Wrap-up of the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

I read 30 books for the 2019 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.  I signed up to read 10 books but have surpassed the challenge!  The books I read are:

Imposter
Silent Water
A Column of Fire
Publish and Perish
The Column of Burning Spices
The Greenest Branch
The Blue
The Widow's Guild
Death by Disputation
The Burning Chambers
The Kinship of Secrets
A Far Horizon
The Concubine's Tattoo
Mistress of the Throne
Courting Mr. Lincoln
The Bookworm
The Third Daughter
The Queen's Promise
The Satapur Moonstone
The Enemies of Versaille
The Gown
The Island of Sea Women
The Gondola Maker
Tombland
The Weight of Ink
Murder by Misrule
The Splendor Before the Dark
The Rivals of Versailles
The Sisters of Versailles
Memento Mori

Favorite Book:  The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kaddish

Second Favorite Books: This is a 4 way tie!  The Blue, The Greenest Branch, The Column of Burning Spices and Silent Water. I read all of these books in November.  It was a great month for reading.

Least Favorite Book:  The Concubine's Tattoo by Laura Joh Rowland

Imposter

Imposter is a historical fiction novel set in Naples in 1760. Celeste Carducci is living at the Santa Patrizia convent being mentored by Sister Assunta when she discovers that her uncle Camillo Custozi has betrothed her to Count Ferrante degli Spini. Ferrante has a reputation of having a bad temper and she does not want to marry him. Pursuant to Ferrante's agreement with her uncle, Celeste must undergo a physical examination before the marriage can proceed. The physician examining her determines that she is pregnant. Celeste keeps this a secret, staying in bed for 2 weeks with depression. When her best friend Valentina Gaetani next visits her Celeste and Sister Assunta ask Valentina to take Celeste's place at her wedding so that Celeste can be whisked off to another convent. Valentina is poor. She will not have good marriage prospects so she agrees to this arrangement.  Valentina becomes Celeste and marries Ferrante who is none the wiser since he did not meet Celeste before the wedding.

This was just the beginning to a well plotted love story. The pace was quick so it was a fast read. With its captivating plot, I was able to read this book in one sitting.  Most of the drama involved the relationship between Ferrante and the new Celeste. He avoided her and she was afraid to upset him. However, everything she did seemed to upset him. She would play with his daughter from his first marriage outdoors, walk the grounds of the property and go into rooms that he forbade her to enter such as the library. While he married her to get a male heir, Ferrante never touches Celeste. They had many hits and misses early in their marriage. Then the real conflict between them begins.

I usually don't like romance stories but this one was enjoyable. I couldn't put the book down.  The Valentina character was an awe inspiring woman. While her husband was ignoring her, she began performing science experiments in her studio to find the philosopher's stone. She read many books on chemistry and other sciences as well.  Ferrante on the other hand was damaged goods. Raised by an abusive father, he became unable to communicate with others. As for the real Celeste, she was described as this devout girl in a convent but I thought that she was ugly personality wise. Who asks a friend to marry their betrothed so you don't have to? That put a lot of pressure on Valentina to know Celeste's family history and to act meek and mild as though she grew up in a convent.

Christine De Melo is now one of my favorite authors. Check this book out.

Silent Water

Silent Water is a historical fiction novel set in Krakow, Poland in the 1500s. It is the first novel in author P. K. Adams' Jagiellon Mystery series. Members of the Jagiellion Dynasty included the kings of Poland, Lithuania, Hungary and Bohemia. The dynasty ruled from the 1300s through the 1500s.  The story is told from the point of view of Caterina Sanseverino, Queen Bona's Lady of the Queen's Chamber.

Lady Bona Sforza of Bari has traveled from Italy to Krakow in April, 1518 with a contingent of ladies in waiting to assist her. She was married by proxy to King Zygmunt while in Bari and was crowned queen of Poland 2 days after her arrival. The marriage is a good one but the courtiers do not like Bona. She cannot handle the Polish foods, preferring the cooks make Italian meals which are lighter in fare. She brought with her the fashions and social mores of Italy which shocked the Polish court. In addition, Bona brought furniture from Italy to furnish her rooms which the courtiers did not approve of either. All seems to be well until the Christmas ball when an aristocrat is found dead in the castle. 2 weeks later during the feast of Epiphany dinner another aristocrat is found dead in the castle. Queen Bona has become involved in the investigations but needs the assistance of Caterina due to the political backlash her husband is receiving from her involvement.

It was refreshing to read a historical mystery novel that did not take place in England or France. The choice of Poland as a setting was a brilliant one. Readers tend to get bored with the same old thing. I learned much about the political climate and culture in Poland. The royal court had a new (to me) activity called the sanna. The sanna is a huge sleigh ride where all of the sleighs are attached. It is held annually on the day before new year's eve. The whodunnit was easy to figure out but the why surprised me.  I googled Queen Bona to determine whether she was accurately portrayed in the book. She was. King Zygmunt 1 was not that interested in ruling but Queen Bona was. Her proposal for agricultural reforms were true to history. The author deftly worked that into the story. I am looking forward to the next book in this series. With 4 countries in this dynasty there are many approaches that the author can take.

5 out of 5 stars.

A Column of Fire

Ken Follett's latest novel takes place primarily in England between 1558 and 1620. The story stretches to Scotland, Paris, Seville, the Caribbean, Cadiz, Geneva and Antwerp.  It is the third book in the author's Kingsbridge series which began with The Pillars of the Earth and continued with World Without End.  The story is not about building as its prequels were. This one concerns the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in England and on the European continent but mostly in England. The two groups viciously battle for political power to make their religion the state religion. Then there are those who favor religious tolerance.

I started the book in August and put it down three times before finishing it yesterday. Its 900 pages did not deter me but some of the characters and their stories did not interest me as much as others. Ned Willard was the main character and the most sympathetic. His family and the Fitzgerald family were the two main families in the book. Ned fell in love with Margery Fitzgerald as a teen but her parents betrothed her to an aristocratic family. He was not a legitimate match for her. Ned ends up working for Princess Elizabeth, later Queen, as a spymaster and his life story is unique. His brother Barney became a sailor, traveled to Spain and the Caribbean. His story did not interest me as much nor did the characters that supported him. Margery's brother, husband and father-in-law were some of the nasty characters who took advantage of the Willards whenever possible. The Fitzgeralds were Catholic and the Willards were Protestant. The French connection provided a lot of political drama and added suspense to the plot.

The plot moved all over the place. It wasn't just the Willards versus the Fitzgeralds. There were many characters to keep track of. I think some were only present for 50 pages. Perhaps there were too many for one book. Do I really need the life story of every one of them? I guess that's why I got bored from time to time. For that reason I can only rate this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Publish and Perish

Publish and Perish is the the 4th Francis Bacon Mystery. It takes place in 1589 when Francis Bacon is 28. The story concerns a year long war of words between a Puritan pamphleteer Martin Marprelate and several of England's more famous writers of that era. When 2 writers are murdered Lord Burghley asks Francis Bacon to find out who the killer is, a task made difficult by the fact that no one knows the identity of Martin Marprelate. Bacon enlists the assistance of his clerk Tom Clarady to help him solve the crimes.

I have come to love the regular characters in this series. Bacon is still a young barrister here but his intellect is getting noticed by the Crown. Tom Clarady is a lovable character.  He is a witty, 20 year old, bar hopping lady's man. His buddies Tom Nashe and Christopher Marlowe make a great crime solving threesome or just a fun night out at the tavern. They have a female friend Alice Trumpington who they call Trumpet who adds a delicious flavor to this group of friends. She is known to dress as a man so that she can travel the streets of London freely. These four friends are a riot when they get together. Bacon's mother and aunt, both ardent Christian reformers, play a prominent role in this installment of the series. Both are well educated, wealthy widows who basically do whatever they want.

Publish and Perish, and all the earlier books in the series, is written with suspense. Clarady and his pals run into dilemma after dilemma and its not just about solving the crimes. Trumpet needs to marry but also needs to turn away suitors. Clarady is now a ward of the Crown since his father died and has to file a lawsuit in order to obtain his inheritance. Nashe cannot get work. Bacon thinks his cousin might be the killer but wonders if he is just angry that his cousin has received every advantage in life. Both Bacon and Clarady return to the same group of suspects several times. They are stumped with this case and finally decide they must determine who Martin Marprelate is first before determining who killed the writers.

The Marprelate Controversy actually happened. In the author's Afterward she wrote that the Puritans wanted to replace the religious aristocracy of the church with religious democracy. The Crown looked upon that viewpoint as treason but was still never able to figure out Marprelate's identity. Over time 22 people were suggested to be him, but all of them denied it.

5 out of 5 stars!

The Column of Burning Spices

Book two in the Hildegard of Bingen duology was just as riveting as the first. I read both books in one day! The Column of Burning Spices opens in the year 1143 with Hildegard opening a letter from Abbott Bernard of Clairvaux. He has read a chapter on the trinity in a book that she penned and he approves of it.  At this point in her monastic life Hildegard is trying to find a way for her Order to leave St. Disibod's Monastery so that they can live independently from male rule over their lives.  Prior Helenger continues to interfere with her desire to work as a physician and as a writer and has acted more boldly since he expects to succeed the ailing Abbott Kuno. She has been saving money for years to start her own foundation and needs the approval of powerful men in the church such as Abbott Bernard in order to make that goal a reality.

What Hildegard doesn't know is that Abbott Kuno wrote the Pope to inquire whether it was appropriate for her to write on matters of faith since the Bible states that women should not be teachers. Before sending a group of messengers to St. Disibod to observe Hildegard, Pope Eugenius asks an assistant "Who is this woman who rises out of the wilderness like a column of smoke from burning spices?" He has also heard from his friend Abbott Bernard of Clairvaux that he has encouraged Hildegard to continue to write and does not know whose opinion to accept, Kuno's or Bernard's? What I would call an unstable part of church history begins here as popes, anti-popes, bishops, and archbishops rise and fall frequently enough to stall Hildegard's plans to obtain a charter for her foundation and convent.

I was enthralled with this series. I didn't know much about Hildegard or the time period before reading the duology. Fortunately the author is well versed in the Middle Ages. This duology may well be my favorite series of the year, such as the Empress of the Bright Moon duology was for me in 2017. It's a series that just grabs your attention from the first pages and while it is historical fiction, it is also written with suspense.  I highly recommend it.

The Greenest Branch

The Greenest Branch is the first book in a duology by P. K. Adams on Germany's first female physician Hildegard of Bingen.  The title is taken from one of the many chants that Hildegard composed "o veridissima virga."

The story begins the night before Hildegard's enclosure to the convent at St. Disibod in the year 1115.  While her parents are following the custom of tithing their tenth child to the church, they are awake all night discussing whether it's the right time. Her mother feels that at age 10 she is too young to leave home for the restricted environment of an anchorite convent. Anchorites stay secluded in one building and never leave.  Hildegard's father seems more concerned with saving money by giving his daughter to a smaller monastery.  Hildegard has only been told that monasteries are places of learning and since she wants an education she is excited about her prospects. When her parents leave her there the next day she is shocked by her fate. She is not allowed to take monastic classes nor is she allowed to use the library.

A few months later Hildegard succumbs to one of her spells, probably migraines, which lands her in the infirmary for two months. Abbott Kuno and Brother Wigbert, a physician trained in Salerno, decide that the rigors of being an anchoress are too harsh for her young years and she is allowed to remain in the infirmary and work as Wigbert's assistant. There she thrives. By asking to be taught Latin and to read medical texts she begins to be educated as a physician in her own right.  However, none of that happens without the constant interference from the prior Helenger. He does not approve of her working in the infirmary, reading anything other than the psalter, or even being let outside the convent.

I loved this novel and learned so much about church history as well as Hildegard herself. I did not know that the Holy Roman Empire and the Church were ruled by different emporers, popes and anti-popes simultaneously or that any of them were German.  Many changes in these offices occurred during our heroine's life that it was dizzying. The author's knowledge of the Middle Ages is incredible and she was able to give the reader her knowledge with an expert blend of narration and dialogue.

I was rather surprised that couples tithed children to the church and I think that surprised me more than how much Hildegard was able to accomplish as a woman for the era that she lived in. Obviously she was a money machine for the monastery. Still, she was doing a man's job in a man's world in the twelfth century.

I only wish I had read this book before. Book number two is on my kindle and I am starting it...now!

The Blue

Nancy Bilyeau's The Blue is her 4th historical fiction novel.  It takes place in England in the 18th century.

London painter Genevieve Planche wants to become a fine artist but cannot find a mentor because she is a female. Her grandfather wants her to move to Derby and paint porcelains in the Derby Porcelain Works as a career.  When Genevieve meets Gabriel Courtenay at a party he makes her an offer that she cannot refuse. She agrees to go to Derby as a spy for him to obtain information on the chemist working there who is known to be creating a brand new blue color. In exchange he will pay for Genevieve to travel to Venice to live and study as a serious artist.

What initially attracted me to this book was the gorgeous cover. Sadly, the author did not include the name of the book cover artist in her acknowledgements. I would love to know who came up with the design.

The background information on the importance of porcelain during this time period was exciting. The two manufacturers mentioned in the story, Derby and Sevres in France, were real companies of the era and were so competitive that at times the story read more like a spy novel than a historical fiction novel. These companies took their security services seriously and the French had a spy group called Le Secret du Roi that reported directly to the King. Employees of the companies were closely watched to ensure that they gave no secrets away and were not spies themselves.

The story is also a romantic one. Genevieve falls in love along the way and since I don't want to be a spoiler, I will say no more.

5 out of 5 stars!

The Widow's Guild

The third book in Anna Castle's Francis Bacon Mystery series opens with Lady Alice Trumpington, "Trumpet," hastily arranging her marriage to the ill and elderly Ralph Gumery, Viscount Surdeval.  Friends Tom Clarady and Ben Whitt are invited to the wedding but Tom gets a special invitation to stay for the wedding night. Trumpet has plans to provide Surdeval with sons but through Tom. However, as much as Tom desires her, he will not sleep with Trumpet. In the morning they find Surdeval dead in his bed with a cross carved into his chest.  Surdeval's nephew enters the bedroom, sees Tom and Trumpet together, accuses them of murder and they are sent to the Tower. Barrister Francis Bacon's aunt, Lady Elizabeth Russell, hires him on behalf of the widow's guild that she runs, the Andromache Society, to defend Trumpet. Bacon soon learns that there are two other victims, all lords who were nominal Catholics and had crosses carved into their chests, and that their private chapels were robbed on the night of their deaths. He must determine why and how these lords were killed and whether the robberies are connected to the deaths.

I am enjoying reading this series with its well developed characters and information on the English legal system. With character Francis Bacon taking the lead in this novel, the reader learns how barristers are educated, the law on widows benefits, the selling of wardships, and who can be tortured for being Catholic.  Trumpet is an interesting character. She occasionally dresses as a male in order to publicly meet with friends Tom Clarady and Ben Whitt. In prior books she dressed as a man in order to attend law school with them. As a woman in Elizabethan England she was prohibited from attending school but almost finished her education before she got caught. I admire her spunk. She doesn't want to be married so she chooses an elderly, rich man as a husband with the plan that he will die soon after the marriage leaving her a wealthy widow who can live however she desires.

The Widow's Guild is a fabulous installment in the Francis Bacon series. I rate it 5 out of 5 stars.

Death by Disputation

Death by Disputation is the second novel in the Francis Bacon Mystery series by Anna Castle. It is 1587 and Francis Bacon is a fairly new barrister at Gray's Inn when he hires college boy Thomas Claraday to determine who the front man is for the Puritans at Cambridge University. Claraday transfers to Corpus Christi College at Cambridge to finish his bachelor's degree while he conducts his investigation. However, soon after his arrival he finds his tutor Bartholomew Leeds dead, hanging from the roof beam of their sleeping loft. Leeds' apparent suicide is quickly deemed a murder. Claraday then is also tasked with finding Leeds' killer.

As with the first book in the series, Murder by Misrule, the author has followed the mystery formula perfectly. The murder occurred early in the book, in fact on the first page, leaving the remainder of the book for solving the crime. Both the clues and red herrings also began on the first page and continued throughout the story to keep the reader interested. The book is written more like a straight mystery that just happens to occur in medieval times. It is not written in the style of a historical mystery.

Tom Claraday, the main character, gets himself into plenty of scrapes to keep the reader on their toes. He is a likable character who tries to fit in with his classmates all while he conducts an affair with his headmaster's wife, Margaret Eggerley. His initial suspect is Christopher Marlowe, a classmate who was asleep in a drunken stupor in the loft when Tom found the body. Tom cannot figure out whether Marlowe is with or against the Puritans and his suspected homosexuality connects him to Leeds, another suspected homosexual. Francis Bacon is not featured much in this installment of the series. It is really all about Tom, although Tom is required to write Bacon daily with his progress notes on the investigation. This is a little odd given that the series is called a Francis Bacon Mystery.

The historical aspect of the story was written well. The writing was done in contemporary English so the reader can get through the book quickly. The characters and descriptions were definitely Elizabethan and a few Elizabethan words were added to contribute to the mood.

Death by Disputation is an engrossing historical mystery and I highly recommend it.

The Burning Chambers

The Burning Chambers takes place in France in the mid to late 1500s.  It is the first book in a trilogy about the Huguenot diaspora.  The plot concerns a disputed inheritance and a stolen religious relic, the Shroud of Antioch. The main characters are Marguerite "Minou" Joubert, the Catholic daughter of a bookseller, and Piet Reydon, a Huguenot soldier, who fall in love with each other.

This 575 page book seemed to drag on and on.  There were endless descriptions of the scenery, homes, inns, shops and clothing.  While I was interested in what was written, the plot was so slow that I did lose interest over time which is why it took me one month to finish this book.   The fact that I could summarize the plot in one sentence in the above paragraph is telling.  Not much happened here.  The premise for this trilogy is fascinating.  The how-to of the writing needs work.  A little less explanation and more action would be better.

If you like reading about atmosphere, this book is for you.  The author gives a fascinating description of the atmosphere of this period in French history.  However, if a book has no action, it's a little boring.

The Kinship of Secrets

The Kinship of Secrets is a historical saga about the Cho family during the Korean War. Part of the family has emigrated to America and the rest of the family has remained in Korea. The chapters alternate between the point of view of two sisters, Inja and Miren, separated by their parents when the parents take Miren with them to America and leave Inja behind.

Calvin and Najin Cho have taken their daughter Miren with them to America while she is still a toddler as she has been sickly. The younger Inja has been left behind with the promise that they will return for her in one or two years. However, the North Koreans invade the South and war commenced, making it impossible for the family to travel. Miren grows up in the wealthy west but not fitting in with her peers because she is Asian. Inja grows up knowing where she belongs but has to scrounge for food and run from fighting soldiers.  She always wonders why her mother didn't want her. For several years Calvin and Najin desperately try to bring Inja to the U. S. but Inja hopes that it never happens. She loves her extended family in Korea, her friends and she is doing well in school.

I loved this poignant story of two sisters. One is raised in wealth but with no emotional security and is dependent on her family. The other is raised in poverty but is much loved and independent. One knows all the family's secrets and the other knows none. Can they form a sisterly bond when they actually meet? Read the book and find out!

Inja is the heroine as she has much more to deal with than Miren. At a very young age she has to deal with abandonment, hunger, running from war, and taking care of sick relatives. I loved her character and hope there is a sequel based on her life. Miren was not that interesting but from her side of the story the reader gets to read about the family's early life in America.

5 our of 5 stars!

A Far Horizon

This is the second book in the Broken Kingdom Series about the English Civil War of the 1640s where Charles 1 is on the throne with his Catholic wife Henrietta. A Far Horizon primarily is about three women trying to survive on their own during the war.  Caroline Pendleton leaves her home for London after her husband is killed in battle. Lucy Hay is a widow who takes care of the two youngest royal children while their mother is in exile in France. Queen Henrietta is always on the run from her husband's enemies.

The book had a slow start. I had a difficult time getting interested in it as I couldn't find a storyline. The characters were reacting to news about the war and that's about it. Most of the historical characters bored me and there were many of them to keep track of. However, at the midpoint the story picked up. This is where the author used created characters to enhance her story. These characters were appealing and they carried the book.

I can't figure out why Vantrease wrote this kind of book. It's drastically different from her historical mysteries which I think were fantastic. I hope she returns to writing the mysteries because that is where she shines.

The Concubine's Tattoo

The Concubine's Tattoo is the fourth Sano Ichiro mystery by Laura Joh Rowland. It takes place in Tokyo in 1690 under the reign of Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi.

In this installment of the series Sano gets married to the feisty Reiko who wants to  help him with his criminal investigations. Before the wedding celebrations can begin, the body of the shogun's favorite concubine, Harume, is found dead. The shogun decides that he needs Sano to begin investigating this death ASAP. The honeymoon is abruptly cancelled as Sano and his assistant Hirata begin their work to determine how the concubine died.

I was surprised at the amount of sex in this book. Prior books in the series did not have any sex.  This one had explicit descriptions of sexual encounters, including kinky sex and gay sex. Every character was described having sex. Even the concubine's tattoo is in a sensitive area. You don't expect that in historical fiction.

Aside from that, the author presented a colorful picture of life in the women's quarters at Edo Castle. It was noisy, vengeful, had rich appointments and extravagant kimonos but the women were kept behind screens so that they would not be seen by men. My impression was that they were prisoners. I don't know if that is what the author intended but wealth never makes up for freedom.

Sano wanted a compliant wife but Reiko was raised to be independent and refused to sleep with him until he relented in making her a work partner. I didn't see this as plausible. It just wasn't Sano's character to be anything but a traditional samurai. In prior books he never had thoughts about treating women differently than society dictated. It didn't fit his character to suddenly jump into being a women's rights samurai.

The investigation and resolution of the murder was outstanding. There were plenty of suspects and red herrings. However, as I write this review I cannot escape my overall impression that I just read a romance novel, not a historical fiction story.  It's romance in feudal Japan. When I bought this book I expected to read the 20+ novels in this series.  Now I am not so sure. I like history, not romance.

Mistress of the Throne

Mistress of the Throne is a novel in the Mughal Intrigues series by Ruchir Gupta.  It was published in 2014.  The author has written several books on anesthesiology as that is his day job but I have not seen any other books in this series being published by him yet.  The main character is Jahanara, daughter of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Jahan, who is appointed as Empress of India after her mother dies.

In the opening pages Jahanara's family unit is held together by her mother. When her mother dies in childbirth, the sibling rivalry among her brothers becomes extreme.  Dara, the oldest son and heir to the throne is a liberal who accepts all religions in India. Another brother, Aurangazeb, is a strict Muslim who believes that it is Allah's will to destroy Hindu and Christian buildings. While her father remarried, he appointed the 17 year old Jaharana as Empress of India instead of his new wife, giving her broad political power. While Jahanara used her political powers to rule the country, her primary objective was to keep her brothers from fighting each other.

The setting descriptions were delicious, from the elaborate meals and the clothing to the palace decor. The building of the Taj Mahal was a prominent secondary plot.

The plight of women in Mughal India was a major theme. Female children of the emporer were not allowed to marry. If a woman was chosen to marry an emporer or an empire's son and he rejected her, she had to spend the rest of her life with the concubines, unloved. Descriptions of life in the zenana where all of the women in the palace lived abounded throughout the book. They played alot of games with each other as they tried to get power in the kingdom.

I loved this book and wish there was a sequel. I rate it 5 out of 5 stars!

Courting Mr. Lincoln

Courting Mr. Lincoln is a fictionalized account of Mary Todd and Abe Lincoln's courtship and eventual marriage.  However, the story alternates between the point of view of Mary and Joshua Speed, Lincoln's best friend and roommate.  Can I presume that they were both courting Lincoln since they are both telling the story?

While Speed and Lincoln had a deep bond of friendship, there is a hint in one chapter that Speed may have wanted more from Lincoln. It was unclear whether Lincoln understood that or considered extending the relationship. He seemed to waver at the thought but my impression was that that Lincoln just had something else on his mind. He always had something else on his mind.

Mary Todd captivated Lincoln with her political intellect.  If Speed was ever really a romantic interest for Lincoln, Speed could not compete with Mary's brain. Politics is what Mary and Abe had in common and its what their relationship was based on.

I think Speed was gay.  When he eventually married, his wife did not want to have sex with him. He was OK with that arrangement. Twenty years later when Speed and Lincoln were again together, traveling to his inauguration, it was mentioned that he and his wife still had no children.

This was an enjoyable, fast read. I am curious how much of the book is fiction, especially the part about Mary's political instincts.  It would make sense that 2 people with nothing else in common would want to be together for a joint political future. I know plenty such couples today.  Politicians look for spouses like that and politically astute people are attracted to politicians.

5 out of 5 stars!

The Bookworm

The Bookworm is a fantastical thriller set in both WWII and the modern era. It provides an interesting theory on why Adolph Hitler decided not to invade England after the Blitz and instead send his army east toward Russia.

Lara Menelova Klimt "the bookworm" is a geohistorian.  She studies how geography determines a people's history, rather than its politics.  When not teaching classes at Moscow State University, Lara spends time in the Osobyi Arkhiv reviewing Nazi documents and listening to Dictaphone recordings of the dictated letters of Hitler, Himmler and others in the Third Reich.  One day after class she is approached by a stranger who hands her a shopping bag full of six Dictaphone cylinders for her to listen to and tells her that they have the testimony of one man who started the Great Patriotic War. Then the stranger abruptly leaves.

The man giving his testimony is none other than the actor Noel Coward.  In real life he worked as a British spy during WWII.  The transcripts also show a young John Kennedy coming up with an idea to trick Hitler into invading Russia instead of England. This trick, of course, protects the U. S. because if England fell then the U. S. would be next to be attacked by Hitler. The trick? Have a fortuneteller say that Hitler would be successful in invading Russia. The fortuneteller?  Nostradamus. Hitler was known to be a mystic and the idea was that if a page in a book could be created with a Nostradamus rhyme to convince Hitler of his success that he would decide not to invade England. It is a historical fact that after the Blitz Hitler did not invade England. No one knows why he decided not to invade. He made several similar decisions that his generals opposed and they resulted in his defeat.

The book goes back and forth between WWII and the current year.  There is a G20 summit in Moscow going on and a new American president who is loud mouthed and a womanizer with a wife from Slovenia is present. Lara has been snagged to be the moderator at a townhall meeting with the American president and the Russian people.  After discovering a plot that he has to drill oil in Alaska,  which will have a disastrous effect on Russia's economy, she comes up with a plan to expose it.

Kudos to the author for his creativity in devising this plot.  It may seem fantastical but it sure was entertaining.  I was totally absorbed in this book from the first page.  It has been a long time since that has happened to me and it felt sooooo good.  Adding in a Trump-like president and Nostradamus in one book was a genius idea.  I was laughing all the way through it.  As far as suspension of belief is concerned, the only thing that bothered me was having John Kennedy come up with the trick.  I don't know why he had to be in the book.  It did not seem very natural because he was in college at the time and had his girlfriend, Marlene Dietrich, with him.

The Bookworm is Mitch Silver's second book and I will have to check out his In Secret Service soon.  What I would love to see from him is another book featuring another made-up Nostradamus rhyme for another politician.  I just thought this was hilarious.  

The Third Daughter

I received an advanced review copy of this book through the Early Reviewer's Program at Librarything.  Talia Carner's The Third Daughter is a fictionalized account of the hundreds of thousands of Eastern European Jewish girls ensnared into sexual slavery in South America in the 1890s.

The story begins with 14 year old Batya and her family pushing their belongings along a road away from their village in Russia. The village has just been burned down in a pogrom and her father believes they can eventually reach the Pale of Settlement and board a ship to America.  Her mother knows better. They have no money for tickets for the ship.  Upon reaching the Pale the family is offered temporary work at a tavern. They feel lucky. They finally have a roof over their heads and food to eat after weeks of travel.

While at the tavern, a wealthy Jewish man from America, Reb Moskowitz,  passes through on his way to his home village to find a bride. When he sees Batya he falls in love and asks her father to marry her. Batya's father agrees to the marriage because Moskowitz is wealthy and can provide a wonderful life for his daughter. He is thinking, however, that the family can eventually join them in America. Batya does not want to marry him but goes along with the plan. To her surprise when they are about to board the ship for America Moskowitz leaves her with an assistant and stays in Russia. He has still not formally married her but has raped her twice because "he cannot resist such a beautiful bride." Of course, the assistant treats her the same while sailing for America. When the ship docks in Buenos Aires Batya realizes that she is in South America, not the country that she hoped to emigrate to.  She quickly understands that she must live as a prostitute for Reb Moskowitz in order to survive. To resist meant torture and/or death by the powerful pimp association Zwi Migdal whose members included politicians and police officers.

The story was only graphic enough to get the point across to the reader what was happening to Batya and the other girls in her situation. It was not overly graphic sexually. The author added in characters from real life such as Baron Maurice de Hirsch who founded the Jewish Colonization Association in order to repatriate and educate Russian Jews.  The pimp association, Zwi Migdal, actually existed in Buenos Aires. Members of Zwi Migdal would travel to Russia, Ukraine and other Eastern European countries to kidnap girls and force them into prostitution. Most of the girls ended up in Buenos Aires. If they tried to flee they were killed. Even if they stayed the life expectancy was no more than 10 years.  These girls were kidnapped around age 14 and died by age 25. At 25 they were considered too old to prostitute and put out on the streets where they starved to death.

This book tells a not too well known part of Jewish history that occurred in the 1890s to 1910.  It will be published next month on September 5, 2019. I highly recommend it. While it is a horrifying story, because it actually happened to approximately 150,000 - 200,000 girls I feel that we owe it to them to read their story.

The Queen's Promise

This is the first book in the Broken Kingdom Series by Brenda Rickman Vantrease.  It takes place in 1642 England. The book is quite different from Vantrease's earlier books. It is a strictly historical fiction novel while her prior books, i.e., The Illuminator and The Mercy Seller, were historical mysteries.

The book opens with Henrietta, the wife of King Charles, leaving England for Amsterdam with their 10 year old daughter.  The purpose is to marry her off.  However, the real reason is the Queen's unpopularity due to her Catholic faith. Henrietta leaves behind her three youngest children. Shortly after her departure, the Duke of Buckingham is executed for doing the King's bidding in Catholic Ireland. Charles goes on the run to set up an army but has his two youngest children cared for by Buckingham's mistress, Lucy Hay who is also a close friend of the Queen. Hay runs the fanciest salon in London and is a Protestant like the King. She agrees that she will not teach the Catholic mass to the children and is regularly visited by the King's enemies in Parliament and questioned about it.

This was a short book, only 230 pages, but it had a fast pace. I was kept interested enough in the plot to read the book in one sitting. This was a pleasant surprise given my dissatisfaction with some of the books that I have read in the past two months.

While the title is The Queen's Promise, Lucy Hay is the main character in the book. The author has written her to be a sympathetic character even though she cannot be without a lover. It seems strange that a woman who can't stop herself from committing adultery is the sympathetic character but she is. The reader doesn't get to know Queen Henrietta much. Hay's strength is prominent as she tries to protect the children from the warring factions in England who would love to use them as tokens in their war against the king. While the Queen eventually returns to England she must disguise herself. Her character as a queen was not prominent or interesting.

4 out of 5 stars.

The Satapur Moonstone

This is the second book in the Purveen Mistry Mystery Series by Sujata Massey.  Here Purveen is invited by Sir David Hobson-Jones, councillor to the Governor of India, to travel to the princely kingdom of Satapur to speak with 2 maharanis about the education of their 10 year old heir to the throne. The maharanis are in a state of purdah due to the recent death of their maharaja and cannot see a male attorney. Purveen, being a female attorney, can discuss the issue with them.  The heir's mother wants him to be educated in England while his grandmother wants him to be educated at home.

I enjoyed the book but must admit that it moved a little slower than the first book in the series.  There wasn't a crime to solve as there was in the first book and that plot error affected the pace. This is a historical mystery series, not a historical fiction series. However, there was no mystery here. It still was a lovely book to read. I love reading about other cultures and the author gave the reader her knowledge about travel in 1922 India, especially for women. The differences between the religions that coexist in India were described in detail. The feelings of the Indian people toward their English rulers was also apparent as the Indian characters whispered their thoughts about them to one another.

The moonstone pendant in the title of the book was not mentioned until page 100. It was not mentioned again until page 246 but was only mentioned superficially. Up until that time in the plot there were basically only meals that  Purveen had with the maharanis about the heir's education. Then the 10 year old maharaja disappeared and the remainder of the book was about the disappearance.

When I got this book I  expected to devour it in one sitting. It took me three weeks to read because there wasn't much of a plot to follow.  It was quite disjointed.

The Satapur Moonstone was a good historical fiction novel.  3 out of 5 stars.