Read for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I must first confess that I picked this book up because the cover painting is Boreas, one of my two favorite J. W. Waterhouse paintings. That it then turned out to be an Arthurian tale sealed my desire to read it. This book retells the Tristan and Isolde […]
Twilight of Avalon – Anna Elliott Read More »
Read for the 2010 YA and Historical Fiction Reading Challenges. Tessa is the under-wardrobe mistress of one of 1920s Vienna’s opera houses, where she loves being in the thick of things. It’s hard work, but she loves it, and everyone in the opera company adores her. What they don’t know is that she’s really Princess
The Reluctant Heiress – Eva Ibbotson Read More »
Read for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. When the Earl of Rule decides to marry, his sister suggests the lovely Lizzie Winwood. Lizzie agrees to the match, but is in love with another, a penniless officer. So Lizzie’s youngest sister Horatia comes up with a plan – she will marry the Earl, and let Lizzie
The Convenient Marriage – Georgette Heyer Read More »
Read for the Historical Fiction and TBR Lite 2010 Reading Challenges. Carter Beats the Devil is set in the early 1920s, in the golden age of magic, when magicians such as Houdini ruled the stage. The story is a novelization of the life of Charles Carter, an actual magician from this period, but appears to
Carter Beats the Devil – Glen David Gold Read More »
The closest I’ve come to a New Year’s resolution this year is to try and branch out from my comfort zone of fantasy, and read other genres. The Historical Fiction Reading Challenge plays into this semi-resolution beautifully. I’m actually a pretty big fan of historical fiction, but often forget to look for it, so this
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2010 Read More »
Read for the 2009 YA Reading Challenge. Most of Donna Jo Napoli’s books draw from fairy tale or folklore backgrounds, but Daughter of Venice is a straight historical fiction story, something I tend not to run into as often in my young adult reading. Donata, with her twin sister Laura, is the second oldest daughter
Daughter of Venice – Donna Jo Napoli Read More »
Read for the RIP IV Reading Challenge. In Cambridge, during the reign of Henry II, four children have been murdered. The town’s Jews have been wrongly accused of the murders. They’ve been given sanctuary by the sheriff, and are now trapped in the castle under threat of death by the townspeople outside. So Henry sends
Mistress of the Art of Death – Ariana Franklin Read More »
Being the huge Pride and Prejudice fan that I am, I’d signed up for this book from the Early Reviewers list on LibraryThing pretty much before my brain actually consciously recognized what it was. And I was really excited when I was actually chosen to receive it. It’s not a bad read, though Darcy’s not
The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy – Maya Slater Read More »
Read for the 2009 YA Reading Challenge. I first heard of this book in 1999, when it came out, and was compared to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books. It’s set in the same time period as those books, but takes place on the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker (Madeline Island) in Lake Superior, a
The Birchbark House – Louise Erdrich Read More »
Read for the YA Reading Challenge. Touchmark is a charming YA novel set in Revolutionary War-era Boston. Nabby Jonas is an orphan, and is taken in by the family of a pewterer, not as an apprentice, as she’d like, but as a companion to the crippled daughter Emily. Gradually, Nabby is able to learn the
Touchmark – Mildred Lawrence Read More »