Peachy Reads

This is the sixth novel in the Saxon Tales series, and I’ve read them all.  I suppose the danger with writing a series of historical novels pegged to real historical events is that not every volume can have a significant tide-turning, earth-shaking battle. After all, Napoleon just had the one Waterloo.   Sometimes there is détente, an uneasy peace reigns for whatever reason, and great warriors like Uhtred of Bebbanburg sit around waiting for war to be called once again so they can do what they do best. These quiet times are just not very interesting to read about. In Death of Kings Alfred the Great dies and his passing leads to a struggle for succession.  The Danes are still a force to be reckoned with, but there are those Kentish men as well who aren’t necessarily keen on a single royal head of a unified England.  There is a lot of hemming and hawing and riding back and forth on horseback, and a little distracting story about “angels” foretelling the future. ...

This wonderful novel, set in the first part of the twentieth century in England, centers on the character of Ursula Todd.  It is a book of alternate histories.  Each chapter takes up a version of her life and frequently ends with “darkness falling”.  She has this sixth sense that she can see the future, it’s all a little déjà vu , and indeed in some instances she tries to sway the outcome of events if she knows it’s going to go a certain way.  It’s a little like the movie Groundhog Day.  Interesting to see how differently things could turn out on the basis of seemingly inconsequential events.