Tony Riches

I did enjoy this story very much. I knew nothing of Eleanor Cobham so this was a new jorney for me. The book is written just as is stated in the title - its a diary. Eleanor goes back and forth between telling her story of how she came to be imprisoned for her life accused of witchcraft and her present life of living out her prison sentence. It by no means gets confusing - well written in every sense.

I loved the way the author, at least for me, had me conflicted with my feelings about Eleanor. I didn't like her when she was Duchess of Gloucester. I found her very arrogant and entitled. However, during her imprisonment and advanced aging, I liked who she had become in such a terrible situation. Perhaps it was her being taken down a few pegs and her ability to reflect on her life, by writing the diary, that enabled her to see herself for who she really was.

All in all a very great read - highly recommend!… (más)

Francis Drake wishes for adventure on the sea. He finds a place within a ship Captained by his cousin where Francis learns of the lure of the sea along with the dangers. Francis' interactions with the Spanish on that trip fuel a lifelong rivalry. Drake works his way up to Captaining his own fleet in search of Spanish Gold. HIs adventures soon earn him an audience with Queen Elizabeth I who sends Drake on a mission of her own where he sets out to navigate the Strait of Magellan and ends up taking him around the world.
Drake-Tudor Corsair is an exciting high seas adventure documenting the life of Francis Drake. I didn't know much about Francis Drake and was delighted to read this history filled account. Like all of Tony Riches' other books, this is brimming with historical detail and accuracy. I enjoyed reading about Drake's voyages as well as his interactions with Queen Elizabeth I. All of the battles were exciting as well as exploring the many different lands. I would have loved a map of each of Drake's voyages to follow along with, but was able to figure out many of the areas through context. I was amazed by their life at sea and the constant dangers Drake and his crew faced. More so, I enjoyed reading about the friendships Drake made with crewmates along the way. I did have trouble connecting with Drake's motivations for his continued Spanish rivalry, especially after so many lost lives. Of course, I was most interested in Drake's interactions with Queen Elizabeth I and her own motivations for encouraging Drake's piracy. As always, it seems that Queen Elizabeth had her own intentions and kept them close at hand. Drake-Tudor Corsair is a great start to Tony Riches The Elizabethan Series.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (más)

There is life beyond Antarctica.

Don't get me wrong. The most memorable thing the S. S. Terra Nova ever did was take Robert Scott's expedition to Antarctica. It was an event well worthy of a book. Just -- not every book. I know of three books about the Terra Nova: this one, Michael Tarver's The S. S. Terra Nova, and With Scott to the Pole, which is basically a photo collection. There are also, of course, many books about Scott and the expedition in which the Terra Nova is secondary. And all of them focus the vast majority of their content on Scott's expedition, which represents just five percent of the ship's career.

But the Terra Nova was more than a ship that went to Antarctica. She actually went to the Antarctic twice, and also helped rescue an Arctic expedition. And she was the very last of the whaling steamers built in Dundee. And she was for many years the ship of Abram Kean, the commodore of Newfoundland's sealing fleet -- and, as such, she was the ship which had George Allan England aboard when he wrote Vikings of the Ice, the only eyewitness account of the seal hunt as it was conducted from the sealing steamers. There is a Newfoundland song explicitly about an accident aboard her (called "The Terra Nova"). There are many other Newfoundland songs which mention her, including "The Old Polina," one of the greatest of all Newfoundland songs. And she sank, after 58 years of service all over the world, while carrying cargo in World War II -- arguably her fifth different career.

Author Riches alludes to some of that -- e.g. mentioning Abram Kean once, although in a way that hardly makes clear the achievements of the only man ever to take a million seals (not something I'd call a good thing -- sealing was horrible -- but definitely an historic event), and describing the discovery of her wreck in 2012. But insofar as this tiny little book is about anything, it's about Scott's expedition.

Is that bad? Not really. Riches probably had a contract for a short book, and there isn't much he could do in such a tiny space, especially since he included a number of letters from Wilfred Bruce, a member of Scott's expedition that until now were not widely available. But it's rather sad. I'm glad to see the Terra Nova get another book. I'd wish she could get a book that is about all of her career.… (más)