Category: Reviews

My Week in Books – 30th October 2022

whatcathyreadnext

MyWeekinBooksOn What Cathy Read Next last week

Monday – I published my review of Molly & the Captain by Anthony Quinn.

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was a Hallowe’en Freebie and my list consisted of books featuring witchcraft or witch hunting.  

Wednesday – WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading. 

Thursday – I published my review of historical crime mystery Rivals of the Republic by Annelise Freisenbruch.

Saturday – I took part in the #SixonSaturday meme sharing six highlights from my garden this week. 

New arrivals

My Father's HouseMy Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor (eARC, Vintage via NetGalley)

When the Nazis take Rome, thousands go into hiding. One priest will risk everything to save them.

September 1943: German forces occupy Rome. SS officer Paul Hauptmann rules with terror. The war’s outcome is far from certain.

An Irish priest, Hugh O’Flaherty, dedicates himself to helping those escaping from the Nazis. His home is Vatican City, the world’s smallest state, a neutral, independent country within Rome where the occupiers hold no sway. Here Hugh brings together an unlikely band of friends to hide the vulnerable under the noses of the enemy.

But Hauptmann’s net begins closing in on the Escape Line and the need for a terrifyingly audacious mission grows critical. By Christmastime, it’s too late to turn back.

Based on an extraordinary true story, My Father’s House is a powerful literary thriller from a master of historical fiction. Joseph O’Connor has created an unforgettable novel of love, faith and sacrifice, and what it means to be truly human in the most extreme circumstances.

Devils and SaintsDevils and Saints by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, trans. by Sam Taylor (ARC, Gallic Books) 

An elderly man gives virtuoso piano performances in airports and train stations. To the incredulity of the passers-by, he refuses their offers to play in concert halls, or at prestigious gatherings. He is waiting for someone, he tells them.

Joseph was just sixteen when he was sent to a religious boarding school in the Pyrenees: les Confins, a dumping ground for waifs, strays, and other abandoned souls. His days were filled with routine and drudgery, and he thought longingly of the solace he found through music in his former life.

Joe dreams constantly of escape, but it seems impossible. That is, until a chance encounter with the orphanage’s benefactor leads him to Rose, and a plan begins to form…

Humorous even in its darkest moments, Devils and Saints tells a daring tale of camaraderie, love, and good triumphing over evil.

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • My Five Favourite October 2022 Reads 
  • Book Review: The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho by Paterson Joseph
  • #6DegreesofSeparation

#BookReview Rivals of the Republic by Annelise Freisenbruch

whatcathyreadnext1 Comment

RivalsoftheRepublicAbout the Book

Rome, 70BC. Roman high society hums with gossip about the suspicious suicide of a prominent Roman senator and the body of a Vestal Virgin is discovered in the river Tiber.

As the authorities turn a blind eye, Hortensia is moved to investigate a trail of murders that appear to lead straight to the dark heart of the Eternal City.

Format: Paperback (288 pages)          Publisher: Duckworth
Publication date: 10th August 2017  Genre: Historical Fiction, Crime

Find Rivals of the Republic (Blood of Rome #1) on Goodreads

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My Review

In Rivals of the Republic the author has taken actual historical events and characters, including well-known figures such as Cicero, Pompey and even a young Julius Caesar, and used her imagination to weave an intriguing and dramatic story around them. And don’t worry about getting confused because the book includes a dramatis personae in case you need a reminder of who everyone is.

The book’s female protagonist, Hortensia, was a real person although little is known about her beyond the fact she was the daughter of renowned lawyer Hortensius Hortalus. But when it comes to historical fiction, a gap is something authors love because they can use their imagination to fill it, as Annelise Freisenbruch has done here. The author’s Hortensia is a young woman of noble birth who is intelligent, has inherited the rhetorical skills of her father and possesses an independence of spirit that makes her challenge the conventions and limitations of patriarchal Roman society. The role of a woman like Hortensia is to make a marriage that is advantageous to her family, increasing their wealth or influence. They are certainly not expected to appear in the law court as Hortensia does in one particularly entertaining scene in which her inspired defence of a wronged woman proves she is more than equal to any male opponent.

The plot is intricate without being confusing and progresses at a good pace with plenty of twists and turns as it builds to an exciting conclusion. Although many of the characters are real life figures, there are a few fictional ones, notably a ‘boo hiss’ villian complete with scarred face and ‘strange amber eyes’. There is intrigue, conspiracy and political machinations conducted by individuals driven by a lust for power and wealth. They are utterly ruthless when it comes to ridding themselves of opponents. Luckily Hortensia finds a useful ally in ex-gladiator, Lurcio, and despite the difference in their social station they make a great partnership: a winning combination of brains and brawn.

The author has clearly used her knowledge of the period to cram the book with the sort of detail – of food, dress, social and religious customs – that makes a historical novel come alive.  There’s a clear sense of the gulf between the lives of noble families such as Hortensia’s and the experiences of ordinary people. For example, in this account of Lurcio’s visit to the Subura, a lower-class area of Rome notorious as a pleasure district.

‘There was no street lighting in the damp alleyways and few of the residents could afford the cost of a lantern-bearer to illuminate their way, but the beat of footsteps, the rattle of vehicles and the screech of voices had barely abated since the sun went down. The waft of hot chickpea soup and thick sausage stew from the cook shops competed with the stench from the underground sewer, tempting the custom of those who did not dare risk a cooking fire in the precipitous, decaying tenements that teetered like crumbling cliff-faces above the narrow streets.’

Although Rivals of the Republic was intended to be the first in the ‘Blood of Rome’ historical crime series, there have been no further instalments to date. (The author now writes children’s books under the name Annelise Gray.) This is a shame because, on the strength of Rivals of the Republic, I think it had the makings of a first-rate series sure to appeal to fans of historical crime fiction. Perhaps the author may come back to it at some point.

I received a review copy courtesy of Duckworth.

In three words: Intriguing, engaging, authentic

Try something similar: The Senator’s Assignment by Joan E. Histon

Annelise GrayAbout the Author

Annelise Freisenbruch received her PhD in Classics from Cambridge University. She has worked as a researcher for the BBC and has appeared in documentaries about ancient Rome for PBS and CNN. Her first book, The First Ladies of Rome: The Women behind the Caesars, was published to much critical acclaim and has been translated into eight languages. Rivals of the Republic is her first novel. (Photo: Author Twitter profile)

Connect with Annelise
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