|summary=The Danish writer/actor Knud Romer has a gallery of fascinating relatives which collectively feature in ''Nothing But Fear''. This biographical novel is a collection of memories from his grandparents' era, moving forward, to that of his parents, including World War II and his own childhood in 1960s and 70s small town Denmark. The vignettes aren't in chronological order but that's because memories normally aren't. The stories are narrated almost as if they're fresh from the mind, ensuring a natural flow. The interesting thing is that no matter how fascinating his other relatives are my mind's eye always seemed to return to one: his mother, Hildegard.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846687144</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Evelyn Eaton
|title=Go Ask the River
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=In ninth century China, Hung Tu was almost unique as a woman breaking into the restricted male preserve of education, particularly the fields of poetry and calligraphy, and becoming a highly respected and renowned writer. Eaton constructs a fascinating narrative around her poems, imagining Hung Tu’s idyllic childhood which turns to potential chaos as she is sold into prostitution, followed by her rise to Official Hostess for the Governor.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848190921</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Nelle Davy
|title=The Legacy of Eden
|rating=3.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Much as I hate to appear to be on the fence about this book – I’m on the fence about this book!
All the seeds of a great saga appear to be present - strong characters, an engaging setting in the form of Aurelia, the family farm, and an inciting incident early on. All this is backed up with some superb description in the early part of the novel, with the period and the handful of characters we meet at the start all being carefully drawn.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848450931</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Charlotte Betts
|title=The Apothecary's Daughter
|rating=4.5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Susannah is an intelligent young woman in her twenties who assists her father in his pharmacy. But the date is 1665 so he's actually called an apothecary, creating herbal remedies from scratch; moreoever this is an era when women did not, generally, do work of this kind. However, London is in the grip of the bubonic plague. So apothecaries must work overtime to produce nosegays - supposedly to ward off evil humours - as well as plague preventative medicine, herbs for poultices, and so on.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749954493</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=M L Stedman
|title=The Light Between Oceans
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Thomas Sherbourne returns to Australia after World War I. Internally scarred like many of his generation, he chooses the solitary life of a lighthouse keeper on remote Janus Rock to escape the world and its conflict. However, he soon learns that there is one part of the world he can't live without – the sassy, beautiful Izzy Graysmark, a local from the nearest port and country town of Partaguese. They have a happy marriage in all respects apart from one: they're haunted by their inability to have children. Therefore, one day, when a boat washes up onto Janus bearing a dead man and a crying baby, apparent salvation arrives too.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857521004</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ros Barber
|title=The Marlowe Papers
|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=''Stop. Pay attention. Hear a dead man speak''
These are the attention grabbing words that Ros Barber addresses to the reader at the start of this unique tale. Marlowe was a playwright with a reputation not only for his plays but also for his lifestyle. His gory death from a stab wound through the eye is one of the many contentious points in a brief but very lively life.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444737384</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Stella Tillyard
|title=Tides of War
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=When a scholarly historian turns a hand to fiction, complications can follow. Sometimes the result is a dry work of proud, thinly disguised research, where all discerned information is hurled at the page. Sometimes the demonstrated research levels are just right, but the characterisation is more reminiscent of cardboard cut outs than real people. However, if the historian is [[Category:Stella Tillyard|Stella Tillyard]], cited as being phenomenally gifted by none other than Simon Schama, there's no need for concern. ''Tides of War'' is an engrossing, sweeping epic of a novel.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701183179</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Jane Harris
|title=Gillespie and I
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=
The 'I' in the title of Jane Harris's ''Gillespie and I'' is Harriet Baxter. Now elderly and residing in London in 1933, she is finally telling her events of what happened in the early 1880s in Glasgow and her relationship with the Gillespie family. At the time, a spinster of independent means, she arrived in Glasgow to visit the International Exhibition and became a champion of and friend to a young Scottish painter, Ned Gillespie and his young family. We know from early on that tragedy struck the Gillespie family leading to Ned destroying his career, but Harriet wants to set the record straight with regard to her involvement in events. You may or may not believe her story.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571238300</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Karin Altenberg
|title=Island of Wings
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Rev Neil MacKenzie has been assigned to the Hebridian island of St Kilda. His mission is to bring the locals back to the Victorian idea of God and propriety. He and his pregnant wife Lizzie not only have to fight the elements but also centuries of superstition that have trickled into the islanders' Christian faith. Life is made harder for Neil by a secret guilt emanating from the death of a friend years ago. However, the going becomes harder still for Lizzie, isolated by an inability to speak the local language and the burgeoning fear engendered by Neil's behaviour and attitudes.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857382322</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Georgina Harding
|title=Painter of Silence
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=A young, anonymous, vagrant collapses on the steps of a hospital in Romania. He doesn't speak and remains a mystery to the staff that tries to treat his obvious symptoms but can't seem to reach the silent person beneath. However, Safta, a nurse, suggests that he may be deaf and produces drawing materials. Coincidentally, the man is able to draw beautifully, but this is no coincidence to Safta. There are reasons why she can't disclose it, but she knows this man. They grew up together in pre-war Romania, a whole world away when the country had a king, beautiful cities untouched by bombing and being able to read a foreign language wasn't punishable by imprisonment in work camps... or worse.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408821125</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Lindsey Davis
|title=Master and God
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Imagine first century Rome as seen through the eyes of a wry Brummie with a fine sense of humour and a real talent for introducing you to characters so real you could easily see yourself having a drink with them after a hard week at the office. That is Lindsey Davis' gift, and while this book is a departure from her usual Falco novels, the trademark charm, piercing intelligence and ready wit are as abundant as ever.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444707329</amazonuk>
}}
