The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley

Whoever dares to seek the firebird may find the journey—and its ending— unexpected.

Nicola Marter was born with a gift. When she touches an object, she sometimes sees images, glimpses of those who have owned it before. It’s never been a gift she wants, and she keeps it a secret from most people, including her practical boss Sebastian, one of London’s premier dealers in Russian art.

But when a woman offers Sebastian a small wooden carving for sale, claiming it belonged to Russia’s Empress Catherine, it’s a problem. There’s no proof. Sebastian believes that the plain carving—known as “The Firebird”—is worthless. But Nicola has held it, and she knows the woman is telling the truth and is in desperate need of the money the sale of the heirloom could bring.

Compelled to help, Nicola turns to a man she once left and still loves: Rob McMorran, whose own psychic gifts are far greater than hers. With Rob to help her “see” the past, she follows a young girl named Anna from Scotland to Belgium and on into Russia. There, in St. Petersburg—the once-glittering capital of Peter the Great’s Russia—Nicola and Rob unearth a tale of love and sacrifice, of courage and redemption . . . an old story that seems personal and small, perhaps, against the greater backdrops of the Jacobite and Russian courts, but one that will forever change their lives.

Have you ever read a book and thought after finishing it that the work embodied everything a work of fiction should be? That was The Firebird for me. I have read all of Susanna Kearsley's previous novels so maybe I am a bit biased. Its not often I read a book and get totally lost within it. (In a previous occupation I was a copy editor so I'm used to picking apart inconsistencies and finding errors.) The Firebird perfectly encapsulates its intention, to be a superior work of timeslip fiction.

I never thought Susanna Kearsley could out do herself either but with The Firebird she does. The present day main characters are Nicola Marter and Rob McMorran. (Although not mentioned anywhere in the novel, Rob McMorran was the boy Robbie who had special paranormal gifts in Kearsley's novel The Shadowy Horses.) The Firebird is a sequel to the historical characters in The Winter Sea...and both stories have connections to each other on multiple levels, although The Firebird works well as a standalone read. I would get frustrated with Nicola's character at times for not being stronger...and at Rob's character for not pushing Nicola enough...but then you understand their motivations at the end. Plus Anna's story in the historical part of the novel has a very satisfying conclusion to the historical events in The Winter Sea.

The story unfolds so naturally that the surprises leave you feeling wonder at Kearsley's cleverness of revealing information. I had just reread The Winter Sea and I was still caught flat-footed at times as The Firebird unfolded. Anyways its hard to discuss the story without revealing spoilers, so I think its best if you read the story yourself!  Highly recommended for adult reading. Must read for Kearsley fans. This book will make you want to read her entire backlist, which I highly recommend as well.

My Rating: 5.0

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The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley

Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer

Beautiful Deborah Grantham, mistress of her aunt''s elegant gaming house, must find a way to restore herself and her aunt to respectability, preferably without accepting either of two repugnant offers. One is from an older, very rich and rather corpulent lord whose reputation for licentious behavior disgusts her; the other from the young, puppyish scion of a noble family whose relatives are convinced she is a fortune hunter.

Max Ravenscar, uncle to her young suitor, comes to buy her off, an insult so scathing that it leads to a volley of passionate reprisals, escalating between them to a level of flair and fury that can only have one conclusion...

I so love Georgette Heyer!! I have read almost all of her "romance" and historical offerings now.  Faro's Daughter is a much shorter story with more angst and passion, less sweetness compared to her other novels. The hero and heroine try to get the best of each other with misunderstandings along the way. Also the heroine is a faro dealer in her aunt's gambling room, not the stereotypical life of a gentlewoman for that period of time.

Highly recommended for Heyer fans and a great book to start with as a first Heyer read. 

My Rating: 5.0

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Six Georgette Heyer Mini Reviews
Powder and Patch

Arabella

The Toll-Gate

Sylvester

Frederica

Black Sheep

The Reluctant Widow

Devil's Cub

The Salt Road by Jane Johnson

I read Jane Johnson's The Tenth Gift in July of 2009. That story involved the lives of two women living in two different time periods paralleling each other. The story and Johnson's writing stayed in my mind; a woven tapestry that at the end was revealed its completion not its unraveling. I know I'm being overly dramatic here but I've never really come across another writer like Jane Johnson, with her exotic settings, evocative prose and dynamic female characters. Maybe I could call up a few authors that have storylines with similar elements but not the same way of threading together the stories and histories of the female characters.

From the author of The Tenth Gift comes another story of exotic, foreign lands, entwining storylines spanning generations, and the quests to overcome love lost.

"My dear Isabelle, in the attic you will find a box with your name on it."

Isabelle's estranged archeologist father dies, leaving her a puzzle. In a box she finds some papers and a mysterious African amulet — but their connection to her remains unclear until she embarks on a trip to Morocco to discover how the amulet came into her father's possession. When the amulet is damaged and Isabelle almost killed in an accident, she fears her curiosity has got the better of her. But Taib, her rescuer, knows the dunes and their peoples, and offers to help uncover the amulet's extraordinary history, involving Tin Hinan — She of the Tents — who made a legendary crossing of the desert, and her beautiful descendant Mariata.

Across years and over hot, shifting sands, tracking the Salt Road, the stories of Isabelle and Taib, Mariata and her lover, become entangled with that of the lost amulet. It is a tale of souls wounded by history and of love blossoming on barren ground. From the Hardcover edition.

Johnson's sophomore effort The Salt Road, is equally good as The Tenth Gift, and follows a similar formula. This time we are taken to the historical land of the desert Tuareg tribes and modern day Morocco. At its heart, The Salt Road is about the strength of women, and further, is wonderfully insightful about the lives of the Tuareg people. The women in the novel, Mariata and Isabelle, overcome abuse and hardship and in the process find their true selves. There are also good and not so good surprises in store for both characters that keep the story suspenseful. Johnson portrays the Tuaregs as a fierce people fighting to preserve their traditions in an oppressive world. 

I recommend The Salt Road. Its focus on the lives of women reminded me other great novels with strong women within an historical context:

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Expected One and The Book of Love by Kathleen McGowan
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

My Rating: 4.5

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The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson 
The Book of Love by Kathleen McGowan

Powder and Patch by Georgette Heyer

Powder and Patch is a lighter piece of fluff for Georgette Heyer, and much shorter in length than the majority of her novels. The book centralizes on two characters, Philip and Cleone. Here is the synopsis:

To win her hand, he must become what he despises . . .
 
Cleone Charteris's exquisite charms have made her the belle of the English countryside. But Cleone yearns for a husband who is refined, aristocratic and who is as skilled with his wit as he is with his dueling pistols . . . Everything Philip Jettan is not. As much as she is attracted to the handsome squire, Cleone finds herself dismissing Philip and his rough mannerisms. 

With his father's encouragement, Philip departs for the courts of Paris, determined to acquire the social graces and sirs of the genteel -- and convince Cleone that he is the man most suited for her hand. But his transformation may cost him everything, including Cleone . . .

The charm of Powder and Patch, as with many of Heyer's other novels, is her discourse on the social customs of the time, revealed through character exchanges and descriptions of dress and mannerisms for both ladies and gentleman. There is certainly a lot of great description of the clothing and accoutrement from the Georgian period in Power and Patch. Of course, what constitutes a gentleman has changed from era to era, in the Georgian period gentlemen must have great "love making" technique, have a certain air and posture, be a wonderful dancer, have a sly wit and, of course, must have great swordsmanship for all those duels to defend "my lady's" honour. Anyhoo, Powder and Patch is a fun read. I highly recommend for fans of Georgette Heyer but would recommend The Grand Sophy, The Nonesuch or Arabella instead for Heyer first timers.

My Rating: 3.5

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Related Posts:

Arabella

The Toll-Gate

Sylvester

Frederica

Black Sheep

The Reluctant Widow

Devil's Cub

Mini-Review: Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn

The fourth Lady Julia Grey mystery (following Silent on the Moor, 2009) finds Julia happily married to handsome, brooding detective Nicholas Brisbane. Their honeymoon is interrupted by her sister Portia and brother Plum, who want Julia and her new husband to come to India, where Portia’s former lover, Jane Cavendish, is living on the tea plantation her recently deceased husband, Freddie, inherited. Freddie died under mysterious circumstances, and Jane suspects he may have been murdered for his inheritance. Jane is pregnant, and she fears her child will be in danger if it proves to be a boy. Despite her husband’s objections, Julia decides to investigate Freddie’s murder, getting to know the potential suspects, including Freddie’s spinster aunt, his cousin Harry, several neighbors, and a mysterious man known as the White Rajah. As Julia closes in on the killer, she uncovers more than a few family secrets.

In this installment, I don’t feel that Julia or Brisbane advanced much as characters or in their marriage though there is still great chemistry in their exchanges. Many significant events happened with secondary characters, such as Jane, Portia and Plum and many new characters were introduced. There are the usual incidents of Julia’s curiosity getting her into trouble and Brisbane coming to the rescue. The setting of India gives an exotic underpinning and the cultural aspects were interesting. Somehow either because of the setting of India or maybe it was all the new characters, Dark Road to Darjeeling just did not work as well for me as the earlier instalments in the series. Raybourn does excellent character building though...maybe there was just too many extra characters for my personal tastes. The ending is a complete shocker and left me wanting more, so this series is still one of my favourites and I look forward to the next book.

The next instalment in the series, Book 5, is The Dark Enquiry. 

My Rating: 4.0

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Related Posts:
Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn
Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn

Deeds of the Disturber by Elizabeth Peters

Can fear kill? There are those who believe so--but Amelia Peabody is skeptical. A respected Egyptologist and amateur sleuth, Amelia has foiled felonious schemes from Victoria's England to the Middle East. And she doubts that it was a Nineteenth-Dynasty mummy's curse that caused the death of a night watchman in the British Museum. The corpse was found sprawled in the mummy's shadow, a look of terror frozen on the guard's face. What--or who--killed the unfortunate man is a mystery that seems too intriguingly delicious for Amelia to pass up, especially now that she, her dashing archaeologist husband, Emerson, and their precocious son, Ramses, are back on Britain's shores. But a contemporary curse can be as lethal as one centuries old--and the foggy London thoroughfares can be as treacherous as the narrow, twisting alleyways of Cairo after dark--when a perpetrator of evil deeds sets his murderous sights on his relentless pursuer . . . Amelia Peabody

Deeds of the Disturber did not recommend itself to me as well as the previous novels in the series. The setting of this installment was London, not very exciting compared to the wonderfully described desert and Cairo scenes of Egypt in the past novels. Many of the secondary characters were just not likeable or very interesting. The continual overt battle of wills between Amelia and Emerson diluted the usual sparkling banter between them.  The story had fits of starts and sections that seemed to drag on.  I also guessed a crucial element of the story early on which ruined my enjoyment.

But I did learn another new word...ratiocinative!

In my opinion, events in Deeds of the Disturber did not advance the Amelia Peabody series significantly.  A good read but does not have the vibrancy of the earlier efforts in the series.

My Rating: 3.5

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Related Posts: 
The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters
Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters
Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

GIVEAWAY and Review: A Royal Likeness by Christine Trent

As heiress to the famous Laurent Fashion Dolls business, Marguerite Ashby’s future seems secure. But France still seethes with violence in the wake of the Revolution. And when Marguerite’s husband Nicholas is killed during a riot at their shop, she leaves home vowing never to return. Instead, the young widow travels to Edinburgh and joins her old friend, Marie Tussaud, who has established a touring wax exhibition.

Under the great Tussaud’s patient instruction, Marguerite learns to mold wax into stunningly lifelike creations. When Prime Minister William Pitt commissions a wax figure of military hero Admiral Nelson, Marguerite becomes immersed in a dangerous adventure—and earns the admiration of two very different men. And as Britain battles to overthrow Napoleon and flush out spies against the Crown, Marguerite will find her own loyalties, and her heart, under fire from all sides.

With wit, flair, and a masterful eye for telling details, Christine Trent brings one of history’s most fascinating eras to vibrant life in an unforgettable story of desire, ambition, treachery, and courage.

I was impressed with Christine Trent's debut The Queen's Dollmaker in early 2010.  The novel appealed to me because it featured a strong, independent heroine with the unique employment of being an artist and entrepreneur in dollmaking. I am equally as impressed with Trent's sophomore release A Royal Likeness. Marguerite is a sympathetic character and it was a great pleasure to read about her escapades. I had planned on reading the book over a couple days but once I started reading I couldn't put it down and stayed up to the wee hours of the morning to finish it!!

A Royal Likeness combines history of the Napoleonic Era, including fascinating details about the Battle of Trafalgar, an abundance of adventure and intrigue, and a good dose of romantic interest.  The novel stands on its own, although I do recommend reading The Queen's Dollmaker first, to better understand the enmity between Marguerite and her husband's mother and brother, Maude and Nathaniel Ashby, two characters easy to dislike intensely. I also recommend reading The Queen's Dollmaker so you can meet the hero and heroine of that novel, Claudette and William, who appear in A Royal Likeness.

Marguerite's naivety and preoccupation with overcoming the grief from the loss of her husband gets her into a bit of trouble, ok more than bit, but she soon learns to become independent and face challenges with courage and determination. I would like to mention the hijinks Maurguerite gets up to, but I think this would spoil the story a bit so I will refrain. The author gives this character more adventure than she ever expected, when all she was trying to do was survive the death of her beloved husband.

For me, Christine Trent's novels stand out from others through attention to the details. Beyond the historical content, I learned things about ships I never knew before and the process of wax modeling was fascinating. I highly recommend this novel if you love quality historical fiction, adventure and intrigue, and original characters. Christine Trent's next novel is The Prince's Pavilion, to be released in 2012 by Kensington Books.

My Rating: 4.5

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**GIVEAWAY**

Christine Trent is generously providing a copy of A Royal Likeness for giveaway. To enter please leave a comment on this post.  The contest is open to International entries.

One entry for leaving a comment on this post.  Please include your email address.
One entry if you are a Follower of this blog.
Two entries if you post about this contest on your own blog.

Please include how many entries you have in your comment on this post (if you post about this contest on your blog please include the link in your comment on this post).

The entry deadline is Friday, January 21st 11:59 PM MST. 
The winner will be announced Saturday, January 22nd. 

Good Luck!!!

Related Posts
Christine Trent's Upcoming Sophomore Release - A Royal Likeness
The Queen's Dollmaker by Christine Trent

"A Bibliophile Mystery" Series by Kate Carlisle

So being in library school I thought it would be appropriate to highlight a book-related mystery series (A Bibliophile Mystery series) by Kate Carlisle that I have recently added to my Absolutely Must Acquire list. All the books in the series look highly recommended from the reviews I have read...looking forward to reading and reviewing!

The Lies That Bind

To Be Released in MMP November 2, 2010

Book restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright returns home to San Francisco to teach a bookbinding class. Unfortunately, the program director Layla Fontaine is a horrendous host who pitches fits and lords over her subordinates. But when Layla is found shot dead, Brooklyn is bound and determined to investigate-even as the killer tries to close the book on her for good. 

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If Books Could Kill

MMP Release February 2, 2010

Murder is easy-on paper.

Book restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright is attending the world- renowned Book Fair when her ex Kyle shows up with a bombshell. He has an original copy of a scandalous text that could change history-and humiliate the beloved British monarchy. 

When Kyle turns up dead, the police are convinced Brooklyn's the culprit. But with an entire convention of suspects, Brooklyn's conducting her own investigation to find out if the motive for murder was a 200-year-old secret-or something much more personal.

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Homicide in Hardcover

MMP Release February 3, 2009

Murder is always a bestseller...first in the new bibliophile mystery series! 

The streets of San Francisco would be lined with hardcovers if rare book expert Brooklyn Wainwright had her way. And her mentor would not be lying in a pool of his own blood on the eve of a celebration for his latest book restoration.

With his final breath he leaves Brooklyn a cryptic message, and gives her a priceless and supposedly cursed copy of Goetheas "Faust" for safekeeping. 

Brooklyn suddenly finds herself accused of murder and theft, thanks to the humorless but attractive British security officer who finds her kneeling over the body. Now she has to read the clues left behind by her mentor if she is going to restore justice.

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The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlow, devoted to his profession and the painting hobby he loves, has a solitary but ordered life. When renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient, Marlow finds that order destroyed. Desperate to understand the secret that torments the genius, he embarks on a journey that leads him into the lives of the women closest to Oliver and a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism. 

Kostova''s masterful new novel travels from American cities to the coast of Normandy, from the late 19th century to the late 20th, from young love to last love. THE SWAN THIEVES is a story of obsession, history's losses, and the power of art to preserve human hope.

I really wanted to love The Swan Thieves as much as I loved The Historian but it just didn't capture my interest the way The Historian did.  Novels that incorporate art of any kind and art history usually fascinate me.  Some readers do not like a multitude of technical details and find they bog down the storyline, but for me I find they only enhance a story and make it more interesting. I thought The Swan Thieves would have such content for the size of the book but it really doesn't, though being lushly detailed its much more about the emotional journeys, obsessions and passions of the main characters in the story, with a bit of mystery thrown in. Unfortunately the mystery was not very suspenseful, more of a slow burn, darts of menace rather than a blaze of shocks.

Kostova's prose and development of plot and characters are first rate though. It was satisfying to read a novel where a lot of care is taken with the development of the characters, background events, description and dialogue.  On a side note this book had all sorts of interesting new words I have never encountered before like ecumenical and numinously. If you want to read a finely crafted novel, with intriguing characters, that you can immerse yourself in, and explores the darker human emotions of obsession, fear, entrapment, jealousy and deception, I would recommend The Swan Thieves.  If you are looking for an exciting, suspenseful read I would take a pass.

The Creation of Eve by Lynn Cullen

It's 1559. A young woman painter is given the honor of traveling to Michelangelo's Roman workshop to learn from the Maestro himself. Only men are allowed to draw the naked figure, so she can merely observe from afar the lush works of art that Michelangelo sculpts and paints from life. Sheltered and yet gifted with extraordinary talent, she yearns to capture all that life and beauty in her own art. But after a scandal involving one of Michelangelo's students, she flees Rome and fears she has doomed herself and her family.

After Sofi's flight from Rome, her family eagerly accepts an invitation from fearsome King Felipe II of Spain for her to become lady-in-waiting and painting instructor to his young bride. The Spanish court is a nest of intrigue and gossip, where a whiff of impropriety can bring ruin. Hopelessly bound by the rules and restrictions of her position, Sofi yearns only to paint. And yet the young Queen needs Sofi's help in other matters- inexperiences as she is, the Queen not only fails to catch the King's eye, but she fails to give him an heir, both of which are crimes that could result in her banishment. Sofi guides her in how best to win the heart of the King, but the Queen is too young, and too romantic, to be satisfied. Soon, Sofi becomes embroiled in a love triangle involving the Queen, the King, and the King's illegitimate half brother, Don Juan. And if the crime of displeasing the King is banishment, the crime of cuckolding him must surely be death.

Combining art, drama, and history from the Golden Age of Spain, "The Creation of Eve" is an expansive, original, and addictively entertaining novel that asks the question: Can you ever truly know another person's heart?

When visiting Michelangelo's workshop in Rome, Sofi becomes tempted into an indiscretion with the young man she has longed for for some time, Tiberio. With no resulting offer of marriage Sofi accepts the position of lady-in-waiting to the very young, newly crowned Queen of Spain, Elisabeth, and in doing so subjugates her love and talent for painting. The story follows Sofi through the trials of the Queen's new marriage to King Felipe II and the jealousies and rivalries that arise between the King's son Don Carlos, his brother Don Juan, nephew Don Allesandro and the King for the attentions of the Queen.  The King is fiercely jealous and has total command over the lives of those in the royal household. Sofi becomes favourite of the Queen and through her naive errors and inherent timidity creates more difficulties for herself, and at times, the increasing discontented Queen Elisabeth.

What I loved about this book was the original story about a little-known, unique person in history, Sofonisba Anguissola, a female painter during the Renaissance. The novel is very intimate from the first, presented in journal format, so we are reading about the events as they happened through Sofi's eyes.  The novel is divided into Notebooks and journal entries, and before each journal entry Sofi writes Items...little notes about painting, herbs, history, culture, court life...whatever Sofi deems important.

Sofi is very naive and I chuckled at every time she was driven to say "Sweetest Holy Mary" when confronted with temptation or surprising events.  Sofi is used to living within a constrained lifestyle and the story is more about her attempts to have increased understanding of the world and venturing beyond the restrictions imposed on her...sometimes with disastrous consequences. The story is bittersweet as Sofi both indulges and repels her yearnings to paint, experience life and discover love.

At times some of the scenes were repetitive...the King comes across the Queen acting seemingly indiscreet one too many times.  Some of the story seems to lagged in places, but the premise is creative and very well researched.  This is quality historical fiction that I recommend if you like original characters, court intrigue and a focus on artistic talent.

Disclosure: LibraryThing EarlyReviewers ARC from Publisher
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 390
Publisher: Putnam
Release: Hardcover March 23, 2010

My Rating: 4.0

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Further Recommendations:
Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson

Signora Da Vinci by Robin Maxwell

The Queen's Dollmaker by Christine Trent

Nefertiti: A Novel by Michelle Moran

My Christmas holidays allowed me to dedicate a good amount of time to reading and one of the books I selected has been much talked about and praised. Really, I don't know that I can say anything more than has already been said about Michelle Moran's debut effort Nefertiti: A Novel.


I was captivated by a period in history that many of us would admit we are fascinated by.  Michelle Moran made Ancient Egypt come alive with such ingenuity and precision, creating strong, compelling characters and layered intrigues set in a region continually on the brink of turmoil. I am in awe of Moran's writing and the dedication to research I am sure was required. If you are a lover of historical fiction this story is a must read!

Nefertiti and her younger sister, Mutnodjmet, have been raised in a powerful family that has provided wives to the rulers of Egypt for centuries. Ambitious, charismatic, and beautiful, Nefertiti is destined to marry Amunhotep, an unstable young pharaoh. It is hoped that her strong personality will temper the young ruler's heretical desire to forsake Egypt's ancient gods.


From the moment of her arrival in Thebes, Nefertiti is beloved by the people but fails to see that powerful priests are plotting against her husband's rule. The only person brave enough to warn the queen is her younger sister, yet remaining loyal to Nefertiti will force Mutnodjmet into a dangerous political game; one that could cost her everything she holds dear.

I'll definitely be picking up The Heretic Queen and Cleopatra's Daughter in the near future.  Currently Michelle is working on her next novel about the life of Madame Tussaud during the French Revolution to be released March 2011. I will miss her vision of Egypt but look forward to her recreation of the French Revolution in her next effort.

My Rating: 4.5

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The Queen's Dollmaker by Christine Trent

Half the fiction I read is historical fiction, although I have not yet read much on the French Revolution. For the past year I have promised myself to investigate more into the history of Marie Antoinette, purchasing the 2008 movie Marie Antoinette directed by Sofia Coppola, which I had not yet watched, as well as Antonia Fraser’s MTI version of Marie Antoinette: The Journey, which I have not yet read. Then I was given an opportunity to read The Queen’s Dollmaker (released in trade paperback by Kensington, December 29, 2009, 384p) on offer from the author Christine Trent and I am so glad I accepted.

The Queen’s Dollmaker is a very clever and fresh perspective of the French Revolution period set in both England and France.

On the brink of revolution, with a tide of hate turned against the decadent royal court, France is in turmoil—as is the life of one young woman forced to leave her beloved Paris. After a fire destroys her house and family, Claudette Laurent is struggling to survive in London. But one precious gift remains: her talent for creating exquisite dolls that Marie Antoinette, The Queen of France herself, cherishes. When the Queen requests a meeting, Claudette seizes the opportunity to promote her business, and to return home…

Infused with the passion and excitement of a country—and an unforgettable heroine—on the threshold of radical change, this captivating novel propels readers into a beguiling world of opulence, adventure and danger, from the rough streets of eighteenth-century London to France’s lavish palace of Versailles.

The story follows in a series of vignettes of Claudette’s life coinciding with the reign of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Through her strong determination and ingenuity she crafts her future as a premier dollmaker in England, eventually catching the attention of Marie Antoinette. Their destinies become entwined as events unfold.

Marie Antoinette is from the outset a sympathetic character that the young Claudette is fascinated by, but she is presented in a realistic and factual way, with Trent not choosing sides one way or another whether she deserved her fate or not. Historical details are revealed through the events that happen. The story at times quickly progresses over the years and so I would not have minded if the book had been a bit longer.

I appreciated the amount of detail about the craft and selling of dolls. I’m a reader who enjoys all the technical details, so the story appealed to me in this way too. The Queen’s Dollmaker is a very good novel that stays true to its voice. After an accomplished debut effort I am excited to read Christine Trent's next novel, The Wax Apprentice, to be released in 2011. Other recommended historical fiction reads with strong-willed, entrepreneurial female protagonists include The Queen’s Fool by Philippa Gregory, The Tailor’s Daughter by Janice Graham, The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson and Signora Da Vinci by Robin Maxwell.

My Rating: 4.5

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The Queen’s Dollmaker certainly got me more interested in the life of Marie Antoinette. I also watched Marie Antoinette directed by Sofia Coppola in the middle of reading the novel. The movie is stunningly visual with more focus on Marie's earlier years as the Dauphine of France. While I did not know much about the life of Marie Antoinette previously, now I have a much better understanding of this period in history. Eventually I hope to read Antonia Fraser’s Marie Antoinette: The Journey.

Related Posts:

The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson
Signora Da Vinci by Robin Maxwell

The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters

Radcliffe Emerson, the irascible husband of fellow archaeologist and Egyptologist Amelia Peabody, has earned the nickname "Father of Curses" -- and at Mazghunah he demonstrates why. Denied permission to dig at the pyramids of Dahshoor, he and Amelia are resigned to excavating mounds of rubble in the middle of nowhere. And there is nothing in this barren area worthy of their interest -- until an antiquities dealer is murdered in his own shop. A second sighting of a sinister stranger from the crime scene, a mysterious scrap of papyrus, and a missing mummy case have all whetted Amelia's curiosity. But when the Emersons start digging for answers in an ancient tomb, events take a darker and deadlier turn -- and there may be no surviving the very modern terrors their efforts reveal.

So I don't have much to say about the third book in the Amelia Peabody series. What was incredibly funny was the way Peabody talks about Emerson in the story as if he were a woman, with his fussing and hysterics and sensitivity of emotion and soft heart...yet outwardly of course he is blustery, always yelling and cursing, and quite manly.  I found the more in depth description of archeological methods and techniques informative and interesting, as well as the description of the various settings, especially the Cairo's bazaars.

Normally Peter's characters are likeable or interesting even though they may be responsible for evil-doing. In The Mummy Case I did not really care for some of the secondary characters, which impeded my enjoyment of the story.  There seemed to be too much going on in the plot as well, making events confusing. Actually I got irritated and finished the book as quickly as I could...I have now moved onto Lion in the Valley, the fourth book in the series.  Maybe I moved on to The Mummy Case too soon after The Curse of the Pharaohs but I don't think so as I have been liking Lion in the Valley so much more.

My Rating: 3.5

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Related Posts:
And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander
Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters
Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn
Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn

The Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters

From the Back Cover:
Victorian gentlewoman Amelia Peabody Emerson does not relish the joys of home and hearth, For while she and her husband, the renowned archeologist Radcliffe Emerson , dutifully go about raising their young son. Ramses, Amelia dreams only of the dust and detritus of ancient civilizations. Providentially, a damsel in distress-demands their immediate presence is Egypt. The damsel is Lady Baskerville, and the site is a tomb in Luxor recently discovered by Sir Henry Baskerville, who promptly died under bizarre circumstances. Amelia and Radcliffe arrive to find the camp in disarray, terrified workers, an eccentric group of guests...and a persistent rumour of a ghost on the grounds. Now the indomitable Amelia must battle evil forces determined to stand between her and her beloved antiquities-and make her foray into the truth a most deadly affair...

Another delightful mystery, the second book in the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Michaels, Barbara Mertz). The story is worth reading for the first chapter alone with the hilarity of Ramses Emerson's adventures and opinions, Amelia and Radcliffe Emerson's "catastrophically precocious" son. Despite Amelia's acerbic tone when describing Ramses, she has obvious pride in him though her mind yearns for Egyptian escapades. The author has a gift for creating very colourful secondary characters whether they are animals or ghosts, children or adults and gives each a distinctive voice and personality. I am looking forward to reading more about Ramses and the Egyptian cat that has adopted Peabody and Emerson as its owner.

I think the Amelia Peabody mysteries have captured me fully and I am well on the way to becoming obsessed with the series, like I already am by the Lady Emily Ashton series by Tasha Alexander and the Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn, having purchased and already started reading The Mummy Case with The Lion in the Valley waiting in the wings. Very fitting as I believe Barbara Mertz pioneered the historical fiction mystery series featuring a strong female protagonist. No doubt I will end up reading the entire collection. So I highly recommend the the Amelia Peabody mysteries for those who like humor and wit with murder and mayhem in a historical context.

My Rating: 4.5

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Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
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Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn
Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

Elizabeth Peters' unforgettable heroine Amelia Peabody makes her first appearance in this clever mystery. Amelia receives a rather large inheritance and decides to use it for travel. On her way through Rome to Egypt, she meets Evelyn Barton-Forbes, a young woman abandoned by her lover and left with no means of support. Amelia promptly takes Evelyn under her wing, insisting that the young lady accompany her to Egypt, where Amelia plans to indulge her passion for Egyptology. When Evelyn becomes the target of an aborted kidnapping and the focus of a series of suspicious accidents and mysterious visitations, Amelia becomes convinced of a plot to harm her young friend. Like any self-respecting sleuth, Amelia sets out to discover who is behind it all.

Crocodile on the Sandbank is the first book in the Amelia Peabody Mystery series and although categorized as a mystery I think I smiled and chuckled all the way through. Amelia Peabody is such a character – a strong willed, opinionated, bossy woman, who thinks the only appeal she has is the inheritance left to her by her father. Touring Rome Amelia’s companion falls ill and must be sent home before they can reach their final destination of Cairo. She encounters a young Englishwoman, Evelyn Barton-Forbes, who has collapsed on the grounds of the Forum of Rome. After hearing Evelyn’s shocking story of betrayal and abandonment by a man she thought loved her, Amelia determines to takes Evelyn under her wing to mentor her and be her companion on her Egyptian adventures.

This novel is a mystery, a story of self-discovery and a bit of a comedy of errors. In the end Evelyn teaches Amelia more about life, loyalty and love than she ever expected. Beneath her prickly and spunky exterior Amelia hides a kind heart. The below quote is one of my favourites in the novel and portrays Amelia to a tee. “I watched them with the most thorough satisfaction I had ever felt in my life. I did not even wipe away the tears that rained down my face – although I began to think it was just as well Evelyn was leaving me. A few more weeks with her, and I should have turned into a rampageous sentimentalist.”

I’ve not delved too much into Egyptian archeological history so I’m not sure how true the methodology was for techniques in preserving Egyptian antiquities but I was impressed with the level of detail and how the descriptions of Cairo and Amarna come to life even though the story is fairly short. I’m sure I’ll continue on to read the rest of the series, the second book being The Curse of the Pharaohs. I would also recommend the Lady Emily Ashton series by Tasha Alexander.

Book Disclosure: Purchased  

My Rating: 4.5

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Sepulchre by Kate Mosse

I have to admit I am a bit overwhelmed writing my review of Sepulchre by Kate Mosse. Luckily I am on vacation so I have all the time I need to give it a go. Sepulchre is over 735 pages long not including the Reader's Notes and Sepulchre Tour pages. Very daunting number of pages to any reader I should imagine...and then writing a credible review that encompasses all the themes...well you can see why I'm daunted! The book was very seductive though and breezed by on a tense plot, shortish chapters and intrepid characters. Sepulchre blends mystery and crime with gothic drama and a hint of romance.

I'm a big fan of timeslip novels...although usually I find a character from one period is more interesting or stronger in voice than the character in the other time period. I thought the main characters from the past and present were equally as strong in Sepulchre, though more of the story is given over to the past. Leonie Vernier is our heroine from the late 1900s, a young girl of seventeen who demonstrates a naive willfulness that causes death and harm to those she loves. Eventually she triumphs over evil at great cost to herself...unable to rest peacefully in death as her story remains untold, she begins to haunt her distant relative Meredith Martin, after Meredith indulges in an impulsive tarot reading while researching Debussy on her long awaited trip to Paris. 2007 - Meredith Martin is come to Paris to finalize her research on Claude Debussy, although this is not her only motive for visiting France... she is determined to discover her ancestral legacy using a lone photograph she has been given of a sepia soldier. After a strange tarot card reading she begins to have frightening dreams, echos from the past, which only become more intense while visiting a mysterious hotel in southern France called the Domaine de le Cade.

Sepulchre is the second book in Mosse's Languedoc Trilogy, very loosely connected to the first in the trilogy, Labyrinth, although focusing on different time periods and events, as well as varying in tone and storyline. Sepulchre relies more upon dramatic gothic and supernatural elements to create tension, while Labyrinth trends more to the spiritual and mythical. The books have entirely different cast of characters. If you do not care for heavy gothic overtones (a malignant oppressiveness), nor have an interest in the symbolism of tarot or suggestion of supernatural patterns, repetition in music, then this is probably not the book for you...but I very much enjoy dark, mysterious novels and really was captivated by this one!! I would venture to say I preferred Sepulchre over Labyrinth, much more drawn to the features and tone of this more recent read. Reading Sepulchre was like putting together pieces of a complex puzzle, knowledge revealed little by little.

Mosse does not give more weight to the research than the characters or plot and this is an impressive feat. There was so much description given about the areas in France that the book is set in, Rennes-les-Bains, Paris, as well as Carcassonne, and patterns in music, symbolism of tarot but these do not distract from the plot which flows along seamlessly in parallel with all the details. I can't imagine the amount of research Mosse must have put together...but you can get an idea of her sources by perusing the Sepulchre Tour inclusion at the back of the novel. This is a book to savour...to put down and ponder before greedily snatching up again.

The third book in the Languedoc trilogy is The Winter Ghosts to be released in hardcover this fall.

My Rating: 4.5

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Suggested Recommendations for Related Reading with Gothic Elements:

Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Eight by Katherine Neville

Mistress of the Art of Death series by Ariana Franklin

The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson

The Tenth Gift is a wonderful and absorbing story about two complex women: Catherine Anne Tregenna (Cat) in 17th Century Cornwall, and Julia Lovat in 21st Century London. Like Cat, Julia has a talent for embroidery and at the dissolution of her long adulterous relationship with her friend’s husband Michael, she is given a book of embroidery patterns. Michael had meant to give her another similar book but mistakenly gives her the more valuable and unique palimpsest, as written overtop of the embroidery patterns and in the margins is Cat’s account of her capture by Turkish pirates. As Julia reads Cat’s story she comes to realize their lives have a strange parallel. Who is Catherine Anne Tregenna and why does Julia feel such a close bond to her? Both Cat and Julia are women of impetuosity, temper and singular naivety, given to taking bold and somewhat blind risks. They are both talented with embroidery, believe in love and are seeking to find meaning in their existence, yet they also have faults of emotional weakness and vanity. I did not like Julia at all at first and was convinced my opinion would not change. She was bitchy, emotional, weak and needy and never thought about what she was saying, insulting others whether deliberate or not. Although I have to admit she became a more likable character when the story took her to Morocco…without giving too much away…she let Morocco cleanse her of mistakes in the past.

The Tenth Gift is an excellent work of fiction and though there are romantic tensions and intimacy there is no “romance”. There is a unique, realistic and fresh feeling to the story. I don’t think I have read another novel similar to this one. Johnson also includes quotes, poems, and letters that enhance the storyline. Each chapter is a cliff hanger and I felt equally invested in the fates of both characters, although there was no pattern to the switching from historical time to modern day. Tension ratchets up more and more every time the story flipped back and forth. So much so that I became frustrated that I could not continue to read one or the other of the storylines, but frustrated in a good way as it really made The Tenth Gift an exciting read. I enjoyed and appreciated both storylines as each was so absorbing.

There were a few other aspects of The Tenth Gift that interested me. The book expands upon the ideas of mosaic, pattern, and tapestry in culture, as well as rebirth and the influence of supernatural forces. Johnson describes the process of Cat and the captured people of Penzance being sold into slavery, how they looked at the time and how they were sized up, poked at, and forced to remove all their clothing. The pictures she created were quite brutal but mostly glossed over. I learned about places and times that I had never before read or known about: the history and culture of Cornwall and Morocco and the religious, political and economic tensions of the time. I thought the book could have benefited from including pictures or stencils of the stylized designs and embroidery described within. Toward the end of the story we learn that “The Tenth Gift” is a song/poem about how God divided beauty into ten, where the tenth item is a book. I love it when authors go to the effort to include maps, chapter prefaces or quotes, and suggestions for further reading material. I highly recommend this story to everyone.

In an expensive London restaurant Julia Lovat receives a gift that will change her life. It appears to be a book of exquisite 17th-century embroidery patterns but on closer examination Julia finds it also contains faint diary entries. In these, Cat Tregenna, an embroideress, tells how she and others were stolen out of a Cornish church in 1625 by Muslim pirates and taken on a brutal voyage to Morocco to be auctioned off as slaves. Captivated by this dramatic discovery, Julia sets off to North Africa to determine the authenticity of the book and to uncover more of Cat's story. There, in the company of a charismatic Moroccan guide, amid the sultry heat, the spice markets, and exotic ruins, Julia discovers buried secrets. And in Morocco - just as Cat did before her - she loses her heart. Almost 400 years apart, the stories of the two women converge in an extraordinary and haunting manner that will make readers wonder - is history fated to repeat itself?
 

My Rating: 4.5

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The Angel by Carla Neggers

The Angel by Carla Neggers is the latest in a loosely connected series of romantic suspense novels, which I would venture to say are mostly twisty murder mysteries and very little romance. Themes of The Angel revolve around the existence of evil, deliberate mischief and an elusive Celtic stone angel. This is a story of good and evil, love and anguish knotted together with secrets and lies.

Detective Abigail Browning from The Widow is a main character in the story. The other main character is Keira Sullivan, a folklorist who tells stories and paints the mythical...and finds a man mysteriously drowned in a few inches of water in a public garden near where her art opening is in Boston. Abigail and Keira's uncle Detective Bob O'Reilly investigate the death of the man, Victor Sarakis. Keira has rented a cottage in Ireland for six weeks and has promised her friend Patsy McCarthy to delve more into her tale of three Irish brothers, a stone angel and the summer solstice while in Ireland. During her investigation of a ruined stone cottage she thinks she sees the stone angel but is then trapped among its collapse. Not hearing from his niece at the planned time Detective O'Reilly becomes concerned and calls upon FBI agent and FastRescue volunteer Simon Cahill to investigate. Simon rescues Keira and they return to Boston only to discover the gruesome murder of Patsy McCarthy.

Carla Neggers expands upon the eccentricities of each character. They all have secrets and reasons for withholding those secrets. There is the perplexing fable of the stone angel and three brothers...which was used as a major plot element but did not make much sense to me as the discovery of the stone angel was too simplistic, its disappearances and re-appearances too convenient. The book does convey a sense of hidden meanings and supernatural events but then most were given explanations. The Angel ends with many plot lines and questions unanswered, paving the way for the next book in the series called The Mist featuring Will Davenport and Lizzie Rush released in hardcover June 30, 2009.

My Rating: 3.5

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Cold Pursuit

The Eight by Katherine Neville

The Eight by Katherine Neville is a dazzlingly complex novel about the search for the legendary and mysterious Charlemange chess set called The Montglane Service reputed to give the owner untold power...the power to end Kings. There are two stories that run parallel to each other...that of Catherine Velis, New York, 1972, a computer expert working in a male dominated law firm who is sent to Algeria to consult for OPEC and Mireille de Remy, France, 1970, a novice of the Montglane Abbey who has been given a secret mission by the Abbess to conceal a number of the chess pieces of the service. Those who are in the hunt to acquire the chess service and the power it contains are said to be in The Game.

Neville pulls into the story a very broad spectrum of ideas and philosophies...from the meaning of the zodiac, planets and elements to mathematics of the Fibonacci numbers and infinity to the significance and history of cultures and religious customs. Additional themes were absolute power or dictatorship versus freedom of choice or democracy...that the many can be more powerful than the one. I think it would take an entire essay to examine all the different themes within the novel. The Eight is a very long novel at just under 600 pages of small type on paperback format. It took me many sessions to read and I often had to set the book down to ponder clues and events. The book is about fifty-fifty the story of Catherine Velis versus Mireille de Remy. At the beginning of each chapter there is a quote or abstract about chess and/or life that represents the meaning of each chapter.

In the book chess is defined as the ultimate game of strategy. Katherine Neville 'strategically' wrote and divided the plot of The Eight as a chess game. There are layers within layers of meaning about some of the ideas presented in the story...and games within games. There are very clever, intricate plot threads that eventually come back to their beginning (deliberate of Neville emphasizing infinity, eight, opposite yet parallel). The storyline at times was wildly dramatic although I found this appealing and often very imaginative, which kept me interested in reading the voluminous amount of pages.

I had a handful of issues with the novel. One aspect that never made sense to me was why Valentine was given a chess piece to protect though she was the youngest, most immature, impressionable and vulnerable novice and not even central to the storyline. A woman named Catherine Grand was mentioned as the one who started The Game in the historical storyline but it was never clarified how or why and it did not make sense to me.

The Eight is an amazing accomplishment of a novel. If you want an engrossing, complex, fascinating read look no further. The sequel, The Fire, was released in hardcover October 2008 and the trade paperback is being released August 25, 2009.

My Rating: 4.5

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The Savage Garden by Mark Mills

The Savage Garden was not a bad crime fiction novel but did not have enough tension in the plot to keep me absorbed for a majority of the book. I found the second half better, although I probably read the book too much stop and start, contributing to my supposition of non-cohesiveness. Adam Banting, a young Cambridge student writing his thesis, is enticed to Tuscany to research the family garden of the Doccis...but as he delves into the mystery of the garden he uncovers, jealousy, adultery and murder in the Docci family. There is an underlying menace following Adam, as he progresses from discovery to discovery about the family garden (think grottos and statuary) and he must decide which is more important to him…the mystery of the garden…or the mystery of the Docci's secrets. In a lot of ways this book is more about the personal growth of the main character Adam Banting than the mystery of the garden. Adam Banting is a likeable but naive character who certainly has to grow up in a hurry...or at least learns lessons in betrayal, deception, love and truth or lie. I enjoyed all the prose about Dante's work of fiction Infereno and how it related or revealed the meanings of the garden. But I think my rating of 3.5 stars instead of four comes from the lack of emotional connection I had to the book. I was left a bit cold and I need to be absorbed in a story to truly enjoy it. My Rating: 3.5 Chapters Amazon