Historical novels that will knock your socks off: Small Acts of Resistance by Anita
Small Acts of Resistance is available now from the Mail Bookshop
Small Acts of Resistance by Anita Frank (HQ £20, 480pp)
There’s a quiet grace to Anita Frank’s First World War story. Set in rural northern France, at the height of the German Occupation, Frank hones in on the fates of grandmother Claudette, her granddaughters Marie and Elodie and a British airman, handsome Henry Farrier, whose plane is downed, stranding him behind enemy lines.
With food and firewood scarce, an atmosphere of suspicion and fear overshadowing their remote village and with soldiers surrounding them, Claudette, nonetheless, decides to harbour the fugitive.
It’s a dangerous decision, made more perilous when two German soldiers are unexpectedly billeted with them – the crude, brutish Arick and the kind, sensitive Dr Meier. In clear, spare prose, Frank describes the physical deprivations of war and the emotional costs, too. She vividly captures a time of tested loyalties, courageous defiance and the ever-present yearning for love, safety and peace.
Introducing Mrs Collins is available now from the Mail Bookshop
Introducing Mrs Collins by Rachel Parris (Coronet £18.99, 400pp)
Remember quiet, reliable Charlotte Lucas, the best friend of Elizabeth Bennet of Pride And Prejudice fame?
In Jane Austen’s beloved novel, Charlotte pragmatically decides to wed the odious Mr Collins, her happiness seemingly sacrificed to her desire for a home of her own.
Here, Austen aficionado Parris revisits the unpromising partnership, and manages a miracle of sympathy and sensitivity to Charlotte’s unlikely choice.
Determined to make her marriage work, and convinced that romance is not for her, Parris gifts her with a swoonworthy affair, brimful of passion and illicit promise. It’s beautifully done, full of drama, with a delectable Regency setting as a backdrop.
The Good Nazi by Samir Machado De Machado. Translated from Portuguese by Rahul Bery (Pushkin Vertigo £12.99, 160pp)
takING the locked room crime novel to a whole new twisty level, this is set on board a luxurious transatlantic airship. The 1933 backdrop adds a political element to the mystery – the Zeppelin is heading from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro, Nazi Germany is on the rise and the passengers, including a wealthy baroness, an anti-Semitic doctor and an aristocratic Englishman, all have something to hide.
Tasked with investigating the crime is Bruno Bruckner, who is also not all he seems. Deft plotting and double bluffs abound, and although the prose is occasionally didactic, there’s a moral rightness to this wry, wily read.