Tag: historical fiction

#BlogTour #BookReview The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan by Cynthia Jefferies @AllisonandBusby @cindyjefferies1

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I’m delighted to be hosting today’s stop on the blog tour for The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan by Cynthia Jefferies alongside my tour buddy, Amy at Passages to the Past. The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan was published in paperback on 22nd August 2019 and is also available in hardcover and as an e-book.

Thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Allison and Busby for my review copy. I hope you enjoy reading my review of The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan. Look out for more reviews by the fabulous book bloggers also hosting stops on the tour.

The Outrageous Fortune of Abel MorganAbout the Book

1660, England. War is at an end, yet for Christopher Morgan his personal conflict rages on. Haunted by the tragic death of his wife, Christopher is desperate to escape the pain her memory brings, although looking into the eyes of his young son, Abel, he cannot help but be reminded of what he has lost. Over time, father and son develop a strong bond until they are callously torn apart when Abel is snatched by smugglers and sold overseas.

From the shores of Constantinople to the coast of Jamaica, time and tide keep them apart. Christopher will sail across oceans to find Abel, never losing faith that one day they will be reunited, and, as the years pass, Abel will learn that fortune favours the brave.

Format: Paperback (384 pp.)    Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 22nd August 2019     Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Publisher | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Hive
*link provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan on Goodreads

My Review

Alternating between events from the point of view of Christopher and his son, Abel (the latter told in first person), The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan involves epic globetrotting adventures. The story is like a spirited mashup of Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Moonfleet and Pirates of the Caribbean. Along the way, there’s an encounter with a mysterious and malevolent stranger, a trader in information who, although playing a role in both Abel’s and Christopher’s lives, doesn’t feature in quite the significant way I expected.

It’s hard not to feel sympathy for Christopher, in despair at the death of his wife and the unexplained disappearance of his beloved son whom he fears may be either dead or enslaved. His feelings of guilt at the course of events cause him to indulge in a lot of soul searching as he travels the world in the hope of finding his son. Christopher even finds it difficult to recognize his own good nature when performing charitable deeds towards others.

Despite initial indications to the contrary, Abel does become the recipient of ‘outrageous’ good fortune, partly down to luck and partly down to several bold moves on his part as well as a willingness to grasp opportunities. Towards the end of the book, when it appears he has everything he should want from life, some of the actions he takes seem quite out of character and he became somewhat harder to like.

The story takes the reader from the moorland village of Dario in the West Country – the location of the splendidly named Rumfustian Inn and the haunt of smugglers – to the court of Charles II, to the maze-like streets and minarets of Constantinople, to Ireland and the Caribbean island of Jamaica. At times, I felt the pace of the book as a whole didn’t quite match the intensity of some of the action-packed scenes depicted, such as those involving Abel’s privateering adventures in the Caribbean.

Featuring smugglers, pirates, narrow escapes from death, joy, despair and every emotion in between, The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan is a spirited, globetrotting historical adventure.

In three words: Lively, entertaining, adventure

Try something similar: The Traitor of Treasure Island by John Drake (read my review here)

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Cynthia JefferiesAbout the Author

Cynthia Jefferies is a long-established writer for children, whose work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She was born in Gloucestershire and her love of history was encouraged by regular family outings to anything of interest, from great cathedrals to small museums. Having moved to Scotland and back to Stroud, she has always made time to write and her abiding interest in Restoration England has never left her. The Outrageous Fortune of Abel Morgan is her first historical novel for adults.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

 

#BookReview The Tides Between by Elizabeth Jane Corbett @OdysseyBooks @lizziejane

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The Tides BetweenAbout the Book

She fancied herself part of a timeless chain without beginning or end, linked only by the silver strong words of its tellers.

In the year 1841, on the eve of her departure from London, Bridie’s mother demands she forget her dead father and prepare for a sensible, adult life in Port Phillip. Desperate to save her childhood, fifteen-year-old Bridie is determined to smuggle a notebook filled with her father’s fairytales to the far side of the world.

When Rhys Bevan, a soft-voiced young storyteller and fellow traveller realises Bridie is hiding something, a magical friendship is born. But Rhys has his own secrets and the words written in Bridie’s notebook carry a dark double meaning.  As they inch towards their destination, Rhys’s past returns to haunt him. Bridie grapples with the implications of her dad’s final message. The pair take refuge in fairytales, little expecting the trouble it will cause.

Format: Paperback, ebook (300 pp.)         Publisher: Odyssey Books
Published: 20th October 2017        Genre: Historical Fiction, YA

Purchase Links*

Amazon.co.uk ǀ Kobo  
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Tides Between on Goodreads

My Review

The author conveys in convincing detail the terrible conditions endured by those, like Bridie and her mother and stepfather, travelling in steerage: the heat below deck, the cramped accommodation, lack of privacy and risk of disease. Not to mention the terrible seasickness caused by the motion of the ship. There are particularly vivid descriptions of the terror experienced by the passengers as the ship rides out storms on the voyage, not least those in steerage where the order ‘batten down the hatches’ means them literally being sealed below decks.

For Bridie, the storytelling sessions she shares with Rhys and his wife, Sian, provide a welcome distraction from the privations of the voyage, her continuing grief at the death of her father and her difficult relationship with her mother’s new husband, Alf, that cause her to misunderstand and reject his attempts to guide her and prepare her for their new life in Australia. In addition, Bridie must come to terms with the signs that she is moving from childhood to being of marriageable age.

The emigrants undertaking the long and arduous voyage to Australia are doing so in the hope that a new and better life with more opportunities awaits them. But some, including Rhys and Sian, are also keen to leave behind the past and avoid discovery of secrets they wish to keep hidden. However, from time to time there are precious snatched moments of conviviality as the passengers come together to sing songs and listen to stories, especially those performed by Rhys and Sian.

Tragedy awaits many of those who undertake the voyage and even when they arrive at their destination it’s clear more challenges await them. The open-ended nature of the book’s conclusion means the reader can indulge their own imagination about Bridie’s future… or possibly await a sequel?

The Tides Between is an absorbing, skilfully crafted coming-of-age story that takes the reader – like Bridie and her fellow passengers – on an often turbulent and emotional journey.

I received a review copy courtesy of the author. Find out more about Elizabeth’s writing journey and the inspiration for the book in her Q&A with bookblogger, Linda Hill.

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In three words: Emotional, dramatic, immersive

Try something similar: Fled by Meg Keneally (read my review here)

Elizabeth Jane CorbettThe Tides Between TeaserAbout the Author

When Elizabeth Jane Corbett isn’t writing, she works as a librarian, teaches Welsh at the Melbourne Celtic Club, writes reviews and articles for the Historical Novel Society and blogs at elizabethjanecorbett.com.

In 2009, her short-story, ‘Beyond the Blackout Curtain’, won the Bristol Short Story Prize. Another, ‘Silent Night’, was short listed for the Allan Marshall Short Story Award. An early draft of her debut novel, The Tides Between, was shortlisted for a HarperCollins Varuna manuscript development award.

Elizabeth lives with her husband, Andrew, in a renovated timber cottage in Melbourne’s inner-north. She likes red shoes, dark chocolate, commuter cycling, and reading quirky, character driven novels set once-upon-a-time in lands far, far away.

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