A Price to Pay

I really enjoyed this novel, which uses a very interesting premise to tell the stories of three very different people. The author Alex Capus, starts at a train station in Zurich in 1924 where the paths of Emile Gillieron, Felix Bloch, and Laura d'Oriano cross - though they never meet - to take us on a journey through each of their rich and at times interwoven paths.

Emile is one of the greatest art forgers of his day, who works with a renowned archaeologist in Greece to recreate ancient artifacts. Felix is a gifted scientist who finds his way to New Mexico and works with Robert Oppenheimer. And Laura is a moderately talented singer with a gift for languages who eventually becomes a spy for the Allies. Capus chronicles their lives along the way, and in doing so paints a portrait of prewar and wartime Europe.

This isn't an epic, and it's a very nice read. I highly recommend it.

A Price to Pay

The Virgin's Daughter

This is now the second of Laura Anderson's books that I've read, and I really like them. She has a whole series in which she rewrites history, imagining what had happened if Henry VIII had a son that had lived, and focusing on him (William), his sister Elizabeth, and their close friends Dominic and Minuette. In this novel, William has been dead for several years so Elizabeth is queen, and she has born a princess, Anne, through her marriage to King Phillip of Spain.

Anne is now 18-years-old and her closest friends are the children of Dominic and Minuette, particularly the eerily wise Pippa. But this novel focuses more on Pippa's older sister Lucette, a very smart and beautiful young woman who may or may not be William's illegitimate daughter. Trying to quash a plot against the throne that may involve the LeClerc family - old friends of Dominic and Minuette, who are French Catholic - Elizabeth sends Lucette to France for a friendly visit, hoping she can bring down a spy. Lucette remembers the LeClerc boys from her childhood - Nicolas and Julien. But they are boys no longer, and she is no longer the 10-year-old girl who had a huge crush on the dashing Nicolas.

There lots of intrigue and a very thorough and well-researched re-imagining of history. If you like Philippa Gregory you will like Laura Anderson. I highly recommend it.

The Virgin's Daughter

Lamp Black, Wolf Grey

Laura and her husband Dan move from London to the Welsh mountains, where Laura hopes to find inspiration for her art and a reconnecting to the husband she loves, but with whom her relationship is strained due to their inability to have a child. Dan is commuting back to his job in London during the week, so Laura has lots of time alone to get to know the locals, including her handsome neighbor Rhys and the wise woman Anwen. Oh, and she also runs into Merlin (yes, him) a few times.

Running parallel to Laura's modern-day story is the story of Megan at some time in the distant past. Megan grew up in the house that Laura is now living in, but she works as the nanny to the sons of the local lord and lady, each of whom use Megan for their own nasty purposes. When Merlin comes to the area and falls in love with Megan, her employers want his talents for their own.

I enjoyed this story (Wales, Merlin, what's not to like?), but I have to say I enjoyed Megan's story a lot more than I did Laura's. I just didn't find Laura and Dan to be particularly likable characters. But it was definitely a page-turner.

Lamp Black, Wolf Grey

Sisters of Shiloh

This is a lovely, heartbreaking novel about two sisters, Josephine and Libby, who pretend to be boys and enlist in the Confederate army to avenge the death of Libby's husband Arden. The novel is actually written by two sisters, Kathy and Becky Hepinstall, and they spare the reader from none of the ugliness - or humanity - of a war fought at such close range, between enemies who often weren't sure why they were enemies.

That Josephine and Libby are able to pass for several months as boys is surprising, but that they are able to withstand the hardships they endure - with differing levels of success - is astounding. Although this is a novel of war, it is ultimately a story of the relationship between the sisters, and how their relationship is formed by each of their strengths and weaknesses.

This was an excellent read, and I highly recommend it.

Sisters of Shiloh

Mean Streak

Wow - great mystery with a lot of interesting twists! Emory Charbonneau is a pediatrician and marathon runner, who disappears while on a distance run in a national forest in North Carolina. When her husband Jeff finally figures out she is missing and reports it to the local authorities, she's been gone for 2 days and Jeff is, of course, the prime suspect.

Meanwhile, when Emory wakes up she's in a remote cabin with a mysterious man who won't tell her his name, but who appears to have no desire to harm her in any way - though he's certainly dangerous looking and obviously hiding from something. As he nurses her back to health she loses her mistrust of him, and when he gets her involved in helping a desperate neighbor, she begins to see his true character.

Jeff is playing the concerned husband, but HIS true character soon comes to light. When Emory's captor/rescuer returns her - alive - and the FBI gets involved, the story takes all sorts of interesting turns.

I have to say, I didn't see the end coming at all, and I pretty much couldn't put the book down, This was a great read.

Mean Streak

A Memory of Violets

This is a very sweet historical mystery novel, and quite a good read. It's the story of Tilly Harper, who in 1912 leaves her home in the lake country of England to take a job as housemother in one of London's Flower Houses, where former flower girls live while working in a factory making realistic flowers out of fabric. In her room at Violet House, Tilly finds a keepsake box containing a journal written by Flora Flynn, one-time resident of the the room and a former flower girl who had been saved from the streets of London in the 1880's.

The novel goes back and forth between Tilly's 1912 and Florie's 1880's, chronicling Florie and her baby sister Rosie as they sell flowers with their mother until they are separated on busy Westminster Bridge. From there their lives take two very different paths, but Florie never forgets Rosie or stops trying to find her. And Tilly has some personal issues of her own, that her experiences at the Flower Houses help her come to terms with.

There are a couple mysteries in the story (that I figured out pretty quickly), and this is a really enjoyable story with interesting characters and an intriguing story line. I highly recommend it.

A Memory of Violets

The King's Curse

Nobody does British royal history like Philippa Gregory, and this final novel of The Cousins' War series does not disappoint. What is unique about this novel is that it is told, not from the perspective of a queen or major player in the action, but from the perspective of a woman who was in many ways a witness to history, although Gregory takes the license of making her much more than that.

Lady Margaret Pole is a member of the Plantagenet family, whom Henry Tudor overthrew to take over the throne of England. Her cousin is Henry's wife, Elizabeth, so Margaret is close to the royal family, and spends a great deal of time with their children. She and her husband have the care of Prince Arthur of Wales, Henry's heir. She is with Arthur when Catherine of Aragon comes to be his bride, and becomes fast friends with the new princess. Then Arthur dies from sickness, and his spoiled younger brother Harry marries his widowed bride and becomes Henry VIII shortly thereafter. With Henry's ascension to the throne, Margaret is restored to her family's titles, lands, and wealth, and becomes an important member of Catherine's household.

This novel covers the period from 1499ish to the 1540's, from Catherine of Aragon through Catherine Howard, all told from Margaret's perspective as a loyal adherent of Catherine's and a staunch supporter of the Roman Catholic church. We see her fortunes, and those of her sons, rise and fall as we see Henry VIII go from a handsome, popular monarch to an insecure, unpredictable, obese despot. Gregory makes Margaret into a player in the political intrigue of the time, and who is to say she was not? If you have any interest in British history, this novel makes for a great read.

The King's Curse