The Eclectic Reader: 2015 Historical Fiction Challenge

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

Review: The Secret Years by Barbara Hannay

Title: The Secret Years
Author: Barbara Hannay
Genre: Historical/Contemporary Fiction
Publication Date: 26th August 2015
Pages: 384
Book Source: Penguin Australia

Synopsis: When Lucy Hunter stumbles upon her grandfather Harry's World War II memorabilia, she finds a faded photograph of a stunning young woman known simply as 'George' and a series of heartfelt letters. They are clues about the secret years, a period of Lucy's family history that has been kept a mystery . . . until now.

How did a cattleman from north Queensland find forbidden love with the Honourable Georgina Lenton of London and persuade her to move to his isolated outback property? And why are the effects of this encounter still reverberating in the lives of Lucy and her mother, Rose, now?

As the passions of the past trickle down the years, three generations of one family pull together. Each must learn in their own way how true love can conquer the greatest challenges of all.

From the wild beauty of the Australian bush to England's rugged south coast, this is a deeply moving story of heartbreak, heroism and homecoming by a beloved, multi-award-winning author.

My Thoughts:

This was my first Barbara Hannay read. What rock have I been living under?? ... I have no idea why Hannay hasn't come to my attention before now but I've been missing out.

The Secret Years is a multi-generational story blending contemporary and historical narratives into an utterly captivating read.

It's a story where the past bleeds into the present, the effect of long held secrets rippling through generations.

Lucy returns home to Australia from a 6 month deployment in Afghanistan. Her mother and beloved grandfather Harry's reticence in talking about the past, then her discovery of a tin of her grandfather's wartime memorabilia, impetus for heading to Cornwall, England to unravel the secrets of her family's history.

Harry and George's (Georgina) story (the historical narrative) was my favourite, it's tender and brave and the war added tension and urgency to their romance. But, I was surprised to enjoy Lucy and 'cousin' Nick's story almost as much. Lucy's search for answers is integral in pulling all the pieces of the story together.

The Secret Years has a wonderful sense of place, whether it was the harsh beauty and isolation of the Australian bush, London during the Blitz, the dramatic beauty of the Cornish coastline or the lush beauty, humidity and danger of Rabaul, New Guinea during the Japanese invasion, I was transported effortlessly and completely immersed.

The Secret Years is an evocative story of great love, loss and secrets. Family history gives us a strong sense of identity so the story is also a journey of self discovery. Hannay breathes life and love into the pages.

One of the benefits of discovering an author late is an extensive backlist to devour :)

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Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Review: The Beast's Garden by Kate Forsyth

Title: The Beast's Garden
Author: Kate Forsyth
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Date: 3rd August 2015
Pages: 512
Book Source: Author, Random House AU & NetGalley

Synopsis: It's August 1939 in Germany, and Ava's world is in turmoil. To save her father, she must marry a young Nazi officer, Leo von Löwenstein, who works for Hitler's spy chief in Berlin. However, she hates and fears the brutal Nazi regime, and finds herself compelled to stand against it.

Ava joins an underground resistance movement that seeks to help victims survive the horrors of the German war machine. But she must live a double life, hiding her true feelings from her husband, even as she falls in love with him.

Gradually she comes to realise that Leo is part of a dangerous conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. As Berlin is bombed into ruins, the Gestapo ruthlessly hunt down all resistance and Ava finds herself living hand-to-mouth in the rubble of the shell-shocked city. Both her life and Leo's hang in the balance.

Filled with danger, intrigue and romance, The Beast's Garden, a retelling of the Grimm brothers' 'Beauty and The Beast', is a beautiful, compelling love story set in a time when the world seemed on the brink of collapse.

My Thoughts:

Kate Forsyth is one of my 'keeper' authors, a favourite author whose storytelling is a rare gift. Bitter Greens and The Wild Girl will always have my heart but The Beast's Garden was another beautiful addition to her repertoire.

The Beast's Garden is a retelling of The Singing, Springing Lark, a Grimm Brothers' variant of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. I love fairy tales, and I adore retellings ... they keep our love of fairy tales alive for generations to come, inspiring us to share both the traditional and re-imagined with our children and grandchildren.

The Beast's Garden had a slightly different feel to previous works, the historical story line extensively researched, as always, but the fairytale re-imagining, more subtle, delicately woven.

The main characters and their families are fictional but the rest of the cast are actual historical figures.

The story opens on Kristallnacht, the Night of the Broken Glass and young German woman Ava Falkenhorst races to aid close family friends, the Feidels. Ava encounters Leo von Löwenstein, an officer in the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service and their story begins ...

Kate is very respectful of the history; the terrible atrocities committed against the Jewish population and I really appreciated the fresh perspective and focus on the many Germans who were part of the resistance, actively working to bring down Hitler and the Nazi regime. Admiral Canaris, chief of the Abwehr and Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen of the Red Orchestra resistance group, to name just a few.

This tale of love, courage and resistance was everything I expected ... and more.

Wonderful blog post from Kate ... insight into the birth of The Beast's Garden.

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Thursday, July 23, 2015

Heart of the Country by Tricia Stringer ~ Review & Giveaway

Title: Heart of the Country
Author: Tricia Stringer
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Date: 1st May 2015
Pages: 512
Book Source: Harlequin Mira

Synopsis: Heart of the Country is the first book in an epic historical saga of three Australian families. Spanning several generations, this epic tells the story of the Baker, Smith and Wiltshire families forging their paths in a land both beautiful and unforgiving.

Lives are intertwined by love and community then ripped apart by hate and greed but remain always bound to the land they love…

1846. Newly arrived from England, Thomas Baker is young, penniless and alone. Eager to make his mark on this strange new place called South Australia, he accepts work as an overseer on a distant sheep property, believing this will be the opportunity he seeks. But when Thomas’s path crosses that of ex-convict, Septimus Wiltshire — a grasping con man hell bent on making a new life for himself and his family at any price — trouble is on the horizon.

But Thomas is made of stern stuff and his fortunes take a turn for the better when he meets spirited farmer’s daughter Lizzie Smith, and soon he envisages their future together.

But this land is like no other he has encountered: both harsh and lovely, it breaks all but the strongest. When his nemesis intervenes once more and drought comes, Thomas finds himself tested almost beyond endurance with the risk of losing everything he and Lizzie have worked for… even their lives.

My Thoughts:

My first time reading Australian author Tricia Stringer and Heart of the Country appears to be her first foray into adult historical fiction. Historical fiction being one of my favourite genres to read and me being a self-confessed-fussy-cow I gotta say, Tricia Stringer nails it!

Heart of the Country is set in the mid 1800's during pastoral settlement of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. We follow young Thomas Baker as he strikes out for 'Penakie' and a new life.

There's a wide cast of characters to love and loathe but I particularly adored Thomas and Lizzie, Gulda and Daisy and Lizzie's brothers Zac and Jacob. I laughed and cried along with them as life and the land dished out joys and hardships. I giggled at Thomas's embarrassment getting a boil lanced on his backside, sighed at the sheer vastness and beauty of our country and wished a 'bad' end on a few vile characters HA.

Stringer captures the wild beauty and ruggedness of our country, the harsh conditions and isolation, the scorching heat, drought that brings the country to its knees, the loss of livestock, the very human toll but also the camaraderie between (most) properties despite the distance. I loved the respect shown to the culture of original land owners but I also appreciated that Stringer didn't gloss over the often negative and shameful encounters between white settlers and indigenous Australians.

Heart of the Country is authentic, vibrant and colourful, full of tension, and tender moments. 500 pages flew by. No hardship reading this one ... I loved it!

I loved that Heart of the Country had a satisfying ending, no cliffhanger to torture me for a year and I can't wait to see what awaits the next generation.

Maybe a little Tricia Stringer rural romance while I wait for the 2nd installment?

Connect with Tricia Stringer

Giveaway:

I'm excited ... up for grabs 3 copies of Heart of the Country for readers of my blog. Just leave a comment telling me how Heart of the Country calls out to you?

2 x print copies - Australia

1 x eBook copy - international (Amazon gift)

Extra Entries:

+ 2 tweet giveaway and leave a link

Giveaway ends 2nd August and winner will be announced on my blog. Good luck everyone!

Friday, June 19, 2015

Review: The Confectioner's Tale by Laura Madeleine

Title: The Confectioner's Tale
Author: Laura Madeleine
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Date: 21st May 2015
Pages: 336
Book Source: Random House & NetGalley

Synopsis: At the famous Patisserie Clermont in Paris, 1909, a chance encounter with the owner’s daughter has given one young man a glimpse into a life he never knew existed: of sweet cream and melted chocolate, golden caramel and powdered sugar, of pastry light as air.

But it is not just the art of confectionery that holds him captive, and soon a forbidden love affair begins.

Almost eighty years later, an academic discovers a hidden photograph of her grandfather as a young man with two people she has never seen before. Scrawled on the back of the picture are the words ‘Forgive me’. Unable to resist the mystery behind it, she begins to unravel the story of two star-crossed lovers and one irrevocable betrayal.

My Thoughts:

Food, Love and Paris ... sold! Ok I confess, I wanted this one for the cover.

In 1909 Guillaume (Gui) Du Frere, leaves Bordeaux for Paris and a job as a railway labourer. He finds so much more than he ever imagined when a chance encounter with Jeanne Clermont, daughter of a famous Parisian confectioner opens the door on the Patisserie Clermont and forbidden love. In 1988 Petra Stevenson is determined to uncover a family secret involving her late grandfather.

I loved the historical narrative and Gui and Jeanne and I begrudged leaving 1909. Actually the swings from present day to the historical timeline were so fast I found it quite unsettling, just as I was immersed, I was yanked out ... torture, I kid you not. That's my only reason for not rating this higher as Madeleine's writing is beautiful and her descriptions of Paris and the Clermont Patisserie, rich and evocative.

The workings of the patisserie kitchen, the sweet smell of sugar and chocolate, cream and warm caramel, the delicate pastries ... my mouth was watering.

There were whole, plump roses steeping in honey; purple-stained sugar, thick with lavender, tiny jars of crimson threads, cherries and peaches suspended in syrup as if they had fallen there from the trees.

The luxurious scents wrapped around him. Butter, his nose relayed, cream, nuts, brandy, chocolate ...

The Confectioner's Tale had me pining for Paris. Macarons or chocolate éclairs are mandatory with this read :)

Cover: cover fairy touched this one

3 short days in Paris Nov 2014 ... drool

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Audiobook Review: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Title: Rose Under Fire
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Genre: Historical Fiction
Series: Code Name Verity #2
Publication Date: 6th June 2012
Time: 10hrs 7mins
Narrator: Morven Christie, Lucy Gaskell
Book Source: Own audio

Synopsis: Rose Justice is a young pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War. On her way back from a semi-secret flight in the waning days of the war, Rose is captured by the Germans and ends up in Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi women's concentration camp. There, she meets an unforgettable group of women, including a once glamorous and celebrated French detective novelist whose Jewish husband and three young sons have been killed; a resilient young girl who was a human guinea pig for Nazi doctors trying to learn how to treat German war wounds; and a Nachthexen, or Night Witch, a female fighter pilot and military ace for the Soviet air force.

These damaged women must bond together to help each other survive. In this companion volume to the critically acclaimed novel Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein continues to explore themes of friendship and loyalty, right and wrong, and unwavering bravery in the face of indescribable evil.

My Thoughts:

Rose Under Fire is a companion novel to Code Name Verity which I listened to last year and loved! You wouldn't be lost reading Rose Under Fire as a standalone but in order to get the very most from the experience I'd suggest reading Code Name Verity first. There's a crossover of characters and Rose Under Fire takes place shortly after Code Name Verity finishes. I thought Rose Under Fire was a simpler narrative to follow, it didn't have the same head-spin twist of Code Name Verity but both pack an emotional wallop.

Rose Under Fire is the story of Rose Justice, a young American Air Transport Auxillary pilot captured by the Germans and imprisoned in Ravensbrück. I liked that the focus in Ravensbrück was the political prisoners and Rose's experience 'adopted' by the Rabbits, the young Polish girls and women brutally experimented on and mutilated by Nazi doctors. The unspeakable horror they endured was difficult to listen to, I kept having to stop to breathe. a

But it's not the horror that stays with you, it's the womens' character, their friendship and unfailing loyalty, every brave, funny, stinking, bitter, sarcastic, hopeful, terrifying, uplifting story shared. Humanity shines even in the most evil, dehumanising situations.

Elizabeth Wein lists the 74 Polish women experimented on in Ravensbrück. This is a work of fiction but it's based on true accounts, in essence it is their story.

Narrators Morven Christie and Lucy Gaskell were for the most part brilliant (again.) I say for the most part ... I'm not sure who narrated Roza but at first her 'voice' made me wince. It was the shrillest make-your-ears-bleed pitch but strangely enough as her story progressed her voice grated less. I'm not sure whether this would have been any easier to read rather than listen to but Rose and the girls; Roza, Elodie, Karolina, Irina, Lisette and Anna came to life and it tore my heart out.

I wonder sometimes whether generations to follow will feel distant or removed from these atrocities and then the truth hits, we haven't actually come that far. Amongst others, as the genocide of West Papuans by Indonesian military unfolds, it makes me weep. We seem to have learnt nothing.

Grab the tissues and pepare to be put through the wringer.

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