The Ruins of Lace (Iris Anthony)

This book will be for sale October 1, 2012.

When I first began this book, I thought to be reading a simple, possibly frilly book about the back-alley lace trade in late 1600's France and Flanders. Imagine my surprise when the story is told from the alternating, first-person points of view of seven different players, one of whom is so improbable, I just did not know how it could possibly flow.
But flow it did! From the almost blind, convent-bound lace-maker who will soon be turned out, to an evil gender-confused Count who believes contraband lace is his salvation, the son of a leper who must smuggle lace to save his family's legacy from said evil Count, and a dumb-as-a-box of rocks soldier honor-bound to find the hidden lace, it was an intricate and intriguing read. (I will not name the improbable player, as I want it to be a surprise to all who read this book.)
This is one of the most satisfying stories I have read in some time. There was nothing frilly about this book, nothing fragile and demure. It was fast-paced, and held no punches.
I highly recommend this book

My Last Empress (Da Chen)

And now for something completely different...

Mentally-disturbed.  Over-sexed.  Selfish and self-loathing.  Meet our hero, Samuel Pickens,son of an up-right and  prosperous turn of the century New England lawyer.  Expected to follow in his father's oppresive and repressed footsteps, he meets the beautiful and fresh young Annabelle after his first tawdry affair with an older woman and his life begins to revolve around her.  Even after her tragic death, her flitting butterfly spirit guides him in his every move, from finishing school, through his first marriage, his parents' deaths and his fateful trip to China, where Annabelle was raised as a Christian missionary.  He becomes the tutor to the effiminate and intelligent puppet Emperor of the Qing dynasty and falls in love with the very young and very jaded Empress Q. Samuel becomes the Emperor's right-hand man to his own detriment, and when he and Empress Q are forced to make a run for their lives, both their fates are sealed and it is just a matter of time before they are discovered. 
The descriptive writing in this book was thorough and poetic, though I felt at times a little convoluted and tedious.    The dialogue is realistic, the characters fully developed.If you enjoy a little Eastern mysticism together with an abundance of individual depravity, this is the book for you.

The Second Empress (Michelle Moran)

The Second Empress (August 2012) is a delicious book.
It covers the last 6 years of Napoleon's reign, beginning with the decision to divorce his beloved Josephine (by his own admission the only person or thing he ever really loved) and choose a new bride who can breed for him an heir.  He chooses Maria Lucia, the beloved Austrian princess who has been raised to believe that she will become the regent of Austria for her eldest brother (he is mentally incapable) when her father passes.  Maria and all of Austria is devastated, but if Napoleon's choice was questioned, her father's kingdom would be forfiet.  So she goes and discovers the peculiar and crass court of the Bonapartes. 
The sisters Pauline and Caroline Bonaparte, the former who takes a different lover every week and is convinced she and her brother should be together, and the latter who thinks of nothing but her own kingdom.
As always with Michelle's books, all the characters were interesting and engaging, and although there were secondary characters, there weren't so many of them that they over ran the story and bored the reader.  The story is told from alternating points of view, Pauline's, Maria-Lucia's, and Paul's, Pauline's perceptive Haitian servant.
For all of strict military campaigning, for all of his masogynistic ways (such as pushing his Empress's face into a dish she was eating because her waistline was expanding), he could not seem to control his family.  Their ambition and their selfishness helped to destroy what he had built.

"“From the sublime to the ridiculous there is but one step”
― Napoleon Bonaparte "

The King's Concubine (Alice Perrers)

This is the story of Alice Perrers, infamous mistress to King Edward III of England.  The story is told from her point of view, first person, and covers her life from being a foundling raised in a stifling convent, to her escape as wife to the elderly Mr. Perrers, then her unfortunate return to the convent after his death. And of course, her fateful meeting with Queen Philippa and all the timeless drama that followed.
Being told from Alice's point of view, the reader begins to understand her behavior, which at the time was considered scandalous.  This novel asks the question, "Was she a gold-digging, unprincipled harlot, or was she simply doing what was best for the King, and England, and taking what she could along the way?" 
You must admit, she never left the King by choice.  Was that because she couldn't get anything if she wasn't there with him?  Or was it because she truly cared for the King?  Not only that, but what forces were pushing her to behave the way she did? 
This book answers those questions with much insight and poingnancy.  The story never stopped.  I was not bored for a moment, a page, a sentence.  What a life Alice lived!
I adore this book.  I adore this author. 
I definitely recommend this book.  The subject, the imagery, the dialogue, the drama made for an excellent read.

Reviews to Look For...

The following books are books that I have read and reviewed, but will not publish the reviews until they have first been published by the Historical Novel Society.

       

  Look for these reviews ( and more!)throughout the Summer!

A Place Beyond Courage

I believe this book, which was published in 2007 in the U.K. will be published in the U.S. sometime this summer. 
Before this book I had read of John Marshal , in When Christ and His Saints Slept(Sharon Kay Penman), and of course, Wikipedia, so my impression of him was as a ruthless, heartless man who would stop at nothing to advance himself and his cause.  Actually, in my mind I called him "Mr. Hammer and Anvils,"  because of his comment, while his son was being held hostage for his good behavior, that he had the "hammer and anvils to forge more and better sons." 
So one day on Facebook I followed a discussion on Elizabeth Chadwick's page that involved women swooning over John...I was perplexed.  After a lengthy discussion I decided I could not live another day without reading this book, and was disappointed to find out that I would have to order it from the U.K and wait.  It was worth the wait.

The book follows John Marshal, before and during England's Civil War between Stephen former Count of Mortain and usurper of the English throne, and the Empress Matilda, rightful heir to her father's kingdom. In order to survive John has to make agonizing and dangerous decisions, some of which have been condemned through out time as mad, heartless, the actions of a lunatic. From having half of his face melted off while trapped in a burning church, to allowing his 5 year old son to be hung for his own "traitorous" behavior, to the more mundane things like trying out all the court prostitutes to make sure they were fit for service, this was an amazing, breath-holding page-turner. Although I well knew the Marshal's story long before I read this book, Elizabeth Chadwick is that rare sort of story-teller that makes you believe you are reading the story for the first time.

Once again, I can't stress enough that Elizabeth Chadwick is an amazing writer who makes you feel as though you are living the history.  Her use of the Akashic Records is fascinating.  So, here is to John Marshal, one of my new historical heroes.

My Homage to my First Favorite Book

This book was published in 1992, the same year that I scooped it up as a freebie at an end-of-school year book give away.  I was late to the give away because I was off playing somewhere,  so all of the popular books (Babysitter's Club, etc.) were taken.  I got stuck with the left-overs, which happened to be this book.  It is a non-fiction encyclopedia-type book full of all kinds of trivia and just down-right interesting facts.  I gobbled the book up and it sent me on many different paths and and directions.
That was 20 years ago, and I have gone through thousands and thousands of books since then, some have stayed on the shelf and traveled here and there with me, others have been traded off for newer or better models, but there has never in my mind been a question of getting rid of this book.  It has a proud place of honor at the top of my shelf, with it's brittle yellow pages and musty smell.  I show it off to anyone and everyone who takes an interest in my book shelves.  So this post is my homage to my very first, very favorite book,
Kid Stuff:  People, Places and Things to Know.