Reviews of obscure books: Eilís Dillon's Wild Geese

Dillon, Eilís. Wild Geese. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1980. 352pp. Also London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1981.

Wild Geese… the romantic name given to Irish Catholics who fled their homeland for France and elsewhere in the wake of continued persecution in the 17th and 18th centuries. Noted Irish writer Eilís Dillon's novel expresses the adventurous spirit and plaintive longing found in those words. Memories of Ireland haunt her novel's characters. Its soil remains in their blood, even though they seek a new start elsewhere, even though their old lives brought them little happiness. Wherever they go, they continue to love and yearn for a land that didn't always welcome them.

Louise and Robert Brien, sister and brother, come from a long-established family of Catholic gentry, one whose rights to their ancestral lands are tolerated only because of their connections to powerful English relations. In 1779, their weak-willed father, Maurice, acquiesces to his second wife's wishes by sending them abroad to live with their French cousins. Louise's mission is to obtain her rightful inheritance from her grandmother's cousin, Charlotte. Once in France, however, the siblings prove to be no match for their selfish, snappish relations and the decadent artificiality of the Parisian aristocracy. The hypocrisy of her cousins' social circle is made plain to Louise: "Everyone was talking philosophy and the rights of man, but she had noticed that as soon as one applied these ideas to real people, one met with a blank stare, as if some gross vulgarity had been committed."

Robert, devoted yet extremely naïve, falls into the seductive web of Charlotte's treacherous daughter, while Louise discovers an unexpected ally in Count André de Lacy, another French-Irish cousin she had briefly met back in Ireland. An outrageous scandal then separates brother from sister, sending Robert and André across the Atlantic with the French army to fight for American independence. After escaping to the household of other distant cousins, the Countess de Rothe and her daughter, Madame Dillon, Louise soon finds herself languishing in Angers, the "city of bells," trapped into wedlock with an elderly nobleman.

Eilís Dillon devotes much time to Irishmen's experience fighting with Rochambeau in France in America's war, though her prose comes alive mainly when depicting more domestic scenes -- such as André's visit to the Lally farm in Hartford, Connecticut. One can't help but feel for Pauline Lally, a bitter woman whose five American-born children failed to thrive, and who longs to return to France despite André's warning that its people are growing restless under monarchical rule. At some point, Dillon may have realized that André made for better romantic hero material than Robert, for André's viewpoint takes over the story partway through. There are some humorous moments, for Louise's Irish maid, Biddy, has a delightfully sarcastic side, but overall the novel's tone is understated and restrained. While it suits the subject, it has the effect of keeping readers at a distance. The romantic feelings between Louise and André, which develop fully only after their separation, are not quite as palpable as they could be.

Robert's and Louise's stories take unexpected, ironic turns throughout the novel. Often their actions (or lack thereof) result in the exact opposite of what they and their families hoped for them, but both triumph in their own ways over society's restrictions. Not all of the novel's many characters find happiness, and if they do, it's an achievement hard won. Clearly written and tinged with melancholy, Wild Geese will interest readers looking for a unique perspective on the American Revolution, the lead-up to the French Revolution, and the Irish experience abroad.

Unlike some other novels in my Obscure Books series, Wild Geese is easy to find (and cheaply, too) from out-of-print book dealers. I got my copy for $1 at the Carbondale Public Library's book sale last year. Eilís Dillon (1920-1994), a popular writer in Ireland, was the niece of Joseph Mary Plunkett, a poet and leader of the 1916 Easter Rising. Wild Geese garnered rave reviews upon its publication in Ireland and England, though her bestselling epic about Irish independence, Across the Bitter Sea, was more widely celebrated. You can find more details on her novels (many of which are historical) at the Eilís Dillon Irish Writing Pages.

Scherenschnitte

In German, the word means "scissor-cuttings." Thanks to my coworker Jackie at the reference desk, I now have a name for the gorgeous artwork I've been seeing on some historical fiction book jackets.

In past blog entries, we looked at John Harwood's The Séance as well as Robert Löhr's The Chess Machine, the latter in a post that compared the hardcover with the paperback. At the time, I preferred the newer, redesigned cover, but now that I have a copy of the former in hand, I'm changing my story. The JPG below doesn't do it justice; you miss much of the crispness of the edges and the intricate detail of the design.

Both the Groff and the Löhr are featured in AbeBooks' gallery of 30 Novels Worth Buying for their Covers Alone, as Lucy noted in a post last month. (I'm three out of four for owning these. The Claudel is out in June.) Four examples doesn't yet indicate a trend, but are there any others I'm missing?

Random things

I wish Blogger didn't oblige me to title these posts made up of semi-random thoughts, because giving them formal titles makes me feel I should be saying something profound.

Over the past couple days I've added many new HF-related blogs to my sidebar. When I first started blogging for real - three years ago tomorrow (gulp, I have an anniversary coming up!) - there were only five or six other historical fiction blogs out there. It's exciting to see so many new bloggers coming on board!

I've noticed that some bloggers have little widgets set up telling blog visitors where other recent visitors are arriving from. Oddly, these widgets seem to think I'm in Casey, Illinois, which is a small town (pop. 3000) half an hour away. It's just off I-70 and has a couple decent restaurants, but neither I nor my ISP lives there.

My three-month-long reading slump is over, after having finished two real page-turners I've just reviewed for May's Historical Novels Review... Rebecca Dean's Palace Circle and DeVa Gantt's Decision and Destiny. I'm also having an enjoyable time reading Eilis Dillon's Wild Geese, about an Irish Catholic brother and sister sent to Paris in the late 18th century to live with other expatriate relatives. I hope to review it here in due course. It's fun to discover unexpected cross-references between it and past reads. For example, Arthur Dillon, father of Henriette-Lucy Dillon from Sheila Kohler's Bluebird, or the Invention of Happiness, is a secondary character, and I'm curious if the author (a noted Irish novelist) is herself a distant relation. About 120 pages in, there's a slowish episode in which the male lead makes his way to the American colonies aboard ship, but once he and I both escape these doldrums, I expect the pacing to pick up again.

I'm still pretty busy with conference planning, writing up peer evaluations, and teaching large groups of high school students how to use the library, but I've also finalized plans to attend BEA in New York City the last weekend in May. I'll be there for four nights. Anyone else attending? It would be great to meet up!

My new book, let me show you it.

I had a nice surprise waiting for me when I came home ... a box with author copies of my brand new reference book. Warning - some BSP ahead, but I hope the cute kitty pics make up for it.

It's an annotated guide to historical novels published between 2004 and mid-2008, organized by subgenre (traditional historical novels, epics, mysteries, romance, sagas, fantasy, alternate history, etc.), plus a detailed introduction, recommended reading lists, and four indexes. More than 2700 books are organized and described within.

The official release date is March 30th. You won't see it in bookstores, but you'll be able to find it on library shelves in the near future, as well as in the publisher's catalog.

As you can see, it's quite a sizeable tome. Note the fortress I call my TBR pile in the background; the book piles are two deep at present.

This is Tortie (we aren't real creative with cat names), my tortoiseshell cat, giving the book her official seal of approval. (She'll actually do this with any book pile that's cat-height.)

The list price is $65, which is typical for a 750-page reference book with library binding. For anyone who's concerned about getting your money's worth, you can think of it as $17.33 per pound if you prefer. The odd thing is it's heavier and larger than volume 1, despite being 70 pages shorter. Different printer, I expect, and different paper.

The original Historical Fiction: A Guide to the Genre (from 2005) sits next to its new companion volume, above. Tortie's brother Max doesn't seem overly excited about it, but since excitement for him involves hairballs and messy carpets, that's okay with me.

A visual preview of the spring and summer seasons - UK edition

It seemed only fair I do a preview of upcoming British titles, but it isn't always easy to find the corresponding cover art. Many publishers don't post the JPGs until just before pub date. I've gathered up some I've been able to find.


An Indian Sikh fighting for the British Empire in WWI ends up in a Leicester hospital, where he falls in love with an English nurse. An epic of love and war, set in Britain and India. Doubleday UK, July.

Evelyn, one of Britain's first female lawyers, finds her life turned upside down just after WWI when a woman turns up on her doorstep with unexpected revelations about Evelyn's late brother. The cover reminds me of the makeovers which Victoria Holt's gothic romances have received in the UK. You'll have seen the US deal for this novel in my previous post. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 11 June.

The prolific Doherty's third mystery featuring Mathilde of Westminster, set in 1312, as England's barons are getting riled up about Edward II's relationship with Piers Gaveston, and Robert Bruce presents a challenge to Edward's throne. Headline, 2 April.

Elphinstone's new novel is set among the hunter-gatherers of Mesolithic Scotland, some 8000 years ago, and is called "a tale of conflict, love, loss and natural disaster." More details at the author's website. Canongate, 21 May.

I've been waiting for this novel ever since Candace Robb detailed her plans for it in her Solander columns a few years ago. Written under the pseudonym Emma Campion, this is a biographical novel of Alice Salisbury, a young woman who arrives at the court of Edward III and King Philippa and later gains notoriety as the king's favorite. The title and cover art are generic (we've moved from headless to shapeless) but I expect the story won't be. Century, April.

A sweeping historical novel of star-crossed love, prejudice, superstition, and entomological discoveries set in London and Somerset at the time of the Restoration, based on the life of Lady Eleanor Granville. See the author's website. Preface (Random House UK), 16 July; it has also been picked up by Putnam's Rachel Kahan for US publication in 2010.

Now on to our second of three headless women covers. This is biographical fiction about Ann More and her whirlwind romance with the much older poet John Donne. (Has anyone besides me ever read Elizabeth Gray Vining's Take Heed of Loving Me, which has the same subject but focuses on Donne himself?) Pan, 3 April.

Which version do you prefer, UK (the first image) or US (the one directly above)? The British cover reminds me of the lurid 1970s-era paperbacks I see in library book sale bins. The design gives the impression that the book is old and tattered, so this may be deliberate, and Waters' novels sell by name recognition alone. The latter is more artsy and attractive, and though it's not very distinctive, it's appropriate for a postwar ghost story set in rural Warwickshire. Virago, 4 June; also Riverhead, 30 April.

Above are the UK and US covers for Katherine Howe's debut novel, called The Lost Book of Salem in Britain and The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane stateside. I prefer the US title (more evocative of the period, says I). A Harvard graduate student finds a key within a 17th-century Bible that leads her to uncover the mystery of Deliverance Dane's spell book, as well as her own ties to Salem's dark past. Penguin UK, 25 June; also Voice/Hyperion, July.

A novel of passion, betrayal, art, and the creation of amaretto liqueur, set in 16th-century Tuscany. Having just finished (and immensely enjoyed) Marina Fiorato's The Glassblower of Murano, set in modern and 17th-century Venice, this one's high on my wish list. Beautiful Books, 14 May.

First in a projected quintet of historical novels set during the rise and fall of the Moghul Empire over two centuries. This entry centers on Babur, warrior and ruler of Ferghana, the dynasty's founder. From the masculine cover, it looks to be aimed at the Conn Iggulden crowd. Headline Review, 11 June.

Skaaha, daughter of an Iron Age warrior queen on the Isle of Skye, forges a new life for herself. Based on the story of the historical Scathach, a legendary Scots warrior woman. Paisley's previous novel was White Rose Rebel, about Anne Farquharson, the "female Braveheart." Penguin, 2 July.

From the author of A Place for Greater Safety, among other things, a 672-page historical/psychological epic about Thomas Cromwell and the 16th-century English society he lived in. Fourth Estate, 30 April.

More on the strong female protagonist theme...

Please excuse my long blog silence. Between nonstop conference preparations and catching the flu, the past few weeks have been a blur. I'm working on a longer "preview" post, but in the meanwhile, here are four recent deals from Publishers Marketplace. The first two are biographical novels of (you got it) famous 16th-century women.

In addition, jump over to the HNS forthcoming books page for an updated list of upcoming titles through September. I'm very pleased that Sarah Cuthbertson volunteered to contribute info on forthcoming UK titles, so there are a significant number of new additions from British publishers. Thanks, Sarah!

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Jeane Westin's HIS LAST LETTER, focusing on the mature relationship between Elizabeth I and her lifelong love Robert Dudley, inspired by the deathbed letter the queen received from Dudley, part of which survives to this day, to Ellen Edwards at NAL, in a nice deal, by Danielle Egan-Miller at Browne & Miller Literary Associates (NA).

PEN Hemingway award finalist for Icebergs Rebecca Johns's THE COUNTESS, the story of Elizabeth Bathory, perhaps the most prolific female serial killer in history, pitched as Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund meets Patrick Suskind's Perfume, to Suzanne O'Neill at Crown, by Richard Abate at Endeavor.

Rose of Sebastopol and The Alchemist's Daughter author Katharine McMahon's THE CRIMSON ROOMS, in which a female lawyer must discover the truth behind two events: a client's murder of his young wife, and whether her late brother truly fathered a child with a nurse he met in a battlefield hospital, to Rachel Kahan at Putnam, for publication in 2010, by Mark Lucas at Lucas Alexander Whitley (US). [forthcoming from Weidenfeld & Nicolson, UK, this June.]

Robin Oliveira's MY NAME IS MARY SUTTER, set in the mid-19th century, following the aspirations and difficulties of a brilliant, somewhat odd, yet remarkable young midwife from Albany, New York whose lofty hope of becoming a surgeon far exceeds what her family, physicians, and medical schools of her time are willing to accept, and she travels to Washington, DC to work in the Civil War hospitals, only to find the challenges formidable and the pull of home unavoidable, to Kathryn Court at Viking Penguin, in a significant deal, in a pre-empt, by Marly Rusoff of Marly Rusoff & Associates (NA).

Wednesday linkfest

Bad news for all the googlers for Sarah Ferguson's Hartmoor who have been finding my blog through this earlier post. The Telegraph reports, per an announcement from the Duchess's literary collaborator Laura van Wormer, that plans for the "racy historical novel" have been postponed indefinitely; the co-authors are exploring their options.

Historical fiction readers have two more days to participate in Julianne Douglas's market research survey on what motivates you to purchase debut historical novels. Please jump over to Julianne's blog if you haven't already!

Publishers Weekly interviews Jo Graham about Hand of Isis, her new historical fantasy about Cleopatra's half-sister and handmaiden, Charmian.

In an interview for the Courier-Mail, Australia, Kate Morton enjoys exploring the early 20th century in fiction and discusses her first two books but says she doesn't write historical novels. Well, The House at Riverton (Australian title The Shifting Fog) certainly seemed like historical fiction to me... one of my top three reads for 2008, to be specific.

In another case of label avoidance, a reviewer from the Financial Times thinks Barry Unsworth's Land of Marvels doesn't really qualify as historical fiction, either, because "more than simply being set in history ... Unsworth’s fiction is often about history."

Some have the odd notion that historical novelists must be interested in the past only for its own sake, without concern for how history can shed light on the present or even the future. Not so.

Honolulu's Star-Bulletin talks to two novelists who flesh out historical tales, Paul Malmont (Jack London in Paradise) and Bill Riddle (Dead Downwind).

Cora Hamilton's I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend, a novel seen through the eyes of Austen's childhood friend Jenny Cooper, was acquired by Macmillan Children's Books. On the other hand, if you're weary of Jane Austen-inspired dramas, bite back against the trend.

The Toronto Star speaks to Susanna Kearsley about The Winter Sea and her opinions on romantic fiction.

We have links to four interviews with the four historical novelists in Quaestor2000's initial list. Alistair Forrest, a former Shropshire businessman, is interviewed by the Shropshire Star for the launch of his first historical novel, Libertas, set in Roman-era Spain. Then Jen Black has a lengthy interview in the Hexham Courant following the release of Far After Gold; Brian Sellers talks to the Wiltshire Times about his Anglo-Saxon novel The Whispering Bell; and Carla Nayland is interviewed on BBC Radio Suffolk about Paths of Exile, also set in Anglo-Saxon England (fast-forward to 23 minutes in; link expires next Tuesday). Give it a listen for some fascinating insights into the period.

The theme of this year's Key West Literary Seminar was historical fiction. Read an overview of the event, along with comments from presenters and attendees, from the Sun-Sentinel (Florida). Margaret Donsbach reported on the event at HistoricalNovels.Info - scroll down to the entries from Jan 22 and 20.

And the Book Depository is apparently doing quite well.

RNA Romantic Novel of the Year announced

...and it's a historical novel. Julia Gregson's East of the Sun, a story about love, friendship and adventure in 1928 India, is the winner for 2009, as announced yesterday at the RNA's Awards Lunch in London. East of the Sun, a Richard & Judy Book Club pick during summer 2008, was published by Orion in 2008 and will appear from Touchstone/Simon & Schuster US in June (trade pb, $16).

On the shortlist were Cecelia Ahern's Thanks for the Memories, Lesley Downer's The Last Concubine (set in 1860s Japan), Linda Gillard's Star Gazing, Susanna Kearsley's Sophia's Secret (alt title The Winter Sea, timeslip/romantic suspense with a historical novelist as protagonist!), and Judith Lennox's Before the Storm (generational saga set in early 20th c Cornwall). More details on the shortlisted books at the Romantic Novelists' Association website.

For those unfamiliar with the award, "romantic novel" does not mean "romance novel." It is better described as a novel with romantic elements. Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl won the award in 2002, as did Rosamunde Pilcher's Coming Home in 1996, Reay Tannahill's Passing Glory in 1990, and Valerie Fitzgerald's Zemindar in 1982. See a list of all winners here.

Of the novels on the 2009 shortlist, only the Ahern and Gregson appear to have US publishers (or will; the Ahern is due out in April). Alas.

Winner of Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction announced

This prize announcement just came through from the source. You may remember the Langum Charitable Trust's decision to ban Random House's books from eligibility for their prizes following RH's cancellation of Sherry Jones's The Jewel of Medina. (If I read the conditions correctly, the ban would have been lifted following Beaufort Books' subsequent acquisition and publication of the novel.)

In any case, the winner of the 2008 David J. Langum, Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction is Kathleen Kent, for The Heretic's Daughter, a fictional retelling of the Salem witch trials from the viewpoint of Sarah Carrier, young daughter of one of the first victims. More details on The Heretic's Daughter at the publisher website (Little, Brown/Hachette).

Elisabeth Payne Rosen received an Honorable Mention for her Tennessee Civil War saga Hallam's War, and Jack Fuller a Director's Mention for his multi-period novel Abbeville. Both the Rosen and Fuller are published in hardcover by Unbridled Books; the paperback of Hallam's War will appear from Berkley in August.

It's nice to see some US-set historical novels earning accolades, and there are very few prizes dedicated to historical fiction, period. For more information on these titles, see the Langum Charitable Trust website. Congratulations to the winners and publishers.

Deals, with brief commentary

From Publishers Marketplace. Obvious typos have been corrected. If you see other errors in the listings, please leave a comment.

Co-author with her late aunt Mary Ann Shaffer of NYT bestselling THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY Annie Barrows' novel set in the 1930s inspired by her own family history, a love story set against the backdrop of a country under the siege of the Depression, but also a story about an oddball family and the effect they have on an exotic city girl from the east, sent by her father to take a job in the WPA, who rooms with a quirky family down south, to Susan Kamil for Dial Press, in a two-book deal, by Amy Rennert of the Amy Rennert Agency (world).

[I loved Guernsey and will be reading this one, too. I even bought people copies of Guernsey as Christmas gifts, the first time I've ever done this with a novel that the recipient didn't already have on a wish list.]

NYT bestselling author of THE TSARINA'S DAUGHTER Carolly Erickson's next two historical novels, the first featuring the rivalry between Bessie Blount and Anne Boleyn, again to Charles Spicer at St. Martin's, in a significant deal, by Heide Lange at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates (world English).

[Bessie was the mother of Henry FitzRoy, whose birth proved that Henry VIII was capable of siring a healthy male heir. Thought she was out of the picture (married off elsewhere) by the time of Anne Boleyn's prominence at court, however?]

CASSANDRA AND JANE author Jill Pitkeathley's ENCHANTING ELIZA, the story of the Countess Eliza de Feuillide, Jane Austen's cousin whose life was much more intriguing and scandalous than Jane's own; told in the voices of those who knew her best, exploring some of the facts of Eliza's life and embellish upon them to illuminate the progressive and passionate woman who was a great influence on Jane's much-loved writing, to Stephanie Fraser at Harper, in a nice deal, for publication in April 2010 (World).

[I am not much of a Janeite, and so Cassandra and Jane surprised me; I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.]

Kelli Stanley's RICE BOWL, set in 1940 San Francisco, a defiant heroine Miranda Corbie, P.I., former Spanish Civil War nurse and ex-escort risks everything to investigate a hushed-up Chinatown murder, and exposes the destructive racial tensions between the Chinese-American and Japanese American communities, to Marcia Markland at Minotaur, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2010, by Kimberley Cameron at Reece Halsey North (NA).

[Kelli has also written Nox Dormienda, a mystery of ancient Rome, first in the Arcturus mystery series - a genre she terms "Roman noir." She moves to Minotaur with this new 1940s-set series.]

Cornelia Nixon's JARRETTSVILLE, set in Maryland days after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, Jarrettsville is a novel about the true love story of the author's ancestor, Martha Jane Cairnes, who murders her fiance in front of his Union cavalry militia, and is later acquitted despite fifty eye-witnesses to her crime, to Jack Shoemaker at Counterpoint, by Wendy Weil at the Wendy Weil Agency.

[Nixon, Professor of English and Creative Writing at Mills College, is the winner of numerous literary awards, including the Pushcart Prize in 1995 and 2003.]

Arliss Ryan's THE SHAKESPEARE CHRONICLES, a fictional autobiography of Anne Hathaway which presents her as author and co-author of many of Shakespeare's works, to Ellen Edwards at NAL, by Robert Guinsler at Sterling Lord Literistic.

[Shakespeare is hot right now; I'm in the midst of reading Karen Harper's Mistress Shakespeare for a NoveList writeup. I reviewed Ryan's The Kingsley House, a Midwestern family saga, for the HNR in 2000, and you can find the review online here, 3/4 way down the page. There are some formatting issues with those old reviews that I need to fix, but it's still readable.]

The Painter from Shanghai author Jennifer Cody Epstein's THE GODS OF HEAVENLY PUNISHMENT, set between Japan and San Francisco in the wake of America's 1945 firebombing of Tokyo, about a young Japanese survivor and an American Army photographer - and about love and redemption found through dance, art and forgiveness, to Jill Bialosky at Norton, in a good deal, by Elizabeth Sheinkman at Curtis Brown UK (NA).

[Painter from Shanghai was an Editors' Choice for HNR last year.]

Sunday night roundup

I'm blogging while attempting to ignore the Super Bowl on the television behind me. Here we are in February already; January was a tough reading month for me, as I'd only found three novels worth pursuing to the very end.

The first was Kristin Lavransdatter: The Wreath, volume one of Sigrid Undset's trilogy (I'm saving the remainder for a later time). The second was Carla Kelly's Daughter of Fortune, her first novel, about a young woman's struggle for belonging and survival in the 17th-century Southwest. (It took me forever to purchase this book, because online booksellers kept sending me Allende's novel of the same title by mistake.) And the third, which I finished last night around 10pm, was John Harwood's The Seance, a superb Victorian ghost story about mesmerism, a decaying old mansion, a mysterious inheritance, and diaries that may hold the secret to a murder by occult means ... it reminded me quite a bit of Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale.

I'm doing a longer writeup for my March NoveList column, but I'll say here that I highly recommend it. It's deliciously morbid without being grim, and the author clearly knows what he's doing. He'll quickly anticipate your thoughts about where the plot is leading, but the novel, just like the seances themselves, is all about deliberate, elegant deception.

Besides, you can't go wrong with these covers. Victorian stencil art (UK) or Julia Margaret Cameron (US), take your pick.



You may not have noticed I haven't said anything specific about the storyline or characters. That too is deliberate. I hope this blurb intrigues you enough to want to read it anyway.

In other news, many literary awards were announced at the American Library Association's midwinter conference last week. Among them were those presented by the Reading List Council, honoring the best in genre fiction in seven categories -- one of which is Historical Fiction. For 2009, the winner was The Steel Wave by Jeff Shaara, with the following titles on the shortlist: Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell; The Given Day by Dennis Lehane; The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows; and The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss. (Source: RUSA blog and the fictionmags mailing list.) I've read both the Russell and the Shaffer/Barrows; both are well deserving of their place on the shortlist.

Editors' Choice reviews...

... are online now, if you want a preview of reviewers' most highly recommended titles from February's Historical Novels Review.

More forthcoming stuff.

I've been catching up with a few projects this week, now that the indexing's done and the manuscript's in the copyeditor's hands again. My first accomplishment - I cleaned my office for the first time in about five years and filled a recycle bin with papers I no longer needed. I also updated the HNS forthcoming books page with titles through next September. Disclaimer: I don't get many UK publishers' catalogs, so there aren't many British titles listed (any volunteers?), and many US publishers don't have their summer catalogs out yet. But there are still lots of goodies to be found.

Of note: Lindsey Davis has three titles on the list. Alexandria (next in the Marcus Didius Falco series, set in 1st century Alexandria) will be out in May, as will the paperback of The Course of Honour, her mainstream historical about Emperor Vespasian and his mistress, Caenis, a former slave. And just today I read a press release about a historical epic she's written on the English Civil War, Rebels and Traitors, which will be out from Century in September. No word yet on US publication.

Philippa Gregory's The White Queen is in Touchstone's summer catalog, with a Sept 2009 pub date. Simon & Schuster is the UK publisher as well; same date. Amazon UK has the blurb, so see what you think. The "white queen" is Elizabeth Woodville, not Anne Neville.

Edward Rutherfurd sent out a newsletter last month detailing the subject of his next epic historical: New York. Amazon lists the pub date as October, which means it won't be out by the time of his appearance at the Schaumburg HNS conference, but I'm guessing we'll hear more about it there.

Another one that intrigued me was Annamaria Alfieri's City of Silver, a historical mystery set in 17th-century Peru. In looking around, I found an earlier mention in Publishers Marketplace, though its historicity didn't stand out at the time. The title's also changed since then:

Annamaria Alfieri's MURDER IN ALTO PERU, in which an Abbess finds the tranquility of her convent threatened when the unruly daughter of a wealthy man, who had sought refuge there, mysteriously dies, bringing about a collision of various interests and holy and unholy desires, to Toni Plummer at Thomas Dunne Books, by Nancy Love at Nancy Love Literary Agency. [Oct 2007]

What other titles catch your attention?

That's pretty much it from here. Big snowstorm happening tonight; I'd hope for a snow day, but I already have Wednesday mornings off.

Contest winner, and a Brigid Knight bibliography

Congratulations to C.W. Gortner, the winner of the Cloister and the Citadel book giveaway contest! I've sent you an email, and I hope you enjoy the book. I drew the winning entry at midnight EST on Friday from among the valid submissions, via an online random number generator.

Thanks to my fellow literary bloggers for spreading the word about Cloister by posting about it on your own blogs. This giveaway saw a record turnout (and I've hit a record for most comments on a single post as well). I've been enjoying browsing many of your sites over the last week and will be adding a bunch of them to my sidebar in the near future.

Brigid Knight is no longer with us, and her books are long out of print, so neither she nor her publisher can personally benefit from the associated publicity. However, for those of you who aren't familiar with her work and would like to investigate her novels further (something I would recommend), you can find them secondhand via Bookfinder.com and/or Amazon UK. If you so desire, you can easily locate several other copies of Cloister, which are quite reasonably priced. Her books are obscure, true, but they're not hard to find or expensive if you know where to look. They're good choices if you enjoy reading novels about the historical Netherlands and South Africa, settings few authors today are writing about.

Cloister is the third book of hers I've read, and all are written in the same clear, measured style. Brief descriptions of her other books follow.

Anne Marie and the Pale Pink Frock. An illustrated children's novel of the Great Trek in South Africa.

The Citadel is Yours. Contrary to the title, it has nothing to do with Cloister and the Citadel and is a modern medical novel.

The Covenant. "The adventures of a South African family of British descent during the Boer War and afterwards." (from a review in Time and Tide)

Dark Star. A historical novel set in 17th-century England.

The House of the Seagull and The House of the Swan. I know nothing about them other than the setting: the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries, respectively. There seems to be a third novel, The House of the Bird of Paradise, though it's not listed in the bibliography I own.

I Shall Maintain. This is third in a trilogy of novels about the Van Bredas of 17th-century Holland, following after I Struggle and I Rise and Old Amsterdam. It centers on Pieter's daughter and heiress, Hélène, who brings her father's great trading dreams to fruition.

I Struggle and I Rise. A family saga set in Amsterdam in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, focusing on the indomitable Anna Van Breda. The American title is The Valiant Lady; it was published in hardcover by Doubleday and in paperback by Popular Library in 1948.

Not by Any Single Man. A novel set on the coast of Kent during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. A review in The Observer compared it to the best of Du Maurier.

Old Amsterdam. A sequel to I Struggle and I Rise, it follows the fortunes of the Van Breda family in the 17th century, particularly one of Anna's grandsons, Pieter, a Dutch financier who falls in love with a distant relation. It has a lovely old-timey cover, pictured at above left.

Pattern of Escape. One bookseller lists it as a historical romance.

The Piping on the Wind. Another South Africa-set novel.

Portrait of a Woman. Per the review quoted on the back of another novel's jacket, it seems to be a a modern crime thriller.

Sea Dog of Holland. A bookseller's description: "The story of a boy and his dog who do their bit to help throw out the hated enemy - the Spanish, during the invasion of the Netherlands."

The Seventh Square. This direct sequel to The Cloister and the Citadel begins in the aftermath of the assassination of William the Silent, Prince of Orange. It follows the life of Maurice of Nassau, William's son by his second wife Anna of Saxony, a brilliant soldier who strived to carry out his father's legacy. Like Cloister, it's not a military novel, but it gives an excellent portrait of the political landscape of the Dutch Republic between 1585 and 1625.

The Sun Climbs Slowly. "A novel of life in South Africa during the time of the Jameson Raid and up to the outbreak of the South African War." (per a review in The Queen)

The Sword Between. No idea of the subject.

Walking the Whirlwind. A family saga centered on a woman and a house in early 19th-century Cape Town and environs, based on the reminiscences of the author's grandmother.

Westward the Sun. Novel set in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century; it may be a sequel to The Sun Climbs Slowly.

Do you like seeing these bibliographies of older historical novels? Please let me know.

An obscure sort of giveaway

I'm still mired in indexing, so more informative content will have to wait another week, but for now I have a special contest for blog readers.

Last September, in my "reviews of obscure books" series, I covered Brigid Knight's The Cloister and the Citadel, a little-known novel about Charlotte de Bourbon-Montpensier, a little-known Renaissance princess. While surveying my shelves last week, I was very surprised to come across a 2nd copy of the book. This happens more often than I want to admit.

So, rather than tease with another review of a novel you're unable to find, I thought it fitting to offer this duplicate copy as a giveaway. It's in excellent shape for a 50-year old novel, a 1st edition hardcover with a clean, undamaged dustjacket only slightly browning with age. The original list price was 15 shillings.

To enter, leave a comment on this post, or email me (address on left sidebar) with the subject line "Cloister giveaway," by the end of the day next Friday, January 23rd. Good luck!

Short takes on some recent reads

Happy new year, everyone! I've been overburdened with work and other projects, so I haven't blogged in ages, but I hope to get back to speed as soon as my final round of proofreading is done in two weeks. In the meanwhile, I have a guest post up at Historical Tapestry as part of their "Why I Love" series. Thanks again, Marg, for the invitation!

Here are some brief reviews of historical novels I read over the holiday break.

Tony Pollard's The Minutes of the Lazarus Club - George Phillips, an up-and-coming surgeon, gets drawn into 1850s London's most exclusive secret society, a club made up of the most prominent scientific minds of the age, and becomes embroiled in the race to catch a serial killer. Wonderful atmosphere, and I especially liked "meeting" technological genius Isambard Kingdom Brunel and crusading nurse Florence Nightingale, but parts of it dragged, and Phillips's bland personality couldn't compete with that of his newfound compatriots. This wasn't an issue in my subsequent read, however:

Louis Bayard's The Black Tower - I'd been meaning to get a copy ever since I read Susan's review from the Historical Novels Review. Hector Carpentier, a medical student in Paris of 1818, discovers his family's unexpected connection to the lost dauphin after Eugène François Vidocq, France's premier police detective, turns up on his doorstep. Although Vidocq remains in a class by himself, Hector is a quick study and more than holds his own in Vidocq's world. The novel serves as proof that authors don't need infodumps to convey historical atmosphere, and Bayard's astute turns of phrase made me sit up and take notice.

Vanora Bennett's Figures in Silk - The two daughters of noted silkweaver John Lambert pave their own paths to fortune and define success on their own terms. Beautiful Jane annuls her unconsummated marriage to her drab husband and pursues a liaison with dashing King Edward IV, while Isabel binds herself into apprenticeship to her ambitious mother-in-law and determines to break Italy's monopoly on the silk trade. Thoroughly enjoyable, though not quite as much as her Portrait of an Unknown Woman was for me -- mostly because Isabel's longtime liaison with another English royal (the author's invention) felt contrived. On the other hand, I liked Bennett's original depictions of several Wars of the Roses notables, and the descriptions of late medieval silkweaving techniques were a highlight.

Diana Gaines's Nantucket Woman - I dived eagerly into what promised to be a biographical novel of Kezia Coffin, a scandalously successful businesswoman in 18th-century Nantucket (a historical character about whom I'd known nothing). The author's use of language felt absolutely real, as did the historical detail, so I settled in for an engrossing period read... but then things got weird, in a way that just didn't fit the characters. If you enjoy reading unique and very explicit sex scenes written in authentic Quaker plain speech, this is the novel for you. I gave it points for originality but put it down after p.50. Publishers Weekly gave it a rave review after its original 1976 publication, so what do I know.

Do reviews sell books?

I have Google alerts set up to email me with any mentions of the HNS or the Historical Novels Review, and this evening's mailing turned up an interesting link. Authors often wonder if reviews actually sell books, but the answer can be hard to quantify.

You may remember Jeri Westerson's appearance as a guest blogger here in early November. Joshua Bilmes of the JABberwocky Literary Agency, Jeri's agent, recently looked at the difference in sales in the Boston and Richmond markets after positive reviews of Veil of Lies ran in the Boston Globe and Richmond Times-Dispatch. Then he reported the results on his blog.

Although the numbers don't seem to indicate an enormous increase in sales, every little bit helps, and that's 50-odd people who may not have heard of the author or title before the reviews appeared. Veil of Lies is a debut mystery, after all. Both papers post their book reviews online as well; this is convenient for people like me, for example, who used to live in the Boston area and still read the Globe via the web. So I would expect the word has gotten out more widely than just among the locals.

A visual preview of the summer season

In the past two weeks, I've had two computers crash (work and home), which meant getting them fixed/replaced... then the usual end-of-semester craziness happened, HNR reviews started pouring in, and my copyedited manuscript arrived, due back right after the holidays. I haven't had any time to blog. But I hope to make up for this long silence by providing a preview of some exciting-sounding forthcoming titles. Given that it's 20 degrees out with a sheet of ice coating the driveway, I figure this is the perfect time to look forward to next summer. Why not?

The following information comes from publishers' catalogs and from Amazon. Cover images and pub dates are subject to change, but this is the latest info I have. They're listed alphabetically by author.

Literary psychological suspense set in Edinburgh in 1763, in which John Boswell plots to take murderous revenge against his older brother, James, and Samuel Johnson, author of the famed dictionary, for presumed slights. Soho, May.


Literary Southern Gothic about a 19th-century Bostonian woman who finds mystery at her late grandmother's former home in Louisiana. Previously independently published in the US, this novel was released in 2006 by Snowbooks (UK) and will soon be available again for the American market. The Berkley catalog also indicates that her Sand Daughter, which sees the Crusades from the viewpoint of a young Bedouin woman, will be out in October (great news; it's an excellent novel). This one's out from Berkley, August.


A young married woman finds her life transformed after she's charged with ensuring proper conduct at the Egyptian belly dancing exhibition at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. Berkley, July.

First in a new series of historical mysteries set in Berlin during the rise of the Nazis, and featuring hardened crime reporter Hannah Vogel as detective. From Forge in May.

Two sisters of Syrian descent grow up in 1920s Cairo, a land rocked by violent anti-British demonstrations. Telegram, June.

Miss Susan Rose, a plucky lower-class woman in Victorian England, becomes a professional wet nurse and discovers her new employer's home harbors sinister secrets. Putnam, August.

Picks up the story of Lydia Ivanova, heroine of The Russian Concubine, in 1929, when she learns that her father--thought killed by the Bolsheviks--is imprisoned in Stalin-controlled Russia. Berkley, June.

A novel about Emily Brontë, her family, and her unconsummated romance with William Weightman, an idealistic clergyman who champions poor mill workers' rights. Norton, July.

A biographical saga about, you guessed it, John the Baptist, drawing on both ancient and modern sources. Literary historical fiction. From Norton, June.

Based on the title, I guessed the subject was Hatshepsut, but this is a biographical novel about Ankhesenamun, the newly widowed wife of the murdered Tutankhamun, who proves willing to marry her country’s ancient foe in order to save her crown. Kunati, May.

A woman who prefers to live a simple life in her small Puritan community in colonial Massachusetts finds that her beauty attracts attention from the town's wealthiest bachelor. Mitchell's Chateau of Echoes, about a widow who finds the journals of a 15th-century noblewoman after she purchases a chateau in Brittany, is well worth reading. Bethany House, June.

Biographical fiction about poet Elizabeth Barrett and her secret romance with Robert Browning. Though published by a Christian publishing house, Moser's novels aren't preachy and can easily be enjoyed by mainstream readers. Bethany House, June.

I've been waiting to read the next Silver Rush mystery ever since Iron Ties was published in 2006. No hint on the storyline yet, but these are meaty historical mysteries set in the silver mining boomtown of Leadville, Colorado, in the 1880s. Try them even if you think you don't like westerns. Poisoned Pen Press, July.

The long-awaited new historical novel from Pears, author of An Instance of the Fingerpost (which I thought was brilliant). Another doorstopper at 880pp, Stone's Fall moves backward in time from 1909 London to 1867 Venice as it uncovers the mystery surrounding the death of a wealthy financier. Spiegel & Grau, May.

Pell, a young woman in 1850s rural England, flees her home on horseback on the day she’s to marry her childhood sweetheart, and heads for the Salisbury Fair. Viking, August.

The third of Scott's biographical novels about the mistresses of Charles II, each told in her own voice. This entry covers Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth. NAL, July.


Debut novel from a Woolf scholar that imagines the lifelong relationship between sisters Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf from Vanessa's point of view. If you can't guess from the cover art, this is literary fiction. Houghton Mifflin, May.

The story of two ladies-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I... Lady Katherine Grey (yep, Jane's younger sister) and Mistress Mary Rogers. The first mainstream historical in a while for Westin, whose most recent works have been Restoration-era romances (Lady Anne's Dangerous Man, etc). NAL, August.

Announcements, announcements

At long last, registration for the next Historical Novel Society conference is open. It will be held June 12-14, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Woodfield in Schaumburg, Illinois, in Chicago's northwestern suburbs.

Julianne posted about it on Writing the Renaissance last week, but I've been so busy lately processing registrations and fixing up the website that I neglected to announce this on my own blog! In less than a week, we already have over thirty people signed up. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in person.

Three other librarians and readers' advisors (two of whom are my editors) and I will be presenting a session on some of the best historical novels we've read since the last conference. Alas, it's scheduled opposite two other programs that sound really interesting, so I hope people who attend (or are speaking at) one of the others will report back.

Also, while scanning my publisher's website, I noticed that not only do I have a publication date and price for Historical Fiction II: A Guide to the Genre, my forthcoming reference book, but it has a cover - and it's headless! Publication will be March 30, 2009. The copyedited manuscript arrives within two weeks, so I'll be proofreading over the holidays.

Finally, some recent historical novel deals from Publishers Marketplace. Additional information, added by me, is indicated in brackets below.

Fiona Mountain's LADY OF THE BUTTERFLIES, a sweeping historical novel -- with love triangles, armed rebellion, and murder by poison -- based on the life of Lady Eleanor Glanville, a 17th century naturalist and butterfly collector, to Rachel Kahan at Putnam, for publication in 2010, by Jane Kirby at Random House UK (US).

[Fiona Mountain has a website, with a short paragraph describing the new novel. I haven't read either of her mysteries, but highly recommend her earlier Isabella, a sweeping love story about Fletcher Christian and his cousin Isabella Curwen, and the untold reasons behind the mutiny on the Bounty. Has anyone else read it?]

Kate Quinn's BLOOD FOR BLOOD, an epic novel of ancient Rome, pitched as Bernard Cornwell for women, in which a slave girl falls in love with the greatest gladiator of the time, all culminating in a conspiracy to assassinate the Emperor Domitian, to Jackie Cantor at Berkley, for publication in 2010, by Pam Strickler (NA).

Vanitha Sankaran's WATERMARK, set in 1320 in Narbonne, France, when church-controlled parchment made paper making a near-heresy, told by a young albino mute woman, the literate daughter of a papermaker imprisoned when the Inquisition finds her using paper to write troubadour poetry about courtly love, to Lucia Macro at Avon, by Marly Rusoff at Marly Rusoff & Associates (NA).

[The author's website has an excerpt of her upcoming novel, which will be on my TBR as soon as it appears.]

Kathryn Wagner's DANCING FOR DEGAS, the story of Degas and his ballerina muse; in the tradition of Girl with a Pearl Earring, showing the opulence of late 19th century Paris, as told through the eyes of a young Parisian ballerina, to Caitlin Alexander at Bantam Dell, in a very nice deal, for publication in Spring 2010, by Kirsten Manges at Kirsten Manges Literary (NA).

Ron Rash's THE INNOCENTS, set during World War I, about a deserter taken in by a young Appalachian woman who knows nothing of his past, to Lee Boudreaux at Ecco, in a good deal, by Marly Rusoff at Marly Rusoff & Associates (NA).

Janet Woods's HEARTS OF GOLD, the story of a girl abandoned on the Australian goldfields, and of the man who rescued her, to Amanda Stewart at Severn House, in a nice deal, for publication in April 2009, by Pat Hornsey at International Scripts.

[Woods has written many romantic sagas; her website is here.]

Ghostwalk author Rebecca Stott's THE CORAL THIEF, set in 1815 Paris about a group of radical philosopher-thieves on a mission to reclaim art and paintings stolen by Napoleon, to Cindy Spiegel at Spiegel & Grau, for publication in fall 2009, by Emma Sweeney.

[Author's website here, with information on her first novel, Ghostwalk.]

Yes, we're back to looking at cover art again

What can I say, the topic fascinates me. I was at the B&N in Champaign last weekend, scanning the new book displays up front, and noticed that some historical novels published in hardcover last year were recently released in trade paperback (or mass market in the case of House of Lanyon), with new cover designs. Some of the changes are slight, but others are completely different. You'll notice that women were added to three of them.

The "before" is on the left, the "after" on the right.

Which do you prefer? Would the paperback covers make you take a second look at these books?