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#HistFicThursdays - Lost Landscapes - Ravenser Odd

 Be honest, who does not  love the stories of Atlantis or Brigadoon or any other disappearing and disappeared world? World mysteries have always fascinated me, wondering what people imagined from these lost communities and - even more so - what they wanted them to be and represent. The Destruction of Ravenser Odd I stumbled across the history of Ravenser Odd entirely by chance. But what a chance! Here was a setting for a story, one which was almost Biblical in its existence and destruction. Unlike Dunwich, which gradually succumbed to the sea, Ravenser Odd was swallowed in a very short space of time, the final straw coming in The Great Drowning of Men  on Saint Marcellus' Day 1362. As well as this, the town was in the Humber, an area with which I was very familiar, having lived in Barrow-upon-Humber for ten years and being an alumnus of Hull University. Could there be a better setting for a historical fiction tale which was to be laced with horror? Well, I didn't think so. The
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#HistFicThursdays - Book Review of "An Unwilling Alliance" by Lynn Dawson

 The first thing to mention about this book was that it was not what I was expecting! I thought, from the blurb and the fact it had been shortlisted for a military literary award, that this would be a military story with a romance, but this is definitely a romance set during a war. Given this difference, it took me a while to get my head into the book

There is a line in the book when Roseen observes how eager and enthused Kelly becomes when he is discussing the Navy, and Dawson's writing is exactly the same. The book springs to life as the campaigning starts and the account of the offensive against Copenhagen is handled skilfully and compassionately. The movements of the military machine were well-researched and the care taken to set the reader in that surrounding is commendable.

I found most of the characters irritating to one degree or another - although this is not a criticism, as I have read plenty of great book with protagonists who annoy me! Roseen I found most annoying of all, and I kept willing various ones of her companions on this journey to push her into the sea. Having said all that, I had a soft spot for Durrell, with whom I most identified, and I felt that he was unfairly treated by Kelly, who had a long way to go on his journey to becoming a gentleman. I did feel that people were either good guys or bad guys, and some shades of grey along the way would have been interesting - especially in terms of Roseen's suiters.

The hard sell for me was how convenient everything seemed to be. I don't want to mention events which will be spoilers, but it is a case of constantly being at the right/wrong place at exactly the right/wrong time. This is fine once or twice (after all, that's what keeps a great adventure going) but it seemed to happen time after time. 

Overall, this is a great read for fans of historical romance and happy endings, and we all need that from time to time.

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