Druon M, The Strangled Queen, Historical Fiction (Harper: 2013), tr. Humphrey Hare
Link :Amazon, Goodreads. Price: £7.99
Philip the Fair is dead, and his feeble, sadistic son Louis X is King of France. Even though France is in the grip of Famine, and divided between warring factions at court, Louis is obsessed with the state of his marriage. His first wife cuckolded him and has been confined to a monastery, he cannot have the marriage annulled as there is no Pope, and he lacks the political and financial power to install a new Pope. Will victory for this weak-minded King be the beginning of the end for France?
I have spoken elsewhere of how Druon is both a fabulous historian and writer, and this book reads just as well as the first in the Accursed Kings series. It does, however, face a particular problem: the reader already knows the outcome. You do not need to know anything of the history of France to be aware that if a King wants rid of one wife to replace with another, he is going to get his way. Plus, there is the title of the book.
Druon’s clever solution is to tell you straight away. He is totally up front about how things are going to work out for Louis (in this regard), and the long-term consequences for France. This lets him concentrate on the ancillaries, the nobles and clergymen and bankers, fighting one another to be the one to realise or defy the Kings wishes, and whether or not they will survive them. It makes for compelling reading – almost like wondering who will get off the Titanic. This is a time when life is precarious and power fleeting, and I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns on the way to the strangling of the Queen.
Rating: *****
Norrie J, The Magic Carpet, (Indie:2019)
Link: Amazon, Goodreads. Price £9.99
London, 2016, and a community primary school sets its eight-year olds a project: to adapt a traditional fairy tale for the school festival. But this is not a united community. Adults and children with different ethnicities and backgrounds are struggling with all the problems with family life in an England that seems to be becoming increasingly hostile to anything they define as “foreign” (be they born in England or not.) Will the story of The Magic Carpet draw these families together or will the strands fall apart?
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In this article I’m going to break a golden rule and talk about a negative review I received. Normally talking about reviews of your own books is not a good idea. However, I do think it’s important that we talk about how useful and positive a negative review can be.
I want to talk about this review because I think it’s great example of how a review from someone who didn’t like the book but wrote something useful and positive thing for both authors and readers. I have nothing but appreciation for the reviewer, who took the time both the read my book and write about it, and I hope that the readers of my blog will show this reviewer the same respect.
This particular review will form a kernel around which I talk about the relationship between authors and reviewers, and how to deal with other sorts of negative reviews. Once again, please let me emphasise that this is not an attack on the reviewer, who I believe wrote and an excellent and accurate description of why they didn’t enjoy the book as much as others might. The main objective is to show why their critique is so well written, how to see the positives in someone not liking what you wrote (and potential lessons to learn), and then look more broadly at negative reviews.
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Maristed K, Broken Ground, Literary Fiction (Shoemaker & Horn 2003)
Out of print
I would really appreciate your help with this book. Read on to find out why.
Kaethe, half German and half American, returns to modern Berlin to find her estranged adult daughter. She has no clues, no friends, no means to be certain her daughter wants to be found. As her quest flounders and her money runs out, she finds herself lost in memories of divided Germany and a betrayed marriage
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SKY P.J., A Girl Called Ari, Science Fiction (Indie:2020)
Link :Amazon, Price at time of Review: £6.99
Starla lives a privileged life as the mayor’s daughter in the city, an enormous walled community protected from the wasteland and pestilence outside – and from which, once exiled, you may never return. A botched kidnapping attempt leaves her lost in the desert, where she is reluctantly rescued by Ari, a tough young woman who has been surviving alone since childhood. They agree that Ari will guide Starla back to the city if Starla guarantees Ari will be allowed entry. But the journey is long, hard, fraught with danger, and neither can predict how it will change them.
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