Alis HawkinsAnmeldelser

‘’There was nothing more likely to convince me that being married was not for me than this business of women calling themselves by their husband’s name. Mrs Green’s name was Charlotte but here she was, signing herself ‘T.H.’ because those were her husband’s initials. As if she was just a female reflection of him.’’

Oxford 1880s. Jesus College has recently (and rather reluctantly…) decided to accept ‘female’ students due to the untiring efforts of pioneers. Rhiannon, a young woman who is every bit the feisty, no-nonsense Welsh, is a brilliant example of the true scholar. Her mind is as sharp as her tongue and the academic circus (because that’s what it is, actually…) isn’t ready to accept that such a creature exists. When a mysterious death takes place, she joins forces with Basil, a professor who is a bright example of a kind educator. So, what do we get when two bright examples meet? A fascinating mystery.

‘’Social conventions aren’t there to keep society civilised, they’re there to keep society as men want it. And I refuse to abide by them in my own home.’’

Yes, we have a plethora of murder mysteries set in the Victorian Era with a woman and a man trying to figure out the solution to the puzzle and Dark Academia has been all the rage lately. However, Alis Hawkins’s novel isn’t just another book falling into the genre. First and foremost, Rhiannon is one hell of a character. You’ll adore her to pieces (unless you are a brainless being in which case you are NOT allowed to have an opinion). Her intelligence, her courage, her affinity for learning, her stubbornness, her refusal to conform or act against her principles. She is bold as brass and to Hell with it. Sure, some actions of hers may seem irrational and spontaneous but every strong personality rushes to action. The rest of the characters are well drawn and although Basil cannot be compared to the force of Nature that is Rhiannon, his struggles, doubts and insecurities are depicted with clarity and sensitivity.

‘’-Is that not what all women aspire to? Their own household, husband, children?’’
‘’- No. Some women - far more of us than you might imagine - would prefer to see a world where women can also live full and fulfilling lives while remaining unmarried.’’

The atmosphere is impeccable. Dark Academia is particularly fascinating and the scope is focused on the academic community with an emphasis on the manipulation of Medicine to lure the weak-minded. Also, Rhiannon’s love and longing for her homeland is tangible and touching.

And it’s about time to realise that some of us do NOT want to become mothers and we do NOT want to get married. Period. DEAL WITH IT!

Many thanks to Canelo Crime and The Pigeonhole for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/

‘’They couldn’t see for miles and miles the hills in the far distance, so they weren’t encouraged to wonder what lay beyond. There was just land, then trees.
But with the horizon invisible, there wasn’t much of that. Just dead grass and mud under my feet and mist greying out any bits of colour. In the sun, the haws and rosehips would’ve been bright as jewels in the hedges, but now you couldn’t see them unless you went right up close.’’

Many thanks to Canelo Crime and The Pigeonhole for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/

This is the first book in the Oxford Mysteries set during the Victorian era. An undergraduate is found dead in his own bed and upon being examined, there are some unusual discoveries. Basil Rice, a Jesus college fellow, and ‘Non’ Vaughan, a Welsh female student newly permitted to attend lectures, team up to investigate.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s beautifully written and well researched. I loved the setting, it was very visual. I particularly loved the addition of a tandem tricycle - it made me smile every time it was mentioned and I could easily imagine Non pedalling around the streets of Oxford, sometimes at rather high speeds giving chase to nefarious individuals! Non was a fantastic character, she was a brilliant model for women’s rights at that particular time. Feisty and non-conformist. It’s written via way of two narrators, Non and Basil, another fascinating character who had his own secret. Each had their own unique, easily identifiable voice. I read this via the Pigeonhole app, one stave a day over ten days. I was gripped from beginning to end and couldn’t wait to ‘tune’ in to read each episode. I can highly recommend it to both historical fiction and mystery fans. I’m now looking forward to reading the second book, The Skeleton Army.

Well written and well read. I appreciated that the reader seemed not to trip up on the Welsh. (Not being a Welsh speaker, I couldn't say for sure.)

This is volume 2 in the Oxford Mysteries series. I loved volume 1 (gave it five stars), but this title just never engaged me. I'm still looking forward to reading volume 3. The central characters—a woman trying to get an Oxford education when women were marginalized with particular hostility and a don who knows he is gay and is frequently anxious about being discovered—are genuinely interesting. The pacing of this volume just felt glacial.

I grabbed the first title without realizing it was a historical murder series, which takes place in Wales in 1850. This is definitely important to the plot, as class, religion, and conquest color every aspect of the story. The writing and the insight into the history of Wales kept me going

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This features Non, who is studying in Oxford, but as a woman in 1881 is not allowed to say she is studying at Oxford, or take the same exams as the men, or get a degree, or go anywhere without a chaperone. This is (naturally) frustrating for her, but the book does harp on about it repeatedly and at greater length than I would have liked. It also features Basil, a don, who is charged with keeping the lid on any scandal surrounding the death of one of his students, Sidney Parker. The mystery surrounding Sidney's death is quite interesting, although again the book does harp on (repeatedly and at length) about a fictitious medical condition I won't attempt to spell, which young men are being sold spurious remedies for. Non and Basil solve the murder although Non (of course) gets no credit for all the things she finds out because she is a woman (see above).

I thought the writing was good, except that Non's chapters and Basil's chapters sounded exactly the same - if I hadn't checked the chapter headings, I would only have been able to tell who was narrating from the context.

Enjoyable in a cozy sort of way.½

When I run across a truly interesting historical mystery, I stop paying attention to almost everything else, and A Bitter Remedy, by Alis Hawkins, is most definitely interesting.

Set during the 1880s, when Oxford University allowed women to attend lectures with permission of the instructor—but not to enroll in classes or earn degrees—A Bitter Remedy allows us to view those times through the perspectives of multiple individuals, many of whom were vulnerable within the patriarchal structure of the University because of their gender and/or sexual orientation. A Bitter Remedy features two narrators (who alternate chapters).

First, Non (short for Rhiannon), who has had quite an unusual upbringing and is aware of her own exceptional intelligence, attends lectures as allowed. Non is regularly incensed by by both the ignorance and the privilege of the men who are the "real" students at Oxford.

Second, Basil, a Don in his thirties who's facing the loss of a longtime lover (at least that's how Basil has been seeing things) and an ongoing effort to hide his homosexuality.

Other characters, many of them drawn from history, include
• The women and men of the AEW, the Association for Education of Women, which has been waging a long, piecemeal battle to allow women entrance into higher education and whose struggle for educational equity is frequently shaped by their desire to seem unthreatening to men.
• Annie Rogers, a historical figure, who in 1873 managed to sit both junior and senior exams at Oxford without revealing her gender. She earned the top score on both exams, which would have earned a scholarship for a man, but was shunted aside, with the academic support going to the men who had scored below her. She has since suppressed her iconoclasm in order to work in more conservative ways with the AEW.
• Basil's former lover, who never viewed their relationship as more than "fun," and has decided it is time to move to London for a more interesting teaching position and to find a wife, begin producing children, and generally conform to heteronormative standards.
• Lewis Carroll (yes, that one), who has long had a correspondence with Non about cryptography and has founded a puzzle club to mark her arrival at Oxford, but who still can't understand why Non would want anything other than a life of domesticity when she's done attending lectures.
• John Rhys, another historical figure, the first professor of Celtic at Oxford, whose books on the Welsh Language have inspired Non's move to Oxford.

Sidney Parker, an unhappy Oxford student and tutee of Basil, who has never fit in well at Oxford and has been allowed to live off-campus in an exception to university policy, is found dead, and most people are more than happy to call his death natural in order to avoid scandal. But neither Non nor Basil share this view and begin investigating.

I don't want to say more about the plot in order to avoid spoilers, but let me assure you that Hawkins has created a mystery that is worthy of her cast of characters. Fans of historical mysteries, those interested in the histories of women's education and gay identity, who have a soft spot for Carroll, or have followed the history of language use in Britain (with the imposition of English as the dominant language and the denigrating of other languages, including Welsh), are going to find A Bitter Remedy a delightful read. The publishers have made it clear that A Bitter Remedy is the first novel in what will be an ongoing series, which leaves me feeling celebratory and eager for more.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

When Teifi Valley Coroner Harry Probert-Lloyd is called to investigate the sudden death of a healthy young woman, the medical examiner confirms death by natural causes but the behavior of the girl’s father raises suspicion. While Harry digs into the case his assistant, John Davies, remains at Harry’s Glanteifi estate where, in addition to serving as assistant coroner, he is training to take over as steward. All is not well on the home front, where Harry’s hands-off approach has led to the current steward making some poor decisions. John sees disaster looming but is unable to turn it around on his own. Things eventually come to a head at about the same time as a second death related to the murder investigation. Harry and John then have to solve the crime, intervene in estate management, and heal a rift in their relationship all at the same time.

By this, the fourth book in the series, the formula is set. Harry runs off to solve a crime in a way that challenges the boundaries of the coroner position. John struggles with class differences between himself and Harry, and with isolation as his role takes him outside his traditional circle. Harry behaves poorly and needs to be set right. It’s fine, if a bit predictable. The history of the Welsh Teifi Valley and the imminent impact of the railroads and industrial mechanization added interest to the story, but I’m kind of glad this is the last book in the series, at least for now.

In the second book in the Teifi Valley Coroner series, Henry Probert-Lloyd has recently been appointed acting coroner to investigate a body discovered on a beach. He enlists law clerk John Davies as his assistant and together they work to identify the dead man and determine how he met his end. Meanwhile, John is annoyed with Henry; after assisting him in a previous case, he had reason to believe they would open a law practice together. Henry also has his hands full at home when circumstances force him to take on a larger role at Glanteifi, his father’s estate. On the way to solving the mystery we learn more about the emerging practice of conducting autopsies, and the history of Welsh emigration to America in the 1800s. I'm really enjoying this series.½

Henry Probert-Llloyd is losing his sight and unable to continue his work as a barrister. Although he stands to inherit his father’s estate in Wales’ Teifi Valley, he is unwilling to accept the squire’s life expected of him in the 19th century. Henry is troubled by the suspicious death of a servant girl with whom he had been romantically involved, especially when an inquest deems her death accidental. Henry makes the controversial decision to open an investigation. He enlists law clerk John Davies as his assistant, entrusting him with the secret about his eyesight. John quickly assumes responsibility for guiding Henry through the investigation while giving the impression he is present simply to handle administrative matters.

Readers know from the very beginning that John Davies has more information than he’s letting on. How will this factor into the story? There are many twists and turns to this mystery before all becomes clear. For me, what made this book stand out was its unique setting in the midst of mid-19th century Welsh unrest known as the Rebecca riots. I did a bit of internet searching for context at the beginning, and especially enjoyed author Alis Hawkins’ historic notes at the end of the book. Her detailed explanations of the riots and the legal systems of the day were very interesting and whetted my appetite for more books in this series.

The Teifi Valley in West Wales in 1850. Harry Probert-Lloyd, the son of a local landowner and magistrate, has returned home, as the onset of blindness has meant that he is unable to continue his work as a barrister in London. When farm workers uncover the body of a young woman, possibly that of farm servant Margaret Jones who disappeared seven years previously, Harry has a particular reason for wanting to find out the truth …

The story of Margaret Jones’s death is bound up with that of the Rebecca Riots, which took place in Wales in the 1840s. We touched on this in History at school, but I couldn’t remember any more than that there were men dressed as women tearing down toll gates. [None So Blind] presents a fuller picture of the events of that time, and paints a fascinating picture overall of life in Cardiganshire in the middle of the nineteenth century, with its English speaking landowners and Welsh speaking tenants.

Recommended to anyone who likes historical mysteries.

The fictional story of the medieval college of Kineton and Dacre as told in two different time lines. The time of 1385 onwards when the building was first conceived and built. The story of the people involved and the troubles they faced. With the present time line when the college is established but facing financial problems but coupled with the discovery of old wall paintings. And what do these picture represent and what does that say about the history of the college.
I enjoyed the historical story, with its much more interesting events and people. But not so much the present time line story. Though it was a well-written tale.
A NetGalley Book

February 1348. The Black Death has come, and in the Forest of Dean Martin Collyer wakes up having survived, unlike the most of his family. Believing that Saint Cynryth, The White Maiden has protected him he vows to return her statue to Salster, on the other side of the country. On the way he is helped by Hob Cleve , a young man who saves him from an attack. On their pilgrimage deaths occur but are all the result of the plague.
An interesting and well-written historical story. Certainly shows the means that people may go to escape the plague, and survive to hopefully make a living once the plague withdraws
Received an ARC from the publisher

Set in England during 1349 when the Black Death was making its stealthy way throughout the country leaving tragedy in its wake. When Martin Collyer discovers his father dead one day, apparently from the plague, and half sewn into his shroud, he sets off on a sort of pilgrimage to Salster. On his way he comes across a man called Hob Cleve, they become allies, but Hob seems to have an agenda and secrets of his own.

I thought this was a well written and researched story. It explores the effects of the plague on the land and its people splendidly. The descriptions are very vivid, so it was all very easy to visualise. The characters are intriguing and seemed realistic. However, the pacing of the story was a little slow for me. It seemed never ending at times. There didn’t seem to be much plot and the ending didn’t really work for me.

I was looking forward to reading this book as I’d enjoyed Testament by the same author, but even though it is thought provoking and historically interesting, I did find it a little long winded.

Alis Hawkins' The Black and the White is a fictional exploration of how those living in 14th Century England might have experienced the black death. We have two main characters: Martin, a devout young man on pilgrimage after the death of his collyer father (it's a bit more complicated than that, but we'll leave it here to avoid spoilers); Hob, the bastard son of a minor noble turned flimflam man, trying to make a profit while staying a step or two ahead of the sickness.

The story is told from Martin's perspective, so we see the challenges in reconciling the reality of the epidemic with assumptions that God rewards goodness and the the church can intercede on behalf of the ordinary populace. Martin is a bit naive, which is the main fault of this novel, but an interesting thinker. While readers may see where the plot is heading, they will nonetheless be surprised by ending.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions are my own.

An engaging dual timeframe story set in the present day and the late 14thC revolving around a college and the discovery of an unusual wall painting.

It took me a little while to get into the flow of this book, but once I did I enjoyed it. It’s definitely worth persevering with. Timeslip novels are my favourite genre and I thought this one was a well written and constructed tale. Both inter-connecting stories are interestingly told and linked. I liked the characters, they were realistic and well rounded. The historical aspects were fascinating and the descriptions of the college being built, the political intrigue it caused and the religious beliefs it offended were very vividly depicted.

All in all a cleverly woven and researched tale which should appeal to those historical fiction fans who enjoy something a little different to the norm.

Ah, the “time slip” novel. A bit of history for education, a bit of the modern-day for relatability, and a bit of mystery to keep you going. I can see why these novels are popular. It’s a perfect formula, and I find the concept nearly irresistible. But, alas, only Possession by A.S. Byatt has managed to fully satisfy me. Until now.

The modern-day storyline in Testament is set on the fictional campus of Kineton and Dacre College. A small fire in one of the campus’s oldest buildings has revealed a mural hidden behind the wood panelling. Damia Miller, the college’s marketing manager, realizes that this discovery is the just the thing the college needs to garner alumni and community interest. Through blog posts and e-mail blasts, she galvanizes friends of the college to assist in uncovering the mystery of the painting and in supporting the college for the future.

The historical storyline is set in the late 14th century, when master mason Simon of Kineton is beginning work on the college. His wife Gwyneth, a master carpenter in her own right, has just given birth to their first son, and the family is hoping for a bright future. But it’s an unstable time, and their loyalties to each other, to their son, and to God are tested. In the background are controversies about fair treatment of workers and the progressive new ideas of the Lollards, an anti-clerical movement that pushed for church reform and the translation of the Bible into English.

Most time-slip novels that I’ve read don’t quite work for me. They often do a nice job with either the past or the present, but not both; or they have two reasonably effective stories that don’t come together. Hawkins, however, handles both storylines beautifully, and she crafted a single coherent storyline out of the two threads.

The modern-day storyline offers a strong central character who is intelligent and three-dimensional. By making Damia a marketing manager rather than an art history researcher, Hawkins gives her a stake in the proceedings but doesn’t give her so much knowledge about the 14th-century that she’ll be too far ahead of the typical reader.

I also liked the historical characters. There are a few points in the history that don’t feel quite authentic. The fact that Gwyneth is a master carpenter isn’t exactly believable, and there are also some quibbles I would make about the Lollard theology of the characters. That said, I was impressed with Hawkins’s characterization of 14th-century people. They may not be authentic to the 14th century, but they certainly don’t feel like people of our time. She allows some of them to express views that would be terribly offensive today, but she doesn’t turn them into villains for it. I was delighted to spend time with them.

And the pacing is excellent. Hawkins dribbles out tantalizing bits of information about the past that allow readers to reinterpret the art discoveries as they go. Sometimes the readers pull ahead of the modern-day characters. Sometimes we stand alongside them and make discoveries with them. It’s obviously plotted with care. I enjoyed it thoroughly and hope more readers find it. It’s what I want and hardly ever find when I reach for this kind of book.

See my complete review at Shelf Love.

This is a stunning debut novel, rich in imagery, language and ideas. Hawkins deftly manages two complementary storylines, separated by 600 years of history, and does it so well that each time the focus of the novel switches you wish to keep reading more about the time you have just been shown. There are some weaknesses: occasionally you are told more than you are shown, some characters' motivations are opaque or unconvincing, and sometimes the richness of the writing style is a bit like reading a novel by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Even so, this is a worthwhile investment of the reader's time and imagination. I haven't read a fictional place that has been so completely realised since Peake's "Gormenghast"

2.34