Tag: historical fiction

Book Review – Revenants: The Odyssey Home by Scott Kauffman

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RevenantsAbout the Book

Only Betsy can get him home in time; only he can bring her back before it’s too late.   A grief-stricken candy-striper serving in a VA hospital following her brother’s death in Vietnam struggles to return home an anonymous veteran of the Great War against the skulduggery of a congressman who not only controls the hospital as part of his small-town fiefdom but knows the name of her veteran. The name, if revealed, would end his political ambitions and his fifty-year marriage. In its retelling of Odysseus’ journey, Revenants casts a flickering candle upon the Charon toll exacted not only from the families of those who fail to return home but of those who do.

Format: ebook Publisher: Moonshine Cove Pages: 275
Publication: 23rd Dec 2015 Genre: Historical Fiction    

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com ǀ Barnes & Noble
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

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My Review

Grief-stricken at the death of her brother, Nathan, in Vietnam, Betsy is in danger of going off the rails. In movingly described scenes, she struggles to find a reason to go on living, her only solace the possessions Nathan left behind, such as his copy of The Odyssey.

What seems like punishment at first – assignment to the local veterans’ hospital – turns out to provide Betsy with the purpose in life she needs. Initially, she reacts in horror at the extent of some of the patient’s awful injuries. However, realising that her brother could have been one of them if things had turned out differently, she decides to do everything in her power to help them recover sufficiently to return home. I was moved by Betsy’s growing relationship with the injured soldiers, as she starts to see past their physical injuries to the human being inside. They are the forgotten victims of the war, used only for political advantage by local politician, Congressman Hanna, but otherwise shunned by the local community, an inconvenient reminder of the dreadful consequences of war.

When Betsy discovers the presence of a mystery patient hidden away on the top of floor of the hospital – a severely injured survivor of the First World War – she sets out to find out his identity and, despite the decades that have elapsed, find a way to bring him home.  However, like Odysseus, there are forces seeking to prevent his return and in this case they are not Gods but take human form, namely Congressman Hanna. For some reason, he is determined to do anything to prevent discovery of the injured soldier’s identity.

Betsy enlists the help of her brother, Bartholomew, and between them they find the key to communicating with the mystery patient. In wonderful, descriptive writing, the soldier’s story is revealed, including the full horror of the trenches, the appalling injuries and death toll of the First World War.   (I think we have to suspend disbelief that this depth of detail could have been communicated in the manner described.) With the help of a young journalist, Matt, who is prepared to challenge the influence of Congressman Hanna (who owns the local newspaper as well as just about everything else in the town), they set out to find documentary proof of the soldier’s identity.

However, it seems there is a price to pay for everything and the secrets of the past are not so easily laid to rest. Betsy’s own journey through her grief takes many years as she too is prevented from finding her own version of home – coming to terms with Nathan’s death.

I found this a fascinating, multi-layered book that explores themes such as the consequences of actions, how power can corrupt, the need to do penance for past actions and the lasting, often unforeseen, impacts of war, not just on the participants but on their families and communities as well. It surprised me for being much more than just a mystery. It was a really thought-provoking, compelling story.

I received a review copy courtesy of the author in return for an honest review.

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In three words: Compelling, moving, mystery

Try something similar…The Somme Legacy by M J Lee (click here to read my review)

ScottKauffmanAbout the Author

Scott claims his fiction career began with an in-class book report written in Mrs. Baer’s eighth-grade English class when, due to a conflict of priorities, he failed to read the book. An exercise of imagination was required. Scott snagged a B, better than the C he received on his last report when he actually read the book. Thus began his life-long apprenticeship as a teller of tales and, some would snidely suggest, as a lawyer as well, (but they would be cynics; a race Oscar Wilde warned us knew the price of everything and the value of nothing).

Scott is the author of the legal-suspense novel, In Deepest Consequences, and a recipient of the 2011 Mighty River Short Story Contest and the 2010 Hackney Literary Award. His short fiction has been appeared in Big Muddy, Adelaide Magazine, and Lascaux Review. He is now at work on two novel manuscripts and a collection of short stories.

Scott is an attorney in Irvine, California, where his practice focuses upon white-collar crime and tax litigation with his clients providing him endless story fodder.

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Blog Tour: Court of Lions by Jane Johnson

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CourtofLionsBlogTourBanner

I’m thrilled to host today’s stop on the blog tour for Court of Lions by Jane Johnson and to bring you my review of this fascinating story which moves between 15th century and present day Granada.

CourtofLionsAbout the Book

Kate Fordham, escaping terrible trauma, has fled to the beautiful sunlit city of Granada, the ancient capital of the Moors in Spain, where she is scraping by with an unfulfilling job in a busy bar. One day in the glorious gardens of the Alhambra, once home to Sultan Abu Abdullah Mohammed, also known as Boabdil, Kate finds a scrap of paper hidden in one of the ancient walls. Upon it, in strange symbols, has been inscribed a message from another age. It has lain undiscovered since before the Fall of Granada in 1492, when the city was surrendered to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. Born of love, in a time of danger and desperation, the fragment will be the catalyst that changes Kate’s life forever.  Court of Lions brings one of the great turning-points in history to life, telling the stories of a modern woman and the last Moorish sultan of Granada, as they both move towards their cataclysmic destinies.

Format: Hardcover Publisher: Head of Zeus Pages: 397
Publication: 6th July 2017 Genre: Historical Fiction    

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

Find Court of Lions on Goodreads

My Review

The story of Sultan Abu Abdullah Mohammed, known as Momo, is related through the eyes of Blessings, a slave brought as a young orphan from a desert tribe to be his companion.  Despite the difference in their status, Blessings and Momo form a deep and lasting friendship although, for Blessings, the relationship becomes more than friendship. Their relationship will be tested over the years of political turmoil and war as Granada fights for its survival against the forces of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain and to protect the Muslim faith of its people.

I found the story of Sultan Abu Abdullah Mohammed utterly compelling and admired the way the author brought it to life in such vivid and colourful detail. For me, there was a perfect balance between the intimate, personal story of Momo and Blessings and the wider story of the historical events of the time – the plots, alliances, treaties, battles and defeats.   Ultimately, both Momo and Blessings are forced to make heart-breaking compromises.

In the contemporary story, Kate’s troubles are domestic in nature and gradually revealed throughout the novel. For her Granada is a refuge and a chance to leave behind unhappy memories and traumatic events.   The scrap of paper she finds in a crevice in the walls of the Alhambra and a chance encounter eventually provides the opportunity for her to move on in her life but not before she is forced to confront her traumatic past. Although expertly told, I wasn’t drawn to Kate’s story as much as the parts of the book set in the past. Shared themes of secrets, religious fundamentalism and discrimination were there but subtle. Personally, I would have liked slightly more substantial links between the two stories as, at times, they felt rather disconnected from each other.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of Head of Zeus in return for an honest review.

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In three words: Compelling, well-researched, intimate

JaneJohnsonAbout the Author

Jane Johnson is from Cornwall and has worked in the book industry for over 20 years, as a bookseller, publisher and writer. She is responsible for the publishing of many major authors, including George RR Martin. In 2005 she was in Morocco researching the story of a distant family member who was abducted from a Cornish church in 1625 by Barbary pirates and sold into slavery in North Africa, when a near-fatal climbing incident caused her to rethink her future. She returned home, gave up her office job in London, and moved to Morocco. She married her own ‘Berber pirate’ and now they split their time between Cornwall and a village in the Anti-Atlas Mountains. She still works, remotely, as Fiction Publishing Director for HarperCollins.

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