Deborah SwiftCritiques

The story starts with Giulia Tofana, introduced in The Poison Keeper, still living in the Jewish ghetto in Venice with her lover Fabio. Things have changed, though. She has had two children who both died and she and Fabio have adopted Mia, a young girl now on the cusp of womanhood. The new setup marks a sharp change of gear from the previous story, The Silkworm Keeper. According to a historical note at the end of the book, this was driven largely by the need to adapt the story to take account of new information about Giulia Tofana that has turned up since the first in the trilogy, The Poison Keeper, was written. Whatever the reason, it’s worked out very well. The Poison Keeper is a brilliant book, but keeping the plot going for a second in the series was a stretch and I wasn’t sure that a third would work. The reset that the new research has made necessary means that The Fortune Keeper is able to draw a deep breath and, to a degree, start again, bringing new life to the series.

Not that we are starting from scratch. Several characters and incidents from the previous books feature crucially in the plot. Although The Fortune Keeper works as a standalone novel it would benefit a lot from a brief summary of the key points of the earlier books to guide any new readers.

So what does The Fortune Keeper offer? Firstly, a wonderful view of Renaissance Venice. I don’t know a lot about Venetian history but I found Swift’s Venice completely convincing. It’s rich but decadent. The palaces are already crumbling; the tides regularly flood houses and businesses. It’s a city where corruption runs deep. There are gamblers and whores everywhere (though Swift resists the temptation to titillate with sex). We are in the Renaissance, so Mia is able to go to lectures on astronomy. There are new and better telescopes, but they are as often used to produce more precise horoscopes than to research the heavens. Some people are pointing out that the earth moves round the sun but the Inquisition are busy and awful penalties await those who dismiss the Church’s cosmology too openly.

We follow Mia through marketplaces, into silk workshops, on visits to an old astrologer and on and off gondolas and the Venetian equivalent of buses, traghettos, larger vessels that run to timetables. Life is governed by those traghetto timetables and the state of the tides and, as Giulia and her family live in the Jewish ghetto, by the times that the ghetto gates are locked.

There’s a little about the Jews, tolerated because they were the city’s bankers but not really trusted. (Apparently the Venetians were 300 years ahead of the Nazis when it came to making Jews wear yellow badges on their coats.) We learn, too, about the guild system among gondoliers, but this isn’t an essay on Venetian society. It’s a thriller and a romance, starting slow but building up to a dramatic and bloody climax. And, like all the best thrillers, it has a wonderful villain. The man is a fraud, a swindler and a serial killer – but he does have style.

The climax is, perhaps, a little rushed. It’s a bit like those movies where people move in the shadows, shots ring out, the villain collapses and the hero stands over him as the credits roll. Personally, I prefer the Lee Child approach to violent denouements. I want the hero to feint with his left and lead with his right and only as he lies helpless (some blackguard probably hit him from behind) does he draw the pistol concealed in his boot and bring the villain down. Maybe that’s just me but I think that if you are doing the big fight scene, go all in or go home.

Since I wrote this, I’ve read Swift’s latest, The Silk Code, where the fight scenes match anything Lee Child has done, so I’ve no idea why this one didn’t work for me. It’s quite a minor quibble in any case. The important thing is that mysteries are solved. Some relationships are cleared up (no spoilers), others not. Life moves on. As do Mia and Guilia. It will be interesting to see where Ms Swift takes them next.

The Shadow Network takes us back to the world of WW2 espionage that she introduced in The Silk Code. This story features Neil Callaghan from the earlier book but it is a separate story about a different aspect of Britain’s secret war against Germany. It centres on the work of the Political Warfare Executive which pumped out black propaganda to the Reich. It was a significant part of the British war effort, pioneering tactics that we see used in conflicts nowadays. It’s fascinating stuff and deserves to be better known. Swift, as ever, writes with authority and I loved those parts of the book.

The social background to the story also gives vivid insights into the world of the time. The heroine, Lilli Bergen, is a half-Jewish German, who we first meet living in Berlin. Swift gives some idea of the reality of life for Jews at the time. Lilli’s (non-Jewish) father disappears into the camps – her mother is already dead – and Lilli flees to Britain. There, she thinks she is safe until she is caught up in the anti-German hysteria that saw Jewish refugees rounded up alongside Nazi sympathisers and interned on the Isle of Man. Swift catches the terror of Jews who had lived under a police state being suddenly ordered from their homes to live, without family or friends, behind barbed wire.

Fortunately for Lilli, the Political Warfare Executive needs a German singer to entertain on a radio show designed to appeal to German soldiers. The songs are interspersed with propaganda designed to undermine morale.

In her new job she meets an old boyfriend from Germany – somebody she believes to be a Nazi collaborator. Instead of denouncing him to the police, she decides to investigate on her own. It’s a trope of this sort of fiction (one I’ve been accused of myself) that your hero will find themselves in a situation where they have to undertake a risky job without any kind of backup, although they are surrounded by people who could easily help them. Swift does a good job of explaining why Lilli insists on becoming a (frankly unconvincing) Mata Hari even when she has clear evidence that her ex-boyfriend is a wrong ’un, but I did struggle to suspend my disbelief. I had particular problems when she gets engaged to the villain and moves in with him. I know it was wartime and that people let things slip a little, but I was surprised that nobody seems to have thought this was odd. What, to me, was even odder was that, though the man is a cad and a bounder, he accepts that they will share a bedroom without actually having sex. That’s a necessary plot device, as there is a romantic subplot in which Lilli is saving herself for her true love.

Will Lilli save the day and will her apparent philandering be forgiven? No plot spoilers here, but no great surprises in the book either.

Like all Deborah Swift’s books, this is a joy to read and the story bowls along fast enough to skim over the more implausible elements – and you learn a lot about the war years on the way.

One of the things that really impresses me about Swift’s writing is her ability to move, apparently effortlessly, between different historical settings. Last week I was reviewing her 17th century Italian renaissance novel, The Fortune Keeper, and this week we are in World War II. Life in London during the Blitz is wonderfully evocative, with trips to a Lyons Corner House where you eat Shepherd’s Pies that are mainly potato and beetroot is everywhere. Normal life continues between air raid warnings. It’s spot on.

I can hardly mention the plot. It starts with Nancy being betrayed by her fiancé practically on the eve of their wedding. She flees her quiet life in Scotland to move to London where she gets a job in the offices where her brother works. When she applies, she has no idea that she will be a decoder with the Special Operations Executive – part of the lifeline supporting field agents in occupied Europe.

She soon finds herself falling for a young man who has arrived to shake up the way the SOE codes its messages. So far, so clichéd (and the opening pages with the cad in Scotland did leave me worrying that the book might all be a bit of a cliché). But suddenly the plot kicks into gear with twists and turns that continue throughout the book. Infuriatingly, as a reviewer, I can’t say anything about any of them because any clue as to what is coming will spoil the story. (The title is a spoiler in itself, which annoyed me. I bet that was the publisher’s choice and not the author’s.)

What I can say is that the romantic betrayal that the story starts with is just the first of many betrayals we are going to discover. This is a story about loyalty and betrayal: betrayal because of cowardice or betrayal because you have to sacrifice your friends for your country. It reminds us that not that long ago London was full of people with secrets, determined that no one should ever learn what they were doing for their country – or for the enemy.

Swift writes about the experience of agents in the field and how they can (or more often can’t) survive in a world where German troops are everywhere and where nobody can be trusted. There are scenes of considerable violence. I complained in a review of another Deborah Swift book that she couldn’t write a fight scene, but the fight scenes here are terrific – and she is not afraid to depict the horror of killing with bare hands or whatever tools are available. One agent kills someone by hitting them with a spade and the reality of that killing and how it feels to murder someone so up close and personal is chillingly spelled out.

Whatever you do, don’t get attached to anyone. The body count is high and the human costs of Occupation are graphically captured. Usually you can reassure yourself that it will all come well at the end, but I kept turning the pages worrying about who would die next.

The book ends without the irritating cliff hanger that too many authors put at the end of the first book in what is clearly going to be a series. (OK, someone survives. But I’m not telling you who.) The fact that there will be a Book Two leaves the end of The Silk Code mildly anticlimactic. There is still a war. There will be more deaths. But briefly, until the next book starts, we are allowed an interlude of something almost like peace.

This is a brilliant book, one of Swift’s best. I can’t wait for the next one.

FROM AMAZON: Giulia Tofana longs for more responsibility in her mother’s apothecary business, but Mamma has always been secretive and refuses to tell her the hidden keys to her success. But the day Mamma is arrested for the poisoning of the powerful Duke de Verdi, Giulia is shocked to uncover the darker side of her trade.

Giulia must run for her life, and escapes to Naples, under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, to the home of her Aunt Isabetta, a famous courtesan. But when Giulia hears that her mother has been executed, and the cruel manner of her death, she swears she will wreak revenge on the Duke de Verdi.

The trouble is, Naples is in the grip of Domenico, the Duke’s brother, who controls the city with the ‘Camorra’, the mafia. Worse, her Aunt Isabetta, under his thrall, insists that she should be consort to him.

Based on the legendary life of Giulia Tofana, this is a story of hidden family secrets, and how courage and love can overcome vengeance.

Giuliano Tofana longs for more responsibility in her mother’s apothecary business, but Mamma has always been secretive and refuses to tell her the hidden keys to her success. But the day Mamma is arrested for the poisoning of the powerful Duke de Verdi, Giulia is shocked to uncover the darker side of her trade.
Giulia must run for her life, and. escapes to Naples, under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, to the home of her Aunt Isabetta, a famous courtesan. But when Giulia hears that her mother has been executed, and the cruel manner of her death, she swears she will wreak revenge on the Duke de Verdi.
Based on the life of Giulia Tofana.

I read this because I'm a botanist and so the plant aspect interested me. However, I had a hard time believing the plant propagation techniques, especially with the frequency of the plants roots being exposed and handled.

Under the guise of the plants was a strange love story... and while interesting, it was perhaps more religious in tone than I normally would read.

I just had a hard time getting into the characters... I'm glad I finished it but I would not read it again.

The Fortune Keeper by Deborah Swift is the third in the Italian Renaissance series. It is about Giulia Tofana who was an Italian professional poisoner. She would make her concoction, Aqua Tofana and give it to sell it to women who wanted to be rid of their husbands.

The story is also about Mia Caiozzi a young woman who was 'adopted' by Giula and her husband. Mia is married but her husband has absconded to who knows where. Mia is interested in Astronomy, but she has to study with a mentor as it is not done that a woman goes against the Catholic Church and study a science that it not believed in.

Because Giulia is in hiding, details in previous book, she decides to live in Venice in the Jewish Ghetto to be safe from anyone who is after her. She is being hunted by the Duke de Verdi's family as they believe she killed her husband, a de Verdi.

An assassin is after her and he goes on a killing spree, disquised in a mask, he is able to hunt down his victims, and they all have a connection to Giulia. Mia had attended a lecture about astronomy and met a gondolier, who eventually helps Mia escape the killer.

This story that is set in Venice is very descriptive of the time and just the area. Canals, gondolas, masked people. A story that Deborah has done an extensive amount of research. From poisons to astronomy, the reader gets a sense of actually being there, to smell the water of the canals to the political intrigue that abounds.

I did not read the first two books; I feel that I really did not need to as The Fortune Keeper is a standalone novel. I would like to know more about Giulia so I will most likely read the first two books in the series. That said, I will give this book 5 stars. I love a good historical novel that has me immersed in the story from the start.

As much as I enjoyed the first book – “The Poison Keeper” – I like “The Silkworm Keeper” even more. Didn’t think I would, though, when I learned it was about poisoner Giulia Tofana’s new phase as a nun. Turns out that the scenes in the nunnery appealed to me most of all.

Putting people where they really don’t want to be tends to make for engaging reading. First off, Giulia is sent to take charge of a new nunnery, which she’s somewhat daunted by, mainly because she’s to take charge of five siblings who have no desire whatsoever to become nuns. Sadly for them, they’ve no alternative.

Two of the siblings are young adults, the other three are children. Giulia’s interaction with them makes for entertaining reading. All characters are vivid and believable.

Although this is in no way a comedy, I had to laugh when – following a scene about Satan becoming the snake who tempts Eve in the Garden of Eden – one of the children asks if Satan could be one of the silkworms. Brilliant. You can just imagine a child asking such a question.

At length, events compel Giulia and the children to move to Rome. Fabio – Giulia’s love interest from the first book – also ends up there. In one sense, Fabio’s storyline is like a subplot, rising to the surface every so often, and occasionally his threads connect with Giulia’s. Deborah Swift is an author who’s gifted in having several story threads on the go, which she eventually connects to make one main thread.

The author also does a great job in creating the seventeenth-century Italian setting. All scenes are vivid and authentic.

Overall, this is an excellent read.

Literally just finished this book. I very much enjoyed it, though it didn't have much depth. A fun and fairly fluffy bit of historical fiction.

I don't know much about urban England in the 1660s, though I've read about life in the country, particularly during the plague--so this trip to the city taught me a lot. I waffled over whether to include this in my "good world-building" category and I'm going for it, though mostly because this time wasn't familiar to me and yet I could see everything clearly in my mind's eye.

The sisters were great characters, and I particularly liked Ella. Not because she was a likable character, but because she wasn't. We don't get a lot of women like her in fiction--Sadie's type of character is more usual: the girl who stands out but just wants to go unnoticed learns to find her strength. It's so formulaic I hardly consider that a spoiler. Ella, on the other hand, can be incredibly callous and selfish, wrapped up in her own efforts to get ahead in the world and experience the finer things that she never could before. Her pangs of remorse made her more complex than just the all-around the "bitch" a couple characters say she is. As much as I didn't like her, I loved her character.

I have conflicting thoughts about the pacing. On the one hand, slow: it takes a lot of time for much action to happen and everything is relatively quiet until then. This makes sense because Ella and Sadie are in hiding, and I wasn't annoyed by the pace except... Well, on that other hand, the pace was too fast: Everything happened at once at the end, the sisters' personalities changed far too quickly and permanently, one flat-out forgives the other's attempted second-degree murder, the main villain is revealed to be even more of a scuzzbucket than thought for the first 300 pages, and the tensest action fits in 30 pages (admittedly, they might have gone more quickly than usual because it is a pretty gripping scene). I never was impatient for the book to go faster--I actually wanted it to go slower at the end because I was enjoying it! But the unevenness of the page was odd.

The inclusion of an insta-love-interest was disappointing, though I did love the smaller characters that contributed to the plot. Corey Johnson was a great addition, and I hope to see more of her in Swift's no doubt forthcoming companion novels. I also want to know more about Wycliffe's background, though I have a suspicion he's an insta-love-interest in his own right.

I did appreciate the surprise of Ella's final important action. I was afraid this would be another Cinderella story, but fortunately the only rescuing involved was of a man by a young man and a young woman. Thank goodness for small mercies!

Some things I didn't like:
>> Evil is gay. Because of course. Duh. (This was so unnecessary, which somehow feels even worse than if it had been an important part of the character. Sisters, please smack me upside the head if that thought deserves it.)
>> I feel like I've read a lot of books with massive fires at the end of them lately. Obviously not a fault of the text, but I'm pretty much expecting sparks to fly at this point.
>> I did not want Jay to die so quickly. That man deserved disgrace, ruin, humiliation, jail, and a public execution. A relatively quick and painless death was too easy. Like I said, scuzzbucket.
>> The murders didn't really become central to the plot until the end, nor did the depth of Jay's nefariousness...so I was still kind of expecting him to have a soft spot even at the bitter end.
>> We never learned whether Thomas had been smothered or not. I think that might be in Swift's first novel, [b:The Lady's Slipper|8378780|The Lady's Slipper|Deborah Swift|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1311993308s/8378780.jpg|9690870], which I'll be keeping an eye out for on Free Book Day.


And as for the book's happily-ever-after? I have three words/"words" for you: London. Plague. 1665.


Quote Roundup

Not intentionally picky this time. Like I said, it was relatively fluffy reading.

14) By now the river was thick with craft of every shape and size and the air was a Babel of men and women, all shouting to each other in an accent Sadie could barely fathom.
I was delighted to see "babble" used in its original form and function.

219) "When my father told me that tale he used to say, 'Always remember, you can't hate someone if you know their story.'"
Of course I go for the metaliterary quote... Though it is particularly fitting considering that I liked Ella as a character.

326) Ella hung tight to the stair rail as she stepped out onto the frozen surface. ... And it felt like blasphemy, that any highway felon might walk on water just like Jesus had.
Wow. Just, wow. I really like this thought, that walking on ice is like Jesus's walking on water, and Ella's consideration of blasphemy really drove her fear home for me.

411) "Though sometimes I think [heaven and hell] 'tis all just a myth to keep us in line."
This line drove me up the wall. It was totally out of left field, out of character, and way too modern-feeling for a 17th-century country girl who'd been isolated in one way or another for most of her life.

“The Poison Keeper” is another winner by Deborah Swift.

I’d heard of Giulia Tofana before reading this dramatized account of her early life, but I knew no details regarding what she got up to. Well, she got up to a lot by selling poisons to women in need of a break from the men in their lives.

I expected Giulia to have a dark nature, taking pleasure in other people’s pain, but this is far from the case. Her personality is likable enough that you’d want to befriend her. Any blood on her hands, so to speak, is justified from her viewpoint, rather than being an evil act.

All characters are superbly portrayed, including the secondary ones. I particularly like Camilla, a working-class woman, who is a larger than life character.

The author does a great job in creating the seventeenth-century Italian setting. All scenes are vivid, including a trip down an underground passage.

Overall, this is a very good read, which I recommend to all fans of historical fiction and crime fiction.

This is a great read! She draws you into the story immediately and the characters really come alive. Great historical fiction.

Giulia d'Adamo wants nothing more than to learn her mother's craft as an apothecary in 1633 Palermo. However, Giulia's mother is overly cautious when it comes to training Giulia in anything more than the kitchen arts since the herbs she works with not only have the power to heal, but the power to harm. Before her mother is able to teach her anything more, Giulia's mother is accused and killed for supplying the poison to the wife of the Duke de Verdi in an attempt to kill the abusive and treacherous Duke. Giulia flees to Naples to live with her Aunt Isabetta, a courtesan. Giulia must take up the trade in order to earn her keep. However, the Duke di Verdi's brother, Domenico, runs Naples and the Camorra, a mafia to control and extort the citizens of the town and the Duke di Verdi is still looking for Giulia in connection to her mother. Giulia decides to seek retribution on her own and supplies the wife of the equally villainous Domenico with the poison necessary to kill him. Other women soon begin to come to Giulia with similar issues and word spreads of Giulia's talent. With Domenico's death, the Duke di Verdi knows who must be responsible and begins to close in on her.

Based on the life of Giulia Tofana, The Poison Keeper weaves a dangerous tale of how and why Giulia Tofana became known as the most notorious and effective poisoners of her time. At first, Giulia is difficult to like. She is defiant and does not understand the intricacies of her mother's business. However, she is forced to grow up quickly after her mother's death and must learn that society does not treat everyone fairly, especially women. With vibrant detail, the city, clothing and buildings of Renaissance Italy come alive. I loved learning about herbs and poisons and the power they hold alongside Giulia. I also enjoyed the relationships that Giulia was able to build with other women that she helped and how they eventually rallied her effectively when the Duke di Verdi had decided her fate. With family secrets, exciting friendships and a tumultuous political backdrop, The Poison Keeper is a fast-paced and exciting read. While there is much speculation about the life and death of the real Giulia, I'm glad that her story can continue after The Poison Keeper and I'm excited to see what she does next.

This story was received for free in return for an honest review.

I really enjoy a good WWII novel and I did enjoy this one very much. You don't see a lot of info about the Channel islands during WWII and I was glad to learn more. Such a hard time for them as they were British but forgotten and the Nazis quickly invaded and took over the island. If you enjoyed the The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society novel I highly recommend this book. I will look for further books from this author.

Abandoned to live with her Aunt, Deb Willet is educated but nothing else. Her aunt arranges for her to become companion/lady's maid to Elisabeth Pepys, wife of a civil servant in London. It is not long after the restoration of the monarchy and the great fire but London is an exciting place for a girl like Deb. However as time goes on she realises that friendships have their costs and reputations are easily lost.
The premise of this novel is a clever one, hidden in the pages of Pepys' diaries are references to various women that he chased and Deb Willet is one of the em. Little remains of her story but Swift has chosen to embroider a tale around it linking social unrest and espionage to the life of a maid. There's lots to really like about this book, the setting, the knowledge of London in the late 1660s etc. However I felt it dragged in places and the credibility of the plot was definitely stretched in places.

WW2, Norway, occupation, historical-novel, historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, historical-setting*****

This novel is so realistic that I could see members of our own family in it. Norway has always been a magical place where our family lived until some came to live in Wisconsin and the Dakotas during the Great Worldwide Depression. (One of us even did time in a concentration camp in Denmark.)
I find it amazing how the novels about that war and the German occupation rarely focus on Norway and the Quizlings. This tale breaks out of that mold and reminds us that others were made to suffer because of one country's megalomaniac.
The publisher's blurb is well done and stops just short of detailing the horror of the executions. Did I like the book? That's not the wording I'd choose, but it is exceptionally well written without graphically detailing the horrors.
I requested and received a temporary free ebook copy from Sapere Books via NetGalley. Thank you.
I bought an ebook copy to keep even before finishing it.

I don’t normally like books or films that include extensive scenes set in a theatre or on a film set; however, the theatre scenes in this novel are among the story’s highlights. The main character Bird is the actress, and I was very much engaged by the build-up of her stage debut, and more so by her first performance.

I also like Bird’s character, whom the author made me care for. Less likable is Bird’s mother-in-law; however, old Mrs Knepp is a brilliantly-drawn character – vivid and believable.

Much of the story revolves around Bird’s miserable married life and how she tries to cope with it. It’s a depressing existence and I found myself willing Bird to find a way out of it.

Other enjoyable scenes feature Bird with Mr Pepys. Unlike the other books in this series, Bird isn’t repelled by Pepys, and this makes for some excellent interaction between the two characters.

The story includes the Great Fire of London, which features a sequence of events expertly portrayed by the author.

The only aspect I dislike is the odd word/phrase in French or Dutch. As a reader, I’m locked out of the story if I don’t understand the meaning of something, and I won’t break off to go online and try translating it. I am pro-language learning, but I expect a book advertised as being written in English to be just that. Exceptions being if it’s something that can’t be translated articulately, or if it’s someone’s name or title, or a place name.

Overall, this is an entertaining read, which I recommend to anyone interested in historical fiction set in England during the 1600s.

'The Lady's Slipper' was a great book and a Goodreads first-reads giveaway. I have been fortunate enough to actually see a lady's slipper in the wild. It is a beautiful flower. I was intrigued to read a book that had it's plot encircled around this one lovely plant. I loved the character development of Alice how she starts off admiring the beauty of the lady slipper and later comes to realize that that one flower can have a dark side (so to speak) and send one's life spiraling towards an ending that you don't quite expect. This was an excellent read set in 1660s England. I will definitely be recommending it to my friends who enjoy books set it different periods.

Entertaining Mr. Pepys begins in 1659 when Mary Elizabeth "Bird" Carpenter enters a loveless marriage that has been arranged by her father. It is also when she first meets Livvy, a blackamoor, and a very special friendship begins between Bird and her maid. Bird's life with Christopher Knepp isn't easy and and it is Livvy who helps her through these times. Bird even considers going back to her father's house and when she does, she finds that 'Dorcas was putting her 'woman's touch' on her family home, eliminating her father's former life, and by doing it, claiming if for her own. It was clear enough to Bird that she could never be able to come back here.' Recognizing the inevitable, Bird returns to her husband Christopher Knepp and it is only after many tragedies, including the fire that destroyed London, that she sees him in a new light. 'So this is what it is, to be married, Bird thought. To lean on each other in times of hardsip and know the other will always be there. A comforting quietness fell over her.'

This book is large in its number of pages and it is huge in content. I enjoy historical fiction but I haven't read any books centered on this time period and it is apparent that author Deborah Swift has done extensive reseach to portray London as it was in the 17th century. Her description of The Great Fire of London is riveting and I also enjoyed learning about Bird's introduction to the theatre and her eventual success as Elizabeth Knepp, the actress who enjoyed a friendship with Samuel Pepys. The final chapter relates Bird's successful appearance at The King's Playhouse in March, 1667, when The King himself was in the audience, along with Pepys, his wife Elizabeth, and Bird's husband and father. This woman, who had witnessed so many tragedies and experienced so many hurts, was finally able to feel love, acceptance, and forgiveness.

This is the third book in Swift's trilogy centered around Samuel Pepys. I haven't read the first two but my enjoyment wasn't diminished by this and I hope to read the first two. I appreciate that at the end of this book, there are historical notes so that we understand what was true and what was fictional during this famous man's life. I recommend Entertaining Mr. Pepys to all who enjoy historical fiction.

I appreciate the chance to read an advance copy of this book and I am voluntarily sharing my thoughts. These are my honest thoughts and I received no monetary compensation for this review.

What I like most about this second instalment in Deborah Swift’s Pepys series is the feeling of “being there”. This is an author with a gift of bringing the past to life, be it by sight, sound, or smell.

The depiction of the plague is especially good. Not just the description of the disease, but of how it effects people emotionally. It’s like a miasma of fear hanging over everyone.

The plot itself is vastly different to Book One. This time, we have more focus on the domestic life of a husband and wife – Will and Bess – struggling to cope financially.

Mr Pepys is not a lead character, but – like in the previous novel – a central character. Bess brings him into her and Will’s life, which leads them to good and bad fortune.

Jack, the main antagonist – and Will’s cousin – is a loathsome creature. His not a charming bad boy, but rather a sponging bastard. Will’s good nature is often abused by Jack, but Will’s gullibility and plain stupidity meant I had little sympathy for him.

My lack of sympathy for the characters in general is the main reason why I haven’t rated this more than three stars. I liked Bess more as the narrative went on, after not caring much about her in the early part of the book. Bess’s mother invoked my sympathy most of all.

As with the previous book, I liked the author’s depiction of Mr Pepys. He has something likeable about him, despite his selfishness when it comes to women. I think it’s charisma and his aura of “jolliness” that I find appealing.

Mr Pepys is the only connection between this novel and its predecessor. It’s also set earlier than the first book.

In short, I didn’t find this as engaging as “Pleasing Mr Pepys”, but it’s still definitely worth reading.

I read reviews of this story before I began reading it and found out it was a love story. I was slightly disappointed because I wanted "meat", not sappy material. At the end, I am torn between a 3 and a 4 rating because I was surprised at some events and have unanswered questions, while on the other hand, I became wrapped up enough in the characters to choose sides. Also, the story did not feel sappy as I feared it might be. I don't even want to read the next book that tells Ella's story because I dislike that character so much.

The description of Richard's physical attraction to Alice seemed to come out of nowhere. I found it difficult to believe he would start to get a hard-on while simply thinking of her during a Quaker service when there seemed to be no indication of his attraction to her earlier. He did have nice thoughts of her throughout, the description of how pretty she was when she had color in her cheeks, but that didn't seem enough to warrant a hard-on.

What happened to Francis, and how did Richard's relationship with her shape his character? There's only one reference to this woman in his past.

His confession of his part in the murder of Geoffrey's mother seemed rushed and underdeveloped in the end. The events leading up to Richard and Alice's journey across the Atlantic seemed almost surreal, as did the events that took place on the ship. Could all those successive bad turns really have happened? However, the way Stephen rescued Richard and Alice from prison seemed in line with reality - the story did not rely on sheer, unbelievable good fortune to save Alice's life. Instead, desperate characters did desperate things. That seems believable to me. But how did Stephen and the Quakers fare after the prison escape? No mention was made of the repercussions of the events of that night.

I did like the way the story unfolded so that Geoffrey had a chance to come to terms with events from his past and to forgive Richard.

The sex scenes between Richard and Alice seemed to happen all at once and too early. This story line was not given enough time to develop. But maybe that's what people do when faced with imminent death by execution. I missed the part when they were married, so mention of Alice's wedding ring on her finger was a surprise.

The epilogue describing Alice's return to Westmorlund was touching and came to a satisfying full-circle. I appreciated the historical details of Quaker life in 17th century England and the laws of the land during that time. I also liked the insights into the lady's slipper plant, its medicinal qualities and its history in England (described after the epilogue). I would have liked a little more information on the side effects described in the story of taking the elixir of lady's slipper.

I might be interested in reading the story from Richard's point of view. That might explain Francis' role in his life and more on how his character was influenced by the past.

Despite the title, Mr Pepys is a central character, rather than the main protagonist. It's those who please him that take centre stage.

I like how the author has taken a virtually forgotten person from history and made her a main character. Deborah Willet is only mentioned a few times in Pepys’s famous diary, yet Deborah Swift has used what scant info there is to bring the heroine to life.

Abigail Williams is another barely-remembered historical personage – I admit to never having heard of her or Deborah Willet – and again, the author uses her creative prowess to make Abigail an engaging character, perhaps the best in the novel.

The story, set in London during the late 1660s, follows Deborah, Abigail, plus several other characters whose lives become entwined. Events revolve around the problems with the Dutch during this time, while espionage is at the heart of Deborah's troubles.

One element I really like is how Deborah gradually slides into deeper water, which continues to build and build as the story develops. This reflects good plotting skills and adept characterisation.

If you like fast-paced stories set in seventeenth-century England, written by an author who knows the period well, give “Pleasing Mr Pepys” a try.

Although this is a sequel to “The Lady’s Slipper”, it also works perfectly as a stand-alone novel. This is mainly because none of the leading characters from “The Lady’s Slipper” appear in “The Gilded Lily”. Instead, one of the secondary characters from the previous book shares centre stage with a new character. This in itself is an admirable way to write a sequel, as it shows originality and creativity.

So, the main theme is two young women – sisters Ella and Sadie – head to London because Ella is suspected of murder. I didn’t warm to Ella and I’m not sure that it was the author’s intention that the reader should warm to her.

Sadie, on the other hand, immediately gets a sympathy vote because of the birthmark on her face. I liked her easy-going personality and hoped she’d find happiness before the end of the story.

The plot features many well-written scenes, which vividly bring 17th-century London to life. I could feel the cold when winter struck hard.

As I’m writing this four years after reading the book, it’s hard to add more, but I do remember thinking that “The Gilded Lily” was a very good read, though not as enthralling as “The Lady’s Slipper”.

Deb Willet's aunt has found employment for Deb as a companion to Mrs. Pepys. As the companion to the wife of Samuel Pepys, administrator to the navy of England and Member of Parliament, Deb is placed among society's finest. However, Deb quickly learns that Mrs. Pepys is insecure in her placement and Mr. Pepys has roaming hands. One of the Pepys' favored pastimes is going to the theatre. Through their theatre outings, Deb is introduced to Abigail Williams, the mistress of Lord Bruncker, President of the Royal Society. Needing a friend, Deb takes up Abigail's invitation. However, being a friend to Abigail is much more complicated than simple outing. Soon, Abigail is having Deb bring her things from Mr. Pepys office and having Deb copy letters of Lord Bruncker. Before she knows it, Deb has become a spy for the Dutch, just like Abigail.

Intricate and historically detailed, Pleasing Mr. Pepys brought me into the spy world of the 17th Century. I really didn't know much about Samuel Pepys or what was happening around London in the late 1600's except for some notorious doings of Charles II and his mistresses. I felt for Deb's character while at the same time being intrigued. I felt like she continually received the short end of the stick throughout her life; her mother left, she was thrust into the care of an aunt who saw her and her sister as a nuisance, was then sold off as a companion to Mrs. Pepys only to be taken advantage of by Mr. Pepys and cajoled into being a spy for Abigail Williams. Throughout all of this however, Deb manages to find strength and carry on. At one point she states "Very well, if she was a whore and a traitor, she would be one that survived." I found myself continually pulled into the writing by different elements, the mystery of Deb's mother, the blossoming romance between Deb and Jem and the continual danger of the spy games. Through Deb and Abagail, I was pulled into the world of a spymistress and given a different look into a woman's life in 1600's London.
I was pleased to find out that Deb Willet was a real character in the life of Samuel Pepys and written about in his diary. While Deb's true role in his life might not be fully known, Deborah Swift's creation is an exciting possibility.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

The Gilded Lily tells a frightening tale of two young girls in Restoration London. Young Sadie has been brought from her country home in Cumberland by her more worldly older sister, Ella, to start a new life. Ella has stolen from the house of her dead Master and now she is suspected of his murder. Perhaps they could have gone unnoticed, but Sadie has a distinctive port wine stain on her face and the dead man’s brother is hunting for them.

As Ella becomes entwined in the dangerous world of ambitious Jay Whitgift, she decides Sadie must hide away. I empathised with Sadie's feeling of entrapment in the city which teemed with unkind, threatening people but I began to realise that Ella’s thoughtless behaviour was rooted in her tragic childhood and her longing for love and prosperity.

The story shows the hard toil of girls making wigs in a perruquier’s workshop, the corrupt world of rich, self-obsessed young men and the lives of ordinary people such as clerks and barber-surgeons in 17th century London. I particularly liked the role of the Thames, which fills Sadie with awe, as she watches a ship set sail on a distant voyage while later Ella sells beauty products from a stall on the frozen river. The details of life, the complexity of the plot and the variety of characters take time to unfold but the pace hots up in the last few chapters where the plight of Ella and Sadie worsens and there seems no escape from the gallows.

For Sadie and Ella, the bond of sisterhood is sorely tried by their difficulties and separation but they cannot deny their need for one another. The Gilded Lily which shines so brightly in Ella’s eyes proves to be fool’s gold concealing ugliness.

3,5 stars

The event take place soon after book 1 and is told by Ralph Chaplin’s ghost. Ralph has finally joined the army and when he comes back home learns that things have changed around Markyate Manor.

Since the story is told by a ghost you know he will die but it didn’t ruin the story in any way. I liked the first book more but that doesn’t mean this was bad either. I didn’t really care for Ralph in book 1 and he didn’t grow much for me in this one either. I liked his friend Cutch whom he met at the army and Cutch tried to act like voice of reason without much success. I wanted to shake Ralph so many times to get some sense into him because he seems to find himself always in trouble.

We see more about the life on the battlefield and I could have read more about that. Ralph makes an enemy on the battlefield where he meets a man who seeks vengeance for the killing of his family. Ralph’s father didn’t give good impression n the last book and even worse in this one.

I’m looking forward reading the next book in the series which will focus on Katherine Fanshawe.