1066: What Fates Impose by G K Holloway
Perhaps England should realise it's in trouble when King Edward the Confessor takes one look at his naked bride and decides to remain chaste. This signals a lack of royal offspring and a succession crisis that becomes so important the vultures flock to fight even before he's ill, let alone dead. The jockeying for position as next in line to the throne or next in line's favourite has begun. Indeed England is famous for its royal succession wars and this is one of the best; a story of a journey that will finish near Hastings as a deadly stand-off between King Harold Godwinson and Norman Duke William in that year that every British school child is taught: 1066. Full review...
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
London 1883: Thaniel Steepleton, a telegraphist in a government office, finds himself living and working in a city at siege during a Clan na Gael bombing campaign. It's around this time that he also realises that his pocket watch seems to have some odd, previously unnoticed functions. Grace Carrow, a 'bluestocking' physics student also owns such a watch. The two total strangers may think their watches odd, but 'odd' takes on a new meaning when they meet Mr Mori, the Japanese watchmaker. His clockwork pet octopus is only a small measure of the oddity ahead. Full review...
The Woman in the Picture by Katharine McMahon
In February 1926 London was tense and divided between those who supported the principle of a general strike and those who were prepared to break it at whatever cost to themselves. Evelyn Gifford is a newly qualified solicitor and whilst she's sympathetic to the miners she's preoccupied by two cases from opposite ends of the social spectrum. Trudy Wright is a maidservant accused of theft and Evelyn has undertaken this case pro bono: her argument is that the 'theft' was of a letter asking for a reference for Trudy, but she was too frightened to hand it to her bullying employer, so only she was the loser. The Wright family worm their way into Evelyn's life: the father is a bullying, drunken, wife beater, the mother is scared and brow beaten, but the son, Robbie, is deeply involved with the unions. Full review...
Hearts of Stone by Simon Scarrow
Wars are often written about and the further back you go the more unreal they feel. The description of a Roman Soldier being killed seems to have little impact on our lives today, but, what about Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam? How far must one go back before we feel detached from events? World War Two ended 70 years ago, but it still ripples through to today. There are stories still to be told from this time, but they must be written well and sensitively. Full review...
Keep the Home Fires Burning: War at Home, 1915 by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
As the calendar page turns to 1915 Jack Hunter is fighting the front. The same goes for Charles Wroughton, leaving his new fiancée Diana to face his aristocratic family (including dreadful Rupert) alone. The country's men are going off in greater numbers as enlistment fever begins to build and women are being brought in to do men's jobs. (Yes, really!) Diana's sister Sadie continues to train horses to be sent to the French front, making her feel as if she's doing something useful. There are also other benefits to the job, seeing more of local vet John Courcy for instance, although their relationship is purely professional… yes, really! Not everything is focused on France though; there's talk of opening up a new front further east on the Turkish coast at a place called Gallipoli. Full review...
Glory by Rachel Billington
Sylvia Fitzpaine comes from a titled family with all the advantages of class that the aristocracy can offer in 1915. These are grossly troubled times though, with men including her father the Brigadier General and her fiancé Arthur away at war. The Brigadier General seems safe at the moment in Cairo but Arthur has been sent into the thick of it. He sits in a ship awaiting embarkation just off the coast of a little known Turkish region, the very name of which will one day summon images of terror and ill-thought-out tactics. Arthur is on his way to Gallipoli. Full review...
Watch the Lady by Elizabeth Fremantle
Queen Elizabeth I is in her autumnal years and becoming increasingly pre-occupied with fear of potential plots and coups catching up with her – and perhaps justifiably so. This is how young Penelope Devereux finds Her Majesty (Penelope's godmother) on Penelope's acceptance at court. It's a dangerous time to be a royal maid, especially in young Miss Devereux's case with a banished mother, a step-father who is one of Elizabeth's favourites and the realisation that the girl has been placed there to spy for the family. However the Devereux interests will be served even if the game that Penelope plays is a fatal one. Full review...
The Red Lily Crown by Elizabeth Loupas
Florence 1574: Chiara Nerini only approaches Francesco de' Medici to sell him her late father's alchemical equipment. She and her family are starving and a sale would mean survival. However the soon to be Emperor has other ideas and abducts Chiara to become his assistant in the quest to find the Philosopher's Stone. If he finds it she will go free. If not... Best not think about that option! Full review...
Dacre's War by Rosemary Goring
1523, ten years after the Battle of Flodden and the death if James IV of Scotland. Henry VIII has decided on a scorched earth policy and sends agents over the borders to burn Scottish towns and plunder their churches and monasteries to fund his coffers. One such agent is Thomas, Baron Dacre, Keeper of Carlisle and, ironically, friend of the dead Scottish ruler. While working for the English crown Dacre also has his own private war to fight. Clan chief Adam Crozier hears that Dacre ordered Adam's father's murder and wants his revenge. Full review...
The Spice Box Letters by Eve Makis
Katerina's Armenian grandmother Mariam dies leaving her and her mother a journal in Armenian and a spice box full of mysterious letters. They're special to them both because they're the legacy of a much loved relative but totally indecipherable to the monolingually English pair. However a holiday abroad to get over a recent break up brings a random encounter for Katerina. When Katerina meets Ara she also meets the key to her grandmother's secret past. Full review...
Death Descends On Saturn Villa (The Gower Street Detective Series) by MRC Kasasian
While the best personal detective in the known Victorian world (in his opinion anyway) Sidney Grice is away on a case, his ward March is left to her own devices. As luck would have it, one of those devices is an invitation to meet a previously unknown relative. March visits Saturn Villa with a sense of curiosity and encounters Uncle Tolly whose afternoon tea is one she will never forget. Let's hope she knows a good detective! Full review...
The Silent Hours by Cesca Major
Adeline is an enigma. She has lived in a nunnery ever since her rescue, several years ago. She cannot speak, nor can she remember much about her previous life. She tries desperately to piece together the ephemeral fragments that come to her in fitful dreams. Something has taken everything away. Something so powerful that it has rendered her speechless. Full review...
The Lodger by Louisa Treger
A writer writing about writers writing. What more could a reader, a book reviewer, a tentative writer and lover of words want from a book? Not forgetting the setting – England, early 1900s, clear class divisions and social expectations – and the characters – fascinating, colourful, and above all, real. This book has everything I look for in a story. Full review...
The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins by Antonia Hodgson
A few months after we left Tom in the 1720s we return to find him living in sin and love with Kitty. Or it would be sin if they ever get round to the bed bit. Just as he promised underworld gang leader James Fleet, Tom has taken in James' son Sam to train him in the ways of being a gentleman. All seems to be going well in that department until Tom receives a visit from an old enemy and a brush with the country's ultimate power. Then both collide to create fear and an offer that Tom isn't able to refuse, no matter how hard he tries. Full review...
The Penny Heart by Martine Bailey
After living a life of crime in order to scrape by, Mary Jebb is spared from the gallows – and banished to Australia. Before leaving for the penal colony of Botany Bay, she sends two engraved penny heart tokens to key players in her world. One of these takes us to Delafosse Hall, where Mary’s story meets that of shy artist Grace Moore – and yet more confidence tricks begin. Full review...
Flood of Fire (Ibis Trilogy 3) by Amitav Ghosh
1839 and the repercussions of the sinking of the Ibis and the Chinese clampdown on opium smuggling go on. Now widowed by the marine disaster, Shireen Modhi is given an opportunity to discover her late husband's legacy although it means journeying alone from India to China. Former sailor Zachary Reid finds life landside to be a little complicated when he becomes a 'mystery' (craftsman) attached to the Indian home of a British opium trader, despite its fringe benefits. East India Company sepoy officer Kesri Singh is also a little unsettled, especially when he discovers he must prepare for a war that, in some way or other, will affect them all. Full review...
A Lover's Pinch by Jean Ravencourt
Hettie (Henriette to be formal) has grown up in straitened times. Her mother was a former mistress of Charles IX but now Henri IV is on the throne. A different king means different favourites and Hettie’s family have to live on the memory and favours of others. However Hettie has attracted the attention of Henri which is enough to give her mother ideas. She’s not the only one though: King’s mistress Gabrielle d’Estrees also has plans for the teenage girl. Hettie is definitely embarking on an adventure but the twists it takes are unforeseen by anyone and dangerous to all. Full review...
Sophie and the Sibyl: A Victorian Romance by Patricia Duncker
Sophie and the Sibyl, consciously modelled on John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman, is a postmodern blending of history, fiction, and metafictional commentary. Brothers Max and Wolfgang Duncker really were George Eliot's German publishers, but the accident of their surname matching the author's makes them her clever stand-in. As the novel opens in 1872, the venerable English author is exploring Homburg and Berlin in the company of her 'husband' while ushering her latest novel, Middlemarch, into German translation. Max, a young cad fond of casinos and brothels, has two tasks: ensuring Eliot's loyalty to their publishing house, and securing Countess Sophie von Hahn's hand in marriage. Full review...
Darkling by Laura Beatty
Brilliana Harley is a seventeenth century Puritan, and a Roundhead in a county of Puritans. Driven to defend both her beliefs and home in the front of total aggression, Brilliana must take charge and defend her home, all the while consumed with longing for an absent husband. She soon comes under a brutal and unrelenting siege, and will struggle to survive. In the present day, Mia Morgan is researching the life of Brilliana Harley, hoping to finish a book begun by her late ex-lover. As she struggles to come to term with her grief, and to rebuild a life from what she has left, Mia finds her life becoming irrevocably entwined with that of the tragic Brilliana. Full review...
Eagles at War by Ben Kane
War, what is it good for? Looking at the ever buoyant historic fiction genre it would appear that war is great for selling books. This is especially the case with the Romans; there are more books about Ancient Roman battles than there were mad Caesars. One of the leading names in the historic fiction genre is Ben Kane and when he releases the first book in a new series fans of the genre take notice, but would they be right to do so? Full review...
The Throwaway Children by Diney Costeloe
They seemed like a perfect little family unit: Mavis and her two young daughters, Rita and Rosie. But widowed Mavis needed a man in her life and violent bully Jimmy was only too happy to enjoy the perks of such a relationship, even if it meant putting up with her troublesome children. When Mavis finds herself pregnant with Jimmy's baby, he agrees to marry her on one condition: the girls have to go. Distraught Mavis chooses her man over her children, setting in motion a tragic chain of events that leads to the girls being sent to an orphanage thousands of miles away in Australia. “The Throwaway Children” follows the lives of Rita and Rosie as they struggle to make sense of this new, unfamiliar world. Full review...
The Lady of Misrule by Suzannah Dunn
Elizabeth Tilney volunteers to accompany Lady Jane Grey to the Tower of London. Elizabeth would be attendant to the young deposed Protestant queen while Jane's husband Guildford Dudley is kept in an adjacent tower. Her feelings for him are less than devotional whereas he still feels a responsibility towards her, mixed with his fear and anger at what has gone before and what may lie ahead. However Jane is treated well by the new Queen Mary despite the difference in the new and old queens' faiths. Does Jane have anything to fear? Spending her time with Jane and as a messenger to Guildford, Elizabeth hopes not but she hears rumours... Full review...
The Fifth Heart by Dan Simmons
On a rainy night in March 1893 Henry James stands on a Paris bridge, about to end it all. Next to him sidles Sherlock Holmes, about to do the same. Instead of jumping, Holmes drags James off for a drink and decides that they will go to America to solve a 17-year-old murder case. The supposed victim, socialite Clover Adams, is believed to have committed suicide but that doesn't deter Sherlock. He's off, Henry James is going with him and that's that! Full review...
The Silvered Heart by Katherine Clements
Katherine Ferrers is a young orphan – growing up in the turbulent period of the English Civil War, she has little choice but to marry for the sake of her family, and to trust her considerable inheritance into the care of her husband. As the war comes to an end, and those who supported the losing King are punished severely, Katherine finds herself with no money, few friends, and a house that has become a prison. Wishing for a life away from her cold, oft absent husband, Katherine meets a man who changes her life, with Katherine choosing to join him in a life that provides her with the excitement she craves – and yet may prove all too dangerous… Full review...
Liberty's Fire by Lydia Syson
Paris in the uneasy and violent months between March and May 1871 is an inspired setting for this tense, dramatic novel. Liberty's Fire is Lydia Syson's third work of fiction and certainly ensures that she will not be stereotyped into any single historical period. Full review...
The Confectioner's Tale by Laura Madeleine
Petra is researching the life of late historian, author, critic and greatly missed grandfather JG Stevenson when she should really be writing a dissertation for her doctorate. While looking through his belongings she comes across a photo taken in Paris at the turn of the 20th century and an intriguing note in his handwriting. Petra has never consciously realised that Grandpa Jim (as he was to her) had been to France so the revelation spurs her on against all odds, an unscrupulous competitor and academic pressure. Gradually the search reveals a romance and notorious scandal; the sort of scandal would lead a man to regret it for the rest of his life. Meanwhile in 1909, Guillaume du Frere moves to France from the provinces in order to escape poverty and changes his life completely, although not in the way he'd expected. Full review...
The Angel and the Sword by Sally Wragg
We met the people from Loxley New Hall in Loxley but we've moved on quite a few years as we rejoin them for the story of The Angel and the Sword. Harry, eleventh Duke of Loxley is dead and the title has been inherited by his daughter - she's a lucky girl as that doesn't happen too often in the world of Debrett's. She's only in her mid teens, but Katherine, her grandmother is uneasy about her friendship with Bill, a local boy. She was very sniffy when her son married Bronwyn, the daughter of a doctor and only really came around to the idea when Bron made a good fist of running the estate when the Duke went off to the trenches with every able-bodied man on the estate. Full review...
The Darkest Hour by Barbara Erskine
In the summer of 1940, at the start of the Battle Britain, Evie Lucas has two things on her mind. She paints pictures of the war and she has fallen in love with Tony, a young pilot. Seventy years later, Lucy, an art historian, begins a study into Evie’s life. Lucy is recently widowed and hopes to find solace in the engrossing project. Instead, she finds secrets that people have been working hard to protect for over half a century – and her discoveries have a profound impact on her own life. Full review...