It's a little while since we've had a fiction review, and this week I've been reading The Palace of Curiosities by Rosie Garland.



The Story & Characters

The Palace of Curiosities opens with a line that is sure to already have you hooked after the rather delectable cover: 'Before I am born, my mother goes to the circus'. The first chapter is dedicated to recounting her experience in 1831 and is a heady journey of the senses as the mother revels in a rare nervous night out with the man of her desires, the release from 'ladylike' sensibilities into the braying joy of the crowd and the stink and sensation of the circus and its acts, that are equally thrilling and oddly tragic. The thrill of the circus is soon kicked into horror as an act goes wrong that will affect the mother very personally for the rest of her life.

The chapter is stand alone, but it does a good job of setting the tone for the rest of the book as we move to follow the fortunes of her daughter Eve the 'Lion-faced girl' as she seeks out her independence and belonging. In turn we follow the story of Abel, a man washed out of the mud of the Thames, confused, forgetful and groping for his memories each day. As the two are brought together Garland builds a picture of the Victorian underworld and the profitable and at times brutal world of the Freak Show.

The story moves along their lives, switching between each protagonist at an easygoing pace that shrugs off a more rigid plot in favour of creating a series of scenes and the tone of a dark fairytale. Plot certainly happens, and you are never left adrift, and this style allows you to more easily occupy the moments of each character's lives and their inner worlds as they each gradually grow out their roots and inch towards control of their own lives, purpose and a sense of belonging. The style has been compared to Angela Carter and the comparison is one I could certainly see - there is a lot in the mix of brutality and dreamy description that reminded me of Angela carter's 'the Bloody Chamber' and Eve's mentions of the story of Bluebeard throughout the book is surely not an accident. When you click into the style of writing, it's an enjoyably gothic read.

The supporting characters are all very well realised, from Abel's difficult relationship with his best friend Alfred, and Eve's conflicted relationship with her husband and freak-show owner Josiah Arroner. My personal favourite was Lizzie, the voluptous, fierce and comforting figure who took on the role of the Whore of Babylon at the performances.


Does This Work As a Historical Novel?


Since this blog is effectively one that looks at history, I couldn't finish a review here without looking at how this fares as a historical novel. For me, it's a difficult assessment to make as I don't really think that this is a particular goal of the book, nor should it really be judged on it's historical accuracy. The Carter-esque fairy story style of the book tends to creep into the languages and characteristics, and works very well to create a certain dreamy tone, but fails to create the same sharp sense of authenticity of language and character that I find in the CJ Sansom books, for example. The language, while Victorian of course, is a little too showy and flowery at times to feel authentic, though it should be said that when characters are in their darker moments and angry this improves.
That said, the book does excel in certain scenes and themes. Eve's navigation of subservience to her husband and of respectability vs her own aching sexual awakening and need for power and independence and how she classifies this within what it means to be a 'good wife' all ring very true to the time. Abel's early life living in a crowded stinking cellar as an abattoir 'slaughter-man' and his peer's contentments and frustrations at this life also paint a brilliantly real picture of slum life. A particularly raw and tragic scene with his friend Alfred and how Alfred deals with the situation also rings painfully authentic for how many men must have coped in the harsher times. Finally the Freak-Show itself and the way the audiences are written and the downtimes in the house that all the freaks occupy feel very real.

Is It Worth a Read?

All in all I enjoyed the book and the journey it took me through. For those looking for a historical novel it holds enough good scenes in it as to be attractive, so long as you slip yourself into the frame of mind of this being a fairytale story. For those looking for tight plot, instead you would do better to relax yourselves into their fairytale tone, enjoy the slow build of the characters and be taken down the story of love and belonging. Definitely worth picking up if you'd like a change.




For more posts on freak shows....

- The Human Marvels: 'Circus Freaks and Human Oddities'
- Interpretation, Taboo and Climbing Mountains: The Problem of Frieda Pushnick's Obituary

Historical fiction can really be hit and miss, but this week I'd like to show you a gem in the genre: Dissolution  by CJ Sansom.

The Plot

I picked up Dissolution as a stab in the dark because it covers what I think is one of the most fascinating events in English history - the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth century. It was a very turbulent time, with Henry VIII's bullish religious changes following his divorce and break from the pope. In his quest for reformation (and money!) the entire ecclesiastical landscape of the country would be forever transformed under the direction of Lord Cromwell. This is the same vein of history as the considerably more famous Wolf Hall and also has Cromwell as a significant character, but in the case of dissolution the protagonist is actually his commissioner Matthew Shardlake. I admit that I couldn't get into Wolf Hall despite it's recommendations because the writing style jarred with me, so I hoped that Dissolution might keep the same interest with something more approachable. 

The story is set in 1537 and puts the dissolution of the monasteries at the forefront as Henry uses Cromwell to put in place savage new laws, a network of informants and rigged trials. These all to serve to push forwards a reformist version of Christianity that Cromwell values, and - more importantly to the king - will allow Henry VIII to sure up his power as the new 'supreme head of the church' in England and access previously catholic wealth. Cromwell picks out a loyal lawyer and enthusiastic reformist Matthew Shardlake to assist him in investigating the monastery of Scarnsea where one of Cromwell's other commissioners - Robert Singleton - was found decapitated and the alter desecrated. As winter descends around them, Shardlake finds himself as good as trapped in the monastery walls as he tries to uncover a web of murder, corruption and confusion that will force him to question everything he believes in most.

History and The Murder Mystery

Call this a personal preference, but I find when it comes to more 'hardcore' genres that rely a lot of heavy detail and world-building, that they are always the most successful when they splice into another genre that allows the pace to pick up and for the details to sit within a particular context. For example, I love me some sci-fi films, but I find pure 'hardcore' sci fi books very dull because they are so keen to show off their world-building and detail that they often forget to create a readable story. So (controversially!) I cannot stand many sci-fi classics like Dune because this seems to be all it is. However, when that genre is spliced onto a simpler and more animated genre that demands a tight plot - such as a murder mystery - it becomes a different beast. So for example the excellent Altered Carbon  by Richard K Morgan is for me a brilliant sci-fi story because it is so closely tied to a good old fashioned murder mystery: the world-building and intricate details work to a foundation of a quick moving and always relevant plotline and therefore are more effective and allow the reader a better sense of context and urgency than just hard-sci-fi alone. The same absolutely applies to historical fiction, and Dissolution proves this for me. 

Matthew Shardlake by Hazelfo

Dissolution's  plot is effectively a decent old fashioned closed-door murder mystery. By having this as a base, the intricate world-building required of authentic history is allowed to flourish without detracting from the core story and the pacing of the book. By having the history there as the world, and by including historical characters as the protagonists this becomes a unusual and interesting murder-mystery, and by including the murder mystery this becomes a brilliantly engaging piece of historical fiction that does far more than many books that would have the characters endlessly static and standing in dark rooms wittering on about old politics. Each character has an energy of purpose that carries you through.

Like all good murder mysteries Dissolution has great  pacing that knows when to ebb and flow, when to push up the action and when to allow natural paranoia to seep in. Of course it has twists, the body count is satisfying and the plot deals you quite an entertaining 'bloody hell!' reveal that is nicely foreshadowed so that it alarms you without creating incredulity. What's more, the way the murder mystery plot is handled is perfectly in sync with the time period of the setting.


The Characters

Alice Fewterer by Koppori

For me, the way that Dissolution handles the nuances, passions and controversies of the time period is really something special, and it achieves this in large part due to the quality of the characters. The fascinating thing about the sixteenth century, seen most in the dissolution of the monasteries, was how people's belief systems (and even systems of class) were challenged by the onset of the reformation. The Catholic church, which had reigned supreme for hundreds of years, was in one fell swoop cast aside by an English King supported by reformists. The reformists sought to create a purer religion by getting rid of what they saw as superstitions, corruption and laziness in the church, but to do so they were forcing people to turn their backs on traditions -such as purgatory - that they believed could literally save their immortal souls.What's more, reform asked the public to assert things that, in the past, could have had then burned at the stake as heretics. In a class system that previously demanded unfaltering obedience to the pope how could they now reject him? Yet how could they maintain loyalty to this christian power when it was now treason to do so? To make matters worse religious reform was getting more and more mixed in with greed and personal agendas: monasteries were being dissolved for their lands under pretence of religious reform, and recently the queen herself had been beheaded on false charges while Henry was wooing a new wife. It was a dangerous and confusing time and in Dissolution, each character allows us to see the personal impact of these actions by embodying the different opinions and fears of the day.

Take Shardlake, our protagonist, as an example. He is an enthusiastic reformer - perhaps naive in his belief that, by destroying the papacy and all its pomp, England will lead a new purer religion. He is therefore in awe of Cromwell and eager to please. He is ambitious and loyal, and is very much aware of how tenuous a position it is to be in 'favor' with the powerful man. He has witnessed the Queen's execution first hand and his sense of duty is very much tinged with a certain anxiety. He is, however, a kind man who is very aware of his own talents and his own weaknesses - as a hunchback he is in the end always an outsider, who only has his own wits and reputation to rely on. The grim events in the monastery throughout Dissolution will test his character to its core.


Conclusion

In conclusion, Dissolution was a fantastic read for any history fan, as the historical world of the sixteenth century was so well handled, the characters so colourful, and the murder mystery so entertaining. I'm pleased to see that this is also a series of 5 books and counting and I'm sure to be rooting out the sequels in the future. Definitely give this a look.



Interested in what else I'm reading? Got something you'd love to recommend? Then feel free check out my Goodreads account and let me know what book you can't put down today. 

I don't often review historical fiction here, but this one is worth a closer look for anyone interested in the history of prisons.

I've been a fan of the Oscar Wilde Murder mysteries by Gyles Brandreth for quite some time now, with all six of the series cheering up my bookshelf with their colourful covers. I enjoy Oscar Wilde as an author and for the legendary personality that history has attributed to him, so it's always a joy to see an author slip on the outfit of his memory and send him off on fanciful adventures
.
The whole series is a success for delivering the fun of reading about Oscar and his friends' personalities at close quarters and for putting Oscar into the role of Sherlockian sleuth and delivers some entertaining murder-mysteries. What really makes the books special, however, are the real passion that the author delivers when it comes to historical authenticity in the details. He cares about being as faithful as the subject matter allows to Oscar's life and the lives of his friends and he works hard to give you the kind of flavour of late-Victorian life that stays on your tongue long after.

This latest book in the series is, in my opinion, the weakest when it comes to the actual murder-mystery itself. It never quite hangs together as well as its predecessors, nor does it excite or entertain to the same level. But for this book this is not what the main focus is about, instead the book works hard to give the readers a real view into the most difficult part of Oscar's life - his time incarcerated in Reading Gaol for 2 years for 'indecency'. From a narrative perspective seeing Oscar cut off from the hedonistic life of fame he previously enjoyed is fascinating and saddening, but the author takes especial care to make sure that the setting is pitch-perfect. Clearly he had painstakingly researched the prison life of the 1890s and this book is a great success in showing it in a way that we can all relate to the horrors and loneliness that prisoners were expected to endure.

As with all the books in the series, the author adds on appendixes to showcase some of the historical facts behind the historical fiction. For example, we see that Oscar -like the other prisoners - would have been placed in solitary confinement over his time, lived under the threat of beatings for even the smallest of misdemeanours, was expected to work hard labour (often alongside children) and, even when walking about the prison, was not permitted to speak and was forced to wear a hood that restricted his identity and his eyesight. As with every institution these rules encouraged both viciousness and kindness from the wardens who oversaw the running of the place.

The book is worth picking up if you're interested in viewing the Victorian prison system through a historical figure's eyes and would certainly be a good starting point to dive deeper into the subject.

Prisoners in 1860s wearing official hoods

If you fancy reading the series in order they are:

-Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders
-Oscar Wilde and the Ring of Death
-Oscar Wilde and the Dead Man's Smile
-Oscar Wilde and the Nest of Vipers
-Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders
-Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol

  I've not really reviewed historical fiction here before, but this week I'd like to break the trend by reviewing I Claudius, By Robert Graves


Written in the 1934 ‘I,Claudius’ is the story of the Julio-Claudian royal family of ancient Rome as told by the stuttering ‘half-witted’ Claudius, the uncle of the infamous Caligula and, eventually, reluctant emperor of Rome. A man who is far more resilient than he seems.

If you’re a history fan like me then ‘I,Claudius’ is a great way to learn about the complicated family tree and assassinations of the emperors and their heirs. While of course, even if well researched, you can’t rely on the historical accuracy of it, it does bring a real emotional reality to what often can be a stale list of names and political manoeuvres and murders that one finds in history books or on Wikipedia.


However, as a work of fiction in of itself, the long time period - spanning past emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and finally Claudius - sometimes has a detrimental effect on the narrative. 

Claudius

Often we are marched from event to event, anecdote to anecdote, when sometimes we want instead to dwell more on particular scenes and characters and the emotions and relationships behind them. But the narrator Claudius is a historian, and Graves keeps true to this voice, but for me it left me a little lacking at times when the gems of stories and relationships that Claudius tempts the reader with are often wrapped up quite quickly. 

For example, I was interested by the relationship of Germanicus and Agrippina and the excitements and difficulties of their lives on campaign after being tempted by stories of how the heavily pregnant Agrippina and Germanicus dealt with mutinies. I was intrigued to learn more of Tiberius’ debauchery and his relationship with Caligula. And charismatic minor characters, while given short scenes to shine, were often passed by quickly in the marching narrative through the decades. This, of course, is necessary in order to keep the book short and compact, but I did yearn for more. This, naturally, is the sign of a good creative mind in developing these hooks, but I was nevertheless left a little frustrated at times.

All this is not to say that ‘I,Claudius’ is bland, of course! It has some wonderful characters and these situations and scenes, while often short, are entertaining.

‘I,Claudius’ has perhaps the best villianess I have come across in a long time: Livia Augusta. This Machiavellian wife of Augustus is charismatic in her self reliance, wickedness and in her skill as working as the prime-mover in the plot through her aims to manipulate the running of Rome. Historical characters are truly brought to life, and some of the horrible deeds that are so easily glossed over by the scholastic resistance to emotion are utterly brought into engaging emotional reality.

Livia

All in all, while not the most gripping of page turners (I am, in the end, a tricky customer for this as I am quite partial to break-neck paced thrillers) it has it’s thrilling moments and overall for a history fan ‘I,Claudius’ is an interesting read. In the end, despite the inevitable accusations of inaccuracy in any historical fiction, I,Claudius certainly feels authentic at its core.

I feel that I will enjoy the DVD box set more as it is far more visual and paced differently. And, after all, who cannot be charmed by the cast list? Derek Jacobi is Claudius, Brian Blessed (sans beard) is Augustus, John Hurt is Caligula and Patrick Stewart (with hair!) is looking somewhat tasty as Sejanus. (Don’t judge).

And, to top it all off, you can watch the entire series on youtube.

Here’s episode 1
And here’s the rest
Enjoy!

Sejanus