Appreciate the ARC for this book from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press and, as always it was great to visit with John and Cornelia. I also liked the vignette's that came back to Cornelia and john's home as a diversion from a complicated plot that often made my head spin. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.
This is the crux of it:"Emperor Justinian's former Lord Chamberlain, John, gets a letter from his longtime comrade, Felix, and, placing loyalty to a friend above his own safety, risks defying imperial edict by leaving his exile in Greece for Rome where Felix is in some kind of trouble"
John, defying Justinian's exile and facing execution ( he has about 3 weeks), is enmeshed in many complicated issues not the least of which is the siege of Rome by the Goths under Totila.He sneaks into Rome, finds his dear friend is deceased and insists on figuring out what has happened.
Everything was wrapped up tidily in a terrific epilogue ( John and Cornelia's walk and discussion back home in Greece) which ended the story with the announcement that John was being recalled by Justinian to resume his imperial service. Exciting presage of what is to come.
An endearing coming-of-age memoir by a young woman who spent thirteen years as Jackie Kennedy’s personal assistant and occasional nanny—and the lessons about life and love she learned from the glamorous first lady.
A delightful book that I almost could not put down, about an era I lived through but with different experiences. Kath came to New York from her beloved Ireland in 1964 spent 13 years in Jackie Kennedy's employ and was almost a part of her family for many more.
It was a story told with respect and great regard for the family's privacy, as well as obvious love for John, Caroline and Jackie Kennedy. It was a great book for me. another Baby Boomer of Irish heritage to read, with echoes of my own family.
I very much recommend this book which was very well done.
Once a Queen: A Story of Elizabeth Woodville (Plantagenet Embers) 5 Stars
I very much enjoyed this book as I have for all of Samatha Wilcoxson's efforts. The author writes with sympathy and a different type of understanding of what it "might have been like".
I am very sure that Elizabeth Woodville was not the terrible person the populace made her out to be, her life was a struggle as was all caught up in this "War of the Roses. She loved Edward surely and loved her children also.
It worked well for me. Recommended for all lovers of this period
Truly I did not want this book to end, as it was absolutely enthralling. I learned a great deal about WWII ( I was born as my father's ship was fighting in the South Pacific), and the different mindsets that went into the European fronts. Susan Wittig Albert is a favorite author whose work is always well researched and exceptionally well written.
I can believe that the intensity of the European theatre of war led to a heightened intensity for Ike as well as Kay. Was it love? I think it probably was, and both of them were vulnerable for different reasons. We will never know if their relationship would have survived in peacetime- maybe not in political peacetime Washington.
Reading it gave me a new perspective of WWII than Americans often get,and I will look for more that are similar. It is sad that Kay did not have a happier life and that Eisenhower succumbed to what was surely political pressure to renounce his feelings. Definitely a very worthwhile reading experience
Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House for this ARC from a favorite author of mine. I have read all of Alys Clare's Hawkenlye and Aelf Fen series with pleasure. This series is a bit different for me, and I seem slow to warm to the period, although the characters have improved since Book #1.
Former ship's physician Gabriel Taverner, and Celia his sister as well as their compatriots in rural Devon, live in a time still reeling from Reformation atrocities. This story exemplifies some of the horrors of that period, although it must be said that the characters themselves are educated and mature.
Vestiges of religious intolerance as well as damaged lives are what this story is about.Gabe and his friend Coroner Theo Davy, attempt to solve a death which becomes one, and then a series of murders. The area "gentry" definitely are not who they seem to be as our characters find out.
There is a hopeful-of-better-times ending which I appreciated. I gave it 3.5 stars rounded to 4 as it was darker than I care for
#FalseAccusations #NetGalley
" There is nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide … Summer of 1991 Nothing unusual ever happens in the sleepy village of Willowgrove.,everyone is shocked to their core when a local woman – Mrs Trevor – is murdered. Her daughter, Rosie confesses ..but Rosie has learning difficulties,and Flora Morgan –trained to help those who can’t represent themselves – is called in to assist. Flora has known Rosie for years.. Rosie wouldn’t hurt a fly. "
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me this ARC by one of my favorite authors, Cora Harrison. It is a new series and perhaps the next one will be more of what I was expecting. I did like the last chapter which showed Flora and Ted, the local solicitor growing quite fond of each other.
Not so sure that the two chapters prior to the last one made great sense to me. Flora's mysterious catastrophic illness leading to a long hospitalization, which ended in a series of hallucinations ,in which the murder investigation was wrapped up. Hmmm. Did Flora solve it or just think she solved it?
It was a unique type of British crime novel, a "cozy" of sorts, and Cora Harrison is a very fine writer and seemed to pull it off pretty well. Try it! 3.5 stars rounded to 4.
Thanks to Chris Nickson, favorite author, NetGalley and Endeavor for this fascinating book about an era in Britain I knew little about. I was reminded that Churchill wrote the book "While England Slept" in 1938 and JFK wrote a rebuttal of it , "Why England Slept" in 1940.
It was clearly a conflicted time in England and especially Leeds with deep economic depression. I will mention that I was not yet born, and my father, who was in battle in the South Pacific at my birth, always stated that he would not go to war again unless the Japanese were landing in Atlantic City. (We were from New Jersey) Dad had performed a heroic act shortly before my birth aboard his ship, which haunted him his whole life.
That was in my mind as I got into this quite excellent book, and I am still exploring after reading it, what was going on in England at that time. I was unaware of the factions existing in the UK at that time, and my husband whose parents were still British Citizens in the 1930s was not either.
Enter "the political tensions between Mosley’s Blackshirts and working-class Communists in 1930's Leeds" which was a city "struggling to shake off the effects of the Great Depression," and our hero WWI Vet DI Urban Raven. The Battle of Holbeck Moor September 1936 followed a week of rising tension, Sir Oswald Mosley against city orders, marched his Blackshirts ( British Union of Fascists) to Holbeck. The expected BUF rally was aborted by about 30,000 Leeds residents, opposing communists among them.
One unpopular, and mostly unmourned man( a means test inspector),was murdered and left in an alley which began our story. Detective Inspector Urban Raven was given the unwelcome task of finding the murderer with many unanswered questions. Was the murder a vengeful act or was it due to the rising political tensions in Leeds ? Which "side" was responsible and why were subsequent murders happening?
Add to that Urban's unraveling marriage, helping his young assistant DC Daniel Noble cope with the ensuing violence, and the conflict of his superiors, and you have a perfect mystery novel.
Suffice to say, it ends well (for most) and I sincerely hope this will become a series by this gifted writer.
