Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay

Tags

Bolshoi Theatre, russia

 Nina Revskaya, a former Prima ballerina now confined to a wheelchair, prepares to auction off her fabulous jewelry collection. Drew Brooks is the representative from the auction house handling the event, and is intrigued when an anonymous donor gives them an Amber necklace – a necklace that seems to be a matched pair with the bracelet and earrings from Nina’s collection. The mysterious donor is recently widowed Grigori Solodin, who received the necklace  from his adopted parents, along with some unsigned letters in Russian.

Grigori believes these pieces reveal the identity of his birth parents, and he thinks Nina is the key – but she’s not talking. As Drew and Grigori eventually come together and try to solve the puzzle of the Amber suite and how it connects them all, Nina reflects back on her life in Russia as a premier dancer in the Bolshoi Ballet and her marriage to poet Viktor Elsin.  

In the end, I did enjoy this a lot and thought it was an excellent first book for Kalotay. Not surprising, but I enjoyed the bits in the past more than the present and found the images of life in Stalin’s Russia terrifying – I can’t imagine having to walk around on eggshells day in and day out for fear of saying or doing the wrong thing. I never did warm up to Drew and Grigori, nor to the present day Nina and while I thought I had the big ta-da figured out Kalotay pulled a fast one out at the end that I hadn’t seen coming. A fair part of this novel is set in present day Boston, so if you’re expecting to spend all 400+ pages in Soviet Russia, think again. A good book, but the slower pacing might not appeal to all readers, especially if jewels, auctions and the ballet don’t hold much interest.

FTC, copy courtesy of Amazon Vine.

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The King’s Mistress by Emma Campion

 Daughter of a wealthy London merchant, Alice catches the eye of Janyn Perrers and the two marry despite her mother’s rather irrational objections. The marriage is definitely a love match, but Janyn and his mother have a deep dark secret that has something to do with the dowager Queen Isabella and while it has brought them great wealth, it also brings great danger to those who keep the old Queen’s secrets.  When Janyn mysteriously disappears (no spoiler, that’s on the book jacket) Alice seeks protection of Edward III and his queen, Philippa.  A commoner, the noblewomen at court shun her, but the Queen loves Alice’s knowledge of clothing and fabric, and as for the King? I’m guessing the book’s title will indicate to you where the rest of the story goes, no?

If you are familiar with the period you know what happens next and if not you don’t want me spoiling it for you.  While I appreciated the author’s effort to portray one of history’s most vilified women in a more favorable light, I think she did herself a disservice by doing a complete 180 and turning Alice into something a wee bit too sugary sweet. Would someone with her business acumen really worry much over a profitable wardship offered by the King because people might think ill of her? The first person narrative (admittedly not my favorite) doesn’t help much either and I felt the author painted herself into too many corners trying to justify events so that all the bad things that happened were always someone else’s fault. I’d rather see a more well-rounded character, warts and all.

As for the story and pacing itself? IMHO too much time is spent on Alice’s marriage with Janyn, along with all those pages upon pages of oohing and aahing over the fabrics. I would have liked to know more about the merchant’s role in purchasing and marketing cloth rather than hearing about the next pretty dress and headdress. Better yet, fast forward to Alice entering the royal household and then give us a few flashbacks to flesh out the back story.  I also found myself scratching my head when the Big Mystery is finally revealed, why anyone would be so hell-bent on murder because of *that* I can’t quite fathom.

In the end, this was on OK book, good but certainly not great, with very little character development and far too much telling instead of showing. Since the story is told from Alice’s point of view and she’s not always in the thick of things some of the more important events in this period are skimmed over a bit too quickly, i.e. the Peasant’s Revolt was over and done with in three pages. Kudos to the author for attempting to shed new light on such a heinous woman, but in the end just too much sugar for my tastes. 3/5 stars and I recommend getting it from the library first and then buy it if you love it.

FTC, my copy came via Amazon Vine.

The Sixth Surrender by Hana Samek Norton

History tells us that upon the death of Richard I (The Lionheart) his younger brother John became King of England and Duke of Normandy, despite the fact that John’s older brother Geoffrey left behind a young son named Arthur, who some felt was the rightful king. John had a real knack for ticking off his barons (Magna Carta anyone?), let alone that he dumped wife #1 to steal Isabelle de Angoulême out from under her intended’s nose (one of those de Lusignans) and married her himself (a bit young at twelve, but oh well – needs must).  When his nephew Arthur rebels along with the de Lusignans, he and his sister Eleanor (The Pearl of Brittany) are captured by John. Arthur mysteriously vanishes from his prison (believed by many to have been murdered by John), but Eleanor is kept at the impenetrable Corfe Castle in England.

I think I got that right, if not please let me know.  Sooooo, now comes a new twist on this tale from first time author Hana Samek Norton, set in Normandy, early 13C. Despite living a more cloistered life at Fontevraud Abbey, an aging Aliénor (Eleanor) of Aquitaine still keeps her fingers in the political pies and to that end she plans to wed novice Juliana de Charnais, heiress to the strategically important Viscounty of Tillieres, to jaded mercenary Guérin de Lasalle – and trust me it is not love at first sight. Juliana fights off any attempts at consummating the marriage and it appears that Guérin would rather dump his new bride back off in a convent, annul the marriage and keep the viscounty and lands for himself. Or does he have a different agenda all together?

The story takes plentiful twists and turns and ups and downs as John battles his rebellious Norman barons and the revenge minded de Lusignans. How does Arthur fit into the de Lusignan’s plots? Or do their schemes involve his sister Eleanor? What do Juliana and Guérin have to do with it all?  Does Guérin care for Juliana or is he really the disgusting drunken hot-tempered sot that he seems? Will our pair find true love in the end, or end up killing each other instead? Will Juliana’s stupidity (I kid you not) ruin them all? 

Well I’m not telling. I have to say that I was disappointed in the way this novel was represented in the book description – “executed in flawless period detail” – I’m sorry but that is not the book I read. While I’ve read quite a few novels set in the medieval period, I’m not *up-to-snuff* enough to spot the minor discrepancies but things just didn’t feel right compared to the experiences I’ve had with novels by Elizabeth Chadwick and Sharon Penman. Since the copy I read is an uncorrected proof I won’t quote but I did find a word used by John that I couldn’t find a reference to earlier than the 1600’s. Eleanor of Brittany referring to England as Britain instead of England? I don’t think so… 

Once I accepted that this wasn’t going to be a serious novel with any new insight into the period, I decided to kick back and enjoy the story and the sparring between the pair, and it was fun in the first half of the novel. However, in the latter half the plot became a tad bit too complex and I felt the author threw in one too many plot twists (as well as the kitchen sink) and it all eventually developed into a dire, silly and completely improbable mess. If there is still time, I would heartily recommend trimming down some of the secondary characters to tighten things up, as well as a list of characters at the front to refer to. It became mind-numbing at times trying to recall who was who – particularly when just about everyone started being someone else entirely.

In the end, the book I ended up reading was more something in the line of a medieval spy/thriller/action/adventure romp and if you go in realizing its make-believe and not real history you might enjoy it, but if you’re looking for something similar to Chadwick or Penman, I recommend you pass this one by. I give three stars to the first half and one to the latter and round it out to two stars. From a glance at the author’s notes there are plans to continue the story in Cyprus. I will be passing on that ride.

FTC? I got a copy from Amazon Vine.

Poison by Sara Poole

This plot is a bit complicated so I will try to keep this summary short and sweet. Francesca Giordano is daughter to the official poisoner for Rodrigo Borgia (what a job). Her father is mysteriously bumped off, and with her eye on taking over pop’s job she shows off her poisoning skills to Borgia and like that she’s got the gig – and that includes finding a way to bump off Pope Innocent before he can sign an edict expelling the Jewish refugees flooding Rome after being expelled from Spain during the Inquisition).

About halfway through the story switches gears as the Pope finally dies (no spoiler, that’s known history) and the story switches focus to a fight between the forces of good (Borgia who wants to protect the Jews so they can continue to bribe him) and bad (the rabid churchmen who want to incite Rome into slaughtering the Jews) and Francesca finds herself in the thick of things in a nail-biting race to save a child from becoming an unwilling sacrifice at the hands of a madman.

The first person narrative used in this book (admittedly not my favorite), comes off at times as overly chatty, it feels like she’s retelling it to an audience and sometimes the attempts at humor fall a bit flat – at least for me. I really didn’t care much for Francesca, nor could I pick up on why she’s so attractive to all the men lusting after her. In the end, this was an OK book, not bad but certainly not great either. If you like historical mystery/thrillers with a OTT credulity stretching heroine who can leap tall buildings in a single bound (let alone diagnose someone with “influenza” years before the word came into use), you might want to give this a whirl. If you’re like me and expecting a serious novel with new insights into the Borgias I’d recommend you keep searching as you won’t find that here. From the ending as well as the jacket blurbs I am guessing this is going to be an ongoing series – Francesca and the Borgias will return to fight the evil priests of Renaissance Italy. Nicely timed now that Showtime is switching gears, hmmm? 3/5 stars.

FTC, I got it via Amazon Vine.

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at the Printed Page and encourages bloggers to share their latest aquisitions. Hard to believe, but I have no library loot this week, but coming via Amazon Vine,

The King’s Mistress: A Novel by Emma Campion. I have heard mixed opinions about this one so we’ll see.

The Sixth Surrender: A Novel by Hana Samek Norton

Poison: A Novel of the Renaissance by Sarah Poole. Oooh, the Borgias. *Edit – I’m almost done with this and it really isn’t quite what the product description makes it sound like. More of a mystery with lots of super woman action and attempts at humor to lighten it up kind of thing.

What books landed in your mailbox last week?

The Outer Banks House by Diann Ducharme

Nags Head, The Outer Banks, North Carolina – the Civil War is over and the slaves freed. Once prosperous plantation owner Noland Sinclair builds a cottage at the beach and brings his family for the summer. Noland asks his daughter Abigail to tutor local fisherman Benjamin (Ben) Whimble. Abigail is repulsed by a very smelly, unwashed, barefooted Ben, but he proves an apt pupil and the two soon strike up a friendship. Abigail’s mother is more interested in her own problems than those of her children and papa Noland is busy scheming with an early-day KKK group to find and punish a runaway slave – and he hopes to involve Ben in his nefarious scheme.  Hector Newman, an affluent doctor’s son courts Abigail and he plans to wed her despite the Sinclair’s current financial status.

Ben continues to challenge Abigail into thinking about the hypocrisies of her parents and friends and the two become very close – which man will she chose? And that’s pretty much it in a nutshell. While the book had a lot going for it story wise – setting, social mores, bigotry against the freed slaves, etc. – it just didn’t quite deliver what I’d hoped for. Abigail’s parents were painted just a tad too *black*, I would have preferred the characters fleshed out a bit better. As for the grand love between Abigail and Ben? I loved the idea, but again it just didn’t quite come off as well as I’d hoped – I didn’t pick up on much chemistry between the two, let alone how quickly she got over her revulsion to his very dirty smelly person (or did he start taking baths all of a sudden and I missed the boat again?).

A good book and a nice first outing for this author, it just doesn’t have enough pizzazz for me to give it a higher rating. 3/5 stars.

My copy courtesy of Amazon Vine.

Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet ~ Stephanie Cowell

Tags

france

This grand romance could use a lot more passion…

The story begins in 1857 and is interspersed with “interludes” wherein the aging Claude Monet reflects back on his early life, when he is first drawn to the lure of painting. Despite the efforts of his family and a brief stint in the military, Claude is determined to return to Paris and paint, and when he does he meets Camille Doncieux whom he asks to model for him. That relationship between the two as they attempt to build a life together as well as the struggle to become a successful painter is the basis for the book, and since not much is known about Camille, author Stephanie Cowell has ample wiggle room to put her own spin on it.

Unfortunately, despite a lot of hype and great expectations this one just didn’t quite cut it for me. I was expecting a great passionate love story and instead I got something a bit too light. I didn’t find any depth or emotions with any of the characters, just stuff like this,

‘He sought her in bed that night, parting her legs and moving into her. She clung to him. “You’re not empty at all,” he said. I shall fill you with all that I am.”

“I shall give you all that I am.”

Only love me, I am the sea.”‘

*rolls eyes*

I didn’t pick up on much chemistry between the two, and instead of feeling great love and passion between them the author had to tell me it was there. But then I found a lot more telling then showing in this – especially with all those letters. This was a light, easy read but if you’re expecting an in-depth, all-encompassing look at Monet and his relationship with Camille I suspect you’ll be disappointed. I had a lot of fun reading about some of Monet’s works and how they came about (do go and look them up on the net), and a big thumbs up on the quotes from Monet and his fellow impressionists at the beginning of each chapter. This is a good book, it is just not a great one.

***

My copy courtesy of Amazon Vine.

Figures in Silk: A Novel by Vanora Bennett

Tags

Richard III, wall banger

Get thee to an editor!!

Seriously. While I understand the copy I have is an ARC and thus an uncorrected proof what I read in this book goes way beyond the pale. Twice I found a duplicated sentence, one right after the other. Run-on sentences with way too many commas, colons and semi-colons, along with short disjointed sentences that went nowhere – picture Snoopy writing his classic “it was a dark and stormy night”. Frankly I felt I was always on the outside looking in and that’s the last place I want to be when reading a book.

Jane and Isabel are daughters of a wealthy London merchant who has arranged for both their marriages. Jane to Will Shore where she subsequently becomes the infamous Jane Shore, mistress to Edward IV, and Isabel to the lazy son of silk merchant Alice Claver. Isabel’s husband dies shortly after the marriage leaving a mountain of debt and not wanting to return to her father’s household and another marriage she signs on as apprentice to her mother-in-law and begins to learn the silk trade. Isabel’s path eventually crosses again with a dark man she met on her wedding day and finds the attraction is still there – although there is much more to this man than she realizes (I won’t be a spoiler but that twist is as plain as the nose on your face). As Isabel’s fortunes grow, she and her mother-in-law plan to bring the secrets of Italian silk weaving to London and corner their own market, and her skills at embroidery bring her into contact with the Princess Elizabeth, and a most implausible friendship is born. There is actually a scene where Elizabeth makes a monkey face in Isabel’s presence in disrespect to her mother. Perhaps well bred young princesses might have done that behind their mother’s back, but with their dressmakers?

While the main characters aren’t quite as black and white in their goodness and/or badness as some recent authors have chosen to write this period – they don’t exactly come across as terribly interesting either. Jane Shore, who has such a fascinating history of her own, was vapid and quite dull – when she was in the story at all – as a matter of fact Edward IV came across that way as well. Isabel was over the top in her 21C female independence (except when it came to Dickon, then she was dumber than a bucket of rocks). Of course the Woodvilles were all evil and wicked, but we didn’t even get the pleasure of being shown how bad they were, we were just told that they were bad and everyone hated them. I’m not even touching what she did with Richard III, but I think the author read up a bit on Shakespeare before writing the book.

As for the historical setting, I’m not that well read on this period but things just didn’t ring true. Calling the King and Queen “Your Majesty” (I believe that started with the Tudors), Richard traveling alone with no attendants whatsoever (where was Francis Lovell, let alone a squire or two?) to name two. And ROFL for the “coronation meetings” they were all having. As for the silk trade and how well it’s portrayed? Again I haven’t a clue but since the author didn’t provide any notes to back up her story lines, I’m taking that with a grain of salt as well.

If she’d just stuck with Isabel and Jane’s stories and the silk trade in London, made the two sisters half way interesting and kept the Royal family and it’s intrigues out of it she might have had something here. As it is now, I can only recommend it as a sedative to help you to sleep at night. If you’re set on reading this, I strongly urge you to get it from the library first and then buy it if you love it. A very very generous two stars.

The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran

Very good

The story begins in 1890 as Henry Oades surprises his wife Margaret with a job promotion – although it entails moving to Wellington, New Zealand. Margaret makes the best of it and the family soon settles in happily until one day when the Maori natives retaliate over a beating and capture Margaret and her children and burn their home. After exhaustive searches, a bereaved Henry finally accepts they are gone, but he can’t bear his grief with reminders everywhere and packs up and moves to California and settles on a farm in Berkeley.

Several years later a lonely Henry meets recently widowed and very pregnant Nancy and marries her. Now you know what’s going to happen next – Nancy and her children manage to escape the captors and find their way to California and upset Henry’s new martial applecart – as well as the authorities hell bent on jailing Henry for bigamy.

First time author Johanna Moran did a nice job of handling the characters in this very difficult situation, along with the difficult decisions Henry and his wives both make. The relationship the developed between the two wives was interesting as well – although I’d have expected more tension and cat fights, but perhaps that was not their nature. A very quick, albeit enjoyable read, and definitely one to consider for your book group, it should generate plenty of discussion.

The Sheen on the Silk by Anne Perry

Tags

constantinople, historical fiction

Disappointing

In search of her brother Justinian, who was accused of murder and then banished, Anna Lascaris comes to Constantinople disguised as Anastasius, a eunuch and physician by trade. Like magic, Anastasius is getting clients in all the right circles and wheeling and dealing with the greatest in the land. Meanwhile, there are plots afoot in Rome to bring Constantinople and the Orthodox Church to heel or face the threat of destruction at the hands of another crusade.

Or it was something like that. I hate to say it but I finally gave up around page 200 or so when I finally realized I just didn’t care what happened. I didn’t warm up to Anna’s character, nor did I find the dress-up-like-a-man plot device terribly believable. The story was constantly bouncing from one character/plot line to another and I found it very hard to follow. The medical details were very tiring, all Anna seemed to do was hop from one patient to the next and not have much time to search for her brother. *Yawn*

The marketing that I’ve seen for this book is also a bit confusing. I understand the writer has previously written several mysteries – but if this book is supposed to be a mystery it certainly falls flat as a pancake in that regard. If this is supposed to be a straight historical novel than it didn’t work for me that way either. Not knowing much about Constantinople, the Orthodox religion, or Charles of Anjou I was very confused at first – either I missed something entirely or the author assumes the reader already knows all about it. Or was I supposed to go to Wik and read up on it and educate myself? I thought that was the author’s job. Not recommended.

*******
My copy courtesy Amazon Vine