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igenlode"The Beacon at Alexandria", Gillian Bradshaw: really good. One of the few books where the content actually reflects the praise on the cover (yes, this genuinely does feature fascinating descriptions of the theory and practice of Hippocratic medicine!) The classic 'girl disguises herself as a boy and runs away to escape an unwanted marriage' plot, but without the cliches and anachronisms of the genre; since Charis lives in the late classical period, she has the advantage of being able to disguise herself as a eunuch, which makes matters much easier. With hindsight, the story is carefully arranged so to bring the protagonist to the right locations for a selection of widely-separated historically significant events, but it certainly doesn't *feel* contrived -- and since this isn't a period of history (371-378 AD) that I know anything much about, I had no idea of the approaching significance or of the ultimate outcome of any of the plot points in question, which is the ideal situation when reading historical fiction ;-)
Like all the best historical novels, this manages to convey a convincingly different mindset rather than simply transplanting modern characters and their attitudes into period costume. Charis is surprised by the presence of a boat full of children being sold off cheaply when she goes to buy herself a new servant, and then horrified by the circumstances that are forcing the Goths into artificially-induced poverty for Roman profit, but she accepts that 'people in dire need have always sold their children' rather than being outraged by the very existence of slavery, which she has never questioned; naturally if she needs a maidservant she expects to be able to buy a suitable girl. (And her medical beliefs, while 'enlightened' by comparison with other practitioners, are in tune with her times: I sometimes think that the ten months Hippocrates allots for gestation is a mistake...) The author even manages, despite the unpropitious scenario, to write a plausible love-story for the protagonist and to get me to side with it. Comparisions with Rosemary Sutcliff are, for once, entirely justified.
A book to keep, as opposed to the vast majority of my acquisitions, which go straight back to the discard pile from which they came (not because they are necessarily *bad*, but just because I don't have room to hold on to more than a tiny handful.) I picked this one up again in order to review it, and found myself rereading large chunks -- always a good sign!
Like all the best historical novels, this manages to convey a convincingly different mindset rather than simply transplanting modern characters and their attitudes into period costume. Charis is surprised by the presence of a boat full of children being sold off cheaply when she goes to buy herself a new servant, and then horrified by the circumstances that are forcing the Goths into artificially-induced poverty for Roman profit, but she accepts that 'people in dire need have always sold their children' rather than being outraged by the very existence of slavery, which she has never questioned; naturally if she needs a maidservant she expects to be able to buy a suitable girl. (And her medical beliefs, while 'enlightened' by comparison with other practitioners, are in tune with her times: I sometimes think that the ten months Hippocrates allots for gestation is a mistake...) The author even manages, despite the unpropitious scenario, to write a plausible love-story for the protagonist and to get me to side with it. Comparisions with Rosemary Sutcliff are, for once, entirely justified.
A book to keep, as opposed to the vast majority of my acquisitions, which go straight back to the discard pile from which they came (not because they are necessarily *bad*, but just because I don't have room to hold on to more than a tiny handful.) I picked this one up again in order to review it, and found myself rereading large chunks -- always a good sign!