Tag: NetGalley

#BookReview The Physician’s Daughter by Martha Conway

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The Physician's DaughterAbout the Book

It is 1865, the American Civil War has just ended, and 18-year old Vita Tenney is determined to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a country doctor like her father. But when her father tells her she must get married instead, Vita explores every means of escape – and finds one in the person of war veteran Jacob Culhane.

Damaged by what he’s seen in battle and with all his family gone, Jacob is seeking investors for a fledgling business. Then he meets Vita – and together they hatch a plan that should satisfy both their desires. Months later, Vita seemingly has everything she ever wanted. But alone in a big city and haunted by the mistakes of her past, she wonders if the life she always thought she wanted was too good to be true. When love starts to compete with ambition, what will come out on top?

Format: Hardback (480 pages)      Publisher: Zaffre
Publication date: 3rd March 2022 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

I was first introduced to Martha Conway’s writing when I read The Floating Theatre back in 2017. There are echoes of the theme of that book, a young woman having to make her own way in the world, in The Physician’s Daughter.  A neat touch is the inclusion at the beginning of each chapter of quotations from books and periodicals dating from the period. Some of these are laugh out loud funny for their outrageously outdated views on the role of women and the ‘trials’ of marriage.

I confess I found the book very slow to begin within.  For me the most compelling part was Jacob’s story. I felt his experiences during the Civil War and its aftermath allowed the author to explore the impact of war not just on the individuals involved but on their loved ones. For Jacob, the memories of what he saw and endured as a prisoner of war have taken a heavy psychological and emotional toll. ‘He woke up shaking and sweating, his heart thundering in his chest.’ (I’ll confess the existence of the Confederate prison of war camp at Andersonville and the atrocities that went on there was new to me.) Although the project he and his friend, killed during the war, planned to pursue together provides him with a degree of focus, he is resigned to leading a rather solitary life… until he meets Vita.

I admired Vita’s determination to follow her dream in spite of the opposition of her father and the limitations placed on women’s independence by society. The spiteful remarks of her sister, Amelia, don’t help either. At times I became frustrated that Vita was so easily swayed by the comments of others, often just snatches of overheard conversations. Having arrived at an arrangement that might offer the freedom she seeks, her misinterpretation of a chance remark results in her making a series of rash decisions. There were a number of occasions where I wanted to say ‘Vita, don’t do that!’ or ‘You’ve got it all wrong’.

Vita’s family has also been affected by the war. Her father is consumed by thoughts of what might have been and, ironically, Vita’s ambition to become a doctor, following in his own footsteps, only makes his anguish worse. Meanwhile Vita’s mother seeks other ways to dull the pain of loss whilst being more supportive of Vita’s desire to make something more of her life than just marriage and motherhood.

Vita definitely grows as a character as the book progresses. In particular, she is very open to acknowledging her strengths and weaknesses, recognising that there is more to being a doctor than memorising conditions and medication; listening – really listening – to your patients is important too.  This really comes home to her in some dramatic scenes towards the end of the book.

The outcome I’d hoped for eventually does come about and the book concludes on a hopeful note. I was left with the sense that although Vita’s pursuit of her ambition is going to be an uphill task with the right support she will get there.

I received an advance review copy courtesy of Zaffre via NetGalley.

In three words: Engaging, well-researched, detailed

Try something similar: The Unquiet Heart by Kaite Welsh

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MarthaConwayAbout the Author

Martha Conway is the author of several novels including The Underground River, which was a New York Times Book Editor’s Choice (entitled The Floating Theatre in the U.K.). Her novel Thieving Forest won the North American Book Award for Best Historical Fiction.

Born in Ohio and one of seven sisters, she now makes her home in California.

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#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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