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Book Review – Ravenglass by Carolyn Kirby @novelcarolyn @northodoxpress

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About the Book

In 18th century Whitehaven, Kit Ravenglass grows up in a house of secrets. A shameful mystery surrounds his mother’s death, and his formidable, newly rich father is gambling everything on shipping ventures. Kit takes solace in his beloved sister Fliss, and her sumptuous silks, although he knows better than to reveal his delight in feminine fashion. As the family’s debts mount, Kit’s father turns to the transatlantic slave trade – a ruthless and bloody traffic to which more than a fortune might be lost.

At a private Naval Academy, Kit is jolted into unruly boyhood and scandal before his first taste of life at sea. Adventures will see him turn fugitive and begin living as ‘Stella,’ before being swept into the heady violence of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s rebellion. Driven by love, revenge and a desire to live truly and freely, Kit must find a way to survive these turbulent times – and to unravel the tragic secrets of the Ravenglass family.

Format: Paperback (448 pages) Publisher: Northodox Press
Publication date: 25th September 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

It was only as I was planning my trip tomorrow to see Carolyn Kirby interview fellow author Andrew Taylor at Oxford Literary Festival (event details here) that I realised I’d never published my review of this wonderful book, one of my favourite historical novels of last year.

From his earliest years, Kit has felt uncomfortable in male attire and found pleasure in wearing his sister’s clothing. He even invents a female persona for himself, whom he christens Stella. It is something he knows will inevitably bring him into conflict with his father. ‘For more than anything, my father wanted me to be manly. And so it was my fate to always let him down.’

The opening section of the book is set in Whitehaven, a port on the north-west coast of England. It’s a ‘wind blasted’ town where the presence of the sea constantly assails the senses. There’s the ‘the crack of sailcloth, the creaking of hulls and the disquieting growls of the shipmen’, the taste of salt on the tongue and the odour of the harbour, a ‘rumbling, pulsing shit-slopping belly’. The town’s fortunes rest on trade, with ships coming and going carrying coal and other cargo. Sadly it’s also reliant on the increasingly lucrative slave trade with Kit’s father being a leading share-holder of the Resolve, a slave ship.

The author immerses the reader in daily life in 18th century Whitehaven, introducing us to archaic industries such as the milling of snuff. I particularly loved the description of the Lammas Day fair where activities include boxing bouts, races and a cockerel eating competition (yes, really). ‘Prentices and servant-girls, all in their best holland coats and camlet petticoats, crowd around peddlers of trinket-toys and ribbands.‘ Unfortunately events take a darker turn with Kit an unwilling witness to an example of everything he abhors about being a man.

Determined to purge his son of his ‘unmanly’ tendencies, Kit is sent to sea by his father where he experiences the rigours of life on board a ship where, on the lower decks, ‘nothing is odourless’, including the old seaman he is expected to share a hammock with. Completely against his nature, Kit finds himself having to demonstrate ‘manliness’, whether that’s uttering oaths, entertaining the crew with bawdy, bloodthirsty songs or climbing the mast in a storm. It typifies Kit’s struggle between what is expected of him as a man and what he instinctively feels to be his true identity.

Following a series of tragic events, Kit takes to the road dressed as a woman, resurrecting Stella. What follows is a series of adventures that have a picaresque quality, involving encounters with a multitude of colourful characters. For example, millinery shop owner Mrs McMemeny, complete with green velvet eye patch. Kit’s travels take him to Carlisle, Edinburgh and beyond, often buffeted by external events such as the Jacobite Revolution. And sometimes Kit discovers he’s got people completely wrong.

As well as being a thrilling adventure story, Ravenglass explores themes of sexuality and identity. Events often turn on items of clothing: a sulphur-yellow quilted petticoat, an embroidered silk waistcoat. And a person’s true sex is often revealed through bodily functions: menstruation or lack of menstruation, the way you pass urine, the inconvenient growth of hair.

A small niggle is that I would have liked more detail about Kit’s later years but aside from that I loved everything about Ravenglass. It’s a historical romp with a wonderfully engaging central character and authentic detail. A great example of accomplished storytelling.

In three words: Sweeping, immersive, spirited
Try something similar: The Romantic by William Boyd

About the Author

Carolyn Kirby’s debut novel The Conviction of Cora Burns was chosen for awards by the Historical Writers Association and by the Specsavers/Crimefest debut crime fiction prize. Carolyn’s second novel When We Fall was one of The Times’ top 20 historical novels of 2020. Originally from the northeast of England, Carolyn studied history at St Hilda’s College, Oxford and she is now on the organising committee for the annual St Hilda’s Crime Fiction Weekend.

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When We Fall

Book Review – The Pretender by Jo Harkin

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About the Book

The year is 1483 and England is in peril. The much-despised Richard III is not long for the throne, and the man who will become Henry VII stands poised to snatch the crown for himself. But for twelve-year-old John Collan, living in a remote village with his widowed father, these matters seem far away.

But history has other plans for John.

Stolen from his family, exiled – first to Oxford, then to Burgundy, and then Ireland – and apprenticed to a series of unscrupulous political operators, he finds himself groomed for power; not as John Collan, but as Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick – and rightful heir to the throne.

Far from home at the Irish court, preparing for a war that will see him become king or die trying, John has just his wits – and the slippery counsel of his host’s daughter, the unconventional Joan – to navigate the choppy waters ahead.

Format: Hardcover (464 pages) Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication date: 24th April 2025 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

The Pretender was one of the five books shortlisted for the Winston Graham Historical Prize 2026 and is also longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.

The book is set during the latter years of the Wars of the Roses, the conflict between two rival branches of the House of Plantagenet – York and Lanaster – over succession to the English throne. The Pretender is a book for those who like their historical fiction full of authentic detail about events, people and places, but not so much so that it feels like a history lesson.

What the author does exceptionally well is to marry historical authenticity with storytelling that is full of wit and humanity. This is chiefly because we view events through the eyes of a young man, John Collan, who finds himself unexpectedly at the centre of things in this chaotic period. Suddenly he’s told he’s not the person he thought he was, the son of a farmer, but the son of the Duke of Clarence exchanged at birth for his own safety, with a claim to the throne. Having said that some things now make sense to him, such as the fact he looks completely different from his two brothers, or rather the boys he thought were his brothers. Understandable then he should wonder, ‘Wouldn’t I know who I was, if I was. . . wouldn’t I feel it? Like an Earl?’

John – sorry Lambert, sorry Edward, Duke of Warwick – is someone the reader will find it easy to empathise with as he comes to terms with how his life has been completely upended. His new persona means facing challenges much more perilous than his previous battles with the farmyard goat. And it means a new life, a new family, new surroundings and, for a lot of the time, perpetual bewilderment.

After a brief period in Oxford, which ends in the most dramatic way, John finds himself crossing the Channel to the sumptuous palace of his aunt Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy. Suddenly he’s expected to act like an Earl but he hasn’t the first idea how to do that, and there aren’t even any books in the library to help him. If you’ve ever gone to a formal dinner and felt intimidated by all the cutlery and glasses, you’ll completely sympathise with John’s confusion about dining etiquette. Or that he’s now expected to do nothing for himself, is never alone but constantly waited on by attendants. It’s perhaps not surprising then that the garderobe becomes his sanctuary. Because his existence must be kept secret, he is confined to the interior of the palace, the layout of which he never really masters.

Then he’s off once again, this time to Ireland to the home of Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare. Kildare is a brilliantly imagined character – loud, lusty, hot-tempered, able to go from the rough and tumble of play with his children one minute to ordering the death of a man the next. Then there’s his daughter Joan. John is dazzled by her beauty but constantly awed by her ruthlessness and ability to manipulate people to achieve her own ends. Often it results in their ends.

If the book does have a fault it’s that it gets bogged down, especially in the middle third of the book. Perhaps that’s understandable given the frequency with which allegiances change, revolts arise and are quashed, all of which must be explained. And sometimes information is relayed by characters to other characters, rather than witnessed directly although this does provide the opportunity to introduce humour, with official announcements often greeted with suspicion or ridicule by those listening.

‘Oyez, oyez, oyez! Regard, townsfolk, this letter from the king! Be warned, you divers seditious and evil persons in London and elsewhere within our realm, who enforce themselves daily to sow seeds of noise and dislander against our person, to abuse the multitude of our subjects and avert their minds from us, some by setting up bills, some by spreading false rumours, some by messages and sending forth of lies, some by bold and presumptuous open speech and communication. The king did not kill his wife!

Townsfolk: Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he?

Apart from a few reservations, I really enjoyed The Pretender. I loved the humour, the colourful characters, the idiosyncratic mix of archaic and modern day language. And, of course, I loved John. I’d be ‘astonied’ if you don’t too.

‘What is he: a peasant, an earl, a bastard?’ Inspired by the true story of Lambert Simnel, The Pretender immerses the reader in the life of a young man who finds himself a pawn in a game that he never wanted to play a part in.

In three words: Witty, authentic, engaging
Try something similar: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

About the Author

Jo Harkin studied literature at university. She daydreamed her way through various jobs in her twenties before becoming a full-time writer. Her debut novel Tell Me an Ending was a New York Times book of the year.

She lives in Berkshire, England. (Photo: Gooreads author page)