I’m sticking with historical fiction this week. Monday was mythological history with Stone Blind but now I’ve got a real bit of history set in 17th century England. Exit the Actress is by Priya Parmar and is the story of Ellen Gwynn, a poor commoner in 1600s London who goes on to become one of the world’s first celebrities and King Charles II’s longest lasting affair. Both ... Read More...
The Miniaturist: A Novel
Set in 1686 The Miniaturist by debut author Jessie Burton is the spellbinding story of an eighteen-year-old girl married off to an older merchant who lives in Amsterdam. She arrives on his doorstep with no idea of what marriage entails or the fact that she has been procured to enhance his reputation, for her family is poor but with a pedigree. Little does she know that her ... Read More...
The Shadow Queen
Louis XIV may have been a fascinating king but thankfully for readers, author Sandra Gulland prefers to focus on the woman behind the man. In The Shadow Queen, that woman is Athénaїs de Montespan, an aristocratic beauty who is able to pull the King’s interest away from his longtime mistress and claim him for herself. Forget the Queen, apparently she is too shy and ... Read More...
The Oracle Glass
A young girl with a particular, peculiar gift—the ability to read the future in a bowl of water, or, as it was known at the time, an oracle glass. Geneviève is not blessed in any of the ways important to girls in 17th century Paris. She has a club foot and a twisted spine so her mother sends her away shortly after her birth. It is only when her father discovers he has a ... Read More...
The Ruins of Lace
Sometimes the past has the power to devour the future. Sometimes, as the days grow shorter and more dreary, the only anecdote is a book that takes you far away and holds you there until the very last page. Ruins of Lace is just such a book. In the 1600s King Louis XIII banned the wearing of lace, making it the most desirable and dangerous commodity in the kingdom. The ... Read More...
