Head-spinning historical fiction out this month: The Art Of A Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Lion Hearts by Dan Jones, Love, Sex & Frankenstein by Caroline Lea
Bluffs, double bluffs, twists, turns and emotional upheaval are the disorder of the day in Shepherd-Robinson's deftly plotted fourth novel.
Set in the mid-18th century in an upmarket, but financially precarious, confectionery shop in fashionable Piccadilly, it unspools the entwined stories of recently widowed sweet-maker Hannah Cole, who's nursing a dark secret, and the dashing, moneyed gentleman William Devereux, who's not all he seems.
The truth is revealed in tantalising snippets as the brilliantly drawn main characters recount their version of events, which include a brutal murder, an inherited fortune in jeopardy, the investigation of magistrate, Henry Fielding, who's on the case of the killer, and the introduction of the sensation of the season – 'iced cream'.
This deliciously devious tale of skulduggery, questionable motives and untrustworthy appearances will keep you gripped.
Lion Hearts by Dan Jones (Head of Zeus £18.99, 384pp)
It's 1350 and the ten comrades in arms from Jones's bold, bloody Essex Dogs and the Wolves of Winter have been winnowed down to a surviving few.
Battle scarred, older but not necessarily wiser, they're attempting to find peace, especially leader Loveday, who once made his living 'with his fists, his wits and his short sword' and who's now attempting to keep a failing Winchelsea tavern afloat.
But with the Castilians on the horizon, a population devastated by the Black Death and old debts to pay, it's not long before the band are reunited and once again pressed into action.
Lion Hearts is a fitting conclusion to this trilogy; a salty, action-packed saga that sees old friends head into the fray.
Love, Sex & Frankenstein by Caroline Lea (Michael Joseph £18.99, 400pp)
Thrumming with emotion, Lea's retelling of Mary Shelley's dark night of the soul in the summer of 1816 is brimful of love, lust, hate and a strange kind of happiness as she comes up with the idea for her gothic classic Frankenstein.
Sequestered in Villa Diodati, by Lake Geneva, the weather is foreboding, the company complicated – Mary is there with her baby son Willmouse, her lover, the feckless poet Shelley, her troubled stepsister Claire Clairmont, the quietly observant Dr Polidori and Lord Byron. In the middle of the mayhem is Mary, who's finding it hard to rein in her feelings, which are as tumultuous as the weather outside.
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Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Mary, Queen of Scots review — a wacky look at history's famous monarch
Scottish Ballet has scored a hit with the world premiere of Mary, Queen of Scots, at the Edinburgh International Festival. The company's resident choreographer Sophie Laplane, and her co-creator, the director James Bonas, have fashioned an audaciously bold, assured and sometimes downright wacky take on Scotland's passionate monarch, filtered through the troubled memories of Queen Elizabeth 1. The staging (at the Festival Theatre) is streamlined, dominated by the designer Soutra Gilmour's simple set: a three-sided grey wall that can be raised and lowered as needed. The storytelling is episodic yet fleet, even driven, its stateliness consistently marked by a quirky sense of humour that in no way detracts from the material's emotional gravitas. All of it is lent a great deal of spark by Mikael Karlsson and Michael P Atkinson's original score, an eclectic stream of lively, sometimes dark and always propulsive music played live. • Read more dance reviews, guides and interviews This handsome, stylish Mary is a lot of fun but also has dramatic chops. But be warned: the first act is potentially challenging, especially for anyone with a fuzzy grasp of this period of British history. It commences with a prologue for the aged Elizabeth (guest artist Charlotta Ofverholm in a powerhouse supporting performance) deliriously circling in her underwear. Everything that ensues stems from her troubled mind. We then are plunged into a breathless trot through Mary's personal relationships alongside the political intrigue swirling around and between her and the royal cousin she famously never met. Courtiers come and go, clad by Gilmour in black velvet or pleated lavender, some with mohawk-like helmet plumes and others with bulbous eye coverings. The narrative is, however, largely character-driven. Laplane gives us two genuinely sexy duets, one for Mary (Roseanna Leney, dynamic and elegant) and her second husband Darnley (Evan Loudon) and the other for the bisexual Darnley and his lover Rizzio (Javier Andreu). There is also, in a brilliant touch, a younger Elizabeth, played on opening night with regal yet camp subtlety by the towering Harvey Littlefield in pantaloons, a ruff and, at one point, on stilts. • Edinburgh festivals 2025: the best theatre, music and dance shows The real pay-off in Scottish Ballet's treatment of Mary's life comes in the second act, principally via two scenes: one a beautiful, abstract dance between the proxies of Mary and Elizabeth, and the other the lead-up to Elizabeth's critical decision to execute Mary. By then this fizzing production has expanded and deepened. It is that rare thing, a work I felt I would gladly revisit even as I was watching it.★★★★☆130minTouring to Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen and Edinburgh to Oct 18, Follow @timesculture to read the latest reviews
BBC News
15 hours ago
- BBC News
Hollywood stuntman set on fire for Pink Floyd cover dies aged 88
Ronnie Rondell Jr - who was famously set alight for the front cover of Pink Floyd's iconic Wish You Were Here album cover - has died at the age of Hollywood stuntman and actor died on 12 August at a care home in the US state of Missouri, according to an online was involved in the production of a number of films and TV shows during his long career, including Lethal Weapon, Thelma and Louise and Star Trek: First Contact. He is survived by his wife Mary and his son, who is also called Ronald. Rondell was born in California in 1937 and got his first acting role as a teenager in the early 1950s in the film Ma and Pa Kettle at the first role as a stuntman was for the TV series Soldiers of Fortune, which ran from 1955 to the 1960s and 1990s he worked on several US TV series, including Charlie's Angels, Dynasty and Baywatch, as well as movies such as Spartacus, Diamonds are Forever and The Karate Kid. One of his best-known stunts was leaping from a pole that was on fire as it toppled over - a feat he performed for the 1963 adventure film Kings of the was also involved in fighting scenes in the 1965 film Shenandoah, which was set during the US Civil War, a bar brawl in the 1974 Western comedy Blazing Saddles and impressive fire scenes in The Towering Inferno, which was released the same in his career, he worked as a stunt co-ordinator for films including Batman and Robin, and The Mighty Ducks. While many might not recognise Rondell's name, they will have likely seen him set alight for the cover of Pink Floyd's 1975 album Wish You Were Here while shaking hands with fellow stuntman Danny the shoot, the wind changed direction and blew the fire into his face, causing him to lose an eyebrow and part of his signature moustache. Rondell started his own stunts company, Stunts Unlimited, in California in 1970. He retired in 2001, but earned his final stunt credit for The Matrix Reloaded in 2003 - taking part in a complex car chase scene. Rondell was given a lifetime achievement honour at the Taurus World Stunt Awards in 2004. He was not the only performer in the family. His father, Ronald R Rondell, was an actor and assistant director - known for his work on films including the 1956 adaptation of the Jules Verne novel Around the World in 80 of Rondell's sons have also worked in the industry, one of whom, Reid, died while performing a helicopter stunt for the TV series Airwolf in 1985.
Edinburgh Reporter
18 hours ago
- Edinburgh Reporter
Mary, Queen of Scots at Festival Theatre ⭐⭐
As a supporter of Scottish Ballet and aware of the preparation of this for a couple of years, I was very much looking forward to this production. As a long-standing member of the Mary Queen of Scots Society, doubly so. Considering the previous creations as part of their '5 in 5' programme, my expectations were especially high, perhaps too high. Sophie Laplane's choreography seemed rather inelegant though was slightly less fusty in the second half; there seemed to be an exploration of movements not specifically dance for the sake of it. Also, in the first half the music of Mikael Karlsson and Michael P Atkinson at times seemed to parody rather than honour Scottish tradition. And Soutra Gilmour's set and costumes seemed to miss a trick by employing a minimalist, nearly monochrome leitmotif; Renaissance sovereign residences were colourful places but here the French, English, & Scottish courts were depicted without that decoration. Of course, condensing a highly-eventful history into a theatrical production always involves difficult choices, but for me the most significant omission was the change in Mary's court after the murder of Rizzio but preceding Darnley's assassination. And Bothwell was completely absent! Really? Other notable elements which seemed unnecessary verging on the insulting were Elizabeth on stilts and the balloon representing Mary's son being labelled 'James' which marking was reprised when he appeared later in a Pierrot costume. Why depict him as a clown? I suppose the fool who kept being inserted was intended as an artistic link between the scenes but failed to enhance the narrative. However, as always, the execution by the dancers and musicians was world-class. Two (and a half) stars. In the foreground Grace Horler and Anna Williams as Proxy Mary and Elizsbeth. Credit Jess Shurte Charlotta Öfverholm as Older Elizabeth in Scottish Ballet's Mary, Queen of Scots. Credit Andy Ross Evan Loudon as Darnley(floor) and Javier Andreu as Rizzio in Scottish Ballet's Mary, Queen of Scots. Credit Andy Ross L to R Roseanna Leney, Anna Williams, Grace Horler and Harvey Littlefield in Scottish Ballet's Mary, Queen of Scots. Credit Andy Ross Scottish Ballet's Mary, Queen of Scots. Credit Andy Ross Like this: Like Related
