Ah, Ken Follett. Writer of decent spy books, and sweeping historic epic novels. I have no idea how he gets these things done, they’re so bloody huge. So, this is the first of what Follett is calling the “Century Trilogy.” It follows five families through the 20th century, this book covers 1911 through 1924. We’ve got World War I, the Russian Revolution, women’s suffrage, mining strikes, and also just general life stuff like unwed mothers, gays, and religion. The families come from Wales (the poor, […]
Religious fear & murder mystery in 12th century Cambridge
Mistress and the Art of Death is first book of in this series from Ariana Franklin. I didn’t quite know what to expect – a pure historical fiction or a paranormal mystery? It’s actually more akin to a modern murder mystery simply set in 12th century Cambridge. Four children have been murdered and the English community, rife with religious prejudice, blames the ghetto-ized Jewish community. Henry II is forced to step in and quarantine the Jewish people in a nearby castle. Lest they be lynched by the Catholic […]
More like drums of melodrama.
And so concludes another installment of the madcap adventures of that time-traveling Highlander clan, the Mackenzie-Fraser whatevers. This was the least weird, but most melodramatic of the books so far. It was wacky and I enjoyed it, despite some issues. In 1767, Claire, Jamie and Ian are fresh from being shipwrecked off the coast of Georgia. In 1969, Jamie and Claire’s grown daughter, Brianna, grows closer to Roger Wakefield, the only other person who knows her family’s secret: they are time-travelers. And Roger, too, is a […]
The beginning of an excellent series
I stumbled on this one, as I often do, through a Kindle deal. It’s a great way to discovery a new author or a new genre without spending a bunch of money, or at least without a trip to the library. Martin Jensen is a Danish novelist (there are a lot of really good Scandinavian writers, aren’t there?) who has written a bunch of books. From what I can tell, these books are the first to be translated into English. There are two right now […]
Finally a Philippa Gregory book I actually enjoyed
Young Jewish girl Hannah Verde flees the Inquisition in Spain with her father after her mother is burned for heresy. They travel through Europe to England, calling themselves “Green” and making a new life for themselves as loyal Christians. Hannah´s father has a printing press and soon his skilled work comes to the attention of scholars like John Dee. While John Dee is visiting their print shop with his patron, Lord Robert Dudley, Hannah has one of her visions, seeing an angel over their shoulder. […]
Being a Russian Countess seems to help when rebuilding one´s life during the 20th Century
3.5 stars Zoya Ossupov, a young noblewoman, second cousin to the Tsar himself, lives a sheltered life of luxury in St. Petersburg. When the revolution breaks out, Zoya´s grandmother, who has seen which way the wind was blowing, bundles up the many garments they´ve sown jewellery into and Zoya and they flee the country through Finland. Having lost her father, mother and elder brother in only a few days and worrying about the safety of her cousins the Romanovs, who were placed in house arrest […]
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