The Vengeance by Emma Newman takes place (presumably) during the early 18th-century from the Caribbean to pre-revolution France. Newman's story begins aboard the pirate ship Vengeance with Morgane and her relation Captain Anna-Marie. The Vengeance continually pursues and sacks ships of The Four Chains Company (a fictional East India Company), the Captain seeming to have… Continue reading Review: The Vengeance by Emma Newman
Daughters of Nicnevin by Shona Kinsella reimagines the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland through a historical fantasy lens. While it is true that many women and children of the Highlands were left to farm, subsist, and defend their homes and villages after many Jacobite soldiers were killed in battle, executed, or taken prisoner by government… Continue reading Review: Daughters of Nicnevin by Shona Kinsella
Ichabod only lingered behind, according to the custom of country lovers, to have a tête-à-tête with the heiress; fully convinced that he was now on the high road to success. What passed at this interview I will not pretend to say, for in fact I do not know. Something, however, I fear me, must have gone wrong, for he certainly sallied forth, after no very great interval, with an air quite desolate and chapfallen.
Ashes and Stone by Allyson Shaw is a creative non-fiction account of women accused of witchcraft throughout Scottish history, particularly in the 16th through 18th centuries. Shaw details her personal journey traveling around Scotland to visit the forgotten, often neglected monuments to the those who lost their lives to witchcraft craze. Reading Ashes and Stone… Continue reading Review: Ashes and Stones by Allyson Shaw
The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis is an 18th century tale of five out-of-the-ordinary sisters living in a small village in England. Raised by their grandparents, the sisters play by their own rules in a time and place where existing within a rigid set of rules and norms is expected. Anything out of the norm is… Continue reading Review of The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis
In The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, author of Square of Sevens, richly-paints another 18th century story a reader can easily immerse oneself in. Newly widowed Hannah Cole owns a confectionery shop in London, this fact being somewhat scandalous both on account of a woman being the sole owner of a business and… Continue reading Review: The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
The Blackbirds of St. Giles by Lila Cain (two authors writing under one name) takes the reader from an 18th century Jamaican plantation, the English colonies during the American Revolution, to the diverse and grimy streets of London. Blackbirds started off strong with a visually striking and emotionally wrought scene of an uprising of enslaved… Continue reading Review: The Blackbirds of St. Giles by Lila Cain
This Savage World by Anna Housego opens in 1770s London where young Maggie Bloodworth is trying to make her way in a city unforgiving to the poor. She is taken on as an apprentice midwife and eventually learns her trade with enough skill to stand on her own two feet. As Maggie's life progresses, she… Continue reading Review: This Savage World by Anna Housego
The Shadow Key by Susan Stokes-Chapman is another 18th century tale of mystery and magic akin to the author's debut Pandora. I view Stokes-Chapman's work in a similar aesthetic and sensibility to my own writing in blending historical fiction with speculative, gothic, and/or magical elements. The Shadow Key takes readers to the wild and beautiful… Continue reading Review: The Shadow Key by Susan Stokes-Chapman
In Silence, author Julia Park Tracey imagines the life of her 1720s ancestor in the Massachusetts Puritan community. Tracey was at first intrigued by her ancestors' name, Silence, and reflected on what kind of a life of a woman named Silence in the early 18th century might have. As an aside, many people (particularly women)… Continue reading Review: Silence by Julia Park Tracey
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