Tag: NetGalley

#BookReview Two Women in Rome by Elizabeth Buchan @CorvusBooks @ReadersFirst1

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Two Women in RomeAbout the Book

In the Eternal City, no secret stays hidden forever…

Lottie Archer arrives in Rome newly married and ready for change as she takes up a job as an archivist. When she discovers a valuable fifteenth-century painting, she is drawn to find out more about Nina Lawrence, the woman who left it behind, .

Nina seems to have led a rewarding and useful life, restoring Italian gardens to their full glory following the destruction of World War Two. So why did no one attend her funeral in 1978?

In exploring Nina’s past, Lottie unravels a complicated love story beset by the political turmoil of post-war Italy. And as she edges closer to understanding Nina, and the city draws her deeper into its life, she is brought up against a past which will come to shape her own future.

Format: Hardcover (368 pages)  Publisher: Corvus
Publication date: 3rd June 2021 Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction

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My Review

Nina’s part of the story, revealed through her journal and other papers, features a particularly turbulent time in Italy’s political history – the late 1970s – a period I’ve not seen featured in historical fiction before. Although perhaps it’s my age that makes it difficult for me to see any part of the 1970s as ‘historical’!

Regular followers of my blog will know I’m not a great fan of the narrative device of the secret journal, finding it rather artificial. However, in this case the author manages to make it work chiefly because Lottie’s role as an archivist naturally involves the perusal of previously unexamined papers. Although I still found Nina’s journal remarkably detailed (she obviously had a good memory for conversations), the motivations suggested for her having kept it were believable, albeit unwise given what the reader learns about her.

As Lottie discovers, the devious machinations of government officials and those employed by the Vatican during Nina’s time in Rome continue into the present day. As one character observes, ‘The Vatican is home to the humble, the saintly and the ambitious’. And in a country where family is everything, the power of blood ties to influence events should never be underestimated or ignored.

The similarities between the two women could make them merge into one but the author successfully ensures they exist as characters in their own right. In the case of Nina, it’s her love of botanical history and the hint of intrigue. In the case of Lottie, it’s her passion for documenting and preserving the records of past lives. As Lottie reflects at one point, ‘She had a strange feeling that Nina Lawrence was speaking directly to her’. Having said that, Lottie’s curiosity does seem to have a blind spot closer to home.

As you would expect from a novel set in Rome, food features prominently. Who can blame Lottie for being tempted by the goods displayed in a delicatessen window? ‘The jars of goats’ cheeses in oil, black olives in cream earthenware bowls and salamis hanging from ceiling hooks like stalactites.’ The atmosphere of ‘the Eternal City’ is vividly evoked and I enjoyed learning about the symbolism of Medieval religious art, especially the significance of the colours used, ‘paint ventriloquism at its most dazzling’ as it is so eloquently described.

The author’s choice of Rome as a setting – a city I’ve been fortunate enough to visit – combined with a story that encompasses art history and garden design ticked plenty of boxes for me. Add in the element of mystery and a touch of romance, and you have a book that deserves to have a wide appeal. I really enjoyed it and a return trip to Rome is definitely going on my wishlist.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Atlantic Books and Readers First.

In three words: Emotional, atmospheric, compelling

Try something similar: The Spanish Girl by Jules Hayes

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Elizabeth buchanAbout the Author

Elizabeth Buchan was a fiction editor at Random House before leaving to write full time. Her novels include the prize-winning Consider the Lily, international bestseller Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman and The New Mrs Clifton.

She reviews for the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail, and has chaired the Betty Trask and Desmond Elliot literary prizes. She was a judge for the Whitbread First Novel Award and for the 2014 Costa Novel Award. (Photo credit: Publisher author page)

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#BookReview The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper @HoZ_Books

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The Wolf DenAbout the Book

Sold by her mother. Enslaved in Pompeii’s brothel. Determined to survive. Her name is Amara. Welcome to the Wolf Den…

Amara was once a beloved daughter, until her father’s death plunged her family into penury. Now she is a slave in Pompeii’s infamous brothel, owned by a man she despises. Sharp, clever and resourceful, Amara is forced to hide her talents. For as a she-wolf, her only value lies in the desire she can stir in others.

But Amara’s spirit is far from broken.

By day, she walks the streets with her fellow she-wolves, finding comfort in the laughter and dreams they share. For the streets of Pompeii are alive with opportunity. Out here, even the lowest slave can secure a reversal in fortune. Amara has learnt that everything in this city has its price. But how much is her freedom going to cost her?

Format: Hardcover (464 pages)    Publisher: Head of Zeus
Publication date: 13th May 2021 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

As swiftly becomes clear, the women of the Wolf Den are nothing more than business assets – and perishable ones at that – destined to be discarded once their beauty or sexual allure no longer generates sufficient profit for brothel owner and pimp, Felix.

Set in AD74, the book vivdly conjures up the vibrant atmosphere of daily life in Pompeii – its bustling streets and market places lined with vendors, its bath houses, temples and taverns. On festival days, such as Vinalia, its streets become more crowded than ever as citizens vie for the best view of processions. Other scenes in the book bring to life the excitement of the Games with their gladiatorial combats and beast hunts, or visits to the theatre to see the latest play. Probably best though to steer clear of the honey-glazed dormouse served at dinner or the rigorous beauty regime Amara and her fellow She Wolves have to undergo, including tweezering out the hair under their arms and slathering their legs with with waxy resin then scraping them until they are smooth. Other neat touches in the book are the chapter headings consisting of fragments of graffiti or lines from poems and plays, as well as a role for a real-life figure, Pliny the Elder.

The diverse backgrounds of the She-Wolves whose lives the book follows – Amara, Dido, Victoria, Cressa and Beronice – illustrate the various ways in which women could find themselves slaves: being left an orphan, captured during a raid by slave traders or, most shocking of all, sold off by families who have nothing else left of value to sell. Whatever has brought them to the Wolf Den, they demonstrate a sisterly solidarity finding pleasure where they can in their rare time off from servicing clients. There’s bawdy humour in the book such as when, gathered in their favourite tavern, The Sparrow, Amara observes, “Here we all are… Four penniless slaves, sucking off idiots for bread and olives. What a life”. Of course, what none of them knows is that within a few years the eruption of Mount Vesuvius will change the life of everyone in Pompeii, rich or poor.

In addition to loss of freedom, slavery also brings a loss of identity. On being acquired by Felix, the She Wolves are given new names, can no longer speak in their native tongues and have to converse in Latin instead. Paradoxically, they are often ‘marketed’ to potential customers based on their racial background in order to lend them an air of exoticism. Whether to share their real names with others is one of the few things they can decide for themselves, which is why it’s an act of such significance when Amara decides to do so. And, as she is reminded, “even slaves own their happiness.  Feelings are the only things we do own.”

I doubt any reader can fail to admire Amara’s spirit. As she says, “Either we choose to stay alive or we give up. And if it’s living we choose, then we do whatever it takes.” Resourceful and determined to make the best of her situation in order to one day earn her freedom, Amara’s not afraid to offer Felix suggestions about ways to enhance the income of the Wolf Den or his money-lending business. What she doesn’t realize is just what a cut-throat world he operates in and the consequences that may follow from him taking her advice. As he remarks, “What do you think it takes to survive in Pompeii?”  By the end of the book, Amara has discovered exactly what it takes to survive in Pompeii, forced to make a choice between love and freedom.

The Wolf Den is an illuminating portrait of the lives of women determined to cling to what little control they have over their lives, even if that’s only expressing their disdain for their clients via disparaging graffiti daubed on the walls of their cells. If nothing else, it acts as a record of their existence. As the author notes on her Pompeii blog, the remains of the Lupanar is one of the most visited buildings in Pompeii, a place that visitors remember for “its erotic frescoes and for the small cells with their stone beds, left almost as if the women and their clients might return at any moment”. I can testify to this having been fortunate enough to visit Pompeii some years ago during a holiday in Italy. The Wolf Den would be the perfect preparation for a first or return visit.  

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Head of Zeus via NetGalley.

In three words: Immersive, emotional, assured

Try something similar: The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

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Elodie HarperAbout the Author

Elodie Harper is a journalist and prize winning short story writer. Her story ‘Wild Swimming’ won the 2016 Bazaar of Bad Dreams short story competition, run by The Guardian and Hodder & Stoughton and judged by Stephen King.

She is currently a reporter and presenter at ITV News Anglia, and before that worked as a producer for Channel 4 News. (Photo credit: Twitter profile)

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