2008 Historical Fiction

 

Interested in history but don’t want to read a textbook? Then pick up one of the historical fiction books listed below. All are new for 2008 and range in how accurately they represent a particular time period.

 

 

• Dietrich, William. The Rosetta Key. New York : HarperCollins Publishers, 2008.

The sequel to Napoleon’s Pyramids (2007) picks up pretty much where that book left off. Ethan Gage, the American adventurer, having barely escaped death during his time in Egypt with Napoleon, is looking for a little peace and quiet, but when he’s approached with another can’t-miss Indiana Jones—like treasure hunt, he’s off again, this time to find the fabled Book of Thoth, the possibly apocryphal ancient Egyptian scroll with supposedly magical properties. Much capering about late-eighteenth-century Egypt results, with Gage dodging all variety of assailants while attempting to get his hands on yet another elusive artifact with the power to both entrance and corrupt all who seek it. Like Napoleon’s Pyramids, this is a fast-paced, lively historical-adventure yarn that combines entertaining characters, an intriguing story, and lots of derring-do. Dietrich has a real knack for these slightly over-the-top thrillers, and readers familiar with the work of, say, James Rollins or Matthew Reilly (7 Deadly Wonders, 2006, for example) need only be told that this fine novel is right up their alley. (Booklist, vol 104, number 11, p5)

 

• Easter Smith, Anne. Daughter of York. New York : Simon & Schuster, 2008.

 

Smith, fresh off of her triumphant debut, A Rose for the Crown, returns to the drama and intrigue of the York family in this stunning follow-up. Margaret of York, younger sister to Edward IV and elder sister to Richard III, is a powerful member of the York clan in her own right. Beautiful, witty, and intelligent, she quickly becomes a political pawn when Edward seizes the throne and is crowned king. Married off to Charles, Duke of Burgundy, Margaret blossoms in her role as an eloquent ruler of vast estates and immense wealth. In private, however, she struggles to survive the pain of her loveless marriage to a cold, temperamental brute and her vanquished youthful hopes of a fulfilling union with Edward’s already married brother-in-law, Anthony Woodville. Unrequited love simmers throughout this richly detailed historical romance; Smith’s vivid characters and deft handling of the passions and prejudices that so greatly influenced the events of this era in history make for a delicious read. (Library Journal/ Barnes & Nobles website)

 

• Falcones De Sierra, Ildefonso. Cathedral of the Sea. New York, N.Y., U.S.A. : Dutton, 2008.

 

Medieval Spain’s caste system can’t keep a good man down in this absorbing epic, a Spanish-language bestseller. Arnau Estanyol, son of a fugitive peasant, starts out in 14th-century Barcelona as a lowly porter who carries stone blocks to a cathedral construction site and ends up a rich moneylender who saves the city from pillaging and frees the serfs of a barony he acquires by marriage. Alas, his dizzying social assent and defiance of the feudal order provoke enraged aristocrats, his status-obsessed wife included, into siccing the Inquisition on him. Arnau is a kindhearted, somewhat passive figure who combines piety, industry and cosmopolitanism to challenge a corrupt, dogmatic church and a parasitic nobility. The plot features thwarted romance, war, plague, immolations and self-immolations, set in a Machiavellian world ruled by privilege, cronyism and brute force. The melodrama is sometimes laid on thick, but Falcones’ rich portrait of medieval society is fascinating. (Publishers Weekly, vol 255, issue 12, p55)

 

• Franklin, Ariana.  The Serpent’s Tale. New York : G. P. Putnam’s Sons, c2008.

 

Set in 12th-century England, Franklin’s mesmerizing second historical delivers on the promise of her first, Mistress of the Art of Death (2007). When Rosamund Clifford, Henry II’s mistress, is poisoned, Dr. Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar must draw on her formidable forensic skills to try to uncover the killer. The prime suspect is Henry’s estranged wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, who once plotted to overthrow the king. Adelia reunites with Rowley Picot, now a bishop as well as the father of Adelia’s child, and the two set out on a dangerous journey, during which they brave a blizzard and Eleanor’s band of ruthless mercenaries. Franklin, the pen name of Diana Norman, brings medieval England to life, from the maze surrounding Rosamund’s tower to the royal court’s Christmas celebration, with ice skating on the frozen Thames. A colorful cast of characters, both good and evil, enhance a tale that will keep readers on edge until the final page. (Publishers Weekly, vol 254, issue 45, p37)

 

• Fraser, George MacDonald. The Reavers. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.

 

In the late Fraser’s rollicking Elizabethan-era swan song, hero Archie Noble (a Tudor James Bond—Steve McQueen charmer), subhero Gilderoy (a Scotch highwayman with swoon-inducing lips), and heroine Lady Godiva Dacre (“a breathtaking mix of Marlene above the neck and Jane Russell below”) stumble upon a fiendish Spanish plot to install an impostor James VI to the throne. Alongside a supporting cast of borderland rogues, the heroes engage in a headlong rush of bursting bodices, clattering rapier duels, and any number of intrigues, exploits, and mischief, all amply endowed with Fraser’s elite sense of humor, crack comic timing, and spot-on imitations of haughty period dialect and rakish accents. Akin to Fraser’s stand-alone adventure The Pyrates (1983), this is a wild and woolly departure from his popular historical satires starring Harry Flashman, and he dutifully warns readers that “this book is nonsense. It is meant to be.” What it all amounts to is a genre unto itself, the historic historical costume drama, maybe, or perhaps the outlandishly anachronistic swashbuckler. Whatever you want to call it, it is the literary equivalent of a joyous celebration of old-fashioned, flat-out, high-flying, over-the-top tales of derring-do and ribald romancing. It’s a hell of a ride, but don’t expect it to make a whole lot of sense. If you do, you’ve missed the point and likely missed the sheer exuberance in storytelling on display here. (Booklist, vol 104, number 13, p30)

 

• Frazer, Margaret. The Apostate’s Tale. New York : Berkley Prime Crime, 2008.

 

As the nuns of St. Frideswide’s priory prepare for the welcome end of Lent, their peaceful expectations are overset by the sudden return of long-vanished Sister Cecely. Nine years ago she fled from the nunnery with a man. Now her lover is dead and she has come back, bringing her illegitimate son with her.

 

She claims she is penitent, that she wants only to redeem her sin and find safe haven for the child. Neither she nor her son can be turned away, but their presence begins to stir doubts and questions in the hearts of some of the nuns about their own faithfulness to this enclosed life they’ve chosen to live.

 

Sister Cecely may be penitent-however much Frevisse may doubt it-but fully truthful she is not, and as the apostate nun’s lies begin to overtake her, dangers of more than one kind-and maybe murder-become an unwanted part of life in the priory. (Barnes & Noble website) Set in Great Britain during Henry V1 reign.

 

• Halter, Marek. The Messiah.  New Milford, Conn. : Toby ; Godalming : Melia [distributor], 2008.

In 1524, David Reubeni-a real-life prince and military envoy of a lost Jewish kingdom-traveled to Venice aiming to establish a Judeo-Christian alliance that would seize Jerusalem from Ottoman control. In Halter’s remarkable imagining of David’s travels, throngs of followers flock to David as he makes his way through the center of Christendom, mesmerized by the strange man’s vast knowledge and regal charm. The prince’s tactical and strategic plans to create a Jewish homeland soon win the monetary and diplomatic support of Pope Clement VII and King João III of Portugal. In time, David is given 12,000 men to fight the Turks, an unprecedented feat at a time when European Jews were persecuted and forced to live in ghettos. But David’s lofty goals also attract ruthless enemies and eager fanatics who mistake David for a messiah, all of whom jeopardize his mission. The harrowing adventure is satisfying in its ample twists and turns, but Halter’s writing of David Reubeni into the historical fabric of premodern Europe-imagining David taking refreshment with Machiavelli, becoming the subject of a sculpture by Michelangelo and suggesting the creation of the College des Lecteurs Royaux to King Francis I-is the book’s major pleasure. (Publishers Weekly Review/ Barnes & Noble website)

 

• Iggulden, Conn. Genghis : Lords of the Bow. New York : Delacorte Press, 2008.

Iggulden, coauthor of the megaseller The Dangerous Book for Boys, continues his masterful series on Genghis Khan (following Genghis: Birth of an Empire) with another vividly imagined chapter. In the debut volume, the Great Khan rises from the barren plains of central Asia to unify the scattered Mongol tribes into a nation. Here, Genghis turns to the conquest of the bloated, wealthy cities of the Chin, or Chinese, Kingdom. Aided by his brothers Kachiun and Khasar, Genghis strikes first against the Xi Xia Kingdom south of the Gobi Desert, a route into China that circumvents the Great Wall. The Mongols insatiable quest to conquer drives the narrative, but Iggulden deftly weaves several intriguing character-driven subplots into the saga, including tales of sibling rivalry between Genghis’s two eldest sons and the cupidity of a powerful and enigmatic shaman. Borrowing from history and legend, Iggulden reimagines the iconic conqueror on a more human scale, larger-than-life surely, but accessible and even sympathetic. Iggulden’s Genghis series is shaping up as a triumph of historical fiction. (Publishers Weekly, vol 255, issue 1, p34)

 

• King, Susan. Lady Macbeth : A Novel. New York : Crown Publishers, c2008.

 

This is not a retelling of Shakespeare’s play but a retelling of Shakespeare’s original source material. The novel follows Gruadh (here given the more appealing nickname of Rue) as she moves from being a pawn to a wife, a widow, a mother, and eventually, queen. Rue and Macbeth are both strong and intriguing characters, without being overly romanticized. Their relationship, born of necessity and grown into respect and a form of love, feels true to the time but easy for modern readers to relate to. Rue’s quick change from hating to loving her first husband is a little harder to accept. The details of Scottish royal succession, and even Scottish naming practices, can be difficult for a casual reader to keep track of, but they are not integral to the plot. It is rare for a historical novel to present a strong, female character who does not feel anachronistic; this one succeeds. (Booklist, vol 104, number 12, p35)

 

• Le Guin, Ursula K. Lavinia. Orlando : Harcourt, c2008.

In the Aeneid, the only notable lines Virgil devotes to Aeneas’ second wife, Lavinia, concern an omen: the day before Aeneus lands in Latinum, Lavinia’s hair is veiled by a ghost fire, presaging war. Le Guin’s masterful novel gives a voice to Lavinia, the daughter of King Latinus and Queen Amata, who rule Latinum in the era before the founding of Rome. Amata lost her sons to a childhood sickness and has since become slightly mad. She is fixated on marrying Lavinia to Amata’s nephew, Turnus, the king of neighboring Rutuli. It’s a good match, and Turnus is handsome, but Lavinia is reluctant. Following the words of an oracle, King Latinus announces that Lavinia will marry Aeneas, a newly landed stranger from Troy; the news provokes Amata, the farmers of Latinum, and Turnus, who starts a civil war. Le Guin is famous for creating alternative worlds (as in Left Hand of Darkness), and she approaches Lavinia’s world, from which Western civilization took its course, as unique and strange as any fantasy. It’s a novel that deserves to be ranked with Robert Graves’s I, Claudius. (Publishers Weekly Review, vol 254, issue 51, p24)

 

• Morgan, Kathleen. As high as the Heavens. Grand Rapids, MI : Revell, c2008.

It is 1568 and Mary, Queen of Scots, is imprisoned in Lochleven Castle. But her supporters, including noblewoman Heather Gordon, are planning a rescue. Heather travels to a cottage in the frigid Highlands to teach a simple man who just happens to resemble someone with access to Lochleven how to act the part of a nobleman in order to gain entry to the castle. But in the close quarters of the cottage there is more stirring than political rebellion. (Barnes & Noble website)

 

• Paisley, Janet.  White Rose Rebel. New York, N.Y. : Overlook/Rookery, 2008. 

 

This richly textured historical romance from Scottish poet and short story writer Paisley reimagines the story of Col. Anne Farquhar son, a real-life leader in the Jacobite uprising of 1745. When Bonnie Prince Charlie returns to Scotland in an attempt to take the throne, the English naturally seek to suppress his supporters. Aeneas McIntosh, chief of Scots Clan Chatton, reluctantly takes a commission with the English army, believing it the best way to preserve his clan and their land. His younger and far more impetuous wife, Anne, responds by joining with a former lover, Alexander McGillivray, and raising an army in support of the prince’s ultimately doomed claim. Aeneas and Anne continue to love and lust after one another, despite their political differences. A complex, passionate love triangle; a realistic look at the horrific consequences of war; and a balanced, satisfying resolution mark Paisley’s notable first novel. (Publishers Weekly/ Barnes & Noble website)

 

• Pastor, Ben. The Fire Waker.  New York : Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2008. 

 

In Pastor’s gripping second fourth-century Roman historical to feature Aelius Spartianus, an imperial envoy, historian and military commander who uncovered a conspiracy in Egypt that threatened the empire in The Water Thief (2007), Aelius tackles another problem worthy of his sleuthing skills in the province of Belgica Prima. Agnus, a Christian healer known as the fire waker, has supposedly brought brick-maker Marcus Lupus back from the dead, but when Lupus’s supervisor finds him stiff in his bed one morning, this time there’s no resurrection. Aelius’s probe into Lupus’s murder soon leads him to another killing-that of a judge who presided over proceedings against Christians-and to a possibly related case of procurement corruption. Pastor vividly depicts the politics of the day, with the four joint emperors (or tetrarchs) vying for power, while the logical solution to the intertwined puzzles will leave readers eager for the next entry in what one hopes will be a long series. (Publishers Weekly/ Barnes & Noble website)

 

• P.C. Doherty. The Poisoner of Ptah : A Story of Intrigue and Murder Set in Ancient Egypt. New York : St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2008. 

 

Prolific British author Doherty (The Assassins of Isis) spins a rich, complex tale of murder in this gripping ancient Egyptian mystery. In 1478 B.C., Hatusu, the pharaoh queen, ably rules Egypt, but she must still reckon with foreign rivals, including Libya. Just as delicate negotiations with a Libyan delegation result in a valuable peace treaty, three prominent Egyptian scribes are poisoned, and Hatusu calls on Amerotke to find the killer. Suspicion soon falls on Rekhet, a man convicted years earlier of a series of royal court poisonings. Amerotke discovers Rekhet recently escaped from prison, possibly with the assistance of the very Libyans negotiating the peace treaty with Egypt. Doherty, the author of a number of other historical series, manages to include an impossible crime among the puzzles the sage and insightful judge must solve. (Publishers Weekly, vol 254, issue 47, p31)

 

• Reed, Mary. Seven for a Secret. Scottsdale, AZ : Poisoned Pen Press, 2008.

 

Sixth-century Constantinople-the capital of the Byzantine Empire and the forerunner to modern Istanbul-is a mysterious and perilous city as the eunuch John, the Lord Chamberlain of the Emperor Justinian, well knows. In his seventh adventure (after Six for Gold ), John finds the brutally murdered corpse of a young woman who had identified herself to him as a model for a mosaic he keeps in his study and who was about to give him some vital information. Discovering what that secret was takes John, walking a fine line between maintaining his loyalty to his emperor and searching for the truth, on a twisting route to a very dangerous ending. The authors get everything right in their latest historical. The story is fast paced, the tensions between characters well portrayed; the ending leaves the reader clamoring for more. Those interested in Istanbul’s history may also enjoy series set in Ottoman Turkey by Jason Goodwin (The Janissary Tree) and Jenny White (The Sultan’s Seal). (Library Journal/ Barnes & Noble website)

 

• Stuckart, Diane A. S. The Queen’s Gambit : A Leonardo Da Vinci Mystery. New York : Berkley Prime Crime, 2008.

 

Leonardo Da Vinci, the epitome of the Renaissance man, turns to solving mysteries in Stuckart’s impressive debut. Ludovico Sforza, the duke of Milan, asks Leonardo to organize an elaborate live chess game to settle a dispute between the duke and the French ambassador to Milan. All goes well until the duke’s ambassador to France, who was playing a white bishop, is found murdered by the duke’s knife. Fearing severe political repercussions and possible threats from within the court, the paranoid duke commands Leonardo, one of the few outsiders he trusts, to investigate. The mystery unfolds with vivid details of 15th-century Milanese royal life, the political intrigues of the time and the elaborate preparations for Leonardo’s frescos. Narrated by Dino, an apprentice who serves as a rather excitable Watson to Leonardo’s coolly analytical Holmes, the mesmerizing plot moves swiftly to a dramatic conclusion that will leave readers eagerly awaiting the next volume. (Publishers Weekly, vol 254, issue 45, p39)