This weekend, Clishmaclaver started reading Andrew Taylor’s The Ashes of London, a historical crime thriller set in a ‘vividly evoked Restoration England’ –

The Ashes of London presents a breathtakingly ambitious picture of an era. As the Great Fire devastates London in 1666, James Marwood, a young Whitehall clerk, is tasked with finding a brutal killer. Catherine Lovett, resisting an arranged marriage, is dreaming of becoming an architect, but her future is clouded by the fact that her father is on the run from Charles II. The multiple narrative strands are drawn together in a brilliantly orchestrated finale. – FT

Clishmaclaver has never been into crime fiction but seeing as I’m always on at the kids to broaden their reading and step out of their comfort zones, I thought I would follow some of my own advice. Also, I liked the cover! 😉

So far I’m finding The Ashes of London…okay. It’s well written and very well researched; Taylor knows his history, and the historical verisimilitude is utterly engrossing. As for the characterisations; not so much. For me at least.

Thus far I would agree with a reviewer on Goodreads.com who says, “…The historical aspects of the novel are good and following people scrambling to make a living in the aftermath of the Restoration, having been on the losing side, made this an interesting take on this period. On the whole, I enjoyed following the young man more than the young woman. Some of her actions did not seem entirely convincing and seemed to be there for plotting purposes.”

Marks out of ten? Watch this space! 😀

So, what did YOU read this weekend?