THE MISTRESS OF NOTHING by Kate Pullinger
Winner of the Canadian Governor General’s Literary Award, Pullinger’s first novel to be published by a US publisher calls on the real-life characters of the consumptive Lady Duff Gordon and her faithful maid Sally to tell a story of adventure, passion and class in the 19th century.
March 25, 2011
· 
Judi Clark · 
No Comments
Tags: 19th-Century, Time Period Fiction · Posted in: Egypt, Facing History, y Award Winning Author
THE SHERLOCKIAN by Graham Moore
THE SHERLOCKIAN, by Graham Moore, is required reading for fans of Doyle’s master of ratiocination, Sherlock Holmes. Moore has a fine time going back and forth between his two protagonists. One is Doyle himself who, in 1893, was growing heartily sick of Holmes. The sleuth in the deerstalker hat had become a celebrity in his own right and had overshadowed his thirty-three year old creator. Why should Doyle despise a fictional character that brought him so much fame and fortune? One problem was that many of Holmes’s admirers believed that Holmes was real, and they were driving Doyle crazy with their letters and requests for help in solving petty crimes. Most outrageous of all, says Doyle, “My greater work is ignored.”
February 6, 2011
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: 19th-Century, 21st-Century, Sherlock Holmes, Story Retold, Time Period Fiction · Posted in: Facing History, Mystery/Suspense
JANE AND THE MADNESS OF LORD BYRON by Stephanie Barron
In JANE AND THE MADNESS OF LORD BYRON, by Stephanie Barron, Jane and her brother, Henry, embark on an expedition to the seaside to recover their spirits after the passing of Henry’s wife, Eliza. In the spring of 1813, Brighton was a “glittering resort and “the summer haunt of expensive Fashionables,” including the profligate Prince Regent and his cronies. Although Jane is at first is aghast at the thought of staying in a vulgar place devoted to “indecent revels,” she realizes that “Henry would never survive his grief by embracing melancholy.” In fact, “Brighton, in all its strumpet glory, was exactly what he required.”
December 26, 2010
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: 19th-Century, Amateur Detective, Lord Byron, Stephanie Barron, Time Period Fiction · Posted in: Alternate History, Facing History, Sleuths Series, United Kingdom
DARK ROAD TO DARJEELING by Deanna Raybourn
Sometimes, marriage is the kiss of death for a series in which a man and woman quarrel incessantly but finally realize that they are essential to one another’s happiness. Fortunately, the union of Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane enhances rather than detracts from Deanna Raybourn’s DARK ROAD TO DARJEELING. The author keeps us engrossed by removing her characters from their comfort zone and placing them in a lovely Indian tea garden amid scenic mountains and valleys; making it clear that although Julia and Brisbane remain passionately in love (as we are reminded incessantly every time they repair to their bedchamber), they still have issues about Julia’s habit of courting danger; and providing supporting roles for Julia’s sarcastic siblings, Portia and Plum, Julia’s grumpy maid, Morag, and Portia’s sweet-natured friend, Jane, who is widowed and expecting her first child.
December 26, 2010
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: 19th-Century, Amateur Detective, Deanna Raybourn, Time Period Fiction · Posted in: Facing History, India-Pakistan, Sleuths Series
NATION by Terry Pratchett
In interviews, Terry Pratchett has said that he had to write NATION. He pushed aside earlier scheduled work to accomplish this. The momentum of this need translates itself into a headlong rush which the reader experiences quite shortly after picking up the volume… until the end.
December 19, 2010
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: 19th-Century, Terry Pratchett · Posted in: Coming-of-Age, Speculative (Beyond Reality), y Award Winning Author
DANIEL by Henning Mankell
Book Quote: “I’m a little boy, he thought. I have travelled much too far away. My parents and the other people I lived with are dead. And yet they live. They are still closer to me than the man called Father and the woman who doesn’t dare come close enough for me to grab her. […]
December 15, 2010
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: 19th-Century, Henning Mankell, Time Period Fiction · Posted in: 2010 Favorites, Africa, Class - Race - Gender, Facing History, Sweden, Translated, World Lit, y Award Winning Author
