Great Books to Read for the New Year
My fellow insects,
I hope you all had a good Christmas holiday and a jolly New Year; I was in bed by 10:45 p.m. with a good book, and what a book……
Sashenka by Simon Montefiore
……… this is a big, sweeping, romantic adventure of half a century of turbulent Russian history. It is the story of a young girl living in St Petersburg who at the age of 16 becomes a Bolshevik revolutionary during the reign of the Czar in 1916. She has to be ‘bought’ out of jail by her father, the head of a wealthy family, but she continues to help the Bolsheviks, as her mother parties with Rasputin and her other friends. Sashenka marries and has two, children, but then embarks on a love affair that has dreadful consequences. The final part of the book takes place with the third generation in 1994 when a young historian eventually manages to get into the Stalin archives and unravels a horrendous story of betrayal and savage cruelty, but with an ending to the story that will stay with you for a long time.
All through the book, the background details of life in Russia at the time of the Czars and on through the revolution, right up to the collapse of communism, simply add to the enjoyment of Simon Montefiore’s fine writing. For those of you who do not know his work, he has had great success with his two outstanding biographies of Stalin and this is one of the main reasons for the authenticity of this, his first piece of historical fiction. When writing Sashenka, he used a lot of his research work from the Stalin books.
For lovers of historical fiction, and for those of you who, like me, like to learn more history through this fascinating medium – after all, he is a renowned historian – I cannot recommend this book strongly enough. Magnificent.
Corsair by Tim Severin
You may remember that back in October I recommended a book called White Gold by Giles Milton, a wonderful history of the white slave trade to Africa in the late 1600’s. Well, this is a fascinating piece of historical fiction which is centred around the same period in history.
Set in the late 1600’s, Corsair is the story of an Irish young man, Hector Lynch and his sister Elizabeth who are living in a village on the south coast of Ireland when they are both taken by Barbary corsairs and sold at auction in Algiers. At the time of their capture, the Slaves are separated by gender and, after converting to Islam to avoid the worst of the horrors of the slave trade, Hector and another slave, Dan, a Miskito Indian from the Caribbean who has become a friend, have to survive adventures peopled by a series of ferocious historical characters, by their quick witted actions as they become embroiled in the Mediterranean naval wars.
Hecctor’s main concern is the whereabouts of his sister and it is this need that drives him on through shipwrecks and, having escaped from the African slave trade, being re enslaved by French Christians. He eventually finds out the awful truth about what has happened to his sister when he is shipwrecked off the coast of Morocco.
Being written by another well known historian, this book will intrigue you, not only by its story, but also by the meticulous research that has gone into defining the extraordinary characters who are featured all through the book, from a power-crazed sultan through sadistic seamen to fanatical members of the Christian Knightly Orders. Be sure to read the historical notes that Tim Severin provides at the end of this excellent book.
Happy chewing till next time,
The Booklouse
