The Marlowe Papers - Ros Barber

The book opens and we are plunged into dark Elizabethan London and all it's terror. Heretics heads are displayed on spokes along Tower Bridge and the plague ravages the city. And so Christopher Marlowe (or Marley, or indeed Morley to some) begins to recount his journey through both life and death, revealing the truth about that infamous tavern brawl that seemingly led to his demise.

Marlowe’s voracious ambition and unquestionable talent is unravelled as we learn that his naive, foolish tongue was both his rise and his downfall - “though truth was both my glory, and my ruin”. With the benefit of hindsight he is able to reflect on his situation, presenting his accomplishments alongside his failures. His passion for exciting material to fuel his writing leads him to a secondary career in espionage, which allows him to move in circles he would not necessarily have access to, ranging from the palace to the gaol.

Our flawed protagonist is whisked across the channel in an elaborate plot conjured up by his close friends in the hope of preserving his life and his contribution to the stage. And so ensues his travels abroad, where he waits for the “crab-haired queen to crumble”, in the hope that he can return to London once King James takes over the throne and his careless musings on religion will no longer be punishable.

His story has all the elements of the Elizabethan dramas he contributed to during this remarkable period of literature, both penned and performed to an audience; a journey both physical and metaphorical; a variety of disguises both male and female gaining him access to a performance of Richard III on one occasion; the arcane love that simmers below the surface.

Throughout the story his passion for writing, alongside the success, praise and status it delivers, is evident. He doesn't hide his anger at the fact that another is celebrated falsely for his own work - “the accident of needing some disguise to write beneath means all the praise belongs to my invention, Shakespeare. Who is me, and yet divorced from all my infamy”.

This is such a fantastic book, written so elegantly in verse that makes you want to recite it as you read. This may put some people off, but I would urge anyone with an interest in this period and a love of a great mystery to try this out. The language is an absolute masterpiece recounting the twists and turns of fate, love, lust, death and intrigue.

This is one of the best books I have read this year and one I will definitely return to. I hope that Ros Barber is recognised with a literary prize for this incredible accomplishment.

Whispers Undergound - Ben Aaronovitch

The third instalment of such an exciting series of books takes us beneath the streets of London this time, through the underground stations and the secret labyrinth of tunnels interconnected, revealing a whole new clandestine world beneath our feet.

It is so hard to predict exactly where the author is heading with the overarching story of wizardry and mayhem, as the sub-world of magic and mysticism, goblins, ghosts and the ever present gods and magnificent goddesses grows with each book. And my enjoyment grows with them.

These are essentially fantasy novels, but deliver so much more. The ongoing collisions between the real world and the 'alternate' forces that struggle to coexist alongside us mere mortals covers so many  different genres of fiction. The crimes taking place and the detective strand, alongside the gothic presence of the Folly and its Practitioners, together with the magical creatures and entities they encounter, mixed up with the comedy and calamity that takes place, all underpinned with the historical facts and folklore of London itself each contribute to the enjoyment of every book.

These novels are pure escapism at it maddest! See All Things Bookish for an article about my recent conversation with the author.

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
There has been a lot of hype over this book since it was published and further promotion through the Richard and Judy Bookclub encouraged me to find out what I had been missing.

The story revolves around a magical (truly magical!) circus that travels the globe mysteriously appearing amid fervent rumour rather than organised publicity. And it only opens at night. Two children are chosen from an early age, trained in the art of magic and pitted against each other in a competition established by their manipulative rival mentors.

The descriptions of the circus itself are incredibly vibrant - it becomes a character in its own right around which everything is suspended. It’s a very sensual place, where the enchanting sights are compounded by the equally bewitching smells, sounds and tastes that come together to create such an incredible experience to all who visit. The circus seems to live and thrive with an almost unearthly heart of flame that resides at the centre and is constantly alight. The plot that accompanies all this however didn't deliver the same magic.

The story is essentially a romance, with a ’Twilight-esque’ edge to it which made it feel disappointingly like a teen fiction as opposed to a mature novel. It is a pure escapist novel, with elements of fantasy and fairy tale that I enjoyed to varying degrees and I can appreciate how it has appealed to most people. This just wasn't for me! 

Bring Up The Bodies - Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mantel’s sequel to the epic Wolf Hall transports the reader back in time once again to Henry VIII’s court.

Although we are all familiar with the story, this version reveals Thomas Cromwell’s perspective and unfolds with him at the centre and instrumental in Anne Boleyn’s catastrophic fate.

Mantel mixes history with her fictional take on Cromwell’s involvement and her attention to detail and description is beautifully evocative - you can see, smell and taste the surroundings:
“We think that time cannot touch the dead, but it touches their monuments, leaving them snub-nosed and stub-fingered from the accidents and attrition of time.”

Alongside the methodical man with calculated ambition we are already familiar with in Wolf Hall, we also glimpse Cromwell’s sensitivities and introspections on the loss of his wife and a number of his children, feeling time slip away from him as he gets older. This balance is what really made the novel for me. He is a manipulator hungry for success, but he carries himself with the charms, wit and grace of a gentleman far above his humble roots and equally aware of the feelings and ambitions of those surrounding him. The chosen few he chooses to protect are as far from harm as anyone can provide in such stormy political times.

Mantel has one more instalment to conclude Cromwell’s life at court and I can’t wait to see what further layers she can add to such an intriguing character, who doesn’t yet have a dedicated historical biography of his own. Having recently attended a talk by Alison Weir (See All Things Bookish page for more details), one of the country’s leading female historians, I asked her if this might be a possible future project for her, or if there was insufficient material to work with. She praised Mantel’s novel but explained that although there is much documented to work with he wasn't actually such an interesting and ’sexy’ character in real life. So any biography that is written would be an academic one charting his work, interspersed with such critical events of the time such as Anne Boleyn’s execution.

If this book sparks an interest in this period, and the downfall of Anne Boleyn, then I can highly recommend Alison Weir’s book “The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn” which delivers all the historical facts and details in a fantastic read.

Signs of Life - Anna Raverat

Simple on one level yet totally engrossing. Rachel narrates a familiar tale of an affair gone wrong, but brings so much depth and intrigue to the story you really can't put it down.

The reader is taken back and forth across the years as the story unravels and the conclusion is revealed early on, however you are taken on a journey through a series of memories recalled from the mind, diary entries and photographs.Sometimes mis-remembered, hard to recall or sometimes deemed unimportant at the time so not held onto for posterity. On occasion these recollections are twisted, altered slightly which keeps you questioning what really happened and what kind of person she really is. She questions herself on a number of occasions and these moments help to humanise her, bringing her to life.  

These are the moments that are familiar to us all as we try to recall characteristics, incidents and emotions from the past - sometimes with the interference of hindsight, sometimes with the interface of our own vanity or pride.

Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahame-Smith

The thought of 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' never really appealed to me, however the idea of Abraham Lincoln as an axe-wielding vampire slayer was an intriguing concept.

Packed full of historical facts, this is a very entertaining version of an alternative history of a figure I knew little about, other than his dramatic assassination. 

There is a dark comic element to this book, emphasised by the series of 'photographs' which have been mildly doctored for effect. However, this is also a great way to learn about a very important time in history. Grahame-Smith intertwines 2 stories one fact and one fiction - the fight against slavery and the freedom of all individuals, regardless of their colour, simultaneously taking place with the growing battle of the rise of the vampire and their goal of taking over and enslaving the entire human race.

Both these stories share the themes of injustice, freedom, and equal rights. The notion of slavery here encompasses all regardless of race, and the idea of war - all wars spanning from the American Civil War right through to WWII and beyond - stems from this notion of inequality and an unhealthy thirst for elitism.

There is a strong gothic theme underpinning the novel, and a chance meeting between Abraham Lincoln and Edgar Allen Poe simply adds to the dark undercurrents that are taking place. 

This really was a surprisingly easy read and one I would recommend to anyone looking for something different.

Mrs Robinson's Disgrace: the Private Diary of a Victorian Lady - Kate Summerscale

Although this book is centred essentially on one woman’s diary and her subsequent divorce case, it reads as so much more.

It delivers fascinating insights into such an incredible era in our history. The context Kate Summerscale provides surrounding her story builds a rich picture of the times: attitudes towards women, the role of a wife, sex, marriage, reputation and adultery – all of which are directly linked to the case. These sit within the wider backdrop of art, literature and an age of discovery in terms of groundbreaking medical advances and new practices. These include the new fashion for hydrotherapy and also phrenology, with some great examples of conclusions drawn about an individual’s personality and temperament based on the examination of the size of their skull.

A number of familiar Victorian characters also appear including Dickens, Nightingale, Darwin, Wordsworth and Charlie Field – the inspiration behind Inspector Bucket in Dickens ”Bleak House”, who also manages to play a role in the case itself. London features almost as a character in its own right – with the River Thames freezing over in the winter, and then almost boiling in the summer and filling the air with its rotten stench, forcing parts of the House of Commons to be evacuated at one point due to the smell.

The growing importance of a journal and its history is also an interesting part of this book, exploring what people record and, more significantly, for what purpose. Whether you believe that her journal was a work of fiction or a true account of her life, you can’t deny that Isabella is an extraordinary woman living in extraordinary times. The idea that she may have actually wanted people to eventually read her journal adds another dimension to her character – and also helped me as a reader from feeling too voyeuristic about reading extracts from such a personal and private document!

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend to anyone who has an interest in such an exciting period of history and am now keen to read her previous books.