HT News - Giveaways

If you weren't lucky enough to win our giveaway of Signora da Vinci by Robin Maxwell, then there is still another chance.

My Friend Amy is giving away 3 copies of the book. Click here for all the details. Amy has also reviewed the book as well so if you are interested in reading her thoughts be sure to click through.

Aarti from Booklust is also hosting a giveaway - a copy of Jane Austen's Guide to Romance (also published under the title Jane Austen's Guide to Love).

You'll need to be quick as both of these giveaways close on January 31.

No Dark Place - Joan Wolf

In the turbulent realm of Norman England, a young man discovers that his identity is the link to an incredible mystery….

Bereft at the loss of his adoptive father, the Sheriff of Lincoln, Hugh Corbaille is unprepared for a further shock from a visiting knight. Hugh may actually be the sold child of the Earl of Wiltshire, mysteriously abducted thirteen years before onthe day the nobleman was murdered. With no memory of his early years, Hugh begins to believe he may be the missing heir and sets off to find his past.

The journey, however, is far from easy - or safe. Finding himself caught in a web of death and intrigue, and surrounded by a court of scheming strangers, Hugh must turn to the mother he has never known and a supportive young woman to piece together the truth. A cold-blooded killer stands between Hugh and the answers he seeks, answers that may prove his birth - and his death.

Wolf was a familiar name to me as a writer of historical romance and traditional regencies. I was quite surprised when I discovered that she had also written two medieval mysteries and after reading them I can only say that it is a pity that she did not write more.

Set in 12th century England, No Dark Place is the story of Hugh Corbaille and the mysteries that surround him. When the story opens Hugh, the adopted son of the Sheriff of Lincoln has just lost his father and is “recognized” by a visiting man, Nigel Haslin, as the possible son of the Earl of Wiltshire who has disappeared has a child.

The unusually controlled Hugh is still having trouble dealing with his grief and at first refuses to acknowledge that possibility but eventually he decides to investigate as he is both feeling the need to escape the memories of his dead parents and the desire to know if he is really Hugh de Leon. What is known is that fourteen years earlier Roger de Leon, the powerful Earl of Wiltshire, was murdered in his chapel and his young son disappeared never to be seen again. Hugh was found starving and cold in the streets of Lincoln and has no memory of what happened before he joined the Corbaille household.

In Nigel Haslin’s household Hugh meets his daughter Cristen, a sixteen year old girl, who is already a known herbalist and with whom he feels instantly at ease. Hugh and Cristen’s relationship will slowly develop throughout the book, never overshadowing the mystery but showing us a new side to Hugh who seems very much in control of himself except when he is with Cristen.

Nigel’s plan is to “show” Hugh to his uncle and see what comes of it. They all meet in a tournament and Hugh’s physical appearance immediately calls the attention of several people. Besides the mystery of who Hugh really is there’s also the mystery of who killed Roger de Leon and some believe his brother and successor maybe have been behind it. To his natural desire to know who he is Hugh adds something of political strategy, the Earl of Wiltshire is a powerful ally of king Stephen and Hugh knows that if sworn to Mathilda’s side he would be immediately recognised by her and the rightful heir of the earldom.

It was interesting to have this outlook of the time’s political intrigues but what really made the book for me where the characters and the mystery surrounding them. Not only Hugh and Cristen but the whole set of secondary characters make this a really interesting story.

Grade: 4.5/5

Winner of Signora da Vinci!

Thank you to everyone who entered into the draw for a copy of Signora da Vinci! I started reading the book last night and so far it is very good.

We have to say that you are all very well read bunch! There were some great books recommended, and in the next couple of days we will post the list of recommended books for your information.

We are sure that you are all keen to know who the lucky winner is!

Heatherlo from Book Addiction

if you could please contact us at with your full address details and we will get your prize out to you.

Don't miss Robin's post below where she talks about Why She Loves the Tough Ballsy Women of History, and then later we will be interviewing Robin as well.

Why I Love...the strong ballsy women of history

We are pleased to have a Why I Love" post today from author Robin Maxwell, whose new book, Signora da Vinci was our most recent giveaway. Thanks Robin!

I wasn't sure whether to list this first or last, but I guess I'll get it out of the way, even though it may sound crass and self-serving. I love the heroines of history because they've provided me with a successful career in writing. Every time my husband and I drive through our front gates and clap eyes on the 22 acres of jaw-droppingly beautiful high desert property we call home, we mutter outloud, "Thank you Anne. Thank you Elizabeth." It was the sale of my first novel, Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, to NBC and Hallmark for a 2-part mini-series that made it possible to buy our land and build our first house. Secret Diary is now in its 25th printing and has been translated into 13 languages. Since then, the mother and daughter have graced the pages of four more of my historical novels (The Queen's Bastard, Virgin, The Wild Irish, and Mademoiselle Boleyn).

Grace O'Malley -- pirate, rival to Elizabeth I, and "Mother of the Irish Rebellion -- will soon come to life on the big screen. Last year that book and the screenplay I adapted from it were optioned by a wonderful young Australian producer, Monica O'Brien. With an A-list director attached, a huge budget and a brilliant cast of stars ready to roll in 2010, the movie will leave me sitting pretty for the rest of my life. Okay, that's out of the way. Now onto more cerebral arguments.

Ferreting out a great and original historical woman upon whom to base a novel is getting more and more difficult, as tons of historical fiction is being written today. All of us HF authors find ourselves tripping over each other as we troll the Tudor era to either find a fascinating female (that's what the publishers want) who has not already been written about yet; a new angle on a much-written-about figure; a fictional maid, seamstress, confectioner or rumored-to-be offspring of a virgin queen (Ella March Chase's The Virgin Queen's Daughter and my own The Queen's Bastard). C.W. Gortner scored a coup with his totally original and brilliantly written The Last Queen, about the Spanish sister of Katherine of Aragon, finally putting to rest the idea that the woman deserved the moniker "Juana la Loca" (Juana the Mad). I, myself, discovered there was much more leg room outside of Tudor England and took myself to Renaissance Italy for my seventh novel, Signora da Vinci. Certainly there have been wonderful books set there (Sarah Dunant's Birth of Venus and Karen Essex's Leonardo's Swans), but relative to 16th century England and Ireland, Italy is a wide open field to play on.

Once I've found a character that appeals to me, the real fun begins. I've never chosen to write about fictional characters. I like the Real McCoy, even if there are only three facts known about that person. Using extrapolation, psychology, detective work, my personal understanding of human nature, emotions and motivation, I begin filling in the "holes in history." When you're dealing with a period 500 years in the past, there are lots of them. These sometimes gaping chasms are what I, as an author of historical fiction, live for.

That was the case with Leonardo da Vinci's mother, Caterina, who is the protagonist of Signora da Vinci. With so little known, the sky was the limit. I had a rare opportunity to create something from nearly nothing. I took the tiniest cluster of cells, no larger than a fetal blastula, examined the medium in which it developed (the Italian Renaissance), the world into which Caterina was born and grew, her ancestors and associates, until she blossomed into a living, breathing, thinking, feeling human being. I did, however, have a wealth of information about the mental workings of her son, Leonardo, in the form of his work and his notebooks. One volume of just his writings is 1,080 pages long. In this case, from the child I extrapolated the mother.

Once I have the research under my belt I'm ready to rock 'n roll.

I first decide what story I want to tell. Where I want it to start, what questions or mysteries of the period that I want to solve, and where I want to end it. Then I go into this zone -- it's hard to describe -- where I slip into the shoes of my heroine, inhabit her brain and start looking out at the landscape from behind her eyes. Though I had very little to go on with Caterina, I did know that she was an Italian village girl in 1451 who became pregnant out of wedlock, and had her infant son ripped from her arms the day after he was born, and that he was taken to live with his father's family. I think it was that "emotional image" that informed my novel.

Just meditate on that for a moment. How would you feel if you'd had your child taken away from you? Then I added into my premise that it was Leonardo's mother, not his father, from whom he inherited his "genius genes." Since we know quite a bit about his father -- a social-climbing, icy-hearted petty bureaucrat -- I felt I was on solid ground making this assumption. So suddenly I had this brilliant, gutsy young woman who decides she is going to watch over and protect her child, no matter the odds, no matter what she has to do to achieve that goal.

Then I picked up the thread -- the narrative -- by following the career of Leonardo da Vinci, about whom there is a massive amount known, from age thirteen when he went to Florence to apprentice with the great Maestro Verrocchio, who was the court artist of the Medici family. Voila! I suddenly had my world and all the characters in it -- Leonardo and Caterina da Vinci; Lorenzo "The Magnificent" de' Medici, his fabulous mother Lucrezia, and his brother -- the Brad Pitt of his day -- Guiliano; the young but already famous artist the Medici had adopted as their son, Sandro Boticelli; members of Lorenzo's heretical philosophical society, "The Platonic Academy;" and the mad monk Savonarola, who loved nothing more than burning heretics at the stake.

To me, the idea of spinning a tale of these characters at that time in history is my idea of a whopping good time.

I suppose another reason I love these women is that their live stories were the antitheses of my own. I was brought up as a nice Jewish girl in a middle class suburb in New Jersey who lived a rather mundane existence and had issues with her authoritarian dad. It was hard-wired into my brain to try to make everyone else happy, not to make waves, to go to college and work at a profession before settling down and having two kids. How could that compare with beheaded mothers, Henry VIII so desperate to marry you that he broke with the Catholic Church, or fighting hand-to-hand with pistol and sword on the deck of your own pirate ship, or solving the mystery of the disappearance of the little princes in the Tower, or hobnobbing with kings and popes, or escaping the amorous advances of the lascivious Francois I?

How could you not love the women who literally changed the course of history? Who were the first feminists, and who paved the way for the rest of us? What a great escape writing about them is!

Finally, this career has brought me many dear friends who share my love of these great ladies. My first, back in my Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn days, was Vicki Leon, who wrote the astonishingly researched and laugh-out-loud series of Uppity Women books (Uppity Women of Ancient Times, The Middle Ages, The Renaissance and The New World). The glamorous Liv Tyler look-alike, Michelle Moran, came to one of my book store events and introduced herself several years before her success with Nefertiti and The Heretic Queen. C.W. Gortner and I gab almost every day about writing historical fiction and the take-no-prisoners world of publishing. I count my favorite Tudor historian (and now author of what she calls "Historical Entertainments" like The Last Wife of Henry VIII) Carolly Erickson, as a pal. Karen Essex and I have strangely parallel writing careers -- starting out as screenwriters and segueing into historical fiction (and even writing about the same figure -- Leonardo da Vinci). Sandra Worth, Susan Scott Holloway and Anne Easter Smith correspond with me via email. So the love of women in history has brought an embarrassment of riches in friendship in the present.

Vicarious adventures, entree into the inner circles of the most fabulous figures who ever lived, a successful career and wonderful friends. Now I ask you, what's not to love about that?

Win a book!

**************** STICKY POST ***************





We are very pleased to be hosting a giveaway of Signora da Vinci by Robin Maxwell. Over the next few weeks we are hoping to have a guest post from Robin, and also an interview with her!

Here's the blurb:

Following the "absolutely superb"(Diane Haeger, author of The Secret Bride) Mademoiselle Boleyn, novelist Robin Maxwell delves into the life of Caterina-the adventurer, alchemist, and mother of Leonardo da Vinci.

Caterina was fifteen years old in 1452 when she bore an illegitimate child in the tiny village of Vinci. His name was Leonardo, and he was destined to change the world forever.

Caterina suffered much cruelty as an unmarried mother and had no recourse when her boy was taken away from her. But no one knew the secrets of her own childhood, nor could ever have imagined the dangerous and heretical scheme she would devise to protect and watch over her remarkable son. This is her story.

We have heard really good things about this book and we are looking forward to reading it soon. In order to enter the contest, we would like you to leave a comment about the best historical fiction you have read recently, in other words, the historical fiction book that we here at Historical Tapestry should have heard of.

Leave a comment, along with an email address if there is not one in your profile, before 27 January, and we will randomly select a winner. If we have not heard back from the winners within 5 days we will redraw another name to send the prize to.

Please note that this contest is open to all, regardless of where you live!

The Dark Rose - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

The marriage of Eleanor Courteney and Robert Morland heralded the founding of the great Morland dynasty. Now Paul, their great grandson is caught up in the conflict of kings and sees, while his niece Nanette, as maid-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn, becomes caught up in intrigue at court.

The Dark Rose starts as the story of Eleanor Courtenay Morland´s great grandson Paul. Although I did like The Founding, the first book in the Morland Saga, I wasn’t overly impressed with Eleanor. She seemed a cold woman, determined to succeed in her goals and ready to sacrifice family to achieve them.

I was a bit worried because Paul Morland doesn’t seem overly sympathetic in the beginning either. However I think she managed to convey his complex personality and how most of his actions were rooted on fears and insecurities. Those are feelings that he manages to conquer with age and he becomes a much more interesting person.
One mustn’t think that he is the main character of this story though. As in the first book the author manages to create a strong female character and it’s through her eyes that we witness the main events of that period. Nanette Morland will, as a child, be raised with Katherine Parr and as a young adult be the companion of Anne Boleyn following her from her time as a Lady in Waiting to her final days as queen.

The private story of the Morland family with the jealousies between brothers and half brothers, the alliances sealed with marriages and their worries with religion, social reform, and the political events and how they affect their business mingles beautifully with the bigger picture that is Henry VIII’s court with its political intrigues and religious changes.

I quite like this view of history from a minor, fictional character point of view. I was a bit worried regarding her portrayal of Anne Boleyn since I’ve read a few books about her lately and some authors seem to go a bit overboard in her descriptions but in the end I think it was a well balanced portrayal with a few minor details I would prefer not to have had included.

I also like the fact that she has strong women as characters and from what I’ve read online there are more to come in future books of the series.

Grade: 4/5

HT News

One of my favourite HF reads of last year was the excellent Master of Verona by David Blixt. At around the same time as I read the book, there were a couple of short stories set in the same world as Master of Verona that were released through the Amazon Shorts program. Not living in the USA meant that I was unable to access these stories, so I am more than pleased that David Blixt has announced on his blog today that he is planning to post these short stories in serial format on his blog starting this week!

I am totally looking forward to returning to Verona through these short stories! If you haven't read Master of Verona, still check them out, as I am sure that they will be excellent reads.

Why I Love Big Battle Fiction

We are very pleased to have another Why I Love post from a fellow blogger. Rhys blogs at Stuff I Read. We are particularly pleased to have a male perspective on Historical Fiction as well! Please be sure to check out Rhys's blog!




Why I love big battle fiction

The reading “experience” (if you want to call it that) for me is all about the escape from the tedium of day-to-day life, but also about the entertainment. I read to be entertained. It’s why I can happily read through a book that is poorly written or grossly inaccurate or lame duck cliché characters, or any other deficiency, as long as it just entertains me. There are a number of things wrong with Harry Potter novels but I have always read them because they amuse me. It’s the same with everything I read, really, as many of them probably can’t be described as literary classics and each have their own simplistic deficiencies compared to the “greater” work of other authors, but all the same I love them and have spent countless hundreds of dollars and hours enjoying these books.

But it wasn’t always like that.

Years ago, when I was very much a young boy in primary school, I used to have a similar love of reading for entertainment. That was all ruined by a particularly malevolent and spiteful teacher who chose to force me to read some of the most unappealing and ill suited twaddle that could ever be thrown at a ten-year-old. I lost all interest in reading anything after, so I grew to hate reading and stopped all together for years. Of course I read the odd book here and there but evidently that horrible woman had had some effect on me through most of my teenage years as nothing ever seemed to make me want to read all the time as I used to. That started to change as I grew older and discovered a new love of history and began buying and reading a load of non-fiction books, mostly biographies, of people from the sixteenth century onwards, and some from the Roman period. I have a fairly hefty collection of non-fiction books sitting on my shelf from this time, all read and appreciated.

For a few years I read those merrily while remaining blissfully unaware of another type of historical novel out there – historical fiction. I can’t quite remember when, but I’m sure it was a friend of mine who said “you should read Gates of Fire”. Intrigued, I asked him what it was about and immediately became interested, as I love the ancient world as much as I love the early modern world. When he told me it was fiction, though, I felt a little deflated because I still had such bad memories and a fairly strong disinterest in fiction. But he told me to just read it, so I did, and absolutely loved it. Within minutes of finishing it I went on the internet and found similar novels by likeminded authors – Bernard Cornwell, C.S. Forester, Simon Scarrow, Conn Iggulden, George MacDonald Fraser – and set out to read their books and many others.


Theirs is a world mainly centred on the big culminating battle in one of the many epic conflicts that dominate our history. Bluff dashing warrior heroes, a cavalcade cast of friends and foes, a heroine, and a big fight at the end with lots of shouting and violence to top it all off. It is simplistic and very much to the point with a no frills approach but I love them, and can’t believe I spent so many years not interested in reading books like these.

I love the swashbuckling style action from Bernard Cornwell and the impossible yet highly entertaining situations he puts his protagonists in, and has them come out with a sword dripping in enemy blood and riches in the pocket. I love the sheer outlandishness and ridiculousness of the late George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman, the way it flies in the face of the conceived norms of the high morality of the Victorian age. I love the sweeping big budget action movie feel to Conn Iggulden and the ruthless portrayal of Genghis Khan. I love the intricate single character development in Hornblower that works together to create one of the most wholly developed protagonists I have ever come across, a man whose insecurities and self doubts resonate with so many of us today. I love the way Simon Scarrow has taken up the mantle of the next Bernard Cornwell and set about creating a Sharpe-esque view of Roman Britain, and I loved Iain Gale’s unique way of creating a new twist on the well known outcome of the Battle of Waterloo.

Each of those authors and their fellow colleagues entertain me in their own way by combining a rediscovered love of reading and a love of history with the sheer excitement that can be generated by a big battle. It tops the novel off and provides a top notch climax, usually told in a way that defines the genre. I love it, when done right, the way the author can almost make it seem as though the protagonist really is doomed to defeat and cast into a whole new world of problems when it looks like the oncoming marauding enemy army is about to overwhelm the good guys, but victory is eventually won. Just about every time it sucks me in and keeps me entertained, and that’s all I am ever looking for in a book. Entertainment.

Some of them might not be perfect but it works for me.

Upcoming Release: The Curse of the Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig

If you are ever looking for a fun series to read that combines a bit of romance, some adventure, some dashing spies and some dastardly villains, as well as a bit of modern action, then Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation series could be just the thing. The early books in particular are loads of fun, and I am looking forward to the next instalment in the series:

The much anticipated fifth installment in the inventive and original Pink Carnation series

"Pride and Prejudice lives on" in Lauren Willig's acclaimed Pink Carnation series, which continues with another deliciously lighthearted, romantic, and suspenseful novel. Willig introduces to her series the most elusive spy of all time, whose calling card is the faint whiff of jasmine in the cold night air.

After twelve years in India, Robert, duke of Dovedale, returns to his estate in England to avenge the murder of his mentor during the 1803 Battle of Assaye. Robert plans to infiltrate the infamous, secretive Hellfire Club to uncover the murderer's identity- but he has no idea that an even more difficult challenge awaits him-one Lady Charlotte Lansdowne.

Having cherished a romanticized view of Robert since childhood, Charlotte is thrilled by his return. To Charlotte, Robert is all the knights of the Round Table rolled into one. That's not exactly the case, but she can't help but search for the man she loves inside this less-than-pristine package. And while Robert works to dissuade Charlotte from her delusions, he can't help but be drawn to her innocence and inner beauty.

When Charlotte is approached by Lady Henrietta Selwick to join her in a bit of espionage-investigating a plot to kidnap the king-Robert soon realizes that Charlotte is not only the perfect partner in crime; she's the perfect partner, period. Caught in a dangerous game with deadly flower-named spies and secret members of the Hellfire Club, Robert and Charlotte must work together to reveal the villain . . . and confront their true passion for each other.

This book is released on January 22.

I should mention that Lauren Willig has a short story that she is posting on her website. At the moment it seems to be being called A Very Selwick Christmas

HT News - Giveaways

Every now and again we like to mix it up a little here with some non-fiction to go with our historical fiction. Arleigh from Historical-Fiction.com is helping out with this by having a great giveaway. The winner gets to pick from a range of non fiction books about historical figures. You can get all the details here.

Upcoming Release: A Dangerous Affair by Caro Peacock

I am the first to admit that I am a sucker for a series, so when I heard that there was going to be a second Liberty Lane book. I read the first book in the series which was published in some countries under the title A Foreign Affair last year. Here is the blurb for the new book.

In Victoria’s England, there are perilous intrigues a proper young lady would do well to avoid…

Liberty Lane, still in her early twenties, is doing her best to make a new life for herself in London after being bruised by loss and treachery. But there’s no chance for her to settle down as a conventional young lady. First, a disturbingly attractive young politican, Benjamin Disraeli, wants her to use her contacts in the theatre world to find out more about a prima ballerina with a notorious love life called Columbine. He hints that some important interests may be at stake. Then Columbine is murdered in her dressing room, after an on-stage brawl with a younger and less successful dancer, who becomes prime suspect. Liberty is at the center of the investigation because one of her dearest friends, Daniel Suter, is convinced of the girl’s innocence and will put his own neck in danger to save her. Liberty’s determination to save them from the gallows leads her from the upper reaches of the aristocracy to some of London’s lowlife haunts, posing the question: how far would you go to save a friend?

Caro Peacock, the acclaimed author of A Foreign Affair, once again ingeniously blends history, suspense, and adventure, and returns an endearing and exceptional heroine to the fictional fold.

The book is due to be released on January 27 2009 in the US. It has already been released in the UK and Australia under the title Death of a Dancer. Somewhat strangely my library has ordered another book called A Corpse in Shining Armour, which they have catalogued as a Liberty Lane book, but there is no mention of this title on Caro Peacock's website. Fantastic Fiction has it as the third book. I'm confused! Either way, it seems as though there are a couple of Caro Peacock boosk out in the early parts of this year, and it seems that my library will have book number 1 and book number 3, but not number 2. I hate it when that happens.

HT News - Giveaways

Reading the Past is having a giveaway with a different. Instead of giving away a newly released, Sarah is giving away a book that she has reviewed as part of her Reviews of Obscure Books series.

The book in question is The Cloister and the Citadel by Brigid Knight. You can read the review of the book here, and enter the giveaway here.

The Needle In The Blood - Sarah Bower

January 1067. Charismatic bishop Odo of Bayeux decides to commission a wall hanging, on a scale never seen before, to celebrate his role in the conquest of Britain by his brother, William, Duke of Normandy. What he cannot anticipate is how utterly this will change his life - even more than the invasion itself.

His life becomes entangled with the women who embroider his hanging, especially Gytha - handmaiden to the fallen Saxon queen and his sworn enemy. But against their intentions they fall helplessly in love; in doing so Odo comes into conflict with his king and his God and Gytha with Odo's enemies, who mistrust her hold over such a powerful man. Friends and family become enemies, enemies become lovers; nothing in life or in the hanging is what it seems.

Although I overall enjoyed my reading of Needle In The Blood when I started it I was hoping for a book on the Bayeux Tapestry and now that I've finished it it feels the tapestry was just a small part of this story. In that sense I was a bit disappointed. It's not even a story about the weavers but more the story of one weaver - Gytha - and her love story with Bishop Odo.

Gytha is one of the handmaidens to Harold Godwinson's steadfast wife - Edith Swan Neck - and she goes with her mistress to reclaim is body for burial. The fate of the Saxon women is not a happy one and for a while Gytha resorts to being a prostitute so that she can survive.

Her life changes when Bishop Odo decides to commission a tapestry to register the story of his brother William the Conqueror's victory over Harold Godwinson, he charges his sister Agatha, a nun, of organising the work and Gytha is one of the women selected to embroider the tapestry.

Bower does a good job in bringing this secondary cast to life, but the one that truly stands out is Gytha. She manages to catch Odo's eye and they fall in love starting a relationship in which the power alternates between them and if at first their idyll has a dreamy feel things soon get complicated because Gytha is a Saxon. The blurb in the cover of the book is very accurate – a tale of sex, lies and embroidery...

I must say it took me a while to get into the story and I even abandoned it at some point and picked it up months later so it's not exactly a page turner but I thought Bower was good at conveying the medieval feel and it's quite refreshing to read a story set immediately after the 1066 conquest.

Grade: 3/5



Marg's review is here

HT News

Have you read Michelle Moran's excellent books Nefertiti or The Heretic Queen yet? If you haven't you are missing out on a very enjoyable reading experience. If you would like to read them, then Becky from Becky's Book Reviews is giving readers the chance to win one of two copies of The Heretic Queen or one of Nefertiti. Check out all the details here

Another giveaway is being hosted over at Passages to the Past. Amy is giving away two copies of Signora da Vinci by Robin Maxwell. Stay tuned as we will have a giveaway for this book soon ourselves.

By the way, there is also a giveaway for the same book over at Writing the Renaissance. You will need to be quick as that contest closes at 11pm EST on 16 January. Sorry for the late post. I thought I had already posted about it.

Sweet Mandarin by Helen Tse

True Historical Family Saga

When Cambridge educated lawyer Helen Tse decided to give up her career to go back to her roots and open up a Chinese restaurant with her two sisters, her elders thought she was nuts. Her grandmother and mother work hard so that Helen and her sister's could all get good educations and not have the worries and work that a restaurant owner has. Lily, her grandmother and Mabel, her mother should know, they both had owned restaurants.

Before deciding to open the restaurant, Helen decided to take a journey back in time to discover her family history. Her great grandfather had a soy sauce business in China. He moved his family from a poor country village to the hustle and bustle of city life in Hong Kong. Not long after he died and the family had to find a way to make survive. Lily, just a child herself takes a job as an amah for a British family. An amah takes care of children.

Lily eventually married and had children herself, but her husband left her. She continued as an amah while her mother took care of her children. She befriends the family she was working for and got an invitation to move with them to England. This invitation didn't include her children, so what was she to do? What would you do?

I won't tell you anymore for risk of spoilers.

When I first read the description of the book it intrigued me but at the same time had the potential to be saccharin sweet. This was not the case. This a true multi generational family saga that is not to be missed. It got off to a bit of a slow start but after a short while, Helen Tse had me turning the pages until the end. This is an inspiring story that is not syrupy sweet.

4/5

Thanks to St. Martin's Press send my a copy of this book!

Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

One of the best-loved paintings in the world is a mystery. Who is the model and why has she been painted? What is she thinking as she stares out at us? Are her wide eyes and enigmatic half-smile innocent or seductive? And why is she wearing a pearl earring?
Girl With a Pearl Earring tells the story of Griet, a 16-year-old Dutch girl who becomes a maid in the house of the painter Johannes Vermeer. Her calm and perceptive manner not only helps her in her household duties, but also attracts the painter's attention. Though different in upbringing, education and social standing, they have a similar way of looking at things. Vermeer slowly draws her into the world of his paintings - the still, luminous images of solitary women in domestic settings.

In contrast to her work in her master's studio, Griet must carve a place for herself in a chaotic Catholic household run by Vermeer's volatile wife Catharina, his shrewd mother-in-law Maria Thins, and their fiercely loyal maid Tanneke. Six children (and counting) fill out the household, dominated by six-year-old Cornelia, a mischievous girl who sees more than she should.

On the verge of womanhood, Griet also contends with the growing attentions both from a local butcher and from Vermeer's patron, the wealthy van Ruijven. And she has to find her way through this new and strange life outside the loving Protestant family she grew up in, now fragmented by accident and death.

As Griet becomes part of her master's work, their growing intimacy spreads disruption and jealousy within the ordered household and even - as the scandal seeps out - ripples in the world beyond.

Girl With a Pearl Earring is one of those books that have been so talked about in a positive way that when the opportunity arised to read it I couldn't help myself.

I do feel that Chevalier is very good at conveying the right atmosphere for her novels. This is the second one I read and in both of them there's an artistic atmosphere, if you can call it that, and a great concern with describing not only the works of art involved but also the materials and techniques the characters use.

In this story about one of Johannes Vermeer’s most famous paintings, Griet a sixteen year girl is led by the impoverishment of her family to seek employment with Vermeer's family. Griet is an uncommonly sensitive girl who orders vegetables according to size and colour. That attracts Vermeer’s attention and soon she becomes not only the house maid but is assistant in manufacturing the colours he uses. In a society with rigid rules separating religious beliefs and society divisions between people, this transformation of Griet's duties is well hidden from Vermeer's wife, requested by the painter and abetted by his mother in law. Vermeer's demands on Griet won’t stop there as he decides to make her a model for one of his paintings thus making her position in the house even more secretive and fragile.

The atmosphere is indeed everything in this novel where no one comes across as very sympathetic, Vermeer lost in his genius, Griet confused and unsettled by her feelings and the other members of the household more devoted to their own interests. As the action draws to a close it seems obvious that Griet's time with Vermeer would be finished as soon as is painting was. His interest in her as a subject ends when he reaches perfection even if that causes her to lose her job and almost her respectability.

I must confess that although I can see what makes so many love this book that sentiment eluded me somehow. I can see its merits, I'm glad I read it but that's it. Maybe I'm just not a very visual sort of person because I did love the movie where I could actually see the colours and understand them.

Grade: 4/5

Why I Love Sagas

For our first Why I Love guest post for 2009, we are very pleased to welcome Sarah Johnson from Reading the Past. I cannot tell you how many books have been added to my TBR list solely from visits to Sarah's blog. Thanks so much for agreeing to guest post Sarah!




It was the family tree that first caught my attention. I was nine years old, thumbing through shelves of books that RIF had brought to my elementary school. Janet Lunn's Twin Spell was one of the novels I chose to take home, and what an engrossing tale it was. I found myself returning again and again to the genealogical chart in the final pages, fascinated by how the family relationships essentially told a story in themselves.

Twin Spell introduced me to Jane and Elizabeth, identical twins living in present-day (1960s-era) Toronto. One day, as the novel goes, they spot an old, tattered doll in an antique shop window and feel an inexplicable connection to it, as if it was meant to belong to them. They name the doll Amelia, a name which they somehow know suits her. When they bring Amelia along to their elderly Aunt Alice's house, they begin seeing visions from the past through the eyes of an earlier set of twins—girls who owned a matching set of twin dolls that looked just like Amelia might have, when she was brand new. How Jane and Elizabeth research their and Amelia's connection to these girls from long ago, as well as to the mysterious “Hester,” forms the heart of this deliciously creepy mystery.

Since then, I continue to seek out family sagas whenever I find them. Sagas are my favorite historical fiction subgenre, and nothing sells me on a novel faster than the presence of a family tree! Most readers pick up Anya Seton's Katherine because it promises an unabashedly romantic, historically-based, star-crossed love story set amid the pageantry of the medieval English royal court. I, however, grabbed it as my choice for a 9th grade book report exclusively because of the genealogical chart on the endpapers. It showed the Tudor and Stuart monarchs' descent from Katherine de Roet, the humble knight's daughter who, as Seton wrote in her author's note, fulfilled the ancient prophecy of “thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.”

For me, historical fiction has always been more about people than facts and dates. While I can't tell you on what exact date the Battle of Naseby was fought, and I struggle to understand the finer points of Civil War military strategies, I can rattle off Queen Elizabeth II's descent from William the Conqueror without giving it a second thought. (Jean Plaidy's Plantagenet Saga was my guide, naturally.) Among much less useful bits of trivia, I could also detail the proper reading order of Philippa Carr's Daughters of England series and explain the mother-daughter relationships depicted therein. I grew up addicted to Catherine Darby's 13-volume Falcon Saga and traveled through American history with Katheryn Kimbrough's 40-volume Saga of the Phenwick Women. I love reading about traditions that pass from generation to generation—the "secret diary" theme in the earlier Carr novels, for example—and secrets from the past that return to haunt the present.

In historical sagas, the family relationships among the characters form the bare bones of the story. Add in a well-rendered historical setting that suits them and the plot, some juicy drama and intrigue, family squabbles, a little romance, and maybe a ghost or two, and I'll have all the ingredients for a leisurely, entertaining read. The geographic setting and era doesn't matter much, and I'm as happy reading sagas about fictional families as I am about historical ones. Lengthy tomes don't bother me either, since if the novel's a good one, it just gives me more time to spend with the characters. Sagas, especially those that involve multiple generations or which appear in multiple volumes, give readers the opportunity to view how life continues to unfold throughout the march of history. In addition, the characters' ongoing relationships with one another and with their historical milieu make me think about my own place in history, and about those who came before me. (I'm an amateur genealogist as well, of course, but I know better than to discuss my ancestors in public unless asked!)

During 2008, I thoroughly indulged myself with Kate Morton's The House at Riverton (early 20th-century England) and Padma Viswanathan's The Toss of a Lemon (20th-century India). See p.2 of my publisher's “best of” lists for the year to find out why I enjoyed them! I'm grateful for Valerie Anand's return to the literary scene with her Exmoor Saga (The House of Lanyon and The House of Allerbrook). For some reason, I have a soft spot for sagas set in 19th-century Louisiana, such as Lalita Tademy's Cane River, Elizabeth Shown Mills' Isle of Canes, and Gretchen Craig's Always and Forever. When you think about it, even Sharon Kay Penman's The Sunne in Splendour, one of my favorite books, can be considered a family saga of sorts. Just look at the York and Lancaster chart of descent from Edward III, and the history practically unfolds from there.

Trendspotters will tell you that family sagas have fallen out of favor, but I believe there will always be a market for well-told novels in this subgenre of historical fiction. In addition to the titles I've mentioned above, look out for Beverly Swerling's four-volume series beginning with City of Dreams, Jonis Agee's The River Wife, and anything by Edward Rutherfurd. As for me, I'm about to delve into Winston Graham's Poldark series for the first time. Judging by its ongoing popularity, I’m sure I have a wonderful reading experience in store.

--

Sarah Johnson, a longtime reader of (and advocate for) historical fiction, has been an editor for the Historical Novels Review since 2000. She is the author of Historical Fiction: A Guide to the Genre (Libraries Unlimited, 2005) and its forthcoming sequel, Historical Fiction II (pub date 3/30/09). She blogs at readingthepast.blogspot.com and will happily recommend new historical novels until you politely ask her to stop.

Maus: A Survivor's Tale - Volume 2 - And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman

It is the story of Vladek Speigelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler''s Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father''s story. Maus approaches the unspeakable through the diminutive. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), shocks us out of any lingering sense of familiarity. Maus is a haunting tale within a tale. Vladek''s harrowing story of survival is woven into the author''s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. Against the backdrop of guilt brought by survival, they stage a normal life of small arguments and unhappy visits. This astonishing retelling of our century''s grisliest news is a story of survival, not only of Vladek but of the children who survive even the survivors. Maus studies the bloody pawprints of history and tracks its meaning for all of us.

The above blurb is actually from the Complete Maus. I still couldn't find a decent description online, so this covers both book one and book two.

So, this is the second part of the story of Art's fathers' time in Nazi-occupied Germany. I finished the first part and went right into the second because I wanted to know how everything played out. Art's father had a lot of close calls, but he was alive to tell the story, and we know that Art's mother committed suicide in 1968, but I still wanted to know what went on. There were moments where my mind would wander and I would forget that they both had to have lived, but it didn't mean that the story was not captivating know the outcome. I know that my grandfather was in World War Two. When he came home, he never spoke of the war again. A few years before he died, though, I decided to break the silence and see if he would tell me just a few things about his experiences. That was the one and only time my father spoke about what he went through during World War Two, and I wish I had been older so that I would have thought to bring along a tape recorder. I wish I had as detailed an account as Art did.

A few people have been mentioning how they were not sure about this book because it was a graphic novel. So, I think I will give my opinion on that. I don't read a lot of graphic novels. I find that they are too short and I read them way too fast, so I try to stick to novels. I have read a few comics here and there over the years, but I largely stay clear of them unless they are not something I have to pay for. Maus is a book I have been hearing a lot about, though, so when I had gift cards for Christmas I decided to buy them and see what all the hype was about. It was hard to imagine what I was going to think about a book that portrays Jews as mice and Nazis as cats, but I read the two books, and it never really bothered me. Actually I was talking about them afterwards and it just made sense to me. It didn't dull the reality of what went on. I still felt terrible about what happened.... Maybe even moreso. For example, I watched a movie last night where countless humans died, and it was just a movie, but when I thought a wolf had been killed I felt terrible. I know, sounds terrible, but maybe by making the characters in this book animals instead of humans, he actually made a stronger point than if they had been human characters...

Whatever the idea, this was a good book. I am glad that I finally took the chance to read it. I might never become the biggest graphic novel reader on the planet, but there are some like these that really should be read. They cover important aspects of history, and that is something that we should never forget.

Maus: A Survivor's Tale - Volume 1 - My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman

I cannot find a decent synopsis of this online, so instead of searching forever, I will just have to do it myself. Maus is a graphic novel duology that I have been hearing a lot about the last few years, but never got around to buying. This last year, with all the graphic novel and other challenges, it seems to have become much more popular. I finally decided to buy the two books with the gift cards that I received for Christmas, and I am glad that I did! This is the story about a son, who is a cartoonist, and his father, who is a survivor of Hitler's Germany. Art decides to tell his father's story in comic book form while his father is still around to tell it. His mother committed suicide, so he never had the chance to hear her part of the story, and he doesn't want to make the same mistake with his father. Maus is his father's world during the years of Hitler occupied Germany and the Holocaust. I think books on these subjects are so important because hopefully with education, we will not make the same mistakes as our predecessors.

I have to admit, even though I had heard great things about this book, and it won the Pulitizer prize, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. It is tackling a very series subject, and instead of using people, he uses mice, pigs, and a few cats to play the parts. I wasn't sure if the story would have the same strength. I don't read a lot of graphic novels in the first place, so I wasn't really sure what to expect on many levels. The author is trying to come to terms with his father and the horrible things that his father had to go through during the Second World War. Everytime I read these accounts I am left horrified. It doesn't matter how often I hear it or how many books I read, this was a horrible thing! I will never understand it, either, and I hope to never know what it was it like for these people, because I believe the only way we will really know is to go through it ourselves.

Art does a fantastic job. This is a book that so many people should take the time to read! I was glued to the page, but I was also horrified at what I was reading. Life was hard for Art's family, as it was for so many others. To live through that and still manage to keep on going after the war was over is phenomenal. The strength it takes to overcome such obstacles, I only hope I am half as strong. While it is a serious subject matter, there is also humour written in. Art doesn't get along with his father so well, and instead of just talking about the past, he also writes about what it was like to visit his father while these interviews were taking place. His father lived through the worst, and as a result is rather hard to deal with. He has gone to the extreme following the events he lived through, so he is not exactly the easiest person in the world to live with (as his current wife says throughout).

While I read this, I found moments to laugh, but there are also many moments to cry. The Holocaust was a part of history that we should all be ashamed of. I sometimes wonder, though, if we have truly learned anything from it. The death was unbelievable. The families turn apart. The brutality is just mind-blowing. And, then, for there to be people living today that think it didn't happen, that it was all made up! That just goes against everything I have ever believed in! I don't think it is possible to make up something so horrible! Everyone should read Maus. It easily just made my top... whatever the number ends up being... for 2009!

HT News

Sharon Penman has announced on her blog that she is going to be participating in a live web chat on January 19 at 8pm E.S.T. At this stage there are some brief details to be found on this page

I was a bit worried that I would either be at work or asleep for it, but I am on holidays so I will be able to be there! Very exciting!

Sharon also talked a bit about what comes next and I have to say, I want to read those books now!

HT News

Popular HF author Robin Maxwell is guest posting over at Historical Boys, the blog of C W Gortner. She is talking about her upcoming novel, Signora Da Vinci.

She is also guest posting at History Buff Author Interviews, which is the site of another author, Michelle Moran.


In other news, Arleigh from Historical-fiction.com is giving away a copy of an unabridged audio book of The Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee. Check out the details here.

Another reading challenge that might suit some of our readers. Dani from Dani's Bookshelf is hosting a "It's Good to be Queen challenge. The idea is to read books about women who ruled. You can get all the details here.

A Tapestry of Dreams by Roberta Gellis

THEIRS WAS AN AGE OF PASSION AND PAGEANTRY
The lovely Lady Audris, whose delicate fingers weave fables of the future unto her tapestries, whose special gifts and radiant beauty set her apart in an enchanted age. And the knight they call Hugh Licorne. In service to his king ... a hero in an age of heroes ... a princely suitor for Lady Audris -- even though she cannot have him. Against all odds, they dare to search for love ... the lady who has sworn not to marry ... and the knight who has vowed to win her heart…

Tapestry of Dreams is the prequel to Fires of Winter. I happened to read that one first and was then curious to know more about Hugh and Audris who show up as secondary characters.

Set during the Stephen and Matilda wars and especially during the Scottish invasions of 1137 and 1138 about which there’s an author’s note the story begins by introducing Jernaeve, a place between Scotland and England where Audris lives under her uncle’s protection and from time to time receiving the visits of her half brother Bruno. On one of his visits he is accompanied by his friend Hugh Licorne. Hugh is an orphan who doesn’t know is parents. Both young men feel deeply the fact that they have neither riches nor land to call their own.

Audris is somewhat different from other heroines of the time, she is sheltered yes but her main occupation is weaving tapestries and she has none of those feminine gifts like cooking, healing or ordering the keep. Since Hugh is introduced as a friend of her beloved brother there’s immediate warmth is their relationship. What I really liked in how their relationship is portrayed, how open and honest they are with their feelings. Hugh is a warrior but is also capable of gentleness and tender feelings for the woman he loves; Audris is passionate and headstrong in her desire for him. I also liked how Gellis made their sexuality such a natural and joyous part of their union, it seemed right.

There’s war going on and soon the mystery of who Hugh really is and the result of their union makes them leave Jernaeve. I thought the first half of the book was a bit slow but towards the middle it definitely picks up the pace not only in their relationship but also in the background story. Gellis successfully blends story with history and mystery to provide us with an interesting and entertaining historical romance.

Grade: 4/5

HT News

One of the books that I saw quite a few reviews for on HF and book blogs was Midwife of the Blue Ridge. It is still on my TBR list, but I will get to it eventually hopefully!

I was interested to see that Christine posted the cover to her next book or as she put it, the almost cover art because there will be a couple of minor changes, over at Historical Fiction Online. The Tory Widow is the first in a planned trilogy, with Christine recently signing the deal to to write a pair of sequels that will take the story from the onset of the American Revolution though to the end of the war.

With a lot of talk about how much harder it is to be published these days, it is good to celebrate good news!

Under a Blood Red Sky by Kate Furnivall

Davinsky Labour Camp, Siberia, 1933: Sofia Morozova knows she has to escape. All that sustains her through the bitter cold, and hard labour are the stories told by her friend Anna, beguiling tales of a charmed upbringing in Petrograd - and of Anna's fervent love for a passionate revolutionary, Vasily. So when Anna falls gravely ill, Sofia makes a promise to escape the camp and find Vasily. But Russia, gripped by the iron fist of Communism, is no longer the country of her friend's childhood. Sofia's perilous search takes her from industrial factories to remote villages, where she discovers a web of secrecy and lies - and an overwhelming love that threatens her promise to Anna. But time is running out. And time, Sofia knows, is something neither she nor Anna has.

Just over a year ago I read Kate Furnivall's first book, The Russian Concubine, and totally enjoyed it. When I heard that the author had a new book out I was hoping for a sequel to that book. I didn't get it, although it is coming this year, but having now read this book, I am not all that disappointed.

Where The Russian Concubine featured Russian characters who lived in China during the turbulent 1920's, this book is set in Russia itself. Now I love reading anything set in Russia, but this is the first time I remember reading anything set during the Soviet era of the 1930s, where the populace is ruled by fear of being arrested for the slightest misdemeanours or connections, and sent to the prison camps often never to return.

Our main character Sofia has been thrown into the prison camps of Siberia. It is there that she meets Anna, a young woman who has also been imprisoned due to her connections with the aristocracy. Each day the women have to perform back breaking manual labour, getting by any way they can. Sofia realises that her friend cannot take much more of this, so is determined to escape and find Anna's childhood friend Vasily. Whilst Anna is terrified for Sofia's safety, she also believes that Vasily will help her if he can.

Sofia finds her way to the village where they believe Vasily is now living, only to be drawn into the collective farming environment where the state determines that absurdly high quotas must be reached, and that no one, no matter how starving they are, gets to keep anything for themselves. She finds herself drawn both into the town and to the people of the town, but she knows that ultimately her aim must be to get back and save Anna, if she is still alive.

There Sofia meets Mikael, a prominent man, who is raising his son alone. As Sofia must take on a new identity and avoid the attention of the authorities, others within the village wrestle with the distinction between duty to each other and duty to the Motherland, with potentially disastrous consequences for all of them.

There are lots of events in this book that are highly improbable, but such is Furnivall's story telling skill, that it doesn't matter all that much. If you want a book filled with high drama with romantic and some minor paranormal elements , and that will keep you reading until the wee hours of the morning, then this may well be a book that you will enjoy.

If I had to choose between this book and The Russian Concubine for a first time Furnivall reader then the latter would win, but this is still a very enjoyable read, about a time and place that I haven't read much about.


**** Please note that in some countries around the world, this book is published under the title The Red Scarf.****

Rating: 4 out of 5

He Shall Thunder in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters

Egypt and her hoary secrets are no match for New York Times-bestselling Grandmaster Elizabeth Peters and her indomitable archaeologist sleuth Amelia Peabody. The sand-and-windblown ambience of this strange and colorful world, the ancient enchantments and delicious menace are more vibrantly realized than ever in this thrilling new adventure that places the intrepid Amelia and her equally remarkable family in the dangerous path of an onrushing World War.

The pursuit of knowledge must never be deterred by Man's folly. So the close of 1914 finds Amelia Peabody and her husband Radcliffe Emerson back in Egypt for another season of archaeological excavation - despite the increasing danger of an attack on the Suez Canal and on Egypt itself. Trouble is brewing in Cairo and the defiantly pacifist stance of Amelia and Emerson's headstrong son Ramses is earning the young man the derision, and much worse, of the British expatriate community. Meanwhile, the charismatic nationalist el Wardani is said to be fomenting insurrection in the ancient city. And since there is no way to stand outside the political hurricane that is suddenly threatening their lives, Amelia plunges directly into it.

When el Wardani escapes a police dragnet, thanks to the direct intervention of Amelia and Emerson, the family's stake in a perilous game is raised considerably. But it's Ramses' strange secret role in it that could truly bring ruin down upon all their heads. However, there is more than intrigue and espionage, plots and counter plots, at work here. For an artifact uncovered at a Giza dig - an exquisite sculpture found where it ought not to be - confirms Amelia's most unsettling suspicion: that the chaos confirming Cairo has masked the nefarious reemergence of Amelia's villainous arch nemesis, Sethos, the Master Criminal.

It's been too long since I read an Amelia Peabody mystery, especially given the events of the last couple of books. Now that I have rectified that oversight I have a small problem - well, two actually. The first is that I can't write this review without spoilers, so reader beware. The second problem is that this book really felt like an ending of a series, and yet I know that there are at least 6 books that have been published since this book. I may be speculating completely inaccurately here, but I wonder if the reason for this was in effect just in case, because when this book was published in 2000, the author Elizabeth Peters, was already 73 years old, and maybe each of the books will feel complete. Given that the author is still writing, I may be completely off base. Anyway..

Elizabeth Peters has said that the four books that started with Seeing a Large Cat and then continued with The Ape Who Guards the Balance, The Falcon at the Portal and culminates in the events of this book formed an internal quartet within the overall series, and they are four of the best books in the series that I have read so far. Throughout these four books there has been unrequited love, impulsive actions, nationalistic fervour, heroism, spying, danger, subterfuge.

Without doubt, the stand out character of this book is Ramses. I often say that Amelia is a very lucky woman to have Emerson as her husband, but if it is possible, Ramses is even more of a catch. Tall, dark, handsome, principled, heroic, loyal and dashing! What's not to like.

The plot of this book is actually quite complex, and is definitely not a place for a new reader to start this series. WWI is raging, but that doesn't stop the Emerson's from setting up camp to dig in Egypt. Amelia and Emerson should be overjoyed! They finally have managed to get permission to dig at the more glamourous fields than they usually get, mainly because so many of their archaeologist friends are either on the wrong side of the war, or otherwise occupied.

When they comes across an extraordinary find that doesn't fit where it is in terms of its location and age, Amelia begins to suspect that her old nemesis, Sethos, has taken advantage of the chaos in Egypt to return to Cairo. The question is what he is up to? He is not the only one who is up to something, because there is a movement growing to try and gain independence from Britain for Egypt, through any means they can. As the Emerson's find themselves drawn into a complex web of events, it becomes a matter of life and death for more than one member of the family.

There is finally resolution in terms of the issues between Nefret and Ramses, and the scenes where Amelia finally is confided in and told what has happened between the two of them are some of the best in the series. In this book we see a lot more of the mother in Amelia. For so long in the series, this particular aspect has seemed to be missing, or at least very well hidden, but with her family very much in danger, we do see an Amelia who is prepared to show how much she loves her family.

Given that this does feel like an ending it will be interesting to see where the series goes next, especially given that it would appear that the author will have to create a whole new set of opponents instead of relying on the already well established arch nemesis Sethos, and also the nasty cousin Percy.

Whereever Peters chooses to take us next in this series, I am totally along for the ride!

Master of Verona by David Blixt

In 1314, seventeen year old Pietro Alighieri travels to Verona with his father, the infamous poet Dante, at the invitation of its leader, the legendary Francesco “Cangrande” della Scala. A sneak attack from Padua leads Pietro into his first battle, fighting alongside the charismatic Cangrande, and into a tight friendship with Mariotto Montecchio and Antonio Capulletto. Behind the scenes, repeated attempts are made against the life of a child believed to be Cangrande’s illegitimate son and possible heir.

Pietro is drawn into the web of intrigue around the child and the tension building between Mariotto and Antonio over a woman betrothed to one and in love with the other – a situation that will sever a friendship, divide a city, and ultimately lead to the events of the best known tragic romance in the world.

Inspired by the plays of Shakespeare, the poetry of Dante, and the events of history, The Master of Verona is a compelling novel of politics, loyalty, conspiracy and star-crossed romance.

Sometimes it happens that I really love a book, but I still don't get around to writing a review for it straight away (or at all, but we won't think about all those unwritten reviews just now!). This is one of those books.

My interest was initially drawn to the idea of setting a book at the time of Romeo and Juliet, but this is much more than a retelling of that famous tale. It isn't even the main action within the novel, but it is an important component.

The story is more about Pietro Alighieri, son and reluctant heir to his father, the famous and controversial poet Dante Alighieri. I say reluctant because for many years Pietro was the second son of a famous man, not really expected to do much in terms of continuing his father's legacy, but with the death of his older brother, Pietro finds himself fulfilling a role that he is ill suited for.

He is given the chance to shine when he unexpectedly gets to fight with Francesco "Cangrande" della Scala, charismatic leader of Verona. This engagement also brings him into contact with his new best friends, Mario and Antonio. The boys are friends, but they are also competitors both in the contests of the Palio and for two of them, in love. This very first fight begins with a flying leap off of a balcony onto horseback - a very telling sign of the type of swashbuckling to come throughout the book!

Blixt skilfully deals with the historical figures of Dante and Cangrande, Shakespeare's famous love story, an intriguing suspense subplot plus provides the reader with an engaging, exciting and engrossing story with a large cast of well written characters.

There is lots of action in the pages between the battles and the pageantry associated with medieval Italy. For me, the highlight of the book is definitely the day of the Palio. The colour, the spectacle and the pageantry are incredibly detailed but also very readable with the naming of the new knights, the speech of the oracle where it is declared that "Verona will always be remembered for love" and the crazy midnight foot race where the participants all run naked through the streets coming to life vividly through the words on the page!

This is an excellent historical fiction debut, and I for one, am very much looking forward to reading the next book from David Blixt, which will pick up where the action of this book left off!

When it comes to grading books I think that I am an easy grader when it comes to 4/5 books, but very, very hard when it comes to 5/5 books. This book is one of only three 5/5 books so far this year! I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to read historical fiction.

HT News - Reading Challenges

Are you on the lookout for HF themed reading challenges? If yes, then the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge that is being hosted by Royal Reviews. The challenge runs from 1 January to 31 March, and you can get the details by clicking here.