With the first few paragraphs of Sea of Shadows by Amy Maroney the reader steps into the reality of fifteenth century Rhodes – the heat and shadows, the swirl of myriad scents and colours, the bustle of the city and the port, the people drawn from countless nations, all under the control of the of … Continue reading Book Review – Sea of Shadows by Amy Maroney
Book reviews
Book Review – Father by Allan Hudson
Father, by Canadian writer Allan Hudson, is set during World War 2 and follows the experiences of Tanner Hill from 1942 through to his return home after the war. This novella starts with a prologue detailing the arrival of two Hill brothers in Canada in the 1840s and the lives they build for themselves in … Continue reading Book Review – Father by Allan Hudson
Book Review – Private Prosecution by Lisa Ellery
Andrew ‘Drew’ Deacon is a junior prosecutor with a bright future with the Western Australian Department of Public Prosecutions. After a chance meeting at the pub, he spends the night with Lily Consadine. The next morning, Lily still sleeping, Drew leaves behind a note with his phone number. Later in the day, Lily is found … Continue reading Book Review – Private Prosecution by Lisa Ellery
Book Review – From the Drop of Heaven by Juliette Godot
From the Drop of Heaven by Juliette Godot is an engrossing and unsettling story set in the Salm region of France in the late 16th century. It begins against the background of the ascendancy of Calvinists in Geneva and the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre in Paris setting the scene for the dissentions, religious rivalries and … Continue reading Book Review – From the Drop of Heaven by Juliette Godot
Book Review – An Independent Heart by Elizabeth Grant
An Independent Heart by Elizabeth Grant begins in at the very end of January 1814 with Captain Justin Sumners arriving in a wintery England after serving five years in Spain during the Peninsular War, including seven recent months spent as a captive. He is the second son of Lord Hawksfield but, with his elder brother’s … Continue reading Book Review – An Independent Heart by Elizabeth Grant
Book Review – The Kings Inquisitor by Tonya Ulynn Brown
The Kings Inquisitor by Tonya Ulynn Brown opens in December 1590 with James VI and his childhood friend William Broune making their way at dusk through the noisesome streets of Edinburgh in the company of a witch-pricker. In a dank room reeking of evil and cruelty at the Edinburgh’s gaol, the Tollbooth, David Seaton, Deputy … Continue reading Book Review – The Kings Inquisitor by Tonya Ulynn Brown
Book Review – The Angel of Goliad by Jean M Roberts
The Angel of Goliad begins in Houston, Texas in the present day when Magda O’Toole, an investigative journalist, wakes from a four month coma following a fall from a ladder and is stunned to discover that she can now speak Spanish. On her return home, she finds a package from Matamoros, Mexico waiting for her. … Continue reading Book Review – The Angel of Goliad by Jean M Roberts
Book Review – The Flight of the Heron by D.K. Broster
The first book of historical fiction that I clearly remember reading was The Flight of the Heron by D.K. Broster. My father gave me a copy for my twelfth birthday. It was a book he had read years before and loved. And he re-read it once I had finished. The story begins in Scotland in … Continue reading Book Review – The Flight of the Heron by D.K. Broster
Book Review – The Master of Measham Hall by Anna Abney
The Master of Measham Hall by Anna Abney begins in London in 1665 where Great Plague already is taking hold. It is only five years since the restoration of the monarchy and the divisions that brought about the Civil War still exist beneath a thin veneer of conformity. Althea Hawthorne, a young gentlewoman, has been … Continue reading Book Review – The Master of Measham Hall by Anna Abney
Book Review – The Fall of the House of Thomas Weir by Andrew Neil MacLeod
‘… I have often said that when you have eliminated the natural, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the supernatural.’ - Dr Samuel Johnson The Fall of the House of Thomas Weir by Andrew Neil MacLeod begins with Alexander Boyle, the rational nightwatchman of Greyfriars Kirkyard, the place with the reputation of the most haunted … Continue reading Book Review – The Fall of the House of Thomas Weir by Andrew Neil MacLeod
Catherine Meyrick 