Book Review: Skylarking by Kate Mildenhall

Kate Mildenhall’s debut novel is based on a true story, a tragedy that occurred on Cape St George, New South Wales, Australia, in the late 1880s.

Harriet and Kate are lighthouse keepers’ daughters. Inseparable, they share their daily lives and their inner most secrets. Harriet, the elder by two years, looks forward to a future which involves marriage and motherhood, while Kate yearns for adventures beyond the restrictive world of the tiny community in which they live. Their friendship is tested when McPhail, a fisherman, takes up residence in a hut on the beach, becoming the romantic focus of the two girls.

Life on the Cape is idyllic when the girls are younger.

Book Review: Coachman by Sue Millard

A while ago I read a gem of a book by K.M. Peyton entitled The Right-Hand Man, about a four-in-hand driver (my review here). A four in hand is a carriage pulled by a team of four horses with the reins arranged in such a way that a single driver can handle them. The excitement and romance of it captured my imagination and when I came across Sue Millard’s book dealing with the same subject, I knew this was one I had to read as well. This was the book that launched my 2017 reading year.

Young coachman, George Davenport, when jobs become scarce in Carlisle, seeks employment in London and is hired as a stage coachman by William Chaplin, one of the largest coaching business proprietors based in the capital.

George is cheeky, confident, good at what he does, but also a little naive, which makes him very endearing. Coaching is in his blood and the thought of driving anything other than a four in hand is unthinkable.

George’s ambition is to drive a mail coach and participate in the annual Mail Coach Procession. But it is 1838, the year of Queen Victoria’s coronation, and a time when the railways are slowly taking business from the coaching trade, heralding the demise of an industry.

When his fiancée, Lucy, joins him in London, George finds himself with all the problems inherent with providing for a family, at a time when he is in danger of losing his position as a coachman. Not only does he have to deal with these worries, but also with the unwelcome advances of his employer’s frustrated daughter, Sarah.

Sue Millard has a long association with horses and carriage driving and has used her expertise to create an informative and entertaining narrative around a mode of transport that is long gone. Coachman is a fascinating insight into the organisation and resources needed to run such an enterprise, and the calibre of the men required to drive the coaches. I didn’t envy them working in all types of weather, night or day, dealing with disgruntled passengers, bad roads or any mishaps that occurred.

I enjoyed everything about this novel. The dialogue, often filled with banter, added humour and a sense of camaraderie, but most memorable are the historical details that enriched it and transported me to Victorian England, into the everyday lives of the characters. George's games of cribbage with Cherry, his friend and fellow coachman, and the coach's guard tootling a few bars of a bawdy song, The Young Coachman, on his key-bugle when he realises that Sarah Chaplin is flirting with George, particularly spring to mind. Sue Millard also includes more serious issues in her tale, which reflect the attitudes and prejudices of the era.

Coachman is a wonderful snapshot of life in Victorian England at a time of change and how a young man learns some valuable lessons regarding the importance of honesty, love and friendship!

Historical Fiction Challenge 2017 - My Sign Up Post

Hosted by: Passages to the Past.
Challenge period: 1st January to 31st December, 2017
Sign up: anytime during the year

All the details are available on the sign-up page.

There are six different reading levels: 20th Century Reader (2 books), Victorian Reader (5 books), Renaissance Reader (10 books), Medieval (15 books), Ancient History (25 books) and Prehistoric (50+ books).

Any sub-genre is acceptable: Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Family Sagas, Historical Fantasy, Young Adult Historical Fiction, Military and Nautical Historical Fiction etc.

I'm signing up for the Prehistoric level (50+ books) and these are some of the books I intend to read for this challenge.

*Read but not reviewed.


01.Coachman by Sue Millard
02. Late Harvest by Fiona Buckley*
03. The Hourglass by Tracy Rees*
04. The Vanishing by Sophia Tobin*
05. The Silent Boy by Andrew Taylor*
06. The Morning Gift by Diana Norman*
07. Secrets in Time by Alison Stuart*
08. Theft of Life by Imogen Robertson*
09. Circle of Shadows by Imogen Robertson*
10. The Infidel Stain by M.J.Carter*
11. The Strangler Vine by M.J.Carter*
12. Daughter of the Murray by Darry Fraser*
13. The Testimony of th Hanged Man by Ann Granger*
14. The Dead Woman of Deptford by Ann Granger*
15. A Particular Eye for Viillainy by Ann Granger*
16. My Father's Moon by Elizabeth Jolley
17. And Then Mine Enemy by Alison Stuart
18. The Currency Lass by Tea Cooper*
19. The Crown Spire by Catherine Curzon and Willow Winsham
20. My Love Must Wait by Ernestine Hill
21. Skylarking by Kate Mildenhall
22. Armistice by Nick Stafford*
23. Ambulance Girls by Deborah Burrows*
24. Whispers in the Wind by Janet Woods*
25. The Bishop's Girl by Rebecca Burns
26. The Keeper of Secrets by Judith Cutler*
27. The Duke's Agent by Rebecca Jenkins*
28. In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen*
29. Spindrift by Tamara McKinley*
30. The Unmourned by Meg and Tom Keneally
31. Shadow of the Moon by M.M. Kaye
32. Land of Golden Wattle by J.H. Fletcher
33. From This Valley by Murray Harvey
34. Map of Stars by Catherine Law*
35. For Two Cents I'll Go With You by Marcia Maxwell
36. Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar
37. Perseverance by L.F. McDermott
38. Indiscretion by Jude Morgan
39. Season of Light by Katherine McMahon*
40. Shoes for Anthony by Emma Kennedy*
41. Nor the Years Condemn by Justin Sheedy*
42. The Lighthorseman's Daughter by David Crookes*
43. Secrets of Nanreath Hall by Alix Rickloff*
44. The Woolgrower's Companion by Joy Rhoades*
45. We That Are Left by Clare Clark*
46. Golden HIll by Francis Spufford*
47. The Convict and The Soldier by John P.F. Lynch*
48. Soot by Andrew Martin*
49. Eureka Run by Bruce Venables*
50. The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley*
51. Mackenzie Crossing by Kaye Dobbie (Re-read)*
52. Troubadour by Isolde Martyn* 53. Bluebirds by Margaret Mayhew*
54. The Shadow Hour by Kate Riordan*
55. The Unseen by Katherine Webb*
56. House of Shadows by Pamela Hartshorne*
57. Lighthouse Bay by Kimberley Freeman*
58. The Silk Weaver by Liz Trenow*
59. Cast No Shadows by E.V. Thompson*
60. A Time of Secrets by Deborah Burrows*
61. Cassie by E.V. Thompson*
62. We That Are Left by Lisa Bigelow*
63. A Stranger In My Street by Deborah Burrows*
64. Illusion by Stephanie Elmas
65. Remember Remember the 6th of November by Tony Morgan
66. In Pale Battalions by Robert Goddard (Re-read)*
67. Slipstream by Alan Judd*
68. The Steady Running of the Hour by Justin Go*
69. The Sixteen Trees at the Somme by Lars Mytting
70. The Girl with the Make Believe Husband by Julia Quinn
71. Brown on Resolution by C.S. Forester
72. A Person of No Consequence by Allison Stuart
73. Woman in the Mirror by Winston Graham
74. The Distant Summer by Sarah Patterson
75. The Ugly Sister by Winston Graham
76. Coming Home to Island House by Erica James
77. Island in the East by Jenny Ashcroft
78. The Rose in Winter by Sarah Harrison
79. A Humble Companion by Laurie Graham