Category Archives: Historical Fiction

The Jane Austen Society by @NatalieMJenner #FridayReads #AudiobookReview #HistoricalFiction

Posted in Audiobook, Book Review, Historical Fiction by

Author: Natalie Jenner

Performed by Richard Armitage

Released on Audible: May 2020 and Published by Orion

Category: Historical Fiction, Audiobook Review

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Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable.

One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England’s finest novelists. Now it’s home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate.

A small, diverse group of people, which includes local farmer Adam, Adaline the widowed village teacher, Dr Gray, the village doctor, Frances Knight, who’s father owned the estate, Frances’ solicitor and housemaid, a specialist at Sotheby’s and a movie star from America, come together with the idea of forming a Jane Austen Society.

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The German Messenger by David Malcolm #Extract @crimewavepress #WW1 #SpyThriller

Posted in Extract, Historical Fiction, Spotlight, Spy Thriller, WW1 by

About the Book 

Late 1916. Europe is tearing itself apart in the Great War. Harry Draffen, part Greek, part Scottish, British secret agent, cosmopolitan, polyglot, man of violence, is having a bad war. Now he is instructed to uncover a plot by the Central Powers against England. From the slums of East London to an Oxford college, from the trenches on the Western Front to an isolated house on the Scottish coast, on to a bloody showdown in the North of England, he chases a phantom and elusive German messenger. Betrayed, deceived, under attack from many enemies, bringing death to those he does not hate and even to those he loves, he tries to reach the heart of the mystery. In a final reckoning in a London tenement, he at last understands the full scope of the plots centered on the German messenger.

“David Malcolm has created a dark, compelling character with the power to fascinate still further – in the same way that you might be transfixed by the movements of a deadly spider.” –Crime Fiction Lover

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The Girl Who Came Home: A Novel of the #Titanic ~ Based on a true story @HazelGaynor #DualTimeLine #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Dual Time Line, Historical Fiction by

Author: Hazel Gaynor

Published: April 2014 by William Morrow Paperbacks

Category: Dual Timeline, Historical Fiction, Based on Fact, Contemporary, Book Review

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Ireland, 1912

Fourteen members of a small village set sail on RMS Titanic, hoping to find a better life in America. For seventeen-year-old Maggie Murphy, the journey is bittersweet. Though her future lies in an unknown new place, her heart remains in Ireland with Séamus, the sweetheart she left behind. When disaster strikes, Maggie is one of the few passengers in steerage to survive. Waking up alone in a New York hospital, she vows never to speak of the terror and panic of that fateful night again.

My first experience of Hazel Gaynor’s books was The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, based on the life of Grace Darling, which I loved. I enjoy the fact there’s truth mixed in with fiction and The Girl Who Came Home is no exception. It tells the story of Maggie Murphy from Ballysheen, Ireland, who was travelling with a group of women from the village, bound for New York and booked on the Titanic for the ship’s maiden voyage in 1912. The story was inspired by events surrounding the true story of the Addergoole Fourteen, Irish emigrants from County Mayo.

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#Extract from Along Came A Soldier by @authorbrenda1 #HistoricalFiction @rararesources

Posted in Blog Tour, Extract, Historical Fiction by

Today I have an extract from Along Came A Soldier, courtesy of Brenda Davies and Rachel’s Random Resources.

But first, here’s what the book is about…

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#ThrowbackThursday ~ An Englishwoman’s Guide to The Cowboy #HistoricalFiction #Romance @june_kearns

Posted in Book Review, Historical Fiction, Romance, Western Adventure by

ThrowbackThursday this week features a book I enjoyed very much. It was published in 2012.

My Thoughts

It’s the latter half of the nineteenth century and Annie Haddon is travelling across America in a stagecoach, corseted, with layers of petticoats and to make matters worse, wearing hat and gloves. The heat is stifling, not to mention the company. Her Aunt Bea and cousin Charlotte included. Annie didn’t even know why they were making a side trip to Texas when they were bound for New York. Not that Annie was in any hurry to reach New York, as the man her aunt intended to marry her off to awaited them. At twenty-seven Annie was considered almost beyond hope in the marriage stakes. A woman of her age who reads and holds her own opinions and especially one who is a cripple, had to take what she could get, according to her ‘loving’ relations. 

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#GuestPost by K.T. Findlay #Author of In Two Minds (Prince Wulfstan Book 1) @KtFindlay #Fantasy #TimeTravel @rararesources

Posted in Blog Tour, Fantasy, Guest Post, Historical Fiction, Time Travel by

Today I’m delighted to welcome K.T. Findlay with a guest post, courtesy of  Rachel’s Random Resources. 

About the Book

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Taken in Nuala (Inspector de Silva Mysteries Book 8) by @harrietsteel1 #HistoricalFiction #CosyMystery #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Book Review, Cosy Mystery, Historical Fiction by

Author: Harriet Steel

Published: April 2020

Category: Historical Fiction, Cosy Mystery, 1930s Ceylon, Book Review

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When an American millionaire and his glamorous daughter visit Nuala, the splendour they bring to the town’s high society is soon tragically tarnished by a vicious crime. With many avenues of inquiry to follow, including the involvement of a mysterious fortune teller, Inspector de Silva will need all his resources to unravel the evidence and avert further disaster.

A grand party is taking place at The Residence, hosted by the assistant government agent and Inspector Shanti de Silva’s superior, Archie Clutterbuck and his wife, Florence, raising funds for the orphanage and introducing their American guests, the Tankertons and their daughter, Phoebe. Inspector de Silva and his wife Jane join the list of invitees. Also staying at The Residence is Hank O’Halloran and his daughter Marie.

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The Art of Dying (Way of All Flesh #2) by Ambrose Parry #HistoricalFiction based on fact #Medical #Mystery @ambroseparry

Posted in Book Review, Crime, Historical Fiction, Medical, Murder, Mystery by

Author: Ambrose Parry

Published: August 2019 by Canongate Books

Category: Historical, Medical, Mystery, Crime, Book Review

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Edinburgh, 1850. Despite being at the forefront of modern medicine, hordes of patients are dying all across the city, with doctors finding their remedies powerless. But it is not just the deaths that dismay the esteemed Dr James Simpson – a whispering campaign seeks to blame him for the death of a patient in suspicious circumstances.

In this sequel to The Way of All Flesh, which I really enjoyed, we find Will Raven in Europe, studying and learning, becoming a fully qualified doctor.

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#ThrowbackThursday ~ The Axeman’s Jazz by Ray Celestin #Historical #CrimeFiction Based on True Events #Mystery #Thriller

Posted in Audiobook, Book Review, Crime, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller by

This week’s Throwback Thursday is The Axeman’s Jazz, the first of a series of historical crime fiction, based on fact. I listened to the audio which was released in January 2015.

My Thoughts

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Threads: A Depression Era Tale by Charlotte Whitney #BookReview for #RBRT #HistFic #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Book Review, Historical Fiction by

Author: Charlotte Whitney

Kindle Edition

Category: Historical Fiction, The Great Depression, Book Review

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It’s a boring, hardscrabble life for three sisters growing up on a Michigan farm in the throes of the Great Depression. But, when young Nellie, digging for pirate treasure, discovers the tiny blue-black hand of a dead baby, rumors begin to fly. Narrated by Nellie and her two older sisters, the story follows the girls as they encounter a patchwork of threatening circumstances and take it upon themselves to solve the mystery.

The Great Depression began after the market crashed in late 1929 and drastically affected the world’s economy. Threads tells the story of a farming family in Michigan and is narrated by the three daughters. Flora, the eldest at seventeen. Irene, the middle sister is eleven and Nellie, the youngest, just seven.

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