‘Written with wit and warmth, and a firm historical grasp’. @deBieJennifer reviews #HistoricalFiction Dolly Pleasance by C.W. Lovatt #TuesdayBookBlog

Today’s team review is from Jenni. She blogs here https://jenniferdebie.com/

Jenni has been reading Dolly Pleasance by C.W. Lovatt

Step out of the wings and strike a pose with C.W. Lovatt’s indominable Delores “Dolly” Pleasance, a 19^th century actress born to take the London stage by storm in this spin-off of Lovatt’s long-running Charlie Smithers Adventures series. Don’t let the words “spin-off” put you off, while Smithers plays an integral, emotional part to her tale, Dolly’s story is all her own and boy what a story it is.

Sold to the theater by her failed-actor father when she was just a child, Dolly grows up wild backstage, just waiting to take her first steps into the spotlights, and when she finally does, the entire world glows. Follow her career across the decades as Dolly (Did you know Delores is Spanish for sad?) rises, falls, and rises again from the lowliest of stage-scrubbers, to a woman of artistry, and is recognized as such.

Lovingly researched, Lovatt has a true talent for weaving real people and events organically into Dolly’s life. Dolly’s frequent interactions with, and references to, the playwrights of her day and their work is sure to be fun for anyone with a passing knowledge of Victorian literature.

A play is only as good as its players, and Dolly Pleasance is no exception, the titular Dolly is a delight, but she is surrounded by an exceptional supporting cast. Standout is her consummate supporting lady, Fanny Bonham, Dolly’s longtime friend and lover. Fanny, however, is not alone in supporting our heroine as there’s also the gruff Ben Webster, the incorrigibly French Madame Celeste, and the stalwart Peter Collins, among many others. Entrances and exits abound across the course of Dolly’s life, and keeping track of her massive, evolving circle of friends and fans is a full-time job.

All is not spotlights and roses though, there is peril stalking Dolly in the murky London streets, and when a gypsy’s premonition comes true there’s really only question to ask: will Dolly rise above, or be dragged down by those who would destroy her?

Written with wit and warmth, and a firm historical grasp on some of the darker aspects of being among the most vulnerable in 19^th century England, Dolly Pleasance is sure to delight fans of the theater, fans of history, and fans of powerful leading ladies all at once.

5/5

Come, meet the actress, Dolly Pleasance. Born into a life of poverty and abuse in the midst of 19th Century London, Dolly’s only salvation is her passion for the theatre. Follow her career, from rags to riches, over a span of twenty years.

Rejoice as she captures the hearts of thousands, fret as she attempts to avoid the clutches of a murderous madman, and weep over the impossible love she has for one Charlie Smithers.

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Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT #Steampunk OUT OF THE LONDON MIST by Lyssa Medana @Lmedana

Today’s team review is from Noelle, she blogs here https://saylingaway.wordpress.com

Noelle has been reading Out Of The London Mist by Lyssa Medana

I believe Out of the London Mist may be the first steampunk novel I’ve read. The book was purchased for review by Rosie’s Book Review Team.

The story opens with the visit of John Farnley to the East End of London to the shop of a metal worker who has frequently made parts for Farnley’s aether-powered plane. The shop was the last place John’s brother, Sir Nicholas Farnley, visited before being killed in a nearby street. This area of London was one which Sir Nicholas would never visit, and John is determined to trace his last steps and find his murderer.

John is faced with now being a nobleman, Sir John Farnley, and all that entails, plus having to sort out family business and holdings, which entail the mining of aether crystals, a source of power in Victorian England. He must also comfort his sister-in-law, who was a decorative wife to his brother but proves to be a competent household manager of the little-used London home.

A dense London fog is blanketing London, and it becomes a character unto itself, well drawn by the author. She also creates the world of the East End slums, a deadly place where life is cheap and people walking alone are preyed upon.

John discovers that his brother was helping the father of the metal worker, a rabbi involved in creating something monstrous which now lurks in the mist-shrouded corners of the East End. People are dying from being beaten with inhuman force, and John suspects his brother was one of the victims. Aiding him in his investigation is the resourceful Miss Sylvia Armley, brave and fearless. John has an intimate understanding of the aether lines that flow above London and of the advantages and disadvantages of using aether crystals as a power source, and he is helped to understand why his brother was collaborating with the rabbi by the erudite advice of Professor Entwistle, a close friend of the rabbi.

Together with Miss Armley, John travels though the darkest part of London to determine exactly what his brother was doing and to stop the aether-powered monster that killed him. The ending was not at all what I expected, and I can see another book to follow this one.

The author does an excellent job limning her characters and creating a steampunk world. I enjoyed the detail and the dialogue moved crisply along. The most compelling aspect was the way in which she created the foggy world, at once opaque and frightening. The mystery compels you to read on. For my first adventure into steampunk, this book is a winner.

The author tells a good story, and I am going to download some of her other books.

When news of his brother’s murder reached him, aether pilot John Farnley raced back to his old family home.

While he comforts his bereaved sister-in-law, and tries to sort the family business and holdings, he also wonders why his brother, Lord Nicholas Farnley, had ventured into the cramped streets of the East End of London where he had met his violent end. The slums are a deadly place where life was cheap and murderous thugs preyed on the weak and lost.

Now, in the midst of a thick, London fog, something even more monstrous is waiting in the mist-shrouded shadows. Something that has been brought to life by the refugees crowding Bethnal Green and Mile End. Something his brother might have had a hand in creating.

Aided by his friend, the resourceful Miss Sylvia Armley, his own understanding of the aether lines that flow above London, and guided by the erudite advice of Professor Entwistle, John is forced to find his way through the darkest part of London to avenge his brother and stop whatever aether powered monster is lurking there.

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Rosie’s #BookReview Team #RBRT Victorian #Mystery FAME & FORTUNE by @carolJhedges

Today’s team review is from Cathy, she blogs here https://betweenthelinesbookblog.wordpress.com/

Cathy has been reading Fame & Fortune by Carol J Hedges.

Fame & Fortune is the eighth outing for DS Jack Cully, DI Lachlan Greig and DI Leo Stride, otherwise known as the Victorian Detectives. Carol Hedges immerses us once again in a London peopled with the sad and the bad, the rich and the poor, and the evocatively described back alleys, slums and more fashionable thoroughfares they inhabit.

When a body is found hanging from the scaffolding on a bridge, Detective Inspector Greig doesn’t agree with the presumption of suicide by the attending constable. It didn’t add up in Greig’s eyes but the ineptitude of the constable regarding the scene of the crime, as Greig believed that’s what it was, didn’t help.

Then we have Gerald Daubney, a collector of antiquities who has been robbed of his priceless netsuke collection and, it seems, his manservant has also disappeared.

In a shabby, cobbled passageway in Bloomsbury we find ten year old Izzy Harding, scraping a living of sorts and existing off very little, painting furniture for dolls’ houses, one of the many children working at the long tables. Her second job washing dishes in a diner at least comes with food, such as it is.

The indomitable Miss Lucy Landseer makes another appearance when she comes to the aid, not only of novelist, Mrs Riva Hemmyng-Stratton, but also a lady in an intolerable position, in a situation that would perhaps make a good plot for one of her books.

The villainous Black brothers, Herbert and Munro, encompass all that is bad and whose shady dealings have serious and continuing repercussions throughout the city.

I enjoy these books immensely and Carol Hedges’ writing and plotting never fails to draw me in, with witty and engaging prose. Characters are extremely well drawn, giving an immediate visual image and the existing cast continue to develop. And as always, London features as a character in its own right with atmospheric descriptions and the distinct social divide between all levels of society.

When the body of a man is discovered hanging from some scaffolding under one of London’s bridges, Scotland Yard’s detective division is called in to solve the mystery of his identity & how he died. What they discover is a web of crime and extortion, and at the heart of it, two evil brothers, Munro and Herbert Black. Their inquiries will bring them into contact with the strange world of Gerald Daubney, collector of Japanese curios, whose priceless collection of netsuke has disappeared.

Facing a similar loss is Mrs Riva Hemmyng-Stratton, writer of ‘silver-fork’ novels, who suddenly finds herself embroiled in a court case when she is sued for defamation and libel by Lord Edwin Lackington. Her priceless reputation as a writer is on the line. How on earth can she prove her innocence when the only person who could vouch for it is incarcerated in a private asylum?

Many old friends make appearances in the novel … and a certain meaningful relationship finally reaches its conclusion.

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Rosie’s #BookReview Team #RBRT #Steampunk #Mystery OUT OF THE LONDON MIST by Lyssa Medana

Today’s team review is from Liz, she blogs here https://lizannelloyd.wordpress.com/

Liz has been reading Out Of The London Mist by Lyssa Medana

This steam-punk mystery is set in a Victorian-style London of pea-souper fog.  Danger lurks in the East End for the unwary passer-by. John Farnley has recently returned from an archaeological expedition in Greece where he has been the pilot in his “jalopy”. His world has been upturned by the sudden death of his brother Nicholas, Lord Farnley. Now he must take care of his widowed sister-in-law Clara, discover what Nicholas has been doing with the family business and discover the cause of his brother’s death.  Visiting the workshop of his mechanic on a dark night, near the site of Nicholas’s death, John comes under attack, but luckily his capable friend Sylvia Armley turns up to help him.

The story has all the ingredients of a mysterious adventure. Both women prove to have depth of character and determination and the team has the addition of a Police Inspector of the old-school and an expert Professor. As one murder after another occurs, the suggestion of a statue that moves is likely to cause mass hysteria. Is there a connection to the aether which powers John’s jalopy as well as many other modern conveniences such as the lamps?

There is plenty of action as the plot reaches a crisis but there is also interesting communication between the characters who show empathy and understanding. My only disappointment was the very sudden ending. I am hoping that this is the first of many such adventures for John Farnley.

When news of his brother’s murder reached him, aether pilot John Farnley raced back to his old family home.

While he comforts his bereaved sister-in-law, and tries to sort the family business and holdings, he also wonders why his brother, Lord Nicholas Farnley, had ventured into the cramped streets of the East End of London where he had met his violent end. The slums are a deadly place where life was cheap and murderous thugs preyed on the weak and lost.

Now, in the midst of a thick, London fog, something even more monstrous is waiting in the mist-shrouded shadows. Something that has been brought to life by the refugees crowding Bethnal Green and Mile End. Something his brother might have had a hand in creating.

Aided by his friend, the resourceful Miss Sylvia Armley, his own understanding of the aether lines that flow above London, and guided by the erudite advice of Professor Entwistle, John is forced to find his way through the darkest part of London to avenge his brother and stop whatever aether powered monster is lurking there.

AmazonUK | AmazonUS