Fifteen-year-old Ceridwen faces a plight common to most girls of her age: the unpalatable choice between taking a man she finds repulsive as a husband, or taking the veil and living a […]
What another wonderful book to add to THE SEVEN SISTERS family. This time, we deal with youngest sister Electra, who is just as fiery (and out-of-control) as her name suggests. This is […]
Pat Barker writes with such empathy. Imagine you are a high-born girl, married at 15 to some man of your father’s choosing. You become Queen of your husband’s dominion. Then the fortunes […]
It never occurred to me that Homer and the Greeks could have anything to do with the Steppe Nomads or the likes of Genghis Khan, until I read Adam Nicolson’s WHY HOMER […]
I was first introduced to Jeff Wheeler via STORM GLASS (#1 in the series,) which came highly recommended by the Historical Novel Society, of which I am a member. I don’t usually […]
Is it Marianne, or Marguerite? Poor William could never remember the names of the two sisters, even though they had very different personalities. Marianne was a fiery independent woman, who would not […]
GOOD EVENING MRS CRAVEN by Mollie Panter-Downes is a series of wartime stories set in Britain during the Second World War. Like most British people, Ms. Panter-Downes writes fluently and well, and […]
I do not usually care for biographies, they often seem to consist of the boring trivia of a person’s daily life. But GEORGE, NICHOLAS, WILHELM: THREE ROYAL COUSINS AND THE ROAD TO […]
I loved reading THE TIME IN BETWEEN by Maria Dueñas. I had never read this author before, and she did a wonderful job of keeping my nose in her book, mainly because […]
Given everything that has gone before, it is not surprising that our five college men and women from Toronto and their friends from Fionavar spend a great deal of time in this […]
In order to appreciate this volume, it is REALLY IMPORTANT to read (experience) the first volume first. So if you are reading this review and haven’t had a chance to experience THE […]
It is heartbreaking to read about the destruction of an attractive and lively personality. Yet that is what Brigitte Hamann’s biography of Empress Elisabeth of Austria does. Titled THE RELUCTANT EMPRESS, Ms. […]
Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973) led a long and interesting life that encompassed two world wars, three daughters and four marriages. I generally do not enjoy reading biography as too often it can […]
Readers of historical novels frequently complain about the large cast of characters that are typical of these novels, and how hard it is to remember everyone’s name. Yet Sharon Kay Penman manages […]
I had never heard of Ken Follett until a family member begged me to read him. I started with PILLARS OF THE EARTH and just loved it. WORLD WITHOUT END is just […]
YSABEL is a magical blend of history and fantasy, set in the ancient cathedral of Saint Sauveur in Aix-en-Provence. When teenaged Ned Marriner, son of a famous photographer, finds himself at loose […]
As everyone knows, PILLARS OF THE EARTH is a huge novel that takes place in England over a 50-year period from about 1121 to 1172. The novel begins and ends in violence: […]
Mary Sharratt is such a talented author. I first “met” her between the pages of a book when I read THE VANISHING POINT, a poignant portrayal of an unwanted English girl sent […]
