historical fiction

The Fair Botanists

Book Review: Sara Sheridan’s The Fair Botanists is a contemplative take on Scottish history

The story of how Sara Sheridan’s latest book The Fair Botanists came to be is a fascinating one. Or one to envy if you are trying to get a book published yourself. In an author’s note at the back of the novel, Sara tells of how she was eating at a restaurant when she got a text…

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The Riviera House

Book Review: The Riviera House is Natasha Lester’s most sumptuous novel yet

Bestselling historical fiction author Natasha Lester is back with her sixth foray into the genre and it’s safe to say that her star is continuing to rise. Once again returning to World War Two-era France, Lester’s latest novel is The Riviera House, a multiple timeline romance and adventure story of art, espionage and war. This new offering…

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Book Review: Cold Mountain author Charles Frazier returns to the American Civil War with Varina, a beautiful blend of fiction and history

1906, Saratoga Springs. A man named James Blake enters The Retreat hotel and asks to see Varina Davis. In his hands he holds a blue book, a book that offers a glimpse into his past. He barely remembers Mrs Davis – V – but he wonders if she remembers him, a small black boy rescued…

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Book Review: The Midnight Watch by David Dyer (Penguin Books, 2016)

It has just gone midnight on April 15 1912, and Herbert Stone — second officer aboard the SS Californian — is about to take watch. Across the Atlantic ice field that has halted his own ship’s progress for the night lies another, a passenger steamer, her lights dim. Stone is expecting a quiet night, but when…

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