Another complete coincidence that we both chose books set in the Eighteenth Century this week, it must be the weather! The winter cold is a good prompt to settle in and get lost in some good atmospheric historical fiction with twists and turns, dilemmas and dramas and there is plenty of all that in each of these…
The Foundling by Stacey Halls
I loved this historical fiction set in
Georgian London. Bess takes her day old baby to the foundling hospital to be
looked after. When she returns six years later to reclaim her she discovers
someone pretending to be her has already done so. This novel is told from two
different female points of view and explores the themes of love versus money,
how the past affects the present and the future, and how two wrongs don’t make
a right. The author really makes you care about both main characters and blurs
the line between right and wrong actions. Suitable for ages 11+
Mrs Godden
The
Fair Fight by Anna Freeman
It
was a couple of author visits to the School from last year that inspired me to
get The Fair Fight for the Library:
Nikesh Shukla talking about his book, The
Boxer, to the year 8s and Jane Couch discussing her memoir, The Final Round, for Equality Week. All
this talk of boxing and Bristol reminded me of a gem that I read back 2014. The Fair Fight is historical fiction at
its best: gritty and relatable despite the distance in time and experience
between us and those of the eighteenth century (a testament to Freeman’s
meticulous research). It is separated into three narratives: the voices of
protagonists Ruth, George and Charlotte, all worlds apart and all embroiled in
some way in the dirty underworld of pugilism, struggling for their personal
freedoms. Set in Georgian Bristol it is a characterful and exciting reflection
on gender, class, love and survival in a city where entertainments were bold,
bloody and unforgiving. For fans of Sarah Waters or Jessie Burton novels and The Crimson Petal and the White.
Recommended for ages 14+
Ms
Johns