#Domevember #BookshelfSpotlight ‘Beautiful Star and Other Stories’ by Andrew Swanston

About the book…
History is brought alive by those it effects, rather than those that created it.

In ‘Beautiful Star; we meet Eilmer, a monk in 1010 with Icarus-like dreams; Charles I, hiding in 1651, and befriended by a small boy; the trial of Jane Wenham, Witch of Walkern, seen through the eyes of her granddaughter.

This is a moving and affecting journey through time, bringing a new perspective to the defence of Corfe Castle, the battle of Waterloo, the siege of Toulon and, in the title story, the devastating dangers of life at sea in 1875.

‘Beautiful Star and Other Stories’ is published by Dome Press in paperback and ebook formats.

My goodness, what a book!

The 7 stories in contains are mini novels in that when I finished, not only was I overwhelmed with a need to watch Sharpe  again, but also the feeling that I had read 7 books.

Richly detailed and so well researched, you felt as if you were walking The Shore with Julia, waiting for her family to sail home, helping Eilmer construct his fabulous wings or watching the witch ‘trial’ of Jane Wenham.

I have never really read as many historical novels as I have this year, and that is by and large due to the magnificent work by fellow bloggers and independent publishers taking risks on books that have not been taken on by the larger ones. As I have read throughout Domevember, and throughout August with a focus on Eye Books, independent publishers produce books that have a huge heart in them and behind them, urging them out into the world. I would never have come across a book such as this had I not been made aware of publishers like Dome Press and that, to me, is a real tragedy.

Without Dome, I would never have been whisked from the 2nd century through to the 18th, on a whsitlestop tour of monumental events as seen through the eyes of the ordinary folk in the street. In the title story, I felt I was earning so much about fishing and the dependence of a town on its one central trade, sending the men and boys off every Drave to fish the seas and anxiously awaiting their return ,it made me reflect on the mining community of our town and its relience on a potentially fatal trade to provide sustenance for our families.

The meeting of faith and science in tale ‘The Flying Monk’ in the person of 2nd Century monk Eilmer, obsessed with the ability to fly and the Icarus myth, framed against being one of a hnadful of people to see a comet twice in their lifetime was truly a wonderful story.

My favourite, by a very narrow margin, is ‘A Witch And A Bitch’ which is the tale of Jane Wenham and her trial for witchcraft. Her history is littered with misunderstandings and miscommunication wherein it was easier to brand her a witch on the flimsiest of pretences than to actually see her as a person in need. Abandoned by her family and outcast form her village, her granddaughter first meets her when she turns up to their cottage with a piece of cake on her seventh birthday. Her mother’s reaction? Burn it! She peddles the lies and half truths that are commonly held to her daughter but as she grows, Emily wants to know more for her own self. She is the only one to sit and listen non judgementally to Jane , as she awaits her sentecncing, and what is told is a tale as old as time. A woman without a family, one who plies the only trade that she knowsand as such, is pilloried. On the other side of this is a society of small minds who tend to go along with the popular opinion and with witchfinder Matthew Hopkins still being within living memory, it suits the populace to believe in witches. Not only does it support the message of the Bible, it helps keep people in line and stop them questioning too much, After all, if those in authority are willing to believe the ridiculous claims of the populace, surely that reinforces the legitmacy of witches and their need to be murdered?

It reminded me of series 2 of ‘Inside Number 9’ episode ‘The Trial Of Elizabeth Gadge’ where the absurdity of the claims being made by so called authority figures became comedic to the point where it paradoxically intensified the horror that these women were facing death. The ludicrous becomes terrifying very very quickly when you realise being foudn innocent means death by drowning and if, by some token, you held your breath long enough to sustain yourself, you would then be set on fire.

The allegorical and very modern tone of this story, like the others, holds relevance and synchronicity with the events of today where we may not being faced with a literal invasion, but we are, however, on the brink of very troubling times. Ideas are becoming dangerous again, women are being pushed back into a place where they are defending their rights to choose bodily autonomy against a system which denies them this. Whole towns and villages are in ruins after their industry and business are being outsourced to countries where it can be done more cheaply.. The lining of a madman’s purse is an eternal theme no matter what the time frame.

All of these stories are so beautofully written that they pull you in and immerse you in one historical setting after another, without overlapping or repeating or losing the reader- an that is quite some feat for a slow and plodding reader to keep up with and find so much to enjoy. I did think I might struggle with nautical terms and not knowing as much history as I would like, but, as I have found, it has ignited a fire and a yearning to know more. I would absolutely recommend this to readers who have enjoyed Bernard Cornwell and Nathaniel Philbrick  and even those who have never read anything from a historical writer before. ‘Beautiful Star’ is a wondrous book full of characters that will not be easily shaken off.

About the author…

Andrew Swanston read Law at Cambridge University, and held various positions in the book trade, including being a director of Waterstone & Co, and chairman of Methven’s plc, before turning to writing. Inspired by a lifelong interest in early modern history, his ‘Thomas Hill’ novels are set during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the early period of the Restoration. ‘Incendium’ is the first of two novels set in the 1570’s and ‘Waterloo-The Bravest Man’ describes the vital defence of Hougoumont at the battle.  ‘Beautiful Star and Other Stories’was published in 2018 by Dome Press. He lives with his wife in Surrey.

Links-http://andrewswanston.co.uk/Andrew_Swanston/Home.html

Twitter @AndrewSwanston @DomePress