Tag: historical fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Fascination – Essie Fox

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Twin sisters Keziah and Tilly Lovell are identical in every way, except that Tilly hasn’t grown a single inch since she was five. Coerced into promoting their father’s quack elixir as they tour the country fairgrounds, at the age of fifteen the girls are sold to a mysterious Italian known as ‘Captain’.

Theo is an orphan, raised by his grandfather, Lord Seabrook, a man who has a dark interest in anatomical freaks and other curiosities … particularly the human kind. Resenting his grandson for his mother’s death in childbirth, when Seabrook remarries and a new heir is produced, Theo is forced to leave home without a penny to his name.

Theo finds employment in Dr Summerwell’s Museum of Anatomy in London, and here he meets Captain and his theatrical ‘family’ of performers, freaks and outcasts.

But it is Theo’s fascination with Tilly and Keziah that will lead all of them into a dark web of deceits, exposing unthinkable secrets and threatening everything they know…

Essie Fox was born and raised in rural Herefordshire, which inspires much of her writing. After studying English Literature at Sheffield University, she moved to London where she worked for the Telegraph Sunday Magazine, and then book publishers George Allen & Unwin, before becoming self-employed in the world of art and design. Essie now spends her time writing historical gothic novels. Her debut, The Somnambulist, was shortlisted for the National Book Awards, and featured on Channel 4’s TV Book Club. The Last Days of Leda Grey, set in the early years of silent film, was selected as The Times Historical Book of the Month. Essie is also the creator of the popular blog: The Virtual Victorian. She has lectured on this era at the V&A, and the National Gallery in London.

My thoughts: this is a dark and beautiful book about three young people facing adversity and danger, finding their family and happiness despite the odds. Keziah and Tilly are twins, but Tilly stopped growing as a child and their father sells them to a stranger – known as Captain.

Their paths cross with Theo, mistreated and abandoned by his miserable and cruel grandfather, dreaming of becoming a doctor.

It is only a few years later when the three meet again that their lives become entangled as Tilly is kidnapped. Together with the twins’ friends they set out to rescue her and discover the truth about Theo’s family and find a home, and a family of their own.

It’s beautiful as well as sinister, amongst the collections of Theo’s grandfather and then that of the doctor. There’s a lovely little twist right at the very end too. And romance blooms for some of the characters, the wicked are punished, people are reunited and wrongs are undone. It’s a bit Shakespearean as it ends with a wedding, as many of his comedies do, which is fitting for Tilly, playing a fairy queen on stage.

The author’s day job as a historian of the Victorian era means this is a well researched and intelligent story, beautifully brought to life, the characters mix with real life figures, and could themselves almost be real, they certainly feel it. Keziah steps out of the page in her chapters, with all the hopes and dreams of a young woman, even amid her reality. Theo too feels very alive, his struggles and desires to make a difference at odds with the rotten world of his grandfather. Magical and moving.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Death in the Highlands – Fliss Chester

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There’s a dangerous killer lurking by this loch… and only canny Cressida can track them down.

Scotland, June 1925. Socialite Cressida Fawcett has been invited to cast her interior design eye over the Stirling family’s new seat, Ayrton Castle, up in the Scottish Highlands. Thrilled to be spending the summer at the historic estate, Cressida fills her suitcase with this season’s hunting jackets – and some tartan for her little pug Ruby, of course!

But before the party is ready to tramp through the glens, shocking news puts paid to their plans. Hamish Glenkirk, former owner of Ayrton, has been found dead inside a turret room of the castle. The door was bolted from the inside, and the room is three storeys up, surrounded by impenetrable stone walls… How did the murderer get in? And out?

With Detective Andrews of Scotland Yard at least a day’s journey away, Cressida knows she needs to get to the bottom of this case – and fast. There’s no end of suspects among the hunting party. Could it be the local doctor whose wife left him for a fling with the now-dead laird? Or is the gamekeeper hiding secrets under his kilt?

Just as Cressida is closing in on the truth, a blood-curdling scream echoes through the mist. Another member of the party, and one of the suspects, has been shot. With a wee dram in hand, can Cressida find the killer before the bagpipes play for another victim?

An unputdownable and gripping cozy mystery which fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss will love.

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Fliss Chester lives in Surrey with her husband and writes historical cozy crime. When she is not killing people off in her 1940s whodunnits, she helps her husband, who is a wine merchant, run their business. Never far from a decent glass of something, Fliss also loves cooking (and writing up her favourite recipes on her blog), enjoying the beautiful Surrey and West Sussex countryside and having a good natter.

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My thoughts: I do enjoy this series, Cressida, Dotty and Ruby are lots of fun and getting very good at crime solving.

This time they’re in Scotland, for the 12th August, the “Glorious Twelth” when the grouse shooting season starts. Only someone has decided it’s not birds that need to die but a local laird, Hamish Glenrick. Found stabbed in his former home, which just so happens to be where our intrepid detectives are staying, of course.

Once they start putting the clues together, a story of sadness, betrayal and long held grudges starts to emerge. Plenty of people had motive to kill Glenrick, but who is DM and why was he found clutching a blackmail letter?

With police inspector Andrews on his way, Cressida explores secret passages, interviews her suspects and builds up a picture of a deeply unpleasant man, up to his eyeballs in debt, disliked by his children and peers. But the clues, and red herrings, might lead closer to home than Cressida originally suspects. Another cracking case for this flapper detective and friends.

*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: Last Dance at the Discotheque for Deviants – Paul David Gould

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Moscow, 1993. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union have brought unimaginable change to Russia. With this change come new freedoms: freedom to travel abroad and to befriend Westerners, freedom to make money, and even the freedom for an underground gay scene to take root.

Encouraged by the new climate of openness, twenty-one-year-old Kostya ventures out of the closet and resolves to pursue his dreams: to work in the theatre and to find love as his idol Tchaikovsky never could. Those dreams, however, lead to tragedy – not only for Kostya, but for his mother and for the two young men he loves, as all three face up to the ways they have betrayed him.

‘The venue was the canteen block of the Red Hammer Cement Works. It was the usual set-up: way out of town, secretive directions to get there, and disco lights blazing…’

Paul David Gould grew up on a Huddersfield council estate and studied Russian at the University of Birmingham. His experiences of work, life and love in Russia have inspired Last Dance at the Discotheque for Deviants, his first novel. He works as a sub­editor at the Financial Times.

Paul worked as a journalist in Russia in the early nineties, and his experiences from that time have informed his debut novel, while he still occasionally writes about Russia for the Financial Times.

Last Dance At The Discotheque For Deviants is one of the first titles in Unbound’s new imprint: Unbound Firsts -for debut writers of colour. Gould said:

‘I’m not only thrilled to be getting published by Unbound Firsts, I’m also honoured to be one of this new imprint’s inaugural writers at a time when we so need to champion diversity. My novel is set in Russia in the 1990s, a more hopeful time for peace and friendly relations with the West, I’m horrified to see those hopes trampled on by Putin’s unprovoked and brutal war against Ukraine.’

My thoughts: take a trip back to Russia in 1993, the age of glasnost, of the fall of the Soviet Union. There’s a McDonald’s in Moscow and a sense of openness, of freedom in the air.

But not for everyone – homosexuality is illegal and the only club night around is secret and moves venues to avoid both the police and the gangs of violent homophobes out to beat gay men up. Kostya is a young man from a small town, working for a US organisation, he speaks English and is intelligent and hard working. His friendship with Jamie, a British journalist, means he’s been to the West and sees through the old Soviet lies his mother clings to.

Jamie is investigating Kostya’s death – the tiny announcement of it, that he died of “natural causes” in an unnamed hospital outside of the city is suspicious. As he, and Kostya’s boyfriend Dima, begin to dig, they uncover a terrible thing that was done to their friend and a web of US investment that allowed it to happen. Even Kostya’s mother, Tamara, comes to understand that she was wrong to question his sexuality, wrong to push him to be “normal”.

This book is terribly sad in places, Kostya is so lost and heart sore. I wanted to reach into the pages and give him a hug, tell him it would get better. Although Russia is stilla terrible place to be gay, as we all saw highlighted by the Sochi Winter Olympics, there are people fighting to change things and government policy doesn’t always go with the will and beliefs of the people.

I’ve been to Russia, and met Russians, many of whom were lovely and open, friendly people. I know that the changes the early 90s brought, the promises that decade held, haven’t all been achieved but, as with the end of this book, there is hope out there.

Beautifully written, and supplied by the author’s own experiences, although hopefully not as dark as some of Dima and Jamie’s, this is an intelligent and thought provoking thriller, with real heart and strong characters that draw you into their hard scrabble lives.

*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: Shenkin’s Vengeance – Davey Davies

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It is 1834 and Daniel Shenkin a Welsh coal miner, political activist, and bare knuckle fighter has spent two years in the convict barracks prison of Sydney’s penal colony. Together with his fellow convict Regan O’Hara they have been granted their ‘Tickets of Leave’ on the understanding that any misdemeanour would result in the removal of the Tickets and their full sentences imposed. Twenty years hard labour.

They find themselves on the streets. Penniless but for the diamond pendant that Shenkin had hidden away in his ponytail head scarf. This together with the help of the woman he loves and Doctor Tarn from the convict ship The Runnymede, they go looking for the one time London fence Abe Goldspick to sell him the diamond.

After a bare knuckle fight their sworn enemy Lord Feltsham, who wants both the woman and the diamond for himself, arranges a conspiracy headed by Feltsham’s henchman Ketch. It results in Shenkin and O’Hara being sent to the notorious Port Arthur penal settlement. It is a brutal place from where few convicts ever return. But in a two-fisted action-packed story they plan an escape from what seems an inescapable prison. They do it in a way no one would dare risk. The hard way.

It’s a breathtaking adventure set in the grim world of the 19th century. Against all the odds Shenkin is a one-man fighting machine. Survival is his mantra he is not for the faint hearted. Take a deep breath and enter his harsh brutal world with great care.

Born into a Welsh mining village in South Wales Davey Daviesis a former Opera Singer, actor and entrepreneur. A traveller to remote parts of the world he has climbed a number of the worlds mountains including Everest. He now lives in Spain with his partner the artist Celia Vodden where he is busy writing and enjoying Rioja between chapters.

My thoughts: this is a cracking adventure story set in Australia when it was a penal colony, and in the harsh environment, so foreign to British soldiers and convicts alike. Shenkin, a Welsh miner sentenced to transportation for his part in an uprising, alongside his Irish friend Regan has been released, essentially for good behaviour, but he can’t leave Sydney. He’s determined to avenge himself on those who’ve wronged him. Especially slimy Lord Feltsham. When he gets his comeuppance, it feels richly deserved, though I don’t think, after everything Shenkin goes through, that I would have his restraint. I’d have fed him to the sharks in Sydney Harbour.

Shenkin and Regan go through hell on Earth, sent to the extreme prison on Tasmania, where corporal punishment is the norm not the exception, where food is scarce and the punishments are for “offences” so ridiculous that you can’t help but break the rules.

But they also have incredible friends, from Doctor Patrick Tarn to the Aboriginal medicine man Tinker to Sir Edward Standish and fellow bare knuckle fighter Charlie Benson and his ship’s captain brother John Saxon. These friends won’t leave them stranded in a living nightmare, and with their kindness and aid, Shenkin survives to build up his sheep station and become wealthy and successful. He is finally able to take his revenge and even return to his beloved Welsh valleys a free man.

I love good historical fiction and this is well researched and written, with interesting characters and a plot that packs a punch.

*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: Mr Stoker & the Vampires of the Lyceum – Matthew Gibson

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London, September 1888. Jack the Ripper roams the streets. A scream rings out from beneath the stage of the Lyceum Theatre…

A young ‘actress’ has been attacked, suffering peculiar bite wounds to her neck; an event that announces a series of strange, vampiric happenings, and thrusts an unwitting Bram Stoker – acting manager of the Lyceum and aspiring author – into the limelight, and the action.

Increasingly perplexed by the unsettling behaviour of his ‘Guv’nor’, the brilliant but mercurial actor, Henry Irving, and Irving’s acclaimed leading lady, Ellen Terry, Stoker soon starts suspecting the worst. And then, another attack reveals a vicious Prussian baron, returned to London as a vampire seeking revenge…

Alive with Gothic intrigue, reversal and surprise, Mr Stoker will keep the reader enthralled and confounded until its final, shocking scene – indeed, until its very last word.

‘This is a fully realised Gothic world, a stimulating mix of homely familiarity and lurking menace which will engage readers of all ages.’ David Punter, author of The Literature of Terror

Matthew Gibson is a leading scholar on Bram Stoker and the Gothic. Currently an Associate Professor at the University of Macau, he previously worked at the universities of Surrey and Hull, as well as in Poland and Bulgaria. Author of Dracula and the Eastern Question, and contributor to The Cambridge Companion to Dracula, Matthew curates Stoker resources for Oxford Bibliographies. Mr Stoker is his first novel.

My thoughts: this is a richly imagined tale of terror and blood, told through the eyes of Bram Stoker, manager of the Lyceum theatre, who later wrote the infamous Dracula. Working under the famous actor Henry Irving, Stoker was responsible for the day to day running of the theatre, while also training to be a barrister at the behest of his wife.

Here he, Irving, and his brother George, a surgeon, chase after a mysterious figure – the baron Lucarda, responsible for a series of murders (not the Whitechapel ones however) and a violent attack on Ellen Terry, the actress.

Peopled with real life associates and friends of Stoker, Gibson brings the Victorian world to life, from the thick London fog, to the rattling carriages and murky Underground railway. The story is fun and exciting, as these very normally sensible men chase across Europe in the pursuit of the deranged baron and get involved in the dark world of vampires and cult like orders of Rosicrucians and Masons.

Drawing on his scholarly research into Stoker’s life, this is a solid and well written Gothic thriller, complete with mysterious goings on in the theatre cellars and murders in Bayswater mansions. A treat for fans of the genre.

*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: Vulcana – Rebecca F. John

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Vulcana is a fictional telling of the real story of Victorian ‘strongwoman’ Kate Williams (born 1874), starting when she runs away from home at 16 to travel with the love her life, William Roberts. They perform in music halls as Atlas and Vulcana -the climax of their act is that Kate can lift William over her head. She and William present themselves to the public as brother and sister as they travel the world because William is already married, and William’s wife brings up Kate’s children with her own. Kate is driven by love: for William, for her children, for performing, and for life, and Rebecca’s gorgeous, immersive writing fits perfectly this brave, unconventional woman and her amazing story.

Rebecca F. John was born in Llanelli. Her first novel, The Haunting of Henry Twist (Serpent’s Tail, 2017) was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. She won the PEN International New Voices Award 2015. In 2017 she was on the Hay Festival’s ‘The Hay 30’ list. Her stories have been broadcast on Radio 4. She lives in Swansea with her dogs. Her previous book for Honno, Fannie, was published in January 2022 and was Waterstones Book of the Month for Wales and the BCW Book of the Month.

My thoughts: based on her true story of a Victorian strong woman, Kate Williams, whose stage name was Vulcana, this is a fascinating and interesting book. Fleshing out the limited details of Kate’s life, bringing her back to attention, she’s a feminist pioneer – wanting women to cast off their restrictive corsets and take regular exercise.

She travels the world with her lover and business partner – William Roberts, aka Atlas, leaving their four children with William’s wife Alice in Abergavenny. They exist in a strange triad, the women have great affection for one another, and also have their travelling family – the other strong men and women with whom they tread the boards in exhibitions of strength.

She’s friends with Queen of the music halls – Marie Lloyd and is the first person to report Dr Crippen to the police after his wife, also a performer, disappears. These brief glimpses of other notable names and events ground the story in reality, while adding imagined details of Kate’s inner life.

What emerges is a portrait of a truly extraordinary woman, who left her quiet Welsh village to travel the world and do incredible things. I am glad I read this book and learnt about Vulcana, Kate Williams.

*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: Blackjack – Gail Meath

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A lifetime game of solitaire turns into a vicious family feud.

New York City 1923

Back in the city after a nightmare vacation, PI Jax Diamond and his courageous canine partner, Ace, just can’t catch a break when three quick and easy cases explode into a massive mess of unrelated major crimes with victims, dead and alive, piling up.

Laura Graystone’s career soars as she rehearses for her new Broadway musical. Yet, she senses something’s amiss when Jax spends more time with a new buddy aboard a steamboat than solving crimes. With the help of their friends and a mysterious stranger, Laura and Ace set out to get to the bottom of it.

It’s a whirlwind of twists and turns as Jax discovers there is far more to a family than just blood relatives. And who knows? They may just solve the biggest case of his life.

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Award-winning author Gail Meath writes historical romance novels that will whisk you away to another time and place in history where you will meet fascinating characters, both fictional and real, who will capture your heart and soul. Meath loves writing about little or unknown people, places and events in history, rather than relying on the typical stories and settings.

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My thoughts: Jax has so many different cases on the go in this book, and gets distracted by the charismatic cruise ship owner Nick, so Laura and Ace do a fair bit of investigating with the help of Carla and Jeanie. They’re trying to help Jax out and they’re worried about him.

Some of the cases seem very tightly connected to Jax, and the orphanage where he grew up. Who is the mysterious woman Laura keeps running into? Will Jax finally get some answers about his parents and who he really is?

Obviously Ace does a lot of the heavy lifting again, emotional support, catching bad guys, finding evidence. He’s the hardest working dog in crime fiction. But Laura comes a close second, she should be the detective really, Jax completely fails to get much done.

I really enjoy this series, it’s a lot of fun and clearly well researched, you get a real feel for the 20s, and the friends Jax has made come to life. Really enjoyable and entertaining. With a cute dog, what more do you need!

*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 Blitz: Earl of Griffith – Aubrey Wynne

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Earl of Griffith by USA Today bestselling author Aubrey Wynne, is now available. If you enjoy sweet Regency era romance, this one’s for you!

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Earl of Griffith (Once Upon a Widow Book 6)

Publication Date: June 1st, 2023

Genre: Regency Romance/ Clean Romance

Sorrow and Regrets…

Lady Helen was a young, naïve girl when she gave up everything for a charismatic Irishman and eloped. Finding herself a widow after a few short years, she is disillusioned with love and raising a three-year-old daughter alone. Her homecoming will be bittersweet as she faces her family, asking forgiveness for the lies and the worry she has caused. But her first encounter in England isn’t a family member. Helen’s brother has sent a handsome Welshman to fetch her, and he soon charms both her and her daughter.

An unexpected ray of sunshine…
Conway, Earl of Griffith assumed his title and Welsh estate at birth. His world is gray, full of responsibility, and lonely. Griffith agrees to help a friend, escorting his sister from Bristol to London. At first sight, Lady Helen illuminates his dull world, and her daughter adds laughter to his life. But he senses the woman’s haunted eyes are not only from grief and wonders what secrets she holds close to her heart. As his affection turns to love, Griff must find a way to convince the beautiful widow that love is worth another chance.

Available on Amazon

About the Author

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USA Today Bestselling author Aubrey Wynne resides in the Midwest with her husband, dogs, horses, mule, and barn cats. Obsessions include wine, history, travel, trail riding, and all things Christmas. Her Chicago Christmas and Regency series have received multiple awards and nominated numerous times as a Rone finalist by InD’tale Magazine.

Aubrey’s first love is medieval romance but after dipping her toe in the Regency period in 2018 with the Wicked Earls’ Club, she was smitten. This inspired her spin-off series Once Upon a Widow. In 2020, she launched the Scottish Regency series A MacNaughton Castle Romance with Dragonblade Novels. Her Regency detective series, Paddy’s Peelers, will launch early 2024.

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Blog Tour: An Unsuitable Heiress – Jane Dunn

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‘Do you realise, Corinna, just how hard it is for a young woman of irregular birth, without family, fortune or friends in the world? Marriage is the only way to get any chance of a life.’
Following the death of her mother, Corinna Ormesby has lived a quiet life in the countryside with her cantankerous Cousin Agnes. Her father’s identity has been a tantalising mystery, but now at nineteen Corinna knows that finding him may be her only way to avoid marriage to the odious Mr Beech.
Deciding to head to London, Corinna dons a male disguise. Travelling alone as a young woman risks scandal and danger, but when, masquerading as a youth, she is befriended by three dashing blades,
handsome and capable Alick Wolfe, dandy Ferdinand Shilton and the incorrigible Lord Purfoy, Corinna now has access to the male-only world of Regency England. And when she meets Alick’s turbulent brother Darius, a betrayal of trust leads to deadly combat which only one of the brothers
may survive.
From gambling in gentleman’s clubs to meeting the courtesans of Covent Garden, Corinna’s country naivety soon falls away. But when she finds her father at last, learns the truth about her parentage
and discovers her fortunes transformed, she must quickly decide how to reveal her true identity, while hoping that one young man in particular can see her for the beauty and Lady she really is.
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Jane Dunn is an historian and biographer and the author of seven acclaimed biographies, including Daphne du Maurier and her Sisters and the Sunday Times and NYT bestseller, Elizabeth & Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens. She comes to Boldwood with her first fiction outing – a trilogy of novels set in the Regency period, the first of which was published in January 2023. She lives in Berkshire with her husband, the linguist Nicholas Ostler.

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My thoughts: I loved this, Corinna (or Cory) is a wonderful protagonist and the friends she makes in London (and Will from back home) are a fun and charming bunch. The author has great fun with the Georgian slang these young bucks speak, and the various slightly outrageous things they get up to.

Cory is incredibly brave, and very lucky as things could have gone very wrong when she runs away dressed as a boy.

If you like Bridgerton or Georgette Heyer or any of the more recent Regency books (there’s so many around) then you need to get stuck into Jane Dunn’s books, there’s two out so far, and they’re both great. I loved this one and didn’t want it to end. With a fabulous cast of characters and real heart, it’s very much worth a 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: Second to Sin – Murray Bailey

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“It only takes a second to sin,” Father Thomas said. He believes in saving souls, but Charles Balcombe is beyond saving. His control over his killer instinct appears to be weakening. BlackJack has killed again and more questions are being asked of Detective Inspector Munro. He is under increasing pressure to solve the murders, especially when he picks up more cases from Kowloon rather than solving his own.
As Balcombe battles with his demon, he investigates the death of a young woman. Was it an accident or did she kill herself? At first Balcombe thinks it’s straightforward but as he digs, other cases reveal an evil in Hong Kong. One that could consume them all.

Set in 1954, this is book 2 of the series. It can be read as a stand-alone but the author recommends book 1 (Once a Killer) first.
Perfect for fans of Chris Carter, David Baldacci and Tom Wood.

My thoughts: Balcombe is asked to look into a supposed suicide by a friend, the young woman was a Catholic and the scene felt odd. She wasn’t depressed and the last thing she’d done was take confession.

While he’s digging into her life and finding other suspicious deaths of young women, Inspector Murdo has his hands full. He’s looking into a cold case where a little girl went missing, and trying to keep another detective from getting too close to the BlackJack killings – he doesn’t need anyone to connect too many of the dots.

Balcombe is starting to lose control of BlackJack, the most recent killings have been extra brutal and he messed up slightly, leaving a clue that Munro’s colleague picks up on. Could it all get too hot for the unlikely pair?

There was less Albert in this book, which was a shame, but the cases Munro and Balcombe worked on were interesting and shocking, especially Balcombe’s – you won’t guess the ending at all. This series gets better with each book and is currently free on Kindle Unlimited.

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