts his every waking moment. Today, we might describe Pytheas as a scientist. A practical man, he is thrust into a bleak, northern landscape of myth and magic, of earth goddesses, Druids and human sacrifice. There are obvious parallels to Homer’s Odyssey here, and The Amber Seeker is a journey of discovery in more ways than one, although Pytheas is no heroic Greek warrior. Instead he is a complex, tormented soul; sometimes likeable, sometimes utterly repellent. Beautifully written, this novel is a moving and at times, shocking confession of a man tormented by love, loss, guilt and regret. Recommended. Penny Ingham

BREAKING THE FOALS

Maximilian Hawker, Unbound, 2018, £10.99, pb, 248pp, 9781911586722

I struggled at first with the strange names and titles and an unfamiliar depiction of Troy. This is not like Homer’s tale. But as the story unfolds, I realised that this is about a man who has been born into a rigid society that he dislikes. The Shining Ones are the elite who rule, and Hektor’s father, Priam, is a god who must be referred to as My Sun, light of the earth and ruler of the heavens. Hektor has a young illegitimate son that he adores, though his duties stop him spending time with the boy until he falls ill and is cured by a strange seer, who is being worshipped secretly by the commoners of the town as a prophet. These lesser people live outside the walled acropolis, and armed guards stop them entering the inner sanctum. Hektor is committed by his duties to marry another local lord’s daughter: a match that he does not relish. Hektor’s young sister is also betrothed to the same greedy, evil

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

lord, but events escalate when an earthquake brings down the wall dividing rich from poor, and he is forced to ask this same lord for assistance to control the rampaging peasants. Hektor rails against his duty, to the point where he must make a decision that will break his social chains forever. The final episodes leave Hektor torn between duty to his city-state to stop it being overrun by a more evil despot than his own father, and love for his son. The story’s direction is difficult to discern at first but becomes clear as the players crystallise and become factors in the climactic ending. A gripping re-take on an old story. Alan Pearson

THE FALLING SWORD

Ben Kane, Orion, 2019, £14.99, hb, 383pp, 9781409173427

198 BC. The wolves of Macedon and Rome are circling, and the prize is Greece. Once a league of proud and independent citystates, Greece is now fractured and weak; the only question is: who will rule her: Philip of Macedon or the upstart Roman Republic under its ambitious general, Flaminius? Demetrios, fighting for Macedon, is a battlehardened veteran whose main problem is the sneering Empedokles who has it in for him. On the Roman side, Felix has a dangerous personal secret to hide which, if discovered, could cost him his life – and his luck seems to be running out. The story, the second in Kane’s Clash of Empires series, cuts between Philip and Flaminius’s relationship: mutual respect on top and a fierce struggle for supremacy underneath; Demetrios’s attempts to avoid Empedokles; and Felix’s struggles to stay under the radar. The pace is fast and furious – and I was pleased to have the helpful maps and the glossary of things military. I’d have loved a list of characters, too. The whole raison d’être of The Falling Sword is violence: men are tortured, gored, crushed and hacked. Blood is everywhere. As one (male) reviewer put it: ‘Every cough, spit, curse and gush of blood … pure man joy.’ I usually enjoy military fiction in a well-researched historical setting but, sadly, The Falling Sword offers little but violence. There are no ordinary non-combatants, to give the reader a sense of the world that is being lost. It was like showing the Battle of Britain as one continual dogfight without seeing people queuing for bread, firemen rescuing Blitz victims, or mothers agonizing about evacuating their children. The result is disappointingly one-dimensional. By the end, I’m afraid, I didn’t care who lived or died – and I should have done. I wanted to. Elizabeth Hawksley

1ST CENTURY SIMON’S WIFE

L.M. Affrossman, Sparsile Books, 2018, $12.99, pb, 322pp, 9781999871314

70 AD. Shelamzion is only 19 years old as she awaits death in a Roman prison. When

Fabius Cornelius Grammaticus enters her cell, the last thing she expects is someone who wants to listen. Cornelius has a goal in mind: to write the true history of the Jewish war, with Shelamzion recounting her husband Simon’s tale. Simon bar Gioras was the leader of the Jewish rebellion, now awaiting public execution. As the days pass, Cornelius finds something unexpected. This “something” is far more precious than literary fame or social notoriety. But time is against Cornelius, and Shelamzion’s life has almost reached its conclusion. Affrossman has crafted a sympathetic portrayal of the passions and consequences surrounding a rebellion. Shelamzion’s strong will and determination drive the plot forward with twists and turns that are emotionally compelling. The plot is skillfully unraveled with Shelamzion narrating her tale to Cornelius. The life of a rebel on the run contrasts sharply with Cornelius’s privileged life, and the juxtaposition of monetary wealth compared to spiritual wealth adds an additional layer to Affrossman’s already rich storyline. Most of the story takes place during war, but its focus remains on affecting moments. The plot is deeply felt and offers up meaningful character development. Additionally, Roman life and Jewish traditions are superbly realized. Simon’s Wife is a stirring novel about love, loss, captivity, and sacrifice as experienced by dynamic personalities in a well-detailed ancient world. J. Lynn Else

2ND CENTURY BRIGANTIA

Adrian Goldsworthy, Head of Zeus, 2019, £18.99, hb, 452pp, 9781784978198

Britannia, AD 100. Flavius Ferox is a centurion charged with keeping the peace on Britannia’s frontier with the barbarian tribes of the North. An imperial freedman is found brutally murdered in a latrine at the fort of Vindolanda. Ferox is summoned to Londinium by the governor, where he soon finds himself in a plot against Rome. Someone calling themselves the last druid is encouraging the tribes to rebel. Temples are being desecrated and religious artefacts are disappearing. Friends become enemies, and enemies become friends. Ferox finds himself both hunter and hunted in a deadly game of politics, rebellion and murder. This is the third and last instalment in the excellent Vindolanda series. The story is fastpaced with a taut plot and strong characters, which brings out the life and times at the edge of the Roman world in a very readable and exciting book that can be read as a standalone. The action sequences are exciting and totally believable without being overly graphic. This is high-quality historical fiction from an acclaimed historian at the top of his game! He is working on a new trilogy of Roman stories – I can’t wait. Highly recommended. Mike Ashworth

COMMODUS

Simon Turney, Orion, 2019, £20.00/C$34.99, hb, 464pp, 9781474607360

My all-time favourite kind of historical novel is the kind where I learn about a real person I know very little about, and his or her environment. When you add in a gripping story with a great character arc, tons of action, and a strong female protagonist – I’m sold; and then when I get to the back of the book and a well-researched author’s note describes a new, and very plausible, explanation for the actions of the Emperor, I’m ecstatic. Simon Turney’s Commodus is simply the most interesting book on Rome I’ve read for a long time. It’s told from the viewpoint of freedwoman Marcia, and we first meet her as a young girl playing with the imperial children. We follow the deepening relationship between her and the boy Commodus as he grows into his father’s role – a life that puts tremendous strain on them both, living as they do through plague, flood, war, and the challenges of Commodus’ increasingly erratic behaviour. The history of Rome is full of eccentric emperors, but Commodus may have been one of the maddest. He was the son of a ruling emperor, and was made co-emperor with his father, Marcus Aurelius, when he was 16; from 180 AD he ruled alone. You may have come across him in the movie Gladiator – where they had to tone down his excesses. Turney’s sympathetic treatment of his reign, and its worse than usual bloodlust, seen through the eyes of the woman who loves him, is very well done and persuasive. After all, history is written by the survivors; maybe Commodus was simply a victim of a smear campaign! Nicky Moxey

3RD CENTURY THE LOST TEN

Harry Sidebottom, Zaffre, 2019, £12.99, hb, 368pp, 9781785765605

An exciting standalone historical thriller, The Lost Ten is set in 3rd-century Rome and has all the attributes of a top war movie. We have a set of unsavoury battle-hardened Romans from the Frumentarii secret service, lumped together with an untested officer who’s never set foot outside Rome, and sent on a secret mission that seems to promise nothing but certain death. The mission? Travelling swiftly through enemy territory to rescue a young scion of the Persian royal family from the wonderfully titled and formidably defended mountain eyrie, the Castle of Silence. The only thing pulling this team of misfits together is the slim chance of making it out alive. For good measure, there’s also a traitor confounding the mission at every turn. Just think of Where Eagles Dare but set in the desert, and you have a good picture of this engaging and pacy thriller. As in his previous historical novels, Harry Sidebottom’s deep knowledge of antiquity is used to much advantage in The Lost Ten. The enticing descriptions of the

rapidly-changing exotic landscapes and the efficient characterisation of a host of different nationalities and religions also aid the story, keeping the reader hooked through gritty encounters with Arab bandits, desert sandstorms, Persian arrogance, and bloodthirsty tribesmen. We do get to know the characters gradually, but really the story is the thing here; we want to find out which of our unprepossessing heroes will make it through and who will bite the desert dust. That tension running throughout The Lost Ten is expertly handled by an accomplished historical novelist who keeps this thriller on track and on time for a reader-satisfying ending. Gordon O’Sullivan

4TH CENTURY THE DECEIVERS

Bill Page, Matador, 2019, £7.99, pb, 288pp, 9781789018189

Roman Britain, 370 A.D. Canio, a Roman ex-soldier, has by illicit means become a wealthy landowner. When the Roman governor orders him to hand over a bronze figurine of the Celtic goddess Hecate, Canio claims truthfully he does not have it. Not believing him, the governor threatens him with death if he does not deliver the idol. So Canio sets out to find it, joined by Bodicca, a wise woman, and an orphaned boy of seven. Essentially plotless, the novel is a journey. Day by day, mile by mile, the reader travels through the weather, landscape and villages of the West Country. Crumbling roads signal the collapsing empire. Christianity is a thin veneer over the Roman and Celtic gods; Venus is overpainted to become an angel, but the people worship in Minerva’s temple. Nothing much happens: Canio kills a jailor; an old pagan priest is buried; Canio is robbed by a whore; a coppersmith makes a copy of Hecate. And yet the journey is fascinating. A convincingly unsympathetic hero, Canio is softened—a little—by the sad but lively boy. Bodicca is infuriatingly always right. Because this is the fourth in a series, too much of the narrative depends on events in the past, making the ending unsatisfactorily inconclusive. However, as the bulk of the novel is such a leisurely, enjoyable read, it can be recommended, but not perhaps for lovers of action. Lynn Guest

TRIUMPH IN DUST

Ian Ross, Head of Zeus, 2019, £18.99, hb, 467pp, 9781784975333.

Triumph in Dust is the sixth and final instalment of Ian Ross’ popular Twilight of Empire series. While not exactly set in the dying days of Rome, as the series title suggests, it is set in the later Roman Empire, an often overlooked period of history. This book specifically takes 336 AD as its starting point, towards the end of Constantine’s rule, the Emperor famous for (purportedly) converting to Christianity and facilitating its growth as

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a mainstream religion. Indeed, the career of Constantine throughout the series and in this final novel to a large extent parallels that of the protagonist, Aurelius Castus. Triumph in Dust takes Aurelius Castus out of retirement and into the borderlands of Rome and Persia, the two ‘superpowers’ of the age. Conflict is never too distant, but whether Rome will invade Persia before Persia invades Rome is anybody’s bet. As master of the horse, an archaic title once held by Mark Anthony, it is Castus’ job to make sure that the eastern forces of the Roman Empire are ready for either. As a veteran and father he must think of his own health and his family’s safety too. Triumph in Dust is a very enjoyable read, with a few unexpected plot twists alongside the usual battles and military proceedings. It is historical military fiction of a high standard. Recommended. Chris James

7TH CENTURY

CUTHBERT OF FARNE

Katharine Tiernan, Sacristy Press, 2019, £9.99, pb, 300pp, 9781789590098

History teaches us that Saint Cuthbert was a monk and hermit in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. He was buried at Lindisfarne Abbey, but when his coffin was first moved, it was opened, and his body was found to be perfect, hence the saintly appellation. His remains now lie in Durham Cathedral and still attract visitors today. He was present at the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD when the final decision was made for the English Church to adopt the Roman Rule introduced by Saint Augustine rather than that practised by the Irish monks who brought Celtic Christianity to Iona much earlier. So much for the facts which come mainly from Bede and an earlier anonymous life written by the monks of Lindisfarne Abbey. In Cuthbert of Farne, Katharine Tiernan puts flesh on the bare bones of the members of the ruling family of the kingdom of Northumbria in the years before the Normans took possession of England. In addition, she shows us that the reaction to the decision made at Whitby was not as clear-cut or amicable as history tells us. Here, this is depicted in the dislike (or even hatred) between Cuthbert and Wilfred, also Northumbrian-born and both present at that Synod, each representing a side of the divide. The author is very much on Cuthbert’s side and, although the author takes his point of view, I would have preferred more balance in her depiction of these two men. However, what I did like, because it was refreshing, is that the author focuses on the wives, mothers, daughters, sisters and aunts of these belligerent Saxon menfolk. Partly because I have often visited and love the iconic seascapes of the novel’s settings— Melrose, Lindisfarne, Bamburgh and Whitby— and because the experiences of women (plus the monks and nuns) of Anglo-Saxon 18

history too often are neglected, I thoroughly recommend this well-written novel.

Sally Zigmond

9TH CENTURY

THE WARRIOR WITH THE PIERCED HEART

Chris Bishop, RedDoor, 2018, $14.95, pb, 320pp, 9781910453599

This second book in The Shadow of the Raven series is told in the first person by Mathew, the second son of a noble family, who was intended for the church until he is enlisted by King Alfred of Wessex during the centralizing of his power in 9th-century England. Mathew is a very likeable character whose motivation is authentic. He reacts in a way the reader can relate to. Though still a young man, he accepts the overwhelming duty of messenger/soldier foisted on him by his king with as much zeal as he had for a monastic life. Each fast-paced adventure is told in believable detail. Bishop’s research is outstanding and very engaging. That can be a tall order, but make no mistake—this story is very entertaining and does not read as a history book. I was not a fan of books set in the 9th century until I had the good fortune of reading book one in this series, Blood and Destiny. The sensitivity of the main character in such a hostile environment kept me turning the pages, at times reading in horror at the cruelty he witnesses. I’m looking forward to book three. Chas Forest

THE GOLDEN WOLF

Linnea Hartsuyker, Harper, 2019, $27.99, hb, 448pp, 9780062563743 / Little, Brown, 2019, £20.00, hb, 432pp, 9781408708859

The Golden Wolf is a 9th-century Viking saga spanning across the regions of Norway to Iceland. This is the final book in The Golden Wolf Saga trilogy centered on King Harald and his trusted advisor, Ragnvald, and can be read as a stand-alone novel. Ragnvald and his sister, Svanhild, work tirelessly to preserve peace in Norway under King Harald’s sovereignty. The harmony of the kingdom is threatened with insurrection and the reckless actions of King Harald’s and Ragnvald’s sons seeking to forge their own legacies. After Svanhild’s estranged daughter, Freydis, is taken hostage, the uneasy peace ignites into warfare, pitting brother against brother and father against son on brutal battlefields. Ragnvald and his family suffer great losses to fulfill the prophecy

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

that King Harald will unite Norway. But the next generation finds new loyalties, love, and healing in the tragic aftermath as they embrace their own fates. Author Hartsuyker transports readers to the ancient world of legendary Vikings with vivid storytelling. The multiple characters are fully developed and engaging, particularly the young teen mother Freydis, who courageously rises from tragic events to profoundly impact the lives of her family. Each of the characters’ stories seamlessly weave together to create a rich narrative culminating in a heartfelt and poignant ending. The masterfully written epic tale has elements of political intrigue, romance, sacrifice, betrayal, and adventure. The Golden Wolf is a compelling conclusion to the trilogy. The rich tapestry of characters and their interweaving stories capture the mystique and heart of Norse and Icelandic legends. It is highly recommended for readers who enjoy in-depth layers of historical epics in the Middle Ages. Linnea Tanner

10TH CENTURY COUNCIL

Snorri Kristjansson, Jo Fletcher Books, 2019, £14.99, hb, 342pp, 9781784298104

Helga Finnsdottir has settled near King Erik’s court in Uppsala. Her reputation as a healer is spreading, and her life seems settled; she is even in a relationship of sorts. The King has summoned all those who owe him fealty to a King’s Council. Before the Council even begins there is tension and mistrust between the groups attending, and news of an imminent attack serves only to inflame tempers. When the body of an unknown boy is found near the river, only Helga suspects murder. However, she finds that no one is interested in the death of a nobody when death and destruction are threatening. Only when a second body appears does anyone take notice, but it is difficult to worry about murder when you are facing an army of raiders intent on wiping out everyone, aided by a traitor at the heart of the court. With a very strong plot and characterisation, this is much more than just a murder mystery. Indeed, the murders are almost incidental to the action, and the interplay between the main characters. The author brings alive the culture and times, and the characters are strong and believable. This is the second in what I predict will be a long and rewarding series. More please. Mike Ashworth

11TH CENTURY

THE VIKING PRIEST

Linda Dahlen, Beaver’s Pond, 2019, $17.99, pb, 448pp, 9781592987757

Fleeing from home after his father’s death, Brand travels from Sweden to England. He wants to learn more about the god who offers forgiveness and love. The gods from

his homeland demand blood and sacrifice, claiming the life of his father. He arrives at a monastery and learns of the White Kristr. Eventually, Brand becomes a monk, and his mission work takes him to faraway lands where he meets dynamic people and cultures. Many times, the road becomes arduous. Will faith be enough to help Brand overcome public humiliation, imprisonment, slavery, and being stranded in an unknown land? This story is epic in scope, encompassing multiple countries around 1000 AD. I was impressed with the amount of research infusing the varied cultures and landscapes. Architecture, clothing, technology, medical practices, religion, and socioeconomics are all richly brought to life and will keep readers engaged. Brand crosses paths with historical figures including Erik the Red, Olaf Trygvasson, and Leif Erikson, to name a few. The map at the front of the book was greatly appreciated, illustrating the breadth of our main character’s travels. This is largely a story of faith in the Christian God, and Brand is challenged throughout the novel in deeply spiritual and emotional ways. Dahlen is mindful of the details and does a great job reflecting poignantly on the journey of Brand’s life. Be prepared for adventure, love, sacrifice, and the making of a legend as one man seeks to spread the love of God throughout the world. J. Lynn Else

12TH CENTURY

STORMS OF RETRIBUTION

James Boschert, Penmore, 2018, $21.50, pb, 549pp, 9781946409706

In 1187, the treaty between the Kingdom of Jerusalem, ruled by Guy de Lusignan, and the Arab world, led by Salah Ed Din, is on the brink of failure. Talon is requested to leave his home in Cyprus and return to the Holy Land to help renegotiate a truce with Salah Ed Din. Talon is known as a man of honor to the Arab ruler and, therefore, may succeed while others would fail. Unfortunately, the King of Jerusalem refuses to honor the pact made between the parties and decides to attack the Arab forces. By his decision, he has placed his army in jeopardy because he is outnumbered by the Arab army led by Salah Ed Din. Meanwhile, Talon’s castle in Cyprus comes under attack from those who wish to recover gold that is suspected to be located on his property. An army is on the way from the sea to storm the castle. His family must also handle an attack by trained assassins who are infiltrating the castle. Interesting characters and a plausible plot make this series a joy to read. This novel, eighth and last in the series, did not disappoint me and continues the exciting exploits of Talon and his family as they try to defend the Holy Land and their enclave in Cyprus. This adventure series provides us with a fast-moving storyline while including factual

material regarding the fighting in the Middle East, which continues to this day. Jeff Westerhoff

13TH CENTURY

LISTEN TO THE WIND

Susanne Dunlap, Bellastoria, 2019, $17.95, pb, 388pp, 9781942209584

In the 13th century, Azalaïs and Azemar live as orphans in the forests of what is now southern France. When angry men chase them, they are separated, but never forget each other. Azalaïs is saved by a monk who encourages her to hide her gender so that she can live in the protection of the monastery. Azemar works in fields and vineyards until a physically broken nobleman befriends him. In a few years, both Azalaïs and Azemar are raised from peasantry to nobility. In a third storyline, the reader meets noblewoman Jordane, whose brothers died fighting the French, whose father has bowed to the French king, and who is about to be forced to wed a man she views as an enemy. My knowledge of this time and place is not such that I could follow the politics at first. The three sides are the French, Rome and the Pope, and the Infidels, but as the story continued I began to understand: the Midi is independent of the French king, who wants the land to be a part of France. Anyone who is opposed to his rule is named an “infidel” and tortured or killed, thus a band of rebels hides, sometimes attacking nobles who submit to French rule. The three main characters are interesting but flawed. Sometimes their decisions seem designed to increase the excitement of the plot rather than make sense based on their own personalities or motivations. I found some aspects of the story a bit farfetched; however, the plot is engaging and suspenseful. Dunlap’s clever use of the Occitan language adds a wonderful flavor and helps bring the setting to life. This is the first installment of the proposed trilogy of the Orphans of Tolosa. Elizabeth Caulfield Felt

14TH CENTURY HER KIND

Niamh Boyce, Penguin Ireland, 2019, £12.99/€15.00, pb, 307pp, 9781844884339

In the opening scene of this small, intimate novel, a group of women marked with the yellow crosses of heretics is led out of prison in Kilkennie, Ireland, in 1324. The watching crowd names the miscreants, wondering, “where is Dame Alice Kytler?” The narrative

then jumps back in time to tell us, from the point of view of Alice’s servants and the spiteful bishop who has accused them, how these events developed over the course of the previous six months. Boyce keeps the focus laser-sharp, detailing the daily lives of the wealthy, pragmatic merchant Alice and the women who work for her. The action begins with the arrival of Alice’s childhood friend and her mute, traumatized daughter. They have escaped a raid on their Gaelic settlement, seeking shelter in the Anglicized town, with all its pretensions, gossip, and class conflicts. Kilkennie is a medieval town in transition – a fascinating mix of urban sophistication and peasant superstition, where the clergy and merchant classes struggle for control of the valuable laborers who make an elegant new way of life possible. The narrators navigate these challenges with earthy humor and keen psychological insight, as the malice and greed of men threaten to overcome Dame Alice’s efforts to create a peaceable, profitable community. This is a marvelously witty, cleverly plotted novel. Fans of medieval history and literature will appreciate how Boyce has woven elements of Irish hero tales and Chaucerian characters into a tapestry of artfully observed historical detail about domestic life. The main character, Petronelle, is derived from a single mention in the Annales Hiberniae; the scheming Alice is clearly inspired by the Wife of Bath. Boyce transforms the existing maleauthored accounts of female transgression into a rich network of interdependent women trying to navigate the demands of their faith, family loyalties, and desires. Kristen McDermott

DEADLY RELATIONS

P.A. De Voe, Drum Tower Press, 2018, £11.05/€14.99, pb, 204pp, 9781942667094

Hong Shu-chang is a farmer’s son whose father has sacrificed everything for years to enable him to study for the three arduous state examinations, success in which would guarantee him a splendid career and a huge increase in status for himself, his family, and his village. When he emerges from the cell where he has been sequestered for a week sitting the second examination, he is met with the news that his father and uncle have been murdered. At the same time, the ground landlord demands the reversion of the land the Hong family has farmed for decades. Facing destitution but determined on vengeance, Shu-chang moves to a nearby market town to take up a position as teacher but soon becomes embroiled in a further investigation concerning a burntout warehouse and two dead bodies. He is assisted by a distant cousin, Xiang-hua, an attractive young woman who comes from a long line of female physicians and puts her privileged access to women’s quarters to good use in gathering information. P.A. De Voe’s sparse, laconic style quickly draws us into Shu-chang’s life, a life which has been very circumscribed to date. Now he

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must meet new challenges and dangers, but he encounters many more opportunities, so that the book is also a coming-of-age story. As all the mysteries are not solved, we may hope to meet Shu-chang and Xiang-hua again. Deadly Relations echoes the old Chinese tradition of detective stories as exemplified by Robert Van Gulik in his Judge Dee novels and offers a welcome return to this world. Catherine Kullmann

A CONSPIRACY OF WOLVES

Candace Robb, Crème de la Crime, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 256pp, 9891780291154

In 1374, former Captain of the Guard, Owen Archer, is asked to investigate the murder of the son of one of York’s most prominent citizens. It appears that his throat has been torn out by a wolf – and rumors of a wolf pack running wild through York begin to spread like wildfire. But Owen is not convinced that he is looking at an animal pack targeting humans. When a second body is found, this time with stab wounds, Archer’s suspicions grow. Together with Geoffrey Chaucer, who is on a secret spy mission on behalf of Prince Edward, Archer finds himself thrust into a complex conspiracy with its roots decades old. In this eleventh installment in the series, Robb manages to keep and hold our attention, focusing on the loving relationship between Owen and his wife, healer, Lucie Wilton, their children and their community, who clearly love and respect Archer. As the seer and healer, Magda, calls him, Bird-Eye (since Archer has the ability to see out of only one eye) Owen is able to use that “third eye” to puzzle out and reconstruct the origins of what seem to be incomprehensible and unconnected crimes. The plot twists and turns and the pieces of that puzzle that ultimately come together are Robb’s forte, and Archer is just the man to spearhead the investigation. An utterly delightful jaunt! Ilysa Magnus

THE BONE FIRE

S. D. Sykes, Pegasus Crime, 2019, $25.95, hb, 320pp, 9781643131979 / Hodder & Stoughton, 2019, £18.99, hb, 320pp, 9781473679993

The Black Death stalks England in 1361, and Oswald de Lacy seeks safety for his family. He brings them to an isolated castle on an island in the Fens where his eccentric friend Godfrey hopes to spend the winter in safety. The gates of Castle Eden are locked tight against the plague and anyone who might harbor it. Besides Godfrey, the castle shelters his brother Edwin, a few servants, some visiting nobles from London, and their unusual child, a European clockmaker and his assistant, and an elderly monk, who is Godfrey’s uncle, along with his pet crow. But there is trouble in paradise. First Godfrey is murdered, his body found hidden in the clockmaker’s wooden chest. His brother Edwin now is heir to the castle, although he swears he did not murder Godfrey. 20

But other slayings follow, and Oswald finds no shortage of suspects. Oswald is forced to solve the murders to keep his own family safe, although his investigation puts him at risk of dying from the plague itself. Between the Black Death and the murders, bodies mount up rapidly in this historical mystery. Oswald is an interesting sleuth; quite modern in some of his views. The mystery is the fourth in the series, but readers need not have read the others to enjoy this book. At times, I found the characters just a tad too contemporary in their speech patterns, and perhaps their attitudes as well to fit my vision of that era. The plot moves along at a swift pace. The setting is suitably gloomy and claustrophobic, and a clever ending ties everything together. Historical mystery fans should enjoy this trip to the Middle Ages. Susan McDuffie

15TH CENTURY

MEMOIRS OF A TRAITOR

Lee Levin, Royal Heritage, 2018, $16.99, pb, 384pp, 9780983102755

Presented as a found document, Memoirs of a Traitor is the story of William Stanley, knight, younger brother of Lord Thomas Stanley. These brothers played an interesting role during the Wars of the Roses, fighting for the Yorkists at the Battles of Blore Heath and Tewkesbury, but later fighting for the Lancastrians at the Battle of Bosworth. This book tells the tale of William, supposedly written from the Tower the night before his execution for treason due to his role in supporting Perkin Warbeck’s claim to the throne. This is an eminently readable book. The style is conversational, engaging, and yet still informative. I find first-person narratives to be iffy sometimes, but since this is supposed to be Stanley’s own written account, there is no other way it could have been approached. Sometimes it works and other times it is less effective. This does severely limit the extent to which the other characters are fleshed out, in my opinion, and only a handful of secondary characters are really given much attention or life. Most are somewhat flat, with a couple of notable exceptions, such as Baron Simon de Rochford and Owen the squire. It would have been nice to get to know them better. I think, too, that the pace might be a little too fast in that some major events or battles happen too quickly with not enough detail given. However, all the main points are touched upon, and this would be a great book to use to introduce someone to the Wars of the Roses. The general historical accuracy and engaging style make it easy enough to forgive some glossing over of the finer details, especially given the first-person narration. Overall, an enjoyable read, and recommended, though with some caveats. Kristen McQuinn

16TH CENTURY

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

AT THE BLUE HOUR

Isabeau Kelm (trans. Eugenia Zilke), KDP, 2019, $5.59, ebook, 330pp, B07KQ97MWS

This is the fictionalized story of Irina, a Roma slave girl in late 16th-century Moldavia who became the mistress of the Voivode Petru the Lame; life in his castle, though luxurious, proves to be another form of slavery. Unusually, though, Irina is literate, taught by her mother who is of aristocratic Venetian descent, not herself a Gypsy but reduced to slavery, the fate of every Roma person in this geography until emancipation in the mid-19th century. Irina is courageous and resourceful, and dreaming of future freedom, she sees her way to it through her encounter with a sorcerer. In her brief biography the author states that she is inspired in her writing by her own family history, and she has an evident passion for both a geographic area and people about whom not enough is known; she provides a useful map and brief historical background. The translation (the novel was originally published in 2017 and is available in German and Russian) may account for some linguistic oddities (‘emaciated from crying,’ ‘the relentless capital of Moldavia,’ and the overly contemporary ‘he still had problems connecting with any of the other monks’ and ‘what’s with why?’). Exchanges such as “you must be wondering why I have drawn so many portraits of you”… Could he possibly read her every thought? Was he that powerful?’ lack logic, as does the assertion that Irina did not realise for two years that Petru suffered from gout. Inconsistent characterisation and overwriting contribute to an impression of lack of focus, yet Kelm does manage to evoke a rich sense of place. Katherine Mezzacappa

BLACK DEATH

M. J. Trow, Severn House, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 224pp, 9781780291161

It’s 1592 in London, and playwright/sleuth Christopher Marlowe receives a letter from archenemy Robert Greene shortly after his death to investigate it as a homicide. Unable to resist the unusual request, Marlowe investigates as the plague stalks London, theatres are shut down for fear of the plague spreading, and magi abound with false but pricey hopes for salvation. Adding to the mystery is the disappearance of Kit’s friend, stage manager Tom Sledd, and further random murders that Marlowe believes are related but can’t figure out how. Black Death has a complex plot with a large cast of real people from the day (William Shaxsper and Sir Robert Cecil, to name two) and an even larger cast of fictitious characters. These characters are well drawn out, but getting everyone and their roles straight was problematic. The author, however, successfully manages to balance the bleak realities of Elizabethan London with dry wit and insight. Most of the time I wondered where the plot was heading, the best sign for a mystery, which completely surprised me at the end with its

ingenuity. Marlowe is fearless, and undaunted in his dealings and conflicts with the accepted way of thinking and the personages of the times. He is also down-to-earth in his dealings with everyday people and their issues. Black Death will appeal to readers who enjoy a lot of history and actual personages rolled into a solid mystery.

Franca Pelaccia

17TH CENTURY

THE EARL IN BLACK ARMOR

Nancy Blanton, Ellys-Daughtrey Books, 2019, $18.95, pb, 442pp, 9780996728188

Ireland, 1635. Faolán Burke is ordered to Dublin Castle by his clan chief to spy on the English Lord Deputy, Thomas Wentworth. Wentworth seeks to serve and enrich his English monarch, King Charles I, and his policies endanger traditional Irish life and culture, take Irish land for the new English “plantations” which will be settled by Protestant Scots, and impoverish the native Irish. Although Wentworth knows Burke to be a spy, Burke gradually becomes more and more useful to the Deputy. Burke also meets the lovely Denisha, a woman with an enigmatic history, who serves as Wentworth’s assistant. The attraction between the two culminates in a secret romantic relationship. Despite their conflicting loyalties, Faolán and Denisha aid Wentworth as he strives to pacify the rebellious Irish and serve his king. But King Charles’s autocratic manner, profligate spending, and stubborn insistence on his Divine Right to rule create problems not only with the Irish, but also with the Scots. War looms between England and Scotland. Wentworth, asked to raise Irish troops to support the King’s cause, is drawn into the struggle while Faolán and Denisha witness his rise and fall. Blanton’s novel presents a finely nuanced and complex portrait of Thomas Wentworth, the Earl of Stafford, who was known as a scourge in Ireland but remained fiercely loyal to his king. The relationship between Faolán and Denisha frames this narrative, but that thread, to me, did not have the satisfying depth Blanton’s portrayal of Wentworth achieves. An interesting and very wellresearched retelling of some of the events and historical personages in the years leading to the English Civil War, The Earl in Black Armor should appeal to lovers of English and Irish history. Susan McDuffie

THE CHOCOLATE MAKER’S WIFE

Karen Brooks, William Morrow, 2019, $16.99/ C$21.00, pb, 608pp, 9780062686596

Fate literally smacks pretty Rosamund Tomkins in the head as she flees her abusive stepfamily and drab life as a tavern wench in Restoration England, but luckily, the horses

that knock her down belong to a respectable man who is captivated by her laughter in the face of the unexpected, and sees her potential as a partner in his new business. He pays her bride price, marries her, and whisks her to London, where it appears a fairytale life awaits her. She is installed in an elegant manor and introduced to her new career as manager of one of England’s first chocolate houses. Initially charmed by the celestial New World beverage, the kindly Spaniard who teaches her its secrets, and the loyal Moorish servants who are given charge of her, she quickly discovers that a worm lurks in the apple of her success. Her new husband has plenty to hide and a rather unpleasant disregard for anyone’s feelings, and soon a series of disasters make her dependent on his secretive son-in-law, whom she has been taught to see as the devil himself. But the devil has fascinating indigo eyes… “Rollicking” is the word for this goodhumored romance-thriller-culinary adventure. Brooks’ heroine is a flashing-eyed, overconfident minx in the Scarlett O’Hara tradition, and a bit too good at everything she does—including the frequent references to and unlikely power of her mesmerizing laughter— to be believable. The main characters are also a trifle “woke” for their time, and the author relies a little too heavily on the convenient appearance of a sympathetic version of Samuel Pepys at crucial moments to explain what’s going on outside the chocolate house. However, Brooks’ witty, lavish descriptions of clothing, food, and the sights and sounds of Restoration London make this an enjoyable vacation read. Kristen McDermott

THE DOUBTFUL DIARIES OF WICKED MISTRESS YALE

David Ebsworth, SilverWood, 2019, $14.99, pb, 270pp, 9781781328552

1672, Madras, India. At the East India Company’s Fort St. George docks, Company recruits disembark from ferryboats. The Governor’s Second-of-Council, Joseph Hynmers, welcomes the arriving party and introduces his wife, Catherine. A young writer, Elihu Yale, catches Catherine’s eye. Due to a sudden downpour, Elihu takes hold of Catharine’s parasol and escorts her back to the fort. Joseph is impressed and invites Elihu for dinner. Joseph attends to Company business that involves not only trade, but making treaties with the local Gentues, Sultan, Mughals, Marathas, Dutch, and French, to keep the Company profitable. Catherine becomes involved in a bit of espionage, and when Joseph dies from an illness, Catherine and Elihu marry under a contract which Catherine drafts. Elihu is promoted to Governor, becoming involved in some shady dealings, including slave trading. Catherine accumulates some wealth of her

own but is betrayed by her friends and even Elihu. She is determined to seek vengeance. David Ebsworth mentions that he initially wanted to write about Elihu Yale, one of the founders of that famous Connecticut university. However, Ebsworth became more interested in Elihu’s wife, Catherine, upon reading the wealthy nabob’s will that says: “To my wicked wife ...” Ebsworth has used historical fiction tools skillfully to put together Catherine’s story, essentially from the blank space in the will. The diary format is used advantageously. While the major happenings at Fort St. George, as seen through Catherine’s eyes, are evocatively shown, the political activities and the wars with the neighboring Indian rulers are mostly told by Catherine as narrated to her by others. Readers will learn much about life in one of the East India Company’s outposts and should decide if Catherine was indeed a “wicked wife.” There will be more to discover in the forthcoming sequel. Recommended. Waheed Rabbani

THE GHOSTING OF ANNE ARMSTRONG

Michael Cawood Green, Goldsmiths, 2019, $24.95/£20.00, hb, 360pp, 9781906897956

Want to entertain yourself with “Ghosting Through: Ficto-Critical Translation as a Means of Resisting the Appropriations of History and Place”? Nah, me either – and I’m an academic. Yet this scholarly project of the author’s is the basis for this surprisingly readable tale of Anne Armstrong, a Northumbrian teenager whose accusations of witchcraft against her neighbors were presented before multiple justices in 1670s England. To “engage critically with the conventions of the genre” (required since he was awarded a research fellowship to do just that), English professor Green has taken the extant court documents and fictionalized Anne, her present-day ghost, and his own part as a researcher into her history. Green possesses an interesting imagination; his look into the minds of Anne and the justices who examine her, their motives and concerns, more than achieves his goal of “invoking an awareness of how strange and foreign history… is to our contemporary understanding.” In a genre that often, in inept hands, ludicrously conflates historical characterization into something that dovetails neatly with modern culture and social mores, Green’s imagining of this story is refreshing. All this aside, the book is simply a good read when taken at face value as historical fiction. The imagery Anne conjures – being bridled and ridden as a horse, her neighbors flying around in eggshells and kitchen bowls, transforming into various animals while singing, dancing, and feasting at a witches’ Sabbath – is vivid. Voice is convincing, atmosphere and geography immersive. If you want an academic treatise on metafictional interventions, feel free to read the 50-page appendices of essay and notes where the

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author explains exactly what he was attempting to do here. If you don’t, enjoy Anne’s story for what it is: an absorbing fictionalization of 17thcentury witchcraft “evidence” given by a poor young girl, and learned justices’ reactions to it. It works either way. Bethany Latham

BY FORCE OF CIRCUMSTANCE

J. G. Harlond, Penmore, 2018, $19.90, pb, 338pp, 9781946409768

In 1644, after two years of Civil War, the exiled Queen Henrietta Maria plans to pawn the English Crown Jewels to aid the Royalist cause. Spice merchant Ludo Da Portovenere sails for Plymouth, his children’s lives under threat were he not to cooperate in obtaining said jewels. He picks up his trading partner, Marco, and the recently widowed, sometime lover, Lady Alina and continues on to France. Ludo, a likeable rascal, has an edge of wit in even the most serious of situations. There seems no tangled web he can’t talk his way out of. But not many of the characters here mean what they say or are what they purport to be. Ludo negotiates for the jewels with the Queen’s chamberlain, intending to sell them on to the Duchess of Braganza – profit minus commission to be returned to Henrietta. Trailed by his nemesis from the previous book, an evil Vatican agent, there are mishaps and nefarious goings-on along the way, and everyone – well mostly – either gets their comeuppance or lives happily ever after. I enjoyed this easy-to-read story, but it’s hard to categorise because, at times, it seemed too tongue-in-cheek. I didn’t have a solid sense of time and place, and the dialogue is a bit too slick to take it all seriously: and perhaps that’s the author’s intention. I wish I had read The Chosen Man first, as a more defined sense of Ludo may have become apparent. Part 3 begins in autumn, 1645 when it’s still autumn, 1644, and with numerous editorial mistakes the book could have done with another onceover. That said, the author clearly knows her way around the provenance of the Crown Jewels and who they really belong to! Fiona Alison

THE GLASS WOMAN

Caroline Lea, Harper, 2019, $27.99, hb, 400pp, 9780062935106 / Michael Joseph, £12.99, hb, 400pp, 9780718188979

Rósa Magnusdottir’s mother is ill, hungry and coughing away in the chill and mud of their croft in a late 17th-century Icelandic village. Jón Eiríksson seems to offer the only solution: as a wealthy bonði (chieftain) from a distant village, he can provide for Rósa’s mother. Rósa marries this complete stranger, despite the fact that her heart is entangled elsewhere and there are disturbing rumors about the mysterious death of Jón’s first wife. Rósa is escorted on the days-long journey to her new home by Pétur, her husband’s apprentice, who seems to be feared as one of the huldufólk (“hidden 22

people” – elves) by those they encounter. Jón is also feared, by the local populace as well as by Rósa – he is changeable, brooding and severe, with strict expectations of obedience and total submission from his new wife. He isolates her from the villagers, denying her companionship, not wishing her to speak with the local women. There is a locked loft in Jón’s croft where Rósa is forbidden to go, from which strange noises emanate. She feels watched, hears whispers and worries that there is a malevolent force… or perhaps she is losing her mind. This is an interesting version of a very familiar Gothic plotline: snow-buried crofts in an isolated Icelandic village offer every bit as much claustrophobia and unsettling ambiance as a decaying English estate. Clash between the old ways (runic symbols and huldufólk) and Christianity (those suspected of pagan beliefs risk being burned) and mistrust of outsiders add even more to the sense of foreboding. Lea excels at creating and exploiting that atmosphere and tension; pages will turn quickly while devouring this suspenseful read. The resolution is less satisfying, but in this case, getting there is more than half the fun. Bethany Latham

THE BEAR PIT

S. G. MacLean, Quercus, 2019, £18.99, hb, 416pp, 9781787473584

S. G. MacLean’s latest addition to the Captain Damien Seeker series sees our grumpy, reluctant hero investigate the death of a man apparently mauled by a bear in a London cellar while also trying to uncover a plot to assassinate the Lord Protector. Seeker spends his days and nights chasing down suspected plotters and managing his growing network of spies and informers. The trail leads Seeker to the illegal dog fighting dens of Southwark and connections to the high and low of London society. MacLean is a writer of immense talent who seems to be getting better with each book. The sights, sounds and smells of 17th-century London are brought vividly to life, and the author’s gift for creating varied and interesting characters make this a genuinely gripping historical mystery. The growing narrative focus on Sir Thomas, Laurence and Maria all add to the depth and richness of MacLean’s world-building skill. The fact that the book is also peopled with a variety of real figures who loomed large in the society of 1650s London adds to its appeal. While the book is part of a series, it could be read as a standalone mystery, though I would urge anyone who enjoys the work of P.F. Chisholm, Andrew

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

Taylor or Ambrose Parry to seek out the novels of S.G. MacLean; you won’t be disappointed. Lisa Redmond

THE ORGANS OF SENSE

Adam Ehrlich Sachs, Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2019, $26.00/C$34.00, hb, 227pp, 9780374227371

In 1666, 19-year-old Gottfried Leibniz, not yet famous for inventing calculus, visits an unnamed astronomer who, alone in the scientific universe, has predicted a solar eclipse that will darken Europe. Since the astronomer is said to have the world’s longest telescope, yet also to be blind, Leibniz wants to know whether the eclipse will happen, and if the man is for real. If he’s blind, how can he observe the heavens, longest telescope or no? Does he actually see, and is he sane? Or does he see, and is he insane? The permutations are endless. A thinner premise could not be imagined, and yet on that Occam’s razor, much gets sliced apart in madcap, hilarious narration, perhaps never to appear whole again. Start this book, and like Leibniz, you too will want to know—have to know—whether the eclipse will happen, how the astronomer lost his sight, and how Leibniz understands him. Reason versus emotion, the power of love, how you define insanity—such philosophical questions drive the narrative, yet the language and logic parody the discipline as well as practice it, and the thinkers have a loose screw somewhere. Many scenes the astronomer recounts to Leibniz occur in the Prague castle of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf, who indeed seems insane, and whose stressed, highly intelligent children devise various strategies to deal with him. Consequently, this novel provides a witty tale that goes around the bend and meets itself coming and going, testimony to the absurdity of human life. Not only that, the narrative hews to a solid historical context, reimagining court life in Prague, common superstitions, and contemporary scientific rivalries. But it’s mostly as a literary treat that this entertaining, thought-provoking novel will find its audience. Larry Zuckerman

MILADY

Laura L. Sullivan, Berkley, 2019, $16.00/ C$22.00, pb, 384pp, 9780451489982

Spy. Seductress. Poisoner. Villainess. The untold story of the Countess de Winter, better known as Milady, the scheming femme fatale in Dumas’ The Three Musketeers, is cleverly revealed by Milady herself. Clarice is the only daughter of an ambitious English courtier, Lord Paget, and his French wife. She is rigorously educated by her mother in Yorkshire, equipped with the knowledge of herbs and poisons—and a slim dagger. Her father forces Clarice to leave her home and her childhood friend, Denys, to be tutored in the seductive arts by Lady Mary Villiers. While in training, Clarice becomes enthralled with Mary’s son, handsome George Villiers, and both participate in the plot to oust

King James I’s current favorite and replace him with George. Clarice is betrayed and demoralized by George, then banished by her father to the Convent of St. Ursula in France, where she befriends another inmate, Connie (aka Constance Bonacieux). After a series of adventures and revelations, including a stunning admission from her mother and being branded a thief, she embarks on a brief marriage with the Comte de la Fere. But once that idyll is shattered, Clarice makes the desperate decision to be an agent for France, which ultimately sets her on a vengeful collision course with George (now the Duke of Buckingham), and threatens all she holds dear. Setting the action between 1615 and 1628 in England and France, Sullivan, with witty dialogue, a fast pace, and rich detail, deftly juggles her plotlines, weaving in events and characters from the original classic, creating a riveting chronicle of court intrigue, swashbuckling adventure, and danger. In unmasking Milady’s multiple personas, she reveals the true Milady, for whom her motto, Un pour tous (“One for all”) meant everything. Michael I. Shoop

THE KING’S EVIL

Andrew Taylor, HarperCollins, 2019, £12.99/ C$24.99, pb, 452pp, 9780008119164

London, 1667: A body is discovered drowned in a well on Lord C l a r e n d o n ’s property. Clarendon, a close advisor of King Charles II, has recently fallen from favor, while the Duke of Buckingham’s star rises. James Marwood, clerk to the king’s assistant, is ordered to investigate, and eventually cover up, the murder. The victim is a cousin of James’s acquaintance Cat Lovett, and Cat has her own reasons to hate the man; in fact, Marwood heard Cat swear to kill him before she disappeared on the night of the crime. Despite this James feels Cat is innocent and works to find her and to clear her name, a task that could easily bring him into disfavor with the powerful men he serves. Other complications: the lovely and elusive Lady Quincy, a mysterious child afflicted with scrofula, and the theft of a silver box from Clarendon House. Andrew Taylor writes masterfully, and this book pulls the reader into a vivid recreation of Restoration London. The rich and powerful, as well as the poor who serve them, spring to life. Taylor’s multi-faceted, complex characters sustain the reader’s interest, and so does his riveting plot. Disparate elements come together in the end to create a satisfying

and thoroughly convincing read. The King’s Evil works well enough as a standalone. However, readers may well be tempted to seek out the two earlier books in this series for more insight into the main characters, and the pleasure of spending more time in Marwood’s company. A compelling read, The King’s Evil will undoubtedly appeal to lovers of historical fiction and historical mysteries with some depth, and to those readers who appreciate excellent writing and well-fleshed characters. Highly recommended. Susan McDuffie

18TH CENTURY THE FIRST MRS. ROTHSCHILD

Sara Aharoni (trans. Yardenne Greenspan), AmazonCrossing, 2019, $14.95, pb, 492pp, 9781542007276

With her third novel, a prizewinner in Israel, Sara Aharoni illuminates the matriarch of an international banking dynasty, perhaps the most famous in the world. When one thinks of the name Rothschild, visions of immense wealth, financial power, and influence come to mind, but their origins were humble. Aharoni shows how her heroine, a woman of remarkable character, retained her modest lifestyle through her near-century-long life and instilled strong values in her family. As a female historical-novel protagonist, Gutle Schnapper, nicknamed Gutaleh, is unusual since she’s content, and proud, to be the wife of a great man and the mother of his many children (five sons and five daughters that survived). Conditions in the Judengasse (Jewish quarter) of Frankfurt in 1770 are overcrowded, and its residents, forbidden from full citizenship, face tight restrictions on their movement, behavior, and careers. Meir Amschel Rothschild, well aware of these prejudices, determines to achieve dignity through financial success, and he finally wins Gutaleh’s father’s approval after becoming court banker to Wilhelm, crown prince of Hesse-Kassel. In a voice that feels true to her culture, Gutaleh evokes her daily joys and laments, including her passionate marriage, her children’s births and deaths, and her periodic concerns (“Is it seemly to have our profits founded in war?” she wonders). While she remains at home in the Judengasse, running a growing household, Meir makes connections on his travels, overcoming countless obstacles while founding a large banking and trade empire. The sections where Gutaleh shares details on international politics and economics are rather dry, but she’s an insightful observer of her children’s natures, particularly those of her sons. Each son later establishes his own financial institution in a different European city, creating an indomitable family network. Jewish history buffs will want to read this, and

so will anyone seeking an original take on 18thand 19th-century European history. Sarah Johnson

THE KING’S MERCY

Lori Benton, WaterBrook, 2019, $15.99, pb, 400pp, 9781601429964

Alex MacKinnon, a Scottish fighter in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1740s Britain, finds himself paroled and exiled to colonial North Carolina, and then indentured to Edmund Carey, the owner of Severn plantation. MacKinnon wishes to keep his head down and serve out his seven years, but he can’t help but offer comfort to the plantation’s slaves where he can, just as he can’t help but be wary of the traveling preacher Rev. Pauling. He can’t help being drawn to Carey’s stepdaughter, Joanna, either, especially after she describes her dream of emancipating the plantation’s slaves. The novel is both brooding and a precisely rendered portrayal of a colonial-era slave plantation. The enslaved characters are allowed to speak and act directly, and Benton carefully allows each to act with as much agency as possible. The fraught intimacy of master-slave, or in this case mostly mistressslave relationships really comes through. Ranging from Britain in the era of the rebellion to the hold of a ship bound across the Atlantic to the lowland of North Carolina, The King’s Mercy balances its scope with an intense focus on MacKinnon and Joanna’s interior lives. In the eyes of some, a plantation owner’s daughter might not merit much sympathy, but Benton gives the reader Joanna’s conflict in a way that is well-grounded in her personal history. Her wish for Severn does not, therefore, look very anachronistic. The novel’s balance between the broader forces that drive its narrative and the emotional lives of these characters creates an engrossing cinematic quality. Fans of Southern history, colonial history, and the connections between British and American history across the imperial Atlantic will love The King’s Mercy. Irene Colthurst

A CLOSE RUN THING

David Donachie, Allison & Busby, 2019, £8.99, pb, 380pp, 9780749022532

This, the fifteenth of the John Pearce novels, is set in 1796 with Lieutenant Pearce and his companion Samuel Oliphant trying to get back from France, where they had been sent on a secret mission. After some trouble, they

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succeed, but have to do it separately. Back in England Pearce is given a new mission in the Mediterranean as well as a ship. But the previous captain takes his crew with him, so Pearce has to drill and exercise a new crew of landsmen. At the same time Emily Barclay, the mother of his child, is trying to recover money owed to her late husband by his prize agent. As usual Donachie is entertaining, and the narrative flows on easily. The problem of making a crew of landlubbers into sailors is well described, and in more detail than usual in such novels. On the other hand, though Emily collects evidence and gets nearer her goal, the end of that problem is rather abrupt. It feels as if the author had to finish that story in the present volume but was running out of space. However, that is a minor point, and fans can look forward to many more volumes in the series. Niels Frandsen

THE BLUE ROSE

Kate Forsyth, Vintage Australia, 2019, A$32.99, pb, 359pp, 9780143786160

Kate Forsyth is an internationally acclaimed Australian author. Her novels include Bitter Greens, a retelling of the fairy tale of Rapunzel set in Louis XIV’s France, and The Wild Girl, based on a Grimm Brothers love story, set during the Napoleonic Wars. The Blue Rose continues to showcase Forsyth’s fascination with France. It covers the years 1788 – 1794 during the terror of the French Revolution and also ventures into imperial China at a time when Britain was desperate to open up trade routes. Viviane is a young aristocratic Frenchwoman living under the restrictive rules of a cold and cruel father. She is unwillingly betrothed to a rich, old duke but falls in love with David, the newly appointed Welsh gardener. When Viviane’s father is alerted to their blossoming romance, David has to flee the chateau in fear of his life. Her father announces that David has been killed and forces Viviane to marry the Duke. She ends up at the court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette as the revolution begins to impact all of their lives. The Blue Rose follows Viviane’s fight for survival as many of her friends and family face the guillotine. Meanwhile her heartbroken lover travels to China in search of a rare rose, believing he will never see Viviane again. Forsyth has written a thrilling, actionpacked story that held my attention from start to finish. Her rich visual descriptions based on exhaustive research into the French Revolution and Imperial China shine through, as does the depth of her character development. Christine Childs

BETWEEN TWO SHORES

Jocelyn Green, Bethany House, 2019, $14.99, pb, 397pp, 9780764219085

Catherine Stands-Apart, the half-Mohawk daughter of a selfish, drunken French trapper, must navigate between empires vying for 24

control of North America in the Seven Years’ War while finding a way to balance the loyalties she feels to Gabriel Duval, the father she never abandoned, and Bright Star, the older sister who believes she turned her back on her people. When Samuel Crane, the British provincial captive who was ransomed, or bought, by her father, returns to Catherine’s homestead, her own sense of betrayal makes her wary of his plan to end to the war. Between Two Shores by Jocelyn Green is, in its way, an epic North American story featuring cultural conflict and a wilderness journey. Its overall perspective is as balanced and diplomatic as the character Catherine can be at her best: there is sympathy for both the native and the European settler caught up in the conflict between their peoples. The characters of Bright Star and Joseph, Catherine’s fully Mohawk brother, are so fully developed that I found myself wishing this novel could be made into a film to show their perspective. The chronological structure of Between Two Shores switches from prologues set in Catherine, Bright Star, and Samuel’s youth in the mid-1740s to the narrative’s main action in 1759. While this backstory is vital to building the reader’s sympathy for the characters and understanding their relationships, the sometimes-rapid changes in temporal setting can be hard to follow. But overall the novel succeeds as both a deep character study of an under-examined character type and as a broad portrait of the Seven Years’ War in its very North American context. Irene Colthurst

THE CROSSING AT CYPRESS CREEK

Pam Hillman, Tyndale, 2019, $14.99, pb, 398pp, 9781496415967

In 1790, living along the Mississippi River near the tiny but dangerous settlement of Cypress Creek, Alanah Adams is neither a bedraggled and crazy woodswoman nor a refined and fancy lady, but she pretends to be both. Alanah’s younger sister was kidnapped by river pirates six months ago, and she lives precariously with her mentor and healer in the art of country medicine, Lydia. Her itinerant preacher uncle is seldom home from his clerical rounds. Into Alanah’s life abruptly strides native Irishman Caleb O’Shea, a former soldier of fortune and sailor. The river pirates continue to be a threat to Alanah and Caleb’s four brothers, who also have taken homes in the area. With the help of some fellow sailors, loggers, and especially Alanah, Caleb must

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

take measures to protect his extended family and decide his future. The second in a series, this splendid book combines simmering romance, frontier adventure, and subtle inspiration. The dialogue rings genuine and, at times humorous. The good characters are immensely attractive and the bad ones evil incarnate. Steadily increasing tension makes the ending even more satisfying. A great read and strongly recommended. Thomas J. Howley

SAY NO TO THE DUKE

Eloisa James, Avon, 2019, $7.99/C$10.99, pb, 384pp, 9780062877826

Lady Boadicea Wilde (Betsy to her friends) sets out to receive more proposals than any other debutante, not too difficult really since she is beautiful, charming, and the daughter of a duke. She is about to receive yet another, this time from a future duke, but she finds herself unaccountably distracted by, and attracted to, the infuriating Lord Jeremy Roden. Jeremy is struggling with PTSD from the war with the American colonies, but despite his sardonic teasing he is strongly attracted to her too. Which one will she choose? And so the dance begins. There is a dash of mystery surrounding the interference by Jeremy’s unpleasant cousin; and interesting insights into the effects of PTSD and the pressures upon young aristocrats to conform to accepted standards of behavior and to make a socially advantageous marriage. The strength of this Georgian romance, however, is the lively humor with which its unconventional characters are portrayed, especially Lady Knowe, who has my vote for everyone’s favorite aunt. Definitely recommended. Ray Thompson

THE ORPHAN’S SONG

Lauren Kate, Putnam, 2019, $26.00, hb, 336pp, 9780735212572

Venice in 1734 is a skilled singer’s wonderland. Operas, theaters, parties large and small; all cry out for musicians, and the best are richly lauded, just as they are today. Fourteen-year-old Violetta is as lucky as an orphan can be, for she has the gift of song, and trained for all of her life. The Incurables orphanage is celebrated across Europe for its coro, a brilliant women’s choir. This is the day Violetta auditions for the group. Fame lies ahead if she is accepted; a life of drudgery if she fails. Even if she succeeds, Violetta must swear to never sing anywhere but with the coro. Nervous about the outcome of her audition, she makes a forbidden escape to the orphanage’s roof, where she meets Mino, a lanky blond boy about Violetta’s age on his own illicit outing. She tells him that her name is Letta. Mino has come to the roof to practice violin in secret. The self-trained lad plays beautifully and is the perfect partner for Letta’s soaring soprano. They practice together, and

dream of performing together in the brilliant salons of Venice. Lauren Kate presents lucky readers with The Orphan’s Song, a multi-layered quest Letta and Mino undertake – love, freedom, success, and their unknown parents. Will they find what they want, and can they hold onto it? Ms. Kate teases us along with her lush depictions of Venice and the spirited relationship between the star-crossed couple. The Orphan’s Song keeps us guessing until the end, but we are richly rewarded along the way. Jo Ann Butler

SIMPLY DEAD

Eleanor Kuhns, Severn House, 2019, $29.95/£20.00, hb, 224pp, 9781448302215

Will Rees is happy with the blended family he and wife Lydia are raising on the Maine frontier in the early 1790s when the village midwife comes to tell them that her daughter, Hortense, is missing. After the girl is finally found out in the snow, she moves between mute terror and evasive responses to Rees’ questions. The mystery deepens when the two young men Rees eventually identifies as the ones who took her begin to target other young women who resemble her. Kuhns re-creates rural Maine in winter in the early republican era with a close focus that could be called “cozy” in any other subgenre. Some details, like the name “Sharon” for Will and Lydia Rees’ baby daughter, struck me as a bit anachronistic. Will’s backstory is woven into the narrative in a largely seamless fashion, although the recounting can drag in places. Setting a mystery in the very first years of the U.S. in a rural setting is a tall literary order, but Kuhns handles it very well overall. Fans of historical mysteries will enjoy this addition to the subgenre. Those who are interested in the early independent United States will love this look at its family life and a religious community that is little known today. Irene Colthurst

THE CORNISH LADY

Nicola Pryce, Corvus, 2019, £7.99, pb, 449pp, 9781786493859

This novel is well-written in the first person, with interesting characters and an intricate plot which is resolved happily – the villains are caught and the hero and heroine find love and happiness. The fourth in Pryce’s Cornish series, it is set in 1796 and is the story of Angelica Lilly who is spending the summer with aristocratic friends. She is concerned about her brother, who is ill and acting in an unusual manner, and her father, who seems to be on the brink of marrying a woman she dislikes. She also becomes involved with more dangerous events, which include the French prisoners being held in Pendennis Castle and possible treason. She turns to Henry Trevelyan, her brother’s temporary coachman, for help, only to discover he is more than he seems and is

instrumental in arresting her brother on what she believes is a trumped-up charge. The tension mounts as she tries to clear her brother and discover whether Henry can be trusted or not. I have read only one previous book in this series, but I find both this novel and The Captain’s Girl (2017) well-researched, with lots of action which keeps you turning the pages. However, there are some errors – why, for instance, is Lord William Carew referred to as Lord Carew but his wife as Lady Clarissa? Did people really say ‘steady on’, ‘what bothers me’ and ‘lying toad’ in the late 18th century? It is a pity that neither author nor editor picked up on these, as they mar an otherwise enjoyable novel. jay Dixon

THE SECRET WIFE OF AARON BURR

Susan Holloway Scott, Kensington, 2019, $16.95/C$22.95, pb, 500pp, 9781496719188

Scott (I, Eliza Hamilton), has taken on a difficult task here in imaginatively illuminating the life of a woman hidden in history: Mary Emmons, the longtime family slave then freed mistress of Aaron Burr. Her life starts in her native India, as the outcast daughter of rape by an English soldier, and goes through horrific trials and masters before she’s bought and brought to America by Theodosia Burr’s first husband. In that New Jersey household, Mary finds love with a free Revolutionary War soldier who tries to buy her freedom before he dies in battle. Quick-witted, practical, and accomplished, Mary becomes a neighborhood sage while still in her twenties. Aaron Burr sets his sights on her even while he’s wooing Theodosia. Their complex, unequal relationship grows over the years and through Theodosia’s childbearing, death, and the birth of Mary’s own two children by Burr. Through all, her dream of freedom for herself and her family never dies. There are heartbreaking scenes of being invisible while Theodosia is praised for Mary’s abilities in languages, cooking, and managing her mistress’s household. Burr calls her both “friend” and “temptress” as he’s raping her. The specter of being separated from her children hangs over her even after she is freed. Modern echoes of political discord leap off the page as Burr and the new American government grow increasingly unstable. Impressive research, details, and an unforgettable cast of characters led by a

woman of courage and spirit spark a story infused with heart. Highly recommended. Eileen Charbonneau

THE DRESSMAKER OF DRAPER’S LANE

Liz Trenow, Pan, 2019, £7.99, pb, 333pp, 9781509879816

Spitalfields, 1768: costumière Miss Charlotte buys a sample of chinoiserie silk at an auction job lot, and disturbs a long-buried memory. Taking a supporting character from her earlier novel The Silk Weaver, Trenow tells the story of this resourceful young woman, abandoned as an infant to the Coram Foundling Hospital and subsequently sent into service, but who overcomes adversity to set up her own business at a time when economic independence for women was a rarity. The author herself descends from three centuries of silk weavers, and there is little she does not know about the garment industry in 18th-century London. With her love for her older sister, her nephew Peter, and her friends (though not for her pious and tyrannical brother-in-law), Charlotte appears to be content. Through her connection to the Foundling Hospital, she mixes with the widow of William Hogarth and with the Garricks. But all is not what it seems: who really is she, and what is her sister hiding from her? Trenow convincingly evokes the interiors of her time, the discomforts of travel, the medical treatments amounting to quackery, but there are anachronisms. A clergyman wears a clerical collar when he would surely have worn bands. An unmarried mother gives birth in a convent: these were suppressed at the Reformation and that injunction only lifted in 1829 (the Bar Convent in the recusant north had to operate for many years in secrecy). There is a reference to registering a baby; this was not English law until 1837, though probably baptism is intended. These quibbles aside, Miss Charlotte’s story lets the reader into a vanished world. One can almost feel the materials of her trade pass through one’s hands. Katherine Mezzacappa

19TH CENTURY GEORGES BANK

Bradley Bagshaw, Clyde Hill Publishing, 2018, $17.18, pb, 489pp, 9780692110713

Gossip forces Maggie O’Grady to flee Ireland with her brother in 1859. She finds a job as a maid in Boston, where she falls in love. Her employer returns her affection until she becomes pregnant; his family will never permit him to wed a Catholic. A henchman uses her wayward brother as leverage to force Maggie to work as a maid in a Gloucester brothel. As time passes, she raises her son and takes on additional duties. It’s not the life she ever

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imagined, but she accepts it in spite of the folks who look down on her and her son. His parents want a different life for their son, but Raymond Stevens just wants to be a fisherman. The night he first sees Maggie, tragedy strikes his family. After the boat’s owner attempts to cheat his family, Maggie and her girls help him. Ray and Maggie fall in love, but getting his mother to accept her causes almost insurmountable problems. Then a decision involving Maggie’s son opens old wounds and causes new ones both now and in the future. This story unfolds over a span of twentyseven years. Bagshaw artfully weaves an intricate web of life in a fishing village where men risk their lives doing perilous work and women face the harsh realities of survival when their menfolk don’t make it home. In a stunning climax that pits son against father, Bagshaw shows how little things have changed between then and now. His growing up in Gloucester, working in the maritime world, and being a maritime lawyer enrich this tale, transporting readers into the past until they become part of the fabric making up Maggie and Ray’s world. Cindy Vallar

THE GIRL PUZZLE

Kate Braithwaite, Crooked Cat, 2019, £7.99/$10.99, pb, 249pp, 9781798936382

In this slim but engaging novel, Braithwaite treats readers to an in-depth look at Nellie Bly’s famous ten-day stay in Blackwell’s Island Lunatic Asylum. The story alternates points of view between Bly in 1887 and her assistant, Beatrice Alexander, in 1921. Bly tasks Beatrice with typing her memoirs of her time in the asylum, and through these memoirs, Beatrice tries to better understand the woman she knows best as an advocate for New York City’s orphans. Through the alternating points of view and time periods, the reader understands Bly as a whole person. We see both her sensational stories about life in the asylum and the charitable work she undertook when the spotlight no longer shone on her so brightly. The author portrays a passionate advocate for better treatment of women and children but also an ambitious figure who fought to keep her name in the papers. I encountered only two stumbling blocks with this novel. The first was that Braithwaite, a Scotswoman, is not entirely successful in writing in American English. Occasional British phrases and spelling (“in hospital,” “travelling”) pulled me out of Progressive-Era New York City. Second, the last quarter of the book contains a six-page information dump of Bly’s family history. While this information is useful in understanding Bly, the presentation is awkward. Braithwaite would have done better to intersperse this information throughout the novel rather than slapping the reader with it all at once. Overall, though, these quibbles are not enough to prevent me recommending this book. The Girl Puzzle is an intriguing investigation into Bly’s inner life, and I hope 26

Braithwaite will follow up with a novel about Bly’s trip around the world. Sarah Hendess

TROUBLE THE WATER

Rebecca Dwight Bruff, Köehler Books, 2019, $19.95, pb, 340pp, 9781633938076

This luminous novel’s central events take place during the American Civil War, but this novelization of the life of Robert Smalls spans the 19th century. Smalls is mostly known for a single audacious deed, achieved when he was a slave: commandeering a Confederate warship out of Charleston harbor and surrendering it to Union forces. Around this amazing incident, author Bruff imagines the heroic life that preceded and followed it. It is told through Smalls’ point of view and enhanced by his mistress’s diary. Born into a small slaveholding community in Beaufort, South Carolina, Trouble (his basket name) experiences life as a more privileged house servant, fishing with his poetic master and playing with his owner’s children. But he also becomes a field hand, rented out as hotel staff and ship’s deck hand, rising to the level of trusted pilot. He has a mother who guides the formation of his conscience as he navigates his way through racially charged waters with a fierce compassion. This is an extraordinary and healing gift to the literature of the South. Engaging, heartfelt and beautifully crafted, it shows the role religion played in maintaining slavery (“a scriptural institution”) and is peopled with characters that live on in the reader’s imagination. A life long-suppressed is here brought forth in light and depth and beauty. Highly recommended. Eileen Charbonneau

AN UNTRUSTWORTHY ARMY

Lynn Bryant, Wynchlands Publishing, 2018, $3.85, ebook, 365pp, B07JR687GB

Spain during the Peninsular War was a battleground, as Napoleon’s army tried to conquer the country, and the English and Spanish tried to throw the French out. Spain was a dangerous place for any military man – but it was twice as dangerous when the English couldn’t rely on the Spanish troops showing up for any particular clash with the enemy. Colonel Paul van Daan has survived the bloody battles for Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, and Anne has survived kidnapping and rape by a French officer. Both follow Wellington to Salamanca, where the French are routed. But Wellington’s not invincible, and that fall he’s forced to retreat – and it’s the retreat that is the heart of the book. Bryant really excels at action scenes, and her description of the horrors of that retreat is extremely effective and affecting. An Untrustworthy Army offers the reader vigorous action sequences and likeable characters. In this, the fifth book in the series, we meet not only old friends, but new acquaintances who I’m sure will become

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

friends as well. This series continues to amuse and enlighten. When I don’t get to review them, I buy them, and I’m looking forward to the next installment. Since these are historical novels that are as accurate as possible, I’ll warn you that Harry Smith marries Juana, a fourteen-year-old refugee from the Badajoz siege. Harry was born in 1787; Juana in 1798. So he was twentyfive when he married Juana. This is all historical fact (fun trivia: Harry and Juana became Sir Harry and Lady Smith – and Ladysmith in South Africa is named after her). If this bit of real history intrigues you, the novel The Spanish Bride by Georgette Heyer is about Harry and Juana. India Edghill

WHEN THE DUCHESS SAYS I DO

Grace Burrowes, Forever, 2019, $7.99/C$10.49, pb, 368pp, 9781538728987 / Piatkus, 2019, £8.99, pb, 368pp, 9780349419886

Widowed, starving and desperate, Duchess Matilda Wakefield is on the run from an obsessed fiancé when she stumbles upon a pair of poachers who not only have their eyes on the rabbit she just trapped, but also on the landowner, whom they are threatening with grievous bodily harm. Fortunately, she possesses a pistol and a firm grasp of how to use it. Impoverished scholar Duncan Wentworth owes his life to the stranger who had not only rescued him, but had been hiding in his gatehouse for several days. Out of gratitude— and more than a little curiosity—he invites her to his home for a meal. Not that home is anything to look at, since Brightwell had been neglected for years. Leave it to his cousin Quinn to challenge him to make the place livable on an impossibly small budget. The one meal leads Duncan to offer Matilda employment as his secretary, since he has horrendous penmanship and she can decipher his copious notes and can organize his thoughts in a sensible order. And so begins a complicated story of blackmail, false identities, fine art, international espionage, and treason, all told with Grace Burrowes’ signature humor. I enjoyed the characters’ interplay and their multi-layered love story, which never falls into the predictable. Recommended. A delightful Regency read. Monica E. Spence

THE CANARY KEEPER

Clare Carson, Head of Zeus, 2019, £18.99, hb, 399pp, 9781786690586

The Canary Keeper is a Victorian gothic novel with an improbable plot, a dark, brooding atmosphere and an immense sense of place. The place for most of the story is Stromness in the Orkney Islands: gaunt, treeless islands with high cliffs and a long, eerie, summer twilight which passes for night. The rest of the story is set in the equally strange if less remote landscape of the Thames foreshore, among

the derelict barges and the ‘mudlarks’ who inhabit them. The plot involves dark doings by the agents of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which was based at Stromness, although the head offices were in London. There is a heroine in distress, a noble-hearted policeman, some very dastardly villains, a friendly witch, two murders plus trafficking in orphan children and a last minute escape from certain death. A gothic tale at its best. Edward James

THE TUBMAN COMMAND Elizabeth Cobbs, Arcade, 2019, C$34.99, hb, 336pp, 9781948924344

$25.99/

In the spring of 1863, the Union army is reeling from defeats. One of their spies, working along South Carolina’s Combahee River under the code name Moses, proposes a daring raid of plantations along the river that could damage crops and bloody the nose of Confederate elites, but, most importantly, could free hundreds from enslavement on the plantations. Though she’s a woman, the army trusts Moses to reconnoiter and plan the raid with a small band of boatmen and scouts, all escaped slaves. Navigating the explosiveriddled river and skirting the Confederate patrols on the banks is a dangerous enough endeavor, but even more so for Moses and her scouts. Though they know how to move undetected, they risk re-enslavement if caught. But Moses—the code name for famed and fearless Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman—knows that the risk is worth it if she can save more lives. Americans are most familiar with Harriet Tubman’s work on the Underground Railroad when, after escaping from enslavement, she returned to the South thirteen times to lead others to safety and freedom. Her role as “General Tubman,” spying for the Union army and commanding a band of scouts in the occupied South is less familiar. Cobbs brings this little-known history of Tubman and her role in the Combahee River Raid to vivid life. Meticulously researched and carefully written, The Tubman Command is a true story with the pacing and suspense of a mystery novel. Cobbs takes the reader right into the anxious uncertainty of the occupied South in the midst of the Civil War alongside one of history’s most fascinating and complex figures. Through Cobbs’ pen, Harriet Tubman becomes more than a legendary historical figure; she becomes an irresistible and compelling character. Jessica Brockmole

BENEATH THE SAME STARS

Phyllis Cole-Dai, One Sky Press, 2018, $14.95, pb, 332pp, 9780692154151

On August 18, 1862, Native Americans fed up with empty promises from the Great Father in Washington revolt. During the attacks, Sarah and her two children are taken captive

by Caske. He remembers Sarah from prior encounters and stakes his life on protecting her. Under constant threat of death from the rest of the tribe, Sarah must learn to trust Caske if she has any hope of surviving. But can she provide the same to him and his family when Union soldiers march toward the Sioux camps? Cole-Dai recreates the tension of the 1800s with a deft hand. The time period is rife with prejudice and political strife. Cole-Dai doesn’t shy away from the uglier dynamics. Be prepared to run a gauntlet of emotions as you read. Sarah’s story unfolds in meaningful ways, the past and present twisting together as Sarah tries to make sense of the chaos around her. Cole-Dai interweaves the Sioux language subtly into the narrative. She also provides a glossary at the back to further explore the intricacies of the language. The only thing I wanted more of was a deeper dive into Sarah’s emotions. There were some pivotal decisions made during her capture as well as after, and more time could have been spent emotionally fleshing out those moments. That said, Cole-Dai uses stunning detail to bring to life a heartrending journey, offering readers a sensitively explored story about a lesser-known conflict in American history. I wasn’t familiar with Sarah Wakefield before this novel, but her story will stay with me long after. J. Lynn Else

DEATH COMES TO DARTMOOR

Vivian Conroy, Crooked Lane, 2019, $22.99/£19.99, hb, 312pp, 9781643850092

Miss Merula Merriweather and her friend and fellow zoologist Lord Raven Royston travel to the south west of England to visit Raven’s friend, who owns a collection of rare zoological specimens. Their host Charles Oaks, however, seems not only unprepared for their visit but distracted and irrational to the point that his neighbor tries to get him committed to an asylum. Merula and Raven explore Oaks’ batinfested house, discovering a large, legendary sea creature called a kraken. It is dead, with one of its many limbs hacked off. This does not stop villagers believing that it killed a local girl. Blaming Oaks for this, an unruly mob attacks his house, threatening to burn it to the ground. As Merula and Raven, together with their resourceful servants Bowsprit and Lamb, investigate the girl’s murder, Merula is faced by a man who may have information about her mother. Desperate to find out more about parents she never knew, Merula confronts

the man beside a lonely tor but finds herself unable to trust his words. Setting her novel on lonely Dartmoor, a region of mists, crags, and bogs, rife with myth about legendary creatures, the author utilises all of these plus the irrational Oaks and his house full of uniquely fearsome specimens to establish a vaguely terrifying atmosphere. The unusual feature of this novel is the relationship between the two attractive young people who travel and live together, caring for each other but not indulging in even one kiss. The relationship does, however, deepen slightly as the novel progresses. Valerie Adolph

ADA

Kaz Cooke, Viking Australia/Trafalgar Square, 2019 (c2017), $29.95, pb, 261pp, 9780670077939

Born in 1869 in a grimy English coal mining town and orphaned at age 12, Ada Delroy was taken in by theatre performers. That reallife troupe wowed audiences from the US to Australia, from the UK to South Africa. The tumultuous journey of vaudeville singer and dancer, Ada, is lovingly recounted in this fictionalized account. Ada and her companions careened from SRO audiences of 1500 in high-end theatres to 26 lonely miners in the dusty Outback. In the good times, the leading troupe members were adored by Indian royalty and made enough money to invest in real estate and other ventures. In bad times, they suffered through impossible romances, unplanned babies, illnesses without cures, small and horrible accidents, and earnings not enough to pay their hotel bills. Always they had to pack, unpack, set up and tear down, and cart everything off to the next town or continent. Vials of opium water ease Ada’s last days in a one-room flat in Melbourne, Australia. Cooke has Ada, now in her early 40s and dying of TB, narrate in first person. She tells her story to a young visitor named Horace. All the events, tour stops, and characters (except Horace) are real. Appendix materials and photographs help make Ada’s journey easy to follow. Ada’s language (a nice mixture of British English and Aussie) rings remarkably true. The reader, as if listening to Ada from her bed, is apt to chuckle at her funny lines, nod with her at her life observations, and maybe tear up when Ada remembers the deeply sad times and slowly fades out. This story of Ada Delroy will please readers interested in the theatre life of those earlier times. G. J. Berger

CHILDREN OF THE SIEGE

Diney Costeloe, Head of Zeus, 2019, £18.99, hb, 338pp, 9781784976200

In 1870 the wealthy St Clair family had left their comfortable Parisian home to spend the summer in the country. However, they did not return as usual in September. War with Prussia and its German allies intervened, resulting in humiliating French defeats and the siege

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and occupation of the capital. We meet the family as they unwisely decide to return to Paris in early 1871, now under the control of the Commune which is in rebellion against the central government. The journey is difficult and hazardous. They set out confidently and comfortably in a coach and arrive ‘tired and on foot, pushing their possessions before them on a handcart’. This is the account of how that prosperous family, an architect, his wife, their two adult sons and three younger daughters then fare in a radically altered world. In particular Emile St Clair, the haughty and emotionally inhibited father of the family completely fails to understand and adapt to the new circumstances, expecting his family and servants to maintain the privileged pattern of their former life. Helene, his spirited and more open-minded 11-year-old daughter, becomes accidentally separated from the household, and her desperate plight at the mercy of the low life of Paris is the central and exciting story of the book. Hair-raising encounters are intertwined with vivid descriptions illustrating the fear, chaos and unpredictability of Paris in the midst of the civil war. The daily struggle to find enough food pre-occupies both rich and poor. Her brothers have chosen to support opposite sides in the war but both are dedicated to finding their young sister. It is a story of contrasts: between rich and poor, and between those who can adapt to changed circumstances and those who cannot. Diney Costeloe has given us an exciting and thoroughly enjoyable story which she skilfully marries with the complex historical setting. Imogen Varney

RAKEHEART

Rusty Davis, Five Star, 2019, $24.95, hb, 293pp, 9781432857318

If you’re going to be an unofficial troubleshooter like Kane, it’s best to work for a powerful individual, and in 1875 few were more powerful than General William T. Sherman. Kane is a man who gets things done. Whether that happens within or outside the limits of the law is largely a matter of practicality. When Sherman’s wartime friend Jared Wilkins is killed, Kane is assigned to find out who did it and why. Kane’s mission takes him to Rakeheart, a Wyoming town menaced by mysterious gunmen known as the Company Riders and by a clique of local businessmen with something to hide. Who can Kane trust in his unofficial investigation, and where does Wilkins’s determined Indian widow Rachel fit into the picture? Author Rusty Davis has crafted a strong protagonist in Kane, but one with a realistic share of shortcomings and self-doubt. Rachel’s character is more complex as she must contend with local bias, worry for her children, and running a ranch. The plot is fast-moving,

and the action realistic. I hope to see Kane as a series character. Loyd Uglow

THE LADY AND THE HIGHWAYMAN

Sarah Eden, Shadow Mountain, 2019, $15.99, pb, 352pp, 9781629726052

In this charming romance, Miss Elizabeth Black writes “silver-fork” novels in 1830s London. The extra income helps her keep a middle-class girls’ school afloat—almost. To help fill the coffers, Elizabeth uses a pseudonym, Charles King, to write Penny Dreadfuls, a disreputable genre that would scandalize her clientele, despite its popularity. In fact, Elizabeth has displaced the previous king of Penny Dreadfuls, Mr. Fletcher Walker. Fletcher Walker is not taking dethronement well, as he uses his income to fuel the work of a secret society of Penny Dreadful authors. A former street urchin himself, Fletcher works to rescue children from abusive work conditions as well as protect a “ragged” school, where street children can go to learn. Using the fictional authors’ works as a clever conceit, we get to read the latest offerings of Mr. King and Mr. Walker, as well as the main narrative. The heat level stays quite proper, with some scenes of intense hand-holding. This is a relaxing read, but with enough danger to keep the plot rolling. While fisticuffs occur and abusive situations are discussed, clever banter is what wins the day more often than not. I highly recommend this read with a hot cup of tea. Katie Stine

THE VANISHED BRIDE

Bella Ellis, Berkley, 2019, $26.00/C$35.00, hb, 304pp, 9780593099056 / Hodder & Stoughton, 2019, £14.99, hb, 352pp, 9781529388985

In 1845, a woman goes missing under mysterious circumstances in a nearby village when the surviving Brontë children—Branwell, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne—are all at home at the Haworth Parsonage, under the auspicious and protective eye of their father. As it quickly becomes apparent that the police are doing little to find the missing woman, perhaps due to the husband’s influence, Charlotte, who knows the governess at the house in question, suggests she and her sisters become ‘lady detectors’ and solve the mystery. There’s a blood-soaked bed, a violent husband, a governess and a housekeeper, gypsies in the woods: all with secrets to keep. Nothing is as it seems as the Brontës venture down a path of intrigue and danger, their detecting taking them through some unsavoury twists and turns as they become determined to uncover the truth. As accomplished as this debut mystery is (and there’s no doubt it is!), what really deserves the credit is the author’s grasp of the sisters’ talents and intellects, and how she breathes life into these remarkable women, intermingling their different characters to

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

bring in new theories as they follow the clues. The main protagonists need no introduction, as they are as familiar to literature as ducks are to water: Charlotte, deeply connected to her intellect, dependable and strong despite her diminutive size; Emily, wild and impetuous with few social skills, who follows no one’s path but her own; Anne, cautious, with an innate sense of correctness, but quietly rebellious in her own way. The author’s love for her Brontë heroines bursts from every phrase, and I assume her nom-de-plume is a tribute to Emily, who initially published as Ellis Bell. This is destined to be a very successful new mystery series, and I look forward with interest to number two. Fiona Alison

YOURS TRULY, THOMAS

Rachel Fordham, Revell, 2019, $15.99, pb, 314pp, 9780800735388

Although young, Penny has faced many trials in her life. Working at the dead letter office in Washington, DC in 1883, she not only finds a paycheck to support herself and her mother, but companionship in the authors of the letters that cross her desk. Thomas is nursing wanderlust, heartbreak, and a guilty conscience when he pens the letter that will capture Penny’s heart. Although it’s written to a woman named Clara, Penny is consumed by the guilt-laden and soulful language within the letter. Penny wonders how a love could be so true, and longs for such a love in her life. This will propel her into the adventure of a lifetime in Azure Springs, Iowa, to find Thomas and deliver his letters to him. Fordham writes in a point-blank manner, to the point that no shred of information is left for readers to infer. While this may altogether remove the suspense in some sections, the love story alone is enough for the book. The romance between Thomas and Penny can never be doubted as truly genuine. Alice Cochran

A LADY’S GUIDE TO GOSSIP AND MURDER

Dianne Freeman, Kensington, 2019, $26.00/ C$35.00, hb, 277pp, 9781496716903

August 1899. American-born Frances Wynn, the newly widowed Countess of Harleigh, now living in London, settles into a quiet few summer months in London with her sister Lily while her fellow socialites are grouse-shooting on their country estates. Yet her summer becomes anything but quiet: her friend Mary Archer is found murdered, a fact made doubly sad since Frances had hoped Mary would wed her cousin Charles, even though their courtship had recently fizzled. Inside Mary’s home, Frances finds a bundle of notes with shocking revelations about London’s elites. Reeling from the discovery, Frances ponders what would motivate her gentle friend to harbor such information. Was she planning to blackmail the subjects of the notes? As time passes, Frances joins forces with her friend and love interest, George Hazelton. They both determine to find out if Mary is the real “Miss

Information” who publishes in the local paper. In the midst of further discoveries, the paper’s editor is murdered, a fact which pulls Frances and George even deeper into the mystery. This novel will appeal to readers who love a multi-layered mystery with twists and turns until the very end. So many dead ends turn into leads; so many clues seem meaningless, but then become keys to the solution. In the beginning, what seems to be an ordinary whodunnit becomes anything but, as Frances and George’s romance heats up, along with more revelations that pull the reader along. But at several points, this reader found the prose cluttered with characters, setting detail, or activities, making it hard to find the major plotline. This reader also had to do some rereading in order to figure out what was happening. Yet the ending satisfies in its tying up all loose threads. Gini Grossenbacher

AN ARTIST IN HER OWN RIGHT

Ann Friedman, Accent, 2018, £8.99, pb, 380pp, 9781786154125

From a young age, Augustine Dufresne aspires to be an artist in her own right. However, born in Paris during the first year of the French Revolution, she grows up and matures in turbulent times. When circumstances lead her to marry Antoine-Jean Gros, a much older painter celebrated for his large-scale paintings of Napoleon’s triumphs, her struggle to be taken seriously as an artist is only just beginning. This debut novel is the fictional memoir of a real woman who has been pushed to the margins of history. It is obvious a great deal of meticulous research has gone into this work, particularly on the lives and difficulties of female artists during the Napoleonic era. I did wonder at first whether the detached tone in which Augustine’s youth is described more closely resembled the tone in which an impartial biographer might describe their subject, rather than that of a middle-aged woman looking back on her passionate youth and lost love. On two separate occasions, for instance, we are told that “I was very excited”, but the measured prose of the surrounding paragraphs doesn’t really generate a sense of excitement. But the book grew on me as I went along until I wondered whether the detachment was deliberate – a part of the characterisation of the embittered narrator, who is no longer able to remember exactly how it felt to be young. There is an informative historical note at the end of the book, explaining what exactly is known about Augustine and where facts have been tweaked for artistic purposes. An unusual perspective on the world of art at a pivotal moment in history. Jasmina Svenne

SISTERS OF THE SOUL

Kristin Ann Fulton, Broadway and Pacific Publishing, 2018, $19.95, pb, 465pp, 9780960051304

In this epic saga, Addie Turner, a house slave at Sweetbrier Plantation in Louisiana in 1837, takes in the illegitimate daughter of the plantation owner, Mr. Hugo. Lizzie grows up like a sister to Sophie, Addie’s own daughter. But when a doctor treating Lizzie expresses shock at a white child being raised in a Negro household, Lucille Hugo brings Lizzie to live in the big house, though she and Sophie remain close. A decade later, Sophie receives a disfiguring beating from Bert, Lucille’s son, who grew from a mean and dangerous little boy into a mean and dangerous man. When Sophie discovers Bert raping Lizzie, the two women avenge these attacks and leave the plantation. They travel from Louisiana to San Francisco, experiencing adventures and encounters with a bounty hunter and a Mennonite wagon train. In San Francisco, Lizzie births a daughter named Rose, but Lizzie’s hatred for Bert thwarts any love for her daughter, and Rose is raised mostly by Sophie. Lizzie, now the madam of the Wayside Inn in San Francisco, sends Rose away to school. From this point, the story is told from the alternating points of view of Rose, Sophie, and Lizzie, and the emotional rejection Rose feels from her mother is painfully portrayed. This is a story of family, friendship, strength, and love. There are no miracles or magic moments in this story, just determination to find happiness and heal old wounds. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and read late into the night. It was hard to put down. Susan Pruett

OUT OF DARKNESS, SHINING LIGHT

Petina Gappah, Scribner, 2019, $27.00, hb, 320pp, 9781982110338 / Faber & Faber, £12.99, pb, 432pp, 9780571345335

Out of Darkness, Shining Light is a story told from the perspective of the Africans who carried the body of David Livingstone across Africa for 1,500 miles, a journey which took more than 279 days. Livingstone, a legendary missionary and doctor in Africa during the Victorian period, was also an opponent of Africa’s slave trade. The later portion of his life was spent as an explorer in an obsessive search for the source of the Nile. He made three long expeditions throughout Africa from 1852 until his death in 1873 of malaria. The caravan of bearers and servants camps in Chitambo while Livingstone, Bwana Daudi, is too ill to travel. In part one, the cook, Halima, tells of Livingstone’s last days and death. The group decides their bwana’s body must be returned to England. They remove his organs, burying his heart in a marked grave. His body is dried and mummified. Part two is told by Jacob Wainwright, an educated and devoutly

religious freed slave. Through his journal we hear of the arduous journey of 70 natives carrying Bwana Daudi’s body and crates of his papers. Along the way they meet opposition from tribal chieftains, hunger, sickness, and death. The horrific reality of the slave trade is witnessed as remains litter the trail, captives who didn’t survive the forced march to the slave ships. After many deaths and desertions, 45 bearers arrive at the coast to place the body on the ship to England. From history we don’t know much about these brave and loyal people, but Gappah gives voice to these forgotten men and women while creating resilient and interesting characters. Halima stands out as an outspoken and opinionated woman, and Jacob’s narrative adds interest as a religious man of a lofty mindset. This is a thought-provoking and worthwhile read. Janice Ottersberg

THE MAGNETIC GIRL

Jessica Handler, Hub City Press, 2019, $27.00, hb, 280pp, 9781938235481

In 1880s rural Georgia, 15-year-old Lulu Hurst spent her days helping on the family farm, attending school, and taking care of her disabled younger brother, Leo. She’d always felt different from her peers—hearing outside thoughts and holding others in thrall with only a stare. She also suffered from overwhelming guilt for an accident she caused when Leo was a baby. One night during a lightning storm, a house guest’s late-night hysteria leads to a series of events that place Lulu on an unexpected path; she would soon become known as The Magnetic Girl and The Georgia Wonder. Prompted by her father, Lulu began to harness her skills, supplementing the mystical elements with scientific laws—”parlor tricks,” as some would call them. Lulu preferred the label “mesmerism,” as described by the author of a book she’d filched from her father’s library months before: The Truth of Mesmeric Influence by Mrs. Wolf. Although Lulu’s brand of entertainment was accepted as a heavenly gift by the local religious circles, wilder stories began circulating in the big cities, spurred on by sensationalist newspapers’ headlines. In addition, other “magnetic” acts were popping up to capitalize on the craze. Lulu was quickly learning the downside of her newly found career and was concerned she wouldn’t be able to follow through on her promise of healing her brother—both a monetary concern and a question of her true abilities. Peppered with sage snippets of the (fictional) works of Mrs. Wolf, this story follows an inexperienced young girl through poverty and uncertainty to fame and all its highs and lows. Handler’s prose is pitch perfect and her attention to detail, especially regarding Lulu’s emotional journey, is top notch. This unique tale, based on a real person, is simply a pleasure to read! Arleigh Ordoyne

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A DEADLY DECEPTION

Tessa Harris, Kensington, 2019, $26.00/ C$35.00/£19.99, hb, 326pp, 9781496706607

1889. In the eight months since his horrific murder of Mary Jane Kelly, the Ripper remains uncaught. Even as the specter of his five killings grows distant, the women of London, especially those in the Whitechapel district, remain vigilant. Constance Piper still peddles flowers in areas favored by the gentry, so she does not have to resort to selling herself to bring in her daily bread, as so many wretched women must. Constance has the psychic gift of second sight: she sees the unseen, including the spirit of Emily Tindall, her late teacher and friend, who watches over Constance in her third foray as an amateur detective. Discontent seethes in the neediest districts of Victorian London. Food and coal are exorbitantly expensive, and the poor are literally abandoned by those in power. The undercurrent of hunger, deprivation, and fear make London ripe for treason. The Fenian Brotherhood is trying to force the Crown to give Ireland its independence by using bombs to achieve their aim, and to hell with the innocent caught in the fallout. Saucy Jack is not the only one with blood on his hands. Were the Fenians complicit in the murder of the Countess of Kildare’s uncle? And what of Mary Jane Kelly? Was she really the fifth victim of Jack’s bloody rampage? Constance sees a dark web of deceit, but she cannot unravel it from the edges, but rather she must discover the evil at its center. This is the third novel in the Constance Piper Mystery series, and I have read them all and relished each one. This novel is as tension-filled and psychologically disturbing as the others, and it challenges the accepted Ripper canon brilliantly. Once again Harris paints her word-pictures with a master’s skill, which kept me turning pages until the finish. I anxiously anticipate the next book in the series. Recommended. Monica E. Spence

REBEL

Beverly Jenkins, Avon, 2019, $7.99, pb, 375pp, 9780062861689

Valinda Lacy, a proper teacher of freedmen from New York, comes to a Reconstruction New Orleans still under military rule. She is the unlikely heroine of a novel entitled Rebel, the first of the Women Who Dare series. But that is one of the many delights of this historical romance. For Valinda is rebelling against a domineering father and a restricted life. She has chosen a passionless marriage to a childhood friend, but that path is soon disrupted by Drake, one of the interesting Civil War veteran sons of the House of LeVeq. When she and her school are attacked by members of a supremacist band, Captain Drake comes to her defense. Soon his wise mother takes Valinda under her wing and into the family. Drake champions Valinda’s independence and dreams, and the two fight an undeniable attraction. This novel tells a moving love story as it illuminates 30

Reconstruction history—the ugly and violent beginnings of Lost Cause groups, splintered political parties, the class structures within the African American communities, the role of vets in peacekeeping and voter registration, and the treasured importance of literacy. Eileen Charbonneau

THE LIEUTENANT’S BARGAIN

Regina Jennings, Bethany House, 2018, $15.99/ C$19.99, pb, 336pp, 9780764218941

December 1885. Hattie Walker is the lone survivor when outlaws attack her stagecoach. Unaware that the Arapaho who rescue her are friendly, she is relieved when a cavalry officer arrives to escort her to safety; but her plans to resume her journey to Denver, where she hopes to launch her career as an artist, are frustrated when she learns that, as witness to murder, she must remain. Worse still, the ceremony conducted when she is handed over to her rescuer was, in fact, a wedding ceremony. She is now married to Jack Hennessey, and even though it resulted from a misunderstanding, it is legally binding! The novel explores interesting subjects: language and cultural barriers, mistrust of what we don’t understand, women’s aspirations for more than just marriage, PTSD, Indian residential schools. Since this is an inspirational romance, the schools, like the characters, are idealized, coincidences are convenient, and the humorous potential is neglected in favor of reminders to trust God’s plan. Still, the plot is lively, the irony entertaining, and the development of Hattie and Jack’s relationship heart-warming. They knew each other in school, but he has changed, and much for the better. Hope for young bookworms? Recommended. Ray Thompson

BRAZEN AND THE BEAST

Sarah MacLean, Avon, 2019, $7.99/C$10.99, pb, 400pp, 9780062692078

Twenty-nine-year-old Hattie Sedley is planning her Year of Hattie, in which she inherits her father’s business, lives life on her own terms, and plans her own future. Oh, and should I mention, loses her virginity. When she meets Whit, nicknamed the Beast, the mutual attraction is palpable, and Hattie sets her sites on him for her first ‘mission’ – to ruin herself for marriage. Whit is equally intrigued and frustrated by this unusual woman. One might expect this novel to be overflowing with steamy erotic scenes, but in fact it is brimming with sexual tension and anticipation, witty repartee, stubbornness and misunderstandings – and it’s not until the end that the promised union takes place. MacLean is not called the intoxicating queen of historical romance for nothing! She’s a master of intelligent dialogue, which adds to the tension, as several moments for a possible tryst pass the couple by. What a nice change to have a romance heroine who is not a typical

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

winsome beauty, but knows her own mind, knows how to negotiate and knows how to reel in the most eligible bachelor on the block. A fun, sexy read! Fiona Alison

HONORING THE ENEMY

Robert N. Macomber, Naval Institute Press, 2019, $29.95, hb, 368pp, 9781682474198

U.S. Navy Captain Peter Wake of the Office of Naval Intelligence is tasked with assisting local patriots in Spanish-occupied Cuba in 1898. This requires the naval officer to serve in a ground combat environment because of his unique earlier experiences, prior domain expertise in Cuba and other hotspots, and knowledge of the people and language. The Captain would much rather be commanding a combat ship but reluctantly agrees to “soldier” on. Along with his best friend and Chief Boatswain’s Mate Sean Rork, USN, the two sailors make their way around the steamy hot terrain of eastern Cuba even though both are in their late fifties. They link up with local patriot commanders and try to persuade the American ground commanders of the fastest and simplest way to attack the fortified city of Santiago de Cuba where the Spanish fleet lies within its protected bay. No plan survives first contact, and the two friends somehow end up joining U.S. Army troops and especially the Rough Riders and their acting Commander Lieutenant Colonel Teddy Roosevelt, Peter Wake’s former boss as Navy Secretary. Amazingly, after a few bloody ground battles, the two get to witness the major naval engagement between the two combatant fleets as honored guests on a Spanish warship. Fourteenth in a series, this magnificent historical novel is just fine as a stand-alone. The military, operational intelligence, and technical acumen of the well-known author are exceedingly formidable. The accompanying sketch maps are illustrative and necessary, something too often missing in many books. The Spanish are portrayed as honorable adversaries fighting a losing battle. Small, surprising and arcane historical details abound. Macomber’s work is filled with military pathos and sentiment all soldiers and sailors will instantly understand. A masterpiece, and one of the best I’ve reviewed! Thomas J. Howley

THE DARWIN AFFAIR

Tim Mason, Algonquin, 2019, $27.95/C$39.95, 384pp, 9781616206345

On a hot June day in 1860, someone

shoots at Queen Victoria and Prince Albert riding in their carriage. A young pickpocket lies nearby, his throat slit. Chief Detective Inspector Charles Field, assigned to keep the royal couple from harm, had chased after the suddenly dead pickpocket—to discover he was a decoy. The shooter missed his intended target and is captured, but he too suddenly winds up dead. Field suspects a larger conspiracy. Readers soon learn of a complex rivalry among royalty, scientists and church leaders (who admire or despise Darwin’s new work). One faction has engaged a brilliant but deranged surgeon to do the killing. After the first failed attempt, more youngsters are dragooned into the surgeon’s service, more bodies pile up, and more gentry comes under suspicion. The story unfolds at a frenetic pace as the psycho surgeon maneuvers against Field and his men for another opportunity at Prince Albert. Many chases on foot and horse and by carriage, near misses, and brutal endings that turn out to not be the end keep the pages turning. Mason takes readers from the putrid alleys and the houses of working-class London to mansions and castles in both England and Germany. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert play interesting parts. Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens have supporting roles, as do a variety of other real-life characters of that time, even Karl Marx. Mason’s deep research, his attention to language and details of how people lived are evident. The main plot hangs together, but for some readers, Mason packs in too many unneeded scenes with too many shifts in point of view among too many actors. Less would have made for a more compelling historical thriller. G. J. Berger

A MODEST INDEPENDENCE

Mimi Matthews, Perfectly Proper, 2019, $16.99, pb, 476pp, 9780999036495

1860. As companion and close friend to Lady Helena, Jenny Holloway saved her distant cousin from the machinations of her wicked uncle and was rewarded with ‘a modest independence.’ Determined to return this generosity, she decides to travel to India to find Helena’s brother Giles, Earl of Castleton, reported killed during the Indian Mutiny. To her (and his own) surprise, her solicitor, Tom Finchley, insists on accompanying her. On the long journey their mutual attraction develops into love, but she is reluctant to surrender her independence by marrying. The journey fulfils her longing for travel, but will she recognize that much of the pleasure results from sharing it with someone she cares for and who cares for her? Perceptive social insights enrich this Victorian romance: into law practices, class and racial prejudice, pressures on women to conform to social conventions, snobbery and the casual assumption of privilege by wealthy and aristocratic elites. The route, by ship, train,

and dak cart, is traced in authentic detail. The behavior of the characters is justified by past experience. Jenny and Tom are admirable and their willingness to make sacrifices for each other’s happiness wins our sympathy. Strongly recommended. Ray Thompson

ABE & ANN

Gary Moore, Komatik Press, 2019, $16.95/£12.95, pb, 246pp, 9780998711379

New Salem, Illinois owes its existence to the Sangamon River, and the dam that helps run the mill is crucial to its modest commercial business. When a flatboat from New Orleans steered by 21-year-old Abraham Lincoln snags on the dam and must be extricated, most of the town resents him. All but the mill owner’s red-haired eldest daughter, who is intrigued by the gangly young man whose ingenuity and decisiveness saves the boat. Eighteen-year-old Ann Rutledge helps her father run the tavern attached to the mill, but she wants more out of life. She is thrilled to see Abe two years later when he returns to New Salem to start his own store. It doesn’t matter that Abe seems indecisive when it comes to women; there is a spark there that she can fan into something more. They read poetry and learn grammar together, and Abe confides that he wants to study law to better himself. What she can’t overcome, though, is the hold that another man has over her and her family, even when Abe proposes marriage. Poet Gary Moore’s first novel imagines the background behind one line in the history books. It is written as stream-of-consciousness reminiscent of the throes of young love discovering itself, and it works because he loves his subjects even when they don’t love themselves. This is great historical fiction in that it develops historically real characters in situations that history doesn’t vividly record. We end up caring enough to root for a different ending than the finality of death. Tom Vallar

SHADOWPLAY

Joseph O’Connor, Harvill Secker, 2019, £14.99, hb, 318pp, 9781787300842

At an essential level, this novel deals with the Irish writer Bram Stoker, and his relationships with the actress Ellen Terry, and Henry Irving, the actor, between the later 19th and early 20th centuries. But it is much more than this. Using the literary device of a sheaf of Stoker’s papers, diary entries and interviews given to Ellen Terry by the

writer, this arrangement initially makes some demands upon the reader in following the plot. Bram Stoker and his new wife, Florence Balcombe, travel to London from Dublin, where Stoker is to be a general manger of Irving’s newly-refurbished theatre, the Lyceum. Irving is a temperamental, mercurial and thoroughly frustrating man, which makes for occasionally tempestuous relations during their long professional relationship. Stoker struggles with his sexuality, while he battles to find literary success and wrestles with the succubus that will become his defining work, although only years after his death – he never knew literary renown. It is a London in which the population are terrorised by the actions of Jack the Ripper and where the trial and conviction of Oscar Wilde sends shockwaves throughout the necessarily hidden gay community. The story is narrated through rich, poetic language, observed by the penetrating eye of an artist, bringing late 19th-century Victorian London and the Lyceum theatre to a stunning, fizzing life. There are occasional elements of fantasy, which do not detract from the story’s appeal and focus. It is an absorbing tale. Douglas Kemp

THE FIRST ROSE OF TRALEE

Patricia O’Reilly, Poolbeg, 2019, €15.99, pb, 340pp, 9781781997741

This is the story behind the ballad “The Rose of Tralee”, ascribed to William Pembroke Mulchinock, about Mary O’Connor, a cobbler’s daughter who was a servant in his mother’s house, and with whom he fell in love. Their ultimately tragic story has as its backdrop the years before the Famine. The well-to-do William is a fervent supporter of the charismatic Daniel O’Connell in his campaign for the repeal of the Act of Union. Mary’s younger brother may or may not be involved in the underground agrarian movement, the Whiteboys. O’Reilly paints a compelling picture of the poverty in which Mary’s family and neighbours live, priestly entitlement, and the utter powerlessness of young women in deciding their course in life – including choice of husband, where not affection, but the bride-price negotiated with the girl’s father, was decisive. In this setting, anyone who transgresses codes of morality or class must pay. The cleverest child that the local schoolmaster ever taught, Mary nurses distant dreams of becoming a teacher, partly realised when she moves from below stairs to being quasi-governess of William’s nieces (two most engagingly described children). Their love story builds very gradually and is almost immediately thwarted by circumstance; for this reviewer Mary’s anguish was not as clearly conveyed as William’s, and towards the end her point of view is eclipsed by his. Sometimes I would have liked more of the backstory of the supporting characters: why

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did Charlotte leave her husband? Why did the Keoghs so readily overcome their indignation with William? Occasionally terms like “economic downturn” sounded too modern in a character’s mouth, but descriptions like “a skein of barnacle geese… like stitches sewn into the air” were a joy to read. Katherine Mezzacappa

THE SUMMER QUEEN

Margaret Pemberton, Pan, 2019, £7.99, pb, 496pp, 9781509841783

British and European royalty buffs will revel in this book, in which the lives of Queen Victoria’s large clan of descendants are retold as a sweeping family saga. The action spans from a large gathering at Osborne House, the royal summer retreat, in 1879, through the fall of the Romanovs in 1918. The principal viewpoints are May of Teck and her cousins Alicky of Hesse and Willy of Prussia—who, in later years, will be known respectively as Queen Mary, Empress Alexandra, and Kaiser Wilhelm. The story imagines that they form a pact that makes them kindred spirits, and the letters they exchange over the years (the women in particular) draw readers into their reflections, hopes, and fears. Although all the characters are born to great privilege, Pemberton makes them relatable without ignoring their flaws. May, daughter of Victoria’s first cousin, grows up knowing that as a “Serene Highness”—a lesser pedigree than her royal relations—she can never aspire to marry the man she has a crush on: Eddy, the Prince of Wales’s heir. Although embarrassed by her parents’ financial problems, and their need to economize by moving to the Continent, May soaks up culture in Florence and returns to England a well-educated, level-headed young woman. Alicky, a shy, impressionable girl with a mystical bent, finds her soul mate in Nicky, the Romanov heir, but their religious differences seem insurmountable. The plot emphasizes the personal over the political, with depictions of many courtships and attempted matches, from well-known pairings to the lesser-known and short-lived: like the scandalous second marriage of Alicky’s father, and the sexy affair between May’s brother and Maudie of Wales. Despite some instances of characters sharing facts for the reader’s benefit, it’s an addictive story, and Pemberton gets the relationships correct on their complicated family tree, too. Sarah Johnson

DARKNESS AT CHANCELLORSVILLE

Ralph Peters, Forge, 2019, $29.99/C38.99, hb, 400pp, 9780765381736

In the latest of his Civil War novels, Ralph Peters tells the story of the Battle of Chancellorsville through a broad array of characters, from North and South alike. It’s an approach that works well; still, some readers, especially those encountering one of Peters’ novels for the first time, might expect from 32

the subtitle (“A Novel of Stonewall Jackson’s Triumph and Tragedy”), as I did, that there would be a tighter focus, namely on Stonewall Jackson. That caveat aside, this novel has vivid, gripping battle scenes, yet at the same time, character is not sacrificed in favor of action. When he does turn up, Jackson is convincingly and sympathetically rendered, as is the rest of the large cast. The author’s note, including Peters’ reflections on Jackson and other figures in the novel, is enlightening, Military novelists wanting to improve their technique would do well to read this book. Susan Higginbotham

ONLY CHARLOTTE

Rosemary Poole-Carter, Top Publications, 2018, $27.00/£20.00, hb, 446pp, 9781935722991

In Kate Chopin’s short narrative, “The Story of an Hour,” she referred to marriage as the “joy that kills.” Rosemary Poole-Carter expands on that theme in her Shakespeareaninspired tale Only Charlotte. Set in New Orleans ten years after The War of Northern Aggression, Poole-Carter depicts a “city built on the sediment of old vices.” Through the eyes of a young pediatrician, Dr. Gilbert Crew, Carter introduces three couples: the Edens, the Duvalls, and Judge Placide and his much younger wife, Helene. Each is hopelessly entangled in the affairs of the others. Dr. Crew, recently widowed and a new resident in New Orleans, lives with his wealthy widowed sister, Lenore, and her servant, Ella. From his sister Lenore’s home he runs a small clinic. He also volunteers at a women’s shelter and makes house calls to both rich and poor clients. Through his work, he meets Charlotte Eden, the young mother of two small children, and he finds himself hopelessly drawn to her. When his charitable work takes him to the sprawling, gothic plantation of Judge Placide, he encounters for the first time Charlotte’s husband, Victor, the Duvalls, and the Placides. The judge inadvertently compels Dr. Crew to play a role in a sinister plot designed to destroy the marriage of one of those couples. With the help of Lenore and Ella, Dr. Crew struggles to unravel a conspiracy built on greed, privilege, and violence. There are moments in the novel that feel a little like the board game Clue, and Lenore’s frequent reflections on The Winter’s Tale become both tedious and awkward at times. Despite these distractions, Carter has an uncanny ability to bring to light the suffering of women and children in a society that views them as property. As the author explores the intersectionality of race, privilege, and gender in the American South, she reminds the reader that Americans live in a country “built on the sediment of old vices.”

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

Melissa Warren

A HOUSE DIVIDED

Jonathan F. Putnam, Crooked Lane, 2019, $26.99/C$40.50, hb, 320pp, 9781643850375

The winter of 1840 brings a horrific ice storm, a man’s disappearance, and Mary Todd’s arrival in Springfield, Illinois. Con man Flynn Fisher is in cahoots with the three Trailor brothers to skim money from the Illinois canal project; William, the eldest, accuses Henry and Archibald of murder because Fisher reneges on paying. Since shopkeeper Joshua Speed credits Archibald with saving him from freezing in the ice storm, he convinces his best friend, lawyer Abraham Lincoln, to defend the illiterate brother at a murder trial that’s missing one key item – the body. Springfield society is entranced by the beautiful and outspoken sister-in-law of its most prominent citizen. Speed and Lincoln are right there in line to woo Miss Todd. When the investigation takes Speed further afield, and his attentions are arrested by a red-haired Irish beauty, Mary must decide between Lincoln and his long-time (and future) rival Stephen A. Douglas as her beau. This fourth entry in the Lincoln and Speed Mysteries is Putnam’s finest. Character development is first-rate, as even minor players come to life; you don’t expect a lawyer to be proficient at writing action scenes, but these come at the reader with punch, showing both Lincoln and Speed at their best. Although his publicist wants us to believe the “house divided” in the title is Speed versus Lincoln in the battle for Mary’s hand, the Trailor family’s dysfunction pervades the entire plot and is even more divisive. Tom Vallar

GRAVE EXPECTATIONS

Heather Redmond, Kensington, 2019, $26.00/ C$35.00, hb, 312pp, 9781496717160

Charles Dickens is the detective in this historical mystery set in London in 1835. He is soon to marry Kate Hogarth, daughter of his newspaper editor, Charles Hogarth. She is with Charles as they discover the body of his elderly neighbour Miss Haverstock. Dressed in a faded old wedding gown, she has been horribly murdered and dead for some days. Somehow her murder is linked to a convict escaped from Coldbath Fields jail, to a friendly local blacksmith and to an old story about a child drowning as she played with others in the River Thames. As the mystery winds its way through early 19th-century London we meet members of Charles Dickens’ family, principally his

younger brother Fred, along with Kate Hogarth’s parents and her younger sister. We are introduced to the mudlarks—children who searched the mud of the Thames for any item of value, a piece of coal, for instance—and families who are turned out of their homes the moment they are unable to pay the rent. Redmond accurately presents both Charles Dickens’ personal life and the social conditions of the time that he was so instrumental in laying bare in his novels. The two aspects are woven together as the many facets of this mystery progress towards a conclusion. The Charles Dickens we meet in this novel is young, inexperienced and just beginning to find some financial success. We see the cruel, callous conditions of the time through his rather naive eyes and sense the depth of his caring for those who are its victims. The plot in part reflects this, but it does not hinder the telling of a fast-moving and engaging story. Valerie Adolph

GOD’S CHILDREN

Mabli Roberts, Honno, 2019, £8.99, pb, 336pp, 9780951687949

Kate Marsden (1859-1931) was born in England and nursed in the Crimean War and New Zealand and learned about the impossibility of curing leprosy. She was determined not only to find a cure for this cruel disease, but to show the world how badly its sufferers were treated. Hearing of lepers exiled to the icy wastes of Siberia, she sought funds to travel to Russia to publicise their plight. She met Queen Victoria, which led to a meeting with Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. She wrote of her arduous journey of 11,000 miles by train, sledge, horse, and boat in On Sledge and Horseback: To the Outcast Siberian Lepers. Despite her incredible exploit, controversy dogged her all her life, and she was pursued by what we now called tabloid journalists. They questioned whether her mission was nothing more than a pleasure trip and that seeking a cure for leprosy was both foolish (in seeking a certain flower) and a lie. Not only that, but she was accused of embezzling the money given to her. Worse still, when Oscar Wilde’s trial and imprisonment had recently scandalised Victorian sensibilities, her admission of sexual relationships with women made her plans even harder to fulfil. Did the consequences of her lesbianism make her identify with the ostracised lepers? In God’s Children, Mabli Roberts raises this possibility as she shows us a woman close to death who is visited by the women she has loved, her past triumphs and disasters and arguments with her detractors. Kate Marsden, while not immediately “likeable”, is an early feminist who struggled because while her love for women was not illegal, she was afraid it was a sin against her deeply-held Christian values. This novel is a fascinating account of the life of a pioneering woman. Sally Zigmond

GOLD DIGGER

Rebecca Rosenberg, Lion Heart, 2019, $28.00, pb, 318pp, 9780578427799

Rebecca Rosenberg, author of The Secret Life of Mrs. London, offers up a fascinating insight into another American woman of substance with Gold Digger: The Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor. The novel opens in April 1878, with newlyweds Harvey and Lizzie Doe on a train to Colorado to make their fortune mining gold. Lizzie is determined to help her family back home and support her husband in this new endeavor, but neither the mine, nor her husband, fulfil their early promise. Soon Lizzie finds herself abandoned and pregnant, but with an inner strength that will carry her to love and riches. Gold Digger is a gripping story of female grit and resilience. Lizzie, or Baby Doe, as she becomes known, has a wonderful, indomitable spirit, and Rosenberg brings her physical and emotional challenges vibrantly to life. The story is fast-paced, but also moving. Lizzie faces many hurdles as a woman, an abandoned wife, and then a divorcee and mistress, earning the disapproval of many, including her own, much-loved mother. Falling in love with millionaire Horace Tabor brings many changes to Baby Doe’s life. As the story moves from Colorado and up to Washington, DC and the swirl of politics, Rosenberg deftly brings late 19th-century America to life. Sharp attention to detail and strong supporting characters flesh out the story. Horace Tabor’s first wife, Augusta, for example, provides an effective foil to Baby Doe—a dour woman with none of Baby Doe’s creativity or drive. There are also several enjoyable cameos, including Doc Holliday, Oscar Wilde, Alva Vanderbilt and the 21st President of the United States, Chester Arthur. Gold Digger is only part one of Baby Doe’s story. Although complete in itself, readers can look forward to continuing her story in Rosenberg’s next book, Silver Dollar, due to be released later this year. Kate Braithwaite

A DUKE IN DISGUISE

the aristocracy but is non-binary in her previous love affair; Ash is epileptic. While the novel offers fascinating insights into the publishing industry of the day, notably links between production of radical and erotic material, it also includes such romance conventions as the wicked uncle, fortunate coincidences, and an implausibly happy ending. The author steers us through this unlikely combination with her usual exuberance. Verity is delightfully independent and ruefully self-aware, Ash honorable and sympathetic: both deserve the happy outcome of the conflict between love and principles. Warmly recommended. Ray Thompson

THE ROGUE OF FIFTH AVENUE

Joanna Shupe, Avon, 2019, $7.99/£6.99, pb, 400pp, 9780062906816

In this first in her Uptown Girls series, set in Gilded Age New York, Shupe matches society princess Mamie Greene with selfmade lawyer Frank Tripp, who’s hiding humble origins behind his polished success. Mamie is annoyed when Frank interferes with her plot to steal money from her well-heeled peers and redistribute it to the needy folks in downtown tenements, but she turns to him for help when one of her beneficiaries kills her abusive husband in self-defense. Frank agrees to defend Mrs. Porter as an excuse to get near Mamie, and Mamie’s crusades of social justice and combating domestic violence take backseat to steamy love scenes as she sets out to overcome Frank’s objections to seducing her. Frank’s influence helps Mamie stand up to her nerveless fiancé and domineering father, and her soft heart nudges Frank’s developing conscience about the ways he’s rejected his birth family to climb the social ladder. Intimacy that makes spoken consent sexy and a real heart for the socially and economically disadvantaged drive a well-plotted love story between two well-matched people, and Mamie’s canny and intriguing sisters promise that the rest of the Uptown Girls series will be just as much delicious fun. Misty Urban

THE UNDERTAKER’S Verity Plum and her brother Nate publish ASSISTANT

Cat Sebastian, Avon, 2019, $5.99/C$7.99, 304pp, 9780062821614

radical pamphlets that are dangerously critical of the English government. Their close friend Ash is an engraver who sometimes provides illustrations. When Ash comes to live with them and Nate leaves for America, however, friendship blossoms into passionate love that has long been repressed. But will it survive the discovery that Ash is not an orphan of unknown parents, but the rightful heir of a dying duke? This is an unusual Regency romance. Atypically, the protagonists are from the working class, and their pamphlets scathing towards the aristocracy to which Ash is unexpectedly elevated; Verity not only abhors

Amanda Skenandore, Kensington, 2019, $15.95/£12.99, pb, 326pp, 9781496713681

As a former slave, Effie Jones, in Amanda Skenandore’s The Undertaker’s Assistant, has had to rely on her rational, keen mind to survive. She has dedicated herself to her profession and takes great pride in her work, a pride that sometimes borders on haughtiness, for which some people dislike her. Consequently, she has closed the door to the possibility that she might fall in love. That door is flung open when Effie meets Samson Greene, a black Republican legislator who awakens previously unexplored feelings in her. But it is Effie’s contentious relationship with a

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

rival, Adeline Mercier, which will provide the novel with its most dramatic sparks. Effie’s story is a quest narrative. She is desperate to know her family history, why and how she was abandoned at an early age. She is a woman in search of herself. We sense, in Effie’s chosen profession and deep respect for the dead, that she is after something loftier than what to wear at soirées. Her sharp intellect, which she wields like an invisible sword, is a drawback in the pretentious world of Creole society, where many have adopted the prejudices of the whites who rule over them. Samson Greene and the activists who work for racial justice provide Effie with opportunities to rise above such a superficial world. Our immersion in that world—from the particulars of baking marble cake to the grisly minutiae of embalming corpses to the messy and violent politics of the Reconstruction South—is so complete that the reader never doubts it once existed. That said, one of this novel’s many virtues is how it subtly conveys how many black citizens in the post-Civil War era took it upon themselves to improve their own lives. John La Bonne

THE GHOST OF HOLLOW HOUSE

Linda Stratmann, Sapere, 2019, $9.99/£8.50, pb, 340pp, 9781913028411

The veiled outline of a woman in white at the window of what was once a nursery and is now a locked storeroom. Small pebbles dropping out of nowhere onto a dining room table. A human skeleton hidden under floorboards in an attic room. These and other happenings are fodder for the latest adventure of amateur sleuth and writer Mina Scarletti. Scarletti is no stranger to the ways of spiritualists, mediums, séances, believers and charlatans in 1870s England. In three previous volumes, she has delved into family mysteries as well as a supposed haunting of the Royal Pavilion by King George IV. In The Ghost of Hollow House, she is asked by a friend to visit Ditchling Hollow in the Sussex hills and the house of a newly married woman who hears strange noises in the night. She soon learns of tragedies that beset nearby villages— the three-train collision in the Clayton Railway Tunnel that killed or injured nearly 200 passengers and the Clayton Hills windmills that may be resting on the site of a gallows where the dead were left to molder—as well as a burial in unsanctified ground and a missing child and maidservant. While plot resolution is quick and somewhat facile, the unraveling of the mysteries is a satisfying journey. Particularly compelling is Scarletti, a diminutive young woman born with severe curvature of the spine. Author Stratmann leads the reader to understand the threats to the woman’s health from compressed lungs and a hesitant, compromised gait and the accommodations she invents to counteract infirmity, such as a wedge that allows Scarletti to sit up straight and relieve stress. This is an 34

enterprising, sensible and gritty character worth following. K. M. Sandrick

MRS MOHR GOES MISSING

Maryla Szymiczkowa (trans. Antonia LloydJones), Point Blank, 2019, £12.99, pb, 314pp, 9781786075437

Cracow, 1893: Zofia Turbotynska, aged 40 and childless, strives to advance herself in local society. She is married to a medical professor, Ignacy, who has achieved relative eminence largely down to her own efforts to advance his career. Even though Zofia’s origins were humble and even more provincial than Cracow, she is fiercely ambitious to climb the slippery pole of Cracovian society. She is keen to develop her profile amongst the higher echelons of society by good works at a newly-opened privately-funded charitable residential home in the city. When one of their elderly residents, the eponymous widowed Mrs Mohr, disappears, Zofia takes the opportunity to act the detective and investigate her absence. She quickly develops a taste for her self-appointed detective role, giving a sense of meaning and direction to her otherwise rather trivial bourgeois life, especially when matters take a much more serious turn and there are misdemeanours and crimes to look into, in conjunction now with the official police force. The tone of the book reminds me very much of the society fiction of E.F. Benson, with its wry and camp humour – Zofia is very like one of his social climbing hostesses and is a crashing snob. The topography and milieu of late 19thcentury Cracow are depicted, as is Poland’s overall subordinate position within the ruling Viennese-based Hapsburgs. Towards the latter half of the story, the narrative is occasionally rather difficult to follow as all sorts of new threads and directions in the story open up, but Zofia does successfully bring them all together at the end in a traditional goldenage detection conclusion and unveiling of the culprit. The author, whose name seems to be rather like a fantasy hand of tiles at Scrabble, is a pseudonym of two Polish men. Douglas Kemp

SURGEONS’ HALL

E.S. Thomson, Constable, 2019, £16.99, hb, 368pp, 9781472126610

Jem Flockhart, apothecary, and Will Quartermain return for another slice (the fourth in the series) of Grand Guignol mid19th-century murder. It is 1851, and the pair are visiting the Great Exhibition and are fascinated by some anatomical models made of wax, constructed by the mysterious Dr Silas Strangeway, whose name should suggest that something is amiss. Indeed, the exhibit of interest is a dissected human hand. Jem’s interest is piqued, and when she returns the hand to Strangeway at Corvus Hall, a private anatomy school run by one Dr Crowe, the unidentified body which the hand belongs to is in the mortuary. There are all kinds of mysteries

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

and oddities at the Hall, and the tale descends into a gruesome gothic stew of horror, secrets and mystery, focusing on Dr Crowe’s three weird daughters. Jem Flockhart is a female, disguised as a male from the age of seven so that she could follow her father into the business, at a time when society would not accept that women could do the same job as men. The deception is helped by large disfiguring birthmark on her face. The longstanding relationship with Will is entirely platonic, but Jem is worried when is seems that Will, an architect by profession, might be drifting away to find employment at Corvus Hall. This is well-written historical fiction that steams along admirably. Perhaps the gore and horrors are occasionally laid on just a little too thick, and from a series perspective, both protagonists appear to be rather stuck in a rut; they aren’t developing or changing significantly from one story to the next. Douglas Kemp

NOT JUST ANY MAN

Loretta Miles Tollefson, Palo Flechado, 2018, $12.99, pb, 338pp, 9780998349855

Gerald Locke, Jr., the son of an Irish servant girl and a free black man, heads to early 19th-century New Mexico for a few reasons: to get away from the bigotry of slave-state Missouri, to find his father, and to earn enough for a homestead of his own. Once in Taos, the hospitality of the Peabodys, genteel yet generous Jeremiah and his educated and opinionated daughter Suzanna, make Gerald begin to reconsider his goals. Driven by a repressed hope of proving worthy of Suzanna, Gerald begins to trap beaver to earn money, but the business is full of treachery, both physical and moral. Loretta Miles Tollefson has written an absorbing tale that follows in the tradition of Cormac McCarthy, but also shows the town life of this territory on the northern edge of Mexico. Her male characters are often gruff; the trappers are almost stereotypical in their lack of refinement and tendency toward stubbornness and violence, and their physical trials are vivid to the point of being graphic in some instances. Gerald’s moral dilemmas come through well, even if his tendency to over-think and reluctance to act directly become a bit repetitive through the novel’s middle section. The setting description is nicely done. Tollefson portrays the native and Mexican characters evenhandedly, given that most of the characters expressing opinions on them are white American men. I was unsure whether the racial attitudes expressed by the characters fully reflect the setting (this was a frontier land where cultures mixed, but still the early 19th century) or whether there was some degree of anachronism. Those doubts did nothing to diminish my great enjoyment of this novel, however. I recommend it to fans of McCarthy and to lovers of literature about the Old West in general. Irene Colthurst

EQUATOR

A MAN IN LOVE

Nebraska, 1871. Pete Ferguson is a murderer, army deserter, and is wanted for theft and arson. Changing his name to Billy Webb, he joins a group of bison hunters – the start of a journey which will take him along the Comancheros Road to Mexico, Guatemala and then on to find the equator. His interest is piqued by stories of a world where rain flow upwards, and people walk upside down. A drifter, is he running away from the law, or his past? He becomes involved with a woman who will change his destiny. Together they will sabotage an attempted coup d’état and journey to the equator before finding answers. Will he return and face his past? This novel is a combination of Western, adventure, and an intimate character study. Like peeling an onion, Billy Webb’s character and past are slowly revealed, not only by his actions, but by a series of letters written to his brother Oliver, who has remained on the ranch Billy had left after his father’s suicide – the catalyst for all his actions. An excellent translation from the French, this is a slow burning, but very rewarding novel which challenges your initial opinions of what is, on the surface, a damaged young man. Recommended.

In the summer of 1823, while on a promenade in Marienbad, Johannes Wolfgang von Goethe, then 73, literary, scientific, and cultural lion, confidant of kings, counts, and emperors, was besotted with clever, pretty, 19year old Ulrike von Levetoz, whose widowed mother is not adverse to Goethe’s attentions. This well-documented affair is the spine of A Man in Love. Ulrike is no innocent, quite enjoying having the great Goethe at her feet with such lines as: “Seventy-three is the most beautiful number. I could kiss it.” While Goethe understands that “custom, morality, habit, propriety, and orderliness . . . tell me . . . I am impossible,” he persists nearly to the point of madness, stopping just short of the fate of his own romantic hero in The Sorrows of Young Werther. Martin Walser, one of Germany’s major post-World War II writers, takes us deep into the mind of a towering figure of Enlightenment and Romanticism as two powerful personalities trade witty repartee in sparkling surroundings. The outcome of this May-December dalliance is predictable once a wealthy, more ageappropriate jewelry merchant enters Ulrike’s sphere, and obsession is probably more engrossing to the obsessed and the object of obsession than to the observer, but there is a certain shiver in seeing the clay feet of one the West’s greatest minds. Walser captures a lost world in which Napoleon took time from his conquests to debate literary points, the fine art of conversation was carefully cultivated, and those in power were expected to take a deep, personal interest in the fate of artists . . . and their affairs.

Antonin Varenne (trans. Sam Taylor), MacLehose, 2019. £20.00, hb, 316pp. 9780857058737

Mike Ashworth

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE LONDON PARTICULAR

Daniel D. Victor, MX, 2019, £8.99, pb, 150pp, 9781787054202

This is the fifth in the American Literati series by the same author, but it is not necessary to read them in order, or indeed to have read the earlier ones at all. Sherlock Holmes is up to his old tricks of detecting, deducting, and discovering, all in the traditional pea-souper of a London fog, the “particular” of the title. The book starts with the gruesome discovery of a double murder, complicated by the theft of a valuable diamond necklace. An American writer, Richard Harding-Davis, approaches Sherlock for his help in unravelling the crimes. The usual cast of other characters are also present and correct – Lestrade, Mycroft, et al. For a fan of chunky literary feasts such as myself, this novella struggled to satisfy. At a mere 149 pages, it was all over way too soon, like an enjoyable but tiny starter dish. The short length meant that for me the novel lacked depth of plot and characterisation. The bodies are discovered, as is the theft of the necklace, Davis tells his tale, Holmes does his stuff, and the dastardly murderer is revealed in a classic denouement scene with all the suspects assembled at The High Table Club, an exclusive and high-class gentlemen’s club. Ann Northfield

Martin Walser (trans. David Dollenmayer), Arcade, 2019, $24.99, hb, 283pp, 9781628728736

Pamela Schoenewaldt

THE DAUGHTERS OF IRONBRIDGE

Mollie Walton, Zaffre, 2019, £6.99, pb, 416pp, 9781785767630

This is the debut saga from Walton, a successful transition for the author, who also pens historical fiction under her real name, Rebecca Mascull. She writes with admiration for the ordinary people whose toil fueled industrial growth in mid-19th-century England. The setting is Shropshire in the 1830s, over 50 years since the world’s first iron bridge— which gave the nearby town its name—was constructed over the River Severn. The two protagonists, Anny Woodvine and Margaret King, are unlikely friends. Anny is the amiable, well-loved daughter of a furnace filler at the ironworks, while Margaret, whose ironmaster father despairs of her shyness, lives in privilege at Southover, the wealthy estate overlooking the town. When the girls first meet by accident in the woodland, Anny, whose mother taught her to read and write, has just taken a job running errands for Mr. King’s estate manager. She is nervous about speaking with the daughter of

the house, but Margaret, a lonely girl abused by her older brother, Cyril, tries to put her at ease. They get to know one another through meetings and secret letters, but problems arise years later due to Cyril’s actions, and when a handsome artist comes to town. Their story is rooted in the history of Ironbridge and the local region, with many examples of the class divide. Anny’s parents take pride in a good day’s work, while Mr. King (somewhat stereotypically) is cold and stern, aiming for profit above all. There’s also some mystery about a baby whose young mother died while carrying her across the iron bridge late one evening, but the plot doesn’t take the obvious route here. Despite some headhopping which gives away people’s motives too early, The Daughters of Ironbridge is an engaging read with surprising twists, and the ending sets events up nicely for the next in the series. Sarah Johnson

THE MAN WHO HATED HICKOK

C. M. Wendelboe, Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 247pp, 9781432858179

Ira Drang is a former soldier, buffalo hunter, bounty hunter and a dead shot. Now he is “settled down” in Cheyenne and keeps watch over his mentally-challenged younger brother, Jamie. Their parents perished in a buggy accident. Jamie takes his own life after Wild Bill Hickok strips the lad naked in front of a bar full of rowdies. Hickok heads for the gold rush in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. Ira vows to follow and kill him. Ira loses all his money in a crooked faro game. He exposes the dealer and kills him in self-defense, then gives his horse to the one lawyer who will take his case. Now Ira’s only way to follow Hickok is riding shotgun on the stage coach to Deadwood. In this summer of 1876, right after Custer’s last stand, stagecoaches and stations are under siege from bands of Native American warriors. On top of that, big-time stolen horse trader, Logan Hatch, is searching for the killer of his daughter. Logan becomes convinced the killer is a passenger on Ira’s stagecoach. Constant attacks from Lakota warriors and Logan’s men call for every trick Ira has learned to evade or fight. Wendelboe knows his history and the details of that time, that place, and that jargon (a man in need of a good scrubbing is “water shy”). Though many, the episodes of violence are gripping and ring true. The multiple open questions (who killed Logan’s daughter, who will survive to Deadwood, will Ira catch Hickok?) are resolved in a rousing ending. Changing points of view and dozens of characters, with spare dialogue tags, sometimes make the story a bit hard to follow, but it’s a satisfying, fast-paced read. G. J. Berger

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

MIDNIGHT ON THE RIVER GREY

Abigail Wilson, Thomas Nelson, 2019, $15.99, pb, 336pp, 9780785224129

England, 1813. The only reason Rebecca agrees to move to her guardian’s secluded estate is to uncover the mystery behind her brother Jacob’s death. Believing her guardian Lewis Browning to be responsible, Rebecca quickly starts searching for clues. However, Rebecca is guarding a secret of her own, one that haunts her at night. When Lewis’s solicitor is found dead near the bridge that claimed Jacob’s life, Rebecca and Lewis wind up as unlikely allies in their hunt for a culprit who seems comfortable in the shadows of Mr. Browning’s gothic country estate. Utilizing a vividly-painted pastoral landscape as the stage for her murder mystery, the author’s love for the time period shines in the atmospheric details. Wilson does a commendable job exploring her main character’s inner turmoil. Character dialogue is spirited while keeping a strong sense of period panache. Plot-wise, during the book’s first half, Rebecca keeps getting scared by someone speaking or approaching from behind (Mr. Browning being a frequent repeat offender). This makes plot movement feel unnatural during the book’s early section. However, the second half provides good character development alongside the unraveling mystery. With a wonderfully suspicious cast of characters, intriguing clues, and lush backdrop that readers can easily get lost in, Midnight on the River Grey is a captivating novel. J. Lynn Else

20TH CENTURY

AMERICA WAS HARD TO FIND

Kathleen Alcott, Ecco, 2019, $27.99, hb, 432pp, 9780062662521.

In the late 1950s, Fay Fern has an affair with a married man, Vincent Kahn, who is awaiting entry into NASA’s space program as an astronaut. This is the only smoothly written part of this startling novel. Vincent Kahn’s wife is everything a future astronaut needs and able to meet the demands of the leering, vulture-like press photographers who cover the highlights of America’s space program. But Fay, who only desires to “live within herself,” becomes disoriented. The language of this story assumes the same floating stance, not quite surrealistic but vaguely wandering through the thoughts and feelings of Vincent, Fay, and eventually her son, Wright. Fay and Vincent part, and he never thinks of her until he starts getting letters from Wright, who also becomes depressed and disoriented. Fay becomes a famous rebel, joining the group Shelter, which imitates the ideology and violent protests of the well-known group called The Weathermen, who vow to destroy the Americans responsible for its role 36

in the Vietnam War. She escapes to Ecuador as a wanted terrorist criminal. Interestingly, the Apollo program, in which Vincent is one of the prime heroes, is judged by Fay and her peers as a journalistic front to distract from the war crimes of American troops in Vietnam. America Was Hard to Find is a beautifully strange read about the turbulent, fragmented era of the Vietnam War and the Apollo program, both of which dwarf and distort the personalities of those involved. Vincent and Fay are not exemplary characters in what is not America’s finest hour. However, they accurately depict the 1960s through the 1980s along with American patriotism and dissidence in this powerful work of historical fiction. Viviane Crystal

WHERE TO FIND ME

Alba Arikha, Alma, 2018, £12.99, pb, 276pp, 9781846884481

The lives of Flora Dobbs and Hannah Karalis cross when Hannah is locked out of her house on a rainy evening in 1980s London. Hannah finds herself knocking on her aloof neighbour’s door despite her initial reservations. Their brief bond is short-lived when Flora disappears from her home suddenly. Nineteen years later, Hannah is sent a mysterious box of books containing Flora’s notebook, from which she discovers Flora’s life has been a tragic and emotional journey, from Nazi-occupied Paris to post-war Palestine through to 1950s London. Hannah sets out to find out the truth of Flora’s life, leading her to also confront her own past. This beautifully written novel follows the different lives of two very different women, both tinged with tragedy and loss. The story is told in dual narratives, and whereas Hannah has not experienced the horrors and upheaval of Flora’s life, her own has had family betrayal, death, and secrets. Both women have distinctive narrative voices, and both are likeable and multi-faceted. There is a great deal going on in this story, which adds to the pace and keeps the reader engaged. It delicately lays out the stories of two women with meticulous attention to detail, and is a beautiful read. Lindsay Mulholland

THE SNOW GYPSY

Lindsay Jayne Ashford, Lake Union, 2019, $24.95, hb, 320pp, 9781542040051

We meet Lola in 1938 toward the end of the Spanish Civil War in the Alpujarra region of Andalusia, Spain. Lola is a part of the gypsy community, and while herding her goats on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada, she hears shots ring out. Her mother and brother, along with several other townspeople, lie dead, while the snow slowly covers their bodies. She hears the cry of a newborn baby – the only survivor. Lola takes the little girl, naming her Nieve, meaning snow, and they make a harrowing escape to safety over the mountains. Fastforward to 1946, following WWII, when

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

Rose is introduced. Rose has lost her Jewish family members in the Holocaust, but the disappearance of her brother while fighting with the gypsy partisans in the Spanish Civil War continues to haunt her. Just before he disappeared, his letters home told of a gypsy woman he was in love with and his plans to marry. Rose embarks on a trip to Spain with little information to go on in search of answers. Ashford’s ability to bring the gorgeous landscapes of Las Alpujarras and the Sierra Nevadas to life are the strong points of this novel. Lola earns her living as a flamenco dancer, and the descriptions of her dances sparkle with color and fluidity. But the plot pales in comparison to the prose. It feels predictable, and a convenient coincidence brings Lola and Rose together into the storyline. The history within the story is noteworthy. Gypsy children were forcibly taken from their families to be raised and educated as payos (non-gypsy), and Ashford brings to light the unfair treatment of the gypsies by the Franco regime. This is a novel to be savored for its rich, vivid descriptive writing and its historical setting. Janice Ottersberg

EVER FAITHFUL

Karen Barnett, WaterBrook, 2019, $9.99, pb, 352pp, 9780735289581.

It’s 1933 in Yellowstone National Park, and we follow Elsie Brookes, who is saving up for college to become a teacher, and Nate Webber, a Civilian Conservation Corps foreman from Brooklyn. Nate is the kind of guy who steps in to volunteer to take care of everything from wildfires to baby raccoons. His “shameful secret” is dyslexia, which Elsie helps him with. Nate is supportive of Elsie’s dreams of college, and romance blooms. The main character, however, is definitely Yellowstone National Park. Any hiker or nature-lover will immediately recognize the author as one of their own, as she was a park ranger. There is a lot going for this novel: the sweet romance of the central couple feels honest, the characters are well drawn, the wildfire descriptions are well-researched; even the crazy Yellowstone slang works well. Yet, the Christian element often feels misplaced. In this novel, everyone agrees with “God’s plan,” even when parachuting the idea in at two-thirds of the way through the book. The spirituality seems Protestant, despite the presence of traditionally Catholic ethnic groups. Which leads to the other hollow note: the ethnic harmony felt at the end amongst the men of the CCC. Hard work and close quarters absolutely make bonds form; however, the only ethnicities present are Polish, Irish, and Italian. There is one Jewish boy, who is threatened, but that moment evaporates when Nate defends him. Not noted, but true, the CCC was segregated, so there would not have been a darker skinned corpsman. But as these boys were from New York City, there might have been questions about where the African-Americans and Latinx happened to be. Instead these populations are out-of-sight,

out-of-mind, which made the white-skinned comradery cringe-worthy. If the reader can ignore the oversights of race and religion, it’s a good read. Katie Stine

THE POOR RELATION

Susanna Bavin, Allison & Busby, 2019, £19.99, hb, 412pp, 9780749023683

Mary Maitland is trying to gain promotion in Edwardian Manchester. The year is 1908 and she is a woman; times are hard, but attitudes are about to start changing. What makes every action Mary takes more dramatic is the fact that she is the poor relation of the powerful and rich Kimber family. Their shadow falls over her life, and yet her actions could bring a taint to their name. This provides inner conflict, coupled with her desire to strike out and become a female journalist. Her situation is made more intolerable as unintentionally her actions become entwined with women’s suffrage. The historic detail of the parallel between the have and have-nots are shown as this story of struggle, mystery and romance fascinates the reader. The fast-paced action is captivating. It starts and builds drama in a way that sweeps the reader’s empathy and interest along with it. Horrid Greg Rawley and his Aunt Helen’s situation reflect the way women’s lives were controlled and dependent upon the generosity, or cruelty, of their male relatives. Yet the kind-hearted Dr Nathaniel Brewer shows that there were many who were not of a callous or controlling persuasion. This is a gripping, heart-warming story that builds conflicts of deepening complexity, reflecting the history of a very troubled prewar era, involving a variety of engaging characters. It is definitely a recommended read for lovers of intriguing sagas. Valerie Loh

RELATIVE FORTUNES

Marlowe Benn, Lake Union, 2019, $24.95, hb, 320pp, 9781542005210

1924, Manhattan. On her 25th birthday, Julia Kydd will finally be in control of her inheritance. She travels from London to New York to sign the appropriate papers, where she learns her older brother is contesting their father’s will—trying to get it all. Without the money, Julia will lose everything: her lover, her London apartment, and her budding, fine-book-printing venture, Capriole Press. In New York, Julia reconnects with former school friend Glennis, whose aunt Naomi dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances. Glennis’s family declares suicide and the aunt is quickly cremated. Glennis is distraught and confused. When Julia relates the story to her fickle brother, he comes up with an absurd wager: if Julia can discover that the aunt was murdered, he will no longer contest the will. Benn has created a terrific mystery. Although from a wealthy family, Naomi was a suffragette who gave her small allowance

and all her energies to the Empire State Equal Rights Union—much to the horror of her high society family. The more Julia investigates, the more complicated the mystery becomes. Suspects abound. Julia discovers that her wealth has given her the privilege of being “modern” and “independent,” choices a poor woman (which she may soon be) doesn’t have. The powerlessness of women, both rich and poor, is deftly interwoven with the mystery. The mirroring of Naomi’s difficulties and Julia’s current problems is cleverly managed. A well-done debut. I eagerly await the next Julia Kydd mystery. Elizabeth Caulfield Felt

THE LAST LIST OF MISS JUDITH KRATT

Andrea Bobotis, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2019, $15.99/C$22.99/£12.55, pb, 320pp, 9781492678861

Initially, Judith Kratt is not the most likable character, and from the first page, the readers know that she is hiding something. This mystery progresses quickly. It is not too far into chapter two before the reader realizes something happened that profoundly changed Judith and her life trajectory. The story takes place in time frames 60 years apart, alternating between 1989 and 1929. Through the inventory of possessions that Judith obsesses over, she tries to find out how she fits into a town, a legacy, and a family that, due to the ignorance of certain facts, can’t understand her. Judith defines herself by her things, but for her metaphorical survival, she must learn how to let things go. The story also touches on race relations, but rather subtly. In that way, it is also the story of how a secondary character, Olva, fits into Judith’s family in particular, but also into the general intangible condition of family. The story is wrought with mystery, but even though there is a murder, it is not a classic whodunit. The murderer’s identity becomes apparent quickly; the questions that remain are how and why. Ms. Bobotis’ writing is beautiful, somewhat lyrical and metaphorical. There are moments of great tension, heartwarming interactions, and humor. The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt is a story about sibling rivalry, or maybe just sibling relationships, twisted up and gone all wrong to extremes. Jodie Toohey

THE GOLDEN TRESSES OF THE DEAD Alan Bradley, Delacorte, 2019, C$29.95, hb, 327pp, 9780345540027

$26.00/

This is the latest entry in Alan Bradley’s popular mystery series set in rural England in the 1950s, featuring twelve-year-old chemistry expert Flavia de Luce. Flavia uses her knowledge of poisons to solve crimes, and she has teamed up with Dogger, a traumatized World War II veteran and gardener on her family’s estate, Buckshaw, to form a detective

agency. Flavia’s troubles began when her sister Feely (Ophelia) finds a finger in her wedding cake. When they examine it under a microscope, Flavia and Dogger find that it has been stolen from the body of a famous guitarist. Shortly afterwards, the daughter of a prominent physician requests their help in recovering papers which she says have been stolen from her father. But when Flavia and Dogger go to meet with their client, they find her dead. Soon they discover a ring of criminals who steal body parts from famous peoples’ graves and use them to make homeopathic potions. Their client’s father, it appears, was involved with them. Will Flavia and Dogger stop them before anyone else is killed? And what is the role of two missionaries, who are staying at Buckshaw, in these crimes? Flavia is a delight, as always. She is a genius, but a vulnerable young girl at the same time. She has clearly matured throughout the series, as she shows when it turns out she actually misses Feely, in spite of all their bickering in the past. Her cousin Undine, who always turns up at inconvenient times during Flavia’s investigation, is a strong addition to the series. She reminds me of the younger Flavia in her precocity, and it appears the relationship between them is deepening, as Flavia realizes she has not appreciated her cousin in the past. I hope to see many more of Flavia’s adventures. Vicki Kondelik

ADAMSON’S 1969

Nicole Burton, Apippa Publishing, 2018, $15.95, pb, 191pp, 9780979899287

Henry Adamson’s British family is living in Massachusetts for his father’s job in 1969. Adamson finds getting used to American life after years of British public school isn’t easy: just being in the same classes with girls takes adjustment. He teases his sisters, joins a garage band, and misses Alistair, his best mate back home. But then his father gets transferred to Italy. It’s decided that Adamson will remain in the U.S. to finish his senior year. Adamson is afraid he will get drafted into the Vietnam War, even though he’s not an American citizen, so he applies to college to get a deferment. In the summer before college starts, he hitches a ride to San Francisco to see Alistair, whose father has taken him there on a business trip. They explore Haight-Ashbury and the Castro district; Adamson hears Jim Jones preach at the People’s Temple and watches the moon landing on TV. He snags a ride back east from an acquaintance who has tickets to Woodstock. Once college starts, Adamson drifts into photography as a field of study. His parents send him a ticket to come to Italy for Christmas, but on the way back, he learns bad news about Alistair, and Adamson’s plane is hijacked. Adamson doesn’t always make wise choices, but he is a likeable kid. He loves his sisters but, like a typical teenager, won’t admit it, and he is tolerant of others. There isn’t a lot of conflict in the story; it’s more of a travelogue

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

of American life in 1969. Burton based the story in part on her brother’s and husband’s adventures in their youth and suggests using it as an adjunct text for history and social studies classes. Readers who want to immerse themselves in the late ‘60s will enjoy the ride. B.J. Sedlock

MURDER KNOCKS TWICE

Susanna Calkins, Minotaur, 2019, $17.99, pb, 307pp, 9781250190833

January 1929. While the Chicago winter rages outside, the atmosphere heats up at the Third Door, the speakeasy where Gina Ricci, heroine of this novel, works as a cigarette girl. But although Gina believes she has been offered the job through a friend, the brutal murder of the bar’s photographer and the revelation that she has a connection with him, quickly convinces her otherwise. As Gina investigates his killing, as well as the stabbing death of her predecessor, she encounters a mysterious, handsome gambler, who offers her his help. Is he to be trusted, and will he aid Gina to resolve the secret of the camera that the murder victim entrusted to her before his death? While Gina delves into the secrets behind the Third Door, she stands in danger of exposing not only the criminal doings of its staff and guests, but of exhuming her own family’s buried, complex past. Here, Calkins takes a break from her awardwinning Lucy Champion London mysteries and travels almost three hundred years into the future—to Prohibition-era Chicago, whose dazzling settings and famous denizens she describes with the same expert attention to historical detail that characterizes her other novels. To quote Virginia Woolf, this novel is a lark and a plunge. Twenties-era Chicago—its bars, shops, and neighborhoods, social and political tensions—is beautifully fleshed out. A treat for fans of Prohibition mysteries and a novel that will fortunately be expanded into a series! Elisabeth Lenckos

A DESPERATE HOPE

Elizabeth Camden, Bethany House, 2019, $15.99, pb, 336pp, 9780764232107

When Eloise Drake was a little girl, she would gaze out of her bedroom window down the hill at the folks living in Duval Springs, and dream of being free. Then, when she was just eighteen, she made a big mistake with Alex Duval that caused her guardian to send her away to a convent. Now, it’s 1908 and Eloise is a successful accountant living in New York City. When her job takes her back to Duval Springs, she is at once thrilled and terrified. Alex is now mayor, and his beloved town is about to be demolished to make way to build a new reservoir. He is determined to fight the uppity engineering firm coming to assess his town, and is shocked to realize one of accountants is his long-lost love, Eloise. As his town begins to fall apart, Alex comes up with a crazy scheme to save Duval Springs, but he 38

needs Eloise’s help. He’s not sure how to mend things with her, especially when he realizes he still loves her deeply. This is the third novel in Camden’s Empire State series. While there are a few characters who recur in A Desperate Hope, and a few similar plot threads, reading the earlier books first is not necessary to enjoy this one. There’s a lot of development in this story, and it is doled out with impeccable timing and a fabulous amount of tension. Just when you think this is going to be a simple love story, someone gets shot, there’s sabotage, and something most gruesome is revealed with a complex mystery. These elements keep the story lively and the plot moving. The end does not disappoint. Recommended. Rebecca Cochran

THE PEARL DAGGER

L. A. Chandlar, Kensington, 2019, $15.95/ C$21.95/£12.99, pb, 352pp, 9781496713452

The Pearl Dagger is the third installment of the Art Deco Mystery series set in New York City toward the end of the Great Depression. Main character Lane Sanders is the feisty female assistant to the mayor, Fiorella La Guardia, and will stop at nothing to protect her boss or help to solve the latest investigative crime. But when a well-liked policeman is killed in connection with the pinball slot-machine investigation, Lane swears revenge. All is not what it seems. When a new crime boss emerges, pointing to the possible rebirth of a violent organization, Lane travels to Europe with her boyfriend Finn, intent on pursuing information about the syndicate and the deaths of her parents many years ago. While they are in Europe, Lane learns that her parents were leading double lives and the pearl dagger they bequeathed to her now symbolizes her quest in life—to be strong, to be prepared, and to be vigilant. The Pearl Dagger is an enjoyable historical mystery with all the feel of vintage New York City and should certainly appeal to readers who enjoy an action-filled plot combined with larger-than-life characters and a heroine hard to forget. Linda Harris Sittig

LITTLE ZINNOBERS

Elena Chizhova (trans. Carol Ermakova), Glagoslav, 2018, €19.99, pb, 236pp, 9781911414384

Little Zinnobers is not an easy read and presents many challenges, especially to an English-speaking readership. Even the title is problematic, coming from a short story “Little Zaches, Great Zinnobers” by E T A Hoffman, hardly a household name, in the UK at least, and unlikely to signpost the novel’s subject. At its heart it is a school story about a dedicated and charismatic teacher in a model Soviet school who organises the school theatre and uses Shakespeare to teach her pupils not only the beauties of great literature but about life in general and in particular life in the USSR. The novel is narrated by one of her star-struck

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pupils, through whose eyes we watch events unfold, but through whose eyes we also come to realise that not only is F a gifted teacher, she is also capricious and often cruel, and her desire to instil in the children a love of Shakespeare is often at odds with her behaviour towards them. This is a serious and thoughtful work of literature but a difficult read, fragmented and episodic, full of references to both Russian and foreign cultural figures and works of literature. Thankfully there is a long afterword by Rosalind Marsh, which is not just useful but I feel essential to anything like a proper understanding of the novel. Although firmly rooted in its time and place, its emphasis on the power of art to educate and enlighten in a totalitarian state is just as pertinent in today’s world. Personally, however, I found it heavygoing and the characters difficult to relate to. Without the afterword I would have been very much at sea, and feel it is a book very much for the Russophile rather than the general reader. Mandy Jenkinson

THE TENTH MUSE

Catherine Chung, Ecco, 2019, $26.99, hb, 304pp, 9780062574060

1960s Michigan. When a ChineseAmerican woman begins to question her origins, mathematics provides the clue to her identity. As Katherine seeks to uncover the complex mystery of her mixed-race heritage, she embarks on a surprising journey of selfexploration that takes her from her father’s memories as a soldier in World War II to the China of the Japanese invasions and to Naziera Germany. Although wars rage and armies commit atrocities, the idea informing The Tenth Muse is that history is the result not only of abstract or actual politics, but of devastating personal betrayals, especially of daughters by their fathers, and of women by their friends and lovers. However, not all men are traitors, and Katherine discovers that at least in her proximity, they may sometimes balance out the awful crimes committed by their peers. The Tenth Muse shows that truth may be found in the last place one looks, and that no conflict is ever resolved. A profound feminist contemplation upon the ways in which societies everywhere privilege male over female lives, and male creativity preys on female ingenuity, the novel shows what is at stake in a male-centered world. The Tenth Muse is a thoroughly original take on history from a woman’s perspective and could not be timelier. Although its mathematical acrobatics are occasionally a little difficult to follow, the cleverness of this oriental puzzlebox of a story thrills to the end. Elisabeth Lenckos

THE CHELSEA GIRLS

Fiona Davis, Dutton, 2019, $27.00, hb, 368pp, 9781524744588

Hazel lands in Naples, Italy in 1945 as the

newest member of the USO tour. She hopes to follow her family onto the stage, like her beloved brother, Ben, killed in action, did before her. She meets the red-haired and fiery Maxine Mead, another member of the troupe, but they get off on the wrong foot entirely. It isn’t until the actions of a couple of young boys that the women are brought closer together. Five years later, the war has ended, and Hazel finds herself outside the illustrious Chelsea Hotel in New York City. When Maxine suddenly reappears in Hazel’s life, their friendship strengthens as Hazel works towards getting the play she has been working on in secret onto the stage. The arts community is rocked in 1950 when the FBI investigates anyone who may have ties, however tenuous, to Communism. Political strains weave throughout this story, as well as the deep bonds of sisterhood between two women who strive to succeed despite all the obstacles that come their way. While the story begins slowly in Naples, it picks up considerably once Hazel arrives at the Chelsea Hotel. Davis’s writing is rich in detail, enhanced by her quality research into the art scene and milieu of the building in the early 1950s, as well as the witch-trial events of McCarthyism. She does not shy away from some of the terrible repercussions that came with the forceful interrogations by the House Un-American Activities Committee. It’s also the touching story of the complicated female friendship as the women try to navigate love, trust, and their own haunting memories. Elicia Parkinson

WHEN VALLEYS BLOOM AGAIN

Pat Jeanne Davis, Elk Lake Publishing, 2019, $12.99, pb, 224pp, 9781948888929

Abby Stapleton’s parents decide to send her to stay with American relatives as war looms in 1939. War is actually declared when she is midway across the Atlantic on the Queen Mary. Uncle Will makes her welcome, but her Aunt Val’s testy attitude makes Abby uncomfortable. She doesn’t know about the secret in Val’s past which is causing her brittleness. Abby enjoys some aspects of American life, but longs to be with her family back in Britain. Still, she becomes friendly with her uncle’s gardener, Jim. Aunt Val warns Abby away from Jim, whom she considers “unsuitable,” and threatens to have Jim fired if Abby persists in seeing him. When war comes in 1941, the romance has progressed to where Jim proposes and asks Abby to wait for him until he returns. In his absence, Abby has to fend off the advances of the family lawyer, Henri, who has her in mind as a mother for his small daughter. Henri admires Hitler and has ties to proGerman organizations. He tries to suppress Jim’s letters to Abby, to further his own cause with her. Then Abby learns that Jim’s mother has received a telegram that he is missing, presumed dead. This novel has enough religious content to

classify it as an inspirational romance. Jim’s censored letters to Abby add a touch of period authenticity. While I liked the characters of Jim and Abby, the middle of the book drags, as the war goes on and the reader waits for something to happen. Important events take place off-stage towards the end of the novel, a device which can work, but it’s not successful here. It comes across as a hurried ending, as though the author wanted to finish quickly or had to worry about word counts. For inspirational romance fans. B. J. Sedlock

ONE ENCHANTED EVENING

Anton du Beke, Zaffre, 2019, £7.99, pb, 428pp, 9781785764820

Anton du Beke is a professional ballroom dancer, well known for his appearances on BBC’s “Strictly Come Dancing”, so he is well placed to pen this story set around the Grand Ballroom of the luxurious Buckingham Hotel in London’s Mayfair in 1936. The management intends the hotel to be an oasis of old-fashioned glamour and charm in a world where political tensions are rising: civil war has broken out in Spain, in Germany the Nazis consolidate their grip on power, and fascist Blackshirt thugs roam the streets of London (and hob-nob with the aristocracy). Raymond de Guise and Hélène Marchmont head the team of demonstration dancers and are one of the Buckingham’s star turns – but behind the lobby doors many people have dangerous secrets, not least Raymond and Hélène. Into this world steps new chambermaid, Nancy Nettleton from Lancashire, who will not let her polio-limp encumber her. This story is great fun, very atmospheric and full of both glitz and sleaze as the action moves from high society in the West End, via seedy Soho nightclubs to the streets of Whitechapel. The glamorous world of the hotel is perfectly recreated – as is the sheer hard graft of those behind the scenes who make it all happen. In Raymond de Guise, we have a dashing, flawed, hero and in Nancy, a spirited heroine who is prepared to challenge expectation. My only quibbles would be that a couple of plot developments seem a little far-fetched, and that there is rather a lot of “head-hopping” in some scenes as we are moved quickly from one character’s viewpoint to another. The conclusion suggests that there will be further visits to the Buckingham Hotel, and I, for one, would be pleased to check in again (even though some of the clientele were less than desirable!). Mary Fisk

A BITTER HARVEST

Charles Ellingworth, Quartet, 2019, £12.00, pb, 248pp, 9780704374591

I was looking forward to this book: 1919, the Great War is over, but a generation of men

have been killed or wounded, and women are realising only a fraction of them will marry and have children. Rose and Isobel Richmond, daughters of a Dorset rector, and Ariadne Granville, their aristocratic cousin, embody this dilemma. Irish huntsman Julian Belmore is eyed with interest by two of the three but, unknown to them, is escaping his past and being blackmailed. Into this mix are dropped set pieces: tea with Thomas and Mrs Hardy, the Paris Peace Conference, and the scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow. Much of the action takes place in Dorset, the county where I live. “Hares with their stop-start flight,” “wheat stubble,” “a sparkling carpet of spiders’ webs” resonate. However, with fewer than 250 pages, there is too much going on, too many people. Characters and storylines are left suspended. There is a lot of explaining: the scuttling reads like a newspaper account. Characters make speeches to each other – especially at interminable meals – which does little to develop them so one loses track of who is speaking. None of them do I find particularly likeable. The brutal murder towards the end is dealt with lightly. The three women do not stand out, so it is often difficult to distinguish between them. Similar-sounding names, Richford, Richmond, Goodrich, further the lack of clarity. Modern expressions such as “don’t do” and “moved on” do not evoke the book’s era. Another edit might have eliminated these plus word repetitions, typos, errors of spelling and grammar, both French and English; “rectory” and “vicarage” are not interchangeable. I longed for the emotional heart of the book but never found it. Janet Hancock

THE BOY WHO LIVED WITH THE DEAD

Kate Ellis, Piatkus, 2019, £8.99, pb, 388pp, 9780349418353

September 1920, and Detective Inspector Albert Lincoln of Scotland Yard is summoned to Great Mabley, a large Cheshire commuter village, to investigate the murder of Patience Bailey, a paid ladies’ companion to Mrs Ghent, a wealthy Manchester cotton mill owner’s wife. Lincoln has decidedly mixed feelings about this task, as it was in Great Mabley, just before the start of the Great War, where he had failed to solve the case of another murder – on this occasion the twin of the boy who had discovered Patience Bailey’s body in the graveyard. It seems to be more than a normal coincidence. As the case proceeds, he uncovers a tangled web of relationships and human iniquity and vulnerability, Kate Ellis allowing the alert reader to be just a little ahead of the detective, but then pulls the rug from under your feet by an unforeseen twist or two. The pace of the narrative plays to an admirable tension, with the plot progressing in a pleasingly complex manner. It is a time that is saturated with the losses and a sense of bereavement from the War – the Ghents lost their son, whilst Albert Lincoln and his wife’s young son died in the influenza

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pandemic; relationships are fractured and lives ruined. While the author is better known for her Wesley Peterson series of murder/archaeology mysteries set in leafy Devon, her website refers to the Albert Lincoln trilogy, and as this is the second outing for the detective (first reviewed in HNR 79), there should be one more role for the damaged, occasionally imprudent but rather likeable man from Scotland Yard.

page novel that reads with echoes of Pasternak and Tolstoy, I wanted more. That’s going to be possible, because Chimes of a Lost Cathedral is the second half of Marina Makarova’s story, which began with an 816page novel, The

Douglas Kemp

THE NIGHT WITCHES

Garth Ennis, writer; Russ Braun, penciler; Tony Avina, colorist; Simon Bowland, letterer, Dead Reckoning, 2019, $24.95, pb, 248pp, 9781682473900

During World War II, the Nazi war machine destroyed its way through the Soviet Union. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so Russia creates a new bomber unit: a unit of women, who will fly outdated and dangerous biplanes on an even more dangerous mission: night bombing of the German invaders. One of the young women is Anna Kharkova, who becomes a superb pilot and is created a hero of the Soviet Union for her efforts against the enemy. Anna survives capture and torture by the Germans, only to be astonished at what happens to her when the war ends. But Anna never gives up. To say more would involve huge spoilers. While Anna is fictional, the Night Witches are not. During the war, women did fly obsolete biplanes by night to bomb the enemy. It was a hideously dangerous job, and casualties were high – and after the war… well… It’s Soviet Russia under Stalin, which tells you there may not be a traditional happy ending. But the ending is satisfactory, and Anna never once lets herself down. Night Witches is superbly done, but please note that it is also very realistic. War is no joke, as this work makes very, very clear. Warnings for torture and rape – which are handled both realistically and as tactfully as possible. One measure of the work’s quality is seen by the fact that Dead Reckoning is an imprint of the prestigious Naval Institute Press. In addition to a great plot, the artwork beautifully supports the text, and gives immediacy to the story. A brilliant work, highly recommended. India Edghill

CHIMES OF A LOST CATHEDRAL

Janet Fitch, Little, Brown, 2019, $30.00/ C$42.00, hb, 752pp, 9780316510059

At midnight, at the end of this epic 750-

Revolution of Marina M. Author Janet Fitch is so skillful a writer that most readers can safely read this book without reading The Revolution first. It is complete in itself. Just in case, there’s a list of characters with brief biographies at the book’s start, along with maps showing the cities and the furthest advances of counter-revolutionary forces across Russia; and a map of St. Petersburg. This gripping, fast-moving story has the cadences of poetry. I immediately cared about the pregnant young Marina as she made her way back to St. Petersburg from the mid-reaches of Russia in 1919, with war and privation everywhere she turned. One section of this book was so wrenching that I had to close it, but Marina’s appeal pulled me back, her courage, poetry and her love of the grand world whirling around her. She is so intelligent and yet impetuous, in a world that has tumbled into chaos. Her understandable if sometimes incautious decisions bring her tragedy, but she is a survivor, and her fortitude is cheering. Several of the era’s historic figures—Maxim Gorky, H.G. Wells, Emma Goldberg—are among the novel’s characters, because Marina is a talented poet. She sometimes quotes her own poetry and that of her heroes, lesserknown Russian poets of the era, in ways that all but the most confirmed hater of poetry will fall in love with. The poetry here isn’t pretentious or precious, it rather thrums with sorrow and joy, and walks together with the narrative. Recommended. Kristen Hannum

MEET ME IN MONACO

Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, William Morrow, 2019, $16.99, pb, 384pp, 9780062885364

At the Cannes Film Festival in 1955, Grace Kelly spends most of her time escaping the relentless paparazzi but isn’t good at it. When she runs into a perfume shop, it proves to be a momentous moment for three people: Grace herself, a British photographer named James, and Sophie, the shop owner. Romance blooms from this moment on, for all three of our narrators in this heartwarming story. Sophie is about to lose her business due to growing debt and her mother’s bad drinking and gambling habits. She dreams of creating a world-changing scent to put her on par with famous parfumiers throughout the world. Her

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enchantment with nature’s gifts, which enable her to create beautiful scents, is infectious in her descriptions of the earth that yields plants that later become perfume. Readers will be rooting for her to achieve her dream. James is enchanted by Sophie’s beauty but has few opportunities to follow through on his growing desire. He has a failed marriage, failing employment as a photographer, and what he considers failing at being a good father to his young daughter Emily, who worships him. The conflicts proceed with a few pushes of help from Grace, who falls in love with a Prince and knows love elsewhere when she sees it. There are plenty of dangerous scenes and conflict to stymie the growing romances, but true love wins out. Meet Me in Monaco is a grand read of a terrific historical romance! Viviane Crystal

CITY OF GIRLS

Elizabeth Gilbert, Riverhead, 2019, $28.00, hb, 480pp, 9781594634734 / Bloomsbury, 2019, £16.99, hb, 480pp, 9781408867044

The heroine of Gilbert’s bold, zesty historical novel couldn’t be more different from The Signature of All Things’ intellectual Alma Whittaker, but the books share worthy themes, like the importance of embracing life and women’s self-acceptance. Attractive and rich, Vivian Morris gets kicked out of Vassar in 1940 for never attending class. Her despairing, distant parents send her to live in Manhattan with her aunt Peg, co-proprietress of the Lily Playhouse, a shabby venue that stages middling productions for the area’s workingclass denizens. Finding a home among the performers and crew, Vivian dives headlong into the theater world. A gorgeous showgirl named Celia draws Vivian into her habits of late-night carousing, smoking, drinking, and sleeping with attractive men—lots of them. Before that, though, Vivian must shed her unwanted virginity, and that scene is hilarious in its cringeworthy awkwardness. When one of Peg’s old chums, British actress Edna Parker Watson, arrives in town with her handsome-but-dumb thespian husband, Peg feels she must stage a production deserving of Edna’s talents. This leads (with many people’s help, including Vivian’s as costume designer) to the creation of a musical called City of Girls, a show described in such entertaining detail that readers will want to buy tickets. Vivian continues to fling herself into her hedonistic lifestyle regardless of consequences—until there are, in fact, awful consequences that shape her later life. Aged 95, Vivian writes her life story for a woman named Angela, whose father she once knew, and whose identity is satisfyingly revealed toward the end. While these constant reminders (“…from that moment, on, Angela”) can be intrusive, the older Vivian’s voice contributes perspective and hard-won wisdom. Steeped in Manhattan theatre glamour during WWII and after, City of Girls zips along throughout, wearing its research lightly as it showcases its cast of unabashedly

liberated women during Vivian’s coming of age. Sarah Johnson

STARS IN HIS EYES

Martí Gironell (trans. Adrian Nathan West), AmazonCrossing, 2019, $24.95, hb, 225pp, 9781542040624

In 1949, twenty-one-year-old Ceferino Carrión flees Barcelona to escape Franco’s violent regime and evade mandatory military service. He stows away on a ship bound for New York, where he finds a home with his uncle and a new identity as Justo Ramon, a Puerto Rican neighbor’s son with American citizenship. But restless Cefe doesn’t stay in New York long; he travels west to Hollywood, where he tries his hand working for an agent, driving a taxi, and finally waiting tables and befriending celebrities at Frank Sinatra’s restaurant. Reinventing himself yet again, as Frenchman Jean Leon, Cefe opens the swanky restaurant La Scala in Beverly Hills. Twelve years after leaving Catalonia, Cefe returns to plant a vineyard and establish the winery that still bears his name. This fictionalized biography of Jean Leon, restaurateur-to-the-stars, is a translation of a novel by a bestselling Catalan author. The book promised an inspiring story of a gogetting immigrant and a glimpse of midcentury Hollywood, but, for this reader, doesn’t follow through on that promise. Instead it offers a story of a man who achieves success through deceit—first, by claiming American citizenship through false papers, later, by lying for Sinatra in order to earn his trust. The book leaps from event to event in Leon’s life, with few stumbling blocks along the way, offering him little opportunity for character growth. Even the precipitating event—fleeing Franco’s Spain—offers no sense of urgency or danger, and the reader is left wondering what keeps Leon away from his family in Barcelona for so long. Gironell has the aggravating tendency to tell rather than show, and to skip ahead to mundane moments, shunting key events to flashbacks. A largely plotless, tensionless novel that fails to bring midcentury America to life. Jessica Brockmole

ASSASSIN OF SHADOWS

Lawrence Goldstone, Pegasus Crime, 2019, $25.95, hb, 288pp, 9781643131306

It’s September 1901 in Buffalo, New York, and US President William McKinley is shot by assassin and anarchist Leon Czolgosz. The initial prognosis is positive, but days later the president dies of his wounds. Two toughas-nails US Secret Service agents spring into duty with their mission to determine how large the conspiracy was or whether the killer acted alone. Because of the suspicious ease with which the assassin was able to get so close to McKinley with all the security surrounding him, they’re not sure who to trust. The investigation takes them to Buffalo, Cleveland, New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C. They must interview politicians, anarchists, police officers

and others. Through a series of unlikely coincidences and extraordinary good luck, they hone in on the real culprits. The book reads quickly with a good narrative cadence and occasional bits of dark humor. However, in addition to novels, the author is also a writer of political commentary, and this perspective permeates the story. Police in the big cities all seem to be fat, thuggish and stupid. Anarchists are idealistic, principled and misunderstood. The one priest mentioned is abusive, and nuns are not to be trusted. Capitalists, especially financiers, are the root of all America’s ailments. Because of this tendentious and ultimately boring overriding theme, I was able to determine the approximately correct conclusion of the book after the first several chapters. Not a good harbinger for a “mystery” novel. Still, there may be readers who find it appealing. In his endnote, the writer cautions he doesn’t endorse his version of events as true. Nevertheless, for me, this book was less of a historical novel and more of a dismal historical fantasy. Thomas J. Howley

HALL OF MIRRORS

Craig Gralley, Chrysalis Books, 2019, $24.95, hb, 238pp, 9781733541503

One of WWII’s most successful spies was a Baltimore native in her 30s. Her age and gender made the profession unlikely, not to mention having a wooden leg, the result of a hunting accident. Nicknamed “The Lady Who Limps” by the Nazis, Virginia Hall proved a master of disguise and was able to elude the Gestapo despite being on wanted posters all over France. She gathered intelligence and helped French resistance groups organize sabotage missions. When Germany invaded France, Hall knew she had to make a quick escape if she were going to survive. Remarkably, she crossed the snow-covered Pyrenees into Spain on foot. Rather than feel sorry for herself and dwell on the physical discomfort of the arduous journey, she made light of the situation, treating her wooden leg (affectionately nicknamed Cuthbert), like an annoying travel companion rather than a hindrance. Most would retire at this point, but Hall fought with her superiors to be allowed to return to France, putting herself in grave danger. Gralley’s fictionalized account of Hall’s time during the war is fast-paced and tends to focus on the action, revealing less about her personal feelings. This is probably true to Hall’s character; in his foreword, the author explains that she spoke little about her life as a spy, never wrote a memoir, and didn’t give interviews later in life. For those left wanting to learn more, several Hall biographies are coming out this year, which readers will undoubtedly want to check out after being introduced to the fascinating woman in this novel. A very satisfying read. Janice Derr

THE SEVEN OR EIGHT DEATHS OF STELLA FORTUNA

Juliet Grames, Ecco, 2019, $27.99, hb, 445pp, 9780062862822

As the book title gives away, this one-ofa-kind, sweeping novel is the story of how an Italian immigrant, Mariastella Fortuna the Second, also known as Stella Fortuna, came close to death seven (or eight) times up until the time of her actual death. Stella is born in a small village in Italy in the early part of the 20th century, as the second Stella in the family. The first, perfect child died as a toddler; being named after a deceased child haunts Stella her whole life… literally, as she believes that her late sister’s ghost is jealous of her and wants her dead. When her tempestuous father goes to America to seek his fortune and seems to have forgotten all about his family, Stella, her mother, and three younger siblings struggle with poverty, though they are much happier without him. When the father suddenly demands that the family return with him to Hartford, Connecticut, Stella has to adjust to living in a new country as well as living with a volatile father. When love appears in her life, Stella does everything in her power to avoid marriage. A long-held rivalry with her younger sister comes to a head when the women are entering their golden years, the consequences of which affect the entire family. It is not until about midpoint in the book that the reader learns the identity of the narrator, who is trying to make sense of the complex, puzzling personality that is Stella. The book delves into family dynamics, the difficulties faced by immigrants, and forgiveness. Spanning close to a century and two continents, this book represents a charming, unique and wholly original new voice in fiction. Hilary Daninhirsch

SWAN SONG

Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott, HarperCollins, 2019, C$24.99, pb, 472pp, 9871443458320 / Hutchinson, 2018, £12.99, hb, 480pp, 9781786331052

As it explores the motives behind author Truman Capote’s decision to write a roman à clef betraying the secrets of his longtime confidantes, Swan Song raises intriguing questions: What are the boundaries between fact and fiction? What are artists’ obligations to their art and, in particular, to truth-telling— the essence of art? What does the artist owe to those who inspire her or him? What sacrifices are acceptable or even necessary for the artist to make? This novel about Truman Capote and his “Swans” as well as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; Kay Graham, publisher of the Washington Post; and actor Lauren Bacall is a star-scattered, decadent read about 1960s New York high society―alcohol-soaked

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lunches at the Ritz, drug-laced nights at Studio 54, adulterous affairs so intermingled as to be almost incestuous. But this guilty pleasure soon becomes confusing, even disorienting, as the author tries to do too much, telling the stories of a half-dozen women, and, as a result, fails to fully develop the themes that her book raises. Capote, famous for Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood, began work on his tell-all Answered Prayers in 1958, secretly taking notes on his Swans’ lives as each confided in him. When, in 1975, Esquire published four chapters from this unfinished work, the women shunned him. Ostracized, he fell deeply into drug and alcohol abuse, dying at 59. It’s a sad and sordid ending for a literary genius. But readers will feel little sympathy for this Capote, a sociopath and addict who writes out of desperation for another hit book and publicly attacks his critics. Meanwhile, Answered Prayers has received critical praise as an important chronicle of the lives of wealthy socialites of the time. Sherry Jones

THE FIFTH COLUMN

Andrew Gross, Minotaur, 2019, $28.99/$38.50, hb, 298pp, 9781250180001

In New York City in the summer of 1941, Charles Mossman has a long way to go to regain people’s trust. He’s just been released from prison after two years for manslaughter after his drunken rage at Nazi sympathizers cost an innocent teenager his life. His estranged wife allows him two afternoons a week with his daughter, and a series of odd behaviors have him convinced that her elderly Swiss neighbors are actually Nazi spies. But who is going to believe an ex-drunk ex-con? Gross adeptly captures the period before America entered World War II, when the country hoped to preserve its neutrality so that while Nazi sympathizers were scorned, it wasn’t illegal to be one. Charles can’t persuade the police to investigate, and his assertions only anger his wife and induce her to start divorce proceedings. The book moves along at a rapid pace, so character is often sacrificed to action. Villains may as well have big red arrows pointing at them, and the astute reader can figure out that Charles is being played before he does. It’s still an effective read, however. The fanaticism and single-minded belief in a country’s superiority of the World War II era is all too sadly recognizable in the 21st century. Ellen Keith

SUGAR MOON

Jennifer Hallock, Little Brick Books, 2019, $14.95, pb, 318pp, 9781092264136

On a moonlit night in 1905, in a cabin on a Philippine island, young Benjamin Potter lies screaming on his bed. Ben arrived years earlier with the US Infantry to fight in the PhilippineAmerican War, but subsequently succumbed to opium addiction. His sister, Georgina, followed him to the Philippines, where she met and 42

married a sugar baron, Javier Altarejos. While working on a strenuous road-building project, Ben recovers from his dependency. Javier, taking pity, hires Ben to cut sugarcane and live on his hacienda. However, the nightmares haven’t left Ben. Most of the residents on the plantation ignore Ben’s nightly howling, but Javier’s cousin, Allegra, an attractive 22-yearold woman, steals away at night from the main casa to Ben’s hut to calm him and prepare soothing hot chocolate, which he relishes. Soon, their nocturnal rendezvous lead to love and talk of marriage. Yet it’s not only Allegra’s family’s objections that they have to surmount; Ben’s wartime past also threatens to break them apart. This second novel in Jennifer Hallock’s The Sugar Sun Trilogy is an interesting recounting of what is usually referred to as the Philippine Insurrection, and sometimes called America’s “First Vietnam.” It’s an important series since it seems this war, and the reasons for it, have been overshadowed by other major conflicts that followed. The author’s firsthand experiences, having lived and worked in the Philippines, show in the narrative. The novel’s cast of characters includes most of the archipelago’s ethnic residents: Filipinos, Spanish, Americans, Mestizos, and even the Moros (Muslims). The strong romantic involvement between the lead characters keeps us engrossed in the story while the evocative descriptions of cuisine, flora, fauna, and life on sugar plantations and in villages and towns, play in our mind. The historical aspects are well blended into the plot. Highly recommended. Waheed Rabbani

THE PARISIAN

Isabella Hammad, Grove, 2019, $27.00, hb, 576pp, 9780802129437 / Jonathan Cape, 2019, £14.99, hb, 576pp, 9781911214427

Midhat Kamal, the main character in this story of Europe and Palestine in the early 1900s, leaves Nablus to study medicine in France, living in the home of a French medical instructor and his daughter, Jeannette, with whom Midhat falls in love. In carefully delineated prose that includes beautiful descriptions of architecture, furniture, and clothing, Midhat learns French and participates in many philosophical discussions, during which it appears that he is accepted as a part of intellectual and social French life. Initially, he and Jeannette bond with discussions about her late mother’s illness, hystero-neurasthenia. However, eventually he is stunned – first by two separate betrayals by Jeannette and her father. Shattered, he quickly leaves Montpelier to study and teach history in Paris, where again he fails to realize he will always be a “foreigner” from Palestine, an area deeply enmeshed in political turmoil. When Midhat returns to Nablus, he suffers a type of counter-culture shock, finding he is both intellectually mature and progressive but also still deeply rooted in superstition and Palestinian tradition. He must then deal with

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

the upheaval caused by the movement for Palestinian independence. Hammad creates a cast of characters who are propelled to action or choose a path of silence during the drive for independence for Palestine. She is adept at depicting individual, cultural and historical chaos unfolding in a challenging historical period in the Middle East. Outstanding and literate historical fiction! Viviane Crystal

BEYOND THE SAMOVAR

Janet Hancock, The Conrad Press, 2019, £9.99/$14.66, pb, 414pp, 9781911546511

In 1919, Peter and Olivia (Livy) are a loving young British couple with a baby who met while working in Russia. They now live in Baku, Azerbaijan, a country which has only just achieved what would be a brief period of independence, but is still troubled because of the volatile political situation in which Turks, Albanians, Russians (both White and Red) are constantly fighting. Baku is a dangerous place to live and work, so Peter and Livy make the sad decision to leave good friends and return to England. Livy suffers from extreme seasickness, so Peter decides on the more dangerous and cold northern route, to board a ship in British-controlled Murmansk rather than the longer sea-route via the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Not only is it dangerous in revolutionary Russia but, in the end, tragic. Arriving in England with her son, Livy has to face her unknown in-laws who are not only ignorant of the fighting in Western Europe from 1914 to 1918, but also don’t have a clue about the current political situation in Russia and what it means to the people caught up in it. Keeping her worries to herself, Livy also struggles to make sense of the England she has left behind. Slowly, Livy finds resolution where she least expected it. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, which fell into two equally fascinating sections. The first is the couple’s journey north from Baku on crowded trains, hiding their nationality in case of reprisals, fearing for their infant, bribing officials, cold, hungry and thirsty, finding kindness from some strangers and hostility from others. I have never yet read a novel which so brilliantly portrayed England in the years following the Armistice. Its conclusion offered hope and happiness. Highly recommended. Sally Zigmond

THE BLAMELESS DEAD

Gary Haynes, Endeavour Quill, 2019, £8.99, pb, 484pp, 9781911445647

Described by the publisher as an “epic edge of the seat drama”, The Blameless Dead confirms that claim. The open hostilities of the Second World War may have ceased in 1945, but the corrosive damage of the preceding years spanned decades and was to reach as far as our own time. Gary Haynes tells a brutal story of unrelenting revenge. His highly complex

plot requires concentration from the reader, who must absorb not only frequent shifts in time as well as location, but the involvement of a plethora of characters who repeatedly enter and exit the storyline. Some, more than others, will remain with us: Gabriel Hall, the professorial lawyer, Carla Romero, an FBI agent, and the SS Colonel Lutz Richter are all particularly neatly established and convincingly sustained. The Blameless Dead is an extremely brutal depiction of violent retribution, carried out, almost exclusively, by individuals whose capacity for compassion has been destroyed by the atrocities they have witnessed or that have been inflicted upon them during, or as a result of the war and then, as a consequence, perpetrated by them. The brutality in this novel is integral to its intentions. Pulled punches would not have been sufficient to justify the level of the necessity for vengeance which permeates it. The skill Gary Haynes exhibits lies not only in his obvious talent as a storyteller but also in the quality of his writing. In his depiction of his characters and the weird and frequently sinister situations and locations in which they operate, he writes both economically and imaginatively, even delicately, without for one moment slowing down the powerful movement of his plot. Despite the violence and the gore there is sensitivity and humanity here. This is a good read on many levels. Julia Stoneham

BOOKSHOP OF THE BROKEN HEARTED

Robert Hillman, Putnam, 2019, $26.00, hb, 304pp, 9780525535928 / Penguin Canada, 2019, C$24.95, pb, 304pp, 9780735236769

Tom Hope has few connections in his life; he’s known in his rural Australian town for his skills in fixing machines and for the fact that his wife, Trudy, walked out on him in 1962 after less than two years of marriage. His first real relationship is with Trudy’s son Peter, who he loves as his own, though Trudy eventually takes him away, too. Tom’s a shell of a man when he takes a job building shelves for a bookstore in town and meets Hannah Babel, a Hungarian immigrant. They connect through a shared sense of loss and grief; while neither speaks openly about their previous lives, they make tentative steps to move forward. The past, however, cannot be ignored, and while Tom and Hannah begin to meld their lives together, memory and people intercede. As Hannah’s bookshop begins to transform the town and the people in it, we slowly learn about her experiences in Europe during World War II, and how they underlie every action she makes—or refuses to make—now. Interspersed throughout we also see Trudy’s story, and how her decisions have shaped the lives of Tom and Peter. For much of the novel, it is difficult to see how any of these characters can forge

lasting connections, given their pain and their choices. In spare prose, Hillman outlines the anatomy of both love and loss: many-layered and intertwined, like the stories of Tom Hope and Hannah Babel. This novel swells with grief in many places, echoing the torrential storms that flood farms and destroy homes. It also provides hope for growth and belonging, if the characters are willing to risk letting love come flooding through, as well.

the ability to keep Lea safe, Hanni enlists the help of Ettie, daughter of a local rabbi. Ettie performs the ritual necessary to create a golem, Ava, who lives and breathes with a single purpose: to protect, defend, and guide Lea to

Helene Williams

THE LONG FLIGHT HOME

Alan Hlad, John Scognamiglio Books, 2019, $26.00/C$29.95, hb, 255pp, 9781496721679 / A. L. Hlad, Hodder & Stoughton, 2019, £20.99, hb, 384pp, 9781529311440

In September 1940, England’s war with Germany is a year old. France has surrendered, British soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk in June, and in July the Nazi navy began to blockade British shipping. However, Epping, near the mouth of the Thames River, has been spared. Peace ends on September 7, when Luftwaffe bombers roar over Susan Shepherd’s farm in one massive wave after another. London is only twenty miles away, and at night Susan watches the hellish glow from hundreds of fires set by incendiary bombs. The Battle of Britain has begun. When Ollie Evans of Buxton, Maine hears of the blitz, he sneaks onto a Canadian steamer to join Great Britain’s Royal Air Force. A fistfight leads to his arrest and rejection by the RAF, but pure luck leads him to parole on Susan Shepherd’s farm. Susan and her father Bertie breed and train homing pigeons and have been recruited by the British government. Their pigeons will be parachuted into France, in the hope that partisans with information on Nazi movements will find them. The birds, with instinct nurtured by breeders for hundreds of years, will return to the Shepherds’ farm with that vital intelligence strapped to their legs. The Long Flight Home is a charming historical novel by Alan Hlad. With clear, vivid prose he recalls the mostly-forgotten, but intriguing RAF experiment, and sensitively explores the growing relationship between Ollie and Susan. As one who has spent thousands of hours watching birds, I was equally touched by Hlad’s depiction of the bond between his characters and their pigeons. The Long Flight Home is Hlad’s debut novel, and he did a terrific job! Jo Ann Butler

THE WORLD THAT WE KNEW

Alice Hoffman, Simon & Schuster, 2019, $27.99, hb, 384pp, 9781501137570 / Scribner UK, 2019, £20.00, hb, 400pp, 9781471185823

Magical realism combines with fairy tale in this story of young adults facing death and torture at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust. Hanni Kohn is determined to save her daughter, Lea. Knowing she lacks

safety. The story follows Ettie, Lea, and Ava as they flee Germany. Ava and Lea are taken in by distant relatives of Hanni’s in Paris, where Lea forms an irrevocable bond with Julien, one of the family’s two boys. Ava and Lea pass through a convent school that hides Jewish children, meet a mystical heron who dances with Ava, seek shelter in a remote mountain village, and make their way towards the border. Meanwhile, Ettie hides in the forest, eventually joining the Resistance working against the Germans in France, meeting both Julien’s brother and a doctor who saves lives through more than his medical training. The darkness of the era is broken up by exquisite moments of tender love, light, and beauty. Characterization in this novel is beyond superb. Multiple characters attempt to navigate this searing period, all believing a new world could evolve after these horrific times. In her darkest hours, Lea hears Hanni’s voice, affirming a mother’s love and presence beyond a physical dimension, a spiritual emanation personified by the golem, providing support throughout Lea’s escape from indescribable evil. I’ve read many Holocaust stories, but The World That We Knew is by far the best work of historical fiction I have encountered on this topic. Words fail to describe its depth, beauty, darkness, and truth – a masterful creation! Viviane Crystal

RAID 42

Graham Hurley, Head of Zeus, 2019, £18.99, hb, 401pp, 9781788547505

If the Hess peace mission to Britain in May 1941 had never happened, nobody would have dared invent it. Who would dare suppose that the Deputy Führer of the Nazi Reich would fly solo to Britain at the height of the war to parachute onto a Scottish moor with a letter for a British aristocrat? Both Hitler and Churchill claimed he was mad, and although Hess lived until his nineties before his mysterious death in Spandau prison, he never fully explained his mission. The Hess mission has thus been fertile ground for historical novelists, and Hurley’s book is the latest contribution. It is a good spy thriller with MI5 officer Tom Moncrieff as the central character. There are lots of secret meetings with shady go-betweens in neutral

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capitals, ruthless inter-service rivalries (MI6 are more dangerous than the Abwehr) and the Russians are eager to scupper any AngloGerman peace deal. Tom Montcrieff has a complex love life, and we have some ‘other side of the hill’ passages about the pilot who taught Hess to fly his new long range fighter. In the end it is all an anti-climax, as it must be without altering history. Unless of course an author should dare to imagine that the mission did change history in ways we never knew. Edward James

THE SIEGE OF TROY

Theodor Kallifatides (trans. Marlaine Delargy), Other, 2019, $14.99/C$19.99, pb, 203pp, 9781590519714

During the Second World War, a boy whom we may assume is the author in memoir recounts events. Germans occupy the town, his father has been arrested and gone missing. The boy and his classmates must frequently take shelter in a nearby cave when there are Allied air strikes. Here their teacher regales them with a retelling of the Iliad to while away the time and to impress upon them the glories of their native language and history. Our narrator has a boyhood crush on the teacher; a girl of about his own age is presented as the one he should eventually end up with. The retelling may dwell a little longer on the plight of the women in the ancient epic. The senselessness of war is played up as things grind on in Asia Minor and on the Hellenic Peninsula, but it is a telling rather than a showing; others have approached the material in a more compelling way. The fact that we have an ancient and more modern parallel with Helen and “Miss,” a woman caught between her home and heart, is interesting. Though, more could have been made of this. The book is short and sweet and may be especially attractive to those who want an introduction to the more difficult of Homer’s works. Ann Chamberlin

PAPER LIONS Sohan S. Koonar, Publishers, 2019, 9781988449777

Mawenzi House/TSAR $23.95, pb, 408pp,

In 1937, in the village of Raikot, Punjab, India, seventeen-year-old Bikram finishes school in the first division but is unable to find employment. His father is too poor to afford the bribes required to secure a good job. However, through a recommendation from Ajit, the zaildar (tax collector), Bikram is recruited by the Royal Indian Army. Bikram, assisted by fellow NCOs, pilfers items from the stores and sells them to black marketeers, thereby accumulating considerable wealth. Bikram uses his ill-founded gains to good use. Ajit has some secrets, which he keeps from his wife. However, he is hard-working and kindhearted, and allows a band of nomadic Bajigars to settle on a portion of his land. His son, Satwant, also joins the army and, becoming a Captain, plays an important role 44

during India’s Partition—into Pakistan and India—and the conflicts between the Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims. Basanti, a young daughter of a Bajigar family, had moved with her parents, westwards, to a predominantly Muslim area of Punjab. Following Partition, they have to return to the Indian side and suffer painful losses from the Hindu-Muslim skirmishes. Sohan Koonar’s connection to his ancestral lands in Punjab shows in this novel’s intimately detailed narrative. The three main characters are created thoughtfully to portray the changes in India through different perspectives. We follow their lives, learning much along the way, from India just before WWII, the war years, the struggle for independence, the Partition, to modern India in the 1960s. This is a different novel than others normally encountered about India during these times. Rather than the usual setting in the large urban cities, such as Delhi or Bombay, here we are introduced to the people in the Punjab villages and their way of life, and peaceful existence, prior to the Partition. Recommended. Waheed Rabbani

THIS TENDER LAND

William Kent Krueger, Atria, 2019, $27.00, hb, 464pp, 9781476749297

Love is what makes a tender land -- people and nature, not perfect, but full of what binds us all together. This is the essence behind and throughout this tough, at times both beautiful and ugly, ever-evolving account of four orphans. They are two brothers, a mute Sioux teenager, and a little girl, Emmy, who suffers convulsive fits which give her the ability to see into the past and future. It all begins in 1932 at the Lincoln School. It is a terrible institution, rife with abuse and starvation, dedicated to forcing Native American children to assimilate into white culture. Brothers Albert and Odysseus “Odie” O’Banion, the only white children at Lincoln, protect each other, fleeing with Mose, the mute Sioux teen, after Odie accidentally commits a crime. This is the story of their journey down the Gilead River in Minnesota, to the mighty Mississippi, and eventually to St. Louis. The trip is fraught with danger; the brothers have been accused of kidnapping Emmy, and a huge reward is offered for their capture. During the journey, each character suffers great emotional pain. They meet a team of faith healers running a con job crusade, yet the group’s leader truly has the gift of healing, which she shares with Odie. What is most outstanding is the way this band forms a family, sticking together, learning to forgive the worst and love the rest, fostering a tenderness which permeates their bond and ensures their unity. Crafted in exquisitely beautiful prose, this is a story to be treasured – outstanding and unforgettable.

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

Viviane Crystal

CAGING SKIES

Christine Leunens, Overlook, 2019, $26.00/ C$33.00, hb, 304pp, 9781419739088 / John Murray, 2019, £14.99, hb, 304pp, 9781529396348

Like many Viennese boys of the late 1930s, Johannes Betzler joins the Hitler Youth, in which he takes great pride, and swallows the Nazi message whole, to his parents’ dismay. When the war comes, he figures out that they’re hiding a young Jewish woman, Elsa, behind a false wall. Outraged, he barely contains himself, until a bomb disfigures him during an enemy air raid, after which he becomes interested in Elsa and, gradually, consumed by her. From this premise comes a bold novel of great fierceness, insight, and emotional savagery. I admire Leunens’s refusal to softsoap anything, even as, while reading, I had to put the book down and pace around the room. But if you stick with Caging Skies, you’ll get an entire era distilled into two people, a Tolstoyan marvel. The truism about scratching a bully and finding an ineffectual, strutting egotist scared of his inadequacy emerges in black and white. But Leunens goes further, showing why and how, and the lies and self-deception required. It’s absolutely remarkable how she exposes Johannes as a pitiful, self-satisfying beast, casting the world in his own image and himself as victim. This is pure narcissism, but it’s more than that; the portrayal tacitly evokes current politics and personalities in frightening colors. I do question aspects of the relationship between Johannes and Elsa. Are we meant to think that the Jews’ murderers actually loved them, in a perverse way? Is Elsa meant to represent all Jews, or does she become Johannes’s creature, spawn of his twisted mind? I have trouble accepting the nature of the connection between these two. Nevertheless, as historical fiction, Caging Skies re-creates an era from the inside, and lovers of the literary will find plenty to admire. Larry Zuckerman

THE LAST COLLECTION

Jeanne Mackin, Berkley, 2019, $26.00, hb, 352pp, 9781101990544

In 1938 Paris, a city on the brink of war, Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli wage their own battle in the atelier and on the runway. Both women are designers, famous for their clothes and their rivalry, and they vie for the coveted top spot in the fashion industry. Into this competition walks Lily Sutter, a young widowed American artist. After her husband’s death in England, Lily retreats to Paris to be with her brother, Charlie. During this visit, Charlie offers to buy her a Chanel dress, but Lily fatefully asks for Schiaparelli instead. Lily begins to work for Schiaparelli, painting murals and backdrops for the designer. But in doing so, Lily also becomes embroiled in the fierce rivalry between Schiaparelli and Chanel. In the midst of this, Lily befriends her brother’s tragic girlfriend, Ania, a relationship that will

affect the rest of her life, and all of this unfolds with World War II and the Nazi Occupation of Paris looming in the background. In The Last Collection, Jeanne Mackin offers a glimpse into the rarefied world of fashion design in pre-World War II Paris and brings two of its most influential designers to life. Mackin delves into this complicated dynamic by inserting a fictional character into the mix, and Lily acts as an intermediary between the two designers. Lily’s story works well with the real characters: all three are independent women, forging their own way in the middle of the 20th century. The novel is populated throughout with sleek, modern Chanel dresses and the more whimsical Schiaparelli gowns, and the reader will be caught up with the setting, fashions, and story. This book is perfect for fashion aficionados and pairs well with C.W. Gortner’ s Mademoiselle Chanel or Jennifer Robson’s The Gown. Julia C. Fischer

THE SECRETS BETWEEN US

Laura Madeleine, Black Swan, 2018, £7.99, pb, 386pp, 9781784162535

Set in southern France, just north of Nice, the story features the Italian occupation of the area in 1943. Ceci (Celeste) Corvin’s father is the local baker in the small village of SainteAlpines. Ceci helps out in the bakery, baking the bread for the local residents and the many refugees who are sent up to the village. Fifty years later, in 1993, Annie is working in Cheshire compiling computer archives. She knows that her mother and grandmother were French and came to England as refugees themselves after the war, where she was born and brought up. There was a family argument when Annie was a small girl and her grandmother disappeared from her life. She finds a reference to her grandmother in one of the files in her department and decides, on impulse to try and find her. The book, chapter by chapter, alternates between 1943 and 1993. I found this to be a totally fascinating story. The characterisation is excellent and the telling of the events of 1943 very real. I did not know about the Italian occupation of this part of southern France which borders on Italy and became completely absorbed in both the happenings of World War Two in that part of France and the fate of both the villagers of Sainte-Alpine and the refugees, mostly Jews, escaping from the German authorities, and

the entwined tale of Annie’s search for her grandmother. Highly recommended. Marilyn Sherlock

THE BOY

Marcus Malte (trans. Emma Ramadan & Tom Roberge), Restless, 2019, $26.99/ C$27.50/£20.00, pb, 480pp, 9781632061713

It’s 1908. Upon the death of his mother, the boy begins his long trek from somewhere in the mountains of Eastern Europe to his new home in France. While he travels, the boy, who is unable to speak and was raised without human contact (other than his mother), meets people who at first are superstitious, and some fear him. He runs away from those he initially meets and joins a huge man who drives a carnival wagon and introduces the boy to “showmanship” and daily bathing. His mentor dies, and he is forced to move on; he meets a Belgian family who adopts him. Emma, the daughter, names him Felix and, at first, treats him like a brother. He is soon introduced to the lovemaking skills of the young woman and she pledges her love to him. 1911 through 1914 become the most beautiful, most marvelous years of his life. War begins in Europe and “Felix” must join the French Army, where he is faced with death and destruction for the next four years. Although silent he still manages to become an excellent soldier. The novel is Malte’s perception of a coming-of-age story in which a young boy is unable to describe his needs. The boy communicates with those he meets by being helpful while blending into his surroundings. He discovers life and death, love and hate, while the author “moves” his character from one scene to another without a word spoken by the protagonist. As the boy learns about what it means to be civilized, the characters and the story of Western Europe during his lifetime provide an exciting backdrop. Jeff Westerhoff

AMERICAN RED

David Marlett, Story Plant, 2019, $18.95, pb, 528pp, 9781611881783

Pinkerton agent James McParland, labeled America’s best detective for infiltrating the notorious Molly Maguires. Legal legend Clarence Darrow, famed for his defense of teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb and teacher of the theory of evolution John Scopes in the “Monkey Trial.” Big Bill Haywood, leader of the Western Federation of Miners and a founder of the Industrial Workers of the World. Law enforcement, civil liberties and social justice clash in the story of Haywood’s arrest and trial for ordering the assassination of Idaho Gov. Frank Steunenberg in 1905. American Red is an unflinching depiction of mine owners’ pursuit of profit at the expense of miners’ safety, unions’ routine use of violence to make workers’ voices heard, a police force’s willingness to resort to kidnapping and subterfuge and a court system’s tug of war

over constitutional protections, compassion and fairness. The novel provides a window into a contentious and complicated period of American history. But it also is a rough-andtumble nail-biter as one killer plants and detonates a bomb, another laces a bottle of milk with strychnine to poison an entire family, and operatives track and entrap the perpetrators. Characters are multi-layered, exhibiting complex attitudes, feelings, and loyalties. Language captures the eloquence of a Darrow closing argument as well as the lingo of the American West. Most striking is the action. Readers move from courtroom to barroom to bedroom and get caught up in chases along rail lines and across state lines. This is a nothing short of a ripsnorter. K. M. Sandrick

FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

Beryl Matthews, Allison & Busby, 2019, £19.99, hb, 384pp, 9780749024116

This novel tells the story of Kathy Hammond, beginning in 1941 when she and her mother flee to an air raid shelter and only Kathy survives the blast that changes her life forever. Consumed by hatred for the enemy, she joins the Wrens. What she doesn’t realise, when she begins working under Commander Evans, is that there is more to it than just enemy versus enemy. Matthews combines the tragedy of the Second World War and the comradeship of war with seeming effortless skill, reminding us that everyone who participated in the war had their own past to deal with. It was very interesting to learn about the Wrens and how the Royal Navy operated on land – both in the UK and overseas. Themes of revenge, forgiveness, friendship and love are approached well in this novel. The characters progress throughout the story, which is helpfully marked by the years when appropriate. It was also helpful to have major events of the War included, which puts the story into perspective. Overall, Matthews’ novel was at the same time thought-provoking and a well-paced read, focusing on what it really meant to be in World War Two and recognising that the ‘enemy’ are real people who also have wishes and dreams. Clare Lehovsky

BLACK SUN

Owen Matthews, Doubleday, 2019, $26.95, hb, 305pp, 9780385543408 / Bantam, 2019, £16.99, hb, 320pp, 9781787631823

Days before Soviet scientists and military plan to test the 27-ton RDS-220 nuclear device on the abandoned village of Severny in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago of the Arctic Ocean in 1961, the top assistant to the bomb’s creator is found dead, an apparent suicide following ingestion of large quantities of radioactive thallium. KGB Major Alexander Vasin is sent to Arzamas-16, a city that cannot

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be found on any map, to determine whether the death may have been homicide. Black Sun is a page-turning police procedural that tracks Vasin as he pieces together the details of the death and possible motives and butts up against suspicious and protective local state security officials as well as a scientific community pushed to meet a dangerous deadline. Far beyond a murder mystery, the novel is a textured examination of truth, assumption, and deception. Rich street scenes and dialogue embed in the reader’s mind undercurrents of the paranoia of living in a totalitarian state where neighbor betrays neighbor, colleague denounces colleague, and police gather information to manipulate underlings and bury the secrets of political leaders. Descriptions of atomic science and nuclear weaponry reveal the threats of rushing forward without fully appreciating consequences. Characters wrestle with emotion and memory that compromise facts and cloud meaning. The novel is based on a nuclear bomb test that, the author notes, created a mushroom cloud more than seven times higher than Mount Everest and sent shock waves measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale around the world. Matthews’ portrayal of the event is compelling and thought-provoking. K. M. Sandrick

COSTALEGRE

Courtney Maum, Tin House, 2019, $19.95/ C$25.95, hb, 240pp, 9781947793361

Costalegre Island, Mexico, 1937. Young Lara awaits the arrival of a ship from Europe filled with her mother’s art collection and more artist refugees. With WWII looming over them and her father and brother far away in continental Europe, Lara finds herself trapped. Living with her mother, a wealthy patron of the arts, and a diverse group of adults grappling with their artistic demons, she is the lone child in a sprawling estate with no tutor, friends, or even a door to her bedroom. When she meets the artist Jack Klinger, a contemporary of the wild painters and writers staying at her home, she sees her situation through a new set of eyes and finds herself longing for understanding and a chance to enjoy her childhood. Grown wise too early, she’ll never see it. Maum’s humorous and conversational look at life through Lara’s eyes is an engaging window into the development of this young artist. There is a dream-like sensation to the writing, a thoroughly enjoyable and fast read that flies through multiple events through the self-aware eyes of this young woman in just a short number of pages. While readers wanting closure to Lara’s concerns will find no conclusions, Costalegre offers an immersive experience into a truly unique and bittersweet childhood. Ellen Jaquette

THE WHITE FEATHER KILLER

R.N. Morris, Severn House, 2019, $29.95/£20.99, hb, 297pp, 9780727888853

Eighteen-year-old Eve Cardew is found dead, a white feather on the ground near her body, another in her mouth. Hours before, she and other young women were exhorted by a panel of distinguished speakers to encourage men of pure heart to join the British army and battle not only the Bosch in Europe but also Satan. Their charge: to give a single white feather to any Christian man who had not yet enlisted. Returning to Scotland Yard after a notorious undercover operation and extended sick leave, Detective Inspector Silas Quinn is at first sidelined from front-line investigation of the murder, his Special Crimes Department disbanded and his sergeants absorbed within the Criminal Investigation Division. He cannot abandon the case when one of his men is shot and seriously wounded and CID downplays the significance of the feathers. The White Feather Killer is the latest in the Silas Quinn series by author R. N. Morris. The first four novels are set in the months just prior to the start of WWI. This one, beginning immediately after Britain sides with its allies against the Central Powers, shows the effects of the war’s outbreak on ordinary people. The war declaration provokes easy excuses for targeting individuals who speak with a heavy foreign accent, whether they are British citizens or not; feelings of guilt among young men who are unsettled about the prospect of facing military action; opportunities for young women to shame men they feel have let them down. It shifts the focus of CID away from finding killers and uses crime to manipulate pro-war sentiment. Deep-seated insecurities are enflamed, duty challenged, false trails pursued blindly. This is an outstanding exploration of warring emotions, both external and internal. K. M. Sandrick

THE SILVERSMITH’S DAUGHTER

Annie Murray, Pan, 2019, £6.99, pb, 435pp, 9781509841554

1915. War has broken out with Germany, and life is about to change for everyone. Twenty year old Daisy Tallis is a talented silversmith who trained at the School of Jewellery and Silversmithing in Birmingham from the age of 14, and is now herself a teacher at the school.

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

There she falls for the charms of married James Carsen, becomes pregnant by him, and against all the odds decides to keep the child when it is finally born. The book follows all the ups and downs of her life in Birmingham with a small child and the effort to keep up with her silversmithing. This interesting story is set in an age when women are still largely expected to grow up, marry and keep the home going. Careers for girls are limited. However, when the young men are sent to France, many of them coming back to English hospitals to be patched up before they are sent back to the front, the women left behind have to cope as best they can. Daisy is able to continue with her own work by teaching groups of invalids. The story rolls on effortlessly, the characterisation is good, and for once, this is a romance very much of the period in which it is set. It is full of the emotions and feelings of the age, and I enjoyed it. Does it all come right for Daisy at the end? The reader will have to find out. Marilyn Sherlock

WHEN THE PLUMS ARE RIPE

Patrice Nganang (trans. Amy Reid), Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019, $28.00/C$38.00, hb, 368pp, 9780374288990

In French colonial Cameroon, 1940, the poet and civil servant Pouka returns to his village. He finds his father, a kind of seer, having visions of Hitler dead by suicide and the townspeople gripped by unease and schadenfreude, “only a German word could express it,” as their colonizers were themselves being torn apart. Patrice Nganang, a professor of cultural studies and comparative literature at Stony Brook University, primarily tells his tale through Pouka, “the eldest son, the first of some fifty children,” who decides to teach poetry in his village. Other characters and subplots abound, including the women who sell the plums of the title—plums that flood the market during their short season: “sometimes, at the end of the day, they are dumped into piles on the pavement, just like that, a pile of garbage attracting flies.” At its best, this novel demands to be savored at a slower, more old-fashioned tempo. Nganang’s voice is that of a familiar, confident storyteller. His intellectual narrator has endless, often amusing, asides to his listeners. He ends a chapter titled “The Chiasmatic Enchantments of History” thusly: “But this, clearly, is one of history’s chiasmuses; in time it will be dealt with by Fritz, or maybe Um Nyobè.” The next chapter begins, “In due time, yes, in due time!” This story of people living within the history and brutal tangles of colonization is more important now than ever, and this book will surely find its way onto reading lists for students of African cultures. However, for me, the author’s ironical style, so evocative of storytellers of centuries past, didn’t work. It removed me from the story rather than

beguiling me into the light of a campfire to listen, which was, I think, his intent. Kristen Hannum

WHERE THE NIGHT NEVER ENDS Annette Oppenlander, Enterprises, 2019, $15.95, 9783948100018

Oppenlander pb, 294pp,

Sam’s mother has died, and she needs to find her brother Angelo, who has been missing for months after a business trip to Illinois. To search for her brother, she must travel from Cincinnati to Chicago, a very dangerous place during Prohibition in 1924. Sam meets a hobo named Paul who, it turns out, actually knows Angelo, though doesn’t equate Sam with him. Paul gives Sam an education in life on the run, helping her survive and disguising her as a boy. When the pair arrive in Chicago, they are separated when Paul is arrested in a police raid. Upon learning of his father’s approaching death, Paul is given an opportunity to lead a different type of life, which forces him to realize how important Sam has become in his world. Despite the ban on booze, there are plenty of illegal bootlegging sites and hidden clubs where drink, prostitution, and drugs are popular. Sam meets some seemingly friendly characters, including a love interest. She is determined to find Angelo by first finding Al Capone, the gangster controlling most of the illegal activity in Chicago. The rest of the story is easy to predict, but what will grab readers’ attention are the heartfelt connections the supposedly “low” characters around Sam make with her, as well as with each other. The story is replete with plenty of action, danger, sex, mystery and adventure – a depiction of a historical era when alcohol’s illegality bred a world of passion and violence. This is a remarkable read that explores the levels of good and evil to be found in human beings. Viviane Crystal

WAKENHYRST

Michelle Paver, Head of Zeus, 2019, £14.99, hb, 352pp, 9781788549561

This novel lives up to its billing as a haunting Gothic masterpiece. It begins with an article asking questions about a tragedy in 1913. Edmund Stearne suddenly went mad, stabbing the first person he met with an ice-pick and a geological h a m m e r sharpened into a chisel. Why? Was there a cover-up? Stearne is now famous (like Richard Dadd) for creating

powerful and strange paintings from his asylum for the criminally insane, which has created media interest in his actions and the nature of his crimes. His strange, isolated hermit daughter Maud may have the answers, but she isn’t telling. The rest of the novel answers the key questions: what caused this insanity and who is really responsible for the crime? Was he crazy? Or possessed? The reader slowly learns the unsettling, disturbing truth through the eyes of Maud, and we follow her enlightenment as she discovers and reads her father’s diary. Maud’s experiences as a child with her mother’s ‘groanings’ are later interspersed with a diary of a witch/mystic, which is all connected to a medieval Doom painting. The multiple layers of the plot interweave and create a compelling, atmospheric, suspenseful and well-written novel with characters and ideas which will stay with the reader long after the book is closed. This was one of the best novels I have read for a while, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Add it to the ‘to be read’ pile immediately; you won’t regret it. Ann Northfield

TRIPLE JEOPARDY

Anne Perry, Ballantine, 2019, $28.00/C$37.00, hb, 308pp, 9780525620952 / Headline, 2019, £8.99, pb, 352pp, 9781472257239

This, the most recent novel in Anne Perry’s Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, features their son, lawyer Daniel Pitt, and is set in the early years of the 20th century. Daniel’s sister Jemima and her American husband have arrived from Washington to spend a month in London. Also spending a month in London are the Thorwood family from Washington: Tobias and Bernadette, with their daughter Rebecca, who was recently violently attacked in her bedroom. The attacker has been identified as British diplomat Philip Sidney, who fled back to London before he could be arrested. Philip Sidney insists he is not guilty, but he is jailed in London. Daniel Pitt decides to undertake the almost impossible task of defending him in court. This decision appears likely to cost him his career and his relationship with Jemima and her family. Jemima’s husband is a police officer in Washington and a friend of the influential Thorwood family. Tobias Thorwood wants Sidney found guilty and punished, seeing this as a straightforward, cut-and-dried case. But Jemima, a friend of Rebecca Thorwood, enlists the help of Miriam fforde Croft to dig deeper into the forensic aspects of the case. They travel with Daniel to the island of Alderney to discover more about Rebecca’s beloved godmother. Recently killed in a tragic accident she left her house to her favorite goddaughter, Rebecca. The first part of the novel is slow, digging deeply into motives and morals, beliefs, honour and values, as this author is wont to do. The legal repartee and hairsplitting seems to increase with every novel Perry writes.

However, the pace quickens, description deepens, and characters act and speak with the sparkle of truth and excitement. This novel starts with a sordid little crime but develops into a much vaster issue, highly relevant to its time and place. Valerie Adolph

TIGHTROPE

Amanda Quick, Berkley, 2019, $27.00, hb, 320pp, 9780399585364 / Piatkus, 2019, £14.99, hb, 320pp, 9780349415994

California, 1930s: After narrowly escaping a serial killer targeting the circus, trapeze artist Amalie Vaughn settles into the comfortable life of an innkeeper, hoping to put the past behind her. But when one of her guests is killed, seemingly by his own robot invention, Amalie in thrown into an investigation that circles around the dangerous mob, ruthless journalists, and washed up Hollywood actors. She finds herself partnering with the handsome Matthias Jones, known associate of the local mob boss, with a special talent of his own—detecting lies. Soon they discover the murdered inventor may have been a part of something much larger involving international schemes and code machines stolen after the Great War. Worse still, Amalie can’t shake the feeling that her worst nightmare isn’t quite over yet. This is a quick, cleverly-put-together read, reminiscent of an old Hollywood black and white. The prose is clear and no-nonsense, the characters cut and dry. Moving swiftly between scenes, we get a dizzying glimpse of a wide array of players before the story settles into a groove and the action heats up. The romance is expected and believable, but I found the dialogue to be a tad stilted, and often reiterates the message. Amalie is plucky and capable, and Matthias leans toward the classic misunderstood agent. While I wished for a firmer connection to the characters, the final pages twist and turn delightfully, wrapping up both ends to a satisfying conclusion. Holly Faur

A WOMAN OF WAR

Mandy Robotham, Avon, 2019, £7.99, pb, 354pp, 9780008324247

Midwife Anke Hoff is trying to bestow dignity and fleeting memories of motherhood on fellow prisoners in a Nazi labour camp. The last thing she expects is to be transported to the Berghof to supervise the pregnancy of one of Hitler’s inner circle. While she struggles with her conscience – whether to nurture her patient, no matter who she is, or to neglect her – Anke finds herself drawn to the handsome Captain Stenz, despite the revulsion his SS uniform invokes. But as the baby’s due date approaches, more than one life hangs in the balance… Once you get over the slight improbability of the premise – surely there must have been a loyalist Nazi midwife capable of undertaking this job (though admittedly a prisoner would

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make a convenient scapegoat) – this book has all the ingredients for a taut thriller. There is a strong central dilemma (based on a theory touted by some historians); an in-built ticking clock; a likeable heroine pitted against a merciless regime; and the fact that the reader knows that the outcome will have to be squared with known historical fact. And yet somehow I felt the screw wasn’t tightened remorselessly enough to make me race through the pages. Despite what she says about mistrusting everyone, Anke seems to find allies remarkably easily, and the threats against her family are not quite compelling enough. It’s as if the other-worldly atmosphere of the Berghof has infected the tension of the novel. There are a couple of minor malapropisms, most notably a woman in labour who lets out a “whelp” (really? a puppy?) at a critical moment, but otherwise the research seems meticulous. The author’s experience as a midwife shows in the births that punctuate the narrative, both in “realtime” and in flashbacks documenting how Anke came to be imprisoned. A promising debut. Jasmina Svenne

MURDER AT BLACKBURN HALL

Sara Rosett, McGuffin Ink, 2019, $13.39, pb, 280pp, 9780998843179

At loose ends since she wrapped the Archly Manor murder case, Olive Belgrave accepts an assignment to make a discreet inquiry for a publisher about a missing author. Once at Blackburn Hall under the pretense of reviewing Lady Holt’s etiquette manual, Olive makes several surprising discoveries: R.W. May is dead at the bottom of a ditch, May was a woman masquerading as a man, and someone else helped write her last book. While trying to sort out the mystery despite the distractions of Lady Holt’s ingenious sister and aimless son, a local typist, and her alluring childhood friend Jasper, Olive witnesses another death, this time of a man she held a grudge against, which puts her under suspicion. Cool, clever Olive must navigate the complexities of 1920s English high society, secretive love affairs, ghostwriting, and golf if she is to expose the mystery, capture the culprits, and clear her name. Rosett’s writing is clean and crisp, and her period details add life to the story; one can hear the purr of a motor engine, feel the drape of Olive’s stylish frocks, and taste the asthma cigarettes. Characters from the first book are integrated smoothly enough that this second can stand alone, and the deaths are never very gruesome nor the stakes very dire. The characters are engaging, the setting lush, and the ending sets Olive up for an Egyptian mystery reminiscent of Carter and King Tut. It’s sleek, chic fun. Misty Urban

THE SPIES OF SHILLING LANE

Jennifer Ryan, Crown, 2019, $27.00/C$36.00, hb, 368pp, 9780525576495

Mrs. Braithwaite starts for London in 1941, leaving Ashcombe, her home village, behind her. She manages to convince herself that this unusual trip to London in wartime is an overdue visit to her daughter, Betty. In fact, Mrs Braithwaite has been shamed in the village, demoted from what she considers her rightful position as head of the local Women’s Voluntary Services group. This shame comes from the villagers’ view of her husband divorcing her to marry another woman. This failed relationship behind her, she hopes to reconnect with her adult daughter, whom she hasn’t seen in the two years since Betty left home. But Mrs. Braithwaite finds that not only is Betty missing from her rented room in London, but she is unknown at the company she supposedly was working for. From this point on Mrs. Braithwaite searches for Betty through a world full of spies, counterspies, Fascists and just plain thugs, punctuated by Luftwaffe bombing raids. She is assisted by Betty’s landlord, the timid and fearful Mr. Norris, who manfully faces more danger than he had ever imagined. This is a light-hearted look at a determined countrywoman taking on the wartime world of espionage and counter espionage, aided by the pathetically faint-hearted accountant. The only reality that intrudes is the Blitz and its toll in dead and injured people. This novel comes nowhere close to the level of the author’s previous book, The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir. The characters of Mrs. Braithwaite and Mr. Norris are amusing and well-drawn but not in tune with the plot. Their adventures seem contrived, and the bad guys are stereotypes. The moral of the story – the importance of loving others – is a clearly explained and thoroughly reinforced theme. That said, it was refreshing to read a novel with mature and not particularly attractive main characters. Valerie Adolph

THE FLIGHT GIRLS

Noelle Salazar, MIRA, 2019, $16.99/C$21.99, pb, 384pp, 9780778369226

Audrey Coltrane has always wanted to fly. When an opportunity comes to train pilots in Hawaii, Audrey can’t pass it up. There she makes friends and maybe a little more in the handsome Lt. James Hart. After Pearl Harbor—and the loss of some friends—Audrey and James part ways but commit to being “just friends” while secretly both wanting more. Audrey ends up at Avenger Field in Texas training to become a member of the WASPs. Here, she makes new friends, accepts greater challenges, and catches the eye of one of her instructors. Audrey becomes torn between this new love interest and James. While there are moments of authenticity for the life of the WASP trainees at Avenger, readers looking for an insight into the struggles and successes of these heroic women will be left wanting as this

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

is far more a tangled romance than a story of the WASPs. Many of the secondary characters are left thin—so thin that the deaths that occur are merely glossed over with little emotion. It’s a fine Saturday afternoon romance, but as a story of the WASPs this one fails to earn its wings. Bryan Dumas

HOW IT ENDS

Saskia Sarginson, Piatkus, 2019, £8.99, pb, 394pp, 9780349419985

How It Ends reveals an American military family’s hopes, loves, stresses and breakdowns after they are relocated to a USAF airbase in rural eastern England a decade or so after World War Two. Communists, the bomb, and aliens are the perceived enemy, a distant unknown – but which, if any, might pose a threat from within? Told initially from the viewpoint of twelve-year-old twin Hedy, themes of family, love, exclusion, remorse, disability, prejudice, moral codes, sexual awakening and awareness, military power and secrecy all vie for attention yet do not crowd or impinge; rather they enhance one another. The effortless present tense narrative beckons us to follow along an intricately woven timeline in which neither a single word is wasted nor one scene superfluous. The cast of characters, although not large, is clearly examined in accurate detail and each is portrayed realistically and simply over a quarter-century two-continent story both in the now and in flashbacks which, by another’s pen, might well have become convoluted and confused. The language throughout is captivating and picturesque in its inventiveness. Razor wire is “snarling”, metal buildings “crouching”, and a black Packard saloon car “sleek as a beetle”. England herself appears “faded, as if the place is worn out from being so old”. The wartime pilots flew their B-17 bombers “winging past death time and time again, grazing its cheek with their own as if they were gods spinning across the sky.” How does the story end? I thoroughly recommend you find out for yourself – you will be very far from disappointed. Life experience advises the adoption of a healthy scepticism toward the praise afforded works of art by others; however, Saskia Sarginson’s accolades are a justified reflection of her MA Honours in Creative Writing. Simon Rickman

THE WINTERKEEPER

Anna Schmidt, Bucket Line, 2019, $13.99, pb, 316pp, 9781733722711

Set in the winter of 1933, mostly in Montana, this is the story of the creation of a family. It opens with 14-year-old Millie mourning the death of her mother, Lavinia, and being so terrified of her stepfather that she flees the house. Thinking to find her mother’s estranged friend Ginny, she heads into nearby Yellowstone Park, struggling through deep snow. She hides

out in a boardedup hotel until she is discovered by Nate, the winterkeeper in the park. Nate takes Millie to his cabin, where, despite his wife’s absence, he manages to care for Millie, teaches her some survival skills, and tries to protect her from her stepfather’s greed and anger. Arrested for this, Nate is put in jail in the town of Gardiner, and Millie is returned to her stepfather. The story takes a different turn once Nate’s wife Ginny returns. Nate, Millie and the pregnant Ginny realise the stepfather means to get rid of Millie in order to benefit from Lavinia’s will. The novel builds to an exciting climax, but the steady hand of Nate, the winterkeeper, always guides the action. This is a novel honest about the economic conditions of the 1930s and about the natural world of Yellowstone Park, where survival is the one vital skill. Its themes synthesise to create a world that honours our simple, longlasting values. The author draws us into the life of a small western town and the cold of Yellowstone Park in winter, both with predators and allies in unexpected places. The storytelling and scene building are masterful and create an immediacy that keeps the reader turning pages. This is a writer who feels words as well as thinking them. Valerie Adolph

DON’T PUT THE BOATS AWAY

Ames Sheldon, She Writes, 2019, $16.95, pb, 291pp, 9781631526022

This saga about the Sutton family spans the years from the end of World War II to 1971. Tragedy had struck with the death of the elder son in the war, and every member of the family is grieving. The mother, who suffers from PTSD after driving an ambulance in World War I, drinks to cover her guilt for not telling this son the horrors of war. The father, George, is devastated that he can’t pass on his successful company to this son and spreads his anger and disappointment among the living. The sister, Harriet, tries to fill her dead brother’s place in the firm, choosing a college major and career path that could lead to the father’s company. She isn’t hired. The younger brother, Nat, who doesn’t want to work at the company, intentionally flunks out of Yale in the hopes that his father will allow him to go to music school. Much unhappiness ensues with alcoholism, career choices, failing marriages and divorce as each family member deals with

their grief and the life choices following from it. This book is a quiet read. The author takes us to the edge of a cliff, like mother and daughter needing to bail the family’s boat in the midst of a storm, and then backs off by letting everything go swimmingly well. Much of the story line seems inevitable. For example, the mother goes to a rehab facility to dry out, and it’s a great success. I’d have liked more tension and less predictability. Lorelei Brush

THE CASSANDRA

Sharma Shields, Henry Holt, 2019, $28.00/ C$36.50, hb, 304pp, 9781250197412

Set in central Washington in 194446, The Cassandra is the story of a young woman, Mildred Groves, who answers the government’s call to come work at the Manhattan Project in Hanford. She is one of thousands of workers supporting the manufacture of the plutonium used in the bomb detonated over Nagasaki, Japan. Not that anyone there other than a few physicists at the top knows the site’s purpose. Mildred figures it out, though, through terrifying visions that come to her mostly at night, as she sleepwalks through the windswept high desert and into the Columbia River. The socially awkward Mildred has been able to see bits of the future all her life. She has always blurted out her prophesies, unable to stop herself from telling, for instance, a grade school acquaintance that the girl’s mother would die in a terrible car accident on a Wednesday. People never believe Mildred, even when her visions prove mostly true. (The car accident happened on a Thursday.) The book is named for the Cassandra of Greek myth who had the gift of seeing the future and the curse of no one believing her. Shields’s novel addresses the questions of collective guilt and blindness, of how flawed our love is for one another, and the terrible consequences of our cleverness. It’s a wellpaced story that gives the reader plenty to think about, with a good list of reference works at its end for those who want to learn more about the humanitarian disaster that atomic weapons are and the environmental disaster that Hanford continues to be. By the way, my husband got hold of The Cassandra, was intrigued, and read it before me. He liked it even more than I did. Kristen Hannum

DOUBLESPEAK

Alisa Smith, St. Martin’s, 2019, $26.99, hb, 266pp, 9781250097859

“Fairy tales have lives of their own.” Lena Stillman, the narrator of this fine sequel to Speakeasy, knows that our deeds are one thing, but the stories we tell ourselves about them quite another. Even a brilliant, unsentimental cryptographer like Lena can fall prey to dreams and fantasies in the right circumstances, and Smith packs her novel

with a propulsive plot, and her characters with twisty, complicated motives. As the novel begins, Lena is one of the few remaining intelligence officers posted on the remote island of Shemya in the Aleutians, decoding intercepted Russian radio transmissions while struggling with ennui and cynicism about how the end of WWII left no clear winners, just an open theater for the new Cold War. Meanwhile, her co-narrator (as in the first novel), the shady accountant Byron Godfrey, is propelled out of the comfortable post-criminal life he has made by the news that Bill Bagley, his partner in his old bank-robbing gang (and Lena’s former lover) had escaped from death row in a Vancouver prison. Byron is summoned to join him in Bangkok for new, if unsavory, financial opportunities. Lena receives a similar summons and goes AWOL to answer it for reasons of her own. The atmosphere as both Byron and Lena make their way to Thailand is torrid and cynical. Smith balances the general unpleasantness of her characters’ personalities with lush descriptions of postwar Siam. Lena and Byron become increasingly dependent on one another as Bill maneuvers them into a spy plot that may have broad international implications. For this reason, readers will want to have read Speakeasy first; otherwise the sinister hold that Bill has on the two narrators will seem implausible and inexplicable. As a sequel, however, this is a satisfying adventure, especially for readers who wish Graham Greene and John le Carré had created more strong female protagonists. Kristen McDermott

THE OBLIQUE PLACE

Caterina Pascal Söderbaum, MacLehose, 2018, £14.99, pb, 428pp, 9780857057235

The author, who died in 2015 aged just 53, has left a profound literary achievement in this novel, which makes the reader regret her early demise. This is a poetic, demanding and quite often obscure work of fiction. It is extraordinarily difficult to provide a succinct outline of the plot, as the book does not have a conventional narrative. So what is the book “about” then? At its core, its subject is some of the worst elements of European behaviour in the 20th century. The focus is the author – forty-something Caterina Söderbaum, married with a young daughter. Her parents were products of the Nazi-fascist movements that caused so much global misery in the last century. The numerous stories and accounts slowly build up the picture, the essence being

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how the narrator’s family history has had such a profound influence upon her own life, memories and all that goes towards making up one’s existence. It is part of the recent literary trend of auto-fiction, and it can be a bit of game to speculate what is truth and what is fiction in the account It’s an overused metaphor, but this novel is really like a Russian matroyshka doll, with stories nested within each other. The reader needs to be alert to what is going on, as the full picture slowly emerges with the multifarious narrative threads slowly drawn together, though there is no ultimate resolution. This is quite unlike any novel I’ve ever read before, but it is filled with historical insight and detail, close observation and enlightened vision, as the author drills down into the detailed episodes she chooses to illustrate. It’s both fascinating and challenging. If you want an easy saga read, then this perhaps isn’t for you, but it is definitely worth the effort. Douglas Kemp

SINGAPORE SAPPHIRE

A. M. Stuart, Berkley Prime Crime, 2019, $16.00, pb, 384pp, 9781984802644

Singapore Sapphire is the first in a promising new historical mystery series. In post-colonial Singapore in 1910, Harriet Gordon is a British woman escaping her tragic past. She arrives in Singapore to help her reverend brother at his school for boys. Seeking more financial independence, Harriet also takes up secretarial work, a fateful decision as her first employer, Sir Oswald Newbold, ends up murdered and she finds the body. With a sharp, independent, and curious mind, Harriet eventually aids Inspector Robert Curran’s investigation, and the two begin to uncover that Oswald, a mine magnate and trader in rubies and sapphires, might have been involved in some unsavory business dealings. As more people are murdered and one of her school boys is kidnapped, Harriet becomes intertwined in this complicated case and is drawn into danger. This is a smartly written historical mystery, and Harriet Gordon is a breath of fresh air in the genre. No-nonsense and greatly offended by the status quo of women in the early 20th century, Harriet, a suffragette, wishes she could do more than be just a secretary. The reader also gets a glimpse into her past, making her even more relatable. The other characters are just as intriguing, including Inspector Curran, who has his own reasons for escaping to Singapore. Then there is the setting, which is a character in its own right. A.M. Stuart, who has lived in Singapore, is able to vividly bring the teeming streets and the stinking docks to life. The tension between the Europeans and Singapore natives crackles beneath the surface. This book is highly recommended for fans of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs and Jane Thynne’s Clara Vine series. Julia C. Fischer

NO OCEAN TOO WIDE

Carrie Turansky, Multnomah, $14.99/C$19.99, pb, 368pp, 9780525652939

This is an inspirational novel about a family caught up in the Home Children scheme, where impoverished British children were transported to Canada, not always with their families’ consent. 1909: Laura McAlister has a job as a maid at an estate outside of London. She learns her mother is near death in hospital, and that her brother Garth was caught stealing a loaf of bread to feed his siblings. The police have compelled the children to accompany them to a children’s home, under the threat of jail as the only alternative. Laura doesn’t discover this until after they are taken into custody. Officials won’t let Laura see or talk to her siblings, since she has no legal guardianship over them nor money to support them. Andrew Fraser, the lawyer son of the family on whose estate Laura works, offers help, because he is interested in the child emigration scheme. Laura manages to get hired on as an escort for girls being sent to Canada on a later ship than the one which carried her siblings. Once in Ontario, Laura and Andrew discover that Garth has been assigned to a farm, with a strict yet fair man in charge. But finding Garth’s twin, Katie, and their youngest sister, Grace, proves difficult: the cruel family which took Katie in tries to keep her existence secret, and Grace’s records are destroyed in a fire. This is a compelling story about a real-life scheme that was intended to help children out of poverty but sometimes went wrong, as when officials acted without the families’ consent. The religious content is moderate. An author’s note promises a sequel and provides a bibliography about the Home Children program. Christian romance fans will love it, and readers interested in historical child welfare issues will gain insight. B. J. Sedlock

HIS NAME IS DAVID

Jan Vantoortelboom (trans. Vivien D. Glass), World Editions, 2019, $16.99, pb, 240pp, 9781642860122

The novel opens during World War I, with a soldier bound to a post, about to be executed by a firing squad. The answers to who this man is, and how he ended up in such a desperate situation, slowly unfold in Jan Vantortelboom’s literary novel, His Name is David. A horrible accident makes living in his parents’ home impossible for David. Looking for a chance to start over, he becomes a 6thgrade teacher at a boys’ school in a remote village. Unable to relate to his deeply religious neighbors, David isolates himself, preferring to take long solitary walks rather than socialize with those around him. He does make one exception for a shy, artistic student in his class, Marcus, whose cold and demanding father leaves the boy desperately searching for a positive male role model. The two begin a friendship, and David encourages Marcus

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

to continue with his studies and pursue a life beyond his father’s farm. Marcus’s mother is grateful for the changes in her son’s life, and the more time David spends with her, the more he is drawn to her beauty and kindness. He starts to develop feelings for her, but before any can be acted on, a tragic event changes the course of his life forever. For me, literary fiction can, at times, feel overwrought and forced. Vantortelboom’s slender novel, however, feels light and dreamy. He gives his characters the space to interact with the world around them and each other, and it is often what is left unsaid that proves to be most important to the story. A thoughtful and engaging read. Janice Derr

A DANGEROUS ENGAGEMENT

Ashley Weaver, Minotaur, 2019, C$36.50, hb, 320pp, 9781250159779

$27.99/

Amateur sleuth Amory Ames and her devastatingly handsome husband, Milo, travel from their home in London across the Atlantic to attend the wedding of Amory’s childhood friend Tabitha Alden. A high society trip to Prohibition-era New York quickly turns dark, though, when one of the bridal party members is shot on the Aldens’ doorstep. Amory and Milo find themselves in the world of bootleggers, mob bosses, and police informants as they try to figure out the killer’s motive and identity. In chatting with Tabitha’s fiancé and friends, they learn that everyone is hiding secrets from the others, and stories aren’t adding up; no one, even Tabitha, is above suspicion. This entry in Weaver’s delightful series is a bit darker than the previous capers, in keeping with the time—the Great Depression—and the place. New York as seen from upper-crust British eyes has always been a bit suspect, and, indeed, Amory and Milo experience the seamy underside of the city while attempting to keep Tabitha’s wedding on track. As always, Weaver’s writing draws the reader into a different time, with multi-faceted characters and plot twists that engage until the very last page. Helene Williams

MOONSCAPE

Julie Weston, Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 244pp, 9781432858216

This novel is set in southwestern Idaho in the early years of the 20th century. Featuring photographer Nellie Burns and her dog Moonshine, this is an adventure mystery set in some of the most difficult terrain in the US. It opens with three strangers inquiring for directions to the remote and hard-to-traverse lava fields. Two of the three are later found dead, one pierced by a stalactite in a cave. The plot unfolds from there in complex and unexpected ways, with Nellie assisting the local sheriff and the mayor as they investigate the caves and lava flows of what has become

known as the “Craters of the Moon,” now a National Monument and Preserve. The era of clapped-out old mining towns here meets a more modern era of automobiles and telephones plus, of course, Nellie’s up-todate camera to record details of crime scenes as well as the eerie beauty of landscapes and caves. A multiplicity of characters makes the tale rather confusing, although Nellie herself and her dog are clearly defined. Normally I would say the protagonist is Nellie, as she is the character whose actions the reader most often follows. But the protagonist in this novel is the setting. The caves and lava flows create a lunar landscape marked on maps for many years as “unexplored.” More than any other character, this setting controls the action and thrusts itself to the forefront. The achievement of this author with this novel lies in bringing this largely unknown but eerily intriguing landscape to the attention of a wider circle of readers who might never have known about it otherwise. Valerie Adolph

THE NICKEL BOYS

Colson Whitehead, Doubleday, 2019, $24.99, hb, 224pp, 9780385537070

The incomparable Colson Whitehead follows his Pulitzer -Prizewinning The Underground Railroad with a tale that is much different and yet, sadly, much the same. At the cusp of the Civil Rights movement, Elwood Curtis, scholarship in hand, is on his way to enroll in his town’s black college when he runs into trouble. Unjustly arrested and convicted, he is sent to the Nickel Academy, a segregated reform school led by a sick, sadistic headmaster where black boys are routinely tortured and even killed. From the start, the ethical, Dr.-MartinLuther-King-loving Elwood manages to keep his wits and make a few friends, among them Turner, whose savvy and cunning ways help Elwood to enjoy a relatively easy existence at the school. Secretly, though, Elwood is taking notes on everything he sees, hears, and experiences, including his own severe beating from the headmaster that leaves him permanently disfigured. Like Chekov’s gun that can’t appear in a story without later going off, Elwood’s list of infractions and abuses will certainly bring trouble. Whitehead’s concise, fast-paced tale kept me turning the pages, entranced, terrified of what might happen next but

unable to look away, and left me ruminating on the timeliness of the book’s themes. How little has changed since the early 1960s. The dominant white culture dehumanizes people of color now as then. Dr. King’s declarations of love in the face of hatred, inspiring to Elwood at first but then, as a Nickel boy, striking him as futile and puzzling, seem almost naïve in the context of secret graveyards, Black Lives Matter, and immigrant concentration camps. And in showing us Elwood’s life decades after leaving the “school,” working at a manual job and deprived of the education he had coveted, we see the opportunities stolen from people of color in our society, and may be more able to fully grasp the hows and whys of institutionalized poverty. Highly recommended. Sherry Jones

IN WEST MILLS

De’Shawn Charles Winslow, Bloomsbury, 2019, $26.00, hb, 261pp, 9781635573404

Dialogue and easy realism are the strongest points of this novel tracking the life of Azalea “Knot” Centre from her young womanhood in pre-war North Carolina through the late 1980s. Knot is the attractive, well-educated daughter of a respected dentist. She left her hometown several years earlier to take up a job as a schoolteacher in the small former plantation village of West Mills. The novel opens with the latest angry departure of Knot’s man, Pratt, perhaps this time for good. Her neighbors Otis Lee and Pep, though not much older, serve as Knot’s de facto parents and a constant reminder to curb her drinking and promiscuity if she wishes to have a hope of a “respectable” life. The title and dustcover promise a web of small-town secrets, perhaps a “Spoon River Anthology” focused on the African American southern community experience. While the settings are authentic, and the subplots and side characters engaging—town gossip ranges from well-intended concern to malice, and characters such as Knot’s gay bartender friend add a welcome, if somewhat marginal, LGBTQ dimension—the book holds a tight perspective upon Knot herself, with the rest serving more as a backdrop. If at times admirable in its self-assurance, Knot’s life journey is imbued with a tragic quality. The use of dialect rings true, if marked by occasional anachronisms, and the author does a masterful job of imparting culture to dialogue while permitting the novel to retain an uncluttered, almost Hemingway-like readability. Recommended. Jackie Drohan

THE HIDING GAME

Naomi Wood, Picador, 2019, £14.99, pb, 282pp, 9781509892785

The Hiding Game is the story of a group of students at the prestigious Bauhaus art

school in interwar Germany. It focuses on Paul Beckermann’s enduring love for the mysterious and aloof Charlotte, and on the tangled relationships with other members of the group. The country is gripped by depression, hyperinflation and mounting political tension, and this is reflected in the lives of the students. They live for the moment, always in search of a new high – whether through extreme fasting, cocaine or love (especially when unrequited). This novel reminded me of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, with its almost incestuous student clique. Their collective anxiety is heightened by the uncertainty that surrounds them – when, at a party, the narrator says that “things were falling apart” this could equally be a metaphor for the group or for the times. But it is also a story about art, and poses the question, what is good art? Is it the popular art peddled by the Nazi Ernst Steiner, or the Expressionism favoured by the Bauhaus? And how far did the War contribute to changing views on art (“after the war, what is order?”). What I enjoyed most about this book was the description of the Bauhaus lessons, and the evolving artistic styles of the individual students. But I didn’t really warm to the characters, or find the story particularly compelling. And there were a few things that weren’t really clear – why was Walter still paying tuition fees seven years after starting at the Bauhaus, and what exactly happened to Charlotte? These ambiguities may have been intended by the author, but I found them slightly irksome. However, as a portrait of the time and the place it can’t be faulted. Karen Warren

STASI 77

David Young, Zaffre, 2019, £7.99, pb, 364pp, 9781785767142

Set in the grim times of the Stasi secret police in East Germany, before the Wall came down and changed the face of Europe, this novel is the fourth in a series that began with Stasi Child. It can be read as a standalone novel, but there are quite a few references to previous events and traumas that serve to make the reader curious enough to want to fill in the backstory. In short, a series worth starting from the beginning. One element of the novel is the basic detective story: mysterious deaths, possible serial killer, men tied up and left to die in fire and smoke. This is interspersed with another story of French POWs linking back to WW2, which explains the motive and reveals the killer behind these deaths. This is a truly horrific event based on real-life events, and the reader can only shudder in horror at man’s inhumanity to man. Another level of the story is the difficulty of investigating and bringing the truth to the surface in a society that is dedicated in many ways to hiding the truth and keeping secrets. Power gives authority the opportunity to silence voices they do not wish to hear. Trying to operate in a world where power can be used in mysterious, unethical and frightening

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ways to ensure the guilty survive and prosper is shown to be extremely frustrating, to say the least. Tense and gripping, this interesting portrait of a time in living memory will keep the reader entertained and glad all over again that this regime was dismantled like the Wall that symbolised it. Ann Northfield

FLOTSAM

Meike Ziervogel, Salt Publishing, 2019, £9.99, pb, 128pp, 9781784631789

This story is set in the 1950s on the bleak northern coast of war-scarred Germany. The land is flat. Small villages huddle behind low dunes. In front of them, the mud flats begin, humped, stark and gleaming, stretching to a far horizon. The scene shifts only as the tides rise and fall. A wreck lies, blackened and rotting, half buried in silt. It is the playground of the two children, Trine and Carl, around whom one of the main events is built. The beach is the haunt of Anna, the children’s mother. There is a deliberately unfocussed feel about the construction of this novel. Meike Ziervogel expects us to move with the tides and under the lowering skies, into and out of the more practical matters of everyday life. To describe Flotsam as a “coming of age story” would be an oversimplification. It is much more, or perhaps rather less, than that. As in dreams, some characters and events are told in sharp, haunting detail. Others are smudged and given little emphasis or importance. The description of Trine’s sexual encounter with a character called Haulke is a masterpiece, which perfectly captures her complex motivation and his. Meike Ziervogel knows exactly what she is doing and does it her way. Her prose has the modest power of a smooth, wet pebble. Julia Stoneham

THE NUREMBERG TRIALS

Alexander Zvyagintsev (trans. Christopher Culver), Glagoslav, 2019, €21.50, pb, 424pp, 9781784379865

The Nuremberg Trials are about to begin, and the victorious nations are determined that the Nazis will be brought to justice. The USSR’s chief prosecutor, Roman Rudenko, is as determined as anyone to expose German war crimes, but behind the scenes hidden forces are equally determined that the trials should not go ahead. Author Alexander Zvyagintsev, who has also written a biography of Rudenko, has delved into the archives and uncovered hitherto unknown intrigues and covert operations, and the result is this pacy fictionalised retelling of the run-up to the Trials. The book is suspenseful and a real pageturner but not without its faults, including rather too large a cast of characters and a very complex plot, and it is often difficult to distinguish between the fact and the fiction. My biggest problem, however, was with the translation, which contained an inexcusable number of grammatical mistakes, anachronisms and Americanisms. Even if we 52

can explain away some of them as typos, there’s no excuse for “…they said it to an American psychologist THAT was assigned to them,” or again “…a letter from his dead wife THAT he drove to suicide.” Expressions such as “get out of here!” (to express surprise rather than as a command) and “It sure is!” and Russians saying “Geez!” and Germans calling each other “buddy” just jar. Something else that became increasingly irksome was the use of the abbreviations Gen. or Maj. Instead of General or Major – I’ve never seen that done anywhere else. So, although overall this is an enjoyable and unusual exploration of Nuremberg, for me it was spoilt by these errors of translation and judgement, which I found distracting. An interesting but flawed spy thriller. Mandy Jenkinson

MULTI-PERIOD REMEMBERED

Yvonne Battle-Felton, dialogue books, 2019, £14.99, hb, 294pp, 9780349700502

Two periods of American racial history are revealed through this hauntingly powerful novel. 1910, Spring – dying Edward’s mother – is with him in the Philadelphia hospital as the city riots carry on around it fuelled by hatred. Edward is black and seemingly drove a street car into the window of a white-only shop. He should not have been driving it at all. We feel Spring’s grief as, accompanied by the spirit of her dead sister, she tries to find peace for them all as she relates, to Edward, his family’s history. In the short time of the final phase of her son’s life she shares the story beginning in 1843 of a 12-year-old free black girl being kidnapped by a white farm owner. He believes his land is cursed, as no babies have been born there, so he wants Ella to be the one to lift this curse and breed from her. Repugnant, awful, inhumane – the adjectives could flow here. However, through this account we learn about the part of history that the history books often miss out – the human cost. The desperate means people in desperate situations will go to, to try and escape the system of slavery. The importance of oral storytelling is shown as it is needed to keep the truth alive so that the fate of these people is remembered – an apt title for the book. The book is beautifully written in a matter-of-fact way. It does not linger, but reveals. It also shows how freedom, once given, does not mean the end to hatred, inhumanity, segregation or inequality. It is merely one step on a long journey for future generations. This is a memorable, harrowing novel, revealing painful truths, yet an excellent read. Valerie Loh

THE LOVE FOR THREE ORANGES

Mary F. Burns, Word by Word, 2019, $15.00, pb, 314pp, 9781790390274

Italy, 1879. John Singer Sargent mysteriously summons his good friend Violet Paget from Florence to Venice. Sargent’s note gives scant

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detail, but when Violet arrives at Ca’ Favretto, the home of the artist Giacomo Favretto, she finds murder has preceded her there. Several weeks earlier, a maidservant fell into the canal; she claimed a ghostly hand pushed her from the balcony above. Then, two nights before Violet’s arrival, a second maid drowns, her mouth stuffed with orange peels. Giacomo has been taken into custody, suspect in this murder. John and Violet’s search for the real killer unfolds against another, older tale—the memoirs of the 18th-century Count Carlo Gozzi, a playwright and the original inhabitant of the palazzo. Gozzi’s youthful infatuation with the beautiful Caterina, mysteriously lost jewels, and his successful play “The Love for Three Oranges” hint that the 19th-century death of the maidservant might even have a ghostly solution. Have ancient curses and the quest for vengeance returned to the Ca’ Favretto to roost? This read immerses the reader in the 18thand 19th-century world of La Serenissima, the beautiful Venice. Burns does an excellent job highlighting the different tones of each century in her writing; Gozzi’s memoirs recount the 18thcentury portion of the tale, while Violet narrates the 19th-century portions. The contrasting personalities of Sargent and Paget, as well as their deep friendship, are convincingly portrayed, and Burns obviously knows her characters well. Hints of the paranormal waft elusively through the tale, and although most of the mysteries are satisfactorily resolved, other possibilities may linger in the reader’s mind, as tantalizing as the scent of oranges. Susan McDuffie

LUX

Elizabeth Cook, Scribe, 2019, £16.99, hb, 416pp, 9781911617792

This complex novel is written in three main sections. In the first, we read of how the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines, including mention of how young David, a shepherd boy, killed the giant Goliath and how when he rose to be King of the Israelites, he lusted after Bathsheba, and organised the death of her husband in battle. The second section tells of the prophecies of Nathan and because of what he said, how King David atoned for this great sin by hiding in a cave where he prayed in anguish, this section forming the Psalms of David. The third section is set in the 16th-century court of Henry VIII of England, who is determined to divorce Catherine of Aragon because he desires Anne Boleyn. Although no repentance is forthcoming from this king, he gains possession of a series of magnificent tapestries that tell the story of David and Bathsheba. Sir Thomas Wyatt, a courtier, later known as a poet, works translating King David’s Psalms into English. To me, this is the most readable section of the novel, as the men and women lived much closer to our times and because of this I understood their joys, sorrows and desires. The Old Testament, whilst the foundation of three

of the fundamental world faiths, is largely incomprehensible to me because I read it in the same way I read mythology, be it Greek, Roman or ones not as well known to me. Although intelligently written I, personally, found Lux a tediously slow novel with far too much character introspection with little character interaction. Any action is mainly seen at third hand. Other readers may well disagree. Sally Zigmond

THE FORGOTTEN VILLAGE

Lorna Cook, Avon, 2019, £7.99, pb, 338pp, 9780008321857

In the present day, Melissa hopes a short break on the Dorset coast with boyfriend Liam will help them reconnect while she reassesses her career following r e d u n d a n c y. Instead she is left to her own devices as an increasingly distant Liam spends his time surfing and seeing old friends. So she takes a trip to Tyneham, a village that was requisitioned during the Second World War. Here she meets Guy, a handsome TV historian, and becomes intrigued by a photograph of an unknown woman – Lady Veronica – taken on the day the village was handed over to the army. Moving back to 1943, we meet Veronica herself. She is packing up her belongings ready to leave Tyneham but, unlike the villagers, Veronica has no intention of returning. Lorna Cook’s debut novel is a dual time tale, a device familiar to and beloved by fans of Kate Morton, Rachel Hore and Kath McGurl, and a format that’s popular amongst writers of both historical romance and historical mystery. It relies on the writer getting the balance between both stories exactly right and maintaining the tension as the narrative moves from one to the other. Lorna Cook gets this balance just right, ensuring that both strands are compelling and making this a fantastic page turner full of romance and mystery. It is a perfect holiday read. Lisa Redmond

THE GIRL IN THE PAINTING

Renita D’Silva, Bookouture, 2019, $12.99, pb, 498pp, 9781786816504

When cultures collide, heartbreak ensues. Or is heartbreak the unavoidable consequence of being a woman, whether one is born poor or rich, in the Orient or in the Occident? Renita D’Silva’s tragic romance novel seems to argue

for both eventualities, since her heroines, British Margaret and Indian-born Archana, befriend and betray one another in shockingly quick and heartrending succession when they become mistress and servant in 1920s India. The novel begins in contemporary England when Margaret, dying from cancer, surrenders the deeds to her Indian villa to her granddaughter, Emma. However, her gift comes with a request. Emma must visit her old friend, Archana, and tell her that Margaret asks her forgiveness. On a rebound from a betrayal by her partner, Emma agrees to her grandmother’s dying wish, and in the process unearths a cache of letters, which allows Margaret finally to make peace with her past. The Girl in the Painting combines three points of view—that of Margaret, Archana, and Emma. Margaret’s and Archana’s stories are told largely in retrospective, describing their childhoods, young adulthoods, and respective marriages. The two women meet when Margaret and her Indian husband arrive at his estate where Archana is employed as a maid. To Archana, who has always lived in poverty, Margaret, a painter with the Bloomsbury Group, embodies freedom, and she is happy when her ‘memsahib’ agrees to tutor her. But the growing intimacy between them dead-ends in a grave cultural and personal misunderstanding, and ultimately, disaster. When Archana’s husband dies, and her village demands that she commit suttee, Margaret sets out to change her fate, but with terrible consequences for herself and her marriage. A romantic mystery, where female crimes of the heart, and the capacity to forgive, propel the plot forward, The Girl in the Painting makes for compelling, thrilling reading. Elisabeth Lenckos

THE DAUGHTERS OF TEMPERANCE HOBBS

Katherine Howe, Henry Holt, 2019, $28.00, hb, 352pp, 9781250304865

Connie Goodwin, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston, is an expert in the study of magic in colonial America. Whilst teaching and researching her book, she is tracking her own matriarchal history of witches from 1600s Salem. Howe takes Connie on a dark and troubling journey to find a recipe for “weather work”, which Temperance Hobbs hid in 1816: “The weather work is too strong. I am hiding the weather work.” Although most of the action takes place in 2000, we learn through historical interludes about the failure of Deliverance Dane, a Salem witch who escaped execution, to save her father with the weather recipe in 1661, and Temperance’s success in 1816. Part of Connie’s past lies in the undeniable certainty that no husband has survived alongside his witch wife, the only notable exception being Temperance’s husband, Obadiah, who outlived his wife to 110. Desperate to save her lover, Sam, especially now that she’s pregnant with his child, Connie realises, when a terrible

accident occurs, that the child is the catalyst. The rush to find the answer to the “weather work” recipe becomes all the more critical. I loved this novel from first to last. The bulging tension builds to a crescendo with thriller-like pace at each turn of the page. Connie is strong and intelligent, vulnerable and very human. Her wise hippie mother, Grace, is a well-drawn modern descendant of witches – garbed in patchouli-scented caftans, gifted with second sight and a thorough knowledge of plants, and with a quirky little house which has remained in the family, a portrait of Temperance smiling benignly down from the wall. This is the first of Howe’s novels I have read, and her style reminds me of the magical otherworldliness of Megan Chance and M. J. Rose. Readers interested in the history of witches will absorb this with relish. Fiona Alison

HOME FOR ERRING AND OUTCAST GIRLS

Julie Kibler, Crown, 2019, $27.00, hb, 368pp, 9780451499332

Triple time periods tell two storylines as 2017 looks back on 1998 and the early part of the 20th century in this Texas-set story of friendship, abuse, and resilience. University librarian Cate Sutton is drawn to the remains of a Progressiveera home for unwed mothers and abused women on campus. She is curating its archives, assisted by a student with as dark a story as the women of generations past. By the novel’s end, the reader learns both the activities surrounding the past lifelong friendship of Mattie and Lizzie, and the newly formed bond growing between the two souls that discover their paths. A powerful addition to women’s literature, thegrimcircumstancesofawomanabandoned and alone in the early part of the 20th century are contrasted with more opportunity and acceptance. Even as the religious home is ahead of its time in its compassionate treatment of the young mothers and their children, the girls themselves push its care further when they try to help an ousted drug addict in an abandoned barn. But the modern eras are still plagued with religious bigotry, sexism, and rape denied, hidden, and the victim punished. In all time periods, lifesaving bonds help unlock the keys to healing. A testament to truth and perseverance over overwhelming odds. Eileen Charbonneau

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BEYOND THE SHADOW OF NIGHT

Ray Kingfisher, Lake Union, 2019, $24.95, hb, 380pp, 9781542041768

Pittsburgh, 2001. Diane Peterson returns home after a night out with her boyfriend. She is horrified to see her aged father slumped on the kitchen table in a pool of blood, shot through the head. Soon, a 78-year-old man turns himself into the police station and confesses to the murder. Diane is perplexed and wants to know the motive for the man’s action. Back in 1923 in Dyovsta, Ukraine, two families operate a farm, and a son is born in the same week to each family. The children, Asher Kogan, who is Jewish, and a Christian boy, Mykhail Petrenko, grow up like brothers. But in 1936, due to the worsening political situation in Russian-occupied Ukraine, the Kogans move to Warsaw. After WWII breaks out and the Germans invade Poland and later Ukraine, both families are adversely affected. Asher suffers in the Jewish ghetto and later in a concentration camp. Likewise, Mykhail becomes a German POW and subsequently arrives in a concentration camp. While they could have perished like countless others, fate brings them together again. Ray Kingfisher’s addition of a murder mystery into what is essentially a Holocaust story adds to the novel’s appeal. Although the narration moves between the contemporary USA and wartime Europe, the use of clear chapter subheadings stating the date and location keeps the reader oriented. We are provided with subtle clues about the murder, which is not resolved until the ending. While this format for a historical novel might not appeal to some, it does add to the drama. The descriptions of the ghastly life in the Jewish ghetto and the extermination camps might disturb readers, but the inclusion of romance adds some harmony into the narrative. The novel also examines the philosophical question about whether it is acceptable to assist an enemy to save oneself. Waheed Rabbani

HOW WE DISAPPEARED

Jing-Jing Lee, Hanover Square, 2019, $26.99, hb, 320pp, 9781786074126 / Oneworld, 2019, £14.99, hb, 352pp, 9781786074126

Straddling two timelines and told from the perspective of two narrators, How We Disappeared is an evocative glimpse into Japaneseo c c u p i e d Singapore during World War II and the calamitous consequences of wartime. In Singapore in the year 2000, Wang Di has just lost her husband, a man 18 years her senior, who 54

she affectionately refers to as the Old One. For decades, he left the house on a certain date in February, never telling her where he was going, and she never asked. It is only after his death that she feels the need to uncover the secret he had kept from her for decades. This transports her to the 1940s, where another storyline takes place when Wang Di is a teenager and is forced into a human trafficking situation as a sex slave. Also in 2000, a 12-year-old boy named Kevin has just lost his grandmother, with whom he was very close. Just before she died, she discloses a long-held secret, one that will change his family’s life. The reader knows that the two stories will come together, but they do so in an unpredictable way. The writing is fluid and the storyline is captivating, as it tells the forgotten stories of the women who did not have the luxury of a voice during this period in history. The narrative is at once dreamlike and gritty, but it likely will leave an indelible impression. Hilary Daninhirsch

DEEP RIVER

Karl Marlantes, Atlantic Monthly, 2019, $28.00, hb, 736pp, 9780802125385

Covering the years 1893 through 1932, Deep River begins in Russian-occupied Finland with the Koski family. Economic hardship and political upheaval force three of the Koski children to immigrate to America’s Northwest and put down roots near the Columbia River and the fictional Deep River among the Finnish and Swedish community. Ilmari is a farmer, blacksmith, and eventually a sawmill owner, while Matti is employed by a logging company striving for his own company. Their sister Aino is a political activist in Finland, and after a brutal imprisonment, joins her brothers. She continues promoting her socialist ideals by pushing for safer working conditions and better pay for the loggers. She doggedly campaigns for unions and recruits members, which creates conflict within the family. This family saga of births, marriages, deaths, betrayals, and life struggles is overshadowed by the technical details of the logging industry. There are long, tedious descriptions of the “steam donkeys,” which replaced teams of oxen, and the logistics of stringing cables, drums, skidders, gears, steel blocks, springboards, chains, etc. Marlantes describes the great effort and human cost required to strip the majestic forests of its towering 200foot trees and the movement of these massive logs up to 20 feet in diameter to market. It is disturbing to read about the aftermath of stripped and abandoned landscapes littered with 6- to 10-foot tall dead stumps, broken cables, slash (wood debris), trash, and mud. The novel also gets bogged down in extensive, repetitive details about the ongoing labor conflicts. The story is told chronologically in a plodding, pedantic manner, jumping from fact to fact and character to character with snippets of plot along the way. It is not an exposé on what logging does to the environment, but

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

an in-depth historical account of the logging industry and the labor movement of the early 20th century. Janice Ottersberg

THE DEN

Abi Maxwell, Knopf, 2019, $25.95, hb, 272pp, 9780525655282 / Tinder, 2019, £18.99, hb, 320pp, 9781472263278

In The Den, two sets of sisters struggle with the aftermath of premarital sexual indiscretion. Separated by a hundred and fifty years, both sets of sisters find themselves in the same New Hampshire woods, both censured by their families for acting upon sexual desire. The contemporary set of sisters knows the story of the older ones, through an obscure almostghost story in the town history called “The Den.” In it, a family in the 1850s is either transformed into coyotes, or eaten by them. As the story surfaces again and again, the characters’ development is mapped as they struggle to determine if the family really became coyotes, or if the story merely suggests that they found a gruesome end. The fathers and lovers in this story are also layered: men play both good and evil parts. But this novel highlights that while a boy’s sexual proclivities are his alone, a girl’s sexual actions are not private ones. The community may look away with a titter when a boy’s actions are revealed, but they punish and force decisions upon the girl for the same act. Relevant today politically, this book does not take a view on right or wrong, but rather sides with the girls in question. These girls, and their sisters who love them, are the voices we hear. Decisions made, both good and bad, are those made by the individual, despite their punishments being meted out by group morality. There are twists and turns and a few surprises in this book—surprises that may turn out to be the bias you, the reader, hold. At times this is a hard lesson, but the book is gripping, a strong hand that keeps your attention page after page. This is accomplished partly through interesting characters and good pacing, and partly through prose reflective of the setting: moody and darkly beautiful. Katie Stine

THE WILD IMPOSSIBILITY

Cheryl A. Ossola, Regal House, 2019, $16.95, pb, 281pp, 9781947548626

Few jobs are as stressful as that of a nurse in a neonatal ICU, and in February 2011, Kira is maxed out by her mother’s recent death when she loses a patient little larger than her own hand. Premature by 18 weeks, the baby

really had no chance of survival, but watching the bereaved parents mourn brings back the loss of Kira’s own premature daughter in a torrent of pain. Then, as Kira weeps behind the steering wheel in the Berkeley hospital parking lot, she sees a shadowy room, hears a girl’s voice pleading, but the girl’s father and brother ignore her terrified words. She sees a gun rise, and then Kira jolts back to her senses. Maddalena Moretti was been forbidden by her mother to go near the Japanese internment camp at Manzanar, California. In June 1945 a neighbor invites the teen to an art exhibit at the camp, and the girl leaps at the chance. Inside, the camp seems less like a prison than she expected, and she enjoys a baseball game until a hard-hit ball comes straight at her. An outfielder sprints to push her to safety, and Maddalena is smitten by the young man named Akira. Cheryl Ossola deftly shifts between time periods in The Wild Impossibility and presents readers with a lovely decades-long tangle to unwind, a star-crossed love affair, and courageous recovery from unbearable loss. Ms. Ossola’s depiction of Japanese-American citizens imprisoned at Manzanar reminds us that prejudice and racial hatred lie just under the surface, and can lead to unspeakable harm to many, or reverberate down the generations in a single family. Highly recommended. Jo Ann Butler

THE PEACOCK SUMMER

Hannah Richell, Harper, 2019, $16.99, pb, 400pp, 9780062899347 / Orion, 2018, £16.99, hb, 400pp, 9781409152217

Summoned home to presentday England to care for her g ra n d m o t h e r, Maggie Oberon finds Lillian ailing and confused, the grand manor of Cloudesley falling apart, and the townspeople unwilling to welcome Maggie back after her abrupt departure the year before. Intertwining with Maggie’s story of trying to set things right is the sunfilled tale of Lillian’s summer of 1955, when artist Jack Fincher came to Cloudesley to paint a room and Lillian fell in love. Her brief weeks of joy come at a terrible cost, hinted at in the secrets casting their shadows over Maggie’s story: the closed-off west wing; the abrupt arrivals and departures of the feckless, reckless Albie, Lillian’s stepson and Maggie’s father; and the occasional voice of a nameless Watcher who guards the house with a malign intensity. Each woman struggles, in her own time, for a remedy to old wounds: Maggie tries to sort out a broken engagement to her childhood

friend, repair her friendship with Will, and come to terms with the scars her absent parents have left on her, while Lillian wrestles with her obligations to Albie and her stricken sister as well as the brutality of her husband, Charles. The prose is lush and full-blooming, the pacing taut, and the setting brilliant with light and color as the suspense builds, pushing each woman to her breaking point. The last third of the book, when secrets are exposed like falling dominos, pulls the reader along to an ending both bitter and achingly sweet. Lillian and Maggie are rich and complex characters, struggling to embrace passion and yet fulfill their duty, and their alternating stories balance well against one another, imparting lessons on life, love, family, obligation, and— most of all—the enduring power and beauty of art. An immensely satisfying read. Misty Urban

THE SWEETEST FRUITS

Monique Truong, Viking, 2019, $26.00, hb, 304pp, 9780735221017

Three distinctive, remarkable women narrate Truong’s third novel. They never meet, but their lives are interconnected, and subtly influenced by one another’s, through one person they all love: Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, the Greek-born, Irish-raised writer and translator who became a talented journalist in mid-19th century America, and whose stories about his final home of Japan introduced Western audiences to his beloved adopted country. He was a man created of continuous reinvention, and the journey he followed was so wide-ranging and unusual for its time that it’s hard to believe one 54-year life encapsulated it all. That said, it’s the women who shine here, and in a notable shift in perspective, Hearn comes alive only through their words. His absence from the page is frequently more palpable than his presence. The first voice, expressed with lyricism and a mother’s yearning for her long-lost child, is that of Rosa Cassimati, a sheltered nobleman’s daughter from the Greek island of Cythera who was forced to leave her second son, Patricio, behind with his Anglo-Irish father’s family. Beginning in 1906, Alethea Foley, a formerly enslaved woman employed as a cook in a Cincinnati boardinghouse, remembers the boarder, Pat Hearn, who she admires and eventually marries—an event which has repercussions due to miscegenation laws. The longest tale belongs to Hearn’s second wife, Koizumi Setsu, a samurai’s daughter who bears him four children and sees his transformation from a foreign English teacher into a naturalized Japanese citizen. Precisely researched, The Sweetest Fruits reads like a collection of oral histories; it provides a series of vivid impressions illuminating each heroine’s personal story and her purpose in telling it. While it may disappoint readers seeking an addictive plot, it resounds with character and feeling and has

much to offer observers of historical women’s hidden lives. Sarah Johnson

JACOB’S LADDER

Ludmila Ulitskaya (trans. Polly Gannon), Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2019, $35.00/ C$45.00, hb, 560pp, 9780374293659

This multi-generational Russian saga covers the period from 1905 until 2011. In 1911, young Jacob Ossetsky meets and falls in love with Marusya Kerns, an aspiring actress. Jacob eventually joins the army during WWI but, in the 1930s, he is exiled by the Soviet government. He and Marusya live apart for most of their married life, the novel consisting primarily of their correspondence with each other. Their son, Genrik Ossetsky, eventually marries Amalia Kotenko. Their daughter Nora, born in 1943, carries on the family name. The balance of the novel follows Nora’s life after she becomes a young woman. She is a screenwriter and set designer for plays produced throughout Russia and Europe. Her husband Vitya is a mathematician, considered a genius by many, but unable to handle married life; therefore, they live apart. Meanwhile, Nora has a love affair with Tanzig, the play director whom she works with. In the 1970s and after her grandmother, Marusya’s death, Nora discovers a chest filled with her paternal grandparents’ correspondence. This is an extremely well-written literary novel of Russian history during the 20th century. The story primarily involves Nora’s life and loves and her problems maintaining a relationship with Tanzig, the director at her various jobs. Most of the early history of the family is told through letters between Marusya and Jacob. Because the novel is not written in a linear manner, I had to refer to the family tree in the front of the book to keep the characters straight. If you are looking for a book that describes the political history of Russia during this time period, however, you may be disappointed. Jeff Westerhoff

SOLOVYOV AND LARIONOV

Eugene Vodolazkin (trans. Lisa C. Hayden), Oneworld, 2019, $26.95/C$35.99/£16.99, hb, 416pp, 9781786070357

Russian novels are hefty and generally involve a sweeping panorama of people and events. Solovyov and Larionov is cast in that same mode, but author Vodolazkin adds a refreshing slant to the

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novel, traveling back and forth through time, connecting the lives of his two eponymous protagonists. Solovyov is a St. Petersburg graduate student who is assigned the biography of General Larionov as his thesis. The General was an aristocrat in Imperial Russia who sided with the White Army during the Russian Civil War. He bravely managed to save his army as it retreated from Red Army forces in Crimea. The General allowed himself to be captured but he was not executed. He was permitted to return home and, unmolested by the new Soviet regime, died at an old age. The question for Solovyov is: why was the General allowed to live? Seeking to solve the mystery, Solovyov travels to Yalta, where Larionov spent his last days. There he meets the charming Zoya, the daughter of the General’s last caretaker, who promises to help him find the missing pages of Larionov’s memoirs. In his quest, Solovyov’s entire life is strung out for the reader, like developing photos hanging on a darkroom wire. The General’s life is also laid bare as Solovyov uncovers more pages of his memoirs. Award-winning author Vodolazkin seamlessly weaves together the lives of his two heroes, setting them against a background beginning with the sunset days of Imperial Russia and ending with modern Russia. Within that rich historical span, he focuses on Solovyov and Larionov and draws them out as complex and intriguing characters. Told with some wit and wry humor, this coming-of-age story offers the reader a much richer experience than mere biography. Highly recommended, Solovyov and Larionov should not be missed. John Kachuba

THE CATHERINE HOWARD CONSIPRACY

Alexandra Walsh, Sapere, 2019, £9.99/$12.99, pb, 492pp, 9781913028251

The Catherine Howard Conspiracy is an “alternate” tale of Henry VIII’s fifth wife which slips timeframes between the 1500s and the present. Dr. Perdita Rivers and her sister become the beneficiaries of her estranged grandmother’s estate, leading to the disentanglement of Catherine Howard’s unknown association with the estate and introducing numerous questions, both past and present, for Perdita to untangle. The tale is presented as a mystery. To its advantage, it’s quickly paced; to its detriment, it offers fleeting insight into its characters motivations. It’s an enjoyable read if an interestingly quirky one. Walsh surely can write well and creatively, and wholeheartedly keeps you engaged. Catherine is the polar opposite of the historical figure we’ve encountered. She’s pure of body and heart, clever and faithfully loyal, and Henry is a grim fiend with few if any redeemable qualities. Henry is an unfortunate caricature, which even in an alternate history 56

is difficult to digest. The story is inventive, though the characters are in ardent need of some complexity and profundity. The mystery itself is transparent and the conclusion, even considering the continuation of the series, abrupt. The Catherine Howard Conspiracy is a mixed bag of a book, though also one I was drawn to, liked, and frankly was fascinatedly immersed in. Wendy Zollo

THE CURSE OF MISTY WAYFAIR

Jaime Jo Wright, Bethany House, 2019, $14.99, pb, 384pp, 9780764230301

It’s 1908 when Thea Reed arrives in Pleasant Valley, Wisconsin. She’s searching for the mother who left her on the steps of an orphan home. Her only clues are fuzzy childhood memories and a sparsely detailed letter. Present day: Heidi is returning to Pleasant Valley after receiving a cryptic letter from her ailing mother. But Heidi hasn’t been home for years, and tensions between her and her sister make it difficult for Heidi to unravel her mother’s message. Separated by a century, Thea and Heidi each come face to face with the legend of Misty Wayfair, a ghost who has haunted the woods since her murder in 1851. But why is the ghost haunting them? Both women will have to decide if uncovering the secrets of their past is worth risking their sanity and their futures. Wright is a talented author who pens identifiable character struggles in the arenas of faith and family. At the book’s heart are two women wrestling with anxiety disorders and self-confidence. The journey to discovering faith, trust, and self-worth is carefully and sweetly written. At the same time, Wright offers up some spine-tingling scenes that had me glued to the pages. I quite enjoyed the slow unveiling of the truth behind the myth. Oddly, despite some clever historical details, I did notice a large amount of references to “eyes colliding” that got distracting: a minor note. Otherwise, Wright easily charms readers with well-articulated reflective prose that adds depth to the plotline and characters. A very compelling Christian romantic suspense novel. J. Lynn Else

TIMESLIP

TIME AFTER TIME

Lisa Grunwald, Random House, 2019, $27.00, hb, 405pp, 9780812993431

Every year on December fifth, the sun aligns with Manhattan’s street grid and the light of the rising and setting sun is funneled between the buildings, a phenomenon known as “Manhattanhenge.” On December 5th, 1925, 23-year-old Nora Lansing, caught in a railway accident at Grand Central Terminal, dies on the Main Concourse as the light from Manhattanhenge streams through the three main windows. She returns to the concourse—

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

not ghostlike, but solid, corporeal, visible— every year afterwards, but only on the fifth of December at 7:05 a.m., disappearing if she goes beyond the bounds of the terminal. In 1937, railway leverman Joe Reynolds meets her under the terminal’s famous clock, and they fall improbably in love. Together they investigate the parameters of her peculiar extended life and how to have the semblance of a normal relationship within the confines of the terminal. But their relationship is fraught with difficulties: Nora’s agelessness, Joe’s family obligations, and, of course, the fragility of Nora’s surprising existence. As the outside world begins to tug more insistently on Joe, they struggle to hold on to the precarious life they’ve built for themselves inside Grand Central Terminal. Grunwald crafts a delightful and engaging love story that unfurls alongside the fascinating history of Grand Central Terminal. Through Nora and Joe and the hum of the terminal, Grunwald offers snapshots of New York City, from the devil-may-care whirl of the Twenties to the bleakness of the Great Depression, from the anxious energy of wartime to the hopefulness of the postwar years. Despite the fantastical nature of Nora’s life, Grunwald never allows the supernatural to overpower the characters, their story, or the history swirling around them. Their love flourishes irrespective of time. Recommended. Jessica Brockmole

THE SOUL OF TIME

Jennifer Macaire, Accent Press, 2019, £7.99, pb, 269pp, 9781786154835

This is the sixth of Jennifer Macaire’s seven-part Alexander series. Ashley, a young journalist in the 3rd millennium AD, wins a prize to be sent back in time to interview the personality of her choice. She chooses Alexander the Great and is duly transported to the 4th century BC, only for her return flight to go awry and to be stranded in the past. Ashley does very well for herself, becoming Alexander’s consort and succeeding in saving him from an early death without altering the historical record. The Soul of Time finds Ashley, Alexander, their son and their close companions wandering incognito in northern Europe. They have an eventful time, and after escaping from hostile Druids, take a ship back to the Mediterranean. We are left still wondering if and how Ashley gets back to her own era. I liked it better in the earlier books when Alexander was still in the historical record and Macaire was giving us a seemingly authentic view of life in his army. In this book we are in pure historical fantasy (of course all time travel is fantasy, but there are degrees of fantasy). The book has all the ebullience and verve of its predecessors, but I did not find the Nordic background credible in the way that Alexander’s army had been credible. Ashley has been away too long, and I must wrap up the story by reading the final volume. Edward James

A SLIP ON GOLDEN STAIRS

Joanne Sundell, Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 288pp, 9781432855055

This time-slip novel, set primarily in the area of the Klondike gold rush, takes place in both April of 2017 and in April of the gold rush year, 1898. The author tells us “the history of the Old West is the star here.” The four protagonists are Abigail Grayce and Elias Colt in gold rush times and Abby Gray and Eli Cole in the present day. Both young women suffered a difficult childhood, but both are intelligent and not lacking in initiative. Abby is close to qualifying as a mining engineer. Both women in their separate times set off from the gold rush country of the western states to the northern gold rush country accessed from Skagway in Alaska, but contemporary Abby senses an almost ghostly presence calling to her. Elias and Eli each follow a woman they have only glimpsed but with whom they have fallen in love. The story follows two essentially similar romances with a ghostly presence that appears to link the two young women. The supernatural elements and the time-slip add dimension and depth to the novel. The author has done a great deal of research into the history of the places, some of the well-known people, and the very unromantic realities of 19th-century gold mining. Introducing multiple points of view into one novel is always tricky. This novel has four points of view, representing four protagonists in two separate romances that closely shadow each other. It is not always easy to distinguish Abigail from Abby and Elias from Eli, especially as they are experiencing similar surroundings and feelings. However, if you want an easy way to learn all about the Klondike gold rush, this book is for you. Valerie Adolph

ALTERNATE HISTORY WESTSIDE

W. M. Akers, Harper Voyager, 2019, $22.99, hb, 296pp, 9780062853998

Akers imagines a fence thirteen miles long dividing the Manhattan of 1921 into two parts: eastside and westside. The eastside appears to be all that is good, comparatively affluent and law-abiding. Across the huge fence the westside is not even marginally respectable; it is home to assorted losers of society, a place where life is cheap, and death and disappearance are more or less synonymous. Gilda Carr inhabits this dystopian world and can function on either side of the fence. She seems content with her life and the dystopia, even as it invades her own living arrangements. The daughter of Virgil Carr, a cop who she knew as gentle but who apparently was a gang leader and a killer, Gilda is struggling to find the truth about him. Calling herself an investigator of tiny mysteries, Gilda is hired to find a lost glove for wealthy Mrs. Copeland. This mystery leads

her to witness the killing of Mr. Copeland and, later, to discovering more about her dead father. This novel takes the inequalities of Prohibition-era New York and envisions a fence down the centre of Manhattan. This emphasizes the dichotomy between the two sides as it protects the haves from the havenots. This added level of heavily-guarded detachment ramps up the dysfunction that encompasses not just the external world but also the characters within it. It is not a comfortable read, but in Westside the author highlights much of the hypocrisy of the time and place, a fable perhaps with a message for our own time. Valerie Adolph

HISTORICAL FANTASY THE LADY IN THE COPPERGATE TOWER

Nancy Campbell Allen, Shadow Mountain, 2019, $15.99, pb, 369pp, 9781629725543

Twins, separated at birth are at the heart of this gothic steampunk romance; one is kept in Romania, the other (Hazel) is brought to England. As assistant to the wealthy and celebrated surgeon, Sam McInnes, Hazel secretly admires her employer from afar. She’s an unapologetically feisty heroine but still constrained by the Victorian age, and commoners do not aspire to nobility. A mysterious Romanian Count purporting to be Hazel’s uncle comes bearing a hitherto unknown family history—that the girls are nobility (this raises the stakes in the romance game) and that her ailing twin sister is showing signs of madness. Hazel, with her inherent healing ability, is compelled to help her sister, and so begins a dark and menacing journey aboard the Count’s palatial submersible en route to Romania. What’s simply delightful here is the steampunk world Ms. Allen has created! I didn’t want to leave it, and more notably I wanted to hang out longer with Eugene, Dr. Sam’s saucy automaton, ‘who’ blurs the lines between human and non. The story is firmly rooted in this fantastical world of mechanical horses and telescribers and ray guns, and most deservedly belongs in the series named Proper Romance. Fiona Alison

THE ABSINTHE EARL

Sharon Lynn Fisher, Blackstone, 2019, $15.99/ C$21.50/£12.55, pb, 320pp, 9781982684419

Dublin, Ireland, 1882: Miss Ada Quicksilver, “a quiet and unimportant English woman,” has just a touch of an Irish and mystical heritage in her ancestry. She is researching fairy mythology on leave from the Lovelace Academy for Promising Young Women. Following the rumor that says drinking absinthe may enable one to see faeries, she goes to a posh absinthe establishment and meets a handsome and noble Irishman, Edward Donoghue, Earl of Meath. Edward

suffers from unwanted visions, and absinthe seems to help. The two have a common interest and eventually discover they also have an ancient and intricate linkage. Edward’s cousin, Irish Queen Isolde, has tasked him with an urgent mission of discovery and ultimately the defense of Ireland. Ada follows him on this quest, which is stranger and more dangerous than anything she could have imagined. This delightful book is a sweeping fantasy tale of Celtic mythology wrapped in an alternate history context. Above all a romance, it also features legendary Irish figures to include Grace O’Malley, banshees, water horses, the war goddess Morrigan, fairy sprites, noble warriors of the Tuatha de Danann and evil Fomorians who are akin to Goblins here. The contrast between the rational, almost scientific Ada and the preternatural events enveloping her is appealing. Though there are bits of steamy and graphic sensuality, the novel is also somewhat Tolkienesque in the wide-ranging array of good and evil creatures who are combatants on both sides. Full disclosure: Irish legends have been a particular favorite of mine since early childhood, so I was right at home. I suggest reading this captivating novel in a verdant woodland, sitting in the shade against a stout tree trunk and perhaps sipping a bit of absinthe. Enjoy as I did. Thomas J. Howley

THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY

Alix E. Harrow, Redhook, 2019, $27.00, hb, 384pp, 9780316421997

There are doors, and then there are Doors. Notice the distinctive capital D “like a black archway leading into white nothing.” In 1901, January Scaller found her first Door when she was seven, a dividing point between the mundane and the magical. Her tale of a faraway land is dismissed by the man caring for her, Mr. Locke. However, the discovery of a strange book years later about hidden Doors and a romance that stretches beyond multiple worlds lead January on a fantastic adventure. What is her mysterious connection to these worlds, and at seventeen years old, can she finally find the thing she’s been missing in her life—her family? Within a few sentences I was hooked. January’s voice is compelling and distinct. Words are artfully threaded into the narration’s rich tapestry in both their use and form, particularly when capitalized. Characters are diverse but trapped in a

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time that doesn’t value differences. January, herself, is an oddity looking for a place to belong. January’s yearning for meaningful relationships drives her, and her growth flourishes as she discovers more about herself and her family. This story possesses elements of coming of age, adventure, mystery, magic, and a little romance; though, as observed by January, “every story is a love story if you catch it at the right moment, slantwise in the light of dusk.” Harrow’s prose will enchant you from page one, and her worlds kept me enraptured. “If we address stories as archeological sites… we find at some level there is always a doorway.” I highly recommend you step over the threshold and get lost in this book. J. Lynn Else

GODS OF JADE AND SHADOW

Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Jo Fletcher, 2019, £16.99, pb, 340pp, 9781529404302 / Del Rey, 2019, $26.00, hb, 352pp, 9780525620754

In 1927 young Casiopea, as the poor relation to a wealthy family, leads a Cinderellaesque life in a drab small town in Yucatan, quietly dreaming of pretty dresses, fast cars, and freedom – someday. Not that she sees herself as a fairy-tale heroine: life has taught, if nothing else, wariness and pragmatism. So, when she opens her tyrannical grandfather’s mysterious chest as an act of defiance, the last thing she expects is to wake an imprisoned Mayan god of death… or to be whisked off on a life-or-death quest across Mexico and the Netherworld, in the company of the newlyawakened Hun-Kamé. And who knew that ancient gods of death could be so handsome, and so irritating? Moreno-Garcia combines Mayan myth, folklore and the Mexican version of the Roaring Twenties in a breathless magical adventure – written so vividly that one can feel the different kinds of heat – never sagging as it cleverly explores such hefty matters as life, death, the pursuit of dreams, and individual responsibility. Recommended. Chiara Prezzavento

BRIGHTFALL

Jaime Lee Moyer, Jo Fletcher Books, 2019, £18.99, hb, 310pp, 9781787479203

A fantasy novel set during the reign of King John, Brightfall is told through the eyes of Marian: a strong and feisty wife, lover, mother and witch. Robin Hood has renounced her, and now spends his days in seclusion in a monastery repenting for his sins, although no one seems to know the nature of his alleged crimes. Marion lives quietly in Sherwood Forest, bringing up their two children, until Father Tuck arrives with the news that friends from their outlaw days are dying in mysterious circumstances. Suspecting a dark curse, Marion sets out on a dangerous journey to save her own life and that of her children. Accompanied by a sullen and unwilling Robin Hood, and a powerful Fae Lord, she travels through a land inhabited by goblins, grindylows and dragons. Marion’s magic is good and pure, drawn from nature and her own strength of will, but she quickly realises there are much darker forces are at work in the greenwood. Moyer has created some memorable characters here, particularly the ancient Fae 58

Lord, nicknamed Bert, who shape-shifts at will, altering both his appearance and his character with dizzying finesse. To counterbalance Bert’s mesmerising magic, Marion’s broken relationship with Robin often feels poignantly and painfully real. If you are someone who believes no story is complete without at least one wise and scaly dragon, then this is the book for you. Penny Ingham

LENT

Jo Walton, Tor, 2019, $26.99/C$34.99, hb, 384pp, 9780765379061

Characters who live multiple lives are a trend in novels recently, but few are as historically ambitious as this one. Jo Walton imagines (and re-imagines) the crucial final years of the career of Girolamo Savonarola, the charismatic monk responsible for the “Bonfire of the Vanities” thought to have inspired Martin Luther’s reforms. The novel brings a warm humanity to a historical figure often depicted as the pleasure-hating villain of everything that made the Renaissance appealing – food, fashion, and passion. In this version, Girolamo is a person of infinite compassion and imagination, embracing asceticism only to remind himself of his love for God. And then he becomes much, much more – but to give details would be to spoil the surprises and delights of this witty thought experiment about the nature of time, free will, and forgiveness. That the title is a pun referring to both worldly and spiritual riches, as well as the liturgical season, is really all one can safely say. Walton displays her mastery of classical philosophy in the brilliant Thessaly trilogy, a fantasy that imagined the Greek gods creating a real-life version of Plato’s Republic in a timeloop, populated with humans of all nations and eras. The Just City of her earlier trilogy finds a parallel in the City of God that the historical Girolamo attempted to create in the Republic of Florence, “the Athens of the Middle Ages.” And two of Thessaly’s main characters, the real-life philosophers Marcilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, cross over to this narrative to help Girolamo find his way, expanding Walton’s rich, humanist multiverse. This novel will delight not just fans of medieval and Renaissance history, but anyone who enjoys seeing great ideas come to life through chatty, appealing characters. Kristen McDermott

THE BIRD KING

G. Willow Wilson, Grove, 2019, $26.00, hb, 414pp, 9780802129031

The year is 1491, and Granada, the last foothold of Islamic rule in Iberia, is under siege. Food is running short, but the inhabitants of the royal court continue their rivalries and intrigues. Fatima, a concubine with liminal status between slave and potential future mother of a prince, spends languid hours in the company of Hassan, the royal mapmaker, who has the ability to create new doors and passages through the palace by drawing them. Envoys from the besiegers enter the city, among them Luz, a woman of great authority, openly the personal representative of the Castilian Queen Isabella, and covertly an

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

agent of the Inquisition. When Luz glimpses Hassan’s ability, she is determined to bring him to trial on charges of sorcery. Hassan almost gives into his fate, but Fatima pushes him to use his gift to help them escape. They meet up with a mongrel haunting the palace grounds who turns out to be a jinn, a magical creature both fierce and poetic. Racing to the Mediterranean, they are pursued by Luz and her men, and joined by the monk Gwennec, whose loyalties are unclear. Also on the journey is some other profound evil, whose presence and nature is only slowly becoming apparent. As Fatima finds her strength, Hassan’s maps take them further into uncharted territory, where the story abandons history entirely and becomes fantasy or fable. The rules of Hassan’s gift mean that occasionally doors stay open when they shouldn’t or close before you want them to. What will happen to this new refuge if they close the way there? The settings and imagery in this book are captivating, and Wilson demonstrates sensitivity to both Christianity and Islam. Close calls, captures, and escapes get a little repetitive, and the story loses some focus as it becomes more fantastic, but themes of friendship, love, and finding one’s true self are woven throughout. Martha Hoffman

THE TIME COLLECTOR

Gwendolyn Womack, Picador, 2019, $17.00, pb, 354pp, 9781250169259

For Roan West, to touch an object means to be immersed in its history. He is a New Orleans-based psychometrist whose ability to discern the past lives of things has turned him into a wealthy collector. His gift is shared by a secretive group of fellow seers, of whom Roan’s friend Stuart has recently gone missing. As Roan comes to suspect, Stuart has been abducted for his discovery of ‘ooparts,’ out of place objects, which question the ways humankind records ancient history, as well as our philosophical and metaphysical concepts of time and place. When the welfare of the other psychometrists is threatened, Roan decides to find Stuart, but only after saving the life of budding psychometrist Melicent Tilpin, a plucky young woman, who has only recently become aware of her special talent. Despite their different backgrounds, Roan and Melicent fall in love. However, as the plot thickens, Roan commits a fateful mistake. In order to protect Melicent, he leaves her behind when he goes in pursuit of Stuart’s attackers. During a rousing ending, which takes Roan across the globe and into the depths of the earth, he comes to understand that Melicent is not only worthy of his admiration, but a fellow adventurer, and that he may rely on her perception and prowess as he endeavors to solve the mysteries associated with his marvelous profession. A mix of time travel and romance novel, The Time Collector shines brightest when it tells the stories of the antiques discovered by Roan and his friends. An episode involving a fan, given by a grandmother to a young girl in war-torn Korea, is especially moving and acquires a surprising significance in the finale. Elisabeth Lenckos

THE LAST TSAR’S DRAGONS

Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple, Tachyon, 2019, $14.95, pb, 192pp, 9781616962876

Jane Yolen and her son, Adam Stemple, bring readers the Russian Revolution with dragons. No one is better positioned to tell a dragon tale than Jane Yolen, and this novella is an entertaining, tongue-in-cheek satire of the Revolution and other aspects of European history. In this telling, Tsar Nicholas and his German tsarina control their collapsing country with dragons. In a reference to the pogroms, they especially enjoy sending the dragons out to torch Jewish villages. The Jews, in response, have developed drachometers, early warning devices to send them underground in time. The dragons destroy property, but the Jews themselves endure. Amongst these Jews is a revolutionary who has a dragon plot of his own. The Red Menace takes on a whole new meaning. The novel’s dry, humorous tone is demonstrated in an award ceremony scene for the tsarina, honored for her kindnesses on behalf of the poor. The Tsar knows she does not like surprises, so he has told her in advance, but she is planning to act surprised. “The tsarina put her hand to her breast and looked marvelously surprised… And when she stood and made her careful way up the stairs and across the boards towards him, her left hand still rested there on her breast. She looked, one of her friends would tell her later, like a doe crossing the ice, with careful competence and always on the alert for possible danger.” Readers will laugh along with this story, although it will be a bitter laugh since the joke of history is really on all of us. Judith Starkston

CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT

ROCKET MAN: The Mercury Adventure of John Glenn

Ruth Ashby, Peachtree, 2019, $7.95, pb, 124pp, 9781682631041

In 1961, the Soviet Union was winning the Space Race; having sent a man into orbit before the US had even sent a man into space. President Kennedy threw down the gauntlet in May 1962, publicly claiming that the US would land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. The first step toward that goal was made on February 20, 1962 when Friendship 7 launched astronaut John Glenn into space to become the first American to orbit Earth. Glenn, as one of the Mercury 7 astronauts, spent years of intensive physical and psychological training to prepare for space travel. Though no one truly knew what to expect, he was well aware of and prepared to face whatever dangers he encountered. Ruth Ashby’s biography of John Glenn begins with his boyhood in Ohio and concludes with his return to space in 1998 at the age of 77. It is well-told and exciting, and though it spans decades, the reader is never bogged down. Likewise, Ashby does not inundate the reader with physics, engineering, and mechanics; there is enough for the reader to understand, and enough to intrigue certain readers to seek out more information. John

Glenn’s persistence and commitment to his profession and country are made clear. Ashby pulls information from primary sources, making the dramatic story reliable. Named by NSTA/CBC as an Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12, the story is geared for middle grade readers. Meg Wiviott

ACROSS THE DIVIDE

Anne Booth, Catnip, 2018, £6.99, pb, 104pp, 9781910611111

This is a brave and clever book which addresses important issues in a timely manner. Olivia is experiencing problems with school, with a boy, and most significantly, with her pacifist Mum whose politics threaten to split her already fragmented family. Being sent to stay with her estranged father on the island of Lindisfarne only makes things worse. Strange events take place on the Holy Island: the weather changes as she steps out the door, people ignore her to her face, and the place is full of film extras in old-fashioned clothes. But Olivia finds a bond with a new friend, William, and begins to understand her mother more, and even gets along better with her father. The book is written in plain language and largely in dialogue, and is funny and thoughtprovoking in turns. There are adept plot twists, and an optimistic conclusion. The author uses few literary turns of phrase, but the peace and bird-life of the island are well-depicted, ‘birds squabbling excitedly in the hedges’, and certain images, such as a white feather, are skilfully deployed. Rooted in the politics and concerns of today, with the issues of war and terrorism and how we live with and yet combat violence, it also deals sensitively with the past, and the relevance of history to our lives today. This sharp and well-paced novel explores questions many adolescents must ask themselves. How do we negotiate and reach compromise? How do we live happily with those we disagree with? It deals with serious issues in an accessible way, and I would recommend this book for children and young adults of 10 – 14 years old. Jane Burke

IN THE SHADOW OF HEROES

Nicholas Bowling, Chicken House, 2019, £6.99, pb, 375pp, 9781911077688

1st-century AD, Rome. The power-crazed Emperor Nero is determined to get his hands on the fabled Golden Fleece, and his armed guards will stop at nothing to get him what he wants. He forces the aged senator, Tullus, to go to Athens and bring it back. Tullus’s slave, fourteen-year-old Cadmus, and a scary Celtic girl, Tog, have information Tullus doesn’t know, and they must get to Athens first and talk to the mysterious sibyl. Cadmus is reluctant to go, and Tog only wants to get back to Britannia. We gradually realize that the blind Athenian priestess, Eriopis, knows more about Cadmus than she lets on; there are long-held secrets which, if Nero discovered them, would threaten Cadmus’s own life. I enjoyed this book, especially the tetchy relationship between Cadmus and the largely silent Tog, who seems to exist on another

wavelength. Cadmus has much to learn – a slave is not expected to have opinions, let alone make his own decisions – but, gradually, he learns to adopt the Stoic Tullus’s philosophy of enduring the hard times, and begins to make decisions for himself. Tog, meanwhile, who is descended from the royal house of the Catuvellauni in Britannia, has her own problems. The back cover of the book describes it in three words: History, Mythology, Adventure. All this is true, but it’s about something else, too: the importance of creating your own family, who may or may not be related to you, and of finding your own quest in life and following your own star. We leave Cadmus pondering on the possibilities of new adventures and discovering other ancient artefacts from the Greek legends. Recommended for readers of 11 plus. Elizabeth Hawksley

THE MONTGOMERY MURDER

Cora Harrison, Sapere, 2019, $6.99/£5.50, pb, 151pp, 9781913028374

In this first in a new series targeting young adult readers, Harrison, who is very prolific, sets her story in 1858. Alfie, an orphan, and his “family” of children similarly situated, need to find money to keep a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs in a Victorian London not at all concerned with the welfare of young urchins. Alfie, his brother Sammy (who is deaf), cousins Jack and Tom and their remarkable and faithful dog, Mutsy, rely on Alfie and his ability to “find” money to survive. When a prominent businessman is murdered close to their digs, Alfie, always on the prowl for money-making propositions, makes a deal with the local police chief to find the murderer. He is, after all, a child of the streets and knows his way around. But when Sammy is brought to the Monmouth Street house to act as a servant and observe, things start to go wrong and it seems clear that the gang is at risk. This should be an exciting and fun thriller for the young reader (I had fun reading it!) and Harrison knows how to tailor the events and the characters to suit her audience. Alfie and his cohorts are savvy, terrific kids with a lot more brains than their adult counterparts, and Mutsy is a great dog! Ilysa Magnus

LEO: Dog of the Sea

Alison Hart, Peachtree, 2019, $7.95, pb, 176pp, 9780682630891

Spunky little terrier Leo has been at sea for many voyages during Spain’s Age of Discovery in the early 16th century. Leo knows how to capture rats and steer clear of the rough sailors commanded by Portuguese explorer Magellan. But something about a young stowaway named Marco softens him, and he snatches Marco from a watery death during a storm. Leo and Marco form a friendship joined by Magellan’s scribe Pigafetta. The three comrades stick together through the perilous voyage from Spain to the mysterious Spice Islands. The sailors face mutineers, hostile

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Indios, disease, storms, shipwreck, and hunger as their search drags on for months, helmed by the stubborn Magellan, who refuses to quit despite the deaths of his crew. This middle-grade historical novel is told in first person from Leo the dog’s point of view, an unusual but delightful perspective. While at times the specifics of the journey are not exactly doggy material, the historical detail, seafaring vocabulary, and realistic descriptions make up for it. Written with a deft hand, and illustrated with pencil drawings of key scenes, this book provides more than just an exciting adventure story. It also educates by including a map, drawings of tools, machines, and the ship, as well as explanations of terms and a brief encapsulation of the historical context. Young readers will find Leo’s story captivating and may be inspired to seek out other volumes in the Dog Chronicles series such as Darling, Mercy Dog of World War I and Finder, Coal Mine Dog. Xina Marie Uhl

THE NIGHT DIARY

Veera Hiranandani, Puffin, 2019, C$11.99, pb, 288pp, 9780735228528

$8.99/

India/Pakistan, 1947. For her twelfth birthday, Nisha receives a diary. She decides to write in it every night, summarizing her day for her mother, who died when she and her twin brother Amil were born. Her early entries detail her normal life: Nisha is shy and has problems talking, often going for many days without saying anything to anyone but her twin. She loves school, but Amil struggles with reading, much to her doctor-father’s displeasure. Nisha loves to cook and is being taught how to grind spices and boil rice and dal by her family’s live-in cook, Kazi. When India receives independence from Britain, Nisha cannot understand why the country must be split in two. Her mother was Muslim, but her father is Hindu, so the family must leave their home which is now Pakistan and belongs to the Muslims. Attempting to reach Jodhpur and her father’s brothers, they must cross a desert in an attempt to avoid the violence that has incomprehensibly broken out. This Newbery Honor book brings to life the history and culture and confusion of its setting. Nisha’s voice is superb—her diary entries simple and short, yet powerful and moving. All of the characters are wonderful. Nisha is innocent, with a deep longing for her mother and anyone who will love her. Her brother and father, grandmother and cook develop and change as Nisha’s perceptions of them grow. This may be the first time child readers learn about Indian 60

independence, the establishment of Pakistan, and the violence that followed. It handles the subject appropriately for its intended audience. Nisha’s diary shows readers that people around the world have much more in common than they have different. Highly recommended. Elizabeth Caulfield Felt

THE DOWNSTAIRS GIRL

Stacey Lee, Putnam, 2019, $17.99/C$23.99, hb, 384pp, 9781524740955

Once again, Stacey Lee shines light on an overlooked segment of America’s past and reveals truths about its present. In Atlanta in 1890, seventeenyear-old Jo Kuan and her adoptive father live in secret in a hidden basement under a printshop. Jim Crow is infecting the city, and as a ChineseAmerican girl, Jo finds herself in the middle of segregation, neither as privileged as a white woman nor as scorned as an African-American. By day she is a maid in one of Atlanta’s wealthiest households, but by night, she is “Miss Sweetie,” an anonymous advice columnist for the newspaper housed above her home. While the city buzzes about Miss Sweetie’s provocative ideas regarding race and women’s roles, Jo searches for her birth parents. Her search puts her at odds with one of Atlanta’s most notorious criminals, and Jo realizes she cannot live on the fringes forever. Lee brilliantly exposes the shame of discrimination against the Chinese who helped rebuild the South during Reconstruction without taking away from the more oppressive racism levied on African-Americans. Through Jo, Lee exposes the futility of segregation (it “seems as ridiculous as putting robins and blue jays in different trees and expecting them not to share the same sky”), and the precautions that all women must take to move safely through society. Though Jo is bright and strong-willed from the beginning of the novel, she is still a dynamic character, shaping and being shaped by the events of the novel and providing a satisfying, and often surprising, character arc. Lee educates readers about life in Atlanta in the late nineteenth century, as well as nudges them to consider the importance of using their voice and of standing closer to those who are different from them. A masterful novel from an exceptional storyteller. Highly recommended.

REVIEWS | Issue 89, August 2019

Sarah Hendess

BLACK WINGS

Sophie Masson, Greystones Press, 2018, £9.99, pb, 418pp, 9781911122197

1798: the Vendee is a peaceful French departement where four young friends enjoy each other’s company. Loyal, intelligent Jacques Verdun, aristocratic painter Edmond de Bellegarde, beautiful, innocent Flora and the strong, devout farmer Pierre Bardon present four very different backgrounds. The air of revolution is about to sweep the country. Their love and friendship, the invisible bonds that bind people’s fates will be severely tested. The imminent civil war will contrast and set severe poverty and aristocratic lifestyles against each other, yet caught up in the fanatical ideology of ‘liberty, equality, fraternity or death’ are the lives of ordinary people. Citizens Robespierre, Marot, Danton and others are behind the new thinking of destroying the old ways and enforcing the new. We see extremists, mercilessly blinded by high ideals and rhetoric driving a bloodthirsty mob. Lessons that can be applied today. Through the September Massacres of 1792 and the beheading of a king in 1793, the tensions, threats and murders multiply. Spies on all sides abound as priests, the poor and the rich try to survive the Terror. Jonathon, an English friend, also plays a very important part within this detailed and realistic account of life in troubled times. Hatred breads fear. Jacques’ testimony reveals his devotion and the impact events have upon each member of the group. Faith and pride clash in dramatic and gripping ways. When passion for religion collides with an equal passion for political ideology, bloodshed is inevitable, especially when one side has Madame Guillotine. This novel is completely absorbing. The settings are vivid, the characterisation strong and the pace gripping. The immense amount of research shows as every detail falls into place. The ending is surprising and satisfying; a highly recommended read suitable for teenagers or adults. Valerie Loh

STANLEY & HAZEL: The Winnowing

Jo Schaffer, Month9Books, 2019, $15.99, pb, 268pp, 9781948671385

In 1934 St. Louis there is a stark divide among the class structure. Hazel Malloy, a privileged 16-year-old, and Stanley Fields, an orphaned “newsie,” set out to investigate the clues left behind in a book written by a murdered girl from the previous book (the series debut). As more people from Stanley’s side of town go missing, Hazel begins to suspect certain colleagues from her charity work at a newly established medical clinic. Meanwhile Stanley’s network of spies, along with a Catholic priest and Stanley’s police detective uncle, race the clock to find the culprits. On the streets and back alleys lurks an evil movement startlingly similar to the great shadow looming over 1930s Europe. Jumping into this book—having not read the first, Stanley & Hazel—wasn’t difficult

as the story was recapped sufficiently. The Depression-era street jargon isn’t the easiest to follow, but it lends substance to the gulf between the silently warring factions. It is clear by the tremendous build-up among the last few pages of the book that there is more to come with this series. Readers are left on edge and wondering how the feisty protagonists will fare in the next installment. This is a fastpaced and exciting murder mystery for teens with a Dick Tracy feel. Recommended for ages 12 & up. Arleigh Ordoyne

SHE WOLF

Dan Smith, Chicken House, 2019, £6.99, pb, 289pp, 9781910655931

It is the year 866 and a young Dane, Ylva (meaning ‘she-wolf’), finds herself orphaned in the strange land of Northumbria, after witnessing her mother’s murder in a trader’s hut, at the hands of an evil three-fingered man. Filled with anger and determined to avenge her death, Ylva takes a bow and arrows and, with her faithful companion, her dog, Geri, who she believes communicates with her, she sets off across the harsh landscape to track down the murderer and to find herself a new home. She finds it impossible to trust people, but after a woman, Cathryn, and her taciturn companion, a young boy called Bron, saves her life, Cathryn persuades Ylva to travel with them, in a journey fraught with danger at every turn, including being chased by slave traders and avoiding being chased by wolves. This is truly a page-turner with short and fast-paced chapters. The perils they face are relentless, and it is often bleak and quite shocking in parts. The description of Ylva’s mother lying dead on the floor, surrounded by blood is so vivid. It does not allow for emotion nor compassion, as would have been the way of life at the time. The ending is equally bloody and brutal as she finally encounters the threefingered man. All the characters in the book have an interesting past, unknown to Ylva. This adds to the suspense as the audience become aware of their backstories before she does. It is a story of survival and courage, where everything is a sign from the gods to act upon, but with a backdrop of conversion from the old ways to Christianity, the way of life is changing all around them. I loved this book. It blends historical fact with excellent story-telling. Highly recommended for readers of 11+. Linda Sever

LILY AND THE ROCKETS

Rebecca Stevens, Chicken House, 2019, £6.99, pb, 298pp, 9781912626120

Lily Dodd is proud to start working as a munitionette at the same factory as her father. Having left school, she feels finally grown up, but working in the factory is far

from her dream, especially when her best friend decides to go to the front to be a nurse. Playing football with some of her workmates helps Lily to make friends and find her place. There is even a league of female teams which proves popular with the factory girls and with spectators. However as the war ends and the men return, the factory girls lose their jobs and their football teams. With the help of an old friend and a disguise Lily finds a way to keep playing. Based on the true stories and experiences of the hugely popular women’s teams of the First World War, Rebecca Stevens’ pageturning new book is a tale of friendship and love, the sacrifice of war and the power of sport to bring people together. Lily is a strong and determined character, and this book will appeal to fans of Emma Carroll, Robin Stevens and Kate Saunders. Most suited to readers aged 9 and upwards. Lisa Redmond

WHITE ROSE

Kip Wilson, Versify, 2019, $17.99, hb, 368pp, 9781328594433

This is the story of Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans, and their closest friends, all founders of the White Rose movement— one of the few German resistance groups to protest the genocide policies of the Third Reich. Wilson tells the story in medias res starting with the Gestapo’s arrest of Sophie and Hans in 1943. The author carefully weaves a story of Sophie’s awakening from age eleven, as a leader in the Nazis’ League of German Girls, to age twenty-two, as a university student and founding member of White Rose. Sophie’s perspective appears as short, narrative poems as well as those from the perspective of Sophie’s interrogator, lawyer, and judge. Most importantly, letters from Sophie’s brother Hans, a medical student serving in Poland, and her boyfriend Fritz, an army officer stationed in Russia, are interspersed throughout the piece. Each man witnesses the enslavement and systematic murder of Jews and Russians, and their letters reinforce Sophie’s determination to stand against the Nazis. This story is an enduring reminder of the importance of separating an individual from her government, but never from her humanity and responsibilities. While on the surface Sophie appeared to be a carefree student, she was an activist who refused to look the

other way as her neighbors were murdered. Sophie risked everything to distribute leaflets throughout Germany denouncing murder, apathy, and blind allegiance. As many of the ideas that once brought the Nazis to power resurface in American communities, Sophie represents the unyielding power of free speech. She is brought to life by a poet who understands, respects, and trusts her young readers. While frugal with her words, Wilson is generous and full of love as she paints a detailed picture of Sophie’s complex, bold, beautiful, and enduring spirit. Highly recommended for ages 12 & up. Melissa Warren

THE FREE AND THE BRAVE

Tovah S. Yavin, Menucha, 2018, $17.99, hb, 169pp, 9781614656630

Set in August and September of 1814, during the War of 1812 (known as the Second War of Independence), this middle-grade history book tells the story of Fort McHenry’s resistance to the British incursion to capture strategic Baltimore Harbour. The story centres on the Hebrew Frank family, husband, wife and twelve-year-old son Jacob, who is determined to help in the struggle against the British in any way he can. Too young to join the fencible regiment, he delivers kosher food around town daily for Mr Ettings and, after the arrival of the British warships, kosher food and coffee to the Hebrew sons stationed at the Fort. Jacob comes close to risking his life but believes it all worth it in defence of all free Americans. In Washington, the White House, the president’s mansion and other homes were burned by the British, as people fled for their lives. Although many families likewise left Baltimore, others stayed behind and families such as the historical Cohens and Ettings helped alongside non-Jewish Americans to defend the harbour. Some made inventive sacrifices such as sinking their private boats to hinder the advance of British warships. Francis Scott Key wrote the poem “In Defence of Fort M’Henry” about the American stand against the British and the bravery of local citizens. This poem was renamed “The Star Spangled Banner” and is proudly sung by Americans everywhere. I had not realised how many verses the original poem contained and was interested to read it in its entirety. This beautifully expedited novel, recommended for 10- to 12-year-olds, is a compact coming-of-age-in-two-months story which spreads the message of the importance of family, friendship, hard work (often without remuneration), and pulling together across racial/ethnic barriers in times of need. Jacob is a fine example to young people everywhere as he grows up very quickly in face of war. Interesting historical notes accompany this novel. Fiona Alison

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CONFERENCES

The Society organizes biennial conferences in the UK, North America, and Australasia. Contact Richard Lee <richard@historicalnovelsociety.org> (UK), Vanitha Sankaran <info@vanithasankaran.com> (North America), or Elisabeth Storrs <contact@hnsa.org.au> (Australasia).

ÂŠ 2019, the Historical Novel Society, ISSN: 1471-7492 | Issue 89, August 2019

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