HISTORICAL STORIES OF EXILE by Helen Hollick, Annie Whitehead and 11 others @HelenHollick @AnnieW History @abelfrageauthor

 5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: Twitter.  I expressed my interest in reading it when available, and one of the authors offered me an ARC :)

In a Nutshell: 13 historical stories of exile.

Deborah Swift, one of my favourite authors, has written a perfect introduction to this excellent collection, with a brief overview of the content as well as thoughts on the subject of exile itself.

I loved reading these stories, the standard of which is high throughout, though they are all so different, in subject matter and writing style.  It is these two aspects that determine one's favourites in an anthology such as this, and can only ever be subjective; bearing this in mind, the story that stood out most for me (and stayed with me afterwards) was the heartbreaking The Unwanted Prince by Anna Belfrage, about a 16th century heir to the Swedish throne forced into exile for his own safety - especially sad because the story is true, as I read at the end, with great fascination.  I would have happily read a whole novel about the rest of his life, as outlined.

My other favourites:

Wadan Wræclastas (Tread the Path of Exile) by the Lady of Saxon History, Annie Whitehead is set a few years before the Norman Conquest.  The title comes from 10th century poem The Wanderer, and in this case refers to the much travelled Ealdgyth.  Again, most of the events really took place, but what I loved most about this one was the glimpse into the Saxon world.

On Shining Wings by Marian L Thorpe, a beautiful story about a 13th century Norwegian falconer, telling his tale to his grandson.

Betrayal by Cathie Dunn: set in AD 900, it tells the story of the urgent flight of Rollo the Viking and his wife Poppa place from the part of modern day France then known as Neustria, to England.

I also liked The Past, My Future by Loretta Livingstone, which is a bit different as it involves time travel from a dark, dystopian future England, to an abbey in the 13th Century.

The book is beautifully presented, with notes about each story and a biography and links for each author.  Congratulations to Helen Hollick for the original idea, and a big thank you to Annie for sending me an ARC when I said how much I looked forward to reading this!  Historical Stories of Exile is available for pre-order now, and for sale on November 12th. Highly recommended, and a great way to dip into the work of authors yet to be discovered.

BETRAYAL: Historical Stories by Judith Arnopp, Cryssa Bazos and more

4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: Twitter

In A Nutshell: A collection of historical long-short stories by various authors, all on the subject of betrayal.

This is a fine collection—it is rare to find an anthology by many authors without a weak moment here and there, but this is such.  The stories follow on through time, chronologically, starting with Death At Feet of Venus, set in Roman times, by Derek Birks, and ending with a modern day story featuring alternative history, The Idealist by Alison Morton. 

The stories you like best will depend on your preferences for writing style and the periods that interest you most; my favourites were House Arrest by Judith Arnopp, about Margaret Beaufort, who is one of my historical heroes—I highly recommend Ms Arnopp's series about her, incidentally—and Love to Hatred Turn'd by Annie Whitehead, set in the 10th century; Ms Whitehead has that knack of making you feel as though you are sitting within the king's great hall in the kingdom of Wessex, as you are reading.  I also very much liked All Those Tangled Webs by Anna Belfrage, which covers the time in 1330 just after Edward II had died, and Road to The Tower by Elizabeth St. John, about the lead up to the imprisonment of Princes Edward and Richard, who famously disappeared from the Tower of London.

I bow with respect to all involved.  Highly recommended. 

SEVERED KNOT by Cryssa Bazos @CryssaBazos #RBRT

4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads
On BookBub

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.

In a Nutshell: Fiction centred round the treatment of Scottish and Irish royalist prisoners during the English civil war; slavery in Barbados; romantic aspect.

I enjoyed this book so much.  The basic story: Iain Johnstone is a Scottish 'moss-trooper' imprisoned by Cromwell's men after persuading many of his contemporaries to go south and fight for Charles II.  Mairead O'Conneil is a young woman staying at her uncle's house in rural Eire for 'safety' while her father and brothers fight the Parlimentarians ~ but then the soliders come... and both Iain and Mairead find themselves on a slave ship bound for Barbados.

I hadn't read this relatively new writer before, but I'm glad I've discovered her; she's seriously talented.  The book is professionally presented, which I appreciated so much; it is clear that the research has been both meticulous and extensive, but at no time was I overly aware of it; I never felt that I was reading her research notes, as can so often be the case.  The atmosphere of the prisons, the slave ships and the Barbadian plantations, with all their horrors, is colourfully illustrated, and her characterisation and dialogue kept me engrossed, throughout.  I liked, too, that it gave me a view of how the English troubles spread far and wide.  Aside from all this, it's a terrific adventure story.

Within the plot is a romantic thread, a background shadow in the first half of the book that steps closer to centre stage as it goes on.  The theme is the romantic novel standard of two people taking against each other on sight then being extraordinarily rude to each other whenever they cross paths before finally admitting their passion, which can work well if cleverly written, and this was. 

Sadly, though, because of the descriptions of Mairead (tiny, skinny, frizzy-haired, plain, sprite, 'Mouse') I could only ever picture her as a sort of meek teenage imp, rather than a woman likely to inflame the passions of the Sean Bean-as-Sharpe/Boromir-like Iain, so it fell a little flat for me.  This sort of opinion is only ever personal viewpoint, though, and I must bear in mind that I not a fan of romantic fiction, generally; I was glad that other non-love stuff made up the main body of the book.

Despite these reservations, I am still rounding the 4.5* up to 5* on Amazon in the interests of objective reviewing, because it really is an exceptionally good novel, and I will definitely place her on my mental 'read more' list.