Hannah: Woman of Iron by Barbara Sowood


Hannah: Woman of Iron is more of a novella than a full story book. It was an intriguing look at the life of a woman who lived during the 19th century and who took on the task of managing her husband's ironworks, while bringing up several young children. Sowood's fictional tale was particularly interesting to me having recently read about the 'prophet' John Wroe by Jane Rogers, another historical fiction, as this same man also appears very many times in Hannah: Woman of Iron. I was disappointed to find out very little about the running of an ironworks during the industrial revolution, either by man or woman. This novella was much more about the effects of John Wroe upon the town of Ashton-under-Lyne and Hannah's family, especially her grown-up children. When Sarah, her daughter, says that she has been chosen by Wroe to give birth to the new Messiah, called the Shiloh, it causes great consternation. Hannah's strong courage and determination, reputably a trait of Lancashire women of the times, is explored by the author in a very understandable and credible fashion. The conversations and arguments; Hannah's innermost thoughts and fears for her family's reputation; and her generous attitude towards others are explored well by Barbara Sowood - if a little simplistically at times. My last comment about the narrative is because much of the writing style reminded me of the style found in a children's book, of a book meant for early teens. Indeed there is nothing tackled here that could not generally be understood by a clever child of about 12 or 13 years.

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Peterloo: The Story of the Manchester Massacre by Jacqueline Riding
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This fascinating "book of the film" - Peterloo, directed by Mike Leigh - gave some wonderful and equally disturbing insights into the events that led up to, and resulting consequences of the traumatic hustings in St. Peter's Field, Manchester, on Monday 16th August 1819. The descriptions of the many main characters, such as Henry Hunt, Samuel Bamford, Lord Sidmouth, Joseph Nadin and various magistrates, gave the reader some kind of balance to the context but did not change my overall final emotions of sadness and outrage on behalf of the needlessly slain and injured people who had gathered in Manchester.

Whether the local and national governments' statements and various "Acts" later on were all part of a massive kind of cover-up is still debatable but I have no doubt that the whole event (incident?) was disgracefully mishandled by all of the authorities involved, including the military and various administrators. The mere fact that they employed several, later (in)famous, spies who also acted as agents-provocateurs seriously undermines any case of justification put forward by the Home Secretary Sidmouth and his lackeys. The book is incredibly revealing in lots of those sort of details and Jacqueline Riding is to be highly commended for the amount of research done for this very readable account.

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Black Hat Blues by Gene Kendall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was one of the strangest books I’ve read this year. I loved The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe but, unfortunately, not this book. It was OK, since much of it reminded me of Douglas Adams’ style of writing. But I found most of it hard to understand probably because the comic book style plot and genre was something that I left behind some 50 or 60 years ago. For me the pace was breathless at times, especially the dialogue and, as a UK reader, there were too many USA idiosyncrasies. However, there was a lot to appeal to my sense of humour and expectation in the novel. There is a hero and a villain and thus plenty of ‘Good versus Evil’, and action involving different universes. Maybe there were a few too many stereotypical characters and situations, for me, in the story? That said, when an old ‘avant-garde’ cartoonist’s creations come to life and begin to influence his ‘real’ world then anything can happen – most of it does in this well-written tale. Black Hat Blues will appeal to fans of the comic book genre, even, probably, to those who were reading ‘Mad Magazine’ long ago as I did, but with a slightly less jaded outlook nowadays. Recommended.

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Bloodstone Bludgeon by S.D. Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This fast moving and well written crime thriller was a very entertaining read for me. It is full of interesting characters with curious, and often quirky, personal traits. The central female character owns a store that sells rocks and stones, worked to make them as attractive as possible to her potential customers. When a particular bloodstone that she has ordered becomes central to a murder incident Allie, the owner, turns into detective. She was once a district attorney and is unable to resist proceeding with her ‘enquiries’, thus becoming entangled in a whole mess of complications that include polygamous families, possible paedophilia and a likeable New Age believer. The inclusion of a child ‘bride’ victim, an abandoned puppy and various touches of light humour in the story added obviously, irresistible hooks for me to continue reading. I’ve no doubt that they will appeal to other fans of this kind of ‘cosy murder’ mystery, notwithstanding the very serious edge also to be found in it. I was left wondering about the likelihood of certain polygamous communities still existing in more remote areas of Arizona – a disturbing thought.

Unfortunately, I found some typographical errors in the copy I read and this affected my final star rating of a fascinating book.


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Dinosorcerers by Nathan Milner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dinosaurs and magic! What a great combination for a story aimed at 9 to 10 year old children. This story has an intriguing start when Charlie is tempted to follow some signs in a museum that read “Dinosaurs Alive” and lead him into his adventure. There are many twists and turns and exciting events all of the way through this tale of dinosaur wizardry, with good and evil constantly battling. Charlie’s feelings and his love of all things prehistoric are well expressed by the author. Although it is a first chapter type of book for youngsters I thought that the inclusion of some simple illustrations, particularly of named dinosaurs in the story, would have greatly increased its appeal. My own grandchildren would love this book but would find some of the US English strange, for example “dove” occurs often and in the UK it is a “pigeon”. I think they would also wonder how come the talking dinosaurs from 65 million years ago knew that their names were the same as that used by modern palaeontologists. But I suppose where magic and sorcery are included then almost anything is possible! My main criticism would be the ending, which I found confusing and too briefly wound up.

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The Eclipse Dancer by Laura Koerber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Review: Eclipse Dancer by Laura Koerber
This novel by Laura Koerber is an amazing mixture of fantasy and contemporary, somewhat harsh, reality. The thought of reading such a book is not at all my usual choice of literature, but, having read one of her books before and enjoyed it, I looked forward to starting Eclipse Dancer. Ms Koerber has a magic all of her own when it comes to writing moments of fascinating, surreal intrigue combined with the touching complications that often revolve around family relationships.

Andy is a mature woman who is caring for her dying mother but has perpetual flashbacks to events that took place and dramatically changed her own life, together with strong influences upon her outlook and her attitude towards her mother. The discovery that Andy is a “mix”, a person who is half-human and half-fairy, is gradually revealed in such a powerful and beautiful way that even a doubting old cynic like me could accept it. There were some expressions in the book that demonstrated Koerber’s wonderful literary skill, which is one of the main reasons I enjoy her writing. For example this will stick in my mind for a long while: “She’d treated her childhood like a bad bruise. She didn’t touch what already hurt.”

The ending of the book brought tears to my eyes but, somehow, still was not dripping in obvious sentiment. The characters and their conversations were well drawn and believable. There was enough pace to keep me reading, even on those hot and sweaty days that Andy found so uncomfortable. I would recommend Eclipse Dancer to those readers who enjoy books about the dark and unspoken secrets that sometimes lie beneath the surface of a family’s history. Fantasy with an emotional touch of realism.


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The Peterloo Massacre by Robert Reid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was reading Robert Reid’s book at the time I saw Mike Leigh’s excellent film of the same name; it was attended by the director who was available for a questions and answers session afterwards. The two melded well in my thoughts then and in my memory much later. What comes across so clearly is the undoubted inequality and lack of rights or privileges allowed for the lower classes at that time. All the cards were in the hands of the landed gentry and their toadies and lackeys, with some such as Deputy Constable Joseph Nadin, only too willing to administer their own particular brand of justice in a violent and ruthless fashion. On the day magistrates and many of the military officers were so convinced that any kind of gatherings, or calls for reform of government, were the start of a threatened revolution, of the kind that had occurred in France or in America that they panicked into the use of military force.

Robert Reid describes in great detail the events that led up to 16th August 1819, with a named cast list of the main characters, and the various influences that affected their actions and poor decisions. The resulting, senseless, carnage and terrible injuries to innocent men, women and children caused by poorly trained officers of ill-disciplined yeomanry and hussars was never officially recognised. Many of those responsible were applauded and promoted later, with deliberately “blind eyes” being cast about, even as high as the Home Secretary, the Prime Minister and the Prince Regent. Lord Sidmouth, Home Secretary, proposed The Six Acts to the House of Commons, using the unrest at Peterloo as an excuse. It said that “every meeting for radical reform is an overt act of treasonable conspiracy against the King and his government”. This indicates that the government was out-of-date with the kind of mentality prominent in the previous century.

The Peterloo Massacre is one of the major disgraces of the British government during the 19th century in my opinion. Although I think that Reid’s book is excellent, in the research and details so obviously used, I found that I had to disagree with some of his own observations about the incident and some of the characters. When he describes Nadin as “fearless” I consider the corrupt policeman to be sadistic in the extreme. And I think that the author does little to condemn people like John Lloyd and the outrageous dereliction of duty shown by General Byng, who absented himself that day to go to the races, when he had been appointed as being in overall charge of the military forces at St Peter’s Field. Finally the author seems to be of the general opinion that the horrendous day known as The Peterloo Massacre did virtually nothing to further the cause of working people’s rights. Fortunately, the horrors were well documented by the press, including some of the most prestigious papers in Manchester and London and there is no doubt that some of the more enlightened upper class radicals and future working class Chartists would see it as a rallying point at a more opportune time


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Mr Wroe's virgins by Jane Rogers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a very interesting read about Preacher Wroe and how he may have caused his own downfall when living in Ashton-under-Lyne, in the early 19th century. I found parts of the book quite difficult to access and understand due to the unconventional way the chapters had been arranged. This spoiled my overall enjoyment of the story. I would have liked to read about more details concerning his faith and proclamations since he was highly acclaimed for a time after his "visions". We are given seven fictitious characters who are meant to represent the "virgins", though some are not. Each has quite an interesting background and personality, with four of them remaining the focus of the tale. The character of John Wroe, however, remains an enigma in this book when in fact far more has been left to history. It did form the basis of a TV play so perhaps that is the reason behind the extra dramatic attention given to the particular four women?

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Inferno by Dan Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was not sure at all, when I started to read Inferno, whether it would hold my attention with its pace and intrigue like the other Dan Brown novels I’d enjoyed so much in the past. However, the unusual beginning gripped me immediately and I wanted to know, just what strange situation had hero, Robert Langdon, landed himself in. He wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia. Very soon he and Sienna, a doctor, are involved in a chase from some mysterious agents and so the plot unfolds, with the heart of the story revolving around Dante’s 14th century poem, The Divine Comedy, and the more contemporary problems about population control of human beings on Earth.

The book contains lots of facts about places I’ve never visited, such as Florence and Vienna, which some describe, critically, as ‘information dumping’. Although I probably won’t ever travel there I found the details very educational and was grateful to Dan Brown for providing these snippets of cultural lessons. While it did slow down the pace every so often the fascinating facts and figures, about the art, churches and history etc, came as a bit of relief from the inevitable twists and turns that one has come to expect in a Dan Brown novel. The essence of the tale, for me, had to be about an attempt to cure the Earth of its ‘humankind plague’ before it was too late and pestilence and famine took over. There were some ideas taken from current scientific and medical advances (arguably?), like genetic manipulation and modification that held a modicum of credibility. In many countries the jury may be still out on the subject of genetic engineering and that is not argued in detail here, but does leave the reader considering some of the pros and cons. This was a compelling and intriguing read and one that I will come back to again.


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