I wanted to start documenting the demographics of the books I read and review, and I intend to do this going forward as well. I already knew I read mostly women writers and strive to read more work by POC, but the below chart illustrates my author demographics for 2022. I also want to note… Continue reading 2022 Year in Review
Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman takes place at the close of 18th century in London and follows Pandora Blake, fledgling jewelry designer and daughter of late, renowned antiquities collectors. Twelve years after their death on an archeological site, Dora lives with her uncle, the greedy Hezekiah, who has made her parents' antiquities shop into a farce.… Continue reading Review: Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman
Medieval Woman by Ann Baer is not your typical plot-driven narrative, but rather an intimate portrait of ordinary life among farmers and tradesmen in medieval England. The reader follows Marion, wife of Peter the town carpenter and mother of pre-teen Peterkin and infant Alice. From the start, Medieval Woman is vivid and raw in its… Continue reading Review: Medieval Woman by Ann Baer
I first want to mention that I picked this book to read while on vacation in Italy, just to make it more atmospheric. It's possible being in the place where the novel takes place influenced my reading of it. Mistress of Rome follows Thea, a slave of Jewish heritage, Arius, a gladiator from Britannia, and… Continue reading Review: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn
Beheld is an insular, quickly-paced novel of Plymouth Puritans in the 17th century. The story is predominantly told is brief, vignette-type chapters from the points of view of Alice Bradford, the governor's wife, and Eleanor Billington, a non-Puritan resident of Plymouth whose husband gets caught up in a murder scandal. The Puritans and non-Puritans are… Continue reading Review: Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell is a novel about William Shakespeare and his family without ever saying the name William Shakespeare. Instead, Maggie O' Farrell weaves a world of natural wonder and splendor, as well as an acknowledgment of the unseen, through the eyes of Agnes (history knows her as Anne Hathaway) and their children Susanna,… Continue reading Review: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
The House With The Golden Door by Elodie Harper, the sequel to The Wolf Den, follows Amara after she has gained her freedom yet is still held under the control of her wealthy patron. Elodie Harper knocked it out of the park again with the sequel, and I am so invested and ready to read… Continue reading Review: The House With The Golden Door by Elodie Harper
Things Past Telling by Sheila Williams is the sprawling of tale of Little Bird, or Maryam, a girl taken from her home in West Africa in the 18th century and transported to the Americas where she is forced to carve a new life path. The book is loosely inspired by the author's discovery of a… Continue reading Review: Things Past Telling by Sheila Williams
The Swift and the Harrier by Minette Walters follows Jayne Swift, a pioneering physician navigating the English Civil War. The book opens in Dorset in 1642 and progresses through the years of the war. Okay, full disclosure, I gave up half way through. There are just too many books on my to-read to waste my… Continue reading Review: The Swift and the Harrier by Minette Walters
A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice by Rebecca Connolly tells the true, yet largely untold story of Titanic's rescue ship, the Carpathia. When Captain Arthur Rostron is woken in the middle of the night with an urgent message from the Titanic, he pushes his crew and twelve-year-old ship to their limit in a race… Continue reading Review: A Brilliant Night of Stars and Ice by Rebecca Connolly
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