|summary=I'm told that Buchan is still widely read. Really? "John Buchan? Oh yes, he wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps"… and that's as far as most of us get. Let's be honest most of us only know that one from the many film versions, just about all of which take huge liberties with the original plot.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971977</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ellen Feldman
|title=Next to Love
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Babe, Grace and Millie are three American girls who have grown up together. Now young women each marry their sweetheart just as America becomes involved in the Second World War. But on a fateful day in 1944, sixteen telegrams arrive from the War Department bringing death to the locals, including Grace and Millie whose husbands have both been killed. Babe seems to be the lucky one as her husband, Claude, returns from the War, but in truth he will never be the same man again.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330544500</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Fiona Mountain
|title=Isabella
|rating=4
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=The fate of mutineer, Fletcher Christian in the 18th century remains a mystery even today but Fiona Mountain has pieced together a dramatic and powerful story based on rumours and clues that Fletcher returned to England to be with his long-lost love, Isabella Curwen. Fletcher, the son of a bankrupt family and Isabella, the sole heiress of a huge fortune are prevented from marrying. Their relationship is manipulated by those around them and a young, naïve Isabella is forced to marry her cousin, John.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099562251</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ben Kane
|title=Hannibal: Enemy of Rome
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Thanks to his [[The Forgotten Legion by Ben Kane|Forgotten Legion]] trilogy, Ben Kane has recently bought Roman times to life in me far more than history and Latin lessons at school ever did. Having enjoyed this first trilogy, I've been eagerly awaiting his ''Hannibal'' trilogy, since he told Bookbag about it when we interviewed him. Finally, the wait is over and ''Hannibal: Enemy of Rome'' is here.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184809227X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jose Saramago and Margaret Jull Costa
|title=The Elephant's Journey
|rating=3.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=This novel is inspired by a real event – the marriage gift of an elephant from Dom João III of Portugal to his cousin Maximilian, the Hapsburg Archduke of Austria. When the gift was accepted, the elephant Solomon, his mahout Subhro and numerous soldiers, oxen and porters, walked from Lisbon to Vienna to deliver the present, arriving in 1552. This is the story of that journey.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099546884</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Sara Stockbridge
|title=Cross My Palm
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Fortune teller Rose Lee lives on the edge of London society in 1860, making her living by entertaining (and sometimes deceiving) the rich by reading their palms. She fears the fate she has read for herself in her own palm which is perhaps what makes her cautious of delivering the whole truth to the ladies that employ her. On one particular night Rose is called to the house of Lady Quayle, a woman of high society, who delights in having her fortune read, taking everything Rose tells her as gospel. One of the guests present is Emily, a young girl and friend of Lady Quayle's daughter Tabitha.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>070118504X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Alison Weir
|title=The Captive Queen
|rating=3
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Vaclav and Lena are both children of Russian immigrants, growing up in Brooklyn. Vaclav dreams of becoming a fantastic magician, with his friend Lena as his assistant, and as children they practise their routine together, making lists of the things they'll need, the costumes they will wear and the tricks they will perform. Vaclav is confident and happy, but Lena is quiet, withdrawn and struggles with speaking English. Yet Vaclav believes, always, that they are destined to be together. Even when Lena disappears one day and is gone from his life for many years still he hopes that, somehow, he will find her again.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434020443</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Helen Humphreys
|title=The Reinvention of Love
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary='The Reinvention of Love' is one of those stories that is so bizarre and strange that it could only be based on factual events. Essentially it is a good, old-fashioned love triangle set mostly in Paris in the period from the 1830s to the 1860s; a world where fighting duels is a commonplace event. The triangle features the great French literary writer Victor Hugo, his wife Adèle and the altogether strange critic Charles Saint-Beuve who narrates much of this story, with brief breaks for Adèle's side of events and some letters written by the Hugo's youngest daughter, also called Adèle (but let's call her, as she was known to her family, Dédé to avoid confusion).
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846687985</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Karen Harper
|title=The Queen's Governess
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Kat Ashley isn't a name one usually associates with the Tudor era, but just like the more famous characters of the period, she has her own fascinating story to tell, a story which this book captures perfectly. As Thomas Cromwell's spy, Anne Boleyn's confidante and later Princess Elizabeth's governess, Kat Ashley certainly knew the Tudor court well and it is through her fictional diary entries that the reader is invited to know the dazzling, yet dangerous Tudor court too.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091940419</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Roy Jacobsen, Don Bartlett (translator) and Don Shaw (translator)
|title=Child Wonder
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=1961 was a year of change, a time, as Jacobsen puts it, ''when men became boys and housewives women''. At the outset Finn and his mother are leading a quiet, rather timorous life in a working class Oslo suburb. Then change overwhelms them, not through world events, but in the form of a mysterious child who is Finn's half sister. Linda is not like other children and Finn's attempt to deal with her impact on his family is the central thread in this quintessential story of growing up.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857050184</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Amor Towles
|title=Rules of Civility
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Katey Kontent works hard during the day as a typist at a big law firm in 1930s Manhattan, but at night she likes to sample the nightlife – jazz clubs in Greenwich Village. There on New Year's Eve 1937, she and her roommate Eve meet the charming Tinker Grey. This is the start of a year of many changes for Katey and her friends.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444708848</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Meira Chand
|title=A Different Sky
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=We meet the first of the three main characters - Chinese Mei Lan on a trip with her devoted minder-nursemaid into town. The sights and smells intrigue the young girl as they are a far cry from her comfortable home and its surroundings. Rather than appreciating all that space and the beautiful objects in the family home, Mei Lan feels lonely (she's an only child) and even hemmed in. But perhaps she'll change as she grows up.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099546248</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Lian Hearn
|title=Blossoms and Shadows
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=I see from the front cover that Hearn is already a best-selling author with her ''Tales Of the Otori'' so I was looking forward to a good read. However, I did slump a little when I opened the book and was presented with several pages of the story's characters - sub-divided into fictional and historical.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857382977</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=D J Taylor
|title=Derby Day
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=I read (and reviewed) Taylor's [[Ask Alice by D J Taylor|Ask Alice]] and took to Taylor's style straight away. Is this one going to be as good - or even better? Time to find out ... To set the tone we first meet a couple of no-gooders as they plot and scheme and it's all about horses and the Derby. And by degrees, Taylor introduces his main characters, chapter by chapter, to his readers. As this novel runs to over 400 pages, there's plenty of time for flesh to be heaped upon the bones of many of these characters. So, for example, we have a rather cold and calculating daughter living with her elderly father who appear right at the start of the novel. I got the sense that things were about to happen - and they certainly did. There's a strong sense of emotions just bubbling under the surface with this duo.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701183586</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Suzannah Dunn
|title=The Confession of Katherine Howard
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Katherine Howard was Henry VIII's fifth wife. She was perhaps the most seductive of his wives and a considerable contrast to her predecessor, Anna of Cleves. She's been consigned to history as a silly girl, but careful reading gives the lie to this. Suzannah Dunn begins her story when Katherine was twelve years old and went to live in her step-grandmother's household. There she met Cathryn – generally known as Cat – Tilney, but the two girls were very different and didn't hit it off initially. Cat was quietly ambitious, aware that she needed to make a good marriage, whilst Katherine was image-conscious and very interested in the boys.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007258305</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|title=Wall of Days
|author=Alastair Bruce
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=The front cover of this debut novel caught my full and undivided attention with ''Alone, ten years on an island, until one day...'' I couldn't wait to start reading. We meet the central character - we don't know his name just yet and in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter. He's living alone on an island, somewhere in the world. Is it the past, the present or even the future? As the story developed I decided on the former.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846688000</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Rory Clements
|title=John Shakespeare: Prince
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=This is the third in the excellent Elizabethan murder mystery series, featuring John Shakespeare, brother of Will. An inexplicable murder is linked to a much deeper plot of political dimensions, leading Shakespeare into danger and tragedy. A series of bombings, which appear to be targeting the immigrant population causes huge unrest and fear, and leads to the uncovering of further political dimensions.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848544251</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Felix J Palma
|title=The Map of Time
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Like a lot of readers I cannot resist a book with an immediate hook that draws you into the story quickly and in a seemingly effortless fashion. From the very first page of 'The Map of Time' Felix Palma had me firmly in his grasp and continued to hold me there for the entirety of the novel. Not once did I become bored or distracted as I relished every word, page and chapter of this remarkable book.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007344120</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Margaret James
|title=The Golden Chain
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=It's 1931 and teenager Daisy Denham, along with her parents Alex and Rose, and two brothers have left their life in India and moved to Melbury House in Dorset, a place full of history for Alex and Rose. Daisy is not keen on her new life and surroundings and is desperate to escape, particularly when she discovers a long held family secret that casts a shadow across her past. She soon meets handsome Ewan Fraser, a young man forced to spend his holidays in Dorset thanks to his overbearing mother, and the two strike up an instant friendship that soon turns to love, spurred on by their joint interest in working on the stage. Ewan soon gives Daisy a golden chain and Daisy promises never to take it off.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>190693164X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Adrienne McDonnell
|title=The Doctor and the Diva
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=We first meet one of the central characters, the successful, young obstetrician Dr Ravell as he mingles with the great and the good Bostonians at a high-level social gathering. His reputation seems to precede him as one guest enthuses 'After nineteen years in a barren marriage ... thanks to you, they had twins.' High praise indeed. And at this gathering he not only meets a future patient, Erika von Kessler, but he is also enraptured by her singing voice. He tries to explain all this but finds it difficult so ends up by saying 'It was not an earthly voice; it was a shimmering.' I loved that line.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751543608</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Amitav Ghosh
|title=River of Smoke
|rating=4
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=At over 500 pages, this is a big book and it's also a big book in terms of the subject matters that it covers; the whole colonial situation regarding parts of the East as well as the properties and problems of the poppy's product - opium. Ghosh also crams in a wealth of very different and diverse characters so that the novel has the feel of an exotic and at times, enchanting pot-pourri of a read. I have to say at the outset that I find authors such as Rushdie wordy, very wordy. I have Ghosh's ''The Glass Palace'' in my ever-growing 'to read' pile. I wonder if the latter will be as wordy as the former. Time to find out...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0719568986</amazonuk>
}}
