Tag: 20th century

The Midnight Carousel by Fiza Saeed McLynn

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Whenever you decide to read a book by an author who’s new to you, you never really know what to expect and there’s always a risk you won’t like it, particularly when it’s a debut novel like this one. Fortunately, I loved The Midnight Carousel from the beginning; it’s such an original, unusual story that I was completely captivated by it.

The carousel of the title is built in 1900 by Gilbert Cloutier for the Grand Exhibition in Paris. Gilbert is struggling to come to terms with his grief over the recent loss of his young son, so he decides to add some special features to the carousel in memory of the boy. This is the last thing he does before disappearing without trace. Over the years that follow, the carousel gains a sinister reputation when it becomes linked with further disappearances and Detective Laurent Bisset is asked to investigate. He thinks he has caught the culprit, but several years later history begins to repeat itself, leaving Laurent questioning whether he has made a terrible mistake.

Meanwhile, in England, Maisie Marlowe is being raised by abusive foster parents in Canvey Island, Essex. Maisie has no idea who her real parents are and the only things that sustain her through this miserable period of her life are her friendship with her foster brother and a picture of a beautiful carousel that she found on the beach. Eventually, an aunt comes to rescue her and takes her to live in the home of Sir Malcolm Randolph where she has just taken a job as housekeeper. Due to an unexpected sequence of events, Maisie ends up emigrating to America with Sir Malcolm where they open an amusement park in Chicago with a magnificent carousel as the star attraction – the exact same carousel as the one in Maisie’s picture and the same one that was built at Gilbert Cloutier’s factory in Paris.

When the disappearances begin again, Laurent Bisset is sure there must be a connection with the earlier incidents in France, so he travels to Chicago determined to uncover the truth this time. Here he crosses paths with Maisie, bringing the two threads of the novel together. I loved both characters and was interested in their personal stories – Maisie’s Dickensian childhood and her incredible change of fortune and Laurent’s dedication to making amends for his past mistakes – but I also enjoyed watching their relationship develop as they come together over the mystery of the carousel.

The mystery element of the book is not so much a whodunit as a howdunit. How can people be disappearing into thin air while riding the wooden jumping horses? Is the carousel itself haunted? Did Gilbert Cloutier place a curse on it? Is someone somehow snatching people from the horses without being seen? Although there were a few clues that I thought could and should have been noticed by Laurent and the police, I can also understand how they could have been missed. When we eventually get some answers, they are both clever and creepy and what I found particularly unsettling is that all through the book I never really knew whether I was reading magical realism or something with a more human explanation. The eerie atmosphere, along with the fairground setting, kept reminding me of Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, but I think this is a better book.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Midnight Carousel and loved getting to know Laurent, Maisie and the secondary characters – I particularly liked Mrs Papadopoulos the dairy seller and Madame Rose the fortune-teller. I’ll certainly be putting Fiza Saeed McLynn on my list of authors to look out for in the future.

Thanks to Michael Joseph for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn

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Frances Quinn’s That Bonesetter Woman was one of my books of the year in 2022 and I didn’t really expect her new one, The Lost Passenger, to live up to it. Well, I’m pleased to say that I thought it was even better!

The novel begins in England in 1910. Nineteen-year-old Elinor Hayward is the daughter of a wealthy Manchester mill owner known as ‘the cotton king’, but when she marries Frederick Coombes, the son and heir of Lord and Lady Storton, she finds herself being looked down upon by her aristocratic in-laws. It seems that nothing she says or does is good enough for them and although Frederick himself is not unkind, it quickly becomes obvious that he doesn’t love her and it’s not going to be the happy marriage she had dreamed about. Worse still, when their first child, Teddy, is born, he is immediately taken away to be raised by a nanny and it is made clear to Elinor that she’s to have very little involvement in his upbringing.

After two unhappy years, Elinor is thrilled when her father buys tickets for the Titanic and invites her to join him on the ship’s maiden voyage, along with Frederick and Teddy. It’s a chance to see more of the world, but also to finally spend some precious time with her little boy. Of course, the voyage ends in tragedy but Elinor and Teddy are lucky enough to be rescued after the ship goes down. When asked for her name so a list of survivors can be compiled, it occurs to Elinor that this is the only opportunity she’s ever going to have to escape from her old life. Before she has time to really think about the consequences, she finds herself giving another woman’s name and taking on a fake identity. But will she be able to avoid being caught – and will the new life she builds for herself in New York be worth the deception?

Frances Quinn has a real gift for creating characters the reader can get behind and root for. I liked Elinor from the beginning and she had my full sympathy in having to deal with the vicious snobbery of Lady Storton and the disappointment of a loveless marriage. Her life with Frederick and his family is so stifling and unhappy that even though the decision she makes after the sinking of the Titanic is questionable, it’s also very understandable. Although this first section of the novel is quite slow, I think it was necessary for Quinn to spend plenty of time showing us how trapped Elinor felt and how desperate she had become.

Many books have been written about the Titanic, but this one is different. The Titanic is not the main focus of the story but is a starting point to explore how Elinor makes the most of the second chance she has been given. However, I still felt that Quinn handles the disaster sensitively and with respect for the victims. She writes about the failings of the evacuation process, the conditions experienced by those who make it into a lifeboat and the realisation that there’s no hope for the hundreds left on board, but she doesn’t go into too much detail on any of these things. Instead of concentrating on the disaster itself, she focuses more on the survivors and how they try to cope with the trauma they’ve suffered and move forward with their lives.

The second half of the book is devoted to Elinor’s arrival in New York and how she goes about trying to build a happier future for herself and Teddy. I’m deliberately not saying much more because I want you to enjoy discovering the rest of Elinor’s story for yourself (everything else I’ve talked about so far is already touched on in the publisher’s blurb for the book). It’s both fascinating and inspirational to see how Elinor is able to create a whole new life out of the ruins of her old one, but at the same time there’s always the risk that someone who knew her before could see her and give her away her secret.

I loved this book and as I haven’t read her first one, The Smallest Man, yet, I still have something to look forward to!

Thanks to Simon and Schuster UK for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

Poor Girls by Clare Whitfield

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It’s 1922 and Eleanor Mackridge, like many women, is finding it difficult to adjust to ‘normal life’ now that the war has ended. Compared to working in a munitions factory and feeling that she was doing something important for her country, her new job waitressing at a Brighton hotel is dull and boring. Marriage could offer an escape route, but that doesn’t sound very appealing either, so when Eleanor crosses paths with a member of the all-female crime gang, the Forty Elephants, the temptation to join them is too strong to resist.

Now known as Nell, she moves to London where she is assigned to a cell – a group of four gang members who live and work together – and begins her education in the art of theft. Soon she knows how to steal expensive furs and jewels from London’s grandest department stores, how to conceal her loot in hidden pockets and, most importantly, how to avoid being arrested. Although her conscience troubles her at first, she soon learns to love her new life and her new friends. But what will Nell’s family say when they discover what she is doing? And what will happen if her luck runs out and she gets caught?

Poor Girls is an enjoyable, fast paced novel rooted in historical fact. I wasn’t aware until I finished the book and read the author’s note that the Forty Elephants really existed (the name comes from the Elephant and Castle area of London, where they were based). Although the gang leader, Alice Diamond – known as Queen Alice – was a real person, Nell Mackridge seems to be a fictional character. However, through the stories of Nell and her friends, Whitfield explores some of the factors that may have driven young women like them to turn to a life of crime.

It was fascinating to see how the gang operated and to watch Nell learning all the tricks of the trade – all the cons, deceptions and disguises she needed to be able to avoid detection. Interestingly, women had an advantage when it came to shoplifting as store security were reluctant to stop and search female customers. Also, all those layers of clothing they wore were useful for hiding stolen goods! The success of their operations depended on working together as a team, so trust was necessary between the members of each cell and Nell formed strong bonds with Effie, Lily and Charlie, her partners in crime.

I did have one or two minor criticisms of the book: I felt that the characters of Nell’s three friends could have been more clearly defined – Charlie and Lily, in particular, seemed interchangeable – and there were times when the language felt more 2020s than 1920s. Otherwise, this was a very entertaining novel with a plot not quite like any other I’ve read. I also liked the fact that, although crime is obviously not something we should admire or find glamorous and Whitfield does make the consequences clear, at the same time she isn’t trying to push a moral message onto the reader. The ending of the book isn’t quite what you would expect either, but it’s probably more realistic that way.

It seems that Alice Diamond and the Forty Elephants have been the subject of several recent novels and there’s a non-fiction book available as well. I’m not sure how I’ve missed them all, but will investigate them now. I would also like to read Clare Whitfield’s earlier novel, People of Abandoned Character.

Thanks to the publisher for making a copy of this book available for review via The Pigeonhole.

Book 51 for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2024

The Witch’s Daughter by Imogen Edwards-Jones

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“I have been enamoured of this country and this city for so long. The Venice of the north. How I have loved every golden dome, every frozen canal, every ballet, every concert, every wonderful person I have ever met. This country takes your soul, it takes it away and it doesn’t ever give it back.”

Imogen Edwards-Jones’ new novel, The Witch’s Daughter, is the sequel to 2018’s The Witches of St Petersburg, but I don’t think it’s essential to read them in order. The first book tells the story of Princesses Militza and Stana of Montenegro, who marry into the Russian aristocracy and introduce Rasputin to the Romanov court. This one begins with the murder of Rasputin, then moves on to follow Militza’s daughter, Nadezhda, throughout the Russian Revolution.

As the novel opens in December 1916, Tsar Nicholas II is preoccupied with Russia’s involvement in World War I when news breaks out in Petrograd of Rasputin’s murder. However, the war is soon going to be the least of the Tsar’s troubles because Rasputin has left behind a letter predicting the death and destruction of Nicholas himself and the entire Romanov family. As unrest and violence breaks out on the streets of Petrograd, it seems that the prophecy is starting to come true and Princess Nadezhda finds herself caught up in it all.

Unlike the first book, which took as its premise the idea that Militza and Stana were ‘witches’ who believe they have conjured up Rasputin through black magic, this one – despite the title – involves almost no magic at all. It could be misleading for those who pick it up specifically hoping for a story about witchcraft, but I preferred the more serious tone of this book. I can’t tell you whether everything that happens is historically accurate or not, because I don’t know – the Russian Revolution is not a period I’ve ever studied or read very much about – but I think it works well as a general overview of the situation and the feeling of the Russian people towards the Romanovs and the aristocracy. Edwards-Jones doesn’t shy away from describing the violence and brutality as tensions boil over on the streets and simple demands for ‘peace, land and bread’ spiral into a larger revolutionary movement.

Although the focus is on Nadezhda’s family, and the sequence of events that lead them to flee St Petersburg for the relative safety of the Crimea, The Witch’s Daughter has a large number of other characters and they are all listed at the front of the book in case you have trouble keeping track of the relationships between the various Princes and Princesses, Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses. The character who interested me the most, however, was Bertie Stopford, a British antiques and art dealer who has some sort of unspecified connection with the War Office and engages in some spying and smuggling on behalf of his friend, the Grand Duchess Vladimir. Bertie was a real person, although I don’t think I’ve read about him before; he seems to have led a very eventful life and is the author of an anonymously published memoir, The Russian Diary of an Englishman: Petrograd 1915–1917, which I’m sure must be fascinating.

I’m not expecting a third book in this series as everything seemed to be tied up nicely at the end, but I’m pleased to have had the opportunity to learn a little bit about Nadezhda and her family.

Thanks to Aria for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

The Graces by Siobhan MacGowan

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I found Siobhan MacGowan’s first novel, The Trial of Lotta Rae, a very powerful, emotional read and I was hoping for something similar from her new book, The Graces. I’m pleased to say that I thought this one was even better.

The novel opens on an August evening in 1918, as a group of pilgrims make their way to the bell tower of Mount St Kilian Abbey in Dublin. As Brother Thomas and Father Sheridan watch the candlelit procession weaving through the trees below the abbey, they remember the woman to whom the pilgrims are paying homage – Rosaleen Moore, known as The Rose, who died just three years earlier. On her deathbed, Rosaleen revealed a terrible secret to Father Sheridan, something which has left him so disturbed he decides to discuss it with Brother Thomas tonight.

In a series of long flashbacks, Rosaleen’s story unfolds, beginning with her childhood in rural County Clare, where she first discovers that, like her grandmother, she has been ‘touched by the Graces’ and is blessed – or cursed – with the sight. When her gift gets her into trouble in the village, she is sent away to live with an aunt in Dublin. Here she finds herself befriended by a group of spiritualists and healers who encourage her to use her special talents to help others. However, Rosaleen will learn that meddling in things she doesn’t fully understand is not a good idea and could have disastrous results.

The Graces is a fascinating, moving story, exploring the clashes between superstition and science and the consequences of thinking we know best. It reminded me of Hannah Kent’s The Good People and Emma Donoghue’s The Wonder, which have similar themes and are also set in Ireland, but although it’s bleak at times, the book is also very gripping and leaves you with a lot to think about after reaching the final page. Rosaleen herself is not always an easy character to like – her arrogance leads her to make poor decisions and I was disappointed in the role she plays in a love triangle with two different men, Lorcan and Rian – but I could still have sympathy with her situation because the whole thing is so desperately sad.

Away from the central plot, the political developments in early 20th century Ireland also form an important part of the story. Rosaleen is in Dublin during the time of the Easter Rising, the formation of the Cumann na mBan (an Irish republican women’s paramilitary group) and the move towards independence. Through her relationship with Lorcan, who is involved in all of these things, Rosaleen is exposed to new ideas and new ways of thinking, but she doesn’t fully embrace them herself and feels caught in the middle between two extreme views.

Having enjoyed both of Siobhan MacGowan’s novels (although I always feel that ‘enjoyed’ isn’t quite the right word to use with this sort of book), I’m already hoping for a third!

Thanks to Welbeck Fiction for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

This is book 5/20 of my 20 Books of Summer 2023

This is book 27/50 for the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

The Housekeepers by Alex Hay

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It’s June 1905 and plans are underway for a ball at the grandest house on London’s Park Lane. Miss de Vries, who has recently inherited the house from her millionaire father, has decided to throw the party of the season to launch herself into society and find a suitable husband. However, someone else also sees the night of the ball as a great opportunity – an opportunity for revenge. She is Mrs King, the former housekeeper, who was dismissed from her job just a few weeks earlier and is now planning a daring heist. On the night of the Park Lane ball, she and a group of other carefully recruited servants will strip the house of its treasures – its artworks, books, furniture, silverware, even the carpets – and Miss de Vries and her guests won’t notice a thing until it’s too late. But will this plan work or will the housekeepers be caught in the act?

The Housekeepers is Alex Hay’s debut novel and I found it an entertaining read. It was fascinating to see how carefully Mrs King and her accomplices plan the heist – preparing inventories of each room, taking measurements, identifying escape routes and making sure nothing is left to chance! Despite their detailed planning, there are still some factors outside their control and a lot of things that could go wrong, so there’s plenty of suspense as we wait to see whether or not they will succeed. As the novel progresses and we learn more about what has been going on behind the doors of the Park Lane house, I found I didn’t have much sympathy for Miss de Vries and was definitely rooting for the servants!

The heist is Mrs King’s idea, but I thought some of the other women she enlists were more interesting characters. These include Mrs Bone, who runs a criminal network but seems to have a moral code of her own, the actress Hephzibah and the two trapeze artist sisters referred to as Jane-one and Jane-two. There’s also Winnie, who held the position of housekeeper before Mrs King, and Alice the sewing maid who is befriended by Miss de Vries and faces a battle with her conscience. I felt that too many characters were introduced too quickly at the beginning of the book, which made things confusing for a while, but I eventually managed to keep them all straight in my mind.

The novel is also an interesting exploration of the class system and the injustice of some people being born into a life of privilege while others are not. In his author’s note, Alex Hay describes the satisfaction of imagining the servants trying to claim some of that privilege for themselves! However, Miss de Vries herself is looked down upon by the people she most wants to impress because she had a father who made his fortune through diamond mining rather than inheriting wealth passed down through the generations.

I thought The Housekeepers was fun to read and with its period setting, portrayal of life above and below stairs, and vividly described heist sequences, I could easily imagine a BBC adaptation. As a first novel it’s quite impressive and I’ll certainly be looking out for more from Alex Hay!

Thanks to Headline Review for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

This is book 26/50 read for the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor

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We hear a lot about children being evacuated from the cities to the British countryside during World War II, but not so much about those who were sent away to safety overseas. Hazel Gaynor’s new novel, The Last Lifeboat, explores this often overlooked aspect of the war, taking as its inspiration the real life tragedy of the SS City of Benares, a British evacuee ship which was torpedoed by a German U-boat in September 1940 with almost 100 children on board.

The novel follows the stories of two women: Alice King and Lily Nicholls. Lily, who lives in London, is a widow and the mother of two young children, Georgie and Arthur. All she wants is to keep her children safe, but as bombs begin to rain down on the city, Lily starts to fear for their lives and when she hears about a new government scheme to evacuate children to other countries, she has a difficult decision to make. Meanwhile, schoolteacher Alice King is looking for a way to ‘do her bit’ for the war effort and has signed up with CORB (the Children’s Overseas Reception Board) as a volunteer escort who will accompany a group of children on a ship sailing for Canada.

These two separate storylines connect when Lily entrusts Arthur and Georgie to Alice’s care as parents are not allowed to accompany their children overseas. The ship on which they set sail – the SS Carlisle – is part of a large convoy so everyone assumes they will be protected from the German U-boats, but once out in the Atlantic things go badly wrong. The ship is hit by a torpedo and begins to sink, leaving the passengers and crew to pile into the lifeboats. Some are rescued, others are thrown into the waves, but one lifeboat drifts out of range with Alice King on board. The days that follow will be a traumatic period for Alice, as she and the others in the boat find themselves lost at sea with little hope of rescue and limited supplies of food and water, but it will be equally traumatic for Lily as news of the disaster reaches London and she discovers that one of her children is missing.

I think this is the best of the three Hazel Gaynor books I’ve read so far (the others are The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, about Grace Darling, and The Cottingley Secret, the story of the Cottingley fairies). I liked both Lily and Alice and found each of their stories very moving. Alice’s is more dramatic as the days go by and she and the other lifeboat passengers struggle to survive while adrift in the Atlantic, but I could also feel Lily’s heartbreak and anger as she waits for news of her lost child and makes the shocking discovery that the evacuee ships were not being escorted to Canada as promised but left to fend for themselves after passing a certain point. Knowing that the book is based on a true story and that real people did have to go through the things that Alice and Lily went through just makes it even more powerful.

Thanks to HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

This is book 22/50 read for the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.