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[[Category:History|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|History]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->
{{newreview
|author=Lydia Ginzburg
|title=Notes from the Blockade
|rating=5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=With the scenes from war torn Syria brought to our screens every night, 'Notes from the blockade' is a timely book. It is the remarkable story of Lydia Ginzburg's survival during the 900-day siege of Leningrad during World War 2. With beautiful prose full of Russian melancholy and pragmatism, it details daily life in the besieged city. I have to confess that I found this to be one of the most moving books that it has ever been my pleasure to read. Pleasure may be a strange choice of words to describe a book recounting horrifying events, but it came from the lyrical quality of the writing. Ginzburg's prose is simply beautiful. Her descriptions of the minutiae of everyday life, as it descends into the abyss, are the most human I have encountered. It is this that leaves its mark long after the final page is turned.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099583380</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Nicholas Stargardt
|summary= Ask almost anyone what they know about Isabella, Queen of King Edward II. The chances are that they will tell you she was ‘the she-wolf of France’ who was so infuriated by her gay husband’s propensity for disastrous favourites that she took a lover and they conspired to depose him, then have him murdered in captivity. The truth is somewhat different. To use an old cliché, if you throw enough mud it will stick. A good deal has adhered to this seemingly much-maligned couple over the years.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1445647400</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Penrose Halson
|title=Marriages Are Made in Bond Street: True Stories from a 1940's Marriage Bureau
|rating=4
|genre=History
|summary=Audrey Parsons had no desire to marry. Her mother, however, had quite different ideas and was insistent that her daughter find a husband, as their would be no place for her at the family farm when she was older. Frustrated by her lack of options, Audrey bowed to pressure and went to stay with her uncle in India in the hope of finding a husband. When she arrived she was overwhelmed by all of the male attention she received. In the colonies, eligible women were few and far between and men were desperate for wives. Although she didn't find a husband, she hit upon an idea that would kill two birds with one stone: she would find wives for these lonely men, whilst at the same time creating a business that would allow her the financial independence she craved. The Marriage Bureau was born.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447282620</amazonuk>
}}