For all fans of historical fiction and especially readers of Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth
Monday, July 3, 2023
The White Ship by Nicholas Salaman
Vikings of the Irish Sea by David Griffiths
The book will look, in detail at the activities of the Vikings in Wales, North West England, the Isle of Man, Scotland and Ireland. The archaeological evidence such as silver hoards and burials, along with the evidence of place-names, settlement and sculpture provide a fascinating insight into the mechanisms of Viking power in these areas.
Charles Dickens Investigates - Series by JC Briggs
Author JC Briggs writes historical crime fiction. Her amateur detective is none other than the great Victorian novelist, Charles Dickens. Dickens was fascinated by crime and murder. He went out with the London Police into the grim slums of London and visited the police stations to see how they all worked. According to a recent biographer, Dickens would have enjoyed being a detective. I gave him his wish. He makes a good detective - he is very observant, very clever at working out motive and following the clues with his partner, Superintendent Jones of Bow Street. And Victorian London is a great setting for a murder mystery - all that fog and very sinister alleys. All the books are based on something which really happened in Dickens's life.
The series in order is as follows:
The Murder of Patience Brooke
London 1849: Charles Dickens has set up Urania Cottage as a sanctuary for fallen women. But he is shocked when the matron’s assistant – Patience Brooke – is found hanging outside the property, covered in blood.
Death at Hungerford Stairs
London 1849: When a boy is found drowned in the River Thames at Hungerford Stairs, novelist Charles Dickens and Superintendent Jones of Bow Street are mystified to discover that the child is not the missing youngster for whom they have been searching.
Murder by Ghostlight
London 1859: Charles Dickens is in Manchester, performing at the Queen’s Theatre with his acting group. But his career on the stage is cut short when a man is shot dead – on set.
The Quickening and the Dead
London 1850: Lavinia Gray vanishes on the eve of her wedding and is found drowned. Evie Finch dies of septicaemia in a filthy lodging house. Annie Deverall, a fifteen-year-old milliner’s apprentice is on remand in Newgate, accused of murdering the Doctor Lancelot Plume. Three young girls' lives have been ruined, but could they be connected somehow?
At Midnight in Venice
London 1850: An Italian music master and an English governess disappear from the house of Sir Neptune Fane, a prominent Member of Parliament. A female skeleton is found in a disused water tank behind a house which has been empty for five years. Her neck had been broken and found with a jeweled chain around it.
The Redemption Murders
London 1851: The Thames River Police are called to The Redemption, a ship docked at London’s Blackwall Reach. Louis Valentine, the ship’s captain, has been stabbed to death.
The Mystery of the Hawke Sapphire
London 1851: On his deathbed, the sinister Sir Gerald Hawke asks a distant cousin — Reverend Meredith Case — to find Sapphire, his long-lost ward and heir to the Hawke family jewels. Concerned for her welfare, Meredith vows to discover where Sapphire disappeared to.
The Chinese Puzzle
London 1851: The Great Exhibition has opened, and everyone is flocking to see the wonders on display. But when a potential Chinese assassin manages to get up close to Queen Victoria, and then vanishes without a trace, the Prime Minister orders an urgent investigation.
Summons to Murder
London 1851: Pierce Mallory, a gentleman journalist, is found dead in his lodgings with a gunshot wound in his head and a duelling pistol beside him. Though the death is deemed a suicide, Mallory’s friends — including Charles Dickens — don’t believe that he would have taken his own life.
The Jaggard Case
London 1851: With Superintendent Sam Jones away in Southampton on the trail of missing murderer Martin Jaggard, his wife, Elizabeth, enlists the help of Charles Dickens when her beloved servant, Posy, goes missing.
The Waxwork Man
Londong 1851: While visiting Madame Tussaud’s Chamber of Horrors, Charles Dickens crosses paths with Sir Fabian Quarterman, a judge famed for his ruthlessness in court. Then Fabian is found dead.
Murder by Magic
A short story featuring Charles Dickens and his friend, Superintendent Jones of Bow Street must find a serial killer before he murders again.
More details about each book can be found at the website of JC Briggs
Sunday, July 2, 2023
Review: The Vanished Settlers of Greenland by Robert Rix
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I came to this one through my reading of some of the medieval explorers - John de Mandeville, Marco Polo, Hugh Willoughby, Walter Raleigh and their ilk. And like many readers, I was fascinated by tales of lost cities of incalcuable wealth, whose demise was a mystery - shades of Atlantis, Crete, El Dorado, isolated worlds and utopias, and even Roanoke. So it was with keen anticipation that I was able to pick up this tome.
The scholarly tome is not a "search for" but a "look at" how this particular settlement of Greenland - or rather it vanished Norse settlement - became a cultural memory. This book provides a study of ".. how the memory of Greenland's "lost colony" was transmitted, interpreted and negotiated from the late sixteenth to the early twentieth century." In short, it looks at the Wests fascination and imagination of the Arctic and its peoples; it is a study of European misconceptions, legends, folklores; and of how contemporary scholarship fueled the germination of these legends. Rix then examines the cultivation of memories of the past and how they are often driven by national and geographical motivations before considering the "master trope" of the fabled lost settlement.
For those looking for something different - an analysis of the European interpretations of history and an idealised, poetic imagery of a land and its people that metamorphosed into fantastical whimsy presented as fact, then this is for you.
Review: Messalina by Honor Cargill-Martin
The scandalous image of the Empress Messalina as a ruthless and sexually insatiable schemer, derived from the work of Roman historians such as Tacitus and Suetonius, has taken deep root in the Western imagination. The stories they told about her included nightly visits to a brothel and a twenty-four-hour sex competition with a prostitute. Tales like these have defined the empress's legacy, but her real story is much more complex.
In her new life of Messalina, the classicist Honor Cargill-Martin reappraises one of the most slandered and underestimated female figures of ancient history. Looking beyond the salacious anecdotes, she finds a woman battling to assert her position in the overwhelmingly male world of imperial Roman politics – and succeeding. Intelligent, passionate, and ruthless when she needed to be, Messalina's story encapsulates the cut-throat political manoeuvring and unimaginable luxury of the Julio-Claudian dynasty in its heyday.
Cargill-Martin sets out not to 'salvage' Messalina's reputation, but to look at her life in the context of her time. Above all, she seeks to reclaim the humanity of a life story previously circumscribed by currents of high politics and patriarchy.
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Messalina - a name synonomous with notoriety, debauchery, and murder - a woman who - for many - was the epitome of all that was wrong with the Roman Empire. And like Jezebel and Eve, her reputation will be forever darkened, with no hope of redemption.
With her tome on Messalina, author Cargill-Martin has three main intents: she wants the reader to look at Messalina in the overall context of the period and her husband Claudius' reign; she seeks to address and examine Messalina's role; and she wants the explain to the reader the bias of the contemporary sources.
A quick google search will bring up a font of information on Messalina. For instance, Encyclopedia Britannica answers the question "what was Messalina famous for?" as:
Messalina Valeria, Messalina also spelled Messallina, (born before ad 20—died 48), third wife of the Roman emperor Claudius, notorious for licentious behaviour and instigating murderous court intrigues.
Whilst Encyclopedia dot com describes her as thus:
Roman empress, notorious for deviously influencing political affairs and for sexual indiscretions, who was executed for an alleged involvement in a plot to overthrow her husband Emperor Claudius.
Even good old Wikpedia uses language such as:
Messalina enters history with a reputation as ruthless, predatory and sexually insatiable ....
To give Wiki its due, it does at least list the original sources at the bottom of the article for those interested.
Messalin'a reputation - whether deserved or not - has already been decided for us, the reader, her behaviour spread out before us in great detail (akin to her legs in her competition with Rome's leading prostitute) by those writing her story. My questions is - did any of these contemporary (male) writers look at her behaviour in any form of context - or like today, did the downfall of the great and powerful make such good fodder for scandal?
Statue de Messaline par Eugène Cyrille Brunet
Lets be clear from the outset - Messalina is not a feminist role model - there is quite literally, too much sex and murder for her even to be considered as such. Does her reputation need rehabilitating or understanding? Quite possibly the latter. So who in fact was Messalina and what should her legacy look like?.
Cargill-Martin begins with the most obvious - Messalina's name and reputation, her vilification by a misogynistic and hypocritical patriarchy, who following her death, set about bastardising and destroying her history. Cargill-Martin then introduces us to the chroniclers both Greek and Latin - the ones who will tell her story - or at least their version of her story. We know history is written by the victors and written for a specific audience and patron - it was no different in the Classical period. Much of what was written about her was at a period of time when there was great hostility to the Claudio-Julian line. Most relied on second hand accounts, gossip and hearsay, filling in the blanks with fiction to make their tales more popular.
Then we begin ... with the end - the events leading to Messalina's eventual downfall in 48AD before we are catapulted back to Messalina's beginnings, of which very little is known prior to her marriage to Emperor Claudius in 38AD, aged 18 or 20 years old. And thus it is to her family and their position in Roman society that we must first look for clues and anecdotes relating to her childhood. What we do know is that for Roman women and girls, family defined their status and identity. A look at the reign of Emperor Tiberius and the notorious Sejanus follow. I recommended "I Claudius" by Robert Graves if you want a more "user friendly" version of this period, or check it out on YouTube. I remember watching this as a child - so much of an impact it made that I remember it still to this day - and as I was reading Cargill-Martin's book, it was the images and the actors from this series that populated my imagination.
The debauchery that was prevalent in the Roman Imperial Court did not begin nor end with Messalina. She was born into it, grew up within it, learned to survive it, and learned to use it. Cargill-Martin revisits the court of Caligula - "... a court built upon conspicuous consumption and sexual depravity ..." and demonstrates his arbitrary and immediate power over the life and death of his subjects, regardless of status and position. Caligula's reign fostered an atmosphere of fear, intrigue, paranoia, and murderous ambition. This was the court Messalina was forced to navigate as a young bride - her marriage to Claudius did not preclude any favouritism or guarantees of personal safety. So we the reader must see how this court, this reign, may have coloured Messalina's view of power and politics from any early period.
With the assassination of Caligula in 41AD - Claudius is now Roman Emperor. Previously, the likes of Livia and Octavia set the example of the role of women in public life. But now Messalina becomes active in both shaping and promoting the image of her husband's principate, whilst cultivating allies and rooting out and eliminating any threat to her, her children or to Claudius. Like his predecessors, Claudius' reign was born out of intrigue and violence, and relied upon both to maintain its stability.
Many commentators like to criticise Claudius for being in thrall to Messalina. But lets look at this somewhat objectively, Claudius was no catch - he is often described as having a limp and being slight deafness due to sickness at a young age, and he was ostracized by his family and excluded from public office. He was a scholarly hermit getting by - out of sight, out of mind. Messalina was a young, and we may assume, vibrant Roman girl, who entered into an arranged marriage with a dribbling man old enough to be her father. I am sure Claudius couldn't believe his luck!
Anyway, it wasn't just Messalina who held Claudius' attention - he was guided by his self-made men: Callistus, Pallas and Narcissus. These men were also out for power and maintaining that power by whatever means. What role models for the young Messalina! And as mentioned above, Livia was held up to be the epitome of Roman matronhood, a rle-model for an impressionable young girl - and with much hindsight, we all know about Livia!
Following a short-lived rebellion in 42AD, purges of enemies of the regime began - "justice was decidedly bloody" - even though many were starting to fear her power, can this all be attributed to Messalina, I think not. It was around this time that Cargill-Martin notes that Messalina was feeling confident in her position - she had healthy heirs, her rivals were dead or banished, and her position as wife of the Emperor was exalted. And personally, I think it all began to go to her head, and her cycle of self-destruction began from this point onwards.
Cargill-Martin reviews the Roman Laws around adultery and the alleged lovers of Messalina. To play devil's advocate here, one could suppose that so confident in her position was she, that Messalina used adultery as a political tool - a means of creating her own court faction, separate from Claudius' made-men. What is most curious is that around 47AD, Claudius assumes the role of censor - a role tasked with the maintenance of public morality! It has often been asked whether Claudius was aware of or encouraged his wife's immorality. I guess this is an answer only Claudius himself is privy too. I personally, find it hard to believe that he did not and that - at the time - it suited him to turn a blind eye. Messalina was an instrument in coalescing support for and removing enemies of his vulnerable regime - and she would always provide - when the time came - a more than adequate scape-goat.
Cargill-Martin now takes us back to the events leading up to Messalin'a fall. Her adultery is more brazen; the Senate turns on her agents and supporters; her instigation of the murder of one of their own has turned Rome's freeman against her; and then the is the "marriage" ceremony with Silas / Silius.
The historian Tacitus (Tacitus, Annals, 11.26) thus writes:
I know it will seem incredible that, in a city as watchful as Rome, anyone could have felt so safe. Far more so, that on a specified day, with witnesses in attendance, a consul designate and the emperor’s wife should have met for the avowed purpose of legitimate marriage. That the woman should have listened to the words of the auspices, assumed the veil, performed sacrificed to the Heavens. That both should have dined with the guests, have kissed and embraced, and finally have spent the night in the licence of wedlock. But I have added no touch of fantasy: all that I record shall be the oral or written evidence of my seniors.
In what context was this "marriage" performed - as some Bacchanal ritual or a slap in the face to Claudius, was it to gratify her sexual needs or cement an alliance for the protection of herself and her son following Claudius' (eventual) death. Whatever the reason, Claudius had finally had enough - retribution and punishment were swift. Messalina was dispatched.
The Senate then agreed to remove all traces of her existence through a practice we now refer to as damnatio memoriae. Messalina's name was chiseled out of all official inscriptions; coins that bore her name and image were defaced; and many of her portraits were mutilated and vandalized until her likeness became as unrecognizable as her reputation.
Following the death of Messalina, Claudius remarries - this time, his niece Agrippina, mother of Nero. Here Cargill-Martin talks about reputation, and the obvious comparisons between Agrippina and Messalina that written about. Cargill-Martin covers off the period following the death of Claudius in 54AD, the rise of Nero, the assassination of Messalina's son, Britannicus in 55AD, and the fates of the other main players in Messalina's story. The final part of the book looks at the personification of Messalina - the ancient femme fatale, the woman who embodied carnal desire, and her representation by later artists, writers, composers and film-makers.
Messalina is the perfect case study both of the perils of Roman womanhood and of the peculiar sensuous and paranoid world of Rome's first dynasty.
I cannot recommend this book enough if you - the reader - would like to draw aside the curtain and look inside the world that this woman was born into, lived and died in. Look at her life in the context of this before judging her actions too puritanically. Could you have survived in such an environment and come out smelling like roses?
Read more
Saturday, July 1, 2023
Review: The Girls Who Fought Crime by Maj. Gen Mari K Eder
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Unfortunately, this failed to hit the mark for me.
Whilst to narrative had more of a conversational flow, which was easy enough to follow, it lacked specific details, which were probably not readily available. In fact, author Eder alerts the reader to this from the very start. Based upon that fact alone, Eder might have done better to focus on the "girls" of the title and include more on those she has mentioned the text, using Foley and key points in Foley's life with which to anchor the narrative.
Further reading:
Annual Report. New York Police Department. 1918. p. 85.
More publication can be found at the same website by New York (N.Y.). Police Department.
Review: King John's Right Hand Lady by Sharon Bennett Connolly
Nicholaa de la Haye was a staunch supporter of King John, remaining loyal to the very end, even after most of his knights and barons had deserted him.
A truly remarkable lady, Nicholaa was the first woman to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Her strength and tenacity saved England at one of the lowest points in its history. Nicholaa de la Haye is one woman in English history whose story needs to be told…
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My initial problem is with the title: King John's Right Hand Lady.
Whilst the historical Nicholaa / Nicola / Nichola was a loyal supporter of King John, to say that she was his "right hand" - his "Sir Hiss" or his "Sheriff of Nottingham" to use more populist references - would be highly incongruous. Roger of Wendover's "abbetors of iniquity" list does not mention Nicholaa, and at Runnymeade it is Archibishop Langton, William Marshall and Hubert de Burgh who are acknowledged as his advisors. So I am at a loss as to where Nicholaa sits in all of this - even more so when the author claims both Nicholaa and John "worked in harmony". We need to remember that hers was a "deathbed appointment" by a King eager to shore up support for his infant son and heir at a time when said monarch found a distinct lack of support from all the usual suspects.
That she was a remarkable woman in her right, there is no doubt. However, its all well and good to bring forth a tome on a notable person, but to ascribe to them more than their due is being disingenuous to the reader and playing fast, loose and false with the subject at hand.
Now for the rest: the tome contains lots of events not directly linked to Nicholaa; lots of repetition of information; and lots of information of family and familial connections. If you have read any of Bennett Connolly's other books on the period you will notice that they all cross over into each other, containing the same information, on the same people, over the same period. "But this her area afterall" I hear you say. Sure - that's fine, but each tome doesn't need to feel like it needs to include the previous ones as part of it. The chapter on the "legacy" was superfluous and was most likely taken from her previous tome on the de Warennes.
The extent of research is evident ... literally! But there is just not enough on Nicholaa to cover the 180 odd ages of relevant text. History is littered with many similar such stories if you go searching for them - this is just one.
Review: Cleopatra's Daughter by Jane Draycott
In 1895, archaeologists excavating a villa outside Pompeii discovered a hoard of Roman silverware. In the centre of one dish was a female figure with thick, curly hair, deep-set eyes, a slightly hooked nose and a strong jaw, and sporting an elephant scalp headdress. Modern scholars believe this woman is Cleopatra Selene, daughter of the infamous Cleopatra and Mark Antony.
Using this discovery as her starting-point, Jane Draycott recreates the life and times of a remarkable woman. Unlike her siblings, who were either executed as threat to Rome's new ruler, Augustus, or simply forgotten, Cleopatra Selene survived and prospered. She was a princess who became a prisoner; a prisoner who became a queen; an Egyptian who became Roman; and a woman who became a powerful ruler in her own right at a time when women were marginalised. Her life shines new light on the conflict between the politics, culture and history of Rome and Egypt, as well as the relationship between Rome and one of its most significant allied kingdoms, Mauretania.
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Cleopatra Selene ... " ... born a princess of one of the most ancient kingdoms in the classical world, only to lose her entire family, her birthright and her rank, and become a Roman prisoner, and succeed in being crowned Queen of an entirely different and brand new kingdom, and rule it successfully for two decades ..."
I really enjoyed this book on one of history's more neglected personalities. Overshadowed by her more famous mother, Cleopatra Selene lived in most interesting times - a period when Egypt, a mighty empire in its own right, came into conflict with another stronger nation whose imperical aspirations would dominate both the region and her life.
Draycott utilises what is readily available - archaeological evidence, historical documents and contemporary histories - to flesh out the life of this cultured and politically astute woman. However, as with many women throughout history, actual, verifiable evidence is often lacking, making the retelling more general than specific. Many women are often overshadowed by either famous parents, siblings or marriage partner, and Cleopatra Selene is one. As a result, Draycott uses more generalised knowledge to re-imagine what her life may have looked like - and that is fine, as long as this is not taken for actual fact.
From the very little we know of Cleopatra Selene, we know she is a survivor, a diplomat, and an astute ruler. As a result of her hard work, Mauretania became wealthy - especially through the export of purple dye - and she attracted many intellectuals and scholars. Juba himself was said to have been highly educated as a result of his time spent in Rome as a "spoil of war" following the death of his father. We can only assume that Cleopatra Selene's intent was to re-create her lost homeland of Egypt in this new kingdom of hers.
Cleopatra Selene II died fairly young, and we are left wondering about what could have been had she lived longer - would she have achieved a greatness to rival her mother and namesake - we will never know. This is a worthy tome to pick up if this is your area of interest or if long lost historical women are on your research radar.
See also article by Jane Draycott for History Today.
Review: Carmen and Grace by Melissa Coss Aquino
Durka is more than a beneficent force in their Bronx neighborhood though. She’s also the leader of an underground drug empire, a larger-than-life matriarch who understands the vital importance of taking what power she can in a world too often ruled by violent men. So, when Durka dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances, Carmen and Grace’s lives are thrown into chaos. Grace has been primed to take over and has grand plans to expand the business. While Carmen is ready to move on—from the shadow of Durka and her high expectations, and most of all, from always looking over her shoulder in fear. She’s also harboring a secret: she’s pregnant and starting to show, and desperate to build a new life before the baby arrives.
But how can Carmen leave the only family she’s ever known, this tight sisterhood of women known as the D.O.D, a group of lost girls turned skilled professionals under Durka’s guiding hand, all tightly bonded in their spirituality and merciless support for one another—especially now, when outside threats are circling, and Grace’s plans are speeding recklessly forward.
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This one packs a punch!
Two girls, living in the Bronx's Puerto Rican community, find that their lives take a turn - for better or worse is a matter of semantics - when the benevolent, mother-figure and protector, Dona Durka takes them under her wing. But Dona Durka is a hardened drug boss, and their girls are part of the DOD - Daughters of Durka, a sisterhood of street-toughs, banded together by friendship, loyalty and culture. It is only after the death of Dona Durka that two of the girls - Grace and Carmen - must make a decision - to stay or go.
This is a powerful debut novel that explores the complexities of sisterhood, culture and upbringing, of loyalties and the ties that bind. No decision is easily made and all decisions have consequences, not just for the self but for others.
Definitely a must read!