“The emissaries of death stood in rows on the far side of the river, the sun glinting blindingly off hundreds of metal helmets:�
“� in the front line t“The emissaries of death stood in rows on the far side of the river, the sun glinting blindingly off hundreds of metal helmets:�
“� in the front line the pikemen and slingers, shifting from foot to foot behind an interminable row of wooden pavises, bracing themselves against the cold and the bitter thrill of battle; behind them the archers � at a rough glance she counted close to two hundred, including around fifty arbalists � and behind them the knights, their bodies swaying with the movement of their horses shifting restless beneath them, their hooves pawing testily at the ground. And then beyond them all, like the background of a macabre tapestry, great plumes of smoke rose into the sky from the burning village.�
THE SIEGE WINTER is a gritty, and very much down in the dirt, tale of medieval 12th century England during the near endless war between King Stephen I and the claimant to his throne, King Henry I’s sole legitimate “heir� � a daughter, God forbid! � empress Matilda. But unlike Sharon Kay Penman’s show-stopping behemoth WHEN CHRIST AND HIS SAINTS SLEPT or Elizabeth Chadwick’s phenomenal LADY OF THE ENGLISH, Ariana Franklin has, for the most part, bypassed the history of the muckety-mucks of the day and dug down and dirty into the muck of the trenches, to regale her excited readers with the results of such a war on the real folks of that war torn country.
That is to say, THE SIEGE WINTER tells a breathless, compelling, shocking story of the second level gentry and land holders whose allegiance was pulled back and forth from pillar to post; young peasant girls whose bodies were shamelessly ravaged as spoils of war; and, of course, mercenaries, foot soldiers, archers, knights, and horseman who were the chess pieces maneuvered in the despoiled English country side that Stephen and Matilda saw as the chess board on which their rivalry was to be ultimately decided.
Such characters, whose names most of us have almost certainly never even heard let alone been aware of any details of their lives, were portrayed with a loving attention to bring them alive:
“� although, as she was fond of telling people, the man was dull to the point of eye-watering tedium and could probably bore several men to death at fifty paces, there was no denying that he was also brave.�
But, make no mistake � although the story was focused on the small people, when Empress Matilda was in the room and on stage, as it were, there was absolutely no question as to who was in charge and who ruled the roost:
“She took two steps forward and spoke. ‘I am the empress Matilda, lady of England and your sovereign. Open to me. NOW.� A thousand years of dominion went ringing across the Thames like a trumpet blast. Anglo-Saxon and Viking-Norman ancestry combined in a chord that had deafened and conquered nations. It expected the moon to bow the knee.�
Then there is the heart-warming story-line of Emma, the eleven year old red-headed peasant girl rescued after her rape by a lascivious evil and decidedly pedophile monk with an especial interest in red hair, by Gwyl who dresses her as a boy to protect her from the travails of medieval misogyny and trains her as an archer. “Omigod � wow!� is appropriate but sells the charms of this tear-jerker tale far too short!
Definitely recommended. Samantha Norman, Ariana Franklin's daughter, did a yeoman job of seamlessly completing the novel, that was left unfinished upon her mother's death. I'm left only with the pleasant prospect of seeking out more of Samantha Norman's future solo efforts.
Empress Matilda, “one of the strongest female personalities of twelfth-century English history� � “did not rise to acknowledge men who bowed to her� (Empress Matilda, “one of the strongest female personalities of twelfth-century English history� � “did not rise to acknowledge men who bowed to her� (and there were few enough of those), � “and she refused to listen to their advice�.
Although Henry I, who died in 1135, had bastard sons aplenty, his only surviving legitimate “heir� was (gasp!) a female and a feisty one at that with the strength of character and the intelligence to back it up. LADY OF THE ENGLISH is her story � her tempestuous and much despised marriage to the arrogant and, hardly surprisingly, deeply misogynist Geoffrey Plantagenet of Anjou; her battle with her father before his death for “lordship� over her dower lands and castles in England and for his official acknowledgement as the heir to the throne (despite her sex, of course); her extended bloody “civil� war against Stephen, the erstwhile pretender to the throne of England after Henry’s death; her cordial, indeed loving, relationship with her stepmother despite her marriage after Henry’s death to a firm supporter of Stephen as the proper heir to the throne and his refusal to acknowledge Matilda’s claims; and her ultimate success at ensuring her brilliant son’s ascension to the throne of England as Henry II.
Chadwick’s introduction of the dramatis personae in a complex story was reasonably well-done but, in my estimation, it was not quite as smooth nor as easily understood as Sharon Kay Penman’s efforts in WHEN CHRIST AND HIS SAINTS SLEPT. That said, once the character’s names and relationships became planted in my mind without continuing reference to the absolutely essential family tree included, LADY OF THE ENGLISH was definitely a thoroughly satisfying, compelling, entertaining, and informative piece of historical fiction that deserves the attention of every lover of the genre centered on the colored tales of medieval England.
“The English scorn us as a backward, primitive people, Godless and befouled with sin.�
“Edward is a crusader King; he’d see it as his divine duty to br“The English scorn us as a backward, primitive people, Godless and befouled with sin.�
“Edward is a crusader King; he’d see it as his divine duty to bring [the Welsh] the dubious benefits of English custom and English law. And he’d open the floodgates to English settlers, charter English towns on Welsh soil, � we’d become aliens in our own land, denied our own laws, our own language, even our yesterdays, for a conquered people are not allowed a prideful past. Worst of all, we’d be leaving our children and grandchildren a legacy of misery and loss, a future bereft of hope.�
THE RECKONING is Sharon Kay Penman’s final instalment in her history of the long-standing bitter relationship between England and Wales spanning the 12th and 13th centuries. Llewelyn Fawr (labeled by history as “the Great�) opened the epic in HERE BE DRAGONS with his declaration of autonomy and Welsh participation in the attempted curtailing of the English monarchy’s “God-given� rights with the Magna Carta at Runnymede. She continued her magnificent historical opus magnum in FALLS THE SHADOW with the heroic tale of Simon de Montfort’s participation in the preparation of the Oxford Provisions, England’s first stumbling efforts at granting the people true authority in an actual parliament and the natural successor to the Magna Carta. The story culminates in THE RECKONING with Edward I, acknowledged to be one of Britain’s greatest and most ruthless and capable military minded kings, and his ruthless (not to mention incessantly double-dealing, self-serving and narcissistic) suppression of Wales� ultimately futile opposition led by Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, Llewelyn the Great’s grandson.
Despite its inordinate three volume length as a triple barrel doorstopper and its unquestionable complexity, Sharon Kay Penman’s brilliant story-telling powers and her extraordinary ability to create true-to-life characters with brilliantly portrayed depth and motivation made the entire trilogy a gripping and deeply compelling read from first page to last.
While THE RECKONING might be read purely at face value as a historical romance and a horseback, swords and maces war-time adventure tale, I doubt very many readers would take that approach. Sharon Kay Penman’s consistent attention to over-arching historical themes � misogyny and the use of women as political pawns in arranged marriage; the unfolding development of modern English from Welsh, Latin, and Norman French; pregnancy, childbirth, midwifery and the very sketchy state of medical care; the rather questionable attention paid to considerations of personal hygiene; the expectation of monarchies to unquestioned obedience and rights to such things as taxation despite the often capricious nature of their decision making; Islamic hatred and anti-Semitism; and the gob-smacking extraordinary power of the Roman Catholic Church and the papacy � make THE WELSH PRINCES trilogy an excellent learning tool for the entire topic of 13th century life in Great Britain.
Notwithstanding its awesome near 2000 page length, Sharon Kay Penman’s THE WELSH PRINCES trilogy ranks as some of the finest historical fiction a reader could possibly lay their hands on. Unquestionably recommended
Dateline: Hamilton, Ontario 1947: “I was seven years old when my mother roared out of my life.�
Private investigator Max Dexter is not sorry that he haDateline: Hamilton, Ontario 1947: “I was seven years old when my mother roared out of my life.�
Private investigator Max Dexter is not sorry that he hasn’t seen or heard from his mother for over twenty years. One might imagine his shock and his consternation when he receives a request from a two-bit local Mafia lowlife to meet on an urgent matter concerning his mother. That shock deepens and darkens when he realizes that his mother may be up to her neck in the upper echelons of the entire North American Mafia organization as the local mob family girds itself for a turf war over the passing of the scepter. The candidates for the title of local “godfather� are lining up and they’re armed to the teeth.
The rough-and-tumble, gritty atmosphere and street scenes of 1940s downtown Steeltown, the local crime dominance of the Italian mob families, a burgeoning and completely heart-warming love interest with his über-wealthy new assistant, Isabel O’Brien, a deadly turf war, and the dubious motives of a long-vanished mother who seems to be very much involved with the wrong side of the law make for a remarkably interesting period PI piece. A FAMILY MATTER is short (far too short for my tastes), sweet, compelling, and completely convincing.
As someone who grew up in this area, I can attest to the vivid and uncannily spot-on accuracy of Laing’s description of post-war Hamilton. Well done, Mr Laing. Count me a Max Dexter fan who has his fingers crossed waiting for a fourth novel in the series.
“There were riots in Paris, but there are always riots in Paris�
Post-apocalyptic and dystopian, cynical, cautionary, satirical, hilarious, concern“There were riots in Paris, but there are always riots in Paris�
Post-apocalyptic and dystopian, cynical, cautionary, satirical, hilarious, concerned, realistic, evocative, ominous, thought-provoking � MR ADAM is all of the above and a good deal more besides.
Consider a hypothetical world in which a nuclear accident sterilizes every man on the planet except Mr Adam, a rather unassuming, mildly introverted man with a definite case of low self-esteem, who happened to be working deep in a mine shielded by vast quantities of lead deposits at the time of the accident. Pat Frank’s brilliant (but hopefully not prescient) tale tells the disconcerting story of a shocked world’s reactions to the situation from a variety of possible perspectives � young vs old; male vs female; government or military vs citizens; nation vs nation; and, of course, Mr Adams vs the rest of the world who see artificial insemination (with him as the sole source of semen) as the only possibility for the continuation of the human race (as if that is necessarily a good thing, LOL!).
Easy, easy, easy to recommend to other readers and a definite incentive to explore Pat Frank’s more widely known classic, ALAS, BABYLON.
“On a stone hearth in the centre, a fire of yak dung burned brightly and an old Tibetan woman was crumbling brick tea into a cauldron of boiling wa“On a stone hearth in the centre, a fire of yak dung burned brightly and an old Tibetan woman was crumbling brick tea into a cauldron of boiling water.�
Jack Drummond, an involuntary retiree from the British Navy, now makes his living as a mercenary gun-runner, a smuggler to order if you will, following the money he needs to live and prepare a dubious retirement. One last mission is in the cards delivering weapons to Tibetan guerillas in their hot/cold struggle against the Chinese Communists. But that idea goes down in literal flames when his plane, such as it is, is destroyed and Drummond is left with no choice but to help the local head man deliver his ailing son safely across land to the Indian border. The Chinese, including a treacherous turncoat double agent, see the child as a potential symbol that they can groom and use to secure their hold over the area. And it’s clear they’ll take whatever desperate measures are necessary to stop Drummond from delivering the child to safety.
THE IRON TIGER is an interesting, credible, and fast-moving adventure tale that entertains but, frankly, suffers somewhat by comparison to Higgins� more popular novels such as THE EAGLE HAS LANDED. That said, Higgins is to be commended for providing a progressive female romantic interest in the novel with skills, backbone, some strength, and the determination to set her own path. Well done.
Recommended as an entertaining example of the quasi-military adventure novel typical of the mid 20th century.
On the surface, MIDNIGHT AT MARBLE ARCH is an exciting story of murder, sexual assault and serial rape in the hig“Decent women do not get raped.�
On the surface, MIDNIGHT AT MARBLE ARCH is an exciting story of murder, sexual assault and serial rape in the highest levels of Victorian society. Under normal circumstances, the rape of a wealthy merchant banker would fall outside Thomas Pitt’s jurisdiction as newly appointed head of Special Branch. But Pitt’s involvement becomes inevitable as the investigation leads to what appears to be a serial rapist who has preyed upon the daughters of international diplomats. The solution of the crime becomes more urgent as money, markets, international finance and potential skullduggery in South African investments lead Pitt, his brilliant wife, and his former superior, Victor Narraway down twisted paths. Then there is the looming catastrophe of a potentially wrongfully-convicted man facing imminent execution.
Perry’s atmospheric descriptions of the moneyed levels of Victoria society are evocative and graphic:
“Pitt � looked across the glittering ballroom of the Spanish Embassy in the heart of London. The light from the chandeliers sparkled on necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Between the somber black and white suits of the men, the women’s gowns blossomed in every color of the early summer: delicate pastels for the young, burning pinks and golds for those in the height of their beauty, and wines, mulberries, and lavenders for the more advanced.�
The exquisite sensitivity of the entire list of characters in the novel to their position in England’s 19th century class structure is portrayed to a fault. It was clear that one false move by anyone in society or a presumption to status above one’s place in the recognized and inviolate pecking order would result in censure and scorn. Misogyny was an integral part of societal thinking and, to a great extent, even the most progressive women accepted it as just and normal. It was an unshakable belief that sexual assault or rape happened only to those women who transgressed and had somehow invited the crime by virtue of some inappropriate behaviour. To believe otherwise was to admit to the possibility that it could happen to anyone and that was simply not on!
MIDNIGHT AT MARBLE ARCH is easy to recommend - an enjoyable, gripping historical mystery by an author that most readers would characterize as a master of the genre.
“A newly discovered Vermeer � it would rock the art world.�
Indeed it would.
GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE is the poignant and compelling tale of the prove“A newly discovered Vermeer � it would rock the art world.�
Indeed it would.
GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE is the poignant and compelling tale of the provenance of a fictional undiscovered Vermeer that the current owner, for reasons of his own, is unwilling to disclose to the art world or present to experts for validation. Eight short stories, linked to one another through the painting, trace its life backwards in time from the present owner, through Holland under Nazi occupation in World War II all the way back to the 17th century when a financially challenged Vermeer sought to put brush and his own ground colours to canvas in the creation of a painting of � well, you’re just going to have to read the stories for yourself!
GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE is entertaining, informative and as easy to read and comfortably sink yourself into as looking at your favourite Vermeer painting and allowing his trademark treatment of light streaming through the ever present upper left window to wash over you. Full disclosure � Vermeer is definitely my favourite classical artist so I’ll admit that made the novel even more enjoyable. What a wonderful treat the art world might have if a new Vermeer were discovered.
Notwithstanding the fact that the 1940s version of “quintessentially Canadian� wouldn’t have included mental pictures of a scruffy hoser sporting a toque and red buffalo plaid jacket and gripping a frosty bottle of beer and a hockey stick, Lane Winslow probably took her friend’s comment as a tribute to the progress she had made leaving her experience as an officer in British Intelligence during the war behind and going Canadian. But her expertise in solving puzzles, her linguistic abilities, her warming relationship with a police detective, and the western world’s post-WW II relations with Stalin quickly chilling into the mid-20th century Cold War forced her onto center stage in the matter of the death (murder?) of a Russian man in a harmless local Doukhobor community.
“There was the obvious physical beauty of her dark eyes and auburn hair, of course, but the allure of her intelligence and hidden depths of resourcefulness and maybe even sadness added something, he decided, that perhaps was not found in � his current girl.�
Character development, historical ambience, and local colour are all first rate. Consider, for example, a bank manager’s condescending misogynistic response to Ms Winslow’s attempts to open a bank account with a cheque which she had received by way of an unexpected inheritance from her deceased father:
� ‘It is most unusual to conduct such business with a woman. I would feel a lot more comfortable if you had a husband to take care of these affairs for you�, he said now with a slight air of disapproval.�
Whishaw portrayed Lane Winslow’s grudging acceptance of this disheartening reality brilliantly.
That said, it is probably believed by most readers of the mystery genre that such novels, of necessity, require a plot. In this regard, DEATH IN A DARKENING MIST was slow and overly lengthy. The actual mystery and its ultimate resolution fell somewhere between mildly disappointing and merely pedestrian and workmanlike.
So there you have it, four stars for the characters and the background and two stars for the plot, so we’ll call it a 3-star mystery overall that still leaves me as a Lane Winslow fan looking forward to the third installment in the series, AN OLD, COLD GRAVE.
“� never forget it, never � that the world’s greatest fool is a Welshman who trusts an English King.�
FALLS THE SHADOW is a fictionalized biography of“� never forget it, never � that the world’s greatest fool is a Welshman who trusts an English King.�
FALLS THE SHADOW is a fictionalized biography of Simon de Montfort, the 13th century champion of representative government who fought to the death for the Oxford Provisions, the natural descendant of Runnymede’s Magna Carta. De Montfort, now known as the hero of the people and a man ahead of his time who crafted the embryonic structure of a people's parliament, was the bitter enemy of Henry III, a man now known as one of England’s weakest and most incompetent monarchs and a fervent believer in the God-given right of kings to rule their feudal kingdom with complete, unquestioned authority.
As expansive as the historical canvas on which Sharon Kay Penman paints her recreation of 13th century England is - its politics, its landscapes, and its evolution, warfare, social customs, law and marriage, even its dietary proclivities � she keeps a firm and disciplined grip on all of the story lines, all of her characters, and all of the meaningful real-life historical developments. The reader of what is a door-stopper by any definition will never find themselves forced to re-read, or to stop to gather one’s thoughts. The lush drama, the thrill, the gripping re-creation of the real-life historical developments and the heart throbbing romance that Penman has chosen to create between Simon and his wife, Nell, is, to say the least, compelling.
On the horrors of medieval siege warfare, for example:
“The mangonels heaved boulders into the inner bailey, and the trebuchets hurled the dreaded Greek fire, which not even water could extinguish. The castle came rapidly to life; men appeared, yawning and cursing, upon the roof battlements, at the narrow arrow slits � he knew how unpleasant conditions must be for those mewed up within the keep, denied light or fresh air, unable to escape the pungent stink of the latrines, having to ration every swallow of water, to count every mouthful of food.�
Some wry humour on the vagaries of bathing and brothels:
� ‘I’m just going out to take a piss. It’s sweltering in here; mayhap I’ll take another dip in the lake.� �
� ‘Again?� She was accustomed to humoring the quirks of her customers, but never had she encountered one so bizarre. In truth, the man was besotted with bathing, even insisting that she take a bath herself ere he’d bed her! Were all lords so daft about soap and water?�
Next up, of course, THE RECKONING, the final entry in Penman’s masterful Welsh Princes trilogy, in which Llewelyn, now reluctantly acknowledged by the English crown as the Prince of Wales, butts heads with Edward I, the willful and much more capable son of the mercurial Henry III. Sharon Kay Penman is a master of the historical fiction genre and her Welsh Princes trilogy deserves a strong recommendation and a place on the shelves of any lover of the genre.
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