My 9th great-grandfather, Thomas Lee was born circa 1672 in Carrickfergus, Antrim, Ireland. He had a son named Gershom, who had a son named Gershom. This Gershom was born in New Jersey in 1735, and his brother Andrew was born in 1745, and died on December 30, 1795, at Lee's Ferry, Edgefield, S.C. And so on and so on, until you come forth a few more generations and I was born in South Dakota, raised in New York, and settled and had a family in Texas. Where will the next generation carry the tradition of Ireland to?

The amazing trails of an American. The roots are far and wide, and always intriguing to explore.

I celebrate my heritage of Ireland today. In honor of Saint Patrick, who was known as the one who brought Christianity to the island of Ireland. The moniker of the Shamrock, a three leaved one, represents the Holy Trinity as he explains Christianity to his new students in Ireland. Patrick is said to have worked as a shepherd while a slave in Slemish, County Antrim. The same County Antrim where I trace my ancestors to. Patrick died on March 17, but historians disagree if it was in the year 420, 460 or 493 AD.


There is some interesting history here and goes into why immigrants felt forced to do so at different times. There is also a short history of Ireland here. Here it states that "Oliver Cromwell arrived in 1649, determined to make Ireland into a Protestant country. His forces ruthlessly killed thousands of men, women, and children, and his violent persecution is one of the most bitterly remembered events in the culture and history of Ireland."

May the spirit of Saint Patrick live on, as we celebrate it as a day of feasting and goodwill among men.

Jane Austen was ill with what some believe was Addison's disease and she succumbed before completing Sanditon. I normally would not want to read a novel that does not have an ending, but since it is Jane Austen, and since there are plenty of continuations that I could pick up to keep it going, I decided it would be a fun excursion from my review pile.

Laurel Ann at Austenprose is discussing Chapters 1 through 4 today. You can find a synopsis and musings and the discussion via that link. Instead of monopolizing their comment form, I wanted to add my thoughts to my own blog to complement my mini comments that I may leave there, and hope to encourage others to join in the discussion.

I was lucky enough to have a copy of Sanditon which is within a combined novels edition. I was dismayed, however, to find that Sanditon is not formatted at all like a normal book. There is not a single line break or a break for paragraph; no structure after one speaks. There are a lot of   ' and - within the text. It gives one the air of being rushed through the narration and the dialogue one after the other. I had no idea how attached I was to an edited book. Instead of writing out the surname, there were abbreviations.

There are also a lot of Capitalized Letters. Although I can understand some of the usage in the following:
- Beauty, Sweetness, Poverty and Dependance, do not want the imagination of a man to operate upon. With due exceptions - Woman feels for Woman very promptly and compassionately.

If I can concentrate and focus on the story without being distracted by the "unedited" things, I was quite amused at the story so far through the first 4 Chapters. Sanditon being a seaside resort and the amiable Mr Parker being quite vested in it was eager to share it with one and all along with the benefits of the sea air. He brings along Miss Charlotte to Sanditon whose family he met along the road. Ends Chapter 4.

The very thing of Austen are the subtle witty humorous ways where she pokes fun at others with the characters she writes of, and the overall effect leaves you with a smile. I found it adorable the way Mr Parker met the Heywoods after his carriage broke down, and those Heywoods with fourteen children.. my goodness.. never left their home but sure were eager to let their children leave.. reminds me of my own temperament. Of course there are a few more characters but the Parkers and Heywoods were the main attraction so far.

Join along the rest of the discussion at Austenprose, it is a quick read.

Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff
Thomas Dunne Books, 3/30/2010
ISBN: 978-0-312-58158-9, ISBN10: 0-312-58158-0,
5-1/2 x 7-1/2 inches, 272 pages
$22.99 List price Hardcover
Review copy provided by publisher, thank you!
The Burton Review Rating:

"Every so often that story comes along that reminds us of what it’s like to experience love for the first time—against the odds, when you least expect it, and with such passion that it completely changes you forever.

An unexpected discovery takes eighty-four-year-old Lily Davis Woodward to 1945, and the five days that forever changed her life. Married for only a week before her husband was sent to fight in WWII, Lily is anxious for his return, and the chance to begin their life together. In honor of the soldiers' homecoming, the small Georgia town of Toccoa plans a big celebration. And Jake Russo, a handsome Italian immigrant, also back from war, is responsible for the elaborate fireworks display the town commissioned. But after a chance encounter in a star-lit field, he steals Lily's heart and soul—and fulfills her in ways her socially-minded, upper-class family cannot. Now, torn by duty to society and her husband—and the poor, passionate man who might be her only true love—Lily must choose between a commitment she's already made and a love she’s never known before."

A very impressive debut for this author from Georgia as he writes about a girl from Toccoa, Georgia. He writes with ease, and the words flow fast with a rhythm that traps you within the heart of the story. The story is Lily. Lily is now a grandmother who is recounting her life choices to her granddaughter as she is on the brink of making a mistake by marrying the wrong guy. After keeping silent for more than fifty years, Lily tells the story of a few days that changed Lily's path forever, in hopes that her granddaughter learns from the wisdom of her years.

Lily tells this story with passion, about her first love, her marriage to the boy who went overseas within two weeks of their marriage. Three years goes by without seeing her husband, and Lily becomes a stranger to herself, to her husband, to her family, and Lily is seemingly on the outside looking in. Of course, no one notices this but Lily. The town of Toccoa that Lily and her family is a very big part of waves at Lily incessantly as she drives through the town, every day, for years, day after day, and just days before her husband is due to come home after three long years.

This is technically a love story, a story of romance and sudden whim and the forces of society that are pressing in all at the same time. As Lily struggles with her feelings, we as a reader are privy to that struggle as we witness the contemplations that Lily is having. They are not glazed over, they are the myriads of conflicting emotions that go on for pages and pages but still capture your attention with every painful yet hopeful word.

"Lily found herself wondering what would have happened if she had never gotten out of her car to walk into that field and never met Jake Russo. What if the arbitrary winds had sent a friend walking to her on Doyle Street, delaying her and keeping her from seeing the firework?"

Lily did see the firework, the firework that was so rare in those days of World War II. Lily did walk towards it, and she met Jake Russo, the fireworks man. And her life- her heart and soul- were changed irreparably forever after. Her husband was on his way home to his wife, and his wife was falling in love at first sight with another man. Worse yet, the other man was an Italian, who was on the other side of the war as far as the war was concerned.

Lily experiences a series of emotions throughout the few days that the book comprises, and we witness them as if the writing is almost a stream of consciousness style of story telling. It was gripping, twisting and off-putting. Lily was obviously doing the wrong moral thing, and the wrong social thing, as she was falling in love with Jake Russo, the fireworks man. I still could not help but to root for her and for the allusive thing that is true love. I enjoyed the supporting characters, each one being its own subtle force within Lily's character, from Lily's parents, her dead brother, the town of people.

As the story winds down, and it is a shorter novel than many, disaster strikes and everything collides much like fireworks and I was very emotionally attached to Lily and what ultimately happened to her and her loved ones that we came to know. A powerfully impressive story that I would recommend to those who believe in the blessing and tragedy of love.

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week. And I am adding what I purchased, swapped, etc.





This is one that I had seen since Christmas-time that I really HAD to get my greedy little hands on..




(April 1, 2010)
"In the bestselling tradition of Loving Frank and March comes a novel for anyone who loves Little Women.



Millions of readers have fallen in love with Little Women. But how could Louisa May Alcott-who never had a romance-write so convincingly of love and heart-break without experiencing it herself?

Deftly mixing fact and fiction, Kelly O'Connor McNees imagines a love affair that would threaten Louisa's writing career-and inspire the story of Jo and Laurie in Little Women. Stuck in small-town New Hampshire in 1855, Louisa finds herself torn between a love that takes her by surprise and her dream of independence as a writer in Boston. The choice she must make comes with a steep price that she will pay for the rest of her life."



From bookmooch, this was on my wishlist for awhile although I am a little wary due to some negative Amazon reviews, but when I get the time I will pick it up and see for myself:

The Sixth Wife: A Novel by Suzannah Dunn (2007)
"A gripping novel of love, passion, betrayal, and heartbreak in the unstable Tudor court following the death of King Henry VIII .

Clever, level-headed Katherine Parr has suffered through four years of marriage to the aging and irascible King Henry VIII—and she has survived, unlike the five wives who came before her. But less than a year after the old king's death, her heart is won by the dashing Thomas Seymour, and their hasty union undoes a lifetime of prudent caution.

An unwilling witness to the queen's late-blossoming love, Catherine, Duchess of Suffolk, harbors nagging suspicions of Kate's handsome and ambitious new husband. But as Catherine is drawn deeper into the web of politics ensnaring her oldest friend, it gradually becomes clear that she has her own dark tale to tell. For though Thomas might betray his wife for power, Catherine might betray her for passion, risking everything she has in a world where love is a luxury not even royalty can easily afford."

From Paperbackwap.. to continue my William Marshal quest:
A Triumph of Roses by Mary Pershall, a historical romance about the son of William Marshal and his wife Eleanor, daughter of King John and sister of King Henry III; #3 in the Roses series. Working on getting the first two.
"Eleanor Plantagenet. The raven-haired princess of the roses, betrothed as a child, betrayed as a woman- an innocent flower waiting to be plucked by the stranger she must call her lord.. her master.. her husband.
William Fitzwilliam Marshal {fictional son of William Marshal}. The powerful Earl of Pembroke, his castle was a possession defended by his mighty sword; his bride was a royal prize granted by his king...
Their destiny was desire.
His passion demanded her surrender. Her pride refused to yield even as her body submitted to a traitorous pleasure in his arms. Theirs was a fierce battle of hearts, where looks could wound, where words could kill, where wanton desire drover her into rapture's flames... but kindled a war that could destroy all tehy cherished - or inspire the triumph of glorious love eternal...
Winner of the 1985 Romantic Times Award for Best New Historical Writer."
I copied all that from the back cover since I could not find anything substantial online. If the back cover has all that purple prosey stuff I can only imagine the steamy scenes within.
For review:
Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn (Penguin April 6, 2010)


"An exciting debut: a vivid, richly imagined saga of ancient Rome from a masterful new voice in historical fiction.
Thea is a slave girl from Judaea, passionate, musical, and guarded. Purchased as a toy for the spiteful heiress Lepida Pollia, Thea will become her mistress's rival for the love of Arius the Barbarian, Rome's newest and most savage gladiator. His love brings Thea the first happiness of her life-that is quickly ended when a jealous Lepida tears them apart.

As Lepida goes on to wreak havoc in the life of a new husband and his family, Thea remakes herself as a polished singer for Rome's aristocrats. Unwittingly, she attracts another admirer in the charismatic Emperor of Rome. But Domitian's games have a darker side, and Thea finds herself fighting for both soul and sanity. Many have tried to destroy the Emperor: a vengeful gladiator, an upright senator, a tormented soldier, a Vestal Virgin. But in the end, the life of the brilliant and paranoid Domitian lies in the hands of one woman: the Emperor's mistress."

The Sunday Salon is a virtual reading room.. click the pic to find links to all the participating 'Sunday Saloners' and see what they are reading and talking about this week! I also finally remembered to join up with Muse in the Fog's Sunday link-up which she started when the Sunday Salon  became closed to new members.

Memories of my Father

The moonlight walks,
The late night talks,
Gazing at the stars.
The future seemed so far.

Your heart was so ambiguous,
but your love was superfluous.
Fleeting as it was then,
just as now it is haunting.


Many secrets we shared,
along with hopes and cares
Sadness and tears,
happiness and fears.


The bond will not break,
although my heart does ache.
Every day I look for you,
but I know you miss me too.



~marie burton 1:00PM 03/12/2010

As part of her blog tour this month, please welcome the author Susan Higginbotham to The Burton Review!
What follows is a guest post by Susan, and at the end there is a giveaway of her new release, The Stolen Crown. (Read my review.)

Take it away, Susan:

One of the greatest English historical mysteries is that of the fate of Edward IV’s two royal sons, who were lodged in the Tower at the time Richard III made himself king and who never appeared in public afterward. Were they murdered by Richard III, as depicted so memorably by Shakespeare? Were they murdered by someone else during Richard III’s reign, such as Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham? Did they survive his reign, only be murdered by Henry VII? Were they spirited abroad, to die of natural causes in anonymity? Did the younger prince, Richard, Duke of York, return to claim his throne in the guise of one Perkin Warbeck? Did the boys simply succumb to a natural illness while in the Tower? If they were murdered, were they smothered? Were they slowly bled to death? Did they kill themselves?

My own thoughts about this mystery are reflected in The Stolen Crown, and who I am to spoil things by telling you here? (As William Hastings tells Buckingham in the novel, “To use an old cliché, why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?”) Instead, I’ll simply point out that intelligent, well-informed people have differed on this matter throughout the centuries, and that hundreds (if not thousands) of books, articles, and websites have been devoted to the subject. My own favorite discussion is that of A. J. Pollard in Richard III and the Princes in the Tower.

Indeed, the two English novelists I most love—Charles Dickens and Jane Austen—came to dead opposite conclusions on question of the princes’ fate. Though, sadly, none of Austen’s fictional characters ever engages in a conversation on this subject that I can recall (it would be interesting to hear Darcy and Elizabeth spar on this theme, for instance, or to hear what would surely be Mr. Knightley’s sensible view), the young Jane gave her own views in The History of England from the reign of Henry the 4th to the death of Charles the 1st:

“The Character of this Prince has been in general very severely treated by Historians, but as he was York, I am rather inclined to suppose him a very respectable Man. It has indeed been confidently asserted that he killed his two Nephews & his Wife, but it has also been declared that he did not kill his two Nephews, which I am inclined to beleive true; & if this is the case, it may also be affirmed that he did not kill his Wife, for if Perkin Warbeck was really the Duke of York, why might not Lambert Simnel be the Widow of Richard. Whether innocent or guilty, he did not reign long in peace, for Henry Tudor E. of Richmond as great a Villain as ever lived, made a great fuss about getting the Crown & having killed the King at the battle of Bosworth, he succeeded to it.”

Dickens, on the other hand, fell firmly into the camp that believed Richard to be guilty. As he put it in A Child’s History of England, “While he was on this journey, King Richard stayed a week at Warwick. And from Warwick he sent instructions home for one of the wickedest murders that ever was done—the murder of the two young princes, his nephews, who were shut up in the Tower of London.” Or, as Sam Weller puts it rather more memorably in The Pickwick Papers: “Business first, pleasure arterwards, as King Richard the Third said when he stabbed the t'other king in the Tower, afore he smothered the babbies.”

With the greatest of novelists disagreeing on the subject, can we hope that any solution to the mystery by us humbler folk will meet with universal acceptance? Probably not—but given the direction of current literary trends, I’m banking on the possibility of the mystery being solved through a book called The Zombie Princes in the Tower or Richard III: The Vampire King. The world is waiting breathlessly—though not, mind you, bloodlessly—for a work in this vein.

Susan's third medieval novel, THE STOLEN CROWN

THE STOLEN CROWN BY SUSAN HIGGINBOTHAM—IN STORES MARCH 2010

On May Day, 1464, six-year-old Katherine Woodville, daughter of a duchess who has married a knight of modest means, awakes to find her gorgeous older sister, Elizabeth, in the midst of a secret marriage to King Edward IV. It changes everything—for Kate and for England.

Then King Edward dies unexpectedly. Richard III, Duke of Gloucester, is named protector of Edward and Elizabeth's two young princes, but Richard's own ambitions for the crown interfere with his duties...
Lancastrians against Yorkists: greed, power, murder, and war. As the story unfolds through the unique perspective of Kate Woodville, it soon becomes apparent that not everyone is wholly evil—or wholly good.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Author, Susan Higginbotham

Susan Higginbotham is the author of two historical fiction novels. The Traitor’s Wife, her first novel, is the winner of ForeWord Magazine’s 2005 Silver Award for historical fiction and is a Gold Medalist, Historical/Military Fiction, 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards. She writes her own historical fiction blog and is a contributor to the blog Yesterday Revisited. Higginbotham has worked as an editor and an attorney, and lives in North Carolina with her family. For more information, please visit http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/


Follow Susan on her Blog Tour for The Stolen Crown:
March 1: Christy English
March 3: Pop Syndicate's Book Addict
March 4: Rundpinne
March 5: Queen of Happy Endings
March 9: The Burton Review
March 10: Psychotic State
March 12: Laura's Reviews
March 15: Fresh Fiction
March 16: Devourer of Books
March 22: Beth Fish Reads
March 24: Historical Hussies
March 26: Peeking Between the Pages
March 30: Historical Tapestry
March 31: So Many Precious Books, So Little Time


GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
Sourcebooks is sponsoring two copies of THE STOLEN CROWN for USA and Canada residents only.
The catch:
You have to answer this question:
What do you think happened to the Princes in the tower?
Leave your comment with an email address so I can contact the winners.

+2 entries: post a graphic link in your blog's Sidebar linking to this post.

Giveaway ends March 27th. Good Luck!

Young Bess by Margaret Irwin
Product ISBN: 9781402229961
Price: $14.99
Publication Date: March 2010 Reissue, original publication date 1944
Review Copy provided by the publisher, thank you!
The Burton Review Rating:

"Young Elizabeth Tudor lives in the shadow of her infamous mother, Anne Boleyn. Declared a bastard and banished from her father’s court, young princess Elizabeth has become adept at dodging the constant political games and royal whims that ensure her situation is never secure.

After Henry VIII’s death, Elizabeth is taken in by the king’s last wife, Katherine Parr, and Katherine’s new husband, Tom Seymour. But handsome Tom is playing for higher stakes. Marrying a widowed queen is one thing, but courting the King’s daughter and second in line to the throne is another. Seymour pursues the adolescent Elizabeth, as she finds herself dangerously attracted to him. And with her brother’s death, Elizabeth faces a perilous and uncertain future with danger encroaching from all sides…"

Young Bess is a story that is familiar to many Tudor fans, as it focuses on Tudor times that surrounded Elizabeth I as she was growing up. Although this is a historical novel, I found it full of interesting facts regarding the important players of the time, but it was written in such a way that it felt like Margaret was right here telling us the story as she knew it. Originally written in 1944, I didn't find the prose too outdated, except for a few mentions of the word 'gay' which has now been turned from meaning happy and joyful into something of a sexual leaning. In fact, it is such an easy verse that I would not hesitate to recommend this to young adult readers as well, which perhaps this audience was intended by Margaret Irwin in the first place.

The one major theme in my reading for the past few years has been Tudor related. I almost always enjoy a story regarding Tudor times, and this was no exception, as I completed this novel over a span of 36 hours, reading pieces here and there. The fact that this novel was written in 1944 probably appeals to me more simply due to the sheer respectability of its nature, for lack of a better word. I enjoy reading the older prose as it seems more authentically written. The story of Bess as she falls in love with Thomas Seymour was written as if it were quite scandalous, as it should have been, yet it was not done in a bawdy nature. The overall tone of the book was to display the political upheaval of the time: Henry VIII and his six wives were no longer, his last wife Catherine Parr died soon after giving birth to Tom Seymour's daughter. Elizabeth was portrayed almost as being a typical teenager, with the devil-may-care attitude, until she ultimately matures and discovers the ultimate goal of her life, which was to become the Queen of England.

Those readers who are hoping for the simple coming of age story of young Elizabeth will be disappointed. Although this read does give insight into what might have been going through Bess' mind, there are almost full chapters where Young Bess is not mentioned at all. Instead, it would focus on the other people who were ultimately having a profound effect on England.

There was Elizabeth's younger brother, Edward, who became the King of England at age nine. Therefore, Edward Seymour, also called Somerset after his estate, is featured in abundance, not just because he is Tom Seymour's brother, but because he was the Protector of the Realm during Edward's early minority. I found Somerset to be a very interesting character, along with his wife Anne who was the one who ruled the husband. A very interesting back story to be sure, and is one that I would like to research further. Thankfully, there was not a lot on Elizabeth's much older sister, Mary, but I have a feeling that in the second installment of this trilogy Mary will feature quite prominently as she is one who rules after young King Edward passes. Of course, we cannot forget Lady Jane Grey, who is mentioned in Young Bess as more of a rival to the young Elizabeth and less as a friend. Also mentioned is the governess Katherine Ashley, and although Bess seemed distressed that she was imprisoned, at other times Ms. Ashley seemed taxing on Bess' patience, which is in opposition to countless reports of how Elizabeth and Kat doted on each other. But at this point as Bess was a teenager, Irwin's retelling seems to ring true.

I enjoyed the way that Elizabeth's brother Edward VI was portrayed, as a child thrust into such an exalted position, yet, still as a child, felt he had no control over certain matters. His uncles, the three Seymour brothers, were prominent in the story as Edward struggles with his uncles and ultimately tires of them. Two of the three Seymour brothers are executed once the novel is done. Edward always complained he had too many uncles! Towards the end of the novel, John Dudley was holding the reins for Edward while he patiently waited for Edward to die. It was not a great stopping point for the novel, but the next installment will be reissued in October, and the last one comes in April 2011. I will be sure to read them all, this was an informative and entertaining read and I am going to look into some more of Margaret Irwin's works. Young Bess is a must read for anyone interested in the Tudor times and to get a feel for what it was like to Elizabeth I as she grew up without a real home or many loved ones.

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week. And I am adding what I purchased, swapped, etc.

Somehow I managed to just snag a few goodies this week, which is always a nice reprieve when one feels completely buried in review books.

So the few that arrived this week are:

For review, a beautiful paperback edition of:
Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor

Browse Inside this book Get this for your site

"Taylor reveals meaningful ways to discover the sacred in the small things we do and see, from simple practices such as walking, working, and prayer. Something as ordinary as hanging clothes on a clothesline becomes an act of meditation if we pay attention to what we're doing and take time to notice the sights, smells, and sounds around us. Making eye contact with the cashier at the grocery store becomes a moment of true human connection. Allowing yourself to get lost leads to new discoveries. As we incorporate these practices into our daily lives, we begin to discover altars everywhere we go, in nearly everything we do. Through Taylor's expert guidance and delicate, thought-provoking prose, we learn to live with purpose, pay attention, slow down, and revere the world we live in."

For review: Bellfield Hall: Or, The Observations of Miss Dido Kent
Dido Kent Mysteries (Volume 1) by Anna Dean

"1805. An engagement party is taking place for Mr Richard Montague, son of wealthy landowner Sir Edgar Montague, and his fiancee Catherine. During a dance with his beloved, a strange thing happens: a man appears at Richard's shoulder and appears to communicate something to him without saying a word. Instantly breaking off the engagement, he rushes off to speak to his father, never to be seen again. Distraught with worry, Catherine sends for her spinster aunt, Miss Dido Kent, who has a penchant for solving mysteries. Catherine pleads with her to find her fiance and to discover the truth behind his disappearance. It's going to take a lot of logical thinking to untangle the complex threads of this multi-layered mystery, and Miss Dido Kent is just the woman to do it."

Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (March 30, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0061773969
Review copy provided by the publisher, thank you!
The Burton Review Rating:

"Who killed Dr. Harvey Burdell?

Though there are no witnesses and no clues, fingers point to Emma Cunningham, the refined, pale-skinned widow who managed Burdell’s house and his servants. Rumored to be a black-hearted gold digger with designs on the doctor’s name and fortune, Emma is immediately put under house arrest during a murder investigation. A swift conviction is sure to catapult flamboyant district attorney Abraham Oakey Hall into the mayor’s seat. But one formidable obstacle stands in his way: the defense attorney Henry Clinton. Committed to justice and the law, Clinton will aid the vulnerable widow in her desperate fight to save herself from the gallows.

Set in 1857 New York, this gripping mystery is also a richly detailed excavation of a lost age. Horan vividly re-creates a tumultuous era characterized by a sensationalist press, aggressive new wealth, a booming real-estate market, corruption, racial conflict, economic inequality between men and women, and the erosion of the old codes of behavior. A tale of murder, sex, greed, and politics, this spellbinding narrative transports readers to a time that eerily echoes our own."

The first chapter of this murder novel is absolutely fantastic, smacking of an old fashioned novel steeped in intrigue and nostalgia. It was pure genius and had me hooked, as I plowed through the rest of the story which was steeping with mystery, drama and multiple intrigues. This is a novel that is based on the true story of a horrific murder in 1857, amidst Dick Tracy style policemen and the thriving city of New York. Bond Street, to be exact, was the fashionable focal point of houses for the rich and well-to-do folks of New York City.

One of the these residents was Dr. Harvey Burdell, who lived at 31 Bond Street, and Ellen Horan's novel begins with the young errand boy, John, finding his employer the dentist Dr. Burdell brutally stabbed in his office. Dr. Burdell had a young lady, Emma Cunningham and her daughters, boarding upstairs in his house and of course all suspicion is directed at her. Emma pleas for help from the local criminal attorney, Mr. Henry Clinton, because she has been sequestered at 31 Bond Street without representation. The prosecutor is out for justice, and his fingers point to Emma.

Butchery on Bond Street (source) Click Picture to enlarge

I must confess, before my passion for European historical fiction on royalty overtook my reading habits, I once could be found reading only Lawrence Block, James Patterson, Lee Child, Mary Higgins Clark and Anne Rule. If you enjoy those writers, you will also be enamored with this novel by Ellen Horan. Imagine my glee with this blast from my reading past, for a well honed murder mystery that is a true story, set in the state where I grew up, and where the case remains hanging in suspense as it is unsolved to this day. Ellen Horan stumbled on this story while browsing through bins in a print shop and found a clipping regarding nearby Houston Street, NYC, one thing led her to another, and we now finally have this fascinating look into a murder mystery that took place within a row of townhouses that are no longer there, replaced by the growth of retail and warehouses and parking lots. Instead of writing the intended non-fiction work on this murder mystery, Ellen Horan adapted this into a much more dramatic fictional tale. She leaves a few of the original characters in, but embellishes greatly and adds her own twists to the story. Since I had absolutely no idea about the 'true story' I was completely and utterly enthralled with this fictional tale as Ellen Horan spins it.

I can understand though, that those who prefer to stick close to facts when dealing with a true-crime situation, may be a little annoyed at the fictional leaps that the author takes. Since I was not looking for a realistic account of the murder at this time, this novel kept me entertained for an entire Sunday, refusing to let me sleep until I finished it. I am so glad I spent my Sunday on this, and I will spend some more time googling for more interesting twists and facts that really happened between this murder mystery involving the dentist and the widow. A classic who-dunit.. of who was the real victim, and who was the villian?

I was very impressed with the writing style of this debut author, as I was both immersed in the visual time period of 1857 that Horan vividly describes, and with the characters that Ellen Horan portrays. Doubly enticing were the backstories of slave trade and the corrupt police departments. The murder victim, Dr. Harvey Burdell, is also portrayed as being a total loser who was a womanizer and knee-deep with the aforementioned corruption which includes transporting slaves. The accused murderess, Emma Cunningham, is one where you really couldn't tell what was going on in that warped head. Since the true murder mystery remains unsolved to this day, I have a feeling that not a lot of people could tell what was going on inside of Emma Cunningham's head. The epilogue was quite interesting as well, but even that leaves out some of the critical factors that occurred in the case.

My absolute favorite characters were Samuel, the negro driver to Dr. Burdell, and John, the 11 year old boy who was the errand boy. But still high on that list was the defense attorney, Henry Clinton, who was portrayed as a shrewd attorney without an unethical bone in his body. The author inserts his wife within the novel, when in reality they did not marry until after the case, and it was with similar subtle changes that Ellen Horan used to make her novel her own, creating a sensational blend of murder, passion and suspense. Emma Cunningham also only has two daughters in the story, when in reality it was reported that she had five children. The crooked district attorney, Oakley Hall, was indeed crooked in real life, though (surprise!). For those wanting a strictly-the-facts type of book, there is the non-fiction work that was written in 2007 by New York City historian Benjamin Feldman titled Butchery on Bond Street - Sexual Politics and The Burdell-Cunningham Case in Ante-bellum New York, which has now caught me eye after reading this story. He also runs the blog for where the above clipping was borrowed from.

For those wanting the intriguing drama of a historically themed suspense, this work by Ellen Horan fits that bill perfectly. It was an unforgettably nostalgic journey through 31 Bond Street in New York City that I would not hesitate to recommend to fellow mystery lovers. Visit Ellen's website regarding the book at, none other than: 31 Bond Street.
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GIVEAWAY!!! I received an extra copy of an Advanced Reader's Copy of 31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan!
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The Stolen Crown: A Novel by Susan Higginbotham
Sourcebooks Pub. Date: March 01, 2010
400pp
ISBN-13: 978-1402237669
Review copy provided by Sourcebooks, thank you!
The Burton Review Rating: somewhere flipflopping between or

As opposed to Susan Higginbotham's last piece of historical fiction (Hugh and Bess: my review), this novel was loaded with a lot more historical events. When one is dealing with the era of the Wars of the Roses, it is very hard to write a novel without including at least a zillion of the secondary characters. When I first opened up The Stolen Crown, I was greeted with several pages of a character list. This is when you realize you will require your thinking-cap to be working at its very best. As I said, her last novel was quite entertaining and a breezy read. This one is entertaining, but not quite so breezy. Of course, I cannot think of the topic at hand ever having the possibility of being breezy unless it's one of those bodice-ripper romances that ignore the entire concept behind the Wars of the Roses.

Trapped in the Wars of the Roses, one woman finds herself sister to the queen...and traitor to the crown.

Now, I hesitate to mention Philippa Gregory, because I don't want Susan to take me off of her blogroll, but I must point out that those who read (and enjoyed) Gregory's recent The White Queen would do well to read this one as well. Not quite in the same vein of writing style, but these two reads each cover the Wars of The Roses, and the Woodville family, and this is written in an easier to follow fashion as opposed to some others regarding the era. Whereas The White Queen covers more of the view from Elizabeth Woodville, queen to Edward IV, and includes a lot of fictionalized events, Higginbotham uses alternating first-person narratives from Kate Woodville, a much younger sister to Queen Elizabeth (not to be confused with Elizabeth I), and Henry Stafford, who becomes Kate's husband, but stays true to course with historical accuracy with these two narrators embellishing as they pleased.

My educated guess after this second read from this author, is that Higginbotham is one of those writers who is quite humorous, and lets a little of that out within her characters. She does this throughout, with sarcastic remarks coming out of the mouths of her young narrators, and at some junctures it is quite funny. Others though may find it too out of key with the subject matter, after all, people are dying left and right (Lancastrians and Yorkists) and there seemingly is no rhyme and reason to it. Eventually, as the characters mature, it shows within the writing as well and there are not as many tongue-in-cheek comments.

The Wars of the Roses is a very complicated period of time where more than one person felt that they had a right to a piece of the royal crown. Hence the title: The Stolen Crown. Think on that a bit... back and forth the crown went.. instead of the seemingly simple hereditary lineage we have Edward IV 'stealing' the crown from Henry VI. The novel doesn't go into how this happened, since the novel begins with the setting of young Kate Woodville being a witness to the secret marriage between King Edward and her sister Elizabeth. So after Edward 'steals' the crown, he goes and marries into some upstart family and that's where the novel begins, along with England's chaos. The roses stand for Lancaster Red, and White Rose of York. Their fate is to become united.. but first the Wars of the Roses must be fought, many must die, and only one may win, in such a way that it is to put to rest the two warring factions.

As the story opens with Edward and Elizabeth marrying in secret, we meet some of the Woodville siblings. And indeed this is one helluva family that Edwards marries into. Not only does Edward thwart normal royal protocol by marrying secretly instead of contracting a fantastically beneficial one with perhaps a foreign alliance to boot, this marriage brings with it a veritable town of Woodvilles!! The so-called Kingmaker, Warwick, the guy who really likes to call the shots as far as the realm is concerned, is beyond peeved when he learns of what his protegé Edward has done. Along with the marriage, the Woodvilles are given better titles and lands of which they had never dreamed of owning.

The Nevilles and the Warwicks and the rest of the Yorkist factions are now forced to step aside for the bazillion siblings of the Queen, not to mention the two Grey sons she had with her first husband. Hopeful marriage alliances that were always expected to happen for the Yorkists were instead given to the Woodvillian relatives. Which is where the little Yorkist Kate Woodville comes in. She is married off to Henry Stafford, the offspring of a Lancastrian family! The question remains, how will a Yorkist and a Lancastrian get along together? And one feels that a repeat of the romantic style of the previous novel Hugh and Bess could happen, where it really turns less into historical anecdotes and more into a love story.. but that doesn't happen here.

Instead, we are treated to a sense of the times, of how tenuous the hold on life was. (The Woodville) Queen Elizabeth has to go to sanctuary because Warwick has revolted against his King, and in 1470 Henry VI a slightly insane King is placed back on the throne. Henry's wife, Margaret of Anjou is mentioned in the novel, but not with too much emphasis. But she did represent a figurehead for the Lancastrians, and she and Henry had a son Edward of Lancaster that in normal days should have meant he was next in line. But as I said, Edward IV had stolen the crown. Well, it was stolen back from Edward. Then he got it back again. Everyone was happy when Warwick was finally killed in battle, even young Kate, but she was flabbergasted when poor helpless Henry VI was suddenly found dead. Maybe King Edward was not so great after all.

I neglected to mention that Edward IV has two brothers, who also must be mentioned because of the way that The Wars of the Roses works out. The brother Richard is a great friend to Henry Stafford, and he figures moreso than George, the Duke of Clarence. Richard and Henry are portrayed as buddies, as thick as thieves. George has been a traitor and Edward still takes him back into his Yorkist fold (keep your enemies closer mentality). And George is a greedy evil young man, who kidnaps Richard's beloved Anne because he wants her lands. Or he is jealous. It doesn't emphasize this event too much.

As with most of the events that don't occur directly on to our two main protagonists, many details are left out. Which is understandable because of the multitude of details that inevitably occur when dealing with the many people and events involved with the Wars of The Roses. And there are many, many details. Those readers who do not have any clue as to what the Wars of the Roses are about may find themselves a little lost from time to time, but the main story thankfully remains a focus throughout, so that events that could take chapters of our time are merely grazed over here, because this is a story focused on two people. And I still cannot picture Queen Elizabeth as a Bess or a Bessie. Calling her Elizabeth would've been just fine with me.

Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, finally grows into his inheritance, and sees stars in his eyes whenever land or Richard of York are featured. Thus, Henry becomes less of a likable character, whereas Kate does stay true to form, as a good wife to her Lancastrian husband and a good sister to her Yorkist Queen. King Edward IV dies suddenly, leaving behind his Woodvillian offspring in the hands of hateful Yorkists (like his brother Richard turns out to be). Henry and Kate have children, and they become her only solace as the inevitable happens. Queen Elizabeth and her family are forced into sanctuary yet again. Henry supports Richard of York when he overthrows the succession, the boys of King Edward disappear, and Richard steals the crown. Here we go again with the stolen crown business. England doesn't know what happened to the boy king, and are seemingly in a state of shock but Higginbotham has Richard III acting very non-Ricardian...  Which this non-Ricardian-for-the-moment believes to be the probable fate.

Finally, Henry realizes that Richard III is a monster, although he has worshipped him most of his life. Henry decides to join the rebel cause, which supports Margaret Beaufort's son Henry Tudor. He is descended from Edward III, therefore having a claim to the throne. As a Lancastrian, the family believes the Yorkist family should not be anywhere close to the throne. When our protagonist Henry Stafford sees this light, his best friend Richard III becomes his strongest foe. What ensues is a sad account of Stafford trying to support Henry Tudor's claim, but is quickly captured and dealt with accordingly, as history tells us matter-of-factly, but Higginbotham does an admirable job of humanizing it.

How does the widowed Kate fare in Richard III's rule as a wife to a turn-coat? As a hated Woodville can she protect her now-Stafford-traitor-tainted children from the child-killer King Richard? I believe I've given you a fair account of the story so far, you will need to read the book to find out the end. There is more to the story, and even an epilogue which I always really enjoy in my historical reads. Kind of like a cherry on top.

I have always enjoyed a Wars of the Roses story, and this one is included among them. The myriad of characters and the forces at work make so many different side stories that form an intricate puzzle that slowly but surely forms into a beautiful portrait (of which I wish there was an accompanying genealogocial chart). Higginbotham's story is a part of that puzzle: a finely woven web that traps you into the magnificent history of the Wars of the Roses, and this one thread of Henry and Kate is an excellent rendering against the backdrop of the tumultuous period of England before the Tudors took over. Definitely a must read for those who are searching for more clues to the period of the Wars of the Roses, as this novel is a perfectly sliced portion to whet your appetite for more.

I welcome Susan to The Burton Review on March 9, 2010 with a guest post, so please be sure to check back then!

PS.. Thaw is out now if you can’t wait – find it at Amazon UK or The Book Depository if you’re in the US/elsewhere.