Tag: historical fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Wit and Wisdom of Hilda Ffinch – Juliet Warrington*

ramblingmads

England, 1940. With Adolf Hitler and his henchmen goose-stepping about the place and ranting for the Fatherland on the far side of the English Channel, the villagers of Little Hope in deepest, darkest Yorkshire, are doing their very best to Keep Calm and Carry On. It isn’t always easy though, even with the best of intentions. There are evacuees to deal with as well as nightly air raid warnings and suspected fifth columnists. Worse still, there’s a dire shortage of spotted dick and knicker elastic.

But help is at hand! Enter Mrs Hilda Ffinch, horrendously rich and terribly bored lady of the manor who takes it upon herself to step into the role of Agony Aunt at the local newspaper.

Unshockable, unshakable and completely devoid of any hint of tact whatsoever, Hilda soon has the villagers flocking to her banner as she dishes out her own unique brand of gin-fuelled advice.

What could possibly go wrong?

Goodreads

Amazon

JULIET WARRINGTON was born on a small (and now totally defunct) RAF station in the Libyan part of the Sahara Desert, some 30 odd miles from the Egyptian border. Constantly on the move as a child due to her dad’s job, she grew up in Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Cyprus and London. Long-term friendships were hard to form without internet and mobile phones and so books became her constant companions. She lived in Limassol with Lorna Doon, Aylesbury with Tom Sawyer and hid The Scarlet Pimpernel in the garden shed in Uxbridge on more than one occasion. She currently resides just outside Wrexham, in North Wales.

Website Twitter

Instagram

My thoughts:

Hilda Ffinch is determined to give the letter writers of Little Hope her unfiltered, unvarnished opinions. She can be very abrupt and lacks all tact, but there’s lots of innuendo to be found in the problem pages of the local newspaper.

Reminiscent of seaside postcards of yore, there’s a refreshing lack of fuss and plenty of straightforward, no nonsense “advice” to be had in Hilda Ffinch’s Agony Aunt column.


*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: A Burning Sea – Theodore Brun*

ramblingmads

Doomed to wander. Destined for glory.

Erlan Aurvandil has turned his back on the past and his native Northern lands, taking a perilous journey to the greatest city in the world, Byzantium.

But as his voyage ends, Erlan is brutally betrayed, captured and enslaved by a powerful Byzantine general.

Meanwhile, Lilla Sviggarsdottír, Queen of Svealand, has lost her husband and with him, her kingdom. Leaving her lands and people behind, Lilla journeys east on a new quest: to find Erlan and raise an army mighty enough to defeat her usurper.

But when she reaches the great city of Byzantium, she discovers a place in turmoil. A dark tide is rising against the Emperor from within his own court.

As the shadows darken and whispers of war begin to strengthen, Erlan’s fate becomes intertwined with that of the city. Are they both doomed to fall, or can freedom be won in the blood of battle?

Theodore Brun studied Dark Age archaeology at Cambridge. In 2010, he quit his job as an arbitration lawyer in Hong Kong and cycled 10,000 miles across Asia and Europe to his home in Norfolk. A Burning Sea is his third novel.

My thoughts:

I haven’t read the previous novels in this series, but that didn’t seem to make a huge difference to enjoying this epic saga of Vikings in Byzantium. Erlan is seeking the King of Kings, a cure for the curse placed on him, and is told to head south.

Lilla is looking for Erlan and a way to claim back her queendom, stolen from her by a cruel and vicious thug of a man, who happens to be her late husband’s brother.

Both of them arrive in Byzantium (now Istanbul) just as an army arrives on its doorstep, determined to claim the city and its empire for the caliph Suleyman. They find themselves in the Emperor’s palace as war breaks out.

I really liked both Erlan and Lilla, but Einar (not so) Fat-Belly was easily my favourite character, a jolly, axe wielding Norseman, he comes with Lilla to protect her, and ends up serving Emperor Leo alongside Erlan.

A lot happens and is given plenty of room to happen in this chunky book, in between battles there’s romance and betrayal, feasts and hardship. There’s also religion and its many faces – Byzantium was a Christian city crowned by the Hagia Sophia, named for God’s female side and wisdom.

I found this interesting as I don’t know a huge amount about this period of history, being more familiar with the religious Crusades of the medieval period, which also saw Muslims and Christians clash over land for many years, and involved to the violent sacking of Constantinople (another of Byzantium’s names) in the 13th century.

This was a really interesting book and I really enjoyed it. Somewhere in my family history are some Vikings of some nation and I’ve always been fascinated by the history of the northern reaches of Europe.

If you like big historical epics, with lots of detail thrown in (although the author admits moving some things around historically speaking) and enjoy battles, plots and long journeys that don’t go to plan, then this is for you. Enjoy!


*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: The Fallen Persimmon – Gigi Karagoz*

ramblingmads

Japan 1985 – a young English woman battles her conscience.

A page-turning suspense novel…

Money blows across a field, the notes slapping against the stubble of dry rice stalks. Mr Ito walks towards the irrigation ditch at the end of his field, his rubber boots kicking up dust.

Standing at the ditch, he remembers the rumour; the one about the missing English woman.

But this is Mari’s story. She knows it’s her fault that her sister died, and trying to move on, she takes a dream job teaching English in small-town Japan. It turns into a nightmare when Mari learns that she’s employed by the yakuza (Japanese mafia), and that the man she loves has his own dark secrets. When the yakuza play their final hand, Mari believes that once again, it’s all her fault.

If you like a novel that builds suspense, is set in an exotic location, has a strong female lead, and a pinch of romance; then this book is for you.


Gigi has spent most of her life living and working in countries all over the world. Her big passion is travel, especially in Asia, and India is a favourite destination. Giving up a career in tourism, she qualified as a holistic therapist and worked in yoga retreats in the Mediterranean for twelve years. Currently, Gigi lives in Wiltshire with Isabella, the cat she rescued from the streets of Fethiye, in southern Turkey.

My thoughts:

Inspired by the author’s own time in Japan, although hopefully hers wasn’t quite as traumatic, this tale of English woman getting mixed up with the yakuza and paying the price for crossing them is gripping and shocking.

Hired to teach English in a language school in the 80s, Mari meets Kate at the airport and they become fast friends. Given a set of rules, which they immediately set about breaking, they see their chance to have fun and flirt.

But their employers are not happy, the contracts they signed turn out to belong to some pretty nasty customers and insulting them has deadly consequences.

The plot darkens the further the girls go into the nightlife and romance of their adventure. Mari falls in love with Ryu, who is engaged to another and despite warnings, they carry on their affair. Kate defies their boss at a night club and insults the wrong man.

Things turn very bleak and as outsiders they have nowhere to turn, who can they trust when everyone tells them to keep quiet?

When I trained as a TEFL teacher (teaching English as a foreign language) Japan was one of the more highly recommended places to go, although that was a lot later than the setting of this novel, but we were advised to stick to larger cities, unlike the one Mari and Kate end up in.

It made me think of stories of the Mafia in Sicily and other parts of Italy, dangerous places where dangerous men really run things, despite what the police and politicians say. That subtle darkness that suddenly flares into violence when people break the unwritten rules, though both women are given plenty of warnings, friendly and less so.

The switch from light hearted ‘two young women abroad’ to dark thriller exposing the rotten underbelly is slow and done skillfully and cleverly. You’re drawn into their world and carried along by their youth and enthusiasm, the violence is sudden and shocking, jolting the plot into something far grimmer – replete with dark deeds.

*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: Ravishment – James Walker*

ramblingmads

A 17th-century whodunnit – It’s 1653 and Lady Jane Tremayne has inherited the estate of her late husband.
When a young woman is raped, as Lady of the Manor she decides to investigate, assisted by her closest friend, Lady Olivia Courtney.
Then the stakes are raised when the rapist strikes again.
More than just a whodunnit, this is an absorbing tale of a brave woman living in dangerous and unique times.

Retired lawyer, and still active charity worker, living in Kent,with a keen interest in European history, who’s published six novels including Aliza, my love and Ravishment.

My first book, Ellen’s Gold is a historical drama set in the early nineteenth century.

This was followed by My Enemy, my love set in the First World War and I think he was George, a drama also set in that era.

I then published Shamila, a story of forbidden love between a Moslem and a non-Moslem, set in the near future, beforein the last year publishing Ravishment, which is whodunnit, set in 17th century England.

Finally, this was followed by Aliza, my love, which is set in Nazi Germany.

My thoughts:

This was an interesting take on the crime novel, set in Puritan England in the 17th century, a troubled time when families were divided along political lines and people suspected their friends and neighbours of either being or harbouring dangerous royalists.

Lady Jane and her late husband were indeed loyal to the Crown, something that makes her relationships with her brother-in-law and with some local dignitaries, like the local Justice of the Peace and the vicar.

She’s also involved in a small way in hiding royalists trying to raise an army on behalf of Charles II, risking confiscation of all of her property and imprisonment if caught.

Despite all this, Lady Jane remains determined to find the culprit after a series of rapes and a murder in her community. She takes her role of Lady of the Manor seriously, and even when it seems hopeless, keeps fighting for justice.

I find this enjoyable and a fun romp through a familiar landscape (my grandmother was from Devon and some of my family still live there). It’s also a reminder that before we had properly established police forces and laws, it was often up to one man to decide whether or not to investigate a crime.

*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: A Girl Made of Air – Nydia Hetherington*

ramblingmads

A lyrical and extraordinary debut packed with myth, magic, and folklore. An atmospheric homage to the strange and extraordinary, perfect for fans of Angela Carter, Bridget Collins and Stacey Halls.

This is the story of The Greatest Funambulist Who Ever Lived…

Born into a post-war circus family, our nameless star was unwanted and forgotten, abandoned in the shadows of the big top. Until the bright light of Serendipity Wilson threw her into focus.

Now an adult, haunted by an incident in which a child was lost from the circus, our narrator, a tightrope artiste, weaves together her spellbinding tales of circus legends, earthy magic and folklore, all in the hope of finding the child…

But will her story be enough to bring the pair together?

About the Author

Originally from Leeds, Nydia Hetherington moved to London in her twenties to embark on an acting career. Later she moved to Paris where she studied at the Jacques Lecoq theatre school before creating her own theatre company. When she returned to London, she completed a creative writing degree at Birkbeck. Nydia is based in London.

Twitter

My thoughts:

I have always been fascinated by stories set in circuses, I blame it entirely on Disney’s Dumbo animated film and Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus, and there is definitely an element of Fevvers in the protagonist of this story. And not just because they both happen to be funambulists.

The Girl is abandoned by her mother, raised amongst the greasepaint and animal enclosures of a slightly sad fading British travelling circus.

Taken on by the mysterious Serendipity Wilson and taught to walk the high wire, she’s drawn into a world of Manx fairy tales and leotards, that all of a sudden come tumbling down.

She then heads on a journey of redemption to New York’s famous Coney Island. Her story unravels in a confessional letter to the young journalist who came to interview her.

It’s a sad, beautiful, magical tale of big tops, fairies, llamas, and defying gravity.

Underneath the glitter and bright lights reality is harsher and sadder than it seems. Everyone has a story of their own and The Girl sees glimpses of them but caught up in her own tales, she doesn’t see the hurt that is hidden within.

I loved the dark, Gothic blend of glory on the wire and tragedy at ground level, the way others stories opened into hers, like Matryoshka stacking dolls.

*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: The White Phoenix – Catherine Randall*

ramblingmads

London, 1666. After the sudden death of her father, thirteen-year-old Lizzie Hopper and her mother must take over THE WHITE PHOENIX – the family bookshop in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral. But England is at war with France and dire prophecies abound. As rumours of invasion and plague spread, Lizzie battles prejudice, blackmail and mob violence to protect the bookshop she loves.

But England is at war with France and dire prophecies abound. As rumours of invasion and plague spread, Lizzie battles prejudice, blackmail and mob violence to protect the bookshop she loves.

When the Great Fire of London breaks out, Lizzie must rescue more than just the bookshop. Can she now save the friend she wasn’t supposed to have?

CAN THE WHITE PHOENIX RISE FROM THE ASHES?

Goodreads

Amazon

Catherine Randall was brought up in Shropshire but has lived in London since graduating from St Catherine’s College, Oxford with a degree in Modern History. Catherine worked as an editor in book publishing before taking a break to bring up her family.

She took a Master’s in Children’s Literature at the University of Roehampton, writing a novella for teens as part of her dissertation. Now living in southwest London, she is known in her local area as the writer of two history plays (The Teddington Review and Letters from the Front) performed in 2017 and 2018.

As a result of her research for The White Phoenix, Catherine takes workshops about the Great Fire of London into primary schools. She is passionate about encouraging reading and volunteers with the charity Prisoners’ Reading Groups. She is currently working on her second novel.

She is currently working on her second novel.

Twitter

My thoughts:

I used to work just round the corner from where this book is set, sadly there are no bookshops next to St Paul’s anymore, though there is now a fancy shopping centre.

The Great Fire of London devastated the Square Mile of the City of London, and it’s legacy still lingers in the changed shape of the city, the missing buildings that were never rebuilt (Baynard’s Castle, once a royal residence is now a miserable office building) and others remain in ruins.

The streets still bear the same name, I’ve bought lunch on Pudding Lane, and shopped in Leadinghall Market, which does have a book shop!

I really enjoyed reading this snapshot of life in 17th Century London, following Lizzie through the streets, the top of St Paul’s acting like a beacon so she can always find her way home.

I liked the mentions of real life figures, like Samuel Pepys, setting the narrative firmly in its time. A wonderful adventure story with a brave and resilient heroine in Lizzie.

The White Phoenix I’m sure rises from the ashes of the Fire and continues to sell books to Londoners and visitors alike under Lizzie and her family’s guidance.

*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: The Queen’s Rival – Anne O’Brien*

ramblingmads

The forgotten story of Cecily Neville, Duchess of York. A strong woman who claimed the throne for her family in a time of war…

One family united by blood. Torn apart by war…

England, 1459: Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, is embroiled in a plot to topple the weak-minded King Henry VI from the throne. But when the Yorkists are defeated at the Battle of Ludford Bridge, Cecily’s family flee and abandon her to face a marauding Lancastrian army on her own.

Cecily can only watch as her lands are torn apart and divided up by the ruthless Queen Marguerite. From the towers of her prison in Tonbridge Castle, the Duchess begins to spin a web of deceit – one that will eventually lead to treason, to the fall of King Henry VI, and to her eldest son being crowned King Edward IV.

This is a story of heartbreak, ambition and treachery, of one woman’s quest to claim the throne during the violence and tragedy of the Wars of the Roses.

My thoughts:

This was really interesting, I’m fascinated by the Plantagenets and the Cousins’ War (aka the War of the Roses) and especially the women.

Historically women have often been the footnotes of battles and kings, but there are several writers of historical fiction determined to bring these forgotten figures to life.

I’ve read several of Anne O’Brien’s other books and found them really enjoyable. I struggled to get into this one with its mix of letters, diary style entries and gossip column chronicles.

However once I adjusted to the style and layout (why are netgalley arcs so badly formatted?) I began to really enjoy it.

I read all of Philippa Gregory’s Plantagenet books but Duchess Cecily of York wasn’t much of a character in that, so this was an excellent insight into what she might well have been like.

Mother of two of England’s kings; Edward IV and Richard III, neither of whom had peaceful and happy reigns, as well as the ill-fated George, Duke of Clarence, and several daughters, she was married to the Duke memoralised in the children’s rhyme ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’, based on his tragic final battle, outnumbered he and son Edmund were killed.

Cecily lived with a lot of tragedy, children who died young, then the loss of her husband, son, brother and nephew in that battle. More heartbreak came with the marriage of Edward to Elizabeth Woodville, and the endless battles to keep his throne.

From this version of her, there seems a lot to admire about the woman who never became queen. She was clever, warm, shrewd, determined and strong.

I think she would have made an excellent monarch, her granddaughter married Henry VII and gave us the Tudor dynasty, which produced the ever fascinating Elizabeth I, who I think took after her great-grandmother, if this book’s Cecily is anything to go by.

An excellent addition to the stories of the extraordinary women of history, a fascinating insight into the inner life of a royal woman connected to the most powerful people in Europe during a complicated and often troubled time.

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

books, reviews

Book Review: The Quickening – Rhiannon Ward

ramblingmads

I was sent a copy of this book by the publisher, originally for a blog tour but it didn’t arrive in time. Please see my unbiased review below.

Feminist gothic fiction set between the late 19th century and the early 20th century – an era of burgeoning spiritualism and the suffragette movement – that couldn’t be more relevant today.

England, 1925. Louisa Drew lost her husband in the First World War and her six-year-old twin sons in the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. Newly re-married to a war-traumatised husband and seven months pregnant, Louisa is asked by her employer to travel to Clewer Hall in Sussex where she is to photograph the contents of the house for auction.

She learns Clewer Hall was host to an infamous séance in 1896, and that the lady of the house has asked those who gathered back then to come together once more to recreate the evening. When a mysterious child appears on

the grounds, Louisa finds herself compelled to investigate and becomes embroiled in the strange happenings of the house. Gradually, she unravels the long-held secrets of the inhabitants and what really happened thirty years before… and discovers her own fate is entwined with that of Clewer Hall’s.

An exquisitely crafted and compelling mystery that invites the reader in to the crumbling Clewer Hall to help unlock its secrets alongside the unforgettable Louisa Drew.

My thoughts:

This was a dark, twisted Gothic mystery, complete with crumbling house (quite literally), secrets, stoic servants and a woman at the centre who might just be in terrible danger.

Contracted to photograph Clewer House and its contents by the auction house handling the sale, with the family due to move to India, Louisa Drew is eight months pregnant and desperate for an escape from her dull second husband, who she doesn’t love.

Draw into the web of secrets, tragedy and spiritualism surrounding the Clewer family, she becomes slightly obsessed with the child she thinks she sees in the garden. A few strange things happen to her before an infamous seance is recreated with the original guests.

The inclusion of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his second wife is interesting. Probably one of the most famous spiritualists, Doyle was a man of science who nevertheless believed mediums could communicate with the other side, despite having met his share of charlatans.

Louisa is a modern woman, used to providing for herself, after losing her first husband, Bertie, in WWI. This contrasts with the very Victorian fascination with mediums, lending an element of travelling back in time to the proceedings.

The atmospheric, damp, mouldy, crumbling house provides the perfect backdrop to the unfolding tragedy. As Louisa is drawn into solving a murder and investigating the Clewer family’s tragedy, she starts to unravel herself.

In grand Gothic tradition the house and the secrets it holds start to affect everyone who enters it and I really enjoyed the fact that there was something sinister about the plaster falling off the walls as the family and their guests take tea in another room.

This is an excellent read, full of suspense and things that jar against the early 20th century setting, a time of huge social change, while Clewer House clings onto its past.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Talland House – Maggie Humm*

ramblingmads


Royal Academy, London 1919: Lily has put her student days in St. Ives, Cornwall, behind her―a time when her substitute mother, Mrs. Ramsay, seemingly disliked Lily’s portrait of her and Louis Grier, her tutor, never seduced her as she hoped he would. In the years since, she’s been a suffragette and a nurse in WWI, and now she’s a successful artist with a painting displayed at the Royal Academy. Then Louis appears at the exhibition with the news that Mrs. Ramsay has died under suspicious circumstances. Talking to Louis, Lily realizes two things: 1) she must find out more about her beloved Mrs. Ramsay’s death (and her sometimes-violent husband, Mr. Ramsay), and 2) She still loves Louis.
Set between 1900 and 1919 in picturesque Cornwall and war-blasted London, Talland House takes Lily Briscoe from the pages of Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and tells her story outside the confines of Woolf’s novel―as a student in 1900, as a young woman becoming a professional artist, her loves and friendships, mourning her dead mother, and solving the mystery of her friend Mrs. Ramsay’s sudden death. Talland House is both a story for our present time, exploring the tensions women experience between their public careers and private loves, and a story of a specific moment in our past―a time when women first began to be truly independent.

My thoughts:

Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse, and partly set at Talland House, which Woolf’s family rented when she was a child, this story fleshes out the details Woolf left out of her own narrative – primarily the death of Mrs Ramsey.

A beautifully written, lyrical meditation on art, the particular light of St Ives, families, women, war and love.

Following Lily Briscoe from her days as an art student, then as a Queen Alexandra’s nurse in WWI (as was my own great-grandmother), we encounter the seismic changes in society in the early years of the 20th century. Lily is present when a suffragette slashes a painting in protest of the government’s treatment of Emmeline Pankhurst.

Her fascination with Mrs Ramsey never really wains, she thinks of her often, even though years pass by without them meeting. I was reminded of the similar relationship in Howards End, where Margaret is fascinated by Mrs Wilcox.

The novel evolves in its final third into a investigation of Mrs Ramsey’s death. Lily suspects foul play, the suddenness of it seems suspicious, and she enlists her pharmacist friend after the cleaner and cook give her a small bottle found among Mrs Ramsey’s things. Shades of Agatha Christie, herself a pharmacist in the war.

I found this book deeply fascinating and strangely moving. St Ives is a place I’ve visited and I could picture it in my mind as Lily painted on the quayside and strode around the town with her friends.

Even if you’re not a fan of Woolf, this is very enjoyable and readable, Woolf isn’t present in the pages and the author really makes the characters her own.

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

books, reviews

Book Review – Skelton’s Guide to Domestic Poisons

ramblingmads

I was gifted a copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley with no requirement to review.

Mary Dutton is accused of killing her husband by poison, though there aren’t many who dispute her involvement in his death. The police see it as an open-and-shut case, and even those protesting for her freedom believe she committed the act, but is innocent of wrongdoing after suffering years of domestic abuse.

Since his recent success in the high-profile Dryden case catapulted him to the front pages of the national press, unassuming Yorkshireman Arthur Skelton is now one of the most celebrated and recognisable barristers in the land. His services are much in demand and, despite the odds, he agrees to represent Mary Dutton.

Yet with a general election on the horizon and both sides of the political divide keen to turn the Dutton case to their advantage, as well as long-held secrets within the Dutton family itself, can Skelton ever really expose the truth?




My thoughts:

This is a tremendously fun read. The humour is black and the plot is a murder that might have never been discovered.
Skelton’s cousins make excellent detectives with their travelling ministry and ear for details.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and really hope there will be more to come as I’m out of Christie and this harks back to the Golden Age of detective novels while also being refreshingly modern.