So many books . . .

Lord John Grey, a minor character from Gabaldon’s Outlander novels, stars in this collection of short stories and novellas and is provided with various mysteries to solve. As usual, the stories are enjoyable, although at some point the thought occurred that an oddly disproportionate number of the people LJ encounters, both women and men, seem to want him. In the third story, I was worried that Ms. Gabaldon intended to kill him off. I’ve grown fond of Lord John, but I can’t help but wonder if he’ll ever find true happiness in love.

Rating: 4/5 Further reading: Gabaldon's homepage Diana Gabaldon (wiki)

Accepting that she doesn’t have any better prospects at the age of 34, Frances Scott enters into a marriage of convenience with a Bristol trader. She is soon after presented with a shipload of African slaves and instructed to school them in English and domestic duties so that they may be sold as servants to wealthy English households. With time, Frances begins to doubt the common assertion of the time that the slaves are animals and cannot be educated. One in particular, Mehuru, challenges everything she has been taught about the slave trade.

Gregory’s prose is once again breathtaking and meticulous. Unfortunately, the story itself was lacking in some areas. Frances is not much of a heroine; she isn’t particularly likable and never seems to have an opinion of her own. I wasn’t convinced of Frances’ and Mehuru’s love, having observed them seemingly going from distaste to affection with nothing in between.

Mehuru was by far the most interesting character, and I regret that we are not allowed to get to know him better. The most entertaining parts of the story involved his acclimatization to English society. Amusing are the scenes in which he is demonstrated comparing inferior aspects of English culture to those of his homeland (and the reader is forced to agree), and his descriptions of how ghastly the pale English people look. My favorite quote: “She is a white woman,” he said, trying to reassure himself, discounting his insight. “They all look sick to me.”

Rating: 4/5 Further reading: Gregory's homepage Philippa Gregory (wiki)

I eagerly look forward to any of Diana Gabaldon’s new works as her prose is so vivid and meticulously detailed. Lord John, a soldier who began as a peripheral character in her Outlander series, is now getting a full-fledged story of his own as he endeavors to solve the mystery of his father’s death. Complicating matters somewhat are the imminent marriage of his mother and the arrival of his new step-brother, in whom Lord John finds a kindred spirit, in more ways than one.

I wished to enjoy this book more than I did, but in the end I had to admit that even Gabaldon’s way with words couldn’t make up for the lack of energy and excitement surrounding Lord John’s detective work. His soldiering and personal affairs, on the other hand, were the more intriguing aspects of the book.

Rating: 4/5 Further reading: Gabaldon's homepage Diana Gabeldon (wiki)

Throughout her entire life Meridon has sensed that she doesn’t belong in the life she’s leading, that ‘Meridon’ isn’t even her real name, and that she has a real home somewhere, waiting for her. She’s grown up in a gypsy lifestyle with her beloved sister Dandy and their step-father, a horsetrader. Leaving their step-father, Meridon and Dandy join a traveling circus and are finally able to start saving some money of their own, but just when things are going well an unthinkable tragedy strikes, leading Meridon to seek her true heritage.

This is a somewhat satisfying conclusion to the Wideacre trilogy. It certainly is more uplifting than the previous books. There are times that the heroine is rendered unlikable to the reader, and some of her actions seem contrived as merely plot devices. Overall, it was an interesting, if occasionally disturbing, series -- not bad for an author’s first works.

Rating: 4/5 Further reading: Gregory's homepage Philippa Gregory (wiki)

In this second book in the Wideacre trilogy, Julia and her cousin Richard have grown up together among the ruins of their family estate and have always planned to marry, despite their guardians’ disapproval. When, as a teenager, Julia begins to demonstrate a talent for working with the land and its inhabitants, Richard grows resentful. After all, only one of them can be the rumored favored child, the true heir to Wideacre.

Gregory’s early works are starting to remind me of V.C. Andrews’ style of near-horror stories, only with richer detail and better writing. I really wanted to strangle Julia for her stupidity at times. Yes, she was confined within the role of women in her time, but had she told someone – anyone! – what was happening, at least some of the tragedy might have been avoided.

Rating: 4/5 Further reading: Gregory's homepage Philippa Gregory (wiki)

Antonia Fraser’s well-researched work details the known facts in the life of Marie Antoinette – from her grand childhood as the daughter of an empress, to her marriage to Louis XVI and her life as France’s queen, to her tragic and ultimate downfall with the start of the French Revolution.

Although I would recommend it to history fans, the book took me longer to complete than a book of this size normally would, partly because there was simply so much information to digest. I was also occasionally bored with the more political details. However, I find it amazing that we do know so much about Marie Antoinette and these events that occurred more than 200 years ago.

Compared with Abundance, a work of historical fiction published in 2006 by Sena Jeter Naslund which complements this one fairly well, Fraser’s Marie Antoinette is a more sympathetic character. In a rather stark contrast to popular opinion, both of her contemporaries and her reputation persisting through history, she is painted very nearly as an innocent victim of circumstance. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between.

Rating: 4/5 Further reading: Antonia Fraser (wiki) Abundance by Naslund

After enjoying Gregory’s The Constant Princess, I decided to go back and read her works in chronological order. While many of her later works are based on the lives of true historical figures, the characters in this first book of a trilogy are original.

From the time she could sit alone on a horse, young Beatrice Lacey has grown to love and learned everything there is to know about the land of her father’s estate, Wideacre. To her young and naïve eyes, her father is grooming her to someday run the estate, and it is a shock when she realizes that she, just as all other ladies of Quality, must eventually marry and leave the estate. This is the story of the severe and unbelievable lengths Beatrice goes to in order to secure her place at Wideacre forever, only to bring about its eventual ruin.

This is Gregory’s first work, and she clearly has some talent in writing. However, by far the biggest flaw in this book is that most of the characters, the heroine(?) in particular, are extremely unlikable and have few redeeming qualities. Beatrice, although ambitious and perhaps admirable initially, I soon felt only contempt for. Harry and Celia are both blind and weak. The treatment of the one character the reader can sympathize with, Dr. MacAndrew, is painfully dreadful. I’ve grown fond of Ms. Gregory, so despite its flaws, I’ll finish the series.

Rating: 3/5 Further reading: Gregory's homepage Philippa Gregory (wiki)

Having enjoyed Naslund's Ahab's Wife previously, I was looking forward to her new historical fiction about Marie Antoinette. The story begins as 14-year-old Marie, daughter of the Empress of Austria, journeys to France to wed the 15-year-old Dauphin (Louis XVI); and ends with her memorable death at the guillotine during the French Revolution.

It's hard sometimes to read through a book knowing full well how it ends. There is always that distracting, perpetual dark shadow looming in the background. When the family was making their escape attempt I was cheering them on, whimsically hoping that maybe this time around they would succeed, but alas! Throughout the book I had to keep reminding myself that, although intensely researched, this was still a work of fiction -- it was like reading the intimate thoughts from someone's diary. I felt both sympathy for Marie and the royal family and pity at their self-absorption and naïveté. It does not cause the reader to think they are truly evil or ruthless people, but that the fault lies perhaps in how they are raised in a world of true opulence; isolated, untouched and unaffected by the reality, and especially the plights, of the average citizen. As is the mark of good historical fiction, upon finishing I was compelled to learn more about the real historical figures therein.

Rating: 4/5 Further reading: Naslund's homepage

It's easy to see why it was a best-seller, and how wonderful that it is once again in print! Anya Seton again brings the past to life in her story about the Radcliffe family during the Jacobite movement in England and Scotland. Brothers James and Charles participate in the rebellion, knowing that they risk their wealth, property, titles and even their lives in support of the exiled James Stuart, whom the Jacobites believe the rightful king of England. Eventually, with James Radcliffe having been executed and Charles himself in exile, the Radcliffes move to the background and the book focuses on Charles' daughter Jenny.

Seton's characters are not always likeable -- at one of the book's climaxes, Jenny's husband Rob Wilson seems to completely step out of character and I wanted to strangle him! -- but that doesn't stop the reader from becoming completely engrossed, sucked into this turbulent time in England's history. Before reading Devil Water, I had only the vaguest notion of what the Jacobites were about, and now I can't help but wonder how history would have been different had James Stuart managed to secure the English throne.

Rating: 5/5 Further reading: Anya Seton (wiki)