London

Edward Rutherford writes historical fiction novels about big cities that span 1000 years. Each book is over 1000 pages and follows several families throughout the centuries. London, however, spans a period of 2000 years and tells the stories of six families. I previously read Rutherford's China and loved it.  In my mind, Rutherford is the James Michener of the 21st century.

London begins with the birth of the Thames River and quickly moves to 54 BCE, capturing the life of Segovax, a man with slightly webbed hands and a flash of white hair on the front of his head. This description of him will be carried forward by his descendants. Segovax is the ancestor of the Ducket and Dogget families, who are fictional families in the novel. There are several historical figures who also appear in the story such as Julius Caesar, Geoffrey Chaucer, Henry VIII and William Shakespeare. We also see the rise of chivalry and the Crusades. In addition, we read about the Norman Conquest of England and the Great Fire of London as well as the Blitz during WWII. 

London is much more than a history book. The reader is given a slice of what life was like for London's residents from its beginnings to the current time period. Not knowing anything about the city during times before Christ, I learned how people dealt with marital and sexual matters, trade and also the type of clothing that they wore. We get all of this information for each time period. In addition, we read what life was like when the Romans, Celts, Saxons, Danes and Normans arrived. It seems to me that people just wanted to go about their lives as best they could when invaders came to their shores. No one really cared who was in power. People just wanted jobs and to be able to feed their families. It was interesting, too, to read about why and how the Tower of London was constructed. The building of St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey is also covered but there was a greater emphasis on the Tower.

I would have to say that the Middle Ages was covered in more detail than other eras. However, the Middle Ages covers 800 years of history. I was surprised that more contemporary eras such as the Victorian Era was not written about in great detail. As far as characters go, I loved reading about Chaucer's life in particular. He is introduced as a friend of one of the main families.  He becomes a godfather to one of the kids before he became famous for his writing. 

There is so much more to say about this book. I absolutely LOVED it and can't wait to read Rutherford's novel on Paris next. I am happily rating this novel 5 out of 5 stars.

Wrap-Up of the 2021 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

I signed up to read 50 books for the 2021 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I read 43 books by 21 new to me authors. The time periods that I read about covered 5 BC to the 1970s. The settings covered European and Asian cities. Here.is a list of the books that I read:

A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee

Death and the Maiden by Ariana Franklin

The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams

Vendetta by C. DeMelo

Now and Then Stab by Anna Castle

The Binding by Bridget Collins

America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray

Midnight at Malabar House by Vaseem Khan

The Lost Daughter by Gill Paul

The Art Collector's Daughter by Derville Murphy

The Girl in the Painting by Tea Cooper

The Woman in the Green Dress by Tea Cooper

The Tea Planter's Daughter by Janet Macleod Trotter

The Lantern Boats by Tessa Morris-Suzuki

Murder in Venice by Maria Luisa Minarelli

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba by Chanel Cleeton

Midnight Fire by P. K. Adams

Apricots by Sally Christie

Portrait of Peril by Laura Joh Rowland

Beneath an Indian Sky by Renita D'Silva

My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray

China by Edward Rutherford

The Bombay Prince by Sujata Massey

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur by by Alka Joshi

Dominus by Steven Taylor

The Dying Day by Vaseem Khan

The First Actress by C. W. Gortner

The French House by  Helen Fripp

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

The Stolen Lady by Laura Morelli

A Tapestry of Light by Kimberly Duffy

The Widow Queen by Elzbieta Cherezinska

The Good Death by S. D. Sykes

White Ivy by Susie Yang

Defending Britta Stein by Ronald Balson

The Flower Boat Girl by Larry Feign

Prayers of the Dead by Priscilla Royal

Berlin and Betrayal by Susan Finley

Master Wycliffe's Summons by Mel Starr

The Rabbi's Wife the Bishop's Wife by David Jacobson

Anticipation by Melodie Winawer

The Samurai's Daughter by John Healey

Brigid of Kildare by Heather Terrell

Favorite Book:  China    

2nd Favorite Book:  Defending Britta Stein

Least Favorite Book:  The Flower Boat Girl

Brigid of Kildare

The publisher's summary:  

In Fifth Century Ireland:  Brigid is Ireland's first and only female priest and bishop.  Followers flock to her Kildare abbey and scriptorium.  Hearing accounts of Brigid's power, the Church deems her a threat and sends Decius, a Roman priest and scribe, on a secret mission to collect proof of Brigid's heresy.  As Delcius records the unorthodox practices of Brigid and her abbey, he becomes intrigued by her.  When Brigid assigns Delcius a holy task - to create the most important and sacred manuscript ever made - he finds himself at odds with his original mission and faces theist difficult decision of his life. 

In the modern day:  Alexandra Patterson, an appraiser of medieval relics, has been summoned to Kildare to examine a reliquary box believed to belong to St. Brigid.  Hidden within the sacred box is the most beautiful illuminated manuscript Alex has ever seen.  Even more extraordinary is the contents of the manuscript's vellum pages, which may have dire repercussions for the Catholic Church and could very well rewrite the origins of Christianity.  

I loved this book but had many questions about fact versus fiction as I was reading.  This novel has alot of information on how illuminated manuscripts are created.  Since I have been studying ancient manuscripts for 2 years I wanted to find out more about Brigid's manuscript, which is referred to in the book as the first illuminated manuscript in history.  Her manuscript was used as a guide for the sixth century Book of Kells.  I have never heard who or where the first illuminated manuscript came from before reading the book and later research showed me that they began being produced in the 500s AD.  That matches with Brigid's life time as she lived until 525.  Note that there are earlier illuminated manuscripts, some literature and some Muslim, but they were not Christian manuscripts.  The general definition of illuminated manuscripts these days is a manuscript with Christian themes.  After finishing the novel I headed over the Wikipedia for more information about Brigid.  There I read that most scholars do not believe that St. Brigid existed.  The reason is that the stories about her are fantastical, such as she healed people of physical ailments.  Since I am not a Catholic I had never heard of Brigid before but if she did not exist how did she come to be a Roman Catholic Saint?  Wikipedia cites her birth and death dates and places. If she never existed where did this information come from?  The book states that she was born in the 450s which is when this story begins.

Another fact versus fiction item that I had to research was that allegation that the veneration of Mary, mother of Jesus, began with Brigid.  The only authentic information I found was that the first image of Mary as "The Virgin Mary" was created in the 5th century in  Gaelic lands.  The author gives us a portrait of how the veneration of Mary began, with a Brigid who wonders why the people around Jesus were all men.  Why were there no woman of influence?  Why were the women around Jesus portrayed as whores and serving girls?  While Brigid was growing up, she read a heretical book that her mother owned titled The Gospel of Mary the Mother.  Brigid is captivated by the strong and wise Mary in this gospel and long after she joined an abbey, she hired the Roman scribe Decius to create an illuminated manuscript that glorified Mary.  Further along in the book we read that the Roman Church attempted to crush this idea about Mary but as the belief in Mary began spreading throughout Europe, Rome gave in and began to teach the veneration of Mary.  Rome was nearing its end and did not want to upset the faithful. 

The Gospel of Mary the Mother is an actual text written around 150 AD.  It was basically rewritten later in the 2nd century in the Protevangelium of James. (another actual 2nd century manuscript).  James enhances the role of Mary by describing her birth as miraculous, her childhood as one of incredible knowledge and wisdom and that she was taught faith in the Temple for 9 years. Her childhood as portrayed in the Protevangelium has no parallel in the New Testament and contradicts Jewish customs at the time but the fact that the author wove these details into her story is incredible. I was entranced by all these details and couldn't wait to finish the book to do some research. However, I knew that the process of creating an illuminated manuscript in the novel was spot on.

When I first began to write this review I intended to point out that the extensive playing with the facts outweighed any enjoyment I had from reading the novel. However, the author had me researching various parts of her novel for 2 hours. That alone makes this a 5 out of 5 star book.

The Samurai's Daughter

Soledad Maria, called Masako by her father, is a child of two worlds. Born in Seville in the seventeenth century, she is the daughter of a beloved Spanish lady and a fearsome warrior sent to Spain as a member of one of the most intriguing cultural exchanges in history.  After her mother's death, Soledad Maria and her father set out to return to Japan, though a journey across the world can never be without peril.  Once they return, even their position in her father's home is not secure. As they try to stay one step ahead of those who would harm them, Soledad Maria finds herself grappling with not only the physical challenges of her many voyages, but with who she is, which legacy to claim - that of a proper Spanish lady or of a samurai - and which world she can really call home.

This is a captivating story, one that continues the author's The Samurai of Seville novel, published in 2017.  It was hard to put down so I read straight through the night in order to finish reading it. I particularly enjoyed reading about their travels to and from Japan by two different routes which brought the scenery and cultures of the entire world into view. While traveling to Japan they traveled through Greece to Turkey and on to China. On their return trip to Spain, they crossed the North American continent and encountered peoples that they had never heard about before. Soledad Maria had to pretend to be a boy in order to prevent being abused and as a result learned the skills of warfare the most women of the era never gained. 

I loved this one!  5 out of 5 stars.

Anticipation

 

I have been looking forward to reading Melodie Winawer's 2nd novel for awhile. Her 2017 The Scribe of Siena was my book of the year in 2017. However, Anticipation was a difficult read. It is not only historical fiction but also romance and supernatural. There are 3 alternating plots going back and forth from 1259 Mystras, 1259 France and July 2015. I found the 2015 plot line to be the most interesting, not a good thing for a historical novel. 

The publisher's summary:

After the death of her beloved husband and becoming a single parent to her nine year old son Alexander, overworked scientist Helen desperately needs an escape.  So when Alexander proposes a trip to Greece - somewhere he's always dreamed of visiting - Helen quickly agrees.  After spending several days exploring the tourist filled streets, they stumble upon the ancient city of Mystras and are instantly drawn to it.  Its only resident is Elias, a mysterious tour guide living on the city's edges...both physically and temporally.  

In 1237, Elias's mother promised his eternal service to the Profitis Ilias in Mystras in exchange for surviving a terrible illness.  But during his 800 years of labor, he's had one common enemy:  the noble Lusignan family.  The Lusignan line is cursed by a deadly disease that worsens with each generation, and a prophecy hints that Elias's blood is their only hope for a cure.  He has managed to survive throughout the centuries, but the line has dwindled down to the last Lusignan and he is desperate to avert his family's destiny.

When Elias runs into Helen, he meets his match for the first time - but he unwittingly puts both her and her young son in danger as a result.  With time running out and an enemy after them, Elias and Helen are forced to choose between the city they love, and each other. 

I did not enjoy this novel. I had high expectations because of Scribe but I couldn't get interested in the story. While it was impeccably researched, there were too many details to keep track of and all of those lengthy Greek names were hard to read. However, there is a ton of Greek history here for the reader who likes this. In at least one of the alternating plots the author wrote in the thoughts of a character who belonged in a secondary plot. I was seriously confused. 

Although Anticipation has received top reviews it just didn't do anything for me. 2 out of 5 stars.

The Rabbi's Wife The Bishop's Wife

The Rabbi's Wife, The Bishop's Wife is about the life of Joana HaLevi. Joana gave up what she treasured the most, her family, in order to maintain her Jewish faith. She lived in the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Burgos during the 14th and 15th centuries. As with most historical fiction novels of late, there is an alternating plot between 1391 and 2020. The publisher's summary:  

Spain, 1391.  Joana, wife of Schlomo HaLevi, the Rabbi of Burgos, mother of five, and daughter of a wealthy and respectable family, is living a comfortable, carefree life.  Until her world is shattered without warning one summer day.  While her husband Shlomo, now Pablo de Santamaria, joins the Catholic church and takes their family with him, Joana struggles with the unrelenting yearning for her children.  Will her soul find relief?  Will her children return to her side?

Jerusalem, 2020.  Ruth is struggling with personal conflicts when the COVID-19 pandemic shakes her world, adding loneliness and isolation to her struggle.  With her new online friend, she embarks on a voyage that will set Joana HaLevi's memory free from oblivion. 

I absolutely loved Joana's story. Ruth's story was rather slow. I don't think the alternating plot worked well. Why not just feature Joana who is the heroine of the novel?  Joana had to deal with the forced conversion of Jews to Christianity.  Her husband, the Chief Rabbi of Burgos, Schlomo Halevi, converted and took custody of all of her children and raised them as Christians. He studied for the priesthood in Rome and eventually became the Archbishop of Burgos. Schlomo's sister Maria also converted and she raised their kids. Joana had to arrange with Maria each week in order to see her children. 

The authors stated that they believed that Schlomo's conversion was real because he was wealthy enough not to need to convert for power and prestige. However, I disagree.  I think he would have lost his standing in the community if he did not convert. While he would have kept his money, he wanted to keep the power he had as the king's tax collector.  Schlomo changed his name to Pablo Santamaria and also changed the names of his children too.  Joana became a strong woman from her adversities. She continued to practice Judaism and also continued to act as a rabbi's wife by taking care of the poor in her community. I cannot imagine myself handling what Joana had to handle. She is certainly a great example of persevering during trials.

The 2020 alternating plot was dull, especially in the beginning of the novel. As this plot advanced the reader gets a dose of genealogy research. However, it just was not executed well. In addition, there were alot of grammatical errors. This does not usually bother me but there were sentences so poorly formed that I was not sure what their meaning was. The novel was translated into English from Hebrew so perhaps there were translation issues. 

If this book was just about Joana I would rate it 5 out of 5 stars.  With the alternating plot problems, I am downgrading the rating to 3 out of 5 stars.

Defending Britta Stein

Defending Britta Stein is a gripping legal thriller that takes place in Chicago during 2018. Britta Stein is a 92-year-old woman who has a tiff with Chicago's beloved 95-year-old tavern owner Ole Hendryks. When it was publicly announced that Ole was going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Danish American Association of Chicago, Britta spray-paints insults in the middle of the night on the exterior of his tavern The Melancholy Dane. Britta exposes Ole as a Nazi collaborator during the Nazi occupation of Denmark with her insults. Attorney Catherine Lockhart is asked by a lawyer friend, Walter Jenkins,  to represent her in a $5,000,000 defamation lawsuit filed by Ole. Ole Hendryks has retained a high priced lawyer named Sterling Sparks from the prestigious Jenkins and Fairchild law firm. Sparks' nickname is Six O'Clock Sparks because he is an aggressive publicity hound. A former law clerk of Walter's, Emma Fisher, is Britta's grand-daughter and she accompanies Britta to her appointments with Catherine as well as does research for Catherine.  

Ole Hendryks has had an old photograph of him and his father posted in his restaurant for fifty years. He claims that in 1943 his family helped hundreds of Jews escape from the gas chambers during WWII. Ole and his father snuck Jewish families out of Denmark in their fishing boat in the middle of the night heading toward Sweden. He has been labeled a hero by his customers as well as the media. However, Britta Stein has alleged that Ole did not rescue any Jews but in fact helped gather Jews for deportation by the Nazis. She also said that the family's name is Hendrickson, not Hendryks. The lawsuit is being heard by a no nonsense judge, Obadiah Wilson, in the Cook County Circuit Court Law Division. With Catherine's husband Liam Taggart investigating Hendryk's background in Denmark the defense of Britta Stein begins.

This story was captivating from the beginning. I couldn't put it down even on the day I needed to shop for my Thanksgiving dinner. While I got to the store in late afternoon, the book was satisfying enough for me to keep thinking about it for the rest of the day. The plot follows the work that Catherine is doing on Britta's case. Most of that work involves interviewing Britta to get her side of the story. Britta insists on taking her time telling her story even though Catherine only has 3 weeks to get ready for trial. The interview takes 100 pages but is very entertaining. Unfortunately, what Britta reveals about life in Denmark under German occupation actually happened. The rest of the story, including the characters, is fiction.  I loved that the 1943 photo of Ole and his father in front of their boat turned out to be proof that he was a Nazi collaborator. Because Catherine cannot prove Britta's allegations, she uses an in court strategy that tricks Ole into telling the truth.  

Awesome read!  5 out of 5 stars.

Prayers of the Dead

Prayers of the Dead is a historical mystery set in England's Tyndal Priory during the 1280s.  The story opens with a murder. Eda, Countess of Ness is found stabbed to death in the chapel by her husband's knife. Of course, he becomes the main suspect. Prioress Eleanor begins to investigate the matter as the crowner is out of town.  Soon thereafter a priest is found murdered in the same chapel. Eda had many enemies because she gossiped with another priest about sins that people in the area committed and they would be outed the next Sunday during the sermon. Eleanor interviews everyone in the priory and tries to find a connection between the two deaths. When Crowner Ralf returns, he insists that the crimes fall under the king's law and that Prioress Eleanor is biased because the Earl of Ness is her cousin.  Eleanor insists that she has jurisdiction over the crime.  She also believes that her cousin will talk more freely to her than to the crowner. After speaking with him, she realizes that he is lying to her. While she has given her word to the Crowner that she would not be blinded by family ties, she thinks that she may have to turn her cousin in.  Prayers of the Dead is the 17th novel in a series that features Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas of the Order of Fontevraud.

Tyndal Priory was part of the real Order of Fontevraud.  This particular Order had both men and women and both were ruled by a woman. I was not aware that there were Orders such as this one. The story started out well. The pace was fast and the introduction of the characters was fascinating. They all had interesting foibles and one of the priests was intersex. No one knew this until he ended up dead and an examination of his body showed that he had both female and male genitals. However, the middle of the book was slow.  Nothing much happened other than Eleanor interviewed the other characters. No real information about the crime was revealed here so it was a little boring.  Toward the end, the novel picked up as Eleanor discovers more and more truths about those who lived in the Priory. The ending was a surprise.  

What I found unbelievable is that two of the characters were aware that there were people who were intersex, or hermaphrodite as they were called in those days, and that it was OK for them to marry as long as the spouse knew about the condition. This doesn't sound 13th century to me. The Author's Note at the end of the book gives her views on gender and the belief that there are three genders: male, female and blended. She continues with a diatribe about how society has treated these people and developed rules governing them.  She stated that when she began writing the novel, she wanted to have an intersex character. Four out of the ten page Author's Note is devoted to gender roles. I was turned off by all of this. Reading is an escape for me and I do not like being preached to, especially with historical fiction. 

I would have rated the novel 3 out of 5 stars but the preaching requires a rating of 2 out of 5.

Berlin and Betrayal

Berlin and Betrayal is the third book in the Tangled Roots Historical Mystery Series featuring geneologist Lucas Landry. It is both a WWII and pandemic story all rolled in to one. The story has an alternating plot.  It takes place in February 2020 and in 1945 Germany. Lucas Landry's burning desire it to search for German relatives and host a family reunion.  He moves his family from California to Munich. Unfortunately, when the Landry family arrived in Germany the COVID pandemic began and a lockdown thwarted the speed of his research. Lucas has WWII surviving relatives in their 80s and 90s who are vulnerable to catching and dying of COVID. However, Lucas still hopes that being in Germany will help him with his research. He is surprised to find that many Germans want to forget the past as they live under a cloud of guilt over their ancestors' mistakes. 

When I began reading the book it was captivating. I could not put it down. At the halfway point, I just wanted to plot to move faster.  I wondered whether this novel was a cozy mystery or a cozy historical fiction book. This is not a typical historical mystery because there was no murder to be solved. The mystery is the discovery of geneological information that Lucas uncovers. That said, it was an interesting read. I couldn't wait to see how the story ended.  However, when I got to the end there was nothing resolved. Yes, Lucas uncovers his family history from the WWII era but there is not a big denouement. It seemed that there should have been more to the story. With the author having 14 published books under her belt, I expected more. I just didn't get that.

3 out of 5 stars.

Master Wycliffe's Summons

Master Wycliffe's Summons is the 14th book in Mel Starr's series The Chronicles of Hugh de Singleton, Surgeon. I have read most of them and they are fabulous. Starr writes tightly woven medieval mysteries that move fast. The death always occurs early in the story so that the rest of the novel can be about solving the crime.  In this particular installment of the series, a student at Queen's College Oxford, Richard Sabyn, has been found dead in bed. There was a lightening storm the night before and it appears that he may have been struck by the lightening.  However, Oxford Master John Wycliffe does not believe that the evidence shows a lightening strike and wants Singleton to look into the death. Singleton agrees with Wycliffe that it is possible to make it look as though Sabyn died from a lightening strike. 

I enjoyed the story but it was not as exciting as some of Starr's earlier books in the series. The pace was slow and the howdunnit didn't grab my attention. While the howdunnit was interesting I don't think the writing was well executed. Singleton spent alot of time trying to figure out how someone could collect enough urine, dove droppings and a small amount of charcoal to create the substance that killed Sabyn. I was eating dinner while I read the book and that urine section didn't set well with my tummy. I did find it interesting that the deceased was copying a gospel into English while John Wycliffe, who translated the Bible into English between 1382 and 1395, denied any knowledge of it. Our protagonist did not perform any surgeries but did gather herbs for several people to help ease the pain of the plague. 

3 out of 5 stars.

The Flower Boat Girl

The Flower Boat Girl is the story of Shek Yang who rises from being sold into the sex trade as a young girl to becoming the most powerful female pirate known to sail the South China Sea. In 1801, Yang has finally bought her freedom but is soon kidnapped by a brutal pirate gang and forced to marry their leader.  She needs to be scrappy to survive her circumstances and she carves out a role against the resistance of powerful pirate leaders, including her husband's male concubine.  Eventually, Yang has to choose between power over the pirates and love.  The novel is based on a true story.

I rarely review a book that I did not finish but this one requires comment.  The author uses crude and course descriptions of Yang's sex acts with men. You know that a man wrote a book when this type of language is used. Women just don't use certain descriptions. I am surprised that the author chose a woman as his main character because it is hard for men to accurately write about women and vice versa. I made it to page 70. There was no explanation of how Yang got into various situations, just one nasty sex act after another. How is the reader to know what the story is about when you go from one rape to another?  The reader at least needs to know something about the main character other than she is being raped by many men over 70 pages. In those 70 pages she was still a sex slave, I presume. There is no way to tell from these pages where we are in the plot.

I am surprised that the book has had many good reviews, half of them from women. At a minimum I would call this novel soft core porn.  Skip it.  0 out of 5 stars.

The Widow Queen

The Widow Queen is much more than a biography of Poland's Swietoslawa.  It is also the saga of the rulers of Poland, Russia, Denmark, Sweden and parts of Germany in the late 10th century. Swietoslawa's family calls her "the bold one." Her father, Duke Mieszko, plans on using all three of his daughters to make foreign alliances that will strengthen his power in the region. While the daughters tell him their preferences for husbands, Mieszko uses them strategically. However, Swietoslawa refuses to be a pawn in his schemes. She wants a throne of her own, with no husband by her side. This novel is Book 1 in the author's Bold One series.

There are many names and details to remember when reading this book. It covers alot of ground and is a slow read for that reason only. It remains a captivating tale. Our heroine is renamed Sigrid by her new husband, the king of Sweden. It was chosen because it was easier for his subjects to pronounce and it is a Swedish name, which any Swedish queen must have. Her brother Boleslaw is the heir to the Polish throne but depending on what chapter you are on, you will read about different heirs to multiple European thrones. All of them are strategizing to gain power by determining the best marriage options and also which potential rulers can be trusted. 

I enjoyed reading about these powerhouses in Eastern Europe. I also loved that the time period was the tenth century. Most of the historical fiction novels that I read take place in England, France or Germany during the Middle Ages.  The Widow Queen was a nice change. All of the characters are historical figures whom I had never heard of before.  I found myself going to Wikipedia to become more familiar with them.  A few of them include Sven of Denmark, Olav of Norway, Eric of Sweden, and Vladimir of Rus. 

Book 2 in the series has already been published in Poland. It looks like author Elzbieta Cherezinska has written a couple of other series set in the same time period but because I can't read Polish it is hard to tell. I hope all of them are translated into English because she is a fabulous writer. I love that she is writing about a place and time historical fiction fans don't see much of.

5 out of 5 stars.

The French House

This historical fiction novel had me spellbound from the first page. The story is about Nicole Ponsardin who marries into the Clicquot family and becomes the Widow Clicquot of France's champagne fame. The champagne is actually called Veuve Clicquot. Veuve means widow. It is the best in the world and the only kind I buy. It was exciting to find out after I began the book that it was about her.  

The publisher's summary:

"Reims, France, 1805.  Looking back at the crumbling house hidden away in the vineyards, the sound of her daughter's laughter carrying on the breeze, Nicole plucks a perfect red grape and is reminded her life will never be the same. With her husband gone, her troubles are hers alone.

For grieving Nicole Clicquot, saving the vineyards her husband left behind is her one chance to keep a roof over her head and provide a future for her little girl.  She ignores the gossips who insist the fields are no place for a women: but one day, buying fresh croissants at the boulangerie, Nicole is shocked to hear a rumor about her husband.  They say he died with a terrible secret.  One that brings disgrace on Nicole and turns the whole town against her.

Heartbroken, her reputation in tatters, and full of questions no one can answer, Nicole turns to her husband's oldest friend, traveling merchant Louis.  His warm smile and kind advice seem to melt her troubles away.  And as they taste her first golden wine of the season and look out over the endless rolling hills, Nicole starts to believe that she can turn her fortunes around, and be welcomed back into the local community. 

But when Louis avoids her after a long trip abroad, Nicole sees he has secrets of his own...and just as she doubts if he's on her side, she realizes how her feelings for him had grown.  Desperately torn between her head and her heart, Nicole works day and night on a plan for her future: but to save her home and her little daughter from ruin, she must risk everything."

 

I had heard several years ago the Madame Clicquot had an incredible life story.  I did not know why but it prompted me to buy Tilar Mazzeo's The Widow Clicquot, a non-fiction account of her life.  While I haven't yet read it, I now cannot wait to start it.

If you love drinking champagne you are going to love this book. Just reading about the growing of the grapes is enticing. Nicole is an unusual heroine for her time. She pursued owning and operating her "home business" during an era when women did not work. She learned to be just as ruthless as the men in her pursuit of the perfect wine and also in sales. Nicole was a big risk taker, necessary to be successful in any business in any era. Always the subject of nasty gossip, Nicole just ignored it and never let it get her down. Her eyes were always on the prize: her vineyards. An entrepreneur needs to have these traits in order to succeed. 

I was surprised that Paris was viewed by most of the characters as a dirty city filled with nasty people while Reims was viewed as paradise on earth. The scenes that occur in Paris portray its extreme wealth but with that nasty sewer smell too. The fact that most of the characters were farmers explains their preferred city. They could smell the dirt in which their grapes were growing. I guess after a few years harvesting grapes you get accustomed to the "fragrance de terroir." 

While the setting was prominent, this is really a book about growing a business. All of the hurdles that Nicole found herself dealing with had to do with the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. It is much more than a historical biography. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Good Death

The Good Death is the 5th book in S. D. Sykes' Somerhill Manor Mystery series. It began with Plague Land and is set in 14th Century England. The sleuth is Oswald de Lacy, a third son who was originally sent to a monastery as a child. However, he was called home to become lord of the family manor following the death of his father and two older brothers during a plague epidemic. 

In the opening of this installment of the series Lord Oswald de Lacy makes a devastating confession to his dying mother.  He is an eighteen-year-old novice monk at Kintham Abbey and had been sent to collect herbs from the forest. While there, Oswald came across a terrified village girl named Agnes Wheeler. She was terrified of him even though she knew him well and ran headlong into a river saying "stay away from me priest." She drowned. Oswald pulled her broken and bruised body from the water and returned her to the local village. Here he discovers that several other women have disappeared within the past month. A killer is on the loose but because all of the missing women came from impoverished families nobody seemed to care. 

Oswald vows to find this killer himself but as the plague approaches, his tutor, Brother Peter, insists they stay inside the monastery.  Oswald instead seeks out the women of the village for help, particularly the beautiful Maud Woodstock, a woman who provokes strong emotions in him. As he closes in on the killer, Oswald makes a discovery that is so utterly shocking that it threatens to destroy him and his family.

If you haven't read any of the earlier books in the series you may not want to begin with this novel. It has an alternating plot that spans 20 years between 1347 and 1370. New readers may not be able to pick up the action from 1347 without knowing the characters well. It makes sense that with the 5th book in the series this would happen. The reason for the alternating plot concerns Oswald's dying mother in 1370. She is in possession of a letter from him written in 1349 when they were dealing with the Black Death. She needs an explanation from her son about those events so that she can forgive him of any sins he may have committed against her and obtain a good death.

That said, The Good Death is another perfectly plotted and written medieval mystery from Ms. Sykes. While we get a nice resolution of the murder itself, the ending also provides a shocking accusation from Oswald's mother over all the actions he has taken throughout his life. It was unexpected as it didn't relate to the murder mystery. I expect that the next novel in the series will expand upon this. I can't wait!

5 our of 5 stars.

A Tapestry of Light

I have always loved India fiction. A Tapestry of Light is another great addition to this genre.  Most of the books in this genre that I have seen concern the historical periods of the British Raj and Partition.  Some of them are stories about modern women.  It would be nice to read a novel about the mughal period and I wonder whether any writer has written about this time period.

Back to the book. A Tapestry of Light begins in Calcutta in 1866. Ottilie Russell has a British father and an Indian mother and does not belong to either society. She, and others like her, were referred to as Eurasian. After Ottilie's mother Maji dies, she begins to take work embroidering gowns for the elite with beetle wing embroidery in order to support her younger brother Thaddeus and her grandmother Nani. This type of embroidery was passed down to her from generations of Indian women before her.  She was an expert at it and was able to make a living from it. A few months later a stranger named Everett Scott walked into her home to advise the family that Thaddeus had inherited the Baroncy of Sunderland in England.  Scott traveled to India in order to take Thaddeus to England. Ottilie refuses to allow Thaddeus to leave and is aghast that she is learning for the first time about her father's family. Eventually Ottilie agrees to let Thaddeus travel to England but only if she is allowed to go with him. However, life is not easy for any of them in England because Thaddeus appears to be white, Ottilie looks like an Indian.

I LOVED this novel! I particularly liked the India setting. It has warm weather, great food and   colorful clothing. I could picture in my mind the saris that Ottilie wore. I am a fan of them. England, however, is cold and grey just like the city I live in so it is not appealing to me. The characters were interesting, even the secondary characters. Ottilie is a great protagonist.  As a half-breed, she has conflicted views about her ancestry but feels more Indian than English.  Her mother taught her to be proud of her Indian ancestry and encouraged the Christian faith to which both of her parents subscribed. Ottilie's mother Maji was a main character early in the novel but after she died, Maji's mother Nani became more prominent. Ottilie remembers the advice she received from both of them as she went through life dealing with her loves, neighbors and business associates.  Everett Scott was an interesting character too. He does not have a pristine ancestry either but he is willing to talk about it honestly. I have never read about a character in his position who didn't try to hide the unsavory bits of their family history. Usually, at least in India fiction, they try to be just like the elites of society, hoping to fit in.

This was the first book written by Kimberly Duffy that I have read.  I am impressed and look forward to reading her earlier novels.  5 out of 5 stars.

The Stationery Shop

The Stationery Shop is a sweet story that takes place in Tehran, California and Boston. The Khanom sisters, Roya and Zari, are coming of age in Tehran. They are quite different in their outlook on life. Roya is the heroine of the book and her story concentrates on the lost love of her first boyfriend, Bahman Aslan. 

Roya is a dreamy, idealistic seventeen-year-old living in 1953 Tehran. There is plenty of political upheaval as the Shah and the National Front fight for supremacy. Roya is not interested in politics and finds a literary oasis in the neighborhood stationery shop owned by Mr. Fakhri. There she finds pens, paper and Persian poetry books and she visits the shop every Tuesday afternoon when school is over. One day a cute boy comes in and is given a stack of papers to deliver by Mr. Fakhri.  Bahman Aslan catches Roya's heart even before they are introduced. Their romance blossoms under the watchful eye of Mr. Fakhri. A few months later, on the eve of their marriage, Roya agrees to meet Bahman at the town square where violence erupts as a result of a coup d'erat that gives the Shah all of the power. In the packed crowd Roya does not see Bahman. She tries for several weeks to contact him but is not successful. In her grief Roya moves to California with her sister to attend college. There she meets Walter Archer. Roya and Walter marry and move to Boston so that Walter can attend law school. They live there and build a family. Sixty years after moving to America, Roya finds Bahman in a nursing home nearby her home where both of them meet and learn what ultimately happened earlier in their lives.

I love Middle Eastern novels.  Most of their traditions, and especially food, charm me. I loved reading how Mrs. Khanom prepared the Iranian traditional foods. It makes me want to visit an Iranian restaurant near my home and I probably will go there on the weekend. The closeness of the families in the novel is also heartwarming. It's too bad that this part of their culture did not transplant well in the U. S.

I felt sorry for Walter.  His wife could not show herself fully to him no matter how long they were married. He accepted her as she is. I also felt sorry for Roya because she could not get over her first love. We all have a first love that lives in our memory but most of us can move on.  I didn't understand why Roya couldn't. There must be something about her personality that prevents her from feeling fully. Zari is a secondary character and we see her as the complete opposite of her sister.  Zari has the ability to quickly recover from any downturns in her life. She sees people clearly but she is not bothered by them. 

The three settings, Tehran, California and Boston, did not seem all that important to the story. The only thing about the Tehran setting that moved me was the descriptions of the food and how they were made. I think, though, that family could be a setting here. It's the family binds that make this story touching. 

I loved this novel and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.  It is recommended highly, primarily to women.

The Stolen Lady

The Stolen Lady is the latest novel in Laura Morelli's art mysteries. All of them are standalone books. In this particular novel there are alternating plots that take place during the 1400s and during WWII. The fictional characters are based somewhat on real people and the backstory on how the Louvre staff moved its works of art is well researched. Below is the publisher's summary:

France, 1939

At the dawn of World War II, Anne Guichard, a young archivist employed at the Louvre, arrives home to find her brother missing. While she works to discover his whereabouts, refugees begin flooding into Paris and German artillery fire rattles the city. Once they reach the city, the Nazis will stop at nothing to get their hands on the Louvre's art collection. Anne is quickly sent to the Castle of Chambord, where the Louvre's most precious artworks - including the Mona Lisa - are being transferred to ensure their safety. With the Germans hard on their heels, Anne frantically moves the Mona Lisa and other treasures again and again in an elaborate game of hide and seek. As the threat to the masterpieces and her life grows closer, Anne also begins to lean the truth about her brother and the role he plays in this dangerous game.

Florence, 1479

House servant Bellina Sardi's future seems fixed when she accompanies her newly married mistress, Lisa Gherardini, to her home across the Arno. Lisa's husband, a prosperous silk merchant, is aligned with the powerful Medici, his home filled with luxuries and treasures. But soon, Bellina finds herself bewitched by a charismatic one who has urged Florentines to rise up against the Medici and to empty their homes of the riches and jewels her new employer prizes. When Master Leonardo da Vinci is commissioned to paint a portrait of Lisa, Bellina finds herself tasked with hiding an impossible secret. 

To say that I loved this story is an understatement. The richness of Florence and Milan set a striking contrast to the French countryside where the Louvre employees lived a spartan existence under Nazi rule. In my mind you cannot find a more beautiful setting than Florence. I love the art, cathedrals, fabrics and food. The pleasures that the ruling class were lucky to have engaged in will always seduce my imagination. If only to be rich in Florence during the Middle Ages. 

One of the secondary characters, Lucie, is based on a real woman who, as a Louvre employee, documented the movement of the artworks from Paris to the countryside. Through her efforts we know what happened during this time period. Our protagonist Anne worked under Lucie at the Louvre but they were equals during the run from the Nazis. The author drew upon Lucie's documentation to write this part of the story. While I can't get enough of the Italian Renaissance period I believe that Anne's story is the most compelling. 

The author gives us an interesting viewpoint into how Da Vinci felt about his Mona Lisa. We see him as he begins the portrait and decades later before his death. Morelli shows him initially believing that a portrait will never bring him accolades. However, he never truly believes that the painting is finished and works on it periodically while he looks for other commissions that will bring him fame. He too is captivated by the smile that he remembers the real Lisa had and endeavors to recreate it in this portrait. 

The Stolen Lady is a must read for historical fiction fans. 5 out of 5 stars.

The First Actress

I have read every novel that C. W. Gortner has written. All of them are fantastic. The First Actress is no different. It tells the story of Sarah Bernhardt beginning with her childhood in Brittany as the daughter of a courtesan, her years at a convent school near Paris, her education at a theatrical school in Paris all the way to the end of her career as an actress.

The publisher's summary:

"Sarah's highly dramatic life starts when she returns to Paris after her convent schooling and is confronted by her mother's demand to follow in the family trade as a courtesan.  To escape this fate, Sarah pursues a career onstage at the esteemed Comedy-Francaise, until her rebellious acting style leads to her scandalous dismissal.  Only nineteen years old and unemployed, Sarah is forced to submit to her mother's wishes.  But her seductive ease as a courtesan comes to an abrupt end when she discovers she is pregnant.  Unwilling to give up her child, Sarah defies social condemnation and is cast adrift, penniless and alone.  

With her striking beauty and innovative performances in a bohemian theater, Sarah catapults to unexpected success; suddenly, audiences clamor to see this controversial young actress.  But her world is torn asunder by the brutal 1870 siege of Paris.  Sarah refuses to abandon the ravaged city, nursing wounded soldiers and risking her life.

Her return to the Comedie and her tempestuous affair with her leading man plunge Sarah into a fierce quest for independence.  Undeterred, she risks everything to become France's most acclaimed actress, enthralling audiences with her shocking portrayals of female and male characters.  Sarah's daring talent and outrageous London engagement pave her path to worldwide celebrity, with sold-out tours in Europe and America."

Sarah was a drama queen's drama queen so I have a great affinity with her.  Her love of pets is another aspect that we share.  Personal similarities aside, Gortner presents an honest portrait of Sarah's life, showing both her positive and negative traits.  He gives us an interesting view of the French system of acting as well. It was rather regimented at the time and our free-spirited heroine would never fit inside this world. She was a strong enough person to continue her career though.  

I think many women today would admire her gutsiness to go after the life she envisioned for herself. While I had heard of her name, I did not know much about Sarah Bernhardt until I read this book.  I believe most women today are unfamiliar with her also but would view her determination to rise above her circumstances as something to emulate.  Unfortunately for Sarah, she had to become a courtesan to obtain the career she wanted. Although many women sleep their way to the top, I don't recommend it!  

C. W. Gortner has a knack for portraying historical females in a new light.  I loved his historical novels on Lucrezia Borgia, Catherine Medici, Juana of Castile and Maria Feodorovna. This Sarah Bernhardt novel joins this group of well researched and well written histories.  I highly recommend the book and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

The Dying Day

Vaseem Khan is one of my favorite authors. However, I don't like everything that he writes. The Dying Day is book 2 in his Malabar House Series featuring Persis Wadia as Bombay's only female police detective. It takes place in the 1950s. In this installment of the series Persis is searching for a missing man and a valuable stolen manuscript, a six hundred year old copy of Dante's Divine Comedy. While this book will not be published until November 2, 2021, I was able to obtain a Kindle version of it.

John Healy is a British scholar who the police assume has stolen the manuscript. He goes missing at the same time the manuscript disappears from the library at The Asiatic Society where he was responsible for its care. Together with an English forensic scientist named Archie Blackfinch, Persis finds a complex series of riddles set in verses that need to be resolved in order to locate the man and the book. However, a body is found first, adding to her investigative demands.

The Dying Day was not a hit for me. The story was interesting at first but then uninteresting after a few chapters. This dichotomy repeated itself throughout my reading of the book and I frequently felt bored. Normally I would love a book that has riddles to be solved. This one did not showcase them well. There was no suspense surrounding the finding of the riddles or after they were figured out.

The Persis character seemed a little different from book one. She frequently expressed anger when having to interview men who thought they were her superiors. There were no inner thoughts of angst which I expected. She was not as interesting as she was in book 1. None of the English characters captured my imagination either. 

The Dying Day is not Khan's best work. 2 out of 5 stars.

The September Society

The September Society is a historical mystery that takes place in Oxford and London in Autumn 1866.  It is the second novel in a series that features amateur sleuth Charles Lenox. It was published in 2008. 

The publisher's summary:  

"In the small hours of the morning one fall day in 1866, a frantic widow visits detective Charles Lenox. Lady Annabelle's problem is simple: Her beloved son, George, has vanished from his room at Oxford. When Lenox visits his alma mater to investigate he discovers a series of bizarre clues, including a murdered cat and a card cryptically referring to The September Society. Then, just as Lenox realizes that the case may be deeper than it appears, a student dies, the victim of foul play."

This was light reading at its best. While light, the book had all the features of a perfectly plotted mystery. There were lots of twists as the resolution of the murder was slowly revealed. The whydunnit held most of the mystery than either the whodunnit or howdunnit. We really don't know what the September Society is until the last pages, which was a satisfying way to end the story. 

I liked the Oxford collegiate setting. I am not that familiar with Oxford and went back and forth between the story and a map of Oxford itself. If future books in the series take place here I will be reading all of them. I also liked the London setting in the Victorian era. While I am familiar with London today, it was good to read about it from another time period. Learning about these two places was an enjoyable part of the reading experience.

The September Society is the quintessential British fiction novel. Much of the action takes place in pubs and private gentleman clubs. Many of the characters belong to four or five gentleman clubs and each of them have a different character to them. The main character Charles Lenox is quirky, as we Americans call this type of character.  He bumbles when it comes to romance with the opposite sex and thinks way too much about what is the right thing to do. His language is more British English than American English. I enjoy a good British yarn!

The novel was pleasantly entertaining. I can honestly recommend it to Anglophiles and mystery lovers.  5 out of 5 stars.