Reviews for When the Bough Breaks, and Other Stories

The average rating for When the Bough Breaks, and Other Stories based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-11-26 00:00:00 Janelle Mcdermid Delightful collection of short stories and novellas [the last two] taking in the whole sweep of Roman history from Caesar's conquest of Gaul [50's BC] through Alaric's final siege of Rome [410]. I was enthralled by each and every one! "The hostages": during Caesar's conquest, the taking of three Gallic hostages, in the words of one of them. "Cottia goes to Bibracte": the wife of a Roman army officer deals with the aftermath of the Conquest, caring for several hostages and waiting for her husband to join her. "The man from Alesia": One slave helps another escape from slavery. "Got to put up with it now": a die-maker wishes to sketch Vercingetorix for coins, and talks to him in prison. The more unusual ones are the last two--both of novella length: "Triumph of faith": giving life and a family to the New Testament Philemon. We also see his household, his slave Onesimus, and his neighbor: how the household deals with a crisis of faith. "When the bough breaks": waning of the Western Roman Empire through Alaric's siege of Rome. A Scandinavian girl disguises herself as a man, leaves her country, and follows the Goths. She also lives among Romans and is witness to the siege. Most highly recommended. Sort of but not quite an accompaniment to the author's full-length novel The Conquered.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-07-08 00:00:00 Stephanie Lentz A series of stories set on the borders of the Holy Roman Empire, the longest, the novella "When the Bough Breaks" features a strong female protagonist and her travels over the course of several decades. Quite fun. Originally written in the 1920's, the prose is just a little bit antiquated, but that conveys a sense of the age she is writing about. The setting is drawn from historical fact and alight with the author's imagining of her character's lives.