Category: Historical fiction
-
Crow Court by Andy Charman – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB Spring, 1840. In the Dorset market town of Wimborne Minster, a young choirboy drowns himself. Soon after, the choirmaster—a belligerent man with a vicious reputation—is found murdered, in a discovery tainted as much by relief as it is by suspicion. The gaze of the magistrates falls on four local men, whose decisions will…
-
The Shape Of Darkness by Laura Purcell – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB Wicked deeds require the cover of darkness… A struggling silhouette artist in Victorian Bath seeks out a renowned child spirit medium in order to speak to the dead – and to try and identify their killers – in this beguiling new tale from Laura Purcell. Silhouette artist Agnes is struggling to keep her…
-
The Art Of Dying by Ambrose Parry – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB A gripping historical novel of medicine & murder from bestselling author Chris Brookmyre and consultant anaesthetist Dr Marisa Haetzman, set in nineteenth-century Edinburgh Edinburgh, 1849. Hordes of patients are dying all across the city, with doctors finding their remedies powerless. And a campaign seeks to paint Dr James Simpson, pioneer of medical chloroform,…
-
Letters From The Dead by Sam Hurcom – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB Sam Hurcom’s debut, A Shadow on the Lens, published last year and was described by The Guardian as ‘gothic, claustrophobic and wonderfully dark’. His second book, Letters From the Dead is a complete standalone but follows the same protagonist, Thomas Bexley, who is one of the world’s first forensic photographers. This is a…
-
The Smallest Man by Frances Quinn – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB I want you to remember something, Nat. You’re small on the outside. But inside you’re as big as everyone else. You show people that and you won’t go far wrong in life.’ A compelling story perfect for fans of The Doll Factory, The Illumination of Ursula Flight and The Familiars. My name is…
-
People Of Abandoned Character by Clare Whitfield – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB What would you do if you thought you had married a murderer? He is my husband. To honour and obey. Until murder do us part. London, 1888: Tormented by the death of her secret lover, Nurse Susannah Chapman rushes into marriage to a doctor. While attracted to her adoring, younger husband, she is…
-
Escaping The Whale by Ruth Rotkowitz – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB Escaping the Whale – bookdescription To everyone who knows her, 28-year-old Marcia Gold leads the perfect life. A good job as a high school guidance counselor specializing in helping pregnant teens as well as a handsome, successful boyfriend, she seems to have it all in 1980 Brooklyn, New York. However, beneath the shiny…
-
The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner – AUDIOBOOK Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable. One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England’s finest novelists. Now it’s home to a few distant relatives…
-
When We Fall by Carolyn Kirby – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB Based on the Katyn massacre of 1940, When We Fall is a moving historical novel of three lives forever altered by one fatal choice. April – May 2020 marks 80 years since the Katyn massacre and 10th April 2020 also marks the 10th anniversary of the airline crash that killed top Polish dignitaries…
-
The Museum Of Broken Promises by Elizabeth Buchan – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB Paris, today. The Museum of Broken Promises is a place of wonder and sadness, hope and loss. Every object in the museum has been donated – a cake tin, a wedding veil, a baby’s shoe. And each represent a moment of grief or terrible betrayal. The museum is a place where people come…
-
You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB A beautiful and heart-breaking story set in South Africa where two mothers – a century apart – must fight for their sons, unaware their fates are inextricably linked. Orange Free State, 1901. At the height of the Boer War, Sarah van der Watt and her six-year-old son Fred can only watch as the…
-
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB Drawing on Maggie O’Farrell’s long-term fascination with the little-known story behind Shakespeare’s most enigmatic play, HAMNET is a luminous portrait of a marriage, at its heart the loss of a beloved child. Warwickshire in the 1580s. Agnes is a woman as feared as she is sought after for her unusual gifts. She settles…
-
A Prison In The Sun by Isobel Blackthorn – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB A Prison in the Sun After millennial ghostwriter Trevor Moore rents an old farmhouse in Fuerteventura, he moves in to find his muse. Instead, he discovers a rucksack filled with cash. Who does it belong to – and should he hand it in… or keep it? Struggling to make up his mind, Trevor…
-
This Lovely City by Louise Hare – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB The drinks are flowing. The music’s playing. But the party can’t last. London, 1950. With the Blitz over and London still rebuilding after the war, jazz musician Lawrie Matthews has answered England’s call for help. Arriving from Jamaica aboard the Empire Windrush, he’s taken a tiny room in south London lodgings, and has…
-
This Lovely City by Louise Hare – Audiobook Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB The drinks are flowing. The music’s playing. But the party can’t last. London, 1950. With the Blitz over and London still rebuilding after the war, jazz musician Lawrie Matthews has answered England’s call for help. Arriving from Jamaica aboard the Empire Windrush, he’s taken a tiny room in south London lodgings, and…
-
The Foundling by Stacey Halls – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB A mother’s love knows no bounds. . . London, 1754. Six years after leaving her newborn, Clara, at London’t Foundling Hospital, young Bess Bright returns to reclaim the illegitimate daughter she has never really known. Dreading the worst – that Clara has died in care – the last thing she expects to hear…
-
A Shadow On The Lens by Sam Hurcom – Book Review (Now available in Paperback)
I originally posted this in September 2019, but as the marvellous book is now available in paperback, I’m just reposting….. PUBLISHERS BLURB The Postmaster looked over my shoulder. As I turned to look I saw a flicker of movement from across the street. I felt unseen eyes peer at me. He walked away without…
-
Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB The year is 1911 when twenty-year-old heiress Peggy Batternberg is invited to spend the summer in America’s Playground. The invitation to Coney Island is unwelcome. Despite hailing from one of America’s richest families, Peggy would much rather spend the summer working at the Moonrise Bookstore than keeping up appearances with New York City…
-
Where The Sun Will Rise Tomorrow by Rashi Rohatgi – Book Review.
PUBLISHERS BLURB It’s 1905, and the Japanese victory over the Russians has shocked the British and their imperial subjects. Sixteen-year-old Leela and her younger sister, Maya, are spurred on to wear homespun to show the British that the Indians won’t be oppressed for much longer, either, but when Leela’s betrothed, Nash, asks her to circulate…
-
The Unforgetting by Rose Black – Book Review
PUBLISHERS BLURB A story of the trappings of fame, magic and the power of illusion in Victorian London. Power, theatre and ghosts in a Victorian gothic historical, perfect for fans of The Silent Companions, The Night Circus and The Familiars. When Lily Bell is sold by her father to a ‘Professor of Ghosts’ to settle…
White Tulip Resin 