Gillian Vine reviews the latest round of novels.
How he copes as a solo dad, while battling alcoholism and the interference of Moira, a social worker with mega hang-ups, is typical Maeve Binchy, with some of her characters from earlier books making guest appearances in Minding Frankie (Orion, $39.99, pbk.) Although not her best, the novel is an entertaining one set in contemporary Dublin with a couple of good sub-plots to keeps things moving.
• Jilly Cooper's Wicked! was slammed by English critics for being too serious, so in Jump! (Bantam, $39.99, pbk) she has returned to the more frivolous approach in a disappointing novel that is too long and, despite an initially good idea, fails to hold attention.
Widowed Etta acquires an ill-treated racehorse, forms a village syndicate and successfully races the mare. That's the good idea.
Not necessary is a sub-plot involving the rape of an underage schoolgirl, and a lot of other dross. Trimmed by 150 pages, this could have been one of Cooper's best. Sadly, this is one of her rare flops.
There is a heroine from the Channel Islands and a hero with all the attributes a bodice-ripper requires, although steamy sex while he's unconscious stretches credibility.
Its saving grace is not a bad plot.
Not yet 17, he falls in love with Lily and - in a parallel with what happened later with Wallis Simpson - wants to abdicate and marry his commoner girlfriend.
Naturally, his father, King George V, refuses permission.
Rebecca Dean's The Golden Prince (Harper, $39.99, pbk) is entertaining but overplays the king's violent temper and the coldness of Queen Mary, who showed "no emotion ever".
In the official biography of the prince's sister-in-law, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, letters from Queen Mary show this was not the case.
The Golden Prince is a light read and the ending suggests a follow-up in the pipeline.
Philippa Gregory is one of the best known writers in this genre and her latest, The Red Queen (Simon & Schuster, $42, hbk), is an easy way to gulp down a chunk of 15th-century English history.
Coldly ambitious, Margaret Beaufort, heir to the Red Rose of Lancaster, masterminds a plot to overturn claims by the House of York and put her son on the English throne.
Complex rivalries come to life in this, the second of Gregory's Cousins at War series, of which The White Queen was the first.
The writer is a specialist in Tudor history and this series moves back to examine the complex Plantagenet family that preceded the Tudors.
• Gillian Vine is a Dunedin writer.
