A moment in time

Fall's most anticipated novels look to history

REVIEWS BY TRISHA PING

Three of this month's biggest novels take place in London, but not one of them can be said to have the same setting. Why? Because they are historical novels, and though the characters might stroll along the same streets, they live in very different cities. The genre's appeal is not exactly news (Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and Victor Hugo were early practitioners, and no sloths in the sales department), but the last few years have brought a larger than usual number of historical bestsellers. Think of Sarah Dunant's Birth of Venus; Robert Hicks' The Widow of the South; Geraldine Brooks' Pulitzer Prize-winning March; and this summer's surprise hit, Water for Elephants. This year promises to be the biggest yet for historical fiction, with many of the fall's most anticipated books set in an era other than our own.

A deadly rivalry

The subtitle of Michael Cox's engrossing debut, The Meaning of Night is "A Confession," and the book takes no time getting down to it: The narrator, Edward Glyver, has killed a man, and he shows little remorse. On the foggy streets of 1850s London, it's easy for a killer to escape undetected—or so Glyver supposes, until he begins receiving mysterious communiqués from a blackmailer who seems to know about the events of that night. It is soon revealed that the first murder is merely setting the stage for a second, more meaningful plot rooted in childhood rivalries. Phoebus Daunt's lies caused Glyver to be expelled from Eton, ruining his hopes for an academic career, and Glyver has been planning his revenge for some 15 years.

Cox, a scholar of Victorian literature and the author of a biography of the writer M.R. James, has the tone and style of the era down pat. The complicated plot—there's much more to Daunt and Glyver's relationship than is initally revealed—unfolds with all the richness and depth of a classic Victorian potboiler.


Magical mystery tour

Though playwright Gordon Dahlquist's first novel is also set in Victorian London, the city he imagines contains a touch of magic. In The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Miss Celeste Temple sets out to discover why her mild-mannered fiancé Roger Bascombe has terminated their engagement. When she follows him to a mysterious mansion in the dead of night, Celeste uncovers an unbelievable plot that involves alchemy, mind control, murder and deviant (for Victorian society, that is) sexual activity.

he joins forces with two men—Cardinal Chang, an assassin, and Svenson, a gentle Swedish doctor—who have also lost friends to this cult-like group, which is led by a beautiful and mysterious woman called the Contessa. Chang, Svenson and Celeste take turns narrating, which sometimes results in repetition or a break in momentum, but despite those flaws, readers will be eagerly turning the pages to discover just what happens to the intrepid trio—and how those enthralling blue glass books get their power.


American widow

The much-maligned wife of president Abraham Lincoln tells her story in California writer Janis Cooke Newman's masterful Mary. Newman read only Mary Todd Lincoln's diaries and letters and other 19th-century documents while writing her book, resulting in a truly authentic tone and style. It is presented as a memoir written during Mary's time in Bellevue Place Sanatarium, a period sensationalized by the press, who delighted in speculating about the circumstance that led Mary's own son Robert to have her committed. Newman covers Mary's entire life, from her comfortable but lonely childhood in Kentucky, through her courtship and marriage to Abraham Lincoln, to his assassination and beyond.

Some of the most intriguing sections detail the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln. Mary is depicted as playing an integral part in her husband's political success, teaching him to project his voice and giving him confidence. Though the two had a strong respect and love for one another, Lincoln's fear of insanity and his frequent fits of melancholy (which he felt could be triggered by strong emotion) forced him to keep his wife at arm's length.

Mary Todd Lincoln's emotional ups and downs and enormous spending sprees are well documented, but Newman presents them in a sympathetic light, portraying Mary as a deeply passionate, intelligent woman in a time when these qualities in women were discouraged and feared. Mary spends her life trying to find someone who will reciprocate her passion—or at least accept and appreciate it—and that she continues to fall short is perhaps the greatest tragedy in a life littered with tragic moments.


Death, love and psychoanalysis

A young woman has been murdered in 1909 New York City, and one traumatized girl holds the key to finding the killer in Jed Rubenfeld's highly anticipated literary mystery, The Interpretation of Murder. Freudian analyst Dr. Stratham Younger is called in to try to recover Nora Acton's memories, and he receives aid from none other than Freud himself, who is visiting America with his then-protégé Carl Jung. Nora was found half-strangled and beaten in her family's mansion, and the community is scandalized. But when Nora implicates one of her father's friends, who has an airtight alibi for the night in question, investigators wonder whether she inflicted the wounds on herself, despite the fact that another girl was found dead from identical injuries the day before.

Freud's involvement in solving the mystery is minimal, but those interested in his theories will find much to think about. Though Younger admires Freud and believes in psychoanalysis, he has difficulty accepting the Oedipal theory, especially when it's applied to the beautiful Miss Acton. As Younger analyzes Nora, he falls in love (but is it transference?) and is drawn deeper into the mystery. The Interpretation of Murder is well researched, though sometimes obviously so, especially some of the lengthier passages on psychoanalysis and New York society. Still, Rubenfeld's entertaining psychological thriller is full of enjoyable twists and turns.


The artist's way

Jacqueline Winspear's introspective sleuth/psychologist Maisie Dobbs works in 1930s London. In Messenger of Truth, Maisie is asked to investigate the death of Nick Bassington-Hope, an artist from a well-to-do family who served in World War I. Nick died in a fall while preparing for an upcoming art exhibit, and his twin sister thinks he may have been pushed. In addition, the exhibit's centerpiece, a painting reputed to be Nick's masterwork, is nowhere to be found.

Though each Maisie Dobbs book is centered on an investigation, sleuthing takes second place to Winspear's insightful exploration of post-war England. As in her three previous books, the crime in Messenger of Truth has its roots in the Great War, and Winspear again illustrates the world-changing power of that tragic conflict.


More hot historicals coming this month

• Sebastian Faulks returns with his first novel since 2003's On Green Dolphin Street. Human Traces is set in the Victorian era, as two men attempt to investigate the origin and treatment of insanity in a time when little about it was understood.

• James R. Benn makes a memorable debut with Billy Boyle, a mystery set during World War II. Billy has always gotten by on family connections, and after enlisting under a general who married his mother's cousin, he thinks he's on Easy Street. But the general in question is Eisenhower—and Billy is sent to London at the height of the Blitz to apprehend a German spy. It's fun to watch Average-Joe Billy realize his talent and intelligence.

• Karleen Koen's Through a Glass Darkly, an epic 18th-century historical novel, hit the bestseller list in 1987. Nearly 20 years later comes the prequel, Dark Angels, in which young lady-in-waiting Alice Verney finds her place in the court of Charles II during the Restoration. Attempted suicide, childbed fever, love triangles and political intrigue fill the 500+ pages.

• Tom Franklin has won acclaim for his darkly humorous, somewhat violent Southern tales. His second novel, Smonk contains all those elements, as a small Alabama town terrorized by a marauder named E.O. Smonk attempts to bring him to justice.

• Lee Smith brings the post-Civil War era to life in On Agate Hill. The story of strong-willed, intelligent Molly Petree is told through her journal and letters, from her youth at the family plantation, to her time at a repressive school for girls, to her marriage and eventual return to Agate Hill years later. Molly's voice is engaging and believable, and readers will root for her as she makes her way through a shattered world.


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