Author plug: Sharon Kay Penman

Any casual reader of my reviews knows that I love historical fiction. One of my favorite authors in this genre is Sharon Kay Penman, whose When Christ and His Saints Slept I’m reading right now. It’s the first book in a trilogy that includes Time and Chance (2002) and Devil’s Brood (to be published in October 2008). Of course, I’m going to be first in line when the new book comes out. The trilogy focuses on the lives of royalty in the twelfth century, specifically the Empress Maude and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

In addition, the covers of some of Penman’s books are undergoing a facelift; here’s the cover of Here Be Dragons, a novel of thirteenth century Wales:

Comments

Teddy Rose said…

I loved this book! I hope to read the rest of the series at some point.

Since you stopped by my blog for weekly geek, I had to check out your blog as well, of course (smiles). My favorite genre is also historical fiction!

I was hoping to avoid this, but I must add you to my Google reader subscriptions. Your blog is just too tempting!

April 27, 2008 at 3:00 AM

Katherine said…

Thanks so much for stopping by!

April 27, 2008 at 12:32 PM

Another giveaway

This time, the publicist at WW Norton sent me two copies of The Glass of Time , by Michael Cox--so I'm giving away the second copy. Cox is the author of The Meaning of Night, and this book is the follow-up to that. Leave a comment here to enter to win it! The deadline is next Sunday, 10/5/08.

A giveaway winner, and another giveaway

The winner of the Girl in a Blue Dress contest is... Anna, of Diary of An Eccentric ! My new contest is for a copy of The Shape of Mercy , by Susan Meissner. According to Publisher's Weekly : Meissner's newest novel is potentially life-changing, the kind of inspirational fiction that prompts readers to call up old friends, lost loves or fallen-away family members to tell them that all is forgiven and that life is too short for holding grudges. Achingly romantic, the novel features the legacy of Mercy Hayworth—a young woman convicted during the Salem witch trials—whose words reach out from the past to forever transform the lives of two present-day women. These book lovers—Abigail Boyles, elderly, bitter and frail, and Lauren Lars Durough, wealthy, earnest and young—become unlikely friends, drawn together over the untimely death of Mercy, whose precious diary is all that remains of her too short life. And what a diary! Mercy's words not only beguile but help Abigail and Lars...

Review: The Piano Teacher, by Janice Y.K. Lee

The Piano Teacher is a complicated novel. On the surface, it’s about a love affair between two British ex-patriots in Hong Kong in 1952-3. Claire Pendleton comes to Hong Kong with her husband Martin at a time when the world is still recovering from WWII; Claire takes up work as a piano teacher for the daughter of a wealthy Chinese family, where she meets Will Truesdale, the Chens’ enigmatic chauffeur. The book jumps back in time between the 1950s and the beginning of WWII, when Will is interned in Stanley, a Hong Kong camp for enemies of Japan. On “the outside” is Tudy Liang, Will’s beautiful Eurasian lover. There’s no doubt that Lee’s writing is beautiful. But there’s something lacking in this short, terse novel that I can’t quite put my finger on. First, I think it’s the tenses she uses when taking about each story: that which is set in the 1950s is in the past tense, while the war scenes are talked about in the present tense (confusing, no?) The interpersonal relationships of the m...

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