‘Subtle and dramatic’ – The best historical fiction out now: The Life of Herod The Great
The Life of Herod The Great by Zora Neale Hurston (HQ £20, 368pp)
The Life of Herod The Great is available now from the Mail Bookshop
The author of the much beloved, soulful Their Eyes Were Watching God offers a much trickier proposition in this unfinished novel – published for the first time more than 60 years after her death – which seeks to rehabilitate Herod, the horror of historical infamy.
After 14 years of research, Hurston concluded that his most heinous act – the Massacre of the Innocents, as recorded in Matthew’s Gospel – did not actually take place, and that Herod, although a hothead, was also charismatic, politically astute and a brave soldier and ruler.
With that in mind, Hurston’s version of the Jewish King is very much an old-fashioned macho leading man – too handsome, too smart, and far too heroic to convince.
The Players by Minette Walters (Allen & Unwin £20, 496pp)
Political machinations, moral dilemmas and social unrest are the (dis)order of the day in Walter’s turbulent sequel to The Swift And The Harrier.
It’s 1685 and, once again, England is mired in strife. The illegitimate, exiled Duke of Monmouth is stoking an ill-advised revolution against Catholic King James II, whose forces easily defeat Monmouth’s raggle-taggle peasant followers.
About to face a barbarous death (gruesomely described by Walters) for their unwittingly treasonous actions, staunch Lady Jane Harrier, her wily spy of a son, Elias, and the wonderful eccentric but clever Althea Ettrick are determined to save as many as possible from bloody Judge Jeffreys’ sentence of execution as commanded by the vengeful, merciless King.
An intricate plot and multi-faceted characters who delight in sparring conversation and dangerous undertakings make Walters’ dynamic take on the 17th-century upheaval and its aftermath both subtle and dramatic.
The Blackbirds of St Giles by Lila Cain (Simon & Schuster £18.99, 496pp)
The Blackbirds of St Giles is available now from the Mail Bookshop
The sights, sounds and smells of 1780s London burst vividly from the pages of this enthralling adventure set in the rookeries of St Giles, a warren of inhospitable streets where outcasts, outsiders and the destitute find a kind of a home.
It’s where Daniel and his sister Pearl have washed up.
Flawed, fearless Daniel is an escaped slave who bravely served in the British Army in the American War of Independence and was rewarded with freedom and a valuable inheritance, which he is cheated out of.
Nursing a lost love, responsible for the safety of Pearl while in the clutches of the villainous Elias, and aligning himself to the revolutionary Blackbirds brotherhood, Daniel is in a battle to survive.