Category: Historical fiction

Recent Reads: Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Bridge of Birds is set in an ancient China that could have been.  Number Ten Ox sets out to find a wiseman when the children in his village come down with a mysterious illness, and so he meets Master Li Kao.

Master Li has some ideas about how to cure the children, and so they set off on a series of adventures, and a series of coincidences.

This is a simple story that reads like mythology or an ancient story, and as the author claims it’s a novel of an ancient China that never was, then it works really well!

Bridge of Birds was published on 1st April 1984, and is available from Amazon. 

Recent Reads: A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor (The Chronicles of St Mary’s book 2)

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

A Symphony of Echoes is the second book in the series, and Max went through a lot in the first book! 

There is more adventure in this book, starting with a visit to see Jack the Ripper, Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, and the future!

It’s fast paced, entertaining and involves a lot of fun and squabbles!

I found the author’s writing to be really evocative of the time including smells, the different types of litter you have in the street in different times.

A Symphony of Echoes was published on 22nd October 2013, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can read my review of the first book in this series here.

You can follow Jodi Taylor on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and her website.

Recent Reads: Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor (The Chronicles Of St Mary’s book 1)

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor (The Chronicles Of St Mary’s book 1) is the first book in the series, and I’ve been really enjoying it!  It’s about a group of people who investigate major historical events in a contemporary time – just don’t call it time travel!

Madeline Maxwell joins St Mary’s, and the fun begins from there!

This jump from 11th century London, World War I, Cretaceous period and the destruction of the Great Library at Alexandria!  You get to find out just how much chaos historians really do bring about!

I thought this was a really good start to a series, with lots of characters, historical settings that felt real, and a storyline I enjoyed!

Just One Damned Thing After Another was published on 1st June 2013 and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Jodi Taylor on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and her website.

Recent Reads: In Like Flynn by Rhys Bowen (Molly Murphy book 4)

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Molly’s latest job is from Daniel, who she is trying to stay away from until he gets rid of his fiancée.  The job is outside of New York, which is good as there is a typhoid epidemic in the city at the moment.  Daniel wants Molly to try to uncover the Sorenson Sisters, a spiritualist pair, and show them for frauds.

They are staying at Senator Barney Flynn’s and so Daniel wants Molly to join the household as a cousin.  Senator Flynn and his wife. Theresa, lost their son 5 years ago as he was kidnapped and not returned.  Theresa is desperate to make contact with her son.

An unsolved kidnapping in addition to uncovering fraudsters is all up Molly’s street!

We haven’t dealt very much with the upper classes in these books, other than occasional visits, and so this was an interesting change of pace!

In Like Flynn was published on 29th November 2005, and is available from Amazon and  Waterstones.

You can follow Rhys Bowen on Twitter, Facebook and her website.

You can read my review of books in this series: 

Murphy’s Choice (book 1)

Death of Riley (book 2)

For The Love Of Mike (book 3)

Recent Reads: The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott is set in 1956, when Boris Pasternak is writing Doctor Zhivago, and there’s controversy surrounding it.  Soviet Russia could ban it, but the USA is interested in getting it’s hands on it.

We meet two women – Sally, an experienced agent for the CIA, and Irina, a new hire for the typing section, and how they are involved in this book.

There are spies, international travel, horrible tactics by those in power, and love.  I enjoyed the story, and was interested in the setting and the events!

The Secrets We Kept was published on 5th September 2019, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Lara Prescott on Twitter and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Penguin Random House.

Recent Reads: A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier

Posted on by Pam

My review:

A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier is set in 1932 in Winchester.  Violet lost a brother and her fiancé in the Great War (World War I), and like so many women at the time, is single due to the huge amount of young men who died in the war.

She moves to Winchester, escaping her mother’s home, and joins a group of women who embroider the cushions and kneelers in the cathedral.

Violet finding her feet, the group of women and World War II on the horizon is all part of this story, which I really enjoyed.  The history of Winchester is part of the story, and was very interesting.

A Single Thread was published on 5th September 2019 and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Tracy Chevalier on Twitter and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to HarperCollins.

Recent Reads: Sylvester by Georgette Heyer

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer is set in regency period, with Sylvester, Duke of Salford, used to his power and the deference others give to him, tell his mother that he’s planning to marry in the most dispassionate way. 

He ends up going to a country house to meet Phoebe, the granddaughter of his godmother.  Phoebe isn’t pleased with the idea, and found his behaviour during the previous year to be arrogant.

This is historical romance, tamer than Bridgerton, but very enjoyable, with heroines and heroes to cheer on, and plots to surprise you.

Sylvester was first published in 1957, but this is an updated edition, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

Georgette Heyer wrote a great many regency romances, and also detective fiction, and so here is a link for her on GoodReads.

If you’ve been enjoying The Bridgerton TV series or books, then I would highly recommend you try Georgette Heyer!

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Penguin Cornerstone.

Recent Reads: For the Love of Mike by Rhys Bowen (Molly Murphy book 3)

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

For the Love of Mike by Rhys Bowen is the third book in the Molly Murphy series, and as she had a little training from a private investigator in the last book, and has basically inherited his business.  She’s been chasing up some debts and dealing with current cases!  She also has the idea that people back in Ireland might have lost touch with family who have moved to the US, so she puts an advert in an Irish newspaper about being able to find people.

One of the new pieces of work that shows up is something that requires her to work undercover in a garment factory!

Having found out Daniel is engaged to a nice lady of society, she is determined to move on with her life.

This is shaping up to be a very enjoyable series, set in New York in the early 1900s, and I have been really enjoying the way the different communities are described!

For the Love of Mike was published on 9th December 2003, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Rhys Bowen on Twitter, Facebook and her website.

You can read my review of books in this series: 

Murphy’s Choice (book 1)

Death of Riley (book 2)

Recent Reads: Death of Riley by Rhys Bowen (Molly Murphy book 2)

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Death of Riley by Rhys Bowen (Molly Murphy book 2) is set in New York, in early twentith century, with Molly trying her hand at being a companion, and then getting a job with a private investigator.

There is a murder that she decides to investigate, and this time she’s had a little training from the private investigatory, which makes it interesting seeing the new things she does.  I enjoyed the evolution of Molly, and I’m looking forward to reading more books in this series!

Death of Riley was published on 5th December 2002, and is available from Amazon and Waterstones.

I listened to this one as an audiobook, and so enjoyed Lara Hutchinson’s reading of the book.

You can follow Rhys Bowen on Twitter, Facebook and her website.

You can read my review of book 1 in this series, Murphy’s Choice.

Recent Reads: The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi is set in a world where Sin Eaters are women who have been cast out by society, cannot speak to anyone, except for hearing their list of sins in their life, and then they say the food that they will eat to absolve the confessor’s sins.  They also have a collar put on around their neck that is locked in place.

May Owens becomes a sit eater at 14 after being caught trying to steal a loaf of bread.  She goes to live with the sin eater, and learn the life, all without words.  When a food is left out for a sin that a confessor didn’t confess to, things start to happen.

This is set in a version of Tudor England, with a queen that feels very like Queen Elizabeth I.  I enjoyed the historical references that you could recognise, and I’m sure there were more that I didn’t spot!  It was a rich story, with a mystery investigated when the investigator can’t talk.

The Sin Eater was published on 23rd July 2020, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Pan MacMillan.