Historical Novels Review Issue 90 (November 2019) by The Historical Novel Society

H I S T O R IC A L

NOV EL S REVIEW

ISSUE 90

HISTORY RHYMES

The Function and Importance of Historical Fantasy More on page 8

NOVEMBER 2019

FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE ... Voices of the Past S.G. MacLean Page 10

Innocent Abroad The HNS North American Conference Page 12

Marley Lives Again Jon Clinch's Latest Novel Page 13

Hidden History Sexual Violence & Survivor's Guilt in WWII Page 14

Going Far James Meek's Medieval Journey 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 BOOKS BY HNS MEMBERS

ISSUE 90 NOVEMBER 2019 COLUMNS 1

Historical Fiction Market News

Sarah Johnson

New Voices Profiles of debut historical fiction authors Lorna Cook, Molly Greeley, Alan Hlad & Alec Marsh | Myfanwy Cook

History & Film The Rehabilitation of Mary Stuart |

Bethany Latham

FEATURES AND INTERVIEWS 8

History Rhymes The Function & Importance of Historical Fantasy by Kristen McQuinn

10 Voices of the Past S.G. MacLean Discusses the Art of Mastering Your Research by Douglas Kemp 12 Innocent Abroad A First-timer's Experience at the HNS Maryland Conference by Gill Paul 13 Marley Lives Again What Dickens Left Out by Samantha Silva 14 Hidden History Sexual Violence Against Women & Survivor's Guilt in World War II by Charlotte Wightwick 15 Going Far James Meek's Pertinent Findings from a Medieval Journey by Karen Howlett

REVIEWS 16 Book Reviews Editors’ choice and more

HISTORICAL FICTION MARKET NEWS It’s great to see so many new releases this issue. Congrats to all the authors! If you’re an HNS member who’s written a historical novel or nonfiction work published in August 2019 or after, your fellow authors and readers want to know about it. Please send the following details to me at sljohnson2@eiu.edu or @readingthepast by Jan. 7, 2020: author, title, publisher, release date, and a blurb of one sentence or less. Details will appear in February’s magazine. Submissions may be edited for space. Slaves of Passion by Patricia Stinson (Amazon, Mar. 10) features a pre-Civil War fair-skinned slave girl who is pregnant, and whose one desire is to have her baby born in free territory; her desire leads to deceptions, extreme hardships, death, and murder for three generations. In her sweeping debut, The Abolitionist’s Daughter (Kensington, Apr. 29), Diane C. McPhail offers a powerful emotional novel of littleknown Civil War history—Southern Abolitionists—and the timeless struggle to do right even amidst bitter conflict. In Jo Schaffel and Sara Webley’s Somewhere Besides Denver (Pangolin Books, Apr. 30), three teenage girls in 1907 yearn for a future more exciting than society parties and safe marriages, so they leave their Denver homes with a chaperone to enjoy a Grand Tour to Paris and London, greet the new century, join the suffrage movement, meet artists and fashion designers, and defy their parents’ expectations. In The Artifacts by Eric Reynolds (Hadley Rille, May 1), within the walls of an abandoned old house on Kayla’s land, she learns of the house’s past, of her town, and perhaps ways to revitalize Sycamore Falls when she retrieves old books from a shelf that transport her to the past, to the town’s better times. In De Bohun’s Destiny, the third Meonbridge Chronicle by Carolyn Hughes (Riverdown Books, May 3), set in 14th-century England, Margaret de Bohun knows her husband lied for the best of reasons yet must defend his falsehood, while her companion, Matilda, exposes the truth to her lover, Thorkell Boune, oblivious to the danger that he won’t scruple to pursue exactly what he wants, no matter who gets in his way. John B. Kachuba’s Shapeshifters: A History (Reaktion Books, May 13) is a lively and informative investigation of the shapeshifter character found in religions, folk beliefs, and legends in cultures all around the world from prehistoric times to modern-day encounters and pop culture. In State of Treason by Paul Walker (Sharpe Books, May 20), first in a series of Elizabethan spy thrillers, William Constable, astrologer and physician, becomes an unwilling aide in uncovering a conspiracy involving a hidden, illegitimate royal child. Finding Annie by Peter Maher (Xlibris, Jun. 5) tells the story of a young Irish girl who escapes poverty to build a new life in the USA.

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

Carrying Independence (224pages, Jun. 11) is a sweeping debut novel, by Karen A. Chase, in which an intrepid Post rider, determined to avoid fighting in the American Revolutionary War, embarks on an epic quest, carrying the sole copy of the Declaration of Independence to seven founding fathers, whose final signatures will unite the colonies. True Freedom by Michael Dean (Holland Park Press, Jun. 12) is about how America came to fight Britain for its freedom in the eighteenth century. Curt Locklear’s Reconciled (Warren Publishing, Jun. 25), 3rd in the Asunder Trilogy, Civil War-era historical fiction filled with action and romance and hailed as a “masterpiece of storytelling” by Readers’ Favorite, features two women who love a soldier who has amnesia. Harmony in Winslet by Gail Balentine (Amazon, Jul. 6) is the story of Jane Harmony, a young nurse in Boston at the height of World War II, who must face old ghosts and dangerous people in a town she swore never to step a foot in again in order to prove her brother innocent of murder. Paradise Square (Hill House, Jul. 20) by E.M. Schorb, a reprint of the International eBook Award Foundation’s inaugural Grand Prize for Fiction winner, is set in New York, where Edgar Allan Poe must solve a murder to save a friend; it was first reviewed in HNR 18 (Nov. 2001). Colleen Kelly-Eiding’s Favoured By Fortune (Phase Publishing, LLC, Aug. 1) is described as “Jane Austen meets Hannibal Lecter.” On Christmas night 1519, the royal court in Cracow is shaken by a puzzling murder; a lady-in-waiting sets out to investigate, only to discover a deadly secret at the heart of Queen Bona’s household in Silent Water, A Jagiellon Mystery Book 1, by P. K. Adams (Iron Knight Press, Aug. 6). In antebellum Charleston, South Carolina, a Catholic priest grapples with doubt, his secret African ancestry, and his love for a slave owner’s wife in Elizabeth Bell’s debut novel Necessary Sins (Claire-Voie Books, Aug. 7), the first book of the Lazare Family Saga. Eden Waits by Maryka Biaggio (Milford House Press, Aug. 19), based on the true story of a utopian colony founded in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the 1890s, explores the collision between human frailty, idealism, and economic realities. In Water Lily Dance (Little Cabin Books, Aug. 20) by Michelle Muriel, the stunning backdrop of 19th-century Paris at the height of the Impressionist art movement intertwines with the present as three women centuries apart set out to escape a colorless life, connected by one of the most controversial, beloved artists in the world: Claude Monet—but at what cost? The Four Bells by Brodie Curtis (Westy Vistas Books, Sep. 1) tells the story of damaged World War I veteran Al Weldy as he revisits his hometown on Christmas Eve 1931, intending to raise a toast to his dead comrade-in-arms, Eddie Beane, and finds Eddie’s sister Maddy, his one-time flame, behind the bar of The Four Bells pub. Tinney Sue Heath’s Lady of the Seven Suns: A Novel of the Woman Saint Francis Called Brother (indie, Sep. 1), based on fact, tells of the wealthy 13th-century Roman noblewoman who must come to grips with her privilege and thread her way between duty and faith as she follows Francesco of Assisi, the saint who considers himself wedded to “Lady Poverty.”

COLUMNS | Issue 90, November 2019

In Judge Thee Not (Beyond the Page Publishing, Sep. 10), Edith Maxwell’s fifth Quaker Midwife Mystery, midwife Rose Carroll fights bias and blind assumption to clear the name of a friend when a murderer strikes in her late nineteenth-century Massachusetts mill town. In Northern Wolf by Daniel Greene (Rune Publishing, Sep. 12), Wolf’s company of misfits find themselves riding with Custer and the Michigan Brigade on a collision course with master horseman J.E.B. Stuart and the Army of Northern Virginia in a small town in Pennsylvania, called Gettysburg. Set in 1066, the year of three battles for England’s crown, Fulford, Stamford and Hastings, Stamford and the Unknown Warrior by Garrett Pearson (Morepork Publishing, Sep. 12) tells the tale of two orphan brothers; one will become the powerful but unknown Norse warrior that held the bridge against the Saxon army of Harold Godwinson, and the other will fight for Harold at Hastings. Suanne Schafer’s second novel, Hunting the Devil (Waldorf, Sep. 15), transports readers through one of the most grotesque moments in world history, the Rwandan Genocide; a powerful story of determination and revenge, it is also about how war changes one’s definition of humanity and, ultimately, what it means to be human. In Kathleen Baldwin’s Harbor for the Nightingale (Ink Lion, Sep. 26), an alternate history set in 1814, Maya Barrington, one of Miss Stranje’s unusual girls, must act as a double agent to thwart Napoleon’s scheme to seize control of Britain. The final installment in the Miramonde Series trilogy, A Place in the World by Amy Maroney (Arlelan Press, Sep. 26) concludes the mesmerizing story of a Renaissance-era female artist and the modern-day scholar on her trail. The Haunting of Fury Falls Inn (Fury Falls Inn Book 1) by Betty Bolte (Mystic Owl, Oct. 1) is supernatural historical fiction set in north Alabama in 1821. Twenty Years After: A Sequel to The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (Pegasus Books, Oct. 1) is the next in Lawrence Ellsworth’s series of new, contemporary translations of the Musketeers Cycle, as d’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis grapple with the challenges of politics and maturity. A western comedy/romance, Lady Law and the Texas DeRangers by Xina Marie Uhl (XCPublishing.net, Oct. 1), set in West Texas, is a rollicking ride that pits a lady sheriff and a slick gambler against each other and the weirdest outlaws in the Old West. Andie Newton’s The Girl I Left Behind (Aria/Head of Zeus, Oct. 3) is a Nazi spy drama about a young German woman who infiltrates the Nazi Party to find her missing best friend. A novel-in-stories, Floating in the Neversink by Andrea Simon (Black Rose Writing, Oct. 3) follows a sensitive and impressionable young Jewish girl, Amanda Gerber, through the evocative world of Brooklyn’s Flatbush interspersed with summers in the Catskill Mountains from 1955-1961, a time of veiled innocence and impending turbulence. Set in post-World War II Sicily and mid-eighties America, How Fires End by Marco Rafalà (Little A, Oct. 15) chronicles the long legacy of a single act of violence, illustrating along the way the complicated dynamics of familial bonds, the devastating effects of war upon childhoods, and the inextricable nature of personal and political

identities. In J. Lynn Else’s next book The Lost Daughters of Avalon, book 2 of Awakenings (Inklings, late Oct.), when an ancient evil threatens, four Minnesota teens must learn to harness magic in order to save the realms of Avalon and Earth. Anne Easter Smith’s This Son of York (Bellastoria, Nov. 10), the sixth and final book about the York family in the Wars of the Roses, is a 21st-century look at Richard III following the discovery of his grave in 2012 and extensive analysis of his bones.

NEW PUBLISHING DEALS Sources include authors and publishers, Publishers Weekly, Publishers Marketplace, The Bookseller, and more. Email me at sljohnson2@ eiu.edu or tweet me @readingthepast to have your publishing deal included. Debut novelist Thomas J. Howley’s Wolf of Clontarf - The Irish, the Vikings and the Foreigners of the World is a story of the 15 years leading up to the decisive Battle of Clontarf in Ireland; a legendary Gaelic warrior and young woman spymaster who helped their King throw the Vikings out of Ireland. It sold to Gene Robinson at Moonshine Cove via Gina Panettieri, Talcott Notch Literary Agency, for May 2020 publication. Tori Whitaker’s Millicent Glenn’s Last Wish, a dual timeline story set in post-WWII and present-day Cincinnati suburbs, in which a woman must face her secret tragedy which occurred in a baby-boom maternity ward, and its effects on her family today, sold to Chris Werner at Lake Union, for publication in fall 2020, by Katie Shea Boutillier at Donald Maass Literary Agency. Head of Zeus publisher Nicolas Cheetham acquired three new works from Matthew Harffy, including Wolf of Wessex, featuring a new set of characters and set in 9th-century Wessex; this novel will appear in ebook format (Nov. 2019) and in hardcover (March 2020). The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, about historical figure Belle da Costa Greene, a woman of secrets who was hired by J. P. Morgan in 1905 to curate his personal library, sold to Kate Seaver at Berkley via Laura Dail at the Laura Dail Agency (Benedict) and Liza Dawson at Liza Dawson Associates (Murray) for publication in 2021. Art historian Laura Morelli’s The Night Portrait, a dual-timeline narrative that follows the creation of Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with the Ermine in 15th-century Milan and the painting’s subsequent theft by the Nazis during World War II, sold to Tessa Woodward at William Morrow, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, by Jenny Bent at The Bent Agency. Star of the Sea author Joseph O’Connor’s Shadowplay, set amid the 19th-century London theatre world, sold to Michael Reynolds at Europa Editions, for publication in April 2020, by Isobel Dixon at Blake Friedmann. In an Editor’s Choice review of the UK edition for Aug 2019’s HNR, Douglas Kemp wrote: “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.”

the early 1800s Caribbean and who was mistress to the future King William IV of England, sold to William Morrow editor Rachel Kahan for spring/summer 2021 publication, by Sarah Younger at Nancy Yost Literary Agency. Ruth Druart’s While Paris Slept, set in Occupied France and described as an “unforgettably moving tale of maternal love during one of history’s darkest hours,” sold to Headline Review editorial director Sherise Hobbs via Sheila Crowley at Curtis Brown; North American rights sold to Karen Kosztolnyik at Grand Central. Publication will be February 2021. William Morrow’s Kate Nintzel acquired N. American rights to Jacqueline in Paris by Ann Mah (author of The Lost Vintage), a comingof-age novel about the future First Lady, Jacqueline Bouvier, during the year 1949, when she was a 20-year-old college student spending a year abroad in the City of Light. Debut novelist Clare McHugh’s The Princess Royal, biographical fiction about Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter Vicky, who married the Crown Prince of Prussia and became the mother of Kaiser Wilhelm, sold to Lucia Macro at William Morrow via Laura Dail at the Laura Dail Agency. The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris, set in the Civil Warera South and following the story of two brothers, freed after the Emancipation Proclamation, who take refuge in a white landowner’s woods, sold to Ben George at Little, Brown via Emily Forland at Brandt & Hochman. Rhys Bowen sold two new historical novels to Danielle Marshall at Lake Union via Meg Ruley and Christina Hogrebe at the Jane Rotrosen Agency; the first takes place in WWII Venice and focuses on an English art student trapped there during wartime. The Manningtree Witches by award-winning poet A. K. Blakemore, a novel focusing on the persecution of women during the witch trials of 17th-c Essex, England, was acquired by Ka Bradley, editor at Granta, via Zoe Ross at United Agents, for spring 2021 publication.

OTHER NEW & FORTHCOMING TITLES For forthcoming novels through early 2020, please see our guides, compiled by Fiona Sheppard: 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.

Island Queen by Stanford PhD Vanessa Riley, based on the life of Dorothy “Doll” Kirwan Thomas, a women’s rights advocate who had risen from slavery to become the wealthiest woman landowner in A publication of the Historical Novel Society | www.historicalnovelsociety.org

NEW VOICES Debut novelists Lorna Cook, Molly Greeley, Alan Hlad and Alec Marsh create intriguing characters set against the backdrop of historical fact

What if she finally fell in love?” Charlotte’s story is, Greeley explains, “about a woman’s worth. And it’s a story about love — or lack thereof — and what place it would have had in the lives of women who did not have a man with ten thousand a year waiting to rescue them from the terrifying uncertainty of the future. Such women, like Charlotte, had to rescue themselves.” Social media inspired Lorna Cook’s novel, The Forgotten Village (Avon, 2019) a Kindle Number 1 Bestselling Novel in which the village, in some ways, takes on the role of a character.

Lorna Cook Photo credit: Anne Martin McCoy

Molly Greeley

Cook explains, “When I thought of the story of Veronica in the past, who goes missing after being forced to leave her requisitioned manor house in World War Two, I had no real sense of place, no location in which to set the story, and so I parked the idea and moved on to something else.”

Alec Marsh

Alan Hlad

Molly Greeley’s imagination for The Clergyman’s Wife (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2019) was stimulated by the thoughtprovoking fictional character of Charlotte Collins from Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. The idea for her novel had been, she says, “germinating since I first read Pride and Prejudice more than twenty years ago. Back then I agreed completely with Elizabeth Bennet’s instinctive reaction to Charlotte Lucas’ engagement to the ridiculous Mr. Collins: Charlotte had made a terrible mistake.” However, as time passed and after many subsequent readings, Greeley says, “I softened my take on Charlotte’s decision, and her choice began to seem less horrifying than the circumstances that led to it. Charlotte had neither money nor the means to earn any, and she had no beauty (which, of course, was its own form of currency). She lived in a time when a woman’s security, unless she was exceptionally fortunate, was always linked to the prosperity and generosity of the men in her life. The remarkable thing about Charlotte is that she saw an opportunity and took it; in doing so, she took charge of her own life in the only way available to her.” Some of Greeley’s favourite books, she notes, “take well-known stories and delve into the minds and hearts of characters who were peripheral in the original. Charlotte has never felt peripheral to me …though we get little of her inner world in Pride and Prejudice. We see her mostly from Elizabeth’s perspective, with a few interjections from the novel’s nameless narrator, and through Elizabeth’s eyes Charlotte seems calm, practical, and more than a bit calculating. But Elizabeth, as it turns out, is not the most astute judge of other people’s feelings and motivations. So, I started thinking: what if Charlotte was just good at making the best of things? What if she was truly grateful for the security Mr. Collins offered her — but what if security was not enough to make her truly happy in the long run? 4

COLUMNS | Issue 90, November 2019

One of the challenges was, Cook notes, “to write about a country house that hadn’t been set foot in since the war, I needed a valid reason for such a house to have been out of bounds for so long. Nothing I could think of sounded remotely plausible, and I wanted readers to be able to believe in the reasons for almost eighty years of household abandonment and neglect.” Providentially, “As a World War Two Home Front obsessive I fell over myself with excitement when my husband tagged me in a Facebook post from a national newspaper: ‘Photos Show Crumbling Remains of Tyneham Village.’” Cook shares, “I had never clicked on a link so quickly. An entire Dorset village requisitioned; over two hundred residents evicted in under a month, forced out of their homes to go…where? And those at the manor house received the same fate regardless of their status. Where did they all go, and under such short time constraints? The story of Veronica and her past-love Freddy that I had parked came to the surface and I placed them in the panic-laced set-up of a village under administrative siege in the midst of war. Around them secrets and lies are woven while in the present-day Melissa meets historian Guy and the two endeavour to discover why no one from the manor house was ever seen again after requisition day.” Cook’s novel is, she says, “part historical mystery, part love story. I enjoyed writing every second of it, but without visiting Tyneham I felt I wasn’t doing the village justice. At Tyneham itself, just a short walk inland from the beautiful coast, the story developed with such vivid ease, even though only the schoolhouse and the church remain; both are standing relics of a lost era. The farmhouses, rectory, shops, post office and cottages have now crumbled through time. The manor house, which for the purposes of my story stands empty and abandoned on the outskirts of the coastal village, was demolished long ago.” “The mystery of Veronica and Freddy is pure creation,” Cook points out, “but there are those closely associated with Tyneham who wanted to know why the manor house was ever demolished at all. Perhaps this is the real mystery of the forgotten village.” Inspiration for characters comes in both human and animal form, as illustrated by Alan Hlad’s novel The Long Flight Home (Kensington US / Hodder UK, 2019) about homing pigeons during WWII. Hlad shares, “I had always been fascinated by true, yet little-known

historical events. The Long Flight Home was inspired by Britain’s darkest days of World War II, and one remarkable discovery — made many years after the war — which remains a mystery.” While conducting research for this book, Hlad says, “I became captivated by a 2012 British news report about the skeletal remains of a war pigeon that was found in a Surrey chimney, decades after the war. Attached to the pigeon’s leg was a coded message, one that has yet to be deciphered by codebreakers around the world, including Britain’s Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ). I find it intriguing that British codebreakers, during World War II, cracked the Nazi Enigma machine and turned the tide of the war. But today, this encrypted message has stumped the world’s best cryptologists, and the pigeon’s message remains a secret.” Initially, Hlad says, “I knew little about pigeon fanciers or the heroism of their war pigeons. I’d assumed, due to technological advances in communication, that war pigeons did not serve in great numbers after the First World War. But during my fact-finding, I was surprised to learn that homing pigeons were used extensively in World War II. In fact, the National Pigeon Service, a volunteer civilian organization in Britain, delivered over 200,000 war pigeons to British services between 1939 and 1945. Source Columba was the actual code name for air-dropping 16,000 homing pigeons in German-occupied France and the Netherlands as a method for locals to provide intelligence to Britain.” Hlad wonders: “What is written on the indecipherable message, carried by the war pigeon that was found in the Surrey chimney? Maybe it contains information about Operation Sea Lion, codename for Hitler’s plan to invade Britain. Perhaps it is a last-ditch communication from a lone British soldier, trapped behind enemy lines. Or, like The Long Flight Home, the encrypted note is far more than military intelligence. Until the code is broken, I like to believe that the message will someday reveal — despite the tragedy of war — that hope is never truly lost.” Alec Marsh says, “I love reading a gripping thriller, a page-turner that has integrity of character and setting, and that, ultimately was what I set out to achieve, long before I had the characters or particulars of the book that became Rule Britannia (Accent Press, 2019) in place.” Marsh drew his factual inspiration for Rule Britannia from, he explains, “one of the many insights of Martin Pugh’s history of fascism between the wars in Britain, Hurrah for the Blackshirts. In the part of his at times alarming history where he touches on the Abdication Crisis of 1936, Pugh reveals that a fascist-leaning Conservative rump in Parliament

was in favour of the King accepting the resignation of prime minister Stanley Baldwin on the issue of the King’s marrying twice-divorced Wallis Simpson (meaning a constitutional crisis since the leader of the opposition, Clement Attlee, had already indicated that he would not serve). Instead, they wanted him to stay on, and for a minority, right-wing ‘king’s party’ to assume power. Given Edward VIII’s sympathies, it’s intriguing to consider the impact on world affairs that this might have had. The action of Rule Britannia unfolds in the closing days of the Abdication Crisis and touches on these themes and the wider implications.” Marsh aimed at emulating, he says, “novels such as The Thirty-Nine Steps, Stamboul Train and Rogue Male, and to create a light thriller that delivered the excitement and dramatic action of Fleming with the enjoyable characterisation of Wodehouse. With its protagonists Ernest Drabble – a left-leaning professor of history at Sydney Sussex, Cambridge and amateur mountaineer – and Percival Harris, a gossip columnist plying his trade on one of the London newspapers – what I’ve set out to create is an enjoyable but at the same time thoughtprovoking ‘entertainment’ in the spirit that Graham Greene meant it.” From the heroic homing pigeons, whose efforts have been commemorated in an exhibition at Bletchley Park (https:// bletchleypark.org.uk/) to Jane Austen’s Charlotte Collins, the characters brought to life by Cook, Greeley, Hlad and Marsh are destined to provide readers with tantalizing insights into the historical periods and social conventions of the times in which they lived.

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 lovers of historical fiction.

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

HISTORY & FILM The Rehabilitation of Mary Stuart

A conundrum: for 2018’s Mary Queen of Scots, how does one avoid a History & Film that won’t be perceived as one long torrent of abuse? Perhaps begin with historical perspective, as a sort of disclaimer. From diversity to LGBTQ+ to #metoo/Time’s Up to Trump and more, the film ticks every currently trending box with a lack of subtlety that’s a wonder to behold, and problematic for a film ostensibly set in the 16th century. Discussion of historical perspective, however, risks what film critics love to dismiss as pedantry – as if a film supposedly based on historical persons and events cannot be evaluated on historicity. This is entertainment. Some critics labeled the film refreshing as “history porn for the Instagram generation”1 and “enjoyably anachronistic.”2 The opposing view: that the film’s “bizarre, ahistorical reads married with the intermittent stabs at a boardroom’s idea of millennial values…render Mary a kind of nothing of a film.”3 Yet I would posit that it merits examination as the present endpoint on a chronological continuum charting Hollywood’s rehabilitation of the historical Mary Stuart. Celluloid fascination with her dates back to 1895, when Thomas Edison made an 18-second film showing her beheading. Edison’s offering may be the only one that doesn’t devote significant screen time to Elizabeth I. Comparison between the two women is inevitable: both queens in their own right, less than a decade apart in age, who together ruled two kingdoms on a single island. Their familial bond guaranteed rivalry – sharing a bloodline equals a claim to the same throne. Historians and, at this point, filmmakers have examined Elizabeth from every possible angle, and she certainly has her detractors. Yet even her staunchest critics admit that, considered as a whole, her reign was a success. Despite the desire to now portray Mary as a heroine, not even Hollywood has been brave enough to make that claim for the Queen of Scots. Depicting Mary Stuart heroically is a relatively recent and revisionist phenomenon. If Mary has historically been defined by comparison with Elizabeth, then she has been found wanting as the rival of a woman with great intellect, strength of will, and proficiency as a ruler. Mary has traditionally been viewed as the opposite: weak, incapable, and driven by selfish passions, which ultimately destroyed her. Altering this view of her on film began in 1936 with Mary of Scotland, starring Katharine Hepburn. Mary of Scotland is a visual lovesong to Hepburn; she and its director, John Ford, were rumored to be romantically involved. The cinematography highlights Hepburn’s face with a beatific radiance 6

COLUMNS | Issue 90, November 2019

as she looks heavenward and her eyes shine with tears. The Catholic Ford, in a manner the historical Mary would doubtless have relished, renders the Scottish queen as a kind of beautiful martyr. His Mary is a godly woman, and one beset on all sides. Mary prays for God to “counsel my heart, guide my steps…that I may rule with piety and wisdom.” She has no desire for the effeminate Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (“I shall marry no one!” she fervently exclaims). This is a far cry from the historical woman who, infatuated, disdained papal dispensation and barreled into the matrimonial state with Darnley; her third marriage would be even more precipitous. As heroine, this Mary cannot evince such questionable judgment. The widowed queen marries Darnley only when forced, and thereafter patiently endures his insulting behavior. She is not involved in his eventual murder, nor is the Earl of Bothwell, her protector. Mary and Bothwell share a pure love, so neither must be implicated in wrongdoing. This extends even to the plotting against Elizabeth that results in Mary’s execution. Mary is entirely innocent. She defers to the strongest man, is moral, domestic, and maternal. “It is not in my nature to play politics,” she haughtily declares. Politics is a man’s game, and a duplicitous one, so Mary will have none of it. Elizabeth (Florence Eldridge) is adept at this game, garnering Mary’s contempt; Mary compares her with Pontius Pilate, placing herself in the role of the persecuted Christ. Elizabeth says to Mary at their face-to-face meeting (a lapse of historicity none of these films resists): “I see now why men love you.” Mary’s response? “You’re not even a woman.” Femininity and its corollary, worthiness to be loved, is paramount. Strength and capability are unattractive. By the film’s end, a highly romanticized Mary has been canonized, “winning” the rivalry somehow (“Still, still I win!” she crows to Elizabeth). Though she has lost her kingdom and is about to do the same with her head, her son will sit on Elizabeth’s throne, and she is a “real” woman, worthy of a man’s love…unlike the political and masculine Elizabeth. Fast-forward to 1971 for the next film version of Mary’s life: Mary, Queen of Scots, with Vanessa Redgrave. One might think the rise of feminism would spawn a Mary who is more than just a tragic, romantic figure. Perhaps now she will play the political game, giving viewers a shrewd and powerful woman, one who “loses” only when overwhelmed by insurmountable odds. But no, this Mary is composed entirely of rushing sensibility – she is ecstatically in love, desperately despairing, murderously angry. Like Hepburn’s Mary before her, she constantly looks to the men around her – her Guise uncles, her half-brother the Earl of Moray, her secretary David Riccio, Bothwell. Her only “policy” is marriage (“I will marry quickly!”), and others note how her “blood is hot.” This hormone-addled Mary constantly makes the impulsive, emotional decision over the rational one, and the result is always disaster. She is incredibly silly. Elizabeth (the formidable Glenda Jackson) can accurately predict Mary’s every move, calculating the opposite of what it would be wise to do in any given situation to divine the path that Mary will take. When they meet in person (yes, again), and Mary behaves like a petulant child, Elizabeth admonishes, “You have my pity, madam…knowing you to be without wisdom, discretion, or any of the attributes of a queen. I see you have learned nothing.” Yet, there are the stirrings of agency here, and the sexual freedom touted by women’s liberation. When Darnley threatens to rape Mary, Mary handles the situation – she dismisses Bothwell and drugs Darnley’s wine, then has sex with Bothwell as Darnley lies insensate in the next room. She is a more than willing participant in adultery, conspiracy, and murder. When Moray imprisons her lover, Mary

hysterically attacks him with a knife. She attempts to strike Elizabeth with her riding crop. The outlets for her self-expression are far from laudable (think ill-behaved toddler), but at least this Mary is not passive. She's a master of self-delusion, rationalizing it’s a mercy to murder her “degenerate,” venereal disease-ridden husband. Mary has catapulted to the other end of the spectrum: no longer a romanticized saint, she has been completely humanized. Hollywood thought 1970s audiences didn’t want a morally perfect heroine; Mary’s massive flaws are meant to make her more relatable. Yet it is difficult to sympathize with a Mary who is essentially a spoiled and none-too-bright child, with all wounds self-inflicted. Enter Saoirse Ronan as Mary Stuart for 2018’s version of a “relatable” queen. For all Mary Queen of Scots’ myriad defects, it is the first film to eschew portraying Mary as helplessly flailing in a court full of raptors. Yes, her court (and Elizabeth’s) is full of deceitful, power-hungry men – a point ceaselessly beleaguered in the film. Finally, there’s a Mary with the poise and strength of character to face-off with them. This role is usually reserved for Elizabeth, but this Elizabeth (Margot Robbie) is hamstrung by mental instability brought on by the successes of her younger, fairer cousin. Mary is a composed ruler who plays the English ambassador for a fool. Boundlessly open-minded, it is compassion that contributes to her downfall. Riccio, gay and gender non-conforming, dons Mary’s dresses and jewelry, and she welcomes him as a “sister,” encouraging him to simply be himself. Mary is ripe for marriage and motherhood; the viewer is treated to close-ups of her menstrual blood. Darnley’s silver tongue wins Mary’s hand (literally, her attraction to him seems based entirely on one instance of cunnilingus). It is Riccio, however, whom Darnley beds on his wedding night. When Mary discovers them, she assures Riccio he needs no forgiveness, for “you have not betrayed your nature.” She is again a saint – by the Instagram generation’s standards rather than the Roman Catholic Church – and this extends to her treacherous half-brother, the Earl of Moray. She reminisces about their childhood closeness, temporally implausible perhaps (he was eleven years her senior and she left Scotland at five), but showcasing yet again her depth of feeling. When Moray rebels, the staging of his defeat is an exemplar of the ways Mary is elevated. Moray’s historical rebellion earned the appellation “chaseabout raid” since the forces moved across Scotland without decisive engagement. The film instead has Moray’s army trapped so Mary can roundly thrash him. Mary looks down from the high ground, meets Moray’s eyes, and spares him. As the superior tactician, she has outmaneuvered him and she inspires devotion in her army, but she chooses to show mercy. Moray will use it against her. As for Mary and Elizabeth, they are destined from the beginning to be close friends, sisters even, the realities of 16th-century politics be damned. It is simply that all their good intentions are subverted by misogyny, the evil machinations of wealthy white (and black, given the film’s commitment to diversity) men. “Men are so cruel,” Elizabeth sighs. One particular standout is the always-repugnant John Knox, whose sole purpose seems to be leading pounding chants about Mary from his pulpit meant to reference Trump rally cries of “lock her up.” Bothwell brutally forces himself on Mary; Darnley’s only marital relations with her occur in similar vein. These are the types of males Mary is pitted against. As a woman and fellow queen, surely Elizabeth sympathizes? All she needs do is acknowledge Mary as her superior and her heir, and both will live happily ever after as the true sisters they have always been. For all this supposed solidarity, it’s as if the film has a split personality where feminism is concerned. The historical Elizabeth is easily transformed into a highly effective feminist bannerwoman; the historical Mary is problematic in such a role, which causes difficulties

for this film. To favor Mary as heroine, her characterization must be far removed from the historical woman, but also, Elizabeth must be significantly depreciated. How to accomplish this? Much is made of Elizabeth’s lack of sexual activity and especially her aging and disfiguration by smallpox; she’s also given a frenetic baby mania. Mary, by contrast, is perpetually young and beautiful, and this is the main point of contention – not that she openly decries Elizabeth as an inferior or presses a claim to her throne that endangers Elizabeth's life. Elizabeth and Mary are ranged against each other not in the realm of intellect or strength of character or even the power struggle for a kingdom, but rather the age-old conflict of who’s the prettiest, and who gets to be glowing mother to a darling moppet. Not much, it seems, has changed since 1936. Much concerning the historical Mary remains unclear, as historians reexamine and reinterpret primary documents. What part, if any, did she play in Darnley’s assassination? What was the nature of her relationship with Bothwell? Was she a tireless if inept plotter...or a helpless victim guilty only of bad judgment? Historians are hardpressed to agree on the “real” Mary; it would be nonsensical to expect as much of Hollywood. So far on the spectrum, there is Mary the Saint, Mary the Sinner, and Mary the Pop Culture Yaassss Queen. Though there isn’t word count enough to examine them here, there are other shades on this spectrum found in Elizabeth films – Mary often appears prominently. So if you consider all these interpretations of Mary, Queen of Scots to be inadequate: “Take her as you find her, and rest assured that it won’t be long before Hollywood decides to serve up another new version for mass consumption.”4

REFERENCES 1. Shane Watson. “History Porn for the Instagram Generation.” The Telegraph. 14 December 2018. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/ life/history-porn-instagram-generation/ 2. A.O. Scott. “Mary Queen of Scots Review: Sexy, Spirited, and Almost Convincing.” The New York Times. 6 December 2018. https:// www.nytimes.com/2018/12/06/movies/mary-queen-of-scotsreview.html 3. Emily Yoshida. “Mary Queen of Scots Turns Its Queen into a Generic Underdog Figure.” Vulture. 6 December 2018. https://www. vulture.com/2018/12/mary-queen-of-scots-review.html 4. Steven Reid. “Yes, the New Mary Queen of Scots Film is Inaccurate – But Don’t Worry, Historians Can’t Agree on Her Anyway.” The Independent. 21 January 2019. https://www.independent.co.uk/ voices/mary-queen-scots-film-history-saoirse-ronan-real-truestory-elizabeth-oscars-a8738301.html

WRITTEN BY BETHANY LATHAM Bethany Latham is a professor, librarian, and HNR's Managing Editor. She once watched every extant film version of Elizabeth I's life and wrote a book about it, entitled (imaginatively) Elizabeth I in Film and Televsion (McFarland, 2011).

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HISTORY RHYMES The Function & Importance of Historical Fantasy

to the genre at a young age. One study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology quantifiably demonstrates how reading books like Harry Potter increases tolerance and reduces prejudice.2 The author explains that the fantasy genres are “especially effective in assuaging negative attitudes [toward social issues] because the genre typically doesn’t feature actual populations and thus avoids potential defensiveness and sensitivities around political correctness.”3 Writing fantasy grants authors the creative room to explore sensitive or controversial contemporary issues without triggering readers’ preset ideas and biases. Combine fantasy with the distancing effect overall of any historically set fiction, and readers find a potent mix for examining controversy without building mental barriers. Exploring this mind-opening aspect of historical fantasy with several writers of the genre seemed particularly worthwhile amidst our current social debates. I approached Guy Gavriel Kay, Judith Starkston, Juliet Marillier, Marie Brennan and Roshani Chokshi to get their views on writing historical fantasy that addresses current social issues. The resulting conversations offer an insider’s view of these authors’ approaches regarding emotional engagement with social concerns. When asked how writing historical fantasy allows him to bring current social issues to his readers’ awareness, author Guy Gavriel Kay (A Brightness Long Ago, Berkley Books, 2019) explained:

Within every issue of Historical Novels Review one section of reviews is labeled “Historical Fantasy,” where readers find books like Guy Gavriel Kay’s that introduce magical or supernatural elements into their historical framework. Tolkien is perhaps the most famous writer to have brought the realms of myth and magic into solidly historical contexts. Certainly, one result of this blending of history and fantasy is greater entertainment—escape, if you will. On this subject, Tolkien, in his essay “On Fairy Stories,” wrote: I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which “Escape” is now so often used: a tone for which the uses of the word outside literary criticism give no warrant at all.1 Most of us enjoy escaping through fiction and agree with Tolkien’s embrace of it as a virtue of reading. But, along with providing marvelous exits out of the everyday world, historical fantasy also appeals to so many readers because it is a particularly rich and effective medium to explore current social issues. More than one study shows that the genres of science fiction and fantasy promote deeper empathy in readers who are introduced

FEATURES | Issue 90, November 2019

I have argued for the universalizing effect of deploying the fantastic. Stories and themes from history cannot be read as specific only to a given time and place. Beyond this, I find it important to explore both the “strangeness” of the past and the ways in which people and lives can offer a startling familiarity at times. Among other things, this can erode an a-historical sense that what we are living through is new. Usually it isn’t. As has been said, history may not repeat, but it rhymes. Through historical fantasy, authors highlight issues that continue to concern modern society as well as help readers learn more about a topic. However, as author Judith Starkston (Priestess of Ishana, Bronze Age Books, 2018) noted, “Combining history and fantasy has to be done with care.” She explained that being able to lift readers out of the regular world is liberating for both author and reader. Starkston believes when readers experience a book that draws them into its own world, they tend to leave behind the locked, preconceived notions of how things are and how they ought to be. Incorporating fantastical elements into historical events or people, said Starkston: lets us accept unusual solutions as entirely normal. When I talk about the historic queen who is the model for my main character, people are incredulous that a woman held such power and influence across the ancient Near Eastern world. We harbor a false notion of history as gradually progressive. Things are supposedly better now and worse in the past, but that isn’t accurate. Starkston added that the best way to accomplish this blend of magic with historical accuracy is to adopt “fantastical elements that arise from the beliefs and practices of the period. That the

THIS CAN erode an a-historical sense that what we are living through is new. Usually it isn't. As has been said, history may not repeat, but it rhymes.

Hittites practiced so many rites we would call magical made this especially easy for me—I had only to extend their scope.” Fidelity to history even within the magical creates believable historical fantasy. Incorporating elements of reality that lend themselves well to the use of magic helps to carry readers over the threshold of disbelief and encourages new patterns of thought, precisely the area in which historical fantasy excels. Juliet Marillier (The Harp of Kings, Ace, 2019) also takes a similar approach in her own writing. She stated that her writing has three main purposes: “to teach, to heal and to entertain … Real life challenges (tyranny, cruelty, conflict, flood, famine) might become the dragon, the monster, the fearful place in the dark wood.” Using real-life examples of illness or emotional damage brings such topics front and center while at the same time fostering empathy and an awareness of their causes. The capacity to heal in particular has found a vibrant ally in Marillier. Many of her books deal with themes touching on violence, repression, PTSD, or other issues that Marillier draws from historical fact as well as current events. She highlighted the vital role literature plays: Storytelling is a powerful tool for helping the troubled (and for helping others understand and support them). Many other issues relevant to contemporary society find a place in my books—notably, women dealing with domestic violence or other forms of repression. The voice of those characters, whose stories come from long ago and are touched by the uncanny, still seem to ring true for today’s reader. Seeing in works of historical fantasy topics that are relevant to contemporary society strikes a chord with readers who may be struggling to make sense of the world and current events. Ultimately, it can help bring about hope and healing. Marie Brennan (Turning Darkness into Light, Tor Books, 2019) and Roshani Chokshi (The Gilded Wolves, Wednesday Books, 2019) both discussed the importance of historical fantasy mirroring reality at least tangentially in order to create a believable and relevant world. Brennan stated that historical fantasy “has the advantage of being able to come at a topic from a slantwise angle. It lets us show how various problems have played out in the past—which encourages the reader to think about how things have and haven’t changed, or what alternatives might look like.” Holding up a mirror of our world through the lens of historical fantasy does, indeed, allow authors to look at our own world, society, or beliefs in new ways. By doing so, Brennan goes on to say, showing a world “in the context of a society that’s not the one we currently live in, it can slip its points in under the radar, instead of having to come at them directly.” Chokshi’s position also meshes with Brennan’s in that she finds that historical fantasy “allows me to take an issue and breathe life into it by tangling it up with a character’s emotional stakes and placing it beneath a lens of magic. A story is nothing if it evokes no feeling. I want to make my readers feel even as they’re thinking, and hopefully that inspires my audience to research an issue further.” Inspiring feelings and igniting curiosity in a topic seems to be a unifying goal for these authors, even if they know their role is not to solve the questions their works may pose. Rather, they seek to “make it a present question in the minds of my readers,” as Chokshi explains. This is an important point because authors have the platform to effect change and influence

society. Consider the changes that were inspired by novels such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Jungle, or Beloved. What we read has a definite impact on what we think, and authors have the power to influence societies. Other influential authors, including Zen Cho (The True Queen, Ace, 2019), Mary Robinette Kowal (The Fated Sky, Tor, 2018), and Nalo Hopkinson (The Salt Roads, Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy, 2015), impact the way readers think by incorporating an abundance of diversity in their novels. Their novels have a focus on the strength of women, the second-class role of women and people of color, sexism, and narratives of freedom, highlighted beautifully by fantasy/speculative elements. On her website, Hopkinson states that certain genres “...allow us to step outside our known reality and examine that reality from a different perspective. They do so by creating imaginary worlds as lenses through which we can view our world.”4 Historical fantasy holds a striking place in literature through its universalizing effect to allow readers to internalize new views on social issues and to understand the ways in which history “rhymes.”

REFERENCES 1. JRR Tolkien

"On Fairy Stories.” In Essays Presented to Charles Williams, compiled by CS Lewis, Oxford University Press, 1947.

2. Loris Vezzali et al.

"The Greatest Magic of Harry Potter: Reducing Prejudice.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 45, 2015, pp. 105-121.

3. Bret Stetka

“Why Everyone Should Read Harry Potter.” Scientific American, 9 Sept 2014.

4. Nalo Hopkinson

“FAQ.” Nalo Hopkinson, Author, 2019.

WRITTEN BY KRISTEN MCQUINN Kristen McQuinn is a medievalist, independent scholar, and author of short stories, including one in the 2016 Star Trek Strange New Worlds anthology. She is writing her first nonfiction book about the wives of King John. Follow her @KristenMcQuinn.

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VOICES OF THE PAST S.G. MacLean Discusses the Art of Mastering Your Research

Shona kindly agreed to discuss some aspects of her writing with the HNS. Shona has a PhD in a subject covering the period of her fiction, and in elaborating the appeal of this time, she says: My undergraduate studies at Aberdeen were primarily in Medieval History, but mainly because of availability of sources, for my PhD I moved to the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. My interest was, broadly, the education of the laity in late sixteenth- and early seventeenthcentury Scotland and how and why it was funded. This may sound rather dry, but it involved many hundreds of hours poring over contemporary diaries, letter-books, sermons, and church and burgh records of almost every description. The city of Aberdeen has an astonishingly well-preserved set of town records dating from the thirteenth century, and from the later sixteenth century they are primarily in Scots, and written in amazingly colourful and evocative language. You can practically hear the tensions, petty jealousies, animosities and anxieties of our seventeenth-century forbears – they speak for themselves, and have a great deal to say. Listening to the voices of the past in this way made me see the people of the past as real flesh-and-blood characters whose concerns were as urgent to them as ours are to us. I think it is in the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that the middling sort and even the lower orders start to make their voices heard, as individuals as well as groups. The results of this are plain to see in the great conflagrations of the middle decades of the seventeenth century in Scotland and England. I find this period the most natural to write about because I almost feel I know these people.

S.G. (Shona) MacLean has recently published the fourth in the popular Damian Seeker series, set in seventeenth-century Britain, and the review of The Bear Pit (Quercus 2019) can be found in HNR 89, August 2019. Her books have been well received within the historical fiction community; Lisa Redmond writes in her review that “MacLean is a writer of immense talent who seems to be getting better with each book. The sights, sounds and smells of seventeenthcentury London are brought vividly to life, and the author’s gift for creating varied and interesting characters make this a genuinely gripping historical mystery.” Before Damian Seeker came along, there were four Alexander Seaton novels published between 2008 and 2013, featuring the eponymous early seventeenth-century disgraced kirk minister who becomes a teacher. Again, these were read and reviewed with high plaudits for the quality of the writing, the plot, and the excellent historical contexts. In reviewing Crucible of Secrets (HNR 58, November 2011) Gordon O’Sullivan has the following assessment: “The period detail is excellent; the Aberdeen of the time is richly imagined, and the dialogue is terrifically subtle. The characterisation too is accomplished with both major and minor characters clearly and enjoyably distinct.”

FEATURES | Issue 90, November 2019

A typical flaw of the historical novelist is that he or she cannot resist spilling vast quantities of hard-fought research into the text; with an academic distinction in the field, resisting freighting the stories with all kinds of learning is, Shona says: Probably one of the most difficult balances for an historical novelist to achieve, and it doesn’t come naturally – it’s something I think I’ve learned to get better at over time. Sometimes to readers it might appear that the writer is showing off by parading a lot of research on the page, but actually, I think it’s a symptom of something else – a lack of confidence, a fear of being ‘called out’ for not knowing your stuff, for being a fraud. In the early days for me though, when my period of intense academic research was still very fresh for me, it mattered a lot to me that my readers should understand the context of what I was writing, with all its nuances. Over time, with (quite a few!) gentle nudges from my editor, I have learned to trust more in the momentum of the story and the sparks it can set off in the reader’s imagination. I’ve learned that the key thing is for the writer to master her research and be able to write with a degree of confidence in her material to the extent that the reader has confidence in what’s on the page. ‘Know it, don’t show it’ is probably the simplest way of putting it. A big difference between academic writing and fiction is that in the

YOU CAN PRACTICALLY HEAR the tensions, petty jealousies, animosities and anxieties of our seventeenth-century forbears – they speak for themselves, and have a great deal to say. former most writers know exactly where they are going and how they get there before drafting an article or book. Fiction can allow the author a little more flexibility to deviate from the route, but Shona explains: Always…I plan in advance – I have a loose chapter structure of perhaps 8-10 headings. When I start out, the setting comes first, and I usually know who is going to be killed, but not always why or by whom. This comes as I gradually get to know the characters – I find that some work really well, whilst others never rise off the page. I go through a structural check at about a third of the way through the book – I look at which characters are working, which aren’t and what the plot really seems to be about (which is not always what I thought it was going to be about) and then again about two thirds of the way, to make sure I haven’t left any threads hanging or that no characters have gone rogue on me. Having said that, I am currently just over a third of the way through The Man from Bruges and in a state of panic about how I am going to get everyone to the end! In discussing influences on Shona’s writing career, the obvious starting point is her uncle, Alistair MacLean – a writer of bestselling thrillers mostly from the late 1950s to 1970s, many of which were adapted for film. Indeed, as Shona says: It would be disingenuous to say anything other than Uncle Alistair, although possibly not in the ways people might imagine. The biggest thing was the knowledge that someone from my background could do it. My grandfather, Alistair’s father, had been a kirk minister, but also a gifted writer, and had several devotional works published when Alistair was a boy, so there has always been a family pride in writing. More than that though, there is the love of the story. I have heard many claims made for novels, usually by novelists, but to be honest, while I want to write as high quality work as I can, what matters most to me is the story, and Uncle Alistair’s career emphasised for me that people love a good story. Certainly until their father’s early death, my father and his brothers lived what appears at a distance to be a classic ‘Boy’s Own’ childhood, and they read all the great Scottish adventure writers – Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, John Buchan. I’d been published for 10 years by the time I first read any Scott, but I’d already realised that I was trying to write books that I hoped my Dad and his brothers would have liked. More and more I am coming to think that there is a breed of writer who’ll never quite get out of Scott’s long shadow, and, fashionable or not, I’m happy to be one of them. So, there you go: Alistair MacLean, and Sir Walter Scott. Apart from the family influence, Shona has a number of favourite contemporary historical fiction books: “Ian Pears’ An Instance of the Fingerpost; Douglas Galbraith’s The Rising Sun and any of James Robertson’s historical novels. I’m quite often sent historical novels for comment, and I’d say S.W. Perry is the name to look out for in historical crime.”

Western world plunged into a variety of identity crises, there’s much scope for the writer of fiction to examine these “interesting times.” Shona is keen to one day try her hand at contemporary fiction. A few years ago I was practically burning with an idea for a contemporary novel set around the Tarbat peninsula in Easter Ross, where I spent much of my childhood. I have a fairly full synopsis and some sample chapters. My editor’s response was, ‘That’s lovely, Shona, but you’re an historical crime writer.’ Ho hum. Once I have finished the current book (also set in the seventeenth century), I will be moving up to the early nineteenth century for a novel set in the town of Cromarty, on the Black Isle. There may or may not be a murder…. There’s good news for Shona’s readers in that she hasn’t yet tired of her series characters, and hasn’t been tempted, say, to push Alexander Seaton or Damian Seeker off the Reichenbach Falls. As she says: I can’t give too much away without putting in spoilers for book 4, but anyone who reads to the end of The Bear Pit will see why. Yes, though, I do find it difficult to carry a character over several books. Nevertheless, particularly in Scotland, readers are always asking me if there are going to be any more Alexander Seaton books. I do feel I have some unfinished business with him – the 1640s in Scotland were spectacularly eventful, and I feel I owe it to people who’ve invested in the first four books to finish his story. I hope to get to that in about two years’ time! Many thanks to Shona for providing some fascinating insights into her writing historical fiction. We look forward to witnessing the further exploits of Damian Seeker.

WRITTEN BY DOUGLAS KEMP Douglas Kemp is one of the UK team of review editors for the Historical Novels Review.

With the United Kingdom and much of the liberal democratic

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INNOCENT ABROAD BY GILL PAUL A first-timer's experience at the HNS Maryland conference The adventure began for me with a day that lasted 23 hours, from wakening in London to falling into a gigantic bed in the Gaylord Resort hotel. Along the way I picked up Hazel Gaynor in Dublin, chatted with her non-stop through an eight-hour flight, sat in DC traffic, got into a lift (sorry, elevator) with a woman wearing a bustle so wide the doors would hardly close, drank wine, desperately tried to memorize new name/face combinations (not helped by the ones wearing woad), drank more wine, ate something with crab in it, and got caught in a torrential downpour. Next morning, I turned up at the 8am “State of Historical Fiction” panel, an eager student with notebook and pen, and straight away it became apparent that I was in a foreign land, a land where they have “critique partners”, “sensitivity readers” and “koffee klatches” – and they don’t like “info dumps.” Lots more UK/US differences emerged. The panel decreed that historical fiction readers don’t want books set more than 500 years ago and they don’t want male protagonists – but in the UK, Ben Kane and Bernard Cornwell regularly top the bestseller lists with those very things. The panel said the market for World War I and II stories is crowded, but in the UK novels set during the Blitz are perennially popular – like AJ Pearce’s Dear Mrs Bird (Picador, 2018) – as are “saga” wartime novels. The trend for fictionalized biographies of famous historical characters is passing, they opined (Damn! Just written one!), but there is a place for fictional characters observing real people and events from the side lines. In the UK, though, we love our Tudor and Stuart stories narrated by the key players: Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory go from strength to strength. The book club market in the US is leading to the popularity of shorter novels, so all members have time to read them. Book clubs have less influence in the UK, but Trapeze editorial director Phoebe Morgan tells me: “Science fiction and fantasy novels tend to veer higher but commercial historical fiction is shorter now, perhaps 90–100K.” I attended loads of talks and koffee klatches [klatch: an informal social gathering at which coffee is served] and spoke on a panel about tragic heroines. Overall, the audiences seemed more interested in craft tips. Most attendees are either published or unpublished novelists themselves, and they wanted the elusive golden key to writing bestsellers. Lots of speakers were incredibly generous in giving away their trade secrets, and I saw pens scribbling fast. It created a lovely atmosphere of mutual support and community spirit. One theme that came up time and again in the questions after panels involved cultural appropriation. This surprised me, because surely there’s no way round it when you are writing history? I’ve put myself in the shoes of a Russian cavalry officer and a steward on the Titanic, as well as an 1850s nurse in the Crimea. But the North American experience of mass immigration and slavery brings with it tensions that are still being resolved, Heather Webb explained. 12

FEATURES | Issue 90, November 2019

She said she has been surprised when travelling in Europe and Latin America to find how little they strive for cohesion. Personally, I think we’re just behind the times, and that “sensitivity readers” will arrive on our shores before long. What do you do if one of your characters behaves in a way that was acceptable in the historical period you’re writing about but is totally unacceptable in the #MeToo era? Do you let them get away with misogyny? Homophobia? Any form of racism? These were, of course, historical facts of life, but many authors said they would try to comment on the behaviour somehow, either through the voice of another character or in a historical afterword. Afterwords were judged an All Round Good Thing. I would still be unpublished if I’d had to pitch to get a contract. I know I would blush, stammer and forget my characters’ names. Altogether more terrifying were the Cold Reads sessions, the literary equivalent of The X Factor. Authors submitted the first two pages of their mss to be read out loud in front of an agents/editors panel. One of the experts would stop the reader at the point she lost interest, and then explain why. Julianne Douglas told me: “Most readings were halted because of extensive info dumps or something confusing in the manuscript – i.e., too many characters introduced too quickly or stakes not clearly defined. It was a marvellous, though nerve-wracking, way to see what works and what doesn’t in a novel’s opening pages and how short a time authors have to catch a professional’s attention.” Thankfully, Julianne’s pages passed muster, and she was shaking with relief when I saw her afterwards. Everyone’s favourite talk was by the funny and inspiring Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and she was responsible for the catchphrase on all lips: “MSU”. Readers choose historical fiction looking for a good story, she said, so do your research but don’t be ruled by it. The time comes when you have to put it aside and Make Shit Up. It’s a tip that works on either side of the Atlantic, and since then I’ve adopted it as my motto for life. Thanks to all who came to Maryland! You were magnificent! Gill Paul’s latest novel, The Lost Daughter, about Maria, the third Romanov daughter, is published by William Morrow.

TIPS FOR ATTENDEES • Get involved: pitch your own panels and talks; sign up to be a mentor; be brave enough to submit your ms for a Cold Reads session; or volunteer to help. You’ll meet many more people that way. • Take ARCs of your next novel to give away to other authors in the hope they will blurb it for you. • Take Instagram selfies with fellow authors; readers love seeing their favourite novelists get together. • Take plenty of business cards with all your social media handles. • Dress up, especially for the banquet and ball; there were some seriously glitzy outfits and killer shoes on display (name-checking Donna Russo). • Take bookplates; the bookshop will stick them on any leftover stock. • Follow up those contacts as soon as you get home. • Finally, don’t miss Kate Quinn’s conference round-up, which she traditionally posts on Facebook. It’s hysterical!

MARLEY LIVES AGAIN BY SAMANTHA SILVA What Dickens left out Jacob Marley is not dead, to begin with. He’s very much alive, and he’s the force of nature that shapes the life and fortunes of a young Ebenezer Scrooge in Jon Clinch’s boldly imagined novel, Marley (Atria, 2019). The book gives us what Dickens did not: a rich, layered backstory for one of the most notorious partnerships in all of literature – Scrooge and Marley. We know how their story ends, revisit it, some of us, once a year, to reconnect with what matters and expunge our own inner-Scrooge, but we know almost nothing of its beginnings, what sets in motion the second most treasured tale of redemption and Christmas, well, since the original. “Is there a story in the English language better loved, more widely known, or more deeply ingrained in our collective consciousness? I can’t think of one,” says Clinch about his inspiration for the book. “We know it all, and yet we don’t know it fully — because like all novels, A Christmas Carol is a fraud, an illusion, a thing full of holes. When we meet Marley’s ghost, he’s no longer the man Scrooge knew in life. We know they were partners in a warehouse and a bookkeeping operation, that he was greedy and cruel, and that his afterlife is a never-ending torment. We know he wants to give Scrooge a chance to alter his character and fate. I wondered how he died — and why he came back, in spectral form, to save Scrooge’s soul. He’s undergone some sort of dramatic transformation, some profound change of character — but what was it, exactly? It’s what Dickens left out that sparked my imagination.” As in Finn, Clinch's highly acclaimed novel which brings Huck Finn’s mysterious father to life, Clinch takes the scant details Dickens offers up and weaves a world that is both deep and wide. He gives us the psychological underpinnings of Scrooge and Marley’s early days at Professor Drabb’s Academy for Boys, as grim as it sounds, where young Jacob molds a more vulnerable, if already hard-hearted Ebenezer to his purposes. Scrooge is preternaturally good with numbers; Marley is a master of greed, cruelty, and deception. Clinch follows their friendship-cum-partnership across a sweeping

canvas of avarice and corruption in early 19th-century England, rife with the evils of the British Empire, most pronounced, the slave trade, outlawed by Britain in 1807. Jacob Marley finds a way to go around the law, and makes Scrooge his unwitting co-conspirator. That’s when love enters, in the form of Belle, whom we recognize as the fiancée Scrooge had and lost. Clinch brings her to vivid life, as he does Scrooge’s sister Fan, makes them whole, fully-realized characters. “Although they had only limited roles in A Christmas Carol, Belle and Fan were essential to Marley. They fired the narrative and clarified the roles of other characters. Dickens gave us the release of Scrooge from his engagement on account of his unremitting greed. From this act we can gather that he must have been a different man in earlier days, and build a narrative of his journey through life. He changed somewhere along the line. But how? And why?” “Perhaps, I thought, Marley had something to do with it. What if Fan is to Marley as Belle is to Scrooge? And what if Fan had another suitor — a better man than Marley, one whose interests conflicted dramatically with his? And so the story takes on urgency and power.” Clinch gives Belle and Fan the task of trying to find the moral center of the men they love. Everything will hinge on this, the dramatic tension at the core of the novel: Will love be enough to transform them? “We know that Scrooge represents, practically to the exclusion of any other identifiable personality trait, the very essence of greed. And yet we believe in him. And yet he has endured,” says Clinch. “As a modern reader and a modern writer, I brought tools that were very different from those available to Dickens. I needed to respect the world and the characters he had so generously given us, and I wanted to develop the sense of living, breathing reality that even his most outlandish characters bring with them, and I hoped to incorporate in my own way some of his deeply personal social concerns. The result, if I got it right, would be a kind of psychological novel that was incipient in the materials of A Christmas Carol, but which Dickens never developed.” While Clinch immerses us in a thoroughly Dickensian London, the novel reads like a compendium of current ills: multiple accounts, offshore banks, shell companies, fake identities, and human trafficking. “As antique as Marley’s world is,” he says, “the book is in many ways extremely modern. These issues are everywhere right now, and they were thick in the air during the months I spent writing the book. It was inevitable that they would influence the story — and that, I think, is as it should be. We never write in a vacuum. Dickens certainly didn’t. His compassion for the poor, the hungry,

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the downtrodden and the hopeless drove his novels every bit as much as his bottomless imagination and endless narrative gifts. For me to have taken any other course would have been a betrayal of him and his work.” Far from a betrayal, the novel is a brilliant sleight of hand, and echoes, in the end, Dickens’ paramount theme. “There is definitely redemption in Marley, although it comes late and only after considerable difficulty,” says Clinch. “Marley’s transformation is slow and his awakening is last-minute. I would describe it as an epiphany, which is an old-fashioned and therefore appropriate thing to have built this particular novel around. In the end, love, as ever, works its magic. Love for a woman, love for a child. These things prove if not more powerful than his native wickedness, then at least its equal.” Samantha Silva is an author and screenwriter. Her first novel, Mr. Dickens and His Carol, was published in 2017. Her short story, “Leo in Venice,” appeared in the September 2019 issue of One Story.

HIDDEN HISTORY BY CHARLOTTE WIGHTWICK Sexual violence against women & survivor's guilt in World War II There are many stories about World War II: those of horror from the concentration camps, of the heroism of the men and women who fought in battles or as spies behind enemy lines, and of fortitude in the face of deprivation and disaster on the home front. Mary Chamberlain’s new novel, The Hidden (Oneworld, 2019), explores a different war. She focuses on three themes: the occupation of the Channel Islands, sexual violence against women captives at the hands of the Nazis, and the guilt and shame that many people took with them out of the war and into their peacetime lives. As she says about the first of these three:

survivor who, she says, “had been approached to enter a ‘Muttiheim’ (brothel) – her good looks and complexion had earmarked her as ‘Aryan’ even though – and this is the irony – she was Jewish.” The other was the experience of a friend’s cousin, Marianne Grunfeld, who, Chamberlain notes, “had escaped Germany, taken a job in Guernsey and was trapped there when the Germans invaded. She lived and worked openly until she was betrayed as Jewish, and deported in 1942 where she died in, or on the way to, Auschwitz.” Chamberlain goes on to say, "I wanted to talk about these brave and gorgeous women, to breathe life into them, and to talk about women and war because there are many stories, still, which play down or ignore the gender dimension of conflict." One of the problems that the author had in doing this was the lack of direct evidence. As she explains: Sexual violence was not considered a crime against humanity as defined in 1945, so, unlike other war crimes, the evidence was not collected. Incidental evidence, however, revealed that women prisoners were used in brothels in the Nazi concentration camps, and kidnapped into prostitution in Eastern Europe. The women who had been trafficked during the war did not speak out after – out of shame or fear, or both. They left no record, in terms of memoir, or testimony, much like the women today who are trafficked across continents to work in the brothels of Europe and elsewhere… I turned to other published accounts to understand how women in the brothels survived …What rang through loud and clear was the ability of the women to switch off, to disassociate from the abuse. Whatever the strategy, the result was dehumanisation. I had to try and convey that, along with despair and the oppressive reality of being captive, through my imagination. Dora’s experiences at the hands of the Nazis leave her traumatised, and when peace comes she is treated roughly by the islanders for ‘collaboration.’ The novel’s other protagonist, Joe, is also shattered and guilt-ridden from his war-time experience. As the author says: All of this drove them to repress their experiences, a repression reflected in a wider, public silence around the occupation and the individual traumas of those caught under it. We now know how long trauma can last, how viciously it can eat into an individual’s memory, self-esteem and personality. Certainly, after the war, the effects of post-traumatic stress were poorly understood, if at all, and were thought in any case to apply only to battlefield stress, not to those held captive, let alone women.

The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied during the Second World War. Although there have been two recent films set in the Channel Islands during this period (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and Another Mother’s Son), the occupation is not widely discussed, or even much known about, and rarely mentioned within the current, popular narrative of plucky little Britain standing up to, and alone against, the behemoth of Nazi Germany. I wanted to tell a different version of war, and of our occupation, less driven by the spirits of Dunkirk and the Blitz, more akin to a common European experience.

With its themes of trauma, sexual violence and betrayal, Chamberlain’s novel could have been bleak. But these stories are something conventional academic history does not always show us. Chamberlain notes:

The novel is based around two main characters: Dora, who in 1942 is a young Jewish nurse who has already fled the Nazis once when Jersey is occupied by the Germans, and Joe, a Catholic priest struggling with his calling. It follows them over two distinct time periods, during the war itself and then in the 1980s, when a young German woman struggling to come to terms with the legacy of the war comes into their lives and forces them to revisit their past.

I could have told the story of women working as forced prostitutes from archive sources, if they exist. I could have told the story of the abused slave labourers. But to tell the story of one such woman and one such man, to invest in them the fears and hopes, the panoply of bruised, desperate emotions, the strategies for survival and the costs of silence, offers a version that a historian could not dare to pursue.

Chamberlain was inspired to write Dora’s character after hearing two true-life experiences. One was that of a concentration camp

The Hidden deals with difficult, sometimes harrowing subject matter. It reminds us that the wounds made by war cause pain long after

FEATURES | Issue 90, November 2019

RENDERING CLASS & POSITION, in the author’s words, a way of being...required him to develop a facility across the spectrum of language of the period. the last guns have been fired, but also that there are many types of heroism – and they too are a legacy which should not be forgotten.

colour, and idiomatic features.

Meek’s research became more direct and subjective when he walked the Charlotte Wightwick is a prize-winning writer who has written for route he had his characters take, at the same time of year they made the History Girls blog, as well as articles and reviews for the HNS. their journey, covering the 110 miles from the Cotswolds to the coast, avoiding roads and experiencing that part of the English landscape as “a green desert.” The slowness of his pace gave him a new perspective on the world through which he walked, his visits to the churches in the older villages he passed through yielding signs of the “near-apocalypse” of the period: the lists of priests showed a high turnover in 1348 as death took so many of their number.

GOING FAR BY KAREN HOWLETT

James Meek's pertinent findings from a medieval journey ‘When I met you on the road near my home, I thought me the qualm was a tale,’ said Will. ‘I ne thought me the world would end in summer, under the sun in a clear sky, with the leaves new and the birds in song and lovingAndrew in the hedgerow.’ James Meek’s new novel, To Calais, In Ordinary Time, was nine years in the planning and six in the writing: “I went far to bring this one back,” he says. A visit to Chartres took his imagination into the Middle Ages, and then a chance find of a discarded book on the Black Death, the bubonic plague that was spreading across Europe in the midfourteenth century, “opened up so many doors I could walk through,” Meek says. That some of those doors would be linguistic ones and would constitute a self-imposed challenge of a considerable order had perhaps not crossed Meek’s mind at the outset of the project, but his unique approach to the telling of his story would require a much deeper level of research than historical fiction typically involves. To people his tale, Meek assembled a group of characters who would travel from Gloucestershire to Calais in the summer of 1348. Representing three distinct social orders, the Lady Bernadine, the clerk Thomas Pitkerro, and the ploughman Will Quate join a company of archers who are on their way to fight in France. As their journey progresses barriers are broken down, conventions ignored, and matters of status and identity become clouded and confused. Written in three voices, the story shifts easily in short sections from Berna’s genteel French/English to the formal Latinate English of the scholar Thomas, and on to the baser Middle English of the villein Will. Rendering class and position – in the author’s words, a way of being – by this precise means required him to develop a facility across the spectrum of language of the period, reading the literature of the time (Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Roman de la Rose, for example) as sources of grammar as well as vocabulary. Chaucer was an obvious source and influence: “his language was essential,” says Meek, “although his idioms were artificial in terms of the late fourteenth century – we don’t know what the English of the common man was like.” Nevertheless, his painstaking reference to the Oxford English Dictionary, respecting dates of usage and nimbly and inventively working around words he could not justifiably put into his characters’ mouths, has produced a plausible and linguistically compelling narrative, drawing in the reader by means of its rhythm,

Meek avers that much as climate change is ignored by many today, so in the Middle Ages the plague’s threat was dismissed by some as ‘a ruse to enrich priests’, their personal, immediate predicaments and preoccupations concerning them more than what they saw as an abstract, foreign threat. So in the novel the travellers fret over questions of identity, status, and power – or lack if it – as Bernadine flees an arranged marriage to an older man to follow her younger suitor, Will seeks his freedom from serfdom through his prowess as an archer, seconded to help defend English territory in France, and Thomas the proctor assumes the role of confessor to the travellers while avowing his own sins. Unsurprisingly perhaps, a twenty-first-century sensibility informs the book as self-harm, self-determination and transgressive relationships reflect characters’ inner lives and support Meek’s thesis that the plague was in fact a liberating force. Will Quate’s childhood friend Hab the swineherd, who tags along with the travellers, represents a free existence. “Hab lives by the hour,” says his creator, “and is not bound by his assigned gender.” His cross-dressing and inability to see beyond the present moment reflect the transience of life, and the ‘make of it what you will’ attitude which ignored any hitherto expected future and grew exponentially as the epidemic spread. This increasing freedom is also evident in the narrative distinctions Meek makes between the social orders his protagonists represent: those who work, those with power, and those whose existence is based on reflection. Thus, Will the peasant acts, Bernadine the noblewoman talks, and Thomas the cleric writes – the reader is party to his thoughts as he pens increasingly candid letters to his staff in Avignon. As the journey progresses, all the travellers pass personal points of no return, and as proximity to the pestilence breaks down barriers even further, status cedes power to those opportunistic enough to assume it, deference is fissured by misrule and anarchy, while religious observation gives way to “folk Christianity” and pagan practices aimed at appeasing the Almighty. ‘God is deaf nowadays,’ – a borrowing from Langland’s Piers Plowman – is the book’s epigraph, a line Meek reads as “subversive and heretical” and as succinct a comment of and on the times as can be found. That this view gives rise to both survivors’ guilt and self-validation is an interesting observation, leading as it does to Thomas’s comment: ‘The definition of virtue becomes their own gratification. To be is to be good.’ So plague shifts the kaleidoscope that is society, but ultimately this confident, beautifully crafted novel is about love and life, and for all that it’s set in an alien world, its perceptive depiction of that time makes it pertinent reading for today. Karen Howlett writes about books at www.cornflowerbooks.co.uk.

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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

ANCIENT EGYPT

THE AWAKENING ATEN

Aidan K. Morrissey, Troubador, 2019, £12.99, pb, 448pp, 9781789018752

One of the treasures of the Egyptian Museum in Turin is the contents of the tomb of Kha, architect and overseer to Amenhotep III (Haqwaset) of the 18th Dynasty, and his wife Merit, discovered intact in 1906. The couple were buried with everything needed for the afterlife: clothes, vases, furniture, ointments, kohl. Theban Tomb 8, as it is known, provided part of the inspiration for this, Morrissey’s first novel in a projected series. The book opens with Kha imprisoned and under imminent threat of execution. Unexpectedly he is freed and gradually builds his career and family life. There is a large cast of characters, but this is really Kha’s story. A modest man of integrity, he is subject to the caprices of his various royal employers and is anxious for his children, elements which give the story a universal, modern appeal within its ancient setting. There is tenderness in the description of the marriage of Kha and Merit, contrasted with the cruelty meted out to traitors. Rule by an absolute monarch is made possible by able and committed administrators, often at odds with a self-serving and suspicious religious hierarchy. The author’s research is breathtakingly thorough, so much so that his descriptions of the turn of the agricultural year and the battles through which the pharaoh consolidates his power have the immediacy of Egyptian narrative wall paintings. In the notes following the novel, Morrissey explains where he has departed from known fact, and why. For clarity, a suggestion for a future edition might be the inclusion of a family tree, especially given the Pharaonic practice of incestuous marriage. Those who know little about ancient Egypt could learn much from this novel, and experts may well nod frequently in recognition. Katherine Mezzacappa

CLASSICAL 16

SCORPIONS IN CORINTH

JM Alvey, Orion, 2019, £8.99, pb, 420pp, 9781409180654

After his comedy’s success in Athens, playwright Philocles and his actors are shipped off to Corinth, to bolster the wary alliance between the two cities. All is well until the troupe’s local fixer is poisoned very publicly, and strange “accidents” begin to plague the comedy’s rehearsals: clearly someone is out to wreck the play and the diplomatic effort behind it – but who? If he wants to keep his friends safe, stage his comedy without disgracing Athens and himself, and appease the Furies, Philocles must find the murderer – while navigating a morass of local politics, tricky auditions, and the volatile tempers of hero cultists. JM Alvey does it again: as Philocles and his actors leg it up and down the Acrocorinth, worrying about sabotaged masks and elusive clues, the day-to-day workings of Greek theatre and the mutual circumspection between democratic Athens and oligarchic Corinth are brought to rich, vivid life – with plenty of twists and turns, and a touch of humour. Recommended. Chiara Prezzavento

1ST CENTURY THE EXILED

David Barbaree, Zaffre, 2019, £8.99, pb, 366pp, 9781785763380

The Bay of Naples, August, A.D. 79, at the Roman Imperial summer residence. The Flavians, now under Emperor Titus, have ruled Rome since the overthrow of Nero, who was assassinated in A.D.68 – but was he? Two men will claim to be the deposed Nero. One, posing as a blind Spanish merchant, Alpist, has become a senator. The second has raised an army in Parthia, Rome’s ancient enemy, and plans to invade Italy. The Sibyl, a mystic, has predicted that when Nero crosses the Euphrates, mountains will fall. The arrival of Parthian emissaries at Titus’s summer court arouses the suspicions of Admiral Pliny, already concerned about rumours that a man claiming to be Nero has entered Italy. A violent Parthian attack on the wedding of Domitilla, Titus’s sister, throws the court into chaos. And then Vesuvius erupts. Each of the many characters relates events from his or her perspective. These multiple narratives result in only a few, Pliny, Domitilla and Alpist, having distinct voices; however, the various confusing and contradictory threads of the plot are juggled skilfully with the help of a cast list and welcome maps. Roman life, rich and poor, slave and free, is excellently pictured. The casual Roman attitude to cruelty and bloodshed is portrayed but not overdone. Pacy prose propels the plot, and when the action heats up, the novel is unputdownable. This is the second of a trilogy based on

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

the possibility of a bogus Nero. Obviously Vesuvius is a hard act to follow, so if the ending is an anticlimax, we may assume Barbaree will pick it up in Volume Three, something to look forward to. Highly recommended. Lynn Guest

PIRATA

Simon Scarrow & T.J. Andrews, Headline, 2019, £20.00, hb, 369pp, 9781472213747

AD 25. When Clemestes, captain of a merchant ship, offers Telemachus, a young man surviving on the streets of Piraeus, the chance to join his crew, he little realises the life-changing effect his action will have. The ship is boarded by pirates, Clemestes is killed, and Telemachus is given the choice of joining the pirates or suffering the fate of his captain. After surviving a brutal initiation rite, Telemachus soon impresses his new captain with his resourcefulness and strength, and he rises through the ranks, creating enemies who resent his rise. However, that is not his only problem. Prefect Canis, notorious commander of the Imperial fleet of Ravenna, has sworn to annihilate the pirates. Originally published as five separate ebook novellas, this book brings the series together in one volume. With a very strong plot and characters, the storyline is dramatic, fastpaced, and exciting. The action sequences are well-written, strong without being overly graphic. Told from the pirate point of view in a factual, non-romantic way, it reflects the harsh reality of life. This is the latest in a very successful partnership which continues to bring a fresh look to the genre. Recommended. Mike Ashworth

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LAZARUS

Richard Zimler, Peter Owen, 2019, $24.95/ C$33.95/£14.99, hb, 416pp, 9780720620627

Bestselling author Richard Zimler crafts a distinctly Jewish view of the mission and execution of Jesus of Nazareth (here termed Yeshua, of Natzeret) through the eyes of his boyhood friend, Lazarus, whom Yeshua has raised from the dead. Blessed, tainted, and deeply shaken by his experience, Lazarus sees his life, thoughts, even his body deeply entwined with his friend Yeshua and is terrified that powerful forces are massing against them. Zimler vividly draws daily life under a brutal Roman occupation and complicit Jewish hierarchy and the complex weaving of Hellenistic thought, mysticism, Torah teachings, and yearning for a messianic leader to drive out the oppressor. We see a deeply human Yeshua, a family friend of Lazarus, given to jokes, youthful love, and long night conversations over cups of “posca” wine. After the arrest of Yeshua, Zimler posits desperate, behind the scenes efforts of friends and disciples to save their teacher from crucifixion. The Gospel According to Lazarus takes us years later, as those now calling themselves Christians establish far-flung

communities, espousing what Lazarus views as the ridiculous fairy tale of his old friend and drinking companion’s divine birth. Readers of whatever faith, or none, will be fascinated by this unique view of a Jewish carpenter’s son whose story has so profoundly shaped the Western world. Pamela Schoenewaldt

2ND CENTURY

A PRISONER OF PRIVILEGE

Rosemary Rowe, Severn House, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 240pp, 9780727888907

In 194 AD, following civil war, Septimius Severus is proclaimed Emperor of the Roman Empire, but Pescennius Niger is still contending for the throne. In Britannia, Governor Clodius Albinus is “bought off” with the courtesy title: Caesar and Co-Emperor of the West. The Britannia legions are looked upon with suspicion, and public figures are being denounced and imprisoned, or even murdered for anti-Severian sympathies. In Glevum (present-day Gloucester), the duumvir—joint magistrate—Libertus is summoned by Marcus Septimus, the senior magistrate, to join him at the baths. Just as Libertus had suspected, Septimus is requesting a favor. This time it is to accommodate a visitor from Rome, a former Praetorian and Septimus’s distant cousin, in Libertus’ apartment. Septimus doesn’t want to entertain his cousin in his home, since he suspects the cousin is on a spying mission for the Emperor. While Libertus agrees, for the apartment was gifted to him earlier by Septimus, it gets him into serious trouble. When four murders occur in quick succession, and Libertus is accused not only of murder but of treason as well, he needs to muster all his sleuthing skills to uncover the pieces of evidence and identify the culprits. This novel is the latest of Rosemary Rowe’s fine murder mysteries set in Roman Britannia. Although it’s the 18th in the series, sufficient historical details and character back stories are seamlessly provided. Rowe has used the turmoil of this period within the Roman Empire, and particularly its impact in Britannia, to craft the plot skillfully. Although it takes time for the plot to develop, and events move slowly from then until the denouement, the events feel realistic, and the superb dialogue and descriptions make us feel as if we are among the characters living in Roman Britain. The novel abounds with numerous interesting and informative details of that era, making it a pleasurable read. Highly recommended. Waheed Rabbani

5TH CENTURY

SIGN OF THE WHITE FOAL

Chris Thorndycroft, independently published, 2019, $15.00, pb, 327pp, 9781099698132

480 A.D. Only moments after the Pendraig dies, his castle is overtaken by Gauls. Pendraig’s son Cadwallon has barely been

named the new king when he’s sealed in his own dungeon. After a daring escape, Cadwallon and his family find sanctuary with his brother. But the Gauls are on the move. Cadwallon must quickly gather allies to march against the Gauls, led by a jealous cousin. Among the king’s allies is a young man named Arthur, the bastard and unacknowledged son of the Pendraig. Arthur will embark on a dangerous mission into enemy territory to root out the source of the Gauls’ power: the cauldron of rebirth. This legendary cauldron is guarded by the nine priestesses who are rumored to bring the dead back to life, Cauldron-born warriors. These unstoppable warriors will bring Cadwallon’s army to its knees if Arthur and his companions don’t reach the caldron in time. It’s easy to tell that Thorndycroft knows this time period well. From manners of speech to landscape details, the historical richness is a delight. Editing-wise, I noticed missing quotation marks around consecutive paragraphs of dialogue, which is an indicator for readers that characters are still speaking in spite of paragraph breaks. Despite this, I found the book to be an enjoyable story packed with adventure and well-crafted characters. There’s a perfect blend of spiritual mystery and historical realism. The plot continues to rise in tension alongside character development. Imagery is vivid throughout, particularly during action scenes, and Thorndycroft infuses a strong sense of culture into the narrative. I would definitely read more from this author and look forward to the next book in the Arthur of the Cymry series. Recommended. J. Lynn Else

7TH CENTURY

WARRIOR OF WODEN

Matthew Harffy, Head of Zeus, 2019, £18.99, hb, 402pp, 9781786696281

AD 642, Anglo-Saxon Britain. Oswald has been King of Northumbria for eight years. Beobrand, the king’s war leader, is now a wealthy warlord with his own sizeable band of oath- sworn black shielded warriors. However, these are troubled times, and rival kings seek to expand their realms. Penda of Mercia invades Northumbria with a large army intent on the destruction of the kingdom. Others, including the king’s brother, look with envy and loathing at Beobrand, jealous of his reputation and wealth, but wary of his fighting ability. The war brings not only conflict and death, but also a chance to settle old scores. Beobrand finds himself fighting not only for his life, but also his reputation in a clash between Pagan and Christian for the survival of the kingdom. This is the fifth instalment of the Bernicia Chronicles, but can be read as a stand-alone novel. With a strong plot and characters, the story is fast-paced and stimulating with action scenes which are graphic without being gratuitous. The author brings alive this stormy period in an immensely readable, and

informative way. If you are looking for Dark Age adventure, battles and treachery galore, this is for you. Recommended. Mike Ashworth

9TH CENTURY

THE LORDS OF THE WIND

C.J. Adrien, independently published, 2019, $19.97, pb, 337pp, 9781078386166

Reputation is everything. Set during the late 9th century, the legacy of Hasting begins. In this first book of The Saga of Hasting the Avenger series, we journey through one man’s trials and triumphs, starting with his life as a slave boy spanning to his days as a sea captain. As his adventure gets underway, Hasting will come face to face with a mythical god and live to tell the tale. Across stormy seas and into hostile lands, from battles to brotherhoods to betrayals, Hasting is a man who will not soon be forgotten. Because, you see, his reputation has only just begun. Told in first-person narrative, Hasting’s voice is compelling as it deftly sets the story in motion. What quickly drew me in was the historical richness seeped into every page. The scope was broad as characters travel from the coast of Ireland all the way to the freezing northern fjords. Landscapes and everyday life are fleshed out vividly. Life is hard, supplies aren’t easy to come by, and the people are unapologetically fierce. The only thing this book lacked was a map of Hasting’s world to help illustrate his epic travels. However, it’s clear Adrien has a passion for this time and these peoples. The intricate details and engrossing characters propel the plot forward. If you want to sit down with an extremely wellresearched tale involving heroic battles, first loves, and the making of a legend, this book is for you. Recommended. J. Lynn Else

11TH CENTURY CITY OF PEARL

Alys Clare, Severn House, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 208pp, 9780727888983

This is Book Nine of the Aelf Fen mystery series, mostly set in 11th-century East Anglia. Lassair, apprentice to the healer and magician Gurdyman, has been enduring a string of tragedies. Now, Gurdyman needs to travel to Spain for mysterious reasons, and it seems that Lassair would benefit from going with him. Gurdyman was born in England, but he and his parents settled in Spain after going there on a pilgrimage. He was raised there and learned much from the well-developed Moorish culture. Now he and Lassair encounter a mixed reception from the local population, and end up enduring much privation and danger until they are rescued and taken to the beautiful, hidden City of Pearl. A frightening disaster strikes, and Lassair is removed from the scene and taken on a long, mystical journey. She is led deep under a mountain, and out to a place of great

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wisdom and magic. She discovers she will be staying there as a student for the foreseeable future. This story is heavy on magic and light on history and mystery. There is very little Aelf Fen in this mostly Spanish-set book. Fans will read it as a matter of course, and will enjoy meeting lawman Jack Chevestrier, wizard Hrype, and Viking Thorfinn again. New readers will have a better experience by going back to the beginning of the series and reading the books in order. Elizabeth Knowles

BLOOD QUEEN

Joanna Courtney, Piatkus, 2018, £13.99, pb, 373pp, 9780349419497

Blood Queen is the first in a trilogy exploring the ‘real women’ behind Shakespeare’s most notorious queens, beginning with Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare’s version is, of course, more fiction than fact. In reality, Macbeth appears to have been a strong and respected 11th-century king who ruled successfully for seventeen years – a formidable achievement in an age where the clans were constantly at war for domination of Alba, as Scotland was then known. (Furthermore, there is no evidence to suggest his wife descended into the tragic madness Shakespeare portrayed so memorably.) As far as possible, Blood Queen is historically accurate, but records for this period are sparse and, at times, contradictory, which gave Courtney the opportunity to offer her own interpretation. This is a beautifully written book, moving effortlessly from vivid descriptions of the beauty of the highlands, to the bleak brutality of countless battlefields. The characters are finely drawn and heartbreakingly believable as lives and loves are lost in a seemingly endless cycle of bloody vendetta. However, I would argue with the overall structure of the novel. Although promoted as the story of Cora MacDuff (aka Lady Macbeth), alternate chapters follow Lady Sibyll, the Danish-born wife of Duncan (Macbeth’s main adversary). Both women are strong and courageous and both are willing to sacrifice everything to ensure their sons inherit the throne. In theory, it makes perfect sense to explore the lives of Cora and Sibyll in parallel, but in practice, I found the constant switching from one camp to the other confusing and irritating. For me, this disjointed format lessened the impact of an otherwise powerful and moving novel. Penny Ingham

THE CONVERT

Stefan Hertmans (trans. David McKay), Harvill Secker, 2019, £14.99, pb, 290pp, 9781787300125 / Pantheon, 2020, $26.95, hb, 304pp, 9781524747084

Vigdis, daughter of a rich Norman nobleman, is brought up in the Christian faith during the 11th century. As a teenager, she falls in love with a Jewish student, David Todros, 18

converts to his faith, and elopes with him to Narbonne, where his father is Chief Rabbi. They are married, and she is renamed Hamoutal. When Norman knights come looking for her, she and David are forced to flee to a remote mountain village. Later, Pope Urban motivates both knights and thousands of poor peasants to conduct a Crusade to liberate Jerusalem from the Saracens. Totally undisciplined and ill-equipped, this army mercilessly persecutes local Jews as enemies of their Lord. In a night of rampage, David is among those murdered, and his and Hamoutal’s two older children are taken captive. This dual timeline story – historical facts enhanced with much imagination – interleaves Hamoutal’s perilous treks across the western world and back again in search of her children with the author’s meticulous attempts to retrace her travels, guided by two Hebrew manuscripts found in the ruins of a synagogue in Fustat, Egypt. Hertmans has dug deep to capture what life was like for Hamoutal and to unravel the complex political and religious intrigues of the time. The prose is good and descriptions of scenery sometimes very eloquent. Time and again we are confronted with Hamoutal’s pain and anguish in her many desperate situations, her agonising over who she really is, and whether she was right to abandon her harsh Christian religion in favour of a kinder Jewish faith, and her heartbreak each time she encounters a setback in her quest. This is a fascinating and very informative account of a historic person’s passionate life. It does, however, require perseverance to negotiate the interlocking time periods. Viktor Steiner

12TH CENTURY

THE IRISH PRINCESS

Elizabeth Chadwick, Sphere, 2019, £20.00, hb, 468pp, 9780751564990

The author brings medieval Ireland alive with her trademark mix of engaging characters, high politics, and romance. As the daughter of an Irish king, Aoife is brought up in a violent, unstable world where internecine warfare is an ever-present reality. When her family is forced to flee, her father Diarmait MacMurchada seeks help from King Henry II of England. That assistance comes in the form of Richard de Clare, Earl of Striguil. As the son of a traitor, he seeks to secure his position with Henry and carve out more territory for himself. He brings an army to help Diarmait reclaim his lands,

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

and the bargain is sealed by his marriage to Aoife. In Chadwick’s novel, Aoife is a strong, determined and loving woman. Her father receives her first, passionate loyalty, but she comes to love her Norman husband and children with equal intensity. While Richard provides the military power required to hold their lands, she must manage murky political waters, in particular the unpredictable King Henry, her influential uncle Lorcan, Archbishop of Dublin, and her prickly sister-in-law, whose bitterness has the potential to spell disaster for Aoife and her children. In this novel, Elizabeth Chadwick has given us another fascinating glimpse into the medieval world, from the kingdoms of Ireland to Welsh border fortresses and the royal palaces of England and France. One of her strengths as a novelist is in building characters whose motivations are often entirely different from ours and yet who are entirely sympathetic and believable. Long term fans of Chadwick’s novels will also enjoy the insight into another of her heroines: Isabelle de Clare is Aoife and Richard’s daughter, and William Marshal too makes a brief cameo. This is an extremely enjoyable novel, exploring themes of love, power, ambition and survival. Highly recommended. Charlotte Wightwick

WANDERS FAR

David Fitz-Gerald, Outskirts Press, 2019, $18.95, pb, 198pp, 9781977211378

Wanders Far is the titular character of this delightful novel about a young Iroquois Indian and his insatiable desire to explore his surroundings in 12th-century New York state. The story begins shortly before the protagonist’s birth and tracks his early years towards manhood and the self-discovery of some remarkable abilities. Rather than following a conventional plot, Fitz-Gerald takes the reader on a tour of the historical Iroquois culture and the world they inhabited. Through the eyes of Wanders Far, his friends, and his family, we discover the extraordinary manner in which the Mohawk named one another and cared for family members, how they contributed to the tribe and relaxed with their loved ones, and the rituals they performed to understand their gods or ward off attacking neighbors. The novel uses a third-person, unlimited narrator, hopping from one character’s perspective to the next. While at times this results in an overabundance of telling (rather than showing), the form allows the story to move at a fast pace, useful as it features a large cast of characters over a long timeframe. Still, Fitz-Gerald manages to do this in a way that makes the characters interesting, especially those within Wanders Far’s own nuclear family, and the reader puts the book down with a sense of having learned something both enthralling and important about this fascinating culture. Dan Cross

ELEANOR’S DAUGHTER: A Novel of Marie de Champagne

June Hall McCash, Twin Oaks Press, 2018, $29.99, hb, 544pp, 9781937937218

M c C a s h brings her scholarship to life with this vivid reimagining of the life of Marie, Countess of Champagne, a patroness of the arts and the first child of Eleanor of Aquitaine and King Louis VII of France. The novel begins with Marie’s birth, the adventures of the Second Crusade, and the divorce that alienates Eleanor from her daughters; Marie feels her mother’s lack as she leaves home for school, then weds Henri, Count of Champagne. Eleanor continues to be the compass of Marie’s life as she becomes an artistic patron in her own right and encourages the courts of love and the cult of fin’amor in a sincere effort to civilize the young men of court. The intelligent Marie resents the attitudes toward women prevalent in her world, especially when her long tenure as regent of Champagne proves her capable, hospitable, and well-mannered—the epitome of medieval womanhood. Readers will enjoy how faithfully McCash renders 12th-century France, portraying the intricate loyalties and feudal squabbles, the pervasive presence of the Catholic Church, and the useless brutality of the Crusades. Sources including charters, chronicles, medieval poetry, and material artifacts of the period— such as Marie’s personal seal, depicted on the cover—are woven into a story populated by several famous historical figures, including Bernard of Clairvaux, Philip of Flanders, and Eleanor’s second, fractious English family. If Marie’s inward life feels less fully rendered than her external one, it may be because her desires to be a dutiful daughter, wife, mother, and ruler seem conventional next to Eleanor’s exploits. McCash’s thoughtful interpretations of the historical record add poignancy, for instance her reason Chretien de Troyes never completed the Lancelot romance that Marie commissioned him to write. This intricate, detailed tapestry of a medieval noblewoman’s life will delight those who know the period well and those who want to. Misty Urban

13TH CENTURY

EARL OF HUNTINGDON

N. B. Dixon, Beaten Track, 2019, $3.99, ebook, 346pp, B07JZHJWHP

Picking up nine years after the conclusion

of Knight of Sherwood, readers will find that all is not well with our folk hero. Following Robin Hood’s wedding, the Merry Men settled in for the next phase of their lives. Unfortunately for the group, old grudges have not died, and a few old faces from the past have made their way to Locksley for a final reckoning—both friend and foe. Can Robin and Will reconcile the time, distance, and social mores that have separated them? Might Locksley ever see much-desired peace? Dixon signs off on her series with a flourish of characters battling internal existential queries and external quarrels for existence. Following one’s heart in the 13th century was not always the proper thing to do, but would it be the right thing? From the Earl himself down to a simple squire, characters and readers alike will be forced to ask themselves if the consequences of their heart’s desire are worth the abandonment of what’s expected. Settle in for an easy read, well-written battles, and detailed plot resolutions as we bid adieu. Anna Bennett

A MATTER OF INTERPRETATION

Elizabeth Mac Donald, Fairlight, 2019, £12.99, hb, 394pp, 9781912054701

Translation is always a “matter of interpretation”, and it can (still) be a matter of life or death for the translator. Elizabeth Mac Donald offers a richly detailed portrayal of Palermo, the seat of the great imperial court, and Toledo, home to the renowned if controversial school of translation of the novo sapere from Arabic to Latin. We see both through the eyes of Canon Michel Scot, a real historical figure, who travelled from the borders of Scotland, via Oxford and Paris, to Sicily, where in 1201 he becomes tutor to the six-year-old orphan who would astonish the world as Emperor Frederick II. Scot – extremely tall and pale-skinned, with a beard that was once fiery red – is the classic outsider, coupling alienation with curiosity, but possibly at last a sense of belonging. Twin threads weave throughout Macdonald’s excellent debut novel: primarily, the unifying “substance of the human heart”, but also translation, particularly Scot’s translations of Aristotle’s works on natural philosophy, Averroës’ commentaries, and finally the surgical works of Albucasis. Translators of these works tread a fine line, liable to papal ban or approval, and Scot is an enigmatic figure who pushes boundaries,

particularly because of his terrifying reputation in the dark arts. The story builds to a climax a decade or so later, when the battle lines for supremacy between Church and Empire clash with the power of knowledge. This page-turning novel reveals a world that seems at once alien but eerily familiar, and MacDonald has an unerring eye for detail and memorable characters. Highly recommended. Lucinda Byatt

14TH CENTURY

MURDER AT WHITBY ABBEY

Cassandra Clark, Severn House, 2019, $28.99/£20.99, hb, 230pp, 9780727889539

When Hildegard, a nun in the little Yorkshire priory of Swyne, receives orders from the prioress to fetch a holy relic from a distant monastery, it seems like an uncomfortable but routine assignment – uncomfortable because it is Christmastime 1389, and snow blankets the long route to Whitby Abbey. The discomfort is part of Hildegard’s required penance for a passionate encounter with a handsome knight. Her superiors, however, send three faithful monks as escort to protect the penitent. Whitby Abbey proves to be less an oasis of holiness than a microcosm of the world, with its share of the good, bad, and hypocritical. Death strikes and then strikes again as Hildegard and her companions focus on solving crime as much as procuring the relic. The machinations of the monastery are woven into the larger picture of English politics, as greater prizes are at stake for the contending factions for and against the king. On a personal level, Hildegard’s investigation into the Whitby deaths makes powerful enemies, and her beauty triggers dangers of a different sort. Author Cassandra Clark has humanized the world of the monastery while portraying the true devotion that many of its inhabitants demonstrated. She offers a reassuring view of monastic culture in which the majority actually live in unfeigned faith despite the insincerity of some. We see little depth in Hildegard’s character for the first two-thirds of the novel, however, until she finally changes from primarily an observer to one personally invested in resolution of the mystery. The novel would be improved by more development of her character early on. All in all, though, it is as enjoyable as a crackling fire in a snowed-in monastery. Loyd Uglow

TO CALAIS, IN ORDINARY TIME

James Meek, Canongate, 2019, £18.99, hb, 389pp, 9781786896742

James Meek is a greatly respected author (The People’s Act of Love, 2005), and his latest book has been well reviewed. Hilary Mantel

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commends it for ‘fans of intelligent historical fiction’. Alas, I began to fear I had the wrong sort of intelligence. The first challenge is that the book is written in Mediaeval English, or rather, since 14thcentury England was multi-lingual, in three languages used in England at the time, with three narrators. The first, a peasant from a village near Gloucester, speaks Middle English, the second, a land-owner’s daughter (a ‘damoiselle’), speaks Anglo-French, and the third, a cleric, keeps a journal in Latinised English. It is addressed to a colleague at the papal court, so one would expect it to be in Mediaeval Latin, but the cleric apologises for the Latinised English because he is writing in haste. Confusingly, Queen Isabella, Frenchborn mother of Edward III, alternates between Anglo-French and modern metropolitan French. Happily, the book uses modern punctuation and spelling throughout. With perseverance it becomes easier to read. Is it worth it? The characters are authentic, and it is refreshing for a novel about mediaeval England to recognise the diversity of language. The story is, however, quite silly by modern standards, full of cross-dressing, mistaken identities and extraordinary encounters; a mediaeval pastiche, not a modern novel in a mediaeval setting. It is structured as a journey by a group of travellers from Gloucestershire to the Dorset coast to take ship for Calais. Despite the title it ends at the coast. The year is 1348, when the Black Death reached England, arriving first in Dorset. The travellers ride straight into it, with tragic consequences. This is a clever, challenging book about life and death, love and war, language and belief in the 14th century. Fans of the Middle Ages will enjoy the challenge. Edward James

WITHOUT A TRACE

Mel Starr, Lion Hudson, 2019, £8.99/$12.95, pb, 240pp, 9781782642671

This is the latest instalment in a series of mediaeval mysteries starring Hugh Singleton, a surgeon with a second job as the bailiff of Lord Gilbert Talbot’s manor of Bampton in Oxfordshire. Hugh’s latest case begins when a guest of Lord Gilbert, Sir Aymer Molyns, arrives at Bampton and discovers to his consternation that his wife and maid, who had been travelling with his party in a covered wagon, have vanished; and yet the escorting riders claim not to have seen them leave. A ransom demand arrives, for the hefty sum (at the time) of two pounds. There had recently been a kidnapping for ransom at a nearby location, so Hugh tries to find the perpetrators in case they have repeated the crime. It also emerges that Sir Aymer had married his much younger wife only to obtain an heir, which his late first wife had failed to do, and this new marriage seems no happier than the previous one. Sir Aymer pays the ransom, but his wife is not returned, which is not only unsporting, but also puzzling. Hugh’s investigations include 20

returning to the University of Oxford, and to a consultation with his former teacher, John Wycliffe. The mystery is eventually resolved in an unexpected and yet plausible manner. This book is a light, enjoyable, and entertaining read. It is written with touches of stage-mediaeval English, which most reviewers would probably have condemned, but which I found rather charming. Alan Fisk

15TH CENTURY TUDOR DAWN

David Field, Sapere, 2019, $8.99/£7.99, pb, 250pp, 9781913028398

In this, the first of an anticipated series of six books chronicling the rise and fall of one of England’s most powerful royal families, Field focuses on the young future Henry VII. Held in exile as a virtual prisoner when we first meet him, he’s a young, frightened, weak, and unhealthy boy whose Welsh uncle, Jasper Tudor, takes him under his wing. Recognizing that young Henry is the most dangerous threat to the throne still retained by the Plantagenets, Jasper, and Henry’s power-hungry mother Margaret Beaufort, plan Henry’s future as the “rightful” king of England. Jasper and Henry escape together to France, where battlescarred Jasper trains Henry to be strong and decisive. We all know what happens next – the death of Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485, which resulted in Henry’s crowning as Henry VII of England. It is the road to that climactic event that Field focuses on for much of the first part of the book. The second part demonstrates how good a job Jasper did in training Henry to be a savvy politician, jockeying between powerful forces in England. What I actually found most interesting is the portrayal of the young Prince Henry – certainly not the Henry VIII we have come to know through various other Tudor sagas. Instead, the young prince is vain, disinterested in what enormous demands will be made on him as king – not exactly a leader. The book concludes at Henry VII’s death, so I am anticipating the second installment will focus on Henry VIII’s young kingship. A very personal look at the personalities who created the Tudor dynasty. Ilysa Magnus

WINTER’S CHILD

R. J. Hervey, independently published, 2019, $14.99, pb, 447pp, 9781074049874

15th-century Florence: In one night, one man destroyed Amadora’s life. Her mentor and father figure: murdered. Herself: violated and left for dead. Her home: burned to the ground. After her mysterious survival from the fire, Amadora is accused of being a strega, a witch. Hunted and on the run from the Inquisition, Amadora is determined to kill the man who ruined her life. Then she’s visited by an angel who tells her the price of her vengeance. If

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

she murders the nobleman, the child growing inside her will die. The story is richly researched. There’s a strong sense of time built on believable mindsets and the gritty struggles of life. However, there were many times Amadora “couldn’t remember” how she got somewhere. Instead of describing the journey, the author goes into lush descriptions of specific destinations. Thus, I never felt like I was walking through a city, only through specific sites. The story lacks a relatable narrator. Amadora shows no growth and often runs into situations without thinking. Those who care for her often come to terrible endings, and she shows no remorse for them. Her emotions are rarely more than scared or angry. Amadora’s fear of men’s touch after the rape brings in some emotional intrigue, but it couldn’t overcome the overall gray, sentimental malaise. She never confronts her feelings, only buries them, and this makes her a weak female lead. There’s a very thoughtful deconstruction of the common assumptions of the period, leading readers to believe there will be a culminating payoff or twist to Amadora’s destructive path. Unfortunately, this book delays this reveal to the next installment, and things are left unsatisfyingly in limbo. Overall, while I found the characters disappointing, the prose and places are conceptualized quite well. J. Lynn Else

A TAPESTRY OF TREASON

Anne O’Brien, HQ, 2019, £14.99, hb, 504pp, 9780008225469

Anne O’Brien’s books seek to give voice to the forgotten women of history, and in A Tapestry of Treason she does just that. Her protagonist, Constance of York, was the granddaughter of Edward III, and cousin to both Richard II and Henry IV. If O’Brien’s novel is any model, she was also a formidable power in her own right, even if she was constrained by the expectations of her time. The book follows Constance as she navigates the dangerous waters of the Plantagenet court. As part of the royal family, honour and power mean more than love or family affection. Constance, with her brother and husband, embarks on a dangerous plot against the new king, Henry IV, believing that they will be more influential if Richard II is returned to the throne. When this goes disastrously wrong, Constance begs forgiveness of the king, but cannot bring herself to stay away from power and continues to scheme against him, even where it threatens her new-found happiness. Constance is at first an unsympathetic protagonist, claiming her dislike and lack of affection for the people around her. On the surface she is driven by dynastic ambition and little else. And yet she is incredibly loyal, including to a brother who betrays her. As the novel goes on, Constance also allows herself to open up to the possibility first of friendship, then of love. When she, in her turn, is let down, she must decide whether to forgive or to allow bitterness to consume her. In showing these

different facets of Constance’s character, how her motivations change over time, and how these open her up to vulnerability, O’Brien has painted a nuanced and fascinating insight into the life of a forgotten Plantagenet princess. Charlotte Wightwick

16TH CENTURY

THE SERPENT, THE PUMA, AND THE CONDOR

Gayle Marie, Mnemosyne Books, 2019, $24.99, hb, 334pp, 9781732678101

In scope, Marie’s debut novel describes the fall of the Inca Empire, but in essence, it tells the remarkable life story of Umiña, who is born of a sacred Inca ritual, trained as a priestess in the arts of healing, and burdened with knowledge of a prophecy which says that one day The People will be enslaved by white invaders from across the sea. As advisor, wife, and then widow of the Inka Atahualpa, who is executed by the Spanish in 1532, Umiña is helpless to prevent The Prophecy from coming to pass, but the conventional narrative of conquest is nuanced by Marie’s complex characters. Francisco Pizarro, self-made yet illiterate, seeks fame and wealth but not at moral cost; his goldenhaired horsemaster, Rodrigo de Cotero, falls in love with the New World and Umiña; and Father Cigüeña, sent to convert the natives, begs Umiña’s intercession during his own crisis of faith. Along with her childhood friend Rumi, kidnapped by Pizarro and made his translator, Umiña plays her own role in the conquest, including the self-appointed task of protecting from discovery the sacred city of Machu Picchu. Marie renders Inca beliefs with great sensitivity,includingtheircosmology,reverence for the Sun, and the uses of ritual sacrifice. The familiar visuals of Inca civilization—the terraced cities and stone temples, soaring mountains threaded with suspension bridges, the achievements in weaving and metallurgy, the staggering amounts of gold—provide backdrop for a tale that feels both specific and timeless. With brisk prose and layered characters, Marie examines the human heart within a narrative that encompasses the rise and fall of civilizations. The result is nothing short of fascinating. Misty Urban

SOFONISBA: Portraits of the Soul

Chiara Montani (trans. Verna Kaye), independently published, 2019, $11.99, pb, 274pp, 9781098537739

Sofonisba is a biographical novel about Sofonisba Anguissola, who was one of the first women to make a living as an artist in 16th-century Italy. Born in Cremona, where her father supervised the artists in the city’s churches, Sofonisba wanted to become an artist at a very early age. She learned to paint along with her sisters, but after her extraordinary talent stood out and drew praise from Michelangelo, Sofonisba accepted an invitation to the court of Philip II of Spain. She became a lady-in-waiting to his wife, Isabel, and taught her to paint, although, as a woman, Sofonisba could never be accepted as a court painter. Montani’s descriptions of life in the repressive Spanish court are vivid. Sofonisba is horrified to see people burned as heretics, but she and the queen become devoted to each other. Leaving court after the queen’s early death, Sofonisba enters into an arranged marriage with a Sicilian nobleman she has never met. Her husband loves her but does not understand how essential her art is to her existence, and she must also deal with a hostile sister-in-law. When her husband mysteriously dies at sea, Sofonisba feels guilty that she did not love him more. But she eventually finds love with a sea captain who truly appreciates her. Montani writes beautifully about a passionate woman and extraordinarily talented artist and her struggles with the limitations placed on female artists of the time. Sofonisba is not allowed to study anatomy or even to sign her paintings. Montani explains the details of what went into Sofonisba’s art, including how she prepared the canvases and ground the pigments. Her descriptions are so vivid, you can imagine each painting in your mind. Montani’s website contains reproductions of all the paintings described in the book. Vicki Kondelik

STATE OF TREASON

Paul Walker, Sharpe Books, 2019, £6.99, pb, 274pp, 9781071159675

It is 1578 and as usual in this era, plans and conspiracies are afoot and religious differences are never very far away. Walsingham, the spymaster at the centre of Elizabeth the First’s intelligencer network, has need of the services of William Constable, scholar, doctor and astrologer. Thus, Constable becomes embroiled in decoding a message and astrological chart hidden in a secret compartment in a mysterious cabinet. Has Elizabeth had an illegitimate child and concealed it? Who is planning to use this story and this child as a figurehead for a revolution? Can Constable work out the clues in time despite the dangers from both friends and foes? The pedantic and precise

style of the narration suits the personality of William Constable, but may be a little slow for some readers. “It is not in my gift to be free in justification” is just one example of the complex, wordy style. Once one is accustomed to this, however, the story and characters are well drawn and the atmosphere, manners and atmosphere of the time are clearly evoked for the reader. The subplot of navigation and exploration are key facets of this time period, and the perils and inventions within this strand of the Elizabethan world are well described and give the reader the flavour of this time of discovery. Walker’s knowledge and understanding of the era are very evident. There are further novels planned in this series. Ann Northfield

WHAT NEWS ON THE RIALTO?

Anthony R. Wildman, independently published, 2019, $12.99, pb, 255pp, 9780646997148

The facts of Shakespeare’s life are few and far between. He is first mentioned when the dramatist Robert Greene snipes at him in print, calling him “an upstart crow, beautified in our feathers.” This novel begins when Shakespeare, after foolishly writing some poetic doggerel making fun of the local squire, flees to London to work and write. There he meets Christopher Marlowe and through him Sir Francis Walsingham, the Queen’s chief spy-master, who sends him to Italy, to all intents and purposes, as the tutor of the bastard son of the Earl of Essex. He is to send coded messages back to Walsingham of the details Italy and the Vatican have regarding Spain’s intention to send a hostile fleet of ships to England, and soon Shakespeare finds himself embroiled in local armed disagreements with many Italian notables. Weaving fiction with historical fact, Wildman’s captivating novel includes wellresearched events that hint at the origins of the plays we all know and love, such as The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, and The Tempest, and he convincingly introduces well-recorded historical figures, including Walsingham and Marlowe. He presents us with a believable Europe of the period along with detailed knowledge of the social and political context of Venice, Padua, and the Vatican at the time. My only reservation is that the author does not give enough credit to the unique poetic genius of the man, the son of a glovemaker from Stratford-on-Avon, married with three children. He didn’t need to be present in Italy or take part in an Italian knife attack to understand human complexities or pen poetry and plays that have stood the test of time. Putting that personal caveat aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and hope the author writes more in what could be an engaging series. Sally Zigmond

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THE COURSE OF ALL TREASONS

Suzanne M. Wolfe, Crooked Lane, 2019, $26.99/ C$35.99/£22.99, hb, 288pp, 9781643851785

Subtitled “An Elizabethan Spy Mystery,” this is the second in a series featuring Sir Robert Cecil’s covert agent Nicholas Holt. In 1586, England is a hotbed of plotting and intrigue, with a Spanish war brewing, Mary Queen of Scots and the French always a threat, and Catholics and Protestants in conflict. Nicholas, part of an aristocratic Catholic family, must spy for Cecil in exchange for keeping his relatives safe. The Earl of Essex has formed his own espionage network in a bid to impress the Queen, and Nicholas, unbeknownst to Cecil, is also working for him. When multiple dead spies start to turn up, Nicholas struggles to find who is killing them—and why—before he himself becomes a victim. This is a complex story with multiple engaging characters, really impossible to summarize without giving too much away. The middle seemed to slow down, but this was really just the author leading readers down a garden path. The true plot fooled me, although I was correct about a few details. The run-up to the resolution was a wild ride indeed, and readers won’t eat or sleep as they approach the denouement. I can’t fully recommend this otherwise entertaining book because of the constant anachronisms that pepper the prose. Wolfe addresses this in her endnotes, saying that it makes Elizabethan speech more familiar to the modern ear. Phrases like “on the outs,” “I think I’ll pass,” “walk-in” in relation to an ill patient, or “Her Maj” when referring to the Queen are simply jarring. Modern idiom is not the same thing as simplified Elizabethan speech and does a disservice to the story. Elizabeth Knowles

17TH CENTURY

THE SEVERED KNOT

Cryssa Bazos, W. M. Jackson, 2019, $14.99, pb, 440pp, 9781999106706

January 1652, during the English Civil War: Scottish leader Iain Locharbaidh Johnstone is a prisoner of war in Westminster, until he is sold into indenture. The heroine, Mairead O’Coneill, lives with her cousins in Ireland, heartbroken from an ill-advised tryst. Soon the English arrive to appropriate the estate, and sell its inhabitants into servitude. Mairead and Iain meet on the ship to Barbados and are sold to the same plantation. Mairead’s lack of virginity spares her from the whorehouse, and her average looks spare her from the young master’s lust. Iain’s backbreaking work in the fields is unsustainable, given his pride, and the only thing left is to try to escape. This is a well-written historical romance, but those accustomed to reading genre romance might find the pacing slow. The emphasis is on historical details, bleak and desperate, and though the couple does get a happily-everafter, it is at great cost. I would recommend 22

this for those interested in the English Civil War and indentured servitude, but not slavery. The African people appear for background suffering as examples of how much worse it could be for the white characters. A warning: there are frequent mentions/scenes of rape, and multiple murders. Katie Stine

THE MIDNIGHT MIDWIFE

Annelisa Christensen, Dustie Books, 2019, $9.99, pb, 202pp, 9781999817381

Almost luxurious in its period detail and style, The Midnight Midwife rings with emotional honesty and historicity. In late 17th-century England, widow Abigale Harris is passionate about the upbringing of her three growing daughters—Judith, Elin, and the exotic, striking Mary—while plying her profession as midwife. The reader is immediately drawn into the rich, often raucous details of rural village life and its colorful, multifaceted characters, chief among these Mrs. Brown, the intrusively gossipy baker’s wife. Abigale navigates ignorance and superstition in addition to the sleepless hardships of single motherhood and her profession with determination and a deep, unfailing joy. But any risk to her reputation is a risk to a single woman’s livelihood in those tenuous times, as well as the well-being of Abigale’s family. And her daughter Mary carries a secret which could destroy them all if discovered. While frugal, the narrative arc has all the elements of conflict a reader could want, many playing out internally. As Mary matures, so does her resentment; and Abigale’s guilt and worry increase that she may have chosen wrongly in imposing such a burden upon her daughter. While it is difficult to say much about the reveal, as it risks spoiling the central plot point, the dilemma’s emotional complexity, and a flawless use of perspective are the novel’s most compelling aspects. The dialog is a feast: energetic and charming in its period touches, with a style that flows languidly and a deeply feminine texture that makes the pages turn themselves. This is historical fiction at its best. Highly recommended. Jackie Drohan

TIDELANDS

Philippa Gregory, Atria, 2019, $28.00/C$36.99, hb, 480pp, 9781501187155 / Simon & Schuster UK, 2019, £20.00, hb, 448pp, 9781471172724

Danger fills England in 1648. King Charles I has been dethroned and is held captive by followers of Oliver Cromwell. Puritan Christians scour the country searching for anyone suspected of following the “old faith,” supporting the monarchy, or generally stepping outside their narrow definition of social norms. Living in the remote marshy landscape of the south coast, Alinor is a healer and midwife, a descendant of wisewomen. Trapped in poverty and superstition, she treads the ever-changing tidelands of her community with care, mindful that gossip regarding her work as a healer or

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the disappearance of her abusive husband, or a misstep in the marshes, could bring disaster. On midsummer’s eve, she helps James, a young man with dangerous secrets, traverse the marsh. Alinor’s simple kindness brings consequences—some good, some bad, some life-threatening. The inaugural book of the new Fairmile series, Tidelands is filled with details of small Sealsea Island, its economy, social structure, and political divides. While these details set the reader in the story, they occasionally bog down the action. Tension grows in the latter half of the book as Alinor makes a few missteps and small-minded, jealous neighbors question any good fortune which falls upon her. As with any well-crafted series, the book ends with a satisfying conclusion yet provides plenty of space into which new characters may step. Meg Wiviott

THE FIREFLY WITCH

Amanda Hughes, Lillis and Jaymes, 2018, $12.99, pb, 290pp, 9781987462623

This is the first book in a series named Bold Women of the 17th Century and is supposedly “historical fiction with a bit of love story and fantasy.” I am not so sure about the historical fiction part: while the story of Azubah/Circe is set in the 17th century, colonial life in Puritan Massachusetts is never really brought to life beyond being a threatening background to Circe’s pagan kinsmen living in secret villages. Persecution and witch-hunting in this period were undoubtedly a major issue and could have been depicted vividly without adding the pagan angle. Having said that, Hughes delivers an exciting and well-written story. She has created a likeable protagonist in red-haired Azubah Craft, a constant badge of shame for her mother who came pregnant to her marital bed. The little girl is viewed askance by everyone in the Puritan settlement but somehow manages to rise above this, escaping into the pleasures of weaving and embroidering, at which she excels. When Azubah’s little village is raided by Indians, she flees and finds her way to a secret settlement where she discovers she is the daughter of one of the elders and that her real name is Circe. Circe’s life is one of pagan rites and traditions, a haven of tranquility that is soon under severe threat from the Christian colonists. How Circe and her fellow pagans survive this turmoil I leave to the readers to find out for themselves. Anna Belfrage

18TH CENTURY

THE CORPSE PLAYED DEAD Georgina Clarke, Canelo, 2019, C$2.99/£1.99, ebook, 9781788634540

$2.99/

Lizzie Hardwicke is a brilliant, educated, and kind sex worker. Seated in a theater with her colleagues, she learns that she is also the most famous prostitute in London. When an audience member notices Lizzie, the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane erupts into a riot of

applause. The attention she receives from the audience is not related to her feminine charms but her capture of a murderer. Uncomfortable with the applause but ever the businesswomen, Lizzie turns her sights toward the wealthier gentlemen in the audience, ready to monetize her new fame, until a horrible scream and cries of murder explode from backstage. The next day is a fair one in May of 1759. Nineteen-year-old Lizzie, after escaping one murder, is asked to help solve another crime. As a member of an elite house of sex workers catering to noble patrons, she has some choice in the matter, but not much. Local magistrate John Fielding often overlooks her work because she serves wealthy clients, but he and his men still hold sway over her livelihood. After one of his men visits her and requests that she serves as a spy, she finds herself wearing a horrible disguise and installed as a lowly seamstress in the very theater where she received such adoration only the evening before. On the surface, Lizzie Hardwicke is a skilled novice detective in a crime novel. However, author Georgina Clarke has a much more important role for Lizzie. She bears witness and often endures the terrible sexual violence of the 18th century. These appalling crimes are ubiquitous but go unpunished as women of every class and age endure them silently. Lizzie works as cunningly as she can to transcend her terrifying circumstances. Melissa Warren

THE TRAITOR OF TREASURE ISLAND

John Drake, Endeavour Quill, 2019, £7.99, pb, 352pp, 9781911445722

Most of us carry with us from our adolescence a familiarity with Treasure Island, its fast-moving plot, its thrilling locations and above all, its characters. Whether from a modern edition of the original novel, or sitting bolt upright through one of the several cinema versions – in my case Walt Disney’s boisterous and vivid 1950 film (of special interest to me, as my father composed its music) or, as is the case with John Drake’s splendid treatment of the wonderful, wild, fast-moving, nail-biting, bloodcurdling and ultimately satisfying world of Silver and Flint and Doctor Livesey and Smollett and Jim-Lad and Trelawney and all, we are, and always will be, caught in the thrall of the Treasure Island experience. So why, you may ask, have we been given this new version? A five-minute dip into John Drake’s pages will not only tell you why but promise you “treasure” indeed and in spades. His treatment embraces his subject with a proper sense of respect, affection and a barely suppressed, boyish, sense of humor. The plot is neatly set up in the sleazy world of the Bristol waterfront, and we are soon aboard the Hispaniola, familiarising ourselves with the vessel’s extraordinary crew and rolling our way across the blue to the daunting beauty of the island. The language of this novel is in harmony

with the period in which it is set. Artefacts, tools, maritime and surgical procedures are given in precisely the right amount of detail, holding our interest without slowing the wellsustained pace of the prose. The inevitable fights are sudden, violent, vicious and gory. Almost, in some scenes, unbearable for the fainthearted. But they have to be! This is Treasure Island, my hearties! If anyone ever makes another film of Treasure Island, the producers should hire John Drake to write the script. Julia Stoneham

HEATHCLIFF: The Lost Years

David Drum, Burning Books Press, 2019, $16.95, pb, 392pp, 9780991185771

In Emily Brontë’s classic novel, speculation swirls around what its hero did in his three years away from Wuthering Heights, and how he made his fortune. Drum’s novel fills in those early years from Heathcliff’s point of view, beginning with Old Earnshaw finding the orphaned boy in the streets of Liverpool. The first part of Drum’s novel sketches in the brief account Brontë’s Nellie Dean gives of Heathcliff’s early life at the Heights: how he and Cathy ran feral over the moors, how he fought with Hindley Earnshaw, and how, overhearing Cathy spurn him, Heathcliff escaped into the stormy night. Thereafter, Drum tells a vivid, fast-paced story of danger, adventure, and hard living. Back in Liverpool, Heathcliff becomes a sailor on a slave ship sailing to Africa’s Gold Coast, then Jamaica. Drum depicts in colorful detail the rough life of a sailor, the prevailing prejudices, and their repugnant work. After being cheated out of his pay, Heathcliff gets his revenge and heads to London, where he joins a gunpowder production business, falls for a beautiful French pickpocket named Agnes Sorel, and gets caught up in her dangerous intrigues. This is not Brontë’s character, nor is this Brontë’s florid 19th-century prose; Drum’s Heathcliff possesses emotional depths, compassion, and integrity as well as a ruthless streak, and the action is swift and eventful. Drum’s Heathcliff is haunted by Cathy but does not live solely for her, and staunch fans may find it hard to reconcile the sober adventurer at the end of Drum’s book, turning his eyes to his unfinished business at Wuthering Heights, with the passionate, vengeful hero of Brontë’s tortured drama. Still, for those who love adventure, conflict, and a palpable 18thcentury setting, this is a terrific read. Viviane Crystal

THE PRINCE’S WOMEN

Deryn Lake, Endeavour Quill, 2019, £7.99, pb, 304pp, 9781911445746

Charles Edward Stuart, aka The Young Pretender, aka Bonnie Prince Charlie, was the eldest grandson of the exiled Catholic King James II. As such, he was a legitimate heir to the throne – according to the Jacobite

succession. Having spent his childhood in exile in Rome, he entered history (and legend) for his part in the uprising against the Protestant King George II, and his subsequent defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. The Prince’s Women unapologetically “does what it says on the tin”. The subtitle reads “the conquests and losses of Charles Edward Stuart – on and off the battlefield”, and, to a large extent, the author has chosen to focus her attention on Charles’s extremely active and colourful love-life. This novel is, without doubt, a titillating romp, and the overall tone is witty and light-hearted, but there is also depth and poignancy as the disappointments and tragedies of his life unfold. The author has a convincing grasp of the period, and the world The Young Pretender inhabits is brought vividly to life. So too is the character of Charles himself. Lake depicts a likeable prince who enjoyed pursuing glamorous women, no matter whether they were young and old, married or single. But, as this novel cleverly portrays, there was more to the Bonnie Prince than his lusty love affairs. He was also a brave, charismatic man, who never gave up on his dream of recovering the throne, and whose greatest love was not for a sweetheart, but for his beloved daughter, Charlotte. Penny Ingham

THE WEST INDIAN

Valerie Browne Lester, Mason & Fraser, 2019, $14.99, pb, 284pp, 9781733598408

Lester’s haunting novel is, in part, the birth story of two infamous Brontë characters: the boy who becomes Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights and Bertha Mason, the first wife whom Jane Eyre’s Mr. Rochester has locked in the attic. But the story belongs to Martha Grant, a proper Englishwoman who in 1763 arrives in Jamaica to marry shipping magnate and plantation owner Henry Fraser and falls in love with the island, but not Henry. Through journal entries, Martha narrates the painful dramas of the next eight years: her husband’s rape of his half-sister, Pearl, which results in a son whom Martha adopts; her thwarted attempts to school the children of their slaves; her fractious relationship with her sister-inlaw Antoinetta, a name that invokes Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea; and the intolerable injury that drives her away from her beloved island into tragedy. Setting aside her conviction that educating her slaves in the ways of the colonizer will improve their lot, Martha as a character is prickly, distant, moralistic, and condescending to her peers, casting the imagined gossip of her Spanish Town peers in odd little poems. Lester paints a warmer portrait of Pearl and the displaced Africans who serve Martha, capturing their spoken language, myths, rituals, and laments, if glossing over the abuses of plantation life. The epistolary form keeps the book from feeling like a novel with a complete story arc, central problem, or driving tension. But the vividness of Martha’s

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descriptions, her love for the natural beauty of Jamaica, and the conflict among the varied characters keep the prose lively, compelling, and enjoyable for its own merits, in addition to what it imagines as the history for some of 19th century English literature’s most memorable creations. Misty Urban

MARY TOFT; or, The Rabbit Queen

Dexter Palmer, Pantheon, 2019, C$36.95, hb, 336pp, 9781101871935

$27.95/

Popular 18thcentury medical theory espouses the idea that a woman’s mind – what she sees and what her thoughts dwell upon – can have deleterious effects on the development of her unborn child. When John Howard, surgeon and man-midwife of the village of Godalming, is called to the bedside of Mary Toft, he can barely suppress his horror as he delivers not a baby, but a mutilated rabbit. When this phenomenon keeps occurring and Howard, a man of science, cannot find a rational explanation, he writes to renowned London surgeons for assistance. Soon Mary Toft’s condition is famous enough to attract even the notice of King George, and she is moved to London at his behest. With Toft now under the care of four esteemed surgeons and crowds searching for miracles gathering outside the bagnio where she is housed, things grow even stranger for Howard and his young apprentice, Zachary. Based on an actual historical event, this gripping, well-written novel is a wonder of characterization. It is also a disturbing glimpse into man’s search for meaning and some of the darker aspects of human nature, the ways in which human beings rationalize the things they do and the things that are done to them. Faith and science, uneducated villagers and London’s aristocratic elite, this novel plumbs the spectrum to offer an immersion in the world of the burgeoning Enlightenment. A fascinating, propulsive read from beginning to end, this is a stimulating novel of ideas and imagination. Bethany Latham

RIBBONS OF SCARLET

Kate Quinn, Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie, Sophie Perinot, Heather Webb, and E. Knight, William Morrow, 2019, $16.99/C$21.00/£9.99, pb, 560pp, 9780062916075

Women are central in our visual imagination of the French Revolution – from the doomed Queen Marie Antoinette to Charlotte Corday, who stabbed the radical journalist Jean-Paul Marat in his bath, to “Lady Liberty,” the 24

painting by Eugène Delacroix of the goddess of liberty leading the people. So this novel of some of the women involved is a natural. It’s an ambitious project: six leading historical n ove l i s t s collaborated on it, each contributing a chapter on a woman who influenced or experienced the tragic trajectory of the revolution. The six authors pull it off. Ribbons of Scarlet is a seamless, compelling novel, each woman’s story flowing into the next without any jarring change of pace or quality of the writing. The novel begins with a chapter by Stephanie Dray titled “The Philosopher.” It’s about Sophie de Condoret, an idealistic intellectual who, with her philosopher husband, believed that the French people could do what the Americans had done: birth a nation where all citizens would have a voice. Sophie’s is a love story, both about falling in love with her husband and also about her love for progress. The last chapter, “The Beauty,” by Laura Kamoie, is about Emilie de Sainte-Amaranthe, a beautiful young woman simply trying to survive the chaotic times. Kamoie shows how someone doesn’t have to be a saint or a hero in order to be saintly and heroic in a terrible situation. De Sainte-Amaranthe’s strength came from love. I finished this book with the sense that I had just been swept along in a terrible and marvelous time and witnessed real women who rose to meet their place in history with courage and fortitude. I was grateful for the notes at the end where the authors shared their feelings about the women they were writing about, and also for the recommended reading list. Ribbons of Scarlet is now on my own recommended reading list. Kristen Hannum

SINFUL SEDUCTION

Jacqueline Seewald, Luminosity Publishing, 2019, $3.99, ebook, 370pp, 9781999306625

Anne MacIntyre is a schoolmistress in a rural region of New Jersey, a patriot trying to keep her head down as the American colonial rebellion continues. But the war comes to her in the figure of Peter Smythe, a gentleman who saves her life. Attracted to her, Smythe does not reveal his true identity as Peter Kensington, wayward heir of an earl, British officer, and spy, even as his position grows ever more impossible to maintain. Sinful Seduction sets a romantic domestic drama against the backdrop of the American Revolution in an innovative way. Along with most other recent novels set in the period,

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

it avoids didactic speeches and does not try to cover the full scope of the war, but it also succeeds at its insistence on moral complexity. Readers will find Peter Kensington a sympathetic, well-rounded character, especially compared to some antagonists who are all-too-American. If only he could be portrayed on the big screen! Sinful Seduction contains erotic passages. Fans of the American Revolutionary War will enjoy this look at the rural “homefront,” and those who love heroines will enjoy Anne’s journey. The novel’s treatment of 18th-century attitudes on slavery is also well done. There are references to “Thanksgiving” as an established holiday with a fixed date that seem anachronistic, but that is a minor flaw in an enjoyable read. Irene Colthurst

THE SHIP’S CARPENTER

D.E. Stockman, Fireship, 2019, $19.99/£15.99, pb, 219pp, 9781611793475

In 1742, peace exists between France and England. Young Abraham Robinson, who injured his hand in an accident, is released as a shipwright at the Royal Naval Yard in Woolwich. Seeking shipbuilding/carpentry work, Abraham, who is fluent in French, travels to France and is hired as a carver, working on a warship in Brest. While staying with a shipbuilder’s family, he falls in love with a young French girl named Yvette. It isn’t long until war breaks out again between France and England and Abraham is forced to leave his job. Abraham returns to England, but the only position he can obtain is ship’s carpenter onboard a Royal Navy warship. Abraham’s adventures now begin on the high seas. Stockman’s series, Tween Sea and Shore, follows the adventures of historical and fictional characters aboard the frigate, la Renommée. This series debut has a slightly different approach to the average seafaring novels written about this time period, up to and including the Napoleonic Wars. The protagonist is not a sea captain or a sailor who has been taken on board an English man of war; instead, he is an unassuming ship’s carpenter who is just trying to survive while working his trade, handicapped after seriously injuring his hand. I found the main character fully developed, sympathetic, and likable. Although there are few battle scenes, there is enough tension built into the story’s plot to keep a solid, fast-paced storyline. It’s an interesting and worthwhile read, and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. Jeff Westerhoff

FIRST AND BEFORE ALL THINGS

Kate Wilby, Book Guild Publishing, 2019, £9.99, pb, 264pp, 9781912881291

This is the story of the Norwich Bethel, a sanctuary for “lunaticks” founded in 1713 by the enlightened and compassionate Mary Chapman, widow of an Anglican clergyman.

Daughter of a mayor of Norwich, in the novel Mary is moved to open the Bethel (where she lived herself until her death in 1724) by her experience in caring for mentally afflicted family members and by her father’s account of the horrors of visiting the Bethlem Hospital— colloquially known as Bedlam—where inmates were treated as little more than freaks goaded to amuse visitors. Mary tells her life story against a dramatic backdrop of events from Puritanism to the eventual extinction of the Protestant Stuart line. Her marriage to Chapman, late for the time, is described as a tender love story. Mary’s attempts to find a site for her hospital were held up by a nimbyism which has modern echoes wherever there are attempts to provide accommodation for ex-prisoners, drug addicts, or asylum seekers, but her struggles to be heard as a woman and widow are symptomatic of her time. Quibbles are that early on this reads somewhat like a history book rewritten in the first person singular. There are occasional lapses like the modern use of “tasked with” and the assertion that Bethlem acquired its nickname because it was a chaotic and noisy place, whereas Bedlam is a corruption of Bethlem and has only since come to signify that chaos. That said, the novel is beautifully written, impeccably researched, and shines a much-deserved spotlight on a remarkable woman. Her hospital has in modern times been converted to other uses, but Mary’s work is remembered in present-day Norwich in the NHS’s Bethel Child and Family Centre. Katherine Mezzacappa

19TH CENTURY

THE SEWING ROOM GIRL

Susanna Bavin, Allison & Busby, 2018, £8.99, pb, 414pp, 9780749023638

This story is as much about English Northern grit as it is sewing, with needle a-plenty! Victorian teen Juliet Webster is already “a competent little needlewoman” who can design and fabricate all manner of garments. She aspires to become a top seamstress running her own fashion salon, but circumstance, family and others consistently conspire to hinder her progress with malice and violence. Whatever did she do to deserve such treatment? “There was nothing wrong that darned hard graft wouldn’t get them out of.” This mindset, however, exemplifies Juliet’s steadfast resolve, which underpins an uncomplicated narrative that whirrs along like a well-oiled treadle sewing machine. The finished article’s eclectic cast enables us to explore child labour, male authority, women’s rights, adult responsibility and various abusive behaviours including what’s now known as ‘grooming’. A strong illustrative examination of the greatest shame of all, those born out of wedlock in the late 19th century, runs throughout. Threads of love and loyalty constantly cross swords with hate and

treachery. Never far from the surface, the latter are always ready to pounce when Juliet least expects. Nevertheless, she continues to search for that which every seamstress, indeed every human, requires: “good light.” Just how she stitches together the attitude, strength and bravery it will take to transport her from village slops maid to pursuing her dream is a tale told well. Noticeable, too, is an appealing and authentic nod to the natural world in almost every outdoor scene, whether country path or town garden; skies are the blue of harebells or cornflowers, the year’s turning is described through a variety of wildflowers, shrubs and trees that blossom then fade as the seasons pass. Prepare for yearnings, spite, redemption and sewing, with a nice touch. Simon Rickman

THE WIDOW OF ROSE HOUSE

Diana Biller, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2019, $16.99/£10.99, pb, 339pp, 9781250297860

Alva Penrose Rensselaer Webster is no longer welcome in New York City. Her family denies her existence, and society shuns her without reprieve. For it is 1875, and the press has written up “Mrs. Webster” for presumably indulging in licentious behavior while living in Paris as the wife of an infamous bon vivant. However, when her French husband is murdered, Alva sets sail for her native land and purchases a dilapidated mansion, Liefdehuis, in Hyde Park, which she is intent on renovating. And not only that: she plans to write a book on interior decoration, hoping her work will serve not only the rich, but the aspiring middle classes. But the house Alva acquires turns out to be haunted, and she has to rely on the aid of a dashing innovator, Samuel Moore, to exorcise demons that might just be her own. A romance-cum-ghost story, The Widow of Rose House resounds with echoes of Edith Wharton and Gilded Age novels, which dissect the upper crust of New York Society with elegant mercilessness. Mrs. Webster’s fate recalls that of Ellen Olenska in The Age of Innocence who, after making a similarly disastrous match, returns home, but is sent packing back to Europe in disgrace. Will Alva share Ellen’s fate? Other than Newland Archer, she is fortunate that Samuel Moore is a man who cares nothing for convention. Still, Alva and Sam experience a haunting, as well as a real-life, dangerous adversary who threatens their happiness. Very entertaining. Elisabeth Lenckos

THE CAMPBELL CURSE

Olivier Bosman, Rocket Man Press, 2018, $11.99, pb, 237pp, 9781722708177

In 1892, Detective Sergeant John Billings from Scotland Yard, a secret morphine addict and closet homosexual, is assigned to guard American actress Carola LeFevre, who receives a death threat while performing Macbeth on stage in London. When Billings

meets Miss LeFevre, she is accompanied by her nine-year-old daughter, Kitty, a lonely, neglected child, which makes it all the more tragic when she is the victim of a horrible crime. Meanwhile, a parallel story is told through the diary of Gordon Campbell. His father was a victim of the Campbell Curse. Gordon’s mother is convinced that the curse is upon Gordon when he begins to have the same symptoms his father had. Gordon does not believe this and tries to live a normal life. He has a girlfriend with a daughter named Moira, about the same age as Kitty. As Billings and his associates hunt down the perpetrator of the crime against Kitty, they have several false leads until a clairvoyant woman gives them a name as a clue. In the search for answers, the detectives meet inhabitants of the London underworld whose names are amusingly Dickensian. Using the information gathered from these characters, Billings connects the clues and the criminal is found. I enjoyed the twists and turns of this story as well as the red herrings, required in any good crime story. The connection of the two families is obscure and the reader should pay attention to the smallest bit of history. But in the end, it makes sense that both these families would be touched by the Campbell Curse. Susan Pruett

A DISTANT HOPE

Ellin Carsta (trans. Gerald Chapple), AmazonCrossing, 2019, $14.95, pb, 277pp, 9781542042284

The “Distant Hope” in this book is supposed to be a cocoa plantation in Cameroon. In 1880s, the Hansens, a family of German coffee merchants, are unmoored after the suicide of their patriarch. After his death, his three sons find there were many more debts than they’d realized, and the single large villa they’d always lived in together was in jeopardy. In order to solve all their problems, they decided to shift the focus of their family business—coffee distribution—to include cocoa distribution. One son, Robert, takes his wife and two daughters to Cameroon to buy the cocoa plantation, one moves to Vienna to take part in the chocolate craze there, and the third stays in Hamburg to run the office. The family unravels on personal levels, though they become prosperous. Ultimately, a family betrayal causes the ruin of them all. This book is translated from the German, published in 2018. At first, I thought perhaps this book was better classified as YA as much of the story is told through Luise’s eyes—the fourteenyear-old girl who moves to Cameroon with her parents and sister. However, her storyline doesn’t go anywhere. She was her grandfather’s favorite—which doesn’t end up mattering. She loves Cameroon and doesn’t want to go back to Hamburg, but in the end, a boy from Cameroon breaks her heart, so then she’s fine with leaving all of a sudden. While we

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have a large cast of characters to choose from, this is how each of their storylines feel. Details lead nowhere; development is shallow at best. The plot is a series of then-this-happened, then-this-happened. As the book wears on, it’s clear this is not YA due to the sex scenes, some more explicit than others. This book takes on complex subject matter, but does not deliver. Katie Stine

THE PRINCE OF MIRRORS

Alan Robert Clark, Fairlight, 2019, £7.99/$9.17, pb, 352pp, 9781912054121

The Prince in question is Prince Albert Victor, eldest son of Edward, the Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark. He was the heir presumptive to the British throne, and grandson of Queen Victoria. Alas, though, when he was engaged to be married to Princess Mary (May) of Teck, he died of pneumonia, aged 28, before Queen Victoria and his father. May later married his younger brother, George, and they became King George V and Queen Mary, the grandparents of Queen Elizabeth II. Known to his family as Eddy, there is still to this day much speculation surrounding Albert Victor as to his intelligence, character and lifestyle. He was thought to be lazy or what is now referred to as having educational special needs. He was well-liked, gentle and kind. However, this has not curbed lurid tales that he was Jack the Ripper or was involved in homosexual scandals. The latter looms large in this novel, which divides the narrative of Eddy’s life and that of his tutor at Cambridge, handsome, Eton Wall Game champion, Jem Stephen. This novel shows him to be a homosexual but surmises Eddy is bisexual. Whether there is any truth in this, I do not know, but the author has written a fascinating novel which held me from start to finish. How the Royal Family would view this novel, I daren’t think, but because none of their archives on Eddy are available to the public, we can only guess. At least, Clark makes no mention of any Jack the Ripper nonsense. What is good about this book is that it has further stirred me to research more about Queen Victoria’s many royal descendants. Sally Zigmond

MARLEY

Jon Clinch, Atria, 2019, $27.00/C$36.00, hb, 304pp, 9781982129705

Marley was not dead, to begin with. This novel undoes the famous first line of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, presenting the story of Ebenezer Scrooge’s partner, Jacob Marley. Clinch did a similar turn on another classic in imagining the story of Huckleberry Finn’s father, but in this case, he has so undone the known story that it may leave fans of the original cold. When Scrooge and Marley meet as students at a school with the properly Dickensian name of Drabb Academy, Marley is already a practiced forger who uses his skill to 26

defraud his gullible new acquaintance while also cultivating his friendship. The original presented the two as partners and the epitome of heartless businessmen, but Marley is the main villain here, and his activities are beyond that of the greedy capitalist. Donning disguises and shuffling various shell companies, he launders money from the clandestine slave trade, shakes down brothels, and eventually even hires a murderer to off a rival. Characters who are comfortably and necessarily dead in A Christmas Carol are alive and breathing in this version. Scrooge’s mother and Fan still live, and there is no current estrangement from his family. We learn of Scrooge’s failed love, but in this case it is principle rather than callousness that creates a rift between them, as Scrooge silently dedicates his life to combating an evil Marley has done. There are a few rustlings that the reader for a moment may think are listening spirits, but no ghosts materialize. There’s no sense that this is the prequel to Dickens’ famous story. Instead it is an alternative which renders the intervention of the spirits unnecessary, for Scrooge has redeemed himself and selflessly given himself over to righting a wrong. This character Marley, though, is more than due for a visit. Martha Hoffman

RED RUCKUS

Brett Cogburn, Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 264pp, 9781432831936

Morgan Clyde, Yale class of 1852, was destined to become an industrial baron of the Old West. Instead he left his genteel wife and two young children to fight in the Civil War and then become a roaming railroad lawman and sometime federal marshal. This story is set mostly on an Indian reservation in the hot summer of 1874. The fledgling US Secret Service and the local railroad jointly hire Morgan to clean up a band of corrupt deputy marshals and the crooked federal judge who protects them. The judge and his gang extort money from businesses and run illegal vice trades. They knife, shoot or hang anyone who doesn’t do their bidding. When that does not work, they frame them with false crimes tried in the judge’s courtroom. Cogburn knows the land, how folks talked, and the details of their daily lives. He easily transports readers into that time and place. Interesting secondary characters enhance the main story. There’s an African-American horse thief with a sly sense of humor, a hardscrabble farmer who was once a shootist, and Morgan’s ex-wife. She’s now the proprietor of the finest hotel in the region and owner of a major cattle operation. As expected, violence, death and near death propel the plot to a rousing shoot-out between the nasty gang and out-gunned Morgan. Some readers will want to know more about the corrupt judge atop the gang; not one scene focuses on him. But overall, this is a fast-paced quest of a righteous lawman for justice against

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

impossible odds. Fans of Morgan Clyde will enjoy this third book in the series.

G. J. Berger

THE LOST OUTLAW

Paul Fraser Collard, Headline, 2019, £20.99, hb, 432pp, 9781472239105

Louisiana, 1863. Jack Lark has fought on both sides of the Civil War. Sickened by what he sees as the futile and pointless slaughter on both sides, Jack has travelled across the Southern states in a lazy, mindless torpor. However, his money is running out and he must find work. He signs up as part of a heavily armed wagon train, taking cotton down to the Mexican border, before bringing guns and ammunition back. It is a dangerous trek, as both cargoes are magnets for the South’s most infamous outlaws. Jack soon finds that the normal rules of war do not apply – honour and mercy are seen as anachronistic, with no place in the modern world. This is the eighth action-packed novel featuring Jack Lark – soldier, leader, imposter. The many fans of Paul Collard will know what to expect. The plot is tight and totally believable. The characters are strong. Jack Lark’s will to survive and the cumulative effects of years of warfare are effectively portrayed as he struggles in a world of treachery and callous indifference to life. The novel can be read as a stand-alone. If you are looking for nonstop high-octane adventure with lots of pulsating action, this is for you. Strap on a navy Colt, mount up – and enjoy. Recommended. Mike Ashworth

A TRANSCONTINENTAL AFFAIR

Jodi Daynard, Lake Union, 2019, $14.95, pb, 348pp, 9781542004091

A Transcontinental Affair takes a winning premise – the first coast-to-coast railroad journey in 1870 aboard the Pullman Hotel Express – and runs it off the rails with clunky prose, confusing plotting, and a cast of onedimensional characters. Hattie is a spunky, bloomers-wearing tomboy who chafes against the strictures of her society and her eminent congressman father. In a bid for change from her stolid Boston life, Hattie boards the train to join a fiancé she has never met in California. On board, she meets Louisa, a beautiful but clubfooted young woman with few marriage prospects who is serving as the unhappy governess to a wealthy family. Hattie is all bluntness and bluster, while Louisa is all kind-heartedness and reserve. They temper each other and soon begin to care deeply for one another – realizing as they ride toward their respective destinies that they may be looking for different futures than they had imagined. While the luxurious details of the Pullman Hotel Express – from the menu, to the engine workings, to the lives of the waitstaff behind the scenes – are well-researched, Daynard’s prose is littered with confusing perspective shifts,

redundancies, heavy-handed word dropping (“Reverend Finch prided himself on both his foresightedness and his celerity, though in truth he was neither very perceptive nor very swift”), and overblown descriptions (“anyone looking at her might have thought that Botticelli’s new-born Venus had come to life at a railway depot”). While Hattie and Louisa gradually grow into more rounded characters, the rest of the passengers – from the bratty Ridgewood children under Louisa’s care, to the bashful porters, to the corrupt railroad magnates – remain cardboard cutouts. By the time the story reaches its dramatic but muddled conclusion in San Francisco, the reader is as eager to depart the train as the disenchanted passengers. Ann Pedtke

THE ARTFUL MATCH

Jennifer Delamere, Bethany House, 2019, $14.99, pb, 361pp, 9780764219221

Set in 1881, this third volume of the London Beginnings series focuses on Cara Bernay, aspiring artist and disgraced governess. Dismissed for accidentally endangering her charge’s life, Cara goes to London only to find that her sister Julia has married and left the country. At a loss for someplace to go, Cara meets Langham Burke, artist and wastrel brother of an earl, who offers her lodgings with an artist couple he knows. Langham invites Cara to dinner with his brother, Henry, Earl of Morestowe. Henry’s young ward Amelia is throwing a tantrum, but Cara manages to establish a rapport with the child. Since Amelia’s governess is temporarily absent, Henry allows Cara to step in as caretaker. But Henry’s mother, Lady Morestowe, is cool towards Cara; she is determined to match Henry with a visiting American industrialist’s daughter. The London Aesthetic Movement provides background, though a large part of the story takes place at the Morestowes’ country estate. Religious content is minimal. While Henry and Cara are likeable people, I found the story to be rather slow-moving; their relationship takes a long time to develop. Recommended to readers who like to savor a growing relationship rather than speed towards the denouement. B.J. Sedlock

THE DARKER ARTS

Oscar de Muriel, Orion, 2019, £18.99, hb, 432pp, 9781409187622

Edinburgh 1889. In the fifth in the Scotlandbased series, detective inspectors Adolphus McGray and Ian Frey are summoned to investigate the mysterious deaths of six members of a family in the respectable Edinburgh district of Morningside. An old ally of McGray – the fearsome clairvoyant gypsy Katerina Dragnae – is involved, having been present conducting a séance when all the deaths occurred. She is the main suspect, and McGray and Frey have the seemingly

impossible tasks of preventing her conviction for the murders, in the face of aggressive populist mob-rule sentiment against Katerina. McGray (nicknamed Nine Nails) is a foulmouthed, hard-drinking Scottish fellow always on the cusp of violence, while Frey is rather louche and patronisingly English, which of course does not go always down terribly well north of the border. They are indeed an odd pair, but have some high-ranking connections which allow them to investigate some of the more outré and puzzling murders that afflict the country. Despite his loutish behaviour McGray has a longstanding conviction in the existence of the powers of the occult and is determined to extract his ally Katerina from her invidious position. Their role reminds me of Christopher Fowler’s modern Bryant & May series, with McGray and Frey similar to Fowler’s protagonists. It is all gothically over the top and gloriously preposterous, but an enjoyable, entertainingly and well-written historical romp nonetheless. Douglas Kemp

WHERE THE LIGHT ENTERS

Sara Donati, Berkley, 2019, $27.00/C$36.00, hb, 672pp, 9780425271827

This long, absorbing novel is the sequel to Donati’s enthusiastically received The Gilded Hour, a multi-family epic centered on the lives of Anna and Sophie Savard, cousins who attempt to further the cause of medical care for women in post-Civil War New York. Descended from the extended fictional family that is the subject of Donati’s celebrated Wilderness series, both young women continue their efforts to practice medicine and fight for the welfare of mothers and children. In the previous novel, they found love and danger while helping a charismatic lawyer-and-detective team solve a series of harrowing child murders. In this novel, the cousins are reunited: Anna married to the kindhearted detective Jack Mezzanotte, and Sophie returning from a honeymoon tragically cut short by her bridegroom’s death from tuberculosis. As Sophie grieves and struggles to make something useful of her husband’s legacy, Anna enlists her aid in attempting to discover the identity of a murderous abortionist before they strike again. This sprawling tale has a huge cast of intriguing characters; Donati’s clever device of beginning the book with a series of letters, news clippings, and telegrams will help readers who missed the first novel catch up quickly. The cousins’ nemesis, the real-life crusader

against vice, Anthony Comstock, returns in this outing as well, and the talented, brilliant women must call on their wide network of loving, activist family members to combat his sinister efforts to oppress women and the poor. Each character is fully and lovingly realized, and Donati adds a few other point-of-view characters without ever confusing the reader. Her knowledge of 19th century New York is such that walking the kaleidoscopic streets alongside the fascinating Savard cousins feels absolutely real. This is a satisfying family saga as well as an absorbing mystery that readers will hate to see end, but it’s very likely Donati is not finished with the charming MezzanotteSavard clan. Kristen McDermott

THE ROLL OF DRUMS

Jan Drexler, Revell, 2019, $15.99, pb, 336pp, 9781493419364

Weaver’s Creek, Ohio, seems far from the civil war that devastates many families across the country in 1863. Yet even the Amish people of Weaver’s Creek are affected by the war; one or two young men have left to fight or to serve in military hospitals. However, it is not until Gideon Fischer arrives with his exhausted family and dying wife that the Weaver family face the damages civil war can cause even to quiet farming communities like theirs. They immediately offer hospitality to the Fischers. Their daughter Ruby Weaver tends Gideon’s wife, Lovinia, and becomes her close friend until her death. She also cares for the Fischer’s four small children. Before she dies, Lovinia asks Gideon to promise to marry Ruby rather than living alone. She tries to extract a similar promise from Ruby: to marry Gideon and care for the children. Ruby promises to consider it. She does not plan to marry, but she quickly comes to love the children and has an intuitive understanding of them and their behaviour after their mother’s death. Gideon cannot imagine loving anyone as he has loved Lovinia; he cannot see a way out of his grief. This historical romance is a thoughtfully crafted love story. The reader follows the growing love between Gideon and Ruby, and Ruby’s love for Gideon’s children. We also see the gentle Amish love expressed by the Weaver family as they care for a family of six arriving as strangers in need. However, a fugitive band of raiders threatens to wreck the peace of the community. Amish beliefs are keenly observed and effectively expressed in this novel. It reads like an intricate tapestry of love set against a counterpoint of evil. Valerie Adolph

ALL HEARTS COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

Sarah M. Eden, Anita Stansfield, Esther Hatch, Joanna Barker, Covenant, 2019, $16.99, pb, 304pp, 9781524411091

The four short stories in this collection are

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set in Regency England. Eden’s ‘Christmas at Falstone Castle’ describes how the Dowager Duchess of Kielder, with the assistance of a kindly widowed vicar, tries to mend the broken relationship with her son and his family, and unexpectedly finds love. In Hatch’s ‘’Tis the Season to Be Daring’, a pretense courtship between two aristocrats turns into the real thing. In Stansfield’s ‘The Heart of Christmas’ and Barker’s ‘The Christmas Dress’, the kindness of impoverished but good-hearted young seamstresses wins the love of wealthy but lonely men struggling with difficult situations. These are inspirational tales with a message of hope appropriate to the Christmas season. In Hatch’s story, Elizabeth Davenport tries to escape the pressure from her marriageminded mother by attracting the attention of the slightly improper Lord Hawthorne, but as they get to know each other better, they fall in love, a valuable lesson not to be misled by appearances. Despite their misfortune, neither Addie Moore nor Nell Addington responds with anger and bitterness, rather with patience, understanding, and generosity to others. All the lovers deserve the happiness they find. Though the situations are real enough (loneliness, poverty, misunderstandings), wish-fulfillment is at the heart of these stories. If the happy outcome seems unlikely in the unforgiving and materialistic world we are too familiar with, bear in mind that these are romance, not ‘realistic,’ stories, and they are set at Christmastime, a season of hope of better things to come. They offer timely comfort. Recommended. Ray Thompson

MURDER AT THE ASHMOLEAN

Jim Eldridge, Allison & Busby, 2019, £19.99, hb, 320pp, 9780749023768

This is the third in the series in which Daniel Wilson and his partner (in both the professional and romantic meanings), Abigail Fenton, investigate murders and other disturbances at one of the nation’s foremost museums. This time it is the turn of the Ashmolean in Oxford, in 1895. Gavin Everett, described as a “senior executive” at the museum (but he is a curator, and this is the term that should have been employed by the characters in the novel), has seemingly committed suicide in his office. Wilson & Fenton have been requested by the Ashmolean to look into the circumstances of this shocking event. It soon becomes apparent that this was not suicide and that Everett was murdered. While the local police have been told to back off their investigations, ordered to do so for some puzzling reason by high-level political pressure, our detective duo are free to find out what happened, and why. The astute reader sees that this route might lead them into some dangerous waters, which includes coming up against the maleficent engagement of London’s Special Branch. The story rumbles along pleasantly, with the now-familiar two leading characters engaging the attention of the reader. Occasionally, 28

the dialogue is a little pedestrian, with the reader being informed of events that he or she is already familiar with a little too often, and the denouement is rather uninspiring. Nevertheless, an enjoyable and entertaining story. Douglas Kemp

BAREFOOT ON THE COBBLES

Janet Few, Blue Poppy Publishing, 2018, £8.99, pb, 352pp, 9781911438540

I had misgivings reading the list of dramatis personae, several pages long, that the author provides at the start of her book. Whose story was this really going to be? My fears were unfounded, for essentially it is the story of Polly Wakely, a fisherman’s wife in Clovelly, and her ultimately tragic relationship with her daughter Daisy. Based on a true story and impeccably researched, the novel spans the period 1890 to 1919, beginning and ending with a trial. It thus encompasses within the chapel-knit community of this Devon fishing village wider events like the suffragette movement, the cataclysm of the Great War, and the flu epidemic that followed, as well as the generosity and cruelty of the sea that provides Clovelly’s main livelihood – though tourism plays its part and the impact of the “outsider” is not always positive. This is Few’s first novel, but she is already an accomplished and widely published local historian. Clovelly is described with such vividness that it is itself a character in the novel. Few’s gift lies in how she imbues her writing with a sense of period in the smallest details: the drudgery of life in service, the subtle and not-so-subtle indicators of social ranking, the lack of privacy in a community where others help in times of trouble but where neighbors inevitably know what one might want to keep private. I have never seen Clovelly; I now very much want to. Katherine Mezzacappa

THE WIDOW OF PALE HARBOR

Hester Fox, Graydon House, 2019, $16.99/ C$21.99, pb, 352pp, 9781525834264

In the small and declining Maine town of Pale Harbor in 1846, Sophronia Carver, a widow and literary m a g a z i n e publisher, lives with her servant on an estate known as Castle Carver. Eerie developments are taking place around the town, and some seem to be focusing on Sophronia. Then a new and unlikely minister arrives in Pale

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

Harbor: Gideon Stone. Gideon feels he has a duty to his deceased wife to be an upstanding transcendentalist cleric even though he doesn’t believe in the tenets of the sect. Mysterious and threatening events increase in number and intensity, culminating in murder. The entire town seems arrayed against Sophronia, suspecting her of witchcraft and other hideous crimes. Gideon and Sophronia cannot help but be attracted to each other, and the reluctant minister becomes the widow’s confidant and defender. Along with their own tragic past lives, the two must deal with the eccentric townspeople, many of whom have dark secrets, to find out who or what is behind the strange and deadly occurrences. A Gothic romance with the flavor of Edgar Allan Poe, this is also a suspenseful mystery novel with new twists on almost every page. Who could not love a protagonist with the classically charming name of “Sophronia” or a reluctant minister who curses like a trooper? The author has done her historical homework, catching the zeitgeist of 19th-century coastal Maine and the free-thinking spiritual fads of Concord, Massachusetts in the same era. I’m not sure if it was deliberate, but there were also flashes of hilarious humor which only increased the appeal of the book for me. Highly recommended. Thomas J. Howley

THE FOUNDLING SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

Elizabeth Gill, Quercus, 2019, £6.99, pb, 324pp, 9781787473386

Set in the mid-1800s in the hills above Newcastle, this novel depicts two very different characters. Ruth Dixon, deserted by her mother and made pregnant by her father, leaves home after being attacked by him again. Jay Gilbraith, an orphan, has grown up on the streets learning to fend for himself. He begins to buy old houses and repair them until the day comes when he feels he must do something more and decides to build a new village up in the hills. Nearby his chosen site is a convent providing food and shelter for orphans. Ruth and Jay meet up, and he takes her to the convent where she is taken in by Sister Madeline. This is a good story with many twists and turns before the reader reaches the last page and has learned the outcome. None of the characters really existed, and apart from some social history of the period, there is not a lot to identify it as an historical novel, but there is drama and some romance. Characterisation is good, the setting is well-drawn, and the pages keep turning. I enjoyed this book, and it would happily pass the time on a long flight or train journey. Marilyn Sherlock

THE CLERGYMAN’S WIFE

Molly Greeley, William Morrow, 2019, $15.99/ C$19.99, pb, 304pp, 9780062942906

Three years after her pragmatic marriage

to the Rev. Mr. Collins, the former Charlotte Lucas is settled at the parsonage at Hunsford, managing her household, tending her garden, caring for her young daughter, and, accompanied by the still-obsequious Mr. Collins, drinking endless cups of tea with the overbearing Lady Catherine de Bourgh. When her ladyship ordains that the parsonage should have some roses, however, Charlotte becomes acquainted with the young farmer who comes to plant them, a meeting which causes her to question some of her choices in life. While some recent Pride and Prejudice spinoffs have taken Jane Austen’s creations in some rather startling directions—the iterations which turn the mousy, pedantic Mary Bennet into a femme fatale come to mind—The Clergyman’s Wife isn’t one of them. Greeley, who makes her debut as a novelist with this book, stays true to Jane Austen’s characters, while allowing them to develop in their own right. Although the Darcys and the Bennets make their obligatory appearances, they don’t dominate the novel; this is very much Charlotte’s story. Subtle rather than sparkling, as befits its heroine, The Clergyman’s Wife is an understated novel with a quiet, almost melancholy quality about it that I found very appealing. I look forward to future books by this author. Susan Higginbotham

WORKHOUSE NIGHTINGALE

Holly Green, Penguin, 2019, £6.99, pb, 380pp, 9781785035678

1850s. Dora Latimer, an illegitimate, mixed-race girl, is brought to England by her sea-captain father and brought up with his other children, to her stepmother’s disgust. After the captain’s death, Dora is demoted to being a servant and, when her half-brother abuses his position, leaving her pregnant, she is thrown out of the house. Taken into the squalid workhouse infirmary, Dora’s future looks bleak indeed. She sets about doing what she can to help the patients’ suffering by using the herbal remedies she learnt from her mother. But how long will the sceptical doctors allow that – even though the patients’ health improves? How could a girl in her position ever train to become a Florence Nightingale nurse? I enjoyed this book. Holly Green has plainly done her research, and we are left in no doubt about the horrors of oakum picking, the appalling food, and the insanitary conditions in the workhouse. We are right behind Dora when the philanthropist Mr Rathbone offers her a chance to train at Miss Nightingale’s School and Home for Nurses in London. 1860s London is convincingly shown, both the pleasures and the pitfalls, as the unsophisticated Dora would have experienced it – as well as the insistence on hygiene and fresh air in Miss Nightingale’s School, and the realities of mid-19th century medicine. Dora has other problems to tackle, too, those of being mixed-race and well-

educated but not, by birth, ‘a lady’. She must learn which of her fellow students to trust, and how to deal with male assumptions about how to treat a girl from her background from the, apparently, charming brother of her wellto-do friend, Lizzie. There is much here for the reader to enjoy: a good story backed up by accurate history, and believable characters. Elizabeth Hawksley

THE DEVIL IN PARADISE

James L. Haley, Putnam, 2019, $27.00/ C$36.00, hb, 4 3 2 p p , 9780399171123

In 1817, American naval officer Bliven Putnam is now captain of his own ship of war, the sloop Rappahannock, on duty hunting slavers in the Caribbean. Rising from a young but highly successful midshipman in battles against Barbary pirates, and later against the British Navy in the War of 1812, he now finds himself at the pinnacle of his profession. The U.S. Navy, like the new nation itself, is still small and just beginning to become a major player in world affairs. The captain receives orders to show the flag and deal with a new and different group of pirates on the other side of the world. His home port will be in Honolulu, Hawaii, which at this time is still ruled by its own kings and queens. Putnam’s wife, Clarity, who plays a dynamic and interesting role in this novel, signs on with a missionary group to travel to minister to the Hawaiians, who seem to welcome this despite their recent history. Her ship beats her husband’s to Hawaii, and she meets him there with their newborn son. But soon he must sail to China and track down pirates along the way, and Clarity is active among the native peoples, who she has come to admire and respect. I reviewed the first two books in this illuminating and exciting naval trilogy. This one reads fine as a stand-alone, and the reader will not need to play catch-up. As expected I found lots of new fascinating and unexpected details of nautical lore and the geo-politics of the Pacific and Asia of the early 1800s. Yet this time, through Clarity’s eyes, the reader experiences the sometimes loving and but often terrifying culture and history of the original Hawaiians. Here, Haley combines the styles of Patrick O’Brian and James Michener in the highest quality historical fiction. Thomas J. Howley

ONE FOR THE BLACKBIRD, ONE FOR THE CROW

Olivia Hawker, Lake Union, 2019, $24.95, hb, 496pp, 9781542006910

In the Northern Wyoming prairie in the shadow of the Bighorn Mountains, the Bemis and Webber families are the only settlers for miles, with the nearest town 20 miles away. It is 1876 when Ernest Bemis comes across his wife, Cora, with the neighbor, Substance Webber. In a fit of rage, he shoots and kills Substance. Now with Substance in the grave and Ernest in jail, both wives are without husbands and left alone with the responsibility of the farms and their children. Life is harsh on the prairie, so with winter looming and the harvest not gathered, the loss of the men is devastating. Nettie Mae Webber is consumed with bitterness and hatred over Cora Bemis’s betrayal. At the same time, she feels relief at losing her brutal and uncaring husband. Cora is consumed with guilt and regret. It is 13-yearold Beulah Bemis and 16-year-old Clyde Webber, both resilient, likable characters, who try to carry the workload. They realize the real danger their families face with the coming winter. Nettie is hard to convince of the necessity of working together and moving the Bemis family into her house. When they join households, her animosity towards Cora creates conflict. She does everything to keep Clyde and Beulah separated, out of fear of a romance blooming. Hawker’s language is very descriptive and poetic, but the extended flowery prose gets very tedious and adds unnecessary length to the book, while overshadowing an insubstantial plot. As Beulah, Clyde, Cora, and Nettie Mae each tell their stories, there is often overlap and repetition. This is a story of life and death, the beauty of nature, and healing, sorrow, and redemption. Readers who like extensive, descriptive prose and less plot will enjoy this book. Janice Ottersberg

A RELUCTANT BRIDE

Jody Hedlund, Bethany House, 2019, $15.99, pb, 352pp, 9780764232954

1862 London: young Mercy, a resident of the slums, rushes into a dispensary carrying a baby. Since the regular doctor is away, she is seen by the doctor filling in, Lord Joseph Colville. Upon learning that the child is not Mercy’s, and she regularly brings in others’ sick babies, he is impressed by Mercy’s kindheartedness. To ease his sorrow upon the deaths of his parents, Joseph has served as a surgeon on ships sailing to India and China. Not wanting to settle down yet, he accepts another appointment as surgeon on the Tynemouth sailing from England to British Columbia. Sixty young brides-to-be are also on board, in response to the need for wives for young men who’d arrived during the gold rush. Mercy, desperately wishing for a better future, also books passage on the Tynemouth. When sickness breaks out on board, Mercy is happy to assist Joseph, which brings them closer

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and begins a forbidden romance. However, in observance of the strict rules of the class-based Victorian society, others want them kept apart. While the saga of the “Fishing Fleets” to India is well known, Jody Hedlund has incorporated the little-known chronicle of the bridal ships that took young British women to British Columbia. She takes her time in developing the romance between a nobleman surgeon and a lower-class slum dweller. While some may consider this improbable, Hedlund, as stated in her author’s note, has based the plot on a true story. The Christian faith elements are introduced seamlessly into the narrative, along with the class prejudices of that era. London’s slum life is lucidly imagined, and the descriptions of the confined life, sickness, and weather on a lengthy sea voyage are vividly recounted. Readers will look forward to the second book in the series. Waheed Rabbani

THE FIRST LADY AND THE REBEL

Susan Higginbotham, Sourcebooks Landmark, 2019, $15.99/C$22.99/£11.99, pb, 400pp, 9781492647089

This novel, running from 1839-1876, lightly fictionalizes the relationship between Mary Todd Lincoln and one of her half-sisters, Emily Todd Helm. It is well-researched and full of detail about American history, although the focus—and by far the most interesting part of the book—is on the Civil War years. Mary, of course, was Abraham Lincoln’s wife, and Emily was married to Confederate Brigadier General Benjamin Hardin Helm. The two couples had a close personal relationship before the war, with Lincoln offering Helm a position in Washington D.C. Helm turned it down to return to the South and support the secessionist cause. Mary Todd Lincoln, born in Kentucky, had roots in the South but, like her husband, was a strong Union supporter. Emily was staunchly in favor of the secessionist South. Both women suffered great tragedies as they lost family members to death, disease, battle, and assassination during the wartime era. Both were fairly ordinary women married to prominent husbands and trying to get through the dangers and difficulties of the Civil War days. Mary had some psychological issues, possibly exacerbated by head injuries and grief. Emily never freed her slave, Maggie, which certainly makes this otherwise admirable woman less attractive to the modern reader. History buffs will enjoy the endless detail and minutiae of this lengthy book. I found the war years dramatic and gripping, but the many pages before and after the Civil War were tedious. I would have liked this book better as non-fiction. It was crying out for photographs, although readers can find them easily enough by a quick online search. Higginbotham’s author’s note discusses imaginary scenes and why she included them.

HUDSON’S KILL

Paddy Hirsch, Forge, 2019, $25.99/C$34.99, hb, 336pp, 9780765399168

In 1803, a young black girl is found stabbed to death in New York City. City Marshal Justice Flanagan is on the case. The city is segregated between the blacks and the Irish, with gangs roaming both sections of the community. Along with the gangs, the city is controlled by a corrupt government. A political conspiracy creates tension between both sides and makes it difficult to bring the girl’s killer to justice. Kerry O’Toole is a young schoolteacher who also wishes to capture the killer. A mulatto and former pickpocket, she is a cousin to Lew Owens, who runs Canvastown, the black community, while Flanagan is a nephew of the Bull, who runs the Irish part of town. The killing draws Flanagan and O’Toole together in their search for the killer. This novel is second in the Justice Flanagan mysteries, and now I definitely want to read the first book. The author paints a broad, atmospheric picture of 19th-century New York with its racially divided, packed living conditions and gangs that make it difficult for the police to solve crimes. Tension leaks from the pages as the Marshal tries to interview and obtain cooperation from the major crime bosses and political hacks that seek control. An absorbing read. Jeff Westerhoff

SONS OF CHAOS

Chris James, illus. Ale Aragon, IDW Publishing, 2019, $39.99, hb, 192pp, 9781684054794

From 1821 to 1830, the Greek states shook off four centuries of brutal Ottoman rule. This oversized book recounts part of that important struggle through cartoon-style graphics. Many bold drawings don’t shy away from the violence and brutality suffered by the vulnerable. Marcos Botsaris, real-life hero to Greeks, narrates the spare text in first person. As a shy young boy, Marcos is captured by Ali Pasha, ruler of the Ioannina region, and raised in the dungeons of Ali Pasha’s castle. The main story juxtaposes Marcos and Ali Pasha’s own son, psychopathic Muhktar. Marcos’s and Muhktar’s fathers are portrayed as complex but ruthless characters, each trying to manipulate and control everything and everyone around them. Marcos escapes, falls in love, and slowly learns how to fight. Ten years after his capture, Marcos becomes the leader of Greek armies in the first stages of the full-scale revolution. Meanwhile, Muhktar brutalizes women and feels rejected by his father. Intrigue among regional rulers, secret messages, and divided loyalties, even within the same family, raise additional complications. The upbringing and lives of both sons are indeed in constant chaos. Sons of Chaos is not just an interesting story of the early years of the Greek revolution. From the striking cover to the chapter separators and every illustration (all in color), the artistry draws the reader back again and again.

Elizabeth Knowles

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

G. J. Berger

SEND JUDAH FIRST

Brian C. Johnson, Hidden Shelf, 2019, $27.99, hb, 260pp, 9781733819329

Yuda is only twelve when her Ivory Coast village is raided by slavers. In Virginia, Yuda is purchased by a plantation owner increasing his stock before African slaves are banned in 1808. Her family is lost forever, and Yuda’s final shred of identity—her name—vanishes when her master dubs her Sukey. Sent to help the cook, Sukey quickly learns English and to tolerate Master James’s nighttime visits, but Aunt Sally teaches Sukey more than tortured obedience; the old woman tells Sukey to knead her anger into dough and feed her hate to the masters. Sukey is sold to Virginia’s Belle Grove Plantation, where she is baptized as Judah. Brian Johnson’s Send Judah First is a remarkable novel inspired by “Judy” and the other 276 names entered in Belle Grove’s List of Enslaved. Mr. Johnson felt immediate kinship to Judah, joined by their love of cooking, and has done a terrific job of bringing faceless names in a ledger to life. Mr. Johnson also brings readers to painful realization that the “benevolent master” is no more than fantasy. Belle Grove’s slaves endured whatever punishment their owner deemed fit. Judah and her sons were kept together, but she was parted from the man she loved, and compelled to yield body and free will to her master. Some slave owners salved their consciences by calling their chattels “family members,” but in a letter, Judah’s mistress deplores the death of Judah’s twelve orphaned children for the work it devolves to her, then complains of inconvenience in losing her cook. Send Judah First encompasses a brutal topic with strength and beauty, but without graphic depiction. A story of survival and quiet resistance, it’s a great read for teens and adults alike, and I recommend it to all. Jo Ann Butler

ONE MORE RIVER TO CROSS

Jane Kirkpatrick, Revell, 2019, $15.99, pb, 368pp, 9780800727024

As the winter of 1844 approaches, several dozen men, women, and children set out to cross the Sierra Mountains into California by wagon train. The eleven ox-drawn wagons encounter steep cliffs and 15-foot snowdrifts. The party becomes bogged down and must leave supplies and some wagons with a group of mostly women and children. Farther into the

mountains, other wagons become stuck, and that group fragments and rides for help. Based on a true story, this book captures the courage and inevitable conflicts that arise in perilous conditions. Babies are born, oxen are slaughtered and eaten, a sick young man is abandoned to fend for himself, and dangerous rivers must be crossed on horseback. The story rings true. However, it is not easy to follow as the author jumps from character to character every few pages. A list of names and thumbnail sketches of characters in each group and a full-page map up front are helpful. Two winters before the ill-fated Donner Party became trapped in the Sierras and resorted to cannibalism, One More River to Cross tells the story of a wagon train that achieved a happier result in similar conditions.

on for the jewels he apparently hid. Lucy finds herself followed everywhere. This novel is enticing and breezy and marked with lively characters. The author weaves an intricate web of deceit that runs not only through her husband but also her family, which she turns to after her husband’s death. Her apparent savior, Phineas Stone, is a sophisticated and independently wealthy man who has rejected his family business to be an investigator for various insurance companies. He has an eye for detail which proves to be critical to Lucy’s reputation and at times her freedom and safety. As the investigation continues, their attraction to each other grows stronger, but the betrayal by her husband and family weighs heavy. A good read, despite a somewhat predictable ending.

David Drum

Jackie Drohan

THE DUKE’S REGRET

A GOLDEN GRAVE

A chance encounter with an acquaintance grieving the death of his son at Waterloo leads the Duke of Gracechurch to reflect upon his unsatisfactory relationship with his own family. Aware it has been emotionally cold and distant, he sets about trying to make it warmer and loving. The children welcome his attention, but will his duchess be willing to open her heart after years of neglect? Can she be sure the change in his conduct is permanent? The problems in reversing course are overcome rather too easily, perhaps, but this is a Regency romance where good intentions are usually rewarded. Fortunately, the duchess is kind as well as practical, friends and family offer support and helpful guidance, and once he decides to change his pattern of behavior, the duke does act with impressive sensitivity. Equally impressive are the insights into the social context of the era, not only marriage relationships among the aristocracy, but the rearing and education of their children. Wellresearched and strongly recommended.

Second in the Rose Gallagher series after Murder on Millionaires’ Row, this mystery features Rose, a recent inductee into Pinkerton’s, whose talent is to detect shades. The story revolves around the 1886 election for mayor of New York. Six people are mysteriously murdered at a rally, and Rose and her partner, the reserved English gentleman, Thomas Wiltshire, are sent to investigate. The target appears to be Theodore Roosevelt, a primary candidate for mayor at the time. There’s no obvious cause of death, the autopsies are covered up by the crooked police chief, and the complex trail of clues is followed not just by Rose and Thomas but also by Nikola Tesla, Jonathan Burrows, Mark Twain, and a number of other notable figures of the day. I found Tesla’s role particularly intriguing. All these people plus a number of the lesser characters have ‘luck’ which surrounds them in an incandescent aura-like glow. Tesla makes various devices for Rose to help her to detect the aura in the vast high-society soirées to which she and Thomas are invited. I haven’t read the first in this series but will look for it now. Steeped in late 1800s detail, the writing is fluid and everything, right up to Tesla’s weird experiments, is well researched and explained with clarity. The idea that Rose, from a poor Irish background, has made it from maid to Pinkerton agent requires a leap of faith, but the anomaly is easily offset by the singular relationship developing between Rose and Thomas, which the author’s words excel at realizing. Readers will want more in this mystery series and more for this unusual couple.

Catherine Kullmann, Willow, 2019, $11.50/£8.99, pb, 202pp, 9781098881139

Ray Thompson

NO STONE UNTURNED

Pam Lecky, independently published, 2019, $10.00/£7.99, pb, 330pp, 9781074280741

This novel, the first clearly intended to be part of a series, takes place in 1886. Lucy Lawrence, an intelligent, headstrong young woman, is living in London, having followed her emotions and married the man she fell in love with against her family’s wishes. Ten years later, her marriage and finances are in shambles. Lucy is disowned by her family, and her husband Charlie is mysteriously killed near their home when he was supposed to be away on a trip. After an investigation, Lucy discovers the man she fell in love with had been more of a stranger than she realized. His relationship with a notorious underworld figure clearly led to his death, but the search is

Erin Lindsey, Minotaur, 2019, $17.99/C$23.50, pb, 400pp, 9781250180674

Fiona Alison

THE ROGUE TO RUIN

Vivienne Lorret, Avon, 2019, $7.99/C$10.99, pb, 384pp, 9780062685520

Set primarily in London during the 1820s,

the third romance in this series about the Bourne Matrimonial Agency relates how Ainsley, the third Bourne sister, finds a husband. And he is none other than Reed Sterling, owner of the gambling hall across the street, which she is trying to close down. It seems an unlikely pairing, but he is a former prize fighter and she is being stalked by an abusive former fiancé. And, of course, despite his low social standing and formidable reputation, Reed is really quite nice, as well as very masculine. The book raises serious issues, notably the vulnerability of women without powerful protectors, the dangers posed by abusive partners, and economic insecurity for so many. Between outbursts of frantic activity, however, the pace is slow, filled with the protagonists’ worries over their conflicted feelings for each other and painstaking details of their increasingly passionate encounters. This reads like a more tightly written novel, stretched out to meet the 384-page quota set by the publisher. Ray Thompson

THE WORK OF ART

Mimi Matthews, Perfectly Proper, 2019, $16.99, pb, 390pp, 9781733056915

When her grandfather dies, Phyllida Satterthwaite’s fate falls into the hands of his male heir, a distant cousin. Unfortunately, for personal financial reasons her ‘uncle’ insists she marry the Duke of Moreland. An avid collector of anything rare and valuable, Moreland is impressed by her beauty and distinctive eye coloring, but he is cold and cruel. Philly, who has a sensitive and compassionate nature, refuses, but under severe pressure to comply, she turns for help to the only person in London who has offered sincere friendship, Captain Arthur Heywood. Though a recluse since being seriously wounded in the Peninsular War, he proposes marriage as an escape and the pair elope. There is mystery involved. Someone is trying to kill Philly, but who? The duke? The uncle? A poacher? When his identity is finally revealed, it is satisfyingly unexpected, and though his motives seem somewhat unconvincing, the minds of murderers can be twisted. The main storyline, however, is the development of a loving relationship between Philly and Arthur. Despite hindrances that arise from misunderstandings, what starts as mutual gratitude, hers for his rescue, his for her unfailing kindness, moves steadily to true devotion. Strongly recommended. Ray Thompson

OPHELIA’S WAR: Dangerous Mercy

Alison L McLennan, Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 210pp, 9781432858148

This second book of Ophelia’s War picks up where the first novel ended. The heart of both books is the ruby necklace that Ophelia’s mother gave her on her deathbed, and her

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uncle Luther’s obsession to obtain it. In 1884, Ophelia Oatman and her brother Ezekiel have returned to Grafton, Utah, to visit their parents’ graves. They had avoided the town and its Mormon polygamist community since they fled 10 years earlier. Ophelia ended up in Ogden, destitute and hungry, became a high-class prostitute, then a madam. Ezekiel disappeared, on the run from the hostile townspeople. At the cemetery, Ophelia is eagerly greeted by a neighbor. She discovers she is not wanted for her earlier misdeeds and is shocked to hear a detail about her hated uncle Luther that upends everything she believed the night she fled Grafton. In her new life, she has acquired wealth and found love with Charles Sirringo, but ever since leaving the world of prostitution and converting her house into a boardinghouse, Ophelia has struggled to see herself as an upright citizen worthy of mixing in society with her head held high. Her shame from prostitution, guilt from shooting an outlaw in self-defense, and memories of her uncle’s rape and cruelty continue to haunt her. Now fear clouds her life, along with an inner struggle between revenge and forgiveness. Her ruby necklace has brought both hope and heartache, and she questions her persistence in holding onto it. This is an absorbing read that keeps the pace moving. However, when she discovers why her uncle Luther so desperately wanted the ruby necklace, the reason is weak and doesn’t match his extreme obsession. This book is still worth the read based on the strength of the writing and the compelling plot. Janice Ottersberg

NOW WE SHALL BE ENTIRELY FREE

Andrew Miller, Europa, 2019, $19.00, pb, 398pp, 9781609455439 / Sceptre, 2018, £18.99, hb, 432pp, 9781444784695

British Cavalry Captain John Lacroix returns home from fighting the French in Spain in 1809 suffering from physical and mental wounds. He is initially bedridden and unresponsive as he is left in the company of a nanny at his ancestral estate. As he laboriously emerges from his injuries, he is haunted by hideous memories of the atrocities he witnessed during the debacle of the British Army’s humiliating retreat from Napoleon’s forces. Lacroix comes to the decision to find sanctuary on the remote Hebrides islands off Scotland rather than rejoin his unit. He is not aware that a sociopathic English corporal and refined Spanish officer are hunting him. He eventually and unceremoniously makes his way to a small island, where he encounters a tight group of English people seeking their own utopia. Lacroix becomes smitten by a simple but enticing woman and later volunteers to see she gets needed medical attention on the mainland as the climactic showdown with his pursuers becomes imminent. This book is expertly researched and captures the venues and feelings of the period 32

exceptionally well. Interestingly, Medina, the Spanish officer, seems the height of civilization compared to the British land and people he encounters. In contrast, Lacroix remembers Spain as being primitive and decrepit. This book is literary fiction, which seems to explain so much telling and what I found to be voluminous wordiness, but the storyline, tension, and drama made up for much of that. I suspect literary fiction readers will relish it. Thomas J. Howley

UNDERESTIMATING MISS CECILIA

Carolyn Miller, Kregel, 2019, $15.99, pb, 304pp, 9780825445903

The middle daughter and thus second in the Daughters of Aynsley trilogy, shy Cecilia Hatherleigh suffers a painful unrequited love for the earl’s son next door, Edward Amherst. Ned, the prodigal son, has been forgiven for his past sins by his family, but not by Lady Aynsley, who insists he is no match for her gentle daughter. When Ned returns to his London law practice to advocate for the marginalized, Cecy, aching for him despite his professed lack of interest, pours her agonies into journal entries and letters to the newspapers declaring her sympathies for the suffering poor. Attraction sparks when the couple are finally brought together at a house party, but Cecy’s traumatic head injury and Ned’s guilt present final obstacles to their happiness. Miller adds dimension to the beloved Austen formula with acknowledgments of class and ethnic prejudice, as well as a glance at the Peterloo massacre, but the characters seem more often to congratulate each other on their Christian faith rather than grow in and through its teachings. Fans who find Cecy most interesting when, post-memory loss, she starts finally speaking her mind will no doubt look forward to her strong-willed sister Verity’s story, next. Misty Urban

THE HORSEMAN’S WORD

Erica Obey, Encircle, 2019, $15.99, pb, 224pp, 9781948338851

Set in post-Civil War New York, The Horseman’s Word is a dense, well-researched novel of historical speculation that will appeal to fans of the era. Rose Adair is the daughter of a wealthy industrialist left demented by what appeared to be a terrorist attack. Rose faces powerful and dark forces from all sides as she struggles to care for her father amid the often lawless ethnic and class conflicts of a New York in recovery from the effects of the war. The most enigmatic character is Lane Fallon, an English spy of several aliases whose romantic spell Rose cannot seem to shake off, regardless of his apparent misdeeds. Among the many antagonists is Rose’s cousin Preston, bent on seizing the family fortune at any cost, and one of several suspects in her father’s murder. Of special interest is the character

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

of Cole Washington, an African-American former jockey investigating the murder of his wife during the New York City draft riots. The deep-dive historicity of the novel’s descriptions of the upstate New York city of Saratoga Springs is among the book’s best points, and the reader is drawn into the geography, culture and politics of the time very affectingly. The gentility of the city’s equestrian culture framed against its often brutal history and corrupt politics make a compelling contrast for the several unfolding murder mysteries. The Irish cultural touches are also well supported. While at times the book seems like it could use less plot and deeper characterization, the breezy style and fast pace keep the reader’s interest. Jackie Drohan

FINDING LADY ENDERLY

Joanna Davidson Politano, Revell, 2019, $15.99, pb, 400pp, 9780800728724

On a dark night in London’s East End, 1871, a well-dressed stranger offers rag woman Raina Britton the chance to become mistress of Rothburne Abbey—by masquerading as the Countess Enderly. When she finds herself trapped by the hold that the calculating solicitor, Victor Prendergast, has over her lost love, Sully, who is serving as second footman, Raina tries to turn the deception to some good for the Abbey, whose ruined inner rooms become a metaphor for Raina’s own fragile façade. The other characters are easily charmed and obstacles to her false identity winningly surmounted by Raina’s new poise and beauty, but the cunning Prendergast won’t let Raina go until he’s gained both her and the estate—even at the cost of Sully’s life. While the eventual truth of the conspiracy around the missing countess is a bit thin to bear the elaborate set-up and belabored suspense, the writing is strong and the pace lively. The literary echoes of great Victorian gothics by the Brontës, Wilkie Collins, and Dickens— along with Raina’s habit of trading messages with Sully encoded in classic novels—make the book extra enjoyable for fans of 19th-century literature. Misty Urban

BONE CHINA

Laura Purcell, Raven Books, 2019, £12.99, hb, 433pp, 9781526602534

Bone China begins with the story of “Hester Why”, a nursemaid who has fled to Cornwall under a false name, leaving behind in London a mistress she loved and a trail of deceased former charges. When she moves to Cornwall, to the mysterious house on the cliffs that is to be her new home, she discovers a household that believes in fairies and an elderly charge, Louise Pinecroft, who will not communicate and must be locked in. The novel switches between Hester’s story in the present day, her recent placement in London, and Cornwall forty years earlier, when Louise was a young

woman assisting her grieving father in treating prisoners with consumption. I was thrilled to get the opportunity to review Laura Purcell’s latest release, not least because I reviewed her debut The Silent Companions in 2018 and enjoyed it very much. Bone China has been described as a “Daphne Du Maurier-esque thriller” but, unfortunately, I didn’t think that it lived up to either The Silent Companions, or to the gothic masterpieces of Du Maurier. The time switches mean that there are loose ends in both the past and the present that remain unconnected, and characters that are not fully explored. Rational characters in both timelines suddenly and abruptly give themselves over to superstitious beliefs for no apparent reason. However, my biggest issue with Bone China was that it simply wasn’t scary. I read to discover the secrets, but with no real sense of dread. Laura Purcell remains a talented writer, and the prose and dialogue are both wellwritten, particularly in the London scenes which contained the true horror of the novel. I will look out for her next novel, but for those new to her work, I would recommend The Silent Companions rather than this one. Laura Shepperson

MURDER AT THE OPERA

D. M. Quincy, Crooked Lane, 2019, $26.99/ C$35.99/£22.99, hb, 330pp, 9781643852355

Wendela Pike is shot to death in front of the Covent Garden opera theater as private detective Atlas Catesby is helping his escort, Lilliana Sterling Warwick, into a carriage just down the street from the portico where the body is attracting a crowd and the apparent perpetrator is escaping down Hart Street. Catesby immediately becomes involved in the investigation as Pike’s protector comes under suspicion. The investigation again brings the sleuth face to face with Malcolm Lennox, Marquess of Vessey and husband of Catesby’s sister when she fell to her death on the main staircase of the Vessey manor house years before. With the title Murder at the Opera, the reader may well expect to encounter dastardly divas, suspicious supernumeraries, and treacherous tenors. Except for the victim’s vocal talent and relationship with the theater manager, there is little about the inner workings of an opera company, however. The plot focuses instead on societal restrictions on women of lesser means and the titled men who exploit them in 1815 London. This is the third in the Atlas Catesby mystery series. It follows the standard pattern of amateur sleuthing and moves fans along as characters from previous novels strengthen relationships and overcome preconceived notions. Some readers may wonder why witnesses are willing to reveal so much about themselves to a questioner who is not in law enforcement. That aside, the plot has enough twists and turns and surprises to keep readers wondering until the fat lady sings. K. M. Sandrick

THE MATCHGIRL

Lynette Rees, Quercus, 2019, £8.99, pb, 336pp, 9781529400731

It is 1888, and sixteen-year-old Lottie Perkins works for Bryant & May match manufacturers in London’s East End, where she catches the eye of a manager, Oliver Steed. The journalist and social reformer, Annie Besant, questions Lottie and her companions about the appalling conditions under which they work, but it is the death of Lottie’s friend Cassie from ‘phossy jaw’, the necrotisation of the jawbone caused by the handling of white phosphorus, that galvanises Lottie into involvement in the ensuing Matchgirls’ strike. This milestone in the fight for safer working conditions was all the more remarkable in that the strikers were disenfranchised women and girls at risk of losing their livelihoods altogether. Besides Besant, other historical figures who get a mention are William Morris and George Bernard Shaw. Lottie herself is an engaging heroine, but there are some anomalies of plot: she goes from being deeply uncomfortable in Steed’s presence to being on near-intimate terms with him within a few pages. Phrases like ‘filing for divorce’ and ‘it sure does’ sound too new and too transatlantic, and ‘blackout cellar’ anticipates aerial bombardment by decades. The family go to church, but the celebrant is described variously as a vicar and as a minister, so the reader is unable to visualise the setting – the candles and incense of a Victorian highchurch mission or a plain Non-Conformist rostrum? But The Matchgirl nevertheless tells a satisfying tale of the triumph of justice over adversity alongside the touching love story of Lottie and a young docker turned reporter. Katherine Mezzacappa

THE SPOILT QUILT AND OTHER FRONTIER STORIES

Hazel Rumney, ed., Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 360pp, 9781432864293

Editor Hazel Rumney has compiled sixteen short stories by new and well-known Western authors in The Spoilt Quilt. The theme that ties the book together is that each story’s protagonist is a woman in the American West, and what an unforgettable group of women they are. Life on the frontier isn’t for the faint of heart, and these women have just as much, if not more, grit and gumption than their male counterparts. One standout story is Candace Simar’s “Berserker on the Prairie.” Main character Olava Wick is a Norwegian immigrant living in the Dakotas working as a midwife/unofficial country doctor. Her dry wit and withering insights make her an appealing character who deserves to be in a novel. Another story I didn’t want to end was Marcia Gaye’s “Mail-Order Delivery.” Widowed Lucinda places an ad seeking a husband and father for her three young children. The respondent isn’t all she had hoped for, and neither is her new home in Nevada. Rather than despair, she takes some chances that pay

off and creates an opportunity for herself that she couldn’t have previously imagined. I never thought I would like Western fiction, so I didn’t seek it out. This book caught my attention because of its focus on female characters, and I found myself pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. This collection will surely please fans of frontier fiction as well as those who are new to the genre. Janice Derr

LAETITIA RODD AND THE CASE OF THE WANDERING SCHOLAR

Kate Saunders, Bloomsbury, 2019, $17.00/ C$23.00, pb, 384pp, 9781632868398 / Bloomsbury, 2019, £12.99, pb, 384pp, 9781526611116

Set in London in 1851, this is a multi-layered historical novel that offers the reader a murder mystery and much else besides. The main character, Mrs. Laetitia Rodd, impoverished widow of an Anglican clergyman, has decided to become a private investigator to supplement her minimal income. She is asked by a wealthy, dying guano importer to find his estranged brother Joshua, who he last saw ten years ago. Joshua has been living wild in woodlands near Oxford, seen by a few people including gypsies and charcoal burners but having turned his back on society. Mrs. Rodd, with her multiplicity of connections within the clergy and their families, goes to stay with a clergyman and his wife in the area Joshua was last seen. The tale has many unique characters and even more twists. It involves the Oxford Movement and some religious and moral debate. But it is never dull; these are issues that drive the plot. Intelligence, humour and the fine drawing of character make reading this novel a rich experience. Saunders’ knowledge of the period and its network of clergy and rectories that held much of the countryside together makes this an interesting and rewarding read. Valerie Adolph

A LITTLE LIGHT MISCHIEF: A Turner Novella

Cat Sebastian, Avon Impulse, 2019, $4.99/ C$6.99, ebook, 144pp, 9780062951045

As one might suspect from this author, this is not your typical Regency romance. For a start, the romantic relationship is between two women. Secondly, though one is the daughter of a vicar, they are really members of the working class, struggling amidst economic and physical hardship to survive. Alice Stapleton is the lady’s companion to the kindly Mrs. Wraxhall, but it is not her employer’s male guests who attract her, rather Molly Wilkins, the lady’s maid with the voluptuous bosom. Despite her disreputable background, Molly is good-hearted and quite willing to enter into a physical relationship.

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

She does, moreover, teach Alice to value herself and stand up for her rights against a bullying father and false accuser. The happy-ever-after may seem very fortunate, if not improbable, in that social context, but the message that facing challenges with courage and kindness to others can lead to hard-won happiness is encouraging in any age. Warmly recommended.

than preachy, and a valuable addition to a historical collection. Highly recommended.

Ray Thompson

In 1872, strong-willed Jenny Crispin, having broken up with her fiancé, arrives in New York City from Pottsville, Pennsylvania. She works as a clerk in the newspaper office of Glorianna Talmadge, a feminist and the first woman to run for president of the United States. An angry mob opposed to Glorianna’s contention, shouting antifeminist slogans, pelts the office windows with eggs and rocks. Jenny and others flee through the back door. A detective tries to arrest Jenny for “distribution of birth control literature.” Jenny escapes and runs into a brothel’s room, where Britt Salter is lying naked. Jenny evades the chasing detective by hiding under the blanket. Britt has just returned from Egypt, where he was imprisoned and flogged, and is adamant upon assassinating the visiting Khedive. Thinking that she is one of the prostitutes, Britt tries to seduce the virginal Jenny, but the madam arrives in time to rescue her. However, Britt, taking pity on Jenny, offers to assist her in eluding the detective while he continues his quest. G. S. Singer has developed this interesting story, which illustrates the historic struggle of American women for liberation and gaining their rights. Some real-life characters make appearances, while others, aptly selected, depict notable historic personalities, such as Victoria Woodhull (historically the first woman to run for president), General Nathan Forrest, President Grant, and Cornelius Vanderbilt. The novel’s evocative descriptions of the people, streets, and buildings bring Victorian New York to life. The thrilling, page-turning storyline includes adventurous characters getting involved in daring events and taking forceful actions to achieve their objectives. The novel does include foul language, violence, and sex, but nothing that doesn’t fit characters of that era. The inclusion of romance and humor adds much interest to the plot.

DEATH BRINGS A SHADOW

Rosemary Simpson, Kensington, 2019, $26.00/ C$35.00/£22.00, hb, 316pp, 9781496722096

It’s spring 1889, and Prudence MacKenzie, well versed in correct behaviour in New York’s high society, has travelled south to Bradford Island off the coast of Georgia, accompanying her close friend Eleanor Dickson, who is to be married on the island. With Prudence is Geoffrey Hunter, her partner in the Hunter and Mackenzie Investigative Law firm. When Eleanor is drowned in a swamp on the island, her fiancé, Teddy Bennett, is devastated. Other members of his family, who owned the island prior to the Civil War, are not so concerned. They say she probably wandered off alone and became lost. Prudence and Geoffrey are sure she was murdered, and they start investigating. But this murder forces them to face some of the uglier aspects of life in the Deep South prior to the Civil War, aspects that have persisted in places even long after the war. Prudence understands none of this, and it falls to Geoffrey, who is from the South, to explain customs she finds unfathomable. His acceptance, or at least his understanding, of these customs causes rifts in their close friendship. Prudence and Geoffrey have to proceed carefully on an island whose people exist under the influences of black magic, white magic, and still-powerful former slave owners. This novel offers deeply felt experiences growing naturally from the place and the values and beliefs of its people. Every step towards the dramatic and inevitable conclusion develops from strong characters whose ideas and ideals conflict. Coming from another country, I have not understood factors influencing the American Civil War. This novel provides a deep, and at times shocking, look into the beliefs of slave owners in the Deep South. It is a beautifully constructed, powerful novel, exciting rather 34

Valerie Adolph

THE COBBLER’S DAUGHTER

G. S. Singer, Fireship Press, 2019, $19.99/£15.99, pb, 284pp, 9781611793499

Waheed Rabbani

THE POSTMISTRESS

Alison Stuart, HarperCollins Australia, 2019, A$32.99, pb, 396pp, 9781489256461 / $6.99, ebook, 396pp, B07ML1YQ55

It is 1871. Adelaide Greaves is the postmistress in the little gold-mining town of Maiden’s Creek. To her customers, she appears to be a respectable widow with a small son, Danny, but she is hiding a secretive past. She is really the daughter of a wealthy but domineering English ship owner. When her lover Richard Barnwell is lost at sea, leaving her pregnant, she is forced to flee her father’s

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

wrath. Together with her loyal maid, Netty, she escapes to Australia. Caleb Hunt is a former Confederate soldier down on his luck and also on the run from a turbulent past in San Francisco. When he wins a gold claim in a game of chance, he travels to Maiden’s Creek to investigate his new acquisition. After Caleb saves young Danny from a near-fatal accident but is injured himself in the process, he is tended to by Adelaide. They are both attracted to one another, but much stands in their way of any open relationship as a series of events unfold that threaten exposure of all their secrets. Added to this is having to deal with the many mortal and natural dangers faced by those brave—or foolish—enough to live in the 19th-century Australian bush. With its cast of appealing characters, its remote area setting and a storyline that never flags through many twists and turns, you will be captivated from the first page. Some of its extraordinary episodes, such as a smallpox outbreak, are based in historical fact, but the author shares this, and more, with her readers with the deftest of touches. This is a delightful and accomplished romantic novel from Alison Stuart. The ending suggests there are more exciting adventures awaiting the residents of Maiden’s Creek. I, for one, can hardly wait to join them. Marina Maxwell

LETHAL PURSUIT

Will Thomas, Minotaur, 2019, $27.99/C$37.99, hb, 320pp, 9781250170408

It’s 1892, and Private Enquiry Agents Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn are hired by the Prime Minister to deliver a satchel containing secret documents to France. Kept in the dark by Downing Street, all they know is that an English spy has been killed upon his return from Europe carrying the same satchel. Barker decides to remain in England to uncover the murderer and learn the contents of the satchel. They discover that the documents are eventually to go to the Vatican and contain an unnamed first-century gospel. The killers of the government agent are young men wearing dark clothing, who will stop at nothing to retrieve the contents. This is the latest in the series featuring the Barker and Llewelyn crime-solving duo. Barker is the leader of this team, and his method of solving a crime is slow, meticulous, and at his own pace. Because of his unusual methods, and showing a lack of respect for authority, Barker and Llewelyn are not popular with Scotland Yard. Barker continues to anger police inspectors and politicians throughout this story. This was an entertaining read, a real pleasure. I have read most of the author’s novels and always feel like I have been transported back to Victorian England. Jeff Westerhoff

PROMISED LAND: Wyatt Earp, An American Odyssey, Book Three

Mark Warren, Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 348pp, 9781432857271

The final book in this trilogy of biographical novels on Wyatt Earp begins with the Earp wagon train arriving in Tombstone, A r i z o n a Territory, in December 1879, because “the desert felt like the perfect place for a new start.” Unfortunately, s o m e lawbreakers he dealt with in the past have also found Tombstone attractive and have formed a gang of “Cow-boys” that is terrorizing the new silver mining community. From the simple theft of a US Army mule, a tempest brews that will culminate in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral. All the colorful characters from Books One and Two people this novel: crotchety and consumptive Doc Holliday, brothers Morgan and Virgil Earp and their wives, Wyatt’s laudanum-addicted Mattie, two-faced sheriff Johnny Behan, and a cameo appearance by the dreamy Mexican girl who enchanted Wyatt in the beginning of the series. The famous confrontation of October 26, 1881, takes center stage, but the events leading up to it and its aftermath now make more sense in the context of the participants’ divergent aims. Warren’s masterful research and vivid descriptive skills again shine through as he wraps up his trilogy. His afterword outlines the history of the characters after his novel concludes and justifies his depiction of Wyatt as a simple man guided by principles that didn’t change with the wind of political intrigue or monetary gain. Tombstone may not have been the “promised land” of the title, but it certainly was the touchstone that seared Wyatt Earp’s name into the public consciousness. Tom Vallar

MASSACRE AT CROW CREEK CROSSING

Charles G. West, Pinnacle Books, 2019, $7.99/ C$10.99/£6.99, pb, 313pp, 9780786045587

Cole Bonner and his partner Harley Branch are returning from the mountains when they come across a young woman whose husband was killed by outlaws. Bonner and Branch take the woman to Cross Creek, where she is taken in by her husband’s parents. Bonner then leaves Cross Creek and goes on the trail of the killers. The death of the woman’s

husband brings back memories to Bonner of his family’s murders. Bonner has been trying to track down his family’s killers for several years and get revenge for their deaths. This novel is the first in the Cole Bonner series. Charles West is the 2018 Spur Award winner for his well-received paperback novel of the West, Hell Hath No Fury. He has authored more than forty westerns, so his knowledge of western lore is impeccable. This novel has a number of twists and turns that make the book an exciting read, while the characters are clearly defined and believable. The final showdown between the outlaws, and Bonner will not disappoint. Jeff Westerhoff

THE WORLD AND HIS WIFE

Stephen Wyatt, Book Guild, 2019, £9.99, pb, 280pp, 9781912881369

Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873), writer and politician, was commercially very successful in his lifetime. Originating the expressions “the great unwashed,” “the pen is mightier than the sword,” and more, he inadvertently provided the inspiration for Bovril. He is barely known now, yet anyone who reads this novel charting his disastrous marriage to Rosina Wheeler, and their long years of acrimonious separation, may be tempted to try Paul Clifford or Eugene Aram. The war played out more or less publicly between the Lyttons is told by two “unreliable” narrators. Rosina’s voice is spirited and vengeful, with a range of inventive epithets for her estranged husband: my favorites were Fopling Windbag and Bullfrog Littlewit, and I loved phrases like “he had become such a literary threshing machine, that he could not stop emptying his withered bales on to the market.” Edward is self-pitying, justifying both his infidelities and his physical attacks on Rosina. Early in the marriage, as Edward makes love to Rosina, he thinks not of her but plots out a novel. Later, an attempt at reconciliation through a journey to Italy is doomed when Edward’s mistress and her complaisant husband come along too. Edward eventually resorts to that stratagem of the Victorian husband with an inconvenient wife, and commits her to an asylum, advising his friend Charles Dickens to threaten his blameless Catherine with the same if she does not agree to a separation on his terms. Wyatt plunges the reader convincingly into the world of Victorian literati: Disraeli, the elder Fanny Trollope, William Makepeace Thackeray, Wilkie Collins, and Harrison Ainsworth all get a mention. The only false note was a reference to the dog of Pompeii; those casts were made thirty years later. But this account of the peculiar hell of an unhappy Victorian marriage is an exhilarating read. Katherine Mezzacappa

20TH CENTURY

THE VENICE ATONEMENT

Merryn Allingham, Canelo, 2019, £1.99/$2.99/ C$2.99, ebook, 284pp, 9781788632713

Newlywed Nancy Tremayne witnessed a woman fall to her death at the opera. It’s brushed aside as an accidental death by authorities, but she knows there is more to this story and is determined to uncover the truth. It is Venice, 1955, and Nancy is on her honeymoon with her new husband, Leo, an art expert distracted by his professional obligations. Or is there more to his story, too? Investigating this murder takes the reader all over historic Venice, with plenty of scenery and escapades to delight. And while the murder investigation rushes on, providing satisfying descriptions of Venice for the armchair traveler, it is Nancy’s own mysterious past that grounds the story and provides an additional mystery. Scarred from a previously abusive relationship, Nancy finds inner strength in solving this murder, surprising herself as well as her new husband Leo and his assistant, Archie. The mystery, along with a light romantic element, keeps the pages turning and the characters and setting entertain, but the story felt rushed at times at the expense of understanding Nancy’s inner turmoil. Readers looking for full closure in all threads may be frustrated with questions still remaining after the investigation is closed, but this adventure along Venice’s canals and ancient streets still satisfies. Ellen Jaquette

POPPY REDFERN AND THE MIDNIGHT MURDERS

Tessa Arlen, Berkley, 2019, $16.00/C$22.00, pb, 320pp, 9781984805805

In the summer of 1942, England was warweary, from heavily blitzed London to the serene village of Little Buffenden. Poppy Redfern, who has been an air raid warden in London, is required to return to her home village to take over a position there, where the possibility of a German air raid is not seen as a serious threat. As Poppy struggles to ensure blackouts are strictly maintained, the one aspect of war that upsets normal village life is the new US Air Force base nearby. Villagers are divided about the influx of young men with an apparently endless supply of energy, candy and nylons. Problems are exacerbated when two young village women are found murdered, and another is savagely attacked. Evidence points to an American being the attacker in each case. But Poppy Redfern, patrolling the village each night with her hypochondriac assistant, thinks differently.

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Her opinion might, however, be affected by her relationship with young USAF Lieutenant Griff O’Neal. Even Poppy’s dog Bess is charmed by him. This is a well-crafted historical mystery with elements of romance. The author presents an English village peopled with strongly individual characters given to gossip, intolerance, warmth and mutual support. Alongside, there are American airmen trying, with varying degrees of success, to be good neighbours. Arlen’s book has a tone and voice different to the usual. It’s as if the author is addressing the reader individually, inviting each of us to share moments of humour with her, including us in the poignancy of certain moments and sensing we will understand how annoying some people can be. Poppy also shares with us her imaginary friend, Ilona, whose sharp tongue helps her through difficult moments. This personal touch and warm understanding were an unexpected pleasure. Highly recommended. Valerie Adolph

ONE GOOD DEED

David Baldacci, Grand Central, 2019, $29.00/ C$38.00/£18.99, hb, 432pp, 9781538750568

Aloysius Archer walks out of prison and takes the first bus to Poca City. A former World War II soldier, Archer is determined to do everything he can to stay out of prison. With a couple dollars in his pocket and a list of parolee Do’s and Don’ts, both courtesy of the Carderock Prison, Archer checks himself into a hotel. The first thing that Archer needs to do is find work. But the work he finds drags him into a fight between Poca City’s two wealthiest men—Hank Pittleman and Lucas Tuttle. Hank wants Archer to collect a debt owed by Lucas. Complicating matters is the fact that Lucas’ estranged daughter, Jackie, is Hank’s mistress and Lucas won’t pay up until Jackie comes home. When Hank is found dead, all eyes turn to Archer, including those of State Detective Irving Shaw. As the body count grows, Archer finds himself in a desperate race to prove his innocence and stay out of jail. Set in 1949, One Good Deed is an interesting departure from Baldacci’s modern thrillers. Baldacci dips his toes in historical fiction but runs into trouble with long, overly detailed description of the time including dress and décor. Some readers will feel immersed; I felt a need to skim. Baldacci adds layers upon layers of secrets which are revealed in a dramatic court case. Having Shaw adopt Archer as his helper in solving the case seemed odd—a detective and ex-con investigating the ex-con’s possible role in a murder—and the explanation that they both served in WWII as the bridge of trust was plausible, but only thinly. Baldacci is a master of pace and plotting, and One Good Deed doesn’t let up on the throttle. A good ´40s noir with a likable lead character in a town filled with miscreants. Bryan Dumas

SEVENTH FLAG

Sid Balman, Jr., SparkPress, 2019, $16.95, pb, 238pp, 9781684630141

Four generations of two families from a small Texas town interact across time, beginning in 1948 and continuing to the 2000s, as well as across place, moving from desert farmland to war zones in the Middle East. One of the families descends from Irish immigrants who find wealth in Texas not from oil but from water. The other descends from Syrian Muslims who accompanied camels brought to the U.S. in the 1880s in the hope that dromedaries would be ideal conveyances for the cavalry in arid New Mexico Territory. Jack Laws and Ali Zarkan, patriarchs of the clans, bond after a knife fight in a Juarez tavern. Zarkhan’s son rescues Laws’ daughter after she is brutally raped. The Laws’ grandsons become blood brothers; the grandsons are embroiled in post-9/11 ramifications and counter-terrorism. Seventh Flag is both sweeping and narrow in scope. It broadly brushes 50 years of the Muslim experience in the U.S. and views history through the eyes of men and women who grow up in rural communities, play high school and college football, and join the military. Author Sid Balman was nominated for a Pulitzer for his coverage of wars in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere, and it shows. The writing is crisp and straightforward and carries authenticity. But instead of following an integrated chronological plot, the book presents vignettes that skip across periods of years, yielding quick views of characters and situations that often stand alone. The result is a series of snapshots, and much like flipping the pages of a photo album, the reader observes the circumstances but yearns for deeper emotion and greater understanding. K. M. Sandrick

THE OTHER WINDSOR GIRL

Georgie Blalock, William Morrow, 2019, $15.99/ C$19.99/£9.99, pb, 400pp, 9780062871497

Weary of mourning a fiancé killed in World War II, Vera Strathmore accepts her cousin’s invitation to an after-hours party with the funloving “set” surrounding 19-year-old Princess Margaret. Shocked to discover that the Princess is a fan of the racy romance novels she has written under the pen name of Rose Lavish, and even more surprised to find herself drawn quickly into the mercurial royal’s confidence, Vera becomes fascinated with the contrast between Margaret’s demure official persona and her pleasure-loving, rule-breaking private activities. Fans of The Crown will be delighted with this chatty, dishy peek behind the scenes of royal family life, and with the detailed descriptions of the posh pastimes, fashions, music, and beverages of the era (I am eager to try the Queen Mother’s favorite tipple, gin and Dubonnet!). Vera’s is a level-headed, good-humored point of view from which to observe the spoiled but affectionate Margaret’s antics; her authorial ambitions give her a convincing reason to

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

remain in Margaret’s service in spite of the toll it takes on Vera’s personal relationships. The romance Blalock has designed for Vera is conveniently on-again, off-again, giving her main character plenty of time to devote to managing the Princess’s increasingly complex love life. By the time her ill-fated alliance with the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones threatens Vera’s usefulness, the reader has gained a clear sense of what was gained and what was lost for Britain’s royals in the transition from post-World War II austerity to the frenetic Mod period. Because the social history is chiefly from the lofty perspective of England’s upper crust, the novel offers a slightly superficial portrait of this economically and politically turbulent time, but it doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a wellwritten novel of manners, as well as a portrait of a remarkable, if fictional, friendship. Kristen McDermott

THROUGH THE NEEDLE’S EYE

Linda Bledsoe, Little Cabin Books, 2019, $17.00, pb, 280pp, 9780881467024

Jessie is living a life of fear, doubt and horrific abuse. Her father drinks too much, shifts from job to job, and comes home mainly to beat up his passively accepting wife. She still loves him, but Jessie’s hate also grows from childhood into young adulthood in her small town in the Blue Ridge foothills of southern Appalachia after World War II. Jessie’s spitfire grandmother, Granny Isabelle, is her rock of support, comfort and love. Granny is wearier than any person should have to be, but fierce in her faith, a belief spoken as “There’s good an’ evil all round us. Don’t never let darkness blot out that burstin’ light inside of ya…You can do almost anything, if ya got the gumption to reach for the stars and push through the needle’s eye.” As a child, Jessie lost her brother, and then as a teen, her sister Genevieve died from being hit by a train. Two of the most tender scenes are those when Jesus holds and comforts Jessie, promising her she can break through her pain and suffering and will endure. A similar scene occurs later in the novel as well. For Jessie, Granny lives on long after she has passed away. Jessie eventually breaks away from her family to gain an education and help through social work, therapy and “stacks of long-hand journals.” For those who feel beaten down by life’s hardships or who know someone else dwelling in a similar nightmare, read and relish this book celebrating unconditional love, redemption and deliverance. Remarkable historical fiction that evokes the hard, realistic aspects of Appalachian life. Viviane Crystal

LOVE AND DEATH AMONG THE CHEETAHS

Rhys Bowen, Berkley, 2019, $26.00/C$35.00, hb, 287pp, 9780451492845

Love and Death Among the Cheetahs is the

thirteenth in Rhys Bowen’s Royal Spyness Series. Lady Georgiana Rannoch and her new, handsome Irish husband, Darcy O’Mara, are off to Kenya for their honeymoon. Georgie suspects the sudden choice of Africa as the location may have something to do with Darcy’s secret work for the government, but it’s exciting anyway, so she’s not complaining— much. The Queen has also given Georgie the task of observing the Prince of Wales while he conducts a Commonwealth tour in Africa. Georgie doesn’t see how she can stop him from entering a precipitous marriage to the newly divorced Mrs. Simpson as the queen commands, but she’ll do her best. Upon her arrival in the not-so-aptly named Happy Valley, the center of upper-class English life in Kenya, Georgie discovers that the powerful families have gone rogue in several ways: politically, sexually and morally. The dangers from the humans quickly exceed those presented by the wild animals even before a dead body turns their honeymoon into a grim investigation. One of the admirable features of this longrunning series is the way Bowen combines light, humorous stories with nuanced, deep social issues. This novel explores ingrained racial prejudices and the moral blind spots surrounding race that the White settlers develop—all of which profoundly echoes our contemporary debate. This highly entertaining mystery set in 1935 prods the reader’s thinking on these complex issues in sophisticated and penetrating ways, all without a moment of preachiness. You’ll never notice your brain and heart are fully engaged as Bowen’s skillful storytelling draws you eagerly forward in Georgie’s latest adventure into murder and royal mayhem. Judith Starkston

THE XANTHE SCHNEIDER ENIGMA FILES

David Boyle, Endeavour Quill, 2019, £7.99, pb, 357pp, 9781911445678

In this twisty World War 2 espionage thriller, we follow the missions of Xanthe Schneider, a young American crossword champion from Cincinnati, who happens to be studying in England at the outbreak of war. She is drawn into the Bletchley Circle of codebreakers and British naval intelligence by none other than Commander Ian Fleming himself, and the ambiguous figure of Ralph Lancing-Price, a diplomat who may be playing his own risky game. The fact that Xanthe falls pregnant early in the narrative, and takes on her latter assignments with the baby left behind in England, is another twist to the narrative as she struggles to reconcile maternal longing with the sense that she must make the future safe for her child. Other tropes are more familiar – the camaraderie of the Bletchley Circle, midnight landings in occupied Europe, sinister Gestapo men, and perilous flights from the enemy. This is a tense page-turner, capturing the

knife-edge balance of excitement, tension and terror in Xanthe’s three missions to Berlin in 1940, to occupied Greece and then neutral Switzerland, which all put her life at risk as she works to assist the Bletchley code-breakers. Occasional typographical errors have slipped through the editorial process. The ending is ambivalent and inconclusive (but I suppose things were in wartime). The spirited Xanthe Schneider is, however, a heroine I would like to see more of, and perhaps the way has purposefully been left open for further assignments. Mary Fisk

THE BODY ON THE TRAIN

Frances Brody, Crooked Lane, 2019, $26.99/ C$35.99, hb, 336pp, 9781643851600

Private investigator Kate Shackleton is hired by Scotland Yard to lead an undercover investigation of the circumstances surrounding the discovery of a man’s body, bundled in potato sacks among crates of rhubarb, by King’s Cross porters unloading the express train from Ardsley. Shackleton enlists her associates, Mr. Sykes and Mrs. Sugden, to take up the Yard’s line of inquiry concerning a foreign agent seeking to foment discord among miners three years after the defeat of the 1926 General Strike. Meanwhile, she poses as a photographic journalist assigned to write and illustrate an article about the Yorkshire countryside and Thorpefield, where long-time friend Gertrude and her husband Benjie Brockman reside. The Body on the Train traces a connection between the murdered man and the killing of a Thorpefield shopkeeper, entangling the reader in discussions of rhubarb harvesting and transportation, the process of sinking a mining pit, the destruction of a home for orphans because of a supposedly threatening underground subsidence, and the Ryder Cup European-American golf tournament. This is the 11th novel in the Kate Shackleton mystery series. It builds on previously developed characters and scenarios and introduces sympathetic and likable miner Stephen Walmsley, accused of the Thorpefield murder, and his friend, the maid Millie. But while the threads are all pulled neatly together by the end, there are many storylines to take hold of and some unraveling along the way. It is somewhat of a bumpy ride. K. M. Sandrick

MADELEINE

Euan Cameron, MacLehose Press, 2019, £16.99, hb, 330pp, 9780857058591

Why did Englishman Henry Latymer at the age of twenty-eight so precipitately leave his promising career as an artist in France, living for so many years in South America where he has now died? His grandson Will Latymer receives a sackful of letters and documents. Surely these will throw light on Henry’s life during World War Two, when it seemed that

Nazi Germany’s conquests in Europe were unstoppable. It was a time of treachery and spies but also of courage and resolute loyalty. While ageing politicians, Petain and Laval squabble, the unthinkable happens, and Paris falls under the iron control of the German Gestapo. Henry is lucky to have been granted French nationality and finds work as a clerk, marking down those whose surnames render them liable for deportation. Their destination is to be assigned into “camps”. Too late Henry realises he has taken part in the greatest crime of the 20th century. The only atonement he can make is to deny himself the company and love of the being dearest to him – beautiful and talented singer Madeleine. The author is unsparing of readers’ feelings in revealing what we know, but Henry does not. One small image: a railway station where a small girl with a small suitcase is laughing with excitement as she waits for the train which will take her on “holiday”. A holiday from which she, like thousands of other innocents, will never return. Nancy Henshaw

THE SOUND OF THE HOURS

Karen Campbell, Bloomsbury, 2019, £14.99/$29.99, hb, 450pp, 9781408857373

Karen Campbell’s latest novel is a departure for the author, leaving behind contemporar y Scotland for Italy in the Second World War. In The Sound of the Hours Campbell explores the lives of ordinary Italians in 1943, faced with the German occupation and the curfews and restrictions imposed by the Blackshirts as well as the approaching American army. Vita had been training to be a teacher, encouraged by her Scottish Italian father, but was persuaded by her mother to become a housekeeper for the local priest. Vita feels conflicted as she sees local people collude with the Nazis, and Blackshirts abuse their positions of power, while others fight and resist. Then she meets Frank, a Buffalo soldier who is treated as a second class citizen by the army he serves and feared as a monster by the Italians who have been served a diet of hideous propaganda by the Germans. Campbell’s characters are carefully observed and their journeys utterly compelling. This book serves as window on a lesserknown area and period of the war, and it is eye-opening, heartbreaking and enthralling. Campbell may have made her name writing about the gritty reality of the Glasgow streets,

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but her first attempt at historical fiction is a triumph. A splendid tale of love, family and hope; perfect for fans of Victoria Hislop and Kate Morton. Lisa Redmond

THE THIRD DAUGHTER

Talia Carner, William Morrow, 2019, $15.99/ C$19.99, pb, 432pp, 9780062896889

Russia in the 1890s was a land of peasants living in extreme poverty. For Jewish peasants in Russia, it was even worse. The police, along with neighbours, could burn them out of their hovels, steal their meagre belongings, and force them from the village. This is reality for 14-year-old Batya, third daughter of the dairyman Koppel, who with her family trudges away homeless and exhausted. Then, a miracle. A rich man comes along and wants to marry her, to take her to his magnificent home in South America. The good fortune does not last. It rapidly turns into a life of prostitution and degradation in Buenos Aires. Even the Jews of the city have only contempt for the Jewish girls duped into working in the many brothels. Batya learns to dance to attract clients, and one of her partners teaches her to tango; he also draws her into a plan to destroy the power of the pimps’ union that has corrupted the city police and government. Her reward for this is the promise that her family will be brought from Russia to join her. However, this takes a long time, and she is in constant danger. Carner presents a very detailed look at the life of Jewish peasants in Russia and other European countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Contrasted with this is the apparently opulent Buenos Aires with its vibrant cultural life and beautifully dressed women. Batya’s suffering takes many forms: deprivation, physical and sexual abuse, separation from loved ones, and rejection by her own people. Her survival is in question daily. The author portrays Batya’s suffering with empathy and a deep desire to tell the story of these brothel-slaves to the world. Valerie Adolph

A SINGLE THREAD

Tracy Chevalier, Viking, 2019, $27.00/C$36.00, hb, 336pp, 9780525558248 / The Borough Press, 2019, £14.99, hb, 352pp, 9780008153816

1932. Violet Speedwell is one of the “surplus women” created by the deaths of so many English men during the Great War. Her fiancé and brother were killed in the war, and her father has recently died. At thirty-eight she is resigned to spinsterhood; however, she is not resigned to

living with her bitter, vocally abusive mother. Violet transfers her typing skills to an insurance office in Winchester, where she can barely afford room and board, living with Mrs Harvey and two other single, working women. Lonely and looking for friendship, Violet becomes a broderer, one of the women who embroider kneelers and cushions for the cathedral. She also befriends, somewhat inappropriately, an older man who is a bell ringer at the cathedral. Violet’s struggle for independence is hindered by her family, her society, and, in places, her own insecurity. As she meets others and opens her mind to different ways of seeing people and the world, Violet grows strong. But will she be strong enough to choose what will truly give her happiness? And what might that happiness cost others? Chevalier can make things to which you never gave a second thought fascinating and exciting. Here, it is canvas embroidery (needlepoint) and bells rung by pulling a cord, as done in Winchester Cathedral. In addition to these obscure topics, A Single Thread is about grief and friendship, about family and love, about the aftereffects of war and the misappropriation of a symbol. Chevalier weaves her story with perfect pressure and balance, giving the history, setting and characters color and emotion. She is one of the best historical novelists of our time. Highly recommended. Elizabeth Caulfield Felt

THE BISHOP’S BEDROOM

Piero Chiara (trans. Jill Foulston), New Vessel Press, 2019, $15.95/C$23.95/£12.99, pb, 151pp, 9781939931740

Chiara’s suspenseful novel opens with a wealthy and unnamed narrator stepping of his sailboat in 1946 Italy and meeting Temistocle Mario Orimbelli. From that moment, our narrator’s life will not be the same. Orimbelli takes him to his villa overlooking the lake and introduces him to Cleofe, Orimbelli’s rigid and cold wife, and Matilde, the wife of Cleofe’s assumed dead brother. The narrator soon falls for Matilde. Orimbelli convinces the 30-something narrator to take him with him on his adventures on the lake. While cruising together, Orimbelli shows his lascivious side, seducing the women the narrator wants to be involved with— including a married woman the narrator is in a relationship with from a nearby village—and eventually confiding to the narrator that he has illicit feelings for his sister-in-law, whom the narrator also hoped to begin a romantic relationship with. Our narrator begins to become distrustful of Oribelli, and even follows him around the various towns. Then, a mysterious death unravels everything and suspicion rules the waters. The Bishop’s Bedroom is a compact novel that is rich in atmosphere. Chiara explores themes of greed, lust, and power and wraps them in a little murder mystery. The settings are engrossing, from the villages to the house to the islands of Lake Maggiore, Italy. Though

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

the murder mystery aspect takes time to begin—odd in this brief novel—it is well worth the patience. Bryan Dumas

GIRLS ON THE HOME FRONT

Annie Clarke, Arrow, 2019, £6.99, pb, 430pp, 9781787462571

The author’s first novel is the start of a series of historical sagas set amongst the “Factory Girls” of the North East of England during World War Two. Frances Hall’s parents are more than a little disappointed when she chooses dangerous war work instead of a nice safe office job. With everyone else in the village, the pits and the surrounding areas working hard and doing their bit to win the war, Fran is desperate to prove herself as worthy and as grown up as the rest. Fran soon learns that the factory work she has signed up for is not only incredibly dangerous but also top secret. With regular reminders of just how dangerous the work is from Mrs Ellington, who lost her hand, and regular warnings to “keep mum” about what the factory does, Fran finds that the responsibility of being a factory girl makes her stronger in all areas of her life. Clarke’s storytelling is excellent. Hailing from the North East herself, she captures the nuances of language, character, attitude, and pit village life extremely well. This is a mustread for fans of Ellie Dean and Nancy Revell. Lisa Redmond

THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON

Meg Waite Clayton, Harper, 2019, hb, 464pp, 9780062946935

There are many unsung heroes – known as Righteous Gentiles – who risked their own lives to save Jewish people from extermination under Nazi rule. A good many will forever remain anonymous, leaving their stories behind in silent history, but The Last Train to London does justice to at least one real-life figure. In this heartfelt and mesmerizing novel based upon Dutch heroine Geertruida WijsmullerMeijer (known to her rescuees as Tante Truus), readers will learn about her role in saving many Jewish children in Nazi-occupied Europe by smuggling them to safety via the Kindertransport, while risking her life over and over again. Truus displays unrelenting bravery as she faces off against some of the most dangerous war criminals in history. In another storyline that ultimately connects with Tante Truus’, Stephan, who is Jewish, is a

brilliant teenage writer who hopes to become a playwright someday. He is from a well-off family of chocolatiers and at this point, in the mid-1930s, the Nazis are not of a concern to him, as they have not quite reached Austria yet. Žofie-Helene, who is Christian and a math genius, is the object of Stephan’s affection, though the two are just friends for now. ŽofieHelene’s mother is a “radical” newspaper writer who is vocal about her abhorrence of the Nazi occupation. When things become too dangerous for Stephan, and his family begins to fall apart, he goes into hiding. The author’s impeccable research breathes life into both fictional and real characters and takes the reader on an unforgettable journey through one of the most harrowing eras in modern history. If you like books set in World War II featuring complex, courageous female protagonists who were ahead of their time, this book should earn a place at the top of the list. Hilary Daninhirsch

MERCY ROAD

Ann Howard Creel, Lake Union, 2019, $14.95, pb, 311pp, 9781542041980

When a devastating fire destroys her home, killing her father, Arlene Favier is forced to support her family. The pampered daughter of a genteel French horse breeder, Arlene has only ever worked on the farm. Traveling to Cincinnati to seek work, she happens across the American Women’s Hospital, which is looking for war ambulance drivers. Arlene has several impressive and useful talents: she can drive a Model T, fix engines, and she speaks almost fluent French. Arriving in Paris, she crosses paths with Captain Brohammer, whose impressive good looks and slick charm make her wary. Once at the front, she is immersed in the dangers of ambulance driving (often German targets) notwithstanding the horror of some of the terrible injuries she sees and the many deaths she witnesses, in the field and en route to the hospital. When she unexpectedly meets Jimmy, a childhood friend from her hometown, she is smitten. Brohammer finds her again, boorishly ignoring all efforts to discourage him. After discovering the secret that he is harboring, Arlene makes discreet enquiries, but, rather than report her findings she only tells Jimmy, the consequence of which embroils them both in circumstances which threaten their new relationship. Creel writes with fluidity and precision. Her descriptions of horse farming, Paris and the frontlines are told with equal certainty. Writing about early 20th century ‘based on true’ storylines with strong female protagonists with tough choices and self-sacrifice to make seems to be a special talent for this prolific author. I couldn’t quite embrace Brohammer’s interest in Arlene, but I read this in one sitting, and would recommend it to readers who are interested in the lesser known talents women brought to WWI. Fiona Alison

DOMINICANA

Angie Cruz, Flatiron, 2019, $26.99, hb, 336pp, 9781250205933

In Dominicana, the world is in upheaval. At fifteen years old, Ana knows she must marry Juan Ruiz, who is thirty-two, because he will take her to America. New York City is a dream-like place, full of dresses and jewelry, full closets and full bellies. Juan Ruiz is the key to this life for her and her entire family, so she marries him, though he is hairy and fat, and sometimes unkind. In New York City, Ana witnesses the upheaval of the 1960s from her top-floor apartment window in Washington Heights. She sees Malcolm X get shot. She sees Vietnam War demonstrations. She is betrayed and rescued; she sees the worst, and then the best. When she becomes pregnant, her world shifts again, not just inside of her belly, but in the outside world too. The Dominican Republic itself is in a civil war. Juan leaves the pregnant Ana in New York City, asking his younger brother Cesar to take care of her. Of course, Cesar has his own charms. They both know Juan will kill them should they act on impulse. But love is a temptation whose cost is always greater than anticipated. This is an engaging novel from the start. The prose is easy to fall into, and the narrator, Ana, is charming in her innocence and childlike binary perspective. As she experiences greater and greater sacrifice, her shades of gray color in, giving her a more forgiving approach to the betrayals she experiences. Her window of New York City becomes our window, and we see the world as it was, knowing what it will become. Katie Stine

THE SISTERS OF SUMMIT AVENUE

Lynn Cullen, Gallery, 2019, $27.00, hb, 320pp, 9781501134166

Sibling rivalry and its consequences are at the heart of this gripping character-driven novel set in the Midwest during the Depression era. Even as children, Ruth and June had never been close. June was the beauty, while Ruth was the practical one. June always attracted men, while Ruth was less popular. Ruth ends up marrying June’s former love interest, John, which further serves to isolate the sisters. Ruth moves to a farm to raise her four children with John and has a hardscrabble life; when John is affected by the mysterious sleeping sickness and is an invalid for years, Ruth’s life becomes even more complicated. In the meantime, June is married to a well-off doctor and lives in a large house in Minnesota, though they have not been blessed with children. June works as a “Betty” for Betty Crocker, and though she has a job and a secure future, she is unhappy. For most of their lives, including the present day, both women resent each other, each believing that the other is living a better life. Dorothy, their mother, is responsible

for bringing the sisters together again after years of being partially estranged. Dorothy is keeping secrets from her daughters, and her backstory is interwoven into the pages. The author deftly explores the complexity of sister relationships, and though all the women in the book are flawed, and sometimes frustrating, ultimately they are sympathetic characters who are trying to navigate what life has thrown at them. One of the most enjoyable parts of the book is the behind-thescenes glimpse into the Betty Crocker machine and how that company made an impact on the lives of women. Another fascinating element is the sleeping sickness storyline. The novel has depth and heart, and while the storyline is somewhat bleak, it is highly readable. Hilary Daninhirsch

THE TITANIC SECRET

Clive Cussler and Jack du Brul, G.P. Putnam, 2019, $29.00/C$39.00/£20.00, hb, 400pp, 9780735217263

Though this Cussler story begins with Dirk Pitt—of the National Underwater and Marine Agency—in the present, this is really an Isaac Bell mystery. And a well told one at that. Pitt is on his way to the excavation site of the famous Turtle submarine when he’s handed a journal written by Isaac Bell. This journal details how Bell became involved in the mysterious disappearance of nine hard rock miners in Colorado and how a secret new rare element—byzanium—finds its way aboard the Titanic. Hired by brothers to find out why nine miners died in their mine, Bell heads into the hills outside Denver. Quickly, Bell discovers that the miners didn’t die and probably never meant to stay in Colorado, but someone doesn’t want him to know this and tries to kill him. Escaping death, Bell learns that the U.S. government has tasked these nine miners to extract the byzanium ore from a desolate Russian island. Standing in the way is the Société des Mines who wants the mineral for themselves. Bell hires an Icelandic whaling captain, Ragnar Fyrie, to sail him into the icy waters of the Arctic where he has to blast his way through sea ice and retrieve the nine men—near death—and get them and the mineral back to the states. But a traitor is in their midst and fights. Murder and betrayal await their voyage to Scotland. The action never lets up in this pageturning thriller. Bell is as clever as ever— from his deductive skills to his ingenious use of chemicals and new tech. Fyrie is an immediately likeable character, and the thugs hired by the French firm are the perfect foils. The bookending of Pitt’s reading of the journal is a wonderful way to tie both Pitt and Bell together through time. Bryan Dumas

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

THE WHISTLE STOP CANTEEN

Barb Warner Deane, 49 West Publishing, 2019, $17.99, pb, 290pp, 9781733941600

Barb Warner Deane’s The Whistle Stop Canteen takes place in North Platte, Nebraska, where a real canteen served service members traveling by train during World War II. Margaret Parker has accepted her life as an unmarried librarian living with her drunken mother after her fiancé was killed in World War I. Her desire to help people leads Margaret to volunteer to work at a canteen in her hometown, providing food, reading material, support, and well wishes to the men and women who stop there on their way to and from deployment overseas for service in World War II. What Margaret doesn’t bargain for while volunteering is finding a new love, to which she eventually opens herself via letters from Tom Carter. Secrets are revealed, however, that threaten the relationship as Margaret navigates friendship, family, and the home front at war. Ms. Deane tells Margaret’s story well, allowing the reader to get into her head and know her thoughts, feelings, and worries. She is a likeable, significantly unflawed character who, despite dealing with her mother and relationship uncertainty, seems to have things work out easily, as evidenced by the passages from later time periods in her life. It’s unclear whether these passages are intended to be decoys, because the story’s ending is still quite predictable. However, Margaret is easy to root for, and the emotion still comes clearly through the page to create tension and keep the story moving and engaging. The Whistle Stop Canteen is an easy, quick read that does an excellent job of weaving in the history of the North Platte, Nebraska, canteen while telling an interesting, enjoyable story. Jodie Toohey

STARS OF ALABAMA

Sean Dietrich, Thomas Nelson, 2019, $26.99, hb, 352pp, 9780785226376

In Depression-era Alabama, an abandoned baby is found in the woods by two itinerant workers. Failing to find the mother, they decide to raise the baby. They watch their family grow from the most unlikely roots as it increases again, when they meet a mother and two children in dire straits and take them under their wing. A fifteen-year-old girl makes an error in judgement which alters her life’s trajectory irrevocably. Alone and starving, happenstance brings her to Cowikee’s railcar brothel, where she becomes maid and laundress, and it is here she discovers a precious talent and a new family in the friendship and love of the working girls. A fourteen-year-old boy, raised since childhood as a revivalist preacher by his abusive father, escapes after stealing the revival collection plate and is helped toward manhood by several unlikely but faithful friends. These three life stories intertwine, layer upon 40

layer, gradually forming a whole. They weave like tributaries wending their way towards the river mouth, vividly described – c o m p l e x with multiple characters, some of whom are quite unlikeable, but all of whom come alive on the page in Dietrich’s compelling prose. These are true survivors, eking out a desperate existence in dust-wracked Alabama, as a strong Revivalist movement is taking place. It is a tale of love and self-forgiveness – of friendship and loss and the power of relationships – of lonely people learning to love, as family, those who, but for the intervention of fate, were unknown to them just moments before. Sean Dietrich, recognized for his commentary on life in the American South, is better known as a columnist and humorist than novelist. Stars of Alabama, although not his first novel, is the first to be picked up by a major publishing company. Highly recommended. Fiona Alison

SONS OF THE SOIL

Lucas Dines, Dines Brothers Publishing, 2019, $14.99, pb, 458pp, 9781733669306

In 1902, Jon Ahmeti is an Albanian living in the Ottoman province of Macedonia, where he works for James MacGregor, the head of the British spy operation in the region. Ahmeti tries to protect his family amid the emerging conflict as he moves across his homeland. Sons of the Soil follows multiple players on the many sides of the struggle for control of Macedonia, which is the novel’s weakness as well as its strength. Dines focuses on introducing and then sustaining so many characters with so many opaque perspectives that the action can be very difficult to follow, even as the effect is realistically “balkanized.” Because the focus doesn’t stay with any single character long enough, it is hard to care much about anyone in particular, beyond perhaps admiring MacGregor’s skills. This task is made harder by the strong tendency for characters to give the elaborate, wellresearched socio-political exposition through their dialogue. So Lucas Dines’s work is best read as a social novel, showing “Macedonia,” in a sense, as the true main character. It is hard to say how he could have structured the novel differently to make it more accessible, beyond introducing Jon Ahmeti sooner and staying with his story for longer periods. Readers interested in Europe prior to the First World War or the history of the Balkans may enjoy the level of detail Dines provides in the novel.

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

Irene Colthurst

GALLOWS COURT

Martin Edwards, Poisoned Pen, 2019, $15.99, pb, 368pp, 9781492699286

London in 1930, grimy and fogbound, is an ideal setting for a series of killings horrific in both design and execution. Yet most of those killed have committed acts of atrocity so heinous that their own deaths might be seen as just retribution. Trying to track down the killer is Jacob Flint, a young reporter who is still naive and curious. Making the issue more personal to him is the death, apparently accidental, of a kindly old reporter who was his mentor. But as the deaths of rich and famous men multiply, Jacob Flint somehow manages to be present at the time of the crime. Such good fortune sees him promoted to a senior position on the newspaper. Behind each of the vicious killings he sees the hand of Rachel Savernake, daughter of the notorious Judge Savernake. At times Jacob seems close to Rachel, almost in her confidence. At other times – such as when his landlady and her daughter are murdered – Rachel seems far out of reach and she and her close circle of employees inevitably evil. While Jacob Flint could never be called an anti-hero, he could be called a wimpy kid who gets beaten up dreadfully but still bounces back like a superhero. However, the identity of Rachel Savernake remains as mysterious as her motivation. For me, this mystery is deepened by occasional excerpts from Juliet Brentano’s journal. The novel is complex with abundant surprises and an overall suspenseful atmosphere of evil, corruption and cruelty, focused on the ancient place of ultimate punishment, Gallows Court. The author, recipient of several prestigious awards, has given us a brilliantly researched, witty novel. However, I found the characters were manipulated rather than developed, and there was an overload of gratuitous cruelty and violence. Valerie Adolph

SIGGA OF REYKJAVÍK

Solveig Eggerz, Bacon Press Books, 2019, $14.99, pb, 256pp, 9780997148985

Sigga’s story starts when she is a young teenager living on a farm in Iceland after the end of World War 1. It follows her to the midst of World War 2, a middle-aged woman living in Reykjavík. Raped by the farmer’s son, Sigga is taken to Reykjavík to do housework and care for Diva, a bedridden woman who loves to sing opera music from Tosca. Sigga must also shovel coal on the wharves like a man. Tired of this, she becomes cook on a trawler, falls in love with its owner and bears his daughter, whom she names Tosca. By then she is married to Jón, a little man. The marriage is happy enough until Jon is drowned while fishing. Sigga works at a series of hardscrabble jobs, mostly gutting fish but also delivering babies, embroidering souvenir handkerchiefs and sewing corsets, but the money is never enough. She lives in poverty, snatching moments of

happiness and trying to get closer to the man she believes is her father. Fiercely independent, she worries over the future of both her daughter Tosca and her stepson Magnus. This novel reads like a saga. While Sigga is very much a flesh-and-blood woman, her story is almost mythic in the trials she faces. At the same time, her country is also facing trials, from desire for independence from Denmark to those who would bring it into the Communist world, or introduce the beliefs of Hitler. Avoiding those pitfalls, the country is taken over first by British soldiers and then American soldiers. The way of life in Reykjavík is inevitably changed, just as Sigga is changed. Not a book to be read lightly, Sigga’s story has considerable intensity, depth of understanding and vision. It’s a saga of independence for our time. Valerie Adolph

A BRAIN. A HEART. THE NERVE

Ann S. Epstein, Alternative Book Press, 2018, $19.99/£19.99, pb, 284pp, 9786978317913

P e o p l e look down on Meinhardt Raabe, literally and figuratively, every day. After realizing he was a little person, his parents abandoned him. Fo r t u n a t e l y, he was taken in by his loving grandmother, but the early rejection makes it difficult for him to trust others. He creates a thick emotional barrier that makes it hard for him to accept love and friendship when it is offered. The novel begins with young adult Meinhardt in Germany. Considered inferior by the Nazis because of his height, he is in constant fear of what they might do to him. Unable to tolerate the discrimination any longer, he is forced to flee his homeland and leave his grandmother behind. He ends up in the United States, and after some time as a street performer in New York, he hears of a job for people just like him. Hollywood is looking for actors to portray Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz. Hardworking and ambitious, he lands a coveted speaking role as the coroner. This should be the beginning of a promising acting career, but there isn’t much call for actors Meinhardt’s size. He isn’t too bothered, though, because what he is passionate about is fashion, and he dreams of opening a clothing store. The novel follows Meinhardt’s career path, his relationship struggles, and his reconciliation with his past. Epstein crafts her characters with great sensitivity, and the events of Meinhardt’s life feel very realistic. I was surprised to read in the

author’s acknowledgments that the characters and story were almost entirely her inventions. Meinhardt Raabe was a little person who played the coroner in The Wizard of Oz, but the real-life Meinhardt and the fictional one are altogether different. Epstein’s ability to create such a believable story demonstrates her skill as a novelist. Highly recommended. Janice Derr

THE MITFORD SCANDAL

Jessica Fellowes, Sphere, 2019, £14.99, hb, 370pp, 9780751573947 / Minotaur, 2020, $26.99, hb, 384pp, 9781250316806

This is the third book in the author’s Mitford Murders series set during crime fiction’s golden age between the wars and, of course, featuring the famous Mitford sisters and their circle. With such interesting characters at the centre of the story traveling across Europe and enjoying glamorous lives – attending parties, dressing in haute couture, drinking cocktails and flitting from Venice to Paris and back – this should be a thrilling and page-turning read, but somehow it just falls completely flat. While there are suspicious deaths, the author allows the tension to drop as they are dismissed as tragic accidents, and the action moves on often with big leaps in time. There are some interesting moments as the lead character Louisa, now employed as a lady’s maid to Diana after a lavish society wedding to Bryan Guinness, is reminded of the huge social and financial gulf between herself and the girls she had watched grow up, as Diana blows hot and cold: a friend one minute, a mistress the next. The real problem, however, is that the pace never really picks up, and what should be a thriller full of allure and excitement ends up being rather dull. I had high hopes for this novel, so I was disappointed that they weren’t met. Louisa’s story as a woman keen to leave being a servant behind is the only really intriguing thread in the plot, and if the author had focused in on that aspect more, then the novel would have been much more readable. Lisa Redmond

STORMS GATHER BETWEEN US

Clare Flynn, Canelo, 2019, $11.55/£8.99, pb, 384pp, 9781788635646

In 1937, having left Australia due to the infamy caused by his father’s actions, young seaman Will Kidd is serving on cargo ships plying their trade between Liverpool and Africa. Although enjoying the pleasures found in seaports, Will suffers under a disciplinarian bosun who despises him and attempts to curtail his career. In Liverpool, Hannah Dawson lives in a strictly controlled household under her religious and abusive father. After enduring business losses, he concocts a despicable financial recovery scheme that involves Hannah. Will had known Hannah’s aunt in Australia. In an amazing coincidence, Hannah and Will meet at a Liverpool beach. It’s love at first

sight, but Will has to act quickly to enact his plans, hoping to counteract Hannah’s father’s scheme and escape the looming war. Although this novel follows Flynn’s A Greater World (2018), it can stand alone, since the characters’ backstories are introduced nonintrusively. Will’s exploits on the seas and in coastal regions, notably Zanzibar and Naples, and Hannah’s confined life and mannerisms in pre-WWII Liverpool are presented vividly, displaying the author’s talent and extensive research. The descriptions of the sea voyages and locales are undoubtedly based on Flynn’s travels. The novel’s skillful plot elucidates the harsh treatment of some women during the period. Readers will look forward to the sequel. Recommended. Waheed Rabbani

THE LOST ONES

Anita Frank, HQ, 2019, £12.99, hb, 453pp, 9780008341220

1917. Overwhelmed by grief for her dead fiancé, Stella Marcham is struggling to maintain a semblance of normality when her brother-in-law Hector asks her to go and stay with her pregnant sister Madeleine at Greyswick, his family’s forbidding manor house. But Stella finds Madeleine is jittery and unlike her usual self, haunted by mysterious sounds and unexplained events at Greyswick which begin to affect Stella too. Stella’s odd maid Annie Burrows seems to be the key to unlocking the long buried secrets of Greyswick – if only Annie were willing to help… This debut novel has all the classic tropes of the Gothic novel: a large and sinister house with a tragic past, mysterious sounds in the attic, a vulnerable heroine, and a cast of characters who are obviously bound together by unspoken secrets. The background of World War I adds an extra dimension to the story because it is entirely plausible that the scars the war has left on Stella might cause her to be regarded by the other characters as an unreliable witness. The subtlety of the characterisation and the way the manifestations of the ghosts of Greyswick are presented justify comparisons with Susan Hill, though it strikes me that The Small Hand might be a closer parallel than The Woman in Black. There are a few modern words – unfazed, angst, patsy, morphed – which grated on me precisely because the rest of the first-person narrative seemed to capture the atmosphere of a different era so well. But I’m looking forward to reading whatever Frank writes next – particularly as the door has been left open to a possible sequel. Jasmina Svenne

THE ANIMAL GAZER

Edgardo Franzosini (trans. Michael F. Moore), Head of Zeus, 2019, £14.99, hb, 124pp, 9781788549387

This is a prize-winning fictionalised biography of the sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti (1884-1916). In his brief life Bugatti created over 300 bronzes, nearly all animal studies.

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

He exhibited at the Venice Biennale and was awarded the Legion d’Honneur. The book includes photographs of ten of his works. This intense artist’s only friendships were with fellow animal sculptors and his more famous brother, Ettore Bugatti. He compulsively observed zoo animals, sitting for hours in front of cages to capture not the anatomy (which interested him little), but the movement and character of the creatures, using a more pliable and slow-drying material than clay to create a maquette by the cage. He engaged with each individual monkey, antelope, flamingo, kangaroo or any of the many other creatures he sculpted. The results have been described as animal portraits. Only in his work, he wrote, did he find complete happiness. The author reveals Bugatti’s singular attitude towards animals. He sees an Egyptian frieze depicting animals and humans and observes approvingly that they are presented as equals. In 1906, when living in Paris, he writes that ‘an amazing rhinoceros’ has arrived at Antwerp Zoo. At once he decides to leave for Antwerp and makes his way through pouring rain to the zoo, still carrying his suitcase. He was to stay in Antwerp for many years. In 1914 Antwerp was about to surrender to German invaders, and the zoo director was ordered to shoot all the animals. Horrified, bereft of his animal companions, and now suffering from tuberculosis, Bugatti volunteered as a stretcher-bearer in the warridden city. He observed that the requirements for the job were three: delicacy, precision and resilience to human suffering. Sadly he did not have the third, and died by suicide in Paris in 1916. Imogen Varney

A SISTER’S STRUGGLE

Mary Gibson, Head of Zeus, 2019, £7.99, pb, 393pp, 9781788542623

A Sister’s Struggle is a family saga about life in east London in the 1930s. It differs from many similar sagas in that it is set in Bermondsey, south of the Thames, not in the East End on the opposite bank. In the 1930s it had much the same mix of docks, factories and low-income housing as the rest of riverside London. The heroine, Ruby, has lost her mother and her father is often absent, sometimes in prison, so she has to bring up her brother and sister largely on her own in abject poverty. She finds meaning and hope in her life with the local Christian mission. Others about her find it with the Socialists, the Communists or the Fascists as they struggle, often physically, for the soul of Bermondsey, as indeed they struggled for the soul of Europe. The main story is a love triangle, with rival suitors with contrasting personalities and ideologies. Gibson grew up in Bermondsey and has written several books set in the area in this period. Like the others, this book is authentic and well-written, and she catches the local speech extremely well (it was my own once!). It is more than just another piece 42

of Misery Literature and gives an insight into how deprived communities turn to different ideologies to gain control over their lives. Edward James

LIES IN WHITE DRESSES

Sofia Grant, William Morrow, 2019, $15.99/ C$21.00, pb, 384pp, 9780062861863

In 1952, best friends Francie Meeker and Violet Carothers flee San Francisco for Nevada and “the Reno cure.” In the 1950s, this method was the fastest way to get divorced. Since 1931, when Nevada passed this law, women could live in Reno for six weeks to establish residency, and then they could be free from their husbands. Francie and Vi have both have been married for decades, and their children are now adults. Ready to face their failed marriages, they go to Reno to start the next chapter of their lives. On the train there, they meet June, a young mother who is desperate to get divorced. Taking June under their wing, the three women arrive at the Holiday Ranch Hotel in Reno to wait out the weeks until freedom. But when the unthinkable happens, none of their lives will ever be the same. Some of my favorite historical fiction books involve learning about a time period or bit of history that I had no idea about. Sofia Grant does just this by bringing “the Reno cure” to life through Francie and Vi’s story. Lies in White Dresses is a deeply moving narrative about friendship and how sometimes your soulmate might not be your husband but your best friend, who is truly there for you through thick and thin. The story is populated by a cast of memorable secondary characters, like Virgie, the twelve-year-old future detective; Alice, Francie’s resilient but handicapped daughter; and Charlie, Vi’s son. The reader is swept away into 1950s Reno, rooting for Francie, Vi, and June’s friendships and hoping that they find independence, peace, and happiness. This book is perfect for fans of Kristina McMorris and Susan Meissner. Julia C. Fischer

THE GLITTERING HOUR

Iona Grey, Thomas Dunne, 2019, $28.99/ C$38.50, hb, 480pp, 9781250066794 / Simon & Schuster UK, 2019, £20.99, hb, 480pp, 9781471180828

This is 1920s London as remembered and described by Selina Lennox, a former Bright Young Thing. The story of her time in the fast and rich set, filled with reckless adventure and love before her life changed dramatically, is told in pieces to her daughter eleven years later through a series of letters and clues left at Selina’s childhood estate. Young Alice, missing her mother and neglected by relatives, longs to understand her story and reunite with her mother again. Through this treasure hunt she slowly begins to understand who she is, and what is happening to her mother. This is a deceptively bittersweet tale, a story of loss and discovery covered in flashes of riches

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

and freedom that obscure its melancholy core. Lavish parties, alcohol, and a sense of chaos and freedom circle the truth: that Selina’s family grieves for her brother killed in WWI, that the lavish lifestyle this set leads can be dangerous, and that Selina is not truly free, or not brave enough to try, to live the life she longs to lead. As Alice pieces together what happened to her mother, so does the reader, and hints of the mystery are well balanced to add intrigue but not reveal the truth until it is time. The pacing works to craft a heartbreaking but ultimately positive tone that will hit many emotions. And while it is a love story in Selina’s past that we follow and mourn, it’s the relationship between Alice and her parents that takes center stage at the end. Recommended. Ellen Jaquette

THE ACCIDENTALS

Minrose

Gwin,

William

Morrow, 2019, $16.99/C$21.00, pb, 382pp, 9780062471758

When this book began with an illegal abortion in Mississippi in 1957, I had some trepidation, thinking this was a familiar story. I was so very wrong. This story is nothing like I thought it would be. It spans from 1957 to the eve of Barack Obama’s first election in 2008. Yes, the death of Olivia McAlister from a botched abortion has a ripple effect on her husband and two daughters, Grace and June, but each character’s path takes unpredictable turns. One of the strengths of the book is multiple narrators. Chapters alternate among each girl, their father, their aunt, and even a cameo from an ambulance driver. Each chapter is a vignette in itself, and Grace, June, and their father, as well as other supporting characters, change from one chapter to the next but in recognizable ways. The girls’ mother felt miserable and trapped by another pregnancy in small-town Opelika in the 1950s. Although her daughters have similar challenges, changing times and opportunities mean different outcomes for them. Concluding the book in the recent present is a reminder that illegal abortions and the first AfricanAmerican president happened within the same generation. Another reason I loved this book was how real the sisters’ relationship felt. They cling to each other after their mother’s death, and fall out over a betrayal, but come together again. Nothing makes me happier than to be surprised by a good book, and I’m still thinking how surprised I was by this one. Ellen Keith

REINHARDT’S GARDEN

Mark Haber, Coffee House, 2019, $16.95/ C$22.99/£12.99, pb, 168pp, 9781566895620

In 1907, Jacov Reinhardt is obsessed with melancholy and its effect on mankind. In an attempt to complete his treatise on the subject, Reinhardt and his faithful 24-yearold companion set off from their Croatian village for the South American jungles in search of his hero and mentor, Emiliano Gomez Carrasquilla, considered the foremost authority on the condition of melancholy. Addicted to cocaine, Reinhardt leads the expedition through the jungles where Carrasquilla is known to have been seen. Reinhardt also looks for sources of cocaine. During their expedition, they discuss the subject of melancholy, Jacov’s youth, the life of the young writer accompanying Jacov, and their visits to Russia to meet with Tolstoy. Interesting characters include Sonja, Jacov’s one-legged former prostitute and companion living in Germany along with Ulrich, his bodyguard, who is accompanying Jacov in South America. This was a difficult book to read. Haber writes using one continuous paragraph, and, in several instances, one sentence may encompass several pages, but the prose is well written. I found using a single paragraph certainly slowed the narrative. As the scenes and locations changed, it was difficult to determine where the scene took place. Though not your typical literary historical fiction, it had interesting moments, especially during the expedition, but I struggled to feel empathy for the characters. Still, Haber is a talented author and deserves recognition for his efforts. Jeff Westerhoff

MAD HATTER

Amanda Hale, Guernica Editions, 2019, $29.95/C$29.95, pb, 449pp, 9781771833905

Hale’s novel is a fictionalized version of her own family’s history. Christopher Brooke is jailed in Britain in 1940 under Regulation 18B for being an adherent of Sir Oswald Mosley and a Nazi sympathizer. The book examines how Christopher’s beliefs affect him, his wife Cynthia, their Irish maid Mary, and the Brooke children. Parts of the story are narrated by the youngest child Katie, the stand-in for Hale, as well as by Mary. Despite harsh treatment in prison, Christopher holds stoutly to his beliefs, becoming a blatant admirer of Hitler, even prone to giving the Nazi salute. Neighbors shun them, and Christopher’s parents and relatives exclude him from family gatherings once he’s released mid-war. Christopher persists in what he sees as his mission, buying property to form a sort of commune intended to promote his ideas. The children become estranged, partly due to their father’s frequent absences. Cynthia loves Christopher, remembering the wonderful dancer and pianist of the past, but she disagrees with his views and disapproves

of his lower-class associates. The resulting conflict of loyalty vs. aversion puts their marriage to an extreme test. Reading the novel and then Hale’s blog on her family’s real story and how she adapted it for the book is fascinating. At first, I didn’t appreciate the multiple points of view or the shifting present and past tense narration, but Hale’s style grew on me. The reader is not spoon-fed information, sometimes having to wait for a later chapter for an explanation of why something happened. While readers may get exasperated with Christopher’s stubborn persistence in his egregious beliefs, Hale’s skill gives the character a measure of sympathy nevertheless. Mad Hatter is an absorbing story about a lesser-known aspect of the World War II years and its effect on homefront lives. B. J. Sedlock

ALL THE FORGIVENESSES

Elizabeth Hardinger, Kensington, 2019, $26.00/C$35.00, hb, 356pp, 9781496720443

All the Forgivenesses is a wrenching read. It begins in dirt-poor Kentucky in 1906 and concludes in the oil boom in Kansas, a few years before the crash of 1929. Bertie (short for Albertina) Winslow must grow up quickly. Her father is a drunk and a horse trader, and her mother is just plain worn out after multiple births—Bertie, two boys, then two more girls, then twin boys. When she wastes away and dies, Bertie is fifteen and burdened by her mother’s dying words to take care of all the children. She makes choices that cause her sister Dacia to resent her and sends the twins to live with one of the older brothers. She finds a husband, Sam Frownfelter, who is willing to give a home to Bertie, Dacia, and Opal, the more docile younger sister. Bertie is the narrator, and Hardinger notes in the afterword that her speech is that of the author’s grandparents. Bertie doesn’t even reach an eighth-grade education, as her mother needed her at home, but she reads, and her poor grammar doesn’t detract from how expressive she is. She makes sacrifice after sacrifice for her siblings, and Dacia’s cruelty towards her causes her to believe it’s still not enough. As the central figure in this story, Bertie is the most fully-fleshed out character. She’s fortunate to make a love match with Sam rather than a marriage of convenience, but although he’s a sympathetic character, he’s a bit of a cipher as is the perpetually pissed-off Dacia, who enacts a form of revenge on Bertie late in the book. This book stayed with me for a long time because it so vividly brings to life how poverty and lack of choice so profoundly affect a person. Ellen Keith

THE DESERT NURSE

Pamela Hart, Piatkus, 2019, £6.99, pb, 410pp, 9780349417141

Evelyn Northey desperately wants to become a doctor, but her father forbids it.

Following the death of her mother, Evelyn’s father decides that she should leave school and assist him in his medical practice. She wishes to go to university and study, but her father does not support her at all. At the outbreak of World War One, Evelyn decides to enlist as a nurse and is posted to Egypt. In this desert environment, she ends up working beside Dr William Brent, a hard-working polio survivor, who has issues of his own as his path to assist in the war was not easy. But they make a good team. However, Evelyn never wants another man to have power over her destiny. She is resolute that she will never marry. She is determined to get through the war and then perhaps study medicine later. Although Dr Brent clearly suffers from the length of hours involved in treating the great number of wounded soldiers who require attention, he battles through. Hart brings the desert environment alive for her readers. She includes great detail in terms of describing the working conditions for the medical staff and the extent of the injuries some of the soldiers suffer from. It is a moving read. Cathy Powell

SUMMER OF ‘69

Elin Hilderbrand, Little, Brown, 2019, $28.00/ C$22.99, hb, 432pp, 9780316420013 / Hodder, 2020, £7.99, pb, 432pp, 9781529374766

Set on the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts, this debut historical novel from “summer read” veteran Hilderbrand is a family saga that captures a glimpse of the 20th century’s most tumultuous decade. Kate, her four children, and extended family members each have their own worries: Blair is pregnant with twins while her absent husband is working on the Apollo 11 mission; Kirby is searching for herself—stuck between the political and social issues of the day and her strait-laced, upper-class background; Tiger, of his own volition, is fighting in Vietnam while his family frets over his safety; Jessie is coming of age during a summer when it seems everything is going wrong; Kate is harboring a secret that has haunted her for years and could tear the family apart. “The times they are a-changing,” is an apt summation of the events of this story. Character dynamics and place details dominate the narrative. It touches on racial issues, feminism, hippie/commune lifestyles, anti-Semitism, abuse, suicide, revolution, politics, and war—but only through the limited views of a handful of privileged characters. As such, it is difficult to relate to any of the various protagonists and has a forced agenda feel at times. As a beach read, it certainly delivers. It is nicely paced and includes an impressive description of 1960s upper-class island lifestyles. It works well as a getaway book for the average reader—dramatic and engaging. Those looking for more depth, particularly serious historical fiction enthusiasts, may find

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it lacking a multi-layered, engrossing element many period novels offer. Arleigh Ordoyne

THE SPITFIRE GIRLS

Jennie Holmes, Corgi, 2019, £6.99, pb, 436pp, 9780552175821

My father was a World War Two pilot. He told me much about aircraft but not so much about the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), and certainly not about these feisty, flightworthy females who do as much flirting as flying in this kissing and cowlings tale which revolves around an airbase in the North of England whence the ATA deliver various planes to various places with no radio, just top skills, a map, compass, and parachute. Fortunately for RAF resourcing, the girls experience more emotional pangs than actual pangs. The English class divide between officers and oiks features strongly throughout, culminating in a thrilling dénouement as we follow three main and several minor characters having their fair share of excitement with not only their planes in the air, where they encounter weather (bad) and the Luftwaffe (worse), but also with their beaux in the pubs and bars where they encounter no wartime shortage of alcohol (better). As insights go, this respectful story lovingly portrays the ATA, nicknamed ‘Anything to Anywhere’, although ‘Another Tipple Anytime’ would perhaps suit the acronym better. The off-duty attire and coiffeur of the otherwise uniformed characters, ladies in particular, are interestingly sketched with detailed description. The real unsung heroines, though, are the ATA drivers covering hundreds of miles back and forth across the country on poor roads, often at night, to deliver or retrieve the pilots. Yorkshire to Bristol returning via Walsall is just another day towards fulfilling the ATA motto ‘Aetheris Avidi’ (Eager for the Air), which fairly reflects the attitude of almost every character. They all want to fly, and fly well, because, “we are all in this together.” A captivating story. Simon Rickman

PENNY FOR YOUR SECRETS

Anna Lee Huber, Kensington, 2019, $15.95/ C$21.95, pb, 326pp, 9781496713193

Husband and wife team, Sidney and Verity Kent, are back in action in this third installment of Huber’s excellent mystery series. It is now September 1919, and the Kents have settled comfortably back into life after the Great War, dining with friends and dancing their nights away, trying to blot out the lasting effects of war. When Lord Rockham, husband to Verity’s friend, Ada, is murdered and she’s suspected, Verity is soon on the case to prove her friend’s innocence. Then, a former Intelligence colleague seeks a favor from Verity. Convinced her sister has not died by accident, Irene Shaw asks Verity to investigate. The Kents are quickly drawn into a plot of intrigue, murder, romance, and even a wartime shipwreck with a missing 44

crew. Verity revisits old work colleagues as the couple follows the clues from drawing rooms to seaside caves. I continue to be enchanted with the Kents. Huber does such a marvelous job bringing out the realities of marriage, both its joys and its difficulties. While the war has been over for a bit now, the struggles are still very real. Sidney feels survivor’s guilt, while Verity struggles with patience, and returning to everyday society life. The mystery is equally gripping, with many different twists and turns. This is a fine historical mystery series that will not disappoint. Rebecca Cochran

A SHADOW ON THE LENS

Sam Hurcom, Orion, 2019, £14.99, hb, 282pp, 9781409189855

Thomas Bexley is a forensic photographer (one of the first in the country) working for the Metropolitan Police. It is June 1904, and he is asked to examine the evidence, take photographs and investigate the circumstances surrounding the murder of a sixteen-yearold girl, Betsan Tilny, in Dinas Powys, a small village in South Wales. Bexley narrates the story from the safe distance of 1913, but the reader is immediately made aware that something deeply unpleasant happened during his investigations nine years before. As soon as he arrives in the village to begin his detective work, Bexley develops a life-threatening raging fever, which causes disturbing hallucinations and affects his judgment – so that the reader cannot be sure what objectively occurred and what is the product of his delirious imagination. Notwithstanding the effect of the fever, he is an imperious and rather unpleasant character. There are mysteries to unravel and secrets to discover, all done in Bexley’s rather blundering bull-at-a-gate manner. While I enjoyed the story, and in particular the climax was well presented, the narrative doesn’t ring true somehow; it lacks that sense of authenticity that fully enwraps the reader. The characters are odd and lack credibility: they do not always convince in what they say and do. There is also some anachronistic use of words that were not common currency at the time of the novel, as such “skillset” and the use of the term “Ms”. An entertaining tale that rips along, but ultimately, a bit of a disappointment. Douglas Kemp

WHITE SHADOW

Roy Jacobsen, MacLehose Press, 2019, £14.99, hb, 264pp, 9780857058119

Farmer and fisherwoman Ingrid’s life is hard, sometimes harsh, but she has freedom and independence on Barroy, a small island close to the mainland of Norway. The Second World War still rages in Northern Europe, and for Ingrid she thinks it is essential that she maintains an impeccable neutrality. Any infringement on her part would bring down

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one of the Great Powers, devastating her island home. When a troop ship is destroyed, she must prevent an outbreak of disease by undertaking the ghastly task of straightway burying the drowned bodies brought to her by the sea. Then she is presented with a body, grievously injured but living. Knowing she is endangering her precious neutrality, firstly in common humanity, then in compassion and lastly in a reckless love, she conceals him. No one must know. She must keep her normal, always demanding routine. The burials, the need for scrupulous hygiene and now this deadly secret bring about her sudden physical and mental collapse and brutal interrogation. She faces the worst, survives and fights back. This story, so cruel and so bleak, is told in the most wonderful language: precise and detailed yet poetic, and the whole manuscript entices readers into relishing the delightful local dialect. Nancy Henshaw

THE STATIONERY SHOP (US) / THE STATIONERY SHOP OF TEHRAN (UK)

Marjan Kamali, Gallery, 2019, $27.00/C$36.00, hb, 320pp, 9781982107482 / Simon & Schuster UK, pb, 320pp, 9781471185014

Set primarily in 1953 Tehran, The Stationery Shop is where two teenagers meet and fall in love. But this isn’t just love, it is the full-tilt, heady, whirlwind type of love, the kind that changes you forever. The narrator, Roya, is a bookish girl who nods along to her progressive father’s dream that she and her sister become lady scientists, just like Marie Curie and Helen Keller. But her perfect day is Tuesday, when she spends her afternoon looking at the translated novels under the kind guidance of the shop owner, Mr. Fakhri. Yet one day, she watches as a handsome young man comes to obtain political materials from the unassuming shopkeeper. Roya asks who he is, and Mr. Fakhri says that he is the boy who will change the world. Nestled in the backdrop of the Iranian coup by foreign powers, this love story holds twists and turns. Here, the youth have hope, but they do not have innocence. Politics are shadowy, money is corrupt, democracy is a tenuous dream. The love between these two teenagers is the only thing that seems certain— until the boy’s mother intervenes. Her erratic, transgressive behavior is an embarrassment, but could she be as cruel as Roya supposes? Part of the joy of this book is the journey, the discovery of the why when we already know the what. This is a beautiful book with drool-worthy descriptions of Persian food. As an American, I enjoyed reading the outsider perspective on our casual demeanor and “anything goes” social rules. While there are politics in this novel, it is not a political novel. This story is about the other side of love, which is grief, and the other side of grief, which is love. Katie Stine

THE ACCOMPLICE

Joseph Kanon, Atria, 2019, $28.00/C$37.00, hb, 334pp, 9781501121425 / Simon & Schuster UK, 2019, £14.99, hb, 336pp, 9781471162657

“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves,” an old Nazi hunter observes, citing Confucius. The Accomplice is a journey of revenge. A young Jewish CIA analyst named Aaron Wiley vacations in Germany during the Cold War, visiting his uncle, a Nazi hunter. When a Nazi who worked with Mengele is accidentally sighted and the favorite uncle begs for his help, Wiley takes off for Buenos Aires, Argentina, to hunt down a war criminal previously believed dead. Wiley makes contact with the CIA, gets information, and falls into a relationship with the war criminal’s beautiful daughter. This complicated relationship is the emotional heart of the book. Wiley’s goal is to find the old Nazi and get him back to Germany for a public trial, but he is joined by the CIA and the Mossad, who seek to kill or use him for their own purposes. Wiley lies, breaks laws, violates procedures, shoots people, and more on a complicated journey of revenge. Kanon captures the flavor of post-war Hamburg’s Jewish community and the exotic milieu of German expatriates in Buenos Aires. He writes terse, convincing dialogue, and is alive to the subtexts of human relationships. The book is basically a page-turner, but the reader feels a lump of guilt in the throat after each betrayal, and the horror of good intentions going badly wrong. If Wiley lands in Argentina a little too proficient at the cloak-and-dagger work he’s never done before, by the end he’s made enough missteps to be human. The denouement is convoluted, featuring a very long chase sequence that has perhaps one too many twists and turns. Like the end of the movie Chinatown, even the righteous emerge compromised in The Accomplice. David Drum

THE BODY IN GRIFFITH PARK

Jennifer Kincheloe, Seventh Street, 2019, $15.95/C$17.00, pb, 378pp, 9781633885400

Working as a police matron in Los Angeles in 1908 is a far cry from Anna Blanc’s former life as an heiress, but needs must, and Anna has been disowned by her banker father for playing detective in a previous outing. In this, the third in the series, Anna chafes against the restrictions imposed on police matrons, including “do not keep company with men. Be home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.” Defying these rules, she and her boyfriend, Detective Joe Singer, plan to spend a romantic evening in Griffith Park, plans that are upset by their discovery of a dead body. Anna has to sleuth on the sly as Joe pretends she was never there. The Body in Griffith Park is full to the brim with plotlines: young women forced

into prostitution, blackmail, and Anna’s introduction to her illegitimate brother. The prostitution and blackmail plots are far more believable than Anna’s instant connection to a heretofore unknown brother. Kincheloe movingly describes the sad state of affairs for female prisoners in the Los Angeles jail. Some women are there because they have nowhere else to go. Anna looks out for one such girl, Matilda, a teenager thrown out of her Iowa home who fell prey to an unscrupulous woman who prostitutes girls beholden to her. When Anna’s newfound brother becomes a suspect in the Griffith Park murder case, Anna risks her relationship with Joe to come to his defense. Kincheloe does a fine job at capturing Anna’s enthusiasm for detecting without selfpity for her former life. At times, the plot is simply too hectic, as a side trip to Oklahoma with no repercussions for Anna’s job strains credulity. But Anna is an engaging protagonist and Joe a worthwhile suitor. I like them both enough to seek out the previous installments and look forward to the next in this series. Ellen Keith

ROUGE

Richard Kirshenbaum, St. Martin’s, 2019, $27.99/C$37.99, hb, 309pp, 9781250150950

Rouge is an adventure into the glamorous world of BEAUTY (the caps are intentional). This book highlights the world of cutthroat competition between two internationallyestablished cosmetic companies and the women who originated them. These women, Josiah (Josephine) Herz and Constance Gardiner, are rivals in every sense of the word. Josephine, who was born Josiah Herzenstein, begins her career in Australia in 1922. She opens her Fifth Avenue salon in 1933, a time when women were being influenced by, and trying hard to achieve, the looks of movie stars. In 1922, Constance Gardiner, Englishborn but raised in Canada, comes to New York City and ultimately becomes a society matron. She is statuesque and beautiful – the “perfect flapper,” as her brother calls her. She goes to work in a lab for a Dr. Osborne who has created a beauty cream. Constance helps him market it, which is her first step toward her own multi-million dollar beauty empire. There is a black model named CeeCee who works for Constance and a male rival in the cosmetic business. Rouge is well-written and captures the period as it chronicles these women’s rise in the business and their fierce personal rivalries. It is reminiscent of the very real rivalry between Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden and their competitors. It may be generational, but the reader might recognize the thinly disguised characters. I very much enjoyed reading this book. It is the perfect read, whether in front of a warm fire or riding the subway. Audrey Braver

THE GIRLS OF PEARL HARBOR

Soraya Lane, Lake Union, 2019, $10.99, pb, 340pp, 9781542041904

In 1942, the world was coming undone, thrown asunder by the mounting tensions of World War II. Soraya Lane pulls from this era a tale of sisterhood, compassion, and the evolution from girl to woman. The Girls of Pearl Harbor follows the intrepid journey of four nurses who endured the fateful day, which will live forever in infamy. Each girl adds an aspect of flavor to the story, including an ungrateful little sister, a hopeful future doctor, and a brave but broken woman. To reach closer to her ambition of becoming a doctor, April joined the nurse corps. Along with her, she brought her naive kid sister, Grace, and their childhood friend, Poppy. April came for adventure. Poppy came to stay near her boyfriend, an Air Corps pilot. Grace came so she wouldn’t be left behind. Once they reach Hawaii, the trio meets Eva, who is running from something rather than towards adventure. The intricacies of each character, their ambitions, and their romantic escapades, create a web of complications and intrigue. Lane has mastered the craft of relating historical events to a modern audience, all the while telling a story of those who may have lived through it. This page-turner manages to keep the action coming and the adventure flying even after the title tragedy passes. Rest assured, there are plenty of noteworthy exploits to follow. It is necessary to note the exceptional progression of the dynamic between the sisters, mimicking life. This pearl is clearly another triumph by Lane, and now one of my go-to book recommendations. Alice Cochran

THE STARLET AND THE SPY (US) / MARILYN AND ME (UK)

Ji-Min Lee (trans. Chi-Young Kim), Harper, 2019, $15.99/C$19.99, pb, 192pp, 9780062930262 / Fourth Estate, 2019, £12.99, hb, 176pp, 9780008322311

This short but emotionally intense novel takes a real-life moment – Marilyn Monroe’s USO visit to the troops at the close of the Korean War – and imagines its impact on her translator, a tragic young woman named Alice J. Kim. Alice’s real name is Ae-Sun, but she was given her nickname by a former lover with whom she studied English, a skill which saved

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her life during the atrocities of the conflict. Now, in 1954, she is a traumatized survivor who struggles to find reasons to go on living, and her few days with the movie star offer her new hope but also frightening visitations from her past. As she observes the genius of Monroe’s self-created persona and enjoys, thanks to the star’s innate kindness and empathy, some rare moments of human comfort, Alice begins to realize that there are many different ways for a woman to try to hold on to power in the face of a violent and uncaring world. Her time with a true artist rekindles her own interest in making art (she was employed by the People’s Republic as a propaganda artist before escaping the regime), and Monroe’s sympathy allows her to come to terms with what she has lost. The reader slowly comes to feel affection for a woman who sees herself as not just unlikeable but cursed. Lee wisely presents Monroe in small doses, providing a hopeful contrast to Alice’s self-loathing that sets up a natural unraveling of the secrets behind Alice’s trauma. Lee is a screenwriter in Korea, and her facility for addictive plotting is evident here. The English translation is by Chi-Young Kim, who also translated Kyung-sook Shin’s Please Look After Mom, and she provides Alice’s voice with both intense emotion and sardonic humor. Kristen McDermott

THE SLIGHTEST CHANCE

Paul Letters, Blacksmith Books, 2019, $14.95/ C$18.95, pb, 296pp, 9789887792796

Hong Kong in 1941 is about to be overcome by the invading Japanese. Dominic Sotherly is an Anglo-Australian servant with a double life. His wife Emily has returned to England and Dom, also called Max, serves the British and at times the Chinese. He falls in love with Gwen, who is a British nurse separated from her German husband, Klaus. They do nothing about it because of the wartime events happening faster than any can calculate. The first portion of the story occurs in a free atmosphere of partying and connecting in the lavish Peninsula Hotel. The second part is about Max escaping and Gwen being placed in an internment camp. It turns out she is the only woman to ever escape from a Japanese camp. Meanwhile, Max has escaped Hong Kong but returned to help his Chinese friends, including Chinese Admiral Chan Chak, and other Chinese who are attempting to overcome the Japanese. Thus, the reader gets a close look at the Battle of Hong Kong and is taken on the thrilling, fear-filled journeys of Max and Gwen through the city and far countryside outside of Hong Kong. Gwen also serves as the revealer of the horrors of the Stanley internment camp before the battle when the Japanese massacred dozens of British and Chinese prisoners. War is indeed hell, but this novel evokes the phenomenal grit and vivacious spirits of men and women like Max and Gwen. The ending is surprising. Enemies do indeed become friends and friends grow distant. The Slightest Chance 46

is romantic, thrilling historical fiction, a great read based on actual facts of war, death, and survival. Viviane Crystal

THE COLONEL’S WIFE

Rosa Liksom (trans. Lola Rogers), Graywolf, 2019, $16.00, pb, 168pp, 9781644450086

Rosa Liksom’s novel is amazing, powerful, and remarkable, and everyone should read it, including, again, me. The Finnish author delves deeply into the inner life of her protagonist, an elderly woman telling the story of her life as a fascist activist and wife to a cruel Nazi colonel during World War II. She evokes horror and beauty in her descriptions of her character’s life, first as a schoolgirl smitten with German fascist culture and then as secretary, fiancée, and wife to the much-older Colonel. The Colonel is a sadist whose charms Liksom enumerates in such detail that, even while we watch her fall ever more deeply into his terrible clutches, we understand why she loves him. Liksom’s love for Finland, particularly Lapland, where she grew up, shines through in her lingering descriptions of the landscape, which is as much a character in this book as any human she renders. Liksom has accomplished an intense and thorough psychological study that is astonishingly dense—the book is very short—but far from a quick read, as you’ll want to linger over every word translated from Finnish into sheer poetry by Lola Rogers of Seattle. “The Colonel’s mother, Desiree, was past ninety,” Liksom writes. “She was a bent old burnt-out matchstick of a woman with a bald, bony head.” Also: “Our few days in paradise were over, and life turned ordinary again, like the bottom of an empty sack a person tries in vain to scrape a little joy out of.” I cannot recommend this book highly enough, and now intend to read everything Rosa Liksom has ever written and will ever write. Sherry Jones

LADY IN THE LAKE

Laura Lippman, William Morrow, 2019, $26.99, hb, 352pp, 9780062390011 / Faber & Faber, 2019, £16.99, hb, 352pp, 9780571339440

Madeline Schwartz is the perfect 1960s housewife, but when boredom and dissatisfaction set in, she leaves her husband, son, and an affluent life of comfort to move to an apartment in a run-down Baltimore neighborhood. Heady in her new independence, she begins a passionate affair and seeks out meaning for her new life. In

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

1966, two deaths in the city change the course of Maddie’s life toward a new career in journalism. First, eleven-year-old Tessie goes missing, and Maddie, as a volunteer searcher, finds her body. Second, the body of Cleo is found in the lake after being missing for months. Lippman brings the atmosphere of the 1960s to life, especially society’s efforts to keep women and black people within their designated places. We also see the disparity between the treatment of the disappearance and death of Tessie, a white child, and Cleo, a black woman. Tessie’s fate makes headlines, and an active investigation results in the capture of her murderer. No one cares about what happened to Cleo. Her death only warrants a short piece hidden in the pages of the Star, and there is no active investigation. Maddie’s interest in the murders leads her to a job at the Star in a man’s world. She is disappointed at being assigned the lowly job of assisting “Mr. Helpline,” but this doesn’t stop her. On her own time, she finds resourceful ways to interview people associated with both crimes. She wants her stories published and Cleo’s murder solved. The novel is told in multiple points of view by Maddie and the numerous people she encounters. The dead Cleo speaks throughout as an omniscient narrator. Each narrator has a distinct voice, and Lippman’s skill is seen in the added dimension this structure brings to the plot. This smart, page-turning thriller propels the reader to a satisfying ending. Janice Ottersberg

THE ARCHIPELAGO OF ANOTHER LIFE

Andreï Makine, MacLehose Press, 2019, £14.99, pb, 244pp, 9780857057938

The novel takes the form of a story within a story, as Pavel Gartsev relates the bizarre world of the reservist Red Army soldier in the years after the end of the Second World War. It is like living in a Samuel Beckett novel of absurd but brutal existence of military life in the equally incongruous Communist regime of the Soviet Union. In the early 1950s, Gartsev’s unit is despatched to the isolated but beautiful vast taiga lands in the Far East of Siberia, where he undergoes a cruel experience in a nuclear bunker, and then is selected in a small group of five conscripts to track down an escaped prisoner from one of the camps of the Gulag. The pursuit takes on a surreal note as the convict is chased across the taiga, leading the blundering group a merry dance. The narrative has an allegorical, fairy-tale aspect, as Gartsev gradually finds a new reality and learns much about himself and his life. Makine has published a large number of novels since 1997 that dissect the weird (and ultimately and with hindsight, unsustainable) world of the Soviet regime. This is a readable and intelligent account of the horrors of the militarised command system and how it encouraged the worst of human behaviour to make it work, yet within this, there is still

an opportunity, howbeit ever so small, to transcend the horrors and find a better way of living. Douglas Kemp

LIONS OF THE DESERT

Samuel Marquis, Mount Sopris Publishing, 2019, $3.99, ebook, 562pp, B07N1CTLBQ

Cairo during World War II was officially neutral – but like most of the neutral countries, it was a hotbed of spies, counterspies, dazzling women, men on both sides who talked too much, and men and women who listened very, very carefully. As the novel opens, it’s 1941, and Afrika Korps Commander Erwin Rommel (the dashingly successful “Desert Fox”), has been successfully rolling back the Allies. If Rommel succeeds in his desert campaign, the Britishheld Suez Canal, lifeline to India and Asia, will fall into Axis hands. In Cairo, young David Stirling is tasked with forming a commando unit unlike any other. Stirling will report to and take his orders only from the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in the Middle East. Stirling’s mission: to operate behind enemy lines and take out as many planes, tanks, and other German material as possible. As Stirling and the new-born SAS carry the fight far into enemy territory, Rommel continues his drive towards Cairo. Meanwhile, in Cairo, a pair of German spies struggles to obtain information and send it back to Rommel, and a famous belly dancer is drawn into this morass of plot and counterplot. Told through multiple viewpoints in a series of vivid scenes, Lions of the Desert is rather like a multi-character miniseries (a miniseries I’d love to see!). The author’s done in-depth research, and while the book is a bit heavyhanded on the historical detail, this doesn’t distract from the plot. While the subtitle calls it “a true story,” this is a novel based firmly on historical events and most of the characters are historical (including belly dancer Hekmat Fahmy). The comparison between the Phantom Major’s unconventional tactics and the more orthodox warfare waged by the Desert Fox against a background of “spy vs. spy” makes for terrific storytelling. India Edghill

THE UNSEEN HAND

Edward Marston, Allison & Busby, 2019, £19.99, hb, 320pp, 9780749023997

London 1917. In this, the eighth in Marston’s Home Front Detective series, Inspector Marmion and Sergeant Keedy find themselves saddled with an unusual murder case. The high-class Lotus Hotel in Chelsea offers an (expensive) haven for its exclusively female clientele, and its owner, the formidable Mrs Fleetwood, prides herself on providing exactly what a lady of taste and discernment wants. But when one of the guests, Lady BriceCadmore, is discovered murdered in her bedroom, the hotel’s reputation is suddenly

under attack. Was Lady Brice-Cadmore really all she seemed, and what about Fraser Buchanan, the ambitious owner of a rival hotel? Mrs Fleetwood suspects he’d be delighted if her hotel failed. And who is the wily impersonator pretending to be a hotel guest? Mrs Fleetwood is determined to get at the truth; she swears that all her staff are loyal and many of them have been with her for years, so why aren’t Marmion and Keedy taking her suspicions about Buchanan seriously? She is infuriated when the two detectives insist on following their other leads. Meanwhile, bookings are being cancelled and guests are leaving. I’ve always enjoyed Marston’s detective novels for their skill, attention to period detail, and the unexpected twists and turns. The Unseen Hand is no exception. The pace never drops, the cast of characters – many of them morally dubious – is large, but he never tangles the reins, and there are plenty of surprises along the way. I like the fact that things are at stake, even for minor characters, like the put-upon chambermaid who discovers the body and is terrified of losing her job. Life could be cruel for working-class women in 1917, and Marston does not forget the realities of the period. I was definitely hooked and can confidently pronounce that this book is a corker. Elizabeth Hawksley

THE GOOSE MISTRESS

Conner McAleese, Dark Ink Press, 2018, $14.99, pb, 360pp, 9780999701645

The Goose Mistress opens literally with a bang: the gunshot that leaves Unity Mitford, a hanger-on in the circle around Adolf Hitler, a pitiful remnant of her former self. While the news delights Hitler’s mistress, Eva Braun, things soon go downhill for Eva: Increasingly isolated as the Nazi regime crumbles and a drug-addled Hitler degenerates, Eva spends her days trading jibes with the Nazi officers’ wives, sniping at her mother and sisters, and consuming quantities of wine. This is Conner McAleese’s first novel, and it won’t be to everyone’s taste. First, while one doesn’t expect to, or for that matter want to, like Eva all that much, it would be nice if she had a few more redeeming qualities; instead, she’s nasty even to Hitler’s dog, the one likable being in this novel. Second, the first-person narrative offers very little exposition, so that the reader who isn’t conversant with Hitler’s private life is likely to be heartily confused, at least in the early chapters; had I not read a biography of Eva recently, I would have been

quite lost at times. Third, those who prefer not to read about sex with Hitler will have to do a bit of skimming. Finally, while this novel is best read as a cautionary tale about obsessive love, it’s not clear what drew Eva to Hitler in the first place, since we meet them long after they have become a couple. McAleese writes well, and he does a fine job of capturing the claustrophobic atmosphere of Eva’s last days. With a market saturated with stories focusing on those who were on the right side of history during World War II, he deserves kudos for taking the opposite tack and choosing such a challenging and difficult subject. Susan Higginbotham

SMEDLEY

Jeff McComsey, Dead Reckoning, 2019, $26.95, pb, 176pp, 9781682472767

Major General Smedley Butler, USMC, is one of a number of famous fighting Marine Generals. This graphic novel begins in 1932 one year after he has retired and has already failed in an attempt to become a US senator to support the cause of WWI veterans who are asking to have their promised bonuses paid to them. He is invited to give a speech to the “Bonus Army” encampment in the streets of Washington, DC and arrives to meet the men. The veterans are immediately enthusiastic about their famous visitor and ask to hear his accounts of how he won multiple Medals of Honor. The general is equally delighted to once again be in his rightful place surrounded by fighting men, and even some of their wives and children. He describes his first time in a combat zone in Santiago Bay Cuba as a 17-year-old (!) Second Lieutenant. He tells the veterans he had no idea what he was doing and leapt to the ground the first time he heard a gunshot. Not an auspicious start for a war hero, and the audience appreciates his candor. Smedley goes on to relate his experiences in conflicts all over the world including the Philippines, China in the Boxer Rebellion, espionage in Mexico, and then WW1 in Haiti and later Europe. Readers should not be put off by the graphic novel format, as this is still a genuine account of a historical perspective. Some of the language may be a bit rough for younger readers, but this is authentic to the story. I like historical books of any type where I learn new things, and Smedley didn’t disappoint. Recommended. Thomas J. Howley

THE RAPTURE

Claire McGlasson, Faber & Faber, 2019, £14.99, hb, 351pp, 9780571345175

Based on true events, The Rapture is an episode in the life of the Panacea Society, an extraordinary cult centred around Octavia, the self-styled Daughter of God. This is English suburbia in the 1920s, and the cult is populated by respectable ladies (and a very few men). Many of them are independently

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wealthy, having inherited property when their husbands or fathers were killed in the War. The novel tells the story of Dilys, the youngest member of the Society, and her growing friendship with Grace, a new recruit. Through Dilys’ eyes we watch the mounting tensions and rivalries within the cult, and start to realise that its members may not be as united as they seem… It is easy to see why people might have been drawn to the Panacea Society. The author contrasts the apparent security of the cult with the tumult of the outside world. Still recovering from the First World War, the country is faced with the General Strike and looming Depression. Individuals have lost family members and friends, and search for security wherever they can find it. Yet that security may just be an illusion, and a safe place can become a prison. I wasn’t entirely convinced by the ending, but that is a minor quibble. The story is well told and intriguing, keeping the reader guessing as it unfolds its secrets. A recommended read. Karen Warren

THE PEARL THIEF

Fiona McIntosh, Ebury Press, 2018, £8.99, pb, 492pp, 9781529103786

The Pearl Thief follows the story of Severine Kassel, a museum professional in the 1960s whose worlds collide when she is asked to authenticate a Byzantine pearl necklace. Two storylines connect the past to the present through this necklace. Because of this, they give the reader a sense of intimacy with the protagonist as her tale unfolds and we understand her reaction to the item. In a tale that addresses the horrors of Jewish persecution in occupied Prague in World War Two, the author leads us through a Jewish family’s struggle to respond to the German invasion. We also begin to understand the mindset that was developed to cope with the atrocities committed. The subplot is connected well to the main plot as the author times memories with specific events. The worlds of 1940 and 1960 have been researched very well, but at times it feels as if the author wants to teach us about a particular place rather than develop the story. Despite this, The Pearl Thief is an engaging read. Throughout the novel we are invited to consider the rules of war and the nature of the human mind. Clare Lehovsky

A STEP SO GRAVE

Catriona McPherson, Quercus, 2018, $26.99, hb, 336pp, 9781473682351 / Hodder, 2019, £8.99, pb, 336pp, 9781473682368

Aristocratic, amateur sleuth Dandy Gilver and her family travel to remote Applecross in the Scottish Highlands to meet Mallory, her son’s betrothed and family. However, Dandy and her husband suspect that their son is more enamored with Mallory’s mother and endeavor to confront him. When a fiftieth birthday celebration goes awry for the bride48

to-be’s mother, Lady Lavinia, and her body is found in the garden with ‘a rose in her hand and a blade in her skull,’ Dandy takes it upon herself to find the murderer. This is a British cozy set in the Thirties and told with tongue-in-cheek humor along the lines of John Mortimer or PG Wodehouse. Unfortunately, the beginning of the book is padded with inconsequential prattle and that, coupled with no murder or inciting incident until nearly a third of the way through, made it difficult to stay interested. Once the story gets moving there are plenty of suspects and misdirection to keep Dandy and her business partner Alec guessing. In the end, the murderer sets all straight and simply confesses. A list of characters proves handy as there are numerous names ending in ‘ie’ or ‘y’ along with ‘Mummy’ and ‘Daddy’. Written for readers who enjoy light, humorous, cozy mysteries set in the Thirties with a healthy bit of family drama. Mary Lawrence

THE ADVENTURE OF THE PECULIAR PROTOCOLS

Nicholas Meyer, Minotaur, 2019, $25.99, hb, 238pp, 9781250228956

As in 1974 when he uncovered an unpublished manuscript by John H. Watson and presented it in The Seven Percent Solution, author Nicholas Meyer presents previously unknown diary entries by Watson in The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols. The diary recalls Watson and Sherlock Holmes in 1905 after they are pressed into service by Holmes’s brother Mycroft to inspect randomly selected pages from a French document that translates as “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.” Though fabricated, the Protocols purportedly outline a Jewish plan for global domination and have been cited to justify pogroms against Jews in Russia. Divining the nature of the document and its creators leads Holmes and Watson from the reading room of the British Museum across Europe to Kishinev, Russia, acquiring along the way a companion, Anna (Strunsky) Walling, who is fluent in Russian, and agents of Tsar Nicholas II’s police, the Okhrana. The plot has fewer Sherlockian feats of detection than other Holmes works and a more measured pace than the breakneck Seven Percent Solution. But the power of the story comes not only from the Holmes/Watson narrative but the underlying historical context. An epilogue traces the roots of the Protocols across time beginning in 1903 and the persistence of the document even today. Fiction and fact in this book illustrate how lies become entrenched in the collective mind and how easily they are used to justify violence against minority populations. With the rapid spread of fake news and rising xenophobia, the message is more chilling than ever.

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

K. M. Sandrick

THE BRIEF

Simon Michael, Sapere, 2019, $8.99, pb, 277pp, 9781913028534

Charles Holborne/Charlie Horowitz just doesn’t fit. He’s a criminal court solicitor in chambers that specialize in civil litigation in 1960s London and a man from a workingclass Jewish family who’s more comfortable on the streets than in the drawing rooms and country estates belonging to his wife’s family and friends. He nevertheless gets along until his wife is murdered, and he stands accused. The Brief introduces the extremely likable Charles as he applies his street smarts to investigations of clients charged with robbery and murder and the legal wherewithal to make reasoned arguments in their defense. Unfortunately, the action shifts to a somewhat contrived all-clues-point-tothe-husband and innocent-man-on-therun scenario. While the reader is engaged as Charles tracks down perpetrators, the planning and execution of his wife’s murder are in some ways too convenient and in others too complicated. Also disappointing is the suggestion that Charles will forsake the powdered wigs of the Old Bailey and return to his roots in the Jewish community as a private investigator. For this reader, at least, that would be a shame. There are plenty of private investigators who can navigate the back alleys. Refreshing is a solicitor who can bridge both mean and gentile worlds and share insights from both. The first two-thirds of the book set this stage; the remainder, while interesting in Charles’ shift to Charlie, takes a different turn. One can hope that the next in the promised series of Charles Holborne thrillers returns to court. K. M. Sandrick

THE GIVER OF STARS

Jojo Moyes, Viking/Pamela Dorman, 2019, $28.00/C$37.00, hb, 383pp, 9780399562488 / Michael Joseph, 2019, £20.00, hb, 448pp, 9780718183202

Books provide people with education and entertainment; they change lives as they introduce different worlds and unfamiliar experiences. During the Depression, the women who transported books in their horses’ saddlebags to isolated Kentucky mountain residents, in all seasons, as part of the WPA’s Pack Horse Library Initiative provided a lifeline of literacy to their audiences. Hearing about this unique job after a dull church service, Alice Van Cleve grows intrigued and immediately volunteers to join. After getting swept off her feet by Bennett Van Cleve, a burly, handsome Kentuckian visiting her native England, Alice feels stifled by the insularity in her new home of Baileyville, a small Appalachian town, and surprised by her new husband’s unexpected aloofness. Alice had never fit in at home, and with her clipped British accent and dislike for frivolous social pursuits, she’s an outsider in Kentucky, too. She finds an unofficial new family with the four other pack-horse librarians, including

fiery Margery O’Hare, who lives life as she pleases, and Izzy Bailey, a polio survivor with an overprotective mother. All the women face obstacles, not just the harsh elements on the trail, but also Alice’s controlling father-in-law, and townspeople threatened by the ideas the books contain. Moyes strikes the right balance between the heartwarming details of the women’s friendship and the realistic threats they face. The mountainous landscape comes through beautifully as the women traverse rivers, ride their horses up through rocky forests and down into the hollers, and gaze up at the crystalline night sky. They all have distinctive personalities, yet it’s easy to identify with all of them. Anyone who has read Moyes knows her skill at writing moving, complex love stories, too. While one character is stereotypically evil, the novel is a fine tribute to the devoted, hardy librarians who served as knowledge ambassadors for their region. Sarah Johnson

THE OFFING

Benjamin Myers, Bloomsbury, 2019, £16.99, hb, 258pp, 9781526611314

This is a gentle book. Just after World War II, Robert Appleyard is sixteen, has just left school, and is longing for adventure. Brought up in a Durham village, he knows he is expected to follow his father into the coal mine but decides to explore his world a little more first. Taking the minimum provisions in a rucksack, he walks south into Yorkshire, doing odd jobs on the way for bed and board or simply sleeping in old barns or under hedgerows at the edge of fields. He reaches Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire, where he meets Dulcie, and his life begins to expand. This is a beautiful story, told in the first person, and one I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s one of quiet reflection, of the natural world and the life of a village where people know each other well and help out when needed. Robert is introduced to aspects of life he had never experienced in his northern Durham village. The author knows his country well, as he was born in Durham and now lives in West Yorkshire. He has won prizes for both historical fiction and literature and also achieved a Sunday Times “Book of the Year” award with another novel. His writing draws the reader in, and it is certainly a case of wanting to know what happens next. “Offing” is a word I had not come across before, but the OED defines it as “part of visible sea distant from shore”. An admirable title. Marilyn Sherlock

ONCE UPON A TIME IN FRANCE

Fabian Nury and Sylvain Vallée (trans. Ivanka Hahnenberger), Dead Reckoning, 2019, $29.95, pb, 9781682474716

This graphic novel series, first published in France with over 1 million copies sold,

has received several awards, including the Angoulême International Comics Festival Best Series Award. Dead Reckoning has collected the six volumes and complied them in one beautifully produced book. The gripping novel is based upon the true story of Joseph Joanovici, a Romanian Jew, who emigrated to France in the 1920s and became fabulously wealthy as a scrap-metal magnate. When Europe is plunged into the nightmare of World War II, Joanovici’s business becomes critical to the manufacture of French war materiel to be used against the Nazis. But Germany needs metal as much as France, and Joanovici is quick to recognize the business potential offered by the Third Reich. The shrewd businessman walks a tightrope in his business dealings as both a Nazi collaborator and member of the French Resistance. He sometimes finds himself involved in ruthless transactions that, in saner times, would clearly be viewed as illegal and immoral; at war’s end, there are many who would like to see him called to account for those actions. Joanovici sees his activities as necessary to his survival, but they exact a high price from his family and personal relationships. The story is not merely a retelling of an obscure part of World War II history but also a profound moral investigation into the depths of a man’s soul that questions what he, or we for that matter, may be capable of doing in the worst of circumstances. Nury’s fine dialogue and the excellent illustrations by Sylvain Vallée bring an almost cinematic perspective to the book that keeps the reader turning pages. This book is highly recommended, even for readers who do not typically read graphic novels. John Kachuba

BETWEEN DARKNESS AND LIGHT

Roy Peachey, Eyrie Press, 2019, £9.99, pb, 288pp, 9781913149024

A tragic accident that costs young Wang his right eye is the opening scene. To the dismay and anger of his father, he chooses a prosthetic eye with a blue iris in contrast to his own brown one. He grows through adolescence as a joker, using his fake eye as a stage prop, but his father decides to give his son a more serious education by making him read the Western classics and hiring tutors for English and French lessons. The father gets left behind

after discovering his son has a real talent for learning, causing more disruption in the family. Finally, Wang decides to study at the university in Beijing. Alas, the academic dream is shattered when he falls foul of one of the high officials in the city. He hears that the British are hiring translators for the First World War in France, and, filled with the idea that he will be able to visit the great cities of Europe, he enlists. His life in the Chinese Labour Corps is at times highly amusing, but often deeply tragic as he travels around France, helping to sort out problems with labour disputes and cultural misunderstandings. This part of the story is like an episode of M*A*S*H or Blackadder, as the lofty English officers try to deal with the unruly Chinese. He becomes involved with a rebel called Guo, and the two form an unlikely friendship that leads Wang into some amusing and dangerous situations. As the war ends, the Chinese are pressed into service clearing the battlefield of bodies, a truly awful task made highly dangerous because of all the live ammunition and mines. The end of this story is deeply moving, but fulfilling, as Wang has to come to terms with his future. Alan Pearson

DEATH IN FOCUS

Anne Perry, Headline, 2019, £20.99, hb, 356pp, 9781472257246 / Ballantine, 2019, $28.00, hb, 320pp, 9780525620983

1933. Tensions are escalating around Europe, and the memories of the Great War are still fresh in the minds of many who are determined not to have another conflict. Opposing viewpoints about what to do to counteract the rise of the Nazi Party are key to the story. Elena Standish is a budding photographer who, together with her sister Margot, who is a war widow, has gone to Amalfi on an assignment. Whilst there, she inadvertently becomes embroiled in a game of spies which ends murderously. Now Elena must use all her skills of subterfuge and evasion to get secret knowledge to the right people. Her dramatic dash to Berlin and her experiences once there are vividly described as she is arrested and struggles to know who to trust. The story is entertaining and varied, with enough excitement to keep the pages turning. One issue I had was that the author likes to use exclamation marks! Lots of them! Sometimes as many as three on a page! I’m not a fan of this! The big twist at the end was not too much of a surprise, as the clues are clearly signposted along the way. The theme of loyalty to family and country is explored in some depth, and the legacy and impact of working as a spy on the family as a whole and on the individual is also shown. Perry is a prolific author who has written well-known series featuring the characters of William Monk and Thomas Pitt. Ann Northfield

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STRANGERS WITH THE SAME DREAM

Alison Pick, Tinder Press, 2019, £9.99, pb, 364pp, 9781472225146 / Knopf Canada, 2017, C$32.95, hb, 384pp, 9780345810458

It is the 1920s, and Jewish immigrants – the strangers with the same dream of the title – are trying to create and run settlements in the land which will eventually become Israel. One slight problem is that the land is already occupied – by the Arabs. The suspicion, tentative reaching out, and ultimate conflict over land ownership are clearly shown. One of the central characters is David, nominal leader of this new group, but whose flaws are many and deep. The idealistic nature of the settlers is demonstrated through their attitude to property – clothes are washed and shared out on a first-come, first-served basis, for example. The opposite instinct is just as clear, however; one keeps back candlesticks, another keeps a red shirt. People are people. The difficulties of their dream are further complicated by kadachat (presumably malaria), infections from wounds, and lack of money, but they are driven by the understandable desire for a homeland, having fled from persecution and pogroms, even twenty years before the advent of the Nazi regime. I had no idea that immigration and the attempt to set up Israel had begun so early, and the novel provided an interesting portrait of a people struggling to find a way of life and a place to be in hard times. Often, however, it was hard to care about the characters, as they were all dislikable for one reason or another, and having a dead person narrate parts of the novel is a difficult literary device. The author’s previous novel Far to Go was on the Man Booker longlist. Ann Northfield

THE SECRETS WE KEPT

Lara Prescott, Knopf, 2019, $26.95, hb, 349pp, 9780525656159 / Hutchinson, 2019, £12.99, hb, 480pp, 9781786331663

This doubleedged thriller about the publication of Boris Pasternak’s Dr Zhivago, set in a world torn apart by the Iron Curtain, is a moving story about forbidden love and betrayal on either side of the concrete divide. When Irina takes a job in the typing pool of a Washington government agency, she does not stay long. Of Russian provenance and fluent in the language, she is soon given the precarious task of distributing books banned in the Soviet 50

Union to Russian readers. Her trainer is Sally, a woman of many faces, to whom she feels deeply attracted. Although Sally might return her feelings, their love is betrayed, and their future hangs in the balance. Is Sally able to exert her revenge on the informer? Her retribution might come at a high price for her and Irina. In the Soviet Union, Olga pays an infinitely more horrific price for her devotion to Boris Pasternak. As he writes Dr Zhivago, she is deported to one of Stalin’s infamous prison camps, where she is fed starvation portions and forced to perform hard labor. Although Olga nearly dies, she forgives Boris upon her return. Moving into a house next to his, she seeks to protect him from the tyranny of the Russian state. But when, in an unguarded moment, Boris hands his manuscript of Dr Zhivago to an Italian publisher, a sequence of events is set into motion, which threatens to destroy them both. Life is short, but art endures. A tribute to a great literary work, the tragic circumstances of its creation, and the reasons behind its rise to fame, The Secrets We Kept is an extremely wellwrought tale. Beautifully written, the contrast between 1960s America and ‘Mother Russia’ is impressively portrayed. Tracking the various viewpoints—including that of the typing pool— might prove a challenge, but the diversity of perspectives adds to the richness of the reading experience. Highly recommended. Elisabeth Lenckos

THE PEACEFUL VALLEY CRIME WAVE

Bill Pronzini, Forge, 2019, $25.99/C$34.99, hb, 252pp, 9780765394415

In 1914, Peaceful Valley, Montana, is a calm, quiet town with little reason for Sheriff Monk to make many arrests. Then in October, a cigar store Indian is stolen from the front of the tobacco shop, teenager Charity Axthelm is discovered missing, and a housekeeper is poisoned and becomes seriously ill – a neighbor next door is suspected by the homeowner. The leaders of the town want these crimes solved immediately. The laid-back sheriff moves slowly forward to try and solve these crimes one at a time, although he soon finds some of the townspeople lose faith in his approach. This is a thoroughly enjoyable story without the usual gun-toting outlaws and gun battles often found in westerns. The pace of the story is slow, but the sheriff meticulously moves forward to solve the crimes. There were never enough clues to solve the crimes myself, until their solution became obvious in the final chapters. I found the storyline interesting while the author added depth and life to each character. This novel is an absorbing blend of western culture and mystery. The author is a crime fiction award winner, and this book is a fine example of his craft.

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

Jeff Westerhoff

THE BRIDGE

Robert Radcliffe, Head of Zeus, 2019, £18.99, hb, 313pp, 9781784973902

This is Part III and the final instalment of Robert Radcliffe’s Airborne trilogy, following the wartime career of paratrooper Theo Trickey. I would have found it easier to grasp what was happening if I had read the other two books. Why does Theo go into action without weapons or badges of rank? What is his connection with the South Tyrol? How does he come to have a personal relationship with Field Marshal Rommel? Who is the mysterious woman he is searching for throughout the story? As it was, I had to leave these questions unanswered and enjoy the parts which needed no prior explanation. I found a lot to enjoy. There are actually three bridges in the story, two physical and one metaphorical. The physical bridges are Pegasus Bridge in Normandy, captured by glider assault on the night before D-Day, and Arnhem Bridge in the Netherlands, captured but not held in the disastrous parachute attack in September 1944. The description of these two legendary battles is excellent, mixing a feel for the action with clear exposition. The metaphorical bridge is Theo himself, sent across the lines to contact Rommel, then commanding the German forces in France, to arrange a ceasefire in Western Europe. We know that he will not succeed, but it is a convincing and exciting tale. If you want an interesting hero with plenty of action grounded firmly in actual events, read the full trilogy, starting with Airborne and Freefall before tackling The Bridge. Edward James

WHO’S SORRY NOW?

Maggie Robinson, Poisoned Pen, 2019, $26.99, hb, 272pp, 9781464211355

Lady Adelaide Compton is beside herself. Her sister collapses after dancing at the swanky Savoy Hotel – mere days after two of London’s “Bright Young People” die under suspicious circumstances in their favorite afterhours hangouts. Addie’s late husband’s ghost, Rupert, helped her and her sister avoid arrest in a Prohibition raid on New Year’s Eve 1924 in New York City, and now here he is whispering to her that it might be poison that made her sister ill. Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Devenand Hunter is challenged to find the killer of the two Bright Young People from among their remaining circle of friends – a deposed Russian prince, a wealthy heir, and an impoverished earl’s daughter, to name a few. Addie offers to work undercover to ferret out the culprit (and endear herself to the attractive lawman) since she mixes unobtrusively with the upper crust. The newest “in” night spot, The Thieves’ Den, is also central to police investigations into a string of robberies, which could mean the gang has progressed to murder. Addie must tread lightly to avoid danger on all sides, and can’t

count on Rupert intervening again to save her life. Robinson reinvents Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None premise with eight likely suspects in a tight circle of suspicion. Murder is serious business, but this novel has fun with classism, word play, and anticipation of ghostly sightings; even Addie’s maid and Hunter’s sergeant have their moments of glory. Lady Adelaide is a hoot, and this series should delight mystery buffs and romantics alike. Tom Vallar

THE PRICE OF PARADISE

Susana López Rubio (trans. Achy Obejas), AmazonCrossing, 2019, $24.95, hb, 384pp, 9781542093620

In search of a better life, Patricio leaves Spain and arrives in Havana in 1947. He finds work at the luxurious department store, El Encanto where a beautiful, rich customer catches his eye. Gloria is off-limits. She is trapped in a marriage to César, a violent and controlling Mafioso leader. Her every move is watched and reported by César’s sister as she shadows Gloria everywhere. Despite this, Patricio and Gloria manage to steal brief, private moments together. But their allconsuming love is destined to bring heartache. 1950s Havana, under Batista’s rule, was a glamorous, dazzling place. The nightlife was alive with music, dance, and color, and Rubio makes that vibrancy live on the page. Cuba attracted the rich and famous of that time, so Patricio crosses paths with Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner as they shop at El Encanto. The enchantment and luxury of El Encanto is tangible to the reader. On the other hand, the Mafioso thrived, and crime and corruption permeated the city. The character of César is so extremely violent and evil that he doesn’t come across as real, but this creates tension as Patricio and Gloria continue the affair under the fear of discovery and their own safety. In 1959 when Castro comes into power, the glitter and allure of Havana vanish as communism takes over – luxuries disappear, and daily necessities are hard to acquire. Patricio and Gloria each tell their love story in alternating narratives from youth to old age. In the beginning, the plot moved with energy and lightness with a touch of humor, but it lost momentum and the flow is broken when the timeline jumps forward and Patricio and Gloria go back to retrace events. Some implausible situations are convenient to the plot, but this is nevertheless an enjoyable read. Janice Ottersberg

THE WOMEN OF THE COPPER COUNTRY

Mary Doria Russell, Atria, 2019, $27.00/ C$36.00, hb, 334pp, 9781982109585

In 1913, the seeds for the copper mine union are sown by the death of a Finnish drill operator. Led by the intrepid Anna Clements (“Big Annie”) and fueled by the fury of the many women left behind, the relatively new

national union movement is given a fresh push by activities in Calumet, Michigan against the most successful and wealthy copper mine in the country. Through perseverance and horrific setbacks culminating in the deaths of dozens of children at the Christmas Italian Hall disaster, the union eventually experiences some success against the immigrant-hating and single-minded direction of the copper mining operators of the Midwest. As a female coppersmith, I was immediately drawn to this title. I found myself deeply empathetic to the conditions of the miners, though the novel relates the particulars of their situation in a vague manner. As a Wisconsinite, I was excited to read about the history of the copper mining industry mere miles from where I live. The novel is loosely informative, and it took me about one-third of the novel to care about the characters, given the lack of dialogue and character development throughout. I also was disappointed to realize that much of the activity, drama, and romance are not based in actual events or letters or historical data, and many pivotal characters are entirely fabricated. I did not understand this novel’s purpose: as a dramatic historical novel with some fictional characters, it falls flat. It is also less than successful as an accurate portrayal of historical events; even the name of the main historical character, Anna Clemenc, has been altered. While full of excellent information and a story long forgotten in American history that needs a voice, I do not know how to categorize this book. For me, as a coppersmith, it was an important read. But, there are not many coppersmiths. Sara Dahmen

CHANGING TIMES

Jack Sheffield, Bantam Press, 2019, £12.99, pb, 348pp, 9781787632097

Trudging through the academic year of 1963-64, we find all the usual characters of Ragley going about their normal lives; the children grow older, the adults are more set in their ways and the elderly more infirm. Lily Feather’s life is becoming increasingly challenging as her brother Freddie approaches the cusp of adulthood and begins to assert his independence. Freddie misses their mother, and living with his elder sister and her policeman husband, Tom, though comfortable, is beginning to show some relationship strain. In the throes of his first serious relationship, Freddie and Rose are welcoming the opportunities of the swinging ´60s with their friends. But there is a secret within the household, and its discovery sets a precedence for further subterfuge. By the summer of 1964, their lives will all have moved forward along different pathways. There is great comfort in the everyday characters of this part of Yorkshire and the nuances of a rural village community. With good engagement in the storyline, Sheffield gives an accomplished tale, but the inaccuracies surrounding some of the factual

aspects (dawn breaks at around 4am in the height of summer, and Lily would be very unlikely to be driving to school at that hour), distract from the reader’s enjoyment. Cathy Kemp

OUTSIDE THE GATES OF EDEN

Lewis Shiner, Head of Zeus, 2019, £19.99, hb, 1008pp, 9781789541137 / Subterranean, 2019, $45.00, 880pp, hb, 9781596069008

This is a long book, over 900 pages, but if like me you grew up listening to West Coast rock bands like The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane – in fact any American band of the ´60s and ´70s – then this book will prove an absolute joy. Even if you’re not a music fan it is still a worthwhile read. Outside the Gates of Eden is, in essence, a book about friendship and love. Romantic love, but also a love of music, the kind of obsession that grows from a creative mind. Cole and Alex are two teenagers at the start of the story, and by the end they are men of middle age who have found their way in a world that has changed radically, both for good and bad, since their teens. The book features fictional characters and also a plethora of real individuals such a Bill Graham, Grace Slick and Jerry Garcia, icons of the 1960s music scene. But it is the fictional creations of Cole and Alex that make this such a great read. Both are finely drawn, and you will believe they actually drew breath, as well as played instruments, loved, married and divorced, all while they fought to be good people in a changing world. Shiner has created a book that sits comfortably in the middle ground between fact and fiction and melds them seamlessly together. David Penny

FLOATING IN THE NEVERSINK

Andrea Simon, Black Rose Writing, 2019, $17.95, pb, 157pp, 9781684333493

Eighteen short stories form this comingof-age novel focused on Jewish life in the 1950s. The scene shifts between the everyday of school and work in the garment trades centered in Brooklyn, and the extended family’s otherworldly, somehow more vivid vacation time in the “Hebrew Himalayas,” the bungalow colonies of the Catskills where the Neversink River flows past Fallsburg. I did wonder why the name of the vacation village had to be changed where almost everything else retained recognizable and familiar nomenclature. Each story could stand alone, but together they make a readable whole, with all the usual tropes: the Red Apple Rest of the famous pineapple pie, Betty Crocker cake mixes, and shande. Amanda learns to negotiate family cruelty, mean girls, groping male relatives, suicides, business failures, first loves, non-Jews in the neighborhood, the threat of polio and

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unrealistic television expectations. At the same time, she learns from her grandmother’s card games and the beauties of nature. Female-female friendships are portrayed in a way I found more true-to-life than those we see through the usual Disney filter. “The guilt,” we are told on page 125, “was like quicksand.” There’s not much by way of moral and developmental arc, more slice-of-life, which may limit the impact for some readers. Ann Chamberlin

THE GOOD COP

Peter Steiner, Severn House, $28.99/£20.99, 2019, hb, 185pp, 9781780296159

Set largely in Germany in the years between 1918 and 1945, The Good Cop is a tale about three individuals: Willi Geismeier, a detective who plays by the old rules of seeking the truth and convicting the guilty; Sophie Auerbach, a new reporter for a Munich newspaper that isn’t afraid to call Hitler a maniac; and Maximilian Wolf, a sketch artist who draws people and scenes to enhance the stories appearing in the same paper. Sophie and Max often work together and slowly fall in love. When they are attacked in a park, Willi tries to sort out the responsible parties and, when their paper is bombed, nurses suspicions it’s by the same group that perpetrated the attack. Several higher-ups in the force are enamored of Hitler and make sure no bad press comes to the Nazis from their offices. Willi is ordered off the cases but refuses to give up his passion for the truth and bringing the responsible parties to justice. Steiner writes with crisp prose, using just a few crucial sentences to set a scene and unfurl the action. Readers can follow the trajectory of political intrigue across 27 years through his focus on a few crucial events. He does an excellent job of developing our empathy for each of the principal characters and others who support them along the way. Although we know the history, it is impossible not to feel the suspense as the characters work their way through the evil stacked against them. Lorelei Brush

THE WARTIME MIDWIVES

Daisy Styles, Penguin, 2019, £6.99, pb, 385pp, 9781406936194

‘We came in shame to a home for women and babies, to give birth hidden away from society’. 1939, and single girls giving birth was still something to be avoided. Society, and even their own parents, simply didn’t want to know, and the girls were often turned out of their homes to fend for themselves. And so it was that a group of such girls found themselves at Mary Vale, a mother and baby home in Lancashire attached to a nearby convent. Fifteen-yearold Shirley, Emily, a waitress in a Lyons Corner House in Manchester, Nancy, Maggie, Isla, Emily and Daphne were all residents at Mary Vale and about to give birth. Only Gloria was different; she was married with a five-year-old 52

son, but her husband had volunteered for the Army at the outbreak of WWII and she and Robin, her son, had evacuated out of London to the north of England and found themselves at Mary Vale. The novel goes on to tell of their lives there and the various problems they found. This is a very sympathetic story. The characters, all of different ages and from different backgrounds, are well drawn, and the contrast between the nursing sisters and the matron and her staff is well defined. At the very beginning of World War Two, the Phoney War as it came to be called, life is uncertain, and this is well portrayed too. There are many books written these days set in one of the two global wars and a large proportion of them concern nursing in one way or another, but this one touches on a subject that is not often talked about, and I felt that the author managed it very well. I enjoyed it and hope that our readers will as well. Marilyn Sherlock

THE LOST ARE THE LAST TO DIE

Larry D. Sweazy, Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 332pp, 9781432857233

After another brutal summer in 1934, retired Texas Ranger, Sonny Burton, wants only to fade away. He lost his right arm from a gun wound that turned to gangrene and hasn’t much to live for except the company of a lame dog and sometime visits from his lawman son. But the Rangers pull him back to life. They need his help to catch Billy Brunson, just escaped from jail with the warden’s pregnant wife as hostage. Sonny and Billy have had runins from when Billy was a boy stealing a chicken from the local butcher. After decades of hard surviving on the run, handsome, charming, and clever Billy is without conscience. The local Rangers figure rightly that only Sonny has a chance to outwit Billy before he murders the warden’s wife or collects a ransom and vanishes. Sweazy knows the terrain, how people lived and talked, what they ate and how they fought in that time and place. He seamlessly weaves the earlier lives of Sonny and outlaw Billy into the present, so we come to know and respect both. They are opposite sides of one coin— keen observers of everything around them and always one step ahead of everyone else. The main storyline is enhanced by a touching and unforced romance, and the interactions between Sonny and his own boy, grown into a family man. From the opening lines about the dry “Texas Panhandle dirt, hard as stone and thirsty as an injured buzzard” to the final confrontation between Billy and Sonny, this vibrant tale will engage any reader of Westerns.

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

G. J. Berger

SECRETS OF THE HOMEFRONT GIRLS

Kate Thompson, Hodder & Stoughton, 2019, £6.99, pb, 419pp, 9781473698116

Secrets of the Homefront Girls is a vivid, sprawling family saga set in the East End of London during the Blitz, a setting often visited by British authors. The East End has become part of the mythology of WWII, representing resilience in the face of adversity, which the British hope they still have, and intense neighbourhood solidarity, which the British fear they have lost. Kate Thompson honours the legend without being starry-eyed about life in the East End in the 1940s. The central characters are a group of women employees at the Yardley cosmetics factory, which astonishingly continued to mass-produce lipstick throughout the bombardment. One of the women, Lily, has been away from the East End for six years, so she can see it with fresh eyes in all its ghastliness: domestic violence, back-street abortions, pollution, squalour and crime. One of the themes of the book is how she re-learns to love the place and its people none the less. Readers may feel that there is an incredible amount of drama in the domestic life of a few working-class families, but nobody could over-dramatise the great fire-bomb raids of September 1940. I watched the Great Raid myself from the safety of the opposite bank of the river, and the night sky really did turn blood red. This book is intended as the first of a series following the surviving characters throughout the war, so watch out for more fire and fury. Edward James

THE MAN THAT GOT AWAY

Lynne Truss, Bloomsbury, 2019, $17.00, pb, 304pp, 9781635574234 / Raven Books, 2019, £8.99, pb, 336pp, 9781408890486

It is summertime in 1957 Brighton, and England’s conmen, along with their ‘skirts,’ flock to the seashore in order to defraud unsuspecting tourists and residents, relieving them of their hard-earned cash. How can a valiant officer such as Constable Peregrine Twitten resolve the mayhem when the town’s most powerful crime boss, Palmeira Groynes, posing as a charwoman, has infiltrated the police station and operates her syndicate from inside the place? It seems as if things cannot get any worse until young Peter Dumont, town council clerk and admirer of Deirdre Benson, descendent of the Benson mob, is brutally knifed to death. Could the young lover’s murder have anything to do with the rumor that Joseph ‘Wall-Eye’ Marriott, a notorious trickster, operates in Brighton these days? And what is the latter’s connection, if any, with the Marquess of Colchester, who attempts to raise money by selling golden bricks to members of a bemused public? When his close friend turns out to be Mrs. Groynes’ long-lost lover, she and Twitten form an unexpected partnership to solve

Dumont’s murder, foiling another dastardly scheme. Having been enemies since the first Constable Twitten mystery, A Shot in the Dark (2018), will Twitten and Groynes be able to preserve their truce? Readers will hope to discover the answer to this question in the next installment, which is bound to achieve the same, wonderful mix of crime story, humorous escapade, and seaside pandemonium tale Lynne Truss created here. A highly entertaining read. Elisabeth Lenckos

SORRY FOR THE DEAD

Nicola Upson, Crooked Lane, 2019, $26.99/ C$35.99, hb, 320pp, 9781683319849

1938: Josephine Tey reads a distressing and somewhat salacious newspaper article just as her new play is about to open. The article refers to events some twenty-three years earlier, when Josephine spent a summer as a student teacher at a girls’ school in Sussex. A schoolgirl died, and Josephine witnessed the grisly death, later ruled an accident. The article brings back disturbing memories and whiffs of old scandal. At the urging of her lover, Marta, Josephine decides to revisit the scene of the death. This mystery unfolds from 1915 to 1948, with portions of the novel taking place in 1915, 1938, and 1948. Death stands sentinel at both the beginning and the end. The passing years bring new revelations to light, like a complex puzzle box, which opens fully to yield more tragedy. This is the first of Upson’s Josephine Tey mysteries I have read. The skilled writing evokes a deep sense of place; the complex character development intrigues. This novel alludes a bit to Tey’s book The Franchise Affair, and I felt my experience might have been a tad enriched if I had been more familiar with that mystery, or had read the other books in this series, but no matter—this novel stands well enough on its own. The somewhat unsettling ending ties the book together, although to me it lacked that satisfying feeling of justice done. Themes of sacrifice and loss pervade this mystery, just as the Great War and its aftermath lingered on in the psyches of those who survived it. Recommended. Susan McDuffie

THE DEARLY BELOVED

Cara Wall, Simon & Schuster, 2019, $26.99/ C$35.99, hb, 352pp, 9781982104528

I’m rarely at a loss for words when writing reviews, but this time I’m certain that nothing I write can possibly do this gorgeous novel justice. The lives of two couples converge in 1960s Greenwich Village when the men are hired to be joint pastors of Third Presbyterian Church. Amid the turbulent political events of the era, they struggle with personal and spiritual crises. Charles, a soft-spoken academic, is a late convert to Christianity, and his wife Lily

(my favorite character) is an unapologetic atheist. Fierce, restless James, born in relative poverty to an alcoholic father, decides to become a minister not for spiritual reasons, but to address social ills. His wife, Nan, is a pastor’s daughter with an uncomplicated faith until personal difficulties force her to question her beliefs. This is a brilliant literary novel. Wall goes deep into the heart of human nature, expressing universal truths in prose that shimmers like the surface of a windless lake. There is much to love even if questions of faith don’t interest you. Wall writes about relationships with spouses, friends, and communities with such wisdom and insight that nearly every paragraph has a quotable sentence. I’ll settle for just one example: “Charles was, indeed, late for his third period every day. That was how every one of his classmates in Intermediate Greek knew he had found the woman he wanted to marry.” These characters were so real that I felt a deep sense of loss when I turned the last page. Through Charles, Lily, James, and Nan, The Dearly Beloved turns a clear, non-judgmental eye on questions of faith, refusing to offer easy answers. Highly recommended! Clarissa Harwood

THE DISAPPEARANCE

Katherine Webb, Orion, 2019, £8.99, pb, 378pp, 9781409148609

This is an absorbing but easy-to-follow story about the disappearance of a young boy in World War Two in Bath in April 1942. The incident awakens in the mind of the protagonist, Frances, a similar event from twenty years previously when her best friend, Bronwyn, also disappeared. The girls were both ten then, and Frances tries to remember the sequence of events which she has suppressed since that time. The devastation caused by the German bombs in 1942 has resulted in death and destruction for the inhabitants of Bath, and the demolition of the ruined buildings has revealed a longhidden secret. The townscape of Bath is well described, as are the panic and disruption caused by the war, and the characters are well delineated. The story has dual time settings and, as Frances’s physical surroundings shift, so her mind recalls the long-suppressed events of 1922 and she arrives at the solution. Julie Parker

MOON WATER

Pam Webber, She Writes Press, 2019, $16.95, pb, 272pp, 9781631526756

This is a lovely coming-of-age story set in central Virginia during the summer of 1969. Nettie, age 16, and Win are best friends. They spend a lot of time with Win’s grandmother, Nibi, who is a Monacan Indian shaman. She sets the girls the task of creating dreamcatchers. They help kill the deer whose tendons are needed, collect owl and eagle feathers, and mine amethyst. Nibi sees omens, such as a black owl, that she believes predict a natural disaster. In the meantime, Nettie must sort out her feelings for boyfriend Andy: he declares love, but she isn’t ready to reciprocate, so they break up. Yet Nettie feels jealous when Andy is seen dating Anne, a girl Nettie has never gotten along with. Her pastor thinks Nettie’s too immature to accept baptism with the rest of her class, so he assigns her to take extra summer counseling sessions with his assistant. Matters come to a head when the assistant pastor steps over the line in his relationship with Nettie, just before the disaster Nibi foresaw strikes: the remnants of Hurricane Camille loose massive amounts of rain, resulting in catastrophic mudslides and flooding in the mountainous region. While Nettie and Win are trying to help friends to higher ground, Nettie is caught in a mudslide. Multiple well-rounded characters populate this novel. Nettie is the obvious protagonist, but she isn’t all good. She must confront her flaws and apologize for past behavior, made difficult when that person won’t accept her apology. And Nettie grows further in confronting the assistant pastor about his attempted assault and resolving her relationship with Andy. The girls’ adventures with Nibi creating the dreamcatchers are memorable, as is Nibi’s subtle training of Win to become the next shaman. Highly recommended to both YA readers and adults, plus inspirational fiction fans. B. J. Sedlock

THE NUMBER OF LOVE

Roseanna M. White, Bethany House, 2019, $15.99, pb, 364pp, 9780764231810

In the shadowy world of Room 40, England’s brightest minds work tirelessly to crack German intelligence that could give a strategic edge during the Great War. One of these codebreakers is the brilliant and beautiful Margot De Wilde, a Belgian refugee who sees the world in formulas and numbers. Love doesn’t factor into the equation when

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injured soldier, Drake Elton, appears in her life. But when the home-front becomes a war zone, Margot and Drake must work together to decipher enemy secrets to protect what they hold dearest. In this first in a new series by Roseanna M. White, her loyal readers will recognize cameos by old friends. Experience the mystery, romance, and danger of WWI with a dash of levity, in an inspirational novel about discernment and courage. White also includes discussion questions for book clubs and families. Fans of The Bletchley Circle and The Imitation Game will appreciate this novel look at the lives of the previous generation of codebreakers and analysts who aided the war effort. Lauren Miller

PARIS, 7 A.M.

Liza Wieland, Simon & Schuster, 2019, $26.99, hb, 352pp, 9781501197215

Fiction steps in where a diary feared to tread. 1937, a year famously absent from the journals of Elizabeth Bishop—celebrated American poet and lesbian icon—is reimagined in this novel, whose poetic beauty and lyricism do its subject proud. The narrative begins with Elizabeth as a student at Vassar and culminates in Paris, where she travels with her friend Louise in order to celebrate her graduation and the publication of her first volume of verse. All is well until Margaret, Elizabeth’s object of desire, joins her in the city of light, and a violent accident drives a wedge between the young women, upsetting the fragile balance of their relationship. In the meantime, the Nazi government is persecuting Jews, homosexuals, and other minorities in nearby Germany, whose victims increasingly seek refuge in France. Elizabeth is drawn both to Sigrid, an enigmatic bohemian, as well as to Clara, a glamorous cosmopolitan, who involves her in an underground operation, smuggling Jewish ‘orphans’ out of the fatherland. Having lost her daughter, Clara mothers Elizabeth. Elizabeth, in turn, is fascinated by Clara, since she has never recovered from her mother’s mental illness and continues to be haunted by her memory. This novel resembles a puzzle-box of startlingly beautiful as well as terrifying poetic images and extended allegories, whose meanings are subtly hinted at, rather than spelled out. Thus, Greta Angel and her little white pony will remain in the reader’s memory, both for the moving depiction of human violence and the animal’s doting innocence contained in the episode. As everywhere in the novel, the twin themes of maternal devotion and cruelty loom large. A novel written against the backdrop of the looming conflict, Paris, 7 A.M. is a contemplation on female creativity and its origins in the complex bond between mothers and their daughters. Elisabeth Lenckos

MULTI-PERIOD 54

THE WISDOM OF BONES

Kitty Aldridge, Corsair, 2019, £14.99, hb, 256pp, 9781472154392

London, 1879. Percival Unusual George is a showman. He leads a troupe of nine performing Remarkables. He is driven by a dream of fame and fortune, but in reality, his troupe are at best second rate, and times are difficult. He finds himself involved with members of the scientific community who are looking to exploit members of his group for their own ends. George has a skeleton of a dwarf and a diary supposedly written by him of his life at the court of the exiled Polish king Stanislav between 1746 and 1764. It is a story of casual, unthinking mental and physical cruelty as the dwarf recounts his story leading up to his tragic death. George is looking for ways to use the skeleton and story in his quest for celebrity. He gets his wish – but not in a way he anticipated. The characters are strong, and the two stories join together and flow seamlessly. I initially found the Victorian slang off-putting, but as the story progresses, the language becomes a natural extension of the story. This is a story of theatrical folk written by an actress, and carries the ring of authenticity, bringing alive not only the life and times of the group, but also Victorian London. Looking for something different? This is for you. Enjoy! Mike Ashworth

THE WOMAN IN THE GREEN DRESS

Tea Cooper, Harlequin Australia, A$29.99, pb, 330pp, 9781489270719

2018,

Australian historical fiction writer, Tea Cooper, has produced another engaging, dual-period novel in the style of The Naturalist’s Daughter. The Woman in the Green Dress is set jointly in 1919 at the end of the war and in 1853 colonial New South Wales. It tells the story of three protagonists. In 1853 Captain Stefan von Richter travels to Sydney in search of a missing opal. At the same time, in rural New South Wales, Della Atterton is an orphaned young woman continuing her late father’s trade as a taxidermist of Australian native animals. In 1919 London, Fleur Richards is a young Australian soldier’s widow, in denial about her husband’s death. She is forced to travel to Australia to seek answers but is confronted with more questions than she ever imagined. Cooper’s mastery is to produce these seemingly unconnected characters with their own personal challenges and quests, gradually revealing a series of geographical and familial connections that culminate in the solving of a sixty-six-year-old mystery. Cooper weaves historical fact and creative fiction through the two periods with success. Her primary and additional characters are interesting and well developed. The plot of The Woman in the Green Dress contains Cooper’s signature mix of colonial and indigenous social history, scientific discovery, mystery and

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

a hint of romance. The color green appears throughout the novel as a fascinating visual symbol, adding an extra layer of intrigue. Christine Childs

CONFESSION WITH BLUE HORSES

Sophie Hardach, Head of Zeus, 2019, £18.99, hb, 339pp, 9781788548762

The unusual title refers to a painting which hung in the narrator’s childhood home. The book might better have been called Gone with the Wind, except that Margaret Mitchell has already taken the title. It has much in common with Mitchell’s book, in content if not in style. They both concern a social order which vanished in the narrator’s lifetime, a regime which once seemed so powerful and permanent and which did not shift or evolve but simply blew away. The narrator is a woman who grows up in East Germany and moves to England after the fall of the Berlin Wall. She returns 20 years later to search for her younger brother, who was taken from the family after a failed attempt to escape to the West. The story is told in two time streams, Then and Now. This is a common device, but few novelists interweave them so deftly. The Then stream wraps us in the fog of suspicion which blanketed East Germany, as everybody spied on everybody else to prove their loyalty to a paranoid state. The Now stream steeps us in the sense of alienation one gets on returning to a place one once knew so well and is now so changed, as if one were a living ghost. It also includes a visit to the astonishing project undertaken by the German archives service to paste together the huge mass of shredded files left behind by the Stasi, the East German secret police. Don’t let the title deter you from a wonderful book which explores dilemmas most of us have fortunately never had to face. Edward James

LIGHT IN THE SHADOWS

Linda Lafferty and Andy Stone, Lake Union, 2019, $24.95, hb, 473pp, 9781542044080

When an Italian priest finds a painting that he believes to be a lost painting by the infamous 16th/17th century painter, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, retired professor A.R. Richman travels to the village of Monte Piccolo to investigate at the encouragement of an art student, Lucia. She joins Richman along with her best friend, Moto, eager to see if The Judas Kiss is in fact a Caravaggio, not aware that their inquiries will unearth a rivalry that has

been hidden for four centuries and put their lives at risk. The story travels between the 21st century investigation and the 17th century as the authors imagine the Italy of Caravaggio’s days, the feuds he caused, and the men and women he would have interacted with. The chapters surrounding the investigation of the painting by Richman, Lucia, and Moto fall into a realm of mystery à la Dan Brown, complete with unmemorable characters and awkward pacing. The story surrounding Caravaggio, however, and his art, his interactions, and his final days is the most interesting, rich in detail and imagination, and clearly well-researched. The combination of alternating chapters makes this an uneven read at times, but the story is accessible and readable, making the nearly 500 pages pass quickly and comfortably. Readers interested in fictional accounts of blood feuds, lost art, and modern-day investigations of centuriesold mysteries may find this an enjoyable read. Elicia Parkinson

CROSSINGS

Alex Landragin, Picador Australia, 2019, A$32.99, pb, 356pp, 9781760557256

Spanning one hundred and fifty years (from the Pacific in the 18th century to Paris in World War Two), seven lifetimes, and read in two different directions, Landragin’s Crossings is a very clever, genre blend of literary, historical and speculative fiction. What does “read in two different directions” mean? The reader is given the choice of reading Crossings the conventional way (start at page one and keep going until the end, at page 356) or opt to follow an unusual pathway of starting at page 150 and finishing at page 155, after nineteen dif ferent crossings back and forth, for an entirely different interpretation. I did both, starting with the unconventional way first. The novel, however it is read, follows a number of complicated, interconnected lives across time and place in a bizarre tale of love, adventure and mystery. The story lines, characters and settings are beautifully written. This ambitious epic is, surprisingly, Landragin’s first novel. Born in France, but raised in Australia, Landragin started his writing career as a travel writer before more recent experimentation with short fiction. Crossings had me enthralled from the very first sentences of the preface, “I didn’t write this book. I stole it.” It should appeal to lovers of literary fiction, history, romance and the

supernatural. I would definitely recommend it for book club discussions, particularly if half the group reads it the conventional way and the other half braves the unconventional approach! Christine Childs

THE PARIS ORPHAN

Natasha Lester, Forever, 2019, C$22.49, pb, 480pp, 9781538764893

$16.99/

This powerful novel tells the story of female war correspondents in Europe during World War II. Its dual timelines, the WWII years and the early years of the 21st century, permit an all-encompassing resolution many years after most of the action. The reader is introduced to Jessica May, a model for Vogue magazine in New York. The story moves from there to her covering bitter fighting in Italy. This abrupt transition occurs because the author closely follows the reallife experiences of war correspondent Lee Miller. From the outset, before she sets foot in Europe, Jessica’s access to places and people is severely limited by her gender. Official restrictions are exacerbated by lesser military officials, who use them to manipulate women correspondents. The novel presents an engrossing picture of the human side of war – injured young soldiers, women raped by men of both sides, orphans too many to keep track of. Softening this is the romance of Jessica and Dan Hallworth, a US military officer. Their rare meetings, their love for the orphan, Victorine, and their mutual support and encouragement illuminate the possibility of a more caring future. The second romance is that of art handler D’Arcy Hallworth and Josh Vaughn, who meet in France as D’Arcy packs Jessica May’s now historic photographs for a 21stcentury exhibition in Australia. Just as the time alternates between the 1940s and the early 21st century, so the settings switch between the agonies of warfare and the serene château, Lieu de Rêves, providing background to the stories of both Jessica and D’Arcy. It is too easy to forget the role of women in warfare not so very long ago. This is a powerfully written reminder of events and attitudes that many of us now find difficult to understand. Valerie Adolph

THE PROPHETIC MAYAN QUEEN

Leonide Martin, Made For Wonder Publishing, 2019, $17.99, pb, 398pp, 9781641463652

In this fourth and last installment in The Mists of Palenque series, Martin recounts the height of glory and eventual decline of the Mayan city of Lakam Ha through the eyes of one of its royal consorts, K’inuuw Mat. When she learns she is to be married into the ruling family, K’inuuw Mat searches her scrying bowl for the face of the man with whom she will perpetuate a dynasty—and is surprised, upon arriving in Lakam Ha to marry the third

son, Tiwol, to find the face in her vision that of the eldest brother and heir, Kan Bahlam. K’inuuw Mat fights her strong attraction to Kan Bahlam to remain a dutiful wife, but the gods—and Lakam Ha’s ruler, Pakal—have other plans for her. K’inuuw Mat’s children will carry forward the legacy of Lakam Ha, and her contributions help Mayan civilization reach its apogee of development. Then, in a lengthy epilogue, modern-day Mayan scholar Francesca makes a surprising discovery about her own heritage that helps preserve and broaden knowledge of the triumphs of Mayan culture. Martin, an academic and Mayan initiate, eagerly shares her encyclopedic knowledge about Mayan life, lading every sentence with information about history, mythology, food, and dress. The esoteric forays into architecture, calendars, and astronumerology may slow down those readers more interested in plot. But the intricate detail draws back the veil that time and conquest have cast over Mayan civilization, and Martin’s loving descriptions make the lost splendor palpable. Dramatic suspense is not an issue, since K’inuuw Mat’s prophetic vision reveals everything to come, but Martin’s vivid imagining of this woman’s little-known life offers deep and textured insights into the achievements of a culture once thought lost. Reading The Prophetic Mayan Queen is an education as well as a pleasure. Misty Urban

HOW FIRES END

Marco Rafalà, Little A, 2019, $14.95, pb, 400pp, 9781542042994

David Vassallo is a teenager growing up in Little Melilli in Middletown, Connecticut. He is the object of a familial promise of revenge and a curse, suffering at the hands of his nemesis, Tony. Words, apologies, and promises mean nothing. The reader expects some kind of victory on one side, but the outcome is tragic and belies any justice. This story has three narrative voices, one by David, another by his strict father, Salvatore, and another by Vincenzo, who tries to be a buffer between the past and the present. The family comes from the Sicilian town of Melilli, the place where residents profoundly worship St. Sebastian, where the family’s long curse began. In 1943, Salvatore’s twin brothers are killed while playing with an unexploded grenade. Salvatore loses his faith in God and the power of Saint Sebastian; in his boundless grief he blows up the statue of Saint Sebastian, and more violence ensues, along with the beginning of a curse on the Vassallo clan. An Italian soldier guides the family to immigrate to Connecticut. In the present, with the loss of David, Salvatore tells the story of this Italian disaster. Vincenzo completes the tale about how loss can twist a person’s life and only grows malevolent with time. The children of two families hate and fight with more ferocity than the soldiers of the war. Rafalà has created a world of secret sins

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becoming known, what it takes to forgive, and what happens when the curse extends beyond the grave to everyday life. This tale ends with a redemptive hope that also exudes sadness. Remarkable multigenerational historical fiction. Viviane Crystal

THE REVISIONERS

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, Counterpoint, 2019, $25.00/C$37.50, hb, 288pp, 9781640092587

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton has crafted an unforgettable story of strong women through multiple generations of one African American family in Louisiana. The chapters switch from narrator to narrator starting with a single mom, Ava Jackson, who is desperate to get her son, King, out of the ´hood and into a better environment. She moves in with her wealthy white g r a n d m o t h e r, Martha, to a stately New Orleans mansion. But Martha’s mind keeps reverting to the past, giving hints to stories of unspeakable violence. Ava’s mother, Gladys, fears that Ava has made an unwise choice moving in with Martha, and since Gladys has inherited ‘the sight’ from her great-grandmother Josephine, Gladys keeps getting visions that also hint at the violence of long ago. The final narrator is Josephine, who is living as a slave on the Wildwood Plantation, west of New Orleans, in the year 1855. Her parents belong to a group who call themselves revisioners, and whose gift of sight encourages the band to escape the bonds of slavery. By the end of the novel, all of the memories of the generations are brought together in a stunning revelation and conclusion. This novel has unforgettable characters and settings coupled with a tightly woven plot. I could not put it down and read it over again. A great read. Linda Harris Sittig

A UNIVERSE OF SUFFICIENT SIZE

Miriam Sved, Picador Australia, 2019, $32.99, pb, 314pp, 9781743535127

It is Brooklyn, 1950, and the appearance of a mysterious parcel containing mathematical workings arrives in the afternoon mail. Its contents, however, are from a period where the bulk of the narrative is set, in Budapest of 1938, where five prodigiously talented adolescent mathematicians, Eszter, Ildiko, Tibor, Levi, and Pali, meet below the Statue of Anonymous. They are united by an unbreakable bond of friendship, their growing concern for the increasingly dire political climate, and dreams 56

of escape after being expelled from university under antisemitic laws. Meanwhile, in Sydney in 2007, Illy has just laid her estranged and bitter father to rest, only to be gifted a notebook from her grandmother which contains a web of enthralling secrets connecting the two narratives. The novel draws on the story of Sved’s grandmother, mathematician Marta Sved (née Wachsberger) and is inspired by the eccentric mathematical genius, Paul Erdos. This is Sved’s second novel, albeit her first ‘historical novel’, making the way she deftly and poetically weaves three generations across two historical periods even more impressive. The intertwining of the plots amounts to a psychologically taut and politically complex narrative that meditates on the nature of friendship, family and survival amidst the austere backdrop, which Sved renders with vivid acuity. It is not a novel you can read whilst juggling other books; however, if you give it your undivided attention, it is an all-consuming page turner with Sved’s knack for unexpected plot twists imbuing the story with a delightful degree of intensity. Georgia Rose Phillips

ALL TOO HUMAN

Karen Wills, Five Star, 2019, $25.95, hb, 322pp, 9781432855086

In 1905, lawyer Rebecca Bryan visits the grieving Cale family in their isolated mansion in the mountains of Montana. The recently deceased family matriarch, Lucinda, left a considerable fortune, and Rebecca must locate her hidden will in order to help close this estate. The Cales, consisting of the artist, Bretton, and his elder brother, Damon, and his family, provide more intrigue as Rebecca attempts to find the will or locate who may have destroyed it. Multiple family secrets unravel when Rebecca discovers Lucinda’s hidden diaries, describing her marriage and early life in the Montana Territory after the Civil War. Rebecca and the Cales must make sense of these shocking revelations and what it means as they craft their own futures. This novel explores the lives of strong women in unique places: in 1866, when Lucinda makes an arduous trek from the East Coast to her new husband’s estate in Montana Territory, and in 1905, when Rebecca’s own professional aspirations in a field and society are not yet welcoming to female attorneys. Much of the story is told through Lucinda’s diary passages, where we see and hear of her challenges in an abusive marriage in a geographically isolated and beautiful part of the country. The diary format provides a better window into Lucinda’s thoughts and desires than Rebecca’s, but insight into both characters is impeded by other plot elements that, while intriguing, distract from the narratives of the two main women. A secondary mystery involving a young Cale child and a separate romantic element do not have the space to grow, leaving the reader with questions. Despite these complications, the beautiful depictions of rural Montana shine and do help set a romantic and intriguing

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

atmosphere that will entertain fans of this time period and location. Ellen Jaquette

TIMESLIP

SECRETS OF THE CHOCOLATE HOUSE

Paula Brackston, St. Martin’s, 2019, $27.99, hb, 320pp, 9781250072443

This is the second novel in a planned series. Readers should be sure to pick up a copy of The Little Shop of Found Things prior to reading this, as the story picks up directly after the conclusion of the first book. Xanthe, a time spinner, is now safely back from 17th-century England. In the present, though, when a copper chocolate pot begins to “sing” to her, Xanthe realizes that her time-traveling adventures are not complete. She must go back in time to help Samuel, the man she loves, from an evil man, who turns out to be a time traveler as well. Spinning is a bit more complicated this time, as she becomes entangled in a number of people’s lives, including mysterious Mistress Flyte, who knows about time spinners and a special book that could help Xanthe solve her problems. Jumping back and forth between past and present, Xanthe struggles to keep her timetraveling adventures secret from everyone. This makes it difficult, especially as she hates lying to her mother, and she’s also starting to have feelings for someone in the present, all the while attempting to save Samuel. Once again, Brackston has created a delightful time-traveling tale. While the story is more about Xanthe and her secrets, there is still a fair amount of historical detail and insight surrounding 17th-century English life. Detail abounds in both scenery, fashion, and the smells of the chocolate house. Xanthe is a strong protagonist with a likable character. Because the novel ends with a cliffhanger, one anxiously awaits the next installment, especially to see how her new romance progresses. Rebecca Cochran

FLOOD TIDE

Alexander Geiger, Ptolemaios Publishing, 2019, $14.95, pb, 364pp, 9780989258449

Ptolemaios bitterly regrets that a brief study of ancient Greece turned into a time trap. He’s been in the past for a decade and has spent most of that time finding a place among Alexander’s elite and trying to keep the Prime Directive: “Don’t Mess With The Past.” Now his only way home is a faraway time portal that will open in Egypt years from now. But the change in history means he now faces a deadly enemy as well as a future that no longer has any signposts for him. For all he knows, Alexander’s whole army will be wiped out in the next battle with the Persians. Since the premise of the novel is that Ptolemaios has gone back from the future to the far past (330s BCE), I admit I was expecting

another time-travel-back-to-romanceAlexander-the-Great novel – and I’m very pleased to have been wrong. The novel has an unusual setup, and the change in Alexander’s history makes it extremely intriguing. Like Ptolemaios, the reader has no notion what will happen next, managing the amazing feat of creating suspense in the familiar history of Alexander the Great. Flood Tide is a corking good read, and I’m looking forward to finding out what happens to Ptolemaios (although his name is of course a huge clue). Although this is the second book in the Ptolemaios saga, it’s not necessary to have read book one to follow this story easily, and I compliment the author on his skill. India Edghill

TIME TOURIST OUTFITTERS, LTD.

Christy Nicholas, Christy Nicholas, 2019, $17.99, pb, 370pp, 9780979819735

Set in near-future Toronto, Time Tourist Outfitters, Ltd. tells the story of former Temporal Agent Wilda, who runs the titular shop. There, she delights in the details of period and location-appropriate fabrics and dyes to create clothing for Time Tourists. But when a customer collapses at the front desk, Wilda knows she is about to be drawn back into the Agency. A plague amongst travelers has erupted, affecting anyone who has time-traveled in the last ten years. Wilda hung up her badge long before, after the unfortunate deaths of her husband and son while on a mission. She and her assistant, Mattea, are tasked with going back in time, retracing the victims’ steps, to solve the mystery of this new plague. Wilda and Mattea visit three places in search of the disease vector: 14th-century Mali, pre-Columbian Nova Scotia, and 12th-century Orkney. I loved being in the royal court of Mansa Musa in Mali, as it is not a place written about frequently. The prose is light and this is a fast, easy read. The story is simple and maintains its course. I enjoyed the practical discussions on appearance, as Wilda is First Nations, and Mattea is of European descent. However, the sarcastic banter of Wilda grew tiresome to this reader. The dialogue isn’t terribly clever nor original, and it was often extraneous—neither deepening the character nor the plot. While the story satisfactorily concluded, it is clearly left open to be the first in a series. If time travel or near-future isn’t something you normally would read, I wouldn’t bother; however, if this conceit is of interest, this book is a decent version. Katie Stine

THE ARTIFACTS

Eric T. Reynolds, Hadley Rille, 2019, $26.00, hb, 280pp, 9780997118896

Kayla Ramsey buys property in the Flint Hills town of Sycamore Falls, Kansas: an 1890 Victorian house and an 1870 farmhouse behind it. In the farmhouse’s library, she finds

shelves of frayed books: Next Door Neighbors by Josephine Lawrence, The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster. Each has dog-eared pages with sentences underlined: “not one to make a stranger feel at home”; “attempt to connect a by-gone time with the very present”; “the only girl in college who wasn’t brought up on Little Women.” When Kayla reads an underlined phrase from Agatha Christie’s Destination Unknown, the scene around her changes: from a warm sunny day to a cool cloudy one, an empty gravel driveway now underlies a 1950s car, a strange male’s voice projects from the next room. When she closes and replaces the book, the voice, car, and clouds disappear. She has time-shifted. Kayla experiments with time-shifting until she’s comfortable traveling back and forth from present day to the 1960s and ‘50s and even back to 1885. In her trips she witnesses a cleverly executed murder masquerading as an accident and finds and returns teen twins who themselves time-shifted and were trapped in the past. While the premise is interesting, The Artifacts provides little in the way of explanation: why these books or these underlined words. Kayla does interview some of the people she encounters in other time periods, but the exchanges tend to be superficial. There’s no real sense of time and place. The effect is like a museum exhibit with artifacts from an archeological dig resting in a glass case. The objects pique the imagination, but by themselves they don’t fully tell the story. K. M. Sandrick

BEYOND THE MOON

Catherine Taylor, The Cameo Press, 2019, $14.99, pb, 494pp, 9781916093218

This is a poignant love story which is both a time-traveling novel and a study of mental disorders in the early 20th century and now. In 2017, medical student Louisa Casson, heartbroken over the loss of her beloved grandmother, drowns her sorrows in alcohol and accidentally falls over the South Downs cliffs. Doctors diagnose attempted suicide, and she is sent to Coldbrook Hall, a badly run psychiatric hospital. One day, while exploring the hospital’s soon-to-be demolished Victorian wing, Louisa hears a voice calling for help and enters an old-fashioned hospital room. There she meets a blind young man who tells her he was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. He is 1st Lieutenant Robert Lovett: a gifted artist suffering from hysterical blindness, he is in despair. He sees Louisa as a ghost, and none of the other patients can see her. Louisa visits Robert at every opportunity and eventually appears to him not as a ghost but as Rose Ashby, who worked on the Western Front as a VAD. Her two identities and the two worlds coalesce, and Louisa becomes Rose, tending to the injured soldiers with all the primitive medical equipment of

the period whilst also understanding modern medicine. She and Robert fall in love while his sight recovers. The end leaves a mystery—who had the breakdown, Louise or Rose?—but it hardly matters. The characterization is spot-on, as is the historical time-line. Beyond the Moon is not only a page-turner but an intelligent appraisal of medicine, psychology and mental illness over the years. Historical fantasy at its very best. Sally Zigmond

ALTERNATE HISTORY WICKED BY DESIGN

Katy Moran, Head of Zeus, 2019, £18.99, hb, 483pp, 9281786695383

This is the sequel to False Lights (2017), written under the name K J Whittaker, although it can be read as a stand-alone novel. Set in an alternative Regency period, where Napoleon has won the Battle of Waterloo, England is without a monarch, and Lord Castlereagh is Prime Minister and de facto leader of the country, it intertwines historical fact with other possible histories. It is 1819, and Jack ‘Crow’ Crowlas and Hester (Lord and Lady Lamorna) are married, with a baby. Members of the Cabinet are staying with them at their Cornish estate to hold discussions in secret. Hester, daughter of a white father and black mother, faces racism from their wives but holds her tongue in order not to endanger her husband. Jack is accused of treason, but is offered the opportunity to save himself by going to Russia to bring back Sophia, next in line to the English throne. Believing Hester and his daughter to be dead, Jack throws caution to the wind in his dealings with the Russian court. With multiple viewpoints, this novel has a convoluted plot (the above is a short synopsis!) which at times is difficult to follow, as the reader is never told exactly what is going on, and who knows what and when. It is well-written, with believable characters, a good plot, and a story that is dark in places, despite the happy ending. A worthy sequel to False Lights. jay Dixon

THE GREAT EASTERN

Howard A. Rodman, Melville House, 2019, $27.99/£20.00, hb, 344pp, 9781612197852

I have never read anything quite like The Great Eastern – an addictive, steampunk fantasy that blends 19th-century fact with characters from 19th-century fiction. The history books tell us that the celebrated engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, designer of the iron-hulled Great Eastern, the largest ship then afloat, died in 1859 after suffering a stroke. In this alternate reality, Brunel has in fact been drugged and kidnapped by the man who goes by the name of Captain Nemo in order to bring his skills to bear to modify Nemo’s submarine into a weapon he can use in

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his stealth war against the imperial ambitions of Britain and America. Eventually they come up against Brunel’s own ship – the once-mighty Great Eastern – reduced to a telegraph cable-layer (the telegraph that Nemo intends to destroy, as an instrument of Empire). It also pitches them against the seacaptain hired to protect the cable from the onslaughts that have repeatedly severed it mid-ocean – the obsessed John Ahab, who is determined that the “Leviathan” will not get the better of him again. Rodman’s Ahab is a magnificent, and terrifying, creation, who speaks of himself in the third person with Biblical cadences. The Cambridge- and Sandhurst-educated Nemo is just as ruthless. Between them is the rationalist Brunel, proud of his submarine creation, but horrified at Nemo’s ultimate plans. The attack on the telegraph would be the equivalent of a strike on the global internet network today, and Nemo’s undeclared war on the instruments of empire has strong modern resonances. The Great Eastern is a challenging read, with its dense, sometimes meandering narrative, unconventional voices and multiple viewpoints, and the reader really needs to be familiar with the fictional worlds of Herman Melville and Jules Verne to get to grips with the characterisation of Ahab and Nemo – but it is a challenge worth taking on. Mary Fisk

HISTORICAL FANTASY WALK THE WILD WITH ME

Rachel Atwood, DAW, 2019, $16.00, pb, 320pp, 9780756414849

Walk the Wild with Me is a historical fantasy set in Robin Hood’s legendary Nottingham. The reader must suspend disbelief as the story takes us into the mortal world of Nick at Locksley Abbey, the magical forest of Wild Folk, and the mystical realm of Faery Mound. Orphaned as a toddler, Nick illustrates the faces of Wild Folk on manuscripts that he sees every time he ventures into the woods. On one of his forays, he discovers a crypt beneath the abbey, where he finds a silver cup with the etching of the three-figured goddess, Elena. Able to hear Elena whisper to him, he carries the cup everywhere and is drawn into the world of The Green Man—known as Little John to mortals. Nick learns of Little John’s quest to rescue his human lover from Queen Mab of the Faeries. The door to the Faery Mound only opens when the moons of the two realms align on Midsummer’s Night. Nick holds the key to unlocking the door into the Fairy Mound so they can free the girl. Author Atwood has written a unique story based on English folklore and its mythical creatures and worlds. The narrative is told from the points of view of several characters to help understand the plot and mystical landscapes. The world-building is rich in description. The story seamlessly weaves between historical and fantastical backdrops. The underlying 58

theme of discord between the new Christian religion and older pagan beliefs adds another fascinating layer to the conflict. Walk the Wild with Me immerses the readers into the shapeshifting worlds of Wild Folk and long-forgotten fairies. Recommended for readers who enjoy English folklore. Linnea Tanner

CHILDREN & YOUNG ADULT SUMMERLAND

Lucy Adlington, Hot Key, 2019, £6.49, pb, 272pp, 9781471408274

Young Brigitta, an Austrian Jewish girl who suffered hardship and cruelty when the German Nazis invaded Austria, including the death of her mother, is finally rescued by the Red Cross and taken to England. Suspicious of everyone and confused by the English way of life, its traditions, customs and most of all food, Brigitta is determined to find Summerland, a grand country house. All this seems a lifeaffirming young adult novel. But why is she still so suspicious and trusts no-one, and how come she has a hidden knife? As the novel progresses, things become far more serious for this refugee. Who is she – a kind girl or someone else? This is a novel that is hard to review without divulging a whopping plot spoiler. However, clever readers will pick up the many clues along the way, strong characterisation and even ghosts! This is a gripping novel, full of discussion of truth in war, prejudice, class hatred and the fear of strangers. I recommend it to every reader, not just young adults. There is so much to discuss, especially this statement from the protagonist. “It doesn’t just take evil people to do evil things. Anybody could let themselves get swept along with violence if they weren’t careful.” Sally Zigmond

THE BEAUTIFUL

Renée Ahdieh, Putnam, 2019, $18.99/C$24.99, hb, 424pp, 9781524738174

Marceline Béatrice Rousseau is brighter than Sookie Stackhouse and far more emotionally complex than Bella Swan. She is also French. At age seventeen, Marceline flees her life as a dressmaker in France to start a new one in the Reconstruction-era South. She arrives in New Orleans amid the Mardi Gras festivities. Her new guardian, the mother superior of the Ursuline convent, instructs Marceline that she will not participate in any revelries. Dutifully, Marceline heads to Jackson Square and attempts to raise money for the convent with her handmade handkerchiefs. A beautiful and richly dressed young woman is struck by the elegant details of Marceline’s work and insists the French dressmaker create her costume for an upcoming masquerade ball. Marceline seizes the opportunity to meet this captivating young woman after dark, in

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

the name of raising money for the church, of course. The beautiful woman becomes Marceline’s door to another world. A world filled with stunning, rich, young people who defy gender, race, and class barriers. It is also a violent world, and Marceline soon finds that death follows her wherever she goes. This novel does not lack for vampire and werewolf feuds, elegant clothes, or elaborate parties. However, this novel is less sexual longing and more self-actualization. Steamy moments still abound, but the author refreshingly spends more time exploring the power of female friendships than steamy trysts. While Marceline might sport a bodice, no man is going to rip it off without her express consent. The Beautiful is perfect for teen readers who like their vampire series dripping with complicated literary and historical allusions with just a hint of modern feminism. Melissa Warren

RED DOVE, LISTEN TO THE WIND

Sonia Antaki, One Elm Books, 2019, $17.99, hb, 232pp, 9781947159129

This story is set in western South Dakota circa 1890. It focuses on thirteen-year-old Red Dove, half-Lakota (Sioux) and half-white. She and her mother were abandoned by her Army officer father years before. As the story opens, Red Dove is reluctantly leaving the tribe to go to a school run by Catholic nuns. She will learn more English there, avoid starvation, and—her grandfather Gray Eagle hopes—learn to be a bridge between the white and Lakota cultures. He gives her a medicine pouch that shows her dreams, visions, and the feelings and emotions of others. As Red Dove deals with the hatred and prejudices of the time, she gradually builds her own strengths and comes to a deeper understanding of people in both cultures. In the aftermath of the tragic massacre at Wounded Knee, she realizes that her true power is not in the magical pouch. It is in herself, with her gifts of language, courage, and empathy. She has the ability to help others find the place where they belong. I am a former resident of the Black Hills— Red Dove’s Paha Sapa—and this book was three-dimensional to me. It was difficult to read about the hardships of the Lakota people, which continue to this day both on and off the reservations. I think it is a very intense book for ages ten to fourteen, but it is a story that needs to be told. Elizabeth Knowles

SERAFINA AND THE SEVEN STARS

Robert Beatty, Disney-Hyperion, 2019, $16.99, pb, 352pp, 9781386007597

In 1900, Serafina is the protector of the Biltmore Estate, with supernatural powers brought about by the circumstances of her birth, which allow her to take the form of a

panther. She is fiercely devoted to the large mansion and surrounding grounds, especially Mr. Vanderbilt’s nephew, Braeden, who knows about her secrets and has supernatural powers of his own. When a hunting party arrives at the Biltmore, the guests’ arrival coincides with the alignment of a particular constellation which seems to lend strange power to the estate. Setting in motion the appearance of strange animals and odd sightings, the Biltmore quickly becomes a place of murder and further enchantment. Racing against escalating haunting and violence, Serafina, with the help of her loyal companions, must discover the root of the mysterious killer and save all she holds dear. Serafina and the Seven Stars is the fourth book in the middle-grade Serafina Series, which is set in the verdant hills outside of Asheville, North Carolina and on the real-life Biltmore Estate. Though I haven’t read the first three novels, I was instantly able to piece together what I had missed and even want to go back and read the first installments. It’s fast-paced and approachable, and I liked how Serafina was a real protagonist, with multiple layers, real self-doubt, and yet just enough magic to make it fun. It was also dark and a bit gory for anyone younger than 10, but altogether a breathless and fast read. This is a book of mixed mystery and fantasy that can appeal to 12-year-olds and adults alike. Highly recommended for middle school and advanced younger readers. Sara Dahmen

EINSTEIN'S COMPASS

Grace Blair and Laren Bright, Modern Mystic Media, 2019, $14.99, pb, 398pp, 9780998830889

When young Albert Einstein’s father gives him a jeweled compass, he has no idea the adventure that awaits. Spanning from 10,400 BCE on the Islands of Poseidon to Switzerland in 1903, Einstein’s Compass sweeps across dimensions all while Albert Einstein is growing into his destiny. But a dangerous creature hunts Albert and the compass. In this fantasy adventure, cosmic forces of good and evil clash around a budding scientist on the cusp of his greatest discovery. Einstein’s early life and influences are touched upon. I enjoyed the maturing relationship of Einstein and friend, Johann, along with the strength obtained from that bond. Exploring the young genius’s early antics was enjoyable. However, Einstein’s relationship and research collaboration with Mileva Maric are glossed over. On January 6, 1903, he married Mileva, but she’s referred to as his fiancée in a chapter dated Spring 1903. Editing-wise, there are some errors particularly in the book’s second half, like missing quotation marks at the start of dialogue, spaces between words and punctuation, and erroneous hyphens in words like “poten-tial” and “re-venge.” The authors throw in elements of time travel, alien DNA, anti-Semitism, the fall

of Atlantis, spiritual enlightenment, and reincarnation which work surprisingly well together. Notable characters Einstein meets, known as “Light Travelers,” include Moses, Akhenaten, and Jesus. Overall, this was a curiosity-arousing story with a well-crafted spiritual core carefully woven in with the threads of science, space, and time. There’s plenty of world building and enough character intrigue to keep readers turning the pages. A fun fantasy adventure. J. Lynn Else

DANGEROUS ALLIANCE

Jennieke Cohen, HarperTeen, 2019, $17.99, hb, 448pp, 9780062857323

1817. Bookish Lady Victoria Aston’s perfect life comes to an end when her parents announce she must save her family from certain ruin by marrying. Her sister is being threatened, and her parents cannot afford to run the estate that has been her home for her entire life. As she enters society for her season, Vicky does not despair, for she is forewarned and forearmed with the wisdom of her favorite author, Jane Austen. Knowing what lies between the covers of Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma and Mansfield Park provides a young woman with the finest insight one can obtain. Or does it? Unfortunately, Miss Austen fails to provide remedies for Vicky’s specific circumstances, especially since her neighbor, Tom Sherborne, the new Earl of Halworth, has returned to the adjacent estate. Once her best friend, Vicky is still smarting from Tom’s desertion without a word five years prior. Rather than reconnect with him, she opts to seek a worthy husband in London. After five years of exile, Tom Sherborne is finally home. Rescuing Vicky from an attack by a masked man has complicated his plans. The more he avoids her, the more often he is drawn to her, like iron filings to a magnet. Will he ever be able to explain his past errors to Vicky? Is this all Fate or bad luck? Only time— and Miss Austen—will tell. Dangerous Alliance boasts a cast of interesting characters, unexpected plotlines and wonderful quotes from Jane Austen’s novels as chapter headings. Recommended. Monica Spence

SOMEPLACE TO CALL HOME

Sandra Dallas, Sleeping Bear Press, 2019, $15.95, hb, 240pp, 9781585364145

Tom, Hallie, and Benny Turner are driving their way to California. It’s 1933, and Americans are suffering through the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl devouring Oklahoma and the surrounding areas. Because it’s so hard to make money, the children were abandoned by their father, followed by the death of their mother. Their car’s transmission fails, and they can go no farther than Kansas. They see an old abandoned shack but don’t enter it because they know it’s not theirs to claim.

Then they meet Mr. and Mrs. Carleton, who become so kind to these orphans. Tom works for Mr. Carleton and Hallie for Mrs. Carleton. Benny is a kind but mentally challenged child, as is Tessie Carleton. The Carleton family begin to share their meals and home with the Turner children. Hallie has the opportunity to go to school, but the children there mock her and refuse to make friends because they view her as part of the “squatter” family. Tom gets the same abuse from a spoiled boy named Hadley who succeeds in getting Tom fired. After being accused of the theft of a car, the mystery is solved, and things turn around for the better. This is a delightful story about people who learn to share and love despite the difficulties of the times and peoples’ prejudices. Honest and good children teach others the difference between squatters and helpers, and surrounding families demonstrate the real meaning of “neighbors.” Someplace to Call Home is a great read that is fun, poignant and encouraging, a call to the true meaning of home. Viviane Crystal

ALLIES

Alan Gratz, Scholastic, 2019, $17.99, hb, 336pp, 9781338245721

Sixteen-year-old Dee Carpenter lands on Omaha Beach in the chaos of the first landings in Normandy and is immediately confronted with the violence and terror of war. He carries a burden of responsibility unknown to his brothers-inarms—even his best friend, Sid. There are others who carry their own burdens: Samira, an Algerian girl with the French Resistance, must save her mother from the Nazis; Canadian paratrooper James drops from a plane into a bullet-ridden night sky, asking What am I doing here?; Bill, the British tank operator who wants to make it as far as Amiens to see the rock where his father carved his name when he was there during WWI; and the medic James, who scours the beach under constant enemy fire searching for wounded soldiers, some of whom do not want his help. Allies takes place over the course of twentyfour hours—from midnight June 6, 1944 to midnight on June 7. The story mostly follows Dee, but the others play integral roles in the mission. The diverse characters not only represent different nations and ethnicities, but differing reasons to be at war beyond ridding the world of Nazism. Gratz does not shy away from the horrors of war—whether it be the violence of the battlefield or the ugliness

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of racism, antisemitism, and sexism from supposed allies. Each of the characters are young, which is not only historically accurate, but also makes it easier for young readers to relate. While written for middle-grade readers, the brutal frankness makes this a suitable read for older readers as well. An extensive Author’s Note gives an overview of Operation Overlord as well as the six smaller operations portrayed in the story. Excellent! Meg Wiviott

CAPE

Kate Hannigan, Simon & Schuster, 2019, $17.99/ C$23.99, hb, 323pp, 9781534439115

Josie O’Malley loves puzzles and superhero comics. She wonders where all the superheroes went—Fantomah, Black Cat, and others used to protect the innocent. Her father is away fighting in World War II, and Josie wishes she could help. She answers an advertisement for “puzzle experts to help fight the Nazis” and meets Mae and Akiko. In a strange turn of events, the three are infused with power and become superheroes. The only thing standing between an evil villain, a German spy ring and a secret U.S. government project are our three girl superheroes. Cape is told in prose interspersed with black-and-white graphic novel panels. The pacing is off in places, such as when the girls rush off to rescue someone and stop to order breakfast—then don’t eat, remembering they are in a hurry. Fight scenes include awkwardly slow passages of conversation. Many story details are unrealistic, such as when Josie’s brothers regularly say they are tired and want to go to bed. Some of this is expected in the superhero comic genre: parents and friends don’t recognize the three girl superheroes— that’s how it works in comics. Still, I had trouble suspending my disbelief in places. I applaud the strong female characters and the diversity of the superheroes: Josie is IrishAmerican, Mae is African-American, and Akiko is Japanese-American. Cape is told in the first person by Josie, so readers get her background and not much of Mae’s and Akiko’s, who are little more than diverse sidekicks. Hopefully, the next books in the series will be from the other girls’ perspectives. Although I did not feel like the setting of 1940s Philadelphia was developed much, the author’s notes have good information about real-life historical spies, female computers, and comic superheroes. For ages 8-12. Elizabeth Caulfield Felt

THE FORTY THIEVES

Christy Lenzi, Yellow Jacket, 2019, $16.99, hb, 271pp, 9781499809817

The One Thousand and One Nights story starring Ali Baba and his forty thieves is retold from the eyes of Marjana, a slave girl living in the home of cruel masters. Tenth-century Baghdad comes to life as Marjana tries to keep her younger brother, Jamal, on the straight and narrow – and out of a dangerous street gang. 60

Marjana is drawn into Ali Baba’s struggles with the forty thieves as the tale unfolds. Complications arise when a fellow slave named Saja tries to befriend her, bringing joy and pain in equal measures. This take on the classic tale makes the mysteries of Arabia accessible for a new generation. Short, fast-paced chapters combined with compelling action and high emotional stakes keep this novel traveling along at a satisfying pace. The Arabic world of magic and danger is evoked with carefully selected details and beautiful descriptions, with just a tad too much exposition, that nevertheless give the reader a vibrant sense of the setting. Clever turns on old, tired tropes and clichés like flying carpets and fortune telling give the story a refreshing feel. The protagonist is tripped up by her troubles and flaws in such a way that momentum is maintained. Whisper “Open Sesame!” when you open this book, and you won’t be disappointed with the magic that flows out and the dazzling adventures it unfolds. Xina Marie Uhl

SHRUG

Lisa Braver Moss, She Writes, 2019, $16.95, pb, 272pp, 9781631526381

Martha Goldenthal lives in Berkeley, California, in the 1960s. She’s got a nervous twitch—a shrug—symptomatic of her low selfopinion. The latter is greatly reinforced by her confused, uptight and abusive parents. Her father operates the Smoke and Records store down the block from UC Berkeley. He calls contemporary music of the ´60s “dreck” and loves classical music. He also has major anger problems and frequently beats his wife as well as Martha and her siblings Hildy and Drew. Her mother is in and out of depression until she gets up the gumption to divorce her husband, the results of which torture and confuse their children. The great part of this novel is the depiction of ´60s music such as the Beatles, the Who, the Youngbloods and Bob Dylan. There’s even an appendix for those readers who want to hear the musical culture of the Berkeley scene. Martha has what is known as perfect pitch, but that doesn’t much help her violin lessons; she definitely has learning problems in school, unable to combine the parts of a subject or topic into a cohesive whole. She also suffers from teenage angst, hating her parents while desperately longing for their love. Martha’s few friends save her sanity and guide her through the challenging parts of being a teen. Yet she forges on to ultimately win her own independence and delight in being a UC student. While parts of this plot are emotionally powerful and tragic, there is a lightness in the narrator’s voice that will help young adults of our generation connect and root for Martha, her family and friends.

REVIEWS | Issue 90, November 2019

Viviane Crystal

WORDS ON FIRE

Jennifer A. Nielsen, Scholastic, 2019, $17.99, pb, 322pp, 9781338275476

What does it take to conquer a people? In the late 19th century, Russian and American governments define it as assimilation. As the Americans worked to kill the Indian “and save the man,” through their policy of forced boarding schools, Russians embarked on a similar quest in Lithuania. They banned the books, the religion, and the language of the land they occupied. However, in both cases, brave men, women, and children worked to preserve their cultural identities and often lost their lives in the process. Words on Fire tells the story of Audra, a sheltered twelve-year-old Lithuanian farm girl, who knows little of the outside world. Her mother, a farmer, and her father, a traveling magician, protect Audra from the occupying Russian soldiers. Audra stays on their farm far from the deadly Cossack soldiers who patrol the villages enforcing the ban on her culture. Until one night, those very soldiers invade her home and capture her parents. During the chaos, Audra’s mother gives her a package and forces her to run into the woods. A ruthless Cossack officer pursues her as she races to deliver the mysterious package to a stranger. During her journey, Audra learns what the Russians have stolen from her family and her people, and she joins the fight to restore it. Author Jennifer A. Nielsen’s story transcends time and traditional gender roles. The hero of this action-adventure story struggles to answer the question, “Is a book worth more than a life?” This novel is perfect for ages eight through twelve, but I highly recommend it for anyone who wishes to understand how we become who we are and what we take from others to become it. Melissa Warren

ANYA AND THE DRAGON

Sofiya Pasternack, Versify, 2019, $16.99, hb, 416pp, 9780358006077

Despite the tsar’s ban, magic encompasses every aspect of Anya’s life. Water magic, plant magic, animal magic, even fool magic. Problem is, Anya is the only one in her family who can’t pull the magic threads. When the town magistrate threatens to take their land and throw her mother in prison, Anya will do whatever it takes to help, including hunt the last-known dragon in 10th-century Kievan Rus’. She’s not the only one looking, though. A strange man arrives in town and threatens everyone she cares about. When the mysterious dragon shows up and saves Anya’s life, she will be faced with a difficult choice: her family’s safety or the dragon’s life? Anya is an enjoyable narrator who is a determined, spunky young girl with lots of heart. Her choices and reasonings are appropriate for her age and the period, lending a youthful charm to the narration. Additionally, Anya is surrounded by a variety of enjoyable and engaging characters. The

landscape is enchantingly detailed with living folklore ranging from domovoi to rusalka to bogaryr while also maintaining a strong pastoral expression. Anya’s assumptions are challenged in meaningful ways dealing with topics of prejudice, faith, perception, and greed. Being able to experience Anya’s quest and its challenges with a non-magical main character is the perfect way to draw young readers into the story. As one character says, “The greatest magic in the world is an open mind.” The combination of sweet characters, enduring relationships, strong faith, and a spellbinding adventure conjures up an irresistible tale readers of all ages will enjoy. Recommended. J. Lynn Else

THIRTEEN DOORWAYS, WOLVES BEHIND THEM ALL

Laura Ruby, Balzer + Bray, 2019, $17.99, hb, 384pp, 9780062942524

This luminous, moving novel by an awardwinning YA novelist is a genre-defying achievement. Part ghost story, part feminist history, part love letter to the city of Chicago, this narrative jumps back and forth between the 1940s and earlier years, as it follows the coming-of-age trials of Frankie Mazza, a sensitive adolescent who lives with her siblings at the Angel Guardian Orphanage. Like many of their fellow inmates, the Mazzas aren’t actually orphans, but have been left in the dubious care of the nuns by parents who cannot care for them for various reasons. Their days are not as desperate as Oliver Twist’s, but the banality of their existence is not livened much by their friendships and field trips though Chicago neighborhoods. Frankie is a talented artist whose grief over her father’s abandonment, and separation from her first love by World War II, keep her from attempting to follow her own dreams. What makes the story unforgettable is the voice of its narrator, a spirit who haunts the orphanage and has become fascinated with Frankie. Pearl is a fierce, sarcastic ghost whose own tragic history is revealed in tiny bits as she travels around the city, spying on the living and the dead and trying to determine where she’s supposed to be. Her observations are both funny and poignant and provide a vivid counterpoint to Frankie’s search for love and purpose, which spans most of the decade of the 1940s. While the secrets and revelations both Pearl and Frankie discover about their

own pasts are not unexpected, they are rendered with raw emotional power. This is a book to be savored for its gorgeous prose as well as its memorable characters. It has already been long-listed for a National Book Award and is sure to appear on many other 2019 award lists. Kristen McDermott

AMONG THE FALLEN

Virginia Frances Schwartz, Holiday House, 2019, $15.99, hb, 304pp, 9780823441020

The ability to recognize one’s humanity and see the humanity of others is a life-saving gift. Among the Fallen is the story of Orpha, an inmate and survivor, who possesses this gift. Once a free spirit and trained actress, Orpha lost her parents and is forced into a workhouse and then to Tothill Fields prison. At age sixteen, she has endured two years in London’s prison for children. Near the end of her sentence in 1857, Orpha and several girls in E wing receive a letter from a stranger, Charles Dickens, inviting them to Urania Cottage, a home for fallen women. Although Orpha is terrified to accept, she moves to Urania Cottage. There she finds the love and support of the matrons, benefactress, and the other fallen girls. Charles Dickens also becomes an important force in her life, setting the rules, demanding perfection in all things domestic, and urging Orpha to share her story with him. While she is keenly aware of his shortcomings, she is ultimately inspired, not only by his brilliance, but by his ability to see women, children, and the poor as people. People worthy of a voice. I highly recommend this novel to readers fourteen and up. Schwartz explores sexual violence and its aftermath in frank terms. More importantly, she explores the journey of healing with nuance, kindness, and clarity. It is the story of reclaiming self, childhood, and friendship. Melissa Warren

THE FOUNTAINS OF SILENCE

Ruta Sepetys, Philomel, 2019, $18.99/C$24.99, hb, 512pp, 9780399160318

Spain’s brutal Civil War between Republican democracy and Francisco Franco’s fascist dictatorship lasted from 1936-1939 and was a precursor to World War II. After his victory, Franco “El Caudillo” (The Leader) purged the country of anyone associated with the Republic, forcing many Spaniards to hide their identities in order to survive. During the summer of 1957, the height of Franco’s dictatorship, Daniel visits Madrid with his father, a Texan oilman, and his Spanish-born mother. Through his interest in photojournalism, Daniel gradually peels back the veneer of Madrid to discover the darker, more frightening underbelly of fascist rule. After befriending Ana, a hotel maid trying to outrun her parents’ infamy; Rafa, Ana’s

brother, who is trying to overcome memories of an oppressive boys’ home; and Puri, their cousin, who cares for babies awaiting adoption, Daniel decides Franco’s atrocities must be exposed to the world. Told in thirdperson chapters from Daniel, Ana, Rafa, and Puri’s points of view, The Fountains of Silence is an exquisitely crafted story filled with secrets, dangers, romance, and hope. Sepetys’s research is exhaustive (yet not exhausting) and quickly grounds the reader in the center of a city filled with beauty, sunshine, brutality, and dark secrets. For readers ages 12 and up, this story shines light on a piece of history unfamiliar to many. It is stunning in its beauty and scope. This is a must read. Meg Wiviott

DON’T TELL THE NAZIS

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, Scholastic, 2019, $17.99, hb, 240pp, 9781338310535

1941 Ukraine is the setting for this harrowing story told through one pre-teen’s eyes. Krystia has already had her share of troubles. Her beloved father has succumbed to cancer, and the occupation of her village by the Soviets has led to more family members being shot and imprisoned. When the Nazis come, the town thinks at first this army means their liberation. They soon find out otherwise. Their friends who are Jewish are accused of crimes and executed. More are fenced off in a ghetto. Then the trains begin transporting them to be gassed. Through all, Krystia, her mother, and sister act bravely as they work to care for the Nazi commandant’s house. They help relatives in the mountain resistance, leave food inside the ghetto, and hide Jewish friends in a hole they dig under their stove. Through terror and cruelty, they stand for their neighbors and against oppression at terrible cost. The history of the Nazi occupation of the Ukraine is a part of the Holocaust only being brought to focus since the fall of the Soviet Union. The depths of the suffering of the Ukrainian people who stood for justice is brought to light in this well-wrought narrative inspired by real people. Scenes of sharing happy memories, a gesture of thanks from a friend before dying, and drawing remembered loved ones are achingly poignant. Difficult and intense, but immensely compassionate, this novel is a gift to Holocaust literature. Grades 4-8. Eileen Charbonneau

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

CONFERENCES

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

ÂŠ 2019, the Historical Novel Society, ISSN: 1471-7492 | Issue 90, November 2019

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