Every week Tanzanite features upcoming historical fiction and history related non-fiction books that have come to her attention and may be of interest to others. Since she has an out of control TBR pile, so should everyone else!
Attilla: The Gathering Storm by William Napier. US release June 8, 2010 (this was released in the UK in 2007). AD 441: The Roman Empire, though bruised and battered, is far from defeated. Though her coffers are empty, the Visigoths and the Vandals are settling peacefully within her borders, no longer enemies. It is another tribe that will bring down this thousand-year-old colussus: a tribe from far to the East - united under one leader for the first time. For Attila has returned... In exile, he has wandered for thirty years with his anger and ambition growing day by day. Now he has returned to seize the throne. He will bring together all the Hunnish clans across the vast wilderness of Scythia, and hammer them into a single mightly army. Only then will he finally turn to face the tottering Roman Empire.
Nemesis by Lindsey Davis. UK release June 3, 2010; US release August 31, 2010. The 20th book in the bestselling Falco detective series.
In the high summer of 77AD, Roman informer Marcus Didius Falco is beset by personal problems. Newly bereaved and facing unexpected upheavals in his life, it is a relief for him to consider someone else's misfortunes. A middle-aged couple who supplied statues to his father, Geminus, have disappeared in mysterious circumstances. They had an old feud with a bunch of notorious freedmen, the Claudii, who live rough in the pestilential Pontine Marshes, terrorizing the neighborhood. When a mutilated corpse turns up near Rome, Falco and his vigiles friend Petronius investigate, even though it means traveling in the dread marshes. But just as they are making progress, the Chief Spy, Anacrites, snatches their case away from them. As his rivalry with Falco escalates, he makes false overtures of friendship, but fails to cover up the fact that the violent Claudii have acquired corrupt protection at the highest level. Making further enquiries after they have been warned off can only be dangerous -- but when did that stop Falco and Petronius? Egged on by the slippery bureaucrats who hate Anacrites, the dogged friends dig deeper while a psychotic killer keeps taking more victims, and the shocking truth creeps closer and closer to home.
Dark Moon of Avalon by Anne Elliott. US and UK release September 14, 2010. (Cover subject to change.) Second installment in trilogy. Reunited after a hard-fought but tenuous victory, the young former High Queen Isolde and her friend and protector Trystan are sent on a dangerous quest to keep Lord Marche from usurping the throne of Britain through the brute force of his Saxon allies. This time, they must act as diplomats, persuading the rulers of each of the smaller kingdoms, from Ireland to Cornwall, that their loyalty to King Madoc is needed to keep Britain from the hands of a despot. With the combined influences of Isolde's cunning wit and talent for healing, and Trystan's strength and bravery, they must win the loyalty of a kingdom to fight for the side of right. . Though Trystan has protected his identity for years, he has been exposed to the one person he's feared the most - his father, Lord Marche, who now understands the threat his estranged son will prove to be. With admissions of love hanging in the air, both Trystan and Isolde feel that their presence puts the other at greater risk. But when their situation is at its most desperate, they must finally confront their true feelings towards each other, in time for a battle that will test the strength of their will and their hearts.
The True Memoirs of Little K by Adrienne Sharp. US and UK release October 26, 2010. Ninety-nine years old, with a sharp memory for every jewel she owned and every conquest she made, Mathilde Kschessinska—prima ballerina assoluta of the long-vanished Russian Imperial Ballet—sits down to write her memoirs. And what a life it has been. The greatest dancer of the age, her scything technique caught the eye—and heart—of one Nikolai Romanov when she was only seventeen years old. When Nikolai ascended the throne as czar and was forced to give up his mistress, she turned her gaze on his cousins, the grand dukes; despite betraying each man with the other, her loyalty to Niki never wavered. As the last czar presided over a fatally crumbling empire, her devotion to the imperial family was tested in ways she could never have foreseen.In Adrienne Sharp’s richly imagined novel, we see the seething beginnings of revolution and the blind giddiness of a doomed court. Based on fact, The True Memoirs of Little K is historical fiction as it’s meant to be written: passionately eventful and alive with emotions that resonate today. It is a magnificent entertainment.
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Attila: The Judgement by William Napier. US release October 26, 2010; was released in the UK in 2008. AD 449: the future of the world hangs in the balance. The once mighty Roman Empire lies open and vulnerable to attack from a huge Hunnish army that has gathered on the banks of the Danube and is poised and ready to strike - but only one man has seen the danger. Master-General Aetius knows Attila still thirsts for blood and destruction, but he is helpless to stop the the pending onslaught. For Atilla plans to march on the mighty city of Rome, the very heart of the empire. but is the risk too high, even for the most battle-hardened of warlords? Attila's choices play out on the plains Europe where he must ultimately face his destiny.
Valley Forge by Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen. US and UK release November 9, 2010. The second novel in the George Washington series by the New York Times bestselling authors of To Try Men’s Souls. In To Try Men’s Souls, Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen cast a new light on the year 1776 and the man who would become the father of our nation, George Washington. Valley Forge picks up the narrative a year after Washington’s triumphant surprise attack on Trenton, and much has changed since then.
It’s the winter of 1777, and Washington’s battered, demoralized army retreats from Philadelphia. Arriving at Valley Forge, they discover that their repeated requests for a stockpile of food, winter clothing, and building tools have been ignored by Congress. With no other options available, the men settle down for a season of agony. For weeks the dwindling army lives under tents in the bitter cold. Food runs out. The men are on the point of collapse, while in Philadelphia the British, joined by Allen van Dorn, the Loyalist brother of the dead patriot, Jonathan van Dorn, live in luxury. In spite of the suffering and deceit, Washington endures all, joined at last by a volunteer from Germany, Baron von Steuben. Von Steuben begins the hard task of recasting the army as a professional fighting force capable of facing the British head-on—something it has never accomplished before—and in the process he will change the course of history. Valley Forge is a tour-de-force about endurance, survival, transformation, and rebirth. Washington and his Continental Army, against all odds, will be forged into a fighting force that will win a revolution.
The Lion of Cairo by Scott Oden. US release December 7, 2010; UK release July 22, 2010. Book One of the Emir of the Knife trilogy— a vivid and gripping tale of enchantment and Arabian Nights-style intrigue. On the banks of the ageless Nile, from a palace of gold and lapis lazuli, the young Caliph rules as a figurehead over a crumbling empire. Cairo is awash in deception. In the shadow of the Gray Mosque, generals and emirs jockey for position under the scheming eyes of the powerful grand vizier. Egypt bleeds and the scent draws her enemies in like sharks. Yet, the Caliph has an unexpected ally—the Old Man of the Mountain who holds the power of life and death over the warring factions of the Moslem world, and he sends his greatest weapon into Egypt. He sends a single man. An Assassin. The one they call the Emir of the Knife.... Like the works of Robert E. Howard and Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road, Oden masterfully blends history and adventure to create a rollicking tale of intrigue and thunderous battle set against the true jewel of the Arabian Nights, medieval Cairo.
Merlin: Demon's Gift by M.K. Hume. UK release September 30, 2010. The legend begins...The first book in a thrilling new trilogy from the author of the epic King Arthur series. In the kingdom of Dyfed, Vortigern, Celtic High King of Cymru and the North, rules in relative peace. Yet his choice of wife – a Saxon queen – fuels tension between the Saxon and Celtic tribes. In the town of Segontium, a young boy is raised by his grandmother. The product of a brutal rape, he is spurned by his mother as a demon child. The boy is Myrddion – prince of the Deceangli and apprentice to a skilled healer. Far away, Vortigern oversees the resurrection of ancient Dinas Emrys. According to prophecy, the king will perish if the fort does not rise again. But the foundations refuse to hold and Vortigern needs the blood of a demon seed – a human sacrifice – to make the towers stand firm. Myrddion’s life is in danger. Yet the child has a prophecy of his own and a greater destiny to fulfill.
The History of England Through Her Monarchy by David Starkey. Non-fiction. UK release September 30, 2010. From one of our finest historians comes an outstanding exploration of the British monarchy from the retreat of the Romans up until the modern day. The monarchy is one of Britain's longest surviving institutions -- as well as one of its most tumultuous and revered. In this masterful book, David Starkey looks at the monarchy as a whole, charting its magnificent history from Roman times, to the Wars of the Roses, the chaos of the Civil War, the fall of Charles I and Cromwell's emergence as Lord Protector -- all the way up until the Victorian era when Britain's monarchs came face-to-face with modernity. This brilliantcollection of biographies of Britain's kings and queens provides an in-depth examination of what the British monarchy has meant, what it means now and what it will continue to mean. Bringing to life a cast of colourful characters, Starkey's trademark energy and authority make him the perfect guide on this epic, accessible and compelling journey, as he offers us a vivid portrait of British culture, politics and nationhood through an institution that has defined the realm for nearly two thousand years.
Richard II: Manhood, Youth and Politics by Christopher Fletcher. Non-fiction. UK paperback release October 2010; hardback was released in the US and UK in 2008. From one of our finest historians comes an outstanding exploration of the British monarchy from the retreat of the Romans up until the modern day. The monarchy is one of Britain's longest surviving institutions -- as well as one of its most tumultuous and revered. In this masterful book, David Starkey looks at the monarchy as a whole, charting its magnificent history from Roman times, to the Wars of the Roses, the chaos of the Civil War, the fall of Charles I and Cromwell's emergence as Lord Protector -- all the way up until the Victorian era when Britain's monarchs came face-to-face with modernity. This brilliantcollection of biographies of Britain's kings and queens provides an in-depth examination of what the British monarchy has meant, what it means now and what it will continue to mean. Bringing to life a cast of colourful characters, Starkey's trademark energy and authority make him the perfect guide on this epic, accessible and compelling journey, as he offers us a vivid portrait of British culture, politics and nationhood through an institution that has defined the realm for nearly two thousand years.
She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor. Non-fiction. UK release October 7, 2010. The boy in the bed was just fifteen years old. He had been handsome, perhaps even recently; but now his face was swollen and disfigured by disease, and by the treatments his doctors had prescribed in the attempt to ward off its ravages. Their failure could no longer be mistaken. When Edward VI – Henry VIII’s longed-for son – died in 1553, extraordinarily, there was no one left to claim the title King of England. For the first time, all the contenders for the crown were female. In 1553, England was about to experience the ‘monstrous regiment’ – the unnatural rule – of a woman. But female rule in England also had a past. Four hundred years before Edward’s death, Matilda, daughter of Henry I and granddaughter of William the Conquerer, came tantalisingly close to securing her hold on the power of the crown. And between the 12th and the 15th centuries three more exceptional women – Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, and Margaret of Anjou – discovered, as queens consort and dowager, how much was possible if the presumptions of male rule were not confronted so explicitly. The stories of these women – told here in all their vivid humanity – illustrate the paradox which the female heirs to the Tudor throne had no choice but to negotiate. Man was the head of woman; and the king was the head of all. How, then, could a woman be king, how could royal power lie in female hands?
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