“Two twists of smoke at a time of year too warm for cottage fires surprise us at first light, or they at least surprise those of us who’ve not been up to mischief in the dark. Our land is topped and tailed with flames. Beyond the frontier ditches of our fields and in the shelter of our woods, on common ground, where yesterday there wasn’t anyone who could give rise to smoke, some newcomers, by the lustre of an obliging reapers’ moon, have put up their hut -four rough and ready walls, a bit of roof- and lit the more outlying of these fires. Their fire is damp. They will have thrown on wet greenery in order to procure the blackest plume, and thereby not be missed by us. It rises in a column that hardly bends or thins until it clears the canopies. It says, New neighbours have arrived; they’ve built a place; they’ve laid a hearth; they know the custom and the law. This first smoke has given them the right to stay. We’ll see.”

Book Review:

Review by Jill I. Shtulman (JAN 15, 2014)

Jim Crace’s Harvest reads like a simple moral fable of a tiny and remote medieval English village, destroyed externally and internally by the conversion of farms into sheep pastures, but wait! There is far more to it than meets the eye.

Mr. Crace is particularly interested in pairings: everything comes in twos, right from the opening pages.. Two signals of smoke rise up: one signaling the arrival of new neighbors who are announcing their right to stay; the second, a blaze that indicates the master Kent’s dovecote is gone and his doves taken.

Both subplots radiate from these two twinned smoke signals. The stories, narrated by Walter – the manservant of Kent who was paired with him from the start by sharing the same milk – is both an insider and an outsider (yet another pairing). He is not of the village although he has become part of it.

Yet the kind Kent is soon paired with someone else: his pragmatic and heartless cousin, who has come to declare his right to the farm. He has plans for the peaceful agrarian village: “this village, far from everywhere, which has always been a place for horn, corn and trotter and little else, is destined to become a provisioner of wool.” The cousin arrives at a particularly fortuitous time: despite evidence to the contrary, the town has wrongly blamed and pillored the outsiders, an older and younger man, and has placed them in gruesome confinement. The woman who was with them has had her head shorn – much like the sheep to come – and is now in hiding, ready for revenge.

Mr. Crace writes like a dream. His prose is rich and rhapsodic. One example:

“The glinting spider’s thread will turn in a little while to glinting frost. It’s time for you to fill your pieces with fruit, because quite soon the winds will strip the livings from the trees and the thunder through the orchards to give the plums and apples there a rough and ready pruning, and you will have to wait indoors throughout the season of suspense while the weather roars and bends inside. “

Pure poetry.

And he pairs THAT – the beauty of his prose – with some substantial themes that resonate for today’s times our close-minded distrust and demonization of outsiders. Our disregard for the true “tillers of the land” in the pursuit of the almighty profit motivation. Our fall from innocence into mistrust and exile. A munificent harvest that reaps nothing but dollars.

“The plowing’s done. The seed is spread. The weather is reminding me that rain or shine, the earth abides, the land endures, the soil will persevere forever and a day. Its seed is pungent and high-seasoned. This is happiness,” Walter reflects. Magnificently evoked, unsettling, and at times painful to read as the village life implodes, Harvest is yet another testimony to Mr. Crace’s vast talents. For me, it is an undeniable 5-star novel.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 77 readers
PUBLISHER:	Vintage (September 20, 2013)
REVIEWER:	Jill I. Shtulman
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Jim Crace
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: The Pesthouse

Bibliography:

• Continent (1986) 
• Gift of Stones (1988)
• Arcadia (1992)
• Signals of Distress (1994)
• Quarantine (1997)  /
• Being Dead (1999)
• The Devil’s Larder (2001)
• Genesis (2003) (published as Six in UK)
• The Pesthouse (2007)
• All that Follows (2010)
• Harvest (February 2013)

“Elizabeth of York’s role in history was crucial, although in a less chauvinistic age it would, by right, have been more so. In the wake of legislation to give women the same rights in the order of succession as male heirs, it is interesting to reflect that England’s Elizabeth I would not have been the celebrated Virgin Queen but Elizabeth of York. But in the fifteenth century it would have been unthinkable for a woman to succeed to the throne. Elizabeth lived in a world in which females were regarded as inferior to men physically, intellectually, and morally. It was seen as against the laws of God and Nature for a woman to wield dominion over men: it was an affront to the perceived order of the world. Even so, Elizabeth of York was important.”

Book Review:

Review by Jana L. Perskie (JAN 13, 2014)

Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World is not historical fiction, rather a work of history researched and well written by Alison Weir. Here she documents the life of an English Queen Elizabeth – not as well known as Elizabeth I, “The Fairy Queen,” nor Elizabeth II, England’s modern day monarch. Our protagonist is Elizabeth of York, whose obscurity belies the high profile of her connections.

I have read almost all of Ms. Weir’s works, including The Six Wives of Henry VIII, The Princes in the Tower, Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley, Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings. She has twelve histories to her credit, and four novels, all related to the medieval monarchs and the Tudor royal families. One thing which all the author’s books have in common is that they are very readable – so much so that many of her books seem almost like historical fiction – rather than the historical non-fiction that they are. So, don’t be put off if you are a lover of the York and Tudor periods in history but are wary of tackling a history book. This is not a difficult book to read. I found myself quickly absorbed.

In English history, the War of the Roses was a series of dynastic civil wars over the right to occupy the English throne. The two families with rival claims to the throne, were the Yorks and the Lancasters. This feud brought on a series of cruel civil wars in England in the years 1455 to 1485. The emblem of the Yorkists was a white rose and that of the Lancastrians a red rose. Hence, the “Wars of the Roses.”  Elizabeth was very much a “White Rose of the family York.”  Ultimately, the entire Plantagenet line, which had ruled England for over 300 years, was brought to an end. In terms of convoluted plot twists, reversals, treachery, shifting alliances, military setbacks, and “surprise” endings, it has few parallels in history.

These thirty years of warfare were even more destructive than the Hundred Years War had been in the previous century. Much of the fighting in the Hundred Years war took place in France, which meant the military damage effected the French peasantry rather than the English. In the War of the Roses, most of the fighting occurred in England. and thus loss of life and property was far greater for English citizens. The last Angevin ruler, King Richard II died without an heir. He had been overthrown and murdered by Henry IV, Henry Bolingbroke, the first Lancastrian king through his father John of Gaunt. Henry’s descendants and their supporters were the “Lancastrian faction.” The other branch, descended from Edward IV, were associated with families in the North of England, particularly the House of York and Richard, Duke of York. They are called the “Yorkist faction.”

After a huge Yorkist victory at the Battle of Towton in March 1461, Edward IV proclaimed himself king. King Henry VI, his queen and their son fled to Scotland for nine years. When they returned trouble followed…but that is another story. On June 28, 1461, Edward was formally crowned king at Westminster. He ruled England until his death in 1483. This is a very brief synopsis of the war, one of the more fascinating periods in English history.

Elizabeth’s father, King Edward IV, married for love, not political alliance, which was something of scandal and caused endless problems during his reign. Elizabeth’s mother, the former Elizabeth Wydville, (also spelled Woodville), was Queen consort of England as the spouse of King Edward IV from 1464 until his death in 1483. Her marriage to Edward was her second. She had previously married Sir John Grey of Groby, a Lancastrian, who was killed at the Second Battle of St Albans, leaving Elizabeth a vulnerable widowed mother of two sons. Her second marriage, to Edward IV, was a cause célèbre of the day, thanks to Elizabeth’s great beauty…she certainly lacked great estates as a war widow of the opposing faction. Edward was only the second King of England since the Norman Conquest to have married one of his subjects, and Elizabeth was the first such consort to be crowned Queen – to the dismay of Edward’s family, and supporters, although the English people celebrated that the new Queen was “one of them.” Elizabeth and her Woodville family’s advancement was the cause of much strife in the country and resulted in at least three attempts to take the crown from Edward. The Wydville family’s great influence, while Edward lived, including care of the future king, Edward’s son, Prince Edward V, and also lead to the familys’ ignominious downfall after his death.

Elizabeth of York was born at the Palace of Westminster, February 11, 1466, the eldest child of King Edward IV and his Queen. As the infant Elizabeth had no brothers or sisters, she had a strong claim to the throne in her own right – and, even though a woman, she may have been the rightful heir to the throne after the death of her uncle Richard III – but she did not rule as queen regnant, (such a convention would not truly come to England for another sixty-seven years with the ascension of her granddaughter, Mary I). However, she was certainly party to several kingly conspiracies and mysteries in her lifetime.

She ultimately had eight living siblings, five sisters – princesses all, and two brothers, both princes – one brother, Edward, was to become King Edward V, and the 2nd male child, Richard of York, was named after Edward IV’s father, Richard, the “Grand Old Duke of York.”

On Edward’s death in 1483, the crown passed to his twelve year-old son Edward.  Richard III, Duke of Gloucester, Edward IV’s younger brother, was appointed Protector, and escorted the young king, and his brother Richard, to the Tower of London where they were settled in the royal apartments…at least for a time. The famous “Princes in the Tower” were never seen again. However it is unknown whether they were killed or who killed them if it happened. On Richard III’s orders, (betrayal), Parliament declared, in the document “Titulus Regius,” that the two boys were illegitimate, on the grounds that Edward IV’s marriage was invalid, and as such Richard was heir to the throne. He was crowned Richard III in July 1483.

Henry Tudor, leader of the red rose Lancastrian faction, seized the throne in 1485 after Richard was killed in the Battle of Battle of Boswell Field. Henry grudgingly agreed to marry the Yorkist’s white rose, Elizabeth. Weir puts down his deliberate delay to marry Elizabeth to her extremely hypothetical affection for Richard III, but she provides plenty of evidence that Henry’s was a carefully political move. He hated the House of York, and was insistent that he rule in his own right rather than Elizabeth’s. He postponed their marriage until after his own coronation and did not allow hers until she had given birth to a Tudor heir. He had the “Titulus Regius” repealed, thereby legitimizing the children of Edward IV and acknowledged Edward V as his predecessor, since he did not want the legitimacy of his future wife or her claim as heiress of Edward IV called into question. After a papal dispensation was procured, Henry VII and Elizabeth of York married on 18 January 1486. Their first son, Arthur, was born on 20 September 1486. Elizabeth of York was crowned queen on 25 November 1487. Following her coronation she gave birth to five other children, but only three survived infancy – Margaret, Henry and Mary…

As queen, Elizabeth of York did not exercise much political influence, due to her strong-minded mother-in-law Lady Margaret Beaufort, but she was reported to be gentle and kind. Weir’s Elizabeth was generous to her family, benefactors and random supplicants. She was well-read, pious and enjoyed music, dancing, as well as dicing. She came of age during the War of the Roses. As the daughter of a Yorkist king, Edward IV, and the wife of the first Tudor, (Lancastrian) king, Henry VII, she united these warring houses. For this alone, she deserves a prominent place in English history. Throughout her lifetime, she was daughter, sister, niece and wife of English monarchs – Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III, and Henry VII, respectively. She was also the mother of Henry VIII, as well as grandmother to his children Mary I, Elizabeth I and Edward VI. She is the most recent common ancestor of all English and Scottish monarchs, which reigned after James I and VI. “Elizabeth was also a renowned beauty, inheriting her parents’ fair hair and complexion; all other reigning Tudor monarchs inherited her red gold hair and the trait became synonymous with the dynasty.”

I am an English history junkie, especially interested in the period in which Elizabeth lived – medieval and Tudor. So, Weir’s documentation of the feasts and pageants that mark coronations, births, marriages and deaths with good, juicy and documented details fascinates me. While thoroughly scholarly, with pages of annotations at the end, and much time spent in the text on detailed, substantiated arguments and counter arguments of historical contention, Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World, still manages to be irresistible as gossip. It’s full of vivid descriptions of the personalities, the ceremonies, the clothes, the residences, the beliefs, and the viewpoints that made up royal life, and to some extent common life, during the time of Elizabeth of York.

Some may not like this abundance of detail, but it is almost like reading a People Magazine “literary” article of the Queen, her children, husband, and the times they lived in. My likening this history to People Magazine is not a slur on the book, but rather a way of emphasizing, once more, what an easy and interesting read this is. It is clear that Weir truly admires her subject, and does honor to an almost forgotten queen. Elizabeth, she argues, “is often unfairly overshadowed by her successors, the wives of Henry VIII, but she was more successful as queen than any of them. For this, and for her integrity . . . and her many kindnesses, her memory deserves to be celebrated.”

As with all biographies, there are times when Ms. Weir must draw conclusions as to Elizabeth’s thoughts, her knowledge of certain situations, and even her actions. Rather than drawing on popular opinion, Ms. Weir presents her conclusions methodically and carefully, documenting what other historians have said and the reasons why she may or may not agree with them. I was constantly entertained by the authors writing and method of telling this story. The author subtitles her biography “A Tudor Queen and Her World,” for a good reason. Elizabeth was extremely influenced by the tumultuous times she lived in…therefore the background history.

If you want to take a wondrous trip though 15th and 16th century England, this is the book for you.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 89 readers
PUBLISHER:	Ballantine Books (December 3, 2013)
REVIEWER:	Jana L. Perskie
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Alison Weir
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Continuing the history, read our review of: The Virgin Queen’s Daughter by Ell March Chase

Bibliography:

Fiction:

• Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey (2006)
• The Lady Elizabeth (2008)
• Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine (2010)
• A Dangerous Inheritance: A Novel of Tudor Rivals and the Secret of the Tower (2012)
• The Marriage Game (2014)

Nonfiction:

• Britain’s Royal Families (1989)
• The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1991)
• The Princes in the Tower ( (1992)
• The War of the Roses (1995)
• The Children of Henry VIII (1996)
• The Life of Elizabeth I (1998)
• Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life (1999)
• Henry VIII: The King and His Court (2001)
• Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley (2003)
• Queen Isabella (2005)
• Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster (2007)
• The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn (2009)
• Traitors of the Tower (2010)
• The Ring and the Crown: A History of Royal Weddings, 1066-2011 (2011)
• Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings (2011)
• Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World (December 2013)

“[Master Siger] had arrived at a new theory of causality that provided logical extension of the work of Aristotle and Averroes. Against the idea of omnipotent and ever-present Deity, Master Siger had concluded that God is completely detached from the Universe, has no idea what is going on, and is powerless to affect it in any way. . . a case he had finally committed to paper and titled “On the Necessity and Contingency of Causes,” scheduled to appear in the February 1278 issue of Playboy magazine. Master Siger hoped that the Playmate of the month was a blond, since blonds drew more readers.”

Book Review:

Review by Devon Shepherd  (NOV 16, 2010)

Reading A.W. Deannuntis’ debut novel, Master Siger’s Dream, put me in mind of the John Kennedy Toole masterpiece A Confederacy of Dunces. The epigraph for that book – When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him – could easily do service here. In the role of the genius is 13th century philosopher Siger of Brabant, with the dunces being played by the Bishop of Paris, Etienne Tempier, the Papal Legate, Simon De Brion, and various anonymous sadists of the Roman Catholic Inquisition. And while medieval philosophy abounds in both books, it was Deannuntis’ characterization of Siger of Brabant as an irreverent gadfly that really called to mind Ignatius Reilly. But Master Siger has much bigger problems than his flatulent counterpart: 13th century France is not 20th century New Orleans (although, curiously, Deannuntis endows his medieval Europe with cars and video and helicopters); in Master Siger’s world, irreverence gets you killed (and tortured to boot).

The book opens just after the release of the Condemnations of 1277. Europe emerged from the Dark Ages just as scholars rediscovered the works of Aristotle via Islamic philosophers such as Avicenna and Averroes. Averroes famously tried to reconcile Aristotlean philosophy with the teachings of the Islamic faith in his treatise The Incoherence of the Incoherence. Christian theologians – Thomas Aquinas, among them – promptly concerned themselves with reconciliations of their own. Unfortunately, the Church wasn’t as keen on philosophy as these theologians, and while the motives of the theologians was to find a way to use reason and logic in support of the Church, the Church didn’t take well to having its doctrine vetted against the ideas of some pagan philosopher. The Condemnations, issued by Bishop Tempier, forbid anyone from teaching or listening to a list of disputed ideas on the pain of excommunication. While the Condemnations never named them explicitly, Siger of Brabant, and his friend, Boetius of Dacia, were well-known Averroists. And so, upon the issue of the Condemnations, Siger and Boetius find themselves without allies. Suddenly, Paris is a cold place, and on the advice of Boetius, Siger reluctantly flees the city he loves.

However, Pope Nicholas III’s reach is as far as his pockets are deep and Siger is promptly captured and brought before Bishop Tempier. Instructed to travel directly to the Papal Palace in Avignon, Siger suspects he’s being led into the lion’s den. But, not a man of many options, he figures the Papal Palace safer than the Inquisition’s torture chamber. And besides, he’s told that it’s already been arranged for Boetius to meet him there.

It quickly becomes clear that life in the Papal Palace is practically pagan –food, sex and drugs galore – but forbidden to leave, Siger is little more than a prisoner. To further complicate matters, when he’s not hot-boxing the Popemobile with His Holiness out on the Pope’s private golf-course or rifling through pornography in the palace’s secret archives, Siger is fed information he’s not sure how to use. Was Thomas of Aquinas murdered by the Church? Is his missing friend, Boetius, really dead? Or is he alive somewhere organizing Siger’s rescue? And just who are these beautiful, libidinous women who keep trying to help him? What of this Arab reporter?

But just as the existence of heretics actually functions to strengthen the position of the Church – or so Simon De Brion argues –Siger’s escapes (unwitting and otherwise), and his subsequent recaptures, actually strengthen his resolve to stay with the Pope. For what does it matter, if everything that ever was, is, and will be, was determined by that first fall of the domino? Surprisingly, news of his inalterable fate comforts Siger, and while we, from our privileged place in history, know just which way fortune spins for our genius and our dunces, Deannuntis has created such a wonderful character that we can’t help hoping Siger figures out a way to circumvent his fate, that somehow he finds his way to a better outcome.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 3 readers
PUBLISHER:	What Books Press (October 26, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Devon Shepherd
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	Not Yet
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Publisher’s page on A.W. Deannuntis
EXTRAS:	On the Matter of Death by A.W. Deannuntis
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Our very, very short review of: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole Another look at the medieval times: The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland

Bibliography:

• Master Siger’s Dream (October 2010)

“You’ve got the spirit of a cunning woman in you. . . You mustn’t be afraid, you’ve got the strength of a woman. You. . remember that.”

Book Review:

Review by Danielle Bullen (OCT 23, 2009)

Karen Maitland transports readers to a world of superstition in her medieval mystery The Owl Killers. In 1321, the village of Ulewic in England is ruled by the Owl Masters, pagan leaders who use violence and blackmail to keep the villagers under their control.

The village of Ulewic hangs in the balance between Christianity and paganism. The Owl Masters, masked men who are based on an actual cult, conduct rituals, including human sacrifice, to appease their gods.

At the same time, the Church wields power over the village too. Father Ulewic has been transferred there from the city of Norwich as a punishment following his conviction for adultery. Ulewic resents the backwater assignment. Church authorities breath down his neck, eager to collect their share of the parishes tithes. The poor villagers can barely afford the mandatory donations and are torn between that loyalty and the payments they must make to appease the Owl Masters.

The already tense situation flares up as new players arrive on the scene. Women from Flanders arrive in Ulewic to start a beguinage. Beguinages were communities of women. Like nuns, they took vows of chastity. Unlike nuns, beguines did not take vows of poverty, and were encouraged to work and earn their own money. They could come and go as they pleased,. The women devoted their free time to serving those in need. These communities served as a middle ground between marriage and convents for women seeking independence. In the novel, the beguines are viewed suspiciously. Besides nuns, the only other women who lived without men were prostitutes and witches.

When the cattle in the village come down with the murrain, a deadly virus, yet the animals in the beguinage are spared, rumors about black magic fly. A local villager contracts epilepsy and according to Church tradition, is banished. The beguines open their home to him and the people of Ulewic are stunned and frightened. Who are these women?

Conflict brews within the walls of the beguinage too. The beguines give shelter to some controversial women. Andrew is a holy woman who is starving herself as a sign of piety. As she is dying, she spits up the host. The women wonder if it is now a relic. If it is, they must turn it over to the Church. Debate heats up over what to do and when Father Ulewic hears of its existence, battle lines are drawn.

Agatha, daughter of Lord D’Acaster, is cast out of her noble home and seeks refuge. She begins to adopt some controversial religious beliefs, such as people can speak directly to God without a priest to intervene and that salvation comes through faith alone. Eventually these beliefs will cause her and the beguinage a world of trouble.

The strength of the novel is its narrative style. Maitland alternates points of view between various villagers and beguines, creating a complete picture of a time and place very different from our own. She gives special attention to the beguines. Several act as narrators, each with a unique take on the events unfolding around her.

The novel is very evocative of a certain era and an air of mystery surrounds the plot and characters. It is long, but Maitland’s vibrant writing makes it move along rather quickly. Each chapter is rather short, creating a punchy sense of action.

Whether you enjoy historical fiction or are looking for a story that empowers women, I highly recommend this novel.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 4 readers
PUBLISHER:	Delacorte Press; First Edition edition (September 29, 2009)
REVIEWER:	Danielle Bullen
AMAZON PAGE:	The Owl Killers
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Karen Maitland
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Other Medieval stories: The Cross-Legged Knight by Candace Robb The Jester by James Patterson The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova Cabal of the Westford Knight by David S. Brody Eifetheim by Michael Flynn More empowered women fiction: The Giulianna Legacy by Alexis Masters The Mists of Avalon by Miriam Zimmer Bradley A Short History of Women by Kate Walbert

Bibliography:

• Company of Liars: A Novel of the Plague (September 2008)
• The Owl Killers (September 2009)

“Amanda held his eyes. ‘Perhaps you are correct. But often myth is more powerful than reality. Over the centuries, thousands have suffered and even died because of religious artifacts that may or may not have been found by the Templars in Jerusalem….Whether something of value is buried beneath the Gendrons’ backyard is not really relevant. What is relevant is that someone believes something is buried there….’ She turned to Cam. ‘There is an expression on Wall Street: ‘Buy on the rumor, sell on the news.’ In the case of the Temple of Jerusalem artifacts, people have been buying on the rumor for centuries.’ “

Book Review:

Review by Kirstin Merrihew (APR 18, 2009)

Did Templar Knights come to America a hundred years before Columbus? Was their Scot leader, Prince Henry Sinclair, entrusted with a sacred treasure he determined to keep safe in the New World? Did his second-in-command, Sir James, die during their exploration of the territories now within the northwest corridor of the U.S. and lower Canada? Was that dead knight’s grave much more than merely a memorial to him? What happened to Prince Henry?

These questions and many more become the unexpected business of present day attorney Cam Thorne after he ventures to his local library in Westford, Massachusetts to return some books and gets caught up there in helping an elderly couple fend off an aggressive would-be-buyer of the home and land they don’t wish to sell. The property in dispute contains an historical stone-walled enclosure that a Scot treasure hunter thinks could contain riches buried six hundred years ago. Efforts to foil him swiftly lead Cam into a dangerous game of wits and hide and seek with shadowy opponents who will not hesitate to murder to attain their ends (which vary: one faction apparently wants to gain the secrets and wealth allegedly left by Prince Henry and marked in some way by the Westford Knight; and others, even in the Catholic Church, want to keep them hidden). Soon, people Cam knows are being coldly eliminated, and he and a young woman must flee or meet the same fate. Cam and the British Amanda Spencer, a conservator of artifacts and history for the Westford Knight Research Consortium, forge a growing closeness as they dart throughout New England, gathering data and facing perils together. The pair try to solve the clues they find inscribed in rocks such as America’s Stonehenge and the Machias Bay Petroglyphs. They gather and synthesize information about the Templars, the Freemasons, ancient worship of Venus, Medieval church structure, chess, Mary Magdalene, Bernard De Clairvaux, the golden ratio, the Jewish Touro Cemetery, the tetragrammaton, the Mi’kmaq Indians, the Royal Arch of Enoch, etc. To save themselves from secret societies and lone killers alike, they are convinced they must assimilate all this information and crack the secret of the Knight of Westford.

David S. Brody’s Cabal of the Westford Knight inevitably invites comparison with The Da Vinci Code and the film National Treasure, as Richard Lynch, past President of the New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA) states in a blurb on the back of the book — except that Cam and Amanda’s hair-raising adventures in cars, on foot, and on bikes seem more likely to befall common people in suburbia — up to a point. Many who read The Da Vinci Code were inclined to overlook the “fiction” label. Those who open Cabal could, conceivably, make the same error. Brody has done an admirable job of presenting a tantalizing smorgasbord of real (documented) New England archeological artifacts, historical background from (also documented) myriad sources, and then extrapolating to reach a conclusion perhaps more earthshaking that Dan Brown’s. For most of the novel, the inferences the characters draw from the facts make sense, if one is willing to accept a few unproven premises for the sake of the story. Toward the end, though, more incredible leaps of logic are needed to accept the avalanche of material offered as plausible foundation for the climactic revelation. And that revelation itself, although in keeping with the twenty-first century’s trend away from patriarchal beliefs and institutions, leaves a sense of righting one “wrong” with another “wrong” if you will.

A note or two about character development: One of the villains has no compunctions about killing, but can’t bear to inflict suffering, which makes him unusual and more dimensional than he would be otherwise. He also has a child to ground his humanity. Indeed, Cabal on the whole meticulously maintains a feeling of humaneness, humanity: some unconscionable acts are perpetrated, but there still remains an unshakable feeling that no one is irredeemable. Again on the common man theme, the level of intelligence of the characters is not genius level; both the black and the white hats carry out their strategies and tactics rather clumsily at times. But Cam and Amanda are smart enough, and they are likeable protagonists.

Also, although the book contains quite a few sections in which characters must necessarily speak at length to convey historical background to others, Brody avoids bogging down and having them sound too pedagogical. That’s quite an accomplishment.

Cabal of the Westford Knight is a well-structured, quick-moving, invigorating, and highly entertaining “suburban” historical conspiracy thriller. But the best reason for devouring this novel is, as surely NEARA’s Richard Lynch would agree, to learn about the real archeological (and other) artifacts that leave clues to the 1399 presence of Prince Henry, Sir James, and their small band. And don’t forget the fascinating endnotes either.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 30 readers
PUBLISHER:	Martin & Lawrence Press (January 2009)
REVIEWER:	Kirstin Merrihew
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	Not Yet
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	David S. Brody
EXTRAS:	none
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury

Bibliography:

• Unlawful Deeds (1999)
• Blood of the Tribe (2003)
• The Wrong Abraham (2006)
• The Cabal of the Westford Kight : Templars at the Newport Tower (January 2009)