Max is in trouble. Deep, deep trouble. She is also pregnant, very, very pregnant. Which will come first? Absolution or the baby?
Book 7, Lies, Damned Lies and History, opens with Max learning that she gets the booby prize for jumps, witnessing Caroline of Brunswick chase around Westminster Abbey seeking entrance to her husband’s coronation. Her next assignment, likewise supposed to be a yawn, checking a hill fort in Wales, turns wildly exciting as her group is pressed into service alongside Arthur (yes, that Arthur) to hold off the Saxons. Here’s where trouble starts.
Max manages to get herself and St. Mary’s in trouble, nearly ending the unit, then out of trouble, reinstate herself and her friends until real trouble, Clive Ronan trouble, strikes.
The Good Stuff
As usual the plot just keeps going. It’s like watching Niagara Falls, the action sucks us readers in and we tumble helplessly along. In fact I had to go back and re-read the book a second time so I could pull myself to the shore long enough to check a few things – and read a few recipes. (We American’s know nothing about jam’s premiere place in dessert trays.)
Max is as always a lot of fun. She is in a hard place, knowing that the right thing to do is the wrong thing (and vice versa no matter which way she goes) and she won’t trust anyone enough to just go ask for what is needed. I love how she throws herself into her job, whether it’s history, fund raising or mom.
I am glad that Leon gets more personality. As Max says, he is husband and hero, and immensely patient with her. He is quiet and easy to underestimate but no one should mistake quiet for soft or meek.
As usual Jodi Taylor gets the history just so. She takes the facts we know and dresses them up in gorgeous costumes that make the scene and the people involved come to life. I always end up looking up people and events, even ones I’m fairly familiar with.
Mrs. Mack serves all sorts of food that St. Mary’s loves, most of which is new to me. I learned about jam tarts, jam roly poly (apparently England uses a lot of jam), toad in the hole and more. It seems every book introduces yet another culinary item (usually requiring suet, but not the type we feed to birds), and I enjoy looking up the recipes.
The book is just plain fun with lots of good dialogue, funny events, serious events and great characters. The scene where Max and Professor Rapson spring Sykes, Bashford and Ingloss out of jail is priceless.
The Could-Be-Better Stuff
I decided way back in Book 1 not to worry about the whole time travel thing. Jodi Taylor treats time travel as though events are happening in parallel, not in sequence, and frankly, I’m having too much fun to worry about the technical accuracy or even complete consistency. (Example: Why can the Time Police find her in the middle of nowhere and no when but not find Ronan? How does the tag work across time and space? See? That’s why it’s best to just smile, jump on and enjoy the ride.)
Max’s disgrace doesn’t have a resolution. Max agrees with Dr. Bairstow that she learned her lesson but it’s not at all clear exactly what the lesson is. I do not expect she will become meek and rule-abiding, nor that she will cease to hurl herself and her friends into trouble to do the necessary thing. Perhaps she learned that it is wise to start with asking for permission, that other people may share similar insights and agree to help.
Overall
Lies, Damned Lies and History is too much fun to be critical. The story line is serious, characters develop, plot is harrowing, scenery is great.
5 Stars
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