Wrap-Up of the 2022 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

I signed up for this challenge at the Ancient History level which required that I read 25 historical novels.  I met the challenge with 27 books.  This is a big reduction in reading for me as in 2021 I read 50 books for the challenge.  I am having problems concentrating lately but I did read some excellent books.

Evil in Emerald by A. S. Stuart

Royal Heir by P. K. Adams

The Fugitive Colours by Nancy Bilyeau

The Girl in the Painting by Renita D'Silva

The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton

The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dao Randel

London by Edward Rutherford

Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu

The Opus Dictum by Gary McAvoy

Island Queen by Vanessa Riley

Hotel Portofino by J. P. O'Connell

Fast Girls by Elise Hooper

The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis

Lock Up Honesty by Anna Castle

The Vivaldi Cipher by Gary McAvoy

In a Kingdom by the Sea by Sara McDonald

Why Mermaids Sing by C. S. Harris

Booth by Karen Joy Fowler

The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks

Kaikeyi by Vaishneva Patel

Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim

The Spanish Daughter by Lorena Hughes

Paris by Edward Rutherford

Children of Sugarcane by Joanne Joseph

The American Adventuress by C. W. Gortner

Dust Child by Nguyen Phan Que Mai 

Granite Kingdom by Eric Pope

Favorite Book:  Peach Blossom Spring

2nd Favorite Book:  Kaikeyi

Least Favorite Book:  Hotel Portofino

Granite Kingdom

I received an advanced review copy Granite Kingdom through the Early Reviewer's Program at Librarything in exchange for an honest review. The book was published on November 29, 2022 and it is Eric Pope's debut novel.

The publisher's summary:

It is 1910, and the northern Vermont village Granite Junction is the nation's largest supplier of finished granite for construction. Newspaper reporter Dan Strickland, a stonecutter's son who hopes to find the right wife and climb the social ladder, finds himself caught between the village's two big granite producers, George Rutherford and Ernest Wheeler. Several fatal industrial accidents prompt Rutherford to ask Dan to look for anarchist saboteurs, while Bob Blackstone, Wheeler's right-hand man, bullies Dan for working for the paper that supports their competitor. Despite the prosperity at the top, almost everyone in the village struggles to attain economic security; some fear ending up at the poor farm. Although Dan triumphs in the end, it is not in the way he had imagined.

The story had a slow start. I had a hard time becoming interested in the novel and stopped and started several times before continuing with the story. As a whole, though, the book was a slow read. There was alot of description of the book's many characters with the exception of the characters in the newspaper business. The scenes with them were fast paced. Why the difference?  Perhaps because the author is a retired journalist. In addition, there was too much narrative. If the backstory was given via dialogue the book would have been faster paced.

The setting was interesting. I have never read about a community that worked in the granite industry and the setting helped to inform as well as entertain. The author certainly knows his subject well. It is a good thing when historical fiction readers get a setting different from the usual England, France and Italy, particularly when the setting is an industry. There is also a sense of history to the novel. During the celebration of the 45th anniversary to the end of the Civil War, celebrated in the 3 days before July 4, Dan interviews an old soldier about his experience fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg. The soldier discusses the movements of his regiment in a parlor "unchanged since Lincoln died." 

I liked the novel but have to say that the amount of narrative slowed down my reading.  I am rating it 3 out of 5 stars.

Dust Child

I received an advanced review copy of Dust Child from the Early Reviewer's Program at Librarything in exchange for an honest review. This historical novel will be published in March 2023 and it is a winner. The story is about a Vietnamese man who wants to emigrate to America. He has been mistreated his entire life because he is Amerasian, born to a Vietnamese mother and African American father. Tens of thousands of these children were born and they are called bụi đời (the dust of life). Dust Child is the author's second novel, following her 2020 novel The Mountains Sing.

The publisher's summary:  

In 1969, sisters Trang and Quỳnh, desperate to help their parents pay off debts, leave their rural village and become “bar girls” in Sài Gòn, drinking, flirting (and more) with American GIs in return for money. As the war moves closer to the city, the once-innocent Trang gets swept up in an irresistible romance with a young and charming American helicopter pilot. Decades later, an American veteran, Dan, returns to Việt Nam with his wife, Linda, hoping to find a way to heal from his PTSD and, unbeknownst to her, reckon with secrets from his past.  

At the same time, Phong—the son of a Black American soldier and a Vietnamese woman—embarks on a search to find both his parents and a way out of Việt Nam. Abandoned in front of an orphanage, Phong grew up being called “the dust of life,” “Black American imperialist,” and “child of the enemy,” and he dreams of a better life for himself and his family in the U.S. 

Past and present converge as these characters come together to confront decisions made during a time of war—decisions that force them to look deep within and find common ground across race, generation, culture, and language. Suspenseful, poetic, and perfect for readers of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko or Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing, Dust Child tells an unforgettable and immersive story of how those who inherited tragedy can redefine their destinies through love, hard-earned wisdom, compassion, courage, and joy. 

 

Dust Child is a poignant tale told from three alternating perspectives, Phong, Trang and Dan. The chapters alternate between each of  them which is both a blessing and a hindrance. While all three storylines are interesting, I found that as I became engaged in one I did not want to change to the next one. However, I doubt that the novel would have been as captivating without this literary device. It made me continue reading until the end. The characters have been chosen from among the Viet Cong, American soldiers, the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) and the citizenry of Vietnam so there are even more perspectives for the reader to get to know. Reading about all of these perspectives was an educational experience for me.

I think most people view Vietnam as a poor country. In the beginning of the novel just about all of the characters were living in poverty. When Dan's storyline begins to be fleshed out, he sees it as an urban place. His impression is based on its paved roads and new businesses. However, I would still say that the setting was an impoverished nation. Poverty runs deep throughout the book for all of the characters whether in their past lives or their present. It is always in the back of their minds and shapes their decisions. It is a sad setting appropriate for the difficult lives that the Vietnamese must lead. You want to root for them though, hoping that they can overcome not only the physical but the emotional scars from the past.

5 out of 5 stars.

The American Adventuress

The American Adventuress is a biography of Jennie Jerome Spencer-Churchill, the mother of Winston Churchill. This novel is Gortner's 7th. He writes historical fiction accounts of women and in the past has written about Catherine de Medici, Coco Chanel and Lucrezia Borgia. He holds an MFA in writing, specializing in Renaissance Studies, from the New College of California.  

The publisher's summary:

Daughter of New York financier Leonard Jerome, Jennie was born into wealth—and scandal. Upon her parents’ separation, her mother took Jennie and her sisters to Paris, where Mrs. Jerome was determined to marry her daughters into the most elite families. The glamorous city became their tumultuous finishing school until it fell to revolt. 

Fleeing to Queen Victoria’s England, Jennie soon caught the eye of aristocrat Randolph Spencer-Churchill, son of the Duke of Marlborough, one of Britain’s loftiest peers. It was love at first sight, their unconventional marriage driven by mutual ambition and the birth of two sons. Undeterred by premature widowhood or society’s rigid expectations, Jennie brashly carried on a lifelong intimate friendship with Edward, Prince of Wales—a notorious bon vivant—and had two later marriages to younger men. When her son Winston launched his brilliant political career, Jennie guided him to success, his most vocal and valuable supporter.

By turns scandalous, tragic, and exciting, Jennie Jerome lived an unconventional life full of defiance—one that enshrined her as an American adventuress.

The American Adventuress is a fantastic read.  Gortner did a great job of telling Jennie's story. I knew before reading the book that she married into the British aristocracy when she married Randolph Spencer-Churchill and that she was the mother of Winston Churchill. I did not know though that she was a playwright, entrepreneur, interior decorator, and publisher. I also was not aware of her affair with Edward, Prince of Wales who later was crowned King Edward VII. Jennie also married twice after Randolph died. Both of these husbands were half her age which was scandalous at the time. She was definately a woman ahead of her time. 

I enjoyed the New York City, Parisian and English settings. Jennie's childhood was in New York City where her parents attended and hosted banquets for the Guilded Age millionaires. When her mother separated from her father, they moved to Paris where Jennie met Randolph. Former Empress Eugenie became a friend of Jennie's mother so they were in the top social circles. After her marriage, Jennie and Randolph moved into Blenheim Palace where Randolph's family lived. I was surprised to read that it was cold and oppressive inside it's walls. That is not how I believed living in a castle is really like. The Palace did not appeal to me but Jennie and Randolph's London homes did. This is where they did their politicking and hosted many parties. Another fact that I learned was that Randolph's oldest brother Charles, the heir of the Dukedom of Marlborough, married an American himself, Consuelo Vanderbilt. 

I loved this historical biography and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

Children of Sugarcane

I received a free copy of the Children of Sugarcane through the Early Reviewer's Program at Librarything. It is a historical fiction novel of 19th century India and the British owned sugarcane plantations in Natal, South Africa. The book was published in 2021 in South Africa by Jonathan Ball Publishers. It was then published in the UK in 2022. Author Joanne Joseph is a well known media personality in South Africa and has hosted both radio and television programs there. She previously wrote an expose of prisons in Thailand but this is her first novel. 

The publisher's summary:

Shanti, a bright teenager stifled by life in rural India and facing an arranged marriage, dreams that South Africa is an opportunity to start afresh. The Colony of Natal is where Shanti believes she can escape the poverty, caste, and the traumatic fate of young girls in her village. Months later, after a harrowing sea voyage, she arrives in Natal and realises life there is full of hardship and labour.

Spanning four decades and two continents, Children of Sugarcane illustrates the lifegiving power of love, the indestructible bonds between family and friends, heroism, and how the ultimate sacrifice becomes Shanti’s greatest redemption.

I enjoyed reading this book. It is a little different from my usual fare and while it is historical I wonder whether the book should be categorized as literary fiction. The pace was slower than the historical fiction that I usually read. Shanti doesn't arrive in Natal until page 140, a third of the way through the story. I thought this was slow but it wouldn't be for literary fiction. The characters were well drawn and the history of the time and place was detailed. The author was obviously very familiar with what happened on the sugarcane plantations in Natal. She gives us alot of important information about this sad and not well known part of history. For that we can be thankful.

5 out of 5 stars.

Paris

Engrossing! This book is unputdownable. I picked it up intending to read only a couple of pages while the Kindle recharged. The next thing I knew I was 200 pages into the book and knew that I would not read anything else until I finished it. 

Paris is a historical fiction novel by Edward Rutherford. It covers 1,000 years of history by telling the sagas of six families. The families interact with famous people from their eras in order to bring the reader some familiarity with Parisian history. I have read 2 other historical novels by Rutherford and both told their stories chronologically.  Paris skips back and forth in time but I found it is easy to follow. 

There are many, many historical details that are clearly explained. If you want to know why plaster of paris is named such, read this book. What about the building of the Eiffel Tower? Here, you will discover everything that went into its construction by following characters who were hired to work on it. While the book covers two wars, I was glad that the fighting scenes were short. I don't like war stories much. The plague and the Spanish Flu also appear as well as the world exhibitions that were held in Paris and the rise of feminism.

I LOVED this book and cannot recommend it more highly to historical fiction fans. Do not be put off by its 800 pages. Most of Rutherford's books are over 1,000 pages so Paris is a short story. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Spanish Daughter

A cacao plantation in Ecuador is the setting of this historical fiction novel by Lorena Hughes. The Spanish Daughter is Hughes' second novel, following The Sisters of Alameda Street. Sisters takes place in 1960s Ecuador while Spanish Daughter takes place in the 1920s. I love this new setting for historical fiction and hope that Hughes continues to write stories taking place there.

The publisher's summary:  

As a child in Spain, Puri always knew her passion for chocolate was inherited from her father. But it’s not until his death that she learns of something else she’s inherited—a cocoa estate in Vinces, Ecuador, a town nicknamed “París Chiquito.” Eager to claim her birthright and filled with hope for a new life after the devastation of World War I, she and her husband Cristóbal set out across the Atlantic Ocean. But it soon becomes clear someone is angered by Puri’s claim to the estate…
 
When a mercenary sent to murder her aboard the ship accidentally kills Cristóbal instead, Puri dons her husband’s clothes and assumes his identity, hoping to stay safe while she searches for the truth of her father’s legacy in Ecuador. Though freed from the rules that women are expected to follow, Puri confronts other challenges at the estate—newfound siblings, hidden affairs, and her father’s dark secrets. Then there are the dangers awakened by her attraction to an enigmatic man as she tries to learn the identity of an enemy who is still at large, threatening the future she is determined to claim.

I had a hard time not only becoming interested in this story but also maintaining interest. In addition, there were several flaws in the plot. The story starts out with Puri traveling to Ecuador because she has inherited part of her father’s cacao plantation. While sailing on a ship to South America Puri’s husband is killed. She soon realizes that she was supposed to be the intended victim. As a former chocolate store owner in Spain, I expected that she would continue her interest in selling chocolate in Ecuador. I would have liked this storyline. However, the story becomes a search for who signed or perhaps forged a blank check. Whoever signed the check is the one who wants her dead. Puri begins to imitate her dead husband, wearing his clothes, in order to more easily find out information about the plantation and who wants her dead. It's a crazy strategy that results in Puri not being eligible to inherit the plantation. However, she continues to disguise herself. 

None of this seemed plausible to me. Who would give up a cacao plantation? Puri should have stopped pretending to be her husband and forged a new life in Ecuador. Also, the fight on the ship that resulted in her husband's death was merely a short scene. It did not figure into the story much nor did the idea that she was supposed to be the victim. The writing was disjointed given the plotline faults.

Another problem is that the characters were not very interesting. Puri has two half sisters in Ecuador who could have played the role of villains. Unfortunately, they didn't. While the story alternated between the three women's viewpoints on events that occurred between 1907 and 1920, none of them had strong feelings about anything and I wondered why the alternating plot lines were present in the novel. The lack of suspenseful writing is another reason the book falls short. Very short.

2 out of 5 stars.

Booth

I had high hopes for this book about the family of James Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.  It started out dull and continued to be so throughout the book. The family dynamics were interesting, though, but I felt that it could have been written more exciting than it was.

The publisher's summary:

In 1822, a secret family moves into a secret cabin some thirty miles northeast of Baltimore, to farm, to hide, and to bear ten children over the course of the next sixteen years. Junius Booth—breadwinner, celebrated Shakespearean actor, and master of the house in more ways than one—is at once a mesmerizing talent and a man of terrifying instability. One by one the children arrive, as year by year, the country draws frighteningly closer to the boiling point of secession and civil war.

As the tenor of the world shifts, the Booths emerge from their hidden lives to cement their place as one of the country’s leading theatrical families. But behind the curtains of the many stages they have graced, multiple scandals, family triumphs, and criminal disasters begin to take their toll, and the solemn siblings of John Wilkes Booth are left to reckon with the truth behind the destructively specious promise of an early prophecy.

Booth is a startling portrait of a country in the throes of change and a vivid exploration of the ties that make, and break, a family.

It was interesting to read that John Wilkes always had tendencies toward supporting southern causes, including slavery. He was the only member of his family to not associate with the family's black employees. All of their employees were free as the patriarch was an abolitionist. While the story was a little boring, I am glad that I read the book. It is important to know all of the factors that made John Wilkes Booth kill Lincoln. The author stated in an interview that she did not want to write a book about John Wilkes but rather about the family.  She felt that John Wilkes craved attention and she did not want to give him the satisfaction of a book about him. Thus, his birth does not happen until page 59. When I read that he tortured animals, beat people up and loved guns from an early age, I realized that he was always going to turn out to be an assassin or serial killer.  We all have read the news stories about killers and their childhoods, which predict their future. With an absent father and a mother not interested in raising her children, John Wilkes fit the recipe for becoming a dangerous person.

Booth is an enlightening book about a dysfunctional family that changed the course of American history.  3 out of 5 stars.

Beasts of a Little Land

Beasts of a Little Land begins in Korea in the early 20th century. During this time Korea was one nation. While there are a dozen characters, the story alternates between the lives of four main characters whose lives intersect. There is Luna, Lotus, Jade, and JungHo. Luna is the daughter of the famous courtesan Dani whose beauty she inherited. Lotus is her younger and plainer sister. Jade was not as pretty as Luna and Lotus but when her mother sends her to Dani's household for courtesan training, she becomes Lotus' best friend. JungHo is an orphan who had to beg to survive. The book was published in December 2021.

The publisher's summary:  

In 1917, deep in the snowy mountains of occupied Korea, an impoverished local hunter on the brink of starvation saves a young Japanese officer from an attacking tiger. In an instant, their fates are connected—and from this encounter unfolds a saga that spans half a century.

In the aftermath, a young girl named Jade is sold by her family to Miss Silver’s courtesan school, an act of desperation that will cement her place in the lowest social status. When she befriends an orphan boy named JungHo, who scrapes together a living begging on the streets of Seoul, they form a deep friendship. As they come of age, JungHo is swept up in the revolutionary fight for independence, and Jade becomes a sought-after performer with a new romantic prospect of noble birth. Soon Jade must decide whether she will risk everything for the one who would do the same for her.

From the perfumed chambers of a courtesan school in Pyongyang to the glamorous cafes of a modernizing Seoul and the boreal forests of Manchuria, where battles rage, Juhea Kim’s unforgettable characters forge their own destinies as they wager their nation’s. Immersive and elegant, Beasts of a Little Land unveils a world where friends become enemies, enemies become saviors, heroes are persecuted, and beasts take many shapes.

I enjoyed the Korean setting. There aren't too many historical fiction novels that take place there and the ones I am aware of all tell the WWII story of haenyoes (sea women) on Jeju Island. Beasts covers a period of time from 1917 through 1964, during which the nation was fighting for independence from Japan and separated into north and south. The author has left out the years of the Korean War from her story.

Many of the female characters are courtesans. Being a courtesan was quite different from being a prostitute. The only women in Korea who were intellectuals and artists were courtesans. This dates back to medieval times. The courtesans had several years of formal training, beginning with reading, music and dance. While they were on the lowest rung of the social ladder, they made alot of money that they could send home to their families. Note, though, that the novel does not have sex scenes.

Some of the remaining characters include the revolutionary MyungBo, aristocratic SungSoo, and upwardly mobile HanChol. MyungBo was born into a wealthy family but during college he abandoned that lifestyle in order to work toward Korea becoming a socialist country. Sungsoo was also born into wealth but after college he decided to continue his family's business legacy. HanChol started out as a rickshaw driver but advanced into being a mechanic and ultimately an auto builder. Two Japanese officers round out this amazing cast of characters.

The characters and the history are what make this novel a masterpiece. I cannot recommend it more highly.  5 out of 5 stars.

The Good Wife of Bath

The Good Wife of Bath is a modern retelling of a story in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. I have never read The Canterbury Tales before so the plotline for the modern story was new to me. Taking place in the latter half of the fourteenth century, Eleanor Cornfed's life with her 5 husbands is portrayed. At the age of 12 she is caught in bed with a priest and married off a week later to a sheep farmer fifty years her senior. Fulk Bigod is well known in the community, well known for outliving 4 previous wives and for being dirty. The community loves nothing more than to tell stories about him. Eleanor is despondent but reflects on her father's past advice to make something out of nothing. With a head for business and a surprisingly kind husband, Eleanor manages to turn her first marriage into a success. She begins to rise through society to a woman of fortune who becomes a trusted friend of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. More marriages follow. Some of them were happy while others were not. In between each marriage, Eleanor goes on a religious pilgrimage. Through her travels she determines what mistakes she made in her marriages but always returns home to repeat those mistakes. All along, though, she pines for control over her life. 

This book was a breeze to read. I loved it and read half of its 560 pages in one sitting. I finished it in the next sitting. Eleanor is an amazing character who didn't give up on marriage until the fifth one ended. Her flaws only bring suspense to the story. I kept wondering whether Eleanor would do as she knew in her heart to do rather than succumb to her fickle nature. She should never have married again. When Fulk died, she was a well off business woman and didn't need another man. However, she thought that she needed them because society told her so. It only goes to show how few choices women had in those times. It was funny that when she arrived at her new home with Fulk, all she could see and smell was shit. It was everywhere. The house and fields were filled with it. I was surprised that she decided fairly quickly that she needed to gain her step-daughter's acceptance and began cleaning that house.  Eleanor did not have to clean anything in Noke Manor where she grew up. Her family had staff so these decisions were pretty grown up for a twelve year old.

The novel is a fun romp through Eleanor's life. Romp is the correct word here as Eleanor could never get enough sex. In fact, it was her downfall. The Good Wife of Bath is must reading for historical fiction fans. 5 out of 5 stars.

Kaikeyi

Kaikeyi is the story of an infamous queen from the Indian epic tale the Ramayana. The author has taken the biggest villain of the epic and made her into a sympathetic character. It was just published in April 2022 and with 496 pages it is a chunky book. I bought the book at Barnes and Noble and enjoyed reading this hardcover as I held it. Holding a book seems like a blast from the past with all the ebooks around these days. 

The publisher's summary:

"I was born on the full moon under an auspicious constellation, the holiest of positions - much good it did me.

So begins Kaikeyi's story. The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on the tales of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the devout and the wise. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear her.

Desperate for some measure of independence, she turns to the texts she once read with her mother and discovers a magic that is hers alone. With this power, Kaikeyi transforms herself from an overlooked princess into a warrior, diplomat and most favored queen, determined to carve a better world for herself and the women around her.

But as the evil from her childhood stories threaten the cosmic order, the path she has forged clashes with the destiny the gods have chosen for her family. Kaikeyi must decide if resistance is worth the destruction it will wreak - and what legacy she intends to leave behind."

I haven't read many historical novels taking place in ancient India so this was a lovely departure from my usual reads. The pacing was what I expected from a historical fiction novel, as opposed to a historical mystery. It was just right. Because it is fiction, there is more emphasis on the Kaikeyi character than action. That said, there was still a good amount of action due to the main character's life story. 

The character was easy to like. She was a woman who helped other women and strove to enter a man's world. That's always a type of character that I will be drawn to. Her resilience was encouraging and inspirational; never let anyone get you down. Her use of magic is not something that I would typically want to read about. Kaikeyi always tried to get others to do her bidding by concentrating on the Binding Plane where she thought about the threads that bound her to other people. Her use of the binding place was integrated well into the story and seemed a normal part of the plot. However, she did not want anyone to know that she used magic. That would have had a negative impact on her life.

So how do you pronounce the name?  I believe it is "ki-kay." It may be my 2022 book of the year. I have only said that once this year so it will definitely be a top ten book. 5 out of 5 stars.

Why Mermaids Sing

I loved this historical mystery set in 1811 London. It is the third book in the Sebastian St. Cyr series but the first one that I have read. In this installment of the series, murder stalks London's elite families as the sons of prominent families are found dead in public places. Their bodies have been mutilated with strange objects stuffed in their mouths.  Sebastian handles the investigation to find the killer alongside his sidekick, magistrate Henry Lovejoy.

Sebastian is a likable character. He is the only surviving son of the Earl of Hendon and will inherit the title some day.  His father is horrified that he is performing common work for the police force. He currently has the title of the Viscount Devlin. Sebastian served in the army as an intelligence specialist and the skills and contacts he obtained from his military service came in handy in this investigation. This background is a fabulous basis for a sleuth.  His girlfriend, Kat Boleyn, is a prostitute but he wants to marry her.  I am not sure how he came to fall in love with Kat. That information must be in the prior books in the series.  It didn't seem likely to me that he would fall for someone like Kat.

The writing was tight. There were alot of twists and turns in the plot and the author had me guessing what the outcome might be.  The whodunnit was surprising and I did not see it coming. I am excited to continue reading this series.  Author C. S. Harris is a new author for me and it's always awesome to find a new author that I love.

5 out of 5 stars.

In A Kingdom By The Sea

This historical novel is a slow moving story concerning an English wife and mother named Gabriella/Gabby.  Her 2 kids are in college and her husband Mike has worked in foreign countries their entire married life. Near their 25th anniversary, Mike asks Gabby to join him in Karachi, Pakistan where he will begin a job in the airline industry. As a book translator Gabby can work anywhere in the world and email her work to her employer. She decides to go to Karachi. I thought this was a wrong decision but I guess Gabby was trying to connect with Mike who she has only seen on summer holidays. 

When Gabby arrives in Karachi she is both shocked and amazed at the noise of the city and the cultural divide between the sexes. However, she needed a new experience in her life and Gabby quickly accepted the country as is. Her openness to the culture gains her several new female friends. Gabby finds that that she is closer to these women emotionally than she was to her friends in England. 

The story alternates between the present day Pakistan and the 1970s Cornwall where Gabby grew up with sister Dominique. Dominque holds a family secret that is revealed midway into the story. This reveal has no bearing on the main plot and the alternating plot was unnecessary. The book is about Gabby growing as a person and this childhood story has no effect on the present day story. Dominique was a fantastic character and could have been used in the plot differently. 

There isn't much action. The book is about Gabby's growth as a person. I found this appealing though. 3 out of 5 stars.

The Fugitive Colours

Nancy Bilyeau's The Fugitive Colours is the sequel to her 2018 novel The Blue. If you read The Blue you know that the main character is Genevieve Planche. After fleeing England for France, she met and married Thomas Sturbridge. Six years later they are back in Spitalfields for this installment of the series. It is 1764 and since men control the arts, sciences, politics and law, Genevieve is struggling to keep her silk design business afloat. Both Thomas and Genevieve are Huguenots, Protestants from Catholic France, which further makes them suspicious in the eyes of their associates in England. When Genevieve receives a surprise visit from an important artist, she begins to hope that, as a woman, she can be accepted as an artist. However, she soon learns that portrait painters have the world at their feet. Rivalries among them lead to sabotage, blackmail and murder and Genevieve gets caught up in their antics. Because she fears being exposed for her conspiracy and betrayal at the Derby Porcelain Factory several years back. The Blue novel is about that betrayal. 

I LOVED this novel. While it is a sequel, new readers should be able to follow the book easily. I would recommend though, that you read The Blue first, mainly because the characters are so strong and the plot picks up right where The Blue left off.  This sequel is just as strong as The Blue, something that does not always happen with a series. There is alot of history in the story as Genevieve interacts with artists such as Joshua Reynolds, George Romney, and Thomas Gainsborough.

The setting descriptions were expertly written into the story. I could feel that I was living in eighteenth century England. Crime and attitudes toward women in the trades were a consistent theme. The problems of women artists was depicted as well. The author also gives us insight into how well courtesans worked together to both seduce and rob their clients. I found it amusing that prostitutes could have that much power. For artists though, competition was high and most of them were overworked and miserable.

All of the characters were memorable, from Genevieve to the famous artists and the secondary characters.  I cannot help but love Genevieve.  She is a headstrong woman intent on getting recognition in her profession. This is something that I can easily relate to as I came of age during the 1970s when women were just beginning to enter the workforce. Her husband is a high moralist but falters easily as most of these kinds of people do. He does not work in Spitalfields or London as he teaches one of the sons of the Earl of Sandwich and is not part of much of the action. His presence in Genevieve's life controls how she behaves though.  Genevieve employs two artists to help her create silk embroidery designs. Caroline is known to have a dark past but we don't really know what that is about until the end of the book. Jean loves politics and supports Genevieve 100% in everything she wants to do. He is quite likable, much more than Caroline.

As far as what the fugitive colors are, I cannot say without giving out too many spoilers. This novel is definitely a must read. 5 out of 5 stars!

Peach Blossom Spring

Peach Blossom Spring is a poignant family saga that begins in China in the 1930s. It is Melissa Fu's debut novel and I am impressed with her ability to write such a beautiful story. The novel is about Dao Meilin and her son Dao Renshu. Meilin's husband Xiaowen is killed during a battle with the invading Japanese army but she remains with her in-law's family for support. She relies heavily on her husband's brother Longwei and his wife Wenling, who resents Meilin's presence. As the Japanese continue their advance through China the Dao family is displaced over and over again in their effort to survive. It is always hard to summarize these sagas so let's go with the publisher's summary:

It is 1938 in China and, as a young wife, Meilin’s future is bright. But with the Japanese army approaching, Meilin and her four year old son, Renshu, are forced to flee their home. Relying on little but their wits and a beautifully illustrated hand scroll, filled with ancient fables that offer solace and wisdom, they must travel through a ravaged country, seeking refuge. Years later, Renshu has settled in America as Henry Dao. Though his daughter is desperate to understand her heritage, he refuses to talk about his childhood. How can he keep his family safe in this new land when the weight of his history threatens to drag them down? Yet how can Lily learn who she is if she can never know her family’s story? Spanning continents and generations, Peach Blossom Spring is a bold and moving look at the history of modern China, told through the story of one family. It’s about the power of our past, the hope for a better future, and the haunting question: What would it mean to finally be home?

When I finished this novel I went back in the story searching for each reference to Peach Blossom Spring. Henry first learned of this fable from his mother while he was a youth. After Henry moves to America he hears the story again, but with a different ending. He wonders why his mother changed the ending. In the last chapter of the book he figures it out. Without being a spoiler I can say it refers to wherever your home is located. The location can be a specific place or state of mind. The way the author ended the story gives us a much bigger idea of what a Peach Blossom Spring is but I won't elaborate here. However, please note that I wanted to immediately re-read the novel after I finished reading it. There has never been a novel that has had this effect on me. Perhaps I am searching for my own Peach Blossom Spring.

The Chinese setting descriptions were spot on. The reader definitely feels the effects of war on all the Chinese cities and villages that Meilin and Renshu walked through on their way to safety. Whenever they found sanctuary, they soon had to move on because of the bombs that the Japanese planes dropped. No place was safe. Eventually Meilin and Renshu moved to Taiwan with their Dao relatives to escape the Japanese and the fledgling Chinese Communist Party. We get a glimpse that Longwei is working with Taiwan's KMT Party but this fact is never specifically stated. Longwei's actions show how the KMT spies operated in mainland China. The problems of emigrating to other countries is also shown. Many Chinese had to lie about their family background in order to get access to boats that would take them to a new place. The lies would always be a problem for the countries in which they relocated.

All the characters seemed flawed. However, each character had to make a decision on how to best handle the circumstances of war. Is this a flaw? Maybe not. When you are in a lose-lose situation, whatever you decide to do looks suspicious. The Dao family did not have positive options available and they used whatever power their family had in order to survive. Instead of saying that they were flawed it may be best to state that the characters were realistic for the era in which they lived, including Henry in America. The current Chinese government does threaten Chinese Americans with harming their relatives who are still in China in order to get concessions. Henry was afraid that he would hurt his mother if he associated with other Chinese in the U. S. 

I LOVED this novel! I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

Evil in Emerald

Evil in Emerald is the 3rd installment of Alison Stuart's Harriet Gordon Mysteries. The series takes place in Singapore in the early 1900s. Some of you may remember the first two books in the series Singapore Sapphire and Revenge in Rubies. Most historical mystery fans read Singapore Sapphire when it was published in 2019 and loved it. I read many glowing reviews of this novel as well as the sequel.

In Evil in Emerald Harriet turns to volunteering in local plays as an outlet from her work. She has been enjoying the rehearsals for her role in the Singapore Amateur Dramatic and Musical Society’s latest production – Pirates of Penzance. However, Harriet quickly discovers tensions among the staff of the theatre company. When the leading man is found murdered, suspicions abound, exposing scandalous behavior as well as some insidious crimes. Inspector Robert Curran once again turns to his friend Harriet for help with the case. Curren's own life soon begins to unravel when a mysterious man turns up on his doorstep claiming to know more about Curran’s past than he himself knows. After Curran hears some devastating news, the line between his personal and professional life begins to blur. Now, more than ever, Curran needs Harriet’s steadfast assistance. When another cast member is found dead Curran and Harriet hurry their investigation to find the killer before a third person dies.

Harriet's character has an interesting background. She is a widow who survived a typhus epidemic in India and an incarceration in Britain for her suffragette activities. This past is not part of the mysteries that she solves but it shows how she grew into an independent woman with insight into the human psyche. When she was released from prison Harriet sailed to Singapore to help her minister brother with his school for children.

Evil in Emerald is the perfect whodunit. I love that the murdered body of Tony Dowling was found in the first pages of the story so that the remainder of the story can be about finding the killer. When Inspector Robert Curran of the Straits Settlements Police Force Detective Division begins to investigate, he relies on amateur sleuth Harriet Gordon who works part time for him as a typist. Curran has come to rely on her for advice and assistance with his investigations as she has proven herself adept at finding clues in the past. Her friendships on the island always prove fruitful when gathering information.

One interesting thing that I like about this series is that all of the characters are strong.  They have interesting backgrounds too, which can come into play in future books in the series. The author has a footnote at the end of the story advising that the fourth book in the series will not take place in Singapore but rather on the Malay Peninsula. It's always tricky to move the locale of a series so I hope the writing goes well.

As with her prior novels, author A. M. Stuart has created a Pinterest board for Evil in Emerald that is worth checking out. Here she has pinned photos of 1910 beach wear, several railway stations, street style, portraits of women, and grand mansions in Singapore. Stuart also has a Pinterest page for the Harriet Gordon Mysteries which includes cars, trains, maps, and costumes as well as separate boards for Harriet and Curran. 

5 out of 5 stars!

The Opus Dictum

The Opus Dictum is the 2nd Vatican Secret Archives Thriller by Gary McAvoy. He previously wrote the Magdalen Chronicles trilogy but all of the characters in the Magdalen Chronicles are also in the Vatican Secret Archives series. McAvoy stated on his website that the Vatican series is a sequel to the Magdalen series and recommends that readers start his books with his first, The Madgalen Deception. If I had known this, I would have started reading his books in order.  However, I just discovered him as an author in January 2022 when I read The Vivaldi Cipher. In April 2022 McAvoy will have his 6th book published called The Petrus Prophecy. He is a promising new author and likes to write religious thrillers. 

The publisher's summary:

In 1982, Roberto Calvi, known as “God’s Banker,” was discovered hanging under London’s Blackfriars Bridge. What wasn’t found was the briefcase he was known to have had with him the night before, reportedly stuffed with incriminating documents, a special key, and a computer disk filled with codes, which together unlock a piece of the Vatican's troubled past.

When the briefcase mysteriously reappears in the Vatican Secret Archives, Father Michael Dominic and his team—Hana, Marco, Karl, Lukas, the feisty young nun Sister Teri, and Dominic’s new assistant, Ian—are up against two powerful and enigmatic organizations, Opus Deus and the ultra-secret, outlawed Masonic Lodge P2, who savagely fight for control of the briefcase and its contents. Their goal? To carry out one of the most dangerous conspiracies the Church has ever faced—all happening during an unexpected conclave to elect a new pope.

From Rome, Italy, to Geneva, Switzerland, join Dominic and friends as they fend off plotters, kidnappers, and blackmailers who have threaded their way into Vatican politics for decades, in a conspiracy known as The Opus Dictum.

I enjoyed this book immensely. When the Dictum was first mentioned at the midway point, I remembered what the story was supposed to be about. I have to question why it took so long to introduce the main thrust of the plot. Aside from this, the story was still entertaining and kept me reading until the quiet hours of the night. 

The characters were fully developed and interesting. The villains provided all the suspense a good thriller needs. With several characters being villains, it was hard to know which one was going to be the main one but having several ratcheted up the suspense a notch. 

The scientific methods used to decode documents was fascinating. I had never heard of steganography before. With steganography you can hide messages in digital images that the human eye cannot see. There are several other scientific tools used by the characters in the story. It gave authenticity to their pursuit of either good or evil.

A great read! 5 out of 5 stars.

Island Queen

When I initially saw this novel for sale on Amazon I was not sure whether I wanted to buy it. However, I did get it and I am glad that I read it. It is the fascinating, true life story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a free black woman who rose from slavery to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in the colonial West Indies. At 592 pages, the book qualifies as a selection for the Chunkster Challenge.

The publisher's summary:  

Born into slavery on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat, Doll bought her freedom—and that of her sister and her mother—from her Irish planter father and built a legacy of wealth and power as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and planter that extended from the marketplaces and sugar plantations of Dominica and Barbados to a glittering luxury hotel in Demerara on the South American continent.

Vanessa Riley’s novel brings Doll to vivid life as she rises above the harsh realities of slavery and colonialism by working the system and leveraging the competing attentions of the men in her life: a restless shipping merchant, Joseph Thomas; a wealthy planter hiding a secret, John Coseveldt Cells; and a roguish naval captain who will later become King William IV of England.

From the bustling port cities of the West Indies to the forbidding drawing rooms of London’s elite, Island Queen is a sweeping epic of an adventurer and a survivor who answered to no one but herself as she rose to power and autonomy against all odds, defying rigid eighteenth-century morality and the oppression of women as well as people of color. It is an unforgettable portrait of a true larger-than-life woman who made her mark on history.

The story began when Dorothy was five-years-old. It started out slow but picked up when Dorothy was 18. At that point I couldn't put the book down. There were a couple of unsavory sections where Dorothy or another female family member were being raped and/or referred to with racist and sexist language. The book is not for everyone but it does tell a part of history that we don't usually hear about. I was surprised at how easily and quickly Dorothy was able to save money to buy herself and several family members freedom from their slave owners. This ease seemed wrong from the history that I have been told over the years. Her ability to get away with talking back to her white owners did not feel right to me either. Perhaps she was able because she lived in the Caribbean. I am not sure. Dorothy was able to build several businesses and became one of the most wealthy women in the Caribbean. It would be interesting to find out whether this was a norm or an anomaly for black women in the Caribbean during the early 1800s. 

Dorothy pushed her daughters to marry white men. She prospered off of these relationships but perhaps her motivation was just to ensure that her children had food to eat. These white husbands had the power of manumission and this was one way for Dorothy to keep her descendants free people. The language used in the book took some getting used to. The West Indies dialect as well as the Irish words used by the white slave owners was very hard to get used to. Most of this language was used in the first half of the book. It got alot better in the second half.  With all of these issues in my mind I am still thinking to myself about my feelings about the novel. There are many questions that the Author's Note does not answer.

3 out of 5 stars.

Hotel Portofino

I had high hopes for Hotel Portofino. The beautiful cover attracted me to pick it up but that old adage, don't judge a book by it's cover, seems appropriate. I just didn't care for the story. The plot premise was good, which was another reason why I borrowed it from my local library. The story revolves around a British family who opens an upper class hotel on the Italian Rivera during the 1920s. After only being open a few weeks, owner Bella Ainsworth is struggling to deal with a pile of problems. Her high society clientele are demanding and Bella is targeted by a corrupt politician. When her marriage falls apart Bella doesn't think she can handle any more adversity but it keeps on coming.

I had difficulty becoming interested in the book from its opening pages. I thought that once I knew who all of the characters were that it would get better. It didn't. Other reviewers have said that the story is similar to Downton Abbey and I think Hotel Portofino might make a great movie like Downton because it is high on atmosphere. However, it falls short as a novel. There was not much action and even that beautiful setting couldn't keep me interested.

Unfortunately, this one a little dull. 2 out of 5 stars.

Fast Girls

Fast Girls tells the story of the 1936 US women's olympic athletics team, a timely historical fiction novel given we have just watched the Beijing Olympics last month. The story actually begins with the 1928 women's athletics team and continues on to the 1932 team before getting to the main storyline. The athletes featured in the book are from real life. Betty Robinson, Helen Stephens and Babe Dickrickson are the best known. I was surprised that several of these women were from the Chicago south suburbs. I grew up there and loved seeing news articles from a local high school. What surprised me was that the school was integrated. 

Half of the book covers the 1928 and 1932 Olympics. The last half deals with the 1936 Olympics in Hitler's Germany. Louise Stokes was black and not welcome in the Third Reich but none of the others really were either. Because these Americans were expected to win gold, their German hosts did their best to tire them with activities. Their rooms were also rather cold. Helen had a meeting with Hitler that terrified her. She wrote in her diary that he groped her in front of a group of people and wanted to see her privately. Her coach led her to safety. I was astonished that the host country's leaders would behave in this manner. However, haven't we all recently read how the Chinese government publicly excoriated American athletes of Chinese descent? The athletes were told that they should have competed for China. Nathan Chen was told by government leaders to leave China after his gold medal skate. He refused.

The novel covers many races that these ladies participated in over an eight year time span. While there is alot of political drama, Fast Girls is basically a sports story. 

5 out of 5 stars.