November 5th marks the anniversary of the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. A number of discontents planned to blow up Parliament but were caught before they could light the fuse. Guy Fawkes was found in the underground chambers below the building with dozens of barrels of gunpowder. He was tried and convicted of treason, though…
THE BOOK OF FIRES
Jane Borodale’s first novel, THE BOOK OF FIRES, is a vivid portrait of 1750s England. The heroine, Agnes Trussel, leads the reader from countryside squalor to a sooty, bustling London. Part of a large family, struggling to even survive, Agnes clearly stands out from her siblings. Her interior thoughts, expertly drawn in present tense, add…