Cariola's 2025 Reading

Finally getting around to posting my thread and my first review of the year. Sorry for the lateness. It will be a while longer before I choose a theme and post a heading illustration. But I can get started with my best reads of 2024 and my first review of 2025!

Best of 2025 (so far)
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
The Pretender by Jo Harkin
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn
The Voyage Home by Pat Barker
Isola by Allegra Goodman
The Seeker by S. G. MacLean
The House of Lamentations by S. G. Seeker

Best of 2024
The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable
The Painter's Daughters by Emily Howes
Clear by Carys Davies
Wild and Distant Seas by Tara Karr Roberts
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
Night Watch by Jayne Ann Phillips
James by Percival Everett
Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor
North Woods by Daniel Mason
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
Real Americans by Rachel Khong

Currently Reading:


January
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn

February
The Voyage Home by Pat Barker
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult

March
The Seeker by S. G. MacLean
Isola by Allegra Goodman
The Black Friar by S. G. MacLean

April
Destroying Angel by S. G. MacLean
The Bear Pit by S. G. MacLean

May
The King's Messenger by Susanna Kearsley
The House of Lamentations by S. G. MacLean
The Winter List by S. G. MacLean

June

July
The Pretender by Jo Harkin

August
Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life by Alan Cumming
Emily's House by Amy Belding Brown

September
Dissolution by C. J. Sansom
The Redemption of Alexander Seaton by S. G. MacLean
The Fire Court by Andrew Taylor
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

October

The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn

I quite enjoyed this novel and its many characters. It begins in 1928 in Chilcombe, the Seagrave family estate on the west coast of England. It's Christabel's eighth birthday, and she has claimed as her own a dead whale that has washed up on the beach, climbing the rotting corpse to plant an English flag. Christobel's widowed father has remarried, and her new stepmother soon become pregnant. What Chistobel wants most for her birthday is a brother, but she is sorely disappointed with her new sister Florence (whom she calls the Veg due to her vegetable-like appearance; she's later known as Flossie). When her father dies in an accident, her stepmother marries the surviving heir, Christobel's uncle, Willoughby Seagrave, and soon produces the longed-for brother, Digby.

This is quite a lengthy book, almost 500 pages. The first part focuses on the three Seagrave children at Chilcombe. Christobel is the tomboyish leader of the pack, Digby her devoted second, and Flossie her willing follower. One of their main exploits involves bringing the whale's skeletal remains up the estate and setting it up as the framework for their little community theatre. Christobel has the mind of a director, and Digby is a talented actor, and they persuade various family members and friends and household staff to take roles in their Shakespearean productions, which are quite the local success.

Jump forward to the late 1930s and Hitler's push across Europe. Quinn gives us a detailed look at the effects of the war at home in England, and a few years later, both Digby and Christobel become secret agents who work with the French Resistance fighters. This is the longest and perhaps the most intense section of the book.

Besides the three Seagrave siblings and their parents, many other characters play important roles: the Brewers, the estate's agent and housekeeper; Maudie, a maid who becomes Christobel's confidant and lifelong friend; Madamoiselle Aubert, the children's governess; Uncle Perry, a career military man with government connections; Edouard, Sophie, Lisolette, Antoine, Jean Marc and others assisting with the resistance; and many more. All of the characters are distinct and well drawn.

If you have the patience for a longer read, I highly recommend this novel!

Happy New Year!

I loved The Whalebone Theatre as well. I thought it was a very good first novel.

Good best of list as well. I also had Intermezzo and Clear on my list. Some others are on my wishlist...

Great to see you back!

Welcome back!

Hi, everyone! I was so engrossed with my second book of the year (and with processing cat adoption applications) that I haven't been back for a bit. But now I'm ready to post my second read of 2025.

I just started By Any Other Name, a novel based on the life of Emilia Bassano, one of the first women to publish poetry in Elizabethan England. It's also the first book I've ever read by the very popular Jodi Picoult. I'm not a big fan of the dual setting story (contemporary woman/historical woman), but so far I'm enjoying it.

The third volume in Pat Barker's Trojan Women trilogy, The Voyage Home focuses on three women: Ritsa, Casssandra, and Clytemnestra, each of whom has her reasons to wish Agamemnon dead. As Barker's creation, the fictional Ritsa serves as the connection between all three women.

Ritsa is a Trojan woman skilled in medicine who was captured by the Greeks and made a personal slave to Cassandra. If you know your Greek mythology, you'll know that Cassandra was a Trojan priestess devoted to Apollo. He gave her the gift of prophecy--but also the curse that none of her prophecies would be believed. When the Trojans were defeated, Cassandra was given to the Greek king Agamemnon as a concubine--but he marries her, despite the fact that he had a wife, Clytemnestra, waiting at home.

The story begins as the Greeks and their captives board a ship to sail for home at last. Ritsa forms a romantic (well, maybe lustful is a better word) relationship with the ship's captain, and also a cautious friendship with Machaon, Agamemnon's physician, who appreciates her abilities. Her relationship with Cassandra is strained but gradually begins to change.

As for Clytemnestra, if you know the myth, I don't have to tell you why she wishes her husband dead. But Barker gives her an additional motive: she has been ruling in his stead for the 10 years he has been away at war and isn't eager to give up her power.

This is an interesting retelling of the final chapter in the Trojan War from the women's viewpoints. It's also a reminder that no one, not the victors nor the defeated, remains untouched by war.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

I missed your thread for some reason, Deborah.

>7 Cariola: That is a tremendous review.

I hope that you are doing well.

>8 PaulCranswick: Glad you found me, Paul. I just stopped in to post some reviews. I haven't been keeping up very well, I'm afraid. Doing well, other than dealing with arthritis. I've been putting off knee replacements and a shoulder replacement, but I'm starting to think more seriously about them.

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult

This was my first read by Jodi Picoult, and it might be my last. I was attracted by the Shakespeare connection, so I borrowed it from my library.

What I liked: Picoult did a good job of depicting both the world of Elizabethan nobility and the Jewish slums of London. I usually hate the "Who really wrote Shakespeare's works?" premise. But the author did her research into the life of Emilia Bassano Lanier, daughter of Italian court musicians, and the connections between her life to the plays and poems seem as plausible as any proposed "Shakespeare." Her premise is that, as a woman, Bassano could never get published, so she hired Shakespeare (a hack writer, by her account) to put his name to her works for a cut of the proceeds. And along the way, we get an interesting imagining of Lanyer's life, from her wardship under a noble family after her parents' death, to her years as the mistress of one of Elizabeth I's chief advisors and lover of the young Henry Wriothesley, to being married off to an abusive Jewish musician. She is mainly depicted as an intelligent and creative woman who is held back by her sex yet manages to survive and even to secure a measure of independence. If you can put aside
what you may already know about Shakespeare and Lanier, it's a pretty captivating story.

What I didn't like: Unfortunately, Picoult couldn't leave well enough alone and just give us this story. Nope. We had to have a contemporary parallel, a would-be playwright who just happens to learn that she is a descendent of Emilia Bassano. She becomes obsessed with her ancestor and eventually writes a feminist play that "proves" that she is really "Shakespeare." I hate the two-time frame formula, and I also hate the old hack of a woman falling in love with the man she detested for years. And let's throw in another cliché: her best friend is a gay black man, another playwright (but not as good as the woman). To bring her parallel full circle, he pretends to have written her play because she doesn't believe that male producers would take her seriously. The integration of quotes from the work of Shakespeare is a bit heavy handed and sometimes awkward as well.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

The Seeker by S. G. MacLean

I love historical fiction, and although I'm not a big fan of mysteries, every so often I'll give an historical mystery a try. The Seeker sounded interesting, mainly because of the setting: the early years of the Cromwell Protectorate (mid-17th century London). A former captain in the New Model Army, Damian Seeker is now in charge of rooting out any threats to the Lord Protector and the Commonwealth and, in general, investigating crimes. People tend to fear him, and he is known not so much by his given name as by The Seeker. Early on, he becomes embroiled in the search for the killer of John Snow, one of Cromwell's most loved officers, who is found dead in front of his dwelling. Elias Ellingworth, a young lawyer suspected of being a the writer of radical pamphlets, is found bent over the body, covered in blood and with a knife in his hand. When Seeker enters Snow's rooms, he finds his wife also covered in blood and seemingly out of her mind. She claims that her husband died in her arms, which suggests to Seeker that Ellingworth might actually have been an innocent passerby who tried to help.

Much of the story centers around Kent's coffee house, its employees and clientele. There we meet many well-drawn characters who seem to play a part in Snow's murder--or in a soon uncovered plot to assassinate Cromwell. Lady Ann, Snow's wife, had made an unexpected stop at Kent's on the day her husband was slain, and an extreme Scottish minister was there with a taciturn companion, a former soldier that he had hired as a guard on his journey south. Two Dutchmen are also under scrutiny by Seeker, at least until they disappear. And one of the main clues to the conspirators' identities lies in plain view in the coffee house.

There are lots of twists, turns, and secondary plots in this novel, and the ending was quite a surprise. I enjoyed this mystery so much that I purchased the next our books in the Damian Seeker series! I will enjoy reading them in between my usual heavier fare.

4 out of 5 stars.

Isola by Allegra Goodman

'Isola' is based on real events, although the author reveals in her end notes that various records of the story differ dramatically. The protagonist is Marguerite, a young orphan of noble birth who lives a happy and luxurious life, cared for by her nurse and loved by her teachers and the teacher's daughter. Her guardian, Roberval, is a favorite of the King of France, but he has been raiding his ward's inheritance for years. He is a speculator who invests in exploration. when the king commissions him to establish a colony in New France (Canada), he decides that Marguerite will accompany him. She is forced to leave the only home she has known and is subjected to Roberval's harsh treatment. His only "gift" to her is a book of psalms that he uses to exert control over the young girl. The sea voyage is rough, and her old nurse Damienne, who is allowed to accompany her, suffers greatly. But Marguerite is doomed when she falls in love with Roberval's secretary. Instead of killing them for their sins (the greatest one, in his mind, is their betrayal of him), Roberval casts the lovers and the nurse on an uninhabited island in the St. Lawrence gulf.

The balance of the novel relates the trio's struggle to survive in their harsh environment. Their provisions are few, the land is infertile, the winters are harsh, and the bears are hungry. Their story becomes one of love, faith, and resilience. I will leave you to read the details and the outcomes.

This beautifully written novel was so engrossing that I finished it in only three days, reading most of it in a single day. The end notes were as fascinating as the novel itself. Highly recommended!

5 out of 5 stars.

>11 Cariola: & >12 Cariola: These both look like books that I will like, Deborah. Really good reviews by the way.

I'm sorry to see that arthritis is giving you some trouble - my late mum's arthritis was greatly ameliorated by liberal use of omega fish oils.

The Black Friar by S. G. MacLean

When a body dressed in a decaying Friar's robe is found walled up in the old Black Friars monastery, Damien Seeker is sent to investigate. Although those first on the scene assume this is an amazingly preserved friar from a century ago or more, Seeker recognizes it as one of Secretary of State Thurloe's special agents. Carter Blyth, as far as he knew, had been on the continent, looking for news about the Stuart court in exile, but he learns that Blyth had been recalled from Holland to use his weaver's skills to infiltrate a Royalist sect at home known as the Fifth Monarchists. Seeker is tasked with finding what led to his death, what he had learned, and who had murdered him.

While investigating the Gethsemane community of weavers that Blyth had infiltrated, he questions the Goodwill family with whom he lived: he father, weaver; his surly wife, and fire-and-brimstone preacher, their daughter, Patience, as surly as her mother and a snitch to boot; and Nathaniel, the simple son of Goodwill and his first wife. Along the way, he discovers that four children have gone missing in recent weeks. No one suspects (or cares) much about missing children in 17th-century London, but Seeker has promised Lady Anne Winter to look for a girl who worked for her, and he soon learns a boy who disappeared from his school, a girl who worked in a tavern, and a gardener's helper.

In the course of to trying to unravel these mysteries, Seeker encounters suspicious characters and activity both inside Thurloe's offices and out that might threaten Protector Cromwell and security of his government.

I'm usually not one for mysteries but do read the occasional historical one. I've really been enjoying the Seeker series and am very glad I picked up a kindle copy of all five books in the series. MacLean draws an intriguing and believable portrait of Cromwell's London and gives us a wide range of interesting characters from all walks of life. In this second installment, we begin to see that Damian Seeker has a softer side, especially with the boy Nathaniel, with his hound (named Dog), and with Maria Ellingsworth, the woman he loves. (He keeps it hidden well. In London, everyone recognizes him, and most people back away from him in fear.)

On to Book 3, Destroying Angel.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

>13 PaulCranswick: Hope you read and enjoy both books, Paul. I do take the omega 3 fish oil, but it doesn't seem to help much. I also take Celebrex and gabapentin for related nerve pain and I think I'm single-handedly keeping Biofreeze and Voltarin in business.

>15 Cariola: I know that it is a very debilitating illness, Deborah, so I hope you are able to find a way to keep it well under control.

Destroying Angel by S. G. MacLean

Although this book, the third in the Damian Seeker series, won the prestigious Cloak and Dagger Award, I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the previous two. It may be that I missed the London setting and some of the London characters.

Seeker has been sent up to Yorkshire, the place where he grew up, to find Thomas Faithly, a Royalist and favorite of Charles Stuart (son of the executed king, Charles I). Faithly had been captured but was freed by a coach attack en route to prison. Seeker is sent to find him and also to help root out Royalists in the area. When he arrives in a small town near Faithly manor, he finds the citizens all focused on the arrival of a trier, a kind of itinerant judge sent to hear evidence against the local minister/teacher who apparently isn't doing his job by the new standards set by Cromwell. Bess Pullam, mother of the local commissioner, is busy preparing a meal for the visiting trier and his wife, and she invites Damian to join them. The trier never shows up, but the day after the meal, Bess's young ward suddenly falls ill and dies. Seeker suspects foul play, but if everyone ate the same soup as young Gwendolyn, how could she have been poisoned? And who would do such a thing, and why?

As in the other books in the series, MacLean gives us a lot of fascinating characters. There's the local wise woman, whom people call mad but nonetheless call upon when they need a midwife or doctoring. The local busybody and her constable husband. Edward Faithly, older brother of the escapee, and his disinterested wife. The minister, a dandy with an eye for the ladies. And the trier and his wife, both of whom Damian has known in his past.

The book ends up with Damian back in London, where the fourth installment picks up. I have to say, I'm glad to be back there! I did enjoy Destroying Angels--just not quite as much as the last two books. On to The Bear Pit!

4 out of 5 stars

The Bear Pit by S. G. MacLean

Damian Seeker is back in London, back doing his routine work: protecting Oliver Cromwell and rooting out Royalists, especially those plotting to assassinate the Lord Protector. When work is slow, he and the other members of the Horse Guard cross the Thames to the South Bank to clean up any remaining dens of iniquity. If you know your English history, you know that Cromwell was a Puritan who made life a lot less fun in London by closing the theatres, brothels and gambling dens, including those that took bets on dog fights and bear baiting. Following a raid on a hidden card playing establishment, Seeker rams the lock to open an outbuilding and finds a horrifying site: a man, recently deceased, who has been chained to the wall and ravaged by a beast. It couldn't have been a bear, since they were all shot when the bear pits closed. Or is it possible that one bear might have been spared?

In between foiling attempts on Cromwell's life and searching for the three suspected perpetrators, Seeker learns the identity of the dead man, a friend of the coffee shop owner Samuel Kent, and, with the help of Sir Thomas Faithly, Andrew Marvell and Lawrence Ingolby (familiar figures from the earlier books in the series), tries to discover who might be keeping a bear in the city and why. Can there be any connections between a bear and the assassins? You'll have to read the book to find out. But I can promise you a whopping good ending.

I was happy to see Ingolby and Faithly return and their characters further developed; I've grown especially fond of Ingolby, who has come to London to pursue a law degree. Other familiar characters also return: Elias Ellingworth and his sister Maria; Dorcas, the innkeeper; Damian's daughter Manon; Samuel and Grace Kent. And new characters crop up, just as unique and interesting.

My favorite in the series is still the first, 'The Seeker,' but this one still rates 4.5 stars and has a whopping good ending. I'm taking a short break to read a library loan, but if it doesn't engage me, I'll be back to read #5, The House of Lamentations.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

>18 Cariola: I have really enjoyed your reviews and I put The Seeker on my wishlist.

>19 elorin: Thank you! I hope you enjoy the series. I just started Book 5, The House of Lamentation.

I'm not a huge fan of Susanna Kearsley. 'The Winter Sea' was OK, so I decided to give this one a try. I was drawn by the time period and the setting: England under the reign of James I, shortly after the untimely death of Henry, Prince of Wales. There is speculation that Henry's drawn-out illness and death was actually a poisoning. The prince had openly quarreled with his father and warned him of the bad influence of his favorite, Robert Carr. Some speculated that Carr--who was later arrested for poisoning a friend who opposed his marriage to the divorced Frances Howard--may have been responsible for Henry's death, perhaps even with the king's approval.

The story begins when Andrew Logan, one of the King's Messengers, is sent to Scotland to arrest Sir David Moray, the Prince's closest companion, and bring him back to London for trial. He's suspected of having poisoned Henry. Logan has been ordered to take with him Laurence Westaway, a scribe who is given the task of writing down everything that Moray says on the journey back. Since Westaway is not in the best health, his daughter Phoebe joins them. Since she is afraid of horses and doesn't ride, she has to ride on Logan's horse. This is even more touchy, since the two of them have a longstanding dislike of one another.

So, rather than tell you what happens (part of which you can probably guess from what I wrote above), let me say that this was a slow read. The plot is mostly riding, riding, riding and trying to avoid Moray's kinsmen, and, once Moray is captured, he tells lots of stories that make him a sympathetic character. At least there are a few surprises near the end. The blurb makes a lot of Logan's gift (or curse) of Second Sight, but it really doesn't play that big a part in the novel. The novel shifts points of view, among Logan, Phoebe, and Queen Anna, which are often shifts in time as well.

If you are a fan of this novelist, go for it. I will say that she took a fairly intriguing shift in the historical facts, which is fine with me, and she explains her rationale in the Afterword.

3 out of 5 stars.

The House of Lamentations by S. G. MacLean

At the end of Book 4, The Bear Pit (how to say this without giving up the ending?), we last saw Damian Seeker, weaponless, entrapped in a bear pit. On Cromwell's orders, the bear pits had been closed, and all the bears had been killed . . . or had they? Worse still, Damian's love, Maria Ellingsworth, has been shoved into the pit . . .

So, three years later, we find Damian in his old disguise as John Carpenter (he had been a traveling carpenter prior to becoming a soldier in the Civil War). London gossips believe that he was dead, but he has been sent to Bruges, where Charles Stuart had recently set up court. The would-be King of England has left, but Royalists determined to put him back on the throne are hard at work in Bruges. Cromwell has an agent who has successfully infiltrated the group, but Seeker's task is to find a female Royalist agent who has been sent to root out this double agent. He has vowed that this will be his last mission: he's homesick and longs to return to England and marry Maria. Among the suspects are Sister Janet, an elderly nun who fled England after her family was killed and settled in the town's English Cloister; Lady Hildred Beaumont, a royalist who has sold everything she owns and come to Bruges to donate the proceeds to the king's cause; Lady Hildred's maid; or Ruth Jones, a young Englishwoman whose brother has come to find her, only to learn that she seems to have disappeared. On the day of his arrival, Bartlett Jones asks Seeker for directions to the cloister, and that same night, he is pulled from the river, dead. Seeker had taken a liking to the young man who, like himself, was a Yorkshireman, so he takes on the task of finding his killer as well.

This one is full of intrigue, twists, and turns. Damian suspects that Sister Janet is involved in some way in the Royalist plot but can't figure out just how. He's also wary of the Spanish priest, Fr. Felipé, who seems to hang around the cloister more than is necessary. He's quite sure that Ruth Jones, a foreign woman in a strange town, had indeed gone to the cloister, but he can't learn anything. And what is Sister Janet's connection to The House of Lamentations, a whorehouse frequented by the Royalists? Everyone he speaks with seems to be hiding something. When soldier George Beaumont, Lady Hildred's son, turns up (for reasons I won't give away), Damian enlists him to help sort everything out, even though he's not quite sure it's a wise move.

There's a LOT going on here, and it really pays off in the last few chapters. There's a fight near the end (isn't there always?) that had me on the edge of my seat, turning the pages wildly. As everything unravels and ties between the various characters become clear, there are even more unexpected turns to come as Damian sets out on his personal mission--which sets us up nicely for one more book in the series (which I am about to start!).

Five well deserved stars for The House of Lamentations!!!

The Winter List by S. G. MacLean

After Charles Stewart returns triumphant as king, Damian Seeker leaves London to join his beloved Maria Ellingsworth in Massachusetts. He doesn't appear until the very end of The Winter List,' although his character is central to the plot. Although the new king granted clemency to Cromwell supporters in general, he later made exceptions for former Royalists who cooperated with the Puritan government. Now he is out to find, arrest and execute those known to have had or are even suspected of playing a part in the execution of the his father, Charles I. The Winter List is a list of their names, and the list continues to grow. An ambitious Royalist spy named L'Estrange hopes to win favor with the king by adding the name of Damian Seeker, spreading the rumor that he was the executioner who swung the axe that beheaded Charles I--an absurd claim since, as everyone knows, Damian's extraodinary size would have given him away. Also on L'Estrange's list is Sir Thomas Faithly, a Royalist who cooperated with Seeker in two previous books in the series. He has been given a position in York by the king's favorite, the Duke of Buckingham--a position in which he has little interest, but he is happy to be back home in York, where he hopes to reclaim his grandmother's estate.

Three years after the Restoration of Charles II, Seeker's daughter Manon has married Lawrence Ingolby, a young lawyer who, along with Sir Thomas, had assisted Seeker in The Bear Pit. The Ingolby family, which now includes toddler Lizzie, has moved to York, and Lawrence has remained good friends with the nobleman. Word reaches Ingolby that a spy has been sent to York to try to find out where Damian Seeker has gone. Is Lady Anne Winter, who has recently shown up with a Scottish maid, Grizelda Duncan, involved? Or is it someone else that the family wouldn't know or suspect? Either way, it soon becomes clear that the Ingolbys are someone's target.

The story starts with Lady Anne in London but quickly moves to York and the mysterious murder of one of Ingolby's clients, and there are plenty of thrills along the way. I wish we had seen more of Damian Seeker, but, of course, it would be difficult to keep a story going on two continents, not to mention that Seeker's goal in joining Maria in Massachusetts was to find peace and anonymity. I'm sorry that this will be the last in the series, but I'm looking forward to reading more by S.G. MacLean.

4 out of 5 stars.

>23 Cariola: & >24 Cariola: This is one series that I plan to take a close look at, Deborah. Your enthusiasm is infectious!

I've only just seen your thread, Deborah, after reading one of your reviews for a book I've just acquired - The Instrumentalist - and have whizzed through your thread to see what I have missed. I've got the first few of the Damian Seeker series and you have encouraged me to start it!

>25 PaulCranswick:, >26 CDVicarage: I really hope you like the Seeker series as much as I did. I do read a lot of historical fiction, but few of them are historical mysteries, so this isn't my usual genre. But the excellent writing, details of time and place, solid research, and great characters kept me going. I have another series by the same author. on my Kindle. This one features a Scottish character, Alexander Seaton, who appears in one of the Seeker books as well. Hope to get to it soon, but I've been a bit bogged down by life and am still plugging away at The Pretender, which is really good (but also really long). I'm at about 86% and hope to finish it by the weekend.

The Pretender by Jo Harkin

It took me a longer time than usual to finish this book, but that was because of 1) life interfering, and 2) it's length, almost 500 pages. Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It's the story of a young farm boy who attracts a wealthy patron because of his resemblance to the deceased Duke of Clarence, brother of King Edward IV and Richard III. (If you are familiar with Shakespeare's 'Richard III,' you know that Richard gained the throne by killing Clarence and sending his son off to be raised by a farming family, then killing his other brother's two sons, known as the Princes in the Tower.)

Young John is fair-haired, unlike his farm brothers, and loves schooling more than farming. Under a series of assumed names, he is taken to Oxford to be educated, then sent to his supposed aunt in Flanders and then to the home of an Irish nobleman to learn court behavior. The plan is that John (or Simnel or Lambert or, now, Edward) will make a claim to the throne that is now held by the first Tudor king, the Lancastrian Henry VII, backed by an army of Yorkist loyalists.

The Pretender takes us through the various changes in this boy's life. It's both a fascinating piece of history and, in a way, a coming-of-age story. He makes friends, only to lose them. Falls in love but is never quite sure that the girl he loves returns his affection--and then she marries another. After the days with his hard, cruel tutor at Oxford, he relishes being treated as part of the family in Ireland. And he begins to question just who he really is, heir to the English throne or just another pretender.

The novel is well written with plenty of details on life in the fifteenth century and historical events. Recommended for those who enjoy these settings.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

Enlightenment by Sarah Perry

I've enjoyed previous works by Sarah Perry, especially The Essex Serpent. This one was good, but didn't quite measure up. It's the story that moves through several different time periods, primarily the 1980s and present day, but at the center of the story is also a Romanian woman living in Victorian England. Thomas Hart writes a column on science and particularly astronomy for the local paper in Aldleigh, a small Essex town. Thomas has lived a quiet life as a secret homosexual, going to London periodically to live his other life. He is a respected citizen, a member of a conservative congregation, and friend to Grace Macauley, a girl he loved and befriended after her mother died in childbirth. Thomas is obsessed with comets, including the coming Hale-Bopp, and with a ghost that is said to inhabit a local manor who he believes was also an astronomer. He and a researcher for whom he harbors a secret love become fixed on proving that Maria Dudevek discovered a comet--and on finding out the objects of her unrequited love and a friendship that seemed to surpass normal boundaries.

The novel is an exploration of not only science but of love. Like planets and stars in orbit around the sun, relationships pull people together but also push them apart. I almost missed the parallel in Enlightenment because the long scientific diatribes rather bored me, and I tended to skim them quickly. But I thought the characters were well-drawn and, for once, the multiple time periods worked for me.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life by Alan Cumming

This is another installment of Alan Cumming's series of autobiographies. It covers his early career moves, his travels, his friendships, his search for love and authenticity, and ends with his marriage to Grant Shaffer. As expected, there are many reflections on his earlier life, the abuse by his father, and his feeling of never quite fitting in, and how all these shaped him into the man he became. For the most part, it's much lighter than Not My Father's Son. Lots of anecdote--loved the one where Alan escorts Faye Dunaway to the Grammy Awards and she fills her purse with sandwiches and salad.) If you are into audiobooks at all, that's the way to go. Cumming's Scottish accent and occasional dialect is a definite plus.

4 out of 5 stars.

>12 Cariola: I read Isola last month and thought it was terrific. I am very happy to see so much love for the book here in the group.

>14 Cariola: I am definitely going to have to seek out the MacLean books!

>15 Cariola: I am sorry to hear about the arthritis and related nerve issues, Deborah. My neurologist recommended that I take turmeric for my ulnar neuropathy and I can recommend it if you care to give it a try.

>28 Cariola: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thank you for the review and recommendation, Deborah!

>29 Cariola: Dodging that BB as I have already read it. I did not like it nearly as much as I thought I would and ended up giving it 3.5 stars too.

>30 Cariola: I will look for that one on audio. Thanks for the heads up!

>28 Cariola: Being a convinced Ricardist / Yorkist my teeth chattered upon reading of the presumed machinations which were used to smear King Richard. But the book does look like an interesting read, Deborah!

Nice to see you back posting.

By the way I have already read and enjoyed The Seeker and managed to buy and find the 2nd book in the series.

>31 alcottacre: Thanks for the kind words. I gave turmeric a try for inflammation a while ago. May give it another shot.

I hope Sarah Perry's next offering is better. I'm glad you found a few to add to your TBR shelf.

>32 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. Long books have been the reason I've been away.

I'm glad you enjoyed The Seeker. I just started MacLean as Alexander Seaton series.

Catching up before October Hits.



Dissolution by C. J. Sansom

I've had this one on audio for quite some time and finally thought I would give it a try. I know that readers have loved this series, and I'm sorry that I didn't give it my full attention. I really need to read these historical mysteries on the kindle. I also wasn't crazy about the reader, who made Matthew Shardlake seem like just a mean, bossy, cranky guy. Maybe that's what the author intended. I might give this series another try, but I don't feel like it would be fair for me to rate this one.

The Redemption of Alexander Seaton by S. G. MacLean

This series preceded the author's Seeker series, which I really adored, quickly running through all six books. Alexander Seaton was a promising young man whose education and plans to enter the clergy were supported by the local noble. He made the mistake of falling in love with the lord's daughter, who opposed their marriage. A few days after he gave a sermon to town officials to secure a post, he spent the night with his beloved, and the two were surprised in the morning by her father. Disgraced, the girl was married off to a much older man, and Alexander, publicly shamed, was removed from the clergy but given a post as schoolmaster. The story starts when, on his way home from dinner with friends, he sees a young man stumbling and falling down in the street, mouthing the words, "Help me." Instead, he decides not to get involved and goes home. The next morning, the man's body is found at the schoolmaster's desk. He is nephew by marriage to the provost, perhaps the most important man in town, and was apprenticed to the local apothecary. Seaton is quickly cleared of any involvement, but his best friend, in love with the apothecary's daughter who was being courted by the victim, is arrested and imprisoned. Determined to set him free, Seaton sets out to learn who poisoned him and how, and, after a second murder occurs, whether this seemingly upstanding young man had dark secrets to hide.

There's a twist at the end that works. Overall, I enjoyed this one, but not as much as The Seeker series. I'll get back to the rest of them later.

4 out of 5 stars.

The Fire Court by Andrew Taylor

The Fire Court is the second in Andrew Taylor's historical mystery series, featuring James Marwood and Cat Lovett. The first takes place right after the Great Fire of London, and this one is set soon after, when the government set up a special court to adjudicate complaints between landlords and tenants over the rebuilding of burned houses. Marwood's father, a traitor to the former king who spent many years in prison, is declining mental, although he is still strong. He wanders out of the house one day and comes across the body of a dead woman near the Fire Court. His confused account is ignored by his son--until his father is run down in the street and killed. Can another murder have occurred?

I listened to this one on audio, which for me means that I was doing something else at the same time, and I think I missed a lot. That's why I don't listen to audio books very often these days, although I used to love listening to them at the gym or on my commute to work (and I don't go to either anymore). But the reader is very good and the story interesting, although the relationship between Marwood and Cat is getting complicated.

4 out of 5 stars.

Forgot one I finished in August.



Emily's House by Amy Belding Brown

I could have sworn I wrote a review of this one somewhere, but I can't find it, so excuse my rather shaky recollections. I listened to this book on audio.

I've read a lot by and about Emily Dickinson, having taken a seminar on her in grad school, so I was drawn to this novel. It's told from the point of view of Margaret Maher, an Irish immigrant who worked as a maid in the Dickinson household, so it's much more her story than Emily's. Margaret has taken the position in hopes of saving enough money to join her two brothers in California, but her plans fall through. After some time, she gains the trust and even friendship of the Dickinson sisters, Lavinia and Emily. Despite their difference in social standing, Maggie and Emily are in many ways alike: both are passionate, cautious, careful who they trust, and both have dreams that no one else realizes.

Maggie's story chronicles life in the Dickinson household, including observations of Emily's few treasured friendships and her brother Austin's affairs. But we also see into her own life. After plans for California dissolve, she has hope of marrying and moving to New York--until she discovers that her beloved is a radical Fenian who plans to set off bombs in the city.

I didn't expect to learn much new about Emily Dickinson from this novel, but, as I said, it's really Margaret's tale, and her life lies at the center of the most interesting parts of the novel.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Thank goodness for airplane mode! Otherwise, I would not have finished this book before the library took it back. It took me a while to get into it. The Salt family--dad, two teens, and an 8-yr old--live in a lighthouse on Shearwater Island near Antarctica. There is a research station and a seed vault on the island, but all the scientists have left because Shearwater is quickly falling into the sea. A boat is due in several weeks to take the Salts to safety. Meanwhile, they are stretching out their supplies and checking regularly to make sure that the permafrost is keeping the seeds in the vault cold enough to survive.

A deadly storm smashes a small boat near the shore, and the daughter, Fen, swims out to rescue the sole survivor, an injured woman named Rowan. It’s uncertain whether or not she will survive, but Dominic stitches up her wounds, and Orly, the youngest child, stays close by her side. Orly has spent most of his life on the island and is fascinated by the plants and creature that thrive there. When Rowan regains consciousness, he regales her with facts and stories about them.

We soon learn that Rowan had a purpose in coming to Shearwater: her husband was the chief scientist, and she hasn’t heard from him for months. She feels that he may have come to harm and is determined to find out what happened.

A lot of space is spent on descriptions of the island, the ecological crisis, the history and myths regarding the island’s plants, etc. I found this to be a bit tedious, and that’s what held me back from completing the book on time. I am a reader who is more involved in characters than in settings or plots. The human element is what engaged me, but it took quite a while for that to develop. When it did, I was hooked—which is why I put my kindle on airplane mode. (Forgive me—there were 24 people on the wait list, and I didn’t want to wait that long to reach the conclusion.)

4.5 out of 5 stars.

>39 Cariola: I must hunt that one down, Deborah. And it looks like S.G. MacLean continues to impress.

Finally starting a 2026 thread! These are the books I finished in the rest of 2025. Not going to post reviews, but they are up on Good Reads. Or if anyone wants me to post a review of a particular book, just drop me a message here.

The English Problem by Beena Kamlani--4 stars.
The Plot by Kate Braithwaite--4 stars.

>10 Cariola: If I had to choose the author that I consider the worst in regards to historic fiction She would be the one. her seem to say history but it gets overlaid by anything she wants to put in. And I agree with you about the dual plots of the books and in my experience the real history overtakes the new history in spades. anyway in my very humble opinion of course