Entries Categorized as 'Historical Fiction'

Madeleine Takes Command

Our rating: ***½

Madeleine and her two brothers, Louis and Alexandre, are the only members of the Vecheres family in their seigneury. Their father is away fighting and their mother has just left on a business trip, leaving Madeleine in charge. Soon after, the fort is attacked by Mohawks. Madeleine must defend the fort with only six others, two of which cannot be trusted to hold their posts.

This book is set during the French and Indian war. It is based on a real event, as described in the epilogue. I found it to be a good story and true to historical details. Madeleine Take Command is definitely worthy of your time.

Snow Treasure

Our rating: ****

During the winter of 1940, Nazi troops take over the town of Riswyk, Norway. Riswyk’s gold, worth nine million dollars in the United States, is in danger of being discovered by the Nazis. The children of Riswyk take the gold, bit by bit, to a secret ship by hiding it on their sleds. But so many things could go wrong!

I enjoyed this book. It was interesting. In 1940, a Norwegian ship reached Baltimore with $9,000,000 aboard. The gold was reported to have been slipped past Nazi sentries by Norwegian children. The plot of this book is based off that legend.

Kidnapped

Our rating: ****

After the death of his father, sixteen-year-old David Balfour is preparing to leave the village he grew up in and seek his fortune. As he is leaving, an old friend of the family gives him a sealed letter, written by David’s father, with the instructions to take it to the House of Shaws. David wonders at this, because the Shaws are a wealthy family. Could he be related to them? When he reaches the tumbledown manor house he discovers that the man living there is his uncle. Despite his uncle’s apparent unwillingness to welcome him, David stays a couple of days and stumbles across a mystery. He had always supposed his father to be the younger of the two brothers, but circumstances point to his being the elder, and therefore rightful heir to the estate. When David presses his uncle for the truth in the matter, the cantankerous old man avoids the question, promising to tell David the truth the next day. During the night the uncle tries to kill David, who luckily survives, to the great surprise of his uncle. In one last, desperate attempt to conceal the truth, David’s uncle has him kidnapped and sent away to the Carolinas to be sold as a slave. However, during the early stages of the sea voyage, David falls into the company of a Scottish Rebel called Alan Breck, who helps him escape. Together they make their way through Scotland—Alan set upon his work for the King of France, (much to David’s dismay) and David seeking to return to the House of Shaws and discover the truth.

Great, great story. I enjoyed every page of it. It’s set in Scotland, in 1751, and it’s chock full of adventure. All of the things David goes through, running with Alan, ha ha! David is for King George of England and Alan is for the King of France and Scotland. Much to David’s chagrin, he ends up having to help Alan in his resistance work and gets pinned as a rebel for his pains!

Blue Willow

Our rating: ***

Janey Larkin is a ten-year-old girl growing up in the Great Depression. Her one beautiful treasure is a blue willow plate. Her family moves from place to place, looking for work. One day they move into an empty shack and Janey makes friends with a Mexican girl who lives across the road. More and more things happen that make Janey want to stay. But when work gets scarce and with Bounce Reyburn demanding rent, it looks like they will have to move on again.

This book is okay. It’s not one of my favorites. However, it kept me pretty interested near the end. There was one part I didn’t appreciate, however, when Mrs. Larkin says that they can thank the Power that is for what had happened to them, and Janey wonders silently whether she means God or the blue willow plate.

True to the Old Flag

Our rating: *½

At the start of the American Revolutionary War, young Harold joins the British side with his father. He becomes a talented scout, helps win several battles, has narrow escapes from the enemy, and manages to be around for almost every part of the war.

Here’s a book that is remarkably interesting for the fact that it is about the British side of the American Revolution. The battles are done well, at points Henty even has me (an American) rooting for the British. And yet, for some reason, the story keeps getting sidetracked into Indian fights. About seven long chapters in the book are solely about Harold and his friends fighting Indians. Even though the main story is good, it is rather annoying to have the war grind to a halt so that Harold can rescue his cousin from Indians. However, hearing the British side of the story makes the book worth reading anyway.