Category: Historical Fiction

Elementary

Steven Leave a comment

When I was in my early teens I devoured every bit of the Sherlock Holmes opus, all 4 novels and the 5 collections of short stories. In fact I think I read most of them twice! Since then I have read a few attempts to extend the series, some have worked quite well (e.g. The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz) and some have fallen short.

Elementary by William Todd comprises “4 mysteries from the case files of Sherlock Holmes” which Dr Watson had not published. It didn’t work for me, it felt formulaic and somewhat predictable. To be honest I couldn’t bring myself to read all 4 of the stories, 2 were more than enough!

Unless you have read and remember all of the original Conan Doyle stories you might do better to go back to the originals and even if you do remember them I would still rather read the originals again than these wooden homages.

Death in Delft

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Death in Delft by Martin Brack is the first in a new series. Set, not surprisingly in Delft in 1671 the plot is based around 3 young girls who have been abducted, one turns up dead and our hero Master Mercurius a protestant protest who is also a secret catholic, is called on by the mayor to try to solve the murder and find the two remaining girls before they are killed.

As a crime novel this might be quite standard fare though well executed, what makes this more interesting is the rich imagery of 17th century Delft, the currents of repressed religion post reformation and the insertion of the painter Johannes Vermeer and the scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek who discovered protozoa into the plot. The novel is in the form of a journal by Mercurius and has a dry humour running through his dialogue with the reader.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this, I’ll give the next one a go.

4/5

The Last Hours

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I used to be a big fan of Minette Walters, eagerly devouring each of her chilling psycho thrilled. But that was a good while ago and I haven’t read her for ages, with more edgy American and Scandi authors replacing her.

The Last Hours breaks with Walters past work, it is a historical novel set in the time of the Black Death. Lady Anne is the compassionate and strong willed mistress of the Devilish (yes really!) estate which is quarantined to protect against the plague after its brutal master has succumbed to the disease. The Last Hours combines the evolving relationship between Lady Anne and her mysterious steward Thaddeus with a vivid description of the spread of the plague and the wasteland surrounding the estate.

It is quite readable but not outstanding, the plot meanders in a somewhat predictable way to a climax which is then snatched away with a “to be continued”. I am not sure that I will bother to follow this through to conclusion.

3/5

Beneath a Scarlet Sky

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Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan is a remarkable book, it tells the story of Pino Lella’s teenage years at the end of the war, based upon a series of interviews that Sullivan had with Lella towards the end of his life.

Lella’s war starts with him acting as a mountain guide/courier helping jews to escape from occupied Italy into Switzerland. He is “conscripted” into the German army by his family as a way of keeping him out of the from line and works as a driver and translator for one of the commanders of the 3rd Reich in Italy, this privileged position allows him to spy for the partisans.

As the war draws to a close and German forces are retreating the story climaxes in the chaos of the lawless days of retribution.

If ever a novel illustrates that fact can be stranger and more exciting than fiction, this is it. From early on it is captivating, terrifying and thrilling.

4.5/5

Birdcage Walk

Steven Leave a comment

There is a dark tension about Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore. This historical thriller/mystery is set in the radical community of Bristol at the end of the 18th century.

Lizzie Fawkes’ mother Julia is an iconic pamphleteer in the radical politics of the time, Lizzie moved from town to town with her mother and stepfather until they settled in Bristol where she met her husband John Diner Tredevant, a builder and developer. As the story unfolds, Lizzie’s husband and mother pull her in different directions while uncertainty gnaws at the reader.

The period and setting are fascinating, the dark tension is pervasive from early on and builds to a good climax but overall there was something contrived and unsatisfying about Birdcage Walk

3.5/5

The Last Paradise

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The Last Paradise by Anthony Garrido starts out in depression New York in 1931. Jack Beilis desperately seeking work to feed himself and his father is forced (or tricked) into joining the workers seeking to make a new life for themselves and their families in Russia.

Stalin’s Russia is not the workers’ paradise that Jack and his fellow Americans were longing for – hunger, cold, exploitation and  political intrigue. At first Jack seems to be prospering at the expense of many of his compatriots but is his success just an illusion? There seems to be no way back to the US.

The Last Paradise moves at a good pace and had enough twists to keep me interested. The historical detail made me want to  read more about the period

3.5/5

Blood Forest

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Blood Forest is an intense and gory debut from Geraint Jones. Set in AD 9, Blood Forest follows a Roman legionnaire through the campaign to subdue the Germanic tribes of northern Europe. The hero, Felix, has forgotten (or hidden) his true name and origins providing a layer of mystery to the character.

This is heavy on action and gore but the plot is limited and the characters are underdeveloped (possibly because so many die off). The ending was disappointing with little of the plot resolved and leaving the surviving characters ‘up in the air’, everything is teed up for a follow on.

If you want an idea of what it was like to fight in the Roman army 2000 years ago then you might well enjoy this (I am not sure how historically accurate it is), I didn’t really care and just wanted it to finish as soon as possible – sort of the equivalent of watching a movie with your hands over your eyes and peeping through the cracks. I’ll pass on the next one.

2/5

Conspiracy

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Conspiracy by SJ Parris is the fifth in her Giordano Bruno series.

Bruno is an Italian ex monk who has been excommunicated for heretical writings and for leaving holy orders, he finds himself in Elizabethan London engaged as a spy/detective by Francis Walsingham. In Conspiracy, Bruno has moved to Paris only to find himself embroiled in murder, rivalries between the supporters of King Henri, his mother Queen Catherine, the Duke of Guise, the Catholic League and the Huguenots.

This is a complex political murder mystery with several layers of deception, it feels as if it gives a good sense of the struggles of the time. If you enjoy the historical detective/spy genre (e.g. CJ Samson or SG MacLean) you should give Parris a try.

4/5

Kingdom of Twilight

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Kingdom of Twilight by Steven Uhly is a massive novel that starts with the assassination of a young SS officer in Poland and traces the consequences for the various participants over the next 4 decades, ranging from Poland to Germany to Israel.

When I started this I thought that it was unbearably grim and looking down at the corner of my Kindle I saw that I had over 10 hours of reading ahead of me. I almost gave up, I’m so glad that I didn’t. Instead I dug in and read the whole thing in 2 or 3 big sessions over a weekend, it is mesmerising.

I thought I knew a fair bit about the challenges that holocaust survivors faced after the war but Kingdom of Twilight opened my eyes to how much the survivors suffered again in their efforts to find resettlement and new lives outside of Germany. Uhly is a German author and this is not a Nazi bashing novel, it is a story of how far people will go to to survive, the challenges of facing the past and the extent to which those in power will elevate pragmatism and politics over humanity. In the end it is a wonderfully uplifting book which I could not have predicted when I started.

I know my European Jewish background makes me slightly biased but I thought this was a fantastic read, thought provoking, tense and mysterious.

This is a must read and the first time in ages that I have wanted to give a novel 5/5!

A Little Life

steven Leave a comment

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara 
This is a very big book!! Just to give you a warning! Another warning is that this is not for the faint hearted and carries within it a very dark and disturbing reality which doesn’t get a full reveal until a long way through the book. It’s the tale of a group of friends who have just finished university and set up home together in New York. They have very strong connections with each other and we trace them through their professional careers and relationships. We have an artist, a lawyer, an actor and one who doesn’t need to work as he has wealthy parents. All the characters are interesting but the author increasingly focuses on Jude who is a very damaged soul both physically and mentally. We will him to enjoy life. We delight in his relationships with adoptive parents and lover…

The experience of entering Jude’s life is like becoming part of an obsession you can’t shake off, even when reading becomes painful .

Once you are hooked , and if you have a strong stomach, you will be unable to concentrate on anything else till the book is finished.

EM