Tag: Historical

The Housekeepers by Alex Hay

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Title: The Housekeepers
Author: Alex Hay
Format: ebook (ARC)
Genre(s): Historical, Heist
Rating: ★★★★★

This is a brilliant debut novel with all the excitement of a heist story combined with a turn-of-the-century historical setting — and a peek at the darker side of life in service.

The story has an ensemble cast of strong women who contribute their own perspectives, but at the center is Mrs. King, former housekeeper to Ms. de Vries and mastermind behind the heist. The book keeps a fast pace and the intrigue remains high throughout as pieces are revealed about each woman’s backstory and the de Vries family history. Although we’re privy to the plans behind the heist, we’re left to piece together why each woman joined in and make sense of the tensions involved as it plays out.

If you enjoy these genres along with non-linear narratives, large casts of characters, and women taking justice into their own hands, I’d recommend this as a very enjoyable read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for providing an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. The Housekeepers comes out on July 6, 2023.

The Midwife by Tricia Cresswell

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Title: The Midwife
Author: Tricia Cresswell
Format: Audiobook
Genre(s): Historical
Rating: ★★★★☆

Set in the mid-19th century, The Midwife follows the stories of Joanna, a woman in Northumberland with extensive knowledge about medicine and midwifery but no memory of her past, and Dr. Borthwick, an accoucheur (a physician who delivers babies) with a spotless professional reputation and a closely guarded secret in his private life.

As their stories unfold, we learn more about Joanna, Dr. Borthwick, and the many interesting (and often kind) people who surround them as they apply their medical expertise in their respective communities. The medical details in the book are fascinating — including the context in which medicine was practiced and how factors like location and class influenced medical outcomes (and indeed still do). But the relationships are also captivating, and I found myself equally interested in Joanna and Dr. Borthwick’s personal and emotional journeys.

The only drawback for me was the twist with Joanna’s backstory (the explanation for her memory loss), which felt unnecessary; nevertheless, I came away from the book with a strong connection to the characters and was satisfied with how their stories played out.

Something Spectacular by Alexis Hall

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Title: Something Spectacular
Author: Alexis Hall
Format: ebook (ARC)
Genre(s): Romance, Historical
Rating: ★★★★☆

This delightful sequel to Something Fabulous tells Peggy Delancey’s story as she learns to let go of her longstanding love for Arabella Tarleton and falls (literally, at first!) for the opera singer Orfeo. Prepare yourself for anachronisms (explained in the opening author’s note), flamboyant humor, journeys of self-discovery, and a well-crafted (and sometimes steamy) romance as Alexis Hall delivers another whimsical yet touching romantic comedy.

It’s satisfying to watch Peggy define not just who she is and how she wants to show up in the world, but also what matters to her — including her struggle with whether it’s legitimate to make seemingly traditional life choices without accepting the entire framework that society insists comes with them. And although the narrative focuses on Peggy’s perspective, Orfeo has their own growth arc as they learn to ask for and embrace possibilities they haven’t previously let themself imagine for their life.

This is a lovely, funny romance but also an exploration of what it means to care for someone — whether a friend, a partner, or yourself.

(Addendum: I’m dying to know what happened to Sir Horley and can only hope that the next book will be about him!)

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for providing an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Something Spectacular comes out on April 11, 2023.

Babel by R.F. Kuang

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Title: Babel
Author: R.F. Kuang
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Fantasy, Historical
Rating: ★★★★★

This book feels like it was tailor-made for me: It tells the story of Robin Swift, a polyglot who is plucked from a cholera epidemic in Canton and eventually brought to the Babel Translation Institute in Oxford, to become a translator — a profession that, in this fantasy version of historical Britain, plays a critical role in facilitating the industrial revolution and colonial rule.

It’s a powerful story that explores an alternate history of the British empire as well as a young man’s coming of age. Both aspects of the story deal with the challenges of identity, privilege, and resistance movements, especially among those who walk the line between the haves and have-nots. Interwoven with the plot, we also see in-depth discussions of linguistic and translation theory — something that I would enjoy in any case, but that also comes to bear on the events of the book.

It’s hard to talk about the specifics of what moved me without giving anything away, so I’ll just note that this is probably the best book I read in 2022 and if you’re at all interested in language, colonialism, or resistance movements you should definitely give it a try.

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

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Title: The Dictionary of Lost Words
Author: Pip Williams
Format: Audiobook
Genre(s): Historical, Literary
Rating: ★★★★★

This is a beautiful and heartbreaking story that pulls no punches, delivering the hardest news matter-of-factly and then moving on, just as life demands. It tells the story of Esme, who grew up watching her father work on the first Oxford English Dictionary, and whose life revolves around language and particularly the words used by the women around her.

It is a powerful story of women’s rights — explicitly portraying parts of the women’s suffrage movement but also the daily lives of many different women and the challenges they face. It’s also a story about the power of words and the people who shape them, and if you’re at all a language or word lover you’ll enjoy watching how the dictionary is created over the years and Esme’s part in it. I love the smooth writing style (and audiobook narration) that drew me in to this one woman’s life, and how deeply it has touched me and made me think.

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske

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Title: A Restless Truth
Author: Freya Marske
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Romance, Historical, Fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆

This is the sequel to A Marvellous Light, following Maud Blythe as she tries to solve a magical murder mystery while traveling on a ship back to England from New York — it is, as Marske calls it, “a bubbly Wodehousian romp.”

Unfortunately, the first book didn’t set me up for this one to be a romp, and I found myself jarred by the change in tone as well as the lack of intimacy-building between Maud and Violet, a striking actress who Maud recognizes from Robin’s earlier visions about the journey. The romance storyline is mainly about Maud’s self-discovery as she is captivated by Violet, whereas Violet plays the fairly predictable part of the more worldly, guarded flirt, creating a frustratingly insurmountable emotional distance between the two (although that does come across as more realistic in the end than a whirlwind romance). The magic/mystery storyline also fell flat for me, not offering enough new substance about magic and magical society aside from the revelation about Maud, and exasperating me when they make an enormous and completely avoidable blunder as the crisis is coming to a head.

The word that most describes this book for me is claustrophobic: I felt stuck on the ship, wishing for the end of the journey and a change in cast or setting, and ultimately left hoping that the next installment (perhaps following Alan Ross and Lord Hawthorn, who I loved seeing more sides of, although I’d be thrilled to get more of Adelaide Morrissey) will bring a breath of fresh air and some added depth to the series.

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

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Title: The Stationery Shop
Author: Marjan Kamali
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Historical
Rating: ★★★★☆

This is a beautifully written novel about a woman’s journey from her first love, discovered as a teenager in a stationery shop just before the 1953 coup in Tehran, through her life in the United States — influenced at each stage by the expectations, challenges, and often trauma of those around her.

I’ll admit that if I were judging the plot on its own, this would probably be a three-star book at most: central to the plot are the dubious lack of communication between young Roya and Bahman after the coup and the way their love never wanes or even really changes shape over time. But if you can accept that part of Roya’s story, the rest of the book elegantly portrays how she (and the other people in her life, at various points) faces cultural and familial expectations; immigration, culture shock, and a new language; doubt and roadblocks in her career; and grief and uncertainty. Throughout it all, there are also evocative descriptions of the food that frequently serves to bring people closer together.

I probably enjoyed this book more because of my personal connections to Iran and my love of Persian food, language, and culture, but I think it’s also worth reading for the writing style and exploration of themes like love, alienation, loss, and self-determination.

Magic in Manhattan series by Allie Therin

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Title: Magic in Manhattan series: Spellbound, Starcrossed, and Wonderstruck
Author: Allie Therin
Format: ebook
Genre(s): Fantasy, Romance, Historical
Rating: ★★★★☆

This series took my favorite fiction genres and wrapped them up in a fast-paced, entertaining, touching story with a diverse cast of characters who are dealing with magical conundrums in New York. Although many interesting characters play a role, the books are definitely centered on Rory — a feisty young man who’s scraping by and trying to stay under the radar to hide his magic — and Arthur — a slightly older, rich congressman’s son who is mundane but wrapped up in the magical world — as they try to address the challenges both between them and around them.

There are so many things to enjoy in these books: witty dialogue, but not to the point of being outlandish; some characters who defy categorization as heroes or villains; many instances of people facing and working through issues of class, race, language, nationality, gender, and sexuality; the way prohibition, World War I, and other historical notes play a role in the plot; and a story that blends action and romance. It does have flaws here and there (like some pretty heavy exposition to get some of the backstory in the first book, a bit of a quick transition in the romance, and the use of some very fiendish, one-dimensional villains) but they didn’t get in the way of me gleefully devouring the series. It may not be the most sophisticated story I’ve read this year, but it was great fun!

The Forgotten Promise by Paula Greenlees

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Title: The Forgotten Promise
Author: Paula Greenlees
Format: ebook (ARC)
Genre(s): Historical
Rating: ★★★☆☆

I was very drawn in by the premise of this book: Best friends Ella and Noor make a promise to always be close, but as they grow up they are separated by class and then further by World War II arriving to Malaysia (then British Malaya), as Ella flees with her son to England while her husband puts their daughter into Noor’s care. Sadly, just as Ella and Noor had trouble keeping their promise to each other, I felt that the story had trouble delivering on the promises it made to me.

It felt like almost everyone in the story was, to some extent, just a sketch or a stand-in for anyone who might find themselves in that particular situation, defined primarily by their backgrounds, hobbies, or jobs rather than unique character traits. I was thoroughly captivated by the history, and Greenlees made me care and even do further research about the people and events in Malaysia before, during, and after the war— if you are primarily interested in seeing depictions of what it may have been like for people and especially women at the time, this book really delivers. It also kept me curious about what would happen, but as it wrapped up, I was disappointed by how little Noor appeared on the page and how little I felt about how Ella’s story ended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cornerstone (Penguin Random House) for providing an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. The Forgotten Promise comes out on December 29, 2022.

The Visitors by Caroline Scott

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Title: The Visitors
Author: Caroline Scott
Format: eBook
Genre(s): Historical, Romance
Rating: ★★★★☆

This was a gorgeous post-World War I story about Esme Nicholls, a war widow and housekeeper who visits Cornwall with her employer for the summer and discovers a beautiful landscape, an eclectic group of veterans, and a possible future for herself.

I was initially drawn to the story by the immersive descriptions of the Cornish landscape, flora, and fauna — all things that blew me away when I did a walk along the coastal path from St. Ives to Penzance, the area where this book takes place. As the chapters went on I became fascinated with the characters and their stories, especially Esme’s struggle between her past and her future and Rory’s reflections on his time in the war.

There’s a twist that comes about halfway through the story, and even though I saw it coming I still felt the impact. This is definitely a character-driven story (where Cornwall feels like another member of the cast of characters) full of self-discovery and the journeys we take to overcome grief and embrace life.