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 Misha, an aristocratic young officer in the Russian army, returns to his hometown after the Revolution to discover that everything in his life has changed. Tonya, a nurse from a poor family, is dubious regarding the Revolution which is intended to benefit her and her family. Unexpectedly, Misha and Tonya meet and fall in love. Misha’s situation is so difficult, however, that he eventually is conscripted into the army and must flee Russia. Thirty years later, both Misha and Tonya have survived the world wars, but they have suffered and changed drastically. When they realize that they both may be in Berlin, they struggle to find one another, hoping at long last that they may be able to seize happiness.
I had this book on my shelf for 2 years and 2 months before I read it, which now seems very silly to me. Why did I wait so long? It was surprisingly good and entertaining. The love story of Misha and Tonya is very nice, but the real draw of this book is the atmosphere and the history, at least for me. Both characters spend time in concentration and labor camps, are separated from their families, and devastated by these wars. It’s incredible how difficult it is for them and even more so that they survived; I can’t imagine how hard this must have been for people in reality. As a result, the fictional lives of Misha and Tonya are gripping.
While the prose is merely competent, it fails to matter as the story sweeps the reader away, although it does feel awkward at certain points. The blurb on the front of my copy says, “An epic tale of love, war, separation and hope”, which describes this story perfectly. Each character has loved many others, has lived a life for thirty years, married another, and in general put the pieces together by themselves. They may have been happy that way. World War II, however, destroyed their lives yet again, and with everyone else they loved absent, they find solace only in the idea of each other; that by returning to where they started, perhaps they can rediscover joy in their lives.
Certainly the greatest asset this book has is in its characters, Misha in particular. He is somewhat idealized, an aristocrat who is actually noble and is willing to work with his hands, but he is easy to love. His desperate search, his creativity, and his love for all those around him make him a compelling person. It’s easy to see why Tonya loves him; her character changes more over the course of the novel as she endures hardship after hardship. By the end, I was rooting for them to find each other and finally be happy.
I very much enjoyed this historical novel. I generally prefer an older setting than the 20th century, but it would be hard to go wrong with this lovely, moving work of fiction. It isn’t going to change the world, but it is worth your time.
Amazon UK
 It’s 1914. Tensions are about to erupt in Europe. John Somerville, however, has problems of his own to worry about. He’s excavating what he believes to be a forgotten Assyrian palace in Mesopotamia, part of the gigantic Ottoman Empire. Unluckily for him, the Germans are coming with a railroad that will go right through Tell Erdek, his precious site, the excavation of which he has self-financed for three years in a desperate bid to make a name for himself. Along with him is his younger colleague, Palmer, who has a passion for ancient writing; his wife Christine, who thrives on Somerville’s enthusiasm and purity of passion; Patricia, a grad student who is at the forefront of the feminist movement and very outspoken; and Jehar, an Arab man who feeds Somerville information in exchange for the gold to win him the love of his life. Into this mess arrives Elliott, an American geologist masquerading as an archaeologist to gain information about oil. Every character’s loyalties are tested as tensions escalate not only between European powers but at the excavation site itself.
I’d heard, before starting this book, that others really struggled with it, abandoning it and giving it away. I thought it was going to be terrible. Once again, I put it off. When I finally did read it, I could see in some cases what those who disliked this book thought about it. For one thing, it’s quite political. A lot of time is spent discussing the importance of the oil and the conflicts between the countries who are racing to get it. Nor are all the characters likeable. Christine spends time feeling disdainful towards Patricia because she is too outspoken. The mere idea that women could vote shocks Christine, who desires nothing more than to spend her life supporting a powerful and influential man. Can you tell that Christine made me gag a little? Okay, a lot.
On the bright side, though, despite its faults I found myself loving the book. I have to say being an aspiring historian and secret fan of the exciting part of archaeology really helped me in that. If I didn’t feel as excited about Somerville’s discovery as he did, the book would have totally fallen flat for me. There is something fascinating about pulling history out of the ground and this is just what Somerville is doing and what he’s passionate about. How could I not love a guy like him? This is even if he is a bit uncertain about himself, especially given that it’s hard to blame him. As soon as he realized that there was something amazing down there, I was hooked.
I also found this book incredibly politically relevant. I’m often irritated that so many of the problems in the Middle East have to do with European powers stepping in and carving up arbitrary countries for their own benefit. Here we have a novel that is set just as this is happening; we have a character who is unearthing the enthralling past of these areas which are now war-torn from intervention and internal turmoil and conflict. And hardly for the last time, it is all about oil. While set firmly in the past, this book also sheds light on how we got to this point in history ourselves. I think it also shows how our disregard for history leads us to repeat the mistakes we have made over and over again.
In conclusion, this is definitely a book worth reading. I highly recommend it, especially to those who love history and/or secretly wish they could be on Time Team. While I wait for that day to come, I’ll be seeking out more of Barry Unsworth’s works.
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 In 1940, Greek geologist Athos was digging in a war-stricken Polish city when a small boy emerged from the mud; no one realized that he was alive until he started to cry. Jakob was only seven years old and his entire family had been taken and probably killed by the Nazis. Athos decides to risk his own life by taking the boy home to Greece, where they settle, hide, starve, but begin to know each other and develop a relationship and education. We follow Jakob into adulthood, watching him write poetry that reflects their haunted past as well as their uncertain future.
This book may have been slightly too literary for me. I loved the idea of the story but I’m never all that fond of books told in abstracts. Perhaps I read it too soon after The English Patient, which I still haven’t found the words to review; both books are similar in their slow exploration of the effects of war on people’s psyche and in their meandering focus on people rather than plot. I’m not sure I’m always in a mood for such a read. A week later, however, I find myself pondering this book, wondering about Jakob.
Jakob’s transition from lost and lonely boy to educated, confident, loving man is quite a fascinating one. We first witness Jakob’s life, then the life of another man who is significantly influenced by him and by the war. There are multiple threads running through the novel; perhaps the most important, I felt, were the bonds of love. Jakob loves Athos; he loves his wives; he loves his parents and perhaps most especially, he loves his lost sister Bella, who he manages to carry in his heart throughout his life.
I was a bit perplexed by the addition of the second character in the final 100 pages of the book. I wasn’t as interested in him as I was in Jakob. I can see the parallels between them and I understand the effect of showing the significance Jakob had after his death, but I felt there were unanswered questions and I wanted the answers. This book would be better read with other people in order to think and discuss more closely its literary significance. I’m sure there is a great deal here that I am not picking up on my own. I’m planning to read it again and see what I can find the next time.
Available via Indiebound, Powell’s, Amazon, and Amazon UK.
 From the back cover:
John, Duke of Bedford, grew to manhood fighting for his father, King Henry IV of England, on the wild and lawless Northern Marches. He was a prince of the royal blood, loyal, strong, and the greatest ally that his brother – the future Henry V – was to have. Filled with the clash of bitter rivalries and deadly power struggles, this is Georgette Heyer’s last and most ambitious novel, bringing to life a character and a period she found irresistibly attractive.
I really wanted to like this novel. I went into it expecting to like it. I have really enjoyed the other works that I’ve read by Georgette Heyer and as you all know, I love historical fiction. I just could not love this book, though, much as I tried.
First there is the language. Heyer appears to have really tried to write this novel in the language of the fifteenth century. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work the way she intended. Instead, it feels stilted and unfamiliar, even to one who has spent hours trying to figure out what fifteenth century people meant when they used all these words that have fallen out of the language or when they used words which don’t mean what they now mean. I think the fifty to seventy-five years in between my work and this book make a difference because these are unquestionably proper words, but I was unfamiliar with them and they make the book a slow, slow read.
If a reader of this book has no knowledge of the history or people involved, it will constitute even more of a struggle. Even though I have a fairly comprehensive knowledge of Henry IV’s reign, I had to refer to the family tree several times and even wished I’d taken notes so I could keep track of the various names used to refer to one person. This is the first instance that I’ve wished for a character list, which I’ve seen in a few fantasy novels, just so I could remember who people were.
Those two problems combined with the fact that this book has no real plot and is merely a meandering through history, which isn’t even complete, made this book a slow one for me. In the end, I didn’t see the point. I didn’t find it enjoyable and I wasn’t searching for a resolution to a story because I knew there wasn’t one. I think that if someone was extremely interested in the reign of Henry IV’s reign and wanted to read this alongside some comprehensive history over a lengthy period of time, it would work better. It is historically accurate to the best of my knowledge, but I guess this just goes to show that it also takes a well told story for a compelling work of historical fiction. I wish Heyer had applied her considerable talents, so clearly on display in her Regencies, to this novel as well. I would recommend those instead.
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 In 1861, the silkworms begin to die. Herve Joncour and the rest of the citizens living in his small town in France have made their living from silkworms and aren’t sure what to do next. Trips just to Syria and Egypt will not bring back the healthy, thriving silkworms to fuel their economy. Businessman Baldabiou then tells Herve that the silkworms in Japan are still thriving, legendary for the quality of their silk. Bidding his lovely wife Helene good-bye, Herve sets off for Japan a total of four times, finding not only silkworms but also a quiet, passionate love in exotic, closed-off Japan.
This book is very short, less than 200 pages long, but the amount it packs into those 200 pages is truly breathtaking. In the space of page-long chapters, Baricco successfully conveys such strong emotion that as a reader, I was deeply moved. Without speaking, Herve falls in love with a mistress of Hara Kei, his silkworm contact in Japan. The mistress stands out because of her distinctly non-Japanese eyes which linger on Herve throughout the interview. With both elaborate and quiet gestures, the couple make their love known to each other, but they will never be able to express it. Through it all, what part does Herve’s wife Helene have to play? They love each other but how will Herve reconcile his two passions?
I was particularly surprised by how erotic this book became towards the end. There is a letter exchange which had me blushing, especially as I was reading the book while making dinner in my communal kitchen! Despite that, however, what this novel does convey is that beauty of simplicity while implying a great deal of depth. Except for a few times, Baricco doesn’t have to spell out what his characters are feeling. The beauty of his words, his descriptions of their actions, and the build-up of the characters themselves show us how they are feeling. I love when an author can do this. Showing consistently and never telling is, to me, one of the marks of a great writer.
Something else I liked was the way this book taught me about cultures in the latter half of the 19th century. Through these characters and their interactions, we learn about the culture of wealthy French people, about the east-west divide through all that Herve has to surmount not just to get to Japan but to even talk with the people who live there, and about the silkworm business and trade. I knew little about any of these topics and I found the little bits included to be very interesting. The deliberate foreignness of Japan, which had closed itself off to westerners, added something to the quality of the forbidden romance between Herve and the girl with the round eyes.
For such a short book, this one packs in a lot. It can be read and carefully considered in the space of an afternoon. I’d recommend it for those looking for a thoughtful but emotionally impacting read.
Silk is available from Amazon and Amazon UK.
 When Josh was almost killed by a bomb in Rome, it triggered a sequence of past-life memories from which he cannot escape. He realizes that he has been reincarnated and nearly two thousand years ago, he was a priest named Julius in love with a Vestal Virgin named Sabina. He feels a need to find her and save her, but he doesn’t know how. On a trip to Rome, his feet land him at an archaeological site where Sabina lies buried, leading to a murder, an investigation, and a desperate search to figure out what his memories are telling him and why.
This was a racing read and I had a hard time putting it down. I originally won it to participate in By The Chapter, so I decided I would read it over the space of the week. That definitely did not happen because I am not a patient person. By the time I was halfway through I just had to know the ending, so I ended up finishing it in two days instead of five. Oops. It’s certainly addicting.
While Josh’s version of reincarnation sounds interesting, I don’t think I’d like to experience it in the same way that he does. It sounds painful and I certainly wouldn’t want to long for a woman who had been dead for many years, knowing that I was looking for her in every face I saw. It was quite curious how many people had been reincarnated, but I suppose we’d have to take it as a matter of course. Many, many people have walked this planet before. I thought the list of sources at the back even more interesting. I had no idea that anyone studied this, and while I don’t believe it myself, I almost want to pick up one of those books just to learn more.
I don’t want to give anything away, but I did feel let down by the ending of this book. While some loose ends were tied up, it felt like something of a cop-out and diminished the appeal of the rest of the work. Despite that, I’d still love to read The Memorist, which is the sequel to this book. I think the ride to the ending mattered more to me in this case.
This book is available from Amazon and Amazon UK.
 As a poor orphan, Eleanor Courteney figured that she was safe from marriage and would be spending the rest of her life with her friend Belle in the home of the earl of Somerset. Lord Edmund has bigger plans for her, though, and sends her off to be wed to Robert Morland, the son of a wealthy Yorkshire sheep farmer. At first deeply unhappy with her father-in-law and new husband, Eleanor soon starts to appreciate her husband and assert her own independence and influence over her household. When her father-in-law dies, Eleanor virtually takes his place as head of the family. This family witnesses the events of the close of the Hundred Years’ War, the Wars of the Roses, and Bosworth Field, always on the side of the Yorkists.
The Morland Dynasty is a huge, huge series of books that is still not finished. Each volume covers a bunch of years in the family’s life and I’m pretty sure they each have a separate story and don’t leave us with cliffhangers. Or so I hope! Anyway, as you all know, I’m a fifteenth century England nerd. I have pretty strong opinions on the history here. This book, for anyone who is interested, is really a romantic image of Yorkist England. I was particularly amused by the constant emphasis on Richard, duke of York as a soldier. Every noble was supposed to be a soldier. Obviously not everyone was inclined to enjoy martial pursuits but they were supposed to and made an effort to appear soldierly, except maybe Henry VI. This doesn’t make Richard special. Also, some outdated history; there’s no chance that the princes in the tower actually made it to Yorkshire, much less were killed by Henry VII. It’s tremendously unlikely that no one anywhere would have reported their existence in those two years. The author provided an author’s note in the front of the book with her bibliography list, so I do know just how outdated that history is – I have read every single one of the books in question! I give her a ton of credit for doing that research, though, and I don’t want to take that away. It’s just that a lot has changed in the past 30 years.
Okay, on to the book itself. The prose reminds me of books I used to read when I was a kid, which might make sense because it was written in the 80s. It has that idealized feel which makes me realize why everyone wants to live in the past. It’s just lovely in this book. Even though there are battles and people die in horrific ways, everyone moves on fairly quickly and continues with their happy, usually long lives. It’s a nice story, a saga through years of turmoil that still manages to make it all sound rosy. I don’t know how Harrod-Eagles manages that, but she certainly does. To be honest, I like it. It didn’t really bug me that the history was old because this doesn’t really feel like the Middle Ages I know; it’s an idealized period that never actually existed.
I liked the characters, too. Eleanor is a strong, independent woman. It’s also interesting to see how she goes from young, impressionable girl to strong, old-fashioned grandmother and head of the family. I like how the affection between her and her husband grows very slowly over time. I think it’s a nice example of what might actually happen in arranged marriages. There are, of course, bad examples of that in this book too, but the initial Morland marriage is the foundation of the entire dynasty.
I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series. Maybe this isn’t great, thoughtful reading, but I found it to be very enjoyable. I would recommend it to those who enjoy historical fiction in particular.
This book is available from Amazon and Amazon UK.
 Pearl and May are two sisters living in Shanghai in the 1930’s. They love their city, the Paris of Asia, and make some extra money by being beautiful girls, models for advertisements and calendars. May is the favorite daughter of the family, according to Pearl, but both sisters are also best friends and can’t imagine life without one another. When they return from a painting session, their father stops them from going to bed and informs them that he has lost everything and that they are contracted to marry two strangers from America. Pearl and May are horrified, but go through with the marriages; they have little choice and no intention to leave Shanghai and follow their husbands. When World War II strikes, however, their entire lives explode and their intentions cease to matter.
I loved Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. At times I think everyone did. I never read Peony in Love, but I was excited when I received the opportunity to read Shanghai Girls. (Thanks so much, Marcia!) To my slight surprise, I wasn’t at all disappointed. I loved this novel. The best parts occurred in Shanghai, but I even liked the journey afterwards.
Seeing the world through Pearl’s eyes was fantastic. I thought that she was an interesting and unusual character with completely understandable motives. I recognized so much of regular sibling relations between her and May, especially at the end when we finally get to hear May’s side of the story. I wonder what the story would have been like if we had heard about it from her and not from Pearl; certainly Pearl’s motives made perfect sense, as did her character changes, but from the other side, things look a little different.
I liked the book a little less after they left Shanghai. The city was glamorous and fascinating to me, as were Pearl and May’s fancy lives. The traumatic experience afterwards was something I could have done without. Their new lives were populated with harsh and unlikeable figures, and Vern’s condition made me uncomfortable. Gradually, I grew to like these new side characters, but never quite so much, and at times I found the plot a little slow. Regardless, when the book was over, I was shocked. I didn’t expect it to end there, and I wanted more. I didn’t quite realize how much until there wasn’t any. To me, that’s a mark of a book I definitely liked. I’m busy crossing my fingers for Lisa See to write a sequel.
As for the prose, I thought Pearl’s voice steady and constant, the book a pleasure to read. She changed with her settings and I could feel the influence each place had on her as well as the places themselves. Her voice grew up as she did. I liked her, too, which was really important here.
Overall, I enjoyed this book a surprising amount. I would honestly recommend it. It is quite different in feel from Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, but not less worthy because of that. I recommend you check it out.
Available from: IndieBound, Powell’s, Amazon, and Amazon UK.
 This dual narrative alternates between Connie Goodwin, a 20th century PhD candidate in history searching for that elusive beast, an original primary source, and the story of a peculiar line of women in 17th and 18th century Salem who are accused of witchcraft, perhaps not entirely without basis. Connie’s life is about little other than history; she is thrilled when she stumbles on clues towards what may be a lost Salem witch. As she makes friends – perhaps more than friends – with attractive restorer Sam, digs around in archives, and attempts to clean her grandmother’s colonial house, Connie realizes that there are larger forces at work than just her search for the physick book of Deliverance Dane.
I’m not sure what I was expecting when I picked this up, but I certainly got more than that! I loved this book. I could relate to Connie very, very well. She’s a PhD student and I’m only a lowly MA student, but much of our experience and love for history is very similar. I loved reading about her research, poking through archives full of that old book smell, and her discoveries. I haven’t been able to poke through archives on my own yet but I can’t wait for an excuse! Anyway, being able to relate to the protagonist so well made this book for me.
I also found the idea very clever. We’re so caught up in the fact that there weren’t witches at Salem that we miss out on the fun of pretending that there were, and moreover that magic exists. I loved this idea and I found the way it was executed very well done; it fits with what I know of the Salem witch trials but still provides something new and different.
As far as the villain goes, I figured that out, but I enjoyed the journey to Connie’s discovery. Her relationship with her mother was particularly interesting; she seems to be able to “see” her mother over the phone without even realizing that she’s doing it or that it’s unusual. That was the first hint I had regarding any abilities. I also liked the way things developed between them over time. I loved the character of Sam, who restores old buildings for a living. Can I have his job? Someone please say yes.
Anyway, I’m doing a very sorry job of expressing how much I liked this book! Its 350+ pages flew by. I had dreams about it. I thought it was well told, fast paced, engrossing, and interesting. If I had to pick one thing I didn’t like, it was a few of the longer flashbacks; some of the characters felt like their stories had already been told. Regardless, I liked Deliverance, and I didn’t mind when we heard about her or her daughter.
I would definitely recommend this book. It works as historical fiction but it also works as a regular novel. I loved reading it and maybe you would too.
Available via IndieBound, Powell’s, Amazon, and Amazon UK.
 When Skaaha’s mother dies in a chariot accident, her entire life changes. Instead of being the prized daughters of a leading warrior queen, Skaaha and her sister are separated, sent off with their fathers to learn trades. Skaaha has never met her father before but quickly grows to like him and to enjoy forging. As she grows to maturity, she begins to suspect irregularities in her mother’s death and falls in love with a man who is not entirely suitable. After Skaaha’s first Beltane, she realizes that she must find the answers and become a warrior to match her greatest enemies.
Though Warrior Daughter isn’t massive at under 500 pages, it feels epic in scope. I loved learning about the 2000-year-old Celtic world that Skaaha inhabited. Her character is based on the legendary Scathach, one of the many mythical figures in the Ulster cycle, as a young woman. The society is matriarchal; women are warriors, leaders, and free to choose as many husbands as they’d like. The gods are women. Pregnant women are essentially worshipped and looked up to. I’m thinking this doesn’t sound so bad!
Of course, it’s not so easy for Skaaha. She has the blood of the gods running through her veins thanks to her mother, but that only makes her life harder as others envy her. Skaaha grows quite strong throughout the novel, growing and changing as she faces new obstacles constantly. I really liked her. I suspected who was behind much of the conflict in the novel – it’s really quite obvious from the beginning – and I was firmly on Skaaha’s side throughout the novel.
Possibly the only warning I might give to this novel is that it’s quite graphic. There is a violent rape and the characters have a lot of sex with each other. The rape in particular was extremely difficult for me to read, as I imagine it would be for any woman, but it did have bearing on the plot, as did much of the other graphic scenes. Everything, whether scarring or healing, furthers the development of Skaaha’s character, so in that sense I don’t think I would call it gratuitious, but I could have done without so many details.
After reading Warrior Daughter, I find that I’d love to learn more about the Celtic culture which the author researched and recreated. Her author’s note only further piqued my interest, especially when she discussed archaeological discoveries and comparisons she drew in order to make this society as close as possible to the real one. I found it fascinating and I can’t wait to do some of my own research.
This is a fantastic historical novel. While not for everyone, I was absorbed in the story and enjoyed my time with it greatly. I would definitely recommend it and I’m eager to read Janet Paisley’s first novel.
Warrior Daughter is available from Amazon UK.
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