Post-war England In 1945, the tiny village of Chawton is coping with the after effects of WWII. Its most famous resident, Jane Austen, who lived in an estate cottage belonging to her brother Edward Knight, is a faint and increasingly diminishing presence. Recognizing the important of the ... [Continue Reading]
The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel
A novel of the final four years in the life of Thomas Cromwell and the court of Henry VIII, The Mirror & the Light is historical fiction, but like Mantel’s earlier books in the trilogy, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, it bears no resemblance to traditional historical fiction. There are no ... [Continue Reading]
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
Given the enormous number of Churchill biographies, especially of the war years, one might wonder about the necessity of yet another. Eric Larson, author of narrative nonfiction bestsellers, The Devil in the White City and In the Garden of the Beasts, takes the vast mountain of Churchill material ... [Continue Reading]
The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes
The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes With Mitford mania in perpetual bloom, it was only a matter of time before some enterprising author wrote a mystery series featuring the Mitford sisters. And not surprisingly that someone is Jessica Fellowes, author of five companion books to the Downton ... [Continue Reading]
Hero of the Empire by Candice Millard
Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape and the Making of Winston Churchill by Candice Millard Do we really need another biography of Winston Churchill? Well, yes, when it is written by talented Candice Millard, author of The River of Doubt and Destiny of the Republic. In Hero of the ... [Continue Reading]
Victoria, The Queen by Julia Baird
Don’t let the frumpy photos fool you-- Queen Victoria was a piece of work. As Prime Minister William Gladstone said with feeling, “The Queen alone is enough to kill any man.” Victoria was self-pitying, stubborn, highly critical (especially of her children), partisan, humorless, selfish, prudish, ... [Continue Reading]
Midnight’s Furies, The Deadly Legacy of India’s Partition by Nisid Hajari
Midnight’s Furies, The Deadly Legacy of India’s Partition by Nisid Hajari Midnight’s Furies by Nisid Hajari is a grim account of the final year of the British Raj and the birth of an independent India and Pakistan. Until the massacres in Rwanda in 1994, the Partition conflict stands as the ... [Continue Reading]
The Strangler Vine by M. J. Carter
The Strangler Vine and The Infidel Stain by M.J. Carter In the tradition of Holmes and Watson, Jeremiah Blake, a cynical ex-employee of the British East India Company and William Avery, a young soldier, are the sleuths in M. J. Carter’s series of Victorian mysteries. The first novel, The ... [Continue Reading]
Dissolution by C.J. Sansom
Dissolution by C.J. Sansom My cousin Harriet introduced me to the Matthew Shardlake Tudor mysteries. If you liked Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy, you’ll enjoy these as well. Unlike many Tudor stories which concentrate on the dramatic Anne Boleyn years, author C.J. Sansom begins his ... [Continue Reading]
Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill by Sonia Purnell
When you are married to a legend, you get short shrift in the great one’s biography. And if that legend is Winston Churchill, you are truly an afterthought. While there are scores of Churchill biographies, there are precious few Mrs. Churchill biographies. In this excellent and long-overdue ... [Continue Reading]