When discussing the aftermath of the Black Death, many general history books mention that it was an historical turning point which ultimately brought about the demise of the feudal system. With possibly up to 60% of the population of Europe dead from plague, labourers were in short supply and despite laws intended to freeze wages … Continue reading Book Review – Fortune’s Wheel by Carolyn Hughes
Book reviews
Book Review – Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
On 25 February 1862, following his death from typhoid, Willie Lincoln, the 11-year-old son of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, was buried in the family vault of Judge William Carroll in the Oak Hill cemetery in Georgetown. Lincoln in the Bardo takes place over several nights following his funeral. It begins with two … Continue reading Book Review – Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Book Review – Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell
London 1595 and Richard, younger brother of William Shakespeare is a player in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men where William is both playwright and a sharer (a senior member of the company who shared both its expenses and its profits). Richard’s arrival in London a few years earlier was not welcomed by William. He packed Richard … Continue reading Book Review – Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell
One Minute Book Review – Shakespeare’s Restless World by Neil MacGregor
In 2012 Neil MacGregor, then Director of the British Museum, gave a series of fifteen-minute talks on Radio 4 called Shakespeare's Restless World which took twenty objects from the late Elizabethan/early Jacobean period and examined them in detail, setting them not only in their historical setting, but also in that of Shakespeare’s plays. This book, … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – Shakespeare’s Restless World by Neil MacGregor
Book Review – Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
Into the Water opens with a disturbing scene – a young woman is bound by two or more men and drowned in icy water. There is no sense given of when this happened or who she is other than her name, Libby. So, from the very beginning there is an undercurrent of danger. The novel … Continue reading Book Review – Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
One Minute Book Review – The Lodger Shakespeare: His Life on Silver Street by Charles Nicholl
In 1612 William Shakespeare gave evidence in a case at the Court of Requests brought by Stephen Belott against the tire-maker, Christopher Mountjoy who was his father-in-law and with whom he had served an apprenticeship. Belott was suing Mountjoy for failure to pay in full the dowry promised when Belott had married Mountjoy's daughter Mary … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – The Lodger Shakespeare: His Life on Silver Street by Charles Nicholl
Book Review – Sumerford’s Autumn by Barbara Gaskell Denvil
Sumerford’s Autumn begins in 1497, twelve years after Henry VII won the crown of England by defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. The Earl of Sumerford, who fought on the wrong side, has been doing his best ever since to rehabilitate the family name and keep his family below notice of the king. … Continue reading Book Review – Sumerford’s Autumn by Barbara Gaskell Denvil
Book Review – Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell
First published in 1853, Ruth begins with sixteen-year-old Ruth Hilton, raised in a respectable loving family and newly orphaned, working for a seamstress in the town of Fordham. Beautiful, innocent and unworldly, she unwittingly attracts the attention of a wealthy young man, the feckless Henry Bellingham. When he convinces her to let him take her … Continue reading Book Review – Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell
Book Review – The Wild Air by Rebecca Mascull
The Wild Air begins in 1909 with the arrival in Cleethorpes of fourteen-year-old Cordelia 'Della' Dobbs' great Auntie Betty, after 20 years spent in America. Della is plain, silent and shy, but discovers a kindred spirit in her Auntie Betty who has an interest in engineering and manned flight in particular, having seen the Wright … Continue reading Book Review – The Wild Air by Rebecca Mascull
Book Review – First Person by Richard Flanagan
First Person is a first person narrative set in the early 1990s in the depths of the ‘recession we had to have’. Kif Kehlmann, an aspiring writer, is struggling both financially and artistically. He lives in a rundown house in Hobart with his wife Suzy who is expecting twins, and their three year old daughter. … Continue reading Book Review – First Person by Richard Flanagan
Catherine Meyrick 