Fiction Genres Recent Picks

May 2009 - Historical fiction

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Tyrant : storm of arrows by Christian Cameron. (2009)
"Kineas, together with his mercenary force and their Scythian allies have defeated a mighty Macedonian army at the Ford of the River God, and his adopted city of Olbia is now free once more. But not for long as far to the east, Alexander is threatening to crush the Scythian hordes once and for all. Srayanka the Scythian warrior-princess who spurned a king's love to be at Kineas's side, is pledged to take her tribe east to help stop Alexander and Kineas knows he has no choice but to follow, even if it means embracing the violent death in battle that he has seen prefigured in countless dreams." (Amazon)

Cold blood by James Fleming. (2009)
"Although the Russian Revolution is breaking out all around him Charlie Doig is determind to find and kill Prokhor Glebov, the Bolshevik who raped and tortured his beautiful wife Elizaveta. Certain that Glebov will sooner or later turn up at Lenin's side, he and Kobi, his Mongolian henchman, make their way to St Petersburg. There, amidst the chaos of the Revolution, Charlie discovers that Glebov has been put in charge of the political re-education of the Tsar and his family in Ekaterinburg. Having captured an armoured train, Charlie and the ragtag private army he has recruited fight their way towards Siberia. Near Kazan, he hears rumours that the Tsar's gold reserves are in the city and that Glebov is also after them. He determines that he'll avenge Elizaveta and lift the gold all at once." (Amazon)

Twelve by Jasper Kent. (2008)
"The Voordalak, is a creature of legend; the tales of which have terrified Russian children for generations. But for Captain Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov, a child of more enlightened times, it is a legend that has long been forgotten. Besides, in the autumn of 1812, he faces a more tangible enemy, the Grande Armée of Napoleon Bonaparte. City after city has fallen to the advancing French, and it now seems that only a miracle will keep them from Moscow itself. In desperation, Aleksei and his comrades enlist the help of the Oprichniki a group of twelve mercenaries from the furthest reaches of Christian Europe, who claim that they can turn the tide of the war. It seems an idle boast, but the Russians soon discover that the Oprichniki are indeed quite capable of fulfilling their promise and much more." (Book Cover)

The Street Philosopher by Matthew Plampin. (2009)
"Ambitious young journalist Thomas Kitson arrives at the battlefields of the Crimea as the London Courier's man on the ground. It is a dangerous place, full of the worst horrors of war but Kitson is determined to make his mark. Under the tutelage of his hard-bitten Irish boss Cracknell, and assisted by artist Robert Styles, he sets about exposing the incompetence of the army generals. Two years later, as Sebastopol burns, Thomas returns to England under mysterious circumstances. Desperate to forget the atrocities of the Crimea, he takes a job as a 'street philosopher', a society writer reporting on the gossip of the day. But on the eve of the great Art Treasures Exhibition, in Manchester as it prepares to welcome Queen Victoria, Thomas's past returns to haunt him in the most horrifying way." (Amazon)

The collector of worlds by Iliya Troyanov ; translated by William Hobson. (c2009)
"This is the story of the extraordinary life of infamous explorer Sir Richard Burton. He was the first westerner to make the hajj to Mecca, he also discovered the source of the Nile with Speke. His translation of the "Arabian Nights" is one of the great moments in the encounter between Islam and the West, although it scandalised his contemporaries with its raw eroticism. He was a great, although at times, controversial mediator between cultures." (Amazon)

Palace circle by Rebecca Dean. (2009)
"American Heiress Delia Chandler leaves Virginia to marry Viscount Ivor Conisborough, completely unprepared for her new place within the royal circle. Soon she is holding dinner parties for Winston Churchill and Wallis Simpson and attending glittering balls with Prince Edward. But beneath the dazzling facade, Delia quickly discovers a world steeped in scandal. It seems everyone has a secret, including her husband. When Ivor is sent to Cairo and appointed advisor to King Fuad, Delia must follow with her two daughters. But in the exotic city of Cairo their world as they know it will be shattered forever." (Amazon)

People of the thunder by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear. (2009)
"Set in the 1300s largely in what is now Alabama and Mississippi, this complex novel tracks three wanderer’s quest to create peace in violent times. The Sky Hand people control their territory from Split Sky City, ruled by scheming chief Flying Hawk and his ruthless nephew, war chief Smoke Shield. While they plot to suppress the enslaved Albaamaha people and to conquer their neighbours, three people pursue a mission to restore peace. Old White is a prophet and the most dangerous man alive; Trader is a man with blood on his hands and a stunning secret; Two Petals is a shaman woman who says and does everything backwards. Together this curious trio must bring down Flying Hawk and Smoke Shield." (Amazon)

Settlement : a novel by Christoph Hein ; translated by Philip Boehm. (c2008)
"Still recovering from World War II, provincial Guldenberg is flooded by German refugees arrives from the east. Bernhard Haber's family is among them and life is very hard. The upright town turns hostile toward the newcomers. After a string of mysterious losses, from the killing of the boy's dog to the unexplained death of his father, Bernhard is set on extracting revenge. This novel tells Bernhard's story across nearly fifty years, chronicling his remarkable rise from victimized outsider to Guldenberg's most prominent burgher. As the socialist state gives way to reunification and capitalism of the 1990's, this novel charts the transformation not just of one man but of an entire nation struggling to leave behind the past and claim a home." (Amazon)

Vlad : the last confession by C.C. Humphreys. (2009)
"Dracula, the one they called 'The Devil's Son' was tyrant and lawgiver, crusader and mass slaughterer, torturer and hero, lover and murderer. His tale is told by those who knew him best. The only woman he ever loved and whom he has to sacrifice, his closest comrade and traitor, and his priest, betraying the secrets of the confessional to reveal the mind of the man history would forever remember as Tepes, 'The Impaler'. His extraordinary life burns with passion, taking him from his years as hostage to the Turks, through torture, battle, triumph and betrayal, ultimately to a last crusade, there perhaps, beneath the twin banners of the Dragon and the Cross, to find redemption for his innumerable sins." (Amazon)

The kindly ones : a novel by Jonathan Littell ; translated by Charlotte Mandell. (2009)
"Max is an intellectual steeped in philosophy, literature, and classical music. He is also a cold-blooded assassin and the consummate bureaucrat. Through the eyes of this cultivated yet monstrous man, we experience in disturbingly precise detail the horrors of the Second World War and the Nazi genocide of the Jews. During the period from June 1941 through April 1945, Max is posted to Poland, the Ukraine, and the Caucasus; he is present at the Battle of Stalingrad and at Auschwitz; and he lives through the chaos of the final days of the Nazi regime in Berlin. Although Max is a totally imagined character, his world is peopled by real historical figures, such as Eichmann, Himmler, Göring, Speer, Heyrich, Höss, and Hitler himself." (Amazon)

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