HISTORICAL
ELIZABETH BUCHAN
THE PAINTER OF SOULS by Philip Kazan (Orion £13.99)
THE closest to a contemporary record of fra filippo Lippi, the 15th-century florentine painter, is the roistering portrayal in vasari’s Lives of The artists. otherwise, documentation of what sort of man he was is sparse. how did the son of a butcher end up as a Carmelite friar, and how did he develop his truly astonishing gifts?
The first in a projected series about filippo’s life, this wonderfully textured, evocative novel imagines the early years.
a starving street orphan, filippo is rescued by the monks, only to be plunged into the bewildering monastic straitjacket and, later, as a lusty adolescent teetering on the edge of committing all the fleshly sins, he plays fast and loose with the vows.
Even more absorbing is the inner drama of a great painter’s struggle to find his vision and skill. an irresistible feast of painting and quattrocento Italy, beautifully written and magnificently researched, it is sheer pleasure from start to finish.
I defy anyone not to look up filippo’s lushly beautiful works.
GOOD HOPE ROAD by Sarita Mandanna (Weidenfeld & Nicholson £14.99)
ManDanna’s debut, Tiger hills, was longlisted for the Man asian Literary Prize. good hope Road focuses on war and its physical and psychological damage. In 1915, new Englander James stonebridge and Louisiana native obadiah nelson have enlisted in the colourblind french Legion, where their friendship helps them to endure both the mud and the killing.
at its finish, they return to their separate lives, irrevocably changed by the experience.
however, when World War II looms into view, obadiah decides to pay the still-traumatised James a visit on his farm.
an ambitious novel with deeply felt and perennially interesting themes, I wanted to love it, but found the narrative lacked pace and punch. That said, the emotional and psychological damage of war, and its effects on the men and their families, are sympathetically and sharply dramatised, while some of the writing is lovely.
KIT by Marina Fiorato (Hodder £19.99)
KIT Kavanagh’s husband, Richard, has gone missing from their Dublin alehouse. Later, she discovers the Queen’s shilling in an empty tankard and realises he has been taken for a soldier.
not a girl to sit at home knitting, Kit disguises herself as a man and enlists in the Duke of Marlborough’s army to look for him.
Life before the drum suits the feisty, red-haired Kit, and she thrives. But matters become complicated when the spymaster, the Duke of ormonde, recruits her to spy upon the french, dressed en femme.
how is Kit to manage her transgressive situation? Is she male or female? spy or soldier? Wife or lover? The answer rests partly with her handsome commanding officer, Captain Ross, who does not bat an eyelid when he discovers his subordinate is, in fact, a gorgeous woman.
This is excellent, swashbuckling fun, with a perfectly judged ending.