Tag: NetGalley

#BookReview Traitor in the Ice by K. J. Maitland @HeadlineFiction

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Traitor in the IceAbout the Book

Winter, 1607. A man is struck down in the grounds of Battle Abbey, Sussex. Before dawn breaks, he is dead.

Home to the Montagues, Battle has caught the paranoid eye of King James. The Catholic household is rumoured to shelter those loyal to the Pope, disguising them as servants within the abbey walls. And the last man sent to expose them was silenced before his report could reach London.

Daniel Pursglove is summoned to infiltrate Battle and find proof of treachery. He soon discovers that nearly everyone at the abbey has something to hide – for deeds far more dangerous than religious dissent. But one lone figure he senses only in the shadows, carefully concealed from the world. Could the notorious traitor Spero Pettingar finally be close at hand?

As more bodies are unearthed, Daniel determines to catch the culprit. But how do you unmask a killer when nobody is who they seem?

Format: Hardback (432 pages)        Publisher: Headline
Publication date: 31st March 2022 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

Traitor in the Ice is the second book in the author’s historical crime series featuring intelligencer Daniel Pursglove, the follow-up to The Drowned City.

In Traitor in the Ice we learn a little more about Daniel but much of his past still remains a mystery. In fact, some of it is a mystery even to himself. ‘I didn’t even know the year of my birth, much less the name my father had given me, if indeed any man had ever owned to being my father.’ What we do know is that he’s quick-thinking, handy with a lockpick but often, for reasons connected with his past, has to restrain his own violent instincts. ‘Killing a man was easy; forcing himself to lower the dagger was not’. In addition, his previous actions have given others a hold over him meaning he has little choice but to accept dangerous tasks such as his current mission.  And there is one particular person whose hatred for Daniel is very personal in nature. ‘He [Daniel] always comes back. A cockroach, a rat and a stinking malignant will always return, until you cut them into pieces and destroy them’. I must say I do like the way the author is drip-feeding us nuggets of information about Daniel’s past.

The discovery of the Gunpowder Plot and the ruthless despatch of the conspirators has only increased the sense of paranoia around the Jacobean court and in the country. Sent to try to uncover the fate of a previous intelligencer, by a combination of luck and quick-thinking Daniel successfully inveigles his way into the household of Battle Abbey. Once there he undertakes a lot of surreptitious exploration of the Abbey, which is conveniently situated close to the coast. He is surprised to find evidence of Catholic worship taking place in plain sight, making him convinced Viscountess Montague must have a protector in high places.

Talking of people in high places, surely no historical novel set in the period is complete without an appearance by one of the Cecil family; in this case it’s Robert Cecil. I actually felt some sympathy for him having to deal with the increasingly bizarre behaviour of the petulant King James I whose current obsession is the mass planting of mulberry trees. And although not central to the plot, I enjoyed the occasional glimpses into life in the Jacobean court. There is one fantastic scene depicting a particularly lavish banquet at which servers bear trays of ‘confections and cakes, roasted birds and small beasts re-dressed in their own feathers and fur, or artfully stitched together by the cooks to create piglets with cocks’ wings and heads, or salmon with rabbit legs and scut tails’. (By the way, if the word ‘sewer’ conjures up thoughts of needlework or even drains, you may be interested to read the author’s article in the April 2022 edition of Historia magazine in which she describes what it must have been like to dine at Battle Abbey in Tudor times.)  However, underneath all the outward display of excess and pleasure-seeking, there flow dark undercurrents of intrigue and political powerplay.

Traitor in the Ice is full of impeccably researched historical detail, everything from food and drink to social and religious customs. I thoroughly recommend reading the Author’s Note which reveals how many of the characters and events in the book are situated in historical fact, such as the Great Frost of 1607 which forms the backdrop to the book and inspires its title. I also loved that the glossary goes beyond brief definitions, for example explaining the role that kingfishers played in a Tudor and Stuart household or revealing more information about Sussex’s rival to the Loch Ness Monster.

Of course, there’s also a mystery to be solved which turns out to be a whole lot more complicated than first imagined involving, amongst other things, priest holes, ‘leopards’ and buried treasure. I thoroughly enjoyed Traitor in the Ice. As well as featuring some fascinating characters, such as the mysterious Cimex and Viscountess Montague’s ward, Katheryne (described as a combination of ‘virgin, nymph and witch’), it has a great sense of time and place. Plus the author leaves plenty of deliciously enticing loose ends to be picked up in future books (I hope).

My thanks to Rachel at Rachel Quin Marketing for arranging my digital review copy of Traitor in the Ice via NetGalley.

In three words: Intriguing, suspenseful, immersive

Try something similar: The Poison Bed by E. C. Fremantle

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K J Maitland Karen MaitlandAbout the Author

Karen Maitland is an historical novelist, lecturer and teacher of Creative Writing, with over twenty books to her name. She grew up in Malta, which inspired her passion for history, and travelled and worked all over the world before settling in the United Kingdom. She has a doctorate in psycholinguistics, and now lives on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon

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#BlogTour #BookReview Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu @RandomTTours

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Peach Blossom Spring BT PosterWelcome to today’s stop on the blog your for Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the tour and to Headline for my digital review copy via NetGalley. Do check out the posts by my tour buddies for today, bookstagrammers Daisy at DaisReads and Seher at The Girl Who Reads.

Peach Blossom SpringAbout the Book

With every misfortune there is a blessing and within every blessing, the seeds of misfortune, and so it goes, until the end of time.

It is 1938 in China and, as a young wife, Meilin’s future is bright. But with the Japanese army approaching, Meilin and her four year old son, Renshu, are forced to flee their home. Relying on little but their wits and a beautifully illustrated hand scroll, filled with ancient fables that offer solace and wisdom, they must travel through a ravaged country, seeking refuge.

Years later, Renshu has settled in America as Henry Dao. Though his daughter is desperate to understand her heritage, he refuses to talk about his childhood. How can he keep his family safe in this new land when the weight of his history threatens to drag them down? Yet how can Lily learn who she is if she can never know her family’s story?

Spanning continents and generations, Peach Blossom Spring is a bold and moving look at the history of modern China, told through the story of one family. It’s about the power of our past, the hope for a better future, and the haunting question: What would it mean to finally be home?

Format: Hardcover (400 pages)        Publisher: Wildfire
Publication date: 17th March 2022  Genre: Historical Fiction

Find Peach Blossom Spring on Goodreads

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My Review

Peach Blossom Spring follows three generations of a Chinese family through six decades of social, geographical and cultural change. It focuses on two members of the Dao family – Meilin, wife of the younger son who fears she may now be a widow, and her son, Renshu.

Opening in 1938, Meilin and Renshu, along with Meilin’s brother-in-law and his family, are forced to flee their home in Changsa following the Japanese invasion of China. It’s the first in a long and dangerous journey that sees them move from place to place in search of safety. The scenes of panic as families attempt to escape bombing raids, take cover in crowded shelters and make long journeys, often on foot with only the possessions they can carry, are described in a way that really brings to life the horror and desperation. It is impossible to read some of the scenes without it bringing to mind the current situation in Ukraine. Throughout it all, Meilin’s one objective is to protect her son and to try to shield him from the full horror of what is going on around him. One way she does this is by telling him traditional Chinese stories using the beautiful illustrated scroll which is her most treasured possession.  As well as a distraction, these stories constitute life lessons and offer ways of looking at the challenges one may face.

Meilin is a wonderful character who demonstrates fortitude and a determination to survive despite all the obstacles placed in her way. At some points, she is forced to make impossible choices and place herself in vulnerable situations, always prioritising the needs of her son over her own. Eventually she finds the means to get them to relative safety in Taiwan where she does everything she can to ensure a secure future for Renshu.  Meilin’s story was the most powerful and engaging part of the book for me and I was rather sorry when the focus moved from her to Renshu.

Having said that, Renshu’s experiences when he travels to the United States to study is a fascinating exploration of what it is like to leave one culture for another and of the immigrant experience. He makes a deliberate decision to shed his former identity and create a new one – Dao Renshu becomes Henry Dao – and also to consign his past to the mental equivalent of a locked box, consciously splitting his life into ‘Renshu’s world’ and ‘Henry’s world’.  Moreover, Henry fears any association with the politics of China might threaten his US citizenship or have consequences for his family in Taiwan.

In the final section of the book, the focus moves to Henry’s daughter, Lily. She longs to know more about her Chinese heritage, feeling as if she’s incomplete without this. ‘Sometimes, Lily feels that there’s something she’s supposed to know that she doesn’t, or something she’s supposed to be that she isn’t.’ There’s a touching scene in which she and her classmates are asked to construct their family trees and Lily feels ashamed that one side of her tree is blank. Lily cannot understand her father’s reluctance to allow her to learn Chinese – which she longs to do – not least so she can converse with her grandmother. She’s also perturbed by her father’s reticence about the years before he came to America.  What she doesn’t know is that Henry fears he has nothing to offer Lily in the way of heritage. ‘What tradition could he pass down? A broken country? Suspicion and betrayal? Miles and miles of misery?’

When Henry finally unburdens himself to Lily, she writes down everything he tells her in much the same way as the author recalls writing down her own father’s experiences when he finally chose to share them with her, memories he had kept hidden for a long, long time. For Lily, learning about her father’s past finally fills in those gaps in her family history, allowing her to embrace both sides of her cultural identity.

In her note to readers the author explains that although the Dao family are an imagined family their experiences reflect the actual experiences of families who lived through the Sino-Japanese and Chinese Civil wars.  As she notes, ‘Here is one of the great gifts of fiction: from many threads of human experience, we can weave a tapestry of narrative.’ In Peach Blossom Spring, the author has certainly woven an enthralling tapestry that provides an insight into China’s rich culture and takes the reader on an emotional journey through a turbulent period of Chinese history, one sadly reminiscent of the times we are living through.

In three words: Sweeping, dramatic, moving

Try something similar: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

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Melissa Fu Author PicAbout the Author

Melissa Fu grew up in Northern New Mexico and now lives near Cambridge, UK, with her husband and children. With academic backgrounds in physics and English, she has worked in education as a teacher, curriculum developer, and consultant.

Melissa was the regional winner of the Words and Women 2016 Prose Competition and was a 2017 Apprentice with the London-based Word Factory. Her work appears in several publications including The Lonely Crowd, International Literature Showcase, Bare Fiction, Wasafiri Online, and The Willowherb Review. In 2019, her debut poetry pamphlet, Falling Outside Eden, was published by the Hedgehog Poetry Press. In 2018/2019, Melissa received an Arts Council England, Developing Your Creative Practice grant and was the David TK Wong Fellow at the University of East Anglia. Peach Blossom Spring is her first novel.

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