Review of THE BLACK THREAD from the Historical Novel Society

Tina Huckle was the Historical Novel Society's reviewer of THE BLACK THREAD.

THE BLACK THREAD by Margaret Muir is an enchanting historical novel, well written with excellent local knowledge. It is a story based around the life of the mills and canal life around the turn of the century in hard working class Victorian Leeds and Liverpool. The main character, Amy Dodd, draws you into her life with the author’s excellent description and colourful narrative. Amos Dodd, Amy’s cruel father portrays a believable dark character and yet you cannot help but feel his pain and troubles.

An idealistic father he is not, and the story is full of shocking findings and clever twists. It is, I am sure, a true depiction of canal life in the Victorian age and has good historical content. The ending certainly leads itself to another book – which does, however, leave the reader a little disappointed.

Personally, the cover of the edition I was reviewing did not encourage me to pick this book up initially, which is a shame as on a shelf in a bookstore it is possible it could get over-looked, whereas the content inside is highly recommended.


Note: as author, I have tried several covers for this novel.
Here is the cover for the e-book edition ($2.99):
I also find it interesting that Tina has described this as an 'enchanting' historical novel, whereas I saw it as rather dark, Gothic and dramatic. We certainly all read and see things differently and I thank her for her comments.

THE TAINTED PRIZE reviewed by Historical Novel Society

THE TAINTED PRIZE by M. C. Muir is the second in the Under Admiralty Orders Series about Oliver Quintrell, a naval captain serving at the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803 (first in the series is Floating Gold about a mission that takes Quintrell down to the islands near the Antarctic). As hostilities against the French loom, Quintrell is without a ship but hoping for a chance to see action. He gets his ship but the Admiralty send him on another clandestine mission, to South America in search of another naval vessel that that has failed to return. What follows is a lively adventure as Quintrell and his crew on the frigate Perpetual search sail towards Peru in search for the missing ship

As a fan of naval fiction set at the time of the Napoleonic wars, I’m always keen to read new series and I enjoyed Tainted Prize. The author writes knowledgeably about what life must have been like in the navy at that time, both for the officers and their men. The horrors of sea battles and naval discipline are not glossed over nor the difficulties of navigating with inaccurate sailing charts as when Captain Quintrell takes his ship through the Magellan Strait.

Ideally, it would be best to read the first book in the series in order to become familiar with the back-stories of the characters, but this is a separate story so can be read as a stand-alone. I hope there’s another adventure and that, if so, we get to know more about his second in command Simon Parry and about Captain Quintrell’s wife (who seems a potentially more interesting character than Susanna, the lover who waits patiently for him to call in at Madeira).

The book is well presented and laid out with an attractive cover.

My thanks for Sue Ellison - the reviewer.
THE TAINTED PRIZE is available on Amazon.com in UK and US as paperback and e-book ($2.99).
The first book in the Oliver Quintrell Series was FLOATING GOLD.
Due 2013 - the third book in the series - ADMIRALTY ORDERS (draft cover).