Vipsania: a Roman odyssey
Jasper Burns, Pietas Publications, 2006, $18.95, pb, 232pp, 0978549503
This novel explores the lives of Tiberius, second emperor of the Roman Empire who reigned A.D. 14-37, and his first wife, Vipsania, whom he divorced against his will. The basis of the story revolves around an assumption that Tiberius never stopped loving Vipsania and that his mysterious actions later in life related to Vipsania were based on this devotion and love for her.
    The author will publish a related book on this subject, Great Women of Imperial Rome: Mothers and Wives of the Caesars, through Routledge in 2007. In the press release, a number of key points are presented by the author concerning Tiberius’s actions related to Vipsania: The fact that he divorced his second wife, Julia, soon after their marriage and never remarried; that Tiberius retired to Rhodes the same year that Vipsania’s new husband became governor there; and that ten years after Vipsania’s death, Tiberius imprisoned her first husband and executed a number of men he had known thirty years before during his time on Rhodes.
    This is an intriguing book built around a number of recorded historical facts.
Brad Eden

Knight of the temple
Stuart J. Dimmock, Trafford, 2006, $17.13, pb, 209pp, 1412063175
William Stanley is a Knight Templar who has been assigned to investigate the murder of a papal commissioner on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route. The setting is medieval Spain, and Stanley must go into Spain’s lawless wastelands in order to find the killer. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that the case is not a simple murder, but a major conspiracy between the Church and the Templars. Stanley must defy his superior’s orders to discover the real motives behind the killing and must eventually chose between his knight’s oath of chivalry and his vows as a Templar.
    The author provides a map of the Camino de Santiago and of the major cities cited throughout the novel. He also includes a glossary of terms and a typical day in the life of a medieval Templar according to the Rule of St. Benedict. Knight of the Temple is a nicely-woven drama and medieval historical novel.
Brad Eden

Court of miracles: a human comedy of 17^th-century France
Brigitte Goldstein, Xlibris, 2004, $32.99, hb, 371pp, 1413447198
This novel of 17^th-century French royalty is centered on the characters of the Marquis and Marquise de Valinquette. In 1661, the boy king Louis XIV has reached his majority. The social center of Paris is the Marquise’s Hotel de Valinquette, where her soirees and parties are the hit of the town and all artists and noblemen swear their undying love to her. But beneath all of this festive activity, the Marquise is unhappy and loveless. When an old friend of the Marquis, Guibert, the Count de Mallac, appears and presses his advantage, the Marquise falls for his charms and succumbs to his advances. The story revolves around these three characters, going deeper than the rivalry and duel between the Marquis and the Count, to the Marquise’s own past in the Court of Miracles, a kingdom of thieves and beggars that makes up the underground of Paris at this time.
     The characters challenge the assumptions of their time period, not content with their station or their pedigree. It is a finely-woven and action-packed drama that is at times humorous, yet sad in its telling.
Brad Eden

PRINCESS OF THE BLOOD
Brigitte Goldstein, Xlibris, 2005, $29.69, hb, 374pp, 1413484557
Orphan Sandrine Legrand knows little of her past, and neither do her adoptive parents, a cruel innkeeper and his unhappy wife. Raised a peasant in a small French village, she passes her time lost in books, much to the dismay of her parents. When the army of the Catholic League visits her town and takes shelter in her parents’ inn, an encounter with Philippe de Treffort, a charismatic nobleman and military leader, sets a series of events in motion that reveal her mysterious past. 
     The book gets off to a somewhat slow start, and the story occasionally veers into melodramatic territory, but Goldstein’s characters bring a very human face to the religious strife of late 16^th to early 17^th-century France. Goldstein’s academic background in French history is apparent from the amount of historical detail in the novel. The writing is solid and the story is generally engaging, and readers will wonder what mishaps will befall Sandrine on her way to a reunion with her beloved Philippe. Recommended for fans of traditional historical romance, especially romances where star-crossed lovers overcome every possible obstacle to reunite with one another.
Nanette Donohue

To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis & Clark
Frances Hunter, Blind Rabbit Press, 2006, $20, pb, 386pp, 977763625
This story begins in 1809 St. Louis, three years after Lewis and Clark finish their expedition to the Pacific coast. It is a time of heavy responsibility for Lewis, as governor of Upper Louisiana. Political intrigue and personal demons dog his heels as he tries to keep Clark free from the influence of evil men such as James Wilkinson. Lewis, in desperation, finally decides that he must take his beloved journals to Thomas Jefferson by way of the Natchez Trace. While it is true that Lewis died on the Natchez Trace, the author completely fictionalizes the particulars of the trip, yet makes her theory very plausible.
      In this book, Hunter attempts to explain the mystery surrounding Lewis’s death in the wilderness, yet, the story is more than a whodunit. It is also an exploration of Lewis and Clark’s legendary friendship and Clark’s effort to save Lewis from a tortured fate. The story explores the personal tensions in these great men’s lives, the political tensions rocking the United States in that era, and recreates the raucous atmosphere of the early 1800s.
     The author gets the feel of the era right, making her own judgments about the hot-headed Clark and the ravaged Lewis. The story is one for readers who love adventure, interesting settings, a little romance, blood and gore, and characters who live life largely. It is a page-turner until the end and leaves one yearning to know more about Lewis’s mental health and the first journey that Lewis and Clark so successfully took together.
Naomi Theye

SHOREHAM AT WAR: THE PEOPLE OF SHOREHAM, KENT 1939-1945
Edited by Edward James, Shoreham & District Historical Society, 2006, £9.99, hb, 216pp, 095394323
This nonfiction account of Shoreham at war (WWII) covers a wide range of topics from the wartime topography of the village; the lives of children, including evacuees; life on the home front; and bombs falling to POWs. There is historical information and personal vignettes of villagers and “incomers.” Just what it was like to live under heavy bombardment is made all the more immediate by the accounts of those who lived through it. There are also lighter moments, such as strawberry pickers teasing visiting U.S. soldiers.
     The nonfiction book is firmly grounded in the “lived” lives of the folk of Shoreham. I found it a fascinating read. I was impressed with the way in which the book gives information on the war, sensitive to the fact that younger readers may not be as well versed in wartime history as older readers. This is admirably interspersed with the personal accounts and other insights so that there is plenty for everyone. Dear to my heart are the beautifully produced maps as endpapers. Writers researching this period or this area will find plenty of interesting material and a great deal of inspiration. All those who read it will find inspiration in the accounts of these ordinary people living extraordinary lives.
Geraldine Perriam

The Better Angels
Robert A. Mills, 1stBooks, 2000, $9, pb, 443pp, 1587213729
Martin Eden and Lamont Cranston (known as Shadow) are two teenage boys during the World War II era. The book, set in 1943 in the American South, becomes a suspenseful novel filled with action, romance, comedy, and drama. Mills writes of a time when the “better angels of our nature,” of an entire nation, came of age.
      When Marty and Shadow learn that the Navy is going to auction off rejected Jeeps, they decide one of those Jeeps will be theirs. All caution is thrown to the wind as the boys get 25-cent driver’s licenses, steal money from the Chinese laundromat, and become expert liars in order to get onto the Naval Base for the sale. The storyline escalates from there, pushing the reader to believe against all odds. What chance does a 17-year-old high school kid have of safely landing an Avenger? Or what are the odds that the boys and their families will be at President Roosevelt’s Biltmore House at the moment his life is in danger? Surprisingly, Mills makes the reader want to believe the entire story!
      The dialogue is humorous and given validity by occasional phonetic translations of the tidewater dialect. Choosing “Martin Eden” and “Lamont Cranston” for the boys’ names is an interesting play on the people and the times. Mills has a wonderful way of placing the reader in the 1940s. Descriptions of fashion, music, radio, and the way people in the lower middle class reacted to the war are written with an excellent ear for the period. This story will appeal to readers of suspense, thrillers, and fiction.
Naomi Theye

THE WOMAN IN THE WILDERNESS
Jonathan D. Scott, Middleton Books, 2005, $25.95, hb, 304pp, 0971667754
Johannes Kelpius is the magistrar of a religious sect called the Chapter of Perfection. Its members come to the New World in 1694 to escape religious persecution in Germany, but still find corruption and intolerance in Germantown, Pennsylvania, where they create a community nearby soon named by the colonists “The Woman in the Wilderness.” Lydia Bielen is a descendant of one of the original group who receives unexplained relics from her dying aunt. Lydia spends her life seeking the history of these items beginning in 1815 and continuing until she unravels the mystery in 1904.
      The author uses the conventions of narration, correspondence, and journal entries during both timelines to convey the story. His extensive research, which is annotated and cited in the back of the book, recreates the life of Kelpius, a Pietest mystic and hymn writer, and other notable Pietests and historical figures of that era.
      Anyone who enjoys exploring different aspects of religious theology will find this book captivating, as the differences between the Quakers, Anglicans, and Pietists are often debated. This intriguing novel also illustrates how religious freedom in this country has not always been as liberal as it is right now.
Suzanne Sprague

Vedette: or Conversations with the Flamenco Shadows
Stephen Siciliano, iUniverse, Inc., 2004, $21.95, pb, 369pp, 0595315119
On the surface, Vedette is the tale of a girl who grows and matures through the tumultuous times of the Spanish Revolution. The novel follows Vedette from her humble peasant origins to flamenco singer and dancer and ultimately to being the sole survivor of an idealistic, but doomed, revolutionary movement.
    Vedette is more than a protagonist. She is a metaphor of the all the ideals of Andalusia and embodies the diversity of cultures, the music, the contradictions, and the simmering passion that characterizes the region. She moves in the story as a muse and a catalyst of events far beyond the reaches of a normal woman.
   The author has made this more of an immersive experience than a simple novel. The book includes hand-drawn illustrations of objects in the story, poetry, song lyrics, Spanish idioms, and a musical CD which was included with the review copy. The author uses the dreamy hallucinatory imagery of magical realism against the harsh and gruesome realities of revolution to create a captivating dynamic that will jar and interest readers. The novel remains apolitical for the most part, telling the tale of a revolution through sensual experience instead of political discourse.
   Masterfully, the author weaves together a vibrant world that touches on the fantastic around the experiences of Vedette. The metaphors are tight and well constructed throughout the novel, though the imagery and pacing are a little slow on occasion. Overall the story is engrossing, and in the end, haunting, as it addresses history and the passage of time.
Amanda Yesilbas

My Father’s Keeper
Kip Vander Hyde, Sea Lark Press, 2005, $24.95, hb, 449pp, 0977245101
The novel follows Jack MacMillian, a rich and spoiled retired businessman, as he is mystically transported sixty years back in time to participate in one of the United States' most costly and defining campaigns in the South Pacific, Guadalcanal. In the past, Jack befriends his teenage father, from whom he is estranged in the present, and forges a deep bond of love and friendship. Through the trials of the war Jack gains perspective about what is valuable in life.
     The setup of the story is rather awkward, and Jack’s character is such an embodiment of all the petty wrongs in the modern world that he is an unlikable caricature. However once the fantastical stage is set and the characters are in place, the book does finally hit its stride. The novel blossoms as it explores the often overlooked act of male friendship and camaraderie. Relationships bloom through juvenile pranks and the stark reality of the horror of war. The metaphysical journey of Jack, facilitated by an Australian aborigine doctor with a shamanistic personality, attempts to add a new twist to the often-retread WWII accounts.
    While the story and tales of the characters are often not original, they are still moving as they touch on the universal feelings of love, honor, sadness, and sacrifice. The well-researched book will appeal to those with an interest in WWII and those who enjoy novels about camaraderie and sacrifice.
Amanda Yesilbas

BROTHER WILLIAM'S WAR
William J Watson, Broken Lance Enterprises, 2003, $12.95, pb, 216pp, 0977489205
This well-researched novel describes the experiences of William Coleman of Chester, South Carolina, a soldier in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Coleman was a real person, and the novel, written in the first person as if it were Coleman's journal, is highlighted with extracts from an essay written by his sister fifty years later, recounting her memories of the war.
    Coleman was a reluctant volunteer in the Confederate Army in 1861, having been effectively blackmailed by his employer to join up. We follow him and his unit, the 6^th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry, from their training and first engagement at Fort Sumter all the way through the war. Like all soldiers in the field, Coleman was concerned about where the next meal was coming from, and as much space is devoted to the search for food and the fight against corruption in the Army's food supply chain as is to battle scenes. These scenes are well written and provide a good view of events from Coleman's lowly perspective.
    During his research Watson discovered (and included) some surprising aspects of life in the Confederate Army, such as the presence of black soldiers. Unfortunately, he doesn't make as much use of this material as he could have, and the novel suffers from a weak plot and indifferent characterization. It could also have done with more rigorous editing.
    Nevertheless, those who are interested in this period will find much to entertain them in this novel.
Cas Stavert

CHILDREN'S AND YOUNG ADULT NOVELS

MAGGIE ROSE AND SASS
Eunice Boeve, PublishAmerica, 2005, pb, 144pp, 1413779646
Set in 1888, this novel is about two twelve-year-old girls coming to terms with their cultural and racial differences.
      Maggie Rose has been brought up in Georgia by her grandmother, a hard, embittered old woman who despises all black people. On the death of her grandmother she goes to live with her uncle, aunt, and young cousins in Kansas, in a town where the vast majority of its citizens are black. Things start off badly when Maggie Rose rejects a tentative friendly approach out of shyness.  Sass misinterprets this and forever afterwards refers to her as Miss Uppity White Girl. It takes a tragedy before Maggie Rose and Sass reach an understanding.
      Black history is woven skilfully into the story. There is a detailed description of the Celebration, which is a two-day gathering held out in the open on the prairie. There is feasting and dancing but there is a serious side, too, when there is a play and songs which tell the story both of the settling of Solomon Town and of the Emancipation of the slaves. Then later there is a description of the commencement – when the senior school pupils receive their certificates. Before this the women of the town display their quilts – quilts which are stories of their heritage, their history.
      This is all worked out against the background of ordinary life in a Kansas small town in the 1880s with its dugout houses on the prairies, talk of whether the railroad was going to come to Solomon Town and the hardships of a long winter.
      The novel comes with a historical note. Solomon Town is based on Nicodemus, Kansas, an all-black town settled by ex-slaves in 1877.
      Well researched and handled very sensitively. Very highly recommended. Ages 11+.
Mary S. Moffat

CHARIOT BOY AND THE WARRIOR QUEEN
Charles Jackson, Matador, 2006, £5.99, 120pp, 1905237
Thirteen-year-old Gareth is a slave of the Iceni tribe. He works in the Queen’s chariot yard. When Boudicca leaves on her rebellion against the Romans, Gareth goes with her army to help repair any broken chariots. In London he finds a Roman girl who has survived the carnage and decides to try to help her to escape. After several adventures they eventually catch up with the Roman Army. Paula, the Roman girl, is the daughter of an army officer, and an escort is found to take her to a place of safety  with the baggage wagons. Gareth becomes separated from the escort and  finds himself caught between the two armies – just as the  battle is about to begin. Somehow he manages to remain alive. Then suddenly Queen Boudicca’s war chariot appears. Without thinking, Gareth leaps aboard and takes the place of her dead charioteer. Gareth finds himself falling under the Queen’s spell, and he drives the distraught Boudicca back to her palace.
   What happens when they get to the palace? And does Gareth ever see Paula again?
   This story is intended for young children, and it is simply told. Nevertheless it does give a good picture of Boudicca’s revolt. The campaign and Boudicca’s final battle are well described. The brutalities of the Iceni when they capture Colchester are mentioned, but, bearing in mind that this is for young children, no actual details are given.
   This story is full of action and moves at a good pace. It has an authentic background and Gareth and Paula really come to life. It could, however, do with some historical notes and maps. But overall it gives a readable account of Boudicca’s revolt for the young.  Ages 9 to 11.
Mary S. Moffat

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