Tag: historical fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Housekeepers – Alex Hay

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When Mrs King, housekeeper to the most illustrious home in Mayfair, is suddenly dismissed after years of loyal service, she knows just who to recruit to help her take revenge.

A black-market queen out to settle her scores. An actress desperate for a magnificent part. A seamstress dreaming of a better life. And Mrs King’s predecessor, who has been keeping the dark secrets of Park Lane far too long.

Mrs King has an audacious plan in mind, one that will reunite her women in the depths of the house on the night of a magnificent ball – and play out right under the noses of her former employers…

THEY COME FROM NOTHING. BUT THEY’LL LEAVE WITH EVERYTHING.

A note from the author… I love books full of big houses, broken families, loyal friendships and wild ambitions – textured with all the glorious sights, scents and sounds of the past. When I started The Housekeepers, I was itching to write a novel set in the early 1900s, to revel in the era’s extraordinary opulence, scrappy characters, remarkable flashes of modernity, and layers of corruption that exist just underneath the polished exterior. I’d also always adored the slick engineering of a juicy heist plot, and was longing to try and write one of my own. I was washing the dishes – apt, in hindsight – when it occurred to me that the marbled drawing rooms and glittering saloons of Edwardian London had all the gumption and gloss of a Las Vegas casino, and could make the perfect backdrop for a high-stakes heist. My mind’s eye turned slowly to a green baize door, and a cast of servants began sidling out of the shadows, each with their own desire for revenge… I’ve been asked why I turned to an alliance of women to lead the cast of The Housekeepers, and it’s a good question, and one I’ve considered myself too. The truthful answer is that I never really saw this tale any other way; the decision was instinctive. I love Mrs King and her gang – they feel a bonedeep desire to imprint themselves on the world and the systems that marginalise them, as I think many of us do. The Housekeepers is, of course, a work of fiction, but the glittering Park Lane mansion at the heart of this story is inspired by extraordinary houses that once stood all around the wealthiest parts of West London. Stand outside the present-day Dorchester Hotel and you can still glimpse Stanhope House, turreted and gargoyled, commissioned for soap manufacturer Robert William Hudson in 1899. It faced 25 Park Lane, a luxury townhouse built for Barney Barnato, a music-hall actor who made an eyewatering fortune in diamond-mining before dying mysteriously at sea. These were homes built for rich and powerful men, containing the most decadent and costly treasures, attended to by a seemingly endless supply of obedient servants. But just imagine what might have happened if some of those working below stairs had decided to claim a little of that power for themselves.

Alex Hay grew up in Cambridge and Cardiff and has been writing as long as he can remember. He studied History at the University of York, and wrote his dissertation on female power at royal courts, combing the archives for every scrap of drama and skulduggery he could find. He has worked in magazine publishing and the charity sector, and is a graduate of the Curtis Brown Write Your Novel course. The Housekeepers is his debut novel and won the Caledonia Novel Award 2022. Alex lives with his husband in South East London. T: @AlexHayBooks I: @AlexHayBooks Website: alexhaybooks.com #TheHousekeepers

My thoughts: this was very good, really enjoyable and clever. I loved Mrs King and her gang of actors, thieves and reprobates. They decide to turn the tables on the people they’ve worked for, the ones who could barely be bothered to acknowledge them most of the time, one servant’s the same as any other. But they know all of your secrets and that knowledge means everything.

The plan is incredibly complex and so well done, pulled off with great flair and leaving the “Upstairs” crowd completely unaware of what’s gone on right under their noses. Never underestimate a housekeeper who’s had enough.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own

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Book Review: Come November – Scott Lord

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It’s November, 1947, and Jeanne and John, two newspaper journalists, fall in young love as they travel from Chicago to New York to witness the momentous vote of the United Nations to partition Palestine and create the State of Israel. When they discover an assassination plot meant to swing the outcome, they must put their personal lives on hold and race the clock to stop it, uncovering elaborate details of international politics along the way.

Fifty years after the vote, having gone their separate ways, the two reconnect in Italy. Set against a stunning pastoral backdrop, Jeanne and John relive those turbulent days together and explore whether their love has stood the test of time.

International thriller meets operatic Italian romance in this intricate tale of love, politics, and misunderstandings. Come November is a celebration of history, family bonds, redemption, and second-chance love sure to please fans of thrillers and romance alike.

“What a magnum opus! And so riveting! The gallery of personae, the major and minor plots woven together, the delving deep into emotions and attachments and ideas, not to speak of highlighting the historical resolution of the partition of Palestine on November 29, 1947. And Jeanne—a glowing star in the firmament!”—Yael Medini, daughter of Moshe Sharett; author, Pale Blue Valley

Scott Lord is a longtime Los Angeles trial lawyer, writer, and librettist. He is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz and Santa Clara University School of Law. He is married, father of six children, and lives in Santa Monica, California.

My thoughts: this was a really interesting read, a blend of fictional romance and real life historical action. Having won a trip to New York, aspiring journalist Jeanne meets handsome newspaper man John and together they are drawn into a web of intrigue and assassination, centring on the UN vote about the formation of the state of Israel in 1947.

They try to prevent a tragedy that might just destroy the nascent country from ever existing, and along the way meet real life political figures, like future Israeli Prime Minister Moshe Sharett.

They also fall in love. But it’s not to be and life takes them on separate paths until they reunite in Italy, years later. John lives there and Jeanne is visiting with her family as her daughter-in-law is performing in an opera not far from his home. Can this reunion succeed where other attempts have failed and bring these lovers together again after a lifetime apart?

Full of high tension moments, and sweet gentle ones, family life and sacrifice, this is a moving and intelligent book about a tumultuous time in geopolitical history that nevertheless is also a bittersweet and heartwarming romance.

*I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for a review but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Autumn in Verona – Tom Lloyd

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The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous tales ever told, but what if their violent delights did not end in such woe? What then for the star-crossed lovers, once doomed to burn so bright and brief?

Against the turbulent backdrop of early fifteenth century Italy, Romeo and Juliet return home after twenty years in exile. Accompanied by their two grown children and a bold young soldier, they arrive in a city still plagued by the bloody feud of their families. With old Lord Montague now dead however, is there a chance to finally end the bloodshed or will old enmities and new interests mean the death of all they love?

Blending fact, fiction and homage, against the backdrop of Duke Visconti’s campaign to dominate northern Italy, Shakespeare’s characters act in conjunction with real-life figures to ask “what if?” and forge a whole new future for the beleaguered city.

Tom Lloyd was born in 1979 in Berkshire. 

After a degree in International Relations he went straight into publishing where he still works. 

He never received the memo about suitable jobs for writers and consequently has never been a kitchen-hand, hospital porter, pigeon hunter, or secret agent. 

He lives in Oxford, isn’t one of those authors who gives a damn about the history of the font used in his books and only believes in forms of exercise that allow him to hit something. 

Visit him online at http://www.tomlloyd.co.uk.

My thoughts: I know of Tom Lloyd as a fantasy writer and a good one but this is something a bit different. What if Romeo and Juliet didn’t die? What if Romeo’s poison was a dud and Juliet woke up and found him still alive? Then they ran away, to Milan, where they found safety with the Duke and Romeo became a lawyer and now it’s twenty years later and they’re returning to Verona for the first time.

Accompanying their friend who has been sent to act as Governor of Verona by the Duke of Milan, Visconti (a real figure of the time), as advisors. They’re bringing their children, Estelle and Mercutio, to see their home city and potentially, maybe, reconcile with their families.

Verona is still a city divided between Capulet and Montague. Juliet’s parents still live and her father’s brutality seems to know no limits. Romeo’s parents are dead and a cousin now holds the title of Lord Montague. Street brawls and duels are still the norm and the ordinary folk live in fear.

But the return of the heirs to the houses offers a new way forward if the city is willing to try.

Capturing the essence and language of Shakespeare isn’t easy, I know, I’ve tried it, but this flows and is full of clever little references to not only Romeo & Juliet but other plays and poems, a delight for a nerd like me, but for the lay person too. Blending historical fact into Shakespearean fiction, this is an enjoyable and intelligent read.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: The Bleeding – Johana Gustawsson, translated by David Warriner

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To celebrate the paperback publication of The Bleeding, available from all good bookshops and Orenda Books, I am sharing my review from the hardback tour to refresh your memory should you decide to read it yourself.

1899, Belle Époque Paris. Lucienne’s two daughters are believed dead when her mansion burns to the ground, but she is certain that her girls are still alive and embarks on a journey into the depths of the spiritualist community to find them. 1949, Post-War Québec. Teenager Lina’s father has died in the French Resistance, and as she struggles to fit in at school, her mother introduces her to an elderly woman at the asylum where she works, changing Lina’s life in the darkest way imaginable. 2002, Quebec. A former schoolteacher is accused of brutally stabbing her husband – a famous university professor – to death. Detective Maxine Grant, who has recently lost her own husband and is parenting a teenager and a new baby single-handedly, takes on the investigation. Under enormous personal pressure, Maxine makes a series of macabre discoveries that link directly to historical cases involving black magic and murder, secret societies and spiritism … and women at breaking point, who will stop at nothing to protect the ones they love.

Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song, has won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte,Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in 28 countries. A TV adaptation is currently underway in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding – number one bestseller in France and the first in a new series – will be published in 2022. Johana lives on the west coast of Sweden with her Swedish husband and their three sons.

My thoughts: I don’t really know how to explain this genre bending book. It is very, very good. It weaves several disparate plots together in a clever and highly enjoyable way. It made my head itchy, in a good way, as detectives uncover a sinister secret life in the house of a retired school teacher and her professor husband. They’re plunged into arcane knowledge and a deep held belief in satanism, witchcraft and magic. A belief and practices that go back centuries, that unite the ancient and modern and that have been kept secret and hidden.

The three women – Lucienne, Lina and Maxine are each learning about these things, in very different times and contexts, attracted or repulsed by the things they see. Their stories are different, but much connects them.

I think this is definitely a book you need to read to understand, and then read again and again in case you missed something. It’s gripping and compelling and a little shocking. And, as I said, very, very good.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: A Killing at Smuggler’s Cove – Michelle Salter

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Wartime secrets, smugglers’ caves, skeletal remains. And the holiday’s only just begun…
July 1923 – Iris Woodmore travels to Devon with her friends Percy Baverstock and Millicent Nightingale for her father’s wedding to Katherine Keats.
But when Millicent uncovers skeletal remains hidden on the private beach of Katherine’s former home, Iris begins to suspect her future stepmother is not what she seems.
The police reveal the dead man is a smuggler who went missing in 1918, and when a new murder occurs, they realise a killer is in their midst. The link between both murders is Katherine. Could Iris’s
own father be in danger?
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Michelle Salter writes historical cosy crime set in Hampshire, where she lives, and inspired by real-life events in 1920s Britain. The first book in her Iris Woodmore series, Death at Crookham Hall, draws on her interest in the aftermath of the Great War and the suffragette movement.

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My thoughts: I think Iris and I would be great friends but I’d be reluctant to go on holiday with her because of her habit of finding dead bodies! Like the author I have family connections to Devon and Cornwall and know a bit about the area – including the long history of smuggling and wrecking.

A body in a cave in a cove used by smugglers wouldn’t really be a surprise, but it hasn’t been used as such for a long time and the skeleton isn’t that old, at least the train ticket in its pocket suggests a much more recent demise. And despite what the local bobby thinks, Iris is pretty sure it’s not a local n’er-do-well but someone connected to the house above it on the cliff, where her father’s fiancée once lived.

While everyone keeps telling her that Katherine is actually lovely, and she certainly does seem to be, Iris wants more information. Did the dead man visit Katherine and her now deceased ex-husband? Is Katherine the killer, or is it someone else close to home?

I also spent a lot of time mentally telling Iris that Percy is madly in love with her and would she ever put him out of his misery and kiss him! The poor man is traumatised by his war memories and is too polite to just say it, but I do wish someone would. At the beach party in particular, even with the hunky Belgian chef flexing his muscles, there’s Percy friendzoned again. For someone with an eye for detection, Iris can’t seem to see what’s right in front of her face.

The case is a bit of tricky one, the sensibilities of Iris’ refugee friends and the terrible memories of the things they suffered mean it’s hard to ask too many questions, the discovery of the skeleton’s real identity completely changes the view and that’s before another body drops. It’s a bit of a sticky mess and Iris only has a few days before the wedding to sort it all out.

Tremendous fun as always, drawing on real history and adding in the joys of the roaring 20s, Percy’s landlady and her actor guests are especially entertaining, plus it ends with a wedding, like all the great stories.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: After Anne – Logan Steiner

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A stunning and unexpected portrait of Lucy Maud Montgomery, creator of one of literature’s most prized heroines, whose personal demons were at odds with her most enduring legacy—the irrepressible Anne of Green Gables.

“Dear old world,” she murmured, “you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.” —L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 1908

As a young woman, Maud had dreams bigger than the whole of Prince Edward Island. Her exuberant spirit had always drawn frowns from her grandmother and their neighbors, but she knew she was meant to create, to capture and share the way she saw the world. And the young girl in Maud’s mind became more and more persistent: Here is my story, she said. Here is how my name should be spelled—Anne with an “e.”

But the day Maud writes the first lines of Anne of Green Gables, she gets a visit from the handsome new minister in town, and soon faces a decision: forge her own path as a spinster authoress, or live as a rural minister’s wife, an existence she once called “a synonym for respectable slavery.” The choice she makes alters the course of her life. With a husband whose religious mania threatens their health and happiness at every turn, the secret darkness that Maud herself holds inside threatens to break through the persona she shows to the world, driving an ever-widening wedge between her public face and private self, and putting her on a path towards a heartbreaking end.

Beautiful and moving, After Anne reveals Maud’s hidden personal challenges while celebrating what was timeless about her life and art—the importance of tenacity and the peaceful refuge found in imagination.

LOGAN STEINER is a litigator and briefwriting specialist at a boutique law firm. She graduated summa cum laude from Pomona College and cum laude from Harvard Law School. She lives in Denver with her husband and daughter. After Anne is her first novel.

My thoughts: I was given, and read, all the Anne books as a child by my aunt, but I knew nothing about their author. Like her creation, she grew up on Prince Edward Island, but beyond that, she and Anne with an “E” were very different.

Lucy Maud Montgomery, known by her middle name, comes off as a bit more of a Pollyanna than her red haired orphan girl. She lives with her grandmother, taking care of her, having a long engagement to the handsome minister of the local church, putting him off because her grandmother can’t be left on her own.

Eventually she does marry him, they move away and have two sons. She keeps writing her Anne books, which she saves the money from for her sons education.

Moving between the later years of her life and an imagined birthday weekend at her grandmother’s house, Maud is revising her journals and reminiscing over her life. She actually did revise and edit her diaries, which were later published. It seems strange to be happy to have others read your thoughts but to carefully remove anything that might change how people see you, a controlling and almost manipulative act perhaps.

Her marriage isn’t a happy one, her husband is mentally ill, possibly with depression or bipolar disorder, her sons aren’t all she wanted them to be either – the eldest Chester disappoints her. She seems very lonely following the death of her cousin and closest friend Frede in 1919 of the Spanish Flu. Her journals may well have been the closest she has to a confidante for the rest of her life.

This book, while being fiction, is clearly very well researched and the author has stuck to the facts, while fleshing out the inner life of this unusual and quite sad writer. Anne had such joy and was such a character, completely herself, that it seems a tragedy her creator was not able to be the same and instead slid into the template society created for her, her only outlet her writing.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: The Secret of Villa Alba – Louise Douglas

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1968, Sicily. Just months after a terrible earthquake has destroyed the mountain town of Gibellina, Enzo and his wife Irene Borgata are making their way back to the family home, Villa Alba del Ciliegio, on roads overlooked by the eerie backdrop of the flattened ghost town. When their car breaks down, Enzo leaves his young wife to go and get help, but when he returns there is no trace of Irene.
No body, no sign of a struggle, nothing.

Present Day. TV showman and true crime aficionado Milo Conti is Italy’s darling, uncovering and solving historic crimes for his legion of fans. When he turns his attention to the story of the missing Irene Borgata, accusing her husband of her murder, Enzo’s daughter Maddi asks her childhood friend, retired detective Jane Cobain, for help to prove her father’s innocence. But the tale Jane discovers is murky: mafia meetings, infidelity, mistaken identity, grief and unshakable love. As the world slowly closes in on the claustrophobic Villa Alba del Ciliegio, and the house begins to reveal its secrets, will the Borgata family wish they’d never asked Jane to investigate? And what did happen to Enzo’s missing wife Irene?

Bestselling author Louise Douglas returns with an irresistibly compelling, intriguing and captivating tale of betrayal, love, jealousy and the secrets buried in every family history..
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Louise Douglas is the bestselling and brilliantly reviewed author and an RNA award winner. The Secrets Between Us was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. She lives in the West Country.

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My thoughts: families always seem to have terrible secrets but the ones here only do damage to the other members. Enzo’s wife disappeared, despite needing a wheelchair, which was left behind. Did he kill her or did something else happen to her? He won’t talk about that day, and no one else, except the missing Irene, knows what happened. They all have theories, and secrets of their own.

Jane is mourning her husband and hopes that helping her old friend look into her family mystery will help her recover from her loss. But digging into the complicated family dynamics at the Villa Alba threatens to bring a lot more to light than what happened to Irene.

With the family keeping things from her, and each other, Jane is struggling to get answers before the deadline of the TV show, but with a little help from her friend back home and the charming local police detective, she just might solve it.

A moving and evocative story of love and loss set in the beautiful Sicilian countryside, complete with mafioso and delicious food.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Evil at Alardyce House – Heather Atkinson

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The history of the Alardyce family is fraught with scandal and intrigue.
But after her eldest son Robert leaves the country, finally Amy Alardyce can enjoy some peace.
Robert is wanted by the police for some unspeakable crimes, and his family hope he has run far enough and never looks back.
A decade after his disappearance, Robert has forged a successful life for himself, making his fortune from the diamond and gold mines of Africa. But when he sees a death notice in the newspaper, the call to go home to Scotland grows ever louder.
At Alardyce House, there are big changes too, and the fragile peace the family have enjoyed for so long is feeling more fragile than ever. And as the past comes back to haunt Amy and her children, will she have to finally accept that the curse of the Alardcye family can never be outrun…
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Heather Atkinson is the author of over fifty books – predominantly in the crime fiction genre.
Although Lancashire born and bred she now lives with her family, including twin teenage daughters, on the beautiful west coast of Scotland. Her gangland series for Boldwood, set on the fictional Gallowburn estate in Glasgow begins with the title Blood Brothers.

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My thoughts: eventually Robert had to come home. Twelve years after fleeing to South America and then to South Africa, he returns to Scotland. To the Alardyce estate and to the scene of his terrible crimes. But things have changed. His younger siblings are no longer children, awed and delighted by him, his wife wants a divorce and his daughter doesn’t know him. Even his mother Amy is no longer always on his side.

He must show that he has changed, redeemed himself, is no longer a monster. But can he before tragedy sweeps the Alardyce family once more?

This series has some shocking moments and this book is no different, there’s some really sad ones too as some characters reach the end of their lives and the family mourns. Robert expects to walk all over the family, but finds that he’s no longer able to sway everyone.

Amy’s long and difficult life is coming to a close and she is prepared, as long as the sinister ghost of Matthew isn’t there to claim her for his afterlife. Can she do battle with him a final time?

There’s a few endings but also beginnings as the younger generation, raised without so much violence and tragedy, but with love and kindness, come to the fore. They could change the destiny of the Alardyce family for ever. I’ve really enjoyed this series and I’m glad so many loose ends are tied up.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Voices of the Dead – Ambrose Parry

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EDINBURGH, 1853.
In a city of science, discovery can be deadly . . .

In a time of unprecedented scientific innovation, the public’s appetite for wonder has seen a resurgence of interest in mesmerism, spiritualism and other unexplained phenomena.

Dr Will Raven is wary of the shadowlands that lie between progress and quackery, but Sarah Fisher can’t afford to be so picky. Frustrated in her medical ambitions, she sees opportunity in a new therapeutic field not already closed off to women.

Raven has enough on his hands as it is. Body parts have been found at Surgeons Hall, and they’re not anatomy specimens. In a city still haunted by the crimes of Burke and Hare, he is tasked with heading off a scandal.

When further human remains are found, Raven is able to identify a prime suspect, and the hunt is on before he kills again. Unfortunately, the individual he seeks happens to be an accomplished actor, a man of a thousand faces and a renowned master of disguise.

With the lines between science and spectacle dangerously blurred, the stage is set for a grand and deadly illusion . . .

Ambrose Parry is the penname for two authors – the internationally bestselling and multi-award-winning Chris Brookmyre and consultant anaesthetist of twenty years’ experience, Dr Marisa Haetzman. Inspired by the gory details Haetzman uncovered during her History of Medicine degree, the couple teamed up to write a series of historical crime thrillers, featuring the darkest of Victorian Edinburgh’s secrets. They are married and live in Scotland. The Way of All Flesh, The Art of Dying and A Corruption of Blood were shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year. A Corruption of Blood was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger in 2022.
@ambroseparry

My thoughts: Victorian Edinburgh, seat of learning, home to the odd scandal like bodysnatchers, which make even the most August doctor a bit twitchy when an identified foot turns up in the College of Surgeons. Invited by his friend Henry to help look into this, Will Raven is drawn into a world of illusions, mis direction and mesmerism. Sarah too is attracted to the ideas of an American doctor turned mesmerist, claiming to treat serious conditions with this unusual method. Could this be a way into medicine for her?

The Victorians were fascinated by spiritualists, mesmerists, illusions and magic, magicians were popular and people flocked to theatres to be delighted and amazed. Some of these performers were more genuine than others – stating openly that it was an act, a trick, others swindled the naive and vulnerable. Of course people wanted to hear from their dead loved ones or be relieved from pain.

Will is sceptical of all of this hokum, and thinks there’s more going on here than genuine science. Plus there’s the body parts he keeps finding. Someone is a killer, but who?

His wife is also about to have their second child but he doesn’t seem that interested, and he’s been asked by an old acquaintance for a very particular favour. And there’s another familiar face around, with a new name. Is Sarah in danger?

Blending science and detective work, Will and Henry dig into the murders, chasing red herrings and theories around town, but still find time for their day jobs, just about. Fun and a bit gory, this is another excellent book in this series.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: The Book of Alys – Alan Gold

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King Henry II, exhausted from everlasting conflict with France and the habit of his sons rebelling against him finds love, solace, and passion after falling for the youthful beauty of Alys and makes her his mistress.

Henry II, now in his late 50’s, exhausted from a lifetime of war remains one of the greatest Kings who ruled England. The founder of the ‘Devil’s Brood’, he and his advisors modernized England’s government and society and much more. But it was his jealous family life which caused his life to fall apart.

Alys was the timid 8-year-old daughter of the King of France when sent to England and ultimately forced into marriage with Henry’s violent son Prince Richard, but he ridiculed and rejected her. Within six years, Alys had developed into a ravishing beauty, who was suddenly appealing to the old King himself.

As they grew closer, Alys realised she could only save herself by becoming more powerful. She didn’t want to be a royal mistress like Rosamund, or a princess married to a violent and absent prince like Richard. No, her ambition was to become queen, to replace the formidable, feisty monarch, Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the most beautiful powerful and wealthy women in the world. When a son, William, is born to old Henry and Alys, the young princess now has her life complete, but she needs desperately to succeed and protect him. England has become a maelstrom of baronial factions with Eleanor marshalling her sons, young Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, plus John who try overthrow their father and take possession of his empire. All want the right to rule their own lands, even before old Henry is dead.

Alan Gold is an internationally published and translated novelist, whose books of historical fiction bring back to vivid life some of the most fabulous women who have been written out of history. Alan’s first novel was a story which he uncovered working for Reuters International News Agency in Israel; because of its controversial themes, he didn’t write it until coming to Australia. The Jericho Files, which was published by HarperCollins was an international success. Since then, he’s written over thirty novels, with subjects ranging from the Bible to ancient and modern history. His two latest novels are The Devil’s Apprentice, a fictionalised autobiography of the real Faust and his problems with the invention of the printing press, and His Head on a Platter, about the life of the Renaissance artist Artemisia Gentileschi due to be published by Romaunce late 2023.

My thoughts: drawing on the limited historical facts about Princess Alys of France and her life at the English Court, this is a complex and rather tragic story. Henry II is at war with his family, they’re tired of his bad temper and stubborn refusal to pass any responsibility onto his sons, Henry, Geoffrey, Richard and John.

Eleanor of Aquitaine is remembered as powerful and important in her own right, but her marriage was rocky and Henry frequently took mistresses. Alys is keen on becoming queen. But she hasn’t counted on Henry’s love for his wife and sons, even as they rebel against him.

An intriguing look at life in the early Plantagenet court, at a time when the English throne ruled more than half of France too and struggled with their neighbours and the Pope.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.