Cawnpore by Tom Williams

The very best historical fiction involves you in its characters' stories whilst teaching you about the historical background in a non lecturing way. Cawnpore does exactly that. I knew very little about the Indian Mutiny and had not even heard of the siege at Cawnpore so I have learned something while enjoying the story.  The narrator, John Williamson is in a unique position to see the conflict from both sides. This is done very cleverly by the author and the narrative had me hooked from the very first page. The character of the narrator comes through very strongly. He is every inch the formal Englishman and he writes in a very formal unsentimental way, yet we still see the strength of his feelings and the inner turmoil as he is forced to decide where his loyalties lie. There are no flowery descriptive passages, but the scene is set skilfully. As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed this novel. Highly recommended.

Reef by David Kendrick

Reef is a contemporary novel set in New Zealand where an artificial surfing reef is built in sacred Maori fishing waters. Although this conflict forms the background of the novel, the real stories are that of the four main characters. This is told very well and the characters are beautifully and compassionately drawn, from Gnat the disfigured Maori boy trying to find his place in the world to Shaun, the Marine Biologist, attempting to understand the workings of the female mind. I found that I did care what happened to them. The narrative flows easily and the New Zealand setting is nicely described. I am very happy to recommend another good Indie novel.