From the award-winning author of A Rose for the Crown, Daughter of York, and The King’s Grace comes another masterful historical novel—the story of Cecily of York, mother of two kings and the heroine of one of history’s greatest love stories. Anne Easter Smith’s novels are beloved by readers for their ability “to grab you, sweep you along with the story, and make you fall in love with the characters.” * In Cecily Neville, duchess of York and ancestor of every English monarch to the present day, she has found her most engrossing character yet.

History remembers Cecily of York standing on the steps of the Market Cross at Ludlow, facing an attacking army while holding the hands of her two young sons. Queen by Right reveals how she came to step into her destiny, beginning with her marriage to Richard, duke of York, whom she meets when she is nine and he is thirteen. Raised together in her father’s household, they become a true love match and together face personal tragedies, pivotal events of history, and deadly political intrigue. All of England knows that Richard has a clear claim to the throne, and when King Henry VI becomes unfit to rule, Cecily must put aside her hopes and fears and help her husband decide what is right for their family and their country. Queen by Right marks Anne Easter Smith’s greatest achievement, a book that every fan of sweeping, exquisitely detailed historical fiction will devour.

I have long been fascinated with the War of the Roses. So after reading the King’s Grace I leapt head first into reading Queen by Right written by Anne Easter Smith and what a journey it was. We follow the story from the very beginning with Cecily Neville and her husband Richard Duke of York. Arguably the War of the Roses started when Edward the Black Prince of Wales died before taking the crown his Father died but a year after leaving Young Richard II as King with his Uncle John of Gaunt as regent but I digress.

Anne Easter Smith takes us on a journey from the time that the young couple meets when Richard Duke of York becomes the ward of Cecily’s Father. While the couple is told they will marry as was the custom at the time they fell deeply in love with one another and their love story is one of the ages. I positively loved following along on each turn in their life that we are guided through by Anne Easter Smith’s masterful writing. From a surprising time in France where Cecily is to come in contact with Joan of Arc before she is burned at the stake to their time in Ireland.

If you know your history you know their love ends in a tragic way but it leads to somewhat more positive things. This time period is when the War of the Roses truly did reach its height even when there was a strong King on the throne nothing was guaranteed. Any fan of historical fiction will enjoy this book immensely. It is packed full of facts so that you do not feel as if you are reading a fiction so much as living events that happened. Queen by right is simply a masterful piece of work by Anne Easter Smith.

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While the mothers in Siberia wait for their soldier sons to return from the war in the west in 1945, the eight year old Eduard secretly jumps on board the trains heading in the opposite direction, heading west, towards Leningrad. Placed in a Siberian orphanage as a child because his parents were arrested as public enemies there is only one thing he wants: to go back home to Leningrad and to find his mother again. It is not only his desperate courage and his youthful agility that ensure his survival, it is also his artistic talent. With his agile fingers the boy is able to bend wire in the shape of profiles of Lenin and Stalin, as if in silhouette. He uses them to cheer up the invalid war veterans on the train stations returning from the front, who then give him a piece of bread, a bowl of soup and who, in a spirit of comradeship, warn him of the railway police and the secret service henchmen wanting to send the runaway back to the orphanage.

Eduard spends more than six years on the run, experiencing close encounters with post-war Russia where life and fate have become synonyms. He encounters other stowaways, professional beggars, soldiers returning from the war and wartime profiteers, the mothers of soldiers and war invalids, Chinese from the Ural, Cossacks dealing in hashish, Bashkir Estonians, Russian penal colony escapees and, time and again, orphanage directors. In order to survive the winter he often registered himself voluntarily in the next orphanage, each one always a little closer to the West, running away again before the servants of the Stalinist state are able to send him back to Siberia.

The memoirs of an old man who, as a boy, learned to find his way between extortionate state control and marauding banditry, the two poles that characterize Russia to this day. A story about the awakening of artistic talent under highly unusual Russian circumstances.

I was given the opportunity to read Christened with Crosses by Eduard Kochergin for a blog tour and I must say I feel honored to have been selected to read this book. This story is so gripping and emotional you cannot help but to be drawn into it. There were times I swore I could feel the nip of the Siberian Winter at my feet.


One of the main reasons you feel such a connection to this story is that it is Eduard Kochergin’s story told how he lived it. Spending part of his life in an orphanage in Siberia you can imagine that he had some rough times. Once he escapes from the orphanage he flees to St. Petersburg in hopes to find his Mother.


I have always enjoyed reading about Russian History and this time of upheaval is one that I have studied. However despite my knowledge of things I was left somewhat unprepared for this story of someone who actually lived the hardness that war torn times in Russia offered. I don’t want to give to many secrets away from Christened with Crosses because you really need to read it yourself to appreciate the story. I found it made me look back and rethink some of the things in my life that I complain about and realize perhaps they really are not that bad.


I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in history and living.

 

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The bestselling author of A Rose for the Crown and Daughter of York takes a young woman that history noticed only once and sets her on a quest for the truth about the murder of two boys and a man who claims to be king.

All that history knows of Grace Plantagenet is that she was an illegitimate daughter of Edward IV and one of two attendants aboard the funeral barge of his widowed queen. Thus, she was half sister of the famous young princes, who — when this story begins in 1485 — had been housed in the Tower by their uncle, Richard III, and are presumed dead.

But in the 1490s, a young man appears at the courts of Europe claiming to be Richard, duke of York, the younger of the boys, and seeking to claim his rightful throne from England’s first Tudor king, Henry VII. But is this man who he says he is? Or is he Perkin Warbeck, a puppet of Margaret of York, duchess of Burgundy, who is determined to regain the crown for her York family? Grace Plantagenet finds herself in the midst of one of English history’s greatest mysteries. If she can discover the fate of the princes and the true identity of Perkin Warbeck, perhaps she will find her own place in her family.

Grace was a real person, but only mentioned once, in passing, in one official record. Therefore, this is not the sort of historical fiction where it’s based on the template of a well known historical figure’s documented life. However, i read the whole almost 600 page thing, so you know it had to be good. This book tries to tackle the mystery of the princes in the tower, through the point of view of their half (illegitimate) sister, Grace. I’m always hearing about henry viii, so it was interesting to be reading about his parents and grandparents for a change. the writing style was engaging, and well done enough so that i flipped in and out of liking the main character; she wasn’t one dimensional. I’m about to tackle another super long book by Smith, hopefully it’s as good. The worst thing about reading this is lugging a heavy enormous book with you everywhere. If you can get over that, and the fact that not everything happened exactly as written (but really, that’s how most historical fiction is) you can learn a lot about the time period and the politics that were going on at the time.

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Acclaimed and beloved historical novelist Norah Lofts brings to life the danger, romance, and intrigue of the Tudor court that forever altered the course of English history.

The king first noticed Anne Boleyn as a heartbroken sixteen-year-old, sullen and beautiful after a thwarted romance with the son of the Earl of Northumberland. “All eyes and hair,” a courtier had said disparagingly of her, but when King Henry VIII fell for young Anne, nothing could keep him from what he desired. Against common sense and the urgings of his most trusted advisers, Henry defied all, blindly following his passion for Anne, using the power he held over the bodies and souls of all who reside in his realm and beyond. Anne’s ascent to the throne elevates her from lady-in-waiting to the highest position a woman could attain, but her life spirals out of control when Henry is driven to desperate acts of betrayal and violence. The consequences of Anne’s rise to power and eventual demise are felt well beyond the inner circle of the court. Loyalties, to church, to queen, to country, are tested, and — in the wake of the king’s volatile passions — can be an unpredictable matter of life and death.

First published in 1963 and adored by readers for generations, Lofts’ lush and moving portrayal of the ambitious and doomed Anne Boleyn will continue to reign as a classic retelling of this epic chapter of history vividly brought to life.

The book is very well done, despite the fact it has a slightly dated feel to it – the kind of stale whiff you get from historical fiction written in the early to mid twentieth century. Still, Lofts did her research, showing off the Tudor court and characters with the precession and brilliance of a master jeweler. However, she did so much research that she likes to show it off by quoting either a primary or secondary source at the beginning of each chapter.

Yes, it’s good to know she followed the facts rather than just making it up and as she went along but a lot of the facts she quotes would have been great scenes themselves – she should have developed the quoted text into scenes rather than just having the facts quoted act as scene bridges as she jumps from one year to the next.

The characters were great. They weren’t quite believable – they all just, just fell short of true complexity, and their motivations are often painted in broad strokes that makes all their actions combined hard to follow. She makes excellent progress in showing a deep psychological portrait of her main characters, but doesn’t quite pull it off – though I am happy to admit she comes close.

She does amazing work putting Henry on the couch and doing a Freudian analysis of his actions, yet she still has him and a lot of other characters bluntly spelling out actions and motivations with the subtly of an anvil. Meanwhile, the character of Anne Boleyn is not quite real sounding. Her maid keeps dosing her with poppy juice to help her sleep, and she drifts through the whole book as if drugged. All of the known characteristic – the humor, wit, and temper – are told rather than shown, making her a very unbelievable Anne Boleyn. However, for the past 500 years people have talked about how Anne Boleyn had something about her that was indescribable, so it’s understandable that yet another writer was unable to pin down just what is was about this woman that caused so much to happen.

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Nineteenth century London produced a fine flowering of eccentrics and individualists. Chief among them was Harriette Wilson, whose patrons included most of the distinguished men of the day, from the Duke of Wellington to Lord Byron. She held court in a box at the opera, attended by statesmen, poets, national heroes, aristocrats, members of the beau monde, and students who hoped to be immortalised by her glance. She wrote these memoirs in middle age, when she had fallen out of favour. She advised her former lovers that for 200 she would edit them out. ‘Publish and be damned!’ retorted the Duke of Wellington. The result is an elegant, zestful, unrepentant memoir, which offers intimately detailed portraits of the Regency demimonde. First published in 1957.

It’s very entertaining. It is impossible not to like Wilson. At times, she is funny. She writes, “I have one advantage over other bad females writers and prosing ladies, which is, that I do not think myself agreeable”. Sometimes she is very modern in her comments on how society sees women, “She is a bad woman the moment she has committed fornication, be she generous, charitable, just, clever, domestic, affectionate, and ever ready to sacrifice her own good to serve and benefit those she loves, still her rank in society is with the lowest hired prostitute”.

Still, at times, one wonders if Wilson isn’t playing a final game with her readers, giving them what they want instead of the truth.

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Cursed with the ability to hear the thoughts of others, beautiful Angelica Shelton Belanov feels most comfortable when hidden away in the library of her father’s English country estate. Now family duty requires that she make an appearance at a glittering gala, mingling with the cream of London society in hopes of finding a suitable husband. Assailed by the unwanted “chatter” of many minds, Angelica finds relief in the company of a handsome aristocratic stranger who remains, refreshingly, an enigma.

But Prince Alexander is not like other men. The powerful leader of an Eastern clan of immortals, he has come to London to hunt down a rogue vampire who threatens the survival of his dwindling kind. Angelica can sense that Alexander is dangerous, a mystery to be unraveled at her own peril. Yet desire sears them both–she, the bewitching telepath, and he, the fearless leader who must learn to trust his heart. And unrestrained passion has strict demands that could cost them both their lives…and their souls.

The chemistry between the lead characters, Alexander & Angelica will leave you suffocating for air. The fire, the intensity, & the devotion for each other is much to be desired for alone. After reading each moment they had shared, my pulse went into hyper-drive. I thought about this book every moment of the day, unable to STOP reading it. After I read the last word, I clung onto it for dear life, as it was my ultimate lover. It will lead you to the edge of your seat, wanting & yearning for more. If you are searching for a book w/an immense source of passion, action, suspense, & explicate detail; you will not be disappointed with this book. I would HIGHLY recommend it above all the other books I’ve read & wrote reviews about thus far. It has topped my list of favorites & will probably remain for a significant amount of time

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From critically acclaimed historical novelist Diane Haeger comes The Ruby Ring, an unforgettable story of love, loss, and immortal genius . . .

Rome, 1520. The Eternal City is in mourning. Raphael Sanzio, beloved painter and national hero, has died suddenly at the height of his fame. His body lies in state at the splendid marble Pantheon. At the nearby convent of Sant’Apollonia, a young woman comes to the Mother Superior, seeking refuge. She is Margherita Luti, a baker’s daughter from a humble neighborhood on the Tiber, now an outcast from Roman society, persecuted by powerful enemies within the Vatican. Margherita was Raphael’s beloved and appeared as the Madonna in many of his paintings. Theirs was a love for the ages. But now that Raphael is gone, the convent is her only hope of finding an honest and peaceful life.

The Mother Superior agrees to admit Margherita to their order. But first, she must give up the ruby ring she wears on her left hand, the ring she had worn in Raphael’s scandalous nude “engagement portrait.” The ring has a storied past, and it must be returned to the Church or Margherita will be cast out into the streets. Behind the quiet walls of the convent, Margherita makes her decision . . . and remembers her life with Raphael—and the love and torment—embodied in that one precious jewel.

In The Ruby Ring, Diane Haeger brings to life a love affair so passionate that it remains undimmed by time. Set in the sumptuous world of the Italian Renaissance, it’s the story of the clergymen, artists, rakes, and noblemen who made Raphael and Margherita’s world the most dynamic and decadent era in European history

“The Ruby Ring” is a love story about Raphael the famous Renaissance Painter that falls for a peasant woman. He has many outstanding commissions all over Rome that he is running behind in and Michelangelo and his protégé Sebastiano are constantly on his heels with envy and jealousy. He is in need of a muse he finds that in Margherita. At first she declines the offer to be his model because it is well known that Raphael is a philanderer and more times than not seduces his models she has a higher image of herself (her mother’s influence) and does not want THAT for herself. Of course as in all romance novels the chase for Raphael is more intense because she will not agree to become his model. After he repeatedly offers money, comes to her father’s bakery sends her a (respectful) piece of art — so that she is able to understand he just wants her to model for him ONLY she agrees. Raphael is engaged to a Cardinals niece so there is a lot of political pressure on him constantly not only to complete his commissions but to honor his betrothal. Time goes by he becomes obsessed with her, they fall in love he desperately tries to get out of the betrothal, his enemies are against them at every turn. This book didn’t have a lot of detail about their surroundings as you normally find in a romance novel much of the book took place at 4 locations his studio, his home, the bakery and a number of places that he was working on the art. Leonardo Da Vinci makes a few appearance and for the most part Michelangelo is in Florence not in Rome where this book takes place. Raphael becomes so consumed with Margherita that he seems never to pick up the pace when it comes to his commissions I found that frustrating because it was obvious these men didn’t want him with her and kept reminding him that she was a distraction to him, I would have thought that he would have made sure to complete his jobs in a timely manner since at every turn they were constantly reminding him of his DUTIES to THEM. Granted you understand that for Raphael SHE became his duty and all else was irrelevant to him….

Diane H. is unquestionably one of the most gifted writers of Historical Romance Fiction out there. Her books are so involving that after you read the pages you still fill like there is more to learn of the individuals in the story. I should know because after reading this book I did some research of my own on the web regarding Raphael as well as Margherita to see what she really looked like in all of the paintings. The one thing that I realize in reading nearly most of Diane books is that very rarely is there a Happy Ending… but since largely what she writes is actual Historical events the reader has to understand that’s the way it is, no matter how much “filler” she puts in it she always brings it back to the factual ending. I also recommend if you like this type of tale “The Girl with the pearl Earring” (a fictitious story inspired by a real work of art) or even perhaps the movie “The Kings Whore” starring Timothy Dalton and Valarie Golino (the story of a woman that unwillingly gains the attraction of a King and becomes the love of his life – everyone including family and her husband telling her she MUST become his mistress).

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United by blood, divided by time, will three orphan train siblings ever find one another again?

Orphaned in a tenement fire, three Irish-immigrant children are sent to Missouri to be adopted. Despite eight-year-old Maelle’s desperate attempts to keep her siblings together, each child is taken by a different family. Yet Maelle vows that she will never stop searching for her brother and sister… and that they will be together one day in the future. Seventeen years later, Maelle is still searching. But the years have washed away her hope… and her memories. What are Mattie and Molly doing now? Where has life taken them? Will she ever see her brother and sister again?

This is the first book I’ve read by Kim Vogel Sawyer, and I’m very impressed. My Heart Remembers was an easy, enjoyable read. I would gladly read another book by Kim Vogel Sawyer.

The basic story is Maelle, the oldest child in her family, is asked by her Da to take care of her brother and sister during the fire that burnt down their apartment. Her Da went back in to gather some more belongings and bring his wife out with him, but they never made it. Maelle is alone in New York with her brother Matthew and infant sister, Molly when a policeman finds them and takes them to an orphanage. The lady in charge of the orphange places them on an orphan train bound to Missouri. Here the three children are taken by three different families. Seventeen years later, Maelle is still searching for Matthew and Molly. She heads back to Missouri in the spring of 1903 hoping that she will find them.

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A sweeping novel set in war-torn 1928 China, with a star-crossed love story at its center.

In a city full of thieves and Communists, danger and death, spirited young Lydia Ivanova has lived a hard life. Always looking over her shoulder, the sixteen-year-old must steal to feed herself and her mother, Valentina, who numbered among the Russian elite until Bolsheviks murdered most of them, including her husband. As exiles, Lydia and Valentina have learned to survive in a foreign land.

Often, Lydia steals away to meet with the handsome young freedom fighter Chang An Lo. But they face danger: Chiang Kai Shek’s troops are headed toward Junchow to kill Reds like Chang, who has in his possession the jewels of a tsarina, meant as a gift for the despot’s wife. The young pair’s all-consuming love can only bring shame and peril upon them, from both sides. Those in power will do anything to quell it. But Lydia and Chang are powerless to end it.

What an excellent book! I loved the characters, the stories, the connections. This takes place pre-revolutionary China. I found reading about culture, about the politics and traditions of the time very interesting (however I’m sure there are inaccuracies of course). I found it especially amusing how the English and Russians referred to the Chinese as “barbarians,” and the Chinese referred to all foreigners as the same. And even more so, I could understand how each drew their opinions . It was sad, too, how everyone was after their own agenda and rarely truly cared about anyone or anything beyond their opinion or them self. It did make the main characters stand out more.

Lydia is 16 years old, and acts like a strong-headed 16 year old; making bad decisions and doing crazy things. There were many times when I was thinking, “what in the world are you doing?!??! Are you crazy?” She and Chang make a unique, but beautiful union. I like how they are drawn to each other despite their cultural and social differences.

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East London, 1888 – a city apart. A place of shadow and light where thieves, whores, and dreamers mingle, where children play in the cobbled streets by day and a killer stalks at night, where bright hopes meet the darkest truths. Here, by the whispering waters of the Thames, Fiona Finnegan, a worker in a tea factory, hopes to own a shop one day, together with her lifelong love, Joe Bristow, a costermonger’s son. With nothing but their faith in each other to spur them on, Fiona and Joe struggle, save, and sacrifice to achieve their dreams.

But Fiona’s life is shattered when the actions of a dark and brutal man take from her nearly everything-and everyone-she holds dear. Fearing her own death, she is forced to flee London for New York. There, her indomitable spirit propels her rise from a modest West Side shop-front to the top of Manhattan’s tea trade. But Fiona’s old ghosts do not rest quietly, and to silence them, she must venture back to the London of her childhood, where a deadly confrontation with her past becomes the key to her future.

Countess of Monte-Christo…
Revenge is sweet. And the good girl does not finish last!
The magic of the story is in the telling. This long long long book finishes too soon, that’s a good test; and it stays with you for a while, another good test; and characters you know like you met them, some you love to love, and some you love to hate, another good test; and the setting, Dickens!
I read this book right after Rita died, and, well, it made me love, and miss, her even more: I wanted to give it to her, she would have loved it so much.
It is so well written, you gloss over the bits that fit less well, details really, which you don’t see while you’re on the roller-coaster; Ms Donelly plays your emotions like a harp (keep a box of Kleenex handy) and you stop resisting her after a few chapters (and you learn so many things, like who invented the teabag…?).
Enjoy the ride!

 

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