Tag Archives: historical fiction

#BookReview ‘The Rebel’s Mark’ by SW Perry @swperry_history #historical #crime

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The Rebel’s Mark is fifth in the addictive Jackdaw Mysteries series by SW Perry in which intrepid doctor Nicholas Shelby and his apothecary wife Bianca are sent to Ireland where Irish rebels fight the English. What an adventure it is, full of Elizabethan politics, religious division, spying, kidnapping, fighting, the cunning of some clever women and a shipwreck. SW PerryThe story starts in 1598 with the shipwreck. A Spanish ship founders on Irish rocks and most aboard are lost, if not drowned they are murdered by the English soldiers who stumble on the wreck. Two women escape. Exactly why a Spanish ship should be so far from home is a mystery.
Robert Cecil, Secretary of State to Elizabeth I, sends Nicholas to Ireland to join Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, commander of the English army, but also as a spy. Bianca refuses to be separated from her husband and Nicholas gains permission for her to travel as part of the medical team. Their young son Bruno stays at home at the Jackdaw tavern, cared for by his mother’s landlady Rose and her husband Ned Monkton. Nicholas’ secret task is to meet with poet Edmund Spenser, he of the Faerie Queene. Spenser is annoyingly tight-lipped. There are many personality clashes which add to the divisive politics of the time. Essex hates Cecil. One of Essex’s commanders is a former admirer of Bianca and therefore sets against Nicholas. Who knows whose side Spenser is really on. How is the shipwreck connected to Anglo-Irish politics. And what of the Irish rebels, ‘men in fur pelts and broacloth gowns sit upon shaggy ponies’ led by the enigmatic Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone.
As always the story moves along at a cracking pace. Nicholas and Bianca both get into trouble and have their separate adventures while at home in Bankside, stolid Ned becomes curious about the murder of a young man and starts to ask awkward questions.
I’m loving this series. To get the most out of it, start with the first The Angel’s Mark.

Here are my reviews of the other books in the series:-
THE ANGEL’S MARK #1JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SERPENT’S MARK #2JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SARACEN’S MARK #3JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE HERETIC’S MARK #4JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SINNER’S MARK #6JACKDAWMYSTERIES

And a new #WW2 series:
BERLIN DUET #1HARRYTAVERNER

If you like this, try:-
‘The Lady of the Ravens’ by Joanna Hickson #1QUEENSOFTHETOWER
‘The Forgotten Sister’ by Nicola Cornick
‘The Instrumentalist’ by Harriet Constable

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Clown Town by Mick Herron

#BookReview ‘A Good Deliverance’ by Toby Clements #historicalfiction

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A Good Deliverance by Toby Clements is many things, many stories. A story of one man’s life. Of the writing of a great courtly chronicle. Of wins and losses on foreign battlefields. Of the relationship of an imprisoned old man and the young boy who brings his food. Above all, it is about the power of story. Toby ClementsThe prison confession of Sir Thomas Malory, writer of Le Morte d’Arthur, husband, father, landowner, soldier, courtier, politician and hopeless romantic, is wittily told, bringing a new perspective to the Wars of the Roses. Thomas, an admirer of knightly tales, honorable battles, courtly love, is in his fifties when he is arrested and imprisoned at Newgate jail. These are times of political and civil unrest. His offence is unknown to him and while expecting the step of his lawyer bringing news of a pardon, he awaits his execution. The person he sees most frequently is the twelve year old son of the prison warder. This boy brings his food twice a day, he also brings gossip and curiosity. And so in his tales to this boy, Malory tells the story of his life.
For a story that essentially takes place within four walls, this is a dynamic book that I didn’t want to put down. Clements has created a fictional character from a real man of whom little is known. Historians have a variety of possible noblemen who may have been the real Malory and this gives Clements plenty of room to create a character full of love, of conflict, of ambition often misjudged or misplaced, and of optimism. His life has been a perilous one full of sieges and battles in foreign countries, of disputes with unworthy lords, of brushes with royalty, of falling in love, sometimes unwisely. It is in short an echo of the courtly tales of love and honour surrounding King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The prison boy, desperate for Malory to get to the tale about fighting at Agincourt alongside King Henry V, is treated to retellings of tourneys and swords, of ships and duels and strange lands. He also learns his letters.
When the boy is absent at his duties, Malory’s story continues chronologically for the reader as the bits between the battles and feuds are retold. The pile of papers in his coffer demonstrates that Malory is rewriting the legends of Arthur, Lancelot etc. As he tidies, amends, obfuscates, shortens and lengthens the Arthurian myths, how, we should wonder, is he editing his own life story and why. To make it more entertaining for the boy, to gild his own legacy, to prove his innocence of whatever crime of which he is accused.
This is a funny, clever, entertaining story about a well-known period of English history, told from an unusual perspective. In Malory, Clements has created a sympathetic character who means the best but often fails to live up to his own dreams.
Engaging. Entertaining. Unusual.
PS. Despite the sudden ending, this is rumoured to be the first of two books about Thomas Malory.

Read my reviews of the Kingmaker novels by Toby Clements:-
WINTER PILGRIMS #1KINGMAKER
BROKEN FAITH #2KINGMAKER
DIVIDED SOULS #3KINGMAKER
KINGDOM COME #4KINGMAKER

If you like this, try:-
‘Cecily’ by Annie Garthwaite
‘A Column of Fire’ by Ken Follett #3KINGSBRIDGE
‘The King’s Messenger’ by Susanna Kearsley 

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Helena Dixon

#BookReview ‘The Instrumentalist’ by Harriet Constable #historicalfiction #Venice

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18th century Venice. A baby is posted through a hole in the wall at Ospedale della Pietà, a hospital for orphaned girls. She is one of many left there, mostly by sex workers. They are fed, educated and, if they have the aptitude, they learn a musical instrument. The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable imagines the life story of Anna Maria della Pietà. Harriet ConstableBased on a real violinist, Anna sees musical notes as colours swooping, swirling, dancing. She believes fiercely that she is special but this ferocity also makes her vulnerable. In her relationship with her music master she is looking for musical success but secretly hopes to find a father-figure. Unnamed, I assume the maestro to be Antonio Vivaldi. Little is known about the real Anna Maria and this frees Constable to imagine her life, her successes, failures, challenges and betrayals.
Anna is a precocious violinist at the age of eight, her ambition and zeal to succeed is familiar nowadays but I’m not sure how typical it was for an orphan in 18th century Venice. The language occasionally drifts into modern-day vocabulary and grammar. Understanding that her life can only be changed if she joins the figlie di coro, the ospedale‘s orchestra, Anna Maria becomes accomplished at playing the violin and in musical composition. There are riches to be gained when the orchestra performs, donations to the ospedale from wealthy donors, gifts for the performers. The stakes are high, girls who fail are quickly married off. Friends are sacrificed.
In places, the writing is indulgent; repetitive description is pretty but doesn’t move the story along. Two-thirds through is a different phase showing the real Venice and the dirt and injustice beneath the wealth and beauty. The perfume made of jasmine distilled in pig fat, used for a week before being discarded. The hand-made lace cuffs and handkerchiefs made in a sweatshop. Shimmering red silk and the red blood of a newly killed piglet. A reminder of the binary life of girls at the ospedale; gifts and benefits come with musical excellence, musical failure means housework, training in lacework, laundry or being sold into marriage.
An intense novel set within a constricted building in a city that is at once beautiful and threatening. Every baby girl left at the ospedale must find a way to survive in an unforgiving world but will always wonder if her mother will return to her. I finished The Instrumentalist wishing the story was broader, focussing equally on the three childhood friends, Anna Maria, Paulina and Agata and not just on Anna Maria.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Glassmaker’ by Tracy Chevalier
‘City of Masks’ by SD Sykes #3OSWALDDELACY
‘The Garden of Angels’ by David Hewson

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Abir Mukherjee

#BookReview ‘Tyrant’ by Conn Iggulden #historicalfiction #RomanEmpire

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Wow. Tyrant, book two of the Nero trilogy by Conn Iggulden, doesn’t disappoint. An ageing emperor who appeases his younger wife. A fatherless son, wild and untameable. His ruthless mother, single-minded, unscrupulous, determined her son should rule. This is the story of Nero’s ascent to the most powerful seat of all. Conn IgguldenIn his portrayal of Roman history, Iggulden’s writing bears his research lightly. Never once did I sense a fact included superfluously, everything was there for a reason. Where historical accounts are thin, Iggulden adds his own fictional interpretation. The result is a gripping story of political machinations not unfamiliar to today’s global governments, where ambition and dominion drive everything; loyalty is fragile, words have double meanings, while at the heart of it all are money and power.
Where Nero was the story of Agrippina, Tyrant is the story of her son Lucius, now re-named Nero. A headstrong teenager, Nero is out of control. His mother persuades her husband Emperor Claudius, and now Nero’s adoptive father, to name Nero as his heir in place of his natural son Britannicus who is the butt of Nero’s ridicule. An education is arranged at the hands of statesman and dramatist Seneca and praetorian Burrus.
A combination of political power struggles, subterfuge, a spot of teenage shoplifting and reckless charioteering, Tyrant shows Rome at its bloodiest and most dangerous. Plenty of plot twists, betrayals and plotting set against excessive wealth. I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of the naumachia, a naval battle in a flooded amphitheatre between ships crewed by prisoners of war. I was willing on Caractacus; first seen in Nero, as king of the Catuvellauni in Britain he fought the Romans many times but was captured and taken to Rome as a prisoner. He provides an interesting comparison on the nature of leadership, responsibility and power.
Conn Iggulden’s portrayal of Nero is compelling, despite the darkness, brutality and often insanity of the story. It’s a tribute to his storytelling that the writing does not descend into hyperbole. Tyrant is the story of Nero from boy to man, as he breaks free of the influence of his mother. A really entertaining read.
The final book of the trilogy is Inferno.

Read my review of NERO, first instalment of Conn Iggulden’s ‘Nero’ trilogy

If you like this, try:-
‘The Beasts of Paris’ by Stef Penney
‘The Last Hours’ by Minette Walters #1BlackDeath
‘The Lost Lights of St Kilda’ by Elisabeth Gifford

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- William Boyd

#BookReview ‘The Angel in the Glass’ by Alys Clare #historical #mystery

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Stained glass. Shameful secrets. Rumours of wolves and shadows. Dissolution. The Angel in the Glass is second in the Gabriel Tavernier historical mystery series by Alys Clare. I really enjoyed the first, A Rustle of Silk, and was looking forward to reading more about Gabe, rural doctor and amateur investigator. I wasn’t disappointed. Alys Clare
Three disconnected events occur early in the story. Two young brothers go exploring and find jewels hidden in a tangled copse on a farmer’s land; the resulting fight between the farmer and the boy’s father causes uproar. The body of a vagrant is found on the edge of the moors. And Jonathan Carew, vicar of St Luke’s church, has a strange episode in the middle of his Sunday sermon; he goes pale and stares at something that isn’t there.
Coroner Theophilius Davey calls on local doctor Gabriel Taverner to examine the corpse. Slender, fair-haired, skeletal, diseased, Gabe says the man likely died of natural causes. The body is locked in the cellar of an empty house near Theo’s house while he and his assistant Jarman Hodge investigate his identity. They make little progress apart from accumulating a collection of strange stories; a black shadow seen here, a wolf there, and servants gossip about a loiterer seen at Wrenbeare, once a fine large house but now dirty and unkempt. When Theo and Gabe ride out to Wrenbeare to interview the widow, Lady Clemence Fairlight denies there was an intruder. But her youngest daughter Denyse screams and says she saw a dead body. And she continues screaming. Who is telling the truth? What secrets lurk at Wrenbeare?
The story starts in 1604. After decades of religious change, persecution and crisis, England has settled into a fragile calm under King James I. In The Angel in the Glass, Clare explores the continuing impact of Henry VII’s Act of Legacy, foundation of the Church of England and the dissolution of the monasteries, via a return to Protestantism under Edward VI and Catholicism with Queen Mary Tudor, returning to Protestantism again with Queen Elizabeth I. The turmoil of the preceding years lies shallow beneath the soil of the village Tavy St Luke’s and at Rosewyke, the warm country house which is home to Gabe and his widowed sister Celia.
I enjoy historical mysteries but some are long and wide-ranging. In future when I need a shorter read, I will turn to Alys Clare whose books are concise but still detailed and intriguing. At 240 pages, The Angel in the Glass is a puzzling, quick read. The plot moves forward on every page, there are no wasted words, with rounded characters, twisty plot and a returning cast of villagers.
Quickly becoming a favourite series of mine. The next Gabriel Taverner book is The Indigo Ghosts.

Here are my reviews of other novels in this series:-
A RUSTLE OF SILK #1GABRIELTAVERNER
THE INDIGO GHOSTS #3GABRIELTAVERNER
MAGIC IN THE WEAVE #4GABRIELTAVERNER

If you like this, try:-
‘The Fair Fight’ by Anna Freeman
‘Three Sisters, Three Queens’ by Philippa Gregory
‘Broken Faith’ by Toby Clements #2KINGMAKER

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Josie Ferguson

#BookReview ‘The Armour of Light’ by Ken Follett @KMFollett #historical #Kingsbridge

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It is 1792 and a weaving revolution is taking place in Kingsbridge while across the Channel, the deadly French Revolution is well underway. The Armour of Light by Ken Follett, fifth in the Kingsbridge historical series (starting with prequel The Evening and The Morning), begins with a horrific accident. When Sal Clitheroe’s husband dies, she and her small son Kit move to Kingsbridge and so set in motion a chain of events leading to the Battle of Waterloo. Ken Follett
As the 18th century turns into the 19th, this is a story of great change as Britain industrialises and hovers on the brink of war, and both workers and ruling classes of Kingsbridge are affected. Kingsbridge, now a city so much more than simply a cathedral, is still recognisable from the earlier novels. Sal and her fellow workers at the spinning and weaving mills become embroiled in a power struggle with the mill owners, as first the spinning jenny and then other machines are introduced. Jobs are lost, hours are reduced, dissenters are flogged and strike-busting labourers are hired from Ireland.
The Armour of Light is a compelling story of the political times in England from 1792 to 1824 told through the eyes of Sal and Kit; yarn supplier’s son Amos Barrowfield; weaver David Shoveller or ‘Spade’; and alderman and mill owner Joseph Hornbeam. Adding to the tensions between the powerful and the downtrodden, war taxes raised to fund the battle against Napoleon mean shortages and rocketing prices. What’s more, young men are being grabbed off the street by press gangs. Kit is a key figure, growing from a child to an inventive engineer whose talents lead him on to the battlefield, bringing a youthful vigour and freshness to the age-old battles between the city cabal of powerful men and the new friendly society which stands up for the workers.
What an epic story this is, 745 pages long but I read it in five days. Not one to over-write, Follett’s prose is never flowery but always clear and dramatic. I always wanted to read just another chapter. A great continuation of the un-matched Kingsbridge series.

Click the titles to read my reviews of other Follett novels:-
THE EVENING AND THE MORNING #PREQUELKINGSBRIDGE
THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH #1KINGSBRIDGE
WORLD WITHOUT END #2 KINGSBRIDGE
A COLUMN OF FIRE #3 KINGSBRIDGE
NEVER

If you like this, try:-
‘The Lady of the Ravens’ by Joanna Hickson #1QUEENSOFTHETOWER
‘The Drowned City’ by KJ Maitland #1DANIELPURSGLOVE
‘The Warlow Experiment’ by Alix Nathan

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Verity Bright

#BookReview ‘The King’s Mother’ by Annie Garthwaite @anniegarthwaite #historical

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I couldn’t put down The King’s Mother. It’s the partner to Cecily by Annie Garthwaite, her re-telling of Cecily Neville, matriarch of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses. In the sequel she is now a widow, mother of King Edward IV and the dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, and still a powerhouse in a world of men. Annie GarthwaiteCecily Neville’s husband and eldest son are dead in battle, a battle won by her second son Edward who becomes king. This is the story of the mother of two kings, a woman unafraid to use her power, at the heart she is driven by family. She will do anything to protect her children, even when they are weak and wrong, even if it means waging war. The King’s Mother takes place as the War of the Roses transitions to the age of the Tudors. Edward becomes king at the age of 18, golden, feted, lusty and arrogant. No matter his mother’s plans for a geo-political marriage to benefit the country, the king falls for Elizabeth Woodville, a beautiful blonde from a lesser family. The relationship between the young queen and her mother-in-law is the spine of the novel.
The moral at the end is to never underestimate the power of maternal love and family loyalty. Garthwaite brings a new perspective to the telling of Richard III’s story, which is to be welcomed, and a bitter, grudgingly respectful, hateful battle between four mothers; Cecily, Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort and Marguerite of Anjou. It is a time of war, civil and European, and Garthwaite shows the role of the women behind the thrones and most powerful men in the lands. Never ignore the soft power of the wife’s voice and the strategic knowledge learned by playing chess.
So good. It’s a timeless story, totally gripping despite the fact we all know the ending.
And another beautiful cover design.

Here’s my review of CECILY, also by Annie Garthwaite

If you like this, try:-
‘The Other Gwyn Girl’ by Nicola Cornick 
‘Winter Pilgrims’ by Toby Clements #1KINGMAKER
‘A Rustle of Silk’ by Alys Clare #1GABRIELTAVERNER

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Ken Follett

#BookReview ‘The Book of Secrets’ by Anna Mazzola #historical #mystery

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The Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola is a dark tale of abuse, poison and the moral rights and wrongs of self-defensive murder in a male-dominated society. Anna MazzolaIt is Rome 1659 and there are rumours of funerals for men whose corpses have not decayed as expected. Young prosecutor Stefano Bracchi is commissioned by the Papal authorities to head an investigation. He has been recommended for the job by his father, who thinks Stefano is a weakling, and is egged on by his brothers who are bullies. Only his sister Lucia is a cautious, supportive voice. The journey made by Stefano in the course of his investigation is fascinating.
The story is told in two alternating strands; Stefano’s investigation, and the community of women headed by apothecary and midwife Girolama Spana whose band of women tell fortunes, sell face treatments, deliver babies, offer medical advice. And when occasionally confronted with a woman being abused, they sell bottles of ‘Aqua.’ Made from an ancient recipe passed through Girolama’s female relations, Aqua offers an escape for women trapped in a violent marriage, where they and their children are at risk, but for whom there is no protection under Roman law. Perhaps, though, Girolama has been selling rather more bottles than she used to.
It is a compelling cat-and-mouse story where I found myself rooting for one side and then the other, as Stefano edges closer to the truth I was willing Girolama on as she tied him in knots. The violence against women is shocking, especially in the extraction of confessions at the notorious Tor di Nona prison. But the law of murder in 17th century Rome makes no allowances in support of possible justification of the abused; it is a legal and philosophical argument that powers the story. Can murder every be right? Isn’t murder always murder? And of course because the suspected villains are women, the corpses look unnatural, and poison is suspected, they are also rumoured to be witches.
I would like to have read more from Marcello, the doctor attached to the inquisition who clearly is uncomfortable with the torture of witnesses, and also from some of the other women involved.
It’s a thought-provoking, dark and powerful novel. I was still thinking about it days after finishing it. A fictional telling of the true poisoning inquisition in Rome in 1656.

If you like this, try:-
‘Disobedient’ by Elizabeth Fremantle
‘Glorious Exploits’ by Ferdia Lennon
‘Shadows in the Ashes’ by Christina Courtenay

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Annie Garthwaite

#BookReview ‘Nero’ by Conn Iggulden #historicalfiction #RomanEmpire

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Nero, first in the eponymous trilogy, is the first Conn Iggulden novel I have read. Why did I wait so long? I thoroughly enjoyed it and am now awaiting Tyrant to continue the story. Conn IgguldenNero is the title of the book but Nero the person is not named until the end. It turns out that Nero is a Roman nickname. As this is the first of the trilogy there is a lot of background – family, historical, political, emotional – to establish. Nero features three Roman emperors; Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius. The emperor we know as Nero is a child, Julius, throughout this book until he is re-named. The spine of the story belongs to Agrippina, great-granddaughter of Emperor Augustus I, sister of three brothers including Emperor Caligula, and niece of Emperor Claudius. Their line goes back to Julius Caesar. Step by step, through two husbands, threat, fear, poverty and extreme wealth, Agrippina protects Julius, son of her first husband, guarding his right to become emperor.
I am no expert on Roman history, my knowledge of Claudius is limited to the 1970s television series I, Claudius, which I enjoyed when young and am now tempted to re-visit.
AD 37, Nero begins as Agrippina’s husband Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, Barbo the celebrity charioteer and grandson of Mark Anthony, rides into Rome to face punishment possibly death. He is accused of adultery with a senator’s wife. It is the first glimpse of Agrippina’s influence, courage and ambition; if Barbo runs for the hills she and her son will be killed in revenge, if he rides to Rome to face judgement then likely he will die but she and her son may survive. Tension is on every page. Women are key characters; the wives, sisters, daughters and mothers of the Roman male elite, are victims, seducers, allies, murderers and heroes.
Agrippina is formidable, admirable in her protection of her child and of their rights, intimidating in the methods she will use to achieve security, Machiavellian in her tactical flexibility. This is a wonderful character-driven drama with a woman at the core, set within the unpredictable, lethal, cut-throat male world of Roman politics. Being unaccustomed to Roman names, I found some confusing and complicated; a family tree would be helpful. It would also be good to see the viewpoints of other female characters – particularly Agrippina’s aunt Domitia Lepida, and Messalina the wife of Claudius – to deepen the plot and add tension.
Rome at the time of Nero can be summed up in three words: treachery, ambition, danger. And it all happens at the speed of light. I loved it.
Bring on Tyrant.

If you like this, try:-
‘Sparrow’ by James Hynes
‘Glorious Exploits’ by Ferdia Lennon
‘The Wolf Den’ by Elodie Harper #1WOLFDEN

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Fiona Leitch

#BookReview ‘James’ by Percival Everett #historical #slavery #HuckleberryFinn

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James by Percival Everett is a road trip, a meandering journey of a slave, Jim, as he flees persecution, afraid of being separated from his wife and daughter. As he travels, Jim sees a different world, a world where slaves are not always treated as chattels belonging to white men. Percival EverettA re-telling of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, James is Jim’s own story. It is wry, sometimes funny, sometimes violent, sometimes poignant. In 1861, when Jim hears he is about to be sold far away from his family, he runs from the town of Hannibal, Missouri and hides on nearby Jackson Island while he decides what to do next. He doesn’t expect to be found so quickly but found he is, by white teenager Huckleberry Finn who has run away from his violent father. And so, familiar from Twain’s novel, they begin a trip down the dangerous Mississippi River, hoping to find the Free States. They encounter friends, foes, tricksters, drunks, runaway slaves, and slaves who are happy to be enslaved. And then they are told there is a war between the North and the South, a war about the end of slavery.
Everett turns on its head the perception of the slave as uneducated, oppressed, a victim. When together, the slaves speak as their true selves, about emotions, love, politics, the natural world, everything that is life. But when with white people the slaves speak a dialect expected by the massas, speech that demonstrates their lack of education, ignorance, subservience, simple-mindedness. Everything the whites assume and expect. But Jim can read and write, he is well-read. In a fever-dream he is visited by the authors of books he has read; Voltaire, Rousseau, Locke. There are some twists; a slave who is so pale-skinned he can pass unnoticed amongst the white folk; a band of minstrels who don blackface to sing badly-composed slave songs; slaves who will betray a runaway to their white masters.
The winding circular structure to the story mirrors their geographical journey, putting Jim in the path of danger many times. Along the way, Everett examines the nature of morality, the hypocrisy of white masters who beat their slaves in the week and go to church on Sunday, the kindness of some strangers, the hatred of others.
James is a fascinating re-telling of a classic novel, at times uncomfortable, lacerating in its irony and punishment of the white owners. A novel I am glad to have read though I can’t honestly say it was enjoyable.

If you like this, try:-
‘My Name is Yip’ by Paddy Crewe
‘A Thousand Moons’ by Sebastian Barry
‘The Last Runaway’ by Tracy Chevalier

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Verity Bright