Fiction Genres Recent Picks

November 2010 - Historical fiction

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Fall of giants / Ken Follett.
"This novel follows five families through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for votes for women, begins in 1911, with the Coronation Day of King George V. The Williams, a Welsh coal-mining family, are linked by romance and enmity to the Fitzherberts, aristocratic coal-mine owners. Lady Maud Fitzherbert falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German Embassy in London. Their destiny is entangled with that of an ambitious young aide to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and to two orphaned Russian brothers, whose plans to immigrate to America fall foul of war, conscription and revolution." (Amazon UK)

The empress of Ice Cream / by Anthony Capella.
"France 1670, Carlo Demirco's mastery of the extraordinary new art of creating ice creams has brought him wealth, women, and a position at the court of Louis XIV. Carlo is sent to London, along with Louise de Keroualle, an impoverished lady-in-waiting. The most powerful ministers of two countries have decided that Louise is to be the new mistress of King Charles II, and will stop at nothing to make sure she submits. But Carlo too is fascinated by the enigmatic Frenchwoman. With the king's every pleasure the subject of plots and betrayals, and Carlo's only weapons his exquisite ice creams, soon he must decide, where do his loyalties lie?" (Amazon UK)

The typist / Michael Knight.
"When Francis Vancleave ('Van') joins the army in 1944, he expects his term of service to pass uneventfully. His singular talent, typing ninety-five words a minute, keeps him off the battlefield and in General MacArthur's busy Tokyo headquarters, where his days are filled with paperwork in triplicate and letters of dictation. But little does Van know that the first year of the occupation will prove far more volatile for him than for the U.S. Army. When he's bunked with a troubled combat veteran cum-black marketer and recruited to babysit MacArthur's eight-year-old son, Van is suddenly tangled in the complex and risky personal lives of his compatriots. As he brushes shoulders with panpan girls and Communists on the streets of Tokyo, Van struggles to uphold his convictions in the face of unexpected conflict." (Amazon UK)

The captain's wife / Kirsten McKenzie.
"1762. Mary is desperate to escape her embittered mother. So when her marriage to a prosperous sea captain is arranged, she embraces the damp salt air, cramped conditions and bad food. She sets sail on the Isabella, away from the land of her childhood towards unseen places and an unknown future. With ruthless pirates patrolling British waters and ports full of outcasts with unspoken pasts, Mary learns quickly that loyalties are always shifting and people are rarely as they first seem." (Amazon UK)

The invisible bridge / Julie Orringer.
"In September 1937 Andras, a young Hungarian student, leaves his family and heads for Paris on a scholarship to study architecture. Before he sets off he is given a mysterious letter to post on arrival in Paris. It is addressed to a Hungarian woman and no reason is given why it cannot be posted from Budapest. When Andras arrives in Paris he becomes vitally aware of his poverty, particularly when he enters the home of a richer Hungarian émigré Klara Morgenstern. She is a young widowed woman, and he finds himself falling in love with her. As they begin to meet regularly it is clear that Klara is hiding a terrifying secret, related to the mysterious letter that Andras posted on arrival, which means she is trapped in Paris as war looms closer." (Amazon UK)

Errol, Fidel and the Cuban rebel girls : a novel / Boyd Anderson.
"Cuba, 1959. In the final year of his life, Errol Flynn found time for one last adventure. The dashing star of many Hollywood films had always longed to be a real hero. Fidel Castro was the genuine article, and now he was looking for fame. What each man had the other wanted and, as revolution raged around them, the stage was set for an explosive encounter." (Book cover)

Empire of silver / Conn Iggulden.
"Genghis Khan is dead, but his legend and his legacy live on. His son Ogedai has built a white city on a great plain and made a capital for the new nation. Now the armies have gathered to see which of Genghis' sons has the strength to be khan. The Mongol empire has been at peace for two years, but whoever survives will face the formidable might of their great enemy, China's Song dynasty. The great leader Tsubodai sweeps into the west: through Russia, over the Carpathian Mountains and into Hungary. The Templar knights have been broken and there is no king or army to stop him reaching France. But at the moment of Tsubodai's greatest triumph, as his furthest scouts reach the northern mountains of Italy, Tsubodai must make a decision that will change the course of history forever." (Amazon UK)

Utopian man / Lisa Lang.
"It is the 1880's and Marvellous Melbourne is a lavish and raucous city where anything could happen. Eccentric entrepreneur Edward William Cole is building a sprawling Cole's Book Arcade and filling it with whatever amuses him or supports his favourite causes. He advertises for a wife and to the whole town's shock and titillation marries and the Arcade grows into a monumental success. Until the 1890's when an economic depression hits Melbourne and Edward hard. Grief, from the death of child, corruption and a beautiful, unscrupulous widow all threaten to derail his singular vision." (Book cover)

Daniel / Henning Mankell ; translated by Steven T Murray.
"In 1875 Hans Bengler, a young entomologist, leaves Sweden for the expedition of a lifetime to the Kalahari Desert where he hopes to find a previously undiscovered insect to name after himself and advance his career. Instead, after his long and arduous journey through the sands, he finds a small boy, whose tribe has been decimated by European raiders. Accustomed to collecting specimens, Bengler decides to adopt the boy and names him Daniel. He takes the traumatised child home with him to Sweden and plans to 'civilise' him. But Daniel cannot slip into an alien culture, and a new life in the cold and snow, so easily. He yearns desperately for the desert and his real family, who visit him in his dreams. Daniel's isolation and increasing desperation eventually lead to a chilling tragedy." (Amazon UK)

Bereft / Chris Womersley.
"It is 1919. The Great War has ended, but the Spanish flu epidemic is raging across Australia. Schools are closed, state borders are guarded by armed men, and train travel is severely restricted. In the NSW town of Flint, Quinn Walker returns to the home he fled ten years earlier when he was accused of an unspeakable crime. Aware that he father and uncle would surely hang him, Quinn hides in the hills surrounding Flint. There he meets the orphan Sadie Fox, a mysterious young girl who seems to know more about the crime than she should." (Book cover)

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