JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Six Tudor Queens: Katheryn Howard by Alison Weir

At just nineteen, Katheryn Howard is quick to trust and fall in love.

She comes to court. She sings, she dances. She captures the heart of the King.

Henry declares she is his rose without a thorn. But Katheryn has a past of which he knows nothing. It comes back increasingly to haunt her. For those who share her secrets are waiting in the shadows, whispering words of love… and blackmail.

My favourite series has returned for the year. Katheryn Howard: The Tainted Queen is the fifth novel in the Tudor Queens series by Alison Weir, well-known historian and author.

You can read my reviews of the other books HERE.

In each novel, Alison presents a fictional account of each of Henry VIII’s wives, from their childhood all the way through to their death. Whilst each book is considered fiction, it’s clear how much research and factual information has been used to paint these portraits — Alison always explains her basis in the Author’s Note at the end of each novel.

Written in intimate third person, Katheryn is portrayed as a naive, whimsical girl with no real thought to the consequences of her actions. She means well, but she’s quick to dismiss the possibility that her rather controversial actions will catch up with her in the years to follow.

“A maiden should be shamefast, she told herself, as she lay abed the next morning, thinking about the night before. Chastity is to be prized. But what was wrong with taking your pleasure where you found it? Why should she deny herself the delights she might know…”

The plot moves quickly, spanning close to twenty-one years in only a few hundred pages. Katheryn’s childhood is skimmed over, and most of the book focuses on her teenage years.

Katheryn’s actions are a reflection on her upbringing — her mother died when she was a little girl and whilst her gambling-addicted father remarried, he sent her away to be raised by relatives. Katheryn never really had a strong, maternal figure to guide her through her teenage years and so when she meets men she fancies, she makes foolish decisions that are difficult to keep hidden.

“After that, Tom seemed to be everywhere Katheryn went — in the gardens, at the tennis play, at the butts. Always, he was hovering. It was flattering to be the object of the attention of such a dashing gallant, and Katheryn was strongly attracted to him.”

I don’t feel like I could relate to Katheryn as much as the other wives, and I found her likability to be quite low. A couple of the other Queens were naive as well, but Katheryn felt particularly punishing at times. She was ignorant, wasn’t very educated, and had little interest in understanding what was happening around her. All of the Queens were flawed in some way, but Katheryn seemed to lack intelligence and maturity, and for that, she died. And when she died, so did those few around her that the King saw as complicit in her behaviour.

Poor Alison Weir had a difficult tasks trying to make this wife seem interesting! She was Queen at 19 and beheaded at 21, so you know it’s going to be one of the least interesting tales (Jane Seymour is probably a close second).

“It seemed that the future held nothing for her. It was not enough that she could still meet him in secret, for their trusts left her wanting and unbearably unsatisfied, and made her feel as naught in the world, as if this was all she could expect.”

As with the previous books in the series, the writing is heavy on description and internal dialogue. Towards the end of Katheryn’s life, the reader is shut out a lot because Katheryn herself didn’t know what was going on. She was locked away for months before her execution. This was an interesting stylistic technique to keep the reader guessing, and allowing the reader to understand how Katheryn must have felt.

I’m excited for 2021 to read the account of Henry’s sixth and final wife, Katherine Parr.

Recommended for fans of historical fiction. I recommended you start at the beginning of the series and make your way through each book — the books are all worth your investment. 14+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Katheryn Howard: The Tainted Queen
Alison Weir
May 2020
Hachette Book Publishers

The Viennese Girl by Jenny Lecoat

In June 1940, the horror-struck inhabitants of Jersey watch as the German army unopposed takes possession of their island. Now only a short way from the English coast, the Germans plan their invasion.

Hedy Bercu, a young Jewish girl from Vienna who fled to the isolation and safety of Jersey two years earlier to escape the Nazis, finds herself once more trapped, but this time with no way of escape.

Hiding her racial status, Hedy is employed by the German authorities and secretly embarks on small acts of resistance. But most dangerously of all, she falls in love with German lieutenant Kurt Neumann — a relationship on which her life will soon depend.

The Viennese Girl by Jenny Lecoat is WWII literary fiction, inspired by the true story of a young Jewish girl who evaded capture on the island of Jersey.

The novel paints a clear picture of life under German rule — fear, control, lack of food and amenities, and dwindling populations. Hedy is an anxious and impulsive protagonist. She’s quick on her feet and she’s resourceful, but she also keeps herself at a distance. She’s scared and frightened — she’s a Jew living in German-occupied Jersey.

When she gets a job as a translator for the Germans, she must hide her status but she’s also determined to defy the reign and do what she can to rebel.

“Anton smiled, but Hedy saw there was nothing behind it. He looked distant, remote. Now that she thought about it, Anton had been in a strange mood since they’d met earlier that afternoon. The volume of her singing dropped a little, and she began slipping her friend sly looks.”

The Viennese Girl is heartbreaking at times, but it’s also filled with hope and courage. Hedy must hide who she is from her German employers, but she must also keep her wits as the war progresses and danger approaches. The threat of being exposed bubbles under the surface of each chapter, keeping the reader engrossed until the final page.

The novel is heavy on prose, most conversations told through description instead dialogue. Whilst this technique doesn’t always work, it’s quite effective in this novel. It allows for quick pace and heightened tension — this may be a short book but it packs a punch.

“No reason, no explanation. Hedy had rushed down to the bureau in the faint hope that they might offer some kind of strategy or information. But the registrar had merely scratched his head, shrugged and said that if the Germans wished to see her, she’d be advised to comply.”

The Viennese Girl is incredibly emotion, tugging on readers’ heartstrings and pulling them along for a really engaging story. Whilst the romance felt a little weak and underdeveloped, there are many other elements to this story that readers will love.

Friendship is dominant in the story. After a rocky start, Hedy and her best friend’s girlfriend Dorothea form a close bond over the course of the novel. Whilst Hedy can be brash and judgemental, Dorothea is full of optimism and encouragement. She is always quick to help Hedy, even when punishment could be brutal.

“Another brilliant smile and he was gone. Hedy turned and continued down the path out of the compound. Her legs seemed to swing weightlessly beneath her, and the lane swam unseen in front of her eyes.”

With vivid imagery, three-dimensional characters, and engrossing prose, The Viennese Girl is recommended for fans of literary fiction and historical fiction. The readership skews female.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Viennese Girl
Jenny Lecoat
May 2020
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers

The Lost Jewels by Kirsty Manning

In the summer of 1912, a workman’s pickaxe strikes through the floor of an old tenement house in Cheapside, London, uncovering a cache of unimaginably valuable treasure that quickly disappears again.

Present day. When respected jewellery historian, Kate Kirby, receives a call about the Cheapside jewels, she knows she’s on the brink of the experience of a lifetime.

As Kate peels back layers of concealment and deception, she is forced to explore long-buried secrets concerning Essie, her great-grandmother, and her life in Edwardian London. Soon, Kate’s past and present threaten to collide and the truths about her family lie waiting to be revealed.

Inspired by a true story, Kirsty Manning’s The Lost Jewels is a historical fiction novel that weaves a charming, fascinating tale about London’s Cheapside Hoard — one of the most famous and most mysterious collection of jewels in the world, dug up in 1912 with very little information about the jewels’ origins.

Structurally, The Lost Jewels resembles most historical fiction. The POV switches between past and present. In 1912 London, we meet the loyal, compassionate, devoted daughter and sister Esther Murphy. She cares for her siblings because their mother is in no sober state to manage the household. They’re poor, but they love each other and Esther does all that she can for her siblings. Without meaning to, Esther and her brother are swept up in an extraordinary discovery of jewels found beneath a London street.

In present day, respected American historian Dr Kate Murphy investigates the Cheapside Jewels and slowly finds out more about the history of the collection.

For a small amount of time, we’re also transported back to the early 1600s in India, Persia and London to find out more about the origin of the jewellery collection and how these jewels ended up abandoned beneath the London ground.

“The jewels were discovered the same day Essie Murphy fell in love. She had her brother to thank for both, of course — though in the years to come she’d often wonder which one came first. A buried bucket of jewels. A man with emerald eyes.”

The Lost Jewels explores themes of family, obligation and expectations, but also love, desire, sacrifice and betrayal. A lot is expected of Essie Murphy, and she places an incredible amount of pressure on herself to keep her family afloat. She adores her brother and her sisters — she’s a multi-layered protagonist. She’s caring and considerate, but she’s also a little naive and too trusting. She always sees the best in people, and sometimes she puts her faith in other people too quickly.

Esther and Kate have very distinct voices. Kate is intelligent, headstrong and confident. Like Esther, she’s a romantic, but she’s experienced hardship in her life. She’s going through a divorce and hasn’t been able to emotionally recover from the death of her child. On her journey to uncover the truth about the Cheapside Hoard, Kate meets photographer Marcus and her life changes in more ways than one.

“The diamond was table-cut and clear. Kate used her eyepiece to scan the stone for variations. Flaws. Nowadays a diamond could be filled and baked, then sent off for certification that they were perfect; the rough would be brilliant-cut to throw sparkle around the room.”

Engrossing, captivating and compelling, The Lost Jewels is a tale that travels. Kate ventures from London to India, Sri Lanka and Paris to uncover the secret histories of these jewels.

Kirsty captures the locations with incredible description and vivid imagery. In a way, the settings felt like characters themselves because Kirsty had woven them into the story with incredible significance.

It’s clear how much research went into the writing of this book, not just in capturing the settings but in bringing to life the jewels and the characterisation of Kate. Every time jewellery is described or studied, the prose is evocative. The sentences paint such a gorgeous picture of the jewels, drawing the reader in and helping them imagine what our characters are seeing.

Kate is incredibly knowledgable about jewellery — she’s considered to be one of the best historians. She’s wise and intelligent, but she also learns quick. I can’t begin to imagine the time it took for Kirsty to research what was required for not only Kate’s character, but the entire premise of the novel.

“The button was a double-layered flower: a rose fashioned from gold, with just the faintest traces of blue and white paint. At the centre of the flower and dotted along the petals were blue, red and white stones. Were they precious stones, or coloured paste? Each of the inner circles also had gold indents, as if there was more to come.”

A modern day treasure hunt, The Lost Jewels is for fans of historical fiction, romance and sweeping sagas that investigate inter-generational secrets. The readership for this novel skews female.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Lost Jewels
Kirsty Manning
April 2020
Allen and Unwin Book Publishers

The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester


England, 1939 Talented pilot Skye Penrose joins the British war effort where she encounters her estranged sister, Liberty, and childhood soulmate Nicholas Crawford, now engaged to enigmatic Frenchwoman Margaux Jourdan.

Paris, 1947 Designer Christian Dior unveils his extravagant first collection to a world weary of war and grief. He names his debut fragrance, Miss Dior, in tribute to his sister, Catherine, who worked for the French Resistance.

Present day Australian fashion conservator Kat Jourdan discovers a secret wardrobe filled with priceless Dior gowns in her grandmother’s vacant cottage. As she delves into the mystery, Kat begins to doubt everything she thought she knew about her beloved grandmother.

An unspeakable betrayal will entwine all of their fates.

The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester is another historical fiction novel mostly set during World War II, this time introducing us to three incredible women whose lives are forever changed and bound by secrets.

The dominant storyline is the one set in 1939, where we meet sisters Skye and Liberty Penrose, Skye’s childhood friend Nicholas Crawford, and his fiancé Margaux Jourdan. We do briefly move between two other storylines — 1947 where Margaux is a model for fashion designer Christian Dior, and present day 2012, where Margaux’s granddaughter Kate starts to uncover all of her grandmother’s secrets during World War II — but every time we’re transported back to 1939, Skye’s storyline maintains for almost 100 pages.

Natasha always crafts characters who are engaging and interesting, drawing the reader in with their depth and their likability. Normally, I wouldn’t think Air Transport Auxiliary would be interesting enough to want to read about it, but Natasha bring us a multi-layered core cast of characters, and you can’t help but feel swept up in the storyline.

“Tonight’s mission was named Operation Peaceful; some wag at HQ obviously had a sense of humour. The operation was a double: he and O’Farrell would each fly a Lysander carrying one SOE agent and six hundred pounds of cargo — Sten guns, money, radios, pamphlets — to a tiny field in France and land on a flare path just one hundred and fifty yards long and lit by only four pocket torches.”

Having read most of Natasha’s previous novels, I noticed a vast difference in how she captured Skye and Liberty’s backstory in this latest book. More time was given to their past and their childhood, so by the time the pacing picked up and we were in the middle of World War II, you felt more understanding of the characters. I definitely felt like more attention was given to the characters, allowing the reader a closer connection with them as the chapters progressed.

The writing is polished and tight, but also emotional and full of character. Natasha always writes such realistic dialogue, gorgeous prose, and she always illustrates fantastic female characters and really engrossing romances. Sitting at almost 450 pages, this is one of Natasha’s lengthier works but it’s worth every page.

“What she’d seen on Margaux’s face after the bloodlessness passed was a terror so stark Kat never wanted to see it again. If was as if her grandmother had witnessed death itself, as if the dark angel had reached for Margaux with outstretched arms.”

Personally, Skye’s story was my favourite. She’s intelligent, confident and ballsy, and she fights for what she believes in. She’s estranged from her sister Liberty, who is malicious, conniving and manipulative, and she’s in love with her childhood friend Nicholas Crawford. He happens to be engaged to the mysterious but bold Frenchwoman Margaux Jourdan, and Skye feels torn by her feelings for Nicholas.

All of them work together in Air Transport, supporting the RAF during the war. Skye was part of a small group of women who transported planes around the UK. It was a stressful, trying time, with a lot of pain, death, and uncertainty. Skye was a pioneer for women in the British Auxiliary, and so there’s definitely a lot of feminist undertones in the novel. Women weren’t considered to be as talented or as valuable as men, and Skye worked to change that. She paved the way for female pilots.

“A Dior gown so sensational would certainly be featured in any book on the fashion house, would have been displayed proudly by any museum, would be almost as well known as the Bar Suit. But, as far as Kat was aware, nobody knew anything of this beautiful blue dress. Why?”

Sometimes, it did feel like the 1947 storyline wasn’t quite a natural fit in the novel. It was the glue between 1939 and 2012, but it felt a bit forced into the plot. There certainly wasn’t that much time dedicated to that POV in the novel, but it was a way for granddaughter Kat Jourdan to discover her grandmother’s hidden secrets. I wonder if there was a way to just have 1939 and 2012.

Recommended for fans of historical fiction, romance, and sweeping family sagas that span across generations.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Paris Secret
Natasha Lester
April 2020
Hachette Book Publishers

Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain

North Carolina, 2018: Morgan Christopher’s life has been derailed. Taking the fall for a crime she did not commit, she finds herself serving a three-year stint in the North Carolina Women’s Correctional Center. Her dream of a career in art is put on hold – until a mysterious visitor makes her an offer that will see her released immediately. Her assignment: restore an old post office mural in a sleepy southern town. Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but desperate to leave prison, she accepts. What she finds under the layers of grime is a painting that tells the story of madness, violence, and a conspiracy of small town secrets.

North Carolina, 1940: Anna Dale, an artist from New Jersey, wins a national contest to paint a mural for the post office in Edenton, North Carolina. Alone in the world and desperate for work, she accepts. But what she doesn’t expect is to find herself immersed in a town where prejudices run deep, where people are hiding secrets behind closed doors, and where the price of being different might just end in murder.

What happened to Anna Dale? Are the clues hidden in the decrepit mural? Can Morgan overcome her own demons to discover what exists beneath the layers of lies?

Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain tracks two white artists living in a small town in North Carolina, 78 years apart. The storyline pivots around a mural that was commissioned for the small town, but was mysteriously never installed.

In 1940, 22-year-old artist Anna Dale wins an art contest and is chosen to paint a mural for the Edenton post office. She travels from New Jersey and lives in the town while completing the work.

In 2018, 22-year-old artist Morgan Christopher is serving time in prison for a DUI that resulted in a car accident. She’s offered parole if she moves to Edenton to restore the mural that Anna Dale abandoned decades earlier. A mysterious African American artist called Jesse Jameson Williams —who Morgan has never met and has no connection to — recently died and outlined strictly in his will that Morgan be the artist to restore the work.

“Anna arrived in Edenton for her planned three-day visit late on the afternoon of December 4. She could have taken the overnight train, but at the last minute she decided to drive. The ’32 navy blue Ford V8 still held her mother’s scent — the spicy patchouli fragrance of the Tabu perfume she’d loved — and Anna needed that comfort as she set out on this new, very adult venture.”

Strong themes present in the book are addiction and illness — Morgan is estranged from her parents, who are dysfunctional, judgemental alcoholics, and Anna’s mother just recently committed suicide after years of manic illnesses.

Racism is thinly explored in the book as well. Jesse Jameson Williams meets Anna Dale when he’s a teenager, and begins helping her paint the mural. Soon, people in Edenton assume the two are engaged in a relationship, which would’ve been illegal at that time. Someone paints racial slurs on the wall of Anna’s workshop space, and people threaten to harm Anna because of her connection to Jesse. Admittedly, the racism seems a little too light for what it would’ve actually been like at that time.

The artistry is incredibly evocative in the book. Both Anna and Morgan are talented and enthusiastic about their work and it’s evident how much artistic research has gone into the writing of this book. Everything about the mural, the town and its inhabitants is richly detailed and captured clearly.

“They talked about the people they knew who might be willing to model for the mural. Muss Myrtle thought the mayor’s wife was a good choice, but the idea made Anna cringe as she remembered Pauline’s comments about Mayor Sykes’ treatment of his wife. She felt as if she knew far more than she should about the poor woman and her life.”

The book is enjoyable and will have readers turning the pages, but it’s not flawless. The turning point in Anna Dale’s story (and what results from it) is predictable and expected, as is Morgan’s discovered connection to Jesse and Anna in the final chapter of the book.

Additionally, Jesse’s will stipulated that his daughter Lisa wouldn’t inherit her childhood home if Morgan missed her mural restoration deadline. This stipulation…doesn’t fit the rest of Jesse’s characterisation and is never really explained in the book. It felt like a lazy plot point.

An engaging read recommended for fans of women’s fiction and historical fiction.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Big Lies In A Small Town
Diane Chamberlain
January 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers