132,927
edits
Changes
From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to searchNewest Historical Fiction Reviews (view source)
Revision as of 13:58, 5 August 2013
, 13:58, 5 August 2013no edit summary
{{adsense2}}
__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->
{{newreview
|title=Longbourn
|author=Jo Baker
|rating=5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=So we have had Jane Austen [[Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith|meet zombies]], and now something perhaps even more reprehensible – social realism. This is a world where people slip up in hogshit, where rain pisses it down, and if the weekly routine washday is bad, you should try it when five Bennet daughters have their coinciding periods. Sarah is in the middle of all this, trying to do her share of the housework with one hand at times, lest pus from her blisters get on the linen, or her callouses crack open. But why can she not get her feelings about James, the new mysterious footman fresh from who-knows-where, straight in her head, and why is her heart turned by the mulatto servant of the Bingleys up at Netherfield?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857522019</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Elisabeth Gifford
|summary=Michael Ennis sets his ''The Malice of Fortune'' in Italy in the early part of the 1500s. Ennis is a history lecturer so unsurprisingly, his book is full of evidence of detailed research and understanding of the times. And what fascinating times they were. With the Borgia family dominating both the papacy and several political regions, fighting for power and land, a number of family led mercenary armies, and several great figures who would leave a lasting legacy, notably Leonardo Da Vinci and Niccolò Machiavelli, the latter of whom narrates a very large part of this novel. The real life political wrangling of the times would stretch the imagination of most novelists and Ennis bases his tale on a huge number of real, documented happenings. What he seeks to add to the party is an insight into why and how these events occurred and certainly there are some unexplained gaps in the relationships of the key players. The core story is an attempt to discover the identity of the murderer of the pope's son, Juan Borgia, Duke of Gandia. Candidates range from his brother, Cesare Borgia, Juan's courtesan, Damiata to the heads of various powerful, mercenary families. It's historical fiction meets crime fiction.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780890974</amazonuk>
}}
