The Butcher's Hook by Janet Ellis

Janet Ellis has written a startling and original historical novel inThe Butcher’s Hook. The smart, astute and fascinating heroine and mesmerising narrative belie the fact that this is a debut. Anne Jacob is a middle-class girl in the middle of the 18^thcentury, hungry for books and for knowledge, but a betrayal at the hands of her tutor leads her to explore other avenues of learning and realise the limits of her world. Following the loss of her beloved baby brother, Anne detaches herself from emotion until she meets Fub, the butcher’s boy, and in him she finally finds purpose and passion.

Determined to make a life for herself separate from her parents and the plans they have made for her, Anne will go to any lengths to maintain her newfound happiness, no matter how dark the path she must tread. The book highlights the restrictive limits set on women in the Georgian era and the psychological damage such restriction could lead to, and it is also an immersive portrait of London: its sights, smells, tastes and sounds. While Anne is at the centre of the narrative, we also see her mother, worn out by countless pregnancies and grief; the maids Jane and Grace, limited by their position but ever watchful; and the men who control the women around them with a word, a smile or a frown. The book is also a wonderful portrait of the intensity of first love and the madness of that intensity. Highly recommended. Published by Two Roads Books.

This review can also be viewed at the the HNS website Here

Mrs Hemingway by Naomi Wood

This is a book I have been wanting to read for a while now, it intrigued me, not because I'm a big fan of Hemingway (although I did go out and buy A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises and A Moveable Feast after reading it) but because of the interesting times that he had and his four wives lived through; Paris in the 1920s, Spain during the Civil War in the 1930s and of course the dangers of Europe throughout the Second World War. I haven't read Naomi's work before this and I have to say her writing style is warm, witty and easy to read. For me this was an absolute page turner while also being a thorough character analysis of the four women and the ups and downs of their relationships with each other and with the charismatic Ernest, around whom the novel revolves. Although Ernest is not given a voice his character comes across very strongly as we see him through the eyes of the women who by turns love him, hate him, pity him and are finally abandoned by him. I really enjoyed this novel and anyone with an interest in Hemingway or the fascinating circles he moved in will find something to like here. It would also be of huge interest to anyone who like me is intrigued by the changes in women's lives throughout the first half of the century.