Jeanette’s pick 

Title: The Warrior’s Princess

Author: Barbara Erskine (London : HarperCollins, 2008)

The Warrior’s Princess is an interesting blend of history, the supernatural and suspense all seasoned with a little touch of romance.  

When Jess is raped after a party, she flees to her sister’s place in Wales to act as caretaker while her sister is in Rome.  She is disturbed by the sound of a ghostly young voice, the appearance of a long lost girl and poltergeist activity.  Little did she know that two thousand years before, a dreadful battle took place. between the forces of Rome and the Celtic King Carodoc better known as Caractacus. In a barn where her sister’s house now stands, Caradoc’s wife and young daughter, Eigon, were also brutally raped.  Somehow, their shared experience creates a bond between Eigon and Jess which spans the centuries and countries, as Jess leaves the haunted hills of Wales for Rome.  The threats and danger suffered by Eigon in Rome, are mirrored by Jess, as her rapist follows her and proceeds to make her life hell.

Barbara Erskine is a master of the time shift novel.  She is able to create the world of ancient Rome as easily as she does the modern city. As Eigon and Jess’ stories unfold the reader is carried along as the suspense builds to its inevitable climax. 

I recommend this book to anyone who likes something a little different in a novel.

The 1st Wed Reading Group has come up with a big list of books to be voted for 2010. They are happy to share this information with you.

What do you think of the list and will you read any one of these titles? Let us know by commenting on this blog site…

The lieutenant by Kate Grenvills – it’s an Australian historical fiction

The slap by Christos Tsiolkas – it’s a contemporary fiction

The vanishing act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell – It’s an India and Scotland historyical fiction

Dog boy by Eva Hornung – it’s a story about a 4 years old, a fiction

Wanting by Richard Flanagan – it’s a crime fiction

The secret scripture by Sebastian Barry – a story about an old woman who’s 100 years old, almost.

The spare room by Helen Gardner – a fiction about friendship

The road by Cormac McCarthy – it’s a fiction about life of destruction

The time traveller’s wife by Audrey Niffenegger – it’s a time travel fiction

The 19th wif by David Ebershoff – a fiction about Mormon and crime

A most wanted man by John Le Carre – a crime fiction

Too close to home by Linwood Barclay – a crime fiction

Dark country by Bronwyn Parry – a crime fiction

One flew over the cuckoo’s nest by Ken kesey – a classic fiction

Lolita by Valdimir Nabokov – a classic fiction

The boat by nam le – a refugee fiction

Underground by Andrew McGahan – a reflection of what could have happened under counter terroism under Howard years.

The white queen by Philippa Gregory – an historical fiction

In cold blood: a true account of a multiple murder and ints consequences by Truman Capote – a non fiction

The surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester – a true crime story

Dear fatty by Dawn French – biography

Through a glass darkly by Caroline Jones – biography

1788 by David Hill – history of the 1st Fleet

Solitude by Anthony Storr – personal happiness

The god delusion by Richard Dawkins – a book question the existance of God

The thirty six by Siegmund Siegreich – a surviver’s story in Nazi concentration camp after 167 family members had been exteminated.

Strange days indeed by Francis Wheen – 70s and its paranoia

The age of the unthinable by Joshua Cooper Ramo – a non fiction about world politics