“How far did I fall? I feel like saying that I fell through time itself, through lives, deaths, and centuries past, but in terms of actual measurement the drop was no more than twenty feet. At least, that is what they say. They also say that, fortunately for me, it was neither rocks nor demons that caught me as I came tumbling into the underworld. It was the ancient river that wakes you from dreams, and which few people have ever been allowed to find.

Her name is Diana.”

Book Review:

Review by Vesna McMaster  (JUL 29, 2011)

Hands up anyone who doesn’t know the story of Romeo and Juliet. No-one? Thought not. Chances are you cut your literary teeth on it, and it probably holds some special associations for you. That’s why it’s such a good subject for a modern/historical parallel romance story with sinister overtones.

Julie Jacobs is the quasi-eponymous heroin of the novel. Orphaned as a very young child, she has been brought up by her Great-Aunt Rose along with her twin sister Janice… who is as like to Julie as a marble is to a strawberry. Great-Aunt Rose has brought the sisters up in the States, but when they are in their mid-twenties she ups and dies, leaving Janice the estate and Julie (rather inconveniently) merely a letter and the address of a banker in Sienna. A heartbroken and down-at-heel Julie makes the best of a bad deal and packs her unfashionable bags for Sienna.

Matters get complicated almost immediately with a chance befriending by the glamorous Eva Maria Salimbeni – and that’s before Julie ever even reaches Sienna. The narrative rapidly develops distinct fairy-tale colours, which grow richer by the page. Julie soon discovers that few things really happen by chance in this neck of the woods. What with Julie’s historical trouble with the Italian police (don’t ask) and Eva Maria’s handsome nephew Alessandro being Captain Santini of the Sienna police, a certain amount of intrigue becomes inevitable from the word go.

The mystery trail of the letter leads from the bank, to a box, to clues, to the Pallio, to museums and clan rivalries, to subterranean passages and clean through to the 14th century. Sienna, it seems, not Verona, is the original location for the historical characters that inspired Shakespeare’s tragedy: a story already two hundred years old and re-told countless times by the time he got to it. To gain the treasure that the historical Romeo and Juliet supposedly left behind, Julie must immerse herself into her own past, which extends far beyond what one would think reasonable in chronological terms.

Fortier displays brilliant craftsmanship in weaving the multi-faceted timelines of her story into a cohesive narrative. She intersperses new mystery, romance and violence at a pace which will leave no reader able to resist the next page. But above all, she really loves her Shakespeare. This work has obviously arisen from a love of the original text. The imagery of warring opposites, fire and ice, danger and beauty that characterize Shakespeare’s work have given birth here to whole neighbourhoods, new characters and impassioned landscapes. This is no half-baked, ill-fadged limping mess that so many supposedly more straightforward “historical” novels fall into. It’s an inspired work of art with a backbone not only of research but of understanding, one could almost say sympathetic resonance. It’s so clever one wishes it were true.

However, not everyone will like it. Readers often divide into camps between the two sisters Julie and Janice: some finding the latter two-dimensional, many considering the former mawkish and generally kickable. The main plot is pretty easy to guess from the start, which is perhaps not ideal for a mystery. I didn’t find this a problem at all, as there were so many details in between A and B that just because one knows the outcome it doesn’t make the journey any less pleasurable.

Possibly its main detraction for many might be that it’s essentially chick lit. Let me qualify this swiftly: I don’t read chick lit and I found Juliet thrilling. It’s the sort of thing you put down with a glow and wonder whom to tell about it first; and then possibly consider that boys might not be so keen on it. I hate to say it, but with 80% of serious readers being female, I still think it’s got a pretty good market. Chick lit it may be, but very good chick lit. As I read it, I was taking notes on structure and tactics, thinking, “if only I could write more like this.” I’m not sure what higher form of admiration one could offer.

If you like your stories well-written, exciting, properly researched, and you have a tendency towards things pre-1400s with a dash of the paranormal and several cask-fulls of romance, don’t delay in reading this especially now that it is available in paperback.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 159 readers
PUBLISHER:	Ballantine Books (July 26, 2011)
REVIEWER:	Vesna McMaster
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Anne Fortier
EXTRAS:	Reading Guide and Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	More Romeo & Juliet tales:  Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James Brazil by John Updike And another Julia on a quest through the past: The Giuliana Legacy by Alexis Masters

Bibliography:

• Juliet (August 2010)

 

“[Master Siger] had arrived at a new theory of causality that provided logical extension of the work of Aristotle and Averroes. Against the idea of omnipotent and ever-present Deity, Master Siger had concluded that God is completely detached from the Universe, has no idea what is going on, and is powerless to affect it in any way. . . a case he had finally committed to paper and titled “On the Necessity and Contingency of Causes,” scheduled to appear in the February 1278 issue of Playboy magazine. Master Siger hoped that the Playmate of the month was a blond, since blonds drew more readers.”

Book Review:

Review by Devon Shepherd  (NOV 16, 2010)

Reading A.W. Deannuntis’ debut novel, Master Siger’s Dream, put me in mind of the John Kennedy Toole masterpiece A Confederacy of Dunces. The epigraph for that book – When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him – could easily do service here. In the role of the genius is 13th century philosopher Siger of Brabant, with the dunces being played by the Bishop of Paris, Etienne Tempier, the Papal Legate, Simon De Brion, and various anonymous sadists of the Roman Catholic Inquisition. And while medieval philosophy abounds in both books, it was Deannuntis’ characterization of Siger of Brabant as an irreverent gadfly that really called to mind Ignatius Reilly. But Master Siger has much bigger problems than his flatulent counterpart: 13th century France is not 20th century New Orleans (although, curiously, Deannuntis endows his medieval Europe with cars and video and helicopters); in Master Siger’s world, irreverence gets you killed (and tortured to boot).

The book opens just after the release of the Condemnations of 1277. Europe emerged from the Dark Ages just as scholars rediscovered the works of Aristotle via Islamic philosophers such as Avicenna and Averroes. Averroes famously tried to reconcile Aristotlean philosophy with the teachings of the Islamic faith in his treatise The Incoherence of the Incoherence. Christian theologians – Thomas Aquinas, among them – promptly concerned themselves with reconciliations of their own. Unfortunately, the Church wasn’t as keen on philosophy as these theologians, and while the motives of the theologians was to find a way to use reason and logic in support of the Church, the Church didn’t take well to having its doctrine vetted against the ideas of some pagan philosopher. The Condemnations, issued by Bishop Tempier, forbid anyone from teaching or listening to a list of disputed ideas on the pain of excommunication. While the Condemnations never named them explicitly, Siger of Brabant, and his friend, Boetius of Dacia, were well-known Averroists. And so, upon the issue of the Condemnations, Siger and Boetius find themselves without allies. Suddenly, Paris is a cold place, and on the advice of Boetius, Siger reluctantly flees the city he loves.

However, Pope Nicholas III’s reach is as far as his pockets are deep and Siger is promptly captured and brought before Bishop Tempier. Instructed to travel directly to the Papal Palace in Avignon, Siger suspects he’s being led into the lion’s den. But, not a man of many options, he figures the Papal Palace safer than the Inquisition’s torture chamber. And besides, he’s told that it’s already been arranged for Boetius to meet him there.

It quickly becomes clear that life in the Papal Palace is practically pagan –food, sex and drugs galore – but forbidden to leave, Siger is little more than a prisoner. To further complicate matters, when he’s not hot-boxing the Popemobile with His Holiness out on the Pope’s private golf-course or rifling through pornography in the palace’s secret archives, Siger is fed information he’s not sure how to use. Was Thomas of Aquinas murdered by the Church? Is his missing friend, Boetius, really dead? Or is he alive somewhere organizing Siger’s rescue? And just who are these beautiful, libidinous women who keep trying to help him? What of this Arab reporter?

But just as the existence of heretics actually functions to strengthen the position of the Church – or so Simon De Brion argues –Siger’s escapes (unwitting and otherwise), and his subsequent recaptures, actually strengthen his resolve to stay with the Pope. For what does it matter, if everything that ever was, is, and will be, was determined by that first fall of the domino? Surprisingly, news of his inalterable fate comforts Siger, and while we, from our privileged place in history, know just which way fortune spins for our genius and our dunces, Deannuntis has created such a wonderful character that we can’t help hoping Siger figures out a way to circumvent his fate, that somehow he finds his way to a better outcome.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 3 readers
PUBLISHER:	What Books Press (October 26, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Devon Shepherd
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	Not Yet
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Publisher’s page on A.W. Deannuntis
EXTRAS:	On the Matter of Death by A.W. Deannuntis
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Our very, very short review of: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole Another look at the medieval times: The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland

Bibliography:

• Master Siger’s Dream (October 2010)

“”…he mulled over his long list of poor judgments and the human losses his inadequacy had caused.””

Book Review:

Review by Kirstin Merrihew (JAN 10, 2010)

Sugawara Akitada, an eleventh-century Japanese senior secretary in the Ministry of Justice, is determined to prove the innocence of two men: one, his current retainer who has been arrested for the murder of a blind woman, and two, a convict who died in exile. As he bails out Togo, his accused employee, and searches for deceased convict Haseo’s family, Akitada also contends with a contemptuous superior, Minister Sogo, and the persistent rumors of a small pox epidemic in the city.

All of these worries eat at his relationship with his only wife Tamako (unlike other men his age he hasn’t taken multiple wives — yet). Listening to her own women’s network, Tamako believes the epidemic is real and wants to protect their young son from exposure to it. But her husband, who functions in official circles in the capital and who gets out among the people more than she, insists that, since there has been no warning announcement by the government, those who leave the city out of fear of contagion are just foolishly causing panic. The rift between husband and wife grows as he rashly judges her actions and acts himself without consulting her. Feeling the distance, Akitada yearns for someone who can give him the warmth he once shared with Tamako and this leads him into a tempting situation with a beautiful woman who is already a wife of a powerful — and dangerous — lord. Akitada is a man from another culture and another time, but his tendency to discount his wife’s opinions and behavior, his focus on job and personal crusades while allowing vital domestic issues to fester, remind us that the centuries have not changed us human beings that much. For Akitada, his “poor judgments” will exact a heavy price on him, Tamako, and others. He truly desires to do the right thing but repeatedly speaks or acts precipitously. This Achilles’ heel of Akitada’s renders him a character whom the reader may long to guide out of his misconceptions. Alas, one can only stand by and watch the consequences.

About fifty years ago, Robert van Gulik authored a series about crime-fighting magistrate Judge Dee who lived in seventh-century China. One of these volumes was called The Chinese Maze Murders: A Judge Dee Mystery (Gulik, Robert Hans, Judge Dee Mystery.). I. J. Parker’s The Convict’s Sword follows, to a degree, in van Gulik’s footsteps. Although Judge Dee is a wiser man than Akitada, he also seems, by design, more god-like and less human. And Judge Dee is more secure professionally and domestically. It is interesting to compare van Gulik and Parker’s depiction of women. Herself a woman, Parker, in tune with the twenty-first century, compellingly shapes the chasm of communication between the sexes as her female characters inhabit the traditional roles but also emerge with distinct personalities and strong wills.

Containing martial arts and mayhem, drama, intrigue, and romance; The Convict’s Sword is many things including an intricate and absorbing mystery reaching in several directions (although, like many mysteries, the ultimate closeness of its human associations is a trifle too coincidental). This is an as-accurate-as- possible picture of life in Japan among a cross-section of the classes and a poignant look at a harried middle rank civil servant whose sense of duty blinds him. Blindness, this superior novel imparts, isn’t only a physical impairment. Highly recommended.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 27 readers
PUBLISHER:	Penguin (Non-Classics) (July 28, 2009)
REVIEWER:	Kirstin Merrihew
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	I.J. Parker
EXTRAS:	Reading Guide and Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: The Dragon Scroll Hell Screen

Bibliography:

• Rashomen Gate (July 2003)
• Hell Screen (September 2003)
• The Dragon Scroll (June 2005)
• Black Arrow (November 2006)
• Island of Exiles (September 2007)
• The Convict’s Sword (July 2009)
• The Masuda Affair (November 2010)
• The Fires of the Gods (April 2011)

“Amanda held his eyes. ‘Perhaps you are correct. But often myth is more powerful than reality. Over the centuries, thousands have suffered and even died because of religious artifacts that may or may not have been found by the Templars in Jerusalem….Whether something of value is buried beneath the Gendrons’ backyard is not really relevant. What is relevant is that someone believes something is buried there….’ She turned to Cam. ‘There is an expression on Wall Street: ‘Buy on the rumor, sell on the news.’ In the case of the Temple of Jerusalem artifacts, people have been buying on the rumor for centuries.’ “

Book Review:

Review by Kirstin Merrihew (APR 18, 2009)

Did Templar Knights come to America a hundred years before Columbus? Was their Scot leader, Prince Henry Sinclair, entrusted with a sacred treasure he determined to keep safe in the New World? Did his second-in-command, Sir James, die during their exploration of the territories now within the northwest corridor of the U.S. and lower Canada? Was that dead knight’s grave much more than merely a memorial to him? What happened to Prince Henry?

These questions and many more become the unexpected business of present day attorney Cam Thorne after he ventures to his local library in Westford, Massachusetts to return some books and gets caught up there in helping an elderly couple fend off an aggressive would-be-buyer of the home and land they don’t wish to sell. The property in dispute contains an historical stone-walled enclosure that a Scot treasure hunter thinks could contain riches buried six hundred years ago. Efforts to foil him swiftly lead Cam into a dangerous game of wits and hide and seek with shadowy opponents who will not hesitate to murder to attain their ends (which vary: one faction apparently wants to gain the secrets and wealth allegedly left by Prince Henry and marked in some way by the Westford Knight; and others, even in the Catholic Church, want to keep them hidden). Soon, people Cam knows are being coldly eliminated, and he and a young woman must flee or meet the same fate. Cam and the British Amanda Spencer, a conservator of artifacts and history for the Westford Knight Research Consortium, forge a growing closeness as they dart throughout New England, gathering data and facing perils together. The pair try to solve the clues they find inscribed in rocks such as America’s Stonehenge and the Machias Bay Petroglyphs. They gather and synthesize information about the Templars, the Freemasons, ancient worship of Venus, Medieval church structure, chess, Mary Magdalene, Bernard De Clairvaux, the golden ratio, the Jewish Touro Cemetery, the tetragrammaton, the Mi’kmaq Indians, the Royal Arch of Enoch, etc. To save themselves from secret societies and lone killers alike, they are convinced they must assimilate all this information and crack the secret of the Knight of Westford.

David S. Brody’s Cabal of the Westford Knight inevitably invites comparison with The Da Vinci Code and the film National Treasure, as Richard Lynch, past President of the New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA) states in a blurb on the back of the book — except that Cam and Amanda’s hair-raising adventures in cars, on foot, and on bikes seem more likely to befall common people in suburbia — up to a point. Many who read The Da Vinci Code were inclined to overlook the “fiction” label. Those who open Cabal could, conceivably, make the same error. Brody has done an admirable job of presenting a tantalizing smorgasbord of real (documented) New England archeological artifacts, historical background from (also documented) myriad sources, and then extrapolating to reach a conclusion perhaps more earthshaking that Dan Brown’s. For most of the novel, the inferences the characters draw from the facts make sense, if one is willing to accept a few unproven premises for the sake of the story. Toward the end, though, more incredible leaps of logic are needed to accept the avalanche of material offered as plausible foundation for the climactic revelation. And that revelation itself, although in keeping with the twenty-first century’s trend away from patriarchal beliefs and institutions, leaves a sense of righting one “wrong” with another “wrong” if you will.

A note or two about character development: One of the villains has no compunctions about killing, but can’t bear to inflict suffering, which makes him unusual and more dimensional than he would be otherwise. He also has a child to ground his humanity. Indeed, Cabal on the whole meticulously maintains a feeling of humaneness, humanity: some unconscionable acts are perpetrated, but there still remains an unshakable feeling that no one is irredeemable. Again on the common man theme, the level of intelligence of the characters is not genius level; both the black and the white hats carry out their strategies and tactics rather clumsily at times. But Cam and Amanda are smart enough, and they are likeable protagonists.

Also, although the book contains quite a few sections in which characters must necessarily speak at length to convey historical background to others, Brody avoids bogging down and having them sound too pedagogical. That’s quite an accomplishment.

Cabal of the Westford Knight is a well-structured, quick-moving, invigorating, and highly entertaining “suburban” historical conspiracy thriller. But the best reason for devouring this novel is, as surely NEARA’s Richard Lynch would agree, to learn about the real archeological (and other) artifacts that leave clues to the 1399 presence of Prince Henry, Sir James, and their small band. And don’t forget the fascinating endnotes either.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 30 readers
PUBLISHER:	Martin & Lawrence Press (January 2009)
REVIEWER:	Kirstin Merrihew
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	Not Yet
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	David S. Brody
EXTRAS:	none
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury

Bibliography:

• Unlawful Deeds (1999)
• Blood of the Tribe (2003)
• The Wrong Abraham (2006)
• The Cabal of the Westford Kight : Templars at the Newport Tower (January 2009)