Historical

Spartacus returns home after serving with the Roman Legions for a decade to discover that his father has been murdered!

He falls out with the king who sells him and Adiadne
a Dionysias priestess to a slave trader.

One of the main reasons I enjoyed this book is
the meticulous historical detail.I was fascinated by gladiatorial combat and the way they were trained each gladiator had at least two weapons which were used for different tactics to kill their opponent in a most horrifying way.

It is the story of engineer, Jean Baptiste Barrat, charged to remove the corpses from the overflowing cemetery of Les Innocents, Paris, on the eve of the revolution. Most book club members enjoyed this book, particularly enjoying the richness of the prose despite the unpleasant subject matter. The putrifying atmosphere of the graveyard was so vividly portrayed it was too much for a couple of our readers, pervading the air, the food and even the breath of the citizens.

When I first started reading 'Master and God' I felt quite overwhelmed by the historical information that Lindsey Davis was giving me in the first quarter of the book, but slowly I fell in love with Flavia Lucilla and Gaius Vinius Clodianus and their story.

Lucilla is a hairdresser to the rich and Gaius Vinius a Praetorian Guard - it is through their lives that we see the effects of Domitian's mental illness.

Naomi Novik just keeps on getting better with each book she writes in the historical fantasy with dragons. I guess you could say that in modern warfare as opposed to the Napoleonic Wars, helicopters and fighter planes would be doing the work of the dragons, with Temeraire being the lead dragon character.

This time Naomi Novik has taken us to Europe, especially Turkey where they take the dragon eggs and fly home via Prussia - but it is a hard journey with several crew losses.

When I was growing up, Tony Robinson was one of my heroes (and still is), with his many TV appearances in series like Blood and Honey and Stay Tooned, and audio cassette readings.

In this book (which he wrote with Richard Curtis - one writer of classic 1980's comedy Blackadder) he presents a retelling of events in Homer's epic poem, The Iliad, and chooses to see the whole story from the point of view of one character, Odysseus. The result is well written, pacy and often truly hilarious.

A beautifully descriptive novel set in India in the 1940s and 1850s, wonderfully interwoven, with a satisfying romantic finale.

Some irritations of course, the precocious child Billy, the inability of characters to talk to each other and a certain incompleteness in the character of Evie which means she fades a little and one cares less about her.

But for a sight, smell and sound of India past and present, and a complex and subtle tale this takes some beating.

Any student of history will probably be aware of the ongoing controversy and debate surrounding the Royal Air Force's strategic bombing campaign during the Second World War. Primarily that debate focuses on the attack by the RAF and US 8th AAF's raids on Dresden in the spring of 1945 - and despite that raid being the factor that polarises, it is only one small part of the story.

The latest in this fascinating time travel series following Clare, a 20th century nurse and doctor, traveling back to 18th century Scotland and the colonies to be with her now husband, the Highlander Jamie.

Excellent well drawn characters, good dialogue and description, intriguing plots and sub plots, plus interesting detail of everyday life back then, particularly, for me, on the medical/herbal front. Mix in some celtic mysticism, and in this volume some native American wisdom and set in a period of great change, and you have a really good read.

This is Historical fiction at it's best,an extremely well written and exciting book.Paul Dowsell writes in a very
adult way and he does not spare his readers feelings.The Reader is entering the violent world of the 16th century
where childhood is nonexistent and everyone must look after themselves.

Another huge book ! I found it only possible to read comfortably sitting at a table - are publishers deliberately trying to force readers buy Kindles ?