Fortunes of France: The Brethren: No.1
Robert Merle, Neil Gower and T. Jefferson Kline
Book
The Perigord of sixteenth-century France is a wild region on the edge of the reaches of royal...
Grandville Noel
Book
With his trusty adjunct, Detective Sergeant Ratzi, away for Christmas, there's no holiday for...
Wars of the Roses: Stormbird
9.0
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Historical fiction master Conn Iggulden retells the gripping story of the English Civil War in this...
American Founding Son: John Bingham and the Invention of the Fourteenth Amendment
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John Bingham was the architect of the rebirth of the United States following the Civil War. A...
Evangelical Gotham: Religion and the Making of New York City, 1783-1860
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At first glance, evangelical and Gotham seem like an odd pair. What does a movement of pious...
Andy K (10823 KP) rated The Conspirator (2011) in Movies
Sep 1, 2019
After the assassination of our 16th and very popular president, Abraham Lincoln, the conspirators are shot and/or caught to face an outraged and shocked nation right at the end of the Civil War. Among the accused is Mary Surratt who is on trial for her involvement in aiding, lodging and collaborating with those accused. The entire nation wants justice however they can get it, so her circumstance seems dire without a lot of reprieve.
Enter her reluctant defense attorney who doesn't really want the job of defending a woman everyone wants to see brought to justice. Her trial seems one-sided at best with witnesses changing their stories and the judges not allowing much argument against the accused.
Mary herself seems she has given up hope with little regard for her own life.
Redford manages to build the tension slowly as the evidence becomes increasingly bleak for the defendant and everyone's eyes on the trial's outcome. Stellar performance by the always interesting James McAvoy. He wrestles with his own emotions and the growing prejudice the trial has brought upon him and his family to persevere and provide ample defense for his client.
Five-Carat Soul
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Exciting new fiction from James McBride, the first since his National Book Award-winning novel The...
Fiction social issues
Forge of Darkness
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Now is the time to tell the story of an ancient realm, a tragic tale that sets the stage for all the...
Miss Purdys Class
8.0
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A tale of hardship and social injustice, Miss Purdy's Class by Annie Murray is a heartfelt saga with...
ClareR (5885 KP) rated Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose in Books
Mar 14, 2023
It’s 500 pages of history, with loads of details of what it was like to be a female royal during times of instability and unrest. Even for royalty it wasn’t a great time to be a woman. Only good for one thing: providing the next generation. But Elizabeth bucked that trend somewhat, and Weir makes the case for her having some influence with Henry VII. She was a literate, intelligent woman at a time where women weren’t always well educated. Her duty is always to her country and her family - and she had to play a dangerous game of keeping Richard happy whilst hoping that Henry would succeed. After all, she considers Richard responsible for the deaths of her brothers, one of whom was the true heir to the crown (but will we ever really know what happened to these boys?).
I really enjoyed this. I know from reviews I’ve read that some people believe it’s too long, but I can’t see how it could be made shorter and still make sense! There’s so much happening during Elizabeths lifetime: civil war, chopping and changing kings, backstabbing, family strife, births, deaths, marriages - the lot!
Three generations of royalty are covered wonderfully in this book, and I for one ate it up!