Book review: Daughter of a Thousand Years, by Amalia Carosella

Focusing on two women over a millennium apart who worship the same gods, Daughter of a Thousand Years is devoted to the theme of religious intolerance and the conflicts it creates.

In AD 998, Freydís, the flame-haired daughter of Viking explorer Erik the Red, yearns for a more adventurous life than remaining with her family’s settlement on Greenland, marrying, and passing her days weaving and farming. Historical novels abound with strong-minded women who defy their era’s social confines, but Carosella’s portrait of the stubborn, fearless Freydís agrees with the personality of the woman recorded in the Vinland Sagas. Protective of the Norse gods of her ancestors, Freydís hates that her siblings have accepted Christianity. She will also do anything, including wedding a man she dislikes, to have the means to set sail for distant lands herself.

Her present-day counterpart is Emma Moretti, an adjunct history professor and conservative congressman’s daughter in New Hampshire in 2016. A practitioner of Heathenry, a neo-Pagan religion modeled on the beliefs of her mother’s Icelandic forebears, Emma secretly wears a Mjölnir pendant representing the hammer of Thor. In contrast to Freydís, Emma is hesitant and immature, despite being in her late twenties. She lives in a guesthouse on her parents’ property and eats meals with her Catholic family while participating in events for the latest political campaign and avoiding questions about church attendance. She fears revelations about her religion will torpedo her father’s election.

While her current relationship fizzles out because she’s “not Catholic enough,” as Emma relates to her best friend, a new romance appears promising: her father’s longtime PR man, Adam, asks her out. At the same time, a controversial in-class discussion about the spread of Christianity in the Viking age jeopardizes her teaching job.

The chapters alternating between Freydís and Emma are fairly short, which would normally ensure a fast pace. The importance of religious acceptance is deserving subject, but in this novel, the theme overwhelms the book. Being in Emma’s head during her many discussions about religion – with others, and with herself – quickly grows repetitive. That said, the depiction of academic life feels plausible, and it’s enlightening to read more about modern Heathenry.

Of the two women, Freydís’s character certainly blazes more brightly. However, because of their religious differences, she refuses to befriend her kind, Christian sister-in-law, Gudrid. In their interactions, Gudrid – whose own story is historically fascinating – emerges as the more sympathetic character.

Recommended for readers interested in reading about a fierce woman of the Viking age who don’t mind the modern character’s ruminations.

Daughter of a Thousand Years was published in February 2017 by Amazon's Lake Union imprint. Thanks to the publisher for making it available on NetGalley; I'm slowly getting caught up with my queue.

Winter Sisters by Robin Oliveira, a portrait of female courage in 1870s Albany, New York

Emma and Claire O’Donnell, ages ten and seven, mysteriously vanish after a blizzard in 1879 Albany, New York—the same storm that kills their parents. Dr. Mary Stipp, the passionate, determined heroine from Oliveira’s best-selling My Name Is Mary Sutter (2010), is close to the O’Donnell family, and she and her physician husband, William, continue searching for the girls after the police give up.

Newly returned from Paris, Mary’s musician niece, Elizabeth, distressed over the disappearance, and for private reasons, befriends Jakob Van der Veer, the local lumber king’s son. The discovery of the sisters’ fate then shocks the city, with newspapers stirring up interest and false rumors.

This historical thriller involves a sensitive subject, but Oliveira is as gently direct with her traumatized characters as Mary is with her patients. The story shines in depicting Albany’s diverse geography and society, and the era’s antifemale bias feels downright infuriating.

Some aspects of the mystery seem rather obvious, but the courtroom scenes are dramatically unpredictable. The individual stories build to create a multifaceted and affecting portrait of courage. 

This review was submitted for Booklist's January issue, and the novel will be published by Viking in the US on February 27th  It should work fine as a standalone novel for those who haven't read My Name Is Mary Sutter, which I'd reviewed seven years ago -- and unlike the first book, which follows the title character as she pursues her dreams of becoming a surgeon during the US Civil War, this one has definite thriller elements. Both are recommended. [Find Winter Sisters on Goodreads]

Book review: The Lost Season of Love and Snow by Jennifer Laam, set in imperial Russia

Natalya Goncharova, Alexander Pushkin’s young wife, didn’t hold the best reputation among her contemporaries, whose opinions about her flirtatious behavior and rumored infidelities have followed her over the last two centuries. After all, Pushkin died after fighting a duel to defend her honor, and she was blamed for this great loss to the Russian literary world.

However, basing her new historical novel on current research into Natalya’s life and own writings, Jennifer Laam makes a strong case that her name was unjustly blackened.

Set amid the elegant balls and country gardens of 1820s-1830s Russia, The Lost Season of Love and Snow also proves to be unexpectedly relevant to our own time, as women address issues of consent within relationships, deal with “imposter syndrome,” and struggle to have their voices heard.

Only sixteen when they meet at a dance master’s ball in Moscow in 1828, naïve, sheltered Natalya is pleased but a bit flustered after learning she’s caught the interest of her favorite poet, and his kindness and intensity attract her in turn. The scenes detailing their courtship – which proceeds despite her mother’s initial disapproval – form the novel’s slowest section, yet are elegantly rendered. As the wife of a prominent man, Natalya is expected to follow the latest fashions and participate in the coquetry that pervades Tsar Nicholas’s court. Pushkin was known to be sympathetic to the Decembrist revolutionaries, and Natalya realizes she must avoid offending the Tsar at all costs. Laam depicts the difficult path Natalya must tread, graciously deflecting his advances while remaining active in court life.

Her own literary pursuits brushed aside, she grows progressively more comfortable with her beauty and the power it holds. Although she makes the occasional mistake, she never betrays her husband, with whom she has four children, and continues to attract unwanted attention. Combined with her husband’s stubbornness and jealousy, this creates a situation that spins far out of her control. The final scenes between Alexander and Natalya are wrenching to read, even knowing the outcome at the start. (The novel offers a good example of an effective prologue.)

With its focus on interpersonal dynamics and the glamour of court life rather than Russian literary culture, the novel feels slighter than it could have been; more emphasis on Pushkin’s own poems about Natalya, for instance, would have heightened the emotional intensity and added character depth. Still, the novel works well as an introduction to their tragic love story, and to a woman who fought to assert control over her life. It must have been conceptualized and written well before the recent #metoo movement, although it can certainly be read and appreciated with these revelations in mind.

Jennifer Laam's The Lost Season of Love and Snow was published by St. Martin's Griffin this month; thanks to the publisher for the review copy.

Guest post by Bill Rapp, author of the Cold War thriller The Hapsburg Variation

I'm pleased to present the following essay by historian and novelist Bill Rapp about the rewards and challenges offered by historical fiction. His new novel The Hapsburg Variation, second in his series of Cold War thrillers, was published in December by Coffeetown Press.

~

Re-Creating the Past

Bill Rapp

This may be stating the obvious, but the challenge for anyone writing historical fiction is to create a world he or she has never lived in or experienced because it is, quite simply, a period in time set too far in the past. It is clearly a very difficult task for a writer--or anyone, for that matter--to try to recapture the outlooks, beliefs, attitudes and desires, not to mention physical challenges of simply surviving, in a world so different from one's own.

Of course, that has not stopped a host of writers, many of whom have given us some excellent mysteries or fictional works set anywhere from ancient Egypt and the classical world of Greece and Rome, through the Middle Ages, and right on up to the Second World War and the decades that followed. The reward for us as readers has been the pleasurable reading we've received, for example, in the novels of Margaret Doody, Steven Saylor, David Wishart, and Lindsey Davis set in classical times, or the medieval mysteries of Ellis Peters, P. C. Doherty, Michael Jecks,and Candace Robb, and the more modern pieces from Harold Adams, J Robert Janes, or David Downing and Philip Kerr. 

What these writers succeed in doing, in my mind, is to create an atmosphere that corresponds to one in which they've set their stories, but which also speaks to the modern reader by weaving in more contemporary attitudes and perspectives. Achieving that balance is not an easy task.

For me, the challenge in writing a spy series set during the Cold War is made a bit lighter by two things. First, as a historian, I love reading about and researching the past. It's something I learned to do as a child devouring history books like the American Heritage series, and then honed as a professional skill during those years in graduate school working on my Ph.D. You might even call it that proverbial labor of love. Second, the Cold War is not nearly as far away as ancient Rome, or even Depression-era South Dakota. In fact, I experienced the period as a child and young adult.

Moreover, the world of conflict and competition, with many of the same adversaries, resembles that of the Cold War (and this after we naively assumed the formal end of the Cold War would usher in a Great Peace Dividend and the End of History). It almost seems as though we've gone full circle, with the daily news filled with stories of Russian meddling and possible collusion in Washington, competition in Latin America and the Middle East, and the worrisome rise of a new global power in the Far East. It is not hard to imagine Karl Baier coming out of retirement today to resume his career at the Central Intelligence Agency, sharing his experience and lessons learned with a new cohort of eager young intelligence officers.

Ultimately, though, it comes down to the characters the writer creates and their ability to move the story in plausible and interesting directions. Those people must fit comfortably into the period the author has selected to place his or her story. They must also speak to the modern reader as credible and engaging characters the reader would like to meet or confront in any time. To paraphrase the great Raymond Chandler, the hero--and the antagonists--must be good enough for any time they inhabit, but the best ones for the period in which they live.

~

About the book:

Eight years into his career with the CIA, Karl Baier once again finds himself on the front line of the Cold War. He is stationed in Vienna in the spring of 1955 as Austria and the four Allied Powers are set to sign the State Treaty, which will return Austria's independence, end the country's postwar occupation, and hopefully reduce tensions in the heart of Europe. But the Treaty will also establish Austrian neutrality, and many in the West fear it will secure Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe and create a permanent division. Asked to help investigate the death of an Austrian aristocrat and Wehrmacht veteran, Baier discovers an ambitious plan not only to block the State Treaty, but also to subvert Soviet rule in lands of the old Hapsburg Empire. Then Baier's wife is kidnapped, and the mission becomes intensely personal. Many of his basic assumptions are challenged, and he discovers that he cannot count on loyalties, even back home in Washington, D.C. At each maddening turn in the investigation, another layer must be peeled away. Even if Baier succeeds in rescuing his wife, he faces the unenviable task of unraveling an intricate web of intrigue that reaches far back into the complicated history of Central Europe. Book 2 in the Cold War Thriller series, which began with Tears of Innocence.

About the author:

Bill Rapp recently retired from the Central Intelligence Agency after thirty-five years as an analyst, diplomat, and senior manager. After receiving his BA from the University of Notre Dame, an MA from the University of Toronto, and a PhD from Vanderbilt University, Bill taught European History at Iowa State University for a year before heading off to Washington, D.C.

The Hapsburg Variation is the second book in the Cold War Spy series featuring Karl Baier. Bill also has a three-book series of detective fiction set outside Chicago with P.I. Bill Habermann, and a thriller set during the fall of the Berlin Wall. He lives in northern Virginia with his wife, two daughters, two miniature schnauzers, and a cat. For more information, go to BillRappsBooks.com.

Gilded Age Gothic: Lauren Willig's The English Wife

Lauren Willig’s The English Wife lends a distinctly American flavor to the Gothic family saga. Rather than a titled English family and their elegant country manor at the center, we have the upper-crust New York elite and their opulent Gilded Age mansions. Rather like the Vanderbilts, the Van Duyvils are of Dutch heritage; after arriving as immigrants centuries earlier, they now sit at the pinnacle of culture, with homes both in Manhattan and upstate along the Hudson.

The novel uses the popular dual-period format to unravel a series of mysteries. On the eve of his Twelfth Night ball in 1899, held on the grounds of his English-style mansion in Cold Spring, young Bayard (Bay) Van Duyvil is found right before he dies, stabbed with a jeweled dagger amid the snow and ice in his lantern-lit gardens.

His distraught sister, Janie, who faces social opprobrium due to her unmarried state, thinks she saw a woman’s figure underneath the ice – and Bay’s British wife, Annabelle, has vanished. What happened?

The papers, sniffing out a scandal, proclaim their theory of a murder-suicide. Rumors had been flying about Annabelle’s affair with her husband's architect. Janie was never close to Annabelle or her brother, but she knows them both better than that. She wants to uncover the truth, and her means to this end is through a newspaper reporter, James Burke. Strangely, in Bay’s last words, he spoke a man’s name: George.

Flashbacks to 1894 reveal the story of Bay’s meeting in London with a down-on-her-luck young actress named Georgie, who has been trying to escape a painful past and see her way out of her current predicament.

Willig knows the conventions of the gothic mystery well, revealing clues bit by bit, and sensing exactly when to upend readers’ expectations for where the plot is leading. She captures the trappings of affluence among New York’s high society members, the gossip that follows their every move (and in which they willingly participate), and the gilded prison in which they live. None of the wealthy characters has full agency, including Janie’s cousin Anne (a terrific secondary character), a sophisticated divorcee who trades barbs with Bay’s mother while chafing at her dependence on the Van Duyvils’ largesse.

The author also adds some deliciously tart observations on the era herself:

They had been returned early, but already people were milling about, making sure of their seats. No one wanted to miss the trial of the century. Never mind that last year there had been another trial of the century and another one the year before that. There were still ten months left to the century and this was the trial of it. For now.

Janie’s romance is predictable in parts, but her feelings about her status as the family wallflower ring true. As its well-crafted mystery unfolds, the story also offers a sharp reminder that nobody truly knows what it’s like inside a marriage besides the couple themselves.

The English Wife is published by St. Martin's this week; I read it from a NetGalley copy.

Interview with Clarissa Harwood, author of Impossible Saints, set in early 20th-century England

I'm pleased to present this interview with historical novelist Clarissa Harwood, whose debut novel was published by Pegasus last week. Impossible Saints takes readers back in time to England of 1907 and follows the separate ambitions and growing love between Lilia Brooke, a schoolteacher turned militant suffragette, and Paul Harris, an Anglican clergyman. Clarissa is a fellow blogger and member of the Historical Novel Society, and after receiving an advance copy of her novel in the mail, I knew I wanted to read it.  I highly recommend it for its nuanced characterizations and depiction of how her hero and heroine's challenging romantic relationship reflects their personalities and the era they lived in.

Why does historical fiction appeal to you as a reader and writer?

I’ve always found that historical fiction communicates a fuller, deeper truth than dry facts and dates do. To be able to convey that authentic historical experience through storytelling is a powerful and dangerous thing! I’m also fascinated by the tension between historical accuracy and historical authenticity. Perfect accuracy is impossible without a time machine, of course, but even the things we can know for certain about the past can’t be exactly reproduced because readers wouldn’t find them compelling or even believable.

For example, I once read this line in a novel by George Eliot: “Where do you hang out?” If a character in a historical novel were to say this, readers would certainly object to this use of apparently modern slang. As a reader, I’m often jarred by modern-sounding language. I remember seeing the word “cash” used repeatedly in a novel set in the Renaissance and wondering why this respected historical novelist would use anachronistic language. Imagine my surprise when I looked up the word in the Oxford English Dictionary and found that “cash” was indeed used as early as the sixteenth century to indicate ready money.

I’ve had to cut some wonderful Victorian and Edwardian phrases out of my writing to avoid creating this jarring effect. For example, I’ve seen the phrase “she looked at him with all her eyes” in Victorian novels and think it’s a lovely way to describe a woman gazing at her child or suitor, but when I used it in an early draft of one of my novels, my critique partners told me it made them think of a spider!

It’s a delicate balancing act for an author to create an authentic setting that readers find believable while avoiding the kind of accuracy that distances readers instead of inviting them into the story. But I love the challenge, and I love to see how other authors handle it.

Rather than being a large-scale epic about the suffrage movement and other happenings of the day, Impossible Saints has a tight focus on two individuals, their relationship, and how historical events impacted them and vice versa. You’d written on your blog about how the original version of the novel was considerably longer and had a large cast of characters. During the revision/streamlining process, how did you decide what to leave out, and what to leave in?

Deciding what to include and what to exclude is always difficult, but I’m fortunate to have people with great editorial eyes looking at my work—critique partners, beta readers, my agent, and my editor at Pegasus. It also helped to keep my focus on Paul and Lilia’s personal and relational development. As a reader and writer I’m always more interested in characters’ psychological depth and complexity than on large-scale epics. Although thorough research on the time and place is essential, the story won’t grab me if the protagonist isn’t three-dimensional.

I’ll admit I was dismayed when Laura, my agent, first suggested killing off a fairly major character in Impossible Saints, but Laura has an uncanny ability to detect which elements of a story should be left in and which should be left out (I call her a synopsis whisperer), so I knew I could trust her judgment. I was also disappointed when I realized on my own that I had to kill off my only Canadian character and put a New Zealander in his place! It’s obvious to me now that both “murders” improved the novel.

One revision felt like the narrative equivalent of the Hokey Pokey. Early in the novel, Lilia attends a cathedral service to hear Paul preach. An early draft of that chapter included the whole sermon, and my critique partners ordered me to cut it down. I needed to write the whole sermon for myself to understand what Paul was trying to convey, but readers didn’t need (or want) to read the whole thing. As the revision process continued, the sermon became shorter and shorter until there were only two sentences left by the time the novel went to my editor. I was highly amused when my editor asked if I could include more of the sermon so its effect on Lilia would be clearer. I keep all my old drafts, so the whole sermon was still there to pick and choose from. (You put the sermon in, you take the sermon out, you put the sermon in and shake it all about…)

I enjoyed reading about the different traditions within the Anglican Church, including Paul’s preference for the elaborate ceremonies and formality of “high church” practices, and the conflicts he runs into because of this. How did you come up with his character, and how did you research this aspect of your story?

About twenty years ago, Paul popped into my head as a serious adolescent with his ecclesiastical ambitions fully formed! At the time I’d just started my doctoral studies and had no time to write fiction, but the Victorian literature I was studying certainly influenced Paul’s character development. Anthony Trollope’s Barchester Towers was an important early inspiration for Impossible Saints with its focus on the lives and loves of cathedral clergymen. The Oxford Movement, which evolved into Anglo-Catholicism, influenced many writers of the time. I made its founder, John Henry Newman, Paul’s hero. I was also influenced by poets with connections to Anglo-Catholicism such as Gerard Manley Hopkins, who became a Jesuit priest, and Christina Rossetti, who worked with “fallen” women in a penitentiary run by an Anglican sisterhood. But Paul is also my response to the stereotypes of priests and ministers that I see too often in contemporary fiction—they’re either villains or unbelievably perfect saints.

During the twenty years between the conception and publication of Impossible Saints, I was experiencing a sort of personal Oxford movement. I was raised in an evangelical Protestant church that I eventually left, but in my thirties I discovered the beauty and mystery of more “ritualistic” churches. The rich symbolism of the Anglican church in particular appealed to me on a literary as well as a spiritual level.

Did you know from the beginning that you wanted to tell the story from the viewpoints of both Lilia and Paul?

Yes, I did. The genesis of the novel was a vivid scene I imagined between Paul and Lilia when they first met as adolescents. It was in a meadow where Lilia was pretending to be Jeanne d’Arc, leading her army of brothers. This confrontation between a fearless girl and a quiet but stubborn boy set them up as equals from the start, and I felt both of their stories needed to be told. This scene was eventually cut from the novel, but Paul and Lilia both refer to it.

I love stories told from dual points of view. I’m fascinated by the very different perceptions two people can have of the same situation or relationship, and I enjoy exploring those perceptions as a novelist.

The experiences Lilia faces as a leader in the Women’s Social and Political Union are traumatic, especially as the movement becomes more militant. Was there anything unexpected or surprising you encountered as you learned more about the suffrage movement?

When I first started researching the suffrage movement, I knew very little about it, so many things surprised me. The biggest shock was the violent way the suffragettes were treated by police and prison officials. The militant suffragettes were represented in the media at the time as “unwomanly,” disorderly criminals, but even their most extreme activities such as setting bombs in letterboxes or empty buildings paled in comparison to the backlash against them. During public speeches and peaceful protests, they were assaulted physically and sexually by bystanders and the police. When they were arrested for destroying property and went on hunger strikes, they were force fed in brutal ways. Whatever one’s opinion may be of their militant activities, they didn’t hurt people, only property. Yet they were attacked physically, and some of them died later from the injuries they sustained in prison.

Personally, I’m a pacifist, so I wouldn’t have done what the militant suffragettes did, but I understand their motivation. They had been agitating for the vote quietly and politely for many years, but the government was ignoring them. Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of the Women’s Social and Political Union, reasoned that the only way to get the government’s attention was to attack what the Englishman cared about most—property. In My Own Story, she points out, “Window-breaking, when Englishmen do it, is regarded as honest expression of political opinion. Window-breaking, when Englishwomen do it, is treated as a crime.”

How does your academic background and career inform your writing?

As a student, I came close to choosing history as a major, but English literature won out. For my PhD I specialized in nineteenth-century British literature, and as a professor I’ve had the pleasure of teaching the great writers of that period. My knowledge of nineteenth-century literature and culture constantly inspires me with ideas for novels. But there is a disadvantage to being a novelist with an academic background—I had to unlearn my formal academic writing style and figure out how to tell a good story in an engaging way!

Thanks very much, Clarissa!

For more information, please see the author's website at http://www.clarissaharwood.com.

The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey, an original mystery of 1920s Bombay

“As the only female lawyer in Bombay, you hold a power that nobody else has,” a British government official tells Perveen Mistry in this first of a refreshingly original mystery series – and he’s right. It’s 1921, and Perveen is a solicitor in her father’s law firm. Even though she can’t appear in court, her position and gender mean she’s the only individual with the means to look into a potential instance of deception and fraud.

A Muslim mill-owner's three widows, who live in purdah with their children in his mansion on Malabar Hill, appear to have given away their rightful dower and inheritance. Perveen suspects they didn’t realize the implications of their signature, and when she visits the three individually, it appears that she’s correct. When she discovers a body on her return visit to the Farid family, she suspects a member of the household did it – but who?

There’s considerably more to the plot than a traditional murder mystery, though. Though only 23, Perveen has a professional, mature demeanor that helps her gain the widows’ confidence, and there’s a reason behind it: she’s been through a lot in her short life. Massey depicts her backstory in chapters set back in 1916. This allows for two stories running in parallel: who committed the crime at Malabar Hill, and what trauma did Perveen endure? While I was struck by the abrupt jump back in time initially, I came to feel that this increased the suspense.

The setting for this story is absolutely key, and from the Mistry residence on the city’s outskirts to the prestigious Taj Mahal Hotel along the harborfront, the layout of historical Bombay is described in clear, thorough fashion (the maps at the beginning are helpful but not absolutely necessary). Perveen and her family are Parsis – descendants of immigrants from Iran – and followers of Zoroastrianism, and the novel explores the religion’s traditional and more orthodox beliefs. Bombay contains a multiplicity of cultures, classes, and languages, and I came to admire Perveen’s ability to steer a fine path through it all.

What comes through most strongly in this entertaining work, though, is the status of women, and how much Perveen had to accomplish to get where she is. The Widows of Malabar Hill also makes you think about how critical the support of family and others can be for women in desperation; where would the novel's characters have been without it?

I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

The Widows of Malabar Hill is published on January 9th by Soho Press; I read it from an ARC received at BookExpo last year.

The Glass Forest by Cynthia Swanson, psychological suspense set in postwar America

A good way into reading Cynthia Swanson’s The Glass Forest, I asked myself why I was turning each page with a mixture of eagerness and dread. After all, nothing remotely graphic had happened, other than a suicide that was reported early on.

There were plenty of hints, though, that something terrible could occur at any moment. Escalating tension in a marriage. Signs of something dark and twisted about the dynamics within the Glass family. A mystery about the fate of an intelligent career woman whose efforts weren’t appreciated.

The premise: in 1960, Angie Glass, a young wife besotted with her handsome older husband, Paul, and their baby son, travels with her family from bucolic Door County, Wisconsin, to her brother- and sister-in-law’s modern home along the Hudson. Paul’s brother Henry has been found dead, an apparent suicide. Henry’s wife, Silja, has taken off for parts unknown, leaving a note saying she couldn't stay any longer.

Henry and Silja’s daughter Ruby, aged 17, appears strangely composed; perhaps she’s in shock? But Angie wonders if it’s more than that. As Ruby’s aunt-by-marriage, Angie feels it’s her role to mother and comfort Ruby, a quiet and friendless girl, but their closeness in age – she’s just 21 herself – makes her attempts awkward. There were moments I winced at Angie’s naïveté, but I worried alongside her as she gradually absorbed the truth about her husband’s family.

The viewpoint revolves among Angie and Ruby in the novel’s present day, and that of Silja starting in 1942, when she was a bespectacled 20-year-old college student from Brooklyn’s Finnish-American community whose experience of love came from feature films. When Silja meets a Cary Grant lookalike, a GI about to leave for war, she's thrilled – which leads her into an impulsive decision, and a life, that she comes to regret.

Mentions of movie stars, popular singers, and the Nixon-Kennedy television debates denote the timeframe, but what brings the period alive more vibrantly is the author’s evocation of social mores. This was a time when men ruled the household, even if they weren’t the breadwinner, and women had few options for escaping an unwanted marriage.

This novel’s psychological suspense is well articulated, and – without giving anything away – the sense of fear is occasionally generated by what does not happen as much as what does. Because it makes you keenly aware of what people are capable of.

The Glass Forest will be published by Touchstone/Simon & Schuster on February 6th; find it on Goodreads here.  Thanks to the publisher for granting access via Edelweiss. This is the last book I read in 2017, and the first one reviewed for 2018.

Seventeenth-century England: a recommended reading list

It’s been heartening to see so many people share my interest in 17th-century English settings. A number of recommendations of other titles have been arriving in the comments to my last post and via comments to my Facebook post at the Historical Novel Society public group and elsewhere.

So I thought I’d collate them in a separate post, with credit to everyone involved, along with some additional recommendations of my own.  Thanks to all who offered suggestions, and please let me know if I've missed anything.

The Graham Saga by Anna Belfrage, about “the unrest/ religious persecution that came in the wake of the Restoration through the eyes of a Lowland Scot and his time travelling wife” – via the author. [see on Goodreads]

Pamela Belle’s Wintercombe and its three sequels (Herald of Joy, A Falling Star, Treason’s Gift) – via Mike Shoop. I also highly recommend these sagas about a Somerset family during the English Civil War and after. All were recently reissued via Endeavour Press. [see on Goodreads]

Pamela Belle’s The Herons of Goldhayes trilogy – via me and author Anna Belfrage. These wonderful novels first introduced me to the richness of the 17th century… I read them in high school! [see on Goodreads]

Molly Brown, Invitation to a Funeral – a rollicking historical mystery featuring Aphra Behn – via me. [see on Goodreads]

The Rebel Puritan series by Jo Ann Butler, about Herodias Long, who winds up in Newport, Rhode Island, but whose story begins in England – via the author (and me - I reviewed the first book in 2011). [see on Goodreads]

Susanna Calkins’ early Restoration mysteries – via both Suzanne McGee and Nancy Bilyeau. [see on Goodreads]

The King’s General by Daphne du Maurier, “set in Cornwall during the English Civil War” – via Ingibjörg Ágústsdóttir. [see on Goodreads]

Elizabeth Fremantle’s Stuart-era novels – via Nancy Bilyeau. [see on Goodreads]

Elizabeth Goudge, The Child from the Sea – via me. A biographical novel of Charles II’s first mistress, Lucy Walter. [see on Goodreads]

Robert Graves’ Wife to Mr. Milton – via Brian Wainwright. [see on Goodreads]

J.G. Harlond’s Chosen Man trilogy – via the author. [see on Goodreads]

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles’ Morland saga, some of which includes the 17th century – via Sally Archer. [see on Goodreads]

Steel and Lace edited by Francine Howarth, an anthology of 17th- and 18th-century stories – via MJ Logue. [see on Goodreads]

Marci Jefferson, The Girl on the Golden Coin, about Frances Stuart – via me; I reviewed it back in 2014. [see on Goodreads]

Novels by MJ Logue, who “has given voice to an absolutely wonderful cast of Parliamentarian soldiers led by Colonel Hollie Babbitt & this rag-tag band's adventures and misfortunes during the various battles of the Civil War” – via Anna Belfrage. [see on Goodreads]

Olga Morrill’s The Vagabond Quakers (New England, not England) – via Jo Ann Butler. [see on Goodreads]

Annette Motley’s The Quickenberry Tree, an older novel “about the Herons of Heronscourt and how they met the English Civil War” – via Mike Shoop. [see on Goodreads]

Conceit by Mary Novik, about Pegge, daughter of John Donne – via me. [see my review from 2010; see it on Goodreads]

Pillars of Avalon by Katherine Pym, about the settling of Newfoundland by the notorious David Kirke – via Diane Parkinson. Per the author, her novels are written using period language. [see on Goodreads]

Stella Riley’s six novels set in 17th-century England, including A Splendid Defiance – via the author. Her earlier novels are classic romantic epics that were recently reissued. [see on Goodreads]

Christy K. Robinson’s two biographical novels “that began in 1629 England with the Great Migration and ended with the hanging of Mary Barrett Dyer in 1660 New England” – via the author. [see on Goodreads]

The French Mistress, The Countess and the King, and other novels by Susan Holloway Scott – via me. Read my interview with the author.  [see on Goodreads]

The Blackthorn Key series by Kevin Sands – via reader Canadian Lyn. This is a middle-grade historical fantasy/adventure series “about an apothecary's apprentice. It is a combination of the best of Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code.” [see on Goodreads]

Mary Sharratt, Daughters of the Witching Hill, about the women accused during the Pendle witchcraft trials; read my interview with the author, from 2010. [see on Goodreads]

Love and Gravity by Samantha Sotto, a time-slip involving Isaac Newton – via me. [see on Goodreads]

The Guardians of the Crown series by Alison Stuart, which “spans the interregnum and three other stand alone stories from earlier” – via Anna Belfrage and the author. The author also linked to a paper she presented at the HNS Australasia Conference that included a bibliography of English Civil War novels over the last decade. [see on Goodreads]

Deborah Swift’s 17th century novels – via Nancy Bilyeau. The author had written a guest post for this site in 2014 about venturing into teen historical fiction. [see on Goodreads]

Andrew Taylor’s The Ashes of London, “a gripping mystery about the Great Fire of 1666” – via Larry Zuckerman. [see on Goodreads]  Look for the sequel, The Fire Court, out from HarperCollins UK in April 2018.

The novels of Sam Thomas (Midwife Mysteries) – via Nancy Bilyeau. [see on Goodreads]

Rose Tremain, Restoration and Merivel – via me (I reviewed Merivel when it came out). [see on Goodreads]

See also a list I found on Goodreads, “England’s Second Civil War and Restoration."

Best wishes to everyone for a happy 2018 and a good upcoming year of reading! I'll be back with more reviews in January.

Spotlight on a recent trend in English historical fiction: the 17th century

The English Civil War, the Restoration, the Great Fire of London, the Great Plague, and the country's notorious witch persecutions... 17th-century England is full of dramatic events ripe for historical novel treatment. The period has long been a favorite of mine, and it's great to see trends finally catching up with my reading tastes. This flourishing new direction in historical fiction has taken root in the UK marketplace; nearly all of the books below are from British authors, and/or are published by British publishers. However, 17th-century fiction fans from around the world can easily join in!

Below are 14 new and forthcoming novels set in this period, with covers and short blurbs. Are there any you've read, or are hoping to read? Suggestions for others are welcome.

If you're reading this post via Goodreads, and the images don't match up with the text, you can find a better version at my blog via this link.

1650: This romantic epic about a former Royalist captain and a traitor's daughter takes place following the Second English Civil War and the execution of Charles I, a time of suspicions and divided loyalties.  Endeavour, May 2017. [see on Goodreads]

1603: This first in a trilogy by a British historian (Elizabeth's Women and others) will focus on a young woman with healing talents who gets drawn into danger at the Jacobean court.  Atlantic Monthly, July 2018. [see on Goodreads]

1674: This gothic ghost story, set in wild, remote Yorkshire amid the ruins of the English Civil War, centers on a young woman, a creepy old hall, and a stranger who pays a call.  Headline, Feb 2018. [see on Goodreads]

1662, the early 19th century, and the present day: a time-slip focusing on Elizabeth Stuart, the "Winter Queen," and her champion, William Craven; and a modern woman seeking her missing brother. Graydon House, Oct 2017; I interviewed the author based on the UK edition (2015). [see on Goodreads]

1640s: This second novel in the Blandford Candy series sees him looking back on his picaresque adventures during the Civil War years, which include conspiracy, a treasure hunt, and the quest for a missing book. Holland House, Sept. 2017. [see on Goodreads]

1615: Writing under a new name for her historical thrillers, Elizabeth Fremantle (who's written several excellent novels of Tudor- and Stuart-era royals including The Girl in the Glass Tower) turns her hand to the real-life drama of the Overbury murder scandal.  Michael Joseph, June 2018.  [see on Goodreads]

1640s: This dark historical fantasy, geared towards YAs and set during the early English Civil War, follows a girl named Makepeace who discovers her family's innate talent for hosting spirits of the dead. Amulet, Oct. 2017; Macmillan UK, Sept 2017 (the UK cover is above). [see on Goodreads]

1611: After numerous trials detailed in the first two books (The Aviary Gate and The Pindar Diamond), merchant Paul Pindar and his wife Celia, a former captive of the Sultan, take up residence  in London, but troubles soon invade their household. Bloomsbury, May 2017. [see on Goodreads]

1663 and the 20th century: the isolated estate of Wychwood in Oxfordshire reflects the themes of the surrounding world, from the years after the English Civil War through the Cold War. This sounds like a great choice for fans of "house" books. Harper, Jan 2018. [see on Goodreads]

1652: A varied cast of characters, including a grieving husband, an overzealous preacher, and his suffering wife, ponder their political ties and religious loyalties during the age of Oliver Cromwell. Corvus, Apr. 2017. [see on Goodreads]

1630: Book 2 of the author's Lydiard Chronicles (after The Lady of the Tower) follows the second generation of Apsleys, the children of Lucy St.John, as England heads toward civil war. I'll be reviewing this novel shortly!  Falcon Historical, Oct. 2017.  [see on Goodreads]

1660s: The life of Samuel Pepys, the famous diarist of mid-17th century London, is envisioned through different perspectives, including that of Deb Willet, his wife's real-life maid, who finds herself at the center of intrigue. Accent, Sep. 2017.  [see on Goodreads]

1649: The author of Aristocrats, among many other works of historical nonfiction and fiction, pens a new historical novel about a Dutch engineer, the English fens, and the impact of scientific achievement.  July 2018, Chatto & Windus. [see on Goodreads]

1645:  The story of Matthew Hopkins, England's notorious Witchfinder General, is seen through the eyes of an older sister, Alice, who's frightened of what he has become. Ballantine, April 2017; Viking UK, March 2017.  [see on Goodreads]

Also see The Bookseller's announcement for the sale of Stacey Bartlett's forthcoming The Familiars, set during the Pendle witch trials of 1612.

While I was gathering up material for this post last month (sometimes these ideas take a while to percolate), I came across Elizabeth Fremantle's post on the History Girls blog, "The Stuarts Are Still the New Tudors," which also focuses on this very welcome trend. Check out her post for more perspective, and for info on additional titles that fit, both in fiction and nonfiction.

Whispers of Warning by Jessica Estevao, a spiritualist mystery set in turn-of-the-century Maine

It’s the turn of the 20th century, and the resort town of Old Orchard Beach, Maine, expects a busy season. Large crowds gather for a suffrage rally, plus everyone awaits the opening of a lengthy pier designed to entice tourists.

This second novel in the A Change of Fortune series finds former con artist Ruby Proulx enjoying her new life in town at her Aunt Honoria’s spiritualist-themed Hotel Belden and learning to heed her clairaudient abilities. The arrival of nationally-known psychic and suffragist Sophronia Foster Eldridge draws new business to the hotel while alarming townspeople. After the lady makes a public announcement at the rally, promising to expose corruption among those in power, it’s a sure sign that trouble’s ahead.

This is a mystery, so fans of the genre can infer that Sophronia’s days are numbered. However, the plot is rather dilatory in getting there. There are a host of unconventional characters staying at the Belden, including opinionated cook/housekeeper Mrs. Doyle, who can detect people’s auras; the obnoxious brother and sister-in-law of Honoria’s devoted suitor; and an author belonging to an elite group of hay fever sufferers (this society, fascinatingly enough, is based on historical fact). Also visiting town is an anti-suffrage politician who was once engaged to Sophronia.

Reading about these backstories is interesting, but suspense is lacking early on. Once Sophronia’s body is discovered in a saltwater pool, the pacing improves. Discouraged by the dishonest police chief’s lack of interest in the case, Officer Warren Yancey reluctantly teams up with Ruby, who he admires, although he thinks her psychic work is a bunch of hokum. Their growing friendship is spiced with romantic tension. The social concerns of the period are well evoked. Not surprisingly, Ruby encounters a few men with sexist attitudes, which were just as irritating then as they are today.

Whispers of Warning was published by Berkley in September; I reviewed it for November's Historical Novels Review. For those who like to read series in order, here's the review of book 1, Whispers Beyond the Veil.  Both books have great covers designs!

Mr. Dickens and His Carol, a Victorian holiday tale by debut novelist Samantha Silva

It’s November 1843, and Charles Dickens is a man besieged. His latest serial, Martin Chuzzlewit, isn’t selling, and his wife and children expect a splendid Christmas, with expensive decorations and gifts. Other family members, reliant on his generosity, need him to pay their bills.

Citing a clause in his contract, his publisher demands he write a Christmas-themed book to satisfy his fans, but time is pressing. And how can he get in the holiday mood when it’s so unseasonably warm? Bah, humbug! Frustrated yet determined, Dickens embarks on a quest that takes him back to his old haunts and introduces him to a beautiful young seamstress who motivates him.

Making her debut, Silva creatively imagines the circumstances that inspired A Christmas Carol. The characters and atmosphere of Victorian London feel wonderfully Dickensian, and it’s fun to see Dickens gathering new material through his interactions. His writerly dilemmas should resonate with literary types, too.

With the wit and sprightly tone of a classic storyteller, Silva presents a heartwarming tale of friendship and renewal that’s imbued with the true Christmas spirit.

Mr. Dickens and His Carol was published by Flatiron in November; I wrote this review for the 10/1 issue of Booklist.  This is my 3rd and final Christmas review for the season - I've read more of these this year than usual.  A note that this isn't the same story as in the film The Man Who Invented Christmas (which I haven't yet seen but hope to catch over the break), although the premise is similar.

Daughters of the Night Sky by Aimie K. Runyan, an absorbing portrait of WWII's Night Witches

A superb portrait of wartime valor, Daughters of the Night Sky spotlights the accomplishments of the Russian military aviators known as the “Night Witches.” These all-female Red Army regiments flew harassment bombing missions against the Nazis under cover of darkness, in hand-me-down planes and without radios, to diminish the enemy’s strength and disrupt their sleep. It worked.

We see the action from the viewpoint of Ekaterina (Katya) Ivanova, who has dreamed of flying since childhood. With her widowed mother’s support, she enrolls in a military academy for aviators. The story follows her training, her excitement at acceptance into a volunteer regiment led by a renowned female major, and the daring sorties she flies as her best friend’s navigator – and through significant moments of exhilaration, cameraderie, and sorrow. There’s a subtle romantic subplot, and Katya draws sustenance from her beloved’s letters, but it doesn’t overwhelm her dedication.

There are numerous hardships for Katya and her fellow aviators to overcome, from insufficient rations and icy temperatures to subtle resentment and outright sexual harassment. They enter into a man’s world quite literally, as exemplified by the male uniforms and undergarments distributed to them (complete with flap at the front, which they joke could be a place to hold their lipstick), but they modify them to almost fit. Tough and disciplined, they know they must surpass men’s expectations and accomplishments to be taken seriously. Soviet ideals stressed gender equality, and the novel acknowledges Comrade Stalin’s approval of these military women while providing examples of his totalitarianism.

In historical novels about multiple women, authors tend to slot them into compartments, creating characters representing different societal groups through their contrasting backgrounds: the snobby rich girl vs. the ambitious poor one, city-dwellers vs. naïve country folk, etc. Fortunately, as in her previous two books set in early Quebec, Runyan avoids this temptation. The aviators have unique characteristics and motivations, and despite their occasional disputes, she emphasizes how Katya and the others unite to perform their courageous mission. They form tight quartets – pilot, navigator, armorer, mechanic – whose lives are mutually dependent.

It’s a pleasure to see the author grow in strength as a novelist while adapting to a new historical setting. Her tension has grown sharper, her characterizations deeper, the emotional quality more penetrating. At one key moment, I worried she’d plotted herself into a corner, but this wasn’t the case; I found myself impressed by how this situation was resolved. With its absorbing blend of technical details and emotional resonance, Daughters of the Night Sky is a great way to wrap up your historical fiction reading year, or to start your new year of reading in 2018.

I received this copy for review via NetGalley. Daughters of the Night Sky, officially released by Lake Union in January, is the historical fiction pick for Amazon First Reads in December 2017. If you have a Kindle, I recommend selecting it as your choice!

A gallery of fifteen historical fiction reads for Jewish Book Month

Jewish Book Month, an annual celebration of Jewish literature sponsored by the Jewish Book Council, has been in existence since 1943, though its history extends even further back. This year, it's being held between November 12 - December 12, 2017. The dates change each year, since it takes place just before Hanukkah.

As my way of participating in this event, here are 15 historical novels — family sagas, biographical novels, literary fiction, plus a couple of mysteries — featuring Jewish characters and/or focusing on aspects of Jewish history. Some of these are titles I've reviewed previously, and others are on my TBR. I've aimed to provide examples covering a range of geographic settings.

For additional examples, see the Jewish Book Council's historical fiction reading list. Please leave recommendations for other books in the comments!

The Galapagos Islands, WWII: Frances and Ainslie Conway, a married couple working for the Office of Naval Intelligence, embark on a clandestine mission on these distant islands but keep many secrets from each other. Based on historical characters. [see on Goodreads]

France and Germany, mid-13th century:  the story of renowned German rabbi Meir ben Baruch of Rothenberg, the author’s ancestor, as seen from his wife’s viewpoint. [see my review] [see on Goodreads]

Yemen, 1920: in this intimate saga about Yemenite Jews, a young girl learns about her heritage through the artistry of henna tattoos. [see on Goodreads]

Ireland, 20th century and present-day: the story of the little-known Jewish community in Ireland unfolds through three distinct stories spanning over 100 years. [see on Goodreads]

The US South, 1820s-30s: when a Jewish peddler falls in love with an independent Cherokee woman, he becomes personally entangled in a tragic tale set in motion twenty years earlier. [see my review] [see on Goodreads]

St. Thomas, early 19th century: a lyrical fictional biography of Rachel, a young woman from Paris who later became the mother of impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. [see on Goodreads]

U.S. Civil War: a young Jewish man runs into trouble when he’s asked to infiltrate a group of suspected Confederate spies. [see my review] [see on Goodreads]

London, 1660s and today: in this dual-period literary novel, a modern historian seeks to uncover the identity of a scribe from centuries earlier. [see on Goodreads]

Spain, late 15th century: as the Inquisition solidifies its power across Spain, King Ferdinand's chancellor Luis de Santangel, who comes from a converso family, begins to examine his faith and cultural identity. [see on Goodreads]

Chicago, 1872:  after an Orthodox rabbi is murdered, his daughter, Rivka, teams up with an Irish detective to find the perpetrator. [see on Goodreads]

Connecticut, 1948: after what should be a relaxing summer at "Bagel Beach" along the shoreline turns unexpectedly tragic, the sisters in a close-knit Jewish family must deal with the lengthy fallout. [see on Goodreads]

Palestine, early 20th century: in this work of magical realism (the author's first novel), several Ukrainian families move from Europe to settle in a rural village in Ottoman Palestine. [see on Goodreads]

Cape Ann, 1927: a girl’s secret birth mother and her adoptive mother, one from a prominent Jewish family and the other the  matriarch of a large Irish clan, find their lives intertwining again. [see my review] [see on Goodreads]

Prague, 1592: a Talmudic scholar investigates the murder of a young Christian girl, hoping to exonerate one of his fellow Jews. [see my review] [see on Goodreads]

1920s-1970s Israel, as seen through the experiences of several women over four generations in a Sephardic Jewish family. [see my review] [see on Goodreads]

Mountains and memory: Return to Your Skin by Luz Gabás, a time-slip novel set in the Spanish Pyrenees

Most time-slip novels in the traditional mold are set in countries with a lengthy and well-documented history. Think Anya Seton’s Green Darkness, Barbara Erskine’s Lady of Hay, and, more recently, Nicola Cornick’s House of Shadows, all with British settings.

Thanks to AmazonCrossing and the fluid translation of Noel Hughes, English-speaking readers have the opportunity to read one set in the less-common location of Spain: Return to Your Skin by Luz Gabás, which—as one can guess from the title—involves a reincarnation theme.

The modern story follows Brianda, an engineer in her late thirties, who leaves Madrid to stay with relatives in the remote mountain village of Tiles after suffering unexplained anxiety and a dream involving a dark-haired woman, a rain-soaked night, and an encounter with a mysterious man along a treacherously narrow aqueduct. Brianda has always had a great relationship with her live-in boyfriend, Esteban, but when her visions start invading their sex life, as shown in a disturbingly effective scene, she withdraws from him emotionally.

In Tiles, her aunt Isolina welcomes her warmly to Anels House, although her uncle Colau is as gruff as she remembers and seems consumed by a mysterious anger. Enigmatic Colau, whose family is rumored to be cursed, seems destined to be a typical villain but turns out to have perhaps the most intriguing psychological profile among all the characters. Colau is also a longtime researcher of local history, but what Brianda turns up doesn’t please him. And then she meets an Italian man named Corso who’s restoring his family’s manor, Lubich, across the woods from Anels, and to whom she feels an uncanny attraction.

About a third of the way in, the viewpoint switches to the heroine’s earlier counterpart, Brianda of Lubich. The political situation in late 16th-century Aragon, which grows progressively more hostile, takes a while to untangle due to the many individuals and factions involved. It’s a complex portrait of a dark, painful epoch, particularly for women—and one aspect of the plot, as Gabás explains in an afterword, is drawn from actual history.

Classic time-slip elements are introduced one by one: a churchyard with secrets, revelatory documents and other artifacts, and a secret passion that’s hard to deny. When romantic lightning strikes, though, what happens to the couple’s existing partners: are these situations addressed head on, or are the problems brushed aside? The answer is “some of both,” and in one case, disappointingly, it isn’t handled at all. Also, oddly, the modern characters appear not to have surnames.

The novel, moving slowly at first, gains significant power in the last half as the stakes grow higher, and accusations of witchcraft begin to fly. Its strength lies in its portrait of an era and its tragic aftermath, and the pressure this bears on subsequent generations.

Thanks to the publisher for providing access via NetGalley.

Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini, a biographical novel of computing pioneer Ada Lovelace

Known recently for her Civil War–era fiction, Chiaverini (Fates and Traitors, 2016) takes a transatlantic sojourn for this exquisite biographical novel. It’s a quintessential example of the form, covering nearly her subject’s entire life in an engaging, evenly paced style.

Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, was a nineteenth-century English mathematician who is considered an ancestress of the digital age for creating a computing algorithm. Her narration uses an inviting, slightly formal tone that evokes the era.

Much attention is given to Ada’s youth, describing how her overprotective mother, Annabella, seeks to suppress the “bad Byron blood” Ada inherited from her notorious poet father by upholding logic and discipline while discouraging imaginative thought. As Ada matures and finds mentors in inventor Charles Babbage and mathematician Mary Somerville, her relationship with Annabella (a wonderfully complex character) is shown with nuance.

In addition to the well-presented particularities of Ada’s life, including many scenes of society gatherings and technological demonstrations, the novel provokes reflection on interpersonal connections and how they shape one’s development. Wholeheartedly recommended for historical-fiction fans and STEM enthusiasts.

Enchantress of Numbers will be published on December 5 by Dutton. This review was written for Booklist's 10/15 issue.

Some other notes:

- As the daughter of math professors and as a one-time math major (and current math/computer science librarian) myself, I'd been planning to read this novel anyway so was pleased when it showed up in the mail as a Booklist assignment. This is my first experience reading one of Chiaverini's novels. Not long ago, I was asked for recommendations of historical novels that provide a comprehensive portrait of a character by following them through their entire life, or close – and this one fits.

- The portrait on the cover is actually one of Ada (something you don't see much of any more in historical fiction). It was painted in 1836 by British artist Margaret Sarah Carpenter, a scene which is dramatized in the novel.

- Chiaverini has also written the 20-book Elm Creek Quilts series, and some of those books are historical as well.

- Looking for other novels about women in STEM?  See my earlier list, Women in Science and Mathematics: a gallery of historical novels (and read the comments, too).