Sharon Reviews: South of Burnt Rocks West of the Moon by G.J. Berger

The author kindly has kindly donated a copy as a book giveaway. Just leave a comment at the bottom of the blog or on our Facebook page.

The winner will be drawn 16th November.

 "After three great wars, Rome has crushed Carthage. Now the undefended riches of Iberia beckon--gold, tin, olives, wine, and healthy young bodies to enslave. Burnt Rocks tells the story of Lavena, last child of the strongest remaining Iberian tribal leader at a time when Rome plunders and loots her land. At times helped only by her father's favorite dog, a special horse, or guided by spirits of the earth and sky, she strives to unite her people and oust the Roman menace. Based on real characters, places, and events, Burnt Rocks recreates that shadowy history--and eternal human nature rubbed raw."

South of Burnt Rocks West of the Moon was a wonderful surprise.  It is one of those thought-provoking books that you don't come across very often; transporting you back in time to the Roman occupation of the Iberian Peninsular. The heroine is a young girl, Lavena, not yet out of her teens, who is trying to fulfill her promise to her parents and save her people, whilst at the same time coming to terms with her father's past.

Having peacefully co-existed with the Iberian natives, the Roman army has a new leader, and new agenda. They are searching for their lost scouts, for native gold, and eager for slaves. The Romans are relentless but Lavena must find a way to fight them with her small band of devoted warriors.

Among the Roman legions is one man, Martius, who searches for the truth about his missing brother but is also drawn to the 'barbari' girl, who appears to him in only glimpses through the trees.

The wonderful prose of the book draws you in,  the language paints its own picture of Roman occupied Spain, respecting the spirits and ancestors of the native tribes and weaving a spell that keeps you enthralled in the book to the very end.

When Lavena has to face a council of elders to give them the news of Rome's aggression and  to plea for help, the picture is vividly described, the words magically entrancing:

"We humbly come to you, to this village, without any men, because the Roman overseer, Piso, left this land, and Rome sent a monster army in his place."

The nobles quieted and leaned in further.

"That new army has more fighters and weapons and its killing madness is greater than I know how to tell you - and it comes this way."...

"They come for all the gold in this land, for the young ones to take back as slaves - and the young women and girls to ruin in a manner none should ever know."

... She told them what she could of the battle for her village, but not about how her mother and those with her died, not about the real end of the she-warriors. She told them how she fled.

G.J. Berger recreates the land of the Iberian Peninsular wonderfully; describing the landscape and its people in such amazing language that you can't help but feel transported there. The contrast with the vast fighting force of the Roman army, the inexorable, unbeatable military machine that moves over the land relentlessly. 

The characters are vivid and have a realism to be marvelled at. They are human, suffering through their fears and doubts, making mistakes and sometimes surviving in spite of themselves. You find yourself urging Lavena on, while feeling suitably disgusted at the mean, lascivious, grasping Roman leaders.

Throughout the book, you can feel the author has a strong sense of direction; he knows where he wants to take you, but knows that the journey is what matters. We follow Lavena from her training as a warrior, through the loss of everything she holds dear, to her final confrontation with the Roman army, knowing everything she has been through, everything that has led her to that moment...

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed reading this novel. It was a surprise from the first words, drawing you in, leading you on Lavena's journey and seeing the country of Spain in its early days; the landscape itself becoming part of the story. The sights, sounds and smells of Roman Spain invade your mind as you read.

It is hard to believe this is a debut novel. The storyline is impressive, the language polished; everything about it comes from a storyteller of immense skill and vision.

It is a book not to be missed.

G. J. lives in San Diego, California, with his favorite grammarian and Argentine tango dance partner, Virginia.

G. J. will soon release "Four Nails", the prequel to "Burnt Rocks". G. J. reviews traditionally published novels for the Historical Novel Society and is working on two other novels. When not reading or writing, G. J. and Virginia like to visit off-beaten paths, particular those trodden by others long ago. Recently, they have traipsed the windy fortress walls above the village of Sagunt, Spain, and Andean villages accessible only by foot.

Website

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Sharon Bennett Connolly has been fascinated by history for over 30 years. She has studied history academically and just for the joy of it – even working as a tour guide at historical sites. She is now having great fun passing on that love of the past to her 10-year-old son. Having received a blog,  History...The Interesting Bits as a present for Christmas 2014 she is also enjoying sharing her obsession of history with her readers.

Darius Reviews: The Shining City

The Shining City (Book One in The al-Andalus Trilogy) by Joan Fallon
Review by Darius Stransky

See below to find how you could win a FREE COPY of 
The Shining City
Drawing July 8, 2015

This drawing has been held and a winner announced at Facebook.

Please see new reviews for more chances!

We have a giveaway with every review!

Let me start by saying what I think historical fiction should bring to the reader:

In historical fiction, setting is the most important literary element. As the author is writing about a particular time in history, the information about the time period must be accurate, authentic, or both. To create accurate and authentic settings in their books, authors must research the time period thoroughly.

The success – or not - of a good story stands or falls within the first one thousand words, where the reader is either hooked and continues reading or (all too often) finds him/her self unable to empathise with the character/setting/voice of the protagonists. Joan Fallon passed this first hurdle with ease and aplomb as we meet Omar (son of Qasim).

Córdoba 987 AD

The old man sat in the shade of the mosque wall. It was still early but already the heat was building with its usual summer ferocity. He loosened his robe slightly and fanned himself with the napkin he had in his hand. Omar was not a rich man but neither was he poor. His djubba was made of the finest white cotton, with long narrow sleeves and over that he wore his djellaba, a hooded cloak of the same material. It was light, cool and comfortable. He was of the generation for whom appearances mattered. Even his cap, crocheted in a green and white design, sat elegantly on his long, white hair.  His beard was trimmed and shaped; once it would have been touched with henna but now it was as white as his hair.

By the simple stratagem of questioning from younger boys we are plunged into the mysterious world of the harem in a long-forgotten city (now in ruins) during the middle of the tenth century.

‘Is it true that you are more than a hundred?’ Ahmad asked.

‘No, it’s not true, although I certainly feel like it some days. Now what is it you want to know?’

‘Have you ever been inside the Khalifa’s harem?’ Musa blurted out.

‘The Khalifa’s harem?’

‘Yes, what’s it like?’ they both chorused.

‘Well ...’

The waiter arrived and set the freshly brewed mint tea on the table.

‘Maybe something sweet for the boys to eat,’ Omar said, looking at the waiter.

‘Churros?’

‘Excellent.’

Omar turned back to his eager audience.

‘So, what were you saying?’

‘The harem.’

‘Oh yes.’

The setting is southern Spain when the Moors ruled with diligence and style. This is immediately and sharply contrasted with the basic villages of Saxony and the brutal treatment of those peoples as we are introduced to Isolde. Ah the lovely Isolde! A heroine formed from basic clay that undergoes such a change as only dreams are made of. We know – through excellent wordplay – that this girl will break hearts as easily as Fatima (Quasim’s wife) breaks an egg when preparing a family meal, and what a dish Isolde turns out to be!

Thus we see Fallon’s tenth century world through the eyes of a young Omar, and Omar only has eyes for Isolde.

Here is the nub of the plot for we know - even in our modern lives - that the course of young love is never smooth. Add to that a ‘forbidden’ love and there you have the nemesis of this excellent plot. The settings are outstanding and the novel shows the extraordinary amount of research that Fallon undertook. If you enjoy detail - lots of detail - then this is the book for you.

All books need a sub-plot and in The Shining City such a stratagem is there for you as Qasim has a secret which … I’ll leave you, dear reader, to delve into that interesting thread.

Life is full of consequences isn’t it? At the outset we meet a family, and the consequences for this family are fraught with danger and intrigue. I think you will enjoy the journey. Yet consider this - the vibrant ‘shining city’ of the title once blossomed and grew before reaching its nadir and falling into ruin. Such an event often happens in the lives of men and women as we charter a path through our brief sojourn on the earth. Love blossoms and we think it will last for ever but events conspire and we are left with only sadness and memories of what might have been. Yet we make our mark and a shadow of our life lives on just like the outlines of a once great city, The Shining City.

Author Joan Fallon has so graciously offered a FREE COPY of The Shining City for one lucky winner. 
(Paperback or choice of e-book.)

To get your name in the drawing, simply comment below OR at this review's associated Facebook thread, located here. 

About the author: 

Joan Fallon began her career as a writer after moving to Spain at the start of the new millennium. Her first book was a social history inspired by the women in her new home, but since then Ms. Fallon has gone on to write various novels, many of them with a connection to Spain. 

You can find out more about the author and her books by going to her website. The Shining City is also available at Amazon and Amazon UK. 

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Darius Stransky is the author of The King's Jew, a historical fiction novel set in thirteenth century England and Europe. He wrote for many years for national UK Media groups and is now a full-time novelist. You can find more at his blog and Facebook page.

Note: This post has been updated to change the date of the drawing to July 8.

Anna Reviews: M is for Memories

M is for Memories by Joan Fallon
Review by Anna Belfrage

See below to learn how you can win a FREE COPY of 
M is for Memories
Drawing June 6

When Nancy Miller is talked into writing her memoirs, she doesn’t quite realise what she has taken on. What she had hoped would be a controlled process, ensuring certain doors remained firmly closed, quickly spirals into a revisiting of a past she would prefer to forget. That’s the thing with memories – they spring unbid into your head at the most inopportune times…

For most of her life, Nancy has been a successful artist, her water colours selling for impressive amounts. Since the 1960s she’s been living in Marbella, and when the story opens she is pushing eighty, a somewhat forgetful old biddy who suspects her son is planning to lock her away in a home for the elderly.

Nancy is not an easy person to like – nor does she go very much out of her way to be liked, downright rude as she is to the hired help, to her son – even to Ana, the young woman hired to help her with her memoirs. As the novel progresses, however, Nancy grows on you. That tough exterior hides a vulnerable interior, a woman forever shaped by her experiences in her twenties.

It is difficult to become old, to become invisible. Where once Nancy drew the eye whenever she ventured outside, now she considers whether she should buy a beautiful dog to attract interest and comments – but due to age and infirmity, a dog is not an option. With each day, Nancy retires further and further into a self-imposed exile, her contacts with the outer world reduced to her son’s visits and the hours spent with Ana.

Nancy views Ana with a combination of affection and distrust. The young woman is bright and courteous, she never talks down to Nancy, never seems to notice when Nancy’s lipstick is awry or her clothes stained with spilled wine. Ana, it seems, accepts Nancy as she is. Except, of course, for her enervating tendency to return, over and over, to the subject of Nancy’s husband, Nick.

Nick, according to Nancy, is dead. Very, very dead. Nick, according to Ana, is not necessarily dead, as there is no death certificate. As far as Ana can make out, Nick and Nancy were living together in England until 1964, when suddenly Nancy showed up in Marbella with her three-year-old son in tow. All very mysterious – and the more evasive Nancy becomes, the more determined Ana becomes to find out the truth.

Ms. Fallon does an excellent job of weaving the present day narrative with retrospective passages from Nancy’s past. As a young, gifted female artist she falls in love with Nick, a young handsome man with aspirations to be an artist but without the talent required. What begins as a love affair, a mutual attraction, morphs into a controlling relationship in which Nick isolates Nancy from her family and friends, restricting her social interaction to him. Her success just serves to underline his artistic failures, and with each passing day Nancy’s life shrinks further and further, her every waking moment dedicated to ensuring Nick doesn’t get angry. Because if he does, well, then there’s hell to pay – and the one who pays is Nancy.

As a woman, it is impossible to not be affected by Nancy’s story. In a language devoid of hyperbole or sentimentalism, Ms. Fallon describes Nancy’s transformation from an independent woman with dreams to a battered victim. Even worse, Nancy is fully aware of her transformation, hates what Nick has reduced her to, but she has nowhere to go; her single attempt to flee her abuser backfiring badly.

In the present, Nancy’s relationship with her son Martin is a complicated thing, with him trying to protect and care for a woman who views every kindness as an attempt to steal away her independence. But she loves her son – adores him, even – and the sentiment is reciprocated, despite constant squabbles and misunderstandings. Yet again, I must congratulate Ms. Fallon on her descriptive writing – by using both Nancy’s and Martin’s points of view, she allows the reader some insight into how they think and feel.

The tour de force, however, lies in how Ms. Fallon presents Nancy. Intelligent and observant, this old woman has moments of absolute clarity – but just as many of deranged ramblings. Nancy forgets things, falls asleep at all moments, refuses the food the hired help prepares, vacillates between genuine concern for her pregnant daughter-in-law and huge irritation with the woman for monopolising Martin’s time. She is irritable and mean, suspicious of everyone, dryly amusing and more than aware that her life is fast approaching its end. Thing is, Nancy considers it her right to live her life as she pleases right up to the bitter end – she has had to fight hard for her independence, and has no intention of relinquishing it to anyone, not again, not after Nick.

As Ana progresses with her work, she realises a key to the events of the past lies in Nancy’s painting. From bright depictions in the early stages of her career, they become dark and brooding around the time of Martin’s birth, but some years later on they become lighter in tone, an endless sequence of paintings that has one thing in common – water. Herein, Ana suspects, lies Nancy’s secret. But Nancy won’t tell, and Martin doesn’t want to know, so Ana concludes that some secrets should be left undisturbed.

Ms. Fallon is an excellent writer. Her dialogue rings true throughout, her characters grow into tangible beings, and her descriptions bring the various setting to life, from the utterly depressing flat Nancy and Nick share in their youth, to the view outside Nancy’s window. Ana’s efforts to unravel Nancy’s secrets create a building tension throughout the book, a bit like a musical symphony with a final crescendo. Most of all, Ms. Fallon gives us a thought-provoking and unsentimental description of a woman struggling with the onset of old age while still fully convinced she is still the same person she was when she took that momentous decision back in 1964.

There were some minor irritants in the book, such as Nancy’s grandsons having brown eyes and then suddenly they were blue, or that the eldest boy became the younger. Beauty spots, no more, but unnecessary blemishes in a book as excellent as this. Ms. Fallon has written a little gem, combining multiple narrative threads into a book it was quite impossible to put down. Impresionante, Señora Fallon – más que impresionante!

The author has so generously offered a FREE COPY of M is for Memories to gift one lucky reader. 

To claim your chance to win, simply comment below or at this review's Facebook thread, located right here!

About the author: 

Joan Fallon began her career as a writer after moving to Spain at the start of the new millennium. Her first book was a social history inspired by the women in her new home, but since then Ms. Fallon has gone on to write various novels, many of them with a connection to Spain. 

You can find out more about Joan and her books by going to her website. M is for Memories is available at Amazon and Amazon UK. 

*********

Anna Belfrage is the author of eight published books, all part of The Graham Saga. Set in the 17th century, the books tell the story of Matthew Graham and his time-travelling wife, Alex Lind. Anna can be found on Amazon, Twitter, Facebook and at her website. 

Note: This post has been updated to include the date of the drawing.

Freedom's Pilgrim: A Tudor Odyssey by Edward James

Freedom's Pilgrim: A Tudor Odyssey by Edward James
Reviewed by Rob Bayliss

See below for giveaway information!

Looking back on his life, the old man pondered. “I resolved to remember as much as I could… Scraps of memory floated up in my mind like gristle in my mug. None explained anything.”

Leaving Devon in 1568, 13-year-old Miles Philips joins Captain Hawkins' third slaving expedition from Africa to the West Indies. The English ships are ambushed at San Juan in Mexico by the Spanish. Overloaded and short of supplies for the voyage home, Captain Hawkins maroons a number of English sailors on the Mexican coast; among their numbers is young Miles Philips. He needs to find his way home, but how?

Some of the marooned embark overland to the north, seeking the fishing grounds of Cape Cod, whilst others looked for mercy from the Spanish. I had previously read of this event so when I saw this book and its description I knew I would want to read it. From the beginning Edward James immerses the reader in the world of Miles Philips and you eagerly follow in his footsteps as his life story unfolds.

For a time the historical Miles Philips was somewhat of a celebrity. His tale was first written in The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation by Richard Hakluyt in 1589, although at the time relations between Catholic Spain and Elizabethan England were drifting towards open warfare and the tale of Miles Philips became a propaganda piece. It is interesting to note that the sufferings he described (as well as those of other English sailors trickling home after their abandonment by Hawkins) were enough to threaten Sir Walter Raleigh’s attempt at establishing a colony in the New World. Mariners in West Country ports – the usual source of deckhands – were less willing to embark on such a venture and risk the same Spanish brutality. Richard Hakluyt painted Miles as the true Englishman, loyal to his queen, his country, and steadfast in his Protestant faith. Edward James portrays a more true representation perhaps, that of a pragmatic individual, pursued by the Inquisition and then initially enduring distrust from his fellow countrymen.

Freedom’s Pilgrim is told as an imagined grandfather relating his life story to his grandchildren. Miles, the narrator, is laying his soul bare, his tale told honestly with a healthy portion of cynicism. There are things he would have done differently, deeds done of which he is ashamed (he feels guilt about being a slaver as he is made a slave himself), but he is putting the record straight. Of course this has been written (purposely) from a 21st century  viewpoint, so some might question its style. But if this book had been written using solely a 17th century mindset and language, could the modern reader empathise with the protagonist?

I very much enjoyed Freedom’s Pilgrim, although it doesn’t paint John Hawkins or his cousin Sir Francis Drake -one of my childhood heroes- in a particularly flattering light. In Freedom's Pilgrim the undeclared war by English privateers on Spain and her empire comes under question. The narrator treads a neutral path, but living over half his life in the Spanish world, it is as much his home as England.  Having the same red hair and Devonshire accent as El Draque proves both a help and a hindrance to Miles. It marks him out but also saves his life on numerous occasions as his captors feel he has value. Eventually of course he does succeed in returning to England, but even then his safety is not ensured. His journey (his Odyssey) home has taken him 17 years and in accomplishing it he has experienced hardship, enslavement, the Inquistion, battle and romance, but he has also lived a life to its fullest. Miles Philips is an everyman living in extraordinary times, his practicality and will in ensuring his and his families' survival is a joy to read of.

It is perhaps  expected that authors of historical fiction are influenced as much by modern events as the periods they immerse themselves within, and so it is with Freedom's Pilgrim and the hateful and ruthless Spanish Inquistion, depicted here, mirroring the religious lunacy which fractures our modern world. 

Our central character in Freedom's Pilgrim is plagued by the Inquistion as a Protestant, a pagan heretic, a lover of a Converso, and then in the company of Moriscos. The Inquistion was used as a tool to establish Catholic orthodoxy and monarchal hegemony in the aftermath of the Reconquista. It later went to the Americas to cement the Spanish hold onto its colonies. The Inquistion became a byword for intrangient, state sponsored terror, and yet the tighter it sought to grasp, the weaker its grip ultimately became as common humanity and scientific advance asked more questions than its superstition could answer. Through the lens of history we see that the Renaissance was in full swing and the Enlightenment and Age of Reason was around the corner. Now perhaps, over four hundred years later, we see it  more in the light of the famous Monty Python sketch, something to be quite rightly ridiculed.

Once more humanity is facing the demands of an intolerant and ignorant brand of religion but remember, one day they too, like the Inquistion, will be history. Read this book and you'll experience the reality faced by our forebears; read it and be thankful and hopeful.

                                                                

Would you like to win a FREE copy of Freedom's Pilgrim? The author has so kindly offered a copy of this novel for one lucky winner. To get your name in the draw:

Comment below

OR

Comment at this post's associated Facebook thread; click here.

Edward James is rather like his hero, the Tudor chronicler Richard Hakluyt; neither of them went to sea and both were fascinated by ships and seafaring from a young age. Edward blames it on growing up beside the Thames in the days when the big ships still came up river to the Royal Docks.
After a career as a lecturer and civil servant upon retirement he went back to history as a Review Editor for the Historical Novel Society and to writing about ships and the sea in the Age of Discovery. You can find more about him, including a selection of his short stories and interviews on his blog https://busywords.wordpress.com/.

Freedom's Pilgrim: A Tudor Odyssey is also available from Amazon.

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Rob Bayliss is a reviewer at The Review and is currently writing his Flint & Steel, Fire & Shadow fantasy series. Book 1 The Sun Shard is available at Amazon.