Dominus

Dominus follows Steve Saylor's Roma and Empire historical novels. This epic story begins in AD 165 during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, a time when there was peace throughout the Roman Empire. However, this novel showcases the decline of the empire. It spans 160 years and 7 generations.

The publisher's summary:  

"Marcus Aurelius, as much a philosopher as he is an emperor, oversees a golden age in the city of Rome. The ancient Pinarius family and their workshop of artisans embellish the richest and greatest city on earth with gilded statues and towering marble monuments.  Art and reason flourish but history does not stand still. 

The years to come bring wars, plagues, fires, and famines. The best emperors in history are succeeded by some of the worst. Barbarians descend in endless waves, eventually appearing before the gates of Rome itself. The military seizes power and sells the throne to the highest bidder. Chaos engulfs the empire.

Through it all, the Pinarius family endures, thanks in no small part to the protective powers of the fascinum, a talisman older than Rome itself, a mystical heirloom handed down through countless generations. But an even greater upheaval is yet to come. 

On the finger of society, troublesome cultists disseminate dangerous and seditious ideas. They insist that everyone in the world should worship only one god, their god. They call themselves Christians. Some emperors deal with the Christians with toleration, others with bloody persecution. Then one emperor does the unthinkable. He becomes a Christian himself. His name is Constantine, and the revolution he sets in motion will change the world forever."

I knew this would be a great book and I read slowly to savor it. I loved it. Not knowing much about Roman history, Dominus gave me the basics on the last 150 years of the empire. I knew there were alot of minor emperors toward the end of Rome's primacy but was not aware of how many there were. There were dozens of emperors who were in power only a few weeks or months. Constantine is the last emperor featured. I thought it was interesting how he moved toward Christianity. I had always thought that Constantine accepted this faith tradition quickly but Dominus shows that Constantine had a gradual acceptance of it and that it was made because Constantine could see the political advantages of accepting Christianity.  Dominus paints a different picture of how early Christians were perceived by non-Christians. I guess if you are raised to believe that multiple gods are necessary to achieve success, believing that god is just one person was a large stretch for them to make. Another interesting fact is how the arguments among the Christians over doctrinal matters were perceived by the Romans. Infighting was seen as a weakness of the religion. Conversely, there were no fights over the peculiarities of the Roman gods. I don't understand why the Romans did not see that the emperors' worship of the gods forced them to worship the gods likewise. They just followed what the emperors' were doing.

I was surprised by the level of insanity displayed by the emperors. We read about their need for monuments of themselves. What struck me was that they needed to destroy the monuments of their predecessors. Why? No one cared about earlier emperors, only the current one. Most of them loved violence and thought too highly of themselves, believing that because they were emperor that they were more skilled at fighting than gladiators. Another unusual aspect to these emperors was the need to deify their deceased children. The Senate was responsible for voting on their deification, which they did only to protect themselves from a raging emperor. This all seems like craziness to my modern way of thinking.

After finishing the book I googled the Pinarius family. I discovered that this was a historical family with 1,000 years of recorded history. Since the novel ends with Constantine requesting that the family move with him to Constantinople, I wonder what happened to them while living there. Surely there must be a record of them there but I did not find any.

Dominus is a fantastic novel. It would be nice if there was another book in this series but I understand that it is a trilogy and one that ends with Dominus. I highly recommend the book. 5 out of 5 stars.

Apricots

I reviewed Sally Christie's fantastic Versailles trilogy 2 years ago. I was not aware that she wrote any other books so when this mystery appeared in my Amazon feed, I grabbed it. 

Apricots takes place in a town called Apricots in 1792 St. Domingue (present day Haiti). During the largest slave rebellion that the world has ever seen, 1,000 plantations were burned on the northern plains and 2,000 whites were killed. The rebellion was put down but slaves still controlled the northern plains. A young widow, Rose Fongravier, is struggling to manage her crumbling coffee plantation when she discovers a dead body at the bottom of her garden. The island residents wonder if there was an accident or a murder and whether it will begin another slave revolt. With 400,000 slaves and 30,000 whites, a rebellion could be started at any time. The story covers the span of merely one day within its 392 pages, with a cross section of the plantation's inhabitants offering their understanding of who is responsible for the dead body in the garden. 

I had a hard time keeping track of all the characters in the beginning of the story. After a few chapters, though, it was easy to keep up with them. The story is tightly packed with action and the reader gets to see the awful conditions that the slaves had to live with on the coffee and sugar plantations. Their stories were heartbreaking. Can you imagine being free for 60 years and then enslaved again on the whim of another person? Promises made to slaves by their owners in wills were simply discarded by their heirs; the law be damned.

The characters were fully developed and reflected the era in which they lived. I think the author's choice to have the events occur within one day made the pace of the story uber fast. I found it to be unputdownable.

The book is based on a true story and I feel it should be recommended reading. 5 out of 5 stars.

China

China is the latest historical fiction novel by Edward Rutherford. He has written several prior novels on Paris, London, Manhattan, Russia, Ireland, New York and Dublin. His books remind me of another chunkster author James Michener. This particular novel begins in 1839, at the dawn of the First Opium War, and follows China's history through the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. We see the rising and falling of the fortunes of Chinese, British and American families as they navigate the tides of history. Along the way, the readers sees a deeply researched portrait of Chinese history and society, its ancient traditions and upheavals to its emergence as a global power. Rutherford has also given us some romance and some adventure too.  

I knew this would be a good book so I read slowly to savor each page. I was not disappointed. There are seven alternating storylines which were hard to follow in the beginning. However, as each storyline got fleshed out it was easy to make the transition. We read about a mandarin Lord Lin and his protégé Jiang Shi-Rong, Chinese pirate Nio, British missionary Cecil Whiteparish, peasant Mei- Ling, a Manchu soldier, British opium trader John Trader and a eunuch who works in the palace. Eventually all of the the characters' lives intersect and we meet their descendants too. Three particular events in Chinese history are told in detail:  The Opium War, Taiping Rebellion and Boxer Rebellion. While I was familiar with these events, it was good to read how they affected people from various walks of life. 

China is a long saga to relish. 5 out of 5 stars. 

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur is book two in the Jaipur trilogy by Alka Joshi. The trilogy began with The Henna Artist. The action in this story begins in Spring 1969 with heroine Lakshmi, now married to Dr.Jay Kumar, directing the Healing Garden of Shimla. Her protege Malik has just finished his private school education and at age 20 he has also just met a young mother named Nimmi and has fallen in love with her. When Malik travels to Jaipur to be an apprentice at the Facilities Office of the Jaipur Royal Palace in order to work on a state of the art cinema, he must separate from Nimmi. Malik soon finds that not much has changed in Jaipur since his last visit during his childhood. Power and money still hold sway and favors flow from the Palace, but only if certain secrets remain buried. When the cinema's balcony collapses on opening night, blame is placed where it is convenient. Malik, however, suspects something far darker is hovering over the city and sets out to uncover the truth. 

I LOVED this book!  In my mind, you can't get a better book than an Indian fiction novel. Malik is featured more prominently than Lakshmi in this installment of the trilogy. It's not that Lakshmi doesn't get a good amount of pages, it's just that Malik is the person solving the crime in the story. Of course, I loved everything about the Shimla and Jaipur settings. These two cities are complete opposites. Shimla is in the mountains and the weather is cool most of the time. Jaipur instead is excruciatingly hot. Wherever the characters are located, the reader is treated to the Indian culture. While I am sure that poor Indians who had labor intensive jobs were not as thrilled with their lot as the wealthy folks, I have romanticized this servant/master relationship. It seems dreamy to have someone always available to get you a cool drink or cook a meal when you come home. Most writers of Indian fiction show the servants as happy and agreeable but I know this must be a fallacy. 

We learn alot about the Nimma character. When she is introduced to Lakshmi she is described as having dark skin with rough hands and wearing cheap clothing. Nimma hails from a tribe that roams the mountains shepherding sheep. The women in the tribe had other duties and Nimma's was to gather flowers and herbs for healing. While her personality is quite different from Lakshmi, both women look for flowers and shrubs that can be used in healing. Lakshmi knows more about the flowers that she can find in the Jaipur area and Nimma knows more about those that can be found in the mountains. They make an ideal pair for Lakshmi's healing garden. 

Much is written about family here. Malik has no idea who his parents are or even when he was born. He was a street child who did odd jobs for Lakshmi before she brought him in to her home and raised him. He has no biological family to speak of. Lakshmi only has one sister whom she also raised but Radha has moved to Paris. Nimma is a widow with two kids. Emphasis is placed in the story on finding friends who become a substitute for family. These ties are bound just as tight as to those whom you are biologically related.

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur is a fantastic read. Historical fiction fans are going to want to read it. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Bombay Prince

The Bombay Prince is the third Perveen Mistry historical fiction novel by Sujata Massey. Perveen is the first female solicitor in India and works in her father's law firm in Bombay. This installment of the series takes place in November 1921. Edward VIII, the Prince of Wales and future ruler of India, has just arrived in Bombay for a four month tour of India.

There is local unrest over the royal's visit which quickly spirals into rioting. Perveen Mistry, though, is angered by the death of Freny Cuttingmaster, an eighteen-year-old female college student who has fallen from a second story gallery just as the prince's procession was passing by her college. Freny had visited Perveen two days before asking for legal advice on whether to steer clear of the prince's procession. Every student and teacher at the college were required to attend the procession. To avoid the celebration meant risking expulsion from the school. Freny was a member of the Student Union Club which advocated for eschewing the prince's visit. Independence was the divisive issue here. Some people wanted independence and others didn't. Perveen felt guilty for failing to assist Freny and decides to assist her parents in their dealings with the coroner. When her death is ruled a homicide at the coroner's inquest, Perveen and her father work to see justice done. However, Bombay seems to be erupting as armed British soldiers march in the streets, rioters attack anyone perceived to have British connections and desperate shopkeepers destroy their own wares so they will not be targets of racial violence.

What a wonderful story! I read this novel in one sitting while in the park on a sunny summer day. It was a sweet experience. The plot is intricate yet fast paced. I would say that this installment of the series is a historical thriller, not just a historical mystery, and it is the best novel in the series to date. The writing was tight for a historical novel with the author weaving in historical details and background information without the use of narrative. 

The Bombay setting was described in detail. The reader can feel the tension among the Indians to the Prince's visit as well as their fear of being arrested by the British. With insightful dialogue we read what it felt like to live through the riots and how the city residents dealt with their conflicted feelings concerning independence. Bombay had residents who were Indians, British, Anglo Indians and also Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsi and Christians. Their ability to coexist is a prominent feature although the thin veneer of silence among the groups is sometimes interrupted. 

This is a must read.  10 out of 5 stars!

Midnight Fire

Midnight Fire is the second book in the Jagiellon Mystery Series by P. K. Adams. I love that it takes place in Poland and Lithuania. It seems that most historical fiction novels are set in England and France so this series is a breath of fresh air. The story begins in the summer of 1545 with Caterina Sanseverino Konarska traveling with her ailing son Guilio from their home in Bari, Italy to Krakow. Guilio suffers from mysterious fevers that have stunted his growth. Caterina hopes to see Queen Bona again so that she can ask her if Guilio can see a court physician. Caterina had initially traveled with Bona Sforza to Poland when she was engaged to marry King Zigmunt. That story is told in book one of the series Silent Water. Now the king lies on his deathbed and the court no longer seems the lively, cultured place that she remembered 25 years ago. After meeting Queen Bona, Caterina is allowed to travel to Vilnius where the best court physician is on hand in case crown prince Zigmunt August needs him. However, Bona asks Caterina a favor. Can she dissuade the crown prince from marrying a scandal ridden mistress, Barbara Radziwill? For the sake of her son, Caterina agrees but she soon discovers that Zigmunt August will listen to no one, especially when it comes to his mistress. When a murder shakes the Vilnius court, the crown prince immediately suspects his mother's agents. Caterina is thrust again into another investigation. However, she realizes that in trying to clear the queen's name, she has placed herself and her son in danger.

I LOVED this book! It was a perfect read, with great characters, a fast pace, and a great plot. Caterina's sleuthing skills are solid and she is able to use her position at court to advance her investigation. There were two settings here, the Krakow court and the Vilnius court. Both were  built with extravagant furnishings and I loved reading about the palaces and the clothing that the ladies wore. I learned about the Turkish baths that women, as well as men, visited.  I was not aware that women frequented these establishments nor that there were even co-ed baths. The novel is also a well crafted murder mystery that follows the mystery formula flawlessly. If there is anything negative to say about Midnight Fire it is that the first murder does not happen until after I had read a third of the book. This is not really a bad thing as I was captivated by the story up until that point and the story continued to be smooth reading. However, learning that the plot was more than Caterina helping her son and Queen Bona was a little jarring.

If you would like to be transported to a 16th century royal court, Midnight Fire will not disappoint.  The culture of a country not written about before in historical fiction will be enlightening as well.  5 out of 5 stars.

Portrait of Peril

Portrait of Peril is the fifth book in Laura Joh Rowland's Victorian Mysteries.  She previously wrote the Sano Ichero series set in 17th century Japan.  This is the first book in the new series that I have read and I had a little trouble understanding the relationships between the characters.  It probably would have been best if I read the books in order.

The publisher's summary:

"Victorian London is a city gripped by belief in the supernatural - but a grisly murder becomes a matter of flesh and blood for intrepid photographer Sarah Bain.

London, October 1890.  Crime scene photographer Sarah Bain is overjoyed to marry her beloved Detective Sergeant Barrett - but the wedding takes a sinister turn when the body of a stabbing victim is discovered in the crypt of the church.  Not every newlywed couple begins their marriage with a murder investigation, but Sarah and Barrett, along with their friends Lord Hugh Staunton and Mick O'Reilly, take the case.  

The dead man is Charles Firth, whose profession is "spirit photography" - photographing the ghosts of the deceased.  When Sarah develops the photographs he took in the church, she discovers one with a pale, blurred figure attacking the victim.  The city's spiritualist community believes the church is haunted and the figure is a ghost. But Sarah is a skeptic, and she and her friends soon learn that the victim had plenty of enemies in the human world - including a scientist who studies supernatural phenomena, his psychic daughter, and an heiress on a campaign to debunk spiritualism and expose fraudulent mediums.

In the tunnels beneath a demolished jail, a ghost-hunting expedition ends with a new murder, and new suspects. While Sarah searches for the truth about both crimes, she travels a dark, twisted path into her own family's sordid history.  Her long lost father is he prime suspect in a cold case murder, and her reunion with him proves that even the most determined skeptic can be haunted by ghosts from the past."

I had some difficulties with the book. While it is plausible for a husband and wife detective/photographer team to investigate crimes, wife Sarah is doing most of the sleuthing.  Thomas Barrett's role is secondary. Since Sarah is a crime scene photographer for a newspaper, I would expect that her role would either be complementary or equal to her husband's role. Her role did not seem natural to me. Also, I could not believe that both Sarah and Thomas left their wedding ceremony to look into the discovery of a dead body. I can see Thomas doing some investigating since his job is a police detective but I cannot see him giving up attending his wedding breakfast and falling asleep before the marriage could be consummated. It was also hard to believe that Sarah did any investigating at all on her wedding day. She is just a newspaper photographer and has no real purpose in investigating the crime at this early stage. In addition, it was not believable that the married couple would live apart, especially Sarah's living arrangements with another man.  

The solving of the crime was interesting. The reader learns about spirit photographers, something I had never heard of before. The supernatural was not a part of the book, just the history about this common career in Victorian times. There were societies both in favor of this medium as well as opposed to it. The reader learns how these groups operated and the reasons for their beliefs. The subplot concerning Sarah's father seemed a little too farfetched given everything else that was happening. I think the author should have focused on one or two aspects of spirit photography for the plot and left the rest out or wrote it as narrative. However, the whodunnit was shocking as well as the reason for the killings.

3 out of 5 stars.

America's First Daughter

America's First Daughter is a well researched historical novel on the life of Thomas Jefferson's daughter Martha "Patsy" Jefferson Randolph. Patsy has to deal with the knowledge that her father loves his country more than he loves his family.  When her mother dies, she rises to the challenge and becomes Jefferson's constant companion and helper.  She even travels with him to France when he is appointed as America's minister to France.  While they are in Paris, Patsy first learns about her father's affair with a slave named Sally Hemings who is the same age as Patsy. Both are fifteen-years-old. She loves appearing at French royal court functions where the dresses, food and atmosphere captivate her.  Here, Patsy falls in love with one of her father's assistants, William Short. Short is an ardent abolitionist and has high ambitions for his political career. Patsy has a dilemma to resolve. Should she follow her heart and marry Short or continue as a devoted assistant to her father? Patsy chooses her father in this impressive historical biography and marries an American instead.

A french royal court setting is always going to be alluring for me. I just love reading descriptions of the food and dresses that the ladies wore. Post-revolution America is not as enticing but the author has written into the plot several controversial topics of the time, some of which I never heard of before and they were quite interesting. The women in the novel had to exert their power indirectly as the men had the real power in the nation and in their homes.  While I know that this just reflected the times, I hate reading about women having to live this way. 

I knew nothing about Jefferson's daughter before reading this book.  She certainly was a plucky character. Patsy's life story included running from the British during the Revolutionary War, handling many of her father's business affairs, helping him run the White House while he was president and, of course, giving birth to eleven kids after her marriage to her American cousin. I imagine that many women of this era had similar life stories to tell and I wish that I could find these stories.  Alas, they were not written down unless they were members of famous families.

The authors also wrote a historical biography of Alexander Hamilton's wife Eliza.  I loved that novel too and hope that this writing duo continues to write about the ladies of our American revolution.  5 out of 5 stars.

Beneath an Indian Sky

Beneath an Indian Sky is a historical fiction novel about a grandmother and her granddaughter.  The plots alternate between 1928 India, when Sita marries a crown prince and 2000, when her granddaughter Priya gets divorced from her husband of 11 years. 

The publisher's summary:

1928:  In British-ruled India, headstrong Sita longs to choose her own path, but her only destiny is a good marriage. After a chance meeting with a Crown Prince leads to a match, her family's status seems secured and she moves into the palace, where peacocks fill the gardens and tapestries adorn the walls.  But royal life is far from simple, and her failure to provide an heir makes her position fragile. Soon Sita is on the brink of losing everything, and the only way to save herself could mean betraying her oldest friend.

2000:  When Priya's marriage ends in heartbreak, she flees home to India and the palace where her grandmother, Sita, once reigned as Queen.  But as grandmother and granddaughter grow closer, Priya has questions.  Why is Sita so reluctant to accept her royal status ended with independence?  And who is the mysterious woman who waits patiently at the palace gates day after day?  Soon Priya uncovers a secret Sita has kept for years - and will change the shape of her life forever.

I have always loved India as a setting for books. It's tea scented air seems enchanting to me and the landscaping is beautiful. The nice hot weather is appealing to someone, such as myself, who has to deal with -20 degree weather every winter. In this novel much of the setting is the royal palace with its opulent rooms and furniture. Each room that Sita moves through is more exotic than the first. The palace even has its own zoo and Sita particularly loves the cheetahs. 

The characters are captivating and the reader gets to see Sita living the good life and her old friend Mary has to deal with many adversities.  While this is technically a book with alternating plots from Sita and Priya's point of view, it really has 3 alternating plots. The third plot is Mary's story, however, most of this book is about Sita and she is the most interesting character of the three.  Sita is unusual as she is both the main character and the villain. Mary is a supporting character but is also a foil for Sita's character.  In the end, Mary turns out to be the heroine of the novel. How the two of them change over the years and why is the basis for this sensational plot. Also, there is a shocking twist toward the end that genuinely surprised me. 

Beneath an Indian Sky is a must read for historical fiction fans.  I rate it 5 out of 5 stars!

My Dear Hamilton

My Dear Hamilton is the story of Alexander Hamilton's wife Eliza Hamilton, from her coming of age to the end of her life.  Eliza, known as Betsy by her family, grew up in Revolutionary New York as the daughter of an army general, Philip Schuyler.  She is a champion of independence and when she meets George Washington's aide, Alexander Hamilton, she is captivated by his charisma and brilliant intellect. They soon fall in love and marry, despite Hamilton's bastard birth and the uncertainties of the war.  Their marriage and the new American nation are far from perfect. The Hamiltons are at the center of the glittery inaugural balls and the bloody street riots as well as the nation's first sex scandal, which forces Eliza to struggle through heartbreak and betrayal to find forgiveness. When her husband dies in a duel, Eliza fights her husband's enemies in order to preserve his legacy. However, long buried secrets threaten everything that Eliza believes about her marriage and her own legacy.  She tries to understand the flawed man that she married and the imperfect union he never could have created without her.

I loved this novel. I did not know much about Alexander Hamilton before reading this book and learned a substantial amount of information about him.  While I always thought myself to be an expert on the founding of the U. S., I also learned a considerable number of facts about the founding of it's government.  Hamilton and how the emerging nation was formed go hand in hand.  We simply could not have done it without him.

The writing here is fluid, making this a fast read. The "characters" were all people in real-life and I don't think that any author could have created such characters on their own.  The strengths and flaws of each person probably would not have been combined in a made up character as they do not seem to go well together.  However, in this novel the author did not have to worry about that.  In addition, we don't usually see how our first 5 presidents interacted with one another during both the Revolutionary War and its aftermath.  This was fascinating to me.  I have never read anything like this before.  Another interesting fact was that Mrs. Hamilton kew Congressman Abe Lincoln.  I never considered Lincoln to be a contemporary of our founding fathers and mothers but as their careers were ending, Lincoln's was beginning.

My Dear Hamilton is a fantastic historical novel and I cannot recommend it more highly.  5 out of 5 stars.

The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba

The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba follows the lives of three revolutionary women, two of whom actually lived in the 1890s when the story takes place. The novel was inspired by real-life events in Cuba as well as the true story of a legendary Cuban woman - Evangelina Cisneros.  The novel also shows the real-life struggle between two newspaper publishers for the top circulation in New York City: Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. 

The publisher's summary:

"A feud rages in Gilded Age New York City between newspaper tycoons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer.  When Grace Harrington lands a job at Hearst's newspaper in 1896, she's caught in a cutthroat world where one scoop can make or break your career, but its a story emerging from Cuba that changes her life.  

Unjustly imprisoned in a notorious Havana women's jail, eighteen-year-old Evangelina Cisneros dreams of a Cuba free from Spanish oppression.  When Hearst learns of her plight and splashes her image on the front page of his paper, proclaiming her "The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba," she becomes a rallying cry for American intervention in the battle for Cuban independence.

With the help of Marina Perez, a courier secretly working for the Cuban revolutionaries in Havana, Grace and Hearst's staff attempt to free Evangelina.  But when Cuban civilians are forced into reconcentration camps and the explosion of the USS Maine propels the United States and Spain toward war, the three women must risk everything in their fight for freedom."

The Cuban setting comes to life with the author's meticulous descriptions of the homes of the rich and the poor.  She presents the awful truth about the conditions of the women's prison in Havana, the Recogidas. The prisoners all lost a tremendous amount of weight, froze during the night and many just hugged their bodies and stared into space. The prison is what I remember most from the novel. I learned a great deal about the battle between Pulitzer and Hearst. Pulitzer ran a news focused paper that did not earn much profit.  Hearst, on the other hand, ran news stories that were sensationalized and his profits soared. Does this sound familiar in today's society?

The only character that interested me was Evangelina.  Perhaps she was easier to write about since there are many news articles about her.  We know from history what she thought and how she lived during this time period.  The other two main characters did not seem as prominent, although the chapters that were told from their points of view had just as many pages as Evangeline's chapters.  Evangelina was brave but she had to be.  Before her arrest and incarceration, she was spoiled, rich girl.  We don't see her slowly becoming brave, she just rose to the occasion when it was necessary.

I enjoyed reading The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba and highly recommend it to historical fiction fans.  It isn't every day that we get a novel set in Cuba. This should be appreciated by those of tired of reading about books set in England, France and Italy.  4 out of 5 stars.

The Henna Artist

The Henna Artist is a captivating story about a businesswoman in 1950s India. Our heroine, Lakshmi Shastra, is a thirty-year-old henna artist who lives in the pink city of Jaipur. She has left her husband because he frequently beat her and she has since built up a nice business drawing her original henna designs on the wealthy women of Jaipur. She has become the confidante of many of the ladies and must tread carefully in order to hide her own secret that she left her husband. One day her husband Hari shows up with a dirty young girl wearing rags. Hari wants money from Lakshmi for bringing her younger sister to her. Lakshmi did not know that her mother had another child after Lakshmi married and left her parent's home. However, she gives Hari some money and takes the girl in. 

I read several reviews of the book before writing mine and was surprised that many focused on abortion. Some of them gave a poor review because abortion was part of the story. I didn't even remember this part of the book as I began to compose my summary of the book. It was not central to the plot. Lakshmi uses herbs to heal people from whatever ails them. It is a skill she learned from her mother. Part of her herbal remedies includes a herbal drink that will cause a spontaneous abortion.  She also had a concoction that aided conception but other reviewers focused on abortion. In 1955 India when the story takes place it would not have been unusual for a pregnant woman to seek out someone with these skills. I think it is realistic to have a character perform this service for her community. It does not offend me that it happened. It is history.

That said, the novel has plenty of historical detail. The author lavishly describes the clothing, food, and atmosphere of India.  The reader learns what it feels like to ride in a rickshaw, visit the noisy street markets, have an arranged marriage, as well as seeing how the division of the upper castes and lower castes affects the daily lives of the characters. I particularly loved reading about the bright colors of the saris that the women wore. The artistry of Lakshmi's henna designs was vividly illustrated, another aspect of the novel I relished.

I loved this novel. I can highly recommend it but if you do not want to read about an abortion provider, you will want to skip this one. 5 out of 5 stars.

Murder in Venice

Murder in Venice is a historical mystery that takes place in Venice in 1752.  High magistrate Marco Pisani is tasked with investigating the grisly murder of a man found strangled in a dark alley. When two more bodies are discovered, it is clear there is a serial killer on the loose.  Helped in his investigation by lawyer Zen, daring gondolier Nani and the cunning Chiara Renier, Pisani is determined to uncover the truth before the murderer strikes again.  In order to find answers, he must move among the city's criminal underworld of spies, shady taverns and gambling halls.  When the innocence of the victims is called into question, the case is turned on its head.  For the first time in his career, the principled Pisani has to ask himself what is more important: following the letter of the law or pursuing justice?

I am so glad that this story is going to be a series. The Pisani, Nani and Chiara characters work well together and I would hate not to read about them in the future.  They are a marvelous team of investigators. The secondary characters were interesting as well.  The first person to be arrested for the murder is Tommaso Grassino, a/k/a Maso, and he is Chiara's apprentice.  He is quickly let go after the other murders occur. The first person to be killed, Marino Barbaro, is an impoverished noble who cannot stop gambling his money away.  His business dealings are suspicious and are subject to Pisani's investigation as well. Several other noble families were prominent in the story and it was interesting to read about their power, businesses and foibles.  The lives of their servants were also chronicled and the lack of influence of these characters revealed even more about the Venetian power structure.

The Venetian setting is charming.  If you have ever been to Venice you will recognize the street and place names.  You will also know how far it is for the characters to go from point A to point B.  The descriptions of the markets and foods served at parties always captivates me and I cannot get enough of novels set in Venice.  The grand palaces that the nobles lived in contrasted with the tenements that their servants resided in.  I was surprised to read that there were slum areas of this great city. It as always seemed golden to me.

Marco Pisani was methodical in his solving of the murders.  As an avogadro (magistrate) he was in charge of the investigation.  His gondolier Nani was meticulous in garnering information for Pisani.  Since he was not a noble, people felt more free to talk with him concerning what they knew about the suspects and their businesses.  Chiara did not become a part of this team until the latter third of the novel.  What she was able to reveal about the murders through clairvoyance was confirmed by Pisani as he carried on with his investigation. 

I loved this novel and cannot wait for installment #2 to be published.  Since the author is Italian, her books need to be translated into English and that takes time.  5 out of 5 stars.

Honolulu

I cannot wait to retire to Hawaii. It has been my dream for over thirty years and since I can't be there for another year, reading about my favorite state is the next best thing. This book  follows an earlier book published by the author called Moloka'i. I don't know why I decided to read Honolulu first. It just happened. Honolulu is about a young bride who emigrates from Korea to Honolulu in 1914 and lives through the city's rise from a ramshackle town to a great modern city.

The publisher's summary:

"In Korea in those days, newborn girls were not deemed important enough to be graced with formal names, but were instead given nicknames, which often reflected the parents' feelings on the birth of a daughter. 'I knew a girl names Anger, and another called Pity. As for me, my parents named me Regret.'  Instead of the affluent young husband and chance at an education that she has been promised, she is quickly married off to a poor, embittered laborer who takes his frustrations out on his new wife.  Renaming herself Jin, she makes her own way in this strange land, finding both opportunity and prejudice.  With the help of three of her fellow picture brides Jin prospers along with her adopted city, now growing from a small territorial capital into the great multicultural city it is today.  But paradise has its dark side, whether it's the daily struggle for survival in Honolulu's tenements, or a crime that will become the most infamous in the islands' history.  With it's passionate knowledge of people and places in Hawaii far off the tourist track, Honolulu is most of all the spellbinding tale of four women in a new world, united by dreams, disappointment, sacrifices, and friendship."

Honolulu is more than a history of a city. It is the story of picture brides who emigrated from Korea to Hawaii. The husbands who bought them selected them from photographs and sent money for their transportation and other expenses. The brides did not meet their husbands until they disembarked the ship and saw them standing on the shore.  Some were married right there on the beach after disembarkation as was our heroine Jin.  The book is also the story of five other picture brides that Jin met on the ship.  The lives of Jade Moon, Wise Pearl, Sunny, Beauty and Tamiko and two other women central to Jin's life, Evening Rose and Blossom are prominently featured. Sunny took one look at her soon-to-be husband and went back to board the ship to sail home.  Blossom was engaged to marry Jin's youngest brother at the age of 5 and was left by her parents in Jin's family home until she was old enough to marry.  Evening Rose was a prostitute who befriended Jin during a dark period in her marriage to Mr. Noh.  There were other picture brides who came from China and Japan.

The history of the city of Honolulu is covered from the 1914 to 1957.  This time period began with the abdication of Queen Liliuokalani to the post-WWII boom in population from the U. S. Mainland. When Jin arrived in the city, she did not recognize it as a city.  The Korean city of Taegon, near Jin's ancestral home, was bigger and had more infrastructure.  The beautiful Waikiki Beach wasn't created until the Ala Wei Canal was built, revealing the sandy shoreline.  The homes of the immigrants and natives were nothing more than poorly built wooden structures. Only the wealthy white residents had opulent houses.  Jin remarked upon her arrival that the home she grew up in was sturdier with lovely decor inside.  Her Hawaiian homes were unstable and bare of decoration. 

The lives of workers on the pineapple and sugar plantations are covered in great detail.  The author did not sugarcoat his story to match today's idealism of the Islands.  The work was backbreaking and everyone worked 12 hours per day in the fields under the hot sun.  Not everyone could handle it and some people decided to leave even though they had no means of getting food once they left.  The quality of the food that the workers received from their bosses was poor.  Jin ate better food at home in Korea.  

Prejudice among the white elites is also shown.  A famous murder committed by the white family members of a rape victim against a native, Joseph Kahahawai, has a central place in the story.  The white family, U. S. Navy officers and their mother, kidnapped and beat Joseph to death.  The jury convicted them but the judge sentenced them to one hour in jail.  It caused a huge uproar in the community and became the basis for the emergence of local culture in Hawaiian society.  It stirred pent up anger over the local's oppression from wealthy whites.  History books have been written about this case, known as the Massie case.  The natives referred to the whites as haoles, (pronounces howlies) which they still do today.  Given that Hawaiian Natives cannot afford housing in today's climate and have to leave their home state, not much has changed in their feelings toward haoles.  

I thought it was interesting that Jin had better food and housing at home in her poor Korean village than in Honolulu.  She expected something better which is why she agreed to become a picture bride.  What she did gain from emigration, were legal rights concerning education and divorce.  Freedom.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Lantern Boats

The Lantern Boats takes place in post WWII Japan. The story follows the life of Elly Ruskin who is struggling with getting settled in Tokyo. Elly is half Japanese and she was repatriated to Japan from an internment camp in Australia even though she doesn't know the country well. 

The publisher's summary:  

Elly Ruskin is trapped between worlds.  Half-Japanese, Half- Scottish, she is deported from Australia to Japan after the war, but Tokyo is a city Elly barely knows.  In a whirlwind romance, she falls in love with a Scottish journalist and they marry.  Kamiya Jun is a teenage war orphan from the lost Japanese colony of Karafuto.  He is smuggled to the mainland on a fishing boat.  Captured by the police, he is handed over to the occupation forces, and finds himself unwillingly recruited to work in an underground intelligence unit run by a maverick American officer.   Now Elly thinks her husband is having an affair, and her suspicions will her down a treacherous path that will put everyone in danger.  Jun might be the only person who can help her.

The setting descriptions are what make this novel shine.  The realities of the post-war occupation of Japan are prominent.  You see that individuals who had jobs or lived in China or other countries before the war were viewed with suspicion, even though many of them were loyal Japanese citizens. The American troops occupying Japan were afraid of the anti-communist stance going on in their nation, promulgated by Senator Joe McCarthy, and possibly being accused of associating with one. The proximity of communist China and North Korea to Japan heightened the fear that there were spies everywhere. When Jun is captured by the Americans he tells the truth of how he came to be a spy for an underground organization.  No one believed his story though because nations did not select uneducated, homeless people to spy on their behalf.  A mysterious character named Vida Vidanto was being watched by several groups because she lived in China during the war where she wrote poetry.  No one actually believed that Vida was her real name either which resulted in some serious research into her background to determine who she was and whether she was a threat.

The realities of what mixed race people faced were also shown well.  Our Elly is always having to explain her heritage to police officers and military officials as well as the average citizen, who is just trying to avoid trouble be avoiding Elly.  Elly tries her best to put forward the fact that her mother was Japanese before she arouses any suspicion from others. The author knows her subject matter well.  She as an Emeritus Professor of Japanese History at the Australian National University. 

I enjoyed reading The Lantern Boats. Having never read anything before about the occupation of Japan, I learned alot. The average Japanese citizen was just trying to survive the occupation and were acutely aware when it would end. The hope was always "when the occupation is over we can do X."   The ending was sad and I liked that the author used this approach.  It was realistic. Besides, do you really want to read books where you always know that all turns out well for the characters? 

I highly recommend this historical novel. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Tea Planter's Daughter

The Tea Planter's Daughter is the first book written by Janet MacLeod Trotter that I have read.  I love books set in India and Trotter has written a four book series called the India Tea Book Series.  I am planning on reading them all.  In The Tea Planter's Daughter, the first book of the series, 18 year old Clarissa Belhaven resides in the Assam region of India.  Her family's tea plantation is slowly going out of business and her father, the owner of the plantation, is grieving the sudden loss of his wife.  Clarissa's younger sister Olive needs a mother and Clarissa provides her with motherly care.  Being beautiful and headstrong, Clarissa attracts the attention of the young and brash Wesley Robson, a rival tea planter.  Before his intentions become fully clear, tragedy befalls the Belhaven family and the sisters must sell their plantation.  They move to Tyneside, an industrial town in England, which is vastly different from Assam.  In order to start over, Clarissa has to endure extreme poverty as she finds employment in a pub and is worked to the bone by her bosses. Olive must also begin working and helps out with household work in the pub owner's home.

I enjoyed this story but expected at least half of it to take place in India. Most of it takes place in England and the English setting has never appealed to me. It is cold, grey and rainy like the city I live in. Escape to a warm weather place is ideal.  That said, the plot premise is good and it was executed well.  I remained interested in the story while reading as the quick pace moved the action along nicely.  

The two sisters were appealing characters.  I could feel their pain when they lost their home in India and had to move to  a foreign land.  I couldn't help but root for them. The Robson family provided the villains for the novel. For Clarissa, she both despised and secretly loved one of them, the handsome Wesley.  They met in India where Wesley was running his family's tea estate but their lives also crossed many times in England, providing the book's drama. 

4 out of 5 stars.

The Woman in the Green Dress

This story takes place in Australia and the time period alternates between the 1850s and 1919. After a whirlwind romance, London teashop waitress Fleur Richards cannot wait for her new husband Hugh to return from the war. When word of his death arrives on Armistice Day, Fleur learns he has left her a huge fortune.  Fleur does not want to accept the inheritance because they were not married very long but travels to his beloved home in Australia to search for his relatives who she believes deserves the fortune more than her.   She soon finds that she is the sole owner of a remote farm and a rundown curio shop full of preserved animals.  With the help of Kip, a repatriated soldier dealing with war wounds, Fleur finds herself unable to resist looking into Hugh's family's past. What she finds is a shocking story about a large opal and a woman in a green dress.  

I enjoyed the 1919 story much more than the 1850 story.  The latter seemed to drag on and on.  I did not see any connection with the former and found myself skipping pages.  As far as the woman in the green dress is concerned, there wasn't much said about her at all.  Perhaps a different title would have been best because my expectation while reading was to read about this particular woman. However, she did not have much to do with the plot. 

The Australian setting descriptions were elaborate.  I could feel like I was there myself and experience what the characters were experiencing.  It was amusing to think about a small town being larger and more developed than the eventual capital, Sydney.  The Australian landscape was in stark contrast to England where Fleur was living during the war.  As she sees more and more of Australia, Fleur remembers how Hugh described various cities and towns where he grew up.  As she travels within the country, the long commutes from one place to another contribute to the setting.  Fleur needs to travel 2 days to get from Sydney to Mogo Creek in New South Wales where her husband grew up, taking a train, a boat and walking on foot for hours in order to get there. 

Learning about the Australian landscape 100+ years ago was fun. Unfortunately, that was all that I liked about this novel.  2 out of 5 stars.

The Girl in the Painting

 

This story takes place in Australia and it alternates between 1906 and 1862. Orphan Jane Piper is nine years old when philanthropists Michael and Elizabeth Quinn take her into their home to further her schooling.  The Quinns are no strangers to hardship. Having arrived in Australia as penniless immigrants, they now care for others as lost as they once were. Despite Jane's mysterious past, her remarkable aptitude for mathematics takes her far over the next seven years, and her relationship with Elizabeth and Michael flourishes as she plays an increasingly prominent role in their business.  When Elizabeth reacts in terror to an exhibition at the local gallery, Jane realizes no one knows Elizabeth after all - not even Elizabeth herself.  As the past and present converge and Elizabeth's grasp on reality loosens, Jane sets out to unravel her story before it's too late.  

This was an enjoyable read although the reason for the book title was not known until the latter third of the story.  I kept waiting to read about a painting and when it finally came I was somewhat disappointed that it didn't happen sooner.  If a mystery concerns a painting, the author should showcase that painting early on.  I enjoyed reading the descriptions about the Australian landscapes as I have never read a book set there.  This novel was set in Sydney, Hill End and Maitland as well as Ireland and England.  It was interesting that Maitland was more urban than Sydney in the late 1800s.

I always love a story that is told from alternating viewpoints and eras.  They read faster for me and this one was no exception.  While the story varied from the 1860s to the 1910s, it was also told from several viewpoints including Michael, Elizabeth and Jane's.  The author was able to weave a great story from these differing viewpoints, settings and a time period that spanned fifty years.  

5 out of 5 stars!

The Art Collector's Daughter

As I was reading this novel I had a sneaking suspicion that I had read it before or saw a movie based on it. It seemed familiar. A search of my blogger posts did not find anything so I continued to read.  It has an interesting plot but because it was so familiar I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have if the storyline was new to me. I guess I have read too many Nazi art theft novels.

The publisher's summary:  

As the German's advance on Paris in 1940, a young Jewish girl, Sylvie Vasseur, is sent by her father to rural Ireland to live with the Courtney family.  He also sends his valuable art collection - including a portrait of Sylvie by the renowned Mateus, Girl on a Swing.  Sylvie is education by the narcissistic elder son Nicholas Courtney when she is eighteen, but he abandons her when he discovers she is pregnant.  To avoid the inevitable social stigma, Sylvie marries his brother Peter.  In Dublin, she becomes involved in the art scene, achieving critical acclaim as a painter.  But, trapped in a loveless marriage, she continues to be obsessed with Nicholas.  Until, unexpectantly, secrets from her father's past emerge, leading her to question everything she once believed.  Shortly after, she is found drowned on a Wexford beach.

Seventeen years later, Claire Howard, struggling art historian, is hired by the Courtney family to record Sylvie's lifeworks.  Fascinated by the artist and working with Sylvie's son Sam, Claire travels between Dublin and Paris, eventually unravelling a labyrinth of deceit and lies that threaten to endanger her life.

The books is advertised as an historical thriller.  It is not a thriller but rather an historical mystery.  I don't think that the writing style meets the thriller formula. That said, the plot is intricate and sophisticated.  A plot twist at the halfway point moves the direction of the expected outcome toward a different path.  I was not expecting this twist and it added to my enjoyment of the novel.

The Irish setting interested me because I have never read a book that was set in Ireland.  When the story alternates between Ireland and Paris, the Paris setting is familiar to me as I have read many books that were set in France.  I have always loved reading about Paris.  The writing about Ireland, on the other hand, could have been more descriptive.  I was expecting to read more about the weather and the topography of the island.  What we read read about is the societal norms of the country, which I believe most readers already know about for this war era.

The characters could have been more developed, particularly Peter.  We don't really know what makes him tick.  Why did he put up with so much shunning from Sylvie? What is his personality like?  We know more about Nicholas than Sylvie's husband.  Nicholas is the usual male cad and we women know exactly what to expect from him.  Sylvie was a compelling character.  She grew from being a shy, fearful girl into a confident woman but only after discovering her artistic talents.  As an artist myself I can feel exactly what she feels when she is painting.  There is an ecstasy to the process of creating something on a canvas.

This was a good book but as I stated earlier, the familiarity of the story to other books that I have read affected my enjoyment of it. 3 out of 5 stars.

The Easter Sepulcre

I had already read three of Mel Starr's books in his Hugh de Singleton series before picking up this novel. Easter Sepulcher was fantastic as were the previous three books.  I really need to finish reading this series because I know that I will love them all.

Easter Sepulchre opens with several priest's clerks guarding the Easter Sepulcher, where the host and crucifix are stored between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. An Easter Sepulcher is a niche in the wall of a church where the host and a crucifix are placed on Good Friday and removed on Easter Sunday.  A velvet cloth is placed over it.  It is a privilege to keep watch over it so it is shocking when it is discovered that a priest's clerk named Odo has abandoned his post.  When the cover is removed on Easter Sunday in front of the congregation a dead man's body is there along with the host and crucifix.  It is Odo.  Surgeon Hugh de Singleton is called upon to investigate the death.  Hugh is also the bailiff to the powerful Lord Gilbert.

This story has alot of action.  There are thefts and more dead bodies piling up. Hugh organizes several all-night stakeouts in order to determine who the killer might be. The pace is quick which makes this a fast read. The characters are quite interesting, especially a homeless, mute holy man who lives in a run down cabin in the forest. At first he seems a little sketchy but it turns out that he has noticed much of what happens outside during the late hours when he goes out for walks.  Hugh's medical skills are interesting. Given that this story takes place in the medieval era, he uses poultices to draw out bacteria. The food consumed by the characters has a prominent place.  They are served meals such as sops in fennel, eels in bruit, peas and beans pottage, fraunt hemelle, dighted crab and leach lombard.  I am curious about what these meals taste like but would be afraid of tasting them if placed in front of me. The names of the foods certainly add to the medieval flavor of the novel. 

All in all, this book was a great read.  The fact that I read it yesterday, on Good Friday, added to my enjoyment.  5 out of 5 stars.