Category Archives: Historical

Rotoroa by Amy Head – 2018

Posted on July 7, 2018 by alysonebaker

Rotoroa is the story of three quite different people who all end up in the same place for a while. The time is significant: New Zealand in the 1950s, post-war, emerging rock and roll, six o’clock swills, the bridge going … Continue reading →

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Money in the Morgue by Ngaio Marsh and Stella Duffy – 2018

Posted on April 29, 2018 by alysonebaker

Dame Ngaio Marsh wrote the first few chapters, the title and the timeframe for this novel, which is set in New Zealand during the Second World War, and Stella Duffy has solved the crime and completed the novel for publication.  … Continue reading →

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Into the World by Stephanie Parkyn – 2017

Posted on March 12, 2018 by alysonebaker

Into the World is an historical adventure on the high seas with great characters and an interesting plot.  From the beginning of the novel, when Marie-Louise Girardin brands herself and her infant son before leaving him to the fate of … Continue reading →

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Murder on Broadway by John Rosanowski – 2017

Posted on December 31, 2017 by alysonebaker

Murder on Broadway is a rollicking wild West Coast goldfields tale of murder and mayhem.  When the obnoxious Reefton Police Sergeant Mackworth Snyder leaves Reefton in the hands of his new Constable Gordon Trembath, in the days leading up to … Continue reading →

Posted in #yeahnoir, Historical | 3 Comments

Heloise by Mandy Hager – 2017

Posted on December 17, 2017 by alysonebaker

“Of all my frustrations with the Christian Church, besides its demonising of women, there are two that most confound me: the preoccupation with unquestioning obedience and the notion of original sin.”  So says one of Heloise’s early teachers – a … Continue reading →

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Fletcher of the Bounty by Graeme Lay – 2017

Posted on August 14, 2017 by alysonebaker

I really enjoyed Lay’s James Cook trilogy, from the first installment which adores Cook, through to the final depiction of a man gone mad.  I picked up Fletcher of the Bounty expecting a combination of the two – adoring of … Continue reading →

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Through the Lonesome Dark by Paddy Richardson – 2017

Posted on July 21, 2017 by alysonebaker

Pansy, Clem and Otto are inseparable mates in the West Coast coalmining town of Blackball pre the Great War. The children have quite different home lives, Pansy having the worst of it by far – her father being a cruel … Continue reading →

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The French Perfumer by Amanda Hampson – 2017

Posted on May 25, 2017 by alysonebaker

Iris is 35 and living in London in 1956, her only company her father, her cat and a workmate, Colleen.  She does have a brother, but their relationship is tainted by the brother’s ambitious wife.  When her father and cat … Continue reading →

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The Wish Child by Catherine Chidgey – 2016

Posted on May 22, 2017 by alysonebaker

The Wish Child is a beautifully written tale of terrible things.  It tells the story of two children living in Germany from the height of Hitler’s power to his demise and beyond.  Erich lives on a farm near Leipzig, he … Continue reading →

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Lewisville by Alexandra Tidswell – 2016

Posted on May 15, 2017 by alysonebaker

Lewisville follows the life of Martha Masters / Grimm / Lewis from the hard turnip fields of 1815 Warwickshire to a grand house in 1871 Wellington, NZ.  It documents the successes, the lies, the mistakes and the omissions of Martha … Continue reading →

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