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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As war and treachery loom, an ambitious man’s mission threatens to topple two dazzling realms and their formidable rulers: Catherine de Medici, the Dark Queen, and Ariane, the Lady of Faire Isle.

It is 1588, and as the Spanish Armada prepares to besiege England, Paris balances on the brink of revolution. To maintain her grip on the throne and on the dark magic that has become her obsession, Catherine de Medici turns to Louis Xavier, a ruthless corsair who was schooled in the dark arts and has mastered piracy along the Spanish main. But Louis’s basest instincts are held in check by the kindness of Lady Jane Danvers, a British exile whose innate sense of honor is but one facet of her complex and passionate nature.

On Faire Isle, Ariane Cheney, unaware of the escalating threat from the Dark Queen, struggles with the task of protecting the daughters of the earth and their vast store of ancient magical wisdom. Weak and desperate for an advantage, the ailing Catherine makes a devil’s bargain that will cast a shadow over all.

The story changes perspectives between many of the characters, good and bad alike. I sometimes don’t like that style, but actually enjoyed it in the case of this novel. The characters have many dimensions and this is part of what makes this novel so great. It is so often that you read a book with poor development in this area that it was nice to have some realistic characters.

It is also very suspenseful, but not wickedly so. You will feel good after the ending, and appreciate the way the characters grew throughout. Susan Carroll creates an exciting and realistic world with this novel, and I would highly recommend it. It kept me very engaged, but despite reading it quickly, the length felt satisfactory.

One more note; I absolutely loved the female characters in this book. They were very independent and courageous, which was refreshing.

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Beautiful. Seductive. Innocent. Jane Popyncourt was brought to the court as a child to be ward of the king and a companion to his daughters — the princesses Margaret and Mary. With no money of her own, Jane could not hope for a powerful marriage, or perhaps even marriage at all. But as she grows into a lovely young woman, she still receives flattering attention from the virile young men flocking to serve the handsome new king, Henry VIII, who has recently married Catherine of Aragon. Then a dashing French prisoner of war, cousin to the king of France, is brought to London, and Jane finds she cannot help giving some of her heart — and more — to a man she can never marry. But the Tudor court is filled with dangers as well as seductions, and there are mysteries surrounding Jane’s birth that have made her deadly enemies. Can she cultivate her beauty and her amorous wiles to guide her along a perilous path and bring her at last to happiness? Basing her gripping tale on the life of the real Jane Popyncourt, gifted author Kate Emerson brings the Tudor monarchs, their family, and their courtiers to brilliant life in this vibrant new novel.

This first book of a trilogy follows a minor character, Jane Popyncourt, throughout her life and her dealings with both King Henry VII and VIII as well as the rest of the royal clan. The circumstances surrounding her arrival in English court plague Jane as an adult. She soon becomes determined to discover why her mother so abruptly fled France and then mysteriously died shortly after being warmly received in England.

I really enjoyed this one. It was an entertaining glimpse of royal court without the usual bodice ripping that comes with the territory. Emerson did a great job at making Tudor England come alive with all of the political intrigue, dangerous secrets and frivolity that comes with court life. It also gives the reader an outsider’s view of the comings and goings in court. So many historical fiction novels are written from the point of view of the key players (kings, queens and mistresses) that one often forgets the minor characters that make these lavish lives possible. It is these minor characters that often see and interpret factual events from a very different perspective and they are often the ones with the most to lose should things go awry. Emerson’s handle on the various characters both major and minor was wonderfully depicted.

I will definitely be continuing on with these highly entertaining series.

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West Virginia, 1924: Alma works in a hosiery mill where the percussive roar of machinery has far too long muffled the engine that is her heart. When Alma’s husband decides that they should set out to find their fortune in Florida, Alma has little choice but to leave her three children and ailing mother behind. But when Alma is then abandoned at a Miami dock, she is suddenly forced to make her own way in the world. With the help of a gentle giantess and an opium-addicted prostitute, Alma reclaims her children from the orphanage and forges ahead with an altogether new sort of family. As an act of survival, she chooses to run a house of prostitution, a harvest that relies on lust and weakness in men, of which “the world has a generous, unending supply.”The Madam is the story of a house of sin. It is here where Alma’s children will learn everything there is to know about “love and loss, sex and betrayal.” Based on the real life of the author’s grandmother, The Madam is a tale of epic proportions, one that will haunt readers long after its stunning conclusion.

Alma is married and has three children. She is suffocating from her daily life, from her children’s needs, from her work in a loud and dusty hosiery factory in a loud and dusty mining town, and from poverty. When her husband Henry learns that there are abandoned trunks full of valuables for sale at a reasonable price in Florida, they decide to take a trip. That trip is the catalyst for change in almost all aspects of Alma’s life.

I liked this book. Well, more specifically, I liked the writing. It’s just so evocative of time and weather and place and change. Here’s a sample from the beginning of the book:

But Alma can feel things shifting. She knows nothing of atoms. She can’t. She’s a woman in a hosiery factor in Marrowtown, West Virgina. It’s 1924, nearly summer. Atoms are still the matter of physicist’s dreams, dim stars with the skies just beginning to ink. But if she did know of atoms, she would say she could feel the restlessness of them, like schoolchildren at the end of a long spring day. She’s aware of the vibration of everything – not just the factory’s thrumming hive, but in some minute invisibility all around her, inside of herself, a small electric charge.

In addition to excellent writing, the story was interesting. However, about halfway through, it kind of lost me. It took some unexpected turns, and left me a little unsatisfied. The characters are so good. At least, their potential is good. There’s Delphine, the opium-addicted whore. There’s Roxy, the homeless lesbian. There’s Sister Margaret, the good-hearted and practical nun. And there’s Alma herself. But each of these characters, for me, failed to live up to her potential. In fact, I felt like this whole book failed to live up to its potential.

While I can’t wholeheartedly love this book, I am curious as to Baggott’s other, more critically acclaimed works. Perhaps I’ll read one of those someday.

My Gemstone Rating: