Tag: historical fiction

#BookReview Molly & the Captain by Anthony Quinn

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Molly & The CaptainAbout the Book

A celebrated artist of the Georgian era paints his two young daughters at the family home in Bath. The portrait, known as “Molly & the Captain”, becomes instantly famous, its fate destined to echo down the centuries, touching many lives.

In the summer of 1889 a young man sits painting a line of elms in Kensington Gardens. One day he glimpses a mother at play with her two daughters and decides to include them in his picture. From that moment he is haunted by dreams that seem to foreshadow his doom.

A century later, in Kentish Town, a painter and her grown-up daughters receive news of an ancestor linking them to the long-vanished double portrait of “Molly & the Captain”. Meanwhile friendship with a young musician stirs unexpected passions and threatens to tear the family apart.

Format: Hardback (432 pages)           Publisher: Abacus
Publication date: 27th October 2022 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

The most impressive thing about the book is the way the author effortlessly evokes three different time periods. The clearest example is the first section set in the 1780s in which the story is related in the form of the journal of Laura (the ‘Captain’ of the book’s title), daughter of the famous but fictional painter, William Merrymount, and her letters to her cousin, Susan.  The prose has the idiosyncracies of style of that period, exemplified in this passage from the opening chapter. ‘Mr Lowther called at the house again. He stayed for an hour & behaved with a Civility I had thought beyond him…. Molly & I later prevail’d on him to accompany Ma on the piano forte.’  Moving between Bath and London we witness how Laura’s desire for recognition of her artistic talent is thwarted by circumstances and social conventions.

The second part of the book, set a hundred years later, was much my favourite section. I loved the character of Paul, a young artist whose disability places limits – sometimes self-imposed – on his achieving the success his talent deserves. His friend, the impoverished Philip Evenlode, is also a wonderfully sympathetic character. I really became engaged in Paul’s story and that of his sister, Maggie, frustrated in her ambition to pursue a university education because of the expectation she will care for their ailing mother. There are some particularly moving parts to the book and, for me, this section could have been a novel in its own right.

The final – and longest – section, set in 1983, is largely a story of strained family relationships. It was my least favourite part of the book not because it’s not well written but because it seemed the most tangential to the story of fate of the painting. I suspect it may be of most interest to those who, like me, have read the author’s earlier book, Eureka, because it features a key character from that book, actress Billie Cantrip. In fact, this section felt rather like a follow-up to Eureka. What Billie did next, if you like.  The final reveal of the solution to the mystery of the painting Molly & the Captain didn’t come as much of a revelation to me nor, I suspect, to other observant readers. However it did neatly bring the story full circle providing links between characters separated by centuries.

This is sounding like I didn’t enjoy the book; I did. It’s just I found myself actively seeking out connections between the three sections of the book rather than these emerging unbidden. Having said that, there were some neat touches such as the little ‘time tunnels’ that occasionally open giving brief glimpses of events or characters from earlier periods.  If there is a recurring theme to the book it’s the barriers placed in the way of individuals – particularly women – to realising their potential in life, expressing their creativity and being recognised for their talent.

If it didn’t completely succeed for me, Molly & the Captain is still a skilfully crafted novel, impressive in its scope with some wonderfully drawn characters.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Abacus via NetGalley.

In three words: Assured, insightful, engaging

Try something similar: The House of Birds by Morgan McCarthy

Anthony QuinnAbout the Author

Anthony Quinn was born in Liverpool in 1964. From 1998 to 2013 he was the film critic for the Independent. His novels include The Rescue Man, which won the 2009 Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award; Half of the Human Race; The Streets, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Walter Scott Prize; Curtain Call, soon to be a feature film starring Ian McKellen and Gemma Arterton; Freya, Eureka, Our Friends in Berlin and London, Burning. He also wrote the recent Liverpool memoir Klopp. (Photo credit: RWC Literary Agency)

#BlogTour #BookReview SBS Special Boat Squadron by Iain Gale

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SBS BLOG TOUR BANNER (1)Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for SBS Special Boat Squadron by Iain Gale. My thanks to Andrew at Head of Zeus for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my review copy.

SBS Special Boat SquadronAbout the Book

From this moment on, you and your men, you don’t exist.

Formed in the darkest hours of the Second World War, as nation after nation fell before the unstoppable Axis advance, the task of the Special Boat Squadron was to strike back at an enemy no army could meet in the field. Trained in sabotage and surveillance, the SBS raided deep behind enemy lines, sowing chaos and capturing much-needed intelligence. Soldiers, adventurers and rogues, their methods were unorthodox, their success rate unprecedented.

Operation Anglo, 31 August 1942. Beneath the waves of the Mediterranean, HMS Traveller closes in on the coast of Rhodes. Aboard, eight SBS commandos check their weapons as they prepare to infiltrate and sabotage two Axis bomber fields. Only two of the eight commandos will make it back to alive. Ex-Black Watch Sergeant Jim Hunter will be one of the lucky ones, but what he will face next will make Operation Anglo look like a cakewalk.

Format: Hardback (352 pages)           Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 13th October 2022 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

Inspired by actual events, the book tells the exciting story of the wartime exploits of the Special Boat Squadron, an elite group of ‘intelligence commandos’ created to carry out undercover missions.

Having together survived a disastrous operation that may in fact have been doomed from the start, Hunter and Woods are comrades on the battlefield but rivals in other respects. Cherchez la femme, as they say. However, as Woods explains, ‘If you think I’m fool enough to allow some petty differences to come between me and the life of a brother officer and a man I count as a friend, then you’re very much mistaken’. As the reader will discover, that principle will be tested beyond measure.

The circumstances which have given rise to the mission Hunter, Woods and their teams are asked to undertake may seem a little unlikely but of course there were a number of surprisingly unorthodox operations carried out during WW2.

The book features appearances by real life figures such as Xan Fielding and the flamboyant Patrick Leigh Fermor. WW2 film buffs may recall the latter was played by Dirk Bogarde in Ill Met by Moonlight which dramatised an actual but equally daring SOE operation in Crete. Included in the book’s characters is a rather famous author whose manner of introducing himself is likely to make you chuckle but whose role is, again, based on historical fact.

I particularly liked the way the book illustrated the courage of the Cretan resistance fighters – the andartes – who assisted Allied undercover operations. Their very personal reasons for wanting to do so are often harrowing to read about, even more so because they reflect the well-documented real life experience of those under German occupation.

The team assembled to carry out the mission possess, as Woods remarks, ‘unusual, or should I say […] unique abilities’. Amongst their skills are safe-cracking, knowledge of explosives, communications, code-breaking – and of course silent killing. Although we mainly see things through Hunter’s eyes, the author provides the reader with occasional glimpses into the thoughts of the other team members, most memorably Phelps. It’s a reminder that, although highly trained, they can still experience fear and doubt. And that, although a mission may be planned down to the last detail, things can go wrong and, when they do, the weakest link in the chain is the most dangerous.

SBS Special Boat Squadron, with its tense action scenes, daring accounts of undercover operations and colourful cast of characters, will appeal to fans of wartime adventures such as The Guns of Navarone.

In three words: Action-packed, authentic, dramatic

Try something similar: Eight Hours From England by Anthony Quayle

Iain GaleAbout the Author

Iain Gale is the author of twelve military historical novels and two works of military history. Iain was for many years a member of the Scottish Committee of Combat Stress, the armed forces’ PTSD charity. He also sat on the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Waterloo Committee at Edinburgh Castle and was privileged to be invited by the regiment to take a major part in its bicentenary commemorations.

He is a recognised authority on the Battle of Waterloo, and has taken numerous tours there, including leading a tactical military exercise of thirty-two serving US Army officers. Ian also guides regular small battlefield tours to the Somme, Arnhem, Dunkirk and Normandy and presents military history lectures. He is married with six children and lives in Fife and Edinburgh.

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