Ana's Best of 2013

I haven't read as much HF as I used to this past year but two books stand out in my reading. This The Seventh Etching by Judith K. White appealed to me because of its detailed account of Amsterdam in the 17th century. A very satisfying read!

The second book I enjoyed was Catarina Pereira Araujo's Além Tejo. Sadly still without an English edition this is a story set during the 50s in Alentejo, during the dictatorship. The author recognises influences of both Austen and Gaskell and the reader can easily recognise scenes of their better known books in this one. Just lovely really!

The Seventh Etching by Judith K. White

A historic family drama based in and near 1640 Amsterdam, the wealthiest city on earth at the time, The Seventh Etching tells the story of two families over a one-year period. Both Griet and Johannes Verhoeven, farmers, in their early 20’s and Jos and Myriam Broekhof, wealthy merchants in their 30’s, face devastating losses that threaten their livelihoods and their marriages. After a major flood, Griet and Johannes attempt to rebuild two combined family farms – a unique, promising inheritance that initially brought them together, but now overwhelms them. Myriam secretly sells her husband’s valuable art collection to build a hidden monument to her deceased daughter. Jos suffers despair and defeat as he combs every corner of the city in his obsessive attempt to complete a set of playfully erotic etchings. It is a six-year old Gypsy orphan, Nelleke, who connects the two couples. Sprightly and spirited, Nelleke both delights and exasperates. Might this mysterious child have the power to heal struggling adults and find the permanent home she seeks? Does she, innocently and unknowingly, hold the clue to the missing etching, as Jos suspects?"

A few months ago author Judith K. White offered me a copy of her book - The Seventh Etching - but,  due to some personal problems, I only managed to pick it up very recently.

I had no real expectation about what I was going to find when I opened this story and I am glad to report that I did enjoy it. Although at first it seemed that the action was going to be about the seventh etching of the title and Jos Broekhof search for it.  I think that, in the end, it is much more a portrait of the dutch society at the time. Both in the city and in the country with its different occupations and worries.

The little orphan Nelleke is the one who connects both worlds. We get to know about her when she is living with the aunt and uncle in their farm. When they start feeling she is too much for them to handle, her uncle takes her to Amsterdam's orphanage. The adaptation is not smooth but Nelleke soon continues to be the curious, lively child she has always been. I have to say that she was so lively, so full of questions, so full of life that at times I found her a bit annoying, she seemed a bit too perfect. But I really enjoyed reading about Amsterdam in the 17th century.

In the orphanage she meets Isabella, a young Spanish maiden who serves as a Big Sister to the children in her care. Isabella ended up in the orphanage after the ship where she sailed with her father went down at sea. Although she maintains a discreet presence due to the dutch /spanish wars she has no wish to go back to Spain and the arranged marriage that awaits her there.

She also meets the Broekhofs. Jos Broekhof is on a quest to find the missing etching of a prized collection that he bought from Nelleke's father. His obsession with the artistic designs will lead him to Rembrandt himself. But the little girl will also be his way back to the heart of his wife.

I really loved reading about these characters and the people they meet.  White gives a lot of attention to detail and it's like we are seeing the action unfold in front of us. In the end I think my main complaint about this story is that I felt I only glimpsed a bit of their lives and I wanted to know what hapened next in their lives. And if the small baby we meet at the beginning of the story will ever find out about his true parents.

A very pleasant read!

Grade: 4/5

A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson

In A Small Death in Lisbon, the narrative switches back and forth between 1941 and 1999, and Wilson's wide knowledge of history and keen sense of place make the eras equally vibrant. In 1941 Germany, Klaus Felsen, an industrialist, is approached by the SS high command in a none-too-friendly manner and is "persuaded" to go to Lisbon and oversee the sale--or smuggling--of wolfram (also known as tungsten, used in the manufacture of tanks and airplanes). World War II Portugal is neutral where business is concerned, and too much of the precious metal is being sold to Britain when Germany needs it to insure that Hitler's blitzkrieg is successful. Cut to 1999 Lisbon, where the daughter of a prominent lawyer has been found dead on a beach. Ze Coelho, a liberal police inspector who is a widower with a daughter of his own, must sift through the life of Catarina Oliviera and discover why she was so brutally murdered. Her father is enigmatic, her mother suicidal; her friends were rock musicians and drug addicts.

I have to admit I was a bit wary of trying something that is set so close to us in time. Although I do love to read about Portuguese history during the first and second world wars the revolution of 1974 seems still too close to us. However after reading so many good recommendations of this book, and knowing that it was a mystery which is one of my favourite genres, I finally decided to pick it up.

As mentioned in the blurb there are two story lines, one set during WWII and dealing with Portugal' role in providing wolfram for the Nazi war effort and another set in the 90's about the murder of a young girl in Cascais (a beach resort in the outskirts of Lisbon). The action set in the 90's is heavily influenced but the 1974 events and some of the characters are very much influenced by their role in the previous regime.

The problem that these types of books have is that, sometimes, one storyline is much more interesting than the other. And I have to say I was much more interested in what was happening in the girl's murder investigation than what was happening during the forties. That was mainly because I did like the character of Inspector Ze Coelho very much. Although Wilson doesn't get every detail right he does get a lot of the expressions we use, the food we eat, the times we spend at the cafe's and the personality a bit "saudosista", a bit living in the past, that we do have as nation.

I liked how well he draws the characters, even secondary characters that make small appearances, are given a lot of attention and makes for a richer story.  Wilson is excellent at keeping us interested and invested in finding out the culprit despite constantly jumping between periods. I think it was brilliant how he finally connected the dots – that is also what kept me turning the pages, to find out how the two storylines are related – but the ending did feel a bit rushed. Besides, Wilson manages to create some really disagreeable characters and when we finally unravel all that has happened I’ll admit that I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth.

In the end I thought that it was a good read. It did leave me curious to try more books by Wilson (there’s at least one more set in Portugal and others set in Seville that seem really interesting) and more books about WWII in Portugal.

 Grade: 4/5

Ana's Best Books of 2012

I haven't read as much HF as I thought this year and looking back at my reads there's only one book I gave 5* to - Kate Lord Brown's The Perfume Garden that made me research about the Spanish Civil War and haunted me for weeks afterwards. This was the book I mentioned last year in my "eagerly anticipating" post so we can say my expectations were fulfilled.

But there are a few more books that also deserve a mention because I found them very enjoyable:

Oleanna by Julie K. Rose

Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier

Defend and Betray by Anne Perry

A Christmas Odyssey by Anne Perry

A festive story of hope and redemption emerging from the depths of Victorian society. 1864, and on a bitter December night in Victorian London, one man longs for a Christmas miracle. The city is preparing for the holidays yet James Wentworth is unable to focus on anything other than the disappearance of his wayward son, Lucien. In desperation, he turns to his old friend Sir Henry Rathbone for help. Rathbone finds assistance in the shape of reformed criminal Squeaky Robinson and the enigmatic Doctor Crow and as the group's investigations take them deeper into the seedy underbelly of the capital they uncover a squalid world of illicit pleasures and a trail that leads them closer to the man they seek. But as they get nearer to their quarry, tales also begin emerge of Lucien's violent tendencies, his consuming obsession with a dangerous young woman and the disturbing Shadow Man. Can they bring Lucien home alive and if so, will it be a grave mistake for all concerned?

I love Anne Perry's Christmas stories. She is a wonderful writer and her characters always come alive. Besides she masters the Victorian setting like no one and it is not difficult to imagine in our heads the places that she describes. I found this one a bit different from her usual stories because it deals mostly with London's underworld and I wasn't familiar with most of the characters. In these stories she usually uses secondary characters from her other series, in this case the Monk series.

"Squeaky" Robinson, "Dr" Crow and the young Bessie are an odd set of characters that join Sir Henry Rathbone in trying to find his friend's son Lucien in time for him to spend Christmas with his family. Lucien has fallen prey of the worst vices and has disappeared in the city's shadiest neighbourhoods.

While they look for him we are treated to a tour of the London tunnels where every vice and perversion can easily be bought, where addicts beg for opium or cocaine and are kept under their dealers’ command. Perry's brilliant writing means that we can really imagine what it must have been to visit those places and meet such characters. Their search quickly turns into a murder mystery that they must solve before finding Lucien. And nothing guarantees that he will want, or that he will be allowed to, return home.

Although Perry's books are never light reads I found this one a bit darker than usual. I also missed not having a strong female character in the lead and I think that may have contributed to make it an even darker read. There's also the fact that here we are really shown the contrast between those living miserably on the streets and the affluent world of Sir Henry Rathbone. As with most of these Christmas stories it deals with guilt and an eventual redemption.

Although the story ends with a positive note there is no doubt that this is not your usual light and cosy Christmas read. It is, however, an interesting read and I did enjoy reading it.

Grade: 4/5

Previously posted at Aneca's World

The Widow's Redeemer by Philippa Jane Keyworth

A penniless young widow with an indomitable spirit. A wealthy viscount with an unsavory reputation. London, 1815: After her husband’s untimely death, Letty Burton comes up from the country with her domineering mother-in-law. Hiding a past she wishes to forget and facing an uncertain future, all she wants is to navigate London Society as a silent companion. A chance meeting with London’s most eligible bachelor sets in motion a series of events that will bring her quiet life under the unfriendly scrutiny of the ton. With the net of scandal, debts, and rivals closing in, will she let her dark past dictate her life forever? Will she learn to trust again? And most importantly, will she allow herself to love?

When I was offered a chance to read this book I couldn't resist it because it sounded just like the traditional regencies I used to read and love. It had a penniless widow and a confirmed rake which are common characters in this type of stories and I jumped right into it.

The story starts with Letty Burton becoming a widow. It is apparent from the beginning that she did not have a happy marriage with her husband and that he has left her with an amount of debts that leave her near destitute. She eventually goes to live with her sister in law and once that young woman also becomes a widow she moves to London with her mother in law.

I struggled a bit with the beginning of the story because I felt that Letty and Beauford take a long time to finally meet and actually speak to one another. I also had some trouble with the characters. Letty felt a bit too good to be true, she is dignified, understanding, patient and everyone trusts her after meeting her for two minutes… Regarding Beauford I was sorry not to know more about him, he seemed like an interesting character once we got past his arrogant ways. He is not exactly amiable from the start but he does improve as he gets closer to Letty. A character that I did love was Major Deverill, Letty's friend, I was sorry not to see his happy ending come about during the course of the story.

Despite these problems, I was interested in knowing how Keyworth would make them fall for each other after a tumultuous first meeting. She does tell us about it but I wish we had spent more time seeing their relationship develop. I was surprised that we are introduced to a new secondary character and a secondary plot at some point instead of gaining deeper knowledge of them. That only made sense to me when I read the Author’s Note at the end of the book where Keyworth explains that she based her story in the Bible's Book of Ruth and gives enough information so that we can compare both stories.

This is a type of story I enjoy and I while this one didn’t totally work for me I would be interested in reading more by the author. She did keep me interested in the story and the characters. If you like Traditional Regencies and stories based on the Bible this might be a good one for you.

Grade: 3/5

No Graves As Yet by Anne Perry

On a sunny afternoon in late June, Cambridge professor Joseph Reavley is summoned from a student cricket match to learn that his parents have died in an automobile crash. Joseph’s brother, Matthew, as officer in the Intelligence Service, reveals that their father had been en route to London to turn over to him a mysterious secret document—allegedly with the power to disgrace England forever and destroy the civilized world. A paper so damning that Joseph and Matthew dared mention it only to their restless younger sister. Now it has vanished.
What has happened to this explosive document, if indeed it ever existed? How had it fallen into the hands of their father, a quiet countryman? Not even Matthew, with his Intelligence connections, can answer these questions. And Joseph is soon burdened with a second tragedy: the shocking murder of his most gifted student, beautiful Sebastian Allard, loved and admired by everyone. Or so it appeared.
Meanwhile, England’s seamless peace is cracking—as the distance between the murder of an Austrian archduke by a Serbian anarchist and the death of a brilliant university student by a bullet to the head of grows shorter by the day.

I have been a big fan of Anne Perry's historical mysteries since I first discovered her books but so far my reads have been limited to her two 19th century London series and those titles Christmas spinoffs. She has however, written in different periods and settings and I am glad that this HT event has given me the opportunity to start her WWI series that starts with this title. The series is comprised of 5 books each of which set in one of the war years from 1914 to 1918.

As mentioned in the synopsis the story starts with Reverend Joseph Reavley, and his siblings Mathew, Judith and Hannah,  dealing with the sudden death of his parents. That they have met with an accident right after his father has talked with Mathew about a mysterious document that may change England's role in an upcoming conflict seemms like a weird and unfortunate coincidence till the two brothers discover evidence of foul play in their parents death...

Unable to discover the document Joseph returns to Cambridge where he is a professor only to be met with the murder of one of his students. In such a closed environment everyone suspects everyone and it seems Sebastien Allard wasn't such an upstanding young man as Joseph thought which might have led to his murder. Shocked and feeling a bit betrayed by his inability to see the victim clearly Joseph investigates what really happened and why.

I did enjoy the idea behind this series very much. I think Perry does a good job of telling the events that precede the War. The Irish problems and the Boer war are mentioned several times and the events in continental Europe described as they were happening. I think, however, that how she chose to tell her story made for a very slow paced action that might not appeal to everyone and that made it easy for me to leave the book aside for periods of time and pick others in between. 

I found that when Joseph focused in Sebastien's murder we almost lost sight of what had happened to his parents. However that should have been our primary concern as it seemed more relevant to the political situation. One could imagine that both cases were related but while I didn't find the conclusion as obvious as all that it also wasn't the big closure I was expecting. I did like that sense of security that is fast coming to an end that she manages to convey and the discussions on pacifism and idealism that the characters engage in. Perry leaves a big cliffhanger at the end but instead of annoying me it also made me want to pick up the next book and see how things develop. I hope it is as interesting, albeit more engaging, than this one...

You can find the other titles in the series here

Grade: 4/5

Ana's Favourite HF set in Portugal

When I first thought about compiling this list I realised that most of the books that came to mind hadn't been translated to English. Although historical fiction is currently one of the most visible trends in  portuguese bookstores, most of it is written by portuguese authors with no expression abroad. Since this is an english speaking blog I decided to choose books that can be readily available to english readers. With that in mind I hope you enjoy my suggestions...

Mariana by Katherine Vaz

This novel is based upon the true story of Mariana Alcoforado, sent to a convent during Portugal's revolt against Spain in the seventeenth century, where she conducts an all-consuming love affair with a French cavalry officer. After being abandoned, she writes him a series of passionate love letters--translated and included here--that become famous throughout Europe during her lifetime, and thereafter. Artists from the poet Rilke and the novelist Stendhal to the painters Matisse and Modigliani have made her one of the world's great romantic icons. 

Mariana Alcoforado is, along with Inês de Castro, one of the most famous portuguese romantic heroines. Katherine Vaz retells her story and the story of Portugal in the second half of the 17th century.



Baltazar and Blimunda by Jose Saramago

When King and Church exercise absolute power what happens to the dreams of ordinary people? In early eighteenth century Lisbon, Baltasar, a soldier who has lost a hand in battle, falls in love with Blimunda, a young girl with visionary powers. From the day that he follows her home from the auto-da-fe where her mother is condemned and burned at the stake, the two are bound body and soul by a love of unassailable strength. A third party shares their supper that evening: Pardere Bartolemeu Lourenco, whose fantasy is to invent a flying machine. As the inquisition rages and royalty and religion clash, they pursue his impossible, not to mention heretical, dream of flight. 

 One of the best stories by our Nobel Peace Prize. Just the fact that it is set in my hometown would be a reason to pick it up but the truth is that it is also a very good story. It is set in early 18th century during the construction of one of Portugal's most famous monuments, Mafra's Monastery

The Maias by Eça de Queiroz

Our hero Carlos Maia, heir to one of the greatest fortunes in Portugal, is rich, handsome, generous and intelligent: he means to do something for his country, something useful, something that will make his beloved grandfather proud. However, Carlos is also a bit of a dilettante. He drifts along, becoming a doctor and pottering about in his laboratory, but spends more and more time riding his splendid horses or visiting the theater, having affairs or reading novels. His best friend and chief partner in crime, Ega, is likewise engaged in a long summertime of witticisms and pleasure. Carlos however is set on a dead reckoning course with fate—with the love of his life and with a terrible, terrible secret... 

A mandatory read in high schools when I was growing up The Maias ended up being one of my favourite reads. I love Eça de Queiroz writing, a brilliant man writing about the social and political events of his time. In this book we also get many descriptions of Lisbon and places that still exist today.

Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi

Set in the sweltering summer of 1938 in Portugal, a country under the Fascist shadow of Spain, PEREIRA MAINTAINS tells a tale of reluctant heroism. Dr. Pereira, an editor at a second-rate Lisbon newspaper, wants nothing to do with European politics. He's happy to translate 19th-century French stories. His closest confidante is a photograph of his late wife. All this changes when he meets Francesco Monteiro Rossi, an oddly charismatic young man. Pereira gives Rossi work, and continues to pay him, even after discovering that he is using the money to recruit for the anti-Franco International Brigade. PEREIRA MAINTAINS chronicles Pereira's ascent to consciousness, culminating in a devastating and reckless act of rebellion.

The political awakening of an old journalist in the Lisbon under Salazar's opressive rule. Written by an Italian writer who chose Portugal as his adoptive country.


A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson

A Portuguese bank is founded on the back of Nazi wartime deals. Over half a century later a young girl is murdered in Lisbon. 1941. Klaus Felsen, SS, arrives in Lisbon and the strangest party in history where Nazis and Allies, refugees and entrepreneurs dance to the strains of opportunism and despair. Felsen's war takes him to the bleak mountains of the north where a brutal battle is being fought for an element vital to Hitler's blitzkrieg. Late 1990s, Lisbon. Inspector Ze Coelho is investigating the murder of a young girl with a disturbing sexual past. As Ze digs deeper he overturns the dark soil of history and unearths old bones. The 1974 revolution has left injustices of the old fascist regime unresolved. But there's an older, greater injustice for which this small death in Lisbon is horrific compensation, and in his final push for the truth, Ze must face the most chilling opposition.

The fact that Portugal was neutral during WWII meant that plenty of refugees ended up here, either to stay or to look for a way to continue their journey to America. Lisbon was also the meeting place of plenty or German and Allied spies. Robert Wilson's novel approaches that period and the post revolutionary decade in this intriguing murder mystery.

 After writing this post I realised that none of these books have been reviewed on HT and that maybe I should get to that. I would love to hear from you if you're read any of these and feel free to share your favourite portuguese HF if you have any!

Defend and Betray by Anne Perry

Although esteemed General Thaddeus Carlyon meets his death in a freak accident at home, his beautiful wife, Alexandra, confesses that she killed him. Monk, with the help of Hester and the brilliant counsel for the defence, Oliver Rathbone, work feverishly to break down the wall of silence raised by the accused and her husband’s proud family, culminating in a dramatic court room scene....

I've really enjoyed the books I read by Anne Perry and I can't wait to continue reading this series. The fact that there are so many books out only makes me more enthusiastic.

Although the summary above mentions Monk as the main detective in this case the truth is that Hester Latterly does most of the investigation. She has been employed to nurse a military man who has broken his leg and, when she story opens, she is waiting to meet her friend Edith Sobell. Edith is General Carlyon's sister and she asks Hester's hell in finding a good lawyer for her sister-in-law Alexandra after she confesses to killing her husband. Hester finds Rathbone who, in turn, hires Monk to find out what really happened.

Although at first the characters entertain the idea that Alexandra may have confessed to protect the real killer, it is soon apparent that she is the only one with opportunity to do it. So the investigation ends up not being about whom but about the why as no one believes the reason Alexandra gives.

While Monk is the one hired to discover the truth he keeps getting distracted with memories from his past. Visiting Alexandra Carlyon in prison makes him remember another woman in the same circumstances. A woman he can't remember the name but that he knows he cared about deeply. So the main investigation gets a bit side tracked while he goes off to discover who the woman is. I can't help but enjoying the way Perry makes Monk discover his past, he keeps discovering he may not have been a very good person and feels ashamed and embarrassed by it. We are yet to find out what turned him into someone different.

So, it is Hester, due to her ties with the Carlyons who ends up discovering the secrets that are the key to Alexandra's behaviour. I really enjoyed the whole investigative details, how we are given clues throughout the book that make sense in the end, but I especially liked the scenes in the courtroom. Rathbone is a very good lawyer and Perry is excellent at describing these scenes, it felt we were with Hester and Monk sitting right there and watching the jury reach their conclusions.

As usual I think she does a really good job with the atmosphere of the period and inserting details of social, military and economic history. She really brings the period to life. She teases us a bit with a romance between Rathbone and Hester but then, right at the end, it seems it is Monk that is looking at Hester with new eyes. Looking forward to see that development.

Grade: 4.5/5

The Secret of Ravelstone by Sergio Silveira

Jane Freemont is a British young lady with a very big problem. She is a modern girl…but she lives in early 19th Century. Jane has a critical, inquiring mind that is always ready to state her honest opinions- no matter whom she may inconvenience. This causes the young gentlemen to run away from her- for men surely can welcome women’s criticism so much more than they do. But that’s our loss. Jane’s older brother, and only living relative, has sent her to live far away where he believes her critical and inquiring mind will no longer create problems for him. But as Jane arrives in beautiful Ravelston, she becomes determined to discover the fate of another, yet much less privileged, young woman who has mysteriously vanished. In Ravelston no one seems to care about what happened to Mary Hale, who was seen as unimportant because she was poor. But Jane will risk everything, even her future, to find out the truth. And Jane will discover that powerful love, when not accepted in oneself, can be the cruelest thing there is.

Besides historical fiction, mysteries and thrillers are my favourite reading genre. The Secret of Ravelstone seemed to combine those two genres so I just couldn't resist it.

As the story begins Jane Freemont has been sent to live with her uncle, the Rector of Ravelstone. She is intrigued by the town; a part of it is boarded up, and immediately senses a mystery in the disappearance of former servant Mary Hale. No one seems to be really to tell her about Mary Hale's fate and her uncle is acting a bit weird so when she is invited by Lady Ravelstone to spend some time at her home she jumps at the chance. There she is introduced to the Lady's son, Andrew, and her niece Carla. She enjoys the novelty of her new friends, Andrew is a sort of dark and brooding young man that seems fated to become Jane's romantic interest, but when she overhears some of the servants speaking of Mary Hale she can't but continue her investigation.

Jane seemed really young to me, she sounded a bit naive and immature to me although she meant well. I had some trouble getting into the story because the pace is a bit slow in the beginning. It is apparent that something did happen but no one wants to talk about it and Jane spends too much time talking to herself. I thought it dragged for too long...

The action does pick up towards the end, the descriptions become more vivid and the action more fluid as Jane gets closer to the truth and finds out that really happened to Mary and the town. I really enjoyed that ending and the supernatural twist gave it an interesting touch.

Fans of YA historical mysteries might want to try this one...

Grade: 3.5/5

The Secret Keeper by Sandra Byrd

Juliana St. John is the daughter of a prosperous knight in Marlborough. Though her family wants her to marry the son of her father’s business partner, circumstances set her on a course toward the court of Henry VIII and his last wife, Kateryn Parr.Sir Thomas Seymour, uncle of the current heir, Prince Edward, returns to Wiltshire to tie up his business with Juliana’s father’s estate and sees instantly that she would fit into the household of the woman he loves, Kateryn Parr. Her mother agrees to have her placed in the Parr household for “finishing” and Juliana goes, though perhaps reluctantly. For she knows a secret. She has been given the gift of prophecy, and in one of her visions she has seen Sir Thomas shredding the dress of the king’s daughter, the lady Elizabeth, to perilous consequence.

The Tudors have been a lasting and prolific trend in current historical fiction themes and I have to say that I am ready to give them a rest. However sometimes a Tudor novel comes along that makes me curious and interested in reading it and that was the case with Sandra Byrd's The Secret Keeper. The fact that it was about Kateryn Parr (that's how the author spells it) and that the blurb hints at the relationship between Thomas Seymour and Princess Elizabeth was enough to grab my interest.

I am happy to say that I did enjoy reading it. The main character is a young woman - Juliana St John - who as recently lost her father and has a less than warm relationship with her mother. She is taken to live in Kateryn Parr's household by Lord Thomas Seymour. Juliana occasionally has prophetic dreams and the latest one she had is precisely about Seymour...

I did like Juliana; she was level headed, sometimes too eager to please but always friendly to everyone. She lives in a dangerous world though and is not immune to the bad things that occasionally happen to good people. She develops a relationship with Kateryn Parr that is similar to a mother / daughter relationship, and ends up following her from Lord Latimer's household to Henry VIII's court, as she becomes his last queen, and later on when she marries Lord Thomas Seymour.

I find that, in a general way, I am much more able to enjoy HF when the main character is a fictional one living in the real world than when it is a real person, especially if I already know something about them. Though Juliana's eyes we see Parr as a distinguished woman determined to fulfill her duty but also a woman of faith and a prolific writer who tries to influence her king and faces danger for her beliefs. She is much more than just the one who survived... I really enjoyed this outlook on the political and religious problems of the time; they were the perfect background to the story of Juliana’s growth, her friendship with the queen and her romance with a young gentleman of Lord Thomas Seymour household.

Sadly Parr’s love for Seymour makes her blind to his faults and easy to manipulate...as Juliana realises. Tragically Kateryn Parr dies less than a week after giving birth to her daughter from child bed fever. Whatever happened to her daughter is a bit of a mystery and Sandra Byrd's final twist gives us at least a very satisfying conclusion.

An interesting read with a fresh heroine and an intriguing plot that I would recommend even if you think you are done with the Tudors.

Grade: 4/5

Oleanna by Julie K. Rose

Set during the separation of Norway from Sweden in 1905, this richly detailed novel of love and loss was inspired by the life of the author's great-great-aunts.
Oleanna and her sister Elisabeth are the last of their family working their farm deep in the western fjordland. A new century has begun, and the world outside is changing, but in the Sunnfjord their world is as small and secluded as the verdant banks of a high mountain lake. With their parents dead and their brothers all gone to America, the sisters have resigned themselves to a simple life tied to the land and to the ghosts of those who have departed.
The arrival of Anders, a cotter living just across the farm's border, unsettles Oleanna's peaceful but isolated existence. Sharing a common bond of loneliness and grief, Anders stirs within her the wildness and wanderlust she has worked so hard to tame. When she is confronted with another crippling loss, Oleanna must decide once and for all how to face her past, claim her future, and find her place in a wide new world.

I am always curious about historical fiction novels set in countries that I am less familiar with. When I found out that Oleanna was set in Norway at the beginning of the last century I just couldn't resist it.

Oleanna is the name of the main character - a woman nearing thirty who has seen most of her family members die and her older brother leave to America. She stayed behind with her sister Elizabeth and a younger brother but now he wants to leave too. The two women will be forced to work the farm by themselves and none is too pleased about it.

I felt that Oleanna was a book about restlessness. About wanting to leave, to get to know new horizons but also about wanting to stay where your roots are. Sometimes you have to leave so that you can come back and stay.

Oleanna feels betrayed because her brother wants to leave but she also feels that she would like to know other places. To her restlessness and anxiety also contributes the fact that she still isn't at peace with how her mother died and that she is developing some feelings for her neighbor Anders Samuelsson.

I did like Oleanna. Her sense of duty kept her going even when she didn't feel like it. I could understand her occasional exasperation with her sister and her sense of betrayal when she felt that Anders was leaving her too. She and Elizabeth cope with their losses in different ways and it was nice to feel that they had both grown up during the course of the story. I never quite understood Elizabeth’s relationship with Torjus father though, or how they had ended up how they were when the book starts.

I enjoyed the glimpse we had of life in an isolated fiord's farm in the beginning of the 1900s, of the political circumstances of the separation of Norway and Sweden and had some fun with Oleanna's introduction to women's rights. I liked the sense of isolation they had on the farm and how that may lead them to feel isolated has individuals.

I closed this story with a satisfied sigh and I wish I could read a bit more about Oleanna and know a bit more about her life after she and Elizabeth had found their happiness.

I really enjoyed Julie K. Rose's writing style and how she made characters and landscape come alive.

Grade: 4.5/5

Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier

I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to read du Maurier's Hungry Hill. I wanted to read something different from her best known works and thought that a family saga might make an interesting story.

Well... it did! An interesting, but, also a tragic and depressing story. The story of the Brodrick family and their life in Ireland from 1820 to 1920. The story opens with the patriarch John Brodrick, called Copper John. However we immediately know that the family has been in Ireland for a few generations and that one of the Brodrick man ended up being killed by a member of the Donovan family and the feud is still very much open. In fact one could say that the story begins with a Donovan cursing Copper John and all his children.

I tell you your mine will be in ruins and your home destroyed and your children forgotten ...but this hill will be standing still to confound you.

Copper John is a man of progress. He lives in Clonmere with his five children and has decided he will open a mine on Hungry Hill. Although the land belongs to his partner it is Copper John who runs the mine and makes it a success. Hungry Hill ends up being their fortune.

However the Brodricks are never well accepted by the locals. Something neither Copper John nor Henry, his oldest son, are very worried about but that his second son, John. soon realises and feels uncomfortable with. Trouble with the miners leads Henry to fall ill and eventually die. John becomes his father heir but he is only interested in his dogs. Even after he marries and has children his interest is only in what gives him pleasure and he leaves all boring and tiresome decisions to his carefree and temperamental wife Fanny Rosa. It is an interesting thing that John seems like a sympathetic character in the beginning. He understands the way the locals think and anticipates the troubles his father is going to have. But he becomes more and more of a dreamer and his marriage makes him even more selfish and detached from the reality he finds tiresome.

John also dies young. He tries to end the feud with the Donovans and catches diphtheria. His children are still young and are left in the care of their mother. It is his oldest son, Johnnie, who eventually succeeds Copper John. The mines are still making them rich and Johnnie, a bit the image of his own mother, thinks only of his own pleasure. He lacks any self-control, which brings him very little friends and it is only when he falls in love with his brother Henry's fiancée that he realises he leads an empty life. He makes friends with the Donovans and once again that association does not end well. It seems the Donovans never forget which side they are on despite the Brodricks trying to end the feud. Johnnie eventually dies of an alcohol overdose...

It's his brother Henry that becomes the head of the family. Nothing like Johnnie he is profoundly in love with his wife and cares for his children and his business. One can say that if his father's marriage made him a worse person, Henry's marriage made him a better one. When his wife dies giving birth to their fourth child he is unable to cope with the reality of his life without her. His second marriage ruins his relationship with his children, with his friends and leaves only a shrewd and cold businessman.

His son Hal, enjoyed a close relationship with his mother and ends feeling rejected by his father. He knows his father thinks of him as a failure and the insecurity that comes out of that never lets him pursue his dream of painting and eventually sees him as a clerk in his own family's company. And once again it is a Donovan that leads to his death, still has a young man. He has time to see the mine come to an end though; other markets and raw materials make it unprofitable and after being sold the mine at Hungry Hill is finally closed.

We next see Hal's son, who was two when his father died, go back to the family home as an adult. He happens to find himself drinking with the wrong company in a period of civil war and the Donovan curse that started this story is finally fulfilled and his home his destroyed. Would the Brodrick family fate have been different had Copper John asked the Hill for permission before opening the mine?

I loved du Maurier's writing and I suppose that is what made the difference in a story where there are so few nice characters and quite a number of them are nasty villains. The richest the Brodrick men become the weaker and tortured they seem to become too. But she made me interested and engaged in what happened to them and I could easily have kept on reading for another generation or two.

The Perfume Garden by Kate Lord Brown

High in the hills of Valencia, a forgotten house guards its secrets. Untouched since Franco's forces tore through Spain in 1936, the whitewashed walls have crumbled, the garden, laden with orange blossom, grown wild. Emma Temple is the first to unlock its doors in seventy years. Guided by a series of letters and a key bequeathed in her mother's will, she has left her job as London's leading perfumier to restore this dilapidated villa to its former glory. It is the perfect retreat: a wilderness redolent with strange and exotic scents, heavy with the colours and sounds of a foreign time. But for her grandmother, Freya, a British nurse who stayed here during Spain's devastating civil war, Emma's new home evokes terrible memories. As the house begins to give up its secrets, Emma is drawn deeper into Freya's story: a story of crushed idealism, of lost love, and of families ripped apart by war. She soon realises it is one thing letting go of the past, but another when it won't let go of you.

There are two stories in The Perfume Garden. The story of Emma, set in 2001, and the story of Freya (Emma's grandmother), Rosa and Macu, set in 1937. Emma is going through a difficult period in her life. She separated from her long term boyfriend, Joe, after finding out that he was cheating on her with a close friend and business partner. Her late mother left her company to the three of them and the two then decided to sell it without consulting Emma.. To make matters worse when her mother died, Emma and Joe gave in to the unresolved feelings between them and Emma is now pregnant. When Joe is killed on 9/11 Emma feels it is time to make a fresh start and prepare to receive her baby. Armed with a box of letters that her mother wrote to be opened after her death she decides to move to Spain, to Valencia, where her mother left her a house, the Villa del Valle.

  

In 1937 Freya and her brother Charles are in Spain to help fight fascism. She is a nurse caring for the wounded on the Republican side and he is a photographer and a soldier. It's through their eyes that we see many of the famous characters of the time: Hemingway, Capra, Gerda Taro... all fascinating people who were risking their lives fighting for a cause they believed in and to tell the world what was happening in Spain. In fact some of them lost their lives doing just that... Rosa is Jordi del Valle's girlfriend, she has fought with him in Madrid for the Republican side but she is pregnant and he decides to take her to Valencia and leave her in the care of his brother Vicente. Macu is there to help her around the house and they form a friendship that will later include Freya.

 In modern day Valencia, Emma realises that there is some sort of secret about the house she is now living in and renovating. Her grandmother Freya doesn't want to talk about the house or about the time that she spent in Spain, and the people she meets in Valencia also don't seem too eager to tell her about who lived in the house. At the same time, the woman that Joe left her for, finds out that she is pregnant and decides to follow her to Valencia

I loved it how Kate Lord Brown slowly feeds us the information about what happened to the characters during the Spanish civil, I loved how it is obvious that she made a great deal of research and managed to share a wealth of information through what her characters did, felt and suffered. I have to say that I was much more interested in what was going on in 1937 than what was going on with Emma. But the author managed to take Emma on a journey about rediscovering her roots and it felt as if I was right there with her finding out, bit by bit, what had happened to Rosa and Jordi and Macu. When Emma finds Macu, she doesn't realise that she is the one that can tell her all the secrets, but we do. And I kept wishing that they would finally sit down and actually talk about the past, especially when Emma starts to realise that those secrets have something to do with her.

  

I highly recommend this book to everyone who likes a good story with strong female characters and I especially recommend it to those with an interest in modern Spanish history. The Civil War and what happened afterwards are still open wounds in Spain's society. I don't think that having a "pact of silence" about it helped. The victims and their families deserve to be remembered, not forgotten. And keeping the memory alive, in historical records as in historical fiction, is one way to prevent the past from repeating itself.

Grade: 5/5

Strongbow: The Story of Richard and Aoife by Morgan Llywelyn

In a desperate attempt to reclaim his lost kingdom, Aoife's father offers her in marriage to Strongbow, son of the Anglo-Norman conqueror Lord Pembroke. This dramatic portrait of a fierce warrior who sought glory in a hostile foreign land and his wild Irish princess is an epic saga of love, war, and survival in 12th-century Ireland.

I first read about Richard and Aoife in Denee Cody's The Conquered Heart. I loved it! A historical romance that had real characters and a real historic setting? Just what I love the most. I set about researching everything I could about them to see if what I had read was real or not. I didn't find much and what I found was mostly courtesy of Wikipedia.

A few years later I found the books of Elizabeth Chadwick. I love her books, have been reading them as they are published and she is one of my favourite authors. You can see how thrilled I was when I saw Richard and Aoife's daughter as one of the main characters in a couple of her books. I loved those books but I still wanted more about Strongbow. I was quite happy when I discovered this book existed and quickly managed to get my hands on it.

The book is written, both from Richard and Aoife's point of view, in alternate chapters. It depicts first Richard's childhood and young adult years. His relationship with his father, and how that will influence him for the rest of his life, his relationship with his father. Then Aoife's relationship with her own father, a man with a fearless reputation but apparently very close to his children.

When Dermot MacMurrough, Aoife's father needs help to regain power and lands in his native Ireland he goes to England in search of a champion. To convince Richard he promises him what he cherishes the most, Aoife and his own kingdom after his death. Aoife isn't as happy as her father with the bargain but she eventually agrees to the marriage. She and Richard will fight and conquer both the lands and power that her family and his will wanted.

While it was nice to have an overview of events, the book is small and it covers a long period of time, I would have preferred to have more detailed information about, not only their relationship, but also about the daily aspects of their everyday life. The differences between Norman and Irish ways and their adjustment to each other and their new life. It also the first I heard of Richard’s first marriage and children and of him and Aoife having boys. I was under the impression he had only one son, who died early, and Eve, who became William Marshall’s wife…

I wonder if this is a good example of Llywelyn’s work? I’ve heard of her before but mostly in connection with Lion of Ireland, her book about Brian Boru.

I will continue to look out for books about Richard and Aoife. A couple of years ago I reread The Conquered Heart and, after all the meatier medieval reading I had been doing it seemed lighter and more romancified than what I remembered. I guess my hope is that Elizabeth Chadwick will eventually think of them as main characters for one of her books. That would make me really happy!

Grade: 4/5

One Night to Remember by Kristin Miller

First class clothing designer Elizabeth Scott isn’t all that she appears. She may be elegant and poised on the outside, dining with the richest on the ship, but she’s hiding a dark secret within.

Thieves boarded the Titanic, too…

Officer Thomas McGuire is as honest as they come. Working to make a decent living on the ship of dreams, he can’t believe his eyes when the most striking lady he’s ever seen steals from another first class passenger. As the night goes on, Thomas must decide whether he plans to arrest or seduce Elizabeth and she’s not making it easy on him—the heat sparking between their bodies is unlike anything either of them has ever known.

Time is running out…

The Titanic is sinking fast, with little more than an hour before it settles on the ocean floor. Although Elizabeth has finally met a true gentlemen, one who gazes upon her with total adoration and fulfills her deepest fantasies, he insists on helping other passengers until the last minute, even if that means going down with the ship.

There is much at stake—not only their lives, but their only chance at true love.

A historical romance set aboard the Titanic, One Night to Remember has, I think, one fatal flaw. It is too short! It is written as a novella and to make things work in a shorter format you night a very tight story. Unfortunately that does not happen here.

The blurb practically says everything about the story. In fact he does give more details than I found in the story. It's difficult to care for the characters because we don't really get to know them enough. It's also not easy to understand their actions for the same reason. The story begins with Thomas chasing Elizabeth through the corridors of the ship and suddenly they are madly in love and falling into bed together. Besides lust, there doesn't seem to be an explanation for it.

I think the premise could actually be a good story, a first class passenger stealing from the rich to give to the ones in steerage. The conflict between her and the official who catches her. But there's too much we don't understand. Where did Elizabeth meet those people; is that family the only she is helping or there are others? And why doesn't she think about them anymore after the ship sinks? And why is she on board in the first place?

Regarding the sinking itself I think Miller described it competently and managed to add a few moving details. There's an author's note where she mentions that she is a Titanic lover. I think this might have been her celebration of the centennial but I wish her love of it would have been translated into a stronger story.

Grade: 2.5/5

Hearts That Survive, a novel of the Titanic by Yvonne Lehmann

On April 15, 1912, Lydia Beaumont is on her way to a new life with a boundless hope in love and faith. Her new friendship with Caroline Chadwick is bonded even more as they plan Lydia’s wedding on board the “grandest ship ever built.” Then both women suffer tragic losses when the “unsinkable” Titanic goes down. Can each survive the scars the disaster left on their lives?

Decades later, Alan Morris feels like a failure until he discovers he is the descendant of an acclaimed, successful, heroic novelist who went down with the Titanic. Will he find his identity with the past, or will he listen to Joanna Bettencourt, Caroline’s granddaughter, who says inner peace and success come only with a personal relationship with the Lord?

Will those who survived and their descendants be able to find a love more powerful than their pain?

I have to start by saying that Christian fiction is not usually a genre I read. Still, I was looking for Titanic themed books and decided to give it a try. I don't think the blurb above correctly describes what the book is all about. It covers the beginning and the end but there are a lot more things happening in between.

The story starts on the Titanic. Lydia Beaumont is aboard with the man she loves, John Ancell, and the man her father wants her to marry, Craven Dowd. She is a rail road heiress and Ancell has a more modest living but when she discovers she is expecting his child, they decide to marry on board. They do it and a few hours later the Titanic hits the iceberg and tragedy follows. Caroline Chadwick is Lydia's friend. She is also aboard with her husband and her maid.

When both their husbands die that night Lydia and Caroline form a bond. They remain friends despite leading very different lives. Lydia ends up marrying Craven Dowd and Caroline goes to Halifax, first to recognise her husband's body and then because that is where she finds a purpose for her life and love. The sinking of the Titanic, and their actions after the tragedy, will influence their lives and those of their children. And that was the most interesting thing for me. The lives of the several generations and what happened to all of them.

The scenes on the Titanic end up being just a small part of the story. I did like how the sinking was described, although there were several points of view, I think that added an urgency and confusion to those scenes that probably were very close to the real thing. I also liked the final moments of several of the characters very much, they were emotional and sensitive.

However I didn't like John Ancell and Lydia at all. He was too preachy; finding out you are going to be a father and, as a response, tell the future mother to go read a psalm sounded really odd. Lydia seemed to me a spoiled young girl. What she does with Craven after they reach New York and marry was totally wrong morally speaking. After all that talk of God it seemed wrong to have her act that way. I also didn't understand the author's intention with Craven. At first he is portrayed as a bit of a villain and then he ends up as the wronged husband who still behaves honourably and does not punish the innocent.

I much preferred Caroline! Her problems with her husband, her relationship with the Stanton-Jones children and with her maid... How things happened slower with her, how she also found a purpose in life after the tragedy and someone to share it with. The importance of God in one's life is also very much present but in a more fluid way. Through her and her story we are also treated to a part of Canadian history.

But this is just half of it as the book then follows the next generation and the influence that the tragedy had in them. I thought some of them were a bit exaggerated (one character too rich and successful, another too discouraged and beaten by his circumstances) but there was definitely a good story here. With the above mentioned flaws but an interesting story.

Grade: 4/5

Titanic, The Long Night by Diane Hoh

Two teenagers discover true love aboard the doomed ocean liner

Elizabeth Farr never wanted to return to America. During her family’s vacation abroad, she has fallen in love with England, and is despondent when her father refuses to let her stay. Returning to New York means having her debut into society, and that means a swiftly arranged marriage. Elizabeth will never go to college, never learn to be a reporter—as she sees it, her life is over as soon as the Titanic reaches port. Of course, if she’s unlucky, her life will be over far sooner than that.

As Elizabeth and her family settle into their first-class cabins, Katie Hanrahan, a young Irish girl with dreams of finding fortune in America, makes her way to a steerage berth. Both girls have plans for the future, but love and death are about to intervene.

Titanic, The Long Night is a very nice YA story focusing on the lives of four young passengers on board the Titanic.

The main character is Elizabeth Farr, a first class passenger, travelling with her parents. Elizabeth main problems are convincing her parents that she wants to go to Vassar instead of marrying the man they want her to marry. Also in first class is Max Whittaker, returning to New York after studying art in Paris, he had a falling out with his parents about what he wants to do in life and can only afford first class because his grandmother sent him the ticket. Also aboard are third class passengers Katie Hanrahan and Paddy Kelleher who plan to find themselves a new life in America.

Both girls are aware of each other but they never interact. Each has its own trials to face, namely finding love, and their story serves to show us how the different classes were organised aboard and the different priorities these people had.

With a simple, straight story, Hoh keeps us interested while she relates the details of the unsinkable ship and what happened during those days on the sea till tragedy occurred. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the long night, as the title puts it. One can almost feel the anxiety of some and the obliviousness of others regarding what was really happening. As a curiosity I should mention that one of the secondary characters, a Mrs. Molly Brown, was a real person and an actual passenger of the ship. We will have more information about her later in the week.

Without overdosing on the historical details Titanic, The Long Night makes for the perfect introduction to what happened to the Titanic. While it is young adult it can also be pleasant literature for all ages.

Grade: 4/5

Ana's Best Books of 2011

My life went through some big changes this year and, unlike previous years, I read very little. None of my reads were truly exceptional but I would like to mention two books that were my favourite historical fiction reads in 2011:

The Black Pearl by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles - The Morland dinasty series has a huge amount of books and I am still in the first volumes. I have been enjoying learning about british history through their story and it's definetely a series I would like to continue reading. You can find my review here.

A Vision of Light by Judith Merkle Riley - I really enjoyed reading the story of Margaret of Ashbury. It's a book I postponed reading several times because a few years ago I tried another one by Merkle Riley and it didn't appeal to me. Now I'm glad that I finally took the plunge and read it because the other two books in the trilogy about Margaret of Ashbury just went into my wish list. You can find my review here.

As you can easily guess from my choices I didn't read any recent books. Sadly I didn't even manage to read the book I was eagerly anticipating at the end of last year - Elizabeth Chadwick's Lady of the English. To read it is going to be one of my goals for 2012. 

Envious Casca by Georgette Heyer

Murder Comes Home For Christmas

The halls of Lexham Manor were decked with holly, the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, and the old Scrooge who owned the estate was stabbed in the upstairs bedroom. For Inspector Hemingway of Scotland Yard 'twas the season to find whodunit. All six holiday guests had a motive to commit murder. But not one of them could have entered the locked room to do it. And Hemingway soon discovered that this time the proof wasn't in the pudding. It was a turkey of a play, a ham performer, and a plum of an inheritance...

Although I consider myself a Georgette Heyer fan the truth is that, till now, I had only read some of her Regencies and Georgian novels. This was my first mystery by her and presents a totally different style. It's a contemporary (it was first published in 1941) whodunit!

Several members of the Herriard family and their friends meet at an english country house to celebrate Christmas. While they all attend, no one seems particularly fond of the others or happy to be spending time in their company. The head-of-the family, and owner of the country house, is a tyrannical old man who doesn't seem to get along with his family members. In fact when he is found dead in a locked room it seems many of them had a reason for murder. Enter Inspector Hemingway and a few fellow policemen to interrogate everyone and solve the case.

Despite loving mysteries, and most of the other Heyer's I've read I have to confess that this was not an easy read. I had some trouble at first remembering all the characters and their relationship with each other and the dead man. Then the characters were disagreeable and quarrelsome, the servants were equally disagreeable and uninteresting and I actually had to force myself to continue reading.

I am glad that I did though because in the end I rather liked the way how Inspector Hemingway found the culprit. I am sorry though that we didn't get to spend more time with him. I like to have a main character that I may like and follow through the story and he was the prime candidate, as the one investigating, but we never get more than a glimpse of his past life.

The final twist with the book connection was quite funny though, it felt the answer was there all along and we were just too blind to see it. And that not everyone was as silly as it seemed.

I do plan to read other Heyer mysteries in the future but I do hope they will be easier reads than this one and with more interesting stories.

Grade: 3/5