News and Random Musings about Historical Novels

Aug 25, Good News!

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:38:51 GMT

The moderators of the currently defunct HistoricalFiction.org forum have started a new forum at http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/forums/index.php. I understand they are still working on retrieving posts from the old forum. In the meantime, the discussions can begin anew.

Aug 25, Newsflash

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:00:44 GMT

Marg a/k/a DiamondLil, one of the moderators at the HistoricalFiction.org forum, has been diligently working behind the scenes to find out what happened to the forum and what can be done about it. Keep an eye on her blog at Reading Adventures for updates. "Things are happening in the background," she says, "so expect an announcement soon!"

Aug 24, New Review: Niccolo Rising

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:54:18 GMT

I'm not sure I want to be hooked on Dorothy Dunnett's complex, exhaustively researched House of Niccolo series about Flemish merchants on the eve of the Renaissance. But I'm stuck now, after reading Niccolo Rising, the first in the series. Fourteen more listings have been added in the last few days. Three are about the 18th Century Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: one by Anthony Rudel and a pair of novels by David Weiss. A recent release which looks interesting is Rose Melikan's thriller The Blackstone Key, listed in the "Mysteries" section of the Napoleonic page. There's been no news since yesterday about the untimely demise of the HistoricalFiction.org forum. It may be some time before any of the moderators have definite information about what happened and what, if anything, might be done to revive the forum. If anyone knows anything, please contact me via the Contact form. Thanks!

Aug 23, Withdrawal Symptoms

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 18:35:03 GMT

No, no, nooooo!!! What has happened to the Historical Fiction forum at www.HistoricalFiction.org? We don't know, but site moderators have been trying to get in touch with the site owner for months now without success, the reason the very outdated home page could not be updated. There were over 600 members of the forum, many of them very active and now squirming with unhappiness. I'll try to keep on top of this situation and let people know via this blog as soon as I get any definite information about the site's fate.

Aug 21, Medieval Sicily, New Listings

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:51:14 GMT

Reading Barry Unsworth's The Ruby in Her Navel shortly after rereading an old favorite, Cecelia Holland's Great Maria, made me curious to learn more about medieval Sicily. Surprisingly few authors have written novels about this period, a fascinating time of transition from Muslim Saracen to Christian Norman rule. An article on Historical Novels Set in Medieval Sicily has been posted. I haven't yet read all these novels, but all are on my TBR list. In addition 11 more listings have been posted, including Ron Braithwaite's novels about the Spanish Conquest of Mexico on the Latin America page, the five most recent Dewey Lambdin naval adventure novels on the Napoleonic page, Louis Bayard's 2008 thriller The Black Tower on the 19th Century Europe page (in the Mysteries section) and Tess Gerritsen's historical thriller The Bone Garden in the Mysteries section of the 19th Century America page.

Aug 20, New Listings, Books about Artists

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:38:09 GMT

Several more novels about artists have been added to the Artists article. Two relate to Leonardo da Vinci and one is about the 17th century Dutch artist Frans Hals. Twelve new listings have been added to various pages, including a couple of novels about more recent artists that appear on the 19th Century Europe page. Sarah Bayliss's 1987 novel Utrillo's Mother is about the obscure French painter Suzanne Valadon, whose reputation was overshadowed by that of her son, Maurice Utrillo. With Violets is a 2005 novel by Elizabeth Robards about the French impressionist painters Edouard Manet and Berthe Morisot. It's scheduled to appear in a new trade paperback edition in the U.S. this fall.

Aug 18, New Review: The Ruby in Her Navel

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:39:38 GMT

A review of Barry Unsworth's 2006 novel The Ruby in Her Navel has been posted. It's set in twelfth century Sicily and would make an interesting companion read to Cecelia Holland's Great Maria, set in eleventh century Sicily. A total of 17 new listings are up, divided between the Renaissance and 17th Century pages. Some notable additions are the 2008 novels The Aviary Gate by Katie Hickman, about a Renaissance Englishman who thinks the woman he loves may be a captive in a Byzantine harem; The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato, about a modern woman researching her ancestor, one of the greatest glass artists on Venice's Murano Island; The Queen's Gambit by Diane A.S. Stuckart, the first in a new mystery series featuring Leonardo da Vinci's sleuthing abilities; and The King's Gold by Arturo Perez-Reverte, the fourth novel in the swashbuckling seventeenth century Captain Alatriste series

Aug 17, Medieval Mysteries

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:07:23 GMT

Did Richard III murder his innocent young nephews while holding them captive in the Tower? Or was he innocent of the crime and, moreover, one of the wisest rulers of his time? Shakespeare presented him as a fascinating monster. Many novelists beg to differ, writing about a fascinating and often sympathetic human being. The Vulpes Libris blog, a "collective of bibliophiles writing about books," has declared this "Richard III Week" and will be blogging about all matters to do with this mysterious medieval monarch beginning tomorrow, Monday August 18. Check them out at Vulpes Libris. Eight listings have been added to the Medieval page. Most are mysteries set in the British Isles, by authors Maureen Ash, Ariana Franklin, Margaret Frazer, and Sylvian Hamilton. The other is a novel that received a lot of pre-publication buzz after the author reportedly turned down a million-dollar advance and found another publisher willing to offer more. Andrew Davidson's The Gargoyle is about a modern man and a woman who claims to have known him in fourteenth century Germany.

Aug 17, 30 New Listings

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 02:00:20 GMT

Several novels among the 30 new listings added today may be of special interest. On the Prehistoric page, Dorothy Hearst's novel Promise of the Wolves explores what may have begun the process of wolves evolving into domesticated dogs, from the point of view of a wolf. On the 18th Century page, Michael Kleeberg's novel The King of Corsica is based on actual events. It's about a German adventurer who briefly became the King of Corsica in 1736. On the 19th Century America page is a series by Judith Miller about a young woman who works as an assistant chef in the hotel in the Pullman company town. In the Mystery section of the Old West page is a series featuring a Kiowa healer as a detective. The author, Mardi Oakley Medawar, is an Indian activist of Cherokee descent who lives on the Red Cliff Reservation in Wisconsin. Two new listings have been added to the India page, both set in Colonial India. Sudhir Kakar's The Seeker is about the friendship between an English woman and Mahatma Gandhi. Nilita Vachani's Homespun is a family saga about a mismatched couple and their children and grandchildren.

Aug 14, Article on Historical Novels about Artists; New Review

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:20:16 GMT

A huge number of historical novels about artists have been published. Many are exceptionally well-written. To help you find one or more that suit your taste, an article on historical novels about European artists from prehistoric times through the 17th century has been posted. Find it through the "Articles" button or click here. A Part II and possibly a Part III are forthcoming. Also, a review of Kate Horsley's interesting novel Confessions of a Pagan Nun has been posted.

Aug 13, New Review of The Madonnas of Leningrad

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:06:17 GMT

Susan Gillmor has contributed a beautiful review of The Madonnas of Leningrad, a novel many will want to add to their lengthening TBR lists. (What would we do if we ever ran out of books to read?) The website now has a total of 40 reviews posted, which I think is quite impressive for such a young website. Many thanks to Susan and our other guest reviewers, without whom this would not have been possible.

Aug 13, Review of The Gentleman's Garden

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:05:45 GMT

The many adult fans of Catherine Jinks' Pagan series for young people may be interested in her recent novel specifically for us grown-ups, The Gentleman's Garden, set in early nineteenth century Australia. New Zealander Annis has written a delightful review for us. Thanks, Annis! Yesterday, 25 new listings went up. Many are 2008 novels in the ongoing project to bring the site up-to-date with newly published historical novels. Some titles that look especially interesting to me include: Gerri Brightwell's The Dark Lantern, about a housemaid who works for a forensic scientist and his wife, all of whom are keeping secrets; Jem Poster's Courting Shadows, about a nineteenth century architect who goes disastrously beyond the call of duty when restoring an old country church; and Sepulchre, a new novel by Kate Mosse, the author of Labyrinth. All of these are on the 19th Century Europe page. Other new listings are historical novels which did not already appear on the site about great artists of the past and their art. I'm working on an article on this topic that I hope to post later this week. The new listings include three novels about Goya, the 18th Century Spanish artist, by Max White (1946), Stephen Marlowe (1972) and Anne Bruck (1995), and a 2003 novel by Sylvie Matton about a woman who became Rembrandt's mistress.

Aug 10, Review of Great Maria

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:34:20 GMT

Cecelia Holland's Great Maria is a favorite novel of mine, one I have reread again and again over the years. I've just finished enjoying it one more time and have posted a review. Also, 28 new listings have been added in the last couple of days. Some of special interest include more novels in Lauren Willig's "Pink Carnation" series about a woman spy in the Napoleonic era, Mary Doria Russell's 2008 novel Dreamers of the Day about an Ohio schoolteacher whose trip to the Middle East coincides with the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference (on the 20th Cenutry America page), Frank Tallis's mystery series about a Viennese psychoanalyst in early 20th Century Europe, Sally Gunning's 2008 novel Bound about an indentured servant in 18th Century New England, and Bernard du Boucheron's darkly humorous 2008 novel The Voyage of the Short Serpent about a doomed colony in Medieval Greenland.

Aug 9, Review of The House of Doctor Dee

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:40:40 GMT

Queen Elizabeth's adviser Dr. John Dee was a remarkable Renaissance personality. His training in mathematics and his study of philosophy led him to believe numbers were at the root of all creation. In addition to being a mathematician and philosopher, he was an alchemist, astrologer, geographer and student of the occult, whose personal library is said to have been the largest in England during his lifetime. Peter Ackroyd's novel The House of Doctor Dee is about a modern man who inherits a London house that once belonged to Dee, and about John Dee himself. We're fortunate to have a review contributed by Linda Proud. Thanks, Linda!

Aug 8, New Articles Feature

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:06:33 GMT

There's a new button on the navigation bar at left: Articles. To inaugurate this new feature, an article by Linda Proud about historical novelist Mary Renault has been posted. Linda Proud is a fine historical novelist herself. She is the author of A Tabernacle for the Sun, recently reviewed on this website. Thanks for a fascinating contribution, Linda! We hope to add more articles over the coming months.

Aug 7, 39 New Listings

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:54:07 GMT

As part of the project to update the website to include current 2008 releases, 39 new listings have been added. Most of these (32) are on the Old West page, where news of the latest addition to Richard S. Wheeler's Skye's West series about a mountain man resulted in the addition of the entire 16-novel series. Other notable additions include Michael S. Katz's novel about a Jewish railroad detective in Old West Colorado, and Steve Hockensmith's mystery series about a pair of cowpokes inspired to solve mysteries by their reading of Sherlock Holmes stories. On the Asia page, Hong Ying's novel, The Concubine of Shanghai, looks interesting. Additions to the Ancient History page include novel #2 in Anne Rice's planned Christ the Lord trilogy.

Aug 3, Review of Young Bess

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:14:13 GMT

A new review of Margaret Irwin's 1944 novel Young Bess has been posted. Margaret Irwin was an expert on Elizabethan England, and her novel reflects it. Young Bess is the first novel in her trilogy about the young Elizabeth before she became queen, reissued in 2007. In the last few days, 22 new listings have been added, most to the Medieval, Renaissance and 19th Century America pages. The new listings include novels about English royalty by Susannah Dunn, Laurien Gardner and Hilda Lewis, and the Civil War novel White Doves at Morning by James Lee Burke, author of a well-regarded mystery series set in contemporary Louisiana.

Jul 31, Review of Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:26:05 GMT

A new review by Annis of Bernard Cornwell's "Saxon Stories" novel The Last Kingdom brings the total number of reviews onsite to 35. Thanks, Annis!

Jul 30, Contest: What historical person would you like to be?

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:53:31 GMT

Annie's Reading, Writing and Ranting blog is giving away a copy of Philippa Gregory's The Other Queen for the best answer to the question: If you had to live as any real or fictional historical figure, who would it be and why? Here's my answer: I would like to be Cleopatra, just for the first few months after she meets Julius Caesar. She was 21, barely out of her teens, and not particularly beautiful. He was a mature man of 50, ruthless and intellectually brilliant. He must have exuded all the charisma typical of men who amass great political power. When Caesar arrived in Egypt, in hot pursuit of his enemy and fellow Roman Pompey Magnus, Cleopatra was at war with her husband/brother Ptolemy VIII and getting rather the worst of it. In fact, she was in exile from Egypt's capital city, Alexandria, although she seems to have had a formidable spy network to keep her apprised of what was going on. Ptolemy, thinking to please Caesar, made a fatal misstep. He had Pompey killed and his head delivered in a basket to Caesar, who reacted with fury that a fellow Roman had been treated in so degrading a manner. Cleopatra seized the moment. Barred by her brother from entering Alexandria, she managed to reach Caesar by having herself rolled into a rug which her servants presented to him as a gift. Her charms, both physical and intellectual, evidently impressed him. He made her ruler of Egypt. Nine months after their meeting, she bore a son whom she called Caesarion, "Little Caesar." How thrilling it must have been to so enchant the great Julius Caesar! See the "Ancient Egypt" and "Ancient Rome" sections of the Ancient History page for several novels about this fascinating woman. Novels which center on Cleopatra are in the "Ancient Egypt" section, while novels which center on Caesar (both Colleen McCullough and Steven Saylor have included Cleopatra novels in their series) are in the "Ancient Rome" section. Can you outdo my answer? Go to Annie's blog, check out the rules, and write your own entry. To enter, you must have a blog and post your answer on it. If you don't have a blog, you can still enjoy reading the other entries!

Jul 29, Key West Literary Seminar

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:21:35 GMT

Historical fiction enthusiasts may be interested in attending the Key West Literary Seminar in January 2009, which will focus specifically on history and historical fiction. Speakers will include some wonderful historical novelists and history writers, among them Andrea Barrett, Russell Banks, Madison Smartt Bell, Geraldine Brooks, Francisco Goldman, Allan Gurganus, Tony Horwitz, David Levering Lewis, Thomas Mallon, Peter Matthiessen, Barry Unsworth and Gore Vidal. For more information, see their website at KeyWestLiterarySeminar.org. I hear Key West is lovely in January!

Jul 27, Review of A Tabernacle for the Sun

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:44:55 GMT

A new review has been posted for Linda Proud's novel of the early Italian Renaissance, A Tabernacle for the Sun. I highly recommend this novel for anyone interested in Lorenzo de' Medici and early Renaissance Florence, the Italian humanist philosophers, the artist Botticelli, or indeed for anyone who enjoys a good literary historical novel. It's not readily available from U.S. bookstores, and I cannot fathom why a major New York publisher has not picked it up. However, it's available in trade paperback directly from the publisher in Oxford, England, at a relatively modest price (ask them about shipping charges outside the U.K.). A link is provided with the review.

Jul 27, Review of The Bridal Wreath, #1 in the Kristin Lavransdatter Trilogy

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 01:11:32 GMT

A new review by Susan Gillmor has been posted for The Bridal Wreath, the first novel in Sigrid Undset's acclaimed Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy. Undset won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928, and the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy is generally considered to be her finest work. Susan Gillmor has also reviewed Valerie Anand's The Proud Villeins and Mary Doria Russell's A Thread of Grace for this website. Thanks, Susan!

Jul 24, New Australia Listings

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:47:19 GMT

Almost 100 new listings have been added to the "Australia" section of the Australasia page: 97 to be exact. Many of these are difficult to find in the U.S. Some that are readily available include Nancy Cato's All the Rivers Run, Bryce Courtenay's The Potato Factory, Miles Franklin's My Brilliant Career, Thomas Keneally's novels, Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock, and of course Colleen McCullough's bestsellers The Thornbirds and The Touch.

Jul 23, New Zealand Listings Added to Australasia Page

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:07:42 GMT

The Australasia page now has a section for novels set in New Zealand. In addition, Kerry Greenwood's humorous mystery series set in Jazz Age Australia now appears in the new Australia Mysteries section, and Edmund Bohan's series about a nineteenth century police detective in Christchurch now appears in a New Zealand Mysteries section. Also, in the last week, 37 new listings have been added to the Medieval page. They include Cecelia Holland's Soul Thief historical fantasy series about a Viking and his sister, Alan Gordon's mystery series about a jester for the Fool's Guild, spooky time-slip novels by Barbara Erskine, and the forthcoming reprint of Hilda Lewis's 1957 novel about the remarkable Flemish noblewoman Jacqueline of Hainault.

Jul 22, New Page for Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:27:32 GMT

A new Australasia page has been added for historical novels set in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. The Australia novels have been posted, and sections are coming soon for New Zealand and Tasmania.

Jul 18, Review of The Proud Villeins

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:03:29 GMT

We're fortunate to have another review contributed by Susan Gillmor, who recently reviewed A Thread of Grace for us. The Proud Villeins by Valerie Anand is a generational saga set in the Middle Ages, the first in the Bridges Over Time series. Thanks, Susan!

Jul 13, New Review

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:58:51 GMT

A review has been posted of The Sunne in Splendour, Sharon Kay Penman's novel about the Wars of the Roses and King Richard III of England.

Jul 11, Authors

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:03:38 GMT

An alphabetical list of historical fiction authors whose last names being with S; includes links to author websites

Jul 10, New Review, New World War II Page

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:21:02 GMT

Susan Gillmor has contributed a review of Mary Doria Russell's World War II novel A Thread of Grace, about an Italian town's extraordinary efforts to protect Jewish refugees from the Nazi forces occupying their town. Thanks, Susan! Not coincidentally, a new World War II page went up yesterday evening, with 67 listings so far. Some of these are newly published, such as David Benioff's darkly humorous City of Thieves, set during the siege of Leningrad, which just appeared in June. Others are modern classics, like Robert Harris's Enigma, the story of a British code-breaker, and Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, the story of a nurse who fears to love again and her mysterious burn patient, who cannnot forget the woman he loved. Because of the vast number of World War II novels written during and after the war by authors writing from their own experiences (not historical fiction), I'm concentrating only on genuinely historical novels for this page.

Jul 8, Historical Fiction Reading Project, Almost 140 New Listings

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:07:40 GMT

Over the past few years, Richard Podos has compiled a list of 370 works of historical fiction set in the ancient world. He has always enjoyed historical fiction and had previously read twenty or thirty of the better known novels set in that time period. After 9/11, though, he decided to read more systematically. Wishing to better understand the conflicts between East and West, he started from scratch and developed a list of historical literature beginning with novels constructed around the ancient Greek legends and moving forward in time through the Middle Ages. So far, he's read almost 200 of the books on his list, mostly in chronological order. It's a fascinating project. We're indebted to him for offering his list to the Historical Novels website. Although there was considerable overlap with the books already appearing on the Ancient and Medieval pages, almost 140 books from his list did not yet appear on this site. They do now! With other novels that have been added over the past few months, the site now includes a total of over 3500 listings. Among the novelists Richard particularly recommends are Alfred Duggan, Michael Curtis Ford, Robert Graves, Colleen McCullough, Steven Pressfield, Mary Renault, Gore Vidal, and Rex Warner.

Jul 4, New Review, New Listings

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:25:17 GMT

Some of you may know "Mudqueen" from her insightful comments in the Bookaholics group at the Eons website. She's been kind enough to contribute a thoughtful review of Linda Horan's Loving Frank, about a woman who had a love affair with the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright during the early twentieth century. Did you know Frank Lloyd Wright was from Chicago? I didn't, and my mother grew up there! Four more listings have been added, one to the 19th Century Europe page (Linda Holeman's The Linnet Bird), one to the 20th Century Europe page (Albert Sanchez Pinol's Pandora in the Congo), and two to the Middle East page (Linda Holeman's The Moonlit Cage and Marek Halter's The Wind of the Khazars). It's been tricky deciding where to put novels set in more than one locale. I usually go by the nationality of the main character. For example, The Linnet Bird is set in India, with flashbacks to the main character's life in Great Britain. Since it reflects primarily a British sensibility, I've put it in the "British" section of the 19th Century Europe page. In general, the listings on the Africa, Asia, India, Latin America and Middle East pages feature novels about characters who are native to those places.

Jul 1, Review of Classic Arthurian Novel

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:08:34 GMT

A review of Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset by guest reviewer Annis has been posted. Sutcliff was a pioneer in blending the traditional King Arthur stories with serious historical research to create fiction that presents a realistic look at the people and events that may have given rise to the legend. Originally published in 1963, Sword at Sunset is still a "must-read" for anyone who enjoys Arthurian fiction. Thanks for the review, Annis!

Jun 30, Review of The Binding Chair

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:40:54 GMT

A review of Kathryn Harrison's novel The Binding Chair has been posted. While it resembles Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan in its focus on foot-binding and its effect on the lives of Chinese women, The Binding Chair has less sweetness to it, with a stronger emphasis on the distortions of the spirit the practice caused along with its distortion of the physical body. An interesting novel.

Jun 25, Two New Reviews

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:19:48 GMT

Two new reviews have been posted, bringing the total to 22. One is for John Halsted's Legend of the Last Vikings: Taklamakan, published by JIAN Media Ltd., a small press established in 2007. I'd like to especially welcome guest reviewer Bill Bradley, who reviewed Saigon, set in Vietnam from the 1930s through the end of the Vietnam War. Thanks, Bill! If you would be interested in writing guest reviews for this site, please get in touch with me via the contact form, and I'll send you more information about the type of reviews I'm looking for. I can't pay, but will give every guest reviewer a by-line.

Jun 23, Review of People of the Book

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:45:23 GMT

A new review brings the total number of reviews on this site to twenty. I highly recommend People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. Brooks was a journalist before she began writing historical novels, and her research skills are strong, but it's her understanding of people and her sympathy for her characters that really stand out. Read the review here.

Jun 18, Review of Hallam's War, New Listings

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:20:34 GMT

A review of Elisabeth Payne Rosen's novel Hallam's War has been posted, bringing the total number of reviews on this site to nineteen. Listings now appear for the "European Continent" section of the Twentieth Century Europe page. These include Robert Alexander's three novels about the family of Russia's last czar and several novels about the mystery of what happened to the czar's daughter Anastasia when the rest of the family was murdered during the Russian Revolution. This year, DNA results finally confirmed that Anastasia was killed along with the rest of her family (see ABC News article), but for many years this was in doubt. More than one young woman appeared in Europe claiming to be her and creating controversy in the years after the Revolution. Some novels play with the possibility that she might have survived. Ariana Franklin's mystery City of Shadows is about a young Russian refugee drawn into a scheme by a dangerous and unscrupulous group of conspirators to pass off a troubled asylum inmate as Anastasia. So the resolution of the real-life mystery has ended the potential for fictional mysteries!

Jun 13, Updates and Love Letters

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:02:45 GMT

Seven new listings have been added to the Napoleonic page. They include the new novel by Karen Essex, Stealing Athena, about the British couple who removed the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon, as well as four mystery novels. Brief descriptions have been added to the listings for Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series. These should help ring bells for anyone trying to remember which ones you have or haven't read. Finally, if you're intrigued by a book called Love Letters of Great Men, it doesn't exist. But two other compilations of great love letter do exist. Check the reviews of Sandra Gulland's The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. and Zsolt Harsanyi's Immortal Franz for the titles and links to more information.

Jun 9, More Updates to Renaissance Page, New Review

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:11:08 GMT

In the last couple of days, 33 new listings have been posted to the Renaissance page. Most are mysteries. Of special note in the "European Continent" section are 5 newly listed novels about Lucrezia Borgia and the infamous Borgia family of Italy. Lucrezia was the illegitimate daughter of Roderigo Borgia, who rose to become Pope Alexander VI. Her brother Cesare was appointed a cardinal at age 18 but later resigned and pursued a military career. The Borgias, and especially the stunningly beautiful Lucrezia, became infamous for the murders and other crimes (such as incest) attributed to them. The Family, Mario Puzo's last novel (his long-time companion completed and published it after his death), emphasizes the Borgias' resemblance to the ruthless Mafia families he wrote about in The Godfather. In contrast, novels like Jean Plaidy's Madonna of the Seven Hills and its sequel Light on Lucrezia, and novels by Maria Bellonci (1953) and John Faunce (2004), both titled Lucrezia Borgia, offer a more sympathetic look at a woman used as a pawn by her ambitious father, who arranged a series of political marriages for her and may have had one or more of her husbands murdered. A new review is posted, of the Robin Paige mystery Death at Glamis Castle, part of a mystery series set in late Victorian and early Edwardian England.

May 11, Musings and Medieval Additions

Sun, 11 May 2008 00:26:43 GMT

I'm currently reading Q by Luther Blissett, set in the early days of the German Reformation when radical cleric Thomas Muentzer led a peasant rebellion. With Maria McCann's wonderful As Meat Loves Salt and Sandra Gulland's equally fine though quite different The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. fresh in my mind, I'm struck by the correspondences between the German Peasant Rebellion, the seventeenth century English Civil War (in which Cromwell's Puritans challenged King Charles), and the French Revolution. In all three cases, years of unrelieved suffering by the common people whose labor supported an increasingly frivolous wealthy class culminated in outbreaks of shocking violence. Alas, none of these revolutions ushered in a period remarkable for happiness and contentment. It's worth thinking about as the divide in our own times between the wealthy and everyone else has been widening. The Medieval page has been expanded by 28 novels, including Cathedral of the Sea by Spanish author Ildefonso Falcones. Like Ken Follett's bestselling Pillars of the Earth, this story revolves around the building of a cathedral, this time in the Spanish coastal city of Barcelona. Also newly posted is Bernard Knight's series of 12 mystery novels set in medieval Devon.

Apr 28, Review of Lady Macbeth

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:43:06 GMT

A new Review has been posted for Susan Fraser King's novel Lady Macbeth, which is based on historical research about the real Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Ursula K. Le Guin's latest novel, Lavinia, looks interesting. It's set in ancient Rome - really ancient Rome. According to legend and Virgil's famous epic poem, Rome was first built by Aeneas after he escaped from the fall of Troy and sailed to Italy. Lavinia was the young Italian woman he married who helped him found the new city. Another addition to the Ancient History page is Ernest Gann's novel The Antagonists, which became the basis for a television mini-series, Masada, about a group of first century Jews who defied Rome. Thanks to an alert website visitor, several mystery novels have been added to the Renaissance page. Revelation, the fourth novel in C.J. Sansom's Matthew Shardlake series about a hunchbacked lawyer in the court of King Henry VIII, is due in May. Another addition is the Sir Robert Carey series, which Patricia Finney writes under the pen name P.F. Chisholm. This series, beginning with A Famine of Horses, is set on the Scottish borderlands during the reign of Elizabeth I.

Apr 18, Artists and Blind Physicians

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 03:28:25 GMT

A few new listings appear on the Medieval page, the Renaissance page, the Seventeenth Century page, and the Nineteenth Century Europe page. Most of these are novels about artists: Artemisia Gentileschi, Jan Vermeer, Lydia Cassatt, John Singer-Sargent, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. These join novels already listed about Leonardo Da Vinci, Renoir, and others. Novels about art have been popular in recent years, especially since so many are beautifully written. Two of my favorites are about the Dutch artist Vermeer. Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland traces a painting attributed to Vermeer back through time, showing what it meant to a series of owners. Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier is about a servant girl for the Vermeer family who quietly and modestly falls in love not with Vermeer but with paint and composition. Thanks to a tip from an alert reader, the ever-lengthening Medieval page now includes Caroline Roe's eight-novel mystery series set in fourteenth century Spain featuring the blind Jewish physician Isaac of Girona. Isaac is the physician for the Bishop of Girona, Berenguer de Cruilles, who really existed and really did have a Jewish physician. Southern Spain was still Muslim in the fourteenth century. Spanish Jews, Muslims and Christians lived alongside each other in relative peace and tolerance until King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella drove out the last of the Moors in 1492, the same year Columbus sailed to the New World. Caroline Roe is the pen name of historian Medora Sale, so it's safe to assume these novels are well-researched and accurately reflect the time period.

Apr 12, Musicale Etiquette and Today's Updates

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:42:47 GMT

In 1909, a copy of the latest edition of Correct Social Usage by the New York Society of Self-Culture was a valuable addition to the home library. From it one could learn, among other things, "How Not to Give a Musicale." Horrors to be avoided included an untuned piano, noisily whispering children and negligent servants. "While we were endeavoring to hear a tender poem on the death of a little child, the postman came to the door, a loud double ring and a conversation with the servant followed.... Presently a song was sung, a soft lingering song of twilight with thoughts in it of those far away, of heart sorrow, of loving, of longing. In stentorian tones in the rear we heard: "5697 Columbus," "No, no, Central; wrong number..." Evidently the master of the house had a telephone somewhere..." The Asia page is now completely built, with the addition of a section on Southeast Asia that includes novels set in Siam (Thailand), Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam. The Vietnam War is outside the scope of this website. Although readers born after the mid-1970s rightly consider the war part of history, the authors of novels about the war generally lived through it, and their books are not historical fiction. For readers looking for novels about the Vietnam War, links are provided to other websites. The Nineteenth Century Europe page has been updated to add novels by V.A. Stuart and Jane Ellen Delman, among others.