Category: Historical

The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell

Title: The Last Magician
Author: Lisa Maxwell
Pub. Date: 18-Jul-2017
Rating: 5 Stars

The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell is full of surprises. Every time I thought I had the plot figured out the author would throw me another curve ball. By the end of the book I was wanting more. I want to know all about this world and more about characters, such as Dolph Saunders and Harte Darrigan. Their stories are begging to be told.

However, this story is about Esta. She is one of the few people remaining that have an affinity for real magic, one of the Magues, and a talented one at that. She can manipulate time. She is also a first class thief, she can steal anything. Her teacher and mentor has sent her back in time to steal the book Ars Arcana.  It is the definitive book on magic that contains the secret to destroy the Brink, the magical barrier around New York that lets Magues in, but not out. Continue reading “The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell”

Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan

Title: Beneath a Scarlet Sky
Author: Mark T. Sullivan
Pub. Date: 1-May-2017
Rating: 5 Stars

A friend of mine, knowing I love books with a historical setting, highly recommended Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan. Hands down, this is the best historical nonfiction book I have read in several years. Mr. Sullivan takes us through the incredible true story of Pino Lella, as a young man, living in Milan through the last two years of WWII.

At the age of seventeen, Pino Lella is sent by his parents to a Catholic camp for boys in the Italian Alps, near the Swiss border, in order to escape the allied bombing of Milan. Drawing upon his mountaineering skills, he assists the priest in guiding Jews across the Alps into Switzerland and to safety. Upon his eighteenth birthday he will be faced with the draft. Therefore, his parents recall him home to Milan and insist he enlist in the Germany Army. They feel this is the only way he will remain safe, since youths enlisting in the Italian Army are sent directly to the Russian front. Continue reading “Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. Sullivan”

Stone Circle by Kate Murdoch

Title: Stone Circle
Author: Kate Murdoch
Pub. Date: 1-Dec-2017
Rating: 4.5 Stars

Stone Circle by Kate Murdoch is a mixture of fantasy, historical fiction and coming-of-age set in Itlay during the 16th century.  It is a fascinating story of a young man’s first steps into adulthood.

Antonius has always known he was special. He can hear others thoughts.  So when he finds out that the local seer, Savinus, is having a trial to accept a new apprentice he is eager to go.  Once Antonius demonstrates his abilities to the seer, there is no question who will be the next apprentice. However, the Conte’s son, who is a major employer of Savinus, also shows a small amount of talent. Rank is everything in this society and the seer is left with no choice but to accept both as apprentices. Continue reading “Stone Circle by Kate Murdoch”

As Bright as Heaven by Susan Meissner

Title: As Bright as Heaven
Author: Susan Meissner
Pub. Date: 6-Feb-2018
Rating: 4 Stars

As Bright as Heaven by Susan Meissner is a poignant story about a young family who moves from a small town in Pennsylvania to Philadelphia to begin a new, and hopefully better, life after the death of their youngest child. The story is told from four points of view, Pauline Bright and her three daughters, Evelyn, Maggie, and Willa.

When Thomas Bright’s Uncle, a permanent bachelor, asks him to move to Philadelphia to learn and take over his funeral pallor business, Tom sees it as a chance to lift his family out of poverty. With much hope, the family relocates and starts their new life. As everyone settles in to their new home in Philadelphia, the Great War in Europe is raging and the United States enters the conflict and Tom is called to serve his country. Not long after, the Spanish Flu makes it way to North America and to the city the Bright’s now call home. Continue reading “As Bright as Heaven by Susan Meissner”

Keturah by Lisa Tawn Bergren

Title: Keturah
Author: Lisa Tawn Bergren
Pub. Date: 6-Feb-2018
Rating: 4 Stars

I am not big on sappy romance, but love historical romance when the history has an important presence in the story.  This is exactly what I got with Keturah by Lisa Tawn Bergren, a beautifully written historical romance about women of strength in the 18th century.

Lady Keturah Tomlinson, a recent widow, and the oldest of Lord Banning’s three girls, has just received word of her father’s passing, on the Caribbean island of Nevis, where he was overseeing the running of the sugar plantation, Table Top, which provides the wealth for his family. She soon learns that the plantation’s sugar crop has been declining in recent years and that her father has mortgaged the plantation, as well as her family home in England, on a gamble to revive it. If she wishes to save all she has ever known, and provide for her sisters, she must get to Nevis, hire an overseer, and get the next harvest is the ground as quickly as possible. It may sound simple, but for a woman in the 18th century practically impossible. Continue reading “Keturah by Lisa Tawn Bergren”

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

Title: The Rules of Magic
Author: Alice Hoffman
Pub. Date: 10-Oct-2017
Rating: 5 Stars

I could not wait to get my hands on this book. Therefore, I was super excited to see it was a selection at Book of the Month. I loved Practical Magic and just knew that The Rules of Magic would be the same. I was right!

The Rules of Magic is the prequel to Practical Magic and in it we meet Jet and Franny, when they are young, along with their brother Vincent. The story starts in New York when the three siblings are still children living under what they consider harsh parental rules. They can’t wear black, red shoes, or have any books on magic, among other things. They know they are different but their parents refuse to discuss their heritage with them. Then one day an invite from their Aunt Isabelle arrives and the trio sets off to Massachusetts on their summer break for a visit.  Continue reading “The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman”

The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee

Title: The Queen of the Night
Author: Alexander Chee
Pub. Date: 2-Jan-2016
Rating: 3 Stars

The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee is one of those books that I should have fell in love with from the opening pages. From the synopsis it sounded to me like most everything I love about historical fiction. Sadly, I was disappointed.

Lilliet Berne is a famous Paris opera singer with a checked past. She has survived untold hardships to arrive at the place she is today. There are only a few people who know the whole truth of who Lilliet really is, a sum total of four, and it seems one of them is out to expose her. She knows this because a new opera has been written just for her, the crowning glory for an opera singer, and her life is the story. All her secrets will be exposed to the world. Continue reading “The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee”

House of Shadows by Nicola Cornick

Title: House of Shadows
Author: Nicola Cornick
Pub. Date: 17-Oct-2017
Rating: 5 Stars

House of Shadows by Nicola Cornick is a wonderful, fictional story that has been skillfully woven into and around English history. The story line was rather complex as the reader is actually following three separate time lines, one in the 17th century, the 19th and the present.

The story opens on the death bed of Elizabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen, as she implorers William Craven, the First Earl of Craven her faithful and devoted cavalier, to destroy a pearl and a jeweled mirror that she believed had wrought havoc in her family. The story then leaps forward to the present when Holly gets a call in the middle of the night from her niece saying her father, Holly’s brother, is missing. Continue reading “House of Shadows by Nicola Cornick”

We Were Strangers Once by Betsy Carter

Author: Betsy Carter
Pub. Date: 12-Sep-2017
Rating: 4 Stars

We Were Strangers Once by Betsy Carter is a poignant story about relationships and survival. Set in New York City just prior to the beginning of WWII. The nation is struggling through the depression and for those who have lost everything, family, jobs and country, it is particularly hard.

The story revolves around Egon Schneider, a Jewish ophthalmologist and recent immigrant, who fled Germany to avoid persecution by the Nazi regime.  Upon arriving in America he discovers that the land of opportunity does not have much to offer the flood of refugees exiting Europe. Where he was once a respected doctor, he is reduced to being the “Cheese Man” in a NY deli. He and his small group of German friends, including his best friend Meyer Leavitt, a once respected author, struggle with everyday life and assimilating into the culture of America. They struggle finding jobs, with the language and the prejudices and each, in their own way, attempt to bolster each other as best they can. Continue reading “We Were Strangers Once by Betsy Carter”

The Library of Light and Shadow by M. J. Rose

Title: The Library of Light and Shadow Author: M. J. Rose Pub. Date: 18-July-2017 Rating: 4 Stars

The Library of Light and Shadow by M. J. Rose is the third installment in the Daughters of La Lune series. The book can be read as a stand-alone and is a pleasant mix of historical fiction, romance and fantasy. The setting is during the roaring twenties, known in France as “annees folles” or crazy years. This was a time when excess was all the rage and women were just starting to redefine their role in society.

The story is about Delphine Duplessi, a gifted young artist from France living in New York City. Delphine makes her living as a party favor drawing “shadow portraits” at high society parties. The portraits reveal the darkest secrets of those she draws. While this ability is a gift, it is also a curse. It can, and did, wreak havoc in the lives of those whose shadow portraits revealed secrets not meant to be uncovered. Continue reading “The Library of Light and Shadow by M. J. Rose”