Vindolanda, by Adrian Goldsworthy

British historian Adrian Goldsworthy’s debut novel is a labour of love, for the history of Iron Age Britain under Roman occupation, Rome’s military power abroad, and the Pax Romana – a high level of peace which as he states, was maintained by force.

It is A.D 98; Centurion Titus Flavius Ferox is drowning his considerable sorrows in a mouldering far-flung garrison in Britannia’s North. He has been banished for being too close to a conspiracy which deposed Emperor Domitian; now Trajan is in power, but for how long? He doesn’t know and cares even less: he has lost his true love and life holds no pleasures except the booze – until his scouting party, led by his reluctant friend Vindex arrives back with some tortured corpses in tow and the news that the locals are being exhorted by shadowy figures of the Druid priesthood to rise up against the Roman Oppressors – and they seem to be having some success.

Ferox is not a Roman by birth; he is a Silurean, born in what is now South Wales, but his tribe was eventually defeated after a long siege by the Roman Army and as was the custom, he was given as a hostage, trained in the military and eventually given Roman Citizenship in exchange for his Sacred Oath of Allegiance. His loyalties lie with the Empire now, and to that end he must carry news of the impending unrest to the nearest seat of Roman government, the huge fort of Vindolanda near the River Tyne.

Vindolanda’s modern excavation has revealed many fascinating details of the everyday life of a Roman military outpost, and Mr Goldsworthy has cleverly included real life figures mentioned in wax tablets painstakingly translated from the Latin. Commander of Vindolanda, Prefect Cerialis and his wife Sulpicia Lepidina actually existed in the correspondence; now they live again as Ferox saves Sulpicia and her maid from ambush on his way to the fort – while her husband is off hunting with guests.

Which sets the scene (naturally!) for a budding romance between the rescuer and the rescuee. Rescuee? Anyway. I have to say that Mr Goldsworthy’s characters, while as historically accurate as he can draw them, are pretty predictable: Vindex, Ferox’s friend and Scout Supreme uses a lot of very modern swear-words; he’s a likeable rogue and the perfect brave sidekick; Sulpicia is noble, beautiful, posh, Patrician and so far out of Ferox’s league that he can hardly believe that they do have a stolen night of lurve together while Cerialis is off having his wicked way with a slave girl. The local tribes as they mass together for the great rebellion are well characterised and the battle scenes are detailed and suitably bloody, with Ferox learning to his great discomfort that the tribes know so much about Roman battle plans that a traitor must be supplying them with information. Who and why are the mysteries that must be solved before the suppression of the rebellion turns into a massive defeat from which Roman military might may never recover.

For the layperson Mr Goldsworthy has produced a detailed Glossary and a helpful section of Historical Notes to illustrate the authenticity of his story, and Ferox and Vindex will ride the Iron Age Range again in a promised sequel. Good stuff!

FOUR STARS

The Break, by Marion Keyes

It has been too long since Marion Keyes’s last novel (see January 2015 review below) – too long between laughs and Ms Keyes inimitable chronicles of dysfunctional Irish family life. Well, family life in general, really, for her characters are instantly recognisable to us all; they are our neighbours, friends, workmates – they are us, whether we acknowledge it or not.

The O’Connell family meet every Friday at Mum and Pop’s for a meal provided by one of the five siblings – It’s Amy’s turn tonight and take away Pizzas will have to do; she is perennially short of time - and money; she has two teenagers to care for and a twenty-two year old daughter from a disastrous first marriage who lives at home, but only because she has to. Amy has recently started a new PR business with two colleagues which has yet to make a profit, but the paramount worry is her husband

Hugh, devastated by the recent loss of his beloved father and brother. He is a different person, remote and unreachable, a stranger to them all, and his solution to the way he feels is to Take a Break. To back-pack solo round Thailand. For six months. By himself. Without Amy or any of his family. WTF????

And how will she break it to the family? Pop, who has Alzheimer’s and addresses everybody as ‘WHO THE FECK ARE YOU??!! Mum, who wants to break out from under the Selfless Carer’s yoke by sneaking off to the Pub with other Selfless Carers for a bit of fun – ‘I got drunk and won a Pub Prize. Turkish Delight, the Mint kind! - bossy eldest sister Maura who understandably has issues, having to be surrogate mum while her own mother was in hospital with TB for months on end. Her husband is called the Poor Bastard because he never gets a word in edgeways, especially on a Friday night when everyone and their kids make an appearance – no, it is not a suitable forum to discuss Hugh’s grief and his insane solution to make himself feel normal again.

Ms Keyes effortlessly navigates the shoals and currents of family life, especially as she tackles through the experiences of one of her teenage protagonists the archaic and rigid Abortion laws of Ireland; nor does she shy away from the all-powerful and pervasive effect of Social Media on the life of everyone – even Mum, who becomes the face of EverDry, an Incontinence product marketed by Amy’s firm: Mum is heartbroken when the campaign ends – that was her Moment in the Sun, even if it was to promote Wee Pads!

Amy’s huge problems are not solved overnight – or in Hugh’s six-month escape, but her big, messy family moves on, bearers of unwanted advice, takeaway dinners (Derry’s are the best; no-one stays away on a Friday night when it’s her turn) and unity. Always unity, because that’s what families do best, isn’t it?

Fair play to you, Ms Keyes, you’ve written a grand story again, so.

FIVE STARS.

The Last Hours, by Minette Walters

Ms Walters is more noted for her popular crime novels than historical stories, but with ‘The Last Hours’ she proves that she is comfortable in either genre, bringing to awful life Fourteenth-Century England and the horrors of the Black Death as it swept like God’s punishment through the country, killing entire villages within days.

Her story begins with the departure of Sir Richard of Develish, a dissolute Norman knight, from his Demesne to arrange a marriage between his 14 year-old daughter Eleanor to the son of a neighbouring Lord: both families depend on the match to increase their faltering fortunes; the marriage will be an alliance to strengthen their hold over the hundreds of serfs who work the land for them under the feudal system, increasing the taxes and tithes they must pay.

Lady Anne, Sir Richard’s long-suffering convent-educated wife remains behind with her daughter Eleanor. She is the real strength of the Demesne, making all the decisions pertaining to the efficient running of the estate, for Sir Richard cannot read, nor does he care to: he has stewards and his mousy wife to do that for him. He would rather drink and hunt and rape his female serfs and servants – the younger the better, even children; after all, they all belong to him. They are his property, bound to him: slaves.

Eleanor feels the same way; she is her father’s daughter regardless of Lady Anne’s counselling and she is looking forward to her marriage so that she will be elevated in station; then she can treat serfs any way she wants, without the curbing influence of her impossibly pious mother, who is beloved by all who are bonded to her. And she will show that Thaddeus Therkell, bastard son of one of the servants that she knows how to use a whip to wipe that smirk off his face; he is far too attached to her mother. She will show him who has the real authority.

But her plans come to nothing, for Sir Richard returns from his journey with a terrible plague, caught from his hosts at the castle – there will be no marriage for her prospective groom has died, as did everyone else who came in contact with those who were struck down; now her own father is suffering – and her mother will not let him cross the moat into his own manor for fear that everyone will be infected. How dare she refuse him entry?

But the Lady Anne can and does, and is secretly delighted that the husband she loathed has died the death he deserved, as she sets about trying to ensure that her people remain healthy – and have sufficient food to weather an unknown future.

Ms Walters does a fine job of recreating the life and spirit of the times, even if the characters are very black-and-white – Lady Anne is a saint, Sir Richard and his odious daughter are definitely sinners, and Thaddeus is heroic, the saviour of the noble serfs - but nitpicking aside, this is still an absorbing, credible story of one of the most frightening times in history – and it ends on a cliffhanger, for there is a second volume to come. I’m looking forward to it.

FOUR STARS

Manhattan Beach, by Jennifer Egan

It is 1934 and eleven year old Anna Kerrigan is accompanying her father Eddie to Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn to see Mr Dexter Styles, a rich nightclub owner who might have some work for Eddie. Anna is not to know that the work is illegal, for Eddie is a bagman, delivering and collecting pay-offs to various criminals and mob figures. Times are hard: the Great Depression has changed peoples’ lives forever, and what was formerly unthinkable and to be avoided at all costs, has become the norm. Eddie’s family must be fed, and he will do what he must to keep them all together.

The meeting is successful, and until 1940 Eddie’s family live comfortably until Eddie suddenly disappears – but not without leaving a wad of cash and a separate bank account for his wife. Anna is stunned, miserable and furious at her father; she always thought she was his confidante – he could tell her anything, but obviously didn’t. He has betrayed her.

Now it is 1942: America is preparing for war after the horror attack on Pearl Harbor; all the men are joining up and women are recruited to do their jobs for the ‘duration of hostilities’. Anna, now nineteen and breathing the heady air of enormous change gets a job at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, manufacturing small parts for machinery for the engine rooms of battle ships. It is intoxicating to think that her efforts, small as they are, will have a part in winning the war – because America WILL win the war: of this there is no doubt. And when she sees commercial divers descending the depths to weld repairs on the huge ships in port, she is more excited than ever: that is a REAL job, embodying skill, risk, dexterity – and strength. Not a job for a woman, but Anna has already suffered enough adversity and disappointment in her short life to fight to the last breath for this, and her eventual success opens up a new world only made possible by the terrible fact of war.

A chance meeting at one of his nightclubs reintroduces Anna to Dexter Styles, still as rich and mysterious as ever. Dexter works for the Mob, but he has also married into Old Money to the extent that he feels secure and untouchable; no Mob figure would dare to harm the son-in-law of a retired Admiral, a New York Brahmin of such repute that his advice is sought by Presidents. Dexter is The Man: he revels being the bridge between two worlds. He also knows what happened to Anna’s father, and it is her mission to make him reveal his secrets.

Ms Egan won the Pulitzer Prize for her wonderful book ‘Welcome to the Goon Squad’ (see 2011 review below). The quality of her writing is as high as ever – the sinking of a merchant ship by U-boats and the consequent scramble for survival on rafts and lifeboats was a literary milestone for me; I have never felt so present, so involved in that hapless voyage, and so glad when some of the wonderful characters survived.

Once again, huge talent, impeccable research and a trio of unforgettable protagonists ensures that Ms Egan will remain at the forefront of contemporary literary fiction. This is another great book.

SIX STARS.

A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan

Since its publication last year this novel has generated extraordinary praise, not least being included in Time magazine’s top 10 books for 2010 and this year winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Even Oprah endorsed it. (Is that good or bad?) I approached it with trepidation: was it too great for mere mortals to read? ( I have been caught before). Oh me of little faith: All the reviews are true.

This story fully deserves every accolade lavished by the literary pundits – and anyone else who wants to have a wild ride through time with Ms Egan as she explores through her characters the various selves we become at different times of our lives. Through a dizzying series of flashbacks and leaps forward, the reader follows Bennie Salazar, failed music producer and his personal assistant Sasha, ‘capable in every way but for her kleptomania’ as they are moulded and buffeted by the forces of time, and the influence and effect they have on their world through the connections they make, both intimate and tenuous, with the people they meet.

There is a host of different characters here, and sometimes it takes the reader a little while to connect the dots, but when that happens, a wonderful pointillist portrait emerges of our flawed and ailing contemporary society, and an irrevocable truth that time rules us all: the onrush of it; its implacability; and how peoples’ lives are helpless before it and the inexorable changes it brings. In Ms. Egan’s novel time is a Goon, and no-one escapes a visit from the Goon Squad, but Bennie, after a lifetime’s vicissitudes is no fool: he knows the score – ‘ Time’s a goon – are you going to let time push you around?’ No, sir! This is a great book!

SIX STARS.

Renegades, by Marissa Meyer

Ms Meyer is the author of the very successful Lunar Chronicles series, her marvellous ‘adaptation’ of our most beloved fairy tales (see review below); this time she tackles SuperHeroes with the same gusto and flair – reading this was like racing through an exciting, fabulous comic without the illustrations – and with Ms Meyer’s writing talent, who needs pictures?

In a future riven by war and anarchy, a group of Super Prodigies restores order where there was chaos, justice and laws to combat criminality, and peace to a fractured world society. They call themselves the Renegades; each have a particular power of their own and they have used these gifts to triumph over the Anarchists, groups of criminal gangs who reduced the country’s population to poverty and starvation. As the Renegades’ power and success grew, so did a mantra: ‘If you need them, call the Renegades: they will come’.

But that is not always true, as six year-old Nova Artino discovers when hitmen from the Roaches gang murder her parents and baby sister because her father refuses to make weapons for them anymore. She has called for the Renegades but no-one came except her Uncle Alec – too late to save her family but in time to save her and kill the assassin. Nova’s childhood ends that night, but her Uncle keeps her safe; he is her island in a sea of sadness, her protector even though he is known as Ace Anarchy, leader of the Anarchists and sworn enemy of the Renegades. (Still with me? Pay attention, it’s worth it!)

During the decade that follows, Nova meets other Anarchists, all prodigies as she is, all with a particular super talent: the Detonator can make bombs from blue light issuing from her fingertips; Queen Bee has complete control of bees, hornets and wasps, guaranteeing some very nasty stings, and no-one would ever want to meet Phobia, ghostly instigator of your worst nightmares. They have all sworn to destroy the Renegades, especially since the defeat and loss of their leader, Ace in the last great battle that the Renegades won. But how?

Until the plan to infiltrate the Renegades’ echelons takes shape: Nova can enter the Renegade Trials which are held every year for Prodigies; if she is successful she can undermine the organisation from within, become a Super Spy for the Anarchists and provide enough information to mount successful assassination attacks on Captain Chromium and the Dread Warden, the Renegade leaders: ah, revenge will be SO sweet – until her successful integration into the Renegades reveals that not all of them are villains. She finds the double game she is playing dangerous indeed, especially when team leader Adrian starts to show his feelings.

The action is non-stop and there are even some curly moral questions concerning the nature of good and evil, and what really makes someone heroic. Like all Ms Meyer’s stories, ‘Renegades’ is a page-turner extraordinaire; the story ends on a cliffhanger, and the concluding volume will be published at the end of this year. Can’t come soon enough!

FIVE STARS

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

Our Children’s librarian recommended this book to me and as she’s seldom wrong in her reading choices, I’m happy to give this the ravingest (ravingest??) endorsement possible: WHAT A STORY!

The tale of Cinderella – yep, Cinderella, her nasty stepmum and the two stepsisters – is transferred hundreds of years into the future. Cinderella is now Cinder, living in New Beijing with a family who are, to say the least, most reluctant guardians. She is a mechanic (truly!) and a Cyborg, to her shame, having been fitted out with a steel hand, leg and inbuilt computer screen after a terrible childhood accident. Cyborgs are the future’s Untouchables, considered fit only to perform the most menial and degrading of tasks, but Cinder is such a good mechanic that a Royal prince visits her to have his tutor android repaired, and after that visit she and the reader are lost: she to alien romantic impulses (she is not programmed for this!) and a reluctant involvement in a life and death experiment - and the reader to being nailed to one spot until they have reached the last page.

To add insult to injury, the hapless reader finds that after a thrilling journey at a breakneck pace through more clever plot twists than a pretzel, there are three more books to come – and they haven’t been written yet! To say I feel cheated is an understatement and the withdrawal symptoms are dire, but I also say with complete confidence that ‘Cinder’ will be the next big Blockbuster book/movie series: you read it here first. 

FIVE STARS