“War makes monsters of us all.” This is the dominant theme of Wilbur Smith’s “The Angels Weep”. The third Ballantyne novel picks up shortly after Cecil Rhodes moved into the lands of the Matabele, his troops destroying the impis at the Shangani river and bringing about the end of Lobengula. Ralph Ballantyne is more successful…
Tag: Historical Fiction
Book Review: The Huntress by Kate Quinn
Kate Quinn is one of the few authors I follow religiously and her books have never disappointed me. I absolutely adore her Ancient Rome series, and her Borgia books are among my favorite Borgia books out there (and you might know I have read most of them!) I was also super impressed with The Alice…
Book Review: The Birth Of Venus
The Birth Of Venus is Sarah Dunant’s first historical novel (not her debut though, as I had wrongly gathered from my pre-reading research on the book). It is set again during the Renaissance, for which Dunant seems to have developed a certain panache, and tells the story of Alessandra – a young Florentine woman and…
Book Review: Blood and Beauty: The Borgias
Apparently the Borgias have become one of my reading obsessions and I cannot be more happy about it. It is a rare and lovely thing for a reader to become so invested in a historic period, or a figure or a city. This way you are guaranteed to have an unknown number of enjoyable books…
Book Review: The Ship of Brides
The premise of The Ship of Brides did not instantly strike the right chord with me. I had settled for a guilty-pleasure read to take my mind off a mind-boggling book. After all, it had all the appearance of an ordinary war romance story, and I have always been a sucker for those. Mind you, it…
Princess Sisi -Then And Now
We girls often fall in love with princesses and the idea of being a princess very early on. Be it because of the way we are raised, the movies we watch, the pink dresses that are marketed for us – but it’s more the norm than not. (I would actually argue against this early stereotyping, but in…
Memorable Writing: Drums of Autumn (Part 1)
When I picked up Outlander, I expected an enjoyable romance, where I had the legit right to imagine hunk Sam Heughan as protagonist. I did not expect a writing lesson or public bursts of laughter that made me look like a crazy person; but I got both. And thank God! (or rather – thank you, Diana Gabaldon!)…
The Life and Writing Lessons of Outlander
We are just days away from the much-anticipated oh-my-god-Jamie-is-back historical April the 4th, when – besides Holy Saturday and Blood Moon – Starz TV show Outlander’s return is happening. I can actually hear the screams of the Outlandish fandom, which I have come to know is huge, devoted and very much fun. I joined it quite by chance…
