Historical Novel

Review: Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

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Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

Title: Wolf by Wolf (Wolf by Wolf, 1)
Author: Ryan Graudin
Genre: Alternative History, Historical Novel, Young Adult
Source: Illumicrate, box 1
Publisher: Indigo (5th November 2015)
Blurb:

Once upon a different time, there was a girl who lived in a kingdom of death. Wolves howled up her arm. A whole pack of them – made of tattoo ink and pain, memory and loss. It was the only thing about her that stayed the same.

Germany, 1956. Over ten years since the Nazis won the war.

Seventeen-year-old Yael is part of the resistance, and she has just one mission: to kill Hitler.

But first she’s got to get close enough to him to do it.

Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Review:

WOLF BY WOLF by Ryan Graudin tells the story of Yael who lives in a world where the Nazis won the Second World War, and she is part of the resistance. A decade after their victory, when Yael is seventeen she is given the mission to kill Hitler.

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Review: Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville

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Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville

Title: Gretel and the Dark
Author: Eliza Granville
Genre: Historical Novel, Horror, Fairy Tale, Young Adult
Publisher: Penguin (6th February 2014)
Source: Penguin Ireland
Format: Finished copy
Blurb:

VIENNA, 1899.

Josef Breuer – celebrated psychoanalyst – is about to encounter his strangest case yet. Found by the lunatic asylum, thin, head shaved, she claims to have no name, no feelings – to be, in fact, not even human. Intrigued, Breuer determines to fathom the roots of her disturbance.

YEARS LATER,

in Germany, we meet Krysta. Krysta’s Papa is busy working in the infirmary with the ‘animal people’, so little Krysta plays alone, lost in the stories of Hansel and Gretel, the Pied Piper and more. And when everything changes and the real world around her becomes as frightening as any fairy tale, Krysta finds that her imagination holds powers beyond what she could ever have guessed . . .

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

GRETEL AND THE DARK is a stand-alone novel by Eliza Granville. It tells the stories of two different girls, in two different counties, in two different times. Their stories unfold in interchanging chapters.

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Review: Debutantes by Cora Harrison

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Debutantes by Cora Harrison

Title: Debutantes
Author: Cora Harrison
Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Books (2nd April 2012)
Blurb:

IT’S 1923 AND LONDON IS A WHIRL OF JAZZ, DANCING AND PARTIES.

Violet, Daisy, Poppy and Rose Derrington are desperate to be part of it, but stuck in an enormous crumbling house in the country, with no money and no fashionable dresses, the excitement seems a lifetime away.

Luckily the girls each have a plan for escaping their humdrum country life: Rose wants to be a novelist, Poppy a jazz musician and Daisy a famous film director. Violet, however, has only one ambition: to become the perfect Debutante, so that she can go to London and catch the eye of Prince George, the most eligible bachelor in the country.

But a house as big and old as Beech Grove Manor hides many secrets, and Daisy is about to uncover one so huge it could ruin all their plans – ruin everything – forever.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

Debutantes by Cora Harrison is a stand-alone novel that tells the story of the Derrington sisters. They live in Beech Grove Manor with their father, aunt and a skeleton of staff, as the Derringtons have very little money. Violet is almost eighteen and dreams of being a Debutante and marrying well; her younger sisters have different dreams.

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Review: Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

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Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly, UK edition cover.

Title: Revolution
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Genre:  Historical Novel, Romance, Young Adult
Publisher:  Bloomsbury( 3rd October 2011)
Blurb:

Andi is broken. She is failing school and failing life. Since the death of her brother, all she cares about is music. Taken to Paris by her estranged father, she makes a discovery that could transform everything. Hidden in the compartment of an old guitar case is a lost diary from Revolutionary France . . .

Alexandrine is a street performer who is trying to save a young life from the devastation of war. She writes her deepest thoughts in her diary, hoping that one day someone will read them and understand.

These two girls, though centuries apart, are tied together by more than just the diary. As its words transcend paper and time, Alexandrine’s past becomes Andi’s present and lives are changed for ever.


Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

Revolution is a stand-alone young adult novel half set in Brooklyn, New York and half set in Paris, France both in the present day and during the late 1700s whilst the French Revolution is reaching its peak.

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Review: Raven Queen by Pauline Francis

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Raven Queen by Pauline Francis

Title: Raven Queen
Author:  Pauline Francis
Genre:  Historical Novel, Young Adult
Publisher:  Usborne (12th February 2007)
Source: Local library
Blurb:

I have lived the life of a princess since the day I was born. But it did not bring me what I wanted. I am still trapped.

My beloved Ned speaks of love, freedom, a future. To walk with him in the forest, our raven soaring above us, is my only joy. But my father plans that I shall be betrothed to the King and I am afraid. Queens of England have a habit of dying. I have no desire to take the throne, no wish to find myself in the Tower of London.

Wife, Queen – I fear it will bring me to my knees.

Raven Queen weaves a mesmerising take of love and tragedy based on the life of Lady Jane Grey, all too often remembered as just a line in a history book.


Rating: ** (2 stars)
Review:

Raven Queen tells the story of Lady Jane Grey.  Francis fictionalised the story in the book, and adds her own characters.

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