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An Imperfect Enjoyment
London, 1665
Roundhead's twenty-year-old daughter, Thomazine Babbitt finally gets her fairy tale romance - although her idea of a handsome prince is a little unconventional…
He is the scarred, middle-aged and slightly-broken Admiralty intelligencer and diplomat Major Thankful Russell; her childhood hero. Russell, however, always considered himself more frog than ‘prince charming’…
But as war with the Dutch looms and tensions run high in the streets of London, the passionate republican principles that saw Thomazine first fall in love with her rebel white-knight are suddenly suspicious.
Would a man whose principles led him to once take up arms against his King, turn his coat again and work against His Majesty for the Dutch Republic? Someone wants to make it seem so.
Accused of arson and murder, suspected of treason, dismissed from his post and shunned by polite society, Russell - with a disfigured man's horror of being conspicuous - favours returning to domestic obscurity, but Thomazine is determined to face down their accusers.
In desperation, Thomaszine turns to the Merry Gang, the demimonde ring of fashionable libertines headed up by the cunning John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester.
Plunged into a dark world of conspiracies, deceit, revenge and kidnap, Thomazine Babbitt will stop at nothing in her quest to claim back her hero’s innocence.
Roundhead's twenty-year-old daughter, Thomazine Babbitt finally gets her fairy tale romance - although her idea of a handsome prince is a little unconventional…
He is the scarred, middle-aged and slightly-broken Admiralty intelligencer and diplomat Major Thankful Russell; her childhood hero. Russell, however, always considered himself more frog than ‘prince charming’…
But as war with the Dutch looms and tensions run high in the streets of London, the passionate republican principles that saw Thomazine first fall in love with her rebel white-knight are suddenly suspicious.
Would a man whose principles led him to once take up arms against his King, turn his coat again and work against His Majesty for the Dutch Republic? Someone wants to make it seem so.
Accused of arson and murder, suspected of treason, dismissed from his post and shunned by polite society, Russell - with a disfigured man's horror of being conspicuous - favours returning to domestic obscurity, but Thomazine is determined to face down their accusers.
In desperation, Thomaszine turns to the Merry Gang, the demimonde ring of fashionable libertines headed up by the cunning John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester.
Plunged into a dark world of conspiracies, deceit, revenge and kidnap, Thomazine Babbitt will stop at nothing in her quest to claim back her hero’s innocence.
308 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 8, 2017
1 person is currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
M.J. Logue
26 books36 followersWriter, mad cake lady, re-enactor, historian.
Been slightly potty about the clankier side of Ironside for around 20 years, and lists amongst my heroes in this unworthy world Sir Thomas Fairfax, Elizabeth Cromwell and John Webster (for his sense of humour.)
When not purveying historically-accurate cake to various re-enactment groups across the country, M.J. Logue can usually be discovered practising in her garden with a cavalry backsword.
Been slightly potty about the clankier side of Ironside for around 20 years, and lists amongst my heroes in this unworthy world Sir Thomas Fairfax, Elizabeth Cromwell and John Webster (for his sense of humour.)
When not purveying historically-accurate cake to various re-enactment groups across the country, M.J. Logue can usually be discovered practising in her garden with a cavalry backsword.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 19, 2017
This is the first in a new series from MJ Logue, and it is quite remarkable. Thomazine and Thankful Russell are both lifted from her previous series on the English Civil War, and they are more than capable of carrying a whole series on their own. After a prologue setting a scene for the thriller that follows, the novel opens with the wedding of the main characters. They are an odd couple: he is twice her age, scarred (both mentally and physically), and terrified he will disappoint her; she has loved him all her life. Thomazine quickly discovers that there is far more to her Russell than she had initially thought, and some of the revelations throw impediments in the way of their marital bliss. Perhaps the most significant developments arise from the revelation that there is a murderer at work on the streets of Carolingian London, a murderer who desperately wants to make it seem as though Russell – a former Roundhead, now working for the King’s intelligence services – is a traitor working for the Dutch.
Apart from the relationship between Thomazine and Russell, which is touchingly wrought, I particularly enjoyed the little cameos played by real historical figures throughout the book. Samuel Pepys, Prince Rupert and Aphra Benn all make brief appearances, and Lord Rochester totally stealing every scene in which he appears.
The story is something of a slow burn (and yes, there may be a joke there, particularly in a book separated into parts entitled “Tinder”, “Spark”, “Fire”, and “Ash”), but the pace gathers imperceptibly from Russell and Thomazine’s initial married days until the rapid, exciting denouement, which includes perhaps some of the most beautiful, evocative and chilling descriptions of fire I’ve ever read.
Apart from the relationship between Thomazine and Russell, which is touchingly wrought, I particularly enjoyed the little cameos played by real historical figures throughout the book. Samuel Pepys, Prince Rupert and Aphra Benn all make brief appearances, and Lord Rochester totally stealing every scene in which he appears.
The story is something of a slow burn (and yes, there may be a joke there, particularly in a book separated into parts entitled “Tinder”, “Spark”, “Fire”, and “Ash”), but the pace gathers imperceptibly from Russell and Thomazine’s initial married days until the rapid, exciting denouement, which includes perhaps some of the most beautiful, evocative and chilling descriptions of fire I’ve ever read.
September 18, 2017
In the Netherlands there is a genre of books called, The Literary Thriller. This would fit very well into this category, being both a tense thriller and an erudite piece of writing, in the inimitable voice of M J Logue.
Hollie Babbitt and his rebel rabble, the stars of M J Logue's previous books, are portrayed with so much realism and love (even when you are hating them!) that one finishes a book in the series with a feeling like saying goodbye for a while to a close friend. To review this book therefore is for me a genuine pleasure. Ms Logue’s unique voice and story-telling manner shine throughout and make her a writer deserving of praise and recognition.
The book is told in an intimate and confiding manner. I almost had the impression I was reading a journal told in the third person. The words flowed and I found it difficult to put down, something that I found in common with other books that this author has written.
The historical detail is very well researched and accurate and shows MJ Logue’s thorough knowledge and love of the era and her attention to detail, without allowing the reader to become bogged down in tedious detail. Ranging from London to the Low Countries, to the Civil War and early forensics, each detail is meticulously portrayed and adds greatly to reader enjoyment.
The book opens unexpectedly with a vicious murder. Fly-Fornication Coventry, whom we have met before, is brutally strangled and then burned, together with the Russell house, Four Ashes. It is apparent that the murderer is known to Fly, but who is it?
The book is a skilfully blended merger of tense psychological thriller, family saga, tender romance and murder mystery and it would appeal equally to lovers of any of those genres, (without putting people off who do not like these genres!) in addition to historical fiction.
Upon learning that he will now be master of the house, Thankful ‘Hapless’ Russell realises he will now be in a position to marry. He begins to male preparations to woo and win Thomazine Babbitt, who he has known since she was a baby of two and him a scarred (and scared) world weary war veteran of twenty one.
To his surprise Thomazine says yes, and it is soon apparent how deeply the two are in love.
After the wedding, where Hollie, Het, Joyeux, Luce and other favourite characters make a cameo appearance, (I can almost hear Hollie thinking, ‘That was no cameo appearance lass. I paid for all that ale you supped,’) the reader gets a painful glimpse into Thankful’s psyche when he wakes in the night fearing amelioration by fire.
Russell and Thomazine set out for Four Ashes, arriving at that bleak half burned out, half rebuilt place in the winter gloom and Thomazine has a meltdown, comforted by the ever patient Russell. Making the best of it they spend the night in each others' arms in front of a fire they coax into reluctant life, but in the morning they are disturbed by the dour Scottish Eadulf, Russell’s friend and factor.
It is soon apparent that all is not as it seems and there are problems with the neighbours. Thomazine longs for home, her home with Het and Hollie and familiarity. As a compromise Russell gets them his old lodgings in London, but how well does Thomazine know the man she has always loved?
The scenes depicting Thomazine’s growing status as a woman, a society woman, and a sexual being, is movingly and touchingly portrayed with a sensitivity and skill that is lacking in so many authors. Their love life is made beautiful by Ms Logue’s words with none of the smutty undertones that that subject can generate.
Can Thankful clear his name, or will he and Thomazine be the murderer’s next victims?
Hollie Babbitt and his rebel rabble, the stars of M J Logue's previous books, are portrayed with so much realism and love (even when you are hating them!) that one finishes a book in the series with a feeling like saying goodbye for a while to a close friend. To review this book therefore is for me a genuine pleasure. Ms Logue’s unique voice and story-telling manner shine throughout and make her a writer deserving of praise and recognition.
The book is told in an intimate and confiding manner. I almost had the impression I was reading a journal told in the third person. The words flowed and I found it difficult to put down, something that I found in common with other books that this author has written.
The historical detail is very well researched and accurate and shows MJ Logue’s thorough knowledge and love of the era and her attention to detail, without allowing the reader to become bogged down in tedious detail. Ranging from London to the Low Countries, to the Civil War and early forensics, each detail is meticulously portrayed and adds greatly to reader enjoyment.
The book opens unexpectedly with a vicious murder. Fly-Fornication Coventry, whom we have met before, is brutally strangled and then burned, together with the Russell house, Four Ashes. It is apparent that the murderer is known to Fly, but who is it?
The book is a skilfully blended merger of tense psychological thriller, family saga, tender romance and murder mystery and it would appeal equally to lovers of any of those genres, (without putting people off who do not like these genres!) in addition to historical fiction.
Upon learning that he will now be master of the house, Thankful ‘Hapless’ Russell realises he will now be in a position to marry. He begins to male preparations to woo and win Thomazine Babbitt, who he has known since she was a baby of two and him a scarred (and scared) world weary war veteran of twenty one.
To his surprise Thomazine says yes, and it is soon apparent how deeply the two are in love.
After the wedding, where Hollie, Het, Joyeux, Luce and other favourite characters make a cameo appearance, (I can almost hear Hollie thinking, ‘That was no cameo appearance lass. I paid for all that ale you supped,’) the reader gets a painful glimpse into Thankful’s psyche when he wakes in the night fearing amelioration by fire.
Russell and Thomazine set out for Four Ashes, arriving at that bleak half burned out, half rebuilt place in the winter gloom and Thomazine has a meltdown, comforted by the ever patient Russell. Making the best of it they spend the night in each others' arms in front of a fire they coax into reluctant life, but in the morning they are disturbed by the dour Scottish Eadulf, Russell’s friend and factor.
It is soon apparent that all is not as it seems and there are problems with the neighbours. Thomazine longs for home, her home with Het and Hollie and familiarity. As a compromise Russell gets them his old lodgings in London, but how well does Thomazine know the man she has always loved?
The scenes depicting Thomazine’s growing status as a woman, a society woman, and a sexual being, is movingly and touchingly portrayed with a sensitivity and skill that is lacking in so many authors. Their love life is made beautiful by Ms Logue’s words with none of the smutty undertones that that subject can generate.
Can Thankful clear his name, or will he and Thomazine be the murderer’s next victims?
October 31, 2017
I have read all of M.J.Logue's excellent 'Uncivil War Series', set around the adventures of Hollie Babbitt in the English Civil War and have enjoyed them all immensely. This novel is about Hollies' 20 year old daughter, Thomazine, who has married his former lieutenant, now major, Thankful Russell. Thomazine obviously takes after her father, for when Thomazine's husband is wrongfully accused of murder and treason, she decides to set about gathering the evidence to clear his name. I won't spoil the story for the reader by revealing how she goes about this, but will say that she proves she is her father's daughter in more ways than one. An excellent novel which I highly recommend and I really do hope this is not the last that we will hear about the adventures of Thomazine and Thankful Russell.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews