Lady of the English

Elizabeth Chadwick

This is the story of two women: Adeliza, Queen of England, and Matilda, Empress of Germany. Matilda is the granddaughter of William the Conqueror.

At a young age, Matilda is married off and becomes Empress of Germany. But when her husband dies early, she travels back to England, where she meets her new stepmother, Adeliza. Her stepmother is a year younger than her, but despite this, they bond and become close. The two young women become even closer when Matilda is married to Geoffrey of Anjou. As the king has no

living legitimate male son, it is Matilda's son who will inherit the throne when he dies. But when the king dies, Matilda is betrayed and her cousin Stephen takes the throne. Now, it is cousin against cousin in a bloody civil war that knows no end.

The loyalties of all Englishmen and women are tested, and Adeliza must choose between supporting her new husband or her stepdaughter. Will Matilda ever become Lady of the English? Or will her cousin's betrayal win over?

This is a must read for all fans of historical fiction.

(Reviewed by Jasmine.)

Mad Men, Season 3

The Golden Globe-winning TV series about an ad agency in the 1960's is a must watch. It is based around the big cats of the agency, but mainly about the most interesting of them all: Don Draper. He is a man who has secrets of his own, although he may appear to the public as a loving husband and devoted family man.

In this season, Don has landed a rather important client: Conrad Hilton. But he cannot keep his womanising ways under control, and he finds his home life and very personal life colliding in one way or another. The other men in the agency must fight for survival as the British takeover threatens their blossoming careers. Peggy finally gets her own office, and all the problems that come with it. Betty welcomes a new baby, and new issues on the home front.

This series just seems to go from strength to strength, and I enjoyed each new episode. I highly recommend this show to everyone, and I am yet to find a person who didn't enjoy it.

The Library has the first four seasons of Mad Men on DVD.

(Reviewed by Jasmine)

Band of Brothers

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg produced this fantastic mini series based around the efforts of Easy Company of the 101st Airborne in the Second World War. It is mainly based on the best selling biography of the men by Stephen Ambrose. It takes them back to the formation of Easy Company and the rigorous training that they had to complete before being shipped off to England. Here, they received yet more training and learned that they were to be part of one of the largest 'drops' in WWII – D-Day.

It goes through the various places they fought in the war from France, the disastrous 'Market-Garden' in Holland and the freezing winter in the Ardennes in Belgium, right through to Germany and the end of the war. Easy Company received a 100% casualty rate during the war, but this didn't stop them from becoming known as the “Battered Bastards of Bastogne”. Instead, the events that they went through bonded them as a group and helped form a sense of camaraderie that only exists in certain circumstances, such as combat.

The series follows various characters and their reactions to the situations that they had to face. I would highly recommend this series. It kept me riveted from the start to the dramatic conclusion. The Library has Band of brothers in both DVD and Blue-ray.

(Reviewed by Jasmine)

Queen by right

Anne Easter Smith

This is the latest novel about the War of the Roses from Anne Easter Smith. It goes back to the start, to Richard, Duke of York and wife, Cecily Neville. It is evident that both Richard and Cecily love each other very much, which is a rare occurrence when the marriage has been arranged. It follows Cis from when she first met Richard to the crowning of their son, Edward, as king of England. When she first meets him, he has just been made an orphan by King Henry. His father tried to revolt against the Henry and proclaim himself king. This is because Richard and his father had more right to the throne than Henry (a family tree at the start shows this very well). So Richard must now grow up with this shadow over his head, and he spends the majority of his life trying to prove that he is loyal to the king.

Once Cecily and Richard are married, they become very wealthy and together they own much land between them. This status leads Richard to English holdings in France and Ireland, before he is forced to come back to assert his right in England. This novel follows his frustration at not being able to take his place at the king's side, due to powerful enemies. However, it also follows Cecily, and how she must also fight to keep her family alive and well. It shows how powerful and powerless women could be, in a time when a woman was little more than her husband's possession. Cecily Neville was a strong woman who fought tooth and nail for everything that she had. As a result, she will forever known as “Proud Cis”. She is also the ancestor of the current royal family in the UK.

I really loved this book. Sometimes the politics became confusing, but the author provided a family tree, a map and a list of characters at the start which helped immensely. I would recommend this to anyone who loves historical fiction, and to anyone who enjoys reading medieval fiction.

(Reviewed by Jasmine)

A rose for the crown

Anne Easter Smith

This is one of the very few works of fiction that paints Richard III in a good light. It is the story of Kate Haute, a young woman who falls in love with Richard. Kate is a young woman with very strong convictions. She is born into a world where women are more or less possessions of their husbands and fathers.
The story takes the reader from Kate growing up as a child, right through to the Battle of Bosworth Field, and the beginning of the reign of the Tudors. Through Kate’s eyes we see the Wars of the Roses, the changes in kings and how this affected people. It explores what really happened to Richard’s nephews in the Tower, and what Richard was most truly like. The politics of the time can be confusing, but I feel that the author does a very good job of explaining what is happening. It shows the reader what life was like in the last days of the Plantagenet kings, and how the politics of the day affected the everyday people.
There are beautiful elements of fiction which really add to the story, and it obvious that the author researched for a very long time to write this book. A little drawn out in parts, it is still a very enjoyable story, and I highly recommend it to all those who love a good historical read.

(Reviewed by Jasmine.)

Desperate Romantics

Desperate Romantics follows the lives and loves of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, composed of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Millais. They are also joined by Fred Walters, a shy reporter who writes about the young men. Each of the artists is after the most important thing – recognition and patronage from Ruskin and the art society.
Rossetti is obsessed with finding the perfect model, a muse. He finds luck in Lizzie Siddal, whom Fred finds in a hat shop. Both men fall in love with her, and rivalry begins. Hunt uses a prostitute from a tavern as a model, and then tries to make her a ‘lady’, so that he can marry her. And Millais finds himself falling in love with Ruskin’s young, unappreciated wife.
Together, these men are the rebels of art society. We watch them as they create their masterpieces, battle their demons, find and lose love and have both successes and failures.
It is well worth the watch, and you will find yourself looking up the art of the young men, and thinking about the stories behind the paintings.
Check to heere to see if this BBC Miniseries is in the library.

(Reviewed by Jasmine)

The Jewel of St Petersburg

Kate Furnivall

The Jewel of St Petersburg is set in Russia, 1910. The country is ripe for revolution. Valentina is the daughter of a government minister and she charms the world with her beautiful piano skills. When she accidentally stumbles upon a Bolshevik meeting, her life is changed forever. Guilt-ridden by the catastrophic consequences, Valentina decides to become a nurse. But in order to do this, she must make a deal with her parents and is pushed into a loveless engagement with a man she despises. At the same time, Valentina falls in love with Jens Friis, a Danish architect determined to make St Petersburg cleaner and healthier for the factory workers.
As Russia edges closer and closer to revolution, Valentina is forced to make decisions that will change her life forever, as she tries her hardest to protect her sister and all those whom she loves, and the life she has always known. This was a very exciting book that had me glued to it from page one. Fans of Kate Furnivall may notice characters from her previous novels.
I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys historical books, particularly Russian history. It shows how Russia changed between 1910 and 1917, as revolution gripped the country.

(Reviewd by Jasmine)