#BookReview ‘The Voyage Home’ by Pat Barker #historical #myths

A dirty, realistic, unflinching portrayal of the women taken hostage by the Greek victors at Troy, The Voyage Home by Pat Barker is unputdownable. I didn’t expect anything less having devoured the first two books in this trilogy, The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy.Pat BarkerProphetess Cassandra, taken as war booty by King Agamemnon, is on the boat home; to Agamemnon’s home that is, not hers. After the battle, Cassandra and her maid Ritsa sail away from Troy towards Greece. Awaiting them are Queen Clytemnestra, who has governed in her husband’s absence, and his two remaining children Orestes and Electra. The post-war story told by these three women is familiar after many conflicts. Murder, abduction, rape, abuse, torture, child killing, looting, destruction, triumphalism. All have suffered during this ten-year-long men’s war. Cassandra, the priestess daughter of Trojan king Priam, may wear silk and decorate her hair with flowers, but she is as much a slave as Ritsa who was a noblewoman before her capture. Plagued by visions of her captor’s death, and her own, Cassandra is at times emotionally disturbed, at others she is defiant. Clytemnestra, full of vengeance for her husband’s sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia – in tribute to the gods in return for a fair wind to war – must smile and welcome his concubine to her home. But what a home; plagued by the long-dead voices, handprints and footprints of child ghosts, the palace is an unsettling place.
Witty and, in places, bloodthirsty, Barker writes about the abuse of these women with a delicacy and empathy that makes the pages turn quickly. I read this in two days. She writes with anger and disgust that seems modern, but these are age-old tales of men’s brutality. In a palace full of nightmares, murder is planned. These three women, slave and non-slave, are seeking retribution. But what is revenge? Is it a universal truth. Does it mean the same to each of these woman. Justice. Murder. Survival against the odds. Peace. The ability to rise each morning without fear. Does it mean striking the fatal blow yourself or watching someone else? I don’t see this as a feminist re-telling in which weak men receive their come-uppance. Barker shows the men are arrogant, conniving, self-seeking and brutal. The women can be strong, brutal, selfish and unlikeable too.
A brilliant end to this trilogy. Pat Barker brings mythology to life, making it relevant for life today. One to think about for days afterwards. Highly recommended.

Read my reviews of other Pat Barker novels:-
THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS #1WOMENOFTROY
THE WOMEN OF TROY #2WOMENOFTROY
LIFE CLASS #1LIFECLASS
TOBY’S ROOM #2LIFECLASS
NOONDAY #3LIFECLASS
ANOTHER WORLD
BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN
DOUBLE VISION
UNION STREET

If you like this, try:-
‘House of Names’ by Colm Tóibín
‘Stone Blind’ by Natalie Haynes
Sparrow’ by James Hynes

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Robert Thorogood

#BookReview ‘The Story Spinner’ by Barbara Erskine @Barbaraerskine #historical

The Story Spinner by Barbara Erskine is an absorbing time-lapse story which combines the lost romance between a Welsh princess and a Roman general with a modern-day archaeological-investigation, all knitted together by mythical connections, visions and a disappearing dog. Barbara ErskineThere are two distinct storylines. Cadi, ‘the observer, the unseen diarist, the only witness. The Novelist. The story spinner,’ is a modern-day poet with a mystic sensitivity to the people who lived on the ancient site next to her Welsh cottage. Supposed to be writing poetry based on a Welsh myth, instead she finds herself free-writing prose based on visions of the life of Elen, a Welsh princess living in 382AD. Little is known of her life as she appears in few historical documents. So when Cadi imagines Elen as a teenager, she unlocks the story of her marriage to a Roman general.
Cadi has always suspected that the meadow next to her cottage is the site of an ancient army camp. When she starts to hear marching footsteps and the sounds of soldiers on the move, she calls in her druid uncle, Professor Meryn Jones. Their excitement at the potential discovery is deflated by the news that the unknown owner of the meadow is seeking planning permission for a housing development. Draft plans show houses built right up to the hedge in Cadi’s back garden. Bereft at losing her sense of peace and isolation and being unable to walk in the beautiful meadow, she throws herself into investigation. During the day she talks to town planners and archaeologists. At night she sits with pen and notebook writing the story of Elen’s life. In channelling the story of Elen, Cadi also discovers fascinating characters including Branwen, a wise woman.
The unveiling of Elen’s life as a teenage bride and young mother, a Welsh princess who must subjugate herself to the authority of her husband, develops alongside the modern-day investigation into the meadow. Complicating the issue is the re-appearance in the village of Cadi’s ex, Ifan, who throughout their relationship was bullying and threatening. Cadi is afraid he is stalking her again.
This is a tale with complicated connections that Erskine handles with skill. I enjoyed this very much though it’s a trifle long for me, there are sections towards the end that I wanted to move a little quicker. Overall an unusual, compelling read.

Here’s my review of THE DREAM WEAVERS, also by Barbara Erskine.

If you like this, try:-
The Prophet’ by Martine Bailey #2TABITHAHART
The Confessions of Frannie Langton’ by Sara Collins
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock’ by Imogen Hermes Gowar

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#BookReview THE STORY SPINNER by Barbara Erskine @Barbaraerskine https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8Fb via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Pat Barker

Great Opening Paragraph 142… ‘The Crow Road’ #amreading #FirstPara

“It was the day my grandmother exploded. I sat in the crematorium, listening to my Uncle Hamish quietly snoring in harmony to Bach’s Mass in B Minor, and I reflected that it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach.”
Iain BanksFrom ‘The Crow Road’ by Iain Banks

Here’s my review of THE QUARRY by Iain Banks.

Try one of these 1st paras & discover a new author:-
Middlesex’ by Jeffery Eugenides 
Super-Cannes’ by JG Ballard 
American Psycho’ by Brett Easton Ellis 

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#FirstPara THE CROW ROAD by Iain Banks #books #amreading https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7gH via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘A Cold Wind from Moscow’ by Rory Clements #thriller #ColdWar

Eighth in the Tom Wilde World War Two thriller series by Rory Clements, A Cold Wind from Moscow takes a post-conflict step towards the Cold War. This is a tale of a top secret nuclear scientist, a South London criminal gangster and a Russian hitman. Rory ClementsCambridge 1947. Life is returning to normal for Professor Tom Wilde after the war. He is teaching history again at Cambridge while his wife Lydia is a medical student in London. On a freezing cold day, he stops at the greengrocer on his way to work. In the window is displayed a rarity; a perfect fresh peach. Wilde buys it as a treat for his son, Johnny, then goes to his rooms where he is expecting a visitor from London, a man he met once before during the war. But when Wilde opens the door, Everett Glasspool is dead with an ice-axe buried in his head.
This is a transitional story set at a time of post-war stasis as global political tension pivots to the Soviet Union. Daily life in England is difficult, in some ways harsher than during the war. And the Arctic-like weather doesn’t help. Wilde finds himself drawn back into security circles where there are old familiar wartime faces and fresh ones, such as his boss at MI5 Freya Bentall. Freya fears she has a traitor on her team and charges Wilde to follow three of her officers. Then a nuclear scientist, who has evidence about the leak of secrets, goes missing. The trail leads Wilde into London’s criminal underworld and also to his old friend Geoff Lancing who is now working at Harwell, the atomic energy research establishment. Who is selling nuclear secrets to the Russians? Is there more than one traitor? And can Wilde find the missing scientist before the Russian hitman?
The end is intriguing, setting up what promises to be another Tom Wilde book. A really pacy read. Very enjoyable.

Click the title to read my reviews of the other books in the Tom Wilde series:-
CORPUS #1TOMWILDE
NUCLEUS #2TOMWILDE
NEMESIS #3TOMWILDE

HITLER’S SECRET #4TOMWILDE
A PRINCE AND A SPY #5TOMWILDE
THE MAN IN THE BUNKER #6TOMWILDE
THE ENGLISH FÜHRER #7TOMWILDE

And from the Sebastian Wolff series:-
MUNICH WOLF #1SEBASTIANWOLFF

If you like this, try:-
‘Blow Your House Down’ by Pat Barker
‘Wolf Winter’ by Cecilia Ekback
‘Invasion’ by Frank Gardner #4LukeCarlton

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Barbara Erskine

#BookReview ‘The Other Side of the Bridge’ by Mary Lawson #contemporary #smalltown

Mary Lawson is one of those exceptional authors whose way with language seems deceptively simple. With ease, she summarises complex feelings in few words. The Other Side of the Bridge is Lawson’s second published novel, and was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Mary Lawson It is the story of two brothers, in childhood, in adulthood in the remote rural Canadian community of Struan. There is little to do in Struan except farm, to do anything else means leaving for the big city of Toronto. The eldest, Arthur, is a tall farm boy, quiet, most like his father. Not great with words, nevertheless he watches and doesn’t miss much. His younger brother Jake is smaller, lithe, good-looking, the apple of his mother’s eye. With a gift for the gab, Jake thinks nothing of fibbing. He is the risk taker. Arthur, always with an eye on his mother’s fragile emotional state, tries to steer Jake from trouble. But trouble always finds Jake. When new tenants rent the neighbouring farmhouse, both brothers are interested in the teenage girl who arrives with her widowed father.
Twenty years later is the story of teenager Ian, son of Struan’s doctor. He takes a Saturday job helping Arthur, now married, on the family farm. Ian’s motivation is the chance of spending moments near Laura, Arthur’s wife, with whom he is besotted. The story moves backwards and forwards in time zones, always told from a male perspective. I most enjoyed reading Arthur’s point of view, far from being an introverted giant of a man who struggled at school, he has a strong moral core with deep emotions.
The story of the two brothers is intertwined with so much else. The cultural history of the local native American community, the role of German prisoners of war as farm workers during World War Two, the secondary role of women in the home and the dominance of the husband, the financial challenges of rural farming. The differences pre- and post-war are obvious and subtle, as experienced and observed by Ian in the Sixties.
Here are two examples of Lawson’s prose. On the onset of autumn: ‘During the day the sun was still hot but as soon as it dipped down behind the trees the warmth dropped out of the air like a stone.’ On wishing something had been left unsaid: ‘Desperate to find a way round the unalterable fact that once you have said something, it is said. Once it has left your lips, you cannot take it back.’
Picked off the to-read pile, I read this immersive book in two days. What a masterful author Mary Lawson is. A 5* read for me.

Here’s my review of A TOWN CALLED SOLACE, also by Mary Lawson.

If you like this, try:-
Amy & Isabelle’ by Elizabeth Strout
Natural Flights of the Human Mind’ by Clare Morrall
Clock Dance’ by Anne Tyler

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Rory Clements

#BookReview ‘Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt’ by Lucinda Riley & Harry Whittaker #romance

Oh my goodness, what an ending to the series. I admit to be intimidated by the doorstep size of Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt, last in the Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley. This, the eighth and final book, was written by Lucinda and completed by her son Harry Whittaker after her death. I’ve spent the last week enthralled by the story of Atlas.Lucinda Riley & Harry WhittakerEach of the seven books in the series concentrates on the birth story of one of Pa Salt’s daughters, each named after the seven star cluster the Pleiades. Each young woman is different, each book is immersive, unputdownable. Hovering around the edge of each book is Pa himself; an enigmatic figure, wise, wealthy, mysterious, talented, nurturing. He also has a lifelong enemy.
Atlas finally tells Pa’s own story throughout almost a century. As some questions are answered, more are posed. Where was he born. Is he an orphan too. Why is he called Atlas. Did he ever find love. And why is the mild-mannered, gentlemanly, thoughtful Pa Salt being pursued by a man who wants to kill him? One by one, we finally learn the circumstances in which Pa came to adopt each of his girls. The story criss-crosses the globe and the timeline goes back and forth between Pa’s story and 2008 as the sisters gather together to read their father’s diary after his death. There are a lot of character names recurring from the previous books – partners, children, relatives – but I stopped trying to remember who was who and went with the emotional flow. It’s also satisfying to see the early stories of Pa Salt’s staff including lawyer Georg, the girls’ nanny Ma, and cook Claudia.
A fitting end to a fab series and impossible to review without giving away key plot points. Though it is undeniably long, there are a lot of loose ends to be tied up in Atlas and missing decades to fill in. Once started, difficult to put down.

Read my reviews of some of the other novels in Lucinda Riley’s ‘Seven Sisters’ series:-
THE SEVEN SISTERS #1SEVENSISTERS
THE STORM SISTER #2SEVENSISTERS
THE SHADOW SISTER #3SEVENSISTERS
THE PEARL SISTER #4SEVENSISTERS
THE MOON SISTER #5SEVENSISTERS
THE SUN SISTER #6SEVENSISTERS
THE MISSING SISTER #7SEVENSISTERS

… plus my reviews of these standalone novels, also by Lucinda Riley:-
THE BUTTERFLY ROOM
THE GIRL ON THE CLIFF
THE HIDDEN GIRL 
THE LOVE LETTER

If you like this, try:-
‘Shadows in the Ashes’ by Christina Courtenay
‘The Marriage Plot’ by Jeffrey Eugenides
‘Our Souls at Night’ by Kent Haruf

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#BookReview ATLAS: THE STORY OF PA SALT by Lucinda Riley & Harry Whittaker https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8CT via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Mary Lawson

#BookReview ‘Beautiful Ugly’ by Alice Feeney @alicewriterland #thriller #mystery

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney has so many twists and surprises it feels like an infinite tangle of mobius strips. I read it quickly, thinking I knew what was happening. Sometimes I guessed right, sometimes I was wildly wrong. Alice FeeneyAuthor Grady Green is having a brilliant day until his wife disappears. He doesn’t know if she’s dead or alive, kidnapped or washed out to sea. Abby, a journalist, has been receiving threats related to newspaper stories she’s written. Grady is trapped in a nightmare turmoil of grief and hope, unable to accept Abby is dead, unable to sleep, always hoping. A year later he is ill, not writing, out of money and he keeps seeing Abby everywhere. He thinks he’s going mad. His agent, in a desperate attempt to help him write another bestseller, sends him to a writer’s cabin on a remote Scottish island. Grady likes being alone, that’s when he writes best, so he agrees.
Once the action moves to the Isle of Amberly, Beautiful Ugly becomes a closed room mystery. On the ferry over from the mainland, Grady sees Abby again. Although he starts to feel a little better he still isn’t sleeping, despite copious alcohol and pots of the local herbal bog myrtle tea. He sees things, he hears things; or does he? His only companion is his dog Colombo. Amberly is completely isolated. No mobile or internet signal, no landlines, an occasional ferry to the mainland. His writer’s cabin is in the woods, miles from anyone, and is creepy. The local residents, all 25 of them, are rather strange. And there are rules. No visitor may drive a car. Only residents are allowed to communicate with each other by walkie-talkie. Although everyone seems friendly, Grady begins to feel trapped. And then old newspaper cuttings of stories written by Abby are left in the cabin for Grady to find.
Most of the story is told from Grady’s point of view, which raises the inevitable question: is he a reliable narrator. But we also have chapters from Abby before her disappearance and this fills in some back story. We see how they meet on a plane, their whirlwind romance, but as the years pass there are tensions just below the surface. Both have their secrets, both are obsessive about their work. Abby says to a counsellor, ‘Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t. Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.’
A very clever plot, even if some twists are easy to spot. An unsettling thriller that examines truth and lies in relationships, promises made, things you don’t tell your partner and secrets you don’t admit even to yourself. Throughout the book I was also getting flashbacks to films such as Hot Fuzz and Misery.

Here’s my review of SOMETIMES I LIE, also by Alice Feeney.

If you like this, try:-
The Hunting Party’ by Lucy Foley 
‘Before the Fall’ by Noah Hawley
‘The Ice’ by Laline Paull

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#BookReview BEAUTIFUL UGLY by Alice Feeney @alicewriterland https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8Dd via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Lucinda Riley & Harry Whittaker

#BookReview ‘Death down the Aisle’ by @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

Death down the Aisle is the most complicated plot so far in this wonderful series by Verity Bright. More red herrings, more danger, more mystery and more humour. I had my suspicions about the murderer and was only partly correct. Verity BrightFirst of all, the aisle in question is not the scene of Lady Eleanor Swift’s own wedding to a certain detective chief inspector. Instead Ellie is due to be bridesmaid at the wedding of her friends Constance and Peregrine, but with a lawsuit and a dead body in the week prior to the service, the wedding is in doubt.
The groom, Lord Peregrine Davenport, is being sued for breach of promise by a young woman he was once engaged to. In order to settle the claim he must sell the family estate. Now this first fiancé Daisy is dead, Constance doesn’t know she exists and both families are in uproar. The first few chapters move quite slowly, setting up the inter-linking stories. But as soon as the bride’s father is attacked on the golf course, the speed picks up and it is a race to the end. A variety of people are set to benefit from Daisy’s death including the bride, groom and their relatives. Eleanor’s policeman beau, Hugh Seldon, sensitive to the delicate emotions of the female witnesses he must question and not wanting to cause undue distress, asks her to accompany him to the interviews. Of course Ellie jumps at the chance. She is drawn into more serious investigations, leading her and ever-present multi-talented butler Clifford to the dodgy end of town. This highlights a serious theme about poverty, post-war building and unemployment after the Great War.
A sub-plot involving the Women’s Institute’s planned petition demanding women be admitted to the police force comes into its own towards the end. Seldon is struggling to manage two cases at once and the determination, bravery and cleverness of the WI members is key in the final fight scene. And of course Ellie’s determination to catch the murderer without thought to her own safety makes a point about female officers.
Once I start reading one of these books, I don’t want to stop until the end. They are addictive, thanks to the wonderful combination of characters. If you’re new to them, please start at book one to fully appreciate the long-running story arcs.

Read my review of other books in the Lady Eleanor Swift series:-
A VERY ENGLISH MURDER #1LADYELEANORSWIFT
DEATH AT THE DANCE #2LADYELEANORSWIFT
A WITNESS TO MURDER #3LADYELEANORSWIFT
MURDER IN THE SNOW #4LADYELEANORSWIFT
MYSTERY BY THE SEA #5LADYELEANORSWIFT
MURDER AT THE FAIR #6LADYELEANORSWIFT
A LESSON IN MURDER #7LADYELEANORSWIFT
DEATH ON A WINTER’S DAY #8LADYELEANORSWIFT
A ROYAL MURDER #9LADYELEANORSWIFT
THE FRENCH FOR MURDER #10LADYELEANORSWIFT

If you like this, try:-
Murder at Catmmando Mountain’ by Anna Celeste Burke #1GEORGIESHAW
‘A Cornish Recipe for Murder’ by Fiona Leitch #5NOSEYPARKER
‘Murder at the Wedding’ by Helena Dixon #7MISSUNDERHAY

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#BookReview DEATH DOWN THE AISLE by @BrightVerity https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8qv via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Alice Feeney

#BookReview ‘Clown Town’ by Mick Herron #spy #thriller

It’s been a while since Bad Actors so I couldn’t wait to start Clown Town, ninth in the Slough House thriller series by Mick Herron. It is like a family reunion; the grumpy uncle who says the wrong thing, the bossy aunt who tidies up around everyone, the noisy one, the thoughtful one, the silent one, the cocky one. These books are seriously addictive. Clown Town by Mick Herron River Cartwright is on medical leave after Novichok poisoning and, though suffering from occasional woosiness and vision problems, is overseeing the cataloguing of his long-dead grandfather’s library. The books of David Cartwright, once a senior spy at Regent’s Park, have been transferred to the ‘spy’s college’ at Oxford. Except a book is missing, or is it? River’s harmless visit to the archivist leads him on the trail of a former spy, the leader of a cell during the Northern Ireland troubles. CC plans to go public with a long-hidden secret that could cause explosions at the Park and Number Ten.
In London at Slough House, the slow horses are bored. Shirley Dander has turned her computer off. Lech Wicinski has inherited River’s assignment trawling endless records to identify potential safe houses. Louisa Guy is making a restaurant booking for dinner. Ash Khan is talking to her mum on the phone again. And Roddy Ho has a new tattoo which he says is a hummingbird but Lech says is a platypus, Shirley thinks is a sheep and Louisa decides is an upside-down dung beetle.
Various independent story strands bob along at the same time, the only common denominator being that the people involved are aware of each other’s existence. The slow horses, Catherine Standish and Jackson Lamb. First Desk at Regent’s Park, Diana Taverner. Former sleazy politician Peter Judd. And former dog, or Park enforcer, Devon Welles. Except in Oxford are three people new to the Slough House books; three retired spies are waiting in a safe house for their also retired team leader to arrive for a meeting. There is a link that knits together Clown Town. Can the slow horses make the connection in time to save a life? And when they decide to help, will they charge in again without a real plan?
Herron’s skill is to make this the ninth book in the series as fresh as the first. He sticks with familiar characters and a handful of ongoing storylines, kills off some horses and introduces new ones, adds tense action scenes interwoven with his trademark humour and satire. And of course Jackson Lamb is the spine that holds it all together, bored by his horses in the office but willing to go to war for them if they are hurt.
A series best read in order from the beginning, and told at a pace that barely catches breath. Clown Town finishes with a few cliffhangers which means I’m already waiting impatiently for book ten. Excellent.

Click the title to read my reviews of the previous books in the Slough House series:-
SLOW HORSES #1SLOUGHHOUSE
DEAD LIONS #2SLOUGHHOUSE
REAL TIGERS #3SLOUGHHOUSE
SPOOK STREET #4SLOUGHHOUSE
LONDON RULES #5SLOUGHHOUSE
JOE COUNTRY #6SLOUGHHOUSE
SLOUGH HOUSE #7SLOUGHHOUSE
BAD ACTORS #8SLOUGHHOUSE

If you like this, try:-
Gabriel’s Moon’ by William Boyd #1GABRIELDAX
Exposure’ by Helen Dunmore
The Chase’ by Ava Glass #1ALIASEMMA

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#BookReview CLOWN TOWN by Mick Herron https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8B1 via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Verity Bright

#BookReview ‘The Rebel’s Mark’ by SW Perry @swperry_history #historical #crime

The Rebel’s Mark is fifth in the addictive Jackdaw Mysteries series by SW Perry in which intrepid doctor Nicholas Shelby and his apothecary wife Bianca are sent to Ireland where Irish rebels fight the English. What an adventure it is, full of Elizabethan politics, religious division, spying, kidnapping, fighting, the cunning of some clever women and a shipwreck. SW PerryThe story starts in 1598 with the shipwreck. A Spanish ship founders on Irish rocks and most aboard are lost, if not drowned they are murdered by the English soldiers who stumble on the wreck. Two women escape. Exactly why a Spanish ship should be so far from home is a mystery.
Robert Cecil, Secretary of State to Elizabeth I, sends Nicholas to Ireland to join Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, commander of the English army, but also as a spy. Bianca refuses to be separated from her husband and Nicholas gains permission for her to travel as part of the medical team. Their young son Bruno stays at home at the Jackdaw tavern, cared for by his mother’s landlady Rose and her husband Ned Monkton. Nicholas’ secret task is to meet with poet Edmund Spenser, he of the Faerie Queene. Spenser is annoyingly tight-lipped. There are many personality clashes which add to the divisive politics of the time. Essex hates Cecil. One of Essex’s commanders is a former admirer of Bianca and therefore sets against Nicholas. Who knows whose side Spenser is really on. How is the shipwreck connected to Anglo-Irish politics. And what of the Irish rebels, ‘men in fur pelts and broacloth gowns sit upon shaggy ponies’ led by the enigmatic Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone.
As always the story moves along at a cracking pace. Nicholas and Bianca both get into trouble and have their separate adventures while at home in Bankside, stolid Ned becomes curious about the murder of a young man and starts to ask awkward questions.
I’m loving this series. To get the most out of it, start with the first The Angel’s Mark.

Here are my reviews of the first books in the series:-
THE ANGEL’S MARK #1JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SERPENT’S MARK #2JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE SARACEN’S MARK #3JACKDAWMYSTERIES
THE HERETIC’S MARK #4JACKDAWMYSTERIES

If you like this, try:-
The Lady of the Ravens’ by Joanna Hickson #1QUEENSOFTHETOWER
‘The Forgotten Sister’ by Nicola Cornick
‘The Instrumentalist’ by Harriet Constable

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#BookReview THE REBEL’S MARK by SW Perry @swperry_history https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8BW via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:- Clown Town by Mick Herron