Historical Novels Review - November 2009

The Good Doctor Guillotin, Marc Estrin
The lives of five men converge in on one epochal event – the first use of the guillotine as a method of capital punishment in Revolutionary France. The book follows the paths of each of these men – the first customer of the device, his priest, the executioner, the builder of the device, and its designer, the good doctor as they come together on that lovely spring day in 1792.

The book is an interesting mix of fiction, essay, and authorial intrusion, a blend of philosophy, modern political commentary, and historical fiction. The dialog is mannered – more a vehicle for philosophical concepts than human interaction -- and the writing overall is not easy, but certainly interesting and at times even elegant. As a polemic against the death penalty, it is effective; as an historical novel, somewhat less so. While the details of life under the Ancien Régime, and then under the Revolution, were graphic and convincing, I felt held somewhat at a distance – as though I was being read a report or a philosophical treatise about the Revolution, and not brought into the story itself.

That said, I would still recommend this book for readers with an interest in Revolutionary France, and those looking for a more challenging philosophical read.

 
A Quiet Belief in Angels, R.J. Ellory
A Quiet Belief in Angels follows narrator Joseph Vaughan, an author, who recounts the story of his life, from his time as a child in rural Georgia in the early 1940s to a hot, dark hotel room in 1960s New York City, where we learn that Joseph has just shot a man.

Previously published in over 20 languages and a bestseller in the U.K., A Quiet Belief in Angels is the first of Ellory's books to be available in the U.S. In a series of flashbacks and flash forwards, Joseph tells the story of his life, wreathed in heartache and tragedy, defined by a series of child mutilations and murders in his own hometown. When he finally escapes Georgia and moves to New York City to chase his dream of becoming a writer, he finds that has not escaped, and that tragedy and death itself has followed him.

Ellory renders mid-century America convincingly, with a good sense of place and time, through both description and realistic dialogue. That said, while the Georgia sections ring particularly true, the Manhattan passages suffer from too many historical details shoe-horned in. However, those quibbles are minor. This is a gripping mystery, beautifully written. Recommended.


The Secret War, M.F.W. Curran
In the aftermath of the battle of Waterloo, Captain William Saxon and Lieutenant Kieran Harte are wounded and battle-weary – but the end of the war with Napoleon is the beginning of another war for these life-long friends. When a powerful evil object is found and comes into William's possession, he and Kieran are set on a path filled with danger, political intrigue – and daemons.

I wanted very much to like this book. The concept – a hidden war between Heaven and Hell, played out against the backdrop of the end of the Napoleonic era – has a great deal to recommend it to a fan of fantasy and history alike. Unfortunately, it does not live up to the promise. The book could have used a stronger editing hand – while Curran renders the time and place fairly well, the story suffers from telling rather than showing, jumping-head point of view shifts, stilted dialog, and slow pacing (especially for the subject matter). The lack of polish made it very difficult for me to engage with the story, and though filled with potentially interesting twists and monsters, overall it fell flat for me.