The Widow's Redeemer - Philippa Jane Keyworth

A penniless young widow with an indomitable spirit. A wealthy viscount with an unsavory reputation.
London, 1815: After her husband’s untimely death, Letty Burton comes up from the country with her domineering mother-in-law. Hiding a past she wishes to forget and facing an uncertain future, all she wants is to navigate London Society as a silent companion.
A chance meeting with London’s most eligible bachelor sets in motion a series of events that will bring her quiet life under the unfriendly scrutiny of the ton. With the net of scandal, debts, and rivals closing in, will she let her dark past dictate her life forever? Will she learn to trust again? And most importantly, will she allow herself to love?

When I was offered a chance to read this book I couldn't resist it because it sounded just like the traditional regencies I used to read and love. It had a penniless widow and a confirmed rake which are common characters in this type of stories and I jumped right into it.

The story starts with Letty Burton becoming a widow. It is apparent from the beginning that she did not have a happy marriage with her husband and that he has left her with an amount of debts that leave her near destitute. She eventually goes to live with her sister in law and once that young woman also becomes a widow she moves to London with her mother in law.

I struggled a bit with the beginning of the story because I felt that Letty and Beauford take a long time to finally meet and actually speak to one another. I also had some trouble with the characters. Letty felt a bit too good to be true, she is dignified, understanding, patient and everyone trusts her after meeting her for two minutes… Regarding Beauford I was sorry not to know more about him, he seemed like an interesting character once we got past his arrogant ways. He is not exactly amiable from the start but he does improve as he gets closer to Letty. A character that I did love was Major Deverill, Letty's friend, I was sorry not to see his happy ending come about during the course of the story.

Despite these problems, I was interested in knowing how Keyworth would make them fall for each other after a tumultuous first meeting. She does tell us about it but I wish we had spent more time seeing their relationship develop. I was surprised that we are introduced to a new secondary character and a secondary plot at some point instead of gaining deeper knowledge of them. That only made sense to me when I read the Author’s Note at the end of the book where Keyworth explains that she based her story in the Bible's Book of Ruth and gives enough information so that we can compare both stories.

This is a type of story I enjoy and I while this one didn’t totally work for me I would be interested in reading more by the author. She did keep me interested in the story and the characters. If you like Traditional Regencies and stories based on the Bible this might be a good one for you.

Grade: 3/5

Best Books of 2012

After sharing my favourite HF books at Historical Tapestry I decided to share my favourites in the other genres I read. There was only one book I gave 5* to in 2012 and it is HF but there are several other stories that I have loved to read. So here is my list of best books read in 2012:

Best Historical Fiction Read

review here

Best Mystery & Thriller Read

review here

Best Romance Read

review here

Best Fantasy Read

review here

I'm looking forward to read more by these authors in 2013. There were a few authors and genres that I had almost abandoned in the last couple of years and as I go through the list of series I'm reading I find myself eager to pick them up once more. I'm not going to make any reading resolutions for 2013 but I am curious to see which books will appear on my best books read next year.

Portuguese Historical Fiction

We are discussing Portuguese Historical fiction at Historical Tapestry today. Drop by and leave a comment with your favourites.

Defend and Betray - Anne Perry

Although esteemed General Thaddeus Carlyon meets his death in a freak accident at home, his beautiful wife, Alexandra, confesses that she killed him. Monk, with the help of Hester and the brilliant counsel for the defence, Oliver Rathbone, work feverishly to break down the wall of silence raised by the accused and her husband’s proud family, culminating in a dramatic court room scene....

I've really enjoyed the books I read by Anne Perry and I can't wait to continue reading this series. The fact that there are so many books out only makes me more enthusiastic.

Although the summary above mentions Monk as the main detective in this case the truth is that Hester Latterly does most of the investigation. She has been employed to nurse a military man who has broken his leg and, when she story opens, she is waiting to meet her friend Edith Sobell. Edith is General Carlyon's sister and she asks Hester's hell in finding a good lawyer for her sister-in-law Alexandra after she confesses to killing her husband. Hester finds Rathbone who, in turn, hires Monk to find out what really happened.

Although at first the characters entertain the idea that Alexandra may have confessed to protect the real killer, it is soon apparent that she is the only one with opportunity to do it. So the investigation ends up not being about whom but about the why as no one believes the reason Alexandra gives.

While Monk is the one hired to discover the truth he keeps getting distracted with memories from his past. Visiting Alexandra Carlyon in prison makes him remember another woman in the same circumstances. A woman he can't remember the name but that he knows he cared about deeply. So the main investigation gets a bit side tracked while he goes off to discover who the woman is. I can't help but enjoying the way Perry makes Monk discover his past, he keeps discovering he may not have been a very good person and feels ashamed and embarrassed by it. We are yet to find out what turned him into someone different.

So, it is Hester, due to her ties with the Carlyons who ends up discovering the secrets that are the key to Alexandra's behaviour. I really enjoyed the whole investigative details, how we are given clues throughout the book that make sense in the end, but I especially liked the scenes in the courtroom. Rathbone is a very good lawyer and Perry is excellent at describing these scenes, it felt we were with Hester and Monk sitting right there and watching the jury reach their conclusions.

As usual I think she does a really good job with the atmosphere of the period and inserting details of social, military and economic history. She really brings the period to life. She teases us a bit with a romance between Rathbone and Hester but then, right at the end, it seems it is Monk that is looking at Hester with new eyes. Looking forward to see that development.

Grade: 4.5/5

Crossposted at Historical Tapestry

The Secret of Ravelstone

Jane Freemont is a British young lady with a very big problem. She is a modern girl…but she lives in early 19th Century. Jane has a critical, inquiring mind that is always ready to state her honest opinions- no matter whom she may inconvenience. This causes the young gentlemen to run away from her- for men surely can welcome women’s criticism so much more than they do. But that’s our loss.


Jane’s older brother, and only living relative, has sent her to live far away where he believes her critical and inquiring mind will no longer create problems for him. But as Jane arrives in beautiful Ravelston, she becomes determined to discover the fate of another, yet much less privileged, young woman who has mysteriously vanished. In Ravelston no one seems to care about what happened to Mary Hale, who was seen as unimportant because she was poor. But Jane will risk everything, even her future, to find out the truth.

And Jane will discover that powerful love, when not accepted in oneself, can be the cruelest thing there is.

Besides historical fiction, mysteries and thrillers are my favourite reading genre. The Secret of Ravelstone seemed to combine those two genres so I just couldn't resist it.

As the story begins Jane Freemont has been sent to live with her uncle, the Rector of Ravelstone. She is intrigued by the town; a part of it is boarded up, and immediately senses a mystery in the disappearance of former servant Mary Hale. No one seems to be really to tell her about Mary Hale's fate and her uncle is acting a bit weird so when she is invited by Lady Ravelstone to spend some time at her home she jumps at the chance. There she is introduced to the Lady's son, Andrew, and her niece Carla. She enjoys the novelty of her new friends, Andrew is a sort of dark and brooding young man that seems fated to become Jane's romantic interest, but when she overhears some of the servants speaking of Mary Hale she can't but continue her investigation.

Jane seemed really young to me, she sounded a bit naive and immature to me although she meant well. I had some trouble getting into the story because the pace is a bit slow in the beginning. It is apparent that something did happen but no one wants to talk about it and Jane spends too much time talking to herself. I thought it dragged for too long...

The action does pick up towards the end, the descriptions become more vivid and the action more fluid as Jane gets closer to the truth and finds out that really happened to Mary and the town. I really enjoyed that ending and the supernatural twist gave it an interesting touch.

Fans of YA historical mysteries might want to try this one...

Grade: 3.5/5

Cross posted at Historical Tapestry

The Secret Keeper - Sandra Byrd

Juliana St. John is the daughter of a prosperous knight in Marlborough. Though her family wants her to marry the son of her father’s business partner, circumstances set her on a course toward the court of Henry VIII and his last wife, Kateryn Parr.Sir Thomas Seymour, uncle of the current heir, Prince Edward, returns to Wiltshire to tie up his business with Juliana’s father’s estate and sees instantly that she would fit into the household of the woman he loves, Kateryn Parr. Her mother agrees to have her placed in the Parr household for “finishing” and Juliana goes, though perhaps reluctantly. For she knows a secret. She has been given the gift of prophecy, and in one of her visions she has seen Sir Thomas shredding the dress of the king’s daughter, the lady Elizabeth, to perilous consequence.

The Tudors have been a lasting and prolific trend in current historical fiction themes and I have to say that I am ready to give them a rest. However sometimes a Tudor novel comes along that makes me curious and interested in reading it and that was the case with Sandra Byrd's The Secret Keeper. The fact that it was about Kateryn Parr (that's how the author spells it) and that the blurb hints at the relationship between Thomas Seymour and Princess Elizabeth was enough to grab my interest.

I am happy to say that I did enjoy reading it. The main character is a young woman - Juliana St John - who as recently lost her father and has a less than warm relationship with her mother. She is taken to live in Kateryn Parr's household by Lord Thomas Seymour. Juliana occasionally has prophetic dreams and the latest one she had is precisely about Seymour...

I did like Juliana; she was level headed, sometimes too eager to please but always friendly to everyone. She lives in a dangerous world though and is not immune to the bad things that occasionally happen to good people. She develops a relationship with Kateryn Parr that is similar to a mother / daughter relationship, and ends up following her from Lord Latimer's household to Henry VIII's court, as she becomes his last queen, and later on when she marries Lord Thomas Seymour.

I find that I am much more able to enjoy HF when the main character is a fictional one living in the real world than when it is a real person. Though Juliana's eyes we see Parr as a distinguished woman determined to fulfill her duty but also a woman of faith and a prolific writer who tries to influence her king and faces danger for her beliefs. She is much more than just the one who survived... I really enjoyed this outlook on the political and religious problems of the time; they were the perfect background to the story of Juliana’s growth, her friendship with the queen and her romance with a young gentleman of Lord Thomas Seymour household.

Sadly Parr’s love for Seymour makes her blind to his faults and easy to manipulate...as Juliana realises. Tragically Kateryn Parr dies less than a week after giving birth to her daughter from child bed fever. Whatever happened to her daughter is a bit of a mystery and Sandra Byrd's final twist gives us at least a very satisfying conclusion.

An interesting read with a fresh heroine and an intriguing plot that I would recommend even if you think you are done with the Tudors.

Grade: 4/5

Crossposted at Historical Tapestry

Blogiversary Week at Historical Tapestry

Join us for a week of fun, games, guest posts and giveaways while Historical Tapestry celebrates its 5th blogiversary!

Oleanna - Julie K. Rose

Set during the separation of Norway from Sweden in 1905, this richly detailed novel of love and loss was inspired by the life of the author's great-great-aunts.


Oleanna and her sister Elisabeth are the last of their family working their farm deep in the western fjordland. A new century has begun, and the world outside is changing, but in the Sunnfjord their world is as small and secluded as the verdant banks of a high mountain lake. With their parents dead and their brothers all gone to America, the sisters have resigned themselves to a simple life tied to the land and to the ghosts of those who have departed.

The arrival of Anders, a cotter living just across the farm's border, unsettles Oleanna's peaceful but isolated existence. Sharing a common bond of loneliness and grief, Anders stirs within her the wildness and wanderlust she has worked so hard to tame. When she is confronted with another crippling loss, Oleanna must decide once and for all how to face her past, claim her future, and find her place in a wide new world.

I am always curious about historical fiction novels set in countries that I am less familiar with. When I found out that Oleanna was set in Norway at the beginning of the last century I just couldn't resist it.

Oleanna is the name of the main character - a woman nearing thirty who has seen most of her family members die and her older brother leave to America. She stayed behind with her sister Elizabeth and a younger brother but now he wants to leave too. The two women will be forced to work the farm by themselves and none is too pleased about it.

I felt that Oleanna was a book about restlessness. About wanting to leave, to get to know new horizons but also about wanting to stay where your roots are. Sometimes you have to leave so that you can come back and stay.

Oleanna feels betrayed because her brother wants to leave but she also feels that she would like to know other places. To her restlessness and anxiety also contributes the fact that she still isn't at peace with how her mother died and that she is developing some feelings for her neighbor Anders Samuelsson.

I did like Oleanna. Her sense of duty kept her going even when she didn't feel like it. I could understand her occasional exasperation with her sister and her sense of betrayal when she felt that Anders was leaving her too. She and Elizabeth cope with their losses in different ways and it was nice to feel that they had both grown up during the course of the story. I never quite understood Elizabeth’s relationship with Torjus father though, or how they had ended up how they were when the book starts.

I enjoyed the glimpse we had of life in an isolated fiord's farm in the beginning of the 1900s, of the political circumstances of the separation of Norway and Sweden and had some fun with Oleanna's introduction to women's rights. I liked the sense of isolation they had on the farm and how that may lead them to feel isolated has individuals.

I closed this story with a satisfied sigh and I wish I could read a bit more about Oleanna and know a bit more about her life after she and Elizabeth had found their happiness.

I really enjoyed Julie K. Rose's writing style and how she made characters and landscape come alive.

Grade: 4.5/5

***

Crossposted at Historical Tapestry

Hungry Hill - Daphne du Maurier

I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to read du Maurier's Hungry Hill. I wanted to read something different from her best known works and thought that a family saga might make an interesting story.

Well... it did! An interesting, but, also a tragic and depressing story. The story of the Brodrick family and their life in Ireland from 1820 to 1920. The story opens with the patriarch John Brodrick, called Copper John. However we immediately know that the family has been in Ireland for a few generations and that one of the Brodrick man ended up being killed by a member of the Donovan family and the feud is still very much open. In fact one could say that the story begins with a Donovan cursing Copper John and all his children.

I tell you your mine will be in ruins and your home destroyed and your children forgotten ...but this hill will be standing still to confound you.

Copper John is a man of progress. He lives in Clonmere with his five children and has decided he will open a mine on Hungry Hill. Although the land belongs to his partner it is Copper John who runs the mine and makes it a success. Hungry Hill ends up being their fortune.

However the Brodricks are never well accepted by the locals. Something neither Copper John nor Henry, his oldest son, are very worried about but that his second son, John. soon realises and feels uncomfortable with. Trouble with the miners leads Henry to fall ill and eventually die. John becomes his father heir but he is only interested in his dogs. Even after he marries and has children his interest is only in what gives him pleasure and he leaves all boring and tiresome decisions to his carefree and temperamental wife Fanny Rosa. It is an interesting thing that John seems like a sympathetic character in the beginning. He understands the way the locals think and anticipates the troubles his father is going to have. But he becomes more and more of a dreamer and his marriage makes him even more selfish and detached from the reality he finds tiresome.

John also dies young. He tries to end the feud with the Donovans and catches diphtheria. His children are still young and are left in the care of their mother. It is his oldest son, Johnnie, who eventually succeeds Copper John. The mines are still making them rich and Johnnie, a bit the image of his own mother, thinks only of his own pleasure. He lacks any self-control, which brings him very little friends and it is only when he falls in love with his brother Henry's fiancée that he realises he leads an empty life. He makes friends with the Donovans and once again that association does not end well. It seems the Donovans never forget which side they are on despite the Brodricks trying to end the feud. Johnnie eventually dies of an alcohol overdose...

It's his brother Henry that becomes the head of the family. Nothing like Johnnie he is profoundly in love with his wife and cares for his children and his business. One can say that if his father's marriage made him a worse person, Henry's marriage made him a better one. When his wife dies giving birth to their fourth child he is unable to cope with the reality of his life without her. His second marriage ruins his relationship with his children, with his friends and leaves only a shrewd and cold businessman.

His son Hal, enjoyed a close relationship with his mother and ends feeling rejected by his father. He knows his father thinks of him as a failure and the insecurity that comes out of that never lets him pursue his dream of painting and eventually sees him as a clerk in his own family's company. And once again it is a Donovan that leads to his death, still has a young man. He has time to see the mine come to an end though; other markets and raw materials make it unprofitable and after being sold the mine at Hungry Hill is finally closed.

We next see Hal's son, who was two when his father died, go back to the family home as an adult. He happens to find himself drinking with the wrong company in a period of civil war and the Donovan curse that started this story is finally fulfilled and his home his destroyed. Would the Brodrick family fate have been different had Copper John asked the Hill for permission before opening the mine?

I loved du Maurier's writing and I suppose that is what made the difference in a story where there are so few nice characters and quite a number of them are nasty villains. The richest the Brodrick men become the weaker and tortured they seem to become too. But she made me interested and engaged in what happened to them and I could easily have kept on reading for another generation or two.

***

Also posted at HT as part of The Daphne du Maurier Season

The Perfume Garden - Kate Lord Brown

High in the hills of Valencia, a forgotten house guards its secrets. Untouched since Franco's forces tore through Spain in 1936, the whitewashed walls have crumbled, the garden, laden with orange blossom, grown wild. Emma Temple is the first to unlock its doors in seventy years. Guided by a series of letters and a key bequeathed in her mother's will, she has left her job as London's leading perfumier to restore this dilapidated villa to its former glory. It is the perfect retreat: a wilderness redolent with strange and exotic scents, heavy with the colours and sounds of a foreign time. But for her grandmother, Freya, a British nurse who stayed here during Spain's devastating civil war, Emma's new home evokes terrible memories. As the house begins to give up its secrets, Emma is drawn deeper into Freya's story: one of crushed idealism, lost love, and families ripped apart by war. She soon realises it is one thing letting go of the past, but another when it won't let go of you.

I think I may have found one of my favourite books of 2012 in Kate Lord Brown's The Perfume Garden. I read it for Historical Tapestry, loved it and had a hard time writing my review because it seemed I kept on writing and writing. I ended up heavily editing my review but I kept thinking about the book and what I wanted to say. What follows is an adapted and expanded version of that review.

I have always been interested in historical fiction! While nowadays I read more British historical fiction, while I was growing up my readings where about Portuguese and Spanish history. Spain is our next door neighbour, the Spanish, as we like to call them are nuestros hermanos, our brothers, and in fact it is impossible to read about one country's history without touching the other. The similarities go on to the point where we both had a right wing dictatorship during most of the 20th century. Ours ended with a revolution and theirs with a peaceful transition but if I was to say what was the main difference between us it would be that Spain had a Civil War and we didn't.

I don't know when my interest in that particular period in Spain started, maybe by reading some of Hemingway’s books, maybe by seeing and hearing about Frank Capra's photographs... it isn't your usual historical fiction setting, that is for sure. When I found out that it was going to be the background of this book I immediately put it on my WL.

And now here I am looking at the computer screen and typing away this review and there are so many things on my mind that it is difficult to decide where to start... I guess I could start by saying that I loved reading this story! It is not an easy, light read but it is an evocative and very satisfying read and when I finally closed the book all I could think about was how I wanted to start researching the period, how I wanted to find the people mentioned and what their fate was... But don't you go on thinking that this is a history book. In fact it is far from it. But Kate Lord Brown manages to give so many details and include so many real people in the story that I found myself eager to confirm what was real or not and to find out more about the people mentioned.

There are two stories in The Perfume Garden. The story of Emma, set in 2001, and the story of Freya (Emma's grandmother), Rosa and Macu, set in 1937. Emma is going through a difficult period in her life. She separated from her long term boyfriend after finding out that he was cheating on her with a close friend and business partner. Her late mother left her company to the three of them and they are planning to sell it. To make matters worse when her mother died Emma and Joe gave in to the unresolved feelings between them and Emma is now pregnant. When Joe is killed on 9/11 Emma feels it is time to make a fresh start and prepare to receive her baby. Armed with a box of letters that her mother wrote to be opened after her death she decides to move to Spain, to Valencia, where her mother left her a house, the Vila del Valle.

In 1937 Freya and her brother Charles are in Spain to help fight fascism. She is a nurse caring for the wounded on the Republican side and he is a photographer and a soldier. It's through their eyes that we see many of the famous characters of the time: Hemingway, Capra, Gerda Taro... all fascinating people who were risking their lives fighting for a cause they believed in and to tell the world what was happening in Spain. In fact some of them lost their lives doing just that... Rosa is Jordi del Valle's girlfriend, she has fought with him in Madrid for the Republican side but she is pregnant and he decides to take her to Valencia and leave her in the care of his brother Vicente. Macu is there to help her around the house and they form a friendship that will later include Freya.

In modern day Valencia, Emma realises that there is some sort of secret about the house she is now living in and renovating. Her grandmother Freya doesn't want to talk about the house or about the time that she spent in Spain, and the people she meets in Valencia also don't seem too eager to tell her about who lived in the house. At the same time, the woman that Joe left her for, finds out that she is pregnant and decided to follow her to Valencia.

I have to say that I was much more interested in what was going on in 1937 than what was going on with Emma. But the author managed to take Emma on a journey about rediscovering her roots and it was as if I was right there with her finding out, bit by bit, what had happened to Rosa and Jordi and Macu. When Emma finds Macu, she doesn't realise that she is the one that can tell her all the secrets, she and Freya, but we do. And I kept hoping that they would finally sit down and actually talk about the past, especially when Emma starts to realise that those secrets have something to do with her. And in Valencia she finds her past but also her future.

This is a book about women. The main characters are all strong female figures and I think Kate Lord Brown successfully makes us understand the important role that women had in the conflict. I think it is clear she did a huge amount of research both about the war and what happened afterwards.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who likes a good story with strong female characters and I especially recommend it to those with an interest in modern Spanish history. The Civil War and what happened afterwards are still open wounds in Spain's society. I don't think that having a "pact of silence" about it helped. The victims and their families deserve to be remembered, not forgotten. And keeping the memory alive, in historical records as in historical fiction, is one way to prevent the past from repeating itself.

Grade: 5/5

***

Adapted and expanded from my review at Historical Tapestry

One Night to Remember - Kristin Miller

First class clothing designer Elizabeth Scott isn’t all that she appears. She may be elegant and poised on the outside, dining with the richest on the ship, but she’s hiding a dark secret within.

Thieves boarded the Titanic, too…

Officer Thomas McGuire is as honest as they come. Working to make a decent living on the ship of dreams, he can’t believe his eyes when the most striking lady he’s ever seen steals from another first class passenger. As the night goes on, Thomas must decide whether he plans to arrest or seduce Elizabeth and she’s not making it easy on him—the heat sparking between their bodies is unlike anything either of them has ever known.

Time is running out…

The Titanic is sinking fast, with little more than an hour before it settles on the ocean floor. Although Elizabeth has finally met a true gentlemen, one who gazes upon her with total adoration and fulfills her deepest fantasies, he insists on helping other passengers until the last minute, even if that means going down with the ship.

There is much at stake—not only their lives, but their only chance at true love.

A historical romance set aboard the Titanic, One Night to Remember has, I think, one fatal flaw. It is too short! It is written as a novella and to make things work in a shorter format you night a very tight story. Unfortunately that does not happen here.

The blurb practically says everything about the story. In fact it does give more details than I found in the story. It's difficult to care for the characters because we don't really get to know them enough. It's also not easy to understand their actions for the same reason. The story begins with Thomas chasing Elizabeth through the corridors of the ship and suddenly they are madly in love and falling into bed together. Besides lust, there doesn't seem to be an explanation for it.

I think the premise could actually be a good story, a first class passenger stealing from the rich to give to the ones in steerage. The conflict between her and the official who catches her. But there's too much we don't understand. Where did Elizabeth meet those people; is that family the only she is helping or there are others? And why doesn't she think about them anymore after the ship sinks? And why is she on board in the first place?

Regarding the sinking itself, after having read a few books about it, I think I needed something different than just describing what I already know. From the author's note she is a Titanic lover. I think this might have been her celebration of the centennial but I wish her love of it would have been translated in a stronger story.

Grade: 2/5

****************************************************************************
This review was written for the Titanic Week at Historical Tapestry

Hearts That Survive, A Novel of the Titanic - Yvonne Lehmann

On April 15, 1912, Lydia Beaumont is on her way to a new life with a boundless hope in love and faith. Her new friendship with Caroline Chadwick is bonded even more as they plan Lydia’s wedding on board the “grandest ship ever built.” Then both women suffer tragic losses when the “unsinkable” Titanic goes down. Can each survive the scars the disaster left on their lives?

Decades later, Alan Morris feels like a failure until he discovers he is the descendant of an acclaimed, successful, heroic novelist who went down with the Titanic. Will he find his identity with the past, or will he listen to Joanna Bettencourt, Caroline’s granddaughter, who says inner peace and success come only with a personal relationship with the Lord?

Will those who survived and their descendants be able to find a love more powerful than their pain?

I have to start by saying that Christian fiction is not usually a genre I read. Still, I was looking for Titanic themed books and decided to give it a try. I don't think the blurb above correctly describes what the book is all about. It covers the beginning and the end but there are a lot more things happening in between.

The story starts on the Titanic. Lydia Beaumont is aboard with the man she loves, John Ancell, and the man her father wants her to marry, Craven Dowd. She is a rail road heiress and Ancell has a more modest living but when she discovers she is expecting his child, they decide to marry on board. They do it and a few hours later the Titanic hits the iceberg and tragedy follows. Caroline Chadwick is Lydia's friend. She is also aboard with her husband and her maid.

When both their husbands die that night Lydia and Caroline form a bond. They remain friends despite leading very different lives. Lydia ends up marrying Craven Dowd and Caroline goes to Halifax, first to recognise her husband's body and then because that is where she finds a purpose for her life and love. The sinking of the Titanic, and their actions after the tragedy, will influence their lives and those of their children. And that was the most interesting thing for me. The lives of the several generations and what happened to all of them.

The scenes on the Titanic end up being just a small part of the story. I did like how the sinking was described, although there were several points of view, I think that added an urgency and confusion to those scenes that probably were very close to the real thing. I also liked the final moments of several of the characters very much, they were emotional and sensitive.

However I didn't like John Ancell and Lydia at all. He was too preachy; finding out you are going to be a father and, as a response, tell the future mother to go read a psalm sounded really odd. Lydia seemed to me a spoiled young girl. What she does with Craven after they reach New York and marry was totally wrong morally speaking. After all that talk of God it seemed wrong to have her act that way. I also didn't understand the author's intention with Craven. At first he is portrayed as a bit of a villain and then he ends up as the wronged husband who still behaves honourably and does not punish the innocent.

I much preferred Caroline! Her problems with her husband, her relationship with the Stanton-Jones children and with her maid... How things happened slower with her, how she also found a purpose in life after the tragedy and someone to share it with. The importance of God in one's life is also very much present but in a more fluid way. Through her and her story we are also treated to a part of Canadian history.

But this is just half of it as the book then follows the next generation and the influence that the tragedy had in them. I thought some of them were a bit exaggerated (one character too rich and successful, another too discouraged and beaten by his circumstances) but there was definitely a good story here. With the above mentioned flaws but an interesting story.

Grade: 4/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Abingdon Press for sending me a copy of this book. This review was written for the Titanic Week that took place at Historical Tapestry

Strongbow: The Story of Richard and Aoife - Morgan Llywellyn

In a desperate attempt to reclaim his lost kingdom, Aoife's father offers her in marriage to Strongbow, son of the Anglo-Norman conqueror Lord Pembroke. This dramatic portrait of a fierce warrior who sought glory in a hostile foreign land and his wild Irish princess is an epic saga of love, war, and survival in 12th-century Ireland.

I first read about Richard and Aoife in Denee Cody's The Conquered Heart. I loved it! A historical romance that had real characters and a real historic setting? Just what I love the most. I set about researching everything I could about them to see if what I had read was real or not. I didn't find much and what I found was mostly courtesy of Wikipedia.

A few years later I found the books of Elizabeth Chadwick. I love her books, have been reading them as they are published and she is one of my favourite authors. You can see how thrilled I was when I saw Richard and Aoife's daughter as one of the main characters in a couple of her books. I loved those books but I still wanted more about Strongbow. I was quite happy when I discovered this book existed and quickly managed to get my hands on it.

The book is written, both from Richard and Aoife's point of view, in alternate chapters. It depicts first Richard's childhood and young adult years. His relationship with his father, and how that will influence him for the rest of his life, his relationship with his father. Then Aoife's relationship with her own father, a man with a fearless reputation but apparently very close to his children.

When Dermot MacMurrough, Aoife's father needs help to regain power and lands in his native Ireland he goes to England in search of a champion. To convince Richard he promises him what he cherishes the most, Aoife and his own kingdom after his death. Aoife isn't as happy as her father with the bargain but she eventually agrees to the marriage. She and Richard will fight and conquer both the lands and power that her family and his will wanted.

While it was nice to have an overview of events, the book is small and it covers a long period of time, I would have preferred to have more detailed information about, not only their relationship, but also about the daily aspects of their everyday life. The differences between Norman and Irish ways and their adjustment to each other and their new life. It also the first I heard of Richard’s first marriage and children and of him and Aoife having boys. I was under the impression he had only one son, who died early, and Eve, who became William Marshall’s wife…

I wonder if this is a good example of Llywelyn’s work? I’ve heard of her before but mostly in connection with Lion of Ireland, her book about Brian Boru.

I will continue to look out for books about Richard and Aoife. A couple of years ago I reread The Conquered Heart and, after all the meatier medieval reading I had been doing it seemed lighter and more romancified than what I remembered. I guess my hope is that Elizabeth Chadwick will eventually think of them as main characters for one of her books. That would make me really happy!

Grade: 4/5

Titanic, The Long Night - Diane Hoh

Two teenagers discover true love aboard the doomed ocean liner

Elizabeth Farr never wanted to return to America. During her family’s vacation abroad, she has fallen in love with England, and is despondent when her father refuses to let her stay. Returning to New York means having her debut into society, and that means a swiftly arranged marriage. Elizabeth will never go to college, never learn to be a reporter—as she sees it, her life is over as soon as the Titanic reaches port. Of course, if she’s unlucky, her life will be over far sooner than that.

As Elizabeth and her family settle into their first-class cabins, Katie Hanrahan, a young Irish girl with dreams of finding fortune in America, makes her way to a steerage berth. Both girls have plans for the future, but love and death are about to intervene.

Titanic, The Long Night is a very nice YA story focusing on the lives of four young passengers on board the Titanic.

The main character is Elizabeth Farr, a first class passenger, travelling with her parents. Elizabeth main problems are convincing her parents that she wants to go to Vassar instead of marrying the man they want her to marry. Also in first class is Max Whittaker, returning to New York after studying art in Paris, he had a falling out with his parents about what he wants to do in life and can only afford first class because his grandmother sent him the ticket. Also aboard are third class passengers Katie Hanrahan and Paddy Kelleher who plan to find themselves a new life in America.

Both girls are aware of each other but they never interact. Each has its own trials to face, namely finding love, and their story serves to show us how the different classes were organised aboard and the different priorities these people had.

With a simple, straight story, Hoh keeps us interested while she relates the details of the unsinkable ship and what happened during those days on the sea till tragedy occurred. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the long night, as the title puts it. One can almost feel the anxiety of some and the obliviousness of others regarding what was really happening. As a curiosity I should mention that one of the secondary characters, a Mrs. Molly Brown, was a real person and an actual passenger of the ship. We will have more information about her later in the week.

Without overdosing on the historical details Titanic, The Long Night makes for the perfect introduction to what happened to the Titanic. While it is young adult it can also be pleasant literature for all ages.

Grade: 4/5

***

This review was written for the Titanic Week taking place at Historical Tapestry. Thank you to NetGalley and Open Road for providing me with a copy

Upcoming Events at Historical Tapestry

Historical fiction fans might like to know there are 2 events coming up at Historical Tapestry. Next week will be the start of the Titanic Week - many posts devoted to the sinking of the Titanic and reviews and lists of the historical fiction it originated. If you're not into HF but you are curious about the unsinkable ship pay us a visit and see all the interesting information we have collected.

Then in June we will have the Daphne du Maurier Season - a month long event dedicated to the life and work of du Maurier. Drop us a line if you want to participate and mark it on your calendar so you wont forget to stop by and discuss her work with us.

Looking forward to see you there!

Envious Casca - Georgette Heyer

Murder Comes Home For Christmas

The halls of Lexham Manor were decked with holly, the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, and the old Scrooge who owned the estate was stabbed in the upstairs bedroom. For Inspector Hemingway of Scotland Yard 'twas the season to find whodunit. All six holiday guests had a motive to commit murder. But not one of them could have entered the locked room to do it. And Hemingway soon discovered that this time the proof wasn't in the pudding. It was a turkey of a play, a ham performer, and a plum of an inheritance...

Although I consider myself a Georgette Heyer fan the truth is that, till now, I had only read some of her Regencies and Georgian novels. This was my first mystery by her and presents a totally different style. It's a contemporary (it was first published in 1941) whodunit!

Several members of the Herriard family and their friends meet at an english country house to celebrate Christmas. While they all attend, no one seems particularly fond of the others or happy to be spending time in their company. The head-of-the family, and owner of the country house, is a tyrannical old man who doesn't seem to get along with his family members. In fact when he is found dead in a locked room it seems many of them had a reason for murder. Enter Inspector Hemingway and a few fellow policemen to interrogate everyone and solve the case.

Despite loving mysteries, and most of the other Heyer's I've read I have to confess that this was not an easy read. I had some trouble at first remembering all the characters and their relationship with each other and the dead man. Then the characters were disagreeable and quarrelsome, the servants were equally disagreeable and uninteresting and I actually had to force myself to continue reading.

I am glad that I did though because in the end I rather liked the way how Inspector Hemingway found the culprit. I am sorry though that we didn't get to spend more time with him. I like to have a main character that I may like and follow through the story and he was the prime candidate, as the one investigating, but we never get more than a glimpse of his past life.

The final twist with the book connection was quite funny though, it felt the answer was there all along and we were just too blind to see it. And that not everyone was as silly as it seemed.

I do plan to read other Heyer mysteries in the future but I do hope they will be easier reads than this one and with more interesting stories.

Grade: 3/5

A Christmas Grace - Anne Perry

With Christmas approaching, Emily Radley, Charlotte’s sister is suddenly called from London to be with her dying aunt.  Alone, she makes the journey to Connemara, on the west coast of Ireland.  A tragic legacy haunts this close-knit community and a lone shipwreck survivor threatens to unlock old wounds, but also to offer a solution to an old crime and bring peace and resolution to the community.

For a couple of years now that Anne Perry's Christmas books have been a favourite read of mine during the Holiday Season. They are historical mysteries, usually featuring characters of her most famous series, and they deal with themes like redemption, forgiveness, love, family bonds... all those feelings usually related to the festive period.

In A Christmas Grace the main character is Emily Radley, Charlotte Pitt's sister (from the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series). Despite looking forward to the Christmas season in London, she finds herself travelling to Connemara in Ireland at the request of  an estranged Aunt who is gravelly ill.

Aunt Susannah leaves in a coastal village and soon Emily gets to meet its few inhabitants. There's a general sense of fear over a coming storm and Emily can't help but wonder why they are so worried. When the storm finally comes there is a shipwreck and only one man is saved. The villagers reaction leaves Emily puzzled until she finds out that 7 years before another ship was wrecked and another man was saved... one that was later murdered by someone from the village... Susannah's request is that Emily discovers who did murder that man 7 years ago so that peace can come to te village once more.

Emily, who had been missing the mysteries she was involved in with her sister in the past, starts her own investigation of who the victim was and what might have lead to his murder. She gets to know the people and their secrets and eventually follows a trail left by Susannah's late husband to know more about what really happened.

Although this was an easy and fast read I have to say that I found it less moving and interesting than previous stories in this same series. The mystery was a bit thin, we don't get to know the victim very well, there was little suspense involved and in the end it felt a bit unresolved. Perry's description of the scenery was ver interesting but the characters never really came alive. I think there should have been more about Aunt Susannah, her past with her husband and something about the celebration of Christmas.

Grade: 3/5

Secrets of The Tudor Court - D. L. Bogdan

When young Mary Howard receives the news that she will be leaving her home for the grand court of King Henry VIII, to attend his mistress Anne Boleyn, she is ecstatic. Everything Anne touches seems to turn to gold, and Mary is certain Anne will one day become Queen. But Mary has also seen the King's fickle nature and how easily he discards those who were once close to him. . .


Discovering that she is a pawn in a carefully orchestrated plot devised by her father, the duke of Norfolk, Mary dare not disobey him. Yet despite all of her efforts to please him, she too falls prey to his cold wrath. Not until she becomes betrothed to Harry Fitzroy, the Duke of Richmond and son to King Henry VIII, does Mary finds the love and approval she's been seeking. But just when Mary believes she is finally free of her father, the tides turn. Now Mary must learn to play her part well in a dangerous chess game that could change her life--and the course of history

I just can't resist books where the author grabs a little known historical character and writes a story, within history, for her. That's why I decided to pick this one up. The main character here is Mary Howard, the daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. As his nieces Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard she will also be a pawn in her father´s plans to maintain his powerful position with the King.

Unfortunately I didn't find Mary all that appealing as a character. She was a bit too good to be true and she endures too much to be true. Well about that last part maybe her father is too bad to be true. Norfolk is painted as a true villain who spends his time abusing women. Mary's mother first - he even beats her while she is in labor - and eventually Mary herself. All this written with modern of undertones, suggesting a pattern of domestic violence which, although I'm sure it happened in other eras, sounded too contemporary in its description.

Despite how he mistreats her and controls her life, making her miserable, Mary still loves her father and ends up being a victim of his schemes one time after another. I felt that went on for too long and that Mary never really rises from being a victim to being her own woman. I ended up thinking Norfolk was one creepy man and vowed to stay away from books about him in the future.

History wise, the background of this story is a well known one. The story of Henry VIII and his wives has been the main or secondary interesting of many historical fiction novels and I think Bodgan failed to bring us something different with this one. All that plotting for power on Norfolk's part is well known and it ended up not being enough to capture my interest and make me ignore who I didn't love Mary.

Lovers of the Tudor period might find this one an interesting read, because it is from a minor character point of view, but lovers of "meatier" historical fiction will probably find it a bit too light and, eventually, a bit disturbing.

Grade: 2/5

East of The Sun Julia Gregson

Summer 1928. The Kaiser-i-Hind is en route to Bombay. In Cabin D38, Viva Holloway, an inexperienced chaperone, is worried she's made a terrible mistake. Her advert in The Lady has resulted in three unsettling charges to be escorted to India.

Rose, a beautiful, dangerously naive English girl, is about to be married to the cavalry officer she has met only a handful of times. Victoria, her bridesmaid, is determined to lose her virginity on the journey, before finding a husband of her own in India. And overshadowing all three of them, the malevolent presence of Guy Glover, a strange and disturbed schoolboy.

Three potential Memsahibs with a myriad of reasons for leaving England, but the cargo of hopes and secrets they carry has done little to prepare them for what lies ahead.

From the parties of the wealthy Bombay socialites to the poverty of the orphans on Tamarind Street, East of the Sun is everything a historical novel should be: alive with glorious detail, fascinating characters and masterful storytelling.

This book was recommended to me a while back by both Marg and Alex. When I found a copy I immediately decided I had to take it home with me and so I did. Unfortunately I didn't chose the best of times to read it, this was the last book I read before being admitted to the hospital to have the twins so my mind was frequently elsewhere.

Having said that I have to confess that to me reading this book was not the joyous experience I was expecting after reading Marg's review. It might be my mood at the time or just that the writing didn't move me but I felt no empathy for any of the characters and if I am not interested in the characters I always have to struggle to finish it.

What interested me the most was the image of India, How the end of the British rule was fast coming to an end and not all the characters were aware that their lives would forcibly have to change. It's with a fast changing world that the three female characters - Viva, Rose and Tor - are confronted and each reacts in its own way, considering their own situations. Viva is returning to confront her past, Rose to marry a man she saw just a handful of times and Tor is determined to snatch a husband. They'll come out of the experience changed and stronger. Viva, especially, has a particularly dificult situation has she has to deal with a mentally unstable young man that she is also chaperoning on the way to India.

It left me curious about other books set in India and I'll have to go check my TBR pile and see what's there.

Mr and Mrs Fitzwilliam Darcy - Sharon Lathan

Beginning on their wedding day, Darcy and Elizabeth are two people who are deeply in love with one another and are excited to begin their marriage.

Their courtship was tempestuous; misunderstandings and misgivings nearly tore them apart. But now that they’ve seen each other without prejudice, their trust, attraction, and delight in each other grows with every passing day. Both are inexperienced and innocent, sharing moments of shyness and boldness as they discover the kinds of intimacies that a newlywed couple shares.

As their love story unfolds, they reveal their innermost secrets and feelings, embracing each other in a marriage filled with romance, passion, humor, and drama that will keep you spellbound.

I think that everyone that loves Jane Austen's characters often wonders what happened to them after the ending of Pride and Prejudice. Sometimes, when I am afflicted with such thoughts, I can't resist picking up one of the sequels written by contemporary authors about such beloved characters. This time it was this Mr and Mrs Fitzwilliam Darcy.

The author mentions how she was inspired to write this after seeing, and loving, the movie version of P&P. Being of the BBC TV series I was immediately worried... but I did enjoy some things in the movie version so I continued.

In the end my main problem with it was not that it was inspired by the movie but that the characters seemed so much different from how Jane Austen wrote them. Not only that but that there is the lack of a strong plot and Lizzy and Darcy spend most of their time in bed. There's no conflict to be solved, no growth in their relationship, the pacing is very slow... towards the end the author introduces a villain but by then it was too late, I think, to save the story.

Readers loving light romance novels with a high count of sex scenes may enjoy this one but, as an Austen sequel, it is not one I would recommend.