Historical Fictionistas discussion

Hi I would like to finish this off before starting a new HFU. I hate leaving stuff undone and a wonderful but inconvenient (as far as reading) busy 5 week overseas vacation trashed my intentions to complete in December 2019.

Link to my HFU BA, Masters and PHD 2019 Thread

PhD Requirements
PhD will include a dissertation topic and a minor topic.
Dissertation
5 books related to a specific topic. 2 of these may be non-fiction. You need to outline what topic you are focusing on.
Examples (but not limited to)-
-Specific events/inventions/creations (a war, a discovery of importance, invention of the printing press, work on the Sistine Chapel, etc.)
- A famous (or infamous) family (Tudors, Hapsburgs, Borgias, Valois)
-Specific Person (Elizabeth I, Mary(Queen of Scots), DaVinci, Caesar, Cleopatra)
-Nationality/culture/group of people (Ancient Greeks, Vikings, Mongols, Samurai, Native Americans)
-Specific century or time-period (Dark Ages, Tudor-era, Renaissance, Regency, 1800s)

Minor Topic
3 books that focus on a specific country. Any historical era will count as long as the books take place in the same country. 1 book may be historical non-fiction.

https://historicalnovelsociety.org/

I'll set up my list for ease of checking in simple format here:

Jemima's PhD of Historical Fiction

Major: Lesser Known Regnant and Powerful Queens, through the Ages

1. The Romanov Empress: A Novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna by C.W. Gortner (Finished 14th November)

2. Queen of the Conqueror: The Life of Matilda, Wife of William I by Tracy Borman

3. Founder, Fighter, Saxon Queen: Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians by Margaret C. Jones

4. The Visionary Mayan Queen: Yohl Ik'nal of Palenque by Leonide Martin

5. Daughter of Sand and Stone by Libbie Hawker(Finished 27th February)

Minor: Country = Ireland

1. Brigid of Kildare by Heather Terrell(Finished 8th December)

2.The Irish Princess by Elizabeth Chadwick (Finished 6th December)

3.The Girl on the Cliff by Lucinda Riley

Jemima's PhD of Historical Fiction
(Commenced 13th November 2019)

Proposed Major: Lesser Known Regnant and Powerful Queens, through the Ages

I'm proposing to read about lesser known queens who intelligently and forcefully wielded considerable power and influence through an absolute monarchy either directly as Queen, or by strongly influencing or controlling a father, husband or son (the power behind the throne, in a time when a woman's traditional role was as a supporting character only. I am choosing lesser known queens as I have read extensively about the more well known ones such as Elizabeth I, Victoria, Cleopatra, Nefertiti, Hatshepsut, Boudica and Isabella of Aragon and Castille, Catherine the Great and want to find out more about some of the lesser well known ones. I was inspired by my strong focus on influential women in history, explored throughout my HFU.

1. MARIA FEODOROVNA (1847-1928 RUSSIAS)
The Romanov Empress: A Novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna by C.W. Gortner (Started already...halfway through and loving it!)

“I am not yet ready to be Tsar. I know nothing of the business of ruling.”

— Tsar Nicholas II, son of Maria.

Maria (Minnie) was an incredible, forceful personality, passionate and opinionated and highly intelligent. She was the glue, endurance, heart and the strong voice of reason in her family and a clever political advisor to the ruling men in her life, who frequently sought (or endured) her advice.

Dowager Empress Maria to Nicholas II
21 November 1917
(The last letter Nicky ever received from his mother).

"Aitodor, 21st November, 1917.

My dear Nicky,

I have just received your letter of October 27th which has filled me with joy. I cannot find words to express my feelings and thank you with all my heart, my dear.

You know that my thoughts and prayers never leave you I think of you day and night and sometimes feel so sick at heart that I believe I cannot bear it any longer. But God is merciful He will give us strength for this terrible ordeal. Thank goodness you are all well and that at least you live together and in comfort. A year has gone by already since you and darling Alexei came to see me at Kieff. Who could have thought then of all that was in store for us, and what
we should have to go through. It is unbelievable. I live only in my memories of the happy past and try as much as possible to forget the present nightmare. Misha has also written to me about your last meeting in the presence of witnesses and [illegible] and of your ghastly and revolting departure.

I received your first dear letter of September 19th and apologise for not having been able to answer it before, but Xenia will have explained the reason to you.

I am sorry you are not allowed to go for walks, I know how necessary it is for you and the dear children; it is an incomprehensible cruelty!

I have quite recovered from a long and tedious illness and am able to go out again after two months.

The weather is beautiful, especially during the last few days. We live very modestly and quietly and see nobody, as we are not allowed to leave the estate, which is a great nuisance.

It is a blessing I am with Xenia, Olga and the grandchildren, who dine with me by turns every day. My new grandson Tikhon is a source of joy to us all. He grows bigger and fatter every day and is such a darling, so charming and quiet. It is a pleasure to see how happy Olga is, and how delighted she is with her baby which she had hoped for for such a long time.

They live very snugly above the cellar. She and Xenia come to see me every morning, and we have our cocoa together, as we are always hungry. It is so difficult to get provisions, white bread and butter are the things I miss most, but sometimes I get some sent by kind people: Papa Felix [Yusupov, senior] sends crabs and butter for which I am very grateful.

Prince Shervashidze arrived a little while ago. It is very pleasant to have him as he is a great asset,
always in good spirits and amusing and so glad to be here and to have a rest after Petersburg where it was so awful.

I am very glad to get those dear letters from Alix and my granddaughters who all write so nicely. I thank and kiss them all.
We always think and talk about you. It is so sad to be separated, not to see one another, not to be able to talk.

I get letters from Aunt Alix and Waldemar [her sister and brother] from time to time, but they are so slow in coming and I just sit and wait. I long for news.
[Last phrase is in English]

I well understand how you must enjoy re reading your old letters and diaries, although those memories of a happy past rouse deep sorrow in the heart. I have not even got that consolation, for mine were all taken away from me in the spring when they searched the house all your letters, all those I received at Kieff, the children's letters, three diaries, etc., etc., and nothing has been returned yet, which is revolting, and for what reason, if I may ask?

Today is November 2nd, dear Misha's birthday. I believe he is still in town, God grant him health and happiness.

There has been a sudden break in the weather, a sharp wind is blowing and it is cold, only 3 degrees, and although the rooms are heated they are not warm enough, and my hands are cold.

Nikita saw K., the dentist [Kastritsky]. It was through him that I got some news about you. I am glad poor Alix does not suffer from toothache and that he has finished treating you.

I hope Isa B. [Buxhoeveden] has arrived safely and has recovered from her operation.

Please give my love to them all, also to Il. Tatishcheff.

Which servants have you got with you? I hope dear Teteridtnikoff went with you. I have only kept Yashchik and Poliakoff and have not enough words of praise for them, such splendid, trustworthy people. They serve at table and manage very well. Kukushkin and Yashchik are great friends and chatter a lot together.

On December 6th all my thoughts will be with you, my dear darling Nicky, and I send you my warmest wishes. God bless you, send you strength and peace of mind, and may He not allow Russia to perish.

I kiss you tenderly. May Christ be with you.
Your fondly loving old

Mama"

(http://www.alexanderpalace.org)


2. MATILDA OF FLANDERS (1031-1083) NORMANDY & ENGLAND
Queen of the Conqueror: The Life of Matilda, Wife of William I by Tracy Borman

A letter from William, king of the English to Matilda of Flanders, duchess of Normandy, queen of England.

Translated letter:
'William, by the grace of God king of the English, to queen Matilda, his dear spouse, perpetual health/greeting.
I want you to know that I grant to St. Martin at Marmontier the church of Ste. Marie des Pieux and the lands that depend on it, free of all rents, as priest Hugh held them on the day of his death. Furthermore, I charge you to render, as is just, all the land in Normandy belonging to St. Martin, free and secure from all those who would wish to burden it, as well as from the demands of the foresters; above all forbid Hugolin de Cherbourg to meddle further with the affairs of this house.'

(https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/le...)

Matilda can be perceived as passionate, steadfast, and wise, yet also utterly ruthless and tenacious in pursuit of her goals, and the only person capable of taming her formidable husband who, unprecedented for the period, remained faithful to her. This mother of nine, including four sons who went on to inherit William’s French and English dominions, confounded the traditional views of women in medieval society by seizing the reins of power whenever she had the chance, directing her husband’s policy, and at times flagrantly disobeying his orders. She frequently acted as sole Regent in Normandy, while her husband was in England.

William was nearly 6 feet tall while Matilda was below 5 feet. She must have been a courageous, fierce and intelligent woman to stand up to such a man with such a reputation for ruthlessness. She is said to have even intervened to prevent military disputes between her husband and his fellow rivals for power. After her death, William acquired a greatly increased reputation for ruthlessness, possibly due to the loss of her hand on his rein.

3. AETHELFLAED, DAUGHTER OF ALFRED THE GREAT (870-918) KINGDOM OF MERCIA
Founder, Fighter, Saxon Queen: Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians by Margaret C. Jones

Aethelflaed: "a powerful accession to [King Edward's] party, the delight of his subjects, the dread of his enemies, a woman of enlarged soul".

Anglo-Norman chronicler William of Malmesbury

The most important source for history in this period is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle but Aethelflaed is almost ignored in the standard West Saxon version, in what F. T. Wainwright calls "a conspiracy of silence". He argues that King Edward was anxious not to encourage Mercian separatism and did not wish to publicise his sister's accomplishments, in case she became a symbol of Mercian claims. Brief details of her actions were preserved in a pro-Mercian version of the Chronicle known as the Mercian Register or the Annals of Aethelflaed. The Register covers the years 902 to 924, and focuses on Aethelflaed's actions; Edward is hardly mentioned and her husband only twice, on his death and as father of their daughter. Information about Aethelflaed's career is also preserved in the Irish chronicle known as the Three Fragments. Aethelflaed had a reputation of being strong, well educated and independent.
(https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK...)

4. YOHL IK'NAL (583-604) MAYAN CITY-STATE PALENQUE
The Visionary Mayan Queen: Yohl Ik'nal of Palenque by Leonide Martin

Her name means “Lady Heart Wind Place”. Yohl Ik’nal was the first recorded female ruler of the Mayan city of Palenque and the first to have a full royal title and to reign in her own right. Historians believe that her role was unusual because she held power for twenty-one years. During her rule, she withstood two attacks from her neighbor Mayans (the Calakmul and the Bonampak) and remained ruler longer than her contemporaries in the region. Yohl Ik’nal held onto her power and according to the records left by Pakal and his son, K’inich Kan Bahlam II, was treated with veneration for her strength and vibrancy throughout her reign. (http://mesoweb.com)

5. ZENOBIA (240-274) PALMYRENE EMPIRE (Syria Palaestina, Arabia Petraea, Egypt and large parts of Asia Minor)

Daughter of Sand and Stone by Libbie Hawker

'Now all shame is exhausted…for in the weakened state of the [Roman] commonwealth things came to such a pass that…a foreigner, Zenobia by name, proceeded to cast about her shoulders the imperial mantle, [and was] ruling longer than could be endured from one of the female sex. For of a surety, he, with his wife Zenobia, would have restored not only the East . . . but also all parts of the whole world everywhere, since he was fierce in warfare. . . . His wife, too, was inured to hardship and in the opinion of many was held to be more brave than her husband, being, indeed, the noblest of all the women of the East, and . . . the most beautiful.'

Thus begins the biography of Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, in the Historia Augusta. (https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/zenobia-...)

Proposed Minor: Ireland: Home of my Foremothers

1. (PATRON SAINT) BRIGID OF IRELAND (451-525)
Brigid of Kildare by Heather Terrell

Little is known of her life but from legend, myth, and folklore. According to tradition, Brigid was born in Faughart, just north of Dundalk in County Louth, Ireland. Because of the legendary quality of the earliest accounts of her life, there is debate among many secular scholars and Christians as to the authenticity of her biographies. Three biographies agree that her mother was Brocca, a Christian Pict slave who had been baptized by Saint Patrick. They name her father as Dubhthach, a chieftain of Leinster. She was sold along with her mother to a Druid, whom she later converted to Christianity.

On being set free, she returned to her father, who tried to marry her to the King of Ulster. Impressed by her piety, the king removed her from parental control. The Curragh, a plain in Kildare, was granted by the King of Leinster to Brigid. Here she founded the first nunnery in Ireland. The community became a double abbey for monks and nuns, with the abbess ranking above the abbot. Her friend St. Conleth became, at Brigid’s request, the bishop of her people. Brigid is credited with founding a school of art, including metalwork and illumination, which Conleth oversaw.

Probably the earliest biography, The Life of St Brigid, was written by Cogitosus, a monk of Kildare in the seventh century, A second First Life or Vita Prima of St Brigid is by an unknown author, although it is often attributed to St Broccán Clóen. (https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint...)


2. AOIFE, DAUGHTER OF KING OF LEINSTER (SOUTHERN IRELAND) (1153-1188)
The Irish Princess by Elizabeth Chadwick
Aoife MacMurchada, also known by later historians as Eva of Leinster, was an Irish noble, princess of Leinster and became countess of Pembroke. She was the daughter of Diarmait MacMurchada (c. 1110 – 1171), King of Leinster and his second wife, Mór Ní Tuathail (c. 1114 – 1191). Since her mother was the second wife of Diarmait, her station was automatically lower than that of her husband's first wife, Sadb Ní Faeláin, and her issue of two sons and one daughter. It has been asserted by some .The children of the second wife were not illegitimate as per the European laws, which specified that marriage was a contract between one man and one woman and until the death of either party. In Ireland, where the Brehon law allowed two wives, trial marriages and divorce was quite normal. Aoife's brother Domhnall succeeded their father to the kingship of Leinster after his election by the family "derbfine".

On the 25 August 1170, following the Norman invasion of Ireland that her father had requested, she was married to Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, known as Strongbow, the leader of the Norman invasion force, in Christchurch cathedral in Waterford. Her father, who was seeking a military alliance with Strongbow in his feud with the King of Breffni (Tiernan O'Rourke), had promised Aoife to Pembroke. According to Brehon law, both the man and the woman had to consent to the marriage, so it is fair to conclude that Aoife accepted her father's arrangements.

Under Anglo-Norman law, this gave Strongbow succession rights to the Kingdom of Leinster. Under Irish Brehon law, the marriage gave him her life interest only, after which any land would normally revert to male cousins; but Brehon law also recognised a transfer of "swordland" following a conquest.

She had two sons and a daughter with her husband Richard de Clare and through their daughter, Isabel de Clare, within a few generations their descendants included much of the nobility of Europe.
(https://www.nationalgallery.ie/marria...)

3. IRELAND AND IRISH HERITAGE (1914 - 2014 )
The Girl on the Cliff by Lucinda Riley
A book that I have been hanging out to read, combining a thirst for knowledge about my Irish heritage and one of my favourite authors of historical fiction. Lucinda was born in Ireland and lived in West Cork and loved its windswept rawness. The thought of a vulnerable child, barefoot and alone during the Atlantic storms that used to break with such fury when she lived there with her own small children, gave her the character of Aurora, the narrator of the book. The following is the description on the back of the book cover:

'Why has a secret from 1914 caused a century of heartache? Troubled by recent loss, Grania Ryan has returned to Ireland and the arms of her loving family. And it is here, on a cliff edge, that she first meets a young girl, Aurora, who will profoundly change her life. Mysteriously drawn to Aurora, Grania discovers that the histories of their families are strangely and deeply entwined…From a bittersweet romance in wartime London to a troubled relationship in contemporary New York, from devotion to a foundling child to forgotten memories of a lost brother, the Ryans and the Lisles, past and present, have been entangled for a century. Ultimately, it will be Aurora whose intuition and remarkable spirit help break the spell and unlock the chains of the past. Haunting, uplifting and deeply moving, Aurora’s story tells of the triumph of hope over loss.

Lucinda comments on her website about the turbulent history between the British and the Irish peoples and how this is the background for her book, exploring the century from 1914 to present day:

There’s an enormous amount of turbulent and bitter history between England and Ireland. It began in the 16th Century, when England’s King Henry VIII attempted to put Ireland under English government control, a struggle that continued through the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. By the late 18th Century, most of the old Irish Catholic landowners had had their lands taken from them by the English. By the time the First World War – where part of the novel is set – rumblings of the Irish independence were being clearly heard. Ireland was divided into the ‘North’ (which remains by choice under British control) and ‘South’ which because independent in the 1920’s, which led to further conflicts with England in the decades that followed. So it’s inevitable that all this history lies in the background of The Girl on the Cliff.
(http://lucindariley.co.uk/books/the-g...)

Many of my own ancestral family members migrated from Ireland to Australia over the last 150 years, at different times, convicted of petty crimes and rebellious activity against the English and transported out to Van Dieman's land. Others were refugees from the potato famine and the dispossession of land and property, some were workhouse girls separated from families and sent out alone, to work as servants in colonial households. Men and their families arrived, desperate to make it lucky on the goldfields.

I often wonder what life might have been like if we had not survived and eventually prospered (through a long, hardscrabble multigenerational effort) in the 'lucky country'. One day I hope to finally travel to County Kerry, Cork and Limerick to soak up some feel of what life may have been.

Reviews of Books Read:


The Romanov Empress: A Novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna by C.W. Gortner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a fascinating and well researched historical fiction that brings to vibrant life a strong and passionate woman, born Dagmar of Denmark, a princess who married the man who became Tsar of Russia, Alexander III. She is a woman I have never heard positive words of before, my understanding prior to this being based on Queen Victoria and her family's point of view and prejudices. She is bossy, arrogant and forceful and even manipulative and vain at times, but she brought to Russia a passionate heart and a willingness to embrace her adopted country, its citizens and culture, that she did not willingly forsake. Covering the turbulent years from 1862 to 1918, Minnie (as she was known to her family) becomes first Tsarevna of Russia, daughter in law to Tsar Alexander II, then Tsarina (Empress) of all the Russias (after the assasination of Tsar Alexander II) and finally Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, mother of Tsar Nicholas II.

Minnie famously opposed the courtship and marriage of her son Nicholas to the Princess Alexandra of Hesse (Alix), favourite granddaughter of Queen Victoria, on the grounds that she was temperamentally wholly unsuitable to the exigent role of Tsarina and well as being physically delicate and emotionally dependant. As these were probably the precise traits that appealed to her son Nicholas (who endured a childhood being alternatively coddled and controlled by Minnie and reprimanded and criticised by his father) it is not surprising that in this famously interdependent relationship, Nicholas finally found the strength to break free of his mother's will.

Thrown wholly unprepared into the role of Tsar, with a similarly unprepared Tsarina by his side, Nicholas made many serious errors that cost the lives of thousands of Russians within his first few years, alternatively influenced by one strong family member after another: his powerful uncles, his mother and finally and most dangerously, by his disaffected wife. Minnie played her own part in making the new Tsarina's introduction to her new country incredibly difficult and Alix openly showed her disdain for all things Russian, further isolating herself and her husband and children from Russian society. The most dangerous game that she played for power was through the person of the degenerate mystic Rasputin, who not only influenced every aspect of the lives of the Tsarina's family, but also began to dabble in influential politics...a very dangerous game.

I feel I have a much deeper understanding of how the complex politics and personalities as well as choices made by the Romanov family all contributed to the hell which resulted in the lives of millions of Russians lost in revolution and its aftermaths, as well as the terrible fates of Nicholas and Alix with all of their children, as well as a number of the other Romanovs. C.W. Gortner brought this complex period of time to me so vividly that I felt I made the journey through Russia at Minnie's side. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who wishes to delve deeper into the history of this amazing woman and her highly interesting family.



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The Irish Princess by Elizabeth Chadwick

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



'Aoife MacMurchada is just 14 years old when her father Diarmit, King of Leinster, is brutally deposed, and her family is forced to flee Southern Ireland into English exile. Diarmit seeks help from King Henry II, an alliance that leads him to the charismatic Richard de Clare, lord of Striguil, a man dissatisfied with his lot and open to new horizons.

Diarmit promises Richard wealth, lands, and Aoife's hand in marriage in return for his aid, but Aoife, has her own thoughts on the matter. She may be a prize, but she is not a pawn and she will play the game to her own advantage.

From the royal halls of scheming kings, to staunch Welsh border fortresses and across storm-tossed seas to the wild green kingdoms of Ireland, The Irish Princess is a sumptuous, journey of ambition and desire, love and loss, heartbreak and survival.'

https://elizabethchadwick.com/the-iri...#

The story of Aoife MacMurchada is a fascinating tale of a wild, intelligent daughter, a princess of a dispossessed and vengeful King who learns at a young age how to use her wits and cunning and every womanly charm and virtue to plow a path through a life in which her choice is limited to the decisions and dictates of first her father, her husband and finally her sister in law's husband and the King himself. Under Irish law, she has the right of refusal, but as Ireland comes under the sway and conquering of an English (Norman) King, even that is a privilege that will ultimately be denied her. Refusing to bow to this, she finds and acts in ways that will ensure the lives and succession of her children.

I thoroughly enjoyed this historical fiction based on the family which introduced the Norman conquering armies to Ireland, and thrilled to the fact that they were ever as hard to subdue to the will of an overlord as now. The wild Irish spirit stands strong in this epic tale. I found the bloodthirstiness of the Leister King more than a little difficult to stomach, although the author included the stories because their source seemed authentic. Certainly I am no lover of the graphic seeming violence that books about this medieval era seem to abound in, one can only assume that life and honour were held cheap and codes of honour in battle were as unlikely to be kept then as now. The difference is that in those days, they were not whitewashed in the heroic terms that became more fashionable as the Renaissance loomed. There were also interesting interplays between church and state described and a good depiction of the complex, ever changing politics of the 12th Century, where might was right.

I would be extremely keen to read more of Elizabeth Chadwick's stories of people related to those in this story. I believe there is a good historical fiction of the story of William Marshall, married to Aoife and Richard's daughter, Isabella, as well as Chronicles of Elinor of Aquitaine, Henry II's wife, who briefly cameos here.



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Brigid of Kildare by Heather Terrell

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


What a disappointment. Prepare for a bit of smite. This one star wonder was written by an author with lashings of creative imagination and absolutely no cohesive writing skills, such that are required to make a lot of conceived historical fantasy into something worth reading. Unfortunately, I eagerly chose this book because I wanted to learn more about Ireland in the 5th century and it looked like a fascinating read. I did my homework prior on the little known legend vs facts known about the history of Saint Brigid. Unfortunately this entirely fictitious work made absolutely no use of the stories passed down orally even, never mind any other more concrete historical evidence.

The biggest issues with the book about from historical inaccuracy (which may be forgiven if it is a work of fiction although I prefer my historical fiction to be well researched and based on fact because I love to learn) was the structure. Three separate voices are used as narrative. First, Decius tells his story of being sent by the Roman Church to report back on disturbing rumours of heresy in the far off island of Gael. His narrative is in the form of letters written to a brother and this was my favorite narrative in the book as it seemed the most rooted in historical accuracy and was the most interesting and relatable. Then there is Brigid’s story, but instead of allowing her to tell it in her own words or allowing another narrator to relate it, it is told in a very strange tense where we feel we are watching everything that is happening to her, but are entirely removed from being able to participate or emphasise with her, because she seems to have no real relations outside of our scrying glass view of her life. It is really odd and very distancing. It is in such a different tense and voice from that of Decius and also from the narrative of
Alex. Yes that’s right we also have the voice of a modern day relic investigator who has a story of her own to relate.

Frankly, none of the characters are particularly interesting, a number are quite repellent. Nothing interesting particularly happens. There are swathes and swathes of talk about different aspects of Catholic faith and apostate versions of ‘gospels’, religious beliefs about Mary worship and how and why they came about which seem entirely inaccurate to me, even with my basic understanding of Roman church history. The characters from the 5th century had very modern day ways of expressing themselves and of thinking and there was almost no exploration of their world, customs or cultures. The book jumped from stage to stage in the history of Brigid and turned what must have been a brave and driven woman of high ideals and purpose into a woman who follows her mothers’ direction, sees herself as a pagan style goddess who through this presentation can fascinate those around her to convert to her brand of worship and who ultimately regrets her vows when a very uninteresting man betrays a fascination for her that does not go beyond interest. What a sad portrayal of a woman who is purportedly trying to raise the role of women in the church. I’m not Catholic and do not take any interest in Saint worship. I speak only from the point of view of an observer hearing the constant fin of purpose and conviction dinned in my ear and never seeing any action or initiative except that purposed by a dominant mother or would be love. I did finish the book but would never be tempted to try another book by this author. It was disappointing drivel.



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Jemima; Great reviews! Good luck on your PHD. I still haven't finished up my HFU BA for 2019. Other books have distracted me!

Jemima: this is all very impressive and interesting!!! Great job thus far. I have no doubt you will complete this in style.

Chris wrote: "Jemima: this is all very impressive and interesting!!! Great job thus far. I have no doubt you will complete this in style."
Thanks Chris, I loved it because I read so many books I would never have found otherwise and there were some great gems there!


Peggy wrote: "Jemima; Great reviews! Good luck on your PHD. I still haven't finished up my HFU BA for 2019. Other books have distracted me!"

Yes I was swept away from finishing by the lure of feel good Christmas themed and Rom Com style books...It was all I wanted to read in December, January!

Review of Sand and Stone and The Siege - Both read for Zenobia - Coming soon.

Great job, it looks good.

Just come back after a long hiatus due not especially to COVID but due to the fact that I am doing a Masters of Teaching primary school and am currently on my final year. Progress on reading lists will still have to take second place to uni texts and work…I have a yearlong internship in a 3/4 grade classroom in addition to my usual gig teaching music at my regular schools. I’m super excited but a bit scared of how much work I will be doing this year. But I need some sanity and I’ve desperately missed my friends from Goodreads.

That's so exciting. I know the final year can be the scariest because it feels like there is so much to do. I'm sure you'll do wonderfully. Welcome back!