Tag: historical fiction

#BookReview Charlotte by Helen Moffett @ZaffreBooks

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9781785769108About the Book

Everybody thinks that Charlotte Lucas has no prospects. She is unmarried, plain, poor, and reaching a dangerous age.

When she stuns the neighbourhood by accepting the proposal of buffoonish clergyman Mr Collins, her best friend Lizzy Bennet is appalled by her decision. Yet this is the only way Charlotte knows how to provide for her future.

Her married life propels Charlotte into a new world: not only of duty and longed-for children, but secrets, grief, unexpected love and friendship, and a kind of freedom.

This powerful reimagining takes up where Austen left off, showing us a woman determined to carve a place for herself in the world. Charlotte offers a fresh, feminist addition to the post-Austen canon, beautifully imagined, and brimming with passion and intelligence.

Format: (Hardcover, 368 pages)              Publisher: Manilla Press
Publication date: 3rd September 2020 Genre: Historical fiction

Find Charlotte on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon UK | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

The Charlotte who emerges from the book is loyal, honest, intelligent, an attentive, loving mother and wife. Above all, she’s a pragmatist, her aim being ‘to secure a future free of anxiety and material want’ for herself and her children. The author provides the reader with a different picture of the relationship between Charlotte and Mr Collins than might be imagined from Pride and Prejudice. Although a marriage of convenience initially, there is mutual affection and, at times, even desire between the pair. Yes, really. Granted, Mr Collins remains his overly talkative self and pathetically grateful for every favour that comes his way from his patron, Lady Catherine, but there are some touching scenes in which he and Charlotte are brought together by grief.

The author has some fun imagining “what happened next” to the other Bennet sisters and expanding the role of some of the secondary characters from Pride and Prejudice, notably Anne de Bourgh, daughter of the formidable Lady Catherine. There are also literary allusions to spot such as a first meeting on a moonlit road, a female character with a fondness for wearing men’s clothes and a wet-shirted emergence from water.

An invented character, Austrian musician and piano tuner Jacob Rosenstein, acts as a vehicle for Charlotte to recount, in a series of flashbacks, scenes from Pride and Prejudice (seen from her point of view) as well as details of the early part of her marriage. He also acts as a welcome distraction from her grief over a family tragedy.

The book is written in elegant prose reminiscent of, but not slavishly copying, Jane Austen’s style. Much tea is consumed, health-giving country walks are taken and musical evenings are enjoyed.

A repeated theme of the book is the inferior status of women whether manifested through inheritance laws, social conventions or the constraints of marriage. It leads Charlotte to reflect on ‘the swinging unfairness of the lot that made her a woman’ making her ‘little better than a parcel to be lodged where first a father and then a husband decreed’. Having said this, Charlotte proves herself adept at subtle manipulation and the end of the book sees her influencing the turn of events.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Manilla Press and Readers First.

In three words: Tender, assured, engaging

Try something similar: The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow or Longbourn by Jo Baker

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EQngv350_400x400About the Author

Helen Moffett is a South African writer, freelance editor, activist, and award-winning poet. She had a PhD on Pre-Raphaelite poetry and has authored or co-authored university textbooks, short story anthologies, non-fiction books on the environment, two poetry collections, and various academic projects. Charlotte is her first novel. (Photo credit: Twitter profile)

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#BookReview V For Victory by Lissa Evans @DoubledayUK

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V For Victory BT Poster 2Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for V For Victory by Lissa Evans. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Doubleday for my digital review copy via NetGalley.

V For Victory CoverAbout the Book

It’s late 1944. Hitler’s rockets are slamming down on London with vicious regularity and it’s the coldest winter in living memory. Allied victory is on its way, but it’s bloody well dragging its feet.

In a large house next to Hampstead Heath, Vee Sedge is just about scraping by, with a herd of lodgers to feed, and her young charge Noel (almost fifteen ) to clothe and educate. When she witnesses a road accident and finds herself in court, the repercussions are both unexpectedly marvellous and potentially disastrous – disastrous because Vee is not actually the person she’s pretending to be, and neither is Noel.

The end of the war won’t just mean peace, but discovery…

Format: Hardcover (304 pages)         Publisher: Doubleday
Publication date: 27th August 2020 Genre: Historical fiction

Find V for Victory on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon UK | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

I very much enjoyed Lissa Evans’ Old Baggage when I read it back in 2018 and I’ve had the follow-up book, Crooked Heart, in my TBR pile ever since. Although V For Victory can be enjoyed as a standalone, it continues some of the storylines and features some of the characters from Crooked Heart. So I simply had to squeeze in reading Crooked Heart before starting V For Victory (although I haven’t yet managed to squeeze in writing my review).

The formidable Mattie who played such a starring role in Old Baggage doesn’t make a physical appearance in V For Victory but her influence is still felt through her precocious godson, Noel, and some of the girls who belonged to The Amazons but are now grown up. In particular, air raid warden Winnie Crowther steals many of the scenes in the latter part of the book. She’s a young woman Mattie would be proud of for her bravery and “gumption”. Winnie also represents many of the real life women who stepped in to perform unfamiliar and often dangerous roles during World War 2.

For those who have read Crooked Heart and had their heart stolen by Noel, prepare for a repeat experience. I also enjoyed getting to know the characters living in Green Shutters, the lodging house run by Vee Sedge – with help from Noel and his newfound culinary skills. Never one to miss an opportunity, Vee has enlisted some of the lodgers in tutoring Noel providing him with an eclectic pool of knowledge.

The author’s skill in combining humour, interesting characters and intriguing storylines whilst at the same time presenting a realistic picture of wartime London – “The dismal grind of London life, the V-2s still slamming down, the queues for fuel, the frozen rubble” – is in full evidence in V For Victory. By the end of the book, all the threads have been beautifully woven together to create a moving and satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.

In three words: Funny, moving, joyful

Try something similar: Dear Mrs. Bird by A J Pearce

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Lissa Evans Author PicAbout the Author

Lissa Evans has written books for both adults and children, including Their Finest Hour and a Half, longlisted for the Orange (now Women’s) Prize, Small Change for Stuart, shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Costa Book Award, and Crooked Heart, longlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. Old Baggage was a sell-out Waterstone’s Book of the Month and Their Finest Hour and a Half was adapted into a star-studded film with Gemma Arterton and Bill Nighy.

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V for victory full tour