Category Archives: Historical Fiction

February 24, 2026 · 8:46 pm

The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands – Sarah Brooks

The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands – Sarah Brooks

A friend recommended this novel and I noticed that Miss P had a copy (I believe I bought it for her 🙂 )

Here’s the blurb …

It is said there is a price that every passenger must pay. A price beyond the cost of a ticket.

It is the end of the 19th Century and the world is awash with marvels. But there is nothing so marvellous as the Wastelands: a terrain of terrible miracles that lies between Beijing and Moscow.

Nothing touches this abandoned wilderness except the Great Trans-Siberian Express: an impenetrable train built to carry cargo across continents, but which now transports anyone who dares to cross the shadowy Wastelands.

On to the platform steps a curious cast of characters: a grieving woman with a borrowed name, a famous child born on the train and a disgraced naturalist, all heading for the Great Exhibition in Moscow.

But the old rules are changing, and there are whispers that the train isn’t safe. As secrets and stories begin to unravel the passengers and crew must survive their journey through the Wastelands together, even as something uncontrollable seems to be breaking in . . .

I would describe this as historical fantasy – is that a thing? It is set in Europe/Asia on a train voyaging between Beijing and Moscow during the 1800s. The train travels through the ‘wastelands’. On a previous crossing something terrible happened – no one on that voyage can remember what happened. On this crossing everyone is nervous, the wasteland is evolving, but how and into what?

The world building is fabulous, the characters well described. The plot, like many a fantasy novel, could have been a bit tighter (a bit of editing?), but I suspect I am in the minority on that.

A review.

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February 12, 2026 · 1:46 pm

Time of the Child – Niall Williams

Time of the Child – Niall Williams

One of the lovely women in my stitching group lent this to me.

Here’s the blurb …

Doctor Jack Troy was born and raised in the little town of Faha, but his responsibilities for the sick and his care for the dying mean he has always been set apart from his community. A visit from the doctor is always a sign of bad things to come.

 His youngest daughter, Ronnie, has grown up in her father’s shadow, and remains there, having missed her chance at real love – and passed up an offer of marriage from an unsuitable man.

 But in the advent season of 1962, as the town readies itself for Christmas, Ronnie and Doctor Troy’s lives are turned upside down when a baby is left in their care. As the winter passes, father and daughter’s lives, the understanding of their family, and their role in their community are changed forever.

This is beautifully written – is Niall Williams a poet? I could feel the damp and the humidity, not to mention the small town lack of anonymity. The baby doesn’t arrive until about halfway through the novel. Prior to that we are observing the daily lives of these ordinary people, which is made extraordinary simply by the observation. The doctor goes a bit mad when he tries to concoct a plan to keep the baby – this is Ireland in 1962, no one is going to let an unmarried woman keep the baby. However, after getting the curate drunk, sending money for a ticket to a young man in New York, crashing the car, willing an old lady to die, and Ronnie running away only to return – they concoct a good plan. This all sounds very dramatic, but it is a quiet, introspective novel with a real sense of place and character.

A review

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January 31, 2026 · 2:41 pm

Clear – Carys Davies

Clear – Carys Davies

I found this one at the library, but then when I was sorting my ‘tbr’ I found a copy! At least I didn’t buy another copy.

Here’s the blurb …

A stunning, exquisite novel from an award-winning writer about a minister dispatched to a remote island off of Scotland to “clear” the last remaining inhabitant, who has no intention of leaving—an unforgettable tale of resilience, change, and hope.

John, an impoverished Scottish minister, has accepted a job evicting the lone remaining occupant of an island north of Scotland—Ivar, who has been living alone for decades, with only the animals and the sea for company. Though his wife, Mary, has serious misgivings about the errand, he decides to go anyway, setting in motion a chain of events that neither he nor Mary could have predicted.

Shortly after John reaches the island, he falls down a cliff and is found, unconscious and badly injured, by Ivar who takes him home and tends to his wounds. The two men do not speak a common language, but as John builds a dictionary of Ivar’s world, they learn to communicate and, as Ivar sees himself for the first time in decades reflected through the eyes of another person, they build a fragile, unusual connection.

Unfolding in the 1840s in the final stages of the infamous Scottish Clearances—which saw whole communities of the rural poor driven off the land in a relentless program of forced evictions—this singular, beautiful, deeply surprising novel explores the differences and connections between us, the way history shapes our deepest convictions, and how the human spirit can survive despite all odds. Moving and unpredictable, sensitive and spellbinding, Clear is a profound and pleasurable read. 

This is a beautiful novel, the descriptions of the people (Ivar, John and Mary), the island, and their activities on the island are breath taking. It is a gentle story about human connection and isolation (and greed, but that’s just the catalyst to get the story going).

A review

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January 30, 2026 · 1:48 pm

Ghost Cities – Siang Lu

Ghost Cities – Siang Lu

This won the Miles Franklin in 2025 – I think a lot of book sellers were caught on the hop, I couldn’t find a copy anywhere and ended up buying a digital version.

Here’s the blurb …

Ghost Cities – inspired by the vacant, uninhabited megacities of China – follows multiple narratives, including one in which a young man named Xiang is fired from his job as a translator at Sydney’s Chinese Consulate after it is discovered he doesn’t speak a word of Chinese and has been relying entirely on Google Translate for his work. How is his relocation to one such ghost city connected to a parallel odyssey in which an ancient Emperor creates a thousand doubles of Himself? Or where a horny mountain gains sentience? Where a chess-playing automaton hides a deadly secret? Or a tale in which every book in the known Empire is destroyed – then recreated, page by page and book by book – all in the name of love and art?
 
Allegorical and imaginative, Ghost Cities will appeal to readers of Haruki Murakami and Italo Calvino.

I really enjoyed this – it was funny, intriguing, absurd, and thought provoking.

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January 22, 2026 · 5:43 pm

The House of Silk – Anthony Horowitz

The House of Silk – Anthony Horowitz

After Magpie Murders, I wanted to read more Anthony Horowitz. In particular, I wanted to read the next one in the Magpie series, but that wasn’t in our Audible library (and I am trying not to buy anymore books). However, I did find this one.

Here’s the blurb …

For the first time in its one-hundred-and-twenty-five-year history, the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate has authorized a new Sherlock Holmes novel.

Once again, The Game’s Afoot…London, 1890. 221B Baker St. A fine art dealer named Edmund Carstairs visits Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson to beg for their help. He is being menaced by a strange man in a flat cap – a wanted criminal who seems to have followed him all the way from America. In the days that follow, his home is robbed, his family is threatened. And then the first murder takes place.

Almost unwillingly, Holmes and Watson find themselves being drawn ever deeper into an international conspiracy connected to the teeming criminal underworld of Boston, the gaslit streets of London, opium dens and much, much more. And as they dig, they begin to hear the whispered phrase-the House of Silk-a mysterious entity that connects the highest levels of government to the deepest depths of criminality. Holmes begins to fear that he has uncovered a conspiracy that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of society.

The Arthur Conan Doyle Estate chose the celebrated, #1 New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz to write The House of Silk because of his proven ability to tell a transfixing story and for his passion for all things Holmes. Destined to become an instant classic, The House of Silk brings Sherlock Holmes back with all the nuance, pacing, and almost superhuman powers of analysis and deduction that made him the world’s greatest detective, in a case depicting events too shocking, too monstrous to ever appear in print…until now.

I have never read any Sherlock Holmes, but I did love the series with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. I was picturing them while reading/listening to it.

I very much enjoyed this – if this is what the original Sherlock Holmes novels are like, I will have to read them. There was more than one crime, several mysteries, poor children, rich ladies, American outlaws, art and possibly poison.

A review.

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January 15, 2026 · 11:44 am

The Tapestry of Time – Kate Heartfield

The Tapestry of Time – Kate Heartfield

I am intrigued by the Bayeux tapestry – I have even visited it (and it is a long way from Australia!), so clearly I had to read this one.

Here’s the blurb …

There’s a tradition in the Sharp family that some possess the Second Sight. But is it superstition, or true psychic power? 

Kit Sharp is in Paris, where she is involved in a love affair with the stunning Evelyn Larsen, and working as an archivist, having inherited her historian father’s fascination with the Bayeux Tapestry. He believes that parts of the tapestry were made before 1066, and that it was a tool for prediction, not a simple record of events. 

The Nazis are also obsessed with the tapestry: convinced that not only did it predict the Norman Conquest of England, but that it will aid them in their invasion of Britain. 

Ivy Sharp has joined the Special Operations Executive – the SOE – a secret unit set up to carry out espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance. Having demonstrated that she has extraordinary powers of perception, she is dropped into Northern France on a special mission. 

With the war on a knife edge, the Sharp Sisters face certain death. Can their courage and extrasensory gifts prevent the enemy from using the tapestry to bring about a devastating victory against the Allied Forces?

This had an interesting premise – the Bayeux tapestry was created before 1066 by a group of women who could see the future.

I enjoyed the world war two setting and the very different lives of the four sisters. It was well-researched, but wore that research lightly.

It has fantasy elements – second sight, etc.

For me there wasn’t enough Bayeux tapestry, and a bit too much of Ivy training her second sight.

A review

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December 28, 2025 · 11:49 am

Murder in the Cathedral – Kerry Greenwood

Murder in the Cathedral – Kerry Greenwood

I have always liked the Phryne Fisher mysteries, but I haven’t read one in a long time and I certainly haven’t read them all. I received this one in the family ‘book flood’ and I read it in a couple of days.

Here’s the blurb …

When Phryne Fisher is invited to Bendigo to witness the investiture of her old friend Lionel, who is being made a Bishop, her expectations of the solemn and dignified ceremony do not include a murder.

Phryne quickly involves herself with perspicacious local Constable Watson and eagle-eyed Detective Inspector Mick Kelly as they identify the murder victim – an overzealous deacon with a nose for trouble. 

Applying her quick wits and magnetic charm, Phryne and her expanding team of sleuths discover murky layers of church politics, social scandals and business scams and blackmail. Soon, various suspects begin to populate a long list, each with excellent motives to kill.

Meanwhile the clock is ticking … Will Phryne be able to bring to light the proof she needs before the murderer strikes again or disappears completely?

I love all of the historical references; the clothes, cars, architecture …The crime was intriguing as well – a deacon murdered during a service (no one noticed anything) and the murderer has vanished (how did he/she get out of the cathedral?). The Deacon had something of serious import to tell the Bishop, is that why he was murdered?

This is a cozy crime – like from the golden age of crime.

This will be the last Phryne Fisher mystery as Kerry Greenwood sadly died earlier this year.

A review.

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December 27, 2025 · 1:21 pm

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil – V.E. Schwab

Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil – V. E. Schwab

I am a fan of V. E. Schwab. I have listened to The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue and Gallant. So when I saw this on sale at Target, I had to have it. Of course, it then lingered on my shelves (although I think I purchased it this year).

Here’s the blurb …

This is a story about hunger.
1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
A young girl grows up wild and wily—her beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But María knows she can only ever be a prize, or a pawn, in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets.

This is a story about love.
1827. London.
A young woman lives an idyllic but cloistered life on her family’s estate, until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte’s tender heart and seemingly impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow—but the price of freedom is higher than she could have imagined.

This is a story about rage.
2019. Boston.
College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That’s why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind. But after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers . . . and revenge.

This is a story about life—
how it ends, and how it starts.

I do enjoy the historical fiction aspects of this novel. I didn’t know at all what it was about and I was quite surprised when I discovered what ‘bury our bones in the midnight soil’ means. Although this is a fantasy novel, it’s really about people – relationships, family, chosen family, friendships and toxic relationships. It’s about women claiming space and agency for themselves.

It was long and I am not sure it needed to be that long. We could have had a few less incidents in Sabine’s life without losing any of the character or plot development.

A review.

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November 19, 2025 · 2:02 pm

The Distance Between Dreams – Emily Paull

The Distance Between Dreams – Emily Paull

My local library (Evelyn H Parker) was having an Author talk and craft event. Ms Paull was one of the authors. So, in preparation, I read this novel.

I do like a novel set in W.A.

Here’s the blurb …

Sarah Willis longs to free herself from the expectations of a privileged upbringing, while Winston Keller can’ t afford the luxury of a dream. Despite their differences, the pair are drawn together in a whirlwind romance that defies the boundaries of class. But when a dark family secret pulls the young lovers apart, and WWII plunges the world into chaos, it seems impossible they will ever find their way back to each other &– or even hold onto the dream of what might have been

It is clear that a lot of research went into this novel. I learnt quite a few things. For example, I didn’t know that there was rationing (here in W.A) during World War Two. Or that there were so many war brides (not to mention the ones who got duped).

The characters are well-written, particularly the bitchy Florence. Winston and his mother, Elsie, were delightful. Robert Willis might be a bit too stark a villain, but otherwise this was an interesting and enjoyable novel to read.

A review.

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November 16, 2025 · 5:44 pm

The Lion Women of Tehran (Final Thoughts)- Marjan Kamali

The Lion Women of Tehran – Marjan Kamali

So I have finished all of my summaries.

This was the book chosen by my Wednesday (but we meet on a Monday) book club.

Here’s the blurb …

An “evocative read and a powerful portrait of friendship, feminism, and political activism” (People) set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran—from nationally bestselling author Marjan Kamali.

In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams for a friend to alleviate her isolation.

Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions of becoming “lion women.”

But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.

Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.

I have spent a lot of time with this novel. I read each chapter twice and wrote summaries. For me this novel was about friendship, feminism, loyalty, and betrayal. The structure of the novel is very good. Different time periods and different points of view. This creates perspective – you see the same events in a different light. I think it could have been a bit tighter, a few less scenes in every time period. However, it should be widely read to bring the plight of the Iranian people to a bigger audience (and not just see them as part of the ‘axis of evil’). And also to appreciate how the British and Americans interfered in the government of the country to suit their national interests (that’s a problem that has come home to roost).

I know very little about Iran. I enjoyed all of the descriptions of Iranian culture. And how, with the Shah, women had some rights and were encouraged to be educated. It seemed to be quite a secular society. And now, I think they must be some of the most oppressed women in the world. It is very disheartening.

A review.

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