Briar Patch Books

Category: Historical Fiction

  • Spies, air raids, Churchill – and a young lady who can handle them all

    I like fiction that deals with fairly recent history and sometimes includes real people. Maybe that’s because most of the history courses I had in school stopped at about the beginning of the 20th century, so fiction grounded in fact helps to fill in the gaps. Maybe it’s because the links between what happened in…

  • Isaac Bell to the rescue

    Here’s another fine example of how listening to audio books to pass the time while driving has led me to a delightful discovery, a series of books I’d happily read in the print version, under other circumstances. But since this book was both well written and a perfect candidate for a dramatic reading, I thoroughly…

  • More royal intrigue and romance

    Anne Barnhill, a real trouper, is back to writing, reviewing and even making author appearances in connection with her novel, At the Mercy of the Queen, published earlier this year by St. Martin’s. She’s doing all this even while recuperating from surgery and awaiting further medical treatments. She’s my hero! Here she reviews a book…

  • A Titanic tale

    As you surely know by now, in April we will mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Kate Alcott, a journalist, has, with admirable timing, given us an anniversary present of sorts: a first novel that draws deeply on the rich, true story of the infamous shipwreck. It’s available in print and…

  • Intrigue in the Tudor Court

    Anne Clinard Barnhill, who graces the pages of this blog with reviews from time to time, is recovering from surgery at the moment. We wish her all the best, especially since she needs to get busy writing reviews and finishing her second novel. I interviewed Anne earlier this year for a profile in the Greensboro…

  • Madam India Black, at it again

    If you enjoy reading fiction set in Victorian England, then give this India Black series a try. Dickens, of course, showed the chasm between rich and poor, and focused his literary light on the dark side of London inhabited by thieves and worse. Today, Anne Perry, in her two mystery series, does an eye-opening job…

  • Of crime and the river

    Whenever a new Anne Perry Victorian novel arrives, I know I am about to be immersed in another place and time, a place that is sometimes heartbreaking and grim, but always fascinating. Perry out-Dickens Dickens in exposing the social ills and inequities of the Victorian age in England. And she makes you eager to read,…

  • Life, love and danger in old Puerto Rico

    Warning: Here’s another audio book that might make you waste precious gasoline if you listen, as I do, while you are driving. There are many passages in this book where I was unwilling to stop listening, even if I was about to reach my destination. By Linda Brinson CONQUISTADORA. By Esmeralda Santiago. Random House Audio.…

  • Another place, another time

    Steve Wishnevsky takes a look at a first novel that intrigues him as much for the history it offers as for the story it tells. By Stephen Wishnevsky LOISAIDA. By Dan Chodorkoff. Fomite. 348 pages. $14.95. This is an interesting first novel, a bit stiff perhaps, but a valuable look at an erased piece of…

  • A two-handed review

    Our roving contributing editor, Paul O’Connor, has interrupted his travels to review a novel set during World War II. Since his travels took him to Oregon when the author was there, he also was able to hear Jeff Shaara discuss his writing. By Paul T. O’Connor THE FINAL STORM. By Jeff Shaara. Ballantine Books. 446…