HISTORICAL EITHNE FARRY
CROW COURT
by Andy Charman
(Unbound £14.99, 336 pp)
A suICIDe and a murder disrupt the seemingly unruffled calm of a small, thriving Devonshire village in 1840.
the inhabitants of Wimborne Minster are shocked by the death of chorister Henry Cuff, who has drowned himself, and by the stabbing of vile choirmaster Matthew ellis, known by the choirboys as the ‘Buggermaster’.
over 14 intricate, interconnected chapters Charman’s clever, elegantly constructed, utterly convincing debut paints an intimate picture of a community wondering about the killer in their midst, as the wider world slowly transforms an old way of life.
the steam-powered sprawl of industrialisation changes the look of the countryside, while reverend Giles Cookesely’s steadfast faith in the unfathomable mysteries of God’s creation is slowly eroded by the fossil record and the vagaries of his own uncertain heart.
THE SMALLEST MAN
By Francis Quinn
(S&S £14.99, 384 pp)
‘You’re small on the outside. But, inside, you’re as big as everyone else. You show people that and you won’t go far wrong in life.’ It’s a maternal mantra which 18in high Nat Davy takes to heart as he attempts to survive in the tumultuous court of Charles I, where a dithering King and a homesick Queen (Henrietta Maria of France) are unable to prevent civil war.
As religious factions plunge the country into routs and regicide, Nat’s life plots an equally turbulent course. sold by his father to the manipulative Duke of Buckingham, baked into a decorative pie as a gift to Henrietta Maria, the brave young man is bullied, falls in love and gallantly faces up to his own short-comings while becoming the most loyal of friends to the despondent, deposed Queen. Full of vim and vigour, this is winningly warm-hearted.
THE CITY OF TEARS
by Kate Mosse
(Mantle £14.99, 560 pp)
It’s 1572 and Minou and Piet, the passionate couple at the heart of Mosse’s the Burning Chambers, are now settled in the bucolic beauty of their Languedoc estate, but France is still riven by conflicting loyalties.
Invited to witness the politically expedient marriage of Catholic Princess Margaret of Valois and Huguenot King Henry of Navarre and, unaware of the presence of their old enemy, the villainous, vengeful Vidal, the family head to the capital.
Caught up in the st Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, with murder and mayhem on the streets, Marta, their headstrong daughter goes missing, and finds herself in the unwitting clutches of Vidal’s son Louis, a taut twist which is sure to pay dividends in the next instalment of this dramatic, immersive tale of secrets, conspiracies, fanaticism and loss.