topfivebooks.com.au

Heartstone by CJ Sansom

Kim Kingston — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 02:50:02 +0000

Samson’s account of the sinking of the King’s warship, the Mary Rose, in Hearstone is unforgettable. Sansom renders it real, compete with rats frantically clambouring over the netting as the ship sinks into the water with the trapped men beneath. This is what Samson is so good at; history so vital and compelling it makes you feel a little bit sick. Brilliant.

The post Heartstone by CJ Sansom appeared first on topfivebooks.com.au.

Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Kim Kingston — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 02:36:32 +0000

Wolf Hall is very good, but Bring Up The Bodies is even better. Ridiculous to be reading about Cromwell and Henry’s courting of Jane Seymour and the trial of Anne Boleyn as if you don’t know what happens next, but Mantel makes you live through those times instead of just knowing about them. She’s so good, you begin to hope against hope that Cromwell may yet surivive his master…..

The post Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel appeared first on topfivebooks.com.au.

Imperium by Robert Harris

Kim Kingston — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 02:25:08 +0000

Imperium rocks. It’s the first book in a trilogy about Cicero and his life in Ancient Rome, narrated by Cicero’s secretary/slave, Tiro. If only history were always this sensibly written and accessible. Love it. The following two books in the trilogy are not quite as gripping but still very readable.

The post Imperium by Robert Harris appeared first on topfivebooks.com.au.

Dissolution by CJ Sansom

Kim Kingston — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 01:00:41 +0000

The first novel in a series of six, Dissolution immerses us in the world of hunchback lawyer Matthew Shardlake, the thinking woman’s crumpet. He’s an intelligent, compassionate man with the misfortune to be born during the rule of Henry VIII. His physical deformity makes him an object of almost constant sniggering and ridicule yet he plods on, doggedly doing his best to solve a murder in a monastery about to be dissolved by order of the king. Everything in the sixteenth century stinks, from the Thames to the corruption of the people wielding power. It’s exemplary historical fiction: an intriguing murder mystery that brings the filth and horror of that time to life so vividly you can almost smell it.
Get to know Shardlake. He’s well worth it. If you like this one, there’s another five!

The post Dissolution by CJ Sansom appeared first on topfivebooks.com.au.

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Kim Kingston — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 23:19:17 +0000

When Follett is good (as in this and The Pillars of The Earth) he’s very, very good. In this novel, the first in the Century trilogy, he moves the lives of five families around the chessboard of the First World War with a masterly touch. You don’t even realise how much history you absorb as you watch, enthralled. Brilliant. And there’s two more in the series!

The post Fall of Giants by Ken Follett appeared first on topfivebooks.com.au.